Luna Star, Part 16
Luna Star, Part 16This city
Those inside it
My friends and schoolmates
They are what is most important to me
Because I don’t have anything else
Without those what else would have have
The Star family?
I wouldn’t lift a figure to save them
The memory of my sister?
She would have wanted me to protect the city
I suppose the only other thing that would be important is my own life
But I wouldn’t able able to live with myself if I put my interest over everybody else
Yet Blackberry was right
There was no chance of us winning
I knew that which is why I was willing it enter
Had we been strong enough to challenge it then I would have been more cautious
I would have been willing to sacrifice a few to save even more
But that requires there to be a chance of winning
Against something like this it doesn’t matter how much time we have
It doesn’t matter how much we practice
It doesn’t matter how many times we escape to fight it again
We will still lose
And people will die and continue to die
There is really one one option against something like that
Made a crazy desperate wager
Go at it will all that you have and fight until your last breath
And hope you get lucky
Luck, that was all I had when I entered the school
Luck and a little bit of Crazy
Chapter 11: Beyond Black
Sibyl, Joy, and Blackberry stood outside entrance to the school. None of them were as certain of what to do as Luna. Eventually Joy said, “She went in there then. Should we go in there to bring her back?”
Blackberry shook his head, “There is nothing that we can do for her now. She is lost. All that we do if we enter there is kill ourselves. If we are lucky it might leave the city after killing Luna. Anything else that we attempt to do will be futile.”
“Futile? I’ve had enough of futile. I’ve had enough of waiting, hoping that my problems will go away. If I die I want it to be knowing that I at least tried to change my fate. I’ve already sat around while a powerful enemy prepared to kill me. At least this time I want to face it head on.” Sibyl took a few steps toward the school gate.
“No, you can’t go. Because of your illness your magical powers are too unstable. I hate to say this but you would almost certainly die against an Elder Darkness. There is not way that you could even face a monster like this. You would be throwing your life away.” Said Blackberry.
“If I stay then nothing will change. I will be the same person I have always been. I want to change, to be the person I have always wanted to be. That involves me going in after Luna. Sorry Blackberry but you are going to have to find another magical girl to join you.” Sibyl nodded at Blackberry and then at Luna then she followed Luna into the dark school building.
“She was the girl. The girl that you are Luna were looking for, the third magical girl?” Asked Joy.
“Yes but she wasn’t enough. Her magical power isn’t enough for her to be a magical girl who is capable of fighting an Elder Darkness. And now even that weak magic power is being lost.”
“She was brave.” Joy could feel her knees shacking, the fear was almost palpable for her. “I want to go in after them to help them fight but I can’t. My legs won’t move and I can’t control my fear. I know that if I go in there I will die. I just don’t know if I can face that.”
“Better that you didn’t. I will need you to protect this city in the future. With Luna gone I will need to find some new magical girls. If we can get a few more and gain several years of practice then we might be able to find a Shadowed Soul with only minimal casualties.” Blackberry turned and began walking away, “Come on. Let’s leave. It would be better to forget all about this.”
Yet Joy still couldn’t move. She wanted desperately to follow Blackberry, to leave and run away from the monster that was in the school but she still couldn’t move. She also wanted to follow Sibyl and Joy into the darkness, to face the evil inside together. Even if they died.
Then she could feel a voice inside her speak, a strange and comforting voice. ‘Is this the path you want? Whatever path you choose I will follow you. The path that you choose will change your life forever. Make sure that you choose the one where you will have no regrets.”
Joy looked down at the green braclet around her wrist, “Ouroboros, if that you.”
‘You need not fear where ever you go. I will protect you. Follow your heart and it and I will never betray you.” There was a jingle from her hand and the eyes in the serpent glinted in red. Joy looked up at the school and felt the shivering in her body quell. The fear that she had been feeling had left her and she finally knew what she should do.
“Blackberry, I’m sorry but your going to have to find your magical girls by yourself. I am already part of a team and I can’t abandon them here.” She shook her wrist to loosen up Ouroboros and then the went into the darkness.
Blackberry stood there alone. All of the girls had left him. His hopes had all left after an impossible challenge. They had all made foolish choices and now he was left with nobody.
“Are you going to leave them?” Blackberry turned to see the purple robed form of The Prince of the Firmament. He stood there quiet and reserved.
