Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!
Destiny's Fork
Chapter Two
"Waltz with the Moons Dark Underbelly"
By Magic
The young man with the silver hair almost burst out laughing at the mention of her name, save for yet another confused silence. "That's not possible, Squall had no family," he managed to choke out between fits of laughter.
Hawke had known that she didn't like his attitude and now she was sure that she didn't like him as well. She dropped her hand, spun quickly on her heels, and began walking swiftly away. "Moron, idiot, dumb ass," she fumbled for the right word to describe him through the shroud her anger had pulled over her rational thought. Her eyes seemed to take on a fire as she walked swiftly away from the, "man." What a perfect word, rolling all the adjectives that could ever describe whoever the jack was into one word.
She heard foot steps catching up with her from behind. Then a cold hand gripped her shoulder and spun her around. She glared up into the 'man's' eyes, challenging him to a fight. His eyes seemed to dance behind is cold gaze, he had gotten what he wanted out of her, a reaction. "You were serious weren't you?" He asked the unnecessary question with the added slim of a snot ball.
Hawke said nothing, preparing to launch a snot ball of her own right in his face. She just couldn't take his attitude, she was going to scream!
"Would Hawke..... Leonhart please report to the third floor immediately. That is all," a snappy female voice called out through the speakers. Hawke shifted her weight, ready to leave this bozo, but he hardened his grip on her shoulder. "I'm going there myself, I'll show you the way."
There was no way that Hawke could protest besides possibly running all the way there, but with her luck this guy was probably on the track teem. She gave him a cold glare and turned to walk towards the elevator. The Garden was almost, or more like was a second home to her so she knew where everything was, though she had never been on the third floor. SageJames leapt out of her lap and ran into the elevator first. Hawke followed and unfortunately for her, so did the idiot.
Being trapped inside the elevator was pure torture. The guy kept on glancing her way, trying to keep it discreet. Instead of being flattered by this, she felt like he was sizing her up to see how much she could take. She would show him alright. She refused to let herself glance his way, even though she did find him quite attractive. "Figures," she thought, "find a cute guy and he's got a dick for a brain." She sighed and took in a big breathe of air to calm herself. It was then that she realized it smelt like peppermint. The smell seemed to be wafting over from the silver haired moron, who continued to stare her way.
It was a nice smell, something that she would have thought a nicer person would have smelt like. She took in another whiff of the air. It was almost comforting. She glanced at SageJames, who was smelling the stranger as well. They both seemed to get along well, neither bothering each other. SageJames usually had a knack for knowing the deep down insides of people. Hawke just shrugged; she guessed that SageJames couldn't be right all the time.
The elevator door finally opened and Hawke just about leapt from the inside, through the sliding doors and out into the hall, grateful to get more that a foot away from that guy. The hallway was nicely decorated, and in front of her, two large doors loomed. She decided that she was not going to follow the jerk in, so she walked swiftly forward and opened a door. She slipped into the room and was surrounded by familiar faces.
**
He couldn't help but glance at her as they rode up in the elevator. She was even prettier when she was mad, but that wasn't what made her look. Her name had startled him at first, then thinking she was kidding, he had the overwhelming urge to laugh. After the announcement, he had realized that it was her real name she had stated.
As the elevator rose slowly, he couldn't help but take notice of all the ways she looked like Squall Leonhart. Her eyes were almost the same color as his. Her face, though much more female, had some of the same lines as Squall's. He had only seen the famous SeeD once before he left on his adventure. Killed on the adventure that he was, he had only seen a few pictures that had been hung up in his honor around the area. She did look like him, that's almost what worried him.
Apart from the physical likenesses there seemed to be something deep inside her that made her much like her brother. She wasn't all that anti-social, seemingly ready to greet him right away, but she seemed to have the strength that her brother had once. But she seemed to be more sad somehow, unlike her brother who just seemed to be almost emotionless. Hawke, if that was her real name, seemed almost eager to show her emotions, except when it came to him. She didn't seem at all effected by his handsome looks or charm and if he thought about it, he found that he enjoyed that. "If anything, she want's to kick my ass," he thought as he glanced towards her yet again. He almost felt sorry for the way he had treated her, but being him, he wasn't going to apologize any time soon.
