Here's chapter fifty - five. Thank you caitlinkeitorin for reviewing last chapter!
Chapter Fifty - Five: Working Towards a Goal
Gillick felt himself beginning to grow impatient. Damn it…where are they? His amber eyes flitted across the area, but there was no sign of Riun or Mala anywhere.
Sighing, he leaned back against a tree, hidden carefully in its shadow. The three of them had been working on Gillick's new plan for a few days now, but so far, neither side had had much to report. Gillick closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in frustration. This isn't going to work if we don't find out anything, he thought, frustrated. Still, he supposed at least he had something to report this morning.
Which was why he was growing frustrated at his companions' lateness.
He heard rustling in the undergrowth and tensed, his hand shooting to the hilt of his sword as he warily scanned the undergrowth. He relaxed a moment later when he saw Mala and Riun hurrying towards him. "You're late," he commented, lowering his hand, "and not exactly stealthy."
"Sorry," Mala panted as she and Riun reached him, "but we had to sneak away."
Gillick cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Silver decided we'd head out again today."
Gillick couldn't say he was surprised, but the movement would make his job a little more difficult. "Then I'll make this quick: I've seen Light Army Keybladers around here. More than usual, anyways."
Riun's eyes grew wide. "Are they going to attack?"
"Not unless they find you," Gillick commented dryly.
Mala swallowed her alarm and nodded. "Ok, I'll tell Silver."
"You're coming with us, right, Gillick?" Riun asked, looking up at him with nervous blue eyes.
Gillick nodded his assent. "Obviously. I'm not going to be any help staying here."
Riun smiled, and Mala commented, "Make sure you stay out of sight."
"No shit," Gillick retorted, rolling his eyes.
Mala sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Just…be careful."
Gillick felt a flash of surprise at her concern, but pushed it away roughly. "Don't worry about me," he growled to her, amber eyes narrowed.
Mala looked at him for a few moments, then gave a hesitant nod and turned and headed back towards the Silver Fang's camp, Riun following close behind her. Gillick watched them go, then steeled himself for his own journey after them.
Mala couldn't help but feel a growing sense of alarm as the days passed. It seemed as if the Silver Fang were constantly on the move, and as if she, Riun, and Gillick were constantly getting closer to being discovered. So far, nothing had happened, though there had been a few close calls.
The two sides rarely had much to report to one another. Mala and Riun would inform Gillick of whatever Silver had planned, and Gillick would tell them whatever he knew about the Armies' activities. The Keybladers didn't seem to be getting closer, though, and the Silver Fang hadn't done much besides traveling…
"Mala!" Gillick hissed, jolting her out of her thoughts.
She jumped, startled. "Sorry! I didn't hear you coming."
Gillick rolled his eyes at her. "And you're a thief…"
"Former thief," Mala corrected.
Gillick snorted, but Riun jumped in before he could say anything. "The Silver Fang are going to stay in one spot for a while."
The former Keyblader suddenly looked alarmed. "Tell them to get moving. Now."
"Why?" Mala yelped, surprised.
"A group of Dark Army Keybladers are close to here; Xuren's leading them," he replied.
"You think they're after the X - blade?"
"It doesn't matter if they are or not," Gillick growled in response. "If Xuren's in charge, all hell will break lose."
Mala swallowed hard, and Riun looked at the older boy with wide eyes. "We'll tell Silver," the boy promised earnestly.
Gillick nodded an assent. "I'll head out, then."
Mala watched him go, her shoulders slumping. Then she straightened, turning to head back towards the Silver Fang. "Come on; I guess we'd better get back and figure out how to tell Silver what's going on."
Riun nodded eagerly. "Ok!"
Gillick sighed as he leaned back against the tree, looking up at the empty sky. It's been two weeks now, he thought, briefly closing his eyes, and there still hasn't been much heard from either of the Armies. Are they confused? Or are they planning something?
It annoyed him that he didn't know.
Speaking of things I don't know… He grabbed his sword from beside him, he grabbed the hilt and jerked the weapon from its sheath. He frowned at it, still not understanding what this 'power' it had was. He touched the ruins, as he had so many times before.
This time he felt something, just beneath the surface. He jerked his hand back, startled. What the hell? What was that? He tentatively touched the ruins again. Instantly he felt the faint thrum of something just beneath the surface.
Amber eyes narrowed in thought. Is this the power, then? He stood, dragging his sword up and taking an experimental swing. He glared at the weapon when nothing happened. Damn it. If it's there, then how the hell do I use it? Obviously, he got no response.
Gillick jammed the weapon back in its sheath out of frustration. Why couldn't Senn have been less cryptic? he wondered irritably. Still, he supposed that, at least now, he knew for sure it was there. He'd figure out how to access the sword's powers.
…Eventually.
Xuren couldn't stifle the frustration that boiled up inside him. "When are we going to find them?" he hissed impatiently.
The Dark Army Keybladers nearby exchanged nervous looks. Hesitatingly, one said, "We must be getting close by now."
A ball of darkness flew by, just missing the Keyblader's head by an inch. "But we haven't found them yet," Xuren enunciated, amber eyes flickering wildly.
"S-sir, I'm sure we'll find them soon," another stuttered, clearly nervous about being shot at, as well.
To the other Dark Army Keybladers' relief, Xuren seemed to calm down. "Maybe you're right." A wicked smile suddenly stretched across his face. "Then I can finally rip them to shreds."
The Keybladers sent each other more nervous glances. However, their worries about their temporary leader were cut short when a wild, inhuman screech rent the night air. All heads whipped around to look for the source of the sound. Xuren recognized it; he'd heard it once before. He grinned wickedly, eyes growing wide with delight. The Knight.
