'Somehow, when you think things have to get better, they only get worse....'
-Marcie Hans 1995
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A month had passed since the passing of Zephyr from the group, and things had somewhat changed since then. The group had pulled together once more, relying on each other for help and protection instead of the strongest among them, even though she was even stronger than before.
Lili had seemingly snapped out of her depression, but she was never again the same. She would smile and talk with the others...but you could sense the screen she had placed between you and her mind. The ever lurking sadness and grief that she had buried under layers of necessity to continue on in her mission and live for his sake.
But it's not like the others were all completely honest with themselves at all as well. Some of them were hiding things from the others: nightmares, fears, contemplations, regrets....
Still, they traveled on to finish their quest, and at this point that's all that mattered...
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Lili and Holly stood in the middle of the canyon talking quietly, everyone else spread out around them. "You're sure?" persisted Lili, leaning close to the younger woman so only she could hear.
"Very," replied Holly, her eyes perfectly serious. "Watch." She concentrated and the stone began to glow as always, the arrow pointing directly the way they had been going before.
"It looks like its working to me."
"But watch." Holly moved the stone and the arrow moved with it, pointing in a completely different direction.
"Nani!?" (What?!)
"Shh!!"
"Oops..." Lili sweated and lowered her voice, taking the magic stone in her hands and turning it this way and that. Still the arrow continued to turn in different directions, something it shouldn't have done. "Son of a....so what do we do now?"
"I don't know," replied Holly, looking nervous. "There's no plant life here, its just deep canyon after canyon, and none of them go straight for more than a half a mile at a time."
"Which means that if we continue north we'll be going at a snail's pace from climbing up and down the rocks," muttered Lili, shaking her head. "Hang on a second, let me check what direction we're going."
"Alright."
Lili closed her eyes and concentrated, keeping herself perfectly still. Suddenly her eyes popped open, looking fairly worried. "Eh?!"
"What?" asked Holly, seeing the nervousness in her eyes.
"Something's blocking my senses and radars too," said Lili, shaking her head. "It could be anything, but..."
"We'd better get moving," said Holly. "Where ever this canyon leads, it has to be safer than here."
"I hope so."
They got the group moving again and continued down the direction they had been going for the past few days.
"What's wrong?" asked Allen, seeing Lili's jaw clench and unclench several times from the side.
"I can't sense anything within ten feet," she growled softly, keeping her face as calm as possible.
"Ten feet?! You're sure?"
"Yes, Allen, I'm sure."
"Then that means that if we can't see whoever's doing this to you..."
"That they can see us."
"Great. Just great."
"My thoughts exactly."
The two of them continued to converse quietly as the rest of the group traveled on behind them, walking without a clue that this was happening. Or that least most of them didn't.
"Hey, Blue," said Pixie, sitting on his shoulder as she sometimes did.
"What, Pixie?"
"Why do you suppose Claws and them haven't caught up yet?" she asked, frowning slightly. "It's been quite sometime you know..."
"Over a month and a half," admitted Big blue with a shrug. "I don't know. Perhaps they got held up somewhere along the line."
"Held up?" Pixie frowned all the more.
"What if, say, they stopped to help a village that was under attack before they continued on their way," explained Big Blue, knowing what was going through his dear friend's mind.
"That would make sense..."
"Or they were needed for something in the valley? Or if they even got lost trying to find their way back?"
"Then what do we do in the mean time?" asked Pixie roughly, growling under her breath. "We can't just leave them out there by themselves."
"They're trained fighters," Blue reminded her gently. "And good ones, at that. They'll find us somehow, they always do."
"That's true..."
"EVERYONE!!! RUN!!" cried Tiger, who had been at the back of the group, watching their tail the whole time for anyone who might be following them.
"What is it?!" asked Lili, falling in beside him at the back as they rounded a bend, then several more, trying to lose the squad that was after them.
"A group of twenty or so, I think," he replied, glancing back behind himself now and then. "If we keep going like this, we should lose them pretty easily."
"Yeah, we should..."
They took several more turns, completely losing the squad (as well as themselves) in the twisted mass of canyons and caverns that were carved into the giant plateaus. Sometime after the sun had gone down, Lili stopped by a small cavern that was shielded from the wind, waiting for the others to catch up.
