Recalling the Spirit Chapter 39 ( thirty eight part 2)
Let me stay,
Where the wind will whisper to me,
Where the raindrops as they're forming tell the story.
Don't say I'm out of touch,
With this rampant chaos: your reality.
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge,
The Nightmare I built my own world to escape
Evanescence: Imaginary.
In the line of sacrifices, one woman stood out, and not just because she was at the very end of the quickly diminishing row. Instead of wearing the sacrificial white, she was swathed in a dress of light, creamy pink silk, with pearls dangling from her ears…clothed in what she was wearing when she was captured. Her brown hair was pulled back into a sensible bun, wisps escaping. Her face was somewhat dirty, but her face was set.
Closing her eyes, she sent out a silent, but urgent call.
Onee-san. Big sister. Can you hear me?
Kanta came in from the rice fields, sweaty and tired, to find his wife barreling down the stairs, eleven month Toshi in her arms.
"Satsuki! What…?" He asked, touching her short, wiry hair, which had dulled over the years but was no less beautiful. Her eyes looked frenzied.
"She's in trouble. She always gets herself lost!" Without another word, Satsuki passed Kanta their baby, slipped her feet into her sandals at the front door, and ran out, her longs legs covering distance quickly. Kanta made to go after her, concern creasing the crow's feet at his eyes as he ran out a couple of steps into the street, and was just in time to see his wife jump into their black minivan, turn on the ignition and go speeding down the quiet street, and around the corner. She's got her cell phone with her. I can call her.
Kanta ran his fingers through his hair, and looked into the face of his young son. The babe looked up at him, dark eyebrows furrowing.
"You and me both." Kanta replied, and went back inside to grab the telephone.
"I knew our daughter was here! I told you! But all you did was question me!" Chihiro crowed. She noticed a strange expression on her husband's face.
"Haku? Are you okay?"
"Something's wrong…" Haku began to wander away from his wife. "They're all gone." He touched a part of the bathhouse wall, which crumbled under his fingertips.
"Didn't you listen? They're all fighting a war. And our daughter is involved."
"No…not the Elementals." His voice was distant. "The spirits. They're gone."
Chihiro started at him. "What? But this is the spirit world."
Haku looked even more distant, and Chihiro felt a pang of isolation. Her husband was a place she could not go.
"They're…hiding…some are dead…there was a fire. In the bathhouse."
"What?"
"We have to find them. They're in the forest."
"What about Tamiko?" Chihiro demanded.
He remained silent, leasing out a heavy sigh.
Nodding, Chihiro began to scamper down the stone steps that led to the seaside. Haku took a step after her, bit his lip, then turned and took the pathway into the forest.
Caitlyn, too, heard Pauline's scream. No, oh no… She spotted the young girl that they had brought with them on the original agreement, sitting morosely on the sands with a faintly dazed expression. Her arm was tied to a splint, the best that Caitlyn could do while Morgaine was gone. The young curly haired teen would need medical attention, and soon, for her broken limb.
Caitlyn put the Chinese baby in Michelle's unharmed arm. "Please take care of her until I get back." She said.
Turning on her heel, she made her way across the empty sand at a sprint, and stumbled her way over dead bodies, searching everywhere for the Elemental of Water. Michelle followed her helplessly with her eyes, unable to move, the squalling Bou Lee resting in her limp arm.
Elementals ran forward to attack her but she just blasted fire at them, without even stopping. Burnt husks that were once bodies fell behind her, still covered in flame.
"Pauline!" She shrieked. "Pauline! Where are you?"
A faint sobbing caught her attention. Looking to her right, through the fighting Elementals, she could see a woman with long black hair slumped across a dead body. Pauline!
She shoved her way past the people to her friend's side. "Pauline!"
Pauline lifted her head. Caitlyn almost shrieked at the severe, blistering burns that malformed her friend's face. Closer inspection showed that it also covered most of her body. Caitlyn trembled. I thought we were going to stick together! This wouldn't have happened if I were here.
She bent down beside Pauline. "Listen, we're going to get Morgaine to come and cure you, okay?" Caitlyn swallowed. If she didn't come soon, Pauline, like Linda, would die.
"Pauline? Hey, can you hear me?"
Pauline finally turned her head. Her eyes were spacey, blank, and she didn't focus on Caitlyn's face. "…gone…gone…gone…" She said in a singsong voice, letting out a little giggle. "…kaboom! Then bye, bye. So long."
Caitlyn's mouth trembled. "…Pauline…" She's gone mad. She looked down at the body Pauline was clinging to like a life preserver, and realized why.
Taiy…he's dead. Sadness enveloped her like a blanket, stifling her
Caitlyn tried to gently pry Pauline's hands off of the dead man. "Pauline, he's gone. There's nothing you can do." But Pauline would not let go.
Pauline's breathing became hoarse as her body tried to stay conscious. Caitlyn knew if she fell asleep then she probably wouldn't wake up.
Panicking, she stood, and spotted Morgaine flying across the battlefield, her brownish gold wings covered in black shadow. She screamed out her name. Morgaine's head turned, and she was carried towards where Caitlyn stood in consternation. Her flight seemed jolted, and she seemed to be struggling.
As soon as her feet touched the ground the darkness in her wings vanished, and she folded them as she ran towards Pauline's body. "What happened? Was she electrocuted?" She demanded of the Elemental of Fire, examining Pauline's wounds as the black haired girl babbled incomprehensively. Morgaine continually looked from her friend to the center of the battle, and back again, distracted by something. At one point she actually stood, took a few steps towards where Ferio was now fighting, but stopped, and looked back at Pauline, squeezed her eyes shut and knelt beside her black haired friend once more.
"I dunno! I just got here! Can you heal her?" Caitlyn demanded.
"Her burns, yes. To a point." As she spoke, Morgaine forced herself to focus and lifted the back of Pauline's shirt to examine the burns on her back. She then rolled Pauline over onto her front and checked her arms, neck and face.
"Some are going to scar, and I can't do anything about that. Was she like this when you found her?" Morgaine professionally waved a hand in front of Pauline's face, and calmly noted that her eyes didn't move and follow the hand.
