| Phase 18 //Kill the prince! I stand over the bed on a chair, staring down at him. It would be so easy to just thrust the dagger into his heart and get it over with so the voices would leave me alone. I have to obey . . . for my sanity. Kill the prince! No. I can�t do it. I turn the dagger on myself. I�ll die before I ever kill him. Kill the prince! Jumping from the chair, I race out of the room. Into the elevator and up a few floors. Down to the Gear bay. Climb into Axyl�s cockpit and huddle on the chair. Kill the prince! I know I�ve been followed. I don�t care as long as it isn�t them. The cockpit opens. � Kris?� Kill the prince! Sig. He picks me up and sits where I had been, cradling me in his lap. � Kris, what�s wrong?� I hide my face in his coat. Kill the prince! Kill the prince! The order intensifies and my head begins to throb. � The voices!� I wail. � The voices!� � What voices? From where?� � The pain place! S-Sol---� Kill the prince! Kill the prince! � Solaris?� � Yes! Make them stop!� He squeezes my head against him gently, relieving some of the pressure. � What are they saying?� Kill the prince! Kill the prince! I fight to speak, but suddenly I can�t. They won�t let me. � Kill the prince!� I blurt finally. � That�s what they say! And they won�t stop! They won�t leave me alone! I won�t do it!� Kill the--- He hugs me tightly as the pain fades. � I�m sorry . . .� A shock jolts through me, reminding me of my �failure�. � They�re coming to get me,� I whimper. � No,� he replies. � I won�t let them have you. Not again . . .�// I was thrown out of bed as a huge explosion rocked the building. I leapt to my feet only to fall back to my knees and cough out the smoke that had gotten in my lungs. I scrambled along the floor to the stairs and made my way up, but a fire blocked the top of the stairs. � Kris!� I was trapped. The ceiling was caving in already and if I called back, Citan would be caught too. No point in getting the both of us killed. � Kris, answer me!� There was a groan and then a piece of the ceiling fell on me. It was on fire and I was unfortunate enough to have it touch the still-burned side of my face. I let out a pained wail and that was all it took. In the next instant Citan was there, tearing the rail away from the stairs. Luckily, it was old and loose and came out easily. I tried to free myself, but was pinned just so that I was unable to move. I continued to struggle; to just get my face away from the flames, if nothing else. Citan dropped into the stairway and lifted the chunk of ceiling a bit. I wasted no time in crawling out the rest of the way. But once I was free, my arm gave out and I flopped to the stairs. Still fighting, I managed to climb up to the floor and then turned to make sure I hadn�t left Citan behind. He jumped up beside me and took my hand. I followed him from the building and out of the city. He sat me down near Hammer (a demi-human who I cannot say I particularly care for), who was with a group of A Block civilians. � Stay here. I am going to make sure everyone is out safely. When I return, I want to look at those burns, all right?� I nodded and he re-entered Kislev. Hammer knelt beside me. � You gonna be okay, Sis?� I was about to yell at him when I realized that he really was concerned about my condition. Yeah, I�ll be okay. Just some burns. Nothing I haven�t had before. I looked up and watched Weltall and Stier fight off a Hecht. . . . Hecht? How did I know that? I tuned everything out and focused my mind on one thing. Hopefully, that would do the trick. I summon thee, Axyl S. Devon, who came from somewhere, climbed up to my shoulder and perched expertly. You weren�t going to leave me here, were you? Where�s Talic? With Lord Hyuga. I didn�t bother to question the name. It was probably some dragon thing. I turned to Hammer. I�m leaving, Hammer. He was surprised. � But the doc said---� I know what he said. But I can�t let Fei and Rico die up there. When he comes back, tell him I went to help them. � How are you going to do that?� I listened and heard the familiar noise of Axyl�s wing engines coming closer. Don�t worry about that. I called the wings and took off, meeting Axyl as she flew overhead. She grabbed me and carefully put me in the cockpit. As I retrieved the helmet and put it on, my left wrist punished me with a sharp stab of pain. Axyl had cracked it before and the ceiling falling on me had broken it. Great. I reset it, then strapped myself into the seat. We need to stop that Hecht, Axyl. We can�t let it hit the ground. [Understood.] Weltall and Stier, their engines overheating, let go of the Hecht. An odd pink and white Gear remained, still trying to redirect the Hecht�s course. I could see it was Solarian, but since it was endeavoring to stop the Hecht, I decided that it couldn�t be all that bad. Axyl�s shoulder slammed into the Hecht, making it bounce a bit to the side from the sudden jolt. Her wings pumped at twice the normal speed, but it did little more than move the Hecht�s course a few degrees more. The pink Gear finally overheated and fell from the sky. � El~ly!