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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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In all honesty Chaz had expected to find Rune waiting casually in the open courtyard, ready to scold them all and especially Chaz for taking so long. He wouldn't have a single clue as to how difficult and dangerous their last battle had been, then Chaz would finally have the chance to scold him. The young hunter grinned a little. Even through a couple of broken ribs the thought managed to cheer him up. It was petty, but he was not going to let that fact spoil the slight brightening of his mood.
Chaz was disappointed. Rune turned out to be in the courtyard all right, just as predicted and awaiting their return, but he looked anything but casual. Chaz stopped smiling immediately and remembered where they were, in the base of the enemy. The way that Rune was leaning on his stave seemed to suggest that he was hurt. The edge of his cloak was charred and partially burnt away, as if by fire, and the Lutz looked exceedingly pale, strained. Rune had not had a partner to defend him in battle. If he had fought, then he had fought alone. No wonder he had not immediately rushed to Kyra and Rika's aid.
The hunter and the android paused simultaneously, taking in the sight of their comrade. Rather than let the magician limp over to them they closed the distance themselves, still carrying their fallen friends. The esper surveyed their losses silently and then spoke normally, no indication that he was wounded surfacing in his voice. Rune was completely calm. "You've both been busy. I heard the scream. Sorry, but I had my hands full at the time. How are the girls? They still alive?"
"They will both survive." Wren replied before Chaz could. It annoyed the hunter a little that he was generally overlooked during times of crisis, and that Wren seemed to ignore him when Chaz was technically their leader. Maybe he just liked to give reports, Chaz didn't know. He shut up for the moment and allowed his friend to talk. "Kyra has sustained internal injuries and minimal hemorrhaging, yet there were no major ruptures. Rika has sustained the same injuries along with some deep flesh wounds and a cracked vertebrae. I see that you have first degree burns too, Rune."
The magician stiffened slightly, almost as if it were an accusation. He smirked a bit to cover up his weakness. "It's nothing. I got jumped by these huge rock things, they spit fire as well as acid, but they weren't much of a match for me. If you and shorty have the strength to keep on walking, I found the room I was talking about before. We can bring the girls there and regroup." He stood up straight and put his weight onto his hurt leg. Rune gritted his teeth and winced.
Chaz finally spoke up. He was against the idea and let everybody know about it. Rune wasn't seriously considering continuing onwards to the heart of the Air Castle, was he? They would never be able to defeat the three creatures with such heavy losses. He would put Rika and Kyra in danger too. It was a stupid idea. Chaz shook his head. "No, we ought to turn back. Look at us, there's not a single person here who hasn't been wounded. I say we should go back to the Landale and try again once we're all healed. We can't fight a war against the darkness and win in this condition."
Wren offered him some support. For once he completely agreed with Chaz and knew that it would be in the best interests of all if they retreated now. Being daring was one thing when it came to saving the people of Algo, but they would not be able to rescue a soul if they were all killed. He nodded curtly, shifting Kyra in his arms a little so that he held her in a more comfortable grip. "I second the idea. If another battle initiates the likes of which we have seen before, I do not think we will be fit enough to fight back. Chaz is right, we should go."
Unexpectedly Kyra groaned. When Wren had moved his arm a bit it must have woken her up. She opened her eyes and tried to pull away from him, so he put her down and helped her to stand on her own two feet. Chaz's eyes flicked over to Kyra then back to Rune, silently reinforcing his opinion that they needed time to reevaluate themselves and heal.
Rune was not adverse to that idea, hell, his own injury was hurting him just as badly as the others, but they did not understand. He could forgive them for that however, because they did not know what he knew. Rune tried to sound sympathetic, failing miserably. "I know that it seems like the best idea, but we haven't enough time for that. The black energy wave is killing off innocent people even as we stand here and discuss it. If we can just get to that room without dying everything will be alright."
The hunter knew very personally what the black energy wave could do to people. He had been forced to watch his own mentor waste away and die. Far away on Dezoris, that was happening to dozens, maybe hundreds of people. Chaz knew of it and felt so guilty that he was probably choosing between the lives of his friends and theirs. Rune was good at manipulation, playing on Chaz's emotions to get what he wanted, It was dirty work, yet necessary. The blond youth looked down at Rika's calmly unconscious face as if seeking guidance. "But I�" He murmured, not sure on how to reply.
