Chapter 30 - Scapegrace

After the fourth day, the girls became worried.

Shar smiled at Kaia as he leaned against a wall. "There's no need to be upset. I'm right here!"

Kaia gave him a halfway glare. "That's not that funny. Dais has been gone for several days. You yourself just got back earlier today."

"That's what I meant." He snickered. "Yeah, like I said, I was doing a little recon work. There's an airbase on a remote place off of Einahan Island. I know it's a bit closer to Debiddek than Rasuria but we can make a big hit against them and get farther ahead in the game then we already are. But I guess it would be best to wait for our spec ops leader, would it not?"

"Prolly..," Keri replied with a slight of sarcasm her voice. Rio stood right next to her, his hand lightly pressed to her hip, Kaia's hawk-like gaze seeming to push him into the floor like a butterfly for mounting. Soliander just stood and listened, making a rude comment here and there so that they didn't forget about him.

Faun sat at the edge of the rather tacit Prince Dyne who was wearing an outfit very much unlike his previous ensemble. At first glance, one may comment that it was very green. In fact, other than the down-feathered collar and the orange shin-to-knee braces and his black muscleshirt, it was green in more ways than one (he requested that the royal livery suppliers make it for him and just a day ago, he received it). The shorts and jacket were of the same crisp hue--that of a grassy field in the early summer. An olive-colored belt with a gold buckle secured his shorts and pinned down the tight, black muscle-shirt that the plumed jacket wrapped over, stopping just above the small of his back. The shoulders of the jacket were large metal, guard cusps that were olive in color that were followed by verdant scale mail drawing short of his elbows that drew to a loose black material that finally ended at his wrists. Finishing it all off were his garnet stone set in a white gold ring on his right ring finger and the Daga stone, a treasure from his homeland that rest 'round his furry neck.

"Are you finished?!" Aurai said, yelling at the ceiling. Everyone stared. She turned a color similar to the ribbons at her wrists. "Uhh... I was just kind of talking to... never mind." She stared at the floor, giving the awkwardness time to fade through someone else's voice...but it didn't. Jerks.

"Someone should go find Dais and bring him back," she finally said. "Let's take a vote. I pick Dynie-boy. Everyone for it say 'aye.' Anyone opposed say, 'Aurai doesn't give a damn 'cause mouse-boy's goin' anyway.'" Seven voices said 'aye' loud and clear as Dyne got the 'r' sound out.

"What the?! Hey, that's not fair!" He made a halved glare at Faun. "You, too?"

She smiled and stroked the side of his muzzle. "Hun, I'd love to go, but I'm less inconspicuous than a Lich on a Sunday!" She made her adorable smile with her broad, almond eyes. "Besides...you're the biggest."

Everyone made a rousing "Yeah!" in agreement.

Dyne's furry palm stroked back his hair as he massaged his temples. "For Creator's sake, you people are exhausting. Okay. Where is he?"

*

She sat silent, watching the blue disappear as he slowly tipped up the glass. Finally, she looked up. "I understand. If you would have just beaten him up, he would have reported us and we would have been in deep."

"That's not the reason." He looked up into her bright green eyes. "I did it for my own satisfaction. Because of his reputation and my postion, when he would've reported us he would've been arrested immediately. Besides, it was deserved." A wall hit her and supressed her breath. She choked on words that the intoxicated swordsman might take as offense. He looked up with a partial smile. "I understand, too. You're afraid of me now and disturbed. From what you and other have told me, I found his fate not to be undeserved in any sense of the term. You have your retribution, Sereles."

She didn't reply. Something about...less what he said but how he said it left a sick pit in her stomach. She glanced from her lap to his face, to the two bottles of Cerule Tea set in ice, and back to the backs of her hands.

"If you don't want to be around me," he flicked the ashes of the herbal wrap to the wind where they disintegrated, "you can leave. The night draws near. I'll be fine."

A freezer with warm hands.

