Saturday
Clare felt something pinching and it hurt badly. Luke groaned and buried his nose into her shoulder.
"Ow..." Clare whispered and shifted, but the pinching feeling only got worse. Luke's eyes cracked open and then he screwed his face up in confusion.
"Ow..." She said.
"Angel, why can I see your wings?" Luke asked.
"What?... You shouldn't be able to see them..." Clare said and looked over her shoulder.
"Well I can..." Luke replied.
"Uhh...I think it's time to get up and talk to Anni..." She said and poked him to get him to move. Luke sat up and got off the bed and quickly hunted down his shirt. The ninja climbed off the bed and stretched her arms up and unknowingly her wings stretched also. Luke pulled his shirt on and the pulled her upright so she didn't injure herself. She smiled to him and turned towards the door. Luke quickly darted down the hall to find his niece. Clare had to keep her eye on her wings so she didn't bump them as she walked down the hall.
"Anni?" Luke called.
"I'm downstairs and I have no idea what's going on so don't ask." Anni called from downstairs. The ninja went down the stairs and nearly bumped into Link, "Whoa..."
"Geeze Clare be careful..." Luke said steadying her with both hands on her shoulders.
"You try keeping your balance with two wings on your back...Or your pace..." Clare said and pulled away from him to sit on her chair at the table. Anni slipped out of the kitchen, expertly avoiding Clare's wings, to set breakfast on the table. The winged ninja put some eggs and bacon with two slices of toast on her plate then sighed.
"If I knew what was going on Auntie Clare, I'd try and fix it but I have no idea what's going on..." Anni said picking Sophie up off the floor.
"Don't worry about it Anni, I'll figure what's wrong with them...It's not your problem..." Clare said then ate a piece of bacon.
"No it may not be my problem, but I don't like seeing you upset and I don't think Uncle does either..." Anni replied as Luke sat down.
"As long as no one pulls my feathers or walks into them, I should be fine..." Clare said as she crossed her legs, her wings were over the back of the chair.
"You heard you lot, be careful..." Anni ordered as she placed Sophie in her basinet and recovered Lucas.
"Yes Miss Anni..." The boys chorused then started to gather what they were going to eat.
"Good but keep it down, some little people are still asleep." Anni said as she passed Link and kissed his cheek on the way by. Breakfast preceded normally other than Tetra pulling on Clare's wings and Sheik plucking a single feather out of them. Which ended with both of them having a spoon to the back of the head and in separate room for the next two hours.
"I'm going for a walk..." Clare said after she finished her breakfast.
"Be careful there's going to be a huge storm today and I don't know exactly when it's going to roll in..." Anni told as she cleared the table.
"Okay..." Clare said and stepped out the door then there was a splat sound then a heavy sigh followed by giggles. Silver and Emil had dumped electric blue chu chu jelly on the poor ninja.
"Auntie Clare do you need a towel?" Anni asked through the window she was closing.
"Don't bother...I'm going to the hot spring..." Clare said and walked down off the porch and into the woods, and since her magic was acting up too, the poor girl got zapped once and a while. It was cool and humid with the threat of a storm hanging in the air. Clare just kept walking deeper into the forest until she got to the spring. This deep into the forest there was frost on the grass and deep chill the caused her to shiver. Clare found the spring, stripped and climbed in. The entire clearing around the spring was fogged over creating a cover for the ninja. She sat in the warm water and washed her body away from the slime. Luke, who had come looking for his ninja, came across a sight that made his heart stop. The ninja was waist deep in the water, her body soaked and a cloth across her chest. There was chocking sound then a muffled thud. Clare epped and ducked down then looked around, "Hello? Anyone there?" There was only the sound of small animals.
"Maybe I just imagined it." Clare said and finished washing herself then she climbed out of the spring. That's when she noticed the hand sticking out of the bush. "AHHHH!" She screamed and jumped back into the water. Then she took a really good look at that hand, "That hand looks familiar..." She mused to herself. The hand started to twitch causing the ninja to duck deeper into the water so the fog hid her. Clare picked up a nearby stick and started to poke the hand, causing it to twitch more.
"This is weird..." She whispered. Luke sat up then and rubbed his head, "Oh man, I must have been seeing things...Cause the goddesses left yesterday."
"LUKE!" The ninja shouted.
"Clare!" The captain asked looking around.
"What are you doing here?" Clare asked still in the fog.
"I came looking for you...Ah crap she's going to kill me..." He said.
