Pain of Loss

Previous Chapter - Demolition Fight

An Ending to Things
Fiona landed on crooked ground, seeing only what the light from the door above illuminated. Despite this, she still saw Kat laying on the floor just at the edge of the light, moaning in pain. Fiona rushed to her side and rolled her over, seeing her arm had completely bled through her makeshift bandage. "Hey sis." She said in a somewhat woozy tone. "What are you doing here?" She regained her senses quickly however, rolling out of Fiona's arms to scan over the dim room. "Where's mom?"

The sound of coughing could be heard as the two turned over to see who it was, showing some of the light shining down as it was revealed to be Sabriel, lying down on the ground with her hand covering her stomach. Blood was slowly dripping from the knife wound as she tried to hold it tightly so it didn't leak out any worse. The wound didn't look so big, but she felt it had hit a vital organ that was slowly killing her from the inside out. All she could do was look up at the sky as she waited for her imitate death.

Fiona looked at shock with what was right in front of her, never once did she ever see her mother look like this: battered, beaten, and down for the count. Somewhere in her mind, she knew she was suppose to be happy, but in her heart, she couldn't help but feel sorry for her mother. "Kat, are you okay?" She said helping her sister up.

"I'm fine sis." She said shortly, brushing her hair behind her ear before clutching her injured arm. "Go back to the doorway, I'll deal with this." Kat took another step towards Sabriel, waiting for her to strike back at any moment. "Come on mom, get up." She looked at the knife buried in Sabriel's gut, now dyed red from the blood running over it, and began to feel apprehensive. "We're not done yet."

"Unfortunately, you got me pretty good. Judging from the depth of the wound, I don't have much time...." She said coughing as a bit of blood came out of her mouth, making both her daughters flinch, especially Kat, as Fiona limped closer to them.

"Yeah, sure you do..." Kat said nervously. "You aren't getting off that easy, not after everything you've done." Fiona couldn't tell who she was trying to convince more, herself or their mother. Another tremor shook the room, and something fell from one of the shelves above, landing on Fiona's head. She stumbled from the blow, causing Kat to catch her as what ever it was that hit her skidded over to where Sabriel lay.

Sabriel looked down at what was right next to her, a book that looked like it had not been touched in ages. Sabriel saw some light shine on it as she realized what it was. "Good Night Wolf...." She said loud enough for Kat to hear. She remembered that name, it was a story that her mother read to her every time she was ever upset when she was younger, something she never found after her mother left. She walked towards her as her sister looked at her confusion, wondering what it was she was looking at.

Kat caught herself, freezing in place only a few meters from where Sabriel lay. She took another look at the book, recognising it as hers even through the years worth of dust and damage, before glairing back at her mother. "This is another stupid trick, isn't it?" She half laughed, thinking she had nearly fallen for it. "I'm not falling for it mom, so give up the act."

Fiona passed the book to Kat, who simply scoffed at it, looking back at Sabriel, "Open it and you'll know the truth" She said as she coughed a bit more.

"Like hell!" Kat screamed, swatting the book away. "It's just another trick isn't it? get us caught up in some curse like you had on June." She took another step forwards, standing only Feet from Sabriel now. "You lost the fight, so now you're desperate!" She took a moment to calm herself as the room shook again. "Just give up. You're under arrest mom."

Sabriel chucked as she looked at Kat, "It's funny, after all the time I spent here, it took me dying to finally realize that all I did, was for nothing." She said looking at Kat as tears ran down her face. "Whether you believe me or not, I've regretted everything that I did to you and Fiona, and my punishment will be that of a rightly deserved death..." She said looking back up as her body slowly started to feel colder and colder, crimson blood spilling over the floor. "Fiona... Come here, you poor poor girl..."

Fiona stood still for a moment, then slowly took a step forwards. "Fiona don't." Kat warned, though Fiona continued forward regardless. She knelt down next to their mother, rolling her over slowly and holding the hand of her regrown arm. Sabriel looked up at Fiona, stroking her cheek as tears ran down her cheeks and blood from her lips. Her hand fell to her stomach, and their was a sudden bright flash and Fiona went rigid. She was stunned for a moment, feeling Kat tare her away from their mother. "What did I say?" Fiona didn't say anything, she just curled into a ball in Kat's arms. "Dammit you witch! What did you do to her?"

