Vanishings (Aiko)

“Cadenza.”

The name echoed in his mind, much as the sound of the train rolling along the tracks echoed along the tunnel. The people remained silent for the most part, aside form the snoring of a homeless person with a newspaper over his chest and the murmured cries of a child in its mother’s arms. The Dragons stirred softly in his consciousness, whispering in his ears, their thoughts mixed with the elf’s own.

He lifted the piece of paper from under his coat. The name “Cadenza Madri-something” was bolded up top then smeared into a black cloud after the middle of her last name. Under the name was a crudely drawn picture of a girl with peacock feathers on her head. The drawing cut off around her neck and showed her with a scowl. The text underneath was unreadable, as it was in another language. The translation was unneeded, as the point was still made: this woman was wanted for something, and Taen had to prove her innocence.

The Dragon of Wind, Elrada, settled in Taen’s mind. She is innocent. I can feel it in the wind. The town has been plagued with disappearances, and they chose to blame a gypsy.

And one that was famous, no doubt. Taen had recalled the name from somewhere, but he could not remember. The elf heard it mentioned in a bar, some men mentioning how she had power over light and shadow and had taken on the great fencer Zorlo. Perhaps if he saw her face to face he would recognize her.

The train halted to a stop, and Taen’s head spun around. Outside the window, he could see the station, crowded with coming and going passengers. Taen got up to leave with everyone else, but a commotion arose from the front. A sounds like metal snapping shook the train, and Elrada spoke again, Watch out. I sense something amiss.

His muscles tensed. People all around looked up, but only Taen stood and walked to the front. Looking through the window to the next car, he made out two men in black suits carrying rifles. ****, they’re armed. Taen leaned against the wall to the left of the door, his blades out. Gunshots were heard, igniting all of Taen’s senses at once. The sound of the screams as people fell to the ground, the smell of blood crawling across the floor, the feeling of his heartbeat banging against his chest as if it were trying to break free. Then there was the sight of people in his car scampering to the back of the train, and the taste of lead on his tongue as the fear of bullets made him sick. He hated those things; he could never dodge them, and they hurt too much for him to stand.

The thought of running to the back with the rest crossed his mind, but he shrugged it off immediately. Fleeing would not save them. They were on a track that was one hundred feet above the ground. The only thing that could save them was if the invaders chose not to kill the passengers; or if someone defeated the invaders themselves.

Something banged on the door. A voice shouted something that Taen did not hear, nor care to hear. The door opened, and Taen struck first. He knocked the first to the side with a gust of wind, and then summoned a shield of golden light energy right in front of him. As this was happening, the other two men in the black suits raised their rifles and fired. As the bullets ricocheted off the shield, the elf thrust the barrier forward, knocking the two men back. He then morphed the energy into several spears, and closed them in on the guards. As they were being held in place, Taen knocked their guns away with his feet, and then held one sword straight ahead, pointing to the both of them.

“Any more of you left?” Taen demanded. After neither of them spoke, whether they were knocked unconscious or too scared, the summoner sheathed his swords and started walking to the front of the cars.

The merchant pulled his cloak a little closer around his face, and glanced up at the woman who was laying down bill after bill on his crate, in this back alley of the town. She was... not his usual kind of customer. Blonde, heavily made-up with rouge and eyeshadow, and dressed in a loud, gaudy green dress, she towered over him menacingly, tapping her long, red nails on the box impatiently as she waited for him to check the legitimacy of her cash. Black market dealings were always shady, yes, he had known that when he had gotten into this business--but usually you were wary of your customers because they were big, burly men with short tempers and hidden pistols. Not these strange, flamboyant women who looked more suited to hanging around nail salons than alleyways...

Somehow, she made him even more afraid.

"The radio. Do you have it? I don't have all day," she said, in her sultry southern drawl.

Oh, how that voice would be stuck in his head for days.

The woman had asked for a special kind of device that would be able to listen in and disrupt police communications--a type of ham radio that couldn't be traced. That gave the merchant the impression she was on the run from the authorities for some reason, but... then again, so were most of his customers.

