Letter Bee: Light and Darkness: Chapter 35: Waltz of Darkness
"If you lay a finger on the ones I hold dear...I will rob you of your life."
Upon catching a glimpse of the black figure, Ballore's astonished exterior morphed into a sadistic smile.
" I estimated you to come as this time,traitor."
"What you think of me is the least of my concerns." Noir uttered, tightening his grip near the trigger on his gun. "Release him."
"Do you think you're in position to give commands, especially in a place like this?" Ballore said, as if Noir had just told him a joke. "I admire your courage."
"Release him." Noir said through clenched teeth.
"It seems the spy is begging to be pacified." Ballore's amused smile vanished. "Simon! The pacifier!"
Under his master's command, the green-haired man appeared from the midst of the darkness, bringing along the spherical machine that his master used to contain Sylvette, the Black Onyx. Inside the sphere contained someone that Noir never expected to be there. A girl white all round, perhaps whiter than Snow White, and her body gave off a familiar smell of orchids as white as herself.
It was Roda.
"No..." Noir's eyes widened in shock.
"I predicted you to be a black mamba in the grass some time ago." Ballore said with a sneer. "But the hunter,in the end, becomes the hunted."
"She has nothing to do with this," Noir snarled. "You want me. Release her."
"And you are willing to ditch the other, dear Marauder?" Ballore snapped. "Take your dingo and ditch your friend? Oh, that's not it- die with him, that's more like it."
"Why you..."
"I'm impressed." Ballore said, feeling amused. "You Albisian folk possess great courage and arrogance. Much like how Lag did before his demise. And I must admit, you people have proven yourselves to me a formidable adversary. However, this game of chess belongs to me; before you can perform the check-"
Ballore fiddled his fingers as if he were moving a chess piece on it's board.
"I have already doomed you to your loss. Checkmate."
"I won't surrender!"
"What do you attempt to achieve from all this futile resistance?" Ballore's words were followed by the echoes of Gulliver and his troops' menacing laughs. "I have you outnumbered. In terms of strength and numbers, you don't stand a chance. You are on your own, and you are alone. How do you think you could win?"
"Who ever said he came alone?"
As the embodied voice called out suddenly, Niche, in her grown-up form, lashed at Ballore and his men at a speed that would make a jet plane go red with envy. Ballore barely dodged her attack, her blade-like hair making sizable dents in the ground.
"Reinforcements, eh?" Ballore sneered.
"Gauche, get Roda out of there!" Niche yelled. "I'll distract them!"
Darting her head in all directions, she wanted to find Lag, her master. As she faced the giant machine in front of her, she finally saw her master after so long, encased in the cylinder compartment that cackled with scarlet sparks.
"Lag!" Niche called as she saw Lag restrained on the Leech, her face tinged with horror. Determined to set her master free, she dashed towards him.
"Nobody can interfere!" Ballore bellowed. "The procedure must be completed! Shield the panel!"
As he said this, Gulliver and Ballore's men quickly surrounded the panel, as Ballore created a sphere of darkness and hurled it at the girl.
Before the attack could hit, though, silver heart bullets clashed through the window and intercepted the attack.
"What now?" Ballore snarled in annoyance.
The smoke cleared, revealing Largo Lloyd and Caribs Garrard wielding their shindanjuus.
"We made in time, didn't we?" Largo's usual cool and composed smile in situations like this wasn't present at the time.
"Looks like we're just starting, Lloyd." Caribs grinned. "Hazle! Get the boy outta there!"
Heeding his partner's order, the large-bodied blonde man suddenly leaped from the air, and ended up slamming the ground, creating a small tremor that stunned Gulliver and his troops.
"Get him , girly!" Hazle called to Niche, who knew that Hazle had provided her a window of opportunity.
Inches away from Lag's panel, Niche transformed her hair into a large drill that attempted to break him free. But before Niche could even touch the panel, Ballore attacked her again, knocking her aside.
