When I was younger I dreamed of a better future, 3001 was not that future. Earth had mostly become a wasteland; it was like time was going backwards. There were no flying cars or teleport belts or all that advanced technology. The people had become worried robots would control the human race, that's what me and my friends had tried to stop so many years ago. A psycho named Teckan has half robot, he wanted to control everything with his creations, the people never saw his threat and that's where everything went wrong. Wars over the smallest things broke out everywhere; most of the greatest countries were either overthrown or wiped out entirely; Russia and Canada were nothing more than bomb shells and rubble. Everyone assumed the world was going to end but wars continued, I would've thought the same thing as those people if I didn't know the truth. Countries were also becoming joining each other for more power, Austria-Hungary came back, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, and Italy joined, and China and Japan joined, even North and South Korea put their differences aside to become stronger as one. About 200 years ago our group split up, we all had to help the world and with our differences to normal humans, it wouldn't be too hard. Or so we thought…
The sound of a horn woke all of us up before the sun; I rubbed the tiredness away from my eyes then rubbed my back. These beds are as hard as rocks… I thought bitterly to myself. My secret was similar to the rest of my groups; I am a vampire/angel. The only people that knew my secret were dead, I didn't plan on anyone else finding out, or they might think I was a spy.
The general walked in and yelled, "Und adam! Der Feind wird, um weiterzukommen, wenn Sie jetzt nicht bewegen!" and walked out, sodiers getting up and getting ready.
"What did he say?" mumbled one of the American men.
"Roughly I got, 'Up and adam! The enemy is going to get ahead if you don't move now!' same general idea I suppose." I answered as I pulled on my dark green army pants.
The guy looked at me, "you're an American too aren't you? How do you know German?" He pulled on his pants and shirt.
"I studied all languages when I was younger, I enjoyed traveling." I didn't answer if I was American but he didn't seem to notice. I pulled over my shirt and put my long dark purple hair in a bun before putting my hat on. "Come on slowpoke! The general is going to be mad!" I was the first one out of the shelter.
"Okay alle, die Französisch nicht bis noch, bekommen alle die Flyer deine Flugzeuge startbereit für einen Angriff." The general yelled at the lined up men.
"He said, 'Okay everyone, the French aren't up yet, all the flyers get your planes ready for an attack.'." I translated for the few Americans. About five of the men ran to the planes and I followed them, I would never give up flying for anything. We all got in our planes and waited for the orders. The planes were different colors and designs for each fly-boy but they were an older fashion of planes.
The fly captain walked in front of the planes and called out, "Bomb ihrer Artillerie Schuppen und Flugzeuge. Lassen Sie keine Munition oder Ebenen unverletzt!" Then gave the signal to start the planes.
"He said, 'Bomb their artillery shed and planes. Leave no ammo or planes unharmed!'." I called back and started up my plane, a black bi-plane with red splatters and a purple crescent moon on both sides. "Let's go!" I called out and took off soaring high in the sky.
About ten planes followed, the five in the middle carried the bombs and the five around them all had mounted machine guns on the front. Captain Christoph Hoberkofen, a twenty year old German man led the planes towards the French's artillery field where all hell was about to break loose. The sun was barely rising, streaking the sky with pastel pinks and yellows, a few stars still dotted the sky.
Through the wispy clouds I could see the ground below, it looked like a green and brown quilt dotted with grey, I turned my attention back to the captain as he gave the signal; we were above the field. He gave the signal and the bombs dropped, explosions and fire erupted below us, what the bombs missed the machine gunners shot down. The bombs stopped falling and the explosions quieted down. All ten planes flew back towards the base where the General Willelm Schock was waiting for the report. Gun fire went off by me but not from one of our planes. "Zey knew vwe were coming!" one of the fly-boys yelled as five French planes came from the clouds.
"We have them out numbered! Shoot them down!" I yelled to the other ten planes. I turned my plane around and open fired on one of the French planes, it exploded and fell back to Earth in a ball of flame.
