Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ Starlit Love ❯ The Seven Celestial Rune Gods ( Chapter 2 )

CHAPTER TWO
The Seven Celestial Rune Gods

 

If this was a friend of Eagle's, then this man was also a friend of Cephiro, and of Clef; there was nothing that could be done that could prevent anything from keeping Eagle's friends out of Cephiro. There were seven men flanking Eagle, chatting furiously with each other, all of them finally seeing a smile adorn upon Eagle's rather blushing face.

 

The first had pale skin, healthy platinum eyes, and golden hair, much like the opposite of Eagle, and something inside told Clef that this man was not Hawk. The second had very healthy skin (all the rest of them did) with hard, narrowed blue eyes and flowing black hair that reached atop his thighs when tied up in a ponytail - nobody exactly knew how long this man's hair was. The third had green eyes that were staring nonchalantly into space as he was conversing with Eagle the rest of them, and had silvery blonde hair that seemed to move like the wind. The fourth had deep gray eyes that contrasted the bright lands of Cephiro with - like the second - black hair, though this one didn't have it quite as long - about around his shoulder area, maybe. The fifth had severely dark blue eyes that seemed almost too black to be blue, and had jet-black hair that spiked around the end. The sixth had very firm and yet very soft gray eyes that - like the fourth - contrasted to the brightness of Cephiro, and like most of them, jet black hair. The seventh one had a fierce aura around him, with spiky red hair that seemed to go around him, giving the illusion of a mane of fire; he had extremely red eyes that burned holes when he stared into the floor of Cephiro's castle. All of them, strangely, were wearing black slacks and white long-sleeved shirt, which perked up interest within all the rest - why were they wearing identical clothes?

 

"What brings you here?" Eagle asked, smiling at the seven men who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

 

"Oh," the one with green eyes and silvery blonde hair replied rather hotly, "business - as usual, you know."

 

The one with the narrowed blue eyes and flowing black hair suddenly spoke up while flipping his ponytail, "You know, Eagle, we don't have to be here; we just came because you wished it to be."

 

The last one, the one with red hair and red eyes smacked the other one, and muttered into his ear sort of snappishly, "Will you calm it, Les?"

 

The eyes narrowed, but then closed themselves. "You're right, Ray," the other finally answered.

 

All the rest breathed a sigh of relief; Les was a hard one all right.

 

Clef cleared his throat, announcing his and all the others' presence; Eagle blushed, which was a very contrasting image to his usually pale and sometimes unhealthy face. "I'm really very sorry," he said to the others.

 

Hikaru, once again, decided to take things into her own hands. "Who are you?" she demanded of Ray.

 

A spark of battle aura raised Ray's powers, but a soothing and "Please don't do it" look from Eagle told him that getting mad at this girl wasn't just the simplest solution to their current problem. Frustrating as it was, Ray wanted to pummel that girl straight into the ground; he could tell from the looks of Ian and Les that they wanted to do the same thing. Sometimes, being human just wasn't their thing anymore…

 

"So would you mind introducing us, Eagle?" Lafarga asked calmly.

 

Eagle smiled at him. "The first one, the one with the gold hair and platinum eyes, Ralph; the second with blue eyes and black hair, Les; the third one with green eyes and silver hair, Adam; the fourth one with gray eyes and black hair, Rio; the fifth one with blue eyes and black hair as well, Drake; the sixth one with gray eyes and black hair, Leon; the seventh one with red eyes and hair, Ray."

 

By the time introductions were finished, Umi was clutching her head, saying "Too…much…names!"

 

"Why d' they look so familiar, Eagle?" Caldina questioned suddenly.

 

At this point, Eagle suddenly stopped, and looked wide-eyed at Caldina. "O' course, you don't hafta answer, y'know," Caldina muttered clumsily.

 

"No, no," the other replied, "it's just that I never thought anyone would ask their similarities to the…"

 

And here he stopped short once more, justifying the number of events that could happen if he told them. 1, they would most likely have a fit and won't believe him; 2, Ray would go ballistic and try to kill Hikaru once they knew; and 3, the Rune-Gods really didn't need any introduction or comparison, but if they wanted to… and so Eagle turned to them, hoping for their approval. Les - who always had his eyes narrowed - closed his eyes, and nodded; he usually was the one over the Star Rune-Gods. But it seemed that one of them had objection.

