(Chapter five, and after two basically pointless chapters, here comes some plot development. –le gaspe- Hehe. Lots of Zelos point of view on this one, seeing as my story has lacked it up till now.)
"That wasn't fair! You got a head start!" Zelos complained, though it was only a half-hearted protest, for he had in truth quite liked the race. The ninja was still sitting on the ground, where she'd plopped the moment she had officially won. She looked up at the Chosen, a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"So much for 'lightning-fast'." She commented, and Zelos gave a curt laugh, his focus being fixed on finding a way out of his newfound imperfection. 'Maybe if I claim that her voluptuous body was distracting me? No, that'd get me another slap. I can say I tripped, and my angel-fast reflexes helped me get back up before she noticed I'd fell... But even I'm not that stupid. Hmm…' But he was never able to finish that particular thought process, for just then Sheena rose once more, having given them both sufficient time to catch their breath.
"Come on, let's go." She suggested, and, though Zelos knew it was more of an order than a suggestion, and the Chosen HATED being ordered about, he complied. Together they strode into Sybak, though their moments of carefree banter were left at the gate, and both assumed a much more serious façade as they stepped into the 'University Town'. Something seemed… different. Sure, they stood upon the same dusty-brown cobblestones, they were surrounded by the familiar crimson-brick walls, and the air was thick and silent with the atmosphere of deep thought and learning... Still, that nagging feeling followed them as they passed through the main intersection of town and into the roads to the Academy.
Both looked about them suspiciously, half expecting some massive hairy monster or a man with a machete to leap out at them at any moment. But that, they both knew, would be stupid. Cliched. It had happened a grand total of seven times through their Journey of Reunion, as the group decided to name it that night by the fireside when Colette pointed out how their motives had strayed. How they'd started out trying to regenerate Sylvarant because it was what the ancestors had told them to do via legends and such, then they attempted to split the two worlds because it would save both worlds, and they ended up usurping the angel government of sorts, killing the most powerful being in existence, reuniting two worlds, reviving the goddess, recreating the Great Kharlan Tree, gaining three sets of wings-- not counting Kratos, of course-- and keeping Zelos from murdering Genis in his sleep. It amazed even Sheena, when she took the time to go over it in her head like that. So much accomplished, so much gained…
'Stupid, Sheena! You can't let your mind wander when you may be within attacking distance of the massacrists at any moment.' The ninja blinked herself back into reality, glancing around at the intelligent-looking people nearby with a new outlook. 'It could be any one of them, couldn't it? The blue-haired man, buried in his book... The brunette, gazing at the sky... Though that shifty-looking man with blonde spiked hair and a suspicious front seems like a good candidate.' She silently grabbed hold of the redhead's pink and black sleeve, tugging slightly to get his attention and nodding her head toward the man in question.
"It's him... I can sense it, he's part of this somehow." She whispered, almost too soft for Zelos to catch. He gazed down at her quizzically for a moment. 'How could she sense something like that? If her ninja-senses are that fine-tuned, it's only a matter of time...' After that moment, however, he nodded in agreement, and they set off after the man. Making sure to keep a good distance between them and their suspect, the duo followed him all the way to the Imperial Research Academy.
"Just our luck," grumbled the Chosen, no longer bothering with silence as the man entered the Academy and hastily closed the door behind him. He leaned back against the wall, resting his head back against the cool red bricks and groaning in a mix of disappointment and exasperation. "We were so close."
"We still are." Sheena declared, her gaze searching about her for something quite unknown to the redhead. He lifted his head from its resting spot, an eyebrow raised at the ninja.
"Please, enlighten me. Unless you're carrying some secret ninja walk-through-walls tool under that revealing robe of yours, I think it's quite impossible." Zelos stated, suppressing a smirk at his comment, for he knew the response she'd give before it came. On cue, Sheena snorted indignantly, turning the other way to obstruct whatever view he had and continuing her search. At last, a faint smirk of her own appeared.
