Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Fable, the Girl with False Ambitions ( Chapter 34 )

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Sacrifice

Chapter 34: Fable, the Girl with False Ambitions

By: Melissa Norvell

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"It's you," Azmy replied upon seeing the familiar form from her earlier escapades in the City of Plants.

"But why are we here?" Chichiri asked.

"I can't let you pass," Fable's voice was cold, though still holding a quiet nature. The girl stood in the way and used her body as a block so that if the group had wanted to pass, then they would have to get past her in order to read the guardian.

"The hell you can't," Hiroshima challenged as he pulled out his sword and drew the blade back but he was stopped by Fife, holding out an arm to keep him back. Uttering a noise of confusion, he looked at the feminine man.

"Hold on there," the long-haired boy looked to Hiroshima and smiled kindly. "My, my, so quick to fight. Why do you not want us to pass?" He turned his sights to Fable. "More importantly, how did you even know that we were here?"

"I've been following you."

"Oh great! Now we have a stalker," the legend complained.

"My mistress doesn't want you to pass this point, so I have to stop you."

"Your mistress?" Azmy turned her head slightly in question.

"If you're out to get us then why did you help us?" Ko wanted answers to that question. Fable saved them in the City of Plants more than once, so why was it that she was suddenly against them now?

"Because I can learn more about you and gain your trust easily. Once trust is gained there's a vulnerable point that can easily lead to failure," the furry-eared girl explained. It had been in her plan all along- befriend the enemy and learn what makes them weak so she could use this information against them in future battles. While she did not know enough to completely defeat them, she knew of things that could weaken them considerably from the types of attacks she herself is capable of.

Hiroshima frowned at that remark. He knew that she had been following them and sensed her presence and as much as he hoped that his allies wouldn't fall for her trap, it had already been done.

"You never had the intention of befriending us. You lied," Undine stated.

"How did you figure it out?" Fable had gotten hints that the quiet girl knew of her true intentions a while back but she didn't know exactly how much Undine had figured out.

"You made flora angry as well. You mentioned that you were coveting something she held dear and that you weren't going to give it back to her. You're no different from everyone else here. In the end, we'd be enemies because we're both after different things but what exactly are you after?" The quiet girl told her stoically.

"My nature and actions will always remain unknown until I feel the time is right," the furry-eared sorceress informed.

"I knew something was up. I always saw you in battle but all you did was watch like some vulture waiting to flock to our carcasses," Keiji stated.

"You all have different goals that you won't give up, betrayal is eminent."

"I don't think so," Azmy had different views on the others in her group. "I think we'll be just fine."

"Don't act like you can predict us so well," Keiji glared. He didn't like someone telling him such ominous things about people who were supposed to be his allies. It made him feel a little uneasy not knowing the true intentions of the people around him and his reoccurring flashbacks seemed to be predicting that he would meet the one who killed his parents once again.

"You all really don't know, do you?" The red-clad female blinked and slightly cocked her head to the left. It was almost as if she were taking pity on them for being so unaware of everything that had taken place around them. Were they truly so caught up in their own world that they could not see the true picture?

"What do you mean?" Ko asked.

"You just got involved with matters that are larger than any of you can comprehend. I feel very sorry for you."

"The last thing we want is your pity," Hiroshima informed. There was nothing he hated more than pity and he refused to be pities by someone like her.

"We are well aware of our own problems, thank you," Tsurugi replied.

"Please let us pass. We really don't want to fight you, Fable," Azmy tried to reason but her opponent would have nothing of it.

"I really don't want to fight any of you but I must do what I must do," she pointed her staff at the group. "If you will not leave then I will be forced to make you leave."

"You think we did all of this for nothing? I'll definitely call your bluff," Hiroshima challenged, pointing his sword back at her as if to accept her invitation into combat.

"You're hurt, what can you do against someone who is perfectly healthy?" Fable thought he was foolish for challenging her in the condition that he was in.

"Well, I can kick your ass with or without wounds."

"I warned you, Sound Blast!" The sorceress called out as a single wave expanded around her staff and shot fourth. Musashi then spread his wings and ordered the winds to shift. As they did, Fable's attack washed back over her and flung her backwards, causing her head to be flung back. 'It was deflected…but how? No one even made a move…'

'Did I,.' Musashi was pleased with himself. His attack had been virtually invisible and could have looked like a simple malfunction.

