Fortune 6-Shooting Star
I was awake but for some reason I was having trouble moving. When I had first caught sight of the man and his companion I was going to scream, to wake the others, but they got to me before I could do that. And now—now I was tied up against an uncomfortable white bed that felt like wood beneath my back. Talk about déjà vu.
The main difference between then and now was that I could remember being tied up. Well, all things considered, I wouldn't really call what had happened being tied up either. The man had thrown me roughly against the bed and the moment I had made contact these silver chains snaked around my arms, legs, waist, and neck. Everything was exactly the same as it had been all those years ago. The place retained that same cold, dark look like dungeon or hidden room of sorts of a very large, very lovely, very expensive mansion.
Only problem, or the one that seemed to stand out the most in my mind, was that there was no one to protect me this time. Aiichirou, Papa, Arekusa, and the others had all sacrificed their lives last time to take me out of this very same position. And all for nothing, even though I had lost them all I found myself back here. Was this place doomed to haunt me until the day I finally died?
I closed my eyes and became buried deep within the darkness of my thoughts. It's strange how, when one knows that one is close to death, time becomes disproportioned. Seconds feel like minutes, minutes feel like hours, hours feel like days…
Though I longed for some relief from the gloom of my own thoughts that change in time wouldn't allow it. I was forced to ponder upon the horrible thoughts that were spreading through my head like wildfire. I hadn't been able to protect myself last time; I had so foolishly relied on the aid of others. And for what? To watch them die before my eyes? To land here again? How, if I couldn't do it then, was I supposed to protect myself now? There was no one to die for me this time, no one to help me out of it. I was utterly alone.
Within those seconds that lasted for a thousand lifetimes I came to the sudden realization that, well, the past was the past. I was a different person now than I was back then when everyone had been forced to protect me because I was not capable of the task myself. I was older, stronger…I could do at least a thousand different things now that I hadn't been able to do then.
The moment I came upon that realization, the moment that I decided I would be strong for those who had died to protect me time seemed to speed up again. Even though it was moving at its normal pace, it felt all the quicker because of how much it had slowed down while I needed to think. For some reason, this made me feel powerful, as if I had some sort of control over the workings of time, of which was completely untrue. But, the teenager I was, every little thing seemed to swell the ego that was previously faltering.
Out of the corner of my eye I watched my captor advance on my, a strange knife held in his hand. And trust me, I knew what some pretty strange weaponry looked like by that time. As he raised the blade high above me I noticed that the blade looked more like a claw than an actual blade. It was quite like the claws of the dragon I saw oftentimes in my dreams.
The knife descended slowly (maybe time had slowed once more in my dying moments) until I felt its surprisingly cool surface against the scar upon my wrist. I had almost expected the knife to feel slimy, as if it had been slicked with the blood of the many that it must have killed since it had been pulled from the dragon. I screamed the moment I felt the cold metal, or whatever it really was, touch my skin at the center of the scar. It sent both chills and the sensation that I was on fire up and down my arm. The feelings ran down my spine and filled my entire body until I felt as if I was going to explode from the pain.
Though I tried to stop myself from screaming I was surprised to find that I could not, as if my body was doing it on its own. I mean, I knew I sounded like one of those girls in the horror movies who scream in vain hopes that someone would hear them and come down to rescue them. One: those characters always made me want to punch the screen, and two: it wasn't as if I was screaming because I was scared. I mean, you'd scream too if you felt as if your entire body was being torn in half.
The man hesitated a moment and dropped the knife. I wondered for a split second what he was going to do until he wrapped his hands around my neck. I had never noticed quite how small my neck was, or how big his hands were, until that very moment. He had abandoned the knife altogether and decided to suffocate me. I can't say I had liked either option very much.
I closed my eyes and tried to think, you have no idea how hard that is when someone's trying to murder you. I mean, what else could I do? I couldn't move because of those dratted chains that bound me to the table and the man's immense weight against my neck. I forced myself to continue thinking, to stay awake, long after the point where I should have fallen into unconsciousness.
