Kawaii Mimi-chan: Well, I don't know if you're still reading this fic. Haha. You kinda stopped at chapter three, but I thank you very much for your reviews and yes! Review! Review! Stoke my author's ego! Wahahahaha! Heheh. I'm glad you've liked it so far.
Smartypantskim12: Thank-you for telling me how much you're enjoying this. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint! As for the two of everybody . . . well, I will be explaining that as the story progresses so no worries there! Haha.
IceQueen0690: Thanks! And I'll certainly try to. I finally have a little break coming up so I should have some time. Be on the lookout for my review!
KazeMadoshi: Nice name! I don't know why, but for some reason I always had trouble remembering how your old name was spelled exactly. I always had to check back to see if I'd gotten it right. Haha. Definitely think this one is easier to spell. Heheh. Well, like I told littleweirdwriter, the amount of animes I'm familiar with, just shows you how much time I have on my hands, and it makes one wonder how my homework never gets finished. Haha!
Henrika: Thanks! Hope this chapter whets your curiosity!
littleweirdwriter: Liked that "Blueberry" bit? It's gonna become a very familiar nickname for Henry. Heheh. I'll be looking forward to that story! Yeah!
Shadow of Light4: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter, too!
Resonators
By squishybookworm
Takato's stomach growled.
An answering growl rumbled lowly from the bespectacled boy next to him and they both grinned sheepishly at each other.
"Not again!" Jeri said from before them. "I can't believe you two are still hungry. We just ate!" As if in protest to her words, her stomach gave up its own rumble and she slowly reddened under the combined smiles of the two boys.
"Hey, Jeri," Takato said, "at least we have the excuse of carrying them around." His grin widened as her flush deepened.
"Well I would help," she said, placing her hands on her hips, "if you two would stop acting so macho and let me."
Takato glanced down at the burdens he and Kenta had been lugging through the underbrush. It was a man and woman. Namely, a man and woman Echoes. They were ensconced in two 'litters', the three had hastily constructed from large leaves and vines. Jeri searched diligently for the safest path in as straight as a line as possible, but that was not much with the woman injured. So their shuffle had to be slow to avoid jarring her further. They'd bound her wound with Kenta's gray jacket, but a large and red-purple bruise underneath her skin readily told the three that internal bleeding was a high possibility and she needed a healer as soon as possible.
Takato could not comprehend why the auburn-haired man could not have done his Vibration thingy and taken them to a village or something instead of here. But he'd fallen unconscious as soon as they'd gotten out of that strange land yesterday. At that point Kenta had informed them of the Fatigue Echoes usually experienced after Vibrating for so long outside of the Kami Tune, and how they would usually rest in a comatose state until their energy had been replenished.
So stuck in some strange, humid forest and with night approaching quickly they'd decided to rest beneath an overhang of rocks until morning. In the morning, one look at their surroundings and they knew they were nowhere near the Duchy of Raleigh. The strong perfume of strange flowers had teased their noses as raucous cries from birds above split the air like the laughter of some court jester as he tormented his victim. Spindly trees bent gracefully under the weight of thousands of vines, which crept up smooth bark to disappear into the dense foliage above. Profusions of ferns and twining leaves surrounded them and green moss created a thick carpet underfoot and that extended up the sides of the rocks they'd rested beneath.
But what they noticed most readily was the heat. Takato had awoken that morning with soaked hair and clothes like he'd just jumped, fully-clothed, into a tub of warm water. It was not a pleasant sensation.
Then there were the mosquitoes. Egads! They were huge! He was surprised he hadn't died already from the amount of blood he'd surely lost.
But despite that he couldn't help but feel more than a little excited.
Just yesterday morning Takato could feel only the cool breeze of an early morning wind in Raleigh. Just yesterday, he'd been sweeping out the front porch of their bread shop in readiness for the day. Just yesterday, he and Jeri had been talking under the shadows of buildings as the sun cast its first rays upon the world. Just yesterday he'd been an ordinary boy. Now, according to Kenta, he had the ability to Vibrate. He could become an Echo. Like the ones he'd heard in the stories. Like the one who had come to rescue them. Ryo Akiyama.
Takato bit back a giddy smile. An Echo. Him. An Echo! He'd finally get to see the famous Ohtori Academy and all the lands in between. He could get a cool and huge kick-ass sword like Ryo and go battling monsters. This was so cool! Maybe even one day they'd make stories of him! Takato, the Echo. No. The Resonator!
