Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.
A/N: thanks for the reviews! I hope this chapter is up to par.
Takeru sighed slightly as he shifted in his sleep. It had been just less than a week since the group had left Larin's, but it had been a tiring week. No, not tiring physically, they hadn't encountered any enemies, but tiring mentally. They were all straining themselves to find answers to their questions about Karina, Larin, The Abbey, The Watcher, but were getting no closer to the solutions.
As Akio turned over and shivered slightly, Takeru instinctively pulled the boy closer. He then automatically opened his eyes to check on his other sleeping partner. His eyes widened when he saw that she was gone. Propping himself up on his elbow, he looked around, still not seeing her. However, all of the wolves and lionesses were here, so she probably hadn't gone far.
/Rage/ he asked, rousing the wolf that they were using as a pillow.
/What is it Takeru/ the wolf asked, yawning.
/Where did Katya go/
Rage perked up and looked around. /I don't know. I didn't feel her get up./
/Me neither/ Takeru mumbled, concerned. /I'm gonna go find her. Stay with Akio./
/Are you going alone/ Rage asked.
Takeru nodded as he gently eased Akio off of him and stood. /I'll be fine./
He sensed that Rage was less than satisfied. Sighing at the overprotectiveness, he patted the wolf's head.
/If I'm not back in thirty minutes, you can send one of the others to find me, alright/
Rage nodded and Takeru walked off. Sending out a mental radar to search for Katya, he found that she was about a mile to the east. There was also something else with her. It was dark, elusive. He couldn't get a fix on it; that worried him more than anything. Moving quickly and quietly, he headed towards the pair.
After a few minutes, he was only a few yards away, yet he couldn't see them yet. He ducked behind a tree and cautiously peeked around it, not sure that he wanted to be seen by whatever was with Katya. His eyes widened as he saw Katya kneeling down with a shadowy figure over her. He recognized its immense form immediately; the Portal of Death. He hadn't realized that her six month period had come.
He gently edged around the side of the tree, knowing that he could do nothing to help Katya, but wanting to be there when she came back to her body. He knew that she would probably be very scared, seeing as how she was the Light Mage and the Portal of Death was complete darkness. He only hoped that it wouldn't have too much effect on her.
As he leaned against the tree and watched carefully, the figure of the Portal of Death flickered a bit, and completely disappeared. Seconds later, it returned. The Portal of Death then removed his 'hand' from Katya's forehead and stepped back. Casting a quick shadowy glance at Takeru, dark shadows encompassed him and he disappeared for good. Katya's form stiffened before falling to the side, landing on the ground.
Takeru rose and walked over quickly, making sure that the Portal hadn't decided to take too much energy, as he almost had with him. Kneeling down, he placed his hands on either side of her head and searched for her Life Energy. He wasn't sure how he knew how to do that, he just did. He frowned as it took him a while to find it. When he finally did, he noted that it was very low; the Portal must have enjoyed his feast, he thought cynically.
Rolling Katya onto her back and holding her upper half in his arms, he gently shook her shoulder. She groaned quietly and opened her eyes. After a moment or two, she focused on the boy holding her.
"Are you alright?" Takeru asked her, using the soothing Old Tongue.
Katya nodded slightly, and Takeru could feel her trembling slightly. "I-I think so. Did-did you have to..."
"Deal with death?" he completed her thought. "Yes, it was that time when Apocalypse carried me back from the stream, when I told him to tell you that I was only sleeping."
"Why didn't you tell me the truth?" she asked quietly. Takeru could sense a hint of hurt in her tone.
"I knew you needed to experience it for yourself before you could understand," he answered, hoping that it satisfied her. Apparently, it did, for she stayed silent. He continued. "Go back to sleep now, I have something at the camp that will have you back to normal in no time."
Smiling gratefully, Katya closed her eyes and let her head rest against Takeru. He gently lifted her and started to walk back to camp. He frowned when he got closer; he could hear the other's moving around. Looking down at Katya, he realized that it was probably better if they didn't see her weak and helpless like this.