'We'll stay here,' she said in their minds, quickly entering it first to make sure it wasn't a trap. 'No fires, no talking, and no one's allowed outside until morning, alright?'
Everyone nodded and walked in the entrance, getting something to eat as Holly handed it out to them before taking out their bedding and laying down to sleep.
Genki woke up around midnight and saw Lili was still up, sitting beside the entrance as motionlessly as she could with her eyes opened wide. 'Still awake?' he asked as he touched her arm, having found out awhile ago that he could speak back to her when he was touching her.
'Someone has to keep guard.'
'I'll do it, you go and rest.'
'I don't need rest, remember? Technically, I could go for days on end without ever stopping for a break.'
'But its not good for you.'
'You need it more than, I.' Lili glanced back at where Holly was sleeping, seeing the woman bunch up in a ball like she always did during a nightmare. 'Go get back to Holly, she might be needing you soon.'
Genki turned and saw what she was talking about, nodding his head slowly. 'Alright, G'night Lili.'
'Night, Genki.'
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Everyone woke up early the next morning, shaken awake by a rough pair of hands as another one clamped over their mouths to keep them from crying out and give their position away. 'Absolutely quite,' said Lili in all their minds, standing with her back pressed against the stone wall. 'If one person makes a sound, I swear I'll cull them myself...'
'What's going on?' asked Pixie after she slunk up beside her and laid a hand on her arm. She, too, could speak with Lili that was as they had found out a few months before. 'Are they here?'
'They almost found us,' explained Lili, keeping her eyes closed as she concentrated on what she was doing. 'I put an illusion over the rock face to keep them from finding the entrance, but if there's someone in the group who can see through it, we're in so much trouble...'
'Can't you block all of them?'
'And put myself out for a week, yeah.'
'Oh....' Pixie kept back over to Big Blue, keeping her mouth shut then entire time.
'Please, just go away,' prayed Lili, sagging back against the rock as she poured more of her power into it. 'Please, just go away...'
"There's nothing here, Captain," said the halfsie who was walking around outside the door way, walking away from the wall face that wasn't really there and going back to his commanding officer. "Not a sign of them yet."
"Come back and head the other way," called a rough voice from a ways away, the halfsie obeying it immediately. "No time to waste. The Master wants to get his hands on them now."
"Yessir."
"Come on," said Lili once she was sure the coast was clear. "We have to get out of here now."
"Why?" asked Golem. "We're safe here as long as they don't see us, right?"
"They'll send more thorough, powerful hybrids with the ability to see through these types of things later if they don't find us all day," said Lili, slipping outside to see that the coast was clear. "I'd rather not have to deal with anything like that right now. Let's go."
"Alright." Everyone quickly packed up their things and walked silently out into the sunny afternoon, wishing they had more cover than they did as they walked the barren landscape and avoided the trails of those who were trying to find them.
"Go that way," said Lili at a junction, waiting for everyone to get past her as she watched all the paths carefully. Hoping that maybe they'd be able to just barely get by...
"There they are!! Get them!!!"
Lili rolled her eyes. Of course not.
"Run!!!" she yelled, keeping to the back to shield them from any blows that might come their way. Holly led the front of the pack through some twists and turns, easily keeping a good distance between them and the hybrids who were now after them as they went. That is, until she ran into a dead end.
"Crap," muttered Lili, sprinting to the front and pulling out a few coils of rope, shoving them into Pixie's hands as she deposited the rest of her things in a heap on the ground. "Go tie those to the top so they can climb over! I'll keep them back while you do!!"
Pixie nodded and took off, Lili keeping a constant shield about her just in case as well as a larger one around her friends on the ground. "Here, hybrids," she growled, throwing a few random lightning bolts at them to draw the attention to herself. "Come and get me, because I'm waiting here just for you."
She purposely kept her big attacks back as the hybrids reached her, lazily spotting them and letting loose disks or easy attacks as Genki and Allen made their way to the top of the cliff, the first ones to go so they could guard the top.
"Watch out!" she cried, three of them suddenly coming at her at once and two more going under her at the others. "Don't let them get through...!!" She decimated the three and turned around in time to see the two of them grab Genki and Allen from their ropes and fly off into the sky, leaving the rebels far behind. "Hey!" cried Lili, going after them like a shot. "If you think you can take them so easily, you've got another thing coming to you!!!"
