CHAPTER 12
Where the sky falls
Warnings : Violence, character-abuse, swearing.

The stairs were the killer. Flat ground was bad enough, flat ground with uneven footing took all his energy to navigate, but the rockiest sections of the castle they'd passed through didn't hold a candle to the stairs they'd found themselves on. It was a massive spiral, from the dungeons to the top, tall, narrow steps with no sides, no rails, nothing to offer support to a faltering human.

Sanzo paused, gasping for breath, one hand on the steps ahead and one hand on the bandages that circled his torso. The pair of footsteps behind scuffled to a halt, and he could feel their uncertainty radiating up. "...Damn youkai architecture..." he hissed under his breath, trying to summon the energy to continue the arduous trek to the top. How many steps had they climbed? Five hundred? A thousand? He hadn't stopped to count.

"I can see the top," Hakkai said softly, squinting into the darkness. Sanzo didn't bother to look up knowing that his vision couldn't compare to a youkai's. He didn't bother to reply either, not when half of him still wanted to turn and shove Hakkai off the edge of this seemingly infinite staircase.

Footsteps behind preceded a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you want a hand?" Gojyo. Gojyo being unusually nice, in fact.

"I don't need your help," Sanzo returned.

"Yeah? Well, I don't want to be stuck in the middle of this stinky castle just because you can't handle the stairs, monk. So up you get, before I carry you."

Sanzo shot him a venomous glare. But it was difficult to refuse the offer, with every breath grating painfully against chest wounds and his muscles protesting every move.

"It's just a hundred steps or so to the top," Gojyo said, evidently drawing no little amusement from his predicament.

"Damn you," Sanzo swore, pushing himself to his feet.

"Already done," Gojyo replied, steadying him. Sanzo ground his teeth, but did not reply.

In that way, they limped slowly heavenward.

***

His fingers brushed the limiter, cold, unyielding metal. Something stirred in him as he did that, a sort of muted cry that hinted at the other nature he possessed when he removed the limiter. Hunt-kill-rend--

He could never remember what happened when that happened, just emotions and feelings and color. There was always blood -- the smell of it, and sometimes the taste, and the feel of it trailing across his claws.

Isir was studying him, Goku realized, not saying a word.

"You know what happens when I remove the limiter," Goku challenged him. "Tell me where Sanzo is and I won't kill you."

There was a pause. Then : "Below. Downstairs."

Goku sighed and removed his hand from the limiter--

--and there was a flash of movement from in front--

--he somersaulted backward as Isir's silvered claws swiped the air before him. As the youkai gathered himself for a second strike, Goku leapt backwards again, seeking additional room. "I'm warning you--" he cried out at Isir in warning.

Movement again. And again Goku dodged. No hesistation this time, he promised himself, his hand flying up to grab the limiter. But who'll stop me? What if---

Isir struck him, hard, sending him crashing backwards against the stone floor. Consciousness went for a moment, and came back just as blast of pure fire struck him in the chest.

He slammed both feet upwards as Isir closed for the kill, sending the older youkai careening backwards. There was a crunch and a curse in the distance, and Goku, both hands wrapped around Nyoibou for support, pushed himself to his knees. There was blood in his mouth and breathing hurt, and the world spun crazily every now and then. His ears rung with the sound of the ki explosion. It's now or never, he told himself, shouldering aside regrets.

He grasped the limiter in one hand and tugged---

---and someone grabbed his wrist from behind and jerked it back down.

*

There was a blast from the inside as they shouldered the doors open. A blast that conveniently masked their entrance. Blinded by the sudden flash of light, Gojyo stood for a moment in the doorway, blinking owlishly. Beside him, Sanzo stiffened. Then there was a whisper of motion as the priest darted forward.

"Sanzo!" Hakkai called out, fighting his way past Gojyo. He saw Goku -- it could only be Goku, kneeling near the doors, one hand raised to... A premonition of dread swept through him and a warning rose to his lips. Then Sanzo was there, grabbing Goku's wrist even as he attempted yank the circlet off.

*

"--kazaru!"

Goku glanced up, trying to fight free of the grip pinioning his wrist. His vision, still dancing with colored flashes of light from the ki blast, failed to pierce the darkness. Panic overwhelmed him, and he jabbed backwards with an elbow. There was a curse and the grip on his wrist disappeared. His elbow struck fabric.

Remarkably.. familiar fabric.

He froze.

"OI. GOKU!"

"San--"

"About damn time."

There was a rustle behind him and he spun, to find Sanzo hunched over behind him. A trickle of blood was winding its way down his chin.

"Sanzo!"

"Idio--" the word was cut off as the priest slumped forward. Goku got his arms around him just in time to stop him from hitting the floor.

"Goku!" Hakkai was at his side then. "Are you okay? Gojyo, keep an eye on Isir!"

