Chapter 20

Split Personality

Terrad, having been searching for three hours, rested his weary body against a large tree trunk, wiping a tear from his right eye. He still had not found Yami, and he knew the chances of finding her alive was slimming with each passing minute. He called out to her again, his voice cracking; it was becoming more and more difficult to fight back the emotion that was bubbling to the surface. Then something flashed in the woods. Maybe someone was out there, possibly Yami? He ran forward, using his sword to knock down all the trees in his way, the immense amount of pressure building inside him, causing him to transform to his fourth form before he made it to the spot where the light had flashed. It looked like a bomb had gone off, but in reverse, everything had fallen into one small, circular area. A feeble whimper came from beneath the mass of various shrubbery and trees. Terrad rushed forward, moving trees and bushes as quickly as possible without harming whoever or whatever was underneath. The first thing Terrad saw was a black fur. His eyebrows furrowed as he stopped for a minute before deciding to continue on, in hopes that maybe Yami was still there. Suddenly, as Terrad removed a rather large and heavy tree trunk, a slender, black panther jumped up out of the rubble, leaping over Terrad's head and landing behind him, sliding its paws enough to turn it back to face Terrad who stood frozen, not quite understanding what had just happened. The Panther cocked its furry, black head to the right and looked Terrad up and down with its purple eyes. Something about this giant cat was very familiar to Terrad and a feeling inside him urged him to say:

"Yami?" The cat stood up on all fours from its sitting position and its eyes grew even more large almost like saying that "yes, it is me." Terrad's eyes widened as well, first with shock, then with and utterly uncontrollable feeling of relief. He ran at the cat that flinched but threw herself up on her hind legs, to give Terrad as much of a human-like hug as she could. "Are you able to speak?" Yami shook her head a little and turned to the spot Terrad had just dug her out of. He didn't quite understand what had happened. "Well, let's get back to the others; maybe Ky-Kie can heal you or something." They set off towards the main building where everyone else was currently stationed.

Kye backed off a bit from the person he had just pinned to the tree. "Yami, what the hell?" He pulled his arm from what had been her shoulder, and his hand went right through. "Wh-…are you dead?" Yami looked confused but looked down at herself none the less. A gasp escaped her throat when she noticed that she could see right through her stomach to the tree behind her. She looked up in time to see Amira thrust her fist through her face. Yami flinched but felt nothing.

"Just as I thought," Amira said, taking a step back and turning to Kye. "Tsuyo had powers to alter reality. Your not dead, if you were Kye wouldn't have been able to pin you against the tree before. Your body has simply taken another form, your spiritual form, since your spirit is no longer inside your body to regulate the way you look. See, your spirit is an animal form, and it lives inside you, fueling your human form. But what Tsuyo's powers have don't to you is switched you around so your body is now your spiritual animal and your spirit is human, what I don't get is why your spirit is not in your body."



"Perhaps this is just a piece of her spirit, and the rest is still inside her body?" Kye added thoughtfully.

"Yes, that could be true, good thinking Kye." Amira said, giving Kye a pat on the back, half jokingly. All the while Yami watched from in front of the blood wood tree, completely confused as to what was happening. "Ok Yami, we need to send your spirit back to your body now." Amira stared around. "There has to be something in the darkness realm that had properties to do such a thing." Kye looked at Yami and suddenly threw up his arm.

"I got it! It's the blood wood tree! She was solid until I pushed her into the tree right? What if we tree pushing her into the tree again?"

"It's worth a try" Yami said, speaking for the first time and causing Amira to jump slightly. Kye advanced on Yami, forcing her against the tree, which felt solid. He was right in front of her before he held out both arms and shoved her, his hands went straight through and he slipped, causing him to bang his head on the trunk of the tree.

"Oww! Dangit all to hell!" Amira smirked a little.

"I figured it wouldn't work if you did it Kye, she isn't solid, watch this." Amira advanced to the same arms up position Kye had been in before he hit his head, only Amira's hands began to glow a strange purple color before slamming them into Yami's shoulders. Yami fell backwards, shocked by the sudden pressure on her body as she fell into the tree, stumbling into darkness.

Terrad and Yami's body had arrived on the field, near the group of people whom had been found and immediately heads began turning as they noticed Terrad smiling and a rather large, slender, black panther standing by his side, her purple eyes shining in the sunlight. Barex stepped forward, his leg having been healed by Ky-Kie only minutes before. Terrad stopped, as did the panther, as Barex stopped right in front of them and knelt down by the panther.

"You can't possibly be…Yami?" The Panther gave a little jump, landing her front paws on the crouched shoulders of her leader, Barex, staring with her purple eyes into his. And he suddenly understood that it was her. "I am glad you are okay, but what-" He didn't have time to finish due to a large light which began to surround the Panther. It rose up into the air, the wiping wind knocking back everyone, including Terrad, who had been close to her. A blinding, purple light engulfed the captain of the darkness squad. As the light began to dim, Terrad stood up and walked beneath the spot where Yami had been pulled into the sky, and suddenly thrust out his arms to catch the rapidly falling figure. Yami, with her human form and soul completely intact and back to normal, fell into Terrad's arms and he kissed her before she could even tell where she was.

Amira and Kye watched it all unfold from the safety of the darkness realm, using Amira's power to see anything that was happening anywhere at any time.

"Aw, how cute." Kye said.



"Yeah, if your into that." Amira said, slightly smiling.

"So Barex," Terrad asked. "Where are Isuzu, Asari, and Rei? Have they not been found yet?"

"No, they have not, we are begging a search party very soon, you and Yami should prepare yourselves and come with us."

"Sure thing." Both Yami and Terrad answered at the same time and turned to each other, smiling at the fact that their search for each other was over and that both were alright.