Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Flora's Wishes ( Chapter 36 )

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Sacrifice

Chapter 36: Flora's Wishes

By: Melissa Norvell

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"You came back," the plant goddess looked towards the group upon their arrival. They had come back more quickly this time, since they didn't have to worry about being separated or lost this time. It was quite impressive for someone who'd only been in her forest once before. At the same time, she wondered why they had even dared to come back in the first place. She had already beaten them once before. Did they really think that they stood a chance?

"Did you honestly think we'd back down?" Ko asked.

"Your determination and stupidity amuse me," the goddess smiled a little. "What makes you think that you can defeat me this time?" Flora was amused all the same and she would challenge them as many times necessary until they either died or got the hint that they could not defeat her.

"We don't but we'll damn sure try," Hiroshima's voice was stern. He was tired of coming back and since they had lost last time, the angel wasn't too keen about being mocked either. Hiroshima was not accustomed to returning so shortly after he left, defeated.

"As if you're in a position to challenge me," Flora's voice was still calm as she looked over the stubborn man's battle wounds.

"Who knows? Maybe I just like flying through life by the seat of my pants," the man smirked in enthusiasm, waiting with anticipation to get the fight started. Even if he was wounded, it didn't necessarily mean that he would lose this round.

"Then you'll go out that way as well," Flora commented as she threw back her head, releasing the hydras once more. They shot up from the ground, anxious to attack.

"I wonder if she draws off of the forest for this magic?" Azmy asked aloud.

"No," Fife replied as the girl let out a small 'huh' noise turned her attentions to him. "These plant-like hydras are extensions of herself."

"Then that means-" The girl started to say but was cut off as one of the hydras shot between them. Azmy covered her face and turned away from the vine-like being. Fife saw that the girl was in harm's way, so he dashed to the shrunken form, picked her up bride-and-groom style and jumped out of the hydra's path before it came crashing to the ground.

Hiroshima did his best to slice as many of them as he could with the Crimson Blade, creating dark, crescent-shaped waves of energy that easily cut a few at a time in half. 'Damn, my magic is running low…' He thought as one of the many hydras shot towards him. He turned around and slashed it without using any type of magical powers and the beast threw itself back and thrashed in the air as its form came tumbling down to the ground and writhing as blood spurted out of the long gash down its eye, created by a knife of some sort.

Ko landed on one knee holding a knife and winked. "Had a few left from my last excursion. Wouldn't want to turn that white shirt completely red, now would you?" The white-haired woman joked.

Hiroshima smirked and closed his eyes. "Just shut up and fight."

Keiji was dodging and jumping out of the way of their deadly strikes. He quickly jumped out of the way as two hydra's dove into the ground, boring deep into the earth he once stood on. "Wait a minute…" He thought out loud as a vivid flashback of the hydra's chomping down on Hiroshima's arms ran through his head. He could see that they held him down with their mouths alone. "That's it!" He exclaimed and shot forward towards them.

"Keiji!" Azmy called out, wondering what in the world he was doing at a time like this. It almost seemed like suicide to run towards the hydras that way. He was going to get himself killed!

"Hm?" Fife casually looked over his shoulder to see the green-haired boy's body heading towards the mouths of the beasts. 'Now, what's he doing?' He thought as one of the hydras dove towards the ground. Keiji hopped onto its head and ran along the length of it. 'So foolish of you, Keiji-kun…' His observer thought to himself as he continued to watch as one of them lunged at him. Keiji remained still and waited as the hydra sped towards him.

"Wait for it…" His knees bent slightly. Green eyes narrowed as the plant-like hydra neared him. At the last possible moment, he jumped quickly out of the way as the hydra bit down onto the area that he'd been standing. He had caused one hydra to bite another one.

Fife blinked in awe. It turned out that what Keiji had done, while risky, was quite effective. "Well, what do you know?" The blue-haired boy smiled as Azmy watched in his arms with large, slate eyes.

Keiji back flipped and landed near Ko and Hiroshima.

"Good idea but risky as hell," the white-haired girl complimented.