"Yes!" Caitlyn's long nails dug into her palms as she made fists. " I should have been there. I should have helped her!"
Morgaine didn't reply. She hovered her hands over Pauline's body. "Don't talk please. Especially with that cheesy hero crap. This is going to be very difficult as it is without you nattering on like you're in some anime or RPG."
Caitlyn lapsed into silence, though her mind was racing, as her friend began to glow green, the light around her beginning to pulse, like a heartbeat.
Linda…and now Pauline…it's happening. I'm losing them…I'm pushing them away….
She watched on fearfully as the burns began to heal, from bubbling, to a bright red to a soft pink, to Pauline's normal coloured skin. Her right arm, and the right side of her neck was scarred, and her back even more so. At one point, Morgaine's forehead creased for a moment, as though she had hit a mental wall, and suddenly, the scabs that had covered her wounds from Ferio broke, and blood bubbled out once again, staining her shirt.
And Morgaine's hurt too! Caitlyn ground her teeth. It's all Akira's fault!…no, I shouldn't accuse him. It's my fault. I can't do anything right! I should have been there to protect them. I should have been there to protect all of them. So many of our Elementals are dead in that foiled attempt to save the Dragons. I should have been there. I should have been the distraction. But I…I was afraid to die.
Finally it was done. Morgaine reeled for a moment, dizzy and disoriented. Her hands shot out to steady herself on the ground.
Pauline stood stock still for a moment and then began to giggle again. She turned to Morgaine, flapping her arms strangely. "You're a bird lady. Flying, flying…gone….gone….into sky…not…coming…back…he's not…" She slumped.
Caitlyn tensed. "Morgaine, she's still…"
"Crazy. I know." Morgaine's voice sounded very weary. "I can't heal mentally, only physically…as far as I know. I tried to heal her mind, but it didn't work. As it is, she'll have to stand months of treatment. But at least she's alive."
"Did you try?" Caitlyn demanded. "Try healing her mind!" Anger began digging its claws uncharacteristically into her, like a vengeful beast.
"I did."
"Not enough!" Caitlyn accused, now furious at Morgaine, and scared of Pauline's well being. "Try harder!"
"I can't. I've done all I could."
The Elemental of Fire snarled. "First Linda, now Pauline. Can't you do anything right?" She instantly regretted it. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean…"
"Yes you did." Replied the level voice, the healer's back to Caitlyn. "And you're right. I can't."
"I…"
"Save it. You can't berate me harder then I'm berating myself."
Caitlyn saw Morgaine bend to the ground, picking up a handful of sand and letting it trickle through her fingers like an hourglass. A soft noise, almost a sigh, came from her lips.
"And it's all over now. The final link is broken between us four. One dead, another mad, and the third and forth split irrevocably by harsh words and painful accusations." The words as they left the older girl's lips became imagery, the solid future, irrevocable…
Caitlyn felt her eyes sting, her hands curled into fists. "Morgaine, don't say that. Don't. It's…"
"I'll take Pauline to the back lines, out of danger, if you still want to fight." Caitlyn watched on, her heart torn as Morgaine, her back still to her, picked up Pauline, spread her wings, and flew away from her, scattering feathers in a whirlwind behind her.
It took all of Caitlyn will to stop her sinking to the ground. She had lost everything. They're gone…they're all gone. Linda…Pauline…Morgaine…
An old woman called out to her. She turned, grief stricken, to answer. The old woman was swathed in an ill fitted black dress, and her gray hair hung loose down her hunched back.
"Are you all right m'girl?" She asked, her voice croaky. She began to massage her knobby hands.
Caitlyn wiped her eyes with the edge of her sleeve, and peered at the woman. "I'm sorry, do I know you? I'm sure I've never seen you at our camp before." She said dully.
The crone smiled, her eyes disappearing for a moment in a mass of leathery wrinkles.
"Of course not. I'm not on your side."
Caitlyn tensed, fire burning in her palm. Then she sagged, and the fire went out, a wisp of smoke coming from her hand and disappearing into the sky.
"Is there any point?" She muttered to herself.
"Come on dearie, I'm not going to fight a defenseless teen."
"I…can't do this anymore."
"You have to defend what you believe in." The woman's eyes were compassionate. "Come on. Shall I start us off?"
The old lady gripped her hands together and pointed them directly forward. Muttering under her breath, she began to glow a strange pulsating maroon. All Caitlyn caught from her continuous babble was "…again…"
Groans came from the bodies scattered around her. Caitlyn was shocked despite her sadness. "That's strange." She commented to the woman as she stared what she had thought were Elementals already passed away. 'I thought they were all dead!"
"Oh, they are, m'girl. They're just coming back for a little visit."
Tamiko could feel it, as she led two more white clad Dragons to the safety of Akira's back lines. The battle was beginning to slow. So many people were dead that the remainders had lost faith in their own lives.
She ignored the grateful thanks coming from the Dragons as she scanned the battlefield with her green dragon eyes. She winced as she realized that one of the crumpled, lifeless bodies on the ground was wearing a white dress. She was…or had been…a Dragon.
Tamiko jumped when it stirred, and groaned. The woman lifted her face and Tamiko screamed when she realized who it was.
"Nile!" She ran towards her aunt, leaving the Dragons to rest. It seemed like everything seemed to pull her back, but it was only seconds before she was at her aunt's side.
Nile's body had crumpled around her belly wound. Blood and stomach acid was everywhere, staining the older woman's white dress. Someone had slashed Nile brutally from her ribs to her abdomen.
"Nile! Nile! Answer me!" Tamiko shrieked. Nile grunted, her voice hoarse with agony. Her skin rippled, and her scales disappeared. Her eyes returned to their normal hue, and her teeth and claws retracted. She seemed so much more tiny and vulnerable when she was in her human form, looking far younger then her twenty-nine years.
"Tamiko?" Her voice was no more then a whisper, barely on the brink of hearing.
Tamiko swallowed hard. She forced herself to look at Nile's wound, so see if there was any way that she would survive. There was not. She could already smell the stench as the organs came in contact with the air, poisoning her aunt's body, adding to her pain. Miraculously, perhaps due to her being a spirit, she was still alive. Just.
