Resonance of the Stars: Bleak Horizon

No need...I can arrange that much on my own...they will have a good trainer...they will learn how to survive... Kyuba found himself in the garden and noticed the attendants avoiding a certain section. He turned a corner and saws a sight that would have made him laugh if he was feeling humorous. Zach was asleep curled up with several man eating plants that were currently trying to devour him. How far do you wish to progress their training...weapons? military tactics? Oh and I found our 4th member... Kyuba kicked Zero's foot, "Unless you want to be Zero in more than just your brain....I suggest you get up...."

"Miiiichiko!" Sophia shouted obediently. She was as much help as a little girl could be. She looked everywhere Lucas did, and even in some absurd places like under a table leg. They'd searched every inch of the room before Sophia gave up. "I guess I lose..." She stated matter of factly.

Meanwhile Michiko remained in the exact same spot. The only parts of her she allowed to move were her eyes. They darted back and forth, from one macabre prize to another. Strangely she began to feel like this was where she belonged, with the long dead victims of murder. She felt it truly a farce she still got to walk amongst the living. It was most definitely a cruel joke.

"I live by my own will and ambition, and the fact they became Aurora's as well...that's why I'm here." she realized, then realized just as quickly it wasn't correct to use the word live anymore. It hadn't been for a long while. "I suppose I should be grateful Aurora keeps my soul attached to this form." but she wasn't, she felt like a cheat. She also felt like she was being cheated. Had she been allowed to move on she'd be with her family.

"How malevolent this all is." Her sadness turned to anger as she thought of the children. Michiko could not be certain that once General Noir was vanquished, Aurora would stay with her. If that were the case it would soon be time for Michiko to pay up. There would be no more borrowed time. Sure, it wouldn't leave the children completely alone, there'd be Lucas, Zach, and...maybe Kyuba, but...

She fought the urge to sob. There was no way to win. "Aurora has both rescued and ruined me."

Lucas smiled and patted Sophia on the head.

"Don't give up just yet, maybe she's in another room? Why don't you go take a look, I'll keep trying in here!" He said with a lightness in his tone, clearly convincing her the game was not yet over.

"Any and all training they can get Kyuba. Basic survival skills, self-defense, those kinds of things. We need them sufficiently trained and able to defend themselves, and once we can make sure they won't drag us down, they'll be working with us, they've already volunteered. I'll let you work out the details, but please, make sure they aren't intimidated."

Looking once more around the room, Lucas eventually began to scan the walls, looking for any discrepancies. He was certain Michiko was nearby, he just didn't know where.

"Michiko? Michiko can you hear me? It's Lucas."

He'd been hoping to avoid using the link, but at this point he was out of options. Time was running out and he needed to deal with this matter before facing the Council again.

It was hard to reply to Lucas. The link was silent for a long while before she responded "Yes commander." her "tone" was somehow flat, even though they weren't speaking aloud. Trying very hard to rally around, she added "Sorry to have left so abruptly, you're conscious again. I'm glad." She was also glad Lucas had been unconscious during her screening.

Her hair was sprawled across the floor. She fiddled with her necklace roughly while she waited for Lucas to respond. It hurt when she tugged it too tight, but it didn't matter what hurt and what didn't. By the laws of nature she'd lost the right to feel pain. Her guilt increased at the thought.

Lucas' face hardened. Something was wrong, he could tell in her tone. He would have expected her to be angered, spiteful of him, much like she was before, but now, she was emotionless, almost like a living corpse.

"Where are you? Sophia and I have been trying to find you. We need to talk, and we don't have time to dance around the issues."

He hoped this would end well, but in order to do so, he needed to make sure he still had Michiko's trust, and that they resolved any outstanding issues before they got any worse.

"It's a bit of a walk." Michiko told him honestly. "It's down 3 long corridors, there was 1 left and 1 right, but the door's small." She droned. "If you'd like I can come to you."

The floor was hard and dirty, but she wasn't ready to leave it yet. She knew she'd have to get up either way, so she resolved herself to deal with either scenario.

"Honestly I'd rather we deal with this away from the children, I don't think they need to see us fighting like idiots, do you?" He asked, light hearted sarcasm clear in his voice.

"Put me in the right direction, and I'll find you."

Making his way back to Sophia, he patted her head once again and smiled.

