We did not see Diganis in the time leading up to the rebellion meeting. I did not want to see her. We were traitors to what little we held dear, all of us. The meeting started after sundown. We started to ready ourselves hours in advance, the ritual preparing our minds. MiracleStar laid out all the weapons on the table and took a deep breath before picking up her stiletto.
She was dressed in that black suit again, but with a jacket over it as a disguise of some sorts. She removed the jacket and hung it over a chair to arm herself. The stiletto up her sleeve. The hemlock darts on her belt. A dagger in each boot. Another in the inside of her jacket and two throwing knives in the other side of it. I slowly picked up my own daggers, buckling the belt around my waist. I added the hemlock darts to it and pulled my faerie-blessed cloak over my shoulders, pinning it just below the gold collar around my neck. Diganis had made these cloaks for us. I frowned and ducked my head, slowly removing the earrings from my ears. Beside me everyone else was donning their weaponry. Skyil's eyes caught MiracleStar adding a dagger to her belt, the only weapon she was carrying openly. She drew in a sharp breath and shuddered, her golden ears shaking. MiracleStar looked at her slowly, reluctant to catch her gaze. Then she moved her hand away from the dagger and walked away from us. I watched her go then leaned over to allow Skyil to whisper in my ear what had just happened. She caught my intention and reluctantly leaned over also.
"That dagger was the one she used when questioning An'feil."
"An'feil?"
"The faerie."
I quickly turned away from her and walked over to where MiracleStar stood gazing out the window. The dying rays of the sun illuminated her short brown hair and the shadows of her dark blue jacket.
"Com'n," I said softly, "We're ready to go."
She nodded and led us out of the room and down a rarely used passageway of the castle. It led down underneath and to a dead end. MiracleStar traced her hands against the wall and with a click part of the wall slid out of sight, revealing a long narrow tunnel.
"A secret way out of the castle no one but Fyora and her most trusted servants know of," she explained and led the way through.
We emerged into sunlight out of a remote portion of the cloud. The castle walls were behind us, the city to our left. MiracleSTar nodded and looked out into the sky.
"Right. Here comes the fun part. Getting down to Neopia Central. Jaix, think you can glide me down?"
The acara reluctantly nodded.
"I think my wings will hold us."
We nodded and one by one leaped off the edge of the cloud, snapping our wings out and catching the wind. Jaix was the last one to leap; catching hold of MiracleStar's hands and letting their momentum carry them out into the sky.
We fell fast, MiracleStar's weight pulling them down. We followed, keeping pace with the two. We landed in an open marketplace of Neopia Central. MiracleStar hit the ground hard and dropped into a crouch to absorb the impact. Jaix landed a short distance ahead, folding his wings back against his back. We then adjusted our cloaks and turned to MiracleStar. She stood and started walking towards a side street. We followed.
A couple more side streets than an alley. The sun was completely down and the meeting had definitely started by then. We stopped just outside it and MiracleStar took a deep breath and dropped her head. When she raised her eyes again they were cold and devoid of emotion. This was Kristen the assassin. Not our owner anymore.
"Let's go," she said.
We didn't need to be told anything else. We followed the stranger that our owner had become to a small door set in the side of the building. She knocked and a spotted aisha answered.
"Whatdya want?" he asked.
She didn't reply, only grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him out in the alley, a hand over his mouth and looped a wire around his neck. She pulled tight, the aisha gasping and struggling against the wire that bit into his neck and cut off all oxygen. Then his eyes slid shut and he went limp. MiracleStar shoved his body aside behind a pile of garbage and led the way in. It was a narrow hallway, dimly lit and leading to a concrete basement.
"You never told us what this was all about," I whispered.
"Stupidity, like always," she replied, "Disgruntled people tired of how things are ran and wanting to change things in any way possible. Fyora is in danger though and once again I have to save her the only way I can. Maintaining the status quo. That's all this is about."
"I'm starting to think a regime change would be good," I grumbled.
"Oh? From people that believe Jhudora would make a good leader?"
I didn't reply to that. For one thing, we could hear voices up ahead. I grinned at MiracleStar and she confidently strolled into the main room. Two guards stopped us, quickly demanding a password.
"Libero," she replied.
The guard looked at her intently and then nodded us in. We strolled into the crowded room where an assortment of pets, humans, and faeries congregated in tight groups and muttered to themselves. Everyone was armed. I kept glancing from side to side, catching people's glances nervously. They were watching us, all of them. MiracleStar had said the password would be fine even though we were strangers. Most of the members had never seen each other in person. But something was strange...
Skyil let out a screech then, whipping her dagger out of her sheath. MiracleStar gasped and pulled her own as every person in the room responded by drawing weapons. It was then I noticed the scrap of red cloth around every person's wrist.
"We changed the password after that stupid faerie went missing," one of the guards smirked, "You lackeys of Fyora failed."
The rebellion faeries moved forwards to the front, power growing around them. My breath was coming fast and with a cry MiracleStar broke our circle and attacked.
She moved in a blur. The stiletto appeared in her hand, slashing to the side. A faerie fell. She whirled as magic flew, dodging between the blasts. Commotion raged around us as she whirled in a black clad harbinger of death. I joined the fray, bringing down, one, two, before I felt cold steel slide between my ribs.
