Disclaimer:  You know the drill… I don't own anything from Esca but I do own the characters not mentioned in the series so ask before you use them!  Thanks!   Death Moon Rising

I would like to take this time to dedicate this story to someone special.  She's touched my writing and has encouraged me to go places where I never would've thought possible.  Like Crimson Fire, she helped me get to where I am today.  Kae Noel, this one is dedicated to you!

Chapter 15: Lights of Life

Words formed in Kat's mouth and without another thought she spoke them.  "Protectors of Gaea, strong and fierce,

Powers of the Earth, the Elements, the Dark side of the Moon,

Gaea has suffered and her body has been pierced,

By evil so let us begin to destroy,

Her pain and protect again,

Listen to me my powers and obey!"  She cried out.  Am I hearing things?  Did I hear Alex and Nicole yelling the same thing?  She wondered as two other voices rang inside her ears.

"The Heiress of the Moon,

Here where thy stands,

Ready to defend Gaea,

Ready to risk thy life,

I call upon thy powers of Ancient Magic,

Powers that have to be been bestowed on thee,

Powers hear thy call and come to thee!" She spoke, her voice deepened by the sudden power she felt coursing through her.

"The Heiress of the Earth,

Here where thy stands,

Ready to defend Gaea,

Ready to risk thy life,

I call upon thy powers of Ancient Magic,

Powers that have been bestowed on thee,

Powers hear thy call and come to thee!"  Nicole shouted, her voice also deepened in an unnatural way as she spoke, the power all ready coursing through her.

"The Heiress of the Elements,

Here where thy stands,

Ready to defend Gaea,

Ready to risk thy life,

I call upon thy powers of Ancient Magic,

Powers that have been bestowed upon thee,

Powers here thy call and come to thee!"  Alex called, surprised at how deep her voice was and the power that surged through her body.

The clear night sky filled with dark gray clouds, moving in from the west at an unnatural speed.  The clouds began to swirl as they came and gathered over the field as thunder sounded.  They continued to swirl until they were a mass of mixing gray, everyone was distracted as more thunder sounded, clapping so hard it made the very earth shake.  A blue light shot down from the eye of the swirling, mixing mass and landed on Kat.

Nicole and Alex, standing across the field, suddenly disappeared from Miguel's sight as he was watching their act.  He ran up to where they had been, hoping it was only an illusion, but found that they were really gone.  He turned to the center of the field and saw that a huge blue pillar of light was upon the symbol of "life" and a deep fear suddenly over took him.

Kat felt the light land on her she stayed perfectly still, wondering.  She could feel the presence of Nicole and Alex around her, their powers combining and flowing through each other like a link.  She could feel her powers increasing as the Ancient Magic was slowly breathed into her veins making her skin crawl and shivers running up and down her spine.  The blue light stayed focused on her for a couple more minutes before retreating back into the dark gray swirling mass overhead.

Destroyer, destroy the enemy and save Gaea, the deep voice whispered in her ear.

How... How can I though?  How can I destroy the enemy?  She wondered, hoping that the voice would tell her.  That would mean that I was evil… wouldn't it?  Good guys never take a life… right? 

The voice never replied. 

Sometimes, Kat, good guys need to break the code to save the world, came Nicole's soft voice.  She nodded and lowered her arms, making her palms face each other with inches to spare in between them, hoping that her idea from earlier would work.  "I, Protector of Gaea and the Heiress to the Dark Moon,

Call upon the powers that are mine to command, 

Moon, your Heir commands you to shine down on the battle! 

Give me your powers to control!" She cried.

Her eyes flew open and looked up at the dark swirling clouds.  Blue lightning streaked across the sky and the clouds became even darker, throwing the battlegrounds into complete darkness.  The only light came from the blue lightning that streaked across the sky over and over.  Thunder rolled and made the whole ground shake. "COME TO ME!"  She yelled, raising her hands upwards.

