Author’s Note (A/N): Alright, so I’m back to my old pace. Anyhow, this is a nice chapter. I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoy reading. Have fun.
Sakura ventures to rejoin the rulers with Lloyd, who claims that there’s something important to tell Shadow. Elaine somehow unbrainwashes Tyrell and Matriana and they all run back to Shadow.
(From the last chapter)
“Shadow, we have a problem. I remember where I’ve heard Abner’s name before and it’s not good. You see he’s…”
“Right here!” came Abner’s voice as he appeared in front of them.
“Abner! Get away! You’re not getting Sakura!” Lloyd yelled, absorbing Lightning energy and preparing to unleash it on Abner.
by Shadowpheonix
Abner flew into the air, surrounded in a bubble of potent energy. “You don’t stand a chance!” he yelled as he descended near Sakura.
“Leave her alone!” Sigma yelled, throwing a large, Earth energy wrought axe at Abner. The axe collided with him in midair, shattering into tiny pieces before his energy bubble. “No…”
“Nice try!” Abner laughed, landing a foot away from Sakura after blasting Sigma ten feet back. “Come with me, Sakura!”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Shadow said, raising his staff and transforming it into The Sword. “She stays here.” Shadow slashed downwards with his sword and a line of Dark energy appeared from it, cutting through Abner’s shield and striking him, sending him flying a few feet away.
“How?” Abner asked furiously. “Nothing can cut this shield!”
“The strength of the Sword depends on the will of its user. To protect Sakura, this sword can do anything,” Shadow said, approaching Altarrin.
“Yes, perhaps it can,” came a voice from behind Shadow. “But will you use it against me?”
Shadow turned around to see Li standing in front of him, holding in his hands his lightning parchment and sword. “You can’t hurt me, Li Syaoran, and you know I won’t hurt you. Take Sakura, if you’d like.”
Li grinned evilly before turning from Shadow and walking up to Sakura. “Come, Sakura. Altarrin is waiting for you!”
“Li, you can’t do this to me. You can’t hurt me! Li, please, remember everything we’ve been through. You’ve always been there for me! Why would you stop now?”
Li stopped inches away from Sakura, and convulsed violently. “Sa… Sakura…”
“Li… come on, you can beat what’s holding you. I’ll help you, like you helped me against Erase. We can do this together,” Sakura said pleadingly.
“Sa… Sakura… I… I can’t…”
Li brought his sword up to Sakura, tensing, and ready to strike. “Li, listen to me!” Shadow yelled. “Would you do this to Sakura? Would you bare your blade to her, but not your heart? Do you realize what you’re about to do? Remember who you are; remember who she is!”
At this, Li gave out a terrible scream and fell to his knees, sobbing. “Sakura… I almost… I…”
Sakura walked over to Li, holding him and helping him up. “It’s ok. You didn’t mean it,” she said comfortingly.
“Altarrin, show yourself, you coward! You’ve lost, and you know it. There’s nothing that you can do now!” Shadow yelled, waiting for Altarrin to appear.
“You’re too late!” Abner yelled from behind Shadow, holding a blade up to Sakura’s throat. “One step closer and Sakura dies. You do care about that, don’t you?”
Shadow turned to face Abner, staring at him with hatred. “You’re a coward. Sakura, there’s nothing you can’t do. You have to defeat him. I can do nothing now,” Shadow said, relaxing and walking over to Li. “Good luck, Sakura.”
“That’s it? You’re just going to leave her? You can’t do anything?” Li asked frantically.
“What’s there left to do? Look around you, Abner laid waste to all of the rulers,” Shadow said, motioning to all the other rulers, lying unconscious on the ground. “And at the moment, he has a sword to Sakura’s throat. There’s nothing I can do about this. You know there’s nothing anyone can do.”
“No… I can’t lose her again. Not after I almost… No… There has to be something I can do!” Li yelled.
“Well, if you wanted to do something, it’s too late now. Abner’s taken Sakura already, unless he’s still hiding somewhere. Li, I know how hard this is for you, but you have to deal with it. I’m sure Sakura will be ok.”
“You don’t understand! She can’t die now. Not after what we just went through. She can’t…”
“I understand. I understand better than you’d think,” Shadow said, suddenly looking very grim. “Let’s go. We should wake up the other rulers. Then, we’ll just have to put our faith in Sakura. She will find a way out. She’ll be ok… no matter what.”
Shadow paced back and forth in his castle, waiting for the other rulers to awaken. “Sigma, you’re awake. Are you alright?”
“Where… Where’s Sakura?”
