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Turned On	By : blackwaltz0 Category: +M through R > Phantasy Star Views: 2172 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Phantasy Star, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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(A/N: I am eternally sorry to say that there is no shonen-ai in this chapter. Most of it is just Chaz/Rika romance and action-adventure. But for good things to happen you have to work towards them, so the very next chapter will be shonen-ai galore! Besides, you have to have a little bit of other pairings in order to make a love triangle work. [Love triangle? In later chapters maybe. Oooo...] Please bear with me and enjoy the show!)

It came as a complete surprise to himself more than anybody else that Chaz was able to calm down a little as he and Rika popped the catch that opened the door of the hull and extended the ramp leading back into the ice digger. As the seconds ticked by Chaz's memory of Wren's fall seemed to become surreal to his senses, something preposterous and utterly unthinkable. This was a dangerous thought to have, but at least it allowed Chaz Ashley to cope. His mouth felt sour from the adrenaline he had burnt up in his body and his hands were numb, nicely chilled. Not just his hands though, everything about him felt numb, felt like stone.

Rika dashed up the steps like gravity did not apply to her and nearly crashed into Kyra who was peeking out of the opening, ruining that image. She pivoted to the side, avoiding a collision, but Kyra defensively raised her hands in a warding gesture anyway. "Rika-" She began, then caught sight of a snow-dusted Chaz hurriedly following Rika up the ramp. Something bad had happened, she could read it off the young hunter's face. Kyra stepped out of the entranceway and gave them room to come inside. A raw wind was blowing through the ice digger now and it completely siphoned all the warmth out of the vehicle.

Rune was sitting carelessly in the driver's seat, his feet propped up on the dashboard, a little close for comfort to the ice digger's controls. The esper has his hands behind his head and it seemed like he was relaxing. However now Rune noticed the chill in the room and glanced towards its source, frowning in an annoyed fashion. "Hey, what did I say about closing that?" He scolded Kyra, but the girl only shrugged softly, mutely conveying that she had no idea what was going on.

The heels of Rika's boots clicked audibly upon the digger's metal floor as she walked up to Rune and gently shoved the esper's feet off the control panel. He sat up straighter in his chair but wasn't angry with the numan girl, he was beginning to pick up from her and the others that something had gone wrong. Rika looked at him gravely after she had removed the radio receiver from its plastic cradle. She held it in her hand as if it were a delicate wine glass. "Wren's fallen down a chasm. We don't know if he's still alive or not. I'm going to use this radio to see if I can contact him."

She had explained it so neatly that nobody had reason to doubt her or her idea. Secretly, known only to himself, Rune had always feared that something like this would happen, that their fellowship would not be broken by a great or courageous battle, but by something as stupid and as preventable as a mere accident. Here it was. Rune was utterly serious. "Can you really reach him on that thing?" He inquired, not knowing much about telemental machines. Rune knew that the radio could broadcast a voice, but could it reach Wren who was supposedly gone?

Rika had used a radio similar to this one to talk to Wren on countless occasions in her so-called 'childhood', so she was quite confident that her idea would work. The one real gamble would be if Wren was still alive or conscious to hear the broadcast or not. If he really was dead, then they would have to discover a way to get down there and recover his body. It would be the least they could do. Rika felt her eyes prickle and burn anew at that thought.

Slowly moving over to one of the long blue couches built into the back wall of the cockpit, Chaz sat down. He felt slightly better the very moment he did so, although that was nowhere near enough to make him feel optimistic. Chaz felt safer sitting, that way he wouldn't lose his legs to the faint and sickening feeling he had rolling about in his stomach. It was like he had some kind of cold liquid weight in there, drawing all his organs to his feet. Especially his heart. Kyra took one look at Chaz's ashen face and immediately understood. She could see the worry and the guilt. The female esper took a seat close beside him and lifted Chaz's hand from his lap, holding it and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

He had done the stupidest and most horrible thing that a hunter could ever do. He had either taken his friend's life or had severely wounded him. That sort of thing was unforgivable, a hundred times worse than the sin that Chaz had been afraid of committing in the first place. Kyra's telelmental powers were stronger than the average esper, so she could pick up on feelings quite easily, even though actual thoughts were locked to her. It came as no surprise to Kyra for her to feel Chaz's afraid and guilty emotions through him, so when he suddenly and silently started to cry she was already prepared to draw into a consoling hug.

