Thank you to Mizuna Kurenagi and an unnamed reviewer for reviewing.
**VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE BELOW, PLEASE READ**
Before I get into the chapter there is something I wanted to explain here before you go on and get confused when you get to the section I'm talking about. There is a bit of jumping about in this chapter, one of the reasons this update in particular took me so long is because I actually debated if i should keep these two points of view together or put them into their own individual chapters but because one is directly explaining the other I decided to keep it as such.
Half way through, and more so at the end, there's going to a point where reality and fantasy combat for priority until they start blending together I've formatted in a way i felt would get that point across but i realize-with the limited formating allowed on this site-it might be a bit confusing for some if not everyone. To help you figure out which is which here's an example:
Text with normal text will always be reality
Text with italics will be the fantasy
Center text will be a blend of normal and italic text, this means these two mindsets are mixing
Again I hope it's not too hard to follow-Originally the italic text was supposed to be on the right side. Thank you all so much for your support and patience.
Chapter XVIX: The Lost City
For days it almost felt like all that Cher Degré had stared at the endless gloom of dark clouds and snowy lands as she drove down the road. The inside of the car was silent as ever, though she exchanged a few words with Blue-the black dog of that self proclaimed wolf hunter named Quint- they didn't really talk about much beyond their reasons for going on.
How many days had it been since they had started driving? It seemed like years ago Cher and Hubb had been fleeing Darcia's falling keep with Cheza when Jagura's troops swarmed them. What had followed after that? Cher let her eyes wander from the endless road ahead briefly to pick her memories for events from pasted days that blended seemingly into one long nightmare.
Cheza had been taken from Cher, she and Hubb were thrown into the back of a truck and bound. They laid, helpless until Jagura's troops were attacked and Hubb managed to chew his way through Cher's restraints.
They found Cheza and set The Flower Maiden and Blue free.
And then Blue just…
"..." silently, blue eyes shifted from looking out the window to focus on the being in passenger seat. When Cher and Hubb had found Blue she was a black dog with blue eyes trapped in a cage beside Cheza. However, when Hubb shot the locks off the cage and opened it up for the dog she changed! She went from standing on four legs to two and from a fur covered canine to a fully dressed woman! She even spoke! While this took both Cher and Hubb by surprise Cheza didn't seem at all phased by the sudden change in her company.
It made Cher think: did that mean that Blue wasn't the only one who could do that? Tracing even further back to when this long journey began, when the scientist thought she had seen wolves where a person stood and shook it off as being tired, Cher was certain all of those boy were… So than did that mean that Mahina…
"...Look at that energy field" Cher couldn't help but remark as the once blank landscape they had been driving through for so long gave to their destination: a Dome city with a beam of light shooting up into the sky. It forced her from her thoughts once more "Why is there so much of it concentrated into this one place?"
"It give me the creeps…" Blue remarked
"A remote stronghold left from a golden age...The nobles call it the lost city" Cher elaborated from Blue, perhaps that was why the dog didn't like it so much; if rumors were true Blue kind had been as war with Nobles since the dawn of time. This stronghold, a crowning gem of all that was the nobles, would leave a bad taste in Blue's mouth for sure "and Jagura controls it"
"Her keep is somewhere inside there, huh?" questioned Blue, Cher nodded.
"What do you intend to do with Cheza?" the blonde questioned aloud.
And when would Mahina appear?
At this stage of the game Cher had no doubt she would see Mahina again. Not even that last image of the woman bloodied and weakened in that crumbling keep could convince Cher that Mahina was dead. Mahina wasn't like humans who could easily die from the harsh conditions Mahina seemed to have suffered though.
Mahina wasn't human, Cher knew this for certain now.
"I wonder what she looks like as wolf" the blonde muttered under her breath.
"..what was that?" Blue blinked out of her own thoughts to shoot Cher a curious look to which Cher shook her head.
"Nothing"
Silence quickly followed as Blue accepted this response.
Mahina… To see the person known as Mahina again after their last encounter she hadn't changed much. Though she had been in what looked like Darcia's firm grip the female held every bit of pride and confidence she held when she first waltzed her way into the scientist life but then again something was dramatically different; more feral, more unfamiliar from the mask she once wore, more… ethereal.
Cher could barely remember the confident young woman she had met so long ago back in Freeze City. The slender woman with long black hair and blood red contacts in her eyes, a scientist from one of Lord Orkhams dying dome cities transferred here to assist in studying The Flower Maiden. It was no mere coincidence that the mysterious woman appeared the same day that Cheza showed signs of waking up, That much Cher was sure of now.
Oh no, there was no getting around it Mahina: was nothing normal and Cher had learned that when Darcia trusted her with his families data.
Things that Cher knew about Cheza shown alongside things she didn't know about Cheza and things she could only dream of knowing about Cheza; all laid out before her to absorb and read and understand.
"...so much data" she gaped in awe once she overcame her initial shock
"You only know the slightest fraction about Cheza" Darcia remarked with a chuckle to his tone.
"..." Cher had bit her lip in self thought before she spoke up again "Is what was written in The Book of the Moon the truth?" she had to ask him, she just had to know. Darcia must know something, his family used to be one of the most powerful nobles in history-they were the ones who wrote the book that eventually created the beautiful being known as Cheza. Despite all the mystery surrounding it, despite Mahina's warning for Cher to turn back-that there was just too much that Cher didn't understand- Cher had to know. The truth, it was like a nagging call at the back of her mind. She had to know the truth, all of it, good or bad.
"..." Darcia stared off at the data before them blankly, he must have read through all of this information more than dozen time before, before he actually spoke up to answer Cher. "Tell me…" he spoke "do you believe what you've read?" he questioned instead.
"I've seen them…" Cher decided in that moment fixing the noble beside her with a determined look "I've seen wolves, they were running together by Cheza's side"
And Mahina ran with them….
"Hn" Darcia's mouth curved upward in the most amused of looks "I see"
"I'm sure of it now" Cher went on, seeing as Darcia didn't appear to want to add anymore to the conversation "They were the same wolves who turned up in the city...the same ones who appear when Cheza 'awakened'..."
And when Mahina first appeared in Cher's lab…
Back then, Cher didn't want to believe just yet that Mahina was one of them. She was a scientist, she tried her best to find any logical reason that Mahina was as mysterious as she was but the more Cher thought about it the more links she found connecting Mahina to those boys, the wolves and Cheza. But why? What made Mahina reappear so often?
As if her spiralling thoughts had called it forth an image swam past her vision dancing among the endless words and data on Cheza. It only really caught Cher's eyes because it was a photo and not a graph or chart but what she saw would be burned into her memory for a long long time.
The image was of a woman slumped in a chair and surrounded by numerous scientist who looked to be either examining her or studying her. Her hands were strapped to the arms and a collar of some sort hovered over her neck bounding her to the chair. Her body was long and slender and her hair black as night and long enough to touch the ground making the paleness of her skin and the whiteness of her gown stand out more. Her expression was dazed, barely focused but the face was familiar to Cher. But it was her eyes that made Cher realize. Those burning crimson eyes on that passive face…
"Mahina" Cher spoke up as soon as she recognized the girl. Darcia reacted to the name immediately, reaching out and tapping the photo with a finger before it could whiz by and disappeared into the rest of the data to Cher's surprise.
