She didn't know why she had agreed to take this boy's hand, but she did. He was right. She wanted to see more of this world. She was tired of living within those walls. The council building had been her world from the moment she came here with her grandfather and as time went by, he was starting to fall down the same path as her mother. Everyone wanted to treat her like a child. From the look of it, Ziph wouldn't.
They walked through the darkened city hand in hand. It was weird. It felt like she should know him, but she had never met him before tonight. He was just a random boy that came from out of nowhere.
She had never been on this side of the city. There were so many people. She had only seen the people that frequented the council.
He weaved them through the crowd and she couldn't help but laugh at the annoyed look on his face as he pulled her back into an alleyway. "Sorry about this, I didn't think it would be this packed down here."
She only giggled at his frustration. "It's not all bad."
"But what if someone from the council sees you out here? I thought that you needed to be hidden away." He joked.
She shook her head. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She stated.
"Are you a mage then?" He said with that smug look back on his face.
She put her hands on her hips. "Well, yes. I am."
He laughed. "Then why were you locked away in that tower? You must not be any good."
She turned red. "I am plenty good. My family just wants to protect me."
He looked intrigued. "And why would that be?"
She glared at him. "That is none of your business."
He shrugged. "I get that. So why don't you show me this power then?"
She shook her head. "I can't. It's too dangerous."
"So what you're saying is, that you can't really do anything." He stated.
"I would knock your socks off!" She almost yelled at him.
He only laughed. "Then show me or it doesn't exist."
She didn't think. She was too angry to even try. Her hand was still in his as her eyes flashed yellow. They were no longer in the city. They were in a field. The field where her grandfather had trained her all of those years ago. The field next to the town of Magnolia.
He looked at her in shock and she gave him a smug look. "Is that good enough for you?"
But he didn't answer, he only looked up at the sky. She wondered what he was looking at, when she watched as his eyes started to glow green. That was impossible. Only members of the Resus family could do that.
But even as she thought that, the sky filled with color as the souls of the departed moved overhead. She hadn't even tried to use her eyes. "How?"
"That is my question for you." He said looking down at her.
"It runs in my family. It always has." She stated, as his eyes became red again.
"As it has run in mine." He said looking her over. "My father said that we've always had it."
"That's what my grandfather said." In shock. "What is your full name?" To think that there were more Resus's running around.
"Its just Ziph." He said.
That was odd. Maybe it wasn't the same family. "Well my last name is Resus."
He stared at her. "As in Viktor Resus?"
She froze. She had heard the name more than once. He was her uncle. The last they all knew, he was dead. "Yes…no…he was my uncle."
Ziph only looked more confused. "That's odd."
She gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"
He sighed. "I don't know how, but somehow the two of us are linked."
She nodded. She had felt some strange connection to the boy. "But how do we figure this out?"
He gave her a smirk. "Well, if you want…we could go and find the answer?"
She looked at him and made to shake her head. She couldn't leave her grandparents behind just so she could go off on some magical adventure with a mysterious stranger. "I can't."
He looked back up at the sky, his smirk had not left his face. "You're curious. I can see it in your eyes. You'll come to me when you want to find answers."
With that he took his hand off of hers and slid it up to the side of her face. She turned red as his eyes met hers. His eyes changed yellow and they were back in that courtyard.
She was about to ask him what he was doing, when he backed away and then disappeared. Leaving her alone by the tree.
She sighed then jumped as she heard her grandfather and papaw's calls for her. They sounded worried.
She looked back at the tree and then back at the council building. She knew she was going to get it when she was found. She might as well get it over with.
Vik froze as he saw it. The hole in the shield was small, but there was just enough space there to crawl under it. He looked over at his daughter and found that she was smiling. They would be free soon.
They ran up to the hole and he nodded to her as she got to the ground and started to slide under it. He helped push her legs under and almost cried as she stood up on the other side. For the first time, she was standing in a zone of freedom.
Now he knew it was his turn. He got to the ground and started to slide under the shield. He pushed out his hands and Lily began to pull him out from under the shield.
He pulled himself out and found himself on the other side of the shield. Lily looked like she was going to say something, but he heard some footsteps. "Go!" He whispered harshly to her.
He got up and ran, following her through the darkness. He knew they were on the Fiore side of the line, but he didn't know what Cetus had up his sleeve. For all he knew, the demon king could have had some guards that monitored the hole, looking for those who were planning to escape.
They hid behind a large group of trees and bushes as the footsteps came closer. He heard a gun cock and he readied himself to use his magic. It would be the only way that Lily had some chance of escape.
He looked down at her as he prepared to tell her to run.
"Who's out there?" He froze…that couldn't be.
Lily must have seen the confused look on his face as she gave him a questioning look. "Dad?" She whispered to him.
"25, its me." He said loudly.
He heard a gun drop than some running. He came from behind the tree and they came face to face. She looked up and own him and to his shock, she looked like she was about to cry. "I…I thought you were dead." Before he could say more she had run up to him and was hugging him. "We all thought that you were dead." She looked up at his face.