"Heh, unfortunately I don't have enough energy to do that," Hiroshima replied with a smirk. It seemed that this kid was a lot more daring then he'd expected.

"I've noticed that they aren't as strong as they were before," Keiji was beginning to notice the effects of Xanadu's spell.

"Honestly, they creep me out," Chichiri stated. "I mean, how can you kill something that you can't-"

He tried to speak but before he could even finish the sentence, the ground had busted between all of them, which caused rocks to be thrown up around them. The hydra ripped through the ground with so much force that it caused everyone except Hiroshima to be thrown back. The only way that the angel had managed to avoid it was to jump out of the way himself. Ko nearly fell, Chichiri did fall and Keiji preformed a hand spring to avoid falling. They could hear the voice of Azmy shouting 'everyone' in shock and fear. Chichiri stood up and relayed a message that they were alright to her.

"Speak for yourself," Hiroshima grumbled. "I don't know about any of you but debris and rocks in open wounds tend to hurt like a bitch." As soon as he had finished the sentence, a leaf the size of a paper plate flew past at incredible speed, taking off part of his shirt and creating a large, deep slice across his shoulder blade. "Damn…" He cursed as he flinched in pain. He had not seen that attack coming and he was distracted by the conversation so his senses weren't directed at any one thing.

"Look out," Fife warned as man leaves, which looked similar to the ones that had hit Hiroshima began to fly at them, cutting anything they touched. Everyone began to dodge them, trying to avoid their blades. Azmy covered herself with her arms and let out a scream as a few of them flew past her. Keiji ran towards her and shoved her down. They both managed to hit the ground before a leaf whizzed past them. If they would have been standing, they would have been cut in half. Fife looked towards them in question. He tried not to think anything of the girl for being so lucky as to have Keiji lay on her like that but his mind couldn't help but wonder.

However it didn't wander too far as Keiji's voice cut through his thoughts and told Azmy to get on the ball.

"But-" The girl began but she was cut off by his angry voice.

"Stop being weak!" Keiji yelled, irritated that she hardly pulled her weight in the team. She was the weakest fighter and when her guns had no ammunition, she was nothing but a sitting duck and she needed to be stronger because she was slowing the team down.

Tsurugi placed both hands in front of himself and called out the phrase 'fire emblem' as a round seal appeared and flames ignited it, as if it has some type of gasoline on it. They spread to the outside of the circle and shot out of the emblem, catching some of the hydras on fire and causing them to screech and sway as they were burned alive.

Flora watched as everyone squared off against some of her children. 'I've got to distract them further.' She thought as her pink flowers began to work their magic and shoot solar beams at them. Not only were there hydras but not there were leaves and solar beams. It was a very confusing situation to be fighting in and it seemed like no matter what they did, then they would be damaged in some way. The only question at hand was which kind of damage was the least painful?

Chichiri yelled as a beam landed by his foot. He yelled again as he dodged another one. Then another and finally he had to throw himself to the ground to avoid another one. Ko landed on one knee holding a knife straight out as a disembodied hydra head fell a few feet away from her. "One down."

"Ha!" Fife cried out as he ran up the length of one of the hydras, slicing it down the middle on his way up. He dragged the blade through the plant with strength and speed. "We'll run out of energy if we keep doing things at this rate." The boy stated.

"Lightning Strike!" Tsurugi brought his hands above his head and spread out his wings and he threw them straight down and summoned a large, strike of lightning which hit an unsuspecting hydra below, blowing it up with its electrical current.

Hiroshima preformed his Crimson Slash technique but the hydra was on to him. It shot fire from its mouth at the offending wingless angel. A leaf sped towards Azmy and she managed to shoot it, causing it to lose all magical energy and fall to the ground. As the left collided with the earth's surface, the ground began to quake.

"It seems that my theory was correct," Fife replied, lying on the ground.

"They know magic too?" Keiji asked. It had been the first time he'd seen a hydra perform a magic spell since he'd fought them.

"Oh great…magical plants…" Chichiri moaned.

"Well, you've got to figure the people prize them for their magical abilities," Ko knew that they weren't like the plants that were sold in the City of Plants but assumed that they had similar features and could be used in potions.