"Oh, Shuichon have mercy on us!" Jeri exclaimed, "Takato, are you in there at all? Hello?"
"What?" Takato said crossly. "I can hear you perfectly fine, Jeri."
"Right. And that was why I didn't have to call you four times before you answered me."
"I was thinking, okay?!"
"About what? Your glory days as an Echo?"
Takato felt his flushed skin become even hotter and more sweat poured out along his temples to trickle down his face in salty runnels. That was unnervingly close. There were disadvantages to traveling with someone he knew too well. Tch. See if he invited her along to share his adventures when he became an Echo. Ha! "I wasn't thinking about that! I was . . . I was . . . wondering where we are! Yeah, that's it. I was wondering where we are. These plants don't look familiar and look! There goes another one of those . . . those things!"
The 'thing' fixed beady eyes on them before chittering angrily and leaping away through the branches above. It maneuvered nimbly through the thick foliage, its long hairy arms swinging out to get a good hold then pulled the rest of its body forward. But what was so strange, was the intelligent spark in its eyes. Takato swore it was not a trick of the light. The dark eyes of the creature, set in a flat, almost human face regarded them curiously, if not angrily, as if they were aware of Takato and his group. Not like the other animals, who ignored their presence as soon as they'd verified the strange new animal would be no harm to them.
"Kenta," Takato asked, "do you know what they are?"
Kenta watched the retreating form of the creature then picked up the handles of the 'stretcher' they'd made for the woman Echo. He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I haven't been at the Academy long enough to study the various flora and animalia."
"The what and what?" Takato asked.
"Plants and animals," Jeri said.
"Oh." Takato paused to internalize that bit of information. "So, you don't know what that thing is?"
"Yes." Kenta shook his head to shoo off a mosquito buzzing around his head. This caused a brief shower as sweat flew from his soaked hair.
"You do? Then what is it?" Slapping at a mosquito on is arm, Takato then scratched another welt on his thigh. How did they get there? It was covered by the thick cloth of his loose trousers. Admittedly, there were rents in several places, but not high enough that a pesky bugger could get him!
"No, I don't." Kenta scowled at him. "Are you doing this on purpose? Or are you really that dense?"
"He's that dense," Jeri quipped brightly. It sounded strange against the loud calls of birds, like the banging of a loud pan below the oppressive fog of heat. She paused in her path making, to lift a corner of her skirt and wipe off sweat that had gathered on her forehead.
"Hey!" Takato protested. "I am not!"
When Jeri continued to mop off her face, Takato set the end of his litter down and stretched his arms gratefully. All of the time spent, lifting large, wooden paddles to place bread dough in the oven had made him strong enough to possibly lift a man. For a few seconds. But lifting bread paddles did not fully develop the muscles necessary for dragging an unconscious man through a hot and humid and mosquito-infested forest. Takato grimaced. Ouch. Maybe he shouldn't have tried to stretch his muscles.
"Tired, Takato?" Swatting another annoying bug that was buzzing around her ear, Jeri smiled innocently. Although, the soft bruises under her eyes made it seem more of a contortion.
Takato smacked his hands together. A loud crack resonated throughout the trees and a few birds took off suddenly, leaving a few leaves to scatter to the five people below.
"No," Takato said with a slight glare. To which, Jeri raised one brow. "I'm not tired. Keep going."
"Why don't we take a break?" The couple turned to Kenta, who nervously adjusted his glasses before running a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. He grimaced at his hand then looked up at them. "It's way too hot and my muscles hurt."
"Okay," Takato agreed. He prudently ignored Jeri's other raised brow. "Kenta's tired and the mosquitoes are killing me!" He suddenly did a strange jig around the clearing; swinging his legs and waving his arms wildly. "Get off! Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Gah! Gah! Aaaagggghhhhh! Off! Arrggghhh! Aaaaahhh!"
Smack! Peeling her hand away from Takatao's cheek, Jeri brushed off the flattened mosquito on her palm and smiled innocently at the baker. "Feel better?"
He rubbed his cheek. ". . . Owww."
"Geez," Kenta groaned, "I wish I was with Ryo. I bet he's warm and dry in his bed and dining on plums and warm bread with butter and jam and wine and melon and hot porridge with honey and cream and fruit juice!" He slowly slid down the smooth trunk of one tree and clutched his soaked hair in both hands. "And when he wakes up, he'll have a nice, hot bath. Ooohhh. I want a bath right now!"
