"A Pair of Angels"

Fei had a lot on his mind as he entered the Blackmoon Forest...not only the Lahan incident, and the Gear used in it...and the lack of memory during that time...

"Citan sure seemed different," he said out loud, "A bit shaken, though that's probably from what happened last night. But there was also something else. I got the feeling he would be going away for a long time...and soon. Probably had to do with what Yui told me before..."

Fei had been keeping Midori, Citan's daughter, company when he remembered something he saw on the way out of the storeroom.

Citan looked rather distracted, more so than usual.

"Hey, Yui...have you noticed anything wrong with doc lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he seemed to be rather distracted earlier, as if something was really bothering him...driving him nuts."

Yui looked up at that, surprised, "Ah, well...maybe it's the Land Crab giving problems. You did say it blew up in his face again, right?"

Midori suddenly said, "It's the dreams...and her voice...she's calling him."

Both Yui and Fei looked at her in shock.

"Dreams?" he asked.

"A woman's voice?" Yui asked her nearly at the same time.

"Wait a minute, what's going on?"

Yui shook her head, seemingly tired all of a sudden, and said, "I think I had better tell you. Citan's been having rather unusual dreams for the past four days. Yesterday, he finally told me about them."

"Maybe I shouldn't ask--"

"I have this funny feeling you should know. Like he said this morning, something irreversible's going to happen. Okay...there's this woman standing near the house with the full moon behind her and a strong wind blowing. She's roughly the same height as I am, with long blood red hair and she's wearing a strange brown dress. Only problem is her face is never visible," she explained, "Each night, she says the same thing to him, asking if he can hear her and telling him to remember...but she doesn't say what it is to remember."

Midori added, "I heard the voice this morning. She was talking to my father...'Can you hear me? Can you hear me calling to you? Come to me, I await you in Dazil.' "

Yui nodded, though she seemed a bit alarmed.

Fei thought about this even while fighting the Forest Elves and the Hob-Gobs, making his way to a log with a Hob-Gob and a rock, making sure to get out of the way when the log started rolling.

Just as he was about to continue, he heard a woman shouting something in a language he had never heard before.

He turned and saw a woman in a strange uniform pointing a pistol at him, speaking in what was either the same language as before or a different one. After a minute, she said, "Throw down your weapon. Make one wrong move and I'll shoot."

Citan looked out towards the direction of the forest, the Land Crab repaired and ready to move.

He had quietly decided to wait a day before going after Fei. After all, if he left now it would be too suspicious, it would look like he was following the young man.

However...it was getting a bit harder to stick to that decision. Part of him wanted to leave now while part of him didn't want to go at all.

"Are you sure you should be staying here?" Yui asked from behind, "I know you said that if you left now he'd suspect, but--"

"I...I am also worried about everyone here, to tell you the truth," he replied, "Especially you and Midori."

"Don't worry, we'll be headed for that place you mentioned soon. We'll be safe there. Citan...there's something you should know. I had a bad nightmare last night and it had to do with that woman you told me about."

"Oh?"

Yui nodded as she sat down, "In the dream, I was a little girl with blood-red hair in a strange type of operating room. Some doctors strapped me in and started doing something that hurt a lot...I remember them injecting a lot of things and after a while, they put me to sleep. A couple of days later, there were two little girls in the room...one was the girl with blood-red hair and clear sky-blue eyes...the other was me when I was little."

"That is a horrifying nightmare," he replied after a moment, "What makes you think that woman was in it?"

"Something just told me it was her...I don't know how I knew that, though. Ever since I married you, I knew that someday, someone might come along that would have a total claim on your heart. For a while it frightened me but---"

"Yui, you know that will never happen."

She laughed a little and said, "My mother in Shevat told me to 'never say never'. In this case, it's very true. It will happen, I know it. I hate to say it, but...it's fate. All I ask, when it does...is that you let me meet her. If what I'm starting to guess is true...she may be another me."

He looked at her, slightly alarmed at the last sentence and asked, "How could there be another you?"

