NOTICE: Due to getting published, chapters 27 onwards of A New Era have been removed from Wattpad. This is because of copyright reasons as well as Amazon guidelines.
"Come on Akira," Savannah told her pleadingly, "Wilma is a great hairdresser. I'm telling you, she won't even cut that much off!"
Akira's eyes widened in alarm, "No thank you," she told Savannah firmly but politely.
"Come on," Savannah pleaded clasping her hands together and sticking out her bottom lip in a pout.
Akira's eyes scanned the area, desperately looking for Anita. Yet the girl had disappeared moments before, saying that she needed to go pick up something for her mother. Feeling that she could really use Anita's help at the moment Akira let her gaze slide back to Savannah's pleading face. Yet Akira stubbornly shook her head. There was no way she was getting her hair cut. She loved it as long as it was and Seth liked it, so why change it?
Savannah opened her mouth to protest but she never managed as someone else beat her to it.
"Akira!"
Relief flooded through Akira as Dominique burst through the people around her and skidded to a halt. He looked out of breath and yet excited.
"Boy are you hard to track down," he gasped as he placed a hand on Akira's shoulder and bent over to catch his breath.
"Dominique," Savannah smiled at him. "You're just in time. I was just trying to persuade Akira to cut her..."
"Sounds great," Dominique cut her off as he straightened again. "But I need to borrow Akira, sorry," without another word of explanation he grabbed Akira's hand and pulled her away, ignoring Savannah's protests.
"Thanks for saving me. Savannah really just wouldn't give up," Akira told him with a smile when they came to a stop beside a wall to a large building.
"Akira, I found a way in," Dominique told her.
Akira froze, not sure that she had heard correct. It took a moment for her to realize what Dominique had said, yet when she did excitement filled her. Dominique had found a way in! She couldn't believe it!
"When do we go in?" Akira asked, her eyes shining at the thought.
Dominique frowned.
"Dominique?" Akira asked, her enthusiasm dropping a notch. He wasn't backing out, was he? Not after he had found a way in!
"Akira," Dominique gently took a hold of her shoulders.
Akira looked at him questioningly.
"You do know the risk of doing this right?" he asked.
Akira nodded.
"You know what will happen if we get caught?"
"We won't," Akira told him firmly.
Dominique let out a sigh. "I don't know..." he trailed off as he let go of her shoulders. Looking away he ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I just wanted to know," his eyes turned on her and studied her, "If you really want to go through with this?"
Akira met his eyes. "Yes, I really want to go through with this," she told him honestly.
Dominique paused before he nodded, "Alright, we'll go in tomorrow at noon, when the sun is at its highest peak in the sky."
"Tomorrow?" Akira frowned. She wanted to go now, she had waited long enough. "And why noon?" she added in curiously.
"The guards doubled at night, the only time its normal is during broad daylight."
"Yeah," Akira told him. "That's because going in during daylight isn't exactly the wisest choice."
"Exactly," Dominique grinned. "Which is why they won't expect it. Besides, at what time of the day do you find yourself full and wishing that you could just lie down and sleep because of the heat?" Dominique asked.
Akira's eyes widened in understanding. "Not bad rebel," she told Dominique with a grin. Dominique had a point, besides, she had waited all this time and so she might as well wait another day. Redemption wasn't going anywhere after all.
"Rebel?" Dominique raised an eyebrow at the new nickname she had used for him.
Akira shrugged in reply. "So, any idea at what level they would keep Redemption's armor in the academy?" she asked knowing that having found a way in was only part of the plan.
"Its most likely kept in one of the top three stories," Dominique replied.
"Why do you say that?" Akira was curious to know.
"Because, those are the three levels no one but a few, plus the council. Have access to. If it was in any other level word would have been out on the street a long time ago about its existence."
Akira nodded, realizing that what Dominique said made sense. She didn't notice Dominique's gaze on her as she turned to look around for Savannah, yet if she had she may have seen the doubt in it. Doubt at the success of their plan, doubt at the fact that she really knew her way about on the inside. And among that doubt was worry. For the first time in a long time, Dominique was worrying again, and this time it wasn't for himself.
