Chapter Twenty: Run As Fast As You Can
~Amaya's POV~
Later that night after the kids had finally gotten to sleep Analia and Ariel had converged in the living room as we as the ninja. I got the feeling that they were going to be staying around me and the ninja for a while. If only for the protection they offered.
"This is certainly scary isn't it?" Analia asked rhetorically. "Not only are our top haters free but they're already gunning for us."
"It's not going to be easy." Ariel agreed. "They've had a head start by a few hours."
"More like days." I said looking outside at the full moon. Melody had left before sundown so she could go wild without wanting to hunt anyone down. Not exactly the best way to make friends. "It's going to be hard to find them."
"Are you giving up?" Sasuke asked. Naruto jumped up.
"You can't give up, no matter what!"
"Relax Naru, we're not giving up until we're dead." Ana said smoothly, "Or at least until we really have no other clues."
"What clues did you get from the Asylum?" Sasori asked.
"The papers," Ariel waved her hand making two boxes full of papers appear on the coffee table, "of everything within the last year and a half is in there. I had to put a spell on the boxes otherwise there'd be a lot more."
"So we can look and gather more information." Kakuzu grunted.
"True…" I murmured looking at the moon. "But we don't know how long they've have this coming."
"What's wrong?" Itachi asked sensing my silent tension.
"The moon, there's a circle around it."
"So?" Hidan asked, "It's probably just the clouds and the sun's reflected light."
"I never thought I'd hear him sound like he has a brain, yeah."
"Shut up she-male. I can think when I want to."
"What's so significant about a circle around the moon?" Nagato asked before the two idiots could get into another argument that would no doubt wake up the kids.
"A circle around the moon means 'trouble is not far behind'." Ariel murmured. I nodded not looking away from the moon. "But how far?" Analia was the one to get off her butt and reach into her back pocket. We all watched as she drew out a deck of cards with pictures on one side and elaborate filigree on the other.
"Cards?" Sasori asked in disbelief.
"I'm all for poker but this may be the wrong time." Naruto said.
"This isn't playing cards." Analia replied seriously. "They're tarot cards. They can tell the future. Now please shut up while I concentrate here."
I heard the soft slip and slap of the cards as Ana shuffled them and laid them out on the coffee table.
"What the f*ck are those?" Hidan asked. I looked at the coffee table to see the cards. Despite my internal warnings I had to know. I froze when I caught sight of Death, The Queen of Swords, and the Joker. Ana and Ariel were pale as I was.
"What do you see?" Yahiko asked. Ana gulped.
"Someone will want something akin to death, someone will be tortured, and someone will die to protect us all." I said looking at the cards.
"I see a twisted love that will end in misery. A huge chamber and a chair." Ariel murmured, "The Queen wants something very valuable."
"I see a coffin in the earth." Analia choked out. "A child crying and a friend in danger."
"You can see all that?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes." I looked away from the cards. "This is not good."
"The Queen? Who could that be?" Sakura asked.
"The Queen of Sheba? Egypt?" Analia asked sarcastically. "We can't see that clearly with the cards. They only give us a vague outline, not details."
"Those seem like some pretty good details." Kakuzu grunted.
"What's with the chair in the room?" Hidan asked.
"How the hell do you see that, yeah?" Deidera asked looking at the cards.
"Maybe it was a fluke?" Yahiko tried.
"Maybe." Ana said. I heard her shuffling the cards again but knew nothing would change. Once the cards are dealt with a question in mind, it takes a lot more than willpower and strength of mind to change things.
"How did you do that?" Hidan demanded.
"It's still the same." Itachi spoke.
"So how long do you think we have?" Ariel asked ignoring everyone else. I measured the ring around the moon.
"I'm guessing a few days, maybe two." I said thinking back to a month ago when the ninja came. The black silk on my family portrait came off. "I have a feeling, that whatever is going to happen is going to bring my mother home."
"Well that can't be good." Analia muttered.
