Hello! It's a bit past nine at night right now, and suddenly, I have been struck with inspiration! (Yay!) I am currently listening to track 2 of Enya's Watermark CD, and those of you who know what that is, keep in mind of the melody. It will play a part in this chapter. Kind of. And for those of you who don't, then you won't have the extra layer, but you'll get the gist of it.

Dark and Light

Chapter 3

Siblings

My little body, even though the earthquake had happened days ago, was still shaking. I couldn't seem to be able to stay in my true form for long -my nerves were too shaken to try and complete the change. I always got stuck halfway between.

I looked over my shoulder to my panting baby sister, who was barely old enough to walk, much less climb the mountain we were on. I winced at her struggles, but we couldn't stay in the village. Not with Mom and Dad reeking with that awful stench…

I shook the thought out of my head and reached out to Yasille. Her scared little face looked up at me. "Bubba," she whimpered as she took my offered hand, "I'm scared. This mountain is scary. Where are Mom and Dad?"

I was old enough to know that they wouldn't be with us anymore. She was not. I pointed to the sky with my free hand, now that Yasille was holding the other. "Up there," I said with certainty. Mom always said that they would go to the sky when they died.

Yasille looked to where I pointed and, for a moment, her fear was replaced with confusion. "Why'd they go up there? Don't they know we need them here?"

I shrugged. I turned away from Yasille momentarily to look over the peak of the mountain we had just climbed. And, for the first time since the earthquake, I smiled. The Light Clan's village… we had found it!

I relayed the news to my baby sister. "We're there, Yasille!" I cried happily. "We're finally there! Now we can sleep and eat and everything will be okay!" I turned back to her, and then my smile faded. She wasn't as elated as I. "What's wrong?" I asked. What could possibly be wrong now?

The fear in her face entered her voice when she spoke. "Bubba, I don't like it here."

"Why not?" I asked, purely confused. "This is where Mom was born -how bad can it be?"

Still, she shook her little blonde head. "I don't like it."

I frowned and then urged her onward. "C'mon, you're just tired. There's bound to be someone here that'll take care of us. We can sleep soon, Yasille." Now that I had reached the peak, I trotted down the mountainside without Yasille. She was still on the top, yelling in her tiny voice for me to return. But when she saw that I wouldn't return, she hurried down to my side.

The town was beautiful. No humans. Tall, shady trees lined the roads. The houses were white, made of white marble, and the streets of green. It was fall, so the colors of autumn floated about the streets and air, making everything seem so ageless, so timeless. I trotted to the nearest person I found -a powerful Light pokemon in her human form. The reason I found her so likable was that she looked and smelled like Mom. I tugged on her white and gold robe to get her attention.

"Miss?" I asked as politely as I could. I found that Mom's etiquette lessons were getting hard to remember. "My sister and I… well, we've just gotten away from an earthquake… We're really hungry and tired… Could you-"

"What is your name?" she asked me. I stopped in my sentence, and started again, softer. "My name is Kaiyou. My sister is Yasille."

The woman stared at me. Her long, flowing maroon hair was draped around her face and shoulders. Her eyes were like Mom's too -a deep violet. However, this woman did not have the soft face of my mother's. This woman's was worn. Weary, like a rock beaten by a river for too long. The woman's face seemed to shrivel a bit, almost like she was about to cry.

"Your mother…" she began even softer than I had, "…was she named Maro…?"

My smile grew. "Yes! That's Mom! Do you know her?"

I expected for her to smile too and give me a big hug and console my sister and I, but she didn't. Instead of the happy little scene I had planned, she harshly grabbed me by my now disheveled hair and Yasille by her rob top. She began to half drag us to a tall, Gothic building located at the heart of the town. I tried to claw at her hands, but she had too firm a grip. I felt so lost. Why was she treating me like this! I didn't do anything…

Suddenly, before I could register what had happened, I found myself on all fours on a grand black, silver and gold rug that took up the entire space of the building -or cathedral more like it- I was now in. The woman's hold on my hair was still there. She gripped my hair like a dog's, with her nails biting into my scalp. It hurt so much, my eyes began to tear…

"Who are these, Calora?" a deep, resonate male voice asked. I opened my eyes to see an old man clad in a rich robe of the same colors as the rug I now kneeled upon. His eyes were a faded blue, and his hair was whiter than clouds, and longer than my mother's. I knew he had to be a respected person.

The woman, Calora, released her hold on us and Yasille crawled to me, her emerald eyes bright with tears. She grabbed my little arm with her even smaller hands and clung to my arm like I was her lifeline. While rubbing my affronted scalp with my free hand, I looked to the man. He seemed as timeless as the town that I assumed he ruled. Then, the woman spoke.

"These are the spawn of Maro and her mate, Famaer. The Darkling says he and his sister had escaped an earthquake. It's possible that the parents are dead."

