The Crossroads of Being Happy [UNDER EXTREME RENOVATION]

14. Puzzles and Prizes [unedited]

Chapter 14: Puzzles and Prizes.

[unedited]

"The quiet before the storm is always the hardest," The old woman rocked slowly back and forth in her rocking chair. Mitsuki waited patiently, Great Terror had to be getting close. He's here. She didn't know how she knew, but she just did. "Star Skill 'Archer'" Her bow and arrows was formed from light. She held her bow steady. She could handle this. She had to handle this. The door burst open. There he stood in his wolf-bat form. He just stared at her. Mitsuki could tell he hadn't expected her to get here so soon. But he quickly recovered his surprise and lunged at her, sharp teeth ready to bite. She sent an arrow flying at him. It missed as he opened his bat wings and flew up. Mitsuki quickly sent another one after him, this time hitting his right wing. He whimpered in pain and fell to the floor. She hurriedly sent two more arrows at him. One hit his left front leg, and the other just missed his stomach and lodged itself into the wall. He jumped at her again growling angrily. She moved out of his way just in time and shot another arrow into his leg. She stared him down as he sat there tongue hanging out, foaming at the mouth, panting. It was disgusting. Suddenly, he glitches. Mitsuki catches a small glimpse of his human form. She shoots him with another arrow that sticks in his ribs. He glitches again this time she sees his true, dragon-like, form. She gets an idea and shoots him repeatedly. She turns her back for a split second and he jumps her. She was pinned to the ground by this ugly wolf-bat. His teeth sunk into her arm, but, he didn't bite, her arm was in his mouth but he didn't bite down. Why? He fell over sideways and she kicked him off. Quickly retrieving her bow that had fallen to the ground, she pointed an arrow at his head. "Why didn't you bite me?" She demanded. He smiled in a weird animal way. "Because you are special," Was his reply. Mitsuki tightened the string that held her arrow ready to be lodged in his brain causing severe pain or even death. "Why?" She demanded still. He vanished into thin air. Mitsuki threw down her bow that disappeared upon contact with the ground. "Keep my friend here," She said to the old woman who was still in her chair, as if nothing had just happened. "Alright," She said with a wave of her hand. Mitsuki ran out of the cottage in pursuit of Great Terror. He had to know that Ty-Lee was in the safe zone and he couldn't get to her by any means. So she set out to look for the spirit monster.

Hours dragged by. Still no sign of Great Terror. Mitsuki was tired and decided to rest by a stream. She sat down with a heavy sigh and pressed her eyes closed, leaning against a rock.

"What are you doing here miss?" She jolted awake grabbing her bow that lay beside her in an instant ready to strike whoever spoke. "Whoa! Hey!" It was only a boy. He was about her age, but she couldn't trust just anyone. But something about him made her feel like she could trust him. "What do you want?" Mitsuki asked accusingly. The boy gave her a half smile that made Mitsuki's stomach twist in a way it never had before. "I always come out here to gather water," He explained. "When I got here I saw you, I didn't mean to scare you," He apologized quickly. Mitsuki lowered her bow, feeling safe with this strange, black and white haired boy. "My names Temeharo," He said with a smile. "But you can call me Haro," He says. The look in his eye made Mitsuki turn away. She'd never seen that look before in anyone's eyes. "So, what are you doing out here Mitsuki?" He asks. He seems rather curious to know what I'm doing, she thinks to herself. "I was looking for Great Terror and decided-" She gasps and puts a hand to her mouth. "What?" Haro asks a look of alarm on his face. "I never told you my name," She says as she goes pale. Mitsuki quickly raises her bow again aiming for his heart. "Hey! You wouldn't rip my heart out!" Haro calls roughly. "Again," Mitsuki barely catches him mumble. "Again?" She asks. "What do you mean 'again'?" She interrogated him. "I just meant-" He sighs and does that half smile again. Mitsuki was sure to keep her bow steady in case he was trying something. "I knew you from your last mission," He-he did? Mitsuki slowly drops the bow for a second time. "That's how I know your name," He confesses in a quiet tone. She nods slowly. "Oh," Is all she can say. "I have to go find Great Terror now," She says at last breaking the silence between them. "Ok," Haro said sadly. He watched as she walked away. He was gonna miss her.

