Chapter 3

Lana: now lowly humans! bow before me! mwahahaha!

Reb:..she's getting way too full of herself..

Lana: i'm an evil queen, let me act like it. -turns around and continues ordering Reb's friends around-

Reb: anyway! IMPORTANTE! Guess what! Guess what! I wanna tell you a secret! -lowers voice- this chapter reveals what happened to Kouji. -squeals and bounces up and down- Isn't that exciting? Ah! I can't wait! Enjoy! (ps. like my L33T, fancy bolding? lol)

Kouichi walked down the street, talking animatedly with Kouji. They laughed as Kouji talked about this guy at school and a frog he'd tried catching. It was quite amusing. Kouichi suddenly felt like they were being watched. He turned and spotted a young woman, possibly 18 years old, sitting on a roof edge nearby and staring at them. She seemed quite interested and although Kouichi was the older twin, he walked closer to Kouji for protection.

"Kouichi? What's wrong?" Kouji asked as Kouichi ended up walking so close to him that their shoulders were touching. Kouichi looked back at the girl to find she had vanished.

"Nothing. It was nothing." he muttered as they headed home.

– – – – – – – – – –

"KOUICHI!"

Kouichi jumped, awoken by a scream. When his vision cleared he spotted J.P., Tomoki, and Takuya surrounding Izumi with her back to a tree.

"I don't want to hurt you. Please. I'm not here to hurt you." she begged. She glanced at Kouichi's now conscious form. "Kouichi! Thank goodness you're awake. Explain to them that I'm not evil!"

"Guys!" Kouichi jumped between them and Izumi. "She's on our side! Back off! Come on!"

"He's on their side! Always has been! Ya see that!" J.P. growled. Tomoki, on the other hand, had lowered his weapon, a rather large stick from the fire. Takuya slightly lowered his weapon, Kouichi's dagger, and stared at the blue-nette, asking for answers.

"Her name's Izumi. She's a traitor to Lana. Look!" he grabbed her arm, to which she yelled 'Hey!' and showed them where the symbol used to be. "She just wants to help." Kouichi said, calmly.

"Ya right." J.P. was always hard to convince. Easy to believe in times such as these. But Takuya tossed the dagger to the side where Kouichi had been sleeping and sighed.

"Whatever." then he smiled. "Never hurts to have more help, I guess."

"You're just gonna trust her!" J.P. gapped.

"Hey. A friend of Kouichi's can't be all that bad." Tomoki agreed with Takuya. While J.P. was distracted, Izumi waved her finger slightly and the flaming stick in J.P.'s hands went out and vanished. Kouichi looked at her and she just winked at him.

About 2 seconds later, J.P. shook his head, as though saying 'you guys are hopeless' and turned to his stand against the elf. He found his weapon gone and Kouichi and the elf were sitting down where they had been the night before.

"Hey! Wait a second!" J.P. growled.

"So. How do you plan to help us?" Takuya asked, sitting down in front of her where the fire used to be and now was only a smothered mass that he'd kicked aside. Tomoki sat beside him.

"Actually, I want you to help me help you." Izumi smiled.

"What?" Takuya looked lost. Obviously the twisting words were too complicated.

"I want you to help me take down Queen Lana. Send her back to the other world." she explained. "This gets you out of trouble and saves your necks, and also lets everyone else live in peace."

"So you want us to risk our lives to save our necks?" Takuya asked.

"Kinda."

"But you told me last night that the last time people overthrew Lana, everything was destroyed." Kouichi exclaimed.

"That's because it was rebels. She wouldn't let them get within 10 feet of her. She sent all her warriors out to kill the rebels. The rebels blew up houses where her followers were staying and their mass grew with each serious minion they took down. Lana's minions began to uproot cities where a mass population uproar might happen. Both sides destroyed the world they were trying to get."

"Then how are we suppose to defeat her? Now that she knows there are more rebels, she'll try and stop us before our numbers grow." J.P. asked.

"By now she might get desperate and take over the civilians to capture you. She'll convince them that they'll be spared if they catch you. We have to move fast if we're going to get to the castle without being caught." Izumi looked like she was contemplating something.

"But I thought you said we cant get within 10 feet of her." Tomoki stated.

"You aren't. One of her supporters will have to give the final blow."

"WHAT!" all four teens stared at the elf.

"What?" she asked. It seemed like the normal thing to do yet the looks they were giving her suggested it was a crazy idea.

"How are we going to convince her minions to kill her? They're loyal till death! I've seen it!" Takuya gawked at her.

"No they aren't. Not really. The warriors she has... they didn't start out that way. Lana's main power is power of the mind. She brain washes her minions and then fills their minds with the idea that she has always been their master. They end up growing to be loyal, but the chain can be broken if we can only bring up even one memory." she was thinking really hard.

