Hunting For The Sun

CHAPTER TWELVE

Eclipse of the Sunshine

When her head lolled away from me I recoiled in horror, dropping her lifeless hand onto the bed.

`Why didn´t you save her?´ I shouted, standing up. I gasped deep breaths of swirling air, and pressed a hand to my ribs. I was swaying, and I knew it.

`She was too far gone when she got to us,´ one of the medics told me gently.

`I could have saved her!´ I screamed. `Why didn´t you tell me?´

No matter how gentle they pretended to be, they were still fighters.

`And what could you have done that we didn´t?´ he snapped, eyes flashing.

I lowered my eyes and bit my lip, the swirling of the room slowing.

`Well?´ he hissed, gripping my upper arm and bending to look nastily up into my eyes.

`I don´t know!´ I spat. `But if I had been here she wouldn´t be dead.´

`How does that work?´ he smirked.

I struggled to answer, but settled for scowling and hissing, `How dare you be so rude to me?´

I made a swift little flick of my wrist, and my dagger was in my hand.

`What do you mean?´ he spat, looking down his nose at me. `You´re just one soldier of five million.´

`And you´re just one victim out of five hundred,´ I smiled, ramming my blade under his ribs. `See to it that this man is dissected and made useful at least in death,´ I instructed the others calmly. They all nodded, and got to work. I sensed that he hadn´t been well liked, and besides, all the people here were soldiers, used to death and carnage.

I turned back to Tyger. Her eyes were open, and it was with a great control that I touched a finger to the clammy lids and shut them. I wiped my finger on the bed, not wanting death on my hands. I never have wanted it there, it came outside of my own mind, and I didn´t want to be what I am, but situations run against me like a river. I can´t stand in the current; I´m too weak.

I rose and walked away, my boots tapping and echoing off the shiny walls.

`Make sure she´s buried somewhere nice,´ I said, pausing at the door but not looking back. My resolve wasn´t that strong. My presence meant nothing to Tyger, she was dead, it just meant to me that I couldn´t let go, so I left. I didn´t want to see my friend buried. That was beyond the requirements of my internal deal. I had promised always to look after her, and I had. The man responsible for her death, in essence Malfoy, had died by my hand regardless of his current state of existence. The man responsible for not saving her life, the doctor, was dead. I was the one who had looked after her. I was the one who made sure she was happy, but now I had failed her just by helping her. Without her, how was I to know myself? She had always believed in me, and I didn´t want to think of me without her. It had always been Rae and Tyger, now it was just Rae the murderer alone at sea surrounded by bodies. One more friend had been added to my shipwreck, and a shadow passed across the sun.

I sought out Draco the moment I left the hospital. He was in the library, of sorts, reading. He didn´t look up.

`I´m sorry,´ he said, turning another page in the book he read which was balanced on his knees. His ankles were crossed and rested on the table.

`She was in pain,´ I said absently.

`No reason not to be sorry,´ he said, reaching out an arm and pulling me close to him. He still didn´t look, but he didn´t have to. His book was something he hadn´t seen before, and he knew what I looked like.

`She´s somewhere better that this,´ I said, gesturing at the old department store that had been filled with books. It was a nice enough place, I suppose, but it represented things to all of us. Malfoy nodded.

`Let her go, Rae,´ he told me, finally closing his book and turning those silver eyes on me. `If you hold her in your mind she can´t leave. Just keep her in your heart.´ He touched his hand to my chest, just above my heart.

`Posh words,´ I said, smiling slightly.

`I was told them once by someone far wiser than myself,´ he said.

`Who was that?´ I asked, sitting in his lap and leaning against his chest.

`Potter,´ Malfoy said distantly, linking his fingers behind his head and gazing up at the ceiling through narrowed eyes. `When my father died.´

`You were friends with Potter?´ I asked, breathing deeply of his scent.

`Not really, but I was on their side,´ he told me.

`You swapped?´

`It was much the same situation as yours,´ Draco smiled, kissing the top of my head. `Your hair needs a wash. Do you want me to do it?´

`Thanks,´ I said. It was a sort of ritual for us. I had been grubby all my life and another day wouldn´t hurt me, but Malfoy was obsessed with making me clean. He loves to wash my hair. I think he would be gay if it wasn´t for the fact that he likes girls. He loves to do my hair, but it isn´t a sort of gay thing, he just does. `What situation?´

`Well, I broke away from my father because of a girl, isn´t that just how it goes? I´m only here because of you.´

`Who was it?´

`A girl called Virginia. She was beautiful, but I couldn´t stop myself. She loved me, then she left me. When all the nastiness started up when I was seventeen I went back to Hogwarts to help. My father had been insane for a long time and there was nothing to be gained by helping him. I wanted Ginny to come back to me, so I helped them. She went over... she and her brother went over to the Death Eaters, and I followed. I was spying at first, but they recognised me as Lucius´ son and let me work up. I never told Potter, he just found out one day.