If worse came to worse and the cops traced her purchase back to him, though, all he had to do was describe her for them and he'd be off the hook for helping out. Doing that had saved him countless times in the past.

The lady sucked her teeth, making an annoyed little "tch!" sound, and treated him to another glare. "Done yet?"

"Just taking precautions, lady," he muttered to her. Finally satisfied that he wasn't being fed counterfeit bills, he handed over the radio, eying the woman closely just one last time. Brown eyes and a beauty mark... those'll be key features to remember for later.

"Thank you, my friend," she said, pocketing the radio and treating the merchant to a toothy grin.

She hurried off then down the alley, disappearing as quickly as she had came. The merchant watched her swinging hips until she faded into the dusty darkness.

Once she'd gotten to a fire escape and up onto a nearby rooftop, the loud, blonde woman started disappearing altogether. The blonde hair, a well-made wig, fell off, landing into a shadow and melting away. False teeth, too, and brown contacts. Make-up was wiped away with the hideous green frock, and sent away as well. Lifts were taken out of boots, and fake nails pried off.

In a matter of minutes, Cadenza Madrigal was standing on the rooftop, looking out over the town, blinking some moisture back into her eyes. I never thought I'd have to be running around in disguises again. At least, not because of some crimes I had nothing to do with. I've only been here... what? A week? Give me a month at least before I give the cops any real reason to be pissed with me. In a week I'm still just settling in--I haven't even had time to tear up a bar yet.

The gypsy pulled the ham radio from her pocket, and played around with the frequencies. There was a cop report about the barricade that had but put on the town since the vanishings began--they were allowing one train to move out of the city tonight, though, on which they'd be checking the IDs of every passenger. She'd given most of her false IDs to the police back in her home world months ago, when negotiating the pardon of her dad... but the train didn't leave for a few hours. She still had time to put together something legit enough.

Aside from that, most of the reports were of small crimes, or squads on the lookout for her. Her freedom to move around openly was going to be restricted a lot, unless she made up another new disguise. That blonde woman with all the memorable, fake features was already unsafe, no doubt, because of that seedy merchant.

Sinking down into the shadows, Cadenza began to search the streets for a good costume shop...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Miranda Cubbins, rosy-cheeked young college student of law, boarded the front car of the train as the clock tower bell chimed its seventh time, and the sun was drooping low over the town before it laid down for its nightly slumber. She was hurried through the checking station with a smile and a nod, and took her seat quietly, resting her messenger bag on her lap.

From inside it, a black headphone trailed out and up to her left ear, and she drummed her hands lightly to what sounded like mellow music. No one would guess the innocent-looking young lady was keeping tabs on the police. Or that she was sneaking past their barricades.

A newspaper laying on the floor caught Miranda's eye as the train began to move along the tracks. On the front page, there was an article about the recent vanishings, and below, a rough police sketch of the top suspect. No one had seen the woman long enough to get a good likeness, but you couldn't mistaken those feathers and that scowl.

"Cadenza Madrigal, wanted--" she could read. She'd seen the word "wanted" enough now by the name to recognize it. The rest was in the native language here, and she wasn't familiar enough with it to figure it out.

...Did they really have to draw me scowling like that? Geez. I haven't even been around here long enough to get that kind of rep. But at least the picture's really vague, and looks... too young, really. They shouldn't be able to find me based off that.

The "student" jerked her head up when the train suddenly came to a stop.

We're still in the tunnel... what's going on? They couldn't have figured out I'm here already...

She glanced around the cabin. Her fellow passengers seemed to be just as confused as she was. There was a loud banging coming from the front, and a scream--

--two men in black burst in, and the car erupted into gunfire.

All of the bloody places for something like this! Cadenza thought, gritting her teeth. Before the men could even get to her part of the cabin, she dropped into the shadows.

She could hear the screams above her, back in the material realm... see the bodies falling, their shades melting away...

I can't give myself away yet--if I do anything... if anyone recognizes how I fight, even just that I'm stronger or faster than a normal woman, my cover'll be blown.

