Dang, this chapter's a monster. This chapter is nine whole pages on Word. Next time I'm writing a chapter that's nice and short. Unless everyone likes it this length, in which case... nine pages it is then.

Anyway, Disclaimer: I don't own Baten Kaitos. 'Kay? Good. Moving on…

Chapter V: Dark As December

"STOP!" shouted a sharp male voice, "He is mine!"

The bird creature stopped mid-blow and looked behind it in the direction of the speaker. The blue haired man, who had been expecting death, looked up as well. It was that man the guards brought in from the Ice Mountains, Morjidza. He was wearing a black-furred cloak, concealing everyone else he wore, hair left to hang loosely about his shoulders. His eyes were giving the bird creature a hard stare. The bird creature seemed to bow to Morjidza, before flying off to cause havoc somewhere else. The blue haired man could only lie on the ground, stunned. Morjidza walked overto the fallen dagger and picked it up, careful not to cut himself on its edge. He tossed it in the direction of the blue haired man. It slid across the icy floor, and stopped well within arms reach. "What…?" said the blue haired man, unsure of what to think about this, "What the hell is going on?"

"I would have let my servant kill you," said Morjidza, "But, I have some plans for you specifically. Get up!" he snapped these last two words. The blue haired man obeyed reluctantly, picking up the dagger by the handle, careful not to make his broken rib any worse by straining it.

"These things are… your servants?" he said, straightening up, "But… how... why?"

"I summoned them here," said Morjidza, "They will do whatever I will them to."

"Then… you were planning this from the beginning!" accused the blue haired man, "You only faked injury so the guards would bring you here!"

"Possibly," said Morjidza, shrugging. "But that's not what I want from you. Prove to me that you were the one strong enough to kill my master!"

"Your master?" said the blue haired man, "Wha…" before he could even finish the first word Morjidza drew a sword from beneath the cloak and lunged at the blue haired man. He just barely managed to bring up his dagger to block before Morjidza was upon him. He could only parry the blows Morjidza rained down on him; the clatter of steel on steel filled the icy hall along with the other multitudes of sounds that accompanied fighting and death.

Morjidza slashed at the blue haired man's left hand. Getting the blade between his arm and the dagger blade where it curved back over the arm, Morjidza brought his sword up, breaking the blue haired man's grip on his weapon. The dagger went flying, and was lost in the chaos. The blue haired man made the mistake of turning to run in the direction of the lost knife. Morjidza slashed downwards at the blue haired man's unprotected left leg. He fell with a scream as the steel bit into his leg. He crumpled in a heap on the ground, blood flowing freely from the new wound on his leg, reaching from midway up his thigh to right above his ankle. "Pathetic," said Morjidza. The blue haired man tried to stand up but his injured leg would not support his weight. "I was hoping for more from you," continued Morjidza. The blue haired man tried to shuffle away but Morjidza just walked closer, his sword shinning along one of the edges with the blue haired man's blood. The blue haired man looked over his shoulder and saw a body of a guard not so far away. The guard's sword was still at his side, shinning with the blood of a slain bird-monster. If he could just get a little closer... "Come on," said Morjidza tauntingly, "I thought you wanted to kill me? I was so sure you could do a little better than this." Just a little closer now… "And to think that a god ever fell to you." Continued Morjidza, "I thought that maybe you were a little more resourceful. Or maybe you are just nothing without your precious friends or Guardian to help you."

The blue haired man lunged for the fallen sword as soon as it was in arms reach. Before Morjidza could react, he thrust the sword in the direction of Morjidza's heart. It went right through, like a hot knife through butter. The blue haired man was holding the hilt of the sword right up to Morjidza's chest. Except, Morjidza was giving him a look that suggested that he was bored. The blue haired man let the sword go and staggered away from Morjidza, staring horrified at Morjidza, and the sword that had clearly just run him through. Morjidza removed the weapon from his chest like someone might remove a splinter. The sword was covered to the hilt in a thick liquid, much thicker than blood, the color of ink. "Tell me," said Morjidza, looking up at the blue haired man, more of the black liquid silently and slowly oozing from the gaping hole in his chest, "When I'm dead how were you going to save your friends?"

