Phoenixfire: Okay, for clarification's sake…
First of all, the real reason I didn't do reviewer responses at the end of the last chapter is because by the time I finished it, I was so tired I could barely string together a coherent sentence. Would you rather have waited a whole extra day JUST so you could get reviewer responses? Didn't think so. Secondly…
NO, I did NOT kill Astarael! WHY would I do that, after I told you that she and Kalas were going to get together? How cruel do you think I am?
YamiPhoenixfire: Very.
Phoenixfire: Shut up, you. (Tries to hit YamiPhoenixfire, who simply steps on a button. Phoenixfire overbalances and falls into a plothole)
YamiPhoenixfire: Mwahah… I am avenged… and now, comes the moment you've all been waiting for. No, I'm not going to kill off the evil Kalas. But the Baten Kaitos people are finally going to come to the real world! YES! At long last!
In this chapter I do not own: Baten Kaitos. Or my mind… since I was created by Phoenixfire, that belongs to her…
Chapter Sixteen: Not Welcome
Kalas looked dubiously at the crack that oozed dark energy, hovering over the spot where he'd bonded with Astarael three years ago. "So you're saying that all we have to do is jump in? Are you sure?"
"YES," said Xelha, Melodia, and Mizuti simultaneously.
"What's wrong, Kalas? Scared?" teased Folon.
"Hell no," Kalas spat, jumping into the void without a second thought.
"Um… miss? It's not safe for you to be on the roof," said one of the hospital aides to the young woman in white who was sitting about ten feet away from him. Ever since the girl Astarael had been brought in that afternoon, there had been near-constant monster attacks. Even though the hospital was protected by some sort of barrier, who could say if the shield would hold, especially with its creator bleeding to death three floors below them?
The young woman ignored him, however. She didn't even turn around. Her waist-length white hair hung motionless, and she remained sitting on the roof Indian style, her hands resting on her knees as if she were meditating. "Do you have a name, Miss?"
A pause. "I am Honor."
What an odd name, especially for a girl… "Honor…?" he trailed off suggestively. She didn't reply. "What is your last name?" he sighed, figuring that he was going to have to spell everything out for this girl.
"I am Honor," she repeated, sounding as if she thought him to be a little dense. He was beginning to wonder if the girl was quite sane.
"Miss Honor, you really shouldn't be on the roof. Come along now, surely your parents are looking for you?"
"…I must stay here."
"Why?"
"To keep my oath."
He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Regardless, I can't leave you on the roof. It's against regulations."
"You have no choice."
"Why not?"
"Because if you remove me, the barrier will implode. I'm all that's keeping it going now. I'm the only one left… the only one who has both the right kind of power and the interest to keep the barrier going…"
He blinked. "Did Astarael send you here?"
At the name Astarael, she turned around and fixed him with a piercing glare, her golden eyes practically glowing. "You could say that…"
"Your eyes! They're…"
"You must return to your duties," she interrupted, turning back around. "I have to keep my full concentration on the barrier, or it will collapse." He turned to leave, and was almost through the door, when… "Wait. A word of warning for you, healer."
He turned around. "What is it?"
"Rage is somewhere in this building. Do not provoke her."
"Ah… thank you…" he said, practically bolting through the door, and deciding that yes, the girl was indeed mad.
"Gaah… just jump in, they said. Right. What did I do to deserve this?" he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. Everyone else was waking up too. "Anyone have any idea where we are?"
"Nope," Xelha replied. "Did Astarael tell you anything about her world, Kalas?"
Kalas tried to think back. Astarael hadn't said much about her home, and Kalas had figured out that it was a sore subject and more or less dropped it. However, as he looked around at the brick buildings and the odd metal vehicles with wheels, even he could tell that there was something out of place.
There were no people. Not a single one.
"Um, don't you think it's odd that there's no one around? I mean, this looks like a town, and it's the middle of the day," Melodia pointed out.
"Say, is the sky supposed to be green here?" Gibari asked, pointing up.
"No," Kalas said, looking up. "Astarael didn't talk much about her home, but I think she would have said something if the sky were a different color."
