I apologize profusely for making all of you wait so long. Begging your
forgiveness, I hope you enjoy what I have been able to come up with. Once
again, I don't own any of the fine young men of Weis or otherwise. But
please R&R, thank you. ~Arzetta
Kasumi slowly opened her eyes and blinked several times to focus them. She found that she was standing in the middle of what appeared to be a Japanese garden. It had a small river that ran into to pond that had several fat gold fish swimming in it. There was a dark wood bridge that went over it to a glass-topped table and two metal-filigreed chairs one on either side of it. It was evening; she could hear the crickets and a soft cool breeze played at the edges of her blue kimono.
She tried to move but found that her hands and feet were chained. Her hands were in golden cuffs that were connected by chains to tall half circled shaped pieces of metal one on either side. Angrily she yanked on them and tried to use a breaking spell but found that her lips were to dry to speak.
It was then that she heard laughter coming from the far side of the garden. As the sound drew nearer Kasumi could make out whom it was. It was a tall pale woman with wicked green eyes and flaming red hair that cascaded down to the middle of her back. She was dressed in a sparkling red evening gown and had a glass of champagne in one hand. Around her neck on a long golden chain hung a large golden medallion with a blood red ruby at the center.
"Well, sister dear. I see you've finally woken up. Would you like some thing to drink?" The woman held the glass out in front Kasumi then took it back and drank down the last of the champagne. "Oh I'm sorry." She said unsympathetically and grinned wickedly. She then proceeded to throw the glass over her shoulder. It flew out and crashed breaking into a thousand tiny shards that rained themselves down around the small table.
"I'm not your sister any more Yanasuni!" Kasumi spat back in a harsh reply. She glared fiercely at the woman.
"Oh but you are dear, after all blood is thicker than water. Besides without you I could never finish what great grandfather started. That name Yanasuni means nothing to me now. I am no longer that innocent little apprentice. I am Nova, Nova Tonomara and you will address me as such!" Nova said and looked Kasumi full in the face. Her eyes burned with an inner fire that threatened to consume any one and everyone.
Kasumi's eyes widen at the very implications that her grandfather had started the process that would end the world. She started to believe that perhaps what she had been doing for the last 400 years had been a waste. But she wasn't going to give her sister the satisfaction of knowing her doubts. Kasumi glared back at Yansuni, "It doesn't matter what you call yourself, sister of the dark magic's. Your still a murderer and traitor to our, no my, family. I'll never help you!" she replied bitterness etching every word.
"Yes I am sister to the dark. It is the dark magic that makes me far more powerful than you will ever be. But I'm not the only trader in the family, sister dear. Grandfather had more ambition that goodness in him and it was what got him killed in the end. History remembers him as good and wise, some times using strange means to justify the ends. But all he cared for was power, that's why grandmother hid the emblem of light, Morgion's Light she called it, from him. Because she always cared that pathetic hope that some day grandfather would turn from the path he had chosen. If he didn't or got too powerful she had the power of the light the to stop him. You know they killed each other, it was the duel that sunk Avalon and ended Arthur's pathetic reign." Nova said, "As for not helping me, well you don't have a choice." Then she pointed to the medallion that hung from her neck. "You see this?"
"Where did you get that?" Kasumi asked. She knew what that seemingly innocent gaudy piece was. It was Myrddin's Medallion.
"From an antique dealer who wouldn't sell it, so I took it from him. You know what it is. It's great grandfather's medallion that he used to travel back and forth through time. Now that I have it I shall use to bring the world to its knees. But it needs a great deal of magic to power it. Magic isn't as easy to come by as it was seven hundred years ago." Nova said and looked at the medallion.
"What are you going to do with me?" Kasumi asked. She already knew the answer but she asked all the same.
