A/N Well, my lovelies, the crisis has been averted and my laptop has been repaired. Yay! This new program is taking me a while to get used to, so please bear with me! Here is the latest exciting chapter that you have patiently waited for. Please enjoy and remember that I'm always around if you have any questions or comments. Love you guys for all you do! I don't want to waste too much time with notes as this chapter is long enough. Like it, hate it, tell me about it! Aaaand I do not own the song that is mentioned- "Fly" by Celine Dion and I do not own Blood+ or any of the characters.
It had taken nearly 8 months for Hagi to find the First Knight and convince him to visit Lulu and to explain things to her. The young Shiff had many questions and since she was the one in contact with the Red Shield and he let her decide what she would or would not explain. He was amazed at how much the lavender haired girl had matured, she was able to argue with the Red Shield to keep Julia from trying her serum on Saya.
Hagi felt his cell phone buzzing in his pocket and moved away before he answered it. He listened to the voice on the other end as it excitedly, yet nervously relayed a message. Hagi simply answered, "Yes, tomorrow morning." He hung up the phone as Lulu took in a side-long glance of the stoic chevalier. She could tell something wasn't right. She had come to know and greatly respect the man she saw as her mentor and she knew that something was quite wrong with him. She turned her gaze back to the olive skinned chevalier with black curly hair that stood in front of her. The scar on the left side of his face made her wonder for a moment. He placed a gloved hand over his chest as Lulu stood in front of the First Knight of Queen Aksaya. She held a fascinated gaze even though Hagi could sense her nervousness. He could almost hear her thought, This is the oldest chiropteran I've ever met! She smiled and tilted her head, then asked, "What does Queen Aksaya look like?"
The First Knight answered simply, "She resembles the Warrior Queen Saya."
She nodded and then bit her lip. It took her a minute before she asked, "How come I can't sense you like I can sense all the other chiropterans?"
He caught Hagi's eyes and smiled thinking, This small one wastes no time. "It is an ability that takes much practice to master. You must concentrate on becoming one with the world around you."
Hagi listened absently as he felt a slight pain in his chest. He had known something was wrong when Claudia and Gary's baby from the time the baby began to move. She had grabbed Hagi's hand and placed it over her bulging belly. He wanted to pull his hand back, at first, he had never felt an infant in the womb and it made him feel a bit uneasy. The movements were slight, but his abilities as a chiropteran allowed him to feel the heartbeat. It was not steady. Hagi looked at Claudia at that time and saw her excitement and nervousness and thought better than to mention it. Now the baby, a girl, was being born early in order to perform emergency surgery on her. Hagi felt his heart breaking for his sister and Gary.
On the flight back, he remembered the excitement everyone felt at the anticipation of the new baby, Marva's first grandchild. She would dig through Claudia's old baby things and box things up for the new baby, Serenity, with a joyous expression. He hoped that joy would not be short lived. He felt that aching in his chest once more.
Lulu continued to question the First Knight about what it was like for the immortals, "Where do you live?"
"That changes quite a bit. We move around from place to place to keep hidden from the mortal world," he answered and then grinned. "Currently, we are living underground in a town in China, but we will soon be hiding in the United States."
"Why do you always live underground?" she continued to ask.
"It is for our own protection," the First Knight explained. "Mankind once revered our kind as gods and worshipped the Seer Queens as Oracles. That was not to last. War came to our kind and mankind as well. The enemy that took our land cast us out, calling us sorcerers and demons." The First Knight looked away sadly, "Many immortals were beheaded or burned alive, the ones that escaped continued to survive and created the underground palaces in which we live. Over the centuries, our kind have been hunted and killed while being called various things. In the dark ages, we were dragons to be hunted for our hides, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th century, we were witches and demons to be burned at the stake. Now, we are nothing more than a scientific experiment for them to take apart and study, like Amshel did to the Azure Queen Diva."
The purple haired girl put a hand on the First Knight's arm and reassured, "They are not all like that. Miss Julia can be a little pushy sometimes, but she would never do anything to hurt Saya. Saya even has a family that loves her- even if she's not like them."
The dark haired man looked down at the small elfin hand of the girl and wondered about her words. He had seen for himself that the mortals had taken in the Warrior Queen and cared for her as if she was human. He held back a chuckle as he thought of her stoic first knight having that same attentive care back in the United States. It seemed strange to think of such a powerful knight living a domestic life with humans.
