CHAPTER THIRTEEN

~ New Necropolis ~

The vast azure above is once again replaced by warm vivid colors as the gold colored sun sinks into the western horizon. Its silvery sister rises from the east as its golden brother had hours ago and is welcomed warmly by the other celestial objects. As the colors change above, a golden haired girl lay fast asleep on a soft couch with three sleeping fur balls in her arms. The light from the sunset amplifies the golden glow of her fanned out hair. Leaning on a nearby wall and gazing at the scenery outside is a boy with two toned blue hair. He turns from the sunset and walks quietly to the sleeping girl. Without waking her, he kneels down and extends one hand to brush back some hair that had fallen over her face.

After the battle that took place earlier at Brooklyn's house, Nex and Tanor, two of the cloaked figures that had been after Lux decided to defect from the organization they had worked for to try to live out lives as ordinary people. Kai had tried to gather any relevant information they may have on the organization they worked for but met with little success. It would seem that the two had fairly limited knowledge of the workings and intentions of the organization. They revealed that they have been inculcated with the belief that they are "failed or useless trash" that can never be as capable as "the successful ones" are from as far back as they can remember by a man named Bizmark who also gave them orders. Like Lux, their memories were also fairly limited. Nex's memory included that of his brother, Xen but he was able to recall only up to events three years ago. Tanor's recollections extended a little longer than Nex's did by half a year more but likewise, his knowledge of the organization he worked for since his first memory were limited. They also mention that a young man named Ventus who was famed and favored for his successful missions and combat abilities had been assigned to capture Lux before them as well as Nex's unproven thesis that he's been secretly preventing Lux's capture by failing his mission purposely. To that, Lux had commented that the name was familiar to her but did not know why.

Kai gently strokes Lux's hair, causing her to stir a little to the touch. He pulls back, not wanting to wake her. Then, he notices that he was rather thirsty and since he hadn't had a sip of water for hours, he gets up and leaves the room for a glass. As he leaves, a figure clad in a black cloak gently creaks the window open and slips in silently. He approaches the sleeping girl like a shadow and slips an object into her hand. He bends down and whispers something to her and exits through the window just as the door to the room clicks open.

As Kai reenters the room with a glass of water in hand, he immediately takes notice of the opened window and becomes alert. He searches the room with his eyes for any unwanted guests and finds none. He then notices a gleaming object in Lux's hand that was previously not present and carefully walks to her, setting his glass of water onto a nearby table so he can examine the object. The sound of the glass being set on the table awakens one of the cats napping with Lux and it meows audibly at the sight of Kai, causing for a pair of iridescent heterochromatic eyes to flutter open.

"K…Kai?" Lux greets him, apparently still sleepy.

"Sorry…" Kai mutters, looking the other way and scolding himself mentally for being so careless.

"What's this?"

Lux sits up and sets the cats down to examine the object in her hand. She holds up the object in the light and notices its iridescent gleam. She flips it around and back to discover nothing written on its case. She then shows it to Kai who examines it as well.

"Let's take this to Kenny tomorrow." Kai suggests to her.

Lux answers with a nod.

...

Far away from the two, gray clouds loom thick above a frozen realm. Light seems scarce and in the midst of this place is a large, partly covered behemoth of metal. The wind howls furiously and slams white, cold shards of ice onto the stationary creature as if trying to bury it. Inside the creature iss a dark, windowless room. The only thing that seems to allow vision inside this room is the large monitor at the front that is connected to a network of a dozen other terminals. In the back of the room two figures stand tall and august above the people clad in white lab coats below them.

"Bizmark," addresses one of the two figures in the back to the other one. "how much longer will I have to wait for you to bring me back No. 7 and No. 101?"

"You'll have them back, doctor" the graying priest-like man next to him replies. "We just have…a little bit of a problem."

"Oh?" the dark haired man clad in white seems amused. "How so?"

"You work was successful," remarks the graying man named Bizmark. "perhaps too successful.".

"Really now, is that a compliment or a complaint?"

The preacher ignores him and turns to the people below. "Connect me to Nex and Tanor. I want a report from them."

"You didn't send that other boy?" inquires the dark haired man.

"I did," answers Bizmark. "but he's been failing me so I sent these two."

"Oh?"

"He's a smart boy. I can't check on him directly but I do have a hunch he's been failing on purpose. Such an assignment should be elementary to him."

"So you sent those other two to work with him?"

"Sir, they're not responding," reports one of the people in the white lab coats.

"What do you mean they're not responding!" Bizmark barks angrily.

"What's wrong, Bizmark, you don't seem pleased." taunts the dark haired doctor.

Ignoring him again, Bizmark calls out to the people below, "Then get Ventus on!"

"We can't find his locator's signal, sir."

The dark haired man laughs, amused.

Bizmark glares coldly at the dark haired doctor before turning back to his employees below.

"Try again!" Bizmark barks.

"It's not working sir, his locator might have been destroyed." one of the people below reports.

The laughter next to Bizmark grew louder and Bizmark gritted his teeth and barked another command, "Then get Velvet on the line and tell her I want a report on No. 101. I'll get back to Ventus later."

"Yes, sir."

"So it seems No. 7 won't be back anytime soon, eh?" jests the dark haired man.

"Someone has responded, sir."

On the screen at the front of the room, a window pops up to reveal the face of an ashen skinned youth bearing platinum hair and glowing iridescent eyes. A large, folded, black wing seems to be jutting out one side of his head. He smiles warmly yet menacingly, his gaze kept away from the screen.

"Of like minds,

I seek.

A mystic of the arcane,

A possessor of wisdom,

A mighty creature,

A loyal follower,

I find..."

He stops and turns to address the two at the back of the room who stood aghast at the sight of him. "Ah, it's you two, Velvet is...a little dead right now. But you were looking for me, right? Do you miss me?"

The two men back away from the screen as the youth laughs watching them. The door behind Bizmark and the dark haired man then slides open to allow the same maniacal laughter to flow into the room. The two of them turn to come face to face with the livid creature.

"Oh, what's the matter?" he asks them. "You were looking for me yet you don't seem happy to see me…"

The livid youth takes a few steps towards the two of them causing them to retreat from him in fear. Then his lips curved into a vindictive grin.

"But of course," he comes yet closer to the two. "after the two of you had so much fun turning me into what I am…"

Screams and shouts became audible in the frozen realm as a figure bursts out from the metallic behemoth. Black smoke flows out from where he came and courses upward as the one winged youth lands on the icy surface below. Four figures cloaked in black greet him tacitly as he turns back towards the behemoth one last time before treading steadily away from it with the four. Crimson marked his tracks but the blizzard buries them along with the crumpling behemoth of metal. A light breaks in the dark clouds briefly as if lamenting the pitiful sight below it.