I awoke again, three hours later to another beeping. Thinking it was my communication device, I looked down at my belt; for I had not taken off my uniform before going back to bed. There was no light, but the beeping continued. Then I realized it was my alarm clock. I groggily turned it off and swung my feet to the ground. I was not a morning person, especially when running on only a few hours of interrupted sleep.
As always, my scaly little friend was already awake and chipper; looking up at me with her black eyes. I put a bag full of your clothes on the charm table. You can summon it if you want. When's breakfast? I really, truly am hungry; especially with all that running earlier. Why did…
"Bahia, it is six o'clock in the morning. Let me wake up before you might as well turn into a gnome." I stood up shakily and walked into the sitting room. I sat heavily in one of the chairs before grasping the ring hanging around my neck; the ring held ninety percent of my powers, thus keeping me from losing control. I concentrated on the image of the charm table in my room at the apartment. After a few minutes, I muttered a rather complex but still simple summoning spell. After a second or two, my old leather shoulder sack materialized in front of me. I rummaged around in it, finding most of my shirts and pants shoved in along with the spell components I had neglected to grab the day before. "Thank you, Bahia. Now you go take a bath, you little runt." She nodded and scampered to the bathroom.
I fished out a pair of leggings, a black tunic, and a red under tunic. After getting the under tunic and leggings on, I turned to the mirror that hung on the open bathroom door. The first thing that drew my attention was the five inch scar running down my left shoulder. As I ran my finger down it, memories flashed up as to how I got it almost seventeen years ago.
When my father, Raistlin Majere, came to rescue my brother and I from our mother, who was bent on killing us, a skirmish broke out. The odds weren't very even: the greatest archmage that ever walked our planet, a high cleric, and a very strong warrior against five or six dark knights. The three won, but I was wounded in the conflict. When my step mother, the cleric Crysannia, had retrieved Damian and I, one of the knights had followed her. Lashing out the only way a five year old like me could, with my magic, I hit the knight with a much weaker version of the energy blast that had destroyed the dummy. He ran at me with his sword and managed to slice my shoulder before my uncle, the warrior Caramon, stabbed him from behind.
I snapped back into reality when a dripping wet dragon waddled back into the room and shook the water off of her and onto me. "Hey!" I shrieked jumping from the sudden contact from the cold water. "Oh well." I mumbled as I pulled on the tunic and fastened it around my waist with a red belt.
I walked into the bathroom to fix my braid when an idea hit me. I had already broken the rules of my mother's kind before, and planned on doing it many times again. It was a custom for her people to have the women and girls wear their hair in a braid until they were married. I wasn't going to go all out and leave my hair completely down, but I let it loose in a tight pony tail. If Damian were here right now, he would have been chuckling and then given me a pat on the back for spunk.
My chain of thoughts was then broken by a quick rapping upon the door to my room. I practically ran to it, but composed myself before opening it. Abe stood a few paces back, looking about as perked up as Bahia. After a second or two, I remember how to move and ushered my familiar out the door and shut it behind me. When I turned back to Abe, expecting him to have his arm offered to me again; I found that he hadn't moved and inch and his mouth was hanging slightly open as he stared at me.
Feeling self conscious, I walked over and shut his mouth with my hand. This seemed to snap his from his trance. "Oh, I beg your pardon. I just, was a little flustered by, um, never mind." I had only heard him stumble for words once before, and that was when he asked me onto what I still thought was a date.
"Abe, what was it." I asked. I was worried that he being flustered was a bad thing, and that maybe tonight wouldn't turn out all that well.
"It's just that…" he looked me in the eyes while he searched for words. "I've never seen you with your hair not in a braid." He slowly ran his ungloved hand from the tie in my hair to the ends of a section that rested over my shoulder. "Isn't it against your culture rules?" He kept sliding his hand even slower down my arm.
My mind almost went blank at his touch; almost. "Like I care? I have broken and plan on breaking many more rules than just how I tie back my hair. Like what I did last night, when I held your hand without asking permission, that is against one of the rules too."
We shared a chuckle as his fingers entwined themselves with mine. I smiled up at him as he leaned his head down to whisper in my ear. "Well, then I'm glad you're such a trouble maker." I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
We walked down the hallway to the dining hall while Bahia ran circles around us, once or twice tripping herself or one of us. When we opened the door, we were the only ones there. "I thought at least one of the others would have been here by now." I muttered as I looked at the watch on my right wrist.
"They should be." Just as Abe finished, his and my communication devices went off. They were both flashing green, Krauss.
I answered mine first. "Yes?"
