GAH!!!! I'm sho totally sad!! I had to cut off my last chapter because it was getting too long. *tear, tear* Yea, yea, I know I like totally under use her. I'm sorry. I'll try to use her more!! I'll try. Thanks for reviewing!!! But I have this chapter planned out already, so I can't promise too much. Sorri peeps!!! Maybe in this boss battle. How can there BE a boss battle in this kind of place? Well, you'll just have to go and read this chapter now. Like I said, it's pretty much planned out. Wee!!! Playing Dark Cloud ish sho much fun!! Both of them!! But he died!!!! Griffon, how could you!!! But I don't blame griffon. I mean it's really not his fault. I feel really sorry for him too.

SM: Hi!!! I get to type on the computer.

Megumi: And WHERE ELSE would you be able to type?

SM: ...*chooses to ignore that* It's been so long!!!!

Megumi: You're happy.

SM: Yea. I get to talk to other people.

Megumi: Yea...sure. Go eat your donuts or whatever.

SM: OKAY!!!!

Ahem, now that I've got him busy I bring you chapter 12. Yay!!! I actually have the basic idea for this chapter!!! Yes. Not like I wanted to cut it in half or anything, but still. Soo yeah. Here we go. But first...

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, or Digimon. Okay, let's go!! Lucky Chapter 13!!!

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If Darkness Could Befriend Chapter 13: Hope Conclusion

Dark Shadow Matt stared at his master, awaiting orders. They stood atop the stables, staring at the cozy little house at the back of the ranch.

"Are you sure he's here...alone?" The ruler asked suspiciously.

"Well, someone had to open the door for them. I didn't exactly see who, I stayed out here the whole time. All I know is that I saw everyone but him leave for the ruins of hope. They were talking but I couldn't exactly hear what they were saying, Master." Dark SM said, looking away.

"I see. Odd that they would just leave him here." He said.

"What do you want me to do?" Dark SM asked.

"Stay here. You're likely to screw up this mission too. I don't trust you with a mission of this caliber seeing that your last attempt failed quite miserably. What is it with minions these days; they've grown to be quite pitiful. I wonder, should I have kept the clumsy shadow in your stead. After all, you did lose to him. Useless, the whole of you." He taunted.

"You don't know what I'm capable of. You didn't create me." Dark SM said, glaring at nothing in general.

"No, I didn't, but I could easily destroy you." The ruler said dangerously.

"I know. And that is why I reside in remaining as your 'minion.'" Dark SM snapped.

"Are you challenging me?" The ruler asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, master. Wouldn't dream of it." Dark SM said, once again refusing to meet his master's eyes. So he had failed. He never understood why it had to be rubbed in so much. And he had been so close to succeeding too. "So, if you're not planning on me doing anything then what do YOU plan on doing? You're not going to send one of your pathetic minions, are you? I mean, I'm way better than any of them."

"Speak for yourself. I've decided that it's too risky to send any of you. Actually, I have one person capable, but I've got them busy right now so for this mission I've decided that if I want something done right I'll have to do it myself. You just stay here and scout. Inform me if the others come back. This should take a relatively quick amount of time." He said, jumping off from the roof of the stables. "And don't fail at scouting otherwise I really will kill you, like my other worthless minion." He growled from the ground.

"Understood." Dark SM called down from atop the stables. "I'll have a hard laugh if you fail yourself, you slave driver." He said softly to himself. The ruler walked slowly to the house, hiding the fact that he had heard what Dark SM had just said.

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"Kive, isn't the water beautiful?" Hotaru asked, feet submerged in the retreating waves.

"I had no idea the ocean looked like this. The sand doesn't look like the sand in the desert. It's so white. It's kind of blinding and a lot softer." He said, staring down at the sand.

"Okay, sure. But umm, I was talking about the water." She said.

"Hmm oh! Sorry." He said looking up. "Whoa!!!! And it's way bigger than I thought it would be. You can't even really see the end of it. It's pretty shiny too. And it's so blue." He said.

"Of course, silly. You act as if you've never seen the ocean before."

"That's because I haven't. I don't live anywhere close to the ocean. There were a bunch of lakes and rivers, but not an ocean. I heard the water's salty." He said.

"It is, so don't try to drink it unless you filter it first." She said. "I wonder what kind of things live in the ocean of your world?"

"I heard they're bad. I heard they're a bunch of sea dragons or serpents or whatever. And something. Sharks or something like that. I have no idea what a shark is but I have a pretty good idea what a sea dragon or sea serpent would look like." He said.

"Oh, well, sharks are like giant fish with teeth. She walked over to a tidal pool, grabbing Kive's arm while she was at it, and dragging him with her. "See that small thing. I think it's a sand shark." She said, pointing at a very small, sand-colored shark.

"I don't know. It doesn't look dangerous. It kind of looks cute." He pointed out.

"Well, it would be a lot scarier if it were bigger, wouldn't it?" She asked. He nodded. They heard a giant roar. Come from somewhere out on the ocean. They turned and see a light blue sea dragon roaring up at nothing. "Kive! I think there's something wrong with it!" She said.

"Nuh uh Hotaru! No way we're going out there to save that thing! Maybe its just hungry." He said. "Just leave it there. It probably won't appreciate help anyways. I don't want to get eaten. Plus there are probably other things in the water ready to eat us!" He pointed out.

"Well if you won't go, then I'll go by myself. Don't worry about me Kive. It's not that far out. I can swim to it." She said plunging into the water.

"Hotaru! ...Whatever." He sighed, watching her swim off towards it. Kive frowned as he noticed some sort of triangular thing protruding out of the water and a shadow underneath it, that was awkwardly circling around the sea dragon. He wondered what it was. He saw Hotaru suddenly stop as she spotted it as well. She just froze and it was obvious she was terribly afraid. Then she began to swim again, glaive in her hand. As she got closer to the creature she dove under the water. Kive stared worriedly at the shadows moving under the water and instantly got worried as red began to visible on top of the water. Then Hotaru emerged from the water and he let out a relieved sigh. Hotaru swam over to the sea dragon and began to talk to it. Comfort it. Then she began to lead it back to the shore. Eventually Hotaru got up to the shore and both her and Kive managed to haul the beast onto the sand, and Kive admitted it didn't look too dangerous. Then Hotaru set to checking it over. She assured Kive that she was fine and the thing that had been swimming was indeed a shark. The shark had in fact gotten some bites out of their ocean friend.

"Kive! It's only a baby sea dragon," she said.

"You're kidding me!" He said in surprise. She shook her head no. "It's so big. I don't think it can be a baby."

"Well it is. I wonder if I could heal if." She said. "Wait, better idea. I hope Matt won't mind. It'll only be a sip." She said, pulling out the bag, which Matt had given to her because of course she needed it more than him. She fingered around the bottom of the bag and got what she wanted. She pulled out the red vial and held it out to the creature and told it to drink. It surprised them both when the dragon apparently understood and took a sip. Hotaru pulled it away and put it back. The sea dragon's wounds were healed. The dragon began to nuzzle her and then Kive.

"Finally! An animal that ACCEPTS me!" Kive said, causing Hotaru to laugh. The sea dragon went back into the water and began to motion to them.

"I think it wants us to get on its back." Hotaru said, dragging Kive into the water and onto the dragon's back.

"I don't understand how you understand it so easily." He said as the sea dragon began to speed up.

"Oh call it a hunch." She said. They were breezing through the ocean and soon Hotaru spotted an island, with a bunch of other sea dragons surrounding it. (A/N: The SHIGURA!!!! Please don't sue me!! I just got the idea from it. I love Pau! ^^) They ended up on the island and Hotaru and Kive hopped off. There, right in front of them, was the water gem. "It was waiting for us." Hotaru said. Kive was staring up at the sky.

"Hotaru, the sun's starting to set. We ought to stay here. I'm sure the sea dragon's wouldn't mind." He said.

"You're right." Hotaru said, picking up the water stone. One step closer to getting all eight.

