She must have walked through every corridor and every room. Every floor she had conquered, and still, she did not run into Shadow or his little creature. At the top floor, she stood, looking at the ruins of the city. She could see everything: the Colosseum, the living spaces of both her own party and the villains made their safe-havens. She could see the horrors as well; the monsters and umbras shambled along the roads, some small, some big. A few of them were colossal.
Please be safe, friends, Nu prayed silently, placing her hand over her heart. Don't get hurt because of me. She had expected the Aether Spirit to retort to her thoughts, but it had been silent for quite a time. Loneliness was creeping up on her.
But as if fate wanted to remind her she was not abandoned, she had a welcoming site below in the streets. Vandal stood, his long gun resting on a shoulder. Talon was there, too.
She wanted to jump and scream as loud as she could, even if her voice couldn't escape through the glass of the window. Though there was a chance Shadow or worse could be waiting to spring their trap. What should I do? She decided to try in getting their attention. But it was too late; Talon had held Van's attention and drew him down a different street. "Wait!" she said to herself.
The roof, she thought, may be a better place to scream. She hurried to the stairwell and went up. On her way up the stairs, she heard a gunshot. Oh no, what's happened, Nu thought with worry. The door was missing from the roof access, so she stumbled through.
Van and Talon walked into a toy shop by the time she made it to the edge of the roof.
She sighed and sat on a big platform, which had a giant red "H" painted on it. She hugged her knees, knowing her rescue had been delayed.
"You almost got them, dearie." Nu didn't even hear Shadow approach. "But you hesitated, didn't you?"
"Please ... " Nu said quietly, not caring if Shadow could hear her or not, "I want to be alone."
But Shadow could hear her request perfectly well, despite her meekness.
"Oh, poor little butterfly," Shadow purred unsympathetically, "and what, pray tell, will you do if I don't, hm?"
Nu said nothing to this.
Shadow tittered. "It won't be long now. My little helper will get that sacred bauble. And then, only then ... " Shadow loosed a terrible laugh. When he saw Nu bury her face in her knees he approached. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it, too. All that power ... how can you deny such a thing?" Nu lifted her head as he drew near, a tear streaming down her cheek. "Be strong, my little butter—"
When he made to reach down and wipe her tears, Nu swiped at his fingers with a blade of ice.
Shadow hissed and drew back, fierce excitement in his ruby eyes.
"Oh yes! Yes!" Shadow applauded, "There it is, the sweet Spirit. Ah, now you show yourself! I heard you and your host muttering in the chapel." In the reflection of a puddle of rainwater, Nu saw that her eyes were glowing with a whitish blue. What's happening? The voice that came from her lips was not her own.453Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhi1MIRdTbw
"Dark spirit," the Aether addressed.
"Great Aether." Shadow bowed.
"Tell me," the Aether asked, "what is your nature?"
"My nature?" Shadow responded and tilted his head.
"In my realm, my kindred are either lost or passed. I have not spoken to another spirit in thousands of years."
"The lonely type are you? You and your host have something in common."
The Aether Spirit was not entertained by Shadow's quip. "Over eons, my kindred have changed their names. Has Chaos ever been one of yours?"
Shadow shrugged. "I've been Shadow for as long as I've existed."
"I see," accepted the Aether, "perhaps he did not escape The Cataclysm ... "
Shadow gave an exaggerated yawn at this. "Were your brothers and sisters as terrible and boring as you are? All you've talked about since we met is death and loss. Where is your hate? Your anger? This Cataclysm you speak of ... you sound like someone did wrong."
The Aether, to Nu's great surprise, felt the smallest stir of emotion. But as quickly as it came, as quickly it tried to suppress it.
"It was a punishment. It was fate. We resented the one above us, Ozma, and we were crushed."
"You had reason to rise up, yes? Wrong was done to you, and you intended to pay this Ozma back in kind?" Smirked Shadow
"There was oppression," the Aether conceded, "but it was our arrogance that—"
"Deny not yourself," interrupted Shadow, "do you truly believe the fault was yours?" Shadow pointed at the Aether and chuckled. "Everything about you ... I can sense you have such anger and hatred for this Ozma."
"Beings as we do not have such feelings," declared the Aether.
Shadow chuckled. "I doubt it. Now tell me, Aether, what did this Ozma do to you and your kin. Please, I want you to tell me without a hint of feeling."
The Aether hesitated only for a moment, but it decided to tell Shadow how Ozma, the King of the Spirits, trespassed against it.
"King Ozma had one of my father's eyes torn out for sharing Paradise and its secrets with the humans." The Spirit pointed to itself, rather Nu's body. "Hence the elementalists were born. It was our brother, Chaos, who urged us to take revenge. We failed." The Aether's composure began to falter. The thoughts and history of the Aether flooded Nu's mind. One of the thoughts she captured was this: The last thing my father did was give me his remaining eye. He had told me it was imbued with a power he held from the elementalists: the manipulation of a hidden element. Oblivion.
Nu felt the Aether fade, her eyes losing their glow. Whether the Aether was determined to hide its anger or Nu was just regaining control of her body, she didn't know.
Shadow, perceptive as always, knew his guest was gone.
"Hmph," uttered Shadow as he stroked his chin, "and the story was just getting good ... "
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