A/N: Yeah. I lied. This is the last Sayuri flashback. XD
Oh come on! This chapter was a fight scene damn near! D:
No. Sayuri can't be asked something so dire... No, she can't be asked to save the world! Not again! And with Jessica kidnapped a second time—she can't bare to look Lady Kaelyn in the face, the sacred fortune-teller that asked to see her and her friends. The blonde fortune-teller sits before Sayuri and her friends, intent on getting their attention with the look in her eyes. Panting heavily from just telling them something from the future, Lady Kaelyn puts her hand on the desk, trying desperately to look at them.
"Lady Kaelyn!" Nina says, jumping out of her chair.
"Please, don't feel any pain for me," she pants. "Jessica's death brings with it this land's extinction. There is nothing that can change that future. No matter how many times I foresee that bleak future, the land's destruction is inescapable." Sayuri looks down into her lap as the other members of her party pay close attention to what Lady Kaeyln has to say. "But if you can manage to save Jessica, perhaps it can be adverted. I would like to—argh—pin my hopes on that. I'm seen all over the world as a woman with high fortune-teller powers, but look at me." She pauses, looking up at the ceiling. "My body wrecked from telling the very things I'm known for. Unable to help anyone. Unable to save my friend." She puts both of her hands on the desk, looking directly at Sayuri. "Please! Save Jessica. Save the world! I beg you!"
Sayuri just stares at Lady Kaelyn with an unsure frown on her face. "Miss Kaelyn... Please stop... You can't... Please, don't ask me to get involved with the fate of an entire planet...!" Isleen automatically looks towards her leader.
"Sayuri..."
Sayuri stands up on her two feet, looking around the room. "Jessica's one thing... But... An entire planet..." She turns around, looking towards the wall. "I... I can't. Not... Not again!"
"Foolish... Human..." Lady Kaelyn says, trying with everything she has to get out of her chair. She only ends up falling over sideways. Isleen, Nina, Riona, and Leyiko rise to their feet, trying to see if Lady Kaelyn is all right. All four girls work hard to tuck her in her bed, throwing her blankets over her. Lady Kaelyn is broken out in a cold sweat, twitching. Isleen stands on the far side of the room, holding both of her hands together. Sayuri glances over to her animal-teammate, frowning.
"She's out cold!" Nina says, shaking her head.
Isleen looks at Lady Kaelyn with fire in her eyes. "Let's go. To the Purgatorial."
"Isleen..." Sayuri mutters as everyone walks over to the two. The Summoner of Change turns around to face Sayuri.
"Frankly I don't believe in this so-called resurrection business... But it's clear that Jessica is in grave danger nonetheless."
Leyiko nods her head, looking towards the bed-ridden fortune-teller. Riona shakes her head, stands up, and puts her scythe against the wall. Not being one of many words, she sits back down in the chair in which she gets up from. She only intervenes when she has to. "She still isn't showing any signs of waking up... And we don't have any way of getting inside of the Purgatorial either..." Leyiko says, blinking.
"Then we'll just have to make one! Even if it means blowing up the entire structure!" Isleen says frankly, looking at Leyiko. Sayuri gasps, her eyes glued to Isleen.
"No way! I'm not going to let you do anything that crazy!" Sayuri says, shaking her head. Isleen steps back, taken aback by Sayuri's outburst.
"Then what would you have us do!?"
"Wait," Sayuri says, looking towards Lady Kaelyn. "Wait until Kaelyn wakes up."
"We don't have time for that!" Isleen shouts, looking at the ground.
"She told us to go to the Purgatorial to stop the rituals," Sayuri says, taking a step closer to Isleen. Sayuri is a bit angry, but she is trying her best to stay calm. "But we don't have anyway of getting deeper inside. Kaelyn must be aware of that." She pauses, walking towards Lady Kaeyln "She knows how to get inside. She has to. I'm sure of it." Isleen refuses to make any kind of eye contact with Sayuri, looking at the empty space in front of her.
"Don't you understand Sayuri?! You heard what they'll do to Jessica!" Isleen says, her voice cracking a bit. She looks up at Sayuri, trying to get the real reason out of her eyes. "Are you just going to give up on her?! On this world itself—!?"
"Isleen that's not what I'm saying—!!!" Sayuri shouts back at her, making even Leyiko jump in fear.
"You may as well be!" Isleen interrupts, swiping her arm across the air. "If you were the Sayuri I knew...!!" She looks towards Sayuri and, in a failed attempted to keep eye-contact, looks the other way. "You wouldn't have even hesitated!" She says, stepping towards the door, once again denying Sayuri of eye contact. "Even when we were on Earth... In Spectra... In the Dark Ages... " She pauses, looking back at Sayuri. "You never took your eyes off your goal or let anything scare you! You always moved forward! That's the whole reason I wanted to come with you!"
"Me?!" Sayuri interrupts. "I'm the girl who damned the Dark Ages just because I didn't think things through!! I think about that happening again... And I get so scared I—I... I can't even move!"
"But what about Suzuki?! You fought for him when he was in trouble!"
"Damn right I did! But that's not going to make this fear go away!"
"Both of you stop it!" Riona says, stomping on the ground. Her straight black hair hangs in her eyes. The two Summoners gasp and turn towards her. Riona looks at Sayuri. "Let me ask you one thing. You're not giving up on Jessica, are you?"
"Of course not," Sayuri answers with no hesitation. Riona then looks at Isleen.
"Isleen, I understand your concern for our friends, but you too have to understand that our leader is Sayuri," Riona says, nodding her head.
"All right," Isleen answers, looking down on the ground. Nina looks at the Summoner of Death with wide eyes, her mouth open.
"Riona. Wow..." Nina says in admiration. "I wouldn't want to get on your bad side." To this, Riona only chuckles to herself. And they all stand before Lady Kaelyn shows signs of getting up. Lady Kaelyn sits up on her bed, sleepy, and looks towards Riona. She sees Isleen and Sayuri standing with their backs towards each other.
"Girl," she says, referring to Riona. "Tell me what happened."
"Well you see..." Riona says, looking behind her. "We were talking about how to get inside the Purgatorial and well... There was a difference of opinion..." Lady Kaelyn looks up and sighs, pulling a card out of her bra.
"Here, take this," she says. "I suppose if I would have given this to your earlier, you could have skipped the whole thing in the first place. That was my fault. I suppose if you would have rushed in the Purgatorial without the key, you would have gotten Jessica killed." Isleen takes one step back, but proceeds to smile at Sayuri.
"It looks like you made the right call, Sayuri," she admits, forcing a smile.
"Yeah..." Sayuri says despondently. Nina throws her arm up into the air and runs towards the door.
"We've got the card guys! Let's go already!!" She makes it out of the room, Leyiko and Renee soon following after her. Sayuri and Isleen try to follow them, but Lady Kaelyn puts her hand out.
"Human. I don't know what it is that frightens you..." She says, putting her hand on her knee. "And neither do I care, but I will say this. Stop being so full of yourself," she hisses, scowling. "It's ridiculous!"