"I'm going to use your magic to power it of course! I can't use my own you know, that would leave me weak and defenseless. Maybe even dead and I can't have that." Nova smiled as she proceeded to take the necklace off and hang it around Kasumi's neck. "There is only one way to stop me and that won't happen. Even if your pathetic friends, oh yes I know all about them, in Ireland are going to try. There is no way they'll succeed. I already sent some one out there to get great grandmothers light. Oh I do feel so deliciously evil. Knowing I can't be stopped!"
"You won't succeed. They will stop you." Kasumi said and silently prayed that Aya would come.
"Don't bet on it. I can see great grandmother's weakness lives on in you, but oh, it's so cute. I get the pleasure of dashing that hope and killing you. This is a good day." Nova said and pinched Kasumi's cheek. Then she reached over by Kasumi's feet and picked a large black leather bound volume. She opened and turned a few pages stopping at the one she needed. She set the book at her feet, closed her eyes and began to hum. It was a deep throaty sound that made the air start to buzz. The letters on the page in the book began to glow with a fierce white light. Nova raised her hands and spoke. Her voice sounding deep and otherworldly, "Time-selar Solar-kree Suin-ta Ka-le' Dune!" Holding her hands out fingers splayed she said one last word, "Maga-re" and the ground on which Kasumi stood began to spin.
Kasumi closed her eyes against the glare and silently said goodbye to the man she loved. Then the there was a fierce burning pain that began in her feet and climbed its way up her body till it reached her head. It felt as if the life was being drained from her, she felt dizzy and sick all at the same time. She screamed, giving voice to her pain and anguish. Then the world was black and she knew no more.
******************************************************************
"Aya, we don't even know what that animal was or even where it was going. How are we going to find Kasumi now?" Ken asked. He grunted when Dragon Ice pulled the bandage on his ribs tight.
Dragon Ice looked up at Aya. He was looking at her as if he some how knew that she had the answers they were looking for. Sighing she said, "Normally my order doesn't deal with outsiders. But this is an exception. I know what that animal was." She sat down then continued, "It was a Wyrsa. I thought they were wolves and only a legend. But obviously I was wrong, that one was a magical hybrid. The rider was Dragon Steel, she used to be part of my order but she betrayed my master to her death, then she disappeared."
Aya nodded, "What about where she was going? Whom does she work for?" He was getting angry and if he didn't get some answers soon he felt like he'd go insane.
"I don't know." Dragon Ice replied. She looked at Aya; she could see the anguish in his eyes along with the fierce burning desire for, revenge. Just then something unusual happened the apartment began to shake. It was light at first and then it built in force till it felt as if the building might be shaken off of its foundation. Dragon Ice grabbed Ken and rolled onto the floor putting her body under his to take the impact. She turned and looked at Aya who was hunkered under a table staring out the window his mouth agape. Dragon Ice followed his gaze and peered out the large bay window, the on the horizon was what appeared to be a great white light but it was growing brighter and it seemed to be covering the city like a tidal wave. "No! Oh, god, please, no!" Dragon Ice whispered and held Ken tighter. She watched the wave make its way towards their building knowing that there was no way to stop it.
The white wave came and crashed seeming to break upon the building that teetered and gave with the impact but still stood strong. With the white wave as it crashed upon the city Aya could hear a voice, a woman's voice screaming as if in great pain. He knew it whose voice it was. He bowed his head and grasped the leg of the table he was under the knuckles on his hands grew white as a single tear slid down his pale cheek.
The impact left every one jarred but nothing prepared them for the massive shockwave that accompanied it. It roared through the city sounding like a runaway freight train leaving only death and chaos in its wake. It flattened buildings turning them to rubble in a matter of seconds, it ate through human flesh reducing it to ash, and windows imploded upon its touch. Not even the glass could withstand the hot sweeping hand of death.
"Oh shit!" Crawford swore and turned to the others, "We have to get out of here!" he screamed. He made a break for the door with Iria trailing behind. Aya looked at him as he ran past, getting out from under the table his eyes glittered with a fierce light as he too ran for the door, more determined than ever to live, if only long enough to see Kasumi 's kidnapper, killer dead.
