::chapter seven - fugitive::


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"Comprehend the ways of man
and under a flag we salute or burn
there is blood on both shores.
With hardened mind I travelled,
with hardened heart I conquered
a freedom so ironic, so despicable, so hypocritical."

--VNV Nation, "Serial Killer"

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--THE MAYSHIP--


"Just like that?"

Dizzy watched Johnny as he piloted the ship. Without being aware of it, her heightened senses were absorbing every last detail of his actions... careful to memorize everything including his stance. She still couldn't believe he was actually entrusting her with flying the ship by herself.

"That's right, you just have to hold her steady. Won't always be easy - in bad weather you can get some strong air currents and if you aren't careful she'll get fouled up." Johnny nodded and motioned to her, smiling. "Come here, Dizzy, and put your hands on the wheel."

Hesitantly she stretched her hands forward, crimson eyes uncertain, until she felt smooth grain beneath her fingertips.

"That's it, Dizzy... go on, take the wheel. She won't bite you."

Digits clasped tighter about the helm, and their owner drew forward - driven by an encouraging pat on the shoulder from the ship captain. The Gear swallowed a bit, and mimicked his actions, keeping the tilt of the wheel at the same angle as she had seen Johnny do it.

"Good! See, it's not so hard, is it?"

Dizzy flushed a little at the captain's roguish grin. One of her rare, hesitant smiles flickered into life across her youthful face. He trusted her. After a scant few weeks, he trusted her. Trust wasn't something she was used to receiving from humans either... "I... guess not."

Johnny chuckled. "That's good, because all my crewmembers are required to learn how to pilot."

"Um... isn't April the one who usually does it? Besides you, Mr. Johnny?"

"Yeah, but if there's an emergency and neither one of us can pilot for some reason, it's good to know. Besides, we get tired every now and then, too."

"O-oh."

A sudden shudder racked the airship. Dizzy yelped as it threw her partially off-balance and she nearly let go of the rudder, feeling the familiar surge of her guardians in response to her alarm. She quickly grasped the wheel again, gritting her teeth and trying to remain in control of herself.

[[Danger!]]

The word was full of anger and alarm, and again there was that surging sensation as her wings threatened to take their alternate forms. Their owner responded with an almost frantic cry in the privacy of their shared awareness.

No, Necro! It's okay. I'm all right. No danger. No danger.

There was hesitation, and then he returned to his previous state of dormancy. Her wings fluttered briefly, a light rustling of feathers making wisps of sound in her keen ears... but nothing else happened. Dizzy felt unspeakably relieved - and quite surprised. That was the first time she could remember being able to suppress Necro without a struggle.

Maybe I'm getting stronger now, she thought hopefully.

The ship was still shuddering beneath her feet. Johnny was saying something, and she finally tuned back in to what he was trying to tell her. "--turbulence. You'll just have to steer with the air current instead of going against it." He cast her an odd glance, as though he weren't sure she was listening. Dizzy tried to appear as though she'd been paying attention the entire time.

"Yes, sir."

"I'll show you what to do. Turn the wheel to starboard a few degrees."

Starboard. That meant to the right.

She obeyed him, her hands now trembling with stress as she braced her feet and tugged the wheel into the current. As the body of the ship made the adjustment, the shimmer disappeared from the sleek hull and only the smooth purr of the engines remained.

"There you go. Hey, that's excellent work! Another day or so of this and you'll be fine by yourself." He gave her a rather fatherly pat on the shoulder. "If you want, you can go on ahead to the cafeteria and eat something. I'll take over here."

"Um... okay..."

"Who's cooking tonight?"

"June, I think."

"Ah! Wonderful." A grin, not flirtatious but full of anticipation, spread across his roguishly handsome face. "I hope it's rump roast. Leap's taught her well." He took the wheel again, and seemed to consider something before he spoke again. "I'm not just being nice, Dizzy. You're doing a great job."

"You.. you think so?"

"Sure. I'm proud of you - you're picking all this up really quickly. You'd probably make a good airship pilot, someday."

Dizzy felt her lips stretching into a smile, despite herself, and there was heat in her cheeks. No human had ever complimented her before. "I... thank you..."

