Author's Note: Last chapter people! Wow! It's been a great story hasn't it?
The Lost Protector
This story is dedicated to Chichirui for she is the reason for most of my inspiration and without her these stories wouldn't be half as fun! So this one is for you my hyper active friend! Keep the hyperness alive!
Chapter 12: Death of a ProtectorThe pain shooting through her body increased and Kat muffled a scream. Willow was killing her, without mercy. Her body was burning from the inside out without anything but pain and more pain to comfort her. Her vision was darkening, however, in the middle of her pain trip, she saw Willow scream and collapse to the ground.
But…. She tried thinking but regretted the action. It sent more pain through her. How could that be? Willow was on the ground, just feet from her, not moving. Not moving? Kat thought.
This was confusing. She was dying from Willow's power overload yet Willow wasn't moving so how could the power still be overflowing into her? It was confusing her so much this wasn't right!
She watched Willow's chest and saw that it wasn't rising or falling. Willow was dead. Willow… killed herself just to stop Folken… no! I won't let her go that easily! She thought.
Willow was her friend and she was not going to let her go. She would not let Folken win! Ignoring the intense pain, Kat got on her hands and knees and crawled towards Willow. It took a while and she knew she was about to black out a couple times but still kept going. She would not lose Willow.
Taking Willow's pale hand in her own, Kat collapsed next to her. "I'll die… before…. you go…. Will," she said through gritted teeth. Where were Alex and Nicole? Where was Dilandau? She couldn't image where they were-hadn't they seen the signal? Pushing the thoughts from her head she concentrated on what she was going to do.
The injection of power from Willow was slowly killing her. She only had a few minutes, at the least. Kat closed her eyes and did her best to block the pain from her mind. Slowly, she reached down inside her and pulled at the ancient magic that was living deep inside her. Bringing it out, she let it flow from her and into Willow, for this was the power of life. Instantly pain ripped through her as the two sources of energy began to flow against each other and her magic was being sucked from her.
Kat's closed eyes flew open, unseeing, but that didn't matter. She let out a cry of pain, misery, love, sadness and hope for the world to hear.
Dilandau and Alex were fighting near each other when they heard it; an ear-piercing scream that ripped through the air. "That was Kat!" Alex yelled, quickly killing her attacker and starting towards the nearby hill. Dilandau was right behind her, forgetting about the mysterious woman and Van.
"Why didn't we see the signal?" He yelled.
Alex didn't reply.
When they got to the top of the hill, they saw two bodies lying on the ground. One was Willow and the other was Kat. "Oh no…" Alex whispered as she ran towards them. It looked like neither was moving. Were they too late?
Kat's frozen body held Willow's hand in her own, her eyes open and unseeing. Fear instantly washed through both Dilandau and Alex. Dilandau pushed past Alex and rushed forward, kneeling next to Kat.
Her body was shaking slightly, and she had a death grip on Willow's hand. He tried to pull them apart but her couldn't-it was like iron. He looked at her eyes and found that they weren't their normal midnight blue color. They were pure white.
Dilandau checked Kat's pulse and then Willow's. "Alex, come here," he said.
Alex, shaken from her thoughts of death of her friend, cam forth and kneeled next to him. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise and Dilandau took her hand and had her check both pulses. Willow had no pulse, but every second one was starting to come back. Kat's pulse was getting fainter by the second. It was like a reversal.
Just then Nicole ran up with the rest of the Dragon Slayers. She gasped as she saw Kat and kneeled on the other side of Dilandau. She wasn't scared, strangely, and everyone saw it on her face. It was like she was slightly relaxed, as if she knew this was supposed to happen. "Kat is giving her life force to Willow," Nicole breathed as if it was the Aura Borlialis.
"Can we stop her?" Gatti asked, his voice full of worry.
"No. Kat has her reasons for risking her life to save Willow. We have to respect those reasons," Nicole said, her voice determined.
"Nicole! You're loosing your best friend!" Alex said, stunned.
"Kat has lost her best friend," Dilandau shot back.
Suddenly it hit them; Willow was possessed by Folken. Willow had killed herself to kill Folken and Kat was giving her life to bring back Willow. It was a cycle, a cycle Kat knew. Slowly Nicole and Alex stood up, and took steps away from Kat.
Kat was floating in darkness. She knew she was dying, she could hear her heart getting fainter by the second. It was like a war drum fading into the distance. Her strength was leaving her like water slipping from her fingers. It hurt her but she realized that really, in reality, it didn't.
It wasn't like her strength was dying, or even slipping away into nothing, it was more like she was giving it to someone. "Willow," she whispered into the darkness.
