Disclaimer – "Default Chapter" saids it all ^^*
Characters' thinking in BOLD…as usual~! (Although…they dunt seem to think a lot in this chappie…^^;;)
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~*~ The Day the Dream Ended ~*~
Chapter 12 ~ Battle
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Her eyes widened at the abrupt change in her companion; her breath caught in her throat as she watched, surprised and a little frightened, as the once-prone shape on the glass-roof suddenly flared into life. His head snapped up, as if pulled back by a string, to stare her straight in the eye with his own rage-scarlet ones.
Chihiro didn't even have the time to scream as Haku's fake grabbed for her throat and enclosed his dragon-clawed hands around it, tightening in preparation to choke the life out of her.
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They stood on the roof of the Aburaya bathhouse, shielded by the witches' combined magic from the rain and the occasional flash of blue lightening. Look as they might, they could see nothing in the darkness which shrouded everything, save for the relentless rain and the overwhelming destruction that lay before them.
However, the look of unease and worry on each of their faces was clear as day.
"You're sure he's back then?" Kamjii asked the witches, his eyes still glued to the vast darkness before them.
"Yes." Zeniiba answered, meeting the eyes of her twin. "We both felt his presence—and that would eliminate the chance of it being merely a mistake."
"And I had sensed him as well." joined a deeper voice. Kodama also kept his gaze on the unseen, although he maintained his grip on his wife's hand, unwilling to let her go again after such a long departure from her. Frowning, he continued, trying to keep the uneasiness he felt out of his voice. "However…something seems…different…about him…"
Hearing the forest spirit let his sentence trail, Rin shook her head impatiently, anxious to know what they were seemingly keeping from her and Kaonashi. "What do you mean?" she asked, barely toning her anxiety down to a minimal.
"His aura…" Kodama's troubled face could be seen even in the darkness. "Even though I had only been with him moments ago, in the humans' realm, I don't recall his aura being this strong back then." Pausing, and shaking his head as if to clear it, the unusually grim-faced spirit went on. "He feels…changed, somehow. Much more powerful—even more so than when he fought for his life against the barrier's assaults; more than when he struggled with the barrier to try to get back into the Majou no Sekai."
Confused in trying to explain something he himself did not fully understand, he looked to his wife and the young river spirit's former master for an answer. Feeling her husband's gaze on her, Yu-Baaba could only turn her wary gaze on him to tell him that she too, did not understand what was happening with the boy she had come to think of as her own child.
Bewildered as they might already be with what was taking place, her next statement made their confusion and worry grow even more.
"It…it feels like there are two of him. Two of Haku." the mistress of the Aburaya whispered as a blue-colored lightening flashed across the sky, seeming to cut it open as more rain fell upon the wrecked land. In the silence that followed, everyone could hear the quiver in her voice as the witch uttered her next words.
"And one of them is more evil than anything else I've felt in my entire lifetime."
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Haku opened his eyes to greet darkness and an onslaught of rain, immediately soaking his dark hair and clothing. Glancing skyward, he saw nothing but unnaturally thick, ugly clouds which produced the merciless liquid. Bringing his gaze forward, the river spirit began towards the glass castle at a run, not bothering to wonder how he had gotten where he was.
Or just exactly why he knew, deep down from his heart, this was where he needed to be.
This is it. He thought as the great glass walls loomed closer to him. Chihiro is in there…I can feel it.
Reaching the castle's forbidding-looking doors, the former witch-apprentice whispered words of command as emerald fire shot forth from his hands, destroying the doors and granting him entrance into the castle. Running through the dark corridors, lit only by the lightening outside, the dragon did not falter at the many doors presented to him along the way—armed with nothing but himself and his love for the girl whose presence he felt strongly in his heart, and with his determination clear in his eyes, Haku ran straight for the roof. Just as her sweet, warm aura was clear to him, so was the hint of the danger that she was currently in.
Chihiro, my beloved…I'm coming for you. Just hang in there…Smiling a little ironically, Haku realized that the girl whom he was trying so hard to reach—the girl whom he had struggled so valiantly for, in the humans' realm and in trying to get back into the Majou no Sekai—the girl who had become, unknown to her, his very reason for existing—might even know of his feelings for her…might not even want to return his feelings for her.
I wouldn't blame her for not knowing how I feel…I can't, really. The sad thought struck him as he kept his race for the roof, never pausing in the momentum set by his long strides. It's been so long…so long since I last saw her, since I last laid eyes on her…last held her hand.