Meanwhile, Rika was attempting to disconnect the radio from the overhead speakers and then find the correct frequency here on Dezoris. It would be tricky, but she would have to tune it just right for success. With her acute hearing she heard Kyra sigh an empathetic "Ohhh�" to Chaz, just as she heard the hunter's breathing change slightly to that of somebody trying hard not to cry. Rika could understand him, for she hadn't a dry eye as well. What she did wish deeply for was to take Kyra's place. She would have liked to be the one to soothe Chaz's panic, but she also had a most important job to do.

"This is the only option we have left at the moment." Rika announced regarding Rune's question, spoken barely a minute, and yet it felt more like an hour, ago. The numan girl heard a satisfying click and then a whole lot of static as she managed to force the radio system directly onto Dezoris' local radio waves. The horrid sound was loud and painful, but now they were getting somewhere. She wasn't expecting any other broadcasts, just the one that she would make. "Hello Wren, this is Rika. Do you read me? Please respond."

The static did not seem to change in frequency or pitch at all. Unperturbed, Rika fiddled with the dial a bit more and tried her message all over again. The static was a little quieter this time but there was still no reply. After several messages over varying frequencies Rika began to frown. "I just can't seem to pick up a single thing." She said softly and sadly to the others.

"Move over." Commanded Rune as he stood up from the driver's chair and nudged Rika out of the way. The magician held the receiver in one black-gloved hand and wrenched the dial all the way to the other side of the monitor with one deft twist. There was a cacophony of hissing yowling white noise, sped up like a recording when played back at a doubly fast rate. Rune flinched at the sound. "Er� I didn't break it, did I?" He asked Rika.

Whilst Rune and the others recoiled at the loud unpleasant noise, Chaz's ears almost felt like they had perked up. The youth raised his head and wiped away the tears from his face and a clear runner of snot from his nose. It might have just been his imagination but he could have sworn he had heard something strange in that sound. Chaz looked to Rune urgently. "Turn the dial all the way back to the beginning again but only do it at half the speed you used before." He demanded.

Rune observed Chaz quietly for a second and then shrugged. What harm could it do? The esper did as he was ordered and twisted it back at a speed that was only slightly faster than normal. The noise hit them again but it was bearable this time. Chaz leant forward in his seat, as if it would allow him to hear a little better. There was most definitely something there. No, that wasn't right. It was something that was not there. "Somewhere in the middle, for about a quarter of a second there is no static. Go back to that part, Rune."

At that point Rika had her revelation. She clapped her hands once at the sheer surprise of her deduction. "Of course! I was looking for words or a message, but if Wren really was damaged he wouldn't waste his energy talking persistently into a void. What I should have been looking for was radio silence! I'm sorry everyone for being so silly." Quickly the girl searched for that soundless frequency, the one that carried absolutely no static whatsoever. It took a minute or two because the exact location was tiny compared to the other frequencies, but once Rika fiddled a bit she managed to phase out the tiny crackles that were overlapping on their silence.

Chaz stood up and walked over to the control panel as Rika raised the receiver to her lips. His legs felt lined with lead, that's how heavy they were. When he held out his hand for the receiver and smiled weakly at her, the numan girl understood and placed the small device in his grasp. Chaz was their leader, and this was his job. The hunter held the receiver to his mouth and imitated what Rika had done. "Wren? This is Chaz. If you can hear me please tell us if you're okay. Can you hear me?"

This was just like talking to a brick wall. Chaz persisted doggedly despite sensing his feeling of newfound hope draining away. He could rattle off any kind of call if he wanted now, some nasty voice in his mind seemed to reassure him that he was would never get a reply if he did. Wren was as quiet as the nearly dying, or the dead. Chaz stopped speaking in mind-sentence and sighed, a truly heartbreaking sound. There was only one last thing left to try.

He boldly continued his message. It was directed at Wren, but in all honesty Chaz was also using it as a method to torture himself. "I refuse to believe you are dead. You're stronger than that and smart enough not to die in some dark, empty pit. The only other thing I can guess is that you can't reply to us even if you wanted to. I don't know, maybe some part of you became broken during the fall. If you can hear me, I want to say that I'm sorry for being so stupid so frequently. Even if you are dead, we're still going to go down there and find you."

He wished that he could say something kinder and softer to his friend, but he didn't think he could do that while Rika and the other two were around. Chaz just needed to be blunt and simple now. "If you want to answer us you don't have to do it with words. Just do something, anything that can prove to us there is somebody else on the other side. Over." That was the extent of everything he could think of. The blond youth looked at the receiver, daring not to hope anymore. Goodbye, Wren� He thought at last.

