Oh my goodness what is this, a timely update from me? It's barely been a week, hope you guys enjoy the new chapter a little earlier than usual XD Extra thanks to Guest, Guest, and SailorCandy for your reviews. I love seeing what everyone thinks is going to happen. I'll keep writing to keep everyone guessing! Anyway, chapter song is "Shot in the Dark" by Within Temptation. I've started repeating artists it seems. Enjoy!
I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade.
Gingka tore books from their shelves. Each landed with a large thud, one after the other in immediate succession. Madoka stared at the growing pile on the floor in shock. Her insides felt constricted, preventing her from moving.
"C'mon!" Gingka shouted. He was now at the side of bookshelf, trying to push aside it in hopes of revealing a new exit.
Madoka stared in disbelief. "I don't understand!" Panic welled up inside her as she heard the footsteps grow louder. Her throat grew tight.
"One of these shelves has to slide aside like the other one did or one of the books has to be a trick lever, like in the movies! You know, when you try and pull it from the shelves it can't be taken off, but suddenly a doorway opens!" Gingka explained through gasps as he exerted force on the unmoving structure. He moved on to the next shelf. More books flew through the air.
Accepting there were no other options, Madoka gathered her strength and picked a shelf of her own, starting to fling books to the floor.
There was no time left.
The books hit the ground one by one to no avail. Madoka heard the footsteps pounding ever closer. Her own heart mimicked the noise.
The room provided no easy place to hide; it would take seconds to find them. Their only hope was to get out now.
The footsteps stopped right outside the door. Madoka risked a glance at it. The handle was beginning to turn. The two books she held slipped from her hand. The passage couldn't be here. Almost every book had been removed from its shelf. The two of them were trapped. Her mind raced; it was impossible to come up with any excuse that could save them, especially with the books surrounding them now.
The two of them had to be making too much noise to go unnoticed as it was. If Madoka and Gingka could hear the faint footsteps of whoever was beyond that door, then that person could definitely hear the two of them throwing books everywhere in their frenzy.
"Got it!" Gingka yelled triumphantly.
Madoka whirled around and saw one of the books suspended from its shelf. It was hanging off the shelving unit, but remained connected through some sort of metal lever contraption. The shelf had swung forward a little revealing a slight opening. She didn't question it. Gingka pushed Madoka through the passage and pulled up on the book setting it back into its original position, then squeezed himself into the closing escape route. At the same time, the door on the other side of the room opened up.
Madoka didn't look back. The last thing she needed was to be identified. She ran down the passage as fast as she could, Gingka right on her heels. With any luck, they'd be out of here in moments.
That had been far too close for her liking. She couldn't believe the plan hadn't worked out the way they'd hoped. They'd been so careful to ensure exactly this wouldn't happen. At the same time, Madoka was strangely annoyed. All their staking out around the office the past week had been for nothing. Celestia's schedule had switched up at the last minute it appeared. Now it was far too dangerous to even consider going back there. They had lost their lead.
She pushed the thought out of her mind. All that mattered now was getting out safe and unnoticed. The dark passage had to end soon, and then she and Gingka could blend in with all the other students once more.
Celestia entered her office, surveying it. Two cloaked figures flanked her sides. Her nostrils flared as she noticed the mess of books covering the floor. Very few books remained on shelves.
She walked over and picked one up. "The situation has now taken an unanticipated turn," she said icily.
"Shall we go after them?" One of her hooded companions questioned.
Celestia let the book slip from her hand. "No need," she waved them off. "I will know who it was soon enough."
Mei Mei sat in the desk chair next to Chao Xin's bed. He had only just woken up, but she wanted to be there in case he needed anything. It had become her daily routine to check on him during lunch.
Chao Xin had made almost a full recovery since his ordeal. He'd recently been able to start attending classes again. The last reminders of the injuries he had suffered were a few deep scratches that were finally beginning to fade.
Over three weeks had passed since that day, and they were still no closer to figuring out what exactly had occurred. Chao Xin couldn't even remember why he had been in that corridor in the first place. Mei Mei wondered if he hadn't gotten there of his own volition. For all they knew, he wasn't conscious when he got there, meaning someone could have potentially dumped him there, far from where the attack had really taken place. The thought was more than a little disturbing.
Still, finding him alive had been oddly encouraging. Even if dangerous things waited for them at every turn, there was always a chance they could get out of it. Silver linings did exist in this nightmare castle after all.