Suddenly my eyes snapped open and I stared straight into his eyes. He closed his own eyes as if my gaze somehow hurt his own. I was starting to feel lightheaded when I heard another scream. I thought for a moment that it was my own but I soon realized that it was not. My sadistic captor, and attempted murderer, had let go of my neck as if his hands were on fire.
I gasped for breath, grateful for whatever had happened. It was strange, but ever since the day Mama had died and Hitomi had taken me in, I found that I was able to do things that I knew weren't normal. I thought that this definitely counted under the category entitled 'Strange and abnormal.'
I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on the chains that bound me. I heard the man gasp in surprise and for an instant I felt as if I was floating. When I opened my eyes once more I was the one who gasped. I really was floating, only a few inches above the surface of the hard wooden surface.
Luckily for me, he had been too stupid, and in too much of a rush, to check me for weapons. I still had a Fanelian knife strapped to my leg even though he had stripped me of my more noticeable sword. He dove for his own knife and returned into view with it in his hands and a malicious glare and twisted grin directed toward me. "If the Lady hadn't asked me to finish the process," he said darkly, "I would have made sure to kill you by now."
I highly doubted that statement. I turned my head, though I was still lying on my back and floating inches in the air, and returned his glare with an icy gaze of my own. It was a look that I had perfected over the years and made all the more intimidating by the pure blue of my eyes. I gave him a cocky smirk before pulling myself up to a sitting position. It was a task that was much more difficult than it sounds, you trying getting into a sitting position when what you're sitting on is three inches below you. But, once again it seemed as if time itself was on my side.
Even though I was acting that way, my mind was racing. I wanted desperately to know what he was talking about, this whole 'Lady' business. It seemed he was working on someone's orders, and I had to find out who it was. After all, this did involve my happiness, not to mention my existence from the point many years ago that I was forced to watch helplessly as my loved ones were murdered before my eyes.
The man reached over to me but the moment his fingers touched the bare, bruised skin on my arm he yelped in pain and withdrew it. I noticed, once again, that it looked as if his hand sported a large burn mark where he had touched me. He held the knife as if ready to thrust it at me, but in one quick, fluid motion I had unsheathed the one I had hidden beneath the leg of my extremely baggy pant…stylish and functional.
He came towards me and just as he got near enough for me to touch him with the tip of my toes I flipped off my unsettling position and landed behind him. Unfortunately, my back was still facing him, not exactly the smartest position to be in considering the circumstances. With a speed that I would not have thought possible from someone of such body composition, he came at me and thrust his knife into my stomach.
At least, he would have done so had I not moved out of the way just in time. His blade grazed my side, though, and tore a hole through my shirt. It was a good thing it was borrowed clothes from someone I didn't even particularly like. I spun around just as he was in his most vulnerable position from the attack and kneed him in the stomach.
The man didn't respond at all to what I had done, it was as if I hadn't done anything at all. If anything during that entire time had brought my temper boiling the surface it had definitely been his lack of reaction. I looked at cold eyes of the man who attempted to murder me and I instantly regretted it. I found myself wanting to hide, to cower in fear, a feeling I hadn't experienced since my mother died.
In my panic I muttered something incoherent even to my own ears. But apparently my attacker had heard it for this cold, calculating gaze evaporated and his eyes grew wide with fear. It was strange, most people wouldn't have noticed it, for his eyes didn't truly go as wide as I like to imagine they had. As I've undoubtedly said before, I could do strange things that no one else could. To me, staring into a person's eyes was like looking into a doorway that showed me the way to their soul…to their innermost thoughts and emotions.
I smirked again and I felt the wind pick up around me. For a moment I thought it was the air conditioning on the fritz, until I remembered that such an assumption was irrational and impossible. The wind managed to pick up the dust in the impeccable room and swirled it around us, catching in my captor's eyes, though magnificently staying away from my own.
When I next hit him I was surprised to see him double over in pain. The events that happened next blurred in my mind the way memories of traumatic events always tend to. One minute I was pummeling my would-be murderer and the next I was sprinting through the trees of an unfamiliar forest, oftentimes leaping onto tree branches and jumping from one to the other before running once more upon the ground.
