Been a while, I'm sorry for the wait...hehe. To see where I left off when I was younger and didn't keep writing until now I put a *. Enjoy! Minor cursing.

Chapter 9

Amber's Ghost & Broken Pieces

Anna woke up in a field of soft grass with red petals falling in her face and butterflies. "Huh? Rose petals?" she saw a net and picked it up trying to catch butterflies. Anna continued to walk around the field exploring. It reminded her of when she and her family went to catch butterflies for their birthday presents. Seiji would always somehow catch a lovely red butterfly for Amber. But her being so kind, she held it and let free it back to its home. Even though he cried, she told him it was a great present and she loved him.

Anna ran around with the net trying to catch butterflies, failing. Amber had always taught her to be gentle and softly walked to it. That's what she did and caught a few, smiling to herself. Anna didn't feel so alone and hopeless knowing that Amber and Eric would always be in her heart and never leave. They were apart of her and could never leave and will never leave them alone without them.

"Anna, come in my arms." said a voice.

"Huh?" she said looking around but saw nobody. Anna sat down thinking about what happened to the others, hoping they're okay and not dead. She laid down on the petal covered field, still raining roses, and drifted to sleep.

"Anna, I miss you." said the voice again.

She woke up, seeing that it was dawn and she was floating above the water. "Wha?" then looked up to see two children and a mother on a boat. The kids were shooting rose petals from a bag. "Mom." The mother looked surprised with tears falling from her face, it was the perfect painting; a mother, two kids on a boat catching rose petals. Anna started to tear up and finally she burst into tears. She missed her mom and dad very much and wished she could somehow be with them.

Anna looked up to see her in the field on the bed of roses. "But I, was. Oh." sniffling, she saw a girl and her father walking down the field playing with each other. They were happily running around playing until they ran too far out of site. "Dad." The perfect moment of a little girl playing with her dad on a field. She burst into tears again burying her face in the petals. She felt two hands on her shoulder and looked up to see her mom and dad.

"Anna, your father and I miss you. Come follow us, please." said the mom as they started to walk away. Anna jumped up and ran after them, no matter how fast she ran, they were always ahead of her.

Anna saw stairs leading to a house and opened the door to see them holding two babies. This was where she was born, in a house in a field. She saw them walk out the back door and she ran after them. Many memories were roaming in the field reminding her how great life was, though Anna kept chasing them. Eventually reaching a cliff her parents floated over it holding out there arms. The child stopped and looked, holding out her arms as well.

With her final breath, Anna ran and jumped up towards them crying, "Don't leave me!"Trying to catch them was a mistake, even though she was close, there was no way to held their hands. After all, they were dead. Anna was free falling, not caring if she hit the ground. She cried as she fell on the soft grass.

"Good night, my dear Anna." then they floated back to Heaven in the sky watching over her as she slept. It was already dark enough for them to see her sleep. Anna opened her eyes a little to see them flying away, she ran towards them not stopping. She started climbing the cliff side falling and falling on her back causing great pain, but still she tried to climb. Anna only made it halfway to see no sign of her parents anywhere, started to climb down. She sat down and pulled her knees to her face, breathing heavily falling asleep.

The next morning she heard terrible singing from a little girl, Anna looked up to see two children playing with parents. "Stop it." she said tired of the illusions that reminded her of her dead parents. "Mom, dad come back." Anna stood up, walked to them and held her hand out. It went through them, she pulled it out in shock. What were they? Hallucinations? Anna saw the mother walking away and she followed.

Anna noticed that she was taking her to a familiar trail, to Family Village. As they were walking there until she stopped, something was terribly wrong. Amber stopped behind a ledge and motioned Anna to come. As soon as she got there Amber put an arm around her, "Stay quiet." Amber walked to the house with Anna following. When she walked into the house, the ghost turned into a ball and flew to her, "Anna, my dear. I have not been put to rest, and my soul is roaming along with your father. Please put to rest with my body."

It was tempting to deny, but she had to. It was the only way to make her happy. "O-okay." with that answer,* she walked all the to the trail to her mother's grave. Most of the town was grey and many house were destroyed but when she heard voices and hid behind a wall, "Mommy? Who are they?"

"The same people who killed me, you mustn't get caught but if you do. Fight." Anna nodded and had to walk, run and/or tip toe to get by the grave.

Just as she got there a giant solider blocking her way, "Oh no, this thing is not gonna get in my way!" she marched up to it and made her arm a missile launcher, "Take this!" It made a small dent!

