As soon as she'd gone, Satul entered the room, he stood there, anger boiling up within him, "Brother, where is the girl?" He asked in a deadly calm voice.

Lanzer didn't turn to look at Satul. "She escaped."

"Escaped... and you didn't at least put forth the effort to stop her?" Satul turned and stalked from the room, bent on bringing her back, the girl that was seemingly turning his brother against him.

Meanwhile, she slid out of the shadows a short distance from the place and began a slow run.

Lanzer sat down trembling. *Good luck Avella.*

She made her way to a lone cottage, and slipped inside slowly, mentally erasing and recreating her trail in another direction, "There... that should throw him off for a bit." She sighed tiredly and walked to the old couch before laying down and curling up to sleep.

She grinned as he chased after some small creature, thoroughly enjoying herself. "Don't go to far!" She called after his disappearing figure.

"You're softening him up, I despise that." A cold voice said from behind her, and before she could turn she felt a pair of hands press into the small of her back and she fell into empty space, a single scream tearing from her throat... She sat up quickly, breathing hard as the dream played over again in her mind.

Lanzer got up and left the castle. He wanted to clear his head. He still had difficulties erasing the memories and emotions the girl had sparked.

Despite his searching, Satul's quest for the girl turned up nothing, "Foolish brat." He growled, returning to the castle and moving up to his tower angrily.

Lanzer sat on a stone wall outside. he laid his head down against a tree.

She finally got up, more refreshed than she had been previously, and moved to the door, looking cautiously about for any signs of danger before going back inside and to the kitchen as her stomach began to growl.

Lanzer slipped from the wall and looked around the woods for some sort of distraction. *Could my brother have been lying to me all this time?*

She rummaged through the small cooler that she'd left in the cottage when she'd gone exploring before rescuing the gifted boy, and pulled out several different things, setting them on the counter. She turned on the stove and rummaged around for a pot, before setting it on the burner with several different kinds of meat and sliced vegetables, as well as cooking oil. "Why did he let me go?" She wondered aloud, "I mean, that guy tried so hard to capture me in the beginning. Why does he seem familiar, why does what happened to his friend fit so well into the time that I lost my memory?"

Lanzer was close to the cottage and heard the voice. He climbed into a tree and watched her.

She stirred her food in silence, and finally sat at the single table, stabbing at the meal thoughtfully.

Lanzer crept in carefully as he watched her. "You lost your memory huh? Then how do you know you are twenty?" He asked from her left.

She jumped in surprise and looked over at him, "Were you spying on me?" She growled.

"I overheard you. Now how do you know if you have no memory?"

"There's no real way for me to know." She said at last.

"Try to remember...what was your mother's name?"

"Do you know how many times I have tried to remember my past?" She asked coolly, "All I get are strange dreams occasionally..."

"Please tell me them." He looked at her with hope.

"They're brief, but always the same thing." She said softly, "There's a boy, a friend I believe, chasing after something. I tell him not to go far, and then somebody comes up behind me and says 'you're softening him up, I despise that.' And pushes me, I wake up falling." She pushed her plate back, food untouched.

"W...what did the boy look like?"

"I never see his face."

"Do...you here his voice?"

"No... he waves over his shoulder at me when I say not to go far, and that's it."

Lanzer saw a flash of a girl calling to him and him waving her of in annoyance. "What...about the other voice?"

"Dark, yet still the voice of a child."

He imitated as best he could his brother's voice from that time. "Does this sound like it?"

"..." She remained thoughtfully silent for a moment before nodding, "Yes."

Lanzer looked horrified. "Avella.....that was my brother who pushed you.....your friend was me...."

She blinked, "...Are you serious?"

Lanzer nodded, and hugged her. "I am glad to have you back! My brother will pay!"

"I knew you from before..." She murmured, utterly surprised.

"Yes. It's me....Lanzer." He forced a smile truly happy to have her back.

"Lanzer... it's familiar somehow." She said, "I wish that I could remember."

Lanzer looked down. "I..don't know what to do anymore. I thought my brother was in the right....and he is the one who nearly killed you!"

"That is what you call walking blindly into your abbatoir." She said simply.

"What?" He sounds distracted.

"Nothing." She shook her head.

"Avella....do you remember anything?"

"No... nothing before the morning I awoke half submerged in water..." She said softly.

"I..am sorry...I didn't search for you. My brother wouldn't let me out for weeks, he claimed I was ill with grief..."

"...I was found by a young couple and taken in, though they died when the village was massacred."

"I'm sorry...Why would my brother do this though?"

"Ambitions for his future?"

"He's been using me as a puppet all along!" Punches the wall, breaking the skin on his knuckles open.

"Don't do that, you'll hurt yourself!"

