Title: Whenever I Call You Friend
Anime: Magic Knight Rayearth
Author: mizamiko
Rating of Chapter: PG13
Whenever I Call You Friend: Chapter 8
Eagle
Fighting in the Net was much like fighting in Cephiro, which goes to show how different it was from the usual way an Autozamian would fight. You never see the face of your opponent, at least not their real face. You don't go through hundreds of scenarios and choose the most efficient route for your mashin to act on. It was more like move and try not to get hit then fight back when you get the chance. A lot like fighting the monsters in the Forest of Silence.
And it hurts.
It definitely hurts.
In the outside world, when you get hit, your body hotwires your nerves, so as time goes some of the pain gets numbed out. In the Net it just hurts and your 'body' never ever goes numb. Everything gets sent right to your brain, right down to your pain centers, and no amount of hotwiring can numb the direct input of data. All you could do is hope that you end whatever confrontation you have currently and head out of the Net as fast as you could.
This of course was my current hope. Call me coward if you would, but I know no sane person capable of walking the Net that would not run at the sight of a rouge worm. A worm was a very, very painful thing to have if you were merely a terminal station, one can imagine how it would feel if it was sending those hard drive destroying data right to your mind. There has been no recorded survivor of a worm attack on a Net walker; I had no intention of testing any theories that most of those so-called braniacs in the Net diagnostics team has cooked up.
I make for the nearest terminal where a connection out of the area would be able to send me back, hopefully in one piece. This of course was too much to ask for as I found out that each terminal I tried to access seemed to have been already infected with the worm. I was trapped and was unable to pull up a combat menu. Life definitely had a way of making things interesting, especially when walked in my shoes.
I stopped in my tracks. A menu.
I was thinking inside the box again and not outside of it. I didn't need a menu. I've been spending far too much time with Guru Clef and the very strict rules of Cephiran magic.
I berate myself for my stupidity as I brought up a program window and started inputting strings of command in the old programming language for all I was worth. I could find no other alternative than a complete reformatting of the whole area, but first things first. I bring up an old set of files that would let me initiate the sequence.
It was a lot like casting a spell in a way, the same way they used incantations to cause a reaction back in Cephiro. In a way I was casting a sort of spell, one that would hopefully destroy the worm, but would probably also destroy the whole area.
Format could actually be called the word of power and all the other parts became the parameters or limits of the spell. If done properly this could very well provide me with enough change to make this area of the Net accessible.
I wrote several command strings as fast as possible and watched as the worm drew closer. I could feel the destructive effect of the data contained in the rouge worm. The changes it brought to everything around it was scary and brought a crawling sensation to my skin. I had a few more line to go so that the format would just be limited to the close areas and hoped the parameters that I placed was wide enough to catch the worm but small enough to not destroy the whole area that I stood in.
I could practically feel the worm right on top of me as I wrote down the last few commands to make the whole string into something that can be executed in the Net. Barely a second after I made the last entry I watched my 'spell' take effect and the whole rouge worm was swallowed up in an almost negative film effect where instead of the worm I saw the program that created the thing. One by one pieces, or actually words, from different areas of the program dissolved or were deleted, until the parts left could no longer keep itself in sequence and faded away as well.
I was not sure if that was the best way but I was glad that it worked. Now, I knew, all I had to do was find a workstation out and continue my search in other areas of the Net. I just wish that it would not be as interesting a place as this sector.
Lantis
It was cold.
I could feel the shiver run up and down my arms as I walked aimlessly in this cold, dark, misty dream. I knew it was a dream, but still everything seemed so real I could not help but be drawn to the illusion.
I could hear voices. They were always just in front of me. Just beyond that turn or over that rise. But always it seemed to slip away before I could see what or who it was.
Then I heard it.
A scream... a lone scream piercing the darkness.
I ran. I knew the voice that uttered the scream. A voice that was more familiar to me than my own.
Eagle.