"Ouvrez le feu!" one of the older French men yelled.
"Feuer eröffnen!" Yelled Captain Hoberkofen.
"Open fire!" I translated for the Americans.
Everyone started shooting at their enemy; the French were dropping like flies on fire. The last flyer was a guy around my age with long red hair and a devilish lopsided grin. I signaled to the others that I had him, only eight of the ten flyers returned to base leaving me and the French flyer circling each other in the air. "I don't want to hurt you!" I called to him, hoping he understood English.
"What a pity!" he called back and started shooting at me.
I pulled my plane up into the clouds, I felt a burning pain in my shoulder and wing, I looked down at it, and there was a hole. The bastard had shot me! I growled to myself and flipped, shooting directly into his motor and it started on fire. The fire around the boy made me recognize him, "Riiku!" I moved my wing and winced, I had to save my friend anyway. I pulled off my jacket and unfolded my large dark purple and red wings then jumped from my plane. Riiku must have had the same idea because I saw him jump from his plane and hover with his dark red wings flapping to keep him there. I flew over to him and hugged him, breathing in his familiar scent of fire, smoke, and a hint of pine "Oh my god Riiku I can't believe it's you!" I held on to him, mostly because I was light headed.
"Kauna?" he hugged me back tightly, "I had no idea you were on the Germans side" he took a deep breath, "and you smell like blood."
"I don't know where anyone is anymore… I thought everyone was dead… and no thanks to you!" I laughed slightly and winced when my wing flapped.
Riiku tightened his grip on me, he had matures a lot in the past 200 years. "Hold on to me, I'll take you back to your base."
I tucked my wings in thankfully and held on to his army uniform as he held me without hurting my shoulder. "But what about you? You're walking right into a German camp and you're clearly on the French's side."
"It was a suicide mission anyway, no one expected to get back alive besides, I'm sure you'll cover for me right?" he started to fly back to the camp.
"Sure thing, I still owe you remember?" I closed my eyes and held onto him, felling safer than I had in a long time.
When I opened my eyes again I was in a small room with Riiku, my shirt was gone but bandages covered my chest and shoulder. "Where the hell am I…?" I sat up and looked at Riiku.
"You passed out before we got back, the general didn't notice that I wasn't one of his solders, he was too shocked by my wings and then when they were treating you they saw yours." He didn't look at me directly but I saw his red eyes look at my reflection in the one way window. "So they put both of us in here because they thought we were threats."
I looked down and held the blanket over my chest, "I have to get out of here… Riiku we can't keep fighting these pointless wars. You know who started this right?"
"Of course, Teckan is back, we need to get everyone together again and take him down."
"Do you know where anyone else is…?" I looked up a bit and he tossed me a button up shirt.
"No but what about Wolven? You two got married right?" Riiku sat on the edge of the bed again.
"Y-yeah…" I pulled on the shirt and touched my necklace where the crescent moon and my wedding ring hung. "He's dead… he got killed about 30 years ago on a mission."
"Oh…" he fell silent and watched my hand, "Greycloud got killed around 31 years ago… she was pregnant but she and the baby got killed." He tried to make the subject happier, "Cipher's dead."
"I had a kid…" I whispered then said louder, "Great then how are we going to kill Teckan without him?"
Riiku didn't seem to hear my whisper, "Cipher had three kids, and we just have to find them…" he looked around the beige room. "But first we have to get out of here." He stood up and looked at me, holding out his hand to me, "do you trust me?"
"With my life." I smiled and took his hand, like old times.
He pulled me against him and gave me his lopsided smile I loved, "hold on." I honestly had no idea what he was about to do, he wrapped his arms around me tightly and unfolded his red wings that had somehow ended up on fire. "The only way out is up." He grinned and hovered above the ground, shooting a fireball at the ceiling and flying out. I looked around; we had been in the middle of camp, being highly guarded.