"They will be the key to Paradise" the man remarked
"..." Cher had been so focused on the photo that she almost forgotten what they had been previously talking about. She blinked in surprise either way "to...Paradise?" she echoed but Darcia said no more on the matter. In fact his whole expression changed, softened from the hard and calculating look he usually had whenever Cher dared herself to look at him. His finger was firmly planted on the photo keeping it was disappearing from view and a look familiarity flashed through his uncovered eye.
"...So…" he spoke in a distant tone, as if he had forgotten Cher was there with him "She still remembers her name…"
His words still echoed in Cher's mind, long after that exchange.
Even now, as Cher was forced to focus on driving once more, the woman remembered Darcia's words that had began the revelations Cher uncovered about the creature known as Mahina.
"Wow!" stepping out into open space and artificial light, Toboe looked around "it's so warm in here!"
And it was.
Slowly focusing her once dazed stare, Mahina trailed after the pup with a curious gaze of her own. After the confrontation with the beast of the frozen sea it didn't take the pack that long to find the end of the ice and-finally- make it to land. They took a day to rest in the nearest town but food was impossible to find. In fact, people were hard to find as well. The town was utterly abandoned, as if one day everyone just decided to drop everything and leave.
Mahina had taken time to explore the area, if only to make sure they didn't have any unpleasant surprises in the night. Clearly people had lived here at one point, some homes had pots on stoves and plates neatly set at tables as if the occupants had sat down for a meal and then just..vanished.
It was...unsettling.
It was all...unsettling.
She didn't know why, but a small twist in Mahina's stomach was starting to appear the closer the pack got to Jagura's keep. As if they were head towards something far bigger than what they expected. That something was going to happen, what is was and to whom it would happen to the she-wolf didn't know but the feeling was wrecking her focus.
Something was wrong.
It only got worse when the keep of the Noble Jagura came into view. A Dome city larger than any the pack had come across since the start of their journey glowing with a faint greenish hue. From their perch atop a cliff, Mahina remembered making out the faint dot of a car driving towards the city, illuminated by a bright beam of light that show from the keep up into the sky like a false beacon of hope for a hopeless world.
It didn't take long to figure out just where all the humans of the neighboring town had gone. People piled out of cargo trucks and were ushered towards the entrance to the city by soldiers in single file lines. It seemed wolves weren't the only things Jagura was rounding up, but that was aside the point.
With Hige's help, and after a good ten minutes of his insisting, the pack was able to bypass the city's guards and find a secret tunnel that lead directly in. Mahina had to admit, she was glad to finally be out of the cold. She couldn't be sure but the snow and wind outside felt so much colder than what Mahina was used to feeling, as if her fur had grown thinner and could no longer shield her as well from the elements. Shivering at the thought the she-wolf forced herself to focus again.
"See?" Hige beamed proudly stepping out of the tunnel rubbing his nose as he did "Boy, when I'm right, I am so right. Right?"
"I have to admit, I had my doubts" Mahina confessed rubbing her arms for warmth "But you got us in Hige, good job" The chubby male smirked in response to the complement though it was short lived. Beside Mahina, Toboe groaned reaching up to pinch his nose closed.
"You forgot to mention it stinks here…" he chimed in
"Ugh" Kileona was the next to arrive out of the tunnel and the second he did his face screwed up in disgust before he covered it with both his hands "what is that smell? Did something die in here?"
"Hey" Hige glared at Toboe and then at Kileona "Stop complaining! I got us in here didn't I? You should be grateful!"
"Yea, sure, but couldn't your nose have picked a better place to go?" Kileona countered reluctantly stepping farther into allow Kiba and Tsume room to enter.
"Well then, how about this runt: next time, you find us a way in" Hige glared
"Don't call me 'runt' porky!" Kileona glared back
"Hige…" stepping farther in until he stood on the other side of Mahina, Kiba also took a moment to look around surprised that such an inspicuous tunnel existed in such a place. "How'd you know about this?"
It was a good question, the pack as a whole looked to Hige for an answer. Was his nose really that good that he could find this place? If Hige actually knew of this place previously he wasn't letting on that he did. Instead he shrugged his shoulders in response to the stares.
"Can't say for sure." was his answer "Hey, must be my keen instinct."
"...Instinct, huh?" from behind Hige, Tsume rolled his eyes and Mahina couldn't help but copy the action. Hige wouldn't know instincts if they showed up right now, declared they were his instincts, and bit him in the ass. Still...somehow he managed to get them into Jagura's keep without them having to fight their way in.
...Odd… unsettling…
Mahina stared up at the dome ceiling that towered way over their heads like an ever present god. That feeling in her stomach twitched and churned within her again.
She didn't like this...
"So, what's the plan?" Tsume was the one to bring the pack back into focus. They were here for a reason after all, they had to find Cheza. She was here, had to be here.
The pull was here, trying to push its way through the unnerving feeling in Mahina's stomach so the she-wolf could feel it. She closed her eyes, reaching her mind out into the darkness for any sign of Cheza. If she was here, if she was this close, Mahina could find her.
She reached, and reached, and reach and finally she found her...she...thinks?
'...' Furrowing her brow, Mahian turned her head in the direction she thought she felt Cheza, could imagine the lovely creature in her mind's eye but something was off. It felt like The Flower Maiden but hazy and unfocused. 'Cheza?' Mahina reached out to touch the image but just before she could brush the lunar flowers presence with her own Mahina was met with resistance. It was a weird feeling-like a thin layer of skin was placed between the She-wolf and The Flower Maiden.
Something was keeping them apart just barely.
But Cheza was here, that was certain, from the other side of the layer, Cheza's essence flickered in recognition of Mahina's weakly. Her mouth moved, her spirit call but the layer between them, this odd fleshy layer keeping their souls apart, left Mahina in silence.
From the corner of his eye Kiba watched Mahina. She'd always been able to find her way to Cheza no matter what the situation, so whether or not they stayed in this dome city would depend on her reaction and words. If she could sense Cheza-even the faintest bit- they would stay and they would look. Mahina didn't look at anyone, silently she stared at the towering wall keeping them from what looked like the inner part of the city.
Her crimson eyes were dull and unfocused and Kiba knew this only meant one thing: Cheza was calling to her from within the Keep.
"Cheza's got to be somewhere inside the keep." The white wolf decided turning his attention back to the rest of the pack reaching up a hand to touch the female's arm and pull her back to them. She had been doing this a lot lately, since they'd crossed the ice floe. For no reason nor explanation Mahina would drift off, her mind wandering to places Kiba could only guess on. Sometimes she'd catch herself and other times Kiba had to check on her. But as they drew closer to here it became more frequent.
The blank stare slowly faded and, as if she hadn't realize she was drifting again, Mahina offered Kiba a curious look. Kiba shook his head slightly running a hand down Mahina's surprisingly cold arm.
"Well," Hige spoke up casually "if that's the case, it should be over there." Turning around, the chubby male pointed in the direction he was suggesting they go, the same direction Mahina had been staring.