"Never mind. I'm going to fix you a nice sized dinner before I cook for the others. I know how well you cook, so..."

"I am a doctor, not a chef," he said as he followed her from the top of the storeroom.

She stood in front of the house, just as before, but her face was still visible. She looked around her, seeing the village survivors sleeping. Most were outdoors but there were some she couldn't see.

He sighed as he walked towards her from the front door.

"So many people here....are you taking care of all of them?" she asked.

"Yes...though they will be elsewhere soon. Do not worry about them. Why have you come here again?" he asked her.

"I don't know...maybe it's to be this way until you do arrive, although that's just a guess," she replied and then saw something odd in his eyes.

"Heh...you may have changed some on the outside, but you're still a bit emotional. At least they didn't completely change your nature," she added, "Are you remembering?"

"Yes, a little more, but not enough to know who you are....but...you died, did you not?" he asked her.

"Now, now, Hyu. Why would I be waiting for you in Dazil if I was dead?"

"Good point," he admitted, "But how do you know my---I do not go by that name anymore!"

Just then, the wind blew the red ribbon out of his hair and landed some distance away.

"Hey--! Just a minute, miss--"

"It's okay. Forget about it for right now. I'll try to remove some of your memory block that they put on you, but I can't remove it all," she said as they sat down.

"What do I do?"

"Just give me your hand. I'll do the rest."

With a sigh, he nodded and she took his hand in hers, concentrating. A couple of minutes later, he winced a little as images started flashing by in his mind.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"These thoughts, images...too fast," was the reply as he shook his head.

"They'll slow down soon. It's a surprise, the section of the block I removed held back most of your memories. I didn't think there would be so many..."

"How did you do that? As far as I know, nobody can reverse the effects of re-arranging."

She smiled sadly and said, "I think I was born with that power."

"An angel for my dear angel," he suddenly said, "You still wear that pendant?"

Her face brightened as she said, "Yes! You're remembering now!"

"I gave it to you on my birthday...I do not remember where I got it, though...and I was right! You died many years ago...in an explosion..."

She sighed and said, "No, I'm not dead. I escaped on a nearby ship right after the explosion in the 3rd class hives. The ship transferred me to the other Aerial city...where my father was waiting for me. From there, we went to the surface, where I was raised. I am sorry I couldn't get word to you that I was still alive but if I had, Solaris would have known too."

"Now that I know...I can understand. But...is this conversation just a dream, unreal?"

"Yes and no, that's all I can answer with. What else can you clearly remember now?"

"Not much...just little bits and pieces of when I first met you," Citan replied, then saw that he was now holding her hand in his, even though she wasn't concentrating.

"You'll remember the rest on your own, so don't worry about it. It will be morning soon," she said.

"I wish I did not have to wake up," he replied in a low, sad voice.

"Hyu, that's silly. Why would you want to stay asleep?"

"I do not know why, but waking up hurts more and more."

She smiled and said simply before they vanished together, "I will be here, waiting for you."

As Citan got the Land Crab going and picked up the strange Gear, Weltall, in its clutches, he couldn't help but be surprised at the dream he had the night before. This time, waking did not hurt as much...but he could not remember much of it, either, which was unusual in itself. The other dream, though, had set him a bit on edge.

It was odd, finding himself standing in the middle of the dark forest in the night. He had no idea how he had gotten there, but he quietly looked around him.

To the left, in a clearing, was a campfire. Sitting against a tree was a young woman with auburn hair...and wearing a familiar uniform.

Solaris, he thought, Perhaps someone from the Lahan attack...? And it looks like she was attacked recently...by the forest elves. Someone fired a loud weapon. Really, even soldiers from Solaris should know better than that.

On the other side of the campfire was someone that was more familiar.

"What's your name?" Fei asked.

"I won't give my name to a surface-dwelling -Lamb-," the woman retorted.

"What's with you and this -Lambs- thing? We're both lost in the forest, maybe we should cooperate with each other until we get out of here," Fei replied a bit angrily.

