Notes: Earlier today, I was walking back to my dorm when I spotted a big bird (bigger than the usual crow & seagull around here, anyway) landing in a tree above me. I think it might've been an eagle or an owl. I couldn't tell what it was doing, but it seemed to be sitting in a nest. Every few seconds, it would make this odd shuffling noise, flap its wings, and shuffle again. I assume it was either repairing the nest or wrestling with something it had just caught. Whatever it was doing, it was pretty noisy, so I just watched it for a few minutes.
I was suddenly reminded of a dream (with birds) I'd had a few days before, and decided to put it in this story. I guess I saw it as a sign to keep this story going. So here we go.
The significance of the birds and hunters should become more obvious in later chapters (only one of them represents a Candidate, that's your only clue). If it doesn't, ask me and I'll fill you in.
The hunters had been watching the brown eagles for months.
The male was the leader, young enough to make a claim on any female he wanted, but old enough to back each of them up and win.
The female did not leave the perch unless he was with her, and even that was rare.
More than likely, they were either mates or kin, but so far it was impossible to tell.
They were close, and if the female were downed, the male would stay and fight. That was all that mattered.
One evening, just before sunset, the male left, probably to gather food.
The three hunters closed in. They would bag the female and set a trap for the male, with her as bait. He would not be able to stay away, and that would be the end of it. Or so they had planned.
But as the first hunter raised his gun to shoot the female, battle-scarred claws raked his face, tearing the soft, pink flesh like a hot knife through butter. The hunter screamed in pain and dropped the gun, his screams drowned out by the single loud report.
The second hunter fell dead, a bullet hole in his chin and another on top of his head.
The male had set a trap for them, it seemed. And he was ready.
The third hunter crouched low in the tall grass, totally ignoring his wounded, wailing companion. Some things were just more important.
The male swooped again, tearing off the first hunter's ear and clawing at his skull.
The third hunter drew a bead on the female and waited.
The first hunter's renewed screams fell to pitiful whimpers, and the third hunter knew the male had retreated, for now. That had been the plan. A life for a life.
A minute later, the first hunter and the male were dead. Both were killed by the third hunter, for annoyance and loyalty, respectively. The male had blocked the shot meant for the female with his head. The first hunter had moaned a bit too loudly and exceeded the last of his surviving companion's patience.
The third hunter closed in on the female, planning to just club her with his gun. She was probably guarding an egg or a young one too spooked to fly, and would not flee now.
He began to climb the perch and was halfway up when he spotted a final opponent.
Another male, black as night and drawn by the noise, had appeared and was currently circling overhead. He called to the female, asking if she had a mate.
She gave no reply, merely looked at her fallen male.
The third hunter had two options. He could either drop back down and shoot the second male to ensure his catch, or ignore it and try to bag the female. He finally continued his climb, determined to get the female.
Just as his fingers closed around the female's leg, a sudden weight landed on his shoulders and pierced them with sharp talons.
The hunter looked up to see the second male peering down at him, with an almost curious expression, just before it tore his face open.
The female gave no sign of being impressed as the new male soundly defeated the final hunter. She only continued to gaze at her fallen mate, perhaps wondering what she would do without him.
When he was done, the new male approached her, apparently expecting her to now accept him.
To her surprise, however, he merely positioned himself protectively beside the nest and gazed out over their territory. For it was theirs now; he obviously had no intentions of leaving.
She was his mate now. That was the law of the land.
For better or for worse, her fate was sealed.
* * * * *
The change in all three Candidates was quite noticeable within a month's time.
They were more muscular, and some had sworn that Roose had grown at least three inches.
If Zero noticed the extra attention that Repairers paid him, he didn't mention it. It was none of his concern, anyway. There was only one Repairer's opinion that he was interested in, and he was really beginning to miss her shoving it down his throat.
Hiead was the same as ever, though the added muscle mass made him much more intimidating. Which was, of course, just how he liked it.
Had Wrecka not been so busy…admiring Roose when he came to see her, she might've thanked Zero immensely for working with him. She had no way of knowing that Zero now spent all his free time watching over his Repairer. Roose was…quite a distraction. Not that he hadn't been before, but so much of him was just…well…bigger.
* * * * *
Zero was one of those people who heard voices in his head nightly. He was by no means crazy; it was just one of the many ways he was far more aware than people gave him credit for. So it was by no means odd to awaken to a fading whisper or a ghostly touch on the back of his neck in the middle of the night. Frankly, he'd gotten used to it, even welcomed it some nights. Being alone was not something he ever wanted to experience.
And so, when he awoke one to find himself sitting next to Kizna, it took a few minutes for him to realize that she was speaking to him.
Well, that wasn't quite accurate. Kizna had never sounded anything like the voice he was hearing just then, not even when she was sick. But the voice was coming from her lips, of that there could be no doubt.
Zero might've passed it off as one of his weirder dreams, but there was something in the voice that was decidedly non-dreamlike and too real to be ignored.
"At last, Zero Enna," she whispered. "At last we meet."
Her voice defied any normal vocal parameters; there was just no way normal people could sound like that. The best way to describe it was gravel being dragged through rocky terrain, but even that fell short of accurate description.
Had he been any other Candidate, Zero probably would've had no clue whom or what was addressing him.
But he was indeed Zero Enna, Kizna's eyes were still closed, and there was simply no other explanation for what he was hearing.