� Fei cried. With no support from the other side, the Hecht slipped from its position on Axyl�s shoulder and fell like a rock. I attempted to get out of the way, but one of the wings on the side caught Axyl and drug her down. � Kris!� Fei wailed. The Hecht connected with the ground and exploded. Axyl was thrown free by the shockwave and landed far outside Nortune. I hung suspended from the harness for a long while, stunned. Then I regained my senses. Devon? Are you okay? Yes, was the tiny reply. Come here. She climbed up into my lap and I held her shaking form in my arms. It�s all right, I soothed. It�s over. We�re still alive. Axyl will not operate. We are stranded. My question: how bad are the damages? Axyl, reactivate on emergency battery. Luckily, the battery was still intact. [. . . What happened?] The Hecht blew. We�re pretty far outside Nortune now. [My memory banks don�t contain that information.] They�re probably fried. I�m going to start repairs. How is everything? [Processing . . . All engines are heavily damaged. The main battery needs to be recharged and the armor must be repaired.] I sighed. A week�s work by myself. Damn. All right. Thank you. Do whatever you need to conserve battery power. [Compliance.] She almost shut down completely. I began working right away. By noon the next day, I was exhausted. All that sleep I had gotten while Fei battled hadn�t done me any good. Devon kept my canteen full of cool water and went out to hunt often. Unfortunately, she wasn�t much of a hunter, so we both went hungry. Devon spent her off time sleeping in the shade of Axyl�s wings where she could see me. She had been napping under the left wing, which was the wing engine I had been working on, for an hour or so when she lifted her head and stared south. She started to growl and I heard it then. Gears. Devon, come. She hurried over and scrabbled onto Axyl�s back. I grabbed her and slid to the grass, then climbed inside the cockpit and hid against the back of the chair. Just in case it was an enemy, I wanted to have the upper hand. The noise became louder and louder, then slowed to an idle and stayed nearby. I didn�t hear anything at first, but then I was able to pick out voices. � Where is she?!� � She may have returned to Nortune. Axyl looks badly damaged.� � No way. She would never just leave Axyl here like this. I don�t care how close she is to Nortune.� I slowly climbed down to the side of the cockpit entrance and stuck my head out. They were all upside-down and I had to hold back a childish giggle. Fei? He spun. � Kris!� He ran over and reached up to hold my face, then dropped his arms suddenly. � Are you okay?!� Besides what I got before the Hecht? Yes. Citan didn�t look pleased. � I clearly recall telling you to stay put.� I couldn�t just sit back and watch Nortune be destroyed! I protested. That would go against everything I�ve learned! � I am quite sure that those lessons did not include suicide attempts.� I made a face and started to respond, but Fei broke up the argument. � Kris, Axyl is a mess. How long will it take you to repair it?� I flipped down to the grass and paused as Devon glided to my shoulder. Well, both flight engines and the main engine are ruined but reparable. The main battery needs a full recharge and the armor is in pieces in several places. It�ll probably be a full week. He frowned. � We can�t wait that long.� I shrugged. Sorry. That�s the soonest date I can give. � What if I stayed and helped?� I turned to Elly, slightly surprised that she was there and volunteering. Oh. Well . . . I don�t know. It all depends on how fast we work. She nodded sharply. � Fei, Kris and I will finish the repairs. You and the others should go on ahead. If Axyl�s wings are as good as you said, we won�t have any trouble catching up to you.� Fei looked at me and I nodded. � . . . Oh . . . All right. But be careful.� � Maybe I should stay as well,� Citan said. � I still have not had time to look at your burns, Kris.� I waved my hand. They�re okay. As long as I leave them alone they don�t bother me. � I do not believe that.� He narrowed his eyes. � What have you done to your wrist?� I looked at my left wrist, which I�d wrapped in some gauze-type material that I�d found in Axyl�s first-aid kit. Oh, that. It was broken when the ceiling fell on me and I reset it and wrapped it. � The ceiling fell on you?!� Fei nearly screeched. Citan came over and inspected my wrist. He nodded approvingly. � I am sure that that will hold out until we can find a place with some decent medical facilities. Other than Nortune,� he added as he turned my head to the side to check the burns. � We are not exactly welcome there anymore, I believe.� Once he was totally satisfied that I wasn�t in dire need of anything medical, Citan left with Fei, Rico, and Hammer. Elly remained behind with me and, to my surprise, proved herself to be very good with repairs. Her Gear, Vierge, knelt nearby and kept an �ear� out for trouble. Devon made friends with Elly�s Sentinel, a pink dragon named Sala (Cloud Dancer), and the two were usually sleeping or trying to hunt. <--Phase 17 Phase 19--> |