Well after yet another LOnnnnnnng wait I've udapted again. I don't know what slowpoke sickness I've got but I'm working on it. Anyway, once again to my good friends and biggest fans of this story Tsukikage1213 and Realfanficts, I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter Twenty-One
Remnants
Lee bowed down until his forehead was touching fresh grass. While he was still at his humblest he let out a long sigh. "Goodbye……..Nayia." When he straightened back up he noticed that Shandrey slowly backing away from the group. Her eyes were curiously glazed, almost trance-like, as she slowly walked backwards.
"Shan?" asked Katara. Lee was now back on his feet and regarding her with the same anxious worry that everyone else had.
"Shandrey?" The seasoned waterbender waited not for anyone else to voice their concerns. She shook her head and immediately began running away deeper into the woods. Lee was quick to follow after her but she did have a sizable head start. Shandrey ignored the dozens of tiny twigs and branches that were whipping at her face as she sped past them. She subconsciously kept a hand tightly over her stomach. Shandrey had no definite course in mind, though anywhere away from anyone else was surely more preferable to any kind of company.
"Shandrey!" She heard Lee shout her name but she did not stop as she would have before today. She was not afraid of him, or anybody else for that matter. It was herself and the shadow of curses that she thought she brings with her that Shandrey feared spreading to others. Soon the small scope of her lungs was emptying of oxygen and her movements began to falter. Shandrey had been sprinting in many short uncontrolled bursts, and now her uncouth movements were taking their toll. She was so tired and out of breath that she didn't notice that her eyes had been leaking tears the entire time. As her steps gradually slowed more and more she reached out and leaned her weight against the nearest tree. She breathed in heavily and panted like a worn puppy.
"Shandrey…" The waterbender whirled around in place and saw Lee, calm and collected as ever, slowly making his way up to her. She could not construe how he had managed to keep up and still retain so much composure. While puzzling, these thoughts bore little weight on her mind at the moment. He took half a step toward her and she immediately recoiled.
"Shandrey…." Her only response was a mad shaking of the head. "Why do you recoil at the very sight of me?"
"Lee I implore you…" His brow furrowed. "Get away….get away now while you all still have a chance."
"Shandrey do not do this, not now."
"Have you no feeling?!" She shouted. Lee could not believe what he was hearing. "Your sister is dead and I am to blame-and don't even start trying to tell me I'm not!" Lee's mouth had barely begun to open. Shandrey's arms hugged her upper body. "Everywhere I go and whomever I cross paths with……misfortune also follows."
"Fate is something no one has control over," said Lee.
"This isn't fate!" she exclaimed. "This is Hotaru getting to me by dispatching everyone who comes in contact with me." Her eyes cast downward and they, along with her hands, fell upon the now more noticeable swelling in her womb. When she righted her vision with Lee's level, tears were streaming down her face. "I will never be able to bear the thought of our child with that kind of a shadow looming over their shoulder."
"Oh Shandrey…" Lee sighed and found an old stump on which to sit. "You assume far too much."
"Do I?"
"Yes," replied Lee quickly. "When you asked me just now if I had any feeling, I can only guess that you are referring to Nayia." Shandrey folded her arms. Lee's eyes stared into hers honestly. "A grievance of extreme measures eats at my heart, and I fear what is left may never recover. However if you insinuating that I should be holding you accountable for her death……..then perhaps you do not know me as well as I thought."
"Its simple logic Lee."
"It is flawed logic, Shandrey."
"Shut up—JUST SHUT UP!" She screamed. Lee arched a brow though he remained seated. Her face was nearly beat red and her tears flowed as freely as ever. Shandrey was in such a state of panic and restlessness that she was beginning to loose her balance. Lee was instantly on his feet and he managed to catch her just before she fell. Under their combined weight Lee's knees buckled and he guided their way down to a thick bed of moss. Her hands latched on to his arm and shoulder and she buried her face into his shoulder. Her now fully unleashed sobs and cries were muffled greatly by his clothes and shoulder. Lee's free hand found the back of her head. A few slightly hindered streams also fell along Lee's cheeks. In Shandrey's mind the only true sister she had ever had was now gone and was never coming back. What's more the heavy tug of guilt weighed like nothing that can be imagined.
