Bolero
Chapter Three The Choice of Four Kings
Trent sighed under his umbrella. He'd spent the past two days in something of a daze; go to school, go to club practices, get the snot beaten out of him by Ryoko; it had gotten to be almost something of a ritual. Now he didn't even think about, not really.
Three days ago he'd been informed that he was actually some kind of dragon. Given his dreams, he would suppose that was a reasonable possibility, but not reasonable enough for him to take it at face value. The next day he'd ended up finding strange people with weird polyhedron force fields fighting people with the same general abilities as arc-cutting equipment. Then he'd gotten a hole punched through his hand by a guy who could cut steel with his scarf, followed by being healed of it instantly, and finally being informed that not only was he a dragon, he was a dragon whose powers would be on a rough par with the An Act of God.
Oh yeah, they'd neglected that earlier.
He sighed as his chin found its way to rest on his hand. He really missed having a life that was close enough to simple that he didn't have to worry about anything beyond getting a decent grade on his next history test and not getting killed in kendo practice. He really did miss it.
"What are you thinking about?"
Trent turned to regard Kamui and Sorata (the guy who'd been dressing in VERY weird clothes; turned out he was some kind of priest too). "Listen, I've asked just about everyone else, and no one's willing to talk, so I may as well ask you. What the f-@%$ is going on?"
Kamui irritably shook off Sora's would-be companionable hand on his shoulder. Kyougo refused to give him the sword. As he'd put it, 'this sword cost me dearly. I refuse to give it to one I deem unworthy. And you have not yet given me reason to see you otherwise.' And unfortunately, the old goat was Kotori and Fuma's dad, so he couldn't just beat it out of him. "I don't know. All I know is that I was supposed to come to Tokyo in 1999 and get that sword for some kind of 'great purpose' or something. And apparently it's all tied up with more people."
Trent rolled his eyes at the glare leveled against all and sundry. "Yeah, I'm kind of curious as to this myself. It's not every day you're informed that you're going to effect the rest of the world's destiny. Kind of a ta'verren thing, huh?"
"A what?"
Trent grinned faintly. "Nothing, just something I read in a book." He stood to leave. "So, the meeting is today, right? I'll see you there."
Kamui muttered dark things under his breath as Trent sauntered off. As if it hadn't been bad enough getting that casual brush-off from Kyougo, he'd gotten the distinct feeling that this white-haired guy was somehow more likely to get the sword than he was.
Nope, he wasn't having a good day.
And as I'm sure you might have guessed, it's going to get worse.
--------
Trent sighed deeply, trying to quiet his currently pounding heart as he looked up at the Diet building. He'd seen it once or twice, but he'd usually just assumed it was like the United States Capitol building except with Japanese bean counters instead of American ones. Apparently that was true, but it also served as the headquarters for some kind of psychic that was secretly telling the rest of the world what to do.
He was really hoping that before the end of whatever this was, he'd be left with SOMETHING that was actually the way he'd originally thought about it. As it stood, he was getting this really bad feeling that somehow the other shoe was somewhere, begging the powers that be for the chance to drop.
He paused as he noticed Kamui and Sora. He blinked, double-taking as he noticed that some new girl had joined them. A-typical Japanese girl (if an extremely attractive one), was wearing a sailor-style girl's school uniform (he still wondered why the girls of this country put up with them), and had a faced that looked like it had been carved from very bored ice. So most likely another psychic.
He was about to step forward when he felt a hand drop to his shoulder. Turning, he took in Hajime's sober expression, mirrored on both Amaru's and Tsuzuku's faces. That, and Yuzuriha trying hard to keep anyone from finding out just how strained her cheerful grin actually was.
Sora waved casually, not quite as chipper as he usually had been. "You guys ready?"
At the series of nods, he turned to the new girl. "Well, are we all acceptable guests for the princess, or should we just barge in?"
She gave him a cool, if arch look. "She already knows you're coming. After all...she's the dreaming priestess."
Trent felt like groaning again, but bit it back. IF nothing else, he was starting to feel like that Ikari weenie he'd seen in that anime he'd started watching.
--------
Yuzuriha turned to regard the new addition to their group; she was curious, and as the elevator seemed to be taking forever, it was a convenient distraction. "Hi, what's your name?"
She regarded the younger girl calmly, a bit unsure as to why she was so chipper. Still, she'd been polite about it. "Arashi...Arashi Kishue."
Yuzuriha's eyes sparkled. "WOW! That means 'tempest,' right?"
Arashi nodded slowly, sweat-dropping despite herself as the dog-user continued crowing to herself under her breath about how cool her new sempai's name was.
Further embarrassment was averted as the elevator finally chose to end its descent. Trent watched as Arashi greeted the twins who seemed to be serving as an unlikely pair of bodyguards. He caught the word 'Kamui' in her speech, causing an almost immediate scurry to the back of the room and some kind of curtained-off dais. At some kind of unspoken signal, they simultaneously brought the curtains away.
Trent's immediate first impression was frailty. The women - no, child looked like she'd been carved out of spider-webs; pale and almost impossibly wispy. The formal kimono she was wearing looked almost like the wedding kimonos he'd seen, but he personally thought it kind of creepy, the way it complimented the silver white hair that curled over the floor. That, and a memory of someone telling him that in the far-east, people wore white instead of black to funerals.
Kamui's reaction was a bit more...observable. Namely, him growling 'you!' and powering up some kind of aura of blue psychic energies.
Sora's eyes widened in alarm as he grabbed Kamui from behind. "STOP IT! YOU CAN'T GO INTO BATTLE MODE HERE!"
Kamui didn't bother fighting back. "She - "
Whatever he had intended to say was drowned out by the sudden application of a blunt instrument to the back of his head. Didn't hurt him, but it WAS enough to get him to quit trying to bring the place down around them. He turned to glare at the offending party. "What the hell was that for?"
Trent smiled sarcastically as he lowered his umbrella. (1) "Well, somebody had to shut the two of you up."
[The fourth king, are you not?]
Trent paused, then very calmly sank to a crouch. "Can you speak normally? I'd appreciate it if you did as opposed to transferring strange thoughts into my head. My weirdness limit peaked several days ago."
Arashi cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Unfortunately, Princess Hinoto can only communicate in this way."
Trent nodded tiredly. "The price for whatever it is that makes her so special, then? Gotcha." He turned to Hajime. "So, when do I get to find out what's going on?"
