Disclaimer: Figure it out yourself. I don't own anything you own. If you own it, odds are that I don't. It's not hard.

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Angel Memories: Chapter 23

Connections

(paths)

"Yetzirah…"

The naked woman whispered the word quietly and then looked around. Her bright eyes shone through the mist as they lit over my hiding place momentarily before moving on to survey the remaining buildings. Beside her, the other man quietly massaged his wrist and stared thoughtfully at the ground. Keter waited patiently for the woman to finish her inspection.

"This is Yetzirah?" she finally asked when she had had her fill of the scenery.

"No," Keter said with a shake of his head. He stepped forward and reached out with his right hand, extending a finger forward and pressing it gently against her forehead. "That, is Yetzirah."

The woman stepped back and swatted the finger away, gently rubbing her forehead. She scowled slightly before speaking again. "What do you mean by, 'that'?"

Keter nodded without a word and spread his arms wide. "This feeling. This existence." He lowered his head and pointed at both of the naked figures. "These bodies. All of these are what make up Yetzirah. It is not the world around us, but our place in it. Even if you don't understand what it means, don't you recognize the word itself?"

Silently, the man and woman both nodded.

"That is because we all strive to reach this plane. Without achieving our place here, we have no hope of reaching our goal." Keter smiled slightly and tilted his head. "Do you know where that is?"

The square remained silent. My own mind was racing as I watched the motionless forms in the mist. I recognized the term Yetzirah as well. The knowledge of what it was seemed to come from the same collective pool of information as my understanding of the symbols that adorned the weapons of the mysterious people. What was their goal? Why…did I feel like I already knew? That place that they were talking about…was the name of that place…

"Asiyah." All the heads turned to the large man who stood, staring thoughtfully at the ground. The muscled man shook his head. "We search for Asiyah. But it's not just a place. We can not simply get there."

Beside him, the woman's eyes widened for a moment, as though she were remembering something. "We must achieve it. Just as we escaped Beri'ah…it was not a matter of movement, but of will." She glanced downward at her slender hands and slowly clenched them into fists. "We created these bodies through will alone."

"I see you are beginning to remember." Keter tapped the side of his head and grinned slightly. "Everything I have come to understand since I escaped Beri'ah, you will soon come to learn. These bodies were created by will. Do you remember it? Do you remember what it felt like to drift in Beri'ah? It must have hurt you as well; to be connected by a thread to that light.

"But you escaped. You two together managed to leave that place and crafted these bodies through sheer will. I too have been through exactly the same journey of will that you have. Now we all stand here, created, but not complete." He shook his head slowly. "Do you know who you are yet?"

It took a moment but then the woman nodded slowly and said, "Binah…that's…my name, isn't it?" Keter nodded slowly and turned expectantly to the other man.

"Chokhmah." He blinked slowly. "That's what you called me before…and…I know that that is my name." He paused for a moment in thought before speaking again. "And you are Keter." He shook his head. "And that's more than a name…" He paused again. "I don't know what the meaning is yet. I don't remember."

Keter placed a hand on Chokhmah's shoulder gently and smiled. "Don't worry; it will all come to you in time. I've been around for over a year now, and I still haven't received all of the information."

Binah looked up from where she had been staring and looked at Keter with a pained expression. "It must have been difficult, not knowing who you were, and having nobody to show you the way."

Keter nodded slightly. "That's why it is so important to me to teach you everything. The more you know, the closer we all become."

"And the closer we get to Asiyah," Chokhmah muttered quietly.

They stood in silence for a long time. The three of them stood still, mist washing over their bodies. All around them, dark buildings with neon lights gradually lit up the square. At my side, Masamune shivered excitedly, silently pulling me toward the exit of the alley. I steadied the weapon with my hand but it shook in protest. It was longing for something. What do you want? Why are you causing so much of a fuss all of a sudden.

fight

Oh? It had been ages since Masamune had last spoken to me. I had forgotten the first time. It was in the Nibelheim reactor. Shortly after Cloud had been skewered by me on the stairway, I had thrown him to the ground. Lying there on the metal precipice, Cloud was breathing short heavy breaths. I had raised Masamune and was about to kill him when Masamune had shaken violently.

won't

That was all it had said. I had ignored it at the time, but now that I remembered it, it was saying that it refused to kill Cloud. Masamune was rejecting me as its wielder. It was the only time Masmaune had ever used words before. Normally, the blade conveyed its feelings through shivers or vibrations with much more clarity than one would expect.

