Chap. 41

It had been silent for several minutes. Then…

"Take your shirt off. We have to set the bones in your leg." Leon did not question the correlation between the Dragon's two comments; nor did he seem surprised as Kieci removed her own belt and tunic, leaving herself clothed only in her undershirt and breeches.

"Have you ever set a broken limb before?" the SeeD wanted to know, complying.

"Yes," Kieci responded emotionlessly, tearing her tunic into strips. "I had a cat that broke its leg once." Trunks's eyes opened a bit at that, just in time to catch Leon's eye twitch. The Dragon huffed a little at both of them, rolling her eyes. "I was kidding. I'm only useless as a healer, not as a field medic."

"…Oh," he responded, truthfully a little relieved. The half-Saiyan closed his eyes again, the ghost of a smile on his face.

A moment later and Kieci was positioned before Leon in a lunge, doubled over and set like a runner coming sideways off the blocks. Holding his broken leg firmly, she looked to his face and waited for his go-ahead. He leaned back, tightening every muscle in his body, locking his jaw and clamping his teeth together. Bracing, he nodded.

Kieci leaned closer to the SeeD, then reversed direction and threw all of her body weight into one forceful tug, wincing as the muffled, pain-wracked cry escaped from behind her. A loud POP! echoed in their narrow confines, the sound overlaid by sharp, rasping breaths. Easing his leg back and releasing it gently, the Dragon turned.

Leon's face was a study in pain, though it was obvious he was trying quite hard to be silent, his head and shoulders pressed hard against the large rock behind him. His brown locks ran with sweat, lining his ash-white face and bringing out the dark circles under his eyes.

"Are you ok, all things considered?" Kieci asked him, holding the longer half of her broken blade. He was gritting his teeth, the exhaled breaths hissing past them with a sound like an untended kettle. He looked as though he would try to answer her, though, and she caught—through the obvious discomfort in his eyes—the little glimmer of mischief he always seemed to have, buried at his core. Someone somewhere had worked hard to unbury those rare glimmers of humor, she had a feeling. "And if you say 'peachy,' I will cut you," the Dragon promised, meaning every word. That startled a huff of amused surprise from him, though a second later the SeeD breathed "No blade."

Kieci looked down at the piece of sword she was holding, and harrumphed. "I'll bite you then, is that better?" she muttered. "Answer the question!" He nodded once, jerkily. "Good then." Kieci busied herself with using the longer end of her busted blade as a makeshift splint, leaving it in the tattered sheathe that too had broken. "This will have to do for you until we can get you to a real healer. I'm going to need all I've got to get us out of…" she trailed off, letting her hands drop and take in the situation as they did.

"So….I think I may have the beginnings of a plan," Kieci said finally, after a long period of silence.

"But?" Leon prompted. He was leaning against the stone that had broken his leg, sweating. The small area Trunks had managed to keep open for them was intensely hot.

"…I may need to talk at you for a bit, work through the thought process. I'm going to assume the same natural laws apply here as they did in my own world." Leon simply looked at her; the Dragon took his attention as an acceptance to listen to her proposal. Trunks's eyes were still closed, though Kieci caught his miniscule nod of awareness. They were, after all, something of a captive audience. "All right then. For starters, we take it as given that chanted magic is out: the Wake is warded against it, down to its very core. That eliminates the lesser forms of magics, any channeling that would involve things like fire. I'm also beginning to think that using my spelled gems caused the collapse somehow, so they're out—though I don't have enough firepower to blast through all of this rock regardless. I also cannot try to channel Chaos and use my symbol to try to free us, as doing so would necessarily cause me to draw energy from Trace—a strain he can little afford right now." She spoke like a scientist, voice matter-of-fact, articulating with her hands and staring off into the distance as though overlooking the setup to some grand experiment. "That eliminates Chaos from the mix as well, which leaves me with nothing but the other two great magics to choose from."

"Great magics?" Leon questioned. Kieci did not take it as interruption; she plowed on as though she had opted into the explanation by her own choosing, not pulling her gaze from the hazy somewhere she watched.

