Chapter 9

Wherever I was, this bed was really comfy. I stretched out, feeling so refreshed I couldn't help but grin. Seriously, this was heaven! Just like those beds they had at the Double Tree Hotel back in my home world, with the big fluffy blankets and the warm sheets, and the-

"I take it that means you're awake now. It's about time." And just when I thought I had it so great, Mr. Grouchy has to ruin it for me- hey wait! Mr. Grouchy?! I nearly bolted up and looked around, only to find Michelangelo himself sitting in a big window seat, looking as happy as ever. Needless to say, I screamed and jumped back.

"STALKER!" I shrieked, pointing at him, to which he replied by dropping his forehead into his hands in a very 'why me' type fashion.

"Give me a break, Naomi. Someone had to watch over you and everyone else is too busy."

"So now you're watching me sleep?! That's sick!"

"No, not like that," he answered, sounding exasperated. "Don't you remember what happened?"

"…What happened?" Then the memory came rushing back to me. The execution, the Raid, Jericho's gallant rescue… everything. I bit my lip. "Where's the Prince?"

"In his own room. He tried to stay with his brother, but after all the needles and tubes they stuck in him, he just couldn't handle it." My stomach clenched.

"Is… he alright? Jericho, I mean." Mike was quiet for a moment, and kept his eyes on the ground. Then he looked up, met my eyes and shook his head.

"No. He's not." I felt a terrible wave of fear spread through me. I threw my covers off and stepped towards him.

"Is he dying?!"

"I can't say, Angel. I just know he's… a real mess. They've been working on him since we got here about…" he looked at the decorative clock on the night stand, "nine hours ago."

"Nine hours?!"

"Well, his bones were- are, in pieces. Besides, we're very short on doctors right now. But on the bright side, he would be dead if you hadn't saved him."

"…I saved him?" Mike just nodded.

"I don't know where the hell it came from, but I've never seen power like that before." Probably knowing I was about to launch into another zillion questions, he quickly added, "but that's for later. Get dressed and I'll show you around. But be careful, you didn't come out of that unscathed, either." He gestured to my belly. I looked down, finding that I was wrapped up from the base of my breasts down to my hips. I also noticed that I was hardly wearing anything except my bra and a pair of shorts. My face turned beet red, but Mike just let out a subtle laugh. "Jericho saved you before much damage was done. You were lucky. Just a few minor cracks. Should be healed in no time."

Mike left the room and waited for me outside while I got dressed. I don't know what happened to my clothes, but whoever took them left me with a beige camisole and a simple pair of cotton shorts that hung down to my knees. Ugh, so not my style. Or color. Anyway, I used the comb on the oversized vanity to sort out my hair, and then left the room to join Mike.

"So where are we, exactly?" I asked as he led me down a hallway that was lined with numbered doors and classy bits of furniture with a luxurious red carpet, and the occasional crystal chandelier.

"California," Mike replied, "Or at least, what will be California in the far future of this world." He looked over at me. "This is the Renegade HQ, Angel."

"…Whoa."

"Not quite what you expected?"

"…Nope. It's so…" I paused to look out of one of the windows along the hall, "sunny!"

"What'd you expect? The beach is right over there," he said casually, pointing to the west.

"The beach!" I exclaimed like a child at Christmas.

"Don't tell me you've never been."

"No!"

"I'll show you later."

"Oh, can't we go now? Please?"

"Not now."

"But why?!"

"Because there's a certain Persian Prince who would love to know that you're okay." Well that killed my enthusiasm. He was right. I couldn't afford to be selfish right now. Not with Jericho on the brink of death and the Prince probably worried half to death for both me and his brother.

"…Right. Sorry, I forgot."

The Prince's room was directly down the hall from mine. Mike knocked, and after a half-hearted "come in", he opened the door for me. The Prince was seated on his own large, luxurious bed, looking terrible, like he hadn't slept. But once he saw me, he stood up in surprise. I lost my patience at that moment and just ran into his arms.

"Oh, Gods, Naomi, you're okay," he breathed into my hair.

"I'm alright. How about you?" He pulled back to look me in the eye.

"I've been better."

"Jericho?" I questioned, wondering if that was really a smart thing to ask. He dropped his gaze.