The woman was silent at that.

"Okay. So, what's your name? It'll be hard to cooperate with each other if we don't know each others' names. My name is Fei Fong Wong. You can call me Fei."

She blinked and said, "It's...Elhaym. But my parents and friends call me Elly."

He watched what was going on and went into the usual stance when thinking. However, a minute later, a tree branch snapped loudly when he stepped on it.

For a minute, he thought that the others might hear that...but it was not the case. The two could not see or hear him.

That dream had him on edge simply because this was the first time one like this had occurred. Another thing to add to the list of unexplainable things that had recently happened.

He shook his head and entered the forest with Weltall in his ride's grasp.

As he flew through the forest, he paused for a moment when he heard laughing...her laughter.

It was unknown whether the voice was actually heard or in his mind, but in front of him stood what seemed to be himself and a now-familiar woman...the same one from his dreams.

Ah, ha, ha ha...you know I've always dreamed to have a house in the middle of a forest! How in the world did you..? she was asking as she walked about, laughing.

He saw himself smile and walk to her saying, I told you I had not forgotten.

"She always dreamed of living in the forest, with living things all around her...a great contrast to where we came from," he said out loud and felt a rather strong wave of sorrow hit him.

The 3rd level Hives...she was getting the 'worker bees' out of the section...

He saw it in his mind's eye...

"What are you doing! If you stay like this, you'll die!" a little black haired boy called out to a small red-haired girl, eyes wide, scared...for her.

"Hyu, get out of here! Old Jessie, get him out of here, please!" she was calling out.

The man she called Old Jessie grabbed him, threw him over his shoulder and ran off.

"No....not..." he whispered in pain.

The section exploded in a blaze of fire and shrapnel.

He could tell that Old Jessie was wincing when the boy screamed her name.

"Aiiiireeeeellll!"

He gazed back at the wreckage through a haze of tears, calling for "Aireel" over and over...

Citan looked up, mind snapping back to the present, finding himself in the Land Crab that was now still...and that he had tears running down his face.

"No...that happened years ago. Why am I crying about it now?" he asked out loud.

"Oh, come now, Hyuga," the little four year old child had said as she was dressing injuries inflicted by a bully guard, "Those injuries are not that serious. Just a few bruises and scrapes. No need to be weeping over something like this when there's a lot worse."

He glared at her and said, "A lecture from a four year old...you probably were never bullied in your life."

"Yes, I have been and I've seen a lot worse happen. My mom taught me three rules for life...that is, before she vanished," the girl was saying.

"Oh? What three rules are they, Aireel?" he asked, eyes showing interest.

She smiled a little and said, "One: You should only cry for those that are gone. Two: There's always someone worse off than you are and someone better off than you are. And three..."

"What's three?" he asked her.

"Never say something you don't mean."

"Aireel..." he said with a strange tone of voice, "The woman in my dreams...it is Aireel. But...she died when we were children."

That's when he remembered part of the dream of her from the night before...the part of her telling him what had happened, that she wasn't dead.

That was when he heard a scream coming from another part of the forest...a voice he remembered from the forest dream.

That Solaris soldier is in trouble, he thought and activated the Land Crab, continuing on his way.

Within a couple of minutes, he saw Fei trying to fight a Rankar...with bare fists. The Solarian woman was a short distance away, unconscious.

How rash, he thought and yelled, "Fei! I have been looking for you! Here, you can use this!"

He then released the Gear, which dropped to the ground and the door to the cockpit opened.

As he expected, Fei was rather reluctant about getting in...until the rankar reminded him about the woman, 'Elly' by turning to her and preparing to eat.

"Doc! I will beat this monster, but if it looks like I'll go out of control like last time then shoot me!" he yelled to Citan.

"Fei...let us pray that doesn't happen!" he called back and rose into the air, setting the Land Crab down nearby.

As he ran to the scene, he could hear the sounds of battle, certainly better than fighting a monster without a Gear. He also quietly hoped that Fei wouldn't lose control again like before.

