· · · · · · ·

"So where to?" Michal asked.

"Romania, Ardeal, according to a the wight I last spoke to. Lady Bat has joined some vampire clan there," Michel said.

"Well, it happens to be so that my bodyguards have this ridiculously fast helicopter," Michal said. "Convenient, no?"

Indeed, there was a state of the art helicopter with feather blade and no counter-rotor behind the mansion. But regardless of its advance, it was still built for humans. Michel wished he had taken along one of Seira's magical cloths, which could hide his wings ... they got in the way. A lot. Worming inside the helicopter took about a minute, then another ten minutes were spent sticking around Michel's wings. After the reserve pilot had stepped in, they took off.

Michal pulled a wing to shield them from the two bodyguard across while signing them to put their headgear on; she wanted privacy. Michel had told her about what he now knew of Lanhua and Alala, so she asked : "How did you get them to agree?"

After some hesitation, he explained, "We were happy, for a while. But I saw them look out onto the earth, missing everything about it, ... so I offered them to leave. I would sort myself out and if they ever wanted to come back, they could — not that I anticipated much of that. It wasn't until they heard that last part that they even agreed. But if I had known how things would end up, I wouldn't have sent them."

"How exactly did it work, finding them homes?"

"I didn't find the places, but I suggested nations where the Aqua Regina could ask. During my quest for allies, I've met a lot of the hidden folk. Only the one I suggested for Lady Bat actually accepted, so Alala and Lanhua agreed on living as humans."

"What a poor idea. My father was a scientist, he never cared for mythology. Even when he found his wife was magical, he did not care for legends, but for facts. That's why he had such a limited vision on the creation of minions, he only knew storybook fairies and vampires."

"So what?"

"Did you know the whole vampire mythology is a big hoax? Vlad Tepes never was anything but an ordinary man, but as time passed, other nature spirits have taken up the trend. The magic world is modernizing, but goes about it a little differently than humans do. The vampires you sent Lady Bat to probably are something else."

"You're saying they're impostors?" As if he needed new reasons to be worried.

"Not quite. The myths of vampires originate in late enlightenment mythology, supposedly being demons that possessed corpses and came to eat people. Nowadays we call that zombies. That never actually happened, but a bunch of fairies took a liking to the idea of enigmatic blood suckers that started much, much later. At least, according to my research. I would have thought that you would know more than me, being what you are. Or the Aqua Regina, for that matter."

"The former Aqua Regina had been sealed for centuries, so neither of us are up to date with the current movements of magical creatures."

"Ah. The reason Alala and Lanhua became humans was because neither your nor Aqua Regina managed to find a place for them amongst the fairies? I'll tell you something funny. Daemon once referred to what we now call fairies, angels, fairy-godmothers, youkai, zână, nature spirits and so on, who could be either good or bad. Presently, demon means fallen servants of God. Meanwhile, the word fayerye derives from a type of demigods who decided fate, and they originally were seen as what we now call ghosts, fallen angels, and other nature or death spirits, which often had an elemental streak. Presently, fairy means a benevolent lady with insect wings. The meanings of the two words have pretty much been changed places in the past few hundred years. Classically speaking, you, your three friends and the Ancients are all demons."

"Michal, is there any particular point you're trying to make?" Michel said impatiently.

"Oh, I talk too long again? Alright. You're stupid. To find Lanhua and Alala homes, you went looking for cheery fairies and knocked on the door of fayerye, a less than moral and far more morbid nation in general, while you should have knocked on the door of the agathodaemon and his kin. You were applying modern day meanings on the classical meanings."

"But ... those fairies said they said the Lanhua and Alala were simply too large to live with them! I've seen them myself, they were —"

"Shape shifters, like all fairies, so size doesn't matter to them and those wings were probably fake. I would bet you five cookies and an ocean that they waved you off cause you didn't offer them gold and did the same thing when meeting up with the old Aqua Regina ... Michel, can you stop bashing your head against the window? It hurts."

