A/N: WOOHOO! The twentieth chapter! And it's the longest one yet! It's also one of the most important ones, which will hopefully make up for the shameless filler chapter I posted last time (smiles sheepishly).
Enjoy!
P.S. I'm not much of a songfic fan, but I found these lyrics when listening to my old CD's and it's almost creepy how well they match this story (though "the sun goes down" should be changed to "the sun goes up"). I just have to be all fangirly and share them, so I hereby present the official "Prince of Persia: Gamer Within" soundtrack!
"Linkin' Park - Papercut"
Why does it feel like night today?
Something in here's not right today.
Why am I so uptight today?
Paranoia's all I got left
I don't know what stressed me first
Or how the pressure was fed
But I know just what it feels like
To have a voice in the back of my head
Like a face that I hold inside
A face that awakes when I close my eyes
A face watches every time I lie
A face that laughs every time I fall
(And watches everything)
So I know that when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is hearing me
Right beneath my skin
It's like I'm paranoid lookin' over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin
I know I've got a face in me
Points out all my mistakes to me
You've got a face on the inside too
Your paranoia's probably worse
I don't know what set me off first
But I know what I can't stand
Everybody acts like the fact of the matter is
I can't add up to what you can but
Everybody has a face that they hold inside
A face that awakes when I close my eyes
A face watches every time they lie
A face that laughs every time they fall
(And watches everything)
So you know that when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is watching you too
Right inside your skin
It's like I'm paranoid lookin' over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin
the face inside is right beneath my skin
the face inside is right beneath my skin
the face inside is right beneath my skin
The sun goes down
I feel the light betray me
The sun goes down
I feel the light betray me
It's like I'm paranoid lookin' over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin
Chapter 20: Fate's dark hand
I pressed my back against the tree, trying to breathe as quietly as possible and hoping he would not hear my heart pounding against my chest. Crow didn't walk; he floated, which meant that I could not listen for the sound of footsteps coming closer. I was already standing here for half an hour, but I didn't dare to look again to see if he had given up.
"I'm open to suggestions," I thought a bit sarcastic to my darker counterpart.
"Well, you could …"
"That do not include kamikaze attacks, screaming like an idiot or winking and making perverted comments about what he could be hiding underneath his robes."
"Oh, never mind then."
I groaned mentally, trying to figure a way out of this mess. He still kicked my ass in the speed and stamina department, so trying to make a run for it was probably a bad idea. Turn back and look for a way around was also out of the question, since it meant leaving my hiding place and thus, sudden death.
"It doesn't have to be."
I sweatdropped. Did I even want to know what she had in mind?
"We could fight him, now that he's alone…"
"Which part of no kamikaze attacks did you not understand? The part where I get slaughtered in 0.5 seconds!? There's no way I can beat him!"
"You can't, but I can."
I blinked at her strange response. I didn't have time to react, because a strange, tingling sensation suddenly overwhelmed me. Something dark started clawing at the back of my mind, as if trying to break free of it's restraints, and my skin flashed a deep purple, like I was about to transform into something else. I suppressed a gasp and fought back, quickly pushing away the darkness that threatened to take over my body. The gash and surrounding symbols on my stomach glowed briefly, almost as if I had angered them somehow, and I heard Isra let out a sigh of disappointment.
"Damn… I thought for sure I was strong enough to break through by now."
"What… the… HELL did you just try to do?!" I yelled in my head.
"I was just trying to help," she said innocently, but I didn't buy it for one second.
"Trying to help, my ass!" I barked at her. "You tried to take over my body, you frikkin parasite!"
The tension between us could be cut with a knife. Don't get me wrong, I knew Isra wasn't exactly a saint, but I still felt betrayed somehow. As time went by, I had grown accustomed to her company and often valued her input. She was almost like a friend, the only one I could talk to when I felt lost in this strange and hostile world. But that was over now. It hadn't lasted long, but for a few seconds, I had sensed it: pure evil. Isra only had the cruelest of intentions and the darkest of desires and I would not be a part of it.
"You think that now," she reasoned silkily, "but will you still when you feel the Crow Master's sword pressed against your neck? I could give you power, Alex. Speed! Strength! Skill! All you have to do, is let me."
"No fucking way," I snapped and I could almost hear her growl. "It was a mistake to even think about trusting you. You're evil, Isra. The jig is up."
I angrily crossed my arms and shook my head. I could not believe she'd turn on me like that. I felt angry, miserable and used. Well, screw her, I didn't need her help. I'd make it out of here on my own. I gathered all my courage and took a quick peek from behind the tree. Crow was still standing there, his back turned to me. I sweatdropped: didn't that guy ever move?!
