A/N- Admittedly last chapter was loosely worded. That particular part was a low point for me due to scrambling to find a good enough motive for Jackdaw to do this, and what you read is what I managed to scrape together and lead up to.
Anomaly
Episode 9- The Red Crow; part 1
One year ago
He would scream if he could. If he could he would scream and thrash at the cage and try his hardest to find the bastard that put them in here and tear him apart. There was enough rage inside of him to do something like that thirty times over, and it was getting to the point his vision was beginning to turn red. He was so angered his skin felt a prickling sense crawling along it, and he imagined that the veins in his neck stuck out like worms crawling in his throat. He would turn into an absolute maelstrom of fury if he could.
But he couldn't, and for a good number of reasons. First and foremost was the fact he couldn't do any of that in the first place no matter how much he actually wanted to do it. He was much too sickly for that. Had been for a long time, and this month had been the worst. It was the only reason they had gone to the bloody doctor in the first place, after all. But even if he wasn't inhibited by whatever wracked his body, he still couldn't do any of that even if he wanted. She was here with him, after all.
"Big brother?" It was so quiet it couldn't even be called a whisper, but ever since they had been thrown in the cell he hadn't let her go. He looked down at her, brushing her red away from her face to look into her worried eyes. he almost couldn't, immediately noticing the pale complexion she had. She had it just as bad as he did, if not even worse.
"Mmh?" He just felt so weak. So weak from the sickness. Weak from being in this cage for days. Weak from everything that had been thrown at him throughout his entire life. He would have gave up long ago if his sister didn't depend on him so much. She'd be lost without him.
"Are we gonna die here?" How many times had she asked that question? He remembered when she had first asked that question, back when they had been looking for somewhere to sleep. He always just smiled and said it would be fine, despite the fact he always asked himself the same question. He always felt it would be alright, though, so it was always easy to reassure her. The feeling wasn't with him right now, though. It made lying that much harder.
"It'll be fine," he rasped. "We'll get out of this, Jacklyn. we always do." And usually they did. It took avoiding was society would call "civilized people" sometimes or avoided other squatting "vagrants" sometimes, but they always got out, even if he was the one to take all of the bruises. Not her, though. He had never let them come close to touching her. And if they did?
Well. There was a reason why she called her big brother "scary" sometimes.
He was interrupted from his thoughts when she went into a coughing fit. He did the best he could to comfort her due to the circumstances. He'd go into one, too, if he didn't feel so tired. He least he wouldn't worry her even further with his own coughing. He wished he could do more, but the two of them had done enough wishing to fill ten lifetimes. And they never came true.
It showed how tired he was when the door to the cell opened, because he hadn't even heard the footsteps approach. He looked up from his sister, and his eyes instantly turned hateful. There was barely any light where they were, but there was just enough to make him out. The bastard who came up to them when the both of them had been dying on the street. The one who said he could make them better, and had even drove them to his large home. He remembered feeling so hopeful, remembered feeling like their luck had finally turned around and they had finally managed to find the one kind soul in the world who could help them.
Then he dragged them both to the basement of his lofty manor and threw them into a cell.
"Ah. Still with us, are we?" His voice was filled with enlightenment and curiosity more than anything else. His mouth was obscured by a surgical mask and his eyes with thick glasses, but it was obvious to tell he was smiling down at them. "How fortunate. Pneumonia takes many this time of the year, and the fact that the boy had leukemia on top of that spoke little for your survival odds. I'm surprised you can even move," he chuckled, as if laughing over a light joke.
"Bastard..." he swore, his grip on his sister's shoulders tightening. "Why? Why are you doing this to us?"
The doctor just strolled towards them, holding a syringe up to what little light there was. "It is of no concern to you. You and your sister will be gone soon enough."
"If you even touch her..." he weakly threatened, "I'll... I'll..."
He just laughed. The madman just laughed at him. "Oh, how wondrous. You're just as protective of your sister as he is, if not much more violent. Yes, you'll be marvelous. An absolutely wondrous candidate."
He didn't say any more. All he did was stick the needle into them one at a time and inject them with the sedatives in said needle. They both slumped over unconscious, and all the while the doctor just stared down at the two of them.
