Besarki: So I was feeling particularly twisted today. O.o I can't say why but it made for a pretty decent opening so I can't complain. XD

Oh, and AHHHHHH! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I THANK YOU MANY TIMES OVER! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!

Anyway, I've actual partial to this story over Living For Tomorrow. This one has a better plot. I liked Living For The Moment better than this because I was already past the truly hard parts of the story so I played favorites and focused on that one. I don't know what I focus on between this and LFT. I'll probably divide my attention between both. ^-^

Unless one of the two is clearly favored. -.- In which I'll focus on that one.

Bolded names at the beginning of passages indicate a change in the POV for those who aren't familiar with my style.

Ohmygosh! What's this? A song? Yay! Disclaimer: I don't own it or any other songs used!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't want to be the same anymore
Gotta find what I'm here for
But it's so hard to change
When life gets in the way

Seems everyone around me has moved on
Where's the spark when the spark has gone?
It's so hard to change, when life gets in the way

~Life Gets In the Way, Gary Go

???

My fingers curled around the short metallic bars which kept me here. They were cold, rusted, and too strong for mortal hands to bend.

Slowly, I released them, sliding to the ground below the barred window to be reduced to little more than a lonely heap on the floor.

I hated it. I hated it so much.

When Hao became Shaman King, I knew we'd be in for major disaster, but nothing could have prepared me for this.

Nothing could have prepared anyone for this.

Militants everywhere, the sky a deadly red, all of humanity enslaved, onis rampaging through a plane that wasn't their own.

How could anyone, even Hao wish this on the world?

It was horrible, too horrible. I don't want to admit it, but I'd be a filthy liar to not acknowledge that even my spirit had been broken. My family is missing, maybe dead. I know for a fact that my friends, if I could call them that, are, thanks to Hao and his spineless minions.

His minions. Ha! All of them are pathetic. Too scared to stand up to him! Too scared to be someone! Too scared to do what they know is right!

Too scared to end up like me...

...I know...that no matter what I could have done, I would have ended up like this: broken and alone. I fought, of course I did...but it didn't amount to anything. I wasn't strong enough. I never will be.

Hao knows that, and so do I...

He knows...too much...

He knows...

...Everything...

...He is...

...

...Hao visits me more than the other prisoners. To laugh and taunt me and make me feel worse than I already do. After he's made his plans, he often comes to share them with me, not because he thinks I have a right to know--more that he knows just how much each word hurts, how each cuts me like a rusted razor, leaving me to bleed over the cold, stony floor.

He has no heart, and he has no fear. He toys with his prisoners' emotions, breaking them down into nothing.

Those who could actually pose a threat were they to escape are treated the worst. It's almost like he's daring us to try, showing us just how much worse things will be for us if our escape fails.

Ren...

Jeanne...

Goldva...

Lyserg...

Me...

There's too many to count. Too many of us that could cause him problems once, but are absolutely nothing now...

Too many of us that live in constant fear that the apocalypse is upon us...

Too many...

...

His plans involve frequently involve my son, Hana. It gives me hope that he's still alive somehow, but I know better than to rely on anything I hear from Hao, positive or not. I don't think I could take another let down.

Sigh.

...

I try not to torture myself too much since Hao does a good enough job of that already. I try, but I don't always do the best job. It's prisoner mentality. The feelings that Hao's physical and mental abuse infuse within us.

The feelings that it may be better to just give up and die. To let go...

I didn't move as the door to the right of my cell creaks open. The guards standing outside of my cell salute as their master and commander struts in from the side.

"Good evening," The dark-haired warlord greeted, a hint of laughter deep in his voice. The guards shouted a unanimous, "Sir!" but otherwise said nothing in response. Hao smiled at both of them the stepped around guards and peered through the tall bars that locked my cell off from the outside world. "And good evening to you."

I didn't say anything. Instead, I insisted on staring pointedly at the rock walls that lined my cage on three sides. Hao didn't seem to mind the silent treatment and just went on talking.