"Well, I'm not. I'm just glad to see a friendly face." He stated before looking back to the woods. "Lily, you can come out. It's safe."
25 looked confused as his daughter came out of the brush. Lily looked just as puzzled. "Dad, are we safe now?"
He nodded and 25 looked really confused. "You…you have a child?"
He looked back down at her as she finally pulled herself out of his arms. "Yeah. She's mine and Rosa's…I mean 32."
25 was looking her over. "Where is she? Where is Rosa at?" He was surprised to hear her call 32 by her taken name, but disregarded it. There were more important things to dwell on.
He sighed. "I don't know. We tried to wait for her, but I had no idea when the hole would close. I wanted to make sure that Lily could escape." He said with a frown. He hated that he had to leave Rosa behind.
Lily made a sniffing noise. "Will we ever see mommy again?"
He didn't know how to answer her. The girl was far from stupid. She would know if he lied to her.
He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I don't know, honey. I don't know."
He pulled her into a hug as he heard a beeping sound behind him. 25 was talking into some kind of communications device. "Get me the heads of army and training affairs." The voice of the other side started speaking quickly on the other side, only to be interrupted by 25. "Just get them for me, I have a surprise for them." She was starting to look frustrated. "What do you mean they are out?!" She huffed and put that device down. "It looks like we are riding back to base."
He gave her a confused look. "Who were you talking about?"
She gave him a look and a laugh. "Your parents."
He couldn't believe it. "Why would my parents be working with the King of Fiore?"
She looked him over. "It's a long story, but from the look of you, I can tell that you have one of those too."
"You don't even know that half of it." He stated as she motioned for them to follow and he did.
She gave him a curious look. "What I want to know is how you and Rosa had a child."
He felt his body tense up. He knew about his wife's prior relationship. "I was lonely. She was lonely. It just kind of happened."
25 seemed to accept this. "Did you ever think of anyone out here?" She knew that she wasn't referring to Kitt and Edvin. She didn't even know about the 3 of them.
"Of course we did. Not a day went by that we didn't talk about it." He said truthfully.
She didn't look at him as they reached their mode of transport. It was just a simple magical car. "Those two are at Blue Pegasus if you want to see them." She stated.
He froze. He knew that they would have stayed together, but it surprised him that it didn't hurt. After all of this time, he knew that they were different people. He had even killed Kitt's mother. He could not go back to them. "No, they are better off without me."
She turned to look at him, staring up into his eyes. "Did you love her?"
He looked straight back at her. "Yes. I did."
Remy cursed as he and Ivan started towards the tree in the square. He just seen Xenia under it. She was going to get it when he got there. She had scared him to death with her disappearing act.
"What the hell do you think you're doing out here, young lady?!" He said rounding on her.
She turned red. "I just wanted to look at the stars." She answered.
"You know what could have happened to you?!" He chastised her. She knew how dangerous the outside world was. A war was going to be sparked between Miresa and Fiore. Spies could be anywhere.
"Yes, I know!" She said glaring at him.
He looked back at her angrily. Why was she mad? She had no reason to be. "I just want you to be safe."
"No, you just want to control me." She said trying to push past him and Ivan.
"Xenia, just listen your grandfather." Ivan stated.
"Why? The two of you couldn't even keep track of your own kids, why should I listen to you?!" She snapped.
That stung, even as he looked at Ivan, he could see how painful that stab had been.
She looked at the two of them and looked down at the ground. "Grandpa…I.."
He walked away. He just wanted a moment alone.
"Papaw…" He could hear Ivan following him, but paid him no mind. He was distracted. He knew that he had failed both of his children.
"Remy…" He turned to look at Ivan. His partner looked like he was on the brink of tears.
"Where did we go wrong, Ivan?" He said looking back up at the sky.
Ivan sighed. "I wish I knew."
He was going to say something when a guard began to run across the square towards them. "What does he want at this hour?"
Ivan shrugged as they both turned around. Xenia was looking down at the ground as she held back her tears. He knew she was frustrated by all of this. He just wanted her safe. Was that too much to ask?
"Master Remy, Master Ivan, Miss Arma has called for your assistance." The man said giving them a salute.
"Isn't it kind of late for that?" He said.
"Yeah, tell Arma that she can take care of it herself." Ivan said. "She's more than capable."
"I tried to tell her that, sir, but she wants the two of you to teleport to her location. She wouldn't say why, but said that it was really important." The soldier continued.
He sighed. "Very well. Take my granddaughter back to her room and guard it with your life."
Xenia looked at him ready to argue, when he gave her a look and she just looked down again, defeated. He never liked that look on anyone. It sickened him to see her with that look, but he had work to do.
"Let's get this over with, Ivan." He stated, taking his lover's hand. "Do you have her location?"
The soldier nodded. "She's near the border. The base to the east."
He knew the place. He looked back at Ivan one last time before disappearing into the night.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note
It looks like I'm finally back on track.