Disclaimer: I'm considering writing a Nathan Graves fic, something else I don't own
A/N: This chapter's gonna be pretty dark, or at the very least, depressing. It's castlevania, it's gotta get depressing at some point, right?
Death and Sorrow
Laura couldn't believe the words that just came out of Andrew's mouth. She must have frozen or something, because Andrew was going to say something again.
"Did you hear me? Laura, you have to take my soul, and in order to do that you have to kill me." He repeated. Laura shook her head, clearly in denial.
"Andrew, that's not even funny! I'm NOT going to kill you!" She shouted. Andrew knew what she was feeling, he had been feeling it for quite some time himself. The feeling that comes with losing someone you deeply care about. He would lose his head if something were to happen to his sister, and he had no idea what he would do if something were to happen to Laura.
"You really don't have a choice right now, Laura look...you need to get out of here, by any means necessary." He explained, trying to make sense of things himself. His head frantically searched for another way to get through this hurdle, but he couldn't find one.
"Why do you have to die? Why do I have to kill you? You're just as important as I am, there's no reason for you to die...look, we can think of something, I know it!" Laura pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't want to believe it. The only way to get further and closer to escape from Castlevania, was to take the life of her friend, her boyfriend at that. She eventually fell to her knees, sobbing. Andrew went to her side, but instead of embracing her, he unsheathed her sword. When Laura noticed this Andrew was already putting it in her hand with a sad look on his face, it was obvious to her he didn't like this any more than she did, but she couldn't find it in her to take the sword in her hands. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Andrew, crying into his chest. Andrew, with a heavy heart himself, didn't return the embrace.
"Andrew no! I don't want to kill you! You're one of the best things that's happened to me during this whole mess! I want to go home with you! I want us to lead normal lives after this! How can we do that if you're dead? Andrew, I l-" Laura couldn't finish that sentence, because the second Andrew heard what word Laura was about to say he shoved her away from him. Laura stared at him in shock, she was just going to tell him how she really felt about him, but this sudden display of brutality stopped her in her tracks.
"Andrew...please..." Laura begged, but instead of responding, Andrew readied his scythe. Laura looked at him in even more shock and sadness, he couldn't possibly be thinking what she thought he was thinking, could he?
"Laura, listen. There's no other way...you have to use my soul to get yourself out of here. My mission is to make sure you get out of here alive and well, even if I don't join you. But if you're not going to listen to me, then I won't have any choice. One of us isn't going to leave here alive." Andrew explained with a dark look in his eyes. Laura backed away slowly, not wanting to believe what was happening. Andrew advanced on her, scythe looming ominously over her. With one swing Andrew almost decapitated Laura, luckily enough, she rolled out of the way just in time, not even losing a strand of silver hair. Instinctively, she took her weapon in her hand, ready to strike back. Laura knew what Andrew was thinking, if she wasn't going to kill him willingly he would force her into self defense, and eventually she would strike a fatal blow. Laura wasn't about to do that though, she instead went on the defensive, only blocking Andrew's attacks.
"Why don't you fight back, already?" Andrew shouted, swinging his weapon madly. Laura was able to block every hit, having seen Andrew fight by her side enough times to memorize how he fought.
"There's gotta be another way!" She shouted in response, tears falling even still.
"There isn't! If there was we wouldn't be in this mess right now!" Andrew shouted back, trying to hit her with all his might. Despite the fact that he had the strongest feelings for Laura, he was hitting her with everything he had. He needed to make his point, but he couldn't help but be happy that Laura wasn't getting hurt at all. She was good enough to defend herself against him, even with the situation being what it was.
"C'mon Laura, you're not going to live long if you keep that up!" Andrew taunted poor Laura during a training session. Because it was a training session, he wasn't using his scythe, but rather a sword that he found a little while back. Laura was using her rapier, before Kokoro had a chance to modify it with whip-like capabilities.
"Then go easier on me! How can I learn if you don't even give me a chance to fight back?" Laura complained with a scowl on her face. Andrew was probably the roughest teacher Laura could ever imagine. His training regimen consisted of running 100 laps through the entry way of the castle, followed by sit ups and push ups, 7 sets of 50 each. That was just the warm-up, after that Laura would go one on one with Andrew, with him winning every time.
"Because the monsters here are going to go easy on you right? I don't think they'll be as nice as I am." Andrew teased, he knew that Castlevania wasn't nearly as tough as he made it out to be, but Laura needed to be under the impression that it was. That would make this whole mission ten times easier, he thought. Laura pouted cutely, as if begging for a break. No dice, Andrew thought to himself.
"But how can I fight you as tired as I am, when you haven't done any of the exercise I did! It's like I'm fighting you at 50 percent health, while you're at full health!" She complained. Andrew shook his head in response.