She wasn't expecting an answer but she got one. A laugh resounded through the darkness and curled its fingers around her. "Willow is dead," it said, resounding.
"No, she's not," Kat replied.
"How do you know?"
"I know because I can still feel Willow, alive."
"It's an old memory. A wish of something that isn't-it's a fantasy of your death Kat!"
"No, it's not. I'm giving my life to her directly so if she wasn't alive then I wouldn't be feeling my strength leaving me."
"You know it's all in your imagination so why indulge yourself in a fantasy?"
"How would you know, Folken? How would you know if what I say if true?" Kat smiled evilly.
Suddenly the voice screamed in pain. She knew what it meant and she smiled. Kat watched as a black shadow of Folken appeared and then evaporated. "Rest in peace, Folken," she whispered.
The blackness around her suddenly changed, all element of the darkness fading into a holy white. It happened in a few seconds but once it had finished there, in front of Kat, stood a young Willow. She was exactly as Kat remembered her from when she last saw her, not a day older.
Kat smiled and kneeled down in front of the girl. "Kat, why are you killing yourself?" Young Willow asked.
"To save you."
"What do you mean?"
Kat's eyes began to water. "You're dead, Will. I'm giving you some of my life force to keep you alive."
"Does that mean you'll die too?"
Such innocence… was I ever really like that? "No. If I get it right then we'll both live. We'll both be barely alive, but alive at the least."
Suddenly Willow smiled sadly. "Kat, you and I both know that won't work."
"I can't loose you again, Will!"
"You never lost me, Kat. Sure, we lost years of friendship, but we both know that we were in each other's hearts the whole time. We never lost each other."
"Yeah… but Will, I can't loose you! You are my best friend! I can't lose my best friend when I could try to save her."
"Kat I know how you feel. We both know that I wasn't really meant to walk on Gaea. I can't go back to Earth so this is the best way. I wouldn't be restless; I would watch over you. I would never leave your heart."
Kat felt tears sliding down her cheeks. She sighed and nodded. There was nothing she could do to make Willow agree and deep in her heart she knew her friend's words were true. "I'll miss you, Will," she whispered as she withdrew her magic from Willow.
Instantly the young Willow began to flicker. "I know. I'll miss you too," Willow replied, her voice faint. Then the image disappeared totally.
"Rest in peace, Will," Kat whispered as she came back to reality.
Dilandau saw Kat's eyes flicker, close, and open again. This time her midnight blue eyes looked around. She inhaled and exhaled easily, slowly coming back, regaining muscle control. Nicole and Alex, upon seeing Kat was awake, ran forward and hugged her. They were about ready to take Kat back by force if she didn't come to.
Kat hugged them back as all three were silently crying. They all felt the death of Willow in their hearts. As Alex and Nicole helped Kat up into a standing position Kat looked down at the body of Willow, sadness in her heart. "I'll always be with you, watching over you. Don't worry," Willow's voice suddenly said.
A slight breeze picked up, and Willow's body disappeared. All the men on the field that hadn't fallen fell unconscious to the ground. Kat looked to the sky dawn rising.
"The spell over everyone Willow infected just disappeared. Folken's spirit is finally dead and Gaea is safe again," Alex muttered.
"At the cost of a best friend, who had the bravery of a loin, the heart of a Protector," Kat whispered.
Slowly, everyone left the hill and started home. Dilandau was carrying Kat in his arms, Alex was leaning heavily against Miguel for her ankle was hurt, and Nicole and Chest walked with their arms around each other as the other Dragon Slayers followed. Once everyone was gone, Rika stepped out of a time portal and stood in front of the spot where Willow's body had laid.
With a wave of her hand, a tombstone appeared. Carefully she set the flower she was holding down on it, and then disappeared. The flower was a red rose with silver sparkles embedded into its skin.
The tombstone read: "Here lies the unnamed Gaea Protector. Willow Akimo Rest In Peace." A slight wind picked up and blew through the field; all the dead bodies disappeared along with the blood. Those who were alive disappeared, only to reappear in hospitals around Gaea. As the wind died down, the laughing a child could be heard through the field. It was happy laughter for Willow was finally at peace.
The End
Author's Note: That was the last chapter! Wow! Thank you so much for being such awesome readers! You guys are the greatest! I hope you go and read the next story (which I am not revising) called, "Warrior in the Shadows". It's way better then this one. Anyways, give your final reviews and thank you so much for reading this!
~The Shadow That Takes Form as a Kat~
~~ShadowKat~~