The blue haired man stared in horror, before turning around and running. "There's nowhere for you to run!" shouted Morjidza, whatever the hell he was, "They're all mine now! Them and everyone else! It's only a matter of time before you join them!" The blue haired man was deaf to these cries, limping away as fast as he could, knowing there really was nothing he could do for the others now. He had to get out of here and get some help, and then maybe he could save them. His limp slowed his down significantly, and he was deep inside the palace. That monstrosity calling itself Morjidza had every advantage, and would catch up to him eventually…

Allyr's thoughts were fuzzy, as if she had been heavily drugged. She lay like that for a long while, her eyes closed, not really asleep but not awake either. She felt sore all over, like she was recovering from a bad beating of some sort. She stirred when she heard a distant noise. She heard it again, it was a human voice, but what was it saying? It took her a long time, to realize that it was calling her name. "Allyr?" said the voice, "Allyr?" the voice sounded female, though Allyr could not place it. "Allyr, sweetie?" said the voice, "Are you awake?"

Allyr opened her eyes. She had to close them immediately as she was blinded with a bright white light. She groaned and covered her face with an arm. She could now smell something like disinfectant; it was strong and almost overpowering. Where had she smelled that before…? At the hospital. But what was she doing at the hospital?

She had spent about three seconds thinking this, before something big and fleshy seemed to swallow her up, "ALLYR!" shouted the voice she had heard before, "MY BABY! YOU'RE ALL RIGHT!"

"Mom…" said Allyr, recognizing the voice now. Her own voice was muffled by her mother's tight embrace, "You're strangling me…"

Her mother let her go, and Allyr could now sit up and look around. She was in a small hospital room, lying on one of those not-all-that-comfy beds that were common in hospitals. The walls were pained a light green, the floor and ceiling tiled white. A color combination Allyr always associated with hospitals. She looked down at herself. Her clothes had been replaced with a white hospital gown. She tried to remember what happened, how did she end up in a hospital? Then she remembered seeing the Sabre Dragon, and her confrontation with it. Her alarm must have shown on her face. "Don't worry dear," said her mother, "That monster's dead now, you don't have to worry."

Allyr tried to reach out for Kalas with her mind, and was met with… a wall. There was some kind of mental barrier separating her from Kalas. She knew that he was on the other side, but for some reason or other, he did not want to make any contact with her at all now. She had done this to him several times to him before when she had been the Guardian, particularly if she was in a bad mood. It was not all that hard for one to block out the other before. But why was he shutting her out now? What was wrong? Come to think of it, Kalas had been acting kind of strange lately...

"We saw that… thing pop up on the news," said Allyr's brother Takei who had been standing behind his mother. He had been completely silent until now, "And when we saw mom's car on the broadcast, we knew you were out there… so…" He fell silent.

"How long have I been here?" asked Allyr, looking around the room again.

"You've been out cold for two whole days," said Takei, "I don't blame you. Whatever had happened to you, it was serious. The doctor's said you lost a lot of blood, with internal bleeding and everything. What did that thing do to you Allyr?"

Allyr just stared blankly at Takei. I've been out for two whole days? She thought. She lay back down on the bed and groaned. Two days… damn.

"You feel all right honey?" asked Allyr's mother, sounding worried.

"I'm fine," she said, though she really felt awful. She wanted nothing more than to lie on this bed for the rest of forever.

"The doctors said you could leave in a few days," said Allyr's mother, "Just a little longer, and you'll be fine." Allyr managed a nod, and closed her eyes. Suddenly, the bed felt a little more comfortable. After a minute, her mother said to Takei quietly, "She's fallen asleep, poor girl. She really did go through a lot."

"Don't worry about her," said Takei, "She's too stubborn, she's not going anywhere." Takei laughed, "If Death paid her a visit, she'd probably tell him to hurry up and wait."

