The Will of the Ring
Chapter Six
by Makura Koneko
Big Thanks to:
Tsuki no Tenshi
Alexia Goddess
Silverdrake
MoonGrlonearth (*blush* Actually, I thought 500 was ambitious for this ficcie…glad you think it deserves it, though! I'm flattered!)
Achelois
Angel Wing
Clear (*blushes and stutters* M-me? Contest? In a magazine? @.@ *shakes head vigorously* I'm so honored you think I'm good enough for that…but just couldn't… *looks sheepish* I'd be too afraid of loosing…and I don't think I'm that good. ^^ *hugglez* But I'm so flattered you think I am…)
sele
Crystania Rayne Sunsets (Crystania is your REAL name? *jaw drops* No fair!!! And here I got stuck with plain old Kathaeryne…*sigh* Oh, well. Oh, and as for finishing this fic before your exams, it would help if I knew when your exams were… Aw, you told your friends about that part? Tee-hee. Glad to have kept you laughing. I love making people laugh! ^__^)
Kazeya
star0704 (hmm…that 'light attracts darkness' scenario is something I may use in the future…thanks for suggesting it!)
Phoenix Wing Star
Liquid Ice
ChibiTenshi (You hope it has a happy ending? Girl, no fear of anything but that! I have an addiction to happy endings, therefore this ficcie is assured a happy ending.)
Authoress*Crest
Blue Angel (*raises eyebrow* You want MORE detail? *low whistle* Most people tell me I spend too much time on detail…*grins* But I will do my best to deliver!)
empress blade
umi (You know what is really funny, I put the names of all the Senshi in a hat (except Hotaru and Ami) and drew out the names. I didn't deliberately pick Raye and Haruka; it was completely random!)
DemonicCatGirl
SerenityLNguyen
Celes
Goddess-of-Light
Spooky Fyre
CrazyJ
Mats Forsen
saturnpyroprincess
~Pyro
Be'Jammin (*grins* Glad you liked the cliffhanger; it's one of my specialties. And yes, the Nazgul will be making an appearance. Not till chapter nine, tho, I think… And as for how they –the Senshi- will fare against them…well, you'll just have to wait and see, now won't you? *halo*)
Chibi Arwen
H20Angel
solarmistress17
Katana
Linauri
Squirrel
Wavewalker
Sailorruss
Niner
nicole
Let the Legend Continue…
"You ready to tell us what happened, yet?" Yaten Kou asked his elder brother as Seiya, obviously worn with grief, entered the living room of their hotel suite. Seiya looked up at him, then collapsed into an armchair. He'd been thus, almost sleepwalking, since he'd gone to see the girl they'd traveled all the way across the universe to see, three days ago.
Taiki entered carrying a tray of drinks, which he set down on the table before handing one to Yaten and another to Seiya. Seiya just looked at for a moment before blinking, as if realizing for the first time what it was he held in his hand. He sipped at it, the alcohol of the drink searing his throat and serving to wake him up a bit.
"She looked like she was asleep…" Seiya said softly.
"Something else happened." Taiki observed. "You felt her grief about a year ago, and it took us almost a year to get here. Was that what caused her to go into a coma?"
Seiya shook his head. "No. It was something that happened in her normal sleep almost about a week ago, during a sleep-over with the rest of the girls. Ami says Serena just went into a sort of…spazing, screaming, crying in her sleep. They couldn't wake her up…" He gripped his drink harder. "Ami says…Ami says that, physically, Serena is simply in a very, very deep sleep. Not a coma, just…asleep. But her mind…her spirit, or essence…it's in the past…"
"How far into the past?" Yaten asked. Seiya shook his head.
"They're not sure," He said. "But Ami estimates about one hundred billion years."
"Kuso," Taiki cursed. Seiya nodded once more. "They…if they stuck to the estimated time schedule of how long it would take them to get ready, they probably left for the past today. At least some of them. Something about at least three of them having to be there when her second shell deteriorates…" His grasp on his glass tightened as he shut his eyes. Yaten reached over and put a hand on his shoulder.