"Follow me. If you can." With that she turned, took a flying leap, and wrapped her fingers firmly over the top of the wall. Swinging her legs effortlessly up to grab hold of the ledge as well, she pulled herself up onto the narrow wall. Meanwhile, the redhead watched on, wide-eyed. 'She expects me to do that?' He wondered incredulously as she silently ran along the narrow ledge that made up the top layer of bricks and followed it 'till it came to the side of the Academy. With that, she turned to Zelos with a look that clearly said 'You coming?'. He nodded, refusing to be showed up by a female, especially this particular female. Though the exact method with which he intended to reach her was the problem. After a moment of thought, he decided upon the least painful approach. Hopping onto one of the square fence-posts that lined the path into the building, he used that as a stepping-stone to leap atop the wall as well. Though the Chosen did it with much less grace than his predecessor, he as well rushed along the thin path, only losing his balance once and managing to right himself shortly after. By the time Zelos had arrived, however, Sheena had already climbed about ten feet up the seemingly smooth wall and was in the process of shimmying a vent from its socket. Though she worked deftly and carefully, the ninja was making more noise than the Chosen knew they could afford. His gaze darted worriedly about them, yet nobody had noticed. He felt no relief, however; no, it was a miracle they hadn't been caught already, and it'd be another if they made it in without notice. As long as the street stayed empty…
"Psst! Tethe'alla to Zelos!" Came an impatient hiss from above. The redhead turned his gaze up to the raven-haired source, yet she was no longer there. He blinked in surprise. Where was she? His question was answered when a head poked out of the vent hole, a hand waving pointedly to gesture him in. Nodding, the Chosen leaped, fingers grasping for the bottom edge of the vent… Yet he barely suppressed a yelp of surprise as he found himself falling, back toward the cobblestones far below. Zelos closed his cerulean eyes, waiting for the moment when redhead met pavement... Yet he hadn't fallen more than a moment before a hand darted from the hole, grabbing his outstretched hand firmly 'round the wrist and heaving with all it's might. 'Sheena!' He thought with relief as he finally made his entrance into the dark and dusty tunnel.
The ninja hastily replaced the vent, only to find herself in nearly complete darkness with the idiot Chosen. He didn't seem in the mood to try anything, however… Neither would she be, if she had nearly splattered herself across the rock-hard ground below. Of course, she was never one to try anything anyways. That was Zelos's job, quite unfortunately. Wordlessly, she got onto her hands and knees and began her silent crawl down the tunnel. She could hear the faint whoosh of the Chosen crawling behind her, the soft sigh of his exhale… And a low, sinister rumbling. Eyes widening in surprise and curiosity, the ninja paused, trying to decide where it came from. 'Up ahead, not far.' After two right turns, thin shafts of light illuminated the passageway up ahead. Silently and meticulously the raven-haired femme made her way forward, pressing herself to the floor of the vent and peering through it's slats. Three men and a woman were leaned over a boiling substance… And the rumbling was still ahead.
Silent as a snake, she slunk onward once more, though Sheena wished she could have taken in the light a few moments longer before returning to darkness. A hesitation behind her told her that Zelos felt the same way, but the hesitation was not lengthy, and soon she heard the faint whoosh and soft sigh once more. More corners. Left, right, left, right... 'It'll be impossible to find our way back out that way.' She decided, after losing track of where they'd come. Was the fifth turn left, or right? Was the eighth turn right? Or was that the one they had to slide downwards? Yet Sheena led on, using the rumbling as her guide. It was growing progressively louder and louder… Until at last another shaft of light was seen before her.
Using the same technique, she peered through this vent as well, to come face to face with the blonde man. Sheena nearly gasped in surprise, before she realized that the man was too far below to see her at this angle. She was gazing down at him and another man, who was facing the other way and had similar spiked locks, this time of the deepest crimson. The sinister rumbling was the crimson-haired man's voice! She gestured Zelos to crawl forward as well, pressing as close to the front of the tunnel as possible as she felt his body slip by until he too could see the men. The ninja shifted uncomfortably, unnerved at being so close to the Chosen, yet for once he didn't seem to notice. The redhead's gaze was fixated on the men, and soon so was Sheena's.
"So it's done?" The blonde questioned.
"Indeed, it is done." The crimson-head confirmed with a nod of his head. A smirk of satisfaction crossed the blonde's snakelike features.
"With Mizuho out of the way, there's nothing to stand in his way." He declared, the smirk ever-present.
"Yeah, and we never could have done it without our 'source'." The crimson-head couldn't help but join in the celebratory banter. He was soon smirking as well. The two were silent for a moment, basking in the glory. Zelos, however, had grown tense.
"Hey Tor, did you ever find out what happened to that one who survived?" The blonde was the first to break the silence, and his query was a bit more serious than their previous words.
"They haven't found her yet." Tor, the crimson-head, admitted.
"Dang… Is it that hard to find one ninja?"
"I don't know, 'snot my job anyways." With that, the pair paused, leaning back in their chairs.
"Besides, Kage will find her soon enough. He found Mizuho, didn't he?" The blonde pointed out, and Tor was quick to contradict.
"It was only luck that got him Mizuho to begin with. His 'source' told him exactly where it was, it was pure luck that found him the source to begin with." Tor argued, drawing a hasty look about him from the blonde.
