The enormous fireplace, embers glowing heavily, shed a sharp golden light over the round, large chamber; illuminating multiple suit and tied men that stood on the edge of the circle. Quiet conversations echoing against the cobblestone walls, several of the men glanced at a slouching, lone figure standing at the center of the circle. Short black armchairs and sofas lined a long hallway that branched the chamber. High upon the walls, small weak flames on the black-wrought iron sconces danced as the door at the end of the hall burst open and a pair of shinned leather shoes clacked against the lovely gray marble floor. All eyes turned to Hatchet as he strolled with his shoulders back and his head held high. The silenced crowd parted for him, each eye watching him warily.
Stepping inside the circle, Hatchet's eyes flicked upon a hesitant soldier at the center. Holding the sword hilt at his side with a trembling hand, the young man shifted his feet as the Strategos came closer, his brown eyes gleaming behind his spectacles.
"This is it?"
The soldier nodded swiftly and instantly turned the blade hilt to him, bowing low at the waist. As Hatchet's fingers grasped the handle, a spark of electricity shocked him lightly.
"My, my, what a relic," Hatchet said lightly with a soft chuckle. Holding the navy pommel with his thin fingers, he braced the flat of the blade on his palm and barely registered the razor edge nicking the tender part of his hand. The small whelp of blood seeping from the cut only served to make his smile spread further across his lips. Twisting his wrist, he held the blade to the light and let the glow of the golden fire caress the simple curvature of the blade, showcasing the greaves of metallic folds. Not a breath was heard from his spectators as Hatchet closed his eyes and flicked the blade to point at the ceiling. A small singing whoosh followed.
The sword's song.
Deadly.
Slipping the flat of the blade an inch from his glasses, he saw a fine sheen of brilliant light shiver over the sharp edge. There was a fury to this sword. A ravenous tempest lived within it.
You are angry, Hatchet realized as the blade sharpened the reflective light and it burst brightly into his left eye. He winced with a small laugh under his breath.
No, angry isn't strong enough for you," he corrected. Enraged.
"Embedded in the stone…" Hatchet murmured to himself. The soldier straightened up from his bow and immediately flipped his hand to his right eyebrow in salute.
"Y-Yes, sir!" He answered with an echo pulsing through the mostly silent chamber. "I pulled it out of the wall and the doors slammed shut. It looked like a tunnel, sir."
"There was no other sign of them?"
"No, sir."
"So, we lost her again," a deep voice broke from the circle. Each eye turned to a tall figure standing left of the fireplace. "We lost her through a tunnel that was not on any of our charts. This is outrageous! How could they have known a passageway like that existed? And now, thanks to this simpleton, we've lost the trail!"
The Zaibach soldier flinched, but, to his credit, never lowered his salute.
"With any luck they are dead!" another voice snarled from further right.
"All of this cat and mouse chasing has led us to nowhere, Strategos Hatchet," the deep voice spoke out once more. "With the amount of resources we have generously poured to you, we've expected results by now. The fugitive, Hitomi Kanzaki, and the Fanelian man should have been caught and executed in Joko. And yet you let them slip through your fingers. How many more Zaibachian soldiers have to fall before you finally fulfill your commands?"
"Bann Adolphus, please," Hatchet said softly with a courtly smile. Lowering the relic to his side, his thumb brushed the pointed Fanelian crest on the hilt. "Let us be sensible."
"Sensibility is for those who do not act!" the Bann barked.
"There is a reason they have come back here from Joko."
"Reason? What reason is this?"
"They want back in Fanelia," Hatchet said simply.
The silence inside the chamber fell hard and solid like an avalanche. Tapping a fingernail on the Fanelian symbol, the Strategos let his statement sink in slowly before continuing. "Humor me for a few minutes. From what we know of their movements, they were spotted just on the outskirts on the West 260 Highway last night close to exit 75. Unfortunately, our man was killed, the radio transmitter was destroyed, and we lost track of them. Patrols were set in place, this afternoon, they were chased to The Wastes, fought through the warring beast clans, and disappeared through some ancient tunneling system."
"You are giving us nothing new, Strategos Hatchet," the Bann growled. "You are supposed to be our master tracking specialist."
The smile slipped only briefly before blooming once more on his lips. "I will make this simple: Fanelia is your jurisdiction, my dear Bann. You, of all people, know how much security you have increased in Fanelia since attempting to apprehend the rogue Hitomi Kanzaki several weeks ago. You have dedicated quite a bit of resources to insure every entrance and exit is watched on the hour. That every street, every alleyway, hell, even the underground aqueducts are kept on constant surveillance."
