War for Peace
Chapter 12: The End
"What is it that you're not telling me?" asked San, glaring at her friend.
"I really don't know what you mean," replied Kaya, smiling innocently.
The group of three teens and four preteens, along with Captain Weed, were currently waiting at the pool of the Forest Spirit. Captain Weed had his hands bound by rope.
At Iron Town the assassins had found themselves outnumbered and outmatched so it hadn't been long before they had surrendered. Those that weren't killed had been arrested. Now though, San was 'interrogating' Kaya.
"You said there were 'reasons I was unaware of.' What are they?" San demanded.
"I'm not going to tell you," smiled Kaya.
"Kaya, I order you to tell us," said Ashitaka firmly.
His sister placed her hands over her ears. "I can't hear you," she sang.
"Is it something to do with why she's been unwell," asked Ashitaka. Kaya nodded, a grin still plastered on her lips.
"I thought you knew something about that," scowled San, "Why won't you say what's wrong with me?"
"I don't want you to worry about it."
"I already am."
"Yes, but you'd worry even more if I told you."
"Kaya, could you just tell us," said Ashitaka, clearly losing patience.
"No."
"Perhaps we should plan what we're going to do when Yugi gets here," suggested Syaoran.
"How can we plan?" said Sakura, "We don't even know what he looks like."
"Of course you know what he looks like," chirped Captain Weed, getting everyone's attention, "If you'd never seen his face, why would he wear that mask and disguise his voice?"
Right on cue Yugi dropped down from the branches above them. He knocked Sakura and Syaoran out by elbowing them in the back of the neck. He then grabbed Kaya and dragged her over to the pool, a dagger at her throat. This was all done in a matter of seconds. He'd changed his outfit to one that was black with no armour but his red hood and wooden mask remained.
One of the flowers on Captain Weeds head spun like a drill and cut through the rope around his hands. "Enjoy your fate," he laughed as he scuttled off.
"You ruined my plans," he hissed, "so now it's time for the pièce de résistance."
"Sacré bleu," Kaya muttered.
"Alright Yugi," said Ashitaka, "If you let my sister go, perhaps we can work something out."
"I really doubt that. Anyway, I don't intend on letting any of you go. You will all die here!"
"You think you can scare me with your words?" said Kaya, "You surrounded us with your mist and I was unshaken. Why would…" she was interrupted by Yugi's laugher.
"My presence alone was able to make you shudder and I have faith that it can do so again," smiled Yugi, pulling his cloak over his head.
"When did your presence…" Kaya stopped as she saw the horror and shock appear on her friend's faces. "Oh no, no, no," the young princess gasped, realising who it was holding a dagger to her neck and that it was the colour of his hair that the others had noticed.
"Back from the dead," he laughed, finally showing them his face, "I'm Cargo."
"No way," said Ashitaka in disbelief, "Coming back to life is beyond even you."
"Yeah, how can you be here?" Kaya whimpered, her head slumping forward, "I killed you." She choked out the last syllable, her calmness and confidence from moments ago had evaporated.
"You thought killing me would be that easy?" he smiled, "I created a copy of myself using the Twin card. I even used my magic to make him think he was the original me. It was him you were fighting since my latest return. I wanted to give you the illusion that you were finally done with me."
"You never get tired of playing games with us, do you," San hissed.
"Why would I? After all, it's so much fun," giggled Cargo. As he said this, Kaya's shoulders started to shake. For a moment Cargo thought she was quivering in anger, but then he realised. "Oh my, my. I seem to have reduced her to tears."
"It wasn't supposed to end this way," Kaya sobbed.
"Well it is," replied Cargo as he stabbed her in the back. He pulled her around so she was forced to look into his eyes one last time. "The end," he taunted, stabbing her in the side and she toppled to the ground.
In moments Cargo was upon Ashitaka and San. They barely had time to draw their weapons before they were subjected to Cargo's merciless barrage of attacks. Meiling and Tomoyo ran and hid behind a tree. Tomoyo then took out her camera and began to film the ongoing duel.
Ashitaka and San used all of their new skills and techniques; they even threw in some acrobatic moves, but still found themselves outmatched. They couldn't fight in sync so Cargo was able to dominate them and, without his armour, he could use strength and speed greater than before.
