Fakir held his breath as he made sure Mytho and Jaden both had a grip on his mother's spirit jar.
He bunkered down to prepare for the worst. Hopefully this would keep them safe.
Right then, he began to hear moans from underneath the ground. Fakir feel a great chill overcome him.
Here it comes…
A few spirits began to rise from underneath the floor, and even fewer aimed for them, but were pushed back by a figure that was moving too fast for Fakir to see.
It felt like hours as the spirits passed over them. But in reality, it had probably only been 30 minutes before the attack came to a stop.
It was at that very point, Jaden woke up with a shout.
He felt like the room was spinning, and the last remaining spirits running out seemed to just be illusions… right?
What soon staggered him back to reality was the immense amount of pain in his hand. When he rolled his head over to look, he could see it had been brutally slashed in several different places.
Just as he was about to panic, he heard a voice.
"Jaden? Are you awake?!"
It was a young man's voice. He seemed on edge.
Jaden turned over to see Fakir, clutching a spirit jar that apparently he and Mytho had a small grip on as well.
"What's happened?" he croaked.
"The shadowman," Fakir said flatly, "He took advantage of your bitter anger and is trying to kill Mytho… and he already killed Bradly."
Jaden felt his stomach drop. Part of him felt relieved that Bradly was dead. However, an even bigger part of him knew that this would just lead to an even bigger mess now. But what could be done now?
Jaden noticed Fakir was still on alert. Jaden carefully picked himself up without using his shredded hand too much.
"How can I help to fix this?" Fakir had never heard Jaden sound so serious before.
He watched him closely to see if there was any falter in Jaden, but he couldn't find any. Just determination.
"Okay," he sighed, "We need to find Mytho's master key. It has to be in here somewhere."
Both young men got off of Mytho's bed without disturbing him, and tore apart his room to find the keys. Within several minutes, the rusted old key was found.
"One of us, might need to stay with him, just to make sure he's safe." Fakir said gesturing towards the heavy sleeping councilman.
Jaden only scratched his head, "How can one of us protect him?"
Fakir only pointed to the spirit jar barely hanging off Mytho's hand.
Jaden only nodded.
"I'll stay then." Jaden announced, "He might still be able to over power me again. But you should be more than capable of fending him off. Right?"
"Right." Fakir said.
"I'm guessing you got another spirit jar with you then?" Jaden asked as he looked back over to Mytho.
No response. Jaden sharply turned his head back to Fakir.
"You have another one, right?!" Jaden couldn't emphasize enough how important he made this out to be.
Fakir still kept quiet. But soon, he slowly shook his head.
Jaden's eye grew wide, "You're going after him alone?"
"I may have to." Fakir said quietly.
"Why? You have other men that can help you! What if he finds your weakness?!" Jaden was really surprised to find himself talking like this. But it didn't matter, Fakir was about to do something stupid, and he wasn't going to let the soldier go through with it!
"I don't want to risk anymore lives." Fakir's voice was low and firm.
"So you'll throw away your own?" Jaden retorted sourly.
"Possibly"
Jaden glared at him, "That's just stupid! What about the people that will need you? Your grandfather, Councilman Mytho, Ahiru?"
Fakir watched Jaden for a long while. Was he serious? There was no sign of change in the gypsy boy's stance. He was dead serious.
Fakir began to weigh Jaden's words in his mind. How much would he be needed after this? With Emestress having no one to rule, what would happen to its people? How could Mytho shoulder all this alone, especially after he confesses to the experimentations that happened 15 years ago. And what of Drosselmeyer? After he would be put on trial, he would have to be in preson for years. What would he have to live for during and after all that? Prison would ultimately destroy that old man.
And what about Ahiru?
He had only recently confessed to being in love with her. How unfair would that be to her to have led her on like that if he went off and got himself killed. How much would it tare her apart if he did?
Fakir sighed, "Then what do you suggest I do?"
Jaden looked Fakir right in the eyes, and with a stern voice he said, "Get help."
Fakir rushed out of Mytho'sroom, holding his master key tight. He watched and listened in the halls for the sounds of thundering footsteps of rushed or panicked men. To his luck, a cluster of pirates and a few of his men came clattering down the hall.
He spotted two familiar faces in the crowd, Autor and the shape-shifter from his grandfather's ship.
"Hey!" Fakir called to them.
The group halted instantly.
"I'm going after the one who killed Dictator Bradly, and I want a team with me. I can't promise you'll be safe. Some of us may not make it back, that's why I'm giving you this choice. Help me, or leave me."
Unknowing to any of the men of that group, Ahiru had wandered off from her group, and soon found herself near to where Fakir was. And she just couldn't help but eavesdrop.
