Sweet Dreams for Saul!

WAIT! What Happened!

It was a beautiful field of flowers that surrounded a younger Saul all around him. The light from the sun above him shining directly down upon him. The world was at peace. He had just been sent out on one of his latest missions, he had and his partner had made very little progress, though. The witches they were hunting down and had done a great job of creating a maze of problems. The town was a Kishin-Egg-infested. Everyone had a slight Kishin tinge to them, it was a dirty town where most of its inhabitants had relied on murdering or other deplorable acts in order to establish a living.

The dark aura the town gave off was enough to make Saul puke. They believed the witches they were hunting were holed up in the town, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Surrounded by hundreds of Kishin-Eggs was probably the best form or protection a witch could ask for. Best case scenario they would give birth to a wonderfully new powerful beast, worst case scenario they served as a basic security system. Many meisters had stepped into the town and were killed due to their ignorance, so the DWMA sent Saul here to defeat the witches and as many Kishin-Eggs as he could.

"Just relaxing like always, Saul?" asked a young lady as she walked up to the man laying on the ground, "you never do much, do you? The rest of our squad has already headed down to the town to do some basic research. So, we better start heading down to the town now." She was dressed in a yellow sundress with a large brim yellow hat on top. The typical Sunday best. She looked down at Saul lovingly.

"Sure, Deliah," said Saul as he began to get up. The two were engaged. They had been dating for a year before Saul popped the question. Now they were getting married in a few months, this was their last mission before they were married. They were both excited about it and wanted nothing more then to get over with. They had two other groups with them. Two young up and comers. Very popular and it was possible they would become Death Scythes. Of course, Saul couldn't say much as Deliah wasn't a Death Scythe yet despite the multiple years of work they had put into it. They shared a quick kiss before heading down to the town.

The met up with their two friends. One was a young female trident-user. She appeared only to be nineteen, but she had a very powerful aura around her. She had an air of self-confidence and strength. Other then her there was another young meister. He was probably also around nineteen, if not older. In his hand was a large blade, at least five feet in length. It was long and skinny in form. The man appeared to be just as proud as his female counter-part.

With Saul and Deliah arriving the crew was complete as they marched through the town, Saul and Deliah taking their time enjoying the sights. It was almost like a honeymoon to them. Their two younger partners were brash and less patient charging through the streets with reckless abandon. Anyone that even had a hint of a Kishin-like quality to them were immediately mowed down. Saul wasn't happy about it, but that's what happens to people in this kind of job. They went nuts and mowed all things with even a hint of evil aura down without much of a side-though.

That's went the world went crazy. It was just a sudden explosion that sent rubble and debris swirling around them. Saul was thrown to the side with the force. Everybody else caught the worst of it. Saul's easy-going nature put him behind the blast's radius and helped him survive the blast. The rest of his team weren't so fortunate. His friends and partners were tossed backwards and into the buildings around them. Saul was temporarily disoriented. He stumbled as he tried to stand back up. His hearing was shocked and his eardrums were probably destroyed from the disastrous noise.

Saul looked around him. His eyes immediately found his attacker. It was a young witch. She was smiling as she watched his friends panic. Her thin hands held a large glowing yellow ball. Her magic created a powerful explosion...that much was obvious to Saul just from the beginning. Saul looked around, panicked. The attack was dangerous and his friends had probably taken the brunt of the blow. He immediately saw them. The young girl had been thrown into the building, her leg was sticking out of the window and it was bent out of shape. It was obviously bruised and probably broken.

Where was the young man though? Saul's head snapped about trying to find the young man that accompanied them. Out of nowhere he shot out of one of the buildings, his sword in his hands sailing above Saul and aiming at the witch. The witch snickered. There was another explosion engulfing the young male, blowing him helplessly to the side and forcing him back down to the ground. His weapon was blown from his hand and sent flying across the terrain. The blade shone a light blue and quickly morphed into a normal human male.

Saul's eyes hovered on them for a second. Their souls...were weakening. They were so bright and abundant...full of energy just a few mere seconds ago. But now...they were dim. The brilliant flames of their souls had diminished into something more like candles. Another blast would probably do them in. "Deliah!" shouted Saul. Deliah nodded. A lovely, warm yellow light engulfed her. Her body became thin and long as it wrapped slowly around Saul's upper body. When the light vanished, Deliah's true form as a long, slinky silver chain appeared. Saul smiled, "this will be the last fight before that day!" Deliah's heavy chain smashed into the ground and her long chain-like body stretched out to its fullest, pushing and propelling Saul upwards and outwards towards the witch. Saul struck out with a deadly kick to the witch's abdomen.