"The three great magics: Light, Darkness, and Chaos. The Light and the Dark make up everything and nothing, the universe born from the abyss. Chaos is born from the interplay of the other two, though for purposes of magical manipulation, it is an element all its own. Few things, with the exception of a few elementals, are all Light or all Dark—both make up the nature of all things, in different amounts. Our souls are all cast in different shades of gray, I suppose, inclined towards one or the other." She paused for a moment, thinking, then continued. "Those whose natures are more inclined towards Light tend to be better with the white magics—healing, defense, and the like. Those who are skewed more towards Darkness and the black magics are better with offensive spells, though being apt with black magic does not make one evil, per say. Just….more inclined towards it, depending on the soul in question."

"And Chaos?" Leon prompted. "If being a little more Light- or Dark-hearted makes you better at channeling those energies, how do you channel Chaos?"

"You don't, not without a focus. Trace's…species, the Chaos Elementals, are a perfect fifty-fifty split, if you think of it like a ratio of Light and Darkness within the being. Channeling the pure great magics isn't like tapping them to cast a fire spell or heal a minor wound— the greats consume you, will take you over and destroy you, if you aren't made of the right stuff. People like Trace can channel Chaos—against their wills, oftentimes—and it doesn't destroy them because they are born destined to handle it. Even they can't control themselves when consumed, but they live to talk about it. Channeling a great magic is…unwise if you are not gods-equipped for the job."

"How is it that you get away with it then? Unless you are like Trace?" Kieci grinned ruefully.

"I am….an exception to the rule. We don't know why it works for me, it simply does. I do know that having him around makes it easier, but I can do it whenever there is ample conflict for me to draw upon."

"So Chaos is out. How do Light and Darkness help us from this mess, if they're too dangerous to channel for a regular person?"

"Well….that's the hitch, isn't it? I am, suffice it to say, more skilled with black magics than with white. We are buried beneath foundations wrought in evil and steeped in Darkness for hundreds of years."

"So?" That was Trunks, voice strained and quiet.

"So I think that I can use the aura of this place like the wizard used Trace—as a focus. I am not equipped to call on pure Darkness, but maybe with all of it festering around us, I could draw in enough to channel it without getting us all killed. It is already here, after all."

"That last part is the…practical application part of the theory?" Leon questioned. His tone was difficult to read. "You think that you can draw in and harness Darkness to free us."

"Based on the truths I know about the great magics, yes, I think so. The only issue will be containing the Darkness. It could be dangerous—lethal, maybe—to the rest of you."

"I thought channeling Darkness wasn't necessarily bad?" Trunks questioned.

"On its own and in small amounts, no. But concentrated Darkness, with little to filter it…I'm inclined towards Darkness; I know that, so with restraint and care, in this circumstance, I should be able to get away with harnessing it. You two, however…if I am any judge of auras, and I am, you two are skewed towards Light-the hero types always are. My drawing the Darkness, giving it a vessel, puts you in danger. If I were to lose control…well, Light and Darkness are forever in conflict; the balance part is only true on the grand scale of things. If I were to be consumed with a force opposed to your natures…" she shrugged, dismissing a deeply unsettling thought. "Not an ideal situation."

"I guess that means you better not lose control," Leon said simply, and the mage chuckled darkly.

"Just like that, huh?"

"…just like that—there isn't really anything else, is there?" She thought about that a moment.

"That would suggest that you have a rather large amount of faith in me, gods only know why." He shrugged.

"Even when you screw up you still usually pull it all together at the end, you'll just have to do that again. What do you need from me? I don't think Trunks is good for much beyond what he's already doing." The Saiyan nodded a little in agreement. His face was drawn and ghostly in the flickering golden light his aura gave off and already the golden dome was far less brilliant than it had been.

"Do you have any idea which direction we were facing before the floor collapsed?" Kieci asked. Leon looked at her oddly.

"Why does that matter?"

"Because if we're facing east or west, we're facing away from the direction of the dungeon's main corridors. If I'm going to blast us out, I have to know which way to aim. There will be less stone to plow through if I follow the natural course of the hallway."

"We're not in the dungeon," Trunks muttered. It took him a long time to continue, "at least, I don't think we are. The main dungeon rows were packed with cells, but there were no doors that I could see when I fell."

"So if not the dungeon…" Kieci mused, thinking. "Something sub to the main castle? Like storage, or cellars, or—"

"No doors," Trunks interrupted. "Maybe a drainage pipe?"

"Central tunnel with no doors, running opposite the main corridors to drain from the cells running the other directions, much narrower than the other halls….it certainly fits. Given that, then, the shortest way out…"

"-would be that way," Leon gestured, pointing to her left. "The ditch would be east of us, same as my room here faced. The cleft in the hill on that side is probably where the pipe empties out."

