Chapter 13 - The Stranger

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Fuu’s intelligent green eyes gazed about the room, taking in the movements of the people around her in the discomforting silence.



Lantis was standing almost motionless beside Hikaru. The only movement that betrayed his worry for his friend was the occasional slide of his hand though his thick black hair.



Hikaru fidgeted incessantly, her red eyes wide and full of worry. She looked from Lantis to Clef and back to Lantis, her inner turmoil easily read on her face.



Clef had his eyes closed and head slightly bowed. His brow creased in concentration as he searched for Eagle throughout Cephiro.



All of their behavior was expected under the circumstances.



It was Umi’s behavior that surprised and worried her the most.



Her friend had come running in early that morning and was near hysterics as she tried to explain what she had found in the hallway. Amid her talk of blood and broken mirrors they finally got the idea that something had happened to Eagle.



The blond turned her head slightly to gaze at her fellow knight.



Umi sat staring off into the distance with this unnerving bleak look on her face, eyes distant, frightened. She hadn’t moved at all since Clef had begun his search. Eagle’s cloak rested in her lap, her hands clutched the soft material tight enough to turn her knuckles white.



Fuu had suspected she was starting to become close to the commander. The wind knight had not been completely oblivious to the side glances they had been giving each other over the past few days. The girl sighed quietly; she would have liked her suspicions to be confirmed in a different manor. Not like this, never like this.



Everyone’s attention was brought to the center of the room with the sharp crack of Clef’s staff touching the marbled floor. “I can’t sense his presence anywhere in Cephiro, it’s like he’s disappeared all together.” The mage’s pale brow furrowed in thought, “Though if he has been taken out of the bounds of Cephiro it is likely I won’t be able to track him.”



“You don’t think those people might have…?” Hikaru asked softly, unable to finish the question as if asking it might make it even more true.



“That seems to be the most likely probability.” Lantis answered quietly.



Fuu rested her chin in her hands, green eyes sharp and reflective, there had to be some way to find out where Eagle had been taken.



“So what are we going to do?” Umi stood suddenly, “We can’t just sit here, I mean what if they, if they…?” She paled at the mere thought and dropped back down in her seat.



“We’ll think of something Umi, until then we have to have faith in Eagle. Remember what the Creator said? //1If we believe in him he’ll be alright.” Hikaru came over and sat down beside her.



Fuu nodded her agreement as she stood to join them, “I think our best course of action would be to find that man Camry. He’s the only person from that place we can trust, he has to know something about what’s going on.”



“Right,” the blue headed girl nodded vigorously but her fingers never loosened on the cloak in her lap.



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“Pretty, so pretty.” Elantra crooned softly. Her slender fingers slid though soft pale hair. “You’re so pretty, yet so tainted, so tainted with red. You know you’ve killed a lot of people, more than even me. Where you come from you’re some kind of solider right? I guess that’s why but still…” A smile played across her lips, “That’s an awful lot of blood on your hands. I wonder what your friends would think if they knew you were such an efficient killer?”



She gently stroked the hair of the half conscious man in her arms; Eagle looked up at her with half lidded eyes. “Feeling a bit weak? Ooh, poor baby, it’s a bit of a nasty side effect from when I mine a person’s memory,” she cooed gently. “Don’t worry it wears off…eventually…” Giggling rang in the icy cell as she continued.



“You were quite a lot of fun to crack actually, most people break pretty easily, you took awhile. But…I…found…what…I…was…looking…for” she walked her fingers up his chest, emphasizing each syllable with a soft tap.



“You see most people are easy to break because they are afraid of dying. It’s a weakness that almost everyone has, did you know that?” she looked down leaning over him her dark hair tumbling down and obscuring his view.



He tried to make some sort of movement, but only managed to make a slight fist, his fingernails scraping and biting into the rock floor. Despite that the initial shock of her intrusion into his mind was wearing off and he was returning to his senses.