"Yes, you'll do fine. More than fine, even. As for your sister... why, she can't be much older than Aya! Now that I look at you, your body proportions are almost the exact same as hers! You'll do wonderfully as a model for the dresses I have planned out for her... except the head. Red hair just seems so unsightly on you... fortunately, you won't need a head to wear the dresses."
Grogginess was the first thing he felt when he woke up. The other usual symptoms such as nausea, fever, aches, itching, and urge to cough came afterwards.
Then it all came back to him. The doctor. The cage. Everything. He tried to bolt upwards, but he found that all his limbs were bound to a cold, metal table. He huffed in anger, turning his head to try and figure out where he was.
There wasn't much to go on. Metal walls, random bits of machinery here and there. Large, empty glass tubes. He turned his head to the other side, and his rage instantly returned to him. There he was, the doctor, working furiously at a computer. He didn't even seem to knowledge he had awoken, despite the feeble screaming and thrashing. In the state he was in, however, he was soon too exhausted to keep trying to get his attention. He was reduced to laying there and staring at the man who feverishly clacked away at his computer.
For lack of anything better to do, his eyes wandered to the back of the computer, and noticed the numerous wires and cords extending out of it. He followed the cords slowly, his eyes coming onto two things connected to the wires: a small, glass tube filled with a red liquid connected to a machine and a larger glass tube next to it. What made him start at that tube was the fact there was a body floating in it. A boy, by the looks of it. He couldn't have been much older than him, if any.
Then he heard the footsteps of expensive shoes, and another person seemingly melted into his vision; one who was absurdly tall and extremely well-dressed. He stopped in front of the tube containing the boy and let out a "tut-tut" sound, turning to the man working at the computer. "The boy's been claimed once again, has he?" he asked him, his voice suave and deep. When the doctor let out a grunt of affirmation, the tall man just sighed. "How many times does this make it? And how many times do you plan to bring him back?"
"I won't have to much longer," the doctor mumbled back. "Not with that. It'll fix him."
"Ah, yes." The tall man tapped the small vial filled with the red liquid. "DX-118C. I had to go through a lot of trouble to find the world this resided in. I went through even more trouble to get a sample of this." He turned to the doctor. "You truly intend to give this to him? I've saw the monstrosities made by this in that world. It could turn out terribly for him."
"Modified it. Ran tests. It'll work." The mad doctor's words were quick and low, as he seemed to try his hardest to tune out everything in the world and glue his eyes to he screen of the computer at the same time. "Virus will cure him. Get rid of the cancer."
"It'll do more than that," The tall man noted before looking at the boy in the tube. "Would it not be simpler to keep cloning him?"
"Speeds up the process. Will stop working eventually."
"I see." The tall man fixed his glare onto him, and he felt his blood chill at those dark red eyes peering at him. "And what of the boy over there?" he asked. "Where did you find that one?"
"Just some street urchin." The doctor held up a sharp, metal prong, one that was also attached to the computer with wires. The sparks that danced off of the tip made him nervous, as did the way the madman approached him with it. "What's amazing is his protectiveness over his sister. And once the change happens, he'll need a guide. One to... show him how his new body will work. I saw it prudent to give him a guide that could relate with him." He stopped over him, rubbing a hand over his forehead. He felt sickened by the touch, and would have lashed out to bit him if he wasn't strapped down and so exhausted.
"You wish to put his mind into the virus?" the tall man theorized.
"Of course." He held the prod over his head, and he felt his heart throb feebly in his chest as he struggled against the bindings holding him to the table. His breaths came out in short wheezes, and he felt sweat run down his face at the sight of the prod.
The tall man just hummed in response. "I'm curious, what did you do with that young lad's sister?"
The doctor scoffed. "What do you think? I needed a mannequin, after all."
Those were the last words he heard before the prong was jammed into the side of his head. And then he screamed louder than he had ever screamed before. He scream of pain and anguish that was left to be heard by uncaring ears.
Months later
The world was senseless. There was no sound, taste, color, or smell. Nothing but a black, senseless void he floated for who knew how long.
Who was he again? Was he even a person? He didn't remember... but that would imply there was once memories to remember. He didn't even know if he had those.
What was he? What was anything? Why did the void have to be completely silent, but he had thoughts? And why was he all alone in this dark world? So many questions, and no answers to why he was naught but red speck in a black void.