I ran on and into a clearing where the mists thinned. There I found a sight that turned my blood cold.
There was blood everywhere.
There was blood on him.
He sat there, slowly rocking, hugging himself with bloodstained hands and clothes. His face, covered by his pale hair, also touched with streaks of blood. He was clothed in black, yet the stain of the still wet blood could be seen splattered all over him.
Something about him did not feel right. Something seemed utterly wrong in the picture. But I could not put my finger to it. Then slowly laughter filled the clearing. It was a cold, mocking laughter that sent chills up and down my back.
Like a puppet he stood up but kept his eyes cast down. It was then I noticed the nearly transparent blade that he held. Had not the blood covered the blade I would not have known it was there.
Then it hit me. The laughter was coming from him. That chilling laughter that raised the hackles on my back came from him.
Then all of a sudden it stopped.
He raised his head to look at me. I didn't know which was worse, the cold laughter or the empty stare that he now gave me. It was as if there was no one there. It was a dead look that reminded me of a time long past. I have seen that look on him once before. A long time ago... Back in Autozam.
Then slowly he toppled over then disintegrated into nothingness.
The chrono alarm wakes me in a very uncomfortable way. I would never get used to a piece of machinery screaming at my ear just to wake me. It did not help that my dream was set back at Cephiro that the sudden shift of reality made it difficult for me to identify that it was a chrono alarm and not a shrieking enemy near my bed. Suffice to say there was now a newly decorated area on my bedside table. The smoking remains of what used to be the alarm smelt pungent as the last of the energy bolt I sent to it crackled and dissipated.
Nightmares. I hated them with a passion. I could never tell if my nightmares are of the precognitive type or just simple nightmares. Hate them. Hate. Hate. Hate.
Much to my chagrin I heard a lone piercing alarm and found myself suddenly drenched. A list of long forgotten explicative ran through my head, begging to be uttered. A small part of me wanted to bury my head into a pillow and scream.
Smoke Detectors. I hated them. Hated them with a passion. Hate. Hate. Hate.
This was definitely not starting out as a good day.
Why me?
Hikaru
Is this a dream?
Yes...
A dream...
It's Cephiro. Where else would I find floating mountains?
This path... I know this path. I have walked it many a time as we return from our picnics out side of the castle.
There. I can see everyone.
Umi! Fuu!
You're in this dream too! I'm glad.
Umi. I know that at first you didn't like it here but I'm glad you thought differently later on. Fuu. You smile so happily now. Is that a blush? I can see you but I can't hear any of you but I'm sure Ferio's hand on yours have something to do with it.
The three of us, we have come a long way, running towards our destinies... That's right, we were together then. We held on and we won. Yes, the three of us believed in each other.
Lantis! I'm glad you're here with us. You don't go with us often when we go out. You seem to prefer to wander on your own. I don't understand why but if it makes you happy then I don't mind. But I would rather have you here. I want everyone I care for near me. But still... still you seem so serious. You smile now but I never hear you laugh. You don't laugh, ever. Maybe smile a little, but certainly not laugh. But you know what? I think I didn't need to see you laugh to know that you are happy.
You're happy now, aren't you?
It's odd. You remind me so much of Satoru-niisama. I know you understand me better than the others, just like Satoru-niisama, maybe even better than Eagle. No... maybe not better. You understand me but Eagle... Eagle understands 'Hikaru'. I don't need to say anything. He usually knows already.
You're right you know. I can't marry the two of you, even if I can have you both. And it's not because of the reason you gave me. You want me to think everything over. You said you couldn't marry me until I understand what I am really getting myself into. I'm glad. Glad you brought it up first before I did. I think I'm starting to understand what Eagle told me years ago. He was right. I was too young to understand then.
Eagle... how odd. Everyone is here, even my brothers. But I can't seem to find Eagle. No, wait. There he is. But why is he standing so far apart from everyone?
No! He's leaving.
Wait! Eagle!
