Chapter twenty seven

Neah found herself staring at Yuki again as he talked with the djinn and magicians. Her heart ached with guilt and relief. She was so happy she found him, but she couldn't imagine what he had gone through. What horrors and twisted experiments he'd lived through because she wasn't strong enough to save him. Because she abandoned him.

"Ne, are you okay?" Yuki waved a hand in her teary-eyed face. "Ne? Ne??"

"What?" Neah dragged herself from her thoughts and looked at her lap, "I'm fine...it's just..."

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry..." Tears dotted her hand that was on her lap. Suddenly, they wouldn't stop, "I-I should've helped you sooner... I just... I was so scared... I was terrified of MWS... A-And when I finally got enough power to help you...to help everyone... I failed. I got everyone captured and fucked up the past and future!" Neah covered her face with her hands. It was burning from the tears and embarrassment of crying in front of so many people. "I-I was naive and stupid, I shouldn't have dragged everyone into this... I just...-"

"Neah," Yuki placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Stop crying, it's okay. You did the best you could." He placed one hand on top of her hand covering her face, "Hey, look at me." Neah slowly removed her hands, sniffling and looking at him. "We're not done yet. We're going to get everyone out of here, alright? You can't just give up when you've gotten this far."

Neah took a shaky breath, tears still streaming down her face. The magician and djinn stayed quiet, all silently pitying her. "R-Right..." She roughly wiped her face, Yuki's arms still on her shoulders. She looked into his eyes, trying to figure him out. How did he have so much hope? So much faith? After all he'd been though, all the pain and suffering, how was he still able to shine so brightly? It was clear everyone in the room had placed their trust in him. Even the century-old djinn, they all looked at him as a leader. "Okay...What's the plan?"

"We don't have time to plan tonight, we'll do it tomorrow morning during breakfast," Yuki said. "Rec will be over soon."

"Okay..." Neah nodded. She stood and left with Yuki and Adna to their cell, waving a goodbye to the djinn and magicians as she walked.

"Hiroyuki has grown quite a lot, hasn't he?" One of the older djinn, Amon, spoke, floating beside Ugo. He and the former guardian of the Sacred Palace shared a cell.

Ugo glanced back at the three magi and smiled, "He has."

"Almost reminds you of someone, yes?"

"Who do you mean?" Ugo entered their cell.

"King Solomon," Amon said. He flew over to his metal vessel, an old, curved sword. It was covered in scratches, and the handle was damaged. It looked as though it had survived a horrible battle. One that it's user couldn't have survived.

Ugo smiled again, thinking back, "Yes, he does remind me of him..." He turned to his metal vessel as well; a worn golden flute. "Yuki reminds me of Aladdin, too..."

"Mmm," Amon agreed, "I miss that magi, and King Alibaba," He looked down at the sword again. "He was such a great king..."

"It'd be nice to see them again..."

"Maybe we will. With this strange war going on, who knows?"

"Yes, there is a possibility," Ugo agreed.

Amon sighed, "Well, I'll see you in the morning, Ugo. You especially need to regain your strength. Djinn shouldn't be manifesting for long periods of time like this."

~

"Is this what you guys eat?" Neah poked a lump of dull-colored something piled on a plastic tray, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Yeah," Yuki sighed, "but it's better than nothing, right?"

"Some of the other magicians think it messes with your magoi," Adna poked at her tray as well.

"Does it?" Neah asked, looking at the blue haired magi sitting across from her.

"I'm not sure," Adna admitted, shrugging.

Neah pushed her tray away, "Yeah...I'm not eating that." Too bad I can't do Yunan's Al-Kimia Al-Qadima and make half decent food...

"Hiroyuki, we should start thinking of how to get out of here," A djinn Neah didn't recognize spoke, floating nearby.

"Right," Yuki nodded. He turned to Neah, who sat beside him, "Do you have any ideas?"

"Ah...no," Neah thought for a few moments. She sighed, "Why did I give Judar my Eye of the Rukh? I could really use it to call King Idiot or someone right now!"

"Who is 'King Idiot'?" Yuki asked. He and a few others around them looked at Neah strangely.

"Oh, Sinbad," Neah explained. "I call him King Idiot. It's fitting."

"Doesn't he get mad?!" Yuki gasped. "How could you call him that?!"

Neah laughed lightly, "It's a complicated relationship."

Yuki frowned slightly, relationship? What kind of relationship could she have with a king?

"Neah, what is the 'Eye of the Rukh' you mentioned?" Adna asked, changing the subject suddenly.

"It's a Clairvoyance Magic that Sindria's magician invented," Neah turned to her. "You use it to talk to people long distance."

"Just Clairvoyance Magic?"

"Yeah, why?"

Adna nodded thoughtfully, "I think I can recreate it, if you really need one. I'm pretty good with magic tools."

"That'd be great!" Neah grew hopeful.

"It will take a few tries, though," Adna added. "We have limited magoi down here."

"Yeah, sure, that's fine," Neah nodded. "I'll help."

"No, you should save you magoi." Yuki shook his head, "You're the only one here who's still at full strength. A few of the other magicians can help."

Neah relaxed and looked at Yuki, her excitement fading, "Oh, alright."

~