littleweirdwriter: Thank you very much and I'm glad you understood what I was talking about. I'm one of those people where, the more I try to explain, the more confusing I get, so I'm glad, really, that you're not confused and I hope it will help if you decide to write any more stories. (Hint-hint! Pleeeaaase write again! Pleeaasse?! We need more Henrikas! Hehe.)
MoonlightNIV: Reading about battles is great, isn't it? But seeing them is even cooler, don't you think? (Sigh.) If I could get a million bucks and the licensing rights to these characters . . . Oh, the horror! Hehehe. I did borrow Clow from CCS, and Li Mei Ling, from the animated version of that series, as well. As the story progresses, you might find many other references to other animes. Have fun finding them! (Smile.)
Henrika: Henry as the Battousai? Hmm, that has definite possibilities. I wasn't really thinking about Kenshin when I was writing that part, but I could imagine Henry taking on Kenshin's role. Haha. Now what about Rika as Kaoru? Haha. Maybe not. But Tomoe, maybe? Naaah. Then there would be no Battousai because Rika would have killed him, or attempted to kill him, as soon as she met him, as opposed to getting drunk and passing out at his feet in the rain! Hehe.
Disclaimer: Yes, yes, yes. We all know that I do not own all of the characters in this little story, and I am not making any money off of this, so please don't sue me. And this disclaimer will apply to all subsequent chapters I will submit. (Why didn't I think of this sooner?)
Resonators
By squishybookworm
Fire popped, sending a shower of sparks into the night sky and it eddied like a swarm of fireflies. Heat flowed across his skin, making it feel thin and almost numb. The roof of a flaming building collapsed with a thunderous BOOM! A faint mewl sounded from under the inferno, but that was quickly drowned in the crackling and popping of burning wood all around. Blackened beams clung desperately to maintain the frame of houses, but they inevitably fell, buried under scorching banners of fire.
Cries crescendoed twining in and through the thick veil of smoke.
"Help me! Oh, God, help me!"
"M-my . . . leg. . . ."
"MOMMY! MOMMY! EEEYAAAHH-gkh!"
"I'm bleeding! I'm . . . bl-bleeding to . . . death. . . .'
"Help . . . me. . . ."
"NO! Please n-ughk!"
Cries without names. Screams without faces. It was both a comfort and a horrible fear that Henry could not identify the voices. Tears trailed down his cheeks, reflecting the blaze until it seemed that he wept molten gold. He squeezed storm-grey eyes shut and covered his ears. However, this only seemed to amplify the desperate wails. As if their words would fill his silence.
"Hen . . . ry . . ."
Something warm and solid caressed his hand. He found his mother's beautiful brown eyes staring up at him steadily, although they glimmered with unshed tears. Blood pooled underneath her body, soaking her dark blue robes black and returning the images of fire from its depths.
". . . My . . . boy . . . run . . . run quick . . . ly . . ."
Her voice became garbled as thick scarlet liquid burbled up from her mouth, spilling down her chin.
Thump.
Thump.
Through the haze of black smoke a shadow appeared. It approached. Closer. And closer. And Henry waited, grey eyes wide and lips trembling with sobs that could not be uttered.
The smog parted.
A monster stood before him, its large mouth stretched across its pasty face in a grotesque grin. Hanks of dirty blonde hair struggled to cling to its head in several places. Red eyes glared at him malevolently. Its long, thin arms dangled to the ground even as it stood upright.
Abruptly, it morphed. Shifting suddenly to become the blonde brigand. Fire glinting off his gap-toothed leer. And then it was the Mistake. And then it wasn't. And then it was both. The monster wearing the brigand's madly grinning face.
A warmth rested against his hand and he looked down. Blood weaved across his palms as if someone had carelessly thrown scarlet skeins of yarn into his small hands. He followed the dainty hand atop his own, up the arm. Up to the shoulder. The neck. The face. The eyes. . . . The eyes . . . . Empty. . . . They were empty. . . . Brown husks. . . . Dried brown husks. . . .