The German soldiers started yelling at us, stuff I didn't want to translate; then out of the chaos I heard General Schock yell in a thick German accent, "Kauna! If ya don't come back you're the Germans enemy!"
I thought for a minute about his words then looked up at Riiku, "Let's finish the war and defeat Teckan."
Riiku smiled and nodded once, vanishing in a burst of fire just as the Germans started shooting at us.
When the fire died down I looked around, recognizing the thick bamboo forest. "Japan? Why here?"
"Remember when we went to Mythics High as 'teenagers'?" Riiku asked as he sat me down on my feet.
"Yeah, we almost destroyed the place." I shrugged, remembering our last battle with the half robot psycho.
"Well I've had connections to the headmaster and he's told me some things that might help us. Come on." He took my hand and pulled me towards the schools grounds.
I saw the grounds and some students wandering around; since it was about mid day I was guessing the day students had just finished lunch. "Who are we here for?" I asked as Riiku pulled me to the large, grey, castle-like high school.
"You'll know when you see him." Riiku said and looked around before moving down a cold hall, the walls lined with art and display cases.
I thought about the schools in the world being destroyed, why was this one still okay? The realization hit me as we saw a few mermaids swim under our feet, this school was for mythical beings, mortals couldn't see it and no mythic but my group was in the wars.
"Follow me." Riiku whisper broke through my thought as he walked into a mostly empty classroom. Two men sat by a chalk board that was loaded with chalk and some drawing instructions, both guys had black hair but one had blue eyes and the other had emerald green eyes.
"Soran?" I whispered, looking at the man with green eyes.
"Kauna! And Riiku too!" he smiled slightly then glared at the younger boy who he had been talking to. "What are you two doing here?" he asked, slowly looking at us.
"The war going on is Teckan's fault, we all need to get together again and stop him." Riiku explained to my twin.
My eyes never left the blue eyed boy; he looked too familiar for me to stop. After Riiku was done explaining to Soran, my brother looked at me, "Kauna, this is Fang, one of my worst students." He then looked at the boy, "Fang, meet your mother." He smirked.
I snapped my fingers, I hadn't seen him for years, no wonder it took me so long. "Fang!" I walked over and hugged him.
Fang didn't do anything for a minute then he smiled and hugged me back tightly, "Mom… I thought you abandoned me…"
"I would never." I smiled and kissed his head.
"Come on guys, we have an idiot to stop." Soran said and led the four of us out the back door.
"But we don't know where anyone else is…" I said a little confused, when Soran smiled back at me, "what?" I asked.
"I know where Cipher's kids are." he said smugly; I wanted to smack him.
"You mean Zero, Saphhira, and Yang?" Fang spoke up, "I know where they all hang out till night class is in. Follow me." He turned and led us through the bamboo like he did it every day. He led us into the city then looked around and took us towards a cluster of buildings.
"Why do they hang around here?" Soran asked, staring at the ground.
"They like it because they don't get caught." Fang said, squeezing through a small ally and to a city square surrounded closely with buildings. It was a gloomy scene, the buildings were faded and chipped, trash was blowing around in the breeze, and in the center of the square was an old fashioned fountain that was grey and cracked. On top of the fountain stood an angel that used to 'pour' water from a bucket into a small catcher and over flowed into a larger one then the base. Sitting at the fountain were three kids around Fangs age, one of them was a guy with black hair and gold eyes, the other guy had silver hair with blue eyes, the last was a girl with light blue hair with bright sapphire blue eyes. The black haired boy stood, he looked to be the oldest of the three, "Fang, why are you here and who are these people?" he glared at us.
"This is Kauna, Riiku, and you all know Soran; we need you guys to come with us." Fang said calmly, looking at the boy at eye level.
"Why would we go with you? All you ever bring is trouble." The second oldest, the girl, stood and placed her hand on a great sword at her waist.