He turned toward her for the last time as the elevator slowed to a stop. Almost as soon as the doors open, she was out and gone, so fast that he wasn't sure whether or not she had simply gone through the doors. He followed her quickly, he was really late. The breeze left behind from her trail smelt like something he couldn't quite put his hands on. "Mango," he murmured as he followed her in the door. She smelt like spicy mangos!
The group inside the office seemed to almost get a little nervous as they entered. He didn't know why but it didn't seem to be directed at him. She glanced around the room to find everyone that he had been with the night before in there, plus the ex-sorceress Edea. He gave a slight bow to her before leaning up against the wall on the war side, his favorite spot for obvious long discussions.
The girl, Hawke, on the other hand smiled at everyone as if they were life long friends. She glanced around the room, smiling to everyone in turn (glaring at him) and then, at the sight of Edea, rushed towards her with great vigor.
"Matrin!" She cried as she hugged the lady.
In response to this, Edea hugged the girl back before pulling away to look at the child. "My, how you have grown my dear. Desert life has served you well. You seem much, much stronger than before," she forced a smile before she could hide her grief no longer. "I am so sorry, Hawke." She hugged the girl again. "But I am afraid that there is no time for you to grieve over your lost friends. I am also afraid that I must add to your grievances."
Hawke let go and took a step back. "What do you mean?" She seemed to almost go into panic. "And.... and where is my brother?" She scanned the room once more as if hoping for a miracle.
Edea's face grew old and sad at that moment. "Your brother, I am afraid.....Squall, he was killed on his last mission by the sorceress Ultimecia. He's gone Hawke, I am sorry."
The youth watched as her face became as blank as a sheet of paper. Obviously sensing her distress, the fox jumped from Zell's head where he had made a bed out of, to her shoulder. Her eyes seemed to leave her face and travel far away. They had been close, Squall and Hawke, he had to guess. She didn't know either. She had just lost everything and now she lost her brother. He shook his head. He was now very sorry for what he had said before. The whole world probably knew of her brother's death before his sister even had the slightest idea.
**
Hawke took a step back from Edea and cradled SageJames in her arms. The joy of being reunited with her Matrin was now completely extinguished. Her brother was gone, along with Zula, her foster mother, and everyone she knew. She held onto SageJames like a child, wishing against everything that something was mistaken, that her brother would walk in through that door and prove them all wrong. But she knew that it was true, somehow, someway, the words just seemed to ring with the truth, whether she grasped it or not.
She looked down at SageJames, her life time friend. When Squall had left for the Garden, she couldn't stand being alone. When he returned a couple years later to visit her, he brought with her a small, tiny foxling, wrapped up in blue cloth. They had argued over the name, Hawke wanting it to be Sage and Squall saying it should be James, thus his name as of now. Brother and sister had become closer after that point, both seeing each other more that twice a month, even though distance had always been a big problem. Squall had even taught her how to dance one day when she visited him at the Garden.
Her thoughts and daydreams were interrupted by Edea's soft and sweet voice. "I'm sorry dear, but there is more." Hawke turned her head towards Edea as she explained what was going on. "You have to leave today, after the ball. The new SeeD's are having their party, which you can attend if you wish. Prince Frost Trabia will escort you to his family's palace near Trabia garden. There you will find the information for the quest that you need. I am sorry, we have no idea about how you are suppoused to save your brother, let alone the world from this terror, you must find this all out for yourself. Again, Hawke," She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "I am truly sorry."
"Who.....who is going to escort me?" Hawke said. She had heard of the Trabia family before, rich and powerful, though a very fair ruling family. The king and queen had many sons, six if she remembered correctly, but she had never met one of them. The thought of meeting royalty and actually having to be with them scared her. She was so much less than they were in the social status and right now she didn't think that she had patience for anyone, let alone a Prince.