The questions and answers continued well into the evening when the First Knight was called back. He had enjoyed talking to the young Shiff girl.
Lulu watched as the First Knight transformed into his true form- it resembled a red and black scaled dragon. He flew off to the northwest in a blue streak. Lulu wondered what other questions she could have asked, but the she remembered Hagi had left in a hurry when he had gotten a call on his cell phone. "Cell phone?" she asked herself and wondered, Who would be calling him? Why did he leave in such a rush?
Hagi arrived at the hospital just as they began to do open heart surgery on his new born niece. He met an anxious Marva in the waiting room and took her hand as she explained what was happening, "The doctors found that Serenity has a hole in her heart. They are attempting to repair the hole in hopes that it will save her life."
He listened as Marva let tears fall. Marva was exhausted from the emotions and after an hour of talking, Marva had leaned against his shoulder and fell asleep. The television mounted in the corner of the room was playing a daytime soap opera that Hagi vaguely listened to. He let his thoughts tumble over the day's events and waited for the doctor's to allow him to see his sister or his niece.
A nurse came and ushered them to Claudia's room. Marva entered first and embraced her tearful daughter. Gary was in a chair in the corner of the room. Hagi sensed a negative emotion that seemed to fill the room. He moved to Gary as the two women sobbed. Without speaking, he placed a hand on Gary's shoulder and waited as a tear fell from the brown haired man's eye.
His voice was low when he finally spoke, "If she wouldn't have been traveling so much… If she would've never pushed herself so hard." Hagi remained silent, unsure of what to say.
A short man with rimmed glasses came into the room in a pristine white lab coat and waited until all the eyes in the room were on him. He shook his head and spoke, "We are sorry, Serenity survived the operation, but she will only survive another hour. The repair was unsuccessful."
Claudia let out a keen wail as Marva held her tight and sobbed into her hair. Gary hunched over and let out a painful groan and began to cry. Hagi placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder as tears filled his eyes. The room finally calmed enough for the small infant to be brought in and held one last time. Claudia was given her daughter by a heavy brunette nurse. Tears spilled as she sobbed her goodbyes to the beautiful little girl.
Marva touched a finger to her little nose and told her that she will always be loved and greatly missed. She waved the two men over and picked up the infant to hand her to her father. He cried as he took his little girl in his arms for the last time. He kissed her forehead as Hagi looked upon the tiny face of the dying newborn, he could hear the faint heartbeat becoming irregular and then stop completely.
Gary sensed the child was gone and heaved a huge sob, placing her on his shoulder as he had longed to do since he'd found out he was going to be a father. Claudia and Marva clung to each other in tears.
Hagi walked with Marva to the small cafeteria to get a cup of coffee for her and tea for him. The world around them seemed to exist in lively colors and smiles, while theirs was a bleak black and white, smileless existence. Happiness, it seems, no longer existed for them. They didn't speak as they sat at one of the tables. Hagi was uneasy about leaving Claudia and Gary alone, they weren't acting right toward each other. They should be clinging to each other right now, but instead, they are on opposite sides of the room.
When Hagi and Marva arrived back at the somber room, Hagi sensed something had gone very wrong, he placed an arm in front of Marva. He felt the icy emotions coming from the other side of the door.
Gary pointed a finger at Claudia and, with brows furrowed, accused, "It's your own damn fault! I told you to slow down and take it easy, but no- you are the Great Claudia Trudeaux and you never slow down."
"How can you say that?" she retorted and then added with venom, "You were the one that couldn't stand New York and came back to Texas. I had to travel 1500 miles just to see my own husband!"
"No one told you to stay in New York!"
"No one told you to go back to Texas!"
Hagi gave Marva a confused look, "Why?"
Marva placed a hand on the door and cried. Hagi pulled her into his arms as he tried to reason through his confusion. They should be coming together- not ripping each other apart. Why? Why is this happening?
The ranch spent the next week grieving and preparing for the funeral. Claudia and Gary actually agreed that their daughter should be buried in Texas, where they both grew up and where their families lived. Everything continued the same at the ranch, but everything was done in sadness and silence.
