(A/N: Finally, after being left in the dark about the Kalvandirs' intentions, everything will be revealed. What is Ved's plan? What is the purpose of the strange insect? Everything will be revealed. Well, not everything, but some stuff. Read on and find out.)

Chapter 14: Answers to the Questions

Asbel looked up as he heard footsteps approach. He scowled and tuned away, not wanting to even talk to anyone, let alone see his captors' faces.

"Well," he heard Ved say, though it didn't seem like he was talking to him, "you wanted to know what was in here, now you know."

He heard the door open and someone was thrown in. A woman grunted in pain from being handled roughly and Asbel turned to see who his new cellmate was. His eyes widened when he saw Nausicaä herself sitting up, looking slightly dazed.

"Nausicaä?!" Asbel cried.

The princess looked up. She appeared speechless for a moment before her eyes began to water with tears of joy.

"Asbel!" she cried, throwing herself at the startled Pejite prince.

"N-Nausicaä, what?"

"I was so worried about you! Don't you dare scare me like that again! I thought something terrible happened to you!"

Asbel held her tightly. "I'm sorry, Nausicaä. I let you down." He glared at Ved. "When I found out that you were being used, I tried to stop it. Guess I didn't do such a good job."

"You should have stayed out of it." Ved told him. "All this could have been avoided."

Nausicaä gave him a look of disgust. "Why are you doing this? What did we ever do to you?"

Ved crossed his arms. "Well, Asbel is here because he was snooping around and came across something he shouldn't have seen. And you, princess, you're here because you're the Guide."

Nausicaä narrowed her eyes. "And what does me being the Guide have to do with locking me up?"

Ved leaned against the wall, looking fairly relaxed. "You were unwilling to cooperate. I tried to be a good guy and win your heart, but it seems as if that's not going to happen."

"Tricking me into thinking that I love you." Nausicaä spat. "You make me sick. Why would you want to do that?"

Ved slammed his fist against the wall. "Because I'm the one best suited to lead society."

"So that's what this is about." Asbel growled. "Power. It's always about power."

"I have societies bets interest at heart." Ved insisted.

Asbel snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure you do."

"I can create a utopia out of this world. Once I get the world to realize my potential as a ruler and they accept that I know what's best for them, then I can show them the way into the light."

"Is that really what you convinced yourself of? You just want everyone to obey you."

Ved's fists clenched. "I know what's best. We Kalvandirs are always looking to the future and trying to make the world a better place. It's for the greater good."

Nausicaä grabbed the bars, getting as close to Ved as possible so he could see the anger in her eyes. "And how is throwing two innocent people in prison for the greater good? How is trying to trick me into loving you for the greater good?"

"The ends justify the means." Ved told her. "It's well known that there is no love without trust, so I knew that my deception would only work for so long before you realized that you didn't really love me. But that wouldn't have mattered. According to the prophecy, the Guide's true love will be the one to lead society out of the darkness. I only briefly needed everyone to think that you loved me to win their trust. After that, a simple 'accident' in the toxic forest would remove the risk of anyone seeing through my trick."

Nausicaä's eyes widened." You were going to… dispose of me."

Ved sighed. "I know it sounds cruel, but like I said, it's for the good of society. Though I would have preferred that you really did fall for me and I truly was the one in the legend. We could have been happy together."

"Never!" Nausicaä shouted. "You're sick! You're nothing but a twisted, power hungry, miserable excuse for a human being."

Ved looked stung by her words. "You mistake me, Nausicaä. I don't take pleasures in other's pain. I didn't like deceiving you, nor would I have enjoyed getting rid of you. But I will do what must be done. I'm not the kind of person that enjoys doing cruel things."

"No, you just don't care if you do." Asbel snapped. "You may not want to hurt others, but you'll still do it if it works in your favor. Just like what you're doing to us and what you did to that Ohmu."

That caught Nausicaä's attention. "Ohmu? What Ohmu?"

Asbel frowned, realizing that Nausicaä didn't know about the large insect Ved was keeping. "Well, I'm not sure if it's an Ohmu, but it looks like one." He pointed accusingly at Ved. "He's holding an insect of some sort here."

Ved smirked. "You mean my pet science project."

Nausicaä's eyes widened. "Pet science pro… what are you doing?" A look of understanding crossed her face. "That's why the ship is so big, to hold that insect. I can't believe I bought that ridiculous 'bigger is better' nonsense."

"That's actually true." Ved told her. "Bigger is better, or so we believe. But yes, this ship was built for that Ohmu." He smirked. "Care to see it?"

"What?"

Ved snapped his fingers and the guards opened the door and seized the two prisoners. "I wouldn't want you to miss my ultimate weapon."

'Weapon?' thought Nausicaä. 'Is he talking about the Ohmu?'

Asbel struggled until one of the guards buried his fist in his gut.

"Asbel!" Nausicaä cried.

"If you don't listen, you'll have to be punished." Ved told them. "Now, come with me."

Nausicaä supported the groaning Asbel as they followed Ved, the two guards following close behind. Ved glanced over his shoulder at his 'guests'. "I hope you're not too surprised by what you see, Nausicaä. I know how you love the insects so very much. You may be a little… disgusted by what you see."

'What I see? What will I see?'

For the second time, Asbel entered the room with the strange insect. Nausicaä, on the other and, was seeing it for the first time and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"How do you like it?" Ved asked, looking proud of himself.

"What is it?" Nausicaä asked. "I've never seen an insect like this. Why is it imprisoned? What are you doing with it?"

Ved raised his arms. "This creature is my people's greatest success."

