I do not own Tegami Bachi/Letter Bee or its characters blah blah. I do own Angels Tears, Ione, random characters of my own, Cornfield Hills Town and a certain Gaichuu that I invented. . .That may or may not appear in this chapter.
Anyways. . .chapter 7.
Zaji woke up to Connor gently shaking his shoulder. He was confused for a moment, wondering where he was and completely forgetting everything that had happened in the past week or so. He glanced around the unfamiliar room and saw a girl he did not know, and a boy with silver hair that looked vaguely familiar. There was a black cat the size of person staring at him, and it took him a moment to recall it's name.
"Vashuka. . ." He mumbled, then everything came back to him in a rush. The girl was Ione, the silver-haired boy was Lag, and they were in a town called Cornfield Hills. Everything about Angels Tears came back, and his and Connors encounter with the four men who wanted to take Zaji away, back to Angels Tears.
"Zaji, you okay?" Connor asked. Zaji nodded an sat up. He noticed that everyone looked tense, even the Dingos.
"Whats up?" He asked sleepily.
"Bad weather coming in. We wont be able to travel for a couple days at least, and those guys from earlier have been pacing around in our hall or out front of the Inn." Connor said.
"Idiots." Zaji mumbled and stood up slowly. He was careful not to do something that might trigger the pain in his chest, but he had no idea what would make it hurt really. He was just hoping to avoid any potential chest pain 'attacks'.
"Ione, do you know any of them?" Zaji asked the girl and she sighed.
"Yeah, they're my cousins." She said with obvious disgust. Zaji grunted and went to the window and looked out. The stars were still visible, but he could see clouds rolling in.
"Stupid storm. . ." He muttered. Vashuka came and sat beside him, and he rested his hand on the Dingos head. His mind wandered briefly to the cats, wondering if they were well fed or at least somewhere warm. He also wondered about how Sylvette Suede was doing. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. He glanced at the others, and Ione stepped foreword to answer it.
"Who is it?" She said through the door.
"We've come for the Bee." A voice said back and Ione smiled and flicked her long dark hair back.
"Just try it, fools." She said in a dangerous voice.
"Oh we will." The voice replied and they heard footsteps walk away. Ione huffed and went to the couch and sat down.
"I just thought. . .do we have enough money to stay here for while the storm lasts? Thialfi's brother said just one day, and that day's kinda gone." Lag asked, and everyone looked at him. It appears that none of them thought about that.
"We'll have to talk to the Innkeeper about that." Connor said after a moment of silence.
"I have no money, it was all taken." Zaji grumbled angrily.
"I have none." Ione said.
"I have some, but not enough if they charge us full price for a couple nights." Lag said and smiled a bit.
"My money plus Lag's will cover us for a couple nights, not counting food. . ." Connor said.
"Let's hope it's a fast storm." Zaji said and went to the bed and sat down. He glanced around, just realizing that he had no jacket or anything on other than his pants and his undershirt. He wondered who kept taking his stuff off for a moment, then went to the closet to get it all. He only made it halfway there when he had a searing pain across his chest and he cried out in pain. His vision blanked out briefly and he fell to his hands and knees, one hand on his chest. Instantly the others were at his side, worried.
"Zaji!" Lag and Ione said, very worried.
"I-I'm . . .O-oka-" Zaji didn't finish his sentence, and he was clearly not okay. He looked up at them, his face ridden with pain and then he he went limp, and closed his eyes. The pain was too much for him to handle, and he fainted.
He woke up suddenly, a loud noise chasing away his drowsiness instantly. He looked around, and quickly noticed he was not alone. There were two boys and a girl he did not know, as well as a bloodhound and massive black cat. The Cat looked vaguely familiar, but everyone else was a mystery to him. He tried to remember how he knew the cat, but to no avail.