"How do you know that?" Kileona questioned brow furrowed at how confidant Hige sounded but before Hige could properly answer his stomach spoke up for him, growling loudly as if he hadn't gotten his fill of meat only two days ago.
"Well that explains it" Mahina noted
" heh heh heh-Hey, why don't we break up into teams?" trying to get the subject of his stomach off the table before anyone could take jabs at him Hige offered his idea. "You guys, take this runt and look for a way in or something." the chubby male ruffled Kileona's hair despite the glare he was fixed with before shoving Kileona towards Tsume and Kiba. "And Mahi, Toboe and I will scope out the joint, 'kay?"
"Don't you mean scope out the food?" Tsume commented flatly while Mahina gained a weary look.
"Shouldn't you take Kileona with you instead?" she remarked glancing towards the pup in question "He's good at scouting food after all…"
"Awe, Come on Mahi" Hige tried his best to pout at Mahina but the she-wolf made no moves to approach him. "It'll be great not to mention easy"
"Hige…" Mahina fixed the chubby male with a hard stare "The last time i went looking for food with you I ended up in a cage…"
"Er…" he had no argument to that and they both knew it.
"We would be less conspicuous if we split up." Tsume spoke up and Mahina wasn't arguing that fact but Hige seemed adamant on taking Mahina with him looking for food. It would make more sense the other way around, Kileona was a scouter-he could easily find food that Hige could steal for them. Meanwhile Mahina was the only one-so far as she knew-that could accurately sense Cheza.
It just made more sense to her.
"Besides, with a scouter like Kileona, we'll dodge any unwanted attention" Tsume continued
"But…" Mahina opened her mouth to speak her thoughts but the feeling of Kiba's hand on the small of her back stopped her short of speaking. "..Kiba" she glanced at him.
"Go" he told her softly "You're still recovering anyway, we need you at full strength when we find Cheza"
"..." Mahina frowned but Kiba had a point so silently she nodded allowing the male to gently push her towards Hige and Toboe "The three of us will go check out the area around the keep." he announced turning to Kileona and Tsume
"It's a plan." Hige nodded "We'll meet you back here at moonrise." and with that said the chubby male saluted them and turned to run off.
"Be careful, you three" Mahina called over her shoulder as she took off to catch up with Hige.
"Hey, wait for me!" Toboe scrambled to follow.
With that they split up, three going one way and three going another. How the day would end was anyones guess.
But it was...strange…
Mahina just couldn't shake this feeling.
Something was happening...changing.
"..." making sure she kept in step with Hige, Mahina glanced up at the ominous wall keeping them from the inner city where Cheza called from. "Why does this place give me such a bad feeling?"
"I've got a bad feeling about this place…"
At first Cher didn't respond to Blue's comment, really she was sure there wasn't much she could say in reply. Sure the place was creepy in a sense but the scientist didn't get any bad feelings as they walked along. Perhaps it was just a dog thing…
"Doesn't it feel like we're being watched?" Blue continued on from behind her but against Cher couldn't feel what Blue was feeling. All she was sure of at this point was, somehow, she had to get inside of that keep. The Cheza, Mahina, the truth of it all as well as her ex husband were all inside that keep.
"Maybe the keep is up there." Cher remarked, blue eyes fixed on the wall towered over them. Beyond it it she could just barely make out what looked like a much cleaner city, one Cher thought they would be able to enter without any trouble upon arrival but of course ti hadn't been the case. Blue and Cher had been assured to a red gate that took them down into the slums while others went through a green gate that took them up to what the woman obviously concluded was the inner city. "It looks like you can't get into the city without an ID." that was the only way that she could see some people getting in while other were thrown into poverty.
"Well then, I guess we'd better get some." Blue concluded but Cher shook her head
"Easier said than done…" she countered because first off they needed to figure out what these IDs even looked like then how people obtained them. Sneaking into a dome city was no easy feat, especially when it housed a noble with Cheza under their hold. Cher remembered, it had been an uphill battle to even get to her position when they had Cheza-though Orkham knew very little about Cheza he made sure no one with ties to other Nobles would ever set food within touching distance of the Flower Maidens watery chamber. But somehow wolves had found a way to get in, the realization make Cher turn and face Blue with a curious look "What do you suggest?" but Blue shook her head which actually surprised Cher.
As far as the blonde had seen, wolves had a talent for getting themselves close to Cheza no matter what obstacle humans put in their way.
That boy, that white wolf that had once been brought into Cher's lab thought to be a unnaturally large white dog, had managed to slip into the city. Even Mahina had managed to fool them, but where her male counterpart probably had to sneak into Freeze City, Mahina had walked right through the front gates and into Cher's lab, so close to Cheza in the blink of an eye it actually surprised Cher, now, that Mahina hadn't taken Cheza on the very first day. Granted, all that she now knew of that red eyed creature made it clear that even if Mahina herself hadn't been the one to assure her tracks were covered, someone else had.
Darcia had left Cher to explore the seemingly endless data on Cheza that his family had gathered over the hundreds of years they had her in their custody. But all the scientist could think about-despite all she was learning about Cheza-was that lone photo and the soft, familiar look that came to Darcia's face upon gazing at it.
So Cher searched, first for the photo but then settled for the name: Mahina.
Mahina-a name that meant Moonlight in a language list as 'long since forgotten by man'-was originally labeled 'Subject 01001101', a binary code for the letter M-it seems she was called 'Subject M' verbally for the sake of not having to repeat her binary number. She was the 14th test subject and apparently the last. Of what sort of test, Cher had yet to find out at the beginning of her search but what she had found was the image of what the blonde could only assume had been Mahina upon first being brought into Darcia's hold.
A pup looking to barely be off weaning from its mother sat in a lone cage. Plump with infancy, the little creature had white fur and Cher could make out a streak of black that ran along its back. It was huddled in a corner of its cage covered in what looked like mud, soot and blood and it clearly was not pleased with its captivity.
This was the wolf that would eventually become Mahina.
Found being dragged away by troops identified as belonging to Jagura-it was also noted that this was the third pack of rumored wolves that Noble Jagura had reportedly attacked that season- the files remarked that Lord Darcia himself had sought out and found this cub guided by that frightening wolf's eye he possessed that Cher had seen once or twice before.
Any attempts to take the wolf cub out of its cage to clean and treat were met with ferocious snapping of teeth and the data quickly listed the injured staff under this note-one had apparently lost a couple of fingers to the feral pup. Despite a few well placed snaps with her teeth the cub made no attempts to interact with her new captors though-when allowed time to calm down-she appeared to become aware that they weren't the same ones who attacked her pack. Her feral attacks subsided from maiming to painful warning bites and mostly growling.
She did not want to be touched.
Until, that is, she was introduced to Cheza.
The video taken of the seemingly first interactions of the cub and the Flower Maiden was astounding to watch. The pup inched its way out of the cage slowly, ears twitching every other direction cautious to any sort of trap that might be set for her should she step out into the open. Cher watched as the pup tested the waters, sticking a paw out of her cage once, twice, a third time before she seemed to decide it was safe. What followed had Cher-and all in the room being recorded-gasping in awe as the fourth time the pup stepped out of the cage a hand had appeared instead of a paw.
