A/N: Red hawk K'sani here! Hello to everyone and thanks SO, so much for the reviews. We really appreciate it! Okay, this chapter is a bit like the last one, because it does branch out and we're not in all the same exact places at once doing in the same thing, so it isn't as repetitive as past chappies have been. This chapter is also a bit… darker, kind of, in a way. You'll get once you read the chapter. But when Shady and Eko meet the Oracle, you can be sure to get a hoot out of what the Oracle calls Ekobean… Heh… Read on and enjoy!
Disclaimer: We own Kal and ourselves. The rest of the stuff belongs to NaughtyDog.
K'sani's POV
It's been a few days and still we haven't been permitted to see the Oracle. And when the sandstorm subsides, Shades is going to be in big trouble. I'm kind of amazed that she beat that Arena challenge. But then again, she had Jak with her…
When I asked her about it, she didn't really tell me anything, other than that he was there. Not in the mood, I guess. I sure wouldn't be in the mood either if I'd nearly been killed a few days ago.
One thing that has improved is that Eko's warmed up to me a bit. Though he still rubs his head on the bruise whenever I mention water basins… Ha…
Shady, on the other hand, has been kind of annoying the heck out of me. She kept nagging me about telling Eko about my special "ability." She doesn't have a clue what it feels like, and it's my secret, so I don't think she deserves to tell me what to do. She's not even two years older than me!
Now I'm sitting inside the entryway to the Temple, looking up at the heavens overhead. They're really magnificent in the night, with all the stars, even perhaps the Day Star. I wonder what that other green star is in the sky?
Someone taps my shoulder, and I turn around. It's only Shades. I guess she wanted to join me outside after all. Eko wanted to stay inside and look up some stuff in Precursor books or something.
It's really neat, reading Precursor writing. Eko, along with a little bit of help from the two friendly monks that showed us our rooms, Mist and Enigma, deciphered the Precursor alphabet to its English counterparts. It was really incredible because the written language is exactly the same as English grammar and spelling. But then again, maybe NaughtyDog was just too lazy to make up a complex new language. Ah well. At least the people of this universe and Shady, Eko and I can communicate through English. It was fun confusing the monks by speaking just Spanish to Shady. I think she's fluent in it, whilst I'm just really good at it in school. Still, it was fun.
"Yeah, Shady?" I ask. She has an odd look in her eye…
"I--I really think you should tell Ekobean!" she blurts out. Gah, be QUIET about it!
"No, he doesn't need to know… No one needs to know!" I retaliate.
Oh, God, here it goes, another lecture from Shady! Groan…
"What is so hard about waltzing up to Eko and saying, 'Hi, Eko! Guess what. I can control Dark Eco and I have a blob of it in my pocket!'"
Ugh. "Why are you making such a big deal of this?" It's not a big deal… I think… I hope…
"We're in this together. He deserves to know!" Bleh you!
"The fewer people know, the better."
"What are you afraid of?"
What are you afraid of? Many things. Like if you'd have died in the Arena, or if I can't get back home, or if I die, or if Eko dies… But that's just the regular stuff I was scared of from day one.
What are you afraid of? Rejection, that's what. He doesn't need to know, period.
"I am not afraid!"
"Then why won't you say anything?" she shouts.
Because I'm afraid, that's why. I keep hearing a different voice in the back of my head! Not a different person, but kind of like a conscience… If Eko found out, if even you found out… what would you both think?
"It's, um, in my best interest," I explain. Surprisingly, I am calm. Well, kind of.
"You have NO idea what you're talking about!" NO idea? Ha, right. Last time I checked, I was the one here who's able to control Dark Eco…
"Well, I've got a better idea than you!"
"It's already screwing up your head!" she yells. Oh my God, what if she's right?
"Stop acting as if you know better! You DON'T!" I scream back.
"Y' know what, figure it out yourself!" I WILL!
I put my head in my hands and hear Shades stomping off, but I don't care. Maybe this thing isn't exactly the best adventure I've ever had, and these people aren't my friends…
"K'sani, what the hell is going on?" questions a voice. Eko's voice. Oh, great, just what I need. Now she's trying to make me feel guilty!
