Ah yes, those good ol' Strife soldiers, gotta love those guys. Gotta wonder who they are though, huh?

Chapter 42

The Twins

The days following their arrival ended up being rather... Uneventful.

Once Link and Noctus had settled in with Slate, they didn't really have much to do during their time. Since they were to watch him, they couldn't exactly spar or do anything they usually did, and because one had to watch the door while the other was away they couldn't exactly take their time when they were out. Plus, one of them had to be with Slate more or less at all times, so that limited them even further.

So really, they hadn't done much for the past few days other than wait. Wait and watch.

"I'm booored," Noctus groaned, leaning back on the couch in Slate's living room while Link sharpened his sword in a chair nearby and Slate sat next to him playing solitaire.

"You're usually bored," Link said, refusing to look up from his sword.

"It's worse than usual," Noctus retorted, glaring at his partner from his spot on the couch. "On a good day I'd be able to pass the time killing Grimm, but on this job I have to stick with this guy the whole time. It sucks. No offense to you though."

"Oh, none taken, I used to move around a lot when I was your age, so I know the feeling," Slate said, waving off Noctus' concerns. "Hell, I was more active before all this nonsense came about, so this is taking its toll on me too."

"It should be worth the wait in the end, what with keeping you alive and giving you the fight you want," Link said, checking the edge on his blade before sheathing it and switching to the mechanism on his gauntlet, adjusting anything that needed it.

"Yeah I'd very much like to stay alive, that's the goal," Slate chuckled, moving another card.

"And I wanna get back to work, I hate sitting around this much," Noctus said, laying his head back and closing his eyes. "Oh well, the day's almost over at least."

"Yep, you've got that right," Link muttered, rising from his seat. "If it's no bother, I'd like to take a shower. Would that be all right?"

"Of course, go ahead," Slate said, gesturing for Link to do as he pleased. He did just that, making his usual preparations and hopping into the shower, cleaning himself off as best he could, taking less time than usual in case Slate had water bills. Getting out, he opted not to put back on his armor and chose instead to put on his usual night clothes, heading back to the main room. Slate turned upon hearing his return, paying close attention to the tattoos on his arm.

"Quite a lot of tattoos you've got there," he said, Link holding up his arm and shrugging as he looked it over.

"They aren't tattoos, but there's definitely a lot of them," he said, Slate narrowing his eyes at Link.

"My eyesight may not be what it used to but I can definitely tell when I'm looking at tattoos," he said, Link shrugging once more as he sat down.

"I know what you mean, but they aren't tattoos. When I first unlocked my Semblance, I got these first few marks on the back of my hand," he said, holding up his hand to reveal the triangular markings that resided there. "As I developed it these tattoo-things started creeping up my arm. I'm not sure why exactly they're there, but they seem to be like a visual representation of my progress."

"Huh, I thought you just had an afternoon and some cash," Noctus said, looking over Link's arm. "Never thought Semblances could have visual manifestations like that, at least not permanently."

"Sounds like you've got a pretty special Semblance there," Slate said, finishing his game and reshuffling his cards. "More special than mine at least. Most I could do was walk on water."

"Still sounds pretty handy," Noctus said, nodding to Slate.

"Age's been catching up to me though, can hardly do it anymore without giving myself a nasty headache," Slate lamented as he set up for another game.

"Age claims us all sooner or later," Link said, leaning back in his chair. "Some of us sooner than others."

"Dark," Noctus said, Link glaring at him.

"I don't think a guy codenamed 'Midnight' really has any room to talk here," Link sneered, Noctus laughing.

"Just because my name is edgy doesn't mean I act like it," he jeered.

"Whatever," Link said, rolling his eye. "Anyway, it's your turn to scout. I'll keep on eye on Slate."

"Yep, on it," Noctus said, rising from his seat and heading towards the door, Link grabbing Farore and following him.

Noctus then went outside, taking a look through the area. As per usual, he didn't see anything, but he finished his route just in case before heading back inside, Link opening the door and making way for him.

