On Sapphire Wings
Chapter Six
I see your soul, it's kinda grey.
You see my heart, you look away.
You see my wrist, I know your pain.
I know your purpose on your plane…
The sounds of seagulls calling was one not often heard by the people of Deningrad, and for some reason it seemed very haunting to Wink as she stood at the back of the huge Tiberoan vessel, Zephyr, waiting patiently as they drifted peacefully towards Serdio. The ocean waves swam elegantly past the wooden ship with an indifferent rhythm, and the wind blew Wink's short blond hair back, making it feel fluffed and greasy. The Tiberoan sun beat down on her back.
Her sky-blue eyes were on Lloyd as he stood on the opposite end of the boat, watching the water. The infamous silver locks of hair whipped around attractively, and only the side of his face was visible to the Sacred sister.
She kept trying not to stare, but her eyes kept returning to his shadowy figure. He hardly ever moved, just watching the water and brooded quietly about something.
Wink felt like she'd been on the water forever. They had left the nine survivors of the massacre of Deningrad at the Port Town, Furni, and had boarded the Zephyr, which was already going to Serdio anyways. Since then, they hadn't touched ground.
Miranda and Luanna had spent a lot of time alone, as Wink realized she had also, each of them contemplating there losses, and thinking about what the future might hold. Kian had spent a lot of time staring at things and fighting with Miranda over everything there possibly was on the planet to fight over, and Lloyd had done nearly nothing but watch the water.
Very little conversation passed between any of them, and Wink was unsure of whether she was more happy with or without it. She wasn't sure of much right now. But she'd done a lot of thinking, and she was clearer about one thing than anything else in the world.
She loved Lloyd. No matter how wrong it was, she didn't feel sorry about it. And of course, she knew that everyone disagreed with it, for various reasons, but she couldn't help it.
But she would have to deal with that in silence, because he was nothing she could have. And she knew that, deep down in her soul.
Wink had always been an optimistic, shy girl, but she knew the facts of the matter. Everything you want is exactly what you can never have.
Serdio was drawing closer. Within the hour, they'd be at a small harbour on it's western side, and then they could begin on towards Bale.
It was so far away…
The day past quickly, and the beautiful sceneries of Serdio would have been more interesting if Lloyd's mind wasn't on more important things. Eventually he would come back here and actually pay attention to the forested Serdian landscape, but now was not the time.
Luanna and Miranda had fallen asleep quite quickly after they had set up camp for the night, and just Lloyd, Kian and Wink were awake. The three of them were sitting quietly on logs and stones, staring into a fire Miranda had made. This gave Lloyd yet more time to think.
There was something about the Winglies who attacked Deningrad…
Bardel he understood; the man had been just like his older brother of the same name. Kianako - though the Wingly seemed only somewhat misguided - was not a surprise. It was the woman and Kyris that worried Lloyd.
By the brief time he'd seen her, and Kianako's description, she didn't seem the terrorist type. Her name had been Nyisann. She was apparently a fairly good person, according to Kianako; she'd lived in the Forest near Deningrad with Bardel and Kian, taking care of her ailing mother and working as a nurse.
Then Kyris had come, fueling them on his persuasive words and telling them of a freedom to the Winglies. Kian hadn't been able to say where Kyris was from or who he was, but he'd easily won Bardel and him over, and Nya had followed for reasons of her own.
And in an attempt to save the people of Deningrad, Lloyd had killed her.
He gritted his teeth together in self-loathing. It was funny, some people never saw blood in their lives…
And even when his only desire was to check up on Wink before he died, he'd managed to kill two people. Was that all life had in store for him, to continue killing until there was nothing left for him to cling to?
God, he'd tried, hadn't he? All he'd ever wanted was to help his people. Maybe be a father someday. Just simple things like that. In stead, fate had shoved the sword into his hands and set him loose.
It was sick. He'd lost absolutely everything.
What was he even doing? Following the humans and the terrorist Wingly around so that he could do what? Try and convince one of the humans who had not long ago taken it into his hands to try and kill Lloyd that there was a man loose who was killing people needlessly?
