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Emotions Arc
Part 2: Fear
Written by Sailor Yavin IV
Nio growled. He was flying through space faster than most ships, but it wasn't fast enough for his tastes.
The child had injured him enough to slow him down quite a bit. His one wing had a long tear in it, from its base at his shoulder blades to the joint where it unfolded in the middle. It wasn't the pain -- no, he was above that. Pain wasn't the issue. The scratch left a gaping hole in his leathery wing large enough to fly a mynock through.
"Damn baby," he swore under his breath. "That sword of hers is troublesome." Swerving around an asteroid, he went on. "She controls both elements with ease... she's more powerful than I first thought... just like the legends..."
As he smiled, his sharp canines gleamed in the darkness of space.
"But not powerful enough."
Nio pushed himself a bit farther. He was almost there. Almost...
His daughter would die in an hour -- he was sure of it.
Honouko was once again being dragged around by Tomo, but this time, it was outside of the hangar and down the busy streets of lower Coruscant.
Tomo was going too fast for Honouko, who was trying to take in all of the new sights and sounds of the city planet. Her icy eyes were wide open in wonder, watching huge moving billboards and seeing so many new species, it was a little hard to keep track of them all. Even the sounds were something different -- a thousand voices all rolled together in some strange song. Then there were the beeps and chirps of technology, most louder than the alarms Cia had set off to wake her up.
A shiver of excitement ran through her. Even the pavement's cold hardness on her feet made her feel like a young child, just discovering the world around them.
Within the twenty minutes it took to walk from the hangar to the shopping mall, Honouko had all these new sounds and visions and feelings memorized, knowing which chime went to which machine and what language went with which species.
Then came the mall.
"Welcome to the Lower Coruscant Techno Shopping Center," Tomo said, sweeping Honouko in through the automatic doors. Honouko reached out a hand to investigate it further, but was pulled by her credit bag's strap further into the store.
"It was made by the same guy who made the Techno Hangar. He was kind of fond of the name, I guess, huh?" Tomo laughed, but Honouko picked up that it wasn't entirely a happy one. Then, Honouko's eyes were again wide open -- this time staring at the mass of clothes in the room.
"How can anyone wear that many clothes?" she said under her breath.
Tomo caught it. "No one wears them all, silly!" she said, again laughing. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Although some rich people come close, I suppose." Shrugging, the redhead went on. "Either way, more than one person buys these clothes, you see? They buy them from the store. You knew that, didn't you?" she asked, turning around.
Honouko blushed, a bit embarrassed, a bit angry. "I lived on a small planet for most of my life. I make my own clothes."
"Well, okay, that's great, but buying them is much easier," Tomo said, brushing her off. "Unless you want to design fashions -- that's another thing entirely."
"I design clothes!"
Tomo's face brightened. "Really? Like what?"
Honouko frowned and held up an edge of her worn tan shirt. "Like this!"
Tomo blinked, then grinned and began giggling. Honouko's face became hot again. "What?"
"You're just as bad as Shinwa!" she said, laughing. "C'mon, we'll get you some real clothes." Sizing Honouko up, she said, "First, you need some shoes." Again, Honouko was being dragged. "My friend Lana works in shoes. She'll help us!"
In rather short order, both girls were at the shoe department. Tomo sat Honouko down and went to look for Lana. As she looked around at all the boots and shoes, all Honouko could think of was how many animal skins it took to make all of them.
Once Tomo came back, she had another girl in tow: a brunette with matching eyes and Tomo's style of fashion. She wore a mid-riff bearing top, with the bottom tied into a knot above her stomach, and a jean skirt that had once been a pair of denim pants. Her eyes were upon Honouko, studying her.
"This is Honouko," Tomo introduced. Lana nodded, her short hair bobbing up and down. Suddenly, she kneeled down and picked up one of Honouko's feet. Honouko quickly jerked it from her grasp, nearly hitting Lana straight on in the head.
"What--?"
"I was just checking your shoe size," Lana said, a bit bewildered. She shook her head and looked at Tomo. "Size ten, I think." After giving Honouko an odd look, she walked off and began to search through the shelves, mumbling to herself.
"That was rude," Honouko muttered.
"You nearly took her head off. Most people would be after that," Tomo said with a half smile. She seemed rather amused. "Anyway, we're looking for a size ten shoe. You just look inside the shoe or on the box for the number--" She stopped herself. "You do know how to read basic, don't you?"
