Time to Heal

[Tsukikage]

Kage glared at the substance crawling off into the shadows... Giga... I know that's you, you bastard. So it's over? Then what...? Is he...? He whimpered softly and sniffed at Wahya, tears still dripping off his face.

[Wahya Ayawisgi]

Wahya's eyes come back to his golden state, he blinks a couple times as he looks around. His vision was a little blurry for a second then it cleared up, he saw Kage and Hina standing over him. His eyes soften as a smile comes across his face, "Hey guys... did I miss anything."

Wahya staggers to his feet, as he does the dream-weaver rolls off his back and lands beside him.

[Tsukikage]

Kage gaped. "Wahya... you're... you're okay..." He collapsed at Wahya's feet, laughing and crying tears of joy.

[hitobannofokkusu]

Hina watched the black goo slither away and she wanted to kick it. But it was goo, so she couldn't. As Wahya woke, she smiled halfway and said Dork. Then she nuzzled him as Kage cried.

Dawn listened to what Mar said and she thought about the underlying meaning. His life...My life is my soul. But half of my soul...It dawned on her and she looked back at Mar with a look of disbelief and wretched denial. No...not...Tell me exactly what you're thinking Mar or I won't trust my own reasoning!

[Wahya Ayawisgi]

Wahya moves his paw underneath Kage's muzzle and lifts it so that Kage was looking at Wahya, "It is alright... I am fine, as you are fine as well." Wahya jumps slightly when Hina starts to nuzzle him then he settles.

"I dealt with my problem.."

[Tsukikage]

Mar stared into Dawn's eyes. "A life... what is it really? It's merely the sum of your past, present, and future, right? Or it could be your life force. Or something you live for..." He cringed at his own words, "I... I thought it was an exchange of life energies... but... I think..." His tears still hadn't stopped... they'd even began pooling in the circle in the ground, and Mar was all too quickly sitting in a small puddle. "I think I may have traded... my time-life... my past. My... my... my family... my--" He couldn't go on. Just saying it was painful enough without expounding on it. He howled in grief, and Tsuki's crest turned to a dark purple color. Tsuki flinched a bit, flooded over by Mar's immense sorrow. Dad... what... did you do?
Tsuki stumbled to the ground... but it didn't hurt. Hate was painful, like a knife, but sadness in this pure form... it was heavy. It felt like he was being buried alive. He couldn't move. "Heets... ngh..." He said calmly, "I'm okay, let Dad... let him be." Tears began to spill from his own eyes as his head was forced to the ground, coming to rest at Hitoban's feet. The last thing he wanted was for everyone to freak out and try to interfere with whatever Mar was feeling.
Mar howled until he became short of breath, then he ran and bashed his head against the rock wall over and over, until he started to bleed from the scar on his head. Finally, he sank to the ground and wept dry tears. "I was a fool..." He whispered, "I just... wanted to protect them."

[hitobannofokkusu]

Hitoban heard Mar's talk and then his howl and looked at him, about to go and comfort him when Tsuki sank to the ground with the pressure. She listened to what he had to say and she nodded, tears glistening in her own eyes. She lay down with him and lay her head next to his.

Dawn let loose the tears hiding behind her eyes when he began to howl and she didn't try to hide them. Her fears had been confirmed and she didn't like it. His life...for Kage's...for her life. She cringed as his bashed his head and she lay down where she stood, rolled over onto her side, and let the tears flow. She couldn't help but feel the guilt of knowing it was her moonlight that had summoned the witch or whatever she was that Mar gave his life to. But now it was done and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

[Tsukikage]

"I wonder... if she's even... still alive..." Mar whispered to himself. What kind of life did she have without me? Did she go back to the human family that had adopted her siblings? Maybe she never left... And Girardot... has probably... Oben! Omigosh, what about Oben! Just then, a scent filled his nostrils, confirming his worst fear. This isn't too far from where... oh no... not that. He hadn't told the others about some of the more... traumatic times in his life, but now was not the time. Oben was here, and Mar had never been there to stop him on that... horrible day... not anymore. He jumped to his feet. "Everyone! Get ready!" He quickly banished his sorrow to a dark corner of his heart; if he was going to protect what future he had left, he had to be ready for the worst. "I don't have time to explain, but Oben is nearby, and he will try to kill us if he finds us..." Chances are, our... no... his brothers are with him... this is crazy! "For those of you who haven't fought him before, he'll have corpses with him, and they will attack you until they are completely destroyed. You can't show fear or any reservation in destroying them; they are already dead."
Kage dragged himself to his feet, still confused, but ready. Tsuki was slower to rise, the burden of sadness still heavy upon him. Shimo was still out cold.

