This is coming out specially early cuz I know how everyone hates cliffhangers. Don't expect such quick updates all the time, though! Gah, I don't want to set a standard.

Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

It looked like Scott was struggling, and they'd only been gone five minutes. The group had to move fast to keep warm, but Scott was clearly not well enough to take on such a strenuous trek so soon after recovery.

"Maybe we should take you back," Raye said, shooting a concerned glance at him.

He shook his head. "No. I can't go back until Ami's safe."

"But you'll get sick…"

"It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. We've got to get to Ami –"

His legs crumbled. Yuui and Darien lunged forward to catch him. They grabbed his arms, letting him rest on their shoulders. "Come on, McCallister, work with me here," Yuui said, grunting under the weight.

Scott groaned, covering his hand with his eyes. "No… No no no no no…"

Raye shot a frightened look at Serena before asking the question on everyone's minds. "What do you see?"

"Ami… oh god… no… she's…"

Raye grabbed his shirt. "What? What happened to her?"

"She made a mistake… a terrible mistake…" He fell forward, and Yuui and Darien struggled to keep him up.

"Scott," Darien said. "Scott! Dammit, he's unconscious again!"

"What?" Serena cried.

"The sugulite must have worn out," Yuui said.

Serena frowned. "But sugulite doesn't wear out! Once it heals, it heals!"

Yuui shrugged under Scott's weight. "Obviously whatever the Ghosts did to him requires constant healing. Come on, we've got to take him back and wait for more sugulite. We can use what was left from before."

Serena looked at Raye. "But what about Ami?"

"She'll just have to wait, we need to go back for Lita –" Darien started, but Serena screamed over him,

"Didn't you just hear what Scott said? Something awful's happened to her! You only want to see your precious Lita!"

"Are you kidding me?" Darien yelled, still straining under Scott's weight. "Is that really what you're bringing up at a time like this? You're un-freaking-believable!"

"SHUT UP, the pair of you!" Raye said over them. She rubbed her temples. "Okay, you two boys take Scott back to the caves. Serena and I will follow Ami."

"No –" Yuui started.

"Yes," Raye said firmly. "Serena and I couldn't possibly carry Scott back, and we can't leave Ami out there by herself. I know this area well enough to get to the malachite region. Just go wait for Lita and catch up with us when you can. All right?"

Yuui shut his mouth, but he looked very sour about the arrangement.

Serena glared at Darien. "And you can go back and make smoochy faces at Lita. See if I care."

"You know what?" Darien said, raising his voice over hers. "I hope stretching our link so far actually breaks it, so I don't have to be anywhere near your sorry self ever again!"

"Me too!"

"Well good."

"Good!"

Raye grabbed Serena's sleeve and yanked her away from the boys. "Come on. We're never going to catch up to Ami at this rate."

"Good riddance!" Darien yelled after them.

Serena made a rude hand gesture at him, but it was lost beneath her bulky gloves.

Darien snorted and turned to Yuui. "Ungrateful little brat. Shall we?"

Yuui didn't reply. His eyes, somewhat glazed, followed Raye as she walked further and further away from him.

xxx

Hot saliva and blood dripped down her body. Her flesh burned. She had used her arm to shield herself, and now it was ripped open. Redness seeped the snow around her. No scream punctured her pain. She was not like everyone else. She would die in silence.

Even as her head fell back against its icy pillow, the fang released her from its grip. Her arm fell limply onto her torso. The creature stood on her, its claws digging into her skin, its snout once again covered in blood – her blood – as it stared into the night. Its hackles rose.

Ami rolled her head to one side to see what had captured her attacker's attention, and her heart froze over. Give her the wild animal. She'd take getting ripped apart over what was to come. God, please let her die here, now.

The fang dropped its head and growled.

Ami closed her eyes. No… hope… we'll both die…

She felt the animal tense above her at her internal voice. She didn't have the strength to continue. She could almost sense the dark, transparent creature drifting over the snow towards them.

They were both done for.

I will kill… destroy… it will perish beneath my jaw…

The voice of the wild one was deep and low, like a beastly growl.

No… hope… Ami thought again.

Her body jolted as the fang leapt off her. She heard him stalking towards the Ghost, his paws barely audible in the snow.

The Ghost would kill him first. Easily. All it had to do was float through him.

She'd be next.

