Okay, it's time for an update. I know that everyone is waiting patiently after that last cliffie, but don't worry here's your resolve. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 16: Against the Clock

Storm walked slowly towards where the noise was coming from. She had her wings out, her sword unsheathed, and her defenses up. Finally, she saw her prowler come forward out of the darkness. Storm was very surprised to see Sutra standing in front of her once again. She wanted so badly to just rush at her and take her down then, but she knew that it was too risky of a move with Anna on the line. Storm kept her cool as she watched Sutra walk slowly towards her with a sly grin on her face.

"What do you want now?" Storm asked her, her voice projecting a lot of irritation towards the half-elf.

"Now, what makes you think I'm here to try and get something else from you? I just wanted to know how your shard hunt is coming along. How many have you collected for me?" Sutra asked her with a little chuckle thrown in at the end.

The way that Sutra toyed with her and her cocky attitude made Storm's blood boil as she tried to contain her anger. "We have five so far," she reported.

"Well, we have two so there's seven so far," Sutra thought out loud. "This is great, that means there's only one left and I know where it is," Sutra told Storm who looked up at her, shocked that she knew where the last one was.

"Where is it?" Storm asked cautiously.

"It's in Heimdall, the village of elves. This is why I need you. Even with my great army we cannot penetrate the walls of Heimdall. After having their city destroyed more than once they decided to up their security. Now, their elven magic is too strong for even mmy army to penetrate through. The elves know and trust you and I'm sure that they would let you in. Now, I'm starting to get impatient for these crystals," Sutra told Storm.

"I'm working as fast as I can," Storm defended afraid that Sutra could do something terrible.

"I know, but I'm a very impatient person sometimes and I don't want to wait much longer. Meet me in Meltokio in three days with all of your crystals. With your soon to be six and my two we'll have them all. If you don't arrive with my crystals on time, Anna will be the one to pay, with her life," Sutra threatened.

"I don't think I can get them there that soon," Storm tried to protest.

"I don't really care what you think you can and can't do, just be there with those shards," Sutra demanded angrily.

"I will," Storm told her as she immediately ran back to the camp where everyone was still fast asleep.

When she got back she couldn't believe that this would be the last time that she would most likely see any of them. She didn't really want to look at them all, it was too painful for her. She wouldn't even get the chance to say good-bye. She had to leave that night and steal the shards from her own friends. Lloyd was on guard duty which meant he was sleeping. She saw his pack by his empty sleeping bag. Storm slowly crept over to her own sleeping bag and grabbed her own pack as she quietly walked over to his. She slowly replaced the shards in his bag with rocks so he wouldn't immediately notice that they were gone. She then slid the gems into her own pack and crept away from the camp. Before she left she took one last look at her friends, doubting that she'd ever meet them again. She drew out her blue wings as she took to the skies so she could get to Heimdall faster.

The next morning everyone woke up and realized that Storm had gone missing during the night. Lloyd was immediately asked if he had seen anything, but when he didn't answer everyone knew that he had slept through his shift. They looked all over the surrounding area, thinking that she went out somewhere early that morning. After about an hour and a half everyone gave up with the search efforts as they came to realize that Storm was gone and that they had to postpone their journey to look for her.

"Is this what she was so worried about? Was someone after her?" Zelos asked Yuan, worried that she had been kidnaped overnight.

"I don't think she was worried about someone being after her. I think she planned all of this," Yuan answered him.

"Why would she do something like this?" Zelos asked him, obviously having a hard time believing that to be true.

"Storm does some things that ewe won't understand unless we've walked in her shoes and I don't think anyone really can," Yuan pointed out.

"I just hope that she's safe," Zelos prayed.

Storm was getting close to Heimdall and she decided to walk the rest of the way there. She was beginning to show her fatigue as she could hardly fly any further from lack of energy. She landed on the ground and began to walk towards the city of elves. With every step she felt herself getting closer to the actual betrayal of her friends. She knew that this was the first step, but she gave herself up to Sutra that would be the final step. She would be marked a traitor for the rest of time and she really hoped that she was making the right choice. She hoped that she was doing the right thing not only for herself, but also for everyone else. She still thought that her life contained no worth so she didn't have a hard time deciding that her friends would all be much happier without her.

She was coming close to Heimdall now only a few more yards to the small swamp before it. She was beginning to feel her fatigue as she started moving a little slower. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up for, but she had to keep moving or she would lose Anna. She couldn't do that, so she just kept moving. She could see the entrance to the swamp, but it was heavily guarded. Storm was getting dizzy and she didn't feel quite like she could even make it to the entrance. Suddenly, she used up the last of her extra mana as she collapsed on the ground and her world went black.

Uh-oh. It's another cliffie. Please don't kill me, I did update didn't I? Anyway, I will try to update this soon so don't freak out. Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to review.