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Reach for the Sky: A Private Game of Round Robin
*rubs hands together*
x3 chu chu chu. Anyways Checkmate is coming to closed, Vita Aeterna has started. x3 So why not drag in a new friend and start another one? xD Anyways, today's partners are: Aliena and Shosho! *claps* Don't know what Round Robin is? Check Here A guide to what Round Robin is~ |
Aki grumbled to himself as he walked down dirt road. Life, like usual was pretty boring. Everyday it was the same routine: get up, go to school, go to work, go home, eat, sleep, repeat.
Frankly, he was getting sick of it. He glanced up at the blue sky and stopped to wonder. Convoloare was a world divided by those with the ability to fly, Flight, and those without the ability, Flightless. Aki, ironically, fell into category of those without the ability to fly. He saw a girl past up above, doing loops and twirls in the sky. He frowned bitterly and continued his trek home. "Stupid Flights," he muttered. He envied them. Why did Fate have to be so cruel? --------------- Mita did loops in the air, feeling her soul bubble and burst with joy. She loved flying. It was the best feeling in the world. The wind blew around her, laughing and dancing. There weren't many Flights in the world these days. She felt proud to know that she was one of them. In the distance, she saw the sun was beginning to set. Mita frowned. She better head home soon. There were stories how the creatures of the night would taken both Flights and Flightless. She hoped she never met one. |
"Please! You have to believe me!" the young woman pleaded. Her blonde hair was disheveled, her clothes were torn, and she had dirt on her face and hands.
"You mean to tell us, lass, that you were captured by one of the creatures of the night and have been held for over a fortnight and that this creature somehow stripped you of your ability to fly?" The men guarding the gate of the city threw back their heads and laughed. "Likely story! Everyone loves to pretend they're Flights. Everyone wants to feel special. But it looks to me like you either got lost out there," he pointed to the forest, "or you've been doing something naughty." The girl drew back in indignant shock at the insinuation. "Why, I never!" "Get lost, lass," the man who had been speaking waved her away. "If you don't have a pass, you can't enter, no matter what kind of fairy tale you concoct. Hmph! A Flight losing their ability to fly. Creatures of the Night! Have you ever heard anything so childish? Time to grow up, lass. You can start tonight." He laughed again with the other guards as the small window at the gate was snapped shut in the woman's face. She felt a surge of panic as the sun dipped lower in the sky and pounded on the gate again, but the guards didn't open the window again. She finally drew back and hugged her arms to her chest. Malia Aeriean wasn't lying, however. And being barred from the city and unable to reach her own anymore, she didn't know what she was going to do. |
It's been almost two days since his twin sister left the gates of the city to go to her weekly training with one of the most powerful wizards in Convoloare. There weren't many wizards left in those days, and what few remaining, usually lived in hiding. Then 17-year-old Malik and Malia met the wizard in the summer festival in downtown area of the city the previous year. The young twins were twirling in the sky, racing against other Flights in one of the summer games in order to win a brand new "Crysto"--the dream car of every young adults in the city; compact in size, sleek in looks, lightning in speed, and costly in the wallet. Whoever reached the highest distance in the given short amount of time would win the car. Malik was leading the race, followed by Malia and another Flight. With only seconds left to go, the anonymous Flight suddenly rushed passed Malik, knocking him off course. Seeing that her twin was falling fast at a deathly speed, the blonde haired girl rushed after the falling boy, desperate to save him. They were reaching the ground quickly, and out of panic (and sheer desperation), Malia extended her arms. Suddenly, the twins were surrounded in a giant sphere of water. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was more than enough to break their fall, saving them. The experience left them a bit shaken, but they were alright. Some part of the crowd surrounded them briefly, before a louder cheer by the other part of the crowd distracted them. They joined in celebration of the winner of the brand new Crysto. ”What happened?” asked Malik as his sister helped him up off the ground. They were both drenched in water and dirt. ”I’m not sure...” Malia shook her head, looking around in confusion. That’s when she noticed a middle-aged-looking man, standing, where the crowd had been moments before, and smiling at them. He introduced himself as Zhet and casually explained to them what had happened. Malia had produced “magic.” Though the idea of “magic” wasn’t uncommon or unheard of, only a few of the newer generation could generate it; even fewer among Flights. The man named Zhet went to offer training to Malia, in which the girl refused at first, believing the man was strange. However, after a series of convincing from Malik, who was both in awe at the idea of magic and in jealousy that his sister was able to draw magic, the girl finally agreed. It wasn’t easy, but she managed to divide her time between school, work, and training. Now, Malik looked at his watch again as he flew across the darkening sky. “18:30” was the time the digital watch showed. Thirty minutes passed sunset. She was supposed to have returned a few hours earlier. He quickened his speed as he pulled out his cell phone from his jeans pocket and pressed “Redial,” looking around at the city below him for any signs of the blonde girl. ”We’re sorry,” called the automatic service message on the receiver, “The person you’re trying to reach is unavailable at the moment. Please, try aga—“ it was cut off as the youth hung up abruptly, cursing as he did. “Damn it! Where the hell is she?!” he yelled out to no one as he accidentally dropped his cell phone to the city below. “Ah!” he started as he raced for the object, and seeing an unsuspecting passerby about to be a victim of his carelessness, “Watch out!!” he called out, trying to warn. |
Aki was almost home when he heard someone shout, "Watch out!!"