Amber's ghost whizzed around her head, "Anna! Don't do this, you can't fight it!"

Anna pushed the ghost away, "You told me to fight my way through."

"I know that, just run past it and put me in my grave."

"Fine!" she tired to run but the thing easily grabbed her by the neck and took her in a cave nearby. Anna struggled until she got out of its grip and quickly ran-the wrong way! Now she was lost and a train light was coming towards her. "I'm dying with you, mommy."

"No you're not, run!" Anna did just that. She ran into enemies and fortunately found a tank that was full of ammo. During the weeks of fighting, Anna has learn to stock ammunition in her arm in case of battle. She saw the monster robot, now she had to fight all by herself. Yay! She snuck behind it and aimed at the back of its head, "Anna, don't shoot yet!" but it was too late. The monster robot woke up and stood to his full height, 10 feet.

"Are you kidding me!?" she saw that it was three times her height and tried to run away but it grabbed her.

"Anna! I told you not to shoot its head!" Amber distracted the monster robot while Anna got away to run. She saw her mom's ghost go into the monster robot and it stopped moving.

"Nice one, mom! I didn't know you could do that!" Anna yelled with excitement.

"Neither did I," said her mom who picked up her daughter by the ear by accident.

She yelped, "Ow!" Anna pulled away from the grip.

"Sorry, let's just get out of here while we can." Anna nodded and they left the area.

With many turns and turns she got to an opening. She saw a house, "You might as well go in. No one's gonna live in there." Indeed it was abandoned and had weeds growing in the door, the child listened to her mother and walked in.

The house was old and when they got to the porch Anna stopped, "Wait mom. I think you should stay out here, what if the monster took its body back?"

"Okay, but if you aren't back in one hour I'm coming in." she was trying to look inside the cannon but pulled away when she felt smoke.

"Thanks mom." With that Anna went inside the house.

Meanwhile Gage was lying on the ground in pain and saw the mirror in pieces, "Rose!" In desperation, he picked up pieces and tried putting them back into the mirror but they wouldn't go in.

Two kids had landed with him, Blue and Red, they saw him frantically put the pieces in the mirror and ran to him. "Gage?" Red asked in concern.

"What do you want?" tears were rolling on his face, "What do you need from me at this moment...?"

Blue picked up a piece and saw no face inside, "When is Rose coming back?"

"I-" he began wiping his tears away, "I don't know, kid."

Blue yawned grabbed a long strip of green grass and poked a hole in the mirror, Gage was wondering what he was doing and saw it. The boy was holding a necklace with the mirror and grass strip. He put it on Gage's neck and smiled, "Here you go, Gage! You're together with your sister!"

Red was holding a mirror and her hair started to glow a light red with sparkles, and singing softly-

"Bring back what once was mine,

Bring back what once was mine.

Bring back what once was mine,

Bring back what once was mine."

Eventually it didn't do anything then Red yelled out, "BRING IT BACK!"

Suddenly a small green ball of light came out of the mirror case and body formed. It fell on the ground with her face first and a very pissed off Rose grabbed Red on the collar and started shaking her, "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!? I FELL DOWN SO HARD I THOUGHT I MADE A CRATER!"

Blue freaked out and grabbed her arm away, "Don't hurt her, she's really bad at magic!"

Rose dropped her on the ground, "Well, I hope she knows that this Rose isn't the real Rose that you're looking for."

Gage shot up, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that this is only a hologram she's making," Rose put a hand through her neck and pretended to choke herself.

"Rose! Holy shi-" he looked at the kids,"I mean shiz!"

Rose laughed then when serious, "Look, you should know something..."

"Which is?" Blue asked sharpening his two swords while Red accidentally killed a flower with her magic and was brooding over it.

"I'll tell you later, look we need to go find Seiji and Samantha."

"Sure," said Gage, "but what about Anna and Logan."

"Pttfff!" Rose then smirked as spit went flying everywhere, "They can handle themselves, and I'm sure that they will find us anyway. I mean, Logan IS the Autarch of Flame after all!" She stood up and looked at the mirror and spoke softly to herself, "The Queen thought she could trap me in here?"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just making noise." she said in a small sigh. The the got up and started to walk to the rail of the bay, maybe they fell in the sand or somewhere nearby. But they were much far away than there were, for it would take days to be where they are and they're going the opposite direction. Right now, they should just turn around before something bad happens.

How is it? Was it good enough that you won't be mad at me for the wait? Please don't be mad! Its dying...the only way to save it. Is to review just once.