The City of Darkness

XXVI: Love!

"Who are you?" Shard said as he was still being flung backwards. He was looking at a girl around his age with pink wings, blonde hair, green eyes, a yellow dress, and a baby blue jacket. She seemed kind, as if she had an aura of happiness around her.

"Not important. Right now, you need to hold out your hand." The girl said. Shard held out his hand and he suddenly felt like he was floating forward instead of backward. His hand latched onto a railing of the train and he was dangling in the far back. He climbed aboard and looked at the girl, who was smiling. "Good luck, sweetie!" She disappeared, leaving Shard with a bunch of questions, including a specific one, She looks familiar....

"Whatever, I need to get back up front right now!"

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"Steel rain!" Love yelled, making bits of steel rain down on Alex. Alex created a stone shield and blocked all the steel pieces just in time. Alice II followed up with a hard scythe swing at Alex, tripping him, while Lxve readied more arrows.

"You Therian scum!" Alex said. "And you, Alice II! I'm ashamed of you! You betrayed us!"

"I don't care!" Alice II said. "With these guys, if they mess up, it's as a team! If I mess up, they don't punish me like you guys did! I feel safe around them, because they care and truly love me no matter who I am!" Alice II cupped her hands together and raised her forefingers. "This is my family! This is all I've ever wanted! You guys used me, and you're gonna pay! NIGHT BLAST!!!" Alice II shot a blast of darkness at Alex, causing him to shoot backward and slam into the train walls. Alex got up in a rage and threw a boulder at the two.

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME!!" Alex yelled as he formed the boulders into chains, trapping Lxve and Alice II on the walls. "You've obviously been screwing around too much. Both of you are coming back to Ather with me! And once you're there, l WILL END YOU ALL!!!!!"

"Not on my watch, you don't!"

"What th-AAUCK!" Alex slammed into the walls once more, continuously being pummeled by fists of air and wind. He fell to the ground on one knee and looked up.

"Bastard." Shard said. "How dare you hurt them. You'll pay for that!" Shard kicked Alex away and sliced Lxve and Alice II's chains with his sword. The three raised their weapons at Alex.

"Ugh, you win this time, but next time, you're finished!" Alex said. He summoned a massive boulder and threw it ahead of the train's tracks, destroying the bridge ahead. He laughed maniacally and warped through a portal to Ather. Shard, Lxve, and Alice II ran into the car ahead and saw Sky trapped in a magic cell. Alice II and Shard attacked the cage as Lxve looked out the side of the train at the bridge ahead.

"We need to hurry, the train is gonna fall over the bridge!" Lxve said.

"Can't we stop the train?" Alice II said."

"We can't! We'll have to jump!" The three attacked the box and soon formed a crack in it. As they attacked more, more cracks formed in the cage, and the train went over the bridge. It touched the ground below and exploded, the blast blowing back nearby trees.

Alice II, Lxver-Chan, and Shard were flying above he wreckage, with Sky curled up a bit in Shard's arms. The flames went out slowly after the explosion, leaving the charred train in a crater in the middle of the forest.

"Let's...let's go home." Shard said.

"I can sleep a week after today," Lxve said.

"Same. I wanna go home, Onii-Chan!" Alice II said.

"You okay, Sky?" Shard said.

"Yep." Sky said. "I didn't doubt you guys for a second. Thank you for saving me."

"All in a day's work." The group flew back home, beginning a discussion on what to do once they got back to Noméré. The answer was simple: go back home.

Next Time: The Road Home!