I gasped, feeling liquid fill my lungs and coat my chin. I staggered back and stared in shock at the grim faced ixi that held the bloody dagger. I fell to my knees, my own bloodstained dagger falling to the floor. In a haze I saw Taffin fall, then Skyil. Jaix was pulled down next in a crowd of pets. And MiracleStar dancing through it all in a whirlwind of destruction, weaving in her deadly grace along the blood-slicked floor. But not even she could stand forever. A faerie hit her with a bolt of magic and she fell spread-eagle to the ground, her brown hair spread out around her face. I gasped again, coughing, and felt my vision going dim. All around me were the muttering voices and the dying pets. And my dying family.
"Reality..." I gasped, "Change... save us... just this once... heed my voice...."
For the first time ever it heard my desperate and dying plea. There was a raw bubbling of power that crackled on the air and I felt something within me twist. The room around me blurred, shifted, and reformed. I stood at the entrance to the room, MiracleStar and the rest around me, whole and unhurt. Every single one of us wore the red cloth bracelets on our wrists.
"Skyil," I hissed as MiracleStar gave the password, a different one this time, "Do you know what just happened?"
She looked at me in utter confusion, obviously thinking I was insane.
"Huh?"
"Nevermind, I'll explain later," I muttered in reply, quickly realizing that only I remembered our deaths.
We entered the room and were greeted warmly by the other members.
"Taffin!" a green kyrii cried, "It's about time you got here!"
Taffin blinked then broke into a broad grin.
"You did this, didn't you?" he asked me.
I was about to reply but he was already trotting off, brushing back his hair and ready to charm the socks off the girl that had called his name. I rolled my eyes and turned to MiracleStar. She was already weaving her way through the crowd, heading for a tunnel that must lead to the council meeting. I took a deep breath and followed her, careful not to make a sound. She would send me back if I did. As she walked down the tunnel, alone except for me, she drew her stiletto. My breath stopped suddenly and I shook myself, trying to control my fear. Kristen.
She eased around a corner. I could hear voices talking. Among them I recognized Diganis, saying something about her wings. For a moment I wondered if these people had it right; if perhaps Fyora should fall. Then I remembered the gloating look of the pet that had killed me and I dropped my own paw to my dagger.
The girl moved faster than I could follow. She spun out into the doorway, three darts flying from one hand. There were cries and then she was among them, spinning and ducking, her silver stiletto sending someone falling with every move. I dove into the fray right after her, bringing my dagger up into someone's ribcage and then blocking an attack from the next person. I drew my other dagger and stabbed the lupe in the side, then ripped sideways. I could dimly hear cries from the main room; apparently the rest were making good on their distraction.
It only became a haze of fighting from then on out. Slash, thrust, block, and parry. That was all. I could feel spells from the faeries but I managed to evade the few that hit me. Most were concentrated on the girl that walked amongst them, death incarnate. I outmaneuvered my last opponent and pulled my dagger from his heart, spinning to face my next foe. There were none.
"MiracleStar!" I heard Taffin cry, "Get out!"
"Go!" she cried back.
There was silence from them and I could hear the commotion heading our way.
"So how do we get out?" I asked.
She visibly started and turned to me in shock.
"I told you not to follow me!" she cried.
"So how do we get out?" I repeated.
The rest of the rebellion was closer. She frowned and hastened to the door, shutting and locking it, barring it with a nearby chair.
"You were going to get out with the rest," she said.
"And you?"
She fell silent again.
"I wasn't."
"WHAT?!"
"Nianso... I'm Kristen again. That's the last thing I ever wanted to be."
The door shuddered from the impact of the rest of rebellion. MiracleStar turned to face it, her dripping stiletto in her hand. I remained looking at her.
"How many times do I have to tell you we don't care about Kristen?" I said, "We want MiracleStar. This isn't' going to help you, it certainly isn't going to help us."
"I didn't want this. I wanted to fade away into obscurity, not have my past dredged up again. There will be consequences for you if I remain. So I decided to save you and let Kristen go. I did not intend to loose you in the process Nianso..."
The door creaked and the hinges started to give way.
"I already saved us once tonight," I said, "I can't do it again."
"I noticed that. It seemed odd that we were welcomed so warmly. No, you cannot save us again. Taffin, Jaix, and Skyil will be alright, I think. But us... there's no way to change this. Let's make quite an end of it."
"Yes."
And I came to stand by her, our last stand.
"Are you quite resolved now?" a dry voice said from behind us.
I whirled around to see Diganis staring in a corner, a frown on her face.
"Diganis!" I cried, "Can you teleport us out of here?"
"Of course not. I lost my wings. I have no magic."
"Then you'll fight and die with us," MiracleStar replied, tossing her a dagger.
She caught it and dropped it to the ground in distaste.
"I don't' think so. Unlike you, Kristen, I don't share your taste for self-pitying melodramatics. I plan to make the most of this pathetic life I have left. You have it better than me, you know. You have your family. I have nothing. Now come here."
I moved over to stand by the air faerie, curious. MiracleStar did not move.
"Your family!" Diganis cried, "If you can't come to grips with what you are for yourself than do it for them!"
The door shattered and pets and faeries poured in. She dashed towards us and Diganis held up a jewel. It flared bright and when the light dimmed we were out of the basement. And MiracleStar fell to her knees and cried.