Pilot Zero-Five Versus Pilot Zero-Three
By APs
A/N – Happy Halloween! No, this installment isn't particularly creepy, but I wanted to say it anyway. Thank everyone for making the last chapter my new record for reviews! Your feedback is always a treat!
Thank you for reading. Please enjoy! Reviews are nice, too!
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The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.
---Friedrich Nietzsche
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He'd been out here for hours, attempting to practice, but only succeeding in working himself into more of a rage. The circus was asleep nearby, but there was no peace for him after such a failure. Sweat was cold on his skin like predawn dew and his muscles were screaming as he worked through forms with ferocity bordering on desperation. Spared. He had had the man, the very fiend, and been defeated without a single blow. He growled, starting over.
A shadow launched itself at him from a tree. He stepped back to block in surprise, but grit his teeth in instant disgust and lunged forward. The fight consumed him, blinded him with fury. The figure was fast and careful. They were a blur, wrath and shadow. The first blow that landed made his body sing out a higher pitch of pain. He leaned into the next one and pushed his strikes harder. The figure answered back with pure efficiency, upping power without sacrificing maneuverability. Tall and withy, his opponent used range and flexibility like some damned snake. Just as cold blooded, too. A patch of moonlight caught impassive emerald through the figure's hair, confirming his growing suspicions.
With a snarl, he advanced and kept advancing, purely offensive, crowding the taller boy, negating the advantage. The other pilot dug in, abandoning long ranged caution to strike with more savage precision. Each beat seared, burned. He could taste blood. The other didn't make a sound, never even flinched, mocked his efforts with that calm silence. His breath was ragged, each move fresh agony. This was over.
His body screamed. He screamed, throwing himself against the other. Digging deeper inside, to depths of fire and pain and rage that numbed. No form, no thought, he brought everything to bear. Eyes met, genuine surprise flashed in cold emerald.
And his legs went, his frame crumpled. There was simply nothing left. He felt the ground bite into his knees. It took him too long to realize a painfully firm hand on his shoulder was keeping him from toppling the rest of the way into the dirt. He looked up at the other, unable to glare much less shrug off the hand. Emerald eyes stared down curiously, bangs not an issue at such an angle, a bruise slowly forming on his jaw line clashing with his placidity. He couldn't help the tiny smirk as he sat heavily.
"Finished?" The tone was grey enough that that may not have actually been a question. It wasn't the first time the other had spoken, but it was indicatively laconic.
He felt fire rekindle in his chest, his eyes, "No."
The taller pilot watched him, searched him, then nodded as though he'd found what he'd been looking for.
Dark eyes turned away, unable to face that neutral calm as he felt himself sink into the darkness of the silence, "You should find a stronger opponent"
The taller boy considered him, as he had been since the duel. It was at once distant and invasive, "Feel better?"
His face darkened, but he had to admit, as the bruises set in and the blood dried, he at least felt appropriate and exhaustion was starting to lull him.
The other nodded again.
"I have no right fighting this war," he reaffirmed.
The other boy arched a brow, cracking the lines of dried blood on his face, "You caught the New Edwards Base switch."
The laugh he forced out was rang hollow, abrasive, "It was obvious."
"Not to anyone else," he turned and walked away, moving gingerly, with the slightest of limps.
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karina001 – I believe you've already found 'You I Us We', but thank you very much for the kind words, yet again.
Windwraith – That's certainly the direction I was going with it. Thanks.
Patriot16 – Many thanks! Treize and Une, hm? We'll see. I might come up with something.
Hugglesbunny – That's always been the attraction. You word it perfectly. Thanks, again!
Schizoid Sprite – Thank you kindly! 'You I Us We' isn't specifically the cadet years, but I wanted to cover a bit of ground. Treize/Dorothy is an intriguing idea… I'll see what strikes my fancy.
Xardion – But we can infer and really, in my brain it wasn't much of a fight. It's not nice to embarrass characters that badly. Thanks!
