The Epics of the Wolf
Chapter Six
An End to War
Suni was prepared for the worst when the dust cleared. She expected Ai to be dead. After all, San was in Puppet Maneuver. Without San's conscience keeping her power in check, San had nearly limitless power. Ai being dead seemed like the best possible outcome of the assault.
Suni gasped as she caught glimpse of Ai, very much alive. She was holding San off with an energy force field of some sort. San jumped back and Ai let the shield down. Suni ran over to check on Ai.
"She attacked once, jumped back, and attacked again. When she jumped back, I put up the barrier," Ai explained.
"Are you okay, Ai? You look upset…" Suni noted her twisted facial features.
"I'm not upset, stupid; I'm in pain!" Ai pointed out. Suni's eyes suddenly fell upon the reddened hand Ai had tightly pressed to her side.
"Ai…" Suni blinked.
"She got me on the first charge," Ai groaned softly.
"Puppet maneuver is powerful but it is also flawed. The technique limits defensive actions. This is why San jumps back after every assault - she is unable to defend herself."
"I see… So we should go on the offensive, right?"
"Indeed," Suni nodded. "I'll go first. Follow behind."
"You expect me to let you lead?" Ai snorted softly.
"It's for your protection. If she manages any counter-offense, she will hit me instead of you."
Ai saw San coming from behind Suni. "Watch out!" she cried as she forced up a barrier.
San ran into the barrier and was thrown back full-force. She hit the ground in a cloud of dust. Suni wanted to cry when she saw her sister stand up with her one arm twisted in the opposite direction.
"If you can't fight, I'll understand. I won't necessarily forgive but I'll understand," Ai stated.
"I was once told never to hate anyone… because it tainted the heart. However, I have learned something else through experience," Suni replied.
"Oh really? What's that?" Ai raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"You don't need to hate in order to turn on someone," Suni readied her blade for the taste of blood, a taste that neither her nor her weapon relished. "Come. We move."
Suni darted forward and Ai followed at a slower but relatively close speed. Ai was suffering from the wounds but they did not slow her down as much as they should have. Suni drew close to San, shut her eyes tight, and blindly swung her sword. The blade struck flesh but, before Suni could open her eyes, her sister had already retaliated, unfazed by the steaming hot blood flowing from her waistline.
Suni's eyes were frozen wide open in shock and pain. For a few seconds, all that was heard was the dripping of Suni's blood on the gritty ground. Then Suni coughed and up came blood.
Ai was worried when she saw the dagger tear through Suni's stomach, though she would never admit concern for the other girl. However, with San's only weapon burrowed so far into Suni's flesh and muscle that it would be impossible to withdraw in one swift pull, Ai realized the new advantage - San was now weaponless.
Ai took the opportunity with eager enthusiasm. She aimed for San's wounded arm and struck. The hand, along with half of the forearm, went flying off, landing a good few yards away in a bloody slosh. San seemed as if she felt no pain. She failed to respond with even a twitch of the muscles or a twisted look of pain upon her face. San stood there, cold and isolated, as her limb was hacked off and flung to the ground. Then, she drew a sword from her hip that had previously gone unnoticed and struck Ai down ruthlessly.
Ai flopped to the ground like a rag doll, moaning as a puddle of her own blood began to surround her.
"Mother… you… COWARD!" Suni hit her sister with the back of her hand, gasping for breath. "Hiding… behind your… puppet…"
"Puppet?" San asked mockingly in a voice not her own. "My dear child, could a mere puppet do all this?"
"'The mother, claimed to be sacred, shall take her one daughter and set her out on the other. There shall be much blood-letting and the mother shall take pleasure in it. She is a hollow soul, pitting the troubled daughter against the pure daughter. The heavens shall cry, mouring the sisters as they are forced to drown one another in their own blood.' So says the sacred text; so you have made it. Mother, you sicken me."
"If I sicken you so much, why don't you kill me?" San smiled tauntingly.
"That is not you… That is just your voice… You have yet to show yourself," Suni argued.
"My dear child," San laughed softly, "if you wanted me to surface, you should have just asked. I would be happy to grant your request."
Moro appeared from the den above and San retreated. Suni glared at her mother. "Come down here. I believe you have a matter to settle with my blade…"
"You poor naïve child. Once I found out about the demons and crossbreeds, did you honestly think I would not take action?" Moro asked.
"I did not expect you to brutally slaughter one of your daughter's own flesh and blood."
Before another word was spoken, before a single eye had an opportunity to blink, Suni was on the ground, her wolfish mother above her, trying desperately to bite. Suni was striving to stave her mother off with her sword, which was planted firmly in her mother's jaws, among the many sharp colossal teeth.
As her blade quivered madly between her mother's fangs, Suni could barely make out the reflection of the sunset. Suni let out a chuckle. Her mother was in for quite the surprise.
Back in the cave, hours before she had even announced that she was leaving, Suni had pulled her brothers aside and spoken with them.
"What is it, Suni?" Heroki asked.
"I am thinking of going after mother this afternoon. All I know is I can't let things keep progressing in the manner that they currently are. I was hoping I could count on your assistance."
"I would be glad to help, Suni. However, do you not think it is too much to ask of someone like Akira who follows rules so strict--?" Heroki managed to say before being interrupted.
