Ch.16: Invasion, Earth
As Sky watched, a silvery, nearly transparent gentleman walked into view. He bowed to her.
'You called, my lady Pyre?' The voice was cultured, and rang like a deep bell inside her head. She knew, then, that he wasn't really speaking, merely talking to her in her mind.
'Indeed I did, good sir,' she answered, in the same way of speaking. It was always important to be polite to the dead, she remembered. 'May I inquire as to just how you came about knowing my name, and to what yours may be?' The ghost grinned. The bandit seemed to be moving extraordinarily slow, and still had yet to come close enough to Sky to touch her.
'Everyone knows of your family, my lady. We of the dead pass quite freely through time. Some of us have even had long talks with those of your blood. I was coming here to visit a good friend of mine, when I heard your call. My name would be Sir Marcus Gaiman. Now, if I am not mistaken, you would be needing of my help?'
'That I would be, Sir Gaiman. My friends and I appear to be in some danger, and I find to my shame that I am quite unable to move to save them. I would appreciate it most greatly if you were to help me either be able to move, or to dispose of this rude man before me?'
'Him?' Sir Gaiman asked, pointing to the slow moving bandit.
'The very one.' Sky agreed. The ghost walked over to the demon, and stepped... inside him. There was a moment of pure shock on the man's face, as if someone had just emptied a very large bucket of ice down his pants. Then, he seemed to speed back up, and, with the shocked expression still on his face, he turned sharply on his heel, and walked away from Sky, out of her sight. Soon, she found to her delight, that she could move.
Sesshomaru had heard the exchange, and seen the murderous light in the demon bandit's eyes as he had walked toward Sky. Then the demon had passed from his sight, and Sesshomaru struggled against the charm to move. 'SKY!' He yelled in his mind, straining. Then the demon walked into his line of vision again, and toward the place where Sesshomaru had assumed the charm to be. He was still struggling when the charm released its hold from him, and he went crashing to earth near Sky. She knelt beside him and asked worriedly,
"Are you okay, Sesshomaru?" He looked at her earnestly concerned face, and got gracefully to his feet, his pride more bruised then his body.
"Fine." He answered shortly, and looked around for the demon bandit...
To find the demon to be doing a very odd dance at the edge of the former circle. He was hopping about on one foot, both hands raised in the air, tongue sticking out at irregular times as he span in an ungainly little twirl. Sky started laughing with delight. Sesshomaru snarled to hide his smile.
"I do believe the poor man has learned his lesson, Sir Gaiman." She called. "Thank you ever so much for your help." The bandit dropped to the ground in a heap, and Sesshomaru felt the faintest breeze pass him by. Sky shot a look at the dog demon, and blushed. "I know. Thank you for everything. I hope your rest continues on well, until and after next we meet." She appeared regain her sanity, then spun around and said, "Wait! May I ask one more thing of you, Sir Gaiman? Would you happen to know if the little one here has any family left?" She acted as if she was listening carefully. Then her face brightened. "Thanks again! I shall stop bothering you now. Good day, sir!"
"Who the hell were you talking to?" Sky turned to face him, and for a split second he saw that instead of being silver streaked with black, like usual, they had reversed, and become black streaked with silver. Then they were normal, and he wondered whether he had really seen it. She grinned at him, making the eye thing seem even more like a hallucination.
"I was talking to Sir Gaiman, who I believe from his speech and dress was a knight in the Middle Ages on this planet." She saw the skeptical look on his face and sighed. "How come so few believe the dead still live?" the woman thought a moment. "Well, the rare, occasional dead. Dunno what happens to the rest of them..." Aatu once again launched himself from the thinking Sky's arms, and landed on the fluffy softness of Sesshomaru's tail. The dog demon growled. Was everyone in this story going to have an obsession over his tail?
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W.W.- Hey, not everyone! Just a baby and an alien! And... Well, there may be more, I don't know, but currently, ITS JUST A BABY AND AN ALIEN! So there. Okay, and me, but I'm not in the story so I don't count.
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"By the way, Sesshomaru," Sky said after the baby was settled comfortably. "The ghost, Sir Gaiman, told me that Aatu has NO family left. That means he's ours." A bolt of darkness shot across her face. "Well, mine. He'll have a happy life with me, anyway, if I ever get back to my time." Sky looked straight ahead, at the long road unfolding before them. Unexpectedly, she grinned. "First things first, though. Got to rescue Mara Rose and Rin! No telling what the crazy wanna-be villain will do to them." They had been walking for a while in silence when Sesshomaru quietly asked a question.
"What if you don't get back to your time?" Sky, who had been looking around her with enthusiasm, stopped, and chewed on her lip as she thought.
"I don't know. Wander around this time for the rest of my life, I guess. Try to find my pouch. Raise Aatu, maybe settle in some village around here. Or maybe I'll try to raise him on the other side of the Well. But, with horns, I suspect that he'll be a little out of place there." She sighed. "The most likely scenario would be me settling down for a while to raise him, then taking him adventuring with me. I just know I couldn't be in one spot for too long. It would get boring. If he takes too long to grow up, then I guess I'll just journey with him as he is." There was a pause. Sesshomaru nodded, and looked before him once more. Reluctantly, Sky returned to watching the country side. Finally, she couldn't stand the silence. "What are you going to do once we rescue Rin and Mara Rose?"
