Pawns
by Quicksilver
Part Six
Maron awoke from a pleasantly groggy state to return to the unwanted phase of existence known as reality. Ever muscle in her body was aching, and she wondered exactly what had hit her.
She blinked, trying to organize her hazy thoughts. She had... tried to Checkmate last night, and for the first time, the demon had been more powerful then she. Sinbad had saved her, only to abandon her in a Park. Then Chiaki had come and taken her home. All in all, it had been a hectic day.
She felt like a wrung out dishrag. She had used far too much energy trying to Checkmate, and she had nothing to show for it aside from a colossal headache. She attempted to sit up, only to fall back on the pillows, and feel the pain in her forehead increase. It felt like someone had taken a hammer and was trying to work their way out of her skull from the inside. I'm too damn weak to even sit up straight! She thought furiously. How the hell am I going to do anything? I've got a Checkmate to make! Not to mention that damn math test!
"Just lie down, Maron," a voice said softly. She started, and then groaned as the movement sent another spike of pain through her. "I've got something for the headache. Open your mouth."
She was too tired to argue. Two small bitter pills were placed on her tongue when her lips opened. He then lifted her had up and held a cup to her mouth. "Swallow," he commanded, and she did so.
"I feel awful," she whispered.
"I'm not surprised." A cool cloth wiped her face. "Your skin is clammy to the touch, and your cheeks are flushed. I had to carry you home last night."
She muttered under her breath, tried to sit up again, and failed. "How am I going to take that test?" she said. She would have wailed, but even the sound of her own voice sent sharp jabs of refreshed agony through her head.
Chiaki's voice soothed her. "It's okay. I'll talk to Pakkyamlamao-sensei, get you an extension."
"Do you think..." Maron said, trying to not sound too hopeful.
"I think so. Now how about trying to get some sleep? Or do you want something to eat?"
Her stomach rebelled at the idea of food, but she knew she should eat something. "I have some Gatorade in the fridge. It'll probably help me feel a bit better."
He nodded. "Restore your electrolytes," he agreed. He hurried into the kitchen and she heard the sound of him fumbling through her cabinets as he tried to find a glass. The noise seemed to vibrate inside of her head, and she wished that someone would put her out of her misery. She hated being sick.
He came back moments later, holding up a clear glass full of light blue liquid. "Whatever happened to the days when it was just- well, red?"
She looked at it, not in the mood for his lousy jokes. "This tastes better," she stated abruptly.
He propped her up against a few overly stuff pillows and she was relieved that the pills he had given her had already started to take effect. He helped her take a few sips, and the entire exercise exhausted her.
There was the distant sound of pounding, like someone knocking on a door. "Maron!" a voice called.
She flinched as she heard someone yelling her name. "That sounded like Miyako. She's here to pick me up for school."
"I'll go tell her we're not coming."
"We're!" she exclaimed, then immediately regretting it. Her voice vibrated in her head like cymbals. Pain, pain, pain. She should have known to keep her mouth shut.
"Someone needs to watch over you, and Miyako can't afford to miss anymore class- she's really busy helping her father chase Jeanne and Sinbad."
"But-" she began to protest.
"No buts. It's a done deal. You just stay right here and I'll go ask Miyako to collect our homework." He left the room, and she scowled at his back.
Maron fumed. "Insufferably bossy prig!"
"Is he gone?" a small voice said quietly from the windowsill.
"Fin!" Maron exclaimed. "Where did you get to last night?"
The little angel flew over and gently perched on Maron's lap, studying her with intent eyes. "I thought Chiaki would be able to deal with you, so I got out of the way. He makes me nervous."
"You don't like him?" Maron asked, surprised.
"It's not that exactly. Anyway, how are you feeling?"
Maron recognized an attempt to change the subject when she heard one, but she let her friend get away with it. "Absolutely lousy. My head is killing me, I think I have a fever, and I have no energy."
"I'm not surprised. You used too much energy trying to Checkmate last night. You should be better in a few days."
