Chapter 15
"Look at them!" the dark voice began in Clef's head. "They're pathetic! They can't even defend themselves. Pitiful and weak, like butterflies, you can just tear their wings off."
Clef looked at his enemies. All of them were bruised from the blasts, but still they fought. In the front, four women fought the hardest against his magic. The one with the long burgandy hair......
'Emerria.' thought the little voice from the shadow. 'She is yours.'
"Mine," Clef thought aloud. "YOU! You are MINE!" he shouted suddenly as he pointed at Emerria. She had just stood to face him, and this time her eyes are different.
"Clef-sama," Emerria began. She saw the darkness and the light in his head fighting as his eyes seemed to flicker, first with the burning darkness that made his eyes seem fridgid, and then with the light that made his eyes seem like the morning sky. "Clef! You can't let it consume you."
Clef's head snapped up as his eyes followed his index finger towards her. Emerria began to glow a blinding green, to him at least. "Stop. Stop! STOP!" he screamed as the light that was eminating from her body began to filter around him, through the trees and around him. It was a warmth that filled him, the little voice in his head ran to it and bathed in it. The darkness cringed. Between his hands, a ball of dark energy was forming. "STOP!!" he yelled as he released it. It consumed the green aura and slammed Emerria backwards into the nearest tree. A sickening silence was heard as her body landed with a thud.
Clef's breath was ragged for the moment when she did not move. Everyone else held their breath. The first twitch of fingers allowed for everyone to release their breath, and the attacks began again.
The darkness pushed everything back as the first barrage of attacks hit. Hikaru screamed as she relased a Fire Arrow, Umi hit him with a Blue Hurricane, and Fuu shook him back with a second Green gale. The combined effort on his weakened powers seemed to push him back, but he still fought.
Behind them, Emerria was trying to get up. Her eyes were opened, though bruised, and suddenly she felt warm hands pick her up and bring her behind Ascot's sheild. Her vision was fuzzy, but she felt a semi-familiar presence of benevolence surround her.
"I can't really protect you from him," Eagle whispered to her as he held her so that Presia could attend her wounds, "But I will try."
"Eagle..." Emerria sighed. "Thank you, but I have to try again."
The sudden shaking of the earth brought everyone to their knees. Clef stood, wavering in the middle of his own blast that had created a crater inside the forest. Trees had been felled, and there were cracks in the ground. Suddenly, Emerria clutched at her heart, and she felt the energy from the body of Cephiro draining away. She knew that it would soon be over, one way or another.
Clef was running out of energy. The dark voice told him he should quit playing games and destroy everything with the darkness, but the little voice, the one that radiated everytime she got up told him to keep fighting. It was the only way.
A black streak flew by the crowds and left everyone gasping for breath. When everyone opened their eyes, Lantis was standing directly in front of Clef with his sword poised at his throat.
"Who ever you are, step away from me," Clef said as he faced the point of Lantis's sword. Its sharp tip pressed against his skin and his smooth skin broke leaving a trail of blood down his neck.
"I'll kill you if I have to, Magician, but I don't want to." Lantis moved swiftly, and pulled Clef into a strangle hold while still leaving the sharp blade poised at his throat.
"You are too kind to kill me, " Clef said, sensing the darkness engulfing him again. A powerful battle aura seemed to glow and a charge of lightning threw the sword out of Lantis's hands. Darkness flickered around them, and the air seemed to shiver.
Emerria, still behind Ascot's shield, knew she had to stand. All of the memories in her brain were still running like a fountain to the surface. "CLEF!" she screamed at him. "TAKE ME!"
Clef turned at the sound of her voice, and Lantis was thrown away from Clef to the ground. He looked at her puzzled, and the little voice crowed. "What do you want?" he asked her slowly and carefully.
Emerria stepped out of the shield and began walking towards him. Past the Magic Knights, past Lantis gasping for breath, and she stepped right up to Clef. "I want you." she said simply, as she saw the darkness flicker behind his eyes. She put her hand out to his face, and ignoring the dangerous dark lightning that threatened her, she pressed her hand to his cheek and let the memories that the Great Mother had given her sink back into Clef.
........ a stolen kiss on her cheek as she lay asleep.......
........ a happy smile as she grasped a new magical concept..........
........ the sun shining on his face as they walked through the forest together......
........ a feeling of horrible pain as she gave herself up to the earth......
........ the gentle touch of her hand.............
Clef screamed. Simply put, the darkness raged against it. Floodgates of light opened, and the darkness seemed to struggle. He contorted in the pain that the two forces inflicted. Two voices, two lights, two powers. His eyes squeezed themselves shut and he grabbed her hand off his cheek. He squeezed her wrist until he heard her cry out in pain and feel the fragile bones break, but it was still a rage against the light.
"Clef-sama..." Emerria said softly. Under her voice were tired tears, and anguish. Strained, she choaked out from the pain, "You know.... I... I'd.........rather you.... look at me....... like that........than...... not look...... at me.............. at all......." The last words seemed to squeak as his grasp let her broken wrist go. He screamed again, this time a shattering noise that seemed to be a release. The darkness around him and the lightning around him seemed to contract, then shrink, then contract again, then suddenly, a dark humanoid shadow seemed to shoot out of Clef's body.
The darkness seemed to hover above him and take a solid form, and glowing red eyes seemed to stare at them. The Magic Knights gathered their strength and attacked it, and with each attack, a crack appeared in its dark surface. Finally, Lantis stood and picked up his sword from where it had fallen and threw it at the shadow. It hit tip first and it seemed to linger a moment before the shadow completely shattered. The sword landed in the soil in the crater and the shadow dissolved into tiny bits of nothingness.
On to Chapter 16
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