"I'm doing that," came the reply. "Except... he's just standing there and staring..."

"What happened?" Goku demanded. "Where were you guys?"

"You shouldn't have run off on your own, brat!" Gojyo snapped in reply.

"You should have followed!" came the retort. "What happened to Sanzo? Why's he hurt so bad?"

"Later, Goku," Hakkai told him. "We have to get out of this first."

"Oh spare me the family reunion," came the caustic snarl from Isir. The youkai took a step forward, barely visible in the gloom. "And since you're all here, it's time to dispose of all of you at one shot."

*

Isir couldn't fit a suitable descriptor to his mood. It wasn't fury. It wasn't anger. It was something past that, a burning rage that had him clenching and unclenching fists, that had him grinding his teeth together, that made him want to kill something in the messiest way possible.

He knew he'd missed something. He'd miscalculated, somehow assuming that the guards would have taken care of those two pesky interferences -- Hakkai and Gojyo -- leaving him to rid them of the greatest threat -- Son Goku. Everything had proceeded according to plan. They had been separated, the two had been cornered with nowhere to flee, and Goku... Goku had been occupied. And Chiro hadn't inflicted quite as much damage as he would have liked, and Goku showed a remarkable resilience, but given a little while longer, the youth would have been far too tired to retaliate. Then the limiter issue had arisen and a crisis had been narrowly averted by his quick responses... but then something else had gone disasterously wrong. And now Hakkai and Gojyo were standing here, very much alive, and Sanzo... he'd expected Sanzo to kill Hakkai on sight, the next time he saw him, or at least try to do so. And then Hakkai would have been forced to put the priest out of commission. But it hadn't happened.

He was getting remarkably tired of this. It was past time to be rid of them.

The incantation was an old one, one that he'd never had the opportunity to use before this. It was far too.. destructive.

The power grew in him, a black and swirling one, gushing through his fingertips as he murmured the words. It was a demon and it wasn't one -- it was the power of a demon without the form, without the body, drawn from the nether regions of the world. It lacked the splendour of Kougaiji's demons, the colors and the light, it lacked the sentience and visibility, but it did not lack the power. It needed only to be directed.

The bronze doors crashed shut and began to melt, effectively sealing them shut forever. A wind sprang up, howling through the crevices and extinguishing the candles. Cracks traced the length of the floor, and the ground trembled.

The voices of his enemies rose, in fear and panic, and that made him smile, content in the surety of his victory and their ultimate demise. "It's no use," he whispered to them, and the sound somehow carried through the tumult of the wind. "You are all.. doomed. Enjoy."

It was complete, and he whispered it command. Then grabbing the fallen form of his comrade, Chiro, he extended a little more of his power and teleported out of the storm.

*

The lightning came first, splitting the ground asunder. Hakkai flung up a barrier and the fingers of light crackled along its shell, threatening to fry them to a crisp should the barrier fail. The air stank with the acrid smell of ozone.

"What the hell is this? Hakkai!" Gojyo's voice sounded from behind him.

"It's an electric storm, I think!"

"It's a hell of a storm, yeah!"

Another bolt crashed against their barrier and Hakkai staggered.

"Sh--it," Gojyo breathed. "How the hell are we going to get out of this one?"

"I think we can ride it out," Hakkai told him. "As long as the floor doesn't give..."

Another crack wound itself past their feet.

"It... it feels like a demon," Goku said. "Like Kougaiji's demon.. but different."

"...Demonic power," Sanzo murmured. "Not the demon, just its power. Unleashed and unrestrained, wracking havoc as it will. And unassailable by physical means."

"So what do we do, Sanzo?" Goku asked urgently. "Can I fight it?"

"No, you idiot," Sanzo growled, his eyes flickering open. "And don't you dare touch that limiter!"

"But we can't just sit here and let it rage around us either!" Gojyo snapped.

"If I had the sutra.." Sanzo muttered, pushing himself upright.

"How about praying to the gods for help?" Gojyo asked sarcastically.

"Shut up," came the breathless reply. "I might.. try..."

Hakkai glanced over at him. "Don't--"

But Sanzo was already chanting, sketching sigils in the air. They glowed for a moment then faded out, leaving only a blacker impression against the darkness. "What's he doing?" Goku asked Gojyo.

"I don't know. I just hope that he doesn't take a bloody long time about it."

Another crack sounded, and more lightning struck. The wind howled again, and Gojyo could swear that he heard laughter.

"Hakkai," Sanzo called, pushing himself to his feet. "When I say so, drop the barrier."

"Are you crazy, monk?" Gojyo demanded.

Sanzo shot him a sardonic smile. "You'd better hope that I'm right. On the count of three, Hakkai."

Hakkai nodded stiffly, teeth gritted against the strain of maintaining the shield.

"We're all going to die here," Gojyo moaned.

"It's a distinct possibility," Sanzo snapped. "Three, two, one."

