Gah, you talk about writer's block being gone and then next thing you know it's almost four months before you update a new chapter. I'm hoping that some of you are still out there and my audience isn't gone!! That would suck...
I'll spare you the pain and go right to dedications. This chapter goes to:
Angela-Marie (for the longest review of ch. 7!), kOorI cHaN (because you're still there), Sorato4ever (for the 1st review of ch. 7), and deam-rose (I got a rating!). And to the anonymous reviews also (Marie and Lady Ishida... whether or not you were too lazy to actually log in).
Here's chapter 8 and to hoping the next one doesn't take long!!
..::--*--::..
Willow, Chapter Eight : Confrontation
by: lily-angel
"Jealousy is the fear of comparison." - Max Frisch
..::--*--::..
"Sora!"
Yamato dropped quickly to catch the young woman as her feet fell out from underneath her. He gently laid her on the soft ground and brushed the stray hair from her face. She was alright, he knew, and had just fainted. But from what? Exhaustion?
It would make sense, she had just transported them to... to God knows where without her magick. It was enough to make anyone tired, he presumed.
And then he took notice of his surroundings. The all-too soft ground, the grass an exotic shade of cerulean-green; the bright wildflowers, in colors too vivid and too bold for those of the earth he knew; the distant city, with its rainbow of roofs, all glinting in the soft sunlight. This wasn't Odaiba, at least not his Odaiba. His home city was crude, dirty, dark and gloomy. This was the exact opposite to that human, cold world he knew. And then he knew exactly where he was.
Mendai.
(But how, how..... Sora took us here, but why, and HOW... she doesn't have her powers, she said so herself, HOW HOW HOW and why is the bigger question....) Yamato's mind flipped from one thought to another as his reasoning became chaos. He decided to wait until Sora woke up, then ask questions.
Looking back down at her, laying gently in his lap, he noticed the pendant around her neck, glowing a crimson red. (What in the hell....?) he thought as he reached to pick it up.
But as soon as he touched it, he felt a slight heat and the crimson glow faded to a bright sea blue. Shocked, he pulled his hand back quickly, and the locket faded back to red. Again, he touched it and it was blue. He took his hand away, red. Blue. Red. Blue. Red. A quick purple while it faded to blue. Back to red. Blue. Red. Blue...
"Having fun, Yama?"
He jerked his hand back and looked at Sora, her eyes wide open and smirking in amusement.
"Well, I was just... You see.... A scientific experimentation..." he stuttered.
"Wow, Yamato, experimentation. Six syllables. Don't overdo yourself there, it might hurt." Sora sat up, glancing quickly at the locket, and continued to dust herself off.
Yamato sighed, both happy that Sora and her sense of humor were alright and also irritated at the cheap shot she took at him. "Are you alright?" he asked as they both stood up.
"Yes, thank you."
"Good," he said, and then tackled her, the fall broken by the foreign earth. For a few moments they rolled around on the ground, Sora giggling at Yamato's childish behavior.
"Ahem," said a voice.
Sora and Yamato froze and looked up to see Jyou, with Koushiro, Miyako, and Iori, standing and staring condescendingly at the two playing lovers.
..::--*--::..
"Believe me, Master, the Prince will not be missing for long. The discovery of the Chosen ones is close by... I just need a little more time." The voice was female, cold and sinister.
((Time is not something that is come by easily, my servant. He's found the faerie, and now you must find him! His faerie lover must be killed. Without her, they will not be able to stop us. Seven days, and then your time on earth is spent. Seven days!)) The voice echoed without sound and the listener nodded intensely.
"Master, please... UGH! Yes, yes, my Master. Seven days." The girl turned away from the dark shadows and glanced out the window and stepped into the sunshine. "Neither LadyDevimon nor Jun Motymia will fail." And their eyes flashed blood red.
..::--*--::..
"Jyou! I... we... I don't know how we or he or either of us came...." Sora stammered. Yamato looked on in surprise; it was the first time he had seen her so unsure of herself.
"No explanations right now, Princess. Gennai has sent us to bring you back to the palace." Jyou's voice was cold, pain flowing along each word. "Follow us, and bring the human with you." He walked off, all the others frozen in their places.
