New chapter guys! Yeah! I'm hoping its out quicker than the last chapter was, and I read back through the earlier chapters and realised how much I'd diverted from my original course. All the routes I was going to take then didn't and what I could have done and stuff. It's strange how different this story is turning out from what I imagined it.
Anyway, so this chapter is going to be a little nostalgic as well as new stuff, because I liked dong parts of the past in with the present like I did in the beginning…does anyone even remember that far back? Man, writing fanfiction is weird.
Anyway, I'd really like to dedicate this chapter for MaboroshiTsuki, so I hope it's good! Also, I've been reading a story by…um…Aishuu? Anyway and she has a direction to a site called http://www.learntarot.com anyway, her fiction showed me how much I butchered the poor deck in my story so far so probably when I'm finished I'm gong to go back and rewrite my original tarot prediction. I think someone pointed it out to me when I first published that chapter but I didn't know how to correct it.
Man, I've written so much in these little sections I've forgotten what I've asked people an all so when you write stuff in your reviews I'm like 'whuh?'! It's just me being forgetful!
A lot of you seem to be berating (is that the word?) Van for going on his own! Well, he has to because isn't that they way things go in all stories? It's a right of passage or something! Also he needs to get Hitomi to forgive him so it's that sort of thing too!
Disclaimer: I don't own this story
* * *
Van had waited until the sun had almost completely set before he set out on his mission. There had only been a little time between his decision and this event anyway so he decided that it would be best to leave under the cover of darkness, and then if he needed too he could use his wings for speed.
Waiting for the particular moment that he could leave was the worst thing he could have thought of doing, every moment his head was sending him ideas of what they could be doing to Hitomi or how it was his fault. He didn't blame his head for doing these things to him, perhaps it was a form of punishment. But he still couldn't sit still waiting for his moment.
He tried to remember what Hitomi had told him about dowsing. You had to concentrate on every detail about what you wanted to find, in this case Hitomi, and then let the pendant swing in that direction, or even a mental pendulum. He remembered the slaughter of the dragonslayers and shuddered, forcing the image away.
The sun finally disappeared from the horizon, leaving only deep scarlet trails down the clouds hanging above. Van glanced around from his spot, a corner between stables and soldiers barracks near to the edge of the closest part of the forest, to check that no one would see him leave. The last thing he needed was a couple of servants alerting the guard their King had gone missing.
He pulled the pendant out of his shirt and held it up in a beam of light, so a small amount reflected off the stone, allowing him to see its movement. Concentrating very hard on what he wanted, exactly the way he had been taught how, he closed his eyes and the opened them to see his progress.
The pendulum gently swung to and fro and as Van stared at it he was amazed to see the stone seem to visibly jerk towards the forest. Although he'd seen it done before he was still unnerved when it happened to him when he did it himself.
Casting another glance around the area, he strung his sword against him, threw his cloak over him and picked up his small waist bag to attach to his sword belt. The bag was small, around the size of a hand but very tough, he'd stuffed it with a few essentials he could think of.
Making sure he was set, he spent another second on watch, decided no one was about to see him leave, and sprinted off into the undergrowth, thoroughly pleased with his caution.
Unknown to the young King a stealthy set of eyes were also admiring his stealth ass he disappeared into the night. After checking themselves for an unknown assailant, the figure slinked into the twilight and stretched easily, tucking a strand of pink hair behind a large ear.
"Really, Lord Van" Merle rolled her eyes, "I might not be able to follow Hitomi but I can follow you"
Sighing, wondering where she got her touch of insanity from, Merle began to make her way daintily on all fours to the bushes, making sure she took her time in the dark despite her good eyesight, also pleased with her caution.
"Why am I doing this?" she muttered as she pulled her tail free of a twig
This time, without the purpose to follow…at least just yet, another pair of eyes watched as Merle disappeared into the forest after her Lord. A glinting button set onto a deep blue uniform shone as the tall, graceful figure or Allen Shezar unfolded itself from a corner with a yawn.
Standing, easily with one hand on his sword hilt, he listened to the quiet thrashings of the cat girl as she made her way after Van. Looking up at the rising moon Allen smiled lopsidedly.
"I would have made sure of complete darkness"
And he turned on his heel and strode back to the castle in the new evening, towards the promise of supper and cheerful chatter, but still, with the intent, to follow. But not in quite so small a manner.
Van had put him in charge of a search party after all.
And search parties, in Allen's opinion, were of no small affair.
* * *
…
…
…
Warm, a light breeze brushing her cheeks and blowing her hair, Hitomi opened her eyes and looked up through the leaves and swaying branch of a tall tree. Sunlight dancing on her features she sat up and looked around.
