Plura Ater Nox

Chapter 9

Sighing heavily, her eyes glazed over morosely, Aimée stared sightlessly out the window of her prison. She hated it. She wanted to have her wings back and be able to feel the wind beneath them. She was disinclined by the notion of being in possession of clipped wings because of the jerks that were in charge of holding up guard at this base.

She knew she had her resistance, but it was still hard to hold meetings, especially since Van Eyke's crew was a batch of relentless bastards who didn't let up with the constant supervision, keeping an eye out for any form of mutiny. They couldn't make any plans or progress. One would have anticipated a language barrier, but it seemed that unlike the last ones that guarded this place, this group knew some French, especially the lieutenant.

The lieutenant of the group seemed familiar to her. Though how, she was unable to phantom. She desired to be privy to it, but it was withheld from her. It was a risky and entrancing secret she wanted to get her hands on. She needed to, but something stood in the way of that...some obstacle.

She wanted and needed to overcome it at any cost, even at her life. She needed to know why she felt a link to the lieutenant whom she had never known in her entire life. She felt like she had known him before, but didn't know from whence. It was to become her mission to discover the truth behind the shadowed face.

"Miss Beauregard," Lieutenant Van Eyke stood in the doorway, his presence overwhelming. He had an air to him that cried for attention from anyone in the room. His upper lip curled into a sneer. "I trust you're not planning any mutiny on my watch, are you?!"

He cackled diabolically. It sent chills tingling down her spin at the sound of his cackle. It sounded so hauntingly familiar. She heard it echo in her brain. Over and over it echoed, calling for her mind to work to place a finger on the origin of it. She heard an answer within the essence of her existence. It was there.

Her grey eyes shot open as she spun around, her burgundy braid flying with her. "You..." She growled in a low, scathing voice. Her eyes narrowed sharply. She could clearly see the peering beady golden eyes that stared contemptuously at her.

Springing to her feet from the bay window at which she sat, Aimée backed away, her eyes pinned to the lieutenant. She remembered now and she remembered clearly. It was a stake through her heart looking at this man. He had been nothing more than a rival that hated her and treated her badly. All she had wanted was the blonde Shogun's love, but instead she had earned the antipathy of the twisted serpent known as Tomo.

Her hand went over where her heart was. "Tomo." She hissed. "What do you want with me anyway?! Don't you have some other poor soul you haven't tortured yet, or haven't had all you could get?!"

His lips, still curled in a sneer, moved to take a smirk. His voice was soft and unnerving in its detachment. "Soi, I was off-duty and noticed a coo breeze that came from this room. I'm merely initiating my duty to check to see that you're okay."

"I was hoping to enjoy fresh air, as I feel suffocated in this place now." Aimée fired back in a haughty manner. Her eyes flared in indignation. She had been indifferent to Tomo; she hated his reincarnation. She failed to hide her hatred in her tone. It dripped notably from her voice as she spoke.

"It's still no reason to fling the windows wide open as if to create a chance to escape. I can see it in your eyes, do not deny it." Lieutenant Van Eyke replied. His French was laced with the hint of the faintest German accent on it. "Also, I suspect you've been planning a form of resistance. You never were the type to obey any orders, Soi."

"You know nothing about me Tomo! Assume what you will, but rest assured it'll be false, just like your illusions." Aimée scathingly replied through clenched teeth. She didn't know how he did, but he did. He managed to get under her skin much like a bad rash.

"Really?!" he cackled, amused. Wandering over he moved to where her bed as located and lifted up the mattress, pulling out a pile of documentation scripted down on parchment. Curtly, he glanced over, his piercing golden eyes occasionally glancing up at her.

Shredding them with the means of an illusion, he smirked at her. "Lying right through your teeth. How like you Soi, anything to cover your tracks. You can't pull any stunts with me around. Just this time shall I let it go with a warning, but next time, you'll only get one last chance to see the sun rise."

He drew his finger across his neck, a nasty smirk plastered to his face. "Count on your blood spilling for the tiniest infraction, Miss Beauregard."

Sharply he turned on his heel and left the room. Her mouth was agape, as she hadn't been given the chance to retort to his threat. She bristled in anger. How she loathed the sight of him, the sound and the presence. It all sickened to her to end.

'Oh, like I'm going to be modest humble and obey?! Hell no! I'm not going to let you run my life! I'm certainly am not going to let you push around any of the other women just because your big fat ass is in charge.' She smirked.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall. He will fall hard. His arrogance..."