Claudia was staying in her old room, where she spent a lot of her time crying. Hagi would go to her, letting her cry into his shoulder. She never spoke about the situation, but everyone knew Gary was filing for divorce, leaving Claudia to deal with her emotions all alone. It confused and angered Hagi greatly, he just couldn't understand why a man would love a woman enough to marry her and then, when things were at their worst, abandon her. Marva had explained that he was raised in a different time, but that didn't help. It was true, his parents were not the perfect example of love- in fact they were more an example of what not to do. They never loved each other, at least he didn't think so, but he really thought that Claudia and Gary were in love for certain. Maybe he was wrong. He knew one thing for certain, he didn't understand.
The church was filled with white flowers, black ribbons, darkly clad family members and friends. The tiny coffin at the front of the church held the sweetest little girl that never got a chance at life. Hagi led his weeping sister to her place at the front of the church, followed by his mother, Gary, and his parents. Hagi couldn't understand this- just couldn't wrap his mind around Gary blaming Claudia or Claudia blaming Gary. Why couldn't they just come together in their grief? Why were they tearing each other apart? He had watched Marva and Jeff face their obstacles in life and come together ever the more.
Why was this happening? He noticed, while holding his somber expression, that Claudia had placed herself to the farthest end of the pew, and Gary had done exactly the same on the opposite side. But Claudia clung to his arm as she sobbed. He squeezed her hand and asked, "Claudia, are you sure you will be alright?"
She looked at him with her swollen red eyes and nodded as she mouthed the words, "Thank you."
The minister gave some scriptures on the loss of loved ones and grieving. Hagi listened as his jaw tightened, Marva noticed everything around her as she dabbed her eyes. She knew from his tightened posture and the way his eyes shimmered that her son was holding back tears and hiding his true self from the throng of mourners that sat behind them. She squeezed his other gloved hand to let him know she knew what he was going through, understanding his confusion on the situation between Claudia and Gary, as well as his fears for Claudia. She wasn't handling this well.
She noticed how Gary's eyes occasionally shifted across the pew to Claudia. He wanted to beg forgiveness, but just didn't know how.
His parents were grieving for the loss of their grandchild, like her, but they were just as confused as Hagi. They had spoken with Marva at length, but were no further than where they'd started. It was difficult for them to grasp the concept that their son and daughter-in-law, may have to work this out on their own, even if they worked it out separately.
The church organ began to play a melody and a young woman, Gary's sister came and read Psalms 23 aloud as tears fell from her face. Claudia had asked if Hagi could play something as well, but Marva insisted that she would need him to be with her throughout the service. She was right, Claudia had not let Hagi's gloved hand go the entire service as she cried. Her grip tightened each time Serenity's name was mentioned.
As Angie came up to sing Amazing Grace, Hagi recalled the time when he had attended the funeral service for Jeff. He held Claudia and Marva's hands and felt a similar feeling of sorrow and loss. Only this time, the feeling was much stronger and harder to control. His sweet little sister had lost the one thing that she had always wanted, even more than fashion design- a little baby angel of her own. He nodded his thanks to Angie as she finished singing- his gift to his sister and to his niece.
Clay, Dan, Ray, and Bubba took their places by the small casket and began to move it to the waiting hearse parked outside. Tears fell as the casket moved and the last song played- "Fly" by Celine Dion
Fly, fly, little wing
Fly beyond imagining,
The softest cloud, the whitest dove
Upon the wind of heaven's love
Past the planets and the stars
Leave this lonely world of hours
Escape the sorrow and the pain
And fly again
The family stood and followed the casket out, followed by the mourners in the church. Claudia pressed herself into her brother's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close as they made their way out.
Fly, fly, precious one
Your endless journey has begun
Take your gentle happiness
Far too beautiful for this
Cross over to the other shore
There's peace forevermore
But hold this memory, bittersweet Until we meet
Hagi watched as Gary began to cry, his mother and father comforting him as tears fell from their eyes.
Fly, fly, do not fear
Don't waste a breath and don't shed a tear
Your heart is beyond your soul is free
Be on your way, don't wait for me
Above the universe you'll fly
On, beyond the hands of time
The moon will rise, the sun will set, but I won't forget
Just outside the church, Marva was joined by Jim who gave her a reassuring hug. Claudia sobbed bitterly as Hagi pulled her into his embrace with one cheek resting on top of her head. His eyes closed as a tear ran down his cheek, his stoic expression slipping into a small sob and then regained control.
