# Skyfall Chapter 26

Author: Abyssa
Tags: Anthro, SkyFall, Wolf

26

"Tomorrow night." Kato sighed, staring up at the ceiling.
I leaned back in the chair
beside his bed.  It
was late afternoon, and Kato seemed to be well rested. The nurse ordered him to
stay until dinner time so that they could monitor him, and I decided to stay
with him. We had been casually chatting for a while, until the subject of the
eclipse came up. Now, we both sat in nervous silence, wondering if our fate had
already been sealed by the events that had passed today. 
"Do you think Misha could
actually be feeling bad for what he's done?" I finally asked.
Kato's eyes glanced over to
mine, but his face remained pointed towards the ceiling. "I don't know." He
sighed, looking back up at the ceiling. "He wasn't always like this. I've since
forced myself to forget about who he once was, or who I thought he was."
"Who did you think he was?" I
whispered, leaning closer.
Kato squeezed his eyes shut and
pressed his head back into his pillow, sinking down in the bed a bit. 
"I'm sorry." I mumbled, feeling
guilty. "You don't have to talk about it."
"I should talk about it." Kato
replied, adjusting in the bed and sitting up slightly. "I never have before."
He let out a heavy sigh before continuing. "But I think it's time to revisit
those thoughts."
"When I was in the basement, I was tormented
by Reck and another scientist, whose name I can't recall anymore. I was a
powerful, young phoenix, and they needed Reck to control my telepathic powers.
I killed a few scientists within the first week I was there, but soon they had
subdued me enough, and I no longer posed a threat." 
I listened to Kato's story,
trying to not become angry or emotional. 
"They forced me to take a human
form." He sighed, staring at his hands. "Misha was actually the one who taught
me to communicate. He taught me to speak, and he would also let me back into my
phoenix form sometimes. He was the only one who showed me any sort of
compassion.
"After a while, I was moved to a
cage that was too small for me to transform in. Misha would still cut back on
the dose of toxin that kept me from transforming, which allowed me to keep a
pretty high level of magic energy within me. After a while, I guess I sort of
fell for him. He defended me many times, and if it weren't for him, I would
have probably stayed in the basement." Kato let out a heavy sigh as he tried to
remain calm. "I made the first move. Sometimes I wonder if I started all of this...it
wasn't long after me that he went insane."
I opened my mouth to try and
assure Kato that it wasn't his fault, but he continued speaking. 
"I ended up killing the head
scientist in charge of me. I used fire magic, and burned him from the inside
out. Misha tried to take the blame for what had happened, but Hale didn't
listen. I was punished, and I would have allowed myself to die..." Kato paused,
his voice strained. "But then Misha convinced Hale to let me out. And not only
that, but Misha convinced Hale to let me keep my ability to use magic. I don't
know how he did it, but he did."
I stared at Kato in disbelief.
It actually seemed like Misha fought for Kato's life...Misha really had cared.
"Of course, you know the rest of
the story." Kato said. "We were together for a while, until I was drugged to
the point that I was completely human." He paused and stared at me with dull
eyes. "I guess it makes sense now...why I was never enough for him once I was
human. Who knows, maybe he really did care about me." 
My ears fell as I watched Kato
realize exactly what happened. 
"I guess I should have known."
He said with a humorless laugh. "It's amazing how someone can remain in denial
for so long." 
"It wasn't your fault." I said.
"I don't even think Misha knew why you weren't enough for him." 
"Being in denial doesn't justify
anything." Kato said apathetically. "I'm kidding myself. Misha didn't care
about me. All he wanted was to get high from my potent, phoenix energy." He
continued. "Besides that, Misha could have resisted his urges. If he cared he
wouldn't have done what he did." Kato snapped, his eyes burning with rage. "He
didn't need to rape his experiments to survive."
"He became addicted to the power
he gained from it, and I watched him become worse and worse. I watched him turn
into what he is now, and yet I find myself wondering if the Misha I fell for
was just a lie."
I shivered and swallowed hard, nodding
slowly. 
"I'm sorry." Kato said, sending
me a sad look.
