Heart Of Atlantis
Chapter Ten: Nicodemus

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The man smirked. He was tall, about Kurama's height. He had brown hair and black eyes. He wore ancient Atlantian clothes. His sent off an evil aura, on that turned everything and anything he wanted evil and dark.

The girl in his grip looked terrified and she tried to struggle but it only made the grip on her neck tighten. She glanced at Amara, her best friend. She looked extremely pissed off and that was never a good sign, not with her powers. She had to figure a way out of this and fast; Amara couldn't waste her power to save her, not when the real evil was lurking around.

The girl's eye's glowed white and a silvery aura surrounded her as she summoned her power. Suddenly, a huge plant with large teeth shot out of the ground and engulfed the man holding her. The man's arm was cut off by the plant and fell lifelessly to the ground. She summoned more of her plants, each a deadly, and poisonous kind, and commanded them to eat the man.

The man that she had just surrounded with her plants was the Nicodemus. He was extremely powerful compared to the other Atlantians that once lived here. But, his power was greatly decreased because when he was resurrected, most of his power had to be sacrificed in order to bring him back. The one who had brought him back was either very smart or very dumb. Very smart because they knew that Nicodemus could not be controlled with the amount of power he had originally been created with, that was how its creator had been killed. The person could have also been very dumb because now the demon was dead and they would be coming after them.

Why hadn't she killed Nicodemus before? Her true power can only be brought about when her life is threatened, making her not very good for battles. She turned to Amara.

"Took you long enough." She said playfully. Amara glared at her, her temper close to snapping.

"What happened here? Where are all my people?!" Amara yelled. "You know what never mind, you can tell me when we get to my palace."

"Umm... You can't go home, Princess." She said quietly.

"Why not, Meera?" Amara growled.

"Because, everything in Atlantis has been decimated and turned evil." Meera explained. Amara's eye's widened at the news. She lost everything, her palace, the one her family had built, her people were dead, and she had failed them. She was a horrible warrior and Princess. Amara turned around and left, her head was bowed so no one could see her face. Hiei made a move to follow her but Meera's voice stopped him.

"Don't, let her be. Come with me and I'll explain everything. Then you can bring her back." Meera said softly. Hiei glared at her but decided to heed her. Meera turned and led them through the rubble to someplace.

"Here we are." Meera said when she stopped. She faced the group with a sad face. Behind her was all that was left of the once elegant palace. The only thing left was a trap door. The door was protected by a spell and was hidden to all those who we not part of the royal family. "This is all that remains of Princess Amara's palace."

She placed her crystal into a hole and the door lit up and opened. She stepped onto the stairwell that led deep into the ground. She held up he dress and walked down the stairs, the detectives followed her. Crystals similar to those they found in the Oasis lit the tunnel.

After walking for a short time they came to a well-lit room. It was large and was well furnished with a large table in the center. Meera stepped in and sat in the seat at the head of the table. The others followed suit.

"I suppose you are the fighters Princess Amara went to recruit from Koenma?" She asked.

"Yeah, we are." Yusuke confirmed.

"I'll start from the beginning. The man you saw was in fact Nicodemus. However, he was much weaker then what he once was. The demon that resurrected him used Nicodemus' power to bring him back to life rather than using their own. This way, Nicodemus would be weaker than them and he would have to follow their orders.

"That person apparently ordered him to destroy all of Atlantis and all the people inside. His power was to turn everything he touched evil. Anything he touched that was good would be destroyed. That's why everything in Atlantis is now black and has a dark aura surrounding it.

"The other Atlantians weren't strong enough and they fell, their bodies charred. I was the only one left and I knew I had to keep away from him for as long as I could because my true power will only awaken when my life is threatened and I don't think I would have had enough time to bring it out to kill him. Killing him wasn't the problem, anyone could have done so but he was fast and his touch would kill you in an instant.

"Then I sensed you guys coming so, I ran to where I knew she would take you. Nicodemus had found me by then and when I reached the wall he grabbed me by the throat. He knew Princess Amara was coming and he told me that he would wait to kill me until she arrived that way she would be able to see my death.