He was . . . he was alone. Alone. In his silence. No. It was . . . it was always like this. He opened his mouth. And nothing came. Nothing. Just like always. No one would hear him. Even if he screamed, nothing would come. The pressure rose in his chest. It pressed against his throat. It choked him. It tightened. That spot. That one spot. . . . Where his voice should be. . . .
[NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOO!]
"NO!" Another voice. Another voice that echoed his. That was . . . that was not . . . yet it was . . . his. . . .
Storm-grey eyes, silver as the inlay in their ancestral sword, snapped up to glare at the Mistake.
But the Mistake was not there.
Instead, he stared at himself.
Henry jerked awake with a silent gasp. He pulled in huge gulping mouthfuls of air and clutched his chest as if that would slow the rapid pounding of his heart.
"Hey! He's awake! Master! Master Sori, he's awake!"
There was a clatter and a dull thump behind him. Henry spun around then fell down quickly as he was nearly thrown out of the jouncing cart. Pain speared through his knees and the shallow gash along his thigh began to bleed again, soaking the snowy white linen bandage. The loose cuff of his left sleeve pushed up momentarily to expose a swollen, blue-black bruise all along his forearm.
The cart jolted again and he fell against a wooden crate with a mental yelp of pain.
"Hey! Be careful, Liu, you arse! We've got two injured back here!" the same voice exclaimed.
When the black spots had cleared from his vision, Henry gingerly adjusted his limbs within the cramped space until he sat with his back to the wall. He gritted his teeth and cradled his elbow as he surveyed his surroundings.
Across from him, lying parallel to the other wall, Rika slept upon a pallet similar to the one he'd been resting on. Her face in repose was pale and peaceful as if illuminated by the moon and not the red-orange twilight sun. Henry breathed a sigh of relief when he found her relatively unharmed.
Long shadows pushed to the front of the covered cart. Crates, stacked by twos and strapped down securely, blocked his view, but the small "aisle" between his and Rika's pallet continued down the wagon to the front. Henry cautiously peeked around the corner. Shadowy outlines of more crates, barrels, and what looked to be a few bolts of cloth crammed tidily into every available space.
The motion of a dark silhouette came closer and Henry moved back. He blinked at the driver of another cart through the open flap of the back of the cart and the driver grinned cheerfully and waved his whip. The brown and grey workhorses before him trudged stolidly along, heads bobbing and hooves clopping softly against the packed dirt road. More such muffled clips could be heard and a cloud of dust puffed like a loaf of bread behind that cart.
Where was he? What had happened?
"Yo! How're you doin'?"
Henry jerked his startled gaze up to the chirping voice. It belonged to a boy not much younger than he was. The sleeveless, black mandarin shirt he wore displayed well-muscled arms that seemed impervious to the slight nip, which had arrived with the setting sun. This was belted over dark trousers that tied off midway down his naked calves and finished off with straw sandals. His short brown hair spiked up crazily, although he'd tried to tame it with a wide black and blue-patterned bandanna. It tucked neatly at his left temple then the fringed end hung freely, flopping against his ears and reminding Henry of a bunny rabbit.
The rapidly descending sun cast an orange glow along half his face and plunged the other half in shadow. As a result, his crystalline blue eyes seemed so light it was almost white on one side and glowed eerily from the shadowed portion.
The boy crouched and offered a friendly smile. "I'm Shioda Kazu. Nice to meetcha."
Henry nodded in return and gestured to his throat, forming his words mentally like he'd always done before. [I am pleased to meet you, too. Unfortunately, I cannot speak.]
"What do you mean? You sound perfectly fine to me."
[WHAT?!]
Kazu winced. "You don't haveta shout. I'm not deaf y'know."
Henry shook his head. What was going on? Rika and now this boy? But he'd always talked to others and they'd never given any indication of ever hearing him. Did these two have some magic or power he'd never heard about?
