Quartern Systir

Disclaimer: I do not own Sorcerer Stabber Orphen or any of its characters.

A/n: I'm not even being remotely sarcastic, but I am working on around six fics simultaneously. It's put my brain in a bit of a scramble, so forgive me if I am slow. I feel like I started this ages ago and just yesterday all at the same time. Anyway, I hope this chapter keeps your interest around.

Chapter 2: Eight, Sleep, Eight, Cleao, Eight

'I dance through the dimensions.'

"Oh."

"You okay, Cleao?" Majic asked.

The young blonde had to pause, gathering her bearings and wits. Majic wanted to chuckle when he subtly noticed her taking stock of herself, as if a piece had been left behind. She took another telltale deep breath. Then she was back to normal Cleao.

"Me?" She appeared incredulous. "I should be asking you that! Should you really be doing that spell in your condition?"

He huffed indignantly. "I'm not weak or an invalid, you know. I got us here, didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah. Great sorcerer or whatever. Let's just go inside."

Okay, so she was a little impressed when Magic did not even bother knocking, but walked straight into the tower, like he owned the place. (Or was a reckless dropout with no fear of the consequences like a former sorcerer the both of them knew only too well.)

"I still don't know what we're doing here, Cleao."

"Looking for help," she replied. Now she was the one confidently striding ahead. She had little to no idea where she was going though, but she had to get Majic to realize that this was all or nothing, and all for his own good. "Now let's go find it."

There was no greeting party or anything like that to meet them, but their casual visit did not go unnoticed. Before the two of them could get much further into their search, they were met by something. Suddenly, Hartia was upon them. He was cloaked in the robes of a master sorcerer, not too surprising because he was at the school, but not all together a complete picture because, well, it was the Black Tiger.

"Shrimpy!"called out the female blonde.

His answering call was no less exuberant. "Don't call me that!"

Without an angry tread, he approached them, despite the circumstances and name-calling. His tone, and that of the young woman, revealed that the greetings were terms of endearment and their faces reflected the presence of a deep friendship. The powerful sorcerer had his arms crossed beneath his dark blue robes, but this was more a habit built from status than an attempt at defensiveness. He was more than likely happy to see the "intruders".

"Master Hartia," Majic spoke a little more reverently, but he too was on the more casual side of things.

"Majic,"Hartia nodded to his former student. Then he smiled to the boy and Cleao; it held a hint of a smirk. "Not that I am not happy to see the both of you, but should I even ask why you are here, at the Tower of Fang?"

Maybe, due to his delicate condition, Majic could almost sense suspicion in Hartia's words. Did he know? Maybe Lai knew more than any of them but Majic himself. But this was Hartia, Majic, he told himself. Stop being so dramatic; that is Cleao's job. His suspiciousness was more likely years of experience dealing with these particular travelers.

Cleao took the reins. "I'm glad you asked, Shrimpy."

"Cleao…" He gave her a gentle warning glare.

She smiled right back. "Shrimpy…"

It would have appeared that they had arrived at a stalemate; however, Hartia knew Cleao would always get her way in the end. Even if it meant suffering through an annoying misnomer for a while until she had her fun.

Sigh. "What's going on?"

"Well, you see, Majic here has been having these…" Not altogether ready for Cleao to launch into a full explanation of his situation, the youthful blonde woman hardly had a secretive bone in her body, Majic jumped ahead with an interruption.

"Actually, Master Hartia, is Master Azalea or Childman around?"

The tall redhead blinked and raised an eyebrow. "The two of them are unavailable at the moment, unfortunately," he replied. "But I think they should be back later, if you intend to wait."

"Wait! That's what we'll do. Come on, Cleao. Let's go wait in the library."

"Majic, would you mind telling me what you need with Master Childman and Master Azalea, or even the library, for that matter?"

Still caught in an ever-encroaching trap, the young sorcerer decided he needed to give a little to get a little.

"Cleao was the one who wanted to come in the first place, but maybe she's right. We need some help doing a little research on dreams."

"A little?" butt-in the Everlasting girl.

"Cleao, please." Long, blonde tresses turned away. "I was thinking maybe the library had some books that we could look at. And as far as Azalea and Childman, I'm sure they would have a vast knowledge on the magical nature of dreams."

Hartia remained skeptical and not fully convinced. He could see something in the boy's green eyes that guarded at things left unsaid. If he prodded further, he could probably get Cleao to explain everything, but he would not do that for the cost of losing Majic's trust. Hartia realized that if Majic Lin was working to keep secrets, then it may be best to let the boy be until he felt comfortable enough to share more. It would perhaps be revealed a bit at a time. Was there also something in those oceanic orbs that threatened to forcefully break those walls from the inside?

"If that is all then,…I shall inform Master Childman and Master Azalea that you two wish to see them when they get back. I guess, for the meantime, you'll be in the library? Do you still remember where it is, Majic?"

The male blonde nodded, trying to smile sincerely, and looked over to his female friend. She had her arms crossed, but she had at least turned back toward the conversation. She sullenly averted eye-contact with Majic, nonetheless. He sighed.

"We'll just get going then. You coming Cleao?"

"Hmph." Cleao started to stalk ahead. "Even I remember where the library is, you ridiculous sorcerers. See ya around, Shrimpy."

Majic had to jog to keep up to her slim figure retreating into the darkness.

Arms still folded into his robes, Hartia watched them go. He kept his gaze forward until the shadows of the hallway swallowed up his friends completely.

"If the trouble I sense they are in is as real as this feels, maybe Lai will have some answers for us all. Either that…or more questions."