"You don't say." I drawled before looking at everyone assembled. "I know I have no right to ask but would you help us in this situation, but since I consider you idiots family and the kids built-in guards, I want to ask you to help in this situation."
"Do you have to ask?" Naruto said looking at me seriously. "I'm not letting anything happen to my friends."
"Naruto has a point." Nagato said looking at Naruto briefly before looking at me. "You have given us a place to stay and given us a home. You didn't have to but you did. For that I can say that Akatsuki will help in any way we can."
"Us too." Kakashi eye smiled. "I happen to like your library."
"You mean the porn section?" Analia asked. I had to smile.
"In that case I suppose we'd better look at those files. They aren't just going to tell us everything if we stare at it." Ariel sighed.
"That would be nice." Ana grumbled.
"The sooner we get through this the sooner you can cuddle with Kakashi." I offered. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, I think, but Ana jumped up and started working.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Kakashi asked as everyone dug into the files.
"You did, but then you chose to help us and no take-backs." I smirked as he rolled his eyes.
"Troublesome brat."
"Why," Bang. "can't," Bang. "I," Bang. "solve this!" BANG!
"If you keep doing that you're going to be even stupider than Deidera is." Sasori commented.
"HEY, UN!" I groaned bringing my head back up to rub my headache away.
"I hate mysteries. They're just so troublesome when they involve me and my family."
"Be thankful that you have us to help you out." Kakuzu grunted. He and Kisame had chosen to stay home today since they didn't like the kids' school at all. Something about the creepiness and the ghosts always coming up behind them and scaring them. I sighed and put my head down so I could think.
Having the Akatsuki help with this mystery was a too overwhelming. I had to deal with Hidan and Deidera in the same room for more than an hour, my usual limit. Not to mention that this was driving me crazy so I hadn't been sleeping right. I ended up lying down only to get back up again ten minutes later to go over everything again and to keep thinking about the five loose prisoners who were probably thinking and planning out ways to harm my team and my brats.
Oh I didn't fool myself into thinking that they wouldn't go after my friends and family. After all, that's what the bad guys always did. They found your weak spots and used it against you with no regrets then killed your weak spots to weaken you so they could torture you and make you 'fall from grace'. But going over all the documents from the Asylum were a bit too analytical for me. Analia and Ariel were doing that while I tried to find the necklace that the Keeper had been describing.
Couple that with the knowledge that Damon was probably watching from a safe point, yeah I was inclined to want to scream right now. The stress and anxiety were killing me.
A ping of worry for Keira and Memphis hit, as it had been for a while now. I rubbed my head and chest. The same thoughts kept revolving around in my head.
What if they hurt them? If my brats ended up being used against me I'd go insane. What if I was missing something important in the medical jargon and the routines? I was missing something, no one just gathered five dangerous people for the hell of it. Akatsuki was gathered to help gather the Jinchuuriki.
That thought right there… it rang true. What would someone want with five people who had a vendetta against the Guardians? Revenge? It was a little too straight, too predictable. There had to be another reason.
"Hey Kakuzu, Sasori." I murmured looking up.
"What now brat?" Sasori snapped looking up from the Island's records. He was still trying to figure out how five prisoners managed to get transferred all within a few weeks of each other.
"If you gathered together five dangerous criminals, would you simply go for revenge?"
"It depends on what the leader is going for. He could be using the five criminals as a decoy." Kakuzu murmured.
"Look over here while I do something over here, yeah." Deidera agreed. "It's what I would do."
"Yes, but why these criminals? Why not any other criminals. Your society should have more than these five. They'd probably be much stronger." Sasori suggested irritably. "Some is using them but what do you and your fellow Guardians have that's powerful enough to make someone involve themselves?"
"Someone who's powerful enough to bring you all here?" I joked. I stopped as the three Akatsuki members looked at me in shock. "No, I mean you guys coming here… that could've been a coincidence, right?" I asked.
"There are no coincidences, un."
"But why do that?" I asked. "What purpose would that serve? You're all good guys, for the most part. You were freaking cats when the brats found you."
