Now he knew how it felt—
She had left a few hours ago at the threat of an approaching evening. It worried him each time she came and left, but oddly enough, the encounter with the hunters hadn't scarred her and her trust of the woods. She was brave enough to go alone. Perhaps that was the Gear in her he rarely saw.
Luckily for both of them, no one had followed them in the past few days. Most importantly of all, his original hadn't found him. He was expecting to see him again. He watched, though, waiting for him everyday. And this day was no different.
With a book resting against his thigh, he looked up to one of the windows to watch the evening set in thicker over the sky. The sun was still giving its last fight against the night behind the trees. Dizzy would have been back at the Mayship by now. He lowered his head again while he swung an arm over the edge of the chair, picking up a teacup from a small stand beside him. He took a long sip of the warm liquid. On winters like this, a good cup of tea was all he needed to keep warm and content. It was doing its job, as usual.
He set the teacup back down, listening to the bottom of it make contact with the hard wood, the only sound reaching his ears. It had been deafly silent since Dizzy had left. He was beginning to find it uneasy. Missing someone that is.
As he continued to read, the silence interrupted only momentarily, a sound outside drew his attention. He snapped his head up quickly and glanced towards the window out into the frozen white. It sounded like shifting snow, something moving across it slowly, cautiously.
Had Dizzy come back?
Ky began to close the book with his thumb bookmarking his place while he leaned forward. He kept his eyes on the half exposed window. Perhaps it was just a deer or—
He suddenly sat bolt upright, his back completely straight and nearly straddling the edge of the seat. His eyes were locked on the window after getting a glimpse of a figure. A figure in white.
That only meant—
"He found me," he muttered to himself while he slowly rose to his feet, his knee beginning to throb again. He sighed while his eyes were fixed on the window, standing there with his hands behind his back in a military way, one wrist holding the other. He was not looking forward to the new encounter. He knew what was waiting for him after all. He knew what his original wanted.
He inhaled deeply and limped towards the door. If this was his destiny, then he would accept it with dignity. There was no use hiding anymore. He opened the door, expecting to see the young man making his way up to the door to knock or just invite himself in if needed, but he didn't see him. He knew he had seen him. The outfit was unmistakable, even if it was just a glimpse.
Ky then turned his head, noticing something beside a tree a short distance away. There, he saw him, partially hidden, one half of him exposed and the rest behind the tree. He saw one long leg, an armored shoulder and half of his face staring back at him. It wasn't a very good hiding spot, he had to admit. Perhaps he caught the officer off guard.
Ky shrugged one arm and let his hand slap against the side of his thigh. "Well, you found me, I'll give you that," he called to him. "I didn't think you would be able to find me." He began to limp forward. "I was hoping you wouldn't. But I suppose I would have to face up to my crimes some time." He paused and tilted his head as he watched the blonde shift from behind the tree. Something seemed odd, especially the way he was standing.
Maybe the forest had gotten to him—
Ky paused, then held his arm out together, offering his wrists to the officer willingly. "Well then, let's get this over with. You plan to put me on trail, don't you? Arrest me."
He waited for him to speak or move. He didn't.
He didn't take his eyes off his original across from him. Shouldn't he have been straight forward and arrested him by now? He knew he wanted to, ached for it. So, why wasn't he doing anything about his impostor? Why did this great hunter become a sheep? He knew it couldn't have been the forest, not a fearless Gear killer like Ky Kiske.
"Kiske?" He slowly lowered his arms back down, then began to limp forward, trying to keep as much weight off his right leg as he could. He nearly walked on his toe, just barely putting pressure on the damaged appendage. The wrapping around his knee was constricted tightly.
He then halted when the blonde moved. But the movement was odd, not something he seemed known for doing everyday. He saw the blonde slump forward, his hair falling in his face. His legs were half bent, as if they were struggling to hold him up. He knew, although, this wasn't the stance of exhaustion. He almost didn't seem himself.
"Is there something—"
The blonde jerked his head up, revealing a face that was him, but wasn't him at the same time. It looked distorted, it looked—inhuman.
His heart began thumping deep in his chest as he looked at the face. He wasn't sure if it was the winter's air or the thing before him, but he felt a chill run across his own face. He began to limp back, and lost his footing in the snow. He landed painfully on his backside. Not even the icy cold that touched his leg helped. His fingers reached for his knee as he began to pull himself into a sit, making sure he didn't move his leg.
