Chapter 25 "Ezekial: Part II"
Chapter 25
Ezekial
Part II
Jade quickly shakes Logy hard for him to wake up after jumping out of his bed.
“What, what?” Logy bolts up in a startle.
Jade shakily points at the red haired stranger in his own bed.
“Oh, that’s Gules. You have nothing to worry about him,” Logy mumbles sleepily. He lies back down and closes his eyes. “Good night.”
“You knew about him? And why did you say good night when it’s obvious that it’s morning right now?!” Jade yells angrily in sign language at the deaf man, even though Logy’s eyes are already closed.
“What’s going on? You are too loud.” Gules yawns, stretching out his arms.
“Who the hell are you?!”
“Jade, calm down,” Kawaii says stoically. “You will wake up everyone in the inn. We don’t want that, right?”
Jade is glaring at Gules while he’s still hiding behind the side of Logy’s bed. His face is very red. Why is he so hot? He’s a pervert!
“Oh fuck!” Gules cries. He points angrily at Kawaii, “I was supposed to meet my sister last night but you kept your eyes on me all night! You didn’t even blink once! So I accidentally fell asleep!”
“You could leave if you wanted to. I wouldn’t follow you.”
Gules feels an angry twitch on his left eye. “What the hell do you mean?”
“We’re only interested in the Prime Minister.” Kawaii says with a shrug.
“…Huh?”
Logy sighs lightly as he sits back up rubbing his eyes and complaining, “All of your thoughts are too loud.”
~*~
“You stupid blockhead!” A woman with pointy ears, long wavy blue hair, and sky blue eyes yells as she whacks her brother in the back of his head. “You could have gotten us killed!”
Clear, Johnny, and the blue bird came into Jade and Logy’s room because a lot of loud noises woke them up.
When the blue bird first saw Gules, it chirped loudly and angrily as it transformed back into a female elf in the flowing blue dress with a couple of silver bracelets and earrings. Silver tiara with three sapphire stones encased.
Compared to her brother, she looks more elegant and royal.
“Sorry, Beryl…” Gules says with shifty eyes, rubbing his throbbing head. “That kid was watching me all night.”
“You don’t even look apologetic! And what kid?”
“Okay, okay… now who are you both and why are you following us?” Clear asks.
“We’ve been waiting for Double God to save us,” Beryl starts. “This planet is dying. We’ve been praying to Priestess Tercera for Double God to help us. But instead you guys came.”
“Dying?” Johnny asks.
“Yeah, because of that damn Prime Minister! He had been pushing my father to use the power of the planet's soul lately.” Gules snaps. “But a few days ago, my sister and I woke up that morning, and… our father, King Ranish, passed away.”
Everyone, except Beryl, quickly turns to Kawaii.
Kawaii remains stoic. After a minute, he says, “Dammit.”
“What’s going on? Why are all of you looking at that empty spot?” Beryl asks.
“You don’t see the kid?” Gules asks in surprise.
“Oh hey, you’re practically one of us,” Johnny says jokingly. “We on the Dark Team are the only people who can see him.”
“What the heck are you talking about?” Beryl asks impatiently. “Is there a ghost or something?”
“He’s a form of the Fifth Universe,” Clear answers.
Beryl tilts her head in obvious confusion.
“It means that the universe is talking to us.” Logy tries to clarify as best as he can.
“…Whaaaaat?” Beryl drops her jaw open. She holds up her hands as she says, “Wait a minute… let me process what you just told us—“
“For Hikyou-sama’s sake, the universe...” Gules impatiently gestures his hands towards Kawaii as he continues, “is talking through the fucking kid!”
“I have a name, you know.” Kawaii crosses his arms with a pouty look.
“Oh…” Beryl says.
“I did not realize that the King was dead. I thought he was alive… wait…” Kawaii glances at the elf twins. “So that explains it. The twins have the soul of the planet, right? It was passed on to them when King Ranish died.”
“That’s right,” Gules says. “We can feel the soul of the planet, but we don’t know how to use it.”