`Is Ginny still alive?´ I asked, feeling through his mind that his chest was itching. I scratched it.

`Yes, I think so,´ he said, and there was a distant pain in his eyes. `I was really good friends with Potter once,´ he said.

`Ironic,´ I smiled.

`I suppose. I haven´t hated him in a long time, he was just being an idiot by resisting me.´

It may seem at this stage that I wasn´t sad about Tyger. That is in no way true, but Malfoy had told me to let her go, and his words still partly ruled me. I let her go, just like that. I had lived without seeing her for the best part of a year, Draco´s words urged me to live without her forever. It was that simple. I can´t thank him enough for all he´s done, and I don´t care who knows.

`I know.´ I settled down on his chest, and closed my eyes. The shadow was passing, but the darkness would ever be remembered.

~*~

I didn´t see Rhea until the third task. I hadn´t time. It was curfew before I could get to her, and Draco and I returned to our flat. He washed and brushed my hair, as he had promised. We listened to the scouts flying over our hidden city that was bigger than London itself as he plaited my hair so it would stay untangled. No matter what had happened that day, I still felt small. I slept tucked tightly into the circle of Draco´s embrace. He leant his cheek against my damp hair and breathed softly all night. I knew I should sleep, but I couldn´t, and it wasn´t until Big Ben in the Ministry Circle chimed twelve that I drifted off.

The day dawned bright and early. I peeled myself out of bed and dressed looking out of our window over the underground city. Malfoy was watching me, I could feel him smiling.

`You got a tattoo,´ he smiled.

I flinched, then remembered.

`Yes, why didn´t you notice before?´

`I did,´ he said, yawning and rolling onto his back. `I just never mentioned it.´

`It´s a dragon, right?´ I could hardly remember it. It seemed so long ago.

`Yes, all down your back.´

`I know,´ I smiled. `Do you have any?´

`No.´

`Why not?´

`I haven´t got the guts.´

`I refuse to believe that.´

`If you hadn´t been high on insanity then you wouldn´t have had it done,´ he said truthfully.

`You shut up.´

`What time does that task start?´ he asked, scratching his arm.

`I think it begins at ten,´ I said, pulling a black vest on.

`Probably,´ he said. `I should get dressed.´ He got up and moved around the small room, pulling on his clothes. I sat on the block on reinforced concrete that served as our window seat to pull on my boots. It was summer, and I think it was a hot one. Year 2008, as far as I recall. The breeze played over my face, brushing strands of hair around my head. I was wearing shorts, I think. It was that hot. Malfoy had laughed and pointed at my white socks when I first started wearing shorts and boots, but now he just smiled and contented himself by putting rocks in them while I slept. I don´t know if he even wore socks, but he´s one of those people you know you could never laugh at, no matter what he wore.

`You look nice,´ he said, coming in and looking ever so Draco. I know that it bores you totally when I tell you what he wears, but I like it, and this is my story. I´ll be brief: black T-shirt showing off washboard stomach, black jeans, big boots. See what I mean? He probably would have been gay if he didn´t like girls, but he does, so...

`You too,´ I smiled.

`Shall we?´ he said, taking my hand and holding the door for me. I nodded, and we headed out to the plaza. A system of alarm lasers was already swivelling around, and an item stood on a pedestal at the far side, easy enough to guess. I haven´t been too detailed with the others, so I may as well tell you about this one. There were three hundred of us left, and it was getting very tight.

Our city wasn´t poor, never think that. We had a hell of a lot of plundered money, and we were saving it. It made no sense to blow it all on comfy living when we would soon have the city. A huge crowd was gathered around the wide, underground area to watch and participate. We filed into the section for EKD3 and waited. Alarms went off whenever someone touched a beam. They were disqualified immediately, and so far all of the remaining participants of EKD1 only five people had got it. They announced then that they would take the ones who lasted the longest and got the closest.

EKD2 did only slightly better. Ten of seventy-nine got there. The thought surfaced in my head, I could tell it was from Draco.

Why don´t we help each other out?

he suggested.

Why not?

I shrugged. It was worth it. After all, we´d be able to use each other in the real thing.

EKD3 was next. Five had got through by the time it came to `K´. I bit my tongue and tried to save my adrenaline as Kahn failed miserably. I walked out to the start with stiff legs that trembled as though they were formed of jelly.

`Go,´ said the girl beside me. I walked out onto the square. A blade of light cut towards me, and I saw it cross over a low-lying one. I dived through it and bounced quickly to cut the next one. My shoulder was throbbing and killing me, but I ignored it.

To your left

!

