Disclaimer: What I said in the previous chapter in the 20th of December.
Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the long wait.
This chapter is not horrible, at least nowhere near as horrible to write as the last one... this one doesn't have much going on. But it took me longer than the Garlen chapter for reasons unknown. It took me the entire holidays and then three days to finish a bloody chapter. Urgh.
Leorina oriented chappie here.
Nobody moved for a while.
The mecha began to glow brightly with a familiar light, eventually being broken up into chunks of dreamstones and gold bars. In the midst of the loot lay a small golden key, twinkling innocently in the hall lights through the thinning smoke. There was, curiously enough, no body; but none of them really cared at the moment. Guntz stepped forwards, taking the key in his hand, but didn't touch anything else and sat back down on the floor, eyes closed and exhausted.
Leorina was looking around the hall. "There's nobody here except for us." She called weakly. "Garlen... must have escaped through the smoke... He could never have survived the breakdown process otherwise..."
"Never mind." Pango said softly. "Never mind. He can't do anything now."
"So what do we do now?" Klonoa asked quietly. Nobody answered this, for they all seemed totally unsure of this question; but Pango stood up nonetheless, collecting up the dreamstones and gold bars before they vanished into thin air.
"We can't stay here." He said. "Garlen must have sided with Nahatomb. So we have to go to the Darkness of Nahato as quickly as possible, and find Lolo before that." He placed the loot on the ground again, dividing them up into four. "Everyone take a share. We have to share loads like this."
"Do you even reckon Lolo is alive?" Klonoa murmured. Everyone stared at him. "In an explosion like this... look-" He pointed to the ceiling, where an entire corner of it had crumbled into dust. "-if Leorina was right about the structure of this building, the aftershock might have-"
"Don't say such things." Leorina said briskly. "I know that I said the laboratory was beyond here, but it's strong. The walls were made to be thick. Besides, we're alive. Sure as hell doesn't explain why the others in the lab won't be." She scooped up her share and put it into a sack. "Let us go. We can't stay here."
"Wait." Guntz said softly. But nonetheless, the voice was filled with uncharacteristic hostility; she stopped dead in her tracks. "You need to give us an explanation. How do you know so much about this place? Garlen seems to know you as well. What's going on?"
Leorina said nothing for a full minute. "Now isn't the time." She replied finally, her voice subdued. "We must leave. I'll tell you everything after we look around the lab." Without another word she walked away, examining the golden gate.
"We should go." Guntz said also after a while, and stood up. Pango helped the cabbit up, and when the whole group had reached the golden gate, Guntz took out the key and twisted it around the keyhole. Instantly the key melted into thin air, and the gate vanished, leaving the pathway clear to the exit.
Leorina looked into the laboratory. "There is no one here." She confirmed. "Lolo, was it? She... isn't here. No." She kept on looking around, while Klonoa collapsed behind her in agony and hopelessness.
"We came too late, didn't we?" He whispered. "Lolo's done for."
"I wouldn't jump to conclusions." Leorina replied. She gestured at a shelf. "Look. Everywhere else is dusty. This part isn't." She demonstrated this by wiping off a countertop with her finger. But the space in the large storage shelf - it was a large, box-shaped space - was clean and pristine. "Something's been removed here recently. Klonoa, how tall is Lolo?"
"She's about five feet..."
"There you go." She gestured at the space. "That's about five feet two. Knowing Garlen, and his disregard of living beings, he'd have put her in a container - possibly even frozen her temporarily. We might have gotten her if we'd come a little... earlier..." Her eyes fell on the floor. "Ah. That explains a lot." There were footsteps among the dust, messed up and disoriented like someone had tried a desperate escape.
"Is that Garlen's footprint?" Pango looked closely at the marks. They were dusty, and very messy indeed - but he managed to find an almost whole one. "Yes. I recognize the marks. That's Garlen all right. He must have escaped through the lab when the whole room was in smoke, and possibly might have taken Lolo with him."
"So we should have chased him through the smoke." Klonoa whispered. "So close and we couldn't save her..."
"Garlen is close by." Guntz said softly. "I sense him. He's no more than a few miles away from us."
"You 'sense' him?" Pango asked, looking curious. "How can you 'sense' him?"
