Revelation

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"Hikaru!" Sephiroth screamed, lunging away from the dragon's teeth as its wings unfurled, snapping forward with their deafening roar. He saw the pale blue throat underneath the jaw as the dragon struggled to find footing on the hull of the ship. Sephiroth himself kept from falling merely by the piece of rope he clung to that trailed up, tied to the deck hooks used to tie down cargo.

The wind buffeted both he and the dragon about like a cat who tossed its prey about, no mercy intended. His wrist burned, his hand grew numb as the rope toiled and scraped and chafed into his wrist until it bled. Still the dragon fought, tangled in its own rope, dangling from one hind leg as its wings smacked against the hull - and his body as well.

"Hikaru!!!" he roared again, struggling against the dragon, seeing its life flashing wildly through its fire-framed eyes, furious and afraid, fearing Death and tasting its bite through the fire-treated rope that twisted ever tighter around its foot, preventing it from getting away. In this helpless state, suspended over the whirling blades of the airship, the dragon became a massive hurricane of blind terror.

The white-haired stranger flipped over the railing with a bared blade, hanging from the hand that clutched the railing as he hacked at the rope, furiously, diligently. A new pain throbbed in Sephiroth's mind, the pain of the dragon's thoughts as it raged, swirling masses of color and emotion as terrible as any serpent's fiery breath.

Sephiroth!

He turned his head, his eyes widening as the voice seared through the maelstrom like the friendly beam of a lighthouse. Suddenly the rope snapped like the sound of a tree-trunk cracking just next to his ear and the dragon shrieked, loosed, and plumeted to the spinning blades.

Hikaru caught his hand and pulled, grunting with effort as the wind pulled his cloak out behind him. Sephiroth turned, pushing himself up over the railing, and grimaced as he rubbed his wrist. But before he did anything else, he peered over the railing, and saw the dragon spread its membranous wings in time, gliding unsteadily, one of its wings clipped by a propeller. Then it vanished from sight neath the keel, never to be seen again.

Hikaru climbed over, dusting himself off before sliding the dagger into the sheath at his thigh. Amusement poured forth from him with every word he said. "Now, what I want to find out," he said, "is why in god's name you were hanging off the side of the Paradise with an upside-down dragon."

"I was trying to save it," Seph answered tersely. "It flew in, got caught in the lines and I thought it would have been nice to cut it free."

Hikaru nodded. "You know... dragons in this world, they are two of many things. One of them is a partner to one human, a friend and companion that is your eyes and ears and companions. They're also vicious killers, when they lose their human... or if they're born in the wilderness."

"He didn't seem vicious. Just afraid."

The door to the corridor flung open to a tall man in a black suit, who strolled forward toward Hikaru. "What's going on? What in god's name just happened?"

"No damage to the vessel, captain, nothing to worry your pretty little head about." Crude, foul-mouthed, and badly fitted clothing scored a low cup of points in Sephiroth's book as he stared at the captain. But whatever the case, Sephiroth didn't care and turned toward another sound.

Sephiroth!

"Get back to your post, captain," Hikaru murmured, walking after Sephiroth. "Like a good grumpy old man. That's right." Swearing, the gruff-looking man hunkered his shoulders and mouthed obscenities and threats as he walked back inside.

"What are you doing?" Hikaru demanded as Sephiroth wandered to the roped-off ladder.

Distracted, the silver-haired man only shook his head. "I thought I heard something... Someone calling my name."

Hikaru opened his mouth to speak. The alarms of the craft cut him short, swallowing his words in the din of ringing bells and a constant, nasal-congestion sounding horn. Sephiroth twitched, looking around himself with a scowl, eyes blazing. "What the hell is going on now?!"

"It appears that what's going on is all the bells and whistles of the ship are going off," Hikaru said plainly, shaking his head with a smirk when Seph cast him a dirty look.

"Something's wrong," he said, straining his ears... hearing an indistinct noise, like voices, arguing back and forth. Suddenly he flung himself down the ladder, climbing down even as the propellers whirred faster and faster to signify its prep for take-off. In the distance, beyond the violent roaring blades, the rising sun shed a somnolent shade of pink on the mountains and on the tributary choked valley below.

"No! Let go of me! They're going to take off, he's here!!"

"You don't know that!" The shrill voice was of a woman, desperate, determined to persuade the other speaker to listen. "This...machine, whatever it is, it's not supposed to be here! I have never seen words like that before, or .. or anything the likes of this, ever! It's evil... it's tainted, you must-- NO!!"

