Okay, so apparently Camp NaNo means 'cannot update on time'. So sorry for the wait. Tea is kicking my butt into posting (as literally as she can when she's in the timezone just ahead of mine) as I prep this for posting.

Also, I'm sure all of you are going to hate me by the end of this chapter.

Good grief. If I thought I hated Mohs, Gnome was quickly wriggling up right next to the bastard. -Dark

"No, I picked it up from Sorylle. Since she used it rather often around Mohs, I thought it might be appropriate now." -Natalia

Chapter 3.8 - The Four Winds
Part 21

Dark's POV

Ifrit looked panicked. Natalia was panicking. Sync and Seth were exhausted from one thing or another, and now we had a big... thing to deal with.

It looked like some sort of an animal, but I wasn't sure what exactly, and given that Gnome was outright glaring at us, I didn't really care. I just wanted to get my ass out of there.

I glanced back at Ifrit, who was creeping backwards through the alley. He was as cowed by his brother as the rest of us were.

Sync was the first to move, running for Ifrit and dragging the currently-human-shaped sentience off with him. Though, how Ifrit had taken that form, I wasn't sure. I just knew that Sync had the right idea, and we desperately needed to run.

Gnome roared in anger and started spewing something I didn't understand. Sounded like cursing to me, though, and that was more than enough.

"Get back to the Albiore!" I yelled, hoping Sync had heard. If we could get Ifrit out of here...

Hell. If any of us could get out of here, I'd be happy.

"There is no hiding from me! You may have von the battle for the lives of these maggots for now, but I vill find vere you have hidden them!" Gnome yelled. I did my best to ignore him, even as falling debris separated me from Natalia. We had to get back to the Albiores...

"Sorylle, go with her!" I called.

Sorylle's path changed, racing after Natalia now.

"Run, run, like the insects you are..."

Good grief. If I thought I hated Mohs, Gnome was quickly wriggling up right next to the bastard.

I shook that out of my head and kept running.

At least until the mass of second fonons suddenly condensed in front of me. I ended up sliding a ways as I came to an abrupt halt, and the man that appeared had me backing up. Pale skin, dark brown hair cut short, and dangerously-flashing golden-brown eyes.

Gnome could take a human form as well.

I took a couple steps back.

Gnome was singling me out. Why?

"You are all so very small... and useless."

I kept backing up. I had space, best not to let Gnome too close.

"Vhat do you think she vould vant vith you, hm?" he asked. The clothing he wore looked vaguely like a military uniform, and the way he stepped reminded me so much of Jade... if Jade were actually the evil, take-over-the-world sort that he sometimes pretended to be.

There was a vast difference between pretend and reality.

I swallowed. "Who?" Stall, have to stall, if the others get out alive, I've succeeded...

"The princess. You know I've seen a love story like yours before," Gnome continued, even as I bumped into the corner of a building. I dared a glance back at the road I'd been aiming for, then looked at Gnome again.

He'd stopped about two yards away from me. "Yeah?" I asked.

Gnome looked almost nostalgic. In the way the worst sorts of villains remembered the reason why they became villains. I started cursing in my mind.

"Vhy vould she vant you, hm? She is a princess, and there is no shortage of young noblemen for her to choose from. So... vhy the assassin?" Gnome looked amused. "It must have been amusing, playing the part of the loyal pet. But really. Vhen the time comes, if it comes, vith the future I have planned, she vill not keep you. She vill choose another."

My heart screamed at him. My mind reminded me that he was likely just trying to twist the facts.

And there was something they could both agree on.

"If Natalia falls in love with another man, I'll stand by and let her go with my blessing," I said. "But I will never abandon her."

Gnome still looked amused. "Do you truly believe you can have the happily ever after meant for a prince?"

I smirked. "Nah. No such thing as happily ever after. I'm not chasing a fairytale."

Gnome chuckled. "Indeed you are not." He immediately lashed out, and I dipped and spun, one White Lotus chakram flying toward Gnome, the other spinning in a block against the odd brown blast he'd thrown at me.

Then I started running again, and didn't look back. I couldn't. I had to get out of the city, out of Grand Chokmah.

I didn't make it far before I heard voices, and slowed down, because one was so very familiar that I didn't dare just race past.

The other was the sentience I had just run away from.

"Vhat do you think he expects of you, hm?"

