A/N: Here's chapter 11-re-edited, enjoy the chapter! =)
Recap
"Let the fun and games begin." Road continued before slowly fading away with the surroundings, leaving Lenalee and Sakura trapped within the dimension that she had just created.
"Where are we?" Sakura asked, as she looked around nervously.
"This is one of Road's dimensions." Lenalee answered.
"That's right, now, my game is rather simple. If you manage to win, I'll let you and your friends go." Road explained, fingering the sharp tip of a candlestick, "but for every wrong move that you make, that human and the cute bunny outside will get hurt, like this." Road demonstrated by stabbing a dummy she had created with the candlestick, enjoying the shocked expressions on both Lenalee and Sakura.
"The game that we'll be playing will be chess." Road revealed as a life-sized chessboard appeared.
Lenalee was slightly surprised that Road had an interest in playing chess. She had thought that Road was just a child who, like any normal kids, prefer playing games such as tag to intellectual games. Then again, unlike normal children, Road's definition of fun was much closer related to sadistic; Lenalee's previous two encounters with the noah had set this impression.
"Chess?" Lenalee wondered, knowing that the game would not be as simple as it seemed.
"This isn't ordinary chess," Road replied, reading Lenalee's mind, "it's my version of chess: human chess" she continued, smiling sinisterly.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"It's simple, you play it like regular chess, however, the chess pieces would be..." Road waved her hand slightly, causing various familiar figures to appear.
Both Lenalee and Sakura widened their eyes in shock. Lenalee's hand immediately flew to her mouth while Sakura stared at the chess pieces, stunned. There, on the chessboard, stood the exorcists, including Syaoran, Fay and Kurogane.
"I'll play fair too, my chess pieces would be that of my family and the pawns would be the akumas." Road continued, "Then yours would be those whom you call comrades." pointing to the chess pieces.
"N-N-No" Lenalee whispered placing her hands on either side of her head. She had realized that if they were to play the game, both she and Sakura would be forced to sacrifice their friends in the game, although she knew full well that this was all an illusion.
Sensing both girls' reluctance, Road warned, "Lenalee, if you refuse to play this chess game, your friend and that cute rabbit out there would be stabbed by my candles." Showing the image where Link was trying to use his knife to break the wall, without any success at all. Surrounding the semi-transparent dice were numerous candlesticks with their sharp ends pointing directly at the captives.
"So, are you ready to play?" Road asked.
"Road, we'll play and we'll make sure you'll lose." Lenalee said firmly, after a moment of thought. She stepped onto the board as the queen chess piece while an equally determined Sakura took the only other empty spot which happened to be the bishop chess piece next to Lenalee.
"Let's begin," Road said, unable stop herself from smiling, taking her place.
The train whistled loudly, warning passengers that it's going to leave the station soon. Fay, Lavi, Kanda and Kurogane hurriedly rushed to get onto the train. Once on board, Lavi engaged in a light conversation with one of the train conductors who guided them to an empty first class cabin.
"WOW! I like the design of this cabin," Fay commented as he entered and casually sat down at the seat next to the window.
"Che...it's just a cabin..." Kanda muttered as he took the seat across the mage.
"But...it's the first time I've been on one like this similar to this, the previous time was in record country." Fay replied, placing his arms behind his head in a laid back manner, "Yuu-kun,"
"Shut up, and stop calling me by my first name!"
Fay opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a soft cackling from the earring communicator which Komui gave them before they left.
"Hello, is there anybody there?" Fay happily called through the communicator, as though he was talking through a phone.
"Fay-san? Have you completed the mission already?" Komui's voice rang through the golem.
"Yeah, we've managed to find Kuro-rin and Yuu-kun." Lavi answered, earning death glares from them.
"That's great news, however, there's no need to return to headquarters just yet, I've got another mission for you." Komui began, "There had been reports on a strange incidence recently."
"What kind of strange incidence?" Kanda asked.
"Finders were coming in with reports about a Sakura flower which causes various weather phenomenons wherever it goes," Fay and Kurogane exchanged glances at the mention of the sakura flower, "and anybody who came within a hundred meters from the flower, it vanishes."
"That could be the princess' feather." Kurogane guessed.
"Or another piece of innocence" Lavi added.
"Yes...both theories are possible. Based on our most recent reports, the flower is somewhere in the Swiss Alps." Komui continued, "Try to regroup with Allen-kun and the others, they are on this mission as well."
"Wait, if moyashi and the others are on the mission, why are we regrouping with them." Kanda asked, crossing his arms.
"Finders are coming in with reports that they're fighting against two noahs and they might require a bit of help." Komui answered.
"We got it," Fay and Lavi answered in unison before the transmission went dead.
"I can't believe I'm still stuck with you two, luckily that white manjuu isn't here to make it worse." Kurogane grumbled.
"I agree..."
"Don't be so grumpy, you two" Lavi replied cheerfully, "besides, Allen and the others are in Switzerland as well."
"…that makes it worse…"
"Che, I'd rather stick with their group than you two." Kurogane snapped, starting forward.
"Kuro-daddy misses Mokona, isn't that right?" Fay teased.
"Shut up!" Kurogane snapped once again.
It had seemed they had been playing for hours. Both sides had lost an equal number of pawns and it was still difficult to tell which side was winning.
"I can't lose right anymore, otherwise, Link's life would be in danger." Lenalee thought as she planned her next move.
"It can't be helped, there must be some sacrifices during a war, and you can't save everyone." Road replied as she waited patiently for Lenalee to make her move, who hesitated before closing her eyes as she decided on her move.