"…Yes." I hugged him again, not sure what to say.

"He'll be okay," I said softly, though I'm not so sure I mean it.

"I hope so," the Prince replied, "He better recover completely so I can strangle him myself!" His voice cracked, and he tried to laugh, but it didn't work so well for him.

"Well, considering the way he was spitting up blood when they got him here, I wouldn't get my hopes up."

I practically leapt backwards. I probably would've if the Prince hadn't been holding me so tightly.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

"Ok, I don't know what the hell is going on with me these days, but I can hear that darker half of yours!" The Prince looked at me oddly for a moment.

"Hear me? Oh, pah. No she can't."

"The hell I can't!"

"You can't hear—What the hell?!"

"What the hell?!" I repeated right after. "Oh, this is creeeeeepy…" I moved out of the Prince's arms to sit on the bed.

"Well if you can hear me then-"

"…What in the world?"

"What, Naomi?" The Prince said.

"It stopped!"

"What stopped?" I looked over at Mike, who was watching this whole thing play out in a half amused, half totally freaked out manner.

"His voice. It stopped!" I held out my hand. I wonder… "Give me your hand." The Prince does as I ask and gently grips my hand, but nothing comes from his mind but silence. Ok, maybe he just needs some provoking. I stand up, lean to the Prince's ear and shout, "Hey Darkly! Say something!" Surprised, the Prince cringed away, holding his ear, giving me a look like I'd gone nuts.

"Like what?"

"Aha!"

"What 'aha'? You nearly lost me my hearing," the Prince complained.

"I think it only works when we're touching," I explained, letting go of his hand. But suddenly feeling a little guilty, I leaned forward and gently kissed the Prince's ear. "There. All better?" He cracked a smile and pulled me into his arms again.

"Well, I hate to interrupt this touching reunion, but my father wants a word with you, Naomi," Mike interrupted. I sighed, resting my head on the Prince's chest.

"What for?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. He just left me with specific instructions to bring you to him after you woke up and let the Prince know you were fine." I groaned, not sure if I really wanted to leave now that I was finally back in Sora's arms. "He can come too. Now let's go." Now smiling, I took the Prince's hand and we followed Mike out.

On the way to Mike's dad's office, he took us along the scenic route and showed us the basic layout of the building. Quite frankly, it was not at all what I was expecting. The place was absolutely amazing! Those Renegades had thought of everything! There was a gourmet kitchen with several highly trained chefs, a dinning room than could put a five star restaurant to shame, there was a full size gym with loads of equipment for everything from weight lifting to fencing, there was a spa, a swimming pool, a huge den complete with every video game system known to man, a flat screen TV, a ginormous stereo system, and shelves upon shelves of movies. And then there was my favorite part, the library! Big library! Huge library! I probably would've gone crazy in there if the Prince hadn't held me back.

"Hey Mike?" I called out as he led us down yet another hallway.

"Yeah," he said in reply.

"How exactly do you guys get all this stuff, anyway? I mean, it's not like there's some wonder emporium down the street…"

"The same way they get things up in the Heavens," he answered.

"And that is…"

"Lord, didn't you learn anything in that school?" I paused, memories of all the nice long naps and zoning out and staring at cute guys coming back to me.

"Uhh… I leaned to… fly?" I offered a smile when he turned to shoot me a 'you've got to be kidding' look.

"Fine," he said after a prolonged groan. "It's like this. You know how there are different worlds, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, as far as we know, there's only one Heaven. So therefore, the Heavens are connected in one way or another to these other worlds. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but there are ways to travel into these places and bring things back. Although, a lot of the stuff here we took from right under the Council's nose."

"I'll bet they were peeved about that," I commented.

"Oh, they were. Believe me. But, it was worth it." He refocused his attention down the hall. "My father's office is just around that corner. Come on."

Unfortunately, the moment I entered the room, the first thing I noticed was not the fact that it was really big, or the pricey, incredibly classy furniture that looked like it belonged in a museum rather than an office. No, the first thing I noticed was Mike's dad, Aslan, shaking hands with Councilmen Ryuunokuse.

"Holy crap!" I cried, leaping back and stumbling into the Prince, nearly knocking him down. "What the crap is he doing here?!" Mike just snorted a laugh and breezed past me into the room.

