VictorianPearl: This will be the second time I have to do this. Thank you for bearing with me. Comments will be at the end of this lengthy chapter.

Lucid Darkness

Chapter 11

Flight to the East

Touya was growing weary. How long had the battle been going on, hours, days, weeks; he couldn't tell. When the battle had started, all hell broke loose. The first few lines were the toughest to get through. His ears were still buzzing with all of the noise of the loud explosions. It had been so hard to stand up because of the fierce tremors going through the ground.

Yue had fought next to Touya for a little while with his long, white, sword; but, after a while, he flew to the second rank and started to attack them with magic. Touya hadn't seen him since.

A goblin was running at Touya now. Touya's eyes quickly scanned the goblin. He found the weak spot and positioned his sword. The goblin closed in and raised his weapon to strike, but Touya plunged his sword through the weak part of armor in the goblin's chest.

The goblin's eyes widened and it dropped its weapon. Touya put his foot on the goblin's midsection and pulled his sword out. The goblin fell to the ground in a heap. That had been far from the first time that Touya had done that in this battle.

Quickly, while there was a spare moment, Touya scanned the sky in search for Yue-no such luck. There was no sign of Yue's white robes or feathery wings anywhere. Touya cursed. That angel had better not have gone off and killed himself.

There was no time to worry now though, a troll was coming up close, straight ahead. Touya turned and ran back.

"Troll," he yelled, "fall back. We need rope!"

"I've got rope." A soldier cried, running up to Touya.

Touya stopped and waited for the young soldier to unclasp the rope from his belt.

"Are you ready to do this?" Touya asked the young soldier.

The young soldier nodded determinedly. "Yes sir!"

"All right then." Touya said, unraveling the rope. He took one end and threw the other end to the young soldier.

"Do we have archers?" Touya yelled.

"You've got them." Someone yelled.

Touya looked back to see about eight archers lined up behind him.

"On three," he yelled, "one, two, three!"

Touya and the young soldier ran diagonally forward toward the troll. The archers aimed for the troll's head, distracting it from its feet. The two soldiers near the troll got the rope to cross in front of the troll's feet.

They ran in circles, narrowly missing the troll's swinging fists. When the rope was tight around the troll's feet, the two soldiers ran up and tied a quick knot with their ends of the rope. As they dashed away, the troll finally tripped and fell to the ground.

Touya circled around. He ran at the troll and sunk his sword into its head. The troll cried out and jerked, but died a few moments later.

"That makes troll number thirty-four." One of the archers said. It was the same one that had spoken last time.

"You, Touya called, pointing his finger at the archer, "come here."

The archer nodded and bounced over to Touya.

"What's your name?" Touya asked.

"It'll be Simion, sir!" The archer said.

Touya looked the boy over. He had silver hair and deep green eyes that had a blue tint to them. He looked at Touya expectantly. He looked to be a little older than Sakura.

"Have you seen Yue, Simion?" Touya asked.

"Yes sir." Simion replied. "I saw him not more than an hour ago."

"An hour, eh..?" Touya commented. That was a shorted time then the last time he had seen him.

"I want you to take me to where you last saw him." Touya commanded.

"Will do, sir, but it won't be easy to get there." Simion replied.

"That doesn't matter, we need him back at the front rank." Touya said. "Lead the way."

Simion lead Touya through the battlefield, keeping his bow aimed in front of him, Touya saw right away that Simion had a quick eye. The kid could quickly figure out the weak spots in the enemy armor and kill them in one swift shot. He must have restocked his arrows recently because his quiver was fairly full.

As they made their way through the battlefield, Simion killed the orcs and goblins in front of them while Touya took care of the sides and the back. The two, to Touya's surprise, made an excellent team. They were killing the enemy and moving swiftly. Touya could see where it was going though. The easy part was about to end.

"Last time I saw him, he was near those rocks on the hill side." Simion pointed out.

On the declining slope of the hill many large rocks were protruding forth. A small battle could easily take place within them without anyone knowing. Yue was probably within them. It wouldn't have been hard to reach them either, but a large swarm of orcs was between Touya and Simion, and the rocks.

