Skyfall Chapter 7
The days dragged on. I continued to train with Kato, and occasionally a few other people who were learning. After about a week, the days began to blur together. I lost concept of time, it was no longer important. I stopped begging for Misha's attention and focused on my training. The intense, physical work really made a good distraction. My training lasted longer into the day and usually ended with a run through the mountains to the lookout point. Typically, Kato stayed behind for these, and I would sit out on the twisted trees overlooking the valley until the sun had set. One night, Kato had followed me up and showed me how to ignite flames using nothing but my energy and the energy of the sun. After a few nights of practice, I could successfully start a fire even in the dead of night. I practiced this technique in other ways as well, using energy to change the direction of the wind, the temperature of the air around me, and the movement of small, light objects. I enjoyed working with energy, it was surprisingly easy here. Where I had come from, energy work was extremely difficult due to the type of energy that surrounded our planet. The energy was heavy, and filled with no intent. The energy here was alive and seemed to want to be used somehow. I assumed that because I was skilled with that dense, dead-feeling energy of my home, it would be an easy transition into this light, magical energy. I was right for the most part, but occasionally I ended up igniting too big of a flame or blowing birds out of the trees with gusts of wind that was slightly too powerful. This usually happened when I was stressed and distracted. I hadn't told Kato that I had practiced anything but igniting the flame, so when I accidentally knocked him backwards with a gust of wind during training, he was shocked. "Decipher!" Kato yelled, both excited and afraid, "What was that? I didn't know you could do that!" "I've been practicing." I said with a nervous smile, holding my hands out and igniting a flame between them. The ball of fire floated between my palms and twisted and turned as I rotated it with my energy. "I've become quite good at this." I said as I extinguished the fire. Kato's eyes were bright, vivid gold as he watched me. "Wow. You've only been practicing magic for about two weeks, right?" He laughed, "Or have you been doing this the whole time?" "No. I've only been practicing since you showed me your flame method." I moved my fingers, feeling the familiar, tingling desire to exert my energy, "I just really enjoy energy work. I feel so much more alive when I use it." Kato studied my face and nodded, "I can understand that. I myself used to work with energy quite often, but I'm very out of practice. They don't have a training program that deals with energy anymore." Kato explained, looking into the distance, "Not many people here are interested in it, seeing as how this is the land of technology and all of that." "Can't technology and magic coexist?" I asked, "What about a machine powered by both electricity and one's own energy? Isn't that possible?" "That would defeat the purpose of technology a bit, don't you think?" Kato laughed, "But I do like the idea. I think the Goddesses use devices that work in that manner. At least, that's how I assume they work, you know...Gods, always having things that we mortals do not understand." "Right." I said. My mind wandered with his statement, I tried to pick at my downloaded information. Their religion was a topic I had not yet thought about in depth. It had been so long since I accessed the downloaded information that it was a bit hazy and difficult to concentrate on. All I could gather was that there were three Goddesses, one of dark, light, and one that fit between those two, a mediator. "Maybe we should practice magic together. I'll ask Hale about it." Kato's voice interrupted my thoughts. "After all, you'll be an assassin, you need more than the regular methods." "He asked me something about energy when we first met. He seems to have some sort of gift with it as well." I mused. Kato nodded, "Yeah. I'm sure he wouldn't mind us practicing it. The reason there isn't a training program for magic is because there is no demand for it. Many of the people here would rather not use magic for personal reasons, or they are just incapable of it. Some of them think they can defy the Goddesses this way. I don't know. I don't really understand it." Kato sighed. Suddenly, a loud alarm blared in our ears, beeping constantly. "Speak of the Gods." Kato rolled his eyes, "Come on Decipher, that alarm means there is a threat inside the building." We ran out into the hallway. Some of the lights had been replaced with red flashing lights. I followed Kato out to the main hall where we stopped at a group of guards. They were surrounding another guard's body and talking to the fallen man. "What type of threat do we have?" One of them asked the man on the ground, who was coughing violently. "A medic is on his way. Don't move." Another said. "This guy isn't going to give us any information, but if I had to guess by the melted armor and burns to the face, I would say we have some kind of dragonoid loose." Kato said to me and the others. "That's what we were thinking." They agreed. "I'm sure it went to the basement, if that's the case."
