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Kirk                    

Blaze

I was drugged.  The Belkans had finally resorted to drugging me.  I don’t know what it was but it was only making me sleepy and unfortunately for them, when I get sleepy, I get grouchy, which means I get even more snappy and sarcastic than usual.  Sucks for them.

I wasn’t sure if they were drugging Henry but by the way our conversations weren’t lasting near as long as they used to because we kept getting tired, I figured he was being drugged as well, giving me another reason to want to hurt all the Belkans on the floor above me… well, except for Henri.  I wasn’t sure what to make of him quite yet. He acted as if he wanted to help me but didn’t know how.  It was almost as if he didn’t want to be a part of his father’s new plot for world domination (at least I think that’s what Rald was planning).

“Elizabeth?” Henry’s groggy voice mumbled.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Besides being pissed off that they’re drugging me, fine.  You?”

“Same as you… um, I-I think I have a brother.”

“Did you have another memory flash?”

“Yeah… it was brief but just enough for me to know that he’s a part of my family.”

“I bet he’ll be so happy to see you when you get out of here,” I assured.

“We.  We are going to get out of here,” Henry corrected.

I smiled. “Yeah, we.”

“Why do you always say ‘you’ and not ‘we’?” he inquired curiously.

“Because I’m not in a good predicament here… you have an advantage not being able to remember anything.  I’m at a disadvantage because I know things, things that could jeopardize my country.  Once the Belkans get the information out of me, they will kill me.  It’s how they work.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Henry promised.  Again, I smiled but only because of the sincerity in his words.  He sounded like he actually could.

“Thanks,” I said genuinely.  I had been going to ask how was he going to break down the concrete door blocking him from the stairs and how he was going to get past all the guards with ten guns on them but I didn’t feel like it.  I fell back asleep.

When I woke up, I was being shaken.

“Time to get up,” a familiar voice said, sounding almost gentle.

I groaned. “I don’t want to Henri.  I just want to sleep.”

“I know but if I can’t get you up, they’re going to send one of the other guys and they won’t be as nice as me, so come on.  Don’t make me carry you,” he said, his tone slightly teasing.  That snapped me awake and I allowed him to lead me upstairs.

Rald was there, conversing with Viktor who grinned wickedly my way when I came into the room.  I stuck my tongue out at him again.

“Do that again and I will cut out your tongue,” he warned menacingly.  I made a face at him but kept my tongue to myself.  Henri tied me to the chair, loosely enough so that the handcuffs and rope didn’t hurt me.  I sent him an almost imperceptible, thankful nod.  He saw it and winked at me.

“So, are you ready to tell us anything?” Rald inquired.  He walked up to me and trailed his finger along my back.  I forced myself not to fidget.  I didn’t like him touching me.

“Yes,” I said.  The men looked surprised.

“Go on ahead,” Rald urged.

“You’re stupid, all of you.”

“That’s what you wanted to tell us?” Rald demanded in a controlled voice.

“That’s just how I’m starting out of what I’m going to tell you.”

“Well?”

“People are looking for me,” I claimed.

“What makes you so sure?” Viktor sneered.

“Because you kidnapped an Osean official with security clearance that matches the President’s.  Believe me, I have people looking for me and they won’t stop until they do,” I warned cheerfully.

“They won’t find you,” Otto said.

“Yes they will.  You Belkans aren’t the only smart ones in the world,” I replied. “You have a spy in the group.  They’re helping me and they’re going to get me out of here.”

“You’re bluffing,” Rald claimed but he looked dubious.

“Do I look like I’m bluffing?” I gave him a serious look.  He jerked into action immediately, ordering everyone to line up in the room next door except for Henri.  Apparently, just because Henri is his son is a good enough reason to not interrogate him.  My plan was working perfectly.

“Henri, watch her!” Rald barked as he ushered everyone into the room next door.  He slammed the door shut on his way out.  I let out a sigh of relief.

“That was stupid,” Henri said quietly.

“I know,” I answered.

“He’s going to know you were bluffing and you’re going to pay for it.  I won’t be able to stop him.”

“Do you want to?” I asked cautiously.

“I hate this… all of this.  I don’t want to be a part of it.  I want to be a journalist.  I want to travel the world and write and take pictures.  I don’t want to interrogate innocent people… although I have a feeling you’re not completely innocent.”

