Chapter Five
Sometime after Takeru, Daisuke, and Hikari left the camp, Ken woke up.
He slowly drifted towards consciousness, but was abruptly jolted fully awake
when he noticed that it was light and well into morning, when Daisuke was
supposed to have woken him up for last watch. Now, he wouldn't be at
all surprised if Daisuke had fallen asleep, but Takeru was responsible enough
not to; that was why he had been paired with Daisuke for watch duty.
He woke up his watch partner, Miyako, and told her what had happened. She
immediately began to panic:
"What?! They left?! AII! And look. Hikari's gone! What happened?"
"I told you, Miyako, they left for some odd reason that I don't
know," Ken replied, a bit annoyed at Miyako's gushing ways.
"But why? What happened? Oh no oh no oh no..."
"I have no idea. Except..." Ken suddenly stiffened. "Master
Dark's near here. Or servants of his. I think..." He relaxed.
"I'm not sure, though. I mean, why would I know something like
that? If the blood-bond's faded so much that not even Gennai can make
sense of it, then why would I be able to?"
"I don't know." But Miyako did know—or rather, she
had a guess. She had felt... something... when Ken had stiffened like that.
She knew that she had some sort of latent mage-power, and she suspected that
Ken had tapped into it somehow. But subconsiously? It just seemed so bizzare.
"Well, we won't get anything done just complaining about how
much of a problem this is. Maybe Exveeme can contact Daisuke. Even if Daisuke
is alone and has no idea where Takeru or Hikari is, one person recovered
is quite a bit better than none."
"Agreed."
Miyako and Ken woke everyone up and advised them as to the situation. Ken,
guessing that some would panic even more loudly than Miyako had, quickly
added that Exveeme could help locate them. He deliberately failed to mention
the fact that Daisuke might be separated from Hikari and Takeru, correctly
assuming that it would not be conducive to the group's calmness level.
So Exveeme sent a mindcall to Daisuke. But it couldn't get through.
"I think he's unconscious."
Takeru and Hikari prodded at Daisuke's prone form unsucessfully. He
was still out cold, and had showed no signs of waking for the past hour.
"I'm this far away from just giving up." Hikari
said in exasperation.
"Don't. Daisuke is our only hope of ever finding the others.
Be realistic, Hikari. How long will we survive out on our own like this?
Not very. We don't know what's edible and what's not, we
have no idea of how to find shelter, and I for one don't relish the
idea of standing watch half the night for eternity. No man—or woman—is
an island. My brother is Guardian of Friendship. If friendship is important
enough to warrant its own Guardian, what does that say? Do what you will,
Hikari, but I am going to remain hopeful that we will find the others
somehow. And waking Daisuke up is our best chance. Hope doesn't mean
just standing around waiting for something good to happen. Making your own
luck, that's what hope means."
Those last words seemed to resound through the clearing. Hope... Hikari
thought. Hope... why does he know so much about hope? He can't have
learned it from a book. I've studied the books of the Guardians as
much as he has if not more, and there's never been a Guardian
of Hope. Some prophecies about one though. She half-recited those to
herself, just to see if she still remembered them from her schooling years
ago. And then Hope and Light will beat back Dark, but only together can
they do so. Apart they are weak, but in perfect unity nothing may stand against
the four angels. And of course, there was that one, the one that
would get stuck in your head for hours on end: Angel of day and angel
of night, angel of hope and angel of light... (AN: rest omitted because
those of you who can stand my feeble attempts at poetry have already read
that) So many prophecies... they surely indicated a great nexus critical
to the future of the island. It was almost scary to think that Takeru might
be the bearer of one of them...
But yet... there was what happened at the squire ceremony. She had only heard
snatches of rumors about it, but if they were true then he had undergone
a trance not at all unlike what she had just experienced...
She was jolted out of her reverie by Takeru's voice announcing, "Well,
I'm not giving up entirely, but I will take a short break. Hikari,
you're right about the frustration factor. All I really want to do
right now is hurt Daisuke severely, and while that has a good chance of waking
him up I think he'd be a bit mad if we used that method." He
came and sta next to her.