Less than five seconds after Chaz had made his last request, the maintained radio silence that the adventurers had been listening to suddenly went out. What replaced it was normal run-of-the-mill static. All four of them were nearly certain that they had heard a quiet click before the connection had dropped out. Was that a sign, or was it merely coincidence?

It was easier to hope for the best than to expect the worst. Chaz carefully placed the receiver back in its cradle. It was useless to them now, but the hunter hoped that he had gotten an answer. He turned towards Rika and took her by the hand, brushing a thumb over her gloved knuckles. She spoke. "I want to save him. Will you come with me?"

She didn't even have to ask. If he could save Wren then he wasn't going to back away. He didn't want to see Rika cry over a lost friend, and he didn't want to cry himself, either. Chaz knew that he certainly would if given the opportunity. He smiled briefly, nodded, then ran for the exit left open on the ice digger. Little drifts of snow had built up and gathered upon the floor. Rika kicked her way through one of them as she followed her leader back into the snowstorm.

Rune snorted and crossed his arms, watching the pair take their leave. "They didn't even ask us if we wanted to come with them. Whatever happened to teamwork?" He complained, but he didn't really seem all that bothered by it. He was even smirking a little, almost like a father who was watching his children run off on their own for the very first time. Rune pulled his white hood up to cover his head and made for the exit himself, conjuring his staff.

Kyra stopped him with a single word. "Wait."

Rune glanced at her. "What is it?" He asked, impatient and wanting to catch up to the others.

The female esper rose to her feet and tugged on her clothes a little, straightening them out. "I think they forgot about us because we didn't want to go outside in the first place. We weren't there when Wren fell. Rune, I want to tell you something now because I know I can never keep a secret. I was always a tattletale as a child." Kyra paused, thought a little, then continued. "I touched on Chaz's feelings when he was here sitting next to me. I couldn't help it, he was so upset I would have had to veil my mind, cover my ears and gone 'La, la, la!' not to sense it. I got the feeling that he caused this whole mess, but I also got another feeling that you have to keep secret. Don't tell anybody, okay?"

The reverent Lutz didn't say anything but that was an affirmation in Kyra's eyes. He made a quick gesture with one hand for her to hurry up and spit it out.

The girl obliged him. "I think Chaz is in love." She said, and then giggled.

��

Looking over that broken precipice Chaz once again found himself wondering how a person could survive that fall.

His teeth chattered relentlessly as he knelt near the edge and thought hard on how they could get a couple of people down there without breaking their necks. That was only the surface of the problem. If they could get down there and find Wren they'd be just as stuck as he was. They could all freeze together merrily at the bottom of the crevasse. That was what Chaz's practical mind was telling him, hinting a little, but just not saying it outright that maybe they should leave Wren behind, whether he was still alive or not. Chaz hated that part of his mind and tried to ignore it, but the devious voice of reason refused to go away.

The ice was brittle, it had weakened considerably since the first fracture and it was definitely precarious. It was holding his own weight comfortably but he didn't know if it could bear two people at once, or three or four. Rika was standing a safe distance away, trembling in the blizzard and attempting to put on a brave face. She was trying to be strong, but in truth the unveiled cold of Dezoris was freezing her straight to her heart. Chaz didn't really know how he was withstanding it himself. Perhaps it was his determination, his wild eagerness to save Wren that was still keeping him going.

His original plan had been to drop a rope down there and climb single-file into the depth below, just as they had saved a young Monsen boy from the monsters beneath the crust of Motavia. If it had worked back then it might as well again this time. However, Chaz wasn't confident that the cliff would be able to support the weight of four people and the pressure of the rope against its sharp and thin edge. If the ice did not snap then the jagged edges of the cliff might bite into the rope and saw it in two. It was too dangerous of an idea to try.

As the two espers caught up to Rika and stood beside her, one on either side, Chaz also rose and glanced at them, feeling like a child who has lost his way. He was trying hard not to cry out of frustration, actually. Wren was alive down there and they just couldn't reach him! What would Alys have done if she were in the same position that Chaz was in right now? The hunter tried to visualize it, attempting to slow down his rapidly beating heart. Firstly, she would not be panicking as badly as he was, that was more than certain. Alys had been cool. Alys had been calm. She would have thought of a plan and stuck to it no matter what. She would have made it work by the sheer force of her will alone.