"Prince Frost," Edea said as she glanced towards the sliver headed youth leaning against the wall. "That is him."
"Just give him a kick in the shin if he get's nasty," Zell whispered into her ear from the side were he was sitting.
Hawke almost fell to her knees. Everything was just adding up. First the death of everyone she held dear, and now she was going to have to spend the next three days traveling with the jack ass. She had no time to be mad though, Selphie grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the door. "I'll help you get ready for the party. That'll cheer you up!"
Hawke let herself get pulled out of the room, leaving the rest of them to speak freely.
**
Edea collapsed into her chair once again. "That had to be one of the hardest things I have ever done."
"I hope she can actually pull it off," Irvine said with more that a hint of doubt behind his voice.
"We have no choice, all we can do is point her in the right direction." Edea confirmed what everyone else was thinking. They really were helpless.
"If she's anything like Squall, I'm quite sure the squirt can pull it off," Zell said, trying to raise everyone's moral. But no one really wanted to be happy and joyous, so he eventually gave up and left them all to find some hot dogs.
Quistis couldn't help but think about the girl after that. She had remembered her slightly from somewhere and now she knew where. She was one of the people that had taken care of Hawke when she was a younger. Her eyes, they hadn't changed a bit. Quistis looked up as she remember what Hawke had once said to her. She could see the childish face of the girl many years back as she said, "All I wan' is a famwy. I hate be-yen alone!" Quistis lowered her head, if anything she was more alone now than she had ever been. "Let's all try to cheer her up at the party, alright?"
**
"Come on!" Selphie had spent the last half an hour 'fixing' everything that could be fixed about Hawke's attire. They had rummaged through all of her makeup to find the perfect things to use for such an occasion. Hawke was tired and well aware that Selphie wasn't going to let her off the boat; she was going to this party no matter what.
She let out a sigh as she lifted her arms so that Selphie and the attendant could help her into her dress. Her upper lip curled up in disgust, though hidden under the fabric of the dress; she hated dresses. They restricted her movement and the only reason women actually had to wear them was so that men could gawk and stare at.....
"You almost ready in there?!" Irvine's impatient voice rang through the thick metal door.
"Patience is a virtue!" Selphie called back as she began button up the back of Hawke's dress.
After she finished, Selphie stepped back to marvel her work. She had done a fine job of fixing Hawke up for the night. Her hair was braided into two-reversed braids down the sides of her head and every once and awhile a mini white rose would stick out of the side of her braid.
Hawke walked stiffly over to the mirror. Her reflection almost amazed her. Mirrors in the desert were a thing that was reserved for the wealthy, being hard to transport that far and all. Hawke had only gotten to see herself when she walked through the main building, once a year or so. She took a step closer to make sure that it was her.
Selphie said something of a good-bye to her and left the room with the attendant leaving Hawke to sit and stare at the reflection. Two strips of hair fell down on either side of her head, framing her face. The rest was braided back, letting one gaze into her face without being blocked by her masses of hair. The dress was simple enough. The top was separate from the bottom and laced up the sides, much like her shirt. In the back, there was a row of bottoms to keep it on and two thin straps that would keep it from sliding off to the floor. The skirt was made of the same material and flowed with her slightest movement.
She gawked for awhile more, not really believing that it was her, until she realized that she was going to miss the part completely. Not that she really wanted to go, but she needed something to keep her mind off what had just happened.
"Try not to think about it for awhile," she told herself as she walked out the door. She almost got excited about being able to dance with her brother a few minutes before, but then she had to remind herself of the fearful truth. "You'll get him back, no matter what, you'll get him back."
The sound of her voice echoed off the sides of the empty room as she left the door and went into the hall. It was a weak and unconvincing voice of a child that had no one to lean on.