"If you're energetic enough to make fighting game references, you're energetic enough to fight me. But I'll cut you some slack, you can use souls this time if you want." He had previously banned Laura from using souls in their training sessions, thinking she would use them any chance she got to make her training easier. Laura cocked her head to the side cutely, then smiled.
"What are you so happy about?" He asked, but before he thought Laura was going say something he was bombarded with Ice spears and lightning bolts. He managed to block most of them, but a few got through. He was surprised at this sudden outburst of energy, but he was glad that the training was successful.
"Not bad! Laura, you've actually got the hang of this!" Andrew shouted, blocking what attacks he could. The barrage wouldn't stop though, instead it sped up. He noticed it was getting harder to block Laura's attacks, and eventually his blade was knocked from his hand, and he was knocked to the floor on his behind.
"I win!" Laura shouted cheerfully, jumping up and down. Her energetic cheering made Andrew wonder if she was just holding back sometimes.
"Heh, so you did, you could have taken it easy on me, you know." He complained sarcastically. Laura made a silly face at him before speaking.
"Because the monsters here are nice enough to take it easy on you? I doubt they'll be as nice as I am." She taunted, extending her hand to help Andrew up. He laughed at this sudden turning of the tables before taking her hand, their training done for the day.
Andrew thought back fondly on that day, after that event their teamwork had gotten much better. They were a well oiled fighting force that flowed like clockwork. So he had a good feeling that even though he planned on dying to help Laura, he could rest easy knowing she was strong enough to handle things on her own.
But this wouldn't happen as long as she wasn't actually attacking him, she was only defending herself from his techniques. At this rate they would both just get tired.
"How long do you plan to just stand there blocking?" He shouted, letting up for a moment.
"As long as it takes you to come to your senses!" Laura replied, she was still crying, but she was more focused now.
"This is getting us nowhere! That's it, Laura!" He yelled, getting her attention.
"If you're not going to fight back, then I really will kill you. There's no way you can block these new attacks!" He shouted before sliding back to the center of the room. 'New attacks?' Laura thought to herself, her mind flashed backed to when they fought Paranoia, but that wasn't exactly new...was it?
Laura watched as Andrew punched the ground in front of him as hard as he could with his left hand. She was going to comment on what a stupid display that was but then something unexpected happened. His gauntlet shattered, revealing his left arm. Laura gasped, she knew Andrew was hiding something back when they fought Zephyr. His arm was bare, but there were glowing red symbols on it, and he was wearing a bracelet adorned with a blood red gemstone. When she saw this she felt the air around her grow heavy, as if the gravity in that room intensified to unbelievable levels. It took a moment to adjust to it, but she still had trouble standing.
"This is my real power, when I don't hold back. It's never been this intense though, maybe it's because we're in Castlevania?" Andrew mused, getting Laura's attention. Laura was speechless when she saw him, his arm's symbols were glowing brightly and there was an aura surrounding Andrew. It was a black aura, and it almost covered him completely. Andrew himself had changed too. His hair had been released form it's ponytail, so now it was flowing wildly. His blue eyes turned into a deep red, even redder than Laura's. His weapon had gotten bigger as well, and the hilt now had a double edge on it. He was clearly on a whole different level than before.
"Is this...what you were hiding that day?" Laura asked quietly.
"...Yeah, I had hoped to get out of this without unleashing it." Andrew responded solemnly.
"There's no going back after using this power. I can't turn it off, and by doing this, I'm more of a monster than I am a human. Now I really need you to kill me, because I'll never go back to normal." These words made Laura fall to her knees, crying loudly. Andrew, seemingly without emotion, advanced towards her. He swung the back end of his new double scythe, aiming to kill.
Laura noticed this action, and instinctively jumped out of the way, but then Andrew lunged forward, swinging the front end of his weapon at her. He had gotten faster and more fluid in his movements. Laura was able to dodge the first attack, but the second hit her in the arm, making her drop her weapon. She cried out in pain, but even than Andrew showed no emotion at all.
"You...what's wrong with you?" She shouted at him, with him not even so much as flinching.
"The nature of death is the end of the line. When the journey is over, emotions...feelings...thoughts don't matter anymore. All your memories, all of your experiences cannot stop the thread of life from being cut. All things must end eventually." He responded before getting ready for another attack.
"One way or another." He added before lunging again. Laura knew she couldn't just block this time, instead she jumped forward, thrusting her weapon deep into Andrew's stomach, piercing is white armor jacket. This made Andrew mess up his attack, and knowing that Laura could go for another lunge, he jumped back. Laura noticed the blood running through the jacket, but Andrew was seemingly unaffected. Laura's eyes welled up with water again, she couldn't believe what he had turned into. He really was a monster, with no humanity to him at all. But she still wanted to save him, no matter what it took.