Dragon Ice and Ken stood and ran out of the apartment. Each wondering if the next second would be their last. **********************************************************************
"Kuduo? Kuduo! Damn you Yohji wake up!!" Schuldich snapped as he glared down at the drunken blonde.
Yohji could hear some one saying his name. He slowly opened his eyes; they felt like some had dumped a pound of sand in them. Groaning he grabbed his head, it felt like he had the entire public school soccer team running around in his head, all one hundred and fifty of them. As he tried to get his eyes to focus he licked his lips, gods he needed a drink. Looking up he came face to face with...Schuldich? "Holy shit!" Yohji exclaimed and jumped up onto the couch he had been slumped in front of. "Just what the hell are you doing here?" It was then that he noticed he needed a shower too, there was some thing really gross on the front of his shirt and it smelled.
"Oh shut up and drink this!" Schuldich ordered as he shoved a steaming mug of Mom Fujitani's hangover recovery mix into Yohji's hands. He hated to see Yohji like this, drunk, stupid and passed out in a puddle of his own puke. "What made you get so damn drunk?"
Yohji took the mug, and smelled it. Making a face, he proceeded to gingerly sip at the hot beverage. He knew he had to drink it if was going to get his wits gathered up. Looking back at Schuldich through a pair of red-rimmed eyes Yohji asked, "Why are you here? Iria told me she, is in love with Crawford. That tight wad of an American! Can't you let a man get drunk in peace?"
Schuldich glared, oh gods how he liked yet absolutely hated that man! He shook his head, "I came with Crawford, and there was trouble at Aya's. We came to help but were late, what ever had been there before us wrecked the place then ran off kidnapping Kasumi, I guess her name was, as it left. As you know I was never very good at leaving you alone, drunk or other wise." Schuldich smiled slightly. "Wait a sec', the orphan waif? She Talks? She's in love with Crawford? I never thought that stiff yank liked girls." Schuldich asked. Just as he said that the building began to shake.
"What the." But whatever else Yohji said was lost as the building shuddered and swayed making him spill his drink down the front of himself. "Damn it!" He swore as he tried unsuccessfully to brush the hot liquid and herbs off his shirt.
Schuldich looked out the window in the tiny kitchen he could see the white light as it crashed over the building, he closed his eyes against it, the as he opened them he saw the shockwave that was coming closer sweeping up everything in it's path. Turning he ran out and grabbed Yohji dragging him to his feet. Yohji stumbled as Schuldich drug him out the door and down the hall. He had no idea where they were going or what they were running from, he saw everyone else in front them running out of the building too. He only knew his head was throbbing and running only made it worse.
Yohji and Schuldich ran after the others. "Is there a basement in this place?" Schuldich yelled back to Yohji.
"I don't know. but getting out of this building all together might be a better idea than getting trapped in a basement." Yohji yelled in reply trying to get his still groggy mind working. "Hang on a second if we can get out of here and two buildings down to the UPS office building we can hide in the parking garage in the ground level." He heard Crawford yell from some where in front of him. Yohji let Schuldich drag him along down one more flight of stairs to the ground floor and out of the already tumbling down apartment building.
"Hurry, we don't have much time." Dragon Ice yelled over the noise to Ken who was helping her to limp down the street. They all ran down to the UPS building and around to the left side of it trying to avoid bits of debris and falling chunks of cement from the older towering buildings in the run down side of town where they lived.
Aya ran faster than them all, always glancing back over his shoulder to see if any one was still with him. Turning he ran down the entrance to the now empty parking garage. He waited by the entrance for everyone and watched as they ran, limped and were drug past him. Just as he followed the rest of the further into the depths of the old office building across the street teetered and fell right into the UPS building which swayed with the impact as it was struck by a million tons of cement, glass and steel. The bits and pieces tumbled to the ground completely blocking the entrance. Aya sighed as watched it happen. Now what were they going to do?