"It's alright, Chaz�" Whispered a weak voice from his side. He turned his head a little and saw Kyra looking at him through eyes clouded with pain, and yet she was still smiling reassuringly. The esper girl was nearly standing by herself, but was trembling as she did so, like a wire drawn tight against great strain. She didn't really know what was going on, but her telemental abilities gave her a good gist of the idea. "I can keep going for a little while longer. Just� somebody lend me their shoulder�"
After already carrying her this far, silently Wren obliged her. Rune turned on his good heel. "Good girl." He muttered, secretly impressed at Kyra's tenacity. The esper made a beckoning gesture with the back of his hand. "It's not very far. We can rest soon."
Whether it was close or not it didn't really matter, it was still a pain in the ass to get there. Rune was dead set on leading them himself but his limp was prominent and heavy, slowing them down. It was probably just as well though, because all Kyra could manage was a meager shuffle, leaning on Wren for support. The dark-haired machine had half-offered to carry her again when it was evident how much pain she was in, but she had ended up snapping loudly at him and refusing outright. Her pride as a warrior was worth a little pain. Chaz could understand that, though it didn't mean that he embraced the sharp biting pain of his broken ribs either.
The numbness of his gires spell was wearing off and now it hurt to breathe. It was like blades were poking him inside his own stomach. They left the courtyard and traversed down the corridor that Rune had taken, tense and expecting the worst. If the three creatures were watching from afar then this would be the best time to ambush them. Chaz tried not to think about it, but he was really a cynic at heart. Also, no matter how much he knew he loved Rika, that did not stop her body from growing steadily heavier as his arms began to ache.
They passed the spot where Rune had obviously done battle. The light purple corridor was fractured in places and heavily marred with dark scorch marks, from both heated fire and scalding acid. The air was charged with a strange energy, but when Chaz asked Rune about it the esper just coolly shrugged him off. It didn't matter, the hunter could feel it when several tandle spells had previously been called into existence. A strange looking beast lay dead on one side, something that appeared to be a mixture of sea creature and stone golem. Beneath its cracked rock-haired skin its flesh was cooked, burnt and flayed. The party of four all looked away.
Chaz was beginning to grow pale again. It wasn't something that he could consciously control, his body was just reacting to the pain while his mind urged it not to. Another gires spell would have helped him considerably, but alas, both his hands were full with Rika. Wren noticed Chaz's deeper drawings of breath and the colour draining from his face from the corner of his eye. His attention partially diverted itself from minding Kyra and he looked at his friend with worry. Friend? Was Wren even supposed to call him that after what Chaz had already told him? He didn't know, and he supposed it didn't matter much right now. He began to ask what was wrong�
"Chaz?"
�but was beaten to it by somebody else. The youth froze in mid step and looked down at his precious charge. Rika was squinting at him a little because she had only just opened her eyes and even the dim light of the Air Castle seemed to be too bright for her. Their entourage halted immediately. That pretty, familiar voice was what they all wanted to hear. Though pale, in some way Chaz managed to blush. A slow, hesitant smile spread across his face. It changed him somehow, revealing to the others a brief view of the handsome adult that he was one day going to be. "Rika!" He said, and laughed.
Rune, Kyra and Wren suddenly stopped existing to the boy. All his attention was focussed on Rika. The numan girl blinked sleepily and realised the burning pain across her back and within her stomach. She felt bruised from the inside-out. Rika wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I wasn't the one� who screamed, was I?" Chaz shook his head quietly on reflex. Rika seemed satisfied. "That's the problem with cavalry. It always� arrives a few minutes too late. Where's Kyra? Is she okay?"
The esper girl was strong enough to answer her without gasping. She was succeeding at walking off the gravity spell quite well, that or she was becoming used to the pain. She stepped forward and raised her head, revealing that tears of dogged determination were on her cheeks. "I'm fine. Rika, I'm sorry I couldn�t keep up with you. I royally messed everything up."
