A Rose Made of Shadows

Chapter Fourteen

Nothing. That's what I felt during that time. Absolutely nothing. Everything was dark, silent, lonely. I began thinking to myself.

[Use me to take over the world? Why? What makes me the one chosen for something like this?]

Then, I began hearing things. Faint, distant voices. My name being called. The voices seemed so distant and echoed through my mind in a resonance. The lab seemed so distant as well. The voices kept getting clearer and closer, however, until it was as if they were right in front of me. And that's exactly what happened. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a group of people standing there, talking.

"Rosa! Can you hear us?"
"Ender, use Aura Sphere already!"
"And hit her in the process? No way!"
"I'll break this glass with my fists if I need to!"
"And Rosa and the rest of us risk getting stabbed with hundreds of glass shards?"
"Well, true..."
"Wait, I think she's waking up!"

"... guys?" I said weakly.

"Rosa! Are you ok?" Raizel said in a rush.

"I'm fine, just tired... and hungry."

"Don't worry, Rosa," Tyler said. "We're here to get you out of this mess."

"Rosa?" Scraggy asked nervously.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for not being able to save you back at the beach earlier..."

"It's fine," I replied with a faint smile. "You trying was enough of help. I appreciated it."

"Rosa! We'll get you out of here! We promise!" Raizel said, trying to hold back the tears.

"Rai... I'm so glad you're here... thanks..."

"Don't worry," Fireblaze added. "Once we get you out of here, we'll go Pocky-hunting again."

"Thanks, Blazey," I replied. It was nice to know that everyone could still find a sense of recollection somewhere despite the situation at the time.

"Guys! Watch out!"

In a flash, Ender suddenly shoved everyone aside, took out his bone club, and blocked something from behind that would've otherwise hit everyone else.

It was an Aegislash.

"An Aegi?" Haroff said as he got up.

"Urrgh! A tough one, too!" Ender added as he fought off the Aegislash, sending it back towards the doorway, where a single person was standing. Xeous.

"So, Asina wasn't playing another one of her tricks again, apparently. We do have intruders after all." The Aegislash quickly went over next to the boss.

"Who are you?!" Raizel said fiercely.

"I'm Xeous, leader of Team Blade. Our mission is but a simple one: make a new world."

"So you're the one who kidnapped Rosa!" Nova said with a thick rage.

Xeous glanced over at me, then back to Nova. "So, that's the Gardevoir's name."

"Let her go!" Sapphire said.

Xeous let out a slight chuckle. "You really think I'd simply do a thing like that? Right... to think I wouldn't have to deal with meddling intruders."

"Listen you. We've dealt with enough for one day already, what with being jumped by your grunts and all," Nova said, taking a step forward. "The last thing we need is for our friend to be in a situation like this! Either you let Rosa and us go, or your whole plan will go down with you!"

Xeous was about to retaliate, but just like with Asina, he froze in fear. He looked at Nova's eyes, which radiated the same sun-filled glare she gave to the commander earlier. Only this time, the sun appeared bigger than before.