His mother smiled at the sleeping form of her only daughter, "Yes," she said, "I imagine so."

When Allyr woke up, it was to again be blinded by the light fixture in the ceiling. She sat up slowly, her body was still very sore. She sat there a while, trying to remember why she was like this, and why she was here. Then she remembered the dragon, again. She looked around the little room again. There was a window on the far wall she had not noticed before, and the door was behind her, so she had to twist around to see it. She also noticed that she was totally alone in the room. She tried reaching out for Kalas, but he stubbornly blocked her.

"Kalas," she said, "Are you all right?"

No answer.

"Is something bothering you?"

Silence.

"Will you talk to me, please?"

"There's nothing to say." Mumbled Kalas, looking at the ceiling. He was floating in one of the corners where the far wall met the ceiling.

"Kalas what's wrong?" asked Allyr concerned, "This isn't like you."

"I almost killed you!" snapped Kalas. Though to Allyr, it almost sounded like he was trying to hold back tears, "It's my fault you got hurt so bad!"

Allyr was at a loss for what to say. This was not like Kalas at all. Even after he gave up Malpercio's power, he had never isolated himself. Sure, he was depressed for days after, but he had not actually beaten himself up like this before, he had usually gotten over it relatively quickly. Why was he acting like this? "Kalas calm down," said Allyr soothingly. She had just opened her mouth to say, "Take a deep breath" before realizing just how bad that would sound, saying it to a spirit. Instead, she said, "Count to ten for me, please?" He did, she could hear him counting to ten under his breath. "Kalas," she said, hoping he had calmed down a little, "Don't beat yourself up about this. If you hadn't acted I'd have been trampled or eaten by the Sabre Dragon. You saved me. I'm not angry at you."

Kalas stayed silent. "It shouldn't have happened," he said after a pause.

"Kalas," started Allyr, "Are you trying to make yourself miserable? You don't have to beat yourself up about this."

There was another uncomfortable pause. "I was just…" started Kalas, "If you died…"

"But I'm not dead," said Allyr gently, "There's nothing to worry about."

"I couldn't do anything for Xelha and the others!" burst out Kalas, "If you had died then I wouldn't have been able to save anyone!" Allyr stayed totally silent, hoping that maybe Kalas would say more. He looked away, a little embarrassed by his outburst. Damn it, what had happened to his self-control? Or did he just not give a damn anymore? Allyr sat patiently for a while, waiting to see if Kalas would add anything. He stayed silent. Allyr knew that Kalas cared for Xelha and his friends very much, what happened to them to affect Kalas like this?

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" asked Allyr, hoping she would not set him off.

With only a second's contemplation, Kalas launched into his story, "After you left I married Xelha and we both decided to live in Wazn, so she could take care of her people." He started, "About a month or so later, a group of guards patrolling in the Ice Mountains found a man in the snow, half-frozen to death. He claimed to be named Morjidza, but he didn't tell us anything else about his background, who he was, or where he came from. After recovering he stayed in the palace for a while longer.A week laterthere was a meeting of sorts called for the rulers of all the islands. They had wanted to discuss something, I never found out what, together as an international issue. They picked Wazn as their meeting ground. The night after they all came to the palace it was attacked by those bird monsters from Cor Hydrae. You remember them right Allyr?" she nodded, "No one saw them coming, they just seemed to come out of nowhere. All any of could do was fight for our lives, but there were many of them, and lots of people died. I saw one of them take Xelha…" Kalas paused, trying to get a grip again. He would be damned if he let himself fall to pieces now. After he recovered, he continued, "Morjidza appeared an challenged me personally, saying he wanted to prove 'that you were the one strong enough to kill my master'."

"His master?" interrupted Allyr, "Who's that?"

