Chikiu's End

Chikiu laughed as he felt wind rush by him. The Prétear was experimenting with her new powers in order to get used to them. This gave him a great advantage. Off to one side he saw Shin rise to his knees.

"Beyondios!"

The Dark Knight knew exactly what his counterpart was trying to accomplish. Chikiu could not create plants, he could only manipulate them. Shin was hoping to use this to the Prétear's advantage. Unfortunately for him, he had not thought that Chikiu had come prepared this time. Putting a frightened look upon his face, Chikiu faced the Prétear before him.

Hayate had been watching this from within his daughter's body and recognized the look upon Chikiu's face. He began to laugh causing Atarashi to frown in confusion.

'Ata please tell me that you can see through that act.'

"Yes."

'Good, now I want you to be extra careful. He has something up his sleeve. This is your first time as the Wind Prétear.'

"Alright," Atarashi replied as she called upon the Wind Sword.

Chikiu pulled out a small leather bag. Carefully he opened it and dumped the contents onto the ground. Then he smiled at Atarashi waiting to see what she would do.

Atarashi stared at the small pile on the ground. From where she stood there was no way to clearly see what it was. However what she could see was the dark leafe that surrounded it. Did this knight know what he was getting into?

Shin attempted to raise himself to his feet. Those were seeds. If Chikiu used his power on those seeds then Ashi would have no chance. Seeing that he would never get to his feet in time, Shin placed his hands upon the ground. He filtered his leafe into the shield until it reached the seeds. Dark leafe began to fill his body but Shin refused to stop. When the seeds were finally purified, Shin collapsed to the ground. There was nothing more he could do.

Atarashi stared at the pile before Chikiu curiously. The darkness was gone. It was as if it had just vanished into thin air, almost as if it had never been there to begin with. But where had it gone?

'Ata, what's wrong?'

"The darkness," she whispered, "it just disappeared."

'That's helpful, now attack!'

"Right!" Atarashi nodded as she flew towards Chikiu.

Chikiu laughed as he called upon the power of the seeds. His laughter stopped as he realized that the extra strength they had once possessed was gone. This would make the battle much more difficult for him. Luckily he still had his weapon.

Vines flew up into the air blocking Atarashi's approach. Then every single vine just died to reveal a terrified Chikiu. His last and only defense had failed. The seeds that were in the pouch had died a long time ago. Tears filled his eyes as he waited for the sword to finish him off.

Atarashi stopped just before she hit Chikiu, he was crying.

'What are you waiting for?'

"He's not evil."

'What are you talking about? Of course he's evil!'

"No, he isn't," Atarashi argued as she knelt before Chikiu, "Now un-prét with me."

'What!'

"Please."

Hayate un-prétted with his daughter and watched as she carefully stretched a hand out towards Chikiu. Did she have any idea what she was doing?

"Chikiu? It's alright, we won't hurt you," Atarashi said smiling.

The Dark Knight looked up. Why was the Prétear helping him? After attacking her and her knights this was the last thing he deserved. Did she want something from him?

"Why are you crying Chikiu? I can't hurt you."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want to help you. Will you let me do that?"

Chikiu smiled and nodded. His hand reached out for hers. As their hands intertwined, Chikiu could feel warmth flowing through his body. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Soon his leafe began to flood throughout the entire barrier and then to the outside. Then some stayed and floated over to Shin's injured body. It nestled into his body healing every wound he had before it too vanished. The containment field vanished.

Atarashi stared at her hands in shock. Chikiu really had been a knight. He was the knight that would have been if Shin ever died. Slowly she smiled as she glanced over at Shin. Chikiu was simply a lost child with nowhere to go, until now.