The strange girl with malicious purple eyes continued oblivious to the man’s stirrings for a moment. She leaned over him placing her hands on either side of his head holding her weight, “But you’re not afraid of dying, you don’t want to die, but you’re not afraid of it and that makes all the difference. Perhaps because of something in your past?”



She pried further, merrily picking his memories apart, “You had accepted the fact you were dying because of your illness and you wanted to make sure you did something with the end of your life. Am I right?” She mused knowingly; she had after all pried into his memory and knew full well about his past. Eagle tried again this time managing to bend one of his legs but it gave out and his foot skid along the ice.



Elantra watched laughingly as the awareness crept into his eyes, along with something else, discomfort, a bit of anger perhaps? She seemed only amused and smiled, “Upset with me are you?” she asked giggling again but took little heed of his movements. She didn’t think he was capable of doing anything quite yet.



She was about to find out how terribly wrong she was.



Amber eyes turned hard, sharp, cold; the solider was pulling himself back together. Eagle didn’t like this, and he really didn’t like her. Being this close to the woman her aura was almost overpowering and there was something extremely wrong about it.

//1Something about this girl just makes my skin crawl, she’s so cold. There’s something about her and the others, even Camry, that isn’t right. She doesn’t even feel alive…’ He thought as he held back a gag, nearly choking on the cold, nasty energy field wafting from her, ‘This is one screwed up aura.’



“You know,” Eagle managed to find his voice, is was soft, barely auditable, but threat laced the seemingly sweet tone. “I don’t usually approve of being so rough to a woman…” Mustering his strength Eagle thrust his arms out, moving them in a scissor like motion that opened her arms knocking her off balance. She tumbled to the side giving him just enough time to roll off his side and on to his back.



He smiled grimly, “But for you I’ll make an exception.” As she turned to come at him again he kicked with both feet, heavy boots connected solidly with her chest sending her reeling back and sliding across the floor. She came to a stop striking the back of her head against the cold cell bars.



Yelping in pain and confusion Elantra shook off the blow and staggered to her feet. ‘How dare he!?’ she fumed, ‘How dare he hit me!?’



Hauling himself up into a crouch Eagle reached behind his neck grasping for the knife he kept there. Praying to whoever was out there that Elantra had missed it when she’d relieved him of his other weapons.



Fingers slid down the warm metal of the smooth barreled hilt and with a small press of a button the distinctive and satisfying //1sound of the blade snapping into place reached his ears just as Elantra collided with him.



Eagle landed on his back with a solid, resounding clunk, the blade fell from his fingers and was sent skittering across the ice. She went strait for his throat; having yet to use a weapon he assumed she liked a more hands on approach, quite literally. She’d gotten him before like this and he was not about to have a repeat performance.



“I was being nice before but you’ve made me very angry” Elantra’s tiny hands tightened on his windpipe cutting off precious oxygen. “No one ever beats me, I always win” she took gleeful pride in this statement, almost hissing it as she lent down, her face only a few inches from his.



Struggling beneath the weight of her body Eagle’s hands pried at her fingers trying to loosen her vise like grip. From the edge of his sight he saw the glint of the knife blade, reluctantly freeing one hand he reached for it. It was just out of reach; no more than a hand span away, but try as he might he couldn’t quiet get it.



A gag retched from him, her extra weight on his chest did not make breathing any easier and he had to use both hands once again to pull at her strong little fingers. Managing a precious gasp he tried for the knife one more time, ‘Just a little bit more…’ He reached, the tip of his finger brushed the tiny weapon making it spin just a bit. He grit his teeth, ‘Come here!’ he thought vaguely.



Apparently the knife heard as it seemed to magically dart into this open hand. In one fluid movement he sliced out with the blade, going for the closest thing in range, her face.



With an earsplitting shriek Elantra fell back, hand pressed to her face over her right eye. Blood flowed freely from the gaping wound that started above her right temple and went across her eye, ending just above her lip.