Mitsuki finally found Him. He was by a pond drinking from it. For some reason Mitsuki felt like it was ok to just walk up to him. She told herself it was a crazy idea but she did it anyways. He just turned around, looked at her, then went back to drinking from the pond. "Aren't you going to attack?" She asks. Great Terror shrugs in a weird animal way. "Why should I? I've already lost," Mitsuki took a seat by him and sighed. "What makes you say that?" She asked. Great Terror looked to her and smiled. "You've saved the girl, all you have left to do is kill me," Mitsuki got a feeling she'd never thought she could have. She didn't want to kill Him. She wanted him to live, he seemed so nice, but all the bad things he'd done-this was the strangest puzzle she'd ever come across. "Back when I was living in the spirit world, I used to play a game with the new spirits," Great Terror begins telling a story. "It was called, Puzzles and Prizes," Mitsuki wondered why he would want to leave the spirit world in the first place. "One of us would hide a bunch of prizes all over the place, then he'd lay out a trail of puzzles and riddles for the rest of us to figure out, when we'd look for the prizes we'd first have to figure out the puzzles," He continues on. "Each puzzle would have a clue to where one of the prizes was, if we gathered enough clues we'd know where to find the prize," He stares off into the sunset. Mitsuki saw a tear run down his furry face. He seemed harmless, now. But it seems not too long ago he attacked Ty-Lee almost killing her. Mitsuki sighed. She was so at war with herself. "If you became good, really, really good, I just might let you go without killing you," She says at last. Great Terror is surprised by what she said. Let him go? Why would she do that? "And just why would you wanna do a thing like that?" He asks shocked. Mitsuki cleared her throat before speaking. "Because, I think you can do it, forget your grudge against the new moon spirit, go back to being that good spirit everyone liked," Great Terror took a deep breath and turned away. "I don't know if I can," Mitsuki frowned. "Of course you can!" She said. "I can tell how good you can be," Great Terror sighed. "No, I mean, I don't know if I can forget the grudge," Mitsuki softened and scooted closer. "Why not?" She asked. He paused a long moment before answering. "Because, the old moon spirit was my-" He hesitated. "Your-?" Mitsuki prompted for an answer. "My wife," Mitsuki stopped breathing. Really? She couldn't believe this. Who else knew? Was she the only spirit who didn't know? Or maybe she did know but she had to fall and forget everything. "Crazy right?" Great Terrors voice cut into her thoughts. She hadn't even noticed him transform to his human form. "But, she was," He says with a smile. "And there's more," He says. Mitsuki leaned forward ready to hear whatever he had to say next. "We had kids you know," Kids? Mitsuki ponders a moment. "I didn't know," She says. He chuckled. "We did," He speaks in a lost tone, his eyes had on a faraway look as he remembered his life long ago. "Every single one of the star spirits were our kids," Mitsuki stares at him in disbelief. "How-" He laughs. "It's hard to believe, but yes," His smile fades and anger is seen in his eyes. "It's my fault you know," He says. Mitsuki gets a puzzled look. "What is?" She asks. "It's my fault stars fall, and fade," Mitsuki wondered how it was his fault, before she could ask however, he continued. "When the old moon spirit died, we couldn't have anymore kids, the new moon spirit was too young to have kids, so we couldn't create anymore star spirits, after I left I got news that they created a system so we didn't need anymore star spirits, we could use what we had," He pauses and Mitsuki listens intently on every word. "I of course had to know what this 'system' was so I found out, stars would go on missions to help good people, if they completed their mission, they'd get to become the next star in the sky, if they failed, they'd have to be obliterated. I also found out about the fallen stars, after each mission a star would have to fall, and you know what that does," Mitsuki nodded knowingly. "I was so enraged. My kids were falling and losing their memories, they even forgot me, they forgot I'm their father," Tears began to roll off his cheeks. "So I became the evil all spirits had to fight, but I made sure all the stars would complete their missions so they wouldn't be obliterated, living a life where you have to forget stuff is better than not living at all," He wipes at the tears but more come. "And me-" Mitsuki says hesitantly. "Am I-?" Great Terror smiles through his tears. "You're my child," He says. "My youngest," Mitsuki thought about this. All along she'd been fighting against her own father. "I've tried my best to protect you in all your missions, even if that means pretending to be against you," Mitsuki took a deep breath. This was big. But at least, she'd gotten through the puzzles, and found the prize, now all that was left was to get Ty-Lee home.