alright... This is the last chapter...

Part Three

Chapter Nine: Confrontation

"Okay," said Kenshin, out of breath, as the entire group leaned against a door, as something pounded on it from the other side, "Who dreamed up that... that thing, and why is it after all of us?"

"Well," said Yukimi, "If I understand everything correctly, and someone stop me if I'm wrong, I'm still trying to process all this, then this place is changing, and the maker is losing control over it. I think the nightmares are manifesting themselves, and doing what they please, instead of appearing to one person... And this one would be mine. I never quite got over the 'monster in the closet' fear, and that's what I always thought it would look like..."

"Mom?" said Chihiro in disbelief, "Well, that explains why you made dad check my closet when I was little, even when I asked you to do it. Anyone else have any monster dreams they'd like to share real quick?"

"Um, well," said Reina, pointing to the nearby corner, "Mine is over there, but it hasn't moved."

Chihiro looked, as did everyone else, and there were several snickers to be heard. Chihiro herself was among them. The creature in the corner was small. Very small. Tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and it was almost cute, in a disturbing way. It looked like bunch of animals, all rolled into one. Rabbit, deer, squirrel, and several others... All of the cute and fluffy variety. Ryu was still snickering, while Reina tried to defend herself. She was starting to say something about "transformations" or something of that nature when the corner-critter moved. It tottered towards the group on unsteady legs, and if it hadn't been for the monster banging on the door from the other side, Chihiro might have given in to the temptation to go and pick it up and cuddle it. But it started to change, when it was a few feet from its corner. It grew in size, and ugliness. It became less and less like a combination of cute fuzzy animals, and more like a combination of rather horrifying and dangerous looking demons.

"Oh, bloody hell..." Ryu groaned, looking for an escape.

"I hear your 'bloody hell'," said Nivek, also looking for a way out, "And I raise you an 'oh, shit' Anyone wanna beat that one?"

"I could..." said Chihiro with a nervous chuckle, "But if I said any of the things I'm thinking, I'm sure my mother would find that I am not too old to be beaten... Let's just get the hell out of here shall we?"

"Good plan, honey," said Yukimi, breathlessly, "how about that wall?" she pointed to the far north wall... If they were fast, they could get through it before the, for lack of a better term, bogey man, got in, and they could avoid Reina's nightmare creature...

"Alright then," said Haku, "I suggest we run for it... Now!"

The all just barely made it past Reina's nightmare, to get through the wall. Luckily, most of the creatures that popped up were too intelligent for their own good... Had they been a bit dumber, they might have gone through walls no problem, but they were just smart enough to know that walls were solid, and they couldn't go through them.

"Where to next?" Reina asked, breathlessly, "I mean, we can't just keep wandering around... There has to be some way to wake ourselves up..."

"If what Chihiro saw with the dream dust was true, then we'll wake up on our own, eventually," said Lin, "It's just a matter of when it wears off, and if we can stay alive that long... We die in this place we're either liable to wake up mad as a hatter, or die of a heart-attack in our sleep..."

"Gee, I really like those options," said Kenshin... "Go nuts or die."

"I think I'd rather die than be stark raving mad," said Ryu, "So there is an upside to those choices."

"For you," Nivek added, "Me? I'm here physically... Or, I am now anyway... After about fifty years, it wasn't just a dream for me anymore... Only way for me to get out is for the world weaver who put me here to destroy the place... Which if you were all put here by the same one, I may have a chance at getting out with you."

A loud thud from the wall made them decide it was time to move, without any further ado.

-----------------------------

It seemed like an eternity later that they reached a room that didn't even remotely belong in the bathhouse... And it was clearly the creation of Kyoko, for she was the one who stood at the far end of the room, smirking as if she ruled the world... which, technically speaking, she did, right then. She was finger-combing her blue hair as she watched them approach. Her pale blue lips moved, as her eyes flicked from person to person, as if she were counting. She seemed displeased with the number she came up with for a scowl took over her smirk in a second.

"Hmm... There are more where there should be less... Pity," she said, as if it made no real difference. "I had hoped I would be spared the trouble of killing you all myself..."

"Well," said Chihiro, "I guess a good nightmare isn't what it used to be... Really, using bogey men on us? Trying to drive us insane? I'd have thought you could do better."