"Ah, Cara, Agent Sapien; Agent Sherman, Hellboy and I are sorry to say that we will not be able to join you today. Mr. Manning has sent us to retrieve another recruit, but this one lives in Florida, so it might take us awhile. Keep an eye on the disturbances board and keep training while we're away. I do not feel the need to add a request for no monkey business, for the large ape-like monkey is here with me." I thought I heard something in the background that sounded like Hellboy saying that he had heard that. "Well, that is all."
I turned to Abe with slight shock played across features. "Is that normal?"
He shook his head in denial as he led me toward the table. I sat next to him in the seats we had occupied at dinner as Bahia jumped into the seat Krauss had occupied. Abe chuckled slightly when Bahia nearly toppled out of the chair and then brought her head up to see if anyone had seen her clumsiness. "Is she always like this?" he asked, ignoring the playful glare the dragon in question gave him.
"Yes; if not, she is acting like a gnome." I laughed along with him.
Breakfast was as uneventful as dinner, but with less people. Abe tested his power on Bahia and found that it worked, and Bahia continued to hone her ability to converse with Abe. After I had returned the stuffed and sleepy reptile to my room, Abe and I walked to the training room, again being hand in hand. We avoided hand to hand combat, since the end result of our last sparring match still had a twinge of awkwardness to it. I worked on my flips and tumbles while Abe nearly knocked the stuffing out of a punching bag. He may have a light build, but he was deceptively strong and fast.
We returned to the dining hall for lunch and then said our goodbyes until seven o'clock that evening; which is when Abe said he would retrieve me from my room to look around the town with him. As soon as I was left to myself, I rummaged through the bag I had summoned earlier in search of something that I had wished to give Abe for a long time. After I had found it and put it on my dresser, I decided to use five of the six hours I had to catch up on my sleep. I once again found a scaly lump inhabiting the left side of my bed.
I was once again awoken by the beeping of my alarm clock. I was not as groggy as I had been in the morning, so I was able to jump straight into the list of things I had to do in the next hour. I took a quick shower, letting the warm later soothe my muscles and my worries for tonight. Then I went to my bag of clothes to try and find something relatively normal. I settled with a turquoise baby-doll tunic and jeans. I put my hair into a pony-tail again, still not wanting to go all out and leave my wavy hair completely down. Then I returned to my bag to unpack everything into the dresser in the corner of my room. After sorting through two thirds of the bag, I found what I had been looking for while emptying the bag. I pulled out the leather and silver cord and threaded it through the top of the charm that rested on top of the dresser. When I finished, I still had ten minutes until seven. Walking through my room one more time to make sure I hadn't forgot anything; I went against my previous judgment and slipped a dagger into the holster inside my left boot.
Then I heard the already familiar quick rap upon my door. "Stay, Bahia. Make sure no one breaks."
Don't do anything rash, Cara. You still have rules; if not your mother's then at least your brother's. Bahia reminded me as she climbed up into one of the chairs by the fireplace in the sitting room.
I nodded and opened the door. I let out a slight gasp when I saw Abe; it was the first time I had seen him completely in modern clothes. He had a white button-up shirt tucked into almost black jeans. But he was not completely normal aside from appearance; he still had to wear his gill collar, and he wore his leather gloves for convenience. "Hello, Abe." I managed to get out around my shock.
"Hello, Cara. You certainly have grown up since I last saw you." He chuckled through his last comment.
I glanced down at the ground. The last time he saw me, when I was thirteen, I was a bit of a tomboy. The jean style I was wearing now I would not have gone anywhere near and I would borrow Damian's t-shirts. "Well, it has been nine years. But I do remember from back then a comment you once made. How you had wanted to walk amongst humans again and fit in. Do you still wish for that to happen?" I looked up at him from the ground.
"Of course, Cara. I've always wanted to be normal again. But I gave up a long time ago." He shook his head in sadness.
I rested my palm on his cheek to hold his gaze. He quickly reached up and touched my hand before meeting my eyes. "You shouldn't have given up so soon." I whispered. "Here, this may help you in your search." I reached into my pocket and drew out the pendant.
His brow furrowed in confusion, but he took the pendant and his gloved hand and fingered it a few times. I moved my hand to the collar device and began to go through the steps he had shown me to take it off. He grabbed my hand firmly in his, startling me. "Cara, what are you doing?"
"Just trust me." He nodded and began to unfasten the other side while I continued. After the collar was off, I took the pendant from his hand and reached up to clasp it around his neck. I was careful not to hit his gills, since he had told me before that it is quite painful.
"What…" he began, but I put a finger to his lips.
"Give it a moment." I whispered as I took a step back from him.