About five minutes later…
How long had I been standing here now? One hour? Two? Twelve? My legs were getting tired and I was beginning to lose feeling in my feet. Worst thing, however, was that I was beginning to get extremely bored. I even caught myself considering to just rush at him and hope for the best.
Sigh…
I stretched my muscles and yawned, scratching the back of my head when I froze as I realized what I had just done. My hand flew up to cover my mouth and my heart skipped several beats. Oh shit…. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! What if he'd heard me?! What if he knew I was here?! What if…
I calmed down slightly when I didn't hear anything along the lines of 'rise up, girl' or any other signs of impending doom. I gulped and leaned to the right, stealing another quick glance, only to see an empty platform. I rubbed my eyes, not believing my luck. Could it be true? Had he really left? Sweet!
I grinned, but froze when I realized something: I hadn't heard any rustling, so he couldn't have turned into a flock of birds. He also didn't have enough time to just walk/float ahead far enough to disappear out of view between 'peeks'. I considered these facts and came to an awful conclusion: if he hadn't gone ahead and did not chance to his avian form, there was really only one place he could've have gone, wasn't there?.
Oh, marvelous…
"EEEEEEEKKK!!!"
My eyes grew big as dinner plates and with a startled shriek, I barely managed to dodge the blade that came slashing down at me from behind. I whirled around and backed away, looking at my attacker with a scowl.
"Well, good afternoon to you too!" I protested loudly when Crow raised his sword and continued the assault.
Acting more on instinct than anything else, I raised my own weapon and winced at the sound of our clashing blades. The Lion sword was an awesome piece of asskicking equipment, but giving me a high quality blade and expecting me to win, was like giving expensive art supplies to a dead ferret and expecting it to paint an exact replica of the Mona Lisa in 3D.
"The sun has…" he started, but I rolled my eyes and cut him off.
"Yeah, yeah… sunrise, loyalty, die by my hand, blahblahbla, I know the drill," I said, sounding somewhat disappointed. Which was bad, since I was going for sarcastic, yet cool and aloof. Even worse: I actually felt a spark of disappointment.
Whoa, hold it! Time out! This was Prince of Persia, not the Wizard of Oz! I hadn't really expected him to stay friendly and join the good guys, had I? No, of course not!
A small part of me had hoped so, though… Just so he wouldn't keep attacking me when I already had enough to worry about. That's it. No other reasons. I swear.
"You keep telling yourself that…" a small voice (not Isra, for a change) in the back of my head said, but I pushed it away. This was no time to think about stuff like that. I had to fight. I had to stay focused. I had to somehow survive until sunset!
"So you can cuddle up and take a nice nap against his shoulder?"
I nearly fell over, the Crow Master's blade missing my head by only a hair.
"Would you mind!?" I hissed mentally, evading yet another swing. "I'm kinda trying not to die here so I really don't need any more distractions!"
"Girl, your face is red. Why is that? Are you ill?"
"I…ah…ehm…uhm… I dunno…" I blabbered like an idiot while Crow just arched an eyebrow and looked at me like I had some kind of contagious disease. Oh, I hated her, I hated her, I hated her…
"Isra?"
"Yes?"
"If we make it out of here alive, I'm going to kill myself just to spite you."
"Emphasis on 'if'," she smirked when I boldly charged at the Crow Master, but tripped over a rock and fell flat on my face. "In case you haven't noticed: you suck at fighting and he does not. I, on the other hand…"
"Forget it. You can play 'invasion of the body snatchers' somewhere else, but I can take care of this myself."
"Uh huh…" she said dryly when I reached for my dropped sword, but yelped and cursed in at least twelve different languages when my hand found the blade instead of the handle.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" I jumped up and panicked at the sight of red drops spilling from my palm. "Medic! Medic! Woman down!"
"You, girl, are pathetic," Crow sweatdropped.
"Screw you, I'm bleeding! Do you have any idea how sharp those things are!?"
"Yes," he answered while raising his own weapon. Oops, that's right, we were fighting. Oh, bugger…
"Defend yourself," he ordered, but I was slightly surprised at the tone of his voice. It wasn't menacing, or even stern. It was… plain. Just… plain. Not amused like the raiders, or sadistic like the Blade Dancers. I don't really know why, but this struck me as rather odd. He was created by the Empress, right? So if me was just another one of her minions, then why was he so… so… different?