Chaz could hear that Kyra was talking but he was only vaguely aware of the words. He was overwhelmed with so much relief that it nearly seemed to physically exhaust him. It was a little compelling the way that she was looking up at him from his arms, still half asleep but obviously alert. It would be so easy for him now to suddenly blurt out; 'I love you!' and await the inevitable response, but he'd have to be totally crazy to do something like that. Instead he settled for his own apology. "I'm sorry I didn't get there in time to save you properly. I wish I had. Sorry."
Being bombarded with apologies from all directions was a good way to confuse her but Rika was much brighter than that. She smiled and reached her hand up slowly, playfully flicking the tip of his nose with her thumb and forefinger. Chaz recoiled and nearly dropped her, uttering a sharp gasp of surprise. Rika wanted to giggle but didn't. "It's okay. Thanks for rescuing me, Chaz. I think someone like you could do with as much hero practice as he can get."
Chuckling, Rune agreed with her and let everybody know it. Kyra managed a warm smile and Chaz just nodded, greatly heartened. Rika didn't seem so badly wounded after all. The hunter had almost completely forgotten about the sharp pains in his side and he was eager to get to that room and take a break. To say that today was stressful both physically and mentally was a gigantic understatement. Chaz felt ready to curl up and fall asleep in the very first safe corner that he found. His arms reminded him of something. Chaz voiced that memo out loud. "Do you think you're strong enough to stand and walk on your own? It's fine if you're not."
Rika thought about it for a few moments. She could not fool herself over her own personal limitations. The girl had an extensive knowledge of anatomy and could easily feel the cracked vertebrae that had been mentioned earlier. It was like a tight, sharp knot in her spine. She was perfectly happy where she was, in Chaz's arms. Rika snuggled closer against his front to prove her point. She could stand, but the pain would be unimaginable. "Can you hold on for just a little while longer?"
The hunter nodded gratefully. His arms hurt a bit but he was still enjoying this. Pain would only serve to make him stronger, anyway. A few feet away Wren was watching their exchange with a blank expression, letting Kyra use him as a crutch. He was very relieved that Rika had regained consciousness again and seemed to be okay, but something else bothered him deeply enough to negate those happy thoughts. It was stupid, but that did not make it any less disconcerting. Wren wiped at the streaks of dark synthetic blood that still stained his face, irritating his wounds.
Chaz was always happy whenever Rika noticed him. He loved her so much that he could almost be entirely open with his feelings and not be ashamed of them at all. He practically begged attention from her. Wren could not understand how Chaz could hold such ambiguous affection in high regard and then completely reject any affection that Wren was more than happy to offer him. It was obvious that Chaz would prefer a female to a male, a biological organism over a machine, and Chaz had been head-over-heels with Rika before he had even looked at Wren. He knew all of this very well, but regardless it still bothered him.
He was not very familiar with the concept of envy and the thought of experiencing it never really occurred to him. Wren put his hand on Kyra's shoulder and prepared to lead her again. "Let's keep moving." He said coldly, slipping into conjunctive speech. "We'll be attacked if we stay here in one place for too long. Come on." He didn't wait for Rune to give the go-ahead this time, Wren just left while supporting Kyra at his side, eliciting a weak cry of protest from the girl. He ignored it. The android just didn't want to look at Chaz and Rika for one moment longer. Separately they were fine, but together, well, Wren couldn't understand why he didn't like it that much.
The corridor twisted a lot and branched off into several smaller pathways. Rune told them all which ones to take and which ones to disregard. They passed two more sites of battle, half a dozen monster carcasses lying strewn about and dead on the floor, wiped out by esperine magic. There seemed to be no dimensional worm corpses. Hopefully they would have passed their hunting grounds already. Eventually their course turned west for a long while, and then south again. They were walking in a wide circle. Chaz was worried that they had wandered all the way back to where they had started in the beginning, entering another open courtyard for the second time. It looked exactly the same as the first one.
No� that wasn't right. There were slight differences that Chaz was beginning to see. The placement of the doors and the dull brown pebble in the sky that was Motavia seemed to be a little off. There were only two doors now instead of three, not counting the western arch they had emerged from. Those two doors led towards the north and the south. Rune was persistently limping his way towards the southern exit. Without even waiting for his friends the esper stepped inside, prompting the other three capable of walking to follow him. No words were exchanged. They just left.
