Nina and Adrienne walked arm in arm afterwards. There were a few things going through Adrienne’s mind now. He actually felt guilty knowing that she loved him and yet he was keeping a very big secret from her. He wanted to tell her, needed to tell her, but then if his father found out that he had he would surely make it so that he wouldn’t be able to see Nina again. That was the last thing he wanted but that still brought him back to the fact that he was keeping secrets from her.
Adrienne had finally made up his mind to actually tell her but he wouldn’t get the chance. A man in a dark cloak stepped out of an alleyway in front of them, blocking their path. “I’m sorry but you’re going to have to come with me young lady,” he said as he stepped towards them.
When he made a move to grab Nina she pulled away from Adrienne and side stepped away from the man. “Hey!” she yelled. “Who the heck are you? What do you want with me?” Nina took a stance ready to fight if need be.
Without thinking, Adrienne lunged forward and grabbed the cloaked man trying to keep a hold of him. The cloaked man threw him off easily though, sending him flying backwards into the stone building behind him. When he hit, he practically crumpled to the ground in a heap, out cold.
“Stupid boy,” the man muttered as he turned his attention back to Nina. “Now, please don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be. I have instructions to bring you back unharmed and if I don’t follow that I don’t get paid.”
He had really begun to piss her off and her face clearly showed it. “And what the hell makes you think I’m going to just go with you especially after you hurt Adrienne? You’re out of your god damned mind if you think I’m going to do ANYTHING you ask!” Nina rushed forward, the look of anger in her eyes much like the one her father had anytime someone made him this angry and especially when someone close to him had been hurt or threatened. The look in her crimson gold eyes was both cold and piercing but fiery and passionate at the same time. She came at him fisted clenched and ready to beat this guy into a bloody pulp for what he’d done to Adrienne.
The cloaked man defended her attack and tried to grab a hold of her again. Nina pulled free and kneed him square and clean in the midsection causing him to double over. Seeing the opening, Nina went to kick him in the side but as she did he recovered and grabbed her leg using it to throw her to the ground. The fall was enough to knock the wind out of her and keep her from moving for a moment. The cloaked man took his opportunity and sat on top of her holding her hands down against the sidewalk.
“Look, would you quit struggling and fighting and just come quietly? I swear, if I’d known you were going to fight this much and give me so much trouble I wouldn’t have taken this job.”
Nina looked up at him still struggling. “Job? Who do you work for?”
“You’re in no position to be asking questions young lady, besides, give it up and come with me and you’ll find out…”
“No way,” she said angrily before spitting in his face. It surprised him enough that he loosened his grip on her giving her an opportunity to finally break free and throw him off. Nina quickly got to her feet and made to attack him again but before she could the cloaked man had wiped his face and lunged forward knocking her back to the ground. He was angry now and it seemed like he no longer cared if he hurt her or not as he increased his hold on her. She could barely see them in the shadow of his hood but from what she could see his eyes also looked as angry as his grip felt.
Nina struggled trying to get free. She knew that spitting at him wouldn’t work again and he was holding her in such a way as to not allow her the chance to knee him in the groin. What was she going to do? Nina started to panic. She clenched her eyes shut and prepared for the worst. It was almost as if she had given up. Just then, a bright light shown from her forehead and Nina felt a strange power flowing through her body. It was enough to blind the cloaked man and it freaked him out. He quickly got off of her and scooted as far back from her as he could before he was up against a wall.
Nina stood up as her body became covered in a brilliant light. She held her hands out palm side down and looked down at them as a transmutation circle appeared on both of them. What was happening to her? Her clothes changed to a black body suit with a crimson red bow on her chest. Her shoes changed to knee high, crimson boots. Around her neck appeared a silver chained necklace with a charm on it that appeared to be a small lantern. On her forehead a silver tiara with a crimson red jewel formed. Even the silver pocket watch in her pocket became a part of the outfit forming a chain belt that the watch hung from. The only thing of her original clothing that remained was her jacket, the one that her mother had given her though now the symbol of Flamel on the back was the same crimson red as her bow instead of the white that it had been.
