Hitomi wished she never opened her eyes. Not with the atmosphere that surrounded her.
The rough sand was cold, like the solid stonewalls. There was barely any light. She sat up, and shivered in the coldness. She looked into the darkness around her, searching for the others.
"…Allen? Verona?" She turned in a different direction after receiving silence. "Merle, where are you?"
The dirt crunched and shuffled nearby.
"Ty…? Ty!"
"Mom, where did you go? I can't see you," he said.
"Stay where you are, I'll find you."
Hitomi crawled on her hands and knees, waving one hand around to insure she wouldn't accidentally bump into someone. She came in contact with a small, moving hand. She moved forward and hugged him.
"Are you okay?"
"Uh huh."
He shivered. Hitomi placed her hands on his face.
"Oh my god, you're freezing, sweetie."
"I'm okay," he assured her.
She rubbed his arms and held him tight, trying her best to keep him as warm as possible.
"Where did everybody go?"
"I'm not sure," Hitomi replied. The deathtrap of a room was extremely large. She had only crossed over half of the room at least. The others could've been anywhere nearby.
Ty left her arms, and began stepping about through the darkness.
"Merle! Allen! Verona!—where are you?" He paused. "They're over here, mom!"
"…How do you know?" she asked amazed.
A groan escaped on the other side of the room. Hitomi stood up and walked hastily in the same direction. On her way, she stepped on something long, thin, and furry.
"OWW!" Merle screamed. "Get off! Get off!"
Hitomi jumped back.
"What?!"
A shadow stood up from the blackness.
"You stepped on my tail," she said angrily.
"Well, you should keep that thing somewhere safe, where nobody can step on it!"
"Mom! I found Allen and Verona, but Verona's hurt," Ty explained.
Merle and Hitomi gasped at the same time and hurried as fast as they could towards the voices. Feeling the large presence of others, they kneeled down and crawled the rest of the way. Everyone seemed to be crowding around Verona.
"Where are you injured?" Merle asked.
"My right shoulder; my fighting arm," she complained.
Merle sighed, and glanced around the room.
"I need some light, otherwise I can't take a look at her arm."
Allen and Hitomi stood up.
"Are you alright, Hitomi?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure. Are you?"
"Yes."
They began to walk towards a brighter spot of the room. Once directly in the right section, they found themselves gripping long, iron bars.
"No…" she muttered. They began to scan the edges of the iron wall.
"There's no way out of here!" Allen exclaimed.
Hitomi grazed the sides again. She pounded her fist against the rough cylinders.
"Mom, here's a way out!"
"What?"
They stared at Ty, sitting in an empty doorway.
"But…that's impossible," Allen started. "We just passed a row of bars in that same place."
"Well they're not there anymore…" Hitomi replied awkwardly. Her pendant glowed
"Hey! There's light over here!" Ty exclaimed. He started running towards the bright glow around the corner.
"Ty! No!"
Hitomi raced around the doorway and grabbed hold of his arm. She pulled him back inside the dark room.
"But we need light!"
"Not that bad." She held him tight in her arms, and turned towards the others, looking up at her with worry. "We're in Fortona. From now on, we need to stick together."
Everyone either nodded, or spoke their reply of agreement.
"That means you too, mister," Hitomi added, staring down at the raven-haired child.
"But he's over there! They're all over there!" He pointed to the bright light that just suddenly appeared moments before.
Hitomi paused, stunned, and looked around at the others.
"Perhaps we should go find them," Allen said softly.
"It's now or never," Verona added, being helped by Merle to climb to her feet.
"C'mon, mom!" Ty started pulling her by the hand that linked them together.
She hesitated, planting her feet in the rough sand and gawking at the light.
"Mom, we have to go now! He's hurting."
She gasped, and tears formed in her eyes. She kneeled down in front of him.
"How do you know this? Tell me, Ty." Her voice was choking up.
"…I don't know, Mom," he pleaded sadly. "But it hurts. I want it to go away."
Hitomi's mouth was open in unimaginative disbelief. She hugged him tight.
"Promise that you'll tell me when this ends," she whispered.
He nodded.
Hitomi stood face to face with Allen.
"I think you were right, Allen."
"We won't know yet. Not until we get there."
She nodded. "We have to keep Ty close to all of us, out of reach of anything." She paused. "They want him."
"Verona, Merle, make sure Ty is kept close by. We need to keep him safe as possible," Allen directed.
"Okay," they responded.
Allen led the way, his sword in hand. Hitomi and Merle stood in the centre with Ty between them, and Verona stayed in the back, insisting he was useless anyway because of her injury.
Together, they turned the corner, but the light faded, and appeared around another corner down the hall.
