Disclaimer:   Don't own original characters….

Amidst the Moonlight

By:  Crystal of Psyche

Chapter 13:  It Ain't Over Till the Fat Lady Sings

Author's Note: I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter.

"What do you mean Kai is being brainwashed!?!?!?!" Tyson shouted, Max cringed slightly at Tyson's tone of voice.

"Shhh!!  Not too loud!!!!"  Crystal said.

"Why!?!?!"

Crystal put her hands on her hips, "Because of Julia!!!  I don't want to tell my friend that her loved one is out to get her now!!"

Tyson sulked, "Sorry."

"Now Max you said that you got rid of that muse Julia saw right?"

Max nodded, "But I let Kai get away."

"What about Kai!?!" Everyone turned around to see Julia standing in the door.

"Julia!!"

"What did you say about Kai!?!"

Ray walked up to her and led her out in the hall, "We're just saying how close we are to finding him." He cringed at his lie.

"You are!" Julia seemed to perk up slightly and she hugged him, "Thank you."  Ray hugged her also but felt a great ping of guilt go through him.  He watched her leave to her room again and turned around to the others.

"I know what your going to say and don't say it," he said quietly, "Let's find him and bring him back quick."

"Okay, but how are we going to do that?" Tolaku asked.

"We'll have to split up and just look for any clues."

Tolaku's face dropped, "That's our plan?"

"YOU TRY THINKING OF SOMETHING!!!!"

******

Tyson groaned, "I hate going to the theater."

"Hey!!!  I'm coming!!!  It won't be that bad!!" Crystal huffed, but to her surprise Tyson turned around and smiled softly.

"Yeah, that's the only thing I'm looking forward to."

"……" Crystal looked away to hide her blushing face.  "So um, where are the others going to look?"

"Tolaku and Ray went to the park and Max went to the beach."

"Oh I see."

"We're here."

"What?" she looked up to find themselves in front of the theater.  She looked at all the people standing outside the building.  "Looks like we're going to sneak inside." Tyson nodded his head and they walked around the back and went through the back door.  Making sure nobody was looking, they casually walked in.

"So far so good," Tyson muttered.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," Crystal muttered back, "Why isn't anyone going into that stage?"  She noticed that everyone one was going into the other three stage places to get in their seats but there was one open.

"Maybe their in the middle of a show," Tyson said shrugging.

"But they start all the shows at once," Crystal walked up to one of the people who worked at the Theater.  "Excuse me?"

"Yes m'am?"

"What's wrong with that stage?" Crystal asked pointing to the empty door leading to the empty stage.

"Oh that place has been strange lately.  Like some of the stage set up would fall apart on the actors, the props and costumes would disappear too.  Some people say it's haunted."

Crystal thought for a moment, "Thank you very much!" And walked back to Tyson.  "I have a feeling that there's something in there."

"Well what are we waiting for?"  Tyson and Crystal crept into the empty stage and walked around.

"Do you see anything suspicious?" Tyson asked Crystal who was currently on the stage looking around.  As if on cue a hysterical laughter filled the stage area.

Crystal merely looked at Tyson calmly and pointed upward, "If that's not suspicious then what is?"

Tyson sweat dropped, "…..o….k….  Where did that come from?"

"Up here you fools!!!" Came a loud voice.  The both looked up at a very large woman sitting in one of the balcony seats.  And standing on the railing was…..

"KAI!!!!" The both of them shouted.

"Humph," he said looking away.  They were surprised be this, they knew he was brainwashed but they didn't expect this.

"Kai!!!  Please remember we're your friends!!!" Crystal shouted.

He growled, "Not this again!"

"But it's the truth!!!" Tyson yelled.  Kai didn't say anything.

"Ahem, let's draw our attention to the comedy queen," the large woman said, she scrunched up her face and bellowed, "I….am Thalia!!!  Muse of Comedy!!"

"You can make anyone go into hysterics with that face," Tyson mumbled to Crystal who giggled.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!  KAI!!!!  GO KILL THEM!!!!!!"

Kai glanced over at Thalia, "Why won't you?"

"Be a gentlemen dear," she said sweeter that time. 

"Their not worth my time," he said looking in another direction.

"You wanna say that to my face Kai!!!" Crystal pulled out Lightning Strike and tried to lunge at him but Tyson held her back.  Thalia's glinted when she saw the sword Crystal carried.

"My dear!!" she clutched her chest, "I haven't seen that sword in twelve years!!"  Crystal stopped struggling and stared at Thalia.

