Yay! My 10th Chapter of Ravens and Crows! It's actually about half done right now.
Sorry for the lateish updating. Cookies to everyone who read this up to now :)
Enjoy!
Alliance
"What are we going to do?" I franticly asked Kalin.
Crow, or whatever he was, was slowly moving towards both Kalin and I. We were trapped in Kalin's underground "bird's nest" as you might call it. Not only was Yusei unable to help, but Crow seemed to be under control of some mysterious force. He had his knife drawn in a stiff attack position and I was pretty sure that I didn't want to get close enough to figure out what the controller was going to make Crow do with it.
"Akiza, can't you fight?" Kalin asked.
"No! I can't use my mark like that, I only help Yusei to release his power remember!" I shouted.
"Shit. How the hell are we going to defend ourselves?" Kalin cursed under his breath.
His eyes darted around the room until they locked onto the storage room right behind Crow. Yusei. He was in there. Kalin did a mental face palm. What an idiot! He had forgotten to undo his nerve attack.
"Akiza, listen." Kalin whispered.
"I'm listening."
"We have two options. One: I get to that storage room and undo my nerve attack, or Two: you call Yusei out here with your mark." He explained, pointing to the door barred by Crow.
"We'll have to go with plan one then," I agreed almost immediately. "Even with that little bit of training with my mark, it's not enough for me to awaken him yet."
"Duck!" Kalin shouted as he jumped sideways and grabbed me from the side.
In a flash I saw Crow's knife sink into the wall right where I was standing. I gulped, thinking how that knife could have sunk right into my chest, piercing vital organs and a massive blood…but my vision was interrupted when Kalin hit the floor, and I rolled sideways out of his hands.
"Kalin!" I cried, rising up onto my hands and knees.
Not good. He was lying unconscious on the ground, on the account of him hitting his head on the "Organization" book. Who knew information could be so dangerous?
"Only…one…target…left…" Crow said slowly in a monotonous voice.
He was staring directly at me now, with his cold grey eyes watching me with a blank expression. I panicked and stood up in a hurry, but found that I was already up against a pile of rubble. That's it. Nowhere left for me to hide.
"What should I do?" I asked myself.
Then an idea hit me. If what Kalin said was true and my mark was fueled by emotion, then I might have a plan that's just crazy enough to work.
"It's worth a shot." I reasoned.
Crow came even closer, holding the knife in a poised position above me. It was now or never! As he brought the knife down, I moved to the side but not fast enough to evade the blade's sharp edge. There was an intense pain as a deep gash was carved into my arm. I fell to the ground and squeezed the wound in order to gain every last amount of pain I could find. My mark once again began to glow in an almost threatening way.
"Yusei! Get your lazy butt up and over here!" I shouted at the door.
Yusei's ruby eyes flicked open in surprise. Never before had Akiza's mark signal been so strong. He was lying on the floor in a utility closet, but the door wasn't locked.
"Nice going Kalin," Yusei grumbled to himself.
Realizing that Akiza was still out there, Yusei sprang up and kicked the door open. What he saw was no more that total chaos. Half of the ceiling had crumbled and Crow was standing in the middle holding his blood stained knife. Akiza was there too, but her arm was bleeding horribly and the mark was glowing with an exemplary amount of power. Kalin was there, unconscious on the floor. Why did Kalin have to go and be a magnet for trouble? This was what, his seventh time he needed to be saved? This was getting old, but for now, there was another matter to be solved.
"Well, well, back for more Crow?" Yusei taunted.
Crow didn't answer, instead he looked between Yusei and Akiza trying to figure out which target to hit first. The medium was a better target; being the weaker female and easier to kill. He pointed his knife at Akiza with the intent to kill.
"Oh no you don't!" Yusei shouted as he body slammed Crow into a pile of debris.
"Yusei! I'm so glad that you woke up!" I shouted in happiness.
I was safe now. Yusei wouldn't let anything bad happen to me while he was around.
"What took you Princess?" He asked slyly.
His mouth was curved up in that crooked grin he always wore when he was being a snob.
"You know why." I replied. Then I remembered something that made Yusei irritated, "At least I didn't pass out after one attack."
"Yeah, yeah, it was a lucky shot," was Yusei's half-hearted reply.
I smiled. Some things about him would never change.
"Yu…sei…target…must…be…eliminated…" came Crow's monotone voice from the pile of debris.
"What?" I cried out in surprise.
Crow wasn't capable of receiving that much damage and still have the strength to keep going. His powers were too weak; I mean I saw his strength when he fought Yusei. This must have been part of someone else's plan. Crow was severely injured, but he continued to move and fight, even at the brink of death. Yusei drew his knife from his belt pocket. The two entities were about to face off, escalating this fight to a whole new level.
"No mercy," Yusei stated, rushing at Crow with full force.
Another knife fencing round started as both Yusei and Crow moved with precision and speed to try and outwit each other. Yusei struck the first blows; one to the shoulder, shallow on the chest, and two on one leg. Crow was almost unaffected by the wounds, but kept up with Yusei's quickened pace. Crow moved to attack and Yusei slid to dodge it, but Crow had faked the move and instead slashed Yusei on his left shoulder where he had suffered muscle damage before. Yusei fell forwards onto the ground, grieving in pain. Crow stepped slowly towards him, stepping into the moonlight coming down from the ceiling. In one quick moment I caught a flash of silver.