"Nothing," I say, standing up. I walk into the interior of the Temple, headed towards the Library. Some of the Precursor stuff is very fascinating.
I continue walking abruptly to the Library, even though I can hear Eko jogging after me.
"K'sani, what happened?" Fly, fly, go away, come again another day… Or never…
I ignore him and keep walking. OH no. Why do I have to pass another Dark Eco vent? The stupid voice keeps pulling me towards it. I pull away, not caring.
"K'SANI!" Eko yells. What, does he think I'm deaf? Shady probably already told him… Ignoring his yells, I continue through the hall. I seem to be getting a bit angrier every step.
Stupid Eko, stupid Shady! Why did I have to be chosen to do whatever it is I'm supposed to do? I can't do it! I can't work a gun, let alone harm another effing person, and that is NOT my fault.
'… You're WEAK.'
Shut up. Jerk.
'Weakling, you're too afraid of emotional hurts! You're not courageous! You're not fit for this!'
I didn't choose to get zapped here, thank you very much. Stupid voice.
'You are unfit to wipe the sand off the other two's shoes!'
"I SAID SHUT UP!" I yell out randomly. It was directed at the voice, but I guess Eko thought it was for him. He's REALLY mad, apparently, because he pins me up against the wall and yells in my face.
"No, K'sani, I will not. You know that Shady knows right from wrong, and I know that something is going on. I'm not stupid."
Not him too!
"Get OFF me, Eko!" I demand. Damn him and Shady, they're both wrong!
"What is going on?"
"I said GET OFF ME!" I slash at his face. It begins to bleed. I look down at my hand and see… claws?
I shiver violently as Eko looks at me in horror. He backs away, speechless.
What are you afraid of? This, Shady, is what I was afraid of. This.
I run past Eko and find what I'm looking for: a mirror.
So, I have claws and purple skin. But I look the same as before. I still have my brown eyes flashing before me, but they seem kind of… reddish… It's weird; I'm not another being, this is me, just me really, really angry, I guess… Me… I can control Dark Eco. That is why I can control myself now…
Okay, it's not that bad… I hope…
"Hawk?" asks a voice. It's Seem; I see her in the mirror.
"Yeah?"
"You and your friends can see the Oracle now. And, by the looks of it, it will help, hopefully…"
Ten minutes later, I'm in the room of the Oracle. I see Eko and Shady in front of the Oracle, and it is speaking to them.
"A power of the Precursors to help you on your quest," booms the Oracle's voice. Light filters down on Eko and Shady. Both glow a light blue color, though Shady's skin returns to normal. However, Eko still glows, and has magnificent wings jutting out of his back.
So, it looks like I'm not the only one who's been keeping a secret right now…
Eko's POV
"Sien-cal-tiempal…" I recite as I read the book placed on the wooden table before me. Both the monks, Mist and Enigma, nod approvingly as I scan over the endless lines of Precurian literature. The language sounds so fluent when spoken, like a clear unending stream.
"Continue," they press.
I strain my eyes and look at the marred, cracked pages. Endless streams of what my aunt would call "gobbledygook" flowed over and over in perfect lines. Nearly half the books in this library were records of the Precursors' achievements in their golden age. The construction of the Great Temple of Cair'Panog, the passage of architecture to the Lower People (the Elves)…the discoveries were endless.
My reading is interrupted suddenly by a distant flow of screams and arguments echoing up from the entrance hall. I snap the book shut and rise up from my stool, half running to the secret bookcase entrance. "Where are you going, Eko?" questions Mist.
"For some air," I reply. PLEASE just let me go without a lecture!
"Your studies are not yet complete," scolds the stricter Enigma.
"I know!" Without turning to them, I pull out the "lever book" and the bookcase opens with an ominous hiss. I pass the polished stone doorway in which the Oracle resided. Seem had been in there for days now without food or water, consulting the Oracle after she returned from Spargus.
I rush down the stairs to the entrance hall. My footfalls are like thunder in the hallowed walls of the temple, echoing both before and behind me. I reach the end and rush out, passing a Dark Eco and Light Eco Vent on either side of me. Though I don't let it stop me, I've been having a strange fascination with Light Eco lately. I've found myself just sitting before a vent staring at the white light issuing forth from the crack in the ground.