"Shhhh! Don't speak such doubts. He has ears everywhere, and you know what he does to those who speak ill of him, don't you?" The blonde man hissed, and Tor shuddered slightly, knowing all to well of the punishments inflicted by their cruel leader. "Look, I gotta scram. They already suspect me back in Meltokio, and if I'm gone too long they'll have me under lock and key." He made a move to the door, but Tor spoke up before he could leave.
"I wish to speak with Kage myself. Where is he?"
"On his way to Altamira. He was sticking around the wreckage a while in case the little ninja girl returned, but she never did, so he's off to the Seaside Paradise to celebrate his victory. Later, Tor." With this he nodded a goodbye and slipped from the room. It wasn't long before Tor followed as well, and Zelos guessed they had merely rented the room for a short while. Now that the occupants of the room were gone, Zelos felt he could speak, though softly, without raising alarm.
"Sheena? We've heard what we came to hear, let's go." He started to scoot back away from the ninja, yet she did not follow. Moments passed, and she stayed silently where she lay. 'I wonder if the ole 'I'm sorry, I didn't know that was your butt!' trick will work...' He thought, a sly grin on his face. But then the grin disappeared. She still hadn't moved. The redhead crawled up beside her once more, placing a hand on her shoulder in case she was still in thought. His eyes widened, however, to find that the ninja was shaking. He knew not whether it was rage or sorrow that caused it, and he hesitated, unsure of how to deal with that particular situation. After a moment, he decided to try to speak with her once more. "Sheena?"
"Someone told them." She spat, and Zelos could tell from the edge on her voice that she was fighting back tears. "Someone told them, betrayed my entire village. I swear, if I ever find out who it was, I'll kill them!" She swore this through gritted teeth, still attempting not to cry. Zelos tensed at the fierceness in her words, though in truth it was the words themselves that affected him most. Never before had he seen her so determined... He felt a lump rise in his throat, instantly pitying the poor soul who would feel such a wrath.
"We hafta go. Much longer up here and we'll choke on all the dust." He declared, going to turn around but banging his head on the ceiling of the tunnel. A fairly loud curse word escaped his mouth before he clamped his hand over it, recalling once more the need for silence and fearing their cover had been blown. Both were as silent as the grave, listening and fearing they had been heard… Yet, another miracle, they had raised no alarm. Zelos heaved a sigh of relief, and decided it was safe to talk again. "We can't go out the way we came, and forward is a dead end. The only way is down…"
His whisper voiced the fear that Sheena had harbored the whole way through the tunnels. She was prepared, however, and with no prompting from the redhead she slowly eased the vent out of it's socket, drawing it inward and placing it softly onto the tunnel before her. Slowly she eased herself from the hole, coming to rest silently on top of the chair that was occupied by Tor mere minutes before. Zelos soon followed, and, though both were extremely relieved to be out in the air once more, the pair knew they were far from safe. Easing the door open, the ninja peered out into the hallway… Empty. She crept out into the hall, the redhead in pursuit. The moment she stepped toward the closest exit, however, a door flew open behind her. There stood Tor, as well as three similar men. The crimson-head's eyes went wide. He looked to the two, then the door they had just exited.
"They heard everything!" He roared, pointing a finger toward the pair. "Get them!" The three men, who were smaller than Tor and obviously his lackeys, immediately raced toward Zelos and Sheena. Zelos, however, had other ideas.
"RUN!" He yelped, and Sheena didn't need to be told twice. She flew down the hallways, running blindly at top speed, her only thought being to escape the men. Through one door and the next she raced, Zelos hot on her heels. 'Feet, don't fail me now!' On and on they ran, for what seemed like an eternity… Until their fears came true once more. "Dead end?" The Chosen cursed under his breath as the pair turned to face their attackers. The three men now had smirks on their faces, and had slowed to a walk now that they knew the ones they were chasing were trapped.
"Heeere, girly girly. We don't bite." One of them taunted.
"Much." Another added, sending the remaining two into a fit of sniggering. Zelos looked to Sheena, who was fumbling with something under her ribbon. More taunting from the men brought his gaze to their foes once more.
Sheena, however, was not looking at them at all. She was deep in concentration, her lips moving silently as she muttered a spell her grandfather had taught her before sending her to Sylvarant. She grabbed hold of a small ball from her supplies, which glowed faintly in response to the words she was forming. Would she make it? The men were closing in fast.
"Hey! Boys, she's tryin' something!" One of them raised the alarm, and the other three took up a jog toward the pair. But Sheena was ready. She reached out and grabbed hold of Zelos's hand, holding it tightly in her own so the spell would work for him as well. The ball was thrown to the floor before them, and the pair disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
(It's a bit short, I think. The next one will probably be better. Any questions? Comments? What do YOU think is going to happen? Review!)