Chapter 12
Into the Dark
Mai gaped, closed her mouth, and then opened it again.
Then, realizing that she probably looked like a goldfish she closed it again and looked worriedly at the thing in front of her. The thing in front of her was the mouth of a cave. A really, big, scary looking cave.
The cave was on the side of a hill, which was quite pleasant. The hill was pleasant, not the cave. The meadow around the cave was rich in tall grass and an assortment of different wildflowers. Mai felt the wind picked up and breathed in. The air felt good here.
She turned to look at the others and saw that faithful Fatima had arrived. The girl smiled at them and turned to Anzu. "Anzu, dear, have you found the fourth stone?"
Anzu smiled and opened her palm. Clutched in her hand was the beautiful sapphire that they had set out to find. Fatima's smiled widened and she said, "Excellent! You have Thuy's sapphire!"
The stone flew towards Fatima who grasped it in her hands. "Thank you my friends! Only two more two go!" her eyes flicked towards Serenity and Seto, "The next stone is in that cave. Find it and you're journey for the stones is almost over. So long!"
Fatima disappeared. Mai sighed and rubbed her arms. She just knew the next stone was in there. That meant something bad was going to happen she just knew it. She turned to the cave again and shivered. There was something about that cave that didn't feel right. Mai felt herself feeling suddenly warm.
Mai turned to see Joey looking concerned behind her, with his hands on her shoulders. She blushed. "Are you okay?" he asked, "Are you cold?"
She could only shake her head. Why did he make her feel like her legs were jelly, or that she could take the biggest risk of the world with no worries? He smiled and said, "Good."
Mai's face reddened. That was another thing too. His smiles. They were so adorable. "Well, are we just going to look at it, or are we going to go in?" Seto asked, voice icy.
"Sure," Yami said.
Yami, Anzu, Mai, Joey, and Seto began walking towards the cave. "Wait!" a voice cried.
The five turned to see Serenity staring sheepishly at her boots. The others stared at her, puzzled. "Ren? What's wrong?" Joey asked, confused.
"Do you think we could have some light? That cave is very dark," Serenity replied, still utterly fascinated with her boots.
Anzu looked thoughtful. "That's a good idea. I can't believe we were going to walk blindly into that place," Anzu said.
Mai agreed, followed by Yami and Joey. Seto looked at Serenity with a curious frown before nodded curtly towards Yami.
Joey lifted his hand and made a 'come' motion. His fingers grew a pale green. Six branches flew towards them. They each caught one. Yami put his hand out and concentrated. His hand burst into flame. The others held out their branches, lighting them.
Mai noticed that Serenity's face had gotten some of its pinkish tinge back. Before, the girl had been pale white. "Are we ready now?" Seto asked sounding slightly irritated.
Serenity nodded, smiled and said, "Now we are."
It had been about an hour since they had taken their first steps into the cave. At least, Seto hoped it had been only an hour.
They had stayed clumped together, Yami and Joey leading, with him and holding the rear.
After about what he assumed was a half hour, he had begun to feel extremely bored. So he decided to think about what was happening.
So far, he had figured out that a few weeks ago, he had been a normal prince sitting on his throne, listening to a peasant begging for economic help. Then, those two appeared. At this thought he shot a cold glare at Joey, who stiffened slightly, and a moderate glare at his sister who shivered.
Not that that meant he had made her do it. The girl had been shaking every since they walked in. Seto had come up with an idea. That little princess Serenity was scared of the dark. He stole another glance at her before returning to his other thoughts.
So after the idiots told them their thoughts, he realized that he and his servant, Anzu, were involved as well. Leaving his younger brother behind, he left for the capital of Crishan. There he met the queen and prince, who happened to be a mage and also happened to have some sort of attraction towards Anzu.
Seto snickered. Anzu was particularly attracted to the boy. So, back to his thoughts, Seto went with the other four and ended up at some in where the girl walking next to him worked. After a few hours there, they meet a crazy glowing women named Fatima. She confirmed his only clue to his connection with these elements.
That he was, in fact, one.
Then there were the crazy stone adventures. Joey had received his earth magic, Mai got wind, Yami had fire, and Anzu learned water magic. Only Serenity and himself had yet to get their powers. It was only a matter of time anyway…
"Did you hear that?" Serenity whispered.
They stopped walking. Seto glared at the girl. What now? "Hear what? Silence?" he asked, coldly.
"No," Serenity said, sounding a little hurt, "It sounds like…"
"Sucking?" Yami asked, looking ahead. He hadn't turned around.
"Yes, exactly," Serenity said.
"Sucking? What do you mean by sucking…AAHH!" Mai screamed.
Mai felt something pulling at her arm; She turned and saw that her arm was not there anymore. She pulled at it. It wouldn't budge. Every second that passed, her arm got pulled deeper into the darkness. "JOEY!" she cried.
"MAI!"
Joey ran over and started pulling on her. Still, she was pulled deeper and deeper. It was getting faster now. Her left leg was halfway gone, her right arm was half missing, her left was gone as well. "Anzu!" Yami cried.
Joey turned to see Yami running towards the other girl. Anzu was going away faster than Mai was. Her arms and waist were gone. The girl struggled and shrieked. Yami began pulling like Joey had been.
Joey's attention returned to Mai again. Her arms and legs were gone. Her waist was almost gone as well. "Mai," he whispered weakly.
"Joey, look."
He was disappearing as well. He held onto her shoulders as he began to disappear rapidly. Yami's upper body was almost gone. All that was left of Anzu was her floating head, watching sadly. Serenity was pulling in vain at her brother. He hadn't even noticed. "Joey," she was whimpering softly.
"Bye, Joey," Mai said sadly. She closed her eyes and was gone.
"MAI!"
"ANZU!"
Anzu disappeared. Yami followed in suit. "Joey," Serenity said.
"It'll be okay Ren, everything will be okay." He winked at her sadly before the darkness 'ate' him.
"NO!" Serenity cried, falling to the ground, crying. She put her head into her hands. "NO!"
She felt herself being pulled up and felt hands on her shoulders. They were Seto's. "Stop crying," he half-ordered.
She sniffled and looked up. "Your brother said it would be okay. Listen to him. It'll be okay."
Serenity stared at him. This man could be so…nice. "Thank you," she whispered.
His attention had turned to the ground though. She looked as well. She was being swallowed up. She shook and whimpered. "I'll be okay," she said.
He held her hand tightly, subconsciously. He watched the darkness lace around her fingers. Then they were gone. "Bye Seto," she whispered, and was gone.
He fell to the ground and stared dumbfounded were Serenity had been.
He sat in the dark. His light had gone out a few minutes after Serenity had gotten swallowed into the everlasting dark. Seto stared into the dark.
He could actually see in the dark. It was completely dark in here, but he could see where the cave walls were. Every little detail. He also saw the shape moving closer to him. He couldn't hear it. Only its shape moving closer.
It stopped in front of him. Seto, not caring, putting his hand forward. The thing sniffed it with whiskers and a wet nose. Its warm breath felt good against his skin. It licked his hand.
Seto began petting the animal. It had sleek, soft fur and ears on top of its head. It had a long snout and strong legs. It also had a tail that was waving happily in the air. It licked him again. Then it walked into him.
Seto's eyes changed from sapphire blue to pitch black. He stood up.
He seemed to be glowing with an every darker black then there was in the cave. He lifted up his arm. His eyes blazed with night. His arm made it's own sucking noise. The Darkness in the cave was being sucked into his hand.
As the darkness began to clear Mai, Joey fell to the ground. Anzu and Yami and finally Serenity followed them. When the darkness was almost gone, he lifted his other arm and created a ball of darkness. He slowly brought his hands together. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. Seto brought his hands down still clasped. "You saved us!" Mai said, shocked.
"Thanks," Joey muttered.
Yami and Anzu cheered happily. Serenity walked over and put her hand on his arm. "Thank you. You can open your hands now," she said.
Seto grunted and opened his hands up.
Inside his hands was a pitch-black stone. Serenity was dumbfounded. "Seto, you found it," Yami cried.
They disappeared in separate puffs of white smoke.
Please review! Only one stone left!
-Em