· · · · · · ·

The Poienari Citadel stood on a cliff and they were obligated to land down the road. Not a problem.

There were wonderful advantages to being a filthy rich and world famous orchestra conductor. Such as calling the authorities who controlled the site, telling them he was interested in the location for vaguely defined musical purposes, mention money, and that he would like a evening to visit the place in a perfectly undisturbed fashion. As a result, all was perfectly quiet up here while the maestro "tested out the acoustic of of the Poienari Citadel". He had even ordered his guards to pack a few jukeboxes and other fancy looking things, and they'd play music in the ruin to test said acoustic. Officially speaking.

In other words, Licht Amagi was taking all possible precautions against a potential horde of ravenous vampires. In lieu of silver bullets, holy water — he didn't bother with garlic, that was just silly — and any skill with stakes, he had an (albeit recorded) orchestra of magical mind control music. Hopefully vampire psyche worked like human psyche.

"Licht? What are you doing here?" There was also the little thing where he hadn't quite told Michal he didn't trust Michel to protect well enough,especially with today's lifeforce-sucking monster theme.

"If you two are going to run around looking for vampires, I'd rather come along," he said as he took off the pilot's helmet and stepped out.

"How did you get into the chopper?" Michel asked. Licht could hear the sting and ignored it.

"I pay these people. If I say, I'm replacing the co-pilot, then I replace the co-pilot."

"You can't pilot helicopters. What if there was an emergency?" Michal objected.

"What if either of you runs low on energy in the middle of a swarm of vampires? Michal, halo or not, you are still weak. I have my music ready should it become necessary. Granted, a life orchestra would have been better, but the jukeboxes will have to do."

"I'll fly ahead," Michel said sharply, and so he did, after having untangled his hair from his wings.

"I don't quite get it, but you did something rude," Michal said.

"I guess I did," Licht said with a sigh.

The two bodyguards and the pilot unpacked the load quietly. Modern technology stood for very little, especially when one had magical microphones to base their designs on, but the two guards still would have their arms full on the way up. Michal looked at the shadowed figures indifferently, but Licht by now had learned how Michal expressed discontent beyond facial expression. The sharp angle with with she turned and the stiff fingers indicated she was rather pissed off.

As they moved through the forest, up a stairway with rusty railing, he could see a flash of white beyond the foliage quite often. Michel seemed to circle the area and search for anything dangerous. That the day would come he'd compare himself to that person, but they did have something in common ... now. In fact, they had an uncomfortable lot in common. As Licht wanted to care for Michal, Michel was on his way to take care of his family in Lady Bat, Lanhua and Alala.

Michel rejoined them at the top of the hill, right before they were to enter the castle.

"I found no obvious danger, but the clan we're looking for his shifted into an alternate layer of reality. I'll open it shortly."

Up here, red bricks had been used to rebuild parts of the wall that had collapsed where once had been only gray lime stones, created a disfigured castle. The handrails were newer than on the stairs and all the more disruptive to the sight of the old ruins. But that was nothing compared to what they found upon entering the dream layer of the atmosphere.

For regular humans, this was nothing was an old ruin, but upon passing the glamor into the dream layer, the citadel seemed less haunted and more ...

"These folks subscribe to the modern day interpretation of fairy," Michal said with a hint of amusement.

"Are you certain this is the right address?" Licht muttered in evident disbelief as he looked over the hall they currently stood in, which should be too large for the room they had been in prior to shifting realms.

Its decorator did not seem very much fond of the Gothic And Angsty Vampire tradition, for the scene they found made mermaid palaces look virtually mundane. Ornamented banners and chandeliers with flames in all colors of the rainbow left little wall to be seen while a splash of vibrant blue carpets stretched across the floor. A magical orchestra of violins and flutes played by invisible hands and the tables were covered with a rich array of food and wine : breaded pork, minced meat rolls with herbs, eggplant pie ... in short, a notable lack of blood and woe.

Something else was missing too. Despite the liveliness of the hall and the aroma of freshly served food, there were no people to enjoy it.

