Chapter 11

'So what do we do now?' Mai sighed as she watched the pack of wolves disappear.

'We wait for the eclipse,' Catilin stretched her arms up towards the sky and moved her hands together as if imitating the movement of the moon and the sun, 'then we listen to the howling and then we wait for them to return. After that we eat,' she lowered her arms again and bounced on her heels.

'But the eclipse isn't for a while yet,' Mai pulled her face, 'what do we do whilst we're waiting for it?'

'Whatever we want really,' Ahna smiled at her. 'There aren't any definite instructions for the members of the Lutoni household which get left behind.'

'That's probably because normally most of the household are veron,' Covo rubbed his arms. 'Usually it's just the Ashmar and their entourage who get left behind.'

'And we normally go inside and wait,' Catilin bounced. 'Especially when its ice, ice cold like Ni's been on a hellish spree.'

'I thought Ni was your equivalent of the devil or something,' Duke frowned.

'He is, but he's not hot hot hot, he's cold like ice. That's why he rules over Sli.'

'Sli? That means Ice, right? As in the Ice Elemental.'

'Uh-huh,' she nodded, 'Du is the hot one, Ni is the cold one.'

'So in the Tenth Order hell is frozen over?'

'Not all of it,' Catilin shook her head. 'Some bits are, some bits aren't. Some bits are fiery hot; other bits are just like our world. There are cities and towns and all kinds of living places for all kinds of demons.'

'I see,' Duke shivered.

'Maybe we should take this conversation inside,' she frowned at him, 'you look a little frozen.'

'I was just about to suggest that,' Covo gave an edgy laugh as he rubbed his arms again, 'I'm freezing.'

'Funny, I feel quite warm,' Korin teased as she rested her arm on his shoulder.

'You're not the one wearing nothing but a skirt,' he narrowed his gaze on her.

'Don't you mean kilt?' She poked her tongue out at him. 'Or do you only feel the need for correction when I'm the one who gets things wrong?'

'Oh grow up Korin.'

'Yeah Korin,' Ahna's voice was sourly sweet, 'grow up.'

'What was with that?' Covo frowned at her.

'With what?'

'The tone,' he looked hurt and confused, 'you sounded almost... spiteful.'

'It's okay Macar, you don't have to worry about me,' Korin shifted her gaze away. 'I just don't think Ahna likes me very much.'

'Is that true?' Covo stared at Ahna.

'I... I don't know her,' Ahna shook her head. 'I don't have an opinion of her yet.'

'Then what was with the tone?'

'Macar, it's alright, really,' Korin placed a hand on his arm. 'She just probably feels a little threatened by me. I mean, we have known each other forever.'

'Yes but...' Covo cut himself off and sighed. 'Look Ahna,' he glanced towards her, 'there's no reason for you to feel threatened by Korin, really. Just try to get to know her, would you? It's important to me.'

'I'll try,' Ahna shrugged.

'Am I the only one still thinking we need to get inside now,' Duke began hopping from side to side. 'Only I think if I stay out here any longer something will freeze off.'

'Well that wouldn't be good,' Catilin began pushing him back into the building. 'I don't want anything freezing off you Duke; I like you just the way you are.'

'Why can't you just pick a channel and stick with it?' Téa glared at CL as the constant channel hopping started to give her a migraine.

'Well that's no fun,' CL smirked, 'besides, where I'm from there aren't any channels to flick between. It's all static and trust me that can get more than a little annoying after a while.'

'Is reception really that bad where you're from?' She frowned.

'To have reception you must first have stations broadcasting. For that you need people and there aren't a whole lot of those going around.'

'Why not? What happened to them?'

There was no response, but the handset CL was holding clattered loudly to the ground.

'Are you okay?' She studied him for a moment, before following the direction of his somewhat frozen gaze. 'Hey I know that place,' she gawked at the image of the alleyway the reporter was stood in, 'I normally take that shortcut if I'm walking on my own. Do you know what…?'

The rest of her sentence was cut off by the volume on the TV rising of its own accord.

'It is believed the girl has completely lost vision in one eye and will only ever regain partial sight in the other,' the reporter's voice blared through the speakers. 'On top of this, she will be left with severe facial scarring and limited movement in her left side.'

'Oh my god,' Téa placed a hand over her mouth.

'What did I do,' CL's voice was so quiet, Téa wasn't completely sure if he'd spoken or not. 'This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't being selfish,' his voice gradually got louder. 'I was trying to make things better. That shouldn't have changed another's fate. This isn't fair. This...' suddenly his voice cut out and a dead, glassy glaze appeared across his eyes.

