Chapter 17: Sacrifice, By Fire or Water

Ace woke up with a start, hearing a strange snap. He sat up. Everything was dark, with only the starlight pouring into his room as was usual. Then there was a slam. His eyes went to his closed bedroom door, just beyond which the noise had come. He crept up to the doorway and pulled it open barely a crack. Beyond, everything looked as it should…except that his door was open, the sunlight pouring in. Strange, I locked it. So no one broke in… he thought slowly. Then it occurred to him that whoever it was must have been inside and wanting out. But who was in his room? He stepped into the living room and cast his eyes around for his dagger. Of course it was gone. He sighed, and then stepped into a wet spot on the carpet. He made a face a looked down. Water… Dax! He walked out into the light, more assured that the intruder wasn't an enemy. Just outside his room were two cloaked men. Ace crossed his arms.

"What are you doing?" He hissed. Dax pulled back his hood and glared at him.

"I'm taking this thorn out of my side." He answered, motioning to the City around him. Ace frowned.

"I said I needed warning! I can't just barge into Skye's room and convince her to come with me in the dead of night!" He said angrily. Dax shook his head, smirking.

"You know, they say that love is blind." He said slowly. Ace blinked. What did that have to do with anything? Dax looked him in the eyes. "They were wrong, I think. Jealousy is blind." There was a long silence.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Ace asked, exasperated.

"It means you're jealous of Riku and it's made you blind and stupid." Dax replied simply.

"I'm not stupid!" Ace said defensively. Dax sneered.

"Really? You showed me the way into the Rebel City in exchange for a promise that you had faith I'd keep. Come now, you've spent enough years on the street to know that you should trust no one. Especially me. Now, are you going to get in my way?"

"Just give me a few minutes! All I want is to get Skye and me out of here!"

"See? You are stupid." Dax said shortly. Ace seethed silently. Dax smirked. "I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't care what happens to this rebellion. Let it live if it wants. Skye's the only one I care about. She's the one I want. She'll be my sacrifice; by fire or water, she'll die."

"HOW DARRRRAAAAAHHHHH!" Ace began to reply with a shout, but a splitting pain in the back of his head sent him reeling, his words becoming a cry. Rio was standing behind him, Ace's own dagger, now covered in blood, in his hand. Ace hit the wall and leaned against it for balance, his hands going up to the back of his head. Dax glowered at him and drew a small circle in the air with his finger. Within that circle, a long, thin dart of water gathered. Without any warning, it shot forward, solidifying into wood as it whistled momentarily through the air before it hit Ace square in the chest. His face twisted into a look of absolute rage and then he collapsed to the floor, leaving a splatter of dark red on the wall behind him. Dax nodded to Rio, and they disappeared down the ramp to look for Skye. It hadn't been long when they heard a short scream from just above them.

………………………………

Skye and Riku were sitting next to the body of Ace, knowing full well that there was nothing anyone could do. Skye bowed her head.

"Go get Jade and Lodi." She muttered, choked. Riku started to stand up, but paused putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked. There was a long silence.

"…not really. But I'll live."

"Aw, so sad. Like losing a brother, isn't it?" A cold voice asked mockingly. Riku stopped and turned around. Skye looked up and saw Dax standing a short distance away from her.

"Not at all. I'd love to lose you, brother." She answered as she stood, putting an icy emphasis on the term 'brother'.

"That's not a nice thing to say, little sis." Dax answered, feigning hurt. If looks could kill, Dax would have been dead in an instant as Skye glared at him. Flames danced on her finger tips in her anger. Then, a funnel of fire shot towards him. He lifted his hand and a thick wall of water blocked the attack. "Now, now, don't be so hasty to get so angry. You should be happy he's been silenced, so that he won't give away any more of your secrets." Dax said cruelly

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked, gripping his sword, the Way to the Dawn. Dax chuckled mirthlessly.

"You haven't guessed? Ace was terribly jealous of you, Riku. He wanted me to 'deal' with you in exchange for giving me access to the Rebel City. And you, Skye. He was worried about you, thinking that you were a danger to yourself. So he told me everything he knew about your magic. He essentially rendered your magic useless against me." He explained, loving the look of horror that passed across her face as he spoke.

"You're…you're lying…" she said, though she knew it was true and she certainly didn't speak very forcefully.

