Eh, angst. Yep, a very unhappy word, but I'll have to add it in right now. This chapter could make me a very unpopular author, but it has its purposes....just go and read it please....
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Stormy paced around the camp, sensing the approach of dawn. The forces that surrounded them began to move, shifting their shapes and ranks as Stormy ran and woke up Lili, showing her what was going on.
"Get the others up," said Lili grimly, immediately awake. "We need to get ready now before they attack." The sun peaked its head over the rim of the hills right then, bathing everything in a golden light.
"Is it time?" asked Zephyr, having woken up when she did.
"Not yet," she replied, letting her wings and fur grow out as she took out her sword and began to sharpen it on a stone. "But it will be soon."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Bring the fire to a blaze without catching anything else in it, I want to use it to our advantage."
"Alright."
Genki was up first from everyone else, quickly pulling on his boots and buckling his sword and dagger around his waist as fast as he could. His movements woke up Holly, since she had been leaning on him, and she too scrambled to pull herself together, securing her dagger to her side and braiding her hair in a tight bun to no one could use it against her.
"What do you want us to do?" asked Genki, coming before Lili with Holly at his side as soon as they were ready.
"Stretch out and get something to eat," Lili advised them. "Go ahead and get your roller blades on now, they won't wait around when they decide to charge. Genki, I want you to be a part of the main attack force while you, Holly, stay behind and watch out for the pups and Slip."
"Alright," said Holly, nodding her head slightly. "I understand."
"What about you, Genki?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
"Then go, we don't have much time."
"What's the plan?" asked Pixie, coming up from behind her as she usually did to Lili.
"Part of us stay and protect the young ones with the wall for protection at their backs," explained Lili. "The rest go and form groups to work with in the center or wherever you find yourself."
"I'm part of the fighting group?"
"I'd assume that's where you'd want to be."
"Yep, kicking halfsie butt."
"Most of them are hybrids, not halfsies."
"Whatever. What about Blue?"
"He works well as a guard, he and Golem will help Holly in the back."
"Alright."
The fire was roaring at that time, much to wonderment of the others, as Zephyr heaped even more dry brush on it to keep it going. "What's with the fire?" asked Allen, coming to her side quickly. "It's not like we can shoot arrows at them."
"How many do we have left?"
"Uh, twenty or so, I think, and three bows."
"Get the three best archers on the bows at first, shooting into the dead trees to catch fire from behind."
"Oh, alright."
"Hey," said Tiger, nudging his pups awake (Temi had been placed over by him after Zephyr woke up so she could sleep in a little), "Get up you two..."
"What?" asked Ice, rubbing his eyes with his paws. "Why are we getting up so...oh..."
"It's alright," said Temi, comforting her brother as he began to shake once more. "Uncle Z said everything was going to be fine, and I believe him."
"I guess he's right..."
"I know he's right. He always is!"
"Hush, pups," said Stormy, her eyes cold as ice for the first time either of them could remember. Tiger remembered her like that, they were her killing eyes, and nothing could stand in the way of her goal when she was like this. Not even the help of a friend. "Go over by Miss Holly and stay near her at all costs, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Holly," said Genki, sidling up beside her as she started to cook breakfast, some gruel and bread with bacon. "There's something I need to-"
"Shh," she whispered, turning to face him. "Not now. When things are clear, but not now, please....it'll only hurt to much if..." She trailed off and kissed him on the cheek, going over to the spring to dip some water. He nodded and walked off, touching the place she had kissed now and then as the time drew nearer for the battle.
"Holly," croaked Hare, his skin white under his fur. "Will you give this to Grace for me if something happens?"
Holly frowned. "Hare..."
"Please," he said quickly. "It would mean a lot to me if you would just take it. At least then I'll know that if I can't give it to her, you will." Holly gulped and nodded, taking the small package from him slowly. She placed it in her pouch and kept on stirring the gruel, being careful not to let it stick to the bottom and burn as the minutes passed by at an agonizingly slow pace.
"Is everyone one up and ready?" Lili asked Allen as he came by her again, stopping at her side this time. She could see Pixie and Big Blue sitting a little ways off, talking quietly so only they could hear, and Tiger spending some time with his pups in case it was the last time he ever saw them. Genki was over talking with Golem and Slip, and no doubt it was along the lines of more goodbyes. Zephyr was making his rounds right now, and everyone could only hope that things would turn out well from the odds they had been given.
"As ready as we'll ever be," replied Allen, trying to keep down the meager meal he had swallowed. "Lilianne..."
