Chapter Fifteen

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Miyu.

(-)

The sword that held Miyuki pinned to the trunk of a tree suddenly disappeared and she slumped to the ground. She gasped; shocked to find herself sitting down when she had been trying so hard to keep her soul encased within her being. She was equally surprised to find that her soul hadn't attempted to make an escape when she let out her breath. She sat there with her legs spread out in front of her and her arms limp at her sides. The blood oozed out of her wound on both sides of her body; down her front and down her back. The pain still had yet to register with her but her body felt heavy and nonexistent. She dug her heals into the earth and pushed up against the tree and she rose without bending over her wound. When she was finally upright, she was gasping for breath.

This was all her fault. She had allowed herself to come under this condition. It was sickening, no, pathetic. She had let her stupid emotions cloud her judgment and they had turned around and bitten her. Now she was of no use at all and Lemunia was. . . . .

Her head shot up towards the sky and her eyes widened.

He was gone. She had felt him moments ago but now he was gone. Where had he gone? It was impossible! It felt like a candle within her had been stuffed out; without warning. No weakening flame; just gone.

She pressed the side of her face against the tree. How could she have let this happen! Tears started to streak down her face cleansing the sweat of battle. If she had only killed Klaus when she had had that opening! Not doing so had left Lemunia outnumbered two to one. And they had been able to overtake him. She sensed the energies of two entities grow smaller and smaller until they were barely pinpricks in the back of her mind. Klaus and Livea had left the area, apparently leaving them both for dead. Miyuki pushed away from the tree and stumbled. Her legs wanted to move sluggishly on their own accord but she forced them to multitask, moving swiftly while holding her upright. She wasn't about to crawl on her hands and knees.

Her muscles were straining against her when she found the first signs of battle. Tree limps were strewn on the ground and some were caught in the arms of their fellow branches of their tree, swinging precariously, waiting for the next wind to send them crashing down. There were gashes in the earth where the grass had been torn up and the dirt had been turned over. She found the epicenter of the battle where all the trees on the edges of the circle were blown back, bending outward away from the center. She left a trail behind her as she slowly walked the circumference of the circle searching for anything, any sign of life; or death.

She could have walked in that circle forever but she no sooner intersected her own blood on the ground. And came up empty handed. The search had left her exhausted and gasping for more air than her lungs could use. In her weakened state there was a chance that she had missed something, some minute, crucial detail but her dizziness was taking up her attention.

A cool breeze swept up her hair and dried the sweat and tears from her face. Her cloak was ruffled excepted where it was soaked with blood that made it stick to her body. Something heavy in the trees next to her shook and weakened branches snapped as it fell to the ground in a cloud of black feathers. Miyuki cried out in mixed surprised and relief but then she choked on her own breath realizing that what had fallen hadn't hit the ground hard enough to be a body.

She drew closer coated in dread but nursing a small beacon of hope inside of her already shattered body which was quickly extinguished when she found the torn wing of her fallen companion. Miyuki heaved then turned away and threw up. A change took place within her body and she was suddenly consumed in agonizing pain. She collapsed into her own arms with her face pressed against the earth. Although she had stopped vomiting, blood slowly seeped out of her mouth where she must have bitten her tongue.

Surely with this red trail her soul would find its way from her body.

(-)

Cait Sith was deeply pleased with himself. Really, who would have known he would be able to get away with so much with so little trouble? Even with the four unexpected guests, no one had even attempted to stand in his way. The statue of his mother being broken was unfortunate but he really didn't need it all that much in the grand scheme of things. No, the seal that contained his mother was much more important.

And here they were. After a day's travel, he and Gima were finally at the shrine where his mother's being resided. The shrine was old and overgrown. Half of the roof had caved in from the years of neglect and aging unkempt. He smirked. This was just too easy.

"Well, we shouldn't keep her waiting," Cait Sith said to Gima who stood next to him. "Although, I wouldn't mind savoring this small victory just a little bit longer." He held out his hands and they began to glow a dark purple. "Let's get rid of this eyesore." Black light shot from his hands and struck the shrine, disintegrating its fragile wooden frames. When the smoke dissipated all that was left where the shrine once stood was a glowing seal in the shape of a dagger. He was about to reach out for it when a light burst out from around the seal instantly blinding him.

"Cait Sith!" Gima cried out as she dove in front of him. The light immediately consumed her and when it disappeared, so did Gima. Cait Sith blinked away the afterimage the light had left on his eyes. A trap? There had been a trap set around the shrine. He frowned, having lost one of his minions but there was no grief insight as he reached out, this time more cautiously and took the dagger in his hands. There was no light, no second onslaught. The shrines power had exhausted itself with its one final attempt to protect what it thought belonged to it. He grinned.

Too easy.

(-)

Parents always told their children never to eat dirt because there were pesticides and germs and microscopic organisms that lived in its moist black form. They were likely to get sick off of it.

Not to mention it didn't taste as good as it looked.

Lemunia tried to turn his head to spit the dirt out but packed in under several feet of dirt there wasn't that much leeway for movement. It was dark, kinda helped that his eyes were closed, but he could feel the pressure of the earth press down on him from all sides. It wasn't as heavy as it could have been, having been freshly overturned, but in a matter of time with the help of perhaps a pop-up rain, the earth would become much heavier. He tried to think while not breathing in more dirt. Digging himself out was going to be a big problem. An even bigger problem would be attempting to dig around the wing that was still attached to his body and had managed to remain spread out when Livea had buried him. He moved his hands. The dirt shifted around them with some effort but the space was quickly filled with more dirt from above.

