Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Forbidden Empire ❯ Chapter 3

Chapter 3
The smoke was suffocating. Ken coughed and swiped at his eyes, trying to keep from breathing in too much of the thick fumes. How had the flame spread so much without any of them noticing? And where were Yohji and Ernesto at a time like this? Surely they couldn't sleep right through.

FLASH

Sapped of their strength, his legs collapse, knees connecting solidly with the ground. The small power still left to his arms is the only thing holding him completely up from the ground, and cloudy smoke swirls around him, a warning of the destructive force not far behind it. A series of choked gasps escape his tightly clenched jaws against his will, hand automatically darting towards the gaping wound in his side, which vehemently protests the strain on his already tired body the only way it knows how.

The effort it takes to push himself back on his feet is too much; he collapses back to his knees almost instantly, the metal in his body sapping all of his energy. There has been no time to remove the weapon, and there won't be for a long time to come.

Now, the smoke is too thick to see through anymore. The fire is gaining; there is not way he can move even the few yards it would take to put himself out of its destructive path. It is nearly upon him, the heat and the flame-

FLASH

Ken was almost unaware of his body stumbling forward, or of himself pulling his nightshirt up to cover his nose and mouth, his blue-green eyes unseeing yet pointing out exactly where the fire raged the highest. Something… something was…

Tongues of flame spit savagely at him, and a flying ember grazed the back of his bare hand, brushing against the skin in a burning, searing caress. The brown-haired youth cursed and flung it off immediately, for the moment ignoring the burn it left behind. He could feel it… someone was…

There it was! A low, muted groan of pain, almost drowned out by the roar of the fire. There was someone there!

He had known that, somehow; knew from the beginning that there would be someone.

Ken surged forward, not sure why he did; he somehow knew also that it was neither Yohji or their guide, and, for all he knew, it might just be another one of those 'visions' he'd had earlier. But the fire was too real to be imaginary.

There was a clear path between him and this other person, but it was closing fast. Not even realizing what he was doing, he sprinted through it, pulling out all the speed techniques he used so regularly in his soccer games. The flames seemed to grasp at him, hissing in fury, but he ignored them, gaze darting towards the figure lying in a fetal position in front of him, looking for all the world like it had conceded to death already. From what Ken could see, it was that same boy from before, only somehow looking younger, and with blood now leaking from a wound.

A wound in his side…

The athlete quickly blinked away the sudden images that flashed before his eyes, and leaned down, looking the boy over. "Hey! What are you doing? The fire's coming right towards you! Hey!" but it seemed the fair-haired youth could not hear him, so wrapped up was he in his inner, morbid death musings.

The heat was intense beyond belief, and becoming even worse; a patch of growing flame suddenly seemed to rear up, about to fall upon the small boy like foamy waves upon the beach; Ken didn't think, just scooped the small body into his arms and ran, an all-out sprint. There was no way he was just going to leave him there to die. He needed answers, and he was going to get them, sooner or later.

FLASH

The feeling of motion; he groaned and tried to curl further within himself. His side burned, and the sudden movement was jolting his whole body. The fires were crackling in his ears, muted by the warm body of the person who held him in their grasp.

Someone had saved him. Not a barbarian, they wouldn't do such a thing, they were too terrified of him and the others; maybe one of his own?

Qantaqa… and Seoman… were they…

One final, jerking movement, then the sensation of falling, falling onto a surrounding, comforting presence. Gasping breathes from his savior, and the rapid heartbeat beating frantically in his ears. It was somehow soothing… he could just close his eyes and remember… a feeling, a presence from long ago…

A smaller movement, and words. A question. He shook his head slightly and burrowed his nose stubbornly deeper into the strange cloth he was lying facedown in; he didn't understand.

FLASH

There was no time; the raging flames pursued Ken like a living thing. With one final burst of effort, the athlete surged forwards and onto a grassy hillside, breathing heavily and hurriedly; unsteady legs finally gave out and he collapsed onto the ground, just out of reach of the fires, cradling the nearly motionless form of the other boy in his arms. They were safe.

And to think, he didn't even know this kid's name yet.

He didn't even have the energy to chuckle at that, but slowly, very slowly, his strength returned, albeit slightly; he shifted a bit, a bit uncomfortable with the weight against his body, and muttered a low, "Are you alright?"

It didn't seem like the kid understood him; that was all right, as long as the boy wasn't going to die on him just yet. He shifted and glanced down at the boy's side, examining the wound; it wasn't as bad as he'd thought; minor, even. He'd take a look at it later, the brown-haired youth decided, noticing the deepening breaths of the light-skinned youth.

