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Chapter 20

It was, however, a deep and sudden grumble surging in the earth below that caused Usagi's uplifted disposition to fade. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as the vibration rippled through the ground like a snake, fiercely rattling the hardened dirt, cement, and broken rubble. Pressing her palms against the rough mix, Usagi held her breath. The searing and burning in her chest was enough to set flame to a building. It seemed for even one moment she could not escape the newfound gift that was her curse. Already the young woman was beginning to question its validity...whether it was little more than an implementation to slow her down as opposed to honing her strengths. A sudden explosion within her mind released waves of screaming voices--pleading for their messiah. Voices of the deceased in wait of their princess. The magnitude was deafening. They needed Hinotama.

Meanwhile, the two men watched on in usual confusion as the young woman suffered against her gift--her curse. Cody's gentle touch upon her shoulder seemed to ease the intensity; the continuous growling of beneath them, however, was not especially comforting. Usagi's newly brightened eyes dropped to the rigid ground and suddenly she felt as if that very rumble mirrored the one of fresh despair in her heart.

A moment passed before Usagi's disposition normalized, and her breath came in relatively shallow bursts. Though the searing had faded, Usagi expected that the events to follow would be even more so unpleasant--if at all possible. "Usa, are you in control?" Cody inquired, his hand still on her shoulder.

His query was met with a shaken nod. "I'm all right...but I can't feel her anymore. Cody, I've seen so much. I know where we must go...my kami, the voices. They need her. The very earth is screaming for its savior."

Two pairs of eyes met and, internally, each individual attained the same conclusion. "This isn't good," Jerrid remarked, his deep eyes narrowed. Cody beside him was equally as anxious.

Usagi sharply hushed him, her own eyes now closed. Another fierce grumble below foreshadowed the coming of darkness--impenetrable darkness. Usagi seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on, as the two men simply watched her in awe.

At that moment, Usagi drowned out everything around her in order to concentrate. The young woman invested the very core of her being into connecting with the surrounding environment. Hinotama's spectral presence had faded from Usagi's surveyance--finding her was critical. Kneeling with her fingertips digging into the grainy earth, Usagi sought the truth of a dying universe. She could feel her senses heightening as the rippling vibration lapped at her fingertips through the stationary earth and crept up her spine. The earth was shaking violently now, as both Jerrid and Cody were at their feet and nervously murmuring Usagi's name. She, however, ignored their pleas and focused.

Sure, she'd inexcusably disappeared--but now she was fighting to save their lives. The blonde dug her nails deeper into the ground, willing it to speak to her. Usagi knew within the depths of her heart that in the very ground resided the soul of a tormented planet whose people had been mercilessly slaughtered. That in the bowels of Hino's home, lay the fading energy of a world whose princess was needed. There, she felt, she would find the answers she sought. Instantaneously, the earth began to shiver, more fiercely and with greater magnitude than before. "Time to go, Usagi," Cody proclaimed suddenly, gripping her arm and pulling her into a run.

*~*~*

The solemn echo of bleeps and power surges combined with flickering shelter lights remained the only constant forces then present in the panic-stricken shelter. Derek King shifted uneasily in his folding desk chair, chocolate-hued eyes behind messy blonde hair glued to the wall-mounted computer screens as he busily typed away at central ground scans and security sweeps. The young man knew that sadly, just outside his workspace, lay disaster. The few survivors left alive after Hinotama's sudden antics were befallen with sorrow and ultimately left useless in defense. The mere dozen of young men and adults able to fight were like frazzled fledglings, lost--with flimsy wings--in despairing absence of their mother.

"I don't understand why Cody ever dragged me here...but then again, better living here than dead there," he breathed bitterly, eyes locked on the gate monitors. Since Usagi, Jerrid, and Cody absconded, more than half of the individuals in the shelter began recklessly packing what little they owned in preparation of an evacuation. Where they'd flee to, Derek himself did not know. Even so, the more combat savvy dove head-first into an arming spree, loading weaponry and any available battle material; in other words, the rather modern--though obviously constricted safehouse--spiraled into pandemonium. Furthermore, for the past half hour, non-consecutive roars in the ground below shook the shelter mercilessly and threw every resident into a frenzy of fear.

Derek afforded himself a brief moment of reprieve from his security post--flickering power and all--leaning back in his steely chair with a sigh. The trio had left about an hour and a half ago and since then the security monitors were bleeping with breaches off of the charts. Several small teams were previously dispatched to handle the minute, yet threatening, groups of Scorpia and Fyren--gargantuous flaming birds--that were beginning to gather at the edge of the premise. Already two casualties were counted; no doubt several more had been overlooked in the craze.

"Hino-hime," the young man said softly, shaking his head. He winced at the returning thought of their previous interaction, where she had flipped her lid and ordered him relentlessly in the process of learning of the coming dark creatures. She hadn't always been angry, nor had she been as demanding. The very glitter in her eyes bore more hatred than it did passion. Passion and hatred were two very strong emotions, yet their sources and effects differ greatly. That much Derek knew in observing Hinotama's personal transformation. "But I guess that's what death will do to you...what loss will do to your spirit."

Loss. It was a feeling Derek had never truly been exposed to. Family, friends, and life had always offered warmth, strength, and support. Friends, especially those he would know like brothers. Derek, Cody, and Jerrid, in particular, had known one another long before the time of darkness and peril that was then. Mere months ago they had been reveling in the moment that was life, where their dreams of youth and adulthood were simultaneously achieved. Life had opened up doors and offered chances and opportunities too exciting to pass up. That was why they had been drawn together...together in one place that would ultimately be spared destruction--in some regards.

