Disclaimer: You know the drill… I don't own anything from Esca but I do own the characters not mentioned in the series so ask before you use them! Thanks!
AN: Yes all readers here is the chapter that you've been waiting for! So I'm shutting up now so you can read. Enoy!
Death Moon Rising
I would like to take this time to dedicate this story to someone special. She's touched my writing and has encouraged me to go places where I never would've thought possible. Like Crimson Fire, she helped me get to where I am today. Kae Noel, this one is dedicated to you!
Chapter 10: Wings
Kat felt the wind whip past her face as she plummeted… however feet. She didn't really care to think about how fast she was going or how many seconds she would have until she hit the ground. Quickly she focused her powers on fake wings. With a loud swoosh she felt wings materialize on her back, connecting to her shoulder blades and the muscles beneath the skin within seconds.
Carefully she brought herself out of the drive she was in, glided until she stabilized, and then flapped her way back to the Vione. Not wanting to use up all of her powers too quickly she glided by the cell walls, relaxing her powers as she did, searching with her mind for Nicole and Alex. She finally found them closer to the end of the Vione.
Working quickly she easily vaporized the wall where the Slayers were being held and looked at Gatti, Viole, and Chesta. She could see Alex and Nicole on the other side of the hall, on their feet and looking at her surprised.
She raised her hand and the bars between the Slayer's cell and theirs disappeared, along with the bars to the other cell where the other Slayers were being held. They all ran towards her as she looked at them expectantly. "Well?" She finally asked them, seeing that they weren't moving from the refuge of the small cell. "Are we escaping or not?"
Nicole and Alex came closer to the edge. "You can't possibly carry all of us!" Alex shouted as the wind whipped past the open wall.
"You're right, I can't. I can give you wings so we can fly," Kat replied easily, as if this was the simplest solution in the world.
"The others!" Nicole said, pointing to the other Slayers.
"Them too. Just jump of the ledge and I'll create the wings as you fall."
The others ran into Nicole and Alex's side as they jumped off the ledge together. Any previous anger she still held against them disappeared-she couldn't hate them for holding out on her about the Slayers when she had been stupid enough to believe that Dilandau loved her. Both had messed up so they couldn't be mad at the other.
Kat barely had time to give them all wings before they started falling too fast and wouldn't be able to pull out of the dive. The others got the idea and jumped off the edge too, three at a time. Kat gave each of them fake wings and once they were all hovering next to each other they all started flying away from the Vione.
"We won't have much time before Dilandau gets his Slayers together and attacks," Nicole called to the others over the roar of the wind.
"I won't be able to keep all of us up. We need to find a place to land, very soon!" Kat added as the pains from holding up nine people, including her, in the air started to pull at her mind.
Just then there was the unmistakable sound of guymelefs being launched. "Crap! Split up! But don't go too far!" Kat called as she broke away from the group.
Most likely Dilandau would order that the Slayers go after her. She could distract them as the others got to ground. As they broke up, Nicole, Gatti, and Chesta in one part, Dalet, Miguel and Alex in the other, Viole and Guimel came over to her. Kat watched as the others dodged Crima Claws that were to shoot to get rid of their wings as she too dodged the long silver arrows. As she dodged two Crima Claws fired at her, the pain from keeping everyone in the air was incredible. "I... Can't keep.... It up!" She cried just as all the wings disappeared.
Suddenly her world became black all for a dot of blue just beyond her reach. The blue light was extremely small at first but continually got bigger as if it was flying towards her.
It only took a second for everyone to be released from the air, making his or her way back to the ground at incredible speed. What's... happening? Was all she could wonder as she felt her body falling, that was before the blue light hit her and her world fell into darkness.
Nicole and Alex watched as everyone fell around them. Their wings were gone and there was nothing they could do from breaking their necks once they hit the ground. What good is being a Protector when you can't stop yourself from falling? Nicole wondered. None of her powers would help any, her ribbons would only grab people and deflect things-she had yet to master how to use it to protect from force of impact.
Why did Kat faint? Alex wondered as she searched her mind for something to break their fall. They were going too fast to land in trees and she couldn't make a pool of water because she didn't have Kat to hold it up. "What can we do?" Alex yelled over the wind to the others.
They were getting steadily closer to the ground. Impact was only seconds away. The grass became clearer and the ground closer. Just as they thought it was over a cry of pain escaped from Kat and a black wave shot out from her body, hitting everyone and acting as a net for the falling bodies.
Alex and Nicole hit the black net wave first and found that it was amazingly soft. Lying there as waves of black energy continued to emit from Kat's body, Alex and Nicole looked up and saw that they were slowly rising. "What-" Nicole started, but was cut off when she saw that Kat's body was in the center of their net-she had yet to notice that.
What she saw worried her. Kat's head was tilted back and her eyes were closed, her body appeared relaxed and waves of black energy could be seen emitting from her, keeping the net up for them. Confused and worried, Nicole felt herself being lowered and then was raised upwards as she lay flat on the net. "What's going on?" She asked as the net disappeared and they hit the soft grass without harm.
Alex looked up and saw that Kat was still hanging in the air, the energy still coming off her. She stood and started towards her friend but was stopped when she spotted the guymelefs. They were racing towards Kat as if it was a race of life or death. "The battle is here," Kat spoke, but her voice wasn't her own; it was deeper, huskier and held a darker tone then her normal voice.
Suddenly her body disappeared from the sky and appeared on the ground next to Nicole. Motioning to Alex, Nicole grabbed Kat, hosted her up as Alex took Kat's other arm and together they ran into the nearby forest with the Dragon Slayers not far behind.
"Damn!" Dilandau cursed as Kat's body disappeared from the air in front of him. He was so close.... so close to getting her back and getting the answers that he wanted from her. His guymelef had almost been able to touch her when she disappeared.
Anger boiled inside of him as he turned his machine around and started back. There was no point in going into the forest after them-he knew that the forest was protected by a magical spell that could not be broken and that it was pointless to go in after them.
As he brought his guymelef back into the air the questions of why she hadn't come back to him, even before he found her that night in the forest, still haunted him. If she was angry with him for not coming to get her why didn't she come to get him? She had said that she had a job to do and that only added another question onto his list. "All Dragon Slayers return to the Vione. There's nothing more we can do," he ordered over the communications link.
He turned his guymelef around and headed towards the hanger of the Vione, the taste of defeat in his mouth. "Soon, Kat, I will find out my answers and have you back at my side," he growled softly to himself.
AN: Well well well, here comes the fun! There's another cliffhanger! Sorta… well, what WILL Dilandau do? That's a cliffhanger! Bwuahaha! I am evil! **cough** Yes, moving on, R+R people! Thanks!
~ShadowKat