Aki paused and looked around. He didn't see anyone around, and certainly there wasn't anything rampaging towards him. Maybe he was imaging things? It was a long day and he was tired. -Blam!- A cellphone hit him squarely on the head and Aki fell over. Darn it. He forgot, in this world you have to also look up. He sat up, muttering curses to the Flight who decided to drop their cellphone on his head. "Oh shoots! I'm sorry!" A Flight landed in front of Aki, his blond hair disleveled looking. Aki gave him a bitter glance, rubbing his new bump. "Watch where you drop things next time," he said coldly, tossing back the cellphone. 'Flights,' he thought bitterly. |
Malik briefly forgot his distress at the boy's rudeness. "What's your problem?" he exclaimed, folding his arms across his chest. "I apologized! What more do you want?"
"I want you," Aki pointed his finger in Malik's chest, "to go back up there," he pointed to the Flight Sector, towering high above the rest of the city, their grand, richly decorated towers casting shadows over the rest of the city. No Flightless could ever make it up there and indeed, the Flights had strict restrictions. Should a Flightless ever be taken up, he or she would still not be allowed to make it past the entry gate. There had indeed been stories about cruel Flight pranksters who would swoop Flightless up to the top, stranding them high above the city on the small outer platform. Malik wrinkled his brow as Aki turned away, muttering to himself. "Now hold on a minute! What are you getting at?" "Let me spell it out for you," Aki replied, keeping his back to the Flight. "You don't belong here. You're not wanted. All you guys do is lord it over the rest of us that you're the upper class, that you can fly, that you're better than us." "I've never done anything of the sort." "You don't care about anyone but yourself," Aki continued. "You know what?" Malik said, holding his hands up. "I don't have to listen to this. Forget I even apologized. I take it back now. Seems you need to be hit in the head even harder next time!" He crouched down and then leapt up, taking to the sky. "Just like a Flight to take back an apology," Aki muttered. He was nearing the front gate by this time, as he always passed it on his way home and he heard the guards laughing about something. Not particularly curious, but not unable to tune them out, he caught a little of what they were saying. "...can only imagine what really happened. A Flight losing her ability to fly. You know, I'd actually like to believe that bit. It'd serve them right. She didn't look like no Flight to me, though." "I know! More like a common Banta." At that comment, the guards roared with laughter. Aki inched closer, his curiosity aroused now at the thought of a Flight losing her flying abilities. "...Well, a night outside the gates will do her good. Youth these days!" |
As the sky continued to grow darker, Malia's courage continued to diminish. She had taken a spot by the bushes, which was not too far away from the gates, but secluded and safe enough for her to try her Magic skills. She knew that she was in no condition to try any spells for it would drain out what little energy she had left, but she had to try. There was no way she was going to give up. She looked around for anything she could use to send a message to anyone close enough to the gates. If those guards saw some sort of Magic and realized she was the one performing it, then may be they'd believe she was a Flight. How and why they'd let her into the city would be another matter she'd try to take care of later. Thankfully, there were several small puddles of dirty water where she was standing, left by the rain last night. Determined, Malia faced the direction of the city gates and sat on the wet ground. As she crossed her legs and closed her eyes, she took in a few deep breaths as if to calm herself and focused her energy on those puddles. She hoped that those creatures that took her ability to fly didn't completely take in her energy. She dipped one hand into the largest of the puddles, while the tips of her fingers on her other hand lightly touched her lips. It took several tries, but droplets of dirt-mixed-water began to separate from the body of water; only a few at first, before they multiplied among themselves in number and mixed with each other, rolling their way onto the small gap of opening of the city, as if a blob of murky water. ----------------- As he eyed the group of guards by the post, laughing, Aki couldn't help but feel a slight pity towards the girl left outside. He quickly frowned at the thought, shaking his head. Was he actually feeling sorry for a supposed-Flight? 