(A/N: Good news and bad news. The bad news is that I've got a writer's block… again, which is why this chapter was a little late. The good news is, as you can see from this chapter, I'm just about over it. Still having a little bit of plot trouble, but nothing I can't work out on. Just be patient and your patience will pay off.)

Chapter 11: Investigating

"Just wait, just wait." Asbel muttered. "As if I would really wait."

He crept along the wall of Kalvandir ship, having somehow made it inside without being detected. Surely his master had known that he wouldn't just sit quietly and wait it out. If it concerned Nausicaä, then it was top priority to Asbel. The moment Lord Yupa had opened his mouth.

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"They're trying to what?" Asbel shouted.

Lord Yupa put his finger to his lips. "Hush, Asbel. Not so loud. I said that it appears that Ken is attempting to get Nausicaä and Ved together and then control them both."

"How? Why?"

"Control the ones in the legend, and he could control humanity. That's the why. As for the how, I am still working on that."

Asbel stopped pacing. "I'm getting to the bottom of this."

Lord Yupa sighed and grabbed the back of Asbel's shirt as he passed. "You are not going to do anything right now. And neither am I."

Asbel angrily whirled around. "I am not going to just stand by and let Nausicaä get manipulated by some power hungry nutcase!"

"Nor am I." Lord Yupa grunted. "But you're too emotionally attached to Nausicaä and are in no state of mind to do anything right now. Be angry if you must, but don't let your anger blind you."

"But Nausicaä-"

"Can take care of herself for the time being. Ken may have something planned, but he's underestimating Nausicaä. We will get to the bottom of this, but not right now."

Asbel growled impatiently. "Then what are we going to do."

Lord Yupa stood up. "I suggest that you meditate for awhile to clear your head. As for me, I have been up all night and am tired. I'm going to take a nap." After a few seconds he muttered, "Don't do anything stupid or restless."

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Asbel snorted. "He would definitely consider this to be both stupid and reckless."

Two guards walked by and Asbel ducked out of sight. This was probably not the best of ideas, but it was all he had. Whenever someone he cared about was in trouble, Asbel tended to act without thinking, just as he did when Lestella was kidnapped.

"Not going to let things turn out like that again."

His eyes scanned the area, looking out for any other Kalvandirs. He didn't know which ones were loyal to Ved and which ones were loyal to this Ken person, so he decided to just avoid them all.

Coming out of hiding, Asbel made his way down the hall as he went over the plan again. Find Ken, interrogate him, save Nausicaä.

"Definitely stupid and reckless."

He came to a halt, recognizing his surroundings. Ved had led him down this way when they went to spar off in the training room. Surely the butler, or whatever Ken was to Ved, wouldn't be on this level, would he?

"Why can't there be a map for this place?"

The sound of footsteps caught his attention. Panicking, Asbel began looking around for another hiding place. The only place he saw available was above him.

"It's always in the air ducts." He said, as he went into hiding again.

Beneath him, the guards walked by, completely unaware of the Pejite prince hiding right above their heads. Asbel waited until their footsteps died away before he began moving, deciding to stay in the air ducts for awhile.

"I'm getting nowhere fast." He mumbled, wondering if he should have waited like Lord Yupa told him to. A little late for that now, but perhaps he should listen to his master some more in the future.

He paused for a moment, trying to think about this some more. He was cluelessly crawling through an air duct after breaking into the Kalvandir ship to save Nausicaä from the plot of a guy that he had only seen for three minutes, and he somehow planned on finding said man in this enormous ship, that he had only entered once before, and get his questions answered,

"I am so in over my head." He said to himself. He took a deep breath, calming himself. Maybe he should have taken some time to meditate. Clear his mind and really come up with a plan that didn't involve trespassing and holding a person hostage. "Maybe I should have spoken to Nausicaä or Ved."

He began crawling again, wondering just where he was now. Crawling around in here made him lose his sense of direction. Which way did he come from? Which way was he going?