"But if she brain washed them, they wont have any memories. This is hopeless." Tomoki groaned.

"And confusing." J.P. sighed and looked at the ground. Takuya stood up.

"Well what's an idea without trying. Let's go!" he thrust his fist in the air and Izumi's face lit up.

"Thank you.. Uh.."

"Takuya. That's Tomoki and J.P. He didn't tell us his actual name. Little edgy if you ask me but a good guy I guess." he smirked. Izumi stood and hugged him.

"Thank you, Takuya." she pecked him on the cheek and he blushed a deep red. Tomoki giggled and J.P. seemed to get angry but held it in.

Kouichi smiled at the group. So they were out to kill a woman who was unkillable by the normal man. How would they do this? They had a housemaid elf and 4 humans against an army of magical beings or powerful warriors. He thought about Izumi's plan to get someone inside her forces to kill her.

– – – – – – – –

'She brainwashes her minions..' he thought.

'...she teleported her surviving men to this world...' If only some of her men survived, how are her forces so great.

"..she took in new warriors..." Kouichi talked to himself as they walked through the forest. Then her new warriors had to be human. But no one ever saw a human walking through town to do inspection. All her closest warriors had to be magical.

A vision of Kouri flashed in his head and he shivered.

"You okay Kouichi?" Izumi asked.

"Ya. Just thinking." he replied. She smiled.

"Think too hard and too much and you'll grow old." she giggled.

"Just why are we going this way through the forest anyway?" Takuya asked. "Wouldn't it have been easier to go straight there?" Izumi cast her glance behind her at the boy.

"With the distance into the forest you had run to and considering the people that are looking for you.. This is the safest path. It'll take an extra day, but at least we might get there unscathed." she explained.

A normal tip up the large hill to the castle after leaving any city in the surrounding area usually took a day on foot. If what Izumi said was true, this would be two days, not including the food and shelter they may need, the wild animals they may meet, or the forest itself getting in the way.

"Two days?" Tomoki sighed.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

It was getting late and they were all tied from hiking all day. Izumi made the fire while they rested and somehow got food by snapping her fingers.

"How'd you do that?" Takuya and Tomoki stared at the food now cooking over the fire.

"I was a kind of maid in the household. If I couldn't get good food in time, I might be dead right now." she winked back at them and then stared up into the sky through the leaves.

They ate the meat and fruits she'd made until they were all full and falling asleep. Izumi too slept for an hour or so, but she was an immortal and didn't need much sleep on dangerous or long journeys. She'd keep watch when she woke up.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Kouichi ran through the streets. Queen Lana had taken over a year ago and men had been vanishing everyday. What worried Kouichi was his missing brother. Where was he?

"Kouji! Kouji!" he called. He beamed when he spotted the 11 yr old in the middle of a backway street. "Kouji!" he waved. He gasped.

A lady with long brown hair was talking to Kouji. It was Lana! She smiled and held out her hand. He cautiously reached out took it. She smiled sweetly as she began teleporting them away back to her castle.

"KOUJI!" Kouichi yelled as loud as he could as he tried to reach for his brother. Kouji looked at him and his hand was out to grab Kouichi's when he vanished and Kouichi never saw him again.

"Kouji? Kouji! Where are you?" Kouichi asked as he checked everywhere around the area. He cried too. "Kouji..."

Upon returning home, he told his mother what had happened and they cried together. Dad never listened enough to know and so he thought Kouji was still around up until the day he died.

Kouichi stood where Kouji had vanished and cried out. "KOUJI!"

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Kouichi's eyes snapped open and he looked around. It was the middle of the night and it seemed everyone was asleep. He sat up. Where was Izumi?

"You were crying in your sleep." her voice floated to him from behind him. She was sitting on a rock where she could see the sky. Kouichi felt his face and felt the tears. He brushed them away.

He took to staring absentmindedly into the fire as he remembered the day Kouji vanished and wiped his eyes again to make sure he wasn't crying. He turned around and stared at Izumi as she gazed into the night sky.

"What was your job in the castle?" he asked.

"I was a maid like servant to Lana's right hand man, Kouri." she said as though she hadn't realized it.

"Kouri?" Kouichi was at full attention now. Izumi looked over at him, also at full attention.

"Yes. He's a very interesting man." her eyes gleamed with the fire. She walked over the Kouichi.

"Tell me more about him."

Izumi found his interest in Kouri... interesting. She looked him right in the eyes. The flames danced in his eyes as he stared determinedly at her. It was obvious that he wasn't giving up till he was told. Izumi sighed. She relaxed against a tree nearby and began.

"Kouri is one of the newest members of Lana's group. He's been with us about 7 years strong now. Lana seemed especially confident in him as she let him wander by himself and set him as her right hand man after only 3 years. I'm sure she picked him up in this realm but.. He has magical properties which elude me. If he were human he surely wouldn't have these powers. Especially his eyes. I swear they can see into your soul. He.. He's very special to me." Izumi lowered her voice and gaze.