The room was small and cramped compared to the ones they had walked through earlier. There was enough room for the five of them to move about freely without feeling confined, and it was like a cul de sac with only one direction for enemies to rush through. It felt kind of cozy, and even more than that, it felt safe. It was a good spot to rest. Gently Chaz knelt and laid Rika out on her side, knowing that pressure against her wounds would be unbearably painful. Kyra collapsed against a corner, exhausted. Rune leant against the wall, glad to take the pressure off his wounded leg. Wren blocked the exit out to the courtyard, filling the position admirably.
They all needed to rest. Nobody spoke for quite some time, and everybody avoided the strange arcane symbol inscribed into the center of the floor, tattooed there like the signet of a very powerful magician. It was drawn with a strange golden substance, glittering and pulsing as if it were alive. No ill will emanated from it like various other evil enchantments the group had seen in their time, but it was still eerie and didn�t look quite right. In Rune reverent words they 'took five', so that their bodies and minds could recover from the stress. After about ten minutes the male esper raised his head and looked over at Chaz, sitting up against the wall. "You hurt, Chaz?" He asked innocently.
The boy glanced up as he was spoken to. Rune usually wasn't one to worry about his health and it seemed weird that he would start now. He eyed the esper with something akin to mistrust. "Just a few broken ribs." He said simply, as if it were nothing. They didn't feel much better than before, but because he wasn't constantly moving they no longer felt like sharp needles in his side.
Rune nodded more to himself than to Chaz. Maybe he had his own hidden agenda or mischief to uphold. Still leaning on his staff like a cane he limped over to the young hunter and helped to pull Chaz to his feet. He rose but looked understandably confused, and Rune did absolutely nothing to ease Chaz's confusion. He was having fun, in a small and impish way. "Good." He replied carefully, one hand wrapped around Chaz's wrist. Abruptly, without any indication that he was about to do so, he released his wrist and pressed his hand against the back of Chaz's shoulder. Pausing for only a fraction of a second he shoved Chaz forward, onto the weird golden design on the floor.
Chaz stumbled and nearly tripped over his own feet as he was pushed into the center of the room, the eyes of his four friends suddenly fixed on him. His broken ribs crackled painfully as he leant forward a bit to maintain his balance, but just as quickly as the pain had stabbed itself into his brain it inexplicably retreated. There was a bright flash of light from behind his eyeballs, incandescently golden, and a great feeling of warmth spread from the wounded and tired areas of his body. Chaz sunk to his knees in an oddly feminine movement and blinked, surprised.
Wren came to the edge of the symbol and knelt, trying to assist his friend. Chaz looked a little dazed, like he had forgotten where he was. The android was concerned for him, very softly he took hold of Chaz's upper arms and shook him, lightly. The hunter wobbled as he was shaken. "Chaz?" He whispered quietly so that the others could barely hear him. "Chaz, please wake up. Are you alright?"
The youth turned his head towards his friend and the lucid quality in his eyes cleared. He focussed on Wren and smiled privately at him for a moment, then was distracted by something else. Something amazing. Chaz looked down and patted his front. No pain. Undaunted, he fit his slender fingers under his armor and pressed them against his ribcage, delicately at first, and then much harder. He traced the outline of his ribs with his index and middle finger and could feel no breakage in the bones. "My ribs," he said in a small voice, "I'm�"
"I'm cured!" Chaz cried and threw himself at the person closest to him, offering them an embrace. Wren's reflexes were good and he caught the hunter before Chaz could accidentally smack his face against Wren's chest plate, softening the impact somewhat. The android was surprised, the adventurers around them were surprised too, but Chaz was surprised most of all. Stress must have been fraying his judgement and mind, but he still felt quite happy for some reason. Maybe it was the arcane symbol beneath his legs that was doing it, but Chaz still found himself in Wren's arms for the third time that day, yet this time they were straight in front of their friends and allies.