"And your point is?"
"My point is the entry point of the tunnel is only three miles inside the Ridgeback Mountains. Hopefully, those of us in this room know our simple geography. The Ridgeback Mountains serve as the border to where now?"
A satisfying silence sliced through the room.
"The… Winged Palace?" The soldier spoke up softly.
"Exactly!" Hatchet laughed and snapped his finger at the soldier. "Very good!"
"Even if you are correct, Strategos, why the devil would they come back here to the Winged Palace of all places-"
"A good question. A very good question, indeed. Why didn't they seek haven with Britonnia? Why not run away and stay away? Can we gather a guess?"
"You are the Strategos here! You provide results! If you want to teach, why don't you become a school teacher?!"
Complacent. Lazy. Cocky. Swaggering bastards that caroused in ignorant gratification. The words tossed over his mind as his brown eyes hit one confused face after another. None of them knew. Not a damn one. Right under their nose just like Kanzaki. Of course, Hatchet reasoned, how could they know? I am above them. They don't listen to secrets. They don't listen to whispers. I am in the shadows while these suckling pigs dine on lobster and wine and toast themselves drunkenly. They rejoice for their status.
They have no idea what true power is.
His smile grew even puzzle had gotten complicated, branching into sprouted limbs, twigs and leaves, spreading: How much did she know? Was she just following a guess? A hunch? Did she really know where the device was? Was that why she was coming? And the man… this sword. How did he fit? A rush of fury that never made an appearance on his charming countenance burned inside his stomach. Chordata thought this important enough to leave, that traitorous bitch! She learned something from that Kanzaki senior before he died and now she's here.
She's here.
"Oh, tell me you don't know, Bann?" Hatchet announced with his best condescending grin. "I thought of anyone our so-called royalty should know the true secrets of this land. What has been buried here for centuries right under your nose! You areone of the three branches of our government, for god sake!"
"Stop stalling!" Adolphus growled. "Answer me, Strategos!"
The irritation and anger tasted bitter on the air, but Hatchet reveled in the beauty of it. Even in his own lands, the idiot had no clue what was truly here. Hatchet's thumb brushed the royal crest on the sword once more. He couldn't tell if it was his imagination or a trick of the fire. The sword's blade gave a shimmering glare, reflecting light on the round dome ceiling of the chamber.
"I am taking this sword to The Winged Palace," he said with a swift dismissive turn of his heel. He casually walked to the edge of the circle and they backed away with palpable fear.
"That is enough!" Bann Adolphus roared at his back, sounding more like a whining child. "I will not be ignored! I order you to answer me! You say they are attempting to breach my domain! I will not be left behind without answers!"
"Oh, my Bann!" Hatchet laughed as he continued to walk. He waved the sword in the air frivolously. "You were left behind a long time ago!"
"Hatchet! Strategos Julius Hatchet! Turn around this instant! Guards!"
Hatchet almost sighed in irritation as three shadows step up from the darkness. He didn't stop walking, but he felt their attempts at intimidation prickling over his skin. His slipped his sharp gaze to each darkened face and felt their recoil like mice confronting a snake.
"Take him! I order you to seize him!"
"Try it," he said simply to them and continued to walk down the hallway. As one, they stopped as he passed them, his thin shoulders straight. He felt one of the men attempt to lift his hand as if to stop him, but paused in the air.
"I said, seize him!"
"As I said before, Bann," Hatchet called over his shoulder as he entered the doorway to the lighted foyer. "You were left behind a long time ago!"
His laugh was cut off as the door shut loudly behind him.
Hatchet's grin was instantly wiped from his face and his hand tightened hard on the navy hilt. Crossing past the foyer, he took a series of turns through the Zaibach Command Hold before spying the heavy metallic double doors leading to the hanger. The large man standing guard opened the door at once for him and the Fanelian wind instantly tore at his clothes as he walked past the humming plane and stepped inside the passenger side of a rumbling armored vehicle.
"Winged Palace," he commanded to the driver, who instantly pulled the car out of the hanger and into the street. A small moaning sob could be heard in the back.
Fishing out his communicator from his pocket, he dialed in his first lieutenant.
"Lieutenant, anything on the cameras?" he asked the speaker, placing the sword on the seat next to him. He ignored the driver's flinch and how he scooted his leg away from it awkwardly.
"So far, all is clear in the city. By your orders, I have every able-bodied man patrolling the city streets and-"
"Change of plans," Hatchet interrupted. "I want all men stationed at the Winged Palace. Bring up the surveillance cameras around the castle, particularly the Chapellieur. Patrol the perimeter. Double- no- triple the guard routes. I want eyes all over."
