Another -21 october '13
Disclaimer: G-boys are not saru's... and saru already forgotten the details of the anime too.
Warning: saru keep rebounding from being very happy to being utterly unhappy and is thinking too much and still want a husky pup...! (even if he'd be short-thinned-haired in our climate) ';
chapter 23
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". . . Duo, please; you're not helping yourself being this strung up...!" Cail said with worried frown; his eyes were already tired tailing Duo's pacing in the room.
Duo frowned back at him with a sharp pout; "-...then, can you find anything new?!"
Cail took a sharp inhale, like he was going to say something hard but thought it wasn't going to help and let it out with a sigh; "I've just asked my soldier to see not ten minutes ago...!" he pointed out slowly.
Duo stared at him like a defiant child, but slowly his face turned like he was worried sick and his eyes became watery. "But he hasn't woken uuup! ...it's been 4 days, already! I wasn't-! I didn't- I...-!"
"I didn't hurt him that much, did I...?" Duo was fighting back tears visibly.
Cail stared Duo's pleading face with sympathy; but he wasn't allowed to leave Duo's side, and Duo wasn't allowed to leave the room; so he couldn't really push anything to find out about the demon's injury... knowing his men wouldn't dare cross Odin's territory.
". . . and he was just recuperating from the journey- I was just going to see his condition- it was his first day out- WHAT WAS I THINKINGGG?!" Duo started pacing left and right again and messed his hair with both hands; it wasn't in a braid anymore, just a loose tied mess sticking out everywhere. In the past days, the facts and the reasons came haunting him with the bites of reality; and as he started to realize it, suddenly his excuses became invalid and ate him alive knowing he'd really lost it back then, like he didn't know himself anymore... like his Nightmare had taken over his body to become another being completely; and that was his biggest fear -but the worst thing was that he knew it was inevitable.
Cail followed him with his eyes, already given up trying to stop him; somewhat amazed that a Duo with anxiety-attack had more energy than an experienced arena-combatant to move nonstop for days and nights with barely enough food. Or maybe he shouldn't have provided him coffee when that boy asked a cup or a pitcher from him. Or sugar, for that matter.
-a lot of sugar...!
His eyes narrowed accusingly at the stack of candy cubes on the table, already strewn out of their box; and as if on cue, Duo's hand grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his mouth; then continued on his pacing-track, crunching and grinding those hard candies in his mouth angrily.
A commotion was barely heard from the other side of the thick doors; Cail took the diversion almost gratefully, stood up from the chair and walked briskly to the doors. Knowing Duo ignored him all the same.
An almost disgruntled Dignitary with face flushed with excitement and eyes lit with hope grinned widely at him as he opened the doors; the crossing lances from the guards separated them as Cail closed the doors as silent as he could, not wanting to alert Duo in his state.
"Lieutenant, good to see you!" the Dignitary said, somehow looking like he'd won a marathon race to get there; a large box in his hands which he held with pride. "Is Master Maxwell in?"
Cail almost thought he saw the man drooled when he said Maxwell.
"I have no obligation to provide you information or access; if you have anything you'd like to say, you could contact General Kushrenada." Cail said with business tone.
"Oh, please..." the man chuckled, "We don't need that much of bureaucracy to welcome a Maxwell into the vicinity, do we?"
Cail stared him levelly until the man felt awkward and stopped chuckling.
"Ahem... can't you at least give Master Maxwell this humble gift?" the man tried.
"You can present that through General Kushrenada, thank-you." Cail nodded in military style and didn't take the time to see the man's face fell; this was the 28th power-hungry Palace man he'd denied in the last four days. The next one should at least have a higher rank than Odin with that number, he sarcastically thought to himself as he closed the double doors.
Duo was in the middle of messing his hair and was pausing as he stared Cail walking from the doors. ". . . another one?!"
Cail didn't need to answer that.
"-aaaaaaaaghh!" Duo started his pacing and messing his hair again; he should have known that showing his hands in public would lead to this kind of personal hell, Treize meant well grounding him, to protect him from those hungry flies as they smell something putrid... -wait; did he just say that he smells putrid?
"Yes, you did." Cail answered with a chuckle.
-euuugh!
Duo stared the man's back acidly as he paused his track; noticing Cail came back to him with two wooden swords in his hands.
"If you want to work some anger out, why don't you try fighting it out?" he offered as he threw one to Duo.
"Usually I prefer long sticks." Duo frowned but caught the wooden sword with a hand.
"Long sticks are too long to be used in this room." Cail smiled, already took a stance. "Is that your stance?"
"What's wrong with me doing this?" Duo asked still pouting; he was holding the sword hilt-up blade-down at arm-length in front of him, his thumb at the upper side. That could work for an agile dagger user, but a sword was too long to be handled like that, Cail thought.
"Okay, whatever works for you; but I'm kind of bored too, so I'm going to exercise some sweat out. You sure you won't take this seriously? Because a wooden sword could at least bruise you-"
"Are you going to fight or chat?!" Duo's pout got sharper.
Cail chuckled at his childish tone and took an experimental swing with his wooden sword.
Treize stared at the crow feathers on his desk in the dark; he felt like he wanted solitude and had closed the thick drapes of his study so that no light peeked into the room.
The one from the Great Judge's dead body was on the left, the one from Odin's chamber was on the right; they looked similar in daylight but they were actually different. The left one had a sheen of purple aura in the dark, and he could see it because of his link with the Palace Ward; while the right one had melted completely with its surrounding, a common great-crow's stealth ability -the only thing uncommon about it was its size... a great-crow's wing feather could easily beat a broom's length with its handle included.
There was a suggestion that the killer of the Great Judge was a shape-shifter-beast user; but the one that likely to indicate it was a shape-shifter-beast was the size of the great-crow's feather. He did suspect that when his Kitten lost it when he chased that great-crow out of the Palace from the Court at that time; the assassins developed new skills with more passing days, but he never heard about a shape-shifting beast-
No.
The problem here was not about assassins and hitmen; they're always around any time... the thing he should be concern of was that purple aura emitting from that crow feather. There was only one place in the whole land where such birds grew that kind of feathers, and that was Arn'crad Academy towers; being exposed to the magic energy there for generations-
"I don't like this." he muttered with depressed tone.