But Chaz had no plan. He didn't have anything at all. He wasn't Alys either, so he couldn't think like her, as much as he would have wanted to. Rune saw the inner battle Chaz was having with himself and sighed, though it was completely muted out by the storm. They were all going to catch pneumonia, each and every one of them. The esper took a step forward onto the weakened ice and heard it groan softly and give a little under his feet. He stepped away in a hurry. "Chaz!" He shouted over the wind. "This area is nothing but frozen water! It's a damned petrified ocean! If you don't move from there you'll drop like a stone! Move it, shorty!"

Frozen water? Chaz had not known that. He had assumed that everything below the layer of snow and glacier was solid stone. An idea touched upon him and then vanished, falling though the fingers of his mind. The youth gritted his teeth in dismay, stopping them from chattering. For just one second there he had almost had an answer! "What did you say?" He shouted back, his throat raw from the cold air.

"I said let's go back to the ice digger!" The magician replied, cupping one hand around his mouth to enhance the volume of his voice. They weren't accomplishing anything standing out here in the blizzard and freezing to death. If Wren fell and died, then that was a vast loss, but they could still go on without him, as cruel as it might sound. Rika had a rudimentary knowledge of machines, so she could fly the Landale and drive the ice digger in Wren's place. She had successfully managed to fly the space shuttle to Zelan, had she not? Wren could be replaced, but Chaz couldn't be. The boy had no real understanding of just how important he was, not just yet.

It was the ice digger. That was the answer. Of course! How could Chaz have been so dense? The ice digger could burrow through solid ice as long as it was not seamed with hard rocks or stone. Chaz remembered Wren telling him that a long time ago, before their relationship had ever been so much as a thought. If they found a bit of a ledge and tilted the digger's drills towards the ground, they could burrow under the ice and save Wren! Chaz felt like he could have kissed Rune for that information, had he not been put off from knowing that the esper was an arrogant bastard.

He broke out into a grin and started back towards his friends, to Rika in particular because she was the closest. This ice was just so unnerving to walk on, he'd feel much safer once he was holding her hand. She stretched out her hand obligingly to him, the claws in her gloves retracted back safely.

It was then that something that was thought to be forgotten came back with a vengeance.

The dezo owl that had started this whole mess had not been destroyed by Chaz's earth attack; it was only neutralized. It had been entirely frozen, its heart, breath and pulse stopped, but once Chaz's skill wore off, as all earth skills do with time, the bird was restored back to perfect health with its rage completely unchecked. It knew that the blond hunter had threatened its nest and had tried to stop its life. Now it was time for payback.

It flew through the air silently, the great whooshes of its beating wings muffled by the blizzard. It had been born to hunt in that climate. It did not screech out a challenge, learning from its past mistakes, soaring high into the air and then spiraling down into a corkscrew dive, folding its body into itself so that it resembled a speeding bullet. It struck Chaz hard in the shoulder, clanging against his armor and leaving a sizeable dent. The impact of this collision fractured the bird's skull, and while it may be gratifying to know that the owl died shortly after from its own kamikaze injury, it died triumphantly, its revenge well met.

Chaz was knocked greatly off balance just as he took Rika's outstretched hand. He was pushed backwards and wound up pulling Rika out onto the dangerous ice with him. The edge of the cliff seemed to sag under their collective weight. Kyra gasped and started forward to pull Rika back into safety but Rune lunged for her and held her back by her arms.

"Let me go!" The young female esper shrieked. "I have to save them!"

Rune frowned severely and yanked her back towards him. "No! Show some sense! If you step on that ice you'll kill the both of them!" He roared. This was just like a damned lemming march off a cliff!

At that very moment the ice around Chaz's feet snapped. His footing gone, he didn't even have a second to realise his predicament, only that he couldn't feel the ground anymore. With a yelp he dropped out of sight of the espers.

The hunter's very life rested solely on Rika's physical strength. Gravity worked hard to wrench Chaz's hand out of her grip but Rika resisted it with almost supernuman tenacity, falling to her knees and extending herself beyond the broken edge of the cliff. This was the most dangerous position she had even been in her entire life. There was no telling when the ice around her body would break as well. She only had Chaz by one hand, the hunter's body dangling over a drop that could be miles deep. If she let go he would fall and die. "Chaz! It's okay! I've got you!" Rika cried, trying to pull him up by one arm and failing. Her other hand was bracing her body against the ice so she would not slip off as well. He was too heavy.

He craned his neck up to look at her and the expression on his face almost terrified Rika. She had never seen anybody look so frightened before. Chaz's pupils had shrunken down to the size of pinpricks and he was as white as the snow, save for two dots of colour high on his cheeks. The way he was breathing suggested that he was trying not to hyperventilate. Chaz was scared, but why shouldn't he be? He was hanging by a thread over death. "I'm� guh-gonna die�" He stammered through what seemed like a hiccup.

