(no subject)
Title:Shards
Author/Penname: Kainasilversbane (me!)
Rating:PG-13
Chapters: Chapter 16 (WIP)
Pairings: Fujitaka/Kaho centered
Summary: So the fighting finally ends? WHOA!!!!
Warning, Notes: Some blood
Link to previous chapter http://community.livejournal.com/reviewers_inc/20615.html#cutid1
PLEASE READ!!!Before you continue on, I want to point out that I've set a particular part of the chapter to music, which I'm going to make available for the rest of you. Since many of you read at different speeds, I can't give you a set place to turn on the music and hope the affect goes for the whole time. But I can tell you to set your music player, with the song provided at the link below with 3:11 having passed, or 58 seconds remaining, once you hit the incantation (trust me, you'll know when that is, and I'll stick a lil asterisc by it too. XD) and just let it run till it's over. Hopefully, you'll get the mood I'm trying to put across
Music download linkhttp://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=0C7BA288599F1209
Disclaimer: I own zippy. All CCS characters belong to CLAMP, while the lovely music belongs to Hans Zimmer and the Da Vinci Code team. Have fun!
Chapter 16
Fujitaka was finally able to open his eyes as the rocks began to fall, but the rest of his body still wasn’t responding to his wishes. He could feel Kero and Sakura stuck underneath him, but he was limp and couldn’t move to allow them to stand and get away.
The vision he’d had only a few days before flashed through his mind, as it had to Kaho, and he felt panic course through him, but had nowhere to go. The world around him began to slow down and he felt himself exhale as the boulder covered his vision.
Then it turned to dust.
Later he would realize that he had felt a concussion blast through the cave, the resonating power that had just been blown through the whole area, but now he only saw that the rocks were gone, and that, for the moment, he was going to live.
“Dad, get up!” His daughter’s voice snapped him out of his daze.
“Ah!” The man exclaimed as he struggled to untangle himself from Kero’s wings, then rolled over and scrambled to his feet. “What happened?”
Sakura rolled free of her guardian and sat up on her elbows, staring at something, “That,” she started, “might be a good place to start looking.”
He followed his daughter’s gaze and found it settled back on Kaho, but what he saw made him take a few steps back. <~(Ew, hate this sentence, fix it)
There had only been one time that he’d seen the woman truly angry, and that had been two caves back, when Sakura had been doing her task and they were stuck behind the barrier, only able to watch. For a moment he’d watched a spark of rage tint her vision and draw a look of loathing over her face.
Now that look was back again, but at a level he’d never fathomed could exist. The woman’s warm amber gold eyes now glowed a dangerous bronze color, pupils having closed to almost nothing. White magic rippled in the air around her, fanning the air like the heat did on a blazing summers day.
She’d been looking at them, or more specifically, the now disintegrated boulders that were creating dust at their feet. It was extremely unnerving to have her angered gaze situated at them, enough to where it made Sakura scramble to her feet and inch towards her father.
“Kero…what’s wrong with her?” She asked as she held her staff close to her, trying to glean comfort from the smooth, familiar object.
“She’s let her anger take control,” Kerberos answered as he sat back on his haunches.
“So this is what rage looks like,” Fujitaka stared, remembering the conversation he had had with the woman in the car not so very long ago.
“Indeed,” the guardian nodded, “but it’s a very dangerous thing to do.”
“How so?” The man asked. Kaho had told him the basics of what ones anger could do, but she hadn’t gone into any detail. Mostly, she’d just told him to avoid the act at all costs.
“When a magician releases his…or her…anger, it’s usually done in desperation,” Kero began to explain. “It’s usually their last resort, like if they’re dying, or someone they truly care about is about to die.” A satisfied smirk touched his face for a second, then it turned grim again. “Once the anger is released though, a magic user goes into something called Rage. Their conscious mind is clouded and they begin to put everything they have into their attacks and their defenses, not realizing how much, or how little, magic they have left. If they don’t come back to some sort of control shortly after, they usually end up killing themselves after they’ve burned themselves dry, or their Rage finally calms and dissipates. For the most part though, the end result is death.”
Now Fujitaka understood why Kaho had been persistent in her warnings about his anger. With his little experience, his control would be even less, and, if he were ever to fall into a Rage situation, he now realized that’d he’d probably never be able to get himself out of it until it was too late.
With a nervous swallow, trying to get moisture back into his suddenly dry throat, Fujitaka looked back over at the glowing woman.
OOOO
Magic licked and ripped at the white vines that bound her to the wall.
Soon…a venomous voice in the back of her mind said. Soon we will be free to seek bloodshed!!