/Tempest/
/Yes/ the wolf answered immediately, as if she had been expecting it.
/Katya and I are just a little bit from the camp. We need that canteen that Akio had a month or so back. Do you remember/
/Yes, I will bring it now./
/Thank you/ Takeru replied as he placed Katya gently on the ground.
Just seconds later, Tempest appeared, canteen in her teeth. Takeru ruffled the fur on her neck as he took the canteen from her. Kneeling down again, he uncapped the canteen, lifted Katya's head, and held the mouth of the canteen to her lips. Carefully, he poured a little in. Almost immediately, she woke up again. Takeru helped her with another few drinks before recapping the canteen. It was still about a fourth of the way full.
Katya sat up, energy restored. "Where did you get that?" she asked, surprised.
Takeru shrugged. "I didn't get it, Akio did. He brought it to me after I had my encounter with the Portal of Death. He said it just appeared."
Katya frowned in confusion; that was certainly...odd. However, if there was no explanation, there was no explanation. Leaning over, she gave Takeru a quick kiss.
"Thank you for coming to find me," she said quietly. She really was quite grateful, that experience with the dark Portal of Death had been very frightening.
"Heh, no problem," Takeru replied, slightly flustered from the unexpected display of affection. "We should probably get back, though," he added a few seconds later.
Nodding, Katya stood. The group of three then walked back to camp. When they got there, Hikari and Hiroki turned to look at them.
"Where were you two?" Hikari asked.
Takeru shrugged. "We just wanted to go for a walk. But, we're back now, so where do we go from here?"
"Well," Hiroki started, "Fury found an old building a few miles from here, it might be worth checking out."
Katya nodded in agreement. "Maybe it has some clues about the Abbey."
"One way to find out," Hikari added, walking over towards the kneeling Whisper and placing Miyo on her back. "Let's go."
The others nodded and went to their own Shadow Beasts and Spirit Animal; Akio rode with Katya. It took them only a few minutes to reach the old building in question. It was made of crumbling stone and had moss growing on the walls. Chunks of stone were littered all around, also overgrown with moss and vines. The area around the building was very quiet, eerily so. There were no birds, or bugs, or any kind of wildlife at all. Odd, considering that the building was in a clearing right near a forest.
As the group began to slowly wander towards the building, Takeru got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right here, he just didn't know what was wrong. It felt dark, but in a shielded sort of way; like nobody wanted others to know what it was truly like. He internally shrugged, maybe he was being paranoid. There was probably no reason to tell the others just yet.
When they reached the entrance to the old, crumbling building, the humans decided that it would be better if the Shadow Beasts and Spirit Animals stayed outside. There was no telling when or if the building would collapse completely with so much weight, especially since there were most likely lower levels. The animals didn't like the idea at all, but they knew that they had to obey their masters. Removing their weapons to lighten their loads, the Guardians turned back towards the door.
Satisfied that it was relatively safe, the six humans cautiously walked into the building, expecting to find it just as run down as the outside; they were not disappointed. Whole sections of the roof, walls, and floor were gone, leaving big gaping holes. Katya and Hikari pulled the two children closer, afraid to let them go, lest they should fall down one of the dark empty spaces.
The room that they were in was simply a large rectangular room. Worn out tapestries hung from the walls, and a tattered carpet was on the floor. Several decaying pieces of wooden furniture lined the walls. The several doors in the room were made of rotting wood too, and many were blocked with fallen pieces of ceiling.
As he looked around, Takeru tried to ignore the bad feeling in his gut. It was just an old, abandoned building, he told himself, he could sense no evil beings, so what cause was there for alarm? Suddenly, he felt a tug at his arm. Looking down, he saw Akio, smiling secretively. The younger boy beckoned for the elder to lean down. Takeru obliged.
"Guess what," Akio said, trying to hide his excitement.
"What?" Takeru replied, smiling slightly at the kid's enthusiasm.
"I found something."
"Really? What did you find?"