'Whatever. None of my business,' he decided, 'May be being outside the gates would teach the Flights a thing or two,; he scoffed silently, as he started to continue in his path towards his mundane home. That's when he paused. He thought he saw a small flicker of reflection just underneath the gates. He blinked, squinting at the direction, where he saw it coming from. Nothing. Perhaps it was just his imagination. 'Or perhaps I'm just tired,' he chuckled as he began to pass by the guards. By this time, Aki didn't realize that a blob of murky water had "followed" him. When it was near enough, it divided into several smaller-sized blobs. One of them touched his foot and popped. "HELP!!!" an almost-distant cry of a young girl suddenly rang from his lips, causing him to jump to his feet and looking around angrily and bewildred. It took him only a second to realize that there was no one else there, besides the guards, who were now standing outside of their posts, looking at him in confusion. "Are you alright there, boy?" inquired one of the guards, stepping towards him. He was the largest among the men. "Y-Yeah..." Aki replied, still unsure if the voice he had heard was actually his voice or not. "Then why did ya' cry for 'help' for?" asked another guard, who wasn't quite drunk, but definitely had been drinking. "It wasn't me--" Aki began to say in defence, before another blob popped again underneath his feet. It was as if he had no control over his tongue and voice, "Don't leave me outside, please!!!" and another pop, "Let me in, please!!!" The higher voice sounded desperate and scared, and though Aki hadn't meant to, his confused expression matched it. The guards now began to crowd him at a short distance, looking at him suspiciously and holding out their weapons in Aki's direction. "What makes you think you're outside?" asked the head guard carefully, eyeing the youth, who was now had his hands up, "... What's your name?" Before he could answer, the last blob finally popped, and the same feminine voice came out of Aki's lips, "My name's Malia Aeriean and my brother, Malik Aeriean, will vouch of my citizenship of this city..." the voice sounded much weaker now, "... Please..." |
Malik was home scowling over his run in with that rude Flightless when a Twing arrived. Twings were small beautiful white butterflies that carried messages to the Flights. Highly durable, they carried messages across the skies. Twings could find anyone. It was rare for one to come back without having delivered it's message.
Malik frowned as he listened to his message. Some Flightless claiming to be his sister? That sounded absurd. Then again Malia didn't come home today. He flew out of the house and headed towards the gate. It wouldn't hurt to check out anyways. ---------- Upon arriving there, he didn't find his sister. No in fact he found that rude Flightless from this afternoon! Aki looked up and at the same time as Malik, shouted. "You! What are you doing here?!" Aki glared at Malik. The guards "decided" it would be better to "keep" him here. "You're not my sister," Malik said angrily. "Do I look like a -girl- to you?" Aki snapped back. "This is a rather odd way to get revenge," Malik said coolly. He crossed his arms and glared back at Aki. "Not my idea of revenge," Aki snarled. "Trust me I want nothing to do with you Flights. Those damn words those guards heard just came tumbling out of my mouth. I don't even know your name and the only girl I've seen today is the girl that's locked outside of the Gate and was hiding down the street a few couple meters back." He continued to rant, mimicking the voice and words again. Malik's eyes widen at Aki's words. That sounded a bit like Malia. The words speaking through Aki could have easily been magic. Malik grabbed Aki by the shoulders. "Hey!" Aki shouted. "Watch it!" Malik ignored the boy's complains. "Show me where you saw the girl." |
Malik leaped in the air and took flight, soaring high above the city walls while Aki was left standing with the guards. "Show-off," the Flightless muttered.