"Damn straight I'm going to kill you!" She shouted and water could be heard splashing against the rocks as reached for her clothes.
"I only saw you from the back!" Luke said holding his hands up and closing his eyes. Clare dressed in the spring after washing her clothes from the goo and climbed out to glare at him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, you can smack me when you're finished." Luke offered covering his eyes just in case. She raised her hand to slap him across the face but couldn't so she stormed away instead. Luke moved his hands and cracked open one eye, "Huh? I thought she was going to hit me..." Clare grumbled and hissed when tree branches snagged her wings.
"Clare are you alright?" Luke asked hearing the hiss through the quiet of the forest.
"Let go you damned tree!" The ninja shouted and tried to break the branch snagged in her feathers. Luke got up and went to assist his stressed ninja. She had already broken the branch but it was twisted in her feathers and she growled lowly. Luke carefully placed a hand on her arm, "Do you want some help?" He asked gently.
"Could you please get the branch out of my feathers before I rip this forest apart...." The ninja growled.
"Alright, just take a deep breath Angel and try to calm down. I'm sorry I disturbed your bath..." Luke said as he carefully worked the branch free of her wing.
"I was starting to look like a prune anyways..." Clare said as she took deep breaths to calm herself. Luke smiled softly as he freed the branch and smoothed out her ruffled feathers.
"You have no idea how weird that feels..." She commented.
"Opps sorry..." Luke said pulling his hand back.
"I didn't say it was a bad feeling..." Clare said quickly.
"Shall we head back?" Luke asked.
"Yeah. Can't hide the fact that I've got wings for who knows how long..." Clare said then sighed. Luke smiled and took her hand before squeezing it gently, "We'll figure it out..."
"Yeah..." She said and closed her wings tight against her body so they didn't snag on anything.
"Come, let's head home..." Luke said as he carefully slipped his arm between her waist and her wings.
"Okay..."Clare said and let him lead her home. There was a nasty wind whipping across the lawn and Anni was quickly bringing in the laundry. Clare had to duck so her wings wouldn't pick up the wind and make her fly. Luke gently wrapped both arms around her and quickly led her inside as Anni picked up the basket of blankets and darted up the lawn. When Clare, Anni and Luke got inside they shut the door then as Clare was turning around smacked Tetra gently with her wings.
"Hey Clare can't you do anything about those, they are starting to be a pain..." Tetra growled as she stepped back away from Clare.
"Don't you think I've tried, I don't like having them right now just as much as you so chill!" The ninja snapped.
"Goddesses Clare don't have a cow..." Tetra snapped back.
"I'm not having a cow, I'm perfectly calm..." Clare said, a calm that should never be given to the ninja taking over.
"Well that was fast..." Tetra grumbled as she walked away. Luke stood next to Clare and then looked down at her, "Are you okay?"
"Yes." She said and walked over to her chair, still eerily calm.
"Link can you go upstairs and make sure all the windows are shut and locked?" Anni asked as she brought some extra lamps into the living room which was growing darker by the second. Clare closed her eyes and leaned her forearms against the table top then rested her head on top of them. Luke sat down next to her and gently ran his hand over her wings hoping to get her to relax. Her tense shoulders relaxed but only minuscule as Sheik walked into her wings this time.
"Good Goddesses Clare, fold those things up or something they're in the way!" Sheik snapped.
"They are folded up..." The ninja hissed and glared at him, her eyes glowing with her magic.
"Shh...deep breaths Clare..." Luke soothed as he stroked her wing and glared at his counterpart. Clare put her head back on her arms and closed her eyes.
"...Bloody ninja...her stupid wings..." Tetra muttered to Sheik. Clare overheard and she stood up quickly, her chair scraping angrily across the floor. Both Sheik and Tetra glanced at her then continued to whisper to each other. The ninja, her eyes still closed walked over to where they sat and opened her eyes to glare at both of them, her eyes glowing white with no sign of the blue iris ever existing.
"You two disgust me...You're not worth my time nor my anger..." She hissed.
"Auntie Clare..." Anni said carefully. The winged woman turned to her and looked at her, her white eyes resembling Oni's. Anni took a step back and bumped into the wall, her heart racing and her skin pale, "N-never m-mind..." A small flicker of hurt flashed in Clare's white eyes and she turned back around to sit at the table, her eyes closed once again.
"Look at that she scared the living daylights out of Anni..." Tetra hissed to Sheik. Clare stopped her walk then turned to the door.