Then one day everything changed. The world that was once black turned red, and all at once memories flowed into him. It was a shock, receiving coherent thoughts for the first time in forever. Knowledge of what he was; a virus. Knowledge of what the virus was capable of; everything. But, to his frustration, no knowledge of who he was. He wasn't the virus, he was in the virus. Was he infected with the... no, of course he wasn't. Then he would be outside, not inside. So why was he here? Why was he a part of something and knew everything about that something if he couldn't interact with that something? The confusion of the black void was preferable to the confusion of the red one.
And then he saw he wasn't alone. There was another speck in this world, only it seemed that the whole world revolved around this speck while he merely floated in it. It was much larger and much more luminescent than him, the red speck, but he didn't care; it told him he wasn't alone in this world. He floated over to it and touched the blue speck, and all at once they were connected. And then the memories of the blue speck flooded into the red speck.
Corvin Drevis. That was the name of the blue speck. "What a nice name," the red speck thought. "Do I have a name?" No, he didn't. More memories flooded into him, memories of Corvin's entire life from birth to now. Of his life in the mansion, of the end of his life in the mansion. Of the turning and him being sucked into the sky.
There was happiness in the memories. There was pain in the memories. The red speck didn't know what to do with those feelings, and so cast them out. They weren't important. He didn't want to know about those feelings. He wanted to know who Corvin Drevis was. He wanted to know who he was.
He delved further. It seemed Corvin Drevis was here, but not here. Not like the red speck, who was just here. He was on the outside while the red speck was on the inside. "So he was infected," the red speck surmised. "What does that leave me with?"
Survive
Did he say that? No, he thought it. No, he felt it. Yes, that's what he wanted to do. He wanted to survive. He knew how to survive. He knew how to survive because he knew everything the virus could do to help him survive. But what about Corvin Drevis?
Protect
Yes. That made sense. The virus was in Corvin Drevis. He was in the virus. Therefore protecting Corvin would protect the virus which would protect him which would protect the only other person in the world to him. He wanted nothing more to live; he didn't want to go back to the black void alone. He wanted nothing more than to protect Corvin Drevis; he didn't want to live in this new world alone.
And Corvin Drevis looked so sad in the memories. It was shocking how he went from so happy to so sad. The red speck would show him how to survive so others couldn't hurt him and make him sad. He would show him so they could survive. That way he was protecting them and surviving at the same time. And that's all he wanted.
Present
Jackdaw sighed, lowering his hand slowly. It would have been so simple if Flora had been killed by that blast. Corvin just had to shove her out of the way and take the blast for her, didn't he? And there he laid, back against a bloodied wall with the left side of his head and arm obliterated, the remaining eye staring blankly ahead.
Moving past the rubble that was once in the shape of a table, Jackdaw formed his right arm into a large, jagged blade and dragged the tip of it across the ground while calmly walking towards Corvin. "It didn't have to go this way," he told him, though Corvin looked more dead than alive at the moment, too shocked to move. "All I wanted was for you to leave them. Now look at what I have to do."
He felt something enter his shoulder. He looked over it, spotting Keith jabbing a knife right through his shoulder. He tore the knife out and stood at the ready, holding the knife in front of him. "I won't let you hurt him," Keith announce, both eyes trained on Jack's blade.
"It's cute that you think you can actually do anything to stop me, Keith," Jack demurred, "but we both know ya can't do shit against me. None of you can." He stomped forwards, raising his blade. Keith readied his knife in response. "Pity, too. Was gonna save you second to last, but since you're already here-"
A small blade pierced his throat, causing Jack's words to choke him along with the blood filling his throat. He looked back, his eyes widening when he saw the black tentacle connected to the blade, one that emitted a deep blue glow. The end of the tentacle was attached to the missing part of Corvin's face, and before Jack could even reach up to grab the blade the tentacle flung him off itself, right into the other side of the room.
The tentacle retracted into Corvin's body, and his head and arms regenerated in seconds. He rose up to his feet, dusting himself off and stepping forwards. "If any of you even try and get in-between us, I'll cut your legs off and make you stay," he said.
Jack laughed, picking himself up off of the floor. It was probably a lie, but then again Corvin did a lot of unpredictable stuff when angered. And what else was there than the sound of anger in his voice? The look of pure fury in his eyes as he stared down at Jack? "That's quite a thing to say. But tell me this, Corvin,-" he rushed towards him, blade dragging against the ground, "-but can you really do something like that to your precious friends!?"