"…Take…" Nile's hand barely shifted as she tried to move it, towards what she was gesturing at. "…necklace…"
Tamiko gently undid the clasp of the thick golden chain around her aunt's throat, and lifted it in the air. The solid gold scarab beetle swung back and forth like a pendulum, it's emerald eyes glinting in the early evening sun, almost as if it could see the younger woman.
Nile forced her hands to lift and she gently took the necklace, and put it around Tamiko's neck. Her fingers fumbled clumsily with the clasp, her strength quickly fading. She finally got it, and her hands fell. She smiled up at her niece, her eyes blurring.
Tamiko surveyed all the blood and acids, her heart suddenly cold. "Who did this?" She whispered. She caught sight of a small, wrinkly thing amidst the stuff spewing from Nile's body, a little bit away, and her lips parted in shock and sadness.
"Nile! You were pregnant?"
"Bring her…to me…" Nile's eyes filled with a powerful hunger and longing. "My…first…my little girl…"
Tamiko went and picked up the little, lifeless thing that had been hacked out of its mother's body. She judged by its size that Nile had been about three or four months with child.
"How do you know it would have been a girl?" She asked.
"I…know." She stretched out to take the unborn babe. Tamiko, hesitating, lay the shriveled thing into her aunt's arms. Joy seemed to spread over Nile's face as she clung to the dead thing and smiled. "My baby…" and her eyes met Tamiko's for a moment. She turned away and began crooning to the withered dead thing.
Tamiko's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, aunt…"
But Nile could no longer see her. Her eyes opened wide, and she said, her voice hoarse and fading. "Ma'at!"
Tamiko took a step back as a large dragon appeared out of what seemed to be thin air, and lay at his Nile's side. His scales were tan, like the sands of Egypt, and hit eyes were a deep dark brown.
So…you can see me. The male voice in Tamiko's mind was melodious and soft. You are a gifted one. He turned to Nile. Of course I am here. Did you think I would let you die alone, my mistress and my friend? His mind-speak turned compassionate and sad. I am with you. And I will die with you, and guide you on your way.
Nile shook her head, an almost imperceptible movement. No. You will not die with me. I have a favour to ask of you, Ma'at. Her mind-speak, too, was weak. Her favour the dying woman spoke privately to her Dragon. Tamiko was blocked out. Tears began to stream down the niece's cheeks, glittering on the scales that covered her face. Nile…this can't be happening. You can't be dying…
The large dragon nodded his head in acquiesce to Nile's request. The older woman looked happy. She reached out with a gentle hand and touched Tamiko's wet cheek.
"I…want…to see my niece's…real face…once last time…" Nile whispered. Slowly, the scales disappeared from Tamiko's face, as her dragon features melted away revealing the mortal woman behind them.
Nile smiled at her, her eyes shining with satisfaction, and then looked down at her babe. "You're…my… …Mew-shir…" Her eyes slid closed, and her uneven breathing became almost imperceptible.
"Mew-shir." She whispered, one last time. Then the blood stopped flowing from mutilated stomach, her heart no longer pulsing it through the veins.
She had died, cradling the wrinkled, shriveled thing that would have been her child.
Tamiko covered her face with her hands as sobs wracked her body. She didn't notice that her knees and hands were soaked with her aunt's blood.
She didn't know how long she sat there, sobbing, feeling as though her body was being ripped apart. A gentle lick against her cheek startled her. She put down her hands, and looked into the face and gentle brown eyes of Nile's dragon.
Mew-shir…it means Kitten in the Egyptian tongue. Unfortunately, with her death, many of her people will follow her, those who rely on the river Nile to nourish them.
"You…why are you here? Why didn't you die with my aunt?" She whispered, her voice tortured.
He looked up at her, and his large eyes shone with tears. The mistress willed me to be your dragon. You are without one, are you not?
Tamiko nodded dumbly. Taneesh… The memory of the loss of her dragon struck her heart again, and she put a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob.
"But...you don't even know me! You surely cannot want…"
I've known you ever since you were very small. Nile…His mind speak paused. Nile sent me to watch over you, since Kohaku banned her. He couldn't see me. And I spoke to you when you were little, and all alone. Do you remember?
Tamiko stared at him for a moment, gasped as realization hit, then clung to his neck and cried, feeling like a little girl again, burying her face in his scales. She's dead, Ma'at. Nile's dead!
A little girl was bawling in her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Her door was shut and darkness filled the room, light occasionally spilling in when the wind blew her curtains away from the window and wall.
A noise made her lift her head from where they were buried in her arms. A large dragon stood by her bed, his whiskers lifted by a non-existent wind.
"Oh, Ma'at!" She cried, and then realized she should lower her voice. "They won't let me see the dragons anymore. They say that you don't exist."
He put his muzzle under her chin. Don't worry child. His mind speak was light-hearted, as always. I'll be with you, Tamiko. You might not see me, but I will be there.
"Ma'at, I'm going to miss you so much!" She whispered, her voice hoarse, as she clung to her dragon for what she thought would be her last goodbye.
Satsuki could hear her heart pounding as she ran through the portal that separated the spirit world from their world.
Her breath was coming in heavy spurts as she dashed across the grassy fields of the "abandoned theme park"
Please, let me into the spirit world...
She spared a moment to look back across the field, and was overjoyed to see that it had become the lake.
I'm there...but I'm at the shore, and she's not here...unless...
She turned to the right and dashed along the shore. "Where are you?" She screamed, panting. Her legs felt wobbly, but she didn't stop running.
Finally, she could see the beginnings of a beach. Did I know that this was here?
She could see the battle now. She forced herself to keep running. Sweat trickled down her back, making her clothes cling to her skin.
Finally, the last Dragon in the line was killed. The woman in pink let out a little sigh. Enough Dragons had escaped. Kyu would have to capture and kill them all if he wanted the upper hand in proving that Elementals were better then mortals by controlling their countries.
Kyu reached out his arm and gestured towards her. She bravely took a step forward, and met the Elemental of Ice's gaze equally with her own.