I rolled my eyes. Oh, gods. Did he really think Natalia would doubt me where I hadn't doubted her?

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The assassin... you toy vith him, let him think he has a chance. Vhy bother?"

"What?! I don't—mandragora-fucker."

I held back the snort, grateful for two things. First, Ingobert couldn't speak liger. Second, he wasn't here to ask me to translate what he daughter had just called Gnome.

"My, my, vhat a dirty vord. Did he teach you that?"

"No, I picked it up from Sorylle. Since she used it rather often around Mohs, I thought it might be appropriate now."

I gave in and grinned. Yeah, that's my princess. Spunky, stubborn, and not at all impressed with assholes.

Gnome sighed. "So it seems ve have an impasse. You do not see the dangerous game you are playing... and your little assassin friend vill take the fall for it. I am almost tempted to let the two of you live, just to vatch this play out, to prove that I was correct. History is very fond of repeating itself, you see..."

I stepped out of the alley, White Lotus chakrams swinging loosely, almost casually. "I'm not sure what you're expecting to happen, but it won't."

"No? So confident," Gnome said mockingly. "But perhaps you can spare yourself the pain the soldier felt vhen his princess betrayed him, hm?"

I growled, nothing more than a warning.

"Kill her."

"Never," I hissed back.

"So be it. I vill do it instead."

But Natalia was already running, out of his line of sight and hopefully safer than me.

Gnome made a gesture, like he was pulling on something, and the buildings around the alley Natalia had run down collapsed.

I panicked for a moment when I heard Natalia scream, but the panic faded away quickly into amusement.

Gnome didn't know her like I did. He took the bait, not knowing the difference between a fearful scream, a pained scream, and a half-faked scream.

Natalia was afraid. For herself, for me, I wasn't sure. But Gnome hadn't hurt her. And that was the important part.

Gnome turned back to me, apparently quite pleased with himself, and I carefully pulled out the emotionless mask I'd been keeping tucked away since meeting Natalia. He smiled, a false smile meant to make the recipient relax. I'd seen it so often on Jade's face, but now... Now I didn't trust it.

"There. See? It is done."

I tightened my grip on my chakrams and got ready to run. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what Gnome had planned for me.

He held out his hand, a glowing, dark gold ball hovering over his palm. "Come. I vill give you peace."

I eyed the glowing ball, then shook my head. "Over my dead body."

The ball disappeared, and Gnome sighed. "That can be arranged also."

He reached for the building behind me, like he had when he'd brought the ones around Natalia down, and I leapt forward, throwing one chakram at him. I had two escape paths left, but the one behind him was more open than the one I'd come through.

Getting around Gnome was going to be the tricky part, and he seemed to know it.

"O embodiment of anger, descend!"

I grinned. Good choice, Seth.

"Wyvern!"

Gnome hissed at the third-fonon arte, and I managed to slip past him, over toward where Seth had Blood Lily out and at the ready. We didn't stick around long, turning and running as soon as we had a chance. I glanced over at him as we ran. "We've got to get out of here. Have you seen Sorylle?"

"No. No Sorylle, no Sync, no Natalia, and no Ifrit."

I growled a rather long string of curses that thankfully took the space of only about ten seconds. Sometimes I really loved the liger language.

"Dark, Seth!"

I glanced over my shoulder. Well, that's Natalia and Sorylle.

Natalia jumped down from Sorylle's back the moment she could, and ran alongside us. "Are you okay, Dark?"

"Yeah. Nice job with the scream. You definitely fooled him."

"I'm not sure it'll work next time though," Natalia noted, glancing back. I looked back as well, and realized that the giant burrowing animal was back. Gnome snarled at us when he spotted us.

"You vill all perish!"

I growled a couple of insults, but kept running. Natalia, Seth, and Sorylle seemed to have decided that was best as well. That was when the shaking started. Sorylle stumbled, but was able to keep going, while Natalia lost her balance altogether. I dropped back to help her to her feet. Seth ran on ahead, seemingly determined to get to the Albiore as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Seth, go, tell Noelle to get ready to take off!" I shouted. We were close now, so very close...

I caught sight of Sync and Ifrit, also running through the streets and trying to keep their balance. I glanced at Natalia, then ran over to help them. Natalia had figured it out. Ifrit was clumsy, unable to keep his balance at all, and Sync was practically dragging him.

