Part Four of S3: All the Way
By Snow Moon
GldnJewl@aol.com
wovenstardust@yahoo.com
********************
The five travelers found themselves in front of the palace.
"Here it is... after all of that..." Kakou said in awe.
"That took so long..." Yukiko said.
"Kaijin, are you coming with us into the palace?" Yuushou asked.
Kaijin nodded. "I'll come. Someone I know lives here. He may be able
to help us see her majesty, Electra."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Hikaru said.
They went into the palace...
********************
They were sanding in a large, golden corridor. No one was around.
There was only one door, at the end of the corridor.
"Let's go!" Kakou said, and ran forward, anxious to leave.
The others followed.
Yukiko was in awe. She hadn't seen such riches in her entire life.
There was gold everywhere...
Just before they got to the door at the end, Lock appeared in a
flurry of silver petals. They stopped.
"Ah, so you've made it. It's about time, Queen Electra has gotten a
bit imapatient with you."
"Lock!" Kaijin said. "You're behind this?"
Lock looked at Kaijin. "Jonathan?"
Kaijin shook his head. "No. That's not my name anymore."
"What do you mean, not your name?" Lock asked. "That's what your
parents named you. Of course it's your name!"
"Not anymore."
Lock looked impatient. "Then what am I supposed to call you? Hmm?"
"I don't have a name."
Kakou stepped in. "He's Kaijin now. That's what he told us."
Lock smiled. "Kaijin, eh? I suppose that's fitting."
"Cut the small talk! Are you going to take us to Queen Electra or
not?" Hikaru demanded, sick of standing around.
"Yes, yes. This way, please." Lock turned and went through the huge
golden doors. He led them through many different corridors, each more
richly decorated than the last. Finally, they came to a dead end.
"What is this, some kind of joke?" Hikaru asked, extremely
impatient. Lock shook his head.
"This isn't what it seems. I must go first and tell my queen that
you are here. Then, the door will open." He explained, then
disappeared in a flurry of silver petals.
A few moments later, Lock reappeared, along with a door where the
dead end once was.
"All right, you may see her majesty." He said, and led them through
to the golden throne room.
When they stepped in, all of them kneeled, either out of common
sense or experience. Electra smiled.
"Finally. Electra has been waiting for a long time..." She
giggled and walked up to Yuushou. "Yuushou, how could you keep
Electra waiting for so long?"
Kakou looked up, startled. "She... she's only a child!"
Electra turned to her, glaring. "Disrespectful brat! You'll be
killed for that!"
Behind her, Lock gasped.
Yuushou stood, angry. "Who are you?!"
"Electra... You should know that..." Electra turned to him, an
evil smirk on her face. "Or maybe, I'm not..." She slowly grew to an
adult form. Her hair and clothes became slightly more silver than
before.
"What?! How can that be?" Hikaru said, shocked.
"D...!" Lock gaped. He ran forward, sword drawn. "I'll kill
you for impersonating her!!" But when he got there, she was a child
again, the exact form of Electra.
"Lock, you wouldn't hurt Electra would you?"
He stopped dead in his tracks.
Kaijin stepped forward. "Do it, Lock. Kill her. That's not your
regent!"
"Lock?" Electra said, looking up at him.
"I... I can't..." Lock said. His sword fell, seemingly in slow
motion, and clattered to the ground.
Yuushou growled and narrowed his eyes. "What have you done with
Electra?!" He demanded.
She turned around. "Now, I am Electra..." She started to laugh, a
laugh that echoed through the room, not insane or evil, just a happy,
carefree laugh... Electra's laugh...
"Why?!" Kakou demanded. "Why have you done this? For the power, for
revenge? Why?"
Electra stopped laughing. "Because I wanted to."
"You're insane..." Hikaru said.
"SHUT UP!!" Electra demanded. "I am the queen, you disrespectful
brat!!"
Yuushou growled and drew his sword. "You're not even half-way there.
And you can die, for all I care..." He yelled and charged her, but
before he could get there, he found himself in a deadlock with Lock.
"Don't... touch my queen..." Lock growled.
"She's... not... Electra!" Yuushou grunted back.
"Stop!"
The voice was commanding and clear. Everyone stopped dead in their
tracks, even Electra's impersonator. All of the light in the room
seemed to turn silver and go to the figure that was floating in the air
above them.
"Queen Moon!" Kakou cried.
"Our regent..." Hikaru breathed.
Yuushou and Lock brought their swords down.
Moon turned to Electra's impersonator. "You have disgraced yourself,
Pyrite. Impersonating the queen is a serious offence."
"I AM the queen!" She demanded. "And I command you to leave my
palace immediately!"
Moon ignored her. "Lock, you can see that this is not the kind,
gentle queen that you serve. Why are you fighting against my life
servant?"
Lock didn't answer. He didn't know what to do, whether to believe
his eyes or his mind...
"Lock, trust me." Moon floated to the ground. "This is Pyrite, not
Electra. She may look like your queen, but she is, in reality, an
imposter."
"Where is my queen, then?" Lock asked.
"Her spirit has been trapped. Pyrite has used a magical item to lock
her somewhere."
"SHUT UP!!!" Pyrite screamed. "I AM ELECTRA!!" But no one was
listening.
"Lock, you must find Electra." Moon told him. "Leave this place and
search for her."
Lock turned to Pyrite, fire in his eyes. "I'll kill this imposter
first. The penalty for committing such a crime is death!!"
"No! She doesn't understand what she had done." Moon explained. "I
will take her to my palace and make sure she is never free to do such a
thing again."
"My queen, wait!" Kakou said. "Where is Yukiko? I can't find
her."
Moon smiled. "Do not worry, Kakou. Yukiko is home, on Earth. and
that is where you belong, to continue your training. I am waiting..."
She and Electra slowly faded into nothing. The light returned.
*******************
Yukiko was back at the auditorium, in her seat. "What? I must have
fallen asleep." She shook her head. "What a weird dream." She fingered
her backstage pass. Everyone around her was yelling for an encore.
"Maybe I should go see them..."
She got up and headed for the door...
*******************
After a moment of awed silence, Lock spoke up. "Yuushou... I'm
sorry. You were right. That wasn't my queen. I guess I must have
snapped..."
Yuushou shook his head. "Don't worry, Lock."
Kaijin looked at his old friend. "Lock, I'll help you search for
her."
"What? you don't have to." Lock said.
Kaijin shook his head. "I want to. I need to find something. That's
why I brought them here, because I thought I would find it. Besides, it
can get lonely, searching by yourself."
Lock smiled. "Thanks, Kaijin."
"As for us..." Yuushou said. "We should get back to Earth, like
Moon said."
"Yeah," Kakou agreed, "I hope this dimension's time isn't the same
as the Earth's..."
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Hikaru said.
********************
A few minutes later, Yuushou, Hikaru, and Kakou found themselves
backstage, everything exactly as they left it. They were even back in
their human forms, and Yukiko was running to them...
********************
The End!
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