Chapter 26: The Tower of Maya
"I could always be wrong, of course," Klaus added immediately. "It could be anything from a pill from the same batch of vitamins, for example, or some common stranger that they both came in contact with. Worst scenario, someone could have deliberately poisoned both girls. But… somehow I don't think so." He turned somberly to the young boy. He frowned, concerned. "Rue, are you alright?"
"I—I'm fine." You will always be a danger to those you love. The memory came unbidden, but he remembered it now. Ruecian had told him those words before, a long time ago—before he escaped the life capsules, before he met Claire, before… before she died. The nameless woman with raven hair and burgundy eyes. Eyes so much like Mint's… "I'm alright. I just remembered something else, that's all."
Klaus could see from the boy's face that whatever it was, it was something that Rue didn't want to remember, and he knew better than to ask.
Access to the top floors of the newest building of Aeon Industries was restricted to only the highly placed individuals. Maya East Heaven was one of those—after all, the building was named after her, she had supervised its construction, and she had been living in it for the past year already. Even to her, however, certain rooms were still off-limits, Valen's and Ruecian's living quarters in the building's penthouse being prime examples.
She was headed to Valen's office now. It used to be that these special meetings with Valen were held but once a week, but recently she found herself walking along the despondent (albeit well-furnished) halls leading to Valen's office almost daily. It was a long walk, but not necessarily unpleasant, as Maya had always liked Ruecian's taste when it came to decorations. This corridor was done in a style similar to the East Heaven palace's with just a touch of Western influence. Huge, artfully-tinted windows lined one side of the hallway, while elegant marble pillars supported the tall ceiling. Her sister would have loved it.
She knocked carefully as she stopped in front of the antique double doors. After a while with no response, she began tapping her foot impatiently. Valen might be older and wiser and more highly-placed, but she was still the East Heaven crown princess, and that in itself deserved at least some respect.
Usually, she could come and go as she pleased into his office, as Valen had practically made her his secretary—a job that wasn't exactly to her liking, but one in which she found herself to be exceptionally capable. It gave her more freedom with Valen's affairs than she would otherwise possess. Then again, the arrangement was in Valen's best interest, for Maya was a spirit-healer. In fact, he owed his present well-being as well as the remaining use of his arms to their healing sessions.
They were lucky that Maya had turned out to be one of the East Heaven spirit-healers. A spirit-healer was one who could use magick to heal—without having to rely on potions or psyche-amps unlike most other mages. There hadn't been a spirit-healer apart from her born in the last five centuries.
Maya couldn't help but smile slyly at memory of how astounded her elders had been when they found out she had the marks of a spirit-healer. It was during a Herbology lesson, when a calico cat accidentally fell through the greenhouse roof and landed in the Draconis roses with its many thorns, and Maya had magically healed its broken ribs. Herbology wasn't normally taught to mages, only to those who were considered as psyche-weak and magickally ungifted—it was so ironic that that was where they discovered her abilities.
Maya knocked again, louder this time. She was about to leave when Ruecian opened the door. "He's ready, your highness."
"Very well," Maya said. She briskly walked towards the lacquered desk where Valen was watching the holographic news. He didn't even acknowledge her presence. Maya cleared her throat. "I'm here, Valen."
Valen turned to her then. A frown passed over his eyes at the interruption, but it disappeared when he realized who she was. "Go ahead, your highness. Just do it here," he said.
Maya sighed in exasperation, but she managed to keep it to herself. She stepped around the desk to stand behind the old man in the floating wheelchair. She placed her palms on his temples, closed her eyes and concentrated.
The untrained eye would not have noticed anything happening. But after some time, princess and old man were diffused in a soft, pinkish glow that became stronger and stronger… until it disappeared.
Maya gasped, and she pulled her hands away. "There," she whispered through ragged breaths, "I did what I could. You should feel better in a few minutes."
"Now leave me," Valen commanded heatedly. "I don't want any further distractions."
"I'll walk you to your quarters," Ruecian offered as he held the door open for the red-haired princess. Maya nodded, and Ruecian closed the door behind them. He fell into pace beside the girl. "I thank you for your patience with us, your highness," Ruecian told her gently. "Forgive the Master. He's not normally like this, but the pressure of running the company gets to him sometimes. Sometimes, he just…"
"You don't have to explain, George—I understand. Besides, I can't simply stand by and do nothing when I have the means of helping him."
"He realizes it, of course. Your healing is the only thing that keeps him alive now. But he's working on the cure, and he is so close to finding it—it will benefit the other chroma children too."
Maya couldn't help but smile. She had always liked Ruecian. "It's a machine that uses magick, isn't it? I never thought anyone could actually create a machine that uses magick… I remember reading from the reports that it's supposed to permanently enhance his psyche, so that the chroma strain won't affect him anymore?"
Ruecian nodded. "The operation will be even harder on him later, especially since it has to be done in zero gravity. But it can't be helped. The situation is too delicate," Ruecian sighed. "The machines still aren't ready. It will take about a couple more weeks, and in that time, he will deteriorate further." He turned to her, his expression sincere. "Your highness, we may not always show it, but we are truly grateful to you. You will stay with us, even when we go into space orbit?"
