Gah... my old author notes are soooo pointless... i'm sure everyone just skipped them, i hope they did in any case...

Possessed by a Memory: Chapter 7

"Oh, Rath!" Thatz walked into Rune's room and stood at the doorway, surprised for a minute, then smirked, "So this is where you where? And we thought you had run away again."

Thatz had come in to check on Rune after saying goodnight to Kitchel. He stifled a yawn, it must have been at least 4 o'clock in the morning. But the party had been worthwhile. He grinned, remembering all the events. All leading up to the last one, when Rath had stormed out of the hall after having gotten interestingly possessive of Kaistern over something Ruwalk had said...

"I would have..." was all the red-haired knight admonished, sitting next to Rune's bed, head on his hands, looking gravely out the window. His manner subsided after a minute. He waved a hand towards Rune, "His fever's gone down though."

"Yeah, he's looking better. Alfeegi's cold only lasted about a day," Thatz said, sitting at the foot of the bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping elf. His sleep was much quieter, and his face had regained some color. Suddenly, he sneezed in his sleep, his face twisting into a comical grimace. Rath and Thatz almost laughed. Thatz turned to look at Rath seriously, "Why were you so spazzed out at the party? Ruwalk was only kidding..."

Rath sighed, "I don't know. I... I want him back already... I'm getting a really bad presentiment all the time, and um, when he said that... Just something from when I was little..." Rath was at a loss of words. He didn't know how to explain that when Ruwalk had said that, Rath had felt a feeling of possessiveness, jealousy.

"Or you could have been drunk. How about you stick to that one as your excuse for everyone else?" it was more of a suggestion that a question. Since when did Thatz give advice? Rath just nodded.

"Um, maybe we should go to bed, it's really late..." the red-haired boy suggested.

"More like really early by now," Thatz grinned, then snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah, Cesia was worried about you, I think you better go see her, doubt she's gone to sleep, I just dropped Kitchel off a little while ago..." he muttered the last part. Then smiled.

Rath stood up, and without a word, left the room, a sleeping Fire slung over his shoulder. He did raise his hand in a wave-less wave as he left.

"Bye Rune!" Thatz grinned a waved to the sleeping elf. His reply was another sneeze, and a turn to the side. Thatz giggled and left the room.

Half an hour later, Rath walked out of Cesia's room. The moment he closed the door, leaving the beautiful purple-haired girl sleeping in her bed, his entire bad mood returned, leaving only memories of the minutes of forgetful happiness he'd shared with his dark angel. He trudged back to his room, a nauseating feeling of horrible forebodings cloaking his senses. He sat on his bed, the door closing with a creak and then a click. He watched the moonlight stream from his window, and turned to look outside, knowing sleep was impossible. From his window he could see the courtyard, thriving with flowers, and parts of the castle. He could see the balcony of Kaistern's room from here. And he could see the corner of Rune's bedroom balcony too. Next to it, but invisible from his point of view, was Thatz's room.

He placed his head in his hands, trying to dispel the deafening headache that pounded his battered brain, blurring and darkening his vision. His skin felt hot to the touch. He'd hoped he'd gotten used to this by now. They came almost every night. A fever, a headache, resulting in a sleepless, tortured night. Luckily, everyone had gotten used to him sleeping in late. No questions were asked or eyebrows raised if he got up at noon, unlike for some other people. He laid back, feeling tired, unable to sit up much longer. Why did these stupid presentiments have to be so strong that they made him sick? Tonight was especially strong. He groaned and rolled over on his stomach, hoping that the pass-out point would come soon.

Alfeegi frowned. He was troubled by something, but he couldn't place it. Every one had woken up late after the party, but he'd been the first, as usual, or well, maybe Tetheus had been up before him. Ruwalk was up in the tower, and Alfeegi would have been with him, but it would be hard to explain why both of them were up in the isolated tower so much. It was already weird that Ruwalk spent most of his time up there. In fact, Lykouleon had appeared worried about Ruwalk, and it took a good measure of self-control not to blurt out either one of two things that had happened up in the tower the night before.

He walked by the kitchen, seeing Rath in there, eating his food. He decided to ignore his strange outburst from the night before, but quickly debated whether it was a good idea to inform him about Kaistern, but decided against it, choosing not to worry the young knight with anything else.

"Well, you're finally up. Most people got up at one you know, but-"

"It's already three in the afternoon, I know. I was just tired," Rath sighed. Alfeegi frowned; Rath looked very preoccupied and troubled, he seemed out of touch.

"Are you worried about Rune?"

"No...He's good. He's sleeping now, the fever broke and he looks better," Rath said, looking candidly relieved.

"Good, I'll go visit him today, I really feel bad about him catching my cold since he was so nice about helping me out," said Alfeegi, faking cheerfulness. Something was nagging at the back of his mind... It was an irresistible nagging... He hoped Ruwalk could help him out with it.

"Okay, good..." Rath mumbled absently.

"I wonder if you're catching a cold too, you don't look so good," Alfeegi noted. It took the crimson haired knight a moment to catch the words and make sense out of them, then he smiled and shook his head.

