Hello all! Another update! Not much to say here, except that I hope you enjoy!

If We Be Free

Darkness…

'I know this place…'

Aki looked around, smothered in familiar shadows.

'I've been here before…'

"Hello, Aki."

Aki spun to face the source of the voice speaking to her. The person was dimly lit by a faint spotlight. Aki observed the person, discovering familiar qualities as her eyes traced along the body.

'Is that-?'

The person lifted their head, letting their face become illuminated by the weak, yellow light, "Yes, it's me."

Aki took a step back into the shadows, "How are you-"

The person held up a hand, silencing her, "I don't have time to explain that. I'm here for a reason, something important – not a chat."

Aki frowned at the person, "What do you want?"

The person scowled, "It's not something I desire, it's the fate of this city, this country, maybe even the world. This is serious; I need you to treat it as such."

Aki returned the offensive glare as she took a defiant stance, "Go on."

"The other Sages are in danger. Not because they're incapable – that's no it at all – in face, they could easily kill off the Soul Pieces that have taken over your school. They don't know what they're doing. They're clueless. Without you, they'll get themselves killed, just like I did. If they die, the end of the world is guaranteed. You need to help them," The person explained, their calm demeanor and casual stance unchanging.

Aki hardened her stare, "So they did kill you."

Kheika nodded, "They did. Not before I burnt one of their faces off, though. Besides, I won't be here long."

Aki gave a perplexed look as she crossed her arms, "What do you-"

Kheika appeared at Aki's side, clasping a hand on her mouth. The spotlight followed the girl, never touching Aki, "I'm almost out of time here. You're about to wake up. You need to escape. When you wake, use the envelope cutter in your third drawer to cut your binds. Go to the nearest bathroom; no one will cross your path if you take the long way there. Go through the window, and head down the nearest side street – not a busy one. Ask for directions to 'Violet Bakery'. You must be quick, otherwise they might follow you. Good luck."

Aki jerked awake, panting and sweating. She looked around frantically, trying to remember what Kheika had told her to do.

"Escape… Right…"

/

Hino woke up wrapped in Jeff's arms. She looked over her shoulder to see Jeff still asleep. A few rays of golden sunlight shone in through the small window and landed on her brow, making her squint as she sat up in the bed. She slithered out from under the covers and Jeff's arm as quietly as she could, then drew the door open gently to enter the main room.

Hino found Xerxes already up and put together, which puzzled her.

"You're already up?"

Xerxes noticed Hino from above a book and nodded, "Apparently."

With a clear view of the bluenette, Hino could see the excessive paleness of skin and darkened wrinkles under multi-coloured eyes much better. A slightly worried frown placed itself in the midst of Hino's expression, "You look terrible… Did you get any sleep last night?"

Xerxes simply shook her head before putting her book down. "Check out the love birds," Xerxes casually instructed as she gestured to Setsuka and Ryuusei's still sleeping figures, their faces only an inch away from each other's.

Hino gave a soft laugh, "Is there some sort of love potion in the water at that school?"

Xerxes shrugged, "I must be immune."

Hino gave a stronger laugh, "I think the potion would know to stay away from you; you'd end up killing anyone who even tried to touch you!"

Xerxes gave a small chuckle, "Lucky I managed to grab that sword on the way out of the school." Xerxes unsheathed said sword from the inside of her coat, presenting it to Hino with a slight triumphant smirk on her face.

Hino's mouth fell slightly agape as she observed the weapon being turned about in Xerxes' hands, "How did you- Never mind."

Xerxes gave another shrug and she put the sword back in her coat. The bluenette went to say something when a large crash was heard downstairs in the bakery.

Both girls ran down the stairs to see what had happened. When they reached the lower level they saw Aki standing there with a bloodied fist, standing in a pile of glass that presumably came from the broken door behind her and Jeff's uncle readying a gun with trembling hands and wide eyes.

"NO!" Hino went over to the baker and lowered the gun so it pointed at the ground, "This is our Chancellor, not a robber!"

Jeff's uncle relaxed a bit and took a few deep breathes, leaning the gun against the wall, "Oh, how silly of me."

Aki looked to Xerxes and Hino, "Kheika sent me here." The redhead turned to the shopkeeper, "I'll replace the door – my apologies."

Jeff's Uncle nodded and went to sit in the kitchen portion of the bakery, trying to calm himself.

"Kheika sent you? How? She's-…" Hino began before cutting herself off.

"Dead, I know. She came to me in a dream of some sort, and lead me to you," Aki explained, looking for something to help stop the bleeding from her hand.

