A/N: Hello…
Does anyone remember me?
Or this story?
'My drifting days prepare me to do battle with the night
A phantom of the fight
I've got conquer all the courage of my fears
The answer lies in limbo and the harvest will be hard
But sacred are the scars
That leave their mark on the fast dissolving years
Yes, I'll be back again no matter where I go
For it's only love that frees the fire for burning
Then I'll take you in my arms and tell you all I know
As I sing the growing song of my returning'
Song of My Returning, Phil Ochs
Red Chapter 7: Visitor
No matter how far he pushed, there really didn't seem to be any end in sight for Aaron. Each step he took required him to move a few inches of rock from in front of him, move it behind them, while making sure the rock above them was still stable enough that it wouldn't collapse in on them. He could sense the trembles vibrating through the stone caused by him moving the rock. Aaron never knew how the ground around him reacted to his power. The earth seemed endless, and Aaron never bothered to think about how his powers could create ripples far beyond where he meant to move the rock. As he slowly and meticulously moved forward, he just hoped that those tremors he kept making wouldn't be detected by the Nightwings.
Despite all those worries, he just had to keep moving forward. Even being surrounded by the element he had full control over, it still seemed stifling. Natsu and Bailey both held a small flame in their hands, to keep the area lit, and Setsuna was glowing a faint light, which kept him from becoming completely claustrophobic, though it still bothered him being completely surrounded by stone.
"We should be about half way there," Setsuna said.
"How can you tell?" Cody asked.
"The light that is within me is able to flow out throughout the land which gives me a faint sense of what's around us. It's not extremely accurate, but it gives us an idea at least," Setsuna said, though Cody didn't really understand how she was able to do it. Still, he was glad that they had someone here who could. He tried to clear his mind of all the information that he really didn't need to worry about. His goal was to defeat the Nightwings, get to the portal, and get back to their world. Of course, for them nothing came so easily, and the fact that they were going to be storming the enemy's base really seemed like it could be too risky. Even if they had the element of surprise on their side, there was still the fact that they wouldn't know exactly where the portal was, and even coming in like this, he was sure that the Nightwings would have some forces guarding it, not to mention the amount of soldiers that were still waiting to get to earth.
"Thinking of a plan?" Zack asked.
"Trying to," Cody said.
He started thinking about all of their powers, at least as far as he knew them. Cody knew that Zack would probably be the best person to lead any charge after them, he'd be able to dodge their attacks with his speed and that sword he had could do a lot of damage as well. That could draw their attention from the elementals which seemed to be best from a distance, and also had far more destructive power. With Bailey's orb giving her the power to control fire, along with Natsu's natural fire abilities, that could overpower the Nightwings. Aaron's power of earth might be best to use as a defense, especially if the castle they were going after was made of stone. It could also be used to get through walls, though Cody guessed Aaron would be pretty tired, so that would mean using him as a main part of his plan could be risky. With Heather being a water elemental, she might be at a disadvantage, unless they found some source of water. Cody really didn't know much of Renny's power, except she was an air elemental, and Setsuna was an even bigger mystery except for the whole exploding orbs of light things
"Once we get through the location, Aaron should probably stay back so that he can make us a path out of here if need be," Cody said.
"I'll take the lead then," Setsuna said. "I've fought them often enough to know what to expect. You need to get back to your world in one piece. Besides, there's a certain someone that I need to pay a visit." As she said this, she started to glow brighter.
"She gets like this when she's angry," Renny explained in a whisper to the others.
"Who are you after?" Cody asked. Despite the fact that they were working together, Cody didn't really know their new compansions that well. Any motivations or goals they had would have to be things he'd want to consider, especially if they would jeopardize the whole getting back home in one piece thing.
"And old friend of mine," Setsuna said, "A certain queen of the Nightwings."
If Setsuna wanted to go after the queen, that might be the best idea. Go after the head and the rest of the body falls apart. Of in this case, it could be a case that going after the head makes the rest of the body really mad, and then they surround you. But Cody at least hoped Setsuna wouldn't go after someone when it would compromise their main objective.
"Something's here," Aaron said after a few more minutes of walking. He had stopped pushing their tunnel forward, and pressed his hand against the rock in front of him. He was trying to get a feel for it like he had the rest so he could control it, but nothing came to him. Ever since he discovered his powers, wrapping his mind around rock seemed natural, but now no matter how hard he tried it was futile.
Setsuna walked to where Aaron was and put her hand on the stone. "You can't keep going?" Setsuna asked.
"No, It's like the rock isn't there, or it's there but I can't hold it, like if I tried to hold pudding in my hand, it would just slip through my fingers," he explained.
"I guess they saw an attack like this coming," Setsuna said.
"They knew we'd try tunneling under their castle?" Zack asked.
"Correct. We had a powerful earth elemental in our team until recently. We hadn't had sufficient reason to try attacking them this way yet, but we'd long considered the best way to carry out an ambush by going underground. They must have infused the ground with something to stop the elemental powers," Setsuna explained.
"Which means we'll just have to go up," Setsuna said, to which Aaron took a deep sigh. He started moving the stone around them, shaping the small cavern into a staircase that lead them upward.
"Are you doing okay?" Heather asked him.
"I'll be fine," he said, though all the others could tell he was tired from the way he spoke and the way his legs were shaking as they climbed back to the surface.. Of course, they'd been travelling for what had to be a couple hours, and it wasn't like Aaron was completely rested from the battle before.