"Do not tell me what I will and will not do, Heroki. I will come to your aid, Suni; I will be there at sunset," Akira folded his arms over his chest and Suni had almost seen the cocky smirk on his face that had faded over the years. It made her wonder why he had stopped smirking like that. His face was so hardened and cold now.
"Agreed, we will join you at sunset."
"Thank you."
Yes, they would be there any minute. Suni just had to hold on until then. In a desperate move to put an end to the deadlock between her and her mother, Suni kicked up her feet and now held the sword deep in her mother's mouth with her feet as she made an agonizing attempt to pry her sister's dagger from the wound in her stomach. Suni whimpered as she pulled the blade free from her gut in a spray of crimson. She instantly took the dagger and aimed for Moro's chest.
Another spray of crimson came, and the hot blood painted dots of red up Suni's chest and neck all the way to her cheek. Moro instantly retreated.
"Mere physical wounds. Easily healed in time. I thought Heroki would have taught you something a little more useful."
"I intended to… but you did not exactly allow me the time to teach her," Heroki appeared in the sunset with a self-righteous smile on his lips. It was the breath of hope Suni had been waiting for. Heroki and Akira had arrived.
"Oh, so you've betrayed me now too, have you, Akira?" Moro asked. "What a shame. Oh well, it was only a matter of time. I knew it would not take long. After all, you were the first to turn on me, weren't you? If memory serves, was I not the one who gave you those scars?"
Suni turned and stared at her brother. Suddenly she understood why the cocky smile had faded. The smile left when the scars appeared. Akira had been brought back to the painful realization that he had superiors in the worst of ways.
"That is the ancient past."
"Ah, but you haven't forgotten it, have you, my boy? Of course not. The scars would have faded by now if you had forgotten."
Akira had had enough. He drew his sword and lunged, heartlessly aiming his first strike as a killer strike. He missed his initial target but still struck flesh. Painted red by a gush of blood, Akira pried his sword out and struck again before Moro simply leaned down and bit into his shoulder. Akira screamed.
"AKIRA!" Suni rushed in and jabbed her sword between her mother's fangs, using it to force her mouth to open. Akira was soon released and Suni grabbed him and retreated to a safe distance. "Are you alright?"
"I'll manage," he groaned softly. "Suni, there's something you should know. You are not the first of us to go against mother and befriend the crossbreeds and other demons. I was once in love with a yoko and her brother, a yoko/wolf demon crossbreed, was my best friend. One day, Moro found out. The next day, when I went to visit, I found their den painted red with their own blood. Mitsura's chest had been torn open so that her blood filled her lungs and drowned her. She had been alive for every moment of the pain. I just lost it. I attacked Moro and I was beaten. These scars I bear are the memories of my past… the burden of my present… and the curse of my future. You do not want these scars, Suni. You must win."
"I shall not fail, my dear brother," Suni smiled kindly at her brother and touched his bitten shoulder. The wounds instantly turned to scars.
"Healing magic," Akira murmured.
"Well, I did have time to learn a few things," Suni explained. "Stay here. Heroki and I can handle the rest."
"No, I shall help."
"You have helped enough. You're exhausted. Just rest," she assured.
"We should combine our powers to attack," Heroki suggested. "Let's move."
Suni and Heroki took a rushing start toward Moro together, both with their blades drawn. As they came within range, they both struck. Moro collapsed.
"Impossible… no mere physical attack could defeat me," Moro growled.
"I shall quote the sacred text one last time before I go. 'And the dog shall be put in its place, the beast shall be sealed away, for the wicked mother has lost her grace, she has been defeated by her own children, the strays'. We beat you with the strength of our emotions; not the strength of our holy magic," Suni sheathed her sword and walked away, shortly after followed by Heroki. They returned to Akira to find a surprise.
"Akira… your scars…" Heroki stared.
"They're gone," Suni said.
"You have helped me face my past, Suni," Akira smiled sincerely. It was a very different look for him. Not necessarily bad but different.
"Where's Ai?" Heroki asked.
"Oh no… AI!" Suni ran off to where she had left Ai.
"Heh. Quit shouting. I'll be fine," Ai said softly, gasping for breath. Her blood encircled her now, in a perfect circle. There was so much blood. Suni could not believe that Ai was still alive.
"Hush," Suni knelt down beside her, a crimson splatter flying up as her knees splashed into the blood. "Be quiet. Save what energy you have left. It might allow me time to heal you."
"Quit telling me what to do, you stupid goddess."
"Ai… please…"
"You… did great out there… I'm surprised at your level… of skill… You look like such a… pushover…" Ai sighed, her head tilting into the reddened mud.
"Ai!" Suni shouted. "Come on, Ai! Don't die on me now!"
"I told you to stop… shouting. I'm right here, you stupid goddess. I can hear you just… fine."
Suni touched her hands to Ai's battered body and began healing the wounds. She knew there was a high chance that her efforts might be in vain but she tried anyway.
"I'm… not gonna make it Suni," Ai said, finally accepting fate.
"Yes you are!" Suni objected vehemently.
"Take this… to Kitsu for me… and tell him… I'm sorry…" Ai tried to hand Suni something but Suni closed Ai's hand around it again, letting her arm down, back to her side.
"No, you're taking it to him yourself," Suni insisted as she finished healing the wounds. It was only a matter of time now. Either Ai would slowly regain her energy and return to normal, or she would continue to wither and eventually fade away. Suni could only sit there and watch for the outcome, whatever it may be.
…
A/N: Ok now people, do we want Ai to live or die?