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Ties to the Wanderer: Part Three


by neokitten4

--------

Also by Draikmistress123

Part Three: Captured

When he awoke, he was in an unknown place.

     A Wocky stood there, watching him in silence.

     It was the Wocky from the dark-disk.

     Wanndiasan.

     Dia.

     "Who are you?" she asked quietly.

     Will was quite shocked for a moment, even still. For a moment, he couldn't even remember who he was or what the heck he was there for. Then it hit him again. "Oh... yeah, I'm Will, friend of your sister's," he answered, still shaking from whatever it was that happened.

     "Akirinia? How did you meet her?"

     "Keladra and I started talking and we went to her house?" He shrugged as he answered, though it was sort of paused for a moment as he had to think back to make sure he had the memory right. He wasn't completely sure of anything anymore.

     "Keladra?" Wanndiasan seemed very surprised. "How did you meet Keladra? Is she alright? Where is she?" She looked left and right, clearly nervous and upset.

     "Well, she misses you sorely, both of them," he answered, sighing a bit. "They're pretty worried about you, but don't worry about them. They're fine, other than that," Will assured her, still confused a bit. "Oh, and we just started talking, to answer your first question."

     Wanndiasan shook her head. "That just doesn't sound like Keladra..." She shrugged. "Maybe she's changed since I last saw her. So, how did you get here?"

     "Okay, now that I'm not sure of," he answered, sort of sighing a bit. "Odd, I can remember more from longer ago than I can what happened most recently. I can't even remember how I got here."

     She nodded. "Forget-spell of some sort. It seems to wear off starting with long ago and ending with most recently, so at first you can't even remember who you are... You probably got here much the same way I did."

     "Now that you mention it, the most I remember is my name," he said, a look of utter confusion crossing his face. "Other than that, I'm blank about the rest of me. Are you the same way, or am I just not as... whatever?" he asked, concerned.

     "I was. Now I remember more, likely because it has been longer since the forget-spell hit me. Also, I have had nothing to do but try to remember."

     "Well, I guess if that's all you've got, then it's easier to focus on," he said, leaning back. Will felt sort of ashamed that he couldn't even remember so much as his last name, let alone anything that'd ever happened to him... even such events as the parasailing incident, which were so unforgettable.

     "Aye." The Wocky fell silent for a moment, then she said, "Are you sure Keladra is alright? Did she ever seem... distant? Or distracted? Did Akirinia say anything about her?"

     "Yeah, yeah, yeah, and yeah," he said to each question, trying to think back. "Akirinia said something about you being someone Keladra held dear, or something." He shrugged, glancing down at the 'floor' to try and focus a bit.

     The floor, such as there was, was wooden. The walls were stone. The room was circular in shape, with no windows, no doors, and no visible ceiling. The walls seemed to extend up forever into darkness.

     "Then," Wanndiasan said, "she is not alright. She is drifting..."

     "Drifting," he repeated, not exactly sure on what she meant. "I've heard you and Akirinia both use it, and I'm not all too sure what it means. Could you, pardon me for seeming sort of dumb on this, explain it?"

     She smiled, but it was a sad smile. "You would not. She is drifting away from the world. She slowly becomes less and less aware of what is around her, less and less attentive to what occurs. Aki thinks I don't notice because she gets better when I return. But it takes a little while for her to recover, and Keladra told me once..."

     "Told you... what?" he asked, interested. "This is all very weird, if you ask me. And sad at the same time. Why does she drift away, anyway?" Will questioned, not too sure why she even was that way in the first place.

     "Told me about the drifting. She's afraid of it. She can't seem to stop it from happening. She forgets things, she says. Forgets what she was doing, forgets there are others around her. And for some reason, whenever I am around her, it stops. Not only stops, but reverses. She says that when she is with Lyco it merely stops, and Aki only slows it down... "

     "Does that have anything to do with a strong mental connection, or something?" he asked, half-surprised at what he'd said. He'd sort of forgotten he even knew that sort of thing. So much forgetting, it wasn't even funny.

     "I don't know. Neither does she. Lyco and Aki don't even know about it. It may be because I'm closest to her and Aki is most distant..."

     "Distant," he said again, leaning back again. "How could one be distant from someone in that manner? Like... just... not as close to someone as the other, or something like that?"

     "Yes, exactly. It's like close friends, some are closer, some are more distant. But they're still all friends." Wanndiasan fell silent again, brooding.

     "I guess that's true." He nodded, his head falling back until his hair touched the wall. "But you know, no one should dwell on the negative when there's hope for a positive thing," Will said, stating one of the things he believed.

     "The question is, is there hope?" she replied. The double meaning of her question immediately became apparent to her, unconscious as it had been.

     The other question was, would he see it?