"Please, please stay with us Shandrey." She didn't answer nor did he expect her to. "I am…….dependant on your presence. I have seen the battlefield for all my life it seems; the screams of the dying echoing in my ears." Her clenching on his person tightened but just as soon lessened. "In your presence they are drowned out, to be replaced by your voice. What I pray for, after the survival of our family, is for a life bereft of brutality. Stay with us Shandrey and help us fight. If we right we can win and if we win……this will finally end."
"I would like that," Shandrey whispered. She finally drew herself away from him and wiped her eyes. "I would be loathed to burden you even more Lee…" He shook his head with a smile. "Can you promise me that when this is done….that our child will be safe?"
"I can indeed, Shandrey." He said so without thought or regret. Slowly he guided them back up to their feet. She was smiling again, albeit it was watery and slightly forced. "Come, I think we would all of us be remised if you said nothing to Nayia." Shandrey sighed and shook his head.
"Well I can't promise much, but I'll do my best."
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Katara, Elm, Regan, Amyah, and Jasper sat waiting for Lee to return with Shandrey. Not a sound moved between any of them, silence seemed to be a greater company than conversation at the moment. Some light crunching through the leaves alerted them to Lee and Shandrey's arrival. With a single barely detectable head movement from Lee, Katara and Elm began ushering everyone away. Having already said their goodbyes, they felt no resistance. Once they were alone, Shandrey gingerly sat down besides the now covered hole and waited. Perhaps she was waiting for Nayia to suddenly appear by her side and begin apologizing for the sick joke she just played. Alas such a thing was merely a pipe dream born of a bleeding heart. Lee stood some distance away, space was but one of many things Shandrey needed at the moment. The waterbender drew from her pocket a small hand painted comb. It was a simple and humble lacquered black with a red orchid imprinted in one corner. Shandrey held the comb tightly in her hands and swallowed hard.
"This…isn't the same one you and Lee gave me for my birthday. I'm sorry but……I threw that one away—when I thought I had been betrayed. Then Lee gave me this new one. I know you made the first one, and I can't help but think you had something to do with the later version." A small chuckle escaped Shandrey as she finished.
"I'm really not sure what I should say, I feel like I……like I said just about everything I can the last time we spoke. I guess all I can say right now is that I came up with a name for my baby. Yes I know, I said I had one a while ago but….okay I was lying." Lee's mouth curved into a smile. "But I do have one now and I'd like to tell you." Shandrey bent lower to the earth and spoke in a whisper just low enough to where the individual words could not be made out. When Shandrey righted herself she left the comb beside the covered burial. Her hands still hung over the hairpiece slightly. She cocked her head as she looked down at her best friend's grave.
"I hate saying goodbye." And she did not. It was the old adage: we will all be reunited with the faithful departed. The one variable that held sway in this universal truth is time. She slid her hands off the comb and stood up. Lee took his place behind her and indeed she was very much welcome to his renewed presence. A weak and tingling feeling in her knees threatened to drop her back to the ground but fortunate she was to have her husband ready and waiting. As thoughts and memories of her friend and sister-in-law flashed in her mind, a tiny beam painted on her face. Lee held her shoulders so as to reinforce her with a gentle squeeze.
"Very rarely can one look upon a grave and smile." She closed her eyes. He was never without some kind of saying. "This must mean you are not without hope."
Mockingbird sat like a scared child afraid that a stranger might snatch her up at any second. However the stranger took the form of natural sunlight. She sat in a small cell and quite uncomfortably dug into the corner. Her wide eyes never left the beams of light being let in by a series of metal louvers. Her fingers practically scratched at the metal walls in frantic irrational fear. When she first attempted to escape, she figured that one of her alternate forms would be able to withstand the sunlight as it normally was. However her metamorphosis failed to shield her this time and so here she sat.
Her door abruptly opened and in stepped Julian. He carried a small remote and sat down on a wooden stool which he brought with him.
"Good morning Tanya, feeling advanced I hope."
"You….you surprise me Julian!" She said through broken gasps. "And here I was aware you were someone of decency."
"Times change, and with them people just as frequently. This light is strategically engineered to see through your pitiful disguises. You have done your goddess a grave injustice."