He swung the blade down, expecting it to cleave right to Corvin's bones. It stopped before it even reached him, however, four small blades holding it in place. Jackdaw struggled to move Corvin's clawed hand away in order to cut him, but their strength proved too equal for them to make any sort of movement.
"For my friends, Jackdaw, I would do anything." His eyes narrowed when Jack put his remaining hand on the blade to try and force it down. "If I must hurt them to protect them, then so be it."
Corvin's remaining arm also shifted into a claw, and he promptly shoved all four his the clawed fingers into his abdomen. He growled in response, pushing his large blade through Corvin's chest. Corvin responded by piercing Jack's chest with the other clawed hand.
They both looked ready to die in that state. Blades and knives piercing through the both of them, blood drenching their faux clothes. The bystanders watching were afraid that they would both keel over and die any second from the wounds and blood loss. But they both didn't feel any kind of exhaustion. The stab wounds barely registered as a sensation, and the blood loss was too minimal to even faze them.
"You say that, Corvy, but I don't know if you actually mean it." Both their eyes were in a deadlock, mere inches apart. Corvin's rage-filled eyes and Jackdaw's desperate, angered eyes. "Every single person you've ever fought, Corvin, might as well have been dirt under your foot. The guards. The generals. That masked prick. All of them couldn't hold a candle to ya, and you know it as well as I do. They never came close to killing you." His mouth turned into a frantic grin. "Me, though? I'm a different story. We're at the same level of power, you and I. A fight between us is a fifty-fifty shot compared to the hundred you're used to. Think you're willing to take those odds for once?"
"You wouldn't be doing this if you wanted to kill me," Corvin argued. "We both know that?"
"Who said anything about killing you?" The grin turned into a serious frown. "Consuming you, however... that would put us in the same situation as before, only with our roles reversed. We'd be fused minds once again, but I would be the dominant one since I consumed your consciousness."
"Is that what you're after?" Corvin asked. "Control of the body?"
"No. I fully intend to give you control some time after I kill them all. You know, once you've forgotten." Jackdaw coughed, specks of blood flying onto Corvin's face. "It's why I didn't just kill them all in your sleep and hop back in. We both know damn well that you'da just locked me up. And you didn't answer my question," he reminded. "Are you really willing to do this? Risk getting beaten and consumed just to save them? You've never been in a fight where the odds weren't stacked so good in your favor, Corvin."
"Don't have a choice," he answered. "You're trying to kill them."
"And I wouldn't be if you would have just left them."
"Flora would have died regardless."
"... You really want them to see this?" Jackdaw questioned. "They've never seen two of our kind fight before. They don't realize how bloody it can get, how brutal. Something like that could scar 'em for life, ya know."
"How much longer are you going to keep trying that?" Corvin wondered. "You keep trying again and again to convince me to stop this and listen to your reasoning. And I don't like your reasoning."
"... It was worth a shot, Corvin."
"No. It wasn't." He dug his claws deeper into Jackdaw. "If you want to get them, you'll have to get through me first. Because I'm not letting you lay a single cell of your being on them."
Jack sighed, and hung his head. "You know, if you had said anything else, Drevis, I would have considered letting you think about this some more. But after that? Nah." He tore his blade from Corvin's chest and held it to his neck. "I know cutting your head off won't stop you, but it'll buy me a few seconds. Wanna wager on how many of them I can kill in that amount of time?"
SMASH!
Both of them froze, Corvin tilting his head back in confusion while Jack blinked twice. They both looked down at their feet to spot the shattered remains of the vase that had been thrown at Jackdaw's head.
Jack blinked a third time before turning his head to the direction the vase had come from. "What the h- who's the dumbass that-!?" He stopped when he saw the assailant, letting a long breath out while his eyes squinted at them. Corvin just grew more confused, his mouth opening slightly.
A basitin had thrown the vase, and it certainly wasn't one of the two Jack knew for a fact was on the ship. Keith and Maddie were staring at the two of them along with the rest. This new one, a male basitin with glasses, he didn't recognize at all. And even worse was he was smirking at him.
"And just who the fuck are you?" he demanded, in disbelief there had been a third one one the ship and he hadn't noticed, and also in disbelief from the fact he thought a vase of all things would work.