Hajime shrugged. "They'll have to tell you there side of what it is that they're doing; they haven't bothered to tell us yet beyond that it involves the end of the world."
"That's not what I meant." Trent shook his head. "I mean, you and your brothers aren't a part of this originally, are you? Whatever is supposed to be going on with the end of the world, if you had some critical role to play in it, then you would have been told the complete truth. So why does it come down to this place, these people?"
Ignoring the both curious and anxious looks of the assembled 'dragons of heaven' (a title he personally found rather pretentious if not outright silly), Tsuzuku began. "We're actually only involved because of an accident. That boy who tried to kill you...Daisuke, was it?" He chuckled richly. "Let's just say you weren't his first; he thought that Hajime was one of the 'dragons of earth' as opposed to THE dragon of earth. Not to terribly intelligent, considering that Hajime is the strongest of us."
Trent's smile turned...less pleasant. "How badly did you maim him?"
Hajime shrugged. "Not as badly as you think."
Rolling his eyes at the disappointment on Trent's face, Tsuzuku continued. "As I was saying, when I found out, I checked everything I could on Daisuke, and found out about this entire, ridiculous mess. We felt that arbitrarily allowing all life on earth to be exterminated wasn't something that we would like to avoid."
Trent frowned. "Okay, now I'm getting a little bit confused. If you're not going to let the end of the world happen, then why haven't they explained anything? Aren't you allies or something?"
Hajime shook his head. "That's just it. We're not allies; we haven't decided whether or not we're going to help them yet." A restraining hand rose. "And before you ask why, we decided right from the start that we didn't want to split the family over this; what one of us decides, all of us will follow." He sighed. "So what happens is up to you, as you're the only one who Hinoto is willing to show the future to."
Trent turned to regard the three; resignation on Hajime's face, calm on Tsuzuku's, and a certain sheepishness on Amaru's. "For the love of god, don't you three ever get tired of springing these surprises on me?"
Kamui's biting remarks drove them back to the main. "If you're finished, can we get this over with?"
[Kamui...I must apologize for what I did earlier, but you had to see.]
Kamui's expression closed for a moment, then calm arrogance returned. "See what? Your 'visions?' More of those sick little fantasies of yours?"
Trent whistled quietly as the princesses two attendants started berating him. "'Sick fantasies? Kamui, you dog. And I thought it was the quiet ones you watched for...well, well."
Kamui nearly face-faulted at the richly amused voice. Yuzuriha biting back giggles wasn't helping much, though it was better than the sight of Sora rolling around on the floor in unrestrained laughter. Still, it had served Trent's purpose of breaking up the 'walking on thin ice' atmosphere that had been omnipresent.
Hinoto turned sightless eyes to the two. [Both of you, please come closer. You need to see this.]
Trent sighed deeply, calming himself. A bit piqued at his hesitation, Kamui sullenly shouldered his way forward, Trent not far behind. Both knelt before Hinoto, waiting.
And the world as they knew it shattered.
--------
Trent blinked in confusion as he found himself staring in some kind of wasteland; it looked as though some kind of sandstorm of biblical proportions had struck out of nowhere, burying what had once been Tokyo. "Good god, what happened?"
Kamui turned wild-eyed as his gaze swept the same scene. "How...how could this have happened?"
Hinoto's gaze grew sad, and once more, the world shattered.
--------
Trent groaned quietly as they found themselves in a somewhat less devestated Tokyo. "Great. Do you suppose you could come up with a version of this that's a little easier on the mind?"
Kamui frowned. "You haven't explained yet. That...that desert that swallowed Tokyo. How is that going to happen?"
Hinoto looked up. [The dragons of earth will devour Tokyo.]
Kamui frowned. "Dragons of earth...you mean an earthquake? An earthquake is going to strike Tokyo?"
Trent frowned as well, though more in confusion. "A Tokyo earthquake? So what; the Japanese people have been spending the past what, forty years, building up this city to take a major earthquake. It's been considered the biggest geological powder keg in the world for decades; there are safe- guards for things like that."
Hinoto shook her head at him. [Unfortunatley, no. The recent earthquakes striking, each over 6 on the Richter scale...they were merely the foreshadow to what is to come when the barriers are shattered.]
Trent frowned. "Barriers?"
Various images began to superimpose themselves over the landscape as Hinoto gazed around. [Tokyo is the keystone of many of this world's protective barriers, ancient or man-made. Many protect Tokyo itself; the giant 'warding stones' of the Shinjuku high-rise skyline; the pillar that supports the unstable foundation, Sunshine-60; the great Yamanote rail line, laid down in the shape of the hand of Buddha; the Tokyo tower...all are here to support the barriers that protect the world.]
Trent stared at her dully. "You're saying that if a major earthquake hits Tokyo, it's going to trigger an avalanche of mystical force or something that would be strong enough to destroy the entire planet?" He rubbed at his temples. "Quick question; who was the idiot who decided that JAPAN would be the best place for this 'keystone?'"
Kamui glared at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You think the Japanese aren't capable of holding up to such a task?"
Trent glared right back. "My point is this. Why wasn't the keystone placed in someplace like the middle of the Sahara, or the North Pole, or someplace in the Siberian Plateau...SOMEPLACE WITH FEWER NATURAL DISASTERS!" Even Kamui jumped at his sudden outburst. "I mean, for god's sake, people have known since ancient times that nature uses Japan for a chew-toy; earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, typhoons...am I making this clear? This is like hiding the only copy of the cure for cancer in a cardboard box somebody put in an incinerator."
Hinoto turned as abruptly, some kind of gigantic creature erupted from the ground. Kamui grunted in shock and exertion as he shot the side, an orb of psychic force in his hand. Hinoto gently admonished him as the orb shot through with no effect whatsoever. [We are here as though in a vision. They cannot harm you any more than you can harm them.] She turned to watch as abruptly, six more dragons erupted from the cityscape, their bodies wrenching huge chasms in the earth. Chasms which formed a shape disturbingly similar to the Star of David.
Trent watched in horrified fascination as they raged across the city. "So...the earthquake isn't natural? These seven trigger it?"
Hinoto nodded. [I admit now that choosing Japan was perhaps unwise, but we cannot change that now. What we know is that the seven dragons of earth will trigger the quake...unless...]
A new image appeared, as the massive clouds of dust and smoke were pierced to the north. Trent frowned. His eyes widened as the stars started to shimmer and twist, bending and growing until they had grown into dragons to match the seven below. Then abruptly, the vision ended.