The witch whimpered as she was forced backwards from the force of the kick. She snickered as the small light ball of her magic began to swirl about in her hands once more. The powerful explosive forming there. Saul smiled, he was ready to dodge this attack at a moment's notice. With Deliah's flexible body, she could push him in any direction in order to avoid the deadly attack. Suddenly Saul's heart was filled with the dread as the witch lowered her arm away from him. The small ball of light wasn't aimed at him, it was aimed at his partners.

Saul quickly adjusted his path of flight and redirected his position over a bit more. He moved himself directly in between the line of fire and his partner. He spread his arms wide and watched as the large ball of pure energy sailed towards him. Saul blacked out.

(-Meanwhile in the DWMA Infirmary-)

Rochelle and the students were all gathered in the room looming over Saul. Watching him writhe in pain as the medication that Lord Death suggested be used worked their magic. Rochelle had already come out of the fog and was awake and kicking again, albeit she was restrained from any extraneous activity for awhile. Saul, however, was still unconscious, the only signal that he was still alive was a painful cough every now and then and the small moving line on his heart monitor.

"The doctor's say he won't be out of it for awhile," said Rochelle as she kept her eyes trained on Saul. She knew him before he met the witch. She was a close friend of Deliah and knew Saul. She knew what he must be thinking of. Every day he woke up in a cold sweat from having the same repeating nightmare of Deliah's death. After Saul had stepped in to protect his partners from the attack, Deliah came out and became a human in front of him, shielding him from the blast. The blast damaged Deliah, irreparably. She died within days, nothing the doctors could do about it.

Saul had lived with it everyday. He was always in a bad shape with it. Rochelle remembered that day not only as the day that Deliah had died, but the day Saul began drinking again. Deliah had spent a year talking Saul out of drinking, but as soon as she passed away. Saul immediately buried himself directly in the alcohol. He drank about three bottles a day, never slowing down. It was just a way to handle the pain.

Rochelle sighed as she turned back around to the students. "I think we should leave him alone...you can tell me about how you guys beat Marburg." She made another look back at Saul laying in the hospital bed before shooing the gang out.

Shi dodged her and ran back in. He jumped up onto one of the stools near Saul's bed. "I don't think so!" shouted Shi as he braced himself against the stool and stayed in place, "I'm not leaving until Saul wakes up! I owe him a punch! And it doesn't count until he wakes up!"

"Shi," sighed Melody as walked up next to her, "come on, buddy. We need to tell Rochelle and Lord Death about how we won against Marburg. You can tell them about how you hit him and he fell down! All the good stuff!" Melody tugged on Shi's shirt trying to get him to get out of the room and leave Saul's side, but he wouldn't. He refused to move from the spot.

"It's okay," said Rochelle with a tone of sadness as she watched Shi sit by Saul's side, "I'm sure Saul wouldn't mind Shi sitting there. I'm sure he wouldn't mind it. Those two are a lot alike." Rochelle sighed as she remembered how Saul stayed by Deliah's side until the day of her funeral...even then he visited her grave site almost every day. He basically camped out there on her first birthday.

Shi stood up abruptly and began to head for the door, ignoring he rest of the group standing around, "Come to think of it Lord Death will probably need to see me," bragged Shi as he left the room. He didn't like being compared to Saul, especially considering the fact that right now, Saul was the only one that was knocked out cold for many weeks to come.

Michael shrugged as he followed Shi out of the room. May was quickly in tow behind him. Xander pushed Ash out of the way as he left to in sure that he was in front of him, Ash picked himself up and shook his head. A look of panic crossed his face as he looked downwards at his clothing. There was a light dusting on them, but it was enough to send him rushing to the bathroom.

Soon there was only Rochelle and Melody left in the room. Melody hesitated to leave the room as Saul had once again let out a quick grunt from his otherwise silent sleep. But Rochelle quickly rushed her out of there. Rochelle was last. She lingered by the doorway offering a backwards glance at Saul who now laid silent, remembering how Saul had stayed by Deliah's bedside throughout her agony, Rochelle let out a brief sigh as she approached the nearby stool and sat down on it, "don't worry, Saul. I'll stay with you."

Aya...I know, I know, I kind of skipped the last chapter. I was becoming extremely annoyed with how long the fighting lasted and just wasn't in the mood to write a good fight scene. So, I will finish it next chapter with a final bit about the fight. Really, I am sorry, but it was either this or no chapter this week. Okay? Okay. Besides you know how real mangaka do this sort of stuff, they skip the climax or have the main character pass out and then relearn about it the very next day.