Somebody who sounded an awful lot like Kyra began to giggle. Chaz blushed and tried to look away from all the others, but made the biggest mistake ever by burying his face against Wren's chest. That only made things seem even more awkward. He could imagine them all staring at him, thinking the same thing, looking the same way. Oh, we all knew that Chaz was a bit of a weird one, but we never actually thought that he was that weird, that sick in the head. There's no use for a gay android-loving brat, we had better leave him behind. Lets drop him off on Kuran, he'll be happy there.
Chaz could imagine them all thinking and saying that, and it was all too easy for him to believe that it was happening. It made him feel cold, oh so very cold. No wait, that was only Wren's metal armor drawing the heat from his body. It made Chaz want to condemn himself to a fate unmentionable when he realised that the situation he found himself in excited him a little, being trapped between a friend and the unknown. But was Wren really just a friend to him, after Chaz had confessed that he liked him and Wren had accepted that confession happily?
Fortunately Wren was rapidly getting better at controlling awkward situations. If anything he was remarkably adaptable. Smiling, he pulled Chaz away from his body and formally broke the embrace. "I am glad that you are better now, but maybe you should stand up and move aside so that others may be treated." He looked at Rune who was watching them quietly. "This symbol heals people, affirmative? There is no other explanation for Chaz's recovery and outburst. Is that why you led us here?" He stood up and helped Chaz to do the same. Embarrassed, the hunter stepped off the gold signet and retreated to the other side of the room, fiercely ashamed.
Rune was no fool. He could read people like a book. Chaz was as easy to read as a child's watercolor picture book, but Wren was a different matter. He had no story to tell, and if he had it was locked up very tightly. He gave up on figuring the strange behavior out, it probably wasn't relevant to their quest anyway. "Yes," he confessed in a bit of a drawl, "that's why I brought us here. It's useful, no? Now we don't have to waste any time, we can tackle those creatures today and no other." He left his stave leaning against the wall and hobbled towards Kyra, crossing over the strange symbol as he did so.
As soon as his feet touched the center of the large hieroglyph Rune's limp immediately disappeared. He walked briskly and purposefully, as if he had never been injured once in his life. With a bit of silent coaxing he picked up Kyra and held her effortlessly in his arms. She looked at him with puzzlement in her dark blue eyes. Something didn't make much sense. "But if you knew about this room and its healing properties, how come you were still injured when I woke up?"
Rika interjected and spoke for him. She was trying to sit up as well as she could without I feeling uncomfortable. The numan girl was looking forward to her own turn on the magical healing circle, she hated feeling so weak and vulnerable. Her great intelligence was her second strongest quality and at least she still had that to fall back on. "It's simple once you think about it." She explained. "Rune was injured after he left this room and before he joined up with the rest of us. He couldn't turn back without bringing us with him."
Chaz, who was sitting cross-legged next to Rika with his hands pressed into his lap glanced up suddenly, looking at her and then Rune. He still felt very anxious from his outburst but this had caught his attention. Rune, the arrogant blue-haired bastard suffering for the sake of others? Impossible, yet somehow true. He didn't say anything but Rune's face twisted into an expression of impatient arrogance. He didn't like it when people pointed out his softer side. "Yeah, well, forget about it." He huffed and laid Kyra out on the symbol, then took a step back.
Seconds later Kyra hopped up all by herself. The symbol had worked its magic on her bruised body. Laughing, she gave Rune a warm hug of gratitude, not caring that the reverent Lutz had gone as stiff as a plank in her arms. He was not very used to hugs. Next and lastly came Rika's turn. She couldn't stand by herself but Wren helped her along and gently guided her trembling body onto the sigil. Chaz would have done it himself but he didn't want to be the center of attention anymore, even if it meant that Wren would get the grateful attention that was supposed to be for him.
For Rika the relief from pain was the greatest of them all. She threw her arms around her ex-teacher and grinned. Wren didn't hug back, but Rika knew that he was very selective with his affection. She knew that only she and possibly Demi had ever seen it before. The numan girl looked up at her friend's face and finally noticed what she had missed before. Now free of her haze of pain, her smile drained from her lips. "Oh my gosh. Wren, what happened to your face?" She asked.