Mei Mei kissed Chao Xin as he sat up. She was so incredibly grateful he was alive. She had already lost Hikaru. Mei Mei wasn't prepared to lose anyone else. She didn't think she'd be able to handle it. As it was, she had yet to fully come to terms with the fact that Hikaru wouldn't be coming back. She tried not to think about it, but Hikaru's fate still haunted her dreams late at night.
She talked easily with Chao Xin as they'd been doing the past few weeks. It felt so good to laugh with everything going on, even if it was only for a few moments. Chao Xin provided a wonderful distraction. Mei Mei was so glad things had worked out between them. She could hardly believe she was with the guy she'd labeled "womanizer" the first time she laid eyes on him. Life had a funny way of turning out completely unexpected, she supposed.
It was funny. Had she never come to Starlight Academy, she wouldn't be scared for her life, but then she never would have met Chao Xin either. What a double-edged sword receiving that acceptance letter had turned out to be. Three months ago, it had been the most exciting thing to ever happen to Mei Mei, a real dream come true. Now, it felt like an invitation to her own funeral.
She needed to stop thinking that way. She was with Chao Xin; she shouldn't spend the time worrying. She knew better than anyone there would be plenty of time to worry later.
Being with Chao Xin somehow made her feel safe in spite of morbid atmosphere radiating throughout the castle. She needed to take advantage of the fleeting sense of calm.
Still, there was one other thing bothering her.
Mei Mei stood up. It was now or never. No matter how she tried, it was impossible to push the idea from her mind. It was time to address it. If she didn't now, would she ever?
"We really need to get back to that tower," she said softly.
Chao Xin gazed out the window. "I know. It's not safe, but I understand."
"I'm going to go now," Mei Mei decided. "This might be the only chance I get. If there's something up there, and we miss out on the opportunity to find it… I'd rather not think about it, to be honest."
"Please be careful," Chao Xin looked deep into her eyes, holding her steady. "I'd go with you if I could, but that's still not an option yet."
Mei Mei did her best to refrain from shaking. She couldn't remember a time she'd been more nervous, but Chao Xin didn't need to know that. If he knew how scared she really was, he'd try to go with her and she wasn't about to let that happen. Not when he still needed to recover. Potentially putting him back in the line so soon after his near-death experience was less than ideal.
It was a little surprising how easily he accepted her plan, not fighting her at all on it, but Mei Mei realized he must have been expecting it. Some time had passed since she last brought it up; he must have still been thinking about it, too.
There was simply a strange aura about that tower that kept drawing them back to it.
Mei Mei slipped from his dorm, giving him one final kiss goodbye. She sincerely hoped it wouldn't be their last.
It didn't take long to find the tower. She somehow instinctively knew the way there, regardless of the fact she'd only been there the one time. As soon as she found the lanterns from last time once entering the darkness of the off-limits area, she knew it wouldn't be long. They still glowed faintly, ominously lighting the way. There weren't any muddy footprints this time, but the lanterns told her everything she needed to know. Just as before, someone had been there recently.
She pushed open the door to the tower cautiously before peering in quickly. The stairs seemed deserted. Quietly, Mei Mei made her way up the stairs.
Her luck had held. A quick glance told her the tower was completely empty.
Alone, the tower felt much more overwhelming, as if it exuded its own power. Mei Mei suddenly felt very lost.
From what she remembered, everything was more or less in the same spot it had been in the last time she visited the tower. Mei Mei glanced around, biting her lip. It was difficult to determine where to start. At the same time, she felt like the minutes she had in the room were extremely limited if she wanted to get out in one piece. Every second was precious.
She didn't have any time to waste. Looking carefully through all the items surrounding her, unfortunately, wasn't practical. Her only option was to consider the things out in the open that were easily accessible and hope no one would notice them missing.
Still, there was so much stuff. She wasn't even sure what half of it was. She began to feel a little dizzy.
It didn't matter that no one knew she was here or that the path she had followed here had been completely empty. In that moment, all Mei Mei was certain of was how much she wanted, no, needed to get out of that tower. The tower felt too crowded with all its contents horribly overwhelming her.
Impulsively, Mei Mei grabbed one of the star maps. She didn't know if it would help, or if it even could, but it was something. The map was the only thing small enough she could easily take it with her. Moving the telescope or any other equipment was out of the question. The map was also one of the few things she actually recognized. She snapped a picture of the room. If she couldn't physically take it with her, it wouldn't hurt to have a photograph.
She looked at the other star charts. Taking more than one was probably pushing her luck. She would have to make do with what she had.