"Wha?!" Sayuri says, turning around. Isleen gasps and looks at Sayuri.
"The universe is endless. Its skies are vast an unknowing. If you presume to think you can carry it all yourself, you're a fool. It is the stars that proceed to carry it all together. They determine if life survives, or dies. Or are you so arrogant as to believe you can manipulate fate itself? Don't be so presumptuous, you idiot."
"No, that's not it at all—!"
"What you are capable of doing, and the influence you wield is limited. Yes, something you trigger might develop into an enormous wave, taking up everything... Yes, the fate of an entire world might even be swayed, but your actions alone are not enough. A great many factors conspire to bring a world's fate to its final conclusion."
"Lady Kaelyn..." Sayuri mutters. She wants to say something but the fortune-teller out-tunes the Summoner of Time.
"Fret! Fear! Weep if you must, but do not stop! Leave pride by the wayside. Move forward with every fiber of your being, and you will begin to discover what you are capable of. Insignificant as you are, you will discover something that only you must do. That is the path you must walk." The blonde then looks towards Isleen.
"You there. You're from Earth too aren't you? Stay with the foolish human. You with the power of the divine Goddess Spectra inside of you—child of hope."
"Inside of me...?" Isleen mutters. And for some reason, words can't seem to express the gratitude she feels. She only nods her head, blinking tears away "Yes Ma'm!" And the two of them walk outside to meet their team. Sayuri stands, looking at everyone intently.
"Guys, give me more time. The old Sayuri may be coming back."
-: Chapter Twenty-Five: Nails For Breakfast, Tacks For Snacks :-
The could not do
The lies inside you
The would not do
The dwells inside you
The could not do
The lives inside you
The should not do
The dwells inside you
The could not do
That's how it started
— "How It Started" — Rublebee
So this Cecelia person thought that she was going to get the upper-hand on us? Well, I wasn't going to let her try and take anything away from us! It was one against five! How hard could that be, right? I gripped my wand, all of my attention focused on that blue-haired freak-of-nature standing right in front of me! Who did she think she was, just standing in front of us all calm? I bet she thought that we couldn't beat her! I couldn't tell. She had no emotion in her face for me to tell. "Wow Summoner Sayuri. Such a stance... You fight different from the last time I fought you so many years ago. I don't expect your pitiful human brain to remember such a time in which we battled, but perhaps when I kill you we can find out?"
What?! I jerked back a little. "I have never seen you in my life!" I screamed at her. Damn right I had never seen her in my life! Who was she? And why did everyone in the Dark Ages claim to know me? Was I missing something here? Yeah, the people in this city knew me because they heard about me... But there were people who knew me because they had met me... That's it! Maybe I had just been playing this little game all wrong! I gritted my teeth, my grip tightening around my wand. "If you want to fight and see what I can do..." I said, pointing my wand at her. "Then let's go! Everyone! Let's go!"
"Don't get yourself hurt okay, Sayuri?" Kokoro said, spinning his Orb of Fire on his index finger. I didn't need him to tell me anything! I got all of these fights now! Yeah sure, I'd always end up hurt after all of them, but the fact of the matter was that I always won them! I couldn't be afraid of getting hurt in a battle! It was a battle, for Hana's sake! Of course I was going to get hurt! The orb on his finger was surrounded by flames. I thought he was going to get burned, but he's Kokoro, after all. The Summoner of Fire. He doesn't get burned. Ha, showoff. He threw the thing into the air and as soon as it came down, he kicked it towards Cecelia.
It came at her lightning fast, and that's when Miyuki threw like ten cards in front of her. They weren't cards anymore; they were like these razor-sharp things... Morta knew what to do and she came from the side, coming in closer towards Cecelia. She wasn't afraid. Why wasn't Morta afraid of being hurt by Cecelia? I sure as hell would have been afraid. Cecelia wasn't even human... She was like a robot thing... Which meant that Morta's scythe probably had no effect on Cecelia! That's what she wanted to do... She wanted to put a huge gap in between us so we would run up, thinking she could be cut by blades and stuff.
I had no time. This was an intense moment, so I did what was best. "Freeze!" I yelled, putting my hands out. I wanted to stop time around Morta, but she was too close to Cecelia. Nah, but that wasn't the problem! For some reason, I didn't stop time at all! The smoke around Cecelia disappeared and Miyuki's cards bounced off of her. I was right. Cecelia was made out of pure metal and nothing else. And she did something really weird to my time magic. A blue anagram appeared around her and... Believe me or not... My time magic just disappeared all together. Like it died.
The purple light just fell towards the ground.
Morta stopped, putting her scythe to her side. "Who are you?" she asked, and it was the same thing I wanted to know. "You claim you know my leader, so there must be something more to you Cecelia Leingod. There's something you're not letting us know." Morta was... So much stronger than I was. Here I was standing in the same place... And practically my whole team was surrounding Cecelia, save Chio. She had summoned Shiva, so Shiva was standing in front of Cecelia. Since we were outside I guess—it wasn't as cold. Either that or Chio could control the temperature around us now... If only... If only I had the same strength as my friends!
"Silly, I told you all who I am," Cecelia said, flipping her hair. "I am who I am, and nothing is going to change that. I go by many names, but the one I like best is Cecelia the Azure." Next thing I know, Cecelia closed her eyes and there were like... Okay, how do I explain this over my fear? You know what this place looked like when the knighting was still going on? With all of those people standing around? It was packed! Now picture that, but now all of those people are replaced by Cecelias. I'm not even kidding right now, tens... Hundreds... Thousands of Cecelias crowded around us. I turned around and chewed my bottom lip, gripping my wand. "Today, I'm going to earn a new title," she said, spinning around. "I'm going to be known as the person who killed four Summoners and their Guardian!"
Dude, Kokoro and Morta didn't even care. They had been Summoners longer than Chio, but... Kokoro's hands were covered in flames and he just started punching any Cecelias he saw. They were trying to fight him back, but with every punch he threw... He was amazing! He was punching them through the stomach—machine parts flying into the air. "Gah! All of these things... Every time I take one out three more take its place! Is this what Cecelia's capable of?" He wasn't even breaking a sweat! And Morta was just ten times worse. She had her scythe and she was just making a pathway for herself to clear through. With her long-ranged weapon, she was just clearing those robots out.
"Keep your eyes on the real Cecelia!" Miyuki said, breaking out her marital art techniques. She used her cat genetics and was even jumping on their heads. Chio however, needed my help. She backed up at the sight of Cecelias coming closer to her, not knowing what to do. I was going to help her, but Shiva ran through the crowd, a handful of robots turning into ice sculptures by the time she reached Chio. It was impressive. Shiva picked Chio up and sat her on top of her shoulder. Chio gripped her staff, a little scared of falling off.