The hybrids swerved and ducked through the canyons and inside caverns to the other side. They obviously knew this area very well, where that cavern would go instead of this one or how much harder it was to keep your speed going around that curve compared to the one next to it.
Lili kept up as best she could, blinded by her rage and anger at times and nearly getting herself killed. She swerved just in time to miss a pillar to hit a fireball they had sent her way, effectively dropping her to the ground and giving them time to disappear into the distance.
"Oh heck..." groaned Lili, lying there for a minute as she stared at the sky. "Son of a....mother of a .....I swear I'll kill those two when I find them..." With that, darkness overtook her world and she knew nothing more.
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Pixie rubbed her sore shoulders as Holly finished making dinner for them all, having found a tall plateau with a side and top entrance that was well hidden and would probably keep them safe for the most part. She moved mechanically, barely noticing what she was doing and relying entirely on habit as she was in her own little world on the inside. Genki had been captured.
"Ugn.....stupid hybrids....kill them all....destroy....kill....leave none left...." Lili woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed as she realized she wasn't still outside where she had last remembered herself being. "What in the..."
"Like it?" asked Pixie roughly. "Not that I really care. I found you somehow and brought you back. You've been out ever since. Looks like you took a hard hit, right?"
Lili touched her shoulder and winced, automatically healing herself like always. "I guess..."
"Did you see where they went?" asked Holly, looking her directly in the eyes. Lili almost flinched under the direct gaze. She had never seen Holly so dead serious in her life.
"No," replied Lili, leaning back against the wall as she checked her reserves of power. Just over half full, more than enough if she planned things correctly. "But I will find out."
"You won't be going out there by yourself," said Tiger, coming up and sitting in front of her determinedly.
"Don't make me freeze you here," muttered Lili, glaring right back at him.
"I'm being serious," said Tiger, "We've lost Zephyr, and now we've lost Allen and Genki too. The chances of getting them back are slim, and you know it too! We can't afford to lose more people out of grief or anger. We need you, Lili, you can't just run off like that."
"I'll do whatever the heck I want to," snarled Lili, daring him to challenge her anymore at the moment. He backed off and she settled back down in her place, accepting a bowl of bland soup before drifting off into a light nap, she would need her energy later that night. Yes, she would indeed.
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Genki stared up at the soaring walls nestled at the far back of a deep valley behind the lone mountain that ruled the place. Green things grew in somewhat more abundance here: plants, stunted trees, lots of moss, a few flowers here and there.
"Oh my gosh..."
"Quiet," snapped the hybrid carrying him, not even straining under his weight. "You low life traitors will get what you deserve!"
"What, a slap on the wrist?" taunted Allen.
*smack*
*bam*
"Do you think that'll keep them?" asked one of the hybrids, shifting his now limp load.
"It aught to, and if not we'll just do it again later."
"Alright."
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Lili crept around the small cavern, touching each one on the forehead and giving them a small burst of energy that would keep them asleep for many hours to come. But one was missing. She counted them on her fingers, turning slowly around the room...
"You're going after them, aren't you?" asked a voice from where you would go to leave out the top.
Holly. "Yeah, so? You should be glad." replied Lili, turning around to face her.
"I'm coming with you."
Lili snorted. "Like heck."
"I'll follow you regardless."
"You'll never keep up," Lili reminded her. "Someone will find you and capture you."
"So? I'm still going to try. I care about Genki, Lili. I'm going to do what I can to help him." The two of them stared at each other stubbornly, neither willing to budge an inch.
Finally, Lili sighed and nodded, knowing she was wasting precious time. "Fine. Climb on my back."
Holly did and they took off into the night, sweeping low over the plateaus as they searched for the ones they loved.
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Genki slowly opened his eyes, his vision hazy. He tried to wipe his eyes but found he couldn't, his wrists chained above his head to the wall behind him. His feet were locked into place too, making any movement at all impossible. Allen stirred beside him suddenly, quickly coming to his senses as well.
"Um, Allen?" asked Genki, glancing around the laboratory like room nervously. "Where are we?"
"How the heck should I know?" snapped Allen, having a pounding head ache. "Probably in some dungeon in the fort we saw before they hit us over the head."
