**Author's Note: Oh my God!! No, it's no joke, I'm updating this story. In fact, I've finished this story. I've got Chapter 19 and Epilogue ready to go. But I'm going to space out the posting a bit to see if I can get some reviews lol ;). Hope you like this one!**





Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, poor, yadda, yadda, own nothing, blah, blah, if you sue you'd only be getting my piggy bank with an I O U in it, yadda, yadda... Have a nice day :).



Chapter 18

"Do you really think she's going to do anything that may help us?" Cye asked Ryo, who looked dubious. They had split into to groups, Cye and Ryo, who were the least offensive to Sylvia going to the hospital where Rowen predicted she would be, and Kento and Rowen staying at the apartment with Sage, Mia, and Shivoni.

"She's got to be desperate by now.... Judging from how dark it is outside now, those things are about to make their move. She might jump at any chance to save herself," Ryo said. They approached the main desk, and Cye got the receptionist's attention politely.

"Excuse me... Hi, I'm Cye Mouri, and this is my friend Ryo Sanada, we attend the local high school. One of our classmates, Sylvia Weald's mother has taken ill, and we heard she's been here all alone. We wanted to surprise her and show her that she has our support. Could you direct us to the room where we might find her?"The receptionist smiled at Cye, it was refreshing to talk to someone with good manners after a long day of listening to barking doctors, hysterical patients, and family members. "Lets see... Weald....room 304."

"Thank you so much ma'am, we really appreciate this."

"No problem honey."

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Sylvia knew they were coming before they entered without knocking. "What do you want?" she hissed at their entrance. They hadn't brought him, so she had nothing to fear. She glared at them as they positioned themselves in front of the bed.

"The Darklings are here Sylvia and they're looking for you."

"Tell me something that I don't know, Ronins, I tire of you."

"We know of someone who may be able to help you," the Warrior of Trust, stepped in front of the Warrior of Virtue.

"Do you?" Sylvia narrowed her eyes. Why were they playing these games with her? Perhaps they thought their was something she could do for them... "In helping me, what would you gain?"

"You release Sage from the bond your bond you've made, you're killing him," the Warrior of Trust, Cye, stated his terms. "In saving him, you'll gain your protection. We'll need you to come with us, after you've released the bond."

"Release him? Oh, you mean to severe the ties... You are assuming I know how right?" Sylvia batted her eyes. They were drawing nearer, she could feel the darkness enclosing.

"You don't know how?" Virtue, Ryo exclaimed. "You cast a spell on an improper subject, and don't know how to reverse it? What kind of a Witch are you?"

"A dead one," she said evenly... "I'm... very sorry for the loss of your Warrior of Light...bearer of Wisdom. He... he really did mean something to me. If I could do this over again, I'd have chosen one of you instead, not him. He's too precious to be dealt such a fate as the hand I've given him. I'm a failure as a Witch, and with me, the last of our kind will be extinguished. Maybe that's not such a bad thing. There will be no more casualties that empty the world of ones such as Sage. So beautiful..." A single tear slid from her eyes down her cheek. "I never meant to love him..."

"Can't you try something?" Ryo demanded, "Can't you experiment? He's still alive, right now... he won't leave until your mother does. You still have time, and we'll help you."

Sylvia sighed deeply, her eyes dark and cloudy, "Time has elapsed for me. I can't break the bond, it's too late."

"It's never too late! Where are your tools, your books? We'll help you look..."

Sylvia watched Ryo breaking down in front of her, "You poor things, look what I've done to you."

Ryo was about to scream at her, when the room grew chilly. Sylvia's eyes widened, "So...you've found me." Her voice shook as she tried to appear strong and fearless before the Darklings. Six fully grown shadows inhabited the room. They smiled at her, before removing their cloaks of darkness. "So you are men, after all," Sylvia whispered, staring at their true forms. Six tall elegant men gazed at her, wicked smiles carved on each one of their faces. They were pale and thin, each with a varying shade of blond hair, and blue eyes. Why...they looked like her. Her stomach churned... why did they look like her?

"Sylvia," one said, his voice smooth like French vanilla creme.

Sylvia reached for her mother's limp hand, squeezing it tight, "This is it Momma, goodbye." She shut her eyes waiting for the embrace of death.





"STOP!" came a cry from Cye, his voice horrified, "Why do you have to kill them? They're only a girl and an ill woman... They can't hurt anyone."

Ryo was still stunned at the appearance of the six men, they'd appeared from thin hair...they were the Darklings? Why could he see them now, and hear them speak? And.. He gazed at Sylvia's trembling form.... they resembled her. Were Witches and Darklings of the same race? They did come from the same world.

The men looked at Cye, uninterested, "She is a Witch, we kill all Witches...and she is the Witch that has stolen from us, what is ours. We have no plans to stay in your world after this."

"But..." Ryo stopped Cye, "They said they'd leave Cye. Let them go on."

"Sage..."

"He's a Ronin Warrior Cye, he's pledged to die for the greater good."

Cye lowered his head to his chest, not bothering to stifle his sobs of grief. That was it then...