"Are you okay, Summoner Chio?" Shiva asked, standing in one place. The wind that always came up from around her feet and up her body was acting like a shield, so the Cecelia robots were staying away from them. Without words, Chio nodded her head. Why weren't the robots after me...? What was I doing that made me so special? I didn't want to fight... But I wanted to keep my friends out of harm's way! Why was I so useless?
"Damn it!" Morta muttered. "I lost the real one, they all look alike..." That's it, I couldn't take it anymore! I had to help them! They couldn't do all the work! This is how they must have felt when I was taking on Lucrecia. That's right. Lucrecia was here, wasn't she? She loved to fight more than anyone I knew! Where the hell was she at? I looked up on the stage and she was just standing... Watching us with some other guys. Defina, Naira, Aysel, Renata, and some dude I didn't know. She didn't look all too happy. If she had enough nerve to fight me... Without even knowing me... Then I knew she could help us fight Cecelia!
This was making me mad! I balled up both of my fists and looked down at the ground. "Lucrecia!!!" I shouted. That caught her attention and she looked right at me. I looked her in the eye, trying to keep my cool but I knew my emotions were eating at me. "What the hell are you moping around here for!? Get down here and fight!! Your job is to protect Renata and Aysel, right?" I paused, feeling my nostrils flair up. That's all it took to get me angry. When someone didn't do their job! "Get down here and fight already!!!" At first she looked at me—as sad as I had ever seen her. And then her frown turned into a smirk.
"Come and get me," she challenged, throwing her hands playfully towards me. Err, that... That...
"Gnaaaaaah!!!" I yelled, charging into the crowd. I was going to get her all right! I swung everywhere I could, stabbing the machines in every vital area I could find! I was stabbing the Cecelia clones in their necks with the end of my wand, mostly. They just fell towards the ground when I pulled my wand out. After they fell, they would disappear. "Just watch me find you, Cecelia!! I'm going to find the real you, and when I do, you'll wish you never even started this battle!!" I stopped for a second, watching my wand glow green. "There has been unfairness done to me. I summon the elements, I invoke them! I conjure them to do my bidding. The four watchtowers shall lay their eyes and minds. There shall be fear and guilt and bad blood! there shall be submission and no pity! I point the threefold law against thee! It shall be pointed threefold, a hundred fold is the cost for my anger and pain! Thee shall be blinded by the fear, blinded by the pain, blinded by me, binded by me... Cursed by me! So mote it be! Arise, Snakey!" Yeah. I had to call the snake again. The first time I called him I didn't know what to do. That wasn't going to happen again! I swore it!! I thrust my wand into the ground and Snakey came out of the earth. I stood on top of his head while he did it, so I was high in the sky now.
"Summoner S-s-sayuri. You smell... different... Are you ready now?"
"More than ready!" I said. "More than ready! Let's go Snakey!"
I motioned my wand towards the ground and he slammed his whole body down into the crowd of Cecelias. I don't know if I squashed my friends, but I knew that if they saw a huge shadow over their heads, they would have known it was me. I had basically just made myself a gateway towards the stage. I couldn't be bothered with making my way through all of those machines. Once I got my first foot on the stage, Snakey disappeared, and the only person I was interested in was Lucrecia. I don't know why the rest of Aysel's guard didn't charge in as soon as Cecelia split apart, but there was something wrong with Lucrecia, and I was going to find out what!
"What are you doing, Summoner Sayuri!?" Aysel said, jumping out of her seat. "Save my kingdom!" What?! Was she asking me to save her kingdom after what she had done to me not too long ago?! I was going to—grah!
"Can it you old hag!!" I hissed, swiping my arm across the air. "You don't tell me what to do! Unless you're going to get your butt in that crowd, then you have no right to order me around! I'm not Enlightened... So don't treat me like I'm a part of your world!" I had to lay down the law! I was Summoner Sayuri... A solider from Spectra! Born and bred in Earth! I didn't come from this place and I didn't plan on coming from this place either! I walked towards Lucrecia, who put one of her arms on her hips. "You... You can help us," I said, grabbing her fleshy-hand. What was I doing, though?! Lucrecia would end up killing me, wouldn't she?! I didn't even care about all of that. "If there's anyone I know that can help us, it's you."
"Let go of me," she spat. "I can help you. So fucking what? What do you want me to do? Wish you luck?" Gah!! She knew exactly what I was talking about! "You looked like you were doing such a great job a moment ago! Why do you need my damn help, Sa-yu-ri?" She said it like she got a kick out of me asking her for help! And I would admit it! I didn't like getting help from other people! It was just... Getting help from anyone else besides yourself was stupid! I shook my head, noticing those robot things getting the best of Miyuki. She was kinda moving slower like she needed a breather or two. Without warning, I pointed my wand at them. Okay, I'll admit that if my aim was off I could have hit Miyuki, but right now I didn't care about all of that!
"Read, aim, fire!" I said, my whole wand glowing red. It made that little laser-cannon sound before a huge wave of fire escaped from it. I put my wand to my side again, looking at Lucrecia from the corner from my eyes. "If my friends end up being hurt... If my friends come out of this with so much as a scratch, I'll never forgive you! Hurting me is one thing, but when it comes to my friends... When their lives are on the line... I'm the one responsible for them! I'm their leader, and I make the best possible choices for them! You know what that means?! That means that I get to do whatever I think is best for the situation. Lucrecia, I... I need you to help me." I don't know what came over me just then. My eyes started getting teary and I think my smile cracked. "P—Please. Please just... Stop being a bitch and help me."
"The Summoner is right," Naira said, sighing. "It would be quite dishonorable if we were to just stand here and watch them struggle against this unknown opponent. We all need to join in on this fight to make sure none of them end up hurt. Queen Aysel, if I may." Naira looked towards Aysel, wanting the okay.
"Absolutely not—"
"Tag you're it!!" I yelled. I dropped Lucrecia's hand and ran behind Naira, pushing her forward. Yeah, take that Aysel! I knew what she was going to say! She was going to tell her that she couldn't help us! But Naira's job was to fight! Aysel wasn't a good leader! She didn't know what the heck she was doing, so I decided to take matters into my own hands!
"What are you doing—?!" Naira hissed before falling into the crowd. I turned towards Aysel and Renata. Renata had a defeated look on her face... I ran over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. Chase was standing with them too. I didn't have to worry about Chase. I knew he would help us regardless.
"Renata, it's okay. We're going to fix this. All of this." I tried to smile, and I think I did a really good job with trying to fake one. Renata didn't turn around and look at me though. Instead, she fell down on her knees, folding her hands near her heart. "Renata... Please... Don't take this out on yourself. This would have happened anyway... I..." She... She didn't need to feel pain for this. This was Cecelia's fault, not hers. And the key thing here was that no one had gotten hurt! They all ran before Cecelia split herself up...
"So much fighting. So much destruction... Summoner Sayuri, when will it end?" Renata looked into the sky, but I really didn't know what to tell her. How did she expect me to know the answer to her question?