On his feet panting heavily, knife in hand, Eagle watched the girl gape at him a moment as if he’d committed the most horrendous sin possible by scaring her beautiful face and then shrieked bloody murder. Staggering to the bars she phased though and ran off down the hallway nursing the wound.



‘Like a child that plays with fire and gets burned’ he thought absently, his back sliding against the wall as he sunk to the floor, exhausted and still breathing heavily.



He felt something cold on his face and reached up to wipe it away, assuming it was the water dripping from the icy ceiling. He was surprised when his hand came away smeared with red, absently closing his knife and replacing it, he studied the blood on his fingers, confirming his suspicions from earlier.



Elantra’s blood was as ice cold as a corpse’s.



‘Figures…’ he frowned. “How do I get myself into these things?” Musing aloud he leaned his head back, eyes closed, warm breath still coming at a quick pace creating little white clouds.



An ironic smile brushed his features for a second and he chuckled blackly as old memories, long ago buried, surfaced thanks to her words.

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He opened his eyes again and gazed at his blood smeared hands, ‘Yes my hands are red, but it’s not like I had a choice.’ Memories of battles past riffled though his head. He’d put his sword and skills to good use in the civil war that had put his father into power and rebuilt Autozam’s government from the bottom up. No one could deny that, but that did not change the fact he’d taken so many lives on that battle field.



He’d long ago washed the blood away and it didn’t keep him awake at night because sometimes it’s kill or be killed and while your hesitating about if it’s ‘right or not’ someone else is making the decision for you. But still…



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“Damn…” he muttered softly.



Pulling his knees to his chest in a vain attempt to keep warm the pale blond man rested his chin on one knee. In spite of himself he started to drop off, the cold sinking into him, numbing his senses until he unwittingly fell into sleep and with sleep came dreams.



//1Solara paced back and forth along the long deck like floor of the hanger. She’d come back to Camry in flurry. Speaking quickly in hushed tones she relayed what she knew so far, both of them could feel the intense amount of activity and emotional turmoil that had erupted in the palace beneath them.



“Camry…” she stopped her pacing and her lover pulled his eyes from some unspecified place on the wall where he had been staring deep in thought, “Camry, you know I’ve done some terrible things, unforgivable things, but…” she sighed heavily, “Leaving that man behind…I hear his screaming, even now…”



She covered her eyes with one of her hands, her voice tired, strained, she’d been playing this deadly game for far too long. She was strong, so strong, so strong that she was close to breaking. “If only I had stayed instead of crossing over to see you I might have been able…” she was cut off by the strong pair of arms that wrapped around her from behind.



“Don’t.” His soft voice filled her ears, “Just don’t think about things like that. Those sorts of things are what drove Impreza to become as she is now. You just have to do what you can, that’s all you should ever ask of yourself.”



Burying his face in her soft hair he felt her chest rise with a deep breath, he tightened his hold on her and felt some of her tension drain away. She sunk into him until he was all but supporting her weight.



“Stay, stay with me. Don’t go back there, it’s become too dangerous. If they discover that you’re…” Camry found himself unable to complete his thought as Solara’s pale fingers covered his lips.

//1“Your ability to manipulate time gives you the capability to glimpse the future. Have you foreseen anything new of late to make you doubt?” She asked quietly and turned in his arms.



“No, my ‘dreams’ have been quiet of late. Only echoes of ‘dreams’ I’ve had in the past. The things I see are only shadows of what could be.” His fingers absently threaded though her golden strands.



“So the future you saw for those two hasn’t changed?” Her blue eyes grew dark with sadness. “You only told me that their future did not bode well…”



“The future is a hard thing to change, if I say something to them now the possible outcomes will increase and the path to the future will become unstable, making it even more difficult to change.” His gaze turned downward but the touch of her soft hands pulled his eyes back to hers.



“Knowing from a dream, yet unable to do anything… It must be painful?” she asked as she cradled the side of his face in her hand.