Kamui stared. "What happened?"
Hinoto's expression remained sad. [If the dragons of heaven attack the dragons of earth...if they form the great spirit shield to protect Tokyo...then the apocalypse will not occur.] She turned imploring eyes on him. [Kamui...you must lead the dragons of heaven! It is your destiny!]
"One of them, dear sister."
Trent spun as a sultry voice reappeared in the rubble. "Who are...whoa."
Kanoe laughed at his reaction. "Flatterer." She sighed as she strutted towards Hinoto. "Dear, dear little sister...you naughty thing you. You haven't told him everything, have you?"
Hinoto stared in helpless shock as Kanoe's fingers lightly stroked her chin. [Kanoe! Why are you doing this!]
She straightened, radiating unconcern. "I do this because it is my destiny, sister dear. Just as you do what you do for the same sake." She turned to Kamui. "True, you can lead the dragons of heaven if you wish. However, there is another destiny my dear sister hasn't shown you."
[STOP IT KANOE!]
Ignoring the telepathic pleas, she smiled as she drew closer. "Would you like to see it?"
Whatever might have been shown will remain a mystery. Primarily due to Hinoto unceremoniously blasting her younger sister out of her vision.
And for the last time, the world around them shattered.
--------
Kamui groaned as he regained consciousness to be greeted by the concerned Sora. Abruptly he sat up, his muzziness gone in an instant.
Trent reflected idly that he at least had gotten a more pleasant face to wake up to; namely Arashi's. Though if what he understood was true, he was a bit curious as to why Yuzuriha hadn't been there.
Hinoto turned her pleading gaze to Kamui once more. [You saw...please Kamui! You must lead the dragons of heaven!]
Not bothering to answer, he stared at her coldy. Gone was the pissy, fifteen-year-old-teenaged-angst. In its place was the gaze of someone who would not hesitate to kill; the face was that of a warrior now. "Why didn't you tell me? That woman said I had two futures. You Lied To Me."
Hinoto gasped as he roughly dragged her up from her dais. "Sora told me that my mother was someone's shadow sacrifice, but that no one could have suffered what she felt. Tell me now. WHO KILLED HER! WHO MURDERED MY MOTHER WHILE I COULDN'T PROTECT HER!"
Hinoto's gaze turned from fright to pity in an instant. [Your mother was not murdered, Kamui. She chose to give up life.]
A bucket of ice water could not have been more sobering. He let Hinoto fall from his grasp as his gaze shifted from a killer's to a broken child's. "She...what?"
This of course is when Daisuke's wind razors chose to make their rather irritating return.
"GET AWAY FROM THE PRINCESS!"
Kamui turned to glare at him, the anger he still felt smoldering somewhere deep inside finally gaining a target. "You again."
He was beaten to the punch as Trent abruptly rammed the umbrella he'd been carrying into the wind master's stomach.
Daisuke gasped in pain as he fell to his knees. He turned to glare at Trent. "What was that for?"
Trent's eyes shut him up rather quickly. The Assassin had returned for a moment. "You tried to murder me, or have you forgotten already, you misbegotten - "
(WE INTERRUPT THE FIC AT THIS POINT, MAINLY BECAUSE THE VARIOUS SLURS TRENT IS USING AGAINS DAISUKE ARE NOT THE KIND OF THINGS THAT YOU LET OTHER PEOPLE HEAR. PLEASE BEAR WITH US. ALMOST THERE...NO, NOT QUITE, HE'S STILL GOING. WAIT A MINUTE, I THINK HE'S...YEAH, ALMOST...OKAY, HE'S DONE.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.)
Daisuke could only mouth wordless replies to that. Yuzuriha was currently fighting a massive blood surge to the cheek and facial area; she didn't know what a good seventy percent of what he said meant, but what she did understand was scandalizing.
Hajime coughed loudly to try and draw attention back. "Yes, I understand that you're a bit unhappy with him at the moment, but could we kindly get back to the task at hand?" He turned to Trent. "If you can get your mouth under control, would you mind telling us your choice?"
Trent leveled one last glare at Daisuke, but turned back, the assassin back in hiding. "Where's that artifact you said would test me, or whatever?"
Daisuke found his voice again. "Why should we give it to you? Why on earth would we trust any weapon to a potential enemy?"
Trent knelt to glare again at the still-injured wind master. "Well it's like this. See, this artifact thingy is going to test me to see if I really AM their reincarnated brother or whatever. Now, if I'm not, then what's the point of me making a choice anyway, as they won't have any reason to listen to me. As for if I am, well...just ask yourselves this. What right do you have to it anyway?"
[Sohei, please fetch the Cloak.]
One of her attendants looked askance, but wordlessly rose to open a small chest behind the dais, coming out with what looked like a small bolt of white cloth.
Trent frowned at the sight of it as she approached. He wasn't sure why, but it kind of gave him the creeps. Once again, he could only remember that the color of mourning in Japan was white.
Abruptly, a tendril of cloth shot out from the bundil, snaring Trent's wrist, squirming upward to coccoon him before he even had a chance to yelp in shock. The rest of the cloak followed in its wake.
Yuzuriha sweat-dropped at the now-mummified body of Trent. "Um...was that supposed to happen?"
Tsuzuku scowled slightly as he began digging out his wallet. "If Trent wasn't the fourth king, then nothing would have happened. He could have put the cloak on, tried to make something out of it, but if he wasn't Fungsahn then nothing would happen. ANY reaction only occurs when it's the real deal." He dug out a few bills. "Although as none of us have ever seen this happen before and can't remember anything about the ritual the last time, this could mean something else."
Hajime smirked at him as he accepted the sum. "You should trust my instincts a little bit more."
Tsuzuku rolled his eyes. "I DID trust you, I just wasn't sure."
"Shouldn't rely on that book so much," was Amaru's reply as a second, smaller sum found its way into his hands.
Kamui stared at them dully. "You BET whether or not he was actually your fourth king, or whatever he was?"
Hajime nodded calmly, triggering a wave of sweat-drops. "It's not quite as bad as you seem bound and determined to make it. We've been wandering to find him for a long time, and we've gotten a bit...shall we say blasé about it?"
Kamui rolled his eyes and turned to leave. Hinoto managed to sprawl inelegantly towards him. [Kamui! What are you doing?!]