Standing up, Honouko gave a sigh. "Of course. Basic, Hutt, Wookiee, and ancient Yavin IV, actually."
"Good. Look on the box for a number ten, okay?" Tomo said, sounding rather unimpressed. She found a boot and began looking for a shoe in Honouko's size.
Sighing again, Honouko looked around for something that appealed to her. Her eyes grew when she saw the perfect one. She quickly dug through the boxes and found her size. Throwing off the lid, she pulled them out and put them on her feet.
"Tomo! I found a pair!" She held up a leg as she sat. Tomo turned around to look and immediately began giggling. Honouko, who was tired of being laughed at, became a bit cross, and said, "What?"
"They're nice, but they're slippers," Tomo explained, picking one of the fuzzy black slippers from Honouko's feet. "You wear them around your house, not on the street." She took the other once and put both in their box, setting it on the chair next to Honouko. "Look for regular shoes, like boots or high heels or something." She held up another box. "Like these! Black knee high boots-here." She gave the box to Honouko. "Try them on and tell me if you like them."
Honouko opened the box and looked inside. The boots were folded over in the box. She pulled them out and straightened the fold.
They feel nice... Honouko unbuckled the top of the left boot and slipped her foot inside. The whole interior was soft and cushioned, and to Honouko didn't feel like she was wearing a shoe at all. She quickly put on the other and buckled both of them, then ran to Tomo.
"They look just like I figured," Tomo said, nodding. She looked over at Lana. "We'll take these, the slippers, and those tennis shoes you have in your hands." Lana nodded and gathered up the boxes while Tomo began pushing Honouko again.
"Now what?" she asked, trying to stop the redhead.
"To clothes! I have the perfect color scheme for you!" Tomo exclaimed, pushing Honouko faster. "With those black boots--"
"What about the other shoes?"
"Lana will bring them to us once she rings them up. We'll just add them to the total bill. Right, Lana?" she shouted at the end.
"Yeah," Lana shouted back. In a low voice, she added, "As long as cave girl doesn't kick me in the face when I get there."
"I heard that!" Honouko shouted, raising a fist.
"Heard what?" Tomo asked.
Honouko nearly hit herself. Her hearing was better than most (thanks to her dad), so of course Tomo wouldn't have heard it.
"Nothing," she said, and she resigned herself to being shoved to another department.
Shinwa wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Stepping back, he admired the ship in front of him. Once all the vines were off, it actually looked pretty nice.
"Cia, I'm taking a break. Lunch time!" he said, grinning.
"I gotcha. Come back ASAP -- the landing screwed up the ship's steering alignment and I need a pair of hands to fix it," Cia said. Shinwa nodded and walked off, waving a small goodbye.
"Ah, alone again," Cia said quietly. She began to power down some systems.
In the darkness of the hangar, a figure crept out from the shadows and surveyed the area.
"She was here...and left to the lower levels," its voice said. One of Cia's systems rebooted in shock, trying to verify what she had heard. It couldn't be -- not already--
"Child... my daughter..."
No!
Teeth and red eyes glowed in the darkness.
"You are mine."
Leathery wings fluttered, and the figure flew out of the hangar in a flash.
No... Nio... Honouko, please, watch out for him! Honouko... Honouko...
"Honouko? You okay in there?"
Tomo's voice broke through Honouko's train of thought. She shook her head quickly to get herself to stay in the present.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
They had finished getting "unmentionables" a while earlier, and were now finishing up getting normal, everyday outfits. Looking at herself in the mirror, Honouko thought that this was her favorite outfit.
She wore a black tank top ("to make your hair even more striking," Tomo had said) with a mock turtleneck collar and a small diamond-shaped hole just below her collarbone. Dark red pants finished the ensemble ("You look good in dark colors!") with a black belt and a flame shaped buckle with a lightning bolt inside ("for your fiery personality") adding a bit of pizzazz to the whole thing. Honouko rather liked it, especially since her mother's jewel fell just on the hole in her tank top, letting the cool gem sit against her skin. She slipped on the boots to complete the outfit.
"Step out, please!" Tomo chimed in, once again breaking Honouko's thoughts. She did so, and Tomo squealed in delight. "Absolutely wonderful! I knew this color scheme would work for you!" Honouko, picking up her shoulder bag of credits, simply nodded. "So! Which one do you want to wear out today?" Tomo asked, pointing to the mass of clothes Honouko was going to buy.