“I have a lot of skeletons in my closet, but I’m not going to say what they are.”

He was silent for a few minutes as we listened to Rald shouting next door.  Henri, who had been leaning against the wall facing me, pushed himself off of it and kneeled in front of me. “Were you serious about the people looking for you?”

“Dead serious,” I answered. “Henri, you and I both know that unless I have help, I’m not going to be alive much longer.”

“I know…” he admitted solemnly, looking down.

“Help me,” I whispered.  His eyes whipped up to look at me.

“What?” He hissed in shock.

“Help me.  If I’m found, they’re going to arrest you, no matter what you did.  Even if you do nothing to me, they will still arrest you for being associated with your father and his troops; I can get you leniency.  I wasn’t kidding when I said I have clearance as high as the President’s.  People listen to me.  I can vouch for your innocence, but only if you help me.”

I realized I was pleading.  I hadn’t planned on doing that.

“What do you need me to do?” Henri questioned, completely shocking me.

“Is there any way you can send a message to President Harling?  It can be encrypted.  We have a super-genius code-breaker.  He’s Belkan so he could figure it out.”

“I can find a way.  It might take a few days but I can do it.  What do you want me to put in it?”

“Put in that ‘Blaze is alive’, that you’re helping me, that Rald’s alive, and where we are.  They will figure it out from there.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Henri… if your father finds out, he’ll kill you,” I said quietly.

“I know, but I’d rather be dead than helping him.  I want my revenge.”

“For what?”

Henri looked murderous. “He murdered my mother.”

My mouth dropped open from the shock of the statement. “Oh Henri…” I breathed. “Wh-what happened?”

“I witnessed the whole thing… he threatened me saying that if I told the truth, he’d kill me too, so I’ve been biding my time, waiting for the perfect chance to get my revenge.  Now you have given me that opportunity; I would love nothing more than to see my father defeated.  I will never be able to repay you,” Henri whispered.  His eyes had started out solemn, changed to angry, and were now soft and thankful.  His mood changes vaguely reminded me of… well, me.

“Henri… whether I make it out alive or not, make sure Henry, the guy downstairs, make sure he gets out.  Make sure he lives, okay?” I ordered.

“Promise.  Hey, why do you want me to put Blaze in-”

Henri stopped short and I realized the shouting had stopped and footsteps were rapidly approaching the door.  He shot away from me and barely managed to resume his earlier position before the door slammed open.  Someone whacked me violently on the head, making me involuntarily gasp.

“You evil little twit!” Rald spat, grabbing my neck and forcing me to look up at him.  I mustered a grin.

“I can’t believe you fell for that.  You’re not as bright as people claim you to be.  How did you ever take control over Belka?” I inquired drolly.  His grip tightened on my neck; I was having difficulty breathing now.

“Why did you lie to me?” He barked.

“Take a breath mint,” I retorted in a strained voice (from lack of air), “then I might answer.”

Rald growled, released my neck, and stormed over to someone behind me.  I knew what was coming.

Sure enough, someone once again hit me upside the head.  However, this time, it was much more powerful and it knocked me almost unconscious.  Aiming to get back downstairs, I pretended to black out.  Luck was on my side as I heard Rald yell act Viktor for knocking me out and then ordering Henri to carry me downstairs.  Someone untied me and gently lifted me up.  My head was pounding with each footstep Henri took, resonating loudly in my head about a hundred times.

I was plunged into darkness and I knew we were in the basement.  It didn’t take long for me to be placed gingerly on my bed and for me to hear the door being shut.

“Elizabeth?!” Henry’s worried voice questioned.  I groaned in response. “Elizabeth!  Please answer me!”

“Hi Henry,” I said quietly.

“What happened?”

“Pissed them off more than usual,” I replied, feeling groggily for the wall to my right so I could prop myself up against it.

“What did you do?”

“Told them there was someone on the inside helping me and so Rald interrogated his men, wasting precious time interrogating me.  When he figured out I had lied, he got physical.  If they want information, they should stop hitting me on the head.  I don’t have the brain cells to spare,” I joked, or at least attempted to. “Oh, and then he tried to choke me.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, but I’m fine.”

