When Amaya opened her eyes she was standing on a sandy beach in the middle of nowhere. In the moonlight the water looked a pale blue, while the clouds hovered just above it like watchmen. Beneath her feet the sand almost looked silver, which made sense when she realized who was next to her.
"You will learn to harness the power of Gealach Bhíoma." Arrianrhod said in her silky smooth voice. "Are you ready?"
Amaya nodded, her hand on the hilt of her sword, eyes cut and ready for battle.
She was so ready.
Moriko, on the other hand, was having a bit of trouble.
She stood on the very top of a cliff, her toes a centimeter from the edge and Morrigan standing just behind her. The goddess was mocking her now, making fun of her "lacking" form and "pitiful" release tactics. It'd been like this for what seemed like hours as she shot fish in the water. Sweat was running down her forehead as the humidity began to get to her. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.
"No, no, no!" Morrigan shook her head, getting even closer to the vampire who was now almost hanging over the edge. "You're doing it all wrong! Feel the life you're about to take!"
"How am I supposed to feel like a fish?!" Moriko demanded before making a mocking fishy face. "Like this?!"
Morrigan grimaced at her. "No. Like this."
At that she raised her arms and pushed Moriko face first into the water. Moriko screamed, reaching for the edge of the cliff but missing it by a hair before she fell into the crashing waves of the sea.
Gasping for breath she tried not to let go of the bow in her hands. She tried to gather her magic enough to help her swim to shore but Morrigan was binding her, challenging her through the darkness.
Feel the life. A voice inside her said.
Moriko sighed before turning back out towards the sea. She thanked God that she didn't actually have to breathe to survive, it was just an aquired luxury, because her next idea was a little strange.
She dove deep under the water, her vampire eyes seeing through the unsettling darkness surrounding her. Upon farther examination she saw a large shadow coming her way. It only upset her a little that it was a rather large shark.
She notched an arrow, aiming towards the beast as it grew closer and closer. It snapped its jaws at her, his senses telling him that she was going to be his dinner.
She closed her eyes before she took the shot, taking in a lung full of water. She then opened her eyes, seeing from the sharks point of view. She saw him as her prey, she saw him as a life she had to take.
And so she took the shot.
When he exploded the recoil caused a tidal wave to crash against the cliffs, which Moriko used to grab onto the rock wall before scaling her way up.
Atop the cliffs, Morrigan smirked.
"You're ready."
Amaya felt acomplished as she cut her blade to the right, water following her every movement as it hovered in the air. She swung it at a palm tree, watching as the tree then came crumbling to the ground. She could feel the water pulsing through her viens, the moon taking hold of the tides as if it was her second heart.
"That's it." Arrianrhod encouraged. "You're part of the sword now, I can see it. I am impressed you've progressed so fast and so easily."
"Thank you for being patient." Amaya said as she released the water back into the sea and sheathed her sword. "I hope I won't break holes in the ground now."
"I'm confident that you have control." Arrianrhod nodded slowly. "You have a strong soul. I must warn you, though. Having this much power can go to your head... If you dare to harness this power for evil, be aware that I won't go lightly on you. I will have to kill you, Amaya."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Amaya said, even though the words scared her more than anything. "I think I'm ready to go home now."
Arrianrhod bowed her head before lifting her silver eyes. "As you wish."
In a single puff of silver smoke she was gone, crashing back into the real world.
She found herself back in the yard again. But this time it was cold and snow was curling through the air. She wrapped her arms around herself before running back inside.
"Amaya!" Tora was the first to greet her at the door, having sensed her arrival. "I'm so glad you're okay."
He gathered her up in his arms, burying his face in her neck.
"I'm fine." She laughed. "I was just training with Arrianrhod."
"You could've told me." Tora said, pulling back and framing her face with his hands.
"It was kinda a spur of the moment thing." Amaya told him. "We weren't warned before we were whisked away."