Falling was a bad idea—
Then, more uniformed figures rushed him on all sides until he was surrounded. All of them were wearing the uniform of the other. They were all identical, like carbon copies of one another. Or they were carbon copies like him—
But they were nothing like him. The way they moved, the crude look of their faces, how they stood, they were nothing but poor attempts to replicate Kiske. He was so much more beautiful—and human.
So what were these things?
A panicked thought then crossed his mind. Were the ones who created him still alive? Were they now aware of their failure?
The first one shouldered past its brothers until it was standing before him. Ky's eyes followed up its legs until they met its horrible grey face, where a majority of its hair was pushed into. It then reached a gloved hand to him, while grey fingers stuck out of them gruesomely. They didn't look human, either, not even the grey decay of a corpse. They looked metallic.
"You are coming with us," it said in a hallow and metallic voice. It nearly burned Ky's ears.
Ky tried to move, but the others' hands grabbed for him. He felt himself quickly overpowered, but not yet subdued. A normal man would have been subdued by these things the moment they grabbed him. Perhaps they were unaware that he was not normal.
The sun rose past the darkness of the trees in the horizon, and the sky burst into a vivid array of colors of red, orange and purple. Dizzy watched it until the end, until they sky grew gray and the woods sickened the landscape. And still she stood there on the deck of the Mayship, beginning to sun herself in as much light that could touch her.
She was the only one to brave the cold and the presence of the Black Forest that watched the ship. Not even a man like Johnny liked the place. Most of the crew stayed indoors. There had been a few snowball fights, but they didn't last long, not until the forest began howling. No one set foot outside unless they had to. The girls called her crazy for going out into the woods just to see Ky. But she didn't mind, as long as she knew he was alright. He had saved her life after all. It was the best she could do to thank him. She knew he enjoyed her company by the look in his eyes and his smiles.
But what worried her now was that the Mayship was almost ready to take off. Novel said all she needed was a few more hours to tweak the engine. This could be their last day here, and Dizzy wasn't ready to leave Ky yet.
"Dizzy! Dizzy, are you coming back in?" May's voice was calling her. "You gotta be freezing your tail off out here. Look, look, it's about to fall off right now!"
She turned her head to see the girl standing by the stairs to the innards of the ship. She was hugging her arms tightly to her body.
"Good morning, May."
"What are you doing out here?"
Dizzy slowly turned her head and eyes back to the forest looming nearby. "Just thinking."
"I have a feeling who you're thinking of," the girl said. "But do you have to do that out here?"
Dizzy turned around and started towards her. "I want to go see Ky. I want to go now."
May placed her hands on her hips. "Boy, you got it bad."
"What?"
The girl waved her on and stepped back into the ship. Dizzy watched her a few seconds before following her back inside where it was warm. Upon the last step, she found May standing before her, her arms crossed. She was grinning this time.
"I shoulda known," May said. "You know, I didn't realize at first, but the way you act around him now—" She giggled.
"You mean Ky?"
"Who else? You're in love with him. And he's in love with you. Johnny told me so." She pointed a finger up and nodded as if what she said was a true and absolute fact.
"But May, he's just a friend. And I want to go see him to make sure he's alright. He's not completely healed yet. I have to remind him to keep off his feet you know."
"You walk through that creepy forest every day for him," May said, "and you don't worry about getting lost or any more hunters. That's true love. I'd do that for Johnny. You see, you'd do anything for the one you love."
Dizzy stared across at her. There was a part of her that found the notion that Ky loved her shocking, but this was coming from May, a girl who always talked about love.
Did Ky truly say that he loved her? She decided to let it go for now until she actually saw him.
"I'm still going," she said. "Tell Johnny I went to visit Ky?" She turned to make her way back up the steps, but when she placed one foot on the first step, May called after her,
"Dizzy, wait." She looked hesitant in what she was going to say next, thumping a hand against her thigh and pivoting one toe. "Umm, you know we worry when you go out in those woods alone. And Johnny said somebody should go with you, since Ky can't walk with you anymore, but nobody wants to go out there in those woods, so—" She sighed and looked down on her boots. "I could go with you this time. . ." She trailed off.
"You really want to go?"
The girl grinned at her, the corners of her mouth pulled back in a nervous grimace. "Not really. But if no one else will go, I will."