"I shall not fail again!" Ballore's every word was tainted with venom.
Meanwhile, Noir had managed to break Roda free from the Black Onyx.
"Noir!" Roda was glad to see her master saving her.
"Go." Noir said. "Now."
"I want to help you!" Roda cried.
"It's too dangerous," Noir remarked, grabbing her arms, desperate. "Go. Go to the hut. You don't know what Ballore could have planned there-"
"But I-"
"GO!" Noir shot back in a roar, joining the fight. "I'll be fine! Meet me at the Hill of Prayer! Go, now!"
All Roda could do was sadly close her eyes, leaking a tear as she ran away, hoping in her heart that her lover would be safe.
"Garrard!" Gulliver called as if he recognized him, throwing a sphere of energy at the thin man, in which Caribs successfully dodged.
Caribs became angry as if a tiger saw another that wanted to steal it's prey. Indeed, Caribs knew who he was-and he didn't like him.
"Finally found you, eh, Gulliver?" He snarled.
"We meet again, my old foe."
"Never thought you'd made it here so quickly, didn't you?" Caribs gave him a look of disgust.
"I am a man of my words." Gulliver taunted. "Too bad you were already rejected to see me here."
"Shut up!" Caribs roared, shooting him again.
"You should have known better to retain your position rather than following imbecile ideals." Gulliver said as if he were teaching, as they simultaneously crossed swords with each other."Amberground knows no justice; there is no light, there is no peace! Life is nothing but darkness now."
"Don't you dare insult my ideals!" Caribs had never been so angry in his life.
"Short-tempered as always, aren't you, Caribs?" Gulliver chuckled. "Your stupidity was what led to your banishment. Sein did a great job exiling you in the chamber. And Captain Konan-well, she's just a pawn that follows orders. And by following orders, we get power. I get the nice and luxurious life I live now by being unfailingly loyal to Lord Ballore, a tool with no emotion. Idealogical limitations cripple a person's life."
"Then you're just a puppet." Caribs replied. "A plaything, controlled by the mastermind of this boring puppet show."
It was Gulliver's turn to be enraged. "Blind, very blind you are, Garrard! Your eyes are useless. You cannot embrace the exquisity brought about in the shadows and stroll in the light. Light has turned you blind! But perhaps that is becuase I am special- I can see in the dark, and the dark sees me, granting me it's benefits. You cannot be like the fox and the grapes assuming that something is bad just because you cannot obtain it!"
"What's a life of black, huh?" Caribs shot back in a bellow. "I see in the light, you witness the dark. We do not see eye to eye. We never did. You don't know what true power is- true power, true happiness is brought about when one achieves his motives- I am free, Gulliver. I do what I want. And you, who follows orders- is merely a spider trapped in its own web. Didn't you feel the freedom I felt, Gulliver? When we were young?"
Caribs' words had got on to Gulliver's nerves.
"Don't you dare bring back the past!" Gulliver's words were like speeding bullets. "The past is nothing. Look at yourself! What you are now, and what I am! I have achieved what I wanted first, Caribs, whilst your own dumb ideals lead to your failure!"
"Coward." Caribs chuckled, shooting him again. "Face the light. Face the past. Face your fears. I know you still-"
"DONT. CALL ME COWARD!"
Gulliver charged up a large source of his dark power into his right arm and blasted a large energy sphere, which landed a direct hit on Caribs.
"Gah!" Caribs screamed in pain.
"Hey, Garrard!" Hazle cried in concern.
Ballore, whom was defending the panel, saw Simon standing there, as if he were waiting.
"Simon!" He yelled at the green-haired man. "Don't just stand there! Attack!"
Simon simply replied in a nod, before jumping down from his position, beside his master's side, ready for battle.
Ballore intercepted one of the silver heart bullets that approached him. He saw Noir, Largo and Niche in front of him, and seeing his fallen guards, and Gulliver distracted, he knew that his only partner was Simon at the moment.