A grass field rippling gently…
A feather gently floated down into her lap, Hitomi picked it up and studied it carefully.
She felt calm, as if this were an ordinary occurrence, she was just taking everything in. A dreamlike state.
A shadow fell over her.
Hitomi glanced up slowly to gaze at the tall figure, his wings outstretched. Blacked out by the sun, or perhaps he was just a shadow anyway. In some way like Van and yet not Van.
More feathers fell, touching her skin lightly, Hitomi dimly noted she wasn't covered in burns and that somehow she was wearing her school uniform.
Folken stared at the sky, his feathers and body outlined by the light and said "If you create them then you can banish them too"
Hitomi nodded. It made sense. But what sense it made she wasn't sure and her head couldn't seem to calculate.
A noise.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The field disappeared to reveal a blackness with a large swinging pendulum, but it wasn't a pendulum, it was her pendant. Swinging to and fro, to and fro, keep perfect time.
Folken was fading fast from in front of her vision, Hitomi blinked and then he was almost gone.
"Every future is governed by strength of will"
And it was gone.
…
…
…
A hard rock dug into her back, Hitomi gasped as her consciousness came back to her suddenly, rolling over to breath more easily she discovered she was lying on a hard stone floor. Cautiously opening her eyes and studying the dark in the dim light available, she confirmed it was rock.
She groaned, she felt like she'd been dropped off a cliff. Wrapping her arms around her stomach and curling up for a moment she tried to reassure the life inside of her that it was alright and that they were both still alive, even if she couldn't' tell it directly.
Time to see where she'd been dragged to.
Pulling her arms under her she pushed up against the cruel stone to take in her surroundings, unlike her vision of a inviting plain, this place was less than welcoming. In fact, she couldn't even see further than a few feet away, she was situated in a beam of light.
Squinting up, the beam seemed to come from a roundish hole in the roof of what she assumed was a cave. She shivered as cool damp air met her skin. It seemed like a terrible coincidence that this place, the situation she was in, reminisced a vision she'd had not long ago...
...
...
...
A body of a dead angel lay in a shaft of life, lifeless eyes staring up to the sky forever more, black feathers falling silently around. A scuffle in the background and it the broken form was surrounded by shadows. They screamed and shrilled and then, carefully as not to step into the beam of light, they dragged the body into the darkness.
Soon only the feathers were left as the feet were dragged into the darkness. Hitomi found herself in the beam of light, surrounded by figures with no one around, her tarot cards spreading themselves at her feet in patterns she'd never seen before and as she let out a terrified scream the light above her went out and she felt the cold air of the dark around her.
Movement filled her ears and she felt icy grips on her arms and body as freezing burns were seared into her skin. She pulled and tugged but there was no effect.
Out of nowhere another shriek filled the space and instead of a wordless, head splitting noise, words were formed.
"We must have another"
...
...
...
Yeah, this was definitely a LOT like the place she remembered in that vision. Gathering some strength she got up and balanced precariously on her feet, making sure she could handle it and looked around into the black void again.
Something shuffled, skidded and made a whirl in the black.
Hitomi frowned, this wasn't good. And if this was the place she thought it was then it wasn't getting better. Something else moved, like the sigh of a gust of wind, it blew through the darkness and made a low whistle.
They were in there. But, her stomach didn't hurt, not a bit. Yet she still knew they were there. What was going on? She gulped and decided to find out.
"H~" her voice cracked and she gulped again "Hello? You're there, I can tell so come into the light and let me see you"
No reply, but something else moved and she could have sworn she heard the sound of rustling material.
"Where's Folken's body?" she called out, pushing her fear away
Nothing.
Silence.
A crash of metal made Hitomi leap back, but she caught herself before she fell into the shadows. That was one thing she didn't want to do just yet. The metal was followed by a freakish sight that made her stomach lurch.
A metal arm was flung onto the stone ground in front of her.
Folken's arm.
Hitomi paled and stumbled back a few more steps, staring at the arm with horror, so THAT was where it was, she didn't want to know where the rest of him was.
And then something else appeared, crawling into the light, a long fingered hand began to slide into the light. Slowly, carefully, taking it's time, followed by an arm. There wasn't anything to the limb, it was like watching rotten meat slide along the ground. Hitomi covered her mouth in horror as another followed it.
But the other one was covered in black cloth like the earlier things had been clothed in. At least she didn't have to look at the rotting flesh any longer now she had something else to look at. But the smell, it was awful. Her stomach rolled dangerously.
The material spread as the figure dragged itself into the small circle of life. Apart from the rotting arm, the rest of it was thankfully covered, but the material stank and looked dirty.
