The Saturn Adept

(Complete with boring title, unoriginal plot, and painful Mary Sue x Isaac action!)

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A/N: Meep.

I am going to flee now. For the hills.

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Airetaliel lead them around the rest of the rooms like a tour guide in a museum – always talking softly, stepping lightly, and answering any questions with a dignified, though flat, voice. Jenna was cringing most of the time she spoke when she wasn't looking. Sheba looked beyond bored. However, the small blonde kept on her toes, and whenever the elf...thing...asked a question of them, she answered promptly. Airetaliel looked mildly pleased whenever she did so.

"Just how many levels does this thing have?" Jenna asked to neither of her companions in particular. She glanced around the room they were in now – the "magic" room, supposedly – and suppressed a shiver. She really didn't want to know what kind of things Xanaeya had pickling in here... One of those round things sitting in a jar of murky...liquidy...stuff...looked like it was staring at her.

"We are on the fifth level. This tree has seven levels total, the top of which is the uppermost branches of the tree." Airetaliel answered promptly, smoothing out a fold in her dress as she sat on a plush chair nearby, fingering her staff. "Tiring, isn't it?"

"Very." Sheba replied for Jenna, who was trying to discreetly step away from the blobby thing that she thought was glaring at her. The blonde gently touched Jenna's arm, and the redhead jumped, looking (and squeaking) like a cornered mouse. "Jenna, dear, there's nothing in here that can hurt you. Badly, anyways."

Jenna shot her a glare – not one of those fear-inducing-heart-going-meep! glares, but it was enough to make Sheba giggle nervously, and Sheba rarely giggled nervously as it was. Airetaliel watched their exchange with a neutral expression. "Let's go to the next room." She said stiffly, stomping out of the room with a very fast stride. Sheba glanced at Airetaliel, but the elf had already turned and walked out after her. Sheba cast one last glance around the room (Though creepy, it was all rather intriguing) and followed the two out.

The sixth floor was the master bedroom, a nicely furnished room with a king-sized bed with goosedown pillows (supposedly; neither Jenna nor Sheba had bothered to squish them to see if this was true). In one corner was another bathroom (Just how did plumbing work in this place? both of the girls were wondering), and on the other side of the room was a balcony. Sheba, who was mildly fearful of heights (falling off a lighthouse could do that to you), saw no reason for a balcony to have been put there, but did not voice her comments. She had the feeling Airetaliel knew, though. (1)

The last room was the observatory. It was nestled between a fork in a very large branch – they had to cross over the branch itself to get to it. (Sheba was shrieking all along the pathway.) Upon reaching this final room, Jenna decided that 'observatory' was just a fancy name – it was merely a room with completely glass walls, and a glass dome ceiling. There was a balcony encircling the entire area, but when Airetaliel offered to open up a door to that area, Sheba promptly refused to go, and latched herself onto Jenna's arm. Jenna, anchored down by the blonde, politely refused.

As Sheba was warily glancing around the room and continuing to cut of Jenna's blood circulation, a bell in the corner tinkled, and Airetaliel turned to the two teenage girls, smiling. "Xanaeya has finished with the treats. Let's go back, shall we?"

"Do we have to?" Sheba asked, looking far more pitiful than usual.

Jenna sighed loudly, casting a glare in her direction. "You wanna stay here, Sheba?"

"No!" And Sheba promptly let go of her and ran out, screeching the entire way.

Airetaliel gave Jenna one of those curious half-smiles that never failed to make you wonder what they were thinking, then swept out of the room after Sheba. Jenna snorted and followed, arms crossed over her chest. Weirdoes, the lot of them.

Jenna caught up to the height-fearing blonde and creepy elf back at the main floor. Said blonde was indulging in some cookies, which immediately alarmed Jenna – what the heck was she doing eating Xanaeya's cookies? "SHEBA!"

"Mmrf?" Sheba looked up, blinking.

Jenna found herself at a very decisive moment – save Sheba's life by making her cough up the cookies, or get her and Sheba both beheaded for offending Xanaeya. What could she do? Let Sheba die, or get themselves both killed? Well, if Sheba died, she'd just be less one (Though useful) sidekick, but if they both died... That'd be the end of the Removal-of-all-Girls-Deemed-Evil journey they had suddenly found themselves on.

By the time she came to her decision, Sheba was staring expectantly up at her, no longer chewing.

"AAAAAGHHH!" Jenna screamed, her fists clenched in sheer terror, eyes wide as saucers. "SHEBA!"

"Jenna? Is there anything wrong?" Xanaeya asked, coming into the room, a fresh batch of cookies in her hands.

"SHEBA'S GOING TO – oh...well. Um, no, not really. Not at all! I'm sorry, I must be...um...seeing things... Yes, that's it..."

