Words Apart

By Chiharu

Shaman King is copyrighted to Takei, Shounen Jump, TV Tokyo, 4KIDs entertainment, etc.

Chapter Seven

Matilda Mattise always had that flare for adventure. Most people call it troublesome; she considered it fun. This was exactly what she felt right now, surrounded by a pack of gigantic angels ready to attack.

"Someone better explains this later." Nichrome muttered under his breath, reaching out of his coat, ready to over soul into his medium.

"Are you sure fighting back is a good idea?" Lyserg whispered, taking another step back into their clump. "Wouldn't it be easier if we just surrender and work something out?" Despite the half-resolved voice, Morphine was all ready to oversoul.

"You'll never get an answer if we lose here." Yoh grinned as Amidamaru appeared behind him faithfully. "But Aniki needs to treat us to dinner for this."

"Right." Hao smirked slowly.

"OVERSOUL!"

The angels plunged forward as the group separated into different directions. Macchi leaped off her feet as one of them headed after her. One on one combat was out of the question. She grabbed the end of her broom before swinging around, causing the energy to blast and dent the angel's armor.

She was gonna need more if she ever wanted to get a free meal out of this. The redhead jumped up, running towards the direction of the forest. Combat, although harder, would be on her side once there. It would be harder for the enemy to spot her than vice versa.

"Come on, Jack." She whispered, stopping behind one of the passing by trees. She pumped some extra furyoku into her broom. She didn't have enough power to destroy it, but the least she could do was to damage the functional parts.

From her position 100 feet or so in forest, she could see that her companions weren't having much luck with them either. All except for Hao, who's Spirit of Fire was happily crumbing Marco's angle beneath its feet. The girl silently sighed; couldn't he at least be helping out?

She heard the sound of leaves crushing behind her; it was entirely too light to be an angel, and she can see all the boys in her sight of vision. Who the heck could be attempting to sneak up during combat anyway?

She jerked around, pointing her broom up. The Furyoku was this close to dripping off the end and blasting out. Instead, she stared. "Ky-Kyouyama?"

"Please, I'd like to keep my hair in tact." Kyouyama Anna easily pushed her broom aside, walking up behind her to take cover behind said tree. "Don't you think it's rather hopeless to fight the X-laws, or is that a moot question?"

"If I wanted a psychiatrist, I'll make sure to drop you a line." Macchi hissed, looking around. "What the heck are you doing here? Do you feel in the particular mood of getting killed or something?"

"Not exactly." The blonde shrugged. "I happened to be in the area when the dense form of furyoku washed over. My curiosity got the best of me, thus, I am now standing in front of you."

The loud thumb of footstep echoed through the forest. It wouldn't be long before the piece of metal, as Macchi silently phrased through heavy swearing, found them. "Well, what's your brilliant plan, then!" She hissed.

"Neither of you can handle them. Asakura might, but you can't leave all hopes to him." She looked around. She leaned over to whisper into Macchi's year as the redhead nodded. She slowly stood up. "One.. Two.."

"Three!" Both girls sprinted out from their cover behind the three. Macchi jumped over random tree branches as she ran towards the direction out of the forest; she could see Kyouyama doing the same. The angel apparently followed them. She quickly jogged out and easily spotted Nichrome. Running past him, she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the direction of the alter. Kyouyama yanked on Lyserg and Yoh; Hao realized the plot and followed.

"Teleport when I give the signal." Macchi hissed into Nichrome's ear as the group of six met up in a circle again.

Macchi used the rest of furyoku and aimed at the sky. The bright orange light shot up and dispersed a few seconds later, creating a blinding light towards the Angel. It was risky, but this was their last chance.

"NOW!"

Nichrome closed his eyes and focused upon the first chant that came to mind.

When the light faded, the group of teens were gone.

Macchi woke up due to the sharp pain on her side. She blinked before sitting up, glaring at Nichrome. "What? Wait.. Where are we!"

"Outskirt of the village." Lyserg sighed as Morphine sat down on his shoulders again. "You fainted after the whole furyoku and light thing."

"Oh." She turned around to see Anna bandaging Yoh's arm, which seemed to be bleeding mercilessly onto the grass. "What happened to Yoh?"