**
Affairs such as this bored the shit out of him. There was nothing to do but be princely and it wasn't going to be the best night of his life, that was for sure. He looked up from his watch and into the eyes of yet another red head-the room seemed full of them. It was going to be a long night. He led her politely onto the dance floor and smiled at her, but his heart was clearly not in it. She was probably the most beautiful girl in the room by look standards, but she was as stupid as a door. She fluttered her eyes repeatedly and insisted that he listen to her story about her new chest of jewelry.
His eyes darted around the room, hoping for someone to dump the girl on. But everyone seemed to have a partner at the time and he was forced, by the code book of behavior of princes, to keep on dancing with the twit. His continued his scanning of the room, never quite giving up hope. For a second Zell seemed to not have anyone to dance with, but then a blonde girl grabbed him by the hand and whisked him away across the dance floor.
The blonde girl just happened to be the most hated girl in the school, not because she wasn't nice or smart, but because her brother was the most unpopular guy so she 'had' to be just as bad. Her dress was a lovely pink color that brought out the color in her cheeks. It flowed around her quite nicely, giving the image that she was floating on water. But of course none of the guys paid notice, because she was 'bad'. Her laughter broke out into the hall as she and Zell ran head long into a couple that was just getting into the dancing mood.
"So that's why they're dancing together," Frost thought with a laugh as the couple continued to ram into all the couples dancing. "Please," he begged silently, "just ram me! Do it now!" But something caught Zell's eyes and he slowed their whirling for a second.
Zell raised his hand and pointed to a figure walking the door. The blonde girl he was dancing with also turned around to see the girl walking in. Frost, not being able to conceal his
curiosity, turned and glanced towards the door. It was her again! He shifted his dancing position so that he could watch her as she walked into the door. Several eyes shifted her way, but everyone had partners so no one ran up to her for a dance. She didn't seem to mind. In fact she looked quite relieved that no one had run up to her.
She looked much different than before. The dress gave her a softer appearance than her normal clothes. But he didn't get to see much more for that time being because the song ended and he was forced to give a princely bow to the young girl he had just danced with. The next song required everyone in the room to join in. The girls lined up on the outside and constantly changed partners with the guys that danced in the center.
He saw that Hawke was whisked into the jumble and blazing feet of the dancers by Selphie, who wanted her to make friends. She didn't look all to happy about it, but there was nothing that she could do, the song had started. He could see that she knew the steps quite well and was surprised when the young man standing in front of her blushed a little. "Ok," he thought to himself, "I guess she's ok looking." He forced his eyes off of her for while and concentrated on dancing.
**
Hawke saw the young man blush and felt kind of sorry for him. She felt slightly awkward and felt her blood rush to her face as well. She glanced around as if searching for help. "Damn, shit," a very colorful array of words flew from her mind and almost into her mouth. She didn't want to be here, dancing with this guy. At least she new that in this dance, she would be able to change partners. The music changed to get faster and it was time for the dancers to change as well.
Hawke spun on her heels to the next dancer, not because she wanted to, but because she almost felt like she had to. She looked up into his face and her chin almost dropped to the floor. He obviously didn't recognize her at all from the looks of it, he just vaguely grabbed her hands and led her through the steps. "Seifer!?" Hawke thought as she gazed into his eyes.
He seemed rather bored about the whole party idea, but he had no choice but to dance. She noticed that he didn't wear the badge or certification of a SeeD. " He didn't make it," Hawke thought, "he must be pissed." She bit back a cruel laugh and tired to keep on dancing, but the temptation was too deep inside of her.
She lifted up her left foot as if to do the step, but instead of finishing it off on the ball of her foot, she decided to land the corner of her heel right into the center of his foot. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Hawke said slightly happily and slightly acting actually sorry. The bubbliness of her voice must have attracted his attention because he gave her the death glare, but by then it was time to change partners and Hawke was long gone.
She could hardly stop her giggling as she spun around and placed her arms on the shoulders of the guy in front of her. She looked up from her laughing and gazed into his cold, blue eyes. Her eyes widened a tad as she realized who she was holding on to. He must have seen her change of face because he seemed a little off kilter as well. They both continued the dance steps rhythmically, as if they had both become two machines that had to preform a task. The music finally came to and end, and Hawke began to take her arms off his shoulders.