“That’s bad,” Clear says. “You probably don’t have the full ability to draw out the power of the planet unless the soul is whole as one.”
“It’s also possible that this planet has not decided which one of you it wants to choose yet,” Kawaii says as Clear repeats what he said for Beryl.
Gules and Beryl look at each other.
“Our original plan was to separate the Prime Minister from the King and to confront the King,” Logy says. “Did the Prime Minister take the ruling power?”
“When the King was,” Gules puts up his two fingers on each hand with the movement of a quote gesture, “‘unavailable,’ the Prime Minister had always taken over.”
“We think…” Beryl says softly. “Our father was killed. That’s why we ran away. The Prime Minister has been sending the guards to look for us.”
“What is his name?” Kawaii asks.
“Ezekial,” Gules answers.
The child smirks. “I see. You said that you prayed that help would come, right? Double God or not?”
Beryl raises an eyebrow and nods her head yes after Clear repeats for her.
“Rest assured. Help has already come.”
~*~
The red bird is sitting comfortably on one of Jade’s shoulders. He happily shakes his feathers occasionally.
After Beryl and Gules turned back into the birds to protect their own identities from Ezekial, Clear accepted Beryl sitting on her shoulder. Jade, on the other hand, kept swinging his hand furiously at Gules, but the red bird wouldn’t back down.
Logy offered his shoulder, but Gules kept at Jade until the gravity controller finally gave up.
Jade gives the red bird an occasional glare and sometimes mumbles, “Pervert.” But Gules doesn’t seem to care.
“He really likes you. Like really attracted to you.” Logy, using only sign language without voice, snickers.
“Shut up,” Jade says in sign language as well. “He is persistent. Annoying.”
“Because you woke up with him in your bed?”
Jade turns very red out of embarrassment. “Well, that’s not my fault!”
Gules chirps loudly.
“He is asking you not to move too much.” Logy laughs.
“Get off, then!” Jade uses his voice this time as he grabs Gules and throws him into the air, but the damn bird comes back to sitting on his shoulder once again.
When they eventually get to the palace, the birds are showing the Dark Team the entrance points which are heavily guarded. They are using their thoughts for Logy to tell them without ever showing their identities to other elves.
The palace has thick walls that are made of the world’s strongest woods around. Instead of a typical castle, there are several traditional Japanese houses close to each other.
“Alright, now we go to the points and… Logy will read people’s thoughts around… then we wait for Ezekial,” Kawaii says.
~*~
After Kawaii passes on the message about Ezekial’s location from Logy to other Dark Team members at different entrance points, they are waiting patiently until the elf guards get distracted or turn around for them to sneak inside the palace.
Jade is following the red bird through long hallways and turning several corners until they hear a couple of voices. The bird quickly stops hovering in front of a random door so Jade quickly gets inside a very tiny and dark room with cleaning supplies sitting on the shelves pinned on the wall, followed by Gules.
“Huh? Did you hear chirping? Like a bird?” One of the soldiers right outside the closet asks.
“Maybe a bird got inside by accident?” The sounds of footsteps begin to move past the closet.
Jade is glaring at the bird, who returns the same manner. All of sudden, the bird instantly transforms back into the red-haired elf. Jades barely yelps in surprise but his mouth is quickly muffled by Gules’s hand.
The footsteps stop. “Wait. Did you hear that?”
“What are you talking about? What did you hear?”
Jade squirms uncomfortably against Gules’s warm body but that makes the elf prince groan lightly at the other’s sudden movement.
“Never mind. It was probably just my imagination.”
“Whatever. Let’s hurry up. Captain won’t like it if we are late.”
After the sounds of the soldiers’ footprint fade away in the distance, Gules pulls his hand away from Jade’s mouth.
“I didn’t notice that your eyes were purple at this close.” Gules half smirks at him.
“Get off me.”
The elf looks closer. “They are so pretty. It’s like looking into a galaxy.”
Jade’s face turns red for probably the 50th time for the past twenty-four hours. He looks away, trying to hide his own eyes. Trying to change the subject, he asks, “Why did you turn back?”
