A Sage's Sorrowful Resolve

[K2]

K City. It was by no means Japan (or Japae as it had been known in its later years), but it was certainly a nice place. The original design had been largely inspired based on Japan, and much of the architecture was the same. However; there was also prevalent influence from the French, the British, the Americans -- and, of course, the Cubans, which Kaleb Tyris II (K2323's son) had a fondness of -- it's where he'd lived back on Earth. And then, there were parts of K City's culture that was just its own, uniquely separate of influence. This was K City, capital of the new K Empire, led by K2323's son... Right?

Appearing on the Medical Floor of K Tower, the largest tower in the city and home of the Administrative offices of the K Empire, K2323 held Emily in his arms. He was exhausted, having just used the last of his strength to transport he and Emily quite a long distance. It wasn't long before medical personnel quickly approached the two with a trolley for Emily. It didn't take them long when it was the father of the emperor they were serving. Setting Emily on the trolley, he walked with the doctors as they quickly wheeled her into a room.

"What happened?" one asked.

"She used up all her strength. I think that's all there is to it. When I ran into her, it looked like she'd been walking for days."

"She's out cold. There's no telling how long she'll be out for."

"Notify the palace when she wakes up. I'll be there. I haven't seen my family in God knows how long," K2323 replied.

The medical personnel glanced at K2323 with worried eyes. He didn't know, did he? K2323 had been away for quite some time. How could he have known, then? What did he need to do -- tell K2323? Let him find out on his own? The truth was, K2323 had a world of hurt waiting for him when he found out the truth. And he knew that Queen transition Tyris could best tell her husband of the tragic news.

"Sir, I think they'll need you to stay with her," the medical personnel replied, nodding towards Emily's room where she was being placed on a bed, "I'll alert your wife and have her come over."

"Thank you very much," K2323 replied, turning and walking towards Emily's room.

[Emily Arca]

Emily's eyes opened, and it took a few seconds for her vision to adjust to her current surroundings. She was lying on her back, looking up at the tiles of a white ceiling. She shot up, looking around frantically. There were curtains to both her sides. Standing tall next to her was what seemed to be a enhanced version of an IV machine, although it's been too long for her to be able to recognise anything; too many years had passed. With haste she felt her arms all around her body. No wires were implanted, or not at the time, anyway. She still had her overcoat on and she didn't see any reason to believe it was ever removed. The second thing she noticed as she searched her own body was her wand, tucked in the right inside pocket of her jacket. She picked it out. What is this doing here? They didn't strip me of this? She transferred it to her left hand pocket. I can't believe that. She wasn't as good at casting spells or the like with her left hand, and if she would need it, she knew that the time she'd take pulling it out with her left hand only to put it in her right would be too much to waste.

She took the time to look around again. She figured she was in a hospital; some kind of intensive care unit. Other than that, she couldn't reason anything else out of it. She certainly couldn't recognise where she was, but after so long, it's unlikely she'd be able to recognise anything from her past. One thing is for sure; she thought to herself. This isn't Starclan. There isn't enough nonsensical technology around. She tried to think about where she was, and why she was there. Well... She tried to reason with herself. I'm in the hospital. They could have put me in prison. Maybe I am not an enemy here. She closed her eyes and put her left hand over her face. Pick that out, Emily. That kind of thinking will get you nowhere. She fell back onto the bed she was lying on. No one is a friend now. I'm on my own. I have to escape.

[K2]

The bed Emily had been laid in was one which could automatically keep track of her vitals, and, if necessary, could use padding technology to administer any fluids or medicines through her skin pores -- much like injections, only less painful and quite a bit more simple. Her vitals could be seen on the corner of the holographic television set that was mounted upon the wall -- so called because the viewer could look at the screen and enjoy an experience similar to a more life-like 3D entertainment. In the left, bottom corner of the screen, two numbers were displayed in small print, changing -- likely her blood pressure and temperature.

K2323 entered slowly, standing in a corner of the room. "Emily?" he asked, slow to approach her. A nurse entered quickly behind K2323, dressed to match most of the hospital's pure white scheme going on. The nurse was a thirty-year-or-so woman of French descent who approached Emily slowly. Sages were not quite that common in K City -- they were mostly rich nobles who never came to a state hospital.

