Falls End

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

05/08/98:

"Oriana!" Jadith called as she slipped in through the front
door, Sora on her heals. I moved my head up in responses,
looking at them over my arms. I nodded my head to them to
acknowledge there presence.

Jadith was right to my side, sitting next to me on the
couch. "I would have come back sooner, but things have been
hectic."

I nodded my head, uncurling from the ball I had been in.
Stretching my limbs out I sighed. "You know what happened?"

She nodded. "Page told us both the minute we got back to
Prid."

Sora walked over as well, standing with her arms crossed and
her wings pulled tight to her back. "How is he?" She asked.

I shook my head, waving my paw towards the back corner of
the room. "Rhea is still here, that means there something of
left of him."

Jadith tried to place a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged
it away.

Walking farther back into the room Sora snuck a look at
where Rhea was curled up, relaxing in the sunlight that was
coming in through the slider. The door was open, as it had
been for the past month now. She just didn't seem to be in
the mood to go outside.

"Don't startle her," I caution Sora, "she's likely to attack
anything that gives her a shock."

She took a few over exaggerated steps back away from the
lioness before turning and walking over to us.

"I think I could help," Jadith said.

I snapped my head around to look at her. "How?" I asked,
almost demanding.

"I once had to heal someone who had five people in his
head." She answered. "I was able to get the real him back
after a few hours. This could be the same thing, I think I
could do it."

I leaned back on the couch, thinking about that. So far Ken
had not made any progress at all. Every time I tried to talk
to him he pushed me away saying that he was getting closer
to undo the spell.

With only days, or even hours, left until Fox was gone I
didn't think there was a chance of Ken pulling a last minute
miracle out of thin air.

"Then try." I told her.

She nodded, standing up from the couch and slowly walking
over to where Rhea was curled up. When she was only a few
feet away she taped her foot lightly on the floor.

Rhea pulled her head up and looked at Jadith. The elf took a
step back as she saw the lionesses' eyes. Still though she
moved closer.

"It's ok," She said, her voice was shaking a bit. "I'm a
friend, remember." She sank to her knees, moving ever closer
to Rhea's side.

She didn't understand what was being said, but she must have
decided that Jadith wasn't a threat because she lowered her
head. Her body relaxing with a ripple around it's length.

Once Jadith got close enough to touch her she did. Letting
her fingers stroke along Rhea's neck. Resting her other hand
on the lioness' head she keep stroking the fur of her neck.

Lowering her head a bit, Jadith looked to be concentrating.
After a few seconds she looked up and turned her head
towards me. "It's not the same, but I think I can do it."

I nodded. "Please then, try."

She nodded in return, turing back around to face Rhea. She
put both of her hands on the lionesses' head, once next to
each ear. Then she lowered herself to the point that she
looked as if she was bowing to Rhea.

They stayed that way for what felt like hours, but in the
end turned out to be less then a minute. Rhea didn't show
any signs of noticing anything was going on and Jadith
didn't move at all.

Finally, when the elf pulled back and turned to me she
looked stunned. Her face was clean, none of the blood from
her eyes and mouth that always seem to result from her
healing.

"Something changed," she said, her voice almost a whisper.
"Under my fingers it changed..." She started to shake.

Rhea slowly rose to all fours behind Jadith, stretching out
as she did so. Then even slower she padded over to the couch
where I was still sitting. Looking up at me with her ice
blue eyes she nuzzles against my paw, licking it softly with
her massive tongue.

"Fox?" I asked, my voice shaking as much as my body was.

My answer came as Rhea turned and bolted past Jadith and out
the slider.

I think I screamed something then. I wasn't to sure about
what exactly happened right after, but I was running after
her. Around the house and up a small trail into the woods
around us.

Running with all my strength I was keeping Rhea just in
sight, her tail flicking as she ran through the thick
underbrush. I was gaining on her as well, with the land as
rough as it was I had an advantage being able to maneuver
through it.

Then something was around my foot, stopping my from moving
it forward and sending my body sprawling down into the soft
dirt of the forest floor. When I looked back up Rhea was
gone and I couldn't see any sign of which way she had gone.

I laid there crying, not bother to even get up. Fox was
gone.

* * *

It was maybe an hour later when I felt someone touch me on
my shoulder. I didn't bother to turn and see who it was,
right then I just didn't care.

"Oriana," it was Sora. I still didn't respond, I just keep
slowly weeping onto my arms.

"I called Ken," She whispered. "He'll be here soon, you need
to be at the house to meet him."

I turned my head to look at her. She had a deathly clam
about her, her jaw set into a hard grimace with her wings
slightly fanned out around her body.

Wiping the dirt from around my eyes I rolled over, winching
as my foot came lose from what ever had tripped me. Sitting
up I nodded. "It's to late for him to do anything."