"You could be right. But I suggest you not rule that out, just in case." Kakuzu shrugged going back to his researching. I nodded as the art duo nodded in agreement. I leaned back in my chair.
What would someone gain from all this? Granted that person is doing a good job in giving me some white hair way before I'm supposed to. And not to mention the heart attacks I get from the brats being out of my sight for too long. Maybe I'm spreading myself a little too thin.
Focus. List the problems you have right now and go from there.
Problem one, the five 'convicts'.
Problem two, the person behind their escape.
Problem three, the usual 'weakness' clause all bad guys seem to have down pat. (Do they give them a class for that sh*t or what?)
Problem four, the brats.
Problem five, the Akatsuki and Team 7.
Problem six, Itachi.
Problem seven, when was the last time I went this long without a nap? Or even coffee?
That was my main concern ironically. I didn't function well on only two hours of sleep for two days. I may be a Guardian but I couldn't keep casting an energy spell on myself. It would be detrimental to my health and failing mentality.
I sighed getting up.
"I need a nap." Kakuzu and Sasori didn't bother to look up but Deidera was kind enough to answer.
"Make sure it's not with Uchiha." I flipped him the bird before stumbling past the kitchen and living room where everyone was, going through various boxes. (Who knew five patients could rack up the papers in this sort of thing? I felt bad for all the trees that had to die for that.) I made it up to my bedroom and collapsed on my bed, happy to feel the comforting sheets and soft blankets.
If only life really was like a box of chocolates.
I felt my head being lifted and something soft being placed under my head. I opened my eyes to see Itachi about to put a thin blanket over me. I yawned and rolled onto my side.
"Thanks 'Tachi." I mumbled.
"Get some sleep." I moaned lightly in response as I felt a lingering hand on my head before I sensed Itachi was gone. Probably back downstairs.
My eyes opened to see a huge concrete cave. Lightbulbs hung from the ceiling but barely managed to light the whole cavern. I looked around at the sparse cave to see metal cages embedded in the walls.
I looked around before moving closer. The bars, I saw, were all iron, wood, silver, and holy bronze bars. Inside dark shadowy shapes hunched as their respective poison drained them of their life.
I heard laughter behind me.
I quickly whirled around to see, not the gloomy darkness, but a wall of monitors that all showcased various Guardians and civilians doing various activities. A smooth voice came out from the darkness.
"Are the children ready for another run?" I couldn't tell if the voice was a woman or a man. It seemed like a woman but something about it made me doubt myself.
"Yes master." A male voice, I was sure of that, answered from the darkness.
"Damon has found an occupation to get close to Guardian Black. He's already corrupting and making them doubt themselves."
"Kristoff has already wiped out a small group of Guardians in Oklahoma."
"Emillio has done a good job at keeping the Guardians in Santa Monica occupied. He should be returning in a day or two with his quota."
"Hylla and Kenny managed to hack into the Guardian's database. They've already found a hundred weak and isolated Guardians. They leave in an hour on the jet."
"Good. These kids are better than I hoped for. And what of the artifact?"
"The artifact is still under protection. We're having trouble sensing exactly where in the Guardian's home." A hiss sounded that made me shiver.
"We need that artifact! It is the only thing that will allow me to stay in this dimension and to gather my fellow brothers and sisters so we can wipe out the Guardians once and for all."
"We are trying master."
"Try harder. We need the artifact before the Winter Solstice. I cannot come back and start the revolution until I have my precious."
"We understand master… But what about the A-" My foot stepped backwards into something wet. I cursed silently and pulled away. Too late.
"Quiet!" I tensed trying to stay as quiet as possible while hoping that the water went smooth. "Someone very naughty has been listening… Guardian Black!" I gasped seeing bright yellow eyes blaze to life.
I gasped sitting up in bed looking around in panic.
Those eyes had looked like the eyes of a basilisk. Cold and withering. I shook my head while also trying to remember what I'd seen in my dream. It was slipping away like oil but I did manage to hold onto one vital piece of information.
I got up and grabbed my phone.
'Guardian Headquarters, Andromeda Gliss speaking.'