The men continued through, clearing their path with bullets and violence. Three more men followed, carrying smaller guns, to clean up behind them.

An organized group of criminals? And the cops couldn't detect them at all? They're wasting their time on me instead? ...This kind of thing is just the trouble with law enforcement. They're all a bunch of blind idiots who fail to see the bigger picture.

One of the men was approaching an elderly lady... Cadenza could barely stand to watch. He put his rifle up to her temple, counted down...

And found that once he'd reached one, his gun had been broken in half.

The old lady fainted, and back in the shadows... Cadenza exhaled softly. She'd already broken her resolve to just watch so quickly, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she hadn't. And at least from here, no one could see that she'd done something. Those men would just begin to wonder who was on the train... rumors of her abilities had already been spread around. A gun breaking mysteriously? It sure sounded like her handiwork...

Shrugging off the old woman to go catch up with his comrades, the man ran ahead, leaving the front car empty.

OoC: As I wrote this, I kept on imagining it being Niko instead of Taen. x3

BiC: Another gunman stepped out into the car, and Taen took him out before he could raise his rifle. Thrusting one blade at the man’s weapon and another at his neck, the gunman fell to the ground with a gurgled scream. He ran to the next door, looking at the rest of the passengers who cowered in his seats. None of them were hurt. This was good, but he knew that it would not stay this way for long. Turning his head away from them, he fixed his gaze on the door. He grabbed the knob and pulled, but his eyes narrowed as it wouldn’t budge. The elf stepped back, and kicked the door, but all that happened was him leaving an imprint on the white steel. Swearing beneath his breath, he put his hand on the rail.

Out of his peripheral vision, he spotted a window that led to the outside of the cars. The passengers eyed the strange elf as he sauntered over to the window, and politely asked the people sitting in front of hit to move to the side. He flashed them a subtle smile, reassuring them they would be alright, and then put his hands against the window.

The young man breathed in, a cool breeze filled the air. He blew softly on the glass, and it turned ice cold. Fog gathered around it, and once Taen was satisfied that it was cold enough, he stepped back, gathering his hands into a circle just above his midsection, his left foot back, and his right pointing at an angle. The summoner closed his eyes. He felt himself become a part of the ice. He was its master. He pushed his hands outward, and people gasped as the glass itself shattered. Taen stepped on the seat, and jumped outside the train.

It was a catastrophe. More gunmen swarmed the area, and the local police was powerless against them. Gunshots exploded from all directions. Surely this must be a bigger plot than he imagined. There must have been at least a few dozen of them just out there, not to mention the ones already on the other trains. He turned away from the mayhem, and went to the front most train car. He pulled the latch, and unlocked the door. People swarmed to the front, confusion and fear filling the air around them. He stepped out of the way to let them pass, but one girl still stood on the train.

She sat quiet and still in the shadow, a young girl, no older than Taen. She held a CD player in her lap, and seemed distracted by something else.

“Ma’am?”

She looked up at him, not knowing whether to be joyful or in despair. He beckoned her forward, and she collected her things. This was definitely not the place for her. At least, not at the moment. Taen looked around the door, seeing four guards leading people out of the train station. He gently grabbed the schoolgirl’s shoulder, and nudged her forward. He followed after, watching her leave.

As she gave one last glance, the elf felt an intense pain burning in his side. The clutched the place where the gunman had shot him, blood seeping between his fingers. He winced and knelt to the ground. His head swirled. The girl froze, her eyes shimmering as the gunman pointed at her. Taen’s eyes noticed the man as the one he took out first on the trains. He loaded his weapon and pulled the trigger.

She still stood there. Instead, it was the man who fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The elf blinked.

Did I do that? O.o

OoC: This idea just popped into my head suddenly. :3

IC:
She’d stopped the danger that was right before her, but what Cadenza had missed was the bullet of a policeman outside who’d been too slow; a policeman who’d hesitated, who’d panicked for a moment when he saw the terrorist in black and who hadn’t pulled the trigger until the second right before Taen had unknowingly nudged the woman into his line of fire.

That split second made all the difference now.