He retracted his fist, blood dripping from his hand. "He is a Bastard! He thought me a mere tool!"

She tsked and grabbed his hand and closed her eyes, allowing a dim glow to encase his hand, slowly healing his injury.

"Thank you...sorry." Looks ashamed. "All these years he has been using me."

"I am sorry for that, but surely, wouldn't you think that what he is doing is wrong? Torturing those with the gift until they submit their will to he and his cause?"

"It's...all I have ever known....he said they were evil. That they had to be converted to save all others.."

"..." She didn't really know what to say, "You should follow your own path, not the path set out for you to follow."

"I've realized that now, it's only taken you to help me see the light. Stay here I am coming with you but I need to get supplies."

"...Alright." She said simply.

He headed back to get some things. "Be careful."

She simply nodded and went back to sit on the couch.

Lanzer went strait for his room. still furious with his twin.

When Satul was interrupted by a young man he threw several stacks of papers at him, "Get out!" He roared, and the man scurried out.

Avella leaned against the back of the couch, feeling herself beginning to drift off as she waited.

Lanzer goatherd travel supplies and clothing quickly as he stuffed it into his travel pack. When he was finished he slipped out of his room and started a fire he than snuck out of the castle and hurried back to Avella. He knew they would put the fire out, but it would offer a distraction before they found he was gone. 
He slipped inside the cottage and gently awoke Avella. "Are you ready?"

"Hm? Yeah..." She murmured.

Lanzer helped her gather things trying his best not to smile. That was the first time that he could remember that he had actually opposed his brother, he had to admit he liked it. He wondered what the look on his brother's face would be when he found out about the fire and his disappearance. 

"So... where do we plan to go?" Avella asked, adjusting her bag on her shoulders.

"Yes. We better hurry before they find out the fire is a diversion."

She nodded, "lead the way then."

He hurried into the woods.

Avella followed him quickly.

After not hearing anything from Lanzer for several hours, Satul exited the tower to go in search of him. "Where is my brother?" He roared.

"Umm... sir." Someone spoke warily, and told him of what had happened.

"..." For the first time in his life, Satul was speechless, and then a dark rage overtook him, and he even went so far as to attack the man that had given him news of his brother's apparent disappearance. You insolent little! He snarled, Just wait until I get my hands on you!!!

Lanzer called a rest after several hours. he took a drink from a stream. "Should we set up camp?"

"It doesn't matter- it's up to you. If so we'll have to set traps around the camp, and even mask the camp's presence by playing with the lights and shadows to make us seem invisible- one of my specialties." She grinned, and as show, shimmered out of existence.

Looks ashamed. "I....don't know how..can you teach me?"

"Unless you share a balanced ability between shadow and light it is impossible for you to learn." She said, "I can erase your body from sight as easily as I did mine."

"I...think I can use shadows..can you help me?"

"I've never helped someone learn their abilities before..." She said with a small laugh, reappearing, "But I'll try. It generally helps to gain control of your power first. You're not going to have the greatest of stamina on the first night, so don't overdo it. In your mind picture your shadow conforming into a different object." She looked at her shadow thoughtfully for a moment and it molded itself into a small animal.

Lanzer frowned in concentration. His shadow wavered into a small bird for a moment before going back. He panted slightly.
"I..did it!"

"Good, now do it again, only hold it this time." She said.

Lanzer concentrated once more. It held several minutes longer before he was forced to release it. "This...takes alot out of you."

"One more time." She said, waiting until he'd formed it again before having her shadow attack and defeat his, leaving him feeling weak, "You must learn the dangers of using your shadows, especially against another shadow user. It will sometimes force you even behind this exhaustion."

Nods tiredly. "I wish I weren't so weak.."

"You will be easily exhausted like this until you can gain full control and raise your stamina." She replied, "Now rest while I set up the traps."

"I'll help." He started to get to his feat then fell back down frustrated. "Perhaps not.."

"Rest your body." And with that she went off to set various traps around the camp before returning several minutes later.

Lanzer lay against a tree half asleep.

She pulled out her earlier made meal and split it into two portions, "Here, it's cold, but it'll help to build up your stamina to use your gift."

Lanzer ate it slowly. "Thank you."

"After you're done, get some rest, or at least make sure that you're comfortable. It won't due to have ourselves invisible if we end up crashing into each other in the process..."

"All right." Looks distracted. *What will my brother do if he finds us?*

After she'd finished eating, she packed her things back into the bag and laid it to the side a bit, she stretched, yawning slightly.

Lanzer fell asleep worrying.

She lay down near him, and with hardly the flick of her wrist she bent the light and shadows to hide their presences from prying eyes. Avella then slipped into sleep.