Cargo swiftly kicked Ashitaka in his gut and then punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He turned and used his blade to send San's sword flying out of her hands. He proceeded to swipe at her with his blade until he had her backed up against a tree, leaving her with no choice but to scramble up the trunk.
San pulled herself onto a branch and ran down it, only to realise that she was now balancing directing over the water. She prepared to jump onto the next branch but Cargo grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. It was her turn to look into his eyes. "Going down," he smiled, taking hold of her other shoulder and sending her, along with himself, toppling into the water.
Kaya heard the splash and let her face mesh into the grass. "So this is how it ends," she groaned, utterly defeated.
"It's not over yet," whispered a voice.
Underwater, Cargo punched San's gut, causing her to gasp out most of the air in her lungs. She tried to swim to the surface but Cargo held her down until she inhaled water. He then just watched as she began to writhe.
As he believed it was the end for her, it came as quite a shock when a blue outline surrounded the girl and lifted her out of the water. "What?" he shouted. Only when he saw the air rushing passed his eyes, did he realise he had spoken out loud. He hurriedly swam to the surface.
He made his way out of the pool, watching San lying near the edge of the clearing as she choked up water. Once she had expelled the liquid from her lungs she slumped to the ground unconscious.
"How can he not be short of breath after being underwater all that time?" said Meiling, marvelling at the assassin.
"What else would you expect from the finest swordsman in the land?" smirked Cargo before turning to Ashitaka, who, now that his head had stopped spinning, was getting to his feet. "It looks like you're the only one left to fight me." Cargo rapidly moved forwards and the two resumed their duel.
Cargo's strikes were so brilliant and perfectly timed that in moments Ashitaka found himself incapable of fighting back. When his sword was knocked away, he barely had time to bring it back to intercept the next blow. "Just so you know," said Cargo as they continued their bout, "Once I've killed you, I will torture Syaoran and Sakura and make them tell me where you've hidden the black orb and use that to execute my plan. So I'm afraid you're efforts to stop me will have been pointless."
"If your goal is to bring peace," shouted Ashitaka, "then why not use the cards to remove hate?"
"Because you cannot permanently remove love or hate as long as there are people to feel them," he replied. "It might take a long time but hate would return to people's hearts. That's why my way is the only way to ensure peace is retained even after I'm gone."
"You're insane," Ashitaka cried, "why do you believe it is impossible for people to live in peace."
"You'd have to have been locked in a cave and forced to kill your own mother to understand," Cargo hissed. He whacked Ashitaka's blade out of his hand and then pinned him up against a tree using his free hand. Finally it was Ashitaka who looked into his black orbs.
Something struck Cargo hard in his side, although he scarcely flinched. He released Ashitaka and turned to glare at Meiling. "Trying to be heroic?" he spat at her. He then brought his foot up behind him and kicked the dagger out of Ashitaka's hand, sending it spinning into the air. He turned back to Ashitaka and threw him back up against the tree, this time by his throat. "No one tries to stab me in the back and gets away with it," he smiled and his fingers started to choke the prince.
Behind him, the dagger landed in Meiling's hand. Almost without thinking, she stabbed Cargo in the shoulder. He howled in pain and, letting go of Ashitaka, spun around attempting to slice Meiling's head off. Fortunately, Meiling had already ducked, anticipating that, fairly obvious, response.
She wasn't able to avoid Cargo's second response, which was to kick her in the face, sending her sprawling on the ground. Next Cargo attempted to divide Ashitaka with his blade. The young prince moved away and managed to avoid being killed but still received a deep gash in his arm. He fell and Cargo stood over him.
The assassin reached up and pulled the dagger out of his flesh. "That hurt," he said, placing the dagger on his belt, "but the pain will be nothing compared to yours."
He raised his sword in the air, with every intention of finishing the battle. Unfortunately for him, his luck had finally run out. A sharp object slammed into his back. He jerked forwards and dropped his sword. He and Ashitaka both turned to see who was responsible.
