Phoenixfire: Okay, before I start with the usual antics, I want you all to be serious. Your response to the following is going to determine the ending of this story. Your task is simple…

You must vote for your favorite paring.

YamiPhoenixfire: Cheating (voting twice under an unsigned screename) is recommended.

Phoenixfire: No it is not!

YamiPhoenixfire: And how are you going to be able to tell?

Phoenixfire: …I'll use MY familiar to spy on them. (A white phoenix appears) But please… really keep it fair. All these votes will be taken seriously. Just know that the opinions of Iname as One and Selih are going to have a lot of weight… they know where I live. The rest of you don't.

The potential pairings are:

One: KalasxXelha. I already have this. It works. Xelha is pregnant… It would be very easy for me to keep this just the way it is.

Two: AstaraelxKalas. I'm going to warn you… if you REALLY want this paring, I'm going to have to kill off Xelha. Seriously, I've backed myself into a corner where that is the only way I can see this paring working. Keep that in mind when you vote.

Three: …Yami, we are not doing this paring.

YamiPhoenixfire: Why not? I like it.

Phoenixfire: You would… okay, pairing number three is KalasxXelhaxAstarael. (rubs temples) I have a very strong suspicion that this paring was spawned by the unholy combination of Yellow 5 and shoujo manga. (YamiPhoenixfire: No way! It was Diet Pepsi, not Mountain Dew!)(Phoenixfire: Oh, crap! You're allergic to something in that stuff!) I'd need a big, BIG show of support to do this. (Why do I get the feeling that this paring would be the equivalent of trying to please everyone but pleasing no one?)

Four:… No, this is not pairing number four. Yami, if you mess with the pairings sheet anymore I will kill you!

YamiPhoenixfire: But… that was my favorite one!

Phoenixfire: Hmm… I don't see why… (Crosses out 'YamiPhoenixfirexKalas')

Real Number Four: Other. Write in a pairing, and I will take it into consideration, especially if it is a Lyude paring. Yaoi pairings will not be accepted because I have never attempted them before, and do not want to mess this story up trying. Neither will yuri. (Don't know if anyone reading this likes those pairings… I just feel the need to specify beforehand)

Also, if there is anyone you want killed off (Astarael's mom and the dark Kalas are already on my hit list) tell me. I will take them into consideration.

Okay. Enough preamble. Because now I can finally write…

Chapter Fourteen: Bonds of Blood

"Astarael Victoria Sanders, you are in big trouble, young lady!"

"Mom, you do realize that you start one out of ten of the conversations that we have with exactly the same words. The other nine are started, 'Astra, I'm very disappointed in you,'" Astarael sighed as she sat up. Ouch, do I have a concussion? No worries, it'll heal. Everything does…

"Now that is just untrue," Deborah Sanders protested.

"Okay, name one compliment you've given to me since the week started."

"…"

"Just one. I'm not greedy. One compliment. Surely you've said something nice to me in the last five days…"

"We don't have time to talk about trivial things like that. We have a crisis!" the middle-aged woman cried, gesturing to the now green sky.

"And changing the subject again… you always do that when I have a valid point…" Astarael looked up. The sky was still green. Damn. I had hoped that I had dreamed that part… It's like being inside the shield that surrounded Cor Hydrae, the ancient stronghold of the gods…

And, of course, as soon as that thought popped into her head, she spotted a familiar-looking fortress floating several miles away. "Okay. Great. You know what? I give up. Kill me now. We are so screwed…"

"Do you know what that is?" asked an old woman who looked vaguely familiar to Astarael. Where had she met that woman before…?

"Oooh, pretty dolly! Thank you, thank you!"

"Great grandma?" Astarael asked.

"So, you do remember me. You were only three the last time I saw you, it was your third birthday as a matter of fact… you've grown up a lot… but there are more pressing things at hand than old ties. So, do you know what that floating monstrosity is?"

