Chapter 10: The Runaways
Jared
Disclaimer:
All the characters in this chapter are the result of my imagination, though they were inspired by Lady Kazune Kikenshi's Benevolent Malice and Harry Potter. The implied characters in the story belong to CLAMP, with the exception of Philip Lynton, who is also my creation. Special thanks go out to Ecila for allowing me to use her idea on Syaoran's half-mortal parentage.
The keys rocketed into the dark, midnight blue sky. Each pulsated with a different colour, and headed for a slightly different direction. Yet unbeknownst to most, the keys had a special ability- the ability to communicate telepathically with each other. The different speeds between each flash and the intensity of a flash were like distinct words. Each had its own meaning.
// We must hurry- time is of essence. It won't take them long to give chase. Should we fail to reach our destination in time, we will be in trouble. // Falk said urgently to the other two. Faint flashes indicated that his friends understood the severity of the situation, though it must be noted that one showed a slight annoyance at being told what to do- the slight flicker was enough to show his dissatisfaction. Yet Falk was used to this, for Fenice had always been trying to challenge his power.
Fenice had always been ambitious and felt that he was more worthy of the leadership than Falk- after all, he had the protection of a legendary beast. However, despite their little squabbles, Falk and Fenice had always been close. Perhaps it was because both of them had forged a strong bond through their love for the wide, open skies that they roamed together, or the secrets that they had shared through centuries of being partners. Whatever the case, Falk had always known that despite Fenice's displeasure at having to be subordinate to him, he would always find a friend in Fenice.
// I'm under attack! // Falk heard Lupo scream through their mental link. Had the situation not been so dire, Falk would probably have spent some time giving Lupo a lecture on the consequences of screaming through the link. However, given the severity of the situation, Falk merely sent out a huge energy blast towards the direction where he knew Lupo was headed. Whilst the blast would be a dead giveaway on his own location, he knew that that same blast would help to channel some of his power temporarily to Lupo to allow him to out distant his pursuers. After all, Lupo had never been good at flying, and often was at a great disadvantage in the air, since he had a fear of heights. However, this secret was carefully guarded, and no one apart from the members of the High Council and Falk and Fenice knew of his weakness since Lupo had not wanted this weakness of his to be known.
Meanwhile, Lupo had managed to keep the black rings that had shot after him at bay by creating rifts in time that caused them to be stuck temporarily in space. However, doing so took a lot of energy out of him and weakened the strength of his attack, hence allowing the black rings to take advantage of this weakness to unite and break free from that time rift. Desperate, Lupo had called out for help as he tried his best to dodge the zooming rings that tried to corner him.
Just as Lupo felt that he could not hold out any longer, he was aware of a great blast of energy that raced towards him. Quickly, he jumped straight into the path of the blast and absorbed as much of the energy as he could. Then, with renewed vigour, he raced towards the mansion in London where he knew he would be protected.
When Fenice heard Lupo's plea for help, he had cursed silently. Much as he longed to help, he had his own hands tied- a whole array of black rings were badgering him and it was all he could do to evade capture.
Like Lupo, Fenice had used his gift to keep them at bay. Fortunately for him, he was able to cast barriers with ease and used that to keep the rings away from him. However, the constant badgering meant that he had to struggle to keep his barriers intact or he would be unable to avoid capture, for each ring that battered against his barrier weakened it ever so slightly, and it was through sheer willpower that he was able to maintain the barrier despite the constant pounding caused by the persistent rings.
Despite his irritation, Fenice knew that he was powerless to help anyone else, and his best chance of making it to his destination without being taken prisoner would be to focus on keeping his enemies away and heading as quickly as he could for Hong Kong where he would be able to get help from the one he sought.
If Falk could have screamed in exasperation, he would have done so. Unlike Lupo and Fenice, Falk was unable to use his gift to get those exasperating rings off his back, for Falk's special ability lay in his ability to heal any wound. While this was an invaluable gift in battle, it proved to be useless here, for unless he had a wish to be captured, he would stay as far away as possible, rather than to try to heal the rings, which probably could not be injured anyway, since they were inanimate objects which were able to cause him so much trouble because of the vast amounts of power that had been given to them.
Much as he longed to call for help, Falk knew that this would not be wise. He had not heard from Fenice since they had separated, and this probably meant that Fenice himself was in difficulties. A plea for help may prove fatal as this had the potential to distract him long enough to be captured. Asking Lupo for help was out of the question, seeing how Lupo had made a call for help. Falk knew Lupo well enough to know that the youngest of the three had to be floundering to ask for help, since the shy Lupo had always been wary of making himself a bother. No, it was up to him to get rid of those rings on his own. However, well aware of the fact that he was more agile than the rings, he used it to his advantage, dodging and swerving, trying to find any form of cover which would allow him to buy some time to evade capture until he could reach the fast approaching city of Tokyo.
A black ring whizzed past as he dodged at the last moment. He watched as he connected with yet another one and both exploded upon impact. Pleased with the results, he began to plan his path to cause collisions amongst the rings which had a far longer reaction time. A few minutes later, he triumphantly flew above the twinkling lights of the city of Tokyo as the last of the rings exploded.
For those of you are unaware, this is who's pairing up with who:
~Fenice with Syaoran
~Lupe with Philip