"Who's arrogant?!" Another young woman stuck her head in the room. She was smaller than Aimée, but just as strikingly gorgeous. She had waist-length purple hair that she kept back in an immaculate braid. Her eyes were a soft cobalt blue and seemed to shine with certain mirth.

"Oh, that lieutenant." Aimée replied distastefully.

"Ah, him." The young woman chuckled. She flipped her braid over her shoulder revealing her nameplate to read: "St Pierre".

"Yes, him." Aimée nodded back. "He seems to suspect an underground resistance. Angel what are we to do if he does discover the truth in that?!"

Angel, or rather Angelique growled softly. "Damn. How did he find out?! It's impossible. Everything was hidden and none of us wanted them bastards to find out!"

"He deliberately did a random search on my room!"

"What?! He can't do that!"

"He did."

Once more, Angelique let out a growl. Her lip curled in the accompanying fashion as she displayed her disinclination to the notion of random searches. She feared the chance of the lieutenant launching a siege inspection on her quarters. She had highly sensitive documents that could incriminate the entire group in one glance.

"Good gracious! What if he does decide to inspect other quarters...? " Angelique panicked, anxiously looking around, her cobalt blue eyes frantically drinking in their surroundings.

Then, she raised her fist and put it through the wall, and in her frustration left a notably large hole where she had struck. She then giggled nervously. "I guess I don't know my own strength some times..."

Aimée's left eye just twitched spasmodically. 'Oi...'

~~~~

A slow, monotonous tick of a prayer wheel echoed loudly through the long empty corridors of the monastery. It was complimented by the faint sound of a scripted chant, a traditional prayer to the heavens. It seemed almost somewhat satanic in nature. It didn't have an edge of holiness to it. There was a dark surrounding spirit. Candles flickered ominously.

It caught the ear of the blue haired monk. He was doing his nightly rounds after sending off his loyal carrier pigeon again. He had found someone to communicate with. It seemed to a young woman of French origin who was notably a POW at the mercy of the Germans. He needed the lines of communication and feared having them cut for she understood what he wrote.

The monk wandered over to the room and cast a brief gaze it. It was the Abbott of the area. He seemed to be doing some sort of cult-like satanic ritual to summon demons and ordering them to dance seductively around him. It was sinfully sacrilegious. The monk didn't know how to react. He had been anticipating something ominous...could this have been it, that there was the existence of some demonic force in the Catholic Church?!

The monk's eyes narrowed. He himself wasn't an exorcist but he needed one and post haste. He knew the house one was out on an emergency call and had been for the last while. The monk panicked. He hated this; it terrified him and brought a sense of insecurity. It breached everything they stood for.

He felt a surge of power in his fingertips.

"Da?" He quizzically gazed down at his hands. "What is this no da? Why do I feel some form of black magic and supernatural power in my hands? Is this a sign from God for me to stop this demon?"

He made a contemplative mew. His eyes scanned the area. Lifting his hands he shot out a large red ball of chi. The blast left a notably sizeable hole in the wall. Despite all probes of common sense, he smirked.

'Interesting no da.' He nodded in satisfaction as he summoned to his hand a staff from a nearby corner. He traditionally used it during Holy Communion, but there was a draw to it that wasn't pious yet it seemed right.

Before his eyes, he saw images of a place that he seemed like an ancient world. He saw a large shrine with a metal sculpture idol of a phoenix emerging from the flames of ruins to take on glory of resurrection and second chances. He saw a young pretty cute with mousy brown hair, perky cheerful eyes garnished elaborately in a soft flowing gown the priestess of the phoenix god wore for a summoning. Her hands clasped together as she uttered a prayer and the flames of Suzaku crackled before her as she confidently recited the words of the summoning incantation.

His mind flashed back before that to a body of rushing water; an inner raging turbulence as a young man - himself - attempted to save another. But he failed as something came in contact with his eye, gauging it out, leaving a painful scar on his heart and a mark on his face he would hide beneath a mask.

Opening his eyes, he was drawn back to the present as he remembered one encounter he'd never forget. He could seen the image of cherub faced youth holding a prayer wheel, stabbing himself in the heart to defeat a demon that killed many others. That encounter seemed to spark back to life again, but in another circumstance entirely.

'Da...time to clear out all things impure.' The monk turned back to the chambers where the satanic rituals were being blatantly conducted in the eye of the Lord.