The three other faeries looked at him, uncertain of his tone toward the mortal Prince. Sora looked at him with disgust, not knowing why he was being so rude. (This is so unlike him.)
"Iori, please take Prince Yamato here to the courtyard. Stay with him until I come; I have to take care of our Royal Adviser." She ran after him, leaving Iori, Koushiro, Miyako, and Yamato all staring at one another.
.:-*
"Jyou! Jyou, stop," Sora called after the tall retreating figure.
"Why should I? You're just going to go off and threaten the faerie world by bringing him here. So go and bring us all to an end. Tell the mortals about us and we'll be put into cages and shown for a profit!" Jyou turned quickly around and said, in an angry voice.
Sora looked at him, confused. "What has got you like this, Jyou? I didn't mean to bring him here! He's one of the Chosen... just like you and me. And Izzy and Cody and Yolei. All of us. Something... something happened back at the cottage that brought both of us here. Without my magick. It's not my fault, nor is it his. Why are you acting like this?"
Joe took a step towards her and sighed. "Why?" he said in a much calmer voice. "Why? Because we were worried about you. One minute you're on your way to becoming a member of the Council and then the next your breaking ties to people, meeting mortal princes, giving away your magick, and running away from Mendai. You're letting that Yamato to get to you, inside your head, and making bad decisions."
"Wait, breaking ties?" Sora looked at him with anger flashing in her eyes.. "Jyou, don't use our failed engagement as an excuse for treating Matt like some second class dog! There is something else bigger than you or me or our past going on here and I don't see why you want to be so blind to it. As Princess of Mendai, I order that Prince Yamato Ishida will be treated as a member of the Royal family, and that includes the respect owed to the Takenouchi name. Is that clear?"
"Sora, don't be like this...."
"Is that clear? He will be treated as a member of the Royal family."
Jyou stared at her, then glanced at the ground. "Yes, your Majesty."
Sora turned to walk away, but hated leaving angry at him. She went back to him and whispered, "You are like a brother to me, Jyou. I love you, but not in a way that would have been demanded by us marrying. That is why I broke our engagement. You know as well as I that it was the right thing to do." She looked him in the eye, then walked towards the palace in the distance.
..::--*--::..
"Tai! Taichi! They're gone!! They left! Poof!! Just up and gone!!!" Mimi glanced down the hallway at him walking away from her. "Where are you going? Don't you understand me? Didn't you see them? Matt and that girl he was with at the banquet? They're gone. The King told my mother this morning and the whole castle is on alert to look for them. A warrant has been put out, saying that the woman he was with was a witch. Jun even attested to it, saying she saw the girl, I think Sora was her name, put a spell on Matt. Maybe that's why he was acting so weird. Maybe he wasn't in love, but just under a spell. It would make sense, don't you think? Tai? Tai?! Say something!!" She ran after him and he soon stopped.
"Mimi, what do you want me to say? No, I don't think it's true. I think he's really in love with her and Jun's just jealous so she said that Sora or whatever her name is is a witch. I think we have to ask Takeru about this so that is why I'm trying to find him but you're talking way too much." He saw the upset look on her face after his last comment, so he quickly kissed her. "I also think that you're just so worried that you're being like this."
Mimi pushed him away softly and looked him in the eye. "If she's not a witch, and if Takeru knows about it, then why are we running down there to the garden, breaking him and Kari apart, and asking him about it?" she asked calmly.
His eyes grew wide at the mention of his sister and TK together, and without a word raced down the corridor towards the palace gardens.
"And he thinks he comes up with things by himself."
..::--*--::..
"...and your brother found me sleeping n the straw. That's all that happened. When my parents died I had to sell the house and all of our belongings to settle all of our old debts. I was left in the streets... until now." The boy smiled at his two listeners and continued walking through the flowers. "Enough about me, you haven't told me of you and Hikari, Prince Takeru."
TK and Kari blushed lightly and TK cleared his throat. "I don't have a clue about what you're talking about."
"Yes, that's what you say now." The trio stopped at they came to a stone wall, with a piece of parchment hanging on it.
