Anyone notice that the story had 22,221 words last chapter? If only I had put just one more adjective somewhere, that would have been amazing...
Anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own Baten Kaitos. Nor do I own the "For Dummies" books. Understood?
Chapter VI: Vanishing Point
The blue haired man stirred slightly. He groaned in pain as his leg flared up like a sudden fire. He curled up instinctively, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes in pain. When the pain subsided, he relaxed, opened his eyes and tried to get his bearings back. Where am I? He thought, Last thing I remember was… it sunk in as if he had been punched in the stomach, I was captured by Morjidza. He tried sitting up, but his aching muscles protested too loudly and he had to lie back down on the hard metal floor. He looked around the small room he was now in from his vantage point on the floor. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made of a dark colored metal, tinted a dark red. The only light in the little room came from a small light bulb fixed in the ceiling. Its light was steady, but dim. The room was small, if he stood up and spread out his arms he could have touched either wall. There was a door set in the far wall, but there were no windows for him to look out. He could have been anywhere.
He looked around the room, a cell he realized, with a sort of detached interest. He suddenly felt so hopeless and empty; he was almost beyond caring what happened to himself anymore. If he could not even save himself what was the point in trying to save the others? After lying on the ground for a few minutes, he tried sitting up again. His muscles still ached by he managed to sit up all the way this time. He looked down at his left leg, and then grimaced. The gash on his leg was caked in dried blood, and it looked like the injury might even be infected. He reached out and touched it gingerly. The wound was still tender and it hurt a lot. Just my damn luck. He thought, letting his arm drop down to his side.
He looked around the room again, thinking, as there was not much else to do. Where am I anyway? Why did Morjidza just capture me and not kill me? What did he do with the others? What's he going to do to me? Is he just going to leave me here until I starve to death or something? He looked around, maybe hoping for some kind of answer. None came. He wrapped his arms around his legs, careful to avoid the cut on his leg. He rest his head on his knees and stared at the opposite wall. There was not much he could do other than just sit here and wait for something to happen…
"You've got to be kidding me Kalas!" hissed Allyr at Kalas, "I thought you said Morjidza couldn't come here!"
"That… bastard…" said Kalas, ignoring Allyr completely. Kalas was practically radiating hate, "He's the reason I'm like this. He took everything away from me…"
"Kalas," said Allyr, becoming worried, "Calm down, there's nothing you can do-"
"I'LL KILL HIM!" shouted Kalas, completely oblivious to Allyr and everything else, "I'LL MAKE HIM PAY FOR EVERYTHING HE DID TO ME!"
"Kalas!" hissed, Allyr, "Now's not the time, you can't do anything about it! You can't strike off on another vigilante mission now! There's nothing you can do about it! Just calm down!"
"Something bothering you?" asked the substitute, turning to Allyr. Apparently, everyone had started staring at Allyr. She looked around the room, feeling very naked under their gazes. Had they heard her talking to Kalas? Did they think she was schitzo? It would not have surprised Allyr at all, judging from the strange looks on everyone's faces. Allyr looked up at the substitute, and he seemed genuinely concerned. Could this man really have killed Kalas?
"Um," started Allyr, trying to think of an excuse as soon as possible, "I need to go to the bathroom,"
"Then by all means," said the substitute. Allyr needed all of her willpower to not just bolt out of the room. She did however, leave for the girl bathroom, hoping that she might be able to talk to Kalas alone there. When she arrived, she quickly made sure they were alone, before rounding on Kalas, looking very angry.
"What's up?" snapped Allyr, "What's wrong with you Kalas?"
"That was Morjidza!" said Kalas, sounding angry that he had been dragged off, "Why did you leave?" he snapped angrily, "Why didn't you stay and let me finish him off?"
"You couldn't have seriously expected me to commit murder in front of everyone!" retorted Allyr, "And how do you know this guy is Morjidza? How do you know that this guy isn't just some normal English substitute who just happens to look like the guy who killed you?"
"How likely is that?" said Kalas, "That this guy who just happens to look like Morjidza just happens to come to your school, and just happens to come here while I'm with you!"
"You can't prove it's him!" said Allyr, "I can't go and kill somebody just because they look like someone else. What would I say to the cops?"
"Why would they care?" said Kalas, "It's not murder if you killed Morjidza."
"They don't know that!" said Allyr, "And that kind of stuff is frowned upon here!" Kalas made a noise like a grunt. "Okay then, Guardian," said Allyr annoyed now, "What's your plan of action?" She looked up at him expectantly, arms crossed across her chest. When Kalas was did not answer her, Allyr sighed. "How about this?" she started, "If you can prove to me that the substitute is Morjidza, then we can talk about possible ways of bumping him off. Until then, we stay as far away as possible, so we don't attract attention. Okay?"