As if the thought had summoned it, the shadowed figure of the monster swept out of the night sky towards the field below, the only point of light the glowing blue on its left arm. It sent out a surge of lightning, the strike ripping through the air towards its intended targets. The Keybladers hurried out of the way, multiple burst of light signaling they'd donned their armor and summoned their Keyblades. Xuren mimicked the act; as eager as he was to get into this fight, he knew how dangerous the Knight could be, and decided he had no interest in dying that night.
The monster was already diving into the fray, it's clawed hands ringing the neck of one of the Keybladers until it cracked. It used the limp body as a weapon, swinging it at the other Keybladers, who were forced to ward it off. The Knight tossed the body aside, moving on towards the next Keyblader.
Xuren took the opportunity to strike. He lifted his Keyblade and shot a sphere of darkness towards the beast.
He felt a momentary thrill of shock when one dark wing swept out of the monster's back to block the blow. The wing whipped backwards as the Knight released an Aero spell. Behind his helmet, Xuren's grin had grown, and once the wind had subsided and the Knight's wing drawn back in beneath the armor on its back, he charged forward.
The Knight was busy tearing open another Keyblader's armor, dragging its clawed hands through the fragile flesh beneath, so Xuren believed it didn't know he was charging. The Knight, however, proved him wrong. It jabbed its hand fully into the body of its victim, whipping it around so that the body faced Xuren. "You think I have a problem cutting through that?" Xuren taunted, eyes flashing.
He skidded to an abrupt halt, however, when the Knight let out a blast of fire from the hand jammed into the Keyblader. Instinctively, Xuren lifted his hands to defend himself as fire, flesh, and armor exploded around him. The defensive gesture, however, was not enough, and it sent him flying backwards. He felt his armor grow burning hot from the fire, and let out an involuntary gasp of pain. It was like being cooked alive…
He hit the ground with a thud, the force of the impact driving all the air out of him. Slowly and with difficulty, he managed to dispel his armor, then fell back gasping with relief as the cold night air met him instead of the molten armor.
After a few moments, Xuren realized the Knight wasn't attacking him anymore, and pushed himself up to see the monster attacking other Keybladers who were coming at it. Though they were trying to overwhelm it with sheer numbers, their best efforts seemed to prove unsuccessful, as the monster didn't appear to have any wounds. Deciding he'd recovered enough, Xuren jumped back to his feet and returned to fight against the rampaging monster.
The Knight whipped around towards him at his approach, but Xuren didn't slow his momentum; instead, he continued to hurtle towards the creature, aiming for the one area of bare flesh he could see. As the dark Keyblader gripped his Keyblade with both hands, intending to impale the monster's arm, the Knight suddenly grasped him by the throat.
The Knight's eyes glowed behind its helmet, and Xuren felt an emotion he'd felt few times before: fear. He shuddered uncontrollably, unable to drag his eyes from that at the monster who held him, and as he felt the clawed hand tighten around his throat, saw spots flicker before his eyes and realized he was about to die.
Then the glow on the Knight's left arm lessened, and the grip around his neck loosened slightly. Those small actions were enough to obliterate Xuren's fear, and he jerked his Keyblade back up, a wild grin suddenly stretch wide across his face as he slashed his Keyblade down his captor's arm. The monster screeched, releasing its prisoner and jumping into the air, black wings sliding out and beating rapidly as it shot into the open night sky.
"Sir! You scared it off!"
The voice of the speaker sounded amazed, but Xuren knew better. "No; it just decided it was time to leave." The grin was still on his face as he released his Keyblade. "So many sightings of it lately…seems odd, doesn't it?"
"It…does, sir?"
"Well, we didn't hear much about it for a while, now did we?" Xuren commented. Then he shook his head, the wide grin still plastered on his face. "But that's Ok; it keeps things from getting boring."
Gillick panted as he watched the last of the Keybladers race off, then flinched as he felt his wounds throb. Stupid Keybladers. He'd been awakened early that morning when a group of Keybladers had discovered him; before he'd even become fully aware, they'd left a nasty gash on his arm. Thankfully, that had woken him up enough to ward them off and get away with only a few other minor cuts. He couldn't, however, help being annoyed with the fact that he'd been caught off guard. Damn it. I have to be more careful.
But that was in the past; now he had to warn Mala and Riun about the Keybladers nearby.
He arrived outside the Silver Fang camp and crouched down, wishing there was more to hide him than the grass. As the minutes ticked by, he twitched impatiently. Come on, or I'll be caught.
At last he heard the rustling that signaled his two companions were coming, and warily lifted his head to make sure it was them. When it was confirmed, he stood. "What happened to your arm?" Mala gasped when she reached him.
"Keybladers found me while I was sleeping," he replied, "which is what I need to warn you about."
"It's so bloody," Riun whispered.
"Thanks for stating the obvious," Gillick responded, rolling his eyes.
He heard the sound of something tearing, and looked to see Mala ripping a piece of fabric off the bottom of her shirt. "What are you doing?" Gillick asked, surprised.
She didn't answer him directly, instead going up to him and wrapping the fabric around the wound. "So it doesn't get infected, or anything," she explained sheepishly, blushing as she tied it.
"I would've been fine," Gillick told her, "but…thanks." Mala nodded quickly, looking down and self consciously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Gillick frowned. What had gotten into her?
"Nothing new for the Silver Fang," Riun told him when it appeared Mala wasn't going to say anything more.
"Ok; I'm going then."
When they parted ways, Gillick couldn't help glancing down at the make-shift bandage on his arm. It was strange, having someone who actually cared about him, but…not entirely bad. And for the first time in years, a small, genuine smile lifted the corners of his lips.
That's it for chapter fifty - five. Please review?