"What's that?" Azmy yelled as another earthquake hit, knocking her off of her feet.

Tsurugi and noticed that there were a few sparkles in the air that weren't noticeable when you were fighting but if you took the time to stop and stare would be easily noticed. 'It seems to be an energy of sorts.' He thought to himself as he flew in the air.

"Fife, what is that?" Keiji asked as Fife stood up.

"It's Flora, of course!" The boy smiled.

"No you idiot, I'm talking about the magical abilities of these hydras," he knew that Fife seemed to have a pretty vast knowledge on magic and wanted to know where their powers had originated from.

"They are Flora," Fife told him. "Each of them is a vine from her form. She's made of vines and as a result, they feed from her symbiotically."

"So, hurt the hydra and you hurt Flora." It sounded simple to Ko.

"They are merely weaker extensions of her but yes, I suppose you're right."

"What's all this sparkly stuff?" Azmy held her hand out and slightly cupping it around a few sparkles that had managed to land in her palm.

"Looks like pixy dust," Chichiri glanced around at the sparkling air.

"No…" Fife's expression turned into a serious one. "She's charging an attack." While everyone was talking, he had managed to notice that the sparkles were all moving towards Flora herself. It was as if she was drawing in their energy.

"What?" The blonde was beginning to panic. What did they do now? They were going to die if they didn't stop her!

"Look at the hydras," Undine pointed to the nearest ones.

"They all have their mouths open," Chichiri stated upon looking at the hydras. Each was erect and board straight in the air, holding its mouth open. They were completely still, as if they had been paused in time.

"They are charging beams to kill us," Fife informed gravely.

"We've got to kill as many of them as possible," Undine noted, "small attacks won't work anymore. We need something big." She turned her sights to Fife.

"What are you thinking, Undine?" He asked. 'You make me nervous when you stare at me like that. Are you trying to give me away?' Fife looked a little apprehensively towards the girl, whose eyes narrowed slightly.

"You trust me, right?"

"Well you should know how I feel. My life is in your hands," Fife told her.

"Then lend me your body and soul," Undine replied.

The long-haired boy then smiled. "So that's it."

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Hiroshima noticed that it seemed like the two were concocting something between themselves, and if it was a good idea then she should share it with the rest of the team. He could hear Undine say yes to something.

"Then lend me your power," Fife replied as Undine complied. A small smile was present on the feminine boy's face. 'It will be the perfect cover-up to hide my magical skill.'

"Strings of Fate, allow me to play with the strings of this willing marionette," Undine began to say, holding her hands out as if she were controlling a wooden marionette by using the 'x' shaped pieces of wood. A pentagram appeared beneath Fife and the wind began to blow gently, playing with his long, navy-blue strands. He closed his eyes and smiled peacefully to himself.

'This is it. Now I can truly be myself- unbridled, unrestrained and without inhibition.' He thought as Undine opened her eyes and commanded him to go. He obeyed as he pulled out his blade and held it like a baseball bat, charging at the hydras.

"I don't get this. What's going on?" Keiji was confused about everything that had just taken place. Since it was something between the two of them, he didn't try and pry or anything

"Undine possessed him," Hiroshima informed.

"Why?" Green eyes looked to the wingless angel in question. How would that help what was going on?

"She can effectively boost his power since she'd primarily water-based as far as magical abilities go; her power would be better going into a source like Fife."

"Then she gave Fife magical powers?" Keiji asked.

Hiroshima closed his eyes to avoid looking into them while he lied for Fife. "…yes…"

"You look worried," the boy stated when he saw Hiroshima close his eyes and frown deeply to himself. He looked as if he was having difficulty saying yes to his question.

"The pain is getting to me is all," the wingless angel muttered, lying once more and turning his attention back to the fight as Fife spun and killed three hydras in one move with his sword, which had been infused with magic. As the pieces of plants flew through the air as did a few seeds. They were no bigger than a fingernail as they scattered about on the ground.

"Hm?" Azmy blinked in confusion as she watched a few seeds flutter past her. "They have seeds?"