She nodded. "I know, but Fox is his friend."

I shook my head. "Was, there friendship died months ago."
Then slowly I tried to stand up. As I tried to put some
weight on my ankle I let out a howl of pain and fell back to
the ground.

Sora reached to this, catching me as I fell. As she helped
me to the ground I reached out, felling my ankle. It was
swollen, not to badly though, bone the bones felt out of
place.

I gave a low, short, laugh. "I've broken my ankle," I said
when Sora looked at me.

Bending down next to me she placed my arm over her shoulder
and her arm over mine. Wordlessly we both worked to stand
up, my weight on her. Slowly we walked back like that to the
house. It was a short walk, but having to hop every step
made it longer.

Once we finally made it to the house Sora set me on the
couch. "I'll get some ice for that."

I nodded, looking around the place. We were alone, there
wasn't even a sound coming for Naomi's room. "Were is
everyone?" I asked.

Sora sighed as I she walked up the stairs. "Jadith is at her
place waiting for you to come and kill her and I sent Newt
to stay with Page for a while."

"That was a good idea. I can't take care of her like this."
I said, winching as I lifting my leg up onto the table. "I'm
going to have to get to the doctor soon to get a cast on
this." I said to myself.

"After Ken gets her we can go," Sora said, coming back down
the stairs with with a icepack in paw. Handing to me she sat
down on the couch.

"I'm sorry it took so long to find you." She said as I set
the icepack onto my ankle.

I sighed as the ice settled down, the cold making it hurt
more for a few seconds before it started to dull down.
Leaning back on the couch I just shook my head.

"Jadith was in shock," she explained, still as stiff and
clam as before. "she can't believe that she did this to
Fox."

I turned my head to look at her. "I don't know if she did or
didn't. Her face wasn't bloody."

She nodded. "I noticed that."

I rolled my head back to look at the ceiling and felt myself
start to cry again. "So this is it," I whispered. "he's
dead." Just saying the words sent a shiver over my body.

"So what do we do now?" Sora asked, her voice quavering ever
so slightly.

"I wish I knew." I answered.

She sighed. "Well, you at least could go home."

I shrugged. I really couldn't, I still had to finish my time
with the guild before I truly just go home.

Sora shook her head. She could go back to her own world, at
the cost of losing her freedom. Fox was always working on a
way to help her solve that, he never got to do anything
about it though.

In the silence that fell over the room the sound of the
front door opening was like a gunshot. I flipped my head
around to look at the door as Sora jumped to her feet.

Slipping in quietly Ken closed the door behind himself. The
half dragon looked worse then when I had seen him before,
almost one step away from dropping dead where he stood. He
put some much of his energy into trying to help Fox over the
past month, none of it worth anything.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Sora," I said, "While you're up
could you get the bottle of wine I have the refrigerator?
Bring down a glass if you want some."

She nodded and started up the stairs.

Ken walked over from the doorway and fell into a chair.

"You look as if you're about to die." I said.

He nodded. "I should be in a hospital."

I chuckled. "We can go together, I need my ankle done up
anyway."

He looked down at my foot, just noticing the icepack on it.
"ah." He said, slouching even more.

Sora came back down, the wine in one paw and a two glasses
in the other. "I thought Ken might want some." She said as
she sat back down on the couch.

"We still have a chance." He said as he looked toward the
pair of us.

I nearly shot out of my seat. "What? How!" I yelled.

He nodded very slowly. "Remember, the spell was made for
you." How could I forget? "Rhea was to be in charge but you
where suppose to still be there, watching. With Fox the
spell is submerging his mind, it still should be there,
under Rhea's."

I drew in a slow breath. "How do we get it him out then?"

"We need to get a mind shredder. We rip Rhea out."

"What would that do to Fox though?" Sora asked finally
showing some emotion.

Ken shook his head. "I don't know, it depends on one much
they are one. It could be a bit of his memories or he could
be destroyed as well, but he will be effect in some way." He
looked back at me. "This is your choice Oriana."

I swore. "Some damn choice! Either we lose him totally or
risk blowing out his mind!"

He nodded. "We have to find Rhea first. She is the only real
lion on Prid so it should be easier. Once we have her then
we can decided what to do."

I shook my head. "Ken--" I started.

He cut me off. "If we can get him back I can return him to
human. It won't break the spell but it will work around it.
But who ever's in control is something I can not change. I
need a few more days to finish it, but it can be done."

"Fine then," I said, grabbing the wine and yanking out the
cork with my claws. "Find her, find her and then we'll
decided to risk blow his mind or just stick her in a zoo." I
punctuated the sentence by taking two long gulps from the
bottle.

This wasn't a decision I could make yet, if ever...

-----

This story is (c) 1998 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.