The transformation began nearest the cord on his neck. His skin turned from its usual blue and black to a light brown and then to a light tan. This spread across his whole neck and head, dissolving his gills as well. His usually sleek head became covered with a modern cut of black hair that edged just above his green eyes. I saw the skin near his wrists change to a pale tan as well.
He let a gasp and took a step back as well. He pulled off his gloved to look at his completely normal hands, completely webbing free. "Cara, what just happened?"
"It's a transformation charm. I used the picture you gave me last time I saw you; but Damian and I modernized it a bit. You are exactly like you were before the accident; you're completely human. And your powers are subconscious, so you'll have to concentrate to use them." I gave the most basic description that I could.
"Thank you." He whispered. His bright green eyes began to soften with moisture. "How long will it last?" he met my eyes for the first time since I put the pendant on him.
I stepped forward to show him. "You can either just take off the whole pendant, or flip this cover down." I pointed it out with my finger. "It will last as long as you don't do one of those two." I looked up at him from the pendant. "Well, let's go enjoy the city as normal people. Well, as normal as an alien and a man under a transformation charm can be." We shared a chuckle as he offered me his arm, which I accepted.
We walked in silence to the building's garage, where Abe turned to me with a smile on his now pale pink lips. "Cara, I have a surprise for you, so close your eyes."
I shot him a questioning look, but still complied. I let my eyes close slowly and stood as still as possible. I felt Abe let go of my arm and whoosh of air as he walked behind me. Then his now warm hands closed around the top of my arm as he began to lead me into the garage. I couldn't stop the shiver that went through my body at his warm touch.
"What was that for?" He joked in my ear. Oh, no; he had noticed my reaction.
"Um, I'm so used to your hands being cold, but now they're warm. I guess it startled me." I said the first thing that came to mind; since my mind was, as always, going blank under his touch.
I felt him nod as he came to a stop. "Now, Cara, I know you would not expect this of me; so I assure you that what you're about to see was not originally my idea. And I haven't ever taken it to the city, since I do, or at least used to, stand out a bit."
I was really confused before Abe whispered in my ear for me to open my eyes. In front of me was a sleek blue Ford GT. Now, I wasn't much of a car person, but Damian had been, and he had told me that this was "the perfect blend of a sports car and a muscle car." Whatever that meant. "This is your car?" I raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Yes, it is." When he saw me hesitate at the door after he had already gotten in, he caught my eyes again. "Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do!" I voiced mock insult, causing him to chuckle. I opened the door and hopped into the passenger seat before shutting the door and fastening the seatbelt in one swift motion.
He chuckled again when I jumped at the sound of the car roaring to life. I shot him a slightly annoyed look, making him laugh even more. I gave up trying to be serious and laughed along with him as we pulled out of the front gate of the B.P.R.D.
The ride was mainly spent with Abe asking me about the modern mannerisms; most questions I didn't even know. Then we tried to come up with something to do that Abe was used to so that he wouldn't feel too out of place. We settled on coffee and then a walk in the park.
Abe parked his car in a public lot around the corner from a coffee shop Liz used to go to all the time, that way we could walk around a bit. Instead of offering me his arm, he reached out his hand for mine. I took it happily. We walked down the sidewalk only receiving a few glances.
"So, how much are you enjoying being normal?" I whispered in his ear.
"I'm enjoying this greatly. Does it always feel like this?" he asked.
"Like what? Oh, you mean to be almost ignored? Yes, it usually is. Well, unless it was Damian and I walking around; people would always do a double take to make sure their vision wasn't going blurry." We chuckled again as we entered the coffee shop.
"How about we get our coffee and then take it to the park, that way we can walk around longer." It seemed that Abe really wanted to take advantage of his normalness.
"Sure." I smiled up at him.
We ordered our coffee and then made our way to the park. We passed very few pedestrians before we decided to sit at a bench by a small pond.
"We better make sure you don't fall in. I won't be as helpful this time." I gave him another annoyed look before laughing along with him.
"I won't. And even if I did, I can get myself out now. You know; this is the most I've ever heard you laugh." I mused out loud.
"I guess it is." There was a comfortable silence before Abe wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I started slightly, but immediately relaxed into his touch. "There is something that I've wanted to try since I asked you to come to the city with me."
At that, he put his hand beneath my chin and turned my face toward his. He slowly brought his head down toward mine when it suddenly clicked in my head what he was going to do. I thought of stopping him, that I had no feelings for him, or that I was dreaming. But then I gave into my long dormant feeling for my perpetual savior. Just before his lips met mine, he whispered the last thing I thought I would ever hear him say: "I love you, Cara Majere." I would have replied, but his lips pressed gently onto mine. I slowly slid my hand up his arms, again so as to hint him to my intentions and not startle him. While my hands moved up, his moved down to my waist, pulling me closer to him. When my hands reached his neck, I quickly moved the cover on his pendant. He quickly turned back into the Abraham Sapien that I had known since I was a little girl drowning in a river.