NO! Her rational mind fought back. You can’t hurt him, we can’t hurt him!
Why not? He’s hurt us for so long, it said.
It had a point, He has…
Yessss, he has hurt us, and hurt many people dear to us!
Yes, he has…she was confused. Did she really want to hurt him? She’d held back for so long…
Give us bloodshed!! Rage demanded. Take our revenge!! It is ours, ripe for harvesting, ours to feast upon!!
Ours…
The vines shredded and fell to the ground and Kaho felt an inhuman growl rumble in her chest and throat as she peered through her bangs towards Eriol.
Kill him!!
Kill? She wondered, was that right? Was it the right thing to do?
Kaho phased behind Eriol and lashed out, trying to catch him with her nails.
“Well now, it seems you’ve finally decided to fight me,” the demon cackled as he turned and slid away from her attack. “Finally tired of running?”
She growled again, then lunged, magic hardened nails slicing at the air close to his face.
“HAH! You’ve finally gone and done it I see!” He laughed. “Finally you have shown me that devastating power you possess, your beautiful Rage! Come now, let me see it work!”
His joy at her state rocked some sense back into her foggy mind.
“What…?” She hesitated a bit and felt her anger singing through every vein in her body. There was no way of stopping it now, not yet. It still demanded bloodshed, lusting for the sight of Eriol’s blood on her hands.
Maybe if I just…scratch him… she wondered. Would it work?
Rage didn’t ask questions. When she finally conceded to attack, it took the initiative and struck out with everything she had. It took every ounce of willpower she possessed just to remind herself that she only wanted a scratch.
Just a scratch…
Rage pumped through her like adrenaline, fueling her when she swore she would have collapsed. She moved so fast that her own vision couldn’t keep up with her, and she wondered how the demon still managed to stay out of her grasp.
Crouching, she made to leap at him, but instead, converted it into a feint, then lashed out with her feet, knocking the demon to the floor. The woman leapt for him, Rage reaching out for his throat instead of merely trying to scratch him.
“My my, you truly are losing your grip aren’t you?” He asked as he sent a bolt of energy straight into her midsection.
Kaho was thrown backwards and landed on the ground some yards away, rolling until she was facing away from him before she was able to stop.
The demon’s footsteps sounded in her ears as she laid there, slowly and silently removing one of the bandages from her arm. It was soaked, and a heavier fabric than that of normal bandaging, and would suit her surprise just to her liking.
“Just going to lay there?” He asked as he got closer to her.
Lightning fast, Kaho spun around from where she lay and whipped the folded bandaging out, smacking him loudly on the right side of his face. She gave a satisfied smirk as she watched him pitch to the side, then, before he got his bearings back, she struck again, right hand lashing out and digging one of her nails into his right cheek and ripping sideways. It left a long scratch from the side of his nose, all the way the way down to the back of his jaw.
Both leapt away from each other, the demon to collect its wits, while Kaho peered at the blood that coated her fingernails.
“You fight dirty,” the right side of his face was red and swollen, with blood dripping from the deep scratch, giving him what looked like a comical appearance, if it weren’t for the deadly glow to his eyes.
Kaho glared over at him as her mind battled with Rage. It wanted to lick the blood from her fingers, while her rational mind wanted to wipe it away and try and forget it ever happened.
Rage won.
“Only as dirty as the thing I’m fighting,” she murmured has her tongue snaked out and licked the blood from her fingertips.
Now Rage was satisfied, for the moment, and Kaho bound the emotion up and stored it away again, behind her mental, but brittle barriers. She felt tired and her vision cleared for a moment, only to blur again as her eyes stung with uninvited tears. Her stomach insisted on ridding itself of its contents, and she had to swallow several times before she had that part of herself under control again. The taste of Eriol’s blood still lingered in her mouth, making it all that much harder to tell her roiling stomach to behave itself.
He lashed out at her and Kaho stumbled away. She was dangerously low on magic now, all of it having been used to enhance her speed while she’d fought hand to hand with him. It was far from her strong point, and forcing her body to do so had run it ragged.
“You’ve slowed Kaho,” he laughed, “This troubles Eriol greatly. Normally you’re quicker than he is.”
Kaho smirked as she panted lightly, ideas forming in her head, “Guess I’m not taking good care of myself, maybe I need a break.”
“I can give you that break,” he chuckled, “all you have to do is hold still and I’ll end all of your pain right here.” They began to circle each other, like two wolves sizing each other up. “Look at you, running around with barely enough blood in your body to keep a normal person alive while lying in bed. Yet you’re dashing about here like you’re in top health. You may just do my job for me.”