"It's okay, nurse," K2323 remarked, "She's not dangerous."

[Emily Arca]

Emily's eyes were closed, and she heard someone enter the room. The person's footsteps stopped and she could tell the person that came in was well out of arms reach of the bed she was lying in. "Emily?" She heard the voice almost whisper. It was that same man that came to abduct her in the plains of the Outerverse. The man who claimed to be K2323. It looks like he succeeded. Emily didn't react to the voice. She just lay there, still as always. After a few second she her another pair of footsteps enter the room. These steps were more brisk as they entered, but slowed as the person began to reach her. Finally, the footsteps of the second person stopped, and the light penetrating her eyelids dimmed. The person must have been standing right next to her to be casting a shadow over her like that; the only lights came from the ceiling and they shone straight down. "It's okay, nurse," she heard the man say. "She's safe." A nurse? Safe? What kind of security system is this? Emily waited there for a few seconds, and she felt the presence who she assumed was the nurse bend over to inspect her. Well. If they don't know now they'll know soon enough. It's time.

Emily's eyes opened. She was dazed by the bright lights which had previously been crowded out by the nurse's shadow. After a second or two for her eyes to adjust, she found herself staring into the eyes of a female nurse, who loomed over her. There was no time for her to hesitate. She threw her left hand at the nurse's throat and retrieved her wand from the inside of her jacket pocket. She heard the muffled gasp come from the nurse's mouth, and before she had time to do anything else she spun the nurse around, so they were both facing the man in the corner of the room. She held the nurse's neck tightly and held the edge of the wand under the hostage's chin. "Safe? Hmm? You think I'm safe?!" Emily growled at the man. "How dare you. HOW DARE YOU compare yourself to K2323!" With every word she yelled, her left arms clenched tighter and tighter against the nurse's neck. "You forgot this!" Emily twisted her wand back in forth in her hand. "K2323 would never leave a hostile prisoner armed. But you did! And you'll pay for it! You hear me? YOU'LL PAY FOR IT!" She was yelled so vigorously that the veins in her left arms began to protrude from her skin. The nurse let out another high pitched gasp as Emily's arm closed tighter around her neck.

For the first time, she turned her head to address the nurse. "You see this, hmm?" Emily voiced squeaked; she went from speaking in an an angry rage to a seemingly innocent, playfully tone. She pushed her want lightly into the right cheek of the of the nurse and twisted it around. "This is my wand!" Emily was smiling now. It looked like she was enjoying this. "It is very sharp and very eager to hurt you!" She leaned in so closely to the nurse that she was pretty sure the nurse would feel Emily's voice shiver in her ear. "You know, I won't even need to use magic." Magic. She said it as if it was a dirty word. Almost, almost like she was reluctant to say it, and could only build up enough courage to say it to a form of a whisper. "Look at this." She removed the wand from her cheek and flashed it across the nurse's eyes. "It's sharp enough. I could just use it as a blade. I could slit your throat and you'd be dead in minutes. Seconds, even." With that, she returned to hold the wand under the nurse's chin and began to address the man again.

"Now look at me." She said, her voice returning to its angry, vengeful state. "You are going to answer every question I have for you. And then you're going to let me walk out the front door. That is, if you want your nurse here to live." She collected her breath, and for the first time since she was lying in the bed with her eyes closed, she tried to think about what she was doing. Oh God. Oh God. What am I doing? Who is this person? Why should I threaten her? She didn't do anything to me. Does she deserve to die for what someone else has done? But she didn't bother trying to answer these questions. She stored them in the back of her head and cleared her throat. "Starting with...Who are you!? And I want the truth!!"

[K2]

She's... So quiet.

The nurse approached Emily slowly, visually inspecting her body for injuries. K2323 sat in one of the waiting chairs, eyes locked on her body. It seemed that she was still unconscious. It was only now, with comfort finally achieved, a seat in a chair finally gained, that he began to really think about what had happened. He'd found Emily of all people, and in the Outerverse at that. Had she been there all along? Wouldn't he have been able to feel her magic signature, to sense her there?