"I know," she replied, keeping her face completely straight. "But no, Allen. Things will never happen that way." She held out her hand to him and he took it in his, giving it a firm squeeze.
"I love you anyways," he replied, giving her a sad look.
"But," she replied softly, "I can't love you back."
"I know."
"Then, good luck."
"To you, too."
"Are you ready to surrender Rebels?" called Zelda confidently, coming halfway between the two with an invisible shield in front of her, always one to take precautions.
"Never!" cried Genki, standing up in the front of their group.
"Then you will die! Charge!!"
A blood bath ensured, the rebels shooting the fire arrows over the heads of the charging hybrids into their back ranks near the dry trees before dropping the bows and rushing in head first, trying to tear a path through the hybrids to the other side.
Zephyr and Lili worked as one, completely in tune to their surroundings and each other to the point that one could've closed their eyes and kept going without a problem.
'Go help Genki,' said Lili to Zephyr, sensing her cousin was in a tight spot.
'And you?'
'I'll be fine, go.'
'Alright.'
The two of them separated and didn't get together again for the rest of that battle, and that was something Lili regretted for the rest of her days.
"Duck!" cried Allen, seeing a spear zoom over their heads.
"Argh!!" Genki took out his frustration on the next hybrid that got in his way, quickly slicing through them with his razor sharp blades and fined tuned skills.
"Ha!" cried Allen, finishing another to his right.
"Dragon's foot!" cried Hare, keeping back the quickly advancing halfsies, doing his best to watch Genki and Allen's backs.
"Watch it, Stormy!" cried Allen, seeing some hybrids slip past them towards Golem and Big Blue. "Don't let them through!"
"I won't," growled the female tiger, quickly powering up her attack. "Arctic Blast!"
"Careful!" cried Holly, seeing one get around her defenses.
"Out of my way, human," the halfsies sneered.
"Not in this life time," replied Holly coolly, standing at the ready.
"Then I will destroy you!"
"Come and try."
The halfsie swung his fists at her, surprised to have them severed from his limbs and left with bleeding stumps.
"Huh?"
"Die." Holly neatly sliced his throat before he could react, letting the crumbling disk fall to the ground as it formed. "One down, too many to go."
"Watch it!" cried Pixie, sticking with Tiger and Stormy. "Giga Beam!!"
"Ice Bullet!" added Tiger, the two of them taking out the soldier together.
"Are you alright?" Genki called to Allen, seeing him push a dead hybrid off himself.
"Yeah," replied Allen. "Just *grunt* a little winded..."
Darkblade watched the battle with limited interest, only showing any feelings when Lili crossed his vision, and then it was only a fleeting smile. "Here, kitty kitty," he said mockingly in a low voice, vanishing in the crowd of soldiers and making his way over to her.
Lili sensed something coming from behind her and ducked, the blade passing harmlessly over her head. The problem was, she never actually saw the blade its self, just an indentation in the ground where it should be. "What the-"
"Not bad, traitor," murmured Darkblade, showing himself behind her. "I've heard of you swordsmanship far and wide. Care to test me as an opponent?"
"If that is what you wish..."
"It is."
"Then begin!"
Darkblade drew a sword of black from his cloak, his eyes still the only thing to show as he leapt at her blade first. Lili dodged to the side and met his blade with the flat of hers, forcing it to one side with a flick of her wrist.
"Not bad," admitted Darkblade, both of them ignoring the others around them, and even killing them in their quest to reach the other. "But not good enough, I'm afraid..." Darkblade thrust his weapon at Lili at an angle, forcing her to give more ground than she liked. "DIE!!!"
"Not yet," whispered Lili, moving her sword faster than the eye could see. 'SLASH!' 'SWISH!'
"Uhn......" Lili went back to the battle as Darkblade turned into a lost disk, crumbling under the footsteps of others as it lost its glow, not even a head marking for a grave of a General of The Master. Much less when all he had forgotten to do was to watch his guard...
Zephyr battled alone in the middle of the fray, showing no mercy as he tore through their rank. Most didn't even know he was there until he was upon them, and then it was too late...
He instinctively dodged to the side on a whim, feeling a fireball whiz past him into a hybrid he had been going to destroy. "What do you want, Zelda?" he asked, recognizing its feel.
"For you to die, Traitor!" she cried, charging up another attack. "Lightning!!"
He dodged again, his movements slow and fluid. "You failed last time you tried that," he reminded her, moving again as another fireball whizzed past.