Hino grabbed some paper towels from behind the counter and handed them to Aki. Xerxes grabbed Aki's good hand and lead her up the stairs to the apartment they were all staying in.

Jeff was now up and his eyes bulged when he saw Aki, "What the-?"

Xerxes held up a hand to silence the purple-haired boy.

Ryuusei and Setsuka had been startled awake by Jeff's outburst – both sets of eyes shooting open at the same time. Both realized how close they were to each other at the same time and literally jumped off the bed at the same time.

Everyone else in the room stood there and blinked.

"Moving on…" Xerxes broke the tension and turned to Aki, "What do we do about Grace?"

Aki took a seat and gestured to the others to sit as well, "Grace is a 'Soul Piece' – an evil entity that rivals the Sages. There are five of them, and their purpose is to destroy what the Sages value the most: the city and each other."

The five present Sages stiffened. Jeff raked his hair with his fingers, "So we have to stop them, right?"

Aki nodded somberly, "The only way to do that is to, well… You have to kill them."

Hino and Jeff grew visibly uncomfortable at the mention of murder. They looked at each other, that single glance giving each other a bit of regenerated comfort.

"Why would Grace do this?" Hino inquired.

Aki shook her head, "It's not Grace that wants to do it. It's Chiyo, the Soul Piece of Power."

Setsuka leaned back in her seat next to Ryuusei, "You mean she's possessed?"

"To a certain degree; yes," Aki replied.

"Where are they?" Ryuusei asked.

Aki looked to the source of the question, a sudden wave of relief washing over her as she realized then that her son was there and safe, "At the school. They've taken over it. They've… They've murdered a lot of people."

Ryuusei stood and silently walked over to the bedroom containing the still-sleeping Sages. He pounded on the door – waking them up brutally – then pulled out his cell-phone and dialed a number.

"Who are you calling?" Setsuka questioned him.

Ryuusei ignored her as he conversed with the person he called in the empty bedroom.

"Satoshi most likely, he's a good trainer," Aki explained.

Hino looked confusedly at her, "Trainer?"

Aki raised an eyebrow at the girl, "You don't expect to just walk in that school and take them on, do you? They captured me. They killed Kheika. They aren't just your classmates anymore."

Hino retracted into the couch next to Xerxes, somewhat using her friend as a shield. Xerxes rolled her eyes at the situation, "What if we don't need any training?"

Aki crossed her arms, "Then good for you. It couldn't hurt to get some training in, though. The more chances you have of defeating them, the better. Right?"

Xerxes just shrugged, the action almost becoming a signature mark for her.

Ryuusei re-entered the main room, "Satoshi is on his way."

Aki nodded, "Good, we'll need his help."

Takeshi and Alexianna immerged from the bedroom. Alexianna stepped forward, not noticing Aki there, "You guys…"

Everyone turned to her.

"Cleotra left."

/

Grace sat upside down on her make-shift throne, muttering something under her breath.

"She's there now."

Zebel nodded, a malicious smirk growing on his face, "At least we can still get her."

Grace halted her muttering, "That's not what I'm interested in at the moment." Grace spun herself so that she was sitting normally in her chair, "I want to know how she fucking escaped."

"It was Kheika. Apparently she spoke to her through the dream world."

Grace hissed as she turned her focus to Zebel, "I thought you killed her."

The mystery person held her hand up, "He did kill her."

Grace slammed her fist on the arm of the chair, creating a crack in it, "Then how was she able to talk to that idiotic redhead!"

"You know exactly why," the mystery person began, "Because the Sages don't die – they can't. Not in Spirit, anyway."

Grace gave a frustrated grunt as she massaged the sides of her forehead, "Fuck – that's right."

The mystery person stepped forward from the shadows and resumed her human state again, "You can't focus on that now. They've called Shinamori in to help them train. We must act quickly if you want to hold on to the advantage."

Grace buried her head in her hands, "This is quite the awful morning. First Aki escapes, then we create a truce with one of them, and now the rest of them are training? Fuck…"

Cleotra crossed her arms, "I resent that! Here I am, trying to keep your head straight, and you're pulling this nonsense? You're far from defeat, you just need to go now."

Grace glared at the Sage of Darkness before rising from her throne for the first time since the initial attack on the school, "You do live up to your stingy name, don't you? Fine, let's go."

Cleotra smirked as she watched Grace and Zebel leave the auditorium. She stood back alone in the large room for a moment and gave a worried frown, "You guys better be ready for them…"

/

"Come on Xerxes! HIT ME!"