"Greatest success?" Asbel repeated. "What are you talking about?"

Ved closed his eyes and smiled. "Whether you believe it or not, this splendid insect was once an Ohmu."

Nausicaä looked horrified. "What?"

"It's true. I received it when it was just a baby, a mere grub. I guess you can say that as it grew, my people found ways to manipulate its genetic sequence. Every time it shed its shell, it became more suited to my purpose."

"That's cruel!" Nausicaä cried. She looked at the insect that had once been an Ohmu with great pity. She hoped that whatever Ved had done t it hadn't hurt the poor creature. "Did… did it suffer?"

Ved sighed. "Regrettably, it did. Very much. Having your genetic sequence manipulated is a very unpleasant experience."

"Monster! Why would you do this?"

Again, Ved sighed. "For years, we have been trying to find a way to control the Ohmu. Every time we try to destroy the toxic jungle, those despicable insects stop us."

"That's because they know it's wrong." Asbel interrupted.

Ved ignored him. "We always thought that if we were capable of controlling the Ohmu that we would be able to destroy the toxic jungle."

"So it's just another plot to destroy the toxic jungle." Nausicaä muttered. "At least that's how it started. Then you decided that you wanted to rule over everything."

Ved glared at her. "Humanity made the mistake of destroying the earth once. I will make sure that it doesn't happen again."

"Humanity didn't destroy the earth." Asbel exclaimed. "The Giant Warriors did."

Ved grinned, looking triumphant. "And where did the Giant Warriors come from, I wonder? You know, don't you Asbel. Your ancestors should know." He smirked at the horrified look on Asbel's face. "Yes, Asbel. I too have heard the rumors."

"That's all they are!" Nausicaä cried. "Just rumors! Nothing but rumors!"

Ved crossed his arms. "Rumors are based on fact." He looked back at the insect. "And the fact of the matter is that with this Ohmu I shall control the others."

Control the others? Now Nausicaä and Asbel were really confused. How would mutating one Ohmu and keeping it prisoner control the others?

"I see that you're confused." The Kalvandir prince pointed at the mutant Ohmu. "Look at its head. Do you see that?"

Nausicaä and Asbel squinted, looking at what he was pointing at. Just in between the insect's antennas was what looked like a satellite of some sort. Asbel hadn't noticed it the last time he had been in here, and he had a feeling the strange device was nothing good.

"What is that?" he asked.

Ved snickered. "Didn't you know that sound waves and electrical currents can affect the insects' behavior? That device feeds sequences of sound and electricity to the Ohmu. The right pattern can get it to do whatever I want."

"So you're basically brainwashing it."

Ved seemed to think about it for a minute before shrugging. "Brainwashing isn't exactly the correct word for it, but it's close enough."

Nausicaä tried to figure this out. "So what, you're going to use those on all the Ohmu?"

Ved raised an eyebrow. "Don't be ridiculous. Do you know how long it took to create just one? Creating one for every Ohmu is impossible. No, this single Ohmu will control the others. And before you ask how, because I know you're going to, I'll tell you. It's those antenna. They send out signals to other Ohmu. Signals similar to the ones this one receives."

"So control him and you control the others." Nausicaä seethed. Suddenly things began to make sense. "Then that last Ohmu that attacked my valley, for no apparent reason, was because of you." No wonder the Ohmu had so many fixed emotions and confused thoughts, because it was being controlled.

Ved nodded. "You're catching on. You see, your people were having doubts that I was the prophesized one."

"Because you're not!" Nausicaä and Asbel said together.

Ved ignored them. "So I put on a little show for you all. You see, controlling the Ohmu serves two purposes. Not only does it give me the power to do as I wish without worrying about the insects stopping me, it also makes everyone believe that I am the prophesized one. It's killing two birds with one stone. And winning n Nausicaä's affection was the final piece of the puzzle." He looked at the other two, noticing their scowling faces. "I can see that you don't approve of my ingenious plan."

"Who would?" Nausicaä cried. "You're talking about getting humanity to obey you with a lie and controlling the insects by your sick experiments."

Ved nodded, not even denying it. "Yes, and no one will dare to try and stop me, for I have all the insects at my command. And with me in command, I will bring this world into the light."

Nausicaä looked desperately at the two guards. "How can you let him do this?"

"He is our prince." Said the first guard.

"We are at his command." agreed the second.

"As are all my people." Ved added. "Whether they approve or not, they remain loyal. To me." He sighed. "Unfortunately, you two are obviously not willing to go along with my plans. So that means I'll have to keep you from letting everyone else know the truth. I can't just keep you here and risk someone discovering you. So that leaves me with no choice."

"What are you going to do?" asked Asbel, fearful for, not his own life, but for Nausicaä's.

Ved seemed to think about it for a moment, but then a smile crossed over his face. "Since you two seem to enjoy the toxic jungle so much, I think I'll take you there."

(A/N: And so, the Kalvandirs' intentions are brought to light. I believe that we can safely say that Ved is slightly mad. But here is the interesting thing, though he may be doing bad things, he believes that he is doing it for the greater good. Yes, he is being very greedy and power hungry, but can you technically classify him as a bad guy since he thinks he's doing the right thing? Nausicaä and Asbel certainly don't think so. You'll see more of the type of person Ved really is in later chapters. Right now, Nausicaä and Asbel are in danger. He's taking them to the toxic jungle, and you can probably guess what for. Now, before I end this, I left an important factor in an earlier chapter that most likely went by unnoticed by everyone. It may or may not save Nausicaä and Asbel in the toxic jungle. Can you find it?)