-Chapter 9: Fade to Black-

Johnny sheathed his blade after the burst of wind from his previous attack died down to a whisper. Everyone was silent, awed by his unbelievable timing and speed. Dizzy gasped little as she dared to peek from underneath her shield of folded arms. Sharon stood motionless in front of her, her mouth agape as she seemed to be struggling for breath. And as Dizzy looked downward a bit, she saw why. Sharon was clasping her chest, while blood seeped in between her fingers, flowing over them slowly. Johnny smirked.

"That's what you get for screwing around with the Jellyfish Pirates," he said casually. "Sorry that it had to be this way, though."

Sharon, still wide-eyed, looked at Slayer, hoping he would do something. Slayer was looking back at her, his eyes widened slightly as well. Only the difference was that he looked more afraid than saddened.

"…Sharon…" he murmured, watching his wife's last breath flow from her before she collapsed finally upon the ground, dead. Seeming to snap out of his bewildered state, Slayer rushed to her side, only too late to do anything.

"…No…you can't die…" he whispered. She was supposed to be eternal…how could this happen? Why did this happen?! Instantly, his monocle gleamed in the moonlight as he looked at Dizzy, anger growing in his heart. Dizzy seemed to back away some.

"I…I didn't mean to," she whispered. Everyone, including Johnny, looked at her now.

"'Mean to' what?" Bridget asked as he hopped down a few stairs from the entrance of the manor. Dizzy looked at all of her friends before sighing, closing her eyes.

"..I…nullified her abilities the second I felt Johnny's presence…but..I didn't mean to….Undine…Undine did it to protect me…so..when Johnny struck….it was too late for her…I…I'm sorry…" she confessed. Johnny nodded understandingly.

"Well she did a damn good job…and right on time at that."

Slayer growled as he stood, leaving Sharon's body where it lay.

"You've taken my wife…and my guild away from me…" he murmured. "So now….Venom…all of you…I will take away what all of you hold dear! Your loved ones—and your lives!!!" he swore before bringing both of his arms over his head in a crossed manner, causing an odd black form to spray upward from the earth and dance around him.

"Zato, I was not kidding when I said that I was prepared for you this time!! However much you love Venom, now would be a good time to confess it now, because you will not remember him once I am finished with you!!" he roared. Zato silently watched Slayer while standing ahead of the others.

"I will say nothing because nothing will become of me," he growled. Venom would have spoken as well, but something within his heart told him to remain quiet and watch. Slayer smiled evilly: this was just as he wanted it! For as the dark entity swirled around him again and again, it began to take on many different shapes…but… final version of it was the one that haunted Zato the most. It looked remarkably like…

…Eddie…Zato thought to himself bitterly, instantly putting up his guard. The purified version of this "copy" instantly came forth, forming a wall between the old parasite and the new. Slayer grinned.

"Perfect.." he whispered before he let his arms fall, and  left the dark parasite to jet forth toward Zato and his shield. Venom watched in horror as the dark parasite met with that which was pure and slowly began to consume it. Zato cried out painfully as this happened, and tried his hardest to back away…to get out of the mess of grey that was starting to consume him. Gritting his teeth, Venom launched himself at the mess of parasite and flesh, managing to grasp what felt like Zato's arm, and pulled with all his might. He was not alone however, for Dizzy, May, Bridget, and Johnny offered their assistance in attempting to free Zato from the predicament. It seemed to be a failing attempt however, until a trail of fire and an odd magenta demon of epic proportions appeared to come from either side of Slayer, and engulfed him, weakening the dark parasite's hold upon Zato and his purified entity. Testament sighed as he motioned for the crow to attack Slayer now, which she did by forming a scythe in her hand and, after warping quickly to Slayer's direction, delivered it into the left side of his neck. Slayer, who did not sense the demon's presence, was taken aback, and thus the parasite's hold upon Zato was broken completely, and it shattered into shards of black, fading into nothingness thereafter. Sol sighed as he held the fireseal, looking at the others as they were trying to wake an unconscious Zato. Testament watched as well, but then decided to approach Dizzy, who was still studying Zato's barely breathing body.

"He's holding on…but barely," she deduced as Testament stopped a few feet or so from her.

"He is fighting whatever the shadow left inside of him," he corrected her. Dizzy looked at testament oddly.