Before anything could happen to her, Mei Mei fled the tower back to the illusory safety of the main part of the castle.
Madoka feverishly began flipping through the book she had stolen from Celestia's office. Her face fell when she realized it was in an unfamiliar language.
She and Gingka had almost immediately parted ways the instant they'd escaped the secret passage, hardly pausing to catch their breath, not daring to speak a word. From there, Madoka had gone straight to her dorm and refused to leave until she felt she was in the clear. In the meantime, she thought it was worth taking a look at the book she'd risked her life to obtain.
There had to be a way to decipher its meaning. She had a rough idea of what language it was written in, so as long as she could find a dictionary in the library she would be able to slowly make her way through it.
When it came down to it, though, Madoka wasn't sure she would have enough time for that. She needed to translate it as soon as possible. An imperfect translation was still better than nothing at all.
Her nights were about to get significantly longer.
If it helped them survive, then she really didn't care. She'd get the information she needed, then find a way to escape Starlight Academy. Madoka couldn't count on the book saving them entirely, but it had been tucked away. That had to mean something. It just had to.
The door suddenly burst open. Mei Mei and Sophie walked inside, Sophie holding a plate of food. She placed it in front of Madoka.
"You know," she commented. "You really should stop studying for a bit and get something to eat from time to time. It's not healthy to focus so much on school."
Madoka picked up a piece of bread. She wasn't particularly hungry, her stomach still churning after what had transpired, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless. "Thanks, but I'm not studying." She motioned to the leather-bound old book lying next to her.
"What is that?" Mei Mei asked.
Madoka looked from side to side, not meeting her gaze. Sophie and Mei Mei exchanged a confused look.
"It's just a book for class," Madoka said at last.
Sophie picked it up despite Madoka's protests. "Okay, since when- what language even is this? Madoka, what the hell? What are you reading? I know you're taking some heavy duty classes, but this is so not a textbook."
Madoka sighed. "I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want to worry you, but I guess I don't have a choice. It's better this way anyway."
Sophie tossed the book back at her. Madoka scrambled to catch it before fell to the floor and suffered any damage. "Yeah, 'cause we're friends, and friends don't keep secrets from each other. Especially when they're trapped in this school." She looked at Madoka hard.
"Okay, okay. I got the book from Celestia's office," Madoka admitted.
"From Celestia's office? Did she let you borrow it? What happened?" Mei Mei asked.
"Not exactly." Madoka explained her adventure from a few hours back, leaving her friends in stunned silence when she was finished. She told them about her suspicions from when she had gone to the library before in search of the contents of the forbidden section and everything else she had uncovered, including the mystery crypt she and Gingka had accidentally stumbled upon.
"So you're telling me," Sophie began, her voice rising slightly, "That there's essentially a tomb beneath the school filled with the bodies of Headmistress Celestia's ancestors?"
"Yes. I mean, I assume they're her ancestors. The headmistress of Starlight Academy just so happens to have the same last name as all the coffins in the basement of the school? You can't tell me the two aren't connected. This isn't some random coincidence."
Sophie groaned, dropping to the floor. "That's all for me."
Mei Mei put a finger on her lips. "Something about this isn't adding up. You said Celestia would have known someone was in there because you and Gingka left the office a disaster. Why didn't anyone come after you? They had to have known you used the second passage to get out once they realized you weren't in the room anymore and saw all those books on the floor."
Madoka shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. We spent so much time watching her office making sure we wouldn't run into any problems, and when we finally got in there everything went wrong. As soon as that passage opened, we ran for it. I didn't look behind me once on my way here. Getting the book was a lucky break. I don't know if she realizes it's missing yet. Once she does, we're going to have a bigger problem. It's probably not safe to try and sneak it back in."
"No way," Sophie shook her head. "You guys barely escaped. There's going to be way more surveillance around that office now that she knows someone was able to break in."
"Agreed," Madoka confirmed. "I need to translate this as fast as I can. I get a bad feeling we're starting to run out of time. It may not have the answers we need, but if we can clear any of this up, I'll do it. Even if I start translating the book and find out it doesn't pertain to us at all, at least we'll know so we don't waste any more time on it."
Mei Mei's heart sank. It wasn't just her; they had all begun to lose hope.
Madoka pointed to the dictionary she relied on for her creative writing class. "I need to find one in the language the book is written in. That should aid in the translation process, but I'm not familiar with the language and its intricacies. I don't know exactly how the verbs and nouns work, but if I can get a rough idea of the meaning, I think I can work with it."