"Muahahahah!!!" Their heads snapped up, focusing on a cloaked figure close by, as large as a Golem, but with different features. A long tail dragged out from under the layers of clothes, thin and rat like, but covered with scales with a tuft of fur at the end.
"Oh crap..."
"You said it, man..."
"So, the Phoenix boy and the traitor's friend have finally awakened, eh?" said the figure in a deep voice with a slight rasp to it.
"We have names, you know," said Genki sarcastically, lifting his hands and flexing his fingers to get some feeling back in them.
"But is beneath me to use them," replied the figure, coming closer into the light. His eyes glowed with an eerie light, red as a dragon's with a gold rim and inner blue circle that came from a some other monster, maybe a pixie or a suezo.
"Thanks for the compliment," said Allen with a shrug, acting like he was ignoring the man. "It's nice to know humans as still at the top of things..."
"You're quite welcome." The figure backed off, white fangs flashing against dark fur. "Now, down to business: How should I torture you two? Break all you bones one by one? Scar you beyond any type of recognition?" The figure's eyes lit up. "I know! I'll transform you into my minions, just as I did to your precious Lili many years ago. Muhaha! Muahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"What?!" cried Allen, looking very surprised and scared at the same time.
"You heard me, worm boy," said the figure, throwing off his cloak and revealing himself entirely to them. His legs were scaled like a dragon's, and just as thick with huge, razor sharp claws on both his hands and feet. Fur covered him from his neck to his pelvis, muscles rippling under the black that barely hid them away. "I'm going to mutate you both then plant you with seeds of darkness so you'll never be against me again! Such power, I can feel it already!! Hahahaha!!!!"
"Oh...." said Allen, sweating as the monster, obviously The Master they had been looking for all this time, went into hysterical laughter for awhile. "Right..."
"Um, we're screwed, right?" asked Genki quietly, still in shock over the whole thing.
"Um, yeah, we're screwed." Allen licked his lips, wondering what he should do next.
"That's what I was afraid of..."
"Strap blondie here into the first tube," barked The Master, one of his weaker minions scurrying in. "I wish to save the Phoenix boy for last."
"Yes, sire!!"
Allen was taken from his chains and dragged over to a platform with a board and more chains, two large Golems on steroids easily getting him under control and on top of it before strapping him into place.
"Now, now," said the Master, ignoring the foul language that was coming out of Allen's mouth. "I've heard it all before, your threats mean nothing to me." He pressed a button, a glass tube coming from above and sealing Allen inside, making it impossible for anything to go in or out of it.
"What monsters do you wish to give him, sire?" said the minion, bowing on his knees from over by a large cabinet.
"Naga and Dragon for sure," said The Master, stroking his long, thin beard. "And throw in some Joker and Monol as well to make things more interesting."
"As you wish, sire."
Allen went unconscious as a gas started to fill the tube, leaving Genki to watch as the phials were put into place, the machine turned on and tubes coming down to insert themselves into Allen's limp body...
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Lili continued to fly as she concentrated, whatever had been blocking her before was now gone, and continued to follow Genki and Allen's signals from a distance. "You're sure its them?" asked Holly for the fifth time, getting antsy from being up so high for so long.
"Yeah," replied Lili patiently, shifting her load slightly. "I'm sure."
They came up over a wall and stopped, seeing the fort before them. "Whoa," whispered Holly, taken aback slightly.
"It's huge," gasped Lili, never dreaming that it had gotten that big. "The plans were only for something half this size..."
Holly frowned. "What plans?"
'Never mind,' said Lili in her head, shielding them both from sight, sound, or detection. 'We need to get going. Now.'
Holly nodded as Lili took off down the slope, easily dodging her way through the guards and the doors, even through them at times when she could manage intangibility, into the deepest depths of the fort as they followed Genki and Allen's signals.
Lili frowned as Allen's signal changed somehow, something that she couldn't quiet pin point but she knew that she had seen it before. They rounded a bend, then another, and came to a large door locked from the inside. Lili put Holly down and made them both intangible long enough to get through it. That's when she saw them.
Allen was being dragged from the platform, the tube already raised back up and a small red spot at the base of his neck. Genki was being dragged forward and strapped to the board, the tube already starting to lower itself as The Master was choosing what to do with him.
"You're on your own," said Lili, tossing her sais at the younger girl and charging into the middle of the room, sword drawn eyes a blaze with fury. She smashed through the tube and left Genki strapped there to the board, taking out the other monsters in the room as quickly as she could.