"I'm sorry about this, Mistress. It's for the good of our kind." Kyu said humbly, bowing.
"You tried to diminish me by burning down my bathhouse, Kyu, and killing my spirits. It didn't work."
The woman in pink raised her arm and let out a cry.
"Spirits! If you can hear me, come out and take your revenge!"
Kyu let out a roar. "You dare!" He swung his weapon wildly in rage. The axe bit into the woman's side. She crumpled and collapsed with a little cry, still alive but fading fast.
There was a noise. Kyu's head whirled around. Shapes began moving in the forest. One by one, spirits began to emerge, tentatively at first, but then with more force. They began to take on Kyu's Elementals, using inhuman strength, not caged by human limitations.
"No-face!" Kyu cried. "Stop them!"
People gasped as a huge, dark being came out from one of the tents. In it's inky depths, a tumbling body could be seen.
Kyu had fed No-face one of his own people so he could control it.
Kyu himself launched out from behind his sacrificial alter, dropping his axe on the ground so he could recapture the runaway Dragons.
Someone blocked his path. Kyu looked up and met a set of burning eyes.
"Well, Kyu. You've had your fun. Now I'm here. Let's get this over with."
"Akira, if you just let me explain my point of view, it's better for all of us. "
The pink clothed leader of the bathhouse's eyes fluttered open when she heard her name called. "Satsuki?" She whispered. Then louder: "Satsuki!"
She saw from her vantage point from the ground, her older sister coming towards her at a run. "Mei? Mei! Oh, god, Mei, what happened?"
"I'm fine." Mei said, gasping in pain as she tried to stand, then failed. Her hand trying to stop the blood leaking from her stomach.
Satsuki stood there for a moment, her mind absorbing what was happening in front of her. Then she started screaming for help, bending down and applying pressure to the wound with her own hands.
"Was geschah? Wünschen Sie mich sie dem Heiler nehmen?" A plump man with scraggily blond hair came running over, puffing heavily; sweat beading all over his face. He was speaking German.
"Nani?" What? Satsuki replied in Japanese, her mind a frenzied panic, she was so worried about her sister, she had forgotten about the little English she knew.
The man made a face as he realized he would have to try and make her understand him. "Zij nodig heeft een healer. U hebt een healer nodig om voor haar te geven, begrijpen? Begrijpt u het woord healerShe needs a healer. You need a healer to care for her, understand? Do you understand the word 'healer?' He pointed at Mei's wound, and then pantomimed someone doing magic and a wound sealing up.
"Healer? Healer?" Satsuki repeated, overjoyed. If there were a healer, then Mei would be all right! But where were they?
"Ich kenne nicht ihren Namen, aber sie ist das Kind des Winds. Sie reparierte meinen Arm für mich. Sie ist an den rückseitigen Linien dort. Sie sieht Sie sofort und sieht, daß Ihr Freund eine tödliche Wunde hat." I do not know her name, but she is the Child of the Wind. She healed my arm for me. She is at the back lines. She will see you immediately seeing that your friend has a deadly wound.
He pointed at the back lines across the battlefield.
Satsuki didn't understand any of the strange man's foreign garble, but she understood the jabbing finger that pointed across the battle field.
"That way? Thank you!" She cried out in her native tongue, then picked up Mei with a grunt, straining her legs, and began to run across the battlefield.
"Passen Sie das Mädchen auf! Sie scheint süß und interessierend, aber sie hat ein Verhältnis zum Teufel-Mann. Lassen Sie nicht Ihren Schutz im Stich!" Beware the girl! She may seem sweet, but she has a relationship with the Devil-man. Be wary! He shouted as a parting, wiping his plump face with his sleeve as he shuddered, the thought of the devil crawling up his spine as he crossed himself over and over, muttering "Hagel Mary, voll von der Anmut." Hail Mary, full of grace.
"Kyu! Why are you doing this?" Akira yelled
He threw himself to the left, a flurry of ice shards slicing his way past him and embedding themselves into several Elementals behind him. Their death screams echoed in the Elemental of Fire's mind. He didn't look back.
"Is this about Tamiko? Is it?" He gestured around him. He had led people...men, woman, children...innocents...into this bloodbath. Guilt swathed him like a cloak.
Kyu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Akira, that was years ago. This is about something totally different now." Seeing the contortion on Akira's face he let out a harsh, humourless bark of laughter. "I can see it now. You'd like to think this is all over a grudge. I'm the bad guy, storming and stewing over a girl. I plotted for three years, pushing our people into war, over some chick? No, Akira. This isn't a faerie tale. I'm not the evil bad man raving for destruction and control over the world. I am the Elemental of Ice, joining with our people to overcome the hardships but against our kind." He paused. "They call us freaks, Akira! We're killed, sacrificed, slaughtered, burned to death. We have to fight back!"
Akira was struck dumb for a moment, but then retaliated. "Almost no one even knows about our kind, Kyu..."
"You'd be surprised. Ever heard about the Salam trials? Even still, I'm not about to wait for their numbers to grow larger. Too many know the truth already." Kyu lifted his shirt over his head, and threw it to the side. Horrible burn scars covered his torso and back, as well as one whole arm.
"Two years before I met you, I had been visiting the mortal realms. It was the middle of winter and as I was walking out from the portal from this world that leads to the…what do you call it? I don't remember. It doesn't matter at any rate. It was a mountainous place, in the middle of winter. Skiing season. As I was walking I saw a bright blue and yellow thing sticking half out of the deep snow. Walking closer, filled with curiosity, I realized that it was a…" He frowned, trying to recollect the name. "Snowboard. That's it. And someone's foot were connected to it. I realized that someone had been buried by snow, either by a snowstorm or an avalanche." His voice echoed the amazement he had felt two years ago. "I had found a woman trapped under ice and snow. There were plenty of both covering her, probably from an overhanging, so heavy that I could not lift them, nor deal with them by conventional means.. I used my powers over ice to save her. She was finally unearthed. For a split second I saw her face…her alabaster skin tinged with the blue with air starvation and hair as golden as an angel's. She stared at me, barely conscious, then fainted. I sat in wonderment for a moment, just staring at the woman perhaps 5 years my senior. I had saved her life but...I had been seen. Two men, and two women, skiing down the slope. They...two couples, turned out they were Catholic…saw me manipulating ice, caught me, locked me in an old ski shed and set the place afire.