“I ran out of shape energy. So give me a few minutes and I’ll turn back,” Gules says. “H-hey, stop moving too much. This closet is too small, you know. It’s been a while since last time I got laid, so you’re making me to har--”
“Say that, and I’ll punch you.” Jade snaps.
“You’re so cute when you’re being violent. Can I kiss you?”
~*~
Eventually, Jade and Gules meet up with Clear and Beryl in the north of the palace. They hide a large storage shed full of weapons. When Gules and Beryl turn back into their original forms, they notice something so obvious on Gules’s face.
“What happened to your eye?” Beryl asks, pointing at a new black eye that has been formed on Gules’s face. “Who punched you?”
Gules scratches the back of his head with a grin on his face. He briefly shifts his knowing eyes at Jade. “It’s my fault. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay, whatever,” Beryl says.
That bastard is enjoying this. Jade angrily thinks to himself. He begins to look up and down at Gules. He may be a pervert but I have to admit that he’s pretty hot.
“How soon will Logy and Johnny be here? They’re sure taking their time,” Clear says. “If anything happened to them, Logy would have sent us a message.”
After a few minutes, Kawaii suddenly appears out of nowhere. He says seriously, “We have a problem. Logy and Johnny found Ezekial, but then they got captured.”
~*~
“Should I blow up this jail?” Johnny asks in sign language before yawning.
“No.” Logy sweatdrops.
When they spot Ezekial walking outside and speaking with another elf, one of the palace guards has already noticed them and alerted other guards. After they get caught without any fighting, they get thrown in a large jail at the southeast of the palace.
Logy closes his hazel eyes, using his mind energy. He is sending his thoughts into Jade’s and Clear’s heads. Johnny and I are fine. Please stay where you are and stand by. Once Kawaii lets me know when Ezekial is in his position, then we will send you the signal. Stick to the plan.
~*~
Night has fallen already. The elf twins and two Dark Team members are sitting on the floor.
“What did you do to piss him off?” Beryl whispers into Gules’s ear after noticing Jade’s intense glare aimed towards the red-haired elf. “Knowing you, he’s pretty cute and if he’s your type, then you probably went too far. You know you shouldn’t mess with anyone’s emotion.”
“I know… but we don’t have much time… so I’m trying to… Well, I… at least I wanted to have fun with him,” Gules mumbles.
“They are on the mission.” Beryl shakes her head. “Even if we succeed, they will leave forever. We are the heirs to the kingdom, so we can’t leave the planet.”
Gules pouts but does not comment, knowing his twin sister is right. But what if I don’t want to stay? I want to travel to other galaxies. Like the ones in Jade’s eyes. He wants to say it out loud but does not want to upset her either.
Jade begins to doze off and rubs his sleepy eyes. “How long do we have to stay?”
As long as you want to. Gules thinks hopefully. “Just sleep. We will wake you up.”
“No. I don’t trust you.” Jade scowls at him.
“Why? You have your comrade with you,” Gules says amusedly. “Isn’t the Dark Team supposed to be one of the strongest in the universe?”
“He’s right.” Clear raises an eyebrow. “Get some rest. We will wake you up.”
“I’m fine.” Jade insists.
“Unless you want to sleep on my lap? I know you’d love it having the prince--” Gules asks jokingly but all of sudden, he gets slammed into the floor by a sudden change in gravity.
“Stop using gravity!” Clear yells angrily at Jade.
“What? He was making fun of me.” Jade crosses his arms, clearly looking satisfied.
“You control gravity?” Beryl gasps in awe, ignoring her own twin brother’s pain. “That’s so cool! What about you, Clear? What kind of power do you have?”
“Oh, I basically tase people.” Clear giggles. “Just kidding! Sorta, actually. I use the power of lightning.”
“That’s even cooler!” At this point, Beryl’s blue eyes are sparkling as she takes Clear’s hands. “Do you feed electricity into something… like a generator? Light bulb?”
“Heheh… I can, but I can run out pretty fast. And it tires me out quickly.” The blonde haired warrior of the Dark Team giggles.