It stopped as up to the shoulders of its body was in the small pool of light, covered by the faded and rotten material.
The awful screech that hurled itself into her ears and made her shake was gone almost as soon as it had begun, and Hitomi pulled her hands away from her ears, staring at the pile of whatever it was on the floor, which was no longer moving.
"We ate him"
The slithering, sliding, whisper of a voice came and went so quickly Hitomi couldn't be sure whether she'd imagined it or not, but it had seemed to come from the creature on the ground. She stared at it in horror, wondering whether she'd finally gone mad.
"Sorry?" she blurted, not wanting to back away any more for fear of hitting the pitch black behind her
"We ate him" the voice repeated
The finger sat the end of the rotting arm twitched repulsively and Hitomi felt the instinct to be sick returned.
"Metal no good, left over" it continued and the fingers began to reach slowly over to the metal arm
Hitomi frowned and kicked the metal arm away from the walking fingers, not wanting anymore befouling of Folken.
The voice hissed, she was now certain the thing on the ground was talking to her, the thing hissed at her action and said "Give draconian to us"
"What?" Hitomi said "Why do you want them so much"
"Life"
"What?"
"Life"
"I don't understand what you're talking about" Hitomi yelled "You make no sense at all and all you've bee doing is trying to hurt us!"
"Not hurt" the voice protested, Hitomi had the urge to kick the body at its argument "Just…taste"
Hitomi stared at it.
"Mother must feed her other children"
Hitomi's eyes went wide "What?"
* * *
Van hit an outcropping of rock an hour and a half into his rescue mission, the base of the mountains sticking up through the Fanelian forests, the rocks went steeply up but many jutted outwards to lend travellers and easy grip upon climbing and many ledges to rest.
He'd tracked Hitomi to this place but now it seemed like a dead end, wearing, Van looked up, hands on hips to his opponent. He'd climbed bigger. And it wasn't THAT hard. He just had to find the right footholds.
A twig snapped.
Spinning, Van faced the forest, drawing his sword in a sweeping arc to find his enemy.
"Who's there?" he barked
No reply.
"I order you to show yourself!"
A scuffle in a nearby bush let his spy's whereabouts known and Van picked up a rock and threw it with precise aim into the bundle of leaves.
"Ow!"
Van heaved out a great big sigh as he recognised the voice emitted from the bush, he put away his sword and faced the mountain again, reassured there was no threat but annoyed to a point that he'd been followed after his precaution.
"Merle" Van said, "Get out of that bush, now"
With a flick of her tail Merle appeared out of the bush and promptly at her King's side, preening herself and eyeing his emotions at the same time, looking for hints of anger at her. She didn't like it when she made him angry.
"I want you to go back to the castle Merle" Van said, his jaw muscles flexing, "It isn't safe for you here"
Merle snorted "I've been in worse situations than this, and Hitomi is my friend too! After all, it wasn't as if you were secretive about leaving the castle"
Van sighed, so his caution hadn't worked after all, the cat girl knew him too well. And he knew her well enough to realise that she wasn't going to back down either, and if she did supposedly go back to the castle then she'd only pop up again later in his quest.
"Let's go then" he said and made for the rock, trying to find good footing
Merle stared at his attempts then lightly skipped up and past him on the rock face, making it clear that she was a useful asset.
Van groaned and pulled himself up to the next ledge.
* * *
"What?" Hitomi repeated, her heart thudding against her ribs
"Mother must feed us…" the rotting creature repeated
Hitomi felt sicker than she already was, gasping for breath she fought a series of dizzying thoughts that came to her head. The vision. Creation, mother? Was Folken saying…?
"You created us" the creature gasped breathlessly, as if finishing her thoughts for her "Don't you remember? We are your children"
"But…how?" Hitomi blurted
The creature lolled on the floor, the rotting arm coiling like a snake as it replied slowly, "We are futures that were pulled out of existence" it paused "By mother"
"Who is mother?" asked Hitomi fearfully, praying she didn't already know the answer
"You"
* * *
"You're not needed!"
* * *
"Allen!" Mamoru burst into the conference room, his wooden practise sword finally replaced with a real piece of steel, given the situation, attained from Gaddes
Allen looked up from the chair he was sitting in as he addressed his people and cocked his eyebrow at Mamoru questioningly.