Xerxes leapt from her spot as another fire ball was shot at her. She created a laser beam and aimed at her mock opponent – Satoshi. The beam shot and seared his arm. Xerxes stood in her spot triumphantly, "There you go, you annoying little fucker."

Satoshi beamed at her, "Good. Very good! It seems like you've had a lot of experience in fighting with your powers."

Xerxes kept her expression plain as she nodded, "Thanks, I have."

Satoshi nodded, "You should go practice with Setsuka. You both are extremely experienced – you'll give each other a challenge."

Xerxes nodded before spotting Setsuka and gesturing to a spot away from everyone else with her head. Setsuka – who had been standing next to Ryuusei, arms crossed, observing the training – followed the bluenette.

"Sage of water, correct?" Xerxes inquired.

Setsuka gave a curt nod, "And ice, which is considered a part of water I suppose."

Xerxes nodded before shooting a laser at the icy girl unexpectedly. Setsuka dodged the attack easily even though she had been caught off guard. Setsuka created a ball of ice in her hand and shot it at Xerxes, who also dodged it easily.

Setsuka paused and stood, "It seems we don't need practice in dodging projectiles." Setsuka created a sword of solid ice that looked to be extremely dense and sharp. Xerxes smirked and took out her sword, stroking the edge of her blade with her finger which turned the edge of the blade into the matter of a laser. Both girls readied their swords.

Setsuka was about to say something when Xerxes leapt at her and swung. Setsuka blocked – caught off guard again – and faltered a bit. Xerxes took advantage of this and gave an extra shove against Setsuka's block, causing the dark-haired woman to stagger back. Xerxes went in for another attack, smashing her sword against Setsuka's. The ice-heroine grabbed Xerxes' wrist and threw her opponent's sword off of her own, causing Xerxes to fall back on her butt. Setsuka dove in, her sword pressing against Xerxes' which was right up against her chest. Xerxes kicked Setsuka off of her and attempted to stand back up. Setsuka slashed her sword over and over, Xerxes blocking each attack as she remained on her knees. Xerxes swiped at Setsuka's knees, making the ice princess jump over Xerxes' head and tap the side of Xerxes' neck with the tip of her blade.

"And that would be your death," Setsuka declared proudly.

Xerxes stood once Setsuka moved her sword, "So it would be. Good job."

Setsuka stuck her hand out for a shake, "I haven't had a fight like that in a long time. You certainly are a worthy opponent."

Xerxes took the offered gesture and gave a polite nod, "As are you."

The two began to ready themselves for another duel as Satoshi tried to train with Hino.

"All I can do is make things levitate… How am I supposed to do anything with that?"

Aki stepped forward, "Hino. Don't lie to us."

Hino looked back at Aki, shocked and slightly guilty, "I-"

"Don't have to do anything, right?" Jeff looked to the others as he went over to Hino protectively.

Aki crossed her arms disapprovingly, "Jeff, we need her to be able to at least defend herself if and when they come after her."

Jeff stood next to Hino defiantly, refusing to budge. Hino looked to him with fear and slight determination in her eyes, "She's right."

Jeff gave a curiously shocked look before he backed up a bit. Hino turned toward Satoshi and began to focus. A slight breeze blew by the group, blowing around the entire circle of the road. The breeze didn't disappear however, it kept blowing, growing stronger and stronger as dust swept up from the road and everyone had to shield themselves from the debris. Hino kept focusing, her eyes beginning to glow as the mini tornado was formed.

"OKAY HINO! YOU CAN STOP NOW!"

Hino closed her eyes, trying to break off her focus as the tornado died down quickly. Hino started panting as Jeff went over to her, making sure she was okay.

Everyone's focus was on Hino as she took deep, heavy breathes. No one had noticed Grace, Zebel, Vanitas and Stephanie encircling them with readied orbs, discs, beams and stars of energy.

"FIRE!"

Grace and her minions fired at the Sages. Each Sage and trainer had dodged the attacks, dispersing into smaller groups to take on the enemies attacking them.

Grace cornered Aki and Ryuusei, flinging orb after orb at them. Both fell into a routine of endless dodging as Grace relentlessly kept attacking.

Takeshi and Alexianna were cut off from the rest of the Sages by Stephanie who had a hungry look in her eyes, "Ikazuchi! It's been a while…"

Takeshi grabbed Alexianna's wrist with his good hand and flung her behind him. "Steph, it's me! I'm your friend!"

Stephanie gave him a perplexed look as she readied a star, "Steph? What's a Steph? Some kind of Sage term to get me to form a truce? HA! I'm not as stupid as Chiyo! I'd never form a truce!"