[No. No, Mr. Shioda, I am sorry I shouted. I did not mean to imply that you were hard of hearing. I was just surprised.]
"Just call me Kazu and why were you surprised?"
[That you could hear me.]
Kazu shook his head. "Are you sick or something'? Your throat hurt? Master! Master Sori?! I think Blueberry's sick!"
[Blueberry?] Henry blinked then shook his head. [No.] He chuckled suddenly. [No. Heheh. I am not sick and my throat does not hurt.]
"Well, it ain't gonna hurt to have Master Sori look at you, yeah?"
"Move aside. Back off. Back off now, you scamp! Making the patient tired, are you?"
Kazu merely grinned at the scolding, yet booming, tone and leapt nimbly to the crates right above Rika's form. A moment later, a large man rounded the corner. A long, thick queue fell over one shoulder as he knelt down. The voluminous folds of his brown and cream robes contrasted sharply with his younger counterpart, and they covered him fully from his neck to his broad, powerful shoulders to his muscular legs. Two dark and thick slashes comprised his eyebrows, which shadowed his deep-set eyes. An aquiline nose jutted out sharply as if to counteract the eyes and broad cheekbones swept out dramatically before tapering into a wide and clefted chin that stuck out belligerently.
"Well, Blueberry, shall we call you that or do you have a name, perhaps?" he boomed again. The glint of humor in his dark eyes made Henry smile.
[My name is Wong Henry.] As he said this, Master Sori grasped his left arm with surprising gentleness from such large hands and inspected the bruise.
After a moment of silence on his part, he looked up at Henry. "Well? Would you prefer 'Blueberry'? No need to be shy or suspicious. This is a merchant caravan we are on, and I am a simple blacksmith. That harping lunk you just met, is my apprentice. See? We've got nothing to hide."
Henry stared at him with surprise. But before he could reply, Kazu said, "What're you talkin' about, Master Sori? He said 'is name's Henry."
Master Sori turned to glare at his apprentice. "Boy! Don't go puttin' words into other people's mouth! That's damn rude and makes you look like a liar!"
"I'm not lying! He said it clear as day: 'My name is Wong Henry.' Didn't you say that?" Kazu turned to him.
Henry stared at Master Sori's face carefully. [Yes. That is what I said.]
No flicker of acknowledgment. Not a single twitch as to show that he'd heard. No response at all.
"Well?" he demanded. "Did you or did you not say that?"
This time Henry nodded.
Master Sori blinked. He cleared his throat and it seemed like a rumble of thunder rolling in the distance. "So you did? Hm. Must be sittin' near the bellows too long . . . and this body ain't what it used to be."
Henry shook his head and turned to Kazu. [No. Tell him, it is not he. I was born mute. I have never uttered a word that anyone could hear until just recently. I do not know what to make of it, but I suspect you and Rika are the only two who can hear me.]
Kazu's brow furrowed with confusion, but he faithfully conveyed the message to his master.
"You don't say?" Master Sori said. "Is this true, Henry?"
Henry nodded again.
"But why would my idiot apprentice be able to hear you? He doesn't have any special abilities I'm aware of. In fact, I'm often surprised when he sometimes think with that mush he calls a brain."
"Hey!"
[I do not know why he can hear me,] Henry said.
"And Rika?" Master Sori asked after Kazu had finished translating. "Is she this little lady, here?"
[Yes.] Henry nodded.
"Is she ill? Why doesn't she wake? Her injuries don't seem too horrible, and in fact, I'd almost say she didn't participate in the fight with the brigands, did she?"
[Yes. She and I came from the Tunes.] Henry quickly related a summary of what had transpired. [And now I am searching for a healer or someone who can help her. She has been asleep since . . . How long was I asleep?]
