"What was he doing with those?" Tellka grumbled. "Where did he get Katt's stuff from? And why does he need them for a Persona.... you don't think..." Tellka turned and looked at me.
"Huh?" I glanced up at her. I really hadn't been paying attention to her, my mind was off somewhere else. I kept thinking about what Frank had said. Love? I suppose.. I cared about him, but, I hardly knew him.. on the other hand, I've never felt like this about anyone else before. I just wasn't sure. I started playing around with the ring he gave me.
"...Kate? Earth to Kate.... " Tellka was waving her hand in front of my face.
"Huh?" I blinked and looked up at her.
"I've been calling your name and you zoned off on me." She gave me a curious look and sat on the cot beside me. "You must really be thinking about something.." She paused and watched me for a moment.
Just what Frank said...
"Oh, that.." She looked down. "Kate... about that..."
"Wait," I turned and stopped Tellka before she said anything. I already knew what she was going to say. "Wait, Tellka, before you say anything.. It won't happen like that.."
Tellka glanced back up at me. "Kate, you don't understand. Rei and I, we never thought anything would happen. Listen, I just don't want you to get hurt." I gave Tellka a worried look.
"I thought you didn't like talking about that.."
"I don't." Tellka grumbled. "But that really doesn't matter, the point is..." Tellka sighed. I watched her for a moment. I knew what she wanted to say, but she just couldn't say it. For Tellka, to be in love was the most painfull thing in the world for her. Back when she was living, I remembered, she fell in love with a human named Rei, but something happened, and it ended well.. pretty bad.
"Pretty bad?!?" Tellka flared up. "You call that pretty bad?!?" She lept up. "Pretty bad is when you find out that your best friend is really a demon possesed creature who want to rule the world. Pretty bad is when your family is slaughtered because you weren't of 'pure blood.'" Tellka hissed angrely. I was surprised, she never really talked about her life before, but now... She continued, "To see what she did to him.. " Tellka's eyes suddenly seemed to look far away and it was as if she was staring back into her past and watching it all happen again. Her voice quieted. "To see what happened to him when.." She looked back down at me and I realized that I really must have struck something in her.
"You want to call that pretty bad?" She growled. "I'll tell you what that was... when you look into the eyes of the only person you have ever loved and watch him die, you tell me if that was pretty bad." She quieted for a moment, and then blinked, as if suddenly realizing what she had just said. She backed away a few steps and looked back over to the door, and I could tell she was trying to hide her face.
"Tellka.. I'm sorry.." I started quietly. I wasn't sure how she felt, but I didn't think it was all that great. "Tellka.."
"Look, Kate.." Tellka looked back at me. "I just don't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to you.. You don't deserve it..." Her ears drooped a little. "I deserved what I had coming.. with everything I did.. but you don't.. just.. be carefull, okay?"
I sat quietly for a moment and nodded. The room was silent for a moment and I could feel Tellka trying to hide something in the back of her mind. After a moment she shook her head and sat down again.
"Well.. with that past, what do you think he had Katt's stuff for?"
"I don't know." I sighed. "It has something to do with his utimate persona."
"Why would he need those.." She paced quietly again, and I felt sleep coming over me. I layed down on the cot quietly and slowly drifted into sleep. I could hear Tellka muttering something, but she didn't try to wake me. Sooner or later, I fell asleep.
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I was walking into the kitchen. Dad was outside chopping wood for us. We had a lot already, but the last winter was pretty bad, and he wanted to make sure we had enough. Mom was talking to Tellka when I walked into the kitchen.
"-if they get any closer, we might have a problem." Tellka had just finished a sentence. She had a worried look on her face, and mom was thinking about something.
"They just might be campers, these are popular woods." Mom glanced over at Tellka.
Tellka shook her head. "Mrs. Chan, these are Windian nobels, and I don't trust them that much. Why should a bunch of nobels be camping out here in the wilderness when they have all they need at home? I'm telling you, you should take Kate and her father and leave now, untill they're gone."
"Tellka, I know you're worried." Mom started, "But I don't think." She paused as she noticed me. "Kate, your up.? Well, it's about time." She moved over to me. "You need to go outside and help your father."
"Mom? When are you all talking about." I took a step back.
"What? Oh, nothing.." My mom started.
"Don't hide it from her." Tellka glared over at my mom. "She has a right to know as you do."
"Tellka, I just don't think-"
"What?" I broke in. "Mom, Tellka... what are you all talking about?"
My mother shook her head. "A few Windian's are camping around her, Tellka thinks they might be nobels and-"
"They ARE nobels, I've seen them! And a Windian nobel in the wild is not one to be trusted. I'm telling you, you should leave until they are gone."