 

"I don't think that'd be a very good idea," Ralph stated. "Eagle, have you tried weighing the consequences if they knew who we truly are? Guardians, yes, but the Creator really wouldn't want to know, now would he?" He pointed to Mokona. "That little fluff-ball over there will eat your head if you do; why don't you ask him for the answers, Magic Knights of Cephiro?"

 

Wanting to actually know who they were, it seemed that force had to be taken. The looks Fuu and Umi were changing confirmed it all.

 

"Sapphire Ice-Blades!" the blue-haired girl shouted toward Les, who countered with a very familiar, "Water Dragon!"

 

"Emerald Tsunami!" Fuu shouted towards Adam, who countered quickly with Fuu's traditional, "Winds of Protection!"

 

Adam and Les suddenly smirked at each other, and then combined their attacks. "Dragon Winds!" they combined.

 

Both Fuu and Umi were thrown off their feet; Ferio and Ascot ran respectively to their sides. Hikaru'd had enough; who were these people, just barging into the Castle of Cephiro, and then started to attack her friends? She charged both Les and Adam, screaming, "FLAME ARROW!"

 

Unfortunately, this wasn't a good idea. "Crimson Flame!" Ray shouted, preventing Hikaru's 'Flame Arrow' from reaching Les and Adam.

 

Ralph spoke, "If you want to fight, fight later; there isn't really much time; we merely wanted to meet you, but then again if you treat us like this instead of like guests, perhaps a bit of roughhousing might be in store for you. Andromeda!"

 

Ralph had his arms spread wide as a shape emerged from his body; it seemed to be a woman's shape, chained to a rock that would never let her go. "This would never just end like Andromeda did," Ralph declared sadly; "the Princess of Ethiopia was a gracious lady, but she died…right after she married Perseus and bore Hercules. If we keep battling our own, then we will lose our own! The Nereids were with the people of Ethiopia until one day Queen Cassiopeia had insulted them! Don't you think it's important that we keep together? It really isn't a good thing to be fighting amongst ourselves; you'll never know for sure. Hydra might be watching over us this very minute."

 

Eagle, along with the other six 'visitors' cringed at the word Hydra; they all knew who and what Ralph was referring to, and it wasn't a pretty thing. The others - Clef, Caldina, Presea, Lafarga, Ascot, Ferio, Umi, Fuu, and Hikaru - were staring, gaping rather, at the eight men assembled in front of them. "Tell me, Kuro Madoushi," Ray said calmly, trying to fight the anger down his throat, "tell me if the consequences that you've received already were enough; were they, or would you like some more to be put down on your small back that can't even hold the capacity of the weight of Cephiro on your shoulders; what Magic Knight is that?!"

 

Hikaru looked as if her face were splattered with acid. "What are you talking about?! I've saved Cephiro loads of times with Fuu and Umi!"

 

Leo put a calming hand on Ray's shoulder as his anger started to boil up once more. Not wanting to show their relationship to the others, and so he murmured something lowly, lower than a whisper, in Ray's ears, letting only the others on their side of the room including Eagle, "Being mad won't solve anything; if you want to destroy her destroy her later."

 

Ray sighed; today just wasn't his day, and so Leo took over for him. "If you really want to know what you really did and what we're talking about, Hikaru -" he spat her name out icily "- then why not look over the past? It's always been Umi and Fuu saving your behind, and it's always been them that fought; when you were entrapped by Hawk, it was them captured by Chizeta and Fahren, you didn't even do a thing to help them. You were always trapped in your own heart, Eagle's heart, and now you've brought Cephiro near-death; specifically it was never mentioned that Cephiro is near death; Cephiro, however is near crumbling state. I wish to know you better, Hikaru; not in friendly terms, however, but terms that will have you destroy your own darkness. The terms are simple: You must meet with the eight of us."

 

"Before I do," Hikaru protested, "will you at least tell us who you are?"

 

The seven chorused, "We are the Seven Celestial Rune Gods of Cephiro."

 

PREVIEW:

When one's heart destroys all, can one rebuild all? Hikaru's taking her first test with the seven Rune-Gods including Eagle; but what happens when everything takes a slight turn? Does a shadow need to become the light in order to save Cephiro?

 

NEXT:

Strength of the Heart