“Yes,” he closed his eyes and reached up pressing her soft hand firmly against his face, “But we can’t wait for the nightmare to become reality without doing anything. So we must do all we can, even if it doesn’t directly affect the results, we must go forward and not look back.”



“Can we stop her Camry and change that fate?” Solara’s voice felt heavy in her throat.



“I don’t know, but against a future seen in a dream that hasn’t come to pass…people’s wishes are always stronger.” He smiled that ever so gentle smile she loved so much; one that actually touched his eyes. Leaning down he gave her a gentle kiss, just barely brushing his lips over hers.



The sound of quick pattering feet echoing in the hallway beyond forced them apart and Solara drew away hurrying to cross back over.



“Solara,” Camry called after her in a hissed whisper, grabbing her hand. He really didn’t want her to go back.



“I will do all I can” She smiled squeezing his hand briefly before releasing it and opening the way to cross back over.



Red eyes followed after her as she disappeared from his sight only seconds before Hikaru came skittering into the room.



A look of relief flooded her face as the redhead spotted and hurried over to him, resting with her hands on her knees for a moment she caught her breath. “I’m so glad I found you!”



Her small face was flushed from running and she took large gasps of air, releasing them as little clouds of white into the chilled air of the docking bay. ‘She’s such a tiny thing really, so delicate looking you’d think she’d break like a china doll. So small and yet so strong. She really is a lot like Avalon was. They looking nothing alike and yet there is a part of her that is similar’ his eyes softened at the thought and he dropped down to one knee so he was more on her level. “What is it little Fire Knight?”



“Told…you…can” she gasped faintly, “call…me Hikaru.”



The older man chuckled lightly, “Hikaru.”



She looked up smiling her breathing finally under her control. She and the other girls had split up each taking a floor. Fuu took the ground floor, Umi the second and she had taken the last; and she had run from one length of the floor to the other, unsure if he was even in the palace.



“We need your help! Someone took Eagle and we think it was one of those people from the other day and they dragged him through a mirror but we can’t figure out where they took him and we can’t find him and…” Her words kept coming until Camry stopped her.



“I know, I know Hikaru.”



She tilted her head to the side her red eyes thoughtful, “You do? How?” she asked perplexed.



Camry smiled knowingly, “A friend of mine told me.”



“A friend? Who?”



“Well, I can’t tell you. Unfortunately.” His gaze seemed apologetic.



“Why not?” the tiny girl ask suspiciously, hands on her hips.



He almost wanted to chuckle at the sight she made, “Because it would put my friend in even more danger than they already are if someone besides yourself or your friends found out about them.”



“Oh…well at least there’s someone else on our side” she mulled crossing her arms. “But we need to go before Umi freaks our anymore than she is now. I’ve never seen her so upset before…” Hikaru lips pushed into a soft frown. ‘Not that I’m not freaked out too…’ she added as an afterthought to herself.



A flash of sadness flittered through his eyes so quickly that Hikaru almost doubted what she saw but then he stood quickly and turned his gazed to the door. “Let’s hurry, shall we?” he glanced back at her.



“Yes!” Nodding vigorously Hikaru followed after him, eyeing his back as he walked ahead of her. ‘He reminds me of Lantis a little bit, how he’s strong but it’s a quiet strength, but then he’s a lot like Clef too, his eyes seem so old.’ Her eyes took on a sadness of their own, ‘He’s a lot like Eagle too, when he smiles, somehow its just like when Eagle smiles. Even though it’s a smile it’s still somehow sad…’



The fire knight continued down the hall her ruby eyes thoughtful as she gazed at the man ahead of her.



Umi hurried quickly down the hall as she heard Clef’s call for them to return to the throne room. Fuu was on the move too, Hikaru had found Camry.



Her eyes strayed to the beautiful mirrors on the wall, ‘Eagle…’ she clasped her hands together in a silent prayer, ‘Eagle we’re coming. I promise,’ her heart thudded faster as the anxiety built within her, ‘we’re coming.’



