Hi everyone ::strained cheerful voice:: I just got my first flame in an e- mail and...well....LOOK PEOPLE IF YOU WANT TO FLAME ME ABOUT MY TASTE IN PAIRINGS DO IT IN YOUR DREAMS AT NIGHT BECAUSE THERE AREN"T GOING TO BE ANY PAIRINGS IN THIS STORY WITH MIMIRU AND TSUKASA!!!!!!!! I PROBABLY WON"T EVEN HAVE ANY PAIRINGS, ESPECIALLY IN THIS STORY. ::clears throat and looks at the destruction created by voice;: Is that perfectly clear?.... (Trowa: I think you made your point) That is basically it, oh and everyone...ignore Shadow Rebel and review!

Look, I'm very sorry I haven't written in awhile, but....I lost my nerve. I no longer have any confidence in this story but it doesn't matter. I am going to finish this because it will get better, and I need to do this. People have their own reasons to write, but for me writing is my way to express my soul. No one can deter me from concluding this story, and I hope that you keep on reading.

'Blah' Thoughts

{Blah} Mother speaking to Tsukasa

Chapter 9

The desolation was too grand to imagine in real life, let alone a game. Yet Tsukasa could not deny the destruction around him. The world and sky, both were gray in this place. Tsukasa shivered and pulled his cloak closer around his arms. The Prophet smiled sadly in understanding and placed a comforting hand on Tsukasa's shoulder. "Look," she almost asked him, "see for yourself what She shattered."

Tsukasa obeyed, looking out at the horizon. An endless scorched earth stretched out in front of him. Trees were thin black strips, stabbing the sky, and as though it bled, red clouds remained motionless above. They had already been there for five hours, yet the light, or rather the absence of true light, remained the same. "I don't understand."

She smiled bitterly, "No I guess you wouldn't." Tsukasa looked at her. The Prophet swallowed painfully. "That was a long time ago..."

She cleared her throat, "I'm sorry, I should explain. This is the last battlefield in the fight against the girl I told you about. All this," she stretched out a hand, sweeping it over the field, "is the double work of her and the ones against her."

"Wow," Tsukasa couldn't hold it back. 'The field must has been changed permanently to this when the battle was over.' He thought decidedly, 'otherwise it would all change back, wouldn't it?' Somehow he wasn't so sure.

His eyes flickered to his female companion. 'I don't know her name' he realized, 'I don't know what to call her.'

She smiled at Tsukasa, "What is it?" "I....it's nothing." He shivered and looked away, he had almost seen the sympathy in her gaze.

The Prophet bit her lip and looked back out at the battlefield, "It was a terrible fight, many people died trying to save both worlds-"

"You mean many characters, right? Not players but their characters?"

"No Tsukasa, I mean players, actual players..You see," she looked at him intensely, "those players died when their characters were slain." Tsukasa looked away from her, suddenly afraid. "Actually, you are in a position much like theirs."

Tsukasa swallowed, "What do you mean?" He demanded shakily, "That I am going to die on the outside world and here?"

{My dear Tsukasa, what makes you think you are even alive}

He dropped his staff, slumping to the ground, covering his ears. "No Mother!"

{What's the matter Tsukasa, don't want to talk to your own mother?}

'No!'

"No!!!! Stay away from me." Tsukasa sobbed, 'why is everything always my fault, why does she hate me so much.'

"Tsukasa," the Prophets warm voice was so near, so close to him, "Tsukasa, it's ok, nothing can reach you here. There is nothing here but the voices of the dead."

"The dead?" 'Mother'

The Prophet nodded, "Whatever you are hearing, leave it here..where the dead lie. There is a darkness coming, for soon it shall be night....we need to leave."

'The dead, Mother is dead, Mother is dead!' He sobbed again, choking on his own tears. 'Why does everyone leave me, why am I always alone?'

"WHY AM I ALWAYS ALONE?!?" He cried to the sky, breaking down, tears streaming down his face, in the Prophet's arms.

A few hours later he felt better, the Voice was gone.