Michel folded his wings close and walked past the extravaganza with a snort. He glared around disdainfully, but Michal curiously lingered at a candelabrum and held her fingers close to the fire, first cautious, then found her belief true : it was fake. She tried to pinch it out with her fingers, but it sprung back to life right away.

"Oh, I've been searching for this type of magic for long! I have to ask who made this," she muttered to herself. Then she took out her phone to make a few photos of the place.

Licht hummed a little as he proceeded, testing the magical fields of the area. Aside of some mild ignition magic, nothing destructive was to be found about the place. A lot of intricate weaving echoed back to his hearing, but all of it was of the docile structure magic.

With a few silent signs, Licht told the other two to spread out and look for signs of life, the boxes and player they could leave behind. The men separated into the other chambers and halls, while Licht remained close to Michal.

There, a slight rustle aside of a table with untouched snacks, and a slight distortion of light.

Licht knelt down to get a better look and much to his surprise, he found a childlike creature. It was about a meter tall, with pale skin and blue lips and eyes, clad in a hybrid of Romanian dress and modern clothing, ornamented in an almost psychedelic way. From this angle the creature was clearly visible, yet from above it blended into the surrounding; a magical optical illusion.

Clouded eyes looked up at the conductor. Licht expected panic, but it merely smiled at him.

"Strangers? Can I help thee?"

"We're looking for a certain Lady Bat, you could help us find him," Licht said while helping the unstable creature sit down in a nearby chair.

"Sorry, little ... little elevated in the head. A description?"

"Organic, transgender male, batwinged, speaks fluid Japanese, sucks people's memories and hypnotizes," said Michel, who had walked over.

"Oh, that sir! E was awesome. A little weird with the fashion sense, but awesome. Lived with our clan for quite bit of time. We fought crime and had fashion shows. And the voice! Gave us many great ideas too. Who would have thought changing into bats would be cool again?"

"Oh dear seas, are those vampires leaving a trail of sparkles?" Michal blurted out somewhere at the other end of the room. The two men looked over to see a procession of other pale humanoids pass by a door, indeed with a trail of glitter.

"THAT wasn't Lady Bat's idea. That's from The Tome of Abstinence Golems," the vampire on the chair with sudden wildness.

"Never mind that. About Lady Bat, where did he, she ... whatever, where to?"

"Marvelous question. Do you know were we can find werewolves? It's all the latest thing for werewolves and vampires to make best buddies, but we don't find any!"

"I'm sorry, I do not know any werewolves. But you know Lady Bat, please tell us!" Licht urged.

Michel tapped Licht on the shoulder. "They're essentially drunk, all of them. We'll have to find a way to fully wake them up before we can expect answers."

"Answers are nice ... I can wake up." The childlike creature rubbed its eyes and yawned, then went wide eyed as it saw one of the bodyguards enter again.

"The Men In Black! They've come back!"

At once, all over the hall did creatures such as this one suddenly blend out of the surrounding, like chameleons forgetting to camouflage at the moment of danger.

"There is no need to fear these men, they are our bodyguards and have no ill will to magical creatures. Me and my two companions are magical ourselves, and we only wish information," Licht said calmly. Noting the only slow comprehension on the creature's face, he added, "The Men In Black are from a movie about aliens and don't exist and even if they did, you're either fairies or demons, but not extraterrestrials. The black suit is standard for bodyguards in Europe and many other places. "

"Really? We are? So Transylvania is in Europe now?"

"This is Romania, it has always been the location of Transylvania."

"And we be on Earth? Did thy not speak of extraterrestrials?"

Licht sighed and stood up, frustrated. "What is wrong with them?"

"You can call it being drunk, stoned or mesmerized. They've lived in this world built on scent and sight without true solidity for so long, without true waking or sleep, that their consciousness is impaired. It's in a way the opposite of the realm of my clan. Do you notice how thick everything here is? The magic, the colors, the sound ... it's a poorly built dreamlayer. We shouldn't stay here for too long."

