|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:40 pm
Kotatsu could not drive. She had never learned, but she could cycle like the wind. Grabbing her helmet, she hopped onto the cycle, and twenty minutes or so later, with a bad case of helmet hair, she arrived. Climbing up to Jade's apartment, she knocked on the door. She hoped the other guardian was okay, it sounded like wherever Nikolai and Guinevere were, they were in trouble.
Wherever Guinevere was right now, Kotatsu thought, eyebrows narrowing, she was definitely in trouble.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:48 pm
When Jade answered the door her eyes were already bright red from crying and the poor toy's stuffing had shifted from where she nearly strangled the poor thing. "C-come in...." She murmured, looking at Kotatsu while fighting off her tears. "Please, you have to help me find Nikolai! He's got a terrible fever! It's supposed to snow tonight too...."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:58 pm
Kotatsu nodded. "Okay..." she said. "Okay, um..." Running a hand through her hair, she said "How did they get out? Did they go out the door, or?" She knew Guinevere wasn't good at flying. "You didn't hear them sneak out, did you? Maybe they're still in the house somewhere?" She looked vaguely hopeful. "Jade, Guinevere is a responsible girl! I honestly can't imagine her running off with a boy who was sick, not unless she had a very good reason." Her yellow eyes looked hopeful. She didn't want this to be happening, not when she could barely watch over Guinevere well while she wasn't getting into trouble at all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:13 pm
"She was the one who made him sick!" Jade cried out suddenly, looking up at Kotatsu tearfully and distraught. "She came here a week ago, she did something to Nikolai-- made him see something terrible-- and he came running to me crying before he passed out! After that he was unconscious for three days straight!" Frowning, Jade's tears flowed all the more freely now that she stopped trying to be so polite. "Now she's probably taken him to his death out the balcony window!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:30 pm
Kotatsu was a woman who was easy to boss around. On the meekness scale, she was right up there with mice and small insects. She didn't thin that that sounded like Guinevere at all, but she bit her lip. Whatever was going on, the children weren't there and therefore had to be found. "Guinevere can't fly well at all, Jade." Kotatsu said soothingly, when really a pit of worry was bubbling in her chest. "They won't have gotten far. What way do you think Nikolai would go? Maybe we can find a clue in his room." She didn't know what to do, but if they could only have left through the window, and Guinevere couldn't fly well, her daughter might be just a splat on the pavement by now...
Kotatsu couldn't bear to think about it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:54 pm
"Nikolai can fly... I don't know where he would go. He wouldn't go back home, and there's no where else he could go." Jade stiffled a hiccup of a sob and hugged Nikolai's stuffed animal to her chest. "Did I... did I do something to cause this? If... if Guinevere couldn't fly, then the only one who would want to leave is.... is..." Bowing her head as she was overcome with sobs, the woman didn't know what to do any more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:13 pm
Kotatsu winced. She had forgotten that one might reach that conclusion. "We can call the police." Kotatsu suggested. "They'll help us." She reached out tentatively to pat the other guardian's shoulder. "I'm sure NIkolai had a good reason if he left. And Guinevere knows how to take care of herself, Nikolai will be safe with her." She hoped so. Guinevere could take care of herself on her own, yes, but another child as well? "She has money anyway. They're not out there with no means of survival." She tried to think positively but all she could hear was the other guardian crying. "Now there. I'm sure he has a reason."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:35 pm
Jade unconsciously leaned against Kotatsu's shoulder when she was pat. "N-no..... I tried already.... they didn't believe me about Nikki....." She sobbed holding the stuffed animal in a death grip. It was slowly becoming clear to her how oddly Nikolai had been acting since she'd been blessed with a child to care for. He didn't speak, he didn't play games, he wouldn't touch his toys, he never showed her his drawings.... what had she done wrong? Sure at first she had avoided getting attached, but now that Nikolai had gotten older and stronger... what reason was there for him to act so distant? "Nikolai come home! Please....! I'm sorry.... whatever I did, I'm sorry.....!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:42 pm
Kotatsu looked helplessly at the sky for a moment before she planned their next move. "Well, I can call them and tell them about Guinevere." she said firmly. "She looks normal enough and I just won't mention the wings." And what next? "Then we can go out and start looking for them ourselves. With the police keeping an eye out for Guinevere, we can be covering twice the ground. She patted Jade's shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure you didn't do anything! We'll find him and this will all turn out to be a big misunderstanding." she told her confidently.
