Okay, okay, so it wasn't my last chapter before school started; I didn't know how much time I had left. School starts NEXT week, so I have way more time than I thought I did. One more chapter or two, so let's get this party started.
Once again, we're skipping the long, hot, boring treck across the desert, and skipping to Palom and Angel, standing outside Antlion Cave.
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Chapter 6: The Praise of Parents
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Palom and Angel, dripping wet from their swim across the shallows, stood at the entrance to the cave of the creature the glyphs called the "Sand Lion", known more commonly as the Antlion, while Angel gathered her nerves.
"You can always go back to the shrine, you know," Palom told her.
"I'm not going to go back. Red needs my help, and I'm going give it to her," Angel informed stoutly.
"But you seem nervous. And Sefi said that you don't like bugs," Palom pointed out. Angel shivered.
"I hate bugs with a passion. They're so creepy!" She said.
"And yet you're willing to go in and get the sand ruby from a creature called an Antlion?" Palom asked, pretty impressed with Angel's choice of actions (although he couldn't help but wonder if she felt dragged into it and had no choice because she was now a paladin).
Angel took a deep breath and said, "Red needs the ruby, so I want to help get it. Besides, you'll probably need the help, and I need the practice: everyone wins."
"You sound like you're trying to reassure yourself," Palom joked.
"Oh, do I?" Angel asked sarcastically.
"Hey, come on," Palom said, taking a few steps forward. "It'll be a sinch. I mean, just go through a cave, beat a giant bug, get a ruby, and get back out. How hard could it be?" He asked.
"All that, yeah, I can handle it; it's the giant bug I can't do," Angel said.
"Look, you don't even have to fight the stupid thing. I'll fight it while you watch, if it makes you feel better," Palom offered.
"Say what? I'm not gonna let you do all the work, you little squid!"" Angel insisted, and ran into the cave.
"Aha! Now that's the spirit," Palom said, rubbing his hands together, and following Angel into the cave.
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Back at the shrine, Sefi was studying the various other glyphs on the walls, wondering what some of the maladies and their cures were since she couldn't read them herself. Some, like a headache, stomachache, and cold, were easy to figure out. But others were very tricky to decode.
"Porom, do you think there's a cure for pride?" She asked, thinking that the glyph showing a very lovely woman in front of some rather plain looking women, seemingly showing off her beauty and grace to them, showed a pridefull person.
Porom walked over to inspect the pictures, and read the words written there. She scanned the words quickly, and said, "It says that the cure for blindness was discovered by his old Damciani queen who was called Miria the Beautiful. It says that she was also a most humble person; very kind, and very wise. She was apparently the first ruler of Damcyan to be a mage of any kind, and she was a white mage. She inveted the potion 'eyedrops' when the zus in the area kept blinding the people."
"Oh. I've got to study launguages sometime," Sefi said. "I suppose I should also learn some magic too."
"You should also practice with your sword. Magic is a great asset, but, if you come to depend on it too heavily, it can be a weakness. It's always a good thing to have a good weapon on hand if you're a magic user," Porom explained.
"That makes sence," Sefi said quietly, unsheathing her sword and swinging it about expertly. "I'll just begin practicing, then," She said, continuing to swing the sword around. Red stirred suddenly and Porom ran back to her side.
Porom felt Red's forehead, hoping the fever had gone down in the past two minutes, but the heat had remained the same. She sighed heavily, and casted a light heal spell on Red, wanting to make her MP stretch over the next two days.
Red's eyes fluttered open and she graoned. "I don't feel so well," She said softly.
"I know," Porom said, petting Red's head.
"Are we at the castle?" Red asked.
"No; I teleported again and we wound up a mile away from the castle, so we're staying in this convenient little shrine," Porom explained.
"Where are the others?" Red asked.
"I'm over here," Sefi said, coming to kneel by Red's side.
"Where are Palom and Angel?" Red asked.
"They left a few hours ago, to find the sand ruby that will cure you," Sefi said.
"The sand ruby? Why the sand ruby?" Red asked, confused.
"You have desert fever. You fainted after the sandstorm," Porom informed the princess.
"Oh great," Red sighed.
"Don't worry about it," Porom suggested. "You just go back to sleep. Palom and Angel should be back with the ruby in two days or less. You just get some rest," She directed. Red drowsily nodded her head, shut her eyes, and slipped back into the black delerium of a dreamless sleep.
"I hope they're alright..." Porom said with another big sigh.
"I'm sure they'll be fine. My sister and your brother put together can't be very easy to beat," Sefi said.