I shake my head and continue on. Right before I enter the hall Shady brushes past me. Her face is beet-red, her hands clenched into fists with her satchel thrown over her shoulder. "Shady, what's–" I begin.
"Shove off, Beans," she growls and pushes past me rudely. Now that was uncalled for.
"Shady!" I yell after her, but she's already disappeared up an alternate hallway. I just see the hem of her coat disappear behind the doorway. Stupid Shadowsister.
Whatever. I don't have time for Shady's moody rudeness. I enter the entrance hall to find K'sani curled in a ball on the floor before the massive doorway.
I stand over her and say "K'sani? What's going on?" She tightens and looks up at me. Her eyes are cold and hard. Completely emotionless.
"Nothing," she grunts, stands up and pushes past me. God, what is with the pushing today?
She takes off down the hallway where I've just come from. She's heading for the library. I jog after her. "K'sani!" I yell. She doesn't seem to take any heed and continues marching on. "What happened?"
I can see her head moving from side to side; almost as if she's having a conversation with someone only she can see and hear. As we pass the two vents she hesitates momentarily, almost drawn to the Dark Eco. After a second she pulls away, venturing up the hallway even further.
Now I'm getting mad. I hate it when people ignore me. HATE it! "K'SANI!" I roar. I'm getting close to her now, maybe five feet away.
Suddenly she explodes, "I SAID SHUT UP!"
That's it. That's all I'm going to take from her. I grab her by the shoulders and slam her into the wall so that she's facing me, pinning her in that position. "No K'sani, I won't. Do you think I'm stupid? I know Shady knows right from wrong, and I know that something's going on. So what the hell is it?"
She turns her head away, her eyes tightened into slits. "Get off me, Eko," she growls.
"K'sani, what is going on?" I demand. I'm getting really sick of this now. If we're going to survive here we have to trust one another, and that means telling all of our secrets, and it's time for K'sani to tell hers.
"I SAID GET OFF ME!" She screams and slashes at my face. In a split second everything about her has changed. Her hands have morphed into razor sharp talons, her skin has darkened into a deep shade of purple, and her eyes…they're the most terrifying of all. Deep, deep red, almost with a glow of their own.
I back away from her/it, speechless, my hand slapped over the gashes over my face, which are bleeding freely. The demon before me looks down at its talons and sees the blood dripping from them. K'sani seems to come back. There is still the appearance of the demon, but her eyes seem to regain their deep, dark brown color. She/it looks up at me in horror and then begins to run faster up the hallway, quickly out of view, leaving me leaning up against the wall. I had to find Shady.
As I run up the hallway that Shady had disappeared into I continuously dab at the cuts on my face. They have stopped bleeding now, but they hurt like hell. As I run upwards Seem appears around the bend, her fingers touched together in a pyramid. "I was sent to inform you that you are now permitted to see the Oracle."
I nod. "Sure, ah, have you seen Shadowsister anywhere?"
The hallway leads upwards onto a steep, narrow platform at the very pinnacle of the Temple, overlooking the vast, rolling ocean of sand before us. This is where I find Shady. She is sitting here with her legs hanging over the side of the Temple. Headphones are latched onto her ears, and she's nodding her head to the beat.
I sigh and walk up to her, not bothering to hide the cuts. "Hey," I say, tapping her on the shoulder. Shades jumps and spins around. I'm actually afraid for a minute that she might fall. She plucks off the headphones and replies.
"Yeah?"
I nod and sit down next to her, looking her straight in her eyes. "Shades, is everything ok?"
"Sure, why not?"
I cock an eyebrow. That's barely an answer to my question. She turns her head away from me and looks out over the desert again. I look her over for the first time. Her hair is a mess, and her cheeks are stained from fresh tears. "You're a mess."
She looks up at me and smiles, "No really, I'm fine." Her hand comes up and vainly tries to wipe some of the stains away. She looks back at me and her eyes widen. I guess she finally noticed the cuts. "What happened?"