Sylvia covered her mother's form as the men crept closer, "Take me first, I beg you."

"We will take you... away from here, when we are through. Move girl."

"What?" Sylvia was flabbergasted, "Move? Take me away from here? What are you talking about? Kill me first!"

"We do not kill our own, now move aside girl."

Sylvia gasped, one hand flying over her mouth....we do not kill our own.... what were they saying....what were they saying...?

She was lifted like a baby, her grip on her mother's hand undone. She was set back on her feet beside one of the tall men, who gazed down at her with something akin to...affection, in his eyes. "Little sister home at last...but so big."

Little sister? "What are you talking about? I don't have any other living relatives but my mother...and if I did, they certainly wouldn't be Darklings!"

The ice blue eyes narrowed as they studied her, "You'll know all you need soon enough, child." He grabbed her arms to restrain her as she fought to free herself and shield her mother from the hands reaching to snuff out her life.

Tears stung in her eyes as the woman began to pulsate as dark energy filled her. Her golden eyes flew open as her mouth hung agape gasping for breath.... She was dying... They were killing her."Momma!!" Sylvia wailed, her knees went weak and she crumpled at the feet of the Darkling that had been restraining her, "Oh Mommy..."

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"Good gods what's happening to him?" Kento exclaimed helping Rowen hold Sage down as he convulsed. His eyes were open, full of horror, and the choking gasps coming from him made Kento want to wet his pants.

"He's having a seizure..." Rowen was muttering, trying to turn Sage onto his side to keep him from swallowing his tongue.

"The old one is dying," Shivoni said, her eyes closed as her focus seemed to be elsewhere, "the Darklings are with her now."

"Cye and Ryo are there too," Kento whispered. "What do we do if the Darklings get them too... then we'll lose all three of them."

"We're not losing anybody!" Rowen all but yelled, he rolled Sage onto his side, rubbing the boy's back, "Hold on there, Sage, it's gonna be ok."

"Shivoni, can't you do something, something at all?" Mia watched the scene unfolding before with tears in her eyes. She was losing one of them!

Shivoni's silver eyes snapped open then, confused... "There are 7 Darklings, not 6."

"What?" Mia peered at the woman.

"So what?" Kento stood up to tower over Shivoni, "Are you going to tell us why we should care that there's one more Darkling than you thought?"

"Only 6 Darklings came through... but now there are 7...it seems as if one has emerged right there... It..." she paused, her face taking on a calculating look. "It's the girl... Of course, it's the girl."

"What's the girl? What are you talking about?" Kento was trying very hard not to get angry and failing. "Stop speaking in code woman. Can you save Sage or not?"

"The girl is one of them...she placed the mark, and cannot remove it because she is unskilled....but since it is the mark of a Darkling...then they... Of course.... That is why...of course!"

"I'm about to kill this lady," Kento growled, "Somebody better hold me back, if they want her still alive for something."

"There's no need, Kento," Mia spoke softly, her eyes locked on the place Shivoni once stood. "She's gone."

"Holy shit!" Kento gapped as the woman was gone without a trace. "Where do you think she went? You think she went to Ryo and Cye to help them? You think she's going after Sylvia?"

"I don't care about that right now..." Rowen murmured lowering his head to Sage's chest...the blond had stilled, his eyes closed. Kento and Mia were quick to join him, down on their knees beside Sage.

"R...Rowen?"

"H...he's not breathing, and I don't feel a pulse...""What?" Kento gathered the blond's limp body in his arms, shaking him, and putting his own head to his chest to try to decipher a heart beat. Nothing, no rise and fall of the chest, no pumping artery...

"He's dead... Gods, he's dead..." Rowen uttered gravelly.

"No, no, no!! Dammit Blondie!" Kento laid the body back out, pumping the still chest furiously, and pinching the finely shaped nose closed, so he could push air through the slightly parted lips, into empty lung cavities. "You can't die on us, not yet! I won't let you... we won't let you!"

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Ryo held Cye close, letting the boy weep on his shoulder. He let his own head rest in Cye's soft hair. He couldn't cry... one of his friends, his warriors, was dying...and he couldn't cry. He just watched, he watched Sylvia's mother, Sage's lifeline, being invisibly strangled to death. He listened to the hard wracking sobs of Sylvia, hidden behind one of the tall men who hoovered around the bed like ghouls waiting to feast on a fresh dead body.

"He's gone Ryo... I can't feel him in the web anymore..."

Ryo knew. Sage's place in the web was now a blank void, the connection severed forever. What were they going to tell his family? Ryo had never thought much about having to inform family members of deaths, because, well he'd always figured they'd all die together. He never thought he'd have to deal with the death of any of his friends, because he'd be the first to go, and the others would follow shortly after.

"We should go now, Cye. The others, they need us," Ryo whispered into the grieving boy's hair.

He felt Cye nodded under him, and he steered the boy's body in a complete circle, toward the door. "What's that?" Cye asked suddenly, startling Ryo, by straightening and pulling out of his hold. Ryo turned with him to see the odd silvery light dancing into the room. "Shivoni?"

