Captured memories...

((I don't really know, but I have an idea that could be fun to toy with when Hannah gets back.))

Shadow sensed something, and closed her eyes in despair. She groaned, and turned around.
"Raven."

Behind them, there was a girl, almost identical to Shadow apart from the fact that she wore her purple hair short.
"Shadow." She said smartly.

The tension and frayed tempers between the two girls were obvious, and Shadow's lips parted in a snarl. Raven seemed oblivious to this, and wore an expression on her face that suggested that she was thinking: Bring it on!

"Oh god." Holly said sighing. "Her again."

Sither turned around, surprised. What the F-? Two princesses, he thought, wait, no, one has short hair. He looked at the tension growing between the two females.
'Oh crud,' Sither murmured, 'It's going to get messy.'
He then stared at the princess -yes, the long haired one-, then he thought, why not a little bit of fun?
He walked towards Shadow, then turning to the person known as 'Raven'. He asked Shadow is Raven was a sort of rival.

"This is my twin." Shadow growled, her eyes narrowed at Shadow.
"Oh look, you found a new boyfriend. About time." Raven said, one eyebrow raised.
"Shut up Rae."
"Ooh, touchy are we?"

The two girls were evidently squaring up for a fight, and it soon broke out.

Raven struck first, throwing a bolt of magic at Shadow, only to have it blocked by a shield made of the same dark energy.

'A twin?!'
But, before Sither could finish his sentence, the fight had already begun. Raven threw a bolt of dark magic at Shadow, who blocked it with some kind of dark shield.
Sither cursed, then prepared to attack, his way.
Spines grew on his forearms, his skin was going to a more greenish taint. He sprouted a new pair of legs from his newly formed abdomen-shaped body, and grew another articulation for his arms. His head elongated, retracting his bangs into thin antannaes and his hair dissappeared. His eyes soon went pitch black. His mouth transformed into a muzzle, with mandibules at the end. And he grew. A lot.
Soon, Sither transformed into his Soul Animal, a praying mantis. A huge praying mantis, to be exact, of nearly 3 meters high.
Sither did a screaching cry to try to intimidate Raven.

"Oh great, a bug." Raven said. "To scared to fight me on your own Shae?"
This was answered by Raven being knocked back by a large bolt of magic. The demoness picked herself up, holding her ribs while laughing at the same time.
"Is that the best you can do?" She laughed, and charged towards her sister.

Shadow also ran towards Raven, but at the last minute, she sprang into the air, turning a neat somersault over Raven, and landing on the other side. The two faced each other again, but there was a difference. Shadow was trembling, her eyes turning red again. Raven just smirked at this.
"Ah, finally, a decent fight."

'Hm. Seemed like intimidation will be unecessary in this battle.' Sither concluded, after seeing no visible effect on Raven. 'Well then,' he continued, 'It looks like we'll have to fight DIRTY.'
Sither stampeded to Raven, slashing at her with his spiked arms. If I could just get her, he thought.
As he ran, dust raised into the air.
That's it, he thought.
He deployed his wings, and started whipping them through the air, and soon there was a loud humming, buzzing noise. Dust and rocks flew in all directions, creating a great cloud.

"Bug!" Raven yelled. "Stand down, this is our battle!"

Through the dust, Shadow's red eyes were clearly visible, and she charged towards Raven, magic forming around her like an aura. Raven smirked and adopted a battle position.

'Dang, didn't think about that.' he said, 'Oh well. Still gives me an advantage...'
He then swiped at Raven, not using his eyes, but his antannaes. He used his extra senses to locate where Raven was.
He charged at Raven, arms deployed.

Raven growled angrily, backflipping away. Shadow disappeared, and reappeared behind Raven, felling her with one sweep and then preparing for the kill...

Or she would have, if two pairs of strong arms hadn't grabbed her. Two silver-haired men, about 25 in age. Their eyes were pure silver, with no decernible pupil or iris. Another violet haired girl held Shadow's head carefully while a black haired one injected something into her neck.

Two younger girls looked up at what they thought to be just a rather big bug. They were also violet haired, and identical.

'Better get this off...' he said, blowing the clouds of dust and rocks away with the flutter of his wings.
'Wait, wha-' he uttered.
More people, of about the same looks as Shadow, appeared. Raven was one- but then one was holding Shadow, and two younger ones were back there.
All this confused Sither. He couldn't think correctly. What if he had been attacking Shadow all along? What if-
He saw a person with black hair inject something into Shadow's neck. He knew it was Shadow, because of her characteristic long purple hair. He then grabbed Shadow by the waist with his arms, and pulled her out of the person's grasp- but the injection had already finished. What was the thing the person injected, he thought.
He laid Shadow down beside him, then he prepared for an attack.