'What the…?' Téa rushed over to him. 'CL? CL, are you alright? CL?'

'This wasn't supposed to happen. You promised me there wouldn't be any consequences for saving her.'

'Jo...' CL turned towards her, 'I didn't think...'

'When do you ever think,' she cut him off. 'You promised me there would be no consequences, that was the only reason I agreed to let you try and change her fate. Trying to create a better future for us shouldn't be at the cost of someone else's.'

'You mean that same someone else who's probably dead now anyway?'

'That's not the point,' Jo's voice was so sharp it cut through every part of CL.

'I was just trying to do something good,' CL gritted his teeth. 'I was trying to make sure our future was everything it could be and we both agreed that meant sparing her too. I was trying to do good Jo, you know that.'

'Yeah, well men have died for you trying to do good, C, you should know that.'

'You think it's possible for me to forget?' He moved towards her. 'You think I wanted this to happen? You think I enjoy seeing people get hurt? You have watched me cry over every single person who's laid their life down for me and I'm doing what I'm doing now for them. To make sure their sacrifices haven't been in vain. But even I can't save them all Jo.'

'So this is just another noble sacrifice, is it C?'

'I'm sorry I let you down Jo, but I really didn't think there would be any consequences. Nothing else we've done so far has paid such a high price,' he placed his hands on her shoulders.

'Really,' she pressed her hands against her stomach, 'because it feels to me like everything we're doing is paying a high price.'

'In the end it'll be our sacrifice though Jo,' his hands cupped her face, 'one life for another in order to change our hell into a proper future. Because at the end of the day we're not doing this for us, we're doing this for them.'

Yugi had been sat in his room meditating. It had been the Face of Friendship's idea and one Yugi had been glad to go along with when she explained the forces at work during a solar eclipse were similar to those he would experience during a heavy thunderstorm. The pre-emptive mediation theoretically should help him stay on top of his empathic abilities which would actually allow him to enjoy the eclipse.

He was just bringing himself back to a normal state of consciousness, when Téa's shouting caused him to jump in alarm. Instantly he was on his feet and charging into the living room where he'd left both of his guests.

'What's wrong?'

'CL,' Téa stared at him, 'he... he's...'

Yugi turned his attention towards CL, who was hanging upside down on the couch. He was so still it didn't even look like he was breathing and his eyes had a dead, glassy glaze to them which made Yugi shudder in horror.

'What... what happened?'

'I don't know,' Téa shook her head, 'one minute he was… saying something and the next.'

'Is he breathing?' Yugi began to examine him. 'Does he have a pulse?'

'I…'

The second Yugi reached for CL's wrist he gave a loud and sudden gasp which made both Yugi and Téa jump. He then turned himself round into a sitting position and massaged his temples for a few moments.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you both,' CL rubbed his face wearily before flicking his gaze up towards them.

'Are you... are you alright?' Yugi swallowed hard.

'Yeah, I'm fine.'

'Thank god,' Téa threw her arms around him in relief.

'Okay, awkward,' CL's whole body became visibly tense.

'Sorry,' she pulled herself away.

'Look, I don't mind you worrying about me, it's just...'

'Just what?' She frowned.

'You've never hugged me like that before.'

'I've never hugged you before, period,' Téa cocked an eyebrow.

'Oh, yeah, right,' CL nervously scratched the back of his neck and shifted his gaze away.

'So what happened to you just now?' Yugi took a seat next to him.

'It's kinda complicated,' he shrugged, 'and, honestly, it's nothing for you to worry about.'

'Well as long as you're okay now I guess it doesn't matter,' Téa beamed at him.

'Yeah, okay, that's just creepy,' CL shifted uncomfortably.

'Huh?'

'Look, Téa, I'm flattered but I... I'm kinda involved with someone, so if you could just back off a little bit.'

'I... I wasn't...' Téa shook her head.

'Sorry, maybe I just misread the signals a little there.'

Téa was about to say something back to him, when Yugi's Grandpa poked his head into the room.

'Are you kids coming outside to watch the eclipse?'

'Sure, we'll be out in a minute,' Yugi smiled, more than a little relived the conversation they were having was over.

'They will be, but I won't,' CL's whole body tensed again.

'Why not?'

'Because the moon makes the wolves howl.'

'What?'

'It doesn't matter,' he shook his head, 'let's just say it's safer for everybody if I don't go out there and leave it at that.'