Sereles' eyes became liquid. She slid from the booth and stood, finding it difficult to hold back a sob as she looked into those amber eyes that quickly diverted away. Tearing around, she walked quickly into the inner building, shutting the door rather quickly. She didn't care that the force she put into slamming back-first into the door shook it and herself--not assisting on mollifying the oncoming migraine--as she slid down to the floor in a slump. She buried her face in her hands, tears streaming freely through her fingers. Wheyn Quippes was dead. The aristocratic poet who gained his aspirations from the whores he laid with, the chemicals he abused, and the innocent women he raped was dead. She had heard the gossip and stories, talked with other young women that worked at other bars about their delusional friends that made such claims of him. But she never believed any of these accusations. Not until she'd found out first hand that every single one of them was absolutely true. Her offender, and many others', was dead.

Yet, she was crying. Sereles slowly gathered her thoughts, sweeping her fingers through her golden locks and took a breath. She realized then that she wasn't crying for that bastard but for Dais; or maybe for herself. She had been worried the last couple of days while he was gone. When he held her that night, even if asleep, comforted her. After watching his even breathing for some time, she pulled together the courage to kiss him. She was beyond surprised when he obliged to return it, stroking back her hair.

And she liked it.

That's when it happened, faster than she realized, and their warmth all encom-passing as she granted his fingertips to stroking back her hair. And she liked it. She wanted that good feeling again. That feeling of just him and her. She loved it and craved it now more than anything. The feeling that she wasn't alone. She wanted it. She wanted to be held. She wanted Dais. But she had shunned him. Shunned him for cleansing the stain called Quippes. So he let her leave him. Alone. Now she was alone, too. All she had now was a single mysterious, white, silver-sheened feather that laid within her bed sheets.

It was funny. He didn't become disoriented until at least five bottles. He didn't become as bad as he was a few nights before until ten. Cerule Tea. A couple glasses of that stuff were more than enough to make her feel a bit giddy. When he finishes those last two bottles--and he will, she thought, that'll make twelve.

On the inside of the big door she fell asleep, crying like a kitten abandoned by her master. But not before she drew her knife down the inside of her arm, the blood soaking in her skirts.

*

He turned his face away and whipped his tail to one side as a couple passing by stared. He picked up his speed. It was slowly slipping into darkness, the sun kissing the sky at the horizon's edge. Why did they have to stare and point, gaping like fish? It was so irritating. Okay. Relax, Dyne. The eatery was somewhere around here. What did they say it was called? Divines? No, it was a person's name... they assumed. This was insane, trying to find a "this-one-bar" in a stream of so many. It was like trying to find a real golden boroque bird in a herd of painted ones. And it was getting darker; the street lights flickered on, giving off a gentle, bluish light. His crimson eyes looked back down at a fourty-five degree angle when he saw the sign. Blue smoke billowed lightly from the form in the booth. Dyne smiled.

"Rape is a sin that shouldn't be tolerated. Cannot be. But is killing not wrong if you are protecting yourself, another, or something you believe in? What if it's wrong to protect that thing? Is it a sin? If you are the cause of many more deaths as a result of taking a life or not taking it, are you held responsible? What am I talking about..? That has nothing to do with what happened. Tell me why I did that, Peios."

The Burman Prince stiffened. Dais paused before continuing as Dyne walked beneath the arcing sign. "No. I could not be fallacious in this matter. I cleansed the stain of Quippes that goes by the native name of Wheyn. Don't you agree?"

The tall Dyne sat in the seat across from the man that stared past soft blue lights at the stars gazing down at them from above as he exhaled gentle gouts of toned blue smoke and sipped from a long-stemmed glass--a blue of an even deeper hue. "How are you, Dais?"

"Drunk. You know your hair looks very shiny and... blue. Eyes kind of look like Aurai's, man." He frowned. "I hope she knows how sorry I am for being rude that night before. I felt horrible. Peios?" Just as he was about to tell Dais, the swordsman stopped him. "Oh, 'Dyne'. Sorry. Huh. I always wondered why you wore that ring. So what's new, my liege?" He poured the final dripping dregs into his glass.