"What..." Takeru said softly as he pulled it off and read it. "'Warrant for Arrest: Sora Takenouchi, charged under orders of Kings Ishida and Motymia, with conspiracy to kidnap His Highness Royal Crown Prince Yamato Ishida. By request of Princess Jun Motymia, is to be condemned to the dungeon until the court can decide the fate. Sora Takenouchi is also accused, by the Princess Jun, of witchcraft and the use of dark magicks...'" He trailed off, crumpling the parchment in his hand and bolting for the door.
"What's wrong?" Ken asked Kari.
She looked just as confused as her new friend and thought about it for a few moments. (Jun's accusing some girl of kidnapping and witchcraft the day after he's seen with another woman... the one she wants arrested. It's not true... Jun's jealous and wants the other woman gone, and TK knows Matt's mystery girl. Now he's going to try and find them!) Her eyes went wide with the realization and she too ran for the door.
"Oh, alright, everybody leave Ken."
..::--*--::..
"Sora."
She turned to see Gennai standing in front of her. "Gennai! Where were you? Yamato and I... we were ambushed and then something went wacked with my necklace and then all of a sudden we were here and please you have to help me understand..." she sputtered out all at once.
Gennai motioned her to quiet and for her to follow him. He walked past the courtyard where the others were sitting. Yamato got up to follow Sora, but she shook her head at him and he backed away reluctantly. They walked into an open room with few walls still in sight of the four faeries and Matt. Gennai looked at her with a smirk on his face and pride in his eyes.
"Sora, you did a great and amazing thing back in the cottage. You may not have realized it, but you awakened powers hidden deep inside yourself... the power of a Chosen..." Gennai trailed, watching carefully at Sora's reaction, testing himself for the next bit of information. "The power of your crest, Love..."
Her mind flashed in an instant: the verse carved in the willow's wood, the nine crests detailed, the last part about the Princess of Love and Prince of Friendship... it was her and... "That would make Matt's crest Friendship," she realized aloud. "But how did I... and when did I..." she murmured.
Gennai smiled at the young Princess. "You don't remember?" Softly, but clearly, she heard her own voice echoing in her mind:
[I can't... I won't... I love him. Don't take him from me! I need him... I can't live without him.... the world can't live without him... Please don't take my true love!]
Sora stepped back, shocked. "That's what I was thinking when..."
Gennai nodded. "And your power awakened to it." He held his hand out to her. Quizzically, she looked at him. Opening it, she saw a necklace exactly like those she and other faeries wore. Then all in an instant it came to her and she understood. He stepped closer to her and led her back out to the courtyard, where Koushiro, Jyou, Miyako, Iori and Matt were sitting, the faeries separate from the mortal Prince.
Sora looked over her friends for a moment and then sighed. "Do they know?" she asked and Gennai shook his head.
"Do I have to tell them?" and to this the sagacious man nodded. Sora acknowledged this and walked over to Yamato first, taking his hands in hers.
"Friendship," she said, pressing the necklace into his hand. Yamato stared at her, confused for a second until the story inscribed on the tree came back to him, too. And then he, too, understood.
Sora moved from Yamato to the younger faerie, Iori. Sora couldn't help but smile at the sight of her good friend, even though it had been barely a day since she'd seen him. She kissed his forehead and the boy looked up at her, bewildered. "Knowledge... and Reliability," she said to him.
To Miyako she went, the young woman looking upon Sora with strange anticipation. Sora simply placed a sisterly hand on Miyako's shoulder and nodded to some unknown reservation. "Love... and Sincerity." Miyako shut her eyes in acknowledgment.
Sora left her and went to Koushiro, sitting with an all-knowing smirk on his face. She just nodded to him and he said, "Knowledge." She took his hand in hers and held it affectionately, then moved on to Jyou.
He looked at her with sadness in his eyes, knowing what was coming. The guilt at his actions earlier that day were catching up with him as she came closer. Sora looked him in the eyes and said quietly, "Reliability."
She turned to the group, now linked by some magickal bond, now all the same. No longer faerie and mortal, Yamato didn't feel displaced anymore. "We're going to stay here tonight," Sora said. "And then tomorrow Yamato and I will go back to Odaiba and get the other six Chosen."
