Checkmate

Kaydra doesn't do well with being left places.

Check Mate

Tao's perspective

 

              Reluctantly, I left my dream behind me. Whoever's dream this was, they had a bizarre mind.

              There was something strange about the forest.--not to mention the dream-like colors-- that I couldn't place.

In fact, everything about it was odd.

              Oddly familiar.

              We were facing away from the village in a replication of the forest path-but there was something else in the path as well.

              "Why would the Hall of Mirrors be part of a dream?" Ari asked, looking at the part of the temple.

"Aren't these supposed to be good dreams?"

              "I think so." Alex said,"But then who would like our death?”

              I had a hunch. But I sincerely hoped I was wrong.

              There was a sound like dry leaves rustling and something white and bird-like flew out of the bushes in a flurry

of feathers that fell like confetti.

              I realized what was wrong with the forest when one brushed my arn. They were confetti. The whole place was

entirely made of paper.

              “This. Is. WIERD.” I said, holding up the paper feather.

              “Holy COW!” said Avryn, grabbing my wrist and pulling the feather from my hand.

              Ari and Alex ran their hands down the detailed back of a paper tree.

Byron examined a paper mushroom. Megan was being very, very careful not to spark of ignite anything. Kaoru was

fascinated by a paper butterfly fluttering past her. And I stood, staring into the ornate death-trap of the Hall of Mirrors.

If my hunch was right, it had brought her to happiness. Glancing around, I realized my hunch had to be right.

              Kaydra was the only one left.

              Looking around, again I felt a pang of sorrow. The world her dream had created wasn’t anywhere near me.

Selfish,I know, but I had hoped...

              Someone screamed. Though I’d only ever heard it once or twice before, I knew it-- and I knew what it meant.

              Kaydra had just lost her soul. My blood ran cold, feeling like milliolns of icicles pricking through my viens.

Dread wrapped it’s icy fingers tightly around my chest, digging it’s frozen talons into my heart.

              I ran toward the sound-- straight to the doors of the Hall of Mirrors. I slammed into them, full force, knowing

before I reached them they were the same as the original. I shouted the Opening just as before, and just as before, they swung inward.

              Then I realized this was different.

              This was the aftermath.

              Hanako and Auria were following Emmitt’s shaky lead through the forest of poles, lucky all of the traps had been set off before. They stopped and pulled a couple of stakes out of the victims.

              Avryn.

              Auria fell to her knees in tears, cradling his head in her lap. His shoulder was dripping blood onto her, while her tears were dripping onto his corpse.

              Avryn caught up first. So much for luck.

              He tried to call out to Auria, but there was no sound. I put my slightly foggy hand on his chest and shook my head.

He bit his lip and held back tears. I beckoned him to come with me and walked over to Auria. Avyrn followed confused.

He hadn’t noticed what I hoped was true. I may have been able to look through my own hand, but my reflection was solid as stone.

Hanako proved my right when she fell back gasping after glancing at the mirror. I half smiled sheepishly and waved.

              Auria seemed confused, until she saw what Hanako was looking at.

              “It can’t be.” she said, setting down Avryn’s body, (making him wince.) “How can you be there?”

              Avryn shrugged, then smiled. Auria kept looking over her shoulder, straight through Avryn to see if he was really there.

They both looked at each other sadly, the mirror his only way to tell her, well, what he told her- “I’m coming back.” He mouthed.

Auria looked hopeful for the first time in a long time.

              I smiled and continued through the hallway. The others stopped at odd intervals through the Hall, standing beside eithertheir own or another’s bocy. It was a bloody scene, but I had to get to the other end of the hall. I had to see, for my own, masochistic reasons, what had been done to the end of the hall where I had died.

              Like mist, I would shift and re-form around the poles. I pressed forward, feeling my intangibility.

              Why would Kaydra like this?? I thought, stepping past Alex and Ari. Did she just want to know what it

looked like in the end?

              Or had this been her challenge? To accept her own death, only after all the others, and to stay in a world where

all was perfect but the only shelter?

              And she had...lost her soul...to this??

              I pondered this as I stepped into the final room of my journey.

              Perfectly still, my body--you have no clue how awkward that is to think-- lay, still sheilding Kaydra's in a pool of our blood.