Knowing that Emily Zzott was not only alive, but here, safe, in a hospital, by his side was so... weird. At once, he thought of his sister. If only she could be there, what would she say? He shook his head. That was another problem all together, and --

A flash of a memory -- not his own. Suddenly, he was his sister, in some secret meeting room. Emily and Kai were there. Talking. He could feel his own -- or rather, his sister's lips moving -- ordering Emily to seduce K2323. This memory was from all those years ago.


K2323 was confused. What the hell had just happened? Had he... Had he just had a flash of his sister's memories? Or Emily's? No. It was definitely his sister's. It was from her perspective. But... How? How had he just seen something from his sister's mind? What was she doing? She was trying to tell him something, but he didn't know what. This had to be a clue, a key on how to rescue her.

By the time K2323 realized what was happening in front of him, it was too late for him to react. Emily had a hostage. She was awake. And, well. She was quite obviously insane. Yelling, screaming. YELLING, SCREAMING.

Another memory, this one his own.


"YOU'RE GOING WHERE!?" she yelled.
"The Genesis Kingdom. I have to. They need me."
"You're... You're leaving me again."
"They told me that you can't come."
"How... HOW DARE YOU!?"


But she wasn't Emily. It was Julia, K2323's love, his wife. Eight years ago, he'd left her again, to go help his grandfather rebuild the kingdom. Now, he'd finally come back for her. Yet, here, at his side, was Emily. She was supposed to be dead, and Julia was supposed to be by K2323's side. Why was Emily yelling? They always yell. K2323 wanted to just walk away. He couldn't. He knew he couldn't.

Standing, K2323 moved very smoothly. He was calm. His words were like velvet, soft, measured. "I told you, Emily. You know who I am. Ask me anything you want, to prove it's me. You have the power here."

[Emily Arca]

Emily's eyebrows lowered. Her teeth were bared. Beads of sweat were starting to roll from her hairline down to her cheeks. It was clear she was becoming aggravated. "NO!!" She yelled, breathing heavily through her teeth. "NO!!" Again, as if the man standing in front of her hadn't heard what she said the first time. "Don't you understand what is happening here!?" She pushed the edge of her wand up against the bottom of the nurse's neck. She pressed into the victim's skin until a faint stream of blood began to emerge. Some of it poured down her neck and onto her dress, and the rest rolled onto the edge of Emily's wand and dripped from her fingers. Without moving the wand, she lowered her neck and licked some of the blood off her hand. She didn't like it all too much; it was disgusting. But she didn't feel like this man was taking her seriously. And she needed him to. "I'm going to give you one more chance!"

"I want the truth. And I want it now." She wasn't yelling anymore, but there was still a clear tone of anger in her voice. "I KNOW I have the power here. YOU are the one who has to prove who you are!" She was tired of talking. Tired of making threats. She just wanted this whole thing to be over. But that didn't mean she wouldn't do what she needed to do. She didn't know what that would be at this point. She didn't want to kill anyone, especially an innocent nurse who had no role in this situation. A woman who, looking back, was probably trying to help her recover. But it didn't matter. Emily couldn't let her feelings and morals get in her way. She would do whatever she had to do, even if she didn't want to. That's a situation she found herself in often, and she knew how to deal with it. "Last chance. Tell me who you are. Prove it. Or she dies."

[K2]

"The... Truth," K2323 echoed, eyes locked onto Emily. If he said the wrong thing, a woman would die. Her life was on his hands. Her blood would be upon his head if she died -- it would be because of him, because he did nothing. He thought about his options. One, try to disarm Emily. He would probably succeed, but there was no guarantee any of them would live. Emily was an advanced spell-caster. He had no idea how powerful she was right now. Two, he could make up some lie that she might believe. Tell her he was a Starclanner or something. Three, he could try to tell her the truth again, try to really tell her, and hope she believed him.

...Or... Four.

He moved quickly, pushing the woman out of the way, moving himself directly into the path of her wand. At any moment, she could kill him, and then, if she so desired, go after the nurse who was now on the floor, probably a bit hurt from K2323's sudden push. Before Emily could react, K2323's lips came crashing down on hers, the slight pucker of her lips calling him in, his hands wrapping around her. He was all too aware that at any moment, she could inflict a deadly blow on him. But he had to get her attention, to prove it was him. And how could she ever forget that kiss.

