Heart of Atlantis
Chapter Eleven: Fall of an Empire

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Amara and Hiei immediately stood and faced the source of the voice. Standing before them was a girl about Kurama's height. She had deep hunter green hair that looked almost black. Her eyes were a light green, like new grass. She wore a male warriors fighting suit and she carried a sling of arrows across her back. She was smirking at them.

"Who are you?" Hiei growled.

"Clearly you are not of Atlantian decent but of another race." Amara added. She glared angrily at the woman, she got the sense that she was the demon who resurrected Nicodemus.

"My aren't you a smart cookie, Princess?" The woman taunted. Amara growled angrily. "My name is Celadine. And I am here to finish off the last remaining Atlantian." She said. Then she disappeared.

Amara and Hiei stood back to back, looking around frantically, expecting an attack from anywhere. Suddenly, everything went black.

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"What the hell...?" Hiei said as he looked into the pitch black. Normally he would be able to see easily into the night but this was different, it was as though the darkness was really and not just dark light.

He looked behind himself, expecting to see Amara but she was nowhere to be found. He called out for her several times, but he received no response. Where was he? He couldn't sense anything; he was unable to locate Amara's energy or that of anyone else. He ran through every possibility in his head and the only thing that made sense was an illusion or something similar to that.

Suddenly, he heard maniacal laughter that filled the entire area he was in. There was nothing more, only laughter. Then, the area changed immediately into Genkai's temple. Hiei looked around and realized that he was in the living room.

"Hello Hiei." Yukina said from behind him. Hiei turned around to face her, but there was something off about her. "Why are you here? You're not wanted, no one wants a bastard child." Hiei's eye's widened.

'You see, they don't want you. All you are to them is a tool that can be disposed of.' His voice said.

"I'm ashamed to be your sibling." Yukina continued. "You are a disgrace and a criminal. No wonder we threw you off the island. We hate you Hiei."

'I was never wanted. They were never really my friends. I should just end my life, no one would care.' The voice continued. Hiei took one last glance at his sister before disappearing.

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Amara looked out into the vast expanse of darkness. She thought for a moment, this seemed familiar, not by the fact that she had seen it but that she had either read or was told about it. She walked around, looking for Hiei, all the while searching through her mind for this.

Somehow, she was now floating in the air above what was left of Atlantis. She was suddenly over come with grief and guilt.

'I'm such a horrible ruler, I let my people die. All because I was too weak to fight on my own.' Her voice said. For a second, Amara forgot everything and allowed the guilt and grief to consume her. But, she snapped out of it.

"I know what you're doing." She called out. The scene faded back into the original darkness.

She knew that everything was an illusion, but it was one of the most dangerous types. These illusions placed you in another dimension where everything that happened was real in that dimension. She had to find Hiei. Amara knew they were still in the same area, just in a different dimension. If she remembered correctly, the only way to escape was to break the concentration of the person who sent them here. That person had to be in the same area, all she had to do was stretch her senses and locate the energy signal and get out before it was too late.

Amara closed her eyes and searched as far as she could. Her race was known it's incredible ability to locate energy signals in other dimensions and anywhere else. Soon, she found the source. It was moving, she opened her eyes and saw Celadine moving in and out of the shadows. Her eyes were closed, seemingly concentrated. There was a look of amusement on her face.

Amara knew this technique, her father had told her numerous times about it. This type was the most advanced and powerful because the user was able to send several different people into separate dimensions but it still had one severe flaw, the user could only be in one dimension at a time. 'She must be in Hiei's' Amara thought.

"Ice Shards!!!" She screamed as she sent dozens of sharp ice shards at Celadine. They hit their target dead on. Celadine fell to the ground, but she only had one cut on her after all of the shards had hit dead on. Amara didn't notice, she caught site of Hiei and ran to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, thus taking her into his world.

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Amara opened her eyes. She saw Hiei standing on a high cliff, looking solemnly at the sharp rocks below. She ran to him but he jumped before she reached him. Amara fell onto her stomach, her upper half hanging over the side of the cliff. She used her telekinesis to catch him and bring him back beside her. She needed to snap him out of it... She did the only thing she could think of at the moment, she backhanded him, hard.

Needless to say, it worked. Hiei brought a hand up to his now bruised cheek and looked shocked at Amara.

"What the hell was that for?!" He growled.

"There's not much time to explain, just remember, the only thing that is real are you, me and Celadine. Don't believe anything else you see. Got it?" She said. Hiei stared at her for a moment before nodding.

Suddenly, an arrow went whizzing between them. Amara looked to see Celadine with her bow drawn and another arrow ready to fire. She had a look of pure murder in her eyes. She shot arrows rapidly at them and they were shot with deadly accuracy. Each one Celadine shot barely missed their mark. The only reason was because Amara used shields and her katana and Hiei used his demonic speed and his own katana to block.

Several times, Amara tried to get close enough to attack but each time she did more arrows were shot at her and forced her back. Celadine had an endless supply of arrows and she seemed to have a large supply of energy because she didn't seem to be tired. Amara was so lost in thought that she didn't notice an arrow coming towards her until it was to late, the arrow caught her right in the chest. She stumbled back but managed to stay standing.

Hiei was at her side in an instant to steady her. She gave him a halfhearted smile and continued to fight. Hiei didn't leave her side, something about that arrow wasn't right; Amara's power seemed to be draining. Amara noticed her slowing pace as well, this had to end, now.

/Hiei?/ She called out to him.

/Hn./

/Hiei, I have an idea./ She said.

/What is it?/ He asked as he blocked another arrow.

/My mother said that the only way to defeat my new enemy is with fire and ice. I need you to move fast enough so that it seems you have disappeared and go behind her. At the time, we will hit her with our most powerful attacks. Okay?/ She suggested. Hiei nodded and disappeared. Celadine didn't notice and she kept firing rapid arrows.

Amara stood on unsteady feet and she managed to put up a weak barrier. She was unable to pull out the arrow that was draining her power so she would have to make do. She heard Celadine laugh.

"You pathetic Atlantian, you will never defeat me! Your race is already dead, the only one left is you!" Celadine said as she fired even more arrows at Amara. Amara smirked as she saw Hiei get into position.

"You really shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch." Amara said as she gathered what remained of her energy. Hiei did the same. Amara held out her hands and at the same time as Hiei launched her attack.

"Dragon of the Darkness Flame!"

"Dragon of Ice!" They yelled at the same time.

Celadine realized that there was no way to escape, but before the attack hit her, she shot three more arrows at Amara. The attack slammed into Celadine, killing her instantly but before she died she yelled one last thing.

"You will go down with me Princess!" Then the attacks disintegrated her body.

Hiei heard the sound of sharp arrows hitting the soft skin of Amara's chest and torso. He watched in horror as her face lit up with pain and surprise and she fell lifelessly to the ground.

Hiei was at her side in an instant and lifted her bloody form into his arms. She offered him a small smile and brought her hand to his cheek. He leaned into her touch and brought his own hand to cover her smaller one.

"Hiei, I want you to know something," She said in a weak voice, "In the short time that I've known you, I somehow fell for you..." She trailed off as she lost consciousness. Hiei stared at her, a single tear rolled down his face and turned into a black gem before it hit the ground. He picked her up and took her back to Ningenkai.

The End!

Author Note: That's it, the story is over! But before you guy's go haywire on me I want you to know there will be a sequel to this called: Return of a Princess. Thanks for the reviews and I'll post the first chapter of the next story soon. You know, the funny thing is, I wasn't planning on ending it this way. It was going to have a different ending but while I was working Lucky I thought of something better. Ironic, ne?

-LuckyKoorime