Tora sighed, leaning his forehead against hers and giving her that adorable half-smile.
"At least you're here now." He said, moving just slightly to where he could press his lips against hers.
When Amaya moved back her eyes scanned across the room. Within a few moments she was finally able to notice the fly on the wall.
Aoi had been watching the whole time, contemplating whether or not he should intervene. But when she looked at him, he couldn't move. Her azure eyes connected with his and she gave him a small, encouraging smile. Everything that was once evil drained from his veins and he was only left with this vague feeling of life.
"Did you wait up for me too?" She asked with a soft smiled. "You didn't have to really."
Aoi didn't miss the glare Tora sent his way, but he honestly didn't care. He smiled at her, tilting his head just so.
"I was worried." He said. "But I knew you could handle yourself."
Amaya laughed at that before turning back to Tora. "I'm going to head upstairs, ok?"
Tora nodded before Amaya disappeared out of sight. At that he turned, giving Aoi a once over before heading towards the door.
"May the best vampire win." Aoi said, his sharp canines accenting his condescending smile.
Tora huffed before making his way outside.
Moriko woke to find herself kneeling in front of the house the others waited in. A thick black smoke disappaited around her as she stood up, holding her bow tightly in her hand. She strode towards the house with a new feeling of accomplishment.
"Well look who's all high and mighty now."
Moriko smirked before turning to look over her shoulder. Ruki was leaned against a tree, dressed in his finest dark wash blue jeans and a tight black v-neck short sleeve shirt. His blond hair brushed face just enough to leave her guessing how those red eyes were going to react.
"Obviously it's not you." Moriko told him, leaning her head to the side in confusion. "Goddess or no goddess, I can still kick your ass."
Ruki flashed beside her, his head turned to where it was only a few mere inches from hers. He picked up a few strands of her dark hair, playing with it between his fingers as he smiled at her.
"We'll have to see about that." Ruki told her. "Later."
She laughed quietly to herself. "Later? Why not now? Afraid?"
"No." Ruki chuckled. "You see, we have a third party viewer, and he's patiently waiting for me to leave before he cooly makes his entrance."
Moriko took a step back, sensing the movement before it happened. Shou jumped out of a tree a few feet away, grabbing Ruki in a headlock and spinning him to where his face was firmly pressed against the rough bark of an oak.
"Nobody said I was going to be patient." Shou snapped, pressing Ruki's face harder into the tree.
Ruki hissed at him, fighting to be released. Shou got tired of him, flipping him over his head and onto the ground.
"Let's not forget which army always won the battles." Moriko said, tilting her head as Ruki writhed beneath Shou's foot. "It doesn't matter that you were the head of the Black Army's special forces. He's a mere lieutenant and he can still beat you to a bloody pulp."
"That's not entirely true." Ruki growled before turning, snapping Shou's leg before jumping on top of him and proceeding to punch him in the face.
When he moved back Shou was coughing up blood, quickly regaining his senses.
Ruki let out a low hiss, moving back to a crouch as Shou snapped his leg back into place and did the same.
They were about to go at it again before Moriko was suddenly there, grabbing them both by the throat.
"Now, now, boys, let's be calm." She said with a grin. "If we're going to carry out our duties, it's going to have to be in one peice. Though I do love the attention, please use your words and not your inhuman strength to fight from now on. Mmkay?"
Ruki moved back, retracting his fangs and turning to walk into the house. Shou lingered once she released him, his jeans a little bloody from the break.
"Are you okay?" Moriko asked.
"I've had worse injuries." Shou shrugged, shaking his leg so he could feel it again.
"Oh really?" Moriko laughed a little.
"Yeah." Shou looked up at her then, his eyes catching hers in a way they hadn't in nearly five hundred years. "The day you died. That was the most crippling injury I've ever had to endure."
Moriko pursed her lips before looking away. "I see."
"I do still love you, Moriko." Shou whispered. "I always will."