Across the water, on the opposite side, a black wolf with black eyes walked to the waters' edge. He smiled at two other wolves as they emerged. "Come, brothers. This is our favorite water! Remember when those bad wolves chased us away so many times? Well, the bad wolves are gone now... it's safe." The other wolves floated to the water as Oben sank into it. "Isn't this nice, brothers? I'm so glad the bad wolves are gone..." Just then, Oben's black spheres fixed on Mar. "Hello. Do you want to play with us? We're having a wonderful time." He sounded so innocent, like a naive little puppy, but his voice also dripped with evil. He began to laugh, foaming at the mouth and glaring insanely at Mar and the others. "You have females? Mmm... this could be fun; I haven't heard a good scream in a long time! Okay, brothers! Play time!" At his command, the wolves dashed across the water's surface and pounced into the center of the group, while Oben slunk behind a tree.

Kage pinned one of the wolves, but was shocked to find that it had no eyes or fangs, just an eerie blue-green glow where the parts should be. At first, he'd thought they were white because that was simply their color... but these wolves were dead. "Dad! Why is Uncle Oben doing this?!?"
Mar pinned the other and tore its head off, tears flying off his face. The body continued to struggle, but Mar quickly tore it to pieces, sending thin strips of flesh and brittle bones everywhere. "I..." He cried, "He's not your uncle anymore, Kage! I'll explain later, just fight!"
Tsuki felt heavier again, and fell flat in lieu of a pounce. I can't fight like this... sorry, Kage.
Kage turned to help Tsuki, but the wolf he was fighting pinned him down, snapping its ghostly jaws down on his neck. Kage felt incredible pain, like he was burning alive, but his body remained in tact. He yelped loudly. This pain! I've never... felt... "AAAHH!!!"

[Wahya Ayawisgi]

Wahya lowers his stance when he hears Mar yell to get ready, Ready for what?!. Wahya leaped back slightly when the wolves jumped in the center of everyone, "What the hell are you?!" Wahya's ear twitched to the sound of Kage's scream, he quickly looks over to see one of the beasts on him. Wahya quickly dashes forward and head butts the side of the beast off Kage.

"Kage? Are you alright?"

[Tsukikage]

Without pausing for a second, Mar dashed around the pool to fish out Oben. The more time he has, the worse off we are...

Kage just lay there, twitching like a freshly killed beetle. Beads of sweat dripped down his face, and a look of absolute terror was in his eyes. "The... the pain... the pain..." He could still feel it inside of him, coursing through his artificial veins, paralyzing him. "It... hurts... so much... pain..." He whimpered.

[Rynn]

ooc: figures I leave for a week and I get ditched.....XD

Rin opened her eyes slowly at first, until she noticed that no one was in the cave and there was a huge ruckus going on outside. She stood slowly wincing slightly as her cramped muscles stretched. She padded quickly to the edge of the cave and looked down to see the others fighting. She laid down in the shadows of the cave, she would wait and watch to see if anyone needed any help, or if anymore of those weird looking wolves were approaching.

[Tsukikage]

Mar threw Oben into the water. "You wretched creature!" He snarled. "How dare you come here?!?" Oh my God... it's happening again... His mind drifted back to the first time he'd fought Oben. "Oben, what have you done?!?" Mar cried, "Our... our brother... what did you do to him?!?" Oben smirked, "I've always been the weak one, but now I've found strength enough to defeat even you!"
Oben and his puppet, Yore, attacked. It was a two-on-two... Mar and Ricard fought valiantly, but Ricard was killed by some ghostly venom from Yore's fangs. Finally, Mar overpowered and subdued Oben... but at great cost. But none of that had happened now... Ricard was probably overtaken and killed by Oben, just like he'd killed Yore... this time, there was no blood between himself and Oben... this time, one of them would die.
Oben withdrew, finding his way into the hidden cave under the water... He's been here before... so this is where he was going to take us on that trip... who'd have guessed we'd come full circle? Mar turned and shouted to Hitoban, "Little Miss, who's inside the cove? Oben's just gone down there, and it will be dangerous."

Meanwhile, Kage began foaming at the mouth and chanting and flailing feverishly, "Pain... the pain... it burns..."

