Wild ARMs: Off on a Tangent
By: Chibi-chan
Part 27: “The Calm Before the Storm”
*
In the home of Nicholi Maxwell, a frantic search was taking place. Out of all the books in his possession, not one could say much of anything about Ka Dingel, let alone where it was, and the one book he thought might be able to help was nowhere to be seen.
James checked the basement workshop and Laine the first floor rooms. Elmina and Cecil were no help; Elmina moped in the downstairs guest room as Nicholi tried to talk to her and Cecil slept on the main room’s couch, partly out of the insistence on the others to not push himself too far again and partly out of his own laziness.
“‘Golems and Holmcrosses: Naga Marvels’, ‘The Total Moron’s Guide to Origami’…” Laine muttered, sorting through a pile of books. “Porn… porn… more porn… Mister Maxwell needs a girlfriend or something… Porn…”
She sat down on the arm of the couch Cecil was sleeping on. “There has got to be an easier way to do this!”
Cecil turned in his sleep and mumbled, “You look under the couch, Homestar? The Cheat’s been down there a while…”
Laine gave the sleeping figure a look. “I won’t even pretend to know what you dream about, Cecil.” No sooner that said, an idea struck the girl. “Under the couch!” she exclaimed, and quickly got to the floor to look under the couch. Sitting under the couch was one stale, dust-covered cookie, a dust bunny Laine could’ve swore was staring at her, and a book titled “Secrets of the New Moon”. She pulled out the book, stood up, ran out of the room, through the kitchen, to stairs leading to the basement and yelled, “JAMIE! I FOUND IT!” She then went back to the main room, and knocked on the guest room’s door. “Mister Nicholi, I found the book!”
“Good! Start looking for the location, if you don’t mind; I’ll be a little longer in here…” Nicholi replied.
*
Inside the guest room, Nicholi turned back to Elmina. “Hear that? We should have a location soon,” he said brightly.
Elmina remained quiet for a little longer. She eventually said, without looking up, “…Nicholi? Tell me about Ceilidh.”
“Tell you what? We met when I was still studying under Zepet, and had a reasonably normal marriage up until we were run out of Milama,” Nicholi said.
“She haunts you, like a living ghost, doesn’t she? Just like Garrett did to me… only…” the knight said emotionlessly.
“The only haunting he’ll do now is in the traditional way, right?” Nicholi asked. “Perhaps it is better that way. Worrying about causing misfortune by their mere presence can take its toll on someone. When I saw Ceilidh after she brought our son home from—where was it? That old Guardian shrine—she… she wasn’t the same woman. She was troubled, very troubled. She told me she had no right to call herself his mother any longer.”
“I’d say the same,” Elmina commented. “She left. Her family needed her, and she left. Shouldn’t one stay with those they love?”
Nicholi nodded. “But the fact remained that she would still be seen as a ‘Metal Demon’, and because of that, James and I would be put at risk. Not everyone is strong enough to make the kind of stand you are suggesting, and her desire to keep us safe outweighed her desire to stay with us. It may not have been a choice either of us liked, but we cannot force someone else to go against something they feel strongly about, no matter how hard we try.”
A brief smirk appeared on Elmina’s face. “Not talking about your kid in the ‘we’ business anymore, huh? You do have a point, but…”
“They want us to be safe. Remember that, and live, Elmina,” Nicholi told her before walking out the door.
“Live,” Elmina repeated.
Zed finally peeked out of her pocket. “Yeah, live, and remember, you still got me!”
Elmina let out a little laugh. She patted Zed and said, “Oh, but of course. I can’t forget my cute and cuddly partner.” But still, I wonder…
*
Back at the Metal Demon fortress, Pandemonium…
“Emma! Status report!” Zeikfried barked.
“Ka Dingel has emerged and the dimensional elevator should be operational sometime tomorrow!” Emma reported.
“And the rogue Harken?” Zeik asked warily. “The last thing we need is a turncoat for their side.”
Emma, despite wearing the mask, seemed to grin. “The self-destruct impulse should have done him in by now. It was a stroke of brilliance to make it look like it was his idea in the first place. If we’re lucky, it hit that annoying group of humans and half-breeds where it hurts.”
From his hiding place, Hanpan’s face fell and his tail drooped. Harken… You were my favorite brother, even if you weren’t one originally… And Elmina… Poor Elmina… He lowered his head. But what can I do? I… I’m not strong. I can’t protect the world, I can’t protect her, I can’t even protect myself. I’m just a selfish coward…
He quietly slipped out and away from the room. “… is it so wrong… Is it so wrong to wish to be rescued and not to be rescued?” he whispered to himself.
*
“East of where the Isle of Conflict lies
now? Where’s that?”
“East of Baskar, princey. Zed and I stumbled across it one day.”
“How do you stumble across something
that remote, Elmina?”
“Er, Naga Pyramid malfunction.”
“She kicked it because it wouldn’t
work. Seems there was a little life in
it left.”
“Zed!”
“Well, we can at least hit Baskar by nightfall. Let’s go!”
*
The
A lone figure stood at the top of the Wind Caller’s Altar. With her, the runes of Love and Courage. She spoke, at first in a whisper, “Zephyr… Zephyr, Guardian of Hope. My name is Elaine Elizabeth Roughnight. I am on a mission to save the world. Please, grant me and my friends your power!”
She got no response. She spoke, louder this time. “Zephyr! Can you remain idle when the world is at stake? I believe in the future, but I also believe we need all the assistance we can get! I want a world that knows of peace! I want a world that doesn’t need weapons like Ringo and myself! But to build this future, we first need to defeat the past! Please, lend us your aid!”