"Release him." Niche demanded, morphing her hair into a giant axe, the blade of her hair shining with murderous desire.
"So that's how you brought these people here." Ballore chuckled, as if he didn't really mind. It seemed as if he were addressing the message to Largo, rather than Noir. "Then again, you knew where I was before Noir told you, didn't you?"
"Why wouldn't I be informed?" Largo replied smugly.
"Precisely. Why wouldn't you be?" Ballore laughed. "You are my own son, after all."
Niche and Noir felt as if their hearts skipped a beat.
"What?" Noir asked. "You mean he's-"
"I'll explain later." Largo interrupted. "This isn't the right time, isn't it?"
"Ah!" Ballore said in an amused tone. "So you haven't told anyone about your little secret. I was kind enough to keep it for you during the Cabernet attack, no? Would my treacherous son be kind enough to offer his own father a word of thanks?"
"The father who killed my mother, and attempts to dominate the country? Not really."
"Why, you disappoint me, Lloyd. Like mother, like son. You never understood me, like your dear mother, and in the end I pulled her ear, and, well, brought my plan into her mind. And I was kind enough to let you survive. Shall I fix that mistake now?"
"Your shenanigans end now." Noir snarled.
"Oh, why this is just the beginning!" Ballore brought about a gust of black wind that tripped the trio.
"Oh, Noir. I almost forgot-Gulliver didn't go to your residence just to abduct your dingo. I ordered a time bomb to be placed there. Will they be informed before their imminent demise, or will your dingo ever make it in time?"
"Why you..." Noir emitted a predator's growl, getting himself up after the impact.
"Look up. What do you see?" Ballore pointed at the dark, cold sky above him.
Out of his own curiosity, Noir tilted his head upward, gazing at the spherical core of energy shining it's silver rays across the battlefield. But as he watched longer, the sphere became smaller, the light of its rays dimmer and weaker than ever.
"Wait a minute..." He murmured. "What's going on with the artificial sun?"
"Oh no..." Largo gasped in horror, before giving one of his most intimidating glares at his father. "So that's your plan."
"So now you know." Ballore reply to his son's face was a corrosive grin. "Such power...I'm overflowing with it! In moments, I will drain the artificial sun clean of it's power...and I shall rule Amberground with an iron fist!"
"And the Day of the Flicker will come again..." Noir uttered.
"One of the toppings on the cake, of course." Ballore chuckled. "The icing, however, is the death of your little friend trapped there."
"No..." Niche wailed. "Lag! Lag!"
But Lag didn't give a response. His frail body stood lifeless relaxed on the panel, and the scarlet sparks of electricity stung him no more. His eyes were closed as if he fell into an eternal sleep, never waking up.
Ballore took a glance at Lag. "He's dead now, isn't he? He should be."
"NO!" Niche's attempt to slash Ballore ended in vain as Ballore knocked her aside with another energy sphere.
"Lowlifes like you cannot defeat me." Ballore teased. Knowing that he was superior to all, he was fearless, ready to destroy and being that attempted to foil his plans. "And it seems that you three know too much. You are required to be disposed of."
"Not if I can help it." Simon suddenly said.
Ballore suddenly gazed his shock at the green-haired man whom he had trusted to be his servant. His gaze only lasted for a brief moment, before Simon knocked him aside with a dark sphere.
"You decided to act now, huh?" Largo's playful smile returned, nodding at Simon.
"Yeah. Couldn't keep the truth for long, and if I didn't, you, my old friend, would be in trouble. I miss the Hive anyways." Simon replied with a smile.
"TRAITOR!" Ballore bellowed in anger, getting himself up. " I trusted you!"
"You're not the only one that knows the meaning of 'acting', Ballore."
