Fan Fiction ❯ Humanity Reborn ❯ Split ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four \ Split

 

 

 

Hugh turned over in his bed. He could hear Aurore's faint, even breathing in the next bed over. There was no sound coming from the room adjacent to theirs, where Alleio and Mariame slumbered deeply. His eyes shifted to the left suspiciously. It was entirely too quiet. He sat up abruptly and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. With a small moan, he set his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face vigorously. He just couldn't get the dream out of his head.

Why were his hands glowing? What the hell were those black things flowing from it?

He didn't like the feeling he got when he remembered it, but it wouldn't leave him alone. It was like a memory, it was so strong.

 

`Maybe it is a memory…' he thought, `…but that would I mean I really was there, with glowing hands and wispy things coming out of them…'

 

Hugh shook his head violently, blonde hair falling in front of his face. He shouldn't dwell on it. It was too complicated. Too weird. He had to get it out of his head so he could sleep. His arrows had been finished today, and tomorrow, they were going across the ocean, to Japan. Jet lag would be enough, but to add extra insomniac fatigue…

 

He straightened and stretched silently. It wouldn't do to wake up Aurore as well. Slowly, he shuffled into the small living-area of the room.

 

`So glad Alleio got us suites…wonder where he got all his money?' he thought absently, falling onto the overstuffed sofa in front of a wide flat-screen television.

 

He flicked it on. He hadn't watched the television in so long, living in an electricity-free cabin the middle of nowhere…Hugh flipped the channels absently. Stopping when he saw a music video, he sighed in relief. The VHI Classics channel always relaxed him.

 

Focusing on the lyrics and hypnotic melodies of the music, Hugh let all thoughts of his memory-dream dissipate from his conscious. Temporarily free of the burden that haunted him, he was able to slip into a deep, dreamless state of sleep.

 

 

***

 

“Alleio…wake up! Alleiohhhhhhhhhhhh!”

 

Alleio woke up suddenly, sweat forming a thin film over his bare body. He did NOT like being poked awake. It brought back nasty memories. His muddled, sleepy mind thought furiously,

 

`Disgusting, I'm sweating…wait…didn't I go to bed with clothes on?'

 

He did, he was sure of it. Sometimes psychic powers were so annoying. He must have subconsciously removed his clothes in the night…he let out a groan of frustration. Why'd he even bother putting on clothes? Oh, yeah, he didn't want to freak Mariame out any more than necessary.

 

`Hah, yeah right, you loved her stunned face when you just had a towel on…you know you did…'

 

His eyes, previously still closed, popped open. He raised an arm, looked around him, and saw it. The faint shimmer. He brought his arm down onto the shimmer and it collided with a solid object. He smirked.

 

“Nee…” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face as he sat up onto one arm, turning to the little creature beside him. “What are you doing here, and why did you have to wake me up at…” he glanced at the clock on the nightstand between the two beds. His eyes narrowed, and he groaned softly once more. “Three a.m…” he let his arm collapse as he flopped down onto his stomach. After a minute of waiting for an answer and hearing only silence, he grew impatient and reached a hand out to grab the little creature staring wide-eyed at him. It let out a squeak. Alleio demanded,

 

“Talk. Now.” Across the room, Mariame stirred and mumbled something incoherent.

`Shoot. Mustn't wake her up…' he glared at the minute creature before him and prodded it with a finger.

 

“Be quiet about it, too, Nee,” he whispered.

 

Seeing as it was semi-forced to, the creature began to speak as it ruffled its tiny wings indignantly. Its voice was squeaky; almost chirp-like, it fit its tiny profile almost too perfectly.

 

“Alleio…you might want to check out the goings-on in the next room immediately!”

 

As if to emphasize its point, the creature flapped its wings frantically, giving Alleio a small breeze. Alleio sputtered and held in a sneeze as he got hit with ample amounts of persuasion dust.

 

“I told you not to do that to me! You know I despise being forced into things…”

 

Reluctantly, Alleio swung his legs over the side of the bed and padded sleepily to the connecting door. He reached for the door, only to feel a sharp claw on the top of his head. Glaring at the ceiling, he wondered, `What now?' Nee briefly came into vision and a tiny clawed foot pointed down towards the floor. Alleio traced the invisible line Nee's foot made with half-closed eyes and understanding dawned on him.

