Sacrifices (2)

By: Moon Paper

Disclaimer: Magic Knights Rayearth does not belong to me.

Author's Note: I just want to tell all of you out there, that there AREN'T anymore Rayearth fics!! How can that be? Especially about Eagle DANG! Join his fanlisting? Visit my site for the URL. Or ask me for it.

Lantis looked around him. Each corner had at least three other passageways branching out from it! And Eagle has to navigate through these? He shook his head at the thought and walked briskly past surprised soldiers. What is he doing here? Alive? Lantis shook his head agian as memories of his best friend's death flashed in front of his eyes. I have to- He looked at the woman in front of him, the one that had bumped into him. She was coming around the corner when he had walked right into her. "Mirei?" Her hair, which was cropped close to her ears shone the red of firelight, and shifted when she fidgeted slightly. "Lantis?"

"Aleya... What happened to her?" Mustang looked at the ethreal looking being in the tank whose hair was covered in bubbles, from the LSL (Life Support Liquid) which covered her. He shook his head and told Clef what Eagle had told him before. But first, he had to tell the Master Mage how Eagle came to be there- living and breathing.

"Eagle Vision... Is our best. He is the strongest in our country, besides being the son of our president. So... when he 'died'... We used Autozam technology to clone his old body. Magic called his soul back to his new body, and... now, he is 'alive'." He stopped under Clef's gaze. "But, guru Clef, you must understand that not a word of this must get out. If it did..." Clef nodded. "I understand, Mustang. And let me make a guess... Aleya was the one who summoned his soul?" Mustang nodded, and Clef sighed. "I promise, that not a word of this will get out." When the blue haired man nodded, Clef sighed another time. "Back to the re-energising potion, then. We can't have such a talented mage dying now, can we?" Mustang closed his eyes and watched as Clef walked away, his shoes tapping against the cold metal floor.

"Mirei? What are you doing here?" The woman frowned. "What am I doing here? I think the question is what you're doing here." Lantis was about to retort, when Lantis noticed the pips on her uniform's collar. "You're an Autozam officer." He stated, and she smiled. "What a wonderful deduction, Lantis. I hear your the Captain of the Cefiran guard." He frowned. How many people know that? He looked over her shoulder and looked at her. "Have you seen Eagle?" Mirei frowned, her voice very serious, if not frosty. "Are you toying with me, Lantis? Just in case you hit your head and don't remember, Eagle is dead. Thanks to your Magic Knight. He died for you So don't go around hallucinating and reminding other people!" Lantis frowned, and walked past her, towards the elevator. So, she doesn't know? Am I really hallucinating?

Eagle gave a sigh of relief, and switched off the holograph that gave him a 4D mask, whihch covered him form head to toe. That was a close call. He frowned and lay back on his bed and though of the conversation between Lantis and Mirei. Basically, he was Autozam's secret, if not their weapon. He still lived in his own room, which was in the centre of the High Ranking Officers' wing, so he only usually met people who knew about him. He looked at his hand, and traced the veins that could be seen. He was mostly man-made, but he was still human... like a robot... that was alive. He groaned. Thinking about it made his head hurt.

Lying back on his pillow, he stared at the ceilieng, and his thoughts wandered back to his nurse, and the woman who seemed to care about him more than she needed to. "Why did you do that, Aleya?" He asked aloud.

Inside the Emergancy Room, Ascot frowned, and a trickle of sweat ran down he side of his face as he concentrated harder. Then, he gave up, and relesed his hold on he spell. Clef looked at his apprentice. "You felt it?" The young man nodded. "What's happening Guru?!" Mustang asked, concern clearly showing on his face. "Someone's draining her energy, and we can't close up the hole in her. It's going out of her like a river." Mustang's eyes widened. "What?!" He looked at Aleya, who was still the same as before, and even paler. "What the..." He shook his head and turned to them. "Can't you trace it!? please! Stop this!" Clef shook his head, and Mustang looked at the nurse, pain evident in his eyes.

"But why is her energy being drained only now?"

"Maybe... It was because her energy was already low..."

"And we wouldn't have noticed... We would've only thought that she had died because of her operation on Eagle..."

Clef sighed and touched the glass wall that seperated Aleya from the rest of the world. He muttred something under his breath, and Mustang looked at him, looking troubled. Why the Mage Master's concern? No, it couldn't be... after all, she was his... He shook his head and walked out of the room, while Clef gave instuctions for the potions, and followed, Ascot trailing not far behind. "Mustang. May we see Eagle Vision now?" There was a moment of a pregnant silence, but Mustang nodded, and walked to the opposite direction. "Yes, of course. Please follow me."

Eagle tensed up as he felt his friend's prescence in the room. "Lantis." The magic swordsman seemingly materialised out of the shadows and looked at him. "Eagle. I- We thought that you were dead..." Eagle laughed at his friend's rare display of confusion. "I was." Lantis shook his head. "Impossible." Eagle shook his head. "With Autozam technology and a strong will... am back, Lantis." Zagato's brother stood up and paced around, watching as Eagle ate a bag of candy with 'Geo Metro' written on it. "That doesn't- It's impossible!! Even Princess Emeraude..."

