A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1. Yes, I know it's been a while, but as important as this story is to me, exams had to come first. Sorry, guys. In random Ro9 news, the blurb on the back of the book makes it seem that much of it will be told from Six's PoV, possibly jointly with Four. Finally, the recently released preview of Ro9 mentions that Five is a shape-shifter. In my master list of characters, I had shape-shifter written down as his master legacy. I just wanted to clarify that I came up with that idea independently and did not take it from the preview. So the same deal here, as all the other chapters- please let me know how you enjoy it with a review- I really do appreciate it.
Four:
For the record, the two-hour Pegasus ride from Ohio to Canada is not fun, especially when it starts to snow en-route. Granted, it could have been worse, like if it had been someone else instead of Six who had had their arms wrapped around me from behind the entire flight, but it still was not one of my favourite experiences. Then again, I've spent most of my life running away from homicidal aliens; so flying away from them makes for a nice change of pace.
"So what do you think of Crayton's plan?"
The disembodied voice comes out of nowhere, and it takes me a second to register it as Nine.
"I think it's decent, as plans go," I reply silently.
"Haven't you thought about what we're going to do after gathering all the pendants? How we're going to get the bomb to the planet once we build it? A plan isn't any good if it's only half finished."
"I guess Crayton has something planned. We'll find out soon, hopefully."
"That doesn't bother you?" Nine's voice becomes more forceful, and I'm surprised at how deafening a silent conversation can be. "The mission we're all on to both save our lives, not to mention Lorien, is now in control of a guy we only met a week ago. He has some plan that he won't even tell us, because either he doesn't trust us or he doesn't know himself. You seem like an intelligent person, so don't expect me to believe you're okay with that."
Now that Nine mentions it, I have to admit he has a point. We do barely know Crayton. For all we know, he might not have a plan beyond finding Five. But he knows more than any of us, and that means we have to trust him, for better or worse. I try to convey this to Nine, but he seems doubtful.
"If you say so," he replies, leaving me unsettled. He remains silent for the rest of the trip, and I can only hope I've convinced him.
Nine seems almost… well, disturbed, to me. He's extremely powerful, but his bloodlust is both somewhat inspiring and shocking. He seems to hold a personal vendetta against every single Mog we meet. We all do, I guess, but even Six's isn't nearly as powerful as his. He hates running away or hiding from Mogs, even when it would give us the best chance of survival; he always wants to fight and kill as many of them as he can. I'm worried his impulse to charge into battle might cost us something important someday.
Now he seems suspicious of Crayton, who despite being annoyingly vague with his plans, has done seemingly everything possible to keep us alive. Either he's paranoid or he has spectacular instincts. We're all paranoid, really, having been on the run for so long, but Nine, as he does with almost everything, has taken it to a new level.
After a while I notice the ground starting to get closer, and soon we're skimming the tops of trees, eventually landing in an open field. I can see a small airport near the horizon, and we start walking in silence, towing our luggage behind us. Once we get there a tired-looking customs official glances at the passports Crayton gives him and then waves us on to the plane. Crayton heads up to the cockpit, leaving the six of us in the cramped passenger compartment. I immediately fall, exhausted, into the nearest seat, for once not caring who's sitting next to me.
She slides silently ahead down the hallway, her head swiveling in an arc as she surveys the area. She comes back frowning.
"I don't understand it," she says. "It should have been right over there."
I walk over to where she's standing and look for myself. We're standing in front of a rough, jagged stone wall. My eyes scan the area, looking for the telltale blue glint of Loralite, but in vain. Something's wrong. The map shows a storage room right here, but obviously there isn't one. Ever since we got separated from Nine I've had the feeling that something was wrong. I pull out the map in frustration and look at it again. Sure enough, the map shows that we're in the wrong corridor. I'm about to turn around to explain this when I feel her hand on my shoulder.
"John. They're coming."
Her hand is deathly cold, sending a numbing, icy feeling through my nerves. I look up at her piercing, frosty blue eyes and suddenly find myself unable to respond.
"John?" she asks, her face the picture of concern.
I pull myself together and answer. "They know we're here?"
She nods, biting her lip anxiously.
"Let's go." We set off at a sprint down the hallway back towards the main chamber.
"I realized why there's nothing here," I say desperately as we run. "We're in the wrong place- it's supposed to be all the way on the other side."
"We don't have time," she says, shaking her head. 'They'll find us any minute now."
Sure enough we see a pair of Mogs disappearing down another hallway just as we arrive in the main chamber. I pause for a second, getting my bearings, when I see Nine walking into the chamber from another entrance, carrying a Loralite pendant. He notices us and steps back, shocked.
"W-What are you doing here already?" he asks, hands shaking.
"What do you mean wh—" I start to answer, before she cuts me off.
"I didn't think you'd be back here already," she replies apologetically.
There's a moment where we just stand there and then I cut in, having had enough. "Would either of you mind telling me just what's going on? I thought the Mogs had got you," I say, turning to face Nine, who's sheepishness is somehow sadistically pleasing, "and then you turn up, with the thing we've been looking for the whole time, and we're the ones who aren't supposed to be here?"