The would-be keystone of existence turned to stare at her in disgust. "Dragons of heaven, dragons of earth...I don't care about any of that." His smirk reached Ikari-esque levels. "You see...I care only about myself."
--------
Trent muttered painfully inside his cocoon. Shortly after Hajime had seemingly tried to kill him, he'd felt this same feeling, as though his body was in the process of trying to pull itself apart. He could feel energy flaring and burning deep inside his ribcage, as though his heart was working fast enough to burn and beat its way free of flesh and bone.
At first he only vaguely understood that he apparently had been a dragon in a previous life. Then he began to see the past, see the memories of everything that had happened in his days as the king of the west.
He began to understand the vast power he held, the understandings of three thousand years finally making his position clear.
Worries he held in the presence of Hinoto, holes in her prophecies and visions began to come clear.
He saw a great MANY things, and few enough of them he wished to remember.
Some things should not have been forgotten.
--------
A brief surge of alarm was the only warning before space abruptly changed beneath the Diet building.
Kamui blinked in shock from where he'd been preparing to incinerate Daisuke. It resembled the inside of some of Hinoto's visions, but only vaguely. For the most part, it looked as though someone had taken the night sky and added a bunch of floating rocks and glass shards the size of reinforced steel girders. "What the hell..."
Daisuke looked around wildly. "What just happened? What is this place?"
"An illusion," Sora remarked. "Pretty high-quality one to, to suck all of us in here like this."
Daisuke stared at him as though questioning his sanity (he was, just in case you wanted to know.) "That's impossible! The Diet building is under Princess Hinoto's shield! Who could have - "
[I believe,] Hinoto said quietly, [that this is one of the dragons of earth.]
Sora grinned in feral delight. "Decided on a direct attack, huh?"
Further talk was shelved as the floating boulders abruptly began to move, launching themselves at the various people like rogue comets.
Daisuke frowned a she dodged. "What are these? More illusions?"
Arashi nodded. "The spell-caster is attacking us through our own minds."
"But if they're only illusions, then how can they -"
Amaru grinned from nearby as he nimbly leapfrogged one of the boulders. "The boulders themselves aren't real, but we'll still feel pain if they hit us. Too much pain, you go into shock. That's all it takes to kill you."
Sora nimbly dodged another. "So if we want to get out of here, then we need to break the spellcaster's glamour first, right?" Cracking his knuckles, he assumed a prayer stance. "Better get started then." Closing his eyes, he began chanting, ignoring for the moment the flying boulders. Just before they could manage to pulp him, he unleashed a surge of electricity, engulfing himself in a pillar of lightning.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!" Kamui snarled as his own telekinetic surges started powdering the various projectiles.
Hajime swiped his sword towards another wave of boulders, cleaving them neatly. "How many of these things do you think we're going to actually have to deal with? You'd think the spell-caster would get tired after a long enough battle."
Tsuzuku watched with a detached interest as more and more boulders shattered on impact with his body. "In theory, I suppose so. Still, if this mage is strong and skilled enough to have the confidence to win this kind of engagement, then that will most likely take a while."
Yuzuriha gaped at Tsuzuku. "Why aren't you defending yourself? Don't those hurt?"
He smiled at her tolerantly. "Not at all. I've convinced myself so completely that they aren't capable of damaging me that the illusion is worthless."
Kamui snarled irritably as more boulders than before materialized. "I've had enough of this farce." Channeling his powers to their fullest, he unleashed a massive storm of psionic might, shattering his surroundings in a display disturbingly reminiscent of a mirror shattering.
Revealing completely unchanged surroundings underneath.
Hinoto shook her head. "The spell-caster reinforced the illusion; he does not wish us to be able to break free so easily."
Kamui dodged as another set of boulders continued swarming around him, the newest batches flattening into sharper chunks. "So then how the hell do we get out of here?"
Arashi shrugged. "We still have to break the barrier. It's just a question of how." Drawing her katana into a stabbing stance, she lashed it towards the incoming boulders.
That they froze before striking her is the only reason she missed.
Hajime paused as he looked around. Every single flying object was at the moment frozen in midair. "Who's doing this now?"
A whisper of air was his answer.
He wasn't the only one to experience a bit of a chill down his spine as he turned to regard the (until now) motionless white bundle that had been Trent not too long ago.
Whereas it had originally been nothing more than some shapeless bundle that made its host resemble some kind of poorly made mummy, it now flowed like liquid across his shoulders, a fall of snow and spider webs made manifest. He looked around calmly at the various people watching him from within a full, shadowed hood. Raising a single hand, he Called the winds.
Their answer began a swirling wave of force and raw elemental power, weaving a circular wall around him, ever-expanding.
And everywhere it touched, it scoured the glamour clean.
Daisuke swallowed nervously at the figure. He'd recognized the power for wind-manipulation, but it had been at a level he recognized to be a bit...well, in excess of his own. By about a factor of thirty. He began to hope quietly (and not in any place he would have admitted it) that Trent wasn't really going to hold a grudge.
Hajime smiled as he sheathed his sword. "Fungsahn, I presume?"
Trent turned, still clad in a regal aura of mystique, and then completely shattered the moment. "You're only supposed to use that quote if there's a doctor in the house." Throwing back the hood, he scratched at the clasp irritably. "God I feel ridiculous in this thing. Sure, it looks cool, but who wears a cloak these days anyway?" Still frowning, he glared at the offending garment as it began to shift around into the shape of a trench coat. He tried altering color, but he could only seem to manage a not- quite-charcoal-gray before it stubbornly refused to comply further. "Ah well. Would have preferred black, but I guess this'll do." Turning to the three he grinned. "I'm back. If you expect a joyous hug or speech then you lied about being my relatives. That being said, shall we go?"
Amaru laughed.
Sora coughed. "Uh...listen, aren't you supposed to make a choice or something about the dragons of heaven?"
Trent turned to him, a look speaking of a complete lack of care. "My choice? I thought it would be obvious." Stooping just long enough to retrieve his umbrella, he strode out the door.
"I have no intention of joining the dragons of heaven."
To be continued...
Author's Notes: Ain't I a stinker? I COULD have just told you outright what happens next, but where would be the fun in that? Remember how Trent got along so well with Xellos? There's a reason for that; they all like secrets. So while you WILL find out in the next chapter, you don't get any hints for about a week. Nyah!
(1) - This is a bit of an inside joke between a few friends and me. Sorry, but I really couldn't resist.