Something about this was so frighteningly familiar. A Wingly killing thousands after being told of a freedom to his people…and then another, more powerful Wingly wanting only to destroy humankind…
The more he thought about it, the more Lloyd disliked it.
So now what? Would he fall prey to the role of the humans, to chase Kyris around until he had killed thousands or millions? Or was the terrorist Winglies plan more severe than that?
Lloyd lied back farther against the log he was sitting against and shut his eyes in thought.
Nyisann and Bardel's blood wouldn't be the only to spill into his unwilling hands.
Just a father, that's all he wanted to goddamn be!
Even that was too little too late. He'd killed Lenus.
Fueled with rage, he hardly heard the sound of the bushes russling behind him, until his warrior instinct kicked off. He opened his eyes and listened intently.
There was silence for a long time, and then a stick snapped. He looked back behind him, and instantly him and Kianako leapt up from their sitting positions.
A figure dressed in black was standing behind the stone Wink was sitting on. It was nearly invisible in the night, with a hood over its hair and a shawl pulled over its whole face but its dark eyes. Its arms were outstretched, and their was an unfamiliar type of sword in his hand, long, thin and jagged; the kind that took out organs.
Wink luckily did not startle or jump up as the two Winglies leapt to their feet, but froze. She caught Lloyd's gaze and held it trustingly.
And at the same moment, the black figure paniced and grabbed Wink by the neck.
"Don't move." Said a masculine voice. Wink shut her eyes tightly in pain.
"Put her down!" Kian snarled. "Now!"
The Black Man shook his head, and as Kian began edging forward, he squeezed harder on Wink's vulnerable neck. Wink gasped in pain and wide eyes once again grabbed hold of Lloyd's own.
Lloyd hesitated. He wanted to attack the Black Man while he was vulnerable, but if Wink was stabbed…
He didn't move, hardly even breathing, and waited for the dark-garbed enemy to make his move. The man gave them a wicked grin and began to bring the strange sword up slowly. Mockingly slowly.
As if being held back by some invisible force, the curving metallic blade came towards Wink, shimmering and hungering for blood.
And then he jerked suddenly and fall over to the ground. Behind him, Miranda slowly lowered her fists with a savage glare.
Wink fell forward, coughing and gasping for air a few feet away from the Black Man. Lloyd rushed over fairly fell to his knees beside her, rubbing her back and staring into her thin, beautiful face worriedly. Once again, that had been too close.
"Are you alright?" Kian and Lloyd demanded as one. Wink coughed horesly and made a slight movement that resembled a nod.
Lloyd waited until she was finished filling her lungs and helped her up. His gaze was fully on her in worry. And, conciquently, he didn't see as the Black assassin squirmed out of sword range, jumped to his feet and bolted.
Wink turned and chased after him almost instantly, and Lloyd chased after in surprise.
The forest burst around them as they sprinted, furiously chasing the man who had nearly taken Wink's life. Trees and foliage flickered past, and leaves fluttered up from under three pairs of feet.
However, the assassin was fast. No matter how fast Lloyd and Wink ran, it felt like he was a step ahead, and Lloyd was tiring, his energy all spent on the walk across Serdio and the exhaustion of worrying about the sudden attack.
Minutes past in a sort of non-physical timelessness as Lloyd followed the surprisingly quick Sacred Sister. It was like time stopped working as all thought left the Winglies head with the familiarity of the chase.
It all happened too fast for the minds comprehention. There was a whir of movement, and Wink made a sort of a sighing grunt of – not pain, more like anger. And then there was the blinding, sickening light that reminded Lloyd of something deep in his mind where he couldn't bring it up.
The Black Man had turned and struck Wink in desperation. And in reply…
The light was haunting sapphire blue, and it seemed to flow from her like mist. Then she made that weird noise, and it began to float towards the Black Man.
Lloyd took a step back in shock as a nauseating scream echoed through the night, hanging in the air for a long time before digging under the fingernails of all who heard it. And the assassins eyes began to bulge and roll back as the mist burned into his skin like acid. And then…
Lloyd had to turn away, but the horrific ripping noise followed him. Another gurgled, gut-twisting scream died into the moonlit night.
