Chapter 11!!! Kiss me, hate me, hug me, whatever, at least I got it up! I am sorry it took so long, my mom has instigated a homework smack down, so I am very lucky I got this done. Also, finals are coming up, so be prepared for another possible two or three week wait. I'm sorry! {ducks tomatoes} Anyway, I tried to make this chappie super good to tide you over! Do tell me if you like it! Also, sorry if the line scene/thought changes are screwy, this new format is hard to work with!

Cheese is sometimes good on Thursdays.

Eleven

Kaddar walked away from Daine with one thought jumping around in his head like a crazed Stormwing, cutting through all his other feelings with razor feathers. {I was going to kiss her.}

"Imperial majesty!" exclaimed a voice. Kaddar jumped and almost swung a fist in self-defense before he saw it was only councilor Eizai.

"Eizai... you startled me," Kaddar said, regaining his composure quickly, struggling to capture the Stormwing in his brain. {Kissed her. I could have. There was nothing on her nose...}

"Terribly sorry Imperial Majesty, but this is urgent. Another person has been attacked. It was one of the guards at the small eastern gate, and the Lion is most definitely inside the palace."

Kaddar was stunned, and his thoughts suddenly soared to Daine.

"Majesty?" Eizai queried, "What should we do?"

Daine leaned back against the door to her room, her face still warm as she remembered the look in Kaddar's eyes when he had leaned down and... touched her nose?

What's wrong? Asked Zek, uncurling from the windowsill that looked out over the aviary. You seem... upset? You smell emotional.

"Oh Zek," Daine began, stepping forward towards the marmoset, I am so confused, she finished in the language of the People.

About what?

You see, I thought he... Daine trailed off, slumping down on the bed. Zek leaped off the windowsill and padded over to sit between her feet.

You thought what?

I thought he was going to... well... kiss me.

Kiss... what is that?

Rub noses? Lick? It's an expression of love. Only, for humans.

I see.

Zek was silent for a moment, but then he said, And you wanted him to kiss you? On the nose?

No! Yes! I don't know, but it would have been on the lips.

Zek was about to reply, when a sudden explosion of birds' screeching came from the aviary and caught Daine's ear. She rose from the bed and moved to the window, not noticing as Zek sniffed the air, bristled, and hid under the bed.

Friends? What is it? She called out into the night. Straining with her senses, she was able to pick up a confused jumble of pictures.

{A bird fell to the ground, it's mind ruined from the blast of mental power it had just received.}

{A midnight colored shape caught one of the parrots, and it seemed to be engulfed before its mind could register what was happening.}

{Her window, with a strangely thickened shadow crouching beneath it.}

"What is...?" Daine managed to whisper, before a terrifying apparition made of teeth and claws rose up before her, its utterly black form blotting out the stars visible through the aviary's glass roof. Daine fell back with a cry, unsure as to whether she should use her Wild magic on it or not. This was no mere animal.

Kaddar's feet couldn't carry him fast enough. Though he was only about ten feet from Daine's door, it still seemed to take hours to reach her. Twisting the handle almost off, he threw the door open and stumbled upon a scene from a nightmare.

The Lion had come. He'd come for Daine. Kaddar's world slowed from molasses to thick, immovable ice.

Donatello Ragazonii was the type of person who took his jobs seriously. When the emperor had assigned him to find the Night Lion, he'd taken it upon himself to do most of the searching, and only requested help when he was absolutely stretched to his thinnest. He had been the one who'd reported the attack on the guard to his father, and now he was the one searching for the intruder. The guard's head and shoulders had been taken completely off. Donatello would make sure it didn't happen to someone else.

His head suddenly whipped around as he heard birds screaming from the aviary.

{There, that's where it is.}

He whirled and ran, drawing a small but deadly crossbow from his belt as he did so. The poisoned arrows the crossbow carried were enough to kill a full-grown man in less than five seconds. Donatello hoped they'd be enough to at least stun the Night Lion while his sword did the rest of the work.

Nerezza advanced on the Cub slowly, except the Cub was now Prey. He felt his muscles straining beneath his fur, and in his mind, it translated into a feeling of his body being too small. The coat of fur he wore seemed to be shrinking, squeezing him inwards, until he became even more enraged than before. Why couldn't he remember the spell? He was better than this lion form.

{It's her fault you can't remember, Nerezza, my old friend. She's using her magic on you...}

The voice of the wizard, Prosper, murmured in his head. Nerezza accepted it without a thought and bared his teeth. The Prey would give him back his magic; he would remember the spell! And when he had... this world would burn and the bastard that called himself Nerezza's master and held his cub hostage? He would die the worst of all.

{Give it back, Prey!}

Daine heard the Lion and panicked. Give what back?

What do you mean? She asked, in her speech, and was surprised when the voice that answered her was highly educated and civilized.

{He can't hear you, love. I've taken your power of People speak away. Terribly sorry, but I needed it to control him.}

Daine gaped. She couldn't talk to the People?

{That's about the size of it,} the mystery voice answered, and she knew immediately that this was the man behind it all.

Kaddar watched in horror, his feet still moving but taking him nowhere, as the lion shook himself, wrenched his head around and bit his own side in a horrible display of fury, and then settled its eyes on Daine again. Its body sank to the floor, the flow of muscles almost liquid, as it prepared to pounce.

"No!" Kaddar heard himself call out, and noted the flick of eyes that denoted the Lion had heard him. Daine's head turned towards him, and it was in that painfully long second when Daine's eyes met his own that the lion launched himself at the Wildmage.