"They'd better not be easy to defeat," Porom said crisply. "I don't know how much longer I can keep healing Red, even on a small scale. If all my MP goes, the fever could take Red before they get back."
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"Oh snap!" Angel cried when she and Palom reached the Antlion's den and the creature popped up out of a deep whole in the floor. Palom noticed that Angel paled, and looked like she might even faint, but she stayed on her feet brandishing her sword.
"You can sit this one out if you'd like," Palom said to her. Angel shook she head definantly.
"I didn't come all the way here to run and hide," She insisted.
The Antlion roared and charged at them. Angel screamed, but she didn't run either.
"Think fast!" Palom yelled at her, and pushed her out of the Antlion's way as it crashed down heavily next to him. Palom thrust his knife into the Antlion's back, but it didn't seem to do much good. The monster roared in pain, and turned to attack Palom as hard as it could. He quickly began casting a spell, and hit the Antlion with a fire spell. It did some damage, but not a ton. He then cast a blizzard spell but it didn't do much damage either. Finally he decided that putting the monster to sleep would be easier than killing it, and rooted around in his pack for sleepgrass.
The sleepgrass had a very strong and bitter scent; just holding the glass jar that the tuft was stored in made Palom sleepy. So he held his breath, opened the jar, and set it on the floor. The monster charged again, but the bitter smell of the sleepgrass kept it from getting too close to the mage. It staggered, sneezed heavily, and fell on it's side, breathing steadily. Palom recapped the sleepgrass vile, put it back in his bag, and looked around for Angel.
Gad, I hope she's alright, he thought.
A sudden movement nearby made Palom turn to look, and he saw Angel clawing her way out of the whole from which the Antlion had come. He ran over to help her out, and saw that she was holding a bright red jewel with many irregular angles in one hand.
"Angel, is that...?" He asked, astounded.
Angel nodded, grinning widely. "I ducked down while you were fighting the monster and found a whole store of these things. I grabbed a few more too," She explained.
"Well then," Palom said cheerfully, dragging Angel onto her feet, "I think our work here's pretty much done. Let's git back to the shrine before Red fades."
They walked back towards the exit, but Palom stopped by the Antlion's sleeping body and drew his knife from it's back. "Wouldn't want to walk back home without a weapon," He said. "Even one as puny as my trusty knife," He added lovingly to the blade, resheathing it in his belt buckle.
"Now let's get out of here," Angel said eagerly, and made a beeline for the exit.
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The next day, Palom and Angel burst into the shrine, Angel with the sand ruby in hand. She was all a buzz with excitement. They'd claimed the sand ruby and made it back with plenty of time to cure Red. Red was going to be well again; Red was going to make it!
"Porom! Sefi! Red! We're back!" Angel shouted, bolting across the room to the closed door on the other wall. "We got it! We got the sand ruby!" Palom added, feeling a little dizzy from excitement himself. Angel reached the door a second efore Palom and wrenched it open, expecting a very happy reunion with her sister and friends.
But what she got was much different. She walked in the room before she quite knew she was moving, and found a scary surprise awaiting her. Porom, Sefi, and Red weren't the only people in the room: Edward, Alara, Cecil, and Rosa were all there too.
Angel's eyes went wide and she made a tiny sound that boardered in a squeak. She clutched the sand ruby in her hand so hard that she thought it would break, and she took a nervous step back, afraid of what her parents, especially her father, would do to her. She didn't really register that anyone but Cecil was looking at her. He looked tired and worried, and she couldn't look away from him. He rose and took a step towards her, but Palom stepped in front of her, ready to sheild her from Cecil's impending wrath.
"None of this was Angel's fault," He insisted. "In fact, running away was all my idea. I suggested it and talked the others into it," He lied. "Just don't do anything to Angel."
Cecil didn't seem to hear what Palom had said. He moved Palom out of the way and looked his shaking daughter over carefully. She looked like she was ready to cry from fear and guilt for making her parents worry so much about her. She couldn't even say anything.
With a gentleness and calm that took Angel by surprise, Cecil took her hand; the one that carried the sand ruby, and held it in his own.
"You got this?" He asked, seemlingly unable to believe it.
Angel still couldn't say anything, but she nodded. Suddenly she began talking rapidly, like she couldn't stop.
"I didn't fight the monster, Palom did. I just ran and I got the ruby. I just wanted to help Red. I didn't mean to... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She said, hanging her head as a tear rolled down her face. After all that had happened in the past week she didn't really want anyone to see her crying.