"I said I wanted to be spared from killing you all myself, insolent child," Kyoko replied, "No... There are a few of you I want the pleasure of killing myself... shall I give you a demonstration of what you're all going to be hearing soon?" she didn't wait for an answer. She snapped her silver fingers, and screams of panic, and pain echoed through the room, increasing in volume, until the sound was a roar. Another finger-snap, and all was silent. "I could let you listen again, but, a recording, if you will, is never as much fun as a live performance," she disappeared from her place at the end of the room, "Don't you think?" she had reappeared behind Reina. Before the spirit, or any of her companions could react, Kyoko had hold of one of Reina's wings... Then came the sickening sound of bones shattering, and the bird spirit shrieked. "Ah," said Kyoko, a sadistic smile on her lips, "Music to my ears."

--------------------------

Zeniba was checking for what had to be the hundredth time to make sure that her sleeping charges were still alive and not dead... They lay so still and it had been days since they'd first been discovered dosed with dream dust. Every now and then they would mutter in their sleep, but the witch could never tell what about. Today though, she got a surprise that she was sure took several years off her lifespan. As she was leaving the room, there was a scream behind her. Reina was the source. Her pretty features were contorted in what looked like a grimace of pain, and her muscles tensed.

After that little episode, Zeniba stayed firmly put in the room... Though later on, she wished she hadn't... She got a serenade of muttering, and several more cries of pain or fear... All in all it wasn't at all a pleasant way to spend her evening.

----------------------

All of the group was worse for wear. Kyoko was fast, and vicious. She had already rendered Yukimi and Kenshin useless in the fight by using her disappear/reappear act to get behind them, and break whatever limb she felt like grabbing. Yukimi was cradling a broken arm, and a dislocated shoulder, and Kenshin a broken wrist, and quite probably a broken knee. Both of Reina's wings dragged along the ground uselessly, and Lin, Chihiro, Nivek, Ryu and Haku all sported deep gashes, from Kyoko's sharp nails. They had to be sharp, to pierce through Haku's scales, which they did with ease.

The long white dragon stood next to his wife, and their still-standing companions as blood dripped from their various injuries, pooling at their feet, and mingling with the blood of the others. Ryu said something, and his hands caught fire. With ease, he threw said fire towards their barely tired opponent. One missed, the other singed her cheek, and hair. Ryu swore loudly, and tried again. This time he hit the woman. She shrieked, but managed to get the fire out before she was seriously injured... However, Haku, Chihiro, Lin, and Nivek used the fact that she was distracted to their advantage. Haku rammed into her, taking her arm in his massive jaws, and Nivek said something in what sounded like latin, and Kyoko went limp for just a moment. Haku, noticing the slackness of his captive, closed his mouth all the way. There was a sickening crunch, and squish as his massive fangs dug their way through flesh and bone. Kyoko woke from her trance in time to see her arm separate from her body in a fountain of blood... Yet oddly enough, she didn't scream. A look of horror just crossed her face, as she hit the floor, clutching at the stump where her arm had previously been attatched.

"We'll take you apart," Lin hissed, as Haku dropped Kyoko's still-twitching limb, and wrinkling his nose, as if it tasted bad, "Bit by bit."

"Unless you tell us how to get out of here..." Chihiro finished, trying to ignore the pain of one of her more recent injuries; four long, and deep gashes across her chest.

"It... doesn't matter..." Kyoko replied, obviously desperate to keep her voice steady, "You kill me, you only succeed in killing the creator of this world, and your minds will go with her... And I'll be free to move on to my next host."

"Not if we can get rid of you, the parasite," Nivek said, lazily inspecting a bloody hand, "I know a spell that would temporarily remove you, and we could speak with the real Kyoko. But, there's a drawback to that spell... Chances are, you would cease to exist, in this dream world, as that is what all of us want."

"That's a drawback?" Ryu wheezed, holding Reina up on her feet. He had been struck in the throat earlier, and it made it difficult to talk.

"Foolish human," Kyoko spat, "you think that just because I would no longer be here you would be free?"

"If this were any other place in this world, no," Nivek answered calmly.

"But this particular place," said Haku, returning to his human form, and wiping blood from his mouth, "IS Kyoko's mind... You cease to exist here, and you're just gone forever... Do the spell Nivek..."

"With pleasure, Master Dragon," the man replied, with an exagerrated bow.