Luckily it only took a few minutes for them to make it out from what felt like a prison made of stone. Once they breached the surfaces, Renny was the first one up, jumping a couple feet into the air to get a look around the area. "Finally, fresh air!" she said.
Soon the others joined her, all of them grateful to some degree for being out there. "Do you see any enemies?" Setsuna asked.
"None nearby anyway," she said.
"Although that may change soon," Setsuna said, "If they ended up making it so we can't get through the rock, they'd probably expect whoever tried to show up somewhere around here. It's probably a good idea to find someplace to hide before they figure out what we did."
"Any idea where that would be though?" Cody asked. Like most of the world, the area seemed to be pretty barren and lifeless. Other than a slight variation in the red coloring of the stone, he couldn't have told that they traveled half a dozen miles underground.
Renny looked up to the sky. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking Natsu?"
"Plan 22B?" he asked.
"Should we be worried?" Cody asked.
"It's probably a good idea not to set everything within a square mile on fire if we're trying to keep a low profile," Setsuna said, though Cody wondered if it would be a possibility if they needed a distraction. Afterall, a giant fire would probably lead to the Nightwings coming, but the problem would be how they would get away from it.
"I sense something in the distance though," Setsuna said "At any rate, we really don't want to be out in the open any longer than we need to, especially if they know we're coming."
"Is there any place nearby we could hide though?" Heather asked. The vast desert like area didn't seem to change any, at least not within anywhere they could see.
"There are some houses it seems like aren't too far from here," Setsuna said. "We may be able to hide there."
"Assuming they're friendly anyway," Cody said. Then again, if they weren't, it wouldn't be too hard to make their way in. Of course, Cody didn't really want to start a battle when he didn't need to, especially if innocents could be caught up in it.
"Let's go, we'll handle that situation when we get there," Setsuna said.
…
It was about a mile walk before the village came into view. From that distance, they could see about 20 houses, and there were some people there, but they didn't appear to be Nightwings, at least not from this distance. Still, they were ready for battle, Bailey ready to bring out fire, Zack and Cody ready to use their powers to slow time around them. As they started to get closer, a wolf started running toward them, though seemed to be hesitant as it approached.
"Aw, a cute puppy!" Heather said.
"Don't go and pet it," Aaron said, raising a stone up from the ground, ready to attack if it did.
"Wait, Zack, is it just me or is that a wolf we've seen before?" Cody asked, thinking about that time those several years ago when they found the wolf and the person in the forest. Though it was hard to remember much about it when it was 4 years ago. Still, Cody felt that he could sense something familiar about the wolf, even though he didn't remember feeling quite the same before.
The wolf seemed to be eyeing Zack and Cody as it slowly approached them, its tail lowered as it paced back and forth. Its head tilted back and forth, seeing to be trying to assess the situation.
"You really think it was that wolf we found with that strange guy?" Zack asked.
"It might be," Cody said, taking a step back as the wolf got closer.
The wolf then barked at the twins before turning around and taking a few steps.
"We should follow it," Zack said, if it was the same wolf, it was trying to lead them someone, maybe even back to that guy who had disappeared back then. He and Cody didn't know what happened to that guy, he had faded away, and then the wolf ran off, an event that they had nearly forgotten about with everything else that had happened with them.
"Do you think it's safe?" Setsuna asked.
"Not completely," Zack said, "But if that's the wolf I think it is, it's a good idea to follow him."
The wolf barked a couple more times, and with that, the group started to follow it into the town. As they got closer, there seemed to be a strange force that Zack and Cody noticed, with them getting off balance as they tried walking. "Do the rest of you feel that?" Cody asked.
"Huh?" Aaron asked.
"Nothing seems strange,' Heather said.
"There is some type of magic here," Setsuna said. "Very faint, and it doesn't seem like the type the Nightwings use though."
"Then what else could it be?" Heather asked. The elemental power that they had, wasn't anything that could leave a permanent magical presence. And as far as they had seen, the only ones who could use magic were the Nightwings.
As they entered the town, they couldn't help but noticing all the houses seemed to be closed, with the people that they saw scrambling to hide. The wolf stopped in front of one of the doors, and then barked at it as the group approached it. The door then opened revealing someone that Zack and Cody knew they recognized. "Oh, Twilight, who did you bring." The person's eyes seemed to light up as he saw the group. "How is this possible?"
"So that was you back then."
"Yes, the Nightwings wouldn't let me escape," he said. "But you are obviously not from this world. Come in, I have much to learn from you."
…
A/N: Okay, so you probably noticed that I updated all three stories in this series today, Red, Black, and Unclouded By Hate, showing the three parts of the story. And after 4 years, if you're reading this, you're probably hoping that I don't just disappear again. Well, I'm not someone who wants to do that either, so I have already a couple more chapters written.
And by couple, I mean all of them.
Well, other than the epilogue which will explain some things, but besides that I have finished writing Red, Black, and Unclouded By Hate. I ended up doing this for National Novel Writing Month in 2015, with the plan to start posting this at the start of the year, but got lazy with editing, and haven't had much motivation to edit, but I finally am doing this. The rest of the chapters still need some pretty heavy editing to at least be decent, and I realize that there are flaws with the plot of the story as a whole, but flaws or not, I am going to finish this. And to my old fans that are still around, or the new ones I may pick up along the way, it's good to be back.