"Truce?" Takeshi questioned as Stephanie launched her star at him and Alexianna. Takeshi put his arm in front of him, knowing he had no chance of dodging the attack, and waited for the star to hit him. He kept waiting for the pain, but for some reason it never came.

He looked up to see a current of electricity absorbing the star and protecting him and Alexianna.

"Holy shit… I didn't know I could do that!"

Takeshi moved his good arm, and the bolt of electricity followed. He smirked and whipped his arm towards Stephanie, the bolt hitting her and causing her pain. She staggered back, absorbing the impact of the attack painfully.

Takeshi felt a throbbing in his knee and looked down to see Alexianna focusing a purple beam on it.

"Lex, what are you doing?" He asked her, perplexed.

"Healing you. Take your sling off," she ordered, the bandages around his knee disappearing. Alexianna took his arm and focused another purple beam on it, the bandages around it disappearing as well.

"What the-" Takeshi murmured as he moved his arm and leg around, having complete mobility again, "Why didn't you do this before?!"

"Cause I didn't want to freak you out! Now go kick some ass!" Alexianna ordered before she gave him a quick kiss and ran off towards the other Sages to see who needed healing or help.

Takeshi grinned, "You got it!"

On the other side of the circular street, Vanitas was being owned by Satoshi and Setsuka.

"Fuck!" The Soul Piece grunted as Satoshi landed a fiery blow on his leg. He shot a beam back at Satoshi, which surprisingly landed and temporarily paralyzed him.

Setsuka groaned, "I beat you once, I can do it again. Although this time; I won't be so kind!"

Setsuka started to freeze Vanitas over when she got hit in the side by an orb of dark energy. Setsuka fell on her hip and shouted out in pain, "Fucking hell…"

A figure hovered over the icy woman, although it wasn't the person she expected it to be, "Cleotra?"

The figure simply nodded as she smirked and readied another orb. Before she could fire, she was knocked back by an orb of fire.

"Bitch!" Satoshi called, breathing heavily as he recovered from his paralysis.

Setsuka got to her feet and finished freezing over Vanitas while she had the chance, "Satoshi, can you hold that bitch off?"

Satoshi nodded as he launched a beam of fire at the betraying Sage of Darkness, a heated anger present in his expression.

Setsuka finished freezing him over and turned to join Satoshi, but instead found him on the ground under Cleotra's singed boot and dark energy binds.

"What the hell are you doing?" Setsuka shouted at the girl.

Cleotra smirked, "Saving my ass! You're all so stupid! Grace and Zebel alone would destroy this city in half an hour! Once the Sages are out of the way, there's no stopping them! And they'll finish you within the hour! If you can't beat them; join them."

Setsuka gave the most disapproving, disgusted look she had ever produced and launched an orb of ice at Cleotra. The blonde dodged the attack and returned it with an orb of her own. The two kept launching and dodging as the battle raged on.

Zebel – the most powerful of Grace's minions – was easily dodging the attacks from Hino and Jeff, as he flung discs towards Xerxes to keep her busy.

"Is this the best you can do Ganseki?!" Zebel laughed with a voice that wasn't his own.

Jeff grunted as he launched a boulder at his enemy, watching as Zebel sliced the boulder in half with a disc and immerging unscathed. Growing frustrated, Jeff charged the Soul Piece of Energy, causing the evil boy to smirk as he readied another disc and plastered Jeff to the ground with it, using it as a large bind of energy.

"You're so funny Ganseki. Really, you are hilarious!" Zebel laughed, "I can be funny too! Watch – I'll slice your little girlfriend in half and make you watch every second of it! How funny is that?"

Jeff started to freak out, squirming against the disc that was holding him down, "Hino! RUN!"

Hino looked terrified as she became glued to her spot, not knowing what to do. Shock had overcome her as she watched Zebel smirk at her, a large disc of energy forming in his hand.

"Jeff?" She called as she remained frozen, "What do I do?"

"RUN! GODDAMIT RUN HINO!" The helpless boy kept struggling against his restraint, looking back at Hino to see if she was trying to escape or not. A couple tears leaked out of his eyes as he realized what was about to happen – and there was nothing he could do.

Zebel launched the disc at her, the smirk on his face purely evil – the kind of evil that made people vomit at the sight of it. Hino's eyes grew wider as the disc approached her frozen body, the realization of her death apparent in her eyes. The disc was about to hit her as she scrunched her eyes closed, "I'm sorry."

