Chapter 9

Veleda stopped and stared into the ever-burning fire in the center of her sacred room; images flickered in the dancing flames. Slowly she sat down and watched silently.

Images of a man clothed in black ran through the dark streets terrorizing everyone and everything in his path as he hunted in blood lust. Visions of a black haired boy going into the demon world and releasing vast amounts of demonic energy, turning into a true demon. Visions of a fox youkai stealing the world's most valued treasures and a girl with electronic armaments to help her. Each image of each person changed showing him or her in a different position in life, a different path they had chosen to follow. All except one, the boy clothed in black. Only two images appeared for him, blood lust or near solitude.

Were these images of a future undecided that she was seeing? Did these images portray the path they could choose depending on the outcome of what she was about to do? Could she handle the outcome of her part in the near future? Did she even have a choice?

Veleda sighed heavily, she knew her decision was already set. There was no way to go around it; she would do what she had to, to help the girl who came to her. She stood and walked around the fire to a small alcove in the back, a tiny spring gathered there forming a shallow pool. Stripping her priestess clothing she slid into the water and began to cleanse her body; a ritual she had to do every time she planned to use her abilities to deal with any type of spirit.

After her cleansing she dressed again and began to pull items she would need to help her in any way possible to fight the man who had stolen not only an object from her family but a soul from heaven.

No soul deserves to be trapped in a corpse and made to slowly rot away its existence lost to madness. Veleda strung her bow before she placed it across her back. Especially not one with such a pure hear t… She sighed before closing the door to her chamber then began to make her way to something she knew would not only change her but change all those involved.

Once more she thought to herself, Was this the right thing to do…? But she knew the answer to that. Yes… This was needed to help not only those touched by the pain but to help me grow and learn as well. I will do all that's in my powers to help her with her task…

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Kuwabara sat next to Yusuke as they waited for the priestess to return, he shifted around uneasily.

"What's up Kuwabara? You've been acting weird since the graveyard." Yusuke asked.

Kuwabara sighed. "I've been thinking… Is it possible that the person he raised was Mattie…?"

The group turned to him, a mix of shock and hostility on their faces.

"You're lucky Hiei isn't here to hear you say that." Sophie hissed as she quickly looked around. "What gives you such an absurd idea anyway?"

"Well…" He rubbed the back of his head. "At the graveyard I saw a girl with pink hair going around the church just as we came up to the ritual site and another time when I was heading home a girl that looked exactly like her from her hair color to tattoos and clothing choice stumbled across the street."

Yusuke moved into Kuwabara's personal space. "And why didn't you say something before?"

Kuwabara backed up. "Well I thought it was her ghost, I thought maybe she didn't want to pass on, and then I asked Botan and she said she took Mattie to heaven so I thought maybe it could be her that the crazy guy decided to raise from the dead."

"What would he want with her? She has no political prowess." Sophie questioned.

"I know why…" Shuichi finally piped in, they all turned to look at him. He turned to look at the group. "She's our friend."

"What?" Yusuke asked as he tried to grasp at Shuichi's train of thought.

"Think about it. Of course Koenma would send us on a mission after that guy when he stole an object that could affect the human world so it would make sense to raise Mattie from the dead and use her as his personal bodyguard. I mean would any one of us here raise a finger against Mattie? It makes perfect sense; she would be the ultimate defense against us."

"That's sick." Sophie snapped. "How would he even know about her anyway? I doubt he'd do something like that."

"And why not?" Veleda asked as she came into view. "Shuichi makes a valid point. If this man truly wanted to keep all of you from hurting him that would be the exact thing to do. I have seen sick things, I would not put it past this person to do such a thing." She stopped before the group. "If I were him I would have studied any and all groups that would come after me to try and stop me and find all weaknesses to exploit. Being that this man is a Necromancer and you have recently lost a friend it makes total sense that he would be twisted enough to raise her from the dead and use her as a personal bodyguard to keep any one of you from doing anything. Whatever his agenda is he will stop at nothing to reach it. You all need to be prepared for the worse." She turned and walked back the way she came. "I'm going to stop this man. None of you have to come with me if you fear that he's done the exact thing all of you hope he hasn't, but I will stop at nothing to destroy his plans, even if I have to go up against her."

With that Veleda left the team to decide their fate, do they go with the Miko and help her all while fearing if the Necromancer they soon will be facing has defiled the grave of the girl they all loved dearly or do they stay behind and never know what will happen.