"How do you know?" she asked. Testament closed his eyes, giving a bitter expression as he continued.

"I can hear him screaming silently still. This is no longer a physical battle."

Venom stared at Zato's sweated face, watching his breaths slow and hasten from time to time at an abnormal rate.

"..You all…unh…seem…so shocked..ggh…to see him like this…' Slayer managed to chuckle as the scythe from Testament's minion was left within his neck. Whatever the blade of the scythe was made out of, it was something out of the ordinary, for it wouldn't allow Slayer to heal, even after he pulled it out. Instead, he seemed to be bleeding more profusely.

"Shut up. You're gonna die anyway," Johnny reminded him with a sharp tongue before continuing to help look over Zato. Slayer chuckled almost cynically.

"Yes…and join my wife in death as well, I suppose…but…know this: Even though I am about to die…there will be justice…" he said before he could feel his life force slipping away, and he slowly began to pale with growing death until he finally collapsed on the ground, dead. Everyone stared in disbelief at his body…and the blood pooling around it. Slayer was finally dead. Finally. Returning their concerns to the still alive Zato, they now relied heavily on testament and his connections with the ethereal plane.

"What is happening so far?" Venom asked, for he could not rely on Testament's facial expressions alone. Testament raised an arm, allowing the demonic crow to perch open it before he could respond.

"The screaming is stopping….more of a fierce tone now..as if he is battling harder…and possibly may emerge victorious if he manages to maintain this flow."

Venom seemed to grow more concerned than joyful as he heard this, and watched Zato's struggling breaths grow faster in pace once more.

"His heart is beating too fast," Johnny said. "Testament, you sure he's gonna live through this?" he asked. Testament shrugged.

"I am unsure…it feels as though he may…but events can always turn for the worst in any case," he said truthfully. Sol approached the group now, examining the hyperventilating Zato before making a deduction of his own.

"Put him out of his misery. It doesn't look like he'll die peacefully this way."

Venom shot Sol a glare that promised an insufferable death if Zato were to be executed by his hands…or anyone else's for that matter.

"Don't speak such a thing in my presence again," he warned. Sol said nothing, but silently wished that they would end Zato's suffering anyway.

"Dizzy, can't you do something?" May asked. Dizzy chewed on her lower lip a moment.

"I…I'm not sure…Undine used a lot of energy…and I don't know if I can handle it with her help.." she confessed.

"Try anyway," Johnny goaded her. Dizzy looked a bit unsure before placing her hands over Zato's heart, and began to concentrate hard. There was so much going on within Zato, that she could not find the source of his discomfort.

"It's hard….to find what is bothering him so much…"

"Keep trying," Venom said, motivating her to push her powers a bit further. Finally, something crossed her mental path. A cloud of darkness where evil was beginning to gather, slowly consuming Zato's purified interior entity at its source—his heart.

"I found it.." she announced. "But it is concentrated evil…I don't know if I can absorb it…" she whispered. As she doubted herself, something within her bade her to do otherwise: Necro.

Dizzy…if it is concentrated and pure, I can use it to a great advantage. The last resurrection I performed, I wasn't given anything in return, and had to use Undine's energy. Now would be a greater time than any to reimburse me…

For once, Dizzy was happy to hear from Necro.

"Everyone, stand back! Necro is going to absorb the evil!" she instructed. Everyone did as told…even Venom, who was silently grieving in the process. After being cleared of any potential casualties, she allowed Necro to occupy her mind fully—a dangerous thing to do, but it had to be done. Everyone around her watched as Dizzy placed her hands over Zato's stomach, an eerie howling noise screamed through the trees and air. Zato's swift breaths seemed to die all at once before his back arched fully, and he let out a blood-curdling scream. Dark light surrounded the both of them as dizzy titled her head backwards, eyes closed, and the rest of her body followed suit until she collapsed backwards on the ground, breathing slowly…tiredly.

"Dizzy!" May, Bridget, and Johnny all chimed at once before hurrying to see if she was okay.

"Are you okay?" May asked. Dizzy nodded faintly before placing a hand over her forehead.

"I feel so tired……Testament…is it gone….?" She asked wearily. Testament looked about his surroundings a moment before answering.

"…To my knowledge, yes. I feel nothing from him now."