“Maybe,” Kaho said.
He then did something that terrified her, freezing her in place. He phased away and reappeared above her, aiming dagger sized energy bolts at her from ten feet up.
“You like my new trick?” He asked with a demented laugh. “I learned it from a very special someone!”
“Fuck…” Kaho murmured as she screamed at her feet to move. They wouldn’t budge and she turned her head up and put everything she had into a shield, waiting for the fiery daggers to crash through and embed themselves into her body.
She felt impact, then a flash blinded her for a moment, causing her to shield her eyes with her arm until it faded.
The first thing that hit her vision was Eriol’s body, about two feet away, laying on the floor, covered in dagger wounds. His eyes were vacant. Not possessed and out of control vacant, but dead vacant, life having left his body.
“Eriol?” Kaho croaked as she took a few steps forward and collapsed to her knees beside him. “Eriol?” She touched his undamaged cheek and pulled away quickly, fingers having brushed against ice cold flesh. Instead of her shield just taking the damage of the daggers, it had ricocheted them back at Eriol, stabbing him to death.
Footsteps echoed through the cavern and she looked up as Fujitaka, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero.
“Is he?” Fujitaka asked.
Kaho swallowed and clamped her eyes shut, tears threatening to fall, “He’s…dead…”
“It’s…over?” The man asked.
“Yes…but, I didn’t want this!” Kaho looked up at him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “I didn’t want to kill him!”
“Shhh, it’s all right,” Fujitaka said as he knelt down next to her. “We know you didn’t. Things like this just happen sometimes.”
“But, I wasn’t even trying…” Kaho stammered. “I don’t understand….”
“It’s okay,” he murmured, placing a hand comfortingly on her arm. “No one’s asking you to understand.” He slipped his hand underneath her arm and began to lift her to her feet. “Come on, we should start getting out of here.”
“I don’t want to leave him here,” Kaho said as she tried to reach for the lifeless young man.
“We have no room for him if we need to fly out,” Fujitaka said as he started to steer her towards the opening in the cavern wall.
This was true, she realized, as they headed for the exit. But she still felt uneasy, like something wasn’t right about the whole situation.
She surveyed the rest of her companions. Kero walked along with his head bowed towards the front, with Sakura right behind him. Tomoyo followed beside her, her hand laced with her friend’s, her camera hanging loosely from her other hand.
Tomoyo wasn’t filming…
“I don’t like this…” Kaho murmured to herself.
“Don’t like what? Eriol dying?” Fujitaka asked. “I’d suppose not, since you weren’t planning on it.”
Kaho looked around again. The other three stared back at them. Kero looked at her blankly, Sakura and Tomoyo doing the same.
Sakura wasn’t crying…
“Come on, what are you waiting for?” Fujitaka asked curiously.
“Something’s…not right…” Kaho said as she halted in her journey towards the exit.
“What do you mean?” Fujitaka asked as he closed the distance between them and wrapped her in his arms. “The demon’s dead, we’re all alive, it’s time to go home.”
Fujitaka didn’t care…
“Come on love, lets go home,” Fujitaka smiled.
The floodgate broke again and Kaho shoved him away.
“What’s wrong Kaho?” Fujitaka asked.
“You’re not real!” She screamed at him. “None of this is real!”
“What are you talking about?” Fujitaka asked.
Kaho didn’t hear him. With Rage flooding her body again, her vision became blurry, but not blurry in a sense that she could not see. In fact, she saw more than when she wasn’t in Rage. The images of Fujitaka, Sakura, Kero, and Tomoyo vanished, leaving behind merely vaporous shadows with voices that echoed of the real thing.
It was all an illusion. A well placed, but poorly study, illusion. Now all she had to do was break it.
Knowing no other way, she flooded the area around her with destructive magic, flaring out white hot rage until she was enclosed in nothing but bleached insanity.
The dome shattered and Kaho bolted back towards the demon who had started to stray towards her companions, chasing him back to the center of the cavern.
“Impressive, I didn’t think you’d be able to break through that illusion,” Eriol smirked. “I had set up what your heart desired most and yet you pushed it away.”
“A demon like you could wouldn’t understand what my heart truly desires,” Kaho hissed as she tore off the remaining bandages and allowed blood to pool into both her hands.
“It seems to be desiring death the way you keep coming back,” the demon’s voice rose in volume, “And now I shall finally give it to you!” He shot an energy beam the thickness of both of his arms at her, but was surprised to find the space she’d been in completely empty when the shot had faded. Looking up, he found Kaho had anticipated his attack and had leapt up and above him.
