Jaden was swallowed whole within the shadows.
Darkness consumed him and there was no escape left.
Edel awoke from her vison thinking her boy was a second away from dying.
It was almost morning and Edel was not going back to sleep, not after this.
She looked around the guest room in the council headquarters.
Jaden and Ahiru were missing.
That's not good.
Edel got up and shook Lysander awake.
"Huh?"
"Lysander, wake up Femio and go get Fakir. Something bad is going to happen to the council and possibly Jaden and Ahiru if we don't hurry!"
"Hmmm… Alright, I'll get moving."
Ahiru's head rolled over drowsily.
She blinked her sight back to life as the rest of her senses came back to her.
Her head was pounding. Her cheek burned… but why?
Right then, the memory of the night before sparked once more in her mind.
Jaden's kiss…
His death cries right after…
What looked like him having a seizure…
Blackout, as a painful and evil sensation carried Jaden away and struck her in the head.
There was no denying who had done this: the shadowman
But as for what he was up to, and what he wanted with Jaden was beyond all comprehension.
As Ahiru began to pick herself up, she heard the sound of thundering foot steps down the hall. And they were getting progressively louder…
To Ahiru's amazement, a whole collection of Pirates and soldiers were together in a rushed panic, but what for? Was this because of what the shadowman is up to?
In the mixed confusion of the mob passing her by, Fakir had managed to slip through the others and make his way to Ahiru.
Upon seeing her, Fakir felt a wave of relief wash over him. Without thinking he pulled her into his arms and whispered: "I was worried about you."
She returned his embrace, "I'm fine. But what's going on?"
He let go of her and looked her in the eye, "Ms. Edel said she had a vison of an attack on the council headquarters and you and Jaden were caught in the middle of the crossfire." He paused as if trying to say something.
"I… I was terrified… thinking of what might happen to you." Fakir held her hands, "I just… I just wanted to know you were safe."
She could see the fear in his eyes, as he squeezed her hand.
"Fakir, why are you like this all of a sudden?"
Ahiru felt Fakir's hand start to tremble. Something was really bothering him.
"Because… because after all we gone through, I can't stand to even imagine you having to face such dangers alone. I want… I want to protect you. But more than that… I… I love… having you around..."
He sighed, "I guess what I'm trying to say is… Ahiru, I…" The words were caught in his throat.
In the back of his mind that small flicker of fear was preventing him from speaking.
Ahiru lightly touched his arm, "Fakir, are you trying to say that you love me?"
Fakir's eyes were wide with bewilderment. His cheeks began to flush as he looked down.
"Well… yes." He mumbled.
Without a warning, Fakir found himself in Ahiru's embrace.
"I can't even begin to tell you how happy it makes me to hear that from you." She whispered.
Fakir was frozen at this moment, was she… admitting to loving him back?
That thought was quickly pacified with what Ahiru did next.
Ahiru gave him a small kiss saying, "I was never really sure how I felt about you until now. I couldn't be any more certain. I love you too."
Fair soon melted into her hug.
They held each other for a short while, letting the chaos around disappear, just for now.
But it was not to last.
Reality had to set back in…
"Sir, what should we do?" One of the soldiers asked.
Fakir sighed and turned to him, "Divide into four groups. Three to look over the council chambers, the other to find the gypsy boy, Jaden."
"Yes sir!"
The troops split off and disappeared throughout the building. Seeing as how large it was, that was going to take a while.
Fakir turned to Ahiru, "Can you remember anything that happened to you and Jaden recently?"
Ahiru rubbed the back of her head where it still hurt. She quickly told Fakir what had happened that night… minus a few details (i.e. a certain kiss on the cheek).
"But there was a bag he had that he was hiding from me. I think he was about to hand it over to me when the shadowman attack us."
"This is the same guy who survived the experiments that happened to you?"
Ahiru nodded grimly.
"If he was effected by those experiments too, he might what to try something on the council." Fakir said, trying to process all that had been told.
"Could it be for revenge?" Ahiru asked.
Fakir shrugged, "You said he doesn't have much of a moral compass. He may just be doing this because he thinks it's fun." He paused for a second, "I wonder what he had Jaden use in that bag."
Both were quite for a moment.
"Wait, I think I got it." Fakir said, "But just to be sure, I need to speak with my grandfather."
He looked over at Ahiru, "I'm sure you want to go look for Jaden. You can search with the team that's been assigned to find him."
"I can easily find him by myself you know." Ahiru said a-matter-of-factly.