He knew most of the Dignitaries were against his King, under their false masks; the small part of them who were really loyal to the Kingdom were too afraid to come forth, the rest were too caught up in securing their own positions in the Palace and would turn to anyone with the most benefits without shame. But Arn'crad was never in that area; granted, their scholar-heads now were too arrogant in their exclusive classes to be involved in such power struggle. But because of their exclusiveness too that they'd be more likely had their own agenda in this game, even more if they were using the authorities for their cause. It's possible that the Great Judge had outlived his usefulness to them and was gotten rid to protect their secrecy. The Factory was indeed built from the minds of Arn'crad scholars.
-but, no.
If secrecy was the reason, then leaving a crow feather that pointed straight to them would beat that whole scheme; unless, it was the outcome of two different things happening in the same time? Or were there fractions in the scholars' diagram that's breaking their own system?
Purple had been the color of great magicians, saying their aura was colored purple; the darker it was the greater the magic... Crows had been used in vast area as signs or names, from outlaws to hunters to outlaw-hunters to mercenaries to meat-butchers to troupes to librarians to stores to everything...! There's even a tailor shop in the city using it as the shop's name. Bars names. Toymaker shop's name. Bakeries names. Landmarks names. Buildings names. Farm names, as odd as it sounded- ...and titles too.
Apparently the people of this land loved crows...!
He massaged his throbbing temples with a hand; as he thought about those things with a crow in them, his memory provided him with mental flashes of their images, and it made him have a really bad headache. For some reason as he thought about the tailor shop, the image that came flashing in his mind were of black silhouettes of what apparently to be metal-works of four crows facing each other. He didn't take notice the first time, but after he forced his brain to stop recalling whatever things associated with crow in their names and that image of silhouettes of four crows came unbidden in his mind again, he started to get annoyed and mulled about it. He knew well that image; the Crow Clock in the Plaza... Clock and tailor didn't match...
-or did they?
Treize stood up instantly, and ran to his book shelves; brushing the books with his mind, knowing what he wanted wasn't there.
"Rian-kitten." he breathed, but before he finished it the-cat already materialized on his left shoulder, tails looped around his neck possessively; an old book was clutched with one tail in front of his face. The-cat yawned and clawed at his shoulder before lying on his belly lazily and letting his hind legs hanging at Treize's back. He acted like he didn't care to see what Treize was doing as he opened the book hastily, but peered with an eye when Treize made a triumphant exclaim half-consciously; the-cat knew he seldom did that, and although he wasn't curious about the whole business, he wanted to see what he was seeing to provoke such a reaction.
The book showed a beautiful hand-drawn picture in a full page; it was the drawing of a crow standing with dignified pose, a plaited colorful headdress adorned its head, with embroidered flaps at the sides; the black bird was wearing a purple ceremonial cloak with red gemstones embedded on the its chest making a formation.
The picture wasn't a crest or signet.
It was the self-portrait of the legendary magic-wielder whose name became Arn'crad itself; together with the founder of the academy; Cradens was the name, the wizard who built the school... but the reason that people of this land loved crows so much was her, the one in the picture; Arneliria the Noble Crow, the shape-shifter.
. . . the first CrimsonStar. No; that title was hers, referring to the red gemstones on her chest.
Treize closed the book with a puff; staring at a faraway spot that his mind pointed to him.
-there's currently a CrimsonStar in the Palace!
He called out to his Shadows then with his mind; one of them materialized at the corner of the room near the book shelves. Treize frowned at him, and the Shadow bowed slowly before disappearing into the darker shade of the dark room.
The-cat swayed the ends of his tails lazily.
'You're busy, lately.' the-cat commented in their link.
'I'm always busy...!' Treize frowned to himself, putting the book into the locked drawer of his desk.
'...you know what I mean.' the-cat cracked an eye open and playfully placed a claw on Treize's cheek, as if marking it.
Treize snorted. '. . . did you really lose that great-crow back then; or you changed your mind and returned?'
The-cat purred on his shoulder. 'Would that make a difference now?'
'It would, to my mind!' Treize thought matter-of-factly.
The-cat opened his eyes widely, stood up on his human's shoulder and sat gracefully; and stared at the man's eyes deeply. 'Would you favor your little-cousin, or Odin?'
Treize frowned at him from the ends of his eyes. 'I wouldn't!' he thought with a closure.
The-cat flicked his head and closed his eyes; '...then, I changed my mind and returned to you.' he said while melting to black smoke swirling around his human's neck in loops before disappearing.
Treize tsk-ed with depression in the dark room; he realized that if he still couldn't make a decision, then his-cat wouldn't take sides; besides his- ...but why even his-cat pressed the choice between Duo and Odin? Why did he even have to choose? -were there even sides between Duo's and Odin's? Of what?!
His Shadow reported of his findings in Treize's mind and he jerked to business-mode in no time.
"Must you do this by yourself...?" the-cat in his little-girl form instantly gripped the side of his jacket with his small hand, knowing Treize would leave immediately; the slow chanted sentence made Treize paused in his haste to wait until it was finished spoken.
"-I could go, instead of you." Rianka offered. Treize looked behind at his-cat; knowing the-cat had an insatiable fond to magic-users. Especially those who were still very young; like sprouts of hidden seeds in a wizard's secret garden... wasn't that how the-cat found him when he was still a child? Came to think of it; the pedophile one between them was probably the-cat and not him...! -that's right; legends said Arneliria in her human-form never looked older than a 10 years old girl, it's probably connected somehow with the familiars' fondness to magic-user children.
Rianka blinked innocently at Treize's bothered frown; he snorted and continued his pace, letting the-cat tag him along, half-running with his small steps.
The rocking chair creaked softly with its movements, the yellow oblique sunlight streamed through the round window frame with crossing bars in its inside; the sounds of people from the crowded market down the street reached the attic room on and off.
A bottle of spirit on the coffee table next to the rocking chair left open, tantalizing the air with its smell.
Myrica mouthed the lyric to the song faintly heard from the building across the street, closing her eyes to the gentle sway of the rocking chair; left hand on her lower belly, stroking it lightly with care.
"-it's weird seeing you act like you're pregnant...!" a voice suddenly cut the calm air from the shadow by the corner of the room behind the rocking chair.