“She was taken by Abner. I couldn’t do anything about it. Come, help me wake the others. You’ve got a way with herbs, right?”
“No… Abner… I still can’t believe it,” Sigma said.
“Shadow, tell me what happened. When did Abner turn on us?”
“It’ll be better if we all tell you, seeing as you’d probably like the whole story. I’ll tell you when we get everyone awake.”
Sigma walked into the kitchen, looking for his bag of herbs. A little while later, he returned with a pot of slimy liquid. “This should help their wounds. After this, I’ll see if I can make something to wake them up, but I don’t think they’ll appreciate it,” Sigma said, walking over to each of the rulers and applying the slimy slave.
“If it tastes that bad, I suggest you just let them rest. If you can provide us with something that tastes acceptable, then we’ll work with that,” Shadow said. “Unless there’s someone here that you really dislike.”
“Very funny. Here, help me with some of them,” Sigma said, handing Shadow some salve in a separate bowl.
A few moments later, they finished and sat around to talk for a while. “Shadow, let me know what happened,” Li said.
“Fine, I’ll go over everything. If I leave anything out, Sigma, fill in for me.”
“Alright.”
“Sakura came running back with Lloyd. Lloyd had something he needed to tell me, so he started talking about Abner. At first, I was a bit confused, but before he finished telling me, Abner jumped in. He talked about the war, about twelve to thirteen years ago. Well, he talked about the last battle, and how… how he killed Sigma’s fiancée. It seems he’s been out to get us for a while. Anyhow, Sigma attacked and was thrown back a few feet while everyone else, including myself, was still trying to figure out what was happening. When we all decided to jump in, Abner was ready. He put this weird bubble of energy around himself… and all of us just bounced off of it. Lloyd took the worst hit, and flew back some ways, ending up unconscious.”
“We can’t attack him head on, there has to be some other way!” Shadow said, staring at the other rulers.
Abner laughed maliciously. “There’s nothing you can do to penetrate this shield! I’ve spent years developing it and its impregnable!” An intoxicating aura surrounded Abner and forced its way outwards, engulfing each of the rulers. “You don’t stand a chance!”
All the rulers started slipping backwards, pushed by the aura, except for Shadow and Sigma. “Sigma, we’re the strongest two in this Realm. We have to do something if we want to save everyone!”
Sigma put up a strong energy shield around himself and trudged against Abner’s waves of power, pressing closer to him. Shadow stood in front of Sigma, helping to block some of the energy coming at them and sending Dark magic at Abner.
“You have no hope of winning! I will crush you all!” Abner said, amplifying the waves and hurling them at the rulers.
“We will win. There’s nothing you can do to stop us!” Shadow said, charging at Abner.
“Fool,” Abner said quietly before jumping into the air and sending wave after wave of energy down at Shadow.
Shadow dodged and jumped up after Abner, releasing his staff and calling on Arrow. “Arrow, take him down!”
Arrow, infused with Dark energy, sent a flood of Dark energy arrows at Abner, striking and piercing him.
“Ow, that hurts!” Abner said in mock pain, taking Arrow’s shots head on. “I told you before, you can’t win. This shield of mine is impenetrable!”
“There is nothing that can’t be done if you put your heart and mind to it,” Sigma yelled, forming a large axe and swinging it at Abner. The axe collided with Abner’s shield and stuck for a few seconds before bursting into tiny fragments of Earth energy.
Abner laughed malignantly, launching a concentrated wave of energy at Sigma and sending him flying back. “’There is nothing that can’t be done,’” Abner said mockingly.
“Stop! You can’t do this!” Elaine yelled, stepping into the fray.
“Elaine, get out of here!” Abner said, motioning for Elaine to step aside.
“No, father, I won’t let you hurt them. You can’t do this to everyone. I know there has to be something in you, something left of the kind father that I remember. I remember you, years ago, building for me a swing set, through wind and rain, just because you knew how much I wanted it. How could you turn like this? What happened to the kindness you once knew?”
“I told you to go home. You are deliberately disobeying my orders!” Abner yelled. “Leave!”
“I will not leave. Not unless you come with me. Please, father, please come with me. Leave these people alone. We can spend the rest of our lives together in peace. Please!” Elaine yelled, walking towards Abner: walking towards her father.
“The father you once knew is gone. You will either obey my orders, or perish with these fools that have challenged me. Go home, and I will spare your life,” Abner yelled, completely unaffected by his daughters words.
“If you would… If… If you would kill your own daughter, then here I stand, ready to die. My only hope is that in doing so, you will realize what you’ve done wrong. Please, father, please come home with me. Whether in life or in death, it does not matter,” Elaine said, tears streaming from her eyes.