Once the transformation was complete Nina stood there not sure what to do now. The cloaked man sat there clearly unnerved by what he’d just seen. “What the hell are you?” he said sounding scared. “What did you do?”
The light had been enough to make Adrienne wake up. He saw Nina standing there looking confused and dressed far differently than she had been before. The man in the cloak was cowering about an arm’s length away from him. Nina walked over to the cloaked man and clapped her hands together figuring if the circles were there she could activate them and putting her hands together just seemed the natural way to do it. When she did, the transmutation circles on her hands flashed a soft blue making her thankful to have been right. Putting her hands on the wall on either side of the cloaked man she used the stone to form a binding to hold him there until they could get the Military Police.
Neither of them would have to go looking for them though. A group of MPs came running up the street having been alerted by the commotion and the bright flash of light.
“What’s going on here?” one of them asked as they stopped in front of Nina, their guns drawn. “Miss Elric, are you alright?” he continued once he realized it was her standing there.
Nina let out a long sigh and nodded. “Yeah I’m fine. This idiot just tried to kidnap me and he attacked Adrienne and I.”
Finally able to stand, Adrienne got up and went over to Nina. The MPs only now noticed that he was there. “Are you Adrienne Rothstein?” one of them asked. Adrienne nodded. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, just a bump on the head. It’s nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix.”
The MP nodded and with that confirmed he went over to the cloaked man and removed his hood. Seeing the man’s face, Adrienne looked surprised.
“I recognize you, you’re one of the maintenance people from the Academy…” he said as the MPs started to secure their attacker.
Nina looked at him strangely. “What?”
“Yeah I’ve seen him around a few times when I was waiting for my father to finish up after his classes. I think his name is Kimball.”
Hearing him speak about the man, an MP came up to talk to them wanting to know everything they knew about the man. Nina had nothing to offer outside of the few bits he had mentioned during their fight. Adrienne on the other hand had far more to tell them. He said that he had never seen him during the day when cases were in session and that the only times he had run into him where when he was waiting outside of his father’s classroom. Adrienne expressed a concern that maybe his father might be in danger too. The MPs took note of everything and then asked Nina to release the man from the stone.
Before they took him away they asked if they wanted an escort the rest of the way back to the Academy. Nina thanked them for their concern but turned them down. When they tried to protest she pointed out how well they had been able to handle themselves until they had arrived. That had been enough to keep them from protesting more. Once they were gone, Nina and Adrienne walked to the fountain they had visited the first night they had gone out.
Nina sat at the edge of the fountain and looked down at her hands now that she had a chance to finally process what had happened. Adrienne sat down beside her.
“So what happened?” he asked looking over at her.
Nina kept her gaze on her hands trying to figure out exactly what the transmutation circles on her hands meant, what they were really supposed to be used for. She recognized a few things, there was definitely alchehestry symbols mixed into it but there were many more elements and runes in the circle that she didn’t know. If she had to venture a guess it was pretty ancient stuff since she had pretty much read every book on modern alchemy that was available to her. She couldn’t even begin to fathom the rest of what happened, her clothes, the necklace, none of it. What HAD happened?
“I don’t know, I just know that he had me pinned down and I couldn’t move, I started to panic and then there was this light and well there I was just as you see me now. I don’t understand why or where it came from. It just felt like something inside of me woke up when I felt the desperation thinking I might actually not be able to get out of the situation.” Nina sighed heavily. “I actually wish Mom or Dad was here, that might be able to explain it to me.”
Adrienne put his hand on her shoulder. “Well whatever it is or wherever it came from, it saved your life and mine I’d figure.”
