Disclaimer: Okay, since the characters we created are getting fairly numerous, if it doesn't sound like it belongs to us then it probably doesn't. Please don't take any of our characters or any part of our story without our permission first. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takashi.
Ayame: Shut up or I'll rip that cheap a wig over the bald spot I gave you at the end of the last chapter off!
Sessuna: You do and I'll punch out your dentures!
Ayame: Yeah? You and what army?
Sessuna: The characters I've created; that army!
Sitara, Iren, and Sailor Earth walk up behind Sessuna, cracking knuckles, (Well, the ones that have knuckles. Iren doesn't.)
Ayame: Oh yeah? My characters are better! And two of them are evil, so you know they'll fight dirty!
Sauda, Kieran, and Xantara walk up behind Ayame.
Ayame and Sessuna: ATTACK!
The two sides rush at each other. Ayame and Sessuna collide in a tangle of arms and legs. Various screams and curses can be heard clearly coming from the grappling pair rolling around the floor. Everyone else has stopped to watch the battle, egging on their respective creators. Only Xantara in not encouraging the fight.
Sitara: Yeah! Hit her again, Sessuna!
Iren: Bite her, Ayame!
Kieran: Iren, you are such an idiot! You're supposed to be cheering for Sessuna! She's your creator!
Iren: Sweat drops. Oops. Heh, heh. My bad. Go Sessuna!
Sauda: Poke her eye out! Beat the crap out of that little goody-good! Go Ayame!
Sailor Earth: Ooh, ow. That's gonna leave a mark. That's... okay, that's disgusting, Ayame.
Sauda: Heh, heh. I taught her that.
Xantara: As you can tell, Ayame and Sessuna are busy right now, so I will introduce the next chapter. So without further ado, here's Chapter 6. Oh, come on Sessuna! There's no reason to fight dirty just because Ayame does!
Chapter Six- Into the Forest
By Ayame and Sessuna
Rini climbs the steps steadily, the pain caused by her trip down the stairs reduced to a dull ache. Iren was still on her shoulder chatting happily about his day, some of the more interesting beings he knew and his encounters with them, (most of which Rini noted, ended in pain, curses, and various threats of bodily harm aimed at Iren who honestly believed they were just joking.)
"Iren," she said in the middle of his story where a silver dragon had tried to eat him after Iren had hit the dragon in the eye with a vase. Rini, fortunately, had interrupted before she discovered how Iren had pulled off this amazing feat of idiocy. "Are we near the top yet?"
"Top? Oh, yeah. I forgot to concentrate on getting to the top."
"Why is that important?" she asked in a strained voice.
"You cannot get to Uriel's throne room unless you concentrate on going there."
"Iren..." Rini said in a low and threatening tone. "Concentrate or I'm going to throw you down the steps!"
"Ha, ha! You're funny!" Iren screwed up his face in obvious concentration that also looked a little painful to Rini. "Take a step up," Iren panted.
Rini took one step up and suddenly in front of her was a large panel with a six-pointed star carved onto its surface. Iren laid one paw lightly on the wall's surface; the top-most point of the star flared white. A line started at the top of the panel in the center and traveled to the bottom. The newly formed double-doors swung outwards narrowly missing Rini. A blinding light from within the room forced Rini to cover her eyes and turn her head to the side. She could make out the silhouette of someone (or something) sitting to the side of the room. Rini peered between her fingers to the center of the chamber. Iren cried, "Uriel!" and ran towards the profile of what appeared to be a man with large angel-like wings.
Rini then heard a deep, kind voice say, "Welcome Future Moon Princess."
"Who are you?" Rini asked the profile, a touch afraid.
"All your questions will be answered when everyone is here. For now, all you need to know is that I am Uriel, High Lord of the Light Realm."
Meanwhile...
Sauda pushed the doors to Lycoris' room open. Kieran had opted to stay in the hall outside. As always, the room barely had enough light to see, just the way Sauda liked it. The High Lady was completely cloaked in shadow, save her hands, which were meticulously, adding details on a clay doll roughly the size of an average human.
"Put the broach on the bed," Lycoris commanded, never removing her gaze from her creation.
Sauda tossed the bauble onto the pillow, not wanting to get any closer to the deranged leader than she already had to. "Have you found out where the Elemental leaders' allegiance falls?"
"We control Earth, Water, and Air, though the current leader of Air is in the process of being usurped."
