Sakura stalked back into the small clinic where she'd been staying during her recovery and forced herself not to slam the door.
"So, are we ready to leave?" Grant asked.
"No," Sakura said, forcing her anger away as she tried to plan. "How long since you were in Cybertronian form last?"
"I spent last night in a clearing to the west. I'm good for about sixty hours give or take."
"Okay, then that will have to do," Sakura mused, as much to Grant as to herself. "We rest tonight and we head west to the mountain. Tenchi's there, and a wrong that needs to be righted."
"I thought that you the one who always voted for minimal interference." Grant said as the door swung silently open behind them.
"Yeah, I do. And I still believe that we have should have a minimal impact on the worlds we visit. But Grant, I met these girls tonight. They're marching off to reenact some great battle where one of them is going to die, to protect not only this world, but the whole multiverse. I told them that this worlds problems are my problems too."
"So you're gonna be all noble and beat them to the top, is that it?"
"NO! I meant what I said. This whole demon sealing thing they're doing... Grant, the oldest out of the bunch had to be 13 or 14. They're throwing their lives away when it's barely begun. I can't just stand by and watch that happen. Didn't Ranma and Clow Reed teach me what I know so I can help those who can not help themselves?"
"Yeah, they did," Grant rumbled. "But didn't you also make us a promise that we'd all make it home together?"
"Grant, if I don't help and they're gonna sacrifice Tenchi and unleash this vengeful demon who's been locked up for two millennia. I don't think he's gonna want to pop out and play shuffleboard."
"You're right," Kalshira said softly as she stepped out of the shadows into a band of moonlight. "After his long imprisonment, the demon will either seek revenge, or to escape as quickly as possible. Both will leave our world decimated, and I have too many friends and loved ones to let that happen."
"Kalshira, right? The only one who seemed to back me up."
"Yes," The younger girl nodded. "I believe that... that you may be our fifth. That it is your destiny to come with us to battle this evil."
Sakura tipped her head back as the moon slipped behind a cloud plunging the room into darkness. "I found that destiny is often a crutch used by those who have yet to find the strength to change it and there is no fate but that which we make for ourselves."
"Perhaps," Kalshira said as the moonlight played over her face once more. "But I've found that fate is a predator and no matter how and how fast you run, you can never escape what is meant to be."
The trio were silent for a long while before Kalshira reached into her robes and pulled out a tightly rolled scroll. "This is the map to Spectra's Chasm. You'll have to travel through the Grove of Illusion, cross the River of Betrayal, and finally ascend the Trail of Hatred. If you can make it past all that... then I'll see you again in the inner chambers."
"Be careful. If these cultists are as fanatical as I think they are, they won't be too happy about you all getting there in one piece."
"We will be," She said fading back into the shadows. "Like you said, see you at the top."
Grant just stared. "What do you mean we're not taking the others?"
"Exactly what I said," Sakura murmured, flipping through her cards. "This is no place for a pair of children, and besides, Tenchi was captured because of me."
"We're a team, Sakura! We're a family! We don't go all Lone Ranger!"
"Family looks out for each other, right? That's what I'm doing."
"Stupid, stubborn, irrational.... HUMANS!" Grant ranted throwing his hands up in the air.
"And that's why you love us." Sakura said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Grant on the cheek.
"Let's just go." Grant mumbled, checking his laser pistol before tucking it back under his jacket. "So where are we heading first?"
"West, to the Grove of Illusion. I've no doubt it'll be some kind of challenge meant to slow us down, so the sooner we get there, the sooner we can get past it."
Grant just grumbled to himself as he grabbed Sakura by the shoulders. "Promise me you won't do anything foolish, Kura-chan."
"Grant, you know I'm not gonna-"
"PROMISE ME!" He bellowed, shaking her slender shoulders.
"I can't. I promise you I'll be as careful as I can, but I can't promise anymore than that."
Grant closed his eyes in dismay. "Then I guess that will have to be enough." He said turning his back to the rising sun.
As the day wore on, Grant and Sakura found themselves wandering through a dense grove of trees. "You ok, kid?" He asked.
"I'm not a kid." She responded distractedly.
"You're not listening, are you?"
"Huh?" Sakura looked up at Grant.
"What's wrong, Kura-chan? You've been kinda spacey since we got here. Are you still thinking about those girls?"
"No. Well yeah, but it's more than that. This place... there's something odd about it."
"What do you mean?" The human form Dinobot asked.
"It doesn't feel... real," Sakura said frowning. Grant, seeing the young sorceress' agitation at being unable to verbalize her perceptions, simply waited silently for her to continue. "You see this tree?" She said placing his hand on a nearby oak.
"Yes. All my senses tell me that it is an oak tree."
"Right! My senses tell me the same thing and yet... it doesn't feel quite like an oak tree should," The young brunette released Grant's hands and threw up her own in frustration. "I've been to hundreds of worlds and picked up so many new words that not being able to say exactly what I'm feeling really fucking pisses me off."
"They say that profanity is the sign of a limited vocabulary."
"And all I have to say to that is- OH FUCK!" Sakura pin wheeled her arms a moment before Grant wrapped his arm around her midsection and yanked both of them back from the yawning gorge before them.
"Yeah, I think that little interjection fits just fine." Grant mumbled, looking down into the forested abyss in front of them.
Sakura closed her eyes and leaned back listening to the twin hammers of the traveler's combined heartbeat. "Thanks Grant. I owe you one. Again."
"Sakura wait," Grant pulled the young sorceress back down. "I think I understand what you mean. I mean this place, it seems real enough, but when I'm not looking at it... it seems off."
"You're right... but I still need to know what's wrong... wait... Where's the wind?"
"The wind?" Grant repeated quizzically.
"Since I changed the Clow cards to Sakura cards, they've given me a certain affinity to the elements," Sakura paused and drew the Windy card, holding it silently between two fingers as a soft glow came from the magic artifact. "and now Windy is telling me that there isn't as much wind as there should be because..."
"What is it?" Grant asked as his young companion untangled herself and stepped to the edge of the precipice.
Sakura stood silently and stared out over the abyss once more before closing her eyes again. "Believe." She whispered, lifting one foot from the tentative safety of the ledge and stepping out into the air.
"'Kura..." Grant whispered in shock seeing the spell caster standing with one foot on the ledge and the other planted solidly in midair.
"Believe." Sakura repeated, extending a slender hand back to Grant as she exchanged the Windy card for the Earth card. Grant swallowed nervously and took his young partner's hand before lifting a foot into oblivion...
...Only to set it firmly on solid ground. "It's... an illusion?"
"Of sorts," Sakura said, leading the way through the air. "It's more like it's overlaid on reality. There really is a drop off here, but it's not as massive as it seems. That's why the tree didn't feel like an oak tree."
"It was an oak on top of a birch?" Grant said.
"A hemlock actually, but the fact remains," Sakura replied stepping off the unseen bridge and back onto solid ground. "It's just a part of the Grove of Illusion."
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(Posted Fri, 28 Oct 2005 17:44)
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