Chapter 1
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Notes: "Guilty Gear X2" belongs to other people. Thank God. I don't want it. Well... maybe for the money. But that's not the point. The point is that I've only seen X2, and at that, only the extra movie and some of the stories. I've heard some of the backstory, but I haven't actually seen it myself. I have very little idea what's going on, so I just picked up the storyline as best I could. Please forgive me for any errors. Well, actually, that's not the point either, though it is true. The point is that I don't own this story. Thank you. Enjoy.
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"Oh no, I'm falling!"
It was in an almost dream-like state that Sol Badguy watched Ky Kiske fall into the enormous fissure created by that gear, or titan, or whatever the hell it was. Sol frowned. A creature like that had no business interrupting a perfectly honorable duel.
As he watched Ky slipping away, his anger grew. The fissure was incredibly deep. He had no doubt that a fall of that length would kill a man. But... there was a thin ledge not too far down. It was only about four feet wide, but it seemed to run the entire length of the fissure. If he could make that...
"Spare me," Sol muttered, and jumped after Ky, sliding down the side of the canyon.
He hit the ledge with an amazingly firm footing. Sliding down hadn't been as difficult as he had thought. Ky on the other hand was not so lucky. Sol heard the sickeningly loud snap of bones as he collided with the stone path.
Ky moaned slightly and started to rise to his knees, but he wasn't out of danger yet. There was a loud rumbling noise as the section of the ledge underneath him, cracked by the impact of his fall, began to give way. Ky's eyes widened in fear and he reached up to grab hold of the remaining ledge but too late; his hand was already past the point where he could conceivably reach.
Sol lunged forward and thrust his arm down, grabbing Ky firmly by the wrist. He hadn't gone through all the trouble of getting down here just to let him fall. With a grunt of effort, he heaved Ky back onto the ledge with him, moving him a few feet away as smaller bits of the ledge continued to crumble.
When he was finally sure that no further parts of the ledge were of the verge of collapse, Sol turned back to Ky. The lightning master had unsheathed his sword and was using it to lever himself up. When he finally reached a standing position however, he cried out and his left leg buckled beneath him, sending him sprawling back onto the ground. He glared at Sol as though this were somehow his fault.
Sol took a step forward to attempt to help him up, but Ky leveled his sword at him.
"Don't come any closer. I can still kill you, even like this."
Sol grinned. Ky looked for all the world like some animal, cornered, injured, but ready to fight for its life nonetheless.
"Come on," said Sol, taking a step forward with his hands held up in a placating manner. "Think about it. If I wanted you to die, I could have just let you fall. Why would I want to hurt you?"
"Because," Ky snarled, "you want to be the one who kills me. You've said so yourself."
This was true. "But only if it's in a fair fight," Sol reassured him. "You're obviously badly injured, and it would be unfair of me to kill you like this."
Ky did not seem convinced, and kept his sword leveled at Sol as he leaned on the canyon wall to stand up. Sol rolled his eyes.
"Look Kiske, you're in front of the only way out of here anyway." Sol gestured back at the large gap in the ledge that was now behind him. "So I have to go through you either way. Now you can either accept the fact that I have no interest in fighting you right now and come with me, or we can battle for the right to move forward. A battle which you will lose, I might add, because we both know that we're evenly matched at full power, and you are injured."
Ky glared, but lowered and sheathed his sword.
Sol nodded in satisfaction. "Right. Now let me have a look at your leg."
Ky frowned. "Why?"
"Because," said Sol, in the voice of one explaining things to a small child, "you've obviously injured it."
"No, I mean, why help me?"
"Because, idiot, we're going to be traveling together and you will be able to go a lot faster if that's splinted."
Ky looked startled. "What do you mean traveling together? Why?"
"Did that fall rattle your brain, or are you always this stupid?" Ky glared at him, but didn't respond. Sol continued. "For one thing, that ledge is the only way out, remember? So we have to go the same way anyway."
Ky looked over his shoulder and the long, winding, and occasionally crumbling path that snaked off into the distance. "And the other?"
"Huh?" said Sol, confused.
"You said for one thing. That implies that you had another reason."
"Oh." Sol winked at him. "I'm the one who gets to kill you, remember? I can't very well allow you to die out in the wilderness. Since you obviously can't take care of yourself like this."
Ky frowned again at this comment, but obviously realized the truth in it and kept his mouth shut. Instead, he wordlessly sat down and gestured at his leg.
Smiling, Sol moved forward and examined it clinically. "Hm. Broken. I can set it and splint it, if we can find something to use."
"How about my sheath? It's my left leg anyway, so I should still be able to draw my sword if I need to, right?"
"Good idea," said Sol, nodding, and reached for the sword.
Ky knocked his hand away. "Don't touch the sword," he said curtly, and removed the scabbard himself, placing it alongside his broken leg.
Sol rolled his eyes and took one of the buckles off of each of his gloves, using them to tightly tie the makeshift splint to Ky's leg. After that he helped the blond Knight stand up.
As soon as he was standing, Ky broke away from Sol and leaned heavily on the wall of the fissure. He began to painstakingly move forward. It was difficult going as it was Ky's left leg that was broken and the canyon wall was on his right. Their progress was slow.
"Look," said Sol, "why don't you just lean on my shoulder? It will be much faster, and it will be a lot less effort for you."
"No thank you," said Ky through gritted teeth, and continued his slow progress along the path.
After the sixth time that he had stumbled, Ky finally gave in and allowed Sol to slip one arm around him, supporting most of his weight and making their progress much faster. However-
"Get your hand off my ass," said Ky acidly, glaring at Sol.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was doing it." Sol grinned.
"Well you were. ...And you still are!"
"So I am." Sol gave Ky's butt a good squeeze, chuckling to himself when Ky let out a very undignified yelp. Ky broke away and flattened himself against the canyon wall; hand on the hilt of his sword.
"What in Hell do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like?" Sol asked, putting on his best "innocent" expression. "I'm taking a ready opportunity to grope you."
For a moment, Ky was rendered speechless. His face turned very red, though whether it was from anger or embarrassment was difficult to gauge. The he wordlessly spun away and continued his progress along the ledge, once again leaning against the wall.
Sol sighed. It was going to be a long day. Oh well, at least he had a nice view of Ky's ass. He followed after him with a smile.
Oh God, that was hideous. Take me back.
or
Oh God, that was hideous. Let me complain to the author.