Rather than the wolf cub Cher had gotten used to seeing, the blonde was surprised to see a child, a little girl in a long, white gown crawl out of the cage. Her build was slender, her skin a sunkissed tan and her hair a dark shade of brown, short and wild atop her head though a lone long braided ponytail trailed down the child's back decorated in a sea of white and silver beads. Wobbling on her legs like a newly born calf, the child took in her surroundings taking a moment to stare at the camera with big, blue, curious eyes until her nose suddenly twitched and her sense of smell pulled her attention elsewhere.
It was clear she had never walked on two legs before. She turned away from the camera and made her way away from her cage and farther into the room stumbling and wobbling, tracking bloody footprints in her wake from a wound she had refused to let anyone look at or treat. She approached the glass orb that contained the dormant Cheza. Only Cheza wasn't so dormant anymore. The child was far too short to touch the glass that loomed over her but still she tried to and within moments the Flower Maiden had responded.
Slowly, Cheza raised her head and her eyes opened wide to take in the child reaching for her and to Cher surprise the maiden smiled. It was while watching all of this that Cher had remembered back in Freeze City when Cheza suddenly opened her eyes a fraction. Cher remembered how none of them could understand what had caused her to suddenly react like she had, noting that the first-and last-time Cheza was ever noted to wake up from her endless slumber was in reaction to wolfs blood. That was when it clicked.
The wolf that first woke Cheza, the blood that she had smelled and finally opened her eyes to the world for, had been Mahinas.
The room in the video irrupted in surprised gasped and excited chatter as, obviously, this was the first time anyone had seen the maiden so awake and aware, but Cher kept her gaze focused on the child. Suddenly the room was hushed into a lull of whispers as the person behind the camera carefully stepped forward, his figure tall and dominating if the expression of the surrounding scientist meant anything. Pausing in her reaching, the child looked over her shoulder at the approaching figure, her expression calm as the man carefully knelt down to her eye level.
"...Darcia…" Cher remembered whispering to herself taking in the much younger image of the Noble in the video.
"..." the child didn't react ferally like she had to everyone else who had previously tried to draw close to her like Darcia was-even those observing could be heard whispering warning about the child's temperament but Darcia paid them no mind. Instead he reached up a hand-the child flinched away immediately but paused as Darcia didn't reach to touch her but instead to grab the eye patch that covered his wolf eye and tug it off. Recognition flashed across the child's face and within minutes Darcia was standing up cradling the child in his arms as if she were his own. They stared at one another in silence until finally the child looked up at Cheza again.
"...can you hear her, little one?" Darcia asked the child
"...Cheza" the voice was tiny, almost non existent to Cher's straining ears, the child reached up both hands now pressing them firmly against the glass and smearing blood across it.
"So you can" Darcia hummed in approval a smirk was forming on his face "can you tell me what she's saying?"
"...welcome back…"
"What?"
"..." the child didn't turn her attention away from Cheza until the maiden's eyes slowly closed again and she fell back into slumber "she said...welcome back" the child repeated herself turning her gaze to Darcia now. The man chuckled lightly in reaction to this, reaching out to carefully push wild locks of brown from the child's face.
"Get the lab ready, We'll begin test on Subject M once her wounds are properly treated" the Noble declared.
"Yes, My Lord" and with that the surrounding scientist began to scatter.
"Tell me, little one" Darcia could be heard speaking to the child in his arms with newfound affection "will you be my key to Paradise?" and then video cut off. Thus began test on this little child-cub really-to turn her into something else, something more, something not all human but not all wolf either.
All at the command of Darcia.
"Hello, ladies!"
A loud declaration and an even loud noise of wheels against concrete yanked Cher out of her daydreams. Suddenly two young boy appear racing along the path like they were kings of this poverty stricken hubb skidding to halts to corner Cher with obviously ogling eyes "Damn, you're fine!" on of them shamelessly looked Cher up and down before turning to his huskier friend "See? Didn't I tell you they were hotties?" his friend said nothing, simply hummed his agreement and nodded.
Ugh. Cher grimaced at the boys, what creeps, she knew their type well. Skulking around the back alleys and dark area of slums trying to look cool enough to earn a passing glance of anyone from the female gender. All Cher had to do was ignore them and...wait a minute… "Hey" stopping herself short of walking away from the pair, Cher turned back to the one speaking to her, a lanky boy with a cap and cloth that looked far too big for him. He perked up at the idea of finally earning Cher's attention "can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what do you wanna know?"
"Do you boys have any IDs?" Cher asked fluttering her lashes a bit in hopes to sway the boy in her favor. If there was one thing back alley kids like these boys knew it was...well...the back alleys including secret passages under ground trades, working IDs to get desperate people separated from their wallets...
"Well…" the lanky boy rubbed the back of his neck before trying to speak in a smooth tone that Cher tried not to laugh at-for he had quite a few years ahead of him before he could ever be accurate in the tone he was trying to reach "can't you tell by lookin' at us?"
In other words...no.
"See you around, fellas." cher sighed, rolling her eyes as she walked away from the skaters, carefully walking around the plump one to catch up to Blue-who had walked ahead of her at some point. Blue had watched the whole exchange with an arched brow that Cher shook her head at.
"Snap! Ugh, that's cold! Don't be like that!" the skater called at Cher's back but she ignored him, like mentioned before she knew their type well and if they didn't have the information she needed she wasn't going to waste her time being strung along by them Both she and Blue had a mission after all. However...it seemed they wouldn't escape these two creeps that easily. The loud scraping of their wheels against the concrete was all the warning Cher was given before then zipped past her and made a beeline for Blue.
"Check it, man!" the only talking one gushed over Blue leaning forward to look her over "This one's even younger 'n prettier than the blonde!" his companion hummed his agreements and nodded much like he had before.
Blue was bewildered by the interaction.
Cher, on the other hand, was pissed. Younger and prettier huh? Wonder what they would think if they realized that Blue was a dog.
Suddenly quite annoyed with the pair of idiots Cher made a point to roughly push between them and Blue as she passed calling to her companion as she did "Come on"
"Wait a second!" the skater called after her stopping Cher before she could get far with a firm grab of her arm.
"Let go!" Cher bristled trying to yank her arm free but he had a pretty strong grip on her for someone who looks so scrawny.
"What's your damage?" he pulled her back to him with perverted grin on his face "It won't kill you to have a little fun, will it?"
"Hey" it was now that Blue had decided to step in breaking the connection between Cher and the skater who wouldn't take no for an answer "Hands off." if she could Cher was sure Blue would be growling at the kid in that moment. But that still didn't seem to be scaring them off.
"Oh man, I love your eyes! You got us both shaking all over!" his husky company nodded in agreement.
"If you don't get lost right now, you're gonna regret it."
"You got it wrong, babe." a smug smirk appeared on the boys face before he jumped back and away from Blue. With nothing but a quick hand gesture both he and his friend began skating circles around Blue in break neck speeds "I don't regret nothing!" suddenly they charged, closing in on Blue at the center of their circle in either an attempt to catch her or scare her. Whatever their intent was they didn't know what Cher did.
