Chapter twenty five

When Sinbad, Yunan, and Judar made it to the frontlines, most of the battlegrounds were abandoned. Besides dead MWS soldiers, and stray horses and magician's staffs, there was nothing. "Where did everyone go?" Judar asked, looking around.

"Were they all captured?" Yunan wondered.

"Dammit," Sinbad cursed. "They can't all be gone." He equipped Focalor and flew to get a better view.

The magi flew beside him, and Judar asked the king, "You think that Elite is going to kill Neah? Or if she died from that building?"

"She's not dead," Sinbad spoke, his voice stern and determined. "We'll get her back. And everyone else."

"Just the three of us? That's not nearly enough, Sin," Yunan frowned.

"We'll figure it out," It seemed the king was trying to convince himself as well, not just the magi.

~

Nadiya had given Neah to a rather rude MWS soldier, who was now tipping a small glass bottle upside down and extracting its liquid into a syringe. Once the syringe was full, he removed it and flicked the side of the glass. He tested the needle, letting some of the strange blue fluid out. He walked over to Neah, who was strapped down to a cold metal table, glaring at him furiously.

"Don't you fucking dare stick that in me," The magi warned with a growl.

"Does it look like I care what you want?" The soldier gave her a blank expression. "This'll help your legs."

"What is it?" Neah asked, pulling away from the nearing needle.

The man sighed, "Medicine. Now, sit still." Neah squirmed some more, and the man forcefully grabbed her arm, stabbing the needle randomly into her.

"Ow! What the hell, man?!" Neah pulled away as he removed the empty syringe. She looked herself over, nothing seemed to have changed.

"Move your legs," The soldier ordered.

"I can't."

"Move them."

"I told you, I can't!" Neah repeated. Her gaze turned to her legs as one of them twitched. Slowly, she tried moving her toes, then her feet. "How the hell...?"

"Shouldn't you know how advanced our sciences are? You live here." The man raised an eyebrow.

"No, not really," Neah moved her legs more, fascinated. "The general population doesn't get fancy doctor stuff like this..."

"Well, sucks for them. Come on," He untied her arms and pulled her from the table.

Neah reached out for the table, unstable on her feet, "Now what are you doing?"

"You're a magi, simple as that." The soldier grabbed her shoulder and dragged her from the room. They traveled like this, Neah struggling and the man not caring, going several, several, floors down an elevator and through several security rooms before reaching their destination. The man pulled open a rusty cell door and tossed Neah in roughly.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Neah snapped as she hit the cold floor. The man shut the cell and locked it, walking away wordlessly. "Get your ass back here! Asshole!" Neah grabbed the bars and shook them. She paused for a moment to look around. Outside was a large room. On the opposite wall, there were several more cells just like hers. There were so many that they were stacked on top of each other, like boxes. "There's at least a hundred of these cells..." She marveled, assuming her side looked the same.

A soft groaning from the back of her cell made Neah jump, and she got to her feet, "Who's there?"

In one of the back corners of the cell, a large lump hidden under a blanket began moving. Out of habit, Neah searched for her staff, not remembering it was long gone at first. "...Hello...?"

"Nnnhhh..." A voice groaned from the lump. The blanket moved, revealing bright blue hair. A pair of matching blue eyes blinked tiredly at her, "Eh...? Who are you...?" Another head popped from the blanket, this time a blond.

"Ah, hello..." Neah smiled lightly, not wanting to scare whoever the two strange people were. "Who are you? I'm Neah."

"Neah?" The blond, who was still mostly under the blanket, echoed. Their voice was deeper than a females, Neah assumed it was a male. "You're Neah?" The male pulled the blanket off and slowly stood. His hair was long for a boy, ending at the base of his neck. He wore a long sleeved shirt and jeans, with no shoes. His eyes were dark blue, and staring at Neah.

"You know her, Yuki?" The blue haired girl asked, her voice quiet and soft. She wore a tattered, ankle length, light blue dress.

"Y-Yuki?" Neah repeated, looking at the girl, then back to the boy. "Are you Yuki?"

"Y-Yeah..." The blond nodded. "You're Neah, right? Neah Andson?"

~