Between Hope and Death
By: ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: Some characters belong to the magnificent authoress, Diana Wynne Jones. I just borrowed them for a while.
Claimer: I only own Wyn, Aidan, Kamania and Chris Aprilian, Lady Kachioin (and her village), Miss Coca, Mr. Calypso, Professor Weph, Life, Death, Apocalypse, Rhys, and 'the voice'.
Chapter 11: In Which Two Parts of a Whole are Extracted
Rhys awoke with a start and his eyes flashed about anxiously. 'What's goin' on?' he asked the voice sleepily.
The voice tensed and 'shot' a thought back at the boy, 'Shhh…Its okay, I'll take care of things. Go back to sleep, little one.'
'But something's wrong. You're all stiff,' Rhys protested.
'Don't worry, Rhys. I can take care of things!'
'But your keeping me awake!' retorted Rhys.
'You mean my restlessness is keeping you from your sleep?' asked the voice.'Yep.'
'Oh damnation…Can't you just ignore me?! I don't want you to get involved!' said the voice.
'IS THAT ONE OF THOSE SIFRAI THINGIES?!!' Rhys cried out as he realized why his other half was doing the things he was.
The voice sighed and replied, 'Quiet, runt! Yes, that's a Sifrai. Wait…How did you notice that that was here?'
'I looked into your 'head.' Ya weren't being that careful, 'big one!' Rhys retorted.
'Big one,' mushed the voice. He relented and added, 'Alright, you can help, but not as two parts. We're going to have to merge!'
'Okay. Ya have to start though.'
'Fine. Let's get rid of this Apocalypse trash!' shouted the voice. Side by side the two parts of one mind stood. One part, Rhys, was much smaller in size than the other, but they both glowed with an equally intense will. The two parts sidestepped towards each other as the Sifrai approached and 'melted' together seamlessly. Now before the monster stood a figure in between the sizes of the two former parts and was now of a medium height. The figure was obviously 'Little Lizard.' His hair, black in color, glittered in the faint leftover dream particles floating through the air and if it weren't for Rhys's youthful ways the figure would have been the true Dragon Enchanter. They both had discovered early on that without the proper knowledge within both halves of the mind, they could never become the Dragon Enchanter.
The Sifrai descended upon them, its massive hairy arms reaching for them. 'Little Lizard' dodged speedily and mumbled a spell. He threw two glittering cords of rope at the Sifrai, which wrapped tightly around it. The beast roared and began to shimmer. The cords snapped instantly and the Sifrai grabbed for 'Little Lizard' again.
But this time 'Little Lizard' couldn't dodge…
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Wyn rubbed her lethargic eyes and crawled out of bed. She slipped her feet into her dark fuzzy slippers and dragged herself down the passageway and into the kitchen.
Aidan was sitting at the table sipping coffee and reading a book. He looked up at her and grinned sunnily. Wyn only groaned at him in return and poured herself a cup of coffee. She definitely wasn't a morning person and on this particular one she was feeling a little apprehensive. She wasn't sure what was bothering her, but it certainly wasn't improving her usual morning mood.
If only she had known what was wrong…
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'Little Lizard' struggled to grasp the Sifrai's chin hair. Before he could react he was being clutched tightly himself and in the skirmish, he was tearing in two again. Rhys was yelling in fear and pain and nothing the voice did could keep them from separating. They came apart in the Sifrai's fist and now were wedged tightly together in agony. They couldn't come together again. There just wasn't enough strength left in them to do that and Rhys's was beginning to pass out from loss of oxygen.
It seemed the battle within Rhys's mind had been lost…
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Wyn transported to the moving castle later that day to ask Howl about a possible spell that could link two people in one body. When she arrived, it seemed that Calcifer was the only one there though.
"Rhys's upstairs sleeping," explained Calcifer, "Howl's gone to see the King, and Sophie's in the shop."
"I see. Have you checked on Rhys at all?" Wyn asked.
"I did a few minutes ago. He still hasn't woken up," Calcifer replied casually.
"I'll go make sure he's alright. He should've woken up by now…" Wyn said going upstairs to her little brother's room.
