Chapter 5: Ill Feeling
"Ranshiin…"
He scrunched his eyes shut. His head hurt, and he didn't want to face the light that seeped through his eyelids.
"Ranshiin…"
He groaned. "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!" He knew his tone was childish, but he couldn't help it; all he wanted to do was sleep! Who would be trying to-
"GET UP, YOU MISBEGOTTEN BASTARD!"
He immediantly jumped to his feet, his wings spread wide and his neck whipping around, looking for his assailant. "What?!"
His eyes widened, then narrowed as they landed upon a female Legendz. "You!"
She was fair-skinned, and almost human in her appearance, except for the sapphire fish scales speckling her face and shoulders like freckles, as well as the four blue wings on her back, and the catfish feelers sprouting from her aquamarine hair; her eyes, also, were inhuman: they were completely navy blue, with no pupils or irises to speak of. They stared right through him, reading him like a book...and he hated it.
He growled and grinded his teeth. "Navie the water sprite; how...pleasant it is to see you again," he said, and he meant it; He hated that he meant it. He hated her for making him feel that way.
She sighed, and her long hair blew in the wind like ocean waves. She brushed her bangs out of her face and sat on a large stone, listening to the water in the stream gurgle, and the waterfall crash over the small cliff beside them. Ranshiin recognized this place. It was where they met, those thousands of years ago. The memories made him growl louder.
"...Glad to see that you are still a gentleman, even after those hundreds of years you spent terrorizing humanity," She said in a tone that sounded a tad too condescending to him; god, how he had missed that voice.
He snorted and sat down by the stream. His tail dipped into the water, and he flinched a bit at its coldness; how could a dream feel so real?
He studied her for a moment. "...So what is it you want?"
She turned her head towards him. "Want?" Her tone sounded almost coy; he hated that about her: the way she played these mind games with him, so he always had to guess when she was actually being sincere and when she was tugging his chain; the way she used no other weapon than her tone to wound him.
He smiled, showing all of his sharp teeth. "I know you well. You would not just appear again after all of these years simply to say hello, so tell me what it is you came here for." He batted his eyelids at her mockingly.
It was her turn to snort contemptiously. "Truth be told, I have come back to ask something of you."
He smiled and made a gesture for her to continue. She sighed. "I know you're taking great pleasure in my asking a favor of you, and I know full well you have no intention of helping me in anyway, (that cruelty being ingrained in your nature), but hear me out-"
"Cruelty?!" He jumped up again, splashing his tail into the water and sending sparkling droplets everywhere. She flinched away only slightly, but her facial expression remained calm, despite his outrage.
"So I suddenly become the cruel one? That is 'ingrained' into my nature?! As if I cannot change?-I have made more effort to change in only a few days, more effort than you will ever apply in thousands of years!" He snapped, pointing an accusing finger in her direction. "You know what's cruel?! You!- You left me, for hundreds of years, without warning! And now you come crawling back, only to ask a 'favor' of me?! How pathetic!"
She gave him a look that only a mother would give to a spolied child throwing a tantrum; a look filled with patience and tired devotion towards guiding him in the right direction. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to strangle her or kiss her, and either action would have killed him.
"The only pathetic one between us is you. You just don't realize it yet."
He forced his rage down his throat and let it fester inside him; he refused to let her see any weakness in him. He leaned back on his tail and crossed his arms.
"Oh?" He said with an imperturbable tone.
She glared at him. "Ranshiin, listen: I did not come here to argue with you. I came to-"
"To what, may I ask?" He asked calmly, but with a coy undertone; he wanted to make her reveal her weakness too, the way she had done to him, those many times; he wanted revenge upon her, revenge for his wounded pride.
Her wings tensed up, the only sign she gave that she was angry. "Ranshiin. Let me speak."
"Then speak: no one is preventing that. Let's have a nice, civil, conversation: just between old acquaintances." He smiled as a wine glass filled halfway with Chateau Margaux materialised suddenly in his hand. He raised it slightly in her direction before taking a long, slow sip.
She sighed. "Wine? Really? Are those the kind of things you dream about?"
"Only if it irritates you, my dear. There's no need to chastise me if my tastes vex you; it is your problem if you dislike expensive wines, is it not?"
She actually started to look angry. Ranshiin smirked. "It seems dreams do come true." He said, and mentally summoned up another glass right beside her.