"Don't you three realize who you're talking to? Let alone what's happening in the world around all of us?" Fang growled.
The two who had spoke fell silent and blinked, looking at the youngest boy who had his eyes closed, his head slowly nodding to some music coming from large headphones that covered his ears. When he spoke he opened his eyes and pointed to me, "Kauna Ravenstar, empress of Japan and worldwide known singer. Son is Fang Ravenstar, husband was Wolven Kiru. Daughter of Azreal and Zoia with many sisters and Soran as the only son and her twin. She holds a dragon spirit and the power of the moons." He finished then blinked, looking to Riiku, "Riiku Brisinger, child of a supernova, wife was Greycloud, no parents or sibling. His spirit is a raven and he holds the power of the greatest fire." Finally he looked to Soran and his expression changed from nothing to confusion, "Soran Ravenstar, status… unknown." He said slowly, lowering his gaze from my brother.
"Right." Soran growled, "Now Mr. Know it all, what do you know about what's going on in the world?" Soran cut him off when he tried to speak again, "First, tell us who you are."
The boy nodded, "the oldest over there is Yang, the girl is Sapphira. I am Zero; we are all Cipher GaTenshou's only kids."
"Better, now about the current events."
"I-I don't know…" Zero stuttered and looked away.
"There's war." I spoke up and looked at the three, "Wars all over the world."
"Like World War Three and Four?" Sapphira asked.
"Worse." I continued, "Nations are trying to wipe each other out. Russia and Canada don't exist anymore; Hawaii is nothing more than rubble in the ocean." I sighed, "Your grandfather has started this and we need to end it."
"Teckan…?" the three of them whispered then Yang spoke up, "why do you need us? Why are we important?"
"Zero said it himself." Said Riiku, "You guys are Cipher's only kids and that makes up for him and Crystal both being dead. You need to help us or the wars won't stop."
"Us? Really?" Yang narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, "if it stops the wars then so be it."
"Good, let's get going, we still need to get Kimiko." I said, remembering my old friend.
As we walked from the square a teenager came from a shadow, "you're looking for my mother? Why?" The pale guy crossed his arms over his half bare chest. He had longer, shaggy, ink black hair and deep, blood red eyes.
"Yeah, and you are?" I looked at him; he had strange marks down his chest and arms.
"Donavan, son of Kimiko and Sean." He grinned and I saw the resemblance he had with his father. "Anyway, I ran away so I'm not taking you to her or telling you where she is."
And that was the attitude; I rolled my eyes, "Soran if you will."
Soran looked at the guy steadily with his piercing green eyes. "You're going to help us if you like it or not." He grabbed his arm and started to drag him.
"What are you doing?! Get your hands off of me! You cannot treat the prince of the underworld like a kid!" Donavan struggled against Soran's grip.
"Just shut up and tell us where to go." Soran growled, having no patience, maybe that's why he didn't have kids.
"Well you're not going to find the gate to the underworld by walking." Donavan grumbled after a minute of silence.
"Then take us to it." Soran growled down at him. "Now or Kimiko is going to be short a son."
"Alright alright… let go of me and I'll take you." He sighed and straightened his jacket as Soran let go of him. He started whispering in another language even I didn't know. The ground started to shake and crack under our feet. Soon a large rock arch stood in front of us, a deep, wavy red magic screen shimmered in the entrance. A girl with long silver hair stepped from the magic, causing it to ripple around her frame.
"Kimiko!" I ran over and hugged my friend closely, "I've missed you."
She hugged me back and smiled, "I missed you too Kauna." She looked at Donavan and narrowed her eyes, "I see you found my son." She said slowly, not even noticing Riiku who was hiding behind Cipher's kids.
Soran grabbed Donavan shirt collar when he tried to run and pushed him to his mother, "yeah, he said he was running away."
Kimiko grabbed him and patted his head, "yes, silly boy." She half growled at her son. "Anyway what brings you here?"