"You can explain later," Taiki said. Seiya opened his eyes slowly and nodded, swallowing. He took another sip of his drink, not loosening his grip in the slightest.
"What about what we came here for?" Yaten asked. "What was it that happened last year to make even our Princess feel her pain?"
"Darien." Seiya said hoarsely.
"What?" Yaten exclaimed. "What did that baka do to her?"
"He died." Seiya closed his eyes once more, his grip on his glass becoming perilously tight.
"How?" Taiki asked.
"Protecting Serena." Seiya said softly. "He took a blow meant for her. A youma. A leftover of Chaos's most likely. Ami said there wasn't even enough left of him to bury."
"The youma?" Yaten asked.
"Raye had a vision, and they got there as soon as they could…"
"Soon enough to dust the youma before it got away, but not soon enough to save the Prince." Taiki finished. Seiya nodded and took a gulp of his drink as the foreign Senshi sat in silence.
It was the first night Serena had spent with her 'protectors' while awake. But, for some reason, she wasn't the least bit worried or nervous. A smokeless fire had been kindled, and beds made out of reeds laid across each other, leaves on top, had been set up around the fire.
"Time for a lesson." Gimli suddenly announced the moment 'dinner' had been over –which, in Serena's case, had only taken a few moments. The dwarf stood, battle ax in hand, and kinked his finger to Serena, indicating she was to get up. She swallowed her last bite of biscuit and blanched.
"Wh-what did I do?" She squeaked, eyeing the battle ax.
"He means to teach you to use a weapon with which you can defend yourself," Legolas told her. "Should there be a time when none of us are near enough to do the protecting for you."
"I can protect myself just fine!" Serena huffed, standing up, hands on hips, looking every inch the indignant princess. Boromir grinned and stood up as well, pulling a dagger from his belt and flipping it over in his hand expertly, so that he was carefully gripping the knife as he held out the hilt to Serena. She took it, unsuspectingly, and the moment her hand closed around it, he whipped her around, had on arm around her neck and the dagger poised to pierce her belly.
"Hey!" Serena wailed. "That wasn't fair!"
"Nothing about a fight is fair," Aragorn told her. "Least of all the fighters. You'd do well to remember that." Boromir released her, sheathing his dagger as he ruffled her bangs. Serena frowned, her face fixed in an adorable pout, as she nodded mutely.
"Come now, lass," Gimli told her, stepping away from the camp fire, far enough away so that the likely hood of Serena tripping and burning herself was unlikely, but not so far away that the light of the fire was too dim for them to comfortably maneuver. Serena followed, looking nervous and uncomfortable as Gimli handed her the battle ax that was at least two and a half feet long. The moment Gimli's sure grip left his own weapon, however, Serena squeaked and nearly dropped it.
"It's so heavy!" She whined. "How do you expect me to lift this thing high enough to swing it, let alone handle it well enough to fight with it?"
"We don't expect you to fight with it, Butterfly," Gimli snorted. "Just swing it around a few times, enough to get your attackers to back off."
"Meanwhile, you scream your head off, and we'll come running," Boromir told her, flicking her on the nose before reaching down to help her adjust her grip on the battle ax. When her grasp on the weapon was sufficient, she found that it was a bit easier to lift it, though she still had to strain her muscles to do so.
When she'd held it aloft for as long as she could, per Gimli's instructions, and dropped it with a grunt, the blade of the ax dug deep into the ground, and Serena gasped for air and groaned.
"I can barely hold it up for one minute!" She wailed. "There's no way I'll be able to swing it!"
"Try," Legolas told her. She pouted.
"I can't!" She insisted.
"What if your friends were in danger?" Aragorn asked her from his place beside the fire. "Would you whine and say 'I can't' or would you put everything you had into it? Is protecting yourself not as important as defending those you love? You say you are the leader of those that protect your home in the future. If you die, surely they will eventually die, without you, as well?"