Holly herself was very angered at what had happened and fought her way over to Genki's side, slicing his bonds off and giving him a hug before getting over to Allen and doing the same for him.
"So, you have come for you own," said the Master, facing Lili coolly.
"I have," she replied, waiting for his attack.
"Then go," he said with a smirk. "I've already done my damage. It is you who have lost, Traitor. Wait and see."
"Lets go," growled Lili, appearing beside her friends out of the blue and making all of them invisible and intangible. They went straight through the walls until they ended up outside the camp. "Genki, get on my back. Holly, you ride with Allen since he now has wings to fly with."
"Are we going back to the others?" asked Genki, holding on tight as Lili took off into the air, Allen following close behind.
"No," she replied shortly, glancing back over her shoulder now and then. "If they decide to send someone after us we can't risk giving away the position of the others. We're going somewhere else for the night."
"Where?"
"Some place at the base of the mountain."
"Oh, ok."
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Lili walked back into the small cave they had agreed upon, seeing Genki and Holly asleep as the far back leaning against each other. Holly was basically in his lap as they shared a blanket, snuggled up together as they shared warmth for the cold night. But Allen wasn't anywhere in sight.
She had left for a minute just to go use the bushes, so where could've he gotten off to? Lili walked outside and looked around a bit, scanning the nearby area and finding him several yards away walking slowly towards the fort they had just escaped from. That's when it hit her.
"Allen!!" she called, flying up to him quickly, ignoring the fact that others could probably hear her. "Allen! Get back here!!"
"What do you want?" he asked in a soft, monotone voice, turning to stare at her with his almost milk white eyes. His skin was transparent in the moonlight, showing the veins and arteries that ran under his skin with great ease. His hair had been turned to the color of ash, its silver tint gone forever. He had wings and claws like her now, and with no way to possibly hide them. He was just like she was. Except for one small difference...
"They were able to put one it you, weren't they?" she asked softly, wondering what in the world she as going to do now.
"A seed of darkness?"
"If that is what he called it."
"Yes."
"Oh my gosh....Allen...."
"I can resist it," he said resolutely, turning to look at her suddenly. "I'm strong enough, right? I can beat this thing if I want to..."
"No," said Lili softly, touching his face with her hands. "You can't." She went into his head and searched it out, finding it at the base of his neck. It was a new version, one she hadn't seen before and probably wouldn't be able to get rid of with her new powers. That didn't mean she couldn't try, though...
"Let's go back," she said, taking his arm firmly and leading him away from the fort.
"I like it here," he protested, trying to stay where he was. "Its quiet and peaceful..."
"And in the opposite direction of where we want to go," Lili reminded him. "Come."
"Alright..."
By the time Lili was able to drag Allen all the way back to the cave, the sun was rising and Genki and Holly woke up from their short rest. Both blushed and moved apart as they saw how they had fallen asleep, trying to act like nothing had happened at all.
"I can't go back," said Allen out of the blue, still facing towards the fort. "I just can't-" Lili had placed a hand on the back of his head and knocked him out completely, letting him go limp in her arms.
"Let's go," she said, hauling him over her shoulder and walking out the door. "It shouldn't be too hard to find our way back."
"What's wrong with him?" asked Genki, not understanding what was going on. Lili just glared straight ahead and kept walking, leaving the other two to follow her and wonder as they made their way back to the others.
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"Huh??!" Pixie looked very confused to find Lili and Holly sitting at the fire with Genki and Allen tied up in a corner when she and the others finally woke up, extremely hungry and well rested from the nap Lili had given them.
"You're back!" cried the pups, all over Genki as soon as they had gotten clear of their parents.
"Hey, what's with him?" asked Tiger, seeing Allen tied up in the corner. Lili had covered his new features with a blanket, but his pale skin and changed hair color was apparent from his head, which was still showing.
"Don't ask," snarled Lili, finishing he soup and laying down to sleep. "If any one bothers me before I wake up or even tries to touch Allen will be in for a nasty surprise." With that she rolled over and was out like a light, leaving everyone else to look at her worriedly.
"Is she alright?" asked Pixie, sitting beside Genki and giving him a quick hug.
