Chapter 21- Burn to Ashes

Reaver could hear the sounds of intense combat echoing from afar, he wished that he could do something to help them. Silas had been by a few minutes ago to make sure that his injuries weren't severe before going to assist Noire. He was told by a very serious Silas to stay there and rest, told not to move an inch from this spot. Reaver was doing exactly what he was told. He saw, out of the corner of his eyes, a winged figure shoot high into the air and then, a split second later, he felt an obscene impact and was knocked out of the tree. Whatever that attack was, the fact that he felt it even from here prompted horrifying thoughts over what happened. "Just what the hell was that?" Reaver asked quietly as he stumbled to his feet, drawing his gun and blade; he could sense someone approaching. He could sense their approach partially due to that odd sixth sense and partially because he could hear a sonic boom fast approaching him… then it suddenly stopped.

"That? Oh that was just the sound of my friend killing yours!" Reaver's look-alike said as he walked out from behind a tree. "They should both be corpses right about now… that is, if that asshole actually grows the balls to kill 'em."

"You're lying… there's no way they'd die that easy. Silas and Noire have been training together for a long time now, there's no way in hell…!" Reaver said as he pointed his gun towards the look-alike before firing off a couple of rounds, both going for the head. The twin hunks of lead shot through the air, flying straight towards their target as though they'd sworn to hit him. Right as they were about to strike their target, he vanished with a sonic boom in his wake.

Reaver lost sight of him… he had no idea where that look-alike had disappeared to, then he heard a voice from behind him. "Ah… the Berretta M93 Raffica… one hell a gun, high-capacity, high rate of fire, high caliber… a gun so fast and powerful that the manufacturers had to add a foregrip so its shooter wouldn't lose control of it. A great weapon… but not good enough." Reaver spun around and fired a couple more rounds towards his copy. Rather than dodge these next two bullets, the false Reaver simply slapped them aside with the slide of his enormous gun as though they were mere flies who'd come to annoy him. "Now how about I show you a real gun?" A single gunshot as loud as a cannon blast echoed throughout the area as an enormous bullet came right towards Reaver's head.

This was… odd… it looked and felt as though things had slowed down, like time itself had decided to give him a chance to dodge the bullet that would otherwise kill him. He jumped to the side and watched as it blasted a crater right where he once stood. He exchanged fire with the look-alike, spotting each individual bullet and shooting them with his own. These bullets were so massive that he had to shoot each bullet three times in order to down them. Fortunately for him, his gun was capable of selective fire so he engaged full-auto in order to take out the bullets. Reaver swung his blade forward and a great wave of fire enveloped the area, consuming and incinerating the tree on which his target stood.

"This is boring…" He didn't even see the look-alike move and he was already right in front of Reaver. The imposter swung his dense gun towards Reaver's nose only to have his target deflect the blow with his sword. Unfortunately, the resulting impact sent Reaver reeling into a nearby tree. "Come on! Access your real power! Remove those pesky little limits of yours and entertain me!"

Real power? That was right… he remembered that he'd gained access to something like that back when he'd fought Ivan. He remembered that his shots had seemed to curve to hit their targets, even if they missed. But how was he supposed to access it? Last time, he'd only accessed it based on raw instinct, so what was he supposed to do now? 'I guess I'll just have to trust my instincts again…' As he regained his balance, he allowed his eyes to close and his breathing to slow. The scent of burning wood filled his nostrils as the heat around him skyrocketed, he could feel that familiar power shooting through his veins like blood. Millions of different voices shot through his head, but one that was distinctly feminine seemed to push him to awaken his potential. His eyes shot open and turned red, the vicious currents of magick intersecting to form a crosshair. It wasn't just his eyes and sense of time that changed, he felt lighter and a whole lot calmer, even though the trees around him were ablaze. "This if what you wanted, right? Well then let's dance!"

Time was slower, as the pleased looking imposter fired his gun, he could see the bullet slowly spinning towards him. Effort was not necessary, moving out of the way of the bullet was easy, the flames continued to slowly wave in the air as it shot passed him. After moving aside, he directed his gunblade towards the look-alike, he barely had to apply any conscious effort, his weapon just seemed to move right until his look-alikes head was right in line for a perfect shot. As he ejected a trio of rounds that drilled through the air, the heat grew so intense that they spontaneously combusted right before his eyes. He felt a single bead of sweat scurry down his forehead before becoming steam that rose into the smoke covered sky above. As Reaver prepared to fire a second volley of bullets, he suddenly felt a great jolt in his hands. His focus broke, and he realized that the bullets in the magazine of both his pistol and gunblade were going off in the heat. He felt the small explosions of the gunpowder followed by searing shards of copper and lead burying themselves deep within his tanned palm. "You may be able to withstand the heat, but your weapons can't!"

'How…? My weapons are being destroyed in the heat and his gun is still in perfect condition…!' Reaver didn't have time to think about it, he didn't have time to dwell on the searing pain of semi-molten metal in his palm, as his look-alike quickly shot off two more shells, each one aimed for his lungs. What was he going to do? His weapons were all-but destroyed, his hands were a bloody mess, and now he had two high-velocity, high-powered projectiles coming right at him. Yet, though he recognized how dire the situation was, his mind remained calm.