"What? We're not wet enough?" Takato asked, scowling slightly. All that food sounded good, and he didn't even know what "plums" and "melon" were!
"My nose is permanently stuffed; I don't think I can ever lift anything up again; my skin will never stop itching; I swear I will never be able to get my hair clean again; and I'm huuuungrrryyyy!"
"We know that," Takato grumbled. "Do you think you're the only one?"
"Why did they have to bring us here?!" Kenta raised his head to glare at the unconscious Echoes. "If we hadn't followed him we could be at the Academy now! Ryo said we were near. That forest was close enough! Why did we follow him! Why did we run away!"
"Why don't you just Vibrate-whatever us back!" Takato exclaimed. "You're an Echo, aren't you?!"
"I told you, I haven't been there long enough to learn that yet!"
"Then why are you here?! Why did they bring you?!"
"I don't know!" Kenta shifted his gaze to glare at a tree. "Don't you think if I knew how, I would have done it by now!"
Takato snorted. "You're very useful. You can't even tell us where we are."
"Takato!" Jeri gasped.
"What?" he protested. "It's true. We should have never followed him!" He pointed at Kenta accusingly.
"What are you talking about?! I came to rescue you!"
"Some rescue!"
Kenta suddenly deflated. He sank back against the trunk and stared morosely at his hands. "Yeah. You're right. Some resue." He gave a twisted smile. "Some student I am, huh? Can't even get this right with two Echoes. My brother was right: I'm pathetic. You should just leave me."
"H-hey, I didn't mean . . ." Takato said.
"Kenta. . . ." Jeri approached the bespectacled boy and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You're doing the best you can. We all are. So, please, try to hold on a little longer."
He shoved her hand away. "No. I won't. I'm hot. I'm tired. I'm hungry. And I itch. I refuse to 'hold on'."
"Hey!" Takato protested. "Don't do that to Jeri!"
Kenta blinked. Then shook his head and sighed. He looked up at Jeri with wide, dark eyes. "I'm terribly sorry."
Jeri sighed tiredly. "I understand." She tried to smile brightly, but it fell too quickly. "Come on, boys. Let's go. Kenta, you will lead the way."
"Why does he get to lead?" Takato whined.
"Because I said so," Jeri snapped. "Now, we go." She bent down to grab the handles of the woman's litter.
"Oh, no," Kenta said quickly. "No, let me, Miss Katou." He rushed over, ready to relinquish the brunette's hold.
"I can handle it, okay?!"
Kenta stepped back quickly from the girl's sudden glare. "Uh . . ."
"Honestly! You men! Do you think women can't do anything at all? Hm? Well?" Jeri huffed. "Always have to have something to prove, don't you?!"
Takato blinked. Woah.
Kenta blinked. "Um . . . I didn't—"
"Of course not! You're only injured and your clothes are only falling apart . . ."
Everyone glanced at Kenta's quite intact clothing. Dirt smudged the heavy material here and there, but the tough material had held up well despite the battering it had endured in the past twenty-four hours. Unlike the other two. Jeri's skirts were holding only through sheer volume, but thorns and branches had done their number on her sleeves and bodice, and she'd begun knotting the larger rips to prevent more tearing. Takato's did not fare much better.
"Well . . . your injuries anyway," Jeri finished. Then her soft brown eyes hardened. "I'm doing this, so just go."
"O-okay." Kenta backed away carefully from the mahogany-haired girl as if she would attack him suddenly when he turned his back.
Tightening her grip on the litter, Jeri nodded stiffly to Takato, who picked up his own burden and started after the Echo. That look in her eyes was scarily familiar to his ma's before she bombarded him with the most horrible cleaning duties; such as scrubbing the outhouse. Ick.
In any case, he was definitely not going to do anything to make her notice him now. Who knew what she was capable of, especially with where they were now.
They plodded through the undergrowth. Green plants bent and snapped from their passage and overhead, the constant cries of unknown creatures and the flapping of foreign birds gradually gave way to insects and frogs as the sun passed its highest arc. The constant sound of skin meeting skin as Kenta slapped away mosquitoes echoed throughout their green world and provided their only words through the march.
