Authoresses Note:
OK, so I'm thinking about naming this part Hanging By A Moment Here With You, and then I decide nah, that's totally stealing from Lifehouse's song. And then the song actually comes on the radio while I'm debating this in my head! So, anyway, a couple songs later I have to leave to handle real life stuff, and I end up coming back four hours later. The song is on again! It's kismet, I tell you, cosmic powers working here! Thusly, I proudly steal from the lyrical geniuses, Lifehouse, and present to you the next segment in my saga.
***Part Five of Forbidden: Hanging By A Moment Here With You ***
"I hate you. I hate you, and I hate your sister. What you did to me was horrible."
Ferio looked up slowly from where he sat on the scratchy straw floor, his eyes coming to rest on her darkened form. She sat at the other end of the hut, her with her scanty outfit as usual, her darkly menacing features enhanced by the general lack of light in which they swam. He said nothing to reply immediately, quietly boiling in his own anger and thinking to himself that this was how she had always been, spoiled and selfish and a little arrogant, although it may have never consumed her like it did now.
To him, this would always remain a mere tantrum, on a slightly larger scale.
She continued, paying no heed to his glaring. "Your sister was the worst, though. I hated her more than anything. She was always so arrogant. Look at me, I'm the Pillar! Worship me, for I worship the world for your benefit! ....So arrogant. I couldn't walk past her without throwing up."
That was never the way it was, you idiot. You were friends, before you fell in love with Zagato. Even then, you were still friends. You only stopped being such when you realized something that we'd known for forever, that Zagato loved Emeraude, and not you.
"Did you know that Zagato and I were lovers way before she came into the picture? The little brat stole him from me. That's what she did. She seemed so innocent all the time, maybe even a little naïve, but underneath that lie was a seducer, a horrible woman, whose only morals lay in her role as peacekeeper, and - "
"No."
Ferio's sudden vocalism surprised both Alcione and himself. She snapped her gaze up from the straw ground that she had been contemplating, her darkened expression portraying amazement rather than anger. "What?" She asked snappishly.
He chuckled, an ironic thing that may have been the most painful laugh he'd ever indulged in. "You were the seducer."
My sister was not, you idiot. My sister was never anything more than a wonderful person who loved everyone and wanted everyone to love, and her only flaw, if you could call it that, was that she loved Zagato a little bit more than everyone else -
There was a whistle through the air as the blade traveled at a dangerous speed, whizzing past Ferio's head and missing his left ear by only an inch or so. The suddenness of it caught Ferio's breath in his throat - he hadn't even noticed that she had a sword - but besides the suddenness, he realized that if she'd aimed just a couple inches more to the right, he wouldn't be able to ponder the suddenness of it. Luckily for him, a clumsiness of the hand had caused Alcione's aim to go askew, and instead of sinking itself in him, it was now stuck in the straw wall.
Absolute silence reigned for a moment. Then Ferio, getting his heart to stop racing, slowly stood and gripped the sword with his two tied hands, not exactly an easy feat by any means, and eventually succeeded in pulling it out.
The only weapon was now his.
Ferio turned back to face Alcione, his face now expressionless. The same mask, devoid of emotions, rested in Alcione's gaze, as she stared up at him.
"My sister was never a seducer." Ferio finally said.
"Then how come," Alcione asked solemnly from her position on the floor, "He was in love with me first, but dropped it all for her?"
"Because," Ferio answered, his anger growing again, "He was never in love with you, but you allowed blindness to lead you on anyway."
A smirk, a careful upward motion of her pretty lips, the affect somewhat menacing, dripping of cunning deviousness. "Your sister was of the worst sort. I said it before, and I'll say it again. She knew how much I loved him, and still she went ahead and did it. The little slime went ahead and did it!" A pause. "She ruined everything for me!"
And she started to sob right there, her smirk falling, her face going to hide in her hands, her long black hair drooping uselessly over her shoulders as her back shook with the pressure of her raw emotions.
"Shut UP, Alcione! You don't even know what happened!" Ferio snapped, his anger escalating, feeling nothing for her tears. "She never wanted it! Don't you see, she couldn't love anyone like she wanted to love Zagato, she wasn't allowed to, and that was killing her, and you could never be half the person she was." The last part was added in for his own benefit, his rising fury at her stupidity wanting to add in a remark.
"N-NO!" Her next words were let out in a high-pitched shriek/wail, "SHE N- NEVER COULD APPRECIATE HIM, COULD SHE?"
"Don't you dare say that, Alcione."
"T-THAT HIS LOVE WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL, S-SOMETHING I COULD NEVER HAVE, N- NOT SOMETHING TO CURSE"
"SHE NEVER CURSED HIS LOVE! SHE LOVED HIM!"
"I W-WANTED TO SPEND THE REST OF M-MY LIFE WITH HIM, FERIO!"
Well.
Ferio was stunned speechless.
He simply stood there for a moment, his sensors running over with pity, his expression that of bewilderment.
