Lovino bound forward as the creature was recollecting herself from the blast that had taken a chunk of her arm. The wound bled feebly. The attack that he swung was blocked, but the defense was not unexpected and quickly Lovino's sword fell to dust as, in a swung movement, his other hand crashed down. Black energy surrounded his palm and when he pressed it to her skin a popping sizzle was passed between them.
She threw her arm into his chest, flinging him backwards. He landed, the momentum taking him into a spinning roll before a soldier helped stop him. He groaned, picking himself up.
"Surround her!" he yelled. "She's perceptible to pain. If we can hit her with enough power for long enough she'll break!" He wasn't sure how helpful his command was, but it filtered back to him via the radio so he decided it well enough.
Soldiers spread out and around her. A static call demanded the shouts that jumped the woman. Three more shots rang before the Warp pressed back. Roots from her feet tore around, upsetting the dirt as thorns rose and attacked.
Lovino ran forward, prepared to use his shielding mirrors as he had done before, but Alin seemed to have been waiting for just this moment and tore into action. Both his hands pressed against the dirt. Dirt rippled and spread, similar to the movements caused by the roots, long thrilling lines that swirled around the Warp.
"Now, Kirkland!" Alin demanded.
Arthur clapped his hands, throwing them back in a wide motion before sending the whips around himself forward. They twisted and formed together into another large animal.
When the animal's feet touched the path laid by Alin's magic the blue of Arthur's magic mixed with a new, trembling green. It opened its wide mouth and bit, surrounding the Warp's whole figure. Alin's magic exploded then. Large holes were burst into the ground, tearing up the roots, the severed bit writhing and twisting before falling to dust among the rubble.
A large trench now surrounded the witch.
"She's not fighting back," Gilbert said, coming up on Lovino. "This could be our chance. Use the stone."
Lovino looked back, shaking his head slightly. "I don't know. It's strange. Is she really this weak or is it a manipulation?"
There was a short pause from the other man, as well from the radio because no one offered their thoughts on the situation. Lovino took a breath and removed his helmet. Gilbert seemed to hesitate his way. "They don't work," Lovino decided. "If Central says anything you tell me. I don't need to be slowed down."
Gilbert just nodded his head.
Quickly Lovino advanced into the trench. It had been blown to practically his whole height. With the reversal stone in hand, Lovino refound his truth. It was shakier than before, his body tired and his powers reaching the first limit of fatigue, but he didn't stop picking his way through the dust and dirt, making his way towards the island the Warp stood on.
When he made it to the platform, he found himself alone. The smoke cleared and so did everyone else. So was the familiar landscape. He turned around. "What the hell?" She couldn't manipulate him when he was using this. That was the point of it. So what the hell was happening? Where way he?
If it wasn't for the slight change of wind, Lovino would have been caught in the head, but he ducked and the attack took out the ground just in front of him. No longer was there a trench but rather a world of water. He turned to find the Warp, only her body was not so awfully disfigured. Long white locks fell down dark, freckled skin. Like the Neverborns, she had a tattoo, only there was more than one and, like her hair, they shone white. He recognized four of them. The one on her forehead was the symbol of Tzeentch, each solder held a physical power, and her stomach held the tattoo of Despair. The final one, over her left breast, was the symbol of the heart. Lovino called his gun. "What the hell?" he echoed. "How are you manipulating me right now?"
"I am not manipulating you. You are manipulating yourself." She swirled around him, but her body didn't move. Only her energy. Lovino felt a million eyes on himself.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Truth is only perception and want. You wanted to see the real me, so here we are."
"Where exactly is here?"
Everything around them seemed to dip into something else the longer he looked at it. One moment the sky above him was bright and the world was a twisting of vibrant greens and purples, the next everything was grainy and cold and twisted like a picture of roots. The smells even seemed to change. A hearth's fire, a spring day, a muddied dog. Nothing was set in stone, perhaps nothing was real. "Where—Where are we?" he asked once more, his voice a bit lighter, quieter.