There was a shocked silence before a quick, "yes, sir!" tossed over the receiver.
"Make sure there is a welcome committee ready for me at the tower. We are bringing a guest."
"Coming through the back road?"
Hatchet let a small smile glance on his lips as a small cry muffled again in the back.
"Front gates. I want to make an entrance."
There was only a breath of silence before, "I have the number four case or the number five case ready to go for your immediate use. I can have tenth case sharpened and ready for use by the time you get here-"
"Oh, no need for that," Hatchet chimed, his hand brushing over the Fanelian pommel.
It seemed to hiss against the leather seat, its metal blistering with rage.
"I have something even better."
They were down to one flashlight.
The pack Hitomi had been carrying had spilled several rolls of bandages and two bottles of water when Bakura had thrown her to Van. Sitting on the stained floor, Chordata spread more ointment on Van's shoulder as Hitomi sat on a piece of a broken wine keg and kept the light steady. "The northwestern cellar," Van had said softly once the flashlight had illuminated the room properly. Numerous round barrels were broken and splintered with the damage of age. The left side of the ceiling was caved in, but there was a corner on the right side that looked like it had a hole big enough to crawl up into.
They didn't speak to each other, all three keeping as quiet as possible. It was as if they had silently agreed to not disturb the icy chill in the stale air. In every shadow, every corner held the tight, suffocating foreboding of death. Chordata had first approached her with the intent of treating the long painful gashes on her arms and legs, but she waved the cat away. Hitomi wouldn't waste their precious medical supplies. Not when Van needed it more than she did.
In a sick way, she actually wanted her wounds. She wanted them to pain her, to continually remind her that this is real. The sacrifices, the panic, the sadness. Every painful creak in her right arm or small pool of blood dripping from her back calf served as a reminder. Or possibly a punishment.
She really didn't know anymore.
Hitomi, keeping her gaze away from the blocked hatch door, busied herself by retying the laces of her loose poultice one-handed. Though the wrap was completely shredded and the padding was practically gone, she tied it anyway, looping the laces together into a sloppy double-knotted bow.
Van hissed once in pain and the sound of it made both women jump sharply. Chordata's white fingers halted lightly over his skin before continuing to wrap his shoulder with the shredded green shirt.
Finishing tying the knot awkwardly, Hitomi watched the cat lady pluck at the ragged ends of the green shirt. Van's caramel skin looked pale and thin in the weak light. His bare shoulder blades sharp, the jutted ridges of his spine stuck out of his back. A flicker of fear crossed her. He looked so weak, so lost. Helpless like a child.
It struck her so suddenly, she didn't have time to gasp. Her throat constricted tightly and her heart sunk heavily in her chest. A flicker of a shadow hit the side of her left eye while a shiver of dread brushed down her spine. A deep cold, slick like oil, oozed down her neck all the way to her toes. Sick, sharp nausea turned her stomach and she swallowed down a choking gag.
And then a whisper.
The language undecipherable, sharp and tight.
Like pleading, crying.
A ghost.
An instant silent panic made her break into a cold sweat. The shadow in her left eye wavered and she turned her head away. Every muscle in her body screamed to run away. The voice brushed closer and the flashlight flickered.
"What was that? The flashlight?" Chordata hissed, but the voice brushed her words aside, bleeding his terror over Hitomi's entire body. She closed her eyes as the flashlight sputtered again.
Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.
The voice was male. He was terrified. Calling out to her. Wanting help. Wanting-
"Hitomi?" Van said her name and broke through the ghost's pleading like a pebble in still water. She concentrated on the tight concern, the realness of Van himself, and she woke as if from a dizzying fever. She pushed down the sour bile that lingered in her throat. She trembled as she opened her eyes. Out of the left corner, the shadowy visage had moved away, but was just out of arm's length. It was still there.
"We can't stay here." Her throat constricted her words. The spirit was slinking back, but she could feel it. She could feel it wanting. An emotion of pure fear, of pain, of madness.
Standing up from the broken keg, Hitomi forced herself to move. She headed to the open pack next to Chordata and bent to close it swiftly with quivering fingers. Tossing it over her shoulder, she didn't meet their curious eyes. She couldn't. The shadow was following. It had stopped speaking, but… it wanted… oh, god. It wanted…
Her green eyes lifted and she stared at the hole in the ceiling. The weakening flashlight shook in her frozen fingers.
Progress. Just have to keep going. Can't look back.
Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.
"Spirit…" she breathed down to them, her words vaporing from her lips. "Following me."
"A spirit?" Chordata's amber eyes were shining even in the darkness. "…Bakura?"