"Here," he suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out a draco coin, handing it over to Akira.
Akira stared at the coin he placed into the palm of her hand questioningly.
"It's for luck," Dominique told her softly.
Akira met his eyes her own twinkling with amusement. "I don't believe in luck," she told him, "But thanks anyway." Her hand closed around the coin, "But why does you wishing me luck tell me that your plan might not be the safest?" she asked as she pocketed the coin.
"Because," Dominique replied, "It isn't."
"You know, you still haven't told me how we're getting in!" Akira shouted above the noise of the wind as Breeze shot upwards. She was sitting on breeze's back, ahead of Dominique once again with his arms wrapped around her.
"You'll see!" Dominique replied, giving her the same answer he had before.
Akira let out a snort as she stared at the clouds below. She had not slept much the night before, the excitement of breaching the academy too much to let her sleep. Then she waited the entire morning, wanting afternoon to come. It had felt like ages but finally Dominique had told her that it was time. Akira had bounded up to their room and slipped on her white clothes, throwing a clock over to hide them. She had also strapped her sword to her side. When Dominique had caught sight of the sword and clothes he had protested, yet Akira had ignored him. There was no way she was going into a situation like they were unprepared. Dominique had let her know there were risks, and so she was going to be ready.
They had gotten on Breeze and left, flying out of the city. When Akira had protested Dominique had just told her to wait. Breeze rose above the clouds, going further and further up, before he suddenly doubled back, heading back towards the city, which was hidden beneath the clouds. Akira searched for the academy, yet her search was in vain. She realized that they were way above the height of even the academy, and curiosity filled her as she wondered what Dominique's plan was. He had told her there were guards on the academies roof so she knew that they definitely weren't dropping onto it. So what did he have planned?
Behind her Dominique sat with a satisfied smirk on his face. His eyes sparkled with excitement and the blood rushed through his veins as his heart pounded at the thought of what they were about to do. Akira had no idea, which would only make this all the more fun.
"We're here," Breeze informed him.
Dominique squinted his eyes to see the tip of a lone building peak above the clouds some distance away, just barely enough for him to see it.
"Time to go," Dominique said a grin on his face.
"Go?" Akira asked confused, "Where?"
"Down," as he said it Dominique grabbed Akira and gave her a mighty push off Breeze. She tumbled from his back, screaming as she went plummeting down.
"You think she'll forgive you?" Breeze asked as Dominique stood in the saddle.
"Trust me, if I get her that armor she'll forgive anything," Dominique replied as he put his arms out and proceeded to dive from Breeze's back, following Akira, who had already disappeared into a layer of clouds.
"I sure hope this plan of yours works," Breeze thought as he flew onwards.
Dominique didn't reply, to busy enjoying the rush of the fall. This was it. This was how life was meant to be. He let out a whoop, not being able to help it, as he fell through the clouds and the city came into view. He wondered at how small it all looked from up here. He glanced over to catch sight of the academy to see that it was not too far away. It was growing larger every moment.
Dominique knew that Breeze would be miles away by now, ready to do his next job, which was to fly above the guards on the roof of the academy and keep their attention on him while Dominique and Akira fell towards it from a slight angle. From then on Dominique and Akira would be on their own. Dominique's mind turned to the task at hand, falling from an unimaginable height, a fall that would kill them no doubt. Yet despite that knowledge Dominique turned on his stomach and spread out his arms, grinning as the city streets below drew closer and closer. He hadn't had a fun fall like this in ages....he shot a glance at Akira to see that she had moved herself into a similar position, and he was surprised to see a grin appear on her face as she closed her eyes and seemed to also be enjoying the fall. She almost seemed content and Dominique had the suspicion that perhaps she had done this before. Then Dominique saw her lips move, just like his did when he was absentmindedly talking to Breeze, and yet it seemed that that woke Akira up and he watched in amusement as her eyes shot open. She turned her head and glanced to where Breeze had disappeared before realization hit her.
