***Disclaimer: ::sigh:: Let's see… okay well I don't own Spirited Away (like you guys didn't know that). And… ya. Okay well… ::snore::.

***Author's Note: Hopefully this chapter will be longer and my fight scene will be better!

_________________________________________________________

***Last Time…

Chihiro turned to Mayla's body only to see blood covering the floor and staining the nearby curtain. Chihiro fell to her knees, shaking. Her hands covered her mouth in disbelief.

"No… no…" she muttered, over and over finally changing her word, "No… MAYLO!"

__________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 11

Illousa's Last Stand

No sound. No heartbeat. No breath. No life. Chihiro, tears spilling from her eyes, crumbled to the floor. She kept shaking her head. Back and forth. Back and forth. She couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. Maylo couldn't be gone. She had been there for her ever moment, every time. And now, she was gone.

"MAYLO! NO!" she cried, louder than ever before. Her cries rang through the large castle and bounced off the walls, only making Chihiro's wails louder and louder. A second sound reached her ears which made her howl even louder. Illousa was laughing. She couldn't take it. She screamed a deafening wail so she couldn't hear Illousa's horrid laugh. Haku put his hand on her shoulder but it didn't seem to help. After a short while, her loud cries became a soft whimper. Suddenly, the whimper was gone and a low growling sound emerged.

"Hmm…" Illousa quit her laugh so she hear this new interesting sound emitting from the distressed girl. Chihiro slowly stood up, her fists at her side. Keeping her head low, she murmured a single line, "Because of you, Maylo is gone. You shall pay." Chihiro raised her head and Illousa could see the fire in her eyes. Raising her arms above her head she emitted another cry and a large bolt of electricity struck randomly until it hit the unsuspecting Illousa. Illousa cried in pain as she then fell to the floor, clutching her heart. Enraged, Illousa quickly got up and began her own mystical spell of hate.

"Catea smetosha!" Illousa cried, sending a large blue ball of power right at Chihiro. Chihiro didn't try to dodge or move but stood as she was and smiled. The ball smashed against Haku's shield and the smile that was on Illousa's face transformed into an ugly frown.

"With Haku here, you cannot harm me Illousa! Give up now!" Chihiro cried and for the first time smiling.

Illousa held back a laugh and in doing so it was turning her head blue. Finally, not being able to hold it in any longer, she burst out laugh and doubled over on the floor and started rolling around.

Chihiro frowned and asked, "Why are you laughing! You can't even hurt me or Haku while I can easily kill you! So why do you laugh?"

Illousa looked up at Chihiro and smiled, "Because I can hurt you. Look at your precious Haku." Chihiro whirled around to see Haku clutching his stomach and leaning over. His breath was quick and sharp and sweat rolled down his face.

Chihiro ran to his side and bent down, "Haku, what's wrong? What did she do to you?"

"This… the shield… it's actually my life force. Damage it, damage me…" he whispered.

"Why did you put it up if you could get hurt by it?"

"I… I had to protect you…" Haku took Chihiro's hand and brought it up to his face, "It's my job to protect you. You… you have to survive… you and Maylo."

"Haku… what are you talking about? Don't leave me… not you too… please Haku, what are you talking about?" Suddenly, between Haku's ragged breathing and Illousa's laughing in the background, Chihiro heard a small sound. Like the flutter of wings. From where Maylo's body was. Chihiro turned and saw a small figure in the shadows darting towards Maylo's body. When the figure stepped into the light, Chihiro smiled.

"Cassie! You're alive!" Chihiro cried.

Cassie turned towards Chihiro and smiled then finished her journey from a small cove to Mayla's body. Before Illousa could do anything, Cassie put up a small blue shield around her and Mayla's body before pulling out a rosary and wrapping it around Mayla's head. After sticking a scroll from her bag onto Mayla's head, she turned back to Chihiro and said, "Don't worry Sen! I'll take good care of Maylo! I may have grown up with an evil witch but I do know some healing magic!"

"Can you bring her back?" Chihiro asked hopefully. Cassie lowered her head and didn't answer.

"I'll try…" she said after a few moments.

'That doesn't fill me with hope,' Chihiro thought as she turned back to Haku.

"How are you feeling?" she asked in a tender voice.

"Not so good but not horrible."

"Is there any way I can help? I have power too. Can it do anything to help you?"

"No… but there is a way to defeat her. It'll take all of my power…"

"I won't do it! If it takes your life away we can-" Haku cut her off.

"It won't kill me. I will have enough power to keep myself alive. As long as you're okay, I can live."

"How will you get your power back?"