"We don't know how long you were on the road, but we found you this mornin', all beat up n' bloody." Kazu said. "We saw the remains of the bandits in the forest and boy, was there ever a lot of blood! You're lucky you didn't die!"
As if a plug had been pulled, memories of the encounter with the brigands swept through Henry's mind. His sword had fallen. He had thought he would die. But the blood. The blood on his hands. . . . He'd felt something. Like a heartbeat that was not his own and a voice that had echoed through him.
He had been frightened.
Whatever it was, it was . . . another. It was not him. It had galvanized him into action against the armed bandits and brought him through alive, but it wanted something of him.
"Henry?" Master Sori said. "Are you alright?"
[. . . The bandits.] Henry paused to stare out the back of the cart and caught the last crimson rays of the sun. Like blood. [Were they all . . .?]
"What?" Kazu asked.
[Did all of them . . . die?]
"There weren't one breathin' when we got there, and good riddance, too! You did us a favor, Henry!"
[Oh. . . . Is that right? I am suddenly very tired. May I rest, please?]
Master Sori and Kazu both blinked at the sudden somber expression that fell over Henry's face.
"He . . . He says he wants t'sleep," Kazu said uncertainly.
Not understanding the whole conversation between the two boys, but suspecting what Henry had asked, Master Sori clapped a fatherly hand on the grey-eyed boy's shoulder. "Yes. You must be very tired. Sleep will be best for you right now and if Rika is an Echo as you say, she'll recover eventually. Do not worry overly so." He ruffled Henry's midnight blue locks as if he were a little boy. "You're a brave lad, y'hear?"
With that he stood up and made his way to the front of the jouncing cart. Kazu unfolded his long limbs from his position atop the crate and followed his master.
"Huh? Whaddya mean by that, Master Sori?"
"It means you're a dolt, who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."
"Hey!"
Above a dark and jagged streak of foothills in the distance, a scarlet band pulsed angrily as it gradually faded into the velvet of night. Like the blonde bandit, Henry thought. He'd been fighting feverishly, even as his men had fallen around him, and Henry had seen the terror and desperation in his eyes. Had even heard his last whispered words.
"You're a monster. . . ."
Henry shuddered. The slight nip earlier had turned into a cold chill as the sun's warming rays had disappeared. The first twinkle of stars peeked through, their brilliance surpassed only by the large, mottled moon. He wondered if that same brilliance touched upon their cold corpses in that forest, casting blue-white tinges upon their dead skin and reflecting tips of light within their unseeing eyes in imitation of an intelligent spark. Or had carrion birds already feasted upon those orbs of flesh? Maybe the light could not touch them because of the inevitable cloud of flies that would swarm to their dead flesh as a starving man at a buffet. A velvet cloud of sickening decay.
Nausea turned his stomach and bile rose in his throat. Henry clutched his stomach and curled in on himself. Not noticing the angry throbbing of his injured shoulder, or the snowy linen soaking up more redness along his thigh, or the painful jolt all along his left arm. He heaved dryly, painful wrackings of his frame as he jerked repeatedly. Then collapsed, whatever little energy left, spent. He remained curled up on his side, staring at the distant hills, limned with blood, and slowly, it blurred into crystalline angles until something hot and wet trailed to the corner of his eyes before plopping onto the pallet, soaking two dark spots into the rough wool.
Against his chest, his bruised arm throbbed like a heartbeat that was not his own.
Kazu glanced back. His sight had always been unusually keen and could cut through darkness easily, but this time they were useless in the inky blackness that completely engulfed the back of the cart. Like a velvet cloak to hide the slight shuffling he'd heard. He looked at Master Sori, who shook his head and kept his gaze on the bouncing wagon before theirs. Liu's swaddled figure drooped slightly, whether in exhaustion or the drunken haze he always seemed to be in, Kazu could not tell. But Liu did not acknowledge either man's presences, just as he'd ignored their other two passengers.