Gold, Mahogany, Ivory, and Unicorn's Horn. They went straight through my back into Kaydra.

As if an after thought,Ebony  went through my left ankle and glass had gone through Kaydra's wrist, spraying broken shards

across the scene when it shattered. Through it all, Kaydra's mangled hands still held the light Orb. Her other hand held mine.

              You could call it hopelessly romantic.

              We all stood or sat in the hallway for a while, ghosts watching their bodies as one by one Hanako freed them

and set them just inside the hall.

              Kaydra's and Mine were, of course, last to be reached. Hanako, who had seemed so emotionless until then, sat

town and wept for her fallen comrades.

              Just as well. My body still ran a charge. Random fact of the Morbid moment; gold is a very good conductor

of electricity. That's why they use it in electronics.Touching that gold pole would kill even Hanako.

              When she finally looked up, she saw me smiling sadly at my fate. Solemnly, she began to reach for a bolt, but I shook my head. After a moment, she nodded, more solemn still, and walked back to Auria and Emmett. Emmett asked her why

she had left us, but she wordlessly shook her head and sat down to wait for our return.

              I glanced to the mirror at the end of the hall- and saw another me, clapping silently. He was dressed

all in white, with enormous white feathered wings and a smug smirk.

              He caught my eye and grinned, showing my teeth. Mockingly, he bowed like a servant unto his master.

The mirror rippled, revealing another, smaller hall.

The other me stood up straight and mouthed, "Catch me if you can." Then he turned and sprinted down the hall.

For a split second, I thought of waiting, but his feathered wings were already dissapearing around the corner. So, I followed.

              A maze of twists and turns later, I found myself in a field, filled with paper flowers. Kaydra's soulless body lay right in the middle, with the other me standing emotionlessly beside. She wore an old-style black and white dress with a long white cloak.

If I hadn't known, I'm not sure I would have recognized her. Though it seemed like she should be laying an a coffin, she was undeniably beautiful.

              Hesitantly, I walked toward her.

              The other me stepped into my path, and said, "She didn't want to leave. She won't."

              "I dont take orders from soulless copies of myself." I replied cooly, staring him down.

              "Ouch." he said, cocking his head sideways- was that really what I looked like when I did that? "A bit blunt, don't you think? Especially for you. But, an eye for an eye. You've lost."

                            "What?!" I asked, startled.

              He grinned, showing me my dark side. "I won. She chose to stay in the dream with me. Now... how does that feel?" he ridiculed.

              It hurt. "Wow, I must've hit a nerve. I wouldn't be happy if I weren't the original either."

              Ah, so that's what my mope-face looks like...

              "Shut up." I'm winning.

              I pulled on my evil grin, mimicking my copy. Wow. That sounds special....

              There was a sound that gave me goosebumps. While I had been so kindly chatting with my double, Kaydra's soul-less

dream-body had woken up. The laugh that came from her was cold, and -- go figure -- soulless.

              "Oh, so you finally decided to turn up, eh?" she said. She was lying on her stomach, holding her face in her hands

and lazily kicking her feet. "You're late."

              I could only look at her with a pitifully melancholy expression.

              "Dont give me that." she said, dropping her hands angrily. "You let me go through this, all alone. I've created another you.

A better one. One who wont leave me like YOU did!!!!!" Her voice was escalating to hysterics. "I don't want to leave! This world

is perfect! Nothing you can do would ever make me leave!!!"

              Forcing myself to remain calm- to not shout, I said, "If it's so perfect, why aren't you happy here?!"

              "I am happy!" She snapped, acting like an angry child.

              "Really?" I asked, humored. I finally saw some hope.

              She sulked.

              "I propose a contest." I said, stating my risky plan. "If I win, you accept your soul back and come back home with us.

If you win..." I hadn't gotten that far into the plan.

              "If I win, you take my soul away and destroy it." She said. I couldn't back down now. "No, better yet, take it to Joshua. He'll know what to do with it from there."

              High stakes. And I didn't even know what we would do as a contest!

              "You don't actually have a challenge? Ha. You're lucky. I do." she said, grinning darkly.

              "Now tell me, Tao, will you play??"

              I had to answer yes or no, no questions.

              I swallowed my doubt and said, "I will."

              Her grin widened. "White or Black?"

              "Ah... White??" I responded, confused.

