The Uncivil War

Chapter 12 A Change is Needed

Batorine awoke inside a Curative Chamber, a mask covered his nose and mouth to supply oxygen, he was suspended nude in its' liquid. He peered into the room in front of him and saw nurses at different control panels, some staring right at him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized he was home and in the medical ward. His body was very sore, he looked down at his body, the best he could and saw the scars left over by Slicer, "Damn Onytium claws! Nothing fully heals when cut with them." He said to himself. Although, he knew he shouldn't have been surprised the wounds didn't fully heal fully, "Well, I should at least be grateful I am alive." He thought. Then he caught sight of something that made him wish he didn't make it, "Oh no!" looking up at him from the outside of the tube was his parents with Doctor Dōnas. He knew the look on his parents faces all too well from when he was younger, "Crap, I saw those looks a few ALL right. I was brash and I have always been that way, rushing into every situation without thinking. I need to learn patience," months back." He closed his eyes, "They were right," he opened his eyes and glanced down at his scars, " They were right all along." He looked back at his parents and saw the sadness in their eyes. He leaned closer to the glass in his tube and watched his parents hug each other, "I'm so very sorry... I'm the only one who can stop him. He'll only let me get in close to him because I'm the one he wants. If I want to take down Slicer once and for all I need to be able to leave this world to be able to pursue him anywhere he goes. There's only one way I can do that legally."

Batorine stood for a moment in his castle's entrance hall, his eyes scanning over the ancient stone walls, he was nervous, even though he knew he needed closure. His head dropped back down as he turned to look at the metal door to his right; two guards of his species stood at its entrance. He went over to them and upon seeing him they immediately opened the door for him to step through. The door closed behind him, its metallic design making a clanking sound as it shut. To his left and right where empty jail cells, he looked them over as he kept walking straight on his path to an elevator at the end of the hall. He remembered when he was young his father taking him in this room to show where the 2nd generation of ancestors had housed criminals that personally attacked the throne. He stopped at the elevator door, he had always been warned as a child to never go down it as that is where they kept the convicts now. Batorine was an adult now, but even so, h had never went down the lift until today. His hands pressed a down arrow button on the side of the wall and the door opened, the second he stepped in a beam of green light passed over his body, a humming sound accompanying it, "Identity confirmed. King Batorine. Access granted." Came a computerized male voice over the elevator's speaker system. The doors closed and the compartment began its forty story descent. Batorine had the sensation of falling as it moved down a floor a second, he fought the urge to open his wings to brace his fall.

"It's ok, I'm not really falling." He said aloud.

Suddenly everything slowed down and for a moment he felt like he was going to be tossed up, he spread his legs to hold his balance and waited for a minute. The doors reopened and he stepped out onto a bridge suspended in a black void. He made his way to its end where a male guard stood by a control panel. Batorine peered around and saw out in the blackness solid white metal doors twenty feet apart, in a circular pater around the black empty space of the entre room. They each had their own bridge attached with three guards posted to each of them; bright lights illuminated the doors and bridgeways. The guard next to him bowed and pointed to a railing at the end of the platform.

"Hold onto that Sire." He instructed respectfully. Batorine did as he was told, he heard the sound of an engine hum and his platform moved unexpectedly. With ease it glided through the air, turning effortlessly in the dark to another bridge a few feet below him. He observed as it swept in and gentle connected to the platform.

"All secured, Sire," the guard informed him an with that the rail sunk into the floor, "You may proceed," he gestured with his hand in a sweeping motion to an opened metal doorway in front of him.

The guards bowed and started to follow him into a corridor, Batorine stopped and looked at him, "No. Stop." He told them, "I go alone, I'll be fine, just somebody give me their key." Batorine said and stretched out an open palm. One guard reached into his pocket and pulled out a rectangular piece of metal with a circuit chip in its middle. He handed it to the King and gave a bow, Batorine took it and proceeded ahead, alone. He looked at the advanced cells, each door was solid, with a small window a guard could safely peek into. He walked further down the hall and stopped at a door on his right, he placed his hand on it for a moment, pausing to gain his bearings, "I need to do this... I have to." He told himself, and without looking he pressed a key to the door. There was a quick hissing sound and the door slid open, a blue semi-transparent field separated him from a person sitting on a small bed to the right of the ten foot wide room. The door closed behind him, "Royal override. Barrier down." He commanded and with a beeping sound the field quickly vanished. He stepped in the room and to the person, but they didn't look at him. He didn't now what to say, he started to doubt coming down, but he knew he had to say something, "The sentence is death, but I granted you a pardon. You will serve a life sentence." He said. There was no response from the prisoner, he waited for what seemed an eternity.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Dementura replied. She looked up at him, her hair was dyed black and she had gained some of her weight back, but he could still see it was her. His heart broke again, he wanted to rush in and just hold her close and say everything would be alright. He wished things could just go back to as they were before. He found his body automatically going to her.

"Bat.... don't." she said softly. He was confused by her reaction, he could clearly see her trying to fight back her emotions. Tears filled her eyes. She leaned back and he watched her tears finally spill out and over her cheeks, "Kill or be killed, can't take no chances, isn't that the rules we both have to follow?" she asked rhetorically while she wiped the tears away with the back of her hands.

"Yes... but it's different with us. We love each other!" he told her.

"Love? Love?" Her eyes transformed from a soft gaze to a hard stare,

"You think I cry because of love?" her voice raised.

"You took away my personality! You changed who I was at my core!" she suddenly shouted.

"All I did was change your memories, I didn't change you!" he fired back, shocked at his own abrasiveness, "Anything you felt for me was all you." She shot up on her feet, inches away from his face.

"I don't love you, don't you get it?" her words fired out, striking his heart like a claw from Slicer. He was left standing there, unable to speak, "The only thing that came out of this is I realized I should be the ruler of Pandora! Not you and certainly not Slicer!"

"You can't be serious. I know you felt something!"

"Aweee..." she mocked, "You say I felt something? Why, because you felt something?" she sat back down, her hand slipping undetected under her mattress.

"Yes! We both did!"

"One of us felt something... and you're about to feel it too!" she growled as she sprung forward, caught a quick flash of something sliver coming at him, he instinctively grabbed her wrist, ". Batorine pulled the shank out of her hand and tossed her across the room. She hit the wall with a hard thud and slumped down on the floor. He stared at her for a moment and then turned around and left the room. He closed the door behind him.

"I guess I have my closure." He sighed out, his heart still aching. He looked up and saw Phystlock walking to him with some guards in toe, it didn't appear to him they knew what had just happened. He strolled over to a guard and dropped the shank in his hand, "Here, search her room for anymore." He took the weapon, with a surprised look on his face. Phystlock stepped between them and put her hands on Batorine's shoulders, her fingers delicately rubbed them. He noted her touch was always so caring and gentle on him that it was hard to believe she was deadly. He looked at her, it was as if she knew what happened without him saying a word.

"It's OK now. I'm here." She said in a soft, soothing tone. He felt his body being moved close to hers and his head being pressed against her chest. Her hands rubbed his back and went through his hair. He wrapped his hands around her and hugged her close. She had a way of making the world disappear.