Chapter 24

Breaking for the Dawn

Shadow's heart leapt into his throat, unable to take in the image before him. He burned the image unknowingly in his mind, the hot sticky sea of red seeping into the cracks of the floorboards, the edge of the stairs, just another fallen friend. Not again, Shadow couldn't lose another one. A choked cry escaped from his throat, blinking a couple times, but no tears would fall. Instead a white-hot fire began to blaze within him. Eating away his emotions, burning everything, an inferno. It took him over until only one emotion remained, rage. He turned around vigorously to face the beast that had attacked his ally. He took a step back in shock, careful not to walk too far and meet the same fate as Neji. It was inhuman. He had no idea what the hell it even was. It appeared to be a tall, silver and purple dragon. It had a silver spiked head with purple tips, and a fanged mouth in a grin. Its wings were majestic, covered in the same spikes with purple tips. On closer inspection, Shadow noticed that the face of the beast was actually on its neck. It was just an area of black, with two small white eyes. Magenta straps covered the upper body and neck, as if it were strangling the beast. It had only two claws on each slender hand, and three claws on the wiry feet. What drew Shadow's eyes was what was on the monster's left thigh. An upside-down half of a white heart with three spikes jutting out of it was branded on its leg. This beast was in league with the Organization. The dragon-like creature brandished its lethal lance, letting out a merciless cry. It just hovered there, watching Shadow's movements with those two piercing eyes. It suddenly struck a slice that was going right for the jugular. Shadow was ready. He leapt upward, spinning while doing so, and slammed his foot right into the monster's face. It recoiled back in pain, waving its clawed hand across its face. The thing let out another eldritch wail, so loud that Shadow had to cover his ears. He had left himself defenseless. The dragoon glided sinuously at Shadow, ready for the kill. His eyes met the beast, realization dawning on him. There was no way to dodge the oncoming attack, the dragoon was gonna run him through with the spear. He closed his eyes, waiting for the end to come. But it did not, he waited, and waited. There was no scream, no flow of red, no merciless strike. Shadow opened his eyes. Plunged in the monster's heaving chest was a silver sword with a black stripe down the middle. It crackled with electricity. Shadow once again back away in shock, and bumped right into his savior.

"I thought you were a better fighter than that," Sasuke muttered lazily, walking away from him and retrieving his now bloodied sword. The dragoon's blood, however, was of metallic silver, and not the usual red. Shadow blushed embarrassingly, an excuse forming in his head.

"I was psyching it out, trying to lower its guard!" Sasuke shook his head, cleaning his blade with a quick swoop, silver splattered the emerald walls.

"Whatever you say, but I'm not buying it," Sasuke said with a yawn. He looked around, scouting the area for other beasts. When the coast was clear, he sheathed his sword silently and motioned Shadow to follow him up the stairs, still hurrying to Hermione's room.

"Oh my god, no!" They heard a feminine cry of panic, turning around quickly to see who it was. Arya lay next to Neji's now shuddering body, her hands to her lips in shock. Knuckles had a protective arm around her, unable to take his eyes of the disaster. Sasuke and Shadow rushed back down the staircase to meet their grieving friends. Neji was still bleeding freely onto the floor, drenching his coat and soaking his skin.

"Are you ok?" Knuckles asked his friends calmly, examining the humanoid blood that drenched Shadow's fur. He nodded trying to flick some of it off, but he ignored the attempt when his eyes met his friend down for the count again.

"N-no! No! This can't be ha-happening, no! We're all gonna die! Our home's gonna be destroyed if we don't do something! We . . . . we . . . . , "but she was incoherent from the blubbering and tears that streamed down her face. She looked disheveled, wearing only a purple and black laced corset with matching short-shorts. Her silk hair was disheveled and a little tousled. She was breathing heavily, trying to contain herself

"Were you guys . . . .?" Sasuke interlocked his fingers together to make a visual picture for everyone. Knuckles' face turned to disgust.

"Why, does that even matter at the moment?" Knuckles shouted, bug-eyed. Sasuke put his hands up in front of him in defense. Shadow was ignoring the three of them altogether, because he heard a loud cough come from the pile of flesh and bone on the floor. Neji groaned in pain, trying to roll over onto his back. Shadow rushed forward, pushing Sasuke out of the way to assist his friend. With shaking hands, he reached under Neji and gently flipped him over. Shadow wiped his now glistening red hands on the wooden floor. The entire scene around theme was macabre, grisly. It was all falling apart, all around them. They were going to lose it all. Their home, their safety, maybe their lives. Neji suddenly reached out a trembling hand towards Shadow. He grasped it gently, helping his friend hold on. Neji tried to form words, but he found it difficult to speak because blood was dripping out from his mouth.