…And he ran to the left.

As he did, a small crater materialized where he first set his foot, then a tremendous blast shot through the air, shattering the nearby blackened, burning trees. It was likely that the speeds he were going exceeded Mach One, yet it felt like he was just sprinting away. He weaved between the burning obstacles and came right up on his look-alikes side and, with what was left of his hand, brought his blade right towards his neck, activating a switch on the hilt which sent great charges running up and down the blade. The look-alike deflected the blow with the slide of his pistol, reacting so quickly that the electricity didn't even have time to jump to the gun. What followed was a series of sparks, sparks from metal clashing and sparks from raw electricity abandoning the blade. That is all who laid eyes on this melee would see, mere sparks coming from warriors whose movements were concealed under the cover of supersonic movement. Tall and powerful trees cracked and surrendered to the all-consuming heat and force of sound. The fire lunged from canopy to canopy, as though desperately attempting to flee the war-zone that the forest had become.

Reaver felt as though multiple melted needles were being pressed into his hand each time he moved to push away the gun, each time he attempted to end the battle with a single swipe of his blade. The battery on his blade overheated, then exploded in his face. Lithium and shards of steel shot into his face and eyes, his vision went completely black as he was forced back by the sudden burst. Instinctively, he slashed though the air, slicing a would-be killing round in two. "Ha! It's over now!" Reaver felt a force press against his throat as he was shoved against one of the few standing trees left. He was barely able to breath in the smoke before, now he couldn't breathe at all. "Look at you… blinded by your own weapon, damn I wish you could see it though… it looks like it's being smelted all over again!" He felt a large, dense object press against his forehead. Above everything, the applause the flames gave and the cries of the dying wildlife alike, he heard the sound of a guns hammer being pulled back. "Y'know… I'm sure he'd be pissed off if I killed you now. But he's too damn cowardly and paranoid… that look you had in your eyes before you lost them told me all I needed to know. I am myself."

Bang! The loudest sound Reaver had ever heard echoed right next to his ear, completely blowing out his hearing. "What do you think you're doing? It's only been two months! It's too soon to kill them now!" Silas' look-alike says as he kept a firm grip on 'Reavers' forearm, angling it just to the side of the wounded gunman's head. The air went from blistering heat to blistering cold and back up again rapidly, so quickly that any regular human caught in between them would be killed almost instantly. Yet Reaver, though severely injured and propped up against a tree, was still alive.

"How many times…? We're nothin' alike!" 'Reaver' replied as he struggled against 'Silas', overwhelmed by the strength of a Dragon, his arm remained where it was.

"Have you already forgotten what we are? We are more like them than you think! We cannot afford to take any unnecessary risks here!" 'Silas' said as he smashed 'Reaver's hand against a tree, knocking the excessively large firearm away.

'Reaver' simply rolled his eyes before shooting a malicious glare towards 'Silas'. "Quit bein' such a damn hypocrite! I know you were fighting your-" He was suddenly cut short by the sound of approaching voices, two voices that he'd never heard before. "Well well… looks like we've got some unwelcome visitors."

Despite attempts to break free, 'Silas' held his arm firm. "He's there… along with two other CPU's. Damn shame… we have to get out of here before the forest collapses in on us." Without waiting for a word of protest from 'Reaver', 'Silas' telekinetically grabbed the gun before they both disappeared, leaving a great blast of sound in their wake.

Me: Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyo! What's good fanfiction? It's that time of the month again, and no it's not that time you're thinking about! It's update time for everyone's favourite story on the site!

Kawaiigear: Fade!

Neppy Nep: To!

Plutia: Whiiiiiiite!

Me: Woo! That went well… took a lot of rehearsal but I think we've got it.

Noirey: The camera's rolling…

Me: Ah shit… Reaver, how long have you been filming?

Reaver: Ever since the elongated 'yo' that would be full length if you weren't so lazy that scrolling up and using the copy and paste tool was too much effort for you.

Me: Is that a run-on sentence? I think that's a run-on…

Reaver: Oh just shut up…

Silas: You're just salty cause you're the one who has to film the post-segment.

Reaver: I'm salty cause I lost my goddamn eyes!

Neppy-Gear: U-Ummm… can we stop fighting…?

Me: Reaver, you could have been any flavour! Strawberry, vanilla, caramel, mocha… but you just had to be salty didn't you? Nobody likes salted ice-cream!

Neppy the Ultiloli: Ewwwwww… salty ice cream… that's soooo gross!

Noirey: -le sighs- Why do I even show up?

Me: Cause you love me~!

Noirey: Hey! Say that again and I'll get the chainsaw!

Me: Y'know there's always the option to rewrite the story without you in it.

Noirey: Oh why y-

Me: Anywhore, it's time to bring this structure-less post-segment to a close! I hope you enjoy the utter chaos that was this post-segment and this chapter, please smash the hell out of that… wait, this isn't YouTube… Please smash the hell out of that follow and favourite buttons up above (?) and follow for more Fade to White goodness! Have a good one!