"You're right, maybe we can take one of th — Michal, no!"

Too late. She had picked up a nearby book, charged it with energy and hit the vampire on the head.

"Solidity," she simply said, then put the book back.

"Michel, you can't just attack people like that."

"Don't try arguing over this, cause it seems to have worked. She won't back down if she was right in some way or another," Licht said with a mild smile.

The vampire indeed grew clearer eyes, and the surreal way it partially blended into the surrounding fell away entirely. Now somehow much taller than before, it stood up and said with a curt bow, "My apologies for this worthless state you find us in. Had we been awake truly, you would have been able to make a proper appointment."

It looked around and saw its kin, still dreaming and frightened, slowly sinking back into the walls and furniture and it quickly turned away from the sight.

"To answer your previous question, yes, Lady Bat had joined us in Castle Bran well over a decade ago. Life was well, until a group of humans somehow entered our realm and attempted to capture us. Lady Bat defeated them and took their memories of the place and our escape, but was unable to do anything about the information in their computer. They found us again and it became apparent they were after Lady Bat. E once more stole the memories of these people, and we moved again, but this time, Lady Bat separated from us. E said something about going undercover as a human somewhere, for our safety. E had broken into the control vehicle of the operation, we don't know what e found there, but it must have changed hes mind about staying with us. That was about two years ago and we haven't been bothered since, so they were probably after hem. I regret that I can't help you further. We would love to have him back, as you can see around here, we're not much worthy at the moment. Lady Bat kept us with our feet on the ground."

"Another dead end," Michel muttered.

"Is there any clue you can tell us as to where he might have gone, or what kind of a life he might have pursued as a human?" Michal asked.

"Let me think ... Radu Chiroptere. I once heard him speak of how he would like to start an entertainment end ... thingy ... in the human world ... It's ... what?"

· · · · · · ·

They left the vampires with the promise to return Lady Bat, but as the one they'd spoken to was already sinking back into sleepy bliss, that might have gone unheard. Licht couldn't help but pity them, even if they didn't seem all that unhappy.

"Michel, what's going to happen to them if they go on like this?" Licht asked when they had arrived back at the helicopter. They had gone ahead while Michal stayed behind, as she wanted to make a few photographs from the castle.

"They'll blend with their magic until they lose consciousness forever. After that I do not know. It's an unnatural existence, they're stuck between the spirit realm and the regular realm."

Licht said no more as he quietly considered whether he could afford adding these creatures to his protectorate... oh, that was no question.

Michel became nervous of the silence quickly and said, "I know you have a problem with me that never got resolved, and I don't need forgiveness. But you need to understand that I'm not here to take your place."

Licht sharply looked aside. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're jealous."

That was probably right. Taking care of Michal had always been Licht's main goal in life, it was his duty and his drive to make up for what his father had lacked. He knew. But few take easy on others bluntly telling them denied truths.

"Jealous? I have no reason to be jealous of you, don't tell yourself things," he snapped.

"I know Michal," he said. "And she knows you."

Did that mean they'd been talking about him, or did it only refer to something Michal felt, perhaps irritation at Licht's protectiveness? Or maybe Michel just had an eye for people who leave concerns unspoken, judging by his next phrase : "She didn't want you to come, because ... because ... never mind."

Licht felt as if he'd been disarmed of his anger, and when Michel walked away he was only left bitter.

"Michel, please tell me," Licht heard himself say.

The angel stopped and with a tired tone, he said : "She hopes that Lady Bat has her memories, and that she'll become more like the first Michal ... somebody who has all aspects of a human being."

"She can't be that Michal, even she says so herself, identity hangs on brain structure," Licht said in frustration, but soon the words took effect and he fell into another silence. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Michal approached them, running. She came to a halt before them, uncharacteristically looked at the two with a mild glare, only to pass by wordlessly.

"Oh no. She's going to try to somehow do something about my mood and I don't like that she's mischievous about it," Michal groaned. Licht smiled involuntarily; he had been wondering for years whether the awkward moments that Michal initiated on convenient moments were intentional or not. There was his answer, now impatient for them to get on the helicopter.