Chapter Three The Choice of Four Kings
Trent sighed under his umbrella. He'd spent the past two days in something of a daze; go to school, go to club practices, get the snot beaten out of him by Ryoko; it had gotten to be almost something of a ritual. Now he didn't even think about, not really.
Three days ago he'd been informed that he was actually some kind of dragon. Given his dreams, he would suppose that was a reasonable possibility, but not reasonable enough for him to take it at face value. The next day he'd ended up finding strange people with weird polyhedron force fields fighting people with the same general abilities as arc-cutting equipment. Then he'd gotten a hole punched through his hand by a guy who could cut steel with his scarf, followed by being healed of it instantly, and finally being informed that not only was he a dragon, he was a dragon whose powers would be on a rough par with the An Act of God.
Oh yeah, they'd neglected that earlier.
He sighed as his chin found its way to rest on his hand. He really missed having a life that was close enough to simple that he didn't have to worry about anything beyond getting a decent grade on his next history test and not getting killed in kendo practice. He really did miss it.
"What are you thinking about?"
Trent turned to regard Kamui and Sorata (the guy who'd been dressing in VERY weird clothes; turned out he was some kind of priest too). "Listen, I've asked just about everyone else, and no one's willing to talk, so I may as well ask you. What the f-@%$ is going on?"
Kamui irritably shook off Sora's would-be companionable hand on his shoulder. Kyougo refused to give him the sword. As he'd put it, 'this sword cost me dearly. I refuse to give it to one I deem unworthy. And you have not yet given me reason to see you otherwise.' And unfortunately, the old goat was Kotori and Fuma's dad, so he couldn't just beat it out of him. "I don't know. All I know is that I was supposed to come to Tokyo in 1999 and get that sword for some kind of 'great purpose' or something. And apparently it's all tied up with more people."
Trent rolled his eyes at the glare leveled against all and sundry. "Yeah, I'm kind of curious as to this myself. It's not every day you're informed that you're going to effect the rest of the world's destiny. Kind of a ta'verren thing, huh?"
"A what?"
Trent grinned faintly. "Nothing, just something I read in a book." He stood to leave. "So, the meeting is today, right? I'll see you there."
Kamui muttered dark things under his breath as Trent sauntered off. As if it hadn't been bad enough getting that casual brush-off from Kyougo, he'd gotten the distinct feeling that this white-haired guy was somehow more likely to get the sword than he was.
Nope, he wasn't having a good day.
And as I'm sure you might have guessed, it's going to get worse.
--------
Trent sighed deeply, trying to quiet his currently pounding heart as he looked up at the Diet building. He'd seen it once or twice, but he'd usually just assumed it was like the United States Capitol building except with Japanese bean counters instead of American ones. Apparently that was true, but it also served as the headquarters for some kind of psychic that was secretly telling the rest of the world what to do.
He was really hoping that before the end of whatever this was, he'd be left with SOMETHING that was actually the way he'd originally thought about it. As it stood, he was getting this really bad feeling that somehow the other shoe was somewhere, begging the powers that be for the chance to drop.
He paused as he noticed Kamui and Sora. He blinked, double-taking as he noticed that some new girl had joined them. A-typical Japanese girl (if an extremely attractive one), was wearing a sailor-style girl's school uniform (he still wondered why the girls of this country put up with them), and had a faced that looked like it had been carved from very bored ice. So most likely another psychic.
He was about to step forward when he felt a hand drop to his shoulder. Turning, he took in Hajime's sober expression, mirrored on both Amaru's and Tsuzuku's faces. That, and Yuzuriha trying hard to keep anyone from finding out just how strained her cheerful grin actually was.
Sora waved casually, not quite as chipper as he usually had been. "You guys ready?"
At the series of nods, he turned to the new girl. "Well, are we all acceptable guests for the princess, or should we just barge in?"
She gave him a cool, if arch look. "She already knows you're coming. After all...she's the dreaming priestess."
Trent felt like groaning again, but bit it back. IF nothing else, he was starting to feel like that Ikari weenie he'd seen in that anime he'd started watching.
--------
Yuzuriha turned to regard the new addition to their group; she was curious, and as the elevator seemed to be taking forever, it was a convenient distraction. "Hi, what's your name?"
She regarded the younger girl calmly, a bit unsure as to why she was so chipper. Still, she'd been polite about it. "Arashi...Arashi Kishue."
Yuzuriha's eyes sparkled. "WOW! That means 'tempest,' right?"
Arashi nodded slowly, sweat-dropping despite herself as the dog-user continued crowing to herself under her breath about how cool her new sempai's name was.
Further embarrassment was averted as the elevator finally chose to end its descent. Trent watched as Arashi greeted the twins who seemed to be serving as an unlikely pair of bodyguards. He caught the word 'Kamui' in her speech, causing an almost immediate scurry to the back of the room and some kind of curtained-off dais. At some kind of unspoken signal, they simultaneously brought the curtains away.
Trent's immediate first impression was frailty. The women - no, child looked like she'd been carved out of spider-webs; pale and almost impossibly wispy. The formal kimono she was wearing looked almost like the wedding kimonos he'd seen, but he personally thought it kind of creepy, the way it complimented the silver white hair that curled over the floor. That, and a memory of someone telling him that in the far-east, people wore white instead of black to funerals.
Kamui's reaction was a bit more...observable. Namely, him growling 'you!' and powering up some kind of aura of blue psychic energies.
Sora's eyes widened in alarm as he grabbed Kamui from behind. "STOP IT! YOU CAN'T GO INTO BATTLE MODE HERE!"
Kamui didn't bother fighting back. "She - "
Whatever he had intended to say was drowned out by the sudden application of a blunt instrument to the back of his head. Didn't hurt him, but it WAS enough to get him to quit trying to bring the place down around them. He turned to glare at the offending party. "What the hell was that for?"
Trent smiled sarcastically as he lowered his umbrella. (1) "Well, somebody had to shut the two of you up."
[The fourth king, are you not?]
Trent paused, then very calmly sank to a crouch. "Can you speak normally? I'd appreciate it if you did as opposed to transferring strange thoughts into my head. My weirdness limit peaked several days ago."
Arashi cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Unfortunately, Princess Hinoto can only communicate in this way."
Trent nodded tiredly. "The price for whatever it is that makes her so special, then? Gotcha." He turned to Hajime. "So, when do I get to find out what's going on?"