My lapse in concentration cost me dearly: Crow took a swing at my head, causing me to startle and lose my balance. I fell flat on my back, but was not given the time to jump back to my feet. I barely managed to raise my sword and assume blocking position before he moved in for the final blow. Our blades clashed and I realized I was trapped: I couldn't roll to the side without lowering my defense, and I wasn't strong enough to push him away.
At this point, the Dahaka usually showed up, forced us to form a truce and we'd have a couple of awkward conversations and an embarrassing moment or two before going our separate ways. However, the Guardian of the Timeline apparently was on strike, since the shrubbery was still green as ever and the only sound that echoed through the tower were my occasional panicked yelps when I lost another few centimeters of personal space between his sword and my head.
I had seen the face of death. I had looked it in the eyes. Now, we were all but making dinner plans. I had to think of something fast or I pretty soon I wouldn't be doing any thinking at all!
"Can't we settle this some other way?" I squeaked nervously. "A game of chess? Mahjong? Dance Dance Revolution?"
Crow just shook his head.
"This ends here," he stated and I gasped as the force I was struggling against seemed to double. Slowly but surely, his blade came closer and closer to my face and still Prince, Kaileena or even the Dahaka were nowhere to be seen. I was alone…
"You still have me…"
"No."
I grunted as I used every last bit of strength I had left, but the avian demon would not relent. No matter how hard I pushed, he still had the upper hand and the sword was now dangerously close to my skin. I couldn't fend him off…
"Alex…"
"NO!"
Closer and closer, the blade merciless continued its descent. It was a matter of seconds now and I closed my eyes shut, bracing for impact.
"Let me take over!"
"NO!!! I won't do it! I won't give in to you!"
"IF YOU DON'T LET ME TAKE OVER YOU WILL DIE!!!"
Die. That word jumpstarted my brain. I had come close to dying, but never like this. Not even when I was caught by the Dahaka's tentacles, not even when Prince tried to strangle me. My thoughts turned to my life at home that was now put on hold. My friends… my family…
Dad…
No, I couldn't do this. I couldn't let myself be killed. I couldn't let everyone down!
Something deep, deep inside me finally snapped. Like someone had opened the floodgates in my mind, I was overwhelmed by emotions. Anger! Sadness! Rage! I REFUSED TO DIE!!!
The Crow Master was thrown back as my body was suddenly engulfed in a violent explosion of smoke and feathers. My skin turned dark purple, almost black. A stream of strange, golden symbols spread from the wound on my abdomen, circling down my left leg and up to the right side of my torso, my back, around my neck and then stopping above my left eye. My arms were wrapped in strokes of purple cloth, that was a few shades lighter than my skin, the ends hanging loose and fluttering in the wind.
Another piece of cloth hang down from a small chain around my neck, covering my chest like some sort of odd necklace (A/D: like Kaileena's top in the Two Thrones), leaving my back and my stomach bare. My skirt consisted of broader pieces of cloth that reached past my knees when hang down, though they seemed to float somewhat. My feet and lower legs were wrapped smaller pieces of cloth, leaving my toes unprotected, though for some reason this didn't bother me.
My eyes now glowed, much like the symbols, and my hair now consisted of dark wisps of smoke that defied all laws of gravity. However, what most disturbed me, was that my outfit looked like almost an exact replica of the Crow Master's, and even came with an exact replica of his sword. (A/N: for a picture, go to my profile for a link to a preview for an illustration I'm working on)
"Don't be surprised, he was the one who infected you. It's only logical that my form is somewhat… inspired by his looks," Isra said, but I didn't hear her: I just looked at Crow… and let out a bloodcurdling scream.
He barely had time to blink before I uppercut him on the chin, which was quite a feat considering our height difference. To be honest, I was barely aware of my transformation, blinded by anger. I don know what the hell was wrong with me, but I had completely lost my marbles. Shrieking like a banshee, I charged at the avian demon and unleashed a flurry of attacks, most of them he failed to block. I was merciless in my onslaught, my vision red and my mind clouded by a desire to fight! Hurt! Maim! DESTROY!!!
"Doesn't feel too great, huh? To be on the receiving end of that sword?" I hissed in an unearthly voice that wasn't my own, grinning madly as I moved in for the kill.
Crow was obviously still in shock, because he didn't put up much of a defense. Or maybe I was just too fast. It was hard to tell, especially since I had lost all ability to think straight. I was drunk with power and all I cared about was showing the entire tower who was boss. Killing their current head honcho ought to do the trick just perfectly. After that, I only had to rid myself of a certain Empress and then NO ONE would dare to stand in my…
"ALEX!"
I froze in place when he called my name. He always called me 'girl' or something like that. To hear him actually addressing me properly… well, it felt rather awkward.