Akio's smile broadened and he tugged Takeru towards the far corner. "This way Papa."
Takeru followed the younger curiously, wondering what he could have possibly found in this run-down place. The corner where they were heading had a large slab of rock leaning against the wall, creating a lean-to of sorts. Akio pulled him around the far side of the slab of rock and into a small hollow. Once there, he pointed proudly in front of them.
"It's a door," he stated, "But it's not like the others."
Looking through the darkness, Takeru saw that the young boy was right, it wasn't like the other doors. Those doors had been very decomposed but this one, while made of wood also, was in perfect condition. There was barely any dust on it at all. There was a new lock on it as well.
"Good job Akio," Takeru praised, "Let's go tell the others."
Akio nodded, very happy that his Papa wanted to share his find with everyone.
"Hey, guys!" Takeru called as he stepped out into the main portion of the room again. "Come see what Akio found."
Curiously, the other four came over. Takeru showed them the door. They all looked at it, confused.
"What is a new door like that doing in this shabby building?" Hikari asked, voicing what they had all been wondering.
Hiroki frowned. "Let's see where it goes," he suggested.
He tried to open the door; it was locked. Frustrated, he called upon a ball of blue fire, the hottest there was. He held it up to the lock, effectively melting it. Smirking, he stepped back and pushed te door open. It stuck at first, but slowly relented, revealing a tunnel. Katya sent a ball of light a few feet into the tunnel. They could see that it looked as well kept as the door. The entire tunnel was made of finely cut stone, and there were torch holders every few feet.
"Should we go in?" Katya asked finally.
Takeru nodded. "We should, but these two should stay out here," he said, referring to Akio and Miyo.
"But Papa-" Akio began.
Hikari cut him off. "He's right. We don't know what's down there, it might be dangerous. Stay with the animals where we know it's safe."
Akio and Miyo were ready to protest again, but stopped when they saw the look on the elders' faces. They knew they didn't have a chance of winning, so they just stuck out their lower lips and pouted.
Katya smiled slightly. "We'll be back soon, just promise you'll stay here."
"We promise," they chorused grumpily.
Shaking their heads in amusement, the four Guardians turned back towards the tunnel and started to walk in, Takeru leading the way through the darkness. At first, it was simply flat, but then it gradually began to slope downwards, carrying them farther and farther beneath the surface. After a few minutes of that, it leveled off again. The whole time they were walking, the four stayed quiet, well aware of the potential danger that could be lurking around every corner. After all, just because Takeru didn't sense it, didn't mean it wasn't there.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, the passage seemed to end. Frowning, Katya called up a ball of light to examine the situation more closely. She walked towards the wall slowly, looking for any inscription or something that might indicate why it was there. The others stood back and let her work.
Placing a hand against the wall, Katya found that it was actually a real wall, not an illusion like she had hoped. But, there had to be some way to get around it, it didn't make sense for such a well kept tunnel to simply end in a stone wall.
Keeping her hand on the wall, she closed her eyes and concentrated, searching for a way to get around this obstacle. Suddenly, the world inside her head began spinning and she found herself in the same place, but another time. She didn't know if it was the future or the past.
She noticed movement to her left and turned quickly, expecting an enemy. However, the cloaked person didn't even seem to notice her as it approached the wall. Katya watched with interest as the figure removed a hand from its cloak and placed it against the exact middle of the wall. Then, a bright flash came from the figure's hand and, when it disappeared, so did the wall.
Then, just as suddenly as the vision had begun, it disintegrated and Katya was thrown back to present time. Still in a trance-like state, she placed her palm against the center of the wall and surged a bit of light energy through it. As soon as she called the power back, the wall vanished.
Behind her, Hiroki smirked. "Nice job."
"Thanks," Katya replied, flashing him a smile. "Now, let's see where this goes."
They all walked quickly through the space where the wall had been. As soon as they had passed through, it reappeared. Ahead of them, they saw another door. This one was metal with decorative gold symbols. Approaching cautiously, Takeru tried to open it; this one wasn't locked.