Well, he certainly hadn't cut himself shaving, that was for sure. Chaz watched Wren think for a second, processing a response. Would he tell the truth to her or lie? The hunter didn't really know if androids could lie, it seemed like an action too palman for a machine to reproduce. He thought that he would feel better if he knew that androids could only tell the truth, that way he'd always be able to take anything that Wren said as fact, not lies. Maybe then he'd be able to accept his words and not doubt them anymore.
Not for the first time, Chaz was disappointed. Wren looked away from Rika as he spoke. "I was careless. While Chaz and I were scouting out our path I accidentally broke a window. It was most unfortunate." What a liar! Chaz was heavily tempted to speak and catch him out then and there. He had gotten those wounds in combat while protecting Rika and Kyra, not from some stupid window. The open arches of the Air Castle weren't even fitted with glass anyway.
What reason would Wren have to lie about it? Against his better judgement Chaz kept his mouth closed and remained quiet, leaning up against the wall. Rika looked sorry for him and Kyra appeared at her side. Now that her wounds were healed the outrageous energetic zeal of the esper girl had returned. She peered up at Wren like a short doctor analyzing a tall patient. "Is that synthetic blood or something else?" She questioned him, pointing to his wounds.
"It is synthetic, yes, but the cell structure is very similar to palmans, only artificial. That symbol, techniques and medicines will not work on me, and my recovery function is for my mechanical parts only. It is alright. I will only have scars. Hey!" Wren explained calmly but then jumped a little when Kyra reached up and grabbed hold of one of his audio sensors, pulling him down to her height. He had no choice but to obey her, or else she might break a part of him.
When the young esper neophytes refused to listen to her anymore, grabbing them by the ear and barking instructions seemed to be the only way to properly handle them. Who knew it would also work on hugely powerful androids as well? It did, and Kyra was pleased. Rika gasped sharply and then giggled mischievously. It looked kind of funny to her. "There's no point in letting them heal normally and have ugly scars if there's a quick fix right here. Don't worry, just let good 'ol Kyra lend you a hand. Okay?"
Wren nodded and Kyra let go. He stood up straight again, looking at her suspiciously. He wanted to be free of the wounds but didn't know what Kyra was planning. "What did you have in mind?" He asked warily.
The Lutz, the hunter and the numan all looked to Kyra for an answer, and also for some free entertainment. The short-haired girl was happy to oblige. She was outshone by her reverent leader in their small party, but this was her own special little moment in the limelight. Kyra grinned. "I'm going to perform a magic trick, and you are going to be my subject. Rika and Rune," she glanced at the both of them, "go and stand over where Chaz is sitting, and you Wren, you go and sit down on the other side of the room over there." She gestured at the location with a wave of her hand.
Rune already had an idea on what she was going to do. Rarely he obeyed orders but nevertheless he followed the girl's instruction and stood close to Chaz. He had a twisted smile on his face. Rika eagerly plopped down by Chaz's side, sitting cross legged on the floor like a student eager to learn. The young hunter was internally debating whether to put his arm around her or not when he heard a soft clank, which was Wren doing as Kyra said without complaint. The esper girl stood between her audience and her subject. "Ladies and gentlemen!" She announced, but then started to laugh. After a few seconds she stifled her titters and continued. "Everybody watch this!"
Grasping the edge of her long white cape, she pulled it to the side and turned it into a curtain, obscuring Wren from the others. Chaz had seen something like this before, when he had only been a very little boy. There had once been a travelling magician passing through his village and he had made people disappear, conjured rabbits and doves from seemingly nowhere and could read any number at all from a child's mind. It had seemed like real magic to him back then, was he going to see it reproduced here and now? Was Kyra going to make Wren disappear, or turn him into a rabbit or a dove? Now that would be an amazing trick to see. "Kyra, are you sure about this?" Wren said from where he was sitting, a little apprehensive.
"Shh, be quiet and close your eyes, I need to concentrate now." Kyra answered softly, closing her own eyes. She had to block out all her senses and focus, focus hard. Slowly she raised her other hand and held it out in front of her cape, her fingers bent into a certain shape so as to represent a magical runic symbol. From the audience Rune recognised it as readily as somebody trying to show him the letters 'A', 'B' or 'C'. A faint green glow appeared around Kyra's hand and she changed its shape a little to represent a different symbol, then spoke a single word under her breath.