"Andromeda, Guardian Black here, we have a hacker in the systems."
'What? How do you-'
"Never mind how I know it. Hylla Nightshade and Kenny Blanchard have managed to hack into the systems. They're going after the lone Guardians. They're going to pick us off one by one!"
'Sh*t! Thank you Black. I'll alert everyone.'
"Thanks for listening." I breathed.
'You've served the Guardians for five years, I can't imagine why you'd do something like this unless you wanted to be released and wiped clean.' Her brisk manner had me thinking of that. Before I could respond she had hung up.
"Nice talking to you to." I muttered before getting up to talk to Analia and Ariel.
I stopped when I was in front of my closet. The door wasn't open and no one had gone in it since the Disturi attack a few weeks ago. I shrugged and continued on my way. There was no way someone would want a cursed object, no one could use it anyway.
"Hey we found something." Analia said when she saw me coming down the stairs.
"You remember when we saw the nurses giving out letters?" Itachi asked in his usual monotone voice. I nodded grabbing the paper he held out.
"Turns out they were all from the same person." Kakashi said boredly.
"'Lily'." I looked up. "Well that doesn't help us. There's got to be how many 'Lily's' in the world?"
"Too many to count." Analia said. "So I wondered if maybe 'Lily was a nickname or even an anagram. These letters are coded so I figured maybe the name was the key."
"And she was right, un." Deidera and everyone else looked shocked. Analia rolled her eyes.
"I may not act smart but haven't you heard of the expression, 'never judge a book by its cover'?"
"I have." Kakashi said proudly.
"You're just being a suck up." I deadpanned. "What did you find?"
"Apparently 'Lily' was into some very dark stuff." Ariel said coming out of the kitchen with Sasori. "We just finished making one of the potions she recommended. It matched the dark stuff the Guardian Cleaners found on the cell's hinges."
"The substance was made from a few modern food chemicals that were combined with blood." Sasori stated. "It melted the bar of titanium we experimented on."
"We decoded the letters once Analia found the key." Nagato said managing to keep the surprise out of his voice. "They're plans and promises."
"And apparently 'Lily' upheld her end of the bargain," Sakura said, "Part of the deals made was that they could get revenge on the Guardians who put them in jail in the first place."
"And we already know that they did in fact do that. Several Guardians are in the hospital." Ana added.
"They just need to help 'Lily'." Sasuke droned. I nodded.
"Anyone figure out what 'Lily' wanted?" I asked.
"No, it's still too hard to decipher." Kisame answered.
"Well I have to say I'm proud of you all. Apparently I should have a mental breakdown more often if it gets you all to work this fast."
"Please don't." Yahiko begged. "Ariel and Analia are worse than you." I blinked as everyone nodded before looking away from the aforementioned Guardians glares.
"You would all be slouching until Amaya came back down and guilt-tripped you all by working harder than all of you combined again." Analia growled. "We did you all a favor by leaving your conscious' clean."
"Not sure we can say the same for Itachi and Kakashi." Ariel chirped proudly. The two ninja glared at her with their customary blank faces. I rolled my eyes.
"Alright I thank you two. Now will everyone please get back to work? By the way, where's Mel?"
"She went to pick up the kids." Konan said smiling briefly at me. I had to smile back; she was so cute when she smiled. I could clearly see her falling for a good boy. Yahiko and Nagato would end up together, even if I had to give them a love potion. Not like they could say anything once they slept together. (Bad thoughts, bad, go back into the 'Evil' room.)
"That's good. Saves me from-"
'Amaya…' Mel's voice drifted to me as if she was calling me from a tunnel. 'Maya!'
"Amaya?" I shushed Itachi to concentrate.
'Maya… Keira… Help me…'
"Something's wrong with Keira." I said slowly.
"What?" Kakuzu barked. I shushed him firmly.
"I can't… I can't hear…" I mumbled walking to the door.
'Keira… shhh it's okay… MAYA!'