Kalas knew who Morjidza's master was, but should he tell Allyr? Was it worth instilling that kind of panic, over something that really was not worth it? I can't just tell her Morjidza's a servant of Malpercio, he thought, That would only complicate things. Besides, he reasoned, It's not like he's going to come here. "I don't know," lied Kalas, "He didn't say." Allyr looked at Kalas, thinking. He plowed on with his story, hoping to drag the conversation away from Morjidza's supposed master, "I fought him, and lost badly." Kalas considered for a minute, telling Allyr about how he had thought he had killed Morjidza. The memory of Morjidza pulling the sword out of his chest still gave Kalas chills. He decided, that this was something he could let slide to, "All I could do was run." He continued, "He had already captured or killed everyone else. I couldn't help the others or the rulers if Morjidza killed me, and I was injured, so even if I tried there wasn't much could have done. But he caught up to me and captured me and then…" Kalas trailed off, and stayed silent.

"So," started Allyr, looking at her knees, "This Morjidza guy was the one that killed you?" Allyr felt Kalas give the equivalent of a nod.

"After I was captured," continued Kalas, "I woke up in a cell-"

"You don't have to tell me what he did to you," said Allyr quickly before Kalas could continue, "You don't have to relive that for me." This explains a lot, Thought Allyr, still looking at her knees, I think I'd act this way if my friends and family were carted off to suffer god knows what. She looked back up at Kalas. I hope he's going to be all right, she thought, A spirit can't take antidepressants. Still, she looked back down at her knees, This isn't like Kalas. He's unsure of himself and depressed. Could he be hiding something from me? What could he hide that would affect him like this?

"Thanks… for listening and all that," mumbled Kalas, "It helps."

"No prob." Was Allyr's only response. She looked out the window at the bright sunny day, which suddenly seemed very inappropriate for her mood.

She looked behind her when she heard the door open. Vivian walked in, looking worried. Allyr smiled at her friend, "Hi Vivi," she said, "How's life been?"

Vivian smiled, somewhat meekly, "I'm fine," she said, "It's you I'm worried about."

Allyr stared at Vivian, "Are you feeling all right?" she asked, "You're really calm."

Most people would not call Vivian 'calm' right now. She was fidgeting with a loose thread at the bottom of her shirt, the way she always did when she was nervous. She kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other, as if afraid that if she stood still her feet would be burned. She looked around the room, as if looking for any possible eavesdroppers. "Are you feeling all right?" repeated Allyr.

"What?" said Vivian, "Oh," she added, looking embarrassed, "I just… wanted to say hi… that's all."

"Don't worry about me," said Allyr laughing, "I'll be fine."

"Are… are you sure?" asked Vivian, "I mean," she added, walking over next the to bed Allyr was lying on, "What happened out there? You started glowing, and then a lot of water appeared and killed that monster. Then you keeled over, and you were bleeding really bad…" she trailed off, "What happened to you?" asked Vivian, looking worried.

Allyr felt Kalas's discomfort. He looked away, embarrassed. So much for Vivian ever trusting me with Allyr's life again. He thought. He knew Vivian was the kind of person who would probably never forgive him for hurting Allyr.

"It's nothing, really," said Allyr to Vivian, "Vivi, don't worry so much." She added, laughing.

"Are… you sure?" she asked, but nonetheless, looked relieved, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Allyr smiled at her friend, "Yes," she said, "I'm alright. Now stop worrying, when you worry it makes me worry." Allyr spent the next ten minutes listening to Vivian, as she talked about what had gone on in her life since Allyr had gotten into the hospital. Vivian apparently, had called an ambulance after Allyr had fallen unconscious, and had been worried about her friend ever since. By the time Vivian left, Allyr was feeling a little better. Maybe they'll let me out sooner. She thought. I'd like that. I hate the smell of disinfectant.

After a pause, Kalas said, "Thanks for not telling her… that I was the one that hurt you."

"I thought I told you to stop worrying about that," said Allyr, turning to look at Kalas, "And it's no problem. I didn't think you wanted me to announce it to the world."

Allyr stayed at the hospital for a total of ten days, the last day she was kept for 'observation' as the doctors called it. When she was told that she could leave, she could not have been happier. Now she could leave and smell more than disinfectant for once. It was a Saturday when Allyr left, and thus she was left to her own devices. She had decided that a walk would be nice, as she had not moved on her own for further than a yard for ten days. She was in the park, once again, with practically no one in sight, which suited her just fine, when it started to snow.