"Poor thing probably going to faint right quick..." Sheik replied. The ninja opened her eyes and walked towards the door.
"Clare, where are you going Angle?" Luke asked.
"Outside...It's clear to me that I'm not wanted here...Tetra and Sheik have made that perfectly clear..." She said and threw the door open before slamming it shut.
"She-she shouldn't be out there, this is going to be the worst storm of the year..." Anni said snapping out of her shock. Tetra shrugged and snuggled into Sheik's chest. Anni growled and smacked both of them, "You two are horrible, she has no control of this and you had to go and make it worse, get out of my sight!" Anni hissed, her own magic arching across her skin. Sheik wrapped his arms around Tetra's waist and fazed into their room. Anni growled lowly like a pissed off Keaton and stormed out of the room, leaving Luke to debate whether or not to go after Clare. The lightening started to strike and thunder rolled across the skies.
"Time to find my Angel." Luke said quickly as he too ran outside. Said Angel was standing on the Cliffs of Eternity pacing angrily and muttering nasty things under her breath.
"Clare..." Luke called. A flash of her white magic flared when she spread her wings then closed them.
"Clare, come on Angel, it's too dangerous to be out here..." Luke said trying to coax her away from the cliffs that nearly took their niece's life.
"NO!" She yelled and returned to her pacing.
"Please Clare, I don't want to lose you..." Luke pleaded.
"THEN LET ME FUME DAMN IT!" She shouted at him while she stopped her pacing.
"Then fume on me but please just come away from the edge..." Luke pleaded. Clare growled stormed over to him and punched his chest then backed away shaking her hand.
"Please Clare, can we go home...?" Luke begged, something was telling him something bad was going to happen. Clare sighed then opened her arms, "I can't stay mad at you..." Her wings were gone. Just at that moment lightening struck the ground in front of Clare's feet and the cliff crumbled away from under her. Her eyes went wide as she fell.
"No, Clare!" Luke yelled and ran forward and without even thinking dove off the cliff after her.
"What are you doing you idiot!" Clare asked as she looked up at him. Luke didn't answer he wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her back into him and a pained expression crossing his face, then suddenly their freefall stopped and they descended slowly. Clare had closed her eyes and didn't realise what happened. Luke's feet touched the ground but he continued to cradle the ninja against him. Clare opened her eyes slowly, "We're alive?"
"That we are..." Luke replied. Clare looked at him then blinked and rubbed her eyes, "When did you get wings?"
"Not quite sure, but we're alive so I'm not really all that concerned other than my back hurts like someone sliced me open..." Luke replied setting her on her feet.
"Yeah...It hurts..." She said and turned him around, "That's new..."
"What, I can't see?" Luke said looking to the best of his ability at her.
"You're symbol...it changed..." Clare said then quickly sketched it into the sand at their feet.
"Interesting..." Luke said, lightening flashed and the wind picked up, "Can we head home to I can break down into hysterics some place safe?"
"Okay..." She said and let her fingers brush against his symbol. Instantly his wings disappeared and the wings on his guardian symbol began to fade. She laced their finger together and pulled him to the Inn. Luke followed behind her as his eyes started to go glassy.
"Don't pass out on me yet..." Clare said squeezing his hand gently. Luke nodded even though you could tell he was fading fast.
"Come on Luke...I don't want to get stuck out here..." Clare whispered as lightening flashed and thunder rolled again. Rain started pouring down in sheets, instantly soaking both of them. Clare started running but couldn't get very far on the account of Luke not running. Anni came outside to help Clare bring her Uncle in. The two women got the taller man inside and closed the door. Anni wrapped a towel around both of them and just managed to get Luke onto the couch before he passed out from stress. Clare sat down on the floor beside him with a heavy sigh.
"One...two...three...four...Oh no, where's Lucas?!" Anni asked terror creeping into her voice. Clare stood up and ran to the door, throwing it open and bolting outside, "LUCAS!" She called. Lightning flashed illuminating the tiny hole Lucas was hiding in at the base of Clare's rock. The ninja ran over to it and scooped the kit out then ran back inside, keeping Lucas covered to the best of her ability. Both of them were soaked when they returned inside. Anni wrapped a heavy blanket around Clare and the tiny kit and shooed them over to the fire as she bolted the door shut against the angry wind trying to rip it open the wrong direction. Clare hunched by the fire and held Lucas close to her body since the kit was shivering but stopped as soon as the warm fire warmed him along with Clare's warm body.