The bullet smashed through the train window, and closely grazed her neck, only narrowly missing passing straight through it because she had turned slightly to the side. It drew blood as well as a string of curses in what sounded like Portuguese when it first struck the “schoolgirl”, and her hand flew to the wound as she winced and suppressed a small cry of pain. She tried her best to stand, but found herself falling instead to her knees as the blood soaked her palm and fingers slowly but steadily.

The policeman, seeing what he’d done, blanched, and his eyes rolled back in his head like two black cherries on casino slots as he fainted, dropping his smoking gun on the train platform. His pudgy, recumbent form instantly became lost in the chaos of running cops and civilians outside fleeing the station.

“Make yourself useful and get me out of here!” Cadenza barked to Taen, clutching at her neck and rising again to her feet. She couldn’t imagine trying to navigate through the frantic crowds outside while trying to keep people from pushing her arm away from holding her wound shut—so as much as she hated it, she knew she was going to have to rely on someone for a little bit.

Blinking twice, the young blonde barked at Taen again. He jumped to his feet, stammering for a second as the bleeding from his side became worse. The elf unbuttoned his light blue dress shirt, and took it off, revealing a black t-shirt darkened even further with his blood. He then tied it around his waist as a makeshift tourniquet in order to stop the bleeding. After pulling it tightly enough, he limped over to “Miranda” and grabbed her shoulder.

They made their way to the exit, but it seemed to be all in vain as people crowded around in a jumbled panic. The shooting had stopped, but there was still a lingering apprehension in the air. Ambulances came, sorting through the bodies of the living, the dead, and almost dead. Sirens blared, people murmured amongst themselves.

Silence.

The head of the train close to them burst apart in smoke and flames, with the four other trains following in rapid succession. As the fire spread towards Taen and the young girl, instinct overcame his common sense, and he summoned a barrier to block the inferno that would have incinerated them all. As he let the golden shield disappear into thin air, “Miranda” gaped in wonder. She had little no time to say anything, as Taen had already taken her hand and dashed up the stairwell with the rest of the crowd. The elf hoped that no one had seen what he did, as that could bring him unwanted attention. He shrugged it off, and pulled himself and the woman out of the subway.

As they arose to the surface, even more sirens blared. People crammed into trucks and cars; police guided people to the hospital a few blocks away. Taen glanced to his side at Miranda, whose hand was dripping with the blood from her neck. She winced every time she moved, but made no complaint. He put his hand to her wound, but she stopped him.

“What are you doing? Don’t touch me!”

She batted his hand away. He made no remark to her rudeness; he just attempted to apologize, “I was trying to help you with your wound… its bleeding pretty bad. We should get you to a hospital.”

She looked at him for a second, and then shook her head. “No, we can’t do that,” she spoke again before Taen could protest, “just take me behind an alleyway or something; I can take care of it myself.”

The elf decided this would do, even though he knew she needed medical attention. “Fine, I was just trying to help.” His face seemed to reflect his tone, which was more offended than supportive. He led her to the river that cut straight through the town. They walked down the steps and made their way beneath the small bridge. The summoner untied the shirt from around his waist, and pulled his t-shirt over his head, revealing his bare flesh. Miranda looked at him funnily, as if she were wondering what the heck he was doing or if he had any modesty at all. He took some water from the river in his hands, refusing to use water-magic in front of her despite her seeing him do his light-magic before. He figured she would think she had seen things, and forget about it in due time.

Taen dripped the water along his wound, the dry blood washing away to reveal the hole where the bullet went through. He moved the side where he was shot away from Miranda, and placed his hand over the wound. The pain dulled, and the hole in his skin disappeared, as if it were never there in the first place. Mrs. Cubbins, however, didn’t seem to be as successful with her injury. The girl scowled at Taen, for a reason that only she could guess. Upon seeing that he had no wound on his side anymore, her face dropped from less of a scowl to a more curious expression.

The elf stretched his arms into the sky, and turned his eyes to hers. Nasune, Dragon of Shadow, whispered in his ear. That face… is not her true face… Taen chuckled at the Dragon’s ever cryptic nature, but still keeping in mind his words. He took a seat against the wall, extending one leg out while bending one up, and putting his hand against his raised knee.