"Think of protecting yourself as protecting them." Legolas told her, coming to her side and adjusting her grip once more, as it had slid too close to the end of the ax. Serena blinked as his hands adjusted hers gently. Always it had been her Senshi that had strived to survive to continue to protect her. Never had she considered that she may be important enough to be able to have the same significance…
The same determination that she'd had on her face when she'd struggled to reach a nearly dead Boromir donned on her face now, sapphire eyes sparkling, lips and chin set. A vein in her temple pulsed, and her shoulders and arms tensed and rippled with strength she herself hadn't known she had filled her. A physical strength. She was used to summoning on magical strength, will power, to the point of death, but this was the first time she'd managed to physically pull what she demanded out of her own body…
Slowly, the ax lifted…
Serena, out of the corner of her eye, glimpsed a thick, sturdy root running down the wall of the cave…
With a cry, Serena jerked the ax out of the ground, heaved with all her might, and swung with every last ounce of strength…
The sound of steel on stone rang out through the cave as the root was severed clean through, the blade of the battle ax deeply imbedded in the stone wall.
Serena smirked.
"Take that, Raye…" She said, breathing heavily. "That's for all the times you called me weak!"
With that, the Moon Princess promptly collapsed.
(Author's Note: I know, I know, I've said this twice already, but I'm real paranoid about flames, so…once again, please remember that, since I haven't read 'The Two Towers' or seen the movie, while I do know Gandalf comes back, I have no idea how. So, once again, I will be doing things the way I would have had it done if I had written 'Lord of the Rings.' (*sweatdrop* I know, I know, dream on…) Big thanks to all you that gave me tips on what was gonna happen!
-Makura)
The Wizard Gandalf awoke with a raging headache, painfully empty stomach, blurry vision, and what he was pretty sure was a broken ankle.
He also awoke to sense a potent, dark power near him…very near… He somehow summed the strength to roll over, and found himself facing the source of that dark power. He squinted in the near darkness as his memory slowly came back, as he looked upon the girl before him, of what had happened…
He was supposed to be dead…
No one went up against a Belrog and lived…
Yet he was alive…
He found himself recalling, as the dark girl crawled slowly closer, the words Bilbo Baggins had said so long ago on the day of his birthday party…
I'm getting too old for this…
With that last thought, he succumbed to sleep once more.
Hotaru was more scared than she'd been in a long time. She tried, for the thousandth time, to figure out what had gone wrong as she sat in the darkness, watching with what little light came from the crystal atop a staff she'd found, the old man she'd awoken beside.
They'd all, Haruka, Ami and Raye, joined hands, closed their eyes, concentrated… Setsuna-mama had opened the portal above them, and they'd immediately been pulled in. It seemed like an eternity that they'd bounced around, screaming, clinging to each other for dear life…
Then something had…grabbed her. Not just her body, but her mind, her soul, her thoughts, even her very powers, and had pulled…not yanked, just plucked her away from her friends. She wasn't pulled from their grasp; one moment her hand were in Haruka and Ami's, the next they were gone. The shape her hands and fingers had made to curl around her friends' hands hadn't even changed. It was more sudden than teleportation…
She'd been hurtled away from her friends, she'd seen a portal nearing, a flash of light that she'd had but a moment to realize looked and felt and even smelled similar to that of Serenity's before darkness had overcome her.
She'd awaken with a headache, every inch of her body sore, and without any way of knowing how long she'd been out. She'd looked around with the minimum light that glowed around her form while she healed herself of multiple bruises, and had spied a tall wooden staff, the gnarled top of which curled around a crystal that looked to be some sort of quartz. She had reached for it, grabbing at it before her light could fade, only to have the crystal flare with light that dimmed after a moment.
That had been…how long ago? Hotaru had tried singing a song in her head that she knew was exactly five minutes long, but she'd lost track long ago…or was it only a few moments ago?
Hotaru drew her knees up to her chest, clutching the staff in front of her legs as she watched old man. He had awoken only once, briefly, long enough to roll over and look at her with unfocused eyes.