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The Valley was so peaceful from what they could see. Shadow Matt and Isis had found no trouble there. They had simply gone into the middle of the valley and there, set into a rock was a small stone. It was too easy. Isis reached out her hand to touch it, but as soon as her fingers felt the cold gem underneath them a rumbling shook the ground and out from the ground popped a cute little winged white fox- creature. She smiled. It was so cute. SM blinked. What was this about? Isis withdrew her hand and began reaching out to pat the little creature. SM grabbed her arm, causing her to whip around and stare at him awkwardly.

"Oh what is it SM?" She asked, frustrated.

"I don't know if you should touch it, I mean, we really don't know too much about this world and the creatures. What I'm trying to say, is that we don't really know if can do something to us. I mean, sure it's cute, but come on..." He pointed out.

"Oh don't be silly. It won't do anything." She laughed.

"I guess. If you say so." SM sighed. She smiled and stuck her hand in front of the fox. The fox lunged forward, clamping its little teeth on her finger. SM sweatdropped. The fox let go and dropped onto the rock. "Umm, Isis?" He asked. She turned around and stared at him, causing him to back away. Her eyes were dull, the look of someone being controlled. Isis then shifted to her cat form and lunged at him, giving him a run for his life, all the while the little fox hummed a little song, secretly mocking SM for his obvious misfortune.

"How did I know this was going to happen?" He said to himself, jumping out of the way just as Isis landed where he would have been. "Isis! Don't you remember me? You know. Shadow Matt?" He asked desperately. She jumped at him, attempting to crush him again, but he jumped out of the way again. "Guess not. Go figure." Then he spotted the fox creature out of the corner of his eye and began to head towards it. Hearing the song he realized that that was what the fox was using to control Isis. He ran and lunged at it just as Isis landed where he been again. He was about to ram into it when he felt a great deal of electric current pulsate through his entire body, causing him to fall short and slam into the rock. "Forgot about that." He sighed in pain. He pushed himself up and saw the fox grinning at him and, looking farther he saw a gigantic SPIKY lightning cat about to land on him. Simple enough. He slunk down into the shadow of the rock just before Isis's massive paws hit the ground where he had been. The fox sighed and suddenly a flash occurred and it was human. It was a girl with a white fox ears protruding from a head of long white hair put up into a ponytail. She had white boots with white fur trim and fox paw gloves with a bell tied to both gloves and from her back protruded white, feathery wings. She wore a simple light gray shirt with a cute evil fox face on it and a white skirt. She had on a white cape lined with white fox fur and in her hands she clutched a harp, which magically played by itself. She held it in front of her let go, leaving it floating in midair, still keeping Isis in a controlled state. She slunk down into the shadows and chanted a spell, which prevented anyone from leaving. Then she filled the place with light. SM turned around to look at her.

"What? Who? What happened?" He asked, pondering how it was possible for light to exist in the shadows.

"I love magic." She said, green eyes beaming at him. "Don't you think it's a wonderful spell? Normally if you filled a shadow with light it wouldn't be a shadow, forcing anything in the shadow up, above it. But I knew that so I sealed the shadow so that you can't get out. Cool huh! It's so nice to finally meet you!" She said enthusiastically. SM stared at her, horrified.

"You're the fox that was controlling Isis. Oh boy, what a mess I'm in." He said, frowning.

"Aww! Come now Shadow Matt! I've been waiting to meet you. You could at least say hi!" She pouted. SM twitched.

"Umm...hi? My name's Shadow Matt, as you already magically know. Nice to meet you I guess...Uh, how do you know me and why were you trying to kill me?" He asked.

"My name is Kitsu and I'm supposed to kill you cuz my mistress said to. I'm sorry, but it's my job. Otherwise the Master will get angry and he's really mean when he's angry. Oh, but I'm friends with the other Shadow Matt and all he does all day is rant about how he wants to kill you and how unfair the Master is treating him just because he failed, so that's how I found out about you. He says I'm okay because I listen to him but that I'm way to over enthusiastic. Do you think I'm over enthusiastic?" She asked in a fast talk, not even stopping to breath throughout the whole thing.

"Umm, sort of..." He muttered, confused.

"Wow! You really are like SM!!!" She said happily. SM flinched. The girl had serious mental problems.

"I get really confused when you call him that. It's sort of weird cuz we have the same name." He said, "Can you call him Dark SM?" SM asked.

"Okay. He'd probably like it better anyways. Oh YEAH! Do you wanna fight? I can take you!" She challenged.

"Do I have a choice?"

"No, not really. But lets make this all more fun. If you lose I get to bring you back to SM and he can kill you whatever way he want to, and if you win I'll stop controlling your friend and I'll give you the wind gem AND the stone gem. Good deal huh!" She laughed. He frowned. She must really think she was going to win. That made him nervous. If he lost...he didn't care to think about what doom Dark SM might have planned for him.

"What happens if I decline you offer?" SM asked.

"I just kill you." She shrugged.

"Well, I guess I accept then." SM said, unsheathing his sword. She smiled and pulled out her sword. It was very thick and it looked very heavy, but she didn't seem to care. It had white fox fur around the base of the blade and along the think long blade itself was a light pink stripe.

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The ruler shadow was cast across the door as he summoned up a quick spell. He then blasted the door with a quick fire burst and stepped through the smoldering entrance half consciously. He stopped in his tracks as he heard a door open and slam against the wall as if some one had pushed it open as hard as they could. His eyes quickly darted to the source to see Matt standing at the top of the stairs, looking very bedraggled. He looked as if he had just gotten up, with the blankets still wrapped around his legs, probably from trying so hard to see what the noise had been. He looked restless, as if sleep had been horrible and he looked tired while nervous at the same time, if that is even possible. And all this while, he bore his sword weakly in his hand.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in. Like you'll do any damage to me in that state." He mocked in his dark tone of voice. He shot a weak magic blast to see his reaction. Matt dodged out of the way, allowing it to hit the doorway.

"I knew you were here. I couldn't sleep. I had a feeling..." Matt said. "What do you want?" Matt asked.

"Your life." He said evilly.

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Kitsu lunged in on Shadow Matt, causing him to block. She pushed the sword down on his, making him realize she was stronger than she looked. A LOT stronger. He jumped back and they began to circle each other all the while she kept humming the song happily, which kept distracting him, causing him to almost get hit a numerous amount of times. He swung his sword again, but she countered it, almost getting him. He dodged it just in time and swung at her with a side cut. She parried and sent her own blade at his face, however he managed to move his head to the side and duck down to slash at her legs, but of course she jumped over it and just his luck kicked him in the face while she was at it. Surprisingly the kick was also stronger than he thought it would be, sending him flying back a few feet. She ran up to SM, who was busy rubbing his face and kicked him down. Then she switched her blade to make a stab and sent it down at him but he lurched himself to the side, causing her blade to miss and go into the ground. SM then kicked his legs up. His feet hit her stomach and he used that to throw her over him in less than a second, making her lose grip of her sword. He shot up and whirled around only to see her pouting and glaring at him sitting on the ground. He frowned, she looked so sad.

"Are you okay?" SM asked. She nodded and held her hand out in front of her as if to summon a spell, but no hint of magic came. SM blinked, having a bad feeling. She moved her hand up and made a weird twisting motion. Then she made a sign, beckoning something to come. SM dropped his sword instantly. His eyes grew wide, realizing what she was probably doing and spun around just to have the sword stab him through the side. His eyes were wide in pain. He knew how big the wound must be from the size of the blade and he could feel the tip of the blade had gone through him completely, and was sticking out of his back. He was going to die and he knew it. And he was going to die soon. He fell to his knees, barely supporting himself with his arms. He coughed up blood and felt the life slipping from him. Kitsu laughed and walked up to him.

"On your knees, Shadow Matt." She demanded, picking up his sword and holding it to his chin. SM shook his head weakly. She rolled her eyes and pushed him to his knees with her foot. Then in a quick motion she wrapped her hands around the blade and yanked it out. SM felt his pain shoot up like a rocket. It felt as if someone had just ripped out that whole portion of his body. His mind wrenched and blocked everything out but the pain. He collapsed on the ground twitching from the pain as his blood flowed freely out. Everything went white and he was unconscious, with barely enough life left to breath. His pulse slowed, his breath stopped. Kitsu rolled her eyes. She pulled out some sort of powder and sprinkled it on him. All of a sudden SM gained consciousness again, instantly clutching his side, blood gushing onto his hand. Then he realized he wasn't dying, but rather coming back to life. Slowly his bleeding lessened and he felt his wound begin to seal up. Then, when he knew he wouldn't die from it the wound stopped healing. It still hurt terribly, but at least he wasn't going to die. He stared up at Kitsu in total confusion.