"Three."
"What!" Fin exclaimed, horrified.
"I want you to send notice for three days. I have to go back out, or Sinbad is going to win."
"Win? You nearly died and you're worried about Sinbad 'winning!'"
Maron stared blankly. "I nearly died!"
"You did! If Sinbad hadn't helped you when he did, you wouldn't have had enough energy to keep your heart beating when you let go of your transformation! I don't like him, but you owe him your life!"
"Why would he save me?" she whispered in a wondering voice.
"I don't know! But he must have had some reason!"
Maron blinked, trying to integrate the new knowledge. She had almost died. It made being a kaitou seem less of a game, and all the sudden dangerously real. "Three days. I'll figure something out before then."
Fin Fish nodded reluctantly. "Three days. I'll have a notice ready." She rose and stretched slowly. "Chiaki's coming back, so I'll leave you alone to get some sleep." The angel smiled and flew up to place a kiss on Maron's forehead. "Sleep now." Her tiny hands lit up with a faint green light.
Entranced by the hypnotic power Fin was using, Maron fell into a healing sleep, aided by the love of an emissary of God.
Miyako knocked on Maron's door, impatient. "Maron!" she yelled for what must have been the fifteenth time. "Hurry up or we'll be late!" Losing Jeanne the night before had put her in a foul mood, and now that Maron was late, as usual. She was just about to pound on the door with her fist one last time when the door swung open.
"It's about time- Chiaki!" she exclaimed, seeing a pair of unexpected blue eyes. Ruthlessly she suppressed the feelings of suspicion that welled up in her. "What are you doing at Maron's place?" she asked, trying to keep her voice neutral. It was probably something innocent- maybe he had come over for breakfast, as he was always threatening to do.
He raised a finger to his lips, indicating that she should be quiet as he stepped out into the hall. "Maron's sick- she won't be able to go to school. I'm going to stay here and watch her."
"She's sick?" Miyako asked, making a move to go into her friend's apartment.
Chiaki blocked her by moving. "I just got her to take something to help her sleep- she's going to be out of it. I'm going to stay with her today. Could you please collect our homework?"
Miyako's heart pounded. "Why not let my mother know? She can keep an eye on her- she stays at home, and that's what's happened in the past when Maron's ill." She didn't like the thought of Chiaki spending the day alone with a vulnerable Maron- whether it was out of concern for her friend or for her crush, she wasn't sure.
"You can tell her, but I'm staying anyway," Chiaki said. His eyes were strangely gentle as he glanced at the door. "She would do the same for me."
"Yes, but Chiaki... you can't really afford to miss school, can you? You're absent quite a lot," Miyako said, trying a different tact.
"That's not a concern. I still have the highest grades in class, as you very well know. If Maron's feeling better later, I might help her with her studying."
"It'd be more efficient if you went so you knew what you were tutoring her in."
"Please, Miyako?" he said, giving her a pleading look.
She sighed, unable to deny him. "Fine."
He flashed her a smile that went to her very bones; a brilliant, charismatic smile that was all for her. "I knew I could count on you!" With that, he opened the door to Maron's apartment quietly and went back in.
Miyako basked in the remembered glow of his smile before a thought occurred to her. "How did he know she was sick before I did?" she wondered aloud. Something was going on, and she was going to find out.
But first she had classes.
Chiaki was dead tired. His antics as Sinbad the night before had taken their toll, and he had been up all night trying to keep Maron alive. She had come dangerously close to killing herself. It was only by using some of his personal power that she had managed to survive the night.
He knew about magic, knew the costs and consequences, better then most. Magic could be an internal or external thing. His family had always used magic, but he was the strongest to be born in recorded history. The portents on the night of his birth had been enough that anyone who knew enough to read them had shivered in fear- no one should be that powerful.
And then Maron had been born, and the world itself had unconsciously quivered.