Donatello pulled himself up over Daine's window ledge in one smooth motion, his eyes riveted on the crouched form of the Lion. His head snapped towards the door as he heard Kaddar cry out, and then the blur of motion in his peripheral vision brought his crossbow up and the bolt leaving its moorings and flying through the air before Donatello could think.

The bolt hit the lion square between the shoulder blades, and he was knocked slightly off course, missing Daine by mere inches. One of his huge paws, claws extended, tore a gash in her tunic and the skin beneath, knocking her over. Donatello had time to think, {six claws?} before the Lion hit the floor, one of his shoulders awkwardly rolling under, and his heavy skull landing with a thud that seemed to shake the room.

"Away! Get away!" He shouted, his sword leaving his sheath with the soft whisper of leather against highly polished metal. He advanced on the beast as Kaddar rushed forward and grabbed Daine, pulling her out of the way before facing the lion himself, fists raised, as he had no weapon.

{Fool,} Donatello thought, reaching the emperor and shoving him aside, back towards Daine, as the Lion heaved himself ponderously to his feet. That was when it spoke.

"You are he," said the Lion, its lips unmoving, but the voice reverberated around the room. The Lion's red eyes were wide as it looked at Donatello, and something resembling fear surfaced in his features and posture.

"Sono Donatello" {I am Donatello}

"No, you are the Estremità," the Lion responded, before closing his eyes and melting into the darkness, seemingly without moving at all. Donatello was stunned for a moment, before he stepped warily forward, sword at the ready.

The shadows concealed nothing; the Lion was gone.

The Lion reformed in the back room of the bakery in front of an irate Prosper.

"What the hell are you doing, coming back here empty handed? You son of a bitch! Get your ass back to the palace and finish the job. I want the Wildmage gone and bloody Kaddar the 'emperor' dead! Dead! Do you hear me?"

"I cannot go back, the Estremità is there. I cannot face him." And with that the Lion disappeared once more, dissolving himself into darkness.

"The Estremità? What in the Gods' names is that?" Prosper bellowed, and then conjured the Lion's cub out of thin air.

"If you don't return, you're little cubbie here is going to be one sorry cat!" He yelled, holding the cub up by the scruff of the neck and shaking it. The cub started to squall, but even that did not bring the Lion back.

Prosper failed to notice the cream colored cat watching him from a murky corner of the room, it's one emerald eye, and one sapphire eye, alight with pain and anger.

Daine lay on the floor, gasping, feeling the stickiness of her own blood start to soak through the cloth of her tunic, and scared out of her mind. No powers? He took her powers? She couldn't talk to the People anymore?

"Daine! Oh Gods, are you – are you all right?" Kaddar dropped to his knees beside her, glancing back worriedly at the spot where the Night Lion had been, before taking Daine's hands in his own and pulling her to her feet. Then, before she could respond, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her, rocking her slowly back and forth.

Over Kaddar's shoulder, Daine could see Donatello. His back was to her, and he was standing rigidly in one place. His shoulder blades made sharp points in the back of his tunic as he stared at the spot where the Lion had been. Then he turned around and met her eyes.

"I am Estremità." He said softly, his eyes boring into hers.

"What is this, Estremità?" Kaddar asked, turning his head to look at Donatello, but refusing to release Daine.

"Means that I am End," Donatello replied cryptically, before looking at Daine, his eyes traveling over her trembling body. "You are injured? Go to healer. I watch room rest of night."

He moved to the window again and vaulted himself neatly out into the aviary. A last flash of his golden hair reached Daine's eyes before he touched the ground and padded off.

Kaddar turned back from the window where Donatello had left and held Daine away from him. He noted the cut in the stomach area of her tunic, and the blood seeping from the parted skin underneath, and immediately placed his hand over the wound.

"You're hurt..." he said, stating the obvious but feeling his own heart pain him as he said the words.

"I... I am?" Daine asked. In her fear, she hadn't even noticed. She looked down and covered his hand with her own.

Kaddar felt a sudden urge grip him, and he used his other hand to tip her head upward.

"There's nothing on your nose," He said.

"What?" Daine asked, confused, but then before she could react, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

All conscious thought slowed to a stop in Daine's head as her body focused on the feel of Kaddar's mouth against her own. But then, before she could even feel it fully, his lips were gone and he'd placed an arm around her shoulder and was leading her to the door.

"Let's get you to a healer," She heard him say, and imagined that his voice shook slightly. She wondered if he was blushing as furiously as her.

Review answers!

ellabelle1- You're not pathetic. It makes me super happy to see that you like my story! Hoorah! {does chicken dance} ANYWAY, I am so happy that I answered all your questions! Please tell me if you have any more. That's what I'm here for after all, to answer them! I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! I am sorry dear reader! Please don't hate me! And suspense is fun, as is messing with reader's heads! :)

GeminiDvl34- Another chappie, but I took too long! WAAAAAHH!!! I'm sorry! I hope I made it god enough to last for at most two weeks! I need all that time to study, etc. for finals.

Kore Yan- I have romance! Oh, the cheesy goodness of K & D smut.... I just love 'em! Anyway, the scene wasn't really embarrassing, but I hope it works for you!

Wildphire- A new reader! Yay! I hope I haven't scared you off with my lengthy siesta...

Mango Sam- Don't apologize! Pushy is fun and clone reviews make this line of 'work' (Dare I call it that?) more interesting! Anyway, thank you for betaing! I sent you this chappie too, so feel free to chew me out, or whatever. Hope I didn't discourage you with my long absence!