Twilight Halls
Roland sat on one of the Dispensary's hospital beds, his wounds being tended to by Stein. His shirt had been removed, revealing the stark white bandages that the Professor applied not a week before. Alexa was slouching angrily in a chair across from her Meister. Their wavelengths were losing sync, and it was obvious to her that a certain Demon Hoop was responsible.
"What were you two thinking, accepting a duel from a Two-Star Meister like Chris so soon after Ireland?" Stein's habitual monotone had an edge of severity.
Alexa grimaced. Stein would not be pleased to hear that the punishment her already battered Meister had suffered during the duel was the result of a childish bet she'd made with her sister.
"Well sir, it's a funny story-"
"It was my decision." Roland interrupted. "I could've refused their challenge, but I figured we needed it. We haven't done any training since we got back from Ireland."
Alexa blinked in surprise. He'd never struck her as a student who would lie to a teacher, especially one who was also one of Shibusen's most powerful Meisters. She sunk further into her seat.
Stein nodded, obviously having received the answer he wanted, or expected.
"Do you know why you two lost Wavelength Resonance in the middle of the battle?" He finished wrapping a bandage around Roland's burnt palm.
They were both silent. Stein adjusted the screw in his head.
"There are several possible explanations. Roland has a history of Wavelength Rejection, but the cause could lie with either one of you." A history of Wavelength Rejection? Alexa shot her partner a puzzled look, but he avoided her eyes.
Stein sighed, walking across the room to a medicine cabinet and drawing a small box. He turned to face the students.
"Either way, it's imperative that you remedy the situation."
Alexa sat up in her chair, taking a moment to crack her back.
"How do we do that?"
Stein checked the label on the box, nodding to himself. "Normally I'd prescribe some basic resonance exercises. But considering Roland's past difficulties with Wavelength Rejection I think a more direct approach is appropriate."
Alexa's eyes narrowed.
"And what would that be?"
Satisfied, the Professor placed the box on the bed next to Roland.
"Within every person's soul is a kind of spiritual dimension we call the 'soulscape'. It's a manifestation of their psyche, literally the shape of their soul. Any imbalance in the wavelength would have a metaphysical manifestation in the soulscape." He gestured to the box next to Roland.
"Those candles will help numb the wavelength rejection so that you can resonate with each other, which is the first and most important step to entering the soulscape. Once you're resonating you should have easy access to each other's souls."
"What are we supposed to do then?" The Demon Sword asked.
Stein turned away from them, picking up a clipboard off the nearby desk and quickly scanning over its contents. "Find the problem and rectify it." He drew a ballpoint pen from his pocket, scribbling something onto the clipboard. "That's all, you're both free to go."
Roland pulled his drab green T-shirt over his head, sliding off the hospital bed and grabbing the box of candles. "Thank you Professor."
"Oh, by the way…" The students turned to look at him. "I don't want you two going to the Academy's anniversary celebration tomorrow night. Rebalancing your wavelengths is your top priority. The next time you lose resonance in the middle of combat it may cost you both your lives."
And with that he sent them on their way. When they were gone, he adjusted the screw in his head, sighing heavily as he thought of Sid. The zombie Knife Meister hadn't yet reported back on his findings at Medusa's laboratory, and Stein was beginning to fear the worse.
Even though it had still been light out when they had arrived back at their apartment, Roland and Alexa had immediately gone to bed, eager to rest up for the ordeal ahead. They slept well into the next day, eating a hearty breakfast at almost noon before opening the box of candles and making their preparations.
Roland and Alexa set up shop in Roland's bedroom, several of the candles Stein had given them scattered about. The room was becoming hazy with their sweet smelling smoke, so Roland cracked a window to prevent them from passing out during their trance.
"So, who's going first?"
"Well, Stein said you had a history of this Wavelength Rejection stuff." It felt strange to acknowledge it. Why didn't he tell me earlier? "So maybe we should start with you."
He nodded, sitting cross legged on his bed. "All right."
Alexa crossed to him, taking her weapon form in his outstretched hands. He rested her in his lap, laying his hands on her blade. They sat this way for several minutes before the room around them began to darken.
"It's starting." Roland observed.
