Azil: You do realize that the moment she gets out of there she's going to try to kill you.
YamiPhoenixfire: (snorts) I'm her dark half. If I die, so does she.
Azil: Lovely. Do you think that she's going to be coherent enough to think of that when she gets out of there?
YamiPhoenixfire: …Is there such a thing as a 'Ward Good' spell?
Azil: Doubtful.
YamiPhoenixfire: Damn…
Azil: Shall I do the disclaimer? (YamiPhoenixfire chooses to ignore her and types at breakneck pace) I shall take your silence as consent. Very well… My sister and her crazy dark half don't own Baten Kaitos… (scans page) Wow, that's it for this chapter! I'm impressed. The next thing you know, they might start thinking up their own ideas…
YamiPhoenixfire: I don't have to put up with this… (Azil is pelted with books and flees the room)
Chapter 8: To Bleed
"Well?" Rana asked angrily. "Are you going to talk to me or not?"
"…I'm going to save Selih. Do you have a problem with that?" Astarael hissed.
"You… I'm sorry. Can you, really?"
"Won't know until I try, will I? Go back to bed, Rana. Trust me, I'll be fine."
"Okay… wait, if you're just visiting the hospital, then why do you need that?" Rana asked, pointing at Briar Rose.
"Preparedness, my dear sister. I don't want to meet the woman who tried to kill me earlier today without a weapon now, do I?"
"Oh!" Rana exclaimed, smacking her forehead. "Wow, now I feel stupid. Just… be careful, okay?"
"Not so loud! You want to wake up Azil and our parents?" Astarael hissed, and Rana blushed in embarrassment. Rana didn't need to know about the silencing wards on the bedroom.
"Sorry."
"That's okay. Now go back to bed." Rana started to leave, but turned back on a whim.
No one was there, and the window was wide open. Did she jump? A Rana thought, stifling a shriek of surprise as she rushed to the window, just in time to catch a glimpse of multicolor wings and blue hair fading off into the distance.
"Maybe if I go to sleep, I'll wake up and realize that this was all just a bad dream," she muttered, running a hand through her shoulder-length brown hair and heading for her own room.
"Alfard's bureaucrats are just as stuffy as ever," Kalas muttered. The only reason that Xelha had been able to get an audience with Lyude was because she was the former Ice Queen of Wazn. Kalas, having no rank, had to wait outside. Or at least, that was the given reason. He knew that they didn't trust him. He just hoped Xelha saved her biting lecture until AFTER she managed to see Lyude…
Gods, he hated waiting more than anything else…
"Kalas? Is that you, Kalas?"
He whirled in surprise. "Melodia? What in the world are you doing here? I thought you were in Mira!"
A sad smile crossed the blue-haired woman's face, and her red eyes looked oddly moist. "My uncle came here for an audience with Emperor Lyude. Apparently, I am not to be trusted around the Emperor, and so must wait here outside. Same with you?"
"Pretty much," Kalas replied bitterly. "I guess that this is what we get for trying to destroy the world, huh?" The joke, weak though it was, still managed to get a small smile out of the girl. "By the way… why's Duke Calbren here, anyway?"
"…there's odd things going on at the Shrine of Spirits. We think that the fabric between dimensions is starting to weaken."
"Mizuti said something about that, too. Is it dangerous or something?"
"Well, in and of itself, no. The danger comes from what might come through it."
"Mizuti thinks that it leads to Astarael's world."
"Really? Hmm…"
"Why so glum?"
"You know Astarael and I weren't on the best of terms…."
"Yeah," Kalas snorted. Heh, it had been more like mortal enemies, and he'd never quite been sure why. Well, aside from the whole fact that Melodia had wiped out some of Astarael's memories… yeah, he could see why Astarael would be pissed at Melodia. But why did Melodia hate Astarael? Girls didn't make any sense…
"Well, when I got close to the rift… Kalas, if felt a little like Malpercio's power was bleeding through."
"WHAT? That's impossible. Malpercio's dead!"
"That's what I thought too, but I know what I sensed. And I think I know more about the power of Malpercio than anyone else, considering that the End Magnus and Malpercio are the only reason I'm still alive…"
It had taken Astarael about an hour and a half to find Selih's room, even though she'd memorized the building's layout and had already had a general idea of where to look. When she finally forced the window open, she was Not Happy. What she found inside the room made her feel even angrier.
Her best friend was hooked to what she thought was some sort of life-supporting machine, an imposing thing that bristled wires and tubes and monitors and dozens of other things. An angry growl sounded in the back of her throat. Ayme. Folon.
She was going to kill them…
"Don't have a lot of time," she muttered, finding a hand in the mess. Quickly, she brought up Briar Rose and sliced open her own palm, sliced open Selih's palm, and pressed the two injuries together.
Yes, it was unsanitary and gross, but she'd seen proof on several occasions that her blood had some sort of a strengthening and regenerative power. Maybe, maybe, that power could help her friend.
"One thousand six, one thousand seven, one thousand eight, one thousand nine, one thousand ten," she muttered and let go. The injury closed up almost immediately and left a shiny pink scar. Hopefully, people will be too grateful to ask too many questions…
Astarael jerked in surprise as she heard footsteps coming her way. With a muffled curse, she threw herself out the window and flew off into the night.
"Having fun being Emperor, Lyude?" Xelha asked with a smirk as she sat down, sipping the glass of wine that the servant had poured.