A bolt of blue lightning came crashing down from the sky and hit Kat's hands.  She stifled a gasp as the electricity ran through her body and blue lightning danced over her body, casting an eerie glow onto the field.  Even the glow from the pillar of light couldn't outcast this glowing.  With the lightning bolt still streaking down on her, feeding her energy, Kat lowered her hands so that they were straight out in front of her, posed at the Nazis.

Wind suddenly began to blow throughout the battlefield, blowing very hard that no one could move-as her hair whipped around her face Kat looked to the sky.  "Dark Moon Lightning, Attack and Destroy!" She called as blue bolts of energy shot from her hands with incredible speed and hit the Nazi soldiers.  Slowly everything seemed to stop making sound.  It was like a silent movie in which the scene where everyone dies was playing.  She heard none of the Nazi's screams of pain as her attack hit them and obliterated them.

She heard none of the yells from the Zaibach side, or the people screaming her name, she only saw what was happening.  For some reason that didn't bother her.  As the lightning continued to strike down opponents, Kat slowly felt her powers draining from her.  She was using all of her energy, heck, even some of her life energy, for the attack to continue.  I... have to keep.... it up just.... a... little longer... she thought as she felt the darkness in the back of her mind slowly crawling forward.

No… she thought as blackness began to spread over her vision.  I can't… No… she desperately wondered what she could do to stop this.  That's when she felt two hands on each of her shoulders.  "Kat, just keep working," Alex whispered in her ear. 

"We're going to help you.  Focus on our energy, use some of our power to finish off the evil, it's the only one still on the field," Nicole whispered.

Kat didn't fight.  She knew that her friends wanted to help and she wouldn't die when she could live another day.  "We win… this… for friend… friendship," she muttered as she focused on the mounds of energy radiating at her side.  Slowly she felt it seeping through her and into her attack, using herself as a transistor for the power.  In the back of her mind she could feel the evil fighting to disappear as their attack was now focused on it.

Dilandau had seen Kat standing on the scorched marked ground that was the symbol of "life" in Gaean and wondered what she was doing.  He hadn't remembered that mark being there before…. she had actually asked him to take her to where she now stood and he had said no.  That could've been my chance to get some answers!  He thought angrily, killing the attacking Nazi soldier.  I could've proven to her that I still love her through protecting her… but what she said, about the end of the world and not having time to hate me…

Gr!  Why does she have to be so stubborn?  If she had waited a few more seconds and I had killed those soldiers faster I would've been able to tell her that I love her.  She couldn't look me in the face and say she hated me still, with the end of the world could she? 

That's when the clouds came.  His attention was drawn to the sky along with everyone else's as the dark clouds came rolling in from the west, which was strange because weather didn't move that way.  Frowning, he watched as the clouds rolled, thundered, and stuck lightning as they covered the whole field, seeming to swirl and twist together above Kat's head. 

Suddenly a blue pillar of light shot from the clouds and landed on Kat.  At first Dilandau was scared, afraid that she was being taken back to her planet and that he wouldn't have time to tell her how much he loved her and get answers from her, but then he saw the two other forms suddenly appear within the pillar.  What… he wondered just as he saw something circling around each form. 

Squinting his eyes he focused and saw that there was small sparks flying of the three Protector's bodies, not hurting them but jolting across their forms and then emitting sparks.  Miguel came running up to him, breathing hard, and laid a hand on his shoulder.  Dilandau whirled around to see his Slayer, dead Slayer panting heavily, looking at him with a look of pure fear. 

Before he could even ask, Miguel spoke.  "I'll explain later.  Just please, listen to me, because what I have to say is really important.  Kat was taken over by the evil but she managed to get it out of her.  Alex collapsed because of exhaustion and Nicole stayed with her as Kat said she was going to try and fend off the others. 

"Just as that pillar of light landed on Kat, Nicole and Alex disappeared.  They're going to save Gaea… by the means of their lives." 



AN: Hey everyone!  Lookie!  It's another cliffhanger!  This is story is gonna get good I can promise that!  So the Protectors are going to die to save Gaea?  I know its cliché but just wait-it's great fun.   The finale is coming!  So R+R and I'll get the next chapter out faster!

~The Shadow That Takes Form as a Kat~

~~ShadowKat~~