Unlike Lenalee, Road had decided her next move almost immediately. Directing the bishop chess piece, or rather an illusion of Tyki towards one of the pawns, that happened to be an illusion of Suman Dark.
Anguished screams could be heard as the chess piece was being destroyed. At the same time, Link was stabbed by yet another one of Road's candlesticks.
"Link-san!" Sakura gasped, her hands flew up to cover her mouth as uncontrolled tears came running down her cheeks.
"Check." Road calmly said as Tyki stepped onto the space that was previously occupied by Suman Dark.
"What do we do now?" Sakura nervously thought, "one wrong move may cause us to lose the entire game."
Cautiously, Lenalee directed the king chess piece away from Road's line of attack. Smiling quietly, Road made her next move which would very likely jeopardise both Lenalee and Sakura chances of winning the chess game, if they were to make a wrong move.
Before Lenalee could decide on her next move, Sakura stepped onto the space making her vulnerable to Road's attack.
"Sakura, no!" Lenalee cried as Sakura made her move.
"Lenalee-san, it would allow us to win, once Road moves to attack, you are able to checkmate her king!" Sakura replied.
Road immediately realized that she had somehow made the wrong move a while ago. However, Road hardly seemed shocked at the sudden turn of events, she was aware that the Earl was in the midst of creating a much bigger plan that would involve both exorcists and noahs.
"All right, looks like they win this time" she thought as she walked towards Sakura.
Using one of her candlesticks, Road stabbed Sakura who cried out in pain. Sakura crumpled to the floor, clutching her side where Road had just stabbed her.
"Checkmate," Lenalee said quietly, as she made her move, trying to be calm as possible before.
"Yes, and I've lost. But this isn't the end yet, the Millennium Earl had something much bigger in store for you guys, I'll take my leave now." Road said.
"Oh, That reminds me, I'll take her along with me." The noah of dreams said and with a wave of her hand, the half-conscious Sakura was lifted off from the ground.
"Sakura!" Lenalee cried,
"L-L-Lenalee-san..."
"Road, let her go this instant." Lenalee said her voice dangerously calm.
"I'm afraid that can't be done, she's too important to us at the moment." Road replied, unfazed by the tone of Lenalee's voice.
"If we're done talking, I should take my leave now."
"Sakura!" Lenalee shouted once again, as Road stepped through the door, along with Sakura. Before the exorcist could even take a step forward to stop them, a strong gust of wind forced her to remain at her spot. All that she could do was to raise her arms in order to protect herself.
"Lenalee! Are you alright? Where's Sakura?" Mokona's worried voice bombarded her with questions.
Lenalee slowly opened her eyes, realizing that she back in the real world. The girl slowly looked over to Mokona who hovered over Link's unconscious form, registering the worried questions that had just been asked.
"Mokona, Sakura-san was..." she couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.
"I understand..."
Before Lenalee could say another word, a rather large tremor shook the ground. Initially, Lenalee thought it was an earthquake or an oncoming landslide. However, as she turned towards the source of the tremor, she turned rather pale.
The fortress that was made by the level three akuma was crumbling, threatening to bury whoever remained within it. Lenalee wanted to rush over to see if Allen and Syaoran had managed to make it out of the fortress. However, she couldn't risk leaving a rather badly injured Link alone. Anxiety filled both Lenalee and Mokona's hearts as they could only watch and hope that Allen and Syaoran had made it out safely from the fortress. Gradually, the tremors ceased as the fortress completely crumbled, forming a cloud of smoke and debris along with it, making it difficult for Lenalee to see if there was anybody, let alone Syaoran and Allen.
The cloud of debris never seemed to clear. Coughing slightly, Allen squinted through the smoke, trying to find a way out. Syaoran was also doing the same, although they could barely see what was right in front of them. Slowly, as they moved away from the fallen fortress, the smoke cleared.
"Lenalee! Mokona-san!" Allen called as he spotted them from the distance.
"Allen-kun, Syaoran," Lenalee replied, relieved that they were okay.
"Are you all right?" Allen asked worriedly.
"Where's Sakura?"
"She-" Lenalee faltered, unable to continue. Though it wasn't said, Syaoran knew the answer to it. Noticing the expression on Lenalee's face, he quickly changed the subject.
"Link-san's injuries look quite serious; we need to get him to the nearest hospital fast."
"Yeah...But all of you need some medical attention, we'll have to get to the nearest hospital fast" Lenalee agreed, helping Allen to support Link's unconscious body. Of the group, she was the only one who did not sustain any serious injuries apart from a few scratches and bruises. Ever since her innocence had changed from equipment to crystal type, it was almost possible for her to avoid any attack that was directed at her. As the group started off, a shout caused them to stop in their tracks and turn around, only find that a group of finders were headed in their direction.
"Exorcist-sama!" Allen and the others turned their head to find that a group of finders had managed to catch up with them.
"Thank goodness you're all right; we have to get you back to treat your injuries first." One of the finders said "also, there's something you should know about your mission."
"What is it about our mission?" Allen asked curiously, gratefully accepting the finders' help in supporting Link's body.
"We'll explain it later...but right now your injuries must be treated." The finder replied, as the group slowly made their way to the hospital.
A/N: Chapter 11 is done...actually it's re-edited. I wasn't really satisfied with the ending of the previous draft so I took it down to re-edit it...hopefully it's alright for you guys. Sorry it hasn't been uploaded earlier, because ever since the start of the school semester, there's a whole lot of projects which needs to be done within the next week and I have hardly enough time to actually upload this...Chapter 12 is already in progress...
Please read & review!^^