"At the moment?" the basitin asked him. "Merely just a distraction."
"What-" Jack couldn't say much more, seeing as at that moment Corvin's foot decided to shatter his jaw. The last thing he saw before the force from the kick sent him through the wall and onto the deck of the ship was that damn basitin grinning at him.
Corvin wasn't surprised this had happened. Was he furious? Absolutely, somebody he once called a friend was trying to kill his other friends. But surprised? How could he be when Jackdaw had voiced his displeasure of them time and time again, seeming to never relent on the idea of Corvin just dropping them and moving on? No, if anything he was expecting something like this. So he wasn't surprised.
He was disappointed.
How long had they been friends? If anything, he was the first, right next to Flora. He'd always been there, whispering advice to him. He was there when Corvin had been bored and needed company. He'd been his friend. And that was a part of why he was so angry, so upset.
He was going to have to kill one of his best friends.
What other choice did he have? He couldn't leave the others, they meant too much to him. And he couldn't certainly let them die. And he knew Jackdaw wouldn't stop, no matter what Corvin did. Not unless he either decided to leave them or kill them. So... he didn't have any other choice. Jackdaw would die so the others could live.
He stared out of the hole Jack's body had made. The dust had yet to clear, but Corvin saw the sunlight bleeding through. He looked over to the new basitin, and gave him an awkward nod. "Um... thank you, uh..."
"Lynn," he curtly replied, and even bowed. Corvin just stared, not sure of what he was supposed to do in response.
"... Alright, cool." He didn't want to do anything, he just wanted to get out there. And yet he wasn't so surprised when a hand on his shoulder stopped him from moving even a step forwards, and immediately responded by saying, "let go."
"No. Not until I talk some sense into you." Flora forcibly spun him around to look him into the eyes, and he could tell from hers that she was about as angry as him.
"What sense could you possibly talk into me at this point?" he asked her. "My mind's made up. He's going to die."
"Can't you two just talk about this!?" she desperately asked. "Can't you just calm down and talk? You don't have to do this! You don't have to hurt each other!"
Why did she have to hate violence so much? Why did she have to be naive enough to believe an option like that still existed? "He wants to kill you." He made sure to put emphasis on the word "kill". "If I don't kill him, you and the rest will die." And that, he would absolutely not allow. Not now, not ever.
"But... but..." It looked like she was actually trying to fight Corvin's logic, to find something to say that could resolve the problem peacefully. She wouldn't find one, though. Corvin had come to that conclusion when a blade had been rammed through his chest.
"Flora." That had come from Keith, who stepped between the two. "Let him go."
"I'm not going to just let him-"
"There's nothing we can do." She quieted down at that statement, and Keith took that as a sign to continue. "That thing out there has the intent to kill each and every one of us, and Corvin's the only one who has a chance at stopping him." He cast a grim look at Corvin. "And I don't really think you can physically hold him back."
"He's not wrong," Corvin noted. "Flora, I know you're worried, but he won't kill me. Just all of you. That's why I need to go and kill him right now."
"..." She lowered her head in resignation, stepping away from him. "... Just don't get hurt, Corvin."
"I'm sorry, Flora. I won't be able to keep that promise." He turned and approached the hole he made in the wall, hands for once out of the pockets as he flexed his hands.
Jackdaw sat up, rubbing his jaw as the damage caused to it healed. No sooner did the last fracture heal than Corvin stepped over the hole, looking down at him.
"Those shit sneaks of yours really did a number, Corvin." He got to his feet, dusting himself off calmly. "And you know what, I change my mind. Mystery Man back there goes first just for doing that."
"There only person going anywhere is you, Jackdaw," Corvin declared. "You're going right to the bottom of the ocean."
Jack laughed. "What, is that your grand plan, Corvin? Cut me up until I can't regenerate and throw what's left into the drink?" A thoughtful look overtook him as he rubbed his chin once more. "That's actually a really good way to kill us, isn't it?" Maybe he should have waited until they reached land to pull this off. Ah, well. Live and learn. Besides, the conditions were too perfect for him not to capitalize on the opportunity.
Corvin nodded. "I know it is. Why do you think I've been so terrified of this boat? Of it sinking?" He tapped his foot on the wooden floor below him, causing a small creaking sound to be heard. "This fight of ours will be pretty destructive, Jackdaw. You really want to risk sinking the ship?" He tilted his head. "Seems a bit counter-intuitive, doesn't it?"