Myrica smirked, probably to herself as she didn't open her eyes to react.
"-why did you save Odin?" the voice asked levelly.
"Hmm... why did you save Duo?" Myrica mumbled like she was too lazy to speak.
". . . . . . I did not."
"You did too...-" Myrica said in a sigh. "That Insidio; you used your brother to do the dirty work, the eye witnesses might think that the great-crow was taking him to flee. But I know where that foul man ended up; as you do... as some full bellied great-crows do too- well, maybe not that full with that man's size...-" she smirked in the end.
"Why did you target Duo-?" the voice had a slight angry tone in it.
Myrica chuckled. "Why...-? Is someone jealous because I'm in this form?"
The voice didn't answer.
"...you still had yet answered my question; why did you save Duo? He was supposed to be your target, Cyrenn the Great Whisperer; or did you change your mind?" Myrica cracked her eyes open and leered to the round window.
" . . . I did my job with the Diggers- don't make it sound like I'm a deserter...!" the voice sounded angry and a figure in black cloak came out from the shadow. "You...-! You used Duo to get inside the Palace Ward! Using Alata as his ride and made her let inside normally, and no one realized that Alata was a teleporter-beast!"
-and that was how she escaped from inside the Lesard's belly too.
"That's called infiltration, Dear... -A successful one, too." Myrica smiled wide and closed her eyes again. "So why did you save Duo? You even used your beasts to guard him along the way, waking him up to alertness each time he's about to collapse on Alata. You realized that if he didn't get back into the Palace, I wouldn't have infiltrated that failure of a Palace Ward?"
"Hngg-..." the half face visible under the black cloak's hood looked uncomfortable and turned away; "You betrayed your own freight, exposing them to the Palace men and the demo-"
"CYRENN! I'VE ASKED YOU THREE TIMES ALREADY!" Myrica barked, opening her eyes instantly. Cyrenn jerked with a gasp and almost took a step back.
"-BECAUSE...-!" Cyrenn barked back but couldn't find the right answer herself.
". . . because he's good to you?" Myrica asked levelly, and mocked; "He was good to Renn the poor servant-girl, pitying her life story and all; if he'd known you're a whisperer who'd used the beasts to wipe out villages, and the one responsible for that real poor girl's life story; you think he'd still be good to you?!" Myrica frowned; "-and I thought you despise humans."
"Duo is a Maxwell-!" Cyrenn grimaced her excuse to hide her fear; leaving the '-,not a human' part left unsaid.
"It's because he's a Maxwell that I didn't want him back into the Palace." Myrica cut levelly; the words alone already had enough matter-of-factly value.
Cyrenn clamped her lips. ". . . -you could've told me what to-"
"I've told you to not let anyone get out of Mainstay." Myrica reasoned. "...or do you have a thing for demons too?"
"No." Cyrenn pouted dignifiedly, but her chin trembled. Myrica didn't need to see it, she could taste the emotions emanating from Cyrenn in the air.
"Why did you target Odin by yourself?" Myrica asked as if she wasn't interested. "You know if you don't succeed, he'll hunt you down even to hell? -I had to clean up your trails, even..."
"I'm sorry! He looked like he's already-"
"He's more resilient than me!" Myrica said matter-of-factly this time; "-and you couldn't even scratch me...!"
Cyrenn flattened her lips at the admonishment. They silenced for some time.
". . . you like Duo?" Myrica eventually asked with a testing tone.
Cyrenn chewed her lower lip in troubled manner; "-do you?!"
The rocking chair stopped suddenly with a final creak; Myrica snickered in amusement. "You're really jealous...?!"
Cyrenn scurried to the back of the rocking chair and put her arms around Myrica's neck; half dangling and not quite a hug. "...when are you turning back to your male form?!" she asked impatiently with a spoiled tone.
"When I have an offspring." Myrica said as if she was bothered to have to say it again.
"Then let me help you find your Beast King...!" Cyrenn tried a childish smile.
Myrica didn't answer.
". . . I'm also a beast's child...!" Cyrenn tried pointing it out, "I'm the great-crow's human-child, remember?"
"So who hired you to target Odin?" Myrica asked levelly.
Cyrenn silenced again.
"Someone even more important to you than me?" Myrica tested.
"-the Diggers...!" Cyrenn tried with a sudden brightened-tone; "The Diggers were too greedy; they dug too deep into the grounds and let the poisonous fumes out massively... again-!"
"That's why you wanted them taken cared of...!" Cyrenn smiled nervously. "Yes, I just realized that's part of a Balancer's job... to balance the scales even if it was the war between your enemies-!"
"Who- was- it?" Myrica asked slowly.
Cyrenn lost her poor smile; ". . . . . . so they could destroy each other . . .-" she mumbled the explanatory words of her cut sentence with disheartened tone.
They paused again in heavy silence. Cyrenn finally gave up with the thought that she couldn't really deny this person's words; bending forward, she whispered into Myrica's ear.
Myrica's face turned alert with disbelief instantly. ". . . . . . which King?" she whispered carefully.
Cyrenn whispered again-
Myrica jerked up and straightened her body, staring passed her shoulder at the girl's face that was hidden by the cloak hood; the rocking chair creaked at her sharp movement. "-are you sure?" she asked flatly.
"I saw the painting of him in the Palace..." Cyrenn nodded once.
"-wait!" Myrica frowned in dislike; "He met you face to face when he hired you?!"
Cyrenn chewed her lower lip again nervously; ". . . the Dragontwig that should've taken me to flee landed before him just because he curled his finger to beckon it. That's the King of this Land, alright...!"
"-ummm... that's why I could enter the Palace Ward; because he allowed me to?" Cyrenn mulled at it; "He seemed like he was in a journey from somewhere... He carried the smell of the demons on him."
Myrica frowned deeper. "You talked to anyone about this?"
Cyrenn opened her mouth half-amused half-gaping; "-...there's only you." she admitted silently, almost finding the question funny.
Myrica nodded. "Hide for a while!" she ordered, and Cyrenn's cloaked figure backed away without another word, disappearing into the dark shadow again.