She crept into his dim room and peered at Rhys in his bed. Something was wrong. He was breathing, but it was far too shallow and Wyn decided to try and wake him. She shook his small shoulders, but nothing happened. He didn't even move.
'Its like his body's alive, but he's not home!' Wyn thought worriedly. She shook him again, this time more firmly. Once again Rhys made no response whatsoever and Wyn's anxiety level increased tenfold. She called out his name and when that didn't work she yelled, "CALCIFER, COME QUICK!!!"
Calcifer floated into the room quickly and questioned, "What is it, Wyn?"
"Oh, Calcifer, he won't answer me!"
Calcifer studied Rhys's body slowly with deep calculating eyes. He finally sighed and said with his eyes closed tightly, "His mind's been extracted."
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Wyn rung her hands together for what felt like the millionth time. 'What could have happened to him?!' she thought. Rhys's body lay motionless on the armchair in front of the fire.
Sophie was agitatedly stroking the boy's forehead, her eyes never leaving his face except to share a gaze of understanding with Howl. Howl himself was talking rapidly with Wizard Suliman and Michael on possible explanations and how to fix the problem at the moment and it seemed no one knew how it could have happened.
Morgan was sitting beside Wyn and Aidan, who was also there. He was rubbing his temple furiously and often stealing glances at Rhys. He may have been twenty-one years older than Rhys, but he still felt total affection towards the youngster. He groaned and looked at his sister sympathetically. She had found their sibling like this after all. 'Why didn't we know something was wrong?!' he thought miserably. He slumped against the wall they were sitting in front of and shook his head. 'Why did it have to be Rhys?! He's only four years old!' he cried silently.
At the same time Wyn wordlessly yelled, 'RHYS, WERE ARE YOU?!!'
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The voice moaned and blinked feebly at his surroundings. 'My head hurts and I don't even have a head,' he complained. He gazed at the weakly lit room he was in and studied the huge tapestry hanging on the wall behind him. It was made of a fine cotton and strung together over two golden bars. It pictured something that made him gasp. In towards the back of the scene a large dark castle floated over green grass and in the middle of the wall hanging was four figures. One was definitely himself. Just an older version of Rhys, he was pretty accurately woven into the needlepoint. As for the other figure, they were obviously Wyn, Morgan, and little Rhys.
"Ah yes. The Fabled Trilogy of the Last Hope," said someone behind the voice. The voice stood up and gazed at the person with irritation. The man was relatively in his mid-thirties with sleek blond hair and a suit that wasn't like anything in Ingary. It looked like something more from Howl's world to the voice and it worried him.
The man gave the voice a cool grin and continued, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Omar Resive. I'm sure you of all knowledgeable people know what Omar means."
The voice closed his eyes briefly before opening them sharply and replying, 'It means 'first son' or 'most high.' '
"I knew you would know. You are after all quite the 'all-knowing one,' Oh Great Sun Spirit. Legends have foretold your infinite wisdom," said Omar perceptively.
The voice scowled and retorted, 'Where's Rhys, Resive?!'
"The 'Little Sunshine' is being watched over by the wonderful Sifrai who brought you two here," answered Omar as serenely as ever. He said 'Little' in such a way the voice's hair bristled and he growled faintly.
"Now, now. There's no need to be upset. I didn't mean to insinuate that your other half was worthless or anything," said Omar.
'Sure you didn't,' snapped the voice sarcastically, 'Now if you'll excuse me; I want to bring Rhys and myself back to our body.'
"You don't think I'm going to let you go so easily," asked Omar, all humor gone.
"What makes you think you can stop, as you put me, 'an all knowing Sun Spirit?' ' yelled the voice.
"This," came the simple reply. All around the room Sifrais appeared out of nowhere.
There was no where to go…************************************************************************
A/N: Hehe. I guess this means I'm guilty of another cliffhanger…Oh well.
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=^-^= (kitty)
A/N 2: Anyway, this chapter had a little different set up then I usually do. At the end of most parts it had this little one sentence foreboding thing, which I decided worked for this chapter. You may have noticed it…
A/N 3: Oh and review or ELSE!!! *insert some crazy villain laughter here*
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=^-^= *meow*