Guntz flushed at the words. "It's just a figure of speech." He replied somewhat irritably. "Only pure common sense. It's been less than ten minutes since we beat Garlen, he's not going to get very far in that kind of time." He changed the subject quickly. "Anyway, what gives? Any ideas what we should do?"
"We go after him, of course." Leorina said matter-of-factly and turned to them. "The Darkness of Nahato has been brewing in the east. I'll take you to the place."
"And then you go back." Pango said. "It's too dangerous. We've involved you too much already. It's too dangerous for a girl to be out there."
Leorina huffed. "Excuse me? Hell no, I'm staying with you. As I've told you, I've got a score to settle with him. I've been waiting much too long." She looked around at them, her eyes clear and determined. "I'm staying with you and that's that."
"Leorina, it'll be safer if you allow us to handle this." Klonoa put in. "The people back there are waiting for you. You're too valuable to them, from what I've managed to hear back in the restaurant. It'll be better that way!"
The girl laughed somewhat half-heartedly. "Ah, young'uns are trying to lecture me." She sighed, and Klonoa couldn't help but giggle a little. "Under normal circumstances I would have had to back off like that. But no matter what you say, I'm staying here."
"Are you sure?" Klonoa asked again. "It's too dangerous..."
"Same goes for all of you." Leorina rebutted. "Besides, if you decide you'll send me back, I might as well go back now and leave you stranded. Think about it. Plus, I know about Garlen a lot, as Guntz very kindly pointed out a few minutes ago-" She nodded to him. "I might come in handy, don't you agree?"
In the end the group all had to agree about Leorina, and they set off for the Crimson Iris once more.
"I've put the Crimson Iris on autopilot." Leorina said as she returned from the head cabin. "I'd like to get some rest too... and talk to you, of course."
Guntz and Pango, who were sitting on the seats, nodded. Klonoa was looking out of the window, and he turned to her with a curious expression. Leorina sat down on a chair and leaned back, looking very, very tired for the first time they'd met her. "Guntz asked me why I knew so much about Garlen before. I'm about to tell you now, and the truth will probably make you want to chuck me out of the Crimson Iris. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you did that." She said, and then she lapsed into silence for about a minute, her head buried into her hands. Finally she looked up and faced them.
"I worked for Garlen. I was his private assistant."
This statement came as hollow in their ears, and they were completely unsure what to say about this; Leorina seemed to be bracing herself, but when nobody reacted she relaxed very slightly. "So... you aren't going to throw me out of the airship, then? Fine... I'll go on." She took a deep breath.
"I was first drawn into Garlen's world by pure chance. He was a renowned inventor that time. He didn't go by the name Garlen then. I've forgotten his original name - it hasn't been used for years now - but it was a mixture of different characters. Very feminine, if I remember right."
"Lambda?" Pango quietly offered. Leorina looked at him with surprise.
"Close." she said. "Very close. But I don't think anyone alive today will know his name. I was dragged into his office when he heard of my airship and my flying qualities. I thought it was wonderful - I mean, come on, I used to be a Sky Pirate, nobody's going to employ anyone of that profession, are they? - and I sided with him. He chose me out of about five hundred male aviators and pilots, because I was a girl, and according to him 'girls keep secrets'.' She made a face. "I don't know why I was so proud... For three years I worked with him."
"Go on." Guntz said. He seemed truly intrigued, being a hunter himself. "What made you change your mind?"
"His last great scheme." Leorina said with disgust. "During the first two years I'd worked with him I'd had some adoration for him at least. During the last year, though... he began to go really crazy. Garlen wasn't always insane. He came into contact with two other people that had wicked ambitions and apparently got the idea that he was powerful enough to rule Lunatea into his head. Those two people happened to be Janga and Joka - I mean, who else? Garlen's weakness is power. He'll do anything to get it. But I was still there. When I met those two people, and I heard of that plan, though..." Her face darkened. "That was when I began thinking that maybe it wasn't so great after all."
"You disobeyed him." Pango said.
"I did that much later. Garlen wanted to involve me in his plan as well. That is why I know about the Darkness of Nahato. I must admit that I was still new to all this. So I went along with it for the first half... but then when it came to me using my powers to control the five elements, I ran away."
"You can control the five elements?" Guntz asked, quite surprised. He winced as the hard back of the chair dug into his injured back and shifted positions a little. "But only accomplished priestesses can do that."