Ken lay there, not wanting to jolt the youth out of the light slumber he had so easily succumbed to, and stared up at the sky through the canvas of foliage above him, his aches seeming to blend away; there was a full moon out tonight, and the stars twinkled gently beside it's commanding presence. The temple towered over them, but not in an ominous way for once; instead, it looked almost breathtaking, with the midnight tapestry littered with glittering diamonds as its backdrop.

The forest was quiet…

-----

Noise. Ken jerked up suddenly, a cry on his lips- only to snap his mouth shut as his eyes took in his surroundings. His all-too-familiar surroundings.

He was back in his tent.

How had he…?

… Morning. It was morning. What had happened?

FLASH

Fire. Heat. Someone was hurt.

Running. Heat. Collapse.

The moon. The stars.

The temple.

FLASH

His breath caught, and sweat beaded up on his forehead as he shut his eyes quickly, trying to cease the swirling picture in front of his vision. The athlete forced himself to breathe slowly, deeply, to fight the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. This was no time to overreact. Something seriously twisted was going on here, and he needed to figure out what, or at least why.

So. Quick rehashing of events up till now: he had woken last night to a blazing fire, went out into it without telling or waking either of his companions- come to think of it, he hadn't even seen their tents out of the corner of his eye as he ran; odd-, saved that boy from before who had threatened him with a spear, and fallen asleep practically cuddling with him. And then-

And then what?

He tried to recall waking later on, maybe stumbling wearily back to his tent amidst the finally dying flames, or maybe someone dragging him back to his sleeping quarters- but there was nothing. Nothing. Just a jump in time for him, from the small hill to waking in his sleeping bag.

Huh. Interesting, but no help to him at all.

The back of his hand burned, where Ken remembered the embers blazing across his skin last night. He winced involuntarily, gaze jumping to that spot to check out the damage, eyes widening in mild shock at the sight.

Nothing. No burn, anywhere; especially not where the pain was coming from. A phantom pain, from where a wound should have been? This whole thing was getting weirder by the moment, and he didn't like it one bit. He hated not knowing what was going on around him, he had always been like that; ever the curious child, always asking questions.

The forest went suddenly and eerily silent.

Oh, no. Not again, dammit! It always got quiet when something weirder than usual happened. Absently rubbing at the injured finger that still hadn't reduced it's level of pain, Ken stood, shaking the sleeping bag off of his slender form and pushing aside the flaps to his tent warily.

Something was horribly wrong.

-----

"Ernesto?" the guide looked up at Ken from where he sat, perched on a large rock in front of a roaring campfire, and nodded slightly in greeting.

"Señor Hidaka, good morning. Did you have a nice sleep?"

Ken's blue-green gaze was darting hurriedly around the small clearing, searching for any signs of what he had seen happen with his very own eyes last night. There were none- no piles of ashes and soot, no stone platform stripped of the thin layer of greenery on its surface, no lingering, acrid smell of smoke. Nothing. He couldn't believe his eyes, and what his bewildered mind suggested to him as an excuse was too twisted to even consider at the moment.

"Señor Hidaka?" the native's deep tones cut through his shock, and he turned back to face him, memory digging up what the man must be asking about.

"Ah… yes, as well as can be expected, I suppose." He forced a grin, somewhat sheepishly, then turned and made a determined beeline for Yohji's tent. There was something the blonde wasn't telling him; there had to be! Why else would he have invited him, of all people? There had to be some ulterior motive.

Throwing the flap back, Ken let brilliant sunshine burst into the shadowed area, and right onto Yohji's eyelids. The blonde groaned and sleepily threw an arm over his eyes, rolling over to escape the bright light. "'S too early. Go away…" he protested, voice muffled by sleep.

"It's not early enough," Ken corrected, kicking at the lax form lightly and throwing the sleeping bag off from around his friend's body. "Get up, we have some things to talk about."

-----

"So what's this all about?" Yohji demanded when the two finally reached the top of the temple. Ken had been uncharacteristically quiet since forcefully waking the blonde up, refusing to answer any of his questions until they were up here, out of their guide's hearing range. The blonde agitatedly twirled a lock of hair in his twitching fingers. He'd kill for a cigarette right now, but he didn't want to set off Ken again; he didn't know what the hell was going on, but his friend looked like he could blow up at any given moment, for any given reason.

