Disclaimer: I don't own Avalon, Rachel Roberts does. I only own my personal characters, and you should be able to pick those out rather easily.

Chapter 12: The Steel Wolf

"Behind you!" Emily yelled to Adriane.

The black haired girl whirled around to see a Kakera racing toward her at an incredible speed, its spear aimed at her. Adriane raised her sword. The Kakera lunged forward, and suddenly stopped. The look of hate that was plastered on its face disappeared. It dropped its weapon as its eyes widened in amazement as a white mist surrounded it entirely. When the mist vanished, a young sprite stood in its place. It looked up at Adriane with joy in his large eyes. Adriane stared at it, unsure of what happened or of what she should do.

"Guys, look!" Kara said quietly, pointing at the battlefield. Turning to look, Adriane and Emily saw the same transfiguration occurring everywhere. Kakera became elves, dwarfs, fairies, sprites and other humanoid creatures. The black cats became cats similar to Lyra, and some even became regular house cats! The black horses transformed into unicorns and pegasi, and the bear creatures became regular brown bears and polar bears.

Kaiyou was fighting with a bear-beast when the transformation occurred. He blasted it with fire when it suddenly stopped. AS the monster became a brown bear, Kaiyou went through his own transformation. The gold in his fur disappeared. He returned to his original size, and the white mark on his forehead vanished. He turned to look at the girls who were racing to him.

"What happened…to the Kakera…and the others?" Emily panted breathlessly.

"I—I think Akuma is dead," Kaiyou replied, slightly shaken by what had happened. He felt weaker without the power of fire within him. So this is how Kaji felt when she gave up her magic.

"And you…You're you again," Adriane added with some confusion.

Kaiyou looked down at himself. "Yes. I am. The power of fire has left me. This means Kaji is either dead, or…"

A loud howl broke into his sentence. The wolf, girls, and all of the others looked to see a red-gold wolf standing in the opening of the path in the mountains. Her call faded as she down at her friends. She howled again as she leapt forward, running to them.

Kaiyou took off to his sister. She tackled him playfully. The two were untangling themselves from each other as the girls reached them.

"Kaji! I—We thought you were dead!" Adriane cried happily.

"Please! I've come too far to be beaten by a crazy warlock!" Kaji laughed out.

Emily's smile fled from her face as she looked at the she-wolf. Her eyes fell upon the gashes that criss-crossed her shoulders and the dried blood that coated the left side of her face. The redhead reached out and gently took Kaji's head in her hands. Wiping away the blood, she gasped in horror at the sight of the wounded eye. Kaji pulled away. "You sometimes have to make sacrifices to help others," she said quietly.

Kaji turned to look at the warriors who stood staring at her. The sprite that had originally tried to attack Adriane stepped forward with Sobou. "Thank you. I am Sennyu, the youngest warrior of the sprites. I was friends with Sobou long before any of this started. When Akuma destroyed my village, I was the only one he spared, and that was only if I joined him. I am sorry that I was a cause for all of this."

"We all are!" a polar bear cried from the crowd. Murmurs of agreement came from the others.

Kaji drew herself up as Kaiyou came to stand beside her. "None of this was the fault of anyone here. Akuma is the only one who carries the blame."

A small elf stepped forward. "I am Hana. How did you kill him? Many of us tried, but we all failed. How did you do it alone?" she asked in a small, scared voice.

Kaji smiled gently at her. "I didn't. He did it himself. Akuma's was driven so much for my blood that he didn't even realize the danger we were both in. The ledge we were battling on gave away beneath us, and he fell to his death. I must admit, I am glad he died that way. I did not want to kill him. If I did, I would have been a murderer like him, and that is the last thing I wanted to be."

A low rumble came from the distance, followed by another. The ground shook slightly with each rumble. Kaji looked behind her to see something that nearly made her heart stop. An enormous Steel Wolf was approaching. This one was much bigger than any of the others they had seen before. An image flashed through Kaji's mind. The girls were on a raft. Kaji stood at the top of a small mountain of rocks, blasting fire at an incredible number of Steel Wolves.

"Oh boy," she mumbled.

"What is it?" Kaiyou asked. The girls looked at her in curiosity.

"Perhaps using fire attacks on wolves made of metal wasn't such a good idea," Kaji said sheepishly.

"You did it to help us. How could you have known?" Emily replied trying to comfort her.

"What's done is done. There are more of us now than before. We can defeat it together!" Sobou roared over the sound of the monster's footsteps. Others raised their voice in agreement.

Kaji looked at her brother. Kaiyou stared into her eye and nodded. Turning to the others, he howled over the noise, "No. This is a battle meant only for my sister and I. We will be victorious!"

The wolves streaked up the hill toward the Steel Wolf. They stopped at the top, and looked at each other again. "Ladies first," Kaiyou said with a nervous giggle.

Kaji aimed at the thing's chest and blasted it with fire. She nodded to her brother, who hit it with a jet of water. The two wolves did this over and over.

"The Steel Wolf isn't slowing down!" Kara cried out.

Adriane had realized what the siblings were doing and yelled back, "It's not meant to stop it. It's meant to weaken the metal!"

Kaji and Kaiyou began to race toward the Wolf, keeping up their attack. The monster opened its mouth. "See you soon, bro." "You too, sis." And with that, brother and sister leapt into the Steel Wolf's gaping jaws.