-

Ky sat upon a rock, watching the stars silently as he lamented over what Sol had said to him. From what he'd gathered, he'd not done anything wrong..! But…then again..this was Sol…someone who was anything but typical or normal.

"I guess…this is the end, hm?" he sighed, closing his eyes. "Everything is over…"

"What is, sir?" a female tone asked. Ky blinked a few times before looking over his shoulder.

"Officer Russel," he said faintly. "Oh..I…meant nothing…" he said sadly. The female officer took it upon herself to sit on the ground, beside Kiske's stone that he'd chosen, and looked into the night as well.

"Are you sure? You seemed a little broken up over something. Heartache?" she asked. Ky wanted to lie, but it hurt so bad to even kid himself like that that he told the truth anyway.

"I..yes…yes, you're right."

"What happened?" she asked.

"I…I'd rather not talk about it. What did you find?" he asked, changing the subject quickly. Officer Russel sighed, deciding not to revert to the previous subject.

"Whatever the news article was about, it was out of date or something. I found something that resembled a place where a bomb could have went off…but as to who did it…no clue."

Ky bit  his tongue. He knew. It wasn't a bomb. It was Sol  Badguy and the fireseal.

"You sure you okay?" she asked again. Ky closed his eyes and shifted his head elsewhere.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" he muttered.

"Sure you don't want to talk about it?" she asked. Ky looked a bit more mournful than before as the next words spilled from his lips.

"Alright….but after I tell you…promise that you relay this to any other soul…"

Officer Russel smiled brilliantly.

"I would never do that to you, sir," she said honestly.

-

 Zato sighed as he lay on his bed again, after several hours of examination by Dizzy and Venom. Now, he finally got some time to rest. But that didn't mean that he would not be under the ever-watchful eye of Venom, who was posted beside his door, hiding his concern for him behind that curtain of white as always. Zato smiled faintly before looking at the ceiling. He wanted to sleep, but…

"Don't be afraid. If you have a nightmare, I will wake you," the voice of Venom reassured the oncoming thought of insecurity that would have come from Zato.

"How could you tell if I were afraid or not? I could be reminiscing.." Zato said in return, challenging Venom's light gift of telepathy.  Venom smiled underneath the ivory curtain.

"I felt your insecurity."

Zato chuckled as he tried to sleep again. Try as he might to bury the feeling of insecurity with other thoughts, it wasn't working.

"What was it like….having the old parasite inside of you again?" Venom finally dared to ask. Zato finally had an excuse not to fall asleep…but then the memory of those past few hours of battling the dark shadow was equally haunting. Still…he went on to tell the adventures that went on within his subconscious.

"It was like..the nightmares I had…only you weren't there. Eddie…the dark shadow that possessed me before…no…killed me…he was trying to overthrow the purified parasite that Dizzy had provided for me.. the only difference between then and now is that I had control over the better shadow…while before…it slowly began to control me. It was beginning to win…I could feel my heart dying…I couldn't see, either. Everything was pitch black, but I knew that there might be a way. I was determined that I wouldn't let it happen again. The first time it was my own fault…but this time..no, I couldn't let it happen again. Whenever Slayer died, it begin easier for me to see what I was fighting…those glowing red eyes..those claws…he cut me up brutally…but I see that it was only mental pain, because there are no physical scars on my body."

Zato paused to turn his head and look out of the window.

"It was like a million pieces of you scattered all over..and I had to pick them up before dying…it felt impossible to do…"

"But you did it, did you not?" Venom asked, a single pool of deep blue gleaming softly in the moonlight. Zato said nothing in return at first, then breathed a faint reply.

"..Yes…but it was not easy..several times I thought I might die. The entire time in my subconscious, there was pain…severe pain…burning as though someone had skinned me alive. I had never felt so vulnerable as I had then."

Venom nodded gently before pushing himself off of the door, and approached Zato. Kneeling beside the bed, Venom rested his head upon the sheets, and clasped Zato's hand within his own.

"But the pain is over now…" he whispered. Zato sighed. He wished he could agree with Venom….but he couldn't.

"No…it's not over…what has happened is only a prelude to the future…I saw it as I fought with that demonic shadow…and…after I rest…I will tell you….and them.."

-End Ch 9-