I wished that there had been a map somewhere in the vicinity, seeing as to how I was undeniably lost, unfortunately evil hideouts are never quite as convenient as one may often wish. So I was left without the convenience of a map to guide me out of the forest maze. I came across a lake, or really, I came upon the edge of a lake and tried to think quickly of a way out of the mess I had landed myself in. I heard the man thundering through the trees, well, not really thundering but in my panic everything I heard was magnified, so that was what it sounded like to me. I closed my eyes and focused my mind before taking a step onto the surface of the water.
When I opened my eyes I was relieved to find that I was safely supported by the water's surface, though it was quite unsettling to watch one's feet standing above the water. I looked back just as the man broke through the veil of trees and I sprinted forward, hoping against all hope that he hadn't managed to find a way to run atop it as well. When I reached the other bank I chanced a look across the water, a stupid thing to do, really. My captor stood, gawking at me, from the other bank of the lake and an emotion that I couldn't explain swelled through my heart. It was like confidence and pride, courage and hope, cockiness and hilarity…all bubbling inside me and threatening to overflow.
Still running, I pulled a card out of my pocket. It was just one of the strange things I did; it made me feel as if I could speak to my brother. I knew he heard me when I spoke to the cards, and I know he spoke back to me through them. It was the only way I had of communicating my brother, the only thing I had left to remember him by, since the only things he had left me were destroyed in the fire that burnt my house and took my mother from me.
I looked down at the card in my hand, trying to read it while my hair whipped into my eyes. The Nine of Wands, a minor arcana card. "I have to accept help from other people?" I asked the card aloud. Had anyone been watching, they would have thought me funny in the head for talking to the card and expecting to hear and see things that no one else besides me could. "Aiichirou, are you telling me I have to trust Kanzaki and the others to find me?" Screw that, I thought, I wasn't going to wait until they searched all of Gaea to come looking for me. A rustling in the bushes behind me snapped me out of my angry thoughts.
Something hopped out of the bushes, at least, I think it was a hop… What looked like a cross between a rabbit and a cat had just come out of the forest surrounding me. I couldn't help but smile…Aiichirou's two favorite animals had come in answer to my questions.
Torienn
Millerna led the way through the busy streets of the beautiful city that shone like a thousand crystals catching the light. Blai watched the people rush across the streets and pathways, sprinting into shops and out, with looks of increasing astonishment. It was as if they had no idea what was happening to the world outside of their crystal city. It was as if nothing was happening, as if nothing could break the barrier that protected the little bubble they were living in. Blai wanted to scream at them, to force them to realize the things that were happening, after all, his beloved Fanelia had been destroyed by something unknown and there wasn't even an EscaFlowne to aid them this time. "Dryden!" Millerna's voice broke the young prince's thoughts and he looked to see whom the woman was speaking to. He caught sight of a tall man dressed in rich clothing, but wearing sunglasses. It was an interesting look that, on anyone else, would have been entertaining. But for some reason, it seemed to suit him. Blai had only seen Dryden a few times in his entire life, he was usually able to see Millerna more because of the fact that his father was friends with the queen of their neighbor and the fact that Dryden was always out being the merchant that he was at heart.
"What took you so long?" he said in his relaxed, even lazy, drawl as he winked at Hitomi from behind his sunglasses. Dryden caught sight of Blai and smiled, "I haven't seen you since you were this tall," he said putting his hand however high above the ground. "How are you?" He was talking to Blai as if the young prince was still 'this tall,' something which many adults tended to do. For a brief moment he wished he was more like Star, whom the adults would never treat like a little kid.
Blai flicked his wrists as if tossing aside unimportant information, "Nothing, really," just the destruction of my entire hometown. But no, that's definitely not something that would ruin any boy's childhood.
"Uncle Dryden," Chid spoke up. He sensed the anger welling up inside his friend at being once again addressed like a little child, "we need your help with something." Dryden ruffled his nephew's hair and gave them a grin that clearly said, 'Go ahead, I can do it.' "Do you remember that legend about the angel and the devil?"
"Let's go inside the castle first," he said with the air of someone cradling a great surprise in his arms.
Van looked suspiciously at the castle looming behind Dryden in the distance, "Are you sure they'll welcome us?" he asked suspiciously. Blai chanced a look at the scraggly group and understood completely what his father meant by the question.