Dizzy looked from May to the opening above, then back on May again. "Alright. This is possibly our last day here. I need to say goodbye to Ky before we do leave." She began to start up the stairs again and back up the deck. She heard May's footsteps following after her as she neared the railing that looked over the woods.
"Dizzy, you're not going right now, are you?"
She looked over her shoulder to see May standing a few paces behind her, her hands bunched.
"Yes, I would like to," she said. "Are you still coming?"
"Yes, I guess so, but I hate going in those woods! It's creepy!" May grabbed the edges of her hat and pulled it down so it went over her eyes. The sight of her trying to hide under her hat made Dizzy laugh.
"Don't worry, May, I'll protect you."
They arrived about an hour, but it was a grueling hour with May. Dizzy had to force the girl to stay by her side by keeping a hard grip around her arm and endure her screams and whimpers. Thankfully, the girl never bolted and Dizzy never had to chase after her, like Ky once had. Ky had explained the woods' tricks and gave her enough guidance to prevent her from succumbing to the fear it wanted. Dizzy had to keep reassuring May like he had done with her when he had volunteered to take her back to the ship. She missed riding with him. She missed Nora.
May released a sigh of relief when the small cabin came into view. By then, Dizzy was able to let go of her. The girl quickly hugged her arms while a shiver rippled through her. "I hope it's warm in there, 'cause I'm freezing!" the girl cried.
Dizzy kept her eyes on the cabin, but the closer she came, something didn't seem right. She couldn't place it exactly why at first.
"It's always warm, May," she said as she walked closer. "It's a nice pla—" She stopped in her tracks as she looked on at the front of the cabin. The door was left open. Her eyes soon cast down, noting the tracks in the snow. There were some areas where the ground was torn, leaving a scar down to the grass. There were several tracks left behind, but she knew they couldn't have been left solely by Ky. They were tracks of men.
Her eyes then slowly wandered back to the open doorway. "The door's left open," she muttered.
"He's probably outside somewhere," May suggested.
Dizzy slowly shook her head. "No. He never leaves the door open. May, I think something's wrong."
"You really think so?"
"I don't know," Dizzy said, and stepped closer to the open doorway. "I don't want to believe something's wrong."
Slowly, as May watched, she stepped into the cabin, which had gone cold from the air that had gotten in. Ever since she had met Ky, it had never been cold inside. It was strange. It was as if Ky had never been here, but he had—
The first thing that greeted her was his sword was lying on the floor. It wasn't in a position where it could have just fallen from the mantel where he kept it. It was lying a few steps from the front door. She found herself standing before it, looking down on the red and black blade. Since he had left the shroud off and remounted it on the mantel, she thought it was rather pretty—the shape of it, the colors, the curves and angles. She didn't take her eyes off the sword as May joined her side. "It's Ky's sword. What's it doing on the floor?"
"Dunno. Maybe it fell."
"But he doesn't keep it near the door," Dizzy said. She caught a shrug from May as she began to wander off to explore the cabin. Her eyes slowly lifted from the sword up to the girl passing a window. She heard something crack under her boots as she crossed the floor, then saw the glint of broken glass scattered below the window where May was standing. She watched as the girl peeled the curtain aside to reveal a gaping hole in the glass. Dizzy gasped and her eyes grew at the sight of it.
May looked down on the shards of glass under her, then back on the broken window. She turned her head to Dizzy, biting her lower lip. "Maybe you're right, Dizzy. Maybe something did happen. You think he's still around?"
"I don't know."
"What about those hunters? You don't think—"
Dizzy shook her head quickly. She shut her eyes tightly, refusing to believe Ky could have been attacked and kidnaped like she had. "Ky said it was over. He said they were going to be arrested by the man who looks like him. They couldn't have come back."
"Well, I'll tell you something about cops," May said with a hand on her hip.
"But May, he said it was alright. He said it was over." She brought a delicate hand up and rubbed it against an eye, which was beginning to tear up. "Someone took him, I think. His leg—" She began to sob lightly while she looked down on the sword again. "He couldn't fight them. Did you see the ground outside, May? There were more of them."
"So you think those guys took him back to that place?" May asked, a bit uncertain.
Dizzy stared at the broken window, as if waiting to see him crossing that small bridge, his black clothing standing out from the white snow that covered the ground and trees, but such a sight never happened.
"I don't know where else he could be," she said.
"Then let's go back and tell the others. I'll take a group down that place. We'll find him and make sure he's okay. We'll bring him home, like he did for you. We owe him."