"Fun?" Lyude yelped, collapsing into the chair opposite of her. "Gods, Xelha, you were the Queen of Wazn… you could have warned me about how much of a pain it is to run a country… even my siblings usually call me 'milord' or 'Your Grace'when I see them! I think I'm going to go insane! And… wait, were you being sarcastic earlier?"
"…maybe…" Xelha replied with a somewhat impish grin.
"Kalas is rubbing off on you."
"A lot of people have been telling me that lately," Xelha said with a chuckle.
"So… I'm going to assume that you didn't come here just to relieve me of the tedium. Why did you come to Alfard, Xelha?" Lyude asked.
"Straight to the point, eh? Very well. I came because some very strange things have been happening."
"Yes, they have. Did you know that there's an active dimensional rift open in the Shrine of Spirits?"
"Mizuti told us, yes... although she forgot to say where. The Shrine of Spirits, eh? That happens to tie in with the reason I came here…" Xelha took off the Earth Pendant and laid it on the table between them. Lyude gasped. "When did this start to happen?"
"About six months ago. At first, I thought I was imagining it, but about three weeks ago, the cracks became too big to ignore. Mizuti believes this is happening because… something's wrong with Astarael. The other two Artifacts are the same."
Lyude buried his head in his hands. Anything that could hurt Astarael enough to cause this was definitely bad. "Why is this starting to feel like Malpercio all over again?"
"There's more."
"More?"
"Yes. The Spirit Magnus have reappeared in Kalas's deck, with one slight change…"
"And what would that be?"
"Now there's seven of them instead of six."
Lyude blinked. The Spirit Magnus, back… that should be impossible. "Are you asking me to come on another quest with you?"
Xelha bit her lip. "Well… if you think you're too busy… I don't have any people to watch over anymore since Wazn kinda… melted, but I would understand if you felt you needed to remain here…"
"No, no, it's quite alright," Lyude said in a slightly panicky voice. "Just let me get my sonic rifle, and I'll be right there…"
Mizuti had expected finding Savyna would be a hassle. In fact, she hadn't expected the woman to be in Azha at all, really, despite her boasts to Kalas earlier. So she was quite surprised when she saw a familiar purple ponytail on the streets…
"Savyna!" Mizuti cried out. The woman turned, battle claws drawn, before she relaxed upon recognizing Mizuti. She sheathed them with a look of relief on her face.
"Great Mizuti. It's been a while. What are you doing all the way out here? I doubt your adventures would bring you to a place like this…"
"Ah, that is where Savyna be wrong," Mizuti said. "The Great Mizuti be on a quest, and we be needing your help again."
"We? Who is 'we'?" Savyna asked.
"Kalas. Xelha. Lyude. Gibari, if the Great Mizuti and the others can find him."
"Bringing the old gang back together, huh?" Savyna mused, her interest clearly perked. "Must be big if you're trying to get us back together again. So, Great Mizuti, why don't you take me to the others and brief me on the details as we walk, hmm?"
"Splendid! Wonderful! Excellent!" Mizuti exclaimed. Phew, I managed to distract her before she could ask me what I was doing in Azha… "The Great Mizuti will be more than happy to explain…."
YamiPhoenixfire: Woot! I finished! That bit with Melodia was spur of the moment genius on my part. Seriously, there's no way in REAL LIFE that everyone would just forgive Kalas and Melodia for what they did. People just aren't that nice. I'm thinking of having Melodia come along with everyone to Astarael's world. Oooh, upcoming havoc with relationships ahead… (evil laughter)
In the next chapter: Astarael deals with the aftermath of the previous day, and the Great Hunt For Gibari begins. And now… reviewer res…
Phoenixfire: (clears throat)
YamiPhoenixfire: (screams like a little girl and whirls around in the desk chair) YOU! How did you get out!
Phoenixfire: I opened the door. Duh.
YamiPhoenixfire: But how's that possible! I locked it!
Phoenixfire: I picked the lock.
YamiPhoenixfire: But every time I try that, burning pain threatens to wipe me off the face of the planet!
Phoenixfire: Well, that might be because I put ward evil spells on the doorknob.
YamiPhoenixfire: …you're even worse than me when you're in a bad mood. So, what's my punishment?
Phoenixfire: Guess. (shoves YamiPhoenixfire into the closet)
YamiPhoenixfire: AUUGH! THE FLOOR! IT BURNS!
Phoenixfire: Probably because I put a ward evil spell on the floor while I was in there. The walls and ceiling are safe.
YamiPhoenixfire: Hey! I'm supposed to be the sadistic one here!
Phoenixfire: Well, I guess you're rubbing off on me. (curses are heard from inside the closet)
Well, now that she's gone, I have an announcement. You might have noticed that I've been updating this a lot lately That's because I'm going out of town soon. I will be at the beach the last week of July and the first week of August. Just so you're all prepared…
Reviewer Responses
Vanya the Elven Maiden of the Valar: Yaay! You guessed right! Glad to know another Evanescence fan.
Seducer of Darkness: Oh come on, my dark half would LOVE to read a story like that. (YamiPhoenixfire: You'd probably like to read it too, sadistic little…)(Phoenixfire: Shall I put warding spells on the entire interior of the closet?)(YamiPhoenixfire: NO! I get the point, I'll shut up!) There aren't enough Baten Kaitos stories out there, so if you come up with a good idea, you should definitely write it!
crazygirl306: Glad you liked the Evanescence song… since I'm going to be using at least one more in the future…
LighteningRae: She IS good at cliffhangers, isn't she? Then again, so am I…