Her heart squeezed so painfully it was a wonder she could breathe at all. It couldn't be Bakura. No, no, it couldn't. This was older, harder. This spirit had been waiting for something.
Waiting in the dark with its madness.
"We have to keep moving."
Without another word, Van stumbled to his feet. She was grateful when he grabbed the flashlight from her shaking hands. Chordata moved quickly to snatch up the axes she'd dropped near the hatch. A breath of something terrible and dark brushed the back of Hitomi's neck and she needed no encouragement to hurry forward and latch one trembling hand after another up the crumbling rocks and broken limestone; leading the way up to the hole in the ceiling.
Her fingers slipped as an invisible finger touched her cheek. She felt Van's hand brace the back of her left thigh to keep her steady.
Bakura had pushed the small of her back to keep her going. Pushed her forward when-
No, no, no, it wasn't him!
Her breath was becoming labored now. The icy chill of death so near she could taste it in her throat. Rotten, fury, pain, lonely…
Hungry…
Pulling herself up was a struggle, but Van's hand moved to her ankle, lifting her up until she could scrambled out of the hole.
On her hands and knees, she bit down the cry of fear as a long silhouette brushed past the darkness.
Don't look. Don't look. Don't-
There were more voices. Voices everywhere. Crying, calling. She slid on her hands and knees, the darkness overtaking her. The hands were here, the madness.
Crawling blindly out of sheer desperation, she tried to shut out the noise. The top of her head lightly bumped against a dark wall. They were screaming now. Angry, swollen with unvented rage. They tore at her.
Hitomi covered her ears with her palms.
A shift on the rocks and Van pull himself up.
Red light blasted behind her eyelids. He was shining the flashlight on her.
She couldn't hear him. She wanted to cry, but didn't know where her voice began and theirs ended.
The madness!
And just like someone turned off a stereo-
-The screaming abruptly stopped. She heard her heart in her ears, pumping… always pumping. Alive… she was alive.
Slowly, Hitomi lowered her hands and twisted her fingers together at her loosening chest. She kept her eyes closed, listening, scanning for the madness that had somehow disappeared like a wash of clean rain. A tale-tell warmth grew slow like a blooming rose over her back and arms, washing the chill away with it.
And then, a phantom's hand tentatively touched her shoulder…
Fingers caressed her neck, small, but soft like a friend. Like…
Van let out a small cry.
"N-No…" his voice broke tightly.
The spirit's fingers jerked away from her. There was a shift in the air. The warmth grew stronger, dissipating all of the bone-clenching chill that had afflicted her. At Van's gasp, she opened her eyes and glanced back to see his terrified face. The flashlight trembled, but shined clearly on the image of an ethereal figure.
Her long thin tail swished back and forth curiously. A small orange dress covered her furry tabby-marked body. Brilliantly colored curly hair tossed over her small shoulders in an unfelt wind. Her head tilted, long ears pressed back to her scalp, and she took a step towards Van.
"No, no, no, you… y-you… you survived. You did not… you did not die here…Chordata!" Van's cry echoed in the ruins of his castle as he tripped over his feet and landed hard on his backside. The flashlight flipped from his fingertips to bounce into a corner near the rocks, shining perfectly on the small phantom. The girl continued to slowly walk, her large eyes unnaturally wide. Her mouth opened to mouth words they couldn't hear. A small iridescent tear slipped down her furry cheek. A wash of a warm summer breeze brushed through Hitomi's hair.
The white cat sprang from the hole and was immediately standing in front of Van protectively with both axes raised. She swiped at the image of the cat girl fruitlessly, distorting the spirit's body slightly.
"Stop!" he shouted wildly from the ground. "S-Stop! That is Merle! Merle!" His voice echoed the name, the torn palace carrying his anguish through its broken walls.
Chordata froze at the sound of his hard sob. The spirit took several steps closer and the white cat backed away slowly. Hitomi crawled around the spirit and grabbed the fallen flashlight. Tossing the beam on the spirit, she watched Merle's form shimmering with a calm pulsing light.
An unknown ally… Grammy's croaking voice spilled into her mind, as if the old wolf was standing before her now, that smug look on her snout crinkling her yellow eyes.
"This can't be," Chordata hissed with a hard swallow. "She survived the attack on Fanelia. This isn't her, Master Fanel. This is a trick. The ghosts are trying to-"
"It is her," Van cut in sharply, struggling to his feet. He fell back to the ground vainly and let out a painful grunt.