Jack scoffed. A long, sardonic scoff. "You hypocrite. You yell at me for trying to talk you down, and now you're trying to do the same thing?" He smiled, and moved to the side by a few steps. "Besides, I'm not too worried about it. I got that, after all."
He saw Corvin's eyes widen when he saw it, causing Jack to smirk as he turned to look at it as well: a small island, about a mile in diameter and composed entirely of stone. Not a single grain or sand or the smallest amount of green was seen, as the entire island was flat, gray stone, with the exception of a numerous amount of rock hills and a dotted on its surface.
"... So that's why you're doing this right now," Corvin realized. "That island gives you the perfect solution to the ship sinking."
"Righto, Corvo. I know that consuming you won't be any small feat, and I gave up any hope of the ship surviving the fight. And even if it did, I can't exactly sail it own my own." He gestured a single hand out to the island. "But then Mike went and told us about this lovely island coming up, and as it just so happens that the daughter of the king of basitins happened to have snuck aboard the ship." He shrugged haplessly. "I mean, I'm not banking on them sending anybody after her, but like Eric said, we're in basitin waters, and even better is that this is a well-known trade route we're on. We wouldn't have to wait too long for a ship to happen to pass the island and pretend to be some shipwrecked castaway."
Corvin seemed to think on all of that. It was interesting to Jack, watching him think. Usually he was able to read his thoughts, so an experience like this was a bit knew to him. However, he'd been in there long enough to guess what he was thinking. Probably considering his words and how valid they were. He wouldn't have to think much, though. None of what he had said was a lie. He meant every single word of it.
Finally, he heaved a large breath and spoke. "Jackdaw, while it may seem preposterous for me to suggest such a thing, I have a request."
Jack gave him a bewildered look in response. "You're right. That is preposterous."
"That island there. If we're to really do this, I request that we take the fight over there instead of here. I don't want to damage the ship or harm my friends," Corvin explained.
Jack looked at Corvin and snorted, casting his eyes over to the rock island. "Why would I possibly do that?" Jackdaw asked. "I stand to gain nothing while you get what you want. I know you better than that, Corvin. You know more than anybody that you need something I want if you truly want me to fight you on that island." A sinister grin stretched across his face. "And other than you giving up and letting me do this, you have nothing that interests me. We both know that."
"I see." Corvin let a resigned sigh out. "Then... I guess I have no other option."
He dashed forwards, faster than Jack could react, and curled a single hand into a fist and pounded it against Jack's face. This only served to forcibly turn his head, and for Jack to freeze in disbelief. "Really?" he asked. "That was your plan?"
Tendrils swirled around one of Jackdaw's arms, and when they receded it seemed to have doubled in muscle and bulk while also being covered in a black carapace. He launched the blackened fist through Corvin's chest, causing Corvin to spit a wad of blood out of his mouth. Jack then held his footing, hooked Corvin around and, with a grunt of effort, hurled Corvin's body towards the island, taking great satisfaction in watching his shrinking form as he flew towards it.
"Ahh." Jackdaw let out a satisfied sound as he clapped his hands together. "Tell ya what, Corvin. You can hang out there while I mutilate your pals. Now where was that damned basi-" He suddenly felt his body be jerked forwards, and looked down in shock at his chest. There was something attached to it. Five somethings, small and metallic. And with his enhanced vision, he could see the microscopic threads attached to them.
"Oh. His fingernail hooks." His face fell flat, and his shoulders slumped when he realized the threads were growing taut. "When the hell'd he even-"
He was pulled off his feet before he could finish, and could only watch helplessly as he was dragged towards the stone island along with Corvin.
On the plus side, his body never touched the water. When he did touchdown, Corvin's body had skidded along the stone ground of the island, making a cratered trail behind him. Not waiting to stop he pulled on the threads he planted on Jackdaw, thankful when he felt them pull him towards the island. He dug his arm into the stone to stop himself just in time to see Jack's body sail over him and crash into a rock formation in front of him. He rose to his feet and retracted his nails as Jack climbed out of the newly-made hole, an annoyed look on his face.
"Would you quit doin' that, you tricky bastard?!" He yelled at Corvin, waving a fist in anger at him.
