Author's Note:  :.:shuffles in, staring at the ground:.: Ummmm hi…. I….I GOMEN NASAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO SORRY FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CARED!!! I AM SOOOOO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET THIS CHAPTER OUT, BUT I REREAD THIS WHOLE STORY AND WAS DEPRESSED FOREVER CAUSE I FELT LIKE IT SUCKED REALLY BAD T-T WHICH IT DOES SUCK AND I WANT TO REWRITE IT CAUSE ITS GAY BUT I FELT REALLY BAD SO I'LL TRY TO FINISH IT FOR YOU GUYS!!!!!!! AND SORRY I DIDN'T REPSOND TO ANY REVIEWS THIS TIME BUT I THOUGHT THAT YOU MAY WANT THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE… GOMEN NASAI!!!! I PROMISE I'LL REPSOND FOR ANY REVIEWS THIS CHAPTER. BUT PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING, IT WOULD INSPIRE ME GREATLY AND I VALUE WHAT YOU THINK.

:.:sniff:.: Anyway…….. ummmm… just so you know… I realize that some of the characters are well, either HAVE been out of character this whole story or have slowly wandered out of character as it has progressed :.:cough:.:Yohji:.:cough:.: and I PROMISE I'm going to start working on that…. And…… I may also just start over and rewrite each chapter because I never exactly planned out what I was going to do and now I've just kinda trapped myself and it sucks anyway. But then again I might not rewrite it because I am lazy. Thank you. LOL

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Yohji felt a heat curling up against his body, and he saw flickering red through the blackness of his closed eyes. He woke with a start, pushing himself up and crying out. His head had become nothing but a fiery appendage of white-hot pain. He pressed his dirt-smeared palms into his eyes, waiting for the pain in his head to cease. A thick moan escaped his lips.

                "Oh! You're awake!"

                Yohji squinted in the direction of the new voice, his hand falling to the sword that should have been at his side. His heart hammering in his chest, he scrambled backwards desperately, his eyes unable to focus on anything but the roaring fire in front of him. When a hand alighted on his back, he nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped around fiercely. "Who are you?!" The young man that had just emerged from thick bushes behind him held up his hand, grinning goofily. "Hey hey, don't worry about me. I found you a little way from here and brought you to my humble camp." He bowed graciously, though Yohji sensed some mockery. "My name is Ken, Swordsman Extraordinaire."

                "Where are we?" Yohji asked weakly.

                Ken sat down next to him, throwing off a string of longfoots from his back and sighing. "You're just off the outskirts of Forlorn."

                Yohji ran his fingers through his hair. "Forlorn? That's a lovely name."

                Ken gave a crooked grin, his eyes crinkling. "Yeah, isn't it though?"

                All of a sudden Yohji gasped, his fingers digging into the soft ground. "My friends! We have to go back and help them! They haven't had food for days!" He tried to scramble up, but his legs gave out beneath him and his body pitched forward, his head spinning.

                "WHOA!" Ken caught him awkwardly, lowering back to the ground. "Hold on a second. I'll go get them, just tell me where they are."

                Yohji looked up into Ken's eyes, soft brown and kind, looking as sweet as the soft candies from the Muglands. And somehow, he knew that this man could be trusted with his life.

                "Th-They're out in a field… somewhere… I don't know…" Tears sprang up in his eyes. "They're somewhere far away."

                Ken had already stood up and was stretching. "Don't worry, I think I know where they are. Would it be near where I found you?"

                Yohji nodded.

                "No problem. I'll bring them back quicker than you can say…..ummm……. something short and clever."

                Yohji managed a shaky grin. " Would you really like me to hold you to that?"

                Ken looked at him, surprised for a minute, and then he melted into a smile. "Aaa…you're one of those who crack themselves up, arencha?"

                Yohji nodded again. "You bet." He reached out to Ken, bracing himself. Ken stared. Yohji sighed. "Aaa…you're one of those who doesn't get good grades in school, arencha? Help me up, I'm coming, too. I doubt you could carry four people back here yourself."

                Ken laughed and pulled Yohji up gently, wrapping his strong arm around the other man's waist to make sure he would collapse randomly on him.

                "Can you make it?" Ken asked, concern evident on his face.

                Yohji nodded.

                Ken led him through the forest slowly, stopping patiently when Yohji's wounds and hunger and exhaustion were too much. He didn't know how far away Ken would have to take him, but he had a feeling it would be a long way back to his friends.

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                "S-Schuldig. I don't think you can do this, I'm too heavy!" Nagi said shrilly, as his body was lifted off the ground and onto one of Schuldig's shoulders, like a corpse.