The phantom's hands pressed to her mouth and she rushed forward, passing completely through Chordata's body. The cat lady gasped and shivered, but she turned to watch the ghost girl fall into Van's lap and wrap her arms around his bare stomach. She was rapidly saying something, her voice silent in the ruined castle. Her left hand rose to touch the side of his face gently. Her eyes whipping over his body as if studying each line and edge.
"Merle…" Van's mahogany eyes slipped with tears and his hands lifted to caress the back of her head. They passed through her instead. "Why are you here? Why? You survived. You lived on. Why… why am I seeing you? Oh, Merle…" The name was choked in his throat, full of so much longing and pain.
Hitomi could see it. Oh, how he missed her. To find her here. The horror of it. The sadness. The love of a childhood friend, lost. Torn apart. Lost in this madness. Again the warmth brushed to Hitomi and words spilled from her lips.
"She came back to find you."
The cat girl rose up to glance back at her in surprise. Turning her curly head to Van, she nodded quickly.
Hitomi continued, her green eyes focused on Merle's expression of adoration. "She came… after… because she believed you were lost here. She couldn't come to you while she was alive. She was scared. So scared of Zaibach and their power. But in death, she had nothing to fear. So, she came here. Wandering the ruins. In search of you. She's been searching for you all this time. S-She found you…"
Merle nodded and continued to hug him tightly though Van clearly couldn't feel it.
"Merle…" He gasped for breath as she nuzzled him further. "My dear, brave Merle…"
Standing, watching the Fanelian King attempt to hug the spirit of his long lost friend, the warmth of the phantom spread all the way from her chest to the bottom of her toes. Standing awkwardly, but grateful for the quieted voices, Hitomi limped over to put a hand on Chordata's still shoulder. The cat lady was watching Van, his expression both torn with bitterness and happiness. There was something tight around her amber eyes. Something Hitomi couldn't read.
"You are protecting us, aren't you?" Hitomi voiced her suspicions to the spirit, who glanced up at her curiously. "We need to keep moving. We can't stay here anymore." To Van she said, "This proves it. This proves that the dimensions are failing. The sooner we get to the tree, the sooner you c-can be with her again."
The words were hard to get out, but Hitomi let an encouraging smile slip over her lips. The ghost's smile faded as the words sank in, but Hitomi had no time to reflect on that as Merle disappeared. Van sputtered, but she reappeared near the hole they'd climbed out of, waiting.
It took him several seconds, but finally, he brushed his tan arm over his eyes and pulled himself up.
"Can you show us the way out?" Van was asking Merle hoarsely.
The cat girl smiled wistfully before disappearing again into the darkness.
Van gasped. "W-Wait!"
"Master Fanel, she's over there!" Chordata gestured with an axe and Hitomi's flashlight followed. Merle's thin form walked past a fallen pillar and into a broken door on the left.
The death-chill down her spine came back in slow waves and Hitomi's ears slithered with the whispers creeping behind her neck.
"Let's go," she said sharply, and slipped past Van and Chordata to lead the way.
Stumbling through the castle was about as difficult as maneuvering through The Wastes had been and Van had been at his full health then. His legs felt like lead, his shoulder seared with throbbing pain that made his toes curl in his shoes, but his eyes were intensely pressed on the darkness ahead. A shadow of Merle's soft curly hair or skinny swinging tail would disappear into a hole or up a statue's broken torso or through a broken glass pane, and every time Van felt the keen sense of loss hitting his heart.
She was here. She'd been here this entire time.
He tripped again. Chordata shifted the axes in her hand to help keep him steady.
Chordata… She was a distant relative to Merle, or so she used to claim. Van wondered now if that were true. Given the confession and her work with Zaibach. Had that been a plot to make him trust her? Or could it be that this really was the spirit of her ancestor walking around the ruins of his palace. He glanced at her and noticed her amber eyes flicking over the darkness studiously.
He suddenly decided it didn't matter anymore.
Chordata was his family.
The only family he had left alive.
His eyes slipped to Hitomi and he watched her shiver.
Her back was straight and determined as she led the way following Merle, but she would twitch and shiver randomly as if an invisible cold was washing over her. It was chilly in the castle, but he felt as though Hitomi knew more than he did. As if some secret was revealing itself to her in the darkness of his palace.
A strange irrational twist of jealousy rushed through him before he could stop himself. This was his home. His castle. His lands. Whatever Hitomi was seeing should show itself to him. He was their rightful king.
But darkness showed him nothing. Whatever phantoms or secrets she saw, it was hers alone.