"I see you're just as quiet as ever."

"..."

He chuckled. "You can ignore me all you want, Princess. It's only hurting you."

It wasn't hurting me. Not by a long shot.

His smile never faded. "Always so talkative."

"..."

"Anyway, you'll never guess who I found today."

I twitched against my will, but gave no other response. Unfortunately, even the smallest movement was enough for him. He laughed, and I had to restrain myself from lashing out at him.

"By that, I'm guessing that you already know, don't you?" His smile turned malicious.

I didn't reply, but inside I was screaming at myself for even guessing. I hoped with all that I was that my guess was wrong.

"Oh, I definitely think you know." His teeth flashed. "A few days ago, I sent an oni down to the southern coast to look for anyone hiding among the wreckage. Truthfully, I expected to find nothing. After all, my guards have captured basically everyone up to now, haven't they?"

No. No. No. No.

"Well, it seems that there were three children that escaped their watchful eyes."

At that point, I couldn't take it anymore. My head whipped toward him.

Oh no, please no.

His answering smile spoke louder than any string of words.

My heart stopped, and I immediately knew it was over.

Hao merely smiled and stepped away from the cell's gates.

"Goodnight, little prisoner."
---0---0---0---0---0---
Hana

I let out a loud sigh as I glanced out the window for the fourth time in the past five minutes. Hao's missionaries hadn't moved so much as a muscle from their post from this morning. I don't know why I even bothered checking.

"That's not going to do you any good, you know," Anna commented, twisting her sword around in her hands. "They're still going to be there no matter how much you look at them."

I groaned. "I know." Unfortunately.

She smirked, sheathed her weapon, and sat down beside me, punching me in the shoulder for what she probably considered to be good measure. "We've been living the same way for years. I don't know why you think everything's going to suddenly change overnight."

"Never hurt to hope, right?" I asked, flashing a her a weak smile.

Men stomped into the room, then, Bason and Shamash floating behind him. "This is so dumb! We should be out there ripping those apes to pieces!"

"Go for it, Tarzan," I muttered. Anna had to bite her tongue in order to not laugh.

He grunted. "I don't see you coming up with a better plan," He retorted.

I shrugged. "Well, considering the fact that if we go out now, we'd be outnumbered by about twenty to one, I think staying here until they switch shifts sounds like a great idea."

"I have to agree Hana-dono," Amidamaru spoke up. Hmm. I didn't even realize he was in the room.

"You're already dead! What does it matter to you?" Men spat. The samurai looked taken aback.

"Don't be a jerk," I growled. "We're supposed to fight Hao, not each other."

He vehemently refused to make eye contact. "Whatever."

"Look, I know that you're just itching to get out there and--"

"I'm itching to get out there and do something already! We aren't doing the resistance any good by just sitting around here!"

"What resistance?" Anna demanded. "For all we know, the only shamans left besides us are too scared to do anything. Hao's a powerhouse."

"Both of you, cut it out." I hated being the voice of reason, but a kid had to do what a kid had to do. I glared at the youngest member of our little group. "We nearly lost you the last time we engaged them. If Anna hadn't been right there, you wouldn't have a head right now."

"You still haven't thanked me for saving you," She hissed at him.

"That's because I didn't need you. I could have handled that joke just fine by myself."

"Uh huh," She snorted.

Men clenched his fists. "Hana, we've been stuck in here for weeks. Didn't you say the purpose of us teaming up was to stop Hao?"

I pushed myself to my feet. "The purpose of us teaming up is to stay alive. The purpose of us staying alive is to defeat Hao." I stalked across the room, watching the soldiers from the magically cloaked window. It was a pretty cool trick. The hut looked totally deserted from the outside, but once you stepped inside you could see just how occupied it truly was. It was Patch magic. "Anna sent Silver Wing out to survey the area a few days ago. Even for a ghost, it's hard to get by Hao's troops undetected, especially when the whole world is looking for you. When he gets back, he'll give us his report."