"How did you..." He asked.

"This powder will heal all things made from dark material, especially shadow replicas like yourself and the other SM, even if you're dead, since you're a shadow this powder can heal you. There are four ways, however, that this powder can't heal you. If you were killed by another shadow, if you killed yourself, if you were stabbed in the heart, and if you've been dead for over three days. If you're dead for over three days then you just turn into a normal shadow. (A/N: Lynn-chan!!! I got that from you! ^^) You won't be Shadow Matt anymore. You'll just be like any normal shadow, probably just like the shadow you were created from. You'll just cease to exist as a human. That's it." She shrugged happily. "And here you were thinking you were dead! Silly you!"

"Why did you help me?" he asked.

"Well, it was unfair. You rightfully won. You could have just killed me if you wanted to when you flipped me over. It was my own fault for underestimating you. And then, you asked me if I was okay. You must be really stupid to ask me THAT! But it was still nice so I sort of felt bad when I stabbed you through with my sword. You know sometimes, I just like killing things, but then I realized I wasn't being a good sport, and I don't like to cheat. Plus, I think that the other shadow matt, I mean dark SM would be angry with me because he would want to kill you himself. And ALSO I needed to use you to experiment if my powder actually worked. So anyways, you rightfully won. You legally beat me so I'll hold up my end of the bargain!" She said handing him the stones. Then she snapped and a harp floated into her arms and stopped playing. "So Shadow Matt. If we do meet again, don't expect me to spare you like I did today. Just because I always seem happy I do know what it is to be serious and next time we fight I'll be serious. I'll fight you and you won't win. Next time there will be no powder to save your hide. And next time I'll show you my true skills, both magical and sword. I'm not just a cute little girl." She said darkly, eyes flashing red for a split second. Then she was smiling normally again. "See you later Shadow Matt! You were cooler than I expected. It was fun playing with you! I'll be heading to the cloud palace. I think your friends will be there later. Hope they're as fun as you! Bye bye!" She said waving and with that Kitsu disappeared, taking all her spells with her, and the shadows were shadows once again. SM stood staring at the spot where she had been and shook his head, not knowing what to think.

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"I'm not sure we'll be okay if we go in there. We could freeze to death." Hotaru said, standing in front of the frozen tundra. They had left the sea dragon's island with the water stone and a heartfelt goodbye from the little sea dragon Hotaru had helped that morning and now they were on their next station and they were still wondering what to do.

"It's a snow storm. I don't know if we should go in there. I don't know if we CAN go in there." Kive replied. She nodded. Then, rummaging around she pulled out the fire stone.

"Kive? Do you think this will help?" She asked. He nodded.

"It might. It looks like its composed of magic. Let's try to go in and if it doesn't work we can just go right back out and think of something else." He said. She nodded and they both stepped in holding the fire gem. It was warmer but still significantly cold. Hotaru blinked and turned around getting a bad feeling and all she saw was more tundra. Where was the grassy field they had just entered from? She tugged on Kive's sleeve and he turned around as well. "Oh great. Me and my big mouth. We're going to freeze to death!" He shouted.

"Now Kive, let's not be too negative. Try to look on the bright side..." Hotaru said.

"What's the bright side?" He asked.

"You know, I really don't know. It just sounded encouraging." She said. He sighed. "You know, that volcano is starting to look REALLY good now. Let's go try to find a cave or something." She sighed, shivering.

"Right, okay. A cave." Kive said, teeth chattering.

(FIVE HOURS LATER)

"We're going to DIE!!!!" Kive shouted.

"N-Now K-kivve..." She started.

"Hotaru, f-for the last t-time!!!! Th-there IS no br-br-bright s-side." He said. He swore that the fire stone had lost its total effect. It was freezing!

"Look Kive! A cave!" She said excitedly, forgetting how cold she was. They stared each other and then began running to it. Finally they made to the cave and sat down.

"I feel warmer already." Kive said.

"You know, I wonder what lives here. It's a really big cave, and its sort of warm in here, like somethings in here." She pointed out. "Oh well, let's see what Shina packed in here. She practically packed her whole house! There's gotta be something here that we can burn." She said, digging around. "Hold on. I'm going to go in." She said and was gone. Kive reached in his own bag and took out the dagger and began sharpening it for lack of anything better to do.

(ONE HOUR LATER)

Kive was beginning to wonder if she had gotten lost in her bag. The dagger and his sword were sharp and shiny again and she hadn't come out yet. He began to inspect his sword again, just incase when from inside the cave came a roar. Kive stared at the inside of the cave, instantly very aware of every sound. Soon he could here the soft clicks of claws hitting the ground. He squinted at the dark abyss of the rest of the cave only to see a pair of red eyes glaring at him. He took a step back hearing the whatever-it-was let out a giant roar. All of a sudden a blast of ice was coming at him. He hoped out away quickly, only getting the tips of his boots frozen. The rest of the creature emerged, revealing some kind of gigantic white wolf creature with tiger stripes, massive three dragon tail and dragon wings. It fired an ice beam at him again and he back flipped out of the way. Kive frowned as it expanded its massive black dragon wings to their full span. Then it flapped them forward, sending a whole lot of icicles flying at him. "Crap..." He muttered, attempting to dodge them all, but he still got grazed by about three of them. The wolf thing continued doing that, and it was all Kive could do to barely dodge them all. Then, all of a sudden, Kive couldn't move his feet. He stared down at his feet and realized that the ice had frozen his feet to the ground and was crawling up his legs. He stared in horror, trying to move his feet as another group of icicles flew with his name on them. He moved his arms in the way trying to shield himself as best he could and squeezed his eyes shut, anticipating the pain. But it didn't come and he heard a roar of pain and a loud crash on the ground. Kive opened his eyes and saw a purple barrier around him and Hotaru standing in front of the wolf creature.

"Sorry about that. All the junk in that bag fell on me and it took me a while to get out. But what would you have done without me, Kive? For shame, Kive, calling me useless." She teased, putting down the silence wall. He let out a sigh of relief and put his arms down.

"Hotaru! Watch it!" He shouted, pulling out his dagger and throwing it. The dagger flew a hair away from Hotaru's shoulder and lodged itself in the wolf thing. (A/N: Poor wolf thing! *tear tear*) It let out a roar of pain and collapsed again, preventing it from flapping its wings and hitting Hotaru with a load of icicles. "What were you saying?" He asked cockily. She sighed. Kive blinked. "Whoa! What happened to it?" Kive asked. Hotaru turned around to see a cute little wolf thing barely standing with Kive's dagger in its mouth. It whipped back it head and then shot it forward again, releasing the dagger again to fly past Hotaru and at Kive. Kive stepped to the side, grabbed the dagger by the hilt, stopping it in mid-flight and sheathed it, all in one swift movement. The little wolf creature seemed to roll its eyes at Kive showing off. Then suddenly it turned human. It turned out to be a boy with wolf ears, short black hair, and blue eyes, and in that way he slightly resembled Kive. From his neck hung a wolf's tooth. He had on a gray jacket with white fur trim over a black shirt with a cute evil wolf on it and baggy gray pants. He had on wolf paw gloves and gray boots lined with white wolf fur and out of his back protruded two black dragon wings which seemed to hang very limp, just like his bushy white tail. (A/N: Sounds sort of like a certain fox girl we met a little while ago.) He was bleeding in the places Hotaru had cut him.

"Well what? Why are you staring at me, losers? Stop staring at me!! Geez, I would have won if you hadn't popped out of nowhere!" He shouted at Hotaru. His eyes stayed on her, and he blinked, eyes softening.

"Umm, why are you staring at me now?" She asked.