"It's fine. I find myself
thinking the same thing quite often." I paused to take a shaky breath. "I think
Hale has something to do with him acting so kindly to us. I don't believe Misha
could suddenly change this drastically."
With a nod, Kato sat up a bit
more. "Yeah." He said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Well, it's about
dinner time. Let's get out of here."
"What about tomorrow?" I
pressed. 
"The plan is get to Skyfall. We
can talk telepathically as things happen." Kato said. "I don't know how to plan
things until we know what's going to happen. I haven't even seen Caliber around
to ask him, and honestly I don't know much about the details."
Kato stood up and looked around for his clothes. He was naked except for
a pair of boxers. I let my eyes wander across his muscled body for just a
moment before I became anxious again. 
"The slithurm you killed." I
said, my ears pricking forward. "Do you think it was sent by someone? Someone
who's after Hale? Vladimir made it sound like something might be coming for
Hale on the night of the eclipse."
"It's possible. Slithurms are
often allied with Vladimir's brother...I don't know much about the politics
between the two, but I know that Vladimir's brother is the jealous type. I
think their relationship is quite strained. Perhaps he hates Hale."
"Hale mentioned something about
a war...Something about Vladimir's brother having a war coming that was
distracting the Goddesses, and that's why..." I stopped there, realizing Hale
didn't think the Goddess would be here to help me. Maybe he was right.
"Why what?" Kato asked, slipping
his pants back on. 
"Why Hale felt confident that
the Dark Goddess didn't care about me enough to save me. He thinks she'll be
distracted with the war."
"Don't worry about it." Kato
sighed. "It doesn't concern us. If something's coming for Hale, that'll just
help us. And you don't need the Goddess."
"Unless the slithurms attack
you, as well." I mumbled. "And I guess It'd just be nice to feel like the
Goddess was there for me."
"If you're so worried, why don't
you ask Misha for some extra antidote while he's pretending to be your buddy?"
Kato asked as he finished buttoning up his shirt. "I can't relate to ever having
the Goddess there for me, but if she has faith in you, clearly you can do it on
your own." He glanced up at me and winked. "But you won't even be alone, you've
got me."
I smiled at Kato, who was
smirking at me. 
"We'll be fine. At least, that's
what we have to tell ourselves." He sighed. "Now come on, I'm starving."
He slipped on his coat and shook
it into place with his hands. He seemed energized, ready to take on the world.
I followed him out of the room
somewhat hesitantly. The phoenix had a bounce to his step as he walked out of
the medical wing. I was surprised to see his mood brighten so quickly. My eyes
shifted to his wrist, and I caught a glimpse of the glowing marking that burned
into his flesh.I know you're excited... I mentally whispered to him. But you should act more subdued, or else
Misha might change his mind and drug you again.
Kato turned to me with a smile.
"I'm sorry." He laughed as he pulled his coat sleeve down his wrist. "It just
feels so great, being this alive."
My heart stung at the joy in his
voice. I couldn't ask him to be upset; he deserved to feel happy. But it
wouldn't be long until he could feel this way all the time. I sighed and
followed him into the dining hall. 
I looked around the large room,
feeling like I'd spent most of my conscious time here lately. 
"Would you like to go outside?"
I asked. "We can take food."
Kato glanced out towards the main entrance
and through the glass doors. The sun hadn't begun to fall yet, meaning we could
sit out on the lookout point and watch the sunset.
"I don't know..." Kato said slowly
as he thought. "It's pretty cold out."
I nodded. "Oh. Right...We better
keep you well rested."
Kato burst into a smile again.
"No way. Let's go outside." He said, dashing towards the food.
The life in Kato startled me. I
hadn't seen him act this way in so long...maybe even since Eldon, when he'd last become
the flaming bird. I stared at him as I realized the Kato I'd known was just a
restrained fragment of the phoenix. Any other happiness I saw in Kato seemed so
shallow compared to this genuine bliss.
Kato glanced back at me with a
questioning look, and when he realized I hadn't followed him, he grabbed a few
more pieces of food and shoved them onto an empty tray. He then ran back over
to me and handed it to me.
"Well, come on." He said, waving
his tray of food towards the exit.
I followed him out and carefully
looked around. "Are you sure it's a good idea?" I asked. "I mean, I'm happy to
go outside, but what about the slithurm problem?"