"I'm good..." short silence, "Shouldn't Kaistern be coming back soon?"

Alfeegi swallowed, once again debating whether to tell him or not, "I guess so... He'll be back soon I promise. He's just taking some time because there were some, um, extra complaints he had to pacify..." Alfeegi hoped he would fall for that. Rath looked at him, dubious, then turned back to his food, prodding it, too tired to really care. Alfeegi sighed, speeding out of the kitchen and walking towards the tower.

He came upon the sight of a drawn Ruwalk, wrapped in a blanket, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Forms were scattered around him in a useless attempt to keep his mind on the work he had to finish. He swiveled around immediately upon hearing Alfeegi's footsteps. The first smile since he had come up to the tower crossed his lips.

"Feegi, I'm so glad you're here!" he said, cheerfully patting the space next to him. Alfeegi smiled too, taking up his offer and sitting down. Ruwalk reached over, pulling Alfeegi's head closer and kissing his aquamarine hair. Alfeegi smiled, content, not bothering to respond except with a blush. He wasn't good at responding sometimes, he'd never had a kiss him like that since he was a child, and parents were very different than lovers. Ruwalk smiled, noticing Alfeegi's slight discomfort and unfamiliarity with the gestures. Alfeegi sighed.

"Something's nagging me... And I'm not sure what it is..." he said.

Ruwalk frowned, "Is it a bad thing?"

"I don't know..." Alfeegi dropped the subject; he just wanted to be next to the one besides him for a while. After a while, Ruwalk nudged him.

"You better go, you've got stuff to do and they'll be looking for you soon," he said, laughing, "They're gonna say 'Hm, I wonder if Alfeegi's been kidnapped or something, because I haven't heard him yell and scream in a while?"

"Very funny. That's because you and Kaistern aren't around for me to yell at," Alfeegi bit back, laughing too.

Rune opened his blue eyes and winced at the bright light, shutting his eyes again. He groaned and rolled over, away from the wall, noting that his room was empty. But a chair sitting next to his bed and the fresh water jug on the bedstead told him there had been previous visitors. He wondered what time it was, probably mid-afternoon, judging by the sun. He sat up, and suddenly became dizzy. He fell back against the pillow with a thump, a hand over his mouth to keep from throwing up. He felt tired and lightheaded. As the feeling passed he sighed, remembering how he'd almost felt like throwing up at the sight of the girl's mangled body, before he'd healed it. His breath choked in his throat, and his hands moved to stroke the silver necklace at his neck, the smooth, cool feeling calming his senses before he fell back asleep.

Alfeegi walked around the castle, distracted. Something was nagging him endlessly. He passed by a balcony, and stopped, putting his arms on the banister and looking down at the bright day. It was a bit windy for his taste though. From his high vantage point he could see Rath and Cesia, in the middle of one of the many hedge mazes. Rath was sleeping on one of the grassy beds in the middle of the maze, Cesia nearby, picking flowers. He watched them for a moment. Rath rolled over in his sleep, troubled by something. Cesia looked up from her current flower patch and walked over to him, bending down in front of him and pushing his hair of from his face. The knight remained sleeping, and the she smiled tenderly, kissing his forehead and standing up again. Alfeegi sighed, wanting to keep the scene in his mind forever. But he wished to experience something like that someday, not just watch it... and with Ruwalk of course. He turned as he heard footsteps, and found a dazed looking Delte walking around, tarot cards in hand. She snapped from her trance, smiling at Alfeegi.

"Hello..." she said.

"Delte..." he stopped, not sure how to explain his current problem.

"You want to ask me something?"

"Well, I think I'm getting a bad feeling about something..." he hoped she could help, being a fortune-teller and all. She gave him a curious look.

"The Dragon Clan seems to be very perceptive. I feel many of you have a strong premonition lately. Be on your guard... There is much evil about, and I'm afraid it will strike soon."

"Do you mean about Kaistern?" Alfeegi asked, alarmed at her prophecy.

"I'm afraid there is much more than that. He is merely a pawn in the game..." she muttered quietly to herself. She suddenly realized that Alfeegi had heard, and was obviously shaken.

"I'm sorry! It's okay. You don't have to worry about it!" she assured him.

"Um, no it's okay, I'm just gonna go now," he said nervously and turned foot. Delte sighed.

"Why do I always make things worse?" she lamented.

Alfeegi walked briskly, with unreal urgency. He went down to the lower levels of the castle, when suddenly, something prompted him to go down into the basement levels. Without realizing it, he was at the huge, mammoth door that guarded the ultimate demon treasure, and humanity's ultimate destruction were it to fall in demon hands. So coveted by the demons, so guarded and protected; if at the same time loathed: Nadil's head. The door whose guard was incomplete, missing the red dragon officer's spell to complete and join the other officer's spell: Blue; Kaistern, White; Alfeegi himself, Yellow; Ruwalk, and Black; Tetheus. Without its last spell, the door was still vulnerable.