The sun had dipped below the surface of the earth, making it very difficult to see, but Malik didn't care. He swooped close to the surface and searched in the direction Aki had indicated through the tiny gate window. "Malia, where are you?" he whispered, growing agitated that he couldn't see her, when something white caught his eye. He slowed his flight as he approached the figure. It was a young, blond girl, her white coat torn and covered with dirt. Correction...his white coat. She had apparently borrowed it again without asking. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was he had found her! He dove toward her and took her in his arms, flying back toward the city gate. She clung to him, burying her head in his chest. In less than a minute, he landed at the guard station and gently set her down, steadying her on her feet. He reached in his pocket and handed a city pass to the guard. "This is mine, but take one look at her face and tell me that we're not related." The guard studied Malia and indeed, her features matched her brother's. He sighed and handed the pass back. "Fine, fine." "Now say you're sorry," Malik said. "For not letting a harmless girl in when she needed it." The guard shot Malik a look and turned away, shutting the door to the guard station, leaving Malik standing there looking quite annoyed. He turned to his sister. "He's sorry." "Yeah, I could tell," she huffed. "Lia, what happened?" he exclaimed. "Where have you been? Why can't you fly?" The girl shook her head. "I...don't know. All I can tell you is I never made it to Zhet's. I was running late and decided to take a shortcut, but...there was this pit. It wasn't there the last time I took that path. I fell and then there were these ugly creatures staring down at me and the next thing I knew, I was in this cage and there were so many people there! People who've disappeared, like that girl on the news last month. I...that's all I remember." She held her hand up to her forehead and looked perplexed. She wasn't ready to tell him the rest of it. He frowned at her and said, "Well, we're going home." "NO!" she exclaimed. "Malik, I can't! You know what Tresson will say! He's already convinced my magic is going to somehow corrupt the Flights! I can't go up there with my own flight lost! He'll make things miserable for me. For you too!" "No he won't. We'll have Mita talk to him. She's his baby. You know he does anything she asks." "No," Malia shook her head. "I'm not going until I get my flight back. And you're not going to tell anyone I've lost it." "You're crazy!" Malik responded. "What are you supposed to do til then? What if it never comes back?" He immediately wished he could take back those last words after seeing the wounded look on his sister's face. "I don't know." Malik thought for a second, then turned to where Aki stood, as the solution hit him. The Flightless had been listening to the conversation, with more interest than he would care to admit. When Malik looked at him, he grew suddenly uncomfortable. "Oh no!" "Oh yes!" Malik grinned. "Miserable Flightless, meet my sister, Malia Aeriean - your new temporary flatmate." Malia gaped at her brother, handing her over to someone he called Miserable Flightless. But she supposed it did make sense, seeing as they didn't know any other Flightless down here. It was the miserable guy or the streets. And the streets didn't offer a hot shower. "So, what's for dinner, Miz?" she asked, laughing at the expression on Aki's face. |
This isn't right! Aki fumed to himself, throwing occasional glares back at the twins that were following behind him... back towards HIS home, To help Flights, of all people! Gah! he suddenly pulled at his mid-length raven hair in the middle of his stride. "Umm... are you okay, Miz?" called out the taller and younger of the twins, looking onto the odd Flightless. Malik was holding his sister, supporting her weight. He didn't know any magic, though he wished he did now, seeing the girl still weak from the whole ordeal. He still didn't know what was going on, but he was going to let her rest for now before finding out more on the matter. At least, she's okay. "You! Shut up, alright?!" Aki growled, pointing a finger at the tall blonde haired boy's chest and looking up into the youth's emerald pair of eyes, "It's bad enough that I'm letting your sister stay at my place! If I hear another peep out of you, the whole deal's off!" Malik's patience continued to diminish each time he heard the shorter boy decided to open his mouth, "What the hell's your problem anyway?" he replied in "controlled" anger, "It's not as if you're letting her stay for free either! As an exchange for your 'so-called-kindness,' I told you I was going to teach you how to fly, didn't I?" Aki scoffed, "That probably won't work, will it?! You're just using that as an excuse to get her to stay at my place!" he accused openly at the twins. At that moment, Malik felt a slight tug at his nerves. True. He's not entirely sure on HOW it would work, let alone teaching a Flightless how to fly. But he had heard about it before in one of the lectures in his History of Flights class that over a 10,000 years ago, Flights and Flightless were once the same race a long time ago. They all used to be able to fly, but because of some important event, that he attention on (though now he wished he had now), the majority of the race lost its ability to fly. So... there HAD to be a way. It could be done! He looked back at the Flightless, knowing that he must've been unaware of that history as well, "So, what? Now you don't even want to consider the possibility of being a Flight yourself?" "HA! You said 'possibility!' So it's not even a certainty!" Aki grinned in triumph. FINALLY, he felt as if he could wipe that stupid grin off of Malik's face. "Even so... You could be the first Flightless EVER to learn how to fly like a Flight would if it worked," the blond haired boy eyed his sister, signaling to keep quiet when she was about to say otherwise. He was telling half the truth, but he had a hunch that this Flightless would like that idea very much, "You'd never know until you try, right?" this time, he bore a smile. Not a mocking one, but an actual smile. Aki was thinking to himself. If what the boy said was true, then he truly would be the first Flightless-born to be a Flight. The idea definitely intrigued him. He had always wanted to learn how to fly. He groaned to himself, knowing that his interest in wanting to fly was greater than his annoyance towards Flights in general. He casted a look at the girl, who had been quiet this whole time, "I don't care if you're a girl. You're sleeping on the couch!" he grumbled as he continued to lead them unwillingly back to his home. Malia and Malik wore a smile on their faces. She thought the nickname her brother had concocted for this "Miserable Flightless" did fit him really well, but she felt Aki had a good heart, at least. "Thanks, Aki..." the girl called out softly, only to giggle silently between her twin and herself when all she received in reply was an uncomfortable grunt from the Flightless. |
It didn't take long to reach Aki's house, a small little place a further down the road from the gate. He lived on the edge of a small Flightless town called Ysen. He opened the door and let Malik and Malia in.