Hotaru shivered.
Far below, an evil greater than most –though not quite up to Chaos- floated, calling to her powers, making the evil in her own blood sing.
Hotaru buried her face in her knees, squinting her eyes shut.
No! She shouted at it. I'm not like you! I choose not to be like you! Be silent!
The evil stopped calling her, and the monster inside her that was the true essence of the Senshi of Destruction quieted and returned to its –she hoped- eternal sleep.
Hotaru took a few deep breaths to calm her raging heartbeat, and forced her mind to go over what had happened, to try and figure out what could have caused her to have been plucked from her friends' grasp and yanked to a place that was not their destination… Was she was in the same time as they, or had she been snatched before they'd reached their destined time period? For all she knew, she could only been a few hundred years back from her time…
Hotaru's mind began to catch…she imaged four upright sticks on a skateboard, zooming down a narrow path. What if a branch, a stick, a hook of some sort had been in just the right place for one of the sticks to be hooked and snatched, while the other three kept going?
Was that what had happened to her? That light, that power she'd sensed that had been similar to Serenity's, was that what had 'snagged' her?
Hotaru shook her head to disband the confusing, farfetched thoughts. Then again…here she was, sitting on a ledge in the wall of a gorge that probably went to the depths of hell itself, with an evil rivaling her -a ten year old's- calling to her own destructive nature…who was she to call something farfetched?
Hotaru looked up sharply. A groan? Had she truly heard something from the elderly human before her? Or was it just her imagination? Or some creature climbing up the walls of the chasm to drag her down to where many believed she belonged?
Hotaru held her breath, listening…there it was again! She squinted in the dim light…there! The old man's hand moved! Then, with painful slowness, that same hand was raised to touch a not all that pretty cut on his temple. He pulled open weary, blurry eyes, the color of which Hotaru could not see. He blinked several times, perhaps over the course of several hours for all Hotaru could tell, before finally seeming to actually see her.
"Hello, child," He said, his voice hoarse but no less kind. Hotaru blinked. She'd expected something like 'who are you and what are you doing with my staff?' since she assumed the staff was his.
"H-Hello," Hotaru replied, surprised she found she could and would. The man pushed himself up into a sitting position, swayed, and then dragged himself to a rock near her, which he collapsed against heavily. Hotaru eyed his many wounds; broken ankle, twisted wrist, a gash on his leg, and probably a concussion.
"Are you hurt, child?" He asked her. She blinked in surprise. She hardly had a scratch on her, and here he was probably near death's door, and he knew it, and he was asking after her? When for all he knew she had been set her to make sure he died?
"I am fine, thank you," She said, the manners Michiru-mama had instilled in her holding. He grinned slightly.
"That shall ease my conscience a bit," He said with a grunt of pain as he tried to righten himself more.
"You shouldn't move," Hotaru told him. "You took a good beating."
"Yes, rock ledges often hold grudges against me when I fall on them," He said in a teasing voice, much in the same way Mina would do in a laughing tone. Hotaru, with a pang in her heart, winced as she remembered her own predicament.
"Do you know where we are?" Hotaru asked.
"The chasm of Khazad-dum if memory serves me correctly," The man said. He turned his head, despite the pain it brought him, to look at her. Hotaru blinked in surprise. What wisdom, what kindness, what…endurance was in those eyes!
"If you would not think me too forward," He said, wincing in pain as he moved his arm, even as his tone was somehow surrounded with warmth. "May I ask your name?"
"Hotaru." Hotaru replied. She eyed the gash on his leg. It was bleeding again. Having been numbed by fear for herself, the part of her that had always refused to let another suffer when she could do something to stop or prevent that suffering overcame her full force. Uncurling from her self-protective position, she stood slowly and walked to him, very mindful of he edge of the ledge not far away. She knelt beside him, quenching her nervousness.
"My name's Hotaru Tomoe," She said. "Wh-what's your name?"