Dyne quickly took the glass and downed it, setting the wine glass onto the table within confusion and ire within his mind. He quickly released such thoughts. "They sent me to come pick you up after I find you to-"

"Return me home? Ahh... I'm tired anyway." Before Dyne could realize it, Dais had slid from the booth to stand on shaky legs. Letting out a "whoa," Dyne caught him at the shoulders, letting him rest his head at the thick threads that secured his jacket just about where his navel was masked by the black muscle-shirt.

"You okay, kid?" Dyne looked through his brown bangs as Dais breathed hard, nearly jamming his muzzle into the large, imposing, black bastard sword on his back. His eyes went wide as he heard a start of retching, immediately pulling to the side to give him his chunderings' leeway.

"I'm tired."

Dyne glanced over his shoulder at the glazed over young man set on his back, arms draped lazily over either side of his head and calves over his own fur-covered forearms. He felt like a brother. He wasn't as mischievous as Robin was, good spirits bless, wherever he may be. But from the story the girls thoroughly explained, they were now all orphans--letting alone Rio. "So what have you been up to?"

"Ridding of a whoring, traitorous bastard and getting shit-faced. You?"

"Being stressed. There's a lot of paperwork to be done. I'm really sorry for all you four went through. How are you holding up?"

"Oh... I'm...better. I've just been questioning whether I've been wholy contradicting everything I believe in and wondering if I'm just as much a sinful stain on this world."

Dyne was stunned. "How can you think to say such a thing, Dais? You've saved your entire city from being reduced to ash and you people from being taken into bondage of the enemy. Twice. How can you say such a thing? You and three young women treked miles upon miles to get from the middle of only the Creator knows where, to go around a large splay of northern Rasuria to finally return home, to our heart city. You're a good person, Dais. You're an important person. Why in the world would Lord Cid Trakonta invite you to be one of his personal guard if you were a sinful stain on this world?"

Dais knew the answer to that. "It was more than fourteen months ago."

Dyne went silent for a time, regrouping. "Maybe so... that may have assisted in him finding you. You're some kind of person, Dais, to consider refusing an offer to work with Lord Trakonta. Only when you found out that your mother would be reimbursed for the lack of your presence while you were working for Cid, I was told, did you agree; probably striking out a few days after receiving that letter, I'm guessing."

Dais only sighed.

"You're a noble soul... and far harder on yourself than you deserve. You have friends who care about you and a safe homestead with strife all around you. Do you want to let yourself be pulled into the strife or protect them? Protect us. Protect Rasuria."

"The first one sounds a lot quieter." This made Dyne laugh out loud.

Dais Rhine--immutable; loyal, staunch, and true. Yet easily delusioned into seeing loathsome qualities within himself that did not exist.

Dais Rhine--such a puzzling being.

After making good distance with even better time, the outer castle gates appeared in the gloom of the darkness depth when gravity broke. Dyne slowed and took a step forward as a great weight seemed to be pressing down on him but at the same time, every burden of air pressure seemed to dissolve away. It made him elated. It made him dizzy.

It made a broad black shadow appear on the ground at his feet. Quickly he snapped his head around, eyes wide with fear, surprised at what he saw: Nothing.

Nothing besides a few downy feathers lying in the street. He blinked, embarrassed and kept walking. "That was weird." He'd been spending a lot of time with Faun, playing his violin to her dancing and vice versa. He slept for twelve hours the day before and had been awake since then, what with meetings and all. He was probably just seeing things: shadows caused by his exhausted mind. Dais smiled.

Then felt the bile quickly rising in his throat.

*

Keri peered into the darkness. It seemed to be getting somewhat foggy. Hmph. Where the hell was mousey-boy? He'd been gone for a while. When he got back, she'd be sure to- Jeebus and Creator alike, what the hell is that?! Oh. It's just them. So much white in one area during the night wasn't all too common. It caught her off guard. Yeah.

She smiled to herself then looked down at the side of Rio's resting face. Oh, how she loved the whelp. She stroked his cheek and his short, kempt, spiky, red hair, a small smile on his lips. So peaceful. Of course, she was of no mind to let him remain that way. Leaning down, she kissed his ear and licked about it, small noises leaving him, before putting a suction around it in a gentle fashion and screaming his name as loud as she possibly could.

