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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
~ Lost and Found ~
The sun shines in the clear skies immediately west of the celestial meridian. A warm sea breeze sweeps from the ocean westward, combing through the many islands on which the city of Stockholm is situated.
Tyson stretches as he greets the fresh coastal breeze, having just stepped outside from the Royal Palace on Stadholmen in Gamla Stan. Behind him, he is followed by Max, Ray, Hilary, Kenny, Daichi, Kai and Lux. The eight of them, along with the four members of the Blitzkrieg Boys, were told they could have the day off to do as they wish. The reason for this is because the day before, Lux had finally learned the move which Ventus had anticipated to be vital to their success in stopping Lok's plans - Song of Silence. Although powerless attack wise and renders Elfe incapable of anything other than dodging attacks, this ability can cancel any influence from a bitspirit within a set radius of Elfe.
The Bladebreaker's visit to the city, however, was a suggestion from Ray. Ray had reasoned that since Lux was born and raised in Sweden, it might be appropriate for her to at least pay a proper visit to her country's capital and maybe learn a little of its history and culture. So far, within the last four hours, the group had been to the Stortorget, the adjacent Nobel museum, the Storkyrkan, and toured all publicly open areas within the Stockholm Royal Palace.
"So where next?" Max asks as they began walking.
"Hm…according to the guide book, we've probably visited all of the most astonishing sites in Gamla Stan…well except one more church or if you want, the parliament building…but I'm not sure if they let you go inside the latter." Kenny answers him, referring to the small book in his hands. "it does say here that Gamla Stan is one to the best preserved medieval city centers in Europe, so we might as well walk around a little longer just to see the town."
"A medieval city center huh…" Ray looks around him with a smile. He eyes some of the nearby Renaissance style buildings.
"Who cares about that for now, I'm hungry!" Tyson interrupts. "Let's get some food, huh guys?"
"I'm hungry too!" Daichi pitches in to help convince the group.
"For once, I agree," Hilary adds. "I haven't had anything since breakfast."
"Hm…now that you mention it…" Max concurs.
"Alright, then it's decided! Lunch time!" Tyson cheers. "Any restaurant recommendations, Kenny?"
"I'm looking!" Kenny tells him.
"Tyson, we should be careful not to spend too much on food. Places with lots of tourists tend to charge more." Ray reminds him.
"Aw, come on, don't be such a stick in the mud. We have Lux here with us, I'm sure she won't mind paying for it, right Lux?" Tyson grins with a goofy expression on his face. "Besides, Ray, you were the one who said she should learn more about her country's culture so why not let her try some of the best food in town while we're here!"
"Tyson!" Hilary begins scolding him. "Can you be more rude? Just because she has money doesn't mean it has to be spent on your stomach!"
Ray sighs, Max rolls his eyes and an irritated look forms on Kai's face.
"It's ok, Hilary." Lux tells her with a smile.
Hilary sighs.
"I think I found one that will suit your tastes…and it's not too expensive so I'm sure you can cover the costs." Kenny tells them.
"Way to go, Kenny!" Tyson says happily.
"Where is it?" asks Daichi, poking his face closer to the guidebook.
Kenny checks back and forth between the map and the guidebook and then sighs. "Come on, follow me…"
As the group begins to move following Kenny's lead, Kai lags behind for a moment and looks around as if sensing someone's gaze.
'Hm…' Kai takes note of a few people that were around them. No one seems to be watching them but he was sure he felt something. 'I could've sworn someone was watching us...'
Deciding it must've been a trick of his mind, he continues with the rest. Unknown to them a sloppily dressed bald man with a pair of shades watches them go from behind the corner of a building.
...
After some time of walking passes, Tyson begins to complain. "Are we there yet?"
"No Tyson, there's still some ways to go. The restaurant we want is at the south side of the island." Kenny replies.
"I'm so hungry…" Tyson whines.
"Quit whining, this island isn't that huge." Hilary tells him.
They come to an intersection and stop. Kenny looks around and then back at the map and around again. "Hmm…"
"Well Kenny?" Tyson pushes impatiently.
"Give me some time, Tyson; the map is in Swedish."
Bored with the wait, Max and Ray look around. Although relatively narrow, the street they had been led to was wide enough for vehicles to pass through. There were also many shops lining the street. Kenny leads the group a few more steps around the corner but then he stops again. Passing by a window display of items, Lux's eyes becomes fixated on them while Kenny rereads the map.
"Sorry guys…I think we need to go back and turn the other way." Kenny tells them, turning the group back and around the corner.