************************************************************************ Well, there's chapter nine. I hope it meets your standards and expectations. Thanks for being so patient with me. ~Arzetta
Kasumi slowly opened her eyes and blinked several times to focus them. She found that she was standing in the middle of what appeared to be a Japanese garden. It had a small river that ran into to pond that had several fat gold fish swimming in it. There was a dark wood bridge that went over it to a glass-topped table and two metal-filigreed chairs one on either side of it. It was evening; she could hear the crickets and a soft cool breeze played at the edges of her blue kimono.
She tried to move but found that her hands and feet were chained. Her hands were in golden cuffs that were connected by chains to tall half circled shaped pieces of metal one on either side. Angrily she yanked on them and tried to use a breaking spell but found that her lips were to dry to speak.
It was then that she heard laughter coming from the far side of the garden. As the sound drew nearer Kasumi could make out whom it was. It was a tall pale woman with wicked green eyes and flaming red hair that cascaded down to the middle of her back. She was dressed in a sparkling red evening gown and had a glass of champagne in one hand. Around her neck on a long golden chain hung a large golden medallion with a blood red ruby at the center.
"Well, sister dear. I see you've finally woken up. Would you like some thing to drink?" The woman held the glass out in front Kasumi then took it back and drank down the last of the champagne. "Oh I'm sorry." She said unsympathetically and grinned wickedly. She then proceeded to throw the glass over her shoulder. It flew out and crashed breaking into a thousand tiny shards that rained themselves down around the small table.
"I'm not your sister any more Yanasuni!" Kasumi spat back in a harsh reply. She glared fiercely at the woman.
"Oh but you are dear, after all blood is thicker than water. Besides without you I could never finish what great grandfather started. That name Yanasuni means nothing to me now. I am no longer that innocent little apprentice. I am Nova, Nova Tonomara and you will address me as such!" Nova said and looked Kasumi full in the face. Her eyes burned with an inner fire that threatened to consume any one and everyone.
Kasumi's eyes widen at the very implications that her grandfather had started the process that would end the world. She started to believe that perhaps what she had been doing for the last 400 years had been a waste. But she wasn't going to give her sister the satisfaction of knowing her doubts. Kasumi glared back at Yansuni, "It doesn't matter what you call yourself, sister of the dark magic's. Your still a murderer and traitor to our, no my, family. I'll never help you!" she replied bitterness etching every word.
"Yes I am sister to the dark. It is the dark magic that makes me far more powerful than you will ever be. But I'm not the only trader in the family, sister dear. Grandfather had more ambition that goodness in him and it was what got him killed in the end. History remembers him as good and wise, some times using strange means to justify the ends. But all he cared for was power, that's why grandmother hid the emblem of light, Morgion's Light she called it, from him. Because she always cared that pathetic hope that some day grandfather would turn from the path he had chosen. If he didn't or got too powerful she had the power of the light the to stop him. You know they killed each other, it was the duel that sunk Avalon and ended Arthur's pathetic reign." Nova said, "As for not helping me, well you don't have a choice." Then she pointed to the medallion that hung from her neck. "You see this?"
"Where did you get that?" Kasumi asked. She knew what that seemingly innocent gaudy piece was. It was Myrddin's Medallion.
"From an antique dealer who wouldn't sell it, so I took it from him. You know what it is. It's great grandfather's medallion that he used to travel back and forth through time. Now that I have it I shall use to bring the world to its knees. But it needs a great deal of magic to power it. Magic isn't as easy to come by as it was seven hundred years ago." Nova said and looked at the medallion.
"What are you going to do with me?" Kasumi asked. She already knew the answer but she asked all the same.
"I'm going to use your magic to power it of course! I can't use my own you know, that would leave me weak and defenseless. Maybe even dead and I can't have that." Nova smiled as she proceeded to take the necklace off and hang it around Kasumi's neck. "There is only one way to stop me and that won't happen. Even if your pathetic friends, oh yes I know all about them, in Ireland are going to try. There is no way they'll succeed. I already sent some one out there to get great grandmothers light. Oh I do feel so deliciously evil. Knowing I can't be stopped!"
