Chapter twenty six

"Y-Yuki?" Neah repeated, looking at the girl, then back to the boy. "Are you Yuki?"

"Y-Yeah..." The blond nodded. "You're Neah, right? Neah Andson?"

Neah felt her heart skip a beat. Her eyes began watering and she ran over to the boy- Yuki- and hugged him as tight as she could. Yuki was surprised, but hugged her back just as hard. "I-I can't believe you're alive..." Neah cried, burying her face in his shoulder, "I'm so happy you're okay."

"I wasn't sure I'd see you again," Yuki breathed deeply. He pulled away slightly, "What happened? I thought Dantalion sent you through one of her portals?"

"You know Dantalion? How?" Neah pulled away, rubbing her face.

"I know all the djinn, we talk with them all the time," Yuki said. His expression grew troubled, "Ugo was sure you'd been sent to the Old Days..."

"Ugo? He's here too?" Neah's eyes widened. "How did they get him out of the Sacred Palace?"

"We're not sure... None of the djinn were able to do anything though..." Yuki sighed.

"We should be let out soon, you can talk with everyone and explain then," The blue haired girl spoke, standing. "I'm Adna, by the way. I'm a magi just like you and Yuki."

"A magi?" Neah looked at her. "Then you must be Aladdin's relative, right?"

"How'd you know that?" Yuki asked.

"Magi can only be related to past magi now," Neah explained. "I'm related to Judar, you- Scheherazade, and Adna- Aladdin."

"Yeah, I heard that's how it works..." Yuki nodded. "I wonder if there's a fourth magi, then? Yunan's relative?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he was still around," Neah chuckled. A loud buzzer rang, and a red light flashed a few times before fading away. Neah jumped and looked around, "What the hell was that?!"

"Rec," Yuki smiled. The cell door automatically opened and he walked out, followed by Adna. "Are you coming?"

"Y-Yeah..." Neah nodded. It was so surreal, seeing Yuki again. He had changed so much from what she remembered. Neah was lost watching him as he talked with other magicians and djinn, who were floating around, free from their vessels. Yuki acted so mature now, and he was comfortable with everyone around him. Neah could feel a strange light, or glow, around him, something completely opposite from her.

"Ne, are you listening?" Yuki nudged her. "Ne??"

Neah blinked and frowned, "It's Neah."

Yuki smiled, "I guess some things never change. Come on, you should explain to everyone how you got here."

"Right," Neah nodded, finally looking around. At the large table they sat at, several djinn floated around. She recognized a few, able to guess who they were by the way their users equips looked like, but others, she had no clue. Spotting Ugo and Dantalion, she directed her attention to them, "Ah... Well, Dantalion, your magic worked, I was in the Old Days for a while."

"What happened? The soldiers have been using our powers a lot recently, Ugo is very ill because of it... One of the Elites uses him for power because there were only two magi," Dantalion spoke.

Neah looked at her lap, Nadiya... Looking back at the djinn, she began explaining, "I landed in Sindria, and explained everything to everyone there-"

"You spoke with King Sinbad?" Another djinn asked. He looked to be Focalor. "Ah, I miss him. He was a good king," He smiled proudly.

Neah chuckled, "Yeah, I met him...After learning magic with a staff from the magician there- Yamraiha- I decided to travel around and get help. I wanted to get as many magicians and metal vessel users to come back to this time and defeat MWS."

"Defeat?!" A few djinn echoed, surprised.

Neah nodded, and continued, "I went to Magnostadt, Reim, and Kou before returning to Sindria to plan. I obviously got Sinbad's help too... Then a soldier from MWS appeared..." She glanced at Yuki, guilt taking over. "I-uh I got some answers out of him. He said MWS was going to attack the Old Days, they wanted to get rid of magic all together or something, I don't know... then a few days later they showed up..."

"And you fought?" Dantalion concluded.

"Yeah... Ren Koumei came up with a plan."

Dantalion smiled triumphantly, "Of course he did!"