Suddenly she felt a warm hand grasp hers, and then another on her other hand. He had reached down to grab her hands and was now holding them out in front of him. She couldn't quite figure out why, but her heart seemed to skip a beat, standing there in the middle of the dance floor. The band once again struck up another song, a waltz to be exact.
"It's not right to leave a lady without anyone to dance with," he said without changing his face. It was almost as blank as hers when she answered, "It's fine, I didn't plan on dancing another one anyway."
He didn't even flinch at that. They just stood there for awhile until Selphie and Irvine, who had been dancing/ watching Hawke to make sure that she was getting on alright, came by. Irvine seemed to whisper something in Frost's ear, but Hawke couldn't tell what it had been about-his face remained unchanged. Once they had left, he spoke to her, "Irvine insists that we dance." It was a sentence that simple that caused him to place his hands on her waist and hers once again on his shoulders.
Hawke, not really knowing what to think about all this, decided that it was best not to think about any of it. She looked away from his eyes the whole time, not even noticing that they were dancing in the center of the room, twirling almost in time with each other; a perfect dance. The others had come and formed a circle around them, but both remained oblivious to any of the prying eyes or whispering faces. They were both off in their own world.
Hawke glanced up at the moon. It was as round as a pumpkin and filled the sky light window beautifully. She continued to gaze up at it, unaware of anything else. It seemed that the moon become the world, everything around her. She was losing herself, but it was okay. It seemed like the pain was melting off of her, she was becoming one of the light beams that radiated down off the ceiling. She allowed herself to be caught up in the light, the soundlessness, the painlessness; she was losing her very soul.
**
Frost looked up at the moon and saw just a round sphere in the sky. He remember what he was doing and glanced around at everyone. They had all frozen around the edges, watching them so intently that they didn't even seem to be moving. It took him awhile to figure out that none of them were actually moving at all. They had all become the background in something that he couldn't see happening. He turned his head to face Hawke and looked into her face. She was staring up at the moon, her eyes becoming blank and empty. Something was wrong, very wrong.
He could feel something, something very dark and evil was coming this way. His magic senses kicked in as he scanned the area for any possible creature that might be causing this, but everything seemed okay except......except for the girl whose hips he was holding. He left go and she seemed to stop moving all together, becoming like stone herself.
Suddenly a deep red fire erupted around them both. It was made of pure magic; that was all that it was. It was something that few people could do, and then he understood, she was coming. Ultimecia was on her way here, at this very moment.
His first reaction, that he probably couldn't even understand the more he thought about later that day, was to reach over for Hawke. Whatever she had been put under, she had to shake it off now so that they could make an exit.
He smacked her lightly across the face; she didn't respond. He smacked her a tad harder and still she didn't even move an inch. He mumbled something about her forgiving him and rammed his fist into her stomach. It was almost as if she had come back from the dead. Her eyes opened wide and she looked as if she were surrounded by ghosts. He hefted her up into his arms, her weight seemed light compared to the burden that he was carrying; he had to warn everyone.
Almost the instant that Hawke came out of her trance, the red fire had seemed to raise to the ceiling and disappear all together. He ran to the people that had moments before been statues in the distance. Everyone came back as if nothing had happened. Everything was normal except for the fact that a prince was carrying a very scarred looking young lady that he had been dancing with earlier in his arms.
Frost dashed out of the ball room and into the hallway that led towards the hospital. But at that moment, Quistis came running out from the ball room and towards him in a frenzy.
"What the heck are you doing!?" She was almost in a panic.
Deciding that it was most likely best that Hawke didn't hear anything that he was going to say, as to not panic her, he set her down on a bench and walked out of ear range, around the corner before explaining to her that if they were going to leave, now was most likely the only chance they would get.
**
She slowly sat up on the bench and looked around. She felt cold, unbearably cold. She looked around and heard Frost talking to Quistis in a hurried and worried voice. She sat up farther and swung her legs over the side. She felt dead, the weight of what she had just seen could be felt almost pressing down on her back physically. She lay her head down in her hands and just sat there, trying not to think.
