A/N: Well, here I am, with yet another chapter. I haven't had a chance to check for reviews yet, which means I have absolutely no idea what you guys thought of the last two chapters. Ah, well. (I use that phrase way too much, lol.)
From now on review answers will be at the end, because it's easier on me.
OK, can somebody please tell me why FF.Net is giving me such a hard time with my uploads?!?! It's driving me insane! Help!
I'm going to start the chapter now, before I get lost in all my self-pity.
Rogue had a headache. A very bad headache. It had started as a dull pain during her sixth period pop quiz, and had been escalating ever since. Now, sitting in the Briefing Room, trying to sort out the poem, it was border lying a migraine.
They were trying to work out the lines "From a land apart with a hero's heart comes the one with cloud-framed hair." Unfortunately, they had no idea what cloud-framed hair was.
Rogue began rubbing her temples.
"Does anybody have an idea?" As an afterthought she added, "Or an aspirin?"
"I don't have any aspirin," Corprew said, "but I do have an idea. Clouds are supposed to have silver linings, right? So, maybe this person has silver highlights…or something…" she glanced around at the skeptical faces around her. "Never mind."
"Why don't we just move on to the next lines?" Smith suggested. O'Connell picked up the paper with the poem on it.
" 'The heart was torn and the mind forlorn when they came to take the Star.' What star? How do you take a star?"
"Maybe it's a metaphor fer something," Rogue ventured. "Y'know, something that maybe looks like a star."
O'Connell shrugged. "Works for me. Now what about, 'hurled to her fate through a swirling gate to this, a land afar.' That makes zero sense. What is a swirling gate?"
"Prob'ly another metaphor. What Ah don't get is, how can this be a land afar?"
Corprew was ready with the answer. "If you're from, say, another continent, than to you, this would be a land afar."
"I agree," O'Connell said. Corprew beamed, glad to have made a good suggestion. "Maybe this person was forced out by war, so she came here. It's happened before."
"That still doesn't explain about the swirling gate or the star," said Smith, ever the pessimist.
"Let's just keep goin' and maybe we'll find somethin' helpful," Rogue said.
" 'For you she came, though you have no name, this war shall be fought for all.' Not a lot of information. All we know is that she--whoever she is--came here to find somebody without a name. Which tells us absolutely nothing. 'One day you will feast in the den of a beast, the dark one called L'Kal.' That's obviously a name."
Rogue nodded. "And Ah'm pretty sure he's the bad-guy here."
Smith glared at her. "Very astute."
She ignored him. "Maybe L'Kal is the reason she had to go through that swirling gate? Maybe he's the one looking for the star?"
O'Connell nodded. "Perhaps the girl with the 'cloud-framed hair' thinks the one without a name can help her."
Corprew froze. "Wait. Wait one second. What if the person without a name is the girl with cloud-framed hair?"
O'Connell's brow furrowed. "She went looking for herself?"
"No, I mean, what if neither one of those are meant to describe the girl who went through the gate? Just the one she was looking for?"
"It makes sense, I guess…but it still doesn't help us much."
Corprew was practically bouncing in her chair with excitement.
"I know who it is."
"Who?" all three asked at once.
"It's Rogue."
All eyes turned to the Goth. Her jaw was slack, as she absorbed the information.
"What." She swallowed. "What makes y' say that?"
"Think about it. 'Cloud-framed hair.' Clouds are white. So are your bangs. 'She who has no name.' Nobody knows your real name, just your code name: Rogue."
"This is impossible. This thing was written over a hundred years ago. It can't possibly be about me." Rogue sounded as though she was trying to convince her self as well. "Can it?"
"I don't know," O'Connell said. "But I think we have to face the possibility that this is about you, and that it is more than just a poem."
"Like what, a prophecy?" she asked, her nerves making her resort to sarcasm.
"Yes."
Soldiers. Everywhere she turned there were soldiers, bristling with weapons. Swords, knives, axes, bows, hatchets. They had broken the outer gates, and were flooding the Abbey like poison floods a man's blood. She ran. Through the main door, up the stairs, her heart pounding against her ribs all the while. Behind her were more of the vermin, brandishing swords. A few Brothers blocked the stairwell behind her, so that she could escape. She turned just in time to see one of them get impaled on a sword.
A scream escaped her lips as she fled upwards to the infirmary, with the soldiers right behind her. She reached the door, but her hands were shaking to badly to work the handle. The soldiers were at the top of the stairs. They were going to kill her!
Suddenly the door swung open, and she ran inside, slamming the door on two soldiers. Her parents were standing there, along with a few Brothers and Sisters, the Abbot, and all of the patients. A saber broke through the door.
"We have to get you out of here," her father said. She shook her head.
"No. Daddy, no! I won't leave you!" She wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could, as if she thought he might fly away if she let go.
He hugged her gently. Outside they could hear the vermin banging on the door.
"Jenn, listen to me. You have to protect the Amulet. Understand?"