"Honestly," I said, licking my lips. "I don't—" I felt something behind me. Creeping up on me. I thrust my elbow back and I hit something in the jaw. It was a Cecelia clone, but it was cloaked! "Sonofa," I said, turning around and facing Lucrecia. "They can make themselves invisible too? That's great! Just great! Lucrecia, Chase! Let's do this again like old times, say? We need you guys to help us! We can't save this place alone!" Chase grabbed the hilt of his sword, looking at me with intense eyes. That was Chase for you. Always standing up in the face of danger. That old guy had a lot of respect from me.
"Summoner Sayuri... Don't let them see you cry." What was he talking about? I was trying to figure out what he was getting at. I looked to my right, looked to my left, and then I touched my face. So a tear had decided to fall out of my eyes. I touched it and shook my head. It was nothing, honestly! I was just feeling too many emotions and you know how things like that can go... I just... "I'll fight for you until you accomplish your goal." I heard Renata saying something like that during the knighting, even though I couldn't see her. Heck, she talked about the goal we Summoners had, but I didn't even know that goal.
"What goal is that?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Freedom." And then he just jumped into the fray. Fearless. I shook my head, not knowing what to say. Freedom? I wanted freedom. I wanted to be able to take my eyes away from stuff like this. I didn't want to be a Summoner anymore... And instead of fighting all of these people... Traveling from world to world and getting my ass handed to me on a silver plate, I wanted nothing more than to just spend my time with my mother. Chase was right. I wanted freedom. And I would fight to the death for my freedom, making sure everyone is alive to celebrate that freedom with me!
"Renata, it's going to be okay..." I coxed, trying to make her feel better. The last thing we needed was Renata getting hurt. I was going to say something else, but I think my ear drums popped. There was a loud explosion... Something just... I turned around quickly, trying to see what it was. Well, what do ya know? It was Lucrecia in all of her exploding-blue-stuff glory, pointing at a section of the crowd and firing at will. I kid you not, there was a complete circle... Just... There wasn't a robot in sight. My jaw dropped. She had incinerated those things! And that could have been me at any moment! I looked at Lucrecia and she had this toothy leer on her face. He hand was still extended towards the circle, a blue mist coming from her hand.
"I think you're going to need my help, Sa-yu-ri." If she says my name like that one more time, I'll scream. "I'm the only one who knows how to fight them—I've done it plenty of times before. Watch and learn, idiot." With that said, she just walked into the crowd of robots with no fear. All I saw was that same blue mist after that. Then she started to talk to me inside of my head. "You know, they haven't even gotten to the fun part yet!" Oh my God that was weird! Her voice sounded all echoey and whatnot! I thought she could only talk to Enlightened Ones in her head! I was getting lightheaded, but then I snapped back into reality.
"The fun part?!" I squeaked. All of the robots stopped moving... And I heard the worse sound I ever think I will hear in my life. Bones... Bones from every part of their bodies just shot out... It was worse than when Lucrecia took out Natalie's thingamawhatsit. I almost puked, but I managed to hold it in. I started blinking really fast... Skin was everywhere on the ground, but those bones looked like they were really sharp. One of the robots even had bones sticking out of its eyes! It was like a horror movie I knew I didn't want to see but my friends still bought me to see anyway!
I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders, and it was Defina. "Are you okay, Summoner?"
I wasn't okay. But there was no way in hell I was going to tell Defina I just wanted to get the hell out of there. I—I... I just nodded my head. If I lost my cool... Miyuki! Morta! Kokoro! I got back on my feet, clutching my wand. "Dance! Dance! Dance! Hahaha! Make sure no one stands!!" That woman! It was Cecelia! That meant that she was still alive! And now the robots were twirling around! I had to get back in the game! I put my hand on Defina's, prompting her to let go of me.
"That's my cue," I said, scoffing. "Defina, you make sure Renata stays right here. Don't let her get involved with this. Whatever happens happens." I gave one last look at Aysel and gritted my teeth. Now she was smirking. Oh ho ho. I knew why she was smirking. She was smirking because I bet she thought we were going to save her! Whatever! "I'm going to clear this place out!" I was going to run for the edge of the stage, but I heard my name being called. It was definitely by someone who I didn't know, so it must have been that dude that I didn't know. Why the hell wasn't he doing anything? I had to go save my friends—I didn't have time to play catch-up...
"Summoner Sayuri," he said, just staying back there were he was. "You and your friends fight well."
"Yeah, yeah I know." I couldn't afford to lose anymore time, so I jumped in, my wand glowing blue. Water swirled all around me—but the amazing part was that the water was cutting all of the robot's bones around me! Could my powers actually do something like that? It was amazing! I stood back up, my eyes dark. I wasn't going to let myself die from this! "Show yourself, Cecelia!" I was going to take another step, but... But... I looked ahead of me. All of the robots disappeared and... And... "Kohana?!" I choked on the air I was breathing. "K-kohana?"
She was... Walking towards me. Kohana was walking towards me. But she was smiling and had on her sundress and hat. She was holding a bouquet of flowers in her hands. The trees were green and the wind was blowing... "Sayuri? Sayuri dear, are you okay?" He voice was heavenly. Lovely. That was the old Kohana in front of me. Had I finally won? I had finally found Kohana? I was so happy that I couldn't figure out anything else to say. I smiled, tears just pouring out of my eyes. She walked towards me, giggling almost, telling me how much she loved me and how I should get off the ground.
But I couldn't move! The sun was shining down on the both of us and we were right in my backyard. Right underneath the cherry blossoms. It was just like old times. Just like the old times... Kohana knelled down and hugged me, running her fingers through my hair. I think the best part about all of this was that she smelled like flowers... My mom smelled like flowers and I could smell them on her perfectly. "Aww, what's the matter, dear? Did you have a bad dream?" She was always asking me that. Whenever I was sad, she would ask me if I had a bad dream... I did. I did have a bad dream. And I was going to tell her everything... "I love you, Sayuri!"
"I—I..." I said, struggling to form words. "I love you too, Mom."
Something snapped after that. I looked in front of me, and my mom... My mom's head just popped clean off, like someone had just cut it before my eyes! Everything in my body stopped working. My blood stopped flowing... My heart stopped pounding, and it was at that moment that I felt like I wanted to curl up into a little ball and die. "Sayuri! Sayuri!" I didn't want to answer. Who was that? I wanted to see if Kohana was okay! I wanted to see if my mom would make it! I—I... "Sayuri! Wake up!!" I opened my eyes and Morta was in front of me, shaking me. We were still surrounded by the robots and I blinked. My eyes were really dilated...
"Where's Kohana!? Where's my mother?!" I shrieked, grasping Morta's arms. "I just saw her, where did she go!?! What did you do!?" I screamed. Morta brushed my hands off her shoulders.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but you almost got yourself killed," Morta said, helping me stand. "What were you doing there? You practically let that clone hug you, and then... Sayuri, what just happened to you back there?" What? I looked down at the ground and I blinked my tears away. I... I... So it was all just an illusion? It wasn't a dream...
