Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Magic Knight Rayearth, or any of its wonderful characters.
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Clef walked silently down the hall, contemplating the mysteries of life, or anything else he could find to amuse himself at the moment. Bored stiff, he leaned against the wall and looked around quietly. He watched a spider begin to scurry up a wall, and decided to have some fun with it. He lifted a finger and moved it in a circular motion, and sparks of magic began to dance along his fingertips. The spider was slowly lifted off the wall and hovered in midair. With another twirl of his finger, Clef lifted the spider higher into the air, and then had it slowly descend towards the ground. The spider twitched in panic and hurriedly tried to escape. Clef dully lifted the spider up and down and side to side with limited interest. He was about to place the spider back upon the wall when someone caught him quite by surprise.
"Master Clef!" a voice yelled, quite loudly (and most excitedly), into his ear.
Clef withdrew his breath sharply in surprise and jumped slightly. His hand jolted and the spider burst into flames, dropping to the ground in ashes. He turned his head to see a the familiar face of his student, a fox demon, looking back at him intently.
"A-Ascot!" Clef exclaimed in surprise.
"Master Clef?" Ascot asked curiously. "Did I startle you?"
"No!" Clef shook his head firmly. "You just... caught me off guard."
Ascot glanced at the small pile of ashes on the floor. "I think that spider would say otherwise."
Clef looked, momentarily, at the once-was spider and sweatdropped. He shrugged slightly. He wasn't really fond of spiders, anyways.
"Well," said Clef after a short pause. "Was there something you wanted to tell me, Ascot?"
The fox demon's ears twitched slightly and his tail swayed back and forth slowly.
"I think I've mastered the fire spell! I...."
And he continued to discuss his achievement until Clef silenced him and walked away.
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"Come on, you guys!" Hikaru called to Umi and Fuu. The girls, slowly climbing up the side of a mountain to reach the Ryoushi no Yoru lair near the top of the mountain, panted with breathlessness and looked up at Hikaru. She scampered up the side of the mountain with ease as if she had been raised in its caverns.
Umi and Fuu exchanged glances.
"Where does she get all that energy?" Umi whispered harshly to Fuu.
Fuu only shrugged before continuing upward.
As Hikaru climbed up the mountain, she reflected on her training as a Demon Slayer. Since she was a toddler, she had been trained to defend herself against anything. She remembered training with her family and fellow villagers in the fields of swordsmanship and martial arts. The martial arts were her specialty. Umi had been trained in the same fields, though swordsmanship and been her emphasis. Fuu had trained mainly in archery and defense.
Hikaru pushed their training from her mind and concentrated on the climb up the precipice. Soon enough, she reached a large ledge near the type. She pulled herself up on the ledge and stood, observing her surroundings. She peeked over the ledge to see Umi and Fuu not far behind. She held out her hand and helped Fuu, then Umi, onto the ledge. The looked up, and saw a narrow, rocky path leading directly to the castle of Ryoushi no Yoru. The problem: the path was a thin, narrow ledge jutting off the side of the mountain, and if they fell, it was a long was down.
Umi whimpered slightly as she stared at the ledge.
Fuu sighed. "I guess we have one more obstacle before we reach the castle."
"That's not an obstacle!" Umi whined. "It's a monumental obstruction!"
"What do you think, Hikaru?" Fuu asked her friend's opinion.
Hikaru put her hand to her chin and stood in what appeared to be deep thought. Finally, she sighed and placed both her hands on her head.
"I dunno," she concluded intelligently.
Fuu and Umi sighed.
"Then I guess we have no choice but to climb and try not to look down," Umi moaned as the began their long walk to the castle.
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After hours of hard work, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu finally reached the end of the path. Umi dropped to her knees on the solid ground below her and took a deep breath.
"I never, ever want to do that again!" she gasped.
Hikaru and Fuu laughed lightly and Fuu lifted her head towards the sky.
"It's getting dark," she observed. "We should probably set up camp. We still have about a mile before we reach the castle."
Hikaru and Umi nodded and propped their weapons against a tree. Umi and Fuu gathered dry leaves and twigs and set them together in a pile. Hikaru lit a match and started a comforting fire.
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Clef dashed swiftly down the dimly lit corridors. He ran quietly and skidded to a stop at a window. He looked out at the dark night, his wide azure eyes scanning the blackened sky for any sign of the moon. But the night was dark and moonless.
"Dammit!..." he whispered harshly. The night seemed to be calm, but he could see a dim red light, far off in the night sky. Panic flooded into his body and he resumed his rapid dash down the hallway.
Once he reached his room, he bolted inside and shut the door tightly behind him. He grabbed the key to the door from a nearby table and locked the door. With a deep sigh of relief, he leaned his back against the door and slowly slid to the ground. He glanced quickly at the window to see the light had grown slightly stronger.
"So the war has begun," he whispered gravely.
Clef groaned and lifted himself off the ground. He made his way over to a bejeweled chair on the other side of the room and sat down, watching with solemn blue eyes as the light slowly approached the castle. Every moonless night, he had disappeared to watch out for this very light, and he hid away for a reason directly linked to it . . .
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OK, well that's chapter 2... ^_^ Please review! Constructive criticism is welcome! Thanks!