I had banged my fists against the doors for a while, but as the smoke poured into my lungs and throat, and the heat began to cause my vision to swim, I slowly sunk to the floor.
Suddenly I had heard violent coughing beside me. I had squinted, trying to look with my suddenly bleary eyes. It was the woman I had rescued. They must have somehow thought her part of the ice magic, an associate of mine or something. She had been tied to a wooden support pillar in the middle of the room…you know, the ones that hold the roof up?…with twine. Cuts showed on her flesh where she had fought the restraints to get away, but she was too far gone…she had inhaled too much smoke. She now sagged, barely conscious, the hideous bloodstained ties the only things keeping her standing upright.
I don't quite remember what happened after that. I tried to use my magic but…it felt like the magic used me, controlled me. I woke up in the snow, frost covering my face in a hard, crackling shell. As I sat up it shattered. I had looked around. The ski shed was destroyed, slabs of blackened smoky wood everywhere. A strange sheen glistened over it and I realized that it was covered in a thin layer of ice.
The stench of burning hit my nostrils and I began to cough. A strange feeling…scalding and freezing at the same time, began to tingle into life in my body, and looking down, I realized I was badly burned.
I also noticed that the woman I had saved was lying beside me. Dead? I had wondered, with a pang of genuine sadness. But she seemed to come to life right before my eyes, gasping and giving way to great big hacking coughs.
Her right arm was encased in a chunk of ice about as thick as my hand. As she became aware of her surroundings, she began to scream, clawing at the ice.
As I came near, her wild eyes found and recognized me. 'Thanks. You saved my life…I think.' She had smiled at me, hesitantly. 'My name is Marie.' She said, forcing herself to be calm.
'Kyu.' I had said shortly, smiling back, suddenly taken with this girl. She once again began to struggle, trying to break her arm out of the ice encasement.
'Here, allow me.' I had said. I had brushed my fingers against the ice. It melted, dribbled away from her arm, and solidified farther away from us.
I remember…looking back at her, being so pleased I could help her, and seeing the contortions on her face the fear and horror. She scrambled back from me, her formerly frozen arm weak and trembling, unable to support her. She fell, her eyes sparkling with fear. I took a step toward her and she plunged her hand into her coat, and pulled something out that had been hanging around her neck.
"Get away from me!" She had screeched, holding up a long slender cross between her and me, shivering behind it as though it was some kind of protection. "Devil!" She had screamed, the word piercing through my heart.
I left. There was nothing else I could do."
Akira dodged a streaming lightning attack from behind him, and sent a spiral of flame after the attacker. "So you were burned…" Something seemed to click. "Is that girl why you kept Guenivere by you? Because they looked alike?"
With a cry of, 'It's him!' an older man charged at the stock still Kyu. He ran full tilt into a wall of ice, and fell back unconscious as the ice melted.
"That was one of my elementals!" Akira protested, angrily.
"And that was one of mine." Kyu replied, pointing at the man that Akira had attacked with fire. "Truth is, we're on opposite sides. And if you still can't see my point of view, if you still can't understand why we need to be seen as superior, then you are an obstruction. And all obstructions must go. I'm sorry. We're really alike."
"I'm not going to lord it over mortal people! And if you believe this, then why start a batt-"
"I'm really sorry, Akira, believe me, but then you'll have to be inhumed. But I'll do you a favour. I will allow you the luxury of being killed by the one you love." His eyes shone with unshed tears. "I know that's what I would have wanted. But now Guenivere's dead."
He looked over Akira's shoulder.
"Do it, Tamiko."
Oh…my…God…Caitlyn backed away slowly, as the dead slowly pushed themselves up from the ground and pulled themselves towards her.
Panting, she burned corpse after corpse with fire, but, even aflame, they kept coming. She could feel the fear and panic pounding through her veins, the noise of her pulsing heart echoing in her ears. How could she win?
Wait.
The word rang in her head like a bell, the comprehension striking home.
Why am I running? All my friends are dead or alienated. My father I never knew, my Mother abandoned me when I was little. I'm all alone. What's the point in living if there is nothing to live for?
As she sunk deeper and deeper into depression, she stopped retreating, and slowly lowered her hand. Caitlyn closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
Then the dead were on her, the putrid sweet-sour stench of rotting flesh filling her nostrils, surrounding her. There were so many of them… One of the dead's hands wrapped around her throat, decomposing flesh sliding against her neck before it tightened. Caitlyn let out a gasping choke, her starving lungs trying to take in air. Her body began to thrash, but other dead held her down.
Don't fight it…just let it happen…Akira turned slowly, keeping a wary eye on Kyu. There was Tamiko, scales covering her skin, her brown eyes shining with unshed tears, her hair loose, a dishevelled mess down her back. A golden scarab beetle, it's emerald eyes reflecting the setting sun hung on a thick gold blood covered chain around her neck.
The palm of her hand rested on the head of a large tan dragon beside her, who eyed the two Elementals calmly.
"Do what, Kyu?" She asked, her voice monotonous. The life seemed to have been drawn out of her. Her skin was pale, her eyes dull. Even her hair had lost its lustre.
"He will not join us. You must remove him. I'm sorry, but it must be done. And it is his honour and his right to be killed by the one he loves." Kyu's voice was gentle and coaxing, as if speaking to a child. He made soft motions, creating a dagger of ice and gently levitated it to her. She reached out dully and gripped it.
Akira reached out to her. "Tamiko…" and then stopped. He wouldn't beg for his life. "I'm sorry, mo bheith." My love… "Kyu's right. Go ahead." He shut his eyes, ready for the blow. She brought the ice blade up an, wincing her eyes, stabbed it down. Ice punctured through tender flesh Blood splattered, and began to spurt, drenching Tamiko in rust covered liquid, dotting her face with specks.
Images flashed through her mind.