"I'm ready if you are." Touya said, raising his sword.

"I'm more than ready." Simion said, smirking.

The soldier and the archer glanced at one another. When their eyes met, they nodded in agreement. Without further ado, they took off, strait for the rocks. They ran side by side. All they had to do was cut a path through the middle and run through as fast as possible.

"Head to the left toward the orc with the green skin." Touya commanded.

Simion obeyed, swerving to the left. There were quite a few battles going on in that area, but once they would be able to pass it, it wouldn't be too difficult to get toward the rocks.

"So this is it then? We're risking our lives for the angel?" Simion asked, only yards away from the green skinned orc.

"Yes, because he risked his for ours." Touya replied.

Although Simion wanted to question Touya, there was no more time. The two painfully crashed into the orcs. Simion kept his bow loose in his right hand and unsheathed his long white sword with his left.

Touya, who was busy cutting a path, glanced at Simion. "You're left handed?"

"No," Simion replied, "my right arm is just tired from my bow."

Touya cursed inwardly. 'Don't focus on the kid, just concentrate on getting to Yue.'

The battle continued and Touya was able to temporarily forget about the left handed (not really) archer. As he was fighting, he noticed a light in the sky. Touya glanced up quickly, thinking that perhaps the sky was finally breaking…he was wrong though.

Touya couldn't help but pause as a red glow appeared in the sky. He knew it wasn't good.

"To the rocks!" Touya cried, grabbing Simion's arm and knocking an orc out of the way with the hilt of his sword.

"Everyone, Land's Army, take cover at the rocks!" Touya yelled.

Simion and Touya started knocking orcs out of the way like crazy.

"What's going on?" Simion asked.

"The red light." Touya replied, glancing upward again. It was gathering together to create a force.

"What red light?" Simion asked, knocking an orc in the stomach.

"The one in the sky," Touya said, full of frustration.

Simion glanced upward and shook his head. "Touya, there's no red light in the sky."

Touya glanced upward. The red light had gathered and it wasn't too hard to figure out what would happen next.

"Oh yes there is." Touya replied.

The two soldiers started to run so fast that their legs were burning. They were almost there. Touya bodily shoved an orc out of the way, tightly grabbed Simion, and dove for the rocks.

Moments after the two landed with a heavy thud, a red wave was sent rippling down from the sky. The wave soundlessly hit the orcs and noisily sent them flying. A hot wave passed over the field, blowing over Touya's face.

The wave cleared and everyone on the inside of the surrounding rocks was breathing heavily. Many Land's Army soldiers had pressed themselves against the rocks.

"What was that?" Simion asked with wide eyes.

"Red magic, what did you think it was?" Touya said, none-too-kindly.

"Sir, I saw no 'red magic'." Simion said slowly.

"How could you have missed that?" Touya cried. This boy wasn't stupid and by the way he shot his bows, he had clear sight.

Simion didn't reply, staring at Touya with his wide eyes. There was no disbelief in them, but there was a sort of curiosity about them.

Touya looked back at the sky. The clouds parted and there was a red glow, but now there was a gold glow with it. From the clouds, a butterfly woman and a panther with butterfly wings flew down.

"Don't tell me you don't see them." Touya said to Simion, nodding his head toward the sky.

Simion looked to the sky. His mouth dropped open wide. "Now that I see,"

The butterfly woman and the panther flew down to the thicket of orcs. The butterfly woman shot red beams of magic at the orcs while the panther shot out beams of gold.

"Look at that." Simion said in awe, leaning forward. "She's just raising her hands and they're all falling around her."

"Simion, she's attacking them with magic." Touya explained as if to a small child.

"I don't see any magic." Simion replied.

Touya eyed the other soldiers. They all seemed to be seeing the same thing as Simion. There was confusion on all of their faces.

Understanding dawned on Touya. He was the only one who could see it because he was the only one who had magic in his blood. Then again, Sakura's friends could all see magic and none of them had any in their blood. What did that explain?

Touya shook his head and stood up. Right now, he needed to find Yue.

"Touya, sir," Simion said, standing up as well, "I'll show you the way."