No, that had to be a dream. But it was so real—I didn't know what had happened to me back there just a second ago! Morta put her scythe in front of me and she looked into the crowd of Cecelia clones with intensive brown eyes. "Sayuri, I'm not quite sure what just happened to you, but if I hadn't of seen you just standing there, you wouldn't be here right now. Please, if not for us, try not to get yourself killed. I know you have an ego the size of Texas, but there are people here that love you that would lose themselves if you died." Who the hell did Morta think she was?! Of course I knew that bad things would happen if I died! And I did not have a big ego! Anyway, she swung her scythe over her head and it secreted a purple mist.
"Midnight Wind!" she yelled, swinging her scythe in front of her. She knocked down like twenty of those things! And they all split in half! Damn, Morta was really good with fighting. "We lost the real Cecelia as soon as the battle started. And even though we seem to be taking out a good number of these things, that's not going to stop them from coming. I think Cecelia is replicating herself every time we destroy one of her clones. If we can find the real Cecelia and take her out..." Of course! I knew that too! But there was no way in hell we were going to be able to find the new Cecelia! And even though Morta had saved me, I couldn't stop thinking about Kohana.
I folded my hands and looked up into the sky. "Was that real?" I whispered to myself. "Kohana, are you still with me? Can you hear me?" I knew she wouldn't answer, but I had to give it a try. And even though she didn't answer, my wand started acting up for some reason. I don't know... It was really weird. It started to glow a lot of weird colors, interrupting my thoughts. I knew I had to at least tell Morta that I had gotten Aysel's guard to help us out a little, but she had probably all ready seen them. And judging by everything Naira said to me the other day, this was perfect for them because they were trained to take out the 'common criminal'. Ha. I hope Naira was getting her ass handed to her.
"Try not to lose yourself again, Sayuri!" What was with everyone thinking I was going to lose myself all of a sudden?! I was perfectly fine! First Kokoro, now Morta... Watch, I wouldn't be surprised if Chio came out of the woodworks and—
"Sayuri! Watch out!"
Damn me and my bad luck! I looked overhead me and there was this huge block of ice. Of course that was Shiva's technique, Heavenly Strike. And it was about to hit me right on top of my head. I had to do something, quick! I had no time to move and I could tell! I was the Summoner of Time, remember? And unlike Aysel, I'm not going to say it three times! Aren't I a great person? I just stood there, staring at the thing until I felt something wet on top of my head. I was right. I was drenched in water right now, and the ice block disappeared. I sputtered for a moment, shaking my arms. "Hey Sayuri! That was close, wasn't it?!" Yeah, I kinda figured that Kokoro melted that block of ice. Now he was behind me, holding his orb underneath his arm. Chio jumped off Shiva's back and walked towards me.
"Ohmigosh, Sayuri are you okay?!" she asked. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!" You know, I liked Chio. Scratch that. I like the kind of person she is, but I could care less about the stuff that she does, you catch my drift? I never liked the things she did ever since I had to fight Shiva. Ever since then I've wanted to put my fist in her mouth. And when I heard she was sleep, I wanted to punch her to get her to wake up. Right now, I felt the exact same way, but it's happened to all of us at some point, so I nodded my head.
"I'm fine. Did you find the real Cecelia by any chance?" I asked, tilting my head. Chio shook hers, looking sad.
"I'm sorry Sayuri, but there's just no way of telling which one is the real one. I'm running out of power and I don't think I can keep fighting with Shiva anymore... That's why I came to find you. We need to find her quick or I'll collapse..." Damn! That was just great! I grunted, waving my wand infront of me. Yeah, we were in some really deep trouble now. I was going to push the robots away from us but Kokoro stepped in front of me.
"Don't worry Sayuri, I can take care of this. Solar Flare!" And he kicked his orb at the robots once again! And this time they exploded on impact! And plus we got a lovely wall of fire in front of us to keep the robots at bay. At least he was good for something. "Chio, you don't have to keep fighting. The last thing we want to happen is for you to get hurt, okay?" Yeah, I agreed with Kokoro. I didn't want either one of them to get hurt. But that was selfish of me, because just like myself... They were Summoners too, and they had every right to fight just like I did. Who was I to tell them what they could and couldn't do? I was nobody. Chio's face got really red all of a sudden, and her grip tightened on her staff.
"No!" she exclaimed, raising her staff in the air. "I want to fight with all of you! I'm helping save this kingdom too!" Shiva stepped in front of us, waving her arm to her side. "Shiva!" she said, looking really scary. Kokoro and I looked at each other, sweatdropping. Woah! I didn't know Chio could get so mad in her life! I waved my hands out in front of me.
"Ah jeez, don't listen to Kokoro! He doesn't know what he's talking about, Chio!" I said, lying my ass off. Just a second ago I was agreeing with everything Kokoro had to say! He looked back at me and waved his hands in front of him. We both had the most awkward smiles on our faces.
"Nah, it was all Sayuri's plan, honest! I just read her mind!" Jerk.
"Since when the hell do you read minds?"
"Ahhaha," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Just... now?"
Chio pointed her staff in front of her and the diamonds on it jingled. "Now Shiva, Diamond Dust!" D-diamond Dust? That was Shiva's Overdrive, wasn't it? Oh boy. Shiva brought her right hand up to her mouth while she spun around in place... And like... The whole entire area in front of us was covered in ice. If Chio didn't stop the real Cecelia in her tracks, I didn't know what would... "Freeze them for an eternity, Shiva! Give them eternal rest!" Shiva thrust her right hand out in front of her and this really strong wind just escaped out of her hand. Chio wasn't kidding when she told Shiva to freeze them... They were crystallized! She had managed to freeze hundreds of them. T-thousands of them! Holy crap, when did Chio get so strong?!
Once the wind died down, Shiva raised her right arm and snapped her fingers. All she did was snap her fingers. And everything in front of us broke. Kokoro and I were speechless. Chio turned around, her skirt spinning in the wind. "How was that? Did I do well?" Did she do well? She did... Damn... I think she took out more of those guys then I would have hoped to. But before I could tell her that, she just collapsed on the floor. Kokoro got up and ran to her side.
"Chio, are you okay?" I knew something was up the moment Shiva disappeared. "Sayuri!"
Why was he looking at me for? I didn't know how to heal anybody! "Kokoro, I don't know what to do, I—I..."
"Guys... Don't worry about me!" Chio managed to say. She was always so lively. "Find the real Cecelia and take her down! Like the heroes in the books..."
"We're not leaving you!" Kokoro said. We didn't have much of a choice. She took out a good number of those robots... We had to do something... Everyone else was out fighting. I heard some footsteps and I looked up. I don't think I had ever been so happy in my life. It was Chase! Chase had his sword in his hands and he walked up to Chio. Kokoro looked up behind him and smiled. "Chase! I'm glad you're here!"