Her arms were out in attack position, and she fire off a medium sized energy ball as her momentum carried her over the possessed young man. It swirled white and red, blood having mixed in and fanned around her magic.
He easily dodged it and laughed as blood splashed and stained the floor, “So you’ve finally decided to shoot at me have you?”
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” Kaho asked as she landed and shot again, and missed, making another stain on the floor. The demon cackled and danced from one stain to the other, as though flaunting the fact that she’d missed. Kaho fired another swirling ball at him, and this time it landed beyond the young man, landing exactly center, though farther away from the first two shots.
The demon made to rush her, but Kaho shot again, cause him to fall to the side to evade the attack. She tried once more, but again, found herself with another stain on the floor.
He cackled, “Five times woman and yet you still miss! Your aim seems to be as off as your sense!”
“Whoever said I was aiming for you?” Kaho asked with a pant. With a flick of her hand, the glowing points on the floor connected into a pentacle, with Eriol in the center.
“Sneaky bitch,” he hissed.
Kaho merely offered a sympathetic smile before beginning the spell.
*“Immortal darkness that has settled into mortal light
Let go your grasp upon this weary life”
“A release spell…” the demon spat as he tried to move, but he was frozen in place
“Offered in blood for a price to pay
Unbind yourself and stand alone this day”
“I’ll never let him go!” The demon shouted as it tried to resist the pull of the spell
“Through my life I am willing to concede,
And in this sacrifice, bindings release!”
No matter how much resistance the demon put up, it wouldn’t have saved it. The spell tore it harmlessly from Eriol’s body as the pentacle erupted into a concealing column of white light and carried it towards Kaho.
The demon hit her body, and she knew it would have been the understatement of the year if she ever said it had just hurt. No, to say it hurt was too easy, too gentle. It felt like every inch of flesh in her body had just been shredded. But she stood there and took it, and watched out of blurry eyes as Eriol lurched forward, as if to fall, but was caught by a white and black creature. Kaho dimly recognized Spinel as he turned his head and looked at her, nodding his thanks at the final release of his former master. Then, making sure Eriol was securely on his back, he flew off as the concealing magic dissipated, the markings on the floor vanished, and Kaho fell to her knees.
She knelt there panting, somewhere her ears picked up the sound of footfalls as the others in the cavern made their way over. For the moment, the pain was gone and she felt eerily calm, if a little overly exerted and breathless. A touch on both of her shoulders brought her gaze up to Fujitaka’s eyes, and the look she gave him told him everything he didn’t want to know.
“You’re dying,” Fujitaka realized as he knelt in front of her.
She looked up at him with a tired expression, an eerie glow in her eyes, “Yes…”
“Why?” He asked, the hands he had resting on her shoulders tightened their grip.
“You understood the spell,” Kaho gave him a weak smile with pride, “You’re magic grew even in the midst of all of this fighting, and that’s why you could understand it. Do you remember the last two lines? They’re safe to say, since it would be out of order.”
“Through my life I am willing to concede, and in the sacrifice…” he didn’t have to finish to finally understand. “Why?” His voice rasped.
“The spell I used was the augmented version that Spinel gave me,” Kaho said. “Had I used the original, I would have died in the middle of it, not having enough magic to see it through, and the demon still would have been alive.” She looked into his eyes, “I couldn’t let that happen. The augmented version uses my life energy along with whatever remaining magic I had. Had I used only my magic, well, you know that already…. The only way to destroy the demon, was to lock it inside my own body, then let the spell finish me off.”
“So you were willing to throw your life away instead?” Fujitaka asked, his grip on her shoulders becoming even tighter as the seconds ticked by.
“Knowing you and the rest were safe, I didn’t really care about myself,” Kaho said. “Now you need to leave, the cavern will collapse once this part of the spell finishes!”
“I’m not leaving you here,” Fujitaka growled stubbornly.
“There’s nothing you can do!” Kaho said as the breeze around her began to pick up speed, signaling that the climax of the spell was only seconds away.
“I’m not going to let you die here!” Fujitaka said as he pulled her too him, hugging her so tightly it was as if he were trying to keep her alive by his embrace alone. “You can’t die,” his fingers splayed across her back, then dug into the material of her tunic, almost trying to become apart of her, “…I love you…”
OOOO
Don't kill me!!! AHHHH!!!!! *hides behind...* shit...there's nothing to hide behind!
It's not the end yet...I swear!
But I think I've mastered the art of the ultimate cliff hangers XD
Shred please!