“If you will not listen, then you are no longer my daughter! You will die with these other fools!” Abner yelled, sending a torrent of energy at Elaine. Elaine flew, screaming through the air and landed unconscious next to Candice.
“Elaine, are you… alright?” Candice said, struggling to speak against the strain of using Fire magic in this Realm.
“Candice, you can’t keep this up. You have to retreat,” Matriana said, having less difficulty than Candice.
“No, I will stay here and fight. I will not give up before he does!” Candice said, shooting a look at Shadow.
“Candice, this is no time to let petty rivalries like this cloud your judgement! You know that it’s difficult for you to use magic here. Look, Eriol and Solana have already passed out and we had to move them back a bit so Abner’s magic wouldn’t kill them. You can’t just sit here!” Matriana said, urging Candice to retreat.
“Fine, I’ll go. Help me… help me…” Candice said weakly, taking Elaine’s hand and collapsing on top of her.
“Candice!” Matriana yelled, shaking her. “Candice, get up! You’ve got to get back!”
“Matriana, we’ll have to take her back,” Tyrell said. “She’s gone for now. Let’s go.”
“Ok. If only she’d listened a little bit earlier. Shadow! We’re leaving this to you and Sigma. Tyrell and I are taking Candice and Elaine back, we need some shelter for a while!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Abner yelled, charging at Matriana.
“Look out!”
“I will destroy you all!” Abner yelled, drawing from its sheath a gleaming blue sword and slicing at Matriana.
Matriana ducked just in time but a weird pulsing energy from the sword knocked both her and Tyrell unconscious, leaving them open to Tyrell’s attack.
“You’re dead now!” Abner yelled, bringing his sword down on Matriana.
“Shield!” Shadow cried, using the Shield Card moments before Abner’s sword hit.
“You again! Fine, you will go first!”
“Sword!” Shadow yelled, transforming his staff into a dark pointed blade. “No one’s going anywhere!”
Abner charged at Shadow, slicing at him in different formations. Shadow dodged each of Abner’s strikes, each one closer than the last. Finally, he raised his own sword and cut through Abner’s blade, turning and holding his sword up to Abner’s throat.
“Very nicely done, Shadow, but you’re forgetting something. This shield around me, it’s still impenetrable!”
“Not now it isn’t!” Shadow said, slashing downwards with his sword.
Abner dodged, jumping into the air and going straight for Sakura. “You don’t stand a chance!” he said.
“Leave her alone!” Sigma yelled, tossing a giant glowing axe at Abner.
“And then he tried to take Sakura, but I stopped him, cutting through that shield of his with Sword. After that, you came along. While I was busy with you, I let down my guard and… well, it’s my fault that Sakura was caught. But by now there’s nothing left to do but wait. Sakura will make it through. I’m sure of it,” Shadow said, finishing his story of what happened.
Li remained speechless for a while, staring off into the distance beyond Shadow rather than at him. “No… it’s my fault. If I hadn’t been weak enough… weak enough to let Altarrin capture me like that, you wouldn’t have been distracted by me, and Abner couldn’t have gotten near her. I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is!” Tyrell said, getting up. “What’s important now is that Sakura’s obviously captured again. So, what’s the plan?”
“We sit and wait. Sakura has to do this alone. We can’t change anything now,” Shadow replied.
“You mean to tell me that you’re leaving the fate of the Realms up to Sakura, some girl we all barely know? Are you crazy? Sure, the Prophecies claim that she’ll do fine, but why not help the Prophecies along a bit?”
“Have some faith, Tyrell!” Sigma cried. “Besides, she’s proven to be pretty tough in the past. She’s survived Altarrin’s tortures and even defeated him, if what Shadow says is true. Shadow, did you ever find out how she did that?”
“No, but I’m guessing she used one of the new cards that she recently found, thus fulfilling the first part of the Prophecy completely. The second part may or may not be actually fulfilled, and the third part… I think she’s done that already. As for the fourth…”
“Well, she’s fought Altarrin, right? Then she’s fulfilled that part as well!” Candice said, also getting up.
“You people should really warn us when you get up,” Sigma said, having jumped into the air both when Tyrell jumped into the conversation and now as Candice joined in.
“Sorry, we’ll let you know next time,” Candice replied. “Shadow, seeing as this is your castle, how ’bout some hospitality? Food, a warm fire… all of these would be very nice.”
“In a minute. As for her fighting Altarrin, isn’t anyone else beginning to have doubts? Do you all truly believe that he made the Spirits?” Shadow replied.