"Cor Hydrae," Astarael replied, deciding on the split moment to tell the truth. "Last stronghold of the ancient gods of another world, headquarters of the dead god Malpercio, home of lots of powerful monsters. However, I'm pretty sure I remember that place getting destroyed and sent back to whatever null dimension it was banished to by the Children of the Earth in ancient times. Now, I have a few questions for you. First of all, how long have I been lying on the pavement? Secondly, where did that bastard with the white Wings of the Heart go?"

"Your first answer is five minutes, Your second answer is to the northwest, presumably to that fortress. Now, there are some more things that we have to talk about…"

"Is there a change of clothing in my hospital room?"

"Well… yes, but…"

"Thanks." She spread her wings and jumped into the air. As she flew in the direction of her room, she noticed some people carrying her youngest sister, Rana, into the hospital on a stretcher… That… that bastard! How dare he bring my little sister into this?

One more reason to kill that false Kalas slowly. Can I kill him, though?

Oh well, I'm just going to have to find out.

What she had to do was simple: Go to Cor Hydrae, and kill the people in charge. If she could kill the person who was housing Malpercio's taint, she might be able to send Cor Hydrae back to the null dimension. If the monsters that lived within the fortress were unleashed on the citizenry, her hometown and the surrounding area would be ashes in less than a day. The police (what's left… I know that the false Kalas killed some of them already) weren't equipped to handle an army of Malpercio's minions.

She climbed somewhat clumsily into her room and scrounged around for the spare set of clothes. Sure enough, they were in a bag under her bed: a nondescript pair of jeans and one of the ugliest shirts she owned. Clearly her father had picked out her clothing. Oh well, no point in wearing and ruining another nice shirt.

Astarael pulled down the blinds of the broken window and started to change. She winced as she pulled off the gown (she was going to have the mother of all brush burns on her back) and contemplated her task. She hated to admit it, but 'storm into Cor Hydrae and beat things up', although appealing, was akin to suicide. If only there was some way to draw the false Kalas and his master out…

"Ouch!" she hissed as she stepped on something sharp. It was the stem of one of the roses that the false Kalas had brought her. She itched to set them on fire, but hesitated as she noticed a card attached to it. Almost against her will, she picked it up and read it…

Hope you get well soon! Love, Rob.

In the corner of the card was a small droplet of reddish-brown. Dried blood.

What…? Did he kill…

Hmm, he strikes me as the possessive type, so maybe he did. No, wait, he allegedly killed whoever was holding my whip, so I'd say yes, he definitely did.

Instead of feeling guilty at the thought, all she could really feel was a vague relief. She had never really liked Rob, and now he was no longer around to annoy her and try to sneak up and hug her and the thousands of other vexing things that he did…

I should feel guilty. Really, I should. This was my fault, in a way. Why don't I feel guilty?

"Can I come in?" someone asked from outside the door.

"Y'know, I've had some really bad experiences with people wanting to talk to me lately… but how could things get any worse? Come on in."

In came a kid she had seen only in passing. He sat three rows behind her in biology. His name was… Kent? No, Kyle. She also seemed to remember him carrying around that camera of his all the time.

"You're… Astra Sanders, right?"

"Astarael. I never want to hear the name Astra again," she sighed with a slight shudder. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I happened to catch some footage of your fight yesterday. There was something that you would find most interesting."

"I'm busy. I have a 'date' with someone in that floating castle. And by 'date', I mean that I'm going to beat him to a pulp. And whoever summoned that monstrosity here." She wasn't sure if she meant Cor Hydrae or the dark Kalas at the moment. Probably both.

"Wait! Before you do that, there's something that you need to see," Kyle said, pulling out his laptop. He started it up and started clicking things while Astarael tapped her foot impatiently. "Yes, finally brought it up! Here, take a look at this."

