Chapter 10

Roy, Katie, and Marth walked to Eliwood's room at eight o'clock.

"Hey, dad!" said Roy, when they'd been knocking for two whole minutes.

Suddenly, the door crumbled. Roy, Katie, and Marth stepped in over the rubble and looked around. Eliwood's room had been completely destroyed.

"Oh no," said Marth. "Aliens! Look!"

He pointed out the window. There was an alien being beamed aboard the ship, carrying an unconscious Eliwood. Roy clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"No," he muttered. "No."

"I'm going in there," he said. "Coming?"

Marth drew his sword. Katie pulled a whip out of seemingly nowhere, as always.

"Let's go," said Katie. "Quick."

They dashed through the window and out onto the roof and got caught in the beam just behind the alien.

"Keep quiet," mouthed Roy.

Katie and Marth nodded. The alien arrived on the ship and walked down the metal hall. Roy, Katie, and Marth ducked behind the same crate Roy had gone behind before.

"Alright, turn off your cell phones," whispered Roy.

They all did.

"Follow my lead," whispered Roy.

Roy turned down the hall after the alien, keeping against the wall.

"Marth, watch for shadows behind us," he whispered. "I'll keep an eye out ahead. Katie, relax. My shirt's gonna rip if you keep pulling on it. Keep quiet, and be light on your feet."

They followed Roy's orders for fifteen minutes till they came to a large heating vent. It was big enough to fit in.

"What if they turn the heat on?" whispered Marth.

"There is no heat in this vent," whispered Roy. "I checked all that when I was exploring last time. Vents two hundred thirty-five and five-thousand sixty-two are broken."

They crawled into the vent and followed a series of twists and turns till they knew they were well into the vent and sat to try and figure it all out.

"Alright, alright, where are we?" asked Katie, looking around. "I can't tell. It looks all the same here. There's no difference anywhere."

"Katie, stop panicking," said Roy. "We're fine. "Look, there's a vent to look out of. Let's just get out now. No need to panic."

Roy, Katie, and Marth crawled over to it and heard voices.

"…won't talk no matter what I do!" said an exasperated alien voice.

"Then kill him," said the alien king. "Kill him. We don't need him. Eliwood is a stupid name, anyway."

Roy's fingers shot down to his sword. Katie stopped him.

"Okay, no," said Katie. "No, let's just find Eliwood, destroy this ship, and get out of here."

Roy looked around.

"Okay, but how are we going to get out?" asked Marth. "The king's right there."

"Follow me," said Roy. "This way to the lab."

They crawled after Roy for some time before he finally pushed a vent open and started to climb out, but suddenly screamed and disappeared downwards. Marth and Katie darted forward and stared out the vent and down where Roy had fallen. He was gone.

"No," said Katie, matter-of-factly. "No! No, no, no!"

She broke down in the vent and cried. Marth put his arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

"Damn aliens!" he said. "DAMN ALIENS!"

His voice rose along with his temper. Katie suddenly straightened up.

"That's it!" she said. "We're going to save Eliwood and kill these aliens! C'mon!"

She took off down the vent on her hands and knees faster then Marth thought she could. They traveled for a long time before they came to a vent. They checked it and found more nothingness. Two vents later, they came across the prison. And who was lying on the floor of the cell? Eliwood. Katie thought it looked suspicious. How did they know it was really Eliwood?

"Eliwood?" asked Marth. "Eliwood?"

He prodded Eliwood's back. Eliwood rolled over and saw them.

"Hey," he said. "It's you guys. Where's Roy?"

Katie sniffled.

"Roy's… Roy's…" said Marth, struggling to think.

It seemed like a lifetime had gone by since they'd lost Roy.

"He's gone…" said Marth. "Dead. Fallen."

Eliwood's eyes glistened.

"My son is dead?" he asked as though trying to process what he'd just heard. "My son, Roy?"

Katie stopped wondering if this was really Eliwood. If it wasn't Eliwood, it wouldn't be expressing this kind of emotion.

"That tears it," said Eliwood. "Come on."

He pushed them aside and led them out into the vent.