"You won't succeed. They will stop you." Kasumi said and silently prayed that Aya would come.
"Don't bet on it. I can see great grandmother's weakness lives on in you, but oh, it's so cute. I get the pleasure of dashing that hope and killing you. This is a good day." Nova said and pinched Kasumi's cheek. Then she reached over by Kasumi's feet and picked a large black leather bound volume. She opened and turned a few pages stopping at the one she needed. She set the book at her feet, closed her eyes and began to hum. It was a deep throaty sound that made the air start to buzz. The letters on the page in the book began to glow with a fierce white light. Nova raised her hands and spoke. Her voice sounding deep and otherworldly, "Time-selar Solar-kree Suin-ta Ka-le' Dune!" Holding her hands out fingers splayed she said one last word, "Maga-re" and the ground on which Kasumi stood began to spin.
Kasumi closed her eyes against the glare and silently said goodbye to the man she loved. Then the there was a fierce burning pain that began in her feet and climbed its way up her body till it reached her head. It felt as if the life was being drained from her, she felt dizzy and sick all at the same time. She screamed, giving voice to her pain and anguish. Then the world was black and she knew no more.
******************************************************************
"Aya, we don't even know what that animal was or even where it was going. How are we going to find Kasumi now?" Ken asked. He grunted when Dragon Ice pulled the bandage on his ribs tight.
Dragon Ice looked up at Aya. He was looking at her as if he some how knew that she had the answers they were looking for. Sighing she said, "Normally my order doesn't deal with outsiders. But this is an exception. I know what that animal was." She sat down then continued, "It was a Wyrsa. I thought they were wolves and only a legend. But obviously I was wrong, that one was a magical hybrid. The rider was Dragon Steel, she used to be part of my order but she betrayed my master to her death, then she disappeared."
Aya nodded, "What about where she was going? Whom does she work for?" He was getting angry and if he didn't get some answers soon he felt like he'd go insane.
"I don't know." Dragon Ice replied. She looked at Aya; she could see the anguish in his eyes along with the fierce burning desire for, revenge. Just then something unusual happened the apartment began to shake. It was light at first and then it built in force till it felt as if the building might be shaken off of its foundation. Dragon Ice grabbed Ken and rolled onto the floor putting her body under his to take the impact. She turned and looked at Aya who was hunkered under a table staring out the window his mouth agape. Dragon Ice followed his gaze and peered out the large bay window, the on the horizon was what appeared to be a great white light but it was growing brighter and it seemed to be covering the city like a tidal wave. "No! Oh, god, please, no!" Dragon Ice whispered and held Ken tighter. She watched the wave make its way towards their building knowing that there was no way to stop it.
The white wave came and crashed seeming to break upon the building that teetered and gave with the impact but still stood strong. With the white wave as it crashed upon the city Aya could hear a voice, a woman's voice screaming as if in great pain. He knew it whose voice it was. He bowed his head and grasped the leg of the table he was under the knuckles on his hands grew white as a single tear slid down his pale cheek.
The impact left every one jarred but nothing prepared them for the massive shockwave that accompanied it. It roared through the city sounding like a runaway freight train leaving only death and chaos in its wake. It flattened buildings turning them to rubble in a matter of seconds, it ate through human flesh reducing it to ash, and windows imploded upon its touch. Not even the glass could withstand the hot sweeping hand of death.
"Oh shit!" Crawford swore and turned to the others, "We have to get out of here!" he screamed. He made a break for the door with Iria trailing behind. Aya looked at him as he ran past, getting out from under the table his eyes glittered with a fierce light as he too ran for the door, more determined than ever to live, if only long enough to see Kasumi 's kidnapper, killer dead.