After all, that was the sentiment he had been feeling about Fuu, wasn't it? Ferio wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and he knew he couldn't. But if Fuu suddenly went crazy and wanted to destroy Cephiro, would he help her because he loved her? That was the position Alcione had been put in, after all, and Ferio wasn't sure how much different his own actions would have been.
He let out a long sigh, striding forward a couple steps and resting his blade against her neck. She looked up in surprise, but then stopped, noting the blade as well as the fact that if she moved too much she would soon be beheaded.
As for Ferio, he looked down on her with would have been an almost kind expression, were it not for the fact that he held the blade that was now at her throat. "Alcione, just tell me why you're doing this. Why do you want the Pillar? Zagato's happy now, and you should be happy for him." He drew in a deep breath. "I'm happy for my sister."
She merely glared at him, a glare in the midst of her own wreckage, her face stained with the painful tears that had wracked her body a moment ago. A lone isolated tear trailed down her cheek and onto the trembling hand that rested on her knee. "I want Hikaru, the Pillar," And he knew that she truly did know who the new Pillar was, even though she'd been dead, "Because, even if I don't love my new master, I believe in his cause. And that's to destroy everything a Pillar has ever held dear. Because pollution holds pearls of its own."
He tightened his grip on the sword hilt, ignoring her strangely poetic last sentence. "Master? Who's your master now?"
She was silent, glaring up at him rebelliously.
He sighed. "Where's." He almost said Fuu, but stopped himself, and said instead, "Where's the others that I was traveling with?"
"You mean Presea and the two Magic Knights?" She laughed, which was a dangerous thing, considering where the sword was. Ferio could feel the blade vibrate in his hands. "In these - huts, that's what I think they're called - yes, in huts, just like you. And they're about to have a little trouble in a couple of minutes, because they're disposable, you know."
" - What - what do you mean?"
He was beginning to feel sick. He was tired, hadn't eaten for forever, and for some reason or another, he had a sort of drugged headache, and he didn't put it past Alcione to have loaded him with something, which is probably why he slept so long. Unless.... yes, of course, his leg wound. It looked sort of like a poison dart had punctuated it. Expect that that wasn't what was important, what was important was that Fuu could be in serious trouble, and he did not want her to get hurt, and he'd die for her because that's how love works, and how love had been working for him was that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and it was so stupid - stupid!
"None of your business." Alcione growled back
He scowled down at her, losing the pity. "I have the sword. It's very much my business, and very much yours, if you want to stay alive."
She laughed again, the meaning behind her sudden self-expression ironically both vague and obvious. "You would never do it, Ferio. And besides, you don't have the sword." And then she moved with lightning-fast speed that he knew she would never have been capable of in the past, kicking his stomach where it was slightly exposed, her knee whacking it hard, and then wrestling the sword out of his grasp.
Ferio fell back to the floor with a distant sounding thud, no longer the master of this odd game.
And yet, even as Alcione stood over him with the newly acquired blade, she let it drop with a careless manner. It landed on the floor, at Ferio's feet, turning over several times on impact. Then she went to the door, carefully stepping over him.
As she stood by the door, she looked over her shoulder at him and smirked. "Remember this, Ferio. I've had two chances to kill you this evening, and I didn't." A pause. "Zagato would be so sad if you died, you know, if the younger brother of his beloved met an untimely end." Another pause. "So, until next time, when I get the Pillar."
Why was she telling him she wanted the Pillar, so straightforward like that, he wondered. Then the answer came to him - because she's proud, and she's always wanted to be important, and now she's finally striking fear in the hearts of her greatest nemesis', and she wants to milk that a little.
And with that, she opened the door and left. The sword lay on the floor at his feet.
Ferio was left alone, but as before with Clef and Ascot, a means of escape was left at his close disposal. All he had to do was cut his tied hands untied by usage of the sword, and then run. Though he would feel, he knew, like a mouse running into a trap, for Alcione didn't just slip up like she did now. Not without having some greater plan in mind.
Of course, the four had questions for each other. Lantis couldn't understand why Clef had grown taller, and Clef wondered who was manning the fort back at the palace (it was Geo), while meanwhile Ascot finally pointed out huffily that never mind all that, how come there was Umi's sword but no Umi? Eventually, the answers were communicated.
"I have a theory." Lantis said, carelessly throwing an object to the ground by Ascot's feet. Ascot frowned and picked it up - it was a spear, of a familiar make to him. He kept abnormally silent, eyeing the thing and turning it over and over in his hand, as if he couldn't believe he was holding it and he just had to check a little more to make sure.
Lantis continued. "I found this in the forest near the area that I found the sword - it's a spearhead, I think, and I think its from one of the tribes that occasionally camp here for the winter."
"It looks like Sheki." Clef had been standing beside Ascot, but now he stepped forward as he spoke, moving towards Lantis and Eagle atop their horses. "Yes," He sent a backwards glance towards Ascot and the weapon Ascot held, "Definitely Sheki."
Eagle spoke up at last. "What would a tribe of nomads want with the four of them, though?"
