Chapter 8

Usagi's POV

I did believe Mamoru would come to my rescue.

I did believe I had a fighting chance to survive a small attack.

I did believe I would be with my love forever.

The way it was supposed to be.

I never once doubted the future laid out in front of me like a welcoming white carpet. But at this moment, I felt the whole future shift.

I fell on my backside. My hair smelt singed and the right side of my face hurt. I could feel the blood dripping down from my wounds as I scrambled to get up. My head was dizzy and I couldn't get a good reading on anything. I coughed from the debris and smoke that chugged through the air.

When my eyes finally adjusted to the sight before me, shock pervaded my thoughts. The sidewalk in which I was on now harbored a large crater that took out the whole street, creating cracks lining up the buildings adjacent from each other. People came out in droves, echoes of screams and disbelief of cries permeated the air. I thanked Kami that I was enshrouded by the darkness in the unlit side street near the crater.

I limped back deeper into the street, taking note my right leg was hurt badly. Looking around, it was then I understood the severity of the crater and where there used to be youkais. The youkais who attacked me were nowhere in sight.

I had the feeling they were part of the muck in the sewer water spraying out in buckets into the crater. Shuddering from the lost adrenaline, I had to make an escape, else the public would find me. Spotting a wrought-iron ladder under the stairs that led up to the top of the building, I slowly managed to push myself upward, ignoring the thumping pain in every part of my body.

I had to get away, and quickly. I couldn't do anything more except think of this as I made my way up the ladder, one rung at a time and one step at a time.

Ami's POV

"What?" Rei's voice broke through my shocked thoughts. What did he mean by being put on trial and found guilty and going to be put to death?

"You mean you haven't realized this yet?" He blinked twice, three times... "I thought you knew…that's why you're here…"

I sharply looked at him, "You're mistaken. We know nothing of what's going on."

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Rei interrupted me, "Are you truly that stupid or are you mocking us?"

"You need to watch your mouth. I've been nothing but pleasant to you." Itzal's eyes glowered at Rei.

"While we're tied up!" Rei said angrily, "I want answers!" A sharp slap resounded over the dank dungeon. My eyes widened as Rei was slapped twice, and slammed down on the ground, Itzal's hand enclosed on her throat.

"Silence! I told you to be quiet and you disregarded my request!"

"Stop it! You're going to kill her!" I said, tears in my eyes, "Stop!"

Itzal's face contorted before he let go and let out a pleasant laugh. "You really are a peace-maker. Bravo. Shame we have to kill you." He shrugged at that, and then made his way out of the cell, letting it clang shut.

Coughing, Rei sat up, raggedly breathing. "He was so strong…I couldn't even will him off me."

"He's…incredibly mad," I whispered. I got onto my knees and tried to move toward Rei, but the chains were too short. "I can't move far…are you okay?"

"Will be okay when I kick him so hard in nuts, he'll be seeing stars for ages. Goodbye future kids." Rei said hoarsely.

Despite our situation, I couldn't help but smile a little, then looked around. "We have to try and get out of here. There is no way we can stay here if he believes we're convicted criminals on death row."

"Do you think this is just a normal human toying with us because he's nuts, or because he's a youkai in disguise?"

"I'm not sure. It's hard to get a good reading when I don't even have my computer." We both sighed pitifully.

"I just don't understand all of this. I got the feeling something bad would happen, but not like this." Rei said, and I looked at her with wide eyes.

"Did you have a premonition?"

Rei nodded and then said, "This morning. I was going to do a reading this afternoon after studying, but as you can see, that didn't happen." She clanged her chains as she thought, "We have to get out of here. We must find a way to get a hold of the others. Warn them."

"If they aren't already here." I said with gloom. I hoped they weren't here, but what Itzal said, he already had Minako and Makoto in his possession. I hoped not.

"I hope he was lying about that to scare us."

"I'm afraid not, we're here too." Minako's voice sounded from some other cell.

"Minako? Makoto's there too?" Rei asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, but she's not awake yet. I've been listening to the conversation for a while, and even tried to wake up Mako all the while. She took a good beating when they tried to capture her. She's hurt really badly I think." Her voice choked.

"You were attacked?" Rei asked in horror.

"Yes, by youkais, they captured us after a fight. The whole street was taken out by us. I hope there weren't any casualties because the fighting was intense. They were so much stronger than what we're used to." I could hear the tears in her voice as she let out a ragged breath.

"Youkais…but I thought they were all gone after the Starlights left…" Rei said in a low voice...

"Not anymore. They're here for something, that I'm not sure. They were speaking in a foreign language. I hope they didn't get Usagi…"

Rei and I looked at each other with large eyes. There was no way Usagi could fight without someone there. It wasn't as if she wasn't strong enough, it was just her concentration wasn't too good when it came to fights. And if these youkais were more dangerous than we were used to, Usagi had no fighting chance.

Hey guys!

After a two and a half year hiatus from this story, and fanfiction in general, I got the writing bug again and began to pursue starting up this story once more! I hope it's to your liking and enjoy! I have a good plan for this for the future, so look out for more chapters to come along! (Due to college classes the next week with finals and essays and all that jazz, I won't be updating too often. I hope for Christmas Break I"ll get some time to write!) I thank you all who've been there with me from the beginning!