"But he's a heartless killer! How could you like him?" Kouichi asked.

"He's not heartless!" Izumi snapped and Kouichi flinched. "He's.. not. Around other people he may be mean and cruel, but he's not. He's nice. And he's not to bad a cook either. He stopped by the kitchen when I was alone and cooking one day, and he helped me make the most delicious soup." Izumi smiled. "Of course he never remembered having made the soup, but it was good anyway." she as if it was nothing. But Kouichi paused.

"What was in this soup?" Izumi seemed to not have heard him as she continued rambling.

"He has other strange qualities that I'm sure are just instinct left over from his suppressed memories. Like the deal with his hair. I tried to cut it once and he almost sliced my head off! Talk about problems. He cuts his own hair and hardly even an inch when he does. I wish I knew why he liked his hair so much." she rolled her eyes.

"He doesn't like his hair." Kouichi said and then realized what he'd said. His mind was telling him something. Piecing things together.

"What?" Izumi looked over at him.

"How did he make the soup you liked?" Kouichi asked quickly. Izumi looked startled and then paused to think.

"I remember.. It had lots of vegetables.. Of course he called them veggies.. I think he put some spice in it and the main ingredient.." but Kouichi didn't need to know. "Definitely from this world." Izumi concluded. "Kouichi? You ok?"

Tears formed at the edges of Kouichi's closed eyes. "Kouji.." he muttered.

"No. Kouri. Can't you stay on one subject for more than 5 seconds? And what were you saying about his hair?" Izumi was getting kinda annoyed.

"He wants a mother's cut." Kouichi opened his eyes, smiling at the sky.

"A what now?" the elf didn't understand.

"A haircut from your mom. He never cut his hair cause he wanted a mother's cut. He was the best cook, his specialty was Kouji's Veggie Soup. Mom used to love eating his cooking. And.. You mentioned his eyes.. The way they saw your soul. They've always done that. Swallowed you up till you felt he knew all your secrets...and I.. I.. I've been hating him all this time.." Kouichi looked down to where his eyes were covered by his hair.

"Whoa. Kouichi. Hold on. How do you know all this about Kouri?" Izumi asked, her voice comforting. "Did you know him before he became her warrior?" Kouichi nodded.

"He's my.. My brother.. My twin, and I loathed him for 7 years.." he choked out. Izumi almost gasped. Kouri was Kouichi's brother? But he'd.. Kouri was always mad at the Navy haired human... how could they be..

Izumi remembered one of their one-on-ones in Kouri's room.

– – –

"That human. You should see the way he looks at me. He thinks he's kidding someone with that defiant look on, but he's just a scared little boy." he laughed here. A laugh she'd never heard before. It wasn't evil or hateful. Not sarcastic.. Just.. Just a laugh. Like he was enjoying himself for a minute. "It's fun to torment him..." Kouri sighed and laid down. "Izumi. I'm tired. Leave." he commanded.

Izumi left the room quickly. Early the next day, she came with breakfast, only to find him still slumbering. He had cried the night before in his dreams it seemed, as his pillow was slightly damp. He would mumble to himself words that she couldn't understand and call out in fear for nothing.

His past was waking up. He was changing and not even Lana could tell.

– – – – – – – –

"He talks of you." Izumi said, convincing herself. "He laughs about you in a laugh I hardly hear." Izumi was trying to comfort him.

"What?" Kouichi didn't understand.

"He laughs with hatred in his voice or sarcasm, yet when he laughs about you, it's as though he enjoys it. I'm sure he remembers you, if even slightly." Izumi pat him on the back. Kouichi nodded as Izumi lay him down. "Sleep now." she cooed and Kouichi drifted off as if under a spell.

Izumi took the time to contemplate the possibility that Kouichi was right about Kouri. 7 years.. A year after Lana took control. But Kouri had powers, then wouldn't Kouichi? She bent low over Kouichi's sleeping form.

"Kwentra i'narn"(1) she whispered as she touched his forehead. Kouichi's hand rose and seemed to be trying to cast some spell like Kouri. Nothing happened so Izumi sighed and backed up. As she let go of Kouichi's forehead, the fire went out. "What?" she went over to it.

Ice dust sprinkled the ground, drying as she watched it. Did Kouichi do that? She tried to relight the fire but the wood was frozen from the inside out.

"Wow.." she gathered new wood and made a new fire. All night, she took to glancing at Kouichi.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

(1) this is an Elven spell I found in an elvish dictionary. Literally it means 'Tell the tale." but i meant it to be used as a command of her ordering Kouichi to reveal his power.

Second. Does the word 'Matane' mean anything to any of you?