It had been San who had thrown the dagger. She, along with Kaya, were back on their feet, the injuries Cargo had inflicted on them had vanished. The preteens were also getting back up, but it was the new figure standing next to Kaya that Cargo was staring at. "Cress," he gasped, "How can you have survived me slashing your gut?"
"I didn't," Cress replied, "but even in the afterlife the Forest Spirit was able to bring me back so I could undo the wrongs I caused."
"Could you have 'undone' the wrongs any closer to the wire," Kaya sarcastically responded.
"It takes time to resurrect someone," said Cress, placing his hand on his right eye and found that it had at last been restored, "I couldn't heal you until I had been brought back. Be thankful I was able to save San."
Ashitaka got to his feet, picking up his sword, while Cargo futilely tried to pull the dagger from his back. "I will ask you nicely to put the sword down," said Cargo, leaving the dagger where it was, despite the pain.
Ashitaka thought of all the people Cargo had hurt, the way he had tricked them and how he had stabbed Kaya and tried to drown San. He raised his sword, wanting it all to be over.
"Now I will ask you not so nicely to put the sword down," said a voice. Everyone except Cargo, who just smiled, turned to where the voice had come from. They saw Captain Weed with one leaf like hand around Tomoyo's arm and the other clasping her camera. One of his flowers was spinning like a drill, dangerously close to her throat.
"I'd forgotten about him," said Kaya, "which is surprising given that he looks like that."
The creature tossed Tomoyo's camera into the water. "My camera," Tomoyo moaned.
"Thank you," Sakura and Syaoran whispered together.
"Drop the sword or the girl dies." Cargo spoke through clenched teeth, trying to hide the pain he was in.
Ashitaka threw his sword to the ground while Cargo moved behind him, pressing a dagger into his back.
San, Cress and the preteens watched uneasily but Kaya seemed calm. In fact, now that Cargo couldn't see his face, even Ashitaka seemed to have relaxed. Kaya had been lying when saying she'd forgotten about the Captain. The siblings had anticipated this. Why else would Cargo have told them to bring Captain Weed here? Kaya hid a blade behind her back as she watched her brother slowly pull a dagger from Cargo's belt. Normally Cargo would notice this but his wounds had greatly weakened him and Captain Weed was too busy taunting Tomoyo to see what was going on.
As his blood stained his sleeve, Cargo noted that perhaps he shouldn't have removed the knife from his shoulder. He also realised that the end was near when his vision started to blur.
While his vision deteriorated, memories that had been obscured started to come into focus. He smiled at the memories of his mother; it had been so long since he was able to remember her from before being locked in that cave.
He was only able to enjoy them for a few moments. Ashitaka brought his dagger up at the same time Kaya threw hers. They both hit their mark. Cargo fell back, while Captain Weed dissolved into mist, which dissolved into nothing.
As Cargo's body hit the ground, a small boy appeared in the clearing, although, nobody could see him. The boy, about the age of nine, looked around. "Where am I?"
"Cargo," whispered a soft voice.
The boy turned around. "Mama," he cried happily, running into her arms. The two spirits disappeared to the afterlife, where they could be together again at last.
Cress walked over to Ashitaka and healed his wounds. "Well I can be going now that I've fixed my mistakes," he smiled, as he started to fade away. "My reward is to be with my family again." Then he vanished completed.
Kaya walked over to San, a mischievous grin on her. Cress had fully restored Kaya's appearance to how it had been a week ago, any trace of the damage the emerald had caused was gone. "Now that it's all over, should I tell you the secret I've been hiding or should I continue to torment you?"
San glared at her. "If you don't tell me right now, I will hang you upside down from the nearest tree."
Kaya just smiled back. "I'd really liked to see you try," she sniggered.
"I'd help her out," said Ashitaka, walking over and standing next to San.
"No fair," Kaya scowled, but then smiled. "Alright I'll tell you. You've not been unwell San, you're pregnant."
"What?" exclaimed Ashitaka and San in unison.
"Morning sickness, hot flushes, it all adds up," Kaya giggled.
Ashitaka and San looked at each other in shock as the news sunk in. Then their expressions filled with joy. Ashitaka put his arm around his love and kissed her in celebration. Sakura and Syaoran kissed as well while Kaya, Tomoyo and Meiling smiled at the happy ending.
The End