We were just children then…both so young, so naïve…
And I was already so in love with her.
An image of the girl flashed across his memory, making the young dragon smile in spite of the stress of his current situation. He turned his mind back on the task at hand—he was already reaching the end of the stairs—and the end of his quest to be reunited with his Chihiro.
Blasting the glass doors open in the same manner he did the front gates, Haku stopped dead in his tracks, mouth agape, and was frozen by the scene which greeted his eyes.
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She had felt his presence in her mind—a gentle, warm feeling—even before she saw him rush onto the glass-floored roof, panting as if he has run all the way up the long flights of stairs without once resting. Chihiro turned her head toward the ruined doorway to steal a glance at the boy whom she found she could not forget, despite all the years and worlds which laid between them. Seeing him, standing amongst the ruins of molten glass with a shocked and pained expression on his face, the girl struggled harder against the nameless being's grip, trying to breathe in enough air to yell out a warning to the boy whom she had traveled all the way into the world of the spirits to see before it was too late for him…before he got hurt.
However, almost at the same moment she spotted the river spirit, so did her captor. With an enraged growl coming from the deep of his throat, Haku's fake threw the girl to one side, discarding her like a ragged doll. Hitting her head on the invisible glass wall that stopped her from plunging to her death, the last thing Chihiro saw was Haku's frozen expression, sensing his desire to run to her—and, at the same time, sensed the nameless being's rage grow out of control as he prepared to attack the unsuspecting Haku.
Blue-red fire flew from the nameless being's hands towards Haku, roaring hungrily, eager to engulf him in its burning magical flame.
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The sudden harsh light created by the clash of two spirits' magics illuminated the black skies, revealing the floating glass castle. Gasping as she caught a glimpse of it, and suddenly realizing what must be happening upon the floating fortress above them, Rin could only muster enough strength for a whisper.
"They…they're up there! Fighting… Oh God! Sen must be up there with them—Haku and her kidnapper!!"
Heads turned in unison in the direction of the suddenly terrified looking woman. For a moment after the light brought on by the clashing magics had subsided, darkness and rain once again dominated the skies—but not for long. Another boom and the flares of the strange blue-red magic gave the spirits a pretty good idea of what was happening above their very shield. For a moment, all they could do was stand there and stare in despair, worrying for their two friends and whatever demons they might be facing at that very moment. His almost-invisible mouth set in a grim line, it was Kaonashi who voiced their thoughts for them.
"Se…Sen…" he moaned in his way of speaking, "go…help…fr…friend."
"He's right." Zeniiba said firmly, eyes locked on the place where the glass castle has appeared briefly before them. "We mustn't just stand around and gawk while our friends are in trouble! We must find a way to reach them."
"Then we will reach them, my sister." Yu-Baaba said, on her face a determined smile as she looked over at her newly regained sister. "And we will do it the way Sen taught us to."
Nodding, they moved soundlessly to stand in a circle, closer to one another than they have perhaps ever been. Rin smiled, thinking of her small friend who had taught her so much.
"We can do it…together!"
Pooling their powers together, the circle consisting of spirits, witches, Rin and the No-Face phantom raised into the air an towards where the glass castle was last seen, against the flow of the howling winds and despite the combined might of the magical wind and rain to drive them back. Their minds focused and determined in reaching only one goal—to get to Chihiro and Haku and lend them all the help they could bring for them.
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Haku began to run again towards the fallen girl, and ducked to the side just in time to have the blue-red fire of magic pass over his head—barely. As his opponent threw his second fistful of fire at him, Haku almost fell over when he caught a glimpse of the face of his enemy.
It was his own face, staring back at him with demonically scarlet eyes.
Frozen in his tracks with surprise and shock, the silver dragon almost wasn't quick enough to put up a defensive magical barrier around himself, blocking off the fire attack. The demon's fire, unable to penetrate his barrier, died away as quickly as it came on, leaving the two Hakus standing on that rooftop, looking at each other's eyes—the moss-green ones searching, the blood-red ones glowing with rage and hatred.
"Nigihayami Kohakunushi…river spirit, kin to the mighty water dragons…welcome." Bowing mockingly, the nameless being with the demonic eyes drawled in a calm-sounding tone, completely contrasting to his thoughts written clearly on his face.
Even as his opponent spoke, Haku found that he could only stand and stare, unsure of what to make of the suddenly twisted situation, completely vulnerable to an attack. However, a gentle whisper in his mind turned his eyes toward the seventeen-year-old girl lying in a heap by one of the invisible walls, unmoving. His anger flaring to life at seeing her like that cleared his head and took place of his confusion; the river spirit was once again aware of the danger that they both currently stood in.