Fakir only kissed her and said, "I'm not asking you too."
And with that, he rushed off.
It was still taking quite a while to find out where Jaden or the shadowman was.
It didn't really help that the search parties had no idea how to navigate their way through the headquarters.
Fakir, on the other hand was having much more fruitful efforts.
After meeting with his grandfather and checking storage underneath the deck of his ship, it was clear what Jaden/the shadowman had planned. With the missing spirit jars, he planned to attack Bradly and Mytho. That's why he was able to possess Jaden. The darkness and anger he carried towards them allowed the shadowman's access into Jaden's self. And now he had to stop this!
Maybe he could save what little friendship they still had… if there still was one at all.
The shadowman could feel the excitement seething through him. To leave the pirates, gypsies, and the ordinary people in complete chaos would be the most fun he ever had!
Once he killed off Bradly, and maybe Mytho, he would leave Jaden's body at the scene of the crime. Everyone would believe the gypsies were to blame and cause all out class wars.
He might even cause the end of a class!
Oh, that sounded brilliant to the shadowman!
Well, might as well begin…
Fakir finally made it back to the council headquarters. He was almost out of breath before he even opened the door.
There was no time to track down the other men, by then Mytho and Bradly would already be dead. He zipped his way past every corridor, empty hallway, or complete dead end. He had to get to the room underneath where the councilmen were sleeping.
Meanwhile on the floor above, Ahiru and the search party she ended up with were scrambling to find any trace of Jaden.
Right then, they heard an over grown moaning sound from one of the doors they pasted. Many, but not all stopped to listen. Ahiru, getting caught up in the traffic jam, heard it too.
But unlike the others, she was actually brave enough to step up and open the door.
Bradly's bed chamber
Ahiru wasn't sure what to think of the man who had forced experimentations on her as a child. Should she berate him, or actually try and help him?
She walked a little closer to the sleeping man and stared at him. She didn't hear any breathing, or any movements of such. Ahiru placed two fingers on his neck and waited…
By this point, all the other men had started to flock in. Awaiting her diagnosis.
Ahiru shook her head.
The men that wore caps took them off and placed them over their hearts.
Ahiru only looked down at the man disgustedly. Seeing his face mid-snore with drool coming out. He seemed like your ordinary slob. But there was so much more to this man than meets the eye. And in this case, he was a power obsessed murderer who never got the chance to clean up his act. Ahiru sighed, guess Drosselmeyer got his wish after all…
Back down below, Fair slammed open the door to the room where he thought the shadowman might be. To his surprise, the room was empty.
No sign of Jaden or the shadowman here…
Fakir took one step forward, and heard the sound of cracked glass under his boot. His gaze dropped to his feet where he found littered all over the floor was smashed spirit jars. That means that Bradly was dead.
He was too late to save him…
Fair quickly shook off the guilt, realizing he still had two more councilmen to protect. (That is, if the shadowman was targeting Makarov as well…)
Without delay, Fakir ran out of the room and off to the next. Once he was close enough, he began to jerk with the knob, only to find it locked. He began to slam his whole self against the door. But the door refused to move.
Fair began tossing his fist against the door shouting, "Jaden?! Are you in there? Jaden!"
But he didn't get a response from who he called out to. Instead a sinister voice answered, "Jaden's about to be as good as dead when I'm done!"
"Shadowman…" Fakir's surprise grew into anger as he said, "Get out here and face me like a man, you coward!"
The shadow man only laughed.
Fakir had no time to lose. Reaching for his mother's spirit jar in his pocket, he ran to the closet staircase to get to Mythos's room. He held the pure white and purple glowing sphere in his hand saying, "Please protect me, and the ones I'm about to save."
He heard nothing from the spirit jar, but continued on.
Once he finally made it to Mytho's room, he shoved the door open. There he saw Mytho sleeping in his bed and in the corner of the room, he saw an unconscious Jaden with a cracked open spirit jar in his left hand. It was covered in his blood.
Being quick on his feet, Fakir dragged the body of Jaden over to where Mytho was. He tried his best to put the two as close together as possible without waking them up. He stood over them, clutching the spirit jar in his hand as he awaited the soon to come danger…
A\N: Sorry this one took longer than expected. It was a lot longer than most. Also taking into consideration that my cousin wants me to nanny her newborn while she finishes the last of school this summer.
Anyway, I would like to thank mayuralover for reviewing!
And I would like to thank you for reading this far with me! You are awesome!
About two chapters left, let's see where it takes us!