Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Returning to Illusions ( Chapter 29 )

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 29: Returning to Illusions

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Azmy walked into the room and the two men looked at her in question. The looks on their faces sot unknown emotion through her and it almost seemed like she could feel a sense of guilt for both of their pain. After all, Keiji and Hiroshima were injured the worst out of everyone who fought.

"Um…" the girl played with her hand, "Hiroshima-dono…"

"What?"

"I'm so sorry…" Azmy looked as if she was about to cry. She was terribly ashamed of what she'd done.

"Huh?" Keiji blinked in question. Why was she apologizing for something like this? It wasn't her fault. He didn't understand what she had to be so upset about other then the fact that both he and Hiroshima had both been beaten.

"I'm sorry that I prayed. I got you hurt. This is my entire fault!" The slate-haired girl looked emotional almost as if she were about to cry. Her emotions were clearly physically hurting and tormenting her.

"Spare me your sympathy, kid," the dark angel turned away from the girl, almost as if he had shunned the fact that she felt any kind of sympathy for him at all.

"But now you can't-" She began but was cut short.

"Just shut up and listen."

"Huh?" She blinked.

"Don't apologize for a circumstance you didn't either know about or could control. You have nothing to apologize for," Hiroshima's voice was monotone yet subdued. He wanted to get that point across for he knew of her emotions and how fragile she was emotionally. Tsurugi walked in to the room in a fresh change of clothes; a white, button-up shirt, black pants, a tie and suspenders. In his arms he carried similar clothes and shoved them in to his boyfriend's arms.

"Some new clothes for Hiro-kun!" He beamed and shoved them in to his arms. "Since your old ones were torn up by the sword. I decided to buy you some new ones."

Hiroshima looked at him, then to the clothes in his arms. "That was pointless."

"Hm?" Tsurugi blinked in question. There was nothing left of his love's clothes. He didn't see how it was pointless at all.

"As soon as I get changed, we're going back to fight Flora."

"What?" The three people in the room exclaimed all at once. They couldn't believe that he had just uttered that phrase. They had only rested for a short period of time and he already wanted to move out?

"But we've only had a few hours of recovery time. You can't be serious," Keiji stated. There was no way that he was ready to go back in to battle and at the very least they could have a day or something like that.

"I am…" Hiroshima stood. "Now, let's go."

"Doesn't your body hurt?" Azmy's small, soft hands touched the bare skin of his tight muscles. She looked up at him with large, innocent eyes that caught the sun's rays and held them captive within slate seas.

"It does," he looked down at her. "But we can't sit back and let Flora create more minions. We've got to strike her while she's unguarded."

"Keiji-kun! Your hands!" Azmy exclaimed in wonder as she saw that the drummer's healed hands. She had once remembered them with so many deep wounds and debris that they would eventually become scarred or infected but now they were completely clean, as if nothing had ever happened to them.

"Hiroshima healed them," Keiji stared at his hands as he remembered how it felt when the angel had healed them earlier.

Hiroshima walked out, dressed like Tsurugi only he didn't have a tie and the sleeves of his button-up white shirt were rolled up to his elbows. He told everyone to head out.

The green-haired boy got in front of him, as if he was trying to make a block with his body. "You're still hurt and you can't heal your wounds."

"I know what I'm doing. I've been in plenty of battles," the angel looked down on him.

"But we haven't and Ko is still hurt."

"I'm not going to stand back while that goddess builds up her defenses."

"He's kind of right," Azmy agreed after thinking about it for a while.

"What?" Keiji responded. He couldn't believe that Azmy was agreeing with him. Was she crazy? It wasn't within human limitations to try and go into battle like this.

"What if Flora moves again?" She asked, looking to him in question. The girl remembered what Musashi had said to her earlier. Flora usually moved when people started to find out where she was. Since they had found out, she might have tried to move again.

"Exactly," the legend agreed, "we can heal back on the way to the Forest of Illusion." The dark man then walked out of the room and the faint sound of clacking from his black shoes hitting the floor could be heard as they receded down the hall.

"So stubborn," Tsurugi looked in the direction that he left and a small smile crept to his face.

"I'm not ready for this," Keiji stated.

As Hiroshima entered the next room, followed by Tsurugi, Azmy and Keiji Ko was the first one to greet him.

"Hiroshima!" The white-haired girl was relieved that he had awoken. It was odd seeing him without his wings but she didn't care as long as he was alive.