"I will continue my wanderings." 'Because I'm not really looking for anything.' He replied. Sky grinned with joy.
"Hey! If I can't go home, can I wander with you? I mean, it'd be more entertaining then walking around alone, besides Aatu, who can't even talk. And with Mara Rose around, you'll need some protection..." She teased.
"If you must..." He sighed. Apparently he was in the habit of collecting humans. Sky laughed at him, and looked at the road with a happier frame of mind.
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Maliha set foot on Earth, and immediately didn't like it. "How could Sky choose this dust ball over the S.S.? It was so much comfier there, there was air conditioning, it wasn't so dry, there were trees in the biosphere..." Aditya smiled at his wife's reaction, but wisely said nothing, following meekly as the little woman stormed up to the Research Center. Bursting in through the doors, she demanded of the room at large,
"WHERE. IS. MY. DAUGHTER." The few people that were there, but not the robot servants, turned and stared at the woman who had forgotten her issue with manners in her worry over said daughter.
"Um... can I help you, ma'am?" The receptionist - a human, purely - said timidly from behind the counter.
"You can tell me where my daughter, Anata Sky Pyre, is. Now." The human woman wondered distractedly, 'How did this alien lady get on Earth?' but quickly searched her data banks for information.
"Anata Sky Pyre, assigned to section eighteen, disappeared a week or so ago. Captain West should have already informed you?"
"That incompetent man already told me he had lost my baby, yes. Now, if you do not want this building demolished before your eyes, you will tell me what's being done to find her, and where she was last known to be!" Maliha shouted. Aditya placed a gently restraining hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Maliha, calm yourself..." She whipped around to face him, Orchilum skirts twirling, a sharp retort ready on her tongue, when she saw the look on his face, and calmed. She patted his cheek.
"I'm sorry, Aditya. I'm just worried. Where could she have gone? What if she fell into a dormant volcano? What if she discovered a cave full of radiation? What if–"
"Ahem," the receptionist interrupted cautiously. "Miss Pyre is not being searched for, by express command of Captain West. The last place she was seen was heading out to her work area."
"NOT BEING SEARCHED FOR!" Maliha shouted, all calm gone. "WHERE'S WEST!"
"Captain West..." The human woman protested weakly.
"WHERE IS HE! NOW!" She gripped the metal desk tightly, crumbling it into dust and tiny metal shavings beneath her dainty hands.
"His tent, out on the site! The shuttle doesn't come back for another six hours!" The poor woman squeaked out. Before his wife could do any more serious damage to the place, or any more mental damage to the poor woman, Aditya pulled her away from the counter and held Maliha firmly behind his back. She hung there in his hands, like a pouting and very angry doll.
"Which direction would the site be?" When the woman seemed hesitant to answer, Aditya leaned forward and gave his very best charming smile. "Honestly, do you want to be responsible for the destruction of this building? Or do you want to be known for having saved it? If you would prefer the latter goal, I suggest you help me get her out of the building." The woman glanced about her, then turned her attention back to the mountain of a man.
"He's to the north. Just keep following the shuttle tracks." She even managed a small smile as the four left, the Mountain Man carrying the Evil Little Woman, the slightly small Mountain Boys following, still silent.
They began walked, following the tube-tracks north, to the sites. As they walked, they saw...
A monkey with an accordion? It ran past them, playing it's horrible music (which sounded vaguely like 'Happy Birthday') and disappeared into the horizon.
Desan turned to his father.
"Did you see a monkey... with an accordion?" Aditya looked after the monkey, and considered. He nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes. I did. I wonder why?" Maliha patted her husband's arm.
"Don't worry. It's not the heat. The author's just bored, and got a card today, because he birthday was Monday (Feb. 13th)."
"Ah," A'Dyn said, as if he were wise. "I see. She's sixteen now, isn't she?"
W.W. popped up out of the ground, and said, "What did I tell you people about talking about me?" She lifted up her keyboard, which became a really old (and heavy) typewriter. They all laughed at her.
"We're extremely strong alien/humans. A typewriter, even a heavy one, can't hurt us," A'Dyn bragged. Becoming angry, W.W. launched the typewriter at him. It magically became even heavier, and flew even harder, striking him in the gut. A'Dyn made a "Urk" noise, and fell over. Another typewriter appeared near the authoress, this one floating and on fire. She looked at the people she was writing about.
"Now, what did I tell you people about talking me into the story? Just because an accordion playing monkey runs past you is no reason to break the rules. Are we clear?" Desan raised his hand. "Yes, Desan?"
"If two accordion playing monkeys and a talking cheese wedge run past us, can we break the rules?" W.W. blinked.
"Er... I suppose... maybe.. Well, I promise that if that happens, I won't throw typewriters at you. Okay?" They all nodded, and W.W. disappeared back into the ground, taking the flaming and otherwise typewriters with her. The family looked at each other, shrugged, and continued walking. Living as they did, strange, odd, and painful things happened everyday. Like masses of gelatin falling from the sky, or books growing legs, gaining heavy artillery, and talking over a world or two.
All part of the future universe.