She giggled insanely as he leapt to his feet and made some weird 'nggh' noise, darting his eyes around until he turned his green eyes to her blue, yelled out loud, causing her to throw up her arms before he struck out. When the dust settled, she found the stone bench they'd been sitting on rent asunder with a fair fist sized indenture beneath the split, and Keri sliding down the decline glaring at him. "What the hell was that about?! You almost whacked me!"

"For Creator's sake, Keri, you screamed in my ear!"

She pouted and turned away. "That's what you get for taking advantage of me last night! Ya big meany!"

"Taking advantage of y-What the hell!? Your pants were off before mine!"

She smiled. "Dyne is back with Dais."

Rio's eyes went wide. "You serious?"

"Yah. Now, run! Fast!" She slapped his bottom as he ran past, yelling after him, "Tell them that Dyne's holding back his hair and he's retching! I said that HE'S RETCHING!"

*

"He passed out."

Keri looked up at Dyne. "He should have eaten something."

Her sister glowered. "What do you know about it?"

"Enough."

Shar snickered quietly to himself.

Aurai knelt by the side of Dais' sleeping face as he lay on the cot. She was questioning whether she should be there or not, since she had angered him so earlier when flecks of amber went flush--but not completely--and looked into her eyes. She did not know he would stir but she then suddenly realized that he had a perfect vantage point to look up her skirt. Maybe--probably--she inadvertently wanted him to.

But he looked into her eyes.

He smiled to her and his hand lifted from his stomach to hold hers than lay upon her knee as he looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry I was so rude to you earlier, Aurai."

She held his big hand in the both of hers and kissed his knuckles. "I understand. It's okay."

"Aurai?" She looked up as he now took her wrist in both his hands. His soft, warm, protective hands. And looked into her eyes. He smiled with a sadness in those eyes. "Yes."

The grief now came upon her, like floodgates that had finally burst open. Dear spirits and the high gods. Protect this poor soul. This poor, beautiful soul. Creator bless.

He softly pressed her gentile yet deadly hand to his lips and released it. Aurai noticed that a few tears had dripped upon her lap.

Dark green eyes looked up from beneath a short black shroud and above a curt smile where Dais faced. "Good to meet you, Sascha. I've heard about the mission you've prepared for us tomorrow morning, about as much as I've heard about you yourself." His grin widened in a lop-sided manner.

"And of you, too. I hope all you've heard has been good."

"Likewise. I think it would be best to get some sleep before we all end up half-dead in the morning."

Shar laughed. "Yeah, definitely."

"Hey, Dyne?" Dais said as he rolled off the cot and stumbled into the tall Prince. "Hey. Would you mind assisting me to our quarters, lest I fall asleep standing?"

Dyne made an offhand chuckle. "Sure thing."

Dais glanced about, giving everyone warm smiles--lingering on Kaia and then Aurai--before wishing them au revoir before stopping at the door to smile just as warmly to an empty chair.

Dais and Dyne slept in their quarters, sleep taking them fast. Shar took the room to which his key belonged as well. Faun was dissapointed that she couldn't practice with Dyne tonight, but it was nice to know that Dais was glad to see her. She was still having difficulty getting comfortable in the awkward respite furnishings. But at least it was soft. Soliander had no trouble sleeping. The discussions he'd had with Marilyn, Cid, and Segfried were enough to exhaust any codger like himself. Keri and Rio slipped outside of the castle to sleep beneath the stars without much notice given to their disappearance. Candles lit the halls where electric lights livened corridors untouched by sun during daylight hours where Kaia walked. There among the darkness she looked within the open door to see Aurai's still silhouette against the backdrop of stars. She wanted desperately to lay next to her. To hold her close. But she precluded that possibility days ago.

Maybe Aurai would let her back in. Maybe she would be ready. Kaia certainly was. But she did not want to hurt either of them. She did not want to risk it. So, like her, she laid in her room, all alone against a backdrop of stars. Choking back a sob.