"Are your eyes going bad?" Xanaeya frowned, setting the cookies down before Sheba on the table. "I have a balm for that, if you're seeing kind of blurry..."

"No! No, no, no, that's fine. I'm fine. Just a little... Yeeeah." Jenna awkwardly sat herself down on a plush, overstuffed chair, blinking bemusedly at the ground. Xanaeya didn't seem too bothered with this or chose to ignore her peculiar behavior and went back into the kitchen, humming to herself cheerfully.

"Jenna? Jenna. Jenna!" Sheba's first attempts at rousing Jenna out of her fear-induced state went unnoticed, however, giving her a good whack on the head pulled her out rather quickly.

"Ow! Why did'ja do that?" Jenna scowled at her, clutching at the side of her head. "I thought I had enough dents in my head from the times you miscalculated your practice swings and gave me concussions..."

"That was a long time ago!" Sheba said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest. "I had no idea what the difference between an axe and a rapier was back then! Now I can whup anything that's stupid enough to cross my path!"

"Including Garet." Jenna muttered, giving the cookies a suspicious side-long glance. Head is saying no. Stomach is saying pleeeease.

"Garet doesn't know left from right, woman on her monthly or woman not on her monthly." Sheba frowned, eyebrows furrowed for a moment. Then she blinked up at her. "Are you feeling something a little..." She leaned forward, glancing left and right for eavesdroppers. "...off?"

Jenna stared down at her as though she had suddenly grown horns and was declaring that a world crisis was bad fashion. (That was Jenna's belief, truth be told. Some people needed to be told what they were doing wrong.) "Actually...yeah."

"I don't mean the cookies." Sheba hissed, eyes narrowed in more than just mild frustration.

"Oh." Jenna thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, yeah, either way..."

Sheba rolled her eyes and sighed. Jenna stuck her tongue out at her, then kicked her in the shin for good measure. (And besides, kicking Sheba around had always been fun. Take that any way you want...)

"I meant... just... this environment. It's just... too quiet... You know?" Sheba tried, hoping this time she'd make it past Jenna's "OMG teh cookies are teh 3b1L!11!"-idea. (2)

"...I guess..." Jenna said boredly, kicking her feet back and forth. "I mean, Isaac's not squealing or anything, that's...new..."

Sheba muttered something to herself as if on a cue, there was a loud, almost girlish scream from the kitchen.

I should keep my mouth shut more often, Jenna noted mentally to herself as Isaac's screech grated on her already-abused-well-enough eardrums. Beside her, she heard a soft 'whumpf' noise, and looking over, saw Sheba slumped against the arm of her chair, apparently unconscious.

(leik omgz.)

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Karst smirked, despite being rather bruised and cut up more than she had been before this impromptu battle. The girl, being powerful with her wind magic, was very clumsy with the short sword she wielded, often slashing at air as Karst dove around her and came close to splicing out her spine, but always failing. Katelyn, like the rest, probably had some special 'aura' or other that kept her from being mortally wounded... Why were the gods favoring them over the rest of them? The next guy deserved a special aura as much as this brat...

Karst held out her scythe for balance as a wind blast swept over her, her dark red hair trailing behind her and eventually falling back next to her as it died away. With a grin, she taunted, "Your magic's getting weaker, if you can't tell!"

"Shut up." Katelyn growled, swinging her short sword dramatically around her as a purple circle traced itself around her feet. Karst eyed the circle somewhat warily, taking a step back but moving no further. "You Proxians, you're all the same, aren't you? All filthy, inside and out..."

Karst's eyebrow twitched. As was every other Proxian, she felt a strong surge of hatred towards the brat for insulting her heritage. She must die.

"You know what?" Katelyn's voice was hoarse and nearing hysterical as jets of air encircled her. "Maybe I'll become a Proxian hunter after I kill you! Then I won't have to deal with you psychos anymore!"

...Look who's talking, Karst thought to herself in a droll tone, preparing a Pyroclasm. (3)

"KADO NO KAZE!" (4)

"PYROCLASM!"

Their attacks smashed together and exploded like fireworks on steroids, creating a huge, flaming, tornado-like windstorm around the battlefield. Karst narrowed her eyes, trying to see if she had managed to hit Katelyn, but the dust and hair whipping into her eyes kept her from doing so.

Slowly, the tornado died away, leaving an unconscious form across from her and another one between them, covered in silvery feathers. Karst blinked away the dust from her eyes and readjusted her scythe. She crept up to the closest figure and carefully leaned down to try and see who it was.

"Karst..." It wheezed.

Karst backpedaled and almost fell over, staring wide-eyed at the figure.

"Karst," it said again, and with a shudder, the person-thing pulled itself upwards, just a little bit. "Karst, promise me...something..."