'That Wind Cavern…' Hiroshima looked at Musashi.

"I'll have to use a better spell," the red-clad woman knelt down and slammed the end of her staff into the ground, causing something to speed through the top of the ground, leaving a gash behind it and flinging up dirt, rocks and debris behind it. She called out the name of her attack 'Ground Run'.

Hiroshima put his hands together in prayer. "Barrier…" He called out as the attack clashed against an invisible shield in an explosion of dirt. "Go."

"What?" Azmy asked, looking a little confused. Not only that, she couldn't see Fable or what she was doing through the shroud of dust. Hiroshima looked at the girl with a narrowed gaze and told her that the sorceress couldn't see them while they were covered in the dust shroud. Azmy nodded in affirmative before the group set out in different directions.

Keiji decided to take cover in a nearby bush. Fife unknowingly darted in the opposite side of the bush and they met in the middle, causing the green haired drummer to let out a yell in response to nearly running head on into the feminine boy who simply greeted him with a cheery 'hello'.

"Find somewhere else to hide," Keiji glared in irritation. No doubt Fife would give their position away if he remained in the bush with him.

"But I like hiding with you," Fife teased happily.

Ko managed to jump into the dense cover of a nearby tree. She crouched down in the branches, being sure to keep her form covered. 'Good thing I managed to pick up some throwing knives when Tsurugi was looking for some weapons for us,' the Girl thought. She knew they would come in handy if her staff had been knocked away or destroyed again. If Fable were to find her, then they would be an excellent tool to fend her off for a while at least.

The fuzzy-eared girl looked from side to side in confusion. 'They hid.'

Hiroshima was on her as soon as her thoughts ended and he brought his sword down with great force. Thinking quickly, Fable managed to jump up and avoid his onslaught as his blade tore into the surface of the ground. He then lunged forward in one fluid motion and sliced across as she jumped back again and blocked it with the rod of her staff. She then said the word 'illumination' but before the blinding light of her attack could come, a dagger hit her staff with force, knocking it in an awkward position and nearly causing it to be flung from her hands. A loud clank could be heard nearby. The unbalance of her attack caused the flash to be produced off to one side instead of hitting its target directly. At that precise time, Chichiri decided that he wanted to take a peek out of the foliage.

"What's going on?" The curious blonde asked before his vision was clouded and he could see nothing but blinding white. "My eyes!" He called out as the searing pain shot through his ocular area and caused him to roll around on the ground, shielding his eyes with his large hands. Fable managed to regain control of her weapon as Hiroshima darted backwards. She swung her staff towards the direction that the dagger was projected in and crystals with sharp edges dug into the tree that Ko had been perched in.

"Crud, she saw me," the white haired woman muttered before jumping out of the way of the objects. Upon making contact with the tree, the crystals exploded.

Chichiri sat on his knees in a daze, staring at the small sparkles that had been produced from the after math of the flash. "Where am I?"

"Crimson Slash!" Hiroshima used both arms to drive the force of his attack forward as he sent another larger red whip-like wave of energy towards the sorceress who used a vortex spell that sucked his attack in at warp-speed. "So that's how it's going to be?" The legend asked sarcastically and in a playful tone, almost as if he were having fun with the fact that it was a challenging battle.

"I advise you to leave," Fable warned.

"Like hell."

"Then I have to kill you all," she told them as she mimicked Hiroshima's 'Crimson Slash' attack with her staff and threw the red wave of magic back at the group and called out its name.

'She metronomed his attack.' Ko thought as her eyes grew wide with shock.

Fife watched from his position in the bush until the sound of his name faintly caught his ears. With a 'hm' in question he turned to the one beside of him. Keiji asked what they should do and Fife asked him why he was questioning him on the matter.

"You seem to have a fair amount of knowledge on magicians," Keiji stated.

"But unfortunately I don't have any clue about Fable. She doesn't have a set pattern like Elf Kaizer or Lumina. She seems to know a little bit of everything."

Holding out his blade in front of him with the blade pointed towards the heavens, the legend managed to split his energy attack and reflected it back at her.

"Of course…Of course that was predictable," Fable smiled a bit before a large spike shot out of the ground and caused her to jump up.