"Get, out. Get out of here, now," Neji managed to choke out, still trying to get up. Shadow looked into his eyes, "No, don't try to move. We're gonna get you some help," Shadow murmured, wiping sweat from his forehead. The temperature in the hallway was rising slowly. Time was running out. Shadow then looked up to Knuckles and Arya, who were huddled in the corner, comforting each other.

"What's happening? What are we doing?" Knuckles asked, helping his girl up onto her feet. She held onto his bicep for support. Shadow looked from Knuckles, to Arya, then up the staircase, and then he looked down the hallway.

"Go to your rooms, get your things. Whatever you need to survive and fight. We're heading out to Twilight Town now," Shadow confirmed, seeing the sparkle in Arya's eyes.

"We're never gonna be able to come back here, are we?" It was a painful question for him to answer. It was a futile effort. Too much time had passed; the fire would be too much to put out. They had to flee, they had no choice. Shadow couldn't even look at her when he answered her. Knuckles and Arya turned around and walked back down the stairs. He could hear Arya's sobs even still as he walked over to Neji.

"I won't be long; I'm going to help you. You're gonna be fine," Shadow assured Neji, putting on a happy face for him. Neji could only manage to nod at him. Shadow gave his friend one last look, gave him a thumb up, and headed upstairs in a hurry. He just hoped that she could help.

Shadow finally reached the 8th floor, right outside of Hermione's door. He sucked in a breath of air and opened the door. Hermione was running around her room, wand in hand. She was muttering incantations, assortments of bottles, books, and clothing all floating neatly into a small purse of hers. It was amazing all of the items fit in her little bag. Hermione caught eye of Shadow, but she was too busy to even look at him, let alone speak.

"Hermione, Neji, Neji, he's-,"

"I don't care right now Shadow, Neji can choke on his own kunai for all I care," Hermione sputtered quickly, as the last of her belongings flew into her bag. Shadow wanted to pull his hair out, she wasn't cooperating at all.

"Hermione, he's dying!" She stopped, almost dropping her wand. She looked to Shadow, not believing him at first. But what she saw in his eyes made her trust him.

"Where is he?" She asked him, clutching her wand tightly, her bag in her other hand.

"Seventh floor hallway, you better hurry though. He doesn't look so good," Shadow said quickly. He was looking around the room, taking in the sights. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to see it.

"Ok, thanks Shadow. Go to your room now; get your things, Neji's too. Like you said, we have to leave this place," She was solemn for a moment, but then shook the feeling. She gave her friend a hug, and she left the room without another word.

Hermione soon reached the flight of stairs for the sixth floor. She looked below her, and her eyes caught on Neji, and her heart leapt into her throat. Without another word, she ran down the stairs, her arms outstretched. Neji's eyes locked on Hermione's, he was not surprised that he felt a twinge of hate for her at the moment. That anger drained away from him like the fluids leaving him as Hermione crouched down and embraced him. He felt warm salty tears stain his arms and cheek.

"I got here as soon as I could," she said quickly. Neji opened his mouth slowly to speak, "no, don't try to speak. Just hold still." Hermione took out a vial filled with green liquid. She uncorked the bottle with her teeth, "now just be warned, this has a pretty bad taste," She then put the bottle to Neji's discolored lips, and tipped the bottle slightly. The liquid rushed down his throat quickly, Hermione had her wand right above his deep wound. She began muttering incantations in gibberish, as the wounds sewed themselves up. Blood magically flowed back from the dirtied floor and back into the ninja's veins. Neji let out a gasp of agony, his entire body filling up with the sensation of fire. He went into a spasm; his eyes locked on Hermione's, eyes now filled with hate.

"You said, it would just. . . .taste bad!" Neji screamed out, his hands balled into fists, his teeth gritted. Hermione fretted, looking down upon her fallen friend. She thought long and hard for a moment, looking at how much misery he was in.

"Neji, I'm really sorry about this," she said dryly, flicking her wand at his skull.