"Your goddess…not mine!" Julian tapped a button on his remote and the louvers moved upward. The projections of light moved closer to her and she clawed her way up into the corner even further. He ignored her screeches and cries for a moment then halted the light's progress. Julian spun the remote between his hands.
"You seem oddly petrified for someone boasting so much arrogance."
Mockingbird turned a viscously narrowed eye to him. "Why have you kept me alive?"
"Because there is a greater crusade at hand, and I would rather welcome back someone who still bears the chevalier mark than see them writhe for their actions."
"Are you offering me something?" hissed Mockingbird snidely.
"Yes, I am offering you the chance to once again serve Hotaru as you should have all this time. Take my offer and you shall live, reject it….." Once more he activated the louvers and once more yet Mockingbird found herself at the mercy of their movement. Julian stopped the light. "….And you will burn." Mockingbird's eyes snapped back and forth between him and the deadly light. She was stuck in a very unsavory position; resign away her freedom once again or suffer a prolonged and agonizing death. Julian stood up.
"I have released Reynard." Now she was staring up at him stupidly.
"Have you completely lost your mind?!" Julian smirked. "You know well the havoc he will wreak if he is allowed to run free!"
"True, he is a…unstable individual. He's not really known for his subtlety…or his mercy." Mockingbird's nails almost left thin trails in the metal wall. "But just think of the formidable advantage he can provide. I shall unleash him upon the unbelievers and see them totally destroyed." He then began to walk out of Mockingbird's cell.
"Julian!"
He stopped and looked back at her. "Perhaps you should concentrate the bulk of your powers of reason not on Reynard but on the choice I have given you. Good day." He left, but not before Mockingbird uttered a loud and particularly vicious hiss.
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A savage growl echoed throughout what was left of the halls of Hotaru's temple. The initial growl was followed by several more along with the sounds of slashing and biting. By now, much of the surface area of the walls was covered in crimson liquid and smelled of a rotting battlefield. Julian calmly walked into the large arena in which the carnage was in full swing. Screams and shrieks of pain easily echoed, even with many of the walls now at odd angles. The roars were that of a large animal; wolf-like. Julian's eyes glanced about at the many carcasses sprawled on the floor. Razor sharp claws scratched freely against stone and ripped nonchalantly through skin.
All at once the cries for mercy and the horrid growls subsided to be replaced by an eerie silence. The tall wolf man raised his head up high and bellowed a loud and low roar. Julian watched as the wolf, shrouded in shadow, slowly transformed to a man. His growl became a prolonged moan of almost sheer ecstasy. It was supposed to be a process involving much pain, but not so for this particular Lycan. He moved about his fallen fodder and found a leather vest to slip over his person.
"It would seem a prior shower would now be rendered ineffectual." The Lycan, known more formally as Reynard, stepped into the light with a low snarl.
"Why—after all these years—have you released me, Julian?" His voice was as low as his animalist growl and his speech was broken into random segments. His hair was tied back into a colonial style ponytail and his showcasing his two fangs was a thin mustache and goatee. Julian took a few steps toward him.
"We need your help, old friend."
"ARRGH! NO!" Reynard roared with a hint of wolfism. He calmed himself and allowed his normal sinister smile to return. It seemed it never left his face, no matter what was being said. "I would have you—not refer to me—with that name. I have no friends. I am a servant—of Hotaru."
"I admire your faithfulness."
"Rivaled only by your own—no doubt."
"Oh on the contrary," said Julian as he met Reynard's gaze. "I think you will find Ring to be a healthier contender, as always."
"A lifeless shell—of meaningless value, she—is nothing." Reynard took to circling about the still Julian, as though trying to gain dominance over him. Julian of course remained perfectly still but unhindered in any way by Reynard's attempts at intimidation.
"Hotaru has been reborn, as prophesied. A band of unbelievers, under the guise of assistance, have taken her. To my knowledge…..she is now their prisoner."
"And you now you come—begging me—for help in quelling your—mistake? How amusing—Julian." His snigger greatly resembled a hungry bear. "Had I been present—I am sure I would not have made such an—atrocious blunder."