"Anytime." He winked at her, flashing her that charming grin, and she colored again. She wasn't sure how to take all this; she hadn't been around humans long enough to really understand how they behaved. Johnny, sensing that Dizzy didn't know how to react to his teasing, patted her on the shoulder. "Go eat."

The Gear hurried towards the door, but paused briefly as her hand rested on the knob. She had meant to say something else, but her usual timid nature took over once more and she could only repeat herself. "...thank you, Mr. Johnny."

"You can just call me Johnny, you know. I'd prefer it, actually." His eyes twinkled; he hadn't missed the surprised, grateful happiness in her face as she'd accepted his compliment - though he knew full well she was thanking him for more than that, now. "And you're very welcome."

"Yes." Dizzy nodded, the smile trembling on her lips briefly before she stepped into the corridor and shut the door behind her. Cheeks still slightly pink, she hurried towards the scent of cooking food. Her steps felt lighter than they'd ever been.


********


--GLOBAL POLICE FORCE HEADQUARTERS, CENTRAL PARIS STATION--


"This is utterly ridiculous!" Ky Kiske exploded, scowling at the phone - after he'd placed a hand over the mouthpiece, of course.

"What? Don't tell me you were expecting something different." Sol leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed in a display of indifference... but any more observant individual could easily see the intensity in that dual-toned gaze. He wanted that bounty, but he couldn't go bring her in without the name to match the face.

What do you care? It's not like money does you any good.

This from that eerie calm voice in the very back of his mind... that last remnant of his old self which still flickered weakly to life every now and then. Sol knew who it was, and detested him - for various reasons, some obvious and some not-so-obvious.

Fuck off. No one asked you. His silent reply was appropriately nasty and abrupt. Usually it worked enough so that he had comfortable silence in his head once more.

Vulgar as always. There would have been a sigh after this, probably, if consciences could sigh. And you're getting soft, you know. You aren't paying attention, and in this case losing focus could be a disaster.

"What the hell're you talking about?" Sol muttered under his breath, then abruptly dropped the argument when he saw the French swordsman casting him an odd look. Christ, he'd been arguing with himself. Another few instances of that and he'd end up being as crazy as Testament.

"I didn't think they'd actually--" Ky's gaze suddenly regained an intensity of its own as he cut off in midsentence, uncovering the mouthpiece of the telephone. "Yes, I'm still here. What? I have clearance to access the files? Thank you."

"It's about time."

He ignored that and went back to the phone. "Yes. I need you to search the archives for a woman with--" he glanced at the composite drawing, "--black hair, gold eyes, about... five feet eight inches tall, Caucasian in appearance. She goes by the name Kira. ...yes, I'll wait."

Speaking of waiting... Something seemed to stir in the back of Testament's mind, a nagging reminder that there was something important, something he'd forgotten. He couldn't for the life of him think what it might be, but--

Almost as if on cue he was cut off by an irritated growl. "Mito sure is taking a long-ass time in there. Did he fall in or something...?"

Testament glanced at him. "He said he'd be back in five minutes, correct?"

"Yeah, that was fifteen minutes ago..." The bounty hunter's scowl deepened. "...he better not have--"

With that he was out the door.

"Wait!" Ky hissed, his hand flying back to the mouthpiece again. "Where is he going?"

"I don't know. Give us a moment." Testament was out the door behind him, long stride hasty and brisk as he started to catch up with Sol... but that same uneasy feeling from a moment ago was quickly stealing over him again, creeping up his spinal column. He could now sense some kind of residual, familiar energy in the air. It was a bit like being in close proximity to a place that had been recently struck by lightning: feeling the air full of dry static, stinking of burnt ozone.

As if the sensation itself had summoned her, Kira's voice leapt back into his mind, smug and dark with her kept secrets.

"Humans can be so rash..."

Sol Badguy was standing motionless at the entrance to the men's bathroom, door flung wide open. His eyes were fixated on a cracked and stained urinal along the adjacent wall, but he looked as though he were more than willing to rip something apart with his bare hands. As for the lavatory itself, there was no sign that anyone was inside. Somewhere, a leaking sink faucet made a soft dripping noise as water met its porcelain surface in a constant though maddening rhythm.