Author/Penname: Kainasilversbane (me!)
Rating:PG-13
Chapters: Chapter 16 (WIP)
Pairings: Fujitaka/Kaho centered
Summary: So the fighting finally ends? WHOA!!!!
Warning, Notes: Some blood
Link to previous chapter http://community.livejournal.com/reviewers_inc/20615.html#cutid1
PLEASE READ!!!Before you continue on, I want to point out that I've set a particular part of the chapter to music, which I'm going to make available for the rest of you. Since many of you read at different speeds, I can't give you a set place to turn on the music and hope the affect goes for the whole time. But I can tell you to set your music player, with the song provided at the link below with 3:11 having passed, or 58 seconds remaining, once you hit the incantation (trust me, you'll know when that is, and I'll stick a lil asterisc by it too. XD) and just let it run till it's over. Hopefully, you'll get the mood I'm trying to put across
Music download linkhttp://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=0C7BA288599F1209
Disclaimer: I own zippy. All CCS characters belong to CLAMP, while the lovely music belongs to Hans Zimmer and the Da Vinci Code team. Have fun!
Chapter 16
Fujitaka was finally able to open his eyes as the rocks began to fall, but the rest of his body still wasn’t responding to his wishes. He could feel Kero and Sakura stuck underneath him, but he was limp and couldn’t move to allow them to stand and get away.
The vision he’d had only a few days before flashed through his mind, as it had to Kaho, and he felt panic course through him, but had nowhere to go. The world around him began to slow down and he felt himself exhale as the boulder covered his vision.
Then it turned to dust.
Later he would realize that he had felt a concussion blast through the cave, the resonating power that had just been blown through the whole area, but now he only saw that the rocks were gone, and that, for the moment, he was going to live.
“Dad, get up!” His daughter’s voice snapped him out of his daze.
“Ah!” The man exclaimed as he struggled to untangle himself from Kero’s wings, then rolled over and scrambled to his feet. “What happened?”
Sakura rolled free of her guardian and sat up on her elbows, staring at something, “That,” she started, “might be a good place to start looking.”
He followed his daughter’s gaze and found it settled back on Kaho, but what he saw made him take a few steps back. <~(Ew, hate this sentence, fix it)
There had only been one time that he’d seen the woman truly angry, and that had been two caves back, when Sakura had been doing her task and they were stuck behind the barrier, only able to watch. For a moment he’d watched a spark of rage tint her vision and draw a look of loathing over her face.
Now that look was back again, but at a level he’d never fathomed could exist. The woman’s warm amber gold eyes now glowed a dangerous bronze color, pupils having closed to almost nothing. White magic rippled in the air around her, fanning the air like the heat did on a blazing summers day.
She’d been looking at them, or more specifically, the now disintegrated boulders that were creating dust at their feet. It was extremely unnerving to have her angered gaze situated at them, enough to where it made Sakura scramble to her feet and inch towards her father.
“Kero…what’s wrong with her?” She asked as she held her staff close to her, trying to glean comfort from the smooth, familiar object.
“She’s let her anger take control,” Kerberos answered as he sat back on his haunches.
“So this is what rage looks like,” Fujitaka stared, remembering the conversation he had had with the woman in the car not so very long ago.
“Indeed,” the guardian nodded, “but it’s a very dangerous thing to do.”
“How so?” The man asked. Kaho had told him the basics of what ones anger could do, but she hadn’t gone into any detail. Mostly, she’d just told him to avoid the act at all costs.
“When a magician releases his…or her…anger, it’s usually done in desperation,” Kero began to explain. “It’s usually their last resort, like if they’re dying, or someone they truly care about is about to die.” A satisfied smirk touched his face for a second, then it turned grim again. “Once the anger is released though, a magic user goes into something called Rage. Their conscious mind is clouded and they begin to put everything they have into their attacks and their defenses, not realizing how much, or how little, magic they have left. If they don’t come back to some sort of control shortly after, they usually end up killing themselves after they’ve burned themselves dry, or their Rage finally calms and dissipates. For the most part though, the end result is death.”
Now Fujitaka understood why Kaho had been persistent in her warnings about his anger. With his little experience, his control would be even less, and, if he were ever to fall into a Rage situation, he now realized that’d he’d probably never be able to get himself out of it until it was too late.
With a nervous swallow, trying to get moisture back into his suddenly dry throat, Fujitaka looked back over at the glowing woman.
OOOO
Magic licked and ripped at the white vines that bound her to the wall.
Soon…a venomous voice in the back of her mind said. Soon we will be free to seek bloodshed!!