"Zaji, those guys have decided that attacking us while everyone is preparing for the storm is their best idea." The girl said when she looked over and saw him sitting up. His name was Zaji? Huh, who knew. Wasn't his name Rend? Upon thinking that name he remembered the girl, it was his sister Ione! But the other two were still unknown to him. There was another series of sharp knocks on the door to the room.
"Come on, we wont hurt you. . . Much. Just send the freak out and we can avoid all this trouble." A voice from the other side of the door said. Rend thought it sounded familiar, but he had no idea who it came from.
"Zaji, are you feeling better?" One boy said to him, he was slightly taller but a lot bigger around, and he had small, kind eyes. Obviously the question was directed at him, but he didn't think his name was Zaji.
"Yeah. . ." He said slowly, the boy talking to him was starting to look familiar, like someone he knew a long time ago that he hadn't seen for years.
"Why are you calling me Zaji?" He decided he might as well ask. All three of the others froze and turned to face him. Ione was sad-looking, the larger boy almost angry, and the other boy who had silver hair had his mouth hanging open, and his eye that wasn't covered by silver bangs was wide open.
"You are Zaji. . .Did you forget again?" The larger boy said and came and sat on the edge of the bed Rend was on.
"I'm Rend. . ." He said, but now he was unsure. Something in his Heart was shouting at him that he wasn't Rend, but he didn't know for sure.
"Aren't I?"
"No, your Zaji the Letter Bee!" The bigger boy said, urgency in his voice. Just then, before anyone could say anything else; the door burst open loudly. A tall thin man stepped in, followed by two shorter muscular men and one who was completely average.
"Now, we didn't want to do that, but we had to. Lets make the rest of this easier, shall we?" The tall man said mockingly, like he was talking to small children. Anger filled Rend/Zaji, and he remembered an encounter with those four. . .but it was terribly blurry.
"By the way, I'll introduce us," the tall man said and pointed to the average-looking guy, "he's Anthony-" he then pointed to each of the muscular men, who looked like twins, "and they're Bruk and Sern, and I am Avarice."
The tall man, Avarice, motioned at Bruk and Sern and pointed to the bed, or more like Rend/Zaji. The two big men rushed foreward, but then Ione and the two boys jumped in their path. The larger boy tried to hit them, but he was shoved away. The girl got thrown to the side of the room like she was nothing more than a doll, and the silver haired boy was just trampled over.
Rend jumped out of the bed and got ready to fight them, but before he could do anything a searing, unbearable pain shot across his chest; he gasped and grabbed ahold of the bed for support. Then it came to him, he wasn't Rend, he was Zaji, and Ione wasn't his sister. He remember Connor, Lag, Vashuka and Gasu, and everything about Angels Tears. Anger filled him, and right before Burk and Sern reached him he ducked down and to the side.
"Atack, Vashuka!" He commanded his Dingo, and he obeyed instantly. The great cat leaped onto the back of either Burk or Serk, he couldn't tell which, and began biting the back of his shirt and shredding it. He screamed out more in fear tan pain, and the other tried to beat the cat off but t didn't work.
"Gasu, help Vashuka!" Connor called out and the bloodhound jumped at the other muscular man, biting onto his arm. Ione, Lag, Connor and Zaji faced the other two men and a flicker of fear ghosted across Avarice's face. He then smirked evilly and pulled out from his pocket a long thin knife with a slight curve.
"Come on and try me." He said and motioned with his fingers as if he were waving them over. Anthony, the average guy, also pulled out a knife, and then a second one. Zaji looked for his gun, but it was on the bedside table, where Burk and Serk were trying to fight off the two Dingos, and he couldn't reach it. Lag's gun was on the chair that was right near Zaji, and Lag himself was on the wrong side of the room to get to it. Ione had no weapon, and Connors Heart landmines wouldn't be of any use here. Zaji quickly moved to the chair and picked up Lag's gun and pointed it at Avarice.