"My theory is that someone hired them." Lantis continued, simultaneously answering Eagle's question. "In the past, they've acted as bounty hunters, when things were - unstable." A pause. No one objected at the description, so he went on, "I think this might have been some elaborate plan to get the Pillar into the forest."
"Where she's incapable of worthy defense." Clef finished for him.
Lantis nodded.
Clef tried to think straight, but it was somewhat difficult. To get her into the forest, to know that Clef had planned this to be the point at which they met, that symbolized a prediction magic of a very high order. And yet, this enemy was not perfect either, for it should have been able to foresee that Clef would send Hikaru to the Celes Library, instead of risking the Pillar's journey through a place that allowed no magic. Or they were playing dumb.
As he tried to search his way through his muddled thoughts, all he could see was her sweet smile, and the feel of her embrace. Yes, during that communication magic, he had acted on something that he couldn't place - instinct? - and he had reached out and hugged her hard, hugged her like this was the last time he'd ever get to see her. At the time he'd never thought that it might be literally. But yes, he'd hugged her hard and she'd been able to take the newer staff while - while he'd taken the older one, the older one that was capable of the communication magic. A switch. Presea had made this staff, and since it was already proven to be capable of the communication type magic -
"I have a plan." He said, at length.
Relief showed in the eyes of his comrades. He was always the one that made the plans, the one they could depend on.
The forbidden feeling was so strong.
The time before this, when being summoned by Presea, he had felt it yes, true. But then it had merely been a foul twist in the wind, a hidden something in the fog that coveted the floor that was not a floor. Now it so totally shrieked everything that he felt intimidated, for a moment, and for Clef to be intimidated magically was not an easy feat whatsoever.
Concentrate.
Where's Presea?
And then he saw her almost immediately. She lay on the floor asleep, turned onto her side, her hands noticeably bound behind her back, a long, wide cut trailing down the expanse of bare leg, from her knee to her ankle.
Oh. Damn.
But she was breathing.
Thank Mokona, she was breathing.
Clef wanted to kill whoever had done this to her. Then he realized killing was against his code. He still wanted to kill that person, or persons, if need be.
He ran over to her, feet disturbing the vague fog that encompassed all, stopping only when he was kneeling by her side. Resting the staff that, without which this communication would not be possible, he timidly reached a finger to feel her soft cheek, then remembered that touch would destroy his thought process and erase it all. Hesitatingly, his hand hovered over her face for a fraction of a moment, and then he returned it to his side.
"Hey, Presea....Presea, time to wake up." His voice wavered. "Presea, listen to me. I need you to wake up, okay? I need to speak to you, so wake up.....Presea...."
She groaned a little, and then, to his surprise, rolled over onto her other side, her back now facing him. Her heavy breathing signified to him that, despite her sudden movement, her logic still dwelled in the realm of the asleep. "Don't be silly....I'm not tired....now please go away.....I'm not done with the sword yet, it'll take another week...."
He blinked. And, despite circumstances, a smile made its way onto his worried expression. "That's too bad, because I'll be needing it to defeat Alcione. However, I'll also need you. So please wake up."
She stirred again. He was positive that, once again, despite appearances to the contrary, she was still dozing, but this time that conclusion was proven false as she slowly lifted up her head and gazed quietly at him over her shoulder. "Hi." She said gently, yawning and blinking a couple times.
He smiled weakly. "Hi."
"Did I fall asleep or something while coming to meet you?" She asked, rolling over onto her knees, facing him directly at last. Sleep still fogged up her eyes, as well as her entire awareness system, for she was given to a yawn every so often. "I feel woozy...I hope they didn't have to carry me or anything, I didn't mean to be a burden."
Her? A burden? "Never."
Studying the intricate aspects of his facial expression, she realized that something was wrong. "Clef? What's wrong with you?"
Clef gave himself a quick look over. "Something wrong? No, there's nothing wrong."
"But you look so worried...I....Oh."
Her eyes took on such a blank expression for a moment that he panicked and jumped to the conclusion that something was horribly gone; he leaned forward, about to take her shoulders by his hands and look her straight in the eyes, asking what was it, was she okay? But before he could do that she spoke again, and he fell from the high conclusion he had jumped to.
"We're not physically together, are we?" She asked.
He shook his head. "No."
"I...that makes sense." Her voice wavered somewhat, her words spoken with considerably less volume as her face fell. "I think I'm in a hut."
He nodded. "Alright. I'm sorry Presea, I thought that when I contacted you, you would've already been awake for a little while and able to make sense out of this." A pause. "Just tell me what you can."
"Fuu and Umi are next to me." She rose up her two bound hands, contemplating them, wincing a little. The cloth had been tied around her hands far too tightly, for some of her skin had rubbed away to reveal a sensitive patch of blood. "...They're tied up like I am."
He nodded, but she shook her head. "That's honestly all I know, Clef. I don't know if I can tell you that 'something' you want to hear."
"It's enough." It's enough to see you again. "I guess that's it. Be careful."
To his surprise, she was smiling through the dismal news that had reached the two of them. And then a giggle. "Guess we shouldn't end it like last time."