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Golden eyes slid open slowly, blinking rapidly to dislodge the ice crystals that had gathered upon their lashes. Eagle stared up at the icy ceiling almost unseeing, amber eyes swirling, like molten gold, with the ebb and flow of the deep felt emotion that reeled behind them.



‘That dream…the same one as before. Such a powerful feeling, I’ve never felt anything like it before, this sorrow, so heavy, heavy enough to nearly crush me…but why? Where is this overwhelming sense of grief coming from?’ He groaned softly one hand coming up to thread through his pale hair.



“Have a bad dream now did you?”



Eagle felt his blood run cold at the sound of the woman’s voice that echoed in the cell, many times icier than the chill of the room around him.



“My Elantra tells me that you have quiet a gift. Her ability to pry into a person’s heart and memory is very useful.” Sharp silver eyes gazed down at him as a tall slender woman stepped into his cell, auburn hair falling down her back in soft waves.



Lady Impreza herself.



With a rush of adrenalin Eagle forced himself to his feet, reaching for his knife, but then doubled over in pain suddenly.



“Ah, though Elantra’s talents are useful. Prying into your heart was not the only thing I had her do to you.”



‘What?’ Eagle’s gold eyes widened as his hand clutched at his chest.



“The pain comes from the “ko” she planted deep within your chest. A specialist with certain powers makes them. They were originally designed to gather people’s souls by paralyzing their hearts but I asked //1 to modify this one for me.”



Dropping to his knees Eagle grit his teeth at the strange and horrid feeling that seemed to tug and rip and gnaw away at his soul. The woman came closer leaning down over him. Her dark shadow loomed over his writhing form on the floor, so full of malicious. She was really going to enjoy what she was about to do.



Strong, icy fingers suddenly grabbed his chin forcing him to look up, “Instead taking your soul it will only paralyze your heart. You’ll become a pretty little doll with no voice or will of your own.” Silver met gold for a moment as she studied his gaze, “Such strong eyes, too strong really and wasted on someone such as you…” She brushed her fingers along his cheek leaving in their wake blackened flesh, his veins turned blue, twisting and twining along his face and down his neck. He gasped and tried to jerk away from the painful touch but her fingers held him in their vise like grip.



“Don’t fret it wont hurt for much longer, soon you won’t feel anything at all. Just like the machines your country is so famous for. Once the parasite has full control over your soul you’ll do what ever I say, just like my good little Elantra does and without as much work as she required…”



“Why are you…” he managed to gasp out though the searing pain in his chest, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know or not.



“Because no one thwarts me and your little knight friend angered me.” A frown pulled at her soft lips her brows furrowing in anger, “I was just going to have my followers get rid of that aggravating knight but you proved too sweet and opportunity to pass up. You’ll do just perfect for my new plan…”



‘Hikaru…?’ The image of the fiery girl flashed past his eyes, ‘Does she mean Hikaru? What is she going to have me…?’ Apparently she could see the horror in his eyes as she smiled.



“But I’m not that heartless; I’ll show some mercy and tell you exactly what I’m going to have you do.” She leaned forward so when she spoke her voice was barely a whisper, her lips pulling back in a wicked smiled that seemed more like a snarl, “This girl has your heart… and I’m going to break it.”



She trailed her fingers down the side of his face, drawing out the blue of his veins as they descended to his chest where he could now feel the writhing thing within him respond to her power.



“You know I wonder what the look on the Water Knight’s face will be right before you shove a sword though her chest?” Laughing she sank her fingers into his chest and the thing within him twisted and forced its way deeper. His pupils shrank to tiny pinpoints and he screamed as something ripped its way from his back.



‘Umi!’ Was his last conscious thought before he was lost to the inky blackness of its control and horrid demonic feathery wings ripped though his flesh as the creature consumed him.



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