"I was a priestess before I became a Sky Pirate." Leorina said, although she seemed very reluctant to admit this. "I ran away because life was too horrible there. I really do feel sorry for Lolo, although I've never met her" Klonoa nodded. "I feel sorry for her, I truly do. If she isn't popular there she'll get nothing but years of hell. Imagine. Girl runs away from life of a priestess to become a hijacker." She laughed dully. "Nice."
"You've had a pretty rough life there." Guntz remarked, his face turned to the window. "But do the others on the Moon know about all this?"
Leorina stopped smiling. Her face fell and she quietly turned to the window, her silence speaking more than words.
"So what are you going to do when they find out?" The hunter asked again, looking seemingly indifferent. In fact, he seemed somewhat relieved that Leorina had turned away. "That's not going to stay secret for ever."
"Do you think I don't know that?" Leorina replied softly. "One day... maybe one day I'll tell them of my betrayal. Until I find Garlen..." She trailed off for a minute. "...my redemption is nowhere near complete. I want to help to save this world. I screwed it up quite badly before, so now I'm going to put it back again. And I'll do that by helping you." She turned to them, desperation written in her face. "I need your help. Please help me achieve this. Please let me help you all the way through."
There was no sound for a minute, except for the whirr of the engines.
"I'm glad you decided to share this with us." Pango broke the silence, and he was smiling. He even looked somewhat relieved and calm. "We will help you. Help us in return. Leorina, you don't seem like a bad girl; in fact you are very kind. After all this you won't have to feel guilty."
"Pango is right." Guntz added quietly. "Your past doesn't matter to us one little bit. We're helping each other and that's all we can hope for." He glanced at her. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still quite ticked at you for keeping that from us!" After saying this, he walked briskly out of the room, clearing his throat. He looked embarrassed at saying such things.
"That's translated as 'I'm glad you decided to tell us in the end'." Pango said. This was true, Klonoa and Leorina had to accept; Guntz was funny like that. However, Klonoa just had the nagging feeling that this wasn't right. Guntz had been acting oddly since they'd met Leorina - not oddly enough to be noticeable, but as for someone like Klonoa, who had sharp eyes and intuition, it was visible. The cabbit had no idea why the hunter was acting like such, and he certainly couldn't guess.
His mind idly flicked back two days ago. He had sworn not to forgive Guntz; or more accurately, he couldn't forgive the hunter - but now it just seemed dull, somehow unrealistic, and the cabbit almost wondered why he was hanging onto such a thing. After all, Janga had affected Guntz in his childhood. Guntz had played the game of vendetta perfectly in that sense. After all that he'd seen, Klonoa felt that the murder was nothing compared to it.
But then, if he forgave Guntz and let it go, he couldn't justify his actions in the battle.
He shouldn't have let Guntz get hurt. He really shouldn't have. As a Hero in training, that was unforgivable. Guntz was an associate, a companion... perhaps friend, if the hunter himself justified their relationship that way; and as a result, he should have protected the hunter. But he had done nothing, he had left the hunter be, watching him get tortured...
No, he told himself. No, that wasn't right. Guntz didn't do anything to save me either! He stared at me for a long time, he did, and then he turned around to attack... but it wasn't for me, it was never for me, it was for total defeat...
"We're here." Leorina broke his chain of thoughts as the airship lurched forwards. "The Crimson Iris is going to land. Hold on for five minutes and we're there." She rose and left, presumably to the control cabin. Klonoa turned and stared hard into the sky again.
He would wait.
Nahatomb had to be defeated first. He would work with Pango and Guntz for that. He would defeat Nahatomb, he would rescue Lolo... and then, if nothing had gone wrong, he would allow himself to forgive and forget.
It would work out.
Yes, it would.
Are you sure about that, Klonoa? (grin)
Girls are very stubborn. Leorina is. I certainly am. xD
I'm sorry this chapter was so late. Christmas was x.x, therefore urgh. I found myself spending time with my Wii and getting so little writing done.
Chapter Nine will come at February, I'm assuming. Battle scenes are so hard to write, and so many things happen in the battle against Nahatomb. Urgh. That boss took me twenty-five minutes to beat even with all three heroes at maximum level and with the best weapons. Garlen took me two minutes with the same conditions.
Ha...ha. x.x