Blue wasn't human.
As if she had turned into air itself, Blue suddenly vanished from the space she had been standing in merely a second ago causing the two boys out to catch her to crash into each other. Cher gasped, looking around for the black dog until finally her eyes looked up and she saw. Blue had gone airborne, reach nearly halfway up the wall to the inner city like leaping such a height was as easy as blinking. Her attackers were just as stunned as Cher was but all the while Blue remained cool as ever, her face serene looking as, with a light push of her toes against the stone wall, she flipped once and went sailing back to earth knocking the boys clean off their skateboards and away from both herself and Cher.
"..." Cher couldn't help but stare on in awe, she often forgot that gravity seemed to be almost non existent to Blue and her kind. Even Mahina had demonstrated this ability a long time ago.
"Are you okay?" Blue turned to Cher, slowly lifting herself from her crouched position and pulling the blonde out of her momentary daze.
"Yeah." Cher nodded
It wasn't over though
"Oh yeah!" the kid yelled out suddenly from his place on the ground catch both females by surprise. The skater hopped back up onto his feet "Hoo-wee, you're strong! I'm all weak in the knees!" he declared before his skateboard was rolled towards him and he hopped on it with ease. "Catch you later!" he yelled out following his larger friend as they skated off, around a corner and down some steps that Cher hadn't actually realized were there.
And like that...they were gone?
"...What was that about?" Blue questioned bewildered still.
"Who knows?" Cher could do nothing but sigh as she turned back to Blue with a grateful smile "Thank you, Blue. Those boy didn't know what hit 'em. You're amazing."
"They were kids." Hands shoved deep into her pockets Blue snorted out a laugh and shrugged "Anyway, you have some pretty amazing weapons of your own, you know?"
"..I'm...what?"
"You got brains, and guts, and the wiles of a woman." and then Blue flashed Cher a grin that the scientist could help but mentally describe a wolfish in nature. Cher couldn't help herself after that, she smirked herself and began laughing, Blue was quick to follow amused as well.
"We should be able to find food, and water, and just about anything else in a place like this.
Don't you think?" Toboe chirped happily from beside Mahina as they trailed after Hige. Mahina didn't answer the pup earning his curious gaze "...Mahi?"
Count on Hige's stomach to lead him right to the area's market. Mahina would be impressed if she wasn't so used to it at this point. Well if she wasn't used to it and not mentally distracted. The longer they stayed in this keep the foggier Mahina's mind was beginning to get, she was almost certain that her connection to Cheza was trying to get her to see through the maidens eyes. It's only happen once or twice before but this time it didn't make sense. There was a barrier between Mahina and Cheza, Mahina shouldn't be able to connect with Cheza like that and see what she sees.
Still, she saw water.
Listen carefully, little one
Sparkling, green water.
I'm going to tell you a story.
Sparkling, green water. Long, silky white hair. Cheza's rosey pink eyes
A story of a place called...Paradise.
"Mahina" Toboe's voice and gentle touch on her arm pulled Mahina back just before her dazing could take her away from their task at hand. "Are you alright? You dazed off a little bit there"
"...I'm alright" Mahina smiled sweetly at Toboe reaching up to ruffle the pups hair chuckling a bit when Toboe grumbled in annoyance and pushed her hand off of his head "I'm just tired is all"
"Yea, Kiba said you haven't been sleeping well lately" Mahina cringed at Toboe's comment. She'd hoped no one had noticed that but of course this was Kiba they were talking about. "Hey Hige" Toboe turned his attention to Hige who walked a half pace ahead of them "Let grab something to eat and rest for a bit"
"….After you turn the corner up ahead….there's a big stairway that leads up…" Hige didn't even bother to acknowledge Toboe's request and as Mahina leaned forward to catch the focused look on the chubby males face the she-wolf had a feeling he hadn't even heard Toboe talking a moment ago. "After that…"
"Hige…" Mahina muttered reaching out to stop him just as they were nearing the corner he had been talking about.
"What are you talking about?" Toboe trotted behind them.
Ever since they had separated from the rest of the pack Mahina hadn't been the only one acting strange. Though Mahina had her own reasons for daydreaming-a combination of fatigue and her attempts to reconnect to Cheza to locate the maiden- Hige had just been acting..well.. weird. Weirder than he normal did on any given day. He claimed to have never been to this keep before and yet he knew how to sneak in, had found the market without so much as a question for directions or wrong turn now he had started mumbling to himself. Coupling this with the downright eeriness of this dome city had Mahina's already finicky nerves on edge.
"Hige, wait" Mahina spoke up again taking hold of the male's arm and stopping him short of turning into the corner she opened her mouth to speak but the surprised look on Hige's face stopped her short and she followed his stares.
They stopped at the base of a long stairway….just as Hige had said moments ago...
"It's really here…." Hige was as stunned as Mahina was, if not a bit thrilled that he was right.
"Hige…" Toboe caught up with the two older wolves before gaping at the stair that the chubby male had predicted would be before them "what's going on?" the pup voiced, concern coated his tone and words.
"Hige...Hige look at me" Mahina tugged at Hige's arm but his eyes were fixed on the stairs. That usually amused or bored look in his eyes was dulled out and unfocused, like something atop those steps was calling to him. He was definitely acting stranger than usual and Mahian didn't like it. "Hige" the she-wolf stepped in front of Hige gently touching his face to get him to look at her. Brown eyes met Red and slowly Mahina could see Hige's attention pulling back to him "You're acting really strange, weirder than normal...what is it?"
"...I…" reaching up the male put his hands over Mahina's and his brow furrowed "I don't know...I keep getting this hunch, I don't know where it's coming from but it's calling me…" Hige trailed off frowning.
"Calling you?" Mahina perked leaning into Hige a bit with more interest "Is it...is it Cheza?"
"Cheza?" Hige echoed
"Focus, Hige" Mahina gave the male a slight shake "this calling, does it feel like Cheza? Is Cheza calling to you?" Had Hige somehow connected to Cheza in this very instant? It had to be it, that was the only thing that made sense. The ghost of a pull in a general direction despite not being familiar with the are, the inability to focus on anything but that pull, only being able to describe as a hunch or a feeling. Mahin's mind trailed back to the fallen keep of Darcia where the pack had first met Cheza and the similar pull the she-wolf had felt that led them to The Flower Maiden.
Was Cheza trying to find a way around this barrier and guide them to her through Hige?
If she was Mahina didn't get the chance to confirm it because her ears suddenly picked up the loud rumble of wheels on concrete and before she knew what was happening, Hige had her gripped by her forearms and was yanking Mahina away from the steps. Two kids landed clumsily and loud where Mahina and Hige once stood circling the pair with childish laughter on skateboard.
"Look at that" of the two, the one that spoke was scrawny looking, with a cap on his head and baggy clothing. Mahina cause his smug gaze as she righted herself against Hige "a third babe in less than two minutes or the other two!" he circled around Hige and Mahina again "and this one's eyes they're even better than that one that hit us!"