"Oh, Naomi!" Aslan greeted me, just as cheerful and friendly as I remembered him to be. "Glad you finally woke up. Please, come in." I swallowed hard and cautiously walked in, holding on tight to the Prince's hand.

"Don't look so tense, child," Ryuunosuke said, seeing my obvious reaction to his presence. "I'm on your side."

"Um, ok… but just a few hours ago you were sitting with the other Council members while I was about to be killed," I said, still skeptic. His expression didn't change.

"Naomi, he is the one responsible for saving you," Aslan explained, "The raid was his idea." I'm pretty sure my mind and face went blank for a moment. Councilor Ryuunosuke… on my side? Really? Could I really trust these people?

"I know I seemed very indifferent back in the Heavens, but there are reasons," Ryuunosuke told me. "For the past year or so everyone has been trying to get their hands on you. It's been one huge grabbing contest. Until now, that is."

"Grabbing contest?" I echoed, confused, "what makes me so important?"

"That's what we're about to tell you," Aslan said. He motioned towards a couple of comfy looking chairs. I looked ast hte Prince and we made our way over and plopped down. Ooh! They were comfy! "There is a reason that everyone wants to get their hands on you, and there is a reason why your trail was so unfair." At that point, our meeting was interrupted when some small, young, professional looking guy knocked at the door, slipped in, and handed Alsan a rolled up piece of paper.

"Sir," he said simply.

"Thank you," Aslan replied, just before he slipped back out. Everyone was quiet as he looked over whatever had been given to him. I don't know what it was that made me so nervous about it… maybe it was the serious expression that came over his face, or the grim look in his eyes… I bit my lip and felt my stomach squeeze when he handed it to Ryuunosuke. "Jericho," he said simply.

"What about Jericho?" I blurted out, not liking how weak my voice sounded. Aslan shook his head.

"They finished patching him up. He's on life support. Can't breathe on his own." I felt as though all the breath had been knocked clean out of me. The Prince's grip on my hand tightened. When I looked over, he was taking long, deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

"I'm sorry about your brother, Prince," Ryuunosuke said softly, "But I've seen that boy pull out of some bad situation. I wouldn't worry too much about him."

"…Something happened to him during the battle," the prince said firmly, looking up, "after he gave Naomi to me and told me to run, I did, but I stopped and looked back. He was just standing there rubbing his eyes…" Ryuunosuke met his gaze with a look of understanding, and I couldn't help but notice Mike tense up from his leaning position on the far table.

"I see," Ryuunosuke replied. "He didn't want me to say anything about it, but Jericho's eyesight was failing him." Both the Prince and I looked up in surprise. "Detached retinas. Probably from being hit in the head too many times. I've known that boy for a long time. He was more than capable of taking the golem down. He must've gone blind just before he went on the attack." A huge wave of guilt washed over me. Poor Jericho had been going blind for who knows how long. He was in no condition to fight! If only I hadn't gotten myself into all this trouble, he wouldn't have had to come to my rescue and none of this would've happened to him! We'd probably still all be back in Babylon, laughing and joking and having a good time. I might even be married right now.

"Councilor?" I said, my voice not as strong as I would like it to be.

"Yes?" Ryuunosuke responded.

"Back in the Heavens, during my trial, Angelica and Benjamin kept referring to Jericho as an outlaw… Why?" I asked, remembering how mad I was at how they kept lying about him. Ryuunosuke grimaced, his age lines darkening.

"Well, quite frankly, Naomi, they were lying." Even though I already knew this, the bluntness of his answer surprised me. "There haven't been very many Warrior Angels in our recent history, but the few I can remember before Jericho were around before Angelica took control of the Council. It used to be a bit different." He met my eyes. "There were only a few, and they were like a special ops team, only called on when a situation was serious. They were very well trained, but well treated and respected."

"So what happened?" I asked, showing a little disdain. "Why was Jericho so damn special that he had to be tortured?"

"Things changed when Angelica took over the Council. We hadn't had a Warrior in a while, since the previous team had either been killed in action or were unable to fight any longer. Then Jericho came along and showed tons of promise, which, needless to say caught Angelicas attention. She's the one who changed things so that he would act more as a very secret weapon than part of the military," he explained.