"Set...her...free..." Were the last words that Sabriel spoke as her body finally gave up on her, slowly resting her head on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Both girls looked at where their mother lay, but quickly felt the entire area beginning to shake.

Still resting, Terra watched over her fellow guild members as they all caught their breath. Clair had returned to resting on e fallen rock, doing her best to wipe the dust and ash from her cloths, while Rift and June kept a lookout for any reminisce of Sabriel's forces. Yet another tremor rocked the room, and Terra rose to her feet. "Shale we escape now?" She asked completely serious. "You have had enough time to rest companion Clair, have you not?"

She nodded as Clair and Rift knew that it was time to move, but stopped when a sudden light began to glow as Muerte easily broke out of the prison he was being kept under, as his body regenerated. This caused everyone to get back into their fighting stance, but all Muerte did was shake his head, "We are no longer enemies, my contract has ended with my mistresses death, and so I return home...." Were Muerte's final words as a sudden gateway showed itself, slowly drawing him in as he slowly entered it, disappearing out of sight, and out of energy range.

"Mistresses death?" Clair repeated. "Does that mean-?"

"Leo or Raven most have done it." Rift interrupted, carefully watching the spot Muerte had been trapped for any sign of trickery.

"Are you sure Master Rift?" Terra asked, also searching for the Familiars return. "It could have been..."

"Let's just assume it was one of those two until we know otherwise." Rift turned towards the door Fiona had left through a short while ago, looking back at the women just before leaving. "You all get out of here. I'll find everyone else and get Zumma to get us the hell out of here."

Back in the dark room, yet another tremor shook the guild, apparently intensifying after the Masters passing. "The guild!" Fiona said looking at Kat, who was still in shock as she shook her head and looked towards Fiona. "With her gone, there is nothing to keep it going, all of the energy from the barriers and the stability of the building was all from her, we have to get out of here!"

"I..." She looked back at Sabriel, unable to formulate a thought. "I killed her..." She seemed to be in shock, shuffling backwards against a large piece of rock that had fallen when the floor gave in. "She's dead..."

"Sister, I know this is hard, but we have to get out of here!" Fiona said as she was shaking her sister, trying to snap out of her funk as she saw that the building was starting to crumble. She knew they didn't have much time left before the entire guild would crumble after them.

"Hey you!" Fiona heard in a familiar tone as the outer wall of the room fell away, revealing the sprawling lake of lava just meters below. Fiona looked back to see Rift slide from the doorway above to the floor and run to their side. "You guys-." He skidding to a halt when he saw the whole scene, looking between Fiona, Kat, and Sabriel. "Ah shit..." Rift ran his hands through his hair. "Shit, shit, shit..."

"We don't have time! This entire area is going to sink into the sea, and we will all be the same unless we get out of here!" Fiona said as she looked at Kat who was still in disbelief as she kept staring at her mother's lifeless body.

Rift took both sisters by the shoulder and lead them closer to where their mother lay and sat them down next to her. using his magic, Rift molded a long metal pole that extended high through the broken sealing and up to the open air. "Zumma! Give me a lift!" He called out the open ceiling.

A crack formed in the floor, curing a circle around them as a strange sensation fell over the area. A small platform rose from the ground, lifting everyone, including the witches body, out of the building through the roof as lava poured into the area. "You guys ok?" Rift asked, though both of them seemed to be too deep in thought to answer. "Hey, you guys with me or what?"

"It's... it's just unbelieveable that she's gone..." was all Fiona could say at that point as she looked at her mother's face, not filled with anger or despair, but with a smile on her face when she passed away. Both sisters couldn't understand why she was smiling right during the moments of her death.

"Yeah, we'll get to that." Rift looked out over the pool of Lava to see their companions near the edge of the forest. Zumma lowered their small transport to rest next to the guild master, who was currently tending to everyone's wounds. Rift stepped off first, helping Fiona and basically carrying Kat over to get treated. "That's everyone." He said, counting everyone they had started the assault with as present. "Hell of a thing that. Not a single casualty." he glanced back over his shoulder at Sabriel's body. "Well, not for our side at least."