Closing her eyes after a few moments passed to check her surrounding, finding her solitude wasn't disturbed, Myrica relaxed again reclining to the rocking chair's back; then she allowed her mind to mull at the piece of info that suddenly thrown at her... such thing that was unlikely; but even the impossible things could turn up in a war-
But why would the King want to hurt Odin? -no; he meant to kill the oldman, right?
. . . . or, it's because he knew that Odin would survive such attack?
-but for what purpose?
Her brain connected the happenings in the pass days; some facts revealed themselves to the surface...
-in order to hold back the Palace demon?!
but why? Odin already had him in control; unless...
it was to render the demon unconscious...?
. . . so that Odin could do something else without the demon as a restraint or a burden...!
So the King had his own agenda; just like she'd suspected. She wondered if General Kushrenada agreed wholeheartedly in the King's plans concerning the demon; but knowing that man, he'd do whatever his King ordered him to... even if it was killing his own heart. The problem now was that the King knew Cyrenn; if somehow he already connected that girl to her?
-no. Most probably he already knew who she was... or maybe she should refer to herself as 'he' in that context.
Myrica smiled and rocked the chair again; gently. The song from the phonograph in the building across the street sounded loud when she focused her ears to it; she mouthed the lyrics half-reflexively.
Perhaps it wasn't a problem, anyway; that the King knew about 'him' as the last survivor of 'his' clan. The-late General Kushrenada was so paranoid about the High Priestess, 'his' sister; so the Maxwells that were sent to annihilate 'his' clan thought that it was alright if it was the High Priestess' little brother left alive... They didn't know that 'his' clan's last surviving males had the aberration to change sex to females to produce offspring. 'He' had been running for 6 years until 10 years ago Odin found 'him' hiding in another clan's village and took 'him' to hide in the Covenant after destroying that village- ...or witnesses.
Have a Beast King to save her people from slavery and oppression and annihilations; or have offspring and rebuild her clan... A Beast King means fighting in another war; offspring means another life in escape. She hated it; her fighter's blood didn't choose to flee, it was the obligation of being the last survivor. Why Odin didn't have such feelings of obligation made her envious. -or perhaps he'd been doing exactly that since a long time ago, preserving the offspring... Queen Thenea's offspring. Because he wasn't a pureblood? -...what about Odin the Beast, then; to whose side would his inclination be? She hadn't suspected it; doubted it even, until she saw it with her own eyes... Odin's beast-side was so- ...domineering? Even with her tail out, she felt oppressed back then. Perhaps her ancestors feared Odin's clan; or his clan's Beast King...? Now that she thought about it; Odin being in Blessing-line meant that he had direct connection with his clan's High Priest. -Yes; what kind of Beast King would Odin choose? And being half-blooded, could he still have the right to choose his Beast King?
. . . if somehow he'd already chosen his Beast King and pledged his self to him; without acknowledgment from the Aurilatha because he wasn't a pureblood- ...someone powerful like in the Maxwells' bloodline? What then?
No.
That's not something she should worry about; the Maxwells are dead. The last one... was in her Blessing-line...
If she'd had Duo then she might not have to worry about the Palace's aggression; and together with the demon meant she probably could bargain with the Demon Kingdom too... that was her less bloody plan at first. If she really had no choice but to have an offspring so 'he' could return and fight, for the sake of the child too; then it'd be better to-
-no.
No.
No no nonono-!
She didn't want her child to have to fight, if the Palace knew about her child being existed, they'd hunt that child like an animal... probably use Odin to do it too! -Beast King first; annihilate all enemy... then her offspring could live peacefully -NOOOO!
CRAASH!
The round window exploded outward. Myrica held her head with both hands, clawing at her scalp.
-No!
'He' was born with the duty to serve the Beast King... serve the Beast King with all 'his' might; even 'his' offspring should live for the Beast King's sakes; so, build a strong clan first,
-a beast army...
then find the Beast King-
Myrica suddenly froze with a soft sigh. A deafening static rang in her ears; her mind didn't want to think anymore-
". . . . . . why?"
"Why did I have to live like this...?" she whispered to the cold air blowing from the broken window, her delirious smile plastered lifeless on her face with ghastly wide-stare in her eyes. The night had arrived, shrouding the sky with its gentle darkness; the festivities down the street had lighted themselves with lamps and lampions. One broken window stayed dark, hiding the secrets and veiled vengeance-
"...Sister... I can't live like this; what kind of ignominious life is this...?!"
-if only 'his' sister didn't beg the Maxwells to spare 'his' life...
-if only the Maxwells weren't the ones sent to annihilate 'his' clan...
-if only 'he' could get her sister to safety in time;
If only 'he' possessed enough power to do so-
...if only that-one Maxwell weren't there to finish it.
That one Maxwell with such a curse-!
That Maxwell alone!
". . . Lexiaferran Maxwell-Noventa . . .-" Myrica whispered shakily; her eyes shone in the dark with vengeful light.
"-your only son..."
"-will be my child's...-"
Shliink.
-and the upper part of the bottle slid down from a diagonal cut by the neck, fell to the table and rolled to the floor with a broken sound; flowing its excess liquid out. Myrica leered savagely to the silhouette of the Palace visible from the broken window; snatched the decapitated bottle, and took a long swig. Hitting her back to the rocking chair's back and let it rocked rather roughly with its protesting creaks.
A furry bony claw stopped the bottle when she was about to take another swig.
"If you let your emotions rule you that much; ...I won't be able to hide your presence in this King's City." A rasped male voice said levelly.
Myrica sighed and let that claw took the bottle from her. "-...sorry, Cama. I just need some balancing...!" She already regained her composedness again; sometimes in hardships, all it takes was to know that you're not alone.
Cama snickered from the darkness; "...the Balancer needs balancing?"
Myrica snickered too. "A Balancer who is not balanced is not worth it!"
"...if you have both child and King, you'd be balanced." Cama suggested.
"Hmmh; you really think so?" Myrica pouted a little, glancing behind her.
"All you have to do... is find a King who wanted children and would fight for them with all his might." Cama smiled slowly.
Myrica paused, narrowing her eyes to the Palace's silhouette; ". . . someone who's also making enemy with this Kingdom!"
"- yesss. . . that's how you balance these scales . . . " Cama breathed, sounding like he disappeared to someplace unreal at the end.