"What do you know about my grandfather's sword?"

She laughed, "I always wondered who survived the monster's attack!!  The sword was gone and so was the monsters, so I assumed that someone beat the monsters and fled."  Crystal's grip on the sword tightened.

"And you know this because…"

"Well, I've heard of the Lightning Strike's power and I wanted it.  So I sent some monsters to go and get it for me.  But the monsters were destroyed, and the Lightning Strike had disappeared.  Hard to believe that YOU survived!!!  And you were just a small child!!!"  Thalia bellowed again, Kai stood there and stared at Crystal like he was reading her mind.  Crystal on the other hand was shaking with anger.

"MY FAMILY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Thalia stopped laughing and stared at Crystal who almost looked like she was glowing with energy, "YOU WILL PAY!!!!!!!!!"  With lightning speed Crystal jumped up onto the balcony and slit Thalia's throat.

Thalia looked up at Kai, "W..why d..did you let he..r do that?"

Kai looked coldly down at her, "You brought it upon yourself."  And he teleported back as Thalia glowed bright blue and faded away.  Crystal dropped Lightning Strike and fell on her knees.  Tyson ran up to the balcony and stopped two feet away from her.

"Crystal?"

"I should've listened to Ray," she said quietly, "He was right, vengeance didn't bring back my family."  She started crying, she gasped when she felt two strong arms wrap around her, and she turned to see Tyson's gentle eyes.

"Would you like to talk about it?"  She sniffed and nodded, and buried her face in his chest while he rubbed her back.

"It was horrible, I was just six years old when it happened.  Everyone was outside, my father and grandfather were helping me train while my mother was watching from the side.  Then they came…

~*~*~Going into Flashback~*~*~

Four wolf like monsters jumped out of the brush, one (the leader of the pack) walked forward.  It growled at the family outside.

"Give us the sword!!"  Crystal's grandfather tossed the wooden sword he had in his hand at the wolf.  It growled more loudly, "NO!!!  We came here for the Lightning Strike!!!"

"You will not go near the sword of my ancestors!!" her grandfather shouted as he took out a real sword and got into a fighting stance.  His son did the same thing, he looked over to his wife and made a motion with his eyes that only she could understand.

"Crystal dear this way!" She grabbed the young girl's hand.

"But mommy!!  I want to help!!"

"Daddy and grandpa can handle them," she ran into the dojo and grabbed something on an alter and ran out the door into the forest.

"Mommy where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe dear," she was stopped by two of the four wolfs.

"Give us the Lightning Strike and we may spare your lives!!" one of them growled.

"Never!!" She unsheathed the sword with some difficulty, she peered over her shoulder, "Crystal run!"

Tears started forming in Crystal's eyes, "I'm not leaving you!!"  the monsters lunged at her, the first one knocked the sword from her and then the second made a big wound on her shoulder that made her die almost instantly.

"…protect…the…sword…and……Crystal………run…………" and she was gone.  Crystal's tears were falling more fluently now, she reached for her mother's body but stopped and clutched her hand up near her chest.  She grabbed the sword and tried to run for it, but the two monsters surrounded her.

"Where do you think you're going little girl?" one of them snarled.  Fear clutched her heart, but then she remembered her mother, and she felt energy she never knew she had and a few seconds later she found the two monsters dead at her feet.  She looked down at the sword and gasped at the blood dripping down it.  She flung it to the side and was about to leave, but she remember her mother's words.

'Protect the sword.' Crystal walked over to it, picked it up, put it in it's sheath, and began on the long journey to the village near by.

~*~*~End of Flashback~*~*~

"Later I learned that it had controlled me for just a short while.  I hated that sword, so I would read books and study martial arts instead.  But when I was 10 I came across a book about the Lightning Strike.  It explained to me the purpose of the sword and it's full potential.  After reading that book, I was so determined to master it.  I traveled all over China, training.  That's when I met Julia and Tolaku.  I never had true friends until then, it gave me hope that I can live my life.  When Julia left it was just me and Tolaku.  But when we heard that Julia became blind we had to go to her and make sure she was all right.  Then we got wrapped up in this mess."

"If you didn't get wrapped up, we never would've met," Tyson said softly, she looked up at him.  "And I'm glad we did."  He leaned and kissed her gently on the forehead.  She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him.  Letting a few tears drop, remembering her past was hard on her.

Author's Note: *sniff* *sniff* So sad……*grabs a tissue* There you have it!!  Crystal's past, you guys might want to thank Nightswift for that.  Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Ja!!

PLEASE R+R!!!!!