Author's Notes: -Gah- I went so long without updating, but I have literally had NO time to type anything up. Let me put it this way. I've been so busy after school that I would get home and start my homework, stop about midnight, get up at 4:30am to try and finish, not finish, and try to do finish it during and inbetween classes. So, I've been running on one meal a day and about 4 hours of sleep a night. Hopefully this explains my absence, but I have a lot written out in terms of chapters. I am already half-way done writing Chpt.7. and Chpt.8 is completely planned already. So I am a bit ahead as well as behind. Anyways, enough of my excessive talking, on with the chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King. But I have created this story, its plot and my character, so I am not left with nothing when the day is done. Ha! Take that Disclaimer!
Chapter 6: Citrine
Anna winced. Her left ankle was shooting sharp pains up her leg; it felt like someone was taking a knife and stabbing her leg with it, but she hadn't slowed down.
'It's just an ankle, Pirika's the one who needs help. I can make it.'
Anna gritted her teeth and ran on. She lifted her head and peered ahead, squinting, through the brush and rain. She spotted a small glow of warm light ahead of her, through the sleeting rain.
'Found it!'
Anna continued running until she reached the front door. Once there, she began to bang on it, urgently and unceasingly. After a moment the door opened to reveal a long, blonde-haired woman.
"Eliza? Who's at the door," came a male voice from within.
"Faust!" Anna called out as she rushed past Eliza and into the small cottage. "I need...your help...now!" she said between gasps of air.
"I'll say. You don't look too good, and that leg of yours doesn't seem to be holding you up too well. Did you injure it?" he replied in concern as he got out of a chair by the fireplace.
"It's not...me...It's...P-Hime-sama. Something's wrong...She's...dying...we need your help. We...have to leave...now," she panted. Anna placed her hands on her knees and tried to control her breathing, after her hard run.
"I was wondering why you'd be running around outside in a storm like this. Especially with thatproblem with your leg. Stand over by the fire and dry off a bit while I collect my things. Then we'll immediately head to the castle." Faust rushed out of the room andthrough a door.
Eliza came into the room and offered Anna a blanket to dry off with, but Anna refused it.
She was soaked to the bone and cold, yes, but she didn't have time to sit around and wait. So, instead, she stood near the fire, dripping water on the floor, silently shivering, until Faust rushed back in half a minute later.
"Come Eliza, let's head to the castle," Faust called out as he headed out the door. He looked back at Anna. "You can stay--"
"I'm coming with you. End of discussion," Anna interrupted as she walked toward Faust, wincing inwardly from the pain in her ankle.
Faust looked at Anna in suprise at first, but then nodded. "Alright, but ride with Eliza. It'll be quicker with your injury."
Anna nodded in response and all three headed out the door into the pounding rain.
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The second the horses reached the castle, Faust jumped off and ran in through the back Kitchen door. Anna and Eliza were right behind him. Anna called out directions to Pirika's room as they raced up the stairs and down the hallways. When they reached her door, Ren opened it and let them inside.
Faust immediately set to work with Eliza at his side. Everyone else was made to clear the room, except for Anna and Tamao.
Outside the closed doors, Ren and Horohoro seemed to be attempting to engrave lines in the stone floors, from all their pacing about. Jeanne left to continue her ususal duties, so as to avoid Akumu's suspicion, while Jun left to seek out Ryou, the gamekeeper, to take care of the horses. Manta retreated to the library to continue his research, and Chocolove returned to the kitchen to finish washing dishes and prepare for the next days' meals. All gave word to call on them, if they were needed in anyway, at anytime.
Anna and Tamao were kept busy throughout Faust's procedure by running errands, since they knew the layout of the castle and its rooms well.
After several grueling hours, Faust stopped. He stood up and looked at Anna and Tamao. He smiled as he said, "Don't worry, she's going to be just fine."
Tamao broke out into tears of relief and joy.
Anna studied Faust for a moment then turned to Tamao and said, "Why don't you go and tell everyone the news, and then bring them in here to see for themselves."
Tamao agreed without hesitation and raced to the doors.
Anna looked back at Faust who nodded his head in silent agreement.
When everyone came bursting through the doors, he and Anna walked out of the room and into the hall. Once outside Pirika's door, they shut it silently.