Looking back in surprise, Lloyd just managed to see as Wink smiled viciously at the somehow still standing body of the very-dead Black Man and push it over with small, wicked laugh. The skin was almost all gone off it, though part of it was still bubbling against the bloody corpse.
Wink stood still a very long time, watching nothing at all. The overpowering tidal wave of rage had subsided, and now she was left floating in the shallows, bewildered and doe-eyed. Finally, she turned around and in a small voice said,
"I killed him."
Oh god. The look on Lloyd's thin, porceline face was one of a rush of emotions, and though anxiety hung in his flowing ruby eyes, there was a sort of shocked disbelief on his handsome features. He finally said, "Yea."
Though the weakest bit of the anger remained, pushing her to say a million awful things, she began to stutter, "I-I didn't mean to…I mean, I didn't do…er…"
"What was that?" He demanded.
"I don't know." Wink replied in a small voice. "I didn't want to…"Lloyd walked over to her, put an arm warmly over her shoulders, and pulled her away from the carnage. "We'll talk about it later. Just try and forget it."
Wink so badly wanted to just let him pull her away. Anywhere. It didn't matter where. Just – away from it all. But some feeble part of her protested, "But I killed someone!"
The cold leather of one of Lloyd's gloves crept up to her face, and a elegant index finger brushed her thin lips. "Shhh…don't bother yourself now."
She exhaled, as if letting go of all her concerns, and nodded, somehow instantly forgetting the fleshless, gory corpse that lay in a small pile on the road.
They walked in silence for a very long time, and Wink enjoyed simply walking through the moonlit forest with Lloyd's arm slung over her shoulders, taking in the warmth of his presence and the calmness that overcame her. She struggled to free her mind from the image of the dead Black Man, and to cling to the beauty around her. She knew that the only way she'd be able to stand after a fall like this was to ignor it.
After about five minutes, they realized that they had gone the wrong way by the small trickle of water that passed by, slithering down slippery rocks harmonically.
"You should catch your breath." Lloyd suggested softly. Wink nodded wordlessly and sat on a moss-covered, fallen tree. It was a strange, hauntingly ghostlike plant that she'd never seen before with white, scaly bark that peeled off easily, revealing the silver wood underneath.
And with liquid fluidity, her face buried into her hands and she began to cry softly. It wasn't the hard, angsty sobs of someone who had – say - lost someone close to them, but more a sort of gentle, teary sigh as the suddenness of everything overwhelmed her.
She heard Lloyd sit beside her gracefully, and half expected him to interrupt or say something oh so smart like he always did. But he didn't do anything, just sat there politely, letting her let it out. She was oddly relieved, she just needed to cry.
Finally she stopped, and she lifted her head slowly, gazing straight ahead of her in shame. After an awkward moment that always follows tears, she muttered,
"I lost control. It's never happened before."
Lloyd said nothing, and feeling like she should say more, she added, "I got really angry at everything, and there was like this voice, fueling it and telling me all these bad things. It sounds crazy, but that's what it was like. I felt so mad at everything, I just had to break something. And then…oh god, he screamed so bad…"
A gaspy sob rippled in her chest, and a drop of moisture fell down along the side of her petite little nose.
And then Lloyd's gloved hand suddenly touched her face, pulling it towards him tenderly. Her heart pounded at the sudden subtleness of the movement as her head turned to face him, and then suddenly his lips brushed hers.
She shivered at the feel of his skin as he kissed her lightly. There was something about the movement that was shy and hesitant, and finding no other alternative, she kissed him back.
As if settling the struggle going on in Lloyd's tortured mind, the kiss became more passionate. He closed his beautiful eyes and wrapped his arm around her neck, pulling her close to him. The feel was gentle but exhilarating.
And she realized that she had found him underneath all the pain he shrouded himself in.
A/N: Oooh, yay! Haha, Chapter six is up, soooooo sorry about the bit of a wait there, I was on a slight writers block.
Thank you for reading, chapter seven will be up ASAP.