Author's Note: Unlucky chapter thirteen; what doom will you bring to our beloved Knights?
Knights' End?
"This isn't happening!" Shun screamed, his body trembling as he fell to his knees. His Cosmo now spread outward, pushing away Dais' spell. The Nebula Chains roiled around him as he found himself kneeling in dazzling white snow. The sun was beaming down upon him, as if it knew his nightmares and was putting in extra effort to make them fade away. He was facing a winded Warlord of Illusion. Andromeda starred for a moment, transfixed as he realized what he was seeing now, and how very real it was."Congratulations. You are absolutely correct. Your mind is strong, as is your faith in the strength of others, and when pushed, you have power that you don't even have to be aware of to use. You may very well be the strongest person I know, at least in the ways that count. You win." The tone was now gentle, even friendly, but the voice was labored. The one-eyed man seemed to age before Shun's eyes. He didn't look older, he just. . . felt older. Andromeda had the impression he was in the presence of someone who surpassed even Roshi in age. Shun slowly allowed himself to noticed the trickle of blood on the right side of the Warlord's mouth. The Nebula Chains had impaled Dais!
"It was all a trick? No, a test. And my friends are. . ." All of his emotions seemed to jumble within him, making the Knight feel quite faint. He immediately recalled his chains as he tried to ask all the questions that had been pestering him throughout this ordeal, but Dais spoke again.
"Protect Athena. That is your duty, correct?" He stated sadly. "Well, soon you may have to protect her from herself. Beware, young Andromeda, for you and your friends may soon have to make a grave choice, where everything will rest on you! We will do our part to avoid this, but ultimately, we can do little. You have all that is required to pass a far more serious test. I only hope you will know when to use it." And with that, the man rose, bowed, and disappeared!
Shun stood now, unable to see anything but the snow, hear anything but the wind, and feel anything but cold. And empty. Somehow, he knew Dais had spoken truly. A greater battle was yet to come. Though his eyes were dry, his earlier tears were frozen to his cheeks as Andromeda walked shakily back to where the mansion should be to wait for the others, attempting to turn off his thoughts.
-----
"That could have gone worse." The blue-haired Knight muttered as he fell to his knees, watching his antagonist fall. Ikki had leapt back in time and only been grazed by an attack that potentially could have bisected him. Cale, from the use of his energy both in the attack and to battle the Demon Phantom, had fallen to his own powers!
"Why did you do all this?" Phoenix asked as he bent over the fallen Warlord. The young fighter's fiery presence was enough to evaporate the ice, Cale's waning powers no where near able to make it stay, especially since he didn't want it to.
"You're duty is to protect Athena? Soon, your greatest challenge will come. If you fail in that duty, we lose our world, and everything we've sacrificed has been in vain. We couldn't take chances. We had to know that you would pass the test ahead. All you've dealt with in the past has come from your own dimension. We had to know you could fight something that was of a different origin. You can, most assuredly. Do not fail. No one can afford that high a price." With that, the man was gone.
Ikki stood alone on a very brown patch of land outside a very snow-less mansion. Shun was somewhat nearby, and he could just make out Shiryu, Hyoga, and Seiya's faint Cosmos. That much he knew. As for what that meant, and what just happened, since there suddenly wasn't a mark on him, those were something else entirely!
-----
"RISING DRAGON KICK!" From his crouch, he shot upwards, narrowly avoiding the speeding blade and throwing off its brother, he landed a kick hard enough to reverse a waterfall squarely under Sekhmet's chin. The green head shot back, the rest of his body following. As the ground furrowed beneath the Warlord from the force with which he was thrown, Sekhmet's form became blurred until he'd completely disappeared, just before reaching the snowy perimeter of his little realm.
Shiryu swayed for a moment as he tried to regain his balance, but ultimately collapsed once more to his knees. His vision was swimming from the energy he'd used, but his body was. . . healing? That didn't make sense, did it? He couldn't force his muddled mind to think straight as he felt friendly arms swoop him up. The fully armored man who carried him firmly but gently back to the mansion had cobalt hair and dark skin.
"Ikki?" Dragon wondered softly, unable to make his eyes focus.
"Shh." The voice was familiar, and gentler than he expected. He gave into unconsciousness and knew no more until the following morning, when he awoke in his bed refreshed and a bit puzzled by the hazy events of the previous day.
-----
'How weird. These things are cold. Really cold. It's like. . . it's like they're frozen inside! Like they're already dead. They belong to that creep, Cale, and I bet he's the one who made the storm! And made them. That's why they don't feel my attacks -- they are already frozen! That's how he controls them! So, these aren't the only monsters here.'
He remembered what had once been taught him by Crystal Knight:
'With control over an element, comes control over the lack of it, though that is far harder to obtain. It takes true mastery.' His Sensei's words echoed in his ears as he summoned all the strength within him, and banished the snow.
