Disclaimer: I don't own Rayearth, so don't sue me!!! ^_^
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Hikaru looked to the window where Umi and Clef were and sighed. Suddenly, a soldier approached from behind her. His sword came down on her shoulder, and an ear-splitting scream pierced the night.
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Umi and Clef raced towards the castle gates. Umi's chest tightened as she rushed to her best friend's aid, and terrible images flooded her mind. Her breathing quickened as she ran faster, her ears rang. She could just barely hear Clef's hurried footsteps behind her. But sure enough, when she looked over her shoulder, he was right on her heels.
By the time they reached the castle gates, Clef was panting heavily. Umi's eyes scanned the battlefield for any sign of Hikaru. When fiery red hair caught her eye, she raced in that direction. Before she knew it, a soldier was racing in her direction.
"Umi! Watch out!" Clef cried. He darted in front of Umi and jabbed his staff forward. Holding the staff with two hands, spread far apart, Clef held his ground as the soldier's sword came down hard on the body of the staff. Through the pressure of the weapon, the staff did not seem to even flinch.
Umi screamed slightly, but after Clef urged her to race on, she quickly said her thanks and continued. Clef lifted his leg up and gave the soldier a good, hard kick in the stomach with his knee. As the soldier doubled over, Clef gave him a good bash over the head with his staff. The soldier landed face first in the mud and Clef grinned to himself in amusement before following Umi to Hikaru.
Umi raced towards Hikaru and dropped to her knees at her friend's side. Fuu was instantly beside her. Hikaru was clutching her bleeding shoulder and whimpering slightly.
"Hikaru!" Fuu cried. "Are you alright?"
Hikaru nodded slowly. "Y-yeah..." she turned to Umi. "Umi... you're here."
Umi smiled at Hikaru and nodded. Hikaru gradually turned her gaze to the fight in front of her. Umi and Fuu also turned their attention to the battle.
Lantis and Eagle were hurriedly fending off soldiers when Ferio made a beeline in their direction and was immediately fighting by their side. Clef had jumped in and was whacking soldiers left and right with his staff. Ascot came swooping down on his flying beasts and the soldiers were terrified of the beasts' razor-like wings, which were skimming the air dangerously close to their heads. The rain began to pour down harder and harder. The water dripped from their chins, soaked their hair, and ran down the blades of the warriors' swords, mixing with the blood on the blades. Mud covered their armor—their capes would most definitely be ruined. Eagle's wings were covered in grime, their once beautiful radiance soiled by the blood, water, and dirt. The gorgeous white feathers on the wings were frayed, sticking out in all directions possible.
The soldiers—both human and demon—fell, one by one. Eventually, the calls of "Retreat!" met their ears. Human soldiers made a final swing with their sword at their opponents, then raced backwards. Demon soldiers were left looking around, baffled, at the hundreds of soldiers suddenly retreating from battle. Before long, only demon warriors were left on the battlefield.
"They're gone..." Fuu whispered as she and Umi helped Hikaru off the ground.
"They ran away!" Umi yelled triumphantly.
With a loud sigh, Clef dropped to his knees, a look of indescribable relief on his face. Ascot and his beasts landed on the ground, and Ascot jumped from their backs, looking around the battlefield curiously. Ferio twirled his sword—which was quite a sight considering the weapon's size—and whooped victoriously. Lantis rushed to Hikaru's side and Eagle stared at the battlefield breathlessly. He shook his head slowly, and a mumbled whisper escaped his lips.
"Look..."
Everyone raised their heads to see what could easily be over a hundred soldiers lying around them, both human and demon, among the hundreds of living demon soldiers who were looking around with muted expressions.
Clef let out a sorrowful sigh and lifted himself off of the ground and kneeling before the body of a soldier. He set his staff down in the mud beside him and clapped his hands together as if in prayer.
"Oh, brave souls," Clef whispered, just loud enough that his companions could hear. "May you rest in peace."
The group solemnly repeated the gesture. They were all completely silent as the rain began to subside, the grimmest of looks on all of their faces. Umi looked around to discover no one had suffered any major injuries, besides Hikaru's shoulder. Fuu had a couple scrapes on her arms and legs, Hikaru only had one gash on her calf aside from her injured shoulder. Umi only had scraped knees from falling on a pile of pebbles when she had dropped down beside Hikaru. Eagle had a few gashes on his arms, but the sleeves of his shirt were ripped in many more places. Ferio had a narrow gash on his left temple, which sent blood flowing down the side of his face and staining a small portion of his hair a weird shade of brown. His cape and been torn to shreds. Lantis had a cut on his cheek, and numerous cuts on his arms. Clef only had one additional scrape on his hand aside from the gash in his side.
Hikaru sighed in relief. "Is that it? Is the war over?"
Clef shook his head. "Our war is far from over. That was only the first battle."
Umi whimpered. "You mean there's more?"
"A war is never only one battle," Lantis pointed out.
Umi groaned and Fuu bit her lip nervously.
"I don't know if I'm up for another battle," Fuu said.
Ferio sighed. "Let's worry about the next battle when the time comes," he said. "For now, I think we should go back inside and get cleaned up before we all catch pneumonia."
Eagle nodded. "That would be wise."
And they all headed back towards the castle.
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Back in the castle, Presea began to pass out towels for them all after they had all been bandaged up. Umi rung out her hair, which left a very large puddle on the floor. Hikaru also rung out her sopping wet braid while Fuu began to dry off her wet blonde curls. Nearby, Clef was vigorously rubbing his head with a towel. When he removed the towel, his lavender hair was sticking out in all directions. It wasn't until Umi began to giggle that he flattened his hair. Lantis and Eagle did the same sort of rub-downs on their hair, but flattened their hair immediately.
"It's good to be on dry ground again, isn't it?" Umi said to Ascot. Ascot, who was wringing out his hat as he desperately tried to detach his bangs from his forehead—as they clung to his forehead like glue—nodded.
"Well," Ferio said playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Nothin' like a good battle to get the blood flowing, eh?"
The occupants of the room laughed hesitantly.
"These next battles should be easy!" Hikaru exclaimed.
Lantis couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her.
"Look!" Hikaru pointed to a window. The sun was just beginning to rise over the cliffs. "The sun's rising! That means the moonless night is over! You guys will all get your magic back! So the battles will be easy!"
The demons in the room exchanged glances.
"I don't think it works that way..." Ferio began.
Clef sighed loudly and everyone turned and looked at him.
"Perhaps it's time I explained the full contents of the Prophecy," he sighed.
Everyone in the room exchanged nervous, fleeting looks and waited anxiously for Clef to explain, every one of them completely unaware of what secrets the mage would reveal next . . .
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^_^ There you go! Yet another chapter! *sigh* Please bear with me, I'm making this up as I go along, and it ain't easy. Thank you, again, people who reviewed! Please review and feel free to post any questions/comments/suggestions or constructive criticism.