In Fear Of Destruction
By: AtomicKokoro
Storyline
Princess Zera of the Seekers claims to be Zed's half-sister. They share the same Dad. However, Zera isn't interested in a family reunion; she wants Zed's power to destroy enemy nations. Zed is kidnapped by Zera and tortured into doing what Zera wants. Sagiri tries to help as much as possible and Roya, Mikki, and Noa try to get their friend back.
Before You Read
Yep. Another Chapter. I hope this goes okay.
On with the story.
…
Chapter 3
Of What Might Be
Roya shot up, almost ready to face Zera again. But when she looked twice, she realized she was in the infirmary. It took her a moment to recollect what happened. "Oh, no," she gasped. "Zed!"
"Roya," a voice rang from the door. "You're awake." Roya glanced up to find Mikki entering her room.
"Mikki," she acknowledged. "Where's Zed? What happened to Zed?"
Mikki frowned. "I-I couldn't stop them. Even if I tried. They were too fast. They got away."
Roya looked as though she was about to faint but she managed to keep conscious. She pushed a strand of black hair behind her ear (at this moment she realized she wasn't wearing her layered pony like normal) and insisted, "We have to save him, Mikki. We have to go after him!"
"But Roya," Mikki began, however he was cut off my Roya's yelling.
"No buts! None of those! We have to save him. Zera will hurt him!"
"We don't know where the Seekers are!" Mikki snapped. There was silence before Mikki leaned back to a stand, looking ashamed for yelling at Roya. "We don't know where they've taken him. They could be anywhere, maybe even another dimension. They're looking for him, but..." His voice trailed off, a sign they hadn't gotten anywhere.
Roya leaned back and stared at her lap. There was a moment of silence. "Who are the Seeker's enemies?" she asked.
Mikki was taken by surprise by the question. "I-I don't know. You'll have to ask Master Sebastian."
Roya nodded then got out of her bed. She was dressed in her normal clothes save for her shoes which were taken off before she was placed in the bed. Her stomach was slightly bruised so she took the time to heal herself with her Healing Shard.
Mikki disappeared off down the hall to find Noa and the two returned to her just as she was finished healing herself. "I know what you're thinking," Noa said when he first entered the room. "You're hoping to find these enemies and wait for the Seekers to find them to destroy them. Then we can follow them and save Zed. Right?"
The girl nodded and looked at him. "I've considered the possibility they might not...show up. But it's better than nothing, right? We have to try."
The boys looked at each other uncertainly. What choice did they have, anyway? If they didn't go, Roya would go off alone. And that would have been bad. They turned back and agreed. "Fine," Noa said. "We'll go. Let's try not to make enemies of these territories, okay? The last thing we need is another war."
…
The sound of a harmonica filled the halls with sweet music. And Zera couldn't have hated it more. "Sagiri, stop that," she demanded as she passed the young girl's room. "That's driving me insane."
Sagiri brought the harmonica down from her lips and frowned. "I'm sorry, Lady Zera," she said softly, keeping her gaze to the window.
"Whatever," Zera scoffed, continuing down the hall. It wasn't long before she was stopped by a man. "What do you want?"
The man glanced at the ground nervously. "Princess, uh, Zera, uh, I was just wondering. What are we going to do about, uh, the boy?"
"What? Oh," Zera pushed passed him and began down the hall. "Leave it be for now. It can't do any harm. If anything, leaving it be for a couple days should harm it enough."
Sagiri ducked back into her bedroom, bringing a finger to her lip. "The boy?" she asked out loud to herself. "What boy?" Naturally, her curiosity lead her to find out for herself who this boy was. She knew no one was going to tell her. If anything, she would get in trouble for eavesdropping. The only question was where he remained. There was only one place they could keep him from doing harm would have been the prison.
She turned and ran down the halls towards where she was sure the prison was.
…
Zed clutched his stomach in pain as it grumbled again. He leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth. "Where's room service in this place?" he muttered sarcastically. "I'm so hungry!"
He got to his feet and began to slam his shoulder into the walls and making a ruckus. If he was lucky, he would attract attention and finally get some food. But, at the same time, he began to wonder how far he was away from civilization. He was in a flying fortress where Shifting Shards were practically the doors.
Zed collapsed back on his bed. What on Earth was he going to do?
…
Sebastian scratched his beard. "The enemies of the Seekers?" he repeated. Roya, Mikki, Noa, and he were standing before the Council of Sages, await a reply to the question.
"We can't be too sure," the Neotopian Sage said.
"We haven't heard enough about the Seekers to know this sort of information," the Templarian Sage added. "We're unsure ourselves."
"They've always been on good terms with most territories," another Sage said. "Obliterating rivals doesn't seem like something they would do. Perhaps Miss. Zera has caused them the some trouble as Zed had for us."
Noa glanced down at the ground. "Only if Sagiri were here," he said. "She would tell us everything she knew."
Roya glanced at Noa and frowned. She knew how much he missed Sagiri, and Zed for the while. She wished there was something she could do to help Noa, or get Sagiri back to him.
"Maybe that's it," Mikki said, sounding as though Noa came up with a great idea. "Why don't we just ask them?"
Everyone stared at him like he was crazy. "Mikki!" Roya gasped. "Don't you understand what would happen? Besides, why would they tell us? What if we're the enemy?"
"Exactly my point." Mikki buffed up his chest with a confident smirk. "They don't have a reason to not tell us. They did take one of our people. They have to tell us. And if they don't, that automatically puts them at war with us and the only way to beat us is with Zed. So when Zed comes down...if Zed comes down, we can get him. And even if he didn't and they only sent soldiers, they're ship would have to stay here to send reinforcements, so we could just break in and get Zed back." Everyone stared at him in shock. Mikki's cheeks burned a violent blue. "Well, you know, that's just an idea. It's not really-"
"Mikki, that's brilliant!"
"No, it's outrageous!"
The council room started in great debate. Mikki ducked back into the shadows of the door. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything," he muttered.
"We just finished a war. Must we start another one?"
"If we start a war, millions of people will die!"
"But if we don't and let them kill they're enemies, then many more will die!"
"How are we supposed to get inside?"
Mikki sighed and pulled his hat from his head, letting his often captive, black hair loose for the moment. "Is this how the Council was when they were deciding what to do during the last war? Man, that's disappointing." Suddenly, the room was quiet. Mikki looked up and straightened in fear. "W-wait! Th-that's not what I meant! I was just...I didn't mean..." He backed away from the Council. "I'm just gonna go now."
Before anyone knew it, the baker had disappeared. Roya sighed and turned back to the Council. "If we don't do anything, what will happen to Zed and all the Seekers' enemies?" Everyone grew quiet in thought. Roya stepped forward. "Don't you see? Right now, Mikki's idea is the only idea we got. Are you going to give up the chance to stop it before something terrible happens?"
Silence loomed over the hall. How much time did they have? Would Zed really do as Zera said? Who were the enemies of the Seekers?
As Mikki walked down the street outside, he couldn't help but wonder to himself if the enemies weren't the Seekers enemies. What if they were just enemies of Zera herself?