Akira taking care of her after she had searched in Caitlyn's mind…Akira cradling her beside Taneesh's dead body, comforting her as she cried into his shirt…
Akira grinning as he teased her…
Akira giving her a piggyback across the Hall of Shattered Mirrors…
Akira…with Pauline? That just didn't seem to fit anymore…
Akira coming back to life…
Akira calling her Irish endearments of which she had not know what they meant at the time…
Looking up the Irish words in the Irish Dictionary and realizing the feelings she had been oblivious to…
Akira saying he had loved her for the first time…
"I'm so sorry..." Tamiko whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek as she collapsed to her knees, Ma'at ducked under her arm and rested his head under hers for silent support.
Morgaine stood at the back lines, taking care of numerous patients. She was beginning to tire. So much healing, over such a little time. She fought the fatigue that threatened to wash over her like a wave and carry her away from consciousness into the tide.
Neither could she focus. Worry about Ferio was gnawing at her. She would often look at the battle, trying to catch a glimpse of him, praying he was all right in the fight against Jake.
"Excuse me? Excuse me! Healer!"
Morgaine looked around to see a Japanese woman in a sundress and carrying a woman in pink.
"Yes?"
"You?" Satsuki looked appalled. "You're the healer? But you're only…!"
"Seventeen, I know. Now, if you don't mind…"
Satsuki lay her sister on the ground. Mei let out a groan.
Morgaine winced. "I'll see what I can do. What exactly happened Miss…?"
"Mei." The woman gasped.
"What exactly happened Miss. Mei?" Morgiane looked up at the older sister inquiringly, then back at the Mistress of the bathhouse, and seemed to do a double take.
"Hey, you look a lot like…"
Kyu gaped at Tamiko, his hands groping at the ice embedded into his collarbone. His hands slid off the cold, slippery, melting solid as he tried to grip it. Blood stained foam bubbled at the side of his mouth as he screamed, and staggered back a few paces. "Tamiko!" He screamed, his voice high and peaking, breaking under pressure and panic, his screams mingling with the dying around him.
Akira slowly opened his eyes, shocked that the sudden pain hadn't come. Kyu was clinging to his shoulder, and opposite him was Tamiko, slumped on the ground, her one scaly hand still resting on the dragon's head, her face hidden behind long ebony hair.
"I'm sorry Kyu…I couldn't do it…even if he likes someone else now…even if he wanted me to kill him…I can't." As she talked, her nails and teeth receded, and the scales on her skin rippled and faded into normal skin.
"Tamiko…" Akira whispered.
A glittering, swirling white, that on close inspection looked like a condensed hailstorm wound around Kyu's hand. "So you attack me? What about the Elementals? What about our kind? You'll just let us die out! You'll just let them kill us!"
Tamiko raised her head, and her eyes told the truth. "Yes."
With a screech of anger, Kyu thrust his hand forward, and his fatal attack whistled towards Tamiko, the fist-sized ice pellets ready to wear her skin down to a mass of bloody pulp.
There was a roar, sudden silence, and then the soft tap-tap of ice pellets embedding themselves in the sand.
Tamiko looked up, slowly. Ma'at stood beside Kyu's ravaged body, blood dripping from his fangs. Kyu was definitely dead. Living people had more head attached to their shoulders. Kyu's happened to be a few feet away, and still rolling.
The dragon met his new mistress's gaze calmly. He would have killed you.
Tamiko swallowed hard, fighting down the bile rising in her throat that was threatening to spew everywhere. There was enough mess already. She didn't need to make it worse. He wasn't evil. He was just a man, just a teen, who knew what he believed in. Just like me. Maybe he was right. He shouldn't have died. She couldn't bring herself to look away from his body.
The war would end with Kyu dead. It was ironic that his own death would be by beheading, after he had done that to so many sacrifices.
The hand that was proffered to her took her by surprise. She looked up and into Akira's eyes.
He took a deep breath. There was so much he could say, so many things he wanted to tell her. But with Kyu's body splurting blood, and the dead lying all around them, it seemed anything he could think of was inappropriate. He sighed.
"Let's go home." He said, and helped her up.
Satsuki looked up sharply at the auburn haired girl sitting in front of her, as she spread light over her sister's body. "How would you know…?"
"We're friends…well, we were friends."
"So you know how…"
"Yes."
"Mei had to do it…" Satsuki looked down at her slumbering sister's face. "After that, something seemed to break inside of her, deep down. She didn't visit me. I haven't seen her for 10 years." She bit her lip. "Will she be all right? Please tell me she'll be all right!"
The healer remained silent.
"Oh no…" Satsuki sobbed, and put her head in her hands.
"She has another half hour tops." The Elemental of Wind said, her voice emotionless.
Anger bubbled inside Satsuki. Who what this chit of a girl, telling her this with such authority…
Whatever fury she had evaporated as her sister's eyes opened. "Mei?" She whispered. "It's me, Satsuki. I'm here."
"Satsuki…" Mei whispered tiredly. A tear rolled down her cheek as she grabbed her sister's arm. "I want to see them…I want to see my children…"
Ferio shot his shadows left and right. Elementals with less power then he were dropping like flies. He himself had gained a deep slice across arm. The loss of blood was making him dizzy.
Dammit…Another fifty Elementals ran towards him like a wave, threatening to finish him. Ferio knew he wouldn't be able to take them all.
Dammit…There was a zap, and a tingling feeling in the air. Everything went perfectly still, and then fifty charred bodies dropped to the ground, fried to a crisp.
"For Christ's sake, Jake!" He cried out, sickened and horrified. "Those were your own people!"
Jake stepped delicately over the burned bodies. "They were in the way." He spat on the carcass of a young boy, barely over ten. "I've been wanting to face you, Ferio. Finish off what we started last time You're such a coward that you got your girlfriend to help you last time, remember? Now you can't run away."
Ferio remembered. "What's all this 'bout, anyway, Jake? You sound like a little kid who's had his toy truck taken from him."
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a pulsing green light on the other side of the battlefield. So Morgaine has found Pauline. That gets her out of harm's way then.
Memories flashed through his mind like a slideshow. Despite everything he had done, despite all he had told himself, he cared deeply about her. He wanted her to have a good life.