Alex… that was my name, wasn't it? I wasn't supposed to look like this, was I? What was happening? What was I doing? This wasn't me… was it?
"Hey…" I whispered hoarsely, blinking my clouded eyes and slowly coming back to my senses. "What's… what's going on?"
The answer I received, was a forceful blow to the head. Now fully snapped out of my daze, I skidded over the platform on my shoulder and crashed to a halt against a tree. If I had been human, I probably would've broken a few ribs. Groaning, I got up and took a few staggering steps away from my attacker. Only now, my new form slowly started dawning on me.
"No way…" I mumbled as I looked at my purple black hands. Crow, as I judged from the look on his face, was equally surprised. At least… he used to be. Something in his eyes was changing, from shock to…what was it? Anger? Uh oh…
"You are mocking me," he narrowed his gaze. Oh, he wasn't angry. He was downright pissed. And trust me, no one wants to fight a pissed off Crow Master.
"What do you… NO!" I quickly protested when I realized what he meant. Both here and back home on my screen, I had seen groups of sand creatures. Raiders, Keepers, Blade Dancers and even Silhouettes. However, I had never seen two or more Crow Masters. When still playing the game, I had always wondered if there were really more of them, or if I was always fighting the same one. Apparently, the latter was true. Crow was one of and kind, probably felt quite bad about this, and now here I was, rubbing it in his face by dressing in feminine version of his outfit that came with an exact replica of his sword. Oh god…. ohgodohgodohgod…
"Look, I know it looks like I'm playing some kind of cruel joke on you," I rambled, waving my hands in front of me, "but I'm really not, though you might think I am and… hey wait a minute, why the hell am I apologizing?! This is all your fault! You're the one who infected me with the sands of time!!!"
"Explain yourself, girl," he said in an eerily low voice. I scowled at him and pointed at the glowing gash on my stomach.
"Does THIS ring a bell?!"
He looked at the wound and slowly but surely, something in his mind seemed to click.
"That's right," I answered his unspoken question. "Two people entered that Portal Room, but three people emerged. Somehow, the sand from your sword gave shape to my so-called dark side. She even has a name and at the moment, is trying to convince me to rip off your head and laugh evilly while doing so."
"Her name is Isra."
"Yes, her name is… HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW THAT?!" I exclaimed and he just raised an eyebrow.
"You kept saying it while you slept."
"Kept saying it while I…" I trailed off felt all blood rushing to my head when memories of that night flashed before my eyes. Oh, he just had to bring that up, didn't he?
"I… did not know such a thing was possible," he said, sounding almost regretful.
"Well, now you do," I put my hands on my sides and glared at him. "So, how do you plan to fix it, huh?"
"We will do battle."
My jaw dropped and I fell over animestyle, arms and legs twitching. Sand creature or not, men were all alike!
"I see your proposition for even more violence and raise you a DO YOU HAVE EGG YOLK FOR BRAINS?!"
"The sun will not set for another two hours," he narrowed his eyes while raising his blade. "I will rid the Island of your presence before then, and perhaps the Empress vision will not turn into a reality."
"Vision?!" I yelped as I blocked his attack and pushed him away. To my own surprise, I actually succeeded. This new body gave me much more strength than I could even have dreamed of. I had to fight back another rush, afraid that I might lose myself a second time. I refused to let this new found power consume me again. I would control the darkness, not the other way around.
"The Empress came to us with a dreadful message. Ever since you arrived, she has been experiencing frightening dreams. Visions of a dark creature, a shadowy figure that would one day take her life. As long as my loyalty lies with the Empress of time, I will not allow this to come to pass."
"Do I LOOK like a killer to you!?" I protested futilely as he advanced on my still transformed form. "Isra might be a total nutcase, but she's not in charge here! I control this body and don't want to hurt the Empress! I don't want to hurt anyone, unless it's self-defense! I just want to go home!"
"Perhaps you indeed do not wish her harm," he said, dismissing my plea and slowly stalking closer. "But if the timeline commands it, the empress will still die by your hand if I do not prevent you from reaching her. You cannot change your fate. No one can."
"Maybe you're right, Crow," I started as I readied my own weapon and took a fighting stance. "Maybe my little road trip through the tower is pointless and there really is no use in fighting fate. But you know what? I sure as hell can try!"
With that, I took one last swing with my own Kerena blade and broke through his defense. Screeching loudly, he dispersed in a cloud of feathers and reformed on a higher platform, looking down at me with you'll-pay-for-that written all over his face. But I wasn't going to wait around for him to come back: I shot him one last glare, and ran the other way, disappearing out of view.
I had a tower to activate.