[Rynn]

Rin saw the wolf called Oben dive down to the cove. The more she thought the more she realized that there was in fact people in the cave for she didn't see them out here. With a quiet growl she stood and for the first time in at least 2 years she unfurled her wings, the wings were black and faded into blue at the tips, she launched herself out of the cave and up into the air, she hovered there for a few seconds looking over the clearing. Then before she heard Hitobans answer she folded her wings to her body and diving swiftly down into the water that led to the cove with a soft splash.

[hitobannofokkusu]

[occ]Where the heck did those come from Rin?![/occ]

Hitoban saw Tsuki collapse and dashed over to him. She knew he couldn't fight, so she would just have to stay here and protect him. Any dead beings that came at her she ripped to shreds, following Mar's example. Every now and then, her fur would flash black and flash back. The joy of ripping things to Katashi was almost overpowering Hitoban's will to protect everyone. But the more Hitoban fought, the more she thought of everyone here she had to protect. Her pack, her friends, her family, they helped her to fight off Katashi.

She saw Oben go into the grotto and looked around. There was Rin, and Hina...but where were Maname and Daisuke? She looked frantically and couldn't see them. She let her guard down for a second and a ghostly figure lunged on her, causing her to be crushed to the ground. Her fur went black and red and Katashi smirked. She grabbed onto the dead wolf's neck and ripped it's head off, flinging it into a tree. Then she clawed and ripped at it's body until it was in ribbons. Her teeth dripped red with blood, but she didn't move from protecting Tsuki.

Katashi heard Mar's question and chuckled. Oh those two siblings...what were their names...Maname and...Daisuke! Yeah, them. They're still in there. She barely payed attention to anything other than killing anything that came at her with brutal malignity. She knew no side-she was on none. She simply killed, killed everything that dared get in her way.

Meanwhile, Dawn finished off a dead wolf and looked to check on Kage to see him on the ground, flailing, foaming, and crying out about pain. She ran over to him and looked him over, then turned to Mar. He apparently had experienced something like this before and could probably tell her what was wrong.

Mar, what's wrong with Kage? Why is he acting like this?

Maname's ear twitched to the sound of fighting and water splashing. Daisuke looked where she was. Something wasn't right. Maname poked her head outside the door and heard something swimming through the water. She dashed back and tugged on Daisuke's scruff, signaling him to follow her.

They left the healer's wing and crept along the wall into the nursery. Maname looked at Daisuke and spoke.

Brother, someone's out there and I have a feeling they aren't here to help us. There has to be another way out of here and you need to sniff it out. Follow Lady Hitoban's scent. I'm sure that will get us out.

Daisuke nodded and placed his nose to the floor. No familiar scent entered his nostrils so he lifted it and soon located Hitoban's scent. He followed it, Maname following, until it broke into two. One toward the entrance and the other toward the back of the nursery. He chose the back of the nursery and they soon stumbled upon the secret passageway. Daisuke nudged Maname up first and he followed, clawing against the rock. They were soon behind the waterfall and Daisuke led them out and down the ledge. They stopped next to Mar.

Mar, what's going on? Where is Hitoban and who are all of these wolves?

Daisuke kept Maname behind him and helped Mar to fight the dead wolves.

[Tsukikage]

Mar dashed to Kage's side, leaving the cove to Hitoban and the others. If he didn't act fast, all that magic and sacrifice would be for nothing. He picked Kage up in his mouth and bit down around his heart, bleeding bright blue ooze out of his chest, accompanied by a loud crunch as his ribs and sternum cracked. He'd heal quickly enough, but that strange venom... He finally turned to address the questions that had been thrown at him.

"My brother, Oben, has the power to control dead things. Kage was bitten by one such creature... my brother, Yore. Long ago, I stopped Oben from killing my brothers and me, but... because of my barter... I..." Tears began to well up in his eyes again. "I traded my life -- my entire past -- for their past, present, and future. Everything I've done no longer exists, save for Tsuki and Kage. So... Oben and I are no longer related, and I have no power to subdue him... he... he must be killed... I..." He trembled terribly as tears flowed down his face, "Kenji and Merida never existed... Jira... is probably a hunting dog right now... and Girardot may have been... eaten or something, I don't know... but it is as if I was never born..."

Shimo was starting to come to. He shook himself and looked around just in time to see Rin's dive, and hear Kage's ribs snap like twigs. She has... wings... too...? He gasped. He limped over to the water's edge and stared down into it. "What's going on here?"

Meanwhile, Oben slunk through the catacombs, searching for another soul to devour...