“I don’t think you are,” Henry said cautiously.

“Why?”

“You sound… dazed.”

“Henry.  I was just knocked upside the head violently.  I might be hard-headed but I’m not Iron Woman.”

He laughed a little. “Get some sleep.  You’re gonna need it.”

“Night, Henry.”

I actually didn’t go to sleep.  I was too preoccupied with the fact that I had Henri Rald helping me escape this hell hole.  It seemed too good to be true.  It probably was.

My mind started racing to what I was hoping my friends would use to help them find me.  I now realize I should’ve told you this sooner because it’s pretty important but recently, Geller, along with other top officials, created a small microchip that could be implanted for a certain period of time into a person’s body and then they could be tracked wherever they went.  When coming up with a name, I had offered the codename of Kirk, which was Chopper’s (now Pops’) dog, so in case of emergency and one of us was curious if it was being used in a certain predicament, we could ask if Kirk was involved in anything recently or something like that and no one would know what we were talking about; if they asked, we could just say we were talking about a dog named Kirk that was in training to be a rescue dog.

Finally, exhaustion took over and I fell into a fitful sleep.  I would wake up periodically, eat whatever they gave me which consisted of the same old stale bread, watered down soup, and water with a drug that made me sleepy, and then go back to sleep.  I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, whether it had only been hours, days, possibly weeks, but when I woke up for about the tenth time, I heard Henry conversing with someone.

“-concussion possibly.  They hit her pretty well,” Henry’s voice said quietly.

“They’re hitting her?” A strangely familiar voice demanded furiously. “I’m going to kill those sons of bitches.”

“Do you know Elizabeth?” Henry queried.

“I’m her uncle’s buddy.”

That’s when the voice registered in my head.  I shot up into sitting position and nearly shouted, “Pixy?!”

____________________________________________________

Genette

We (me, Harling, the Razgriz, Cassie, Pops, Andersen, Geller, Pixy, Cipher, Bartlett, and Nastasya) had been arguing for about five hours now, discussing possibilities on where Blaze could be and who was holding her prisoner.  We all figured it had to be a Belkan.  It was the only solution that made sense, so we were looking for suspicious activity going on in Belka.  Nothing new hit our radar.  All of us were going absolutely crazy not knowing where Blaze was or if she was even alive.  The prospect that she might not be alive petrified me.  I didn’t want to lose my sister.

Cipher was arguing that we needed to get the full military involved to find her when a security guard came in, looking cautiously curious.

“Sir, there’s a message for you.  I don’t know what to make of it,” the guard said.  Harling stood up and took the message.  When he looked down at it, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

“This is just gibberish,” he said.

“May I see it, sir?” Geller requested.  Harling handed it to him and Geller studied it carefully.  I stood next to him and looked at it, my mind wondering what the hell it was.  The message read:

NCHZQ BD XQLQ. B HT XQCYBIR XQL RQP PXBD TQDDHRQ PE MEF. LHCS BD HCBKQ HIS BD XECSBIR XQL HIS HIEPXQL THI BI XEFDQ XBSSQI BI TEFIPHBID EV HIVHIR. XBSSQI NM PLQQD NFL XHD XQCBOE YPQL CHISBIR YHS HNEFP TBCQ HGHM. RQP XQLQ HDHY. NCHZQ SEQD IEP XHKQ CEIR. DXQ BD DPHCCBIR HIS BD LFIIBIR EFP EV PBTQ.

My mind hurt trying to make sense of the aptly called gibberish when suddenly, Geller snapped his fingers. “It’s a cryptogram!  Someone is trying to reach us but they don’t want to be caught.”

“You don’t think it’s Blaze… do you?” I queried, not wanting to believe we could be this lucky.

“I don’t know, but there’s one way to find out,” Geller said.  He grabbed a sheet of notepaper and a pencil and began scribbling furiously. “This is hard.  It’s a long one.”

I studied it and recognized endings of ‘BIR’ a lot.  I went through my head of endings that had three letters in them and the only one I could think of was ‘–ing.’

