Well everyone, I finally got accepted to my school of choice! dances merrily And even though Carolina lost the playoff game, I'm all right, still surviving. And in celebration, I decided to post a chapter a little early, even though I haven't gotten the five reviews I was hoping for. Tears But it's okay, 'cause I'm sure everyone will be sending them this time...right? Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Four – Tight Rope

Clef stepped back in horror. There was no way he could kill Gage without killing Umi, and what had she called herself? Ryuu? Wasn't that Gage's pet name for her? But then…

"I think I beat you to this one, my Guru," Gage fingered Umi's bleeding shoulder then brought his finger to his lips while Clef's face paled and twisted in horror.

"How does it feel to be helpless?" Umi spat viciously, her eyes darkening with every word. "Do you feel like me now? You're not going to hurt me anymore, Clef."

Delighting minds

With my shadow

"Umi, this isn't you, please, come back to us. Cephiro is suffering at your hands," Clef begged, trying to put magic into the words, but the spell had drained him, and he could feel her slipping into the reality Gage had created for her.

"That's all I ever was to you, wasn't it? Someone you needed for the land, for your power. Did you ever see me as me? I loved you, and you pushed me aside like a child! Well, now I've grown up, and I don't need you anymore! I don't need anyone!"

"Listen to yourself!" Clef snarled, nearly striking out at her for her stupidity, barely holding back. "You're more childish now than ever! What kind of monster did he make you into?"

Her eyes lowered, and she smiled tiredly, "So now I'm a monster?"

"Ah ha," Gage's eyes glinted as he pulled back Umi's hair and kissed her neck. "So the truth comes out."

"Umi…"

"Get out, we will have our battle soon enough," Umi ordered.

"I won't leave you here," Clef answered defiantly.

"Fine," she responded swiftly, grabbing Gage's hand and Willing herself back to Cephiro.

Rely on your way to grow

The weeks passed, and Umi grew more hateful with every passing minute. Gage became her teacher, showing her how to manipulate her magic in ways she never thought possible. What was left of her began to accept him as a partner if not a lover, because the nights they shared were far from tender and gentle, and that made her colder as well, as Gage knew it would. She was turning out to be a promising pupil and even more delightful mistress.

They trained relentlessly, preparing themselves by sparring against one another for the battle they'd promised Clef. Umi grew accustomed to hearing Gage's taunting insults as he grew accustomed to her cutthroat attacks when he was at his weakest. But he left gaps in her education, so she could never control the hold he had on her. With those checks and balances, he was infallible, because little did she know it, but the Master Mage had an intense love for her and while Gage and she remained as one, Clef would never touch him. The only one who could hurt him was under his control.

So after they had been in Cephiro for a little over a month, Gage decided it was time he paid a visit to his former teacher, but this time he would go alone.

"Why can't I come?" Umi inquired, putting on her most seductive smile and tracing a finger down his shoulder, but he only pushed her off with a combination of force and magic, and she landed heavily, sprawled out on the ground.

"Because, you little whore, you'll just get in the way," he snapped, and she glowered and rose, using her magic to slam him into the wall of their small cottage. "Bitch," he hissed and smacked her into the floor as she tore at his shirt, and he ripped off her skirt. "Oh, but I love it when you're bad," he sliced a star into her stomach and began his daily pillage of her body.

When he was through, he sighed, still unsatisfied but already behind, "Damn it," he mumbled, replacing his dagger and strolling out without even a second glance at the girl who lie crumpled on the wooden floor, glaring hatefully. Inside, her old self screamed. Damn it Clef! Stop vacillating! Kill him and me, free me!

The dark in her smothered another piece of goodness, consuming everything that bubbled to the surface. He's just delighting in my suffering, watching from his crystal palace, laughing and deciding just when to end it all. Bastard.

You want to decide

From your cloud

"May I join you?" the voice at the door stung her ears. How had he known?

"I suppose, if you must," she opened a hand and forced the bathroom door to fling open. "How, might I ask, did you know I was here, and he wasn't?"

Clef shook his head and looked down at her. She was soaking in a luxurious ebony tub, the water up to her chin. Her gorgeous blue hair was tied in a loose bun to keep it out of the water which was rust red and reeked of blood. Her hand dangled lazily over the edge of the tub, that star on her shoulder bleeding freely, "I've lived here long enough to know a few more things than my students," he answered and pulled himself agilely onto the nearby sink.