But there was someone in front of the door. Alfeegi almost called out, then stopped, curious as to the expression on the person's face. Blond hair fell out of the way as a long arm reached out to touch the door, a thoughtful, cunning expression on his fair elven face. But he withdrew his hand with a wince as he touched the door and a small sizzle was heard. Slight hatred flared in his sky blue eyes. But it was the expression on his face that scared Alfeegi; calculating, clever, hateful, not... human, or dragon or elf! What could Rune be thinking that would bring about such a hateful expression?

"R-Rune?" Alfeegi called out nervously. Rune seemed to shatter out of his thoughts, and his expression changed to one of bewilderment.

"Alfeegi?" He looked confusedly at Alfeegi, then at his surroundings, before a sudden fit of coughing overtook him. Discarding everything that he'd thought or seen earlier, Alfeegi rushed to the ailing knight, watching concernedly as the cough seemed to rack his body.

"Rune, aren't you supposed to be sleeping? You're sick," Rune felt as Alfeegi pounded his back, but he just coughed harder and harder, falling onto Alfeegi for support and he was horrified to see his own hands spattered with blood. He could feel as Alfeegi's alarm grew noticeably. But his body shook with the coughing, sapping away his strength. In the interior of his mind he wondered what he was doing in the dark corridor, why had he walked here? He couldn't remember his reason. He vaguely remembered stepping out of bed and making his way down here, but not the reason.

He thought he could hear voices coming as Alfeegi led him to his room, yelling something Rune couldn't make sense out of. But the process was made tedious by his unwilling body having to stop every couple seconds as another coughing spasm raked his body. He could hear, but he couldn't see, the coughing making his eyes water and cloud. He felt hands seize him gently, but he could do nothing as he felt his body being torn apart by the coughing, and the blood mark his trail in splotches. Finally, he felt the warm pull of the blankets, and was forced to drink a hot steaming liquid that burned his mouth, but somehow, managed to calm down his coughing a bit until, at least, his vision cleared.

Rune blushed a bit when he saw that he had most of the dragon clan in his bedroom. All looked anxious and worried. Rath, Thatz, Cernozura and Lykouleon were closest next to his bed, the two knights' faces just a foot or two away from Rune's.

"Rune? Are you all right now?" Thatz asked sensibly. Rune just moved his head up and down a couple times, sinking lower into the pillow. The coughing had taken a lot of effort, and now he was completely worn out. He coughed again, and blood spilled over his hands, droplets landing on the bed-sheet. It was then that he noticed that many of them had various drops of blood, if not on their hands then on their clothes. He was about to force himself to talk to apologize, when Ruwalk noticed the effort.

"No need to apologize, not your fault," he assured. Alfeegi remained quiet by Ruwalk's side, a worried, thoughtful frown on his face. Cernozura, staying discreetly quiet, wiped Rune's hands clean with a rag, and then the dribble of blood down his chin, took his pulse, felt his temperature, and gave him another strong drink, this one cooler.

"Is he all right now? Do you know what happened to him?" asked Rath anxiously. Cesia stepped up to him, putting an arm on his shoulder reassuringly. Cernozura looked at Rune.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong. Just yesterday it was the simple symptoms of a cold; fever, sneezing, general feeling of weakness and dizziness. But now I can't find anything wrong with him, besides the fact that he was coughing up blood and was about to pass out," she ended on an apologizing note. Alfeegi opened his mouth to say something, then closed it quickly, as if changing his mind.

"Let's leave Rune to rest, we can ask him anything after he's had a good sleep," Lykouleon said, cutting off all questions that were bound to come up. Tetheus left the room immediately, followed by Cernozura, who had another wounded guard to take care of at the time. Ruwalk followed the aquamarine-haired secretary, bothered by his friend's obvious troubled state. They both felt depressed, feeling as if this was another load to add to the chaos that would ensue when Kaistern finally returned from his captivity.

Thatz and Kitchel left, both appearing casual on the outside, as usual but inside, there was fear and concern, Thatz's more than Kitchel. He was afraid that something bad was going to happen, and he was afraid of Rune's sudden weakness since the fight with the giant demon.

Now alone, Lykouleon bent over Rune, finally showing his anxiety. Rune watched him, his vision horribly blurred, but he willed himself to stay awake while the Lord was in his room.

"What were you doing that seemed to upset Alfeegi?" he mumbled so that Rune couldn't hear. Then he spoke louder, "You can sleep now Rune."

Rune obliged without a word. He finally closed his eyes, and was immediately taken over by sleep. Lykouleon walked out, thinking hard. 'First Rune acts strangely since that mission near Chantel, Ruwalk locks himself in the tower and gets all nervous, Kaistern takes longer than he should, Rath seems very worried and tired, Alfeegi seemed distracted... Delte too. Now Rune is sick, and I can't find something wrong with him! No foreign energy in his body, no sickness... There's something horribly wrong with him that I can't fix! Something's going on, and I'm the only one out of it!' He suddenly remembered something. 'Raseleane... she'd been acting weird too, and even Tetheus is wary...' He ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated at it all. Tetheus had warned him that something was stirring. What was happening in his castle? Was he the only one who didn't know? He was afraid he'd find out before long. But he vowed that somehow he'd make sure that everyone in his care would be safe at least. He vowed that on his own life and honor.

Lykouleon spotlight... cause I ignore him too much. -laughs-