Chapter 8

Certainly they'd both been through this mountain pass before, but never had it been as bad as it was currently. Usually it was like a mild winter year round, but this time the harshness had increased many times over from what was normal. The wind screamed out as the snow and ice pelted them. They didn't dare stop without finding shelter or they would most likely meet their icy end, buried in many layers of the icy crystals.

"I don't know about you, but I swear I could hear someone calling out when we were out there." Yuki commented as he lit the tinder for a nice warm fire.

Ren looked up at him a little worried. "I thought that was just me." He paused, then removed Kyoko from his back and lay her next to the fire on a warm pack of soft furs. "What do you think, Kyoko?"

"…" She was completely silent, unlike she'd been before they had entered the little valley. The crystal of her blade was blue, her gem was a somber blue, her hilt was still the disguised bronze, and it was as if she were a normal average sword. It worried him a bit.

No, she wasn't sulking or sleeping. There was just something about this place that made her feel strange. Like she was missing a large part of herself. She felt empty and alone, no matter the companions that traveled with her.

It was strange. Both men were completely sound asleep. Considering how well traveled and alert they normally were, both being out like lights was very unusual. It wasn't like she could touch them or shake them awake and no matter how loud she was, they just wouldn't budge. She decided not to worry too much about it since their fire was still able to warm the small cave that they'd found to wait out the storm in warmth.

With ease she emerged from the sword. She felt drawn out and into what was now a raging blizzard. A familiar voice called to her, beckoning her away from her companions and into the bleak night.

"So, it is you. Follow me." The pale beauty commanded.

Kyoko blindly followed the familiar woman.

"I thought for sure that you were dead." She told her with a hint of irritation in her almost emotionless voice.

"K-Kanae?" Kyoko whispered. If she'd had her body, she would have certainly been crying for joy at this point.

"So, you still remember me? Where have you been? Or do you no longer consider me your best friend and think I don't deserve an explanation?" The raven-haired beauty complained.

"No! You know that isn't true, Moko! You'll always be my best and first friend!" Kyoko protested. She honestly didn't realize, in her youth, that Kanae had considered her a close friend. She had always been so stoic around her when they met.

"Then what about that jackass that I warned you about?" Kanae stopped before a large cavern a short distance from where her group had bedded down. "Well?"

Kyoko stared at the ground in shame. "I'm sorry I didn't listen. You were right." She murmured. "He didn't love me. He wanted immortality." She confessed.

The beautiful ice fairy shook her head and sighed. "Mo… I knew he was no good… Come, I have something to show you." Kanae motioned to her and led her down a long passageway made of crystal, stone and ice that had been carved out of the mountain over many centuries, finally ending in a large room that contained what seemed to be an altar that held a transparent crystal sarcophagus. Within the large coffin lay the untouched body of a familiar fairy queen that had been thought to be dead or missing for 300 years. Yes, her people had thought she was missing, but Kanae was of the firm belief that she was dead, until Kyoko and her companions entered the valley, considering she'd found her body and placed it here to keep it preserved in the ice.

"Mo… You want to tell me what happened?" Kanae invited her to sit down on a little chaise that had been carved from the ice.

"I really don't know. I honestly believed that my body was trapped in a crystal sword, but now this…" She motioned toward her still body, perplexed. "I was told that I was cursed by a spell call Prisoner." She then went into detail about the spell and how Maria and the others had been helping her.

"Mo… She's partially right. Prisoner is a variation of the original spell Erika used on Hiou. Your 'True Love' has to find your body and kiss that, not the sword you reside in, Kyoko. I don't even know how to break the curse that Hiou is under. Selfish pigs need to die for making our lives so miserable." She hissed out and tears that she hadn't wept in a very long time began to fall. "I honestly love him, and I'm such a failure that I can't even help him." She sobbed into her hands, depressing Kyoko even further due to the fact that she had no way of consoling her friend.

She felt a cold hand touch her face and wipe the tears that she had shed. "Kanae?" A bewildered male voice was heard, and Kanae looked up to see the handsome young fairy that she'd been lamenting. He looked as though he had just awakened from a very long sleep, and he was distressed to find her crying.