They were currently standing in the middle of some sort of street, paved in a black material that Kalas didn't recognize. There were two smaller white roads that went on either side of the black one, and were raised and made of different material. The few metal vehicles (At least, that's what he thought they were) were standing idle along the white roads on either side of them. Periodically, three foot metal poles would stick out of the white roads (About every six feet or so). They had large metal counters on their ends. At one end of the street was a steel bridge going over a river, and at the one nearest to them was a second street and a building. At the corner where the two streets intersected were two green signs that crossed each other, mounted on a metal pole that stood about two heads taller than him. Kalas walked up to the sign to read it. On one side the green sign said 'Main Street', and on the other it said 'Cherryville Lane'. Across the street from him was a black sign with a white arrow that said 'One Way'.
One way? What did 'One Way' mean? Were you only allowed to walk one way? Look one way? Or did it have something to do with the vehicles that they'd seen periodically?
Kalas looked up at that moment, and saw something that he did recognize.
"WHAT? That's impossible!"
"Kalas, what's wro…" Xelha followed his gaze, and she saw it too.
In the distance floated Cor Hydrae.
BEEP! BEEP!
Everyone's heads snapped in the direction of the bridge, where a brilliant blue wheeled vehicle (Apparently they were used for transportation purposes) come barreling across the bridge, heading straight at them in speeds Kalas guessed were probably excessive for a town. However, considering that the driver was being chased by four winged demons, that wasn't very surprising. Everyone scrambled to get out of the way, but the blue vehicle still nearly ran Melodia down.
"Watch where you're going, you bastard!" Kalas shouted at the driver.
"Fuck you!" came the irritated reply, complete with rude hand gesture. However, the driver in question had taken his eyes off the road when he had flipped Kalas the finger, which resulted in him accidentally crashing into a small tree. "SHIT! Now look what you made me do! Those monsters are going to fuc-"
"The Great Mizuti thinks you should be quiet now," Mizuti growled, brandishing her chakram at him. The rude man swallowed his retort at the sight of the weapon, and turned even paler at the sight of the others pulling out guns and swords and their other miscellaneous weapons. They proceeded to take out the four flying monsters with minimal difficulty.
Kalas turned to the driver of the blue vehicle. "Care to tell us what's going on here?"
"… you're…! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEEEEE!" the man screamed upon getting a good look at Kalas's face. He then kicked his poor, abused vehicle into high gear and drove away as fast as he possibly could, loosing a shiny metal strip off the bottom of the front of his vehicle and some other random pieces from the bottom.
"…what was that about?" Kalas wondered. No one else had any idea either.
"…what are you doing, Rana?" Selih asked. She'd dropped by to see if Astarael's condition had improved any (not that she had expected it to) and to (hopefully) glean some information about Astarael's current state from her odd great-grandmother. Instead, she had found a near-empty hospital room, unoccupied save for Rana, who had one of Astarael's old origami books and appeared to be attempting to fold a crane.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to fold a crane."
"Why, dare I ask? Wouldn't it be better to start with something a little easier to fold?"
"Astarael told me about this old legend she read about, where if you can fold a thousand paper cranes you can make a wish and it'll come true. I want Astarael to get better." She looked forlornly at the mess of folds she had made so far. "I'm no good, though. But that's not going to stop me from trying!"
Selih smiled slightly. If only things were really that easy…
"So… how are we going to find your Guardian, anyway? Especially if people scream and run away whenever they see us." Folon asked after they'd wandered around the town for about an hour, trying to find other people. The place seemed to be deserted.
"Um… the Great Mizuti senses energy to the south. It feels a bit like the magical barrier that protects Anuenue."
"Hmm… if there's a barrier, then the people who used to live here are probably there," Savyna suggested. "This place isn't exactly the best place to weather attacks from monsters and the like."
"Well, that's as good of an idea as any… south it is…" Just then, they saw six black and white vehicles with red and blue flashing lights careening towards them.
"Uh… anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" Gibari muttered, hefting his paddle into a guard position. At that point, about a dozen men dressed in blue uniforms jumped out of the vehicles, drawing weapons that looked vaguely like the rifles that the Empire used.
"You, with the blue hair and the brown cape, the blue skinned freak and the magenta haired chick! All three of you are charged with murder! We'll be taking all of you in for questioning! Now drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!"
Everyone blinked and stared. We've been here less than an hour! How could we have killed anyone? Well, we did save that one guy, but… "Xelha. Take everyone else and run. They're after me, Ayme, and Folon. The rest of you should be able to get away if we provide a distraction. Find Astarael. Whatever's going on, she should be able to help you get to the bottom of this."
"You think that the three of you can fight together for more than two minutes with out accidentally killing each other?" Xelha asked in disbelief.