He completely ignores my rant, annoying me even more. "Come on," he says to her, "We have to get out of here."
I run over to follow them but they vanish when she grabs his hand.
"Where are you going?" I ask, frustrated.
"To kill Setràkus Ra, of course."
"And is there a reason I'm not allowed to come and help you?" I ask impatiently.
"Help us?" the disembodied voice exclaims incredulously. "You don't even have a Master Legacy yet- you'd just get in our way. Besides, you're too loyal to him. You'd follow him to the ends of the Earth to find Five if he wanted you to, and we can't afford that."
"I'm sorry, John," she cuts in, "but… Nine's right. It's better you don't come with us."
I open my mouth to respond, but close it again when I realize they've already left. I look around the chamber- there are four exits, including the one I just came through. I reach fro my map, but my hands close on empty air. I scowl as I realize that I must have dropped it somewhere.
I walk randomly towards the passage directly opposite me, hoping I'll get lucky when a soldier comes racing out of it, his outstretched blade nearly impaling me. I sidestep nimbly, grabbing his sword and slicing him apart, but more Mogs are coming. Another pair charge from the East door- I throw them into each other, knocking them unconscious, but I know it won't do any good. I can hear their mental communication when I focus- it's in an arcane, primitive language, but the meaning is devastatingly clear. They know I'm here.
They come from all sides now, in seemingly endless numbers. I hack and slash my way though them, holding a pair of swords and controlling two more with my mind, but I can't get anywhere. Whenever I fight my way near an exit a swarm of them comes from that direction, forcing me back to the centre of the room.
It's after one of these swarms that I turn to find myself face-to-face with an ethereal, translucent being. It swirls around me like a shadow come to life, hovering just over a sword's-length away from me. I act quickly, taking a step and thrusting, but the blade passes right through it harmlessly, the cold steel visible on the other side. It raises its hand, causing a blue sphere to surround me, and the Mogs all around me step back, keeping a foot of space between them and the sphere.
For a fleeting second I think it might be an ally trying to protect me, but this happy thought is shattered by the slow constriction of the sphere. I slash at it with a sword, but it bounces off with a sharp metallic clang, sparks flying from where it made contact. I try again with my foot, but with a similar result. Before long I'm forced to my knees, the space around me growing smaller and smaller. The being hovers above me, one hand slowly balling into a fist, no doubt controlling the sphere. I continue to stare at it out of curiosity more than nothing else, its pale grey eyes boring into me with intense hatred. Then I can no longer breathe and everything goes black.
My eyes snap open and I'm instantly alert. I'm breathing heavily, sweat rolling in beads down my forehead. But I ambreathing. After what I've just experienced, even breathing seems like a miracle.
"Are you okay?" Six asks from across the aisle. Her brow is furrowed with concern, her blue- no, not blue, but hazel- eyes boring into me questioningly.
No, I'm not okay. I'm definitely not okay, but there's no way I'm going to say that now. Not while my tired, fear-addled brain keeps adding a touch of frost to Six's voice- turning her hazel eyes to blue and bleaching her raven-black hair to a shiny blonde. Not while I can still here Nine's voice in my head, see his cold, calculating midnight-black eyes. Not while the sting of betrayal is still fresh in my mind. After all, it happened before, didn't it? Who's to say it won't again? I force myself to ponder this for a moment and then look up to realize that Six is still staring at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.
"Yea, I'm fine." The lie flows easily, and I can't help but feel a twinge of guilt. After all, we hadpromised to be honest with each other. "It was just a…" I trail off, trying to decide what to say. "It was nothing. Never mind." Another lie, but I don't have any other choice. Six doesn't reply, and I inwardly breathe a sigh of relief. I know though, that while I may have temporarily appeased her, she still doesn't believe me.
The others don't pay me any attention- Nine and Seven are talking softly in a corner while Ten listens to her iPod. Eight is sitting to my right, reading a book whose title I can't make out. On my other side is Sam, who's looking directly at me, as if waiting for me to talk to him. I turn to ask him what he wants when I realize he isn't looking at me at all, but rather at something just over my right shoulder. I look over at Eight, who is still flipping through her book, seemingly engrossed, and then back at Sam, who is equally so. It looks like the Eagle has his sights set on new prey. I do my best to suppress a smile, but my amusement ends up getting the better of me.
I look across the cabin at Six, and to my surprise catch her looking at me as well. I tilt my head slightly to the left, indicating the still-oblivious Sam. She smiles, mouthing the words, "I know", before focusing her attention back on her notebook.