Takato felt a blister form on his left hand and soon a twin appeared on his right. They throbbed with needle sharp pangs each time he shifted his hands to get better leverage on the handles. Sweat weighed down his clothing as if his mother had plastered him with dough. His tongue felt swollen and every time he swallowed, the air scratched his throat like he was swallowing sand. The emerald blur of leaves and smooth tree bark seemed to stand still even as he forded through them.
Near the end of midday, before the day slipped into twilight, Kenta stopped suddenly and gasped.
"Water," he rasped. "There's . . ."
He disappeared through a screen of brush.
"What?" Takato asked numbly. Then the word slowly filtered through his heat-hazed mind. Water.
He scrambled past the brush, swallowing thickly. Water. Water. Water.
And there! Looming like a faery-enchanted lake was the water.
Well, it wasn't so much a lake as it was a pond. But it was water, nonetheless. He could feel the cool droplets on his tongue already. Could taste it. Like a cool mint drop his ma had once gotten him in the market.
"Stop!"
The shrill voice, made harsher with the dryness, arrested both boys where they stood. Surprised, Kenta paused in pushing back tall reeds to turn back to the voice. Takato pulled one soaked foot out of the edge of the pond and glanced back at Jeri.
"Stop," she panted. She slowly placed the woman Echo down and staggered forward. "Kenta, Takato . . . no drinking . . . yet." She paused to half-heartedly swat at a mosquito.
"Jeri?" Takato said.
"Why?" Kenta glanced down at the clear green liquid lapping against his thighs. He licked his lips. "Jeri?"
"We don't . . . know if . . . it's safe. . . ." Placing her hands on her knees, she bent over to pant shallowly. "Ugh. Air feels . . . too thick. . . ."
"Jeri. You need water. We all need water. We have to risk it. We have to drink this."
"No!" She groaned lowly and clutched her chest as if she was in pain. "No," she panted, "No matter . . . how thirsty . . . can't . . . can't. . . ."
Her other hand came up to her head and she began to weave.
"Jeri!"
"Miss Katou!"
Both boys rushed to the mahogany-haired girl.
"Jeri, sit down." Takato grabbed her arm and put a steadying hand on the small of her back. Her knees trembled and buckled. She sat down sharply, with a large rustle of fluttering green leaves and heavy skirts.
"Are you alright, Miss Katou?" Kenta said, crouching before her and peering at her face worriedly.
After a few moments of low breathing, she raised her head to smile up to the two boys. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine. I just got a little dizzy there. I'm sorry I made you two worry."
Takato shook his head. "I'm getting you some water, Jeri. You need it." He got up to go, but a surprisingly strong grip on his tattered sleeve prevented him from doing so.
"No, Takato." Jeri shook her head for emphasis. "Look at it, Takato."
Kenta waved off a bug that was buzzing too close to his head. "My feet hurt and I'm thirsty. My bruises hurts like hell. Why can't we drink the water?"
"Yeah," Takato echoed. "Why can't we drink out of the pool? It looks clean enough."
Jeri sighed. "Takato. Remember what Papa always told us? Don't trust appearances. The water may look clean, but look at the animals over there." She pointed across the pond where large birds, with ridiculously long and thin legs, stood. Their white, tufted heads bobbed forward like a chicken as they first extended one slender limb and set it down carefully before lifting the other up just as carefully. One extended its head suddenly and jabbed through the water with its long yellow beak. It came back up with a wriggling object that Takato soon identified as a frog.
He saw Kenta begin to eye the green water a bit dubiously.
But . . .
"Unless we can boil it," Jeri continued, "it'll be alright, but we don't have a fire, much less a pot! The only safe kind we can trust is running water."
"But—"
"But nothing, Takato! What if we're in the Woglinde marshes, did you think about that? Any water in that bogland is poison, no matter how clear it is!"
"So we should just die of thirst?!"
"No!" She gasped sharply and turned her head away, but not before Takato caught the glimmer of tears. "No. I don't want that . . ."
Takato pulled back in surprise. He hadn't meant to make her cry. "H-hey. . . . Don't . . . cry. I didn't meant to yell at you," he finished awkwardly.
She sniffed. "It's not your fault, Takato. I know you are hot and tired and hungry and thirsty, too. I can't blame you for being a little angry, but . . . we can't drink that."
"What if I try just a little sip first? See what it tastes like, okay? I remember what your papa said. Salt water is even worse than not drinking any water. So I'll taste it first, okay?"