"Don't you know not to bring a knife to a gun fight?" Zaji said. Avarice glared at him and smiled still, which was disconcerting. Anthony then drew his arm back and threw one of his knives at Zaji. Zaji ducked, and the knife stuck into the bakc of the wall. Right when he ducked, Avarice jumped at him, and Anthony pulled out another knife and starting towards Connor and Lag. An angry yowl emitted from Vashuka, it appeared that Burk or Serk, whichever one it was he jumped on, had dislodged the big cat and was running at Ione. Zaji stopped paying attention to what was happening with everyone else when Avarice reached him.
"Freak!" He said and grabbed the hand that held onto Lag's Heart gun and the other hand balled up into a fist and punched Zaji in the stomach. Zaji kicked out at his legs, but Avarice ignored it and pushed the small Bee into the wall. He took the hand that had punched Zaji and grabbed onto the boys neck.
"Your coming with me, and if you struggle you will regret it." Avarice said, his face close to Zaji's. Zaji just smirked at him, and with his free hand he grabbed tightly onto Avarices shoulder and pulled up his legs. He kicked the tall man in the chest and knocked him back, and Zaji fell to the ground and landed hard on his butt, though instead of getting up he just pointed the gun at Avarice.
"Just try it." Zaji said, and concentrated all the hate and malice he could muster into one bullet and shouted "AOTOGE!" and fired at Avarice. Avarice leaped to one side with almost inhuman speed, but he still got hit, though it was a a glancing blow. The brilliant Heart bullet hit the wall on the other side of the room, and Avarice was on the ground. Instantly the fighting in the room stopped. Ione was holding her own decently against Anthony, and either Burk or Serk was fighting Connor and Lag with knives. The other twin was holding off Vashuka, with a chair. Zaji aimed Lag's gun at the one fighting his fellow Bees.
"You know what I'd do." Zaji said and stood up. The one fighting the two Bees dropped his knives and held his hands up.
"Look out!" Zaji heard Ione scream out, and he turned just in time to see Anthony rushing at him with two knives. Zaji wasn't able to move fast enough to the side, and one knife was jabbed into his left arm. It sunk deeply, and stayed in. Zaji was barely aware of the pain in his arm though, his chest decided to hurt him right when he tried to dodge out of the way and the pain there was way worse than the knife in his arm. Zaji swept the gun around and smacked Anthony in the head. Ione ran to him and started attacking the man with a flurry of fists. He went down quickly and Zaji turned to face the other two that were left.
Connor and Lag were taking down the twin that was fighting them, and Vashuka had managed to pounce onto the other. Since the others seemed to be handling things well enough, he put Lags gun down and pulled the knife out of his arm. He grunted in pain, and his vision blurred for a moment. Blood poured down his previously white shirt. Ione grabbed the nearest jacket and tossed it to him. He quickly put it on and with his other hand put pressure on the wound. He picked up Lags gun with his injured arm and aimed at the man fighting Lag and Connor. The enemy was winning that fight, but not for long.
"Hey, meatclod!" He said loudly and the big man faced Zaji stupidly. He pulled the trigger at the same time two other things happened.
Lag, Connor and Ione all called out "No Zaji!" loudly, and a bunch of people rushed into the room right as the brilliant Heart bullet flashed across the room and his the big man's shoulder, sending him flying back into the wall.
"Drop the gun!" A man from the doorway shouted, and two tall burly men came foreward. Zaji didn't move, just watched them come closer.
"Zaji put it down." Connor said and Zaji looked at him. Connor looked both worried, and relieved. Zaji sighed and put the gun down, and the two men that were coming towards sudenly rushed and each grabbed an arm. Zaji flinched when one man grabbed his arm right his wound was. The Innkeeper, Thialfis brother came in and looked around with an expression of outrage.
"You! I knew letting you stay was a mistake!" He pointed at Zaji. "Get him out of here! And the others as well."
"Sir, what about the storm?" One of them men holding onto Zaji said.