Dominique watched as she turned her head to glare at him.
"If you pushed me off a dragon to kill me boy then I swear, I'll back from beyond the grave and haunt you forever. Unless you die with me of course, then I'll just haunt you in the land of the dead!" she yelled, the words barely coming across as the wind whipped them away. Yet Dominique got the point. Amused he grinned cheekily at Akira who glared at him a moment longer before she turned her gaze back to the rapidly approaching ground. She shot Dominique a worried look, fear beginning to creep into her eyes.
"Funs over," Dominique thought with a regretful sigh.
He adjusted his body and moved slowly up next to Akira, who was staring at the approaching buildings below again. Reaching out he grabbed a hold of her, snaking his arm around her waist. Akira's head snapped around and she stared at him, surprise in her eyes.
"Hold on!" Dominique yelled at her over the wind. He angled their bodies do that they were lying with their heads first, the rest of their bodies following at an angle. Akira turned her attention from the view below to look forward, only to see a large building steadily growing closer some distance ahead, the academy.
"Breeze?" Dominique thought moments later when he was sure they were still just out of sight of the guards on top of the academy.
"I'm on it," was the reply.
Dominique saw a dark shape swoop over the top of the academy roof and smiled, perfect. He and Akira fell onwards, falling down, past the level of the academy roof. The guards did not see them, too busy staring at the brown dragon that circled above and waiting tensely to see what he was up to, to notice the two falling people.
As Akira and Dominique continued to fall, some distance away from the walls of the academy, Dominique reached a hand beneath his cloak and pulled forth his metal tube. He pressed the button, turning it into a pole, before he turned on his back, pulling Akira along. Now they were looking up, up at the tall academy that seemed to be growing taller the further they fell.
Dominique turned the pole, so that one end was facing that academy building. He moved his fingers ever so slightly on the pole, pressing down on a small hidden plate. At once the end of his rod, that was facing the academy, seemed to transform. The flat end disappeared and a claw like device unfolded, coming from the inside of the pole. Akira let out a surprised gasp, yet Dominique was too busy concentrating to notice. He narrowed his eyes, waiting, calculating. As soon as the moment came he acted. He tightened his grip on Akira and at the same time pressed his little finger down, down on another knob hidden in his rod. The whole pole seemed to kick backwards as the claw seemed to shot out, revealing the rope attached to the end of it. Dominique felt both of Akira's arms come around him as she clung on, realizing what he had planned.
As they fell, the two watched the claw shoot up true and straight, right towards a small window. Dominique's aim was flawless and the claw found its mark, hitting the edge of the window and clamping shut around it. The rope went taught and Dominique gasped as he felt the pole threaten to jerk from his grasp. He clung on, gritting his teeth as he felt his entire arm scream in agony. He had done this before, many times, with other buildings when escaping from Watchers. Yet with all his planning, this time he had forgotten on minor detail, Akira. With just his own weight he had never had a problem hanging on, but now that he had to hold on for Akira as well, he felt himself gripping the pole harder and tighter than ever before. The shear strength needed to hold on making sweat drip down his forehead.
The sudden stop from falling changed to a sideward's rush as Akira and Dominique were hurled towards the wall of the academy. Dominique had expected this, but the strength and concentration it was taking him to hold on to the rod was clouding everything else. His shoulder was screaming in protest. As they were swinging towards the academy wall he could swear that he heard something pop. Pain shot though his entire arm as his shoulder seemed to burn. Black dots danced in front of his eyes, threatening to form a dark wall of nothingness. Yet Dominique held on.
He gritted his teeth and through the pain managed to still calculate the distance to the wall. He knew that by being stupid enough to not calculate Akira's added weight into all of this they were now heading at the wall at a speed that was bound to break a few bones upon impact. Seeing that Akira was in the way of impact he turned, making it so that his back was facing the wall so that he would soften the blow for Akira. At least that way one of them would still be in one piece and able to continue on.