Vim walked on the rock-strewn mountain path with lampion-bell flowers clutched in his arms, lighting his way; his steps were light and silent, the beasts under the shadows of rocks and holes that happened to see him passing let him alone undisturbed.
Arn'crad city's gates were of black stones, carved and fitted with magic; the purple specks of aura were blinking in it like stars, connected by strings of ever-changing flows of lights; a picturesque sight to the surroundings of the grim rocky-forest of gray and black. He knew the city gates wouldn't open to him, so he passed by the gates and walked through the high bushes for about half an hour, finding a rundown runnel that wasn't guarded with magic; the beasts used it as nesting ground, so they kept breaking the ward with their natural influence -as some types of beasts could negate magical energy. The scholars of Arn'crad didn't see that runnel as a breach in their city wall since they put a sealed-ground at the inner end of it that was automatically teleporting any passing life-form to a spot deep in the mountain; some of them were so confident in their control over that field that they saw it as a game.
One thing that marked one's fall was when they're too confident in their ability and started to overlook things they should be concerned of, his grandmother said; Vim scurried through the runnel with a small smile tugged his lips. The beasts inside the channel didn't react to his existence and he passed them as if he owned that ground.
A flock of small insects were fighting off a scythed-scorpion at the end of the runnel, pushing the much bigger beast towards the sealed-ground, knowing the scorpion would soon disappear; teleported to somewhere far from their nesting spots. Even the beasts there learned to take advantage of that seal.
Not a minute later there was a long flashing sound as the seal activated and the unsuspecting scythed-scorpion was no more; the small insects screeched their victory for a moment and returned to their nests to guard their eggs and larva, flooding the ground like a small wave. Vim smiled wider as the insects passed him, giggled a little when he felt their small pointy feet on his body like a short-lived rain. With mischievous lights shone in his eyes he hurried onto the seal and laughed when the ground shone accompanied with the flashing sound, the white light bursting from the seal felt like misty-feathers caressing his skin and he loved the feeling.
The seal deactivated after a few seconds, leaving him on its ground as if it was the natural thing to be; and he scurried into the city, bouncing with a hum as he felt lighter with the energy he'd absorbed from that seal. The scenery greeted him was of rundown ruins that were once part of a castle before this Kingdom took domination of that city from its rulers; that was over 500 years ago. The citizens left the ruins untouched, fearing the curse of the dead rulers and their unborn descendants. His agile feet sprang between blackened stones and broken debris, already remembered the scape like the lines on his own palms.
He climbed to a higher ground and looked down towards the Arn'crad Towers from a cliff, shining with magical aura as the city's light-source. Flickering lights snaked their way to the Towers' main gates in the dark; he narrowed his eyes knowing they were people seeking for treatment from the scholars. There were no more light in the buildings around the Towers; fire had long deserted that murky city, so every building faced Arn'crad Academy for light. Several floating spheres-of-dim-lights traveled lazily above the city, surrounding the Towers. They were some higher-ups' residences, maintained with magical energy.
In this town, you either be magic-users or anyone rich enough to buy magical energy to live. He hated that last part-; magical energy was no one's... supposedly. His grandmother never asked for anything in return when she shared hers. Arneliria and Cradens had taught magic indiscriminately in the Old Wisdom Age...! So why did their scholars charge the whole city for their magic?!
Snorted his derision, Vim turned around and continued to the garden ground of that castle ruins; there were still standing statues of great magicians with various damages on them, guarding the stone path to a consecrated fountain. Its spring had dried now, but in specific time in a year there was a small puddle of water in a nook under the base of the broken statue in the middle, collected from the dripping dew of the moist ground. He dipped each end of the lampion-bell flower's stem, smiling yearningly at how the bells shone brighter; their pollens released as specks of lights and floated around the flowers' semi-transparent crowns.
When he closed his eyes, he could hear the flowers hummed their serene songs, like lullabies. His smile bloomed wider, a touch of life colored his pale face...
". . . I love you too, Grand-mama...-" he whispered and knelt, sticking the flower stems around the broken statue; then sat cross-legged on the cracked floor of the dry fountain pool, looking up at the moon as the pollens' lights spiraled up to the sky.
A shadow approached him from behind soundlessly; the boy didn't move, not wanting to break the magical feeling whispered in the air yet.
The shadow stared him for some time, and eventually gave a deep bow to the broken fountain statue; and only then Vim let his smile fall as a way to acknowledge the company standing behind him.
". . . you were expecting to find a headstone, yes?" his wide green eyes followed the trails of the last pollens lights traveling up before the silver moon hid them with its light.
"I was hoping to not find you here." The company said.
Vim's brows twitched a little; "...-me?!" he pulled one end of his lips in a mocking smile.
"Apparently my-cat was fond of you." The answer was level but sounded haughty at the same time.
Vim turned his upper body a little, staring at the hooded man standing behind him with a cold heat in his bright green eyes which his small round glasses couldn't hide; but he didn't say anything in reaction to the words thrown at him. He stared back at the dim shining flower bells in silence, pretending he was alone; or just shutting off his surrounding and company.
"Why am I here?" the man asked flatly. He was ignored for a long time.
Sighing out, knowing that the boy would keep ignoring him without the right subject, the man said his bait; "You're disrupting the hierarchy of the positions in the government...-"
"-a man of your caliber should be able to take advantage of that." Vim said fast coldly.
"And you've killed how many officials 'till now...?" the man asked conversationally.
"I was just putting out some unnecessary candles...-" the boy said stubbornly.
"By candles you mean human lives-"
"-Those flickering lights snaking their ways to the Tower's Gate... did you think those were lampions or torches?!" Vim looked behind again with a meaningful frown, his sharp eyes stared shakily.
The man countered the boy's stare levelly from under the shade of his hood, knowing those wide eyes held wrath and tears he'd so stubbornly not wanting to show outside. When the boy pulled his face from his direction, the man looked up at the enormous full moon staring them with its cold light. The-cat tightened the loops of his tails around the man's shoulders. "If I could, I'd buy life for that one-person with my own life... Just knowing that there's a mean, or technicians who'd do so, made me able to close my eyes to sleep every night."
Vim took a long pause before reacting to those words.