Why can't I catch up to him? He's just walking but I can't seem to catch up to him. I'm running as fast as I can but still...
Good, you stopped walking. But I can't seem to get any closer.
Eagle!
Why can't you hear me?
Oh no! Eagle behind you! There's a monster behind you! Get away!
'Fire Arrow!'
What! Something's blocking my fire.
No! Eagle! Don't just stare at it! Run!
No!
NOOO!
I could feel the sweat trace down my back as I stared at the darkness that was my room. It was a dream. It was just a dream. I heard a soft tapping on my door.
"Hikaru? Are you awake?"
Kakeru-niisan. I woke him. My nightmare must have caused me to mumble in my sleep. I sit up and pull my blanket closer.
"It's alright Kakeru-niisan. I'm awake."
He slid the door quietly open and entered my room. "I hope I didn't wake you." He said
"No. I was awake before you knocked." I said. I sighed in my mind. Though I love my brothers dearly, at times they wish to talk about some things at the oddest times.
"Well I just wanted..."
I groaned mentally. This was going to be a long night.
Fuu
I watched a fellow student as he read his research results on a field of physics that should have interested me. Worrying over more important things had me more preoccupied than I really should have been and his intelligent responses to the questions given after were lost in the muddled waters that was my brain at the moment.
Dark green hair and a cocky grin kept me from concentrating on the lecture. I loved the man; I love him very, very much. Love him enough to stay with him through all his quirks. I loved him enough to wear his ring. For how many years it seemed like bliss, his quirks and mine seemed to go together. I just could not understand why he was so against my taking up college.
As the class ended I go through the motions of arranging my things and taking my books. I barely see my classmates as we all trek out of the university grounds and out to the late afternoon sun.
It was my decision to continue into further education, a decision he seemed unable to wrap around his mind. It wasn't that big a deal. I have lumped it all up to Cephiro's lack of universities, especially the lack for the need too. Apprenticeship seemed to be the way it was done there as it all came down to the fact of whether you had it or not. You either had the skill to do magic or not. If you didn't you learned to compensate and found vocations that still revolved around those who did have magic. If you had magic, it would have to be seen if it was strong enough to either merit an apprenticeship with a master or not. The truly skilled ones would be drafted into the higher echelons of the Cephiran system. To be merited as a Bal, a Dal, a Priest, a Kailu, and a Yil was the highest of honors. The system did not deal with those like me who are, as they say, powerful enough to become a Magical Knight yet would rather dabble with those confounding computers.
I found it odd that Ferio could say such a thing when Eagle, who was most certainly not a weak, powerless, magically challenged person, went through university, finished it in fact, and is fully capable of fixing and using computers and other modern equipments, not to mention weapons of destruction, was in an acceptable position while I, who Eagle, and not a few other Autozamians, encourage to continue my education as I was fully capable of holding my own in the area, was seen as wasting my time. I could almost say there was a breach in the logic or a prejudice working somewhere. I have no idea if it was merely just me or was this the same treatment that most girls meet back at Cephiro, but I knew I could not just give up on this. I could not live with myself if I passed up this chance. I just wish that Ferio could understand that and everything would be perfect again.
Eagle
I touched the face of what was left of what used to be a human being. The dark eyes stare back at me, accusing me, of being incompetent, of letting them live through the torture that they lived, and eventually died, from.
Three bodies, other than the one I held, littered the small room that I now stood in. Gaping holes and dismembered parts attested to the destruction that was dealt upon them. Had I not seen more before I would have joined the other personnel assigned to the incident and lost what was left of my breakfast. As it was I was barely able to hold on to it. I wasn't immune, merely exposed, exposed to the point that I was almost desensitized, almost.
I have failed in my responsibility. They were all dead because I did not see it coming.
I was too blind.
I was overconfident.
IT has started its attack.
