Akatsuki - Chapter Eighteen
Title: Akatsuki
Genre: AU/Fantasy
Rating : PG-13
Disclaimer: I made the poster from images I got from flickr, heavily influenced by an original, final fantasy/kingdom hearts/legend of Mana but the plot and characterization are my own hard work. The Idols are Johhnys but because they've engraved an irreplaceable position in my heart so I based my characters on them and yeah used their names...the end.
Summary: Two nations on the brink of war. A young King on a mission. Two brothers on a quest to preserve their ties. The bonds of friendship are pitted against the greed for power but the hidden strength lying dormant within the confines of a fragile heart has the ability to throw all asunder.
Chapter Eighteen - A Battle on the Planes
“Where is Hikaru-kun? He’s been gone for a while,”
“This fog is getting worse; do you think we should turn back for now?”
Yuto sighed thoughtfully, frowning as he realized that even if they did turn back, the fog was too thick and laying heavily on all sides. They might end up getting lost anyway.
“Yuya-kun?”
The lanky boy looked up at him, giving him a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry your highness, Hikaru’s a scout, he’s got a good set of ears and a keen sense of direction, he’ll be back soon,”
“But this fog…,”
“It’s nothing, I can still see for about a mile radius from where we stand, we’ll get you out of this safe I assure you,”
“That’s… incredible,” Yuto commented, earnestly meaning it. He blinked as he felt Yuya frown.
“Kou, stay close to the prince!” he said suddenly, voice laced with caution. Yuto’s eyes widened at the use of his guardian’s nickname by the hunter. He looked down as Kouta held his horse’s reins and drew his sword. Yuto reached for Keito as he and Aoi maneuvered their steeds closer to his.
“What is it?” Yuto whispered to Kouta who shook his head, eyes upon the hunter.
“Aoi what are you doing?” Keito hissed as the girl dismounted. She gave him a shot apologetic bow before placing herself a little behind Yuya, putting on her glasses and withdrawing a dagger.
“Everyone quiet!” Yuya warned, and Yuto felt his breath catch in his chest. They waited in complete silence for what seemed like an hour until the sound of a twig being snapped in half made them all jump.
Yuto felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard a low hiss and the sound of something sliding over gravel.
“We’re surrounded,” Yuya spoke in a low voice. Aoi looked at him with wide eyes.
“There’s more than one?” she gasped.
“No, it’s only one…but it has us surrounded,”
Aoi frowned. She looked at Keito anxiously and then back at Yuya with determination.
“What is it?”
The horses began to get restless despite their masters’ attempts to soothe them.
“Your Highness, Your Lordship, please dismount your steeds,” Yuya spoke and the boys followed, Yuto immediately grabbing Keito in a death grip.
“It’s surrounding us,” Yuya added with a scowl. Kouta made signs with his hands that Yuto couldn’t comprehend but by the looks of it both Aoi and Yuya had gotten it as the girl blanched and Yuya nodded gravely.
“We need a fire,” Yuya muttered and Yuto felt his knees wobble as the surroundings became darker, as if a great shadow was looming over them from all sides.
“Leave that to me,” Aoi replied. She clapped her hands twice and threw them in the air and Yuto yelped as the air around them exploded, giving rise to a wall of fire that enclosed them within itself. The horses went berserk, successfully pulling out of their masters’ grip and galloping through the flames and out of sight.
They could hear hissing and spitting sounds and Yuya smiled in triumph as he realized that the flames were driving the creature back…for now.
“She’s a mage,” Keito said in response to Yuto’s shocked look.
“Be prepared it will strike again,” Yuya warned, raising his blade.
And he was right. As the flames began to reside, Yuto saw to his horror the body of a giant serpent and (he gulped) it’s many heads.
Aoi casted her second enchantment and Yuto found Keito and himself trapped in a glass-like dome.
“Aoi!” Keito shouted but the two could do nothing but watch as the remaining trio dodged the attacking heads and striking when there was an opening. It was getting harder, even with Aoi and her fire spells, Yuya and Kouta’s exemplary sword play the serpent was relentless. No matter how many heads Yuya managed to slice off with his sword, there were countless others now savagely attacking from all directions.
