A/N-Much thanks to the reviews I've received. Thanks to insight from a couple people (Lord Chaltier and Tukuyomi) I realised that I had been moving Pitch and Harle a bit fast. So I decided to tone things down a smallbit. But anyway, on the Chapter 7-Fight To The Death.


Chapter 7-Fight to the Death

Pitch readied his halberd, the Noctem Aeternus, while several feet away Serge readied the Mastermune. Both were now intent on fighting. Pitch had blocked out all but his opponent. He wasn't going to hold back any of his abilities or strength, and he hoped the Serge would do the same.

"I need to feel a battle now that I am truly alive. I need to feel the true rush of battle." Pitch whispered to himself before he rushed full force at Serge.

Serge didn't expect the sudden attack and brought the Mastermune up just in time to block a vertical strike from the Noctem Aeternus. Serge pushed back the strike and lashed out with on of his own, but it was deflected. Serge and Pitch stared at each other and they both gave small smiles. Their abilities were equal, and the battle was quickly going to turn into a stalemate. Pitch then once again leapt towards Serge, and he acted like he was going for anther vertical strike, but when serge brought up the Mastermune to block it, Pitch quickly shifted his halberd and swung out with a horizontal strike. Pitch sliced easily through Serge's shirt, but Serge shifted back just enough to avoid his stomach getting sliced open.

"You are quite skilled Serge. But even you cannot walk along the shadows edge and hope to escape unscathed." Pitch said smiling as he started charging up for his tech skill, Shadows Edge.

Within seconds he was ready, and he leapt into the air, as a dark glow surrounded him. He then flew towards Serge, swinging out his halberd twice, and the slashes of dark energy his Serge directly, and then Pitch came down directly at Serge, for the third strike, but he twisted the Noctem Aeternus slightly so when he struck Serge he did leave a slash across Serge's chest, but nothing that would seriously injure him. Serge clutched his chest in pain, but remained standing. He glared at Pitch, so he decided if Pitch was going to up the ante, there was no reason he shouldn't do the same.

"Come now Serge. I was on the verge of death, yet I still continued. You have only a minor wound. I'm sure you can still continue to fight." Pitch said, his voice as firm as steel, "Or shall you resign yourself to the end?"

Serge gave no response but rushed at Pitch, and began a series of rapid attacks, landing a few minor strikes, due to a slight bit of carelessness on Pitch's part. He had not expected Serge to fight as hard as he did. Serge on the other hand was treating this as a life and death fight as Pitch had said, though he wanted to try to end it without death. He knew that he had to hurt Pitch enough to take him down in order to survive, and hopefully keep both of them from dying. Serge leapt back and locked eyes with Pitch; he saw the look of a true warrior in his eyes. Serge slowly started focusing his energy for a tech skill. He figured a Dash Slash would probably take a good amount of fight out of Pitch, yet still leave him alive. Serge then felt his energy peak, and he charged it into his tech skill, rushing at Pitch with superhuman speed, and swinging out his swallow. Pitch had not expected such a move, and was unable to block or defend. Pitch felt the swallow rip into his side. But he didn't fall. He remained standing despite the pain.

"Is that all you've got?" Pitch asked through clenched teeth. "I expected something stronger from someone who fought against the very powers of Fate, defying time and space to ensure your own existence."

Serge gave no response and didn't even notice the blood that now stained the blade of the Mastermune. Pitch knew that with his injury dragging out this fight would most likely kill him. So he had to end it quickly, and still avoid killing Serge. He was holding his side with his left arm, so he had to hold the Noctem Aeternus using only his right hand. He gripped the shaft of the dark halberd tightly and rushed full speed at Serge. Serge could hardly believe that Pitch wasn't even phased by the attack, not even knowing that he had injured Pitch. Pitch easily caught Serge off guard, and swung the bottom of the halberds handle up into his jaw. The sudden jolt caused Serge to lose hold of the Mastermune as it fell to the ground. Pitch didn't stop or even slow down, he then swung his knee up and around directly into Serge's stomach. Then quickly spinning behind Serge, he slammed his shoulder full force into Serge's back knocking him to the ground. Serge rolled onto his back, trying to regain his breath form the sudden onslaught of attacks. Serge then saw Pitch standing over him. Pitch then turned the Noctem Aeternus so the hook on the back of the blade was forward. And without a seconds wait Pitch swung the halberd straight down at Serge's throat. Serge closed his eyes waiting for the end, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that Pitch held the halberd the hook, only centimeters away from piercing his throat.

"You're dead. I win." Pitch said as he brought the weapon back up and stepped back. Serge started to get up and say something but was kicked back down by Pitch, "Dead men don't move or talk." He said as he turned and continued away. Harle quickly ran after him easily catching up with him.