"Well, they are plants," Chichiri noted.

Keiji glanced around at all of the seeds fluttered around him. Hiroshima's light blue eyes looked at the single seed that he held in his hand. He glanced over to the green-haired boy beside of him, who was glancing at the many seeds that were fluttering around as Fife quickly ripped through the hydras. While he was distracted, Hiroshima took the seed into his mouth and swallowed it.

'I'm going to need that.' He thought as he heard Keiji say his name. He turned to him and asked him what he wanted. The angel had nearly thought that they boy had seen him eat the seed but he simply asked him if the seeds were dangerous, or if he couldn't tell him the answer. Hiroshima told him that they weren't dangerous.

"You're too late," Flora told Fife as he wrong a few symbols with his sword as the spun in streams around him, slicing the hydras into pieces.

"It feels so good to use magic again," the feminine boy's voice seemed void of any emotion and his eyes were dull and caught no light. Even if this spell was an excuse for a magical outlet, Undine still possessed him, ultimately.

Flora chuckled lowly. "You did exactly what I wanted you to do."

"What?" Undine was confused as the bodies of the decapitated hydras rose from the ground.

"Okay, this is demented," Chichiri shuddered as the corpses were being reanimated all around him. "Creepy, headless vines rising from the dead and glowing inside." The vines submerged themselves in the ground.

"Not good," Hiroshima stated as the ground began to glow with white light below them.

"What's going on!?" Azmy panicked as she looked around furiously. She was in a state of confusion and she could feel her heart race. What Hiroshima just uttered didn't help and the ground was glowing with uncertainty. No doubt this was an attack of some kind but she was extremely nervous as to what it was going to do. The girl seemed to be right in the middle of it.

"There is no running from this one," Undine's form was illuminated in iridescent white.

'My prayer magic won't be strong enough to protect everyone like it did before.' Hiroshima thought. "But still…I've got to try." The legend heard Ko tell everyone to run. Everyone began to attempt to run out of the way of her attack. Fife stood, looking around him at all of the severed plant parts with the blade of his sword pointed downward.

'What have I done?' He felt something take hold of his hand. Navy-blue eyes widened a little as he looked over to see Keiji telling him that he should come on and go. Fife took off running behind the stoic boy. He then glanced over his shoulder with a saddened expression. It was his fault that the attack had gotten so large. If only he hadn't hid his magical powers…but no matter how selfish he was, he wasn't going to let himself be exposed that easily.

Flora's low, sinister laughter could be heard throughout the forest before she called out for her attack. "Die! Luminescent Carnage!" The goddess threw back her head as the entire forest began to glow in a blinding white light.

"Oh no!" Tsurugi dove towards the light. "I've got to help them!"

Hiroshima stood, his form bathed in the white light. He folded his hands in the form of a prayer. "I don't know how strong this will be but here goes nothing," the angel began to pray silently. A magic circle formed beneath his feet, the red color contrasting greatly with the white around it. Red energy spiraled around him. "Divine beings, I sacrifice the last of my magical energy to protect these people."

Tsurugi noticed that his mate was praying and clasped his hands together and bowed his head. "I'll help you as well, Hiro-kun."

The two angels continued to pray as their allies ran to attempt to escape Flora's attack. Each of them ran the hardest they could but it seemed like they could never reach the end of her attack. It consumed the entire forest and there was no way that any of them could reach the end of the forest by the time it was fired at them.

"We're not going to make it. We'll be blown up at this rate," Keiji was ahead of the group.

"I don't want to die!" Chichiri wailed and found death a motivation to run faster. Azmy's expression saddened as she looked down and Ko simply stopped dead in her tracks. This caused Chichiri to stop.

"What are you doing, Ko?! Run!" The blonde panicked.

"What's the use? We can't escape," Ko replied grimly. "Let's face it, no matter how far we run now, our efforts will be in vain, Chichiri…"

"What Ko!? I'm flippin' out here!" Chichiri tugged at his long blonde locked in frustration.