"No!"
"I'm sure if the water was poison, nothing would be able to live in them," Kenta ventured. "Those birds have to drink just like us."
"See? Kenta thinks it's okay."
"No."
"Miss Katou," Kenta said. "We can't afford to be stubborn. If we don't drink that water, we are certain to die, but there is a chance the water is perfectly safe."
Jeri shook her head. "Takato," she whispered, lips trembling, "we're so . . . so far away. I've never been so far away from home."
Takato stared into her limpid brown eyes and fought back a sudden blush. This was no time to be mooning after her like a lovesick fool!
"Everything will be alright, Jeri," he said. He straightened and smiled cockily like that Ryo guy had did to them.
"Will it?" She reached out tentatively to grasp his hand.
"Yes."
She closed her eyes and held it for a moment. Then she opened them again and gave a wavering smile. "O . . . okay, Takato."
Takato squeezed her slim hand, the warmth sending another flush to his face and causing a lightheaded euphoria. His head felt like it would float away and his smile was more than a little loose. Did he care? Ha!
As far as he was concerned, there was no heat! No exhaustion! No thirst! Ha! What were those! Mere mortal suffering! He was an Echo, wasn't he? A little thing like water was nothing compared to fighting off Mistakes! No problem!
Across the pond, there was a loud splash as another of the strange birds swooped down and pinned an unlucky morsel of food beneath the clear jade water.
The cool, gray stones had felt countless tapestries against its smooth surfaces as the ages waned. They had seen even more Dukes ascend the throne and just as quickly be replaced by another. They had heard the numerous murmurings of thousands of lords and ladies as they had held court.
Yet today, they felt nothing. Not the friction of leather clothing against sweating skin nor the smooth haft of a spear, warmed by human skin. They saw nothing. Not the tall, slender Duke as he swept out to a balcony and raised his hands, palms out to the thousands of soldiers. But they heard. They heard the dull roar of thousands upon thousands of voices raised in excitement and expectation. The roar filled the swooping beams of the ceiling and curdled before plummeting to the single red carpet below. Vibrant tapestries, depicting various houses with all the colors of the rainbow, shook and trembled as if in ecstasy. The sound flew past the tall, finely carved oaken thrones and soaked into the gray stone behind it. Another whisper in the innumerable history of secrets, the walls held.
Vreepvreepvreepvreep!
The alarm echoed hollowly throughout the bare metal room. It bounced off the painfully precise edges of the many gray rectangular shapes and reflected from the array of constantly blinking buttons.
Vreepvreepvreep!
It twined subtly throughout the cacophony of sounds emitted from flashing consoles and wended its way through the gray maze of terminals. It bounded from surface to smooth surface in the dim light provided by the surrounding machines. Floating just above the low hum of the generators, it shot through the small aisle created by the ends of two different consoles, and proceeded to surround the young woman standing quietly before one of the workstations.
Her hazy eyes stared intently at a flickering screen as if her very life depended on it. Thick, brunette lashes lowered briefly as she blinked and tilted her head.
Vreepvreepvreepvreep!
After a while, cloudy purple slowly darkened to maroon as she registered the insistent alarm. She stretched her neck to peer over the semi-cloistered workstations, trying to decipher the origin of the sound. Finally spotting a rapidly blinking blue light a few consoles away, she sighed and turned away from the screen. A glowing orb dodged her steps and illuminated her shifting robe. The gauzy material shone eerily white in the near darkness and if anyone had been watching from afar, they would have claimed she was a fairy. But if they'd peered closer, they would have found a shadow veiling her burgundy eyes as if some great sorrow haunted her daily. Then they would have called her a ghost.
Yet none of this registered on the woman as she gracefully wove through the maze of blinking machines like a wraith. Coming upon the workstation that had disturbed her thoughts, she reached out with one pale, slender hand and lightly tapped the blue button.
Instantly, a darkened screen to the right sprung to life. It showed a map. The screen scrolled quickly to the largest landmass, zoomed in to the easternmost edge, and paused. Then a red dot blipped into existence. It stopped.
The woman shook her head. "I came all the way over here for this?" She turned to go, but another inaudible blip caught her attention and she turned back.
Another dot appeared next to the first.
She held her breath, a sudden apprehension gripping her chest.
Blip. Blip. Blip. Blipblipblipblipblipblipblipblipblipblipblip . . . .