"The genius here." Hao nodded towards Nichrome. "Still needs to work on his teleporting rant." He then nodded towards the rocky cave they were currently residing in. "Yoh landed on some sharp object or another."

"I'm fine, really! The only thing anti-climatic is not getting hurt during the fight, but on a random rock." Yoh offered, grinning. He raised his right arm to give the girl a victory sign, only to end up hissing in pain." Ouch!"

"Idiot." Anna grunted, finishing the bandaging by securing the wrapping. "Don't move so much."

"So." Hao turned to stare at the blonde. "How long have you been following us?"

"Long enough to see that you're way over your heads." Anna replied, taking a seat on another rock. "You don't mess with the X-laws and expect to leave without the lost of some limbs. Are you all out of your minds?"

Macchi frowned. "That reminds me... What happened to Redseb and Seyram?"

"Those bastards probably got to them first." Nichrome sighed. "They disappeared somewhere. Which is why we can't stay here for ever. They're probably gonna pick up where they left off with Seyram soon."

"What did they call her? A sacrifice?" Lyserg looked around, frowning.

"I took the liberty of doing the research on Espirit Valley." Anna declared. "Apparently, the village always had bad luck when it came to plantation. The village people always rebelled for a hope of better chance at luck, but to no avail because the officer in Central up in Heaven always ignored them. They ended up making a deal with the x-laws a few years back. They were to sacrifice someone with shamanic powers to bring peace to the village on the will of god."

"Via the X-laws?" Nichrome stared. "That's illegal trade of power. Heaven's Central should have something to say about that."

Anna laughed. "Even if they moderated these types of activities, the control-freaks in Heaven wouldn't really do anything. Hell never obeyed the rules; the system's been written before our time. You can't expect them to start another war because some random village is sacrificing a kid."

"So what can we do about it?" Nichrome rubbed his temples. "We don't even have permission to interfere, so they're never gonna send back up when we need it. It's the walk of death."

"But we can't leave Seyram there to be killed!" Macchi argued.

"Who said she was gonna be killed?" Hao looked up. "They'd probably recruit her into their line of work. While it's another shaman gone to the waste; there's still not much we can do about it."

"This is how sacrifices work." The blonde girl rolled her eyes, continuing to explain. "Whoever gets sacrificed is the soul procession of their new owner. They can do whatever with her. The X-laws are bounty hunters who worship God and all that; they'll probably train her to be one of them."

"What about Redseb?" Lyserg spoke up slowly.

"The girl's brother?" Anna paused. "If he interferes, and he probably will, they'll try to recruit him. If he disagrees, and he probably will, they'll kill him. Then the girl would end up unhappy, and they'll probably end up killing her too."

"And we can't do anything about it?" Macchi stared. "Redseb and Seyram are orphans, right? So technically, the villagers don't have to right to scarifies her."

"Technically." Hao nodded. "But who said the X-laws went obeys technicalities?"

"How would you know?" Yoh inquired. "And they seemed to be familiar with you too? Do you know them or something?"

"You can say that." The older twin shrugged. "I have a pretty bad history with the X-laws, when all things are consider. They'd take the chance to get ride of me too. It's to kill two birds with one stone."

"Why?" Nichrome narrowed his eyes.

"Long story." Hao waved it aside. "You won't have time for it if you want to save the kids."

"Are you suggesting that we go?" Lyserg frowned. "We aren't powerful enough to do anything besides a small distraction. You're the only one with the power to halt them, and you don't even seem interested."

"I'm not interested." Hao shrugged. "But it's something to pass the time. And I'd love to see Marco's face when another one of his plans is foiled."

"You're sick." Anna threw her head aside. "Either way. I got your asses out of that one, but don't expect me to get into this mess too. I've had enough action for one day."

"Are you scared of them, or do you pretend to be that way because you're bored?" Macchi spoke up slowly, voice dripping with venom. "If none of you are daring enough to, I'll be a sad, pathetic team of one to barge in and save them."

"Good luck, then." Anna almost smiled. "You'll die."

"But I'll dye an honorable death, then!" The redhead declared, marching herself out of the cave while stomping. "GOOD BYE."