"I-" She began to say but was cut off by white light shooting up from the ground all around them. Everyone let out a scream with the exception of Fife, who was strangely silent. He closed his eyes and let the feeling overcome him. His form floated up as he was lifted by magic.

'So…This is what death feels like…How interesting.' He held Keiji's hand gently. 'Guess you'll never know how I truly feel now but dying by your side is just as satisfying.' He was engulfed in the light, holding the hand of the one he held dear.

The attack soon phased out and revealed only a few trees which were still standing. They were barren and so was the land. The only thing that could be found standing was Flora herself. "They are finally gone…" The goddess breathed heavily. It took most of her energy to perform that attack and it had taken a lot from her. "And well enough, I grow weary of fighting them. I need to rest in order to get my power back."

"The forest is gone…and I'm still alive…those angels saved us," Musashi replied from his position on the ground. He looked back at Hiroshima, who took his hands and placed them at his sides.

"That was the last of my magic. I can no longer help them," Hiroshima stated.

"You're the strongest on the team," Tsurugi stated, worry crossed his features.

"Speaking of our so called 'team', where the hell did they go?" The spiky-haired man glanced around for any sight of their team mates.

"I think they tried to run," Tsurugi landed beside of Hiroshima, looking in the opposite direction that he was.

"Shitfuckdamn…" Hiroshima cursed.

"You're still here," Flora's tired voice intoned as she set sights on the three. Her head was lowered more than usual and she was half-lidded. Her last attack had taken nearly all of her power and she was confused as to why her attack didn't hit them.

"So we are," Musashi replied as Ko, Chichiri, Fife and Keiji stood a few feet away from him.

'She's down.' Undine observed. She noticed that Flora was in a weakened state and if there was ever a time to attack, now was that time.

"Won't you stop this, Flora?" The Wind Cavern had hoped that since the goddess was in such a weakened condition that she would give in. The bird knew that she didn't have much strength left and that she couldn't possibly win in her state.

"Never, I will never stop," the stubborn Flora protested bitterly. "I no longer trust humans and their ways. You all…you fight for them. You could never know the pain that I feel."

"We all have pains, Flora. We just have different types of pain, and in different amounts," Fife took a few steps towards her.

"You all…You cut off my power from the City of Plants. I noticed when I was drawing energy for my Illuminating Carnage attack," Flora recalled that moment in time.

'What? What's going on?' The goddess thought to herself as she noticed what little energy had been drawn in. Why did it seem as if she'd been cut off from something? 'I can't pull energy from the city…and there are few trees and foliage here…My attack won't have near the effect I wanted. I'll just have to pull as much energy as I can and hope for the best.'

"It's foolish of you to continue this," Musashi told her gently.

"You went to Xanadu, didn't you?" The goddess narrowed her red eyes in spite.

"We had no choice. Flora, no matter what there will always be people who take advantage of you. People don't realize how important your kind are…We can only hope that they take heed before it's too late," the Wind cavern explained.

The vine dragon looked stubborn for a few moments but defeat was slowly taking over her form. "I don't understand." She then looked to Hiroshima. "You claim to hate humans but here you are, working with them, protecting them…why?"

"I'm just doing what I have to do," the legend replied. "In this world, things like you and I are feared for the powers we possess and because we serve humans we get taken advantage of. Trust me, it pisses me off too."

"But doing this is no way to hand the situation," Hiroshima looked to Musashi. "It just makes them hate you, don't you see that?" The Wind Cavern tried to make her see the light.

Flora turned her back to them and hung her head. "Perhaps but-" The vine dragon didn't get to finish her sentence when a giant spire of ice ripped through the ground and tore through her, splitting her in half. The sound of vines tearing and something screeching in bloody murder could be heard from quite a distance away. Large, pink flower petals and vines hit the ground all around the group.

"Done," Undine replied as everyone stared at her with looks of utter shock on their faces.

"Dude, that wasn't right…" Chichiri finally broke the five minute silence. It seemed that Flora was going to give up on her own and Undine just attacked her out of nowhere and seemed to completely kill her. She was out of line for doing something like that when Flora didn't even seem like she was going to attack. In fact, she had her back turned towards them and her head hung low.