And the other six sat and watched each other, with a new-found respect in their eyes.
..::--*--::..
truly and forever
Lily!
I'll spare you the pain and go right to dedications. This chapter goes to:
Angela-Marie (for the longest review of ch. 7!), kOorI cHaN (because you're still there), Sorato4ever (for the 1st review of ch. 7), and deam-rose (I got a rating!). And to the anonymous reviews also (Marie and Lady Ishida... whether or not you were too lazy to actually log in).
Here's chapter 8 and to hoping the next one doesn't take long!!
..::--*--::..
Willow, Chapter Eight : Confrontation
by: lily-angel
"Jealousy is the fear of comparison." - Max Frisch
..::--*--::..
"Sora!"
Yamato dropped quickly to catch the young woman as her feet fell out from underneath her. He gently laid her on the soft ground and brushed the stray hair from her face. She was alright, he knew, and had just fainted. But from what? Exhaustion?
It would make sense, she had just transported them to... to God knows where without her magick. It was enough to make anyone tired, he presumed.
And then he took notice of his surroundings. The all-too soft ground, the grass an exotic shade of cerulean-green; the bright wildflowers, in colors too vivid and too bold for those of the earth he knew; the distant city, with its rainbow of roofs, all glinting in the soft sunlight. This wasn't Odaiba, at least not his Odaiba. His home city was crude, dirty, dark and gloomy. This was the exact opposite to that human, cold world he knew. And then he knew exactly where he was.
Mendai.
(But how, how..... Sora took us here, but why, and HOW... she doesn't have her powers, she said so herself, HOW HOW HOW and why is the bigger question....) Yamato's mind flipped from one thought to another as his reasoning became chaos. He decided to wait until Sora woke up, then ask questions.
Looking back down at her, laying gently in his lap, he noticed the pendant around her neck, glowing a crimson red. (What in the hell....?) he thought as he reached to pick it up.
But as soon as he touched it, he felt a slight heat and the crimson glow faded to a bright sea blue. Shocked, he pulled his hand back quickly, and the locket faded back to red. Again, he touched it and it was blue. He took his hand away, red. Blue. Red. Blue. Red. A quick purple while it faded to blue. Back to red. Blue. Red. Blue...
"Having fun, Yama?"
He jerked his hand back and looked at Sora, her eyes wide open and smirking in amusement.
"Well, I was just... You see.... A scientific experimentation..." he stuttered.
"Wow, Yamato, experimentation. Six syllables. Don't overdo yourself there, it might hurt." Sora sat up, glancing quickly at the locket, and continued to dust herself off.
Yamato sighed, both happy that Sora and her sense of humor were alright and also irritated at the cheap shot she took at him. "Are you alright?" he asked as they both stood up.
"Yes, thank you."
"Good," he said, and then tackled her, the fall broken by the foreign earth. For a few moments they rolled around on the ground, Sora giggling at Yamato's childish behavior.
"Ahem," said a voice.
Sora and Yamato froze and looked up to see Jyou, with Koushiro, Miyako, and Iori, standing and staring condescendingly at the two playing lovers.
..::--*--::..
"Believe me, Master, the Prince will not be missing for long. The discovery of the Chosen ones is close by... I just need a little more time." The voice was female, cold and sinister.
((Time is not something that is come by easily, my servant. He's found the faerie, and now you must find him! His faerie lover must be killed. Without her, they will not be able to stop us. Seven days, and then your time on earth is spent. Seven days!)) The voice echoed without sound and the listener nodded intensely.
"Master, please... UGH! Yes, yes, my Master. Seven days." The girl turned away from the dark shadows and glanced out the window and stepped into the sunshine. "Neither LadyDevimon nor Jun Motymia will fail." And their eyes flashed blood red.
..::--*--::..
"Jyou! I... we... I don't know how we or he or either of us came...." Sora stammered. Yamato looked on in surprise; it was the first time he had seen her so unsure of herself.
"No explanations right now, Princess. Gennai has sent us to bring you back to the palace." Jyou's voice was cold, pain flowing along each word. "Follow us, and bring the human with you." He walked off, all the others frozen in their places.