 

`Oh. Right.' Alleio sighed, wondering just how sleepy he was, to have forgotten to replace the clothes he shed earlier. Praying May didn't wake up at that moment, he shrugged on a pair of shorts and resumed his trek to the door.

 

Rubbing a hand over his face once more, he prepared himself for the visions of peacefully sleeping Aurore and Hugh as he twisted the doorknob and walked into the room. What he expected, however, was not what he got. Instantly, his sleepiness left him as his face drained of blood; the second he got within range, he was bombarded with the mental anguish of Aurore.

 

His face morphed into his usual expressionless mask as he gathered his aura-energy. His scytheirod appeared in his hands, and he moved into a defensive stance as he crept slowly towards Aurore's bed, where a shadowed figure was standing over her. He almost lost his flawless composure as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw who the figure was.

 

A glimmering blade was held to Aurore's throat; a slim hand was clamped over her mouth to prevent a scream from escaping her. Her eyes were clenched tight in sheer terror and anticipation, and when Alleio tapped her mind, he could feel her emotion. He blinked in empathy; to close his eyes in an attempt to shut out the mild agony would be foolish. Automatically, he sent her a message telling her he was here, and Mariame was to be coming shortly. And of course, now that her rescuers were here, everything would be `okay'. At this, her eyes popped open and focused on the door to her right. If her mouth was not obscured, surely a slight smirk would have made itself known even though her terror.

 

Alleio took his focus off of Aurore's face, seeing as she was once again completely aware of the situation—and more importantly, not completely blinded by fright. His eyes moved slowly from the hand holding a menacing blade against her throbbing pulse point, to a wrist covered in red scratches. Apparently Aurore had tried and failed to fight the intruder off. Alleio glanced quickly towards Hugh's bed; why wasn't he rousing and helping? He must have heard something…

 

Belatedly, he realized the blade at Aurore's neck wasn't an ordinary blade.

 

It was the tip of an arrow.

 

`Oh, damn…' He kicked himself (mentally) for being a dense fool. He knew, now, that Aurore's savior back at the cabin was the “pure soul” they were searching for, the one who was to have the Manifestation reside in him…a mere human. He cursed inwardly. He should have realized it, but he was blind. He felt the tiny wings of a minute creature beside him; and realized Nee could help. He used telepathy to alert the creature,

 

`Nee! Awake Mariame now!'

 

The winged creature flew off, trailing dust in its wake, still invisible to all but Alleio's eyes and those he willed to see Nee.

 

In the few seconds passed since he had “activated” his scytheirod, the shadowed figure threatening Aurore had shifted slightly. He was now sitting behind her head, on her pillow, as he tilted her head back towards him. The metal of the arrow-tip flashed in the dim light warningly, and again it was held against Aurore's now taut throat. Her labored, shallow breathing and frantically beating pulse only served to increase her danger. Her arms lay quite motionless at her sides, and she found herself looking up at her attacker. Long blonde hair cascaded forward, denying the moonlight the illumination of his face. His face was quite peaceful, as if he was not attacking threatening his newfound best friend at all. It was only as Alleio saw the shadows of eyelashes upon Hugh's cheek when he realized; he wasn't conscious. He was possessed. Understanding dawned on Alleio-- the Manifestation didn't want a Sanctimon around. Obviously, she was a threat to the entity's existence.

 

`Well no shit, Sherlock.' He spun to the side to greet the owner of the voice that had just intruded on his mind.

 

A tousle-haired and sleepy-eyed Mariame stumbled into the room. Her eyes widened as she fought to combat the sleepiness and take in the situation. Hazel met fiery orange as Alleio and Mariame exchanged glances.

Immediately, those hazel eyes turned a silvery ice blue, and her fangs grew to gross proportions. Claws extended to glimmering talons, and strangely, ice-blue stripes appeared on her face, reaching on opposite sides of her nose to the very bottom of her earlobes. Apparently her body recognized this creature as a real threat. She crouched, much like Alleio had done, into a defensive stance. Normally, she would attack, but she realized immediately in the glowing moonlight--- this was a fight to be dealt with carefully and with strategy. Her mind considered all possible attacks, and Alleio did the same. He had, though, far more experience with possessed beings; simply, more experience fighting in general.