Red dots popped onto the screens. One atop the other as if a legion of ants had found their way into the impenetrable room and were now swarming over the glowing screen.
Blipblipblipblipblipblipblipblipblip . . . .
Bursting across the image like a bloody blister.
"No," she breathed. "How . . . ? How is this possible?"
But still the dots continued to appear.
"Ben, are the readings correct?"
"Probability of error is 0.0000000387%," a mechanical, male voice replied. "Probability of detecting error is 99.968739047000977085792865982097—"
"Enough!"
"Do you wish to run a diagnostic scan?"
"No." The woman ran a hand through her short brown hair, disbelieving eye still glued on the rapidly growing dots. The premonition was growing. It was trying to claw up her throat and she had to swallow forcibly. She turned her head slowly, feeling as if her neck muscles had a will of their own; as if they wanted to keep her a witness to the angry dots bubbling over the image.
"Ben," she asked hesitantly, "what are the Vibration parameters? I know there cannot be this many Echoes. How many Echoes have been activated?"
"Vibration parameters includes 1000 Echoes at all times. At present only 1000 Echoes have been activated."
"Then . . . how . . . ?" The woman swallowed and stared at the screen again. Still, the dots continued to grow. "Does the number correspond to the Vibrations on the screen, Ben?"
"Negative."
The woman's eyes widened and the dread dropped from her throat to pool in her stomach like a lead weight. "But . . . Then how . . . ? Ben, how are so many Vibrations taking place?!"
"Unable to answer. Question is not within the bounds of my programming. Please rephrase the question."
The woman shook her head. "Ben, how many frequencies can be detected within the Vibrations."
The machine whirred for a moment. And still, the red dots grew ominously.
"One frequency can be detected within the Vibration."
"One? That means only one person is Vibrating."
"Affirmative."
She could barely feel the soft breeze that puffed past her lips as she said, "Ben, match the Vibration with all existing Echoes and identify."
The super computer whirred again.
"One exact match found."
"Who is it?' she whispered. She grabbed a console, wishing the trembling in her hand was only a syndrome of the cyrogenic sleep then she could blame a physical malady. But the computer had already informed her that any lingering side effects had been successfully purged from her body.
"Katou, Jeri."
The white-knuckled grip she had on the console did not lessen, but her knees buckled. She sank down heavily and her head lowered. Purple-brown hair fell forward to shield her dark eyes and left only the clenched line of her jaw to absorb the glow from the screen.
"Damn," Shuichon whispered. "Damn. Please . . . not again. . . ."
"Ah!" Jeri gasped.
"Jeri?" Takato turned around slowly. "Jeri? What . . . ?" He trailed off and sucked in the heavy air sharply. The fine hairs along the back of his neck rose and he stiffened as something like a cold, damp wind blew sharply through his being. A sharp tingling, like a thousand needle pricks, swept across his skin and he shuddered. There was a distant howl as if he'd pressed the shell, he and Jeri had found, tightly against his ear.
Then it was over.
Takato slumped to the ground with a low groan. He grabbed his shoulders and hugged himself, still feeling the dampness yet.
"Wh-what . . . ?" he gasped.
"I . . . I don't . . ." Kenta knelt before him, trembling. "It felt like . . . someone did a . . . Vibration. . . ."
"No way! Why didn't it feel like this when he did it?" With a trembling finger, Takato pointed to the unconscious Echo.
Only . . .
He wasn't unconscious anymore.
The man's piercing green eyes were open so wide, an inane part of Takato's brain thought they would surely pop out if he widened them any further. Mouth open in a silent scream, his clawed hands reached for something above them and his body arched away from the ground. He gasped. And fell back, panting heavily, one hand clutching dead leaves and dirt until the knuckle became white.
"Miss Katou?" Kenta said.
Takato turned away from the Echo. "J-Jeri?" What was wrong with her? Why was she so stiff? Why did she look so terrified? Why did her eyes look so glazed?
"A-alone . . ." she whispered.
"Huh?" Takato replied.
". . . alone. My . . . destiny . . . fate . . . who . . . my heart . . ."
"What?" Takato stammered. "What is g-going on here?!"
"No!" Rika's eyes snapped open. Violet orbs flashed wildly as she flung the woolen blanket off in her thrashing.
Something clamped down upon her arms and pinned her against the ground. She bucked violently.