Hajime shrugged. "They'll have to tell you there side of what it is that they're doing; they haven't bothered to tell us yet beyond that it involves the end of the world."
"That's not what I meant." Trent shook his head. "I mean, you and your brothers aren't a part of this originally, are you? Whatever is supposed to be going on with the end of the world, if you had some critical role to play in it, then you would have been told the complete truth. So why does it come down to this place, these people?"
Ignoring the both curious and anxious looks of the assembled 'dragons of heaven' (a title he personally found rather pretentious if not outright silly), Tsuzuku began. "We're actually only involved because of an accident. That boy who tried to kill you...Daisuke, was it?" He chuckled richly. "Let's just say you weren't his first; he thought that Hajime was one of the 'dragons of earth' as opposed to THE dragon of earth. Not to terribly intelligent, considering that Hajime is the strongest of us."
Trent's smile turned...less pleasant. "How badly did you maim him?"
Hajime shrugged. "Not as badly as you think."
Rolling his eyes at the disappointment on Trent's face, Tsuzuku continued. "As I was saying, when I found out, I checked everything I could on Daisuke, and found out about this entire, ridiculous mess. We felt that arbitrarily allowing all life on earth to be exterminated wasn't something that we would like to avoid."
Trent frowned. "Okay, now I'm getting a little bit confused. If you're not going to let the end of the world happen, then why haven't they explained anything? Aren't you allies or something?"
Hajime shook his head. "That's just it. We're not allies; we haven't decided whether or not we're going to help them yet." A restraining hand rose. "And before you ask why, we decided right from the start that we didn't want to split the family over this; what one of us decides, all of us will follow." He sighed. "So what happens is up to you, as you're the only one who Hinoto is willing to show the future to."
Trent turned to regard the three; resignation on Hajime's face, calm on Tsuzuku's, and a certain sheepishness on Amaru's. "For the love of god, don't you three ever get tired of springing these surprises on me?"
Kamui's biting remarks drove them back to the main. "If you're finished, can we get this over with?"
[Kamui...I must apologize for what I did earlier, but you had to see.]
Kamui's expression closed for a moment, then calm arrogance returned. "See what? Your 'visions?' More of those sick little fantasies of yours?"
Trent whistled quietly as the princesses two attendants started berating him. "'Sick fantasies? Kamui, you dog. And I thought it was the quiet ones you watched for...well, well."
Kamui nearly face-faulted at the richly amused voice. Yuzuriha biting back giggles wasn't helping much, though it was better than the sight of Sora rolling around on the floor in unrestrained laughter. Still, it had served Trent's purpose of breaking up the 'walking on thin ice' atmosphere that had been omnipresent.
Hinoto turned sightless eyes to the two. [Both of you, please come closer. You need to see this.]
Trent sighed deeply, calming himself. A bit piqued at his hesitation, Kamui sullenly shouldered his way forward, Trent not far behind. Both knelt before Hinoto, waiting.
And the world as they knew it shattered.
--------
Trent blinked in confusion as he found himself staring in some kind of wasteland; it looked as though some kind of sandstorm of biblical proportions had struck out of nowhere, burying what had once been Tokyo. "Good god, what happened?"
Kamui turned wild-eyed as his gaze swept the same scene. "How...how could this have happened?"
Hinoto's gaze grew sad, and once more, the world shattered.
--------
Trent groaned quietly as they found themselves in a somewhat less devestated Tokyo. "Great. Do you suppose you could come up with a version of this that's a little easier on the mind?"
Kamui frowned. "You haven't explained yet. That...that desert that swallowed Tokyo. How is that going to happen?"
Hinoto looked up. [The dragons of earth will devour Tokyo.]
Kamui frowned. "Dragons of earth...you mean an earthquake? An earthquake is going to strike Tokyo?"
Trent frowned as well, though more in confusion. "A Tokyo earthquake? So what; the Japanese people have been spending the past what, forty years, building up this city to take a major earthquake. It's been considered the biggest geological powder keg in the world for decades; there are safe- guards for things like that."
Hinoto shook her head at him. [Unfortunatley, no. The recent earthquakes striking, each over 6 on the Richter scale...they were merely the foreshadow to what is to come when the barriers are shattered.]
Trent frowned. "Barriers?"
Various images began to superimpose themselves over the landscape as Hinoto gazed around. [Tokyo is the keystone of many of this world's protective barriers, ancient or man-made. Many protect Tokyo itself; the giant 'warding stones' of the Shinjuku high-rise skyline; the pillar that supports the unstable foundation, Sunshine-60; the great Yamanote rail line, laid down in the shape of the hand of Buddha; the Tokyo tower...all are here to support the barriers that protect the world.]
Trent stared at her dully. "You're saying that if a major earthquake hits Tokyo, it's going to trigger an avalanche of mystical force or something that would be strong enough to destroy the entire planet?" He rubbed at his temples. "Quick question; who was the idiot who decided that JAPAN would be the best place for this 'keystone?'"
Kamui glared at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You think the Japanese aren't capable of holding up to such a task?"
Trent glared right back. "My point is this. Why wasn't the keystone placed in someplace like the middle of the Sahara, or the North Pole, or someplace in the Siberian Plateau...SOMEPLACE WITH FEWER NATURAL DISASTERS!" Even Kamui jumped at his sudden outburst. "I mean, for god's sake, people have known since ancient times that nature uses Japan for a chew-toy; earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, typhoons...am I making this clear? This is like hiding the only copy of the cure for cancer in a cardboard box somebody put in an incinerator."
Hinoto turned as abruptly, some kind of gigantic creature erupted from the ground. Kamui grunted in shock and exertion as he shot the side, an orb of psychic force in his hand. Hinoto gently admonished him as the orb shot through with no effect whatsoever. [We are here as though in a vision. They cannot harm you any more than you can harm them.] She turned to watch as abruptly, six more dragons erupted from the cityscape, their bodies wrenching huge chasms in the earth. Chasms which formed a shape disturbingly similar to the Star of David.
Trent watched in horrified fascination as they raged across the city. "So...the earthquake isn't natural? These seven trigger it?"
Hinoto nodded. [I admit now that choosing Japan was perhaps unwise, but we cannot change that now. What we know is that the seven dragons of earth will trigger the quake...unless...]
A new image appeared, as the massive clouds of dust and smoke were pierced to the north. Trent frowned. His eyes widened as the stars started to shimmer and twist, bending and growing until they had grown into dragons to match the seven below. Then abruptly, the vision ended.