The west wind blew, but nothing else of note happened. A glint of something could be seen above her, but it appeared to be just one of the stars in the sky. She began to yell. “I get it! You’ve lost hope for this world too, haven’t you?! Where’s your love of this world?”—(the rune of Love began to shine)—“Where’s your courage to protect it?!”—(the rune of Courage began to shine)—“I swear I’ll build this new world by myself with my own two hands; now show yourself!”
The glint of something grew into a light bright enough to see by. Laine was shaking, but nevertheless stood her ground. “Yeah, that’s it! Prove me wrong! I want to show Cecil a world where he won’t be alone, a world where Jamie’s mother won’t have to be in hiding! I want to show Elmina a world where love isn’t torn apart by shadows of the world’s past! Now, Zephyr! SHOW YOURSELF!”
The light expanded large enough for large black dragon to appear in the center. YOU’RE the one talking smack about me? You’re just a little girlie!
The distant-sounding (to Laine, at least) voice of Justine added, An artificial girlie.
Zephyr did a double-take. She’s a Holmcross?! Beat. Well, no wonder she’s a bit off in the head. Really, calling a Guardian a coward…
“Well, are you coward, or are you going to prove you’re not?” Laine asked, not liking where the Guardian’s tangent was going.
I suppose one crazy enough to challenge a Guardian must have something going for her… Very well, but no more of this “coward” business, understand? the Guardian told her. He—she? It?—changed into a rune and dropped slowly into her hands.
Laine looked down at the new rune. “Whatever you say,” she replied with a grin.
*
Meanwhile, at the Baskar elder’s house…
Cecil couldn’t sleep. Not from nervousness about what lay ahead, but because he had this weird dream about a samurai, a samurai’s ghost, and a demon lord who all looked alike getting blitzed and talking about sex with a ninja, a sword smith, and a dragon respectively. He rubbed his eyes and saw he wasn’t the only one awake. He got up and joined his companion at the window. “James,” he said.
“Cecil,” James said.
“So…”
“So…”
“Any regrets if we die tomorrow?” Cecil asked.
“Only that I failed to protect everyone. You?”
The prince laughed bitterly. “My life is regret.”
James smirked. “So, you regret meeting us too?”
Cecil lightly punched James in the arm. “Don’t even joke! You guys are the only reason worth living for!” He paused. “But…”
“But?”
“But…” Cecil repeated. “But where do I go if we succeed? I can’t go back to Adlehyde. Everyone will just separate and I’ll be alone again…”
Before the young man even knew the words were forming, James blurted out, “Well, just stay with me then!” then reflexively covered his mouth.
Cecil blinked and did a double take. “Jamie?”
James lowered his hands. “Well, Court Seim’s a place for people with nowhere to go, and it’s a nice place…”
Cecil opened his mouth to make a smart comment. You made it clear you want me, just say it! he wanted to say. Instead, what came out of his mouth surprised them both. “I won’t have to fight anymore, will I?”
The bounty hunter put a hand on Cecil’s back over where the scar the prince got at Tripillar was. “Not if you don’t want to. You’ll be free to do as you please.”
“Free…” Cecil whispered. He leaned upon James. “Yeah, I think I’d like that.”
They stood like that for but a moment, since, with the worries about what he’d do out of the way, Cecil’s smart mouth found words again. A slow, evil grin spread across the prince’s face. “You know, there is a regret that’d stick out in my mind, Jamie.”
“What’s that?”
It was all Cecil could do to not chuckle to himself. “I’d regret dying a virgin.”
Upon seeing James’s eyes go wide, feeling his hand immediately moved off his body, and the mad sputtering of his companion, he could no longer hold in the laughter. “That’s not funny!” James finally exclaimed.
With as much seriousness as he could muster, considering he was still laughing, he replied, “Good, because I wasn’t joking.” He paused to compose himself. “Well, not entirely. Stop looking so nervous, Jamie, I’m not saying ‘Take me now!’ or anything.”
“B-but you… You said…” James stammered.
Cecil waved a hand. “Y’know, there’s a theory in magic circles that sexual frustration helps fuel magic, since for some reason there’s usually a drop in power after sex. Personally, I think it’s just because if you have someone, you’ll naturally focus on them instead of magic, but I’m not willing to chance it and find out I’m wrong right before the fight of our lives, thanks.”
James let
out a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good
to know. It’s just, I, er…”
“After we
win, maybe?” Cecil asked with a sly grin.
Much sputtering and
*
The sun rose. That’s half of what it does, really. Four figures stood before what one blond man with acrophobia would call a “big red screaming metal death trap”.
The blond boy stepped forward first. “Everyone ready?”
The blue-haired girl and dark-haired boy nodded. “Ready,” the girl echoed.
“I will give you my best,” the dark-haired boy promised.
“Garrett… On my sword, the sword of the Fenril Knights, I will protect this world,” the red-haired woman said to herself.
The blond boy turned around to face the party and said, “James, Laine, Elmina, we’re nearly at the end. Either we return victorious, or we don’t return at all. Everyone is depending on us. Mister Maxwell, Allison, Lina, Captain Bart…”
“Hanpan…” Laine added quietly.
“Mom…” James breathed.
Elmina silently grasped her sword.
Cecil continued on. “Not to mention the Guardians and everyone else in the world. Everyone…”
The boy smirked. “Everyone, let’s do this thing.”
* * *
End Chapter 27
Chibi’s notes:
Look, it didn’t take over a year to write this one! Yay!
Next stop: Ka Dingel and Malduke. All aboard!