Elie was the first one to see it the next day. She woke up bright and early. Full of energy and ready to help save Haru. Her energy was in no way deflated when she stepped out of the girls' bunk room and saw Haru was in no need of saving. He was walking off towards the main deck. He was… he was okay!
"Haru!" she squealed, and ran for him.
Haru looked back and gave a slight, unconfident smile. "Hey, Elie. I need you to do something for me."
"Wait! I need to tell the others first!"
She didn't know where the boys' room was, so she only woke all the women she could find, shouting, overturning beds, shaking people who took too long to return from dreamland. Most stared blankly at first, but as what she said sank in they poured from the room to see if it was true.
Haru was entering the main deck as they spotted him.
The crowd followed, curious as to how he'd restored himself, but when a woman called out for the Rave Master to wait, Haru broke into a run.
Baffled, most stopped. But Elie, Belnika, Julia, and a handful of women from Mildea ran after him.
Haru looked back and smirked, picking up speed. He had a slight limp, and would occasionally stumble putting either foot down, but the only girl in the group who could claim to be an athlete was Julia, and he quickly left all but her behind.
Julia caught up as Haru threw open a door leading to an outer deck. She grabbed his shoulder as he tried to step outside and said, "Haru, what are you doing? How did you wake up?"
Haru twisted from her grip and ran across the deck. Julia followed, but dug her heals in and stopped as Haru sprang over the safety rail. His feet landed on the edge of the deck as he held to the rail, dangling over a very long fall, eyes daring her to come closer.
"Haru?"
The rest of the women caught up then. Haru's gaze passed over Belnika, lingered a moment on Elie, then stopped on the Mildean women. "How many of you did the sorcerer speak to last night?"
A painful silence, save for the sound of the wind, fell on the deck as the realization sank in. "Lucia," Julia hissed. "If you can enter bodies as you please, go back to your own!"
"Can't." Lucia leaned back. "I don't suppose any of you can force me out of your friend?"
The women shook their heads, none of them willing to bluff and have Lucia call them on it. One particularly careless girl asked, "Is that possible?"
Lucia filed that reaction away for later.
"Sieg says Glory's spirit can't be damaged, but I know for a fact that his body can. You can't stop me." He let go with one hand. Thank God Haru's body was strong enough to hold on with only one. Lucia wanted this to be s theatrical as possible while keeping himself alive. Even if his spirit could survive being inside a dying host—which he had no plans of testing—he was going to need Haru's body intact for this to work.
"Why are you doing this?" Elie asked.
"I need something. And you aren't providing it willingly. To restore Glory, you need his body and spirit. Same with me, except my body isn't here, and I'm a little worried that Demon Card may lack the magic power even if they had both my body and spirit. So." He loosened his grip. "Glory's body won't make it intact with you lot to the Altar of Birth unless mine does too."
-o-
It had taken some skillful lying on Julia's part to not only get Lucia back on the safe side of the rail, but also far enough so that the spell casters who had come to see the commotion could put a barrier up around the deck before he'd have the chance to run back and jump.
Lucia took one look at the barrier, smiled at the growing crowd, and walked back inside, pushing away anyone who tried to grab him as he went.
"Is there any other point he could jump from?" Belnika asked.
"Not once we finish putting a shield over the windows. We only need a few more seconds," A sorceress told her.
A few seconds and Haru's body would be safe, but Lucia could still endanger anyone on the ship. Julia hurried inside, spotting Lucia just as he walked around a corner.
When she rounded the corner to grab him, he was holding a knife to his arm.
-o-
Two thwarted suicide attempts and one near failed prevention later, negotiation began in a war room near the ship's cockpit. Since it was Haru's body, regardless of who was making it move, Belnika healed the gash on Lucia's arm and checked to make sure he was done bleeding from the mouth while Miltz laid out the specific ways in which they were willing to assist Lucia.
The ship had needed to turn almost a hundred-eighty degrees when the pilot learned they'd be going just a tad bit out of the way to retrieve Lucia's body. Although Lucia had intended to keep a serious face while negotiating for the group to collect his body, he couldn't help but snicker when Haru was thrown off balance from the sudden turn. Unsure if he'd fall through the wall or not, the Rave Master went into a state of absolute panic as he frantically tried not to slide across the floor.
Too bad the wall caught him in the end. It would have been hilarious if Haru actually fell through. Although considering that Haru recovering seemed to be a requirement for Lucia's recovery, he'd have to let everyone know they'd dropped their precious hero's spirit somewhere in the wasteland below.