"I'm glad to be here!" Chase replied, chuckling to himself. He knelled next to Chio, putting his hand over her forehead. "Poor girl, she's all tired out from fighting. This is why I think women shouldn't try to do a man's job..." You know, whatever made Chase's boat sail. I had no time to argue with him now. But what he had just said was really stupid and dumb. What was he talking about? Fighting—fighting was something that all of us did, males and females! "I'll take care of her. I'll bring her to Aysel and Renata. Up there, Renata should be able to do something about Chio. In the meantime, you two go find Cecelia." Kokoro and I nodded my head as Chase disappeared with her. Now it was only us two.
"Thinking about separating or do you need me to stay with you?" I asked, getting into a fighting stance. He just looked at me and smiled.
"Do you want to stay with me, Sayuri?"
I scoffed. "I asked you a question!" And he needed to hurry up and answer too, because the next wave was coming towards us! I didn't have time for this. I needed to find the real Cecelia... I needed to come up with a plan! Where the hell was Miyuki? Miyuki could come up with anything, especially if Morta didn't know how to find the real Cecelia! Kokoro grabbed one of the robots by the arm—being careful not to cut himself on its bones—and lit on on fire. After that, he threw it towards the crowd that was coming towards us and it blew up on impact, sending pieces of itself across the sky. Ha. Showoff. "Okay, I see you can handle yourself. I'm going to go this—this...This... Holy..." I turned around and there was this big thing... The Cecelia robots behind me must have mended with each other, creating a super Cecelia! "Kokoroooo..." I said, breathing heavily. "We've got a problem!"
He turned around. "Woah! That thing is huge!" Yeah, I knew that! It was towering over us... I knew everyone had to see it! They would help us in no time, right?! Right?! Wrong. Why did this kind of stuff always happen to me? Why could I never have a normal life?! Why me?
"Pitiful Summoners!" That sounded like Cecelia messed together with a thousand other voices. So that must have meant Cecelia was inside of that thing. "You have seen nothing yet! The power I possess is endless! This is only a fraction of my power, and look at how much your friends are struggling!" That bitch... She looked like a whole bunch of TVs jumbled together, but she raised what appeared to be her arm up into the air. After that, some sort of hologram appeared in the sky and we saw how everyone was fighting. No, Renata would see that thing!
"Kokoro, we have to destroy her arm!" I commanded, pointing my wand at it. I had glanced at the screen, which had Lucrecia fighting on it. She wasn't getting beaten at all in the slightest. In fact, she was handling herself pretty well! How come she was kicking more ass than all of us combined? But then it went to Miyuki, who was pretty tired out from fighting. Her reaction time was getting slow and she had a lot of bruises on her arms. Kokoro let that get to him and he stood in one place, not knowing what to do. Dammit! "Come on, come on!!" I yelled, shaking my wand. "This is not the time to spazz out on me, wand! Could you please just work for me?!" After I said that, my wand stopped glowing all together. This was just great! I didn't have time for this.
I didn't have enough damn time for this!!!
I didn't know what I was thinking, but I was going to get rid of that arm even if it killed me! I dropped my wand behind me and dashed towards her foot. My feet charged with something... I don't know, but purple anagrams formed underneath them as I ran up Cecelia's right leg. Sure she was big and tall, but nothing was going to stop me from taking her down! I had to! That hologram was a distraction! I made my way to her stomach, standing horizontally in the air... Well I was on top of her. Either way you saw it, I was standing on her. "Watch, Summoner Sayuri, as I take everything away from you that I love!"
"Everything that I love has already been taken away from me!" I spat, looking up into the air. "I have nothing else to lose anymore!" Unless she was talking about my friends. That's when it clicked inside of my head. "Kokoro! Oh dear God Kokoro!" She raised her other arm up—and remember she was as big as a building now—her hand turning into that cannon thing again. I could not lose another friend! I learned the hard way what that felt like... I learned the hard way with Tariku. And now that I understood my powers... Now that I understood how much I would be lost without my friends, I would never let Cecelia take the people I loved the most!
He didn't pay any attention to me. I wonder what was wrong with him! At any rate, now was not the time to think! I tried to run up Cecelia's stomach and towards her other arm, but I knew I wasn't fast enough. That cannon was going to fire, whether I liked it or not. "Kokoro, get out of the way!!!" Was there something wrong with his ears?! Maybe he was doing the same thing I did when Morta was with me! Yeah, that had to be the only explanation! That would be the only thing I excepted anyway! Okay, I was going to give it my all! I breathed in, putting both of my hands in front of me. Cecelia fired her missile and my eyebrow twitched.
"Freeze!" I yelled as loud as I could. I didn't know if I could stop a full-blown missile... But I... I had to try! Time was distorted for a moment. Everything around me started moving like a wave inside of an ocean. My head started to pulsate, but I couldn't let my guard down! I couldn't back down! But what if I stopped the bullet? It would fall on top of him, and that was even worse! Perspiration started to slide down my forehead. Could I even do this?! Could I keep myself suspended in mid-air and concentrate on the missile she was going to send out?! ...Was I that powerful?! "I'm not... I'm not..." I said, shaking my head. My body felt like it was going to explode. I couldn't go on like this! "I... I'm sorry Kokoro. I'm sorry I failed you. I'm not that strong."
I inhaled once more, my whole body tensing up. "But I...! I will...! Make myself stronger!" I gasped, feeling something ripple inside of my body. I didn't know what it was, but the diamond on the edge of my corset started to glow. My wand on the ground... I could see the diamond on it glowing white. Was this my Overdrive Miyuki was talking about? It had to be! "I'm going to try this again! Freeze!!!" When I said freeze that time, everything stayed right where it was. "Smitten, battered, beaten, torn I prick at thee as if a thorn. Suffer now I will not wait. With this pin I seal your fate. Pins so sharp and made of steel, I strike at thee, these pins of time you'll feel. Smitten, battered, beaten, torn I curse you now, your pain is born!" The missile from Cecelia's hand warped. Yeah, that's right! It moved for a minute and then it just warped! I was that strong! Time resumed and Cecelia looked like she didn't know what she wanted to do. I opened the palm of my hand, forming a fist afterward.
"What... What happened to me?" Cecelia said, her mouth open from confusion.
"I'll tell you what happened!" I said, running towards the arm that was giving off the holographic image. "You messed with my friend, and I'll never forgive you! What is wrong with him Cecelia?! Answer me!" Even if she did answer, nothing was going to make me stop! Nothing in the whole entire world was going to make me stop! Not Kohana, not Aysel... No one! I was on fire, literally! Nothing could bring me down now! Not when I was in Overdrive! Finally, I reached her arm, standing onto of it. Now how would I do this? Easy. I opened my hand up yet again and my wand appeared in it. This was my time to shine. This was my victory! I promised Renata I would clean up this mess!
My wand sparkled. It wanted me to do this. As soon as I blew up this arm, I would fly towards the other part of her body until I took all of her down. "You think you've won, Sayuri Outtaike?!" Cecelia said. How the hell did she get my full name?! "You forget that I've already scanned your data; I have seen every inch of you! I know all of your plans from our previous fights!" Tch. I stuck my wand inside of Cecelia's arm, sparks flying across the air.