The three other faeries looked at him, uncertain of his tone toward the mortal Prince. Sora looked at him with disgust, not knowing why he was being so rude. (This is so unlike him.)
"Iori, please take Prince Yamato here to the courtyard. Stay with him until I come; I have to take care of our Royal Adviser." She ran after him, leaving Iori, Koushiro, Miyako, and Yamato all staring at one another.
.:-*
"Jyou! Jyou, stop," Sora called after the tall retreating figure.
"Why should I? You're just going to go off and threaten the faerie world by bringing him here. So go and bring us all to an end. Tell the mortals about us and we'll be put into cages and shown for a profit!" Jyou turned quickly around and said, in an angry voice.
Sora looked at him, confused. "What has got you like this, Jyou? I didn't mean to bring him here! He's one of the Chosen... just like you and me. And Izzy and Cody and Yolei. All of us. Something... something happened back at the cottage that brought both of us here. Without my magick. It's not my fault, nor is it his. Why are you acting like this?"
Joe took a step towards her and sighed. "Why?" he said in a much calmer voice. "Why? Because we were worried about you. One minute you're on your way to becoming a member of the Council and then the next your breaking ties to people, meeting mortal princes, giving away your magick, and running away from Mendai. You're letting that Yamato to get to you, inside your head, and making bad decisions."
"Wait, breaking ties?" Sora looked at him with anger flashing in her eyes.. "Jyou, don't use our failed engagement as an excuse for treating Matt like some second class dog! There is something else bigger than you or me or our past going on here and I don't see why you want to be so blind to it. As Princess of Mendai, I order that Prince Yamato Ishida will be treated as a member of the Royal family, and that includes the respect owed to the Takenouchi name. Is that clear?"
"Sora, don't be like this...."
"Is that clear? He will be treated as a member of the Royal family."
Jyou stared at her, then glanced at the ground. "Yes, your Majesty."
Sora turned to walk away, but hated leaving angry at him. She went back to him and whispered, "You are like a brother to me, Jyou. I love you, but not in a way that would have been demanded by us marrying. That is why I broke our engagement. You know as well as I that it was the right thing to do." She looked him in the eye, then walked towards the palace in the distance.
..::--*--::..
"Tai! Taichi! They're gone!! They left! Poof!! Just up and gone!!!" Mimi glanced down the hallway at him walking away from her. "Where are you going? Don't you understand me? Didn't you see them? Matt and that girl he was with at the banquet? They're gone. The King told my mother this morning and the whole castle is on alert to look for them. A warrant has been put out, saying that the woman he was with was a witch. Jun even attested to it, saying she saw the girl, I think Sora was her name, put a spell on Matt. Maybe that's why he was acting so weird. Maybe he wasn't in love, but just under a spell. It would make sense, don't you think? Tai? Tai?! Say something!!" She ran after him and he soon stopped.
"Mimi, what do you want me to say? No, I don't think it's true. I think he's really in love with her and Jun's just jealous so she said that Sora or whatever her name is is a witch. I think we have to ask Takeru about this so that is why I'm trying to find him but you're talking way too much." He saw the upset look on her face after his last comment, so he quickly kissed her. "I also think that you're just so worried that you're being like this."
Mimi pushed him away softly and looked him in the eye. "If she's not a witch, and if Takeru knows about it, then why are we running down there to the garden, breaking him and Kari apart, and asking him about it?" she asked calmly.
His eyes grew wide at the mention of his sister and TK together, and without a word raced down the corridor towards the palace gardens.
"And he thinks he comes up with things by himself."
..::--*--::..
"...and your brother found me sleeping n the straw. That's all that happened. When my parents died I had to sell the house and all of our belongings to settle all of our old debts. I was left in the streets... until now." The boy smiled at his two listeners and continued walking through the flowers. "Enough about me, you haven't told me of you and Hikari, Prince Takeru."
TK and Kari blushed lightly and TK cleared his throat. "I don't have a clue about what you're talking about."
"Yes, that's what you say now." The trio stopped at they came to a stone wall, with a piece of parchment hanging on it.