I ran up behind them, looped one of Ifrit's arms over my shoulder, and kept moving. Sync shot me a grateful look, but didn't thank me just yet, even as an unnatural boulder landed in the street next to us, cracking the pavement.

Sync very nearly ran straight into the crevice, but Ifrit pulled away from me and shoved him to the side, to safety.

Then he turned to Gnome, and the fire in his eyes was unmistakable, mostly due to the fact that it was literal fire in his eyes. Gnome had aimed for that boulder to land on us. And now Ifrit was pissed, and the fire was spreading. A moment later, the human shape was gone, and in its place was the 'demon' who'd attacked the night of the festival.

"Vhat nonsense is this?! Ifrit!"

"Leave 'em alone, Gnome!" Ifrit yelled, moving to attack the large animal that was Gnome.

The shaking of the earth beneath our feet didn't stop, but it did lessen, which made it easier for us to run as I hauled Sync back to his feet. He was smaller and faster than I was, but kept glancing back, kept slowing himself down.

"If I cannot kill them myself, I vill let them kill themselves!" I heard Gnome say.

I dared to glance back just in time to see what looked like a giant version of the glowy gold ball from earlier headed for my back.

"Dark, look out!"

I didn't have time to react. Sync shoved me, and the glowing orb hit him instead.

Sync's face screwed up in pain, and he hit the ground, one leg still under him, and head bowed. He moved as if to get up, but didn't, arms simply shaking like they couldn't support his weight.

"Sync? Sync!"

He groaned and I started to shift him, intending to pick him up. I'd carry his ass out of here if I had to.

Half-closed, cloudy green eyes suddenly snapped wide open, except they weren't green anymore. They were brown, and pupil-less, and unnatural. And what Gnome had said...

I jumped back from the boy who had been my friend, but was now my enemy. But I didn't move fast enough, because the fire in my side told me Sync had gotten me with one of his daggers.

Sorylle's Ice Stream gave me a chance to get to my feet and start running, but I could already feel something in my veins...

Oh no.

"Sorylle..."

"Poison!"

"I know..." I murmured, stumbling as I moved to her side. She dropped low enough for me to swing my leg over.

I couldn't flush out poison like Kairi, Asch, Sync, and Jade could. I'd never been taught...

But Natalia had. She'd flushed the poison out of Luke's system when they'd nearly been killed in Baticul.

"Natalia."

Sorylle growled an acknowledgement back, and ran faster. I dared to glance back. Gnome and Ifrit were still fighting, though it was obvious that Ifrit was the weaker party. I hoped he'd hold his own long enough for us to escape.

Sync was racing after us, one hand still holding a bloodied Black Rose dagger. I grimaced as my side started to go numb. Me. That could have been me...

Jade and I had talked about how the poison worked, one time. I'd actually cut myself on one of the White Lotus chakrams purposefully, and let Jade flush out the poison.

First the fire spread. Then everything started to go numb. Then vision started to fade.

We'd learned from Van, Legretta, and Zion that once you passed out, you had about two minutes to live.

Theoretically, longer, but with my heart racing as it was from adrenaline and trying to escape Gnome...

"Dark?!"

Natalia had noticed I was riding Sorylle. I looked past her head and hissed. Anything more than about twenty feet away was blurrier than it should have been.

I was running out of time...

I glanced back. Sync had either fallen behind, or been called off. I wasn't sure either way, and wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Dark?! What's wrong?!"

I turned my head to look at Natalia too quickly, and the entire world spun around, forcing me to close my eyes to force down the nausea.

I almost didn't want to open them again. That I felt so tired, to tempted, scared me.

I wasn't ready to die.

I forced my eyes open again.

Tunnel vision... but at least I could see the Albiore.

"Guys?"

Noelle... That was Noelle...

"Get it in air, we need the Albiore in the air, Dark's poisoned!"

Seth...

I looked over at Natalia, who was giving the gash down my side a worried look. Then the worried look faded, replaced by determination.

The moment we were in the Albiore, Natalia was sliding me off Sorylle's back. I didn't feel the impact with the ground, though I knew I should have.

"Dark, stay with me, I have to go onto the second plane... Dark... Dark?!"

Damn it...

I didn't want to die...

"...Love you..."

Fun Fact: Yup. So that's how the poison on the flower weapons works. Also kinda came back to something from Chapter 1.1.

-steps back and hides in an over-large turtle shell- And now I shall stay here until Friday.