"Jesus fucking Christ, he skipped out on me. I'm gonna twist his fruity ass into a pretzel when I catch up with him."

Testament didn't wait. He turned on his heel and marched out of the lavatory into the lobby, ignoring the surprise and irritation of the humans within. Eyes fell shut as he stopped in the middle of the room. Gear magic, like any magic, caused noise, and any user of it had the ability to sense it. Like Sol, he always knew when a Gear had used its power in any given place. Always.

But there was nothing. Not even a residual hum of dweomer that could possibly give him a hint. Maybe the human really had made good on his escape...?

No.

The single word was surprisingly calm, and held the ring of truth. As much as he distrusted humans, he was slowly starting to understand that not all of them were precisely the same in nature - and Testament knew Anji Mito well enough to convince him that the wanderer wasn't the sort of a man to go back upon his word. Besides, Sol's threat had been more than just a bluff. Mito was rash, but he wasn't that much of a fool.

So if he didn't escape, then Kira must have him. But how...? There's nothing to indicate she was even here--

Sol was yanking the front door open, his brusque voice snapping something at the guards outside before he whirled about and slammed the door behind him. "He left, all right. They said he was with a black-haired chick dressed in green, had golden eyes..."

Testament's eyes fluttered open and he stared at Badguy with an expression that bespoke plain realization. Without a word he turned on his heel and strode swiftly towards Kiske's office, not bothering to make sure he was followed.

The Frenchman was replacing the phone on its hook, his face a bright mask of triumph. "They have her. All we have to do is wait for the fax to come through. She was on the top files as being MIA - they had the pictures of all the mid- to high-level magic using models on file just in case some of them had somehow retained any sentience, and... what's the matter?" He blinked, his enthusiasm dampening as he beheld the Gear's grim expression. "Testament?"

His reply was rasped in two words:

"It's Mito. He's gone."

"Gone? Did he get tired of waiting?"

"No," Testament said. "I don't think so."

********

--UNDISCLOSED--


It was dark and his head swam through a miasma of pain.

D... doko wa--

"Guess I didn't kill you after all. How are you feeling?"

The voice was a familiar one, laden with sardonic amusement which implied that its owner had intended the question in sarcasm and nothing more. Anji Mito blinked, lashes fluttering furiously as his vision seemed to swim in a kaleidoscope of indechiperable colors and shapes. His head ached horribly, and a thick tuft of his dark hair felt as though it had been tacked to the side of his face.

Quite frankly, my dear, I feel like shit.

"Come on, come on! Aren't you going to say something? I went to all that trouble..."

A few more blinks cleared his vision, though his temples still ached miserably. There before him stood the woman who had led him away from the police station. She looked markedly different now, however. Her long hair was violet-black, and her cold eyes flashed with a wildness that he found disquieting... all the more so for the almost-ridiculous good humor in their depths.

"I'm guessing that you would be Kira." With difficulty he kept his voice light, even casual, as he tugged once more at the metal hasps about his wrists. No reinforced steel this time; this felt heavy. Iron, maybe, or some kind of alloy. He seemed to be suspended above a floor and from the faint echo in his ears the room was probably a large one without carpeting. Exactly where he was, though, he couldn't say.

I've escaped one captor for another.

He might have laughed out loud at the sheer irony if the situation weren't so grave.

"Very good!" She said it in the tone of voice an experienced schoolteacher might have reserved for very young children. "So Testament's told you all about me, has he?"

"He said enough," Mito replied. He knew he should probably be frightened, but he couldn't work up the fear; he didn't have anything to lose as it stood. If it weren't for the bonds holding him back, he'd be able to take her on easily, even without his Zessen. "I think you should probably know that killing me would be a bad idea. I've got two friends who're probably missing me as we speak." Well, that was an exaggeration, but still... two people who'd be out looking for him. Surely they'd have missed him by now.

The woman snorted delicately and leaned forward, her lips twisting into a derisive smirk that he found eerily similar to Sol Badguy's. "If I wanted to kill you, I'd have done it by now..."

She pulled off the kerchief still covering her head. Anji's eyes narrowed as his eyes fell upon the five-tongued symbol emblazoned on her otherwise unblemished forehead. It carried a faint, sullen glow, fragments of light twisting within the confines of the mark. Outward evidence of her power.