"What he didn't know is that plan gave me enough time to summon my power and kill him. You see Princess Amara has a short temper and she doesn't have complete control of her powers yet. If Nicodemus had killed me she would have gone berserk, for lack of a better term. She wouldn't have been able to stop. That's why we always tried not to annoy her.

"She needs to be ready for the final fight. If I'm right, she may not make it out of this fight." Meera explained sadly. Everyone had been listening intently, especially Hiei. The last part stirred something inside of him and he realized that he did indeed have feelings for the princess.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Meera looked at him.

"The person or rather demon that resurrected Nicodemus is very powerful and knows many techniques and such. It will take a lot to defeat them." Meera answered. Hiei nodded and left the room in a flash.

"Where did he go?" She asked.

"Probably to find Princess Amara." Kurama chuckled despite the situation. Meera smiled as well. Maybe Amara had finally found someone who could allow her to be free, just like she always wanted. Meera laughed inside her head at some of the conversations they had had about that particular subject.

"What do we do now?" Kuwabara asked.

"We wait and see if he can bring her back to us." Meera said, her eyes went out of focus for a moment then she came back.

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Amara walked through the decimated streets and walkways of her once beautiful world. But now everything was black and there were bodies everywhere. None of them could be recognized. She didn't know where she was going, just somewhere, anywhere. She started to hum to herself.

"I cannot find a way to describe it

It's there inside; all I do is hide

I wish that it would just go away

What would you do, you do, if you knew

What would you do

All the pain I thought I knew

All the thoughts lead back to you

Back to what was never said

Back and forth inside my head

I can't handle this confusion

I'm unable; come and take me away

I feel like I am all alone

All by myself I need to get around this

My words are cold, I don't want them to hurt you

If I show you, I don't think you'd understand

Cause no one understands

I'm going nowhere (on and on and)

I'm getting nowhere (on and on and on)

Take me away

I'm going nowhere (on and off and off and on)

(and off and on)

Take me away

Take me away

Break me away

Take me away" She finished her song and looked around to see where it had taken her.

She ended up at one of her favorite places, a large white chalk cliff, with a waterfall that over looked a beautiful lake. This was a place she had put a spell on so that it would be able to stand the test of time and she would always be able to come here.

She had come to this place so often when she was little, she would come here when she was sad or angry. When she grew older she would come here to escape all of the overwhelming tasks that wanted to swallow her whole.

The cliff was the highest point in Atlantis and you could see everything in Atlantis. At one time the scene was breath taking but now, it only deepened her already depressed state. But for some reason, the fact that her world was gone hadn't truly sunk in until now. She fell to her knees, and for the first time in her life, she cried. Long, heart- wrenching sobs filled the still air.

Then, she felt warm, strong arms wrap around her small frame in a comforting embrace. Amara looked up to see Hiei's crimson eyes staring into her own. But this time, they weren't cold or filled with hatred, this time they held a certain amount of warmth and something else in them.

"Hiei?" She asked, her voice cracked. Hiei nodded and pulled her to his chest, allowing her to cry.

"I'm sorry I treated you the way I did." Hiei said quietly. Amara nodded and cried into his chest. His warm embrace soothed her and she finally calmed down enough to form sentences.

"Why did you treat me like that? Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

"No, it was nothing you did." He said. Amara looked at him with a confused face.

"I was never meant to have emotions." He elaborated.

"But everyone feels some sort of emotion." Amara countered. Hiei stayed silent at that and Amara layed her head back against his chest. She felt safe from everything with Hiei. Something she hadn't felt in a long time.

"What do I do now? My people are dead and so is my world." Amara asked after some time of silence.

"Meera says that there is another, more powerful demon that has to be killed." Hiei said. Amara nodded in understanding against his chest. "She also said that you may not come out of this fight alive." He tightened his grip slightly as he said that. Amara pulled back so she could see his concerned face. She gave him a small smile and touched his cheek lightly.

"I'll be okay as long as I have you and my friends at my side." She said softly. Hiei smiled for once and took her hand in his own.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a cute site?"

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Author Note: Okay, here's the next chapter. There will only be two more after this and it's over. I REALLY need you guys to vote on the next story you want me to write. I'm giving you guys some say. If I don't get any responses then I will choose myself, with some of best friends input. Oh and before I forget, the song used above was Take me Away by Avril, which I don't own.

-LuckyKoorime