"I'm going to check outside, I'll be gone for a little while, but I'll be back soon ok? Don't worry."

As he stood up and walked away, he listened to Michiko's instructions, her tone almost robotic as she lead him down the pathways leading to her dishevelled state.

Knowing something was clearly wrong, he sat down beside her and looked at her.

"Michiko...Are you ok?"

He was no longer directly concerned with the discussion topic at hand, though it was a major priority in his mind. Something was clearly wrong, and he needed to find out what it was if he wanted to help Michiko in any way.

"Am I ok?" she thought. Would she ever be able to answer that truthfully again? She got up, knowing it was foolish not to have done so well before he got there. "I'm fine Lucas. I'm ready to discuss anything you wish to." It was laborious to sound convincing, but she gave it her best shot.

He no doubt wanted to take up the conversation they were having before the council meeting. There was still a sort of passion for her in the subject, but that had been dulled a bit. "I take it you want to discuss Sophia and Raul."

Lucas nodded and stood beside her, staring into her eyes. It was easy as day for him to see something was bothering her, she was a wreck, and he needed to find out the problem, fast.

"Our little talk can wait, Michiko. What's going on, and don't give me that nonsense of there not being anything. You're hiding from the kids and you look like a mess. Something is TERRIBLY wrong."

Gently putting a hand on her shoulder, Lucas gave as sympathetic and hopefully calming a look as he could muster.

"Michiko, after everything we've been through together, I would hope you'd consider me a friend, I know I consider you such, hell, you've saved my life multiple times within the last month. I take care of my friends, but I need you to be honest with me. What's going on?

Michiko was disappointed her act was so transparent. She looked back into his kind eyes. There must be something he might believe, something, anything! She valued the friendship he was offering, the friendship he had always given her. That's why she couldn't bear burdening him with the truth.

All she needed was for him to drop it, leave it alone. She was backed into a corner here, Lucas was extremely perceptive. The only thing she could hope to do was confuse him for a while. There was only 1 thing she could think of that might accomplish this.

"Lucas... I...I..." With that, she stepped forward and forced her lips onto his. She'd never done anything like that before. She was shocked at herself. It was unprofessional, and quite possibly unethical to say the least, but she hoped and prayed it would do the job.

Zach looked up at Kyuba. He cocked his head to the side. Before he spoke one of the man eating plants tried to take a bite out of him. He grabbed it and ripped it from its stem before taking a bite of it's head. He licked his lips quickly and looked back at Kyuba.

"Did you Need Something Kyuba?" Zach asked his voice switching from monotone to a gruff and almost sing song voice. He looked Kyuba in the eyes. His own eyes were strange one was a deeper green then the other. The deeper green one looked lively if not crazed. The lighter green, Zach's normal eye color, looked dead still. At the same time the side of Zach's face that had the crazed eye had a small smirk while the other side was still unemotional.

Kyuba sneered at Zach and in a condescending tone replied. "Well...if you are done...playing....with your food...get up and get back to the main chambers...the council will be adjourning soon."

He turned and left Zach munching on his plant and stalked his way down a few hallways. He was heading to the nearest teleporter when something stopped him. He sank to his knees and held his face in trembling hands. In a voice that sounded half humorous and half hysterical he whispered to himself, "I...What...this feeling....it's as if...everything good and evil in the universe....just flipped on itself...im...what?" SMACK "Get a hold of yourself Kyuba...now is not the time to lose your sanity...after all its not like someone kissed someone or something...." He shook his head as he stood and started once more towards his goal.

Zach stood up and dusted himself off. He took one last bite of the flytrap and threw the rest to the other ones. He watched as the plants quickly devoured their dead fellow. Zach felt odd and upset for some reason and so he fell deeper into his subconscious. It was a perfect opportunity for Zero.

"Ah much better." Zero said as he flexed his hands. "Time to go meet the council of killers again." He followed Kyuba down the hall and saw the priest freak out. He quirked an eyebrow at that but kept walking. As Zero caught up and walked with Kyuba he spoke.

"So what do you think about our little group now? There's our "Fearless" Leader, You, a grim reaper, as XO, a living corpse as our medical officer, and Us. Interesting isn't it? Our "Fearless" leader is the only human left." Zero spoke in a sing song voice full of sarcasm as he spoke. He wondered how the priest would respond.