He smiled, despite himself, and they both chuckled. "Yes. Perhaps not."
"Yeah. What was that?"
A pause, as he wondered to himself the very same thing. His smile fell, not really into a frown, but there was not even a remnant of a smile left either. With his smile eventually came the fall of his gaze as well, as he contemplated the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I suppose -" He looked up back to her, and stopped.
She had gone pale. And her eyes had gone wide.
"Persia?"
"Clef, I think there's someone in the hut with us."
He didn't know what to think. What was he supposed to tell her? To break out of the communication, right, and fight whomever it was. Considering this person was dangerous. If they weren't, why was Presea so scared?
He had just opened his mouth to tell her to go, and to be careful, when a sword sliced through his arm. His immediate action was to grab his arm and feel for the wound, except that there was no wound, and the sword disappeared, and he never knew who it was that held the sword - for this was not in his reality, it was in Presea's.
"There's fighting." Presea said. "A lot of people, and they're fighting - I -"
Holding the arm that had been sliced through and yet had no wound; he raised his worried eyes to Presea. And then, just as he'd hugged her for all his life the last time they'd been in the communication magic, he did so again now, reaching out the arm without a wound and grabbing her around the waist, simultaneously forcing the magic to end and her to come back to earth, for she was obviously panicking and not putting the two and two together that she had to stop talking with him and fight whatever it was that was going on.
Her warmth and her touch was immediately borne upon him again - and in was in light of that that he decided what he decided, which was that never mind breaking the magic, I'm bringing her back with me, if I can do it with the staff I can do it with her - and I just realized what that had been, it had been the fact that I love her -
"Presea, concentrate." He said gently, literally holding her upwards against gravity. Her body had gone limp under the strain of an unknown pressure in her reality, and the fact that it was unknown made him all the more scared.
She drew in a whimpering breath, her fingers weakly gripping his shoulder. Although he could not see it, her eyes had gone blank again. "The huts on fire."
That was all he needed to hear. He felt a ripping, tearing sensation, as the limits and regulations to something as rebellious and scattered as magic kicked into action, but worked hard to concentrate on only one thing - her - the feel of her, the feel of her living body pressing into her own and breathing, breathing and able to smile, to live out her vibrant personality -
Presea -
And then the darkened forest canopy blurring in and out of focus, ending with definition. He fell back to the forest floor, his arm still around the curve of her waist, his cheek pressed into her own. They rolled a little under the impact of it, and then shifted a little, adjusting to the weight. When it was all done there they lay on the ground, Presea on top of Clef, Ascot, Lantis, and Eagle standing around them with open mouths.
They had seen Clef let out a yell, and then he had blurred into nothing, the forest floor and the shrubbery taking his place. Then he had sudden appeared a couple feet over the ground, hovered for the slightest fraction of a moment, then fell under the workings of gravity as Presea appeared in his arms and the two fell back to Earth in each other's arms.
All Clef could think was that he had done it, and she was safe.
Presea let out a long sigh, her uneven breath occasionally breaking into a sob. "Umi and Fuu....the hut was on fire...."
Clef wasn't so sure. The sword that had sliced through his arm, and yet not sliced through his arm - he was pretty sure now it was Ferio's. And Ferio would protect them.
'Yeah. What was that?'
"It was love."
Hikaru and crew traveled on through the countryside, blissfully unaware of these troubling new developments. Fatigue, however, began to threaten to slow them down, what with both Zazu and Hikaru starting to stumble every couple steps, needing the eight hours sleep that children their age always craved, and they would have set up camp were it not for the fact that Lafarga and Gardina both objected very much against doing so, their logic founding on the fact that they needed to get to the Library as quickly as possible. So, when the two could go on no longer, it was decided that the simplest solution was to carry them, which they did, Lafarga taking Zazu on his one shoulder and Gardina taking Hikaru as well.
Another day passed. Eventually it was presented to Lafarga that the same need of sleep was rearing its ugly head in Gardina's composure, for the woman was stumbling every so often, and yawning at impromptu times during their conversation. When he accused her of this, naturally she rejected it, telling him "Don't be silly. Honestly, do I look tired to you?"
"Yes."
She allowed him to carry her. And so it was - Lafarga bearing the loads of all three of them, Zazu slung over his right shoulder and Gardina over the other, while Hikaru rode on his back. If not for his strength, it might have been uncomfortable.
The stretch of dirt road they were traveling on could be described as very beautiful, what with the miles of rich, lush meadow on either side of them. It was in this setting that Lafarga was surprised to see an old woman sitting cross-legged on the road; he stopped at sighting her, still a good couple yards away.
The woman, her back bowed with age and her face wrinkled for the very same reason, rose to her feet, obviously having seen him too. "And here is Lafarga, of very high order in the court of Guru Clef! As well as the foreigners Zazu and Gardina - Zazu being from Automzam, while Gardina is from Chizeta - and who is this?" She smiled thinly. "Hikaru, the foundation of the world we are in at this very moment." And her thin smile widened as she swept the sleeping Hikaru a bow.