Kyoko looked at the pair with a little sadness and a touch of envy, knowing that something like this would never take place in her existence for her. "I should leave you two to talk." She then faded out and returned to what she now knew to be the prison for her soul.

Kanae took Hiou's hand and noticed that where her tears had touched his hand, his skin was regaining its natural color and gradually spreading. "What's happening?" Both Excitement and worry filled her, causing her to temporarily forget her friend that had just left the reunited couple to their own devices.

"Y-You can see me?" He asked in disbelief.

She nodded. "Where have you been?"

He smiled softly. "I've been with you since you were banished. I've been trying to let you know I was here by causing the storms. It took a lot of energy, but this time I just couldn't let it stop until you noticed." He explained.

"That was you? Wh-What about Erika?" She furrowed her brow.

He shook his head. "I don't know. All I remember is waking up here and watching you over the years. Before that, I remember being trapped and unable to get free from her."

"Do you think the curse has ended?" She asked hesitantly.

"I'm here… With you…" He smiled and touched her with a hand that was now warming up as his cheeks had a faint blush to them and an old familiar sparkle in his eyes.

"I'm sorry…" She glanced down in shame.

He caressed her cheek once again. He could never get enough of her warmth. "About?"

"I caused all of this by not telling you…" She confessed.

He shook his head. "I'm at fault too." He took her in his arms and they sat comfortably in silence, enjoying what had been denied them for so long.

"Was that the Queen?" He asked with realization.

Kanae nodded. "I don't really know how to help her. That evil mage trapped her soul in a crystal sword." She explained.

"Can she be returned to her body?" He glanced over to the encased, well-preserved corpse.

"He altered the Prisoner spell. I honestly don't know how to break it without it being the old fashioned way. He never loved her. He wanted her gift of immortality. Only someone that truly loves her with all their heart can break the spell, and the spirit and the sword have to be present at the time." She told him helplessly.

"She never really believed in true love." He commented. "Even her own parents had her out of duty. The only love she's ever know is that from subjects to a monarch. Is there no other way to break it?"

Kanae shook her head. "Not that I can think of."

Ren and Yukihito finally awakened to complete silence. The wind no longer howled at the entrance to their small cave and the fire was now just a few embers. The bitter cold was finally abating. They could hear the sound of little water droplets hitting rock at the entrance and realized that it was melting ice.

"Ren! Kyoko! Look! The ice is melting!" Yuki exclaimed excitedly.

Ren turned to look at the sword to find that her beautiful blue jewel clouded and darkened. "Kyoko? You okay?" He was worried by her silence and the condition of the gem. Perhaps her showing herself had taken too much from her. "Kyoko?"

More silence. She no longer felt like herself anymore. There was something to be said about a glimmer of hope that Maria's words had given her before she'd seen her own corpse laying silently in a crystalline coffin. It was bad enough knowing that someone would have to fall in love with her as a sword, but she saw absolutely no solution to her situation when she realized that she was actually separated from her body. Who in their right mind would kiss a corpse? This wasn't one of those children's stories where her prince charming would someday find a random corpse laying in a coffin and instantly fall hopelessly in love then kiss said lifeless body. This was her life, this was her reality.

"Kyoko? Are you okay?" He asked once again, more worried than before, feeling like something was tearing at him from the inside. It was a crushing, suffocating feeling.

"I'm fine." She answered emotionlessly. "We should leave now." What difference did it make anymore? The sooner she was handed over to the elves, the sooner she wouldn't be putting Ren and Yukihito in danger. Hell, she'd even had the thought to have them leave her behind and just let that asshole have her. At least that way Shotaro would never trouble them. "Actually… You should leave me behind." She told them in that same dead voice.

Ren furrowed his brow. For some reason that suggestion had cut into him. "I'm not leaving you here. I swore to protect you."

"All the more reason for you to leave me." She countered.

"I'm not leaving you." He insisted. "You have no choice in the matter." He was not about to leave her behind. Something was pulling at him in this matter and telling him that if he did, he would regret it eternally.