“Yuya-san!” Aoi shouted over the burst of her flames as the boy dodged an attack but tripped over a log. Kouta rushed to her side and struck a head aiming for her from behind. Yuto cowered as two heads relentlessly tried to reach him through Aoi’s shield despite being electrocuted every time they struck it.
“I’m trying to listen for its heart, we need to find it before it tires us out!” Yuya gasped rolling away as a head snapped at him.
Yuto screamed as the serpent’s massive tail appeared onto the scene and flicked Kouta sending him sprawling almost a couple of feet away. Aoi fell onto her knees, all her energy now focused on the shield around Yuto.
“We have to do something!” Keito exclaimed, frightened eyes upon the worn out Aoi.
A large screech made them look up to the sky and Yuto had to shield his eyes as sunlight broke through. He saw a flash of brilliant blue and just when he thought it was just the sky all the remaining serpent’s heads began to rise gradually, away from the ground and closer to the winged creature hovering above them.
“Perfect,” Yuya smirked and got to his feet. The heads were all intent on reaching the creature that as it rose, the rest of its body became apparent. Yuya fixed his gaze on the root of all the heads and raised his sword.
He flung the sword with surprising force and Yuto felt as if everything else had come to a stand-still.
“Yes!” Yuya exclaimed as the sword successfully implanted itself within the serpent’s body. The creature spitted and hissed, heads waving about like Medusa’s hair before crashing down with an enormous quake of the ground. Kouta dashed towards Aoi and pulled her away just in time as three of the serpent’s head fell upon the earth where she had been.
Yuto and Keito collapsed against each other as the smoke cleared and the shield disappeared, too shocked to be able to say anything sane.
“Is it dead?” Yuto croaked as he crawled towards a worn out Kouta. The older gave him a reassuring smile.
Yuya got to his feet, casually dusting himself before shaking the sand out of his shiny hair.
“Yeah,” he spoke observing the unmoving body of the large reptile. Now that the fog had cleared could they see just how massive the creature was. Yuto ran his gaze around the barren planes and the burnt shrubbery around them. He looked up to see the large blue winged creature flying away.
“That was fun though,” Yuya added good-naturedly only to flinch as he received death glares from the rest of the company.
“Wow seriously? I was wondering what the festivities were about,”
Yuya waved as he spotted Hikaru walking towards them with their horses in tow.
“I can’t believe I’ve missed this,” Hikaru exclaimed as Yuya pulled out his blood-covered sword.
“Take the heart and a fang and some scales, that should be enough for now,” Yuya suggested and Hikaru nodded happily. The rest of the company gulped and turned away, too disturbed to watch Hikaru go about his task.
“What are you doing?” Yuto asked finally as Yuya was done transferring the blood from his sword into a vial.
“You do realize Your Highness that we have killed the guardian of the Forbidden Planes, one of the biggest reasons these planes were ‘forbidden’?”
“That’s…that’s horrible!” Yuto exclaimed mortified. Yuya shrugged.
“It was inevitable, we were warned about it and were expecting it but boy were we lucky that it was the first thing we encountered,”
“Lucky?” Keito asked flabbergasted.
“Well, we smell of its blood and that’s enough to draw any other unwanted creature away from us so I guess the remainder of our journey will be pretty uneventful,”
“Also, scholars have assumed that this serpent’s blood, fangs and scales all have elusive qualities, our Guild will earn a fortune with these!” Hikaru added happily wiping his hands.
“What was that bird?” Yuto asked trying to distract himself from anger at the violation of a dead creature that did nothing wrong but try to defend its territory.
“Oh, that was Mikan,” Yuya replied picking up a blue feather from the ground. Hikaru grimaced at the sight of approaching scavengers.
“Alright people, I see vultures gathering, we shouldn’t be staying here…let’s go!”
~*~
A/N: I fail at action scenes. Yup, so more details on Mikan later and yes Aoi is a mage!! Music is Lost Grounds .hack OST.