"Fine," muttered Kalas a little grudgingly, "How do you want me to prove that this guy's Morjidza?"
"Well," started Allyr, thinking, "Other than his appearance, what makes you so sure this guy's Morjidza?" When Kalas did not answer, she smiled up at him, "Don't worry so much," she said, "I'm sure this is just a perfectly normal English substitute who just has the misfortune of looking like your murderer."
"Oh, I'm sure he is," muttered Kalas, his voice dripping sarcasm.
"Kalas," said Allyr sounding annoyed, "Can't you just let this slide for one minute?"
"No," said Kalas stubbornly.
"Look," said Allyr, trying to keep her temper in check, "You even said that Morjidza couldn't come here, right?"
"I said he might not," said Kalas shortly, "I was wrong. Lay off already!"
"Oh, you were wrong then?" said Allyr, tauntingly having reached the end of her patience, "Well I shouldn't be surprised then, you have a history of 'being wrong' don't you!" An uncomfortable silence followed this outburst. Allyr blushed and looked down at her feet, "I… I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't mean it…"
"Don't apologize," said Kalas, "You don't have to."
"Um… you do know… that we all forgive you… right?" said Allyr, trying to make amends.
"Yeah," said Kalas, almost to himself, "I know."
Allyr sighed in relief, "Thanks," she said, "Now let's go back, and try to go through this day as normally as possible."
"Define 'normal'." Said Kalas glumly.
The remainder of the lesson was almost normal. Almost. The substitute led the discussion about the novel they were reading just as any English teacher would. There was nothing about his appearance or manner to suggest that he had ever murdered or conspired to murder or conceive/commit any similar acts. This did not however, calm Kalas down. Throughout the entire lesson he seethed with obvious hate, which was hard for Allyr to shut out of her mind. Allyr decided then that if she ever saw a book titled "Vengeful Spirits for Dummies" she would buy it without a second thought. Maybe "Vengeful Spirits for Dummies" might have something in it about how to calm said spirits down. Or at least get them to stop radiating hate long enough for Allyr to live a relatively normal life. When the period was over, she hastily scrambled to get out, but was unfortunately the last to leave. She was so intent on leaving the room that she did not notice the object of her disagreement with Kalas walk up to her until he tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hello," said the English substitute, looking concerned, "Are you all right? You've seemed awfully anxious the whole lesson."
She turned and saw him standing next to her, looking genuinely worried. "Um, yeah," she said, a little hesitantly, "I'm fine."
"I don't think we've been properly introduced," he said. He held out a hand, he politely told her his full name looking for all the world as if he just wanted to get to know her.
Why the formality? Thought Allyr. She would have shaken the hand, except Kalas was pretty much radiating hate, and she had the feeling that if she even became slightly friendly with this man, she would never hear the end of it. "Um, sir," she started, "Don't you think this is a bit… forward?"
He looked at Allyr a mildly surprised look on his face, and then laughed. It was then that Allyr finally noticed that she was alone in the room with the substitute, everyone else had already retreated, "What's wrong with wanting to get to know you?" he said smiling warmly at her.
Allyr was getting nervous now. A man who was a supposed murderer was trying to get friendly with her. "I need to leave soon," she said, adjusting her backpack on her back as she prepared to leave.
"What's the rush?" he said, leaning a little to get a bettor look at Allyr, taking her hand. She felt him press a piece of paper into her palm. "But, if you must go," he said, seeming a little sad. Then he straightened up, "See you tomorrow, Allyr." And he turned back to the desk in where he had stood for most of the class, apparently preparing for the next wave of students. Allyr walked out hurriedly, gripping the paper in her hand, wondering where the hell this was going to go.
As she walked down the hall to her next lesson, Allyr looked down at the piece of paperthe substitutehad given her. It looked normal enough, lined and folded neatly. She stuck it in her jeans pocket to look at in private. "He's planning something," said Kalas, almost to himself.
"Can you not be paranoid about this guy for just one minute?" hissed Allyr, though she was beginning to feel a little paranoid herself.
As soon as the school day was over, Allyr rushed to her she car and swung herself in. After closing the door and making sure that no one else was paying any attention to her, she took out the little piece of paper from her pocket. She unfolded it carefully and read the message written on the paper in a neat curly hand:
Why try to save a man who is already dead?
"What'd I tell you?" said Kalas looking down at the note from over Allyr's shoulder, sounding smug, "He is Morjidza, just admit it."
"And why do you sound so happy about this?" said Allyr, giving him a look he could not identify, "Your murderer has popped up, and will probably try to kill me. Now tell me, what's good about this again?"
"So you do admit that this guy is Morjidza!" said Kalas triumphantly.