Masamune's voice, if that was what it could be called, was shaking with excitement and seemed to be completely focused on its request. It shivered slightly. Look there, it was telling me. My eyes followed the gentle flow of emotions that streamed from the blade at my waist. Slowly, my eyes came to rest on Keter, and then they moved down his body to finally halt at the long sword at his own waist.

Come to think of it…what feelings has Masmaune ever really shown? If annoyance could be called an emotion then I suppose it had. Other than that though, Masamune had never shown concern or any sort of excitement. Every interaction with the blade had been purely business. It wanted me to wield it simply because I was the strongest that it knew. I wanted Masamune because it is the strongest blade I have ever encountered. The times it had protected my life had all been for itself. Without me, it no longer had a wielder. It really was a symbiotic relationship. Purely business. But now…

i want to fight with her

What? An entire sentence? Not only that but with nouns. Masamune had referred to itself by "i." Could it be developing a sense of self? And it wanted to fight with "her." Old friend, what interest do you have in Binah? And why…do I feel like that isn't who you are talking about?

Suddenly, the silent figure that was Keter opened his eyes wide and looked down at his hip. It was barely visible through the dark mist, but his sword was definitely moving slightly. It could very well have been a trick of my own eyes, but it seemed to be shaking slightly. Keter placed a pale hand on the hilt and closed his eyes again. They all stood that way for a long time, silent and unmoving.

now

Before I could question what was happening, the square suddenly burst into motion. All three people split from their meeting and rocketed outwards. Keter tore straight toward my dark alleyway. My mind fluttered in confusion for a second and then settled as Keter finished drawing his blade. My own hand flashed to Masamune who leapt eagerly into my waiting fingers with no hesitation. Just as the tip of my blade left the scabbard, Keter made his first attack.

There was a soft tearing sound and something inside my gut made my knees crumple. Millimeters above my falling head, the air flashed a tiny white line and separated for a moment. Then the two levels of gas reattached and produced a tremendous crashing noise that threatened to leave me deaf. My eyes watered from the noise but I caught myself and stood back up, brandishing Masamune. I looked back out to the square.

Keter was standing quietly, Muramasa held steadily at his side. Behind him, the large warhammer and pair of tonfa that had been dropped earlier flashed and disappeared. At the edges of the alley's opening, a dim light glowed for a moment. The sound of metal tapping stone echoed like a single ripple in a pond. Then, from both sides, the tall buildings shattered completely. A fine dark grey dust hovered for a split second and then was blown away completely. While most of the buildings had been blown away, a short section still remained on both sides, cut perfectly parallel to the ground at about the height of my neck. Chokhmah and Binah both stood with the tips of their weapons hovering slightly above the completely flat cut away section of stone.

"Him?" Binah said with curiosity.

"Muramasa would not lie," replied Keter.

Unsure of what they were talking about, I stepped out from the remains of the alley and out into the square. Masamune shook excitedly as my movement caused Muramasa's blade to gleam in the half-light. These were not simple opponents. These three could really kill me. They all seemed to be just about on my own level. Impressive certainly.

"What do you want?" I asked finally.

Keter smiled widely. "I thought it would be difficult to find you."

"What do you want?" I said, ignoring his cryptic statement.

"To open the paths. To find the pieces. And…" the blade in his hand dipped slightly. "To put them all back together again!"

Before he could move, I launched myself across the short distance and lashed out with Masamune. Keter's blade deftly slid up and caught my own, halting its progression and bringing us face to face. The two swords rattled slightly against one another.

"It seems they are enjoying this," Keter grunted under the strain of my assault.

To speak in the middle of a deadlock meant weakness. Stepping diagonally across my body, I ducked and allowed Keter to come forward slightly. Then, using his own momentum, I whirled around and thrust Muramasa away from my own blade. Keter fell forward but just as I brought Masamune down on his exposed back, he leapt forward, somersaulting, caught his footing and launched himself back at me with twice the strength.

We exchanged strikes, blow for blow, parrying and dodging, searching desperately for an opening in the other's guard. In a desperate maneuver, I stepped backward and cut upwards, holding Masamune with one hand. Keter dodged the cut easily and reared back for a moment before launching forward with a thrust aimed to my heart. As the blade flashed, inches from my chest, my free hand flashed upwards and tapped forcefully on the flat side of the approaching sword.

Keter's strike went wild but he couldn't stop himself in the middle of his attack. Above my head, I flipped Masamune over one of my fingers and began to bring it down on Keter's vulnerable head. From behind me, I caught a blur of pearl white and pink flesh coloring. Without hesitating, I ran my finger down the rest of Keter's sword and thrust my open palm into his jaw, sending him arcing backwards. Masamune, which was already in a downward path, flipped once more as I shifted my weight and thrust it out at the approaching object.