"So… they were lying in order to cover their own asses."

"Yes, something like that. I didn't want anything like that to happen to the boy, but I hardly had a say so in it. Especially when she used his family against him so he had no choice but to agree."

"Butterfly…" the Prince muttered under his breath, his eyes now on the floor.

"Well, fat lot of good it did him," I snapped, "He lost his sister anyway!"

"I know," the Councilor said, looking a little… sad.

"Things used to be much different up there," Aslan told us, also looking a little regretful. "Before Angelica took over. Back when Apollo was alive." I blinked.

"Apollo? Apollo who?"

"Apollo Hammond. He was High Councilor before Angelica forced him out and slandered his name." I jumped up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Apollo as in… that Apollo? The one from the stories?!" I exclaimed.

"The one and the same."

"But… but he… I… everyone says he went all crazy mad with power and…"

"Lies. All a bunch of elaborate lies created by his insane sister," Aslan said firmly, and I swear I saw a glint of rage in his yes.

"It's true," Ryuunosuke agreed, "both of us were around when Apollo was still in charge. He was… a good man. And a damn good leader."

"And a damn good brother," Aslan added, but before I could ask what that meant, Aslan looked at me, his expression now somewhat sorrowful, and said. "But there's someone else who can explain it all better than I could." I sat back in my chair, wondering what in the world he was talking about, when he turned to the door and called, "Una!"

"Una…?" I muttered softly, and looked at the Prince, who was sitting there quietly, just taking the whole thing in. There were only two Una's I knew in my whole life, and even though she was tall and blonde, it sure as hell wasn't the actress who walked through the only other door in the room.

I was immediately back on my feet again, at a total loss for words. She nodded once to Aslan and scanned the room, her familiar brown eyes quickly resting on me, and widening with recognition. The whole room was silent, until I spoke.

"…Mom?"


Kiri: Woot! cliffy!

Naomi: HOLY CRAP.

Kiri: what? It's just your mother.

Naomi: Yeah, but still! Holy crap!

Dark Prince: Aww, feeling sentimental?

Naomi: ... shut it.

Kiri: Well, anyway, I have some concerns about the story now that I've returned from the dead. First of all, I'm getting kinda afraid that I've been away from Prince of Persia so long that I'm starting to lose the Prince's character, as well as the Dark Prince. If any of my readers have comments about this, then PLEASE share them with me, yeah?

Naomi: Where is the Prince, anyway?

Dark Prince: I dunno.

Naomi: ... really.

Dark Prince yeah, really.

Naomi: Then what's with that rope there?

Dark Prince: o.o; Rope? what rope? (hiding it behind back) I see no rope!

Naomi: (glare)

Kiri: ANYWAY. Second, I was thinking about trying to put together an origional version of this story, but I'm not real sure what to do with the things I would have to change. Does anyone have any suggestions? (pretty smile) But I suppose I should do the FAQ now.

Q: So the Renegade HQ is basically like a five star hotel in a pre-civilization California?

A: Pretty much. Not what anyone expected, eh?

Mike: They probably thought we shaked up in some gothic castle in transylvania or somethin. Heh.

A: Prolly.

Q: Why California?

A: Because it's hot, sunny and has pretty beaches, or at least, it DID until too many people moved in and the beaches are now too polluted to go to half the time. Stupid people! you ruin everything! Oh, and Disneyland. Can't forget Disneyland, even though it's ALSO packed full of stupid tourists! So I figued it'd be prettier and less crowded back during the the time of ancient persia.

Naomi: Heh. And here I thought it was just because you lived there.

Q: Is Jericho gonna be ok...?

A: sure.

Q: really?

A: why don't you read and find out for yourself?

Q: fine. But you know that Uma Thurman's name of Uma, not Una, right?

A: Yes, I know. But that didn't strike me until after I finished the chapter, and I was too lazy to take it out.

Q: So what's gonna happen now which this weird explaination thing?

A: oh, you'll see. The next chapter will cover that. And maybe the one after that.

Kiri: Well, that'sd all I can give away for the moment. I'm actually starting to pump these out now! Let's hope I can keep it that way, shall we? I'm already working well into the next chapter, so it should be done soon. So until next time... (singing) So long! Farewell! Untill we meet again...!