Neah smiled, then finished catching them up, "Me, Sinbad, Yunan and Judar went to attack the Elites while everyone else fought the soldiers, but it didn't work very well... One of the Elites said most of our forces were captured. And I ended up getting hurt, and I made the rest of my group retreat." She was quiet for a while, then looked around and asked, "Where are the Fanalis and Imuchakk? And everyone from the Old Days? Shouldn't they be here too?"

"The Fanalis and Imuchakk are kept in a separate area because they are physically stronger than us. I'm sure your troops are being kept there as well," Focalor spoke.

"Do you think all of the metal vessel users are captured, Neah?" Adna asked. She sat on Neah's left, while Yuki was to her right.

"I'd like to think they're alright, but I'm not sure," Neah admitted. "Sin, Judar, and Yunan should still be out..."

~

"Hey, look!" Judar broke the silence and pointed to the ground below them, "It's that Fanalis and Kouha!" The three men flew to the ground and landed in front of the pink haired males.

"Prince Kouha, Muu, where is everyone else?" Sinbad asked urgently.

"King Sinbad!" Muu looked surprised. "Aren't you supposed to be going after the Elites?"

"Where's Neah?" Kouha asked, looking around for the third magi.

"The Elites were far too strong," Yunan said, "We had to retreat."

"And Neah?" Muu pressed.

"She...didn't make it," The blond magi admitted.

"We don't know if she's dead or not, but the Elites took her," Sinbad explained further.

"But she was crushed under a fallen building," Judar added.

"What happened to everyone?" Sinbad changed the subject.

"Once you left, Prince Koumei organized us into groups and sent us to different parts of the city," Muu began explaining, "Prince Kouha and I were in the same group, along with a few members of your household, Sinbad-"

"-But we all got separated," Kouha jumped in, "I tried to look for Brother En or Mei, but I couldn't find 'em. The MWS guys were taking everyone, shooting them with weird guns... Their magic is really strange...we don't have anything like it in Kou..."

"The Elites had strange magic as well," Yunan said.

"MWS isn't killing anyone, only the normal soldiers," Muu spoke again. "What are they gaining by not killing them?"

"Neah mentioned that they do experiments on them," Sinbad crossed his arms, "They also need power for their weapons."

"Were Chibi and the Old Hag taken too?" Judar asked.

Muu frowned at Scheherazade's rude nickname, "Yes, they were taken as well. We haven't found anyone else. None of the Fanalis Corps, no soldiers, even."

"What about the Alliance? Surely they weren't captured?" Sinbad asked, confused at how MWS managed to get everyone. How could his strong alliance get taken as well?

"We haven't seen them," Muu shook his head. "Do you three have a plan? We can't do anything just the five of us, and with Neah gone..."

Everyone was silent for several moments. No one knew what to do. If all their armies, dungeon capturers, magicians, household users, and Fanalis weren't enough, what could three metal vessel users and two magi do?

"We could try finding MWS' headquarters?" Sinbad suggested after the long silence.

"Yeah, do you know where it is?" Judar spoke sarcastically, "We can't do shit. We can't even get back to our own time! What the hell was Neah thinking?"

"There was no way of knowing how strong MWS was going to be," Yunan defended the absent magi, "She just wanted to help everyone. Neah thought she was doing the right thing."

"She didn't have to fuck up time and drag us all into it," Judar crossed his arms. "How do we benefit from it?"

"She's your relative, Judar," Sinbad reminded, anger edging into his voice. Did Judar really think so little of his own family? Even Sinbad cared about the arrogant female, although he didn't want to.

"I don't care. Do you?" Judar leaned towards the king and smirked teasingly, "Don't tell me you like her?" Sinbad shuffled angrily, opening his mouth to say something as Judar interrupted, "You do, don't you?! Hah!" The king looked ready to hit the magi, narrowing his eyes and clenching his jaw.

"Ok, ok, guys," Muu stepped between the two extremely tense men, "we don't have time to argue. We need to do something. All of our friends and family -past and future- need our help. Does anyone have one of Neah's maps?"

"I do," Kouha spoke up, pulling out a crumbled up piece of paper from his pocket. He handed it to the half-Fanalis, and looked over his shoulder as Muu flattened out the paper and looked it over.

"Alright, good. So..."

~