Zero's first instinct was totally unlike him: it was more like Hiead, to be honest. His eyes had strayed to Kizna's pillow, and then to his own chair, while his mind worked a mile a minute.
Before he could make a grave mistake, however, the part of him that was Rei strongly disagreed. Though simply chatting with the enemy was out of the question, if they had gone this far to speak to him, surely there was some wisdom in at least hearing them out. Anything to keep from doing something they would both regret long after they were physically dead.
"You will not harm. Not this body."
Zero closed his eyes, trying to erase the image of…that voice…coming from Kizna's lips. "What do you want?"
It seemed to appreciate his straightforwardness, and responded in kind. "The White One."
Zero blinked, his brain instantly translating for him. Somehow, he understood and even empathized with its desire. It was one he still had himself, after all. "That's not in my power to give."
"No," it agreed slowly. The lips curved into a sinister smile. "Not yet."
Zero's heart skipped a beat. "What…?"
"You will be…" It stopped, searching for a word he would recognize. "…Pi-Lot," it said after a long moment. "You will give us…The White One."
"No," Zero said at once, standing up. "I won't. I can't-"
"Zero," Kizna whispered, in her own voice. "Zero…"
"Kizna?!" he cried without thinking, grabbing her hand.
The lips laughed cruelly at him. "Want girl? Give us…The White One."
"But…" Zero stopped. This was madness. He was even thinking of…no, he couldn't be. That…that really WAS crazy.
…but this was Kizna.
It seemed to know it had him. "In Time. You will be…Pi-Lot. More Time. You will give us…"
"The White One," Zero finished, furious with himself for agreeing.
"Yes. Girl will return."
"How do I know she's not already dead?" Zero asked. "You…you could be toying with me…making me think she's still-"
"Feel."
"…what?"
It seemed to be annoyed that he didn't trust it. "Feel. Neck. Wrist. FEEL."
Sure enough, Zero felt her pulse in both places. He even pressed his ear to heart and found it beating steadily.
"Girl alive. Will stay alive. For now."
"No…it's not that simple." Zero ran his hand through his hair. "You…you don't understand how things work. I can't be a Pilot without her. She won't let me."
"She?"
"Kiz…The White One." Zero bit his lip, blindly hoping that it didn't understand, but did recall how almost all of the Pilots spoke to someone else, someone they could never see and was always female…
"Yes. Girl will go with you. When you are made Pi-Lot. But. If you ignore us. We will take her again."
"I…I need to know times. Exact times. All this is…it's just…"
"Weeks, three. Month. Be ready. You will…be called."
"What about Kizna? They won't call me if she's not-"
"Stop." It took the next few minutes to think in silence, or perhaps consider with others of its kind. "Next night. Girl will return. But. Do not think you have won. Do not think we are gone. Do not THINK. You are ours. She is ours. All…is ours." It paused, and Zero imagined that somewhere, it had to be smirking. "We will call when Pi-Lot Time is near. Be ready."
* * * * *
When Zero arrived at the briar patch, nothing had changed. Hiead was still standing guard nearby, while Roose, Wrecka, and Erts sat on the ground with no idea of how to help.
There was no sign of the blue-haired girl he'd chased after.
Zero walked up to the briar patch, and was shocked to see that it receded at his approach. A path opened up as he came closer.
"How…how did you do that?" Wrecka asked shock.
Zero did not answer her. Instead, he headed into the patch, not surprised at all when the path closed behind him.
He walked for what seemed like hours, until finally reaching the clearing that was the center of the briar patch. There, sitting on an oversized toadstool, was Kizzie. She was still weeping uncontrollably, but was otherwise fine.
Zero knelt in front of her. "Kizzie?" he asked softly.
She gasped and shrank back, then relaxed slightly upon recognizing him. "Re…Rei?"
He nodded and held out his arms. "I've come to take you home."
Kizzie launched herself into his arms, sobbing all over his shirt and clutching him as tightly as was possible for her.
Zero did his best to soothe her, stroking her head and rubbing her back.
Gradually, her sobs died down to sniffles. Kizzie looked up at him. "Rei…how'd you find me?"
"I…followed my heart," he said, knowing it was crap the instant it left his mouth.
She seemed to accept it, though, and allowed him to pick her up.
The path had closed behind Zero and would not open again. Instead, he was forced to keep going in the direction he'd come; it was the only place the briars would shrink back.
They had not gone far when Kizzie asked to be put down.
Zero complied, thinking she needed privacy, but it wasn't that.
"Rei…how come you can go through the pricklies?" she asked, staring up at him curiously.
"I don't know. I just can. Don't you want to get out of here, Kizzie?"
She didn't say anything, and that familiar light he'd enjoyed seeing in her eyes was gone.
"Well, don't you?" he asked again.
Kizzie did not answer.
Afterwards, she wouldn't let him touch her or even get near her. But she was forced to stay right behind him, since the path closed at a very rapid rate. Zero wanted very much to hold her again; several times he heard her cry out as the path tried to close over her legs or a hand. But she made it obvious there would be no more of that.
At last, they exited the patch, and Kizzie increased her distance from him the second it was safe.
Zero felt horrible inside, but there was nothing for it. He'd done it to save her; what more did she want from him?
He knew the answer as soon as he looked ahead and saw the blue-haired girl waiting under Kizzie's willow tree. But before he could even think of giving chase again, the dream ended.