"The lookout point is TRIL's."
Kato assured me. "No slithurm would dare come so close. The boarder where I was
attacked is several miles away."
We stepped through the glass
doors, the icy air sending chills through my fur. I shivered as my paws touched
the sharp snow. After a few minutes, my body adjusted to the cold, and I
stopped shivering. I nervously watched Kato, who seemed to be keeping warm in
his jacket.
We walked up the familiar trail
to the lookout point. The only flowers that remained against the stark white
were deep, blue-violet. Of course. I
thought to myself. Of course the dark and
winter go hand in hand.
It was nice to be walking up
this trail with Kato again. The last time I trekked through snow, I had
discovered Misha at the plateau. This time, I was stomping through the thick
snow with Kato following eagerly in my footsteps. The experience was very
different and strangely exciting this time. Even the silence of the winter air
seemed better when I was in Kato's company. 
By the time we reached the
plateau, our food was ice cold. Kato used a blast of flames and wind to clear
the ice from the tree that snaked over the edge, and he gestured me to follow
him up. He jumped up with ease, balancing his food on his tray as he trot over
to the edge of the tree. I carefully clawed my way up the slick bark and met
him as he gazed down into the valley. 
He set his tray down and rubbed
his hands together for a moment, taking a few deep breaths. I sat down across
from him as he crouched down on the branch and began to warm his food with some
heat between his hands. Curious, I stared at him. He looked up at me after a
few moments and grinned. 
"What?" He asked. "Forget how to
use fire?"
"It's just cold out." I said,
rubbing my own hands together. "I haven't had as much practice as you."
I focused on the energy between
my palms and attempted to produce heat without igniting a flame, but failed.
The energy kept sparking, and the dissipating into steam in the frigid air. I
sighed as Kato laughed at me. 
"I'm tired." I said with a
smirk. 
"Aw come on. That's not the
Decipher I know."
I exhaled deeply and watched my
breath mist out in front of my face. I let the silence of the air calm my mind,
and then tried again. This time, there were barely any sparks, but I was only
able to barely send a wave of heat to my food before the energy ignited and
sent a wave of fire over it. 
"Forget it!" I laughed, picking
up the lukewarm meat. "Close enough."
"See?" Kato asked, picking at his own
food. "We can still have good times."
"I never said we couldn't." I
said, gnawing at the meat. 
"I know." He sighed. "But we
both need a reminder sometimes." His voice became a bit more serious as he
looked down at his food. "Just make sure you remember the good, no matter what
happens."
"Hey." I said. "Don't turn this
into one of those moments. We're going to make it.
Kato's eyes remained on his
food, and his face held a sad smile. "I know." He said softly, but his tone
worried me. I don't think he believed me. The moment felt all too familiar as I
remembered my few friends back home...who hadn't made it. 
I glanced down towards the white
valley, which was full of snow. The valley seemed to be shallow now in
comparison to the summer months, and I wondered just how deep the snow went. I
smiled at the thought of watching Kato fly into it, melting it away as he sank
to the bottom of the fluffy layers of white. I looked back up to Kato, who had
become quiet as he ate.
"Are you warm enough?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's much easier to stay
warm when I have my energy to help me." He said. "But I shouldn't exhaust
myself, you're right."
I looked at the sky. "We don't
have much longer until the sun sets behind Skyfall."
"Yeah. I want to see that." He
said, following my gaze. "I haven't been able to see a winter sunset yet this
season."
"Hey, Kato," I asked, keeping my eyes fixated
on the mountains, "why are the mountains called Skyfall?"
Kato leaned back against the
tree and put his hands into his pockets. "Only those who have seen the top of
the mountains truly understand why." He said, letting his eyes wander across
the edges of Skyfall. "The grave of the original spirits of the sky sit atop
the mountains. They say their spirits still roam there. The western peak is
home to the female spirit, and her mate rests atop the eastern peak. Many
people have travelled there for knowledge, to ask the great spirits for
guidance."
I remembered what Asodar had told me. Skyfall holds every answer you have ever
sought. I watched as the sun began to fall behind the peaks. After a few
moments, I turned to Kato. Maybe he and I would seek the answers of Skyfall
together.