"String? I think I get it now!" I realized.
"Yusei! There are strings attached to Crow like a puppet! If you break the strings, then you'll be able to stop whoever's controlling him!" I called out.
Yusei rolled over slowly and stood up, his hand covered in blood from the shoulder wound.
"Nice observation, Princess," Yusei said with a demonic grin. "I'll take it from here."
Yusei gripped his knife tightly in his right hand. Crow made a move to strike, but Yusei jumped overtop of him and cut each of the strings off in one swift movement. Crow just stood there for a moment, but he suddenly collapsed onto the floor; his limbs spreading out in all directions. We were safe. For now. My head felt heavy again. I had lost a lot of blood, and looking down I could see that my hand was stained as well as a good area of the floor. I just hoped that Yusei wasn't in as bad of a condition as me. I wobbled, trying to keep my balance, but I soon gave into the pain and fell sharply into unconsciousness.
Yusei was there to catch Akiza. She had done so much for him in this time, even if she hadn't realized it. Her arm was bleeding profusely, and something had to be done. Yusei pulled off his right hand glove with his teeth and applied his hand directly onto her wound. He squeezed it slightly to hold the two sides of the wound together as Yusei used the dark powers to manipulate the healing process to quadruple the speed. In about five minutes, Akiza's arm had healed completely. It was almost Yusei's time to retire as well. The spell disrupter was messing with his whole system. He had to use more energy in order to use his dark powers. Yusei carefully laid Akiza down, but with his low energy levels, he simply collapsed onto the ground next to her before he could go any further.
"What a fool," Jack cursed as he watched Yusei and the others below. His violet eyes burned with hatred and cruelity.
"You're nothing but a worthless pawn, Crow. You can die in hell for all I care." Jack scoffed as he spread his glossy amber wings for flight.
The whole plan was a disaster. Next time he was going to be the one with the plan, not his father. Jack flapped his wings and flew of into the starry chasms of the night.
"Nnngh…" I moaned.
The sunlight was blinding. Even in my sleep, I could see it burning through the hole in the ceiling. Wait, the ceiling? I sat up abruptly to find that I was sleeping on the couch in the center of Kalin's would be living room. Even though a few things had been cleaned up, debris and dirt from above was still cluttered all around the room. Kalin wasn't taking any notice, but was sitting in his librarian's chair with his nose deep in a book. I just sat there and stared with my mouth wide open.
"Is he so dense that the damage done is oblivious to him?" I thought.
To be honest, I wouldn't put anything past Kalin. He seemed to have a different mind from everyone else, or at least a different way of thinking.
"You better shut your mouth, or you'll catch flies." Kalin instructed like a preschool teacher.
I did close my mouth, but I also glared at Kalin. Some nerve he has to talk to me like that.
"Hey Kalin, where's Yusei?" I asked, looking around the ruined room.
Piles of dirt and debris were scattered everywhere, books had been ripped, but there wasn't a single sign of Yusei anywhere. I caught Kalin pointing to the library area and decided to investigate. I opened the door cautiously, but shut it almost immediately to avoid being hit by a flying book. Shouting and arguing could be heard from inside the room. I crouched down and opened the door again. Another book flew over my head as I crawled through the doorway and into what seemed like a war zone. Crow and Yusei were engaged in a heated fistfight, throwing each other against the walls.
"Give up!" Crow yelled, throwing a punch into Yusei's stomach.
"Never!" Yusei countered, giving crow an uppercut that sent him flying into another bookshelf.
"Guys! Stop fighting! You're acting like a bunch of children!" I screamed at both of them.
Yusei and Crow both paused mid-punch and stared at me. I breathed heavily, staring them down. Something had to be done, or we'd only keep beating ourselves up over and over again. I caught my breath and explained my plan to them.
"I've decided that we should make an alliance with each other," I told the boys.
"What?" The both gasped simultaneously.
"I'll never work for this low-lying traitor!" Crow jeered.
"There's no way that a dog of the enemy will ever earn my respect." Yusei argued back.
Crow and Yusei both made determined faces at each other, growling in anger.
"Hey, hey, hey! There's no time to fight right now!" I protested, separating the two of them. "Crow are you still working for the Organization?" I asked.
"I…don't really know." He mumbled. "I guess not…"
"Then it's perfect! We can all cooperate on this!"
"Whoa, whoa, I never agreed to any of this," Crow said as he put his hands up in defense.
Yusei was eerily quiet. He was either considering the possibilities of this plan working, or how to get back at Crow when I was done protesting.
"If we don't work together, than we'll never reach our goals." I stated firmly. "There are not a lot of different options."
"I believe she's right." Yusei said, backing me up.
He extended his hand and waited for Crow's answer.
"All right, fine. We'll work together, but just this once." Crow agreed, shaking Yusei's hand.
"I just hope we can make this work." I thought.
So? How was the chapter? Did you like it?
Anyway...Next chapter is going to have something totally different
It's called: Everlasting Love
See you all next time I update! ;D