cloudy with a Chance of freedom

chapter 21

Skull was half-asleep and almost drooling on his pillow when he felt the sharp sensation of something wrong with his bond to Fon. Like someone was attempting to displace the brotherly bond with something far more restrictive and unpleasant.

And that woke him up and had him ready to rage against whoever the hell was trying to hurt the friendly Storm.

"What's going on?" asked Blaise, having woken up the second he felt the wrong sensation as well. Something woke his Sky out of his sleep and pissed him off.

"I think another Sky is trying to subvert the harmony I have with Fon," said Skull pissed.

They were already heading down to the common room...and as it was close to four in the morning nearly everyone else was sound asleep. Viper was already there waiting for them.

Skull felt his pant pocket vibrate and saw Verde's less than amused face.

"Flitwick's still up and I'm not about to explain why I'm leaving the dorm at this hour," he explained briefly.

"Fair enough. I'll see if Renato is available instead," said Skull without hesitation. "Something tells me this is going to make some serious waves once we rescue Fon."

"Agreed," said Verde. He pushed up his glasses. "However it was bound to happen eventually and this time you aren't a civilian."

Part of the reason the Arcobaleno had treated him like a 'child' was because he had been a complete unknown and acted more like a clueless civilian when they first meet. Lal treated him the best next to Viper, but that was mostly because she instinctively recognized a fellow soldier.

Renato was not only awake, but he was feeling very edgy from the bond he had with Skull. He knew someone was going to need healing, but had no idea what was going on until Skull called him to see if he was up.

As it was, he didn't mind being picked up by Lark. He wanted to make whoever was hurting Fon pay.

In an undisclosed location in Asia...

Fon coughed up more blood. One particularly dense Triad had decided that it was perfectly acceptable to kidnap him in order to gain power among the stronger ones, despite the fact that Imperial Favor and the fact he was bonded to an unaffiliated Sky meant that the older, more established families were more than willing to treat Fon as an neutral enforcer among the clans once he was a bit stronger and had the right connections.

The fact Skull had little reason to ally himself (save for temporary ones) with the Triads didn't hurt this arrangement. Neutral parties among the Triads were so rare that they were almost as coveted as Skies so long as they maintained that neutrality.

Sure, you'd be stuck solving mostly petty arguments or acting as arbiters between the clans, but it provided a great deal more freedom for an Active Flame than most would ever get in their lifetimes.

This clan would be wiped out in short order when word spread what they had done. Whether he'd be alive to see it was up for debate at the moment though.

Seeing the massive ball of flame that came from Lark making a very flashy entrance, Fon instinctively closed his eyes. It wasn't that the fire was blinding, but more that he got the feeling he really needed to keep them closed when Lark appeared like that.

A good thing too, because the next thing he heard was the sound of scales slithering on the floor and screams about a snake before they suddenly died off and bodies began to hit the floor.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what Lark had managed to drop in his prison. He knew of the basilisk Skull had acquired but had only informed those closest to him about in his case. It was content to stay there since Skull let it out whenever he was in areas with limited to no human presence for it to hunt (it spent most of it's time sleeping save for prearranged times when most of the other animals were put away to avoid accidental deaths) which was a great deal more freedom than it's other "masters" had dared to give it.