Chapter Twenty Eight

A Chapter by Imagination-mage

Allen and Lavi were called back and forth from one job to the next for the past three days. Lavi hadn’t seen or heard Jaya so he of course kept her beloved animal which remained nameless. They were carrying on with their new chores, polishing the swords, feeding Monarch and ensuring the barriers were up.

“I wonder where Jaya and Rachel are.” Allen suddenly asked. In fact he’d been asking the same question for the past three days. Lavi hid some food in his pocket for the fox, not telling a soul only Allen who could keep the secret (at a price). Once stuffing his pockets full, the two left the cafeteria and made it to their rooms.

“Maybe we should ask Monarch.” Allen suggested.

“We’d need to make an appointment, that’d take weeks!” Lavi said.

“Lets let ourselves in then!” Allen said, standing in front of Lavi.

“Allen look, I miss my Jaya as much as you miss your Rachel.” Lavi said, Allen saying between his sentence “My Rachel?!”

“We all know you’re into her!” Lavi accused. “Anyway, everyone saying they’re out on a month long mission, they won’t be back until next month!”

“But they would’ve told us!” Allen said. “Don’t you find it strange?!”

“What?” Lavi asked.

“They go on a mission to investigate if some random guy is housing a dragon, then they disappear off the face of the Earth, with Timcampy!” Allen said. “Monarch is avoiding us at all cost too, she’s hiding something!”

“Maybe.” Lavi agreed. They arrived to Lavi’s room, Lavi knocking on the door and on the inside they could hear shuffling running about in his room. Lavi took the knob and quickly walked in, Allen slipping in as well and closing the door behind them; locking it. There on his bed was the demon fox, panting happily as Lavi came in. It lunged at him, digging into his pockets and eating at the food, occasionally nipping at Lavi’s thighs and calves all the while.

“Ow, little animal hold still!” Lavi commanded but the fox refused to listen. Allen only laughed as the little fox, walked around him, looking up as if asking Am I a good boy, am I a good boy?

“He’s so cute!” Allen said. “Jaya will love him.”

“Yeah, I want to make her happy!” Lavi exclaimed. The little fox bit at his foot making him yelp and grip his bleeding foot, Allen only laughing. The fox pranced back to the bed, chomping down on a pillow and commenced playing. It ripped it to shreds, playing with the stuffing and so moving on when it grew bored.

“It can barely contain itself!” Lavi said. “It destroyed my bed, my books, my newspaper and uses my mallet as a teething toy!”

“It’s too cute to get mad at.” Allen said, taking a piece of yarn and playing a fair game with the little fox. It tried nipping at the string but missed, Allen soon throwing it into the air and it caught it in its mouth. It spat it out and tried playing with Lavi’s mallet again till its ears twitched. It sat up, listening intently. It twitched its ears again and quickly raced to the door, scratching at it. Allen and Lavi were too engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice. Annoyed at being ignored, it let out a small roar that caught their attention.

“No!” Lavi scolded. “You can’t go outside.”

It roared again.

“No.” Lavi said firmly.

It glared trotting away from the door and sitting in the corner. Lavi, thinking he was victorious in the argument, turned his attention back to Allen.

“What’s he doing?” Allen asked, Lavi turning back, only to see a small yellow puddle.

“YOU LITTLE!!” Lavi screeched and chased after the animal who with agile speed, leapt from place to place to escape. It raced under Lavi’s bed and Lavi leaned and yelled “Come out mutt!”

“Lavi, you rarely let it out of this room.” Allen said. “Of course it’s gonna pee in your room.”

“What’re you implying?” Lavi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Allen only gave him a look, Lavi sighing and saying “Fine, when everyone’s asleep I’ll let him out.”

The fox creature yipped from under the bed, happy that it’d see something other then Lavi’s boring room.

~ * ~

Jaya paced the underground cell and kicked over a skull that rolled to Rachel who jumped when the skinless face smiled up at her.

“Jaya calm down.” Rachel said.

“How the hell can I calm down when we’re gonna die?!” Jaya yelled. “We’ve been down here for three days!!”

“Jaya, we’re gonna be saved.” Rachel said. “Sarah talked to me.”

“How?!” Jaya asked, her voice dropping to a whisper as she crawled over to Rachel and sat next to her.

“In my dreams…” Rachel replied. “She’s saying that she picked up Bethany and some vampires. They’re on their way.”

“Vampires, great it’s Twilight all over again.” Jaya muttered, leaning against the wall. Rachel only giggled and looked up at the only window that let in the light. She sighed and muttered “I wonder if Allen and Lavi figured out Monarch isn’t what she seems.”

“I hope my egg is safe and sound…I’ll never know what it hatched into!” Jaya sobbed dramatically. Rachel only rolled her eyes and said “You’ll see them soon.”

“I hope so.” Jaya said. They suddenly heard the locks on their cell door come loose making them both sit up and wait, staring intensely at the door. The door opened, only to reveal Monarch. Rachel flinched but Jaya sent angry glares.

“I do hope your enjoying your stay.” Monarch said, giving them a smirk.

“What the hell do you want?” Jaya asked.

“You of course, with you two we’ll be able to stop this nonsense.” Monarch replied. “I’ve come to collect one of you.”

Jaya stood in front, her scar suddenly sparking to life and giving Monarch a warning. Monarch only chuckled as she said “Look at me Jaya, would you hurt an old woman?”

“Not normally, but I’ll make an exception.” Jaya growled.

Monarch only chuckled and said towards the guards “Restrain her.”

Two large men marched in, seized Jaya by the arms and pushed her against the wall. Another snatched Rachel and carried her off, Rachel screaming and punching at the man. Monarch snapped her fingers and the men released Jaya, quickly going back to Monarch who backed out the cell and closed the door, Jaya racing over and kicking at the door, violently reaching out and trying to claw at Monarch.