'Get up!' her mind screamed. 'Up. NOW!'
But the creature straddled her legs and immobilized them. She opened her mouth. To scream. To curse. To bite. Something. Anything! But all that came out was a terrified croak as she continued to twist madly from the monster's grasp.
She was going to die. A Mistake had come. That Mistake had come back. It was going to kill her. It had her helpless. She was going to die!
[. . .ka. Rika! Please, calm down. I do not want to hurt you. Please, calm down!]
Tense muscles gradually relaxed. And as she did so, she felt the hard fingers on her upper arm loosen. She blinked rapidly. Then realized the near darkness was not a side-effect of her fatigue. And realized the heavy body above her still hadn't moved.
She glared up, although she knew he could not see it. He could hear her words, though. "Off," she snapped. "Now."
[Oh!] The body rolled off and landed lightly on the floor. [I-I am sorry. I did not mean to . . .]
"Yeah. I'm sure you didn't." Rika sat up, slowing when a wave of dizziness overcame her.
A soft rustling sounded. Then warm, golden light suddenly flooded the small, square room. Rika blinked in surprise at a floating globe, which seemed to be the source of the light that was gilding the white stone walls. Multicolored weavings hung along the walls to keep out the chill night air and braided rugs protected bare feet from the freezing floor. Two trunks were piled into one corner with the one on top open and spilling its contents – clothes and various trinkets – across the floor and atop a low bronze table. The bed she sat upon was a simple rectangular protrusion from the wall with a thick pallet thrown atop.
She looked up at the boy . . . the mute, Henry. "Where are we?"
[We are with a man, Master Sori and his apprentice, Kazu.]
"Oh? How did that happen?"
Misty-grey eyes flickered and Henry turned away. [You are early.]
She traced the profile of his face, following the clean line of his clenched jaw. Hmph. Well, she supposed it didn't matter how they got here, so long as they were alive. "Early for what?"
He unclenched his jaw and finally met her eyes again. [Master Sori said most Echoes need at least three days to rest from their fatigue. You are one day early.]
"I'm not like most Echoes." Rika shrugged.
[But you did not wake up because of that, did you?] Henry's grey eyes softened.
Rika bristled. "And how did Master Sori find us?" she spat.
Immediately, she felt like she'd swallowed thorn as Henry's misty-grey eyes hardened to silver flints. But even as he nodded stiffly at her and spun away, she straightened her spine and set her jaw, scowling. He deserved it! He shouldn't be poking into business that wasn't his!
Yet the rigid line of his back seemed at odds with his lowered head. Rika scowled even further. Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly fair. Who knew what had happened during the time she was unconscious to get him so upset, but she wasn't about to apologize!
Henry slowly relaxed his fists. The navy-blue of his messy hair bobbed in the candlelight like an ocean at twilight as he straightened abruptly and started for the door.
He didn't deserve it! He didn't!
"I had a nightmare."
He paused, but did not turn around.
"That was all."
Henry shifted slightly and tilted his head slightly so she could see the outline of one cheek. She didn't know whether to be relieved that he did not face her fully or anxious that he would not let her read him so easily.
[When I met you . . .]
"Huh?" Rika said.
Henry's head shifted as he hid his face completely. [For some reason, I thought about my mother. That was the first time in a long time. . . . She died long ago.]
". . ."
Henry nodded and lifted aside the curtain, which separated the room from the rest of the house. [Good night, Miss Nonaka.]
Rika sat there for a long time. It hadn't really been the nightmare that had awoken her. But a very . . . a very cold wind. A very damp wind. Then it had felt like hundreds of centipedes had been crawling all over her and she couldn't see anything because it was so dark. So . . . she'd wanted to wake up. To open her eyes.
She stared at the golden globe, which swayed gently in the damp breeze. Yet, when she looked at the window, they were tightly closed.
And she suddenly wished she hadn't lied to Henry.
A/N: Hey! I've finally taken the last final of the summer! Yeah! Now, I have bit more time to pound out these chapters. . . . But I am a really, really big idiot. Er, heheh. I kinda started another fic, so I'm trying to switch off in posting chapters between these two fics and so far it seems to be working. Aheh. Only problem is: I may take longer in posting chapters for this fic. So even if months and months go by, pleeaaase don't give up on me! I'll try to get one more chapter for this fic before the summer is out!
Thank you very much for reading and please review!