"It's not like we're going to have much of a choice," Kalas pointed out. "Take everyone else and run."
"Hey, I don't like this plan!" Folon protested.
"Got a better one?" Kalas snarled.
"…No. Very well, let the stalling begin!" Folon exclaimed, using his whip to snag the weapon of the nearest gun as Ayme opened fire on two of the others.
"Sword Style: Blue Storm!" Kalas shouted, unleashing a small gale on one of the vehicles and the three people standing next to it, knocking them into the ground. "Ayme, Folon, try not to kill anyone!"
"Pah! Easy for you to say!" Ayme shouted as she dodged a series of bullets. "Oh, for the love of Malpercio! Coffin Shield!" Ayme's Magnus created a large black shield, which she hid behind to avoid more bullets. "So, any bright ideas, Raven?"
"Don't call me that!"
Nothing stirred in the graveyard of the Clearwater Presbyterian Church. There was no wind to stir the dying grass. No birds sang, no insects buzzed. Nothing. Not a single sound save the whisper of her breathing, not a single movement but the rise and fall of her chest.
Despair liked it that way, if she could be said to like anything at all.
Her green and black hair fell to her shoulders in a matted mass. It had been bound in pigtails once, but now most of her hair had escaped the confines of the two fraying black ribbons that had once confined it. The hair was dirty and hopelessly tangled, with a decidedly windswept look to it. It had no sheen, no luster at all, not even the sickly shine that natural oil would have given it.
It looked like the hair of a corpse.
Her clothing was in a state much like that of her hair, filthy and tattered, the greens of her dress faded, her black gloves riddled with holes, tears in her once-emerald leggings, scuffs on her onyx-colored boots. The clothing would probably remind the passerby of a scarecrow.
Of course, the passerby couldn't see her.
Her eyes were a flat, dull, tarnished shade of gold. Completely blank, the tainted golden orbs seemed to swallow light instead of reflecting it. Those eyes were now focused in the direction of town, where she knew that He was fighting.
She could help, of course. She was entitled to do so.
But she wouldn't of course, because no matter what she did, it wouldn't make any difference. Surely she would just mess everything up anyway. She always failed at everything. She was a failure as a student, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a Guardian… Better to sit here, and not meddle with the outside world. Better to allow what was meant to be come to pass, she had no chance of stopping it…
Couldn't they see? The world was much better off without her anyway.
The world would be much better off with no Astarael.
"I still don't like the fact that we left Kalas and the other two behind," Gibari muttered.
"Gibari, I'm worried about them too, but…"
"Well, that's awfully silly. You know that all three of them can take care of themselves."
Everyone started and looked up in the direction of the voice. They saw a young girl of about ten or eleven sitting on the windowsill of a second-story shop, her feet dangling over the street in an almost careless manner. She had pale skin, short green hair cropped to her jaw line, and golden eyes. She was dressed a long emerald green gown with long sleeves and a square-shaped neck. For jewelry, she wore a pair of earrings that appeared to be small green clocks, and a little golden hourglass around her neck.
"Who are you?" Xelha demanded.
"That doesn't matter yet. You should go to the hospital. Ask for Selih, she should be able to tell you what's going on. Trust the others to do what they do best." With a cheery wave, she vanished.
"Creepy kid. Didn't even give us her name…" Gibari muttered.
"That's not all that was odd about her. Mizuti, Xelha, didn't you sense it too?" Melodia asked.
"Mmm… yes,"
"The Great Mizuti sensed it too!"
"Sensed what?" Lyude asked.
"That girl… she had a portion of Astarael's magic," Xelha said.
And there were a few moments of silence while they pondered what that could mean, before Savyna ventured the question, "Does anyone have any idea what a 'hospital' is?"
Phoenixfire: As for who all these creepy girls that I'm bringing into the plot are… I should think it's very obvious. Oh, and that paragraph describing Despair was written immediately after I had a HUGE fight with my little sister, hence the excessively dreary imagery.
YamiPhoenixfire: How the heck did you get out of that plothole, anyway?