"Calm down." One of the men said in a calm voice. "We did not hurt her."
"Unfortunately..." Raven muttered, only to be hit round the head by another of the girls.
"I'm Archangel." Said the older purple-haired one. "Shadow's daughter, that's Onyx, my twin," The black haired girl nodded.
"Shaeman and Vrael," The two men nodded.
"They're Shadow's brothers, and then there's Twilight and Eclipse." Archangel gestured towards the two youngest, who were still staring at Sither with polite fascination.

'Hm.' He said.
Sither slowly reverted back to human form. His pants were ripped at the bottom, revealing a hip. His leather shirt was shredded. Only bits and pieces could stay still on his body.
'I'm still confused. So, if I can get it right, Raven is Shadow's twin, you, Archangel, are Shadow's daughter, and you also have a twin named Onyx. Then, there's Shaeman and Vrael, who are Shadow's brothers, and then, finally, Twilight and Eclipse. I think I got it,' he said. 'But there's one thing I don't get; how did you know we were here? Why is Raven obsessed of killing her twin? Where are the... the parents?'

Everyone scowled.
"It is not wise to bring up so many questions." Vrael warned.
"Oh be quiet Vrael!" Archangel replied, rolling her eyes.
"Me and Twi are Raven's daughters." Eclipse volunteered.
"Anyway!" Shaeman said. "We knew that Shadow and Raven were here because we share a mental link, being all from the same family. Raven is... sore about the fact that Shadow inherited the title and not her. And no one EVER talks about the parents."
"Let's see," Onyx said, "Grandfather is somewhere in a different dimension, and we couldn't care less about him. Grandmother is dead, Great Aunt Adrianna is dead, Great Aunt Sylrya is unreachable. We know nothing of Eclipse and Twilight's father, and we ignore On and my father." She counted them off on her fingers.

Sither did a short nod, in sign of comprehension.
'Kay, no more questions for today.' he said, sighing. He looked at Shadow. Demon princess, he thought, heh.
He then smiled. He laid himself on the floor, counting the things that has happened today. And whilst he was at it, he looked at the sky. 3 PM, he thought. A cold breeze swayed gently on his more-or-less discovered body. He then murmured, 'To live.'
He then stood up again. He walked around, then stared at the vast emptiness. He sighed.

Now everybody is together tied
They ask if they chose the wrong side

Sither thought for a moment. He couldn't think of anything for the few last verses of the poem.

Shadow came round again from the drug they had given her, and got to her feet. The other demons were all doing... something. Shrugging, Shadow went to stand by Sither again.
"Thank you." She murmered.

Natalie, who had tuned out of the conversation, was now tuned back in to the conversation.
"She I tell him what I am?" Natalie whispered to Shadow.

Sither heard the princess, then, said, 'No problem.'
He then tried to think of the next verse, until someone interupted his thoughts, mentioning is the person should announce it's name or not. He thought that he should concentrate more on the poem than try to overhear a maybe private conversation afterwards.

Shadow stood next to Sither, not listening to Natalie. She was looking out over the landscape, not thinking about anything else. Seeing that the danger was over, the other demons disappeared, taking Raven with them. Only Merlas stayed, quietly munching some grass.

Sither sighed. He noticed that the family vanished like the wind that blew in his hair at the exact same instant. He then created one more verse in his poetry,

There's no I in team, but there's no you either
Now all the alive men are beginning to dither

He then thought that the first sentence didn't correspond to what he was looking for. He scratched the idea, but kept the second phrase.
'It's not good, I know.' he said, sighing. He then flicked in sign of brainstorm.

Life's just a finite river
Now all the alive men are beginning to dither

He then stood up, and was proud of himself of the new sentence. He then said, 'I just need the last sentence...'

"There is nothing left in the end,
Apart from perhaps, the power of a friend." Shadow murmered.

Styke then stared blankly at Shadow, but then he turned his head to face the emptyness. He then said, 'Nice one. I'll try that.'

50 men lying dead
They've all been shot in the head

They've all been killed before the sunrise
This is their soul's demise

For them, there is no tomorrow
Their families now live in sorrow

The Gods have no mercy now
Everyone has to do their death bow

Now everybody is together tied
They ask if they chose the wrong side

Life's just a finite river
Now all the alive men are beginning to dither

There is nothing left in the end,
Apart from perhaps, the power of a friend.

Sither sighed. He smiled, and said a polite 'Thanks.' He then thought of something. He looked at Shadow, then asked, 'Er, um, where are you heading?'

"Nowhere." Shadow said quietly. "I drift."

'Nowhere.' Sither repeated. A small gust of chilling wind flew past, brushing his hair, and some of the trees that were around. He then sais, 'So, you are like a breeze, eh?'

A small girl of the wind
who later on was sinned

The paths of others she sees
just swaying and singing like a breeze

He then stopped a moment, thinking.

Shadow smiled slightly.
"Something like that. Why are you here?"