They begin to move again and Lux removes her eyes from the shop window to join them. However, as she takes a step forward, an incoming family of six tourists disrupts her motion and forces her to move to the side to let them pass on the narrow sidewalk. Much to her dismay, they seem to not notice the girl they are holding up. The father of the group takes a while capturing pictures while the mother speaks to her children in a language she does not understand. They then finally notice Lux standing against the wall, but again to her dismay they don't seem to realize she wants to pass through them. The father then approaches her.
"Miss, could you please take a picture of me and my family here?" he asks her, holding the camera out to her.
"Take a picture…?" Lux repeats.
"Yes, you just hold the camera facing that way and press this button." He indicates to her, pointing down the street.
"Ok…"
The clueless girl takes the camera and the family lines up and she presses the one button and gives it back. The family then thanks her and begin to leave.
Once they had stopped blocking the road, she takes a turn back to the lane before but could not see the rest of the group anywhere. Believing they are simply further ahead somewhere, she goes down the road to find them.
...
On the east edge of the island, Wyvynn sits on a bench facing towards the water. Around him, a handful of seagulls fly around in search of unguarded food. Staring into the ocean he slowly becomes lost in his own thoughts.
He had reported back as ordered and told Lok a lie – Kai, Lux, and Ventus were not in Sweden. Expectedly, since they were under the assumption that he would not have any reason to betray them, they appear to have believed him and told him he could go where he likes until they find a way to locate the three. Having nothing else of interest to do, he ended up coming back here to follow them some more but chose to pass on the sightseeing they were doing. However, he felt rather uneasy about it all. They had trusted him and he had betrayed that trust.
'But…did they really trust me back there?' Wyvynn then recalls the way he had reported the information. He was a pretty bad liar; his voice showed hesitation and his eyes diverted from them. 'They could have just pretended to have accepted what I said…'
Wyvynn looks up and watches as a pair of seagulls encircle one another in the sky.
'What will I do now? That lie I told practically makes me a traitor…whether or not they know it yet. Would Lok turn on me when he finds out…like he did to Sparky? Even if for now I can run away from them…Maybe I can excuse the lie if they find out…Ugh, what am I, some kind of coward…?'
A short scream interrupts his thoughts and causes him to turn in its direction.
"Watch where you're going, young lady!" A middle aged woman scolds a golden haired girl in a white and pink thin-strap summer dress in front of her. It was apparent that the two had bumped into each other in the street.
"I'm sorry…" Lux apologizes as the woman brushes past her and continues walking. She then walked on herself, looking around as if in a daze.
'Why is she by herself?' Wyvynn wonders. 'Didn't she come with Kai and the others? Did she get separated…?'
He then watches as she stops a random stranger and asks something but the stranger looks puzzled by her question and just walks away from her. She stops another close by person and the same occurs. Curious about this, he gets off the bench and quietly follows her.
...
Meanwhile, Tyson, Ray, Max, Hilary, Daichi and Kai follow Kenny as he takes yet another turn into yet another narrow walkway. Like most of the streets they have walked through already, this one too, did not allow vehicles to pass through. Kenny pauses and looks around.
"Ok this is the street it should be on. If we keep going down this way we should be right in front of it." Kenny tells them.
"Alright!" Tyson happily exclaims as they begin to move along.
Kai follows but then notices something. Lux was generally a quiet girl, and had a tendency to be at the very back of the group whenever they went anywhere. However, for the last four or so blocks they've walked, she had literally not said a word. He glances over his shoulder.
She was not there.
'No way!' Kai searches everywhere behind them with his eyes.
"Kai?" Ray stops and turns to him wondering why his teammate who had been walking beside him had stopped. He soon notices the reason when he scans the rest of the group and then their surroundings.
"What's wrong?" Max turns around too now. The rest of the group stops too now.
"Lux isn't here." Ray answers him.
"She's missing, again?" Daichi asks, looking around too now.
"She probably strayed from us not too far away." Max then suggests. "Since this island isn't so big, we should probably be able to find her pretty easily."
Seeing as no one sees her anywhere, Kai decides to go search for her and starts to run off.
"Kai, are you going to go search for her by yourself?" Tyson shouts after him.
"Yeah." Kai yells back.
"Wait Kai!" Max calls to him. Kai stops and turns back. "I'll come with you."
Kai nods in approval. Max then turns back to the rest.
"We'll catch up later, k guys?" he then takes off with Kai.
...