They were little clumps of snow, falling lazily almost as if gravity could wait. It had been a cold day, but it had not been expected to snow. Allyr however, was overjoyed. "It's snowing!" she shouted to no one in particular, "Winter's on its way! I love winter! What do you think Kalas?" Silence greeted this. "Kalas?" Allyr said sounding worried. She looked up at him, floating a little ways behind her. He did not seem to be able to hear her.

He was looking up at the sky, and the little clumps of snow making their slow descent to the ground. Suddenly he seemed to be somewhere else entirely. He was in the middle of a violent blizzard, making his slow progress, trying to fight off the wind and the cold that bit at his exposed skin like knives. The cold seemed to seep into him despite any and all efforts to keep himself warm. It took all of his will just to keep moving, the snow freezing his exposed calves. He dragged his injured leg behind him, now completely useless. It slowed him down significantly, and made walking all the harder. He could only keep going, hoping that maybe he would find shelter of some sort. Or maybe someone would find him and save him…

"Kalas?" said Allyr again, "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" he said, suddenly snapping out of his trance. He found himself back with Allyr, in another world entirely, and he was already long gone. "Sorry," he said, turning to her, "What did you say?"

"Are you all right?" asked Allyr again, "You sorta, phased out for a minute."

"… It's nothing," he said finally, looking back up at the sky and the falling snow, "Nothing at all."

Allyr said nothing. He had said that he had Xelha had gone to live in Wazn after they were married, did the snow remind him of something from then? She had never seen him bothered by snow before, unless he was buried in it. He must really miss his home, she thought beginning to walk on, I remember feeling that way. Except there isn't anything to distract Kalas from his homesickness, I had the End Of The World to worry about, and he's just sort of here. Well there was that Sabre dragon…

Wait… the Sabre dragon…

"Kalas," said Allyr, stopping dead in her tracks, "How did the monsters that attacked you get there? Did you ever find out?"

"Morjidza claimed that he summoned them," he said, thinking he knew where Allyr was going with this, "Why?"

Allyr turned a little white. "Do you think Morjidza summoned that Sabre dragon?" said Allyr, looking behind her at Kalas, "Do you think it's possible that he brought it here? I mean, it looked like it was going after me…" she trailed off, not wanting to complete the statement.

"I don't know why he would," said Kalas, "He doesn't have any reason to. I don't even think he knows you exist."

"Yes, but he might know you're here!" said Allyr, "Maybe Vivian was right, maybe he sent that thing to knock me off so you would really, really go away."

"How would he know I'm here?" asked Kalas, "Even if he did know I'm here, I'm no threat to him. I'm in a completely different world. There's no reason for him to go after me."

"He sounds like a raving lunatic to me," said Allyr, "Raving lunatics rarely have any reasons for doing stuff, right?" Kalas was not sure how to answer this. "Wait a minute," said Allyr as this began to sink in, "That means… I'm being stalked by a homicidal psycho!" Completed Allyr panicking. "I can't fight! If he goes after me I'm toast!"

"Whole wheat or white?" said Kalas. After getting a very angry glare from Allyr, he said, "I'm just trying to make you feel a little better! That's what a Guardian's supposed to do, right?" When she did not stop glaring at him, he went on, hoping to bring to conversation elsewhere, "Anyway, Morjidza himself might not be able to come here. If all he can send over are monsters like Sabre dragons then we're fine."

"So, you've got this Spirit Spell thing pinned down now, right?" asked Allyr, sounding unsure. Right as she said it she knew she made a mistake, now was not the time for them to have doubts of any kind. If anything, they needed to trust each other more than ever.

After a pause, Kalas said, "Yes, I think I've got it down."

"Yes!" Said Allyr, trying to sound cheerful, "All for one and one for all and whatnot!"