Ko glared at Undine with a hate-filled expression. It seemed like they would get an ally from her and Undine just screwed it up! "What in the hell was that about!?" She shouted, enraged at the petite girl. "Why did you do that!?"

"Just in case she had any second thoughts about attacking us. You can't trust idle words."

"But she wasn't even thinking about it!" Ko argued. "She backed down and you gave her a cheap shot!"

"It's better to take care of it this way then keep going around and around," Undine's voice still remained calm. "Everyone has enough injuries to carry them through and we'd lose if we took this way out. There was no negotiating with her."

"That's so cowardly to hit her while she had no intentions of even fighting us."

"Like she had no intentions of blowing us up a while ago."

"We were in battle that was different. What you did was low," the white-haired girl crossed her arms and frowned. Undine was being unreasonable and very cold. There were better ways that they could have solved the battle and all she was after was blood. She thought she was so strong!

"No lower than your battle status in this group," the long-haired girl's voice had edge to it. She didn't like arguing with Ko but she wasn't going to let herself be verbally abused. Undine decided that she'd fight back and if Ko didn't leave her alone, she'd continue to fight back.

"What!?" Ko exclaimed, more angry now then what she'd ever been towards the blue-haired girl. How dare she mock her rank like that! She wasn't any better than her and she had no right to say it! It's not like she was the best on the team or anything! "How dare you even put down MY rank!"

"We have a rank?" Chichiri was confused by their comments.

"I'd back off if I were you. You don't want to contend with me," Undine didn't want to fight Ko, but she would if she persisted to badger her about her battle choice.

"Fuck you! You cowardly little bitch!" The white-haired girl was enraged. Someone like her had no right whatsoever to talk to her like that!

Large, round eyes glared icy cold. "I'm warning you," her voice was flat but rigid.

"Bring it on! I wouldn't mind shortening this team by one member!"

"You should leave if anyone. You're completely useless."

"Why you little-!!"

"I don't advise it. I won't hesitate."

"Hm?" Fife's eyes widened slightly as a blur shot past him at great speed. 'My sword!'

"Huh?" Musashi looked from side to side in a confused manner. Ko and Undine were wide-eyed as well. The two of them were literally shocked stiff. The two of them didn't move one inch, for if they did, they would surely impale themselves on the swords that were pointed dangerously close to their noses. The point of each one touched the tip of their noses, daring them to inch forward so that they could spill their blood upon the steel blades.

The two girls were petrified with fear as they saw the one who was wielding the swords between them. Someone he'd moved with so much speed that they couldn't see him until he was there and he had such deadly accuracy that the slightest move would set him off.

"Stop it!" Hiroshima shouted, holding the swords at both females. "Take another step and I'll kill you both!"

"Hiroshima…" Undine's expression softened.

"But she-" Ko started to argue but was cut off by the angel.

"Don't press the subject," his voice was calm but icy in tone.

"Fine," the white haired girl glared at Undine, who closed her eyes.

"I'll not do anything rash," the small girl knew her boundaries and testing someone as ruthless as Hiroshima was not her forte'. She'd back off until Ko decided that she wanted to mess with her again and from the looks of it, that didn't seem to be any time soon.

The group could feel a presence wash over them as Xanadu's magic left the area, signifying that the battle was over. Keiji's thoughts stated the obvious as he too, felt the magic leave the area. Everything seemed back to normal now.

Flora was gone.

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On the opposite side of the city, the tired goddess was in one piece again and still looked ragged from her battle with the group of angels and humans. Her saddened expression reflected her true pain and she thought to herself on what to do next.

'These humans…They, in masses are truly a destructive force. Not even the Gods can stop them if their need to destroy is that great. I cannot aid them in such action. I will not allow them to use my plants in a way that seems like they are against their creator. It's harmful that my plants are used against other humans, let alone the Gods themselves…I can't continue to let this go on.'

Her red gaze looked upon the village in sorrow as she uttered her next plan of action.

"I will destroy the City of Plants so that this will not happen again."

To Be Continued…