Episode 3: The Real Savior? Mystery Revealed?

Authors Note: Heeere's another chapter. Wow it took a long time but with finals and all...it's been tough. Hey it's a pretty long chapter though! Well...There's not too much to say here actually. Shocker huh? Um lets...duh property of Laney Sanchez...umm..oh yeah. This chapter goes out to my friend Nikkie. For signing the guestbook! I luv ya Nikkie :D
Here's the edited version so enjoy!
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      "...Malik"

      Lena's voice seemed like an endless whisper on the wind.

      Spring giggled and clapped her hands together in delight. "This is just too perfect!!" she squealed, then suddenly stopped, as her emotion turned to one of pure surprise. "Hmm? What's this?!"

      Spring took a step back and suddenly the wind and the petals ceased. Lena's body fell to a crumpled heap.

      Spring glanced around suspiciously. "I sense...a new ... power level. AAAAH!!" she shook her head in frustration. "So this ISN'T the Savior..." she moaned with a tint of disappoint to her voice. Spring then straightened up and glared. "Okay...then...COME OUT! I know you're here"

      "What? ...Hey there. What's SHE doing here?" a girl with dark brown hair and misty gray eyes inquired, stepping onto the scene.

      "H-hannah...l-leave..." Lena whispered, her voice cracking as she struggled to get up.

      Spring smirked. "Aha... I gotcha!! I'm gunna make my handsome Prince proud!!" Spring exclaimed and held out her hand to Hannah. "To think this silly girl almost fooled me...must be the Savior's guardian..."

      Hannah glared defiantly and crossed her arms. "Now who in the HECK do you think you're talking to, huh?!" she demanded, giving the girl a smug, superior look. "WAIT!...who're you calling' 'guardian'?!"

      Spring simply giggled. "Silly Savior...You're going to be quiet and come with me now!"

      Suddenly a bolt of pink light fired from Spring's hand. It sparkled and flew directly at Hannah. It twisted and spiraled as it got closer. "HANNAH!!!!!!!!!!!" a voice screamed, roughly jumping in front of her.

      The light hit, as a cloud of dust flew up around Hannah and the mystery figure. There was a dim fading pink light, then as suddenly as it was thrown the pink light bounced back and hit Spring head on.

      Spring screamed, her childlike wail echoing in Lena and Hannah's ears. Spring flew back into a tree and landed with a brief squeak of pain. She shook her head slowly. Her eyes slowly opened as she winced. Her eyes looked scared, like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. She abruptly glared and held her arm. "You! ...You'll pay for that!!" she swore at Hannah. "You...You...UGLY WOMAN!!!!"

      "What the heck are you saying!?" Hannah shot back, enraged. She stepped forward and threatened Spring with her fist. Spring seemed to scramble back for a moment then stopped and glared. "ugly woman...ugly woman...UGLY WOMAN!!" she threw back at Hannah, much like a little child would.

      "THAT'S IT!!!!!! HOW DARE YOU!?! You little brat!!" Hannah screamed and lunged at Spring. Spring winced at the cold names and suddenly gasped, and threw her arms up to shield herself, curling into a little ball.

      "Hannah NO!!!!!" the figure screamed, jumping away from the fallen body of Lena. It grabbed her as at the same time a figure appeared in front of Spring.

      The wind turned bitter and the tree Spring was against, turned brown and crisp gold. The leaves flew at Hannah and the figure.

      Hannah looked over at who was holding her. "HEY...M-Malik?!"

      Malik glared harshly at the figure before him who was shielding Spring.

      Spring slowly lowered her arms. "Huh?" Upon reconization she shouted "Huh? Autumn!"
and immediately stood to her feet.

      "Autumn?" Malik said, his glare softening for a moment. It was replaced with a look of confusion. "What the hell kind of name is that?" he said, wrinkling his brow in confusion.

      "Autumn I'm sorry...I just-" Spring began before Autumn held out his hand to silence her. "Enough!" he said, not tearing his glare from Malik. "You've failed Spring. Return" he said sternly, not even giving her a look. Spring winced "But Autumn-"

      "I SAID RETURN!" he snapped, finally turning to yell at Spring. Spring's eyes darkened in sadness and she found she could only nod. Her chest rose and fell sharply as though she was holding back from crying. With that Spring meekly chanted something and disappeared in a flash of vibrant pink light.