As Asbel tried to figure things out, a loud noise echoed through the air ducts. Asbel covered his ears to block out the sound as his eardrums pulsed painfully.

"What the heck was that?"

The sound came again, although this time there was something slightly different about it. It was also familiar. Where had he heard that sound before?

Being as quiet as possible, to not alert anyone to his presence, he crawled through the air ducts. The strange yet familiar sound came again, only this time it was louder. At least he knew that he was heading in the right direction. He would just find out what it was and then leave, and hopefully run into Ken on the way since he had no idea where he was in the giant metal maze.

The sound came again, but this time it was coming from behind him. "Looks like I passed it." He muttered, and doubled back.

He took the turn that seemed like it would lead him to the source of the noise, which was now louder than ever, and came the end of the air duct. A whirling fan spun around in front of him. He could see the shadow of something moving in the room, which seemed to be the source of the noise.

"Might as well," he muttered, "I've come this far."

Using an Ohmu shell knife, the only substance that he was carrying that he was sure that wouldn't break, he put it in the path of the fan's whirling blades. With a loud screeching bang, the blades came to a stop. Anyone nearby would have heard that, he would have to make this fast.

Crawling through the small space, he entered the room, surprised by the size. This was by far the largest room in the ship; it had to be. But what surprised him the most was what he saw in the middle of it. There was no doubt that it was this that was making the noise he had heard, and he knew why it sounded so familiar.

Held in place by giant metal bars was what appeared to be an Ohmu of some kind. Only this Ohmu, if that's indeed what it was, was different from the others. It was bigger than the average Ohmu, not the size of a queen, but still very big. Rather than having blue eyes, it had black, though they did flicker red every now and then, and it body was covered in plates, rather than the smooth layers of shell than other Ohmus had. It also had antennas growing out of the top of its head, the two of them held in place what seemed to be mechanical arms.

Never in his entire life had Asbel seen or heard of an insect like this. Was it an undiscovered species, or perhaps a new one entirely? Whatever it was, it was definitely being held against its will.

The insect wailed again, attempting to free itself, quite unsuccessfully. Asbel put his hands over his ears to block out the cry. Was this what had brought the Ohmu that had attack? Had it heard its fellow insect's cry and come to help it?

"Whoever knew that Pejites were so nosey?"

Asbel turned when he heard the person speak. He saw nothing, but instead felt a painful blow to the head. Then everything went black.

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The pulsing in his head was what woke him. With each beat of his heart, it felt like someone had hit the inside of his head with a hammer. Slowly his eyes fluttered open, and he was greeted by blurry vision.

"What happened?" he murmured, placing a hand to his head. The last thing he remembered was finding that insect and… "Oh yeah, someone hit me."

He tried to stand up and lost his balance. He thought that he might have a concussion. Did they have to hit him so hard? He felt his forehead and felt dry blood. Was that really necessary? Wouldn't a simple "Freeze!" or "Put your hands up!" have been good enough?

'Probably didn't want to take any chances with Lord Yupa's apprentice.' He thought.

"Good, you're awake."

Even that person's voice was making his head hurt. Turning in the direction of the speaker, Asbel saw the very person he had broken into the Kalvandir airship to find. Only there were metal bars separating the two of them.

"You don't look so good." Ken commented.

Asbel opened his mouth to answer, but instead he ended up vomiting. The pounding in his head nearly made him pass out again.

"Oh dear." Ken snickered. He looked to the head guard standing beside him. "I think you hit him a little too hard, Roy."

"You think?" Asbel growled.

Roy shrugged. "Trespassers will be punished. You had no right being in that room, or aboard this ship for that matter." His eyes narrowed. "To be honest, I'm surprised you made it so far in undetected. Though that little stunt you pulled with the fan gave you away."

"Figures." Asbel muttered.

Ken laughed and patted Roy's side, since it was as high as he could reach. "No need to be rude. Prince Ved wouldn't want us to treat his friend unkindly."

