Chapter Fourteen.
Foresight in a Fortnight.
Raven tried to push the memories of Rosso and Viola from the front of his mind to the very back. He had really begun to think differently since Reika entered his life. He knew Prozen was going to take the abduction in to his advantage. He peered out over the balcony railing again and watched the false dawn begin. He couldn't sleep at all last night; too much was running through his mind. Prozen's plots, taking care of Reika, it was just becoming too much.
He had to take preparations for the worst. What if Prozen's plans for world domination/annihilation or whatever he desired to do worked? What if they failed and the Republic took over? He was sure he would be the first on their most wanted list. Along with anyone in the palace.
But what could he possibly do to prepare? He rested his head on his crossed arms that leaned upon the railing, still observing the false dawn. He looked up at the sky and saw the two moons. Half of their dark sides were showing, while the other halves were visible. Raven scoffed at a romantic fool's thought.
"If life is as beautiful as the moons, then I must be stuck on the dark side of the moons." He laughed. Raven watched as the sun slowly peeked over the horizon. Shadow lingered in the hallway behind him. "Prozen told me I have 5 days to a week to get ready to be deployed again. Except this time I'll just be out there to destroy Zoids so he can pick up Zoid cores." Raven began to think again. "So if I take Reika out at least once all these days I could teach her how to get away safely and if need be….how to defend herself." Raven sighed. "She's so innocent…I wish I didn't have to teach her how to kill." He thought sadly, imagining her warm smile. "But you have to, don't you?" He asked himself aloud, backing away from the balcony edge as the sun rose. He watched the sun rise a little longer and then began to walk away. He had to go see her, he had to convince her he wasn't just a heartless killing machine, but just a pawn in a game of War.
Reika sighed as she fidgeted with her fingers, sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her hair was down and she was still in her night gown. The morning sun beamed and illuminated the room and Luminescent was still asleep. She pulled the manila folder out from underneath her pillow and opened it up and viewed some of its readable contents. She flipped through the pages and paused to read the things she could. She found an interesting page at the same moment someone knocked on the door. She quickly slipped it back underneath the pillow.
"Come in!" She called. Raven walked in with Shadow trailing behind him. He shut the door and glanced over at her.
"You're not ready yet?" Raven stated. Reika looked down at her feet. "Any particular reason? You were overly excited to learn how to pilot today." Raven asked.
"Yes, I was…I just got lost in thought is all." Reika stated; the effort to sound happy was apparent in her voice. Raven sat down next to her, and looked her in the eyes.
"You know how I explained to you that we are…dating…now?" Raven started. She nodded. "Well people who are close like this tell each other what's wrong, and why they feel the way they do. Reika I feel like killing something seeing you put up this front. What's wrong?" Raven inquired.
"There was something that I found while you and father were away. I know I shouldn't have been in his office and that I shouldn't have taken it but…" Reika looked up now, Raven now looked curious.
"Took what exactly Reika?" Raven implored.
"This…" Reika pulled the folder out from her pillow again. She handed it to Raven. "I was going to show you earlier but you had to go away to find Rudolph." Raven flipped through the pages as Reika had done before he came in. He felt his blood boil a bit at one point when he found out what had touched her innocence from before. They put her under anesthetics and placed her near the Death Saurer. This had to be what caused those nightmares she had the night afterward. It brought back the images far beneath in her unconscious. Raven tossed the folder over beside Luminescent and embraced Reika.
"Listen, right now I have more than what I should be telling you. Prozen isn't really your father. It's all been an act to make sure you gave the empire what they wanted. Rudolph's supposed assassination was a plan to place him on the throne. You're a survivor from the ancient times that something was set out to destroy and I found you in the ruins the day before you came here. And ever since that day I fell in love with you and nothing will ever keep me from protecting you." Raven admitted everything he was keeping from her. He took a deep breath in and held her tighter.
"I figured he wasn't after I found this. Luminescent has been telling me this the entire time but I never believe her because my eyes had a wall thrown over them making life seem so much simpler than it really was." She embraced Raven back. "What is going to happen if he takes the throne?" Reika asked.
"I'm not entirely certain. But all I know is now that you know you're in greater danger than before. Don't let anyone know that you know now. I promise that after I'm done teaching you how to pilot a Zoid well I'm getting you out of here before anything can happen to you." Raven stated. He pulled back from their embrace and cupped his hands on her cheeks. He could see the fright frame her face and the fear gather in her eyes. "I'm going to teach you today, tomorrow, and the days following until I have to leave to do more dirty work for that bastard. But I promise that when I get back from some of those trips I will make sure that Prozen or any one else for that matter can't lay even a finger on you." Raven told her. She nodded. Raven leaned in and kissed her on the lips, and let his linger there for a moment. He felt his heart rate pick up drastically. After a slight pause he made the kiss slightly more compassionate. Reika and Raven both let tiny moans escape and then broke off the kiss for air. Raven looked right into her eyes again. "Reika…I…" he started to stammer. "I…Love you." Raven said softly.