I shiver and try to come up with a proper answer. "Nothing…just a…er…disagreement."
"Does it hurt?"
Shit yeah. "It stings a little."
Her eyes glaze over as if remembering something, and then she snorts. Honestly she really freaks me out sometimes.
"Are you ok? Cause you know you can tell me anything."
She nods thankfully. "I'm ok. Just a little scared."
I smile and wrap my arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "We're all a bit scared."
She nods and returns the hug. "Thanks babe."
Suddenly I remember Seem's information and quickly give it to her.
Shady and I make our way down the winding staircase into the entrance chamber of the Oracle. A great, expansive room opens up before our eyes. A large platform is set in front of the Oracle itself, massive and solid, head like that of a mosquito. As we step onto the platform its dead eyes flash, and slits of pure white light flash down upon us, focusing. It greets us in a mysterious, echoing voice that reverberates across the expansive room.
"Greetings Sister of Shadows," it booms, and the lights move from Shadowsister to me, "greetings Echoing Bean." My heart sinks as Shady explodes into a fit of uncontrolled hysteria, rolling around on her back, clutching her stomach.
I cover my face. "Oh, someone shoot me…" of all the names possible I had to pick something with the word "bean" in it.
The Oracle interrupts Shady's outburst and continues. "Great things are expected of you. I grant you a Power of the Precursors to aid you on your quest." From out of nowhere a beam of white light falls down upon us. Both of us are lifted up in the air. A rapid, tingling sensation crawls from my head down to the tips of my toes.
We are slowly lowered to our knees. I glance over at Shady. Nothing really seems to have changed, but then I notice that this side of her was glowing somehow. It was reflecting some kind of bluish light. And then I noticed that that light was coming from me. I slowly look down at my hand to see that it is transparent, almost like a worked piece of melted glass. It was giving off a faint bluish glow.
But the biggest surprise came as I sat up. I felt unusually heavy, almost like I was wearing a loaded backpack. I look behind to see a pair of enormous, translucent wings jutting out of my back. They are limp and wet like a butterfly's after it has exited its cocoon.
Despite my wonder at my new gifts (and my confusion at Shady's un-morphed self), I couldn't help but feel a sense of horror lurking deep within me. Where the hell was this going?
Shady's POV
-Flashback to 10 minutes ago-
"I really think you should tell Ekobean," I tell K'sani.
For a while now I had been talking to K'sani about that blob of Dark Eco in her pocket. But she wouldn't listen no matter what I said.
"No! He doesn't need to know. No one needs to know!" she yells back.
"What is so hard about waltzing up to Eko and saying 'Hi, Eko! Guess what. I can control Dark Eco and I have a blob of it in my pocket!'!"
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this!"
"We are all in this together! He deserves to know!"
"The fewer people know the better!"
"What are you afraid of!"
"I'm not afraid of anything!"
"Then why won't you say anything?"
"It's in my best interest!"
"You've got no idea what you're talking about!"
"I've got a better idea than you do!"
"It's already screwing up your head!"
"Stop acting as if you know better!"
That pushed me over the edge. Being the eldest, I felt responsible. But I had to keep reminding myself that they were only younger by a few months.
There was this loyalty clash. On the one hand I did sort of, kind of promised K'sani that I wouldn't tell anyone. But I didn't want to isolate Eko. He was one of us, yet he hasn't got a clue of what's going of going on.
"You know what, you figure it out!" I scream at her.
Grabbing my trusty, indestructible bag I storm off, pushing my way past Eko, who had decided to show up at that precise moment.
"Where are you going?" he calls after me.
"For a walk!"
-In the now-
Looking up at the night sky from the peak of the Temple was very comforting. I was highly tempted to take this hand glider thing for a bit of a spin.
After the… discussion I had with K'sani I had to get away and vent my built-up frustrations. And what better way to do that than to just sit and listen to some hardcore rock music?
I hated this. Everything that was happening was so incomprehensible; I couldn't get my head around it. It scared me. I had no control over anything. Everything was foreign. There was no place for me to go where I felt safe, no sanctuary. The best I could do was to retreat inside my head.