"Yeah." Alexa was nervous. They'd never attempted anything like this before. Actually entering someone's soul seemed an uncomfortably intimate thing to do, almost inappropriate. Their souls had come in close contact before, they were familiar to each others touch, but that came with being a Weapon and Meister. To be fully immersed into the essence of someone's being, however, couldn't be taken so lightly.
"Alexa?" The candles were pinpricks of gentle orange light against a blanket of darkness.
"Hm?" Now even the candles disappeared. Roland's voice seemed distant.
"Be careful in there."
The scarlet headed Demon Sword stood alone in a narrow hallway. To her right and left plain wooden doors lined the walls, stretching off into the horizon.
Am I in his soul?
She thought it would be different somehow, a reflection of Roland as she knew him. But this hall seemed too stark and ominous to be a part of him.
Then again…what do I know?
"Well…" She began, speaking to no one in particular. "I'm here, so I might as well look around."
Alexa started down the hall, walking at a quick pace to reach wherever the hall met its terminus. After several minutes of walking with she adopted a light jog, the silence that seemed to strangle the atmosphere punctuated only by her breaths and footfalls.
She broke into a run as doors continued to slip by at regular intervals, but there was no end in sight. What the hell? She skidded to a stop, panting as she looked around. The scenery hadn't changed. The hallway still extended into a nondescript murk, and doors still stood on her right and left. Only then did the golden letters inlaid on the face of the doors catch her attention.
"A date?" She muttered, stepping up to one of the doors. The door she had chosen was dated for the previous day. "Hmm…" The doorknob felt cool against the palm of her hand.
Here goes nothing.
The door opened to impenetrable blackness. After hesitating for a moment Alexa started into it, letting the strange ink envelop her. But after an almost imperceptible moment of utter blindness Alexa found herself blinking against punishing sunlight.
"What?" She muttered, shielding her eyes with her hand. It took her a moment to realize she was standing on a gravelly rooftop, with a stunning vista of gleaming ruby roofs and a sun baked desert stretching into the horizon.
Her pulse quickened. Oh shit. The reason for the city's familiarity became apparent. She distinctly recognized Death City's imposing ivory wall that stood sentinel against the desert's marching sands. How is this possible? I was just in Roland's soul, but now I'm-
"Thanks for this." A sickeningly familiar voice muttered.
Alexa spun, already grinding her teeth in anger. What is she doing here?
Several feet behind her, on a folding beach chair under a blue umbrella was Sonya. The Demon Sword prepared to spit verbal acid at the other Weapon only to freeze when she noticed that Sonya was not alone. Lying next to her, with an arm thrown about her shoulders, was Roland. Even worse, they were cuddling.
Alexa's cheeks reddened. What were they doing in his Soulscape in the first place? Perhaps this was one of his fantasies manifested in his psych. But then she remembered the date on the door.
"This is… a memory?"
She did remember Roland and Sonya going out on that particular day. But perhaps it was just a coincidence.
There was only one way to be sure.
Alexa turned, finding the same door she had entered through standing freely in the middle of the roof. It opened effortlessly, and after a split second of murk she found herself back in the hallway. A few minutes of walking later, Alexa found the door she was looking for.
A blast of cool air greeted her as she stepped across the divide, and before her stood the elegant face of the Shibusen Girl's Dorm. As she expected, Sonya and Roland were just in front of the door exchanging their goodbyes, but they weren't the ones she was looking for.
There, peaking around the corner, was a familiar head of blood red hair and blue eyes. Alexa shivered involuntarily. It was a strange thing indeed, to see one's reflection outside of a mirror. The look of confusion and hurt on her past self's face was all the proof she needed.
The solitude of the twilight hall was a welcome respite from the scene. But even in the vacuum of labeled doors and dim lamps, anger bubbled up within the Demon Sword.
With three purposeful strides she moved to the next door down the line, which was dated for the day after Roland and Sonya's first meeting. She glared hatefully at the dark maw that opened before her, mocking her as it hid the past behind its murky veil.
I deserve to know.
Lila was not, by any means, fond of the sanctum. The pale blue orbs of countless human souls gave the room an eerie glow, and when added to the dull red that drifted up from the magic circles that adhered to the stone around the central altar the entire chamber had the atmosphere of the inside of some great pulsing organ.
She hated the cold even more, but there was little to be done about that. The temperature had to remain constant until the room's occupant stabilized.
"How long Lila?" The Mongoose witch flinched at the voice of her master.