"If what I feel around is what you call 'love', then I love you too." Reika replied. She leaned in and rested her head on his left shoulder as he placed his left arm over her. "Did I say it right?" She asked with a nervous tone to her voice. Raven gave a small laugh.
"She's so cute when she's clueless like this." Raven thought. "Reika, there is no wrong way to say 'I love you'." He answered.
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"Ok Reika the red buttons on the top of the controls are for firing the laser guns mounted on the chest of the Redler. Once the targets down below are in view, I want you to press the left one to ready the sights, and then the right one to fire." Raven instructed. Reika began to fly the Redler down a little. She saw the two specs on the ground that were the targets and pressed the left button. Sighting lines popped up on the screen and lit up once they aligned with the targets. She then pressed the right one and fired two laser shots at the targets. They burst into flames instantly. "Good job, you got the targets. Lets go back in for now you've done enough maneuvers today. I can do more with you tomorrow." Raven told Reika.
"Got it." Reika replied as she turned around and made a very smooth landing back on the landing pad.
"You were right when you said you were a fast learner Reika." Raven stated as they were getting out of the cockpit.
"Thank you." Reika replied happily. "I'm glad I've got a teacher like you, Raven." Raven just nodded, he took note of the people in the hangar who may have seen him at his weakest. He still couldn't show much affection inside the palace. Or at least outside of one of their rooms.
Raven escorted Reika back up to her room, with Luminescent and Shadow not far behind. "I have to go get debriefed for my deployment in the next two days. So I will come by early tomorrow morning and get you to go practice." Raven informed Reika.
"Ok Raven." She said. "I look forward to our next practice session." She added smiling sweetly at him as they reached her door. Raven opened the door for her and Luminescent walked in first. Reika gave Raven another peck on the lips and walked into her room. Raven smiled at her as she walked in and waved her off to go speak to Prozen.
"Prozen will love to hear about this…" one hiding officer murmured to himself manically as he stayed hidden behind a support pillar. "Raven's got a weak spot after all."
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2 days later…
Raven didn't sleep again. His thoughts were plagued with anxiety over his departure of the palace in such a crucial point in time. He sat up in his bed staring at the canopy set up over it. He sighed and turned over onto his side, attempting to get comfortable. All he could think about was Reika. No thoughts of killing Van or murdering Prozen came to his mind. He was going to miss out on helping her practice, and dare he assume it, an attack on the palace. He was certain that something terrible was imminent with Prozen taking the throne.
Now the murdering thoughts were coming back. Raven clenched a fist and felt a strong urge to strangle Prozen. Raven wanted Prozen to die a slow, excruciatingly painful death. Even after death he wanted this man to suffer in anyway possible.
"I swear, Prozen will pay somehow someway…" He thought. Then he remembered something more important. Keeping Reika safe. He would have to make semi-frequent stops in his deployment to assure himself on her safety. He saw the light from the moons shine through the sheer curtains. He got up and looked out the window at them once again. The clouds were moving off of them, letting the light side of them shine down, and let life seem as beautiful as them.
Raven walked down the corridors to Reika's room later that morning. He was getting ready to leave soon. He had a rucksack filled with some supplies slung over his shoulder and Shadow following close behind. He knocked on her door and she let him in quickly. After she shut the door behind him he dropped his bag and embraced Reika tightly.
"Must you go?" Reika pleaded.
"Unfortunately…" Raven replied. "I promise I will stop by as many times as I can and if I cannot then I will write to you." Raven promised.
"But fath-, I mean Prozen cannot know about us, can he?" Reika inquired confused.
"He won't. I'll tell whoever I give them to, to give them directly to you." Raven answered. "He can't know, or he'd use you against me." Raven added. Reika nodded. Raven kissed her again like he did days ago when he had explained to her everything that was going on. They both put enough passion in their kiss that could put Romeo and Juliet to shame. Raven broke off first to speak. "You don't have to see me off, since I know how much you…detest…the Zoid I'm stuck with piloting." Raven stated hiding his sadness. Reika nodded. He kissed her again quickly and then picked up his belongings. "C'mon Shadow it's time to go." Raven called. Shadow was giving his own goodbye to Luminescent. Raven left her room waving goodbye, and slowly shutting the door.
Reika went back to sit on the bed and Luminescent leaned down beside her.
"It is going to be hard without them here, isn't it Luminescent?" Reika confirmed with her Organoid. Luminescent responded with her own noises. "I hope he is okay out there. I am certain he and Shadow will be fine though." She looked up at her Organoid with a tear rolling down her cheek.
Raven was already hating the distance and he wasn't even ten miles away from the city yet. He had the boosters on the Genosaurer on full blast now trying to get away so he could just dull and ease the pain later by not seeing the place with the memories tied to it.
"This is going to be a very, very, long trip. Isn't Shadow?" Raven asked his own companion as they set off on Prozen's dirty errands.
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~Sahara: Yeah, I don't think I could've gotten it any sappier. I'm getting very close to the end of the story but fear not I have a sequel on my mind :). The next chapter should be up soon so I hope you enjoyed this one.