Honouko smiled. "This one."
"All right! Then pick up these clothes and let's buy `em!" Tomo said gleefully. The two held as many clothes as they each could and carried them to the counter. Lana rang up the sale, keeping her distance from Honouko as she packed the clothing and shoes in plastic bags and had Tomo cut the tags off of Honouko's clothing. Honouko ignored Lana's rudeness. She was simply happy to be done with shopping. It was fun, but having Tomo drag her around the store was more tiring than her training on Yavin IV!
"Now, let's go back and show Shinwa and Cia what you got!" Tomo said, carrying two of the bags over her shoulders. Honouko smiled and nodded, glad she was headed for the door.
Looking down at herself, Honouko wondered what Gage would have thought of her new clothes. She had seen holos of him in his demon hunting days, and his outfits reminded her of what she was wearing right now. Honouko imagined him wearing one of his old outfits, smiling and laughing in the jungle. Her own smile faded at the thought of him.
I should have stayed with you...
A scream interrupted her reverie. Shouts of "Run!" and "Killer!" filled the store.
"What's going on?!" Tomo said, looking around frantically.
Honouko didn't have to look far. Standing about 50 feet away was a winged man with long red hair, holding a limp and bloody body by the neck. The man's red eyes came upon Honouko.
He had found her.
Honouko began shoving her bags into Tomo's hands. "Run. Hide behind the counter with Lana."
"Why--?" Tomo's eyes finally caught sight of Nio. She started to lose her grip on the shopping bags. "Who... what...?"
"Grab the bags and hide," Honouko instructed once more. She pulled her sword hilt out of her credit bag that laid around her shoulders.
"But--"
Honouko formed her sword's blade and held it at her side. "Do it. I'll be fine." Tomo eyed the blade and swallowed hard.
"But... who is he?"
Nio started his march towards Honouko, throwing the dead body into a rack of clothes.
I guess I have to tell the truth...
"My father."
Tomo blinked. "I thought Gage--"
"I'll explain later. Just... hide and don't tell anyone."
Tomo nodded and finally ran, bags in tow, to the sales counter, jumping behind it and pulling herself and Lana under it. Tomo leaned Lana against the inside of the counter -- she had fainted. Tomo rolled her eyes. Lana was good with fashion, but low on IQ and courage. Against her better judgment, Tomo sat up and peeked, just barely, over the counter.
Honouko was approaching Nio, and vice versa. Nio shot a flame ball into the ceiling, dropping out part of the second floor and setting a few clothing racks aflame. The fire alarm sounded and the sprinkler system went off, giving the effect of rain on the whole scene.
"I'll ask you again," Nio said, stopping. He held out a blood-covered hand. "One last time, child: will you join me and help me?"
Honouko tightened her grip on her sword, its blade unaffected by the water falling down on it. "Never."
The fire rose in Nio's red eyes, but he kept his hand outstretched. "We could rule this galaxy, and any others in our path! You and I could have anything. Power, money..." His mouth upturned in a wicked smile. "Love..."
Honouko's mind flashed to Gage and then, for some reason unknown to her, to Shinwa. She froze a moment, then shook her head.
"No. Never." Honouko blinked the water out of her eyes -- some from the sprinklers and others tears. "You lost everything, including me, when you killed my mother. I'd never help her killer."
Nio pulled back his hand. "Your mother..." He smiled again. "You remind me so much of her..." The smile became a grim expression. "Especially the stubbornness." Honouko said nothing. "I know what you want. Who you want."
"Gage is dead," Honouko said firmly. "You can't bring him back. It's impossible."
Another wicked smile. "There is another, now, isn't there? A certain... young man..."
Shinwa's face again appeared in Honouko's mind. She shook it off once more.
"Never. I will never help you."
He smirked. "Fine, then. You chose your death." His eyes bored into Honouko. "I shall gladly deliver it to you." His hands grew into gruesome claws, but Honouko stood her ground.
"I don't think so. Kya!" Honouko charged at him, her sword out in front of her. Nio ran to her as well, his claws outstretched. The two hit each other at the exact same moment, making a large spark and flame at where they met. Tomo winced and nearly ducked back under the sales counter.