Ami drew in a shuddering, icy breath. She wasn't supposed to die. Scott wouldn't have sent her to her demise. There must be something she could do… something…

Her eyes snapped open. She ignored the blinding red pain of the remains of her arm, rolled over, and wriggled towards her canvas bag. Her trist coat was in tatters – it fell apart as she crawled through the snow. The blue blade in her belt dragged across her skin and cut open her leg. She struggled on.

She reached out, her pulse roaring in her ears, almost drowning out the snarls of the wild one.

Her fingers found purchase on the canvas and she tugged it towards her. The fogginess of her breath clouded her vision. She inhaled and kept the air in her lungs. Her whole body was running hot and cold from the pain and snow.

Her frostbitten fingers fumbled with the opening. Yuui had put a crystal in there. Their emergency tiger's eye crystal.

It was nearly impossible to unzip the inner pocket. Dizziness cast its tendrils on her mind. Her stomach swirled. Bile scalded her throat. The entire world was swimming.

In the end, belief in Scott and sheer panic saw her blue fingers, sticky with blood, yank open the compartment and pull out the precious stone.

Ami rolled onto her back, panting. The Ghost was nearly upon her. The wild fang was backing up, his hind legs at Ami's feet. He kept his head down, still snarling. It looked like he'd realised he couldn't just bite the thing.

Ami held open her good palm, exposing the crystal to the moonlight. The tiger's eye glowed for a moment, then a burst of light erupted from the yellow stone, nearly blinding her. She turned her head, squeezing her eyes shut. The explosion lasted no longer than a few seconds, but Ami had almost lost consciousness by the time it died down.

Her mind felt light, like she was drifting. She had experienced the sensation once before in her life, when she was drowning. When she was dying.

She was vaguely aware of something strong and soft nudge her, and she sensed something lift her up. The softness was against the front of her body now, like she was flopped over a rug. She could have sworn she heard low, deep, beastly thoughts in her mind, but the blackness creeping through her had taken hold, and she couldn't process anything except the wind against her face and in her hair, as if she was moving fast. As if she was riding on the back of a wolf.

xxx

Dawn was approaching, and with it came a feral wind that howled across the snow-swept plains and whipped against the girls like it was trying to hold them back.

"I'm going to die!" Serena moaned, her teeth chattering, her head bent against the gale.

Raye covered her head, keeping her sceptre high to light their way, her short hair whipping behind her. "Go back if you're going to complain! I don't have the energy to fight with you!"

"I can't believe Ami's out here by herself."

Raye pushed harder through the snow. "Me too. We have to keep moving!"

"Easy for you to say. Not only do I have this damn wind to battle against, but I'm the one carrying our supplies, and my stupid link with Darien feels like a bloody elastic band! I'm being stretched to my absolute limit here!"

"We've got a lot further to go til we hit the malachite and tiger's eye regions, Serena. Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Serena didn't reply; she was too busy spitting out hair from her mouth. Above them, clouds whisked across the sinking moon, plunging them in and out of darkness. They had lost Ami's tracks a long time ago thanks to the wind, but they kept steadily straight, hoping Ami hadn't veered sideways at any time.

"Do you think he's really going to do it?" Serena asked after a while.

Raye continued to fight against the wind. "Huh?"

"Darien. Is he really going to make smoochy faces at Lita? Not that I care or anything. But he'd be a total jerk if he did, because technically we're still going out. We haven't officially broken up or anything. So if he kisses Lita, it'd count as cheating."

Raye groaned, not replying in the hopes that Serena would drop the subject. No such luck.

"Look, it's just a matter of principle. I'm not saying I forgive him or anything, because I don't, and I certainly don't care what he does with that tall… athletic… man-girl… but cheating is not on. It's just plain wrong. You know? See, and I went and told him he could make smoochy faces at her, but he can only do that when we break up… only he might have taken that as me giving him permission to cheat, which is definitely not what I was doing…"

"Shut up, Serena."

"… so I shouldn't have said that, really. What if he cheats on me?"

Raye sighed into the wind, unable to tune out Serena's incessant chatter. "He won't."

"But what if he kisses Lita?" Serena cried. "I told him to kiss Lita! Oh my god, Raye, why did I say that? Now he's going to kiss Lita!"

"I doubt he'll be thinking of making out with anyone in the middle of a crisis. Scott's on the brink of death, for goodness' sake, and Ami's in a huge amount of trouble. Besides, just because you fought doesn't mean Darien's going to move onto the next girl he sees. He loves you." Raye paused. "Despite the fact he's not very good at showing it."