She was not going to admit to posturing, or anger, and she was definitely not going to admit to defeat, or being lost, but maybe she had been lying when she had told the others that she remembered exactly where the great library of the Tower of Fang was kept. Instead, she pretended she wanted to slow down in order to allow Majic to catch up, and then she slyly let him take the lead. If he knew the truth, it was only years of friendship that prevented him from saying anything out loud. She did not catch his smile either.

They made easy time getting to the library, did not have any trouble getting into the room, and there was absolutely no noise as they were the only two people using the amenities at that time of night. They settled in to get comfortable scanning row after row, shelf after shelf, title after title, and page after page for the next few hours.

Majic was quietly shuffling through an older tome at one of the tables when sudden noise almost had him ripping out a probably, extremely valuable page from the book in front of him.

"ARGH! I can't take it anymore!" Thrashing about on the small ladder she sat perched from, a large pile of discarded texts nearly surrounding her, the blonde woman hollered out in frustration. "I'm telling you, none of these stuffy sorcery books have anything in them about dreams that hurt or dreams that almost nearly kill you!" She threw one of said dusty books in the air and over her disgruntled features.

"Cleao…you can read these?"

Being questioned, the girl with blue eyes took a peak at her friend. "Yeah, what did you think I was doing with all this stuff?"

"I thought you were just pretending to look busy and helpful. Like you used to do with Orphen and I; I thought you didn't know how to read runes."

Both of them silently studied one another. In the end, Cleao dropped another text onto the pile and leaned forward to gaze directly at Majic.

"Hartia taught me," she said softly.

"When?" asked Majic.

"I guess it'd be a couple of years ago now." She put her face in her palms. "Do you remember when I used to specifically run off when you and Orphen would start a lesson?"

The boy nodded. "I always thought you were just upset that Orphen was teaching me spells and that you knew you could never learn them."

"Maybe, I was a little jealous. But then I started to use those trips to meet up with Hartia. You see, he'd come to visit us sometimes, but I always managed to steal him away from you two. And while Orphen was teaching you spells, Hartia taught me runes."

"Orphen wouldn't have liked that if he had known what you were up to."

"I know, but I liked Hartia," she admitted.

Majic almost jumped out of his seat and fell out of his chair all at the same time.

"What?! You had a thing for Shrimp Man?!"

Waving her hand as if to dispel the images that could be floating around in her friend's mind, Cleao went on with her explanation, "No. Not like that. It's just, he would answer my questions when Orphen wouldn't. Hartia just listened, you know?"

"But I'm sure Orphen would have taught you if you'd have asked him. Or maybe I would have."

"I was too proud at the time to ask for help, but I wanted to be Orphen's partner; more like his equal. And Hartia offered to teach me; I never asked."

Sincerely taking her words in, Majic felt his green eyes really take in her blue ones. When did they all become so serious? He decided it was probably sometime in Totokanta.

Cleao was the first to look away.

"I wonder if Azalea and Childman are back yet," she stated absentmindedly.

Maybe she had some sorcerer's blood in her after all because her words seemed to summon the red-haired master sorcerer in seconds. He appeared in the library with three others in tow.

No one elected to bother with formalities at this point. Instead of embarking on that task, the new arrivals took up different spots around the table and shelves to surround the two blondes. There was a purple-haired woman sitting on the windowsill. Next to her was a young boy with blue hair in a long ponytail. On the opposite side of the table, Hartia leaned against a shelf while his short and green-haired friend stood by his side.

Azalea's powerful gaze locked onto Majic's form.

"Please explain to us the nature of these dreams you've been having, Majic. Then we can see what sort of aid the Tower of Fang can give to you and Miss Cleao."

"Umm, well, I guess I'll start with the first one then…

It's like the ground is slowly coming up to meet me. Because I'm running through these stone hallways. And there's flashes of lightning that keep making everything go completely white. It comes in through the cutout windows of the ruins. Maybe the lightning is actually reaching out to grab me, striking me every time the world goes white, but I can't feel it because I'm too busy breathing heavily and running. For a while, it seems like I'm not getting anywhere. But then everything goes black and I fall on my knees. When I open my eyes again, it's no longer raining; instead, it's sort of bright and calm like the empty middle of a storm. And any water I feel is coming up from the ocean that is right in front of the cliff I've landed on. There's these statues, completely perfect unlike the rest of the ruins, that are watching me the whole time. Suddenly Cleao's there, standing next to me as I kneel on the ground. She walks in front of me, crying, as if she was the one struck by lighting and hurt, not me. Now she's right at the edge of the cliff and I think she's looking into a mirror because I can see her reflection. It fades so fast that I think maybe I actually didn't see it at all. Then, one of the statues, a motherly looking one, starts to laugh. And before I can even move, or say a spell, or do anything, they all push Cleao into the ocean.

And for every dream since, even though I wake up in pain, I know that Cleao has just died."

He tries not to look at her when he says these last few words, because he knows that she has been shedding silent tears since the beginning of his story. However, he feels the urge meet her eyes as a way to offer her comfort (even though he is the one with the nightmares that cause him physical pain). Majic knows he has to be able to see into her blue gaze as he makes his next admission; he owes it to her.

"These dreams I've been having, Cleao, they're about you. Each one is a different way that you die."

TBC…

A/n: In answer to your unasked question, yes, this entire chapter is a flashback. I hope you'll come to understand more of what is going on when the next chapter comes out. Meanwhile, maybe check out some of my other stories. (After you leave a review for this one, of course.)

-ROMS