Mirrors: Part Twenty-Three

"You shouldn't have thrown her onto a table, now it'll take longer for us to leave." Lord Erin snapped at Larken. He was sitting in a chair with his cane across his lap, glaring at the man across the table. Anise would have shifted uncomfortably under Erin's angry gaze, but Larken sat still in his chair.

"She shouldn't have stolen my mother's ship, and she shouldn't have danced with me." Larken muttered indignantly. He was handsome as always, save for the fact his hair was messy. But still, that was something Anise could look over. They both wore white clothing; Anise wore a dress with a white sash tied about the waist, Larken wore a suit of white and a black undershirt.

Lord Erin sighed and turned away from Larken. A glimmer of pity danced slowly through Erin's black eyes as he looked up at Anise from his chair. He sighed once more, then ran his fingers through his hair.

"Anise, you'll have to watch over Captain Amelia. Tend to her needs, pretend to be her friend, all that. Try to get her ready to leave as soon as possible." At that, Lord Erin stood and took his cane, then left them alone in the room.

Anise looked towards Larken as the door closed. "She took your mother's ship? How?"
"She tricked me," Larken started, "I was young and a fool. She told me that she'd help me run the ship, using my own stupid trust against me. Then, she took me to Sadrin and left me there, in the central planet for everything. Gangs, murder, drugs, even vicious politics, but you know that. It wasn't a good time for me."

Anise stood with her mouth slightly agape, staring at Larken. That girl basically ruined his life? Larken noticed her shock. He rolled his eyes and left the room, murmuring something. No, I shouldn't have just stared at him, that was stupid! Anise walked quickly after him, her white flats tapping softly against the wood floor.

"Larken," Anise said, "I don't know if I offended you or not, but if I did, I'm sorry."
Larken stared back at her, confused. "What do you mean?"
"You... you walked away, so I assumed it was something I did."
"It's fine, just go do what Erin told you to do."

Larken looked back at her for a moment, then shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and began to walk away. Anise stood still, watching him continue down the hall. Captain Larken, a once-proud man. How people do change.

"I'm guessing he's the one who got the full treatment?" A strange voice spoke from behind Anise, interrupting her thoughts.

Anise turned around to identify the speaker, only to find an exact replica of Lord Erin. Except, this stranger did not have a cane. She was still shocked, for his voice was different from Erin's. It had been a calmer, softer voice, as if the speaker was actually interested in talking to you. A smug smile spread across the stranger's face, and his black eyes grossly looked her up and down.

--

"You must be Anise. It wasn't hard to tell, not at all." The man said.
"If you need Larken, I can go get him." Anise wanted an excuse to leave the man.
"No, no, you'll do. You see, Erin called me over to help him with a certain something. But, you can't tell anyone we've talked, alright?" He began to move closer to Anise.

Every step he took, he changed. His black hair slowly appeared to be black feathers, and his suit was also made from feathers. Anise panicked and took a step backwards, recognizing him from the room with all the seats, with all the Slaves. Angrily, the man lunged forward and wrapped his hand around Anise's arm, glaring at her.

"Don't make this difficult," he grunted at her, "I just want to talk."

Before Anise could pull her free arm away, the man grabbed it and began to pull her into the room she had just left. Anise couldn't explain why she hadn't screamed, for Larken had just been around the corner. It was as if she wanted to do what the man said. Quickly, the man closed the door and sat on the table in the middle of the room. He motioned for Anise to take a seat in the chair near him, so she did.

"Alright, I have a proposition for you. Well, more so an order, because if you don't do as I ask I will kill you and the other Slave." He slouched forward, his feather clothes making him seem like a great black bird.
"What do you want?" Anise forced herself to say.
"It's simple, really. I have many enemies, but just recently you have acquired the only weakness to my greatest enemy." He paused to smile, a strange malice mixed in with the pure joy of his smile. "This weakness is Captain Amelia, you see, and I've had informants tell me that my enemy is indeed trying to find her. So, naturally, I acted first and have come to you. Don't misunderstand, I don't want her dead, then I have no weaknesses of the enemy to perpetuate. I want you to deliver her to my home in Sadrin, as soon as possible."
Anise sat still, processing what had just been said. "Who is your enemy?"
"Someone who will kill you to get Captain Amelia, that is all I wish to say."
"How am I supposed to know who to avoid if I don't know what they look like?"
"Oh, you'll know."