A handful of soldiers declined, but a multitude of pirates came forward. Of the few soldiers that were brave enough to step forward, Autor was one of them. Fakir also noticed that Envy guy come up as well. Fakir counted up his new troop. About twelve total. That was all he could ask for.
"Alright then, follow me." Fakir said as his men followed, with a stealthy Ahiru on their heels.
As they headed down, he informed the men of his plan. They would sneak in as best as possible and surround the shadowman. After that they would move in for the kill.
It wasn't much, but it was all Fakir could muster up in a short time limit. And to be frank, he had never fought the shadowman before, so he couldn't formulate a strategy based on that now could he.
The group reached the door as Fakir stuck the worn key into the key hole and quickly swung the door open.
The room was clothed in darkness. There was just barely enough light for Fakir to see the general layout of the room, along with several smashed spirit jars and the crazed man who broke them. He seemed to be laughing to himself before he slowly turned around, red eyes glowing and teeth flashing.
"Well… since you've ruined my last bit of fun, why don't I play with you and your men next!" he said in a sadistic tone.
Before Fakir or anyone else could do anything, the shadowman made a strange hand gesture that seemed to be able to grab hold of everyone's shadow and drag them quickly into the room. After everyone was roped in, the shadowman vanished and the door shut itself.
The men scrambled to their feet, brandishing any weapons they had available, and began to alertly search the whole room.
There were scattered footsteps, laughter, and on the occasion a fist made connection with someone in some way.
Fakir grew tired of this hiding game all too soon. "Are you going to come out and face us like a man, or continue to cower back in the shadows?!" He snapped.
The shadowman's laugh echoed throughout the room. "You fail to realize I am shadow. I am darkness. I am your fears... I am not the one hiding!"
More footsteps, but faster.
Right then, Fakir cried out in pain and contracted inward toward his abdomen, dropping his pistol in the process.
Fakir shakily lifted his head to see the shadowman standing in front of him shoving a piece of glass into his stomach. The shadowman only cocked his head to the side and smiled ruefully, "See… I told you I'm not hiding…"
Fakir went stiff, and only began to moan when the shadowman tried twisting the glass piece. The rest of his men went into a panicked attack. Those who had guns tried to aim and shoot their enemy, but for some reason, they missed every shot. Instead hitting their allies on the other side of the room, knocking them down quickly. The shadowman seemed only to flinch at the blast of the bullets.
Fakir's fear was beginning to swell up inside him. His men were getting killed, and he was going to die slowly if he didn't act now. But for whatever reason, his body refused to move.
"You can't move." The shadowman said answer his thoughts, "I hold all your shadows, so I control them and you, however I please!"
It was at that moment, the door creaked. The shadowman shot his head towards the door. It was opened slightly, putting a light dent in the darkness. He flashed himself away from Fakir and towards the door examining it.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so how did it open?
Right then, the shadowman heard the hammer of a pistol click back. He turned to face Ahiru holding Fakir's gun in both hands.
"What do you think you're doing girl?!" He hissed.
"Putting down the monster that tried to tear the world apart." She said indefinitely.
Before the shadowman could get out another word, Ahiru pulled the trigger back. The shadowman flinched at the light it gave off, and stumbled back from the force of the bullet going through his body. Ahiru cocked the hammer back again and shot him about three more times. Just until she knew, he wasn't going anywhere.
By that point, Fakir felt his body being released from its invisible hold, as he fell to the ground. Ahiru dropped the pistol and rushed over to him. He was gasping for air and clutching at his side, unsure if it was safe to pull out the glass. Ahiru looked over the rest of the men in the room. Out of all 12 men that had entered, only 3 had made it out alive: Fakir, Autor, and Envy. However, they were seriously wounded.
It didn't take very long before several other men came to treat the wounded. Among those men were Jaden and Councilman Mytho.
Jaden and Ahiru sat by Fakir's side as he was being treated.
"You had to rush in head first, didn't you?" Jaden said sarcastically.
Fakir only rolled his eyes.
"Well, at least you both made it out okay." Jaden said with a genuine smile. Huh, having seen one of those from him before…
But it wasn't to last. Because right at that moment, there was a hammer cocked and a shot fired right behind Ahiru.
A\N: Almost done! But after writing this chapter, I think I'll write an alternate ending.
On another note, the mermaid story is starting to come along, but I still need a bit more time to finish the plot up.
In the meantime, I wish to give my deepest thanks to:
mayuralover for reviewing
Guest for reviewing
I-Is-Not-Lone-Pervert for following and favoring
Kuroshibata70 for following
And you for reading this far with me!