I dodged and lay flat on the ground, beams sweeping over my head.

Two feet in front, there´s a spot where you can stand and won´t get hit.

I waited for the beams to swing up again and skipped through, swinging right to stand on the point highlighted by Draco´s mind. The pedestal was twenty feet away. I was tired already, that wasn´t a good sign.

Look out for your head, but skip front two, left one, right three.

God that boy was sharp. I did as he commanded, ducking my head regularly.

By my theory, they should stop in one second, then dash for ten feet and jump a little as they start up again.

Of course I trusted him, he knew me better than I did. He knew how fast I could run. The moment they paused I ran for it and gave a little jump as they started to rotate from the bottom. Five feet.

Don´t get cocky. You aren´t safe yet.

I didn´t think I was. I stepped over one and ducked the other, pulling my stomach in to skip another one.

Reach out your right hand. You can get it now.

I nodded, and snapped my head back as one flickered under my chin. I bent back to let it sweep over my head. It was hard, and my muscles were shaking in silent protest.

Good one

.

I straightened cautiously, and reached out a hand.

Wrist!

Okay!

I thought. My hand closed on a cold stone. That must be it. I turned my head slightly, and jerked my eyes right over to look. It was there. I pulled it off and snapped my legs together as the beam I had been straddling vanished.

To your knees with your back against the pedestal. You´ll have ten seconds to gather yourself, then duck left. You can get off the other side.

I dropped down immediately, and watched the beams switch for a second, then slid around it as a beam flicked into where I had been. I panicked for a moment before dropping the stone down my bra and putting my hands to the floor.

I´ve got you. 3, 2, 1...

I flattened to the ground and skidded on my stomach out under the rails and off the square. I pulled the stone out of my bra with an aching hand and held it up. The stone, not my bra. The spectators cheered, and I collapsed on the floor.

`Well done,´ Cloud smiled, holding out a hand to pull me up. `Novel use of a bra.´ I grinned.

`Did you manage it?´

`Yes, just,´ he said, and winced as he shifted his shoulder. `I think I broke it when I landed on it. You were amazing, it was like you were psychic or something the way you just dodged them without looking!´ He was grinning, flushed, but I was feeling guilty. I washed that out with the thought that Malfoy would be going, and he would need me there to help him out. I was just as good as he was.

I was handed a glass of water, and sat on the wall around an old plant display to watch the rest. Malfoy, of course, did it perfectly. I was prompting him, naturally, but he did it well. He came up to me and kissed my cheek before sitting down.

Cloud, who was sitting next to me, scowled.

`Get away from her,´ he spat.

`It´s okay, Cloud,´ I said, putting a hand on his heaving arm.

`No it isn´t!´ he hissed. `He´s one of them. He betrayed us before and he´ll do it again.´

`If I had less manners than I do,´ Draco began in his most oily tone, `then I would tell you to keep your hands off my fiancée.´

Well, it was the first I had heard of it, I promise you.

`What?´ Cloud said, looking like his head had fallen off and was rolling around on the carpet.

`It´s not true,´ I told him, shooting Malfoy a death-glare.

`What are you doing?´ Cloud asked, as Malfoy grabbed my arm and pulled me across to him.

`I´m keeping what´s mine, Finnigan,´ he spat.

`Malfoy!´ Cloud spat, an odd accent breaking through.

`He can´t be one of you lot!´ I said, fighting free of Draco. `He´s younger than you!´

`I lied,´ Cloud, or whoever he was, shrugged. `Whatever it is, it was only to hide from the traitor!´

`I could say much the same about you,´ Draco hissed.

`What´s going on?´ I shouted, panicking.

`So my real name´s Seamus, and I´m older than I told you I was, does that change me?´ he asked.

I considered it. He was still the person I knew, and he had never hurt me. `No. Malfoy leave him alone!´

`He lied to you and so did I. You hated me for that, why don´t you hate him?´ Draco demanded, pulling me around with a vice-grip on my arm. His eyes were blazing with fury, and his chest was rising and falling in his rage. It still frightens me when I think of him like that. He can be very scary sometimes.

`My name isn´t Rae, do you hate me for that?´ I retorted in defence of Cloud. He had always been there for me, I owed him this.

`You have to keep away from him, Rae!´ Seamus cried, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me over to him.

`Get your hands off my girlfriend!´ Draco roared, jerking on my arm. I yelled out in pain, but neither listened to me.

`Precisely! She´s ten years younger than you, you bastard! That´s sick!´ Seamus bellowed, snatching at my other arm to pull me further away.

`It´s her decision,´ Malfoy said coldly. Seamus wrenched at me one more time, and Draco just let go. I slipped out of Seamus´ arms and crumpled onto the floor, smacking my head against the stone wall and fainting.