"...A man of your standing could buy as however-long a life as however-much a wealth you could afford for your King! ...General Treize Kushrenada!" he added the last part as if a greeting. "You don't really need to buy it with your own life, right?!" Vim snorted cynically, a touch of irony in his tone, a brush of sadness. "And for the exchange of your position, I bet the old-geeks there would give a whole thousand years to live for your King... -although they might not uphold him as king anymore..." the last part was mumbled to almost being inaudible.
The silver round moon was the grandest gravestone in the scenery; the man looked sadly at the scenery of the ruins that ironically fit perfectly with its beauty. "Who did it the first time? Arneliria...?"
"...there was a farmer with his bleeding daughter dying in his arms came for help, one day..." Vim almost mumbled; "Arneli said he could give his unused-lifespan to lengthen hers, he said he'd do anything to save her..." There was a nervous pause, the boy gripped his hands and twisted them to control his rage.
"-BUT THAT WAS A METAPHOR...!" Vim gritted his teeth; "Arneli never did that in reality! She just wanted to hear that man's truth...-!"
The heat was short-lived as tears started to wet the dry cracked ground. ". . . -how could they... How could they do that for money?! They even steal lives from the inferiors! They're worse than evils...!" -a hic up, "-and they blamed Arneli as hypocrite! THEY'RE THE DISSEMBLERS AND THEY KILLED GRAND-MAMA!". A gritted pause-
". . . they killed your Grandmother?" Treize asked.
A wet sniffle. The boy wiped his tears with the back of his hands; "She died of broken heart-! ...how could she not...?"
"For what has become of this city? ...or of Arn'crad? -or of the legacy of her ancestors?" Treize asked still conversationally.
The boy snickered cynically; "-... or all of the above, right? Yes, sure...!"
Treize gloomed at the sarcastic answer, he knew the Scholars of Arn'crad didn't really oppose his King, especially the seniors; that's why he hadn't really looked behind this city's gates. And besides,...
"-your King told you to leave Arn'crad alone, yes?"
The apathetic question caught Treize in the middle of his thought; he didn't want to discuss about his King with a stranger.
"How did you pass the Palace Ward's sift?" Treize asked almost reflexively; the number of intruders that could pass the Ward in one way or another the past days had genuinely concerned him.
Vim glanced behind for a moment, knowing that the General had shifted the subject but he didn't mind it. ". . . I don't remember." He mumbled.
"How could you not remember-"
"That's how I do it!" the boy stared behind with sharp eyes, somewhat looking insulted that the man thought he was trying to lie. "I don't have to lie about things that I don't remember...!" he pressed.
Treize blinked as the whole thing clicked; "...you erased your memory before entering the Ward!" he frowned. And it was as simple as that to deceive that damn Palace Ward-
Vim snickered, "Yes, it's that simple, General..."
"The Great Judge..." the boy tried, staring with dimmed eyes at the dulling lights of the bell flowers; "...he bought a whole lifespan to prolong his own fading light. His should end in another year before he bought the extra... and since he had a terminal illness, the scholars said he should use a still pure life-force...-"
The sudden silence choked Treize's mind; he knew where those words were leading to. "You knew the owner of the life they-?"
"KNEW THEM?!" Vim stood up and snapped with agonized wrath on his face; "GRAND-MAMA RAISED US TOGETHER! -DID I KNOW THEM...-?!" He gritted his teeth, letting tears flowed freely from his wide wild-eyes. "People sell lives in this town! If not their own, they sell their family's life to live! -some lifespan worth another-year-or-two every year for some provisions they couldn't enjoy with aching conscience; until their lives run out...!"
"AND EVEN IF THINGS GOT TO THAT POINT AND THEY'D STILL WANT TO LIVE... THEY'D KIDNAP OTHERS TO BE SOLD!"
He paused to catch some hard breaths; ". . . . . . Grand-mama took in abandoned children...!" Vim said with shaky voice; "...sickly, imperfect children that wouldn't sell and would just be burdens if let live, children of whose parents didn't have the cruelty to kill with their own hands...! Grand-mama raised all of us here on these very ruins!" he said with aching tone.
"-. . . the soldiers raided this ground and hunted us down like animals...!" and ended with a silent shaky whisper. ". . . . . . did I know the owners...-?" he asked sarcastically to himself, turning to face the broken statue and kneeled in front of the dying lights of the bell flowers.
Treize was taken aback by the outburst; the raw sadness and the sense of losing; and mostly by the facts slapped at his face about things he'd always turned a blind eye to in all these years.
There was more than twenty lampion-bell flowers stuck on the ground around the statue, it must have been quite a hunt when it happened. ". . . . . . those lights were-" he finally understood the boy's action ignoring him and looking serene at the spiraling away pollens just a moment ago; he was sending away the children's lives he managed to take back from the people who robbed them.
-and eventhough his mind had pointed to him what a grand gravestone the moon was that night... he didn't think that...-
"I'm sorry...!" Treize said genuinely, sliding his hood back with a hand.
"Not needed. Take your sorry back to your Palace and live peacefully knowing that there's a way to buy life for your K-!" the cold retort was stopped short when he felt Treize's hand on his shoulder; it was shaky with remorse and guilt, and the boy almost felt sorry for letting him know in such a way. He sensed the-cat's presence tailing him halve the trek back, and had let them on it since he knew the General would ask him of his reasons; he'd wanted to punish someone who still had the conscience to feel the guilt of what had befallen to his loved ones...
"...I should've looked at this city years ago! -I have no excuse..."
The boy put his smaller hand on Treize's hand and pulled it sliding down from his shoulder almost gently, intending for the man to stop his words. Since it's no use now... his loved ones were already gone; even if he could retrieve their lives, their bodies had rot under that ground. They wouldn't need anyone's compassion or regrets now; that's why the man's sorry was not needed.
Vim stood up again, facing the crying General on his knees behind him; his boyish face was devoid of emotion, staring at the man's face for a long time. He never thought that the notorious cold-hearted General would shed his tears easily... or it was just him seeing the man with prejudice since the beginning, eventhough he knew that Treize was not one of those unnecessary candles.
The bell flowers' lights died out one after another behind him; he felt it tugging on his existence, and knowing what would happen after that... the boy bent forward and whispered into Treize's ear-
"General... this city is a trap designed specifically to confine you...!" and the boy disappeared after giving a sad smile at the same time as the last bell flower's light died out.