"Stop staring at her, creep." Kive demanded. He snapped out of it.

"I wasn't staring." He defended himself blushing. "What do you guys want anyways." He asked, changing the subject, looking away nervously. Kive's eyes narrowed in a fiery glare.

"We want the ice stone." Hotaru said. "And we want to know how to get to the clouds."

"Sure whatever." He said tossing the ice stone at her. "But about the cloud palace. That I can't do. You know since you just sliced me up I don't have enough energy and whatever to change into my second beast form, therefore, I can't use my dragon wings." He said motioning to his back. Hotaru opened her mouth to say something but Kive silenced her by interrupting.

"Hotaru, don't help him. He's a weasel! You listen here!" Kive said, picking the wolf boy by the collar of his shirt. "We beat you so we say the circumstance and you fulfill it like a good little boy." Kive said.

"I can't you jerk!" He shouted.

"Kive, leave him be. I'll just heal him." Hotaru said. Kive set him down.

"But Hotaru..." Kive protested. She silenced him by shaking her head at him.

"At least one of you has some sense." He said with a smirk.

"You better not try anything." Kive growled.

"Don't worry! I won't..." He said. "...yet." He added softly. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Uma bursted out of her bedroom. "Matt? What's going on out here?" She called out.

"Nothing. I can handle it. Go back in." Matt said sternly. Uma frowned and walked over to stand next to Matt. There she glimpsed the stranger. "I see." She said gravely. "Matt. You need rest. I can take care of this intruder. It's my job to protect this ranch and you." She said.

"No, I can't let you...." He never got to finish as Uma shoved him into his room and slammed the door shut, using some spell to lock it from the outside. Constant banging was heard from inside the room as Matt pounded on the door.

"So...what do you want? I have no sympathy for strangers who burn up my doors." She growled.

"I came here to kill the boy, but if your foolish enough to think you can take me, then go ahead and try. I'll just have to destroy you first." He said, with a shrug.

"We'll see about that." She said firing a ball of white magic at him. He easily countered it with a simple black magic attack. She frowned.

"It seems I beat you when it comes to magic skills. Care to try me with a blade?" He asked. It was almost as if he was just playing around. He could kill her now if he pleased, but why no just beat her first. Not like his time was limited.

"Fine, I shall." She said, drawing a sword from her side and lunging at him. He blocked and kicked her away. She came at him again in a fury of quick blows, but he blocked them all half- heartedly. Once again he kicked her away. She growled and began to circle him. She came in quickly for a slash, but he dodged and gave his own play swing at her, all this time barely concentrating, as if it were all boring to him. She dodged it just in time. "Quit playing with me!" she shouted.

"Is that really what you want?" He asked forebodingly. She glared at him.

"Try me, you oaf." She growled.

"Suit yourself." He said. He swung at her right and she blocked only to have it coming from her left, no wait her front, above her, she barely knew where to block next, all the blows barely missing her. She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all. All of a sudden the blade stabbed at her. She shrieked and parried as best she could but only managed to divert the blade a little and it still caught her pretty bad along the side. She winced as all of a sudden he came at her in a constant flurry of swings, faster than she could imagine. It was quite miraculous that she kept the sword from hitting her somewhere fatal, though by now she had a numerous amount of wounds, whereas, never getting the chance to go on offense, she had given him none. Again the sword was being stabbed at her, this time at her heart. She swiftly dodged to her side but was still caught along the collarbone. Another wound to add to the list. The blade flew at her almost instantly after, giving her barely enough time to block. He swirled the sword around hers causing her to drop it in surprise. She gulped in fear, but instead of being hit by the sword she felt black magic course through her and slam her into the wall behind her. She laid against the wall, the only thing that was keeping her upright as she cringed in pain, her every wound hurting ten times more than it had as she had time to feel every single one of them. The black magic had taken its toll, leaving her drained and ready to collapse.

"What a joke. I wasn't even trying." He shrugged, brushing some stray bangs out of his eyes. She stared weakly at him and saw he hadn't even broken a sweat. He sheathed his sword and began to walk swiftly towards her, scooping up her blade as he went by it. As he reached her he slammed his fist hard against the wall millimeters away from her head. She flinched away from it, shutting her eyes tight for a brief moment, thinking he was going to hit her. She opened them again to see bloodthirsty red eyes smiling at her in a dangerous way. She flinched, seeing the smirk of death on his handsome face as he towered above him. He lifted the tip of the blade to tough her chin, lifting up her face to look up at his. She stared up at him with frightened green eyes, causing him to frown with familiarity.

"What's your name, girl?" He asked, still holding the blade against her chin.

"Uma." She squeaked, tears running down her face. His eyes widened a little as he moved the sword away. He felt a sudden jolt inside of him.

"Say that again." He demanded.

"U-Uma." She said softly. He dropped the sword and stood there, as if not knowing what to do. They just stood there for what seemed like an eternity of silence. Finally he wrapped his arms around her and murmured, "I'm so sorry." She blinked, totally and utterly confused at this sudden change of attitude from what she believed was a total stranger. With a glare she pushed him away.

"Who do you think you are? If you're going to kill me then do it already. I'm tired of you toying with me." She winced. His touch had caused her wounds to hurt more. She was just ready for it to end. He looked away, embarrassed. Once again there was an uncomfortable silence. Finally he stared back at her for a brief moment with a softened look on his face before returning his stare at the ground.

"It's been...a long time...seven years, I think. Do you...not remember me?" He asked expressionlessly.

"No! No, I don't! Stop being so cryptic. Maybe if you told me who you were it would help." She said, irritated. What was with this guy? Slowly his blood red eyes lifted themselves to lock with hers.

"I'm your curse." He said, darkly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hotaru and Kive rode on the winged wolf's back, trying to ignore that they were being pelted in the face by the snow the wind blew at them. Hotaru had healed him and now he was holding up his end of the bargain. To get them to the Cloud palace. Finally they flew through the clouds and emerged in front of a white palace.

"Happy?" The boy said, turning back to his human form after they jumped off. "What? I didn't know she was here." He frowned, confused.

"Who?" Hotaru asked. He shook his head to tell her not to ask. "Wow. This place is pretty solid for clouds." She pointed out.

"Enough. Let's just go in already. I wanna get out of this weird world." Kive whined. Hotaru nodded and they walked up the many stairs and into the palace. And there, in the opening corridor stood Kitsu who smiled mischievously at them until she saw their wolf companion.

"Oka? What are you doing here? I thought you were busy." Kitsu said.

"I was but then my mistress sent me here to deal with them. I thought you were busy too." Oka said.

"No." She shook her head. "My mistress sent me here to deal with them too. I already met the other two. That Shadow Matt guy is pretty good, like the Shadow Matt we know!" She said happily.

"Really. Shadow Matt said he was really weak. Hey, Hotaru, this is my sister, Kitsu and I'm Oka. Kitsu, this is Hotaru and the weird guy here is Kive." He said.

"Hey! You work for the ruler! I knew you were no good." Kive shouted. Oka rolled his eyes.

"Oka, bug off. I want this battle. You always have all the fun. You probably battled them already." She pouted.

"Whoever said I wanted to battle them again. Take them. They're all yours." He shrugged.

"Yay!! But I want it to be fair so someone has to sit out!" She said excitedly. "Okay, I choose you Hotaru! You get to sit out. I wanna fight Kive." She said cheerfully.

"Do I have to?" Kive asked, stepping forward.

"Yes!" She said happily. She used a spell and all of a sudden a clear barrier went down between Kive and her and Hotaru and Oka. "Now Oka and Hotaru can't interfere. It's just you and me and whoever wins wins!" She said happily.

"I feel sorry for Kive. She may be younger than me, but she's a lot stronger than me when she tries. If Kive's lucky, she won't. She never did like trying." He said.

"I hope he'll be okay." Hotaru sighed placing her hand on the barrier.