"I want to come with you! Gaddes said you were about to leave!" Mamrou said forcefully
"Did he?" Allen eyed Gaddes before rolling his eyes as his commander shrugged him off, Allen stood up and faced Mamoru properly "I'm afraid it's too dangerous"
Mamoru growled lowly "Hitomi" he said through gritted teeth "Is my sister"
"And we're about to go and find her" Allen said firmly, "But you're too new to the sword, you don't know how to track, you're young and you don't know Gaea. You'd be at risk coming with us"
"I don't care!" yelled Mamoru "Hitomi needs me! Her baby needs its uncle too! Allen…please" he said calmly "Hitomi said you know what it's like to have a sister in danger" he looked at Allen pleadingly "Please give me the chance to help mine"
Allen thought carefully about this and decided that nothing was worse than a brother who knew his sister was in danger, from personal experience of course.
He sighed heavily and sat down on a nearby chair, rubbing his forefinger and thumb together in thought, before reaching a decision. Standing up briskly he nodded and turned back to the map saying "We're setting out in half an hour, following the trail widely that Van and Merle followed. The team will spread out in a line, looking for anything ahead and on the ground to indicate their direction if we lose the trail"
"Sir, what'll we do when we find them?" Gaddess asked
Allen looked back at Mamoru, standing by the door clutching his sword like a lost soul, then back at the crew that consisted mainly of the Crusade men before saying "We do whatever it takes to bring them back"
Mamoru grinned grimly and stepped aside to let half of the men pass to organise equipment and necessities that Allen barked at them. Mamoru felt a strange stirring in his young heart, a dangerous thrill that strung his nerves taught and made him sick with excitement.
Stretching his fingers in the gauntlets he'd had to get someone to tie, he reflected on the feeling, resolving that this was what had changed Hitomi that day many months ago. The feel of danger that wasn't just normal, it was life threatening, someone could die before the night was over.
And he hoped it wouldn't be him.
Banishing the thought away, feeling heat rise over his face at such a selfish thought. When his sister was in danger! Merle and Van gone on their own after her, his sister could already be dead! As well as the baby inside of her!
And he was thinking of HIS life?
The young boy mentally punched himself, how low was he that he couldn't even protect his sister and his nephew or niece. Thanks to him the baby probably wouldn't even make it to life…
"…here please"
Mamoru jerked to look at Allen with a blundered "What?"
Allen frowned "I said come here please, if you want to help then help, we'll be leaving in a minute and I don't want anyone in the dark on what we're about to do"
Mamoru shoved everything into a box and put it away in his head, and walked calmly to the table.
He surveyed Allen's map calmly, and looked up at the older men.
"I'm ready"
* * *
"I don't understand!" Hitomi yelled suddenly "You make no sense whatsoever! Tell me what you mean"
The thing smelled so badly her stomach was beginning to roll, she had no idea why her stomach wasn't in pain anymore but felt it wouldn't be good either. Hitomi clenched her fists and looked up into the beam of light, wishing it would swallow her to safety.
The thing said something slowly and quietly.
"What?" Hitomi whispered "Say that again…"
"We are dead futures"
Hitomi gasped, as it continued "You changed the future and made us useless, redundant. But we survived on the blood and flesh of a descendant of Atlantis"
"No…" Hitomi blanched, an image of Folken sprang up in her mind as she remembered all the times she had changed fate through her visions and tarot card reading
She HAD made them redundant, deleted them from would-be history as she made time and actions go along a new path. Almost falling to her knees as her strength dropped out of her, Hitomi gathered her wits and automatically reached for her pendant. It wasn't there, of course it wasn't, she'd given it to Van. It was no longer hers at all.
"You ate Folken" Hitomi felt her stomach wretch "You…ate…him"
"Yes" slithered the thing, a movement around her in the black of the cave made Hitomi's skin crawl, whispers and scuffles filling the void ahead "We ate him because some energy of Atlantis and it's people still remain in the blood of Draconians"
Hitomi shook her head. It was all impossible, "Then…" she concluded "You want Van and my baby for…"
"Existence" finished the thing, and as if boastful of its foul existence it brandished its rotten flesh arm out to grab for her ankle "The creator must provide"
Hitomi yelped and dashed away to the opposite side of the pool of light as the stinking limb scraped the floor near her.
"Never!" screamed Hitomi, "You're not supposed to be here! I don't care if you think I made you somehow! I could never EVER take credit for something as awful as you! I am NOT your creator I have nothing to do with you! I am not going to let you hurt Van on my baby!"
The thing for the first time called its blood-curdling screech so loud Hitomi's vision ran wild as her head split. Falling to her knees she clutched her stomach, the dead future finally taking charge to get its wish fulfilled along with its brothers.
How many dead futures were her doing? Her active doing? Was this a way they could repay her for killing them? They weren't even technically alive in the first place, how could they fight for survival they never even possessed?
And Folken, poor Folken.