Kazu sighed and tilted his head back to stare at the stars above. Before returning to sit beside Liu, his master had murmured to him, "Don't tell anyone else about your ability to understand Henry. And don't make me say it twice." His master then glared at him until he'd shut his mouth with an audible click. He wasn't stupid. That look promised dire consequences if he did not listen.
He'd used that same look when they'd first discovered the two, passed out beside the road, not far from the forest where the bandits' bodies had been discovered. No one else had bothered to stop. Apparently, the bloody and tattered remains of Henry's clothes had been enough to convince them that they were dead.
Not one to miss something as curious as this, Kazu had prodded the bodies gently with his foot. Of course, no one could blame for leaping back with a startled yell. (He did not scream like a ninny!)
'I mean, geez,' Kazu thought morosely, 'the guy was s'posed t'be dead! How was I s'posed to know he was gonna jump me all psycho-like?'
The shocking discovery, however, had been Rika. An Aav. With a Clow man, no less. The Clow Empire and the Aav Matriarch weren't enemies, per se, but they certainly weren't chummy either. Not enough that an Aav female would travel so far into the Clow empire, unless circumstances - such as an Ohtori Academy command - forced her hand. And certainly not enough that some in the caravan wouldn't be averse to selling her as a slave while she was still unconscious. Luckily for her, Master Sori was not fond of the idea of people sold like so much cattle.
So their presence had been kept as inconspicuous as possible.
Kazu sighed again and turned his gaze to the dark sky beyond the cart before them. It took him awhile to realize that the distant glimmering stars were not stars, but thousands of dragonlight; strange luminous orbs that floated lazily among the homes and populace and lit up the city of Cephiro only at night. Many in the city claimed the lights had burned since the first blacksmith had set hammer to virgin silver ore, fresh from the bellies of the Ryuzaki Mountains. Kazu would nod and grin stupidly and they would usually stop there. The residents tended to be a bit . . . arrogant about their city.
Not that he blamed them. Cephiro was built into the side of Mount Huo. The founders had literally gouged into the earth of the mountain and built their palace against the back wall. Thousands of bleached buildings, built from the copious amount of blonde clay thereabout, fanned out from the palace in a large semicircle, the neatly ordered streets looking a great deal like the spokes on a wheel.
Dragonblood stone, a veined quartz that was harder than regular stone, had been quarried from deep within the Ryuzaki mountains and used to build the palace and the wall defenses. A wall protected the nobles' housing and the palace, and another wall cut a swath between the rest of the city and the outlying farms. They reflected all kinds of light, causing a cool iridescence that shimmered over the white clay buildings. The quick flirtations of shadows and light made the city glow and glitter as if one had glimpsed an underwater city. Upon first gazing upon the city, Kazu had almost expected to see the darting shadows of merpeople.
In the day, under the brilliant sun, it shimmered. But at night, with the moon's glow and the dragonlight like flitting ghosts, it was breathtaking.
Kazu scuttled to the back of the cart quickly, despite his master's sharp frown. Crouching and feeling his way quickly, Kazu's searching hands soon found their target. He prodded the form gently.
"Hey, Blueberry. Hey." Briefly, he wondered if the form beneath his insistent hands was fast asleep, but then Henry stirred.
[Yes?]
Well, he didn't sound tired. "C'mon. You should come n' see this. You'll like it, I promise."
[. . . What is it?]
"C'mon." He tugged again. "Before we get too close, else it ain't gonna be worth it."
The grey-eyed boy gave a mental sigh and slowly sat up. From what moonlight that managed to peek through the open flap of the back, Kazu could see his misty-grey eyes blink rapidly as if he was blinking away sleepiness. Kazu bit his lip. Maybe he shouldn't have . . . but there were so few chances like this!
"C'mon, Blueberry. To the front of the cart. Just put your hand on the crates n' walk through here, 'kay?"
[Alright.]