      Autumn then turned back to attention. "We WILL find the Savior...and when we do...one of you will be returning with us. I have a good feeling it's YOU Malik. Until then..." Autumn said with a short bow.

      "What are- " Malik began, but just as he had begun to ask, Autumn murmured something and a pale golden light enveloped him and he disappeared, just as Spring had.

      "Malik...what was that?" Hannah asked, stepping forward, finally looking a little worried. "What's all this...Savior business...?" she probed further.
Malik only stared at where Autumn had been.
"Malik answer me!" Hannah shrieked, her voice not seeming to reach Malik.

      Lena finally looked up, groggy and still very much injured. "...Malik..."

***

      "What's the matter with you!?" Winter screamed, grabbing Spring by her collar. "There is only one Savior!!! What do you MEAN you sensed a second power?!!!!"  she demanded, shaking Spring fiercely. "How can you be confused?! YOU IDIOT!"

      Spring cried and wailed.
"Please! Please forgive me!!" Spring cried. Winter tossed her harshly to the floor and glared darkly. "You're a mistake!"

      Spring began to promptly cry at Winter's verbal lashing. She had tried her best and it WAS her first time hunting ANYTHING. She didn't understand why Winter was being so harsh on her.

      "She'll do better next time Winter" Summer interjected. Winter never turned her icy glare from Spring. "There won't be a next time for this little mistake!" Winter spat. "She's too young! We can't-"

      Spring glared and stood up defiantly. "I TRIED! I HAD the Savior!" she said, tears brimming in her vibrant blue-green eyes. Winter only sneered and turned away. "HAD little Spring...HAD. HAD isn't going to save us. HAD isn't good enough. Do you get it!?"
Each time Winter said that, Spring felt ripped apart. Beneath it all she was right. Spring just hadn't done GOOD enough.

      "That's it-"

      "That isn't it. It was her first time. She'll have another chance" Autumn spoke up, sitting in a red velvet chair with his elbow rested on his leg. His hand was massaging his temple. Winter glared. "Since when do you give the orders?" Autumn was caught off guard by that question and only shot her a sharp glare in response.
"Or do you forget you don't have the qualities of a leader?" she added with a cold smirk. Summer furrowed her brow, worriedly. Winter had always been this way. It was in fact what made her their leader. Winter was not only cold and willing to do anything it took to survive, she was brave. Winter didn't even answer to Debiru, their prince. That fact alone worried Summer. If they lost Winter, there would be no leader. Sure, Autumn maybe, but despite how much Summer loved his good hearted nature, he lacked certain leadership qualities. Though he tried to remain as cold surfaced as Winter was, deep inside he was no where near as cold as the Queen of Ice.

      Summer looked at Autumn and frowned. "That's enough Winter."
Winter shot her a look then sighed disgustedly. "With people like you, we'll be back to our former states in no time" she muttered and walked into the next room.

Summer approached Autumn and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Oh...Autumn...don't worry about Winter. It is only the beginning..."
Autumn looked over at her and smiled warmly. He placed his hand atop of hers and nodded. "Yes Summer...but as it is time is of the essence...we have little to loose..."
Summer gave him a genuinely worried glance. "So...who is next to go?"
He looked away and his hand gave hers a little squeeze. "I don't know..."


***

      Lena opened her eyes ever so slowly, almost to the point of painfully. The room she was in was dimly lit, as if someone sensed her condition. Lena felt something cool against her head. Someone leaned over her.

      "Malik..."

      "It's about time you wake up!" he said with a little grin, though she could tell in his eyes he's was unsure. Even possibly worried for her. He held a cold washcloth over her forehead.

      "What happened to me?" she asked, her eyes searching his face. "Some stupid little brat...went berserk and her daddy showed up, threatening me..." Malik said, wrinkling his features as though the thought itself was stupid. Lena suppressed a snicker. He made it sound so...normal.