A few moments after Pitch had left, both Leenas and Kid rushed to Serge's side. "Why didn't he kill ya? I thought he said it was a fight to the death?" said Kid, not really caring why he didn't kill, but confused by the actions of the fight.

"He didn't want to fight to the death. But he wanted serge to fight as though his life was on the line." said HW Leena.

"His life may still be." Serge whispered quietly, as he looked at the Mastermune, which laid a few feet away, one of the blades stained with blood.

"Pitch, you're injured." Harle said softly to pitch trying to get him to stop so she could attempt to bandage his wounds. "You're not invincible. Let me at see how bad your wound is."

"I'll be fine. I've been through worse." Pitch said not wanting his mortal weakness to show. "It'll take more than a little cut like this to hurt me."

Harle then quickly got in front of Pitch and pulled his arm away from his side, revealing that his side and arm were both soaked with blood. "Pitch, sit down, and take off your shirt."

"Harle, I'm fine. It's not as bad as it looks." He said trying to move to the side to continue traveling.

"Well, considering how bad it looks, that's not saying much." Harle said keeping in front of him. "Now take off your shirt, and I can see if there's a way that I can cover it up a little bit."

"I guess there's no way around it." Pitch said as he stripped off his shirt, revealing a nasty slash on his side.

"Oh dear," Harle said slightly shocked at the true severity of the wound, "Pitch, this is a terrible injury. You have to see a doctor soon. He wave to get you to Guldove or Marbule so you can be healed properly." She said as she ripped the legs off of her outfit, and used them to wrap around Pitches side. "That's should help for a little bit. But we really should get you to see a doctor soon."

"Sorry that you had to tear up your outfit because of me." Pitch said wincing slightly as she tightly wrapped up his injury.

"Its alright Pitch." She said as she stood up and handed him back his shirt, "This doesn't suit me that well anymore. I am no longer ze harlequin, I am just Harle."

Pitch then gently gripped her arm and turned her around to face him, "And that's perfect." He said softly before leaning in to give her a long passionate kiss.

Harle slowly pulled back from the kiss, "As much as I'd love to continue this," she said smiling at Pitch, "We need to get you to a doctor so your wound can be properly treated. We can continue zis after you've recovered."

Pitch smiled at her and they continued their trek towards Termina. The nearest doctor was in Guldove and the fastest way to get there was from the Termina port. After about thirty minutes of hiking they had arrived at the port, only to discover there were no transports that were going to be headed to Guldove, and thee two lovers sat down in defeat. "I suppose zere is no hope of getting you to Guldove now. I don't know what to do." Harle said resting her head against Pitches shoulder as she fought back tears.

Pitch who was firmly clutching his arm across his side, merely nodded. He knew that without proper treatment, his wound would easily end his second chance at life. H he tried to think of a way to get to Guldove but was unable to come up with a reasonable approach, he was about to give up entirely when he heard a voice behind him. "I never thought that I would see you here. Especially without Lynx. May I ask why you appear so hopeless?" said the voice causing Harle and Pitch to turn to the voice, which belonged to a young man, who appeared to Pitch to be a painter.

"May I ask who the hell you are?" pitch said getting to his feet, but only with Harles help. His situation had grown much more as he and Harle traveled.

Harle noticed the annoyed look on Vans face and answered for him, "He is Van. He traveled with serge and I, while he was still in the form of Mons…I mean Lynx." She said stopping herself form referring to Lynx as she had when she traveled with him, "And I no longer travel alongside him, but Pitch here is very injured and we have no way to get to Guldove. Zat is why we are so hopeless."

"Well, for a price I may be able to help you get a boat." Van said smirking as he always did when he was trying to get money.

Pitch stepped closer to Van and laid a hand on his shoulder gripping the young mans shoulder tightly. "How about I agree not to hurt you." He said softly his grip slowly getting tighter.

"Yes, that will be fine. Please let go of me now." Said Van wincing from the pain in his shoulder. "We have a boat back behind my house. Its old, but it should be okay." Van said rubbing his shoulder before leading them back to his house. After short conversation with Vans father Gogh, he agreed to give them the boat, seeing a show he never used it himself. Van couldn't agree with his father giving the boat away like that instead of selling it, but said nothing.

"You should be able to get into the water near the shrines." Gogh said, "And I've heard that the doctor in Guldove is fantastic, he'll sew you up and have to back to your old self in no time." He then helped Pitch and Harle move the boat, and waved goodbye as they pushed away form shore.

"Father, why didn't you sell them the boat. You never seem to think about money." Van said to his father after the boat was out of sight.

"They were in desperate need. It would be wrong to use someone else's misfortune or injury to make money. And would you prefer if I cared about nothing but money?"