OK, so I'm thinking about naming this part Hanging By A Moment Here With You, and then I decide nah, that's totally stealing from Lifehouse's song. And then the song actually comes on the radio while I'm debating this in my head! So, anyway, a couple songs later I have to leave to handle real life stuff, and I end up coming back four hours later. The song is on again! It's kismet, I tell you, cosmic powers working here! Thusly, I proudly steal from the lyrical geniuses, Lifehouse, and present to you the next segment in my saga.
***Part Five of Forbidden: Hanging By A Moment Here With You ***
"I hate you. I hate you, and I hate your sister. What you did to me was horrible."
Ferio looked up slowly from where he sat on the scratchy straw floor, his eyes coming to rest on her darkened form. She sat at the other end of the hut, her with her scanty outfit as usual, her darkly menacing features enhanced by the general lack of light in which they swam. He said nothing to reply immediately, quietly boiling in his own anger and thinking to himself that this was how she had always been, spoiled and selfish and a little arrogant, although it may have never consumed her like it did now.
To him, this would always remain a mere tantrum, on a slightly larger scale.
She continued, paying no heed to his glaring. "Your sister was the worst, though. I hated her more than anything. She was always so arrogant. Look at me, I'm the Pillar! Worship me, for I worship the world for your benefit! ....So arrogant. I couldn't walk past her without throwing up."
That was never the way it was, you idiot. You were friends, before you fell in love with Zagato. Even then, you were still friends. You only stopped being such when you realized something that we'd known for forever, that Zagato loved Emeraude, and not you.
"Did you know that Zagato and I were lovers way before she came into the picture? The little brat stole him from me. That's what she did. She seemed so innocent all the time, maybe even a little naïve, but underneath that lie was a seducer, a horrible woman, whose only morals lay in her role as peacekeeper, and - "
"No."
Ferio's sudden vocalism surprised both Alcione and himself. She snapped her gaze up from the straw ground that she had been contemplating, her darkened expression portraying amazement rather than anger. "What?" She asked snappishly.
He chuckled, an ironic thing that may have been the most painful laugh he'd ever indulged in. "You were the seducer."
My sister was not, you idiot. My sister was never anything more than a wonderful person who loved everyone and wanted everyone to love, and her only flaw, if you could call it that, was that she loved Zagato a little bit more than everyone else -
There was a whistle through the air as the blade traveled at a dangerous speed, whizzing past Ferio's head and missing his left ear by only an inch or so. The suddenness of it caught Ferio's breath in his throat - he hadn't even noticed that she had a sword - but besides the suddenness, he realized that if she'd aimed just a couple inches more to the right, he wouldn't be able to ponder the suddenness of it. Luckily for him, a clumsiness of the hand had caused Alcione's aim to go askew, and instead of sinking itself in him, it was now stuck in the straw wall.
Absolute silence reigned for a moment. Then Ferio, getting his heart to stop racing, slowly stood and gripped the sword with his two tied hands, not exactly an easy feat by any means, and eventually succeeded in pulling it out.
The only weapon was now his.
Ferio turned back to face Alcione, his face now expressionless. The same mask, devoid of emotions, rested in Alcione's gaze, as she stared up at him.
"My sister was never a seducer." Ferio finally said.
"Then how come," Alcione asked solemnly from her position on the floor, "He was in love with me first, but dropped it all for her?"
"Because," Ferio answered, his anger growing again, "He was never in love with you, but you allowed blindness to lead you on anyway."
A smirk, a careful upward motion of her pretty lips, the affect somewhat menacing, dripping of cunning deviousness. "Your sister was of the worst sort. I said it before, and I'll say it again. She knew how much I loved him, and still she went ahead and did it. The little slime went ahead and did it!" A pause. "She ruined everything for me!"
And she started to sob right there, her smirk falling, her face going to hide in her hands, her long black hair drooping uselessly over her shoulders as her back shook with the pressure of her raw emotions.
"Shut UP, Alcione! You don't even know what happened!" Ferio snapped, his anger escalating, feeling nothing for her tears. "She never wanted it! Don't you see, she couldn't love anyone like she wanted to love Zagato, she wasn't allowed to, and that was killing her, and you could never be half the person she was." The last part was added in for his own benefit, his rising fury at her stupidity wanting to add in a remark.
"N-NO!" Her next words were let out in a high-pitched shriek/wail, "SHE N- NEVER COULD APPRECIATE HIM, COULD SHE?"
"Don't you dare say that, Alcione."
"T-THAT HIS LOVE WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL, S-SOMETHING I COULD NEVER HAVE, N- NOT SOMETHING TO CURSE"
"SHE NEVER CURSED HIS LOVE! SHE LOVED HIM!"
"I W-WANTED TO SPEND THE REST OF M-MY LIFE WITH HIM, FERIO!"
Well.
Ferio was stunned speechless.
He simply stood there for a moment, his sensors running over with pity, his expression that of bewilderment.