"Gandalf the Gray, I am called." He told her.
"H-how did you end up down here, Gandalf-san?" Hotaru asked. Gandalf sighed and winced.
"That, I'm afraid, is a long story, and one I fear I am not all that up to telling at the present moment." He smiled at her. "And although I would like to ask you the same, since I am unable to give an answer as of now, I don't expect you to, either."
"That's okay," Hotaru said softly. "I… Truth be told, I have no idea how I got here."
"How is that?" He inquired. Hotaru shook her head. "I have a few ideas…" She looked at the swelling bump on his forehead, and the glossy look his eyes had. "But first," She said. "Let's take care of this." Her hand, per her summoning, began to glow a soft violet as she reached up and with the lightest of touches, she let one finger caress the large swelling. Almost instantly Hotaru could feel his relief as the coolness that was the magic doing it's healing slipped under his skin and wrapped around the injured tissue, going all the way down to the rattled bone of his skull and the bruised flesh that was his brain.
"Where did you learn such magic?" Gandalf asked her when she pulled away, his concussion healed and only a slight bruise on his forehead to show for it. His eyes calculating and impressed, but not scared or wary or hostile in the slightest.
"I never learned it," Hotaru said softly. "I was born with it." She hesitated slight before adding, "Papa says my mama had gotten a cut on her forehead the before I was born. He said when she first held me in her arms, I reached up, and my finger glowed purple, and the cut was gone." Hotaru drew apart the folds of the slash in his gray robe to the ugly gash just above his knee. She touched the raw, exposed flesh, and the man stiffened, but she continued. When the wound was healed, only a fleshy, temporary pink scar to show for it, she was weary, but she moved to attend to his ankle anyway, when a hand on her wrist stopped her.
"That will be quite enough for now," Gandalf told her kindly. "The ankle can wait. I have suffered far worse, and I'd thank you to make sure my only companion on this perilous occasion does not collapse of exhaustion on me." His smile was gentle and warm, as were his eyes. Hotaru found herself thinking of the father she'd never had. Oh, Haruka played the part beautifully, but still…there were some things…
Hotaru smiled and sat back on her heels. She picked up the staff she'd laid down on the floor and held it out to him.
"I think this is yours," She said. Gandalf looked mildly surprised, as if he'd forgotten he'd ever even owned it.
"I thank you for keeping it safe," He told her with a teasing smile, and reached out to take it-
Silver, gray, and lavender light filled the chasm of Khazad-dum, and the only two non-evil occupants disappeared.
Ami must have only been out for a few moments after she hit her head on that rock on her way down… Her eyes flitted open to find herself sitting half in someone's lap, pulled against them with a stranger's arm around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides, and another hand over her mouth. What lead her to believe she had only been unconscious for a few seconds, however, was that she could hear the sound of dozens of heavy, armor clad feet pounding across the 'roof' of wherever she was. The same sounds she'd heard when being chased by the same creatures that were making those sounds.
She could feel that whoever held her was not a large person, hardly any bigger than her, and no armor. Something moved ever so slightly to her right, and she peeked her eyes open just the tiniest bit to spy a second person, no bigger than the one that held her against him.
"Master Frodo, sir, I think she's waking up," The second figure, to Ami's right, whispered with the slight lilt of a European accent. Exactly which dialect it was, Ami was surprised to discover she didn't know.
"Ssssh…" Hushed her captor softly. Ami forced herself to remain limp as the sounds of pounding feet, growls of frustration, and hostile snarls faded, and cries of triumph originating from her friends in the distance.
It seemed like an eternity that the three of them lay there, not daring to look out to see if the creatures had gone back to the camp, or if they were still sniffing around.
At last Ami's captor shifted and turned her in his arms so that his arm was under her shoulders and she was sitting with her legs on the other side of him. He tapped her cheek lightly. Ami debated on whether or not she should continue to feign sleep…
"Think she fainted?" The second figure asked. With the way his body shifted, Ami could tell her holder had shook his head. He touched her forehead, and where he touched her, the skin flamed with pain.