What she saw was what looked like a PowerPoint slide. On one side of the dark red expanse was a small picture of a woman with six black wings, and a close-up of the woman's face. On the other side, for the sake of comparison…

…was a blown-up version of Azil's shiny white sophomore ID badge. And there was no doubt about the identity of the black-winged woman. After all, even without the ID photo, how could she not recognize her own sister?

"Is this… are all these pictures real? If you made these up on your computer, I'm going to…"

"Before you finish that death threat, I assure you that these pictures are all very real."

"Would you stake your life on that?" Astarael asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes," Kyle replied.

"Excellent," Astarael said, smiling prettily. "Because you just did."

And with that happy little statement, she jumped out the window and started flying at Cor Hydrae. This is the third time I jumped out of a window in two days. Is this some sort of bizarre fetish of mine?

I don't think so. The first time I jumped out of a window it was to save someone else's life. The second time it was to save mine… the false Kalas would have killed me in such a tight space. This time, I was… well, if I just walked out, the doctors or someone would have tried to stop me…

"…Shining Seraphim!"

…and suddenly she was careening at the ground. She hit the grass with a dull thud. The last thing she heard before blacking out was her mother saying, "Must you be so violent?"

"I'd forgotten how boring the Trail of Souls is. Any ideas on how to pass the time?" Kalas asked Xelha.

"I guess we could… sing a song or something."

"…Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, ninety eight bottles of beer on the wall! Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around…"

"Who taught you this incredibly annoying song?"

"Astarael. Ninety-seven bottles of beer on the wall!"

"Me and my big mouth…"

Phoenixfire: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (Bangs head repeatedly against the wall)

YamiPhoenixfire: This temper tantrum was brought to you by Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Phoenixfire: It's not fair! (Whack!) I finally get enough money (Whack!) to buy the damn game (Whack!) and everywhere that's near my house (Whack!) is sold out! (Whack! Whack! Whack!)

YamiPhoenixfire: I guess you'll just have to go back to trying to unlock Chapter 19xx again. (whisper) Fire Emblem junkie

Phoenixfire: All those who mock my agony shall be punished most painfully. (Brandishes anti-evil wards)

YamiPhoenixfire: (thinking) Cannot retaliate… Escape Magnus. Cannot retaliate… Escape Magnus…

Reviewer Responses

crazygirl306: Yep... I'm just going to tell you now, in this story, Guardian magic is heriditary. And yes, parents can be annoying.

lighteningrae: Hmm, that is a good question... is Astarael hooked on jumping out of windows? I really don't think so... she did have good reasons every time she did it... And yes, fake Kalas is perverted.

Karina Gomez: Oh, you think you hate the fake Kalas NOW... he hee hee... (YamiPhoenixfire: Cool, I'm being worshiped!)(Phoenixfire: I'm doing the responses. Be quiet.) Don't worry, I have plans for him. Slow torture by Ocean Mirror... fun...

Luna-Starr: I'm glad you liked the fight scenes... they're sorta hard for me to write, and it's good to know that people like them.

Iname as One: I'm going to use my imagination and assume you meant that you didn't like waiting. Let us all go on a kill QuickEdit spree. Whee! And yes... lots of Guardians! And Lots of Phoenixfire on Pepsi! (Why is this a bad thing? Go ask Selih.)

Vanya the Elven Maiden of the Valar: Oo... I guess I know what you're going to vote for the pairings...

Phoenixfire: BTW, if anything is screwed up in the Reviewer Response section, blame QuickEdit. It mashes my words together and has no spellcheck.

YamiPhoenixfire: Can I kill it?

Phoenixfire: Find a way to do so without hampering my ability to post stories and I'll say yes. Oh, and I just got a job as a bus girl at a local playhouse, so I might not be posting as often.

YamiPhoenixfire: And if she gets her beloved Fire Emblem game, she might abandon writing for a few weeks.

Phoenixfire: WOULD NOT!

YamiPhoenixfire: ...liar...