After all, that was the sentiment he had been feeling about Fuu, wasn't it? Ferio wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and he knew he couldn't. But if Fuu suddenly went crazy and wanted to destroy Cephiro, would he help her because he loved her? That was the position Alcione had been put in, after all, and Ferio wasn't sure how much different his own actions would have been.
He let out a long sigh, striding forward a couple steps and resting his blade against her neck. She looked up in surprise, but then stopped, noting the blade as well as the fact that if she moved too much she would soon be beheaded.
As for Ferio, he looked down on her with would have been an almost kind expression, were it not for the fact that he held the blade that was now at her throat. "Alcione, just tell me why you're doing this. Why do you want the Pillar? Zagato's happy now, and you should be happy for him." He drew in a deep breath. "I'm happy for my sister."
She merely glared at him, a glare in the midst of her own wreckage, her face stained with the painful tears that had wracked her body a moment ago. A lone isolated tear trailed down her cheek and onto the trembling hand that rested on her knee. "I want Hikaru, the Pillar," And he knew that she truly did know who the new Pillar was, even though she'd been dead, "Because, even if I don't love my new master, I believe in his cause. And that's to destroy everything a Pillar has ever held dear. Because pollution holds pearls of its own."
He tightened his grip on the sword hilt, ignoring her strangely poetic last sentence. "Master? Who's your master now?"
She was silent, glaring up at him rebelliously.
He sighed. "Where's." He almost said Fuu, but stopped himself, and said instead, "Where's the others that I was traveling with?"
"You mean Presea and the two Magic Knights?" She laughed, which was a dangerous thing, considering where the sword was. Ferio could feel the blade vibrate in his hands. "In these - huts, that's what I think they're called - yes, in huts, just like you. And they're about to have a little trouble in a couple of minutes, because they're disposable, you know."
" - What - what do you mean?"
He was beginning to feel sick. He was tired, hadn't eaten for forever, and for some reason or another, he had a sort of drugged headache, and he didn't put it past Alcione to have loaded him with something, which is probably why he slept so long. Unless.... yes, of course, his leg wound. It looked sort of like a poison dart had punctuated it. Expect that that wasn't what was important, what was important was that Fuu could be in serious trouble, and he did not want her to get hurt, and he'd die for her because that's how love works, and how love had been working for him was that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and it was so stupid - stupid!
"None of your business." Alcione growled back
He scowled down at her, losing the pity. "I have the sword. It's very much my business, and very much yours, if you want to stay alive."
She laughed again, the meaning behind her sudden self-expression ironically both vague and obvious. "You would never do it, Ferio. And besides, you don't have the sword." And then she moved with lightning-fast speed that he knew she would never have been capable of in the past, kicking his stomach where it was slightly exposed, her knee whacking it hard, and then wrestling the sword out of his grasp.
Ferio fell back to the floor with a distant sounding thud, no longer the master of this odd game.
And yet, even as Alcione stood over him with the newly acquired blade, she let it drop with a careless manner. It landed on the floor, at Ferio's feet, turning over several times on impact. Then she went to the door, carefully stepping over him.
As she stood by the door, she looked over her shoulder at him and smirked. "Remember this, Ferio. I've had two chances to kill you this evening, and I didn't." A pause. "Zagato would be so sad if you died, you know, if the younger brother of his beloved met an untimely end." Another pause. "So, until next time, when I get the Pillar."
Why was she telling him she wanted the Pillar, so straightforward like that, he wondered. Then the answer came to him - because she's proud, and she's always wanted to be important, and now she's finally striking fear in the hearts of her greatest nemesis', and she wants to milk that a little.
And with that, she opened the door and left. The sword lay on the floor at his feet.
Ferio was left alone, but as before with Clef and Ascot, a means of escape was left at his close disposal. All he had to do was cut his tied hands untied by usage of the sword, and then run. Though he would feel, he knew, like a mouse running into a trap, for Alcione didn't just slip up like she did now. Not without having some greater plan in mind.
Of course, the four had questions for each other. Lantis couldn't understand why Clef had grown taller, and Clef wondered who was manning the fort back at the palace (it was Geo), while meanwhile Ascot finally pointed out huffily that never mind all that, how come there was Umi's sword but no Umi? Eventually, the answers were communicated.
"I have a theory." Lantis said, carelessly throwing an object to the ground by Ascot's feet. Ascot frowned and picked it up - it was a spear, of a familiar make to him. He kept abnormally silent, eyeing the thing and turning it over and over in his hand, as if he couldn't believe he was holding it and he just had to check a little more to make sure.
Lantis continued. "I found this in the forest near the area that I found the sword - it's a spearhead, I think, and I think its from one of the tribes that occasionally camp here for the winter."
"It looks like Sheki." Clef had been standing beside Ascot, but now he stepped forward as he spoke, moving towards Lantis and Eagle atop their horses. "Yes," He sent a backwards glance towards Ascot and the weapon Ascot held, "Definitely Sheki."
Eagle spoke up at last. "What would a tribe of nomads want with the four of them, though?"
