Caution! Massive cliffhanger! But don't worry, I know what happens next, for a change. Um, hope to get another chappie done today or tomorrow. Hope you like it and hope you can't wait to read what comes next!
Kakeru held his fiancé as she wept for her old lover. She had been crying a lot recently and he hoped for her sake that they would be able to finish this quickly and get home. But she had been crying at home too. Dreams, she had been having those dreams at home. It was Clef. Clef was causing all of this sadness. He felt his fists clench. He was breathing harder. He was angry but he fought to keep it down. How could he be angry with someone who was being controlled by some sort of dark force? What if that wasn't the case? What if it was? He was fuming anyway. She didn't deserve this sadness. They were supposed to be happy, in love, and getting married. And whether he was in control or not, Clef was the reason everything had gone wrong. Kakeru swallowed his anger and led Umi back to their room.
"I'm sorry," she said as her tears started drying up and she sat on the bed. "I'm being so stupid, crying like this all the time. We have things we should be doing."
He gazed at her sadly. Her sadness wasn't stupid, but it shouldn't be happening either. He didn't say that. She saw Clef as a victim, a victim of her love. If he knew Umi, she'd soon be pushing him away, worried he would turn to the dark side or whatever because she loved him. He said, "Don't worry, it's early still. And we aren't scheduled to leave the fortress until tomorrow."
She sighed and flopped down on the bed, "It is early," she agreed. "You don't mind if I go back to sleep, do you?"
"No, I'm just going to go down and see if I can find the guys and Corsica; see if we can get this weapon making done with," he replied. He then kneeled on the bed and kissed her soundly. "I love you," he said his face inches from hers, "And I'm not going anywhere or turning into anything, got it?"
She smiled but he saw the tears well in her eyes again. "Got it," she replied, nodding with faux sincerity.
He raised himself a little, but still held his body over hers, "I mean it, Umi." He sat down hard on the bed and pulled her up to sit with him. He held her close to him and whispered in her ear, "This isn't your fault, so don't you dare. Don't you dare push me away."
She gazed at him, eyes wide. The tears in them still hadn't overflowed. "Kakeru, I . . ."
"I know you," he stated simply.
She nodded and pressed herself against him. "Thank you," she said into his shoulder.
Yasuo and Corsica stood in the center of the Creation Room and she explained to him the overwhelmingly simple process. "All I need is the Escudo and the will to create the weapons. You see, I wear this pretty dress and the forging is just an extension of my will."
Yasuo looked at her incredulously, "That's it?"
"Yup," she smiled and glowed the way only a pregnant woman can glow.
"Okay. So if all it takes is a dress and the will, why can't Sierra do it? Why can't anyone do it?"
"She looked surprised but replied quickly, "Well yes, that question has an answer. You see . . ."
But she never finished because right then Kakeru and Ren walked in. Kakeru smiled as he approached the earlier participants. Ren scowled and looked blackly at Corsica, "Let's get this over with."
She appeared a bit startled, glanced at Yasuo and replied, "Oh, uh, okay." She stepped into the precise center of the room and directed, "Stand in a triangle around me and will the ore out of your jewels, like you do your present weapons."
They did just that and she commenced her strange ritual. Yasuo watched her. Her display certainly was beautiful. She kicked her limbs out and they (apparently being adorned with bracelets) made lovely bell noises. Her various veils moved of their own accord and wrapped themselves around the crystals. It was extremely captivating, yet seemed entirely unnecessary, if all it took was will to accomplish the forging. Yasuo sighed. This world was completely beyond him.
Ren watched the three crystals glow their respective colors, indifferently. He just wanted this over with. The entire Magic Knight thing. It was just one big pain. He needed to be back in Tokyo. Who knew what Midori was doing without him, without the money that he still hadn't got her. He needed to get out of this place.
He was dragged out of his thoughts as he saw that Corsica was done. The veils of white fabric jutting from her costume were now encircling three swords, each a with a different color handle(?). He didn't know these goddamn sword and sorcery terms. He waited as Kakeru walked to the red weapon. Kendo-boy hefted it gently, felt its balance and gave it a few test swings. Yasuo approached the green and lifted it like he thought it was going to bite him. He actually dropped it with a large clang on the hard stone floor. "Its way too light!" he exclaimed. Corsica laughed at him.
Ren sighed as they all looked toward him. He walked up to the floating weapon but as he drew near he saw that it was not one sword. In fact, it was not a sword at all. There were two medium length knives with straight hilts that blended almost seamlessly into the blades. The blades themselves were straight and paper thin, flexible just how he liked them. He took one in each hand and looked ironically at Kakeru, "I told you I don't do swords." Kakeru laughed, looked over at Yasuo and Corsica who was trying to show him how to hold the broadsword he had been given, but the thing kept falling to the ground, to heavy for her to hold and laughed again. Ren felt that something strange was happening to him as he smiled, really smiled for the first time in a long time. I need to get out of here, he thought desperately, before this place swallows me whole.
Umi dreamt again. But her visions were hazy. When she awoke she was confused and disoriented. She groaned and moved her hands to rub her eyes. But something held her right arm. She felt hands covering her own and she smiled, about to ask Kakeru just what he thought he was doing, watching her as she slept. But she opened her eyes, and Clef loomed over and held her hand instead. She tried jumping back but he held her arm fast. He gazed at her, concern written all over his face. She was shaking as she asked, "What . . . how do you keep getting in here?"
"No power in Cephiro or your own world, could keep me from you," he replied as if he had waited a lifetime to say those words to her.
She was afraid, but she could feel he needed help. "Alright, then stay here," she said, putting he other hand over his.
He seemed taken aback but shook his head and advanced on her, "No, Umi, my love. You must come with me."
She was scared out of her wits. How could this be Clef? He looked almost totally different. He had the same hair and face, but his eyes were changed to a deep purple instead of the easygoing lavender they had been and he was double the height he previously was. She tried to push him away gently and talk to him reasonably, "Clef, please. Wait, why do we have to leave the fortress? All of our friends are here. Hikaru and Fuu, Lantis and Ascot."
"Not my friends, Umi. My betrayers. They deserted me." He spoke coldly and with a hate she had never heard come out of his mouth. "They betrayed me and they have been lying to you. No."
"Lying to me?" she asked still pushing away his determined advances. Yet she could see he was losing patience.
"Yes!" he cried, "They have been telling you terrible things about me. How I have turned against Cephiro when it is they who have turned."
She sighed and pushed him away harder, "Clef, even I can see that they've been telling the truth!"
He drew away from her sharply and seemed to cringe inwardly. She reached out to him, "Clef . . ." And he struck her, hard and fast, faster than anything she had experienced before. She felt her body fly against the wall before she ever felt the hit to her face. She crumpled to the ground and gasped for air as she heard Clef's voice, as if from far away, screaming at her.
"Nooo," he shrieked, "They've turned even you against me! How could they? Umi! Umi?" He held her as she struggled to breathe and to move away from him. More than anything she needed to get away from him. But she couldn't. He picked her up, even as she struggled, and stood. She heard him say, "We need to get out of here. We have stayed too long."