"Now it's time for you to end this fiasco!" I yelled. "Earth, bone, and winding sheet, let this spirit come to me. Yet send it in peace, or not at all. Fire Essence, ignite!" Her whole entire arm blew up, and I had planned to fly from her arm but the funniest thing happened.
Her whole body blew up.
And that wasn't my fault. I think she blew herself up on purpose!
I thought I was dead. I had to be dead. I wasn't alive, that was for sure. There was no way I survived that explosion and I knew it. So why was I on the ground? Someone was holding me bridal-style. I looked up and it was Naira with her sword sheathed. Lucrecia was standing next to Kokoro, her hand on his shoulder. He looked winded too. "Hello again, Summoner Sayuri," Naira scoffed, raising an eyebrow. Lucrecia pounded her fist into her left hand, a leer on her face. But anyway! Back to Naira!
"Um, sorry?" I said. Even though I wanted to yell at Naira for hesitating about helping us and asking Aysel first, I had to thank her. "Naira, if you weren't there I would have been toast. Thank you for everything." I nodded my head. Hopefully Naira and I were on good terms now. I hoped. She still looked mad at me.
"For the almighty holy Summoner, you sure are hasty about the decisions you make." She put me on the ground and I could hardly stand. I wobbled a bit, trying to keep my balance. I would forget that she said that.
"Naira, Lucrecia! Did you two find Cecelia?!"
"Nope kid." Lucrecia smiled. Did she have a trick up her sleeve? ... Was I going to die today? Why was Lucrecia smiling at me?! That was a bad sign. That was a really bad sign. Lucrecia never smiled. "You half-ass Summoners have been coming at the situation all wrong, got it? You can't just go through a whole bunch of these bitches expecting to find her. I remember being in a simulation like this before. Everyone has a certain feel to them, got it?" A feel to them? "You can tell what's fake and what's not by standing still and taking all of your seven senses into account." Hey, that sounded like something Miyuki was telling me from a while back! Except she was talking about Essences and how everyone had their own, individual Essence! And if the count was off...
"Lucrecia!" I shouted, getting a bright idea. "So does Cecelia have an Essence?" I had to ask. Lucrecia looked towards me and nodded.
"So you aren't the dumb-shit I imaged you to be. Smart girl," she sarcastically spat. "Before Cecelia was what you saw earlier, she was a human, so she has one. But it's been buried under years of experimentation. Naira and I aren't strong enough to pin-point it with our focals, so maybe you Summoners have something up your sleeves." I got where Lucrecia was coming from now. But wait, I had a question to ask her!
"So how do you know so much about Cecelia?!" I asked, shifting my footing.
"Because that bitch was my friend," she said, shaking her head and looking at her fingers. "Time changes everybody. It's a known fact. But I know that something made her like this. She would never hurt me. Believe you me, that bitch tried once and I beat her so hard she would never fucking try it again." She was her... Friend? Would my friends end up like that? Would I have to fight my friends sooner or later? I never wanted anything like that to happen to my friends! I shook those mental images out of my head.
"Well, you're right about the time thing. It does change people..." I said solemnly. "Sorry."
"It's okay, Summoner Sa-yu-ri. Now hurry up." I looked up at Lucrecia and she looked back at me.
"Right!" I yelled. I put both of my hands in the air, dropping my wand again. "As it be thought in the mind of others both familiar and strange, both sisters and brothers, may it be heard in mine own head, loud and clear as if it'd been said." A clock appeared behind me. After that, I closed my eyes. Yes, I could see it now. All of these robots had an Essence. But their Essence was bleak... They weren't shining brightly. There were diamonds all around me. Our diamonds... Summoner's diamonds... We had two diamonds stuck together, which indicated that we had two Essences in our bodies. So far, I couldn't see anything weird. All of the clones' diamonds were dull, but I couldn't see Cecelia's. "It's not working..." I mumbled, biting my lip. Was I doing something wrong?
"Think fucking harder, I know you can do it!!"
Gee, thanks for the pep talk Lucrecia. I looked towards her and then I looked at Naira and Kokoro.
Holy syrup on cake, I knew what was wrong!!!
It was so obvious! So right-in-my-face that I was mad I hadn't seen it before! "I got it!" I exclaimed, opening my eyes. Lucrecia and Naira looked at me, curious to know what I had found. I couldn't tell them though, especially Lucrecia because she would blow my cover and Cecelia would know that we found her. That meant that I had to do this alone with no help. Damn it all to hell. I stood up straight. My Overdrive mode had ran out, so that meant I was almost out of energy to fight and that sucked. But I was tired of falling out every fight! I wouldn't let myself be defeated!
I had to ask Kokoro for help! I had to find him first... I limped towards him. "Ko—ko—ro," I said, reaching out towards him. When I felt I was close enough, I stood right where I was.
"Sayuri, is that you?" he muttered, rubbing his head. "I thought I would never see you again!"
"Me too Kokoro, me too," I said, grabbing the sides of his head. I helped him stand up too. It was really easy. I just pulled him up. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, okay?"
"Don't worry Sayuri, I won't!"
"Good."
Ccraaack!!!
Okay, now I was seeing things. Because I had just given Kokoro the worst head-butt from Hell I could muster. I stepped back, wobbling. But Kokoro, my dear lovely Kokoro, he started to flicker. Oh, of course that was Cecelia in disguise! Who else did you think it was? But she did make a very convincing Kokoro! She flew back a couple of yards and had a crack in her forehead. Wow, was my head that hard?! "Happy little button-tops and spinning 'round and 'round... How many seconds will it take until happy Sayuri hits the ground...?" I muttered incoherently. I was going to fall backwards, but Naira caught me. All of the clones disappeared.
"Summoner Sayuri..." Naira said, looking me in my eyes.
"I know Naira, I know," I muttered. Lucrecia walked over to Cecelia, looking over her.
"Well, well, well, look who it is?" She picked Cecelia up by her hair, holding her head to her face. "I thought I would never see you again, Cecelia."
"Unhand me," Cecelia said in monotone. Her voice sounded really meshy—like she was going to shut off. She was a machine after all wasn't she? "How... How did the Summoner know...?" Was she asking me a question? Sorry... I couldn't really see her face, so I had no idea of knowing. Even if she wasn't asking me a question, I was going to answer her anyway.
"The Kokoro I know," I started, standing up, "is a Summoner!"
"Summoner Sayuri, please don't stand!" Naira said. Psh! I was okay enough to stand! I wiped some of the blood away from my lip.
"He's a Summoner all right, which means he has a connected diamond... One that you lacked. He's unlike you and you could never pull him off. You staged yourself to be him after he started to freak out. He's over there, in fact, lying on the ground." I pointed in his direction and everyone gazed over there. Cecelia gasped. She thought because he was covered in debris that I wouldn't notice he was there. Who did she think I was?