"I tend to agree. We can't do anything to jeopardize his willingness
to help us get back."
"True. He could just go off and leave us."
"Tell me this, Takeru. If we could survive on our own, would you mind
if Daisuke left us before we were rescued?"
"What exactly do you mean?"
"Being a princess means a lot of pressure." She glanced almost
involuntarily at Daisuke. Noticing this, Takeru remarked:
"Even without your high position, Hikari, people would rush to court
you."
"What precisely do you mean by that?"
Takeru sat silent for a little while, but then Hikari continued.
"It's not that Daisuke is so persistent that bothers me. It's
that I can't escape from it. An unChosen princess is potentially the
most volatile politcal situation a person can be in. I have to marry,
I have to marry relatively soon, and because my future husband must
be both a noble and a Guardian, there are exactly two canidates: your brother
and Daisuke. Only one of them has shown any interest."
"So you might be forced to marry Daisuke?"
"Unless I'm Chosen relatively soon, yes." She paused. "Or
unless some other noble is Chosen soon."
Another pause. "What did you mean, anyway?"
Those were dangerous waters. Any statement Takeru made against the engagement
Hikari would be trapped in might jeopardize the kingdom. The political situation
was so unstable right now that disrupting that marriage might be fatal. But
Hikari with Daisuke had the potential to be one of the saddest marriages
in history... Was surface stability enough to trap her in this? For all of
her sixteen years, she'd led a remarkably sheltered life as princess.
Was it fair to let the part of her that was still hopeful for a way out of
this mess die? When a dream dies, does it matter? Is killing a dream murder?
All Takeru knew was that hope was a precious thing, to precious to destroy.
And this was what eventually decided him.
"Well... you're kind and sweet and beautiful. Anyone would..."
"Not your brother."
"He... he took it a bit hard when Sora accepted Taichi. I'm not
sure he's that interested in marriage any more. Why? Do you like him
that way?"
"No. But if I have to marry for the good of the country, well, he'd
be a lot better for File than Daisuke."
Takeru could sense her becoming resigned to that duty, and for some odd reason
he couldn't stand it. He asked potentially the most explosive and dangerous
question.
"Is there anyone you like that way?"
Silence, only broken by the chirping of a far-off bird. Neither wanted to
say anything. If you say something, acknowledge it, that makes it true. And
truth in this case was so wonderful... and so disatsrous... that to speak
it would doom them forever to a forlorn hope that could never be.
"Unconscious? You're certain?"
"I think that I would know..." Exveeme snapped back.
"Is there any way we can wake him up remotely, Koushiro?"
"I'm not certain, but possibly if Exveeme sent a really loud
mindcall across the link..."
"I'll try."
So Hikari did not speak of it. Instead she gradually lowered her head until
it was leaning on Takeru's shoulder. Her only words were, "I'm
sorry to drag you into this," softly, gently.
"Don't be. When will the engagement be announced?"
"As soon as we're back in Infinity City. If anything happens
before then... maybe..."
"Keep hope, Hikari. Keep hope." But even as he said that, he
wondered if it were not cruelest to encourage her like this. She had been
close to accepting her almost certain fate; when this hope was dashed it
would hit her that much harder. Still... maybe...
Exveeme's mindcall came then, so loud that Hikari and Takeru almost
heard it. Daisuke's eyes snapped open, and his two companions quickly
got up. But they didn't need to worry, for he was in a mindlink and
would not have noticed. He spoke to empty air.
"Exveeme, why did you do that?!"
"Accepted. Yes, they are with me."
"I'm not sure. Takeru got us lost." A loud cough
erupted.
"Well, maybe you can try to home in on our position or something."
"Okay, we can handle that."
He exited the trance and immediately barked an order. "We need to stay
here. Otherwise they can't track us."
Takeru responded in an undertone. "Well, I think that's what
we were doing for the past hour or so."
Perhaps luckily, only Hikari heard his comment and she managed to stifle
her laughter.