"Nobody understands me!" Ballore suddenly roared, his face red with rage, his aura of dark energy raging throughout the area. "I thought you to be one whom understood me, Simon! One whom understood what darkness truly is, and the benefits that it would have granted! I had high hopes for you! You were loyal to me! Fulfilled my every word and command, but why do you betray now? You've lost me my servant, Lloyd!"
"Ever since I served you, I wanted you dead." Simon said. "We wanted you dead. For stealing what we treasured most. For taking away the thing I cherished the most. I was loyal to you, hiding my hatred for you, eluding your suspicion. But here is where I had my payback. And here's where it all ends."
"Do you think that you can defeat me?" Ballore scoffed.
"I may not have the power to defeat you, but I can at least stop your plans from proceeding."
"Noir, Niche, keep him busy. We'll try to save Lag." Largo said. Before Ballore could react, Noir and Niche had already attacked him with their respective attacks.
"Hurry!" Noir yelled.
"DON'T. CALL ME COWARD!"
Gulliver's booming voice echoed the vicinity completely. It was a cry of rage, bloodlust, and malice. The shout was so loud that Ballore and his adversaries stopped for a moment upon hearing it.
The sphere's impact knocked it's target flying across the area. Caribs could not withstand the powerful blow, as he helplessly dropped to the ground upon it's unavoidable impact.
"Hey, Caribs!" Hazle quickly went to him.
"Vermin!" Gulliver also overdid himself launching the attack, shown by his tired body and heavy eyes. "Now you die."
"Heh." Caribs' response to the attack was merely a smile.
"Playing the hero leads to an early grave." Gulliver's rage disappeared and his face flashed a harlequin's grin.
"Better early to the grave than late to your own humanity, Gulliver." Caribs said through his pain, his hands tightly gripping his chest that was stained with crimson red. "Don't be like me. Look at you. You're nothing but a selfish monster-"
"IMBECILE!" Gulliver's temper had risen again, his body dashing toward the injured man, charging for another attack.
Noticing this, Hazle dashed at his best speed towards his master's attacker, ready to defend him.
"Out of my way, swine!" Gulliver roared, knocking him aside with yet another powerful attack.
With Hazle aside, Gulliver knew there were no distractions. Like a hungry wolf finally catching up to it's prey, his eyes gleamed bloodlust and murderous desire as he began to torture the weak body. Delivering powerful punches and kicks, Gulliver seemed to never stop, the battlefield's loudest voice being his animal, mental voice.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" The words were like hammers knocking into Hazle's skull. Even Hazle feared him, no matter how brave he was.
"Kill you! Kill you!"
The echoing words struck Hazle with a force of a blow. Gathering all his confidence and strength, he leapt into the air, then slamming Gulliver down with a powerful crush. Unable to evade from the incoming attack, Gulliver stood lying on the ground after the impact, struggling to breathe in the midst of the blinding dust created by the crushing impact.
With his foe now unconscious, Hazle quickly went to Caribs, who was fading fast.
"Get it together, man!" Hazle hogged him.
"So...it ends like this...huh? My life..." Caribs' breathing was short.
"I'll get you somewhere...anywhere!" Hazle said, lifing him up. "I need to get you healed."
"It's useless...it's too late for me..."
Hazle couldn't help but cry. "C'mon, man! You can't just leave a guy alone!"
"I wished I could do more..." Garrard tried his best to say his final words. "I never...realised what my true dream was...and lived in a senseless world where all I did was kill..."
Hazle's tears flowed increasingly rapid.
"I suppose I was too...late after all... I guess I deserve it this way."
Caribs reached into his bleeding body and withdrew a letter from his jacket.
"This...letter...deliver it for me, Hazle." Caribs said. "My final letter...deliver it...to whoever it belongs...promise me, Hazle..."
"OK!" Hazle's voiced raised in sadness.
"Thanks...never said that...to you in a long time...huh?" Caribs' eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry for that-"
"No more good times?" Every words reflected Hazle's very sorrow. "No more being a dingo?"