"They welcomed me, didn't they?" Dryden said casually, his arm around Millerna's shoulders. "Don't worry Fanelia. They traded a lot with Asturia before it was destroyed; I think they trust me enough by now to let a few acquaintances of mine stay as well."
Van merely shrugged and Blai thought that his father was right to not feel quite so confident in the matter. But neither Fanelian said a word of protest as they were led to the castle and ushered inside. "May we borrow the library?" Dryden asked. Blai looked around, wondering why in the world he'd ask any of them such a strange question, but he caught sight of the man speaking with another who was dressed in much less glamorous clothing.
The other man nodded and Dryden nodded to the others. Once again, they followed him. He led them through a great maze of grandiose hallways and opened a beautifully carved wooden door at the end of one of them. He held the door open until every last person in their party had made it inside. Hitomi looked over at Van and had the distinct impression that he was completely on his guard, ready to hop up from his seat at any moment. She smiled a little, a lot of time may have passed but some things would never change.
"The legend of the devil and the angel?" Dryden asked his wife for confirmation. Millerna nodded and he went on, "I think it was in one of the Forbidden languages. Not even the Draconians use it anymore," he glanced furtively at Blai and Van, the resident Draconians, before continuing, "it's been such a long time since I've read it, I don't know if I remember everything. I think the Draconians had the legend, too, but it was a little different when I went to research they're version of it.
"If I remember correctly, which I probably do, there are supposed to be three souls inside of the one body with the purest heart; the angel, the devil, and the sacrifice, or the person within whom they all reside. The sacrifice supposedly has the purest heart of both Gaea and the Mystic Moon," Blai suppressed a snort with much difficulty, "but he, or she, will have undergone some sort of terrible ordeal. The angel will awaken at the touch of a devil and visa versa. I'm still not exactly sure what that bit means…
"If the angel should take over, Atlantis would rise and fall again," once again he chanced a furtive glance in Blai's and Van's direction, "but if the devil should awaken and fail to fall asleep both worlds would be destroyed. But if the sacrifice should take control, the bridge between the Mystic Moon and Gaea will be weakened. Either way, we end up with a pretty bad deal…"
"A pure heart?" the young prince was finally able to voice his opinions of the girl without being rude. "Her? That's a laugh."
The others ignored him to a certain extent, "An ordeal?" Van asked, "I don't think your cousin is this 'sacrifice,' Hitomi."
Hitomi, however, completely ignored both him and his son and appeared to be lost in thought. "Is there anything about a scar?" she asked and Blai's ears perked up. Yes, he remembered seeing a strange image branded into the soft skin of her wrist.
Dryden, too, looked thoughtful before saying, "As a matter a fact, there was something that sounded kind of like it, now that I think about it. Something about the 'like a wound that will never heal the mark of the sacrifice will always be upon the survivor,' but I really don't see the relevance…"
Hitomi caught him off with a sharp intake of breath, "It is Star!" she exclaimed. "It has to be."
"What do you mean, Hitomi?" Merle asked curiously, having managed, to Blai's confusion, to remain silent throughout the conversation.
The girl from the Mystic Moon looked at them all as if noticing their existence there for the first time, "When Star was a little girl I think she went through something terrible. She never told me what happened, but once a year, and at random intervals, this mark would appear on her wrist. I got a letter the day I found her…I always thought it was someone from Gaea, now I know, it has to have been. But the scar isn't always there…" her voice trailed off, she had realized how stupid that sounded.
"I saw it, too," Blai said forlornly. The others stared at him and he admitted to having spied on the girl in Fanelia that day which seemed so long ago.
Once again, Hitomi looked thoughtful, it wasn't a look that suited her, Blai thought. "Come to think of it," she said slowly, "she's goes to the graveyard across town once a year. She's been doing it every year since I found her. I guess that's what she's been doing…there is a lake there…" she added as a side note. "I think she's really hurting," she jumped up from her chair which clattered loudly onto the floor. "It has to be her, there has to be a reason for everything that happened, there has to be a reason she was brought with me to Gaea!"