And Treize didn't even have the time to think whether that boy was real or just some apparition, as the moon suddenly blocked by darkness and the ground disappeared from under his knees.
-and his King had told him to overlook this city.
Duo decided he'd had enough waiting.
Counting the Lieutenant's breaths in the adjacent room, he made sure the man was deeply asleep before he tip toed to his window. After this his paranoid cousin will surely bar the windows, he thought to himself, but he was determined to do it tonight; especially when his awareness told him that Treize was not in the Palace when he brushed the area before he got to bed some hours ago.
". . . sorry, Treize." He mumbled as he opened the window trying to make it without a sound; slung his bag of charms across his shoulder -just in case Heero needed some to help him recuperate, although he doubted it himself-, and jumped off the window into the cool night air. He'd jumped from the fifth terrace dodging Heero's attack back then, and had landed unscathed; and Treize thought a third-floor's height could stop him from jumping out the window?
-hahahahahahaaa...too bad, Treize; you've underestimated my trouble-seeker nature, you know? Oh, how he'd wanted to say that with a smug grin to his cousin's face; but reality wasn't always on his side, right? Or should he rephrase that to never on his side...?
"-...dammit, Treize; you want me to commit suicide, or what?!" he breathed as he held onto the rough nature-worn blocks of stone wall with the crag under it billowing with strong winds from its depth as if trying to peel him from the said wall down. The black gaping earth down there marked the missing of the spring Cail told him back then when they were going into the Factory; the castle was supposedly built beside a mountain lake a long time ago. A verrry long time ago...
Okay, so Treize put into mind about the fact that he could jump from the terrace of the fifth floor and landed unscathed; but this is too much of a precaution, right?! His mind protested as he realized with a forming bile in his mouth that the sleek mossy layer of the stone wall made him unable to climb up, so he was forced to climb down and he'd now passed the ground level of the Palace... He'd forgotten about thinking of a way to be back up; finding an opening back into the building was more important at this point.
The size of the stone wall's blocks told him that he was outside the apparently dungeon part of the the castle; he doubted he'd fine a window at this area, so he was tinkering whether it'd be alright if he made an emergency entrance...while not knowing the structure of the wall and the floor-map inside. But even underground prison cells should have at least a barred lee-way for circulating air, shouldn't it? ...or not? With a sigh he tried to make his mind stop thinking and just concentrated to find a way in.
And as karma was on his side, just as he thought he'd found a dark hole wide enough for him to enter, a flock of frightened bats flew out and made him lost his handhold. Duo widened his eyes in horror as his body plunged into the depth and he could only flailed his hands trying to hold onto anything that his panicked hands could find.
To his relief, the journey down was short... too short, in fact; he blinked still wide-eyed at a pair of golden round eyes blinking back at him with a mouthful of bats in a long muzzle.
"-hh. . . . . . -hello...!" Duo tried a stiff grin.
Lix blinked again at the human hanging from his half-curled tail that was emanating a weird but also a faint familiar smell. These walls and rockery was its hunting ground; it'd found many things there from casted away 'secrets' -since some Palace people used that part of the castle as their favorite body-dump site, to fleeing beasts and failed assassins and forgotten treasure. But never a human-boy, before, that was still lively kicking and grinning.
Duo cleared his throat awkwardly; somehow knowing that the giant lizard was assessing his value in a way that was close to underrating him. "-could you please... show me a way to get back up- I mean, inside?" Duo tried conversationally. He didn't see it clearly that first time he saw Heero's back on his notable ride, but he was sure this was the same lizard the demon was riding judging from the collar around its neck... because it was made from the same clear-milky-starry substance as the wing-wires... -now that he thought of it, he remembered that those wings were still in his possession, along with the fur-hat in his bag; he'd wanted to return them to Heero when he asked Odin that day. -Yes, well; using them as an excuse to find a chance with Heero, to be exact -that might have been the reason he'd found himself on the wrong side of Odin's mood. Apparently, that fur-hat was something custom-made for Heero; and who else could have made it for the demon but his owner?
But he justified that he had genuinely forgotten to return them to Heero when they'd arrived at the Palace; what with the beast-chase and all.
"-uhhh... I'm Duo, by the way. Nice timing meeting you...!" Duo tried as the lizard didn't seem to react to his words except for blinking and staring. "-hahahahahahaa..." and so he added a friendly chuckle. This was getting waaay more awkward than having Treize found him hanging on his windowsill, figuratively speaking-
Lix snorted once and swallowed the mouthful bats without even chewing them.
'Kreeee...?'
Lix turned its upper body and curled almost a full circle in its effort to inspect the hanging human boy; sniffing at him several times and gave him a good long snort, it made sure the human boy knew that it didn't like being in contact with humans... although Lix didn't hate it, either. Speculating the boy's scent and recognized a strong smell of the General's and a slight smell of its rider along with a strange cold-dark smell dominating his air, Lix thought it should just dump the human boy somewhere out of everyone's sight.
". . . uhh... some place from where I could go back inside, would be preferable, thank-you...!" Duo blinked and smiled; recognizing the thought formed through the lizard's eyes... they were eerily too human-like in terms of intelligence, Duo thought.
Lix snorted as it turned its head, but complied; either way, it had intended to dump the boy in that one place, so it started to climb down.
Duo tried not to protest about the way they headed nor to make too much sounds every time the lizard jumped agilely from rock to rock, noticing the scythe-parts on its front legs cut through the stones like it was butter; at first he thought he was reminded of how bats clawed at the cave surface to climb, but then he thought it had more resemblance to a praying mantis; -or maybe a batish-mantis...? He snickered, it was a weird rhyme.
Lix tsk-ed its lizard-che once, curling its tail up to stare at the human-boy's eyes to warn him about making jokes of a Sauria, especially when his life was dangling on its tail.
Duo blinked several times at the narrowed golden eyes; "...I didn't say that out loud!" he reasoned.
The lizard snorted at his face and continued with a faster pace; Duo could swear he heard the lizard gave a mocking grumble to itself.
"Well, sorry -your rider wasn't as talkative as you, you know? Eventhough I'd prefer him to be more..."