*

Marilyn's eyes went wide. "H-how did he see you?!"

"... It's coming. Or rather... he's coming."

Marilyn smiled, calming down. "Finally. Are you sure, Lady Keltia?"

"You're the oracle. You tell me."

*

The brisk chill of the morning with the bright waters wavering below didn't make the stone any less warm as it hung from the leather thong around his neck. He decided to ignore it for now, focusing his attention instead on the newest member of Cid's 'personal guard.' Dais recalled a knight referring to them as a 'special taskforce.' He was also fairly certain that that same soldier has boarded this cargo ship today. "Now that I'm mostly sober, could you explain this mission a tad more?"

Shar failed in his attempt to hold back a small smile. "Sure. The Iel air base is a stockhold where many airship transporters dock with merchant ships like this one--as long as they have a 'hawking liscense' as some call it, to do so. Some routes, like the one this ship is on, drop off supplies, refuel, and take off again without so much as a second glance through it. After all, the schedule is rather tight. A small group of your Forces, Gamma mainly rolling out your support with a few others from Danaei and Psi will accompany you. I'll stay just a bit ahead scouting, as I've already been here, like I've said before, on recon. A brief debrief, eh?"

"Plenty thorough, though."

Something seemed to click in Shar's mind; he looked out at the expanse of ocean and sky at a black speck, returning his gaze to Dais. "We should go below deck." The swordsman nodded and he, Shar, and the rest of the military personnel on the main deck hastily made their way down.

They waited a long time. Where they were cached wasn't exactly the cargo room, more like the cargo room's cargo room but for people. And no one talked. At all.

It was really eerie, too. But finally, Shar came to them and ushered them to the exit. The stuffy costumes were uncomfortable as hell to say the least. But as long as they could get this done quick and clean, he didn't consider it that big of a hang-up. Through the light of the open cargo door, he saw Shar's smiling face.

"Let's go! Dais, stay behind me with Keri close--she has her speed and all--and Kaia, keep to the back for defensive purposes. Leaders, keep those at your own team close to you." All those whom this information entailed nodded, made a salute and followed him into the morning light.

Dyne and Faun were only too happy that Marilyn had cloaked them to appear human, if only for twenty-four hours. They definitely did not want to be left behind (even though Soliander stayed with the airship). Dais quickly noticed how some of the soldiers looked at them: mainly at the girls. He had to restrain himself to stop from glaring. Eventually they managed to separate themselves from the soldiers. They didn't seem to notice.

A soldier came up next to him with a grin and a quiet friend standing next to him. "Dais, hey." He looked at them. Oh yeah. That's who it was.

"Darek and...umm.."

"Kevin."

Dais nodded. "Right, Kevin. Good to see you again."

Darek kept his head low. "Sorry again." He didn't look at Keri.

"Nah, it's fine."

At some point Shar stopped them. "I'll scout ahead. Dais, you, Keri, and your men follow soon after, all right?" Dais gave a salute. Shar disappeared.

This mission had, thus far, been too easy. Dais knew the results of missions easier than they should be. But then again, this guy seems like he really knows what he's talking about. Still, he felt for his sword's hilt, listening for the reassuring click as he released his blade and set it back into its leather home. "Keri... stay back behind me a ways, alright?" She looked into his eyes, hesitating for a nanosecond before nodding.

Unwavering amber eyes looked about the young Forces round him, all ready to jump into the fray--if there need be one--at a seconds' notice. "Let's go, he said as he swung around the corner, blade free and heart unleashed, willing, able, and ready to paint red over the abandoned lot of a landing site. There wasn't a trace of Sascha Fiuhm anywhere. His hunch was right.

"Don't move," he heard himself saying, yet at the very same time heard another voice saying the exact same thing. Click. What seemed to be a thousand others followed. Dais didn't need to look at the line of riflers to know that they were all pointed at him. His eyes--filled with hate--looked into Sascha's--full of pride.

"Well, well, well. The Deyajin Devil." Dais heard a few soldiers falter at the mention of the name. "Here he is: flesh and blood. A normal human, here before us, caught by one of his own."