"It doesn't matter right now," Cecil assured her, cupping her chin in his hand and raising her head up until he could look into her pale blue eyes, which were still glassy with unshed tears. "What matters now is that you got the ruby, and you can heal Red now. Come over here," He said, leading her to Red's side. Angel kneeled down beside her friend, unsure of what to do. She looked up at Cecil and Edward, silently asking them how to use the ruby.
"Hold it in her hand and just watch," Edward instructed. Angel picked up Red's hand and set the ruby in her palm, closing her fingers around it. Angel waited for a moment, waiting for something to happen. She felt someone at her side, and looked up to see Rosa kneeling beside her.
"It will work, baby," She said so softly that only Angel could hear, and put her arm around her child's shoulders. "Just wait for it."
The ruby began to glow dull red at the middle. It ebbed away and Angel felt a flutter of panic, but the glow started again. It went on in this way for about five seconds, beating like a pulse, a little faster each time. Then, all at once, the beat stopped and shone beams of red all around the room; so bright that everyone had sheild their eyes. When they all looked again, the red glow had spread down Red's arm, over her chest, neck and face, and down her legs. Red's breathing, which had been rattley and offbeat before, quickly cleared and became even again. Despite the the burning the light caused in Angel's hand, she could feel the heat of the fever leaving Red's hand like a wave leaving the shore. Red's light green eyes suddenly flew open and she sat up, panting heavily, as if she'd just woken up from a bad dream.
"Were... What... Why...?" She stammered as the red glow faded from the ruby. She looked a bit shocked and nervous because her parents were there and she, too, was afraid they'd hurt her. But that though evaporated quickly when Edward and Alara dropped to their kees beside her and embraced her.
"Thank the stars, you're alright," Alara whispered, too happy to say anything else.
Edward looked up at Angel and said, with tears in his eyes, "Thank you. Thank you so much." Angel grinned broadly, once again at a loss for words, but radiating pride in herself and relief that Red was well again.
Rosa helpped Angel stand back up. Angel winced, feeling a sharp pain in her side that hadn't been there before, and sent a hand to her side.
"Angel are you okay?" Rosa asked, somewhat forcedly moving Angel's hand out of the way. She gasped and demanded, "Where did that come from?" meaning the scar on her side from her paladin trial.
"It's nothing, I promise," Angel said, hoping that Rosa would lay off the matter.
"I'd still like to know what happened," Rosa said, having not gotten the answer she wanted. Angel blushed and let her eyes wander to the empty ceiling.
"Battle scars, from the trial," Cecil guessed, moving to stand closer to Angel. "They take a long time to really heal, believe me," He said, eyeing her with happiness and... was that a touch of pride?
Angel pushed that notion out of her mind and put her hand back over the scar.
"It's really nothing. I should just be more careful when I'm getting up, I suppose," She insisted.
"I don't get it," Palom sid from acros the room. "It didn't hurt like that at any point in the cave, and it should have done something at many of those points..."
"Well, now she knows to be careful," Sefi pointed out to him.
"And at least it didn't hurt when she couldn't afford pain like that." Palom nodded, seeing her valid point.
"And I'd expect it to twinge from time to time for a while," Porom added. "I hesitate to believe that things like that will just heal and go away that easily."
"Oh don't worry," Angel said to her. "I'll be fine."
"Yeah," Red said from the floor. "If anyone in this room's going to be okay it's going to be you." She sounded like she was going to add more, but she began coughing and couldn't continue.
"Sush now, dear," Edward instructed, lifting Red from the floor and carrying her to the door. "You'll never fully recover if you keep talking," He said.
"But I feel fine," Red protested.
"You won't be better until tomorow. Try to sleep, alright?" Edward said to her. She still wasn't quite convinced, but she agreed with a yawn and a rasppy cough.
"We should get her into the castle and let her rest," Alara said, standing back up and going to stand with her husband and daughter. "Thank you all, for of your help," She said over her shoulder to the two sets of twins before she and Edward walked out of the door.
"I sure hope that Red'll be alright," Sefi murmmered.
"Don't worry," Rosa said. "The after cough of the desert fever lasts only a day, if one rests well enough. I'm sure she'll be fine in the morning."
"Ah... Thank goodness," Porom said, standing up from where she'd been sitting on the floor. "I think I might still have enough MP left to teleport Palom and myself home. I believe that we've overstayed our welcome." She turned to her brother and asked, "Ready to go home, Palom?"