"No, see, you know I'm not. And now that you know it's useless to fight, be a good girl and stay here. Leave your friends to sleep and they'll be given the peace of dieing painlessly in their dreams. I'm afraid that you won't be so lucky though." As he spoke, he let out another forced laugh and started back down the ramp. A split second later, Riku had maneuvered himself in front of Dax, holding his weapon up in front of him.

"If you want to go anywhere, you're going through me." He said, his voice deadly quiet. Dax glared at him.

"Do you actually think you can defeat me? I'm nearly as powerful as my father." He said, obviously boasting.

"In that case, it should be a piece of cake." Riku answered, smirking. Dax lashed out at him, angry with Riku's stab at both him and his father. The noise had drawn Lodi and Jade now, who ran towards them as Lodi tossed Skye a stave with curved blades attached to either end. She caught it and spun towards Dax, swiping at his head. Dax noticed the attack just on time and lunged out of the way. Rio, who had gone ahead of Dax to 'secure the gate', came running up the ramp behind Riku. Skye smirked.

"Didn't you know? Riku's best friend is the one who killed Ansem." She asked, stabbing at Dax again. Dax side stepped it and drew his own sword, blocking the attack as she gracefully flipped the stave and brought it down on his head.

"Please, you expect me to believe that?" He asked incredulously. He stabbed out at her and she spun out of the way, pivoting on her heel, swinging her stave full circle and intending to catch Dax's back, though he was able to block it. Meanwhile, Riku was fighting with Rio, who clearly wasn't much of a fighter. He would have been in way over his head with Sora's swordsmanship back when Riku was the better of the two; these days, the pair was pretty evenly matched, but could be guaranteed to outfight anyone else on the Islands. Riku caught him in the side and he collapsed, already exhausted from exertion. Lodi arrived a moment later and took to guarding Rio while Riku went to help Skye fight Dax. Venus burst out of her room, shouting, terrified.

"There's an army on our doorstep! They're everywhere!" She cried, before seeing the fight occurring in front of her. Jade was assessing Ace, with a pained look on her face. Mars came running out of his room a moment later and sounded the alarm. Barely a moment later, shouts were heard from below.

"Go with the soldiers and take care of them outside!" Lodi hollered. Mars nodded, racing down the ramp, but Venus hesitated. Then, reaching out with her magic, she drew the walls of the mountain out, cornering Dax. Dax, in turn, saw this and swore under his breath.

"Forget the City! But if I go down, I'll take that stupid village with me!" He shouted, before calling up a portal of water and disappearing into it. Venus gasped.

"I'm going to warn the villagers!" She cried. Lodi nodded his assent and she sunk into the ground. A moment later, she reappeared out of the ground in the middle of the empty marketplace. "EVERYONE GET UP! WE HAVE TO LEAVE!" she shouted. She spotted a lone figure down by the docks, with raised arms, and then saw the ocean's surface swell. A few windows lit, and a few faces appeared in doorways, looking angry as being disturbed. Venus waved her arms at them. "EVERYONE GET TO HIGH GROUND! DAX IS FLOODING THE VILLAGE!" She cried desperately. At this, all faces turned to panic and people began to gather the few belongings that they could before running for the mountains, with their families in tow. Skye appeared next to her, and, spotting Dax, spoke hurriedly.

"Get everyone out of here. I don't know if I'll be able to hold him off for long." She said quickly, raising her stave and racing towards the figure on the docks.

Riku watched helplessly as Skye disappeared in an instantaneous flame, to chase Dax to the village. He ran for the ramp, but Jade caught his arm. He pulled away, thinking she was going to tell him not to follow, but instead, she pointed.

"Take the elevator. Much faster." She said quickly. Riku nodded his thanks and did as he was told. The elevator went achingly slow, to the point where he nearly considered jumping. He was thoroughly tempted to slap himself for the stupidity of the thought. Finally, it reached the ground and he ran through the entrance hallway where Mars was waiting to let the soldiers out. Riku ducked through the doorway as it opened, and ran down the dirt pathway towards the village. Those soldiers don't have much of an army to fight. He thought, surprised at the few numbers left, and those that were, were scattering with their comrades. A moment later, he saw why; a massive wall of fire had been erected through the center of the village, holding off an even bigger tidal wave that was gathering in the ocean, slamming itself against portions of the wall every few moments. A steady flow of villagers were running up the dirt trail towards him, from in the village, with Venus standing a distance down the trail, helping the villagers. There were still way too many villagers left in the port town. He knew they wouldn't get out before Skye's wall of fire collapsed at the force of the wave. He stared at the wavering flames. Our destinies are supposed to be intertwined…this can't happen. She can't die without me…

………………………………………………

Skye reached the docks on time to see the tidal wave that Dax was conjuring form a white crest. A trail of flames snaked out from her on either side of her, spreading out across the ground, before bursting up to form a wall just on time to block the first barrage from the tidal wave. Dax turned around to face her.