 

`Mariame.' His sharp, edged voice cut through her thoughts and attained her attention immediately. `I'm going to get the blade out of his hands with telekinesis, you get in there and get him against the wall. Stay behind me for the moment, because although Hugh's eyes appeared to be closed, he can `see' everything that's going on and is no doubt prepared for attack. He's just human, remember, and I don't think the Manifestation has entire control over his body; not at least, enough to use his own powers through it…when I nod, go.'

 

Mariame remained silent, trusting him to know, through her thoughts, she understood.

Unexpectedly, the glimmering blade suddenly flew upward, out of Hugh's hand and embedded itself fast into the ceiling, cutting Aurore's chin in the process. Alleio nodded firmly, and Mariame leaped agilely at the blonde-haired threat. With a feral screech not meant to come from a human throat, Hugh twisted and leaped off the bed, away from Mariame's long talons. She growled at him in warning, and pounced again. This time, Hugh's human body was no match for her own. In a fierce tackle, she grasped his wrists above his head with one hand, sat on his knees, and with the other hand, slammed his head into the carpeted floor with a meaty `thud'. Aurore, gasping for breath—the strained position of her head had inhibited her breathing-- and shaking silently, her head slumped forward. Mariame glanced back just as Aurore's eyes rolled in the back of her head and she threatened to fall off the bed in a faint. Mariame rolled off the unconscious Hugh and moved to catch her, but Alleio, in that ever-calm voice of his, curtly told her to keep the possessed one controlled. Alleio stopped Aurore's descent with a thought and set her gently back onto the bed.

 

`You have a knack for falling, girl…'

 

His winged pet flew close to his ear, holding a small cloth. He applied this to the cut he had unintentionally inflicted upon her. It wasn't deep, but still bled profusely. He turned to the fallen Hugh, who was still unconscious under Mariame's clawed grip. She was breathing slowly, not really exerted from her “fight”. She looked up at the arrow tip embedded in the ceiling and smirked. Her smirk disappeared, however, when a solitary drop of blood dripped down from it and onto her face. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, wiping it off on her skirt.

 

“So…what am I to do with Mr. Possessed here?” she asked nonchalantly. Now that everything was resolved, there seemed no reason to get overly worried—if it happened again, things would go as they had tonight. Oh, she did not know the extent of her naiveté.

 

“We wait till he wakes up, and see if he's out of it still…and if not, then we see if he remembers any of it.”

 

“Yes…of course,” she murmured, distracted. She had, of course, just realized he had barely anything on. `He seems to make a habit of that…' She blushed at the thought of her actions a few hours earlier, scolding herself mentally. `Dear lord, what is this, my life as a paperback romance novel?'

 

Her blush and quick shake of the head caught Alleio's attention.

 

`Why is she…oh,' he thought, smirking inwardly. He hadn't caught her thought, but from where her eyes were roaming it was clear as day just why she was blushing. He stared right back at her. Unfortunately for him, she did not sleep naked, and she wasn't wearing even a seductive lingerie outfit---just the same pair of clothes she had been yesterday…though they were, understandably, a bit wrinkled.

 

She shifted slightly, becoming rather uncomfortable under his own stare, having realized what she had been doing. He, though, didn't let up. She squirmed again as his fiery orange eyes darkened. He made to take a step forward and neatly tackle her—Hugh be damned, his hormones were going mad—but as he contemplated the pros and cons of this, a hesitant, deep voice from below alerted their attention.

 

“M…Mariame?” Hugh asked, tilting his head to look up at the person currently sitting on his abdomen, legs on either side of him. His eyes took in the stripes on her face, the fangs, the concern in the ice-blue eyes, and her elongated claws.

 

`Oh jeez…it wasn't a dream, then…' and he faded back into unconsciousness; head slumping backwards against the carpeted floor once more.

 

Mariame looked up at Alleio questioningly. `'S he okay?'

 

Alleio nodded. “He's just fallen unconscious again.”

 

“I knew that, I meant mentally—can I get off him now?”

 

Alleio made a small noise of dissent but nodded shortly once more. He glared quietly sideways at Hugh as Mariame straightened from her rather undignified tackling position, blushing as she did so. She was just realizing what a suggestive pose that was; no wonder Hugh was confused! That didn't explain why Alleio was glaring, though…

 

At this moment, a small pop occurred and drew Mariame's attention to just above Alleio's shoulder, where a very strange, very small creature was batting its wings furiously to stay aloft. Alleio looked ready to sneeze from the significant amounts of sparkling dust coming from its wings; Mariame giggled at the sight. Curious, she stepped timidly towards the creature. It was ruby red, with fluffy iridescent feathers covering the entirety of its body. It wasn't shaped like anything she knew. Its head, though, looked particularly like the head of a fictitious `dragon' she had glimpsed once.

