Time it took us To where the water was
That's what the water gave me
And time goes quicker Between the two of us
Oh, my love, don't forsake me Take what the water gave me
[Lyrics to 'What the Water Gave Me' performed by Florence and the Machine
Elements of Great Design Part 36
"What... is... that?" Heero all but whispered as he stared in horror at the three-headed beast that was hissing and snapping at the Alliance.
Gripping his free hand around the hilt of his sword to join the other that was beginning to tremble, he swallowed roughly while watching droplets of what appeared to be saliva drip from the long tongues darting out of the opened jaws. Those few dribbles burned through the ground that they touched, the heat that they caused intense enough to create small plumes of white smoke where they made contact.
His visible eye narrowed, Barton watched their challenger closely beyond the snout of his helmet as he replied, "It's called a Hydra. Do. Not. Cut any of those heads off, or there will be three more in its place. Spells thrown at them will not be of any help since their scales only bounce off any such hits. If you are going to use magic, have a deep enough cut in their hide before sending it into them. Avoid that acid. If they are desperate enough, they'll spit at anything close enough to be burned."
Near the front of the team, Quatre had to forcefully tear his gaze away from the blackened rock of his Elemental Stone to set his focus on the demon blocking his way to his weapon. "Have you encountered these things before, Trowa?" he asked his lover at his side softly to keep from angering their opponent any more than it already was.
"Never directly," the Dragoon replied, twisting his spear in his hands and ever at the ready for a sudden assault. "I have only seen them in action from a distance... " Hesitantly, he added, "And it never went well for whatever went up against them."
Under his breath, Duo snorted, "Fantastic." The blade of his scythe shimmered in the burning, blue-flamed torches along the walls at the slight shift in his wrist that he made to be more comfortable with the staff. "Any other fun tidbits we should know about before we charge this thing?"
Gesturing to the bent wings along the back of the monster, Trowa answered, "Just that they can fly. It's too tight where he is now, but if he backs up enough, the ceiling rises to where he can get some height advantage on us."
"I can take care of that," Wufei growled under his breath, never breaking his attention on the hydra. Moving as slowly as he could, he was able to sink into a crouch from his place near the back of the pack to carefully lower Anna's body along the floor of the cave. Straightening himself, he warned, "Just be ready because as soon as it feels that gap closing in, he'll be agitated enough to move."
Heeding the Earth Keeper's advice, his brothers sank down where they stood in preparation of the onslaught to come.
Still just beyond the vicious beast's full view, Chang silently slipped to the closest side wall at his right and rested a hand against it. Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, he pulsed his gift through the whole cavern's stone encasing. At the rumble that began in the shifting of the ceiling just behind it, the hybrid's heads reeled back as it released a deafening screech in three different, echoing pitches.
In a desperate attempt to get the height that it wanted, the creature leapt back and opened its long wings to give a couple of powerful flaps that lifted him from the ground.
But by the time it reached where there should have been a gap in the cave above, its arched back crashed against the new roof of stone that had evened out the roof of the cavern. Its feet just above the ground, the three heads arched back for another howl that nearly ruptured the eardrums of the Alliance just before it fixed its right eyes in a heated glare on its unwanted guests.
His hands tightening around his sword as he lifted it, Heero gritted through his teeth, "Here we go." Also at the ready, the rest of the team sank down that much more to hold their ground even with the hydra shooting straight for them.
In its incredibly fast descent upon the pack, the monster did not strike with his massive jaws as expected, but it spun around at the last possible second to whip its thick tail around.
Easily sending Heero and Duo across one side wall with the first blow that knocked them from their feet, the three standing Keepers were tossed likewise to the opposite wall, the blue-and-gold reptile aimed for the warrior that had taken the lead while its prey tried to regain their bearings.
Groaning as he rubbed the back of his neck with the hand that had been knocked free of its blade, Quatre only had the whooshing sound of air overhead to warn him of the oncoming danger. With a gasp, the wide-eyed Mage spun onto his back just in time to see and hear the hydra's three screaming heads sailing for him, their snouts opened wide and bearing their jagged fangs that were aimed to claim him.
A startled cry escaping him, he raised his empty hand and sent a surge of water out. The rush was so wide, violent and unexpected that it pushed the monster back just as its tail had taken out the Alliance.
Briefly choking on the water that it had swallowed, the sprawled out being shook its heads and dug its claws back into the ground to push itself up. Shaking its wet wings out, he hissed dangerously at the boy that had dared to make any strike against it. Now with its appendages dampened, flight would be delayed until they dried out... only adding to the already mounted frustration and rage in the creature.