Gules sits back up and rubs his throbbing face. He half-smirks at Jade who cringes in return. This is the first time that someone views me as a person, not a prince. I truly wish that he could stay here. With me, of course, hehehe!
“What are you looking at me for?” Jade asks sternly.
“Just thinking about how cute you are.” Gules grins wolfishly.
“Do you really have a death wish?” The gravity controller hisses.
“Stop it, Gules.” Beryl whacks her brother in the head. “This is exactly why Father didn’t think you were ready to take over the kingdom..”
“Who says I wanted to be the King?” Gules rolls his scarlet eyes. “Father was, well, old-fashioned. Why can’t you just take my place and become the Queen? You’re better with people than I am…”
“That’s not true. They adore you,” Beryl says firmly. “Well, I mean you may mess up sometimes but at least you always admit and apologize for what you did wrong.”
“That’s because I am their prince, and they are supposed to forgive me every time…” Gules shrugs his shoulders. “And you do for people way more than I do. Charity donations, meeting and greeting sick children, giving away free food for hungry people…”
“And you do them as well!”
“It has always been your idea for everything. I just went for a ride along with you. Did you seriously think I’d be a good king? Sorry, sister. I’m not interested.”
Clear clears her throat to get the elf siblings’ attention. “Uh, perhaps I have a suggestion? Why don’t you both rule together? You each have half of the planet’s soul, right? Isn’t that why the planet chose you both?”
“If Gules doesn’t want to be the King, then he can just give half of the planet’s soul to Beryl. Right?” Jade speaks up.
“Thank you!” Gules gestures his hands furiously at Jade.
Beryl shakes her head. “I don’t know how the elves would react to me being their Queen. For the last thousands of years, there’s always been a King.”
“Well, screw them. It’s time for change anyway. If you want it, then you take it,” The red-haired elf sibling says.
The blue-haired elf sibling does not say another word.
~*~
“Prime Minister, what do we do now? The Dark Team is here, so that means the Universe Warrior is here as well - just hidden somewhere.”
The Prime Minister is sitting on the throne chair but nobody dares to question him why he is sitting on a royal chair. He narrows his hazel eyes in annoyance and then fixes a cow-lick on his medium red hair. He is wearing a pair of green tunics with light brown breeches, covered by a long black coat.
“At least it is not Double God,” Ezekial says calmly. “The Universe Warrior doesn’t have the eye on the entire universe like Double God does. We shouldn’t worry about him… at least for now. We need to find the prince and princess as soon as possible. Speaking of which, have they been found yet?”
“N-no, Sir… But our soldiers are already all over the city. There are no records of them ever leaving the city at all--”
“Search all of the land,” Ezekial says sternly.
“But that would take months.”
“Then start now. They stole the soul of the planet. They need to be charged as criminals. We need to get it back at all costs. As soon as possible.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
~*~
It’s already morning when the red bird is sitting on the top of the weapons storage shed and watching the guards walking in different directions. He chirps loudly before taking off into the air.
The door slowly opens with Clear peeking outside. She and Jade quietly step out of the shed, dressed up as the palace guards. Beryl is back in the form of the blue bird.
Ezekial is finally alone. He is in his room. First though - Kawaii will lead you to me and Johnny. Logy’s words appear in Clear and Jade’s heads. Just a few seconds later, Kawaii appears out of the air. He says stoically, “Yo. Let’s go, shall we?”
They head for one of the buildings in the northeast of the palace. It seems to be old, ugly, and worn out compared to other houses, but it’s the largest of all. As they open the door, the set of stairs already come into their visions.
“So it will lead us to the dungeon, eh?” Jade says. “How many guards are there?”
“Ten or so,” Kawaii says. “I checked on them before I went to get you. The birds may be better off hiding inside your armors.”
“Oh hell no!” Jade turns away from him. “Anything but that!”
“If they see you with the birds flying around, they will think you’re suspicious.” Kawaii lifts his hand.
The red bird lands on Kawaii’s hand and then sends Jade a smirking glance.
That goddamn pervert! Jade feels his face twitch in anger. He scolds, “Fine. If you do something funny, I’ll crush you with gravity!”