Jim commented as a tear left his eye, "Now I'm worried. I've never seen Pretty Boy cry before..."
Marva dabbed the tears and looked at her son and daughter. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks as she responded, voice cracking, "I am, too. For all Hagi's strength, it has been Claudia that was his rock. Now he has to be there for her." She looked at Jim and gave an ominous shiver, "I don't know if we are going to be able to pull her through this."
Fly, fly in a wink
Fly where only angels sing
Fly away the time is right.
Go now, find the light
Julia's face was illuminated by the computer screen as her jaw dropped open in shock. She was reading through the notes of one of Amshel's experiments on Karl- the phantom- and then she paralleled it with the notes in his private journal. It noted exactly where the damage would be most effective. "Oh," she gasped.
David came into the dining room and filled a glass with juice. He took a glance at his wife and absently noted her expression and turned to leave. It took him a second to realize something had her attention. He came to her side to read the two windows that were opened over her shoulder and he nearly dropped the glass. "I'll call Kai."
It took a week to gather all the Red Shield together for an emergency meeting. They listened as Julia explained one of Amshel's longest and cruelest experiments. He had noticed during the early 1900s that the chevalier known as Sonya had been crystalized by Saya's blood. When he and Nathan were moving the body, one of the crystals splintered off into his hand. He removed it, but small pieces still remained under the skin. At first, he wasn't affected, but after 10 years, he began to see red crystalline cracks appear on his hand stretching up his wrist toward his arm. Nothing he came up with cured it and it was spreading up his arm. He finally went to Diva and took some of her blood. It took a moment, but the cracks vanished and did not return.
In 1960, when Karl became a chevalier, he decided to embed one of the crystals in Karl's back, by 1965, what Amshel had named the thorn, was taking over his body. The crystal would break down into fine particles and infected the blood and veins as they slowly moved throught he bloodstream to the heart. All his bodily functions shut down one by one until his lungs stopped working. Just before his heart stopped, he was given Diva's blood and made a slow recovery.
Amshel decided to continue experimenting on him to find the most effective way to slowly kill a chevalier. The end results take about 10 years.
"So what does that all mean?" Okamura asked.
Kai sat, dumbfounded. He understood exactly what it meant.
David explained it simply, "Amshel told Hagi he would pay for that- and that is exactly what will happen."
"So you mean that even though Hagi some how managed to survive that crystallized claw and being blown up, he's still going to die?" Lewis asked.
"Not if we can find him and wake Saya," Julia answered. She turned to Lulu as did everyone else.
The small girl shifted nervously at the eyes on her. She looked at Julia and said, "No."
"You must understand, if we don't do this, Hagi will die," Julia explained.
"But you don't understand, Hagi wouldn't want this- even if it meant his life," Lulu shot back.
Kai was in front of her, leaning over her with an arm on either side of her. He stated, "Lulu, you were right there when Saya was crying her eyes out because she thought he was dead. You know she won't want to live without him. You have to let us do this to save him."
Tears spilled down her face and she answered, "I can't- he'll never forgive me."
"If you don't, he won't be alive to thank you or forgive you," Kai answered as he held back his anger for her stubbornness.
"But the knights will never let you," she commented and then slapped a hand over her mouth.
"The what?" David asked.
"You mean the chevaliers that have been snooping around Saya's tomb?" Kai asked.
She sighed and answered tearfully, "Yeah. Hagi introduced me to their leader. He calls himself the First Knight. They are watching Saya while Hagi is away. They don't want to hurt her, they call her the Warrior Queen and they say she is special and so is Hagi."
"Maybe you can explain the situation to them," Julia suggested.
"Hagi is the only one that can contact them," Lulu informed.
"Lulu," Kai drew her attention to him as he explained, "we will find a way to get the serum to her, we will find that darn cat, Hagi, and we will answer for all the other stuff, too, but you need to say yes."
She looked away.
David came to her this time and informed, "We have very little time, Lulu. In less than one year, Hagi will be dead. You need to say yes."
Kai looked into her green eyes and begged, "Please, Saya won't want to live without him. You don't want to see her go through that again."
Lulu broke into sobs and nodded her head. She looked up and simply answered, "Yes."