[Emily Arca]

Emily went blank. Suddenly, she was gone. She was no longer in the hospital room; not mentally, anyway. Her mind took her to a dimly lit bedroom. She felt a strange sense of familiarity but she couldn't put her finger on it. There were candles attached to the walls, burning faintly. She watched as their flames danced gently through the brisk Autumn air. She watched until she heard a sound, and focused her attention elsewhere. More specifically, the sound of a large wooden door being opened at the far end of the room. She peered into the darkness but could only see the outline of a female body, seemingly walking towards her. She called out to this person. "HEY!! Who are you? Where am I!?" No response. She was thinking about calling out again, but before she could, a man walked up next to her. Well, not a man, per-say. He was a teenager at most. But she knew who it was. "Oh my God..." Out of all the people she might have been expecting to see, he wasn't one of them. "Oh my God..." she said again. It was clear she was shocked. It took her a few seconds to speak again. "K2323! I can't believe it's you!" Tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. She tried not to smile but she couldn't control herself. "I've missed you so much..." She reached her hand to put it on her shoulder, but she withdrew. "Emily?" K2323 asked, relatively surprised. He never turned to face her; he just kept looking down the dark hallway. "What are you doing here?" Emily tried to collect her thoughts as she heard the footsteps of the darkened figure at the end of the hallway move closer and closer. "I...I don't know. I was in the hospital and...and th-"

"I needed to talk to you." Emily heard her voice say. But she didn't say it. The sound came from the end of the hallway. For the first time Emily's eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could now see who was moving towards them. It was Emily Zzott, prim and primped up in a long red dress. And now she know what was going on. Everything was clear. She knew where she was. She knew what was about to happen. She walked between them and yelled out. "HEY!! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" It didn't merit a response from either of them. "STOP!! Stop it right now!" Still nothing. Emily Zzott and K2323 were speaking as if Emily wasn't even there. She didn't follow the conversation but she didn't have to. She knew where this was going. Emily Zzott started walking closer to K2323. In a last ditched attempt, she tried to hold Emily Zzott back, when when they came in contact, Emily Zzott just walked through Emily, like thin air. Applying pressure to an intangible object caused Emily to stumble and fall forward. There was nothing she could do now. She knew what was going to happen and she couldn't bear to witness. She waited for it to be over. She just wanted this nightmare to be over. She waited and waited, until she heard Emily Zzott say something she didn't remember saying. It was one word, "Hey!" whispered, hissed. Like the way you might speak to someone in a class who is across the room. She was on her hands and knees, but turned her head around enough to see what was happening. Emily Zzott had her neck turned, and they were now staring each other in the eye. Emily tried to speak but couldn't. Emily Zzott just looked in her eyes. She gave acknowledgement of Emily's presence. Without a word, Emily Zzott gave her a sinister little wink. Then she turned back to face K2323. And then it happened. Emily turned away; she didn't want to look. She was almost reduced to tears again. And then it was over. Emily Zzott disappeared in a puff of black smoke, and a note fell from her hand. Just as Emily remembered.

But wait, there were two notes now. K2323 picked up one of them and began to read it. He didn't acknowledge the other one. Struggling to get to her feet, Emily walked over to the other note that had fallen on the floor. She bent over and touched it. It was there to be touched. Emily Zzott much have left it for her. She picked it up and unfolded it. In thick, messy black ink, a message was scrawled on it. Five simple words. You know what to do. She crumbled up the note and stuffed it away in her pocket. She saw K2323 struggling with his life before her eyes, but there was nothing she could do. So she just stood there. Stood there until her mind took her out of the bedroom on that miserable night, and back to the hospital where a nurse was lying on the ground, bleeding slowly from the neck. And a man had his arms wrapped around her. She didn't know why. Frantically, she pushed the man away from her, and stumbled back in doing so. "GET OFF OF ME!!" She yelled. She took out her wand and pointed it at the man. She didn't say anything, she just stood, stationary, breathing heavily. And suddenly, without any forewarning she shifted her attention to the nurse. "Necāre!!" A thick smoke flew from her wand like a missile. It was directed towards the nurse, but moments before it came in contact with her, she flicked her wand up. The smoke hit the bottom of the wall, and in seconds it started to corrode away. A hissing noise rose from the acid as it melted the wall. Emily's eyes were filling with tears again. Her arm was still extended, wand pointed outwards, when she opened her hand and let the wand fall to the ground. She used her hands to cover her eyes, and she had to close them in an effort to stop the tears, she was crying so much. She fell to her knees and bowed her head, eyes still covered by her hands. She trying to regain control of her breathe and after a few seconds, she managed to let a few words escape.