*Lanzer dreamed: He was laying on ground. His brother came up behind him. "Traitor! What a disappointment!" He manipulated the shadows to turn into a spear and he threw it striking Lanzer in the chest. Lanzer gasped and fell to the ground.* Lanzer awoke with a gasp, sweat beaded his brow.

Avella stirred slightly, mumbling something incoherent in her sleep.

Lanzer laid back down quieting his breathing.

"Are you alright?" She murmured sleepily, rolling towards the sound of his ragged breathing.

"J..just a nightmare.."

"Oh..." She said, "You should try to take your mind off of it, it'll help."

"I..dreamed my brother got vengeance for my betrayal. Am I ..a traitor?"

"The true traitor is your brother." She said simply.

Shudders. "How could he have turned so corrupt?"

"Who knows?" She murmured.

"I wonder when he lost his innocence, do you think he was jealous of ours and that is why he took action that day, and forced us to lose ours?"

"If I could truly remember it I'm sure that I'd be able to give you a straight answer but... perhaps you are right."

Lanzer sighed in frustration. "I wish I knew too."

"Let's just get some rest." She said.

Lanzer nodded closing his eyes.

She closed her eyes, and was immediately lost to sleep once more.

Lanzer woke after he could sleep no more. His mind still plagued by nightmares.

Avella slept on, her body occasionally shimmering in the moonlight.

Lanzer watched her hardly believing she was alive.

Feeling his gaze on her jerked her from sleep almost immediately. She blinked and looked at him.

He smiled at her and looked away. "Sorry if I woke you."

"It's fine," She replied, "I would have woken up shortly either way..."

He looks toward the woods nodding. "Any idea where we are going?"

"Nowhere really." She said with a small shrug, allowing her ability to dissipate as she sat up.

He turned back to her. "What do you mean nowhere?"

"As in I generally go about actually collecting gifted myself to rise against your brother's group. I have no real destination in mind." She said.

"I would like to help."

"I'm glad," She said, "none will trust you for a while because you are Satul's twin brother though, it will take a while to gain their trust."

He looks down sadly. "I understand. They have reason to hate me too."

"They'll trust you soon enough," She said with a curt nod.

"Do you think so?"

"Yes." She nodded.

Smiles hopefully. "I am glad to have you back....I am sorry for the wounds I inflected.." Looks ashamed of himself.

"It's fine, they've already healed." She assured him, "And besides, I caused more damage to myself than either of you possibly could."

"What...was that thing?"

"What thing?" She asked.

"The..gate?"

"..." She glanced down at her hands, "It is indeed a gate, a powerful gate that brings death. Whatever it drags inside gets torn to pieces, and their souls are never given true rest. It takes a toll on the user's body- I'm sure you must have seen cuts opening up despite nothing being there. It requires the blood of the user."

"Why use it then?" Sounds concerned.

"Sometimes I am not given the option." She replied simply.

"Is it...like a self automatic defense?" He asked frowning.

"Sometimes." She said.

"What about.....when I saw it?"

"I was given little option. I was facing two other shadow users and losing strength." She said.

Looks down guiltily. "Avella..when did you know I had my abilities?"

"It was before your brother arrived to aid you." She said thoughtfully, "And the attack came from your shadows."

He frowns thoughtfully. "Why didn't I see it?"

"Sometimes... at first, one's ability can only be used unconsciously." Avella said, "So at first you were completely unaware that it was your attack and none others."

"why was I able to see it later?"

"It was pointed out to you. That's when you consciously became aware that you possessed the gift."

"What happens when one believes they have the gift and they don't? Are they able to see it but not use it?"

"Nothing happens," Avella replied, "Even if they believe, if they do not possess the gift it will not come to pass, even in vision."

"Oh...so I ...really have it?"

"Yes... why did you doubt it? You saw and felt it for yourself."

Lanzer shook his head. "It's just....hard to believe I have it."

"It is usually difficult to believe when one first discovers it." Avella nodded in agreement.

"when did you find out you had it?"

"I can't really remember. I'm fairly sure it was a few days after I was pulled out of the river when I was younger- my wounds healed at an incredible rate, and sometimes my shadows would dance around the room..."

"You didn't get help?"

"Didn't get help with what?" She asked, not really certain which he meant.

"Learning your abilities."

"Mostly I had to teach myself how to control and strengthen them, though I sparred with friends in the village until..." She took a deep breath, "They were all killed. My brother took care of me afterwards- when he found out where I was, and he trained me more. We were gifted with the same abilities."

"I am sorry about your friends." He looked up. "We better move before my brother assembles a search party."

She nodded, "Escape would have been pointless if we get caught now." She said agreeably, packing her things and pulling her bag over her shoulder.

He picked up his pack and helped her.

"We'll continue going in this direction for another full day and then head north." She stated.

He nodded following.


Abbatoir- chapter 3