Kive pulled out his sword grumbling about how he had just sharpened and polished it and she pulled out her massive sword causing his jaw to drop. "Can you even lift that?" He asked. She nodded with a smile, lifting it and balancing it by the hilt on her finger. "Gee, I didn't say show me." She puffed out her lip and pouted then hurled it at him. It stopped right in front of his nose and then she called it back like a yoyo into her hand. "Show off." Kive muttered. "Let's fight." He said. "Okay!" She said holding her sword at ready. Then, she charged at him and their swords met and she repeatedly swung at him with large swings, forcing him into defense. She swung at him from the side and he ducked and rolled to her side, getting himself farther away from the barrier. He faked a swing at her making her automatically try to block it, but then averted the swing and came at her from the other side. She blocked it just in time, but being at the disadvantage was forced to jump back. She glared and jumped in at him with a low cut but he blocked and swung at her from the side and would have gotten her, had she not managed to lean back, out of its way. He made a stab at her but she parried and tried to send her blade at him, only to have her blade countered once again. Kive jumped back and they circled. She lunged at him unexpectedly and he barely dodged, getting raked along his side. He flinched but while she was still moving forward hit her on the collar bone with his sword. She winced and stopped herself, clutching her shoulder and backing up. She glared at him and charged him again. He held his sword out. She skidded to a stop before impaling herself on his blade, giving him enough time to hit the bottom of her hand with the flat side of his blade, causing her to drop it in surprise. As it hit the ground Kive kicked it, sending it sliding across the ground, out of her reach. He flipped over her causing her to turn around and face her. He slammed his foot forward kicking her into the barrier and walked up to her. He held his blade to her neck.

"The problem with big swords like yours is that you can always see where the persons going to try to strike." He said calmly. She glared at him and tried to look over his shoulder while moving her hand. His eyes narrowed and he grabbed her arm and held it against the wall. "Oh no you don't. I saw how you controlled your sword back there. You don't think I'm going to let you skewer me do you?" He growled. "Now say I win, take down the barrier, and give me the stone...please." He added, remembering his manners for once in his life.

"Okay, okay, you win! Just get your blade away from my neck." She shouted. He sheathed his sword and she took down the barrier.

"Kitsu! Are you okay? Stupid Kive." Oka growled, glaring at Kive.

"I'm okay. Kive's mean!!!" She shouted. "Shadow Matt asked if I was okay, but no, Kive's not decent enough to do that!" She shouted.

"That loser really asked if you were okay?" Kive asked.

"Kive! Stop dissing SM. But wow. I've never seen you fight like that. You weren't that good when you sword fought with Matt." She accused.

"Like I said. The bad thing about big swords is that you can see where they're coming from." He shrugged. "Now give me the stone."

"Fine, here's the Lightning stone." She pouted. "I hope I never see you again." She shouted. "And if I do I'm going to really try my hardest and you'll be sorry. Let's go, Oka." She shouted and disappeared, taking her sword with her.

"Hey, see you later, Hotaru." He said, and then was gone.

"Geez. What freaks." Kive muttered.

"I don't know. Oka was pretty nice." She said, causing Kive to roll his eyes.

"Well, whatever. Let's get back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Shadow Matt and Isis sat by the weird alter thing. They had came back from the jungle, where they had to pass through a giant maze, but other than that it was pretty simple and they didn't have to battle anyone. The stone had just been there, waiting for them. After that they just had to find their way out again so then after that they just came back to where they were supposed to meet Hotaru and Kive. They had already put their stones in and had been waiting for hours now. It had served them right, though, for being so early. Finally they saw Hotaru and Kive walking towards them, sopping wet.

"Oh, you guys are already here? We're sorry. We would have been here earlier, but we couldn't figure out how to get down from the cloud palace. Luck of the draw, we just fell through the clouds and luckily landed in the ocean next to a sea dragon island and the sea dragons were kind enough to take us back to the beach. Shadow Matt? What happened to you?" Hotaru asked.

"I got in a fight with a fox. Didn't you meet her too? She said she was going to the cloud palace to fight you." Shadow Matt answered.

"She was too easy. What a crybaby." He rolled his eyes. "And her brother was as much of a nut job."

"I don't know. He was nice." She muttered.

"Hurry up and put the stones in, please. I really don't like this place much anymore Hotaru." Kive said.

"Oh okay." She said putting them in really fast. A large beam of light rose from the center of the alter and they all stepped through. It led them to a room where the horses were, but something was wrong. The horses were all panicking. As if something had happened.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Isis asked.

"How would you understand?" Kive asked.

"I'm an animal too. Remember? Wait they're saying something." She listened. "Something about Kiyon and Tali." She said worriedly. "Tell me! What's wrong?" She asked. She shook her head. "It's no use. They won't say anything else besides that they're in trouble. "Come on. Take us to them." Isis demanded. The horses flew around in a circle, forming a portal and flew through. The group exchanged glances of worry and stepped through.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ka-kazeru? Curse? But- But how? You're lying to me!" She shouted.

"Why would I lie? It is I, Kazeru, Ruler of Esirnus." He said narrowing his eyes at nothing in particular.

"The RULER of Esirnus? Stop it! Just stop it! Stop playing around with me. I don't know how you figured this out, or what your motive is, but stop messing with me! Curse would never have become a monster like you." She spat back at him.

"I know I broke my promise. I know I promised I would never hurt you. I'm sorry. It was so long ago...and everything's so different now. You wouldn't understand."

"Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!!! The Curse I knew never would have attacked an innocent boy who had no one to help him." She growled, holding her hands over her ears.

"That 'innocent boy' chose his own path. He knew whom he was up against. It is his own fault for trying to interfere with my destiny." He answered coldly.

"Sure. Whatever you say 'your majesty.'" She said with a mock bow. "Do you think I don't know what's been happening in the world? Do you think I don't hear of the countless death and the terror and poverty that have been caused by you? My best friend never would have took part in such injustice, much less be the cause of all it." She said, emerald eyes flaring with rage.

"Your best friend was a twelve year old CHILD. People can and do change." He growled.

"No! He was better than you by infinity times." She shouted.

"Are you DAFT? I am him and I missed you. I care about you! I always will!" He shouted, in pain from her total rejection. She had her mouth open to disagree more but stopped completely. He mentally slapped himself. He felt like he could slam his head into a wall about five..........thousand times.

"What?" She asked, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"I...did miss you and I do care about you." He said, embarrassed. Both of them once again stood there in silence as memories flooded into the both of them.

**Flash Back**

Uma exited the ranch for a walk in the fresh morning air, before the sun got to high. She strolled out, enjoying the fact that she had finished her duties to the horses. All of a sudden, amidst the road she distinguished a large black heap. As she approached slowly, with much curiosity she saw that the heap was a human. She began to sprint to it in worry. As she came to it she saw that it was a boy about her age. He was unconscious and barely breathing. She gasped. He had deep, clean gashes all over him and he was bleeding terribly. She grabbed as much of him as she could and dragged him back to the ranch. Somehow or other she had eventually managed to get him up in a bed and she spent the rest of the night watching him, using the only few white magic spells she knew to heal him, which was what kept him alive. In the morning she woke up and found that she had fallen asleep trying to take care of him. She got up to get fresh bandages for his wounds but before she could he suddenly bursted up from his bed.

"Where am I? Where is he? He's going to kill me! I don't want to die!" He shouted, causing Uma to fall over in her chair.

"C-Calm down or you'll kill yourself." She fussed, making him lie back down.

"But I don't understand. I can't seem to remember." He said softly, rubbing his head.

"Can't you see that your weak with blood loss and magic fatigue? You're going to get worse." She scolded.

"Wait, magic. He was killing me. He was hacking me to pieces. Then...then I felt...I felt...magic. And I...I can't remember anymore. Wait? Who the hell are you and how did you get here?" He asked, suddenly aware of her existence.

"I've been here the whole time, and I just got to witness that the loss of blood really is getting to you." She sighed. "Now lay down and I'll get some new bandages."

"What? I don't need your help. I can help myself!" He said.

"In case you haven't noticed, I found you out in the road and DRAGGED you to my house. And you can't help yourself! Not in the condition you're in!" She shouted.

"Oh man, I suddenly feel so tired." He said, lying back down.

"See what I mean! You just listen to me and I'll help you!" She said.

