"To…"

To Fight

"Tsubaki!"

Pain. Blunt, searing pain. Carl Clover saw lights winking in front of his eyes as the ground below came screaming at him. Another dull pain filled his entire body as he slammed into the ground, leaving visible cracks upon its surface. The force was such that he bounced up somewhat; he used this opportunity to right himself in midair and land on his feet. He looked up at the white figure sprinting at him. He barely had time to turn the puppet he carried into battle into a shield to block Hakumen's attack.

Hakumen recoiled from the block and Carl took his chance to strike. A quick succession of strikes slammed Hakumen's chest, and then he felt it. A massive, drilling hand hit his chest and sent him flying back into a nearby shack, destroying the wall in the process. Splintered wood, drywall and debris exploded out and littered the ground. Hakumen got to his feet and shook himself off. Nirvana stood behind Carl. Her gait had changed significantly; she no longer stood slumped, arms barely off the ground, instead she now stood erect, her arms raised in front of her in a fighting stance.

Hakumen resumed his usual fighting stance and exhaled. In an instant, he was mere feet from Carl, his body bent low to the ground. "Gurren! Enma!" A raging uppercut caught Carl off guard, and he was catapulted into the air. Hakumen jumped to follow him. "Hotaru!" A spinning kick propelled him higher, and so too, did Hakumen soar through the air. "Tsubaki!" Hakumen's Oougi made contact again with Carl, hitting him broadly across his back and sending him plummeting once again. Hakumen launched himself towards the ground, landed, and did not give Carl a chance to right himself this time. "Renka!" A powerful kick slammed into Carl's chest, followed immediately by a massive overhead slash. "ZANTETSU!" Carl slid along the ground several feet before coming to a grinding halt. Covered in dust, bruises, cuts and abrasions he got shakily to his feet.

"A-Ada," he coughed. Nirvana teleported in front of him. Carl continued to cough, still trying to recover from the powerful assault he endured.

"Hmph," muttered Hakumen, "I hope you're ready to finish this child." He dashed towards Nirvana, his Oougi ready to strike.

Carl looked up at Hakumen rushing towards them. His eyes grew wide. "Con fuoco!" Again, Hakumen was slammed by a drilling arm.

Nirvana's expressionless face stared after Hakumen as he flew back and hit the ground, skidding several feet before stopping. "Why do you continue to fight a child?" she shouted after him.

Hakumen got to his feet, swaying slightly. The last hit had done a fair bit of damage. "Why do you continue to accompany him, Nirvana?" he shot back.

Carl muttered to Nirvana, "Let's finish this sis, I'm really hurting." He clutched his side as he spoke. "We'll try to knock him off the edge." He gestured towards the edge of the shantytown, which feature a drop some two hundred feet into the deepest bowels of Kagutsuchi.

Nirvana chastised her brother. "Well, if we hadn't fought him, this wouldn't have happened," she said waspishly. Carl inclined his head and muttered and apology. The pair began to run at Hakumen.

Hakumen backed up slowly, until his foot caught hold of the edge. He had no intention of killing the child, but it seems they were not so merciful. Ready now for the attack, he prepared a trump card: Kokuujin: Yukikaze. He set himself into a counter stance and prepared himself; Carl had taken the lead and was going to open the assault.

It was only just in time that Nirvana realized what Hakumen was preparing when she acted. Carl's eyes went wide in disbelief as he saw his fist bounce off of the projected seal Hakumen created to counter his assault. "Now, child, I have you!" he shouted.

Nirvana teleported in front of Carl, and took the brunt of the assault. An ominous cracking noise rang through air, and when the dust the attack had kicked up settled, she stood, hunched over, electricity crackling about her. She was out of commission for now. Carl stared at Nirvana and then looked at Hakumen. With his sister unable to fight, he was no match for Hakumen, but still, he would try. His attacks grew more feeble as Hakumen parried them, however, as he was quickly tiring.

Far off, Nirvana could hear the sounds of battle becoming steadily clearer in her ears. She came to and noticed Carl hunched over a few feet from Hakumen, who remained quite close to the edge of the land they fought on. She walked jerkily towards the two, eventually picking up enough speed to break into an awkward run. Carl turned to see his sister running straight at them and caught on to what she was about to do. He jumped into the air and launched his last, desperate attack; he would transform his puppet into a lance to hit Hakumen across the face and compound the force that Nirvana's punch to the chest would produce. Hakumen, however, read Nirvana's gait in an instant and caught her arm. Determined, Nirvana swung her body weight in a half-circle around Hakumen. Off balance, he tottered over the edge and felt himself falling.