A new pair of boots could be seen out of her vision. She lifted her head to see who was looking down on her and met the cold eyes of Seifer. He was glaring at her with such detest the already freezing room dropped several degrees yet again. She met his gaze and stood. He immediately pushed her back down.
"Who are you?" He asked cooly and confidently.
"I don't see why that is any of your business," she matched his tone. Yet another person had forgotten her. She again straightened her legs to stand but was once again pushed back into the seat roughly this time.
"I make it my business," he said cooly. He gestured to two figures that had been standing out in the back of the hall. They each walked over and handed him two odd looking swords. Gunblades, Hawke realized after seeing one close up. He tossed one to her and she caught the heavy thing in both her arms, straining not to show that it was too heavy for her.
"It doesn't matter anyway, I figured out who you were anyway." He took a starting stance and waited for her to lift her gunblade as well.
Hawke just looked down into her hands. She ran her fingers over the engraved lion on the side......it was most defiantly Squall's. She bit her lip to hold back a sob as she raised the gunblade to match Seifer's. What was she doing!? She had no idea how to use this weapon! Something in her had snapped. Everything was happening so fast. All she wanted was out. Her life had been a living hell since the day she was born, and not this was just hell frozen over.
She raised her head to look into Seifer's eyes. All she met there was hate. She was forced to close her eyes; she couldn't take it anymore. She felt something rip the skin on her upper arm, a blade slicing through many layers of her skin near her left shoulder. She dropped Squall's blade and reached over to cover the wound. She was met with a knee planted firmly in her stomach.
It being so unexpected she did what any normals person would do, she doubled over and rolled a foot away on the floor. Seifer was just going to keep on coming though. The hate in his eyes had turned to excitement; he was having a blast. Hawke could here everything as if it was off in the distance; the names he was calling her, the clacking of shoes on the floor, the shoots from Frost and Quistis as they ran towards her, and the sound of Seifer moaning in pain.
She clicked out of her trance. She looked to Seifer and saw a girl's knee planted squarely in his groin. The girl turned around to face her; it was the girl in the pink dress from the ball. Seifer fell to his knees, pure hatred surging once again up into his eyes. The girl laughed light heartedly and spoke in a strong and confident voice, "pick on someone your one size, ass hole."
"Kayra.....you....bitch," Seifer spat out as he growled up at the tall girl.
"Now, it's not very nice to call your own sister a bitch, dear brother," Kayra turned to look at Hawke, "You better get something to wrap that with." She pointed to the wound.
"That wont be necessary," Quistis said as she walked over to the group. "You are all leaving....now." She looked to Seifer, "Except of course you."
Hawke got into a crouch on the floor, looking much like a tiger about to flee. She gazed quizzically at Quistis, but no answer came. Two students dressed like SeeD's ran up, carrying was seemed to be a bag filled with something.
"This is your clothes," Quistis said, handing the bag to Hawke. The other SeeD handed Hawke SageJames who didn't seem very happy about this all. He was quite tired and had been taking a very good nap. "You, you and you," she said pointing to Hawke, Frost, and Kayra, "are leaving, NOW."
She emphasized her point by leading them all on the way to the elevator.
Kayra, who was very confused by the recent events, began to rant. "What?! Go wear?! In this dress?! What am I doing?! Who is this girl? What's going on?!" Her voice seemed to carry through the school as they walked towards the elevator, leaving Seifer to deal with his problem on his own.
"They need a ride to his palace. The only ship ready to leave is the White Goose and you're the only one that can piolet something that old," She looked Kayra straight in the face. "It is of the out most importance that she," she pointed to Hawke as she kept on walking, "makes it there safe."
"Oh thanks," Frost mumbled sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood for everyone.