The deal they settled on was made with the understanding that even if Haru was restored, Lucia could still possess him. He could possess Haru's empty shell and everyone else's already inhabited bodies, so it was assumed that he could overpower Haru too. Haru claimed he could resist Lucia's control, but only Lucia could hear him, and even if Lucia did believe Haru to a certain degree, he wasn't about to share that with everyone.
Since Lucia would still take over Haru and kill him from inside if Haru was the only one restored, restoring Lucia as well was a necessity. But not one they'd take free of caution. Haru would still be restored first. Sieg assured him that the curse could be undone in rapid succession, and Haru wouldn't even have a minute lead on Lucia, which meant there likely wouldn't be enough time for Haru to try and take him down. Not that he couldn't take the silver claimer or one of the Rave Master's other friends hostage if possessing Haru himself failed. Lucia would be bound in chains when he was restored. That wasn't anything Lucia couldn't break out of—especially if they were careless enough to leave the Sinclair with him—but that too he wasn't about to share.
"So our main problem," Sieg concluded, "Will be retrieving your body. I don't suppose you can leave Haru's alone while we do that?"
"No." Lucia rubbed his ankle. "It's easier to move in this body than it is without one."
Sieg pursed his lips. He hadn't mentioned the bad ankle to anyone else. No need to make them relax their guard. He was pretty satisfied with his theory of how a spirit broke its ankle, but the implication of Haru's body easing the pain was… He shook his head. Haru and Lucia were of about equal strength. If Lucia could hide his problems behind his power before, then he could use Haru's to the same end. Just thinking that Haru's body helped would probably make it all the more helpful to the blond.
"Very well. Where would your body be?"
"If they even moved it, then there's a small medical wing on the east side of the castle," Lucia said. "I doubt they know what's wrong with me, and the doctor we recruited is neurotic, so they probably left me in my room and brought their equipment in there in case moving me would cause more harm."
"And your room is…?"
"On the fourth floor. It looks out at one of the side towers."
Sieg sighed. "Could you draw us a floor map?"
"Of the whole place? No. I could make a rough sketch of the first few floors, and some details of the ones above that, but I can't vouch for their accuracy. I didn't use most of the building, and I only know as much of the layout as I do because Haja expected me to be involved with organizing the guard."
Let's ears perked up. "Will you show us the security as well?"
"I'll have to change it afterward," Lucia grumbled. "Yes. I can add that to the map."
He sat, waiting for anyone else to pipe in.
When no one thought of anything else to ask, and when Lucia didn't raise any questions, Miltz pointed across the room and said, "We don't keep the ship stocked with paper and crayons, but there are pencils, and many of the maps are past there time so it's no harm if you draw on the back of them."
Lucia rose from his seat and walked in the direction Miltz had indicated, but something strange happened. Without anything to trip him or the ship hitting turbulence, Lucia stumbled, flailed, and fell face first.
The perfect chance for a moment of awkward silence was ruined by Elie laughing.
"Are you… normally clumsy?" Sieg dared ask. Could Lucia be a klutz off the battlefield? He seemed so sure footed while fighting.
"Shut up," Lucia grumbled. He pushed himself into a sitting position and glared at the bluenet. "Haru's shorter than me. I'm not used to the difference in height."
"You can't think to compensate for it? Even if you have to walk a little slower…"
"He's not that much sorter. At least when I took over you, you were tall enough that I always noticed it."
Ignoring the uncomfortable noise Sieg made, Lucia stood and walked more cautiously towards the maps, but nearly tripped again as he turned around after grabbing them. Running before he'd managed to more or less get into stride with Haru's body, but without the adrenaline or the ability to go long distances the same direction to fall into that pace, he was struggling.
"You can stay in Haru's body while we collect yours," Julia decided. "It should provide for some good comic relief."
"I could strangle you."
"Without tripping?"
Lucia growled and dropped his art supplies on the table. In all truth, with all his fumbling he probably couldn't outwrestle Elie until he got a better grasp on Haru's proportions, which he wasn't sure he wanted to do. Too long in Haru, and he might have trouble with his own body when he got it back.
-o-
Halfway through Lucia drawing his first map, Sieg deemed it crap and requested he redraw it with straight lines. Sieg then learned that Haru's body had the muscle to throw wadded paper hard enough to bruise its target, but at least Lucia started drawing decent maps after that.