"Lo and behold, still just jack shit," Noctus groaned. "These guys need to do something soon, I'm getting bored."

"Well hey now, I don't exactly want to see these guys," Slate muttered.

"The sooner we take care of them, the sooner we can make sure you're safe," Link said, unloading Farore and releasing the shell. Catching it, he slid it back into the magazine, then setting both the magazine and Farore by his sword. "I'm going to start laying down, probably won't sleep yet but I definitely feel like it's about time to start winding down."

"Alright, I'm gonna stay up for a bit, I'm not really tired yet," Noctus said, plopping back down onto the couch by Slate. "Wanna play some poker? Blackjack? Anything to pass the time."

"Yeah sure," Slate said, being close to the end of his next game of solitaire, finishing quickly and shuffling the deck once more before dealing out the cards to play poker. "Usually just ended up playing by myself, so a partner will be a nice change of pace."

Heading upstairs, Link chose to get out his journal, readying another entry.

Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Log Issue 9

After the Fall

It's been a few days since Noctus and I have been assigned to Slate in order to protect him, and things have as of yet been uneventful. He's a fine man himself though, so I personally have no issues with guarding him. Noctus doesn't seen to dislike him either, but he's definitely bored by the lack of action in recent days. I'm sure he'd even take Grimm duty at this point... I would too, truth be told. The sooner we can finish up business with Carmine, the sooner we can move forward with stopping Oni. And the sooner I finish that, the sooner I can see Ruby again. The sooner I can be there for her the same way she was for me.

I hope that day comes soon.

-Link Valion

Putting the journal away, he laid back and sighed. Truly, the time more or less alone was getting to him, and the lull in action was clearly taking its toll on Noctus. So really, he just hoped something could happen soon so he could get back on track with his life.

OOO

"I think this may be our chance..." the one in blue said, glaring at the house. "We've given them enough time to get comfortable, and comfort breeds carelessness."

"Oh, finally!" the one in green cheered, more quietly now since his partner had scolded him for it once before. "I've been waiting forever to get started! And I think I know the perfect place to begin..."

"And what's that?" the one in blue asked, the one in green cracking his neck.

"I've been keeping an eye on how they do their little checks around the town, one of them watches the door while the other scouts the area," he said, grinning as he did. "They only unlock the door during checks like that, and they make sure they lock it once they get back. By this point, they probably don't double check if it's locked..."

"I see what you're getting at, that should work," his partner said, nodding as he did. "Wait until it looks like the lights have gone down, then do it. I'll go in."

"I'll hold the perimeter in case there's anyone who feels like they should help..." the one in green said, licking his lips. "I'm looking forward to any that do."

"They won't," the one in blue said, shaking his head. "We haven't come across a town they could respond to us fast enough."

"To be fair, none of the other towns had those two there," the one in green said. "But, even these people won't have those two for much longer..."

"We'd better hope so, for our own good..." the one in blue lamented. "If we fail, we're dead. Or worse."

"What's worse than death?" the one in green asked, a little skeptical.

"You know what he's done to people that have failed him," the one in blue said, almost shivering at the thought. "And that was before he became the Lord of Fall."

"You've got a point..." the one in green lamented, his smile fading.

"Just focus on our job, if we get it done and done right then we'll be in the clear for the rest of our lives," the one in blue said, readying his weapons, a multitude of different colored knives strapped to either side of his chest. "It looks like the lights are out, it's time for us to move, Leoan."

"Right behind you, Kyrin," the now-named Leoan said, readying his own weapon as he followed the now-named Kyrin, a pair of LMGs, one black, one white.

"Recall the lock and keep your distance, those two both specialize in close-range fighting," Kyrin said, looking around the village for a second before deducing there was no one up and about. "Done?"

"Yeah, it's unlocked. Go for it," Leoan said, making sure he was locked and loaded and looking down his sights before nodding to Kyrin, the blue-clad headhunter running from the tree line towards the house, quietly sliding to the door and taking a quick look at the windows to ensure the lights were out.