Despite the calamity, here was a strange solace. A strange calm that traipsed along his bodies and his powers, as if instead of standing on a bloodied battlefield he instead was stretched out on a couch, fighting to keep a dancing fever dream of memories and imagination rather than turn around and face reality once more. Even the strain of his powers seemed to be lifted from his body.
Though, of course, he never owned a couch, so bloody battle field was the likelier of the two options.
The Warp didn't bother to move or look as her surroundings bounced and rolled. "We are wherever you've decided to put us."
"If—Are you-you're a part of my imagination. Part of my perception or not, imagination is not truth." Had he pulled it up wrong? Perhaps he had been manipulated into doing something wrong. Perhaps he had been knocked out and this was all a spitting dream as a concussed head tried to hold onto sanity.
"The creature you fight out there is not me," she said simply, calm features and booming voice. "It is an imitation. Similar parts but there is no way to revive a god once it is gone. Unlike humans, we do not possess proper bodies. Our memories are written in our energies. If any of that energy is destroyed, then the god that once was is permanently destroyed."
Lovino shook his head as the skies above them rolled with a thunderous passion. "Then how are you he—"
"Your ability has asked for the truth about me, so I stand here an animation before you."
"So, you are part of my imagination!"
"I am a part of you."
Lovino turned, the skies dark and booming. The patterns of the very first rain drops began to fall. How was it that nothing made sense? How was it that he was being fed cheesy lines from himself? "Am I dying?" he demanded.
"No."
"Of course, you would say that if I was fucking dying." He put a hand on his forehead and fell to his knees. Something touched his shoulder, but when he turned the world was white and the Warp still stood in her original position. Was he sitting comatose on the battlefield right now? Was he someone else's problem right now? A liability? Fuck, he needed to get back, to destroy the Warp—or, the imitation of the Warp.
"I made a mistake by giving up my heart."
Lovino stood with a deep sigh. "So, is this what I'm doing?" he muttered to himself. "Alright, let's get it over with!" He turned back to her with a wide swish of his hand. "Me, he's fucking dead, alright? Mistake of an ancestor or not. Gone, dead, goodbye. We'll mourn him later, alright!"
"I am not trying to convince you of anything. I am—"
"Look, we don't have time for this!"
The world went black, and when it came to Lovino was on a battlefield. Only, it wasn't his battlefield. People plated in silver armor ran with spears. Lovino watched on, confused. He flinched when a soldier barreled at him, but soldier and spear both passed through him. Nevertheless, le put a careful hand on his chest where the implation would have occurred. "We wanted to lead, to show beings the way. Perfection and completion—" the voice was coming from behind him. He found the Warp, her figure hazy. "—are not the same thing. We are perfect, but without something to watch, we are not complete." Her hand drifted over the face of a fallen soldier. Her eyes were soft, hazel pinched with every color Lovino had ever known.
"It was humanity I was allowed to claim as my own. Others got the voids and the sorcerers and the creatures of the water or—" she sighed, "but none of them could compare to this. The curiosity and the passion. But I turned my back on them."
A tornado came and whisked the image away. The new one was the entrance to the Afterlife before it twisted into a memory.
Anubis was there, the Warp was there, only it they both were in the forms of purity.
The Warp, the one in the form of her beloved humans, stood behind Lovino with sad eyes. "He watched over all of the dead, but he took great pride in watching over the humans. He took great care." Her voice trailed off softly and they watched on.
"Please, please do this for me! I cannot continue to watch them die and feel like this! I need to be stronger. This piece of me makes me weak."
"No. It will—"
"Please!"
Lovino watched as Anubis gave to the pathetic cry, bent to her whim. He watched as the perfect being before him pulled, a great purple surrounding it. Out of the blackness of all formed legs, formed the curves of the woman that stood behind him now. She practically fell to a knee when she finally severed the purple heart and held it out in her hand.
"This is not a Neverborn made in the image of your heart!" Anubis sounded horrified.