“Try putting ‘–ing’ wherever you see BIR at the end of a word.  It’s repeated a lot.  Just try it,” I told Geller.  He listened and the cryptogram looked like:

NCHZQ BD XQLQ. B HT XQCYing XQL RQP PXBD TQDDHRQ PE MEF. LHCS BD HCBKQ HIS BD XECSing XQL HIS HIEPXQL THI BI XEFDQ XBSSQI BI TEFIPHBID EV HIVHIR. XBSSQI NM PLQQD NFP XHD XQCBOE YPQL CHISing YHS HNEFP TBCQ HGHM. RQP XQLQ HDHY. NCHZQ SEQD IEP XHKQ CEIR. DXQ BD DPHCCing HIS BD LFIIing EFP EV PBTQ.

“Well if BIR is equal to ‘ –ing,’ then ‘B’ is ‘i,’ ‘I’ is ‘n,’ and ‘R’ is ‘g.’  Right?” Nagase rationalized.  Geller agreed and went through the entire cryptogram, changing the letters.  It then read:

NCHZQ iD XQLQ. i HT XQCYing XQL gQP PXiD TQDDHgQ PE MEF. LHCS iD HCiKQ HnS iD XECSing XQL HnS HnEPXQL THn in XEFDQ XiSSQn in TEFnPHinD EV HnVHng. XiSSQn NM PLQQD NFP XHD XQCiOE YPQL CHnSing YHS HNEFP TiCQ HGHM. gQP XQLQ HDHY. NCHZQ SEQD nEP XHKQ CEng. DXQ iD DPHCCing HnS iD LFnning EFP EV PiTQ.

We were slowly making headway.

“I want all of you to go get some sleep,” Geller said. “I’ll have it figured out by the time you wake up and if I figure it out sooner, I’ll come get you, I promise.”

“I’m not leaving, not when we finally have a lead on Blaze,” I declared heatedly.

“Genette, listen to me, I know you want to help your sister but you’re not helping her by not taking care of yourself.  Get some sleep.”

I tried to argue but I knew he was right, so I reluctantly headed off to my room.

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Geller

I was happy to see Genette finally going off to get some sleep.  He needed it badly.  I settled back down into figuring out the cryptogram.  I hated these things; I don’t know why, but I had never liked cryptograms. Looking at the message, I looked for the three letter words because those would be easier to figure out.  The first one that I saw that had zoned in on was ‘gQP.’  The only two words that start with ‘g’ that I knew of were ‘get’ and ‘got,’ and I assumed immediately that the person was using proper grammar and so I decided to go with ‘get,’ which meant ‘Q’ was ‘e’ and ‘P’ was ‘t.’  I was finally making some more headway.  The new message read:

NCHZe iD XeLe. i HT XeCYing XeL get tXiD TeDDHge tE MEF. LHCS iD HCiKe HnS iD XECSing XeL HnS HnEtXeL THn in XEFDe XiSSen in TEFntHinD EV HnVHng. XiSSen NM tLeeD NFt XHD XeCiOEYteL CHnSing YHS HNEFt TiCe HGHM. get XeLe HDHY. NCHZe SEeD nEt XHKe CEng. DXe iD DtHCCing HnS iD LFnning EFt EV tiTe.

I looked at the repeating word ‘iD.’  There were a few two lettered words that started with ‘i’ that I could think of so I ignored it.  I move onto the three letter word ‘HnS.’ The only three letter word I could think of was ‘and.’  I rewrote the message again. ‘H’ would be ‘a’ and ‘S’ would be ‘d.’

NCaZe iD XeLe. i aT XeCYing XeL get tXiD TeDDage tE MEF. LaCd iD aCiKe and iD XECding XeL and anEtXeL Tan in XEFDe XiSSen in TEFntainD EV anVang. XiSSen NM tLeeD NFt XaD XeCiOEYteL Canding Yad aNEFt TiCe aGaM. get XeLe aDaY. NCaZe dEeD nEt XaKe CEng. DXe iD DtaCCing and iD LFnning EFt EV tiTe.

Now, because I had a lot of vowels, I could almost positively tell myself that ‘D’ meant ‘s.’ If I was wrong, I would have to change it and that would be a pain but if this message did pertain to Blaze, I would not stop working.