“Well, yes, but who else could it be?” Tyrell asked.
“Think about it. Sakura beat Altarrin, or may as well have. Do you really think that someone who summoned the Spirits a few years ago could be beaten so easily? I believe in Sakura, I truly do, but as strong as the power I felt from her earlier was, it wasn’t strong enough to contend with someone who could control the Spirits. Even Abner’s power was stronger than it. Speaking of whom, what about Abner? If Altarrin’s the Spiritmaker, why would Abner go after him and to get Sakura?”
“You have a point. Abner did control me to get at Sakura, but…” Matriana said, startling Sigma again.
“Ok, that’s it. Shadow, move over, I’m sitting on that side so I can watch as everyone wakes up,” Sigma said, moving next to Shadow.
“But…?” Shadow asked, urging Matriana to continue.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to me that Abner could have been controlling me. We’re all rulers, and thus we’re all about equal in strength. True, some of us have more strength in some Realms, but Abner, in the Dark Realm, couldn’t have possibly controlled me. Besides that, he seems to have tapped into some kind of energy. It almost felt like… well, like the Golden Sphere we worked with during the war, though a little different.”
“Wait, what are we talking about all of a sudden? Abner’s got a new power source?” Solana said, jumping in.
“Yes, and Eriol, Lloyd, you may as well talk, you’ve been awake the entire time, just listening to our conversation,” Shadow said, staring at Eriol.
“I’ve got nothing to say at the moment. I’ll let you know if I have any ideas,” Eriol replied while Lloyd remained silent, staring off into the distance.
“Fine, but, like Matriana was saying, Abner couldn’t have done all of this on his own. The point I was getting to is quite simply, what if there’s something more to this? What if there’s someone even stronger, the true Spiritmaker, the true Summoner and all of these people we’ve been dealing with are just his pawns?”
“Well, that can’t be either, because Abner went after Altarrin. Perhaps it’s something like that though,” Solana said, getting up and stretching. “Can we continue this over dinner or something? I’m very hungry again.”
“Alright, dinner it is. It’s nearly eight at night anyways. You still remember where all your rooms are, right?”
“Yes, we do,” the others said in unison.
“Alright, get yourselves seated wherever and I’ll bring you some food. The dining room’s a mess with the broken ceiling there. I’ll have to fix the castle soon as well,” Shadow said, muttering to himself as he walked off to the kitchen. (A/N: just making a random comment: the kitchen’s still in tact! I guess the monsters were decent enough to leave them with food…)
“Sigma, how’s everything going?” Solana asked.
“I’m fine. Why?”
“Oh, you know… what… what Abner said and all… I just… just wanted to know if you were… dealing with it well. Are you sure you’re ok?”
“I figure what’s done is done. I’ll get my revenge on Abner when I get a chance. She’s dead either way, and this way, I’ll get to get revenge, or at least feel like I am, twice. Thanks for worrying. It’s very sweet of you,” Sigma said.
Solana blushed furiously, though no one noticed in the dark room. “Your welcome,” she said sheepishly before turning away.
“Hey, we should probably wake Elaine. She took a pretty hard hit: both emotionally and physically,” Tyrell said, walking over to the sleeping girl.
A while later, Elaine groaned awake and took notice of where she was. “Where… where’s my father?”
“He… he left with Sakura. Elaine… I’m sorry that you have to go through all of this,” Tyrell said comfortingly. “I just want you to know that all of us are here for you if you ever need it.”
“Thank you, but… I just can’t believe it. My father… he was always… always so kind. Then one day, I don’t remember when, he just changed. He didn’t seem to have time for fun and games with me anymore, and anytime I asked, he would just tell me that I was getting too old to play. He put me on all of these different training courses and forced me to get stronger quickly. It was hard, especially since he seemed so distant. But… even then, it seemed like he still loved me. I don’t know…” Elaine said, trailing off into tears.
Candice walked over to Elaine and put an arm around her. “I know it’s not the same, Elaine, but… I lost my father at a young age as well. He died in a small conflict that we had in the Fire Realm a while ago. My father, he was the guy in charge of all the troops, and he would always fight with his fellow warriors. I was about your age then, and father pushed me to be better than all the other children. He would always tell me that there was a spark in me: a spark of energy that no one else had. When the conflict started, he told me that he was going away for a while, and that I should stay with my mother, at home and safe. I did as I was told and waited day after day for him to return, gaining more strength everyday and working to impress him when he did.”
“What was the matter with the Realm?” Solana asked, interrupting Candice.