They'd barely taken off when she told Michel : "That was nice of you, to comfort Seira when she was all anxious."

"I didn't ... uhm ..." Licht saw Michel go a little red from the corner of his eyes.

"You did something along those lines."

"I wasn't thinking clear at the time and I was out of bounds."

"Aww, you're going to do the whole gotta keep my distance thing?"

"Have you been talking to Kaito?" Michel snapped.

"No. So he can tell me something interesting?" Michal replied with a broad smile.

"Nothing you're not aware of already. Drop it!"

Well, Licht had to give his sister this, for all her stupidity on the social field, pulling Michel off of his socket had the awful effect of humanizing the angel to him. Blasted.

"Okay. How about I give Seira a call then?" she said as she conjured up her phone. Michel's eyes went wide.

"She's in the middle of dealing with a refugee flock, don't bother her about this!" Michel objected. Licht made a mental note that the next time he talked with Michel about angsty subjects, he would do so when Michal was asleep, as to avoid any rash decisions on her behalf.

"That's exactly why I'm calling her now. She'll be so busy she'll probably blurt out something interesting."

"Michal! You can't act like this!" Licht said with half a heart. The other half of the heart had run off to an amused corner in his mind, and was watching from a telescope.

"Hmm ... I'm guessing I'm doing something offensive? It certainly feels that way."

"I'm starting to get why Licht is so frustrated with how you ended up," Michel muttered, realizing later than Licht what this would do. Years of interaction was hardly the same as sharing a soul separated by thousands of miles, and that was one thing Licht had in advantage to Michel : greater self control and knowing what rubbed Michal the wrong way.

Michal gave Michel a furious glare and opened the cell phone to speed dial Seira. Michel dodged for the phone, but Michal shifted in her seat and firmly set a foot against Michel's chest, pushing him to the other end of the helicopter.

"Aarrrgh!" he yelped as one of his wings twisted.

"Sorry." Michal probably meant it, but seemed first and foremost gleefully irritated at being given an excuse to not heed Michel's objections. If Licht understood this shared emotions thing correctly, Michal might actually be acting on Michel's feelings. Once, Michel had given her a feeling of obsessive devotion to Kaito in order manipulate her with ease. Did that work in reverse too? If so, did Michal realize it?

Licht watched them bicker back and forth, and despite everything, particularly a little bit of unwanted jealousy, a smile tugged at his lips. For life's sake, Michal hadn't seemed so naturally open in a long time. Neither of the two seemed to fully realize just what a spectacle they put up here, right under the eyes of two mildly baffled guards and Licht himself.

The phone rang and Michal let a little push off her foot so that Michel could at least sit more normal, but had no chance to actually grab the phone. He settled for grudging acceptance, and so they waited.

And longer.

The chopper's monotone buzzed on.

And waited.

"Why isn't she answering?"

"Perhaps she lost the phone," Licht suggested.

"Seira can't lose things, she'd find them through her dream corridor."

"But that requires her to miss them first," he countered, though he was starting to feel troubled as well.

Just then, the other line finally opened. Michal listened and said only one thing, "Yes, Michal here." Then she lowered the phone and returned to a normal sitting pose, but Michal tensed up entirely and shock was all over his face.

"What?" he snapped.

"It seems Seira is in a life or death situation somewhere below a certain Garuda's claws," Michal said casually.

"What?"

"Mr. Smith, land!" Licht ordered at once.

Not as easily said as done, so they eventually landed on the road itself. Michel was barely out or he already leaped to the sky, Licht only just managed to hold him back by grabbing a wing and pulling him back the ground.

"Calm down. Think, do you have any chance of getting there in time?"

"No, ... I can't," Michel admitted. "But I have to do something! Maybe I can find some runebed nearby or —"

"Don't worry, I'll give Lucia and Kaito a call, they can surely get there in time. It's best way stay in one spot, so they can pick us up on the way," Licht said as he pulled out his own magic phone. But though it was answered quickly, it didn't offer a solution.