Kamui stared. "What happened?"
Hinoto's expression remained sad. [If the dragons of heaven attack the dragons of earth...if they form the great spirit shield to protect Tokyo...then the apocalypse will not occur.] She turned imploring eyes on him. [Kamui...you must lead the dragons of heaven! It is your destiny!]
"One of them, dear sister."
Trent spun as a sultry voice reappeared in the rubble. "Who are...whoa."
Kanoe laughed at his reaction. "Flatterer." She sighed as she strutted towards Hinoto. "Dear, dear little sister...you naughty thing you. You haven't told him everything, have you?"
Hinoto stared in helpless shock as Kanoe's fingers lightly stroked her chin. [Kanoe! Why are you doing this!]
She straightened, radiating unconcern. "I do this because it is my destiny, sister dear. Just as you do what you do for the same sake." She turned to Kamui. "True, you can lead the dragons of heaven if you wish. However, there is another destiny my dear sister hasn't shown you."
[STOP IT KANOE!]
Ignoring the telepathic pleas, she smiled as she drew closer. "Would you like to see it?"
Whatever might have been shown will remain a mystery. Primarily due to Hinoto unceremoniously blasting her younger sister out of her vision.
And for the last time, the world around them shattered.
--------
Kamui groaned as he regained consciousness to be greeted by the concerned Sora. Abruptly he sat up, his muzziness gone in an instant.
Trent reflected idly that he at least had gotten a more pleasant face to wake up to; namely Arashi's. Though if what he understood was true, he was a bit curious as to why Yuzuriha hadn't been there.
Hinoto turned her pleading gaze to Kamui once more. [You saw...please Kamui! You must lead the dragons of heaven!]
Not bothering to answer, he stared at her coldy. Gone was the pissy, fifteen-year-old-teenaged-angst. In its place was the gaze of someone who would not hesitate to kill; the face was that of a warrior now. "Why didn't you tell me? That woman said I had two futures. You Lied To Me."
Hinoto gasped as he roughly dragged her up from her dais. "Sora told me that my mother was someone's shadow sacrifice, but that no one could have suffered what she felt. Tell me now. WHO KILLED HER! WHO MURDERED MY MOTHER WHILE I COULDN'T PROTECT HER!"
Hinoto's gaze turned from fright to pity in an instant. [Your mother was not murdered, Kamui. She chose to give up life.]
A bucket of ice water could not have been more sobering. He let Hinoto fall from his grasp as his gaze shifted from a killer's to a broken child's. "She...what?"
This of course is when Daisuke's wind razors chose to make their rather irritating return.
"GET AWAY FROM THE PRINCESS!"
Kamui turned to glare at him, the anger he still felt smoldering somewhere deep inside finally gaining a target. "You again."
He was beaten to the punch as Trent abruptly rammed the umbrella he'd been carrying into the wind master's stomach.
Daisuke gasped in pain as he fell to his knees. He turned to glare at Trent. "What was that for?"
Trent's eyes shut him up rather quickly. The Assassin had returned for a moment. "You tried to murder me, or have you forgotten already, you misbegotten - "
(WE INTERRUPT THE FIC AT THIS POINT, MAINLY BECAUSE THE VARIOUS SLURS TRENT IS USING AGAINS DAISUKE ARE NOT THE KIND OF THINGS THAT YOU LET OTHER PEOPLE HEAR. PLEASE BEAR WITH US. ALMOST THERE...NO, NOT QUITE, HE'S STILL GOING. WAIT A MINUTE, I THINK HE'S...YEAH, ALMOST...OKAY, HE'S DONE.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.)
Daisuke could only mouth wordless replies to that. Yuzuriha was currently fighting a massive blood surge to the cheek and facial area; she didn't know what a good seventy percent of what he said meant, but what she did understand was scandalizing.
Hajime coughed loudly to try and draw attention back. "Yes, I understand that you're a bit unhappy with him at the moment, but could we kindly get back to the task at hand?" He turned to Trent. "If you can get your mouth under control, would you mind telling us your choice?"
Trent leveled one last glare at Daisuke, but turned back, the assassin back in hiding. "Where's that artifact you said would test me, or whatever?"
Daisuke found his voice again. "Why should we give it to you? Why on earth would we trust any weapon to a potential enemy?"
Trent knelt to glare again at the still-injured wind master. "Well it's like this. See, this artifact thingy is going to test me to see if I really AM their reincarnated brother or whatever. Now, if I'm not, then what's the point of me making a choice anyway, as they won't have any reason to listen to me. As for if I am, well...just ask yourselves this. What right do you have to it anyway?"
[Sohei, please fetch the Cloak.]
One of her attendants looked askance, but wordlessly rose to open a small chest behind the dais, coming out with what looked like a small bolt of white cloth.
Trent frowned at the sight of it as she approached. He wasn't sure why, but it kind of gave him the creeps. Once again, he could only remember that the color of mourning in Japan was white.
Abruptly, a tendril of cloth shot out from the bundil, snaring Trent's wrist, squirming upward to coccoon him before he even had a chance to yelp in shock. The rest of the cloak followed in its wake.
Yuzuriha sweat-dropped at the now-mummified body of Trent. "Um...was that supposed to happen?"
Tsuzuku scowled slightly as he began digging out his wallet. "If Trent wasn't the fourth king, then nothing would have happened. He could have put the cloak on, tried to make something out of it, but if he wasn't Fungsahn then nothing would happen. ANY reaction only occurs when it's the real deal." He dug out a few bills. "Although as none of us have ever seen this happen before and can't remember anything about the ritual the last time, this could mean something else."
Hajime smirked at him as he accepted the sum. "You should trust my instincts a little bit more."
Tsuzuku rolled his eyes. "I DID trust you, I just wasn't sure."
"Shouldn't rely on that book so much," was Amaru's reply as a second, smaller sum found its way into his hands.
Kamui stared at them dully. "You BET whether or not he was actually your fourth king, or whatever he was?"
Hajime nodded calmly, triggering a wave of sweat-drops. "It's not quite as bad as you seem bound and determined to make it. We've been wandering to find him for a long time, and we've gotten a bit...shall we say blasé about it?"
Kamui rolled his eyes and turned to leave. Hinoto managed to sprawl inelegantly towards him. [Kamui! What are you doing?!]