"Decipher you need a suit." Kato said, "Come on, let's get to the armory." We ran and arrived in a small hallway with lots of doors. Kato quickly unlocked two of the doors and pulled out some sort of armor from another. He tossed the armor at me and then quickly began to put on his own suit. After we were both dressed in armor, we ran back out towards the basement entry. Kato held a device in his hand a spoke into it. "Kato and Decipher in the main hall. Where should we report?" "Basement. Section 14." The device responded. As we approached the stairwell that led down into the basement, I noticed it was much warmer. The elevator was in flames. We ran past it and down the stairs. The basement was dark except for sparks and flames flying around. I saw some sort of large, bipedal creature standing in the center of the flames, hunched over. It seemed to be focusing very hard on something. It did not even notice the people scurrying around it. A few other guards had arrived and were working to put out flames and ensure the equipment was okay. I wondered why they weren't attacking the creature, and why it was not attacking them. Kato stopped me as I ran towards it, convinced I could kill it. "Decipher! Look at his feet. The creature has set an energy trap. Once you hit that spot, it will ignite. Don't bother shooting it, either, because those scales are bulletproof." Kato explained, "We need water." "Or we need someone who can control fire." I said, focusing my mind on the flames spitting out of the ring around his feet. I slowly snaked some of the flames up the reptile's legs, it was not affected. I expected that, but I wanted to be sure. "Why isn't he moving?" I asked, watching the creature. I heard some faint cries come from it. "Don't think about doing anything, this creature has been practicing fire it's entire life." Kato said. I noticed he had not answered my question. He held the device up to his face again, "Tell control to flood Section 14 with hydrogen gas." "We tried. It cut through the valves. In a few seconds there should be someone coming with- I stopped listening to the device when I saw a man in a white coat coughing and stumbling near the creatures legs. Was it holding him hostage? It did not ignite it's trap. Perhaps the man was bait. The creature hissed loudly, brining it's pointed face down towards the man, grabbing him by the collar and hoisting his limp body upwards. It was Misha. The reptilian beast was cradling Misha's body with it's short forearms. "We have to go. They'll take care of this with that bomb." Kato said. "CLEAR OUT!" I ran foreword without thought, focusing on Misha. His face was blackened on one side, and his eyes were bleeding. I summoned the greatest wind I could muster with such little ventilation, which ended up just barely putting out the creature's trap. I think Kato was yelling at me, but all I heard was a loud explosion. The creature buckled over, and I surrounded Misha's fragile body with my own. I was knocked to the ground, blood splattering out of my nose and throat. The bomb did not explode with fire, but some sort of substance that stuck to my fur and sent burning sensations through it. I pulled Misha's coat over his face and fell to the ground over him, trying not to crush him. I heard the creature roar and hiss again. I felt claws rake against my back, and looked back to see a talon hand reaching for me. My vision faded in and out, was that a bond I saw attached to its wrist? Was the creature a prisoner? It seemed desperate. It had the face of a dragon and the body of a raptor like creature, with bright feathers lining the back of its forearms. It hunched foreword, falling to the ground as the substance from the bomb clouded it's eyes. The creature's talons were still reaching out for Misha as it fell. Squeezing my own eyes shut, I held Misha tightly and bent over him, trying to surround his body with mine. "Decipher!" Kato's faint voice echoed. My hearing was nearly gone. I could only hear a loud pounding in my head as my vision blurred. I quickly lost consciousness. I felt a hand stroking my forehead gently. "I'm sorry." He whispered into my ear, resting his forehead against mine. "You should've let the professionals get hurt." He continued. I was unsure if I was dreaming. I saw a white light and a few shadows dancing around, and heard Misha's warm voice surrounding me. It felt like a good dream. "Of course, they wouldn't have saved me. This was my fault." He sighed, placing his hand on the side of my face, pressing his face into my fur. "Thank you." He said. I could hear the smile in his voice. Everything was so warm and calm... I woke with a start. I coughed violently as I attempted to sit up. My body was strapped down to the bed I was laying on with a loose, leather strip around my chest. My vision was still blurry and my eyes were leaking. Panicked, I struggled against the table. "Hey!" I heard Misha's voice. I felt a hand on my chest. "Decipher, it's okay. Take a few deep breaths." I inhaled deeply. My throat was raw and ached along with most of my body. Misha slowly unstrapped me, petting my torso to soothe me. I groaned, slowly sitting up, with Misha's help. He sat me up and put a pillow behind my back. "How are you? He asked as he pulled up a chair and sat beside me. My mind wandered through the events that had happened when I was last conscious. My head hurt. I looked up at Misha, who was staring down at me with a concerned look. I noticed there was a bandage across his cheek. "Are you okay?" I asked. He laughed. It had been so long since I heard