And he was sure that she wouldn't have a good one with him.
Maybe to do what's best for her, I have to let her go.
He dodged a stroke of lightning, and surrounded Jake in shadows. The Elemental of Lightning broke free. The fight continued on. It quickly became obvious that they were evenly matched.
They both stopped for a moment, panting.
I can't beat this guy with just power. I've got to think of something… Ferio thought, then cursed silently as Jake grinned.
He strode up to Ferio, and, pointing straight at the sky, he sent a lightning bolt from the sand into the air.
What the… And then the idea struck him, as it were. Sending the lightning into the sky…that's what happened in nature, right? The bolts from the sky would be of a much higher voltage then anything that Jake could produce on his own. An Elemental's powers bonding with nature's…of course it would be more powerful...twice as much! By itself, lighting struck randomly right…? Unless Jake could control it!
Dammit!
Hundreds more Elementals crept towards them ready to attack Ferio, unknowingly setting themselves up for their own deaths in mere moments.
Shit.
Ferio looked down. On the ground lay Kyu's axe. He must've dropped it. But the question of what had happened to Kyu wasn't running through Ferio's mind. The only thing that registered was the metal of the head…
Jake laughed as Ferio bent down and grabbed the handle.
"Do you know what happens to half-devils who get struck by lightning?"
"No, what?" Keep him talking: that was the trick…
"The same thing that happens to everything else." He let out a small laugh. "What's with the axe? Even if you kill me, it isn't going to stop the lightning from hitting you." He made a gesture. The lightning came splintering down from the sky…
"Wanna bet?" Ferio asked. He lunged forward and stuck the axe in Jake's shirt.
The Elemental of Electricity looked non-plussed, until it hit him.
The lightning, that is.
As the bolt came towards him, attracted to the metal of the axe, Jake screamed and with the last of his power shot lighting back up at it as Ferio threw himself away into the sand, and covered his head with his hands.
Then everything exploded.
Akira and Tamiko reached Akira's back lines moments before the explosion. Akira spotted Morgaine working on a patient donned in pink, and walked towards her, Tamiko's hand held firmly in his own.
"Morgaine, it's all over. Kyu's dead."
Morgaine didn't question Tamiko's being there, nor the large dragon who sidled up next to Mei.
But what about all of his Elementals? Ma'at asked quietly. Appropriately, it was at that point in time that the explosion occurred.It shook the earth. The water was a frothy turmoil, and sands shifted. Rocks from the cliff above them tumbled down, crushing a few Elementals and spirits who were skirting the battle.
Then it was over.
Tamiko turned to Akira. "I'm…sorry." She said, and her voice was a mutter. The awkwardness of the situation surrounded her, like a pillow over her mouth, stifling her. She wouldn't meet his gaze. "This is my fault. I knew they would ambush you. But I didn't come and tell you."
"Tamiko…"
Every second made Tamiko feel more uneasy. "I've got to…I need…to go help." She slipped her hand out of his and walked away from him, deciding to sit by the injured woman and make sure she was all right. She knew in her mind that she was just putting of what would need to be said…but she didn't care.
Morgaine stood stock still, staring dumbly at the centre of the battlefield, where the explosion had occurred. Unnoticed, her wings shrunk and shrivelled back into her body, becoming her shoulder blades once more. Her dull eyes reflected the scene.
Even now, survivors were struggling to their feet, spirits and Elementals alike. They were few and far between. There were seven hundred Elementals and sixty Dragons before the war. Now there were one hundred Elementals, and seven Dragons, their numbers greatly decreased by stupid bloody-mindedness. The vicious beliefs of humans, the bloody circle, war after war after war…
So many people dead……
She finally moved, pushing herself to her feet, taking one wobbly step, then another towards the battlefield.
"Ferio!" She screamed, her face folding up upon itself as tears began to streak down her face. She began to run, her feet pounding against the sand, taking her to the sight of the destruction.
The woman on the ground looked at Akira and Tamiko with dreary eyes. Then she stared at them.
"No…it isn't you…it can't be…not after so long…"
Akira looked over. His eyebrows furrowed. "Do I know you?" His voice broke from the deep sadness he was feeling.
Tamiko looked over also, her face as tear-streaked as his. "You're…Mei…"
The woman nodded. "You and…" She looked at Mei's sister. "Aunt Satsuke used to visit my house when I was little!" Tamiko said, startled. "But you stopped around the same time that Ni…" She choked on her words and started again. "Nile did. You were Mom's friend…"
Mei looked Tamiko over. "Chihiro…you're Chihiro's daughter, aren't you…?" She reached out a hand to Akira, her eyes watering. "my…boy…"
Tamiko nodded, then stopped, and stared at the older woman. "He's you're son? But…"
She stopped herself, and turned. A young girl with curly brunette locks was watching them closely, as she carefully held a baby…the baby Chinese Dragon that Tamiko had rescued…in her one arm, with the awkward look that plainly showed she hadn't had a lot of experience in the baby area. And the girl…
Tamiko called up an image from the start of the war. She was standing beside Guenivere, and across from them stood…
…five of six people…
…a girl in the back, her curly hair framing her paling face. She couldn't hide the tremor that ran through her…
"You! Girl! I don't know your name, but you know Caitlyn, right?"
Michelle nodded dumbly.
"Fetch her." Unless………she was too close to the blast. She might be dead now.
Michelle frowned, gesturing at her arm. "With this?" She asked, her voice saturated with irritation.
Satsuki said harshly, her body trembling as panic overtook her. "Please, somebody do something about my sister! Please…"
Akira frowned, trying to keep himself removed from the situation. It was hard for him. He had been shoved, unwillingly into the role of leader. What that entailed, mainly, was that he had to be able to keep his head in battle, to be a pillar on which the Elementals could rely on. He had to be confident, matter-of-fact and sure, able to remove himself from the pain and suffering…meaning he was totally the wrong person for the job.
Unknowingly his blood spotted hands clenched into fists, as he squeezed his eyes shut. A light, gentle touch on his arm startled him. He opened his eyes to see Tamiko bending over him, a compassion in her eyes that he hadn't seen for a very long time.