"I'm so glad that your soon-to-be-raised status is because of my head. Is that the only reason why you brought us all here before a firing squad? Kill more Rasurians, get more badges? That it?" Kaia was stunned. She could not speak.

"Partially. I plan to kill you all, other than Kaia, of course, whom you stole from me. She's mine." Tears stung her eyes as she held them back.

Dais smiled. "I'm not sure you can satiate all of her hungers, Sascha." Aurai flushed. Sascha fumed.

"My name is 'Shar,' Dais, Shar!" He rapped the heel of his palm harshly against his head. "Do you fucking have that clear, you miserable sonnuvabitch?!"

Dais smiled darkly. "Just say 'fire' so we can have this over with." The stone burned his sternum with great ferocity.

Shar crossed his arms. "You heard him. Ready..."

"Run."

"Aim..."

"Now." The Force fighters did not ask questions.

"FIRE!" They ran.

Dais rushed forward, both blades out before a trigger was pulled, yet the bullets diced through him like paper, doing so with others but dropping them dead with a single, clean, fast shot to the head. Bullets raining into his form, barely slowing him, pushing back the gunning soldiers... but he faultered.

Shar smiled and walked off, barely a person noticing. Kaia fell to the ground, gripping the sides of her head, whispering to herself as Aurai put her arms round her. Two, maybe three soldiers pulled themselves behind the protective wall as Dais lay to bent knee, clothing continually shredding as blood misted the air and spilled over the deck, swords barely gripped but clutched--white-knuckles as a peculiar flash came from beneath him. The soldiers stopped firing, surrounding him.

He panted heavily... not for loss of blood but the gravity of the stone about his neck. It was glowing. A nervous soldier tapped his trigger and Dais fell. 'Courage' filled the soldiers who experimentally shot into the body. Some time passed but Kaia, Aurai, Dyne, everyone... they could only watch in horror.

A higher officer sneered. "Turn him over. Let's see the bastard up close." They shoved him with their feet and eventually pushed the bloodied body onto its back. Long, silvery brown hair draped torn, sanguinated shoulders. At the sternum by a peculiar black tattoo. Around the neck lay a bare thong of leather. The blue eyes, colder than ice, saw nothing, staring away. That is they saw nothing before he removed the officer's head that obscured his view of the toned-slate sky.

He looked into the dead eyes grimacing. "Thank you," he whispered, lobbing it into another foe, ripping off the target's head. Aww...he missed.

And he was aiming for the sinful bastard's head, too. Dais slid onto his stomach, sliding to his feet, his wings finally tangiating as he stood tall, knocking all those around back and away. It was hard to say who was more surprised: the Debiddekkans or the Rasurians. The soldiers, awe-struck, tried to pump more lead into him. Dais' blades made quick work of their faces. Those that he didn't mince stared, frozen by either panic or fear, watching as both his swords became swarmed in incandescence.

Eternity seemed to overlap itself as seconds went by, light gathering in never-present darkness while two words coalesced in their minds: "Eventide Aureole."

A white ring swirled around them, orbs of white traveling on their orbit. Soldiers tried to run, but at touching the white, the same light burst from their mouths and eyes, quickly becoming black smoke to billow from them. Those who did not said prayers as small whispers swam from Dais' lips as the speed rolled faster and faster, the halo broadening and spinning furiously as the white orbs swarmed about, covering the radius of them all. A scream from all in a single short burst ripped out as it erupted.

Slowly the white faded away. Blood soaking the ground took its place--sopping Dais. Another fleet of soldiers came towards the angel with his two swords in hand, blood-covered and full of rage Those ice eyes looked to Dyne. "Get them out of here." That was, by far, all that needed to be said, spinning on his foot to remove several heads behind him. The white overcame him as his blades blurred motion.

"We can't just leave him!" Aurai screamed at him.

"I'm sorry. That's what he ordered of me."

She cried and cried, slamming her fists into the green cloth of the Prince's jacket. Kaia exhausted herself through hyperventilation. Aurai cried out loud.

Their Dais. Her Dais. Was gone from them. Gone from her.