Nina nodded. “Yeah, if it hadn’t ‘woken up’ when it did I’m sure he would have in the very least hurt me. I don’t know as he would have killed me though just because he said someone else wanted me. I need to know who that is too but I suppose one problem at a time and right now I think I need to figure this whole thing out so I’ll know how to use it if I need it. I think tomorrow after class I’ll head over to the Central Library and see if they have anything that will help me.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Adrienne asked.
“It’s up to you, I don’t know if they’ll let you into the sections I need though considering…” she said as she took the watch in her hand. “This is what’s going to get me into the sections I think I’m going to need.”
“That’s alright, I don’t mind if I have to hang around. Besides I… well…” Adrienne blushed a bit.
Nina smiled at him. “You’re worried about me aren’t you?”
He just nodded. She was exactly right, he didn’t want her anywhere alone if he could help it but he also wanted to be the one to protect her especially considering he hadn’t been able to earlier. He had to make that right. He didn’t like feeling so useless especially when he knew there was more he could have done but because of his secret he didn’t.
Nina put her hand to her chest to pretend to be a damsel in distress and tease him a little but when she did she was wrapped in the light again. Adrienne had to avert his eyes so as not to be blinded. When the light was gone, Nina was sitting there in her original outfit again. “Well that was weird… I was wondering how to get back to normal though. Oh well, I suppose we should probably keep my transforming our secret alright Adrienne?”
He nodded then he remembered that before this had happened he had intended to tell her his own secret. He actually felt better about telling her now that he held a secret of hers. “Um Nina, there’s one more thing I need to tell you before I take you home…”
Nina looked at him oddly. What else could there be?
“I’ll keep your secret if you promise to keep mine alright?” he said as he got up from the fountain’s edge and took a few steps back. He closed his eyes and from his back grew two snow white wings, the feathers shining in the moonlight. Nina’s jaw nearly dropped, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “I’m not normal, I’m a chimera, half bird, half man…” he said quietly standing there.
Getting up from the fountain’s edge, Nina walked over to him looking him over. Adrienne spread his wings out and when he did Nina ran her hand over one of them. “They’re so soft,” she said softly, still looking at them in amazement. The idea that he was a chimera should have scared her but it didn’t. But how is it possible that he could be a chimera? Creating them was illegal. “How did you… Who made you this way?”
Adrienne sighed. “Who do you think?”
Nina gasped realizing. “Your fath… I mean Dr. Rothstein did this?”
Adrienne nodded. “That’s right though he is still my father. I was the result of his early experiments into genetic and medicinal alchemy. He was looking for a way to help women who couldn’t have children because there were unavoidable genetic defects in the parents. He thought that maybe if he strengthened the genetic material with animal genes that he could help them have children. My Mom was actually the whole reason he started doing it. My mother was a very fragile woman and because of it her and my father had a lot of trouble having children. Every time my mother got pregnant she would lose the baby shortly after. Finally he figured it out and here I am but something went wrong not long after I was born and my mother got very sick. He thought it had something to do with the fact that she’d had the foreign genetic material in her system and as you know she died from the sickness. He never did figure out exactly why; well not as far as I know anyway.”
Nina looked at him standing there. Once again she found herself thinking he looked like an angel but this time he really was. He had the wings and all. She ran her hand over the other wing and it made Adrienne laugh a little.
“Hey, come on, that tickles,” he said pulling the wing away a bit. He then looked down at the ground, his expression turning sad. “I know I’m a freak and really shouldn’t exist so I won’t blame you if you want to leave now…”
Nina came back around so she could face him. Lifting his chin she gently made him look at her. “I admit this is a little strange but it doesn’t change who you are Adrienne. You’re still the same person you were an hour ago when I told you that I loved you so what makes you think that just because you told me you have wings that anything’s different?” she asked with a smile. “Besides, do you know how many girls wish their boyfriends were angels?”
Adrienne just laughed. “Well I’m not a real angel…”
Nina put her hand to his cheek gently, looking into his crystal blue eyes. “To me you are,” she said softly before tenderly giving him a kiss.
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