"It's going to be a long night..." Anni sighed lighting a lantern and putting out the other lights sans the fire. Clare curled up on the floor. Luke came around, "My head hurts..." She looked up at him.
"How come you're still all wet?" Luke asked sounding much like Lucas.
"Cause I had to get him..." Clare said rolling over slightly to show the kit in her arms.
"Oh..." Luke said rolling onto the floor to lie next to Clare. She scooted up to lie her head on his shoulder.
"That wasn't very smart little one, what if Anni hadn't done a head count?" Luke said gently stroking Lucas's head.
"I would've stayed where I was until the storm past..." The kit whispered.
"And then you would've gotten sick and we don't want that to happen to you..." Luke said, "...You're my favourite, I'd be heartbroken if anything happened to you..." Luke added so only Lucas and Clare could hear. The kit buried his head in Clare's stomach then looked at her, "I lost my ribbon outside..." He confessed. The ninja laughed, "I got something better than a ribbon..." She said and pulled out a blue piece of fabric. Lucas sat up slightly, still a little weak from the scare he gave everyone. She tied it around his neck like Luke's then started to stroke his fur lightly.
"My stomach hurts again..." Lucas muttered quietly, knowing if his mother heard she'd smother him with attention. Clare smiled and stroked the kit's belly. Luke smiled and sat up slowly, "I'm going to find a new shirt and get my coat."
"Are you cold?" Clare asked looking up at him.
"Getting there..." He replied as he left the room. Clare shrugged her shoulders and crossed her legs. Lucas yawned and then the fur along his stomach twitched.
"Are you hungry?" The ninja asked.
"No, I've got a cramp..." Lucas confessed.
"From what?" Clare asked pulling her head off the floor.
"I don't know, but if feels like my stomach's on fire..." He whined.
"Shh..." Clare said and stroked his stomach gently. Lucas whined and twisted about trying to get comfortable. Johnny heard him whining that time and came over.
"What's the matter sweetie?" Johnny asked placing her paws lightly on Clare's stomach.
"I have a cramp..." He whined.
"That's because you haven't eaten sweetie, now come here..." Johnny cooed to her youngest. Lucas got up off Clare's stomach and jumped down to his mother. His legs buckled under his own weight causing Johnny to pick him up and carry him to the basket. Clare stayed on the floor and yawned before closing her eyes. Luke came back down with his favourite black shirt and the black coat that seemed to have resurfaced. The ninja opened her eyes a crack and looked up at Luke who was standing over her. He laid down next to her and placed one of her ears to his chest while covering the other as thunder crashed overhead. She winced and pressed her ear closer to his chest. Luke tightened the blanket around her and pulled her close as Anni sat down next to Link with Sophie cradled in her arms. The ninja winced and flinched when thunder rolled and shook the Inn, making the window panes shake. Luke slipped his hand under the blanket and rubbed her back over the wing marks between her shoulders. She sighed lightly and closed her eyes again. Sophie started to whimper, the thunder startled her badly, "Shh...shh...your alright..." Anni cooed, "Do you want to hear you're lullaby sweetie?" Clare had already fallen asleep. Luke glanced back at Anni, "Sing it kiddo, it'll keep both of them asleep."
"Make that all of them..." Johnny piped up from where the five kits were sleeping around her. Anni smiled, "Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Remember me to one who lives there, he once was a true love of mine..." Clare snuggled into Luke's chest. All the people in the room relaxed and were able to tune out the storm that clawed at the windows. The ninja shivered slightly and buried herself in Luke's chest. Luke tightened his one arm around her while Anni wrapped Sophie up and Link covered, Johnny, Jessie and the kits with a small blanket. Even though Luke was suppose to be cold, he was actually quite warm so she snuggled into his chest more.
"Finally, everybody's asleep..." Anni sighed as she stroked Sophie's cheek.
"I'm not..." Luke replied as he ran his fingers through Clare's hair.
"I didn't except you to be and I meant the people the storm bothers Uncle Luke." Anni replied as Link sat down next to her.
"Hmm...Clare's gonna be hungry when she wakes up...There still apples in the kitchen?" He asked.
"Yes, we always have apples, you know that." Anni said shaking her head.
"Just checking..." Luke said and stroked Clare's hair. Anni shook her head and rested it on Link's shoulder. They stayed like that until the storm past. It was midnight when the storm finally faded into obscurity.