Winner's face paled as his throat moved with his loud gulp that he made in light of those burning, yellow eyes. Just as the charging beast was about to take another shot at its target, a veil of black energy appeared between the Keeper and his would-be-killer. Screeching at the power that pushed back so strongly that its buried claws were dragged along, the hydra flailed in irritation.
Stepping up beside the frozen, veiled Mage, Duo glared beyond the darkness that he had created. "I won't be able to keep that veil up and be able to fight that thing at the same time," he murmured. Looking over at Chang as the Monk got back to his feet, he asked, "Can you bring the walls in to crush it?"
"Not without risking damaging the stone," Wufei answered, running a hand through his shoulder-length hair to push it back from his face. "It's too concentrated of a space to focus on. I would have to bring the whole cave in for it to work."
Heero took to Duo's other side at the same time that Trowa returned to the group to squeeze his recovering lover's shoulder. His sword hanging at his side, the Fighter appraised the hydra that frantically tried to clay at the circular void that held it back.
A grim expression of readiness on his face, he commented, "Then the only option is to pick a point of attack that we all want to take and hit it with everything we have as soon as the veil is down. We have the advantage in numbers. If any one of us gets into trouble the others take up the initiative to have the focus taken off of them. We just need to make enough space for Quatre to make a run for his stone."
Grunting, Barton kept his emerald eyes on their challenger as he nodded firmly, "Sounds like a solid plan to me." The remainder of the Alliance gave their own nods of agreement, tightening the hold on their weapons and centered on their intended targets.
"I'll take the back," Yuy announced.
Winner quickly followed up, "I'll stay low at the claws and belly so that I can wait for the chance to sneak past."
Casting a glance over to Chang and Barton, Maxwell smirked, "Good. Heads it is for us, then." At that, he opened his right hand to have three large, round shields of black mist materialized before them. "Just in case we have any encounters with acid," Duo grinned. "Nothing will be able to penetrate these." Their eyes wide and blinking as they took hold of the cold hand grips, the Keepers smiled in appreciation.
Slowly peering back at the screeching hydra, Duo rolled his shoulders back and called, "Ready, then?" Affirmatives rose up and he raised his scythe, yelling, "Here we go!" Once those words left him, he lowered his staff and the veil completely faded away.
Taken aback for only a moment in having its obstacle vanish before its three pairs of eyes, the monster only paused for a heartbeat before soaring forth in a crazed charge for the Alliance. Heads stretched out with opened jaws to take hold of the trio that had pushed to the front of their line, the yellows of its irises turned a glowing red. Necks craned back and scaly lips pursed to release their deadly saliva in long streams.
Raising their shields at the first wave of burning acid, Duo, Trowa and Wufei effectively created a wall. When the failed attack had ended, they broke off to deal with each head individually. Peering over his shoulder as he took on the center, the son of Shinigami hollered to the pair behind him, "Go!"
Instantly pushing themselves forward, Heero swerved around the long body of the distracted demon to scale its side while Quatre ran for the gold-hued belly. Once he reached his target, the White Mage was in a dance between trying to cut deep enough into the thick skin of the hydra and avoiding its swinging tail that had been turned into another weapon during its divided focus.
Similarly, the Fighter had a time hanging onto the tall spikes that ran along their enemy's spine during the constant bucking attempted to shake him off. However, Yuy never lost his grip and continued to ascend towards the highest point of the back's steep arch.
At the sight of the Chef's Knife in Chang's hand, the left head that had taken him on hissed and reeled back from the weapon that could kill with a single nick. Eyes narrowed and peering over the top of his shield, the Monk snickered darkly, "What's the matter? Never came across someone with one of these before?"
Lunging forward, he made for a slice that was narrowly avoided by the screaming 'dragon' in its reel away. On the return, however, it took advantage of the boy's very brief switch in balance. And so their dance had begun and would continue as such between swings, snapping jaws and acid rain.
For one fortunate break, Trowa managed to use his manipulation of air to force the right head's mouth open; throwing his bladed bow inside to prevent the two jaws from closing. If that opening had stayed long enough, a good burst of magic from Duo or Quatre would have been able to kill the hydra.
However, that brief victory was short-lived when the furious monster dripped enough saliva down to have the staff all but completely disintegrate. Lowering the hand that he had lifted to his mouth to call for either of the Mages, the Dragoon instead looked on in horror as his trusted weapon was chomped on and swallowed before he had time to react. He dodged the next bite that was intended to come down on him with less than a second to spare.