They shuffled through the pitch blackness and made it to the front without serious mishap. Kazu settled onto a crate directly behind Liu, who had nodded off, and Henry on another across from him. Master Sori, now holding the reins, nodded to Henry then frowned at Kazu, who simply grinned cheekily in return.
"Ah." Kazu pointed off into the distance. "Good. We're just 'bout to go over this rise and then you'll see."
[See what?]
"Just wait. Keep your eyes on the 'orizon."
They crested the small rise, and there, before them, like a star-blessed fairy-tale castle, Cephiro shone in the shadowy alcove of the mountain. As always, Kazu found his breath stalling suddenly in his lungs and after a long while, he had to force air back out to draw in more. He heard a similar gasp from his master. He turned to see Henry's reaction, and smiled, feeling inordinately pleased with himself.
The midnight-haired boy gaped. His misty-grey eyes were wide, reflecting the distant lights of the city, and it seemed, he too, had forgotten to breathe.
He turned to Kazu, his voice hushed even across their strange mental link, [Wow.]
Kazu swelled with pride for his second home. "Told ya it'd be good."
[Wh-where is this? What city is this?]
"Cephiro. Blest of the creatures of legends; the dragons."
[This was where Bai Yin Lan was forged,] Henry said excitedly.
"Bai Yin Lan? Silver Blue?"
[Ah. My sword.] Henry smiled, eyes becoming far away. [It is an old sword that had been passed down through the generations. From father to son. A great sword that has seen-] Grey eyes darkened suddenly and he stared at his hands. [. . . many, many battles,] Henry whispered.
Kazu shifted and smiled gamely. "Er, it must be very balanced. . . . Hey! Uh, where're you from, Blueberry? You never said you were an Echo. Are you an Echo?"
Henry shook his head and returned the smile. [No. I am not an Echo. I do not know why I was summoned to the Academy, but I would have to refuse if they wish to make me one.]
"What?! Are you serious?!"
Liu snorted and mumbled then settled himself more comfortably in his seat and stilled. Master Sori stared at the approaching city wall, his expression bored, obviously not listening to Kazu's apparently one-sided conversation.
[Why should I be an Echo? I have my Master Long, my home, my friends. I am content with the path I have chosen.]
"But . . ." Kazu shook his head. "Man, you're boring! What about adventure? Seeing new lands," he smirked suggestively, "meeting girls, eh? Eh? Like Red in back there?" He wiggled his brows.
Henry chuckled. [Do you not have enough adventure traveling like this?] He waved his hand to encompass the caravan. [Surely, you have seen many new sights?]
Making a face, Kazu shook his head. "Me and Master Sori only go far as Vione t'oversee the deliverance of our guild's goods. Ain't much t'see from here t'there." He sighed. "It's sooo boring. You don't know how lucky you are, a chance t'be an Echo! Get to fight Mistakes and save people and go everywhere!"
[You know a lot about Echoes.] Henry smiled.
"Well, duh! Who hasn't? There ain't as many Mistake attacks now, but everyone has heard of the Resonators, yeah? The Seven who defeated I-Rur, the Dark R!"
[There were seven Resonators? I thought there were only six.]
Kazu waved his hand dismissively. "You've heard the stories, yeah? Of how the six rediscovered the Great Mother when all mankind forgot her, and with 'er blessings, went forth to battle I-Rur, who'd been laying waste t'the land?" Kazu shrugged. "Well, whatever, y'know of the Six, yeah?"
Henry nodded, eyes wide with curiosity.
Kazu leaned forward conspiratorially as if he was a child about to reveal a secret hiding spot. "But there was another one. . . . A woman. Who knew ancient magic. Older than Echo Vibrations! And she was th'one who told 'em 'bout the Benevolent Mother Shuichon."
[Who was she?]
Shaking his head and keeping his voice pitched low, Kazu said, "No one knows. They say she disappeared 'bout the time the Resonators died. Some think she was Shuichon 'erself come in human form and that she appeared to the Resonators along the s'Ffalen strait."