Fortunately, the young man kept in control throughout the battle...fortunately for all of us, Citan thought.

Aireel sighed as she looked out at the city streets of Dazil. She had been here for two days, and still the one she was looking for had not arrived.

However, she had the strangest sense of anxiety, rather than despair and doubt.

Somehow...I know he'll be here tomorrow. I don't know how I know it...but I do, she thought, And it will be an interesting reunion, no matter how it goes.

"Hey, Aiweel..." one of the small girls asked from behind her.

"Yes?"

"My mommy says you're here to look for someone...is that twue?"

"Well, with any luck, I'll meet a certain someone here. If that's what you mean, then yes," she replied.

"Is it a boyfwiend?" the little girl asked, the last word being said as if it were some kind of word parents spanked their children for speaking.

"Boyfriend isn't a dirty word...but no. It's an old friend I haven't seen in twenty years...somone I played with when I was a child," Aireel answered with a smile.

"A playmate? You was a child?" the little girl asked.

What a silly question, she thought but said out loud, "Yes, even I was a child. I didn't grow up like one, but I was. I even taught him a song that I learned somewhere...sometimes we'd sing it together."

"The Gwound and the Sky...wight?"

"Yes...that's the one. Now you know why I said I won't sing that one verse unless I see him."

The little girl smiled and said, "I 'tink I understand. He's weally close to you, isn't he?"

"At least, last I knew....twenty years ago."

"Hope you find him, Aiweel."

"Thanks, little one. I'll be in soon," she said with a small smile and turned to see the sun start to go down.

"'Tink he's looking at the sunset too?" the child asked after a minute.

"He probably is," she replied with a nod, "I'll take a nap in a couple of hours. Which song you want to hear? I know you're wanting to ask that."

"Fading Memowy," the girl said with a grin.

"Fading Memory? Now that's a new one. Sure, I'll sing it at the tavern before I turn in."

"Tank you, Aiweel! I'll bet he'll be able to hear you too."

I don't know...maybe, maybe not, she thought but said, "Maybe he will!"

Citan shook his heard as he gazed into the campfire. A few minutes before, the Solaris officer, Elhaym, had taken off down the road as he told her to do, and Fei was still asleep.

We should arrive at Dazil tomorrow, he thought, in order to repair Weltall and move the gear to a safe location...she will be there, too if what has happened these past few nights were not just dreams.

"Why have you chosen now to reveal yourself?" he asked out loud, "Both him and you...for both of you to reveal yourselves, I have to wonder what is in store for this world."

The only reply he got was that of the forest creatures moving about or chirping away.

I do not think I could sleep tonight. Probably too anxious about everything...and that feeling of inevitable change is still there, but stronger. What is going on, I wonder?

The next morning, a sharp noise brought him out of the trance-like state he would be in when thinking.

"Ah, Fei. Awake already?" he asked.

"She took off already?" the young man asked in return.

"Fei...about that woman," Citan started when Fei cut in, saying, "I already know. I woke up partly through your conversation."

He nodded and said, "We will reach Dazil soon. There we should be able to buy parts to repair Weltall with."

The young boy nodded, although he also seemed rather doubtful...which the doctor didn't blame him for.

"Is that woman also waiting for you?"

Before he could control the reaction, Citan turned and asked in a slightly edgy voice,"What woman?"

"Yui and Midori told me about the dreams you've been having lately."

He nodded and said quietly, "Yes. She is...someone I knew long ago."

Fei was about to ask what the doctor meant by it when they heard a loud noise above them...and the sky suddenly darkened as a large machine flew above them.

"What is that?"

"That must be Aveh's flying battleship."

"I didn't know Aveh had such a thing," Fei said, staring at the ship in wonder as it slowly continued on its path.

"I should say that it actually belongs to Gebler, a special force that is helping Aveh."

"You mean Elly's group?"

"Quite possibly so," Citan explained then saw that the battleship had gone.

Fei nodded and shortly after that, the two exited the forest, both wondering what actually lay in store for them in the desert city.