              "I thought so." she laughed.

              Then she snapped her fingers.

TaadaileuivkkiviaaI'msorryTao.Istillloveyou

Alex's Perspective.

              Talk about disorienting. One second you're navigating a maze, the next you're standing, all alone on a ten foot, black-marble

square in a glass box-not to mention I was suddenly out of my normal everyday clothes and in white robes. Ari was on a white

square to my right; Kaoru to my left, and the lizard girl from the village was in front of me. In fact, the entire row in front of me were villiage children. They looked more confused than I was. Looking up and down the checker board row, I saw Kaoru, Ari, Hanako, Emmitt, EDVARD, Byron, and Megan.(Whom were all also wearing white robes.)

              Finally, I recognised what this was -- a chessboard. Byron and Megan were rooks, Hanako and Edvard were bishops.

The village children -- I winced at the realization -- were pawns.

              I faltered for a moment, unsure of the order of King and Queen. Oh, queen stands on her own color.

Which means Ari is queen.

              Wait, that makes me king. Suddenly, the fact that I was a King on a chessboard was daunting. Especially since

I now saw the opposing team. The thought that if a game started, every one of them would by trying to kill me,

and they would go through every single person on my side to get there was suddenly terrifying.

              Above the "board," on the black side, I saw Kaydra -- suddenly cold and merciless -- seated on a throne with a carving of a dragon on the back, complete with spread wings and blue flame. She looked like a Dark Princess, with a black-gray and white layered dress, a white cloak, black, shoulder-high gloves, and black, leather boots that evidently came up past her knees.

One shoe seemed striped with gray-belt like bands, the other was plain. Completely uncharatheristic. But then, as was obvious when I found whose dream we were in, what did I know of Kaydra's mind?

              "Chess?" asked Tao from atop a wall directly behind me,  "You can't be serious!"

              "Oh, but I am." Kaydra said, a sadistic glint in her one warm eyes.

              "Do.... I have any say in this??" I asked, my voice hinting at panic.

              "No." Kaydra waid cheerfully.

              "Sorry." Tao's voice was determined and begrudged. He must have found a way to win Kaydra's soul back.

In a swirl of silver fog, Kaydra held up her hand as if holding something. The fog congealed into a cat-sized black-and-white chess peice -- a queen.

              "If you win, I will take it back and leave with you. If I win, however, you will take it away and I will stay here." she

let that sink in with a smug smirk. "White moves first."

              A sceptar appeared in my terror-clenched fist.

              "Then let the game begin."

lvleadtheestftheltaaadeialilIloveyoualex.Love,Ari

Tao's Perspective.

              My terrified soldiers were now armed. My pawns -- I winced at the thought of children as pawns -- had short

knives that could barely even be considered weapons, my rooks -- Megan and Byron -- seemed to beat the

controls of mobile catapults, my knights -- Hanako and Edvard(or at least their images) -- were mounted atop white horses and

held swords with angel-winged hilts, my bishops --Kaoru and the image of Emmitt-- had spiked chains that were decidedly scary

looking, my queen -- Ari, which was funny enough on it's own as she was the last of a royal line -- had a long staff with blades on each end, and poor Alex had a wimpy, decorated sceptar. He obviously felt jipped.

              Kaydra's army seemed a shadow of mine. They were mirror images dressed in black, with cold, deadly expressions.

They hefted their weapons and seemed to be practicing. several children on my side were crying, and pounding on the 

walls of the boxes, where their counter parts were sharpening their knives on the floor. It was a sad sight, but there was

no turning back now -- Kaydra might kill them all in her current state of mind.

              So.... I started the Game.

WithveandassidearsweetriveleadeSeamusaanulaa

Ari's Perspective

              For a moment, I could hope Tao would find a way out of this mess, but he didn't. He told the brave little cat girl to move.

Directly in front of me, she put her brave face on and silently marched forward. Deafening Silence. The glass walls created a

pathway toward her destination. She stopped, took a shaky breath, and sat down, seemingly cleaning herself.

              At a wave of Kaydra's hand, the dark Hanako, on her ebony mount, lept over an unflinching pawn and stepped toward

the center of the board, dragon-winged sword held loosely by her side.

              Tao had our Hanako Mirror her.

              Kaydra put her lizard-girl pawn into position.