"How are you feeling, Hiroshima-sama?" Fife was casually seated in a wooden chair in the middle of the floor.

"I'm fine," the legend avoided his question as Musashi looked at him. Catching the hooded bird's face he asked him what he wanted. Musashi presented him with the Crimson Blade, holding it out as if it were a prized possession.

"I took care of it for you," the bird told him as he reached out and took it.

"Uh…Thanks…"

Chichiri flopped down on the bed with his arms spread out, almost as if he embraced the small moment of peace he was having. "Man, it feels good to rest!"

"Don't get adjusted. We've got to get back to that forest," Hiroshima told him.

"Wait…You mean now?" Ko's voice rose in tone. This was ludicrous. How did he expect them to win with no rest in the amount of time that they had been there? They couldn't just go right back out there and fight. After all, the human body only had so much limitation.

"Yes."

"Isn't that rushing things just a little too fast?" Musashi agreed with the singer. They didn't have enough rest and it would be foolish of them to move on like this.

"No joke. I mean, we just got here like," Chichiri paused to look at his watch, "five hours ago."

"We have to get back as soon as possible. We don't want Flora to create more underlings," Hiroshima informed.

"But she's a goddess; she probably has tons of servants just waiting to come after us," Ko said. After all, Flora was a plant goddess and usually deities of that type were related to fertility.

"Right now, we'd be very vulnerable since Hiroshima, Keiji and Ko are all hurt. Think about it, Flora is a goddess after all and her strength is probably more then we could ever imagine," Fife informed.

"Unlike us, she is limited," Undine told the group.

"What do you mean?" Chichiri asked.

"She can only control plants. My water powers wouldn't stop her; they would simply help her plants grow. Ice may affect them but not enough to do any substantial damage."

"So? There are other methods." The legend argued her point.

"I know very few spells for other elements," Undine looked to Tsurugi. "Tsurugi, you and I are the only people here who know magic."

"It's not bad that they don't know magic," Hiroshima replied. She had almost said it as if it were a weakness. "Ko has that stick that sends out sound waves. Chichiri can smash crap with his hammer; Keiji fairs well against them because of his agility and Azmy can fill them full of lead."

"But you can't fly," the blonde stated the obvious. He had noticed that when the legend fought, he always attacked from the air. Now he would be reduced to fighting on the ground.

"Why do you think it's such a big hindrance?" The glassy-eyed man looked to him in question. He didn't see what the big deal was. So what? His wings were cut off but it didn't make him immobile. He still had legs and arms.

"Flying gave you a good advantage over her vines. No doubt she'll use them again," Undine stated.

"I can still fight well, whether or not I have wings. Even if they gave me an advantage I don't need them to fight."

"There really is no convincing you, is there?" Ko saw that it was futile to even attempt to ask the angel to stay back and let everyone heal.

"Ko?"

"Yes?"

"You're rusty."

"What?"

"I could tell from your demeanor in battle…you used to be a warrior. I can tell from your fight with Elf Kaizer," the legend stated. He had known when someone was accustomed to battle by the way they fought. Ko has exhibited the qualities of a warrior and from the way she attacked the Elf, there was no doubt that she knew what she was doing and had done this before.

"I did a few martial arts here and there," the white-haired girl responded. She seemed a little avoidant of the subject.

"There's more to it than that. You've fought against people like this before."

"So I've gotten into some situations? That doesn't mean I'm the girl you think I am," Ko replied, trying to dismiss the subject even though she knew that it was futile because the angel undoubtedly knew about her past.

"Well, it would be too early to tell that about anyone really," Fife tried to help her out since he too, was hiding something, "especially since we don't really know anything about anyone but Tsurugi, even knowing that can't tell you about a person or rather not enough to know them."

"It seems we're all hiding things," Undine informed.

"Well, you know what they say, what someone doesn't know won't hurt them," Keiji replied.

"Yes but building up trust is an important part of team work," Musashi brought up a point.

"Trust is earned," Fife told him.

"It sure is," the drummer's eyes narrowing, "and I don't trust anyone right now."

"Gee…" Ko looked irritated as her eyebrow twitched. "You think you'd trust me at least." She was a member of the band and they had been together for many years so what was with the 'I don't trust you' comments now?

"Are you saying I'm not trust worthy?" Chichiri asked overdramatically.

"Yes."

The blonde fell at the response. "That's a fine how-do-you-do."