Well, this was almost hopeless.

He searched for Miyuki and found next to nothing to cling onto. Her presence was weakening slowly but she was nearby, in fact, closer than she should have been. He shifted as well as he could underground. She was practically right above him. He gasped when he shifted to far and twisted the wing that was still a part of his body. He tasted more dirt and it was sour soaked with something that tasted like death. It tasted all too familiar and with all the blood he had lost it was a miracle that anything registered at all.

Miyuki was on the ground above him and her blood was soaking into the ground.

But she was clearly unconscious. He would have been able to speak to her or she would have awoken him a long time ago. He was still moving him hands in careful circles to try to get them closer to his torso so he could start working on digging upward. It was a race against time but the dirt wasn't making anything easy and all the while more of Miyuki's blood was making its way down to his level. He final managed to pull his left hand free and his talons elongated. It was conveniently positions up near his left wing, still fanned out.

Thank you, Fate," he murmured gently as his talons tore into the muscles of him own wing. Self-inflicted pain always hurt more than pain inflicted by others but he gritted his teeth against it and managed to get down to the bone and then had to pause until he was able to shift the dirt enough to free his right hand. There was nothing easier than breaking hollowed bones. With both hands wrapped around the bone he crushed it to powder against his palms. By now he was already numb to the pain and was relieved when he was able to shift free of a part of his own body. The blood was soaking into the earth around him making it surprisingly easier to maneuver. His legs were still bound by the earth but he first worked on digging above himself until he could no longer reach. In order to keep the dirt from caving in he held one hand above himself with his fingers spread as he one-handedly tried to loosen the dirt enough to free his legs.

If Klaus hadn't made such a direct hit, there wouldn't have been such a significant blood lost, and with his blood still in tow he would have been able to use magic. Lemunia grunted against the strain of the earth above him trying to push back down upon him as he dug at it. It wouldn't help if he passed out now. Then what would have been the point of going through all that trouble in the first place?

After what seemed like hours or perhaps it had been his hand finally shot out of the ground. Night air flowed in as he pulled himself out of his premature grave. He finally spit the dirt out of his mouth and looked around. There was a crescent moon rising over the tops of the trees giving off just enough light to highlight the shadows around him. The light bounced off of Miyuki's pale skin as she glowed in the night, lying only a meter or two away from him.

He quickly got up, wobbled, and then collapsed on the ground. Underground, the earth had supported his body, keeping him upright. In the open air he felt weightless and weak. He tried to pick himself up again but let himself fall to spare himself from the full effect of the wave of vertigo that was threatening to wash him away. He instead crawled to Miyuki's side easing himself down to the ground next to her. She could have been sleeping if it weren't for the pool of blood that stretched out around her. Despite the pain she must have been in she looked very serene; so much that it frightened him.

He sat up and leaned over her. He was too drained to revive and heal her and their options were far and few in between. The Westerners and the Quarl were far away from them; for now. He had the time to waste to search.

He drew closer to her until his lips were pressed against her ear. "Forgive me for this, Miyuki, but I'm afraid you might hate me forever for this." He draped her arms over himself then carefully, ever so carefully, he pulled her over his shoulders. She didn't as much as stir as he struggled to stand. "You'll be fine, Miyuki," he murmured, more for his assurance than for hers. He moved slowly, planting one foot in front of the other, trying hard to keep his balance.

If he fell, it would mean the end for both of them.

(-)

Larva had been wandering aimlessly for hours being unable to trace the energies back to their origins. He knew he must be somewhere near the area that the battle had taken place but with no life force to follow his search had run cold. He would go back to Miyu empty handed.

A crescent moon rose in the night sky and the light filtered down through the canopy of tree branches that hung overhead. Everything was so quite. There had been no activity on either side of the battlefield. He could sense Aoi and Ichiro but they were both calmly patrolling the second tier. It was time to go back to Miyu and hope that Ranka was right when she had said that Miyuki was able to take care of himself.

Suddenly, something fluttered and flapped past him, catching his attention. The light of the moon reflected off blue-black feathers as a large bird flew past and ascended into the sky. Larva watched it disappear surprised that the bird had not cried out in alarm. A light breeze blew through the trees carrying with it the heavy scent of blood. He turned towards it just as something collapsed from out of the shadows.

"At last. . . . .I've. . . .found. . . . .you."

Larva approached and knelt down in front of it. "Lemunia!" he couldn't say anything more as Lemunia pulled Miyuki off his shoulders and pushed her wounded form into Larva's arms. "Get her. . . . away. . . . to safety. . . .Miyuki. . . . .I . . .trust you," he barely had enough breath to get out what he wanted to say as he fell unconscious. Larva touched the younger Westerner's neck but couldn't bring him back to consciousness. He wouldn't be able to carry them both in the fragile state that they were in but he honored the other Westerners request and carried Miyuki back to the heart of the second tier; leaving her companion behind.

To Be Continued.

BlueDragonGirl1: Hey guys! Here's an update after a four month hiatus (brought to you in part by college). I totally forgot how easy it actually is to write updates for these fics. It may take months to a year to update but in actuality it only takes about two to three days to write the actual update. *sweatdrop* Yeah, I guess I have no excuse. Anywho, I hope ya'll enjoy the update and as always R&R!