"Macchi!" Yoh got up and ran after her. The group paused for a few seconds before Yoh dragged the girl back into the cave. "Don't do that, you'll get hurt and I'll never get to taste those pumpkin pies you talk so much about, 'kay?" He pressed his palms together in a pleading motion. "Do it for me and everyone else?"

"Nh." The redhead turned her head sideways. "How selfish of you."

"Come on, Mach." Nichrome joined in. "We just don't want to see you march towards your death!"

"But you'd rather let Seyram and Redseb march to their death!" She glared at him despite the small grin already registered on her face. "Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"Of course not." Yoh patted her on the back. "If you're really bent on helping them, then I'll go as well. We don't have enough powers to defeat them, but the least we can do is to get those kids out of there, right guys?"

The remaining party stared at him as if he had gone insane.

"Well." Yoh rubbed his head, smiling slightly. "I'll help, alright? But we need a plan; you can't just charge right into there."

"I'll help." Nichrome offered, slight smirk on hand. "I need something traumatic to go on my record anyway. I can't let you two have all the fun, can I?"

"I'm seriously." Anna narrowed her eyes. "It's too dangerous. The only one capable to even taming the X-laws here is.." She turned her head towards Hao. "It's death for the rest of you."

"There are things you can only succeed when pushed towards a limit." Hao replied steadily. "I believe that if we pass down this chance, there would be few encounters like this again."

"You don't have to come, Anna." Yoh smiled. "But we'll go, so please don't stop us."

The blonde shook her head. "Idiot." They were all idiots, and she was one of them.

It was night when they headed out as darkness evaded their surroundings. They traveled northward before coming up to Espirit Valley once again.

The town was deserted.

From the corner of her eye, Macchi could spot a flick of light in the town plaza. Her companions nodded, heading up towards the center of the town quickly.

The fire light brightened as they got closer; and the sinking feeling in Macchi's stomach grew even more. There was more than one torch light; seven to be exactly. They circled around the square plaza and Redseb and Seyram sat in the middle; tied up.

"Welcome." A low, but loud voice spoke up. Nichrome jerked around as a streetlight lit up, showing the presence of the blonde man with glasses.

"Marco." Hao smirked slowly.

"I knew you'd come back for them." Marco smiled and a shade of his glasses reflected. "How about it? A duel. If I lose against you, you're free to take the children with you."

"I'd die before I make any sort of a deal with you." Hao replied with the same hint of voice. Macchi took a step back, Anna's glare darkened, Yoh frowned, and Nichrome slowly edged towards the center-piece.

"That's too bad." The man dusted his gloves off. "Because you'll die in about five minutes."

FLASH. The rest of the streetlights lit up, reveling the remaining members of the X-laws armed and ready.

"Now!" Hao yelled as Nichrome cut the rope around Seyram and Redseb. The Spirit of Fire appeared behind him, fueled up. "Run towards the western exist! I'll hold things up in here."

Macchi grabbed Seyram's hand as Yoh did the same with Redseb. Anna nodded at them, and the group began sprinting towards the direction of the forests once again. The X-law members followed as Hao and Marco stayed behind.

Macchi couldn't remember running harder in her entire life. All she knew was to grasp tight onto Seyram's hand and follow Anna's lead. She could hear Nichrome, Lyserg, Redseb and Yoh behind her.

Kyouyama, surprising enough, knew exactly where she was going. It almost seemed as if they had lost the x-laws upon the exit of the village. They were almost out when Anna slowed her pace before stopping. She turned around, staring ghostly at behind them as Macchi did the same.

No. No, no, no, no, no. They caught the boys.

"Nee-chan." Seyram whispered lightly, hiding behind Macchi. "Nee-chan, make it stop."

A man with mask grasped tightly onto Lyserg with both arms, another held a struggling Nichrome, and another was currently holding down a kicking Redseb.

Marco had pinned both hands onto Yoh's shoulder, giving him even less of a chance of resistance. "Asakura Hao took less of a stand than expected. The question now, is what to do with the rest of you."

Macchi grasped onto her broom; anger boiling inside of her. This wasn't happening. Everything was going wrong, and she stood no chance against them. Even with Kyouyama by her side, the most they could do was to defend for awhile. Then there was Seyram, trembling behind her.