      "...Well, I don't ask this usually, but are you okay? " he asked, watching her seriously. She wanted to nod but her head hurt. Hell, her whole body hurt. She felt like her body had been beaten twenty-thousand times, then beaten thirty-thousand times more. She didn't even know how she was alive.

      "Yes,...I'm fine..." she said. Lena had been replaying the events in her head. The cute little girl gone wrong, getting all cut up, then calling out Malik's name...then...
"Where's Hannah!?" she said at once, sitting up too fast. Her head throbbed in response and she laid back down. Malik laughed.
"You're dumb..." he said with a grin. "You're hurt, just rest." Lena smiled but then quickly nodded no, granted she did it slowly. "Where IS Hannah?"

      "I told her to go away" Malik said, shrugging off the question. "Why?"
"Malik-" but Lena stopped in her defense of Hannah. Why did Hannah deserve defending? It was true...Why bother? She was annoying...

      "...Malik...will you just stay with me for now?"
Malik grinned, sneakily. "Ohhh you want me to stay with you..." he said playfully. Lena smiled, already feeling better.

***

      "Spring failed..." Prince Debiru mused. He looked down at the large maroon jewel at the collar of his shirt. He studied it, moving the light back and forth over it, not that there was much in this place.

      "Yes...but it was only the first attempt. Besides my Lord...she did turn up a bit of interesting information" the woman mused beside him. She waved her hand and an orb, the size of perhaps a TV came up from the floor. Above it, it projected an image of the earlier battle between Spring and the girl. The one, who seemed to be called Hannah, indeed did emit a powerful aura. But only the true savior could have deflected Spring's energy. It was simply too strong.

      "My Lord...there were two possible beings there who could've deflected that blast. One is a boy, another is a girl. Spring screwed up in attacking the wrong one to begin with..." the woman said, finally tearing her eyes away to look at her prince.

      The prince nodded slowly. "Well, done Adriana. Give my orders to capture this girl. This one called 'Hannah'..."

      Adriana stepped back and nodded. "Yes... My Lord..." and with that disappeared.

***

      "I'll show them. I'll get this job done right this time..." Winter whispered and stepped back into the crest, etched into the floor.

      Winter glared, her icy stare never faltering. "I'll show them...They'll eat their words..." she muttered sourly then touched the icy blue jewel, embedded in her neck.


      "Crest of the four seasons, transport me to earth. Take me now to the power of the REAL Savior!"

***

      "Winter?!" Autumn yelled, searching for her. Autumn pulled the curtain back just in time to see the soft, dim glow of blue leave the crest.

      "No!" Autumn hissed. Suddenly Summer ran over. "Autumn! Our Lady Adriana comes!" Autumn cursed some more under his breath and walked out beside Summer. Almost out of nowhere, Adriana phased in.

      "I have news..." Adriana said. She eyed Autumn and Summer sternly. Summer tried her best to repress a shudder. Something about how Adriana always looked at her. It gave her the creeps. Summer held her stance, ready to respond, but Autumn interjected.

      "Yes...so do I my Lady" Autumn said curtly. Adriana only raised an eyebrow. "Well, what is it?"

      Autumn cleared his throat. He wanted to spit out Winter's disobedience as fast as he could. Autumn knew something like this would happen. He had just KNOWN. Winter had never took Prince Debiru seriously. She definitely did not find him worthy of orders either.
"Winter has went on her own, without discussion, to retrieve whom she believes to be the Savior..." Autumn said, hanging his head. He felt embarrassed to even mention her name.

      Adriana felt a brief anger well up inside her. She had known from day one that Winter was trouble. Now she only believed it more. However...if Winter failed she knew she could perhaps convince the prince into her execution. Indeed Adriana would relish it.

      For now Adriana merely nodded. Adriana didn't fail to catch the glimmer of surpass in Summer and Autumn's eyes, however she noticed Autumn quickly masked it. "We'll see how she does, huh?" Adriana said with a smirk, and with that disappeared as quickly as she came.

      Summer looked to Autumn, questioningly. Once Adriana had retreated Autumn let his worry shine through. "This cannot be good..."


Episode 4: The Bond is Broken...Lena is Hurt