It was her fault he never even had a proper burial…
'Every future is goverened by strength of will'
Hitomi felt these words pierce through her head splitting pain and looked up.
The misshapen dead future lunged for her.
* * *
Anyway, so this chapter is going to be a little nostalgic as well as new stuff, because I liked dong parts of the past in with the present like I did in the beginning…does anyone even remember that far back? Man, writing fanfiction is weird.
Anyway, I'd really like to dedicate this chapter for MaboroshiTsuki, so I hope it's good! Also, I've been reading a story by…um…Aishuu? Anyway and she has a direction to a site called http://www.learntarot.com anyway, her fiction showed me how much I butchered the poor deck in my story so far so probably when I'm finished I'm gong to go back and rewrite my original tarot prediction. I think someone pointed it out to me when I first published that chapter but I didn't know how to correct it.
Man, I've written so much in these little sections I've forgotten what I've asked people an all so when you write stuff in your reviews I'm like 'whuh?'! It's just me being forgetful!
A lot of you seem to be berating (is that the word?) Van for going on his own! Well, he has to because isn't that they way things go in all stories? It's a right of passage or something! Also he needs to get Hitomi to forgive him so it's that sort of thing too!
Disclaimer: I don't own this story
* * *
Van had waited until the sun had almost completely set before he set out on his mission. There had only been a little time between his decision and this event anyway so he decided that it would be best to leave under the cover of darkness, and then if he needed too he could use his wings for speed.
Waiting for the particular moment that he could leave was the worst thing he could have thought of doing, every moment his head was sending him ideas of what they could be doing to Hitomi or how it was his fault. He didn't blame his head for doing these things to him, perhaps it was a form of punishment. But he still couldn't sit still waiting for his moment.
He tried to remember what Hitomi had told him about dowsing. You had to concentrate on every detail about what you wanted to find, in this case Hitomi, and then let the pendant swing in that direction, or even a mental pendulum. He remembered the slaughter of the dragonslayers and shuddered, forcing the image away.
The sun finally disappeared from the horizon, leaving only deep scarlet trails down the clouds hanging above. Van glanced around from his spot, a corner between stables and soldiers barracks near to the edge of the closest part of the forest, to check that no one would see him leave. The last thing he needed was a couple of servants alerting the guard their King had gone missing.
He pulled the pendant out of his shirt and held it up in a beam of light, so a small amount reflected off the stone, allowing him to see its movement. Concentrating very hard on what he wanted, exactly the way he had been taught how, he closed his eyes and the opened them to see his progress.
The pendulum gently swung to and fro and as Van stared at it he was amazed to see the stone seem to visibly jerk towards the forest. Although he'd seen it done before he was still unnerved when it happened to him when he did it himself.
Casting another glance around the area, he strung his sword against him, threw his cloak over him and picked up his small waist bag to attach to his sword belt. The bag was small, around the size of a hand but very tough, he'd stuffed it with a few essentials he could think of.
Making sure he was set, he spent another second on watch, decided no one was about to see him leave, and sprinted off into the undergrowth, thoroughly pleased with his caution.
Unknown to the young King a stealthy set of eyes were also admiring his stealth ass he disappeared into the night. After checking themselves for an unknown assailant, the figure slinked into the twilight and stretched easily, tucking a strand of pink hair behind a large ear.
"Really, Lord Van" Merle rolled her eyes, "I might not be able to follow Hitomi but I can follow you"
Sighing, wondering where she got her touch of insanity from, Merle began to make her way daintily on all fours to the bushes, making sure she took her time in the dark despite her good eyesight, also pleased with her caution.
"Why am I doing this?" she muttered as she pulled her tail free of a twig
This time, without the purpose to follow…at least just yet, another pair of eyes watched as Merle disappeared into the forest after her Lord. A glinting button set onto a deep blue uniform shone as the tall, graceful figure or Allen Shezar unfolded itself from a corner with a yawn.
Standing, easily with one hand on his sword hilt, he listened to the quiet thrashings of the cat girl as she made her way after Van. Looking up at the rising moon Allen smiled lopsidedly.
"I would have made sure of complete darkness"
And he turned on his heel and strode back to the castle in the new evening, towards the promise of supper and cheerful chatter, but still, with the intent, to follow. But not in quite so small a manner.
Van had put him in charge of a search party after all.
And search parties, in Allen's opinion, were of no small affair.
* * *
…
…
…
Warm, a light breeze brushing her cheeks and blowing her hair, Hitomi opened her eyes and looked up through the leaves and swaying branch of a tall tree. Sunlight dancing on her features she sat up and looked around.
A grass field rippling gently…
A feather gently floated down into her lap, Hitomi picked it up and studied it carefully.