"But up a fight, why don't you?" Marco pushed Yoh aside as his comrades released the rest. The boys got onto their feet and gathered with them. "It's more fun that way."

"That's rather sadistic of you."

Hao suddenly stood in front of them, smirking.

"You!" Marco growled. "I killed you."

The boy shrugged. "I was wondering about that. I thought you were rather delusional when you started yelling and attacking the tree." Illusion, he used illusions on Marco. It was a simple spell, but the man had not expected it.

"Nichrome!" Hao took a stance in front of them as the Spirit of Fire roared. "You know what to do. I'll hold them off while you get the rest out of here."

"Over my grave, you will!" Marco roared.

"GO!" They were running towards the direction of the light. Anna was holding onto Seyram as Yoh took care of Redseb. Nichrome was behind them.

Then, Lyserg tripped. Macchi jerked around, staring.

Marco. X-laws. Gun Up. Angels behind them. Pointing at her.

"Macchi!" She could her Yoh yell a good fifty feet behind her.

Blasts. Heading towards her.

She could see Hao hovering over her, using his body as a shield as he pinned her down.

Then, she saw red.

"I'm alive?" She woke up in a rather clean room, shutting her eyes as light filled in.

Nichrome frowned at her, sitting from the bed opposite from her. He gave Yoh, currently sitting next to him, a confused look of amusement. "I assumed that was obvious?"

Yoh laughed. "Feeling any better?"

"Eh." Macchi sat up. "Where are we?"

"Temple of Hydra, of course." The door opened, and Macchi's glance adverted to a woman walking into the room, her long hair falling onto her back. "Nyorai heard cries of the Patch Adept from the west and answered his signal by transporting the lots of you here. I am Zira, gate keeper of the temple."

"Eh... Okay." Macchi swallowed. "What?"

"Yeah, Nichrome's the Patch Adept, right?" Yoh nodded towards the boy next to him. "I didn't know he was in the clan either."

Macchi frowned. The patch clan was one of the wealthiest people in the Heaven and Mortal realm. Nichrome, her sneaky little partner in crime, being one of them was shocking news to her.

"The String Mistress informed us hours after your rescue that Espirit Valley had been taken over by the X-laws." Zira shook her head. "We did not expect this sudden change of events for the X-laws target had never been about a certain town."

"Where's everyone else?" She remembered someone covering her, holding her back from the last blast. "Where's Hao?"

"Aniki?" Yoh blinked. "Oh, well. He's-"

"Standing behind the door." Zira cut in, grinning as she stepped out from the doorway. Sure enough, the said boy was standing behind her. His hair was held up in its regular lose ponytail; the boy was claded in a black t-shirt and lose jeans. Bandages wrapped around both arms up till his elbow made Macchi feel extremely guilty.

"Eh-"

"You have to meet these people." Yoh chipped in. "The shrine maiden, Nyorai, can read minds. So can most of the people there, it's awesome. One of the workers even got Anna fueled up."

"Where's Lyserg?" Macchi whispered slowly, looking around.

"Um." The boys exchanged looks again.

"They took him." Hao spoke up, taking a seat on the end of Macchi's bed. "They caught him, and we managed to get away." He caught her staring at his arm. "It hurts like shit, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." She smiled weakly in return. Every part of her body aced, but it wasn't just her skin. She felt so helpless inwardly; she couldn't even understand it herself.

"The X-laws." Zira continued. "Their rays do more inward damage to the body. Pino did a check up on the rest of you, only you and Hao-san had such internal damages to your organs."

"It's because they didn't touch the blast." Macchi suddenly felt tears swelling up; she dug her face into her palms. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault! If I hadn't been so careless, this wouldn't have happened! I'm sorry!"

The boys exchanged soft looks at each other; and she felt Hao patting her back. "I'm fine."

"But it hurts." She whispered. Whatever method the X-laws used; it was cruel. She felt so, so sad. She couldn't explain it, but she could feel the waves of emotional washing over her. "And they took Lyserg, too."

"I am very sorry to hear that."

The voice wasn't hers this time, and she managed to look up through the blurry tears to see a girl of her age entering, smiling. "In all honesty, this is the first time I've witness the destruction caused by the X-laws."

"Nyorai." Zira nodded.