"How did you... Know?! You didn't think he was... Dead?"
"No. The fire inside of him is always burning, unfortunately. You can tell a mile away. You can throw a truck on him and he'll still be okay. Now I'm done talking to you, Cecelia. This fight!" I exclaimed, pointing my wand at her. "Is over!"
"But—But!!" Cecelia said in a feminine voice. "It can't be over, I won! I swear I won! I can't be defeated, if I'm defeated I'll have to—I'll have to—!" Her voiced changed from monstrous and downright robotic to scared and afraid. What had happened to her? She looked like a scared little girl now... One that I wouldn't think about hurting.
"In need of a desperate upgrade, Cecelia?" Lucrecia cooed with an underlying tone of sarcasm. "I don't know why you're alive, but if you say you need an upgrade, someone must have been upgrading you. And still the trails and tribulations run, huh? That's okay, I'm going to have to take out your memory chip and see what you've fucking been up to, yes?"
"No—no—Lucrecia! Don't do that! I love you!"
"I love you too, Cecelia," Lucrecia answered back. "But I love it even more when you beg for me to stop." What was wrong with Cecelia? Why was she acting so squirmy all of a sudden? This wasn't like her at all! I almost didn't want to mess with them now. My head was pounding, I was in pain everywhere... It seemed like a lose-lose situation if I interrupted the two "friends", I guess. Cecelia did the strangest thing though. Like, her head twitched.
"I won't let you...!" Cecelia said, before her whole head just popped off. Now... I mean... Lucrecia was holding Cecelia's head, and the rest of her body just fell down on the floor. Holy cripes! I jumped back, making sure I didn't get anything on me. Well, sparks were flying from Cecelia's neck. I didn't want to get stung or something. Lucrecia was even more concerned and she examined her head.
"Scary bitch, she went and died on me!!!" Lucrecia shouted. She looked at Cecelia's head some more and took two steps forward. "I guess I'll keep this thing as a prize."
"L-L-Lu!!" I said, shaking in my boots. Lucrecia turned around, looking like she was going to kill me! Okay, I know I called her Lu, but for good reasons! Cecelia's body was squirming on the floor, and then it got up! "Lu! What the h-hell is that!!" I pointed at Cecelia's body, backing up into Naira. That was the scariest thing I had seen all day! Lucrecia turned around and cocked a brow, putting her freehand on her waist. "It doesn't even fucking matter! That dumb-ass bitch ran away from me!!" What was the matter with Lucrecia?! Cecelia's body was walking away from us! It was even hovering in the air above us! Was there anyone sane left on this planet?!
I heard some bloodcurdling noises before Cecelia... Grew a new head.
Yeah.
I was about to lose my lunch in a moment.
"Summoner Sayuri, Lucrecia, it was such a pleasure meeting you two again," Cecelia said, hovering in the air. "And I will have the pleasure of killing you both before this game is over, I promise you that!" This game? Meeting me again? Lucrecia looked just as confused as I was.
"Naira..." I said, shaking. Yeah yeah, I couldn't stop my body from shaking. I was scared as hell right now! I slowly turned around, letting go of her shirt. "Do... You hear something beeping?"
"Beeping?" Naira said. "Now that you think about it..."
We both looked at each other, and then we looked at Lucrecia.
"Lucrecia!"
"What the fuck do you two want?!"
"The head it's—" We tried to warn her. We tried to warn her and she didn't want to pay any attention to us. Noooo it was always about what Lucrecia wanted. And that was why Lucrecia just got herself blown up. Now she was crouched down, electricity flying from her mechanical arm. She held it with her flesh arm, panting heavily. "... Going to explode." I finished, putting my index-finger in the air. Next thing I know, Miyuki and Morta ran towards me. The first thing Miyuki did was grab my hand.
"You're not hurt are you?" Miyuki asked.
"No, I'm fine," I said. "Where were you two a second ago?"
"We saw that all of the clones disappeared, but I ordered Morta to stand back until we were sure Cecelia was either detained or gone," Miyuki answered, all calm and whatnot. I sighed.
"Why are you always so calm?!" I asked. "Anyway, Kokoro's over there, so someone needs to go get him."
"And you can't?" Morta said. No, I was hurt beyond all things sane. I lifted up my arms and looked down. Yep, I was totaled.
"Please Morta?" I asked, batting my eyes and clapping my hands together. I even stood up against her and gave her the puppy-eyed look. "It would make me really happy if you went over there and helped me out!"
"Argh, okay okay, Sayuri," she said. Yeah! I knew it! See, I can get anyone to do whatever I want them to, isn't that great? I waved towards Morta, watching her as she tried to dig Kokoro out from under the debris. That's when I looked back at Lucrecia. She walked over to us, holding her arm like their was no tomorrow. I didn't think it would be a good idea to ask her if she was okay, so I didn't. Instead I looked at Miyuki.
"Do you know where everyone else is?"
"Chio and Chase are with Aysel and her guard," Miyuki answered, sighing. "Summoners," she said, pausing. "I think this was our first real battle." Oh you think?!
I nodded, blinking. I looked into the sky. Even if it was our first real battle, we made it out alive. And I fought for my friends. All of them. And I kept my promise to myself. I would make myself stronger. If Kohana was looking down on me right now, I'm sure she'd be smiling ear to ear right now. Miyuki started to walk towards Kokoro and Morta. Morta had Kokoro's left arm slung over her shoulder as they tried to walk towards the stage. I looked up at Lucrecia, who had a frown on her face.
"Thank you," I said. She just looked at me, all disgusted.
"What the fuck are you thanking me for?"
"For helping me out!" I exclaimed. Why was she getting mad at me for thanking her?! "I asked you to help me and you did, so I'm doing the grown-up thing and thanking you for it!" I was waiting for her to reply to me, but she started laughing really weird-like. That was Lucrecia for you. Always laughing at things that weren't even funny!
"I wasn't even worried about fucking helping you! I was just helping myself. Number one rule in life, brat. No one ever helps you. You just have happy accidents that help you win." I could believe that. I looked all around me, staring at how much of a mess we had made.
A happy accident, aye?
"That sounds just about right, Lucrecia," I said, slowing down my walking. "A happy accident. Just like meeting you was."
"Well guess-fucking-what? Meeting you wasn't too short of a happy accident either."
I smirked.
Maybe we could have more happy accidents like this.
A/N: Hell yes! This was CCFA's first real boss-fight! *shot for game lingo*
I wrote all 12k of this today people. Because I can't resist a fight scene! And this fight scene was the best chapter I've written. XD I think. You be the judge there, hnn? I told you this fight was going to be epic! :D And Cecelia was a champ until the end! I love love love it! Now you guys need to go vote on my poll so I can see what I'm going to write in April! That being said, CCFA updates might be slow. I loved this fight so much! You see? Do you see how everything is coming together just how Chiharu plans it?! And could this be the start of a Lucrecia and Sayuri friendship?
Prolly not, but one can dream! XD