Rika shook her head fiercely. "No, you're not going to die!" She argued. "I'll pull you up! I promise!" And she began to do just that, raising Chaz up a couple of inches before her strength failed her and she had to lower him down again. Oh, why couldn't she have been just a little bit stronger? Rika heard another sickly creak and realised that this time it was from her piece of ice. She couldn't hold on to Chaz and kneel there at the same time without condemning them both. The girl ignored that piece of truth, she couldn't even consider letting him go.

Kyra cried out again when she heard the ice creak and tried to wrestle out of Rune's grasp, thrashing with her legs and smacking the back of her head hard against Rune's chin. The reverent Lutz grunted in pain and held onto her even tighter, all the while his mind racing to think of a way to save them both. He could reinforce the cliff's integrity with a Nawat technique, but not without freezing Chaz and Rika to death at the same time. Damn it! There must be a way! He thought furiously.

Blood started to run down Rika's arm again, the wound she had patched up using a Gires technique rupturing under the strain. Rika tried not to wince at the burning sensation and instead attempted to focus on another burning pain, the muscles in her arms as they moaned and begged to be given a rest. The blood stopped and froze to her skin before it could reach Chaz's clasped hand but the youth saw it and felt sick. Literally, he could feel his breakfast trying to slide all the way up his throat again. He forced it back down with a swallow and looked away from her. Here it was, he was going to be responsible for Rika's death as well.

Looking away from Rika's face compelled him to study the underside of the cliff wall with remarkable clarity. Chaz could see the thin spidery networks of cracks branching out from where Rika was kneeling. They were spreading like an infectious disease. All at once Chaz said something that came straight from his heart, without even touching the synapses in his head. "Rika, drop me." He announced with grave conviction.

She reacted as if she had been slapped. Her bright blue eyes were brilliant in their fear. "I won't! I won't!" Rika shouted.

Actually, this kind of felt like a good idea. One of the sanest decisions he had made in ages. It felt like something had died inside of him as he realized this. Chaz guessed that it was his fear, his fears of dying and of death. It had killed itself with its own fear! Boy, did that make Chaz want to laugh. In truth however the cold numbing feeling that settled around his soul was the acceptance of his fate. There was nothing more that the others could do to change it, but Chaz at least could do something to save somebody else. Somebody he loved. He could save Rika's life by forfeiting his.

"You have to drop me. If you don't I'll drag you down with me. Once I'm gone Rune and Kyra can pull you to safety." Chaz reasoned with a tranquility that came from within and spread all throughout him. His colour returned and his frantic breathing had ceased. He was even smiling a little, guiltily.

Martyrdom made Rika furious. It reminded her all too much of Seed, who for all intents and purposes had been her father. Seed had given her life and had relinquished its own life to protect the people of Motavia from itself, from the day that it would eventually go haywire and become an enemy. She couldn't bear to witness another sacrifice this time. Not him. Not Chaz. "I can't let you go�" She said not in a shout, but in a sob.

Chaz seemed to look sorry for her. He did not envy her the position that she was in. If their roles had been reversed, if he had to be the one holding onto her life in a single grip, he wouldn't trust himself to save his own life and lose Rika's. He'd probably do what his heart would have told him to do and fallen with her off the cliff.

The hunter had one more idea, a sadistic one that must have come from the part of him that had slit the Xe-A-Thoul's throat. With his spare hand that was hanging limply by his side he drew his hunting life. Raising it, Chaz held it above the joint of his wrist. "Let me go, or I'll cut off my own hand to fall free. I'll cut the flesh and saw through the bone until you let go."

Rika studied him hard to try and catch his bluff. Chaz's face was open and honest, and he only looked about half of his age. Eight years old, or maybe even seven. She wasn't one to talk, but Great Light, he seemed so young! He wasn't bluffing either, he had a clear idea of what he was about to do. A fraction of Rika's platform snapped off under their combined weight and Rika's left knee had no place for it to go. With fantastic balance she edged to the side a little, trying to make room. "Chaz�" Rika cried, "oh Chaz�"

He carried out his threat. He pressed the blade of his knife deep into the flesh of his forearm. Chaz hissed, the muscles beneath the wound tensing, and a wealth of blood bubbled forth.

Kyra screamed.

And then Rika released him. Nobody really knew if it was from the drawing of the blood or Rika's chosen decision. Even Rika herself did not completely know.

But the important part was that Rika had released him, and Chaz had fallen.
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