Masamune shuddered for a second as it met the head of Binah's hammer. She pushed hard against my defense and knocked my backwards. In her small victory, she let down her guard and I gradually turned my stumble into a controlled retreat which she foolishly followed. She thrust forward with her hammer and before she realized what I had done, I ducked the oncoming attack and buried my fist into her abdomen. She flew backwards and hit the ground with a crash. Checking to make sure Keter was still recovering; I pursued the still tumbling figure that was Binah. When I drew level with her, I raised Masamune high and then thrust downward at her throat.

In a flurry of movement, two whirling pearl shapes flew into site from my left. The first knocked Masamune from its intended path, sending it straight into the ground beside Binah's throat. The second one whipped under me and shot upwards, catching me on the jaw and sending me somersaulting into the air. For a second, I felt helpless, my body wouldn't obey its commands and in the air, I was weightless and without power. Then, I managed to get under control and establish something of a calm within my mind.

But that was soon interrupted. Something heavy and blunt caught my spine and pain shot straight into my brain. Blood rose in my mouth and I couldn't tell which way I was falling anymore. I hit a surface, though I couldn't tell what kind it was, and ricocheted off before something else connected with my body. This one was softer, but spared no effort in making up for it in the force of the blow. It connected and drove me into another hard surface, thrusting me against it and driving the wind from my lungs.

My head was swimming. My eyes were open but spotted with white and black. I couldn't sort colors and shapes and the result was a very strange picture. A blurry oval of white and silver hovered above me. Some of the silver moved and seemed to get further away, if only slightly. The figure made some strange sounds I couldn't understand although it sounded like talking.

Then everything turned bright white. For a moment, I thought my vision was still too impaired to understand but as my peripherals focused, I realized that there really was a bright light directly over me.

"No…" A small voice to my left gasped quietly. I turned to see Chokhmah trembling slightly and sweating a lot. His two weapons fell from his hands and clashed against the floor. His eyes were wide and frightened.

"Ah…ah…" Binah was standing further to my left. She was staring fixedly at the area above me and clutching violently at her head. She fell to her knees and curled into the fetal position. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Her scream ripped into my senses and seemed to loosen something in the shivering man next to her. Chokhmah collapsed and began to scream incoherently as well. In front of me, Keter was slowly backing away from the glowing white light. He too was wide eyed with terror. His legs were unsteady but he shook his head and pointed at the pulsating orb of light.

"This…this can't be here! We escaped!" He took another shaky step backward. "We should be free of this. This shouldn't be here!" He dropped to one knee and clutched at his eyes. "I'm done looking at you! Go away! STOP IT!" Then he too fell into a series of uncontrolled screams and incoherent sentences.

From inside the light, a figure appeared. It was a little girl in a white dress. She stepped gingerly out of the portal and brushed back a stray piece of blonde hair. Silently, she extended her hand. When I didn't take it, she spoke.

"Take it!"

Her voice was high and sweet. Her eyes were dark and tired with rings under them. In a moment, I everything snapped together in my hazy head.

"Namine?"

The girl only thrust her hand out with more conviction. "We have to go. Now!"

With that final demanding word, I felt compelled to do as she said. My hand reached up and caught hers and she pulled me to my feet and into the light. Much like the doors, the light began to surround and fill me. Behind me, the dark misty world began to disappear. The last thing I saw was a petrified Keter on his knees staring into the white glow.

"Bring them back…don't take them back to the…Ain…Soph…."

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Alright! So I just bought Advent children and saw it for the first time. I had hoped it would be a source of motivation but it turned out to make me really depressed because I can never ever describe a battle as intense as the ones in that wonderful wonderful movie.

Ah…such bliss…

SO here's the new chapter. I'm glad to hear that you people like the jewish mysticism im throwing in now. I'm very skeptical about using new characters all of a sudden. And not only that…but making them up? That's nuts! OCs in my story? Well lets hope they work out ok…and that we can get them all clothed in time. Sorry but I think that if someone is just created…why would they have clothing as well? Just logistics.

Thank you so much to Raging Phoenix, Unita, Chaos009 (awesome cosplay btw…I'll write you an email about it some time. Been busy…sorry!) Lapse – Raevn, Shokz (glad you like it! Good to have you onboard) shadowwolf21, vermilliondragoness, heartsoblivion, and xsaturnine for all the reviews after my long absence. You guys rock socks. Even striped ones.

Can't promise that the next chapter will be out so soon. Please don't shoot me with lightning.