"What..." Takeru said softly as he pulled it off and read it. "'Warrant for Arrest: Sora Takenouchi, charged under orders of Kings Ishida and Motymia, with conspiracy to kidnap His Highness Royal Crown Prince Yamato Ishida. By request of Princess Jun Motymia, is to be condemned to the dungeon until the court can decide the fate. Sora Takenouchi is also accused, by the Princess Jun, of witchcraft and the use of dark magicks...'" He trailed off, crumpling the parchment in his hand and bolting for the door.
"What's wrong?" Ken asked Kari.
She looked just as confused as her new friend and thought about it for a few moments. (Jun's accusing some girl of kidnapping and witchcraft the day after he's seen with another woman... the one she wants arrested. It's not true... Jun's jealous and wants the other woman gone, and TK knows Matt's mystery girl. Now he's going to try and find them!) Her eyes went wide with the realization and she too ran for the door.
"Oh, alright, everybody leave Ken."
..::--*--::..
"Sora."
She turned to see Gennai standing in front of her. "Gennai! Where were you? Yamato and I... we were ambushed and then something went wacked with my necklace and then all of a sudden we were here and please you have to help me understand..." she sputtered out all at once.
Gennai motioned her to quiet and for her to follow him. He walked past the courtyard where the others were sitting. Yamato got up to follow Sora, but she shook her head at him and he backed away reluctantly. They walked into an open room with few walls still in sight of the four faeries and Matt. Gennai looked at her with a smirk on his face and pride in his eyes.
"Sora, you did a great and amazing thing back in the cottage. You may not have realized it, but you awakened powers hidden deep inside yourself... the power of a Chosen..." Gennai trailed, watching carefully at Sora's reaction, testing himself for the next bit of information. "The power of your crest, Love..."
Her mind flashed in an instant: the verse carved in the willow's wood, the nine crests detailed, the last part about the Princess of Love and Prince of Friendship... it was her and... "That would make Matt's crest Friendship," she realized aloud. "But how did I... and when did I..." she murmured.
Gennai smiled at the young Princess. "You don't remember?" Softly, but clearly, she heard her own voice echoing in her mind:
[I can't... I won't... I love him. Don't take him from me! I need him... I can't live without him.... the world can't live without him... Please don't take my true love!]
Sora stepped back, shocked. "That's what I was thinking when..."
Gennai nodded. "And your power awakened to it." He held his hand out to her. Quizzically, she looked at him. Opening it, she saw a necklace exactly like those she and other faeries wore. Then all in an instant it came to her and she understood. He stepped closer to her and led her back out to the courtyard, where Koushiro, Jyou, Miyako, Iori and Matt were sitting, the faeries separate from the mortal Prince.
Sora looked over her friends for a moment and then sighed. "Do they know?" she asked and Gennai shook his head.
"Do I have to tell them?" and to this the sagacious man nodded. Sora acknowledged this and walked over to Yamato first, taking his hands in hers.
"Friendship," she said, pressing the necklace into his hand. Yamato stared at her, confused for a second until the story inscribed on the tree came back to him, too. And then he, too, understood.
Sora moved from Yamato to the younger faerie, Iori. Sora couldn't help but smile at the sight of her good friend, even though it had been barely a day since she'd seen him. She kissed his forehead and the boy looked up at her, bewildered. "Knowledge... and Reliability," she said to him.
To Miyako she went, the young woman looking upon Sora with strange anticipation. Sora simply placed a sisterly hand on Miyako's shoulder and nodded to some unknown reservation. "Love... and Sincerity." Miyako shut her eyes in acknowledgment.
Sora left her and went to Koushiro, sitting with an all-knowing smirk on his face. She just nodded to him and he said, "Knowledge." She took his hand in hers and held it affectionately, then moved on to Jyou.
He looked at her with sadness in his eyes, knowing what was coming. The guilt at his actions earlier that day were catching up with him as she came closer. Sora looked him in the eyes and said quietly, "Reliability."
She turned to the group, now linked by some magickal bond, now all the same. No longer faerie and mortal, Yamato didn't feel displaced anymore. "We're going to stay here tonight," Sora said. "And then tomorrow Yamato and I will go back to Odaiba and get the other six Chosen."
And the other six sat and watched each other, with a new-found respect in their eyes.
..::--*--::..
truly and forever
Lily!