"It is my heart. Please…Please destroy it."
"You are giving up your godliness!"
"I do not care! Give me humanity! Just take it! I can no longer live with this. I will be better without it. Stronger, I need to be stronger. For my people, for the other gods. This—I am not good enough, and it is my heart that makes me weak." She reached forward with trembling hands, but she could not touch perfection without being burned. Tears were stinging her eyes. "Please, Anubis. Save me and save my people by doing this." She hung her head. "I cannot go on like this."
Anubis took the offered gem. Lovino stood there, unable to find a feature, to do anything but stare.
He made the mistake to blink. They fell into another image.
The Warp's figure was alone, her face twisted in a ponderous anger, lit by the candle light. "What fools," she ground out to herself. "They will pay."
"I grew relentless without my heart," the Warp said from Lovino's side, her features soft, sad. "I wanted, and nothing could stop me. My head made more sense then they did. Even my despair was not enough to snuff out the ambitions that came with a numb existence. I knew that the other gods were conspiring against me. It made me bitter that they would think me so low, though they were not wrong. No, they weren't."
Lovino frowned over at her. She pressed quaking fingers against the tattoo on her breast, her eyes closed as she meditated over the loss. "Do you have your heart now?" he asked quietly.
When she opened her eyes to look at him, the dark flickering room was gone and replaced by the screaming anguish of a woman tearing herself apart. Lovino stuttered backwards, shocked.
"I do not have anything anymore," the Warp said. "I am nothing now. I no longer exist. They are the only pieces of me. Them, and you."
The final four were created from torn away limbs. Blood solidified and shot and grew into figures that Lovino had come to know so well. The Order of the gods stood and stared. They spoke, but Lovino did not listen, all he could see was Tzeentch.
The only Neverborn that looked like she knew what was happening. Black eyes already started its scheme. Or, perhaps, the scheme had started before this.
"Does Tzeentch have the memories of being you?"
"I do not know," the Warp admitted quietly. "I cannot know."
"Does this…imitation of you—does it have Tzeentch's memories?"
"I do not know."
Lovino frowned and looked away from the special. Everything returned to white. He walked into the comfortable nothingness.
"I do know that I wanted to control not only humanity, but all life. I turned my back on my people when I decided to discard my passion, for my humility was quickly rewritten by my intelligence. My anger and my will to live were tied in with my ambitions, my reflection was turned on others to my benefit. Without understanding I was nothing but what I thought myself to be."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Lovino demanded. "How does this help me? What are you trying to convince me of?"
"As I have said, I am not here to convince you of anything. You sought me and my spirit, you sought the truth, so here it stands before you. The question is what you are trying to convince yourself of."
"I have nothing that I wish to—to change. I only wish to defeat this evil before it kills all life!" Lovino insisted. "I do not want to hear about your heart and how you became a monster without it! I had a heart, but I let it die. That's life. I am still human, I am not like you!"
"You are not like her."
Anubis had been telling him all along.
"You are right. You were born imperfect, and therefore have learned to grow from your flaws. You have adapted well." She almost seemed to smile smally. "You are human."
"And I have things to do. So—So tell me what I need to know so I can get back! Tell me your plans or your weaknesses. Tell me how to win this, how to protect—" he set his jaw and shook his head. "Keep me from fucking all this up."
"You have the answers. It is up to you to apply them. Never forget your humanity, Lovino."
It was the first time she had used his name. Lovino blinked, and the battlefield returned. He stood on a platform surrounded by dust that hadn't yet settled. How much time had passed? Had none? It didn't matter, because as the dust fell, Lovino stared into a familiar face.
"Alfred—" he choked.
He was still wearing the truth, so unless this was a trick of his own head, then this was real. The man tore forwards and hit. A sheen red surrounded him like a barrier. Lovino jumped away.