The pure world around us was set
ablaze by the setting sun. The white snow trapped the colors of the light and
reflected them in ways that my eyes could hardly comprehend. I watched the warm
hues slowly turn to cold indigo as the sun vanished.
I looked back at Kato and
noticed he had moved closer to me. For a moment, I could see the silhouette of
the flaming bird dancing around him as he closed his eyes and took a deep
breath of the fresh air. He was sitting right next to me, eyes fixated on the
last of the light as he slowly opened them. For a moment, his eyes wandered to
mine, but he swiftly looked away. He was starting to shiver.
I carefully stood on the branch,
picking up my food tray as I gazed into the dark valley. It was so tempting to
just run now...to forget about Reck finding out...to just hope we could outrun
them...
"Come on." I sighed, gazing into
the now-black pit. "We should go inside before it gets too cold."
Kato shook in a rough shiver and
nodded. "Yeah. I'm already pretty cold." He said, shakily standing up. I
reached a hand out to help steady him.
He gripped my hand tightly, and
I carefully led him off the tree. He seemed hesitant to let go, I cringed and
had to pull away. We stepped into my earlier footprints and began our descent
back to the lab.
 We
stepped back into the warmth of the lab, and Kato was greeted by a guard. 
"Kato." He began, glancing at a
sheet of paper. "Come with me. The medical facility would like to do a physical
to ensure you are healing correctly."
Kato nodded and glanced at me.
"Well, I'll see you later then, Decipher." He said, handing me his tray. "Would
you mind putting this back in the dining hall for me?"
I took his tray and stared at
him helplessly. I had a bad feeling about this, but I didn't argue. I watched
him walk away with the guard before heading into the dining hall.
When I entered the dining hall,
I caught site of Caliber as he put his dishes away. I ran over to meet him.
"Caliber!" I shouted as I put my
trays down. "How have you been?"
He looked up at me with a
somewhat stunned expression. "I've been fine." He said.
"Can we talk?"
Caliber glanced around
nervously. "Sure." He sighed. "But not here. Your room?"
I nodded as we began to walk
towards my room. It felt like it'd been so long since I'd spent an entire night
there.
"How have you been?" Caliber
asked me, staring into me with his golden brown eyes.
"Fine." I lied out of habit, but
then noticed Caliber's skeptical expression. "Okay, not so fine." I admitted.
"But today has been better. Kato's been pretty happy, too."
"Kato?" Caliber asked as we
began to climb the stairs towards my room. "Decipher...you can't let your
happiness depend on others."
We passed the information desk,
and I thought about Caliber's words for a few moments. My ears fell.
"Oh." I shrugged. "I'm not
really...It's just nice that Kato's also happy."
"What do you want out of this
life, Decipher?" 
I opened my mouth, but stopped
myself from saying what I was thinking. I
just want Kato to be happy. I sighed. What was wrong with that?
"Do you want to leave this
place?" He asked as we walked down the hallway to my room.
I nodded. "Of course I do! It
just happened that Kato made me brave enough to try and escape." I whispered.
We stopped at my door, and Caliber stared at me with a probing look as I
unlocked it.
"Is it wrong that I just want Kato to be
happy?" I exclaimed. "I just care about him!"
"Not at all, Decipher." Caliber
said, keeping his eyes on mine. "But you can't let Kato be your only source of
happiness. That's a dangerous road."
I sighed as I opened the door
and walked inside my room, trying to ignore his statement. I was too exhausted
to think about it too hard. I flipped on the light switch for the first time in
ages and sat down on the couch. The dim lamps flickered on after a few moments
and illuminated the room just enough.
"What's going to happen
tomorrow?" I asked Caliber, who was standing by the window, gazing out into the
dark sky.
After a few moments, he turned
to me with a sad expression. "Hale has big plans for you, unfortunately. It's
going to be tricky getting out." 
"Kato was attacked by a sliturm.
Do you think something will come for Hale?"
"Probably." Caliber sighed. "But
that's not the best news for you two. Kato is especially vulnerable."
"I know." I cringed, rubbing my head in frustration. "I'm hoping Misha
will make me some extra antidote while he's pretending to love me."