"You hesitate too much." Andrew muttered before going for another lunge, Laura used her hippogryph soul to jump high into the air, even to the ceiling. She knew that Andrew couldn't get that high up so quickly, even with his newfound power. As she started to fall down towards the ground Laura took this chance to shoot some of her ice spears at Andrew at high velocity. Andrew managed to block most of them, but luckily for Laura, one of them hit him dead in his right shoulder, making him drop his weapon and reel over in pain. His face didn't show any pain, he still had that emotionless look on his face, but it was clear that he was hurting because he was holding his shoulder tightly.
Laura stood in front of him, ready to deal out another attack, but looking at Andrew made her hesitate again. Andrew was unable to move his arm at all, the muscles in his arm had been completely torn and gripping his weapon was impossible. He abandoned his scythe and instead began to mutter some sort of chant. When he was done a white light surrounded Andrew's left hand, and when he shot it the light turned into a giant skull that sped towards Laura at high speeds. Laura, though speechless, managed to overcome the shock and jumped back before the skull could chomp down on her. When the light dissipated Laura noticed Andrew was nowhere to be found, but almost on cue, she felt a hand grab her shoulder from behind. She turned around to find Andrew standing before her, and before she could make a move, he grabbed her by the throat with his left hand and lifted her high into the air. Laura had trouble breathing, and his grip wasn't letting up anytime soon. She thought back to all the times they had helped each other, why did it have to come to this?
"Aahhh..." Laura tried to scream, but Andrew was gripping her throat to tightly for her to make a real sound.
"You're gonna die if you don't hurry, girl..." A voice rang out in Laura's head. It was sick, twisted and demented.
"G-Graham..." Laura muttered, now was not a good time for her to hallucinate, especially hallucinate the voice of someone who had caused her so much pain.
"My power can save you...do you really want it to end here?" The voice muttered again, even louder this time.
"If he wants to die so badly, grant him his wish!" Louder again.
"Weakling! If you don't end him I will!" This time too loud, and Laura felt her arm move towards the direction of Andrew's chest. 'No!' She thought to herself, but before she could resist her hand glowed a red aura; and just like in the fight with Graham himself, a spear of darkness impaled Andrew. But unlike Kokoro, this one got Andrew in the chest, specifically where his heart was. Andrew went wide eyed, and let go of Laura.
"You are pathetic..." Graham's voice rang out in her head, but soon the sound of his taunting faded from her mind. Laura tried to get her bearings, almost being choked to death took a bit out of her. She managed to catch her breath, and when she looked forward she saw something she hoped she would never see.
Andrew was lying in the middle of the floor, near death. Laura rushed over to his side, crying while trying to speak.
"ANDREW! I'm so SORRY! Please...DON'T DIE!" She sputtered in between sobs. Andrew's face wasn't emotionless anymore for some reason.
"Ugh...you did good...Laura..." He said before coughing up blood. His arm wasn't glowing anymore, and the dark aura surrounding him was all but gone.
"Andrew...please, I need you to live..." Laura begged, hugging the dying man. She could feel his heart beat faintly, but erratically. And with each beat blood was squirting from the stab wound. Andrew weakly wrapped his good arm around her.
"It's...alright. This...is what...I needed...to...happen...ack!" Andrew coughed up another puddle of blood, away from Laura. When he turned to face Laura again he noticed that her eyes returned to the shining blue he remembered.
"Your eyes are...back to normal..." He muttered, Laura went wide eyed when she heard this. At least something good came from that encounter, but she wasn't concerned with that, her beloved was dying in her arms.
"Andrew...hang on, please!" The tears were flowing full force now. Andrew weakly pressed his hand on Laura's face, wiping away the tears from her eyes. Laura grabbed his hand, noting that his grip was really weak.
"Laura...you're strong...you'll be fine. Take this..." He slid the bracelet with the red stone on it onto her arm from his dying arm.
"I'll be with you like this..." He muttered. He gripped on to her hand tighter, but he was still very weak.
"Andrew...don't go...I love you!" Laura shouted, Andrew managed to smile, despite the pain he was experiencing at the moment.
"I...love you...too..." He whispered before closing his eyes. Laura cried as she felt the grip Andrew's hand had on hers grow weaker and weaker until finally, it went limp altogether. Laura didn't think he was gone until she felt the soul of death enter her own.
"ANDREW!" She shouted before collapsing onto Andrew's corpse, crying for what seemed like forever.
Blitz: There it is, the chapter that I've been waiting to write. I ain't too good with death scenes, so I'm hoping this'll have some effect on those who read it.
Paranoia: WAAAAH!
Zephyr: WAAAAH!
Blitz: Like these guys...anyway the next chapter is going to be a treat for those who know the style most of these Castlevania games go. Most of them have a bad ending hidden in there somewhere, and the next chapter will be what happens if Laura, for some reason, didn't have the talisman that Soma gave her as a child equipped. Read and Review and thanks to those who are reading this, even if you aren't leaving reviews I do appreciate that people are reading this.