"What are you-?" But before Neji could splutter out a protest, Hermione pressed her wand to Neji's forehead, and spat,

"Somnius!" The instant the word left her lips, Neji's eyes rolled to the back of his head, his body went comatose, and his eyes closed. Hermione put her ear to his mouth. She could hear a steady flow of air passing to and fro with rhythm. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and got to her feet. She glanced at Neji's snoozing body, just a huge pile of dead weight. Her plan of helping him was dive-bombing, and fast. As if a prayer had been answered, Edward flew down the stairs like a bat-out-of-hell, a rucksack on his shoulder.

"Hermione, we need to go," He was breathing erratically, looking from her, to Neji on the floor. He did a double-take. Hermione groaned slightly, getting his attention.

"Help me," she muttered, grabbing Neji by the ankles and lifting them both to about her waist. Edward nodded, gripping hold of Neji's arms and shoulders. He lifted him with ease, to Hermione's amazement.

"We've got to get him out of here," Hermione started, heading for the downstairs hallway, but Edward gave Neji's body a tug.

"We can't, the first four floors are already ablaze. It would be suicide to try," Edward mumbled almost inaudibly, tugging Neji's body even more towards the upper staircase, "no we're all meeting on the roof, and we're going to escape though there," Edward finished, and Hermione agreed to follow him.

"How are we going to escape if we're ten stories high?" Hermione questioned as the two hauled the heavy corpse up the stairs.

"I don't know yet, we'll figure it out when we get there," was his reply. Hermione thought this a very stupid idea, but they had no other alternative. Up the stairs they went. It was an exhausting climb as they made their way up two more staircases onto the eighth floor, two more and they would be on the roof. Hermione tried to make a bit of small talk to pass the time.

"It's amazing that you are able to carry Neji this far, especially due to the fact of you being-,"

"Don't even say it," Edward snapped, not wanting to start a row. Hermione let herself laugh a little, to ease the mood. The happiness was short lived. As if their troubles weren't dire enough, Hermione and Edward were suddenly surrounded by a massive circle of silvery creatures. They had thin, sinuous bodies which moved about with mind-boggling flexibility. They were like animated rubber bands. Their arms and legs were silvery and thin, pointed at the ends. Their heads were large and cylindrical, flat at the crest. The Nobody symbol was emblazoned on all of their heads. What really freaked Hermione out was their mouths. All they seemed to be was a zipper undone to reveal masses of glimmering, sharp teeth. They all let out a hissing sound with their unzipped mouths, moving all in unison as if in interpretive dance. Hermione almost thought she heard the nobodies whisper, "Kellach is ours,". The circle slowly began to close on them, inching closer, and closer on the three. Hermione knew the only way they could fight was if they let go of Neji, and she was not about to do that. She raised her right leg and tried to karate-kick one of the monsters, but they dodged her attack with grace, as if dancing away from the attack. Edward stiffened.

"They're Dusks," Edward started, examining the creatures, "The weakest nobodies around. I recognize them from the log book," he finished, trying to perform alchemy to kill the freaks. He then stopped when he realized that Neji would be his sacrifice to the transmutation. He had to let go of Neji. Hermione gave him a "Don't-even-think-about-it" look as she tried to think of a way out of the sticky situation. It was hopeless. Hermione kept trying to land a kick on the dusks, but the effort was futile, they were just too damn fast for her. Suddenly, when all hope was lost, the dusks were blown away by a strong gust of wind. They fled in a panic down the hallway, still in their sultry dance. Hermione sighed a Hail Mary and turned to her left, and there was Aang, smiling like an idiot, enjoying the feeling of being the hero. He only held his staff in his hand, a little knapsack on his back.

"Come on guys! We gotta motor!" Aang said quickly, running to Edward and Hermione, helping them carry Neji up the stairs. Hermione then let out a shrill gasp of shock.

"The diary! I forgot his diary!" She screamed in worry. She let go of Neji's legs, Aang grasping hold of them before he fell. Hermione turned to go back down the stairs, to go back to her room.