"They can stay at my brothers, or some other place, I don't care!" The Innkeeper motioned for them to leave the room. The two men holding Zaji roughly half-dragged, half-carried him out of the room and into the hall. Lag, Connor and Ione followed.
"Someone get a doctor for these men." They heard the Innkeeper say right before they got out of earshot.
Once they got to the front of the Inn, and out the front door a few steps, the two men holding Zaji let go and shoved him roughly. Pain spike in his chest right then and he fell to his knees and held his chest. Ione and the other Bees rushed to his side. The man that had been holding onto Zajis injured arm went to rub his face, and noticed his whole hand was blood-stained. He looked at it confusedly, then looked at Zaji.
"Is he injured?" He asked, and the other man stepped foreword to get a closer look at Zaji.
"Yeah, he got stabbed by those men that attack US." Ione said. Connors and Lags eyes went wide, neither of them saw Zaji get stabbed, and since he was wearing his dark Letter Bee jacket they could see the blood. Ione helped Zaji pull his arm out of the sleeve, and the white shirt underneath had a whole sleeve completely stained red.
"Uhhh, now what? We were told to get rid of him." The man with the bloody hand said.
"Lets take him to the doctors quick." The other man said, and they helped Zaji to his feet and this time carefully held him and lead him across the town square.
"I'm Gullfaxi by the way." The man with the bloodied hand said. "Sorry for the rough treatment before."
"And I'm Hrungir" The other man said. Both were red-haired and had large beards, though Gullfaxi was taller and stronger-looking. Zaji muttered something and clenched his eyes shut and stopped moving. His legs stopped suporting him and he shook.
"Hey kid what's wrong?" Gullfaxi said and stopped.
"Zaji!" Connor said and went in front of the small Bee and put his hands on his shoulders.
"I-I'm. . ."
"Not okay." Connor finished his sentence.
"That happened two or thee times in the fight as well, they're getting closer together." Ione said worriedly. Gullfaxi and Hrungir looking from one kid to another in confusion.
"Whats wrong?" Gullfaxi asked.
"It's a long story." Ione said.
"Tell us once we get him to the doctors, which we should do fast." Gullfaxi said and Ione nodded. They were lead across the town square and into a little street that was stragith across from the Inn, and down near the end of the narrow street was a short wide building with lots of windows and bright paint. Gullfaxi opened the door and went in sideways with Zaji and Hrungir.
"Hey Doc we got a seriously injured kid here!" He called out. They were in a small square room that looked like it used to be a dinning room. There were some missmatched chairs and a desk that was empty. on the other end of the room was a door, and out of it came a disgruntled-looking man that was old enough to be Zaji's grandpa. His eyes fell on Zaji, and Gullfaxi moved so that he could see the boys bloody shirt and arm.
"Bring him through here." The doctor said and went back through the door he came out of. Everyone followed, and they were lead into a short hall with doors on either side. They went into one room with a table and bunch of odd-looking tools for surgery and other things.
"On the table with him." He said and got out of the way. Gullfaxi and Hrungir picked up Zaji and put him on the table. Zaji mumbled somethig, but he appeared to be barely awake.
"Zaji don't worry, they'll help." Connor said and Zaji just nodded and closed his eyes.
"Now out, if anything you need to know comes up I'll come and tell you, but your no good here right now." The doctor said gruffly but also kindly and motioned for them all to leave. Ione, Gullfaxi and Hrungir nodded and left immediately, but Lag and Connor hesitated.
"Go, I wont hurt him." The doctor said to them and turned to Zaji. Connor sighed and the two Bees left the room. Once they were oustide they followed Ione and the two men back to the entrance room and sat in some chairs.
"Could you tell us what all was with those men attacking you? And whats with that kids chest pain?" Gullfaxi asked and Hrungir nodded. Ione looked at Connor and Lag, and the two Bees smiled at her. She settled herself in her chair and started to tell the story of Angels Tears.
"Well, Zaji first came to us a while ago, and. . ."