"For once, I can't wait to be home. Let's go!" Was his reply. They went and stood in the middle of the room, joined hands and Porom began chanting the teleport spell.
"Teleport!" Porom said sharply and their images began to fade, leaving the Baron royalty alone in the shrine.
"Speaking of overstayed welcomes, I think we should be getting home now ourselves," Cecil said, leading the way back to the door.
"So, at last, we're going back home," Sefi whispered to Angel as they walked into the blazing sunshine.
"I'm glad to be going home; if I knew that our little trip to Mysidia was going to be so eventfull I'd have stayed at home and forgotten the whole thing," Angel said.
"And have you noticed?" Sefi asked. "Noticed what?" Angel inquired. "That voice we heard on Mount Ordeals was right: we didn't get into any trouble," Sefi said.
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An airship was waiting on the other side of the castle to take them back to Baron. Sefi could see (and hear) Cid arguing with Edge on the deck and froze up.
"The Enterprise crashed and fell apart! Cid's gonna beat the tar out of me!" Sefi squeaked.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Cecil said, putting his arm around her shoulder and moving her forward. "It's going to be alright," He added when she hestitated before moving.
"Is he mad about the ship?" Sefi asked, knowing that he surely saw it's wreckage in the desert/
"He was pretty angry when he saw it, but he was too worried that you five had died in that crash for it to matter that much. If he's angry at you for anything, he's angry that you scared him so bad," Cecil said, feeling Sefi relax a little bit.
Apparently, everyone on the ship had been so wrapped up in Cid and Edge's argument that their coming went completely un-noticed. The only other person on board was Rydia, and she always enjoyed listening to the two men arguing.
"I don't care what you heard from Kain or anyone else: I did't help the kids out of the castle," Edge said, for what he thought was the thousandth time since last night.
"You'd have done it though, I know it," Cid answered sharply.
"Everyone knows that listening to what Kain says is a bad idea. You shouldn't believe much of what he says," Edge said.
"You're just saying that because you don't like him," Cid pointed out.
"It's true, you know," Rydia put in.
"Why do you always defend the ninja?" Cid demanded, and stormed away.
"Uh... Because I'm his wife?" Rydia suggested.
"And we both feel the same way about Kain," Edge added quietly to her, reaching for her hand.
"So, what are you arguing about this time?" Someone asked behind them. They all looked and saw Cecil leaning on the rail, arms crossed and grinning smuggly at them.
"At last, you're back!" Cid said happily, striding over to the king. "I take it from that smile that you found them?" He asked hopefully.
"Down there," Cecil said, nodding toward the gangplank.
Cid looked over the railing and saw Rosa and Angel trying to get Sefi to go up onto the deck. He aslo heard Sefi make a squeak-like sound and dart behind behind Rosa when she saw him. Angel gave her sister a disgusted glare and ran up the gangplank as fast as she could.
When she reached the deck Cid stopped her and ran his eyes over her quickly.
"You look different, girl. What happened to you?" He asked. Angel blushed, and didn't say anything.
"Hey, nice scar," Edge said, also noting her side. "Where'd that come from? It's pretty heavy for a princess, ain't it?" He said.
"I... I took the paladin trial. I thought you'd have known that," Angel explained, slowly and meekly.
"We breifly forgot about that part when Rosa said that Red was sick," Rydia explained. "Is she alright?"
"Red's fine. Palom and I got the sand ruby for her," Angel said proudly.
"You faced the Antlion?" Cid and Rydia asked at the same time, both aware of her deep fear of insects.
"And you came back sane?" Rydia asked, thinking that a trip through so many bugs would have scared Angel into insanity. She knew the cave; she'd gone into it once before: really, the only kind of monsters in the cave were bug-like atrosities that would scar someone with insectaphobia for life.
"I think so. It surprises me too," Angel said, still sounding very proud of her accomplishment.
Cid leaned over the railing again and said, "I notice that neither of the mages or Red are here."
"Edward and Alara took Red back to the castle so she can finish recovering from the fever. Palom and Porom teleported themselfves back to Mysidia," Cecil explained. "Therefore, our return party will be somewhat smaller than we'd anticipated," He added.
"Cecil, Sefi's refusing to get on the ship," Rosa yelled. "Help me, please."
"Why wouldn't she get on board?" Rydia asked, confused.
"She's worried that Cid will hurt her for wrecking The Enterprise," Cecil said, sounding vexed.
Cid leaned over the rail and called to her, "Sefi, come up here. I'm not going to hurt you; I promise."