Suddenly, she let out a small gasp and limped a little faster. "I recognize this," she whispered, an excited tremor in her voice. Indeed, Van could see the red velvet rope blinking into view with the flashlight. "Remember, Van? This was part of the tour! Merle did it! She led us out! The exit should be a little further past this statue." Chordata picked up her pace at this announcement, hurrying forward as if she couldn't wait to get out of there. Hitomi clicked off the flashlight. There was a bit of natural light here and there from the jutted cracks and sunken in walls. Their eyes, completely adjusted to the dark, could easily make out the tall pillars and fallen debris that now blocked their way.
Merle suddenly appeared from the darkness to settle beside him, her large eyes forward, calm. She shimmered with her ethereal light. As she took steps with him, the shimmer grew in intensity. Van turn to watch in awe as she grew taller, her curly hair lengthening to wave like a curtain down her back. Her orange gown transformed to a long swayed skirt that draped to her bare feet. The years were skipping past her. Her figure curving, her face losing the youthful roundness to a slimmer, mature countenance.
She was a lovely woman, so full of life. Her eyes bright, but tossed with an underlying sadness. Van's feet stopped and she halted with him, her eyes gleaming with wisdom beyond her age. Flicking those solemn eyes towards him, she reached out to take his hand. Van instantly reached for her.
Their fingers slipped through each other.
Van's heart twisted sickly as, within the span of a several heartbeats, Merle began to shrivel; her grace of youth fading like a withering flower. The long elegant dress grew ragged, adopting into a checkered shawl and dressing gown. Her lovely spotted fur became patched, her sharp eyes dulling with cataracts. A wrinkled mouth twisted. Thin skin showing deep blue capillaries and dark bruises on her hands and neck.
"Merle…" he gasped her name as she continued to stoop with rapidly passing time. Her eyes were cloudy now, obviously searching for him. Her hand reached out once more, but just as before, they passed through each other, lost in broken time.
The words erupted from his throat. "Merle, forgive me… please, forgive me…" He wasn't even sure what he was begging forgiveness for. She said something, her silent voice unheard, but he saw her head shake slowly, the long drooping ears touching her shoulders in frail fatigue.
He felt the need to tell her. She had to know -"I am coming back, Merle. I will fix this. We will see each other again. I swear."
The thin bun at the base of her bony skull tossed with wisps of her once lusciously curly hair as she shook her head again. Suddenly, Merle's foggy eyes slipped to Hitomi's back.
The lines on her face crinkled sharply with her frown.
"I care about you," he breathed.
Her eyes grew tightly at Hitomi.
"I want to be with you, Merle."
The exasperated expression she gave him was so familiar he almost smiled despite himself. Instead, a shiver of unpleasant dread hit him unexpectedly. Merle's old ears perked. She glanced over her thin shoulder and raised her hands as if to hurry him.
"Do not leave me," he pleaded brokenly, his feet already carrying him away from her. "Please, Merle-"
She shook her head, her visionless gaze turning once more to the darkness. And suddenly, he knew:
She couldn't leave this place.
"I will come back for you!"
"Master Fanel, the exit is over here."
"I swear!"
Again, Merle urged him to move, a slight panic tossing over her withered face. Another slice of cold raked through his veins and Van was dashing as fast as he could to the small hole in the wall. He felt an unseen hand grab at his arm, violent fingers trying to take him, but he pulled away just in time to duck through the hole.
The frosty wash of exposed night rushed over his body and he choked in an unexpected sigh of relief. A wave of tight nausea churned his stomach. Stumbling against the stone wall, Hitomi was watching him with a troubled expression. She leaned forward with fingers outstretched as if to catch him, but, at the sight of his tear-stained face, she quickly retracted her hand and glanced away.
"Are you okay?" she asked instead with her teeth clenched. "I kind of think I'm going to throw-up."
Van could only grunt, his voice unusable. He moved to slouch next to her, his hand braced on the stone wall and his head hanging limply. Chordata, crouched behind a large untamed shrub, had her eyes closed with queasiness, but her white ears continuing to move back and forth, listening for anyone approaching.
"Merle?" Hitomi asked him as she lowered the backpack to the ground awkwardly.
"G-Gone," he choked out, closing his eyes. "She is… gone."
The memory of his best friend, her frosted sightless eyes fruitlessly searching, made him finally empty his stomach.
The vehicle had stopped, but the voices inside kept up their muffled conversations. Megumi, blindfolded, sat on the cold hard bench, her hands handcuffed to a small pole on the wall. With her arms raised, she felt the tell-tale needle pricking under her skin, signaling blood draining from her fingers.
Why weren't they doing anything? Why wouldn't they just kill her already? What was the point in leaving her alive to suffer?
What was the point in any of this?