"I already said I will, haven't I? The East Heaven Scions are always true to their word, with my wayward sister being the sole exception," Maya replied wryly.
Without warning, her knees wobbled, and she would've fallen if Ruecian didn't manage to grab her arm. "Your highness, are you alright?"
"It's nothing," she waved him away.
"It doesn't look like nothing." Ruecian held one hand up to support her. "You've been having these spells since Wednesday night." He ventured to guess, "It doesn't have anything to do with your magick, does it? Can't you cure yourself?"
Maya shook her head no. "You know I can't, and it's not a physical sickness anyway. It's probably my sister… The idiot must've gotten into another fistfight and knocked herself out…" Ruecian looked at her quizzically.
"Have you ever heard of a spirit link, Ruecian?" Ruecian shook his head no. Maya explained, "It's a rare phenomenon, even among the mages of East Heaven. The scions of our bloodline are always psyche-strong. Rarely is a child is born with exceptional powers, and rarer still when a child is born with a weak psyche. Of course, 'psyche-weak' children of East Heaven has magick that is still much greater than an ordinary human's, but she would have a hard time casting the simplest of spells even with the enhancement of psyche-amps. But if it so happens that a psyche-weak child is born not too long after an exceptionally strong mage enters this world, it is possible for the weak child to develop some sort of psychic bond to the stronger mage. In a way, the weak child uses the strong one as a source of power—with such a source, or spirit link, the weak child can use magick normally. But it's not without a price.
"Although the strong child is unaware of the psychic connection and remains unaffected by it, the weak child is forever bound to her spirit link. She can sense and feel what the other feels if the emotion is strong enough, and when the spirit link dies, she will die as well. My mother was weak. She died in her sleep eight years ago, without obvious reason, so we suspected that…" Maya trailed off. "We never discovered who her spirit link was. The elders found it peculiar that it occurred for two generations in a row, especially considering our particular circumstances, but…" Maya lowered her head.
"I was born weak, too. Mint Vanguard is my spirit link. In spite of everything I've done and all that I've accomplished… I can never escape being in her shadow."
When things don't go well, Klaus always found his solace in work. But for Rue Kincaid, nothing seemed to help at all. He still couldn't concentrate, couldn't even think clearly—and Klaus, understanding this, set Rue to work in his basement to try to distract the white-haired boy from brooding too much. The professor left Rue to organize and take an inventory of the broken relics, and that was where Duke found him when the latter passed by the Klauses' home that afternoon.
"Knock, knock," Duke said. "Rue, is that you?"
Rue looked up. "Duke? What do you…?"
"I'm just dropping off something. Where's Klaus?"
"The professor went to the high school to get some documents. I can take a message."
Duke scratched his head absently. "Actually, I just came by to drop this." He took out a relic from his belt pouch. "You can't complete the genetic-mimicry devices without the schematics from this baby."
Rue walked over to him and took the relic, carefully looking it over. "Hey, isn't this the tiara you guys stole from us?" he raised one eyebrow quizzically. Duke nodded. "But, Duke, why are you returning this now? Won't Belle get angry at you or something?"
"You could say," Duke said, a frown involuntarily passing over his face, "that Belle and I parted ways the night she took you to meet Ruecian. But don't get me wrong," he turned squarely to Rue. "Milady has her insufferable pride, and it sometimes gets in the way of her thinking. Not unlike your own lady Mint, and sometimes I think that Milady and yours are two sides of the same coin," Duke sighed, turning wistful all of a sudden. "But, it's Milady's pride that got her where she is now—as possibly the second-best mechatronic wizard alive in this hemisphere."
Rue couldn't help but ask, "Second-best? Who's the first, then?"
"That would be Milady's sister, Lucine."
They were interrupted by a loud CRASH! from somewhere inside the house. Rue and Duke exchanged glances. "That sounded like it came from the kitchen," Rue exclaimed. They broke into a run simultaneously.
Klaus's pink-haired daughter was on her knees, barely holding onto the counter near the kitchen sink. The broken pieces of a glass plate were scattered on the floor beside her legs.
"Elena!" Duke was the first to reach the fallen girl. She fell heavily against him as Duke knelt down to support her.
"I-I'm alright," Elena insisted. "I just… lost my balance, that's all."
"You certainly don't look alright to me, missy," Duke told her. He felt her forehead and checked her eyes and mouth, but everything seemed normal. "Can you stand?" Elena tried, but after some time she shook her head no. Duke bodily picked her up to take her to her room upstairs. He turned to his companion, "Rue, you'd better call Klaus. I think Elena needs to see a doctor."
"No, please," Elena whispered weakly. "I'll be… fine…" And then she fainted.
Elena didn't wake up after that. And just like Mint, the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her either.