The man scoffed and got up from his chair. "Are they? That damn Maro! She deserves death! She thinks she can go gallivanting around with that ice wolf, against my wishes, and her pups will be welcomed into this village? Surely not! They must have wandered here on their own." He turned to me and slapped my supple face with his old, withered hand.

"Tell me, bastard pup," he said in a rough manner, "Did they die? Did that daughter of mine die the way she should? Horribly, painfully, and slowly? Any member of the Light Clan that gives birth to a Darkling is impure! It was the wolf! The wolf corrupted her… I told her not to, but…"

For a moment, he seemed lost in grief. My shaking body and stinging cheek subsided for that tiny moment when he looked like a father who watched his daughter go astray. My quivering lips found it a good time to ask a question I didn't even know I had.

"Was Daddy that bad?" The man -my grandfather, I suppose- looked down at me with that painful grief in his eyes. Then, it turned to hatred, and he started to intermingle the Common language I was using, and the traditional Light Clan language that I knew little of.

"Your father ruined her! Kommos na firene us! (A bastardly feind). She wouldn't have eloped if it wasn't for him! She had a good life, to mome lusre na shoven! (and a good home!) And you, you are the offspring of that unlawful bond! Vormorren ket! (You must die!)

The woman stepped forward. "Father, are you sure? What of the girl? She's a Light… she can be taught. She might not have inherited the impurity…"

The man shook his head. "Vormos lu bree la mus." (No, they must both die.) "The girl has inherited it, I'm positive." He then moved swiftly to the wall, where a long sword lay that I hadn't noticed before. My trembling body might as well have been back at the earthquake. I was shaking so badly, I saw it in my vision. He removed the sword from its scabbard and raised it above his head -to tear down into mine.

"Ho hos lu bree la mus," he muttered coldly. "You bastard Darkling…"

I heard a scream in my ear -Yasille. Before I could realize it, she leapt at the old man and made her body into a blonde-headed canon ball. She flew into the man's middle, making him lose his grip on the sword. It clattered on the floor -now harmless. The woman -my aunt- made a grab for me, but I rolled out of the way. The man and Yasille were wrestling on the floor, the latter losing quickly. I saw that the man was turning into his true form -something like a huge, pure white dog. I grabbed my sister's hand and ran as fast as I could out of the cathedral and into the streets.

I heard the now fully transformed white dog scramble on the marble streets, trying to find footing on the slick stone. My heart beat faster and my mind became muddled. I didn't understand what was happening. Why did he hate me so much?

We passed the town gates and kept running, even though I heard the heavy footsteps behind me stop. Yasille was panting hard behind me, but I didn't pay any attention. My feet drove me on and on, until Yasille and I collapsed from exhaustion. I lay on the soft, lush grass beneath me, panting hard. My limbs all felt like jelly. I felt drained -emotionally and physically. I felt Yasille's little hand on my back, and looked up at her.

"Why…" she said between breaths, "why did he… what did we do…?" I saw her young eyes well up with tears again. "What did we do…?"

I sat up, and took her in a hug instead of answering. I didn't know either. All I knew was that the lingering scraps of family I had left didn't want me or my sister. So, I let my baby sister sob into my shoulder as I rocked slightly to try and soothe her, when I really needed it myself.

What did I do…?

…………………

"..ling?"

I felt a tingling in my arm and leg as a voice began to filter into my hearing. Where was I again?

"Darkling?"

I opened my eyes to see the slightly worried face of the Ground Lord, Buganti. I blinked in order to clear the slight fuzziness in my vision and sat up. I looked about me, seeing a plain room. A fern plant, a clay bowl of clear water beside it, and two tunnel entryways on either side of me were the summary of the decorations in the room. A single ray of light in the ceiling was illuminating the plant. The room itself was circular, and I was on a quickly prepared pallet of furs, cloths and whatnot. My gaze returned to Buganti, who still looked worried.

"Well hello," I said a little cheerfully. I felt a bit better now that my body had a little rest. I took another look around the room I was in and said, "This your room?"

Buganti sighed heavily. "Yes. Are you okay? You've been out for half of a day. And just now, you looked like you were dreaming. It looked pretty bad. Are you-"

"Yes, I'm fine!" I said happily. I didn't really want to think of the memory that had resurfaced. Though I wondered why it did, I shook it off and put my conscious mind to the Ground Lord before me. "You worry too much. I thank you, though, Ground Lord. Not many show such hospitality to me…"

He smiled, erecting from the crouch he had been in. "It was no trouble. I feel I owe it to you, since my people falsely accused you and even went to the lengths of wounding you as well." He went over to the plant, bowled his hands, and took what water he collected from the bowl and let it pour onto the plant. "I did not hear your name. What is it, Darkling?"

"Kaiyou," I responded. I looked over to the opposite "wall" from the plant and saw a spear, blood-ridden and reeking of death. The fact that I could smell the blood so thickly even when it was dried meant many lives were on that weapon. No doubt it had seen war. Though, it didn't seem that this Buganti character wielded it. I looked from the spear to Buganti, who was now trying to frantically mend a broken limb on his fern. No, definitely not…

But, I decided to ask him anyway. "Ground Lord, this spear…" I pointed, and he followed my finger, where his gaze became slightly clouded. "Is it yours?"