"Hey, where am I?" She called out and jerked blinded as an unexpected fist slammed into her jaw, rattling her teeth to the core. Tears streaming, she sobbed as quietly as she could and tucked her wounded face into the crooks of her arms.
"Shut-up," a man's voice said darkly. He was in front of her.
"Please…"
"I said, shut-up!"
A terrible burst of pain shot from her right side. A wave of darkness that had nothing to do with the blindfold erupted in front of her eyes followed by winking stars. Her ears were ringing as if someone had shot a gun. Her breath left her lungs and she gasped loudly for air.
Somewhere, in the back of her dazed mind, she realized the car had started moving again.
It was a full five minutes before she finally stopped gasping for her lost breath, and it was another five for her to attempt to control her panicking sobs that threatened to wrack her body.
"Be quiet," the voice came again.
She nodded quickly. Very quickly. She wouldn't ever speak again. She swore it with her lips sealed.
"Good." There was a smile on his tone.
He was pleased.
"Silence looks good on you…"
There were soldiers.
She could barely hear them on the wind, but they were there. The frantic shouts of command, footsteps hurrying to position, the heart-racing sound of leather and metal – guns. Cocking her ears left and right, Chordata flinched as the king gave another dry heave and spat loudly on the ground. Lady Hitomi had rushed to his side to rub his back and mutter nonsensical words. Their noise distracted her from the footsteps of danger, but Chordata knew she couldn't rely on her hearing alone. The acoustics against the mountain tossed the sound vibrations everywhere, masking any approaching danger.
Pushing down the dizziness in her eyes, Chordata forced her night vision to focus, scanning the quarter-mile overgrown garden with legionnaire precision. Every small shadow that brushed over the long weeds, flicker of a branch, toss of a leaf – and there they were! Three of them, their green/gray uniforms practically making them invisible in the shadows, stepped past a long broken limestone pillar, obviously following a pathway through the garden. Her heart was hard and fast.
A pistol was ready in their hands, position in front of their thick chests.
"We need to move," she said softly, eyes glowing. "Three Zaibach soldiers! They will come this way soon!"
Van didn't move, his eyes were glazed, unfocused. He leaned against the mountain like a man defeated. Eye-connecting with Hitomi's panicked green, Chordata rushed forward, handed her the axes, and wrapped Van's arm around her shoulders to support his weight. He wasn't heavy for her, but she felt a shiver of frustration as the sound of Hitomi's small grunts of pain flickered into her ears. With the large pack on her small shoulders and the two heavy axes in either hand, Hitomi looked like a small child caught in her father's tool shed.
Chordata shook that image from her mind.
"We need to go the other way," Hitomi hissed suddenly as they began shimmying from bush to bush to broken stones. "The tree is in front of the Chapellieur. The pathway is the clearest near the Arena."
"The soldiers are headed down the pathway to the road. We cannot go that way," Chordata explained shortly. "We can possibly make our way closer eventually, but-" She stopped as the men curved on the path and came closer. They were just ahead about twenty-five feet. She could see the cobble stone pathway they were walking on, their eyes trailed over the rustling bushes.
"Why don't they have flashlights?" Hitomi breathed.
The three stopped suddenly, listening intently.
Chordata's heart felt like it stopped with them.
They couldn't have heard her! Humans can't hear that well!
She ducked with Van behind another broken pillar. Hitomi wisely dropped to the ground beside her feet - just as the soldiers turned their direction. Hitomi was successfully blocked by several thriving begonia bushes, but not by much else. If one of them decided to come over only a few more feet to investigate – Chordata's hackles rose as the smell of fur slipped into the air.
She swallowed down her hiss.
Damn.
They were canine.
That's how they heard her.
Chordata lifted her hand and signaled to not move. Hitomi nodded, her trembling hand covering her mouth. The axes were beside her, heads dug in the ground.
It was several breathless seconds before one of the soldiers audibly huffed and they continued. Hitomi lowered her hand, but was close to hyperventilating.
"They're going around to the side where we came out," Chordata instructed, watching their backs disappear around the corner. "We need to get further along. Come!"
Jumping up with surprising agility despite her wounded knee, Hitomi grabbed the axes out of the dirt and they continued to pick their way through the tangle of shrubs and vines. The soldiers were out of sight for now, but she knew they'd be back.
And this time, they'd be downwind.
Stopping behind a massive chunk that might have been part of a turret long ago, Chordata eased Van off her shoulder. The mountain jutted forward, blocking them from the pathway. His legs wobbled and he sat down in the dirt, dazed. His eyes trailed to the ground.
"They'll be back," Hitomi panted, her breath still catching in her chest with fear. "It's like they're patrolling."