Karst shuffled closer again, staring hard at the person-thing. Wait, silver feathers – it wasn't that thing from before, was it? No, that had been cleaved in half by Xanaeya (she had to admit that at the least). Some of the feathers flitted away when a particularly strong breeze rushed over the field. Coppery curls were revealed, as well as pale skin...

"Marie?" Karst asked, not sure why she was even bothering with her. But she was perturbed as of why the girl was out here to begin with...

"...Find...happiness..." Marie wheezed, reaching out to her feebly. Karst stared, unsure whether to take it or not (But her common sense telling her not to). Seconds passed, but time seemed to stretch beyond their plane of reality. (5)

Needless to say, Karst was pretty darn confused.

The hand fell and with a small ghost of a smile, Marie's eyelids fluttered shut a final time, leaving Karst with a dead angel (assuming it was an angel) and an unconscious psycho.

Karst sighed and rubbed her forehead.

I need a nap.

x x x x x

Jenna was having the spaz attack of her life.

Perhaps it wasn't the spaz attack of her life, but it was pretty darned close. Sheba was unconscious after indulging in the Evil Cookies of Xanaeya-That-Witch, and, and... She would lose a valuable sidekick if Sheba died! She needed her sidekick to help her fight off these evil beings of Alex! And rescue Garet and Isaac! And Menardi! She needed Sheba's help, however much it bruised her pride to admit it!

"AAAAGGGHHH!" was all that came out instead of those frantic, distressed questions, making her sound far less intelligent than usual.

Immediately Airetaliel appeared at her side, looking as calm and serene as ever, as though totally unaware of the worrying event that had just happened. "So Sheba is unconscious..."

Jenna just screamed some more, until Airetaliel slapped a pale hand over her mouth, effectively cutting her off.

"Breathe, child," Airetaliel told her almost warningly, then let go after a moment. Jenna took quick, deep breaths, hoping she didn't look too worried. (It was always bad to show weakness in the presence of an enemy. Or so Saturos had said during their aimless wandering, anyways.) Airetaliel seemed to hum (Was it energy? There was a blue tinge surrounding her) and crept near to the unconscious Sheba, as though she would jump up all of a sudden. Which wasn't likely anyways, but...

"I wonder what caused this..." Airetaliel murmured in her usual soft way, stretching out one hand towards the blonde. The tips of her fingers scratched against a purple barrier that had appeared as soon as her nail had scraped the edge. It flickered as she kept her hand where it was, her crimson eyes peering at it in a curious way. "Strange..."

Jenna was struggling with her panic bubbling up in her. Wake up, sidekick! WAKE UP! Your help is still muchly needed in this plane of reality!

Something occurred to her then as the majority of her brain was going PANICPANICPANIC – perhaps this was the special Psynergy barrier that was unconsciously raised in times of dire problems?

Or had Garet been lying that entire time about that time in Kolima when they'd passed out and had created these weird barriers unintentionally, and had deflected some of that weird magic from that tree? (Well, Garet certainly boasted a lot, probably to try and impress her. But Jenna doubted he'd be able to reflect anything back at anyone, even if he had been awake and concentrating.) But anyway...

"Xanaeya," Airetaliel called, straightening, silvery-gold-metalsomething hair swishing around her gracefully. Jenna glared at it – why did all these girls come with such nice hair? Hers had split ends and often looked a sort of dullish brown in the sunlight... "Could you come and check on Sheba? Something's wrong with her."

So superspecial!elf doesn't have all the answers! Ohoho! Jenna's ever-present cynical mind cackled, slapping nonexistent hands on nonexistent thighs. This is rich!

Shut up. My sidekick's life is on the line. Jenna replied sourly.

Soon Xanaeya came plodding out of the kitchen, eyes a sparkling, sapphire blue. (6) Isaac followed her like the lovesick puppy that he was, sometimes spouting out strange phrases that sounded like poetry, but had hit something somewhere in the middle. Like, say, a large boulder. And then had promptly keeled over and died.

"Oh dear, what's wrong with her?" Xanaeya asked, looking worriedly at the unconscious wind Adept sprawled on one of her chairs.

"She's unconscious." Airetaliel stated in a calm tone.

Duh, went Jenna's cynical mind with a facepalm.

No, she's making daisy chains. Jenna sighed.

"Let us put her in the guest suite – perhaps she's merely exhausted." Airetaliel suggested, shrugging one shoulder. "I am unable to pick her up, however... There is a barrier that keeps me from touching her."

Xanaeya reached forward towards Sheba, and Jenna fought the urge to jump in front of Sheba, to protect her from that evil...blonde...thing... Granted, Xanaeya wasn't looking very frightening, wearing a light blue apron with frilly hems, but Jenna knew from experience that angering the woman whether she was wearing her battle garb or a yellow raincoat and polka dotted rubber boots was generally not a very intelligent idea.