And, now that he had a chance to maybe get some answers, Ken couldn't think of a single thing to start. Was there a fire last night? Have you been having really messed up dreams lately? Are you sure you didn't see those weird, pale people before, because I've seen them twice now?

"There's something you aren't telling me," Yeah, real smooth, Hidaka.

One pale eyebrow was raised at that. "What're you talking about, Ken?"

"I mean this!" he gestured impatiently around the enclosed space of the temple top. "There's something weird going on here, Yohji, whether you know it or not. Those ghosts you and I laughed about me seeing two days ago? Well, I saw them again, last night. I saved a boy from a fire last night. A fire that there was no trace of this morning when I looked around, and I know it wasn't a dream. A fire that, according to you, now that I think about it, happened two thousand years ago!"

Yohji was staring, wide-eyed, at him. He probably though Ken was crazy, but, now that he had started, he couldn't seem to stop. And so he blundered ahead.

"I don't know what's going on around here, but it's definitely much more than what you're telling me. Maybe more than you even know, but…" he trailed off, not knowing quite how to continue. This was all too weird for him.

"There is… something." Yohji started at last, refusing to meet his friend's gaze. He felt responsible for whatever Ken was going through, imagined or not. "I didn't tell you because it didn't seem important at the time. It seems that there may be some truth to the native superstitions about this place. You see, this temple is unique in more than the fact that it was built by a people we have no knowledge of. The structure of it, the whole way it was built, suggests a use that was far different from the usual in this area, the human sacrifices of the Maya, Inca and Aztec. And the fact that it was built here seems to imply something along why the Maya built their Temple of the Sun where it was; it was some sort of sacred ground for them. I'm afraid that's all I know, Ken. It's one of the reasons I brought you, remember?" A typical, Yohji-grin.

Ken was disappointed; he'd hoped to learn more than that. It seemed there was more to this assignment than anyone seemed to know. Just great. And what was he supposed to do until something, anything, screwed up and gave him some kind of clue to what was going on? Just wait around and hope he didn't get hurt? That fire had been too real to ignore.

A sudden loud, high-pitched screech nearly burst his eardrums it was so close. He winced and looked instinctively towards the stone doorway, just in time to catch a flash of an amazing red-and-blue bird flitting past, almost like it had been spying on them; it seemed somehow familiar, like some of the other things around here.

But that was ridiculous, of course. Maybe he'd once seen a picture in a brochure or something. That must be it. Putting that thought out of his mind, Ken smirked and glanced at Yohji, who was digging around in his back pockets, most likely for a cigarette if the brown-haired youth knew his friend. "So, guess we should get started, if we wanna figure out what the hell's going on, huh?"

"Right."

-----

The day had been a total waste; Ken hadn't even begun to decode the hieroglyphs decorating almost every inch of the enclosed space, and he had no idea where to start. Unlike some ancient civilizations, these people had actual writing, not just pictographs. And, to top it all off and make Ken even more agitated than he already was, his finger hurt worse than ever, as if it was reacting to something in the air around him. For all that had happened recently, he wouldn't doubt it.

Taking a long, satisfying drink from his bottle of water, he stood, absently wiping the sweat from his brow, and turned to face Yohji's back. "You think we should call it a day?"

"Yeah." The blonde stood from where he had been kneeling and lightly wiping dirt from the wall with a small brush, grinning a tired grin and absently putting out his cigarette with his fingers. "Working this late in the day is not my style." He joked, noticing that the sun was already sinking behind the treetops. Ken laughed at that, brushing sweat-soaked bangs from his eyes.

"So, no supernatural visions today?" Yohji asked him lightly as the two stepped out from the small space and made their tentative way down the wide steps of the pyramid. The brown-haired athlete grinned at that, for once feeling relaxed and resourceful.

"Nope. Not today." He announced, very much relieved. There was only so much stress a person could take in a short time. Ken smiled and stepped down onto another part of a step that wasn't completely crumbling, glancing back to make sure Yohji was doing the same.

Neither of them noticed how the too-green foliage seemed to be closing behind them as they descended, as if the forest was protective of its resident structures.

A series of harsh cries followed them down, and Ken paused, glancing around nervously and catching sight of the bird from before. It was watching them both with wise eyes and a funny little smirk on its face- at least that was what it seemed like to the athlete. He didn't like the looks of that bird, not one bit. It reminded him of something, of a mocking grin from before, framed by green-black hair. The brown-haired youth shivered and urged Yohji on faster, using his ever-growing hunger as an excuse

Ken had a feeling that something was about to happen, and he was right.

He hated when he was right.

*****

Nozomi