“I’LL KILL YOU!!” Jaya screamed, Monarch keeping her distance.

“Don’t worry; I’ll take good care of Rachel.” Monarch said and excused herself from Jaya’s presence. Jaya grabbed the bars and tried shaking them, trying to rip the door from its hinges. Giving the door one last kick, she continued pacing the room. She picked up the skeleton and threw it at the door, it shattered. Jaya then went to the corner and hid her face in her knees, soon sobbing. Her cries echoed around the now empty cell, she softly whispered “Help…please help me….”

~ * ~

Sarah sensed Jaya’s plea and urged the dragons to go faster. They arrived to Pandora and hopped off the dragons.

“Go back to Edolas.” Sarah harshly whispered.

Hiccup refused along with Patricia. Sarah pushed them away and whispered harshly “Go now or they’ll capture you.”

With a whine, the two dragons flew away. Once gone, Sarah turned to Bethany and the twins.

“We need to get inside.” Sarah said.

“What’s the plan?” Bethany asked.

“…Uh…” Sarah replied.

“Please tell me there’s a plan!” Bethany said.

“I didn’t think we’d get this far…” Sarah said sheepishly.

“Oh god.” Bethany muttered and began pacing. “Oh holy mother of sh!#....”

The twins merely watched, Subaru looking up and spotting at the very top of the building a small golden orb.

“Look.” Subaru said, pointing up. Everyone followed his finger and spotted it as well.

“What is it?” Kamui asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Subaru said. “We have one back on Toradora and Edolas probably has one too.”

“What’re you talking about?” Bethany demanded.

“In each kingdom, they had barriers all in different forms. Ours was the castle walls ,which is sadly now destroyed, Edolas wields the ash mist that constantly keeps it hidden and off all maps. Obviously for Pandora, its that small ball putting a force field around the building.”

“I see it now.” Kamui said.

“So if we corrupt the ball, the shield will go down?” Bethany guessed.

“Not just the shield, the whole system that runs that one building will shut down until the ball is repaired.” Kamui explained. “Meaning black out.”

“Ah…” Bethany said slyly and turned to Sarah. “Find a secret entrance and stay hidden, twins you’re coming with me!”

“Wait what?” Sarah asked.

“Just wait for my signal, whatever you do, don’t get found!” Bethany said and pushed her along. Sarah turned back only once but continued on. Bethany turned to the vampires and asked “Can we fly?”

“Oh please.” Kamui said and floated off the ground. “What would be the point of behind vampires then?”

Bethany smirked and followed their example, easily floating off the ground. She led the way up, easily flying to the very top and avoiding any windows so they wouldn’t be seen. They reached the top once breaking through some clouds and came to the small golden ball that radiated power. When Kamui attempted to touch it, it electrocuted him making him back away.

“Idiot, of course it’s gonna have a self protect spell on it!” Subaru said, slapping his brother on the back of his head. Bethany inspected the ball closely, suddenly thinking I wonder….

“Hey, Subaru tell me what the past Vampire was capable to do.” Bethany said.

“Oh, uh, she could raise the dead and bring death to all things…” Subaru asked.

“Even inanimate objects?” Bethany asked.

“Yeah…oh!” Subaru said, catching on. Bethany put her hands around the small orb and flexed her hands, the ball soon blinking out and small little souls leaving the now lifeless shell. They souls were absorbed in Bethany who suddenly felt livelier. An alarm blared, panicked exorcists screaming out orders to one another.

“Come on, its up to Sarah now.” Bethany said and the vampire flew away.

~ * ~

Sarah heard the blaring alarms and knew Bethany had done something that would let her inside. She found an air vent and gripped it, ripping it off the wall and crawling inside. As she crawled inside, she could suddenly hear soft crying and angered dreams approach her.

Jaya! Sarah thought excitedly as she went fast. She found light and kicked off the vent, catching it with her foot and leaving the discarded air vent on the inside as she slipped out. She landed on her toes then rocking back on the soles of her feet. She got up, the whole room pitch black. She found some discarded clothes and quickly changed.

Sarah now wore the uniform of the scientists and scattered out like the rest. She found herself being led away by a mob of look alikes and come to an alter where an audience with the head was being held. She found herself looking up at an old woman wearing a faded and dull looking kimono, the monarch butterfly wings on her back dead and shriveled while her faded long black hair hid her wrinkled face.

“Do not panic, a fuss probably broke.” She announced. “Continue on until we identify the problem.”

With that, everyone returned to their duties. Sarah stayed back and spotted the old woman walk into a room. She followed, and came to the door. She caught it before it could fully close and peaked inside. She found the old woman pacing around her room.

“Now Rachel don’t fuss about.” She said.

She heard muffled cried somewhere in the room. Her eyes widened in shock as she shifted a bit and found Rachel in a cylinder tube with her hands bound behind her back and tape over her mouth. She glared daggers at the old woman who continued her pacing.

“The war will start soon, and it’ll be all your fault.” The old woman said with a hallow laugh. “The king of Toradora is dead and the queen on Edolas is at my feet. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

With another laugh, the old woman moved away, seeming to shuffling through her dresser. Sarah quickly closed the door and ran out, completely shocked.

So she’s the reason why Yasmine’s been acting weird that jerk!! Sarah thought angrily. But no time for thoughts like that, I need to free Jaya she’ll know what to do.

Sarah navigated herself up the tower, soon finding herself running up a staircase that spiraled upward. She gasped for air when she only reached the second floor, leaning against the wall and gasping “Where is Jaya?”

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