She felt calm, as if this were an ordinary occurrence, she was just taking everything in. A dreamlike state.
A shadow fell over her.
Hitomi glanced up slowly to gaze at the tall figure, his wings outstretched. Blacked out by the sun, or perhaps he was just a shadow anyway. In some way like Van and yet not Van.
More feathers fell, touching her skin lightly, Hitomi dimly noted she wasn't covered in burns and that somehow she was wearing her school uniform.
Folken stared at the sky, his feathers and body outlined by the light and said "If you create them then you can banish them too"
Hitomi nodded. It made sense. But what sense it made she wasn't sure and her head couldn't seem to calculate.
A noise.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The field disappeared to reveal a blackness with a large swinging pendulum, but it wasn't a pendulum, it was her pendant. Swinging to and fro, to and fro, keep perfect time.
Folken was fading fast from in front of her vision, Hitomi blinked and then he was almost gone.
"Every future is governed by strength of will"
And it was gone.
…
…
…
A hard rock dug into her back, Hitomi gasped as her consciousness came back to her suddenly, rolling over to breath more easily she discovered she was lying on a hard stone floor. Cautiously opening her eyes and studying the dark in the dim light available, she confirmed it was rock.
She groaned, she felt like she'd been dropped off a cliff. Wrapping her arms around her stomach and curling up for a moment she tried to reassure the life inside of her that it was alright and that they were both still alive, even if she couldn't' tell it directly.
Time to see where she'd been dragged to.
Pulling her arms under her she pushed up against the cruel stone to take in her surroundings, unlike her vision of a inviting plain, this place was less than welcoming. In fact, she couldn't even see further than a few feet away, she was situated in a beam of light.
Squinting up, the beam seemed to come from a roundish hole in the roof of what she assumed was a cave. She shivered as cool damp air met her skin. It seemed like a terrible coincidence that this place, the situation she was in, reminisced a vision she'd had not long ago...
...
...
...
A body of a dead angel lay in a shaft of life, lifeless eyes staring up to the sky forever more, black feathers falling silently around. A scuffle in the background and it the broken form was surrounded by shadows. They screamed and shrilled and then, carefully as not to step into the beam of light, they dragged the body into the darkness.
Soon only the feathers were left as the feet were dragged into the darkness. Hitomi found herself in the beam of light, surrounded by figures with no one around, her tarot cards spreading themselves at her feet in patterns she'd never seen before and as she let out a terrified scream the light above her went out and she felt the cold air of the dark around her.
Movement filled her ears and she felt icy grips on her arms and body as freezing burns were seared into her skin. She pulled and tugged but there was no effect.
Out of nowhere another shriek filled the space and instead of a wordless, head splitting noise, words were formed.
"We must have another"
...
...
...
Yeah, this was definitely a LOT like the place she remembered in that vision. Gathering some strength she got up and balanced precariously on her feet, making sure she could handle it and looked around into the black void again.
Something shuffled, skidded and made a whirl in the black.
Hitomi frowned, this wasn't good. And if this was the place she thought it was then it wasn't getting better. Something else moved, like the sigh of a gust of wind, it blew through the darkness and made a low whistle.
They were in there. But, her stomach didn't hurt, not a bit. Yet she still knew they were there. What was going on? She gulped and decided to find out.
"H~" her voice cracked and she gulped again "Hello? You're there, I can tell so come into the light and let me see you"
No reply, but something else moved and she could have sworn she heard the sound of rustling material.
"Where's Folken's body?" she called out, pushing her fear away
Nothing.
Silence.
A crash of metal made Hitomi leap back, but she caught herself before she fell into the shadows. That was one thing she didn't want to do just yet. The metal was followed by a freakish sight that made her stomach lurch.
A metal arm was flung onto the stone ground in front of her.
Folken's arm.
Hitomi paled and stumbled back a few more steps, staring at the arm with horror, so THAT was where it was, she didn't want to know where the rest of him was.
And then something else appeared, crawling into the light, a long fingered hand began to slide into the light. Slowly, carefully, taking it's time, followed by an arm. There wasn't anything to the limb, it was like watching rotten meat slide along the ground. Hitomi covered her mouth in horror as another followed it.
But the other one was covered in black cloth like the earlier things had been clothed in. At least she didn't have to look at the rotting flesh any longer now she had something else to look at. But the smell, it was awful. Her stomach rolled dangerously.
The material spread as the figure dragged itself into the small circle of life. Apart from the rotting arm, the rest of it was thankfully covered, but the material stank and looked dirty.
It stopped as up to the shoulders of its body was in the small pool of light, covered by the faded and rotten material.