The Saturn Adept's hand encountered the barrier, but with a gentle push, slipped through, the Psynergetic wall surrounding her wrist and arm. Xanaeya's expression was that of pure seriousness and determination as she continued to push her arm through, never blinking. Jenna stared, somewhat horrified.

Her fingers brushed the cloth of Sheba's dress, and the purple barrier shrank back all of a sudden, disappearing with a small 'pop!' noise.

"leik zomg W0W xaneaya u totaly diid it!111" Isaac exclaimed, clapping his hands together in apparent exuberance. Jenna stared at him, unable to form any coherent thoughts.

"Thank you, Isaac." The blonde woman smiled demurely at him, then carefully picked Sheba up in her arms as though she weighed nothing more than a sackful of pillows. "Now up to the guest bedroom... Aire, if you could mix up one of your potions? Yours are a lot more potent that mine."

The Elf smiled back at her then nodded, gliding towards the kitchen in the corner. "I will, dear friend. I will see to a potion."

Jenna felt very out-of-place amongst the three, who seemed all so...perfect...and harmonious together. Aside from squealy Isaac, that is. Nonetheless, Xanaeya and Airetaliel seemed to have a perfect friendship going, and Xanaeya and Isaac were so in love...

Definitely fishy, remarked the cynical mind, stroking its chin. It appears as though they never fight, never argue, just agree with each other and do each other's bidding...

Jenna looked around the room, feeling a desperate urge to escape her current situation, with or without her unconscious sidekick.

But you can't leave her! That's... inhumane! The good-hearted side of her wailed petulantly.

It's a dog-eat-dog world. The rotten-hearted side of her (otherwise known as the cynicism) said flatly.

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Karst was having one of those days. One of those really bad, this-is-the-definition-of-a-bad-day days.

For one, Marie was dead. Jenna wouldn't care (perhaps she would be even happy), but Mars knew what Jenna's parents would do to her.

Second, that Katelyn brat was unconscious, and bleeding from her forehead. Karst didn't really care about the fact she was bleeding (maybe she'd die from blood loss and Karst wouldn't have to deal with her when she woke up), but was rather concerned about what she had to do with her for the time being. People would ask if she walked to the town gates and chucked her out, but...

Aha!

Karst grinned evilly to herself, and dashed as quickly as she could back to Jenna's little home. Ignoring her parents' questions of "Where's Marie?", she ran into the other Mars Adept's room and scanned the cluttered area. There it was, on her desk. Karst lunged for it, and tossed off the hair clips and parchment lying on top of it.

With the item in hand, Karst scurried back out, once again ignoring the questions thrown her way, running all the way back to the battlefield. Marie and Katelyn were still where they were, for which Karst was glad – who knows what these "special" things were capable of, after all, even in an unconscious and totally unmoving state? Karst slowed, and strode over to Katelyn's unconscious form.

Gripping the item in one hand, Karst bent down and put the fingertips of her other hand (Who wanted to touch one of these things if they had to, after all?) on Katelyn's shoulder.

"Prox!" Karst yelled, and with a flash of Psynergetic light, they were gone.

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END CHAPTER EIGHT

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(1) – Those elves sure like playing God, hmm?

(2) – omg leik i culd RESIST. Seriously, though, I bet if you posted this on a messageboard full of those 10-year-old anime teenyboppers that think Sesshoumaru is the hottest little fluffball this side of the Western World, you'd probably get hammered. Just a thought.

(3) – I think Karst knows that move. I think.

(4) – Always with the grammatically-incorrect-Japanese uberspeshuul moves. Is that correct Japanese? I really dunno. It's supposed to mean "deadly wind" in a really abstract way, I guess, but then, I just ripped "deadly" from the English-Japansese dictionary I had, and slapped 'no' and 'kaze,' meaning "of wind" to it... Yeah. Times like these, I'm ashamed to say I'm Japanese and I am totally unable to translate.

(5) – The supertastically cheesy line found in some shape or form in bad romance novels or deathfics or whatever. Seen here for the heck of it.

(6) – Everybody wishes they had 'amethyst' colored eyes, or 'emerald' or 'ruby' hair. Whatever. You'd be a walking geologist's dream, y'know. It hurts to have little particles in your eyes, so what would you do with one the size of a dime in there?

...I'm so terribly sorry for the wait. Honest. If my writing is deader than usual, it's because I'm stressed... I get stressed very easily. Argh.

That time I said I was working on The Saturn Adept in my Kamaboko LJ? I meant it that time. :p Ye of so little faith... (Not like I blame you, though.)

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