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes. "I'm sleepy now." He said, closing his eyes.

"Wait!" She shouted.

"Oh what is it now! Can't you see a guys trying get some decent sleep here?" He grumbled.

"Yeah, in my house." She muttered softly. "Anyways, what's your name anyways?" She asked.

"None of your business. Not like I'm going to be here long, anyways. Plus, I don't hear you giving me your name." He growled.

"HELLO!!!! I don't know if I've met anyone so rude, selfish, and stubborn in my whole entire life!" She shouted.

"Which is how long?" he quipped.

"You know what? This is getting really old really fast. I want some courtesy now, otherwise, I'd be MORE than willing to just toss you off this ranch!"

"Since you're so desperate, my name's Kazeru. Don't forget it. I don't plan on telling you again." He said indifferently.

"Wow. That sort of sounds like Curse." Uma said absentmindedly.

"Wha..." He said, a look of confusion written on his face. "Ummm, you do realize that Ka-ze-ru sounds nothing like curse, right?" He said, unbelieving that she could be so illogical. "It doesn't even have an S in it." He pointed out.

"Well if you rearranged the letters. It would be K-U-R-Z-E." She pointed out. His eye began to twitch.

"That's not curse, that's kurz which I have no idea what it is. And what, may I ask, happened to the A?" He asked.

"Fine. You're A curse then." She said. He slapped the front of his head with his hand.

"It would still be a kurze which sounds like ACRES not curse. It sounds nothing like curse, stupid girl. Plus my original name is nowhere close. And I don't want to be called CURSE anyways!" He shouted.

"Well who cares. That's what you are to me so that's your name here." She said as her final decision. His eye twitched.

"What a...pleasant...nickname." He managed to say sarcastically.

"My name's Uma." She said. His mind struggled to make something out of it, but alas, he couldn't come up with anything.

"Whatever. Go away now." He whined, pulling the covers over his head. She rolled her eyes. What a loser. She got up and walked out, wondering what she was going to do with this "Curse" that had been placed upon her life.

And so time passed. She took care of him while he remained weak, though he continually tried escaping in whatever ways he could. Eventually he deemed it futile and decided to wait until he got better to take care of whatever business he was so desperate to take care of. And soon he began dreading the day he needed to leave. Here he didn't have to do anything. Uma was always there to attend to his needs, however unhappy it made her. And it seemed that soon he was better again.

"Seems you're all better now. That's means you're ready to leave, right?" She asked, sitting out on the field.

"That means you won't miss me...at all...right?" He asked, sitting next to her.

"Nope, won't miss you at all." She said cheerfully.

"Good then, because I won't miss you either." He replied bitterly.

"Where will you go anyways? I always wondered what guys with no life did with there free time." She asked.

"I don't know. I have Nowhere to go. I'm all alone. I could go get revenge, but I have no idea where to start." He sighed. "But since I'm not wanted..." He got up, brushed himself off and started walking off when she called his name.

"You want to stay, don't you, Curse?" She asked.

"I never said that! Why would I want to stay here?" He asked, fakely angry.

"Curse? You can stay, that is, if you want to." She smiled and shrugged.

"Oh, I get it. You WANT me to stay. I mean, after all you live here alone and obviously can't take care of yourself." He said.

"What! Excuse me! I've been taking care of you for the past two weeks! I can take care of myself, it's YOU I'm worried about!" She argued.

"So you worry for me now?" He taunted.

"Arg! How could I even offer to let you stay? Who was I kidding? Go! Get out!" She shouted.

"Uma, I was just playing. I-I..." He said before realizing he had fallen into her trap. "You sly little..."

"Oh? So you DO want to stay! And I though you hated it here." She laughed. He growled, but knew he had already accepted. "So lets discuss earning your keep."

"Earning my keep? You mean I have to work to stay here?" He said, totally appalled.

"Yes. I always need help with the horses and the housework. I mean you do owe me. Do you think I LIKE having you around? That would be a joke. But having you around would be an advantage to me. If I could finish things faster I would finally have some free time." She said. He sighed. There just had to be a catch. So then he took care of her horses in the morning and groomed them while she trained them, fed them, and took care of her house and all that while they were slowly getting on better terms. She didn't even mind when he attempted to cook and accidentally blew up the kitchen. In fact she laughed about it for hours. And she had to admit that the horses liked him. He turned out to be a much better person than she had thought when he wasn't just laying around and giving orders. She found him to be quite charming when she looked past the annoying rude comments and the constant sarcasm. So slowly he grew on her and she on him until it was the most normal thing for them to just joke around and do everything together and it was that way for the whole year he stayed with her. Then one night he barged into her room in a frenzy. He said he had had some sort of vision and that he had to leave and he had to leave as soon as possible.

"But you can't leave, Curse!" She said chasing him out to the middle of the ranch and finally catching up with him.

"I have to. I have no choice. I-I don't want to, but..." He said looking away, telling himself that only a sissy would cry.

"But what? Don't you like it here? Don't you want to stay here with me? I can't do everything without you! Why not one more day?" She said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I can't! Don't you understand! I have to leave NOW! Don't make this harder than it already is." He shouted.

"But I don't understand! Why!" She cried.

"I promised you that I wouldn't hurt you and by staying here that's exactly what I'd be doing. I don't want you involved. I saw what would happen if I don't leave and I couldn't let anything happen to you. If he takes you away from me too then I'll have nothing. I'll be worse than dead. I have to go away. Then he'll never come here." He said, eyes narrowed.

"Who? The man you got away from when you first got here? Tell me Curse!" She pleaded.

"Yes."

"It doesn't matter! I'll help you! We can defeat him together, right? We can take him! I don't want you to leave!" She said, trying to be good spirited.

"No. You'll be killed and he'll leave me alive to wallow in my sorrow. I saw it all. It was the most horrible thing I could ever see in my life and the worst thing was that I was powerless. I was powerless to stop my mother from dying at his hands and if I stay here I'll be powerless and I'll...you'll die right in front of my eyes." He said shaking. "I can't let it happen. I have to leave. Goodbye, Uma. It was nice living here. But I should have known it was too good to last. I should have left long ago and never gotten so attached to you. Goodbye." He said turning his back on her and walking away.

"CURSE! KAZERU! WAIT PLEASE!" She cried, walking after him. He broke into a run and she began to run after him, but he outran her and she fell to her knees. He stopped at the entrance of the ranch and wiped away his tears, before turning around to look at her.

"I PROMISE UMA! I PROMISE THAT IF I LIVE THROUGH THIS SOMEDAY I'LL COME BACK TO YOU! I PROMISE!" He shouted and then turned back and ran away, vanishing into the night.

**End Flash Back**

Uma trembled as she remembered everything they had gone through together. When she found him, the times they spent doing just about everything together, and when he left her. She lunged at him hugging him fiercely, causing him to blush terribly. All of a sudden out of nowhere she slapped him, leaving him looking totally shocked and confused. She dusted off her hands and smirked contently.

"What, pray tell me, was that for?" He asked bitterly after minutes of silence.

"That was for taking SEVEN YEARS to come back. Some promise keeper." She scoffed. He frowned.

"I've been...busy. VERY busy." He replied finally.

"So I see. What have you done with yourself? You've become a total tyrant! This is not at all what I expected of you!" She scolded.

"Yea, well it's not like any of those people did anything for me. Did they ever try to help my mother to raise a family on her own? NO! They just left us in the forest alone to fend for ourselves. I heard the rumors they said about us every time we went into town! Did they try to save my family when that man came and killed my mother? NO! Out of every house in that town none of them would shelter me when I tried to escape from that murderer. You were the only other human who would accept me, and when I was forced to leave here who did I have? They would never accept me. All they are are a bunch of heartless misers who only look out for themselves. That's how all of us are somewhere inside of us. None of us can forever drown those feelings of greed, hatred, anger, discrimination, and the whole works. Uma, I couldn't kill him. He nearly took my life again. But someone gave me a choice right before I died. The choice was to gain all the power I could ever want and exact revenge on that killer and all of the other people who so easily rejected me, or die. So I chose, which is quite evident. I never knew I had magic potential or sword fighting skills, or anything...but I learned it all and look at what I can do now! Also I discovered about true human nature. It doesn't matter what happens, but we're always going to kill each other. Nothing can ever stop that as long as we exist. So what does it matter if I kill someone anyways? They were going to die eventually. They're insignificant. If they're going to die then why not I be the one to control it? And why shouldn't I be the one to benefit from their deaths? Not like they ever cared if I died. We're all simply pawns, puppets, born to die. It's survival of the fittest, but you wouldn't understand. You're so isolated here in you tiny ranch. What I wouldn't give to live your life." He said darkly. Her eyes grew wide in horror.

