1 Chapter 6: Questions and Answers
Hikaru awoke to the sound of her name being called. It was a quiet voice that commanded he attention, dragging her out of the peaceful shadows that surrounded her and pulled her back to wakefulness. She opened her eyes to see three men watching her, she had seen them before, but she couldn't remember.
"Magic Knight, who are you?" Geo had answered this question before, but he hoped to get a better, more in-depth answer this time.
"I am Hikaru Shido, the Magic Knight of Fire, fourteen years old. I come from Tokyo, a city of my world," she had an uneasy feeling, as if she shouldn't be telling them these things. "I was called to Cephiro by Princess Emeraude, the former Pillar." Why could she hear a voice, telling her to be strong and not to forget?
"I was summoned from Tokyo Tower with two other girls, Umi Ruuyzaki and Fuu Hououji. Umi is the Magic Knight of Water; her Mashin is Celes, the Dragon. Fuu is the Magic Knight of Wind; her Mashin is Windam, the Phoenix of the Wind Shrine." Hikaru stopped; there was nothing more that could be related to that question that they would want to know.
"What is your Mashin called?" Geo continued questioning her, the others waited for her answer, and it wasn't long in coming.
"Rayearth, the Fire Lion. He resided in what was once the Shrine of Fire, a massive volcano. I entered and proved myself worthy in a fight of swordsman ship with Dal Lafarga."
"Why are you still in Cephiro? I thought the Magic Knights were supposed to leave after destroying the Pillar." Eagle asked the question that had been bothering him for a while.
"We do not know. Umi and Fuu and I are still searching for the one who summoned us. Only the Pillar can bring the Magic Knights from another world, and yet, we are here now."
"What are your plans for driving out the other countries?" Geo asked, his military training taking over.
"We don't have any. We fight, no matter what happens, we will fight for Cephiro, for our own reasons this time." Hikaru's anger and determination showed clearly in her face as she said this, surprising them.
This is not good. With the Magic Knights so determined to fight, possibly to the death, and with no plan. if they can think fast enough then they can find the best way of handling any given situation, no matter what is happening. Eagle glanced at Geo; they both knew what could happen with a wild card as dangerous as the Knights running loose.
"How strong are your powers?" Geo again asked his question first.
"We do not know. We only know that we cannot fail." Hikaru's face went completely blank as a spark of awareness kindled behind her eyes, flaring and going dark. Her expression returned to the calm created by the drug. But she said nothing more, silently looking at them.
"How did your companions gain their Mashins?"
"Battles, Umi fought with the Palu Ascot and Fuu fought with Caldina."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Zazu looked at his watch; they had spent an hour and forty-five at the questions, leaving them with fifteen. He thought hard, there wasn't much more to find out that he'd be interested in. Or that would be useful.
"We have only fifteen minutes left," he said when Hikaru had stopped answering another of Geo's military questions.
They now knew how many people were in the castle, who they were, what the Magic Knight's favored weapons were, what spells the Magic Knights knew, and so on. Zazu, who was a mechanic wasn't really interested in that sort of thing, wanted to know more about the Mashin, but didn't want to bug Eagle and Geo if they had more important questions to ask.
He waited while the others kept thinking, waiting for them to ask. With ten more minutes to go, he looked expectantly at Eagle. Eagle would be sure to ask something interesting about being a Magic Knight if he didn't have anything more important to ask. Zazu was right, in a few seconds Eagle opened his mouth to talk.
"What does your family on. Earth think about you going to Cephiro all the time?" he stumbled a bit remembering the name of the world the Magic Knights were from.
"They don't know, my brothers were not with me the first time I was summoned and my mother is dead. Father is too busy to really have much time for us. Because the first time we went, nobody noticed anything other than a bright light outside the Tower, nobody knew. I don't think anybody noticed when we left this time. Besides, if my older brothers knew, they'd insist on trying to come, or try to stop me." The gentince must have started to wear off, her voice held a touch of annoyance, but her gentle expression had nothing to do with the drug.