"Mm Mm!" the other skater was huskier than his friend and rather than speak he hummed his agreement nodding as the two circle Mahina and Hige one more time before taking off into the market like they hadn't nearly just run Mahina over.
"You morons!" Hige snarled out letting Mahina go to shake his fist at the retreating pair "Watch where you're going!"
"What creeps" Mahina couldn't help but grumble
"I guess this place has people like Tsume, too" Toboe was the only one who seemed amused by the rebellious act of the humans. Stopping beside Mahina to watch them skate off laughing at Hige's expense. The pup even chuckled a bit.
"Don't let him catch you saying that" Mahina snorted out "He'll pitch a fit"
"Hehe you're probably right-huh?" the playful banter ended as Toboe looked behind Mahina "Hige!" Mahina looked back as well at the pups yelp. Rather than give chase to the hoodlums Hige has seemingly brushed them off, turning back around and heading up the steps as if he had never been mad "Come on, wait up!" Toboe yelped out quickly running after Hige with Mahina cautiously trailing behind. "Hige!"
"And just up ahead, there's a little elevator...And past that…"
He was mumbling again… Mahina hadn't mumbled her directions when Cheza called to her.
"..." up the stair the trio walked following Hige with curious gazes and calls for the chubby male to slow down in vain. So they reached a landing in the steps and what do you know… "I don't believe it." Toboe gaped in awe watching Hige kicking some trash out of his way toward a little elevator door. Hige had been right again.
"There!" the male pushed a button and the doors slid open with ease despite the rust that had taken over its outside "This oughta take us all the way up." the male nodded pressing his fist against his hip as he turned to face Mahina and Toboe.
"All the way up...where?" Mahina questioned, her bad feeling was starting to come back again.
"Hey" Toboe must have started to feel it too because rather than come when Hige beckoned the two to enter the elevator the pup took a step back reaching out to take hold of Mahina's arm nervously "shouldn't we be heading back by now?"
"Toboe's right" Mahina agreed "we found what we set out to find, food for the pack, we should head back at the meet up point before the others start to worry about us…"
"Relax!" but count on Hige to be oblivious the obvious danger that just seemed to be radiating off that elevator. His grin never faltered as he run behind Mahina and Toboe and began pushing them towards the open doors "we'll be fine!"
"Hige…. I don't like this" Mahina finally voiced digging her heels in to stop the pushing but Hige was adamant, with a sudden strength and determination that took Mahina by surprise. "Hige"
"Let's just see how far we can go, okay?" Hige reasoned and before Mahina had room to protest the three of them were in the elevator and going up.
Despite how simpling shot the distance seemed to respectively be the ride up to...somewhere...was surprisingly long and quiet for the first bit of the ride. Both Toboe and Mahina looked about cautiously but Hige didn't seem to notice it. In fact he acted as those this were another one of their odd adventure through some non threatening town.
"...Hige" Mahina finally spoke, she had to know what was making him so determined. Hige hummed out to let Mahina know he was listening "This hunch you said you had earlier… is it still there"
"..." Hige blinked in surprise to the question, his brow furrowed and then he shook his head "actually no…"
"What do you mean no?" Mahina furrowed her brow as well, when Cheza calls she usually doesn't stop until you're right before her unless someone blocked her like Darcia and Jagura "does it feel like something blocking you?..mentally I mean"
"Mmm no, not at all" Hige replied with a careless shrug of his shoulders "I just...had a hunch to go in this direction and that I needed the lovely Mahi to come with me?"
"You…" Mahina squinted her eyes at the chubby male "you what?"
"I don't know" Hige shrugged his shoulders again and Mahina almost snarled in annoyance at Hige-she hated when he was this flippant with her. "I just had this feeling that you absolutely had to come with me, so I went with my gut"
"How did you know about this elevator anyway?" Toboe questioned trying to settle the familiar flare on Mahina's temper towards the carefree chubby wolf "You've been here before, right?"
"Nope." was Hige's reply, his lips letting out a playful pop at the end of the word, why was he suddenly so cheerful? They weren't on a vacation here. "But when your instincts are as sharp as mine are, you get a feel for things!" the chubby wolf snickered but Toboe simply eyes him wearily. Mahina on the other hand fell into silence feeling her mind slip off to another reality again. Images kept passing through her unfocused eyes and that familiar deep voice buzzed in her mind.
Green.
The key.
Green sparkling water.
The Key to Paradise.
Green sparkling water, white hair, rose eyes.
They thought it was lost forever but it's not.
Golden eyes. A white wolf.
I found it, after hundred of years of my families searching I found it.
A white wolf and snow.
The time is almost upon us, little one-my precious little key.
A large, white oak tree.
So, you will lead me to Paradise?
That feeling in Mahina's stomach, that ever growing instinct that told her to run. It was back, twitching like an agitated being inside of her, churned wildly as the elevator took the trio higher and higher-farther and farther away from the other half of their pack.
Mahina didn't like this at all…
Bright light.
When the elevator doors slid open Mahina found herself blinded by bright light and white. She shielded her eyes from it all almost reluctant to step out into the open but with Hige pushing behind her the she-wolf was forced to move out into the open. This place, she had only just stepped out and already Mahina hated it. The she-wolf cringed against it all, it all looked so clean and neat and put together but so...empty. The She-wolf's nose twitched as her eyes adjusted to the light and looked around. This place…
"I can't smell anything…" Mahina remarked and Toboe nodded his head in agreement.
"Why do you think this place has no scent?" the pup questioned
"Who knows" Hige brushed off releasing his grip on Mahina's shoulders to begin walking out of the alley and into the sidewalk as if he had don't it before. "Maybe this 'Jagura' woman's a clean freak or something" he waved his hand dismissively.
"Hige…" Mahina called after the chubby male before casting Toboe a concerned look that the pup returned. The pair jogged to catch up with the steadily growing pae Hige set.
Hige was wrong.
Even a human's perspective of clean left a trail behind it. Jagura could have had her men scrub this keep down from top to bottom and there would still be a scent of it. Chemicals and soaps, even cleanliness had a scent but this place had nothing. It smelled of nothing , gave off no energy or feeling-in fact it almost felt like the forest of death in a sense.
How could Hige have the sense of smell he does and not find this all odd?
"Come on Hige, wait up" Toboe complained from beside Mahina but the chubby male didn't slow down, forcing Mahina and Toboe to jog to catch up and keep pace.
"Hige, you're going too fast" Mahina craned her neck to catch a glimpse of Hige's face and a curious sight met her. The once easy going expression on Hige's face was gone in favor of a furrowed brow and a look of deep thought "...Hige" Mahina mused in concern. He felt it too?
"Hige" Toboe appeared on the other side of Hige with a look of worry when he, too, saw the look on the chubby male's face. "Hige, please" prompted Toboe "what's the matter"
"Every time I try to think, my head starts pounding…" Hige finally confessed and Mahina could see it in his face, his brow twitched in agitation as the words left his lips-like a bolt of pain had struck him at that very moment.