"Find...something meaningful to your life...Hazle...don't waste it like mine-"
"Garrard, you jerk!" Hazle couldn't stomach his agony and sadness.
"I have...a final request...I wish to pass...there..." He raised his hand as if he could touch his ideal destination.
"I'll take you there..." Hazle calmed down a little.
"Good...and...the boy...tell the boy...that...I..." Garrard's eyes collapsed, and his hand thudded to the floor, and Caribs Garrard moved no more. He was dead.
"NOOOOOOO!" Hazle placed all his heart and sound into perhaps his most ear-splitting scream.
Simon dashed to the scarlet core of the Leech, waving his hands as if he were casting a spell, enveloping his body with dark energy. Largo quickly hurried beside him, as if he knew what to do.
"How do we stop this?" Largo asked.
"Gulliver built it to be near invulnerable. I believe that only a strong force of dark energy should break it..."
Largo noticed Simon's strange gestures. "Simon, what are you doing?"
Simon remained silent for a moment, before speaking again.
"A self-destruct technique." Simon replied frankly. "It should be powerful enough to do at least significant damage. Didn't Sein activate his last resort?"
"Wait...that means-"
"It's the only way." Simon continued the process through excruciating pain. "I have to destroy the Leech before it drains the sun completely-"
"You can't do this!" Largo snapped.
"Do not interfere!" Noticing the two men, Ballore charged up another dark sphere in his hands and forcefully threw it at them. The ball lunged at them at an incredible pace, so fast that Largo and Simon didn't have a chance to evade it.
"Largo, look out!" Simon called desperately.
Closing his eyes, Largo expected the impact to land. Several moments passed, with a silence that was broke by a wail, and the sound of a heavy object falling beside him, which told him that it had missed. Terrified of what he was about to see, his eyes opened again, revealing an spread-eagled Simon on the ground.
"Simon!" Largo quickly attended to his lethargic, bleeding body.
"Damn..." His words could be barely heard, blended in his faint breathing. "I hope I'd finished the spell..."
"Get a grip!" Largo said desperately. "You'll be fine!"
Simon found it hard even to speak. The impact was too powerful, and it landed a fatal blow, his eyelids becoming slightly heavy. "Couldn't get...what I wanted...in the end, huh?"
Largo remained silent. There was nothing he could do; he wished he could help, but he just couldn't.
"You shouldn't have taken the hit for me..."
"Yet I want this..." A smile appeared on his face despite his painful body struggling. "It's been...fourteen years, huh? How I long to see her again..."
"So you finally want to be with her, huh?" Largo managed a faint smile. "Send her my regards, I guess."
"I believe she misses me too..." Simon's smile was followed by a tear. "Wherever she is...she'll have to wait no longer..."
"Yeah. And you'll finally see her after so long."
"I wished...I could have gone...to that place...I would pass more happily there. But I have no regrets... I'll leave the rest to the boy...don't...let...me..."
Before Simon could continue, Largo flinched as an explosion of dark energy engulfed the space in front of him. The explosion was powerful enough to knock Largo flying across the area. Cracks appeared on the metal framing that surrounded the core as the scarlet sparks of electricity ran rampant across the machine. And Largo's final glimpse of his dear comrade was the clearing of the dust in front of him. The black, shiny dust that seemed to be the aftermath of the explosion, disintegrating and disappearing in the wind.
"NO!" Ballore was furious to see the Leech sustain damage. "Damn you, Simon!"
"Three." Largo said tersely.
Ballore turned to face his son, who seemed to shed his final tear for his departed friend.
"That makes three. Three very important people in my life, all murdered by you."
"All who oppose me deserve their demise." Ballore snarled. "And you're next."
Blink.
They could feel the light that illuminated the perpetual night blink, albeit for just a moment. Blink, it went again.