Serena's foot caught on something and she squeaked as she tripped over. Raye turned, rolled her eyes, and went back to help her up. With all the layers of clothes on, Serena had a hard time getting to her feet. When she did, she kicked at the thing she'd tripped on. "What's this?"

Raye held her glowing sceptre over the ground, pausing as colour appeared beneath the white snow. She fell to her knees, digging the bag out with her free hand. "Ami's supplies!"

Serena used her foot to scuff around her and gasped. "What's that red stuff? Please don't tell me it's blood!"

Raye stood, shouldering the bag. "I think it is," she said grimly. "This must have been what Scott saw."

Serena stared at her, eyes wide. "But she's okay, right? She can't be… can't be…"

"She's not dead," Raye said firmly. "Scott would have had a massive breakdown if that was the case. Besides, we'd see a body."

Serena hardly looked convinced.

Raye shook her head and turned. "Come on. We've got to keep moving."

Serena started after her, but she stepped on something bulky and stopped again, bending down to shake it from the snow. "Look! Ami's coat! It feels pretty tattered."

Raye spun around. She held her sceptre up and peered at the coat. "Those are claw marks," she said, fingering the rips. She glanced around. "I think she must have been attacked by a wild fang."

"Then where is she?" Serena asked, her voice high from hysteria.

"She had that blade," Raye said. "Maybe she fought off the fang and ran away."

Serena pressed her blue lips together in a thin line. "Do you really think that's what happened?"

Raye stomped her foot. "Rather than standing around contemplating it, why don't we just hurry up and find her so you can ask her yourself? Now come on."

Serena hastened after her as she thundered away, wrapping the remains of the coat around her body. Unfortunately, it did nothing to warm her thoughts of what Darien was doing.

xxx

"I mean, the girl's a total retard. Sure, Lita's hot and stuff, but come on, I got beaten to a bloody pulp by giant freakin' Lemurians for Serena, why would she think I want anyone but her?"

Yuui rubbed his eyes tiredly. He had given up trying to respond to Darien's rant a long time ago. Twip and Farthest lay sleeping on either one of his shoulders. He wished he could sleep too.

"And it's not as though I get crazy jealous or anything, it's only that when she looks at another guy, I just happen to want to pound him into little pieces. That's not so wrong, right? Sorry, man, I don't mean you. Much."

Yuui's back was aching from sitting on the rocky floor for so long. He glanced down at Scott, who was still unconscious, covered in whatever sugulite crystals they had left. Lita had yet to return with any more.

"And duh, if she's looking at other guys, then clearly it's okay that I look at other girls. This relationship has to work two ways, you know. There can't be double-standards. I'm not just gonna…"

Darien trailed off, wincing and rubbing his chest – a sign that his psychic link with Serena was stretching to its very extreme. Yuui sighed, grateful for the respite in the chatter, but his relief was short-lived.

"Guys, I'm so sorry, I got trapped by the sea monster, where are the other girls?"

Lita raced in, soaked and clutching an armful of sugulite crystals. Yuui and Darien stood immediately. Twip fell right from Yuui's shoulder, twipping angrily, but Farthest managed to cling on, digging his claws into his shirt.

Yuui ignored the cramps in his muscles from the long period of immobility and rapidly explained what was going on. Twip climbed back onto his shoulder, giving his ear a nip to show just how mad she was.

Lita coated Scott in crystals while Yuui spoke. "Well," she said when he'd finished. She stood and wrung out her hair. "Looks like we need to get moving."

"Who's going to stay with Scott?" Darien said.

Lita surveyed him. "You'll have to."

"Me? Why me?"

"Yuui knows the land, and I'm the transportation device. You don't even have your sword any more, so you're kind of useless."

Darien stepped up to Lita, his fists clenched. "You want to see useless?"

"Woah woah woah," Yuui said, moving between them. "We don't have time for this. Darien, just wait here –"

"You can't make me stay behind; this link with Serena feels like it's at breaking point!"

At that moment, the five animals that had been guarding Scott when they'd first arrived came thundering into the cavern, bellowing and bleating and howling. They stampeded right through, into the tunnel that led to the ocean.

"What's with them?" Darien said, but Yuui had already grabbed his dagger.

