~AN~ Due to the NID comic writers at Archie having more authority than myself in the area of 'being correct', for once I thought I may as well please anyone here who's a purist. I've followed the first comic's general line of action and wording, although I couldn't help but go off on my own little tangent sometimes.
AC: A lot of times.
Well…yes. So enjoy.
Disclaimer: My bird is now chewing on the keyboard. However, he's too small to actually press down the buttons, so I'll do it for him. Iugoq983w64piuh
The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold,
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.
Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.
The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying
And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.
Sunlight On The Garden, by Louis MacNeice
Chapter Twenty:
We Shall Have No Time For Dances
The storm had been unleashed. Thunder ripped through the sky in cataclysmic waves of sound. Clouds tore apart, etching broken circles about the castle's North Tower, swirling like eddies in a river's banks. Lightening screamed across the sky, lacing the clouds with white fire. Wind gusted across the wet castle stones with a whistling shriek. Rain fell in torrents.
Outside, maren dashed for cover, taking shelter in the covered walkway that surrounded the courtyard or diving into the nearest windows. Shivering from cold and dripping wet, they waited.
The storm had broken. It was time.
Inside, Wizeman watched the breaking storm with a feeling of utter relief. They'd made it.
The assembled High Seekers looked up as one, watching him, waiting for his command. Outside an army of nightmaren waited. Behind him were the two Courage Dreamers.
It was time.
His voice boomed out, echoing across the empyrean walls and shaking the very foundations of the tower; the nightmaren about him all drew back, acknowledging his authority. "The time has come. Bring me the Courage Ideya."
There was a pause. Jackle was looking behind his master, eyes focused on something beyond the giant throne. "Uh, I hate to ask, but…what Ideya?"
"What?"
The object of the room's attention instantly changed from Wizeman to the space behind him, where the girl's cage stood. Empty. She was nowhere to be seen.
She was gone.
Clawz blinked, his red eyes darting about the room, confused. "Where is she?"
The other High Seekers imitated his movements, all glancing about as if the dreamer was simply hiding in the shadows about them, all looking for the girl. All but one.
Jackle was looking for NiGHTS.
Wizeman's voice broke across their startled thoughts. "No matter. We will use the energy from…the second dreamer…"
This statement drew their attention to the shadows behind him once again---and the other empty cage. The boy was gone as well.
"What?" roared Wizeman, his displeasure so strong that the entire group cringed under the feelings of their master's anger. "Quick! Find them! Find them at once!"
Clawz crouched, ready to spring into the shadows and flush out the dreamers from wherever they were hiding. He jolted to a stop when Reala's voice rang out, heavy with indecipherable emotion, his golden claws pointed accusingly at a figure poised on the edge of a windowsill, two glowing orbs within its hands. "I don't believe it…it's NiGHTS! He has them!"
His brother's violet eyes met his, and they were filled with an utterly chaotic mess of sadness, sympathy, and confusion.
NiGHTS stared at his brother's eyes, shocked. Their ice blue irises were glowing from within with an angry, hostile light; they shone blood red and sickly yellow, surrounded by that frozen ice blue. His emotions were clear in them, and one stood out above all the rest. Betrayal.
NiGHTS' voice rang out strong, barely wavering before he managed to bring it back under control. "Look, guys, I thought it over---and a whole universe made over in Wizeman's image…"
He turned away, tensing as if about to jump. "…seems a little too one note and boring to me."
Without hesitation he leapt out, clutching the two Courage Ideya before him like twin torches of unwavering flame. His last words came back to them, blown in by the howling winds outside.
"And boring just ain't my style!"
Reala let his hand fall, every muscle within his body trembling. He'd seen his brother's eyes, and he knew what this meant. Something unimaginable, something he'd never thought would happen. NiGHTS had rebelled.
His brother was the enemy.
Nightmaren taking shelter under the covered walkway jerked their heads up as their master's voice roared out in fury. "Don't just stand there, you fools! GET HIM!"