"Medice."
Just like that, it was done. Kyra opened her eyes and drew her cape away. Behind it sat a very blankly bewildered Wren. Kyra has said a word and it had felt like he had been pulled backward and shoved forward at exactly the same time. The android stood and touched his face. The wounds were completely gone, even the dried smears of synthetic blood that had been streaked over his face and armor had disappeared as well. Wren wasn't usually astonished, but this was a strange situation. He blinked in surprise. "What did you do to me?" He said quietly, knowing that Kyra was having a field day.
"A magician never tells her-, oh hell, I'll tell you anyway." Kyra laughed with absolutely no willpower at all. Rune shook his head at the patience of the young espers these days, although he was one to talk himself. "My medice spell doesn't really repair damaged cells like the res techniques and medicines do, it operates in a different way. When I was studying to be an esper my specialty the was magic of time and space, gravity and the like." Kyra was beaming with pride. "Medice is a time spell. Instead of repairing cells it turns back time for them, resetting to a moment when the body was unharmed. I took you back a day, Wren, even though you're still in the here and now your body is one day younger. Cool, huh?"
It was pretty damn cool once you thought about it. Rika's eyes were bright and shining with disbelief. "So that's why you asked if he had synthetic cells or not!" Kyra nodded and rubbed the back of her neck. Modesty, after a long period of being missing in action returned to her. Chaz and Rika applauded the trick and Rune nodded his head a little to indicate that he had paid attention. In a way that was even more wonderful than the applause itself. She had been praised by the reverent fifth incarnation of Lutz! Even if he was an arrogant git, it was still pretty amazing.
Wren thanked Kyra for her help. With the entire party finally all healed, and also with a little arguing between Rune and Chaz, they agreed to take an hour's rest. Rune didn't like the idea but Chaz pressed at it anyway until he caved in. Yet Rune was not entirely defeated, in exchange for an hour's rest Chaz was dubbed elite guard of the symbol room and was sent outside to do his duty, to guard. He left grumbling all the while. Rika and Kyra cuddled up together in the corner of the symbol room and tried to get in a quick hour of sleep. When Rune tried to join them he earned his reward, a red mark on his cheek in the shape of a woman's handprint.
Chaz was in the courtyard now, looking up at the stars. He couldn't quite hear Rune from the inside properly but he could catch a low muffled mumbling that was probably the esper cursing. The stars were more interesting. Chaz liked the stars. He could make out several constellations from his vantage point in the Air Castle. The winged cat. The heroine. The strongman. The twins. They were all there. Many times he and Alys had camped in a hundred different places, tracing out the stars. Chaz felt a pang of homesickness and tried to force it away.
"What are you looking at Antares for?" Asked Wren softly as he stepped out into the courtyard himself. Chaz looked at him from his peripheral vision and then focussed on the star again, the tiny speck of light immediately losing all of his interest. Oh God. Not now. Not Again. What was it with Wren and his constant desire to be near him, especially when alone? Chaz could have been fooled the first time, but definitely not the second time. He was striking up a conversation too, which was unusual. Wren walked over to him and stood by his side, regarding the same star as he.
The hunter shrugged. He had never heard of that constellation before, it sounded like a word from an alien dialect. Wren was nearly a thousand years old. Maybe they had different names for things back in his day. "What's an Antares?" Chaz said with innocence.
The android almost smiled. He could have answered in many different ways. He could have said that Antares was a giant red dwarf star millions and billions of miles away. He could have said that it was dying, suffocating as it devoured itself in a last ditch effort to find fuel. He also could have said that it was already dead, that the tiny star they were looking at was illuminated by light that had taken centuries to travel here, lights from a distant age. Chaz would not have wanted to hear that. Instead Wren pointed and said; "Do you see that little red star there, in the heart of the Scorpirus constellation? It is named Antares."
The scorpirus, who would have rather been killed by its own sting than by the blade of a hunter, Chaz knew that constellation well. Images from the sky became legends, and the reverse was also true. Chaz wondered if he and his friends would someday be honored in that way, for saving all of Algo. You never know. He relaxed a little. He might not have had the chance to sleep like the others, but he wasn't going to spend his entire time here all tense and stressed. "Oh," he mumbled, "you learn something new every day. How are you feeling?"
