Angels and Dragons.
Chapter 4:
"This is too easy." Yue thought to herself as she took out guard after guard. One glance at her cousins told her they thought the same. They had found the mountain easily enough and before long had found an entrance to it. As with most villainous layers it was guarded, but the quality of the guards was more than a little lacking for even an apprentice dragon, let alone three full Dragon Clan members. The only issue was the sheer number of them.
"I think you jinxed it little brother." Sousuke said swiping at another opponent.
"I did not!" Keiichi protested in his sword form, "And I'm three minutes younger, that does not make me your little brother!"
"You're still younger so that makes you my little brother." Sousuke snickered.
"Hmphf!"
"Will you two focus?" Yue growled shaking her head in frustration. "I can sense Ari farther into this cave." She cleared a path and took off down another tunnel.
"Will you wait?" Sousuke yelled after his cousin. "I swear, one of these days. . ."
"She'll kick your butt like she always does." Keii chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Sousuke took off after his cousin. They soon found her picking the lock to a large metal door which she swung open just as they reached her. Yue re-drew her sword and entered carefully whilst the twins stayed in the doorway to watch for more guards.
"Ari?" Yue called quietly as she approached a crumpled heap in the corner, "is that you?" She reached the heap and found her cousin, still in her school uniform, unconscious on the floor. Her clothes were tattered and torn and were almost indecent in places and her body was covered in cuts and bruises. She turned to the twins, "We're going to have to find a mirror and contact death city. There's no way we can take her outside in all that snow."
"Let's get going then." Keiichi transformed and jogged over to help Yue. He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around the unconscious teen before gently picking her up.
"You don't truly believe that I didn't know you were close and what you were here for little dragons?" Yue and Keii spun around just in time to see Sousuke flung towards them. He landed with a grunt and groaned before looking up at Yanna with scowl.
"Be ready." Yue growled reaching for her sword. Sousuke and Keiichi nodded knowing exactly what she intended without her needing to voice it. Her sword was drawn in a flash and she attacked, Yanna countered with a spell but it was blocked.
"That sword!" Yanna exclaimed, "Where did you get that sword?" She growled but Yue swung her sword and a blast of energy pushed Yanna back. The twins took the opportunity and bolted out of the room and back the way they had come with Ari safely in Keii's arms. "You brats!" Yanna tried to follow but Yue blocked her way, "Die little girl!" Her next spell succeeded in throwing Yue backwards, but the girl retaliated with another energy blast that brought part of the hallway down and gave her an opening to take off after her family.
"Haven't you found a mirror yet?" Yue asked panting.
"Does it look like it?" Sousuke replied and blinked when he took a look at Yue, "You all right?" Keii glanced at her as well at that comment.
"I'm fine." She replied, "I knew this was too easy. We have to get out of here and fast!"
"There!" Keii skidded to a stop by an open door, "One mirror as ordered." The dragons rushed into the room.
"Oh I'm going to enjoy ending your pathetic lives." Yanna growled.
"Get through the mirror and I'll hold her off." Yue muttered calling on the soul energy in her sword again.
"We can't just leave you here!" Sousuke exclaimed vaguely aware that Keii was already writing death's number on the mirror.
"Don't argue just go!" Yue growled before charging. But before Keii could finish Yanna sent a spell towards the mirror and it shattered into a thousand pieces. "Wonderful." Yue charged Yanna again and met with several dark roots speeding towards her. She evaded and blocked all but a few and grunted when those hit and drew blood then moved to attack again. Yanna growled when the young warrior managed to catch her side before she could move.
"You little brat! How dare you mark me!" She screeched letting the insanity take hold and throwing spell after spell at Yue.
"Go damn it!" Yue yelled managing to push Yanna back enough to make room for her cousins to get back through the door.
"What's happening?" Keii looked down to see Aradia's eye's open and she was looking around blearily.
"It's okay, we'll have you out of here in a little bit." He assured as he pulled the coat tighter around her shoulders.
"You shouldn't be here, she's too dangerous." Ari said struggling to find the strength to get herself up.
"Hey, take it easy," he shushed her and tightened his grip so she couldn't move as easily, "you didn't think we'd just leave you did you?"
"Yue!" Sousuke shouted as one of Yanna's black vines pierced Yue's stomach and another struck her across the face and flung her back towards the other dragons. "Yue, are you all right?" He asked helping her to her knees. Yue growled and used her sword to help her up.
"No!" Ari shouted before she allowed her magical powers to take over. She was too weak to concentrate on where to go but she had to get them somewhere and trusted the magic left within her to take them. She floated into the air as her powers essentially charged and there was an almighty flash of light. When the spots in Yanna's eyes cleared the four teenagers were no longer in the room and she screamed in fury.