"W-what happened to you Curse? Y-You're not yourself." She said softly.

"What? I've changed. Of course, Uma. People change. It's what the world does to you. If I could I would have wished that things could go back to the way they used to be. Just you and me living here and managing on our own, but I don't know if it could ever be the same. I care about you more than anything, but now I have a purpose, a role in life." He said.

"You're wrong Curse. Your role in life isn't this! It couldn't be! Don't you understand that your motives are all wrong? Don't you see how horrible what your doing is?" She asked desperately trying to enlighten him.

"Come with me. Please, Uma. I could show you that I'm right. I could show you what everyone else is truly like." He said taking her hand.

"No!" She shouted, ripping it away. "I couldn't Curse. I could never willingly do what you've done to yourself. I could never sink that low. I still love you, but...I'll never learn to accept you like this." She said. He frowned.

"I have to leave then. I have...things to do. Uma, I wish you would come with me, but I don't think you can be swayed. Please try to understand. Maybe someday I'll be back again. I really do care about you." He said, turning and beginning to leave.

"Before you go.....I care about you to. I'll be here if you decide to change. I know somehow you'll see. Eventually you'll see that everything you've been doing is wrong. It doesn't matter how long it takes but I'll wait here for you to come back, because I know that eventually everything will become clear and I'll be right here for you when it does." She said with a smile. He stood in the doorway for a couple of seconds and finally stepped out, disappearing from her sights. How was she to now he hadn't left?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sky was dark around the area where they had first entered the ruins. It was not the happy golden place it had been and Tali and Kiyon were nowhere to be seen. They stared up and there was a massive black platform with strange designs all over it. The gold and white Pegasus flew up to the platform, determined to save their mistress. Everyone gasped as they saw a massive ball of magic engulf them and as they fell back to the ground. Hotaru ran up to where they landed and gasped. They were completely stone. Everyone ran up and saw.

"Oh Kiyon. What's happened to you? If you're hurt..." She growled. She stared at the black Pegasus. "Night Sky? Will you take me up there?" She asked. Night Sky nodded and suddenly grew to the size of a normal horse. Hotaru jumped on and they flew off.

"Hotaru? What are you doing? Come back!" Kive shouted up. "You can't do it by yourself! It's too dangerous!"

"There's only enough room on this horse for one. Besides, I have no choice. I have to do this." She said.

"Hotaru!! You don't have too!" He shouted, but she did not return only continued going up. "Oh god. Don't get yourself killed, Hotaru. I don't know what I'll do with myself. I don't know what Matt will do to me. Please return okay." He whispered.

Hotaru held on to the horse's mane constantly steering it out of the way of the magic that was constantly flying at them. Finally they made it to the edge of the platform, but suddenly Night Sky was hit. Hotaru's eyes grew big and she jumped off and grabbed the edge of the platform and watched in horror as the black horse struggled to fly as the stone began to envelop over it, weighing it down. It let out a cry and fell to the ground, pure stone.

"Night Sky! No! I'm so sorry." She said. Then her eyes narrowed and she pulled herself up, more determined than ever. As she came up she quickly dodged out of the way of a magic sphere that had been meant for her.

"Stop!" She heard Oka shout.

"Oka?" She called out. "If you're responsible for this!" Hotaru shouted. She stared in the direction she heard his voice and saw him grabbing the wrist of a girl about to hurl another magic blast at her. Next to the stood Kitsu, totally shocked at her brother's actions.

"Let go, stupid wolf." The girl shouted, shaking her wrist.

"I don't think it's fair." Oka said. "If you're going to fight her then really fight her."

"Oka." Hotaru growled.

"Hotaru! You don't stand a chance! You don't know who she is! You can't fight her." The girl wrenched her wrist out of his hand and fired the magic at Hotaru. Hotaru put up a silence wall and frowned seeing it had been turned into complete stone and was starting to close in. She took it off immediately. Well that wouldn't work.

"Oka, please don't interrupt my mistress. You know she's bad when she's angry." Kitsu said, for once actually worried.

"Oka. Kitsu. Go down and fight the others." She commanded. Kitsu nodded and disappeared. Oka stared at Hotaru a second longer.

"Good bye for sure Hotaru." He said and disappeared. Hotaru wondered what he meant by that. The girl's glare focused on Hotaru.

"Well? What do you want?" The girl asked impatiently. "I don't have all day. Ah yes. You're Hotaru. I've heard of you. You're the one who always needs saving. The one who always gets Matt in trouble. Where is Matt anyways? Isn't he supposed to be protecting you?" She taunted.

"Shut up. I can take care of myself. What have you done with Kiyon?" She shouted.

"You mean him?" She asked, motioning behind her. Hotaru squinted and low and behold, there was Kiyon, completely stone. Hotaru gasped and set her gaze to the girl again, a glare of total hatred dancing in her eyes.

"Kiyon! You better change him back right now! Change everything back!" Hotaru shouted.

"Or what? I'll be sorry? I'd like to see you try to defeat me! If I could defeat the Maiden of Hope what makes you think you can defeat me?" She said.

"I'll never forgive you, Midian" Hotaru heard Tali shouted.

"Psh. Whoever said I needed your forgiveness. So Hotaru. Are you challenging me?" She said. Hotaru studied her. She wore a black shirt that went down stopping before her stomach with purple trims and a weird purple pattern of lace in the front and three cuts on both sides of the shirt. It's sleeves were transparent fabric that fell loose to about halfway to her elbow and underneath them she had flat lace brassards on both arms. Right below her elbows was a poofy lavender sleeve things tied to her arms by black bands at the elbows and wrists. From the sleeves down to the bands at her wrist ran a string of lavender beads. Her black skirt had a lavender band going down with some sort of weird writing framed by gold and went down to her knees with a loop of ribbon coming down at the sides of her skirt a little lower than her knees. Her black boots went up to her knees and was held together by belts. Her own belt looked more like a purple sash, besides the fact that a sheath hung from it. Her eyes were black, just like Hotaru's and her hair was jet black with lavender streaks. In her hair, which she wore in a bun with loose hair falling from it, she wore a golden tiara with a black tear-shaped stone hanging down onto her forehead. And from her back protruded black angel wings. She really wouldn't look that dangerous if it hadn't been for the lust for death in her eyes and the dark aura that circulated around her. "Well, Hotaru? What are you waiting for? Do you want to fight or should I just turn you to stone now?" She taunted.

"I'll fight you." Hotaru growled. "I'll fight you and I'll win! Without Magic!" She shouted.