She turned around when she heard footsteps to see an older couple, middle aged, come walking down the path, giving Allyr a strange look. "Hi!" she said, waving at the couple, "Lovely weather isn't it?" she had hoped that this would make her look a little saner, just in case the couple saw her talking to Kalas. If anything, the rather nondescript couple just gave her an even stranger look, and just passed by, making an obvious effort to stay as far away from Allyr as possible, while trying not to make it look so.

"You're really bad at this," said Kalas. Allyr could feel him and his self-satisfaction.

"You're one to talk," said Allyr, putting her hands behind her head, "You weren't much better at this yourself if I remember correctly." Kalas seemed to go temporarily deaf, and took an acute interest in a park bench a little further up the path.

That Monday, Allyr awoke to her alarm clock talking about the latest sale over at some fashion store downtown. And as always, a violent beating brought the little device to complete and utter silence. "You're going to destroy that thing someday," commented Kalas as Allyr, tried to wake up. She ignored him as she got up and pulled the curtains back to look up on her lawn. It was still dark but she could see that they had gotten a lot of snow over night.

I've got to drive through that. She thought dully. Damn.

Again she went through her mornings as normally as possible. Takei and her mother went about their various tasks or whatever, and said little to Allyr. Then she went and got in the car and started on the drive to school. The driving conditions were not as bad as Allyr had expected, but there were still many slowdowns. Kalas took this opportunity to ask many of his thousands of questions, and Allyr answered them all before she would have to stop talking to him when she arrived. And she was happy to answer his questiosn. If he was asking questions then he was not being plagued by homesickness, and that was good. When she did arrive at school, she was immediately swarmed with people who wanted to ask about being attacked by the Sabre dragon.

"Was it scary?" asked one girl who looked oddly young.

"What was it? Did anyone say?" said a boy who just looked curious.

"I heard it spat fire! Is that true? I heard it burnt a huge chunk of the road and a lot of policemen!" shouted another boy about her age who was a known pyromaniac.

"Where did that thing come from? Did it just pop out of nowhere?" asked another girl.

Allyr, who was unused to so much attention, lost her temper. "Give me a little room to breathe please!" she shouted angrily over the hubbub, "Yes, when something that big is bearing down of you it's frightening. I don't know what it is. Yes it did spit fire. And I don't know where the hell it cam from. Now will you please let me breathe?"

The crowd dissipated, chattering happily. If I make it through today without being crushed by a curious crowd I'll be lucky. Thought Allyr.

"I thought everyone was afraid of the Sabre dragon," commented Kalas, "Now everyone's asking you about it like it was some fascinating animal at the zoo."

Allyr shrugged, "In this society," she said, "We're fascinated by stuff like that."

The rest of the day was pretty mundane, until she reached her English class. She had heard that her normal English teacher, Mr. Trotter, was out on injury. ("Maybe he was there when that monster attacked," speculated one student whose name Allyr did not know.) Supposedly the substitute teacher was pretty good, and many of the female students claimed, pretty good-looking. Now Allyr was just sitting at her desk, with notebook and pencil, waiting for something interesting to happen. She looked up when the door to the classroom opened, and the chatter of many of the students died down. The person, who walked in, Allyr assumed, was the substitute. He, for it was definitely a man as the female students had claimed, was in his mid to late twenties. He wore a pair of business-like light gray-colored pants, and a knitted black, turtleneck. His skin was oddly pale, like it might have never seen the sun. His hair reached down easily to his shoulders, and it was black, like a shiny crow's wing. His eyes were so dark they were almost black, and there seemed to be something almost hypnotic about them.

She was broken out of her trance, when she felt Kalas's stunned surprise. "What's wrong?" she whispered, hoping he would hear her, and no one else.

"It's… it's…" he said, sounding like he could not get the words out.

"Stutters don't become you Kalas," whispered Allyr, "What's wrong?"

"Good morning everyone," said the substitute, walking in looking very confident. "It's good to see you all."

"It's him!" said Kalas, voice turning to pure hate, "It's him! Morjidza!"

It's the English substitute, FROM HELL!

So once again, please review and all that jazz.