 

`Quite strange looking indeed,' she decided silently. `Like a dragon with hawk's wings…'

 

She reached up to touch its tiny feathers and it bared glimmering miniscule fangs at her. She smiled, nonplussed, and stroked its head with the tip of a finger. At the touch, the thing (she didn't know what to call it) pressed into her hand, nearly begging for attention. She shifted a finger to rub gently under its chin as it settled itself on Alleio's shoulder. Mariame glanced at Alleio sideways through narrowed eyes.

 

“You never pet it, do you?”

 

Alleio just looked confused.

 

“Pet her? It never occurred to me.”

 

Mariame snorted slightly and started to stroke a silky red wing.

 

“Of course not…what is it?” the latter statement she directed towards him.

 

“An alatus,” He turned his head to watch the winged creature on his shoulder.

 

(aaah-lah-toos)

 

“Alatus…that's Latin.”

 

“Yes, it means `winged'.”

 

“How quaint.”

 

He moved away from her to sit in a nearby chair, nearly collapsing.

 

“Agh… this had to crop up in the middle of the night…” He groaned slightly, leaning his head back to rest on the chair-back and closing his eyes.

 

“Well, I'm not tired at all…this little thing has quite the screech.”

 

Alleio opened one eye to see his alatus had made its way over to her shoulder. Feeling slightly perturbed, he nodded shortly in response and shifted uneasily.

 

“Relax,” Mariame ambled over and sat on the armrest.

 

“I'm perfectly calm,” He rested his hands behind his head, so as to appear tranquil.

 

“…just a little anxious; it's progressing faster than expected.”

 

“Yes, well…”

 

“Hm,”

 

“Well, you're certainly conversational this morning,” Mariame remarked, grinning.

 

“It's three in the morning, I have just been woken up by Nee rather abruptly, forced into a pathetic excuse for a battle, we have to leave for Japan in roughly five hours—I --- am going back to sleep.” Alleio stood up, stretching and yawning mildly as he walked towards the door of the adjacent room. He opened it with a sharp turn of his wrist and flicked it shut behind him with a snap, ignoring the brown-haired girl still sprawled unconscious on the bed.

 

“Well, someone's a morning person,” she murmured and started to pet the alatus that had failed to follow Alleio out the door. “A forgetful one, at that…” she glanced to the crumpled, slightly askew young woman on the bed next to her. Sighing, she got up from the chair, stumbling around the corner of the it- now that the danger had passed, so to speak, she was groggy once more- and quietly shifted Aurore on the bed so she lay straighter than before. Then, glancing down at Hugh lying outstretched on the floor, Mariame decided she could do nothing about him; he would be too heavy for her currently human strength. She had already changed enough today, she decided. He could stay there, and when he woke up, hopefully wouldn't be too confused…

 

Shrugging off shivers of guilt at leaving him to wake up confused and alone, she tiptoed out the door Alleio previously had near-slammed. In three groggy steps, Mariame reached her own door, opening it as quietly as she could. Stepping in, she heard the lock click into place without her doing, and looked up abruptly to see Alleio observing her silent entrance, fire-orange eyes turned dark brown in the faint light of a crescent moon.

 

“Oh, you're awake,” her gaze shifted down to her bare feet as she staggered to her bed.

 

He nodded shortly. “Wish I could say the same for you. Not tired at all, eh?”

 

Mariame smiled faintly and murmured,

 

“Ha-ha. Do you think it's safe to leave them alone again?”

 

Alleio nodded slightly, his hair sliding off his shoulders to sway slightly against his back as he moved to sit up against the headboard.

 

“Our evil friend needs…recharging… before he can “possess” Hugh again…and by that time, Hugh will be ready to fight him off on his own.”

 

Mariame merely nodded and yawned.

 

“And you're too sleepy to care, aren't you?”

 

She nodded again, leaning down onto her pillow. For once, she was instantly asleep the second she had assumed a comfortable position in the bed.

 

Alleio snorted.

 

“Not tired at all…indeed...” he muttered, turning his face into his pillow. He soon followed his female friend into the very familiar and pleasant Soul Realm.