Dragon Ice and Ken stood and ran out of the apartment. Each wondering if the next second would be their last. **********************************************************************
"Kuduo? Kuduo! Damn you Yohji wake up!!" Schuldich snapped as he glared down at the drunken blonde.
Yohji could hear some one saying his name. He slowly opened his eyes; they felt like some had dumped a pound of sand in them. Groaning he grabbed his head, it felt like he had the entire public school soccer team running around in his head, all one hundred and fifty of them. As he tried to get his eyes to focus he licked his lips, gods he needed a drink. Looking up he came face to face with...Schuldich? "Holy shit!" Yohji exclaimed and jumped up onto the couch he had been slumped in front of. "Just what the hell are you doing here?" It was then that he noticed he needed a shower too, there was some thing really gross on the front of his shirt and it smelled.
"Oh shut up and drink this!" Schuldich ordered as he shoved a steaming mug of Mom Fujitani's hangover recovery mix into Yohji's hands. He hated to see Yohji like this, drunk, stupid and passed out in a puddle of his own puke. "What made you get so damn drunk?"
Yohji took the mug, and smelled it. Making a face, he proceeded to gingerly sip at the hot beverage. He knew he had to drink it if was going to get his wits gathered up. Looking back at Schuldich through a pair of red-rimmed eyes Yohji asked, "Why are you here? Iria told me she, is in love with Crawford. That tight wad of an American! Can't you let a man get drunk in peace?"
Schuldich glared, oh gods how he liked yet absolutely hated that man! He shook his head, "I came with Crawford, and there was trouble at Aya's. We came to help but were late, what ever had been there before us wrecked the place then ran off kidnapping Kasumi, I guess her name was, as it left. As you know I was never very good at leaving you alone, drunk or other wise." Schuldich smiled slightly. "Wait a sec', the orphan waif? She Talks? She's in love with Crawford? I never thought that stiff yank liked girls." Schuldich asked. Just as he said that the building began to shake.
"What the." But whatever else Yohji said was lost as the building shuddered and swayed making him spill his drink down the front of himself. "Damn it!" He swore as he tried unsuccessfully to brush the hot liquid and herbs off his shirt.
Schuldich looked out the window in the tiny kitchen he could see the white light as it crashed over the building, he closed his eyes against it, the as he opened them he saw the shockwave that was coming closer sweeping up everything in it's path. Turning he ran out and grabbed Yohji dragging him to his feet. Yohji stumbled as Schuldich drug him out the door and down the hall. He had no idea where they were going or what they were running from, he saw everyone else in front them running out of the building too. He only knew his head was throbbing and running only made it worse.
Yohji and Schuldich ran after the others. "Is there a basement in this place?" Schuldich yelled back to Yohji.
"I don't know. but getting out of this building all together might be a better idea than getting trapped in a basement." Yohji yelled in reply trying to get his still groggy mind working. "Hang on a second if we can get out of here and two buildings down to the UPS office building we can hide in the parking garage in the ground level." He heard Crawford yell from some where in front of him. Yohji let Schuldich drag him along down one more flight of stairs to the ground floor and out of the already tumbling down apartment building.
"Hurry, we don't have much time." Dragon Ice yelled over the noise to Ken who was helping her to limp down the street. They all ran down to the UPS building and around to the left side of it trying to avoid bits of debris and falling chunks of cement from the older towering buildings in the run down side of town where they lived.
Aya ran faster than them all, always glancing back over his shoulder to see if any one was still with him. Turning he ran down the entrance to the now empty parking garage. He waited by the entrance for everyone and watched as they ran, limped and were drug past him. Just as he followed the rest of the further into the depths of the old office building across the street teetered and fell right into the UPS building which swayed with the impact as it was struck by a million tons of cement, glass and steel. The bits and pieces tumbled to the ground completely blocking the entrance. Aya sighed as watched it happen. Now what were they going to do?
************************************************************************ Well, there's chapter nine. I hope it meets your standards and expectations. Thanks for being so patient with me. ~Arzetta