I signaled to one of the teams assigned to take the body away. These were the same people who went missing in the last explosion. People missing in the body count, thought to have survived, hiding in one of the emergency areas yet to be checked. There were parts missing from each of the bodies and I feared that I would be learning much more once an autopsy was done.
Everything was moving too fast. While no attack has come to the Net as of yet, attacks on the citizens has started. It was not following the same pattern of attack as it did before. Not the same modus operandi that was always expected.
Now I wonder if it was the same enemy that I face or is it something, or someone, else or a more dangerous version of the same enemy. There were too many variables, too many possibilities to compute all the possible outcomes.
The melody of a popular game opening played and I activated my visor. Few people knew the numeric sequence assigned to me and of the few that did know only three would call at this hour of the day. Double checking if the line was secure, I turned on the audio reception and voice transmission module on my visor and watched as a familiar face formed on the left eye vid.
"Eagle here."
"Yo! Ambassador. Do I have news for you!"
"A good morning to you too Zazu. What miracle happened to have you calling me on so early a morning?"
The face frowned and gave a snicker. "Eh! Eagle it's almost midday meal! Why are you greeting me a good morning? It's not early."
"Early for you. You're rarely up before the mid day meal."
"Hey! I'm usually up for mid day meal."
"And it's only time for morning tea," I smiled in amusement as my cousin turned a comely shade of red that did not complement his green uniform. Captain he may now be, but he was still the same Zazu Torque who served under me in the NSX. "What can I do for you?"
What I had hoped would relieve him seemed to agitate him instead. I knew enough and expected the worst news from my friend. What I didn't expect was him looking like a guppy. It looked like he was trying to push out sound from his mouth but something in his throat kept the sound in. It really had to be bad news.
"Zazu don't scare me like this." I tell the vid image. "What ever it is it cannot be that bad."
"Bad" the image affirmed.
"How bad?" I asked with trepidation.
"Bad bad" he answered, now nodding. "Very bad bad."
The only time my cousin had had this speech problem was when he needed to report something world destroying. The last time was when he had to inform me of one of our close cousins' death.
"Well?"
"Eagle please don't freak out, okay?"
"That bad?"
Another nod.
"Alright… Tell me."
"Lantis is planet side."
I blinked and wonder if this was a prank. I blinked again but Zazu's face remained serious. I shook my head. He cannot be serious.
"Eagle! Don't freak out on me!" The image seemed to be shouting, I wasn't sure since it seemed like the connection seemed to be on a fritz since I could barely hear anything over the static that seemed to have pervaded everything. "Eagle! Look at me. Listen to me. Breathe! Breathe!"
I found his suggestion a wise one. I never knew my cousin was so smart. Right. Breathe. In. Out. Right.
"Did I hear you right?" I asked after a few minutes of clearing my head and calming down. "Did you just tell me that Lantis, Kailu Lantis, is here? Planet side?"
"Um. Yeah…"
"Great Creator… How did you find out?"
"He contacted me."
"He contacted you." I repeated numbly. This was not good and I said as much.
"I know that. I'll be meeting him, and probably escorting him too, tonight. I've just confirmed with your father; he's to meet Lantis for a conference with Guru Clef."
My world tilted back to axis at the mention of a conference with the Yil. Cephiro was moving. The Yil has started to notice and they have decided to take action. This was either a bad thing or a very, very bad thing. Considering the Yil has already sent their Kailu I was leaning on the latter guess.
"You're right. Very bad bad."
Calm. I needed to be calm if I wanted everything to work.
"Zazu, I'll call you back once I get to Father's office. I can't be there when Lantis visits. I have a lot to report so I better start now if I want to leave before he gets there. What's your ETA?"
"Just call me on my private line to be safe." For a moment his face set into a frown and then he continued. "What do I tell him if he asks?"
It was a simple question that had no easy answer. We both knew there were a thousand answers that could keep everything under wraps, but we both knew it was not likely that he would know that it would be a lie based on some grain of truth. We both knew the Kailu in Lantis would know. We both knew there was only one answer acceptable.