Chichiri hurled his weapon through the air in an attempt to hit her. Fable stated that it was futile and casually moved her head to the side as the weapon spun over her shoulder and headed for the angel, who knocked it away with his sword. The offending object spiraled out of the way and landed a few feet away from him with a thud.

'Idiot…' Hiroshima thought with a scowl aimed for the blonde, who shrank back with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Oops…I missed…"

Ko sighed as she thought to herself, 'and here I am without any weapons…'

"Hiroshima is still hurt badly. We need to do-" Keiji began to talk but he was cut off by Tsurugi summoning his attack.

"Chains of Despair, grant me your aid," the black-winged angel called out as the chains around his wings grew in length and shot to the ground, ripping through the earth as they headed towards the sorceress. As the blackened metal links shot through the earth beside of them, both Keiji and Tsurugi let out a noise of surprise and confusion as pieces of earth and grass fall on them.

Their sights were towards the skies as they spoke to each other from behind the bush.

"I didn't know he could use the curse to benefit him," Keiji said.

"Interesting concept…" Fife mused as his navy blue eyes continued to watch the attack as Tsurugi called out the word 'go' and his chains obeyed, quickly closing in on the purple-haired girl. She watched with slight emotion in her eyes, although they were not widened in fear.

"This curse…is one of God's will. There's no way that I can defeat it," the words barely escaped her lips before the chains dug into the spot she stood in and flung up a mass amount of dirt and grass.

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"So, Fable is also in the City of Plants?" Soel looked towards two of her companions- Ceres, who was leaning on the wall and Zangief, who was perched in a chair a few feet away from her.

"Yes but I don't know her exact location. I didn't even know that you sent her here, Mistress," Ceres remarked. If she had known that Fable was also there, they could have worked together instead of separately.

"That wouldn't be my department," Soel glanced to the strange man below her.

"She snuck out on me," Zangief's voice reverberated through his metal beak.

"Well, if she brings Hiroshima back there will be no worries."

"What if she comes back on her own?"

"Then we'll begin to put our next plan into action."

"Do you want me to report back to you?" Ceres asked.

"Yes."

"I'll be there shortly," the red-clad woman jumped up and her form faded out of the room, leaving her mistress and her follower sitting in the darkness.

'Hiroshima…The hands of time run fast and with it the past repeats itself. Time is simply a phase of repetitions throughout history. Soon, the events of our past will collide and we shall exist together once more. I can't wait for the two of us to transcend time and grasp eternity.' Soel's pale lips curved into a small smile. It was only a matter of time before she would see him again and she wanted to make sure that he knew full well who she was and what her intentions were.

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"I didn't know he had the ability to control it so well. When you look at it this way, it's not really all that bad of a curse, from what we know, the only thing bad about it is that he can't go to a holy place," Fife stated as he and Keiji watched the chains come one after another and dig into the spot where Fable once stood.

"But why would God place a curse on him that would be in his benefit if she sinned so much?" The other male wondered.

"God works in mysterious ways," Fife looked to the heavens and smiling.

"She's gone," the dark angel said ruefully in a low voice as his attack subsided and returned to the form they were, simply binding his wings.

"She must have used some sort of teleportation magic," Hiroshima stated.

"I can't believe she's against us," Azmy replied from a few feet behind him.

"What a bitch. She just walks up and fights with us then stabs us in the back," Ko complained. Fable had some nerve to pull a stunt like that to them!

"Oh, I know!" Chichiri griped as he walked out from behind the tree he had been perched behind only to meet an angry Hiroshima when he did so. His face quickly transformed into one of guilt. He knew what he'd done and he knew the legend was about to lay into him.

"What's the big idea you bastard?" Hiroshima trudged over to the blonde with the Crimson Sword over his shoulder.

"What?" The blonde looked around. "What bastard?" He noticed that the angry angel was glaring at him specifically. "Oh…" He pointed to himself. "You mean…me…"

Hiroshima held up the hammer with his free hand. "I should beat you with this."

"I'd rather you not…Please…Mr. Dark Angel Dude."

"What?" The spiky-haired man's face became perplexed. After all this time, he still couldn't call him by his proper name.