He couldn't kill him or else—
If Lovino killed him, then Feliciano might have never been put in this situation. Then this situation may have never happened in the first place! Something of shock ran through Lovino's chest. If Lovino killed this man there might be a handful of cases that went unsolved, but this! It may have never happened! Tzeentch wouldn't have gotten out. The imitation Warp would never have been created. This—If he killed this man—
No. Lovino wasn't about to live his life on wished ifs. There was no telling that this was the only way Tzeentch could have gotten out. There was no telling that Lovino would have never gone into his powers.
Lovino knew what happened now, and he was so close to a solution he refused to give everything up for a fucking if. It was his job to make out that solution, and saving this fucking detective with the red barrier and dead eyes was his job. He grit his teeth.
"Come at me, dickweed."
Alfred hit with a power that Lovino hadn't imagined him possessing. Of course, his build only sang the story of strength. The barrier around him burned Lovino's skin when it hit; a bubbled blister forming when Lovino pulled away and replaced the truth with his armor. Alfred still stared at him, only his features changed. He did not look manipulated any longer. Lovino chuckled, running forward for another clashing attack.
Alfred was impossibly quick for his size, hitting and jumping and coming back to hit again. Lovino saw a lot of Feliciano's fighting style in it, and it was a bitter-sweet thing to recognize. Of course, he had fought Feliciano enough times to know the little weaknesses. Most of them were unique to the kid, but Lovino found luck with the fact that Alfred threw his weight with his shoulder when he punched, leaving the smallest golden area for Lovino to dodged and hit.
With the blackness around his palm he pressed it to the back of Alfred's neck, closing his eyes and assessing the energy levels of it all. Alfred writhed and fought under his weight, and was becoming increasingly hard to contain while Lovino was trying to defuse the hot energy around him, but with a large crack Lovino's efforts succeeded.
That didn't mean that the spell over Alfred's mind was over.
The detective twisted and threw Lovino off, grabbing for a gun at his side. Lovino threw up a shield just-in-time to catch the bullet before shoving himself forward and knocking Alfred to the ground. "Snap out of it, damn it!" Lovino screamed. "I don't want to hurt you!"
The sound of a shot riverbated from behind him and suddenly the detective went still. Lovino's breath caught, an explosion of disbelieving thoughts filling his head as he was pulled off of the—
"Tranquilizer," Gilbert said, voice muffled by his helmet. "Can't hurt himself if he's out cold. Don't worry."
Lovino turned to him. "You brought tranqs?"
The albino shrugged and Lovino could imagine the smirk that was playing on his lips. "What can I say? That one Christmas murderer had a good idea carrying that shit around."
"Wait, but we never figured out what she had on her."
"You never did." Gilbert corrected with a laugh. "Don't worry, he'll be fine."
Lovino nodded. "Help me move him and—"
A pair of soldiers appeared. Gilbert gave them the order to take Alfred back to the base and the two were quick to agree. There was a loud ruckus and another bout of dust and smoke rose a few paces off.
Nothing need to be said between them. They both took off in the direction of the magic and screaming woman. Lovino called forth his sword, his chin tipping upwards to find the witch hovering above the ground, great wind holding her there. It seemed that the wind didn't only hold her up, but it also shot out sharp thorns. Lovino hissed, his shoulder thrown back when he was hit, cracking and going through the armor. With a grunt he pulled out the mini arrow. Quickly he refused the armor and shot forward.
His sword was replaced by his gun and he shot, most of his energies put forth to protect his body from the projectiles. His bullet hit, but instead of destroying the piece of imitation that it touched it seemed to be sucked into her. Lovino cursed.
Gilbert shot at her with his own gun, the green energy latching on and around. Another attack administered by Arthur shot forward, but it was growing weaker. Other than the things that she flung it didn't seem that she was fighting back.
"I need to get close to her!" Lovino screamed towards Gilbert.
"No vines to climb this time," Gilbert yelled back. "I'm not sure how close you can get to the cyclone!"
"Gotta try," Lovino dismissed.