The clouded look remained for only a moment, and as quickly as it had come, it left. "No," he replied coldly. "It was my brother's. He… died a while ago, and I kept that as a memento of him." He turned back to his plant.

"I'm sorry I brought that up," I apologized quickly. However, Buganti shook his head.

"Don't worry about it -you didn't know. Besides, that wound is… healed…" He waved it off like a fly and changed the subject. "But never mind that! This is no time for my sob story. I wish to know of what goes on outside my cave. Where have you come from?"

I shrugged. Every town or village or city was the same in my mind. "I've lost track. My sister and I have been traveling…" Suddenly, my mind was in shock. Oh no… Yasille! She must be worried out of her mind by now!

Confused by my sudden silence, Buganti cocked his head to the side. "What's the matter?"

I rushed to my feet and began to run out the tunnel when he stopped me. "My sister! She must think I'm dead now! I've never left her for this long!" I tried to pry myself from the Ground Lord's grip, but he was freakishly strong.

"Calm down!" he said as he pushed me down into a sitting position. "Your sister is probably fine! I'm sure she handle herself for twelve hours alone."

I frowned and struggled under his grip. How was his human form this stupidly strong? "Are you kidding? This is Yasille we're talking about! She doesn't know how to fight! She's defenseless out there!"

Buganti sighed and then said, "Well, I suppose I should go with you. You don't know your way around here, do you? And my guards might attack you again." He relinquished his hold on me and I sprang back to my feet. I looked at the two exits and felt a bit lost. Which way was out…?

Buganti seemed to notice my lack of sense of direction and said, "Come, I'll lead you out." He began to walk to the left, and for about five minutes, we roamed through a labyrinth of tunnels. When we emerged into open air, I saw that it was dusk. My eyes roamed for Yasille's blonde head or pale coat, but I saw niether. I began to panic a bit more when Buganti nudged me in the side and pointed to the north, where I saw a guard about to try and spear a large, manila and black wolfish pokemon -Yasille.

I broke from Buganti's side and ran as fast as I could towards my baby sister, which seemed to surprise the guard. His spear turned to me, but then Buganti's voice ordered him to stop.

I reached Yasille's furry side and placed a hand on her to calm her down. I could see that she was shaking. She began to turn to her human form as Buganti, panting from trying to keep up with me, gave orders to his guard in his own harsh, rough language. The guard, now scared of my sister and me, ran off, eager to obey his Lord's orders.

Buganti rubbed the back of his neck as Yasille completed the transformation to human. "Sorry about that," he said sheepishly, "I didn't know you were out here. Otherwise, I would have withdrawn my guard." But Yasille wasn't paying attention. As soon as she completed the change she punched me in the stomach.

"You jerk!" she cried as I doubled over in pain. Since when did her right hook get that good? I pondered as she yelled. "I was worried to death! When I came looking for you, this guy came up and started shouting at me! And then, I smelled your blood in the statue and got even more worried!" She kicked me lightly, on the leg, and then sniffled. "Jerk…"

Buganti smiled amiably at my sister as I tried to recover from Yasille's punch. It really did hurt. "Madame," he began politely, "I'm very sorry. My tribe mistook your brother for a member of an enemy tribe… and wounded him." At this, she turned to me, alarmed. "I-It's all right, though," the Ground Lord continued as Yasille started to freak out, "I managed to bandage him…"

But Yasille wasn't listening. She had found the little bloody bandages beneath my clothes on my arm and leg. "Oh my Goodness, you are!" she cried. I looked up at her with a glare.

"Yeah, now that you've punched me!" I replied angrily. Poor Buganti was at a loss of what to do.

She frowned and kicked me again -where the arrow had hit me. This time, I couldn't help but give a little yelp of pain as my leg buckled and I fell to my knees. Yasille began to freak out again and helped me up, but I pushed her away and got up on my own.

I looked to Buganti, who was standing in front of us awkwardly, and said, "Now… Buganti, this is my baby sister Yasille." I pointed to Yasille, who had just realized Buganti was there. "Yasille," I continued, "this is Buganti, the Lord of this tribe." I let the two examine each other for a moment.

Yasille, who had forgotten about the quarrel she and I had just a few seconds ago, held out her hand amiably to Buganti and said, "Nice to meet you! Why don't you join us for some food? I'd love to hear about your tribe!" And with that, she ran off to our campsite, leading Buganti by the hand. I shook my head at Yasille's antics and made my way there a bit slower than Yasille was going.

This was going to be interesting…

…………………….

Finally! I got it done with.

This chapter isn't as good as I wanted it to be, but it shall have to do. Boo. Oh well… now you see what Yasille is usually like -you didn't see much of it in "PFF". Yay!

I'm tired. Ja!