Author's note: Here's Chapter 4! Sorry for the late update, enjoy.
Warning: Mention of rape, nothing graphic, promise. You've been warned.
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Rise of the Owl
Chapter 4: Aftermath
At the Park
Derek was in the park by the time he stopped running. He could not believe it! Franny was a member of Pai Zuaq, and she has the spirit of the owl! This would not do. He had to find a way to break her. If he could break her, then nothing could stop him from preforming his master plan, and he knew just the thing to help. Franny won't know what hit her, until it's too late.
The only way for her to stop him is to master her animal spirit, and there was no way he was going to give her the opportunity to start; the less training she has with her spirit, the better for him to defeat her fast. He started laughing internally; this was going to be fun for him.
He turned to go towards the woods outside the city. He was going to break Franny, if it was the very last thing he did with what remained of his humanity, before he got rid of it forever.
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Jungle Karma Pizza
Back at JKP, as soon as the owl spirit re-entered Fran, she passed out. Dom caught her in his arms before she hit the ground. He checked her pulse to see if she was alive and stable, which she was. He couldn't believe that she had invoked her animal spirit. Typically it takes years of discipline and learning the ways of Pai Zuaq, but she managed to do it instinctively when the leopard tried to attack her.
Everyone was floored. Fran; timid, gentle, non-violent, sweet, innocent Fran, had unleashed her animal spirit in protest to her, and the people around her, being attacked by Derek's black leopard. No one was quite sure what to do; Pai Zuaq was revealed and used in front of outsiders. The acts that Derek had done with the skills he learned at the academy, goes against the sacred laws; never reveal existence of Pai Zuaq to outsiders, never use the skills acquired from the school for anything, but self-defense and the defense of others, and never attack the innocent with the inner animal. Derek had violated all of these and would have to be found and punished for his crimes.
RJ was the first to recover and decided that he should take charge of the situation. Since he was the only one there who had been a master the longest, he had a vague idea of how to handle the situation; first take care of the injured and Fran, second find a way to explain the situation, and finally come up with a way to cover-up everything that happened. RJ made eye contact with Casey, who nodded, giving the go ahead to handle with things how he sees fit.
"Ok, that was epic." RJ said, trying to sound nonchalant. He wasn't fooling anyone, "Dom, take Fran upstairs, poor thing tired herself out with all the excitement. Casey, Theo, Jarrod, Flit, take Fran's parents upstairs too, they must have pasted out from the shock of seeing how much their little girl has grown up." The boys all nodded in agreement and did as told.
"While the guys are seeing to those three, we are going to have to take care of everyone here and try to get them to believe they didn't see anything." RJ quickly whispered to Lily and Camille, who both nodded agreeing with RJ.
Camille turned to the still shocked crowd and threw some powder at everyone. As soon as the powder hit the people, they passed out into sleep. RJ and Lily looked at Camille questioningly.
"What?" Camille asked indignantly. "Now, we can play it all as a dream they had. Unless, either of you have any better ideas of who to cover-up the incident?"
Both Lily and RJ looked at each other for a moment, then they both shook their heads at her; they had to admit it was the best way to cover things up. Camille nodded in return, knowing she did the right thing. After that was settled they started cleaning up everything from the party, figuring it was easier to make everyone believe they dream up the intense events of the party. If anyone questioned it, they could come up with a cover story if need be.
Once that was taken care of, the crowd started to rouse. As the groggy people awoke, the three of kindly, yet quickly, ushered to party goers out of the pizza parlor. After the crowd was gone, Lily put the closed sign up, locked the door and closed the shade of the front door. Now, that all of that was taken care of, the three of them rushed up to the loft to tend to Fran and her parents.
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Somewhere in the Middle of the Woods Out-side the City
Derek was getting annoyed. He had been out here for nearly an hour, and there was no sign of what he was looking for. He knew that it was around here somewhere, but he didn't have time to wander around. If he wanted to break Franny, then he had to do it quickly, before her friends, the masters, taught her how use her spirit properly.
If she could master her spirit, she might possess the power to stop him. Franny never knew that he was always so cruel to her because he was trying to break her spirit to the point she would never find her inner power. Her inner power was what made him fear her. When he first met her, he saw an energy, a power that radiated off of her. Even back then he was trying to formulate his plan, but it would all be for nothing because of that girl's power.
He figured out that she didn't know a thing about her power, so came up with the plan to break her spirit. As he did more and more cruelty to her, the essence of her inner power dimmed each day. When he had tried to take her innocence, she fought back. She regained some of her spirit when she did that, and he snapped when he saw it. He was so mad that he had unleashed his leopard in rage, and it attacked her with vigor. Her parents had also seen and went to her defense.
After that day he had to run, knowing Franny's parents would sick the cops on him. On the up side of all that he was found by recruiters for the Pai Zuaq academy. There he had learned to control his animal spirit to attack at his will. No one ever expected that he had ill intentions to use his new learned skills for his own agenda. No one even knew who he really was, for he had enter the Order of Claw under a false name; No one questioned it, or him.
Now, unfortunately, everything has changed. He has to move up his plans before Franny can unlock her inner power to its full extent, or all his scheming, all his hard work and patience will be for nothing. He would not let that happen.