"She hit her head when we pulled her down," Her holder said softly. Ami was hard pressed not to show her surprise at his voice; how pain and sorrow ridden it was!
"Think we should try and wake her?" The second asked. "Strider did say that it's not good to fall asleep when you've a head injury."
"I don't think it's that bad," Her holder said, sitting her up in his lap so that her head was in the crook of his shoulder. She was a bit miffed at the fact that she had to admit she was quite comfortable…
"Hand me that canteen," Her holder said. "I think it's just a bad bruise. She should come around shortly."
"What if she doesn't?"
"Then we'll have to try and get to those other girls without her help."
"Without her help?" She heard the owner of the second voice rummaging around for something.
"She'll know the layout of the camp and the cage better than we could, from up here," Her holder said, reaching across her to accept something dripping from the second speaker. A cool, wet cloth was laid over the burning, throbbing bump on her forehead, and she was hard pressed to keep from sighing in relief.
"Think you we should try for the girls now?" The second speaker asked quietly. "While we have the cover of darkness? They most likely wouldn't expect something else to happen so soon."
"You forget these aren't normal Orcs," Ami's holder said, dabbing her cheeks and brow with the cloth before waving a bit to make it cold again and laying it over her forehead once more. "They see better in the dark than we do, and they're angry right now, which makes them energized. I suspect if we ever get a chance to get to them, it will be in the morning, when they are groggy. They may be able to stand sunlight, but they still don't like it."
"Aye, sir," The second speaker said with a sigh. She heard someone shifting as he most likely tried to find a comfortable spot. "Should we settle in for the night, then?"
"That's probably all we can do about now," Her holder sighed, touched her cheek, and shifted to find a more comfortable spot himself. He reclined against a slopped rock, Ami still cradled in his arms, her head in the crook of his neck and shoulder.
"You look awfully cozy there, Frodo, sir," The second voice teased after a moment of silence. She immediately felt 'Frodo' stiffen and croak something.
"Sam!" Frodo hissed. "Why you-"
"Only jesting, sir," Sam stiffled a laugh. "I'm sure your only intentions are that you don't wish the girl to run off while we sleep without us knowing, eh?"
"Exactly." Frodo said, though his voice still sounded suspicious. She felt him adjust the cloth again. "I wonder what her name is…" He wondered out loud.
"I'd say we could make a guessing game of it, but 'tis too dark to see her face, so…" She could have sworn she heard Sam shrug.
"We'll have to go by what we heard of her voice, then." Frodo said.
"Good enough." Sam agreed, and, to Ami's amusement, the two of them proceeded to come up with a list of names that fit her voice, since they dared not light a fire to see her face.
Their game to pass time till their edginess faded enough for sleep was abruptly interrupted by a flash of light that Ami found all to similar… Sam and Frodo threw their arms over their faces to shield themselves from the blinding light, the light that Ami was lucky enough to have already have her eyes closed against. How did she know it was there? White-hot light filled the inside of her eyelids, the power and potency of the light saturating her very flesh as it washed over her… Only four times in her life had Ami felt this same light wash over her…
No, not quite…
The light that was beginning to fade was similar to that of Princess Serenity's Silver Crystal, but not quite the same…it was…duller compared, to the flawless white-hot purity of the Moon Princess's magic.
When the light was faded enough –judging from the receding searing whiteness under her eyelids- that she deemed it safe to look, Ami opened her eyes…
Shouts and cries rose up outside, from the 'Orc' –as Frodo had called them- camp. Frodo and Sam were alert, and hadn't yet noticed that she was awake. Ami debated on whether or not she should let them know and peek out, see what was going on…
A faint sensation of one of her sister Senshi transforming washed over her, followed by another, and another, and then…a third? Ami sat up suddenly, joy on her face. Three transformations, when one of them wasn't hers, only meant one thing; somehow either Serena or Hotaru had found them.
"Miss?" Sam asked her. Ami glanced to him, grinning.