"You can't win." He said simply.

"You'd like me to believe that." She answered coldly, swinging her stave. The tidal wave slammed into her wall of fire again. She moved the wall a few feet back away from the docks. The further from the docks, the less power the tidal waves would have against her. The wave hit again, in time with Dax lunging at her with his sword. She stepped out of the way, knocking the blade aside and spinning to face him. He cut down at her, as the tidal wave slammed downwards on her wall. She blocked both attacks. Dax's magic attacks mirrored his physical ones. She wasn't too sure if that was good or bad; she could read his moves and so knew what was coming and when, but at the same time, it meant that she had to defend against both at the same time, and thanks to Ace, Dax knew where, when and how to hit her. The wall fell back again and Dax smirked.

"Weakening so much already?" He asked, swinging at her. The tidal wave slammed into the wall of fire again. She blocked it by bringing one blade on her stave down on the sword, knocking the end to the ground, and then counter-attacked by continuing the swing and sweeping the other blade down at his head. He ducked out of the way and stabbed at her leg. She barely sidestepped it, and the tidal wave hit a weak spot, sending her stumbling backwards. Her wall of fire reeled, wavering for a long moment. A tongue of flames shot out from the wall, burying itself in the heart of the tidal wave and creating a block in the flow of water in the process. The wave shrunk distinctly. Dax growled and it grew back to full size, plus some. This time, when it hit her wall, it was tall enough that water began to pour down the other side, beginning the flood of the village. Skye took a step backwards, gathered more strength and lifted the top of the wall. She extinguished the 'sun' inside the mountain so that she could draw on that strength as well. She knew she was at a disadvantage in this fight: despite the fact that her training evened the playing field in that Dax knew how to attack her, the fact that he had the ocean at his disposal and she had to conjure fire out of thin air made it harder on her. A wall of earth rose up behind Skye's wall of fire. Venus and Mars were lending their two cents too. The momentary distraction was all that Skye needed. Dax had to do a double take when he saw the earth rising up to back Skye, and Skye threw her stave at him. The blade ripped into his chest. He dropped his sword and fell to his knees. He shot her a look of pure hatred and poured every last drop of energy into his attack. She'd never be able to hold it off; he was giving his life to it, since her attack would most likely kill him anyways. She dropped her wall, and attacked Dax with all her power, depending on Venus and Mars for that momentary defense she needed to kill Dax so his attack would be stopped. His prone body burst into flames, charring in a matter of moments. The attack, however, didn't stop. The earth wall burst within seconds under the pressure of the water. Skye found her self inside a hollow of water as it seemed that the entire ocean was emptying itself into the village. With that kind of force, it wasn't going to stop there. Everyone in the City, including the villagers who had taken refuge there, would be drowned. So, she reached inside her and drew of every ounce of strength she had. With that, her own body burst into flames. It wasn't like being enveloped in the fire as was usual. Her entire being was burning, and she leapt into the air, fire shooting out from her arms to block the water. She hung in the air, using her own body as the barrier between the tidal wave and the City. The village couldn't be saved, but the villagers' lives could. She didn't know it at the time, but everyone else believed that she had lived up to her nickname: phoenix.

Riku let out a choked cry when the wall of fire disappeared. What happened? He wondered, taking a step forward inadvertently, as if being that step closer would allow him to see her. The earthen wall burst and all that anyone could see for a long moment was water. Children began to wail at the sight of their homes disappearing under the endless force of the ocean. Venus swallowed hard. She could see that the wave wouldn't stop at the village.

"E-everyone get inside!" She ordered hoarsely. No one listened. There wasn't any hope of getting everyone inside on time now, and the group was too horrified at seeing their homes being destroyed to do much of anything. Then, the water lit up from underneath with a golden glow. A split second later, the tidal wave was stopped by what looked like a great phoenix bursting out from under the water and holding the wave off with its wings. Jade came running out with Gaden on her heels, with the intent of helping any injured villagers, but stopped dead at the sight of the great phoenix. Gaden choked back a sob.