"It's probably not used to the strain is all" Toboe snorted out but the joke and jab fell on deaf ears as Hige simply went on cringing where he stood "..." the pup frowned looking to Mahina for help.
"Hey…" reaching out, Mahina gently took the chubby male's arm into her grip and made him stop walking. "Tell me what's wrong, Hige, you're making me worry…"
"Nothing's wrong, okay?" Hige looked away from Mahina but not before the she-wolf caught the cringe of pain that crossed his features.
"You've been acting weird since we got here" Toboe stubbornly pointed out and he was right.
Pointing out secret places he shouldn't know of-especially when he claims to have ever been here before.
The muttering to himself
The weird instinct he couldn't shake until it brought them into the inner city
Now the pain.
Try as he might, Hige couldn't hide how strange his behavior had been from the moment he set foot inside this place.
Something was wrong, something was very wrong.
"Listen" Mahina tightened her grip on Hige's arm when he moved to turn away from her "just talk to us, we're on your side-"
"Get off my back, will ya?" the male snarled out, yanking his arm free from Mahina's grasp and shooting her an annoyed glare that startled Mahina. She had no time to respond before Hige was taking off again only now in a run instead of a fast walking pace.
"Hige!"
"..." Mahina stayed behind watching Toboe quickly take off after Hige "this place…" the she-wolf mumbled carefully bringing a hand to her temple as a quick stab of pain crossed her-like Hige's pain had somehow been transfered onto her "...This place...there's nothing good here…"
The now dull pain fizzled like a growing pressure behind Mahina's eyes until her vision blurred. The city before her eyes shattered into millions of fragments and as each one chipped away those same haunting images took shape in their place. Mahina couldn't make sense of it-this abstract image of fractured other images, like a puzzle done wrong and yet somehow still worked. It bled together slinging into spaces of Mahina's mind until these foreign riddles felt like they blonded within her.
"...ugh…" another bolt of pain came the more Mahina thought about it. "We need to get out of this place…" the she-wolf hissed in pain before taking off to catch Toboe and Hige.
It didn't take her very long to find them, Toboe's voice calling out to Hige was easy to follow and Mahina caught sight of them before a looming statue just as Hige, clutching his head and yelling in pain, took off again.
"Wait!" Toboe called after the chubby male, now exhausted from chasing him.
"What's he doing?" slowing down so that she could stop beside Toboe, Mahina sent a concerned gaze after Hige's fleeing form.
"I don't know… he just… he just started screaming and ran off...Mahi, somethings wrong"
"I know…" Mahina conceded still watching Hige. This was all going south fast, something was happening and the longer they stayed here the more that unsettling feeling gnawed at Mahina's insides "...come on Toboe" the she-wolf quickly began the chase again "we need to get Hige and we need to get out of here, now"
There were forces at play that they hadn't expected. They needed to regroup and figure out a plan.
When on has a goal or need in mind that's hard to obtain it is always a good idea to have a plan.
Plans kept you on track, plans helped deal with elements of surprise.
But most of all-when done right-plans gifted success.
Cher and blue's goal had been to get ID's to enter the inner city.
ID's weren't just sitting around waiting to be grabbed though but the beautiful thing about outer city areas like these was that there was always someone who knew a guy.
He wasn't hard to find-this guy they needed. People in the market whispered-both about and to him- si it was easy to learn a name and a face and when he heard whispers of two beautiful women looking to get into the inner city it was only a matter of time before he found them
And he did, offering authentic IDs for a price he knew neither women could reach. But that was his plan. Money and pleasure were his goals and if Cher and Blue could not pay with cash-which if they could they wouldn't need him to begin with-they would pay with sexual favors. It was a simple plan, really, dangle the dream over their heads, pull it away with impossible task but offer it again because you're a nice guy, because they were nice ladies, all they had to do was one little thing. Easy really compared to the price of the tags. That was it. Both parties goals were met and though the women would probably walk away with shame, everyone was happy.
It was a good plan, but Cher's was better.
Cher stood back with her hands in her coat pockets watching Blue roughly slam the man into a nearby wall. The Blonde couldn't help but smirk.
"What is this, some kind of shake down?" the man grunted, surprise reflected in his eyes as Blue effortlessly gathered the front of his shirt into her fist and pinned him to the wall "you bitches tricked me!"
"Do you want to get slapped again?" Blue snarled out. Cher had to hold back a snort as the wolf lifted the man clean off his feet like he was nothing and he- in turn- shrieked out in surprise and fear.
"Alright!" he yelled "enough already! You can have them!" digging into his pocket, he pulled out the tags and tossed them "here! Just let me go!"
Goal reached, plan successful.
"..." Blue caught the tags with her free hand "if you'd done this is the first place, you never would've gotten yourself hurt"
"Beautiful flowers always have thorns" Cher hummed as Blue dropped the man and offered the blonde an ID tag. Cher took it with a smirk "you would do well to remember that" though this horrid man glared at her Cher winked and walked away, Blue right behind her.
That was one obstacle down, now all that there was left to do was get into the keep and to find Cheza.
The Flower Maiden would be heavily guarded but truthfully Cher wasn't all too worried about that. There were others here who aimed for Cheza and though Cher had yet to see them, the scientist was sure that Mahina was here in the keep.
She had to be, for Darcia's whole plan-whatever that might be-weighed heavily on that creature's shoulders.
Time had passed between subject M's capture but no detail on the test she was subjected to were spared from the data. Blood test, skin test, motor functions, hearing, sense of smell, intelligence. By the time Cher had gotten to the end of this section of data the scientist knew the creature known as project M on a molecular level. Knew what had been done to her and saw how they changed her.
Her skin grew lighter and pale, her hair grew so long it trailed behind her on the floor becoming an inky black that framed her like an abyss of the unknown. And her eyes…
"For hundreds of year, my family feared that we had lost it" Darcia's voice had startled Che as he appeared beside her so suddenly. "Years ago, when Cheza was created, we had quickly figured out that she was perfect...perfect but incomplete"
"Incomplete?" Cher echoed and Darcia nodded.
"Her eyes could see nothing, her mind always in a dreamlike state and then we realized she could not awaken completely because she was not whole" the Noble's one visible eye never once looked to Cher as he explained this instead they remained fixed on the looped video Cher had been watching when he had shown up "years of forging hanabito from her essence had turned her into a shell of her true self..and so.. We let them die. One after another, we began letting the hanabito-imperfect incarnations of Cheza- wither, returning their essence to the source upon death and slowly Cheza grew stronger, more responsive.
But our records proved that my goal of making Cheza whole would end in failure. There had been an accident when my fool of an ancestor tried to force Paradise open. He was swallowed in obscurity, our house curse and in the chaos a single Hanabito escaped"
Hanabito, Cher silently recalled these creations from the data. A mixture of Cheza's blood and lunar flowers condensed into flesh and bone but much like Cheza they were unresponsive. Empty eyed, seemingly soulless husk that took on the image of the source and smelled like the flowers they were forged from.
If Cheza was the mother, the Hanabito were her children but now, it would seem, this analogy was incorrect.
The Hanabito were not children but pieces of a fracture whole-ripped from Cheza. To complete her, they needed to be put back and to be put back they needed to die-surrendering the essence of Cheza that gave them life.