The young man began to walk off toward the middle of the rocks. Touya followed close behind. The kid was good, that was for sure. He would have to put a good word in for him.

The two soldiers turned a corner and saw Yue. The angel was propped up against a rock. One of his wings was bleeding. His robes were torn and blood stained. Even Yue's long, white, hair was red from blood.

"Yue," Touya called, running to him, "are you alright, my friend?"

Yue opened his eyes and looked up at Touya. "I will live, but it was more than I could take to fight the third rank alone."

"Come on, we have to get you out of here. Help me Simion." Touya said, putting one of Yue's arms around his neck while Simion got the other side.

"Did you see Clow?" Yue asked.

Touya startled at the suddenness of the question. "W-what..? Clow's dead, of course I didn't see him."

"His aura flooded the air." Yue explained. "Don't you feel the buzz of magic, like a sheet of darkness?"

Touya looked at Yue strangely. "No, but there is some magic going on outside the rocks, you had better see."

The three made their way out of the rock bastion. The enemy had fallen back. The butterfly woman and the panther were standing in the middle of the battlefield. The Land's Army was already picking up the dead.

Touya, Yue, and Simion all made their way to the foreign magical beings. Yue was the first to speak.

"You are of Clow, are you not? Who are you and where do you come from?"

The butterfly woman raised an eyebrow at Yue and giggled. "You don't have to be so stiff. I am Ruby Moon and this is my partner Spinnel Sun. We are and are not from Clow."

Touya, Yue, and Simion all wore blank faces.

"You are and aren't from Clow..?" Touya said in a disbelieving tone. "So are you or aren't you?"

"What she means is that we are made by Clow's reincarnation." The panther spoke.

"His…reincarnation...?" Yue asked slowly, a light rising in his voice.

"Yes," Spinnel replied, "master Eriol."

OOO

"Are the members of Neo-Clow's Haven ready?" Sakura asked.

Mumbles and muttering of 'yes' came softly from everyone standing in front of her. It was night and they were all wearing cloaks. Each of them were going, Sakura, Syaoran, Eriol, Naoko, Chiharu, Takashi, Tomoyo, Meiling, and Raiden. They were all about to travel to Hikari's land.

"All right, I'm going to seal the Haven up." Sakura said.

She lifted her hands toward the Haven. The gaps closed up with wood and the trees closed in together. What was once the Haven, now looked like a cluster of trees.

"There's no turning back now." Tomoyo said wistfully, mentally saying goodbye to her home.

"We will travel by night only." Eriol announced the members of the Haven. "We will travel silently, to Hikari, and we will attack with the element of surprise."

"Is that all?" Raiden asked incredulously. "You make it sound so simple. We won't be the first to attempt this."

"I know that." Eriol said, grinning a creepy grin.

Syaoran wrapped his arms around Sakura's waist and bent down to whisper in her ear. "I'll go with you all the way. No matter what happens, I'll always protect you and I'll never let you down."

"Thank you, Syaoran." Sakura whispered back.

Syaoran smiled. "Thanks for letting me think that. I know that you're a capable and powerful sorceress, but to just let you run off to a land that you're unfamiliar with…"

"But isn't that what you've been doing, Syaoran?" Sakura said back.

Syaoran shook his head. "Not at first. Banishment was not my choice, it was my mother's."

Sakura gave Syaoran an odd look, but didn't persist. She knew that he would explain everything to her in time.

The members of Neo-Clow's Haven left their keep hold to risk their lives. They flew through the night toward the east in hopes of taking down Hikari and ending his dark reign. All in a days work.

OOO

VictorianPearl: Do you want to know how many times I typed this chapter?

Li: Even if we said no, we know that you would tell us anyway.

VictorianPearl: That's right. It typed it THREE times. That's a lot.

Li: No kidding.

VictorianPearl: Thank you for your patience. Please R&R. One more thing…

Li: Just spit it out.

VictorianPearl: Kingdom Hearts II is coming out in the spring. I'm so STOKED! I am so excited that words cannot describe.

Li: Your volume seems to explain clearly.

VictorianPearl: Thanks for sticking with me reviewers. Ja ne.