"You think he's pretending?"
The question took me off guard.
I stared at Caliber for a few moments as he turned back towards the sky. "I
don't trust him, if that's what you mean."
"You shouldn't trust him."
Caliber said, watching the stars. "But believe me, Decipher, he does love you.
He's never tried so hard before."
"Don't tell me that." I groaned. "It's
hard enough convincing myself I'm going to kill him."
Caliber turned around completely
to face me, and sat down beside me on the couch. "Kill him?" He asked, shocked.
"That's a pretty serious decision, Decipher."
"Doesn't he deserve to die?" I
asked, somewhat irritated. "The Goddess herself told me not to pity him!"
"It's not my place to say
whether or not he deserves to die." Caliber let out a slow breath. "But it
doesn't matter what I think. I've killed people who were far more innocent,
just for TRIL's benefit. Just make sure that's what you really want to do. You
have to live with your decision for the rest of your life." 
Confused, I sighed and stared
out the windows. I had no idea what the Goddess expected of me, but I was
growing tired of jumping through hoops for her. I needed to stick with my
decision. 
"Is there any helpful advice you
can give me for tomorrow?" I asked after a few moments, still staring at the starry
skies.
"Yes, actually." He sighed
again. "There are a few windows of opportunity. The eclipse should happen a few
hours after dinner. Hale will probably bring you to an alter that will be set
up in the courtyard if he intends to sacrifice you," he sighed, "which is the
rumor going around."
"Do you know anything about that
sacrifice?" I asked hopefully.
"Not really." Caliber let out a
heavy sigh. "But I do know that Hale will be weak, and vulnerable. It's Reck
you want to watch out for. He's the one in charge of keeping us employees in
check." 
"How can I fight him?"
Caliber's eyes shot towards me,
as if he was surprised by the question. "That's not a wise thing to do,
Decipher. Avoiding him is your best strategy." He said, keeping his wide eyes
on me. "Unless you want to go insane."
I leaned back on the couch and
stared hopelessly towards the stars. "Well, what can I do?" I sighed. "What are
those windows of opportunity you spoke of?"
Caliber leaned forward and
followed my gaze towards the stars. "Before Hale drags you out into the
courtyard, he will probably try and drug you. I'm assuming he'll have Misha
administer the drugs...if this is the case, you have the chance of convincing
Misha to help you escape." He said, looking back at me. "And if you can't
convince Misha, your other option is to fight the drug. I know you have the
capability to do so...it just might be difficult." 
"Wait." I said, furrowing my
brows. "Hale said something about me fighting him during the eclipse...or
fighting back, at least. What do you think he meant by that?"
"I couldn't say." Caliber
shrugged. "But he might just be trying to fuck with your head. Be smart about
this, and you'll be able to get out. Hale will only try so hard to keep you
here. As long as you can run far enough, he won't bother looking for you." 
"Why not?" I asked, somewhat
surprised. 
"Hale seems to have gotten what
he wants from you, especially since he's planning on sacrificing you. If he
misses the eclipse, you are no longer useful to him." Caliber shrugged. "From what
I've seen, he's not really one to seek revenge. It's just not worth it for him.
The worst he'll do is probably issue a bounty on you, but that should be easy
enough to take care of once you're out. Honestly, I think Hale has a lot of
respect for those that can escape him. I don't know what goes on in his head,
but I think if you win the game, he respects that outcome."
I nodded and stared off into
space. That was...somewhat comforting. At least I didn't have to worry about
living in hiding forever.
Caliber stood, shaking me from
my thoughts. "Well, I should go. My break's almost over." He turned his back to
me as he looked out the windows one last time. "Goodbye, Decipher." He said.
"It was nice." 
I stood next to him, and walked
with him to the door. "Thanks for everything, Caliber." I whispered, trying to
deny that this was our farewell. "I hope to see you again someday."
"Doubtful." He said with a hint
of a laugh. "You'll make it out." 
He didn't look back at me as he
disappeared into the dark hallway.

Source: https://sofurry.com/view/608177

Previous: https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/603951-skyfall-chapter-25.md
Next: https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/611016-skyfall-chapter-27.md