[The s'Ffalen strait? Is that not in the south?]
"Yep." He sighed with longing regret. "Yep. Those musta been good days. Heroes bein' made. Warriors fightin' and dragons! There were dragons back then. Ahh, those are what the legends are made of."
[. . . But . . . so many must have suffered then, too. Legends can easily forget the pain; the misery; the blood and the tears of those same heroes, and if they can do that, what about all those nameless people?] Henry's eyes were large and shone eerily silver with reflections of the pale moon above.
"Well, those people probably had lots o' children and told stories 'bout all the heroes they'd seen, and then those children told their children, 'til we have our legends today, see?" Kazu grinned.
Henry's eyelids flickered, but he did not move. Like an invisible cloak, something seemed to pull across his face and relax the muscles until he had no expression.
Kazu shivered. Funny. For as long as he could remember, he'd always been impervious to extreme heat and cold, but now, in the slight chill of evening air, goosebumps raised all along his arms. Across from him, Henry's upturned face was white with the moon's ethreal rays. As if he was a ghost.
Kazu shook his head of such fanciful thoughts. Yet when he glanced at the navy-haired boy again, he felt the fine hairs raise along the back of his neck like the old biddies were always talkin' about when there was a ghoul around. Henry looked like a ghost. A spirit unable to depart to the next world because of some unforgettable pain.
After a long while, Kazu ventured, "So . . . y'know how to use a sword! Who taught you, anyway?"
[. . . I've learned from Master Long since I was four.]
"Really?! Wow. No wonder those bandits didn't stand a chance!"
A cloud slid over the moon, plunging them into a shadowed land of twilight.
"Oh!" Kazu gave in to the urge and vigorously rubbed his arms. "Ahhh, I mean . . . you must be great. . . ." he finished lamely.
In the ensuing silence, he cleared his throat. "So, um, your parents must be worried, yeah?"
[. . . My parents are dead.]
Kazu scratched the back of his head. Was he ever bungling it! Jeez, maybe he should take Master Sori's advise and keep his big mouth shut to save all of them bunch of grief.
[Do not feel bad, Kazu. You could not have known, and I am sorry for being so absent-minded.] Henry leaned his head back to stare at the wooden ceiling above. [I am very worried about Master Long. I wish I knew if Takato had been able to inform him of what has happened.]
"And you feel sorry you killed those bandits." Right on the heels of that statement, Kazu slapped his forehead. Fool, fool, fool!
Henry stilled suddenly. It wasn't a motion Kazu could see, but rather something he felt. As if all energy in the surrounding area had been sucked into the youth sitting across from him.
[I do not want adventure, Kazu.] Henry's teeth flashed with a pearlescent shimmer in the near darkness as he smiled mirthlessly. [I had considered ignoring the missive Ohtori Academy had sent, but it was only my master's insistence, which convinced me to go.]
"What 'bout Red? If you hadn't been there, she'd be digestin' in the Mistake's stomach. You sayin' she's better off dead?"
[Of course not. But maybe someone else could have saved her and taken her back to the Academy where she belongs. At least she would be in experienced hands there. . . . And I would be with Master Long.]
"Jeez! Don't get all emotional and crap on me, y'hear? Who else was gonna get to 'er in time and 'sides, I was just sayin' as a maybe, yeah? She's here. You're here. And both of you are alive, yeah? Not too shabby if you ask me."
Henry stared off at the dragonlights. His shoulder remained tense and shadows converged upon the planes of his face, hiding his expression.
Kazu looked at the distant city. "Well? How're the lights? Was it worth it?"
Henry glanced back into the velvet gloom of the cart's interior. He turned back to stare at the city, his storm-grey eyes bright in the luminescence. He did not reply.
A/N: Well? How was it? I hate character development because it is one of my weakest skills, but I suppose if I want to make this a relatively decent story I will have to work on that. Ugh. Please tell me what you think, and thanks for reading!