                "Oh be quiet Apprentice. I don't really have a choice. And look, I'm faring fine."

                "But I can walk!" The boy moaned.

                "Yes, we all know, we saw you "walking" just a few moments ago."

                Schuldig's finely-sculpted eyebrow twitched as he remembered Nagi doubled over as he tried to stand, a painful disease of the stomach—possibly just hunger---making movement nearly impossible.

                Omi smiled just a little, also remembering, though it really shouldn't have been funny.

                As he stared at the Sorcerer's Guild Master another wave of unbelief made him shiver. Imagine the power of a man who could be half dead on day and on the next, be able to carry someone on his shoulder. And Ran too! When just hours before he had been burning with Yohji's fever, he was now prowling the golden brush, watching springers intensively as their thick bodies twitched on blades of wheat, and pouncing after them like a kitten when they sprung away.

                Omi grinned as Ran opened his hands slowly, staring at the tiny leaping treasure he had finally acquired. After that he seemed to lose interest, and he tossed the creature away and scampered over to them.

                "Hey Ran. We're going to head out soon, so stick with us, okay?" Omi said kindly.

                Ran looked up at him, blinking. He put his delicate hand over his stomach and whined. "Hunry…"

                Omi's brows furrowed. "I know Ran, we all are. We're going to go find food now, so just hold on a little longer, okay?"

                The elf seemed to understand, for he nodded and stood up, waiting. Omi glanced at Schuldig, and nodded. "Are you ready? Anytime you need I'll help carry Nagi as good as I can."

                Schuldig nodded, his face set in grim determination, and they took the first step of many.

                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                When Yohji fell it was not a graceful thing to behold. His foot caught on a root and set him reeling, his hands clawing at the bark of a nearby tree, though finding no purchase. Next he thrust his other foot forward, trying to balance himself, but the jerking motion threw him off balance more. He yelped and finally went crashing down, and the last thing he saw was Ken's surprised face as he hit the ground.

                "Hey! Are you alright?" Yohji heard scrambling and felt Ken's presence next to him.

                "Y'know…" he groaned. "I think that's the only thing you've persisted in asking me since we met. And that's not much of a good omen."

                He heard Ken laugh and pushed himself up. He realized as he sat up that the breath had been knocked out of his chest and he took a panicked breath, feeling the air grate against his lungs. He leaned against a tree for some time, panting unnaturally, trying to keep in from giving in to the alarmed feeling of not getting enough air. Ken stayed next to him, stroking his hair and talking to him, rambling on about nothing.

                Finally Yohji's body relaxed, and he went limp in the trees cradling roots, like a puppet cut from its strings. "I don'twantto walk anymore…" He said weakly, tossing his head to the side.

                Ken furrowed his dark brows, but said nothing, as if unsure what to do. 

                Yohji smiled crookedly, his eyebrows furrowed with pain and betraying his body. "Bad luck you got stuck with me… I am one heck of a whiner, just so you know."

                "Yes, I think I have figured that out now. Some cheese?"

                Yohji's stomach and heart jumped. Cheese? Food!  "You have cheese?"

                "Well, I just though maybe you would want some with your whine."

                "Wow… if only your quick wit fed empty bellies."

                "Same to you, my friend."

                Yohji chuckled.

                "So…" Ken mused, scrutinizing their surroundings. "You don't want to walk any more, eh?"

                "Nope. Not unless it includes food and a warm place to sleep."

                "Well… I suppose you could try, though I don't know how much ground you could cover flopped on a bed infested with food crumbs."

                "How 'bout a bed without the crumbs?"

                "I thought you wanted food?"

                "Yes, in my mouth."

                "Well, I figured you could manage to get most of it in there, but your coordination so far hasn't proved to be so good."

                Yohji was silent for a second, staring down at his dirt smeared hands. "I think you need to be quiet now."

                "Understood."    

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                She sat in a chair, still. Her face was alive and dead, unborn and timeless… her eyes shone with all the colors known to the earth, all shifting inside, myriads of shades swirling like the twisting of dawn dervishes.

                Her room was plain and mostly bare… she sat at the window, looking out, the breeze fluttering the silk shades.

                Footsteps echoes outside her room and a soft knock came on the door. She closed her eyes slowly, feeling tears squeeze past and roll down her white cheeks. "You may enter."

                Her Boundmate strode in, his face drawn and haggard, sadness pulling his very aura towards the ground, towards the domain of the Great Sinner. His heart ached. She knew. Hers did as well. Though, there was something good, like a tiny light, burning in his heart. And his eyes sparkled with hope.