"A few more days. Once the neural net binds with the chassis, it should be able to hold itself together under its own power."
"Will it be able to use the tools as intended?"
Lila visibly shrank. Raena's voice took a lethal edge.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Well, here's the thing…" Lila took a deep breath, preparing for the technical explanation the situation demanded.
"While it's self-repair algorithms are incredibly efficient, it won't be able to keep up with the inflow of power if we bind it to the Eye as planned. We need a spell that can act as a pressure valve, only allowing a certain amount of the Eye's power through so that it doesn't tear the construct apart."
Raena nodded slowly as Lila continued.
"And I can't write any programs that would let it resonate its wavelength. Luckily…" Lila held up a finger to stall Raena's indictments. "It can learn. So I figure if we give it a Weapon to resonate with, it'll figure out how. That way it can use the Omni-Resonator to its full potential."
"Well well Lila…" Raena chuckled. "You've at least presented solutions to your problems." She twined her fingers together. "It's decided then. I will create the necessary magic to safely bond the Eye with the construct."
The rasp of metal plates announced the presence of the Knight.
"We're ready Lady Raena."
A twisted grin spread across the Raven witch's face.
"Do not fail me. These Magic Tools are vital to our success." She chuckled.
"Now go."
Alexa lay comfortably on warm grass, watching strange and stylized clouds drift across the blue sky. She casually levered herself into a sitting position as she silently took in her surroundings, a clouded look on her face. .
The Demon Sword had spent her childhood with her back to the Sierra's and her face to the Pacific. She knew vastness in only the fog shrouded horizon of the sea. But here the plains stretched without interruption into the east, making plain the curvature of the earth. Not a single tree or building punctuated the unmoving blanket of ruddy green. To the west stood an obstinate armada of mesas and buttes, rising out of the featureless scrubland in obstinate defiance of the surrounding flats.
So this is what New Mexico looks like.
At the foot of the hill she was sitting on, next to a clear stream, crouched a man and a small boy. She had been watching them marvel at the wonders the tiny vein of liquid held for what felt like an hour.
It was not especially entertaining or insightful, but it was a tranquil enough memory for Alexa to take refuge in.
Scene after scene of warm touches, shy looks, and sweet muttered nothings seemed to plague her mind like a creeping mold. Part of her regretted looking. In hindsight it seemed only a spiteful act of self-deprecation. But she couldn't go on just imagining what really existed between them, she had to know for certain.
"Hey dad, what's this?" It amazed Alexa that the boy's voice could carry so far. But here in the plains, where at times the only sound was the wind brushing against the grass, his soft words had abnormal strength.
"An arrowhead." Answered the man at his side.
"Oh…" Muttered the boy, holding the jagged point of obsidian up so that it glinted in the sun.
"Be careful Roland, it's sharp." Cautioned his father.
Alexa felt her bitterness abate at the tender scene. It seemed that he hadn't changed much over the ten years that had passed since this peaceful afternoon on the plains.
But something had changed, and Alexa knew just what that thing was.
She stood, turning to the door that stood a few feet behind her. Quickly crossing the threshold of darkness into the twilight corridor, she started down the hall. She didn't have to search for very long.
The door she came to a stop in front of was bound in nearly a dozen strips of bright yellow caution tape, completely obscuring the date underneath. More peculiar still, this door had only a jagged hole where the door knob should have been.
The Demon Sword paused. This room was sealed off for a reason, as painful memories often are.
Perhaps viewing his memories without his consent or knowledge was a betrayal of his trust, or a violation of his privacy.
But after all, she reasoned, they were partners. Weren't they supposed to know each other, to know their grievances and shortcomings as well as their strengths?
The door withstood the first kick. With the second it swung wide open, the caution tape torn at the edges where it was ripped from the door frame.
After a moment of darkness Alexa found herself on a beaten dirt road. The sky was painted a brilliant orange as the sun descended into the western horizon, and two figures stood as shadowy silhouettes against the fiery orb.
"But why do you have to leave?" Alexa felt her own chest tighten at the choked words of a nine year old Roland. I shouldn't be here.
"Roland… sometimes there are things so big that they're more important than…than…" His father struggled visibly for words, blinking away the tears that threatened. It seemed almost comical that this man of lean muscle and imposing stature, complete with denim jacket, worn jeans and scuffed work boots could be brought to the verge of tears by a boy barely half his size.