"Too easy."

Opening the door, which was somehow now unlocked, he was met with Noctus sitting in a chair and scrolling through his songs, a drink sitting on the table next to him.

"Oh, shit," Kyrin whispered, though luckily Noctus hadn't noticed him yet, as the chair was faced away from the door. Realizing this, he grabbed one of the knives and reared back to throw it at his exposed head.

That was when Noctus noticed Kyrin.

When Kyrin had reared back to throw the knife, it caught the light of the moon outside in just the right way to reflect onto Noctus' scroll, suggesting something wasn't quite right. Kyrin attempted to throw the knife, but Noctus quickly rolled out of the seat and grabbed both his sword and the drink, throwing the drink at Kyrin to distract him. In his moment of confusion, Noctus noticed that the knife Kyrin had thrown, red in color, caused the wood of the wall it was buried in to smoke, likely forged of fire dust. The drink he threw did more than just distract his assailant though, as the sound of it shattering against the wall had woken Link, the groggy swordsman looking downstairs and seeing the headhunter covered with water and broken glass around his feet. The sight of this headhunter made sure Link was completely awake, and he definitely did not seem happy.

"Kyrin!" he seethed, running back to the room in order to grab his gear. Kyrin would have tried to follow, but he had a more pressing threat in the form of Noctus there, armed and aware of him.

"It's about goddamn time you showed your face," he said, taking a quick swing that was sadly blocked yet knocked Kyrin out through the door and into the street, the headhunter rising and glaring at Noctus as the Huntsman stepped outside, sword on his shoulder.

"Yo, make sure Slate stays inside and keeps his door locked," he said, shouting back into the house for Link to hear. "I'll keep our friend busy while you get ready."

"This didn't quite go as planned..." Kyrin muttered, Noctus overhearing him and smirking skeptically.

"If you knew we were here, you should have at least had some kind of idea who we are," Noctus jeered as he continued to walk towards Kyrin." My codename is literally Midnight, did you think that was just for show? I've always been a night owl."

"He's got a point, actually," came Leoan's voice from an earpiece Kyrin wore, causing him to glare to the side.

"Shut up and do your job," he growled, immediately followed by the sound of a gunshot coming from the distance that caught Noctus off guard. He was still able to block it though, a fact that made Kyrin all the more angry.

"We knew there were two of you, come on," he groaned, lowering his sword as he shook his head. "Just because he's hidden doesn't mean he's gonna hit me."

"Is that so?" Kyrin asked, Noctus looking at him like he was stupid.

"Uh, yeah?" he said, shaking his head once more. "Man, this isn't gonna be as fun as I'd hoped it was going to be..."

"The fun starts now though," Leoan snickered over the comms, Noctus suddenly feeling pain in his chest.

"Oh what the fu-" he said, though he was cut off by Kyrin charging him, leading with a few thrown knives before grabbing more to attack Noctus with.

Though Noctus was pressured for a moment, he quickly regained the upper hand and tried to kick Kyrin. Kick him he did, hitting him square in the chest. However, he didn't seem to care, or even acknowledge that he'd been hit, which was odd. After all, Noctus could kick like no other, how could he just take it like it was nothing?

Pulled from his thoughts, he ducked a retaliatory stab from Kyrin as he quickly slashed at him, his hit actually doing something this time. Sadly, it was blocked by another knife Kyrin had pulled, though he was once again pushed back by Noctus' superior strength.

It was at this moment that Link had finished preparing, shooting out of the house and taking a wild swing at Kyrin that he was barely able to dodge. He did so nonetheless, stumbling away from the pair as they glared at him.

"Oh hey, you know this guy?" Noctus asked, shouldering his sword once more. "You said something when you saw him, like Kyle or something like that...?"

"Kyrin," Link clarified, still glaring at the blue clad headhunter before him. "Kyrin Rex. He's another one of Oni's soldiers, he and his brother."