"My theory is that someone hired them." Lantis continued, simultaneously answering Eagle's question. "In the past, they've acted as bounty hunters, when things were - unstable." A pause. No one objected at the description, so he went on, "I think this might have been some elaborate plan to get the Pillar into the forest."
"Where she's incapable of worthy defense." Clef finished for him.
Lantis nodded.
Clef tried to think straight, but it was somewhat difficult. To get her into the forest, to know that Clef had planned this to be the point at which they met, that symbolized a prediction magic of a very high order. And yet, this enemy was not perfect either, for it should have been able to foresee that Clef would send Hikaru to the Celes Library, instead of risking the Pillar's journey through a place that allowed no magic. Or they were playing dumb.
As he tried to search his way through his muddled thoughts, all he could see was her sweet smile, and the feel of her embrace. Yes, during that communication magic, he had acted on something that he couldn't place - instinct? - and he had reached out and hugged her hard, hugged her like this was the last time he'd ever get to see her. At the time he'd never thought that it might be literally. But yes, he'd hugged her hard and she'd been able to take the newer staff while - while he'd taken the older one, the older one that was capable of the communication magic. A switch. Presea had made this staff, and since it was already proven to be capable of the communication type magic -
"I have a plan." He said, at length.
Relief showed in the eyes of his comrades. He was always the one that made the plans, the one they could depend on.
The forbidden feeling was so strong.
The time before this, when being summoned by Presea, he had felt it yes, true. But then it had merely been a foul twist in the wind, a hidden something in the fog that coveted the floor that was not a floor. Now it so totally shrieked everything that he felt intimidated, for a moment, and for Clef to be intimidated magically was not an easy feat whatsoever.
Concentrate.
Where's Presea?
And then he saw her almost immediately. She lay on the floor asleep, turned onto her side, her hands noticeably bound behind her back, a long, wide cut trailing down the expanse of bare leg, from her knee to her ankle.
Oh. Damn.
But she was breathing.
Thank Mokona, she was breathing.
Clef wanted to kill whoever had done this to her. Then he realized killing was against his code. He still wanted to kill that person, or persons, if need be.
He ran over to her, feet disturbing the vague fog that encompassed all, stopping only when he was kneeling by her side. Resting the staff that, without which this communication would not be possible, he timidly reached a finger to feel her soft cheek, then remembered that touch would destroy his thought process and erase it all. Hesitatingly, his hand hovered over her face for a fraction of a moment, and then he returned it to his side.
"Hey, Presea....Presea, time to wake up." His voice wavered. "Presea, listen to me. I need you to wake up, okay? I need to speak to you, so wake up.....Presea...."
She groaned a little, and then, to his surprise, rolled over onto her other side, her back now facing him. Her heavy breathing signified to him that, despite her sudden movement, her logic still dwelled in the realm of the asleep. "Don't be silly....I'm not tired....now please go away.....I'm not done with the sword yet, it'll take another week...."
He blinked. And, despite circumstances, a smile made its way onto his worried expression. "That's too bad, because I'll be needing it to defeat Alcione. However, I'll also need you. So please wake up."
She stirred again. He was positive that, once again, despite appearances to the contrary, she was still dozing, but this time that conclusion was proven false as she slowly lifted up her head and gazed quietly at him over her shoulder. "Hi." She said gently, yawning and blinking a couple times.
He smiled weakly. "Hi."
"Did I fall asleep or something while coming to meet you?" She asked, rolling over onto her knees, facing him directly at last. Sleep still fogged up her eyes, as well as her entire awareness system, for she was given to a yawn every so often. "I feel woozy...I hope they didn't have to carry me or anything, I didn't mean to be a burden."
Her? A burden? "Never."
Studying the intricate aspects of his facial expression, she realized that something was wrong. "Clef? What's wrong with you?"
Clef gave himself a quick look over. "Something wrong? No, there's nothing wrong."
"But you look so worried...I....Oh."
Her eyes took on such a blank expression for a moment that he panicked and jumped to the conclusion that something was horribly gone; he leaned forward, about to take her shoulders by his hands and look her straight in the eyes, asking what was it, was she okay? But before he could do that she spoke again, and he fell from the high conclusion he had jumped to.
"We're not physically together, are we?" She asked.
He shook his head. "No."
"I...that makes sense." Her voice wavered somewhat, her words spoken with considerably less volume as her face fell. "I think I'm in a hut."
He nodded. "Alright. I'm sorry Presea, I thought that when I contacted you, you would've already been awake for a little while and able to make sense out of this." A pause. "Just tell me what you can."
"Fuu and Umi are next to me." She rose up her two bound hands, contemplating them, wincing a little. The cloth had been tied around her hands far too tightly, for some of her skin had rubbed away to reveal a sensitive patch of blood. "...They're tied up like I am."
He nodded, but she shook her head. "That's honestly all I know, Clef. I don't know if I can tell you that 'something' you want to hear."
"It's enough." It's enough to see you again. "I guess that's it. Be careful."
To his surprise, she was smiling through the dismal news that had reached the two of them. And then a giggle. "Guess we shouldn't end it like last time."