"Nothing," I stared back at my cousin and friend. "We tell him nothing, nothing about what's happening, nothing about any official actions, and definitely nothing about me. Father will deal with the official matters and I will deal with him personally, or maybe not at all. It depends if he looks for me."
"He will."
"He will?"
"He'll look for you." Once again I am reminded on how young my cousin was. A grin of pure mischief graced his face. "He already asked about you. How you were, you know?"
"I hope you said nothing interesting."
"Only the usual."
"You have a "usual"?" I knew I was wearing sporting a perplexed expression as I said this.
"Of course!"
"Do I want to know?"
"Trust me." Oh boy! I can see the wheels turning. "You don't want to know."
"You're actually playing mind games with him?"
"Ha! Got it in one Ambassador! Kailu baiting is in season!"
Now I could honestly say that Zazu was definitely "family." Mind games with friends were just the tip of the iceberg.
The team had its orders, total media blackout. Everything else was SOP and I knew I need not tell them what was to be done next. On that note I signed out of the connection with Zazu and started my way to the Littman Manor, the President's office. It was just morning and already I felt like it had been hours since I had gotten up, instead of the actual 5-hours that had elapsed. This was not starting out as a good day.
Definitely not a good day.
Ascot
I walk the dark halls of the Palace and wonder when this insomnia of mine would finally give me a proper night's sleep. This was, to be honest, a very unusual thing for me. Sleep has never been that important for me, it had never been this difficult to find.
I shiver a little as the coolness of the corridors finally seeps through the robe I had thrown over my sleepwear. I was once again thanking the gift that Caldina gave me, as I have done every night since I started my night walks. Big, fluffy, lime green gecko slippers may look funny but they definitely kept the feet warm. I just wished that it wasn't lime green… or had protruding horns… or a list of other things that made the slippers incredibly noticeable. I just wanted it to be not something that a nine-year-old kid would wear. I gave an inaudible sigh.
Soft murmured words broke through the half daze that I had succumbed to in my search for sleep. I gave my surroundings a good look around and found myself near the great hall. I was in Clef's territory…
I cautiously approached the large door leading to the Scrying room. From within I could hear a soft voice speaking in a foreign tongue. It was a soft lilting language, it was spoken in a way that one would think of singing, much like the Chizetan language; it was melodious.
It was interesting really, to think that the language of the Magic Knights was similar to the language spoken in Cephiro. Similar enough that one could almost forget that they came from another world. Yet, there are words and nuances that would suddenly make the difference a glaring fact.
The borders of acceptable and unacceptable use of some words or colloquial phrases only used in one world and not in another at times seemed so clear. It was intriguing to say the least.
This of course was not important, at least not now. What was important was what I saw the Yil was doing as I suppressed the gasp that nearly escaped me as I saw our great Yil staring at a very familiar face in one of the scrying mirrors.
Lantis
It was just past midday meal and I was wandering the streets of Chev, one of the older and more heavily shielded of the entertainment domes. It was the one nearest the Littman Manor where I was scheduled to meet with Zazu. I had opted to walk the streets where I once bantered with the now elite of Cephiran society.
It was interesting to imagine how once I had been one of those who came here with close friends to spend a quiet day at the artificial forest, which stood right beside a thriving food extravaganza. Those had been one of the better memories that I held dear to me long after the need to return to Cephiro tainted what was left of my stay.
It had been a beautiful day and Zazu and Geo had gotten it into their heads to see more of the trees from the vantage point of the canopy of the trees, meaning to whatever height Eagle's Mashin could take them since Eagle was the only one of them that had the clearance to bring /use a Mashin that day. It had been a perfect day with the sun shining and warmth of it balancing out the sharp chill of the air at that height. It had reminded me of the Cephiro that I had left, the green, peaceful, warm forests and mountains with civilization, the castle actually, jut behind the next hill. Now it was the other way around, with the forests of Cephiro reminding me of that happy day in this entertainment dome with close friends.