"Brilliant. We may just stand half of a chance here," Kieci gnawed on a thumbnail, thinking. "Leon, I'm going to have to put you in charge of making sure I get all of us out here. I may lose sight of that goal when I'm channeling the Darkness."

"What should I be expecting?"

"Knowing me? I'll probably go crazy. Things are very likely to explode." Trunks huffed; Kieci went on, "We're going to have to make sure that the barrier holds until I can blast the way clear for us. Can you hold, Trunks?" He nodded, adding:

"Not for much longer, though. I don't have the reserves that I'm used to."

"—and there's another problem," Leon agreed, "We are not the most mobile group. Let's assume you blast the pipe clear: how are we supposed to get out of here before the ceiling collapses again? Trunks will have to hold the barrier until the last second, but even then the way you blew clear is just going to fill back up again before I have time to hobble a step or two." Kieci sighed, gnawing her nail more vigorously.

She stayed silent for several more minutes, musing. Then, apparently after a stroke of creativity hit her, she drew a length of rope from her pack.

"You have a solution?" Leon questioned.

"Well, I have our plan of action—we won't know until it's over whether it 'solved' anything. I'll spare you most of the details this time—suffice it to say this is going to be risky."

"And the rope is for…?"

"—I'll get to that. I need both of you to do something entirely more important first. Trunks." She turned to him, and the half-Saiyan opened his eyes. He looked the worse for wear, his skin pallid in the white-gold light. "I'll need you to show Leon how to control the barrier, as well as extend it as soon as I blow the way clear so we have enough time to get out. You'll be able to spare the concentration in a few minutes, trust me. As soon as the path is open, Leon, you'll hold it that way—and as we progress forward, you drop the barrier behind us so we don't burn through all of our energy at once. Trunks, how much life energy are you using to keep this up? This can't all be your—what'd you call it?—ki." He smiled a little.

"A bit. I won't have enough of either for all that, not by a long shot."

"I know—that's why we're going to give you some of ours. We'll have to link energies, life force and all."

"How…?" Leon began.

"I'll handle the hard part—forming the connection. I've only done it once before and it didn't work out the best, but we haven't got any other choice. Once we can share energy between us, I'll start channeling the Darkness. As soon as I do, Leon," she caught his eye and held it, "it's your job to keep me away from the three of you. That includes the energy I'm going to channel. You can keep the connection open, but you have to keep the Darkness out of it. It's…ugh, how do I put this…the Darkness will be physical once I start to channel it. The aura between us will be metaphysical but we will still be connected through it. You're going to have to physically keep the Darkness away as well as keep it out of your heads…without breaking the aural link."

"How do I do that?"

"How stubborn are you?" The SeeD raised an eyebrow at her; Kieci grinned in spite of herself. "You'll know what to do and when, trust me. It'll be a lot of manipulation with that lump of grey matter between your ears; thinking is doing, in this case. Just be resolute when you do it—Darkness is pushy. Once the way is clear, you'll have to take over manipulating the barrier because Trunks is going to have to do the walking to get you all out. As for the rope…" she looked at Trace. "He is not likely to get up any time soon. So…I was thinking, I can rig up something of a shoulder harness, and you can carry him that way. You're going to have to help each other to make it out anyways…" She trailed off, looking uncomfortable. "We're all going to be very close for the next short while, unfortunately." Neither of the males said anything. Kieci got to work with her harness, wrapping it as lightly as she could around Trace's chest, beneath his arms. Securing that, she made two loops on the ends of the rope and, straining with the effort, pulled her unconscious comrade over to where Trunks was braced against his barrier. She went then to Leon and, offering him her hands, helped pull him carefully to his feet. Bracing him on one side, Kieci helped him limp over beside Trunks. "Can you help me lift Trace?" Leon, standing still, helped the Dragon pull the elemental half upright and, sliding one of the loops over his shoulder and one over the Saiyan's, shared the burden of the dead weight with Trunks.

"You're still alright?" he asked; Trunks nodded. Kieci, standing in front of the two, swallowed hard, rubbing her hands together nervously.

"This is going to be awkward," she murmured. Placing a hand on each of their shoulders, she closed her eyes and added, "…here goes everything."

I could have titled it "Things just got real" but that's even MORE cliche' than what I actually called it :P