Cousins themselves, both Cody and Derek King left their home in the massive country of the modernized Republic of Corrisa to join a friend in Leilas for a year-long study abroad. That certain friend was none other than Jerrid Barten, whom of which had already established a residence in the culturally-rich province where his beloved Hinotama happened to live. Each young man then realized that they had entered a new existence in the peak of their early twenties. After a short span of time, their label as foreigners soon faded and their adventure into new lives had commenced. Cody and Jerrid, as comrades in a previous military unit, entered into a part-time service. Derek himself remained ever the computer "geek," working for a small-time, yet successful, company where his skills were praised and revered. Though working somewhat separate fields, the trio maintained a strong bond as they thrived within the boundaries of a literally new world.

Little did they know that only a few months into their stay, their lives would be altered dramatically and changed forever. The people who had touched their hearts were slaughtered; their own friends and families--among the rest of the nations--launched into oblivion. It seemed only the strength of one person prevented the collapse of Leilas...barely.

Another forceful wave of vibration rippled through the shelter, jarring the blonde man from his thoughts only slightly. It was the sharp screeching of metal that could span miles, however, that initially took hold and gripped his instincts. "Derek, we've got a situation!" The panicked shout of another tore the young adult from his reverie and viciously tossed him back into the nightmare that was his post. Suddenly, his skull was filled with equally deafening screams of the monitors. Before his very eyes, hundreds of intruding bleeps lit up the computer screens. Nauseas, dizzy, and horrified, Derek rose from his chair--jaw hanging and heart pounding--as he realized that the entire system had been breached--and they were going to die.

*~*~*

The force of Cody's grip knocked the breath out of Usagi as she fought to stabilize her pace even while running. It wasn't all the time that one was able to interact with a planet. "I nearly had it!" Usagi shouted once she found her voice, irritated that they had interrupted. Her golden mane whipped behind her on the bland air as they ran, jarred by the now consistently powerful quakes. The murky world of dark skies, musty air, and bleak surroundings whirred past in a blur. By now, the previously tame vibration had mounted into a violent ripping, overturning, and shaking of the ground.

"Had what?" Jerrid called back as the trio fled, stumbling and tripping over the churning rubble.

"The reason for this earthquake! The ground is screaming out answers...all I had to do was ask the right questions!" the young woman answered, not angered but overwhelmed. The very fact that she was able to connect with the dying planet was a true sign that her powers were growing in strength.

"Usagi, what the hell are you talking about?" the dark-haired man retorted, taking firm hold of her other wrist as the three continued to run.

"The earthquake is the soul of this dying planet...it's crying out for it's protector, Hinotama. I was trying to connect with the core--those voices I heard...that I felt...they were this planet and its lost!" Usagi replied, hair flapping behind her as they fled. Usagi's pace, however, was thrown off entirely as a torpedo-like mound of earth shot up out of the ground directly in her path. The young women flew backwards, too bewildered to cry out, and landed on a cracking block of cement. Cody and Jerrid, unwilling to allow this obstacle to inhibit their path, grasped the girl firmly until she had her wits about her and ran on.

"Where is Hinotama, Usagi? Did you see her?" Cody shouted, fighting to be heard over the deafening raucous of the shaking. The blonde herself was battling against the unstable earth to maintain a steady foothold.

"She's heading towards the center of this mess...Hinotama is going after Lilith-hime."

The lieutenant glanced over at her, dodging a clump of churning rubble. "Who?"

"Lilith-hime commands the Dark Ones...in fact, she is the Dark One. The hell that has befallen this planet us entirely under her bidding--and Hinotama is going after her. What Hino doesn't realize, though, is that Lilith is waiting for her--for all of us. She knows." The men suddenly ceased in their steps.

"What are you saying, that we have no chance?" Jerrid spat, his eyes flaming. He refused to believe that all of their suffering had been in vain. That Hinotama's torment had been without intention. That his own pain had been without value.

"I don't know!" Usagi exclaimed frantically, her pretty eyes oscillating crazily as she glared at the towering man. "I just don't know...but I do know that if we do not find Hinotama soon, we're screwed. We need her, they need her. Lilith is going to get exactly what she wants unless we can figure this out." Jerrid dragged in a heavy breath and sighed. For a moment, there remained silence between the three aside from the noisy quaking of the earth.

Usagi, however, became decidedly distracted as she felt a distinct searing in her chest begin to rise up again. A tiny whimper was all that she could afford to speak as she pressed her hands to her chest, eyes tearing up. The men quickly went to take hold of and support her as she stumbled backwards, her vision now blinded and her thoughts severed as flashing images of an ultimately dark and lifeless future poured into her very core. Even as the images faded and Usagi regained her stability, an underlying sensation the young woman bore through her connection with her sister remained. Despite the warnings that were gleaming red in her soul, the determined young fighter relayed information to the men of a perilous event that would soon befall the shelter--miles away. Cody went aside to radio in, not realizing that the worst was still yet to come.

Two sighs filled the quaking air as Cody walked away for a moment. Usagi leaned against Jerrid for a moment, thankful to rest. "Do you think that she's unfit to fight? Sanely, without killing the rest of us, I mean?" Jerrid later asked softly, his eyes averted from Usagi's strangely peaceful form. How one could possess such power, such heart, and such innocence was a mind-boggling puzzle to the stubborn lieutenant.

The young woman sighed again, then slowly opened her mouth to speak. The words of reply that filled the air, however, were not her own.

"Well, I don't know," a fourth voice countered sharply, "but why don't you work out an assessment." Three pairs of eyes snapped to one prodigal point where the very object of their discussion had taken the liberty of seating herself upon a mass of rubble. Legs crossed and leaning back against the support of both arms, Hinotama glared down at them, her lips twisted into a dark smile.



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