Anise looked down at her black stockings, a frown upon her lips. He's the one making this difficult. Also, he even threatened to kill Larken if I refused. How can I say no? She bit her lip, hoping to hold back the answer, but it did not work as she wished.

"I'll do as you ask."
"Good."

As the words escaped the stranger's lips, Anise felt a soft touch near her ear. She looked up, startled. The stranger was gone, and he had left no trace but a small, black feather in her hair.

--

Anise had hidden the feather beneath the sash around her waist. It strangely gave her a sense of courage just to have it with her. As she walked down the hall to where Amelia was being contained, she contemplated her decisions. If I had cried out, would he have just killed Larken and I? Or would he have let me go? I don't really know what would have happened. She shook herself from her thoughts and continued down the hall.

Outside the room where Amelia was held, Anise could hear sounds of muffled yelling and struggling. With a long sigh, Anise opened the door and stepped into the room.

"YOU!" The disgust in Amelia's voice was almost tangible. "Get. Out."
Anise blinked and walked forward, "Calm down."

The room was strangely filled with high technology, compared to the rest of the mansion. Every surface in the room had been cleaned, even the shelves that were filled with strange bottles. The room was also significantly colder, everything seemed to be made of metal, and Amelia had been strapped into a Medical Pod that hung on a wall.

Amelia herself looked pitiful, she wore strange white clothing that managed to keep her stomach and sides uncovered. There was a large bruise on her stomach and several small cuts on her sides, accompanied by deep, infected cuts. She had stopped struggling against the restraints as Anise came closer, for the Pod had somehow transferred sedatives into her body. Her black hair had already fallen from its beautiful braid, so it fell around her face in a mass of dark tangles. Her eyes were red, Anise assumed from crying, but they also seemed so glazed over. Anise assumed that was from the sedatives. She's someone's special weakness, seeing her like this doesn't feel right.

"I want to go home," Amelia whimpered.
"You can't," Anise said, while she accessed the Pod's controls. "I'm here to be your friend," the lie made her want to wince, "I'm here to take care of you."
"A friend wouldn't have let my... friends be slaughtered like that." Amelia clenched her fists and turned away from Anise.
"If it makes you feel any better, not all of your friends were accounted for. When we got to your ship, most of your crew immediately surrendered, but a few refused."
Amelia's head snapped forward, hope in her glazed eyes. "And?"
"We managed to imprison some of those who refused, but the ones we couldn't find somehow disappeared."
"What about Big Dog an- the muscular man with me at the dance, and what about the purple eyed man?" Her fists were clenching over and over.
"There were no bodies recovered from the dance except the dancers and that strange gold-eyed man."

Relief and grief etched strangely into Amelia's face. She leaned back and let Anise continue to work on her without complaint. The sedatives that had been pumped into Amelia's body seemed to finally work on her, so she fell unconscious as the Pod began to run scans of her body. A diagnosis displayed across the front of the pod, as if displayed on a glass over the pod. Anise ignored the diagnosis and just let the system automatically take care of Amelia. She stood back and stared at Amelia, trying to imagine her as a great pirate.

Eventually, the Pod's display said Amelia was fine for the day, so Anise left the room and began to return to her own room.

--

Outside a window along the halls, Anise saw sprawling landscapes of grassy plains. The darkness of the night had fallen across the plains, giving the landscape an eerie inescapable feeling. Somewhere out there, someone is moving to save Amelia, and they'd kill me to save her. But, I'd kill them to save Larken, and in turn myself. But who could it be?

While Anise stared out the window, she felt a presence approaching her from behind. Not wanting to turn around, Anise focused on the reflections of the window and saw it was Larken.