Sefi looked up over Rosa's shoulder (where she was still hiding) and looked at him hesitantly.
"It's alright. Now go up there and stop making such a fuss," Rosa ordered impatiently. Sefi quickly darted out from behind her and ran up the gangplank with Rosa close behind her.
Sefi skidded to a halt on the gangplank before stepping cautiously onto the deck like a scared kitten.
"I see that you've learned to fear my wrath," Cid said to her sternly. Sefi's stomach did a flip-flop and she paled, frightened of what might be coming. To her surprise, Cid stepped up to her and hugged her tightly.
"If you ever worry me like that again, you will come to regret it," He threatened.
"Yes sir," She said in a squeaky voice, caught very off guard by this.
"Now," He said, releasing Sefi, "Let's get back to Baron, shall we?" And he headed for the wheel.
"You see?" Cecil asked Sefi. "What did I tell you? He didn't even mention the airship."
"Oh, speaking of which," Cid said from the wheel as he was starting the engines, "I will be wanting a new ship built to replace The Enterprise. You will be assisting me with that when we get back to Baron, you understand?" He said to Sefi. Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped.
"Really?" She asked excitedly.
"Yep, but in the meantime, why don't you fly us back home?" Cid asked. Sefi blinked twice.
"But I crashed your favorite airship. Why would you want me to..."
"Ya ran out of gas, didn't you?" Cid asked as the airship lifted from the ground.
"Well, yes," Sefi said slowly.
"Then it was a problem with the airship, not the driver; get over here now," He demanded.
"Yes sir," Sefi said obediantly and raced over to the wheel.
"So," Rosa said, turning to Angel, "I expect there will be no more complaining when we get home?"
Angel shook her head. "I don't think so," She said.
"Well, you're a paladin now, aren't you? What more do you want?" Cecil asked.
"I still don't want to be queen," Angel said, and walked over to see what Sefi was doing before her parents could say anything to her about it.
"So, we're all happy. Palom and Porom got out for the first time in many years, Red lived a little more than she probably wanted, you're a paladin, I'm going to be hanging around airships for the better part of the year and starting secret dark knight lessons (I hope), and we've all come back alive and good friends," Sefi said, pushing some buttons on the dashboard. "I think that concludes our adventure quite nicely, don't you agree?"
"Maybe," Angel said dreamily. "There's still one more thing that I want."
"Oh really?" Sefi asked. "What's that?"
"I want to stay a princess, and let you be the queen. If I become the queen, my two month reign will conclude with the entire city burning to the ground."
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A little later, Angel was standing by herself, looking over the railing at the landscape zipping below her, wondering how she'd ever manage ruling an entire country.
"You seem upset," Cecil said, coming to stand by her. "What you said earlier, about not being queen, I know how much you hate it that the responsibility falls on you. I wish that I could do something about it, but I can't."
Angel looked up at him and asked, "You can't?"
Cecil laughed quietly. "Even kings and queens have rules that they must follow... Or get in big trouble," He explained.
"We just can't be free, can we," Angel said, a laugh in her own voice.
"Child, you bring me joy," Cecil said, messing up Angel's hair.
Angel sighed and smoothed down her hair. "I don't think I'll make a very good queen," She admitted. "If I'm in charge of anything I screw it up. Badly. I can't even go on an adventure as a paladin without my best friend getting fatally ill and turned to stone and having Cid's favorite airship wrecked."
"But you all survived the crash, I see," Cecil pointed out. "And you were able to get the sand ruby that cured Red."
"I didn't even fight the thing: I ran into it's den to hide and stumbled onto the ruby. That was a coward's luck," Angel explained glumly, starting to sulk.
Cecil put his arm around Angel's shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "For a first attempt you did very well. You got the ruby, didn't you?" He said, trying to bring her spirits back up.
"All this past week aside, and back on the subject of your queenship, I don't think that Baron will burn to the ground two months into your reign."
"Oh... You heard that?" Angel asked, slightly embarassed.
"You really thought that I'd miss a comment like that?" Cecil asked.
"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't," Angel agreed, resting her head on Cecil's shoulder. She suddenly felt safer and happier than she'd felt in days. Even when Palom and Porom hardly ever left her side while she was recovering, it wasn't the same.
I'm not leaving home ever again. Not if it means giving this up, She thought.
An icey tingle rose up all over her body, making she shiver. She felt Cecil tense up and realized that it must be another vibe. She focused on the feeling and found, in her mind, a picture of a huge flock of cockatrices and a zu coming at them from the east.