"No! Hermione it's too dangerous! The entire building's gonna collapse if we don't get the hell out of here!" Edward argued, motioning Hermione to follow him. But she didn't listen to him, not a single word. She sped down the two flights of stairs to the eighth floor, noticing the change in air quality and temperature drastically change. Her feet burned, probably because the floor below her was in a pressure cooker. She ran down the hallway, careless of where she walked, until she found her room. The door was open ajar, and she slipped in through the crack. She did not have to search for long, the diary was sitting right on her bedside table. She was amazed that she had forgotten it. Without another thought, she snatched the diary and shoved it into her small little enchanted purse. She took one last look at her room.

"I can't believe after two years, we have to go," she thought to herself, regret washing over her, a heavy weight just making her sink. Lower, lower, right down, feet pushing against her carpeted floor. The world gave way beneath her, she fell, her hands flailing, an inaudible scream begging to escape her lips, but she suppressed it, falling even faster. The first thing she felt was burning, like she had never experienced in her life. The heat could melt skin, char bone. She was too scared to open her eyes, afraid of what she might see. Behind her closed eyes, all she saw was red, bright lights. The heat was getting to her, the colors started to flash. Her wand fell to her feet, she felt a little dizzy. Her very being began to fall backwards, feeling the flames engulf her. How wonderful it would be if she could just lay here, and let herself be taken by forever, by death. All of her troubles would be thrust off of her shoulders, she would be free finally. The thought brought a little smile to her face. She would see Kellach again, her beloved in her arms. She would never let go. She smiled, finally in bliss. She could see him now, his straw blonde hair, those beautiful eyes, and the sparkly smile. His hand was outstretched, begging to be touched.

"Take my hand Hermione, we need to go, away from this horrible place," Kellach said softly, like her guardian angel. He was surrounded by the crackling embers, like a gruesome wreath. Hermione obeyed, her hand reaching for his. She was ready, ready for the end, ready to live with him again, ready to die. She felt cold metal press against her palms, her eyes opened in shock. The fire was beneath her, wand back in hand. The air was becoming cleaner, colder. She coughed vigorously, ridding her lungs of the poisonous fumes and smoke. Her savior looked back at her with his amber eyes. Her breath caught in her throat, trying to speak out.

"Shhh, we're gonna get out of here, I promise," said Edward, clutching on to Hermione as if she were a little child. He lifted her off of her feet, cradling her. He held on to his shirt, breathing heavily, she was coming back to her senses. Edward walked Hermione up to the roof, where Amy, Arya, Shadow, Knuckles, Aang, Sasuke, and Neji were huddled in a clump, all standing around a huge, massive vehicle. If she had the energy, she would have gasped. It was some sort of large, colorful ship. It was a wide assortment of colors, from hot pink, to royal blue, to crimson red, to sunshine yellow. The entire ship looked as if it were put together with legos, she thought it looked a little unstable.

"What the hell is that?" asked Hermione, getting her breath back.

"Why it's our ride out of here," Edward assured, as he set Hermione back on her feet. She breathed in the sweet air and got her head back on her shoulders. Edward then took Hermione by the hand and lead her to the group around the ship. Edward took is spot right in front of the flying machine. He cleared his throat, and spoke to the throng.

"Ok guys, our moment is here. We're gonna head for Twilight Town and take back what is ours!" Cheers from the crowd of people washed over Edward like a refreshing cold wave. He continued, "We gotta get into the Gummi Ship right now, this place is going down any minute now," Edward finished, and he opened up the doors to the ship. Everyone quickly rushed inside, taking their last look at their home, their sanctuary. It was being eaten alive by an unstoppable fire. Windows being blown out, floors collapsing. Edward took center controls, sitting down in a blue soft armchair, grabbing hold of the wheel. Hermione sat to his right, Shadow, his left. Edward pressed a couple bleeping buttons on the control panel. The ship gave a guttural growl, coming to life.

"Shadow, pull that lever! Now!" Edward commanded quickly, and Shadow didn't disappoint. He slammed the throttle, and the ship lifted off the wobbling tower. The liftoff was too much for the fragile building. The floors collapsed within themselves, little by little, the tower sank deeper into the ground. It was a heart-wrenching sight, the tower was nothing more than a smoldering mass of rubble, wood, and brick.

"Twilight Town, here we come!" Edward announced, pressing another button on the control panel, and the ship picked up speed. Hermione kept her eyes on the remains of her home, remembering the times she had shared there with her best friends. It all seemed so long ago as the Gummi Ship accelerated. The sky opened up to them, inviting them into their new lives, their new home. Up into the clouds they soared, and Knight's Tower was no more.