He wasn't sure if he could control their position with such strong winds, but Lovino called his mirrors and created his stairs. Rising to even the first one took all of his efforts into not falling off, the blue, stained uniform he wore rustling violently. Practically squatting, he jumped to the next one and held on. His hair was snakes, biting into his eyes as he climbed.
He finally reached her. Shakily he stood, winds taken to bat and swinging at him, all directions, all the time. He fished out the stone that he needed.
The Imitator looked at him with black eyes that shot to the stone the moment it was out.
"I have no tattoos," she seemed to sneer.
Lovino swallowed.
This is what he needed now, to find how to kill her, so hopefully the fucking truth would be of use right now. It only took a split second to blink before sickly olive skin became dark and tattoos glowed around her. Only, they weren't in the right place. The shoulders, the breast, the stomach, these were not the places of the symbols that bound the powers to the body. Instead, they were spread. A thigh, a hand, her back, her neck. The final one her sought was that of the heat, but it was smudged and incomplete, settled directly between her breasts. Lovino blinked the sight away.
There were, in fact, no tattoos, but it at this distance away from her Lovino knew why. His gut twisted upon the realization that this sickly skin was too soft, held no hair whatsoever, almost even weak. She had turned her own skin inside-out to hide the symbols and their place.
Smoking palm and stone, Lovino leapt forward, a mirror appearing in the exact moment he needed. He threw his fist forward. The Imitator caught it, hissing as her skin bubbled under his power. However, it quickly turned around on him, her powers much stronger than his.
Nevertheless, Lovino twisted and grabbed her wrist, noting how the skin was slick under his touch, catching her off guard enough to press the ominous energy of the stone into the back of her hand.
She screamed and the power sent Lovino barreling backwards and out of the sky. He hit the ground with a thud.
It was Arthur that helped him up. The witch still screamed. Lovino could see that her hand was gone, torn to shreds. He scrambled up and towards the tornado, blocking his head with his arm, scramming for the stone. He found it, though not without the list of thorns that stuck up and around his armor. With every moved they scraped and irritated his skin raw.
"She's lost life," Lovino said, coming back to the group. "She might be more dangerous now."
He quickly mapped out where he saw anger. That would be the next power he would snuff out. Then ambition, despair, heart. He would destroy all of her.
The tornado beneath her twisted and turned, carrying her with it as she dipped down to attack. People shot wildly at her, but it did not stop her and her torment. "I will kill you all before they get here!" she screamed.
They were sent running, scattering. Gilbert stuck to Lovino side. "She must be talking about the Latkins," Gilbert ground.
"Let's finish this," Lovino decided harshly. The stone in his hand was hot.
With a loud screech the Imitator changed paths, refinding Lovino. Lovino didn't have time to fix his armor, he didn't have time to pull out every arrow, so he instead put his energy towards a mirrored sword. Anger was his enemy, he couldn't attack with violence. He wouldn't fuel her.
The closer he got, the more he was using his weapon as a shield. With every hit the sound of shatterings rose into the air. He caught his moment and he attacked. His sword slashed through the dust, coming to hit her arm. She seemed to have expected this, however, and the black Neverborns that were infused into her skin crawled out and around the weapon, slinking and reaching to Lovino.
Lovino pulled the hilt back as hard as he could. She didn't budge, but he hand't secured his stance so he did. He tucked his feet into his stomach and used the momentum to kick the woman with all his weight. The Neverborns were like paste, keeping Lovino stuck to his sword. The witch cried out when Lovino fell down, pulling her with him. He continued to tug at his weapon, the Neverborns were at his shoulder now. He swallowed, no feeling in his arm. One last tug loosened the winds around him, and Lovino threw the stone forward, securing it to her thigh.
She screamed and the Neverborns became oil between them. Lovino was lifted before being dropped. He landed on his feet, his double-edged sword falling to ash.
She was missing a hand and a leg. A ragdoll losing their threads.
From the two open wounds, tar spread out and pressed against the winds and to the dirt. Neverborns formed and attacked.