With each step they took, the pendant around Hitomi's neck shone brighter and brighter.
"We're coming up to the next corner," Allen said cautiously. He stepped around the edge, and loosened his frame. "What is this?!"
The large glow shrouded once again, and appeared around the next corner, far down the longest hall they had traveled through.
"It's leading us somewhere," Hitomi whispered.
They continued through the dim hallway, all watching the light shining to the left of the hall. Ty tugged at Hitomi's dirty white, three-quarter sleeved shirt.
"We're almost there," he whispered.
The path changed from the dusty, rotten soil to a hard, old tawny brick pattern. The lit corner neared, and the heat became intense.
Allen readied his sword.
"All together, we turn that corner. I'm not up for any surprises today, so let's stick together."
"Don't let go of me, Ty," Hitomi told her child.
She wrapped her arm across his small shoulder.
They slowed down silently, until they came to a stop directly at the turn. Their breaths became harsh through the heat.
Allen listened for any peculiar sounds.
"Now! Let's go."
They turned sharply through the entrance, and stopped, walking at a slower, calmer pace until they stood in the centre of the room.
The light that shone around the circular room, embroidered in arches and columns made of the same stone of its exterior, came from the many skylights on the smooth, stone roof. It didn't look like any ruin. It seemed perfect in every detail.
Straight ahead, on a platform, stood a tall stone keep with a round, ruby crystal resting on its surface.
"It's the energist!" Hitomi exclaimed, pointing out the object.
Her pendant stopped glowing.
Fire blazed behind them. They faced the direction of the flames. The doorway they had come through disappeared, and instead, a tall, bald man in black robes stood, his black eyes glaring viciously, almost in pleasure, and his pale face gleaming. At their two sides, hundreds of black robed people appeared through bursts of fire. They were surrounded, except for the path towards the long stairway onto the drag-energist. Hitomi realized the bald man in front of her had a similar resemblance to the once that attacked her, but he wasn't the same person. He was much more cruel looking, with a long, solemn face.
"Excellent timing," he said, approaching them slowly.
Allen moved hastily in front of them, his sword in grasped in his hands. The man in robes didn't care. He stared at Hitomi and Ty.
"So much trouble, for such pitiful souls. I even ask myself why I allowed you to live."
Verona, Allen, and Merle were surprised they could understand his language, which would have appeared as a foreign speech only understood by Hitomi and Ty.
The man continued, still approaching closer, and closer.
"Then I remembered the suffering I wished for you to see before your time arose." He glanced to his right.
Three heads peaked above all the rest, and slowly moved outwards from the crowd and into the empty section of the room; behind Hitomi and Ty.
Finally, their shapes came into view. Hitomi gasped out loud, and cupped her hands over her mouth.
Van was held between two bald, robed men. His unruly hair was the same as before, but slightly longer. His sleeveless white shirt was soiled in dirt, and his black, faded leather pants were just as dirty. His auburn eyes were narrow and weak, and his entire body was patched with scratches and bloody wounds, especially his well-built arms. He was almost too weak to even resist the clenching grips.
Hitomi started crying. Merle took her in her arms, horrified at Van's state. Ty stood in the open, gazing at the brutally injured man far in front of him.
"Take a look!" the man hollered. "Take a good look at years of pain and torture."
Hitomi shook her head, and broke down onto her knees.
The bald man passed the group's side and stepped near Van, keeping his eye on Hitomi and Ty.
"Hail to the King," he grimaced, and one of the guards holding Van planted a swift kick behind his leg.
Van grunted in pain and collapsed to the ground, his two hands tied behind his back. His breaths were long and hard. Black strands of hair hung in his face as he slowly looked up at Hitomi.
Eye to eye, everything was silent. The pendant glowed.
Why are you here?
Power through the mind. Hitomi remembered.
I'm not leaving you again.
Get away from here. You're not
safe. He's not safe.
He screamed painfully as the guard kick him in his rib cage.
"Van! No!" Hitomi screamed. She stood up and reached for him. Allen grabbed her and held her back. She tried to resist his hold.
Van looked up, his face streaked with the horrible pain. His red eyes looked deeply into hers.
Hitomi finally gave up the struggle to free herself from his hold, but continued crying.
Merle fell to her knees, and buried her teary face in her hands. Verona stood helplessly next to Allen. She stared at Ty, looking in her direction. He glanced at the energist on the stone tablet, then back at her.
Verona slowly looked down at her sword. She watched the faces of pain around her, grieving and suffering with each other. She glanced back at the child, and wrapped her hands around the hilt of her sword.
Ty faced forward again.