Giving a signal to stay quiet and alert, Takeru pushed the door open and slunk inside. The others followed suit. Hugging the walls, they crept along the passageway. Suddenly, it branched off in several directions, each open passage circling high above a collection of rooms with stairs leading from the walkway down to the floor. Going on instinct, Takeru chose a path to their direct left. He crept silently, half crouching to remain hidden. He saw that the others were following his example.
When the walkway they were on became suspended above a small room, Takeru laid down on his stomach and peered over the edge. He had to catch himself to keep from gasping and being discovered for, down in the room, Tejuku, Keitya, and two other children stood. Next to him, he felt Katya stiffen. The two Elementals didn't seem to understand. However, Takeru couldn't explain just yet, any noise could get them caught.
Staying silent, he tried to hear what the group was saying. The strange boy was the first one he heard.
"I can't believe that Master wants us to work with him."
"Believe it Rioku. Master says that it is the only way to secure victory," the strange girl replied to his statement.
"Of course you don't mind, you'd do anything to stay on Master's good side," Rioku stated scornfully.
"That's because I have brains, something you're obviously lacking," she shot back.
"Shut up you two," Tejuku ordered. "It's bad enough around here without your constant bickering."
"Seriously," Keitya agreed. "You two sound like an old pair of bitter lovers. Besides, it's not our place to question Master and Mistress. We'll work with this...this person because they told us to. We should give it no more thought than that."
"Oh gee, sorry I'm not excited about having to help one of our enemies," Rioku said sarcastically.
"Well excuse us for not wanting to be punished for defiance," the strange girl retorted.
"Irika, enough," Tejuku ordered more firmly. "You too Rioku. Keitya's right, we do what we're told, like it or not. There will be no more fighting about this, am I understood?"
The two looked down. "Yes Tejuku," they mumbled before glaring at each other.
"Anyway," Tejuku continued, taking out and sharpening one of his swords. "As Rioku inadvertently pointed out, this man is just one of our enemies. We can use him to rid ourselves of another before turning against him."
Rioku was about to reply, when he stopped and tilted his head. "Do you sense something off?" he asked quietly.
Tejuku's eyes narrowed and he concentrated too. Suddenly, his eyes widened and darted up towards the walkway where the Guardians had concealed themselves. Frowning deeply, he motioned for the others to follow him as he transformed to his true form and flew up. Unexpectedly, the walkway was empty. But, he could have sworn that he had felt his energy. Could have sworn that his accursed brother was here. Even now, he could sense lingering traces of the Shadow aura given off by his twin.
Looking around one last time, he inwardly shrugged, still discontented, and glided back to the ground. At that same second, the door to the room opened.
"All of you are to report to the Master's private quarters immediately," a small voice said.
Tejuku nodded curtly, transformed back to human, and walked out of the door, the other three following hesitantly. A meeting with the Master was really the last thing that they wanted.
Up on the walkway, Takeru called back his shadow energy, causing the dome that had been shielding them to disappear. That had been way too close. If Tejuku had moved one foot further, he would have bumped into the barrier, and they would have been discovered.
"What now?" Katya whispered so softly that it almost wasn't heard.
Takeru frowned; they couldn't just leave, but they were probably seriously outnumbered. It was quite the dilemma. Choosing cautiousness over curiosity, he answered.
"We'll go now, and come back later with a couple of our Shadow Beasts, they can fit, and would give us security."
The others nodded, following his logic. They began to silently creep back the way that they had come. They had almost reached the point where the walkways merged again when a figure suddenly dropped in front of them.
"I knew it," Tejuku stated haughtily as he and the other three surrounded the group.
Not giving the surprised group of Guardians any time to retaliate, Irika called in a cloud of green fog. The Guardians were paralyzed instantly. Tejuku knelt down in front of Takeru and stared into the boy's blue eyes. He could see the anger there, the power that was being gathered. However, until Takeru had gathered enough energy to break the paralyzation, he was completely helpless; Tejuku could destroy him then and there...but Master and Mistress wanted them alive.