              Tao hesitated. This was the terrible moment of truth. Could he take the other pawn? Could he force a child to kill another?

              From the silence, Tao's voice echoed, "Will you?" Tao's voice echoed pain.

              Shakily, the girl nodded, her tail dragging.

              The passage opened. As it did so, the ground beneath Kaydra's lizard-girl writhed, sudenly bursting up and

disabling her. She was so emotionless, just as her master.

              Our pawn slid through the corner passage.

She glanced from her knife, up to Tao, then back to the knife, then to the immobilized girl, Shakily, tears running down her face, she raised the blade, and stabbed it into the other version of her best friend.

              As the dead girl dissapeared in black smoke, only to reappear on the edge of the board, peacefully lying in a rapidly growing pool of blood. Our cat girl, our lizard girl, and.. Well, Our Me, began to cry.

              We finally understood the game.

vumweetbelevedalelveusveulveiAlexlovesArimorethantheworld

Tao's Perspective

              I've never been good at chess. As the scariest game of my life progressed, I realized two things. The first, that this had

to be my test. The second, that either Kaydra was completely oblivious, or she was letting me win. I know she isn't as oblivious

as this.

              Some part of Kaydra must still be in control, but she must be pretty angry.

I flinched as Megan's catapult - launching a ball of fire- went off, blasting a hole straight through the black Edvard's chest.

His horse faded from existence, dropping him to the ground before sending him to the side of the board. Grimacing, she pulled a lever, rolling her weapon forward,onto the recently vacated space.

              I bit my lip, realizing too late that on eof my pawns were still in danger. Lazily swinging his chain, the black Emmett walked across the three spaces to my panicked rabbit girl. As she stepped into her box, he picked up speed, a ghostly humming coming

from the spiked vortex. She tried to pull out of the grasp of the inky black restraints, but they tightened like a boa constrictor.

Her screams felt like a knife to the heart, but the sudden silence that came when the chain slice through the front of her throat felt

like thousands. I bit back tears as her brother's choked cry broke the calm.

              In taking my pawn, Kaydra had moved her bishop into the path of my queen. Strategically, it was a pointless move,

but I saw the hate in Ari.

              "Go get 'im Ari." Alex growled.

              She did. Oh, she did. I couldn't watch. Who knew "sweet little Ari" could be that sadistic?  Alex seemed mortified.

              Several turns later Kaydra's Byron launched a ball of thorns straight into Ari's chest. Stunned, she fell to her

knees, the motion shifting a thorn into her heart. Alex froze, stiffening from his seat on his space. She had been thrown all

across the board, his greatest gaurdian, and she had fallen. Never mind his personal feelings, that fact alone would be extrememly

and emotionally destabilizing. Alex's skin turned pale- Almost worse than mine. I looked away from him and moved my panda girl.

              "I will never play chess the same way again."  I muttered bitterly, wacthing Kaydra move the Black Ari. It was then

that I recalled a lesser known rule of chess. I moved my panda girl pawn onto the last space to Kaydra's end of the

board. I watched Ari's body heal as she awoke, confused.  The spaces Ari and the panda girl were on(yes, spaces to the

side of the board. They were grey.) began to glow and I swear to you this was true...-switched places. Ari laughed, holding her weapon in one hand, the other hand on her healed chest. Alex cheered, tossing his sceptar in the air. His hands were shaking with relief.

              I smiled widely at the panda girl. "You were great." I said, hoping to calm the frightened child down. "You're safe now."

              "But I'm not!!" Alex shouted in panic, suddenly Kaydra had moved and called "check." Her Byron was poised to fire opon

Alex. Darn, I almost had Kaydra's Alex trapped too.

              "Go on Alex." I said, motioning him forward, beside the rabbit boy and out of danger. He stood up and walked, evidently

bored.

              I had Megan on the back row, with only Kaoru between her and Alex. Emmett was -- if unhappily -- poised to kill Kaoru.

Byron was on the row second from the back, ready to kill the black Alex if he moved forward.

              "Megan." I motioned to Kaoru, telling Megan to kill Kaoru. As she finished, I called "Checkmate."

              Kaydra glanced across the board.

              "So it is." she said, blank-faced. "You win."

As the black Alex dropped, mine relaxed.   Kaydra picked up the two-tone queen.

