Nakietra

I moan and twist around. My head is pounding painfully. I press a hand to the back of it and feel metal under me. I open my eyes and look to the side. Bars.

I remember being wrapped in chains but not anymore. I struggle into a sitting position and tug on the bars. They're newly forged and strong. There's no way I'm going to be able to break out of this. I touch my hip and feel my knife. I still might be able to escape.

Across the cavern from me are the others. They aren't in chains either and are still out. Nero isn't here anymore. I clench the bars tightly. I remember him being thrown into a cage so where is he. His mind is still shielded from me.

I look around. There are holes in the ceiling letting in parts of light and the ceiling is circular and wide. I know this place. I look at the ripples along the walls and examine the star-like lights that are decorating the ground. I remember the light being stronger so it must be morning. There's an exit but there's a large rock over it.

Hiro used to take me here when I was little I remember. He cut the stars on the ceiling and taught me to climb here over rocks that were here. They were all against the sides now but they were still here. My ears prick up as I hear the scrapping of rock. I clench the hilt of my knife and look to the exit.

It's Benji coming through. He closes it being him and approaches me with a sickening smile on his face. His attention is fully on me. The rock wasn't closed all the way and I see a full corner free. I might be able to squeeze through there if I had the time. I know Benji won't give me that time though if I did manage to escape this cage.

He strolled around the room, around me at least, until he was right next to the cage. He looked stronger than I remember, much stronger. I stared up at him defiantly. I'm going to die no matter what I do, but I don't want to die looking scared. I see why no one took my knife away

"Little mousey's awake I see. Are you ready to play?" He asks with his insane smile. I look past him at my unconscious group. Do I really have a choice here? If I say no then he'll them first. That isn't an option.

"Yes," I answer, my voice sounding like a mouse's. Someone was stirring in the other cage. He pulled cage door off and abandoned it to the side before darting a hand forward to grab me. I leapt out of his reach and stabbed my knife into his hand. It did nothing. He laughed and grabbed my arm.

"A mouse can't hurt the lion. You should know that," He said and quickly pulled me out and threw me across the room. I hit the ground with a series of rolls and flips but it all still hurt even though I tried to stop myself as safely as possible. When my vision stops spinning, I see that I was next to the other cage. I look inside and saw Kurogane just starting to sit up. He looked at me.

"I love you," I say quietly. He stares at me and purses his lips. I don't need him to say it back. "Get the Storm Ball from Mokona," I tell him and dart away as Benji runs to me.

"Start running mousey. This is a game for your life," He says and laughs as he takes one of the big rocks and throws it at me. I just barely dodge before I start running again. I need to hand on for just a little longer.

Kurogane

I push and shove everyone's unconscious bodies out of my way until I find Mokona. There was a red spot on the back of his head where he was knocked unconscious also but I still shake him. We don't have time to wait for him and everyone else to wake up normally.

"Wake up," I say loudly through gritted teeth. He doesn't even react. I set him down and look to Nakietra.

She's terrified, much more than she was the last time we saw this man. She's just barely missing his lightning attacks and stumbles every time he throws a rock close to her. She won't be able to keep this up long, not when she doesn't even think she's going to live through this. I drop Mokona and turn to Syaoran. I need to wake someone else up. We need a plan before she dies.

"What?" He asked groggily.

"Wake Mokona up," I bark and drop the pork bun into his lap. I shake Fai and get him awake. I don't touch the princess. She doesn't need to be awake to see Nakietra this terrified. I don't even want Fai to see her this scared but we need all three of us to think of a plan out of here.

I watch Nakietra as we discuss what to do. I was right, her body is rapidly giving out from the stress of it all. I pull on the bars. They're sturdy and I probably won't be able to bend them. Mokona hands me the storm ball and I stare into it. We need to get it to her somehow. I hand it to Fai and pull on the bars. We need to try something at least.

"How do we get it to her?" Fai asks seriously. I rest my arms. They aren't budging at all. This is only going to tire me out. It's not worth it. I hear rocks scrapping together and look toward the exit. I see a black nose poke through the revealed corner and then a grey body follows. It's Nero. He shakes himself up and then looks back as another wolf follows. This one is red and a little smaller. The two touch noses and run off into the fight.

I watch them nip Benji's ankles and force his attention away from Nakietra. More wolves come from the hole and join in the distraction. I find Nakietra. She slumped against the far wall, defeated looking and breathing heavy. Benji brushes the wolves away and reaches toward her. I clutch the bars. A second before his giant looking hand grabs her, Nero and the red wolf are attacking the hand and stopping him. Benji shrieks and yells as he tries to unclasp them.

Nakietra looks up but doesn't move. She looks to me. I take the ball from Fai and hold it up. She smiles slightly and then looks to Benji with fear. The wolves are shaken off to opposite sides of the room and then it's just her, defenseless.

Wolves attack Benji from all over, aiming for every available piece of skin they can. He pulls them off one by one but it makes little difference against the ones they take their place. Nakietra stares at them but still doesn't more. Nero comes beside her and she pulls herself onto his back before he runs her over. There are splotches of blood following them but I can't tell who they're coming from.

Nero stopped beside me and keeps his head trained on Benji. Nakietra drags her head up and looks at me. There's blood smeared on the edges of her lips. I clench my teeth as she smiles weakly. I know she was prepared to die here if that was possible, I could just see it in her eyes when we came here.

"The storm glass," She asks in a raspy voice. She is prepared to die here I remind myself as I fit the glass through the bars.

"Are you okay?" Fai asks and tries to reach for her. She takes the glass and doesn't answer as we lock eyes. She's dying. She needs to take her medicine and rest but we don't have time for that. I remind myself that she came here prepared to die.

"Be careful," I say. She nods her head as Nero speeds away. I take a deep breath as Benji sees her and yells in rage as he swipes toward her and Nero. He barely misses. I clench my hands as I see her fearful face. I can't let her ride to her death. It's not right.

"Let's try to pull these bars," I say and take one with both hands. We just need more than my strength to pull them out. Fai and Syaoran took the other one and we all pulled our own ways. I continued to watch the fight as the bars slowly come apart this time.

Nero slows down near the far wall. Nakietra climbs off and kisses his head. He looks up at her before running into battle. She tucks the ball into her dress and starts climbing the slanted wall. My eyes widened as I watch her slowly climb until she was hanging completely upside down. I knew she was a good climber but I've never seen anyone be able to do that while their body was in such poor condition. She's trying to kill herself.

She let her feet first when she reached the area right above Benji. She let go and landed with her feet pressed against his chest. She grabbed his shirt with both hands and smashed the glass into his face. Smoke exploded from the ball and was inhaled into his body. Benji swiped her into the ground and then froze. Every wolf backed away to the edges of the cavern but Nakietra didn't more at all. Nero and four other wolves darted in to pull her way as Benji's body swelled twice its size.

The bars were pulled far enough apart for us to get through then. I was about to go through when two nasty looking wolves stepped in front and growled at me. I settled down and watched. Something dangerous was about to happen. His body stopped swelling then. His skin bubbled and quivered. He started screeching a sound no person should ever make. His body started swelling again until the skin started ripping and tearing. His blood was black as it dripped onto the ground.

His chest burst open then and wind broke out, swirling around the room hazardly until it dispensed. Benji's body was smaller than it was as it fell forward with a hole going completely through his chest. The wolves in front of the cage stepped back and I darted through. The only thought running through my head was that Nakietra couldn't die here, not yet.