Standing beside the cross-like pole on the peak of the Hill of Prayer, Aria Link surveyed the bright area of hills and mountains. She stood there silent for endless moments, her mind thinking intently.
All hope was lost. The boy whom she believed to save all from darkness,has inevitably fallen. They were trapped in a desperate situation were darkness would fall across the country, and nobody was strong enough to do anything about it.
Her trance was broken by the sun's sudden flicker.
What? She told herself, unable to believe her eyes. Did the sun just...go out? She was lost in thought.
It's impossible, she told herself. Such a terrible moment wouldn't come again. Knowing the consequences of staring directly at the sun in this situation, she gathered her bravery and gazed carefully at the sun. It shone for a final moment until it's rays became dimmer...
Dimmer and dimmer.
And there was nothing left. No more light.
The darkness came swiftly as the light disappeared equally as fast. The magnificent hilltops near the Hill or Prayer that could usually be seen from view were now gloomy and dark. Nothing could be seen in the midst of the blinding darkness. Aria's heart skipped a beat as she realized the disastrous phenomena that had befallen Amberground. Her fears had come.
The Day of the Flicker had begun again.
"No..." Noir couldn't believe his eyes.
Ballore's body was now exerting a massive amount of energy. His body was intense as the sun itself. The pressure of dark aura from his body was difficult to endure, even by it's source. Noir and Largo could clearly see Ballore tightly grabbing his head with his hands, unable to control and contain that much of energy at the moment, and the cold feeling of the morphed power sent chills up their spines. Even the sturdy building that they were in quivered in Ballore's ominous presence.
"We have to retreat." Largo said.
"We can't!" Niche shot back. "We have to stop him-"
"We are no match for him now." Largo sighed. "We'll need to think of another way..."
"It's our only option, Niche." Noir uttered. "Now move!"
As the trio ran out pf the building, Noir noticed Hazle sulking in a corner, with an injured Caribs in his large arms.
"We have to go! Come on!" Noir yelled.
Hearing this, Hazle also knew that it was his only choice. With his partner in his arms, he quickly ran out alongside Largo and the others away from the evil-infested building.
"You're too late..." Every word that Ballore said was tainted with venom, fighting through his excruciating pain. "I am victorious! The dawn of the era of darkness has finally risen!"
And the cackle from the immensely evil man echoed through Akatsuki like a werewolf howling in the forest. Darkness had risen, and light had fallen. It was too late. As the panel containing Lag opened, the lethargic body merely thudded lifelessly on the ground, and Lag moved no more.
Next chapter: Streams Of The Past!
Hello readers! I'm finally back with a new chapter. I took longer than I expected to though, and I sincerely apologize for my extreme inactivity.
I'm currently busy with school after being promoted as Society President and loads of other stuff. Contests, extra classes and whatnot, these things keep me as busy as a bee, and I'm struggling to find my time to write this stuff.
Well, Simon and Caribs have the most screen time in this chapter. For those who think like, "Hey! Why did Caribs come to save Lag? He tried to kill him a few chapters ago!" Yes, it's strange, but I have hinted twice that Caribs would potentially have a change of heart. For those who don't know this, I'll explain it all, everything, Largo's past, Simon's past, Gulliver's grudge, Caribs' past. Everything shall be revealed in the next chapter, hence the name. And it should be obvious who Simon's special person is, if you still don't know you'll have to wait. I figured that someone had to d- I mean pass away in this chapter, but I did a somewhat bad job on Caribs cause he didn't get to do something heroic, like Simon.
And is Lag just...dead? And is this all gonna end in a terrible way? Well I suppose you'll have to guess what I plan next time. I forsee that I won't be continuing in yet another long while, but my love for making fanfics has not wavered albeit this being my first fic. Well, that's all from me! YagamiNoir, over and out.
P.S I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING ABOUT LETTER BEE/TEGAMI BACHI. ALL CONTENT BELONGS TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF TEGAMI BACHI.