"I think that when they transformed Allen, they were able to give him that seed of darkness or whatever before she could save us," said Genki, trying to remember all that had happened in that room. "I can't be sure though..."
"So, he's been taken over by them," said Tiger quietly, shaking his head. "Can she cure him?"
"I don't know."
"First Zephyr, now him," said Stormy, laying down beside the fire. "Who next?"
Genki stared into the flames, almost completely lost in thought. "I don't want to know..."
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Lili woke up late that night, seeing only Pixie stir by the fire as she was standing guard, and decided to start with her work. She moved Allen from his spot to the middle of the room, farther away from where the others were sleeping, and tied him to a pillar so he would be standing up right.
She then slit her palm across the middle, doing the same to his and tying them together, sitting at his feet as she used her power to go through his veins to the seed. She could see it right up ahead, a large, black intrusion with little sparks coming off of it now and then that went right to his brain.
Pixie watched from a distance, seeing her use her healing power to get under Allen's skin to the root of the problem and do what she could with it. The two of them glowed a bright blue, something that was normal when healing another and Pixie didn't pay much attention to it, lounging against the rock at her back to watch some more.
Lili was having a problem. No matter what she did, she couldn't even touch that black thing. Every time she tried to get close to it a barrier would pop up that she couldn't get through or she would be shocked by an electrical current that almost sent her back to her own body. She sat right where she was and started constructing a spear out of her power, throwing at the seed and watching as it shattered against the hull of the object.
Was that a crack? Then it worked. She made another and threw it again, hitting it almost in the exact same spot. Soon....soon he would be free...
Pixie watched from the outside as Lili's glow began to pale and beads of sweat dripped down her face, her skin going pale and clammy. "Oh no..." Lili's glow went completely white as she started using her life force, completely out of power from trying so hard. "Son of a....oh no you don't! Not after we've come this far..." Pixie immediately tore Lili's hand from Allen's and slashed her own palm, putting it against Lili's as she sent her own power through it back to her halfsie friend.
She had never fine tuned her healing abilities, she had spent too much time fighting to do that, but she did know how to transfer that power from one Pixie to another, and Lili had just enough of it in her to make it possible.
Stopping when she was sure that she had replaced enough of Lili's life force that she would live she checked on Allen, seeing he was still alive and well too.
"Pixie..."
"Shh," she said quickly, leaning by Lili's side. "Idiot. Almost killed yourself, there."
"I know," replied Lili, just barely breathing. "When he wakes up, let him go. Don't try to stop him."
"Why?" asked Pixie with a frown.
"Don't stop him, just let him go," replied Lili stubbornly, gripping Pixie's hand firmly.
"I won't," replied Pixie, having no intention of doing it at all.
"Promise me you won't." Pixie paused, unsure of what to say. "Promise me."
"I promise on my word as a friend," replied Pixie, knowing she would have to do it now. "I will make sure he can leave if he wishes when he wakes up."
"Thank you," said Lili, leaning back on the group and closing her eyes as she welcomed the blessed darkness.
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Lili woke up a week later, seeing the group still hadn't moved and was sitting around waiting for her expectantly, knowing she would eventually come to. "Genki," she said quickly, getting up and putting on her coat after shrinking her wings to get them through the slits. "I want you to go north without me." She got her sais from Holly and put them back in her boots after pulling them on, making sure her pack was ready before securing it on her back and the sword at her side.
"What about Allen?" asked Pixie.
"That's what I'm going to go take care of."
"We can't take the for without you," said Genki, getting in front of her and looking her in the eye.
"Follow the magic stone," said Lili on a hunch, going around him and taking a small water skin for herself. "It will tell you where to go next."
Holly tried it and it worked, pointing northwest from where they were to the mountain far above the plateaus and soaring into the skies. "We'll go there then," said Genki, nodding his understanding. "You will come and find us when things are right again, right?"
"I hope," said Lili, shrugging her shoulders. "That's all I can promise, cousin." She gave everyone a hug and left, soaring up into the sky as she went in search of her destiny and they theirs.
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And that is Chapter 20. Its not a cliff hanger, really its not. Please be kind and review, I'll have what happens next up as soon as I can. With two AP's and several honors courses, writing time is becoming scarce so I don't know when chapters are going to be coming up. Pretty much whenever I can manage it. Thanks for your patience!
~crosseyedbutterfly~