NO! Her rational mind fought back. You can’t hurt him, we can’t hurt him!
Why not? He’s hurt us for so long, it said.
It had a point, He has…
Yessss, he has hurt us, and hurt many people dear to us!
Yes, he has…she was confused. Did she really want to hurt him? She’d held back for so long…
Give us bloodshed!! Rage demanded. Take our revenge!! It is ours, ripe for harvesting, ours to feast upon!!
Ours…
The vines shredded and fell to the ground and Kaho felt an inhuman growl rumble in her chest and throat as she peered through her bangs towards Eriol.
Kill him!!
Kill? She wondered, was that right? Was it the right thing to do?
Kaho phased behind Eriol and lashed out, trying to catch him with her nails.
“Well now, it seems you’ve finally decided to fight me,” the demon cackled as he turned and slid away from her attack. “Finally tired of running?”
She growled again, then lunged, magic hardened nails slicing at the air close to his face.
“HAH! You’ve finally gone and done it I see!” He laughed. “Finally you have shown me that devastating power you possess, your beautiful Rage! Come now, let me see it work!”
His joy at her state rocked some sense back into her foggy mind.
“What…?” She hesitated a bit and felt her anger singing through every vein in her body. There was no way of stopping it now, not yet. It still demanded bloodshed, lusting for the sight of Eriol’s blood on her hands.
Maybe if I just…scratch him… she wondered. Would it work?
Rage didn’t ask questions. When she finally conceded to attack, it took the initiative and struck out with everything she had. It took every ounce of willpower she possessed just to remind herself that she only wanted a scratch.
Just a scratch…
Rage pumped through her like adrenaline, fueling her when she swore she would have collapsed. She moved so fast that her own vision couldn’t keep up with her, and she wondered how the demon still managed to stay out of her grasp.
Crouching, she made to leap at him, but instead, converted it into a feint, then lashed out with her feet, knocking the demon to the floor. The woman leapt for him, Rage reaching out for his throat instead of merely trying to scratch him.
“My my, you truly are losing your grip aren’t you?” He asked as he sent a bolt of energy straight into her midsection.
Kaho was thrown backwards and landed on the ground some yards away, rolling until she was facing away from him before she was able to stop.
The demon’s footsteps sounded in her ears as she laid there, slowly and silently removing one of the bandages from her arm. It was soaked, and a heavier fabric than that of normal bandaging, and would suit her surprise just to her liking.
“Just going to lay there?” He asked as he got closer to her.
Lightning fast, Kaho spun around from where she lay and whipped the folded bandaging out, smacking him loudly on the right side of his face. She gave a satisfied smirk as she watched him pitch to the side, then, before he got his bearings back, she struck again, right hand lashing out and digging one of her nails into his right cheek and ripping sideways. It left a long scratch from the side of his nose, all the way the way down to the back of his jaw.
Both leapt away from each other, the demon to collect its wits, while Kaho peered at the blood that coated her fingernails.
“You fight dirty,” the right side of his face was red and swollen, with blood dripping from the deep scratch, giving him what looked like a comical appearance, if it weren’t for the deadly glow to his eyes.
Kaho glared over at him as her mind battled with Rage. It wanted to lick the blood from her fingers, while her rational mind wanted to wipe it away and try and forget it ever happened.
Rage won.
“Only as dirty as the thing I’m fighting,” she murmured has her tongue snaked out and licked the blood from her fingertips.
Now Rage was satisfied, for the moment, and Kaho bound the emotion up and stored it away again, behind her mental, but brittle barriers. She felt tired and her vision cleared for a moment, only to blur again as her eyes stung with uninvited tears. Her stomach insisted on ridding itself of its contents, and she had to swallow several times before she had that part of herself under control again. The taste of Eriol’s blood still lingered in her mouth, making it all that much harder to tell her roiling stomach to behave itself.
He lashed out at her and Kaho stumbled away. She was dangerously low on magic now, all of it having been used to enhance her speed while she’d fought hand to hand with him. It was far from her strong point, and forcing her body to do so had run it ragged.
“You’ve slowed Kaho,” he laughed, “This troubles Eriol greatly. Normally you’re quicker than he is.”
Kaho smirked as she panted lightly, ideas forming in her head, “Guess I’m not taking good care of myself, maybe I need a break.”
“I can give you that break,” he chuckled, “all you have to do is hold still and I’ll end all of your pain right here.” They began to circle each other, like two wolves sizing each other up. “Look at you, running around with barely enough blood in your body to keep a normal person alive while lying in bed. Yet you’re dashing about here like you’re in top health. You may just do my job for me.”