"I'll get her." She said softly, meeting his gaze for a brief moment before looking away, turning, and leaving.
He reached out and caught her hand. She whirled around. Once again, a million things he could have said pummelled though his head, but he settled with:
"Be careful, okay?"
She nodded and departed. He watched her go sadly.
Something between us has shattered. Let me be ableto fix things…
"Ferio! Ferio, answer me! Please, answer me!"
For Morgaine, it seemed like time stretched on. A moment lasted an hour, Panic welled up inside her, clawing at her insides. She couldn't see, she couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. The stench of scorched meat clogged her nostrils, but she took no notice as she searched for him.
"Ferio!"
Her head whirled. He had to be here, somewhere. He couldn't have died in the blast. He couldn't be killed, just like that… she wouldn't believe it.
"Ferio!"
There was no answer. She had reached the place of the explosion. Scorched sand and dirt was spread around her, a dark flower marring the white of the beach. Seared corpses littered the sand.
I wish that we had never come here! I wish things were back like they used to be! Linda's dead….please don't let Ferio be too…
Morgaine looked around, her eyes wild in her soot covered face, searching. Something glinted from a pile of ashes. She collapsed to her knees, and dug through the pile to retrieve the item. A sense of foreboding washed over her. She wiped the item free of soot, slowly and carefully. She let out a strangled cry, as her mind confirmed what her heart would not allow itself to believe.
In her palm lay Ferio's hoop earring, unclasped.
With hands that shook, hardly knowing her own mind, Morgaine did up the clasp and slid the earring onto her finger. Then, clutching at her wrist, Morgaine bent over her clasped hands as her spirit broke. With great wrenching sobs that seemed to come from deep inside of her, she began to cry.
The first thing that pierced through Caitlyn's mind was that the putrid flesh that was piled over her and snaked around her throat went limp and still. Then the smell of burning seared her nostrils.
She pushed the lifeless dead off of her, fighting nausea, and sat up. The sight that met her was one of destruction. Everywhere, things were burning or blackened. A little ways away she could see the burning remains of the old woman who attacked her. Sickened she looked back and saw the seared bodies of the once reanimated dead.
They got hit instead of me…
A woman's wail rose over the cries of others.
It's all over.
She began to stand up, but crumpled with a screech of pain, grabbing at her leg. She bit her lip. Pain seared through her knee, crippling her. With a force of will, she made herself stand up again, gritting her teeth against the pain. She tentatively touched her foot to the ground, and then forced herself to limp, pushing herself towards the back lines.
Tamiko ran her fingers through her long hair as she dashed over the beach, her eyes ever watchful for Akira's twin. Her head was whirling.
Who am I? Images of her as both dragon and woman flickered through her head. Girl or beast? She remembered attacking Akira, remembered the hate and anger she felt against him.
That time….when I thought he was cheating…I wanted to kill him. I nearly did. I wanted him dead! How could I do that? I know. It's because I am a monster. But am I a woman who turns into a monster or a monster who pretends to be human?
I want so much to be human…..
She noted a cripple dragging themselves across themselves across the sand and started out of her reverie, recognizing the features as Akira's. But, taking a second look, she realized it was his female counterpart. She called out to Caitlyn.
Beads of sweat dotted the younger girl's pallid visage. Her cheeks were flushed an unhealthy pink, her hair hanging in lank strings around her features. When she looked up at Tamiko with red-rimmed eyes, her face was strained.
Tamiko drew close, looking worried and distracted.
"Caitlyn, what happened?"
"I'm fine." Akira's twin demurred, letting out a hacking cough.
Tamiko felt a flash of anger. "Don't be stupid."
Caitlyn glared at her.
Tamiko groaned. She had too much whirling in her mind right now: she was not up to dealing with teenage bravado. "Look. There's someone on the side lines that says she's your mother."
"What?"
Tamiko sighed. "C'mon. Let's go."
Akira stared at the woman whose hand he held. This was his mother? The woman who had abandoned him to his father all those years ago? Even as she lay there dying, all he could feel was resentment towards her.
She smiled up at him. "I'm sorry we couldn't have had more time together." She whispered to him, stroking his face. "Look at you. I'm so proud of the way you've grown up."
He squeezed her hand, not trusting his voice.
He looked up at the sound of footsteps to see Tamiko and Caitlyn. Tamiko came and stood beside him. As he searched his mother's face, waiting for it to trigger a memory, he felt Tamiko's hand slip into his own. He looked up, startled, and she gave him a weary smile. She was there to support him. She always had been.
He looked back down at the woman who called himself his mother, her ashen face covered with a mist of perspiration. She didn't move.
Startled, but not really surprised, Akira brushed his fingers against her neck, searching for a fluttering pulse. There was none. The woman had died.
"Oh." Tamiko whispered.
Satsuke looked like she had been hit in the stomach. She sat there stunned for a moment, before she grabbed Mei's shoulder and started shaking her.
"Mei! Mei, wake up! Stop pretending! Mei, don't be so stupid!" Her voice was harsh.
Tamiko's eyes filled with tears as she heard Caitlyn speak, her voice dull.
"She's gone. There's nothing you can do."
Tamiko felt the hand tucked inside her own clench hard enough to bruise, and she looked up to see Akira's face almost as ashen as the dead woman who lay in front of them. His lifeless eyes met hers for a moment, before turning away.
"….I've always thought I hated her, because she left me alone with Dad. I thought if I saw her I'd hate her with all my heart, but…" His eyes were bubbling over with warm, salty tears, but even as he lost his composure he tried to keep from crying.
Tamiko could feel something melt inside her. All those things that stood between them…they seemed stupid and trivial now. Biting her lip, unsure of herself, she timidly reached out to him, holding him in her arms. He stiffened for a moment as if almost affronted, then sagged and began to sob. She cradled him, herself no longer crying because there were no more tears inside her to cry. She just felt tired and empty.
The war was over. No one had won.
The tide came in, carrying away with it the blood that stained the sand.
NOTE FROM AUTHOR
There will be one more chapter after this one, set six years later. An epilogue, if you will.
Sorry this took so long.