"His name is Hiroshima. Is it really that hard? It's the name of the famous city that got bombed," Ko informed with irritancy. She knew that he had a hard time remembering names but they've been together for a month now. He should at least call him something other than 'Dark Angel Dude'.

"Oh yeah…" Chichiri was nearly smashed in the face with his own hammer. He shrieked and quickly dodged it. It had nearly gave him a heart attack. Thank goodness he'd been paying attention or he would have had a busted nose. He then heard the baritone voice of the legend call him a dumb blonde.

"I'm blonde too," Tsurugi stated a fact that proved the legend's theory right as he was leveled with a 'what the hell' look from Hiroshima.

"Did you just say something about yourself?"

The blonde angel smiled and produced a happy anime-eyed face as he pointed a finger into the air. "You know I did, but I really should have."

"Where the hell are Fife and Keiji?" The legend turned his sights away from his mate and glanced around for any sight of the two teens.

"They were hiding behind that bush," Chichiri pointed to the bush in question.

Through a small space that he'd pulled apart with his hands, Fife asked why Chichiri was pointing at them and if the battle was over. It was a little odd that everyone was just standing around talking and no one had even informed them that they could come out from hiding without being attacked. The green-haired drummer told him that he didn't know and couldn't hear very well but Hiroshima's teasing comment somehow made it to his ears.

"Hey Fife, Keiji! Stop making out and get out here!" Hiroshima shouted. As if on command, Keiji shot up through the leaves, his face a bright red as he yelled in response.

"What!? How dare you!?" His voice was not as strong as he would have liked it to be due to embarrassment. The angel simply laughed at him in a low, controlled voice.

"Come on guys, we don't need to fool around," Ko knew that Fable could very well come back.

"Let's hurry and find Xanadu," Musashi agreed.

"Hem…" Fife sighed as he stood up. "Although it would have been nice, we weren't doing anything bad."

"Wh-what?" Keiji asked shyly.

Finding it attractive in an innocent way, the long-haired boy wrapped his arms tightly around the other boy's neck and told him that they should follow everyone else, who was walking away. The group was spread out, leaving Hiroshima and Tsurugi in the front with Musashi and Chichiri, Ko and Azmy in the middle with Fife and Keiji tagging along in the back.

"It's kind of weird to see Keiji all blushy around that guy," the blonde looked to the two, walking together. The slight flush was still apparent on Keiji's cheeks as he and Fife seemed to be talking at the moment.

"What are you trying to say about them?" Ko looked to the blonde in slight confusion. Was he trying to say that Keiji was possibly homosexual? She had known him since he was fourteen and she really hadn't seen him stick with a woman for all that long. Every girlfriend he ever had he acted like he was annoyed with for the majority of their date. It was strange to think of him that way but it also made sense.

"I dunno, just that they seem close."

"Well, he always said that he hated those screaming fangirls at our concerts," the girl did remember fondly that he was irritated by them.

"You're right, he did say that."

"as long as he's happy, who cares who he loves," Azmy piped in as the two stared at her. "There's someone for everyone, even if not everyone thinks they should be with that person." The shy girl pointed out with a smile.

"Except I'm not gay," Keiji seethed. "Would you guys stop implying crap?" He questioned as he walked ahead and ended up alongside of Hiroshima, who looked at him casually.

"What do you want, kid?"

"To get away from them."

"We should concentrate on the mission," Tsurugi stated with a placid smile. "Your sexuality has nothing to do with finding Xanadu." The green-haired boy seemed more at ease now that the situation had been settled by the angel. He agreed to his remark. 'It's alright Keiji, I know how you feel.' The dark angel knew the confusion that must have been going on in the child's mind. He too, at one time had felt that same confusion.

Silence befell the group as they walked through the woods. The group turned a few corners and happened to come upon a sight that gave them a sigh of relief. Hidden in a shroud of leaves was the lizard-like Xanadu, perched on his giant pearl. The being nearly blended in with his pearly-sheened stone. The faces of those who recognized him lit up with smiles.

"Well, what do you know?" Tsurugi beamed.

"We've found you…Xanadu…" Musashi said in an endearing tone. He hoped that Xanadu would have some sort of way to help them defeat Flora. It seemed like things could only get better from here…or at least, he hoped so.

To Be Continued…