"Fine, fine," said Allyr annoyed, "This guy's Morjidza. Now tell me, why are you so happy about a homicidal psycho cropping up who will probably try to kill me?"
"This means I can finally get-"
"Your revenge, I guessed about as much. And just how do you plan to do that?"
"Well, you aren't just going to let this guy kill you now are you?"
"Are you trying to manipulate me?"
"No, I'm just pointing out the facts."
"Damn it Kalas! I can't just go and kill somebody, and say I did it because the little voice in my head told me to!"
"If he attacks you first it's self-defense."
"Okay, I understand wanting to kill this guy, but aren't you being a little obsessive about this? You didn't even act this way when you tried to hunt down Giacomo."
"Giacomo didn't kill me." said Kalas with frightening bluntness.
"Well…" Allyr trailed off, unsure how to reply to this. "Wait," she started, looking at the paper, "There's something else." She flipped it over, and saw a date, time, and address written in the same hand on the back of the paper. It was today's date, the time that was written was 5:45. "Talk about melodramatic," she thought, looking at the address.
"That's definitely Morjidza then," commented Kalas dryly, "He did seem like one for theatrics."
Allyr bit back a retort as she looked at the date and time. "You've gotta be kidding me," she muttered. "What do you think he means by all this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" said Kalas, "He wants to meet up with you then."
Allyr snorted, "Why should I? It's not like he has any power over me. I'm not stupid enough to walk right into the hands of a nut job that probably wants me dead." She looked up at Kalas, crumpling up the note, "Unless you've got a brilliant argument that will make me go whether I really want to or not."
"Well," started Kalas, as if seriously thinking about it, "There's always the possibility that if you don't, he'll take a shot at your friends and family."
"Thanks for the confidence boost Kalas." Said Allyr shortly, chucking the note at the dashboard in anger, "But I'm still not going. Besides," she added, "If he really wanted to kill me he would have gotten it over with already. I was stuck in the same room as him for over forty minutes, and he didn't even try to hurt me. He's probably all bark and no bite anyway. And that's that!" with those last three words, she started up the car engine, and drove off.
Takei always looked forward to the end of a school day, just as any other sane student did. He was usually in such a happy daze that he paid little to no attention to his surroundings on the long walk home. He had tread the path between school and home so often, he probably could do it blindfolded. He allowed his thoughts to wander while his body was on autopilot. Often he would worry about an up coming test or think about a planned even with some buddies of his while he walked the well known road home. He was usually so inattentive that he would not have noticed anything short of a bomb exploding. He never stopped on the route home, or was ever stopped by anyone. Which was why he was taken by surprise when someone tapped him on the shoulder, "Excuse me," said a male voice behind him, "Are you Takei Mayers?"
"Um, yeah." Said Takei, turning around to face the speaker, "Why do you-"
Before he could get a proper look at the person behind him, he felt something strike him on the side of the head. He fell over onto the hard pavement, feeling warm blood drip down the side of his face, and fell into absolute darkness.
"What do you mean have I seen Takei?" asked Allyr, a couple hours later, "I've been here the whole time. It's not like he wanders into my room."
It was about five o'clock, and Allyr had been sitting at a desk in her room, attacking her homework when her mother had come in asking if she had seen Takei. Her mother looked anxious, "He hasn't come home yet," she said, "I'm worried about him."
"Have you tried calling his cell phone?" asked Allyr, looking up from her biology textbook, "He's usually good about that."
"I did," said Mrs. Mayers, "I didn't get an answer."
"I'm sure he's just with some friends and he left his cell off," said Allyr reassuringly, "He'll be home in half an hour."
Half an hour passed, Takei did not come home. "Mom, stop worrying," said Allyr, "If you want me to, I'll go look for him,"
"No, I should go," she said.
"Mom," said Allyr, "I insist."
"…All right," said Mrs. Mayers, "Just come back soon. I don't want you to go missing to."
"Don't worry," said Allyr calmly, smiling reassuringly at her mother, "I'll probably find him at one of his favorite haunts."
Allyr left and got into her mother's green car. After she started up the engine, she searched around the car for the out the little piece of paper that the English substitute, Morjidza had given her. When she found it, she grabbed it, tried to un-crumple the note, and checked the address on the note. "So you're going to meet him?" asked Kalas. "You think he took Takei?"
"Shut up," snapped Allyr irritably, "You can save your 'I told you so' for later."
As the pair departed in the green car, neither noticed that they were being watched. A little girl stood partially concealed by a tree in the yard, as if she did not want to be seen… yet. The little girl's hair, skin and simple dress were white as snow. She watched Allyr drive out of her driveway, and drive off to rescue her brother. As Allyr shrank into the distance, the little girl followed the car with dark eyes, that were nothing but black, like night without a star.
So once again, please review. Yeah...