Lying on my back, breathing deeply, I try to calm myself down. Closing my eyes, I feel better. I start to tell myself what I felt. Thinking of it as if I where talking to a psychiatrist.
I was afraid. I felt vulnerable. There is nothing to comfort me, to hold me and tell me it would all be ok. I had never actually feared for my life. There was always someone smarted and more experienced around me. Now I was alone and by myself. I had to look after myself, as if I were an adult. That's too big a step. I wanted my childhood. I didn't want to fight for my life and the lives of others. It was too big a responsibility. I had only ever looked after my brother. And that was in our own house for a few hours, and he can practically take care of himself. Here I was alone, with all these new rules, new dangers. I couldn't cope with that. And on top of that K'sani is Dark Eco-touched. Who knows what could happen?
And what was with that head!
I finally break down. Tears roll down the side of my face and into my hair. At least gravity still worked right. My breath is jerky and uneven. I would give anything to be in my room.
I don't know for how long I was crying, or how long I was up here. All I know was that the tears never stopped, they just became silent.
For a while now I had been singing along to most of the songs on the MD. Right now was My Immortal. It didn't really help; it's such a sad song.
"… These wounds won't seem to heal,
This pain is just too real,
There's just too much that time cannot erase.
When you cried I'd wipe away all of you tears.
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears.
I held your…"
"Hey."
I jump about a metre into the air. I was kind of hoping no one would see me like this. Eko had somehow managed to get to my hiding place.
"Yeah?" I barely whisper.
Eko sits down next to me, looking at me with worry. "You ok, Shades?"
"Sure, why not," I say, not really thinking of what he asked me. What did he ask me? Was it if I wanted some Yorkshire pudding, coz I could really go for some right about now.
"You look a mess." He frowns.
"No, really, I'm ok." I try to wipe away some of the tears. Now it's my turn to frown.
There is a big gash on his face. It doesn't look too deep, but it still looks painful.
"What happened!" I ask in shock.
"Nothin'. Just a… disagreement."
I bite my lip. Had K'sani really injured Eko?
"Does it hurt?"
"Eh, it stings little." He shrugs.
At that moment I was reminded of Kung Pow, really weird movie. Namely that bit where the Chosen One's hands are all bloodied and Ling asks if it hurt and he says no and then she starts putting all these thing it his hands like lemon juice and salt and mercury from a thermometer. I snort at the memory.
"Are you sure you're ok?" he asks. I nod. "'Cause you know you tell me anything."
I nod again. "I'm ok. I'm just a bit scared."
He smiles and gives me a hug.
"I think we're all a bit scared."
"Thanks babe."
"Yeah, well, Seem said something like, 'You are now permitted to view the Oracle.'"
I laugh. "That thing is delusional or something."
So we make our way down to the ground where one of the monks is waiting for us. He leads us though the Temple complex. The walls are covered in statues of precursor robots. I still reckon they look like mozzies.
We arrive in a large circular-ish room with a huge ginormous mozzie thing in the centre. We are level with the torso, if that's what it is. The rest of its body was all the way down below us. It was so alien.
Suddenly, its big googly eyes crack open, revealing a glowing blue light, and starts to speak in that voice.
"Greetings, Sister of the Shadows. Greetings, Echoing Bean."
I cannot to contain my laughter. I fall to the ground, clutching my stomach. "Echoing Bean?" I manage to gasp. That was the most stupid name! It was FUNNY!
"Oh God, kill me now," mumbles Eko.
I finally manage to control myself; the Oracle begins to speak again.
"Great thing are expected of you. I give you a power of the Precursors to help you on your quest."
A beam of light falls upon us. I feel all warm and fuzzy. I can't remember the last time I felt like this. I felt graceful and a hell of a lot older for some reason.
I glance over at Eko. I was surprised to see him a translucent blue and glowing. Weird tentacle-like wings sticking out of his back. I look at my own hands. They are still solid looking, and I can't help but feel a little disappointed.
K'sani: Please continue reviewing, and feel free to check out any of Ekobean's, Shadowsister's, and my works on fanfiction! BYES! Don't forget to review:)