The sound of flesh bone slicing apart filled the ears of both boys as they watched two halves of one girl fall to the ground. Blood had spattered all across Hino's fearful face as she realized what had just happened. Hino looked from half to half, her eyes filling with salty tears.

"XERXES!"

The pink haired girl was filled with an insatiable rage. She was overcome with a hate for Zebel so strong it pained her – making her want to throw up. She focused on the boy, creating a tornado of dusty, blood-filled wind around him which sent him flying off to the other end of the street. Zebel fell a good 20 feet from the air and passed out the minute he hit the ground.

Hino stood and stared at Zebel's motionless body – wanting to rip it apart like he had ripped Xerxes apart. She wanting him to die painfully, agonizingly. She wanted to make him beg for mercy, beg for his death even. She wanted him to pay.

She fell to her knees, looking at both halves of the now-dead Xerxes. She fell into a state of numbness, and grabbed each half of her friend, trying to put her back together. Alexianna approached Hino, and knelt by her side, rubbing her back to try and comfort her.

"Here," Alexianna took the two halves of Xerxes' head and fused the ice-haired girl's face back together with her purple beam of healing magic.

Once her face was one again, Hino looked it over carefully and discovered that she had been smiling when she died.

"Xerxes never smiled… She never…"

Any restraint against tears broke at that moment, and her face flooded with the stinging liquid. Alexianna kept rubbing the girl's back, not knowing what else to do.

Everyone else had stopped what they were doing to witness the tragedy before them. Stephanie had gone to Zebel's side and sent a silent signal to Grace, showing that they needed to leave. Grace nodded and grabbed Vanitas' frozen figure before retreating back with Stephanie who had Zebel's unconscious form in her arms.

The Sages and trainers all gathered around Hino in a broad circle, except Cleotra and Satoshi. Setsuka and Ryuusei – the only two with their heads on straight – freed Jeff who immediately ran over to Hino and took over Alexianna's position.

Alexianna backed up next to Takeshi and hid behind him, looking away from the scene. Her eyes had begun to water when she noticed Cleotra standing next to Satoshi, frozen. Puzzled, the French girl walked over to Cleotra and took the girl's hand.

"Are you okay?"

Cleotra looked at Alexianna with shock and surprise, "What?"

Setsuka noticed Alexianna talking to Cleotra, her anger rising up in her gut, "You too?"

Everyone looked to Setsuka, Cleotra and Alexianna.

"What do you mean?" Alexianna asked, perplexed.

"You're with the Soul Pieces too?" Setsuka bit angrily.

Alexianna looked utterly confused, "Of course not! Why would you-"

It dawned on Alexianna what was going on then and there. She turned to Cleotra, complete disbelief taking over her features.

"You-"

Alexianna backed up from the blonde, horrified.

"HOW? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? XERXES IS DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! HOW COULD YOU?"

Alexianna created a blast of purple energy and aimed it at Cleotra, who had managed to snap out of her shock in time to counter Alexianna's beam with her own black one.

"Lexi! Stop this!" Takeshi called, running towards the Spirit Child.

Alexianna ignored him and continued to fire her beam of energy, the full intent of killing her in her eyes. Cleotra intensified the amount of power she was putting into her beam, causing the meeting of the beams to explode.

Everything turned to a purple- white colour. No one could see for a long time as the glow slowly began to fade.

Setsuka was the first to regain her sight. When she did, she saw Alexianna and Cleotra both unconscious on the ground. She went over to Alexianna, checking to see if she would be okay. There was blood dripping from her nose, mouth and eyes, and she looked much paler than usual.

Setsuka shook her head very slightly, "No…"

Ryuusei had gained his sight back next and saw Setsuka crouched by Alexianna's head. He went over and saw the expression on the icy woman's face.

"She's not-" Ryuusei began, but was halted by Setsuka nodding her head. A pang in his chest hit as the answer sunk in.

Still retaining some sense, he went over to Cleotra's body to find her in the exact same state as Alexianna. He looked back to Setsuka and shook his head when she looked back to him.

The others began to regain their sight as well, Takeshi being one of the last. When he saw Alexianna, he sunk to his knees in defeat. He looked her over; the cold, dead look in her eyes triggering his tears. He held her head to his chest and cradled the rest of her body, refusing to let go of her.

Aki looked over the battle field; from Hino, Jeff and Xerxes, to Ryuusei and Cleotra, to Satoshi, to Takeshi and Alexianna. Her eyes finally met with Setsuka's blaming pair, making Aki realize what she had done.

This was all her fault.

END

There really isn't much to say to you guys after that. Please review.