Gules chirps happily as he jumps into Jade’s armor. He moves around trying to get comfortable.
“Stop moving!” Jade snaps after he gets some shivers from Gules’s warm feather tickling against his stomach.
“Here!” Clear says cheerfully as she pulls her armor chest to let Beryl in. “Oh that tickles!”
“Come, follow me!” Kawaii says impatiently.
They take the stairs all the way down to the dungeon where the cells are but they are stopped by one of the guards.
“Why are you here?” He asks suspiciously. “Nobody ever told me about any visit today.”
Clear elbows Jade in the side as she does not want to use her feminine voice. She almost uses sign language but remembers that the guard is watching them.
“Oh, um,” Jade says. “Sir, I mean, the Prime Minister sent us to get, um, Logy and Johnny.”
The guard raises an eyebrow. “Normally, I’d get a memo that you would be coming to get them. Especially when it comes from such an important person like the Prime Minister…”
“Er, yeah, I mean, it was a last minute decision,” Jade says.
“They changed the date for execution? Is it today then?”
What?! Jade and Clear think at the same time.
“Wait a minute…” The guard rubs his chin as he narrows his eyes. “If the execution is today, then why isn’t the executioner here with you?”
“He is the executioner.” Jade nervously points at Clear who widens her eyes in panic. “He’s new but he doesn’t like to talk.”
The guard is staring at them carefully for the next minute. He says cheerfully, “Well then! You can go in and get them.”
After getting through the thick door, Jade and Clear glance at each other and then look at Kawaii who has been waiting for them.
“Took you long enough, huh? Let’s go,” Kawaii says. “And make sure to salute other guards. Except you Clear. I guess since you’re the ‘executioner’, just… try to be silent.”
The red bird climbs up and peeks out of the top of the armor. He is about to chirp when Kawaii stops him.
“That includes you too. And get back to hiding.”
Gules manages to pout even with his peak before climbing down.
“Stop moving so much,” Jade says quietly.
“Oh, what are you doing down here?” One of the guards comes up to them. “We didn’t get any memo that there’d be a visit.”
Jade gives him a salute as he says smoothly, “We’re here on the behalf of the Prime Minister. We’re taking Logy and Johnny earlier than expected.”
“Okay, they’re this way,” the guard points his javelin at one of the hallways.
~*~
“Ketsu, eat your broccoli… or I’ll take away your favorite toy,” Knapp says seriously and places a rocket toy on the table.
“Noooo!” Ketsu whines loudly as he shakes his head hard. He has already eaten all of the rice and chicken, but he has not even touched a piece of broccoli at all.
“Little brother, it’s so good!” Katja takes a big bite of the broccoli. “Yummy!”
“It’s not fair!” Ketsu crosses his arms, pouting.
Even though the look on Knapp is very serious, deep inside, he is actually amused by his own children. “Take your time. I have all day.”
The young Dark Angel pierces the broccoli with his plastic fork and then lifts it really slowly.
Knapp suddenly senses something powerful coming from Katja. Just one second afterward, his daughter starts coughing and choking.
In an instant, Knapp grabs his daughter. He is about to wrap his arms around Katja and to push up her chest but she yells very clearly, “Wait!”
Ketsu leaves his mouth open with the broccoli just an inch away from it. He glances forth and back between the broccoli and Katja before he decides to put it back on the plate. No thanks. I no die.
“Wh-what happened?” Knapp uses his thumb to open Katja’s mouth and looks around inside but finds nothing. “Did you swallow it?”
“No, there was nothing,” Katja says. “I saw a lot of people on the floor. Like this.” She wraps her neck with her own hands. “Some aren’t moving. Um, red water out of their eyes and mouths.”
So people will die. But where and when? And what does that mean? Choking to death? Knapp says. I swear this girl has visions worse than Sybil did.
“Can you explain what the people look like?” Knapp asks, not paying attention to Ketsu slowly getting away.
“Kinda like us but with um, long and sharp ears?” Katja says. “And um, in a tree city?”
Fuck. Knapp thinks to himself.