"Do you remember Teckan?" I asked her.
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Well somehow he's back and if you didn't know, he's called all the wars and rebellious riots." I explained then out of curiosity I looked at Yang, "You know your grandfather, how does he keep coming back?"
"That's easy." He said then sighed, "So you know how he's half robot? Well as long as some human part of him is close to a robotic part he can rebuild himself. It makes sense that he waited will 2995 to start all this again. It takes time to rebuild…"
"While he's rebuilding he's sending out robots to start all this…" Sapphira added quietly.
I thought about it, all the people that had died in the last battle, our friends who were now dead because of our stupid decision to ask for their help. Could I risk their lives again to save the humans from something that could barely understand? I looked around at the group and I felt a spark within, I had to, it was what we had to do; no matter the cost. "It's time to fight him; no one is dying this time, deal?" I said in a brave voice.
"I'll help you with what I can from the underworld, Godspeed my friends." Kimiko said with a bow of her head, walking back into the portal with Donavan.
"Okay, let's get to work." I turned to face Yang and his siblings, "if Cipher could do this I know you can, pinpoint Teckan through his energy."
Yang looked at his sister and brother, expressionless but his eyes, they were full of fear. All three of them closed their eyes and sat motionless for a few minutes, soon Zero spoke up, "found him. He's not too far from here, he's on Mount Fuji."
"Good job, let's go end this." I smiled and unfolded my wings, seeing the mountain closer than I thought. "Head for the top and don't leave one cave unsearched." I jumped into the air and flew quickly and silently towards the famous Japanese mountain.
We soared above the peak and looked around the snow, my grip tightened on the hilt of my sword at my belt, Where is he..? I was starting to worry, what if he wasn't here and this was just a big waste of time? Then I spotted it, a cave close to the top, "Okay Riiku, drive him out." The redheaded boy nodded and flew closer; he formed a large fireball in his palm and through it at the cave. A loud boom echoed out and rocks fell around causing more noise.
A moment later a man burst out from the rubble of the cave, he was more robot than man and his red eyes blazed in anger. When he caught sight of us his anger was quickly replaced with amusement and he smiled big, "Ah old friends!" he held his arms out wide like he wanted a hug. "Like what I've done with the world? Isn't it beautiful?"
I drew my sword and held it out, "No. You need to stop or we're going to make you."
"Then make me." His smile turning into an evil smirk and he crossed his arms over his half mental chest. "The world is finally mine, destroying its self… why would I give that up so easily?"
"I don't know why my dad ever trusted you." I growled at him, feeling burning down my arms and back. My tattoos appeared on my pale skin and stated to glow a dark purple. A dragon's roar sounded loudly around, soon followed by a phoenix screech and a tiger cry. I looked back at Soran whose tattoos were also glowing a light green and his wings were surrounded by fire. Fang also had tattoos, glowing a deep blue; his fangs grew longer and sharper. When I looked back at Teckan an army of robots were behind him. "Remember what I promised…" I whispered and touched the moon necklace that hung on my neck. "No one dies today." I flew straight at Teckan and swung out with my sword, cutting the metal and causing sparks to fly everywhere and shower down. He growled at me and hit me upside the head with a metal hand, cutting the skin and blood trickling down my pale skin. I dropped my sword and shook my head clear of the fog that had settled in, "come on!" I yelled at him as the energy from the tattoos surrounded my body and turned my wings into large dragon wings as well as forming a dragon outline around my body. I charged at him once again, in striking distance I dived under him and slashed at his legs with the energy claws.
"You're still weak Kauna." He laughed and licked me away, "Fighting me head on like a wild animal! Fight me! Kill me! Give me a show!" he taunted, his red eyes glinting like blood.
I growled and flew at him again, claws out; I flew around him too quick for anyone to see, clawing him then vanishing again. "Then give me something worth fighting!" I yelled at him and slowed behind him, kicking his back.