"SKYE!" He shouted, before taking off towards the village. Riku and Jade both instantly ran after him. "Skye! Not both of my big sisters! No!" He shouted, racing down the path. The tidal wave was losing power, but apparently so was the phoenix. The flames burnt out and what was left of the waves flowed through the streets. Gaden ran into the village, up to his knees in water. That gave Riku the chance to catch up with him. He caught the boy and hoisted him up into his arms. Gaden let out a sob. Riku didn't ask him what was wrong. He already knew. Something was wrong with Skye. He ran through the streets toward the market. He spotted her instantly. Her red habit was the only colour left in the village. She was lying on a small mound of land that was raised just above the water level. He ran over, putting Gaden down next to the mound and dropped to his knees next to her. He picked her limp body up carefully. She let out a long, pained moan.

"It hurts…" She buried her face in his shoulder, her breathing hitched with pain. Gaden splashed up to them, his face wet with sea water and tears. He put his small hands on her stomach. She drew in a sharp breath, her face contorted with pain, and then she relaxed visibly. Gaden crawled up into her lap, resting his back against Riku, and sniffled.

"She's okay now. She was burning on the inside, but I made it stop. But she's still broken, I couldn't fix it."

"Fix what?" Riku asked softly. Gaden rubbed his eyes.

"…I forget what it's called. Jade wanted me to remember all the names of stuff inside you, but I forget what it's called…It's right here." He said, putting his hands just below her belly button. Riku blinked. He wasn't exactly one to know about human anatomy. "The place where babies grow." Gaden added after a moment. There was silence for a long time as they were both lost in their thoughts, Riku cradling both the sleeping Skye and Gaden in his lap. Then something clicked in Riku's mind.

"Did you call Skye your big sister?" He asked. Gaden's face reddened and he didn't say anything. Riku tilted his head so he could look at the younger boy. "It's okay. You can tell me."

"…She's my big sister. Her mom and my mom both went with our daddy to the other planet. Her mom and my mom didn't know that they were both my daddy's girlfriends. Skye's mommy found out, and she got sick in her heart and died. My mommy died when I was born. And…and my other sister died too. I felt it when the water hit the town. She died, and I was scared that my other big sister was gonna die too…" At that, Gaden started crying. Riku felt like his heart was breaking for the kid, but he wasn't exactly sure of what to do. At a loss, all that came to his mind was a song he knew from the Islands. It was one of Kairi's favourites, and it had always struck him as sounding like a lullaby.

"Daisy, give yourself away
Look up at the rain,
The beautiful display
Of power and surrender,
Giving us today
And she gives herself away

Let it go
Daisy, Let it go
Open up your fist
This fallen world
Doesn't hold your interest
It doesn't hold your soul
Daisy, let it go

Daisy, why another day?
Why another sunrise
Who will take the blame
For all redemptive motion
And every rainy day
When she gives herself away

Let it go
Daisy, let it go
Open up your fist
This fallen world
Doesn't hold your interest
Doesn't hold your soul
Daisy, let it go"

He looked down to find Gaden smiling at him appreciatively.

"Daisy is happy. You sang a song for her and she says thank you." He said quietly. Riku's confusion was written all over his face. Gaden let out a small laugh. "My sister's name was Daisy." He said quietly. Riku raised an eyebrow, impressed with himself for picking out the right song. Gaden got to his feet. "I have to go help Jade. Skye's gonna be okay, she'd just got to sleep a lot." He said with a smile before going splashing through the water, which, Riku noticed, was slowly receding. An emerald green eye cracked open.

"That was really sweet of you, Riku." Skye murmured, snuggling up against him. He blushed slightly as he held her closer, and found himself overcome with the feeling that everything was actually going to turn out okay.

……………………………………………

Tsk tsk, the end of this chappie ended up being way much more sappy than I had intended it to be. Anyweez! Wow, antimusicman! Good guess on Skye and Gaden being siblings! Wooooooow. I'm totally impressed. And no, it's not over! It's gonna keep going, this is not it for the plot, despite the fact that Dax is indeed dead. If you want a hint, check out exactly how it was that he died. You might be able to make a guess then ;) Anyways, make sure to review everyone!