"Get going," he said quietly. "Take Scott through one of the tunnels and hide. Farthest and Twip, get out of here."

"Why?" Lita asked as the two twips scampered down Yuui's body and sprinted away. "What's –"

"There's only one thing that could scare those animals so badly," Yuui said through his teeth. "Now go!"

Lita and Darien didn't need any more convincing than that. They hauled Scott up, draping his arms over their shoulders, and hurried into a tunnel different to the retreating animals, following Twip and Farthest.

Yuui turned to where the animals had come from, gripping the hilt of his dagger and planting his feet to the ground. His first instinct was to get the hell out of there, but he couldn't risk the Ghosts following the others.

The Ghosts. They were actually here.

They'd never ventured into the caves before. The only lands besides the diamond region they'd penetrated were the opal and tiger's eye. It looked like they were expanding.

Yuui stared down the dark cave, gritting his teeth so hard he was getting a headache. Looking at a Ghost, knowing what it was capable of, was like staring at death. He was sick of fighting a war he couldn't win. His citrine stone could drive the Ghosts away, but only if he literally passed the crystal through the transparent body of one, and that was a risky venture. Usually he could throw his dagger through it, but…

Three Ghosts floated into the cavern. Three was not good enough. He couldn't risk losing his dagger to scare away one.

Yuui suppressed a shudder at their arrival and tensed his body. The Ghosts continued to drift towards him, never speeding up, never slowing down. They had no face – they were simply black globs of mist. The only way Yuui could tell they were creatures at all was by their direction. They always chased the living, which meant they had an agenda, which meant they must have some kind of consciousness.

The Ghosts were heading forwards. It looked like once they'd gotten past him they'd be travelling down the tunnel towards the ocean. Yuui couldn't let them pass – the animals had gone that way.

He lowered his dagger and took several steps sideways, away from where Lita, Darien, and Scott had gone. The Ghosts didn't change direction.

Yuui kept stepping sideways. "Come on," he said under his breath. "Follow the nice alive person. Come on. This way."

The Ghosts began to veer. Slowly, in a creepy flock formation kind of way, they drifted in an arc and started for him. Yuui's entire body was zinging with adrenaline. He let out a breath, trying to calm himself, and backed into the tunnel. He only noticed the red paint at the entrance after he'd gone in.

Red paint meant a dead end.

Yuui let out a hiss of air. Bad choice. The Ghosts were too close for him to duck out now. He continued to inch backwards as darkness slowly enveloped him. The Ghosts kept coming.

Sweat trickled down Yuui's skin, despite the cool temperature of the tunnel. His heart blocked his throat. He wasn't going to get out of this. There was no way he could possibly get out of this.

One backwards step after another, and soon he could see anything. He knew the Ghosts were still there, still following at their same aggravating pace. He wondered if they could see in the dark. If they could see at all. Maybe they just sensed their victims.

Yuui moved a little bit faster. He didn't know how long the tunnel would go for before he reached –

The dead end.

His foot hit the rocky wall behind him. He reached back and felt around, hoping it was just a corner. It wasn't. His stomach plummeted. The tunnel was sealed. He had nowhere else to go.

He let out a breath and sunk to the ground. Raye had seen her future with a lapis lazuli, and he had been in it. They'd grown old together. They'd had children. How could he die now?

He wondered if he could crawl out, underneath the Ghosts. Although, if they sensed life, they'd probably know he was there and just swoop down on him. He'd be dead immediately.

He couldn't have much time left. The Ghosts were probably only a few strides away now. He would have to take the chance and crawl.

He slid his dagger into the back of his belt. Carefully, quietly, he lowered himself to the ground, stomach down, and inched forward. He had barely moved when his hand rolled over something smooth and small. Something familiar.

A crystal.

Yuui almost choked in hope. Please let it be, please let it be…

A powerful golden light flashed through the cave, burning his retinas. He shut his eyes, a grateful sob shuddering his lungs.

When the light began to fade, he opened his eyes again, blinking away the spots. He just caught sight of the empty tunnel before he was plunged into darkness again. The tiger's eye had chased the Ghosts away – hopefully back to where they came from.

Yuui jumped to his feet and started to feel his way out back out to the cavern, still clutching the saviour crystal. It was no coincidence that the tiger's eye had been there. Someone had placed it there, in that exact spot his hand had landed. Someone with the power to see the future.

Now more than ever, Yuui knew they had to save Scott.