"I'll stop doing doing that when you stop trying to kill my friends," Corvin coldly replied.
This caused Jackdaw to groan in frustration. "Ugh, it's always the same thing with you! Friends this, friends that, friends..." He let an audible sigh out, and let his hands fall limp to his side. "Fuck it, we've been over this a million times in the last fifteen minutes."
"So you're finally done talking?" Corvin asked. "We can do this?"
"Look at you. So eager." Jackdaw shook his head at him. "I know I said your odds at winning were fifty-fifty back there, but I only said that to make you feel better. Your odds're a lot lower than that, Corvin."
Corvin's eyes narrowed. "And just why is that?" he questioned. As far as he knew the two were a fair match for each other. "Unless," he thought, "he did something to rig the odds in his favor. Knowing Jackdaw, he probably did do something like that. But what could he do?"
"Let me ask you this, Corvin: you feeling light at all?" Jack crossed his arms, smiling at Corvin. "Some sensation akin to sudden weight loss? Anything at all like that?"
Corvin clenched his fists in shock. Now that he mentioned it, he did feel lighter. A lot lighter, like somebody had vacuumed all of his organs out of his body. There was only one explanation for that. "You took more mass than necessary to make that body, didn't you?"
"I took about ninety-percent to be precise," Jackdaw clarified. "But it doesn't even end there. You think I taught you every single trick there was about our abilities, Corvin? You honestly think I didn't keep one or two things hidden in case something like this ever happened?"
A grimace came to Corvin's face. He could get around a few hidden tricks, but the difference in their biomass is what really worried him. He wouldn't be able to take too much damage, while Jackdaw would be able to take an absurd amount of damage by comparison. And seeing as the two of them were equal in ability... he gave his head a hard shake. This wasn't a time to be thinking negatively.
"You think that's enough to deter me?" Corvin didn't lose his composure in the slightest, and stood his ground against Jack's imposing glare. "That's nothing, seeing as what's on the line."
If there was anything Corvin's words did to Jackdaw, it was frustrate him even further. "Even when you're at a complete disadvantage, Corvin, you still stand strong. Is the influence of your friends really that poisonous? And to think that a large part of me was hoping that you would give up after that."
A cold wind passed between the two of them. The only sound was the waves crashing on the island and said wind blowing through the air. The ship that housed Corvin's companions was a short distance away, and those on board were doubtlessly watching. Corvin had traded his usual casual demeanor for a wary one, yet still was motionless. Jackdaw's pose seemed leagues more confidant than Corvin's, and it was obvious that he noticed this if the forced smile on his face showed anything.
Finally Jack let out a mock groan, pretending to stretch his arms. "Well, I suppose it's about time we started this, huh? That's too bad." The forced smile fell off his face, and the only expression he showed was complete seriousness. "I really didn't want to go this far, after all."
All at once the pebbles around him started to tumble away from Jackdaw, as if the mere presence of his body was creating enough outwards pressure to push them away. Tendrils began to swarm rapidly around his entire body, and his red eyes seemed to glow as the size and number of the tendrils continued to grow.
"What is this?" Corvin asked himself, taking a cautious step backwards as he saw the black tendrils begin to extend away from his body, the red light they emitted beginning to envelop the area around Jackdaw.
"Oh, don't you remember?" Jack's body was completely shrouded by the sheer volume of tendrils swarming around him, and even the tendrils were hard to see due to the light that shone out of them. "That absolutely vivid experience you had when you were infected, right before you got sucked through that hole in the sky? Don't tell me you don't remember that time... that transformation."
Corvin's eyes widened in horror as the realization dawned on him. "No... it can't be!" The red light only grew larger and larger, as did the black mass withing it. It had grown so large that the pressure exhumed by it began to blow Corvin's hard back, as if a strong wind had picked up. "I didn't think... I didn't know he knew how to do this...!"
"It would have been so much simpler if you had just listened to me, Corvin. You've brought this on yourself." Two red lights, even brighter than the large mass in front of him, shown down on Corvin from above the mass. And those lights belonged to two red orbs that were bigger than any eyes Corvin had ever seen. It took all of his willpower to maintain his composure as his entire body and the ground around him was darkened by a large, looming shadow.
A/N- The chapter was originally supposed to be longer, but we hit a higher number in the word count sooner than I anticipated. So it's being split up into two parts as a result. That is all.