"Testament said you were a Gear. I should have known, I guess."

"Yes, you should have, shouldn't you?" Her full mouth drew into a mock pout. "How sad for you."

"Who are you? Who's he to you?"

"It's not that important, is it?" Another beatific grin blossomed over her face. "Besides, you won't care what he is to me, in a few moments. I do have use for you, human... but by the time I'm through you might just wish I had killed you..."

Gaze unwavering, Anji's voice took on the casual arrogance he normally reserved for scoping out a potential fight. "Why? Why are you doing all this if you just want to get Testament back? That is what you want, right? You might want toforget about that - I doubt he's interested."

Kira's eyes flashed dangerously, and he realized he had struck a chord somehow. Not a favorable one either, if the tight, glacial expression spreading across her face was a reliable indication. "That's not for you to know. Testament needs to find out just where his place is. He's been ensnared and led astray, and once your part is played I'm going to make sure that he'll come back to us. We'll help him find his real self again."

"Led astray..?" Anji really had no idea what the woman was rambling about. He did, however, realize now that she was quite a few cards short of playing with a full deck, and that filled him with a deep-seated unease. It started to occur to him through the fog of adrenaline clouding his brain that provoking her was not a good idea.

"By her." She fairly spat the words, her voice filled a venom that it hadn't harbored even when addressing him. The Japanese man blinked, more than slightly startled at the hatred thrumming in her alto tones. "That creature with the blue hair and the wings, the little coward he found hiding out in that goddamn forest playing with the squirrels. She's poisoned his mind against me and against our master. He's gone soft because of her..."

Anji started to laugh. He couldn't help it. He just couldn't. Adneraline surged through his veins like a flood.

"Finding something amusing, human?" Kira's voice was as soft as velvet, but the bloodlust glittered dangerously in her eyes. He saw it, and replied anyway - a taunting smirk playing across his lips as he spoke.

"You're jealous."

The vicious slap that followed his reply was more of a punch. There was so much sheer brute power behind the blow that it might have dislocated Anji's jaw, had it been in just the right place. His neck snapped violently to his left with the momentum. The ensuing echo from the slap itself was sharp and angry, crackling vituperously against the walls with the fervor of a gunshot. Anji, gasping and stunned by the blow, tried to listen to the resonance of the sound. They were in a large space somewhere. Probably a warehouse.

His thought was immediately cut off as a hand grasped his sore jaw, talons extending and digging into his flesh. He grunted, trying to wrench free of the crushing grip, but Kira was relentless. She yanked him brutally forward, eyes blazing with ire, pupils elongating and narrowing to the diamond slits of a wild animal. The thin veneer of humanity she wore like a ragged cloak dropped away - he had awakened the dormant monster beneath.

The sullen glow flickered, flaring briefly, and Anji finally knew fear. His mouth felt as dry as a salt flat and his heart triphammered like a wild bird's beating wings in the confines of his ribcage. In his ears it sounded horrendously loud. She wanted to kill him... was perhaps only inches from doing it, despite her earlier remark in passing.

"You worthless piece of filth," she spat. Saliva sprayed across his cheeks and spectacles in minute droplets. That, however, was nothing compared to the sting of her talons carving bloody valleys into his flesh. Mito could feel something warm and wet trickling down his jaw. "I've killed your kind for less."

"I thought you said you weren't going to kill me."

The Gear paused at that; her hand fell away from his face and she took a couple of steps away from him. Her footsteps seemed oddly light, even casual. Kira studied him, and as she did the fury in her eyes suddenly died back to a low simmer. Her otherwise pretty face, which had been metamorphosed by her rage, settled back into its previous mask of demonic joviality.

"Why, you're absolutely right. I did say that, didn't I?" She tittered a bit too loudly as she studied him through hooded golden eyes that were bright with twisted mirth. A disturbing idea came to him then: that expression might have been quite seductive if not for the fact that she was hopelessly insane. "Thank you for reminding me. I have such an awful temper - I'm afraid I tend to forget things when I'm out of sorts."