"No, no wait!" Kyoko cried, as Nivek began to speak in latin again. The air got thicker, and thicker, until it was near impossible to breath. The room also became... Dim... There was no other way to describe it, other than dim. The edges seemed to blur, and become transparent, to reveal nothing but an empty black abyss. All the while, Kyoko's body, severed arm included, began to glow.

"See you in hell," Reina muttered, wincing as Ryu unwittingly brushed against one of her wings.

The glow stopped, and Kyoko collapsed on the floor from the half-sitting position she'd been in.

"Did it work?" Yukimi asked, helping her husband to stand.

"You're damn right it did," said a hoarse Kyoko, pushing herself off the floor. There was an accent to her voice, now... British, Chihiro was sure. "I haven't had a parasite in my head in..."

"Sixty years, my friend," said Nivek, offering to help her, "I remember quite well." He turned to the others, who gave him confused looks, "I have removed a parasite such as that before. Part of being stuck here is helping my host whenever she needs it."

"You call this helping?" Kyoko scoffed, looking at her charred clothing, and missing arm, "You let them take my sodding arm off... AND burn my clothes, before you decided to work that little spell of yours."

"Call it payback for putting me here in the first place," Nivek replied, "And your mind is back in your control, you can put things back to the way they were... And I believe I have fullfilled my end of the bargain?"

"Oh alright! You're free... where do you want to appear? The bathhouse? Fine..." She looked from person to person, "It's going to be several minutes before you wake up, so get your goodbyes out to those who aren't in the same place as you... I'm not sticking around for the mushy stuff if you don't mind..." With a silent crack, she was gone.

"That was... Odd..." said Chihiro, and her parents nodded in agreement. She turned to them, "I'd hug you, but I think I might hurt you."

"A little imaginary pain is worth one last hug," her mother said, and clumsily wrapped her good arm around her daughter, as Kenshin did the same.

"So," Nivek said to Lin, "Goodbye kiss, in case Kyoko screws up and I end up in another dimension?"

"Dream on, spell-boy. The day I let you kiss me again is the day a frog flies over my head with a harp and a halo," Lin told him, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ryu was about to tell Lin that maybe she shouldn't make such requirements in that place, when the afformentioned frog, complete with harp, and halo, flew over the grumpy spirit's head. Shaking his head, Ryu laughed, as Lin protested that it didn't count because Nivek had control of that place. Thankfully, the man shut her up with a kiss. Once Lin was done complaining (though her heart wasn't really behind the complaints) the group gathered in the center of the room. Chihiro gave her parents one last hug.

"I'll miss you guys... " she said to them, sniffling.

"And we'll miss you," her parents chorused.

As everyone began to turn transparent, the humans waved goodbye to their daughter, and her friends. "It was nice to meet you, Kohaku," Kenshin said to Haku. And with that, everyone was gone.

--------------------------

Epilogue

When the group awoke in the bathhouse, they at least got a good laugh out of scaring Zeniba out of her wits. Hearing the noise from the room, Hotaru, Shinko and Yuki's sitter, had run in, with the twins in her arms. Both Chihiro and Haku had showered their daughters with kisses, and both of the girls squealed and laughed at the attention. As promised, Nivek was there in the bathhouse, though he had appeared somewhere further down the hall, and had to follow the noise to find them.

The physical body of Kyoko was, like the others, unharmed. She could no longer speak with them, however, though Chihiro wondered briefly if that was a good thing. She left the bathhouse the day after she awoke, without so much as a good bye. Nivek had avoided her at all costs, afraid that she might change her mind, and suck him back in. Though he wouldn't go into great detail about why he'd been trapped in the first place, it was easy enough to gather that he had wronged the world weaver in some way, and he'd had to work to get free.

Now that he was free though, he was also free to pursue Lin, who, despite her complaints, and insistance that she wasn't going to fall for him again, clearly enjoyed the attention.

Reina and Ryu stayed, as well. Neither said anything more on the subject than that neither of them had homes to return to, and all they had done since they'd met was travel. Both were done with their traveling, and the Bathhouse was somewhere they could both help out, and fit in.

And that was just in their first week after waking up.
----------------------

Forgive me if this wasn't a satisfactory ending, or if it were too sudden, but if I had tried to go for another chapter, I might never have finished this... Not when I have another fic to write, and frequent cases of writer's block on this one... Which is why I rarely do sequels... Come to think of it... this is only the 2nd TRUE sequel I've ever written...