I didn't think as I ran to the door and threw it open. I shifted on the fly into a Raven and flapped my wings as hard as I could before gaining some altitude. I couldn't pinpoint exactly where they were but I could hear Melody's voice grow louder the closer I got to her.
I backed a little towards the school knowing that somewhere along the road Mel was. She's most likely pulled over.
'Amaya! Hurry up!' I blinked and looked about two miles ahead of me. Along the road Mel was parked on the shoulder of the road. The back door was open and she was kneeling down. I dived not thinking about anything more than helping my little brat and whatever had caused Mel to send a distress call.
I slowed when I got closer to the ground and shifted once again so I hit the ground running.
"Mel!" I yelled frantically. Mel got up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do." I waved it off to move her aside as I looked at Keira who seemed to be having a little meltdown. Memphis was watching from the passenger seat.
"What happened?" I asked pulling Keira's seatbelt off her and turning her to face me.
"I just asked how school was." Mel insisted, "She started crying after that." I nodded.
"Sweetie?" I cooed gently grabbing her hands and moving them to her lap. I tilted my head so I could look at her. Her head was tilted down as tears dropped from her eyes. (I don't know about any of you, but I couldn't stand to see a child cry.) I motioned for Mel to take Memphis for a walk while I sorted this out.
"Come on Memphis, let's go look at those ducks over there."
"Okay." I waited until Mel and Memphis were walking away before I dared to ask,
"Keira, honey, what's wrong?" She sniffed. "Keira I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong. Are you hurt?" She shook her head. Well that eliminated that worry. "Sweetie…" I tried again making her look at me. Her devastated eyes were enough for my stomach to sink.
"I'm a monster." I blinked.
"Huh?" Keira couldn't have just said what I think she'd said could she? Because I know there's no way in hell that my little munchkin would ever say-
"I'm a monster." She repeated again sniffling as tears started to pour again.
"You're not a monster." I said firmly getting her to look at me. "You're Keira Black. You're a witch just like your mother and daddy Tim. You're not a monster baby, why would you ever think that?"
"My teacher at school said that witches were all monsters."
"What?" Oh you know as well as I do that I was going to beat that teacher black and blue for putting something like this into my brats head. "You're teacher doesn't know what she's talking about." I trusted Ms. Kieran. Hell she'd taught me!
"It wasn't Ms. Kieran. She had a substitute teacher today." Well that explained things. I still wasn't going to be letting that teacher off the hook.
"Sweetie, what did your teacher say about witches?" I asked cautiously. Keira sniffed.
"He said that using magic was a sin. And that we were all demons." F*CK NO! There is no way in hell that the Academy actually hired one of the Religious bastards to teach at the school. I nodded outwardly for Keira to keep talking as I fumed on the inside. "He said that we should've been drowned at birth and that if we kept using magic we would burn in hell." She started crying. "I don't want to burn Amaya! I want to stay with you and Kuzu and Kisa and Tachi and Mommy and Daddy and Memphis!" She was starting to get hysterical.
"Keira, Keira, listen to me baby." I hugged her as she cried louder. Her crying was actually starting to scare me a little. "You are not a monster alright. You are not a demon. You are a witch. I'm a witch, your mom is a witch and so are your brother and daddy. We aren't demons. Demons don't have a soul alright? You aren't as mean, icky, and full of hate as they are okay? I promise you baby that you're going to be fine and you're not leaving me or Kuzu."
"Or Kisa and Tachi?" I nodded my head frantically.
"Yes Keira. You are not going to burn in hell. You're going to stay right here with us alright?" She nodded. "You're not going anywhere until I say so okay? And you are never going to leave our side do you hear me? Kuzu would never let anything bad happen to you and so would I." Well that was the truth right there.
I held her for a while. Mainly because her little arms were stronger than I thought. She wasn't going to be letting me go anytime soon. I hummed under my breath and shushed her when it sounded like she was going to start crying again. Eventually her arms went slack and her breathing evened out.
She'd gone to sleep.
Of course it helped that I helped her along the way. The fury inside me wasn't getting any better and if I had any hope of catching that substitute teacher before he went home for the day then I needed to get going right now.