"I am happy to see that the years have not eroded your sense of propriety," said Julian. Reynard's grin widened. "I am asking you to help us get her back and restore Hotaru to her glory." Reynard, still smiling hungrily, bent down to get a closer look at Julian. Standing to just over seven feet tall, the Lycan positively towered over his fellow chevalier.
"And just how far—are you willing to go—to save our goddess?" Julian now also semi smiled but it more of way to keep his vastly growing negative passion under control. In all truth, Reynard may not have been the more Vesuvius of the two.
"I will chase them to ends of the earth and back again. I will cross any sea through no other power but my own if need be. If necessary, I shall tread through perdition's fire…" He could feel a flame siring inside him; a flame of unadulterated vengeance. Reynard appeared satisfied by Julian's resolve, but there was still another matter which weighed heavily on him.
"So…….by what means this time—will you leash me?"
"None," replied Julian simply. Reynard laughed aloud and stepped away.
"So it is a mental—shackle, then."
"No no….there are no shackles my friend." Julian began walking back up toward Reynard. "…No fetters, no leg irons, no manacles…" He stopped beside the large changeling. "No cage." Reynard rotated his eyes back down at the easily dwarfed Julian. "I find mind games to be such a barbarous waste of time." Shortly after speaking, Julian began walking. Reynard soon accompanied him and quietly snickered.
"It has been many years—since I have savored—the taste of ripe flesh. You will provide this for me—won't you?"
"I assure you my friend; I shall provide you with every opportunity."
REJOINING SHANDREY AND KATARA………………
A small crowd had gathered around the makeshift crib that now held the infant Hotaru. Toph couldn't necessarily see her, but she could get a clear distinction as to what was within the crib.
"Almost looks normal," whispered Katara.
"So now what happens?" asked Toph.
Shandrey answered from across the room, "She's going to age rapidly." She walked toward them, cradling a large open book in her hands. "She'll probably age a few years every day until she's back to where she was when they performed the ritual. At that point, all of her thoughts and memories will return."
"And she'll be the sprightly little evil doer we all know and love," said Lee suddenly. What caught everyone's attention was not necessarily what he said but how his voice rose unusually high whence he said it. In fact, after it was uttered he too looked a little confused.
"Was that you?" asked Regan. He sat away from everyone and facing a computer as he talked.
Lee arched a brow. "Fascinating…"
"Yeah, weird is more like it," said Shandrey. "Try not to do that again, okay honey."
"Uhh-"
"Shan," called Regan. She excused herself from the others and found him scrolling through a webpage. "I found the exhibition and the department head in charge of Earth Crystal."
Shandrey folded her arms curiously. "You mean it merits its own wing?"
"Apparently the find is so momentous and unprecedented that it's being classified in a field of its own," replied their host quietly. "It's on display right now but it's going to be sent on loan to the Smithsonian day after tomorrow."
"We can't keep chasing it all over the globe. Hotaru's chevaliers will catch up to it first." Shandrey straightened up and placed a pensive finger beneath her chin. After a short moment she leaned back down beside Regan. "See what earliest flights are to Cairo, sooner rather than later." She once again righted herself and began moving away. Regan hesitated somewhat and then turned back to her with a curious gawk.
"Can't you just 'poof' your way there or something? I thought you had that…that thing-" Shandrey swiftly turned back to him.
"No!" she exclaimed quietly. "I'm done with qi magic. If I'm going to show Hotaru a righter way then I had better start in practice as well as principle." She had no desire to discuss the matter any further and indeed it showed when she turned on her heel and left the room. Regan turned back in his seat and was just a few mouse clicks away from carrying out Shandrey's wishes when he paused. He took his hands away from the key board and sat back in his chair. He craned his neck around to make sure that others had gone. The silence might have been enough to calm anyone else but for him, and in this particular instance, it was a certain and unnerving urge that caused him greater caution.
His mind was going straight to none other than their fallen comrade. He wanted the last of his companions to leave him to his own presence before he even dared beginning to initiate his thought; as though he was afraid they could detect it. He had loved Nayia since the day he had met her all those years ago. There were just a few minute details which prevented him from openly asserting this truth, namely details regarding his own personality. Truly was it a ruthless and terrible crime to be so reticent by something as deep as one's own demeanor and way of speech. Regan was not usually afraid of another person's reaction to his words but Leonidas Moristu was a different story indeed. He respected the fact that Nayia was his sister and that, if he so wished, Lee could twist his arm off using only his pinky finger. Such thoughts were merely the product of hyperactively fearful imagination but they did well to stimulate one's cautionary bone.