"No! I'm not going without you!"
Her mother put a hand on her shoulder.
"Honey, please. You have to do this. Be brave for me, okay?"
"No," she sobbed into her father's chest. "I don't wanna be brave. I wanna be with you."
Her father stroked her hair soothingly. To the Abbott he said, "Begin the spell."
The Abbott nodded. He and the Brothers and Sisters sat in a circle, and began chanting.
"Nirva sholem ka. Nirva sholem ka. Nirva sholem ka."
"Daddy, please. I don't want to leave you!"
"Nirva sholem ka. Nirva sholem ka."
"Mama, don't make me go. Please!"
"Nirva sholem ka. Nirva sholem ka. Nirva sholem ka."
A spot of light appeared in the center of the circle. As they chanted, it grew larger, until it became a swirling mass of color, large enough for a grown man to fit through.
CRACK!
The door had been torn from its hinges. Soldiers poured into the room, slaying everyone they saw. An axe separated a Brother from his head. The Sister next to him looked perplexedly down at her chest, which seemed to have grown an arrow. The Abbot stood up. "Get Jenn through the portal. We'll hold off the AGGCK!" A sword cut open his stomach, and he collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.
"Jenn, go."
"But Daddy!"
"Go!" He shoved her backwards into the swirling light. As she fell into it, the world seemed to move in slow motion. She saw the soldier grab her mother's hair, pulling her head back. Saw him drag his knife along her exposed throat, then dump her lifeless body on the floor.
She watched, horrified, as an axe swung at her father's neck, severing his head.
She screamed.
Jennsen awoke from the nightmare, trembling. The sheets were tangled around her arms and legs, completely drenched in sweat. Her breathing was ragged. She tried to forget the nightmare, but it was impossible. The image of her father's head, lying on the floor, kept pushing itself into her mind.
She curled up into a tight little ball, and cried herself to sleep.
At that exact same time Rogue was tossing and turning in her bed, plagued by strange dreams. She would see everything for just a few seconds, then it would switch to another scene, as if someone were changing the channel on the TV.
Flash!
A large stone building being charged by soldiers. They tore down the door, hacking away with swords and axes. Screams could be heard in the background.
Flash!
A room full of people wearing dark brown robes. A girl about Rogue's age clung to an older man, screaming. "No! Daddy No!" The door broke; soldiers rushed in. Chaos. The girl was pushed into a swirling light.
Flash!
A man laughing. A shrill, blood-chilling, heart-stopping laugh. His face was hidden from view, draped in the shadows. All Rogue could make out were his golden eyes that appeared to glow in the darkness.
"Who are you?" she demanded of the figure. He laughed even harder, sending chills up and down her spine. Then the laughter stopped, and he growled out on single, menacing word.
"L'Kal."
Rogue sat bolt upright in bed. The images of the nightmare still played in her thoughts. She leaned against the headboard, trying to get her breathing back to normal.
"Rogue, are you okay?"
Rogue jumped slightly at the sound of Kitty's voice.
"Ah'm fine," she said. Kitty didn't answer, and it was too dark to see her reaction.
"What're you doin' up?" Rogue asked, not liking the silence. She heard Kitty shift in her bed.
"I'm to excited to sleep, y' know? I just can't believe all this is really happening. It's amazing."
"The shock wears off."
"How long have you been an agent?"
Rogue winced. Kitty had a lot to learn about being in the CIA.
"Kitty, if yer gonna talk about the job here at the mansion, you have to watch what you say."
"Sorry. So, how long?"
"I joined two months after I came here."
"You've been an age--I mean, you've been there that long? I had no idea!"
"Ah know." She faked a yawn. This conversation was getting boring. "Ah'm goin' back to sleep now. G' night."
A/N: Not the best chapter ever, but it's alright. I had severe writer's block when I sat down to do this. The dream sequences are the only parts that I think are any good. The rest of it I may have to disown later on.
Now, onward with those wonderful reviews!
Shadow of the Sword: I hope Jennsen's story makes more sense now. If not, things will become VERY clear in the future.
Ishandahalf: I think pushing all the pretty buttons could result in--among other things--your immediate execution sans a trial by jury.
Rogue151: The fight was fun to write, and I think it came out better than the sparring match did. You're completely right about Kurt. In retrospect, I probably should have made him say something like 'mein Gatt.' (My God)… Are they really going out?? That would be majorly cool! I'll be sure to R&R your story soon. Oh, and I hope you get that DVD so you can tell me about all the cool features!
Krazy Xanadu: I am still having problems with updates, because I can't remember what I did to get the last chapter up. I think it may have something to do with my 'new' computer--a.k.a. The Clunker. Is the next Dimension game available for PC? I've only seen it on X-Box (Which I don't have) Thanx fer reviewin, and I hope I break 100 too!
Anime addicted: you'll notice Rogue starts the chapter with a migraine…
OK, that's finished. Um, nothing else to say, except read Crazed Maniac02's story.
Bye y'all!