Zazu looked down, two minutes to go.
"Two minutes, Eagle. Should we leave?" he asked, not wanting to face that chilling glare Eagle had worn when he had heard what they'd done. Eagle nodded, not wanting to face the Knight and his friends when he was obviously not able to completely control his emotions.
As he and Zazu left, Geo looked worriedly at his friend, Eagle was acting odd. Something was wrong, and it had something to do with the Knight. But instead of protesting, he merely left.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eagle watched as the Knight's eyes slowly opened and she became aware of where she was. Those startling crimson eyes that he had noticed earlier looked up at him puzzled, not recognizing him. If she didn't remember. that would create problems far greater than he had anticipated when he had ordered her captured.
Hikaru stared at him, not able to place his face with a name in her memory. In fact, she couldn't seem to remember anything completely.
My name is Hikaru. I can remember that. I am fourteen, I remember that too. But what's happening. I can't seem to remember ever meeting him. I can't remember anything else!
She didn't exactly panic as she searched her scattered memories, but she came close. Even more distressing was that all she could see were snatches of people's faces, a flash of an old emotion. The faces of two girls showed clearly in her memory. They smiled at her and she concentrated on them, trying to remember who they were.
Umi, Fuu!
Her mind yelled suddenly of it's own accord. Startled, Hikaru lost the faces and they blurred out of focus, her memory wandering again.
She saw a beautiful child with long golden hair and tears in her sad green eyes. Hikaru was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, sorrow, and regret. That face too faded after a few moments. The sound of a throat being cleared made her come back to reality with a snap.
"How are you feeling?" Hikaru looked up at the man, curious. She didn't really hurt anymore and tracking down her memories would be done best alone with a certain amount of privacy and silence.
"I'm okay. What happened?"
"You could say it was an accident. Can you remember anything?" he looked at her apologetically, almost guiltily.
"My name, not much else," Hikaru decided to be honest with him, who knew who he was, anyway? She certainly wouldn't be able to remember him even if she tried.
"I am sorry." He smiled at her unhappily, still looking guilty.
Hikaru awoke to the sound of her name being called. It was a quiet voice that commanded he attention, dragging her out of the peaceful shadows that surrounded her and pulled her back to wakefulness. She opened her eyes to see three men watching her, she had seen them before, but she couldn't remember.
"Magic Knight, who are you?" Geo had answered this question before, but he hoped to get a better, more in-depth answer this time.
"I am Hikaru Shido, the Magic Knight of Fire, fourteen years old. I come from Tokyo, a city of my world," she had an uneasy feeling, as if she shouldn't be telling them these things. "I was called to Cephiro by Princess Emeraude, the former Pillar." Why could she hear a voice, telling her to be strong and not to forget?
"I was summoned from Tokyo Tower with two other girls, Umi Ruuyzaki and Fuu Hououji. Umi is the Magic Knight of Water; her Mashin is Celes, the Dragon. Fuu is the Magic Knight of Wind; her Mashin is Windam, the Phoenix of the Wind Shrine." Hikaru stopped; there was nothing more that could be related to that question that they would want to know.
"What is your Mashin called?" Geo continued questioning her, the others waited for her answer, and it wasn't long in coming.
"Rayearth, the Fire Lion. He resided in what was once the Shrine of Fire, a massive volcano. I entered and proved myself worthy in a fight of swordsman ship with Dal Lafarga."
"Why are you still in Cephiro? I thought the Magic Knights were supposed to leave after destroying the Pillar." Eagle asked the question that had been bothering him for a while.
"We do not know. Umi and Fuu and I are still searching for the one who summoned us. Only the Pillar can bring the Magic Knights from another world, and yet, we are here now."
"What are your plans for driving out the other countries?" Geo asked, his military training taking over.
"We don't have any. We fight, no matter what happens, we will fight for Cephiro, for our own reasons this time." Hikaru's anger and determination showed clearly in her face as she said this, surprising them.