“Maybe,” Kaho said.
He then did something that terrified her, freezing her in place. He phased away and reappeared above her, aiming dagger sized energy bolts at her from ten feet up.
“You like my new trick?” He asked with a demented laugh. “I learned it from a very special someone!”
“Fuck…” Kaho murmured as she screamed at her feet to move. They wouldn’t budge and she turned her head up and put everything she had into a shield, waiting for the fiery daggers to crash through and embed themselves into her body.
She felt impact, then a flash blinded her for a moment, causing her to shield her eyes with her arm until it faded.
The first thing that hit her vision was Eriol’s body, about two feet away, laying on the floor, covered in dagger wounds. His eyes were vacant. Not possessed and out of control vacant, but dead vacant, life having left his body.
“Eriol?” Kaho croaked as she took a few steps forward and collapsed to her knees beside him. “Eriol?” She touched his undamaged cheek and pulled away quickly, fingers having brushed against ice cold flesh. Instead of her shield just taking the damage of the daggers, it had ricocheted them back at Eriol, stabbing him to death.
Footsteps echoed through the cavern and she looked up as Fujitaka, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero.
“Is he?” Fujitaka asked.
Kaho swallowed and clamped her eyes shut, tears threatening to fall, “He’s…dead…”
“It’s…over?” The man asked.
“Yes…but, I didn’t want this!” Kaho looked up at him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “I didn’t want to kill him!”
“Shhh, it’s all right,” Fujitaka said as he knelt down next to her. “We know you didn’t. Things like this just happen sometimes.”
“But, I wasn’t even trying…” Kaho stammered. “I don’t understand….”
“It’s okay,” he murmured, placing a hand comfortingly on her arm. “No one’s asking you to understand.” He slipped his hand underneath her arm and began to lift her to her feet. “Come on, we should start getting out of here.”
“I don’t want to leave him here,” Kaho said as she tried to reach for the lifeless young man.
“We have no room for him if we need to fly out,” Fujitaka said as he started to steer her towards the opening in the cavern wall.
This was true, she realized, as they headed for the exit. But she still felt uneasy, like something wasn’t right about the whole situation.
She surveyed the rest of her companions. Kero walked along with his head bowed towards the front, with Sakura right behind him. Tomoyo followed beside her, her hand laced with her friend’s, her camera hanging loosely from her other hand.
Tomoyo wasn’t filming…
“I don’t like this…” Kaho murmured to herself.
“Don’t like what? Eriol dying?” Fujitaka asked. “I’d suppose not, since you weren’t planning on it.”
Kaho looked around again. The other three stared back at them. Kero looked at her blankly, Sakura and Tomoyo doing the same.
Sakura wasn’t crying…
“Come on, what are you waiting for?” Fujitaka asked curiously.
“Something’s…not right…” Kaho said as she halted in her journey towards the exit.
“What do you mean?” Fujitaka asked as he closed the distance between them and wrapped her in his arms. “The demon’s dead, we’re all alive, it’s time to go home.”
Fujitaka didn’t care…
“Come on love, lets go home,” Fujitaka smiled.
The floodgate broke again and Kaho shoved him away.
“What’s wrong Kaho?” Fujitaka asked.
“You’re not real!” She screamed at him. “None of this is real!”
“What are you talking about?” Fujitaka asked.
Kaho didn’t hear him. With Rage flooding her body again, her vision became blurry, but not blurry in a sense that she could not see. In fact, she saw more than when she wasn’t in Rage. The images of Fujitaka, Sakura, Kero, and Tomoyo vanished, leaving behind merely vaporous shadows with voices that echoed of the real thing.
It was all an illusion. A well placed, but poorly study, illusion. Now all she had to do was break it.
Knowing no other way, she flooded the area around her with destructive magic, flaring out white hot rage until she was enclosed in nothing but bleached insanity.
The dome shattered and Kaho bolted back towards the demon who had started to stray towards her companions, chasing him back to the center of the cavern.
“Impressive, I didn’t think you’d be able to break through that illusion,” Eriol smirked. “I had set up what your heart desired most and yet you pushed it away.”
“A demon like you could wouldn’t understand what my heart truly desires,” Kaho hissed as she tore off the remaining bandages and allowed blood to pool into both her hands.
“It seems to be desiring death the way you keep coming back,” the demon’s voice rose in volume, “And now I shall finally give it to you!” He shot an energy beam the thickness of both of his arms at her, but was surprised to find the space she’d been in completely empty when the shot had faded. Looking up, he found Kaho had anticipated his attack and had leapt up and above him.