Van then remembered what he had seen in the other world and shook his head, "No, I suppose not."

Harle rowed herself and pitch onwards towards Guldove; Pitch was lying down in the bottom of the boat, trying to keep conscious.

"Pitch, just a little longer." Harle said to Pitch softly, "We'll be at Guldove soon, just hang on."

Pitch nodded, but was unable to do much more. His strength was quickly fading. He knew that unless they got to Guldove fast he was done for. Pitch the pressed his hand flat against the side of the boat, and focused. Harle saw this, and was about to stop him when the boat turned jet black and both Pitch and Harle were surrounded by darkness. Pitch kept his concentration for a few second then fell unconscious. Harle noticed that he was still breathing but it was very shallow. The darkness around them faded, and she looked around and saw they were at Guldove.

"Your shadow fade may save you or kill you now Pitch. I hope that it iz ze former." She said as he rushed up the doc into the Doctors Hut. Seconds later a longhaired man who looked more like a surfer than a doctor rushed out followed by a nurse.

"Oh man," he said as he pulled Pitches arm away from his side to examine the wound, "This dude is messed up pretty bad. We need to get him inside fast." He said.

Minutes later Pitch was lying in a bed in the hut and the doctor was using several healing elements on Pitch to give him energy, to keep alive. Doc had removed Pitch's shirt and tried to stitch the wound shut, but whenever he started to stitch something would shift, and the stitches would snap. After several tries, Doc walked out into the main room where Harle nervously waited. She could tell by the look on Doc's face that it was grave news. "He doesn't have any internal wounds, but I can't stop the bleeding." He said shaking his head. "Whenever I try to stitch him up, something snaps the stitches. There is something inside of him that is doing this, and unless it is removed Pitch will die. I could attempt but there is little chance for Pitch to survive the procedure. There is only one way I can think of to save him." Doc said quietly and Harle looked on expectantly. "The Witch Doctor of Marbule."

"We won't be able to get him there soon enough. He will die." Harle said as she broke down crying.

"Not if I can say anything about it." Said a voice from the doorway, and everyone looked, and serge stepped in, "He could have killed me quite a few times in that fight but he didn't. I want to repay the dept by helping him."

"Then lets get going damn it." Said a weak voice form the other door, and Pitch stood there leaning against the door frame. "I'll be damned if I'm going to go down that easily."

Doc and the nurse tried to get him to go back and rest, but Pitch pushed them back, and followed Serge out to his boat. "What the hell is that?" Pitch said gesturing to a strange metal contraption in the back.

"It makes the boat fly, we're going to go straight to Marbule. On the water you'd have to take the long way." Serge said quietly.

"You take my patient, then you take me." Said Doc firmly, "besides who else can explain things to the witch doctor."

"You won't leave me behind." Said Harle as she also climbed in the boat.

"This is going to be cramped." Mumbled serge as he started the hover engine. And the boat slowly lifted into the air and flew at an amazing speed towards Marbule.

(A/N- okay, I know the flyign boat wa sin anohter world, but whats to say it cant be taken between the worlds. You shift with the boat in the Sea of Eden.)

"Something inside you say?" said the witch doctor curiously, "A parasite perhaps, but then it wouldn't want its host to die, because it to would die. Let me see." Said the witch doctor as he looked at Pitches wound. "Ah, I see what it is." The witch doctor said as he grabbed a cloth and placed his hand over the wound and a small black orb floated out of the injury and the Witch doctor grabbed it with the cloth, and then he looked at the wound and it closed up.

"Dude! What is that thing?" Whispered Doc as he looked at the black orb, "That was keeping him from healing? Creepy."

The witch doctor set it down on a table and looked back to Pitch, "You're healed but you need a good nights rest."

The witch doctor ushered everyone but Harle outside, giving her a few minutes alone with Pitch. She held his hadn't and he smiled at her, "I told you, a little thing like that wouldn't do anything." He said jokingly

"True, death iz no big deal." She said squeezing his hand, "Pitch I was so worried. Never do that again. I can't bear ze thought of losing you."

"Nor I you. I've proven to myself what I needed to prove. I'm fine with just living my life now. My life with you." He said as he pulled her close and kissed her

"Now calm down you two." Said the witch doctor, "We don't need you two confessing your love and re-injuring him, or causing other possible consequences."

Both Harle and Pitch blushed at his comment as she was ushered out. The whole group was spending the night on the Zelbess, which was still docked on the shore of Marbule. But they had no idea of the darkness that had been unleashed.

Insides the witch doctors hut, the orb started slowly pulsating, "I am free."

A/N- Well, I told you there would be a new evil. But, this is only the beginning.