"Oh, he's got a brother?" Noctus asked, genuinely a bit intrigued.

"If Kyrin is here, then his brother won't be far off," Link said, refusing to take his eye off of Kyrin. "I've never seen them apart."

"Oh, so that's who shot me," Noctus said, taking note of Kyrin readying more knives, which he seemed to have an overabundance of. "Noted."

"Just take care of them fast, they aren't pushovers," Link said, darting forward and taking a series of quick swings at Kyrin that he was narrowly able to dodge or block.

"I've got the other one then!" Noctus shouted, running off in the direction he remembered the bullet coming from.

"It's been a while, Kyrin," Link grunted between swings, the Strife soldier chuckling as he weaved through the swings, attempting to fit in the odd slash with his daggers, though to no avail.

"Last time I saw you, you had two eyes and two working arms, Valion!" Kyrin shouted back, fully bracing for a swing that came and holding his ground. Pushing back with all of his might, he was able to fend off Link's sword, though he didn't account for the kick that came from the other side that hit him in the side of the face, though like when Noctus had kicked him it didn't phase him.

"Looks like he hasn't found Leoan yet," Link muttered as he pushed back.

Kyrin simply gritted his teeth and flung a trifecta of dust knives at Link, seemingly forged with lighting, ice, and fire dust. Link took note of this and dodged the ice and lightning knives before batting away the fire knife, shattering it and creating a small burst of flames in front of him. However, this didn't seem to be what he wanted to do, as he looked at the ground in surprise as he did, another ice knife hitting the ground next to him while he was following through on the swing. This knife shattered as well, creating a large chunk of ice that sprung up and jabbed Link in his arm, wincing in pain since it was his right arm.

Grunting in pain, he looked around to see that Kyrin had slipped away, quickly checking his arm to see that the ice had pierced his arm wrap and caused him to start bleeding.

Great.

"That Semblance of yours is as annoying as ever, Kyrin," Link said, slowly turning around to try and find his opponent. It didn't take long, but another knife came whistling by, Link blocking it once more. Once again, this didn't seem to be his idea, as he was blocking a lightning knife, sending a painful shock throughout his body as yet another fire knife came by, hitting him in the chest and detonating. Luckily it was his chest this time, and his aura could safely absorb the damage it would have otherwise dealt.

"It's a shame, I was aiming for your arm again," Kyrin said, Link looking in the direction the voice had come from and rolling to the side, readying his rifle and taking a shot. He didn't seem to hit his mark though, the bullet simply flying off into the forest behind him.

"I should have figured it was more Strife soldiers..." Link muttered, admittedly a little angry at himself for not having caught on sooner. He should have known these two would be killing soldier types in the area in order to draw him out. After all, his reason to stand against his uncle was specifically to protect innocent people.

Drawing his sword and holding it defensively, he started looking around once more in the hopes of finding Kyrin, though he was unable to do so in the dark of night. Again, great. His relatively impaired vision certainly didn't help either, so he figured he'd have to compensate one way or another.

Doing just that, he activated his gauntlet and chose to use fire dust in order to light up the surrounding area in the hopes of finding his hiding foe. It took him a moment, but he eventually saw the glint of the knives on Kyrin's person and threw the flaming blade at him, startling him for a moment and forcing him to dodge out of the way. This led to him being in the open, Link taking advantage of this and flinging his arm to the side, the wire forcing the blade itself to fly toward Kyrin. He ducked to the ground whilst throwing another knife, Link having enough time to veer it off to the side with his right pauldron as he pulled his sword back to himself. Kyrin quickly threw another knife while Link threw his sword once more, the two meeting in the center. Link's sword easily blew the knife out of the way on its way towards Kyrin, though he managed to duck it. Pulling his sword back in order to try again, Link's eyes widened as he saw Kyrin smile and lower his arms to his sides, Link doing the same as his sword hit him in the chest, taking its toll on his aura due to its recently sharpened edge. Grabbing his sword and sheathing it while Kyrin mimiced the very same movements, he glared angrily at him as his grabbed his foe grabbed more of his knives, Link too following Kyrin's movements.