His eyes never leaving that of—Haku couldn't help but gulp at his own thought—his 'other self', he spoke carefully.
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice loud and clear. Eyes flashing emerald as he called on his magic, Haku silently switched to a fighting stance, knowing a fight would soon be an order.
The nameless being who bore his form laughed, a cursed and strangled sound coming from what could have been the silver dragon's own lips. Quieting down, he looked at Haku, a mocking grin on his face.
"I am you, of course." He sneered, not bothering to keep the thick hatred out of his voice and completely enjoying the dismayed look in White-Haku's eyes.
"Impossible." Haku literally spat the word, unbelieving. And yet, looking at what could have been a mirror image of himself with red eyes and black hair, Haku found that, somewhere in his heart, what the nameless being was telling him did not seem so impossible. Somewhere within him…Haku knew that what he was hearing was the truth, as impossible as it might seem.
Smirking at the confused looking him, Black-Haku summoned his set of dragon wings out of his back. Spreading them and his arms out, his yelled, challenging the silver dragon to embrace the truth.
"But I am you!" he yelled triumphantly over the roar of blue thunder that caused Haku to cringe in pain, on the brink of his sanity. "It is the undeniable truth! Just look at me…every single detail, right down to my wings…right down to the blood which flows in my veins—I am you, inside and out, Kohaku!"
Not waiting for his answer, Haku's fake took to the air with flaps of his great dragon wings, dark as the night. Coloring the air around him blue with streaks of red, glowing in his own rage and magic, Black-Haku prepared himself for the battle he was about to begin—with himself.
Summoning wings of his own—the large silver-scaled wings of dragons—Haku charge towards his demonic image in the air with a yell, glowing in the emerald of his magic.
This is it. Haku's fake blared his teeth in a sneer. This is the moment I've been waiting for.
The beginning of the end.
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Absolutely no comments…too busy writing next chappie…just kidding~! LoL…I wanted to see if I could go a chappie without blabbering on forever, but *shrugs* can't, sorry…I like talking too much, even though this feels like I'm talking to myself ^^* Anyways…you like, you like?? Cuz if you dunt…then you'd better fess up before I finish writing the fic…which will be soon~!! (hopefully…I wunt get swamped with complains~!!)
Sorta sappy moments with Yu-Baaba's lil groupie…I know…but hey, works for me~! n.n I needed them to do something…but couldn't think of anything else… No wait…that's not true…I really didn't try to think of anything else, seeing how that came out on its own down pact Man alive, I shouldn't do this while I'm sleep deprived and with my Chemistry textbook opened on my lap, waiting to be read…just doesn't work too well ^^;;
For the purpose of not confusing you guys anymore than I probably already had…the Haku we all know and luv (=^^=) will be mentioned, from time to time, as "white-Haku", while "the other guy" will be "black-Haku". *shrugs* You probably figured that out by now, but just to make life easier for ya :D Oh yeah, and remember: Haku and Chihiro hasn't met yet throughout the entire course of the story, so neither of them knows how the other might feel…you just have to wait to see what comes out of this very hectic of a first meeting~! *evil laughter*
By the way…did I get Haku's "long" name right?? Cuz if I didn't…which I probably didn't!…pls tell me so I can go n' change it~!!
And might I add that (before I shut up)…man! Trying to finish everything when there's way too much to do is hard~!! But I did promise…do I'll get this all finished before I leave and have absolutely no time to write XP
Anyhow…the usual critics and comments and…yeah…most welcomed~! *looking shy/hopeful* You think the reviews will ever reach 100?? =^^= Well…I'm off to start on the next chappie before I forget what I wanna write~!!
~Aqua Sunshine ^^*
Daremo– sorry, I didn't read any of the reviews until after I uploaded the last chappie, so I couldn't answer you then…but you were asking about Kodama's name?? Like I mentioned in the chapter he first appeared in (*scratching head* Oh yeah…go me…already forgot what chappie it was~!! ), his name literally means "tree-spirit", when translated into English. I kinda just took the name cuz of that, without any other specific meaning or reference…seeing how I was sorta desperate for a name when I was hurrying to upload it. *blushes* I didn't really watch Princess Mononoke, so I really dunt remember any of the names that were in the movie, much less who their characters were. I would assume that the lil white things that you mentioned were the tree spirits, so they were given the same name?? Just a wild guess ^^*