Almost as an afterthought she lifted her fingers to her lips and lazily licked the crimson stains on them away as if she were savoring the remains of a particularly delectable evening meal. Anji, no longer too mindful of the stinging pain from his lacerated cheeks, drew away despite himself. Her extreme mood swings were much more unsettling than her casual threats.

Anji's sudden hunch that Testament himself might well have behaved exactly like this when he was under Justice's control did nothing to quell his apprehension.

"I guess I'll have to make good on that little promise of mine," she pouted momentarily, before brightening. "So that means we get to start! I think it does, doesn't it?"

"Start what?" he asked warily, eyes darting over her face.

Kira leaned towards him, and the slow wicked grin spread like acid across her face. Combined with those wild eyes, it was like looking into a window of hell itself. His heart began to pound again, and this time it was not with adrenaline.

His body jerked in surprise as the warmth of her hands descended upon his cheekbones... talons curling possessively about his still-bleeding jaw. What's she...

Anji tried to lurch backwards but failed. Tried to wrench his gaze away from those awful eyes with their deadly promise - but he could only stare helplessly into the feline slits of her pupils and wonder what lay behind those golden orbs.

When the Gear spoke again, it was in a low, triumphant hiss.

"Let's just see what we have to work with in here, shall we...?"

At first there was nothing. Absolutely nothing... then a tightening about his temples, as if an unseen hand was constricting it with a band. It tingled and burned along his skin, and the shock of it made him gasp. Even afterwards he would never be able to describe it - it was a violation of the most intimate kind, but even rape was the wrong word for it. His memories were like a book she had stolen from a hidden shelf and now pillaged for her own amusement.

What made it so terrifying was that he was not pulling thoughts to the conscious surface - she was. Images of his childhood, of various fights, of Baiken... they all sped forth in a blinding flash, an out-of-control rollercoaster with this madwoman at the switch. A wordless, thoughtless horror, akin to blind panic, stole over him. His stomach seemed to tie himself in knots as he recoiled from her invasion.

My mind... she's reading my mind...

He'd heard Testament was capable of doing this too, in his own subtle ways. But this was anything but subtle, and he knew that she fully intended it to be that way.

Kira's grin widened as the young man began to struggle against her hands, eyes huge with a fear he couldn't name. Anji Mito was used to fights he could see, but this...

How did you fight an opponent who invaded your mind...?

"Stop it," he gasped, trying once more to twist free from the crushing grip of those hands. He felt like an animal caught in a snare.

"Did I strike a nerve?" she taunted. Those merciless eyes still danced gleefully; she was enjoying herself. This was going to be a very long night. "What happened to all that 'courage' of yours, eh?"

He bared his teeth at her, tugging forcibly at his bonds once again. It was a wasted effort, but it served to mask his growing fear. Sweat trickled into his eyes again, blurring his vision. She laughed at him, a light girlish sound even with the note of mockery in it, and plucked his glasses from his face. Everything around him was reduced to smears of color and light. And shadow.

"I believe I'm going to enjoy this," she said sweetly, and replaced her palms against his temples this time. Her fingers entwined in his thick hair, and he felt a faint flicker of disgust as her breath became ragged, excited... almost as if she found the notion of torture arousing.

"Good for you," Anji retorted between clenched teeth.

Without warning, his world went dark.


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AUTHOR'S NOTES

OMGWTF IT'S AN UPDATE. o_o And not a very good one, I'm afraid. -_- *sigh*

Writer's block sucks the big one. I don't recommend it... anyway, I've also been immersed in the Suikoden fandom lately - that might be contributing to the incredible lag between updates. *coughs nervously*

Right, so... I'll get off my lazy arse and try to start writing more regular installments. My apologies... To those of you who haven't read this before, um, welcome! :D There might be a few confusing things in here since I wrote it to correspond with GGX Plus's storyline and at the time there was a lot of currently-official info that hadn't been released yet. So you might see indiscrepancies here and there. I'm trying to modify some of the older chapters, so the edited version might be reposted later.

To those of you who've been waiting on me... yikes. @_@ I'm really, really sorry to have left things on a cliffhanger. And despite the general craptasticness of this chapter, there's another one waiting. Stay tuned! ...or something like that.