Scowling in rage and frustration, Tejuku raised his fist and brought it down on Takeru's head, knocking him out. The other three were incapacitated in the same way. Irika called back her green fog and looked down at the group with disgust.
"Well, that was easy," she commented, "I expected more of a fight."
"And you would have gotten one," Keitya started, "If they had really wanted to get away."
"What do you mean?" Rioku demanded.
"I fought the Light Mage before, and I know that she's more than powerful enough to break the paralyzation in a second or two, yet she didn't, neither did the others. A small part of their minds must have wanted to be captured."
"That doesn't make any sense," Irika stated.
"It makes perfect sense," Tejuku spoke up. "Subconsciously at least, they want to know what's going on, getting captured is the perfect way to see the inside of an operation. They must have guessed that we wouldn't kill them, and decided to take a chance."
"What do we do with them now?" Rioku asked. "I mean, Master wants them to be taken to him, but should we give them what they want?"
"We don't have a choice," Tejuku replied shortly, hefting Takeru not-so-gently onto his shoulder. "Come on, we have to get them to Master and Mistress."
/o-o/
A few hours later, Tejuku sat, perched on a crate, watching the still form of his twin inside one of the cells. The Mistress had ordered that the Guardians be taken to the prisons until further notice, with Takeru separated from the rest, and Tejuku was to watch Takeru. Of course, being anywhere near Takeru disgusted Tejuku, so he had spent the past hours sending death glares at the blonde, hoping that he would just suddenly die or something.
Actually, take that back. He didn't want Takeru to just die, he wanted to be the one to kill him. He had a score to settle and he'd be damned if he failed. However, for the time being, he could only do as his Mistress ordered.
His scowl deepened as the figure inside the cell groaned and moved. The bastard was waking up.
"Finally awake?" Tejuku asked scornfully. "It's about time, I was getting tired of babysitting."
Takeru pushed himself into a sitting position and glared back. "Don't you have somewhere else to be? Playing the perfect pet to your mistress, perhaps?"
"Shut up bastard!" Tejuku growled. "You don't know anything!"
"Oh, I see," Takeru replied knowingly. "Your orders are to stay here. And, being the great lapdog you are, you're obeying completely, even though you'd rather slit my throat."
"Damn right I would," he shot back. "And I will soon enough. You'll see."
"When your mistress says it's okay, right?"
Tejuku simply scowled at him. Takeru decided to change his tone and try to get information out of his brother; he shuddered as he thought that word.
He looked around. "Where are we anyway?"
"I thought you had all the answers," Tejuku sneered.
"Not all, just most. Now, are you going to answer, or don't you know?"
"Of course I know," Tejuku scoffed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you, since your going to die anyway."
Takeru raised his eyebrow at the last statement, but stayed quiet.
"You're at the Abbey," Tejuku continued.
"I was right then," Takeru remarked off-handedly. "I thought that is what this might have been. I never thought that you'd be working for them though."
"Why not?" Tejuku asked, eyes narrowed.
Takeru shrugged. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're powerful. I can't understand why you would degrade yourself so, by serving others here."
"I'll have you know that many others here are much more powerful than I."
"Like Karina?"
Tejuku's eyes widened slightly. How the hell had he known about her?
Takeru smirked. "So I was right again, Karina is one of the Abbey members."
"What of it?" Tejuku challenged, trying to act naturally.
"Tell me, is she the most powerful of the Abbey members?"
"One of the most, what's it to you? Hey," he said as he saw that Takeru was smirking again. "What's so funny?"
"I was just thinking of how pathetic you are. I mean, serving people as weak as Karina? I could beat her with my eyes closed."
Tejuku's face flushed with rage. "As I recall, she defeated you both times you met up."
"She ran right after she attacked," Takeru replied simply. "She was afraid to face me, because she knew she couldn't win."
"That's not true!" Tejuku defended his mistress automatically.
"Isn't it?" Takeru replied cooly. "Why else would she send you to face me instead of confronting me herself?"