The elf flashed a small smile towards Miranda; she blinked, and began to speak…

"Your dragon... it knows about me, doesn't it? I... heard it just now. But no matter--the police and everyone would be looking for 'Miranda' now anyway. This disguise is useless. It no doubt fits the description of the poor girl shot on accident at the station, who as far as they know still needs emergency medical care, and who they'll now be looking for to make sure their accident didn’t cause her death."

These things were more said as reasoning to herself than to Taen. She was... getting a little frustrated with how she was stuck here. But first things first--she had to deal with her gunshot. That was now part of this old disguise that couldn't be wiped away like make-up.

So softly, under her breath, she sang, and rings of healing magic circled her, sealing up the wound on her neck, smoothing over the skin until it showed not a scratch. Parts of her disguise faded away piece by piece, transforming this innocent-looking schoolgirl into gypsy with an intimidating glare.

There was a little gasp of recognition from Taen when he realized this may very well be the woman from the newspapers.

And yet, Cadenza still kept her back to the elf, instead sighting along the river. The teal-gray currents sloshed around the muddy riverbed, ending in gutters embedded in tall, stone gates on both ends where it crossed the city limits--that meant there was no chance of fleeing the town by water. There were... tracers set up along the boundaries of the city to detect her--if she used magic long enough, she'd be found. And they'd... gotten hold of her amulet. Stolen it off her as soon as she became a suspect. It was as if the authorities needed her to stay here--to act as some sort of scapegoat, maybe... to deflect the people's attention from something worse. From the real cause of these vanishings...

She voiced none of these thoughts while Taen sat and watched her.

“I have to go get another disguise of some sort. You know who I am now—are you going to help me, or try to turn me in, Elf boy?”

OoC: Sorry this is so blah. <___< It's hard to focus when I'm in a lot of pain like this. @____@

OoC: Can't be as crappy as mine, but at least you don't have to wait a month.

BiC:

Boy?

The summoner chuckled. “Okay, okay, I’ll help. But how can you hear my Dragons?”

Cadenza tilted her head slightly, wondering why he made it plural. “I only heard that one Dragon. Do you mean there are more?”

“Yes… Eight to be exact. The one you heard was the Shadow Dragon. There are others for the rest of the corresponding elements: light, earth, fire, and etcetera.” Taen felt it would not be of any risk to keep this from her, seeing as she already knew about one of them and she was apparently the one person he had been looking for.

Taen grabbed his shirt and pulled it back on over his head. Grabbing his sheath, he heard something overheard.

A rustle in the bushes. The elf knelt down, looking upwards to see two figures passing by. One of them knelt down and spread some food along the ground for the birds.

Cadenza rolled her eyes and sighed. “They’re just townsfolk. Leave the paranoia to me, okay?”

Taen stood up again, somewhat embarrassed. The other Dragons crept along his mind, helping the elf to look out for possible enemies. He was harboring a fugitive now, and the Dragons figured they would help their master keep an eye out without him looking over his shoulder every second.

“So, erm…” the elf was at loss for words. He felt vulnerable being the one asking her some sort of direction. But as much as he wanted to feel confident, he knew that she would protest, just from interacting with her for a few seconds. Setting aside his pride, he asked her, with a slight hint of charm and nonchalance…

“So what do you suggest we do next, Miss Madrigal?”

"We take a direct approach," Cadenza answered. She was still not looking at him, her mind seemingly somewhere else, even though her voice was straightforward. "We visit the mayor."

It sounded like a dumb plan, she was sure, to anyone else, but there was one main reason why she needed to head to the mayor's office first. Her amulet. If she was going to manage to do anything to get out of this city, she'd need to recover that first. A formal meeting with the mayor himself wasn't even necessary, or smart--but she just needed a chance to get close enough to his records and files to find out where he'd hidden the item.