"Tell...me...everything..."

[K2]

Ouch.

K2323 fell onto the hard ground in the cold hospital room, shoved away from Emily. I have failed you – it seemed she still didn't believe that it was him. He was about to stand up again, when he saw something. A mirror which had fallen from the wall in the chaos – he hadn't noticed it before. In the shattered glass in front of him, by Emily's feet, he saw it, and he finally realized...

I'm not who I was.

Maybe he would have spent time thinking about that thought. Maybe he wouldn't. Who's to say? The point is, he did not. He could see Emily raising her wand, see her mouth forming the word of her incarnation, but he heard nothing. And then, he realized that her wand was pointed at the nurse, and that she was casting a spell. And he started dashing towards her, yelling, “EMILY! NO!”

It was as if everything were in slow motion.

I won't be able to stop her in time...

Hiss.

He stopped. Too late. He was too late. He didn't want to look. This couldn't be the Emily he'd known. Had she really just killed the nurse? What could have possibly changed her this much? He wanted to stop, wanted to mourn what had become of Emily, but he didn't. He turned his head to look at what had become of the poor nurse.

But she was still alive and well, just as confused as K2323. He saw the Hospital wall, the holoprojector on it, the light panels upon its top, the tablet clipboard in its holster upon it. She saw all of it melting, the entire wall being eaten away. Had she missed? If so, he had to stop her, he had to be quick. He had to-

No. She dropped the wand, falling to her knees. She hadn't missed on accident. She'd deliberately stopped her attack, saved the nurse. And now, she was on the ground, in tears, holding her head. She was a mess. And from the sight of the broken woman, he heard her words.

She said, “Tell me everything.”

“Emergency alert. Unauthorized use of hostile force detected. Room entering lockdown.”

Damn it. This was the medical floor of K Tower, the K Empire's capital building. The defenses were kicking in, and in a minute, things would go to hell. That was the last thing Emily needed in her state. There was a manual voice over-ride for situations just like this, which high-ranking officials could use. K2323 wasn't technically a high-ranking official anymore. But he had been Emperor once. And he was the father of the Emperor. He hoped his voice print still matched the system database.

“Manual override,” he spoke, “Enter stand-by mode. Royal decree 32.”

A beat, and for a minute, K2323 thought his attempt to have been useless, until the computer finally responded.

“Command accepted. Entering stand-by mode.”

With that taken care of, K2323 directed his attention at Emily once more. Tell... her... everything? Was she talking to him? Did that mean she believed him? Where did he even start? There was so much to tell – and what did she want him to tell her? What he'd done since he last saw her? Or proof that he was who he was? What?

Taking a deep breath, K2323 started to speak.

“My name is Kaleb James Tyris the First. I am better-wise known as K2323, part of the Sage Three. My sister is Hikaru Tyris. My brother is Kai Tyris. I...” he stopped, swallowing hard as the memories started to come back. “After my brother... Kai... After he staged his suicide, I went to... To find him. He told me that there was something dark coming, that we had to prepare, that he'd accidentally awakened some darkness from slumber that would threaten everyone we love... I had to leave... I had no choice. Really.

“I... I did a lot over those ten years when I was away. Visited a lot of places. Met a lot of people. Had another son. Oh,” he smiled, “My sons. You've got to meet them. I think you've met my oldest – he visited with me when he was young, after... Well... You know. They should be around here somewhere. Anyway, I... I came back. Ten years later, I came back – I wanted to see you... And Hikaru of course. And Ino. And everyone else. Only... Only, I only ended up finding Hikaru. Everything was different – so much technology. The old days... I knew they were over.

“So much has happened to me, Emily. I'm not proud of all of it. There are things that I've done, people I've hurt that... I regret a lot of things, Emily. Everyone I ever loved has been pushed away from me. It's all I can do. It's... It's because of me. I...”

His voice trailed off, as he became lost in his thoughts.