The sounds of collapsing ground was heard as the entire group looked over to what they saw, the entire guild including the hill it was on had collapsed, everything including all the creatures, guild members and beasts all fell to their deaths as the building sank into the lava, finally ending the nightmare of the Nature Hunters reign.

"I can't believe it...." Fiona said as she started to glow, feeling herself slowly having the sensation of energy flowing into her naturally, "Hey... My lacrima, it's gone!" She said feeling like her energy is finally able to be manipulated by her willingly.

People began to crowd around Fiona, asking all sorts of questions she didn't have the answer to. Except for Kat of course, who remained curled in the fetal position against the stone platform they had escaped on. Standing farther back than the others, Clair noticed a small book resting next to Sabriel's body and became curios. "What is this?"

Kat snapped back to her senses just as Clair reached for the book. "Don't touch that!" Black tendrils shot out from under the book, causing Clair to jump back in surprise. Everyone turned around to see Kat clutching the book against her chest and using her Shadow Magic to keep everyone away. "We don't know what she did to it, so don't open it." Everyone cleared the way as Kat marched up to Fiona, lifting her up by the shoulder and dragging her down the road. "You too. We Need to get you to a doctor. Now."

Fiona was surprised by her sister's reaction to everything that transpired as she looked Kat who still had the look of fear in her eyes, "Kat... I don't know why or how she did it, but I honestly think Sabriel changed at the moment before her life ended, she did a kindness to me, something I never once received from her" She said as June walked over to them.

"I can sense that Eternano energy is beginning to circulate through her naturally, I don't know what happened, but that bitch actually managed to break down the Lacrima in order to give Fiona new abilities" She said as Kat glared back at her, as if to tell her to shut up.

"Yeah, just out of the goodness of her black little heart." Kat said sarcastically. "I know she did something, and we're going to do something about it before it gets any worse." Still clutching the book against her chest, she took her sister by the collar and began the long walk back to Phantom Breaker.

The others looked at each other with shock at what Kat had said as they decided to save it for another time, and focus on getting the guild master back there while at the same time finding stuff to wrap around Sabriel as they decided to take her back to the guild as well.

What Was Done Again
The road back to Utopia was a long one. Made even longer for Fiona as Kat pulled her by the arm the entire way. Soon enough, the mages from Blazing Soul made it back to the Phantom Complex, just as the fighting in the city had ceased. Without even saying hello to their companions, Kat rushed Fiona into the medical ward and got her set up with the chef doctor, Kolter Porand. She waited just outside the examination room for a little under twenty minuets before Kolter immerged again, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, she's taken a bit of a beating. No surprise given what you've been through. But overall she's completely healthy."

"She can't be." Kat insisted. "Mom did something just before she kicked the bucket, and Fiona says she's feeling different now." She turned Kolter around and pushed him back towards Fiona. "Check again."

"The test results don't lie Kat" Kolter said as she handed the paperwork to Kat, "Whatever Sabriel did somehow regulated her body, but other than that, there's no signs of alteration done to her" He said as Kat glared at him.

Her companions began entering the ward a bit later, each coming for treatment of their own. "This is the same person who burned down half of your city remember? She wouldn't just turn around at the last minuet." Kat rested against the wall behind her, still clutching the dusty old book from Sabriel's secret room. "What? Was she trying to by her way into heaven at the last minute? Because I have to say doc, too little too late."

"No, Sabriel never cared for such matters. Whatever her reasons, something like this must've taken something powerful to change her entire view point." June said as she looked over to Fiona, who got up and went walking towards her sister as she looked at her.

"Kat, the book, open it" She said as everyone looked over to them.

"Not happening Fiona." Kat backed away from them all, clutching the book tight against her chest. "Mom was trying to get us to open it back at her guild, so I'm willing to bet she's got some stupid trick waiting inside for us." Everyone looked on, unable to decide if she was simply being paranoid or not. "If it's a curse like she had on June, then any cure she might have had for it when up in smoke when the guild fell apart."

"Have you truly fallen so far into the darkness that you believe there is no such thing as good anymore?" A voice said as they all turned to see Jayapura waking up and attempting to stand as Tori attempt to tell him to go back to sleep, but was simply moved aside as he got up and walked towards Kat.