"Then what about the house?" Mom turned back to Tellka. "Who would watch the house?"
"Mike can watch it!" Tellka motioned outside to my father. "He's not woren, he doesn't have to worry."
My mom just shook her head again. "I'm sorry, Tellka, but we're not leaving.."
Tellka gave her a hard stare, but I could see that my mom wasn't about to change her mind. Tellka just sighed and shrugged her shoulders, defeated. "Alright, I'll keep watching them.. If you really think it's still safe." And she turned and walked out the door.
We only had a one story house, but still the window wasn't exactly right next to the ground. I landed quietly on the dewy grass, the night around me was quiet.
"Tellka?" I looked around. Usually she was out here when I left. She never let me wander far alone. 'You don't know what could be out there' she would say. 'But Tellka, I can take care of myself' I would argue, and she would just shake her head. 'Your mother told me to watch out for you and that's just what I am going to do' and usually by that time I would just give up and go back in the house. But this time she wasn't out here and I felt a little better. Maybe tonight I could actually go for a little walk.
I headed towards where I saw the campfire, wondering who might be there. As I approached I slowed down and did my best to sneak up on them. I stopped just outside a little clearing they had been camping in and peaked in through the folage. I did my best to stay hidden in the shadows.
There was a windian there, he was shinning something. I heard him talking and noticed that someone else was laying beside him. For some reason, I couldn't tell what they were talking about. One of them looked up and shouted, and I guess he saw me. Suddenly, I was standing there behind Tellka, and she was fighting one of the windians. He had red wings. I heard a shot go off and suddenly I was falling. Someone caught me and I looked up to see Frank. But, something about it didn't seem like Frank. When I glanced around we were in a dark room and there were demons every where, watching us. They all had red eyes. I searched but I couldn't find Tellka anywhere. All I could see where those red eyes and suddenly Frank was gone too and I fell to the floor. I glanced up to see a large butterfly flying over me, but it had my mothers face, and she was saying something. Then there was a loud sound, like millions of dragons screaming out at once and I tried to cover my ears but the sound just got louder. Then there was another shot, another... another...
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I lept off of the cot and looked around. Tellka was pushing up against the door when she looked over and saw me. "So nice of you to wake up." She grumbled. "I think someone out there wants to come in and say hi.." There was a pounding sound and the door jerked a little. I took a slow step towards her.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked.
"Come here and hold this door!" Another pound and the door shuttered. I ran up beside Tellka and pushed against the door with all my might. Tellka immediatly jumped away and grabbed her staff. BAM. Another pound on the door almost sent me flying. I did my best to hold it just and looked over at Tellka just as she vanished.
BAM
I waited a while. A series of noises broke through the door and I pressed my ear up against the door trying to hear everything going on out there. I wanted to open the door and look out to see what was happening.
"No, don't.."
Tellka.. are you okay? A few more odd noises. There were a couple of grunts, a shriek, and something that sounded like wood smashing into something hard. After a while I couldn't quite tell what was going on. It felt like forever before Tellka reappered. She bent over and looked like she was catching her breath. "Tellka..." I ran up to her. "Are you okay?" I noticed something that looked like a cut on her arm. I swallowed and thougth about some of the demons we had seen. I thougth about those claws of theirs, and a small shudder went down my back.
"I'm fine." Tellka glanced over at me. "Nothing that won't heal." She gave me an odd look. "Come on, Kate, what do I have to worry about? I'm dead, remember? What's the worst they can do to me?" She gave me a reasurring smirk.
"But Tellka.." I looked at her. "Just because they can't hurt you doesn't mean they can't destroy your body.." Tellka thought about that for a moment. Truthfully, they couldn't really do anything to Tellka. She was just a spirit. She could feel pain, but she didn't have to worry about death. But, they could destroy her body, and she did have to worry about that. With out her physical form, she was just spirit, and chances were she really wouldn't get the chance to have another physical form. Her body was like anyone elses. It got hurt, and it would heal. It would live and die, and it was the only one she had. She needed it for fighting. It would be kinda hard for her to try and defend me while she was in spirit form, because for one thing she really can't touch things in spirit form, and for another thing, no one would even see she was there. I sighed and sat back down on the cot. Tellka looked at me.
"Nightmare?"
I nodded. "It was really odd.. I didn't really understand it."
Tellka shrugged. "Some dreams just aren't ment to be understood, Kate. Don't worry about it unless you really feel it means something."
I thought about it for a moment and shook my head. I layed back down and closed my eyes, wondering how long I had been asleep and how much longer it would be untill Frank came back.
e-mail author, talonr@hotmail.com