Closing his eyes he waited for the impact on his back, for the winded feeling he knew so well. He counted down until impact, trying not to tense at the blow he knew was coming, tensing would make it more likely that he would break something. And yet when the impact came it was soft, not the way it should be at all. Not to mention the fact that instead of his back colliding it had been his chest.
As realization his him Dominique's eyes flew open and he found himself staring into a pair of blue eyes. Akira had twisted around at the last moment to take the impact, as he had closed his eyes Dominique hadn't noticed. His eyes widened in shock, the pain in his shoulder forgotten as worry filled him. Had she broken something? Was she okay?
"Are you...?" he croaked.
Akira stared back at him with a calm face. "Next time maybe you should warn me before you attempt a stunt like that, for a moment I thought you had seriously decided to commit suicide, and to take me along."
For a moment Dominique was speechless. There was no evidence of pain in either Akira's face or her voice, yet how she had survived bashing into the wall unharmed he wasn't sure. The pain in his shoulder brought him back to reality. Dominique moved his little finger and pressed the same small button again, gritting his teeth against the agonizing pain at that small movement. No sooner had he pressed the button than the claw holding on to the window above let go.
He and Akira found themselves falling before they came to a sudden stop. The rope and claw recoiled into Dominique's pole as Akira glanced down to see that they were standing on a small ledge, just big enough for the two of them to stand, one in front of the other.
"Like I said," she looked up into Dominique's eyes and he couldn't help but suddenly feel her closeness, how her arms fit so naturally around him, "Warn me next time," Akira let go of him and Dominique quickly did the same, at the same time the pain in his arm came rushing back.
He gasped, and not able to hold on any longer, dropped his pole. As quick as a flash Akira's hand shot out, grabbing it before it could fall onto the small ledge and possibly role off and fall out of their grasp forever. She looked up at Dominique, frowning when she caught sight of his arm.
"Your hurt!" she sounded alarmed.
"I'll live," Dominique replied with a grimace, yet he refused to look at his shoulder, not wanting to confirm his suspicious.
"Hmm," was Akira's reply was she leaned slightly forward to examine the damage. "You dislocated it," she told him matter of factually.
Dominique winced as she said the word dislocate. Great, this wasn't the first time. He knew what had to be done. "Akira, I need you to..."
"Pull it outwards and let it pop back in," Akira replied, the concern in her voice suddenly gone as she seemed to have decided that Dominique was in no serious danger.
"How do you...?" Dominique began.
"Just don't fall of the ledge," Akira warned as she took a hold of Dominique's arm. "As for how I know, we deal with this all the time at the academy, it's the most common injury when training in the air with the dragons. All that holding on a swinging about, not to mention the sudden falling and needing to grab onto something..." Akira trailed off while Dominique frowned at her explanation.
"Akira, we've been over this before. Time travel and all that, it's not......hey!" he let out a yell as a fresh burst of pain shot through his arm. His head whipped around to see that Akira had grabbed it and was pulling it out. He waited for her to pull it the last few inches, just enough to let it pop back, and yet it seemed that Akira had paused. For a moment he thought that maybe she didn't have the strength to pull his arm out any further but then when Dominique saw that Akira was glaring at him he knew that she was letting him feel the pain on purpose. He clenched his teeth and clenched them hard, refusing to make a sound to show the agony he was in, his eyes begging Akira to get it over with.
"Now you listen here and you listen hard, DOMINIQUE," Akira growled, holding his arm. "You may not believe who I am. That's fine by me, but do us both a favor and don't try to convince me that I'm crazy every time I mention my life before meeting you!"
"Akira!" Dominique protested, black dots dancing before his eyes.
"It took me long enough to discover myself, it took me ages to become who I am and I will NOT let you undo that!" Akira growled, fire flashing in her eyes as she continued to glare at Dominique. "So from now on, if you want to say something to contradict me when I talk about my past, in any way, don't. Understand?"