"Deal with it!" Quistis wasn't in the mood to argue with anyone on this, they had to leave ASAP. She almost shoved them all in the elevator as she told them where to go. "Bottom floor, in the sewers, "she glanced at Frost, "this is the way we smuggled you in; we're sneaking you out the very same way." She glanced at them all before saying. "We'll hold them off as long as we can........," she starred Hawke right in the eyes. "Good luck, we're all depending on you."
The elevator doors closed and they began to drop floor levels. Hawke felt even more weight on her back......everything....everything in the world depended on her and this mission. She remained completely silent as the others discussed what plan of action they were going to take.
Half way down, there was a shudder that shook not only the elevator, but the whole school. Hawke glanced around worriedly; how long could this school take that? They, whoever ever they were, had most obviously arrived.
The elevator stopped with a halt and the they stepped out into a dimly lit room. Frost walked in first, followed by Kayra. Taking the hint, Hawke followed them in. The room was cold and made only of thick looking slabs of metal all over. They continued to the end of the hall after opening the first door. The walls were lit by dim lights on either side. It would not have been the best place for a cluster phobic person to be in; there was hardly enough room to walk sideways.
After the next dimly lit room, Kayra and Frost decided that it wouldn't be smartest to have the person they were protecting at the rear, so Kayra went first, the Hawke in between, and Frost talking up the rear. Hawke must have looked quite worried because Frost sent her a reassuring smile before they entered the next hallway.
"Don't worry, they'll never get passed Quistis and the others," he said with a smirk.
Suddenly the lights blanked out and they were surrounded by complete darkness.
"You were saying?" Hawke asked as he pushed her through the hallway in the dark.
"Slight setback, nothing to worry about," but his voice didn't have the same cockiness as it had moments before.
Hawke could not longer make out the line of Kayra's body so she guessed that she had run ahead. She hear someone making there way down a ladder, a metal rail one. "Shit, not heights....NOT NOW!"
Frost grabbed her arm to stop her from moving as they came to the out croup. The fall was roughly six stories high. They could see Kayra making her way across the bridge over what looked to be oil in front of them. There, out in front of them, was a ship the size of Hawke's old house. It seemed quite old, the red paint long faded and flaky. She was now less sure that they were going to make it out of here at all.
Frost seemed to read her mind as he pushed her over to the ladder, "don't worry, she'll hold. That's the way I came in."
Hawke just had time to nod slightly before she was forced to either climb the ladder or plummet to the bottom. She grabbed the rungs and made her way down as quickly as she could, her heart pounding the whole way. She could here metal clicks on the floor above them, whoever was coming was coming in fast. She made herself descend faster, sometimes skipping a rung and hopping to the next.
Whoever was after them had reached the top; she glanced up to get a better look. They were generally just machines, shaped like humans. No, more than shaped like humans, Hawke found with horror; they were made from parts of humans. Metal stuck out around skin and bone. One eyes was human with the other mechanical. Hawke felt her stomach reaching for her throat. It was so subhuman looking! She stopped climbing out of shock and Frost ran stepped on one of her hands.
"OUCH!" She cried out in pain, causing the things up top to adjust their attention to them.
"SHIT! What did you do that for!?" Frost's face was angered and slightly, if Hawke was seeing it right, frightened as well.
The things trained their guns on them and fired, right at Frost. Hawke who was looking up at him saw their aim and screamed was about to scream a warning, but she knew it would be too late. Her instincts kicked in and she lunged up at him, pushing him off the ladder and through the window behind the ladder, into the control room.
The glass shattered everywhere as it racked at Frost's body. He was flung onto the controls. He rolled off of them, crunching the glass into smaller pieces. He had been so slow to react. The girl had beaten him to the punch and probably acted in the best way she could. His anger about her alerting the things above them subsided into pure worry. She hadn't had enough momentum to fly through the window as he had.
"Shit!" he mumbled and dedicated it as his favorite word at that moment. He took out his gun and frantically climbed back onto the controls and looked over the edge for Hawke. "Please say that she didn't fall!" he thought, he was almost dyning with dread as he looked over the edge.