                "Our eyes will rest upon her again, soon…" He said in the tongue of the Elvinkin, a language so fluid and beautiful only those who hear the language of harsher languages, such as the that of water babbling among rocks, or the wind in the coarse grass, have even the chance of understanding.

                "However, my Life, the memories of our sons presence have eluded our Senses, and the cause is wizardy." He came closer to her, his liquid eyes seeking forgiveness as he held her hand gently. "But let fear not hold you, we will embrace him again. Don't let the shadow of doubt drown out the light of your hope." He smiled. And she smiled, closing her eyes and tilting her head against his warm chest. "In a thousand days I would not dream of such a thing." She whispered.

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                They stopped. Omi looked in front of him in awe, though there was nothing to look upon. He pressed against the empty space in front of him, and it held firm. "It's as if…as if…there's a wall…" he whispered.

                Schuldig stood up slowly, rubbing his forehead and wobbling toward the younger boy. "It's the outside wall of a city, if I am correct. Many cities set enchantments over the outside gates to render the city invisible to the outside eye. He took a breath and put his palm against the wall, murmuring an incantation, feeling himself nearly leave his body to slip beneath the crisscrossing maze of magic that made up the Veil enchantment; searching and prodding for the exit to the intricate web like Akashin in the legend of the Labyrinth. At last he felt himself break through the enchantment, on the other side, in the boundaries of the city, which the magic whispered to him was called "Forlorn."

                "Omi…" Schuldig said flatly, his eyes dull and lightless and his spirit struggled to keep a path open through the enchantment and into the city. "Bring Ran and Nagi. Lock hands with me and them and do not let go until I tell you."

                Omi shivered, his blood running icily at the dead appearance of Schuldig, from his paling skin to the death-like toll of his voice. But none-the less he beckoned Nagi and Ran over. Grabbing Ran's hand in his own, cold and wet, and urging Nagi and Ran to do the same. Trembling, he slipped his fingers between Schuldig's and let the Sorcerer pull him through a wall of magic.

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                A deep violet was slowly and gently embracing the sky when Ken opened the door to his modest little hut near the edge of town. He held open the ramshackle door as Yohji staggered through, barely keeping himself upright. Ken glanced around, to the east, at the gleaming orange crescent of Mune, and to the west, where the mountains shrunk and their edges wavered as Zon died its fiery death behind them, its light fighting to reclaim its territory, but being pulled to the Utherwurld regardless.

                He closed the door, bolted it, and stepped inside. The front room of his small home had one leather armchair, worn and set in front of a dying fire place. Yohji slumped in this, his face tilted downwards and hidden in shadow so that Ken could not tell if he was asleep or still waked. He smiled softly and knelt before the fire, poking it with a metal rod and blowing on the red coals, throwing some sticks and a log on top of it and finishing off with a half-hearted request he whispered to Morn'ira, the goddess of fire.

                In the back of his house was the kitchen. It was made up of a leveled pile of mud and brick set with chips of rock for a more or less even counter, and a mounted shelf above that with a door to keep his dry goods safe. Set into the wall by the shelf was another rock-carved opening. Pull it from the wall and inside was a good amount of dried meats, enough to last him a Dead winter and a Dead summer, if need be. He took some of the herbs from the shelf and meat from his safe, and threw them in an earthenware pot set by the fire. A kindly neighbor had given him a jar of clawfowl's broth the other day, and into his mix he also added two handsfull of this, his stomach rumbling at the rich smell. Then out the back door he went, into a garden bursting with life, one of his pride's in life: His vegetable garden. He uprooted a couple plump zonroots and erthmeats, washing them in the well and taking them inside to chop. All of this he set in the pot, which he hung on a spit wedged in the fireplace, well over the flames.

                He went over and nudged Yohji. He was asleep. He sighed, rolling his eyes. From his room he fetched a blanket, and wrapped it around his sleeping charge. Then he sat down and took off his overvest and swordbelt; nudged off his hard leather boots with either heel. He leaned against the wall and sighed, letting the warmth of the fire caress his body.

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                Emerging on the other side of the wall was like surfacing from water. As the last of his body cleared the spiritual pressure of the magic he found that it had become easier to breath and move, and his limbs aches tiredly as if he'd just ran a couple treelengths. He had only a brief second to see the dark, menacing flashes of building around him before he crumpled to his knees, exhausted.

                "Master!" He heard Nagi cry, though it was far away… so far away.

                Nagi ran to Schuldig's side, setting his hand on his master's trembling back and whispering a spell of strength.

                Omi watched the exchange silently, Ran standing next to him. Omi hadn't noticed how much taller the elvin stranger was compared to him until now.