"I'd like to see that. Well if you wont use your magic, I wont use mine." She said walking over to Hotaru, unsheathing her sword while she was at it. Hotaru pulled out her glaive. They set the blades against each other, then a split second later they began to fight. The sword swung at Hotaru in a side chop and she ducked under it and moved to the side. The girl whirled around swing her sword while she was at it. Hotaru blocked it with the pole and pushed it while moving, using it to maneuver herself to the side again and simply thrust the blade of the glaive at the girl's head. The girl moved her head to the side just in time and moved to face Hotaru again. Hotaru stood poised and ready to fight again. She swung her blade in fluid circular motions forcing the girl back. The girl jumped back and flew into the air, bringing her blade down straight at Hotaru. Hotaru brought her pole in the way just in time to block it. She pushed up as the girl pushed down, but it was no use and the girl remained in the air, fighting Hotaru from there. She swung her blade at Hotaru in fast swings; so fast Hotaru didn't have time to take advantage of her weaknesses. Hotaru was driven back, going defense the whole time. All of a sudden Hotaru felt the heel of her boot go over the edge of the platform, causing her to lose concentration. Suddenly the blade was coming at her again from the side and she was caught between going forward and blocking the blow. Almost automatically she brought up her blade to counter it but was barely quick enough and the blade caught her from the edge of her shoulder to the base of her neck, where she had stopped it. She winced in pain and then realized she had started to lose her balance. The girl slammed the blade over, driving it into her collarbone and pushing her off the edge. She reached out and grabbed the edge with her bad arm, causing to almost let go in pain. Somehow, despite the pain, and using the glaive to pole her over she managed to swing herself up and slam her foot into the girl's stomach, sending her flying. Hotaru gripped her shoulder healing it a little and then charged at the girl, who was now on the ground again. The girl pushed Hotaru's blade aside and stabbed at her. Hotaru caught the sword in the fork of her glaive and pushed it up, then sidestepped, taking her glaive with her and swinging at the girl again. Their swords met with a clang and the both of them pushed as hard as they could, but were of equal strength. All of a sudden the girl ducked low, hooked her foot around Hotaru's and pulled, causing Hotaru to trip and fall on her back. She stabbed at Hotaru. Hotaru rolled out of the way wincing as she rolled over her shoulder. The girl lunged at her, blade coming down; Hotaru blocked it just before it hit her. And they pushed against each other's weapons once again. Hotaru struggled as the girl's sword got closer to her neck. Just when she felt her arms would give out the sign of Saturn glowed on her forehead and a purple glow glazed over her glaive and a large amount of force surged through it forcing the girl back.

"That was an accident." Hotaru muttered, getting up. The girl glared at her.

"You cheated so I get to use my magic too." She said, soaring up high, where Hotaru couldn't reach her. She swirled her hand around in the air, casing some sort of magic portal to appear. Then she pointed down at Hotaru and where Hotaru was it began to rain down spikes. Not like the spikes that Oka had shot in his 2nd beast form, but longer, sharper, faster, bigger, and not to mention 10x more dangerous. Hotaru put up a silence wall, but continued trying to dodge, realizing that the last time she had used her silence wall, and she was correct. The spikes passed right through it almost hitting her. She backed up attempting to dodge and still got grazed by about have of them, and every time they grazed her that part of her seemed to scream out in pain, as if it had been burned. She stumbled back and once again she felt her heel go over the edge. 'Oh no. Not again.' She thought to herself. She glared at the girl. She refused to lose. "Death Ribbon Revolution!" She shouted sending her attack straight at the girl. The attack hit her head on and sent her falling to the ground, looking totally mutilated.

"You-You'll pay for this Hotaru..." She said weakly. Then she began laughing.

"What's so funny?" Hotaru growled. Walking over. The girl shook her head refusing to answer. She raised her glaive to the girl's neck. "What's so funny." The girl stopped and smirked at her.

"Look at you. Wasting your time here messing with Kitsu, Oka, and I when your Matt is back where you left him with no one to help him when my master comes. By now, you're probably too late. He's probably dead and it's all your fault for leaving him." She taunted cockily. Hotaru's eyes shimmered in fear. "So Hotaru. Hurry back and see if he's okay. I seriously doubt it." She said and disappeared, leaving Hotaru in shock.

"Matt..." She whispered. All of a sudden the platform began to shake and fall, sending Kiyon, Tali, and Hotaru hurtling to the ground. But Hotaru didn't notice. Her mind was racing. What could have happened to Matt? Was he even alive anymore? The platform crashed down to the ground in a violent jolt, but Hotaru didn't care. Meanwhile, everything that had been turned to stone had now gotten normal again, and Tali was released from the cage she had been held in. Tali ran up to Hotaru.

"Hotaru...don't worry about it. Matt can more than easily take care of himself from what I've heard. He was chosen to come here and if he can't take care of himself fate will take care of him." She said, trying to be encouraging.

"Who was that, Tali?" Hotaru asked subconsciously.

"The maiden of kindness, Midian." She said

"She's not kind at all, that horrible witch." Hotaru shouted. "Matt...please be okay." She whispered. Kiyon ran up to her.

"Hotaru! You saved me!" Kiyon shouted.

"Now's not the time, Kiyon." She murmured. She jumped down from the platform and walked up to everyone. She looked to Kitsu and Oka.

"Go...your mistress has left you." She said.

"You're alive?" Oka asked, surprised.

"GO!" She shouted. Oka stared at her confused and then grabbed Kitsu's hand.

"Kitsu, let's go." He said, and then with that he disappeared.

"Tali, we have to leave NOW. Please just get it over with really quick." Hotaru said impatiently.

"I'll send you off now. I'll keep Kiyon a little longer. I'll give him the crest and everything. I know how worried you are so you guys go on." She responded.

"I don't get it. What happened?" Kive asked.

"Something's been going on at the ranch while you were gone. Hotaru wants to see if Matt's okay." She explained. "Okay, go now." She said, warping them off.

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Matt turned around, hearing a crash from behind him. There, behind him was Kazeru (A/N: Thought I'd exercise his name just a bit. You know, break it in.) dusting off some glass from the window.

"You! Uma better not be hurt!" Matt growled.

"Uma's fine. Worry about yourself." He said, unsheathing his sword. Matt grabbed his and got ready to fight. 'You know...why bother? I want to get this over with so I can get on to other business.' He thought, putting his sword away.

"Well if you're not going to fight me, then I'll fight you!" Matt said, lunging at him. Kazeru stepped to the side, out of the way and blasted Matt with a magic burst, slamming Matt into the wall.

"Don't be rash. Do you really think you can defeat me?" He scoffed.

"What did you do?" Matt scowled. Though he tried he couldn't seem to move.

"I used a paralyze spell. Just a simple one. My next spell will be a lot more...dangerous." He said with a smirk. He lifted Matt up by the collar and with the other hand began to charge a dark magic sphere. He began to chant something and was about to fire the magic when Dark SM suddenly popped up, startling him. He almost let it go, but stopped just in time.

"Master. Umm, their back and Hotaru's going up the stairs as I speak. We have to leave. RIGHT NOW!" He shouted. Matt let out a sigh of relief.

"Stupid IDIOT! Can't you see I'm busy? Do you know what would happen if this spell went wrong?" Kazeru raged. Dark SM shook his head no, backing off. It was no good to mess with his master when he got angry.

"Well, NEITHER DO I!!! All the more reason to make sure it DOESN'T!!!" He shouted. Dark SM nodded feverously. "Now shut up and let me finish." Dark SM nodded again. Kazeru began to charge the magic again. "This time you're going to die..." He growled to Matt. Matt glared at him, but could do nothing to stop him. Just then Hotaru slammed the door open, causing Kazeru to lose total concentration and accidentally fire the magic. Matt squeezed his eyes closed, thinking it was the end as it hit him straight on. But little did either of them know that the spell had gone terribly awry...

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Okay, longest chapter yet. What do you think? Was it okay to you? It was sort of gay, nee? Well actually it was really gay. Yeah. I hope you weren't too disappointed. It was pretty stupid, huh? Well, please review anyways. Tell me what you think. It would be much appreciated. Dang...this chapter doesn't even really make sense. Oh wellz. Heh, sorri it took so long. I've been grounded for like the past month or two and plus this it the longest chapter yet so it took me a very long time. I didn't really want to post it, but oh well. I mean, what the heck. I spent a lot of time on it, so I don't want to waste my efforts, however gay it turned out. I just posted it. Also partially cuz Lynn chan said it would make her happy. It's way to action packed!! You probably all were like wishing for it to end. Arg, it doesn't matter. I won't let it spoil my happiness of the coming of summer vacation. See yaz.

At a later time: DARN IT!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TRIES IT TOOK ME TO UPLOAD THIS CHAPTER!! NOT EVEN FUNNI!!! I mean the document manager was being dysfunctional and royally pissing me off for the like ten million times I tried to upload it. It had nothing to do with my chapter and it was only on FF.net because I could upload it onto Fictionpress.net! Oh wellz. It got uploaded didn't it? *sighs* Well, see you laterz.