"Couldn't revive those she wanted." Both looked at teh doorway, where Clef and Ascot stood. "So... how was it?" Ascot cleared his throat. "What I think is that because she didn't try to bring the body back to life first. She just thought of people's souls".Clef nodded his agreement. "But nonetheless, it would take a lot of power. I always knew Aleya had it in her..." The Mage Master chuckled, unconscious of the people listening. Eagle felt his curiosity twitch. But he ignored it, and let his more important concerns take over. "How if Aleya, Guru Clef?"

The Mage Master looked down. "This wasn't an accident, Eagle. Someone knew she was low on enrgy, or knew that she was going to attempt to cure you twice that day, and began tapping into her. Either that, or she was already being tapped from in the beginning." Eagle frowned. "But who would do such a thing?" everyone shook their heads. "We couldn't trace it..." Eagle's eyes widened. "So, how can we...?"

Beep Beep Beep Beep Everyone looked at Mustang, who excused himself and went to speak with someone. They all waited, and Eagle was at the edge of his bed when Mustang came back. His face was sombre. "A mage from Fahren and two from Chizetta have fallen 'ill'. From the symptoms, I suspect that they are also suffering from the same kind of draining." Everyone ooked at each other. "What about Cefiro?" Mustang looked at clef. "One has fallen ill... she is counted as Chizettan, though... her name is Caldina."

the cefirans all looked shocked. "Caldina? What about LaFarga?" Ascot frowned. "The only other mage I can thik off... is that white-bearded man that's Empress Aska's advisor." They looked at him, then at Mustang. "If we leave, I think that Aleya will still be alive because of the LSL. But nonetheless, we will be back as soon as possible." Mustang nodded. "I won't let Aleya die, Guru." He and Eagle watched as everyone left, different thoughts running through everyone's minds.

Eagle stood up and paced. Mustang watched him from one side, cautiously. His posterior still smarted from earlier's fall. (A/N: Remember, when Eagle wanted to know where Aleya was?) "Eagle-" The commander shook his head and cut off Mustang. "Who would do this? And why?" He frowned and turned to another direction. "And Geo's away on assignment... Can this get any worse?" Mustang looked down, from guilt of what ever, it is unknown, but Eagle continued. "And why did she try to cure me twice, so fast?"

Mustang ran his hand through his now ruffled blue hair. "It's because you were dying... And-"

"What?! But I thought I was getting better?"

"Yes... But the virus was slowly multiplying because of the number of nanomachines in your body. It would kill you soon, unless removed completely..."

"My.. nanomachines...the ones in my blood? Then what?"

"Sh-she wanted to cure you- whatever it took. She said, being a healer, she would also die being a healer. And... she told me that....."

"Told you what? Mustang! What did she tell you?!"

"She- she told me........."

"Mustang!"

"No. Commander, it is not my place. She will tell you herself if- no, when she wakes."

Eagle looked at him, and stood up. ustang silently wondered whether he was gonna die that day. "Dismissed." Mustang sighed. Perhaps not. He saluted to his superior and went out. Moments later, the room was empty as Eagle went towards the ER. (A/N: Typing Emergency Room everytime, is quite annoying, ne?) But when he got there, there was only an empty tank, and they told him that Aleya had been moved to the ICU. (A/N: Intensive Care Unit.) He nodded and left, careful to keep up his holographic image.

At the ICU, Aleya was lying in a bed, quite peaceful, but still, he held her hand an sat by her side. He msut have been there for several hours, but soon, the 'infected' mages arried, and were also laid on seperate beds. He frowned when he felt their energy levels- they were dangerously low.One of the Chizettans was the Princess Tatra, the one with the gentler disposition, and the other one was the Cefiran one, Caldina. The Fahrenian one was indeed the old advisor to Empress Aska. He turned to Aleya and sqeezed her hand. "Aleya. Please wake up... I have a strange feeling..." He fell silent. As if I would also die if you did.... "And I'll be losing one of my best friends... Please wake up..." He sqeezed her hand tighter, and let his had relax. He was about to let go, when he felt a slight pressure on his hand, and he looked at her sleeping face. Even in pain, you give me comfort... He was about to cry, when he felt a prescence behind him.

"Clef."

"She really doesn't deserve to die"

"I know... Ano, Clef, do you know her?"

Clef looked at him directly. "More than you know, Eagle."

Before the commander could respond, Clef was gone, to one of the other beds.

-End Chapter 2-

A/N: Whoo! My hands hurt from trying to type so quickly! I'm sure that these'll all have typos!!! *sigh* Well, actually, did you know I'm working on a Yami no Matsuei fic? *dodges complaints* Well! I just came up with the idea, and I have to write/ type it down! I know myy other fics are all incomplete!! Well!

HMPH!

But one da, when all my writer's block is gone, I'll just continue them, you'll see! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!