Kidd felt a headache coming on. Not only was his precious Gallows mansion surrounded with every perceivable protection and defence spell his father could think of making it almost too suffocating to breath in his own home. But to add insult to injury his father had insisted that the rest of his team stay at the mansion for added protection as well. As much as he cared for his closest friends, he valued his privacy and whilst his weapons respected that fact and recognised when he wanted to be alone, the remainder of his immediate team did not. He had already had four OCD fits in the past twenty four hours since his unofficial house arrest and he doubted he was going to get any better with Black Star as a house guest. The worst part was that the pills Stein gave him to help control his 'problem' counteracted with the ones given to him to reduce the pain caused by his slowly returning powers. He still had moments of extreme exhaustion at times which had once or twice resulted in him blacking out. The first he couldn't be sure of as he had been alone in his bathroom in the infirmary at the time and had simply woken up on the floor. The second, however had happened in his living room not two hours after arriving in front of all of his friends who promptly panicked and summoned Stein once more who simply told them it was another after affect of the spell and they should ensure he didn't over do it. He snorted at the thought. He had been sitting in bed for several weeks and he was not about to continue that in his own home unless absolutely necessary and had loudly told all those present of this fact. This of course earned him an ear bashing from Liz and he very nearly received a Maka chop, but Soul had kindly reminded Maka that Kidd was too sick for such treatment and to save it when he wasn't passing out on them. He had intentionally refrained from telling them about the first time in the bathroom. He had escaped to the garden when the mothering had become too much for him and that was where he sat alone in his thoughts.
"I wonder if she's all right," He sighed, "Not that I'm much use to her as I am right now. But I hate to just sit here knowing someone needs my help."
"Penny for your thoughts." Liz said as she draped a warm jacket over his shoulders and sat down beside him in the cool dessert night. Kidd didn't answer but pulled his knees closer to him and buried his face in his knees. "You worried about that dragon girl?"
"Her name's Aradia." He told her, "And she needs help."
"Yeah but there's a whole bunch of people who are trying to do just that," she smiled reassuringly, "So don't worry so much about it. She'll be found soon and then she'll be here in Death City so we can all meet her."
"She didn't want help." He said simply. "She was more worried about the people that might get hurt looking for her than herself. I told her I couldn't just ignore her plight but she ignored me. She's more than a little stubborn."
"Just like someone else I know." Liz teased.
"I am not stubborn!" He protested pouting at her.
"Sure you're not." Liz grinned, "cause you're not the kind of guy who ignores their weapons shouts about protecting themselves when their enemy is symmetrical. Oh wait! Yes you are!" Kidd rolled his eyes but made no effort to reply, he already knew he was a pain when it came to his issues, he didn't need to hear it from her again. "Look Kidd I. . ." She stopped when Kidd looked up focussing on a spot high above them. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure." He said getting to his feet. Above them, where his father's most basic spell in the form of a protective barrier was formed were sparks of energy. They were sparking from a particular spot and growing more in intensity. "What is that? Nothing can get through father's spells, he even had Hestia re-enforce them. So what could possibly get through." He was so focussed on what was going on above him that he barely even noticed his team running up to them Soul and Tsubaki in their miesters' hands. There was a loud crackle of energy and a blinding flash of light and four bodies appeared in place of the energy. Kidd's eyes widened as he recognised one of those bodies and before he could register what he was doing his body moved as if on auto pilot and he was sprinting forward. He dropped to his knees and slid along the grassy lawn holding his arms out and caught the white haired body before she could hit the ground. The other three were not so lucky and he vaguely noticed that the other female in the group looked injured. He paid her no mind though as he looked at Aradia. Supporting her shoulders with his left arm he moved his right from under her knees and gently held her left check to turn her head towards him. In the dreamlike state she had seemed healthy and vibrant if a little sad, but in reality she looked battered and bruised. Her body was severely malnourished and her skin a sickly grey in colour and her clothes were so torn that they could hardly be seen as decent. Her pretty white hair was not up like he had seen before but loose and hanging in dirty clumps around her, some of it stained in blood here and there. "How did you get here? Did you come to find me?" He whispered to her cradling her to his chest to try and protect both her modesty and her prone body from the cold of the night.
"Yue!" Keiichi shouted getting to his feet and rushing to his cousin who was trying to pull herself to her feet with the aid of her sword as some sort of crutch. Sousuke tried to get up as well but he had landed wrong and he was sure his leg was broken.
"Are you all right?" A young black haired girl came over to him with a white haired boy and a blonde girl with short hair.
"I think I snapped my leg." He replied giving up and looking towards his twin and still conscious cousin. "Help Yue, she's the one with a hole in her gut."
"Will you stay put we're out of danger idiot!" Keii said trying to figure out where to place his hands that wouldn't irritate any of her wounds. Yue grunted as she fell to her knees again still holding the hilt of her sword like a crutch. She looked around and recognised the place from when she had been very young.
"The Gallows?" She murmured staring at the grand house to her left then sought out Ari to see she was being cradled by none other than Death the Kidd. She shook her head then grimaced as another wave of pain washed over her.
"You should lie down," A blond girl told her placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Standing with her was a blue haired boy who gave off a feeling of indifference but he crouched down none the less and picked her up off the ground surprising her, "Black Star, she shouldn't be moved!"
"We need to get her to the infirmary," he shrugged, "her and her friends, otherwise she'll bleed to death."
"Hey what's the big idea?" Yue struggled then regretted it as she dropped her beloved sword and held her stomach, "Put me down, I'll walk by myself thank you very much!" She said very unconvincingly.
"Adrenaline wearing off yet?" He smirked and she saw a twinkle in his eye.
"You find this funny?" She asked incredulously then grimaced again .
"Why don't you just shut up and let me help you." He scoffed.
"What's happening?" Stein yelled as he and several others piled out of the house ready to attack.
"They need help!" Kidd yelled coming back to his senses and getting to his feet with Aradia safely in his arms. He smiled to Liz who had pick up a coat that had fallen off her shoulder in the fall and wrapped it tightly around her as best the blonde could. The newest arrivals rushed forward to help and they were soon going back through the mirror on the first floor that led to the death room.