The would-be keystone of existence turned to stare at her in disgust. "Dragons of heaven, dragons of earth...I don't care about any of that." His smirk reached Ikari-esque levels. "You see...I care only about myself."
--------
Trent muttered painfully inside his cocoon. Shortly after Hajime had seemingly tried to kill him, he'd felt this same feeling, as though his body was in the process of trying to pull itself apart. He could feel energy flaring and burning deep inside his ribcage, as though his heart was working fast enough to burn and beat its way free of flesh and bone.
At first he only vaguely understood that he apparently had been a dragon in a previous life. Then he began to see the past, see the memories of everything that had happened in his days as the king of the west.
He began to understand the vast power he held, the understandings of three thousand years finally making his position clear.
Worries he held in the presence of Hinoto, holes in her prophecies and visions began to come clear.
He saw a great MANY things, and few enough of them he wished to remember.
Some things should not have been forgotten.
--------
A brief surge of alarm was the only warning before space abruptly changed beneath the Diet building.
Kamui blinked in shock from where he'd been preparing to incinerate Daisuke. It resembled the inside of some of Hinoto's visions, but only vaguely. For the most part, it looked as though someone had taken the night sky and added a bunch of floating rocks and glass shards the size of reinforced steel girders. "What the hell..."
Daisuke looked around wildly. "What just happened? What is this place?"
"An illusion," Sora remarked. "Pretty high-quality one to, to suck all of us in here like this."
Daisuke stared at him as though questioning his sanity (he was, just in case you wanted to know.) "That's impossible! The Diet building is under Princess Hinoto's shield! Who could have - "
[I believe,] Hinoto said quietly, [that this is one of the dragons of earth.]
Sora grinned in feral delight. "Decided on a direct attack, huh?"
Further talk was shelved as the floating boulders abruptly began to move, launching themselves at the various people like rogue comets.
Daisuke frowned a she dodged. "What are these? More illusions?"
Arashi nodded. "The spell-caster is attacking us through our own minds."
"But if they're only illusions, then how can they -"
Amaru grinned from nearby as he nimbly leapfrogged one of the boulders. "The boulders themselves aren't real, but we'll still feel pain if they hit us. Too much pain, you go into shock. That's all it takes to kill you."
Sora nimbly dodged another. "So if we want to get out of here, then we need to break the spellcaster's glamour first, right?" Cracking his knuckles, he assumed a prayer stance. "Better get started then." Closing his eyes, he began chanting, ignoring for the moment the flying boulders. Just before they could manage to pulp him, he unleashed a surge of electricity, engulfing himself in a pillar of lightning.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!" Kamui snarled as his own telekinetic surges started powdering the various projectiles.
Hajime swiped his sword towards another wave of boulders, cleaving them neatly. "How many of these things do you think we're going to actually have to deal with? You'd think the spell-caster would get tired after a long enough battle."
Tsuzuku watched with a detached interest as more and more boulders shattered on impact with his body. "In theory, I suppose so. Still, if this mage is strong and skilled enough to have the confidence to win this kind of engagement, then that will most likely take a while."
Yuzuriha gaped at Tsuzuku. "Why aren't you defending yourself? Don't those hurt?"
He smiled at her tolerantly. "Not at all. I've convinced myself so completely that they aren't capable of damaging me that the illusion is worthless."
Kamui snarled irritably as more boulders than before materialized. "I've had enough of this farce." Channeling his powers to their fullest, he unleashed a massive storm of psionic might, shattering his surroundings in a display disturbingly reminiscent of a mirror shattering.
Revealing completely unchanged surroundings underneath.
Hinoto shook her head. "The spell-caster reinforced the illusion; he does not wish us to be able to break free so easily."
Kamui dodged as another set of boulders continued swarming around him, the newest batches flattening into sharper chunks. "So then how the hell do we get out of here?"
Arashi shrugged. "We still have to break the barrier. It's just a question of how." Drawing her katana into a stabbing stance, she lashed it towards the incoming boulders.
That they froze before striking her is the only reason she missed.
Hajime paused as he looked around. Every single flying object was at the moment frozen in midair. "Who's doing this now?"
A whisper of air was his answer.
He wasn't the only one to experience a bit of a chill down his spine as he turned to regard the (until now) motionless white bundle that had been Trent not too long ago.
Whereas it had originally been nothing more than some shapeless bundle that made its host resemble some kind of poorly made mummy, it now flowed like liquid across his shoulders, a fall of snow and spider webs made manifest. He looked around calmly at the various people watching him from within a full, shadowed hood. Raising a single hand, he Called the winds.
Their answer began a swirling wave of force and raw elemental power, weaving a circular wall around him, ever-expanding.
And everywhere it touched, it scoured the glamour clean.
Daisuke swallowed nervously at the figure. He'd recognized the power for wind-manipulation, but it had been at a level he recognized to be a bit...well, in excess of his own. By about a factor of thirty. He began to hope quietly (and not in any place he would have admitted it) that Trent wasn't really going to hold a grudge.
Hajime smiled as he sheathed his sword. "Fungsahn, I presume?"
Trent turned, still clad in a regal aura of mystique, and then completely shattered the moment. "You're only supposed to use that quote if there's a doctor in the house." Throwing back the hood, he scratched at the clasp irritably. "God I feel ridiculous in this thing. Sure, it looks cool, but who wears a cloak these days anyway?" Still frowning, he glared at the offending garment as it began to shift around into the shape of a trench coat. He tried altering color, but he could only seem to manage a not- quite-charcoal-gray before it stubbornly refused to comply further. "Ah well. Would have preferred black, but I guess this'll do." Turning to the three he grinned. "I'm back. If you expect a joyous hug or speech then you lied about being my relatives. That being said, shall we go?"
Amaru laughed.
Sora coughed. "Uh...listen, aren't you supposed to make a choice or something about the dragons of heaven?"
Trent turned to him, a look speaking of a complete lack of care. "My choice? I thought it would be obvious." Stooping just long enough to retrieve his umbrella, he strode out the door.
"I have no intention of joining the dragons of heaven."
To be continued...
Author's Notes: Ain't I a stinker? I COULD have just told you outright what happens next, but where would be the fun in that? Remember how Trent got along so well with Xellos? There's a reason for that; they all like secrets. So while you WILL find out in the next chapter, you don't get any hints for about a week. Nyah!
(1) - This is a bit of an inside joke between a few friends and me. Sorry, but I really couldn't resist.