Small but comfortable, the house had a couch and a fireplace in the far corner and a decent size kitchen. A hallway led to Aki's bedroom and the bathroom. It was quiet. Aki lived by himself. His parents passed away a few years ago, leaving him by himself. They had left enough money to support himself while he was in school, but he still picked up odd jobs delivering things and fixing things for people around Ysen. In short, it was a decent but boring way of life. Aki lit the fire and then proceed to shove Malia towards the bathroom, giving her a comment along the lines of “You stink, go shower.” Malia didn’t have time to reply before he slammed the bathroom door in her face. When he came back he dragged Malik into the kitchen. He was not going to serve these Flights, oh no. If they stayed they would help out too. “What are you doing?” Malik asked when Aki grabbed his hand and dragged him into the kitchen. Aki gave him a frosty glare. “You’re staying the night aren’t you? You help cook then.” Aki would soon regret those words fifteen minutes later. --- 15 minutes later--- The kitchen looked like a war zone. Dinner was burnt, Aki’s new frying pan had a hole in it, and somehow dessert was bubbling. Cake wasn’t supposed to bubble right? Of course, it didn’t help that Malik didn’t know how to cook either. Aki’s glare increased tenfold. “Hey! It wasn’t my idea to have me help you in the kitchen.” |
Mita noticed a blue glow coming from downstairs and it didn't surprise her in the least. She tromped down the stairs, two at a time and peeked in the doorway. "Still working?"
There was a man sitting in front of a brightly lit terminal, glowering at the information displayed. "Your friends, the Aerieans didn't make curfew again. Their keys are the only ones that haven't registered tonight." He pointed to a box on the screen, representing the Aeriean flat. It was the lone red light in a sea of green. "How do people expect me to do my job if they can't follow simple rules set in place?" Tresson Stratus was the head of security and intelligence for the Flight sector in the city. It was his duty to weed out problems that might compromise the Flights' safety. He considered Malik and Malia Aeriean one of those problems. He'd never liked his daughter always following after them since they seemed like nothing more than a pair of undisciplined troublemakers. "I'm sure they didn't mean to do anything wrong," Mita said, defending the two people she admired most. She loved her dad dearly, but this repeatedly came up. It was almost as if he were looking for a reason to dislike the twins and she couldn't understand why exactly. "This is the fourth time this week they've broken curfew! And it's only Wednesday!" He tapped a few keys and Mita looked at him curiously. "What are you doing?" "Teaching them not to break curfew anymore." "Daa-aad!" "Mita, no. They have to learn. And if that means not having access to their flat because their locks have been reprogrammed, then that's what it'll take." Tresson said. "Dad, come on!" Mita whined. "Don't be like that!" "If you insist on socializing with those two, tell them in the future to abide by our rules. They'll need to come see me personally to get new keys issued to them." He paused as a message started blinking at the bottom of the screen. "What's that say?" Mita asked. "Malik Aeriaen's city pass was registered at the city gates. What is he doing down there? You know what? Everyone else is in. I'm shutting the access point. Let them sleep with the Flightlesses if they insist on being down there past curfew." Mita was furious with him as he pressed the button, causing the stone wall to slide down, blocking off the entryway to the Flight Sector. Since when does your job involve bullying my friends? she thought. Real mature, Dad. Real mature. "Dinner's ready," she snapped and walked away. |
"What are you doing?" Malia called out curiously over her brother's shoulders. She had just finished helping Aki with the mess that the Flightless claimed to be her "damn Flight" brother's fault. Though she was tired, somehow, she couldn't help but feel responsible for the incident. "Trying to fix this damn cell phone," he said in concentration, not bothering to look up at Malia, who threw herself lightly in exhaustion onto the sofa next to him, "I dropped it earlier when I went to look for you," he sighed, "Now I can't see the menu," he frowned, settling himself back into the sofa. As if reading his thoughts, the girl replied, "Trying to get in touch with Mita?" "Yeah... before the old fart does anything annoying..." he chuckled to himself, suddenly remembering that "look" and "threat" Tresson would give them towards their misbehaviour. Malia yawned. "Why don't you try throwing it against something?" "Do you know how much it cost me to buy this?! A month's worth of cat-sitting for Mrs. Kimble! Ugh... I hate that stupid cat..." "It worked last time," she shrugged, "Besides, you already dropped it once. What's another