"I'm sorry I just walked away from that conversation we had this morning." He sounded tired.
"It's fine, really. I understand why you reacted like that, so it's fine." Anise looked up at the stars in the sky.
"You know, if I had my mother's ship, we could escape this place and go wherever we wanted to go."
"We?" Anise said, turning around.
"Yes, we. Don't you want to escape this stupid planet?"
I need to escape this planet, for you, for me. "Yes."

After a moment of quietly staring into the darkness, several bright lights began to fill the sky. Anise stared up at them in wonderment.

"Someone's coming." Larken said as the tapping sound of Erin filled the hall.
"Anise, go get Amelia and take her to the room we discussed her in." Erin said urgently. He winked at Anise, and suddenly she understood that it was not Erin.

--

Without questioning Erin, she ran down the hall, tracing her steps back to Amelia's room. She thrust open the door and ran inside.

Amelia's sides were scarred now, but no longer in need of care. Amelia leaned her head forward and blinked at Anise, confused. Anise ignored her and opened up the Pod's controls.

"What's wrong?" Amelia muttered, "Are you letting me out?"
"We're going somewhere, I need you to cooperate or they'll kill you." Kill me more like.

Eventually, Anise got Amelia out of the Pod. She fell from her restraints and landed on her knees with a grunt. Anise wrapped an arm around her back and helped her stand. As they reached the open doorway, the power went out to the entire mansion.

Even stranger, Anise found she could see just as easily as she could without the lights, but Amelia stumbled with each step. She found herself leading Amelia slowly towards the room where she had met the strange feathered man. Back down the hall she had just been in, an explosion sounded, and shrieks came from the same direction. Strange voices screaming in a different language began to fill in the silence, along with sounds of guns.

"What's going on, who are those people?" Amelia said, her head turning to look over her shoulder.
"People who probably want to kill us too, hurry." Anise said.

They had reached the hall to the room, and Anise saw the strange man leaning on the doorway, but he still looked like Erin. A single pair of footsteps sounded from behind Anise, and suddenly it became easier for her to lift Amelia. Anise looked to see what had happened, and saw Larken reluctantly helping her carry Amelia.

"There's more and they're coming, and somehow there's that strange golden-eyed man in the crowd, but I'm not sure he was real." Larken huffed.
Suddenly, Amelia's eyes grew wide and she began to thrash in their grip. "LET ME GO! LET. ME. GO!"
Behind them, footsteps seemed attracted by her screaming. Anise panicked and shoved the girl through the door, the fake Erin stepping in behind them.

Suddenly the facade faded, and the feathered man appeared once more.

"Where is Erin?" Larken said, panicked suddenly.
"I killed him, that's how I am him." The strange man strode forward, and a strange aura began to surround him.
"Please let me go, I swear he won't hurt you, please, please..." Amelia begged, too weak to struggle now.

All three of them ignored Amelia, while the door behind them was holding back the intruders. Suddenly a dark blue portal appeared on the wall at the back of the room.

"Let's go, everyone through this now." The stranger said.
"Where will it take us?" Larken asked.
"Away."

Without further question, Larken grabbed Amelia and lifted her up, carrying her towards the portal. Anise stood still for a moment, then her feet began to slowly move towards the portal.

"The portal will stay up for a few more seconds, make sure to get through it, or die." The stranger said after Larken passed through the portal with Amelia. He then faded, leaving only a few black feathers.

Startled, Anise ran towards the portal, looking back over her shoulder as the door exploded open. Hundreds of people stood in the doorway, but only one ran forward. It was the golden-eyed man, who screamed and held an arm out, as if to stop the portal.

Suddenly the room faded, the portal had closed. Anise was now in an underground tunnel, and Amelia and Larken sat before her.

--

The strange man appeared as suddenly as he had disappeared. He stood over Amelia and Larken, seeming to revel in Amelia's racking sobs.

"Good work, all of you." He said, smiling wickedly.