Perhaps Regan's greater fear was not that he might anger Lee….but that he could seriously hurt Nayia. After all, Arthur Regan was not necessarily known for carefully chosen words. He knew well that Nayia possessed a thick skin, but fear need not ever be a rational nag.
In either case, it was a clear ringing in his inner ear, that he would never get the chance to tell her how her presence alone was enough to soften his most cynical heart. Regan was not known for being a church going person, but he hoped that if there existed an after life…..maybe she would be waiting for him to admit what he should have during her lifetime.
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Shandrey walked swiftly into her room only to find that Lee was not present. Of course she did not expect him to be in all places as her every second of every day, but she did rely heavily on her guesses. Shandrey made down the bed and readied it for their use and then set about looking for her spouse. She poked her head into every room she happened upon and soon she went to her mother, who at the moment was residing in Regan's own room.
"Mother?"
"Shandrey," she replied warmly. Shandrey found herself a bit confounded.
"Arthur Regan is letting someone else sleep in his room?" Susan shrugged. "I only intended to stay one night, but apparently he was firmly asked by a husband of yours that I be given appropriate quarters." Shandrey smiled delicately. Susan looked about and noticed his absence. "Have you misplaced him?"
"I'm ashamed to say I have."
"I believe I saw him where your friend Nayia was staying?" Shandrey nodded and began off for the aforementioned room. "Shandrey…" She stopped and turned back at her mother's call. "You should not keep your mourning contained." The waterbender's eyes cast downward. Her mother was only trying to help yet before now Shandrey had managed to push some of it to the back of her mind.
"I haven't." She shifted her weight and muttered a quiet, "goodnight." Susan stared at her daughter's back as she left. Theirs was a familial history riddled with pain and doubt, but it seemed they were always destined to be at the head of wonderful things. Susan had been considering this strange situation with her daughter and Katara. They are waterbenders and they are both born of the same lineage. In a way, they were kindred; linked in way that went beyond the boundaries or the reach of blood.
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Shandrey stopped at the doorway into one of the guestrooms and just as Susan had said, there was Lee. He stood in the middle of the room gazing out the window. Shandrey sighed and leaned against the doorframe.
"So it's my turn to bring you back is it?" she asked with a tiny smile. He didn't respond at once, only his head perked up. "Lee?"
"Help me Shan…" She ran up to his side. His voice was raspy and his eyes were glazed. She took a hold of his arm and gulped.
"Lee what's wrong?" He turned to her and with wide eyes, grabbed her shoulders.
"Help me Shan!" Shandrey's mouth was hanging open and her body had gone stiff, not limp as when he normally held her. "I can't get out……on my own…"
"Lee what are you talking about?" Her voice was broken slightly. Still he held her and with an ever increasing grip.
"This mask!.....This mask consumes me………I get out on my own!" Shandrey shook her head.
"Lee, you are…scaring me." She happened a glance down at his hands and then looked back up at him. "And you're hurting me."
His breathing was hard. "You have to help me get back!"
"Back….back where?-AH!" Lee's hands jumped from her shoulders to her temples.
"I'M NOT DEAD!" Shandrey ripped herself from his grasp and slapped Lee across the face.
"Snap out of it!" Lee froze. He stared blankly at her, unhindered and certainly unhurt by her sudden blow. She gawked at him with a rare sense of mortality. At once he blinked several times and regarded her strangely.
"Shandrey?" Her eyes narrowed oddly. There were light footsteps outside her door, followed by the sound of a wailing baby. Lee glanced over Shandrey's shoulder and saw everyone gathered at the open door. Katara held Hotaru and went about trying to sooth her back down to lesser volume.
"What happened?" asked Katara. Shandrey shook her head just as Lee returned a frightfully perplexed frown on his wife.
"That's precisely what I'd like to know," she said.
The whole thing looks mighty screwy doesn't it? You'll find out soon enough. Laters!