The man in robes paced back and forth, his eyes on Hitomi.
"All this pain, all these deaths; it's your fault. Everything; it's because of you."
Hitomi buried her face in Allen's chest.
Van glared hard at the robed man. Then a new face appeared behind the layers of black cloth. A spinning image of himself stared into the eyes of his own. Ty stood his position for a long time, making perfect eye contact to a mirror image of his own flaming red eyes. Then he looked back at the energist.
Van glanced at Verona, holding her sword and slowly pulling it out of its sheath.
He gasped quietly as he understood. He closed his eyes and breathed hard.
"But the grief doesn't end here," the bald man continued. "You will shroud into the depths of suffering for this life and the next." He raised his arms, and two lumps formed beyond the cloth on his back. In an instant, two long, black wings appeared. The people on their sides released their dark wings, and black feathers showered the temple, floating by a rising wind and shading the light from the roof.
Ty ran into the open, reaching as far as he could to the long steps leading to the energist.
"Ty!!" Hitomi screamed. She escaped from Allen's grip.
Van stood up quickly, only to be held back by the two guards at his side. He used his free legs and body to push them away, releasing himself.
Verona ran to his side and using her sword, cut the thick rope that bound his hands together. She handed him her sword.
He nodded, and spread his wings in the open, taking flight.
Merle gripped Allen's shirt as the surrounding crowds circled them. Allen held up his sword in a threatening way, hoping to ward them off.
Ty trailed up the long stairway and gazed at the pink crystal. He picked it up in his hand. It began to glow.
"Noooo!" the bald man screamed.
Everyone watched as the light from the energist brightened and spread across the wide distance of the room. All the Draconian's yelled in pain as their bodies shrouded into white mists.
Van floated overhead, sword in hand, and planted the iron blade into the body of the man in dark robes. His body disappeared beyond horrified and painful screams.
The roof above started to collapse. Large rocks tumbled in every direction. Hitomi stopped, and looked wide-eyed in terror as the high platform Ty stood upon began to shatter. He let out a frightened yell as he began to fall within the crumbled stones.
"Ty!!" Hitomi screamed. A large shadow crossed above her. Van reached in Ty's direction, his wings outstretched. He let go of his sword the instant two lumps formed on Ty's back.
Hitomi watched in amazement.
Two pure white wings shot out from Ty's back, the shedding feathers brightly glowing. But the small parchments on his back wouldn't hold through the impact.
"Daddy!!" he screamed.
He stopped falling as two arms took hold of him. The large, white wings surrounded him in grace and he slowly floated to the surface. Ty looked up into the eyes of his beholder. Through the little movement and silence, he tightened the grip of his arms around the winged man.
The avalanche of crushed, rigid stones crashed to the ground in a splintering second.
Van's feet touched the old brick gently as he released the boy from his arms. Ty's wings disappeared behind his back.
"Ty." Hitomi ran towards him and embraced him tightly. She held his head and kissed his face continuously.
Van let out a groan as his body collapsed weakly onto the ground. Hitomi let go of Ty and ran towards the frail body. She placed her hand under his head and wrapped her arm across his body.
"Van," she said through the silent sob she let out. His eyes were closed and his breathing slowed. "Van, open your eyes. Look at me," she cried softly.
The others stayed a distance behind the two bodies. Hitomi swallowed.
"Van…? Van…wake up." She leaned over and kissed his lips gently, even without receiving a response. "I love you," she whispered.
Silence. Hitomi placed her hand on the side of his face, touching it gingerly. Suddenly his hand lifted from the surface and cupped over top of her own hand. She looked deeply into his faintly smiling face and weak, yet hopeful eyes. Van sat up as best as he could and took his hand behind her head, pulling her closer. Their lips joined and they held each other in a long embrace.
Merle hugged Verona happily, tears escaping from the tips of her eyes. Allen smiled at Verona, and stood close.
They separated from each other. Van wiped her tears.
"I love you," he said.
Hitomi smiled, and her voice choked through more forming tears. She wrapped her arms around his waist. Ty appeared at their side. He was silent as he stared into Van's eyes; the spinning image of his own. Finally, he leaped into his arms. Van held the small body and shut his eyes. Ty relaxed in the comfort of his father's arms. He smiled, and rested his head on his father's shoulder.
The round, ruby crystal in his hand shimmered softly. He curled it beneath his fingers, and wrapped his arms tighter around the body he embraced.
There would be no reassuring words anymore to keep his mind off track of what he missed and yearned to rediscover. "Soon" was no longer a word with the deepest meaning throughout his life. He didn't need it. What he had now would be with him forever, and he wouldn't be parted from it -- at least not for years to come…