"You're going to make an appointment," she elaborated, when she noticed Taen's puzzled look. "And while you're busy speaking with whatever lackey they stick you with while you wait, I get a chance to look around the office for a bit. There's... something I need there before we can do anything else."

“Liiiike?”

He asked her what it was that she needed, but she shushed him quickly. “Something I misplaced. Don’t worry about it; let’s just get in there and get out.”

Taen nodded affirmatively. They would head for the mayor’s office, wherever that was, and try to figure out the case from the beginning. Unfortunately, recent events would make it difficult, so the elf suggested that they wait until morning.

Cadenza shook her head. “We don’t have that long to wait. Just go there and tell them you wish to apply for a job or that you are investigating the vanishings. Give them a fake name, just to be safe, and keep the mayor as busy as long as you can.”

Nasune spoke, this time addressing both Taen and the gypsy. That plan does not seem to account for the security that will no doubt be taking place. You don’t really think you can walk right in there do you? The dark dragon stirred in the summoner’s mind, suggesting that the spirit himself knew how to make them (the guards) drop their guard, in a sense, making Taen seem less of a threat. The elf did not like the idea of Cadenza being able to hear his Dragons as well, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Cadenza opened her mouth to speak, but shut it quite quickly. He took her words from her and spoke the thoughts she was too afraid to express

“So where would the mayor’s office be?”

The gypsy glared at him, twisting her mouth and folding her arms. “I don’t know, and you know I don’t know.”

The elf suppressed a soft chuckle. “Well then. We should try and find out, shouldn’t we?”

A disguise.

How was she going to get any of this done without a disguise? She couldn't steal one now--she barely had the energy, and that would just put the cops even hotter on her trail and add to her list of "crimes". And she hadn't really brought any money with her to buy a costume of any kind, so she couldn't even send the elf boy into a store to get her one. What the dragon had said was right--did she really think she could walk in there, as she was now?

Cadenza turned back to Taen, coldly ignoring the little smile that was on his face like the hint of a laugh. He was already acting pretty casually and comfortably around her, and she didn't like that one bit--she wasn't about to encourage it. Her glare stayed. "I'm not wandering around to find the place," she told him firmly, "so the best option seems to be having you go out onto the street and finding a local to ask. I'll wait here."

Part of her wondered if he was going to ask how helping her benefited him in any way--but she found herself blinking in surprise instead when he just nodded without a word and started heading towards the street.

OoC: I'm posting from the quick reply box from now on. That way I won't have to worry about word count. >__>

BiC:
The lone elf walked the streets of the city, his eyes darting between different faces. Most of the people here walked with a solemn look around their face, mourning the loss of lives in the terrible tragedy that happened earlier. Taen tried to listen to some of the conversations, but the language barrier proved to be a bit of a problem. The tone in the voices showed confusion and dismay, so it probably wouldn't even matter if her understood the words that sounded like gibberish to him.

He walked by a newspaper stand, and looked for anything in his native tongue. Over on the right was a piece of faded paper with English on it. He beckoned for the poster, and was handed it by a rough man that had seen better days. He leaned against the wall and let his eyes absorb the words on the page.

Seven weeks ago, a couple went missing. Their bodies were found three days later, their throats slit right open. Over the course of the next month and a half, more people disappeared, and then were found three days later. The cut was always the same, and the police determined that it was the same person or group doing this. The cut was not made by any physical instrument, but by what seemed to be dark magic.

At the bottom of the page was a phone number and address for anyone with information of the vanishings.

He handed back the paper to the man and went on his way...

***

Commander Green clutched his rifle to his side, his feet moving swiftly across the ground. His team followed him in suit, four men dressed in a dark green armor. Their leader had the same outfit, but the shoulders were bulkier and he had a helmet on labeled with the police emblem. They walked up and down the river, seeking out the terrorists responsible for the train attacks.

"Sir! Over there!"

His eyes first went to the soldier who had spoken, then to the place where he was pointing. Commander Green jumped down to the sidce of the river, and spotted a young adult female under the bridge. She turned around, her eyes widening in surprise at first. After the commander stepped forward, her face dropped back into its normal demeanor.

"Miss?"