I scrambled to my feet and started running. I was on the cliff that had the narrow path that came out right behind the wall. I pulled the heat in my veins and it gave me speed that made me feel like I was flying. Both fired and non-fired people were running through the gate and I slipped into the crowd.
"Hey! Laura, get back inside!"
I quickly dodged the fired man who managed to spot me. He had been recently fired and didn't have the speed or agility that I did. I darted between others as I evaded him. Most had their eyes locked onto the bandits and didn't notice my short body weaving around them.
They were heading to the battle, but I left the group to go towards Diane. I could see Ace was standing beside her as they watched the out of control fighters further down the field. I counted about 35 of them out there now. Most of the bandits were dead. Some of our people moved through the battlefield to kill the seriously wounded bandits that still lived.
I ran towards Diane, but she was still watching the carnage and didn't notice my distant approach. I saw a few of the out of control men run out of targets in their immediate vicinity. They paused and looked around alertly. Their eyes locked on a person along the treeline that I assumed they were protecting. They raced over like a flash to stand beside that person.
Those people looked slightly nervous at first until they realized that the glowing eyed fighter that they loved so dearly meant them no harm. With lack of an immediate threat them, those who were out of control went back to more closely guard the person that they had lost control over.
Ace was still closely watching the bandits. Diane stood a bit behind him and was talking to him. I couldn't see his face, so I wasn't sure if he was talking or just silently watching as he tended to do. Diane glanced over to see me approaching and looked shocked.
She went down to one knee with open arms as I ran forward. Ace turned as he heard my approach, but I knew that he would recognize my footsteps easily. I ran up to Diane and gave her a big hug. I was so glad to see that she was okay. I made sure to not touch her bandage. Hopefully she wasn't too badly injured.
Diane returned my hug, but she seemed a bit tense for some reason. I glanced up at her at the same moment that she glanced over at Ace. He was watching us and I stiffened as I noticed his eyes were glowing turquoise. Diane subtly gave me the hand signal for 'look calm and relax'.
That was easier said than done. One misstep and Ace might attack me since he was out of control. I took a deep breath and forced my muscles to relax. It took everything Rick had taught me, but I managed it.
Ace suddenly turned his head to the side and snarled. I stopped breathing at the terrifying noise. I had never heard anything like it before, even when that feral dog had snarled at me. Roland froze in his approach as he realized that Ace was out of control. He took several slow steps backwards and Ace seemed to lose his focus on Roland now that he had backed up.
I exhaled and took a slow breath. That had been close. Had Roland come much closer, Ace probably would have attacked him. Ace would have felt terrible once he regained control, but it was something that was better avoided. Roland went to warn others to keep their distance for the time being.
I looked around, but about a quarter of the other out of control fighters had regained control. Diane examined Ace as he once more watched the last few bandits being killed on the field to the north. She took several slow steps towards him and that worried me. Why was she approaching him when he was like this?
Ace's body was facing mostly in our direction, but his head was turned towards the battlefield. There was no way he could be unaware of Diane's approach. She hadn't been standing that far from him to start with and now she was within arm's reach.
I backed up a few steps to slowly sit on a log where I would be less noticeable. My jaw dropped as Diane reached up and put her hands on Ace's shoulders. Most people couldn't even approach someone who was out of control. Ace didn't even look at her or acknowledge her though.
I guess I had asked Ace to protect Diane and he had agreed. Perhaps his subconscious remembered somewhere deep down. Or perhaps he didn't react since he knew her so well. He had been with us almost all day for almost a year now and that didn't include their frequent sparring practices. Such practices seemed to build a strong bond between any fighters.
Diane spoke quietly, "Ace. Can you look at me please?"
Ace slowly turned his head to look at her. I still couldn't get over his glowing turquoise eyes. When he had donated blood, his eyes had turned that color, but they hadn't glowed then. Ace seemed distracted by Diane's eyes.
I saw what Diane was trying to do now. She was trying to calm him down so he could regain control. Her body language was completely relaxed, and she was blinking slowly like a calm cat. Seconds ticked by and neither of them moved as they looked at each other. It was so bizarre.
Diane spoke again, "You can relax. The fight is over. They are gone. Just friends remain."
Ace didn't respond to her words. He just kept looking into her eyes as if he was entranced. Diane stood still and waited for him to regain control, but his eyes still glowed a bright turquoise color. It was really pretty, but it also showed how dangerous he was.
I saw Julian hovering some distance away as he looked at us. I shook my head no at him. He nodded and backed up before heading back to the battlefield. All of the bandits were dead. People were grouping up to try and figure out how to deal with the aftermath of the battle.
