She heard a gunshot from the floor below. Stopping on a step in the stairwell, she glanced back. A tear ran down her face. Should I go back? Nu thought, Is Van fighting him alone, or should I keep going? The familiar red eyes and smoke came from the emergency staircase doorway. Shadow was still on her, so she decided to keep running.
"It's just me, dearie," hissed Shadow, "your boyfriend's a little busy."
But up she was going. Where would she go when she ran out of floors? The roof didn't offer any hiding spots. On the top floor, she found an operating room. She locked herself in, freezing the hinges with water from a sink.
Footsteps approached after a time of silence. Nu peaked through a door's window and saw Van. But was it truly her Van? Shadow had already tricked her once. Before she could decide to either duck under the window or call out to who may or may not be Van, the figure saw her through the glass and approached quietly.
"Nu, are you alright?" Van said quietly through the foggy window, "I think I've lost Shadow. Will you let me in?"
"How do I know if it's you?" Nu asked in the same hushed tones, "tell me something he wouldn't know." She wanted to believe it was him. Oh, how much she desired it just to be him. I need you, Van.
"You remember that night we all had dinner? I remember your stories." The figure looked into her eyes. His eye, thought Nu with amazement, it's returned, but how? "You, Mag, and Ike, yes? You told us about the time when they played in the mud. It made us all laugh. Takk, the water-user, bullied you. And your mother … you lost her. You told us how you felt about it and … "
Something fell over and crashed onto the floor, like glass breaking.
Nu decided to let him in, in case it was Shadow. "Get in, Van," she whispered quickly, unfreezing the hinges "hurry!"
Vandal squeezed through. When he was in, Nu refroze the door in place.
Van put his back to the door; he kept his eyes out the window. He reloaded his long gun with a strange bullet. Enchanted, it was, but with odd energies that had the hue of onyxes and greenish sapphires. A new element? Nu wondered, or is it … it can't be … Oblivion? Even in Van's realm, such a mysterious and powerful energy manifests itself?
"That damnable demon," muttered Van to himself more than to Nu, "thinks he can scare me with his tricks. These shots will get him, though. I've heard him squeal when it touches him. We need Mag and Ig's help though, they—"
Nu's tight embrace made him shut up with his ramblings. "I've missed you … " she looked up at him. His reborn eye had a glimmer in it, Nu noticed. Though the burns Gideon had left him persisted on the side of his face, it alone had its own secret beauty that shined over the scorched flesh.
"I've missed you, too," Van said, returning the embrace.
"But Van, how did you know it was really me?" Nu wanted to know, "Shadow could have easily tricked you."
"Ah, you see," said Van, pointing to his new eye, "I think this thing has some kind of higher sense. I noticed it when I shot at one of Shadow's illusions. There was a certain hollowness to Ladnavia's corpse. I'm not quite certain."
"What?" Nu exclaimed silently, "she's here, too?"
"No, not at all," Van assured her, "Shadow tried to get under my skin with his trickery."
"Oh," Nu said, "I see."
As out of place the emotion was, Nuallis felt like Van misread her. It's because I know those lovely eyes of yours, she wanted to say, your sweet voice, like honey, could never be imitated. Though she wasn't much of a singer, she always wanted to hear something like that from Van. He has a lot to learn, thought Nu, or does Leonette still wander in his mind? Even on the night after that dinner, there was some hesitation on his part. But a long kiss and a caress made him focus on the one before him: the one he could love and hold in his arms.
"Indeed." With that word said, he went back to his watch, his hands back on Leonette. "Perhaps we should wait here," Van suggested, "Jayden and Talon are below. Mag and Ig are out, but I think they'll make it. They're strong. Umbras are on our side as well."
Before Nu could ask about the Umbras, an air vent cover clattered to the floor. Dark smoke eased out.
"Tight squeeze but—" Shadow began to say.
But Van cut him off a blast from his long gun. Shadow screeched and launched a plume of smoke at the couple in response.
Nu heard many voices surrounding her: not just Shadow's but Van's as well. Her own voice floated in the dark cloud the fiend had summoned. The voices shouted arbitrary commands, each one contradicting the other. "Nu, open the door! Hurry!" she heard Van say. But not even a second later, he ordered, "Keep the doors shut! He's out there!" Shadow played with her voice as well. "Let go of me! Van, help!"
Hearing this false voice, she instinctively shouted, "No, no, listen to me, Van. I'm over here." However, Nu realized she only added to the cacophony.
She shot her arms out and caught hold of a piece of fabric, thinking it was Van's cape. She thawed out the icy locks and shoved the door open.
But darkness swallowed her.
She could feel Shadow's malevolent presence everywhere around. Then, suddenly, within her.
ns 15.158.61.15da2