"You already did!" Asbel snapped, wincing at the volume of his own voice as it echoed in his cell.

"Then let me correct that mistake." The small man cocked his head to the side. "You obviously came in here expecting to find something. Did you get your answers, or do you still want more?"

Wiping his mouth, Asbel glared at the balding man. "I know that you're planning to take over."

"Oh?"

"You're using Nausicaä and Ved because of their part in the legend. You want them to fall in love so everyone will recognize Ved as the prophesized one. Then you plan to control them both, thus controlling society."

"So you came to interrogate me." Ken finished for him. He nodded his head, looking impressed. "Very clever, boy. Very clever." A smug grin spread over his face. "But you give me too much credit. I'm not the mastermind behind all this. I just follow orders. Whether it is right or wrong, I obey the Kalvandir royal family. I just want what's best for them. Prince Ved is all that remains, so I will do anything for him."

Asbel narrowed his eyes. "Including lying and manipulating him. Playing with his feelings."

Ken laughed. "You still haven't figured it out. His royal highness is not a pawn, he's a player."

Asbel's eyes widened. "What?"

The door opened and the very person they were talking about walked in. Ved stared at Asbel through the bars, his usual calm content expression now looking irritable.

"Asbel, how could you?" he said. "I thought we had a friendship going on, but then you go and betray my trust by breaking into my airship. I'm crushed."

Asbel struggled to find something to say. "Y-You… you're part of this?"

Ved raised an eyebrow. "Part of it, Asbel, I'm behind it. This whole thing was my idea."

"But," Asbel nodded in Ken's direction, "he said that once you get Nausicaä on you're side, that you'll be sure that you'll follow."

Ken laughed. "Stupid foolish boy. What I actually said was that once we get the Guide on our said, I was sure that the prince would follow. I wasn't talking about our prince, I was talking about you."

"Me?"

"Of course. It's obvious to all of us that you're in love with the Guide, and therefore go along with whatever she decides to do. Therefore, your people of Pejite will go along with you."

Asbel was rendered speechless. They had been talking about him. Of course, he was a prince too. He and Lord Yupa had just assumed that they were talking about Ved. Now he felt really foolish. Looks like Lord Yupa was right about getting more information before making any rash decisions.

"What are you doing with Nausicaä?" Asbel demanded.

Ved cut his eyes at him. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet? You really are slow. Very well, I shall explain it to you. According to the prophecy, the one that the Guide falls in love with will be the one to lead humanity out of the darkness. All I have to do is convince Nausicaä that she loves me, and that I am the prophesized one. At least fool her long to convince the people that I'm the prophesized one. After that, her part will be over, and we can get her out of the way. And then I will be the one whole world looks up to."

Asbel's nails bit into his palm as his teeth clenched together tightly. "You're just using her, playing around with her feelings. And I guess it's safe to assume that that story of how you descended a field of gold and everything else you told us is nonsense too?"

Ved smirked. "Finally you're catching on. Of course it's all nonsense. But the people are becoming so desperate that their making this too easy." He turned away. "I'm afraid I can't waste any more time speaking to you. I have things I need to do. Ken, Roy, lets go."

"Yes, sir." The two replied.

"Wait!" Asbel cried. "What about that insect you have? What are you doing with it?"

Ved stopped at the door. Glancing over his shoulder, he smirked at the Pejite prince. "Sorry, that's classified."

The door slammed shut behind him, and Asbel was left alone in the darkness.

(A/N: Who saw it coming? I thought that some of you probably guessed that Ved was fooling everyone from the beginning, so I tried to throw you off course. Did it work? Either way, Asbel is now in a jam, and only Lord Yupa knows of the plan, somewhat. Can he help Asbel? And what about Nausicaä? And what is the strange new insect Asbel found? There's more to come. Just hope I completely get over my writer's block soon. I know, maybe some reviews will help. Hint, hint.)