On another part of the island, in a narrow cobbled street, Wyvynn watches as the girl in front of him stops by the window of a shop. She stares at a dress displayed there and then looks at the one she is wearing. Wyvynn glances at the dress in question. The design was quite elaborate and pretty. In some ways it is no wonder the girl likes it. She then twirls around and watches her reflection in the glass, causing a nearby man passing by to take notice of her due to her odd behavior. Wyvynn feels a little embarrassed for her now but continues to watch her nonetheless. Luckily very few people are around.
Just as she is about to move on, a bald man in rather sloppy clothing bumps into her. Wyvynn watches as the man slips his hand into her bag which she wore diagonally from her shoulder. The man pulls something out and quickly pockets it before turning to her to apologize.
Wyvynn sighs. He didn't have to do this, but he feels bad for her. He pulls over the hood of his black robe-like windbreaker and puts on a pair of sunglasses to hide the iridescent glow in his eyes. He then begins to walk calmly towards the approaching pickpocket and swipes the object from his pocket. The man stops and watches him walk away, grunting angrily as there was no way he can reclaim his loot without making it known he had stolen from the girl nearby. If he makes a scene, the girl would surely turn and see the item in question.
Wyvynn watches from the corner of his eye as the man soon walks away in defeat. He then catches up to Lux.
"Hey." He calls her attention.
She turns to him. For some reason his voice seems a little familiar but she could not remember clearly where she had heard it from. "Hello…"
Wyvynn takes her hand, pulls out the wallet and then places her other hand over it. "Be careful with this."
Lux looks at it and then into her bag. She then turns back to him, "Thank you, Mr. Stranger…but why did you have my wallet?"
Not wanting to make a scene or alert the girl too much, Wyvynn lies to her, "You…uh…dropped it back there."
Lux smiles. She then says to him, "Thank you."
"Yeah. Sure…anytime." He replies.
She then turns from him and continues down the road. Wyvynn, feeling bad for her again, finally decides to ask.
"Hey, are you here alone?" He knew the answer but he didn't want to seem suspicious.
She turns back to him and shakes her head gently. "I was with friends…and Kai. Then they disappeared…"
"You mean you got separated from them, right?" Wyvynn corrects her.
"Separated from…is the way to say it?"
Wyvynn then decides he might as well get straight to the point. "Want me to help you find your friends?"
Lux's face lit up upon hearing that. "Yes, please help."
"So," Wyvynn looks around, "Where did you last see them? Your friends, I mean…"
"I don't know…" she answers while they begin walking down the street.
"Where were you headed before you got separated?" Wyvynn asks,
"A restaurant…"
"Which one?"
"I don't know…Kenny said…it's on the south side…"
"Have you tried asking around if anyone has seen your friends?"
"Yes…they said they can't help me…that they don't know who they are…"
Wyvynn stops. "Wait, don't know who they are…? Did you ask them by name or by description?"
"Name or description…?" Lux stares at the ground for a moment. "I asked…if they know where Kai is…"
Wyvynn stares at her speechless. He was astounded. From all the time he had observed them so far, he had already figured out that she has trouble speaking due to a lack of a wide vocabulary base. The extent to which she lacked common sense however made him wonder what it was about her that could have prompted the scientists at the lab to erase so much of her knowledge as to render her practically incapable of taking care of herself in a situation as simple as being lost.
He then sighs. Although he knows their description, Wyvynn decides he might as well play along as it would be good for her the next time this happens. "Tell me, what do your friends look like and how many of them were there?
"There are seven of them…look like…hm…"
"Hair color, height, age, clothes." Wyvynn helps her along. "Tell me one by one."
"Ok…" Lux answers.
She goes through the descriptions of each her friends as they wander the streets. Wyvynn helps her along here and there but mostly does not listen as he already knows the information. They also ask around a few shopkeepers and passersby, explaining the situation to each. Some simply don't know but others point them along and wish them luck.
...
Meanwhile, doing almost the exact same are Kai and Max. They had gone through most of the shops they had passed by until they found a shopkeeper who noticed a lost looking girl of the appropriate age and dress. The man had pointed them down a street and they had thanked him. They now find themselves at the east edge of the island where the road is wide and on the other side, some low buildings and a few benches line the edge of the water.
Kai and Max search the area with their eyes for someone with a respectable image who might have seen the girl. The amount of people here and the structure of the area would have made it unlikely for shopkeepers to have paid any mind anyone outside their shops. Max then nudges him and points to a well-dressed, middle aged woman nearby who seems to be shopping in the vicinity.
Kai leads Max towards the woman and approaches her, "Excuse me,"
She turns around to face them. "Yes, young man?"
"We're looking for a girl with blond hair around this tall?" Kai asks indicating her height.
"She was wearing a white dress with some pink trimmings." Max adds.