drop or two?" Malik actually gave her sister's words some thought. After awhile, he decided to try it, throwing the black thin bar phone and aiming at nothing in particular. Aki came running from the kitchen towards the living room when he thought he heard a crash. "What now?! I can't seem to leave you two without fearing of breaking something!" he growled. When he arrived, he saw the twins crouching on the floor; the girl seemed as if she was trying to fix a broken... model of airplane; one of his glass airplanes collection that he show-cased proudly in the livingroom--the only seemingly priceless group of objects in the house. The next twenty minutes, the "conversation" went something like this: Malia apologized to the Flightless in both of their behalf, letting the boy vent and yell at the both of them. Malik, in the meantime, while nodding and "letting" Aki yell at them, noticed his cell phone was working again. "Where are you going? Hey!" Aki yelled at the retreating blond boy as he saw him going outside of the house, "I'm not finished with you yet!" was the last thing Malik heard as he closed the door. ---------------------------------- "Hello?" Mita answered the call, pinning her cellphone between her right shoulder and right cheek. She was carrying a hot pan, filled with freshly made garlic bread for the appetizer that evening. "Who's this?" she didn't recognize the number on the caller I.D. "It's Malik," replied the other voice on the other side. The brunette girl's heart immediately skipped a beat and her face flushed softly. "Hey!" she dropped her voice, though the excitement couldn't be hidden from it, "Where are you? Dad's throwing a hissy fit over you two, you know..." she frowned, making sure her father was still quite a few distance away from the dining room area. "I figured as much," the voice sighed, "It's not my fault this time. Something happened to Malia and--" it trailed off at Mita's interruption. "Oh, God! Is she okay?! Are you guys okay??" her tone turned into worry. "Yeah, we're okay. But look, I can't tell you all the details just yet, but do you think you can talk your dad into letting us in tomorrow morning?" "Umm..." the girl hesitated. She wasn't sure if she could use her "charm" on her father this time around. It would be the fourth time this week alone! "Mita... Please...?" Malik's voice begged, as if sensing her hesitation, "I swear, when you know why we didn't come back, you'll understand..." The girl sighed softly. She could never say "no" to the boy, whom she had been crushing on for the past three years, "I'll try. But I can't promise you anything, alright? You know how he is..." "Yeah. I can't believe he's related to you!" the voice chuckled softly, "He's anything but nice and sweet!" Malik continued, missing the silence on Mita's side since she was blushing profusely even more now, "Anyway, thanks, Mita. I'll call you again tomorrow." "No problem. Good night!" Mita smiled as she ended the conversation. She was smiling to herself. She was always like this whenever she got to strike up any conversation with the blond boy. She didn't even notice her anger or annoyance towards her father had almost disappeared. When she saw the older man coming into the dining room, she was wondering how she was going to convince him to let the twins "slide" again for the fourth time that week without any punishment. |
"Daddy?" Mita started to say sweetly.
"The answer is no." Mita stared at her father. "But I haven't even asked!" "Well whatever it is, the answer is no. Especially if it had to do with those troublemaking twins," Tresson said. Mita pouted. "Daddy," she said with just the right whiny voice. She batted her eyes and gave her father the best puppy eyes look she could muster. If this didn't work, nothing would really. Tresson tried to avoid -the look-. He knew if he looked into them, he would give in. Tresson would resist! He would! There was no way he was going to give into his daughter puppy eyes and pout. (No matter how adorable she looked). DAMNIT! He looked! "Fine," he muttered. "What is it you want?" Mita cheered to herself and glomped her father. "Thank you daddy~" -------------------- Aki was still muttering darkly under his breath about nasty things about Flights and Malik in general. But other then that, dinner more or less went off quite well. Aki somehow managed to save dinner and whip up something edible to eat. (And it tasted -good-, something Malik would never admit to the other boy's face). There was mostly silence as Aki was too busy complaining and Malia didn't have the courage to interrupt him, while Malik just ignored Aki. Very awkward seeing as it wasn't normal for Flightless and Flights to be eating together. Malia looked between her brother and Miz. It was quite bothersome, the growing dark cloud of feud brewing between the two boys. Aki especially. Malia signed to herself. She got a feeling that tomorrow would be a very very very long day. |
"So are you going to spill it?"