Phoenixfire: (Holds up YamiPhoenixfire's Escape Magnus)
YamiPhoenixfire: NOOOO! That's mine! (Knocks Phoenixfire out in her mad attempts to get her hands on the Magnus.) My darling, my precious, are you hurt? Did that nasty little hobitsies hurt you? Wait… (considers her last sentence, them picks up the nearest blunt object and hits herself over the head with it) I knew that reading Lord of the Rings was a bad idea… (Looks at prone form of Phoenixfire) No! Now I have to do the reviewer response section for TWO chapters all by my lonesome! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Reviews for Chapter Fifteen
Dark Hurricane: Your review has been counted. And yes, Fire Emblem DOES rock. (whisper) Just don't tell Phoenixfire I said that, okay? She'll never let me live it down…
Katrina Ice Angel of Darkness: Your vote has been counted. And I see you've changed your penname. Interesting…
blooangel: Your vote has been counted. What's with all these people voting KalasxXelha, I wanna kill off the annoying little… how dare she obstruct my way to Kalas (Phoenixfire rolls over in her sleep and shoots a ball of white fire at YamiPhoenixfire, missing the later's head by about three centimeters) Eeep, her aim's awfully good when she's out cold… I don't think I'll be making any more jokes about Kalas being mine… heheh…
Katrina Gomez: Your vote was counted as KalasxAstarael. And of COURSE the evil Kalas is going to get his! Like I said earlier… slow torture with the Ocean Mirror… And I'm glad someone else found the 'ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall' gag amusing. Maybe if I go back and edit I'll do more long car/White Dragon trip torture.
lighteningrae: Another person who appreciates our (sometimes lame) sense of humor. Your vote has been counted!
And of COURSE Kalas is the father! Xelha actually DOES have a reason for keeping her mouth shut. All shall be revealed in due time. (Mostly because I'm afraid Phoenixfire will flash fry me before she realizes what's happening if I give out any major spoilers. I never knew that she'd actually be more dangerous when she was asleep…)
Iname as One: Of course Phoenixfire would show emotion in real life. But this is her fanfic where she gets to take out all her frustrations on real life AND fantasize about what she would do if she weren't always so damn nice all the time… (stares at the other readers) What, you think she was writing this just for YOU? Half the time, Crimson Rain (and the pretty reviews accompanying the story) is all that stands between our Fearless Author and insanity.
And when, Iname, did either of us say that Rob was dead? Of course, when did we say that he was alive, either?
Think on it. Oh, and your vote has been counted.
Vanya the Elven Maiden of the Valar: Your vote has been counted. I don't like Xelha much myself… (ducks another fireball thrown by Phoenixfire) Arrgh! If you're awake, get up and give me a hand!
(Silence)
(crickets chirruping)
(Owl hooting)
(Annoying person driving through neighborhood with music blasting at 11:57 PM)
Okay, fine. Be that way.
Reviews for Chapter Sixteen
lighteningrae: …of course I didn't kill Astarael! Of course, it might've been nicer to kill her…
Karina Gomez: No, Astarael is not dead. Not saying nothing about anyone else (fake-innocent whistle) Phoenixfire would be weeping tears of joy to know that her chapter didn't suck. She got soooooooooo frustrated trying to write that chapter…
blooangel: Glad you liked the music lyrics Phoenixfire put in. Vast quantities of her life have been spent singing in church, and it's finally managing to rear its ugly head, despite her efforts to hide it for fear of offending people.
Fan Fan Girl: You read it all in ONE DAY? Wow. Heh, sorry the voting closed on you, but you would have made it a tie, and that would have been bad. The fate of this story would have been decided by a coin flip. Still… (files into vanilla folder marked 'pep reviews for Phoenixfire when she falls into depressive writer's block)
Katrina Ice Angel of Darkness: (Files in vanilla folder marked 'pep reviews for Phoenixfire when she falls into depressive writer's block)
Iname as One: Hah! You agree with me! INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS ARE OUT TO GET US ALL! (Deep breath) And yes, we know you don't have it, so here are all the major plot spoilers! First of all, Lyon… (Phoenixfire throws another fireball at her) ARRRRRGH! WOULD YOU KNOCK THAT OFF!
Phoenixfire: Knock what off? (rubs face groggily)
YamiPhoenixfire: Um… nevermind. Do the last reviewer response.
Phoenixfire: Um… okay. (rubs skull) What happened to me anyway?
YamiPhoenixfire: Ignore the egg-sized bruise forming on your skull and do the response!
Phoenixfire: (clutches skull) Please don't yell!
Luna-Starr: Of course I didn't kill Astarael! Where would my story be without the main character?
Phoenixfire: Now. Why do I have a splitting headache, and where did all those scorch marks on the walls come from?
YamiPhoenixfire: Um… you did it!
(Hits the 'update' button before Phoenixfire can respond properly)