Their attention was immediately attracted to a purple streak flying over their heads, a shooting star of violet and crimson. Behind it another star passed, this one a flash of white and black. Both were headed for Mystic Forest.
Insomnia blinked. "Is that NiGHTS?"
"And Reala?" added Terrance.
Tessa watched the two nightmaren swoop over the castle walls and continue on, neither slowing. "No, idiot, that was Clawz. And Puffy."
"Shut up."
"What was that about?" questioned Chank.
"I don't know." His brother shrugged.
"Maybe they're opening the bridge?" suggested Aniline.
Heckler raised an eyebrow. "I thought Wizeman was going to do that."
"I know I wasn't asked," declared a thoughtful voice as Morgen passed by, handing out the last of the arrows to the archers, his expression abnormally subdued. "But that didn't look like an opening ceremony to me."
He paused to glance up at the skies, where the two could barely be seen highlighted against the furious storm. "That looked like a chase."
The High Seekers were absolutely silent. They had only made it to the windows before Wizeman called them back; at that speed, Reala was the only one who would be able to keep up. They would be useless.
They loitered about, all trying to keep from making a sound and every now and then stealing a glance at their master. Wizeman stood in the middle of the giant room, silent; they could almost feel the anger radiating from him. No one dared say a word.
Jackle looked up at Gillwing, closed his eyes, and laid his head tiredly against his friend's flank.
Branches snapped and bats took flight as two nightmaren streaked through the forest, one trying desperately to lose the other. Neither noticed the scratches and bruises they received from overhanging limbs and corners cut too tightly. Both were completely focused on their desperate flight.
NiGHTS swallowed as he flew, feeling his stomach twist in painful disgust and clenching his teeth against the desire to retch. 'I can't believe this---how can they not see it? How can I do this? What about…Reals…'
Reala's body was tight as a whipcord, every muscle straining to keep up with his brother, his mind lashed into a fury of questions. 'How can he do this? He's trying to stop the mission! Has he always planned to be a traitor? My brother---is a traitor? WHY DIDN'T I SEE IT?'
NiGHTS tucked the Ideya to him and performed a tight barrel roll, just barely managing to fit through a tiny opening in the writhing branches of a weeping willow. Reala missed the opening and shot up, diving into the tree where the branches were thinner and he wasn't likely to brain himself if he went in fast. NiGHTS was nowhere to be found.
Reala shot out of the branches and snapped his head around. Apart from the babbling of the Windingwater at his feet, nothing could be heard above the crashing of the storm. He'd lost his brother.
He snarled angrily, clenching tight fists and throwing back his head to howl at the sky. "NiGHTS! WHY?!"
His head dropped to his chest, and he floated silently, every nerve twitching with the clamor of emotions running through him. His voice was hoarse. "I can't believe that you're a traitor, NiGHTS. I can't believe you're trying to destroy the mission."
His eyes closed. "I can't believe what you've done…Traitor."
The tone became more brutal and harsh. "Traitor! You're no longer my brother---my brother NiGHTS is dead! You are only the Traitor!"
Winds howled around him, agreeing with his declaration. He shot into the air, heading into the very level of the storm, and let himself become lost in the immense power.
Slowly a dripping purple figure, still clutching two glowing orbs, emerged from an air pocket under the moss-hanging banks of the Windingwater. Violet eyes followed the Seeker General as he tried to dull his emotions by losing himself to the raw power of the winds that tore across the sky.
NiGHTS moaned, pressing a hand to his stomach, feeling an immense sickness boiling within him. He couldn't do this…
An image of Reala's flame-lit eyes came back to him, filled with animosity and hate. He closed his own eyes and tried to picture how Reala had looked before he became consumed by his desire for power, before he had been 'improved'. Nothing would come. Only the vision of a girl's eyes, pleading eyes of the purest forget-me-not blue.
Reala's eyes.
"I'm doing this," he whispered, heading off into the forest. "I'm doing this for you, Reals. So you'll come back."