"Why, yes. The little dear bumped into me a while ago. She looked rather lost." The woman answers.
"Did you see where she went?" Kai asks.
"I'm not sure but I think she went down that way." She points southward.
Kai begins in that direction and Max thanks her for the both of them. However a voice stops them.
"You looking for that blond chick in a white dress that was with you guys?"
Kai and Max turn to be greeted by a sloppily dressed man with a shiny bald head. The guy looked sketchy to them but they decide to hear him out anyway.
"Have you seen her?" Kai asks.
"Ha! You guys should give up," he tells them. "She ditched you guys for some dude in a black coat on Stora Nygatan."
He walks away and Kai begins to look around.
"A guy in a black coat?" Max turns to Kai.
Kai does not answer but instead runs into the nearest shop. Looking around, he quickly spots the shopkeeper and approaches her.
"I need to know where Stora Nygatan is." Kai tells her bluntly as Max steps into the shop behind him.
"Uhm…uh…" The shopkeeper was a little startled by him. "If you stay on this side of the street and walk south until you come to a large area where there's a statue of a man on horseback across the street. Go a little north west from there and you should see a triangular plaza. The street you're looking for should start from about the shop selling prescription glasses. It goes northward…"
Kai takes off and Max thanks the shopkeeper for him before following after him.
...
Kai and Max soon reach the street in question and look around. It seems to be lined with shops. Wandering a little further down, they come to an intersection. Kai takes a look down the street perpendicular. Not too far down was Lux but there was someone with her – a hooded man in black.
"Lux!" Kai shouts running up to them, Max, having noticed follows.
Lux turns around as does the man with her. She immediately recognizes him.
"Kai!" she greets him happily, running up to him and hugging him.
He returns her hug, relieved that they had found her.
"We're glad you're safe." Max tells her with a smile. "You had us all worried."
"Max!" she greets him over Kai's shoulder. She then apologizes, "I'm sorry for making you worry."
"Well, it looks like you found your friends. Or rather, they found you." Wyvynn smiles at the reunion. He then turns to leave.
"Wait, Mr. Stranger." Lux calls to him, causing him to turn back momentarily. "Thank you…for everything."
"You're very welcome." He tells her before continuing down the street.
Kai eyes him suspiciously. There was something about the man but he can't quite put his finger on it.
The three of them then head back to join the others for lunch. This time, Kai walks besides Lux and holds her hand securely in his. He was not about to let what had just transpired happen again. On the way, Max asks who the man was and Lux tells him she does not know. Ultimately Lux ends up telling them that he had returned her wallet and offered to help her find them. The information causes Kai to briefly examine her bag with his eyes. He finds it a little strange how she could have dropped her wallet but shrugs it off; if she got her wallet back in the end there was no need to look further into the incident.
...
Zane jumps over the fence of the Alfhild's estate and lands on the outside. During the last few hours he had explored the grounds of the entire estate as well as infiltrated the interior of the baroque style residence but did not see any of the three he sought – only the butler and two maids seem to be present. He had found Wyvynn's report the day before to be odd. The trio had definitely left Russia and this was the only other place where they would have any strong ties; any other country would be a random decision that they could not have predicted. While Lok would love to come and search for them himself, their group's funds were becoming scarce and his noticeably odd appearance makes a cheap, quiet and easy trip an extreme unlikelihood.
Zane then looks at the time. 'Looks like I better get going so I don't miss my flight back.'
He glances one last time at the estate behind him and then leaves quietly.
...
The sun casts an orange hue onto the clouds and the lavishly designed main building of the Alfhild's estate as it begins to set. Inside a large, spacious room, a grandfather clock ticks and tocks as its minute hand moves slowly over the lowest mark making it read half past nine. A rather large group has gathered into the room.
Tyson yawns exhausted from his trip to Stockholm. Sitting beside him on the same couch was Hilary and Daichi. Ray and Max each had a chair to themselves. Tala, Bryan and Ian occupied the couch perpendicular while Spencer stood behind them. Kai leaned against the wall between two open windows and Lux sat on the floor beside him, napping with her head against his leg.
The door to the room opens and Ventus enters dressed in business attire.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," He apologizes to them. "My meeting ran late."
"Hey, no sweat!" Tyson then asks, "So why did you bring us all to this room?"
Lux stirs now as the room was no longer quiet.
Ventus takes note and in a slightly louder voice, he answers him. "I'm here because now that we're ready for it, I'd like to announce the final stages of our plan."
Outside the window, Wyvynn leans against the wall of the building. His mind is lost in thought as he listens to their conversation inside.
'What am I going to do…?'