He smiled, despite himself, and they both chuckled. "Yes. Perhaps not."
"Yeah. What was that?"
A pause, as he wondered to himself the very same thing. His smile fell, not really into a frown, but there was not even a remnant of a smile left either. With his smile eventually came the fall of his gaze as well, as he contemplated the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I suppose -" He looked up back to her, and stopped.
She had gone pale. And her eyes had gone wide.
"Persia?"
"Clef, I think there's someone in the hut with us."
He didn't know what to think. What was he supposed to tell her? To break out of the communication, right, and fight whomever it was. Considering this person was dangerous. If they weren't, why was Presea so scared?
He had just opened his mouth to tell her to go, and to be careful, when a sword sliced through his arm. His immediate action was to grab his arm and feel for the wound, except that there was no wound, and the sword disappeared, and he never knew who it was that held the sword - for this was not in his reality, it was in Presea's.
"There's fighting." Presea said. "A lot of people, and they're fighting - I -"
Holding the arm that had been sliced through and yet had no wound; he raised his worried eyes to Presea. And then, just as he'd hugged her for all his life the last time they'd been in the communication magic, he did so again now, reaching out the arm without a wound and grabbing her around the waist, simultaneously forcing the magic to end and her to come back to earth, for she was obviously panicking and not putting the two and two together that she had to stop talking with him and fight whatever it was that was going on.
Her warmth and her touch was immediately borne upon him again - and in was in light of that that he decided what he decided, which was that never mind breaking the magic, I'm bringing her back with me, if I can do it with the staff I can do it with her - and I just realized what that had been, it had been the fact that I love her -
"Presea, concentrate." He said gently, literally holding her upwards against gravity. Her body had gone limp under the strain of an unknown pressure in her reality, and the fact that it was unknown made him all the more scared.
She drew in a whimpering breath, her fingers weakly gripping his shoulder. Although he could not see it, her eyes had gone blank again. "The huts on fire."
That was all he needed to hear. He felt a ripping, tearing sensation, as the limits and regulations to something as rebellious and scattered as magic kicked into action, but worked hard to concentrate on only one thing - her - the feel of her, the feel of her living body pressing into her own and breathing, breathing and able to smile, to live out her vibrant personality -
Presea -
And then the darkened forest canopy blurring in and out of focus, ending with definition. He fell back to the forest floor, his arm still around the curve of her waist, his cheek pressed into her own. They rolled a little under the impact of it, and then shifted a little, adjusting to the weight. When it was all done there they lay on the ground, Presea on top of Clef, Ascot, Lantis, and Eagle standing around them with open mouths.
They had seen Clef let out a yell, and then he had blurred into nothing, the forest floor and the shrubbery taking his place. Then he had sudden appeared a couple feet over the ground, hovered for the slightest fraction of a moment, then fell under the workings of gravity as Presea appeared in his arms and the two fell back to Earth in each other's arms.
All Clef could think was that he had done it, and she was safe.
Presea let out a long sigh, her uneven breath occasionally breaking into a sob. "Umi and Fuu....the hut was on fire...."
Clef wasn't so sure. The sword that had sliced through his arm, and yet not sliced through his arm - he was pretty sure now it was Ferio's. And Ferio would protect them.
'Yeah. What was that?'
"It was love."
Hikaru and crew traveled on through the countryside, blissfully unaware of these troubling new developments. Fatigue, however, began to threaten to slow them down, what with both Zazu and Hikaru starting to stumble every couple steps, needing the eight hours sleep that children their age always craved, and they would have set up camp were it not for the fact that Lafarga and Gardina both objected very much against doing so, their logic founding on the fact that they needed to get to the Library as quickly as possible. So, when the two could go on no longer, it was decided that the simplest solution was to carry them, which they did, Lafarga taking Zazu on his one shoulder and Gardina taking Hikaru as well.
Another day passed. Eventually it was presented to Lafarga that the same need of sleep was rearing its ugly head in Gardina's composure, for the woman was stumbling every so often, and yawning at impromptu times during their conversation. When he accused her of this, naturally she rejected it, telling him "Don't be silly. Honestly, do I look tired to you?"
"Yes."
She allowed him to carry her. And so it was - Lafarga bearing the loads of all three of them, Zazu slung over his right shoulder and Gardina over the other, while Hikaru rode on his back. If not for his strength, it might have been uncomfortable.
The stretch of dirt road they were traveling on could be described as very beautiful, what with the miles of rich, lush meadow on either side of them. It was in this setting that Lafarga was surprised to see an old woman sitting cross-legged on the road; he stopped at sighting her, still a good couple yards away.
The woman, her back bowed with age and her face wrinkled for the very same reason, rose to her feet, obviously having seen him too. "And here is Lafarga, of very high order in the court of Guru Clef! As well as the foreigners Zazu and Gardina - Zazu being from Automzam, while Gardina is from Chizeta - and who is this?" She smiled thinly. "Hikaru, the foundation of the world we are in at this very moment." And her thin smile widened as she swept the sleeping Hikaru a bow.