NCaZe is XeLe. i aT XeCYing XeL get tXis Tessage tE MEF. LaCd is aCiKe and is XECding XeL and anEtXeL Tan in XEFse XiSSen in TEFntains EV anVang. XiSSen NM tLees NFt Xas XeCiOEYteL Canding Yad aNEFt TiCe aGaM. get XeLe asaY. NCaZe dEes nEt XaKe CEng. sXe is staCCing and is LFnning EFt EV tiTe.

After the new addition of the letter ‘s,’ the message started to give me a more ominous air.  This was not going to be bearing much good news.  I needed to work faster.  My eyes narrowed in on the word ‘tE.’  ‘To’ was the only word that could fit so ‘E’ was ‘o’.  I started getting excited.  I was blazing through this message.  The new message read:

NCaZe is XeLe. i aT XeCYing XeL get tXis Tessage to MoF. LaCd is aCiKe and is XoCding XeL and anotXeL Tan in XoFse XiSSen in ToFntains oV anVang. XiSSen NM tLees NFt Xas XeCiOoYteL Canding Yad aNoFt TiCe aGaM. get XeLe asaY. NCaZe does not XaKe Cong. sXe is staCCing and is LFnning oFt oV tiTe.

From there, I could easily decipher certain words.  I figured out that ‘V’ was ‘f,’ ‘F’ was ‘u,’ and ‘X’ was ‘h.’ I finally transcribed it to:

NCaZe is heLe. i aT heCYing heL get this Tessage to Mou. LaCd is aCiKe and is hoCding heL and anotheL Tan in house hiSSen in Tountains of anfang. hiSSen NM tLees Nut has heCiOoYteL Canding Yad aNout TiCe aGaM. get heLe asaY. NCaZe does not haKe Cong. she is staCCing and is Lunning out of tiTe.

Now I had nearly no trouble translating some of the words since they were almost self-explanatory.  I figured out ‘L’ meant ‘r,’ ‘T’ meant ‘m,’ and ‘C’ meant ‘l.’

NlaZe is here. i am helYing her get this message to Mou. rald is aliKe and is holding her and another man in house hiSSen in mountains of anfang. hiSSen NM trees Nut has heliOoYter landing Yad aNout Tile aGaM. get here asaY. NlaZe does not haKe long. she is stalling and is running out of time. 

At that point, I understood almost the whole message after I presumed that ‘S’ meant ‘d’ and ‘N’ meant ‘b’ and ‘Z’ meant ‘z’ and ‘K’ meant ‘v’ and ‘Y’ meant ‘p.’  Now my heart was pounding as what I knew would be my final transcription before knowing what the full message meant.

blaze is here. i am helping her get this message to you. rald is alive and is holding her and another man in house hidden in mountains of anfang. hidden bM trees but has heliOopter landing pad about Tile aGay. get here asap. blaze does not have long. she is stalling and is running out of time.

And then I figured out the whole thing.

____________________________________________________

Genette 

“Genette!  Wake up!  Get up!” Someone shouted. “I figured it out!”

When I didn’t get up, the person gruffly shook me until my eyes opened. “What?” I snapped.

“I know where Blaze is!” Geller yelled ecstatically!  That woke me up.  I think I might have teleported to the door I was up so quickly. I ran to the discussion room and nearly tripped over nothingness from excitement.

“What does it say?!” I demanded.  Everyone else was already there and they looked happy and grim at the same time.  Cipher, who had been holding the note, handed it to me and I read it:

Blaze is here. I am helping her get this message to you. Rald is alive and is holding her and another man in house hidden in mountains of Anfang.  Hidden by trees but has helicopter landing pad about mile away.  Get here ASAP.  Blaze does not have long. She is stalling and is running out of time.

My jaw clenched as I finished reading.  Now I understood the mixed emotions on my friends’ faces.  We knew where Blaze was but she was in grave danger.

“Damn it!” I shouted in aggravation, throwing the note on the table. “Well, what are we waiting for?!  Let’s go get her!”

“Do you have a plan?” Geller inquired.

“Go in and kick some Belkan ass!  Specifically Rald’s,” I retorted.

“Listen, we have a plan already.  Pixy is going to Anfang because he is certain that the Belkans want him as well.  When he’s captured, we’re going to track him down and send in a battalion of three hundred soldiers to get Blaze, Pixy, and the other man they’re holding.”

