Chapter 13 - The Attack on Vara
No one knew how long the duplicate had been hiding inside of Tennu; it could have been for months. It had to be calculation, not chance, that he chose Tennu, just as his brother duplicate had chosen Chaal to hide in. Tennu was one of the sons of Tekken, the third male of the Queen and head of the Protectors of Suzaku, and he had been going in and out of the palace for years now. And of all the demons in the palace only Kyo was more powerful, for Tennu was a cross-bred demon. That was not rare; Hiei was a cross-bred, conceived from an Ice Demon and a Fire Demon, but he had neither ice nor fire powers. While those elements could not harm him, he also controlled neither of them. Many of the cross-breeds had one of the two powers; most had only partial powers. What made Tennu so formidable was that he had both Bobcat Demon and Wind Demon powers, and complete mastery over both. He was deadly.

He had waited for the Dragon to leave. Kyo was restless and palace living was confining and stifling to him; he would travel throughout Suzaku for months at a time, then return for a couple of months. He had been in the palace for two months now; Kyo should be leaving very shortly. And sure enough, a few days later Kyo left on one of his trips. The time was right!

Tennu approached Queen Vara as she took her lunch in the gazebo. The gazebo was in the back garden overlooking a large lake. Swans gathered around whenever the Queen ate her lunch because she always shared her meal with them. She threw a few morsels of food into the water and watched them dive for it. When she turned back to her table, she gave a little jump, surprised to see Tennu standing there.
"You startled me, Tennu!" Vara exclaimed. "What can I do for you?"

He quickly pounced, pulling her out of her chair with one hand around her throat and the other around her waist, holding her tightly against his body. "You will summon Souten and Tekken here now! Don't try to use your powers, or my claws will take your throat out."

"What are you doing?  Why do you want your father here?" Vara asked.  Why was Tennu acting like this?

"That fool Tekken is not my father! Naraku is my true father and Tekken had a hand in his defeat and so did Hiten and Souten. Because of them, you sit on a throne that should have been your sister's. Now you will pay for stealing it!" Tennu growled. "Summon them! I know you have the power to call them."

"You are a duplicate!" Vara cried, "No! I won't summon them! Do what you want to with me, but I will not let you kill them!"

"Oh, I will do what I want with you, never fear!" Tennu snarled. "If you don't want to do things my way, then we will do them the hard way!" He sunk his claws into her throat, just enough to draw blood and then walked her out of the gazebo toward the palace. Then with a simple turn of his hand, a small tornado appeared at the edge of the lake. It began to pull in everything around it, plants, shrubs, and even a few of the swans were sucked into it. Tennu faced another direction and created a second tornado, and then a third. Within minutes, over a dozen small tornadoes ringed the palace, each covering an exit. They quickly grew in size and power, and any guard or servant that ventured outside was immediately sucked into their terrible maws and torn to pieces.

"Stop this! Please stop!" Vara begged. "You win!  I will call them." She closed her eyes and summoned her first male and her third male. She tried to put a warning into the summons, but there were no words to her call, so she could not hope for much.

Tennu moved one of the tornadoes to the side with a nod of his head and went into the palace; and the wind tunnel immediately returned to its place near the door. He took the  Queen to the throne room, ordering everyone there to sit against the farthest wall. Advisors and dignitaries sat next to servants and guards, listening in fear to the howling winds outside. A few minutes later, Souten entered the room.

"What is happening? There are tornados at the doors!" The Thunder Demon exclaimed, and then saw his Queen and her bleeding throat. "What is happening here?" Static electricity filled the room as Souten began to charge up, making everyone's hair stand on end.

Tennu sunk his claws in a little more, making Vara cry out in pain, and trickles of blood ran down her neck from where he had pierced her skin. "Don't go any further!" he warned the young demon, "or she will die!"

Souten stood his ground, but did not make a move forward nor did he continue to charge up. He spread his hands out in surrender. "Don't hurt her. I will do whatever you want."

"No! He is a duplicate! He wants to kill you!" Vara managed to get out before Tennu sunk in his claws even deeper. She gasped in pain.  Souten remained, the thought of running from danger never even crossing his mind. There had to be a way to get Tennu without hurting Vara. He couldn't send a bolt of lightning; it would strike them both. All his power and he couldn't think of a thing to do!