Despite my all too vivid dream, or perhaps because of it, the exchange sets off yet another battle in my head. I'm happy for Sam, of course, that is, assuming that Eight reciprocates his feelings. I hope so, for his sake. But I know that that's not the only reason I do. As much as I hate to admit it to myself, I know that Sam's attraction to Eight will cause him to move on from Six. And there's a part of me- a large part of me- that selfishly wants nothing more than to see that happen. I know I shouldn't, with all the stuff that Sam's been through, but… it's not that simple. It's pretty obvious from the way he's staring at Eight that one of the, if not the main reason he's interested in her is because she's, to put it as Sam might, 'swimsuit material'. No doubt Sam's hoping we'll go swimming in Australia. Sam was like that with Six too, although, to be fair, so was I at first until I got to know her better and other things drew us together.
For some reason what Sam said back in Florida about how it was so unfair that I liked Six too because I already had 'the hottest girlfriend in Ohio' pops into my head. Maybe it's because he's got a point. I do have a girlfriend, assuming, of course, that she doesn't turn me in to the FBI again. But then I realize why I suddenly remembered that. Just now, the way I was thinking about Six- how I don't want to lose her to somebody else- it's the first time I've done that without feeling guilty, like I was betraying Sarah. She betrayed me first, of course, but now I finally feel that sense of release, like her influence isn't shackling me, holding me back, anymore. I feel better now- even if I am selfishly motivated; I still want Sam to be happy, which would also sort out this whole mess. That much settled, I close my eyes and let sleep take me again.
Everything is black. I turn slowly in a circle, but I can see nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing. I'm just a disembodied mind floating in a void. Then suddenly the darkness lightens slightly, and I can see that I'm in a dark grey room. It's completely empty except for me. Me and whatever that… thing… is in the corner. I approach it cautiously, ready to act. It swoops suddenly at me, catching me unprepared and sending me crashing against the back wall. I get up slowly and see it swooping over me again. I flail at it desperately, but my hands pass right through it. It hovers directly in front of me, and before my eyes splits into two identical copies of itself, which in turn split as well until the entire room is filled with what must be thousands of them. I fight to keep control of myself, resisting the urge to charge and attack them. This is just a dream. The others are going to think I've gone crazy if I start screaming and attacking. So I force myself to stay calm and walk into the centre of the room. One of them reaches for me, and everything goes black once more.
I open one eye cautiously, surveying my surroundings. Most of the others are asleep, and the few that were awake don't seem to have noticed my nightmare this time. Relieved, I'm about to ask Sam when we're landing when there's a bump from beneath us and we start to slow down, landing gear screeching against the runway. We come to a stop shortly after ; when we do Crayton opens the door from the cockpit and tells us that we've officially landed in Australia.
"We've made quite good time," he says, "so we have about three or four hours before we're supposed to meet Five. You're welcome to look around the airport a bit if you want, but we'll have to be back here by about 6." I check my watch reflexively- it's 5 o'clock now, so we only have an hour. "Apparently Five's in Canberra, which is a good three hours from here, so we need to leave by 6:10".
We grab our stuff and get off of the plane, entering the main body of the airport. I instinctively scan the faces of the other people in the terminal, but eventually force myself to relax. There's no possible way the Mogs could know we're in Australia.
I stand in the central area of the terminal, trying to decide where to go when Eight comes up from behind me and grabs my arm.
"We need to talk," she mutters, leading me over to a pair of seats at the next gate over. She sits across from me, studying my expression.
"Well?" I ask impatiently. "What is it?"
She seems to come out of a fog, her eyes re-focusing. "So what kind of nightmares have you been having?"
"Sorry?" I ask, pretending to be confused. How does she know about them? She had her nose in that book the whole time- she didn't even notice Sam gawking at her.
She rolls her eyes impatiently. "The nightmares on the plane, of course. You had two of them."
"Well if you were paying so much attention then how come you didn't hear me tell Six they were nothing?" I retort, folding my arms defensively.
"How stupid do you think I am?" she asks, annoyed. "Six might have believed you, but I'm not that gullible. Why don't you just tell me what's going on so I can help you?"
I think about it briefly and then decide I might as well tell her. She'll keep bugging me if I don't, and maybe she actually knows something about the mysterious shadow-figure.
I quickly recount the two dreams, deliberately leaving Six- or whoever that girl was- out of the first one. I don't feel comfortable telling anyone else that.
"Victoria never told me about anything or anybody who could fit that description," she replies, tapping her chin with her index finger thoughtfully. "I'd suggest asking Nine, since he seems to know the most about that kind of stuff, but I'm guessing you probably don't want to."
I nod my head in agreement. Nine's already paranoid enough, and telling him about the dream won't help matters.
"In that case…" she says, taking the time to find words, "you could always ask Crayton, but his need-to-know policy with information would mean he probably wouldn't tell you even if he knew." Then her face suddenly lights up with inspiration. "Do you think Six might know?" she asks. "I mean, she's almost as… well, bloodthirsty," she says, her voice suddenly dropping to a whisper, "as Nine, so she would probably have—"
"I hate to break up this cozy gathering, but I thought I heard somebody say my name."
I look up to see Six standing behind Eight, looking very annoyed. She seems almost unfamiliar for a second, and then it hits me. The frosty tone in her voice, the look of steel on her face- she looks just like the Six in my dream.