The awful screech that hurled itself into her ears and made her shake was gone almost as soon as it had begun, and Hitomi pulled her hands away from her ears, staring at the pile of whatever it was on the floor, which was no longer moving.
"We ate him"
The slithering, sliding, whisper of a voice came and went so quickly Hitomi couldn't be sure whether she'd imagined it or not, but it had seemed to come from the creature on the ground. She stared at it in horror, wondering whether she'd finally gone mad.
"Sorry?" she blurted, not wanting to back away any more for fear of hitting the pitch black behind her
"We ate him" the voice repeated
The finger sat the end of the rotting arm twitched repulsively and Hitomi felt the instinct to be sick returned.
"Metal no good, left over" it continued and the fingers began to reach slowly over to the metal arm
Hitomi frowned and kicked the metal arm away from the walking fingers, not wanting anymore befouling of Folken.
The voice hissed, she was now certain the thing on the ground was talking to her, the thing hissed at her action and said "Give draconian to us"
"What?" Hitomi said "Why do you want them so much"
"Life"
"What?"
"Life"
"I don't understand what you're talking about" Hitomi yelled "You make no sense at all and all you've bee doing is trying to hurt us!"
"Not hurt" the voice protested, Hitomi had the urge to kick the body at its argument "Just…taste"
Hitomi stared at it.
"Mother must feed her other children"
Hitomi's eyes went wide "What?"
* * *
Van hit an outcropping of rock an hour and a half into his rescue mission, the base of the mountains sticking up through the Fanelian forests, the rocks went steeply up but many jutted outwards to lend travellers and easy grip upon climbing and many ledges to rest.
He'd tracked Hitomi to this place but now it seemed like a dead end, wearing, Van looked up, hands on hips to his opponent. He'd climbed bigger. And it wasn't THAT hard. He just had to find the right footholds.
A twig snapped.
Spinning, Van faced the forest, drawing his sword in a sweeping arc to find his enemy.
"Who's there?" he barked
No reply.
"I order you to show yourself!"
A scuffle in a nearby bush let his spy's whereabouts known and Van picked up a rock and threw it with precise aim into the bundle of leaves.
"Ow!"
Van heaved out a great big sigh as he recognised the voice emitted from the bush, he put away his sword and faced the mountain again, reassured there was no threat but annoyed to a point that he'd been followed after his precaution.
"Merle" Van said, "Get out of that bush, now"
With a flick of her tail Merle appeared out of the bush and promptly at her King's side, preening herself and eyeing his emotions at the same time, looking for hints of anger at her. She didn't like it when she made him angry.
"I want you to go back to the castle Merle" Van said, his jaw muscles flexing, "It isn't safe for you here"
Merle snorted "I've been in worse situations than this, and Hitomi is my friend too! After all, it wasn't as if you were secretive about leaving the castle"
Van sighed, so his caution hadn't worked after all, the cat girl knew him too well. And he knew her well enough to realise that she wasn't going to back down either, and if she did supposedly go back to the castle then she'd only pop up again later in his quest.
"Let's go then" he said and made for the rock, trying to find good footing
Merle stared at his attempts then lightly skipped up and past him on the rock face, making it clear that she was a useful asset.
Van groaned and pulled himself up to the next ledge.
* * *
"What?" Hitomi repeated, her heart thudding against her ribs
"Mother must feed us…" the rotting creature repeated
Hitomi felt sicker than she already was, gasping for breath she fought a series of dizzying thoughts that came to her head. The vision. Creation, mother? Was Folken saying…?
"You created us" the creature gasped breathlessly, as if finishing her thoughts for her "Don't you remember? We are your children"
"But…how?" Hitomi blurted
The creature lolled on the floor, the rotting arm coiling like a snake as it replied slowly, "We are futures that were pulled out of existence" it paused "By mother"
"Who is mother?" asked Hitomi fearfully, praying she didn't already know the answer
"You"
* * *
"You're not needed!"
* * *
"Allen!" Mamoru burst into the conference room, his wooden practise sword finally replaced with a real piece of steel, given the situation, attained from Gaddes
Allen looked up from the chair he was sitting in as he addressed his people and cocked his eyebrow at Mamoru questioningly.
"I want to come with you! Gaddes said you were about to leave!" Mamrou said forcefully
"Did he?" Allen eyed Gaddes before rolling his eyes as his commander shrugged him off, Allen stood up and faced Mamoru properly "I'm afraid it's too dangerous"
Mamoru growled lowly "Hitomi" he said through gritted teeth "Is my sister"
"And we're about to go and find her" Allen said firmly, "But you're too new to the sword, you don't know how to track, you're young and you don't know Gaea. You'd be at risk coming with us"
"I don't care!" yelled Mamoru "Hitomi needs me! Her baby needs its uncle too! Allen…please" he said calmly "Hitomi said you know what it's like to have a sister in danger" he looked at Allen pleadingly "Please give me the chance to help mine"
Allen thought carefully about this and decided that nothing was worse than a brother who knew his sister was in danger, from personal experience of course.