"And it will be only bad news, like always."

I knew that. I knew that better than any of them. I hated just standing here doing nothing, but there were only three of us against the entire world. There was only so much we could do...

"Not necessarily. No army is foolproof. Everyone makes mistakes." And that was what I was waiting for.

Our little hut was situated in a little niche on the western coast of Japan. We were low, really low, almost at the bottom of the small country. Hao was at the top, not quite in Hokkaido, but close. Japan was the most heavily guarded of all of the Earth's nations, probably because it was a big place for shamans, especially after the last tournament. It came to no surprise that a lot of them never left the country.

We weren't so dumb as to go looking for these shamans as Hao probably had most of them locked up or dead already. We were going to go straight for Hao.

More precisely, we were going to go straight for Hao's prison. It was a pretty poor shot against him as we were, but maybe if we could release some help...

"SHIT!" Anna's furious voice interrupted my pondering.

My face whipped in her direction. She was looking out the other window. "I don't think we're waiting for Silver Wing."

I could see it just as clearly as she could. There, walking slowly and cautiously, were two of Hao's men striding toward the house. "The back door," I gasped the order. "Grab your mediums and run!"

Everyone complied without another word, rushing out the back way as fast as they possibly could. Just as I shot out the door, I heard someone smashing in a window and breaking Anna's Indian spell. "What the...?!" The man yelled. "Hey! I think there's someone living here."

The second man snorted. "Not anymore. Burn it."

I didn't bother listening after that.
---0---0---0---0---0---
All three of us collapsed under a big bridge after we had run for almost half an hour. Anyone could have called us out of shape, but when three kids sprint faster than they're normally capable of without slowing even once, well, things happen.

"Did we lose them?" Anna asked.

Men shook his head. "No one was ever actually chasing us," He replied. "...Somehow..."

It was true. We'd been lucky. Almost too lucky in the fact that we'd taken a completely deserted trail. I decided that now wasn't a good time to get all superstitious.

"Darn it!" I hissed. I pounded my fist against the ground. Both Anna and Men turned to stare at me.

"What's wrong? Did you get hurt?" Anna asked between breaths.

"No."

"Then what are you moping about?" Good old bipolar Anna.

I didn't answer. I painstakingly rose onto my knees and glanced in all directions. No soldiers in plain site, but I'd bet money that there were some on the bridge above us. "Shit...I thought we were safe."

My two friends were sitting up now. They seemed to have caught their breath a lot easier than I caught mine.

"Don't blame yourself," Men spoke up. "We knew Hao would find us eventually." I had to say that I was a little surprised that Men was taking my side.

Anna placed her hand on my back. "We can't do anything about it now. We just have to put it behind us and move forward."

I sighed, knowing that, once again she was right.

I fell back against the grass. My head landed just outside of the bridges shadow.

My eyes went to the sky, remembering stories of when it was a natural black or blue. Somewhere, hidden behind the blankets of red, I thought I saw a star twinkling.

"Look," I said, pointing up to it. Anna and Men both peered up in the direction I pointed.

"Is that a star?" Men asked in astonishment.

Anna chuckled. "Make a wish."

I have a good feeling that all three of us wished for the same thing.

Besarki: I have a really cool plot planned but I have to get them out of the area before it can begin. So, that's why the second part was so lame. The first kind of balanced it, though, right? :D *Hopes*

The person in the first passage was Asakura Anna if you didn't figure that out. In that passage, she was exhausted. I was trying to show that by repeating lines and using lots of ellipses. I think I got it across but for the sake that I didn't, she was tired and pretty much dead to the world and that's why the writing was so weird.

I've noticed that I am generally very mean to her XD. She gets tortured, or killed, or changed into a fox in all my fics. x.x I actually like Anna, though. Believe it or not. XD

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