Wren was a little taken aback at this. Very rarely did people ask him how he felt. Most organic beings assumed that he didn't feel at all. Chaz and his friends had not been like this, they were different. Answering a question like that was a bit of a luxury, but Wren knew exactly how he felt. He felt increasingly nervous each time he forced himself to speak with Chaz. Maybe he was teaching himself to be scared. "I feel no more pain. Now that the wounds are gone I feel� fine."
He wasn't sure how he knew, but Chaz could somehow sense that Wren was lying to him again. It had something to do with the inflection in his voice, or something deeper than that. Chaz turned to him and looked up. "Liar. I can tell that you're lying. You're so bad at it I'm amazed that the others didn't notice it earlier. Let me see." The hunter reached out and touched Wren's face with the back of his fingers. He was right on the fact that Wren wasn't telling the truth, but he totally misinterpreted the use of the word 'pain'. What he was feeling definitely wasn't physical. "Why did you lie to Rika about how you cut up your face?"
He allowed Chaz to touch him but didn't encourage it. Chaz had very soft, delicate fingers, not something one would usually find on a swordsman. Wren's senses were slightly different to that of palmans but that he could tell very well. Wren closed his eyes. "She would have blamed herself for my wounds, and because I believed that I was going to end up with scars, I did not want her to have a constant reminder of her guilt every time that she looked at me. That no longer matters now, because of Kyra."
Well, that was very touching. Sickening, almost. Chaz knew that he was a selfish person and that he wasn't the only one in Algo that cared for Rika, but somehow he wanted to be. Then she could only care for him and Wren could not have her. Something relevant connected in Chaz's mind. Wren loved Rika, but he was only interested in him. That felt weird to think about. It didn't feel quite as horrifying as before, so maybe he was getting used to the idea. "Alright, I'll accept that excuse." The youth sighed, only half aware that he was gently caressing his friend's face. Apart from the fact that it was framed by metal, it was warm and felt no different than the visage of a palman.
Perhaps now he could accept the reason why he had chosen to kiss Chaz that night. Because he had wanted to was only a pretense, there was something else beyond that. Wren just couldn't see what it was. Once he did, though, he thought he could accept it. "Why must I seek acceptance or rejection from you, Chaz?" He asked in a tone warmer than he could usually conjure, leaning into the boy's touch.
"Well, because I�" He began, but then hesitated. Wren had a point. Why did he? Chaz certainly wasn't the boss of him. Although he was the leader of their group, that didn't really mean much. Wren was a fully grown android, so why did Chaz feel the need to make sure that he constantly did what was right? Wren wanted to be accepted by Chaz, but the young hunter had to first accept his ability to do that, to give Wren what he wanted or to take it away. Chaz's eyes widened. His hand ceased its gentle explorations of his friend's face, from the warm clean silkiness of his cheek to the strange tattoo-line that ran from the corner of his eye to his audio sensor. He realised what he was doing.
But Wren had not noticed that yet. He still had his eyes closed. "Please don't stop." He said quietly. "That feels good."
That was a little too much for Chaz's poor mind. He ripped his hand back as if it were on fire and took a step away from Wren, his eyes still wide. The android seemed to come back to reality and looked at him quizzically, confused. Chaz wanted to run away again and hide, just as he had hidden on the night of the kiss, but this was not a safe place for him to do that. There was nowhere for him to run, and he would not escape from his problems like a scared child a second time. When Wren stepped forward to ask what was wrong Chaz raised a palm up to silence him immediately. "Please�" He croaked in a weak voice. "Please go away for a little while. I'm sorry, but I need to think."
Wren didn't want to accept that. "But-" He started to say.
"Please!" Chaz shouted, loud enough for his friends to hear. He didn't care. "Just go away!"
He did as he was told. It was like kicking a puppy but Wren obediently vanished, either going back into the symbol room or taking a hike by himself. Chaz didn't bother to check because as soon as Wren had turned away he dropped to his knees, looking at the ground. Only the sound of steel boots treading on asteroid dust informed him that Wren had gone.
When that sound had ebbed away, Chaz broke down and cried.
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