"Been a while since I've had to do this on someone so strong, so it took me longer than I'd thought to break through," Kyrin laughed, holding forward a fan of knives in front of him, a multitude of different types of dust used in their creation. "So, let's get down to business, shall we?"

OOO

"Where the hell are you hiding?" Noctus shouted, still having a hard time finding his target in the woods around the town.

"Don't worry about it, big guy," Leoan chuckled, Noctus huffing and swinging in the direction of the voice, his condensed aura knocking down a few trees but still missing the intended target, getting shot a few times in return. They didn't hurt much, but damn did they sting.

"Come on, you work for the big man himself!" Noctus shouted, grabbing his sword with both hands and undoing the lock. "Surely he didn't hire someone who's too afraid to fight his enemies head on!"

"You're right, he didn't," Leoan said, shooting Noctus once more, this time in the back. "I just prefer not to. It makes things easier for me."

"Bitch," Noctus growled, definitely annoyed by now. He was hoping for a thrilling fight, not this pathetic little game of cat and mouse.

"Dumbass," Leoan shot back, also literally shooting Noctus once more. He was able to respond to it this time and block it, though once more he still felt the pain of getting shot.

"Ok, what is this bullshit?" Noctus growled, turning towards the direction he was shot from and holding up his sword. "I know damn well I was blocking, why'd it still hit me?"

"There's a reason I'm calling you a dumbass, dumbass," Leoan said shooting Noctus once more with the same result; despite Noctus putting his sword between himself and the bullet, it still hit him anyway. And this was really getting on his nerves.

Taking a deep breath, Noctus finally split Midnight Unbound into Twin Midnight, Rush filling both rings as he slashed all around him, cutting down every single tree in the immediate area before locking his blades back together. Looking around, he finally saw his enemy, now standing amongst the fallen trees with a surprised expression on his face.

"Oh. Well then. You're smarter than you look," he admitted, holding up his LMGs and putting them together, forming a larger gun with two barrels. "Don't care though."

Rushing Noctus, Leoan leapt over him and fired, hitting him in the face with a powerful shotgun blast that he seemed to be unable to block once more, also being blinded by the muzzle flash. Covering his eyes as he tried to regain his sight, he held tightly onto his sword as he heard Leoan run away, basically growling at him as he did. So that's why he took the name of a mythical animal, who knew?

It took a few seconds, but he finally regained his sight, though it had definitely taken longer since his eyes were adapted to the dark at the moment, akin to turning your phone on in the middle of the night. Blinking a few times and looking around, he was shocked to see that all of the trees were right back where they'd been before he'd cut them.

"What the hell...?" he muttered, taking a step back. What had he done...?

"Now, where were we," Leoan chuckled, Noctus gritting his teeth and raising his sword once more.

This wasn't going well.

Oh boy, them boys are finally on the move! Kyrin and Leoan Rex, the eponymous twins of this chapter! Let's discuss a few things about them real quick, huh?

As far as their CNRs, they go as follows:

-Kyrin is a specific shade of blue, specifically #0000b3 or RGB (0,0,179). It's slightly darker than regular blue, yet brighter than navy.

-Leoan is a specific shade of green, specifically #9acd32 or RGB (154,205,50). It's a yellowish-green that leans more towards green.

Oddly enough, despite these being colors that I found, this site refuses to believe they're real words. Oh well, don't care.

Anyway, as far as their weapons go, their names are Blight Spectrum for Kyrin's knives, and Sin and Punishment for Leoan's guns, the black and white one respectively, and combined, they're called Judgment! Rather odd that despite there being more weapons at Kyrin's disposal, they have less names, huh? Oh well, still don't care!

And as for their Semblances... Nah, I'll let you wait for those. You might be able to figure out what they do based on this chapter's content, but names and specific abilities will wait until later. On that note, see you later!

OniHelix out!