Malia looked up at the Flightless in surprise and eyed her drink. "I don't think so. I do know how to hold a cup." "No, I mean about..." Aki's voice trailed off and he pointed at her. "About--?" she raised an eyebrow and out of the corner of her eye, saw Malik beginning to smile. "About the...you know, the thing...you not being able to...you know." "Fly?" she asked. She shook her head when Aki nodded. "I told you, I don't remember exactly what happened." "Oh whatever!" Aki snorted. "Amnesia. Ooo...so convenient." Malik's smile faded and he stood up and puffed out his chest. "Are you calling my sister a liar?" "I'm not calling her anything she's not!" Aki stood too and puffed his chest out as well. Malia rolled her eyes at all the testosterone in the room. "Think about it, brainiac. She can tell you exactly what happened to a certain point and then she conveniently skips what happened in the middle and then remembers walking home? If she had amnesia, wouldn't she have left out a few more details?" "The shadow creatures are bad. Who knows what they could do! She could block it out without having amnesia. It's been known to happen!" Malik snapped. "Oh yeah? Name one instant," Aki challenged him and crossed his arms as he waited. "OK...fine! There was this...guy once. And he saw his parents killed and um...it was a fire. And so they took him to the hospital and the doctors asked him--" Aki cut him off. "That was on the season finale of Flatline a few weeks ago. Now do you know of any cases that haven't been on TV?" "Plenty!" Malik said. "But I don't have to prove anything to you. If Lia says she doesn't remember, she means it. She's not lying." Aki raised his eyebrows and shrugged as he sat back down. He looked over at Malia, who was staring at her food. "If you say so." |
Dinner ended on an awkward note. After the twins helped Aki clean up, the Flightless lent a few thin blankets for them to use. There were a few bickering moments, but mostly between Aki and Malik. Malia continued to stay in silence for the rest of the night. It's true that she had no vivid recollection of what had happened the previous night, but she couldn't forget the bitter cold, the mind-numbing pain, and incredible fear that she felt when those creatures... "made contact" with her. Did it count as "touching" when she felt an unseen force suddenly went into her mind, searched around and literally stole her ability to fly? When it was taken away, she felt it leaving her body; as if part of her life had gone missing. She wasn't sure what those creatures looked like either. She sure remembered the foul breaths though. Malia gasped in the middle of the night, awaken because of a nightmare she couldn't really remember. Yet, she knew it had something to do with the night before; with those creatures. She looked down onto her palms. They were shaking and in cold sweat. Her whole body was shaking. She looked over her brother, Malik. She smiled lightly to herself when she remembered one of the bickering moments between him and Aki earlier. "Don't get TOO comfortable, you hear? I don't want to have trouble getting you out of here!" "As if ANYONE can actually sleep on this piece of lump!" Malik retorted back. The blond-haired boy now sure looked like he was actually comfortable on that "piece of lump." He hardly had any problems sleeping anywhere or at anytime--much to his professors' and employers' dismays--and must've forgotten about this tiny fact when he made that retort. After several failed attempts of going back to sleep, Malia went into the kitchen to drink a glass of water. "Couldn't sleep?" Aki's voice rang softly behind her, causing her to startle lightly. "No," she shook her head, holding the emty glass, "I hope you won't mind me drinking a glass or two," she tried to smile. The Flightless shook his head and turned on the kitchen light. He was momentarily surprised when he saw the burnt mark on the wall just behind the stove. Then he remembered. "I don't mind..." he grumbled as he took a seat by the dinner table. "... Sorry about Malik..." Malia started to say as she joined him on the dinner table across from him, "He's usually not like this," she tried to defend her brother, though knowing the Flightless was thinking of him otherwise. "I'm sure," he answered though skeptical, "... So, did you really forget or you didn't want to tell me?" The girl shifted in her seat, "A little bit of both," she answered softly, eyeing the half full glass, "I don't remember for the most part, but I do remember a few things," she shook her head, "It won't make any sense if I tried to explain to anyone though." Aki shrugged, "Well, I won't be sleeping for a bit. So, might as well try me." Malia looked at him for a little while. Finally, she decided to tell him what little she remembered. She didn't know why she was telling a Flightless any of these things as if he would understand. There was something different about Aki, however. Though he had expressed and shown a lot of hostilities to her and her brother, she knew he had a good heart. Perhaps circumstance caused him to be like this. "So..." she eyed him almost carefully, feeling strangely relieved after telling him about it, "... that's it really." "But you don't remember how escaped?" Malia shook her head as she took a sip of her water, "No," she frowned, "nor how I was able to keep myself... 