The change caused him to break the kiss. "Why did you do that?" he wasn't angry like I thought he might be. "I thought you would prefer for me to kiss you as a human than as a walking, talking fish." He laughed at himself.
"Because," I looked down at the ground as I searched my mind for the right words for something I thought I would never say, especially not to Abe. "Because I would rather kiss the Abraham Sapien I fell in love with." I looked back at him, anticipating his reaction.
He smiled down at me before bringing his head down to mine again. We kissed again, but this time it seemed to have more meaning. One of his hands cupped my cheek while the other stayed at my waist. My hands intertwined with themselves behind his neck. He slowly leaned me against the bench and was moving his hand from my face to my waist when we both heard something move in the woods across the pond from us.
I broke the kiss first and reached to touch my left boot; ensuring that my dagger was still in place. Abe looked at me with question in his eyes before he realized what I had put into the sheath. He cursed under his breath for not having the foresight to grab one of his knifes as well.
Since I was the only one who was armed, I approached the sound first. Abe stayed a few paces behind me. I knew that I could disarm whoever was here; Abe would be able to easily incapacitate them.
In the slight distance, I heard a bow being drawn. I turned to Abe to pull him down, but I was too slow. An arrow whizzed passed my right arm and hit Abe in the stomach. "No!" I shrieked. I ran to Abe and caught him before he hit the ground. I carefully laid him on my lap and began to examine the arrow sticking out of his chest.
I carefully unbuttoned his shirt and took out my dagger to cut a line from the hem to the arrow so the shirt would not hit it when I removed it. The projectile had sunk in a good two and a half inches. "We need to get you back to head quarters." I told him. His face showed that he was obviously in pain, but he hadn't even called out in pain when he was hit.
"Krauss won't be back yet." He managed to whisper.
"I know." I murmured. I placed one hand on his forehead and the other around the ring that hung on my neck. I concentrated on my room as hard as I could and quickly mumbled the transportation spell I had learned last year. When I opened my eyes, we were in the sitting room. Bahia was looking like she could have turned as white as a frost dragon. "Bahia, get some gauze." I commanded firmly. She bounded into my room to retrieve it from the bag. I turned my eyes to Abe; which he met with his own. We just held each other's eyes for a moment before I spoke in no more than a whisper: "Do you trust me?"
"With my life and my heart." He whispered back.
I quickly kissed his lips before I turned to the arrow. I carefully grasped the shaft in one hand and rested my other hand on his chest. I mumbled a quick spell to numb him and then began to carefully pull out the arrow. It had hit below his ribcage, so I didn't have to worry about it loosing the arrowhead. Keeping my hand on his chest, I made sure that the arrow hadn't punctured any vital organs; but it had. I quickly removed the arrow and put it on the ground. I held out my hand to Bahia for the gauze. Once she gave it to me, I pressed it onto the wound. "Now go get the wrapping material and my spell component bag."
Cara, you're not strong enough to heal him. You'll end up d…
"Go!" I shouted. The little red dragon sprinted back into my room.
"How bad is it?" Abe asked.
"Shh, don't talk. It will be alright." I moved my finger to his lips. Talking was not a good idea for him at that moment.
"That means it's bad." But he didn't say anymore. He just leaned his head back onto the ground and let out a light breath.
Then Bahia returned with the wrapping strips. I unrolled them around the gauze tightly before grabbing the spell components bag. In order to make it more comfortable for Abe, I transported him onto the bed in the adjoining room. I drew out of the bag the piece of rose quartz and held it in the hand that I carefully laid on the gauze. I held the other one tightly around the ring. I sat next to Abe and scrunched my eyes tight. I spoke the most complicated incantation I had ever used. It was supposedly out of my abilities, and leaving the guidelines of one's powers can lead to death of oneself; but I didn't care. If I failed, then Abe would die. And I would rather join him then live without him.
After I finished, it felt like all my energy was floating out of me into the air. I looked at Abe's face to see his eyes open and looking at me. "I love you, Cara." He whispered.
"I love you, too, Abraham Sapien." That was all I managed to say before I collapsed onto Abe's chest and slipped under the oppressing darkness.
This is both halves of idkaname again.
So, what do you think? Who shot the arrow? Who were they aiming at, Abe or Cara? Will Abe be alright? What will happen to Cara since she left her ability levels?
The answers to these and other questions will appear in a few days with chapter 6. If you have your own answers for these questions, or any comments on the story: shoot us a review or a message.
Sincerely,
C M + L W idkaname.