Klaus and Prima were in the hospital room with the two girls, while Mira went home for a short while to get some food for them. Prima was beside himself with worry—he didn't know what happened, but his big sister simply refused to wake up. Klaus had done his parental best to explain to him that Mint and Elena were sick, and Prima had done his child-like best to understand.
"Prima kiss Elena to make it all better." He stood on tiptoe and kissed his adopted sister on the cheek. "Prima kiss Mint too!" He half-ran to the other bed and lightly kissed the redhead as well. He pouted. "It didn't work!" He turned to Klaus, and his lower lip was trembling. "I don't understand, Papa. Why didn't it work?" He stuck his right thumb out and held it for the professor to see. "Big sissie kissed my finger and it got all better!"
"Prima, it was just—" Klaus stopped himself. He was about to explain that it was just a paper cut, and of course it would get better, but then he decided that Prima was too young to lose his faith in the simple things. He knelt and hugged the boy. "Sometimes kisses are magic, but sometimes they're not."
"No…" Prima agreed, and he pulled away. He climbed onto Elena's bed, his huge eyes blinking at the sleeping girl. "Prima watch over big sister until she wakes up." After some time, Prima yawned, and he lay down on the bed beside Elena. Klaus couldn't help but smile as he watched the touching scene. He stepped out of the room, carefully closing the door behind him.
Rue was sitting on a bench in the corridor outside, his hands clasped in front of him and his head downcast. Rue expected the professor to say something, but Klaus was too deep in thought.
The puzzle of the sleeping girls tugged at his mind again, and stronger this time. The fact that Rue was associated with both Claire and Mint—and Elena as well—was the one thing that Klaus's thoughts kept returning to.
Prima's paper cut. The thought came suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, and Klaus unconsciously placed his right thumb on his lower lip. Something clicked. He remembered Rue's and Prima's almost identical data from the captured life capsules. The chroma strain. Prima has it too. "That's got to be it. It's not an ordinary poison—not a poison at all, actually, and it's not even physical… no wonder the tests all turn up negative. It must be the chroma strain that caused this."
Rue looked up at the professor expectantly. "What is it?"
"The blood of a chroma child." Klaus sharply turned to the younger boy, "Think, Rue. Did Mint at any time ever come in contact with your blood?"
"No… no, I don't remember. Wait," he paused. "The first time we went together to Elroy's library. My right hand was cut from one of the traps. She got hurt on the Arc Edge when she saved me from the skull beast, and when I tended her shoulder, my wound had bled through the bandage."
"That was almost six months ago." Klaus was deep in thought. "Direct contact through the bloodstream… Elena got it orally from Prima's paper cut, and she succumbed only after three weeks. Claire from when she washed your wounds when she found you—there was never any direct contact, that's why she didn't truly get sick. As for Mint, it's amazing that her body held out as long as it did. Her magick must've protected her, and we didn't notice it earlier."
"Then it really was me." It wasn't a question, and Rue's voice was a distant whisper. "It's my fault that Claire got weak, and that Mint won't wake up."
"It's no one's fault." Klaus sat down beside him and placed his arm consolingly around the boy's shoulders. "You can't help but be who you are."
Rue stood up then, unconsciously brushing the professor away. "How soon can you finish another one of those genetic-mimicry devices?"
"What are you thinking, Rue?"
"I'm going to see my father. Perhaps he has some answers."
Author's Notes
20 March 2003. A friend and fellow FFNet author told me that recently I seem to be uploading my chapters like crazy. *sheepish grin*. I do post the chapters up as soon as I type them. And for some reason, everything is literally falling into place with the story. I've been setting things up since the early chapters just for the ending I envisioned, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would ever turn out like this. I thought that I'd actually have the most trouble with the ending chapters, but oddly enough, the events just flow naturally now. CARONA HIGH has a friggin' mind of its own, and it's practically writing itself. (Don't ask, I don't know either.)
No, I'm not 'reading thing dirty,' I don't even know what that means, and I dust all my books and clean my room every now and then. Uhh… 0_o… *Adi realizes what it means*… oh, when I said I don't like romance fics, I was referring to the fluffy-mushy stuff, the "run through a field of flowers calling each others' names" to use GoddessOfTheBlueRose's words. X_x. I can't tolerate mush, so how much more the you-know-whats? Okay, so admittedly there's the romance element involved in ToFCH, but it's at an Adi-tolerable level. (Actually, this story is already mushy by my standards. For that, you can all thank my beloved reviewers who keep insisting for a Rue/Mint. Uhm, it's not a bad thing. ^_^;;)
I'm from DLSU, 4th year, taking up Computer Engineering! ^_^. (But I'm on leave this term, which is supposedly my final one, due to sickness. I was born 1982 so don't get ideas—Adi not that old.) Adi will be a part-time teacher at her college when she graduates… torture the freshmen, hah!! Teach Math!! (j/k, I'll teach electronics-related subjects, but I do love math and physics.) Oh, Adi will work for a locally-based video game company too. Adi's Boss is just waiting for Adi to graduate college before we start the serious development, although he's already working on the game engine and I'm already doing the story drafts and character designs. Carona High is good practice, sort of. ^_~.