"I could return every bit of Cheza I had to her but without that missing piece…" Darcia trailed off but Cher could put it together for herself.
"Cheza would never be whole" she added
"And Paradise would never open" Darcia finished "and then I found her… the essence of her former Hanabito buried deep within the vessel of a wolf… It's what kept her alive and apart from Cheza all these years and it's what drives her to The Flower Maiden now.
It took me years of careful test, peeling at the feral layers of beast that protected her but finally I had found her...my precious little key"
As if the video were live and not a recorded loop, the subject Cher had been staring at moved.
In the years that had passed the small child had grown into a mature woman with a slender frame that made her look dainty and sweet. Her pale legs were curled against her chest and her wrist were bound behind her back. Chained to the bottom of Cheza's orbed tank, Project M's head was tipped upward- the flow of water within pushing her long, black hair up and around Cheza as if she really were trying to return to the source. For most of the video her expression was peaceful as if she did nothing but sleep much like Cheza but there was movement.
Slowly, Project M opened her eyes and Cher could see the final tests effects on her. Feral beast like blue eyes were now a piercing blood red.
Subject M had become Mahina.
"There is no doubting it" Darcia spoke on "all things must return to the source, Mahina would always find her way to Cheza no matter what...and with her death Cheza will become whole and Paradise will open"
But...there was still something bothering Cher.
Cheza-once she bloomed-would begin to wither and eventually die. The data said it, Darcia himself had admitted it. So if Cheza was this perfect being waiting to be completed why was she dying?
And Cheza-like her copies- was forged from something right?
If all things returned to the source…
Cher had chosen not to ask these question that day but to file it away for later.
But now was the time. The Scientist had a feeling that the world's truths would be revealed at Jagura's keep.
Of Cheza, The Flower Maiden and Mahina… the Last Hanabito.
"Dammit Hige!" panting, Mahina darted around people and through traffic in what had become a full blown chase after Hige. Mahina had lost track of how far they had been running, how long they had been running and even Toboe. The poor pup just wasn't quick enough to dodge and keep pace at the sametime-they'd lost him between the traffic of cars sometime ago but Mahina wasn't totally worried about him, the pup had to remember the way back. With luck, he could bring the others so-together-they could knock some sense into their seemingly crazed packmate.
But before that, Mahina had to catch him.
He was losing his momentum though. Staggering on shaky legs, Mahina watched Hige brace himself against the nearest railing in too much pain to push Mahina away when she drew close.
"Dammit" the male cursed "What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I…" he could speak on, whatever was causing him pain struck again-forcing Hige into a worrisome spasm that had him clawing at his head.
"We need to get you out of here" Mahina tried her best to soothe Hige and pry his hands from their grip on his head so he didn't make himself bleed. "You started acting like this when we got inside this cursed place…" they could figure out the hows and whys later, right now they needed to get out. Hige nodded, whether in too much pain to protest or finding comfort in the she-wolf's touch Mahina didn't know but she was grateful nonetheless when Hige pushed off the rail to lean on her.
Mahina accepted the weight, bringing the chubby males arm around her so she could hoist up the extra weight Hige couldn't hold himself. Now they just needed to get back to the elevator and…
"Mahina…" Hige strained through clenched teeth, his arm stiffened around Mahina and an aura of warning flowed from Hige until it nearly strangled Mahina. The pair met eyes before Hige looked behind them.
Accompanied only by the clinking of their armor, a pair of soldiers stood not far behind Mahina and Hige-those familiar helmets over their eyes dispelling the illusion enough to prompt them to aim their guns. And so luck wasn't on Mahina's side but that didn't matter. She didn't need luck.
With teeth bared, Mahina snarled at the men.
"Mahi...no…" Hige groaned trying to pull away from Mahina's grip but weakened by `his pain he didn't get far. "You have to run, forget about me. They can't see your true form remember?"
"I'm not leaving you here to fend for yourself, Hige" Mahina shook her head but that was all they had time to argue about as the soldiers would not wait.
Their guns fired no bullets but instead a wave of something Mahina felt more that saw or heard hit her and Hige. The force of it sent them sliding back with surprising strength and force. Their backs slammed into the rail behind them hard enough to yank a cry of pain from Mahina before both she and Hige were sent sailing over the edge and downward to a steep drop.
Both air and sens were knocked clean out of Mahina once he was reintroduced to the ground until black spots threatened to swallow her into black. They needed to get away… 'get up…' sprawled on her back, Mahina tried to will herself to get up before those humans got here but it was no use.
Suddenly her body felt sluggish, heavy. Her vision swirled, shifting between the now and something else-some place else. 'Get up' her mind tried to will herself as a figure suddenly loomed over her. One of the soldiers… no… a tall man with a single wolf's eye….
He lowered his gun taking a moment to look to his partner
No...he continued to stare down at Mahina
The red he of his visors helmet-no his wolf's eye a neon light among the shadows of his face
"Numer 23 huh?
Listen carefully, little one"
"Looks like she's the only one with him
I'm going to tell you a story"
"She's a wolf for sure but I can't see it through the sensor
A story about the Flower Maiden"
"I think she's the one Lady Jagura talked about… take her with us
A story of a place called...Paradise"
As Mahina's mind floated between reality and a daze she felt her helpless frame list from the ground and soon she found herself being carried off. Barely clinging to consciousness, Mahina looked back in the direction she was being taken away from. Hige's motionless form lay sprawled on the ground.
"Hige…" Mahina reached for him before the chilling embraces of her hazy mind took her.
Green water
Long ago
White hair, rose eyes.
Before all we know now
Cheza…
Before Flower Maidens, before Cheza
Test tubes and scientist,cages
There was but on being-forged in the image of the Great Spirit
A white wolf, a field of snow…
It was her who decided upon a…
Large, white oak tree
The fate of all who wished to enter Paradise
"Paradise belongs to the wolf"
It was her verdict and so we Nobles
In fire and blood, cast her down
Pain,searing pain
We imprisoned her
Ripped apart, bound to earth
This once ethereal creature
Made to flesh and bone
Time… so much time
In silence she stayed
Watching...waiting
Be we would not wait
They wanted-our own Paradise
They poked and prodded
Tested and retested
Tried to understand
Tried to recreate
Pain, burning pain.
We stole her essence
Splinters, shattered, scattered to the winds.
Until nothing of her was left.
she was one, broken into many
Her children became Hanabito
But they were not perfect
Empty shells with no true self
Nothing but copies of a broken one
But then...she came to be
Cheza…
The Flower Maiden
The perfect one
Born of the last drops of the original
White hair...rose eyes
As the Hanabito die…
She grew stronger
Broken, this one tried to become whole
Time has past, Hanabito have faded
All alone, the last one
All but one
All but one
All but one
She is almost complete again
All but on
She will open Paradise
All but one
But first she needs it
The last missing piece
All but one
The key to Paradise
All but one
We thought it lost forever
The last Piece
I found it, after years of searching I found it.
The final piece
The time is among us
The earth is dying
Heaven is falling
Paradise calls for us
My precious little Key.