"I don't think this is wise but I can take you back to the Forest of Illusion," Musashi offered his assistance once more, despite how he felt inside. He knew that this was not in his best interest to argue and that Hiroshima did know what he was doing.

"I'm not ready to fight Flora," Ko sighed in exasperation. A few moments after she sighed she felt wind rush through her hair as her two small ponytails bobbed in the wind. "Wait! What's happening!?"

Musashi flew into the air a few feet away and flapped his wings a couple of times, stirring up the winds and causing them to flow around them. "Here we go! Wind Transport!" He called out. Ko tried to stop him by yelling 'wait' again but she was far too late. Fife simply smiled as the wind blew through his navy blue hair. He liked the feeling of the magical winds on his pale skin and simply let the spell overcome him.

Keiji wore a look of apprehension. "Something's not right about this…" He murmured to himself. Musashi had made that decision a little too quickly, especially since he'd been questioning Hiroshima's words from the beginning…so what was truly going on?

Tsurugi looked at his mate and smiled. "How evil of you?" He teased playfully.

"Like I'm taking no for an answer."

"Possessing poor Musashi like that."

"He won't remember it," Hiroshima's last words leaked into the air before the winds engulfed them and they were transported back into the forest.

'I don't believe this! What in the hell is wrong with Hiroshima? I don't know how he expects us to win this fight.' Ko thought to herself as the winds died and revealed the forest before them.

"Huh?" Musashi blinked beneath his hood. He didn't remember transporting everyone here.

"Why didn't we go straight to Flora?" Keiji glanced at the confused Wind Cavern.

"I don't know…" Musashi's voice was distant. He was still trying to gather how they even got there, much less why they weren't directly transported to Flora.

"Because you all wanted to heal," Hiroshima replied.

"What if we just end up getting hurt more?" Azmy asked.

"I wish you idiots would make up your minds," the legend closed his eyes in irritation as a vein popped out of his head. "Do you want the extra time or not?"

"Hey, I'll take any extra time I can get," Chichiri replied happily as he entered the forest.

"No, you mustn't!" Musashi warned and ran in after him.

Fife grabbed Keiji's hand. "We should follow them before they get lost," he informed and much to Keiji's protest they ran in to the forest. Ko called out for them to wait as she ran in a few minutes after the two males. Azmy then followed Ko, calling out for her not to leave her behind. The only ones that were not inside of the forest were the two angels who simply looked at each other.

"Shall we?" Tsurugi smiled. His mate silently agreed as they walked in to the forest behind everyone, leaving Undine at the edge of the forest to ponder about her situation.

'I'm not so sure about this…but I should follow them.' The slate-haired girl walked into the forest. She had a feeling that darkness lay ahead but she didn't want to get separated from everyone either. It would just cause more problems.

"Wait!" Azmy called out as she stepped in to a clearing. "Where am I?" She looked around in confusion. A clearing couldn't come so soon. She had just walked in to the forest. How could this be? "This is a clearing…What happened? I shouldn't be here…"

"Well, this doesn't make sense," Fife commented in another part of the forest.

"How could we walk in shortly after everyone else and not even see them?" Keiji wondered.

"There's something wrong," Fife's expression turned serious.

"Hiroshima, Undine and Tsurugi should have been behind us."

"This isn't even the beginning of the forest," Fife looked around to see nothing but trees for miles around them. They should have been able to see the clearing behind them at least but they could not. It simply looked as if they had been in the middle of the forest.

"You're right…" Keiji looked behind him. "The trees extend for some distance."

"Oh no…I've lost everyone," Musashi said in an even different past of the forest then everyone else. He was alone and everyone else had been separated. This was bad.

"Oh great…Now were lost…Those stupid kids…" Hiroshima grumbled as he crossed his arms. This was irritating.

"Now we'll have to find each other," Tsurugi's happy voice echoed through his ears, pissing him off even more then what he was now.

"Do you think it's funny?" Hiroshima shot. Now was not the time to be happy. "This is a royal pain in the ass."

"If we look around, we'll have more recovery time," the blonde angel tried to look to the bright side of things.

"Or we'll be tired."

"No doubt this forest is magical."

"Fuck," Hiroshima looked up at the sky to try and get his bearings. "Well, how do we find them now?"

"All we can do is walk around until we see them. Although we'll never know what traps we'll walk in to," Tsurugi replied.

Indeed this was called the Forest of Illusions for a reason.

To Be Continued…