Joan of Arc walked the earth again. He thought it strange that she was still so ignorant about the true nature of her powers, wondered how she had survived all these years alone. The Devil himself was her opponent, and she'd been stripped of her family early. Even raw talent like hers needed training.
He moved back into her room, smiling at her. The two pills he'd given her had been designed to help a person recover their magic, and soothe the trauma of magic burn. They weren't the type of things that could be bought over the counter; he had made them himself. Chiaki himself had taken one shortly after, and knew he was about to crash.
While he hadn't attempted to Checkmate, he had spontaneously teleported with a passenger, a very complex and tiring spell. Glancing around to check for a green-haired jun tenshi, he was relieved that she wasn't around. That meant it was safe for him to cast a simply cantrip, one that would alert him if Maron needed him for anything.
He murmured under his breath as he wove his fingers in an elaborate, yet short, pattern, taking the mana in the room and bending it to his will. Luckily such a small spell didn't require him to use his personal reserves, something he could ill afford to do. He drew on the earth's inherent mana, smiling slightly as the power embraced him. It was so addicting that it would be easy to cast spell after spell until he died, worn out by channeling.
The tendrils of magic reached out and wrapped around Maron gently. Had he been using his mage-sight, he would have seen the light blue fibers encase her gently, tying her to him. It wasn't an offensive spell, nothing that could hurt her, so her native defenses didn't kick in. Instead, he was suddenly more aware of her, her presence tingling against his skin, her fatigue conveying itself so well that he nearly collapsed on the spot. Somehow or other he managed to make his was to the couch in the living room, where he shut his eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.
It was a few hours before he felt a tug on the spell, warning him that Maron was stirring. He rolled off the couch and shoved his feet back into his slippers, padding over to the door. "Maron?" he called out. Chiaki heard her murmur sleepily, and took it for an invitation to enter. "Feeling better?" he asked cheerily.
"I feel wonderful," she said sarcastically. "The hammer in my head has decreased about two sizes- does that count?"
"Can't you think about anything except your head?" he asked.
"Right now the pain that's there won't let me," she said.
He thought carefully before making an offer. Chiaki was well aware of the fact that Maron suspected his motives, but there was something he could do. "I know you're going to accuse me of being a pervert, but I do have an idea that might help."
She raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. "What?"
"I'm really good at given massages."
"No!" she yelled, feeling blood rush to her face and her head explode again.
"Maron, honestly. It'd help you relax, and if you relax, some of the pain might dissipate."
"But-" she began, then sighed. Chiaki would argue and argue, and in her current state, she knew she'd lose. "Fine. Touch anywhere inappropriate and I hand you your head on a platter."
"I won't," he
promised, trying to get his eyes to reflect his sincerity. He
honestly didn't want to set her off. He had had magic burn before,
and he knew it felt simply miserable. If she would let him work on
her, though, he'd be able to do some more channeling, and hopefully
get her back up on her feet sooner. "Roll over so I can work on
your back."
She had regained enough strength to do so without
his help, though it was an effort. He pulled the blanket off and
knelt besides her, moving her hair off her back and onto her
shoulders. "Let me know if I do anything that doesn't feel
right. A massage shouldn't hurt."
His strong fingers brushed against her back gently and she blushed slightly, unused to anyone being so intimate with her. After a minute, she relaxed, and then he began to work in earnest.
Chiaki hadn't lied- he was good. He seemed to know just the right amount of pressure to apply, and where to apply it. He found knots in her muscles that she hadn't even been aware of having, and his long soothing strokes soon had her ready to purr like a kitten. Maron was slowly de-evolving into a pile of goo, and she had no objections.
Unbeknown to her, Chiaki was using his admittedly limited healing magic (his spells tended to be of a more offensive nature) to bolster her reserves. She was bouncing back remarkably fast- she would have to take tomorrow and Saturday off, but she'd be ready for school Monday. And probably ready to transform into Jeanne not much longer after that. The idea made him nervous. There was still the matter of Tokyo Tower to settle.
He would have to Checkmate before then.