At the same time that this scenario played out on the inside, Toyna was outside. He had returned from the city on an errand and saw the tornadoes. One by one the Ice Demon had iced them up, drawing moisture from the very air itself. The winds could not spin under the weight of the ice and they fell, shattering into a million pieces of ice, which was quickly melting in the warm sun. He had already eliminated all but two of them and was going to those when he felt his Queen's pain. Without hesitation he ran inside the nearest door.
Without warning, Vara felt Tennu's body slam against her, then he fell, taking her with him as he plummeted to the ground, crushing her beneath his dead weight. A river of blood covered her as she screamed in terror. His weight was yanked off of her and she looked up into the eyes of her third male, Tekken. He had come up from behind and heard it all. He had slashed into his son hoping that the young demon could survive the injury. Tennu's body blurred for an instant and the duplicate appeared, sound and whole. He threw Tennu against Tekken, catching the Bobcat Lord off guard and spilling him to the floor.

The duplicate ran out the way Tekken had come, in the opposite direction of Souten, and collided with Toyna. Without a second's hesitation, he jumped into Toyna and merged with him.

"No!" Vara screamed as she saw the duplicate disappearing inside her second male. Tekken set down his son's body and rushed towards Toyna, but there was not much he could do. Souten was also in the same quandary. Toyna was their brother and their binding stopped them from harming him. By the mere chance, the duplicate had chosen the perfect host!

Tala/Toyna iced up the area, and Tekken could not get any traction on the icy floor. Vara inched closer to Tala/Toyna and as she slowly advanced, she looked into the duplicate's eyes and knew in that instant that she was looking into Toyna's eyes and not Tala's. Somehow the Ice Demon still had a little control over himself; perhaps it was his binding that kept him freer than the other hosts had been. 

Inside of Toyna, there was a fierce battle raging as Toyna tried to take command of his body back from the duplicate.  But Tala was too strong and he could not break the duplicate's hold.  So Toyna did the next best thing -- he hid the truth.  He made Tala believe that all of the tornadoes had been eliminated and, after glancing at his Queen, he walked out the door and straight into the path of one of the two remaining tornadoes.  

Now a new battle raged as the duplicate tried to summon the ice powers of his host.  Toyna fought the hardest fight he had even fought -- all inside his own mind -- and this time he won.  Tala could not summon his powers.  With Tala desperately trying to stop him, he took one step towards the tornado.

"I will not let you harm those I love!"  He screamed and then took one more step.

With one terrible whoosh, the funnel sucked them into its maw and Toyna was torn apart. The male Tala jumped out of his dead host but his emergence sealed his own fate.

Vara screamed in agony as she felt Toyna die. He had done it on purpose, giving his life to save them -- she had seen his resolve and his goodbye in that last look.  She slipped to the floor, her heart filled with more pain than she could have ever imagined, and Tekken rushed to her side.  

"Toyna..." she sobbed.  And the Bobcat wrapped his arms around his grieving Queen.

Souten hurried outside and used his powers on the twisters, breaking them apart with his Thunder powers, changing the air pressure inside of them until they vanished. The gardens were covered with uprooted trees and plants, dead swans and human and demon body parts.  At his feet lay what remained of Toyna. Souten knelt down with a heavy heart and said a silent prayer for his friend.

It took many days and many funerals for Suzaku to recover from the duplicate's attack. Now two of the duplicates were dead, but they had taken many good men with them. It was not an equitable trade!
Toyna was buried in the far gardens. Many attended including Princess Aara who came in spite of the protests of her Protectors, his heartbroken parents, Toya and Yukina, and his sister Hiya, along with Kurama and Hiei. 

Aara embraced her daughter, knowing all too well the pain that Vara was going through.  To lose someone you that was bound to you is to lose a little piece of your own soul.

Kurama grew a willow to stand watch over Toyna's grave and its branches trailed the ground, forever hanging in sorrow.

When Aara and her group returned to Otherworld, Tennu went with them. Mitsukake had done all he could for the young Bobcat and now he needed Kaiba's healing powers. He was tucked into warm blankets after Kaiba did what he could and Kurama set out one of his sleep plants. The best thing for Tennu was rest and the chance for his body to heal itself.

Recovery was not that easy for Yukina. Otherworld no longer held joy for her and, with Rin in the Castle, her healing powers were not vital.  The sorrow in her heart could never be erased and a few days later, she returned to the Ice World. Toya also left the Castle, but he went to Suzaku to offer his services as a Protector in place of his son. Hiya stayed in Otherworld under the protection and care of her uncle, Hiei. The girl was as close as he would ever get to being a father and he loved her with all his heart.

A pall of suspicion had fallen over Otherworld. No one knew in whom the other two duplicates were hiding. It could be anyone -- friend, neighbor, even a mate or a child.

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