A/N: Hiya. I got another chapter up! Woot woot! ::huggles Captain Sagara plushies:: so, I guess I need to complain now... Erm... My brother's Kenshin DVD is scratched ::cry cry:: And it is the fight with Soujiro too! Wah! ::hides in corner to cry a river::
Chapter Eleven: A Step in the Wrong Direction.
He stood still, legs apart and firmly placed on the ground and searched his mind for what it was that he needed to know. He squeezed his hands into fists until his knuckles went white and yet still he stood, the blood slipping in between his fingers and gently dripping onto the ground.
And he thought of the man who had possessed him, and stole his precious body and free will. The cold laugh and the energy that surged through his veins during a summoning filled him. And he concentrated on bringing the man out into the mortal realm.
His clothes were blown by an invisible wind that only he could feel and more energy surged through his veins like lava and he concentrated harder on his mission. And something in front of him flickered.
For the briefest second he saw something and then it was gone. Long platinum hair and blue green eyes... He shivered and then his mind exploded in pain and he fell to the floor clutching his head tightly, biting his tongue as if not to scream.
"I'm sorry," He hissed, rolling on the floor, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY!"
And the pain slowly ebbed away, leaving him laying on the ground on his back, panting and gasping for breath. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing, trying to recollect himself incase someone noticed the surge of energy that had almost summoned him.
He sat up and shook his head, using a corner of his shirt to wipe the sweat off of his forehead, shivering slightly as he felt the tingling sensation of his presence in him saying he was both happy and angry with him.
He shook his head and stood and spread his legs apart and focused all of his energy on him once more.
XOXOXOX
"What does this mean?" John asked leaning over Rodney's desk pointing at a line graph looking thing similar to a heart rate detector utterly confused.
"It means," Rodney said hotly, "That there was another spurt of energy that only lasted for about half a second somewhere on the base. But we can't prove it really existed."
"Oh, so what would it mean if you did?" Major Sheppard asked, looking at the other cluelessly.
"See how high that one bar goes?" Rodney asked, pointing at the screen, "That is more then enough energy to take us to Earth and bring us back. That is why the little bar is important, and I want to prove it really existed."
"But what happens if it is a monster in a box again?"
Rodney stared blank for a moment, before shaking his head and not answering the question, going back to his frantic work as if Major Sheppard had never been there, and still wasn't there.
Sighing bored, John looked around the room a little and noticed a small gold ring and picked it up. He looked at it carefully and it seemed unimportant compared to the rest of the big mysterious things so he ran his thumb over the top and a 3D map appeared in front of him.
"Um... Rodney?"
"I know what the ring does, now put it back," The male said without stopping or delaying his work.
"Fine," John snorted, "Be that way."
Once again, Rodney ignored him and John shoved his hands in his pockets and left the room, deciding he would go visit Dr. Beckett in the labs to see how he was doing. The doctor had been back almost a week now, and his little dragon flunkies were following around as if stalking him.
But what bothered him most was that Carson appeared to be having conversations with himself, as his little dragon friends couldn't talk--- at least he hadn't heard them talk yet.
He stopped walking in front of the doctor's office and the door slid open, admitting him. It only took John half a second to realize something had gone terribly wrong, as Dr. Beckett, Aerith and a few more doctors were gathered around one of the beds, talking quickly.
The black haired and red-eyed dragon/human/thing turned to him and blinked, a slightly worried look on its face. John's eyebrow's shot up, having no idea what the hell could be so wrong that the dragon was worried.
Well, it might have something to do with McKay's mysterious energy signs, but he highly doubted that. Nodding a greeting at Bahamut, he took a few steps towards the table and stood on his tiptoes to see who was on the table.
And he gave out a strangled cry and stepped back, and the doctors turned to look at him, scared, having had no knowledge of his presence. All except Beckett, who shot him a kind smile, before turning his attention back to the boy on the table.
"What happened to Jintoh?" John asked, squeezing past the doctors to the end of the bed, towards the child's feet.
But the strangest part was, how Jintoh was hurt. Burns covered a good portion of his body, but what little clothes the doctors hadn't removed were wet and large cuts covered good portions of the child's body.
His long hair was drenched in blood, and the cot was much in the same state, as Carson tenderly cleaned and wrapped a few of the wounds, as quickly as he could.
"Well, 'Hamut found him," Carson began, and John was almost sure he heard a hiss come from Bahamut before the medical doctor continued, "And he was in this state. 'Hamut said he was off to investigate the mysterious energy flashes he's been feeling."
"But how could Jintoh have anything to do with this?" John asked softly, tracing the edge of the child's shoe, "I know he's changed, but why Jintoh?"
"I wish I could tell you," Carson smiled sadly.
John felt Aerith put a hand on his shoulder and she smiled faintly at him, and he nodded his head, accepting her comfort. She held one hand over Jintoh's leg, and green tendrils flickered from them, wrapping around her fingers till her hand was enveloped in a green light but it faded out as quickly as it appeared.
"And my materia hasn't worked since the last great burst of energy," Aerith said sadly, and something sparked inside of John.
"Did Bahamut find Jintoh before or after that energy spark?" John asked quickly, turning to face the dragon who twirled a lock of granite hair in-between his fingers, smiling a cocky smile, and nodding at Carson.
"Bahamut found Jintoh after the blast," Carson said slowly, "And I know what you are thinking. It is highly possible that whatever it is that made the energy blast did this to him. But there's one problem with that theory. These cuts here, and here, were made by a thin sword, along the lines of a katana."