“The ruler was sick and didn’t have any heirs. The normal, classic tale, I suppose. Though he did have a son. But, on his deathbed, he quite clearly told everyone that was there, my father included, that he didn’t want his son as the next ruler. He said that his son was too immature and that so much power in his hands would lead to destruction. When he died, the quarrel began. His son wanted to inherit the throne despite his father’s wishes. Some were loyal to the old ruler while others were loyal to the son. My dad fought for the ruler’s wishes, keeping his son from inheriting the throne. Anyhow, the conflict lasted a year or two, and my father returned home twice a year to bring us news. Every time he saw me he told me how impressed he was that I had gotten so much stronger.
“During the last year, my father died. His side won the battle and a council was assembled to decide the next ruler. They had a competition to see who was the most mature and powerful amongst the people. There were tests of knowledge, of wisdom, and of power. My mother asked me to try out, insisting it was what my father would have wanted and I became the next ruler,” Candice finished, looking a little grim from her memories.
“Thank you, Candice. I… Can I have some time alone please?” Elaine asked.
“Sure. Do you remember where your room is?” Solana asked, offering to help.
“Thank you. I’ll manage,” Elaine replied as she walked away and found her way up to her room.
The rulers were quiet for some time, not really sure of what to say to lighten the mood. “Candice, come here for a second. Can you light this candle for us? The room’s getting really dark,” Sigma asked, trying to get Candice’s mind off of her father.
“Sure, give me a second.”
A moment later, the candle in the middle of the small coffee table sprang to life, casting shifty shadows on the rulers’ faces. “Well, that’s better. Thanks, Candice.”
“No problem. I wonder though: if Abner’s also after Sakura, who else is?” Candice replied, returning to her cheery mood.
“Well, I don’t know who to trust anymore. I suppose I never did. I was always the paranoid one. But thirteen years of peace can really make you forget about danger. Sure, I jumped at Li and his friends as soon as they entered my Realm, but that was the first sign of anything odd happening in any of the Realms since the war. I think I may have let my guard slip a bit,” Sigma said.
“Well, personally I don’t think we should trust Shadow. I mean, look at his name… have you ever seen a more shady character?” Candice said, laughing at her own pun.
“Haha, very funny,” Shadow said, coming out of the kitchen. “I suppose you just won’t be having food then, seeing as I’ve probably poisoned it. I’ll give Sigma here your share.”
“Hey, I was just kidding!” Candice yelled, crossing her arms indignantly.
Shadow walked past her, purposely showing her the food he had prepared to make her mouth water before moving on and serving everyone else. “Oh, would you look at that. I don’t even have an extra share to give Sigma. Oops, I suppose you’ll have to go without dinner,” Shadow said, smirking in the darkness.
“Not funny, now give me my food!” Candice yelled, pulling Fire energy from its Sphere despite the strain.
“Calm down, no need to pass out again from embracing you wonderful Sphere of energy. Here’s your food,” Shadow said, pushing what everyone thought was his share to Candice.
“What about you?” Solana asked.
“I ate a while ago, while you were all still asleep. Li ate then too, but you can have some more if you’re hungry.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine. I think… I think I’ll go on to bed now. Umm, don’t you have any lights you can turn on, Shadow?”
“Yes, but they require some fixing. The candles should mostly be lit in your wing of the building. Good night. Don’t worry too much,” Shadow said as Li walked up the stairs to his room.
The other rulers finished their meal and thanked Shadow before going up to their wing of the building for sleep. Eriol finished last and walked up to Shadow, staring him in the eye.
“They can trust you. I know who you are,” Eriol said before going on to bed.
“Good. I expected you to be the first to figure it out, though you don’t quite know everything, Eriol Hiiragizawa,” Shadow said aloud to himself in the dark.
Shadow walked up to Li’s room, checking to see if he was asleep before going deeper into the castle to his own little room. In the middle of this room sat a small table and a bed lay against the wall. “Sakura…” he said, before collapsing on his bed and staring up at the dark ceiling. Shadow turned to the small table and stared at a picture of a young girl, maybe twelve to thirteen years old, with auburn hair, done in two tiny pigtails with gleaming red beads. Next to this picture lay a dusty sword with a bright red gem in the center of its golden hilt. Small, red tassels dangled off the edge of the table from the sword, and two black beads lay attached to these.
“Sakura…”
Well, there’s another chapter for you. I hope you guys can figure out who Shadow is soon. This chapter should really help. Anyhow, I’m not going to tell you what to remember. The challenge is in one of the other chapters. You’ll find it if you look hard enough. The next chapter plans to be finished in another 5 days or so. Good luck with the challenge!