Lucas felt his entire body go numb, or, in better terms, he DIDN'T feel it. It was as if every coherent thought he had been preparing to use when talking to Michiko suddenly flew out of his head, and he was left a mass of disoriented flesh.

Suddenly new thoughts began to enter his head, ones completely unrelated to the important task at hand...important...task...What was he doing here again?

Lucas Wynne had devoted his entire life to his education and helping his parents make out a meager living on Eden 13. He'd never been one of the "skirt chasers" of the town, and was often considered introverted to anyone who didn't know him personally. He'd never had much interaction beyond basic hellos and standard conversation with anyone of the opposite sex back home, and while he was working his way through the Coalition ranks, he'd been so focused that romance was the last thing on his mind.

On this space station devoted to a church of men and women who worship death, in the middle of an intergalactic war for their very survival, with two children whose lives they had saved not even a full day before...

Lucas Wynne's first kiss had been stolen, and with it, all mental function.

Slowly his mind began to reset, and Lucas finally forced his arms to come up and push Michiko back, his mind now asking him a series of new questions as the sensation ended.

What just happened?

Why do I feel like I can't move?

Is this...love?

The final was immediately struck from his mind as once more his disposition as a leader began to return to him.

"No...Focus Lucas...Stay on subject...You still need to discuss the children...This must have been a test...That's it! A test of some kind!"

Shaking off his daze, Lucas stared with severe confusion into Michiko's eyes.

"What...What the hell do you think you're doing?" Was all he managed to stammer out as he slumped against a nearby wall, shock having worked its way out of his brain to some degree, but still needing to regain control of his body to remind it about movement.

A deep red blush was all Michiko could respond with at first. She was flustered as well, though not nearly half as bad as the man slumped against the wall. It appeared as though she'd gotten what she wanted, but at what cost? She felt awful for taking advantage of her commanding officer in such a way. Moreover she felt awful for taking advantage of Lucas in such a way.

The ground was still filthy when she looked down, but that was the only thing she could focus on. She couldn't meet Lucas's gaze, not after that. Running was looking better by the second. Surely the ship had plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in. "No," she thought. "I've got to see this through."

"I...I meant no disrespect commander." She stammered, now overly formal. "We should discuss the children." Michi suggested awkwardly. Her secret seemed safe for now.

Lucas shook his head a few times to get his focus back.

"That's right...I'm a leader...And right now they need me to lead..."

Once he caught his bearings, Lucas straightened himself out on his feet, placing his arms behind his back, and staring at the nearest wall, refusing to make eye contact with Michiko while he spoke.

"Yes...Right, the children. I uh, took the liberty of talking with Sophia before I found you here..."

Once more his mind wandered to the kiss.

Desperately he shook his head to be clear of it.

"A-anyway! Sophia and Raul will stay here under the supervision of the nurses and doctors of this facility. Ones who are not directly connected to the Church."

"You decided that on your own did you?" Michiko asked in a tone somewhere between dangerous and aloof. Her radical tactic had the added benefit of jolting a small amount of her old self back into her. "But what am I saying? Of course you did. You're the leader." However, the small jolt hadn't been enough to return her sarcasm, so the comment came across blunt instead of mocking.

"You know I don't want to do this, I've said my piece." Defeat didn't have the sting it would have two hours ago. Then again two hours ago she wouldn't have accepted defeat. "It pains me to know they'll be here. Though I guess it is a small consolation the murderers won't be handling them directly." It really wasn't any consolation, but she was too tired to fight any further.

"Don't you have to get back to the the council room?" Lucas was still looking at the wall, and she was still examining the floor. Their conversation seemed to last for hours, though it couldn't have been more than 10 minutes.

A scythe appeared in front of Zero's throat. In a cold emotionless voice Kyuba spoke with a tone that would chill any man's bones. "You may think this is all a joke, Mr. Zimmer....but our...Fearless leader was it?, yes our fearless leader still has faith that he is doing the right thing and trusts each of us to get the job done when it counts. If you can no longer handle that...or keep...yourself....under control then the next time this scythe wont stop...." Kyuba withdrew his scythe and walked away slowly and turned into the transporter.