"Clever too, to catch me at my weakest," she smiled and breathed in the blood – her blood. "You could kill me now and end this."

He nodded, "I could, if I killed you Gage would die and Cephiro would be free, but if I killed you, I would also lose more than a Magic Knight."

Her eyes met his, and for a minute, he held them, willing her to remember what they'd once shared, but she just stared icily back, "Would you hand me a towel?" she asked instead, and he sighed and nodded.

So, for now it was a stalemate, fine, but he wasn't deterred. He would bring her back.

You're lost in a world

That I have to repair

He held out the fluffy blue towel for her, using it to cloak his eyes from her bare body and more importantly, the scars that came with it. She wrapped herself in the towel and tied it around her like a dress, "Come with me," she ushered him down the hall to her bedroom where she shut the door and faced him.

"Umi, this isn't who you are," he started, but she cut him off by walking by, uninterested, and lying languidly on the bed, in a position clearly meant to be seductive.

"Oh no?" she inquired, teasing her hair with her long, nimble fingers. "Well, I suppose not. This is who you made me."

He wanted to respond, to defend himself, to explain, but she clamped his mouth shut and drew him forward. Before he could fight back, he was lying on the bed with her crawling toward him.

"I can be what you wanted now Clef, just a toy. You don't need to love me as long as I get what I want. I don't need to trick myself with hope anymore; I know you didn't love me, but I can still have you, even if I was never enough."

You want it all

The greatest smile

Who wants to deny forever?

Clef closed his eyes and murmured a counter spell, breaking hers and knocking her to the bottom of the bed, curled in a fetal position. She raised her head and half pouted, half glared at him, "C'mon, I still have a spirit and a body, and that sells well."

"You are not an item Umi, despite what he tells you," Clef gritted his teeth as he stood and faced her. She was still sitting on the bed, and he towered over her, but where she might have shied back before, now she just blinked at him.

"Neither are you," she grinned and reached out to him, but he backed away. "I know your mind and training are saying one thing, but your body is telling me a different story, Guru. How long has it been since someone entertained your bed, mm?" she threw her head back and laughed though a tear streamed down her cheek.

"Umi, what happened to you?" he whispered incredulously, but a slam of a door from the other room ended the question.

"Get out," Umi hissed, terror leaping into her eyes. "Please, Clef, please, he'll hurt me," for a split second, the real Umi broke through, but that was quickly devoured as well as she stepped up and sauntered out the bedroom door to greet Gage and allow Clef time to slip out the window, staying quiet so he could listen nearby.

You're made of ice

I pay the price

For all your unforgiveness

Umi stayed away from Gage, knowing he was in a foul mood and bound to lash out, and being the only one there beside himself made her a good candidate for that anger.

"Damn him! Where could he have been?" Gage's magic was boiling under his skin; Umi could sense it, the thick black tar that held down her own life source.

Viciously, Gage slammed his magic into her, recklessly throwing her into the wall, so she barely stayed conscious. As he neared, he smelled the familiar scent of Clef's magic lingering near his prize, and he grabbed her shoulders and yanked her upward. Her head spun violently, so she had to clutch her stomach to keep it in place, "Oh, my little Dragon, you've been naughty," he whispered and tossed her easily onto the bed.

"W-what are you talking about?" she whispered, trying in vain to make her words come out smoothly.

"Don't lie to me! He was here! Is he still?" he hammered her with magic, but it bounced back because of his spell and drained him too quickly to be useful.

Enlighting lies

With my shame

Beneath the veil

Of your flow

He sighed wearily and guessed he'd just have to do it the hard way, so he drew his dagger and stepped forward, but this was not going to be as easy as all the times before, "You think that star hurt? You haven't felt anything yet," he seized her wrist and held her down. She was too drained to even fight back. "Where is he?"

"I d-d-don't kn-know," she stammered, and he smashed the knife into her leg. She shrieked in indescribable torment, his laugh echoing through her soul.

"Where?"

"I don't know," she cried, and he shook her shoulders fiercely.

"You're lying! Tell me!"

Don't try to deny

With your mouth

"Leave her alone, I'm right here," Clef stepped into the doorway and flung a shield around her, so she could pass out in relative peace. He strode to the bed, surprisingly unhindered, and touched her forehead gently while she screamed in pain. "Don't worry," he told her softly. "I'm not going to leave you again."

She smiled faintly, the real her, and slipped into a world of darkness, void of everything but silence.

So fine it is knowing

You're under the shade…