“Are you going to go after them and throw your life away as well.” Said Blackberry. His voice was dry and cold like somebody who had ceased to care.
“I could not abandon Luna would she flee to the ends of the earth. Walking into the mouth of death is nothing that I didn’t expect to do for her.” Said the Prince.
“Then leave me. It suits me. They always rush off into the darkness and die. It happens over and over again. I tell them to stop, that they will die, but they go in anyways. They never turn there back, they always act just like her.” Said Blackberry. There was a crack in his mask of boredom. There was deep sadness and fear.
“Have you ever considered that they die because you never went in after them?” Then the Prince followed the girls through the gate into the school.
“Every Day.” Whispered Blackberry to himself.
Luna walked alone through the darkness. She had already transformed and and in her black and white clothing. She had transformed a few times before she was able to do it fairly quickly. The lights in the school were all out so she only had the light from her clothing to guide her.
Luna could feel the presence of the Shadowed Soul above her. It was a bit disconcerting because she had never felt any of the Elder Darknesses. The feeling wasn’t very strong but it was very clear. It was the fact that she could feel it at all that made her know that it was strong.
She walked through the hallways of the school which were familiar but strangely creepy in the darkness. She stopped at her classroom on the way and checked inside. It was empty like she expected it to be but somehow that reassured her. Her path was fairly clear. She reached the stairs up to the second story and took them one step at a time. She reached the third floor and looked up the final flight of stairs to the room.
Luna took a deep breath and began to walk up the final stairs to the roof. She pushed at the handle leading outside and stepped out onto the roof. Luna could dimly see the figure of a girl standing in the middle of the roof. She was just a little shorter then Luna except that her hair was much longer then Luna’s and stretched down most of her back. It was a golden blond color and it swayed as she turned around to face Luna.
The girl was a plain black dress and she broke into a smile when she saw Luna. Her smile sent shivers up Luna’s spine. Yet far creepier was the way the girl was staring at her. Their eyes were locked on each other and Luna could tell that the girl was paying close attention to everything that Luna did.
Then the girl spoke, it sounded very nice. Like silk spreading over Luna’s ears but she could also tell that there was something dark and sinister behind those words, like silk covering spiders. “Hello child. Since your are out so late you must be looking for something. Is it me that you are looking for?”
Luna set the edge of her bat against the floor in a threatening manner. “Yes, I am looking for you. You see this is my school and I want you to leave it. If you won’t agree to leave peacefully then I will have to force you out. I hope you can understand where I am coming from.”
The girl looking monster laughed. It wasn’t the dark sinister laugh you might expect but instead it the the delighted laugh of a young girl. “Your school? It has been a long time since somebody has challenged me directly. But you see, this is my school to, when I was still someone like you I also used to go to school here. It was an interesting time.” The creature, Luna couldn’t think of the creature as a human, paused and then said, “You remind me of someone child, pray tell me your name.”
“My name is Luna Star and while this may have been your school once, I’m in charge of it now and I won’t let evil monsters take it from me.” Said Luna.
“Star, Star, the Many One spoke of that name before. Yet you don’t seem like the one she spoke of. Who are you child? Tell me.” Said the creature. Luna took a step back at he the creature’s words. Did it know someone else in her family. Was it her parents or one of her brothers.
“I am nothing more then what I already told you. I am just a girl protecting her school. There is nothing more that a monster like you needs to know.” Said Luna.
“A monster? You are so cruel to me.” The creature took a few steps toward Luna. “After all, aren’t you on your first steps toward becoming a monster? I’m just further along the path then you.” She continued to smile as she walked closer and closer to Luna. “Also, call me Remana. All of my friends do.”
Luna lifted her bat and it glowed in runes of black and white as she brought the bat down toward Remana. She used all the force that she could muster but Remana simply caught it with her bare hand and pulled the bat from Luna’s hands. She then through the bat out across the roof where it clattered against the ground.
“Now, now, we won’t be needing that. We are having a pleasant talk remember. Just you and me. Now I think it is time for you to learn some manners. Can’t have you attacking me whenever you feel like it.” Remana reached out and grabbed Luna’s arm. Luna could feel the magic coursing out of Remana and pushed back with her own. But it was in vain, she magic flowed into her and her world went white with pain.