Hayate's Twin

The next chamber they came upon was an empty courtyard save one man standing in the center. His eyes were filled with pain and sadness which threw them all off. It was almost as if he knew that he was going to lose. He watched them approach, never making a move to stop them. When they reached the center of the courtyard, he still stood there.

"Welcome to Hidoi's Hideaway," Kaze said.

Goh stepped forward, "Aren't you going to fight us?"

Kaze shook his head, "No I am not."

"Why?"

"Because whether or not I fight I will be purified. So there really is no point?"

Kei now asked confused, "You mean you wouldn't attack Atarashi?"

"No I would not."

Atarashi came forward, "Please could you tell me something first?"

"Certainly."

"What were you and your brothers? I need to know everything."

Kaze nodded as he began to tell her the story.

Years ago a powerful goddess by the name of Yasashi created leafe. It filled the world that it lived in joy and happiness. However peace is never meant to last. The leafe grew restless.

So Yasashi took a bit of leafe from the seven major sources: wind, sound, light, fire, ice, water, and plants. From this leafe she created the first seven knights. These knights were charged with the protection and management of the world's leafe. But at times too much dark leafe would appear.

Therefore a girl in the world would be chosen for her remarkably high levels of pure leafe. The knights would find her and together they would protect the world's leafe. There was still one problem though. When the knights were killed in battle their leafe simply faded away into the world.

Yasashi saw this problem right away and so she created a plant that had eight blossoms. Within these blossoms were held seeds for the rebirthing of the knights. There was a blossom for each knight and the final one in case all seven knights perished.

Hidoi was born from too much dark leafe being collected in one area. When this happened she snuck into the chamber where the blossoms were and stole one of the seeds from the eighth blossom. From there she used her dark powers to make it bloom. Then she gave her own silver bands to the knights born from it.

"And that is where we come from," Kaze finished, "We are all so weak because we weren't supposed to be fully developed. The real knights are still alive and so we weren't even supposed to be alive."

Atarashi nodded as she held her hand out to him. He hesitated before taking a hold of it. Warmth filled his body and he smiled. His leafe flew throughout the room but a single piece stayed with Hayate. Everyone remained silent for a long while before Atarashi turned to her knights smiling.

"Well what are we waiting for? Don't we have an evil girl to get rid of?"

The others laughed as together they moved into the last chamber where Hidoi sat smiling at them from her throne. Nothing else filled the room except for a dark tablet behind Hidoi.

"Welcome," she whispered, "I do hope you enjoy your short stay here as much as I will."

Mannen ran forward, "You are going to pay for what you've done!"

Ice flew towards Hidoi only to bounce away from her harmlessly. The dark woman laughed at the look upon Mannen's face.

"My dear boy I stronger than that," she hissed, "But since you were brave enough to attack I will reward you with a gift."

A tablet came up from the floor. Attached to it was the boy that Hayate had seen at the ice arena. Mannen fell to the ground in shock. How could Hidoi have known that this was his weakness?

"Isn't this a beautiful sight? This human is so misunderstood by everyone around her. Why you ask? Because everyone thinks that she is a boy! But not you, Mannen. No, you are the one person who came to understand her in this cruel world. You know how to talk to her."

"Stop it!" Mannen screamed.

"Don't you get it? I not only know your weakness but I know the weakness of everyone in this room. And now I am going to let each of you face them in front of everyone else beginning with you Ice Knight!"

Darkness suddenly reigned down upon the captured girl. Her eyes flew open instantly and she let out a blood curdling scream. The others froze until Goh pulled himself out of the shock and grabbed the stunned Mannen. Then he faced Hidoi.

"Leave him alone!"

"Very well, let's visit your weakness then."