"Ah, there you are!" He finally said, a few minutes later. "Now, she and the masters won't stand a chance of stopping me. Ha, ha, ha!"
He then started towards the ancient temple in front of him; the ancient temple of Xia Zulong.
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RJ's Loft
It didn't take long for Dom to get Fran in RJ's chair. Dom knew how territorial RJ was with his chair, but considering all that Fran went through down stairs, added to what they all learned about her past, he was sure that RJ wouldn't say anything. Besides the chair was the most comfortable place in the living/training area of the loft, and everyone knew it.
The other guys had set up cots and put Fran's parents on them. Flit immediately started tending to the wounds that were inflicted on Carla, while Casey tended Roger. The ranger had learned that Flit wasn't just a warrior in the past, but he was a master healer; since the other guys were uncomfortable about tending to a woman, especially Fran's mother, Flit was the one given task of tending to her because of his experience in healing.
The wounds from the attack were minor and non-life threatening; it didn't take very long to clean and medicate the claw marks. Fortunately the leopard wasn't aiming for them; unfortunately it was aiming for Fran. Once Flit finished with Carla's wounds and checked on Roger, he went to examine Fran, but Dom wouldn't hear of it.
"No, Flit. She's fine." Dom adamantly told him.
"Dominic, she used her animal spirit for the first time, without any type of training; I need to make sure that her passing out was only from stress and exhaustion." Flit retorted kindly, yet firmly.
"Let him do his job, Dom." RJ said, walking into the loft after finishing up in the restaurant.
Dom reluctantly let Flit examine Fran, but he watched very closely. If Fran knew that Flit had to remove anything to check her for any wounds, she would've been mortified. Dom knew and respected that Fran was very modest, and he would make sure that others did the same thing. Flit only took a minute or two to examine her, then he stood back and gave a nod to Dom.
"So, Flit, what's the verdict on the patience?" RJ asked, while glancing at Carla and Roger.
"Fran's parents have minor wounds; the leopard's claws only grazed them. They will make a quick recovery. Fran seems to just be tired and stressed; with rest she should wake soon." Flit diagnosed.
As if on a cue, Fran started to stir from her unconscious state. Dom was at her side in an instant; he took her hand in his and gently squeezed it. Fran smiled as she slowly opened her eyes. Dom was never happier than at that moment when he saw her slightly smiling at him. She was just waking up from a fainting spell, but she was still the most beautiful creature on the planet in his eyes.
"Hey, sleepy-head." He said softly, smiling at her a little.
"Hey yourself, Rhino-man." She replied just as softly, returning his smile with one of her own.
"How are you feeling, Fran?" He asked after a moment.
"Exhausted and a bit weak." She responded.
"That's natural, after what happened." Flit answered, breaking whatever spell Dom and Fran where under.
Fran blushed and retreated from Dom a bit, but Dom wouldn't let her have her hand back. She didn't protest, though. Dom backed up a bit to let Fran have a better view of the gang and the loft. Everyone was looking at her with concern, which only reinforced her feelings of inadequacy. Dom felt Fran tense a little through their clasped hands; he gave her hand a little squeeze of comfort, and Fran returned it; she was glad they were still holding hands.
"Fran, what exactly happened down there? You called that student Derek, but Camille said his name was Brock, and then you summoned your animal spirit; when did you learn to do that?" Theo was firing question after question without giving her time to speak.
"Cool it, Theo." Dom demanded, which was very unlike him. "Give Fran time to take a breather, she just woke up from a fainting spell."
"It's okay, Dom." Fran calmly responded. "To answer you Theo, I have no idea how I did that, I didn't even know I could do that. As for Derek… it's a long story." Fran paused when she mentioned Derek.
"A story she doesn't have to tell any of you." Carla growled.
Everyone turned to her and Roger, who had also awoken from a comatose state. Carla was shakily standing, looking ready for a fight. Roger started to stand like his wife, also looking prepared for a battle. Carla had a look so furious, that it almost made RJ cringe in retreat. Flit, ever the professional, went over to help them back onto the cots.
"Please, you're both hurt. Give your bodies time to heal, they're not ready to move around yet." Flit urgently tried to reason with them.
"Nothing will stop us from protecting out charge." Carla growled at Flit, pushing his hands away.
"Your charge!?" Everyone, but Roger exclaimed.
"What you talking about, Mother?" Fran asked.
"We're your protectors, Francis; not your parents." Roger answered solemnly.
"I think everyone has a lot to explain." Lily stepped in, trying to mediate.
"Agreed." RJ said. "Why don't you two start, since Fran looks close to tears?"
She was close to tears; how could these two people, that she has known her whole life, not be her parents. Dom moved so that he was sitting on the arm of RJ's chair and his free hand was now on her shoulder, with his arm around her back, hugging her to his body. Fran, still dazed moved her free hand over the hand he put on her shoulder, but she didn't move it, just held it.
"Very well." Carla nodded and began to story. "It all starts long ago…"
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Author's note: (Cue dramatic music) sorry, cliff-hanger. Also I might not be updating for a little while because of finals, but I promise to keep writing the story and when I get back I will put multiple chapters up. Thank you for all of your support so far, please review. Thanks, Fans!