Sephiroth jumped from the last five rungs, landing awkwardly as he whirled to find the source of the voices. He found them almost at once; only because he saw a golden-red dragon shuffling uneasily, winged tucked against its lithe, deer-like frame with eyes casting about nervously.

Then, with the final piercing cry a man tumbled out from behind of the wheel of the airship. He yanked against the woman's hands, which clutched at his arm. He turned, sun-gold eyes filled with fire, and roared, "If you don't let go of me this instant, woman, the first thing I'll do when I return is cut off that pretty little braid of yours at the nap of your neck!! Then--"

"ANSEM!!"

Sephiroth's knees weakened. A dizzying well of relief and disbelief and terror filled him at once, mixed with joy and elation unlike anything his body felt before. He staggered forward, his hair obscuring his eyes to see.

Ansem's head whipped around, his arm still caught in the vice-like grip of the woman, who, like some of the passengers he'd seen on the airship, appeared to be bred for rougher lifestyles in the wilderness. His mouth gaped open, his eyes twisted for a mere second on pain and the next moment flung himself at the man whom he had longed for since their inopportune parting.

The pair rushed in, crashing against each other with such force it made a dull thud that made the golden dragon wince and the rough-looking woman jerk backwards slightly. The men embraced tightly, Ansem hanging from Sephiroth's shoulders as he retrieved his footing and straightened, looking up, gripping his jaw with both hands.

"It's you... is it you? It is?" Ansem murmured as he quaked within the comforting, familiar circle of the other man's arms. "I was searching for you... I felt you near."

"I felt you, too," Sephiroth said, dropping his head to his shoulder, his mouth beside his ear as he breathed. "I heard you... I came down to see if it was you... or if I was... If I was crazy." He wet his lips, ignorant of all else but Ansem. For nothing mattered. Except Ansem.

"You're the Other?" Raven said from some distance away.

Suddenly Ansem noticed it had grown quiet. The propellers were all but slowly circling, each rotation slower than the last. He turned with Ansem, staring with intensified, white-hot hatred at Hikaru who stood flanked by a dozen soldiers.

"Intruders," Hikaru said slowly in his light, drawling manner. "Intruders, and you were going to let them onto this sacred vessel, Sephiroth--" He tisked three times, laughing, "--so, I have but to arrest you all now. Get them!!"

Sephiroth drew the sword at once. In the meantime, Ansem retreated backwards, reaching into the pouch without thinking about it. He withdrew three blue stones, hearing Raven speaking rapidly.

So that's how you do it...

His hands followed hers, described the spell for ice and at once, spikes of ice thrust out of the ground all about his enemies, slicing them in twain or impaling them effectively, suspended inches above the earth.

Hikaru cursed profusely as he withdrew, drawing his own sword as Sephiroth dealt cold metallic death to the survivors, before standing in front of Hikaru. "You can die, sir... for all the trouble you've caused me, caused us all!"

"Who is that?"

"Hikaru," the yellow-eyed devil answered. "A cruel little fiendish creature who is by no means an easy creature to kill. But, you, Sephiroth, Ansem, woman and dragon - have at it!"

There was a peculiar hesitation. Hikaru, in Sephiroth's mind, did not seem the type to just let them hack away at him. Sephiroth stood in poised stance, his limbs shaking slightly for no obvious reason. His eyes fell to the ladder, then flashed upward to Hikaru again.

He lowered his sword.

"That's right," Hikaru murmured, smiling. "You don't want to kill me. I am the Key to the outside worlds and here, you are viewed as murderers. As we speak, there is a flight of winged serpents like your golden queen there searching and screaming for your blood."

"This is why I didn't want you to come here," Raven said in irritation and despair. "I knew he would be here... the true murderer. The bastard!! He framed you to keep you both in his control and now there's no getting away!"

Sephiroth sighed, tipping his head back. The only comfort now was the soft, clutching hand that slide its finger in between his. He turned toward Ansem half-way, staring at Hikaru with a bubbling, calculating loathing barely perceptible in his expression. Only in his eyes...

"Now come," Hikaru commanded as he would a common pet. "Come back up to the ship with me and we'll sort this out over breakfast and tea... shall we?"

With a flourish, Hikaru turned away from them all and started up the ladder in all swiftness, his cloak swirling in the faint breeze that drifted in the sun-warmed mountains and the sea beyond them.