'sane' enough up to now," she looked at him, receiving a questioning look from Aki, "It's been widely known--well, to us Flights anyway--that no one had ever survived an attack by those creatures longer than a few hours," she explained. "Ah..." Aki nodded 'understandingly.' He didn't really understand, but she seemed to be telling him the truth. "You've got quite a bit of a collection on those airplane models," Malia decided to change the subject. Aki nodded, beaming slightly at his prized collection, "Yep. Most of them are quite rare. They belonged to my dad at first. I've just been adding to the collection. Though the one your brother broke earlier was one of the rarer ones..." he muttered. Malia apologized once more, thinking that may be it was a mistake to change the subject to this one. By now, Malia went over to the "show case" in the living room and looked at the models. Each one of them had a unique style of its own and very detailed in painting and part. "My dad was a pilot. He had always been interested in flying," Aki whispered next to her. "Was?" Malia whispered back. The boy nodded, "He got into an accident trying to avoid crashing into a Flight that wasn't supposed to be in that zone." Suddenly, it seemed clear to Malia why Aki had been so hostile towards Flights in general. "Sorry..." she apologized again. "You sure like that word a lot, don't you?" Aki was growing a bit annoyed at the girl's apologetic nature. He wasn't sure if she was genuine or not in her apologies, "It's not your fault anyway," he shook his head, "He died doing what he loved the most." |
((O.< no idea what to write? XDD))
Silence again feel through the room. Malik's snoring was loud enough to wake the dead. "Even asleep he's a loud mouth," Aki muttered. "I've learned to ignore it," Malia said. "Though ear plugs might help. Not really though. That's why whenever we have sleepovers with our friends, he's put into another room completely." "I see why." Aki stood up. "You better go back to sleep. If I'm not here in the morning, don't panic. It just means I went to school, and I have to get up pretty early to get there on time." He quietly left the kitchen to return to his own room. Malia smiled to herself. Aki wasn't so bad after all. A little grumpy and mean, but a good kid. ------------------ Morning had come all too fast. Before they all knew it, the sun was up in the sky. By the time Malik had awake, he awoke to find Aki gone. He didn't panic. For all he knew the boy was out buying breakfast. Still in his mind it was one more fight avoided with the little Miz. In the kitchen was a nice real treat though. Aki apparently made breakfast and left a little note that read:
|
In the darkest regions of the nearby forest, one of the beings dubbed "creatures of the night" by the city dwellers, looked toward the city walls and growled softly. He sniffed the air and spoke to his companion in a guttural, grumbling voice. "The creature's there in the city." They had never lost one of their specimens and it galled them that the one to escape was the weak little flying girl. Well, she couldn't fly anymore. They had taken that ability from her. But she had other abilities within her that they coveted...abilities that she apparently didn't fully understand. And they had almost missed that!
"Such a foul loathsome little thing!" the companion muttered, wrinkling its nose in disdain. "But they're necessary to collect," said the first. "If we want the new order." The two watched as a few Flights circled the sky above the city, emerging from their dwellings to begin the day. The creatures of the night, or the Noctium as they called themselves, longed for the day when the city and all the cities beyond would be in their possession. They were tired of being exiled to the forests and other shadowy places simply because of their inability to withstand the sun. Legend had it that they simply needed to collect as many day-creatures as possible, taking from them the essences of their beings, and the pooled essence would someday bring about the oscurità eterno or the "neverending eclipse." The world would be bathed in night, allowing the Noctium to overthrow the city leaders. The essence of the Flights generally was simply their ability to fly. This essence was powerful stuff and it made Flights their number one targets. Flightless essence was less strong and it varied from person to person. Sometimes they got very little from the Flightless. When they were through collecting their essences, generally all that remained in the creatures the essence was stolen from, was...very little. They could barely communicate and simply stared off with a blank look in their eyes, having little substance left within. The Noctium generally discarded them into the Caves of Notti and that had been Malia Aeriean's fate as well. Only she had more essence within her than simply the ability to fly. Had the Noctium learned of this earlier, they would have reached further within her. As they had led her to the Caves, she began to regain her bearings and her strength. She saw out of the corner of her eye, the other beings walking alongside her and how haunting and lifeless their eyes appeared and it frightened her. Right outside the Caves, while two of the Noctium stopped and spoke quietly, she took the opportunity to dash away. She would have been recaptured had she not reached within herself and used some of her magic to cut down a pine branch and shower the Noctium with its needles. "Perhaps we should consider raiding tonight as soon as the sun goes down," the first creature said and the second looked thoughtful. "It'd be risky." "We'd capture so many. We're stronger than they. And we'd be able to recapture the girl and take it all from her this time. We know her scent. She'd be on the ground. There's no way she could make it back up there," he gestured to the Flight Dwellings in the upper parts of the city. "I'll think on it, Ermet," the second said. |
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