He came out the other end to a dark scene. In front of him were two large doors made of a black stonemetal sacred to Shiirites. He walked over to a receptacle and grabbed the small blade and cut a long cut into his arm. He held it over the receptacle which drank thirstily. An entire pint was drained before the door opened. The price one had to pay to enter the holiest of church grounds.

Inside was the largest cathedral Kyuba had ever witnessed. The floors were made from polished bone tiles, and the walls were littered with designes made from human skeletons. He knelt in front of the central Pit and tossed in a bit more blood. The pit exploded in blue flame as Kyuba closed his eyes.

Shiiraaaaaa......shiiraa......I look to you to guide my hand in the battles to come....give me the strength to make armies quake at the sound of my boots as they crush the skulls of their comrades....I pledge to you every kill...in the honor of the goddess..."death to all"....

As he got up to leave a strange female voice that sounded distant but familiar filled his thoughts. Kyuuubbaaaaa

He shook his head and left he had no time for phantoms...

Lucas was now even more confused than ever, and slowly becoming more angry.

"Before you blame me for all of this, why don't you ask Sophia herself? Or do you think me so heartless that I would decide their fate before even considering what they want?"

His disorientation was beginning to wear off, and his mind becoming more lucid. If she wanted to fight him on this, he was going to give her a fight.

"What the hell is your problem, Michiko? I come in here attempting to be peaceful and help you, you KISS me, and now you're acting like I'm the scourge of the damned galaxy!"

He was becoming very tired of this behavior, and that kiss was still ringing in his brain, buzzing on his lips. What was she after? What were her goals?

After Kyuba walked away Zero's smile just grew to epic proportions his eyes full of madness. He laughed.

"ah Kyuba there is no self in here. There is only us!" he said with laughter. He was talking to thin air but still.

'All locked up with no where to go little Zach?' Zero said tauntingly inside their shared mind. Zero just decided to wander the ship til they were called. Zero strolled down the halls his insane smile still in place and humming along as he walked.

Michiko never thought of what the children themselves may want. How could she have overlooked the most important factor? Then it hit her, she remembered the meeting. He was one of the most convincing speakers she'd ever seen. His speech rivaled that of many high politicians on her planet. "How hard was it to convince a little girl to make her dreams align with yours?" She completely ignored the part about the kiss. She hadn't thought this far ahead. In her attempt to confuse Lucas, she also confused herself.

Now Lucas was furious. He knew he had the gift of speech, but never would he turn it against someone unwilling to do something, especially not a child.

"How DARE you! I love those children just as much as you do, and I would lay my life down to defend them! How dare you assume that I would manipulate them like that Michiko!"

He began to pace, growing rather angry rather quickly, and slowly losing control. Finally, he stopped, grabbed her arm and began to shout once more at her.

"I have been doing what is in the best interest of this team, each and every one of you! I would never betray that trust, manipulating anyone like that! It seems like you've been the one whose been doing more manipulating, as you STILL haven't answered my question! What the hell was that kiss?!"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" She flared up in full Michiko mode. Wrenching from his grip she turned to leave. "Go to your meeting Lucas! Make your decisions, but don't ever do me the disservice of asking me to speak freely if you're just going to do what you want anyway!" She shouted back over her shoulder. The sliding doors opened and closed. Lucas wouldn't pursue this any further in front of the children, so that's exactly where Michiko went.

"Michiko, Lucas was looking for you." Sophia smiled sweetly when she entered the room. "Oh, he found me." Michi tried to sound as pleasant as she could. "How's Raul, any changes?" Sophia shook her head. "Good, so why don't we have a little talk about what Lucas told you?"

He found headed back to the main chambre of the guest section of the ship when his comlink started to flash. This was it...the council was ready. Lucas...find the nearest teleporter they are now keyed to allow ytou to go to the council chambers...meet me there.

Lucas was completely dazed. He'd never experienced that before. He felt like his entire world had been turned upside down. A friend, someone he thought he could trust...And she just spat in his face.

Then his blood ran cold.

The council needed to see him.

"Kyuba...I can't do this. Not right now. She...She's out of control Kyuba. She just kissed me, then accused me of manipulating the children! My team is falling apart, and I don't know if I can stop it!"

Lucas was normally able to keep himself composed in almost any situation, but with his rational thought compromised by Michiko's display, he was worried he would blow this opportunity. For all of them.