"Akira!" he was losing conciseness.
"Understand?" Akira asked again.
"Yes," Dominique mumbled, blackness engulfing him. And then suddenly it disappeared, along with the pain in his arm, and he was left staring at Akira while there was nothing but the dull throb in his arm to remind him of what had just happened.
Glaring at Akira, who looked more than satisfied with herself, he rubbed his shoulder. "You could have just told me, you didn't have to make me go through all that!"
"Oh don't be such a baby, there's worse," Akira snapped back.
Dominique blinked in surprise. He had not seen this side of Akira before. Up to now he had thought of her as a quiet, easily scared girl. One who would not hurt a fly if she didn't have to, and yet now before him stood a very different girl, one who knew what she wanted, who wasn't afraid of doing what it cost to get it, a girl who was willing to fight and was...dangerous.
"You still didn't have to do that just because of..." Dominique protested again, yet somewhat more softly, as he looked away.
"That was actually also for dragging me off your dragon, making me think I was about to die and then not warning me about......" Akira waved her arms in the air, "Well all this!"
"I'm sorry, but it was more fun this way!" Dominique replied, feeling somewhat amused at the entire situation. He couldn't believe that Akira was more concerned about the fact that he hadn't told her this part of the plan than the fact that they were standing on a small ledge so far off the ground that one slip would send them plummeting to their deaths. She surprised him more and more every day, and he each time he found that he liked her more and more. Shaking his head at the realization Dominique reached forward and took his pole gently from Akira's grasp before he pressed the button on it and turned it back into a tube. There was no sign of the claw and its rope ever having been there.
"And since when does that thing shoot out ropes?" Akira asked eying the tube as Dominique tucked it back under his cloak.
He looked up at Akira, a smirk on his face. "What? You didn't think it was just a boring old pole, did you? Now what use would that be?"
Akira gave him a glare in reply, yet Dominique was not put off.
"What I don't understand is how you took the impact of the wall and came out unscathed," he looked her up and down to make his point. Akira didn't reply.
"Come on, I'm dying to know," Dominique pressed. "Do you have hidden powers you didn't tell me about?" he teased. "Or..."
"Your rod isn't the only object around made of reaper metal," Akira told him, cutting him off.
For a moment Dominique was confused but then realization filled his eyes. "Your suit!" he gasped in disbelief, realizing that it was the only explanation. If it was made of reaper metal then the blow would have done nothing, just as it had.
"What?" Akira asked seeing his confused look. "You didn't think it was just a fancy piece to wear, did you?" she added in mock surprise. "Now what use would that be?" she smirked.
Dominique couldn't help but chuckled at her reply.
"Next time, tell me before you pull a stunt like this," Akira told him her face suddenly serious.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Dominique replied.
"But things could have gone wrong," Akira told him sternly.
"Like what?"
"You could have missed," Akira told him disapprovingly.
"I never miss," Dominique grinned in reply.
Akira narrowed her eyes, "Okay genius, then tell me, now that we are stuck on a ledge, OUTSIDE of the academy, how are we supposed to INSIDE?"
Dominique's grin faded. "Oh," he muttered. "Well," he glanced down as if only suddenly realizing the predicament they were in then. He was sure he had this all planned out, so what had gone wrong? They had landed on the ledge as planned, they were at the academy, right outside of it, in the section of the one place where security didn't bother to look as they felt that no one could get close enough anyway to the wall. If he remembered correctly there was supposed to be a window right by the ledge. Yet when he craned his head around Akira he saw that it was not so. There were only two explanations for this, either he had seen wrong the day before and there was no window or, the more likely, they had landed on the wrong ledge.
Looking down again Dominique saw that there was another ledge, a good distance down, and this one had a window. Somehow he had gotten his calculations wrong, somehow they had ended up to far up.
He looked at Akira who was still waiting for an answer. "Oops," he told her sheepishly.
Akira's reply was a glare.