Anna walked over to a window, stared outside for a moment, then turned to face Faust. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, to keep pressure off her ankle.
"You're looking rather pale," Faust adressed Anna.
"I'm fine," she stated, even though her leg was throbbing with pain and her whole body felt heavy. "Tell me what you know."
Faust sighed, then joined Anna at the window. He continued to stare outside, while Anna gazed at the closed door in front of her, as he began.
"It was the Ojou-sama's doing, yes," he began. "She used a complexity of several poisons, designed to be slow-acting, so as to give it's taker a slow, steady and painful death."
Anna narrowed her eyes in hatred toward Akumu.
"Luckily you brought me here in time to stop the posion from doing much damage, or before it started the unbearable pain. With her own strength and will-powerHime-sama reacted to my antidote a lot quicker than I expected...To tell you the truth, I was actually rather suprised to see the Hime-sama awaken so soon. However, it doesn't look like there will be any side-effects, but I am going to stick around the castle for awhile to be sure."
Anna nodded, but found that it caused her head to feel very dizzy and off-balanced.
Faust didn't notice as he looked out the window without really seeing it or what was outside. He was lost in his head, as he murmured his thoughts aloud.
"That poison...It's an ancient concotion...How did she know about it? I've only stumbled across it once, by accident, in a book, years ago...How did she discover it? The book was supposed to be banned..."
Suddenly the door opened to reveal a beaming Tamao. "Come on you two, she's awake and asking to see the both of you. We're all waiting for you."
Faust smiled at the girl and walked through the door. Anna came in behind him at a slower pace. She hed discovered that she was beginning to have a hard time walking withher balance off.
'Why does it feel like the room is on an angle all of a sudden? Did I just never notice it before? And why is it so cold in here? You'd think no one had ever heard of a fire before...'
"--Yes, it was her doing. She must have slipped it in her food when no one was looking--" Anna caught the last part of Faust's explanation to everyone in the room.
'...Why is everything so blurry? I can't be that tired already. I know it's pretty late at night, but I've never felt like this before...'
"--I don't know what she thinks she's doing, but she needs to be stopped. I want to help--"
Anna strugggled to pay attention, but it felt like someone was trying to put their hands over ears and smother out all the sound in the room.
All of a sudden Anna felt a warmth on her chest. She looked down to discover her stone glowing for the second time that night.
It was then that she noticed an orange-yellow glow coming from Faust. Anna focused all her energy into the scene before her in time to hear Faust say, " Citrine."
Then she heard a voice say in concern, "Anna, you don't look too well," before her legs gave out beneath her and everything went black.
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Anna opened her eyes to discover a dull-colored world.
Everyone was walking by her in a hall, but there was something different about them. She noticed that everyone was wearing their Yume Stones freely, out in the open. Yet, all everyone was doing was staring before them, straight ahead.
She walked up closer to get a better look, only to jump back immediately, aghast.
'Why are their eyes so blank? There's absolutely no emotion on anyone's face! What happened here?'
"Do you like them?" a cold voice called from behind her.
Anna spun around to find herself face-to-face with Akumu.
"You did it to them yourself, you know," she continued in a sweet, mocking voice. "You didn't care. Your heart was as empty as mine; a perfect block of ice and stone. So they gave up, and those who didn't lost to me anyways." She grinned wickedly.
"You're the perfect Ice Queen. Now they will serve you, as empty shells. Fitting, isn't it?" she laughed at the look of horror on Anna's face, as everyone kneeled on the ground before her.
As much as Anna tried to cover her ears and block it all out, she could still hear that laugh.
"No!" she screamed out as everything disappeared and the mocking laughter slowly faded away...
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"...forget...," a voice whispered softly. "...stay here in this safe haven...Here you will never have to feel pain, or suffer ever again...shhhh it's okay...sleep..."
The soothing voice helped Anna to relax as she settled more comfortably against something soft. 'I'm so tired...I feel like I just want to give-up...What am I fighting for anymore?...'
"...shhhh...stay in this world and forget. Stop fighting against the impossible...rest in this land of the imaginary...never wake up and face the pain again...relax..."
'Why do I fight? Who do I fight for?...Why can't I relax?...Why does something keep telling me to push on...that I belong somewhere else...with someone else...I can't remember...anymore...'