"Get ready to fight; we've got company appraoching from that direction," Cecil directed, pointing to the east, where the flock of deadly birds could already be seen heading towards them at a fast speed. Angel drew her sword from it's sheath and blinked when it glinted in her eyes.
"Wow. Nice sword," Cecil commented, seeing the blade for the first time.
"Thanks. I like it too," She said, admiring it's sliver blade and beautifully carved gold hilt for the first real time.
The flock was upon them in seconds. All that could be seen for feet in any direction were feathers and the bright flash of swords in the sun. The only sounds that broke through the loud cries of outraged cockatrices was the sharp crack of Rydia's whip, sailing through the air and never missing it's target. Even the sound of swinging swords was drowned in the din.
Since no one could see through the crowd of silver and blue featers, they couldn't see what was coming either. A loud screech sounded over the squawks of the cockatrices, and the flock scattered like mice flee from a cat. Once they were out of the way, the foreseen zu came out of the members of the flock who'd lingered too long. He came so fast that there was no warning.
Edge and Rydia yelped; they were the first things the zu saw, and was now looking at them in a way that was very unsettling. Plus they were backed up against the side of the ship and had nowhere to run to.
"Hey, you! Over here!" Angel yelled, trying to get the zu's attention on something a little more on gurad to fight. The zu looked back at her for a moment and then swept it's tail under her feet, knocking her to the ground. Rosa began peltting the thing with her arrows, but got similar results. Cecil and Sefi would have taken the distraction to run around to the bird's front to help Edge and Rydia, but the zu's wings were spread out wide and no one could get past them. And so, as you can see, Edge and Rydia were on their own.
The zu screeched and charged at Edge, but something lashed around it's beack and yanked his head away. The zu looked over and saw Rydia, holding his beak by her whip. Outraged by this, the zu pulled his head over, dragging Rydia across the deck to him (from her safer and more defensive position into his danger zone) and knocked the top of his head into her chest. She staggered back, wind lost from the impact, and the zu kicked her so hard that she flew through the air and hit the mast of the ship heavily and fell limp on the ground.
Now that the zu was distracted, Edge ran up to it (silent but deadly; you know how ninjas are) and sliced into the zu's neck. It screeched louder than ever and flew off in pain. In another instant, the airship thumpped and everyone realized that Sefi had landed the ship.
"Is something wrong?" Cecil asked, wondering why they'd landed.
"Everything's fine," Sefi assured him. "I just thought that maybe we should regroup. And besides: I'm tired."
Angel picked herself up off the ground and sat back on her knees, giggling.
"That was actually kinda fun, except for when I fell down," She said as Cecil hauled her to her feet.
"Good fighting. I see you've been practicing," He noted.
Alright, that's got to be pride he's looking at me with this time, She thought. While Cecil went over to help Rosa up, Angel walked over to Rydia, who appeared to have been knocked unconsious in her encounter with the zu.
"Rydia, come on and get up. The fight's over," Angel said, but nothing happened.
Doy, she's unconsious, Angel though and knelt down beside Rydia, shaking her shoulder.
"Rydi, wake up," She asked again, and still getting no result. "Rydia, wake up," She demanded, but the summoner didn't even stirr. Edge was on his knees next to her before she could blink, sending a shiver down her spine.
I hate it when he does that, Angel thought.
"Honey, wake up. The zu's gone," He said, taking her hand. He made a face and said, "Her hand feels like ice."
"Rydia..." Angel said nervously, taking Rydia's pulse. Her eyes went wide.
"Mom! Come over here quick!" She yelled.
"What's going on?" Rosa asked, running over.
"Rydia's got no pulse," Angel explained.
"What?" Edge demanded, cautiously running his hand over Rydia's heart.
"No heart beat either..." He said, beining to panic.
"Edge, calm down and let me do a life spell," Rosa said, obviously trying not to show how worried she was, and began chanting the life spell. She casted the spell as quickly as she possibley could, and waited ridgedly for Rydia to open her eyes. A minute passed and nothing happened. Another minute passed and still nothing happened.
"Rydia, please wake up," Angel pleaded, feeling new tears spring up into her eyes.
If you don't wake up, what will we do? Angel thought. What will Edge do without you? She thought as a first tear slipped down her cheek. You can't die. You just can't.
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Another chapter coming right up. Possibley my last regular update before high school starts, so let's make this one good.
One more terrble thing is about to happen, but do not worry: everything ends much better than it looks right now. Promise! Don't flame me because Rydia just died.