"She knows I have a score to settle."
"She doesn't give a damn about our 'score,' she's using you, surely even you aren't so dense that you can't see it."
Tejuku scowled again. "You're wrong."
"Am I?" Takeru challenged.
There was silence for a few moments between the two. Then,
"So what if she is using me? I still get what I want."
"And what's that? The chance to kill me? Well, here's a news flash; you're definitely not the only one who wants to kill me, Karina does too. Do you really think that she'd let you kill me instead of taking advantage of the chance herself?"
Tejuku stared at Takeru, desperately wanting the boy's logic to disappear. His Mistress couldn't, wouldn't, do that to him...would she? She knew how much getting revenge meant to him, it was his only purpose in life. She wouldn't take that away from him. But...what if she did?
He continued looking at Takeru. Maybe he should just kill him now and be done with it. He could handle whatever punishment he would receive; after all, with his revenge complete, it wouldn't matter if he died. Mind set, he stood and drew his dagger. He'd have to do this the regular human way, as each dungeon was equipped with a copy of a numbing stone, preventing both boys from using their powers. However, Tejuku had the advantage because Takeru was still weak from the poisonous fog.
As he prepared to open the door to the cell and lunge in, driving the dagger straight through Takeru's heart, he paused, unsure. He was positive that he could do it, no doubt in his mind, but it would be a cowardly act, killing an unarmed opponent. This wasn't the revenge he wanted. He wanted to face Takeru in an all out fight to the death out on the battle field, not stopping until one of them was dead. Even if he lost, at least it would be an honorable death.
But killing Takeru right now, while he was weak, unarmed, and cornered in a cage...that would be anything but honorable. Tejuku wanted to be remembered as a valiant hero, not a cowardly mercenary.
Inside the cell, Takeru stood up and walked towards the cell door. It was time to bargain with the enemy. It was the best chance that he had to get out and find the others unharmed. He stopped a few feet from Tejuku.
"Listen to me," he started quietly. Tejuku looked up at him, eyes narrowed. "We can make this work for both of us. Unlock that door, let me go for now, and I promise you your battle of revenge. However, if you simply give me to Karina, you'll never get that chance."
Tejuku looked down again, scowling. He couldn't make a deal with this enemy prisoner, he couldn't. But...if what Takeru said was true...if he never got the chance for revenge...
"You know what you have to do," Takeru urged, deciding to play on Tejuku's pride. "You know what you want to do. I never thought that you were the kind of person to bend over backwards to fulfill another's will. I thought you were a more worthy opponent than that."
Tejuku's head shot up at Takeru's silent challenge. Internally, he was in conflict. One part of his mind was telling him just to obey and trust in Karina, while the other was telling him to listen to his gut and let Takeru go for the time being and exact his promised revenge later. After several minutes, the latter side finally won.
Eyes down and movements somewhat stiff, he unlocked the cell door and opened it slightly. As Takeru walked past, Tejuku spoke darkly.
"This changes nothing between us. I will still fight you one last time, no interruptions, and one way or another we will finish this."
Takeru paused, small smirk playing on his lips. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he replied before heading out of the room and turning down the hallway.
Tejuku watched him leave with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he had just betrayed his Mistress and set a dangerous prisoner free, but on the other hand, he had come one step closer to reaching his destiny, and fulfilling his father's score. Now all that remained for him to do was to have one final battle with a truly honorable opponent.
/o-o/
In another dungeon, Katya, Hikari, and Hiroki had just woken up to find Keitya, Irika, and Rioku glaring at them. They glared back until, suddenly, Katya looked around.
"Where's Takeru? Why isn't he here?" she demanded.
The three outside of the cell stayed silent.
"Answer her," Hiroki ordered, "Where is Takeru?"
Again, this was met by silence. Hiroki became even more agitated. He grabbed the bars of the cell and glared daggers at Rioku. The boy smirked.
"Just give it up," he stated nonchalantly. "You may as well just accept the fact that you'll never see your leader again. If you just surrender, you'll make things a lot less painful for yourselves."