An angry lizard's snarl opening its crests made Duo stopped with a bland face; "I didn't mean to hurt him, if that's you're angry at me about...!"
'GWAAAAACKK!'
And Lix added some more series of lizard-style of grousing...
"Although I did. I'm sorry." Duo said with a flat tone. The lizard stopped making angry clucks and continued in silence, Duo knew it wanted to get rid of him as fast as it could and he stopped trying to chat with it.
The rocky terrain under the castle was deep enough to become an uncharted territory, he realized that the lake or whatever it was when it was still submerge was connected to the gaping line of what once called a spring that Cail told him near the Factory. He could picture a massive lake on top of a mountain with a deep canal of a river flowing down its slope... and the humans built a tiny castle at the edge of that lake on the mountain's top... and they lived in prosperity until they drained all the water... -he pictured it was a breathtakingly beautiful scene before that happened.
A small half-round shape caught his eyes between the jutting pointy rock formations, built into the wall of the jagged rock deep enough down the dried lake to hide itself from the humans' eyes; he felt nauseous when his mind pointed out of nowhere that the building was connected to the Maxwells. And as if feeling his realization, the lizard tossed him into the ruined building and left without a care.
Duo didn't mind that, he mumbled a late thank-you to the lizard, distracted by the resonance of that place as it tried to make connection to his mind.
It looked like half a dome, with walls made of glass or crystal tiles; they're no more... perhaps shattered when something destroyed that place -somehow his mind pictured a major incident happened when he looked up at the dome's metal ribs, noticing how the thick structures shriveled and chipped and half melted on the majority of their surfaces. Something inhuman did that...! But he knew he'd found the Maxwells' headquarter... or what was left of it. Although it felt too easy on the other side...
...too easy, or was it what meant to be...?
Like he was walking on a path of someone's design...? The deceased Maxwells' design?
"-...welcome home..." a whisper-like croak greeted him from the darkness of the dome part that was inside the cliff wall. "-...this is the House of Maxwells, ...Last Master...!"
Duo felt an unbearable chill down his spine at that sound -that was not quite a voice; and almost choked on his own tongue at the title used to call him. He didn't feel any respect or loyalty in that sound, it was pure hatred instead.
Four squinted lights shone in the darkness, moving in imbalanced movement towards him; and his every nerve in his body screamed for him to run-
Odin cleared his throat before reporting himself, standing in front of the grand double-doors with his frown intact.
"It's Odin."
The double-doors opened by themselves and closed after he entered. A breeze greeted him and he deepened his frown when he noted the person who summoned him was sitting leisurely on the fence of the balcony wearing only night attire.
"Someone could target-" Odin's words cut mid-sentence at the hand cued him to stop. An aristocratic smile bloomed at him. "You summoned me, Master?" Odin nodded his greeting slowly.
Light chuckles. "I enjoy the view of the Palace Court, now..."
Odin silenced for some time, and decided to follow the conversation trail. "...Sanctuary-trees...!" he praised, "Beautiful and not-deadly."
"Not for the dead..." the Master countered.
"Actually, they made the dead live again, Master... It's like recycling." Odin said slowly.
More chuckles. "Trees do that, don't they...?"
"What do you want of me, Master?" Odin asked straightforwardly.
"Hmff... don't be that cautious of me now, Odin...!" the Master almost laughed, his eyes shone under the moonlight.
Odin smirked stiffly; "...I've stopped calling you Little Master; I should be cautious of you, Master."
The Master's face lost its smile for a moment. "Did Treize tell you what I told him to tell you?"
"...not quite...-" Odin's voice was almost a grumble.
The Master chuckled again; "He didn't, but you could read it in his uneasiness, yes? ...he didn't realize he's that transparent when he lost his composure, that Treize...!"
"I suspect you gave him orders that shattered his beliefs, Master?"
The Master stared back into Odin's not-so-friendly eyes. "I told him to abandon the Peace-Contract."
Odin paused for a long time, assessing the Master's self; he found that the young man meant his every word but still carried himself with gentle grace that he didn't sense any ill-will in him.
"...that's an order?" Odin asked flatly but calmly.
"Yes." The simple answer didn't need excuses in its candor.
"...-that's it?"
"Oh... and I want you to kill Treize."
Odin narrowed his eyes at how lightly it was spoken. "...why?" he tested.
"Because I need him dead, Odin." The words were in matter-of-factly tone but also sounded conversationally light.
"You need a sacrifice? ...now?" Odin frowned in dislike. "After ten years?"
"Ah, so you mind it more about abandoning Heero than of killing Treize...!" it was said in light astonishment, with an I-thought-so implied.
Odin gritted his teeth, suppressing a growl; "May I ask, why?" he asked formally. The Master knew Odin's behavioral pattern and that if he didn't give a satisfactory or reasonable enough of an answer, Odin would make a good-bye formal speech then and there. Funny how that man could give an ultimatum without needing to say it...
"There was never a Contract in the first place, Odin. Not with the Demon Kingdom." The Master turned his head to see the moon; "...Heero is not a demon."
The breeze played with his long blond hair, and he flicked his head a little to cast aside a lock that managed to tease at his smiling lips, all in a fluid motion to face Odin again.
"I went to confirm that myself...!"
-there was a shade of sadness in the Master's eyes, which his smile didn't reach; and Odin knew that The King was serious in all honesty.
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woahhh...this chapter is long overdue, hu? Saru didn't touch anything fic-related for months, really
Losing 1 terabyte of data sucks big time, you know...?
-saru is still crying in the corner- TT"."TT
(add to the pain was that it happened JUST as oni-tan turned the computer on to BACK-UP them too... that it just turned out dead...that the service-man couldn't even fathom what was wrong with the harddisk...that he said he'd never found this-kind of case before...that he just suggested to just format it and reinstall the windows...that what we could do was only having jaw-drops...that saru had no back-up of the other fics and the novel-in-proggress saru thought to just typed out of the blue...that the reference data we collected for 3 years gone in a blink of a computer screen...that the royalty-payment for our reprinted comic-book had yet to be paid...that our emergency CPU always BSOD-ing itself when we're working or just watching our favorite tsundere human-eater Honeyball...-huh, what?)
Anyway, thanx for reading; sorry for being verrrry late to upload this chapter.