The same kiosks and vendors stood around the entry of the artificial forest, not that I expected that there would be a different person as it has not been that long since I had last been here, certainly less than a lifetime. The 'fruits of the season drinks' and the usual 'processed meat,' which actually means flavored drinks and soya meat, were still being sold. Creator forbid there be real meat here as it seemed like only the elite could afford to have real meat and real fruit of the season delivered to their homes. It had always amazed me that though Zazu was Eagle's cousin he rarely had real meat at home, a fact that he rectified this while he was in Cephiro. While in the other end, Eagle who could have afforded to have real meat for every one of his meals would more than likely simply have something sweet and non-nutritious. It had actually been an interesting fact that Eagle had such a hectic schedule, or was it just that he had such a different schedule from me and his brother and friends, that he wasn't always around and if ever we see him eat it was in such a rush that it was more than likely a soy meat product or a vending machine snack. I could have sworn that he lived off the vending machine the whole time that I had known him had I not been invited to a couple of dinners with them, him and the others, when it's after exam week.
I had more than enough time to walk one of the shorter trails in and out of the 'forest' and still be on time for my meeting with the President of Cephiro. I approached one of the kiosks, the one with the soy meat that taste like the hotdogs that Fuu brought over from their world and the vitamin C fortified citrus fruit flavored drinks. It was the spiced version that this particular vendor is known for that I had never tasted outside of Autozam that I craved. It was as I watched the man load the 'meat' with onions, chili, and other spices that I never figured out that I heard the voice that I knew I would never mistake as anyone else's.
"Hatch! One usual and a drink!"
I turned just in time to see a blond whirlwind stop in front of a kiosk across the way from me and start to eat a round bun with soy meat filling. I knew the face quite well and was more than certain that my friend has lost weight again, weight that I knew he could not afford to lose.
The fine bones of his face were more noticeable and the black shirt worsened the effect even under the white cloak and the bulky electronic something, which I knew was new, hanging on his thin right arm. It was my friend in a situation that I most loathe to have him in.
It was Eagle functioning in the world that I knew I was not welcome in. This was not the important Ambassador or the great Commander of NSX Eagle that I knew in Cephiro. This was the Eagle that I met so long ago telling a group of schoolyard bullies to get off his turf even when he was at sword point. While the other incarnations of the Eagle Vision I know were, though formal, at least closer to the crazy, sweet young man that was my friend and companion, this one was the one that I rarely encountered, a fact that I was thankful for. This was closer to the blood drenched Eagle that I had nightmares about, the one that no sane Autozamian crossed. No one crossed a Vision wearing that flat-eyed stare, no one sane at the very least. The last one to have tried had had to go to the farthest dome from where Eagles family's reach could ever go and till Eagle's generation that families' predecessors have yet to set foot on Vision family territories again. I had little doubt that as his generations Vision, Eagle, would be more than capable of such action if need arises. It was a fact that I knew weighed heavily on him, a burden he would never ask another to carry.
He was at that mode right then. It would be unnoticeable to others who rarely had to meet all the incarnations that Eagle has, all the masks that he wore for everyone, but it was apparent to me as much as it would be apparent to his family, his twin, Zazu, and Geo. It was because I knew that I had no place in that present façade that he wore that I didn't even try to get his attention, though I had many questions for him. It simply was not the time for it.
Later.
I will have my chance later. I will make it so later.
End Chapter 8
posted: September 24, 2005
Disclaimers: All characters belonged to their original creator, CLAMP, I just commandeered some of the characters for a night out into my own demented world.
To MDK Ragon: Thank you. It is slow going but here is the next chapter. Please enjoy.
To Zero-no-uta: Another chapter for you!
To Night Fox Hiten: Yes it is confusing, but it will all come together… that is if I follow all the story plot lines that I've planned! --;