"Sorry, Mr Amagi, they're off to do something about the storms," said the little princess on the other end of the line.

"Alright, please try to reach them as soon as possible and tell them what I told you," Licht said. Just then, he saw something pass between Michal and Michel. Just a quick few glances at each other and around.

"I will do my best! Goodbye Mr Amagi," come from the phone, but Licht forgot to say goodbye cause Michel had taken to the sky, wrapped three black ropes from his flute around the pilot and bodyguards and flew away with the protesting men.

"What are you two up to?" Licht demanded.

"Saving Seira," Michal said while hauling the boxes and player back out of the storage compartment.

Michel set the three men down at the top of a nearby hill, then quickly returned.

"Why did I just get rid of your bodyguards and pilot?" he asked Michal.

"The speed and altitude with which we will be going is going to cause some issues, so only people with magic air substitute can come."

"Hold, have you even thought this over?" Licht interjected.

"We Panthalassa can breathe underwater, right? I haven't tested this hypothesis, but if that magic is as illogical as I suspect it is, it should also allow us to survive during other situations that impair air supply and pressure. So yes, I have thought it over," Michal declared as she popped open her backpack. Out she took a CD with strange inscriptions and a halo much alike she had given Michel. With a few rapid movements, she had placed the halo around the edge of the CD, then took it off again and placed the thinner remnant above her head. Climbing into the front seat of the chopper, she placed the CD in the jukebox's played — now seated on the empty spot of the co-pilot — and fiddled with the wires to hook it up to the chopper's system.

"Michal ..."

"Don't worry, brother. I can pilot this thing and this CD is designed especially as power conductor. You would not have allowed me to try it. So, the people that you could tell to put me back in the helicopter and ago home are away now. Oh, and thank you for that, Michel."

"No problem, just hurry up," Michel said.

Two rational arguments collided with each other. Licht didn't exactly know what this Garuda was, but judging by Michal and Michel's response, it was a big problem to Seira. Save Seira was a rational response, but so was how the heck are we going to get there? The first was chosen easily, especially since clinging to the second would probably mean being left behind here. Alright, so be it.

· · · · · · ·

"Michal, this helicopter is not built for these insane speeds!" Licht called ten minutes later, while Michel used a wing to more or less stuff a broken window.

"Licht, please don't do that. It is bad manners to bring up the laws of physics while seated in helicopter fueled by Caribbean Blue."

· · · · · · ·

The Laws Of Physics — The Sikorsky S-69 is a prototype helicopter that never hit the market, but holds the record for helicopter speed with about 518 km per hour. It would take a little over two hours to fly from Austria to Romania, assuming one had adequate fuel supply and good weather. They don't have a Sikorsky, but they have something very close to it and quite off the commercial map as well. More about that later.

The distance between their location in Romania and the location in the Indian ocean is roughly 6300 kilometers/3900 miles, a distance that would take them well over 10 hours to cross at their normal helicopter speed, meaning that at Enya-powered speed, they're traveling at 5000 kilometers per hour to get there. Humans can endure any speed, but acceleration not planned properly can be lethal. G-Force is the acceleration's pressure, and the record of G-force a human has survived is 46.2 x the force of gravity, but regular humans only endure about 17 x gravity force (horizontal axis, vertical is even less), and can only do so for a very short period of time, like, less than a second.

The Panthalassa clan however are not humans. They've lived at the bottom of the sea without any ill effect of their body, despite the massive pressure that exists there. Even Gackto, living down in an oceanic trench (he didn't die in the manga) seems to be doing perfectly fine. In fact, these guys move through water like it's not there. So, it can be assumed that Ridiculously Awesome Pressure Canceler is a superpower in this universe. Assume that everything demon/fairy/monster has it and will be able to handle a jump to plot convenient speeds without dying. Fortunately, the helicopter doesn't have it, so that's a small consolation for the laws of physics.

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