For the third time, Carl's eyes went wide and he cried out, "Sis!"

Nirvana, still clutching Hakumen's arm and dragging him down shouted back, "Forgive me, Carl!"

Hakumen realized at the last possible instant that Carl was going to fall too, and he would not survive such a fall. "Today is not your day child," he shouted, "HOTARU!" His foot barely connected with Carl's chest, but it was sufficient enough to launch him a few feet back and land harmlessly, for the most part, on the ground.

Carl ran to the edge and looked down at the falling pair. Tears flowing from his eyes, he shouted, "Ada! Ada! ADA!" No response came, and she did not teleport to his side. He fell to his knees, buried his face in his hands and began to cry.

Hakumen regained consciousness after having slammed his left shoulder into the ground to take the impact of the fall. As he fell he wrestled Nirvana, who fought back with gusto, ignorant of the fact that Hakumen was trying to position her over him so as not to take such a great impact. Nox Nyctores or not, Nirvana was not invulnerable; the suit Hakumen wore, however, was far more durable than she was. His efforts were in vain, but his expectations of her durability proven wrong when awoke to find her sitting on a nearby rock. He shook his head violently; pain welled all over his body and it clouded his mind. "And to what reason do I owe the good grace of your rage?" he asked.

Nirvana crossed her arms. Hakumen was adept at reading body language; due, she thought, to his blank mask. "You could have killed Carl. What other reason could I possibly have?" she shot.

Hakumen scoffed. "I had no intent on killing that child; he, however, seemed to have a different idea, and, so it would seem, do you," he said calmly. He looked about for a path so he could return to the upper levels of Kagutsuchi; he had little interest in entertaining Nirvana.

Nirvana was taken aback. "I never meant to kill you, and neither did Carl," she said defensively.

Hakumen scoffed again. "Well, I intend to get myself out of here," he explained impatiently, "So good luck to you Nirvana."

Nirvana got up and drew her fist back, ready to punch Hakumen. Hakumen turned around, ready to block the punch, but instead was greeted by the sight of Nirvana tottering forward and landing heavily on his chest. He caught Nirvana and propped her upright. "I suggest you not attack me again Nirvana," said Hakumen.

Nirvana looked away, angry at Hakumen, and angry at herself for being damaged. She hobbled slowly back to the rock she was sitting on and set herself down on it heavily. She ached all over, and her left leg felt like it was moving improperly. The injuries were beyond the simple repair going out of commission afforded her.

Hakumen stared at Nirvana: he was fighting a strong compulsion to help her; having just finished fighting her meant little, as she was visibly hurt and in need of assistance. In an attempt to direct the conversation towards proffering help (he did not want to simply ask, as that would be rather unfitting for his own prescribed character), he asked her, "Why do you continue to follow that child Nirvana?" This proved to be the wrong question to ask.

Nirvana crossed her arms again and responded harshly, "My name is Ada. That child's name is Carl. He is my brother, and I love him. For that reason I follow him: to keep him safe."

"A rather quaint idea Nirvana," said Hakumen, "But it remains a fact that you are a Nox Nyctores: an implement of war now following that child about like a lap-dog."

Nirvana was quickly losing her patience, and this remark dealt a serious blow to her own dwindling feeling of humanity. "A lap-dog?" she scoffed, "And what do you propose you are, Hakumen? A free agent willingly working for Kokonoe?"

Could he, Hakumen would have scowled. "I have no affiliation with that Grimalkin any longer Nirvana," he said testily.

Nirvana gave a harsh laugh. "Oh you're right, I've forgotten, you're working under a new employer now aren't you? How is that little vampire?" she needled.

Hakumen raised his voice. "That is neither here nor there Nirvana. I remain acting on my own free will…"

Nirvana began to laugh, a cold, cruel laugh. "You're a horrific liar, you know that right?" she shot back, "I'm in a better position than you are."

"An expressionless marionette under the thumbnail of that small child is hardly in a position to sound prideful," said Hakumen scathingly, "Moreover, I am not an implement of death and destruction Nirvana, as you are, and are destined to be."