"And here I thought Sesshoumaru would want to eradicate the humans with us."
"Yes, so did I. He apparently is more of his father's son than we all thought. It doesn't matter though. Only that irritating little toad that follows him around supports him, oh, and that human he took in."
Sauda raised an eyebrow. Human? But she didn't voice her doubts that the cold-blooded Leader of the Air Realm would take in a human. "What do you want me to do next?"
"Our hold over the Earth Realm is tentative. They are all cowards, but if they learn that the rightful ruler is alive, they may rally against us. Some of her servants are currently wandering around the Forest of Confusion. Find them and kill them. Take Kieran with you if you want. I have Seen that Sitara is there as well. The Scouts will mistake her for you and chase after her. That will be the perfect place to kill them as well. The forest will separate and disorient them for you."
"It's not like there are many of them left. Why worry about them?"
"Fool! The one you should have killed brought them all back! Look within the unicorn blood to see the truth of your error!"
Sauda tore her eyes off Lycoris still molding the doll and walked to the basin with the glowing liquid in the center of the room. As she stared at it, a view of the carnage she had wrought appeared. She frowned. The clearing appeared to be on fire, but as she continued to watch, the fire moved to the dead and dying. The flames licked at the wounds and began closing them. Everyone who had fallen began to stir. She growled as the friends hugged those who they thought gone forever, and to make matters worse, the group now had another Shikon Shard, courtesy of Kohaku. The blood in the basin focused on a young girl with black hair in red. Sauda's eyes narrowed as an image of the same girl in a different suit flashed in her memory.
"The one in red can now control the phoenix. The phoenix healed all their wounds and brought the dead back to life."
"How can you defeat someone who can bring the dead back to life like that?"
"By killing her, or keeping them dead long enough."
"What do you mean?"
"The phoenix may be powerful, but everything has a weakness. The flaw in the phoenix's power is that if the person has been dead long enough, then they cannot be brought back. Keep them dead for a few minutes and they'll stay dead."
"Provided we don't get a hold of them."
"Yes," Lycoris agreed. She stopped molding long enough to snap her fingers before beginning to shape a nose on the doll. A curtain to the side of the room flew open. Behind it stood half a dozen creatures with bronze colored skin. The lack of any lips revealed a set of very sharp teeth made for ripping into their enemies. Where their eyes should have been, there was a red iris in each socked instead; each one seemed to glow with an inner life. Their unkempt black hair was greasy and falling out in places.
Sauda shuddered involuntarily. The Fallen were on the very short list of things that unnerved her. Very few beings were not unnerved by the Fallen. The one-time humans who had given their souls to Siyamak during the War shuffled out into the center of the room.
"Take these with you as well. Do not fail me Sauda."
"Yes milady." Sauda motioned to the Fallen to leave the room before her. She didn't dare have one of them at her back. The doors to Lycoris' chamber swung open. Out in the hall, Sauda could hear Kieran squeak in terror as the first of the Fallen shuffled past in their tattered clothes. She walked out behind the last of the demonic horrors and looked for her only friend. Kieran was curled up in small ball in a corner trembling. She stooped and picked him up, cradling him in her arms.
She took one last look at the woman in the room as the doors swung shut and shook her head sadly. Lycoris, the once beautiful creature from the Light Realm, had gone mad from being in this lightless world. The doors clicked shut, blocking out the insane mumbles of her insane mother.
Sauda stood up and walked down the hall after the Fallen to a portal to the real world.
To Be Continued...
Ayame: As you can probably tell, Sessuna and I are not really friends anymore. (We really grew apart; she's always busy with college, and I have a full-time job, so we don't really see each other very often anymore. We didn't beat the crap out of each other; I just wrote that because it's funny.) Anyways, as it stands, I'm left without a writing partner, so I'm currently in the market for a new one. Should anyone wish to help me, write me privately at let me know. I need a good reason to let you in on all the plot twists that Sess and I came up with other than, "I really want to know what will happen." All I need help with is to come up with ideas on how to get each character from plot point A to plot point B in a plausible and non-cop-out way. (I.E. No they were in a forest and then all of a sudden they're in the Light Realm with no real explanation as to why.) I'll also need a little help with research, which I'll explain more of to whomever ends up helping me. This is all just for fun, so don't expect anything really great out of this, though the good reviews do make you proud of what you've helped to create. Okay, now that that's out of the way, please review this part of Chapter Six.