"It's alright...forget...sleep...," the voice whispered soothingly.
'I'm tired, but I can't relax...And I...I want to remember...I don't want to forget...I want to...remember...'
A violet light broke through the darkness.
Anna slowly opened her eyes to gaze at it.
The small light shone around her, and she looked around to find herself floating in an empty void.
She looked down at the glowing light and smiled gently at it. "This light's so warm...so soft..."
She reached out a hand to it. The second her finger touched it, the violet light surrounded her and filled her body with it's own warm glow. She could feel it rushing through her veins to evey inch of her body.
"It's like someone's holding me close...like a wonderful embrace...so gentle...so loving..."
'...it's beautiful...'
'You think so? I found it the other day and it reminded me of you...'
"That's my voice. That's me and someone else...someone dear to me, but...who?...I want to know. I want to remember!"
Walls of violet light lit up brilliantly; Anna had to shield her eyes against its brightness.
She squinted her eyes open and then opened them wide in astonishment from the scene before her. She was looking at an image of herself and she was...blushing!
"Here," a voice said and a chain came over, the other Anna's head. It was a long, thin, silver chain and dangling from it was a small amethyst stone, cut into the shape of a crystal. It fell gently to the Anna's chest and seemed to glow a little brighter.
"It looks great on you. I'm glad. Well, I'm off to bed. It really is getting late," the unknown voice said. "Sweet dreams Anna, I'll see you in the morning," the voice said as it started to leave.
"Thank you, Yoh. For everything," the Anna whispered.
Anna's eye widened as she saw a brown haired boy enter her vision. He had warm, caring brown eyes, that amplified his bright loving smile, as he wrapped his arms around the other Anna and held her tight.
"Goodnight my Koibito," he whispered in her ear. Then he smiled again as he released her and left.
"Goodnight Yoh...dai suki...," the Anna whispered to empty air, as she clung to the amethyst stone.
A single tear trailed down Anna's cheek. "...Yoh...," she whispered to the silence around her.
In that instant all of Anna's memories flooded back, and her stone's light intensified, shattering the darkness around her like glass. She fell...
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Anna hit the ground with a thump.
"Itai," she hissed and rubbed her back. She looked around to find herself in another dark place, but she could still see herself.
Anna looked at her hands in wonderment. 'That's strange, why can I see myself? Or more to the point, where am I? Why is it so warm? And why does my head feel so heavy?'
"Anna!" a desperate voice called out from the darkness.
Anna snapped her head up in alarm. "Yoh! Where are you?"
"Anna, please...help me!...I can't find you...I can't find anyone..."
"I'm right here!" she tried to yell back. Anna turned her head every which way, but she couldn't see a thing. "Where are you?"
"...it's so dark...so cold...I can't get out...please, someone, help me...Anna!" the voice responded.
"Yoh!" she called out, while trying to stand. "Itai!" she screamed out. "My leg, why does it hurt so much?" Then it dawned on her, "The forest...Pirika! Akumu!"
Anna struggled to her feet, but collapsed again from the pain in her leg. "I'm stronger than this...I have to be...," she muttered to herself.
But everything was going fuzzy and her head began to swim. She gasped for breath, as her whole body felt like it was on fire.
Anna pounded her fist on the ground in agitation. "...Yoh...I'm coming. I'm trying my hardest. I will find you and soon...," she whispered to the darkness around her.
A voice whispered back,"...don't worry, everything will be alright...I know you're strong Anna...I love you..."
Anna's heart missed a beat, then everything went dark once again.
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'Why can't I move my body? My eyes feel so heavy...it's so hot...'
Anna felt a cool hand placed on her forehead and the rest of her body began to relax at it's touch.
Her body felt lighter as she struggled to open her eyes and succeeded althougheverything wasblurry.
She saw a figure standing over her. The person had dark hair and no expression on their face, but dark blank eyes showed a faint hint of concern.
"...Yoh...," she whispered in near-silence.
The hand froze; Anna smiled weakly, then immediately fell back to sleep, exhausted.
The figure watched as Anna's cheeks returned to a normal color, and her breathing became even as she rested in a peaceful slumber. Then the figure silently slipped out the door, leaving no traces behind, as if no one had ever been there in the first place...