"You don't love me like you used to." Moriko said coldly. "Nobody will ever love me like they used to. Even Amaya doubts me now. I can see it in her eyes. No one believes in me."
"I worry about you." Shou objected quietly. "But I will never stop believing in you."
She snorted, looking back over at him. "That is the single most ridiculous thing to say, Shou."
Shou sighed, reaching out for her hand and pulling her towards him. She dropped her bow in the grass, her hands going limp.
"Did you forget that I can tell when you're nervous?" Shou asked before running his spare hand down her face. "Not only is your heart racing, but I could feel your uncertainty a mile away. You're confused, and it's most likely because you can't feel your own feet. You feel lost, you're not sure if a five centuries of being dead has changed who you are, or how you feel for me. But still, in the back of your mind, you know that no matter how many years pass, you still love me."
Moriko was taken aback, surprised at his words. "But... that's beyond emotions, Shou. How do you know all that?"
He grinned a little. "Because it's exactly how I feel."
Moriko watched as he pulled something shiny out of his pocket. Shou dropped the pendant to where it only hung by its silver chain, a diamond heart that sparkled in the moonlight. She recognized it from all those years ago...
"You kept it." Moriko asked, running her index finger down the smooth surface of the diamon. "I wondered where it went..."
"I didn't wake up until several hours after your death." Shou told her softly, wrapping the chain around her neck. "When I did, you were gone. The battle was lost, and thousands of our kind lay shrewn across the fields. But the only one that really mattered to me was the one five feet away, mangled and bloody. With her heart ripped out of her chest. But this heart still laid there..."
He touched the pendant as it hung just below her collar bone.
Moriko closed her eyes, feeling his touch as it trailed from the pendant up to her neck. She felt lost in thought, not entirely sure where she was.
Then she was back there, on that fateful day when her life came to a bitter end. She was looking through Shou's eyes as was jolted awake by the retreating cry of the victorious Black Army. She saw as he sat up, looking around at the devestation and felt the shame in his heart.
And then she could feel panic as his eyes caught her lifeless figure, barely breathing with her heart laying out of her chest, but still attached.
"Moriko, no." He shook his head violently, trying his best to fix her but failing. "Don't you dare die. You're invincible!
With dying eyes she looked up at him, her breath bated and her skin clammy. She shook her head before giving him a soft, happy smile.
Her lips mouthed the words "You're okay" but no sound came out. She acted as if she wanted to say something else, she wanted to say so many things but time just wasn't on her side. When Amaya came running from the other side of the battlefield, desperate cries where heard from even far away.
But it was too late. As Shou screamed for her to come back, Moriko turned to ashes in his hands. His tears flowed freely as his hand grasped the heart pendant he had given her, his own heart breaking inside his chest.
Moriko gasped as she was jolted back to the present, her eyes misty with bitter heartbreak. Shou was there, only an inch or so from her, his eyes looking just as sad as hers.
"I have relived that day so many times." Shou muttered. "I am so very afraid that I'm going to lose you again. And I can't do that. When I lost you, I was useless. I had no mind to command the archers as the Black Army raided the castles. I had no strength to even fight off more than ten of them before I simply gave up... I went running back to the throne room where your mother and father told me to follow after the others, your sister and brother. Out of loyalty, I did. But even there, I was no use. I cannot let anyone down like that again. I have to be strong."
"Shou, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." Moriko told him.
He sighed. "And you think going up against the Black King as well as The Dagda is a walk in the park?"
She cut her eyes at him before stepping back and shaking her head. "I am more powerful. I hold the mercy of a Triple Goddess at my hands and I will not stand by to see my people at the mercy of the Black King's devastation again!"
She picked up her bow before jabbing a finger into Shou's chest threateningly. "You never believed in me, Shou. You are a liar."
At that she was gone.
Shou turned, slamming his fist against a nearby tree and causing it to snap and fall into the forest. He had failed... again.