Memories
Hidden Things
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Blackness. She was surrounded in blackness. Etana hadn't come for her. She'd always thought she would. No… She… Somehow what she had done –no denying that Dark Dragon was a part of her- had forced her out of the Chosen.
Tora raised her head from her fetal position. Not really helping. She could be upside-down or diagonal for all she could tell. There was no direction, no hint of anything beyond the blackness. She was naked, she suddenly realised. Slowly, she unfurled herself and stood up.
"Hello?"
Her voice echoed off something.
Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello
"Where am I?"
Am I, Am I, Am I, Am I
"Hellooo!"
Looo, Looo, Looo, Looo
She turned on the spot. She was terrified, feeling her heart pounding.
"Who's there!?"
There, there, there, there.
And a soft voice that Tora was more used to hearing inside her head.
"I am."
She whipped around.
A figure was appearing in the blackness, glowing softly. Her own face staring at her, dressed in a black version of the Dragon costume from when everything was good. Tora narrowed her eyes as Dragon walked towards her. When the being borrowing her shape got within a decent distance, Tora flung the punch, putting her entire weight behind it. To her annoyance, Dragon simply changed where it was, allowing the punch to sail past its face. Tora whipped around.
"Damn you! Damn you! I just wanted to die!"
The blackness melted away to reveal a huge room, high arches and dark shadows, tiny windows letting in light. Tora was now dressed as Dragon had been and the gleaming serpentine body was coiled around the lectern. Tora raised her hand to point at the leonine head resting on the opened book.
"Damn you! I wanted to die and you took that from me! You twisted me until I was unable to live and then you make me unable to die! Damn you, you stupid reptile!"
And now she felt tears sliding across her face.
"I just wanted to die and you took even that from me… Damn you…"
She allowed herself the small comfort of collapsing to her knees. She had gambled everything on her death –on peace at last, eternal sleep which none could disturb. But of course the arrogant reptile had upset the order of things, refused to let her sleep. Oh, and she had just wanted to sleep. No. Not sleep. Sleep suggested dreams. She wanted to be anesthetised, prevented from feeling, thinking, pain.
"You took the one thing from me that I would never be prepared to give. You took my humanity. You took my ability to live and die as mortals should. I can never forgive you for this. Damn you to hell, you stuck-up, self-serving connard."
Dragon moved forward, so it hovered in front of Tora's face.
"I have need of you still."
"What do you need a stupid human for?"
"Oh, you are so much more than that."
Tora got up and rammed a finger under Dragon's nose.
"Right. That's it. No more cryptic clues. I want the truth, the whole truth, and you are not going to give me some mumbo-jumbo about how I'm 'not ready' or too weak! You promised equality –that was my condition! So keep that promise!"
Dragon moved backwards and there was something dangerous in its glinting silver eyes.
"You want the truth? Are you sure you are strong enough for such a thing?"
Tora snarled.
"Try me."
Dragon paused.
"I propose…a deal."
"What deal?"
"You do what I need of you. When you do so, I will tell you the truth –I shall not omit or change anything. And then you chose."
"Chose what?"
"Whether to live or die."
Tora laughed bitterly.
"I think I've already made that choice."
Dragon made an amused sound.
"I doubt it. The truth is far more incendiary than you have ever dreamed."
"They really had to do the big guy posturing, didn't they? It doesn't impress anyone!"
"Says you."
Logan stared down at the small island.
"That's what she wanted?"
Kitty nodded.
"That's where we're headed."
He frowned. The seas were sapphire blue, the beaches gleaming crescents of sand. It looked like Paradise.
"Land on the west side."
"But there's a building on the east…"
"Yeah. Like I said. Land on the west side. This is Etana we're talking about."
"Good point."
The Blackbird landed and Logan stepped out. Sand shifted underfoot and the wind rustled in the palms. The undergrowth shuddered, Logan extended his claws warily… And a big, clumsy-looking bird –standing about a metre tall, with brownish-grey plumage and a large beak hopped out. Logan frowned.
"Is that a…?"
"Dodo…?"
The creature went "nark!" then ruffled its feathers. Other birds wandered out and gaggled together. Logan glanced back at Kitty and Rachel.
"Is this what Etana wanted us to come for?"
Rachel shook her head.
"There's a human on this island. I can feel them. They're so very lonely."
Logan froze.
"What person?"
Rachel shook her head.
"I don't know. Whoever they are, they've had psychic training. Can't get a handle on them."
Logan snarled.
"Head to the house. Find them, find out who they are then get out of here."
They'd barely gone three hundred meters when the coconut almost hit Kitty on the head. Correction –it would have hit Kitty on the head except that she'd managed to phase at the last second. Logan immediately went on high alert. It was a good thing he did, because the next second a robot charged out of the undergrowth and tried to decapitate him. The rest of the passage towards the house was a messy fight, with dodos getting in the way of the fight and the robots getting progressively more dangerous.
The house, when they got there, was a beautiful building that seemed to blend into the jungle. Logan opened the door –and a heavy metal bucket promptly poured sand on his head. Another two steps and the cheese wire nearly eviscerated him. Then there were the ball-bearings on the floor; the cleverly booby-trapped door that unless opened carefully resulted in a sword slicing at about waist height; the trapdoor that suddenly opened under his feet and almost dumped him into the sea below and finally he reached a bedroom –a child's bedroom; with bright walls and big windows, a doll's house on the floor that was gathering dust, a set of posters on the wall…and quick, sharp, scared breaths being taken from under the bed. Logan crouched down, lifted up the duvet hanging over the edge and…
…Looked down at the dark face peering up at him, huge silvery-grey eyes wide with fear.
"Guys. We have a problem…"
"Oh. Dear."
"Oh, it wasn't all bad."