Arthur and Alin were immediately on it, soldiers shot without order, Gilbert flew forward, demanding Lovino drop as a large clawed hand swatted at him from his side, rising up from the sea of goop that now spread over the ground. "Keep it up!" Gilbert screamed at him, reloading.
Lovino nodded and pressed towards the Imitator once more. The waterfall of Neverborns solidified into one string, snapping forward and twisting around Lovino's neck, pulling him off the ground. He kicked his feet, gasping and clawing with his free hand.
The Imitator was using this long string as a new hand, holding him up and watching with dangerously black eyes as he was hanged. Lovino put his hand against the twisted thorn, sending out his own energies, letting them grow into his own elongated shield. With a press of his hand, his shield flew forward, looking to pierce her throat. She caught sight of his plan and threw him to the side. He choked, head dizzy due to the lack of oxygen, head pounding impossibly. He tried again, only this time he pressed the tip of the pointed shield into the hole in her arm. For a split second her powers were cut off, as if Lovino had hit a nerve, and he was let go. Automatically he grabbed and held onto the black extension of the Imitator, gasping as he hung there.
"Lovino!" Gilbert screamed.
Lovino caught on the moment he saw the albino. Without a second thought he threw the stone to him. It turned over itself before being secured by pale fingers.
His second hand free, Lovino continued his climb upward, and when the staff was animated once more he called a mirror and continued his climb again.
He continued his climb while also throwing his powers towards Gilbert.
With a powered fist he threw a heavy punch. She caught it, distracted by his presence and not catching the fact that he did not have the stone. He took advantage of his and, calling an angled mirror behind himself as he was thrown away, bounded forward and punched with the unexpected fist, catching her in the jaw.
Gilbert jumped up, the stone being thrown towards Lovino as he cupped his fists together and slammed them down. The Imitators head was forced downwards with a sickening crack. Lovino grabbed the stone and threw it into the Imitator's neck.
She screeched, and the wind finally stopped. The three of them fell to the ground. Gilbert caught himself in a roll, Lovino didn't have such luck and a million arrows pierced him like tacks. He didn't let him slow it down.
The Imitator coughed and writhed, a gaping hole in her neck, black coming together but bleeding out rather than repair as she attempted to crawl away with a single hand.
It was…pathetic.
Lovino sought out the symbol on her back and pressed the stone to it. The way she cried out caused something in his chest to tremor. The way she was torn apart, disintegrated. She didn't pose a threat the way that she was. She was harmless. She was crying out in such pain and agony, black blood seeping around and screaming at him in small, animated faces.
Gilbert put out his hand. "I'll do the last one," he offered quietly, taking off his helmet. His eyes were fixed, sad, maybe. Though, Lovino had never seen him sad, so maybe it was fatigue. His hair was a mess and there was a redness rimming his eyes.
Lovino nodded, handing over the weapon and directing Gilbert to the final hidden tattoo. He could admit to himself that he was one step away from retching. Just the thought of it all—just the thought of destroying—he turned away, wishing that he couldn't sense energy levels.
Suddenly, a new energy came alive, as if just appearing from thin air. Lovino twisted around, but he was too late. A stone, similar to that that resurrected the Imitator as well as the one that tore her apart, was being poured out of what looked to be a strange leather bag sewn by wires and into Gilbert's hand.
It was the resurrection stone Anubis had given him. Smaller, a more mellow energy—only, it was different than before. It was fueled with something.
"Gilbert—What are you—!" Lovino screamed.
But he was too late. Gilbert pressed the stone to the Imitator's flesh. The light was green, not red, no energy was destroyed, shreaded. Lovino screamed, throwing himself forward, ready to fight, but his arms were captured and he was pulled back.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
It only took a blink before he was relocated.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
So, I failed. I realllllly wasn't into the idea of writing action last night, and I didn't want everything to come off stiff. Bleh. Anyway, THREE MORE CHAPTERS! Yay
COMMENT! What are your guys' plans for Halloween?