Growling in his effort to take out a fang or two at the very least of his offensive, Maxwell could feel his arms burning between having to heft his scythe in wide rocks back and forth with one hand then lifting and lowering his shield in between with the other. Just as he had suspected, there was no luxury of time that would have been nearly long enough for him to cast off a decent enough spell to make the fight easier for the team.
All that they could do was continue as they were.
Heero's teeth gnashed roughly together in his first downward stab against the hydra's hide when he reached the middle of its back. Even with using both hands in a powerful downward blow, the tip of his wide sword practically bounced off the blue scales. It was a stroke of luck that its metal had not bent on account of the resistance that it came up against.
"Damn," the Fighter hissed as he latched onto a tall spike when the surface beneath him thrashed violently. Gasping when he looked over his shoulder, he just caught the sight of the horned tail that was about to cut him to pieces. Quickly lowering himself as low as he could, he raised his sword to have it cover his own back and the top of his head.
Feeling those daggers scrape against his blade, Yuy held his breath and silently prayed to not be crushed under the weight that had come down on him. Then, the pressure against him faded and he allowed his weapon to fall at his side. Blinking his wide, cobalt eyes, he watched the tail as it wrapped around the wide creature to make a swipe at the annoyance at its belly.
Under his breath, Heero muttered, "If I'm going to make another strike like that, it better as hell count." Feeling large beads of sweat roll down his neck to make their way under his red-and-gold armor, he pushed himself back up to crawl further up the monster's spine.
Evading the tail that had swerved to try and take him out, Quatre let out a rare roar of frustration at not having any leeway in breaking beyond the beast that purposely placed itself in his way at every turn. All but throwing both of his blades in his left hand, he raised his right with the palm aimed for the ground beneath his obstacle.
Tall pools of water rose over the long talons just before it turned to ice, locking the bony appendages in place.
Wiggling its clawed, webbed feet to no avail in freeing them, the hydra pitched a piercing screech. "There!" the Keeper cheered, breaking out into a run that he slowed as soon as he began to use the top of the ice to his advantage by sliding across the opening that was just wide enough for him to get through.
At the last second of reaching his goal, Winner came to a scrambling stop when he heard the groans of the ice as it cracked under the pressure that it was put under in the creature's consistent pulls and tears to break itself out. Falling onto his back, the White Mage watched with a start as the whole side of the hydra pressed itself against the side of the cave that had once been a crevice.
Had Quatre begun to take that way, he would have been crushed under the weight.
Panting heavily as he fought his way back to his feet, with his blades digging into the ice beneath him, the veiled Keeper narrowly missed being trampled on twice during his rush back to solid ground. A hand over his heart, he struggled to catch his breath while whispering, "Thank you, Creator. That... was... close."
Yuy reached the base of the three spiraling necks and took an assessment of the struggles beneath him. Everywhere he looked, his lover and teammates looked to be hanging onto their ground by threads. Their strength fading and their movements slowing minute-by-minute, the soldier feared that the unaffected hydra would manage to get the better of one or more of his allies.
Recalling Barton's earlier warning, Heero bit his lip in thought before he turned to his right and shouted over the sounds of the battle, "Trowa! How long does it take this thing's heads to grow in when the necks have been cut?!"
Pale-faced, the Dragoon took the blink of a moment he had to stare up in disbelief at his brother. "Seconds!" he hollered back. Sudden realization to what the Fighter was contemplating, he added, "But I have never seen what happened when all of their heads had been cut off! It may need a little more than that to completely rejuvenate!"
At that, Yuy yelled, "We're running out of options so we're just going to have to take that chance!" He made sure to meet Duo and Wufei's eyes as he bellowed, "On my mark, we take these necks out!" Swallowing roughly, the Monk nodded. Just as reluctant, but also showing faith in his partner's plan, the son of Shinigami also bowed his head.
"Quatre, you get ready to move as soon as you have the chance!" was the last command from the Fighter. Chang raised his black shield against a spew of acid a thumb up to Heero in a sign that Winner had received the message clearly.
Too preoccupied and unable to understand the dialogue taking place, the monster went on with its tireless attacks, narrowly short of reaching its desire to best one of the Alliance members on a handful of occasions.
Ducking down from the tail that came close to knocking him off its back, Yuy seized the break to immediately follow and took hold of the hilt of his sword with both hands. "On three!" he cried at the top of his lungs. Lowering themselves in preparation of their thought out tactics, the three warriors against the heads glared at the beast.