"I get it. I think I finally get it." Swan stated softly. As the temperature rose, the wolves seemed to diminish in size. Swan threw them off easily, using pure force to defeat them. Those that could, fled once they realized the tables had turned. They seemed almost to disappear, like shadows, in the light of the sun that came out for the first time since this whole mess started. All that was left was to find his friends. The blond didn't have to wonder too long about one of the Knights, at least. Just follow the screams.
-----
"Come, now. You disappoint me. I didn't have you up all that high!" Kayura lightly landed an elegant leap, leaving almost no trace of her slight weight upon the snow as she walked to Pegasus' side.
"Ouch." Was about the extent of poor Seiya's vocabulary, and mental function, by the time he finally landed. "Just a few more minutes. I don't wanna train today, Marin." he murmured softly to himself, in somewhat of a daze while his head cleared from the fall. However, as the new leading lady in his life gave him none-too-soft a nudge with her very pointed white boot, he remembered rather quickly where he was and sprang to his feet once more.
"PEGASUS METEOR PUNCH!" Seiya was beyond desperate. He was angry, he was sore, he was frustrated, and he was getting worried that he'd be the one that kept them from getting Athena back, because beating little miss Empress didn't seem possible, much less in his near future.
"That's more like it OH! So that's how to get you show your power! Knock you around a bit! This is sickeningly familiar. Why must all you goodie-good guys be so much alike, anyway?" The lady was definitely fast. She dodged his punches without so much as batting an eye.
'This is NOT good.' Pegasus mentally screamed as he tried desperately to catch his breath. 'What the heck IS she?!' Then, finally some connected. Was she slowing down? Or. . . it seemed almost like he was getting faster, like some other energy was adding to his and moving his tired body for him! It felt like the Cosmos of his friends were with him once again, but he still couldn't totally sense the other Knights. He still wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth! He was finally winning!
"Well, Lady. You have awesome energy attacks and a lot of neat tricks, but when it comes down to it, you just can't take a punch!" Seiya sneered at the fallen girl. She had a split lip and probably a few cracked ribs, if how far she flew from his fist and that horrid snapping sound when the two collided were any indication.
"Perhaps not. I've never had to, before." She was smiling, though her breath was rather ragged. "You are the first person to ever hit me, Seiya of the Pegasus cloth. Congratulations, you pass. Your princess will be returned. Guard her well, that is all I ask. More than you know rides on her safety." And with that, Kayura was gone.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! OF COURSE WE'LL GUARD HER WELL, THAT'S THE POINT!" He called to the air, puzzled, exhausted, and infuriated.
"Don't think too hard, Seiya, it doesn't suit you." A friendly, though somewhat cracked voice greeted.
"HYOGA!" The brunette turned sharply to face his approaching ally.
"Who else. Could ya' stop yelling, too, maybe? I'm thinking some of my friends back in Siberia don't particularly want to hear your voice right now." The blond grinned.
"Ha Ha." Seiya's real anger had burned off, now that he knew his friends were safe. The weather was back to normal, now, and something told him all he had to do was go back to the mansion, and there would be Sienna.
"Heading back?" He asked as if they'd all just been out for a stroll or something.
"No, Seiya, I'm going on a day trip to So Cal."
"Don't be too sarcastic. It doesn't suit you."
"Ha ha."
-----
When two ragged boys came in the door, they were greeted by an interesting sight. Shun sat thinking on the couch, and Ikki stood against the wall. But the center of attention was a very put out Sienna who was valiantly trying to pry a blubbering Tatsumi from around her waist. Unfortunately, the tall man wasn't budging.
"If you like, we could leave you two alone." Seiya smiled, trying with equal valor to keep from bursting out laughing. Shun hid a smile into his hands, and Ikki turned his head slightly to keep his own grin secret. Hyoga just stepped away from the youngest Knight, as neither Athena, nor Tatsumi looked particularly happy with the comment. On the bright side, it got baldy to let go of the Princess. Not that that was a bright side for poor Seiya.
----
"Okay. They're tough." Dais perused his battered companions once they'd all returned to the Netherworld.
"Oh, really. Next time you need to test someone, can we just use pen and paper?" Kayura asked through her ice pack.
"Oh, gee, where's the fun in that?" Cale asked, doing his best to rouse a still unconscious Sekhmet.
"I didn't hear any of you complaining when I came up with this plan." Dais shot back, a bit put out.
"We didn't know it would hurt this much when you came up with this plan." Sekhmet finally chimed weakly.
-----------------
A nice little splash of humor to wrap it up. And no cliffhanger at all! I must be ill! Next time, the real fun begins!
Note: That was "doom" as in destiny, not "doom" as in "doom and gloom, darkness and despair". Got ya!