Nirvana was greatly stung by this remark; she never took affronts to her face well, much less attacks on her current condition. "Expressionless? At least I HAVE a face Hakumen. A faceless freak like you is hardly in a position to sound prideful," she shrieked, her voice now shaking with rage, "And you're definitely one to talk; at least I can CHOOSE when destroy, unlike you. I've seen you pursuing your agenda with a frighteningly obsessive air." In an instant, she felt a sick satisfaction; Hakumen abruptly turned away from her, though he did not start walking. "What? Have I touched the nerve of the legendary Hero?" she nettled.

"Do not speak about that which you do not understand," said Hakumen, his voice even but his tone murderous.

"Why! What's the matter Hakumen? Did it hurt for me to say that?" she raged. She felt a tear running down the crack under her eye. She wiped it away hastily, though more were beginning to flow; it had been ages since she had last cried. "Out of combat, you're entirely worthless!" Her voice was breaking now; his words were sinking in steadily, and they cut in ways his Oougi could not. "Did I touch a nerve Hakumen!"

Hakumen clenched his fists: rage and sadness consumed him as he wheeled around. "YES, YOU DID," he screamed, "I may not complain as you do about my past, but I do not pretend to be something I no longer am! I am no longer Jin!" Behind the echoing, harsh tones of his voice lurked the hurt, frightened tone of Jin Kisarigi, unheard by anyone but himself. "I do not enjoy for a second the curses this unit bestows me, the least of which is that which made me human!" He pointed directly at his blank mask. "You at least bear the dregs of human resemblance, but what do I bear? Blank oblivion, arms and legs. Enemies recoil in fear before me, but so do those with which I have no issue." His voice grew steadily more even, but increasingly bitter, "I know the position I occupy now: a relic of the past forced into the bidding of others." He sat down on a nearby rock, his forehead in his hand. "I am a marionette more than you are Nirvana. I…apologize."

Nirvana was caught off-guard. From boiling rage, Hakumen dropped in an instant to self-loathing melancholy. She stood up, tottered unevenly over to him, and sat down with care, not trusting her own balance. "I should apologize as well then Hakumen," she said softly, "I…didn't quite realize what it was I was saying."

Hakumen looked up at Nirvana and shook his head. "No, you most certainly did Nirvana," he explained, "But I do not damn you for it. You simply spoke what you have already experienced."

Nirvana felt herself beginning to cry again and looked away shamefully. Hakumen placed a reaffirming hand on her shoulder. "I suppose we are kindred spirits much more than I would have surmised," he said evenly, the bitterness beginning to drain from his voice. "I apologize for not seeing the lengths to which you must have, and inevitably must continue to, suffer. I realize now that perhaps my ability to read body language is not as adept as I expected."

Nirvana wiped the tears from under her eye and spoke shakily through her sobs, "Likewise. I should not have said what I did."

"I do not fault you for it, Nirvana," mumbled Hakumen, "It was, however painful, truth."

Nirvana looked back at Hakumen. "That doesn't mean it has to stay so," she said, her voice evening, "I reject the views others have of me. I have that choice. I choose instead to prove that I am not a senseless machine for war as so many see me, but rather a soul trapped in the body of such. You too, have that choice."

Hakumen felt himself resonate rather strongly with Nirvana. The way she spoke to him, and the tone she carried in her voice held something greater than sympathy: it held empathy. Nirvana did not feel sorry for him, she was sorry with him. "Thank you," he said; his voice cracked the tiniest fraction, "Nirvana."

Nirvana held up a long, silvery finger and wagged it. "I told you before Hakumen," she said in mock annoyance, "Ada."

Hakumen looked at Ada; perhaps she could sense his disbelief because she laughed. Hakumen joined her. "Very well," he said, his voice somewhat more content, "Ada."

Nirvana inclined her head in thanks. She looked up at Hakumen and felt uneasy. "I suppose…if you want," she began, but Hakumen cut her off.

"No. That was a different time, a different place, and a different me," he said somberly. Perhaps he realized he was beginning to sound melancholy again because he erased the tone from his voice before continuing, "I am Hakumen now. I can live alongside that title."

Ada nodded. She made to stand up alongside Hakumen but instead tottered forward. Hakumen caught her mid-fall and propped her up. "Whether or not it damages your pride," he said, putting an arm around her and watching her footing so she did not trip on the numerous rocks that littered the ground, "I am insisting I help you out of here. There shall be no argument."

Ada could have smiled.