John stared at Carson for a moment, before turning to look at Jintoh once more, rubbing the cords holding his moccasin like shoes together. This still didn't make any sense to him, an energy blast, a sword, and an injured Jintoh. And all of this started after Aerith had arrived.
"Wait... A katana?" John blinked, "How many katana wounds have you treated before?"
Carson's smile was sly, and his eyes twinkled and he turned his attention back to healing Jintoh's wounds ASAP and John excused himself to go warn Weir that something might be loose in the city, ready to kill its inhabitants.
XOXOXOX
Bahamut brushed the long black hair over his shoulder, and watched as it made silent waves, cascading over most of his back. Running his fingers through the seeming sheets of silk, a half smile appeared on his face as he stepped out of Carson's lab, looking for where John might have went.
He caught a faint scent coming from somewhere to his left and he closed his red eyes, and everything in his mind shone red as well, only various colours of it. At the far end of the hall, far from human sight, was a blazing ruby figure walking away from him.
Opening his eyes, he silently followed the form of the once was ruby red figure, the swishing of his robes and the patter of his feet having seemingly disappeared from him. The dragon made a mental note as he saw John step into the control room, telling him from the nervousness of his scent and the dire situation whatever John had to do was going to take a while.
So he slipped off down another hall, until he came to a small door and it slid open for him. Stepping into the room, Bahamut noticed it was a bathroom and he closed his eyes again, searching for the energy trail he had noticed much earlier.
Behind the mirror, a faint trace of the mysterious energy could be seen, only this was a crimson colour, with yellow specks glittering within it slightly. Opening his eyes, Bahamut pulled down the mirror, awaiting his prize.
And he growled deep within his throat when all he got was an empty storage space and he summoned some energy from his dragon form, before crumbling the mirror like paper, as the millions of tiny shards fell to the ground like rain.
Blood dripped from in-between his fingers, forming a small puddle on the floor. Releasing the last of the mirror to fall to the floor, he brushed a lock of long black hair out of the way before putting his bleeding hands in his robe pockets and exiting the room.
His first lead was gone, he noted dryly, and someone was bound to notice the blood and broken mirror in the bathroom, which would lead to some suspicious thoughts. But that didn't seem to be the worst part yet.
Someone- or thing- capable of mass murder was loose on the base. That, Bahamut could deal with. But what he couldn't deal with was his magical powers were almost diminished and something with plenty off energy was wandering around.
He stalked down the halls, head lowered, and eyes closed, as he traced energy levels until he came to the jumper bay. Seeing nothing of interest, he turned and prepared to walk away when a flicker of life caught his attention.
Turning around, he saw that someone was in the room, with a bright golden aura. Screaming in his head, he opened his eyes quickly and covered them with a hand, momentarily blinded by the bright light.
It appeared, that he had found his mysterious energy being, only it was in the form of a human but something was different about it. Its aura was wrong, almost as if it was... no, something that strong couldn't have been.
The door slid open and admitted Bahamut who walked across the floor, not caring if his unprotected feet stepped on the glass, and ignoring the pain as many cuts began to grace the pale underside of his feet.
Slight puddles of blood from where he had stepped began to form as he walked closer to where he felt the energy emitting. And a new scent suddenly washed over Bahamut, and he almost gagged.
The scent of blood was so undeniably strong, that it would just about kill anyone not already used to its poison. So the thing that hurt the boy really was a murderer, and a cruel and sadistic smile passed over the dragon's face.
Time to make some friends, he thought.
But when he saw the sitting form of the being, he felt himself frozen to the spot, fear springing up from every corner of his body and he let out a strangled cry. The being looked at him, and narrowed its eyes, before Bahamut was hurled to the other side of the room.
Something was terribly wrong if he was here, the dragon thought quickly, and decided that now might be the best time to test out his human body limits, to see how many more scarce minutes he could buy the city.
XOXOXOX
Aerith smiled happily as Jintoh stirred slightly, his fingers twitching. She called to Carson and he rushed to the female's side, looking down at the awakening child, before hugging Aerith tightly, mumbling a silent prayer to the gods.
"Eris! I need you to run and tell Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard that Jintoh has awoken," Carson called over his shoulder to the half asleep teenage Athosian sleeping in his chair, "And tell them to be quick."
"Godspeed," Eris smiled, before hopping up and walking from the room, before running down the long halls on her way to the control room to find the two requested people.
Carson turned his attention back to Jintoh, who now had his eyes open and was staring blankly at the ceiling, as if he was trying to register what had happened in his mind. Aerith took his hand in hers, a faint smile on her lips.
Jintoh's head rolled to the side, and he stared blankly at Carson, his lips moving but no sound came out of them, which confused the doctor greatly. Shaking his head, Carson gestured that the child should not move, because his injuries were too great.
"Beck-ett," Jintoh gasped, choking on the air, "I'm-sorry!"
"Shh... Hush little one," Aerith smiled faintly, stroking his head, "There is no need to worry about anything else."
"No!" Jintoh gasped, his face paling as he used his energy, "It's-my-fault! The-energy! The-Black-Stone! Destroy..."
Jintoh slumped back into his pillows and stopped moving, the heart monitor's constant beeping the only sound as the door slid open to reveal a slightly out of breath Sheppard and Weir, and the energetic female Eris.
"What happened?" John asked, looking at Jintoh nervously.
"He passed out again," Aerith said sadly.
A/N: ::sigh:: I can just imagine Bahamut... maybe I'll see if 'Thais can draw me a picture and put it up. )
Cailean