Her arms were out in attack position, and she fire off a medium sized energy ball as her momentum carried her over the possessed young man. It swirled white and red, blood having mixed in and fanned around her magic.
He easily dodged it and laughed as blood splashed and stained the floor, “So you’ve finally decided to shoot at me have you?”
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” Kaho asked as she landed and shot again, and missed, making another stain on the floor. The demon cackled and danced from one stain to the other, as though flaunting the fact that she’d missed. Kaho fired another swirling ball at him, and this time it landed beyond the young man, landing exactly center, though farther away from the first two shots.
The demon made to rush her, but Kaho shot again, cause him to fall to the side to evade the attack. She tried once more, but again, found herself with another stain on the floor.
He cackled, “Five times woman and yet you still miss! Your aim seems to be as off as your sense!”
“Whoever said I was aiming for you?” Kaho asked with a pant. With a flick of her hand, the glowing points on the floor connected into a pentacle, with Eriol in the center.
“Sneaky bitch,” he hissed.
Kaho merely offered a sympathetic smile before beginning the spell.
*“Immortal darkness that has settled into mortal light
Let go your grasp upon this weary life”
“A release spell…” the demon spat as he tried to move, but he was frozen in place
“Offered in blood for a price to pay
Unbind yourself and stand alone this day”
“I’ll never let him go!” The demon shouted as it tried to resist the pull of the spell
“Through my life I am willing to concede,
And in this sacrifice, bindings release!”
No matter how much resistance the demon put up, it wouldn’t have saved it. The spell tore it harmlessly from Eriol’s body as the pentacle erupted into a concealing column of white light and carried it towards Kaho.
The demon hit her body, and she knew it would have been the understatement of the year if she ever said it had just hurt. No, to say it hurt was too easy, too gentle. It felt like every inch of flesh in her body had just been shredded. But she stood there and took it, and watched out of blurry eyes as Eriol lurched forward, as if to fall, but was caught by a white and black creature. Kaho dimly recognized Spinel as he turned his head and looked at her, nodding his thanks at the final release of his former master. Then, making sure Eriol was securely on his back, he flew off as the concealing magic dissipated, the markings on the floor vanished, and Kaho fell to her knees.
She knelt there panting, somewhere her ears picked up the sound of footfalls as the others in the cavern made their way over. For the moment, the pain was gone and she felt eerily calm, if a little overly exerted and breathless. A touch on both of her shoulders brought her gaze up to Fujitaka’s eyes, and the look she gave him told him everything he didn’t want to know.
“You’re dying,” Fujitaka realized as he knelt in front of her.
She looked up at him with a tired expression, an eerie glow in her eyes, “Yes…”
“Why?” He asked, the hands he had resting on her shoulders tightened their grip.
“You understood the spell,” Kaho gave him a weak smile with pride, “You’re magic grew even in the midst of all of this fighting, and that’s why you could understand it. Do you remember the last two lines? They’re safe to say, since it would be out of order.”
“Through my life I am willing to concede, and in the sacrifice…” he didn’t have to finish to finally understand. “Why?” His voice rasped.
“The spell I used was the augmented version that Spinel gave me,” Kaho said. “Had I used the original, I would have died in the middle of it, not having enough magic to see it through, and the demon still would have been alive.” She looked into his eyes, “I couldn’t let that happen. The augmented version uses my life energy along with whatever remaining magic I had. Had I used only my magic, well, you know that already…. The only way to destroy the demon, was to lock it inside my own body, then let the spell finish me off.”
“So you were willing to throw your life away instead?” Fujitaka asked, his grip on her shoulders becoming even tighter as the seconds ticked by.
“Knowing you and the rest were safe, I didn’t really care about myself,” Kaho said. “Now you need to leave, the cavern will collapse once this part of the spell finishes!”
“I’m not leaving you here,” Fujitaka growled stubbornly.
“There’s nothing you can do!” Kaho said as the breeze around her began to pick up speed, signaling that the climax of the spell was only seconds away.
“I’m not going to let you die here!” Fujitaka said as he pulled her too him, hugging her so tightly it was as if he were trying to keep her alive by his embrace alone. “You can’t die,” his fingers splayed across her back, then dug into the material of her tunic, almost trying to become apart of her, “…I love you…”
OOOO
Don't kill me!!! AHHHH!!!!! *hides behind...* shit...there's nothing to hide behind!
It's not the end yet...I swear!
But I think I've mastered the art of the ultimate cliff hangers XD
Shred please!