Nio took advantage of the situation and used one of his hands to slash Honouko's left shoulder. She grunted and fell backwards into a puddle, but kept her grip on her sword. She quickly got back up and charged at him again, screaming.
Nio dodged and grabbed one of her arms. He swung around once before releasing her, sending her flying into a wall, making a large crater in it. Honouko groaned and lost her grip on her sword, its blade disappearing as it splashed into the water on the floor.
Honouko pulled herself back up. A pain like a piercing knife ran down her spine, making her scream and double over. Nio laughed.
"Too easy, child, too easy," he said, stepping forward. His claws grew larger on his hands. "I guess you are most like your mother: weak and stupid, easy to deal death to." He stopped only a few feet in front of her. Brandishing his claws, he said, "Goodbye, Honouko."
"Don't," she coughed.
"What was that?"
"Don't." She stood up slowly, blood dripping from a cut in her forehead down to her face and neck. "Don't... say... my... name!"
With that last word, a wind rose from around Honouko and blew across the store, knocking over clothing racks and shelves and even Nio himself. A bright white light followed the wind, coming from her mother's jewel.
"Never say my name!" she screamed. The light and wind intensified, like a sea storm on Kamino, only with a sun behind it. Nio shielded his eyes from the pure white light, as did Tomo from afar.
The light and wind died suddenly, and the sprinkler system switched off. Nio opened his red eyes a bit, only to have them shoot open wide in horror.
"No..."
Honouko felt no more pain. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and she looked down at herself. "Wha...?"
Firstly, she was floating a few inches above the ground. Secondly, her attire had changed greatly.
She wore a silvery-white leotard with a red collar and a skirt of the same hue with a black hem. A black bow tied with a silver buckle sat on her chest. Elbow length gloves covered her forearms, each with a black cuff tightened with a silver buckle right on the outside of the elbow joint. A black choker necklace was around her neck, also with a silver buckle. Black, knee-high boots encased her feet, the front held on only by small straps of the black fabric kept together with small silver buckles so that her pale skin showed through the gaps.
"Mom's necklace--"
In a response, the jewel set on her forehead began to glow. Honouko lifted a hand up and grazed her forehead with her fingertips. She pulled on the jewel and brought not only it off her head, but a silver tiara as well. She held it out in front of her and stared at the jewel embedded in it.
"What's going on?"
"Cool outfit," Tomo mumbled to herself.
"No! It can't be!" Nio shouted, his voice breaking. "The senshi -- they're dead!"
"Senshi?" Honouko repeated. The jewel in her hands gave a spark. Somehow, the word felt familiar on her lips. "Senshi..."
"Dead legends won't stop me!" Nio began to charge again, full speed at Honouko. To her, however, it seemed like slow motion.
"Senshi," she said once more, looking at the tiara. The jewel shone in her eyes, whispering words in her head.
"Yavin 4... for Yavin 4, for Hikari... Yavin 4--"
"Yavin 4 Angel Strike!" Honouko shouted, the wind rising once more. The glittering tiara morphed into the shape of a pair of feathery wings as she threw it at her father.
He screamed as the winged tiara went through the joint of his already torn wing, severing it completely. Nio dropped to the ground, heaving in pain.
The tiara returned to its normal form and came back to Honouko's hand. She placed it back upon her forehead and picked up her sword's hilt. Igniting the blade, she stepped towards Nio.
"Legends never die, Nio," she said in a voice that was not her own. She kneeled down to his level and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look in her entranced eyes. "Especially when they're real."
"That voice -- it can't be!" Nio said, shuddering. "I killed her, she's dead -- Hikari, I killed you!" Honouko leaned back as Nio jumped up, grimacing. He stumbled backwards, holding what was left of his one wing in his hand. "I saw your blood spill to the ground -- your body -- you're dead!"
Honouko's eyes were still slightly glazed over as she merely smiled.
"Nio, once Honouko was born, I couldn't die -- not wholly, anyway." Her eyes flashed from ice blue to silver and back again. "Part of me is in her, and will always live in her." Hikari's voice laughed. "Leave her alone, Nio. The only thing she has to give you is death."
Nio let go of his fearful look and growled. "I'll be back for her life. She can't hide behind you and those powers forever."
A smirk. "She'll only get stronger."
"She will die... and I'll be back to give her that death." Wincing again, Nio disappeared in a puff of smoke and fire, running light speed.
"You were always a coward deep down, Nio..."