Hearing those words struck a chord in Mei Mei. Hadn't she thought something similar earlier in the day? Wordlessly, she pulled out the star chart she had absconded down the tower with from her bag.
"What's that?" Sophie asked, intrigued.
"It's a star map," Mei Mei informed her. Mei Mei placed it her on bed, flattening it out. She quickly filled the girls in on what had taken place with her and Chao Xin the first time she went to the tower, and her desire to go back once more. "It was the only thing I was capable of bringing back with me."
Sophie frowned slightly, seeming a bit put out as a small pout crossed her face. "Am I the only one not going on all these crazy adventures here?"
"Yes, but you're probably safer for it," Madoka reminded her. "Now, Mei Mei, what else did you say was in the room?"
"Oh!" Mei Mei took out her phone. "I almost forgot. I took a picture of it, just in case." She passed her phone over to Madoka, who instantly began scrutinizing the image.
"Well that's obviously a telescope," Madoka squinted. "Is that an astrolabe? I thought those were mostly used on ships. There isn't any water around here for miles besides the lake, but that's not exactly big enough to require an astrolabe to help navigate across it. Why would that be up there?"
"Maybe whoever it belongs to likes collecting nautical gear," Mei Mei offered.
"Maybe, but it does use stars to aid in navigation, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised it's up there with the rest of the equipment despite not being particularly useful out here. Plus, it's undoubtedly old like most of the castle. It's likely been here for a long time," Madoka decided.
Sophie examined the star chart. "Does anyone have their astro book? We might be able to pick out the constellations."
Madoka gave Mei Mei back her phone momentarily to pull the textbook from under an enormous pile of books. Sophie took it, flipping through the pages. None of the first few star maps in the book matched, but she wasn't about to give up just yet.
"Don't forget, that map is much older," Mei Mei prompted her. "There's a good chance the ones in our book aren't going to be perfect replicas."
"I'm sure there's one that's pretty close. The stars couldn't have changed that much, could they?"
Madoka put down Mei Mei's phone long enough to study the map as well. "It's really hard to tell how old it is. If we knew that, or the location where the map was drawn, that would make this a lot easier."
"I think that might be Jupiter," Sophie pointed to one of the markings. She placed the map on the desk. "But who knows?"
Mei Mei felt disappointed. "We can't even ask anyone about it. One of the teachers might be able to help, but then we would have to explain how we got it…"
"We're definitely on our own here," Sophie agreed. "We can't take any chances."
Madoka closely examined something in the corner of the map. "Sophie, can you do me a favor? I really need to get my hands on a lexicon as soon as possible, but I don't want to leave the room just yet in case Celestia is still suspicious. It's better for me to stay here as long as I can."
"Sure," Sophie responded, confused. Madoka scribbled down a few words on a scrap of paper with details regarding the subject matter she was looking for. Sophie headed for the library, returning about ten minutes later book in hand.
"I think there's some writing here. It's really faded, but I think it might be the same language the book from Celestia's office is written in." Madoka pointed to the lettering as she spoke. She took the book from Sophie.
Madoka scanned the dictionary. She wasn't that surprised that the two objects shared the same language. Celestia's family was clearly linked to the castle, so the star map probably belonged to them as well, especially if it had been tucked away in secret.
Finally, she found what she was looking for.
"It matches up with our word for December," she declared.
"December? Do you think that's when this map was made?" Mei Mei inquired.
Madoka nodded. "Definitely. As far as where or when, there's still no indication. It may have been Scotland, though, considering the origins of the castle, but we can't know for sure. We don't even know if the castle is really Scottish."
"Whoever was up there must have been comparing the sky now to this December chart," Mei Mei mused. "It was separate from the others."
"It's not December yet," Sophie pointed out. "It's too soon for the stars to line up the same way. Maybe this is what they're expecting to see?"
Madoka glanced back at the map. "Maybe. I've got a pretty good idea who may have been up there, but we still don't know what's really going on here or why any of this is happening."
Sophie leaned back against the wall. "Well, at the end of the month, we've all got to go outside for class and look at the night sky. By then the sky should be fairly close to what's on the chart, right?"
"True!" Mei Mei said enthusiastically. "We should be able to at least figure out if this is the location where the map was made, right? Because if it was made somewhere else, it wouldn't match up."
"Exactly," Sophie agreed. "That might be our chance to figure it out."
Madoka didn't understand why, but something about that statement made her very nervous.