As he got closer he realized that two hands were holding weakly onto the edge. Hawke had grabbed onto the edge at the last moment! He sighed with relief as he grabbed her hands, in attempt to pull her up. Her warm hands along with a great wetness met his touch; in grabbing the edge, she had grabbed a hold of all the shattered lines of the glass that didn't fall out of the window.
He quickly pulled her up, careful not to squeeze her hands too much. When she was up to the top, he could see that her face had gone white; she looked so weak. He realized that she was in a great deal of pain and it was best to get out of there as soon as he could think of a way how. Hawke, unfortunately, wasn't going to be a great help because she didn't seem to be able to do much at the moment but lay lightly in his lap.
He was sparred having to think of an escape plan by Kayra. She had gotten control of the ship and was flying up to the window they were trapped in. She halted the craft a few feet away from the window and opened the side door. Over the intercom she announced, "Last flight leaving all uglies behind."
Frost got the clue and stood up, carrying Hawke in his arms. He reached the edge and took one giant leap from the side. He landed with a clunk inside the plane, quick to jump out of the firing angle of the things up above. The hatch door was closed and they sped towards the exit.
Kayra turned around out of curiosity to see what they were doing. She saw a great deal of blood over Frost's white shirt. "You ok?!" She asked slightly frightened.
"I'm fine, she's hurt....just fly this thing!" He seemed irritable so Kayra did what she was told.
Frost carried Hawke over to the medical room and lay her down on the bed. She gazed up at him blankly for awhile until her eyes became focused to the bright light around her.
He grabbed everything from the cupboards that he was going to need to fix up her hands and then sat down by her bed, and anxious look on his face.
"You doing ok?" he asked, taking hold of her closest hand.
He was trying to be nice, she felt like she needed to make a joke out of it. He seemed to sad. "Oh you know, the usual after getting shot at, acquiring many pieces of shattered glass in your hand, and above all that.....getting your hand stepped on."
It worked; he smiled. "Yeah, er, sorry about that. This shouldn't take too long, just try to relax." He began the tedious process of picking every single piece of glass out of her hands and then wrapping them.
Hawke was glad for the silence, it gave her time to think. Suddenly the cold returned as she remembered what had happened just minutes ago. She had remembered looking up at the moon....but it seemed to be shrinking. Blood had began flowing over it, covering up it's radiant light. She was then in a dark room, part of her past. She was once again a child and Edea was sitting up with her, trying to make her go to sleep after her brother had just gotten back from being lost. She had been so scared and refused to go to sleep until her brother got home.
As she was being tucked into the straw bed, she, being a young curious girl had asked why she had been so worried about her brother. Edea replied that he was her brother and that it was natural to worry about it. But when she told Edea that she had felt almost a physical pain, she gave her a weird look.
Edea had straightened up and looked the young child right in the eyes. "What I'm about to tell you, you can never repeat to any person for the rest of your life-promise me? But you need to know for your own good."
Hawke had nodded and was excited in anticipation of this great secret. She smuggled deeper into the covers in wait of Edea to speak.
"When you two were born, there was an evil sorceress in the area that hated your mother very much. To get back at her, she placed a curse over you two. The sorceress was very lonely and she didn't think that it was right to have love so she made sure that you would be cursed for your brotherly and sisterly love. You see, my dear child.....you can only live but one full moon cycle, about one year here, after the death of your brother. That just makes your love stronger. You must make sure that he never dies, and him with you. For if you two are alone, you will forever be alone--therefore, you die," Edea's breath made the candle she was holding flicker.
Hawke had never been so scared in her life. At the age of five, she vowed to watch over her brother no matter were he was or what he was doing.
After than scene, her vision had changed to the fires of hell. She was dying, burning, and so very alone. The screams tour apart her body and her soul as she fell deeper and deeper into death.
Hawke made herself snap out of the pictures that flooded her mind. She could still hear the screams, the voices, the crying. She watched Frost pluck glass out of her hand, gazed at the blood with no emotion at all. What was glass when you had but one year to live?
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