"She found us!" She cried, and without waiting, leapt for the opening above a low wall of stones, which she had undoubtedly been pulled through. Frodo scrambled after her and grabbed her arm, but it was too late; both of them were out in the open.
The sight that greeted Frodo was one he'd never forget…down below, admist raging Orcs were four young girls, wearing highly odd and colorful uniforms of some sort, and…
"Gandalf…" Frodo breathed. He stared at the tall elderly man, brandishing his staff, spheres of white light lancing out to catch an Orc in the head, belly, chest, back, anywhere.
The girls fought with magic, as well. As he watched, a tall one with long raven colored hair summoned a bow and arrow made of fire to her hands. The flaming arrow flew straight and true, straight into the black heart of an Orc that was running at her. Another arrow in her hand lengthened to that of a full sized spear of fire.
The cage lay in slashed, charred ruins as the five of them stood in a ring around it, fighting their way outwards.
"I've got to help them!" Ami cried. Frodo looked at her, then pulled Sting from its scabbard at his side as Sam climbed out into the open with them.
"Then we'll help you," Frodo told her. Sam hid his surprised delight; this was the most alive his master had been since the battle on the western bank. The girl smiled brightly, and for the first time they both noticed that she was quite lovely, with fluffy blu- blue hair? Yes, she had earlobe length, midnight blue hair and dazzling indigo eyes.
"Thank you," She said, smiling. She looked back to the fight, her face hardening into that of someone whom had seen much too much far too young.
"Hold on, guys," She cried out. "I'm coming!" She raised her arm, then, as she jerked it back down to her chest, she cried out, "Mercury Eternal Power! Transform!"
Ribbons of sparkling, shinning, radiant ice and water and mist whisped into existence as she was lifted into the air by an unseen force. She twisted around like an unearthly dancer as the ribbons conformed to her body, her former clothing fading as her very skin began to glow too brightly for any features to be distinguished. The ribbons settled, tightened, seemed to melt into each other, then her entire form flashed. Misty bubbles and water sprays were flung away from her as bright, fairy like wings that seemed to be made of ice and mist flared into existence on her back. She arched her back as the wings folded in front of her, covering her from head to toe, then snapped back.
When they did so, in their wake was left thigh-high ice blue boots with silver lining. Around her waist was a silky, almost transparent, gathered skirt of sky blue that flowed and cascaded out behind her. A slit in the skirt going up to her waist revealed that the white bodice she wore was in fact a leotard fitted to her body like a glove. The skirt rippled and fluttered out behind her as a wrap of the same color and material as the skirt came up behind her to wrap around her shoulders, the ends of the wrap tucking themselves down in the 'v' dip of the bodice's neckline.
A sphere of blue light settled over her heart, right at the 'v' dip. It flashed, forming a heart shaped blue crystal before flashing once more to hide her from view. When the light faded, they had but the barest moment to glimpse what else had appeared on her before she dashed towards her friends with a cry; two silver sphere on her forehead on either side of a blue, unknown symbol, blue pearl earrings, and matching swirling wrist bands.
Exchanging looks of awe –that had all happened in a mere four seconds!- Sam and Frodo shook themselves, then, swords held aloft, they raced after the sapphire goddess, hoping they lived to ask who and what she –and her friends- were…and why they were here…
To Be Continued…
Ta-da! Well, hope this chappie wasn't too confusing, and I hope you didn't mind the wait! *sweatdrop* Back-to-school exams have been keeping me busy.
Good news; we're pretty much done packing, now all we gotta do is move it all into storage, spot clean the house, then I will have two weeks to do nothing but write. After that, we're going on vacation till our new house is done, so don't expect anything for about a month after those two weeks.
*hugglez to all* You guys have all been so great! I'm up to 200 reviews!!!! *tears* I may just make my 500-reviews-by-chapter-ten goal after all! ^^ *hugglez* Thank you! Ja!
Hope Makes the Universe Shine,
Makura Koneko
ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY
