Title: Is It Really You?

Summary: A long-lost love returns from the grave and secrets are revealed. Will Martin risk everything to get her back after she leaves him again?

Rating: T for violence, swearing, the usual stuff

RAN: A month and a half without updating! It's a new record! Ok, important notice, I decided that the voting system wasn't working after I only got one vote in a month and a half, so I have abandoned that, and myself and FrenchFry have decided on the order for the endings. I'm sorry Isky, I appreciated the vote, but we decided that the happy ending should be saved for the last. It's worth the wait though, I SWEAR! By the way, a tiny warning here, I suck at fight scenes, so this isn't the best chapter for detail.

PP: I'm SOOOOOO sorry for the HUGE delay. I just hit a BIG patch of MAJOR writer's block. And, MARTY DISAPPEARED!

FF: It is true; her muse was slacking (it wasn't me if that is what you are thinking) and Martin 'disappeared'. chuckles heard

PP: What are you chuckling about? I suppose his disappearance WAS rather suspicious…

FF: It wasn't a plot for revenge by TaterTot, if that is what you are thinking. :D

PP: Well I know it wasn't her, 'cause she was with me right up until the moment I knocked her out and locked her in her room. You know, that only leaves one person who could have done it…

FF: Martin, How Could You?

PP: I don't think it was Martin…

FF: Well it must have been TaterTot, BECAUSE she made herself look like me and me her then she let him loose and I got knocked out and put in her room then she came back woke me up knocked herself out after switching our looks back, AND that is my story.

PP: Huh? (scratching head)

FF: Confusion always works (more advice from friends). Now, everything belongs to someone else unless PotatoPuff and TaterTot own it. TTFN. Tah-tah for now!

Chapter 12: So Close, Yet So Far Away

He was running through darkness, away from something, or someone. He wasn't sure what it was, all he knew was that if it caught him, he was in trouble. He could feel the blood trickling down his face from the cut on his forehead, and he felt as though he was covered in dust.

"Azrael."

The voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. At least he knew it was a man following him now.

He tripped, and had been running for so long that he found it impossible to get back up because of how exhausted he was. He heard the footsteps coming up behind him, and flipped over, hoping to defend himself somehow. As the man drew closer, even through the darkness, he could tell that the mystery man was Daniel. Daniel didn't seem to recognise him though… Daniel stopped, staring down at him.

"So, Serafina, we meet again. Or do you prefer the name Rachel now? It doesn't matter on this side anyways though, does it? The spirits of our former selves do not need names."

Just as Daniel reached down to him, he was engulfed in a bright light. He began falling, and soon saw a building in the middle of a forest. It was quickly coming closer to him, but he felt no fear. Somehow he knew that he would slow down and gently float through the roof. He was set on his feel inside the building, which had a hospital feel to it. There was a man in a white coat walking in front of him, so he followed. He was led to what seemed to be a large cupboard made completely out of metal, with square doors placed on it, equal distances between all of them. The man in the white coat stopped beside one and turned to him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes."

His voice sounded emotionless, cold and distant. The man didn't seem to notice, just opened a door and pulled out a tray, revealing a white cloth covering something. The man looked at him once again.

"You're absolutely positive you want to do this?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

The man paused for a moment, then sighed, reaching for the edge of the sheet. The man pulled it back to reveal a young woman's face. She looked to be about 19, with red hair that ended in spikes right below her ears. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully, so if he didn't know any better, he would have swore that she wasn't dead. He reached out to gently stroke her hair.

"It sucks that I wasn't brave enough to stop them. If I had, maybe they wouldn't have won; maybe Daniel wouldn't have gotten Azrael her old body back, and killed Rachel. Maybe our world wouldn't be hanging on the brink of destruction either."

Everything began fading to black, and before he knew it, he was surrounded by darkness again. This time, Rachel was standing in front of him. If he were to take a single step forward and reach out to her, he would just barely skim her skin with his fingertips, but he found himself unable to move. She was so close, yet she seemed so far away.

"Rachel! Are you alright? What's happening? Where are we? What…"

"Whoa, slow down. I'm… well, I could be worse, I suppose. Right now, I think we're hovering somewhere in the subconscious domain, but I've been wrong before. As for what's happening, well, from the time you blacked out to the time you entered the morgue was a part of my memories. Don't ask me how you saw them, 'cause I don't know. Everything else was what will happen if you give in. Does that answer your questions?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. But where are you? What have they done to you? …Is there any hope left?"

She was silent for a moment, thinking about what to say next.

"As long as they don't have the Luciendar, I will be fine. After they do gain it, it is only a matter of time before they merge the two swords back into one and no longer have any use for me."

"I fell into a trap. What if they've already got it?"

"Don't worry. They don't. The Luciendar will make sure that they don't take it from you without you knowing it. Now, I'm close by. You have to go back though. You can't stay here. You don't belong here."

Even as she said that, she was becoming blurry in his vision. He realized that he was going to lose her again.

"I'm not leaving without you!"

"You have to. As I said, you do not belong here. As for me, I am trapped here. I can't leave yet. Now, go!"

She faded away, and he tried to reach out to her again, but still found himself unable to move.

"Rachel!"

"Please, just hurry."

Martin bolted upright, sweat pouring off of him. His dream had seemed so real. Maybe it was. But, if it was, and it wasn't a trap, it meant that she was close by. He struggled to his feet and placed a hand on the hilt of the Luciendar, just to reassure himself that it was there.

"Martin!"

He turned to see the bars of his cell, and Diana in an identical one across the hallway.

"Di! What happened? Where's Jav?"

"Java right here."

Martin looked to his right and saw Java in yet another cell to Diana's left.

"I thought that you guys were going to stay behind the rock. How did you end up in here?"

"When you fell into that trap, it set off an alarm, and before we could even think about running, there were guys surrounding us. They dragged us down here, and we found you right where you are, out cold. If we didn't see you twitch a couple of times, we wouldn't have been positive of whether you were alive or not."

Martin sat back down and stared at his hands, trying to figure out what questions he needed to ask.

"How long have we been down here?"

"I don't know. 24 hours at most, I think."

"Have you seen Daniel since you were captured?"

Even though he didn't say it, Diana knew that he wanted to know whether they had seen Azrael or not either, and, if they had, if there were any signs that Rachel might still be in there somewhere, hanging on. It was clear just from the look in his eyes.

"They were down here once, shortly after we were captured. When they looked at you, they seemed pleased about something. Daniel walked into your cell and Azrael leaned against the wall, just stood there smirking at us. It was the creepiest thing ever. Well, Daniel reached towards your sword, but some type of barrier held him away. Azrael freaked out on him, and started screaming something about how she was sick of another woman in her head. He tried calming her down by telling her that they'd get the sword after you woke up, but it didn't seem to help, 'cause she just stomped away, after giving us one last glare."

"Voices in her head… wait, that means that Rachel's still in there! It wasn't a trap!"

Diana looked confused after he made this statement.

"It wasn't a trap? Martin, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll have us out of here in a second guys."

He activated the U-Watch and selected the I-Cutter. It made quick work of the metal bars, and soon Martin had Diana and Java out of their cells too.

"So, what next?"

There was only one staircase out of the room. Martin was hesitant though, because it all seemed a bit too easy. There weren't any guards watching them, no traps hidden in the room (as far as he could see), and he couldn't hear anything at the top of the stairs. They couldn't just stand there though. Especially if Rachel was still there.

"Alright, let's go. Just be on your guard though."

They headed for the stairs, Martin in the lead, stealthily climbing them, alert for any traps they might stumble upon. Martin was only a couple of steps away from the top when he turned to the other two, motioning for them to listen. There were raised voices coming from the next room.

"I'm not going to wait much longer Daniel! Her voice has grown stronger since that sword entered this castle, and that other girl's thoughts and emotions are always floating around in the back of my mind. There's a part of me that can't stand the thought of hurting him at all, yet if he doesn't wake up soon and get his butt up here, I'm going to tear him limb from limb! My god, I can't even swear anymore! Daniel, I have to get that split personality, or sister, or twin, or whatever the hell you wanna call her out of my head before she brainwashes me into becoming just like her!"

Martin was seething at Azrael's comments, but kept still and quiet so he could hear what Daniel had to say.

"Don't worry dearest…"

"I told you not to call me that ever again."

"He can't stay that way forever. It's only been a day. You have to have patience."

"Patience? PATIENCE! You expect me to have PATIENCE! I really don't think you have the right to tell me that when you don't have a couple of goody-two-shoes living in your head! I need that sword Daniel! I need to end this!"

"I can understand why you're upset Azrael, but you're not the only one that wants to end this. Reuniting those swords and giving you their combined power is the only way for me to get my real body back, after living as a spirit who possesses people near death for the last couple of centuries. Anyways, I don't think you have much longer to wait. If I'm right, he's standing in the stairwell right now, listening to us."

Martin heard Azrael gasp, then footsteps moving towards them. He gripped the hilt of his sword and just before who ever it was reached them; he leapt up the last few steps, drawing the Luciendar. He swung it down in front of him and felt it hit something, heard the sound of metal scraping against metal, before seeing Azrael in front of him, an identical sword in her hands. He thought back to everything the chief had taught him, and realized it must be the Morthoseth.

Azrael leapt backwards, using her wings to fly back to Daniel's side. Off to their right, Martin could see a passage that had to lead outside. He quickly tore off his U-Watch and passed it back to Diana, whispering.

"I'm going to distract the two of them. When I give you the signal, run for the passage over there. It should lead you outside. Get a hold of M.O.M. Even if I fail, at least the two of you will be safe."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that she was about to argue, but stopped herself, reluctantly nodding her head. Daniel laughed.

"So, making sure your friends make it out of here even if you don't? It's foolish, because they're going to die anyways after I'm done with you. Them running away will only delay that fact. But, I suppose it does show that you're more like Artem than I thought at first glance. Maybe you're the heir to his power after all."

"What!"

Daniel had just thrown Martin completely off balance, and he knew it.

"Why do you think Rachel was drawn to you? It's because Serafina was drawn to your resemblance to her former lover. I can see now that you are the heir to Artem's power. I should have realized it when I saw your physical appearance. You look exactly like a younger version of that bastard, and you share many of his qualities, like his bravery, and care for the people around him. Your ability to use the sword that hasn't been moved since Artem placed it in that temple a couple millennia ago is the best proof though."

"He was always rather dreamy though."

They all turned towards Azrael to see her gazing off into space with a dreamy look on her face. Daniel leaned over and slapped her, furiously whispering, and Martin realized that it was the distraction he had been planning on making himself. He gestured to Diana and Java to run, then turned his full attention towards Daniel and Azrael. If they noticed Diana and Java running away too soon, it could be disastrous.

Diana and Java were almost gone from his sight when Daniel finally turned back to him, seemingly having successfully smacked some sense back into Azrael. She turned towards Martin.

"Do you see why I need that sword Martin? The way I am now, I can't control which emotions I feel, because I've got two other people feeding me theirs' as well. So, we can do this the easy way, with you just handing the sword over, or we can do this the hard way."

The image of Rachel's cold, lifeless body flashed through his mind again, and he realized that he couldn't let her down. That if he did lose, he had to put up one hell of a fight first.

"Screw the easy way. If, as you say, I'm going to die anyways, why not die fighting? I should warn you though. I'm not as big a pushover as I look."

"Well then. I didn't think you'd choose the easy way, but I thought I'd give you a chance to live at least a little bit more of your life before you die. I must admit, I've been waiting for someone to fight that wasn't a pushover."

She lifted her sword and rushed at Martin, hoping to catch him off guard, but he met her in the middle of the room, not allowing her to push him back into a corner. Their swords met again, the sound of metal hitting metal ringing through the room. She spun away from him, but he was right there to meet her when she swung at him again. Slowly, Martin managed to turn the battle in his favour, but it took everything he had because she did have much quicker reflexes than the chief, and she wasn't even using her wings or her magic to her advantage. Daniel was just standing at the side of the room as well, but Martin knew that he'd jump in if things started looking desperate for Azrael. Neither one of them had landed any major hits on the other, but they both had numerous cuts and scrapes where they had nicked each other. They were also both breathing heavily, and had slowed down quite a bit. They were circling each other, the length of the room separating them from each other.

Suddenly, she stopped, a dark glow quickly surrounding her. Martin was unable to avoid the slash of dark energy she sent at him. He felt the gash open in his arm and fell to his knees, clutching the wound as his blood began to pool on the floor. The pain caused him to drop the sword, and Azrael dashed forward, using his weakness to her advantage. He just barely managed to avoid getting his head chopped off. She ran past him instead, spinning around right before she hit the wall. He grabbed his sword again and she swung hers down towards him. He just barely managed to block it in time, and found it hard to hold her off. While she was focusing on forcing his sword down, he kicked out and managed to trip her. He got back on his feet and was just about to swing the sword down in one final blow when that mysterious dark glow surrounded her again, and he was shoved backwards by something. He collided with the wall and slid to the floor again, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth where he had bit his lip. It seemed that every bone in his body protested as he got back up on his feet. Azrael was already back on hers, still glowing with that energy that had just attacked him so fiercely. As he watched, the aura surrounding her seemed to become darker, more powerful. He could feel something within him responding as her wings appeared behind her, and he began to freak out, but at the same time felt reassured.

"You know, I was actually slightly amused by your pathetic attempts, but you've gone too far this time. Now, I'm pissed, and when I get pissed, most people run away. Just think, at least you'll be able to see Rachel again soon. Tell her hi for me, would you?"

As a huge ball of dark light appeared before Azrael, obscuring her from his view, he felt something on his back and heard someone's voice in his mind, a man.

"Do not fear, everything will be alright."

A ball of white light appeared before him and streaked towards Azrael's. As they met, time froze. Martin felt everything fade yet again and realized he was growing quite tired of the repetitiveness as a faintly familiar woman's voice entered his mind.

"The depths of the human mind… the place where memories we all wish to forget linger. Do you have the strength to survive what is tearing her apart?"

Then he passed out.

PP: FINALLY! IT'S COMPLETE! Do you know how hard it is to describe how you move your arm?

FF: O--kay.

PP: What? It's hard!

TT: You cut that out of this chapter! Plus, it's not what you were stuck on.

PP: SHUT UP YOU!

FF: TaterTot! You're back! Have you seen Martin anywhere on your travels?

TT: I thought that you…

FF: (slaps hand over TaterTot's mouth) We're gonna keep that plot a secret, k?

PP: (looks back and forth between the other two) Okay, that's suspicious. Oh well! I think Martin left to rejoin the plot though.

FF: To fix all the plotholes.

TT: I think you need to shut up about the plotholes.

FF: What plotholes? Oh, you mean the two gaping plotholes.

PP: SHUT UP ABOUT THEM!

TT: I think someone's in a bad mood today.

PP: AM NOT!

FF: Anyway, to the reviewers, the reviews are appreciated and if you aren't reviewing death glares… have a happy day! (And if you don't review it may be another month.)