Haku smiled and pulled her down and whispered into her ear, "Something that you will like, I'm sure. You may be mine, but I still have to mark you. And there is only one way to do it…" Chihiro smiled.

"But how do we stop her?" KABOOM! Haku cried in pain as Illousa sent a large dosage of power at his shield. Chihiro held Haku's head in her arm as she tried to cover him. After the dust cleared, Illousa stood on her alter, laughing.

"Fools! Do you really think I would just let you sit their and plot!? I-" but Illousa was cut off as a fist pummeled into her face and knocked her backwards. As she regained her composer, she saw Chihiro, enraged. She glanced at Haku and saw that Chihiro had put up her own shield around him. She smiled. Sending a quick beam out from one finger, she hadn't planned on Chihiro grabbing a mirror off the stone walls and shooting the beam right back. The beam hit Illousa's forehead sending her flying back against the wall. She snarled then sent hundreds of little energy balls at Haku. Chihiro smiled and quickly ran in front of the shield and blocked each of the little balls, sending them all back at Illousa who was too slow to counter attack. Illousa staggered to her feet.

She asked only one thing, "How?"

Chihiro answered simply, not smiling nor frowning, "I have power too ya know." But in the blink of an eye Illousa had gotten around her and sent a humongous energy ball speeding at Haku. Speeding so fast Chihiro couldn't stop it.

The explosion sent shock waves through the castle and the roof of it caved down on one side while the other was sent of into the sky. Chihiro had put her arms over her head and in the distance could hear two things: screams and destruction. When everything finally settled down Chihiro slowly opened her eyes and gasped. Everything, well, ALMOST everything was gone. She quickly glanced around to find Cassie and Mayla's body behind her, inside the shield she had created to protect herself. But she couldn't find any sign of nether Haku or Illousa. Suddenly, a rock over to her right quivered and Illousa shot up from the pile of rocks, seething. She raised her arms to finish her off but Chihiro beat her to it. In a matter of seconds she had an energy ball at her fingertips and was inches away from Illousa. Illousa gasped but nothing came out of her mouth as Chihiro let the blast go, destroying Illousa in seconds.

After Illousa was gone for good, Chihiro stood there, her fingers still in the air before her.

"Sen!" Chihiro swirled around at her name and gasped when she saw Cassie digging in the ground, "It's faint but I can feel it! Haku's power!" Chihiro raced over right as Cassie found his body. As Chihiro dropped to her knees and grabbed his hand and held it in hers. Cassie's hands flew to his neck, feeling for a pulse. She knew the chances were slim. It was a miracle that she was able to detect Illousa and save herself and Maylo's body. But Haku didn't have any protection. Chihiro had moved the shield over them, not thinking she was taking it off of Haku. But it wasn't there.

"Well?" Chihiro asked, rocking back and forth. Cassie lowered her head and didn't answer.

Finally she said something, "He's gone…"

To Be Continued…

Sakura G: BWAHAHAHAHA! Man, do I love to be evil! Ouch! ::gets knocked on the head with a frying pan::

Readers: HOW COULD YOU KILL OFF HAKU! ::mob starts throwing heavy objects as Sakura runs away covering her head::

Illousa: ::steps in front of Sakura:: HOW COULD YOU KILL ME OFF?! I THOUGHT I WAS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER!

Mayla: You really are stupid Illousa. I'm her favorite character can't you see?

Cassie: No, I am! She even brought me back Mayla. Your dead remember?

Mayla: Oh ya… hey!

Cassie: ::mumbles: And she thought I was stupid! Sheesh!::

Sakura G: ::runs up to all three, out of breath:: Actually… my… favorite is… Maylo… ::starts talking super fast because the mob of angry readers is closing in:: Maylo is the character I have in every one of my stories that is based on me or what I would like to really look like. I also have other names like Saleen and of course, Sakura. Bye. ::runs off again::

Mayla: ::silent:: Okay, well I'll finish up here! Thanks for reading and HOPEFULLY the best, that would be me Mayla, will come back alive. Hmm… should we bring Haku back?

Readers: YES!

Mayla: Hmm… ::ignores readers:: maybe we won't. We shall consult that at our next character meeting. Illousa, Cassie, lets go. ::walks away with Cassie and Illousa behind her and leaves Sakura to the angry mob who finally catches up to her and starts hammering her with kitchen utensils::

***If you have any questions, comments, or flames (but none of you should give me any of those!), please feel free to email me at: sailor_ivy_girl@mail.com or post up a review. Tanks! And if you would like to get any existing chapter edited, just email me!***