"This time I will succeed, or die trying!" she growled, holding her horns level with the ground. "Giga Blast!"
Lili, being several hundred feet away at this point, would've normally jumped in between them and chased Zelda off with ease. But he could sense she was having problems of her own and left her to them, figuring he could handle his own sister if he had to. "As you wish, sister."
"Don't call me that!" snarled Zelda, lashing out at him with her claws.
"But you are my sister, and I your brother."
"I've never accepted you as such, traitor, and I never will!!"
Zephyr sighed, saddened by all the hate and anger she carried in her heart. "If you insist...."
"I do. Fire and Ice Blast!!"
"Zephyr Winds!!!"
The two attacks canceled each other out, leaving them both standing there in the midst of the battle. Zelda leapt at him through the haze, trying to reach his throat with her jaws. They went at it like mad-beasts, neither giving nor taking a break as they snapped, slashed, and wrestled on the ground for control. Wounds were cut into each other and blood flowed free as Zelda leapt away, her horns powered to full.
"DANCE OF LIGHTNING!!" she cried, completely draining herself of what energy she had left in one final sweep for control. Zephyr tried to dodge and got hit a couple times, falling to the ground on his side as Zelda began to celebrate her victory. "HAHAHAH!!! I have won!!"
"Not yet," grunted Zephyr suddenly, quickly rising to his feet.
"Wha..."
"Zephyr's STORMS!!!" The attack blew her away, leaving her drained off both attack and physical energy as she lay there on her back, sprawled there for the taking. "Forgive me sister," murmured Zephyr, coming and standing directly over her. "I hate to kill my only family..." He slowly powered for his next attack, taking his time not to torture her but to memorize what she looked like to his scans one last time.
"Bastard!! Die!!!" she snarled, suddenly getting a boost of energy. Flipping on her stomach, she angled her horns upwards and thrust them into his chest, easily passing through to the other side.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Zephyr's scream echoed in everyone's head and ears, Lili turning and running his direction when she heard him cry.
"Z!!" she roared, slicing a path through those between them. "NO!!!!"
" I have won!! I have killed the traitor who was once my brother!!" rejoiced Zelda, leaping up in the air and roaring her approval of what she had done before hightailing it to the back lines.
"ZEPHYR!!!"
Zelda ignored Lili's cries and got to the far back of the camp, looking for Darkblade who was supposed to meet her there. There would be other days to kill the other traitor, one was enough for today.
"Zeph...." Lili knelt by him, cradling his head in her lap. "No....Z....no..."
"Lili...."
"Shh, rest Z," she said quietly, tears running down her face. "I'll heal you. You'll be ok....you have to be....right??"
"Lili....I love you....Lilianne...."
"I love you too, Z, I always will....you're my son...." Zephyr began to glow, marking his passage from this world as Lili began to glow as well without her realizing it.
"Goodbye, Lili....don't forget me..."
"NO!! Zephyr!! Wait, you can't go, you can't....Zephyr!!!!"
The rebels instinctively drew back, Holly shielding the pups and Slip with her body as Lili began to glow even brighter, casting shadows all around as they blocked their eyes from the light. She had transformed completely, this being only the third time in her life she had done so. Scales sprouted and she formed a tail like a Dragon, wicked spikes curving off of it. Her jaw lengthened and fangs longer then her hands grew from it, her hands forming bigger claws than before. She grew in size as she began to fly straight up, her wings and limbs spread out wide as the blood lust took over her mind.
Allen stood closest to her, his mouth hanging open in surprise. "...oh my gosh.. ..Lili.....Zephyr..."
Genki stood a little ways behind him, tears flowing down his face as well. "....Lili?"
"Everyone, down!!" cried Slip, somehow sensing what was going to happen next without even knowing it.
Lili raised her arms over her head, leering at the combined enemy armies as an orb of light formed in each hand. "ULTIMATE FORCE!!!"
An enormous shock wave ran through the area on both sides, knocking over trees as it wiped out the entire enemy force with one blow. Zelda lay in the very back, covered by the bodies of others as it passed over her and wondered what she had done.
The rebels were knocked flat, falling over one another as they lost consciousness and lay there, exposed to the world like dead beings. Lili stayed in the air a moment, her hands still raised over head as the waves from her died, her power completely spent. She fell to the ground, transforming back as she did as the world went black...
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
Sad, ne? I'm not expecting good reviews for this chapter, but it did have its purposes in the general scheme of things. Please, don't kill me. He is my character after all, and I'm going to miss him even more than you are.
~crosseyedbutterfly~