"You're right," Chordata nodded.
"I wonder why they're out here right now. Do you think they know we're here?"
"I don't know."
"What do we do? Our way is blocked. We need to get out of the gardens and around the front of the Palace. Maybe if we sneak around this long hedge here…"
"That will put us right into the road." The cat lady shook her head. "Nowhere to hide."
"Maybe we can circle back-"
"We will be downwind. They're canines. They can smell us. It's bad enough being here. If the wind shifts…"
"There's no way out of this garden except through the route along the castle. We have to circle back. We shouldn't have even gone this way. And if we can't do that…" Hitomi's voice was going blank. "Oh, god… we're… cornered…"
Chordata's mind was frozen with those words. Cornered. Cornered. They were cornered. They had just made it. And now they were-
"No," she refused sternly, more to her thoughts than anything else. "No, not yet… there's always a way. There's always a way to figure it-" The realization hit her so quickly, it stopped her mouth.
Of course.
Of course, there was a way…
"I'm still here. I can… I can make a path. I can… take them out."
"Chordata?" Hitomi stepped forward worriedly, her hands shaking the axe heads. "What do you-?"
"Come now, Master Fanel, it's time to pull yourself together." Chordata bent forward to grab his biceps and forced him to look at her. A worry flickered into her already terrified heart as his eyes, once bright and sharp, were dull behind the dark mahogany. They trailed back to the ground.
"I need you awake. You've got to take care of her now."
"Wait-" Hitomi's voice cut in, but Chordata growled.
"Enough of this! You need to wake up!"
The deep cuts on his neck and left cheek were still red with blood.
She decided to use the other side instead.
SLAP
His head twisted and his eyes instantly shimmered with life.
"Chordata!" Hitomi gasped.
"I raised you better than this, Master Fanel. We are in the heart of danger here. You have got to clear your head. What you saw in there was miraculous, but your friend is dead. She has been dead for a long time. We are alive, Master, but it won't be for long if you won't stay with us. It's time to protect the living. You have a job to do. You have a promise to keep."
"A… promise?" he frowned as if waking from a dream.
Chordata grabbed his chin roughly forcing him to look at Hitomi and the girl's eyebrows rose in surprise. He hissed in pain, but his eyes widened.
"Her! Lady Hitomi! You promised to Grammy, you promised to Bakura, and you promised to me. You cannot just shut down like this. Not here, not now, do you understand me? It's going to be just the two of you for a bit, you got it? You-you have to take care of her! If I… If I don't make it, you're on your own." Chordata's hard voice broke and her hand holding his chin went to his right cheek – which was still red from where she slapped it. "You are my little boy. My little king. You always will be-"
"Chordata, no!" Hitomi cried.
His hard eyes turned to Chordata's face and he reached up to wrap her in his arms. She knelt, holding his head under her chin, as his hands snaked around her waist and he buried his face into the soft fur at the base of her throat.
"I-I love you," he breathed out in a sob.
She stiffened in his arms and slowly let him go. Unlatching his long arms from her body, she reached up to grab his chin - more gently this time. She shook her head, turning his face to Hitomi's once more. "I'm not the one that needs to hear that," she said softly.
Chordata watched him swallow, but his eyes remained on Hitomi's startled face. There was a tightness around his mouth. His breath exhaled a little faster. The almost invisible pupils in his dark eyes grew larger than they already were. Dilated. Desire.
Love.
Idiot.
She smiled despite her fear, despite it all. "I will leave you. I will do what I can to take out those soldiers, or at least distract them. Wait here for a few minutes. If you don't see the soldiers coming, you know I've succeeded. Head to the pathway as fast as you can. We've got to get you to the Chapellieur."
His head shot back to stare at her as she released him from her arms and took several steps around the large boulder.
"Master Fanel, it's time to show them what you can do. This is your kingdom. Your birthright. It's time to take it back."
"Chordata," he said softly, but a shadow of the old, reserved Van washed over him. Chordata didn't need to look back to know he'd be just fine.
Her precious king was coming for his throne.
The wind blew, tossing the leaves and foliage.
And Chordata disappeared with it.
Did my best with edits. Please let me know if you see any mistakes. Also, sorry-not-sorry about Merle.
Also been having some trouble with the page divider-line-thingy. Let me know if it's not working properly.
There's more surprises, more reveals, and definitely more action to come. Curious, curious...
Thank you forever to those that have stuck around for this massive monster story and it's twist and turns. If you are just tuning in, thank you for getting this far. I love this story and I love it's characters. I love how everything is fitting together better than I could have imagined. It's all thanks to those that have supported and cared for this story just as much as me.
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