She wished she felt as confident as she sounded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:12 pm
Kotatsu-chan Guinevere nodded and closed her eyes. Even after her nap, her journey had been exhausting today. Her wings still ached. She looked at Nikolai and smiled. He looked healthier, much healthier and she felt a tired rush of relief as she drifted off to sleep. Things were falling apart, she knew. Nikolai was getting into danger and she was following along right behind him. Their guardians didn't know where they were, and they were about to sleep in a field. But she felt... content. Despite everything, despite even her normal background nagging about Aaron, Aaron, Aaron. Right here, right now, she felt happy. "Goodnight Nikolai." she whispered, and fell asleep.
She woke up in a slightly less peaceful mood. With a gasp, she awoke, sitting up quickly. "Kotatsu." she said quietly. She had been gone all night. In all the times she had left home, she had never been gone all night. Kotatsu was the worrying type, she probably would have called the police by now. Not to mention how Jade must be feeling. She didn't know what to do, she was tempted to stay in the Sanctum until Kotatsu got over it or until she died. Knowing Kotatsu's ability to fret over things, it would probably be the latter. She tugged at her hair nervously. They were safe here, but if she ever wanted to go home again, she was going to be in big trouble.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:30 pm
Guinevere looked over at Nikolai and frowned. She didn't want to awaken him, but it was really time they headed home before their guardians broke into hysterics. She approached the sleeping boy and nudged him gently. "Nikolai." she whispered. "Nikolai, we should really get up. Jade must be worried, Nikolai." She hesitated and then reached a hand out for the strange halo of lights circling his head, fainter in the morning light. As she got closer to them, she drew her hand back. No, she shouldn't touch something like that. Anything about a Herald could be dangerous, and a girl with scissor wings should know. Instead, she sat down next to him, waiting for him to wake up. She had the awful feeling today was going to be very long indeed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:43 pm
The lights continued to twinkle alluringly, though they put up an innoculous enough front. As they had been part of Nikolai's hair earlier that evening it was a good guess that they were harmless enough.
Upon being shook came a slight cringe, and Nikolai was awakened from his dreamless sleep to see a dim world of morning light and a very concern Guinevere. Her words took a moment to sink in as he blinked the sleep from his eyes and rubbed the crustiness away from the corners of them. She wanted to leave? Of course Jade was worried about him, but there was no way he could return to living in guilt. It was a farce, and though Nikolai cared for Jade he couldn't let her continue to think of him as the innocent little angel she had pictured for so long. Looking to the ground, Nikolai said nothing as a frown drew his lips taught and brow cringe between his eyes. There was no going back for him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:53 pm
Guinevre was beginning to suspect Nikolai's intentions and a great chill blew over her. "Nikolai," she asked carefully, "You are coming, right?" She frowned. "Please come back with me. Even if it's just to show Jade you're still alive and okay." She bit her lip. "What will she say if I come back alone?" she said, almost pleadingly. Guinevere knew what it was like to lose someone one cared about, and how much it hurt when you never even knew what happened to them. It was a fate she wouldn't wish on anyone. "Please, I'm sure Jade is worried." She remembered the photograph he had held to so tightly and continued, "If you feel you can't live with her, please at least let her know you're all right. It hurts... It hurts a lot when you don't know if someone you love is all right." She finished and looked at the ground. It wasn't something she liked to talk about.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:07 pm
Taking a deep breath, Nikolai let out a shakey sigh. "I can't..." He murmured, hands curling into fists on his knees as the boy stared firmly at the earth beneath him. It would be better if Jade thought he had died; he'd disappeared from her world for good; there was no way that he could take another person away from her now.... though he failed to realize how much pain he was causing his guardian by removing himself. Getting up carefully onto his feet, Nikolai looked to Guin imploringly and held out his hands to her. "S... stay here.... with me." It was desperate, though here was where he would be staying. To say good-bye to Guinevere would be painful, but she could always refuse to go back as well. Weren't they Heralds? This was their domain. What did they need back in the human world anyway?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:34 pm
Guinevere flinched.
"You can't." she said flatly.
She thought of Aaron, of sitting alone, waiting to meet her new guardian, of the hope, the years of HOPE she had wasted away longing for someone who wasn't going to come. She thought of the sadness, the wondering at night if he was still alive, the awful fear that it might be her fault if he was dead. The not knowing that ate away at her. And though she didn't want it to happen, she felt anger rising up inside her...
"I can't." she told him quietly.
"Kotatsu cares about me. I can't just leave her alone." She looked at Nikolai. "I'll visit though, I promise. But please," she begged him, "Just come back to say goodbye at least, please. You don't know what it's like. It's worse than knowing. Just let her know what's going on so she doesn't have to WONDER..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