"One!" the Fighter shouted, aiming the sharp tip of his sword just above the base of the center neck. When the thrashing increased enough that he feared missing his mark when the time was right, he rushed, "Two!"
Placing a hand on the wall beside him, Wufei crouched down with his shield overhead while Anna's chiming soul swirled around the hydra head to distract it. Trowa practically mirrored him at the other half of the cave while Duo slowly spun the staff of his scythe in his right hand. Taking a deep breath, Heero called, "Three!"
Simultaneously, three powers and strong down thrust severed the hydra's necks in an instant...
A massive slab of rock shaped like an icicle formed and fell from the cavern's roof to knock out the head that Chang had been sparring with.
Working together with his lover's strong cut, Maxwell unleashed a glowing ultraviolet burst of energy shaped like the curve of his scythe to bury it in the middle of the thick neck that the soldier had penetrated.
His right hand raised, Trowa shot forth a call of air that his enemy instinctively swallowed, only to have it burst half-way down its throat.
The wide-eyed dragon heads collapsed along with its long trunk of a body. Stunned by the bloody sight of the demon's dismembered remains, Winner trembled. "Go, Quatre!" Barton ordered in a near shriek. A startled cry escaping him, the White Mage opened his palms to the floor and created two sprays of water at either side of himself that lifted him high over the quaking body.
Paying no mind to the stench and foul green blood that had pooled around the cave floor, Heero hurried off the back of the healing monster.
Practically falling to his feet in his hasty run, he reached Duo's side and spun around as their challenger's clawed feet dug back into the stone under them. Unearthly sounds came from the reforming bases where three necks had once been at the time that Quatre safely reached the other side of the hydra.
Slowly pacing back from the beast, the rest of the team watched in horror as three heads replaced where there had been one with all of their eyes glowing the red of their hatred. The screeches to come from their opening jaws brought the whole cavern to shake and the warriors to wince as they covered their ears.
"We really could use that stone's help any time here, Quat!" Maxwell half-shouted-half-squeaked as the hydra broke in a charge for him and his family.
On the other side of the crazed demon, Winner broke from his fright and spun to gaze on the blackened, emerald-cut rock on the pale blue pedestal only a few feet away from him. Rushing for his weapon, he panted and whimpered in his panic. The fact that he had no idea how to use the Elemental Stone did not matter. The lives of his lover and his 'siblings' depended on him getting to it before the hydra got to them.
Stumbling between the frozen demons that flanked the way, the White Mage collided with the upright stand that would not budge even against his weight. Aquamarine eyes wide, Quatre reached up to his stone with trembling hands. Cupping the bottom of his prize, he gasped in wonder as the whole rock shifted from its dead, blackened state to a glowing swirl of blue-and-green.
A loud laugh escaping him, the Water Keeper turned around and cried at the screaming hydra, "Hey!" scraping to a stop, the now nine-headed beast growled as it gazed back at the blonde teenager that it had completely forgotten. At the sight of the restored Elemental Stone that was casting off its own natural light, the burning eyes grew.
Every bit of the rage that the beast had felt was refocused onto the Mage. Howling in a fury of blue-and-gold scales, it ran with wild abandon for the new target. Back straightening and shoulders rolling back, Quatre let out a long breath as he gazed unafraid onto his attacker. Then, those opened jaws were descending upon him.
Lifting his Elemental Stone with both hands to the screeching heads just as the first was about to close its jaw around him, Winner released a battle cry of his own and a blinding beam fired forth from the center of his weapon. That beacon took a straight course down the hydra's neck.
And where there was a was a solid, thick being one second, there was a surge of water exploding and running from the cave the next.
Seeing a great wave rushing for them, the rest of the Alliance shouted and gripped the sides of the walls to anchor themselves. Tightly gripping Anna's body around him, Wufei buried his head in the nook of her neck as her soul tucked itself inside the collar of his robe before they were all submerged briefly.
As they gulped air to catch their breaths when the water subsided to runoff the ledge of the cave, the five drenched soldiers stared into each others wide eyes. For a moment, the only sound in the air was that of the droplets dripping from the cavern ceiling to splash into the puddles around.
Then, looking onto the brilliant Water Elemental Stone in its rightful possessor's care, the team's voices rose in loud cheers and laughter of elation at their hard-fought victory.
* * * * * *
Nearly the rest of the world away, Dekim Barton's blood boiled as the mystic mirror he had created disappeared before his narrowed eyes.
TBC...
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