The firsts floor was wide and open. A large thrown room took up most of it, with corridors on either side and smaller rooms breaking off. Lucia only knew which ones were the training rooms. The others he had no idea as to the function of, although he was sure they had windows. He knew all the easy entrances and how many guards were stationed near each, as well as when patrols went by the less likely break-in points. "Although given half the idiots we've taken in, I doubt the guards are running on schedule," He added while showing everyone the map.
The next two floors were more of the same, although now there was supposed to be at least two men standing guard at any reasonable entry point. The throne room had a high ceiling by virtue of taking up the space several floors above it. The hallways of floors two and three overlooked the throne room, and even if they didn't have as many guards Lucia didn't consider either hall to be much good for sneaking down. Thinking of the many suggestions he'd received that he sleep in at least until sunrise, he added, "I've never had much success going down them unnoticed, that is."
"Why would you try?" Musica asked.
"Not your business. Floor four is where the guard starts to relax." Lucia said, smoothing out the next map. "There's only two patrols, late in the morning and in the evening. They're small. Just to look for anyone hiding who might have snuck past everyone else and relaxed after that. Of course, even if not everyone is on guard duty, men are expected to keep their weapons with them. Plenty don't, but anyone who regularly goes through the same parts of the building as me follows that rule, so a lot of people on the fourth floor could still pose a threat."
"You must be a fun boss."
Lucia swung his arm out and smacked Musica in the stomach, then resumed showing details of the floor as if he hadn't just reduced someone to a curled up, gasping mess on the floor.
The fourth floor map was splotchy. Lucia knew the main halls, the stairs, the location of his room, the kitchen, and where one of his generals used to sleep, but that was it. He hadn't needed to find weak spots to post guards at, so he hadn't troubled himself with looking around. The fifth floor he knew one corridor through, although he could say where that corridor broke off to lead to several separate towers, one of which his body may have been moved to. The sixth he only knew a corridor of. No break off points. All the little wing beyond that were a mystery to him. He'd been through the whole building at least once, and insisted his sense of direction was good enough that he could find his way around, but he didn't have a strong enough idea to draw it. The attic he'd seen recently, and felt familiar enough with to describe, though he hadn't wasted a map on it.
"It looks like out easiest way in would be from above."
"Obviously, there are men on the roof." Lucia snorted, offended by the suggestion that he wouldn't have thought of that. "There are plenty of flat surfaces to place them on. They're mostly for surveillance, but guns are set up there for them to try and shoot anything down. There's also a wall around the place. No one outside it, but a few men on top to sound alarms. And there are men stationed between the wall and the castle, although I didn't have much to do with that. Haja set them up mid construction, and it looked decent to me so I never messed with it."
"What's the terrain?" Shuda asked.
Amazingly, Lucia had very little idea. He knew it a fairy flat area, save for what he said was a ledge near the castle. He knew there were rocks here and there. Probably some you could hide behind, although he hoped his men had the sense not to let people. He'd never felt he needed to rely on terrain to win, though. Sure, it could be an advantage, to a marksmen, maybe. For a lone swordsman he didn't care as long as it was easy to charge at and engage the enemy. If they had the high ground, then he could swing at their feet.
Sieg bit back a comment about charisma being Lucia's only contribution to Demon Card. He'd nearly subjugated the planet when his father and grandfather had more experience and far less success, so clearly Lucia was doing something else right.
"What would be the easiest way to slip past the guard?" Let asked.
"Yes. I do deal with problems in my castle's security by hoping they'll go away if I ignore them."
"Sorry I asked."
"You should be."
"You really have no ideas?"
Lucia shrugged. "The ledge is a pretty steep one. I suppose it's a cliff, actually. Ocean below and everything. I wanted more men on the wall there, but Haja and Deep Snow though it it was secure enough. The sun rises from the other side of the castle, so it seemed like the best place to sneak past the watch to me. If I had to pick, I'd say it's the easiest area to avoid notice when sneaking in, but I did give all the men who are regularly stationed there Dark Bring, so it's the worst place to be caught."
"So we don't want to bring a klutz," Julia, who had positioned herself far from Lucia, said.
Lucia glared.
"We'll work it out," Sieg said. "Lucia, thank you for providing this. If it's possible, we'll contact the resistance and see if Julius has any more information he can provide."
"Let him have his beauty sleep," Lucia said with all the consideration of someone who liked to kick puppies. "He's useless otherwise."
"We should reach Demon Card by morning," Sieg said. "I'd like this taken care of by evening, if possible, so I'd like a solid plan tonight. If you have nothing more to contribute, please wait in Haru's room. I don't think anyone will feel much like helping if you make them anxious by wandering about."