He sighed heavily and sat down on a nearby chair, rubbing his forefinger and thumb together in thought, before reaching a decision. Standing up briskly he nodded and turned back to the map saying "We're setting out in half an hour, following the trail widely that Van and Merle followed. The team will spread out in a line, looking for anything ahead and on the ground to indicate their direction if we lose the trail"
"Sir, what'll we do when we find them?" Gaddess asked
Allen looked back at Mamoru, standing by the door clutching his sword like a lost soul, then back at the crew that consisted mainly of the Crusade men before saying "We do whatever it takes to bring them back"
Mamoru grinned grimly and stepped aside to let half of the men pass to organise equipment and necessities that Allen barked at them. Mamoru felt a strange stirring in his young heart, a dangerous thrill that strung his nerves taught and made him sick with excitement.
Stretching his fingers in the gauntlets he'd had to get someone to tie, he reflected on the feeling, resolving that this was what had changed Hitomi that day many months ago. The feel of danger that wasn't just normal, it was life threatening, someone could die before the night was over.
And he hoped it wouldn't be him.
Banishing the thought away, feeling heat rise over his face at such a selfish thought. When his sister was in danger! Merle and Van gone on their own after her, his sister could already be dead! As well as the baby inside of her!
And he was thinking of HIS life?
The young boy mentally punched himself, how low was he that he couldn't even protect his sister and his nephew or niece. Thanks to him the baby probably wouldn't even make it to life…
"…here please"
Mamoru jerked to look at Allen with a blundered "What?"
Allen frowned "I said come here please, if you want to help then help, we'll be leaving in a minute and I don't want anyone in the dark on what we're about to do"
Mamoru shoved everything into a box and put it away in his head, and walked calmly to the table.
He surveyed Allen's map calmly, and looked up at the older men.
"I'm ready"
* * *
"I don't understand!" Hitomi yelled suddenly "You make no sense whatsoever! Tell me what you mean"
The thing smelled so badly her stomach was beginning to roll, she had no idea why her stomach wasn't in pain anymore but felt it wouldn't be good either. Hitomi clenched her fists and looked up into the beam of light, wishing it would swallow her to safety.
The thing said something slowly and quietly.
"What?" Hitomi whispered "Say that again…"
"We are dead futures"
Hitomi gasped, as it continued "You changed the future and made us useless, redundant. But we survived on the blood and flesh of a descendant of Atlantis"
"No…" Hitomi blanched, an image of Folken sprang up in her mind as she remembered all the times she had changed fate through her visions and tarot card reading
She HAD made them redundant, deleted them from would-be history as she made time and actions go along a new path. Almost falling to her knees as her strength dropped out of her, Hitomi gathered her wits and automatically reached for her pendant. It wasn't there, of course it wasn't, she'd given it to Van. It was no longer hers at all.
"You ate Folken" Hitomi felt her stomach wretch "You…ate…him"
"Yes" slithered the thing, a movement around her in the black of the cave made Hitomi's skin crawl, whispers and scuffles filling the void ahead "We ate him because some energy of Atlantis and it's people still remain in the blood of Draconians"
Hitomi shook her head. It was all impossible, "Then…" she concluded "You want Van and my baby for…"
"Existence" finished the thing, and as if boastful of its foul existence it brandished its rotten flesh arm out to grab for her ankle "The creator must provide"
Hitomi yelped and dashed away to the opposite side of the pool of light as the stinking limb scraped the floor near her.
"Never!" screamed Hitomi, "You're not supposed to be here! I don't care if you think I made you somehow! I could never EVER take credit for something as awful as you! I am NOT your creator I have nothing to do with you! I am not going to let you hurt Van on my baby!"
The thing for the first time called its blood-curdling screech so loud Hitomi's vision ran wild as her head split. Falling to her knees she clutched her stomach, the dead future finally taking charge to get its wish fulfilled along with its brothers.
How many dead futures were her doing? Her active doing? Was this a way they could repay her for killing them? They weren't even technically alive in the first place, how could they fight for survival they never even possessed?
And Folken, poor Folken.
It was her fault he never even had a proper burial…
'Every future is goverened by strength of will'
Hitomi felt these words pierce through her head splitting pain and looked up.
The misshapen dead future lunged for her.
* * *