He squatted, gently taking hold of Roland's shoulders.
"Sometimes there are things so important that you just can't ignore them. Because if you did, then you'd be giving up what makes you, you. Do you understand?"
Roland sniffled.
"No."
Alexa's pulse quickened. She wanted to turn away, but the scene had her transfixed. Shameful curiosity made her look on. I shouldn't be here.
"Roland…" His father sighed, cupping the boy's chin. "People will always try to make you accept their truth. About what right and wrong are, about what justice is, what love is. But you need to find your own truth."
He rose, playfully mussing Roland's hair.
"Because that's the only thing worth fighting for."
With that, he turned his back to a sniffling Roland, and started off into the setting sun.
Alexa's breath caught in her throat as Roland fell to his knees, shoulders shuddering with strangled sobs. She desperately wanted to reach out and comfort him, but she could only be an observer. I shouldn't be here.
You shouldn't be here!
The Demon Sword cried out as she was suddenly lifted off her feet by some invisible force and thrown through the still open door and back into the hall. She came to a skidding stop as the door slammed shut and countless new ribbons of caution tape wound around it. Alexa shot to her feet looking right and left for her attacker as a formidable padlock appeared on the resealed door.
Get out!
The buzz of static filled the air as inky liquid seeped into the hall from under every door. Alexa gritted her teeth while her forearm transformed into a sword blade, the black substance creeping past her ankles.
Get out-
Alexa blanched as a wall of frothing murk rushed down the hall to meet her.
Now!
Darkness.
Alexa hit the far wall of Roland's room with a thud and a cry, her entire body smarting from the wavelength rejection. She was back on her feet in an instant, pointing an accusatory finger at her Meister.
"The hell was that?"
Roland rose like some kind of angry wraith, fists clenched and face set in a scowl.
She had to admit, anger looked good on him.
"I kicked you out." He struggled, and failed, to keep his voice level. "What did you think you were doing in there?"
"Looking for the reason why you couldn't resonate with me. And it was going pretty well until-"
"In my memories of Sonya?" He interrupted. "In my memories of my dad?" She crossed her arms and turned her nose up at him.
"It seemed like a logical place to look. I figured since you've been spending so much time with a different Weapon-"
"So you're blaming this all on Sonya?"
"Would you stop interrupting me?" She snarled. "And so what if I am? It makes sense whether you like it or not."
His eyes flashed dangerously behind his glasses.
"You had no right to look."
She took a couple of angry steps towards him, fists clenched at her sides, a week of pent up frustration ensuring that their upstairs neighbors would here her every word.
"We're supposed to be partners Roland! If it affects your ability to work with me, then damn straight I have a right to look!" He snorted, beginning to pace as Alexa continued her indignant verbal assault. "How are we supposed to make any progress when you keep putting quality time with your squeeze ahead of training? How can you be so goddamn selfish!"
He spun to face her.
"That seems pretty hypocritical coming from the person who helped themselves to my memories!"
The Demon Sword met her Meister's furious glare with one of her own, and the two entered into a livid staring contest that threatened to devolve into a full blown exchange of blows.
"Sometimes, Alexa, I sincerely wonder whether you're capable of acting like an adult," Roland began in a low tone, "Or if you always act like a bratty little girl."
She blinked, stunned.
"You…"
Her blade arm was a blur as she lunged.
"Bastard!"
He caught her arm at the elbow before smashing an open palm into her stomach. The wavelength attack, restrained as it was, sent her staggering through the open door into the hall.
Roland approached the threshold, the glare from the hall light reflecting in his glasses and hiding his eyes.
"Good night Alexa."
The door slammed with an ominous air of finality. She stomped across the hall, blinking back brimming tears of frustration as she muttered angrily under her breath.
"Asshole."
A/N: So, first off, sorry for taking so long to update. A combination of writer's block, tech week for my play, the performance of my play, the SAT Subject Tests, the AP exams, upcoming finals and One Act festival have kind of been dominating my time.
Secondly, I admit it was a kind of derp way to end the chapter. Hell, the whole chapter may very well have been a little derp. But maybe not. Writer's block, whatever.
Thirdly, I'd really appreciate some reviews.
That is all shrews.