The barrier fell, and the full fury of the storm hit them. Goku went stumbling as the floor shifted beneath him, and might have disappeared into the darkness if Gojyo hadn't grabbed his hand in time. Hakkai staggered backwards and fell, one arm raised to shield his eyes. The lightning whipped past, dangerously close to make the hairs on their skin rise.

Only Sanzo stood, the wind whipping his robes into a frenzy, yelling words into the darkness that they couldn't hear above the roaring. More sigils appeared, flaming gold for a second, then fading into the darkness. One bolt of lightning crashed right in front of the priest, driving a furrow into the ground barely a foot away, and Sanzo winced from the heat and the sound of it.

Then the wind dropped.

"It's working!" Goku crowed, as Sanzo sank slowly to his knees, staring off into the darkness. The lightning was gone, the wind was fading.. they had to be in the clear, right?

"No," Sanzo replied. "We're not out of this yet."

Then the ceiling began to cave in.

"You know... we're really in the dump this time," Gojyo muttered. "Stuck on top of a tower with the place collapsing around our ears... I don't know how we're going to get out of this one. Just what did you do, damn monk?"

"At least I stopped it from frying your ass, right?" Sanzo snarled, as he retreated a few steps to evade a flurry of small stones that came clattering down.

"If we can't run.." Goku said hesistantly, "We could try going down." He glanced at the floor, which shuddered as another section of the ceiling crashed down upon it. "Hakkai?"

"It's worth a try." He glanced at Sanzo out of the corner of his eye, but he was looking at Goku.

"It'll be up to you to smash a way through," Sanzo said.

"No, that's too dangerous. Leave it to me," Hakkai said. He thought he saw the priest flinch and felt a pang of disconcertion.

"Go for it, yo," Gojyo seconded.

Blowing a hole through stone again, Hakkai thought wryly. And I thought this day couldn't get any longer...

There were two resounding crashes as he fired, one from the floor splitting asunder, one from another massive section of the ceiling crashing down. One could very well feel a fleeting sense of worry, remembering a narrow escape from another collapsing building not too far in the past. Then there was no time for thought as, contrary to plan, the entire floor gave way.

They crashed into stone below, with rocks raining in on them. Sanzo lost the tenuous hold consciousness that he'd maintained, and Goku had to grab and carry him as they dashed for safety.

"Where are we?" Gojyo yelled.

"I don't know..."

Goku sniffed the air. Aside from the smell of stone and dust, of the blood on them and the residue stink of ionized air, there was something familiar about this place...

"We're near the courtyard," he said, hazarding a guess. "We're pretty near the exit."

"Which way?" Hakkai asked urgently, and Goku paused again. "There seems to be fresh air coming from our right..."

"Right it is, then," Gojyo decided, ducking into a corridor to evade the lethal bombardment from above.

"Back," Sanzo rasped, pushing ineffectively at Goku. "Let go of me.."

"Er... revenge can wait," Gojyo told him. "It's prudent get our sorry rears out of this mess before the whole place--"

"I need my sutras," Sanzo returned, persistent. "I came here to get them... let go of me, moron!"

"Not when you can't stand!" Goku replied. "He'll kill you! What then?"

"Knock him out and sling him over your shoulder," Gojyo told Goku. "We're wasting time here."

"Damnit!" Sanzo wrenched free of Goku's hold. He stumbled a few steps, then his knees abruptly gave way.

Goku rushed forward. "Sanzo, you're going to kill yourself.."

"Screw that," came the harsh reply.

Gojyo sighed in frustration. "Hakkai, why don't you talk to him?"

"I .. don't think I should," Hakkai replied softly. "He's not.. thinking very fondly of me at the moment."

"Sanzo, we'll come back. We'll come back and defeat him together," Goku was saying. "But we're all injured right now.. and he has a whole fortress of youkai at his beck and call. We'll get your sutras back. I promise."

A sigh of defeat then. Sanzo's shoulders slumped, an unusual admission of defeat that betrayed just how much pain he had to be in. An unusual admission of weakness that had Hakkai wincing and Gojyo frowning.

"Help me up," Sanzo muttered.

"Sanzo?" Goku asked.

"We leave."

***
TBC

A/N : The epic goes where it will. Blame me not for drawing it out. ^^ And re : Sanzo vs Hakkai showdown, I'm sorry, but it didn't turn out as good as I would have liked either ._. But Sanzo's already too badly hurt to do much damage to Hakkai...

sf : *clutching Muse* I hate this plot! It's more tangled than ... Sanzo's emotional state of mind!
Muse : We'll untangle it as we go along...
Sanzo : ... Moron.
Muse : *annoyed* I can cook up Sanzo vs Isir round 2, if you'd like.
Sanzo : o_O;;; I must be the most abused character in history...
sf : Yeah, baby! I mean.. aww..