     "Of course there's hope," he said, his voice sort of hinting that he was laid-back at the moment. "It's everywhere, really, you just have to know where to look," he explained, though he himself didn't really know.

     "Perhaps, and yet, perhaps not." She quieted once more, her eyes sorrowful, just as they had been in the disk-image.

     "Just remember, sometimes that hope is harder to find, but never completely gone," he recalled, quoting something his father had told him. "It's just... eh, I don't really know. As far as I'm concerned, we need something pretty big to get us out of this place."

     So, he had seen it after all.

     "Aye," she said. "That we- Oh!"

     She had just remembered something, something Keladra had taught her...

     He leaned forward as she had answered, just sensing that she had remembered something. "'Oh' what? Don't hold out on me here, Dia. You don't hold out during times like these!" he said excitedly.

     "There was a spell," she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "A spell Kel taught me... I think it might get us out!"

     She began muttering under her breath, concentrating on the spell.

     "A spell, huh?" he asked, thinking that the little hope he was talking about earlier was showing up somehow now. Will let her concentrate before speaking again, waiting for her to finish and figure out how to get them the heck out of there.

     The walls started shaking, and little pieces began falling off...

     And a voice cackled from above:

     "Trying to get out, little ones? Clever, clever, to use that spell. But not clever enough!"

     The walls stopped shaking, and the darkness above descended in a great fog.

     Wanndiasan had just enough time to say, "Trap, a trap, it was all a trap-" before the fog overwhelmed them.

     And all was darkness.

     ~~~~~~~~~~~

     Akirinia hovered worriedly over Keladra's bed. She had not arisen, even when she woke up...

     Suddenly the Kacheek cried, "Wanndiasan! Sister! No, no!"

     She was writhing, shrieking, as her sister tried to calm her.

     Then, suddenly, she went limp.

     "No..." she whispered. "All is lost, lost... Something... terrible has... happened..."

     And then she slept.

     Akirinia screamed.

     "Kel! Kel! Noooo!"

     ~~~~~~~~~~~

     Lyco searched the streets of Sakhmet, knowing even as he did that there was little hope of finding them.

     But he had to try.

     For all their sakes, he had to try.

     Three days passed.

     Keladra had not awoken. Akirinia had not left her bedside for those three days, except once or twice to eat.

     And then the Kacheek opened her eyes.

     "Akirinia," she whispered.

     "You're awake!" the Acara cried.

     "Yes. I... I did not know you cared... so much... But now, I do, and that... has made me stronger... The notebook. Take it, the rightmost one on the top shelf of the first bookcase... Bring it to me."

     Her sister did as asked.

     Keladra took her pen and wrote a little more in the notebook.

     "Now, read the first page..."

     It read:

     After much observation, I have come to the conclusion, much as it pains me to say so, that my sister Akirinia is selfish.

     She cares about little but her appearance.

     I cannot identify with her, and she cannot do more than slow the drifting, because she knows me not...

     The new writing went on:

     But wait. There is yet hope. Akirinia has not left me, these past three days. So perhaps she cares more than I could tell, and simply does not know how to show it. And so, with her caring, the Drifting was stopped, and I awakened for a while.

     "I... I didn't realize..." Akirinia began, uncertain whether she should be angry.

     "Do not try to apologize, nor berate, sister," the Kacheek whispered. "We do not have time. Even with your ceasing, my awakening will not last long. I let you read that as both a warning and an encouragement."

     "Kel..." Akirinia said. "Is... Is there anything I can do?"

     "Watch. Wait. Be ready. And do as you have done: care."

     Keladra slept once more.

     And Akirinia was both more worried and less.

     ~~~~~~~~~~~

     Lyco was beginning to despair.

     And then he found it, on the morning of the third day.

     A note which read:

     Dear brother,

      They have found me, they know I am here. I have not much longer before they take me. They will try to take you, too, and any who search for me, most likely. Do not let them. Seek them at their home place, and I will not be far away.

      For She is the one who seeks me, She is the one who cast the Drifting.

      Illusen might help you, but I think there is not time to seek her aid. If you find this letter within five days, then there is, but I think it will take you longer. I had to hide it well so it would not be destroyed.

      Tread carefully, and return to the place of our last wandering.

      Your sister,

      Wanndiasan

     "So, now I know where she is," he muttered. "And who took her there, on whose orders. I will find you, Dia, and Will as well, for I'm sure that's what happened to him."

     And the Shoyru spread his wings and went to seek an Earth Faerie's aid.

To be continued...

 
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Other Episodes


» Ties to the Wanderer: Part One
» Ties to the Wanderer: Part Two
» Ties to the Wanderer: Part Four
» Ties to the Wanderer: Part Five



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