"Why not partake in the enjoyment?" He cooed enticingly. "No one has to know that you at least dreamt of such a dishonorable luxury."
She slapped the glass away, and it immediantly vanished like smoke. She stood up and glared at him. "Ranshiin Windragon! Stop this foolishness! I need to war-"
"Ah-ah-ah!"
She froze, her mouth suddenly shut. She glared at him coldly as he approached, swishing the contents of his glass and wagging his tail. He smirked down at her.
"Remember darling, this is my dream. I control what happens here."
He lowered his head so that they would be eye-to-eye. "I don't want to ever see you again. Not here, not on Earth, and not in the Legendz Kingdom. Haunt another Legendz's dreams if you like. I don't care what you do, just don't bother me again."
She continued to give him a stern, almost sympathetic frown as she slowly faded from the dreamscape. An idea dawned upon him, one that would wipe that sorry look off of her face, that look that was making him feel so bad.
"Wait a moment," he said, taking her chin in a claw with surprising gentleness.
Her eyes widened as his lips met hers in what seemed a small eternity. He pulled away and smirked down at her. "I told you I would do that again one day; like I said: dreams do come true."
She scowled and moved her lips as if saying something pithy; but Ranshiin made her fade away before she could gain the power to speak. He closed off his mind to her entirely, just to ensure that she would never come back to his dreams. He was content for awhile, in the silence that followed. He smiled at the contents of his glass as the stream beside him gurgled.
"...And yet another victory for Ranshiin Windragon," he boasted, rasing his glass to the sun before he went to take another sip.
"Yes, very good." Another voice spoke, cold, slithering.
Ranshiin froze and started shaking. He shook so hard that he dropped his glass.
He knew that voice.
Slowly, he turned around, hoping, praying that it was not who he thought it was.
Two large, red and green eyes stared at him from the shadows of the trees. An evil, sharp-toothed smile grinned at him.
"A splendid job you've done: pushing away your only protection..."
Black tendrils started to sway towards him, like strands of hair in the wind, or snakes about to strike. Ranshiin was frozen in place, unable to move or scream as they came closer and closer...beckoning him to the darkness…
Ranshiin felt them wrap around his limbs, and the strength to fight suddenly returned to him. He screamed and tried to pull away, but no matter what he did, the tendrils stuck to his flesh and would not let go. They wrapped tighter and tighter around him, drawing him ever closer to the evil eyes that watched him struggle with glee. He felt a pang in his chest, right over his heart, and screamed again as the small sliver of a scar there started to glow.
"WARUCHHO!"
Ranshiin opened his eyes, panting. A cold sweat drenched him from head to tail, even though their was no covering other than his clothes on his body. He blinked up at Nezzucho and Shu as they looked upon him in concern. He scoffed and waved them off.
"Fufufufu," he said dismissively.
"No, that wasn't nothing: You were screaming in your sleep, and kicking." Shu said. The young teen looked concerned. "...Are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?"
Waruchho shook his head and pushed Nezzucho away as he tried to feel his forehead. He stretched and placed his arms behind his head, trying to look calm and casual.
Shu and Nezzucho shrugged. "Just a bad dream?" Shu asked.
Waruccho nodded and tried to get them to go back to sleep and leave him alone. It was only after much persisting, and much banter, did he finally get them to leave him be. Nezzucho curled up on Shu's pillow, leaving Waruchho alone with the doll bed; he guessed he had kicked the white hamster quite alot in his struggle to get away from Jabberwock in his dreams.
He tried to brush off the memories that clung to his mind like cobwebs: the tendrils beckoning...the dark blackness...the green and red eyes...and that smile. That smile was the worst of all.
He sighed and stared up at the dark ceiling, hoping that the light of day would come back soon, and chase the nightmares away.
~~~
"I am sorry; I failed you. please forgive me." Navie the water sprite bowed her head towards the several glowing figures in front of her.
"No, you did not. There is still time until he must make his decision. Until then, do what you must. Perhaps the boy or Shiron next?"
She shook her head. "I could only link my mind to Ranshiin, because we had a temporary bond. Besides, that boy is too thick for me to get a good reception." She winced as her feelers twitched.
The others all sighed and talked amongst themselves.
"Very well. Do whatever you must, just...do it quickly. They must be warned...all of them...Before Ranshiin makes the wrong choice and dooms us all."