This is not good. With the Magic Knights so determined to fight, possibly to the death, and with no plan. if they can think fast enough then they can find the best way of handling any given situation, no matter what is happening. Eagle glanced at Geo; they both knew what could happen with a wild card as dangerous as the Knights running loose.
"How strong are your powers?" Geo again asked his question first.
"We do not know. We only know that we cannot fail." Hikaru's face went completely blank as a spark of awareness kindled behind her eyes, flaring and going dark. Her expression returned to the calm created by the drug. But she said nothing more, silently looking at them.
"How did your companions gain their Mashins?"
"Battles, Umi fought with the Palu Ascot and Fuu fought with Caldina."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Zazu looked at his watch; they had spent an hour and forty-five at the questions, leaving them with fifteen. He thought hard, there wasn't much more to find out that he'd be interested in. Or that would be useful.
"We have only fifteen minutes left," he said when Hikaru had stopped answering another of Geo's military questions.
They now knew how many people were in the castle, who they were, what the Magic Knight's favored weapons were, what spells the Magic Knights knew, and so on. Zazu, who was a mechanic wasn't really interested in that sort of thing, wanted to know more about the Mashin, but didn't want to bug Eagle and Geo if they had more important questions to ask.
He waited while the others kept thinking, waiting for them to ask. With ten more minutes to go, he looked expectantly at Eagle. Eagle would be sure to ask something interesting about being a Magic Knight if he didn't have anything more important to ask. Zazu was right, in a few seconds Eagle opened his mouth to talk.
"What does your family on. Earth think about you going to Cephiro all the time?" he stumbled a bit remembering the name of the world the Magic Knights were from.
"They don't know, my brothers were not with me the first time I was summoned and my mother is dead. Father is too busy to really have much time for us. Because the first time we went, nobody noticed anything other than a bright light outside the Tower, nobody knew. I don't think anybody noticed when we left this time. Besides, if my older brothers knew, they'd insist on trying to come, or try to stop me." The gentince must have started to wear off, her voice held a touch of annoyance, but her gentle expression had nothing to do with the drug.
Zazu looked down, two minutes to go.
"Two minutes, Eagle. Should we leave?" he asked, not wanting to face that chilling glare Eagle had worn when he had heard what they'd done. Eagle nodded, not wanting to face the Knight and his friends when he was obviously not able to completely control his emotions.
As he and Zazu left, Geo looked worriedly at his friend, Eagle was acting odd. Something was wrong, and it had something to do with the Knight. But instead of protesting, he merely left.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eagle watched as the Knight's eyes slowly opened and she became aware of where she was. Those startling crimson eyes that he had noticed earlier looked up at him puzzled, not recognizing him. If she didn't remember. that would create problems far greater than he had anticipated when he had ordered her captured.
Hikaru stared at him, not able to place his face with a name in her memory. In fact, she couldn't seem to remember anything completely.
My name is Hikaru. I can remember that. I am fourteen, I remember that too. But what's happening. I can't seem to remember ever meeting him. I can't remember anything else!
She didn't exactly panic as she searched her scattered memories, but she came close. Even more distressing was that all she could see were snatches of people's faces, a flash of an old emotion. The faces of two girls showed clearly in her memory. They smiled at her and she concentrated on them, trying to remember who they were.
Umi, Fuu!
Her mind yelled suddenly of it's own accord. Startled, Hikaru lost the faces and they blurred out of focus, her memory wandering again.
She saw a beautiful child with long golden hair and tears in her sad green eyes. Hikaru was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, sorrow, and regret. That face too faded after a few moments. The sound of a throat being cleared made her come back to reality with a snap.
"How are you feeling?" Hikaru looked up at the man, curious. She didn't really hurt anymore and tracking down her memories would be done best alone with a certain amount of privacy and silence.
"I'm okay. What happened?"
"You could say it was an accident. Can you remember anything?" he looked at her apologetically, almost guiltily.
"My name, not much else," Hikaru decided to be honest with him, who knew who he was, anyway? She certainly wouldn't be able to remember him even if she tried.
"I am sorry." He smiled at her unhappily, still looking guilty.