Most of the out of control people had regained control, but a few were still guarding someone. People gave those ones a lot of room and tried to avoid them. I glanced back, but Ace was still distracted by Diane's eyes. I wondered if Diane had somehow caught his eyes like she had done to me a few times.
I knew from experience that it was hard to free yourself if she did that. It was an accident on her part, but it was still startling. Her eyes were always bright and there had been times when cuddling that I simply looked deep into her blue eyes and got lost in their depths.
I suspected that Ace had never looked this deeply into any fired person's eyes before. It really wasn't something you could prepare yourself for. Like the fog at night, it was almost magical. Ace's breathing was finally slowing down from his fighting, but his eyes still glowed. The amount of blood splatter on his clothing told me that I didn't want to know how many bandits he had killed.
Diane seemed confused as to why he was not regaining control. She whispered, "Ace, if you don't come back to me I am going to kiss you."
What?! Where had that come from? Words like that made Ace run for cover, what was she thinking? Wait! She was trying to get him to snap out of it. Or at least get him off the battlefield where so many people were currently gathered. If there was ever a time he needed to pull a disappearing act, this was the one.
Ace didn't react though. He was definitely still out of it. He still seemed fascinated by Diane's eyes. He had been staring into her eyes for almost five minutes now. It was getting kind of uncomfortable to watch.
Diane realized that her words did not have the intended affect and continued speaking softly, "Your eyes are pretty. Too bad you can't see them; they are a nice turquoise color. I wonder how well you can see in the dark with them like that."
I bet he could see better than we could since his Heartfire was so high in this state. Ace seemed much more interested in Diane's eyes than in his own. I wasn't sure why he found them so fascinating, sure they were really pretty, but he had been looking into them for an awfully long time.
I looked around, but I didn't see any other out of control people. The others had all regained control, although one or two might be further in the forest and I couldn't see them.
Diane kept talking, "Thank you for taking out that shooter. Thankfully it was just a graze and it will be healed by sunset."
Oh, that was a relief. I had been worried that the injury had been worse. Diane grinned and sounded amused, "It is almost like having my own personal guard dog. I always did like dogs, but they were never that fond of my cooking before the collapse. Probably a good thing I had cooking classes as a Forager."
I tilted my head, did she just compare Ace to a dog? Perhaps it was a good thing that Ace was still ignoring her as he gazed into her eyes. Nothing seemed to be getting through to him. I thought most people regained control within ten minutes after they stopped fighting or attacking something? It had been about that long already.
"Some fear that it is possible to lose control forever, but I am not giving up on you that easily. Even if I have to take you back to Wainwright and have Nancy pull you onto the dance floor." Apparently Diane's mind was in the same area mine was. I really hoped that Ace didn't remain out of control. He didn't seem to mind Diane or me, but he had snarled at Roland, so he probably wouldn't let anyone else come close.
Ace growled very faintly at that comment. Apparently he wasn't so far gone that the mention of dancing didn't go amiss. His breathing had slowed to something close to mine, but his eyes were still glowing. He was clearly able to focus on Diane's eyes, but there didn't seem to be any actual thoughts in his head. Just like the zombies.
I checked my keychain watch, it had been about fifteen minutes now. I really hoped he snapped out of it soon. Ace just kept staring into Diane's eyes as if entranced. I knew that her eyes couldn't be unintentionally holding his for this long. He was looking into her eyes by choice.
I really had no idea what he was looking at either. By now he should have managed to memorize every speck in her eyes and count her eyelashes. Then again, the slight glow of the Heartfire in our eyes meant that our eyes really seemed bottomless, like looking at the swirling blue fog.
Diane's arm shifted a bit, but her hands remained on Ace's shoulders. Her shoulder injury must be paining her. She also looked a bit tired, as if she had used the burning heat in her blood for too long.
Diane started talking again, "For once I am looking forward to the snow. It will hide this battlefield with a blanket of white. Perhaps the spring flowers will cover the pain and dark memories that remain. Spring seems a long time away right now though. First we have to get through the winter. What are your plans for this winter?"
Winter was close once again. Summer always seemed far too short. I took a closer look at Ace. He seemed a bit confused by something that Diane had said. He started blinking rapidly and I could see the faint hints of blue reappearing by his pupils. Suddenly he lowered his head a bit and shook his head from side to side hard several times.
His body stance changed a bit as he took a deep breath and looked up with blue eyes. He seemed very confused. Diane smiled as she saw that he had finally regained control, "Welcome back Ace, welcome back."
Her words only served to confuse him more. He blinked a few more times and started to look around. He looked a bit shocked as he saw the battlefield. Diane dropped her arms to her sides and backed up to sit on the log beside me tiredly.