"Kauna! Watch out!" Yang called, an arrow drawn with silver energy swirling around it, he fired and it hit Teckan with a shower of sparks. Before every one's eyes his skin started to sizzle and vanish, the robotic parts beeping and snapping.
"I'm not leaving alone!" Teckan growled and grabbed me tight in his arms, the arrow stabbing through the energy and into my skin.
I winced and struggled against him, "Let go of me!" the energy from the arrow was breaking away my energy and making me weaker. Blood trickled from my head wound and my chest where the arrow sat, soon the blood started to drip from the corner of my mouth.
"Kauna!" I heard everyone yell out to me, Yang not letting anyone near; saying that it could kill them and possibly me. "You promised!" Soran and Fang yelled at me at the same time.
"I'm sorry…" I whispered and looked over at them, tears falling from my pained violet eyes. My wings folded in and I sighed quietly Teckan's arms loosened and let me fall back down to the snow covered rocks of Mount Fuji. I saw the blurry outlines of my friends follow me despite Yang's warnings; Riiku, being immune to most things, caught me before I hit and held me close to him. I held onto him, "you know… if you keep saving me… I'll have to owe you forever." I laughed weakly, tasting the blood on my tongue.
"Hey you're going to be alright, you don't owe anyone anything." Riiku said with a smile, taking a ball of fabric from his pocket and dabbing it on my temple then around the arrow, "You're going to live, okay?"
"No Riiku… I don't think I'm getting out of this one alive…" I reached up and touched his cheek lightly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't say that… you're going to live." Riiku whispered his smile fading.
"Riiku, that's enough." Soran said as he looked at us, "Kaunas time has come…" he said slowly, his green eyes hiding his grief and tears as he looked at us.
"No! Soran, that's not good enough! We can't give up on her!" Riiku cried at my twin.
"Let her rest, enjoy her final moments with her friends and family." Soran said with a nod of his head.
Everyone gathered around me and talked, laughed, spoke of all the adventures we'd had before all this had happened, I looked at Soran, "Brother… can I ask you something."
"Of course." He said and held me while everyone else talked.
"I want you to watch over Fang and take care of him, I can no longer protect him but I wished I could've spent more time with him…" I coughed and he wiped the blood away gently, his green eyes never leaving mine.
"I promise." He said and hugged me gently, "Fang, come over here." Soran called him over. Fang walked up, brushing some of his dark blue hair from his eyes.
"Fang… I'm sorry I couldn't be around you more, even as you grew up." I said as I looked at him steadily, "I love you."
Fang looked at me as tears streamed down his pink cheeks, he moved towards me and hugged me, "I love you too mom. I'll miss you; say hi to dad for me." He kissed my forehead gently and moved away quietly.
"I love you too Soran," I said and kissed His Cheek softly before lying back down and wincing in pain. My Vision started to blur and darken, "I love all of you…" I said and Closed my eyes.
When I opened my eyes again I was surrounded by light, I looked around but Couldn't see any of my friends; a voice snapped me out of my thoughts, "Kauna…" it whispered quietly.
I recognized the voice almost immediately; I tuned and ran to the man with silver Hair and His loving blue eyes, "Wolven!" I Hugged Him tightly and let the tears fall, "I've missed you so much…"
He kissed my head and smiled, "I've missed you too…" He said and held onto me.
I never let go of him, feeling if I let go I'd lose him again, I smiled through the thought and looked into His beautiful eyes, "Don't leave me again…"
"I never will." He promised and held me tight, "I'll never leave you again, I love you Kauna."
I smiled at his promise and let him carry me away.
Looking down at the world from my new home in the afterlife was much more different then living it, Soran and Fang lived will together and when they needed me I could help at any time. Death didn't bother me as much now that I knew I could always watch them, death was much more peaceful then life but, I would always miss my friends; because I'd never see them again. Now I was happy and with the one person I loved more than life itself, Wolven, my guardian angel.