“And I’m going?” I asked.

“No, you’re staying here,” Harling said.

“What?!” I yelled.

“You need to stay here, for your safety,” Harling explained. “However, Geller is going to be a part of the battalion so that if anything is needed to be translated from Belkan to English, he can do it.”

“So I have to wait here?”

“Yes.”

“How the hell are we going to track Pix- oh,” I said, as it dawned on me what we were going to use.

____________________________________________________

Blaze

“Elizabeth! You’re awake.  Finally,” Pixy said, relief evident in his voice.

“Yeah.  What the hell are you doing here?  How did those bloody Belkans get you?”

“Long story…” he muttered.

“Well, we have a while, believe me,” I pointed out.

“Elizabeth, I’m surprised you don’t want to know about Kirk,” Pixy mused, and that’s when I realized why he didn’t want to talk about his story.  The whole thing was a setup for me, Henry, and Pixy to get rescued.  I grinned.

“How is he?” I prodded anxiously.

“Great.  He’s coming along at an amazing pace!”

“Who’s Kirk?” Henry asked.

“He’s my mentor’s dog.  He’s in training to become a rescue dog,” I informed; it was the truth, but not the one that we were actually talking about if that makes sense. “I just love that dog to death.”

“Ooh, okay.  What type of dog is he?”

“Black Labrador.  He’s the sweetest dog in the world,” I said wistfully.  I looked to the direction I thought Pixy’s voice was coming from. “Is he working right now?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.  How long?”

“Uh, twelve hours max I think.”

“Good.”

We fell silent and I heard Henry’s soft snoring.

“Pixy?” I said softly.

“Hmm?”

“I didn’t want to say this with Henry awake but I don’t think I have twelve hours left…”

“Don’t say that,” he chided sharply. “What made you say that?”

“I don’t know… I feel like the Belkans have something planned.”

“We’re going to be rescued soon, I promise.”

“They just need to come in time,” I said. “Night, Pixy.”

____________________________________________________

Pixy

I listened as Blaze’s breathing slowed down.  I knew she was asleep now.  I was worried.  How come she felt like she didn’t have much time left?  Everyone had told me Blaze had a wicked intuition… I hoped to god this was a false alarm of her intuition but mine told me it wasn’t.  I was scared, not for myself, but for Blaze.  I wondered how close we were to being rescued.

Knowing there was no possible way to figure it out, I reluctantly shut my eyes.

I woke up to a scream.

“Get off!  No!  Damn it!” Blaze screamed.  There was a lot of thrashing sounds coming from my right and I heard a grunt of pain and another violent sounding smack.

“Elizabeth?!” Henry shouted frantically.

“LET ME GO!” Blaze snapped.

“Elizabeth!  What’s going on?!” I demanded worriedly.

“Pixy!” her cry was far away and I figured she was on the stairs now. “It’s happ-”

She was cut off by the slamming of a door.  I could still hear her screaming though; it was soft but easily heard.

“Damn it!” Henry shouted in frustration, his fists connecting with what I assumed was the door.  I was already out of my bed and attempting to find the door.  I wasn’t going to let them get her.  I couldn’t let them.  My hand felt the handle for the door and I pulled.  As I expected, nothing happened.  I decided to forget pushing and pulling and use brute force.  I kicked it.  All I made was a dull thud sound.  Henry was slamming something into his door.

“Hang on!” I ordered.  Henry stopped banging the door with whatever and I realized Blaze had stopped screaming.  I strained to hear anything but it was to no avail.

“Is she going to be okay?” Henry questioned, sounding anxious.

I lied, “She’ll be fine.  This is Elizabeth.  She’s tough.”

But I knew Blaze had been right.  She wasn’t going to last much longer.

____________________________________________________

Blaze

I sighed huffily as Ginger and Otto tied me painfully tight to the chair.

“What’s with the theatrics in waking me up?” I asked blandly.

Rald only smirked and motioned with his finger for someone to come forward.  A girl came into my vision and I barely contained my surprise.

In a disgusted tone, I said, “Bailey?  Bailey Cohen?”

____________________________________________________

And the witch is back.  I don’t like Bailey.  Hope you enjoyed the story. REVIEW! :)