                Ran spoke, startling him. "Yohji…." He said, carefully, as if the word were something very delicate.  "Where… is he…?"

                Omi mused for a moment on how Ran's language was sounding more like the common tongue with every passing moment, and shook his head in disbelief. "I'm… not sure…" As he said this he felt a pang in his heart, a sickening feeling eat away at his stomach. That they had seen no trace of Yohji in all they're wandering across the endless fields was not a good sign.

                "Don't worry though Ran, we'll find him."

                At that moment the wind shifted, blowing against their faces. Omi's stomach clenched and he groaned. "That smells so good."

                Nagi blanched, holding his own stomach. He had felt nauseous since they started out, though at the same time he was hungry. He panted a little, waiting for the pain in him to cease, thinking that dying sounded good over any food.

                In front of the travelers was another wall, made of gray stone and plain, double the height of Schuldig, the tallest of them. Above the wall towered the tops of wooden inns and the gleaming towers of religious temples, the smoking chimneys of shops and squat houses. Omi took it all inn, one eyebrow lifting. "Okay, we cleared the first wall, now, how do we get in in?"

                Nagi helped Schuldig to his feet, and the orange haired man, too, surveyed the situation. "Are you an idiot, boy?" He asked Omi, looking down at the boy and sneering. "It's obvious, the gate must be on a different side of the city." He gestured vaguely to a spot about five or six tree-lengths down, where the wall turned, disappearing to parallel another side of magic wall.

                Omi glared, fingers clenching over his ragged cloak. "I don't suppose any on those chipebbles are for kindness?" He murmured darkly, only half-hoping the Guild Master heard.

                They trudged down the length of the wall, Zon burning down on them and the wind gusting from over the city taunting them…weary, hungry, hurting…

                And at last they reached the corner, and looked down. This length of wall too, seemed bare, without any opening. Omi swung around and glared up at Schuldig. "Any other ideas, your majesty?"

                Schuldig glared back, his gently tilted eyes narrowing.  "There are four sides to a square, three to a triangle, and more to some shapes. So unless this place is protected by only two randomly placed walls, I suppose we have a bit more wall to check, don't we? You should hold your tongue until its called for."

                Omi opened his mouth, closed it, but no sounds came out. Never had he wanted to hurt someone so much, yet Schuldig was right. All he could do is stare at the ground with wide, angry, eyes, making himself breath under control until his anger had rested.

                Though trapped between it and the materiel wall, the magic wall they had passed through was still unseen, and they could see beyond, where a forest of thin-barked trees started sparsely, thickening the farther from the wall it grew. Over their shoulder was the fields they had crossed. A sound came from the forest. They froze, instantly alert.

                As they watched they saw flickers of moment beginning far into the forest; noises, crashes and the shattering of trees, rattling of leaves. The flickers moved closer. Shining brown and pale white. At last dozens of figures burst through the trees, howling. Mankin… on majestic cloven warhooves. Omi recoiled, staggering backwards against the wall, his heart smashing against the confines of his body. The figures raced right towards them. He had only a moment to look, but the lead figure was nearly white, a feral look about him. He wore a sheer vest of some sort of spotted fur, open and showing his scarred chest; for pants he wore plain dark red breaches. His hair was a shock of silver and an eyepatch covered his left eye; his face was scarred as his chest.  The leader let out another joyful howl, though Omi had an idea that his intentions were less than joyful.

                As the riders got closer Omi began to feel the light breath heralding them, smelling of sweat and grass and dirt and leaves…of blood. The smell of the Hunters.                Omi seemed frozen, though he was trembling. He saw the corded muscle of the cloven warhooves, stretching and contracting under dun velvet fur; their spiraled horns gleamed in the light, despite the dried brown crust that mottled them. So close now… they were going to slaughter them… Omi heard their breath, the gusty breath of their beasts, felt their blade-like hooves shaking the earth… They were going to die… He closed his eyes and shrank against the wall, holding his arms over his face…they were upon them. The cloven's feet would pierce more than the earth today…

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I KNOW THIS CHAPTER SUCKS! T-T WAI!!!!! I'LL MAKE IT BETTER!!!!!!!! I WILL!!! OH AND, I KNOW THAT IN THIS STORY I PROBABLY KEEP CONTRADICTING THINGS… OH AND, ZON IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE, SUN, EVEN THOUGH I'VE ALREADY USED THE NAME "SUN" IN PREVIOUS CHAPTERS SO SORRY, AND, IN CASE YA DIDN'T KNOW, MUNE IS SUPPOSED TO BE BASICLY LIKE "MOON".

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