I gently put Keira in her car seat before buckling her in. I turned to Melody and waved before I turned into a Falcon and flew off. I had a teacher I needed to skin and I sure as hell was not about to let any other parent or guardian beat me to the punch. No one upset my brats and lived to tell the tale.
When I landed in the parking lot I could still see some cars parked out front so I ran right into the Academy and took the stone elevator to the second floor. I quickly made my way to the correct classroom hoping that the sub was still doing whatever sub's did after school.
My anger boiled underneath the surface of my skin ready to explode in a single instant. That teacher was so going to regret making me pissed. I didn't care who the f*ck he was, he was going to have me scream, hex, and curse him before I left.
The door was ajar and the light was on so I went right in.
Only to freeze as my body apparently recognized the short spiky black hair before my eyes even processed what they were telling my brain. He looked up in surprise as the door closed with a snap.
"I'm sorry class is-" We stared at each other.
"You…"
"Amaya!"
"YOU F*CKER!" I screamed launching myself Damon.
GM NASAI: I know, I know I'm late. But on the plus side at least I updated this month. I was planning on updating until the 5th.
So I would like to take this time to thank all of you who read this story and made it this far. And goddamn, the veiws alone... {sways unsteadily} That was enough to make my days. I think it was the only reason I managed to finish this chapter. It's not as long and I apologize but I'm working on wrapping things up with this story.
I will probably only be updating every month since I'm back in school and everything's really fast-paced. I have a lot going on with my daily life, so much, that I'm starting to resent having friends I actually have to see and talk to... Hmm... I think I'll just have you all as my friends. XD
Next Time on TBAG:
"What do you mean she's gone?"
"I thought that by giving you those ninja they'd distract you enough. I may have jumped the gun a little early on that assupmtion though. Oh well."
"You can have her after I'm done playing with her."
"I can't believe they made a deal with you, you b*tch."
"I have a bad feeling Kisa."
Omake
"Kid I think you have enough bubbles in there." Kisame said worriedly as he and Memmphis were trying to do the dishes. The key word in this was try. Amaya had trusted Kisame to do the dishes after she had cooked but since Memphis had wanted to help him Kisame had let him.
"I don't think so." Memphis grinned wickedly as bubbles sprouted from the dishwasher.
"Amaya's going to kill us." Kisame quickly ran over to the dishwasher to try and turn it off. Instead he seemed to make things worse as the door opened and bubbles and water came out. Memphis laughed as Kisame slipped in the soap.
"Now I know you're a little demon." Kisame muttered as Memphis jumped onto the kitchen counter and turned on the sink and added some dish soap.
"Water, water, water! More!" Memphis yelled happily. Kisame couldn't find it in him to keep any bad feelings towards someone who loved water as much as he did himself. But if the water kept rising then they were going to be dead soon.
"Memphis, no." Kisame got up and slid over to the sink. He tried to turn the taps off but they remained stuck. Memphis giggled and waved his hand. Kisame stared at the sink as the taps broke off and water cascaded up from the pipes helping to add to the flood.
"We can clean together!" Memphis laughed. Kisame jumped as the pantry doors opened and a mop came out.
"This is too much even for me." He sighed. "Memphis come here."
"No!" Memphis giggled. "Do the water jutsu! Do the water jutsu! You have water to do it now."
"Kid I really don't think-"
"WHAT THE F*CK DID YOU DO?!" Kisame whirled around to see Nagato, Itachi and Amaya all staring at him and Memphis who were the only ones in the kitchen. Kisame looked to Memphis.
"Kid, if I'm going down I'm taking you with me." Memphis only nodded and jumped into his arms.
"Me go with Kisa!" He planted a sloppy kiss on Kisame's cheek.
"Good, because you two are soo going down." Amaya growled. Kisame sighed. As long as the brat was with him in thier soon to be hell, he could be fine with it. Besides, they'd get off from doing anymore dishes. Maybe Memphis really did know what he was doing.