"Silver One..." a Darkling hissed as the small woman appeared. "You have sworn not to interfere..."

"I am not here to interfere..." Shivoni's voice was commanding and carrying. She looked down on Sylvia, something igniting in her eyes, before speaking again, "Your kind had also sworn not to interfere with mine."

"The boy?"

"The girl has marked him."

"The mark on the boy led us to the girl, it smelled of our magic. She is a lost sister."

"Yes, yes I see that now. But what she has done, must be undone, by writ of Orestes. Though the girl had not fully confirmed her identity as being among your race, she is of full blood, binding her to the law."

"I...I..." Sylvia stuttered from the floor, "I can't save him. I don't know how to reverse it, please...!"

"Can one of you?" Shivoni implored, gazing at the tall men. "What's going on?" Cye whispered to Ryo who shrugged. Was Shivoni pleading on Sage's behalf? But wasn't it too late? They gazed at the woman on the bed, she was still...but her monitors...her EKG still beeped weakly. She was still alive, but not for much longer. Hurry Shivoni, if you can do something, hurry!

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"Breathe Blondie...come on, breathe!" Kento blew into Sage's mouth again, as Rowen took over the job of pumping his chest. Mia watched hopelessly, wanting to tell the boys to stop, to give up he was gone, but not having the heart.

"Sage please...if you can hear me..." Kento was calling, in between breathes salty with tears.

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The one that always stood nearest to Sylvia, the one who had held her, and called her sister...he approached the bed, leaning over the dying Witch. He rested a palm on her forehead, "My sister has woven quite a mess... The Witch who stole and raised her was foolish... their magic and ours are different. She'd corrupt any spell she touched..."

"I never worked any magic..." Sylvia spoke softly. "She said I wasn't ready..." The man looked at her so lovingly...and he still spoke of her mother as the Witch who stole her... Who did he think she was? He kept calling her sister, and he looked so familiar, so like her. They all did.

The mark Sylvia had placed on her mother's forehead began to glow a deep evil red, the distinctive lines and curves bending and melding into one another until they flattened into nonexistence. The man pulled his hand away, and all watched the heart monitor as it slowed, then gave a wailing beep that was soon silenced by will of mind.

She was gone...

"Momma..." she whispered. Strong arm hauled her to her feet, suddenly she was staring into a pair of intense blue eyes, "She was not your mother."

"Yes she was...she's the only mother I know...and YOU KILLED HER!" Sylvia's body began to throb with dark energy as she poised herself for attack.

"Stop it sister, you'll hurt no one but yourself," another one said.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" She wanted to lash out, but she was still afraid of them...they were older than she, and strong..she could sense their power. "Who are you?"

"We are your brothers, Sylvia...or rather, Anaya, that's what mother named you. You are one of us....look at your power, and compare it to that of ours. Look at us, do we not resemble each other?"

"No.."

"Sylvia, have you never questioned why she would never let you practice magic? Why you could feel us?"

"No.."

"You are Warlock, Sylvia, you are Anaya Cosle, not Sylvia Weald. That woman took you when you were but a small child, in replacement for her own child that she'd abandoned to die as she ran in fear of us. She took you out of revenge. We've been searching for you ever since..."

"That is why you chased us?""Yes. She is the last Witch, but holding on to you, made us have to use more care in our pursuit of her. You couldn't be harmed. You gave her an advantage... and since you are Warlock, you can sense us when we are near."

"I was used...but she loves...loved...me."

"There's no denying that she did..."

"And you...you'll love me now?"

"As best as we can love."

Sylvia nodded slowly... She had always known the day she would be parted with her mother was coming, but shed always assumed she would be alone afterwards. She'd just gained 6 companions...brothers. They would look after her now. She didn't have to worry about surviving on her own, or being lonely... and... "Brother...?"

"Shie."

"Shie, were you able to undo what I've done? Did you..save the boy?"

"I do not know, but the bond you created has been severed. If the boy hadn't already expired he will be fine."

"If he hadn't already expired?" Sylvia frowned.

"You've done all you can child, don't trouble yourself... Silver One, all that could be done has been. You cannot blame a Young One for her ignorance. There should be no quarrel between us."

Shivoni nodded solemnly, "No, there is none. Thank you for your attempt."

The Darkling nodded. All 6 gathered, fencing Sylvia inside the network of their bodies, "What are you doing? Are we leaving?"

"Yes, we are going home now."

"Home? I have a home?"

"Yes, Anaya, mother would like to see you."

"Mother..." her sad eyes tried to drift back to the still form on the bed.

"We leave now Silver One, and we are not to be followed, for next time we meet the encounter may not be such a friendly one."



Shivoni watched stone faced as the 7 figures vanished as if they had never been in the room.

Cye and Ryo looked to Shivoni, "We can't feel him in the web... Is he...?"

"We must go to him at once."

Shivoni strode to the boys, pulling them into her embrace, and together they vanished in a flash of silver light.



**Author's Note: Let me know when you want Chapter 19...IF you want it, lol. Take care and please review!**