"Forget it," Hikari growled. "We'd never give in to you."
Rioku shrugged. "Suit yourselves."
Suddenly, he perked up.
"What is it?" Irika asked, looking over at him through narrowed eyes from her perch.
"Someone's coming," he replied quietly. "Someone who's not supposed to be here."
"Who?" Keitya demanded.
"I-I don't know," he replied, confused.
"Here's a hint," a new voice said as a dagger flew through the air towards the boy.
Rioku dodged and scowled. "You! How did you get out?"
Takeru smirked. "Ask Tejuku, he's the one who unlocked the cell."
"It's not true!" Keitya denied, jumping up. Behind her, Irika also rose.
"He wouldn't do that," she stated.
"Then how did I get out?" Takeru challenged, restating the original question. In the cell, the other three Guardians stayed silent, letting Takeru work.
Not wanting to believe it, Rioku picked up the dagger on the ground and charged. Takeru blocked by grabbing Rioku's wrist. Rioku broke free and charged again, meeting with the same result.
"You can't win," Takeru stated. "And Tejuku wouldn't want you to, anyway."
"Stop lying!" Rioku panted as he struggled against Takeru's grip. "Tejuku wouldn't betray us!"
"Tejuku didn't betray anyone. You're betraying yourselves by serving this Abbey. They don't care about you, and one day you'll die because of them. Tejuku realized the truth, why can't you?"
"You're lying!" Rioku persisted, breaking away and charging again.
However, this time it was Keitya who stopped him.
"What are you doing!" Rioku demanded, eyes full of hostility.
"The only way he could have gotten out was if Tejuku let him go," she rationalized while glaring at him. "Tejuku is our leader, if this is what he wanted, we have no place to challenge it."
Rioku glared back at her before relenting and lowering his gaze. Reitya let go of his wrist. She then turned back to Takeru.
"I don't make a habit of dealing with the enemy," she started slowly, obviously forcing herself to say it, "But if Tejuku let you go, and you couldn't have gotten out any other way, then I won't stop you from taking your friends. Just remember, we may be letting you go now, but we will get you later."
"Oh, I've no doubt that we will meet again," Takeru replied as he took the keys from a hook on the wall, watching the three enemies with hawk eyes as he did. "And when we do, I'm sure it'll be one hell of a fight." He unlocked the door and the other three filed out. "But for now, we bid you farewell."
With that, the four made a hasty exit, not receiving any resistance from the resigned three. Once in the hallway, they began to look for an exit. Along the way, Hiroki spoke for the first time to Takeru.
"Was it true, what you said? Did Tejuku really just let you go?"
Takeru nodded. "He's a lot more rational than he seems to be; he already had seeds of doubt in his mind about this Abbey and Karina, I just made them grow."
"Wait, so Karina is involved with the Abbey?" Katya asked as they rounded another corner.
Takeru nodded again. "Tejuku said that she's one of the most powerful people here. He didn't really say anything else about her, though."
"Well, maybe I can be some help with some of your questions," a sweet, but venom-filled, voice stated from behind them.
The four spun around trying to ready their powers, however, they could still feel the effects of the numbing stones. They saw that Karina was standing behind them, wearing an Abbey cloak. Behind her, another three figures stood.
"You may as well give up now," Karina said, sounding arrogantly amused. "We don't intend to let you leave without a fight, but you can't use your powers, and you don't have any weapons. You don't stand a chance, you can't win."
"You'll forgive us if we try," Hikari stated quietly as the four quickly took defensive positions.
Karina scowled, having expected them to submit to the helplessness of the situation. She raised her land to the stone on her necklace that cancelled out the numbing stone and called upon her power. As the energy swirled in front of her, she opened her eyes to stare at the Guardians with hatred.
"This is one fight you're going to regret," she murmured quietly as she let the energy go.
The Guardians tensed as the energy came at them like daggers. With no powers or weapons, this was going to be impossible to win. They only hoped that they could at least survive.