his laugh. I smiled. "I asked first. How do you feel?" He asked me again. "Oh, well." I coughed, "Aside from all the aching, I feel great. How is your face? Are you okay?" "Yes. My face is fine." He said, grinning. I wasn't sure what to say at this point. He reached out and touched my forehead again. I desperately wanted to reach up towards his face, but I resisted. "You had a few minor injuries, but the worst is a fractured rib." Misha broke the silence as he placed his hand on my ribcage. "We had you strapped in so that you wouldn't move around and damage it more. But you should recover quickly." I nodded, feeling the tender spot on my ribcage and pinpointing the fracture. We both stayed silent for a few more awkward moments. "Decipher." Misha began, looking away from me, "Why did you do that?" I was confused. I tilted my head, "Do what?" I asked. "Save me." He said. His eyes met mine. My ears fell. "I...I had to." I said. With my heart racing, I touched his hand with mine and swallowed hard. "I care about you. You were the one to care for me when no one else did." "Decipher, I took care of you because it was my job." Misha said. He pulled his hand away. I gazed up at him. My heart felt stiff and cold from his statement. "I don't understand." I said quietly, "So...you don't care?" "No! I mean yes, I do care! It's not like that." Misha stumbled over his words. "I just meant...I can't understand why you care so much for me! You didn't listen to Kato. You could have been killed. I'm certain you understand that. So...why?" I looked away from his demanding gaze. I did not know what to tell him. It was true, I had not listened to Kato. I probably would not have gone after him if Misha and Kato had swapped places. I just felt an overwhelming desire to protect Misha. Misha let out a heavy sigh, "The truth is...I care about you as well." He sounded upset by this. "What's wrong?" I asked, feeling a knot in my stomach. "IT is wrong, Decipher." "I don't understand..." Misha stood up and kicked the chair away. He ran his hand through his hair and squeezed his eyes shut as he turned away from me. "Of course not." He whispered through his teeth. I felt cold. "Misha..." I struggled to sit up more. "Just stop, Decipher. Relax. I'll be back tomorrow." He said. "I'm sorry. It's been a tough few weeks. I have to go." "Wait!" I yelled with another cough. He hesitated before stopping. "What is it?" He said as he turned back around to face me. "You always have to go." I said, staring him right in the eyes for once. "Where have you been? Why can't you tell me what you've been up to? What are you hiding from me, Misha? Please, give me something. You've been avoiding me for weeks and weeks and I haven't complained, but now you tell me that you care about me too...Why aren't you acting like it?" I pleaded with him. "What's so wrong about caring for someone?" Misha looked taken aback. "Decipher..." He slowly sat back down again, "Do you know what I mean when I say I care about you?" I gazed into his deep brown eyes, "It means you care. What else is there to it?" I said. Perhaps I did not understand. I considered Misha to be the closest thing I had to kin, what else could there be? "Decipher." He said, hanging his head. "People don't just confess their feelings for each other unless there's something more to it." My face must have shown my confusion because Misha sighed. "You have to know about love...right?" "It's like a bond between two people." I said. I understood the concept. Two people sharing an unconditional bond, tied together forever. I suppose I hadn't really felt it, and if I had, I wasn't aware of it. "You've never been in love?" Misha asked. His eyes seemed sad. "I guess not." I said, playing with my hands, "But...what's so wrong about loving someone? Is it because we're both males? I mean, I know how reproduction works." "No...Decipher, it's because we're different species...If you were a human, this would be fine." Misha said, rubbing his forehead. My ears perked up, "I still don't understand why that's frowned upon. We might be different species but I understand you and you understand me. What's so wrong with loving each other?" I asked. "It's just...frowned upon." "But why, Misha?" "Damn it, Decipher, I don't know!" He shouted. I looked away from him. "What happens if we love each other anyway?" I asked timidly. "I can't help it if I love you! And what about people who have friends that are werewolves? I bet they still love them! You probably love your friends of different species. Why am I so different?" "That's not the point. Besides, werewolves are usually in human form." "I just don't understand." I sighed, feeling frustrated. Misha held my hand and smiled softly, looking down at me as if I were a child, "I think we're talking about different kinds of love, Decipher." He said. His voice was soft again as he stared into my eyes once more. Great. There's different kinds of love, too. I thought to myself. I felt dizzy. I laid my head back down on the pillow and carefully turned on my side. I stayed quiet. He stroked my face again and I closed my eyes. I would try and figure this out later. For now, I was exhausted. I needed rest. "Will you stay here for a while?" I mumbled, half asleep. "Of course." I heard Misha whisper into my ear as I fell asleep, rubbing his nose against my cheek. "Just get some rest." He soothed me with his soft voice, "And please don't tell anyone about this, okay?" I felt his lips press against my face. Was I dreaming this touch? "I won't tell anyone." I mumbled as I slipped into a light sleep.