Beyond The Shadows

Ashley Pt. 2

We fought without mercy. Attack after brutal attack. The burning pain was still present and would get the upper hand at times, but I fought through it until I couldn't any longer. She ends up landing an attack, which held enough force to break a normal human, but not me, it simply threw me into the air, and made me land on top of the still unconscious Hotsuma. For a while, I couldn't move, in which case, she takes the opportunity to end me. She almost does but, Yuki comes out of nowhere, taking her claws to his back. He collapses on top of me and moans in pain. What the hell was he thinking?! "To save them, you intend to sacrifice yourself?" Ashley observes. Yuki struggles through the pain and looks to her. "Stop this foolishness." She says. "You don't understand. You don't understand what it means to protect the friends you love." Yuki speaks. Friends? He doesn't even know me! Hotsuma I understand but, it wasn't Hotsuma who he shielded. Is this guy crazy or something?! I silently try to understand why he would do such a thing. It was true, Duras normally can't understand human emotions. So how was Zess able to do so? Now that I think about it, I am able to understand some human emotions, like if Zess were ever in danger...I wouldn't think twice before helping him...and...I protected Yuki too... I look to him as he stands. Something starts to move underneath me, making me exhale in relief. He's awake, good. Hotsuma silently starts to move his arm, which I was covering, I slowly move off of him, and quietly reach for his weapon. Ashley was being distracted by Yuki, so she didn't notice. Once I had a good grip on it, I lift it enough so it wouldn't make any noise, and push the weapon's handle into his awaiting hand. She still hasn't noticed. "Kikui..." I mumble, quietly summoning my weapon. It appears in my hand silently and I glance at Hotsuma. We silently exchange nods before facing back to Ashley. "Listen to you...you're right." Hotsuma says. We both stand and walk in front of Yuki. "You're awake." Ashley says to Hotsuma. "We're not done yet Ashley." I say. "That was just a warm up." Hotsuma says looking at her in defiance. Ashley smiles before disappearing. Hotsuma is taken aback by this and looks around. How predictable. I immediately look behind him. There she was. "You should have stayed asleep. There's nothing you can do!" she says before reaching her hair towards us. Before it could touch me, I cut it once again, but I hadn't caught the secondary one, which grabbed Hotsuma, and raised him into the air, wrapped within it. His weapon drops to the ground and he tries to struggle out of it. "Hotsuma-kun!" Yuki runs towards him, not paying attention to Ashley, who smirked, and reached more of her hair towards him. "Yuki, look out!" I yell, run, and push him out of the way just in time. But that only saved him, her hair wrapped around me as well. She would keep doing this, her hair was never ending, it could regrow, elongate, and attack. No amount of cutting would stop it. It doesn't surprise me though, afterall, she is a General Class Opast. One of the strongest classes of Duras, but still one class under Zess and I. I search within myself, to see if I had enough energy to do something with my power. Just one thing... I close my eyes, silently summoning the only thing I could. Time to wake up. The feeling of my request being accepted brings a small smile to my face. All Ashley has to warn her is the shrill cry of an animal before Haze bites into her shoulder. Ashley cries out in pain, making her hair drop us in the process. "What the?" Hotsuma says looking towards Haze, who lets Ashley go, to land next to me. I smirk and pat her head gently. "Good girl." I say scratching behind her ear. She purrs and presses her head into my palm more. An angry cry is all I hear before something comes in contact with me and Haze, throwing us back into a column. The impact sent the entire column crumbling down in a cloud of smoke. "I've had enough of you!" Ashley screeches. I raise myself slowly. "What's wrong Ashley, am I ruining your plans?" I say chuckling. "Yes you are!" She screams. "Then I'm doing my job." I say. "Stay out of this traitor!" She squeals. "Traitor? What is she talking about?" I hear Yuki ask Hotsuma. "Damned if I know." Hotsuma says. "If I don't?" I ask Ashley. She glares at me. "Get to Shusei. I'll handle her." I tell the others. They nod and slip from Ashley's view. "Don't bore me now Ashley." I instigate. She growls angrily, charges, and I meet her half way.

Author's note- pic on ^^ or >> is my O.C. hope you like this chapter, sorry for slow update, for the longest time I forgot password for account lolz