"But I-" The redhead stopped she suddenly coughed violently. It hurted so much; she felt like her lunges were about to blow. Coughing never hurt so much. She stopped a few seconds later, only to stare at her hands.

Red.

Blood.

She was coughing up blood.

She was so scared.

"Macchi!" Nichrome and Yoh suddenly circled her, frowning.

"Potion." Anna somehow squeezed her way in as well, holding up a bottle. "Faust asked me to bring this here." She handed it over to Macchi, who frowned before taking a sip.

It helped, a little.

"What's happening to me?"

Zira and Nyorai gave her a soft look. "I'm afraid the internal wound will keep on spreading until your body grows even weaker. It's the X-law's specialty, tormenting people."

Macchi looked over at Hao. Did he hurt as much as her too?

"So I'm going to die?"

"That's crazy talk!" Nichrome turned around. "This is a healing shrine, don't you have some kind of method to, I don't know, heal them?"

"Well." Nyorai paused. "There is something, but..."

"Now would be a nice time to revel it to us." Anna pointed out rather sourly.

"Fountain of Spring."

The room froze.

"I'm not going in there." Hao declared.

"It's the only way." Nyorai frowned. Macchi stared at them; what the heck were they talking about?

"You heard me." Hao stood up, walking out of the room. "I'm not going in there."

"What's the Fountain of Spring?" Macchi peered over from her position on the bed. The girl was sure she had heard of it before; she just couldn't bring herself to remember anything.

"It's a waterfall cave." Zira explained. "The location is behind the forest of our shrine. The waterfall is magical; it can heal anything and everything."

"Then why is it a problem?" Yoh looked over, obviously wondering about the same thing.

"The thing about the fountain..." Zira drifted off.

"Whoever touches the water will become immortal." Anna cut in, plain and simple. "But it's not something with the same affect as the String Mistress. You will age, but you will never die. In the end, your old age will leave you miserable because everyone you love on this earth has left you while you cannot pass on; it's a miserable existence."

"That's why Hao refused?" Nichrome looked around. "But they'll die if they don't; there isn't much of a choice here."

"You can always enter by yourself." The shrine maiden suggested. "It's just that the duration of the healing time will be hard on you in a party of one. It's always better to be accompanied by someone in the cave."

Macchi swallowed once again. "I'll talk to him."

Walking was hard when it hurt so much, but she managed to seat herself next to the pond in the back of the shrine. It was night, and the stars were blinking back at her.

Hao, almost reading her mind, walked up next to her, leaning over the red sidewall rail. "I don't want to die either, you know."

"I know." She whispered, trying to keep her eyes off him. "I don't want to live a miserable life, nor do I want to die. It's kind of a rhetorical thing." She smiled. "I shouldn't have taken this job."

"Life in Heaven is easy, isn't it?"

"Not really." She shook her head. "Everyone expects so much from you, because all angels are supposed to be promising. I was never that. I'm a brat, I was always a brat; people ended up giving up on me because I refused to listen. My mom didn't want me to take the job, but I didn't listen to her either."

"Regret?"

"No, now that I thought about it." She turned to grin at him. "It's okay. I can't regret it because I got to meet everyone. I saw Redseb and Seyram playing outside of the temple, and suddenly, everything was worth it. Then there's you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You're okay. I'm not gonna make you go." Macchi giggled. "But I will. Life's too short for me, so I'm willing to take the risk."

"I'll go with you."

"Thanks?" Macchi almost smiled to herself.

TBC

Yes, they took Lyserg. It was to be expect, no? (Is attacked by screaming readers)

"There are things you can only succeed when pushed towards a limit." Is a direct quote said by Anna from the anime. I thought it fitted in here rather nicely?

Adepts. I've been playing too much Golden Sun, that's where it came from. What else can I say? Oh, yes. I lied. I promised the next update to be at the end of June. It is now the beginning of August, and I have just updated. Tisk, you should've known enough not to believe in my untrustworthy promises, right? XD

Pino, Eliza, Faust, and some other people will come in the next chapter. Then, it's the waterfall cave for them. DUN dun dun. What? People dig melodramatic-ness.

Until then, I'm Chiharu. And you're reading Worlds Apart.

Someone please review so I'll update sooner?