              "I hereby dispell the dream," she said, ritually opening the peice like a puzzle box, "and wholeheartedly reclaim that which

would allow me to remain." a grey gem inside the box showed itself with a muted glow. She lifted it, and pressed it to her chest.

With a flash, the dream disappeared, leaving us nearly unconcious, but back in the Hall of Dreams. So nearly, in fact, that at least

I succombed to the pull of oblivion, if only for a moment.

              Wow, I sounded smart there.

aydalvestameThananthingintheWleWdeWldlveouTa

Kaydra's Perspective.

              Having your soul ripped out feels a whole lot like having your organs ripped out, only everywhere at once. I would

imagine it's what jello feels like when you pull cling wrap off and it's stuck all over the plastic. Ouch.

              It, however, feels really weird to take it back. It doesnt feel like you're empty anymore, but you still feel dang raw inside.

It's alsoo like a rubber band snapping onto raw skin as the process happens. Not fun.

              But I was the first to come to.

              The memory of what happened was like a bad taste in my mind. I sat up, shaking my head, and trying to

hold in the headache.

              Tao groaned and rolled off his pedastle.

              Laughing, I dropped to the floor after him. He sat up, rubbing his head. He didnt stay up long. My fault. I tackled him,

burying my face in his shoulder. You could say I hugged him, but that doesn't cover the whole crushing force of my arms holding

me to him, and possibly bending a few of his ribs in on themselves.

              "Thank you." I sobbed happily, tears sprining to my eyes. "Oh, thank you so much. You don't know how dark it was!

Tao, you don't know what you've just saved me from! Oh, thank you... thank you..." I collapsed, sobbing onto his chest, finally

releasing my death grip.

              Hesitantly, he sat up, wrapping his arms around me. Silently, he ran his hand along my spine from the small of my

back to my shoulderblades.

              "What else would I do?" he whispered, holding my tightly. "You're the only Kaydra I've got. I know you'd do the same for

me." he paused for a moment, then said,  "If I may ask, what was so great about the dream??"

              He waited patiently while tried to stem the tear and stop crying. My emotions were all wonky from their momentary removal,

but they were beginning to settle.

              "Peace." I said, finally controlling my emotions. "There was nothing sad there. I made most of it, you know. Including.."

it made me smile to think of my greatest work, "I made the other you."

              I felt his laughter as much as I heard it.

"The one with wings?"

              I laughed embarrasedly, and started to blush.

"Yeah, you liked that?"

              "Were you trying to make me look like an angel?" he asked, still amused. "I must admit, you did a good job. He really

did look like my reflection."

              My blush intensified. "Thank you. I guess I did, didn't I? You always sort of struck me as an angel... well when you're not

being vampiric. I didnt realize I'd done that. Not until you told me, but I guessI did." I giggled at my own oblivious state.

              He laughed, holding my tighter. "I'm just glad I got you back. You had me scared to death back there, Kay."

              There was a thoughtful silence, before I broke it, saying, "It's a bit foggy, but..... I-I think I let you win."

              "I figured," he said, intwining his fingers in my hair. "I definitely like this you better."

              "Awww, cute." Ari taunted. When I unburied my face, I saw that she was still in the white robes from my "game," with her

staff leaned against my pedastle.

              Come to think of it, I was dressed a bit funky myself. The first thing I thought when I saw the shoes and skirt was, "How the

heck am I supposed to walk in this??" I voiced it. Tao laughed.

              "You ought to be called Captain Oblivious." he joked.

              I just then noticed Alex had joined in our little group. "But that's my title." Alex whined playfully.

"She's too good at noticing things for it!!"

              I giggled. In a Bizarre way, it made me feel emotionally unstable, which was a bit awkward.

              Ari smiled sweetly, laughing in her unusual quiet-'cause-I'm-still-registering-what-happened-back-there voice,

"I do have to admit, I think that was the most intense chess game I've ever played." she said, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Its scary thinking I'm going to lose my best friend over a chess game!" At that point she hugged me in a death grip just about as tight as I did Tao only moments ago.

              "Urm, Ari." Kaydra rasped. "Not to be rude or anything, be you're smushing me."

Author's Note

I dunno, I just used copy paste. It might do funky things, but I'm still lazy.