Plura Ater Nox
Chapter 23
The cold icy blue eyes of the German spy were turned toward the monk. His lip curled into a twisted smirk. The monk was truly easy to rile. It was going to prove amusing to listen to the monk damn him.
"Why Father Faulkner, I haven't the faintest idea of what you talk of." Agent Yorck purred, his thick German accent changing the tone on his spoken English. His icy blue eyes twinkled in the light of the candle.
"You know full well what I speak of, you creature of the night!" Father Marcus Faulkner scathingly seethed, tightly clutching his rosary beads in hand. The hand that clutched the beads remained hidden under his drab covering.
Turning, his short blonde hair falling in his eyes, Agent Yorck all but laughed maniacally in the monk's face. The blue haired monk was quite amusing. A cold smirk crossed the agent's lips. He remembered this monk - one of the losers spawned of the over grown chicken of doom.
"You're utterly droll. It's very amusing." The agent drawled, standing up. "You know, Chichiri, I'm not surprised to find we're on rival teams again."
"Miboshi." Father Faulkner hissed, his eyes narrowing in contempt. He should have known the former demonic child-possessing Seishi would come back in this form to haunt him, always as a monk. It was truly sad.
He bristled in hatred at the thought of the former Seiryuu Seishi being here. Of course, it figured that this former Seiryuu Seishi was now a Nazi-German. It didn't surprise the priest to say the least.
He then took out his rosary beads, muttering a prayer that seemed all too familiar to him yet unbecoming and unholy.
Yorck was enjoying this far too much; after all, this fumbling monk was one of his former enemies. It seemed all too suitable that they should be on the opposite sides again. He had known that they were since arriving at the monastery.
"I'm going to assume that you foolishly wish to battle it out again? It's a shame that Chiriko isn't around, it would be quite fun kill the child again." The cold laugh came.
Oh how it enraged Father Faulkner. His eyes shot open, wide with such flaming raging hatred. His short blue hair, shot out, his bangs gained length. His left eye became replaced with a painful scar and his billowing drab robes were replaced with colourful kesa, a loose fitting white shirt, long olive green pants and old style Chinese shoes. The rosary beads in hand were replaced with the object he used to hold, the shakujo.
All this in a brilliant flash of red light that shot up out of the floor with the squawk of a benevolent phoenix that flew up, dropping lightly raining sand grains.
Once this passed, Faulkner looked up, gazing at his hands before a satisfied smirk crossed his lips. "It seems I'm back in true form, Miboshi."
"How…how can this be?!" the German spy sputtered indignantly. Seiryuu did nothing for him. He shunned each of the Seishi.
"I'm no longer in denial of the seemingly 'dark power' I felt in my blood. I'm able to embrace my other life completely and accept that I'm not completely a servant of God, being able to call on the semi-godly powers that I was given as a Suzaku Seishi."
The German spy blinked. "Yes…" his eye twitched. He didn't want to deal with this; it was too weird for him. He had always known the Suzaku Seishi to be a strange bunch.
He then shut his eyes, a cold smirk at this very point caressing his lips as it spread forth. Two could indeed play this game. He wasn't about to let the former Suzaku Seishi win.
Being elevated off the floor on will, he crossed his legs, a Buddhist prayer wheel materialising in hand, as well as prayer beads around his neck. In place of the drab Franciscan monastery wear was now a simpler yet nicer robe that wrapped around the body with a sash.
He opened his eyes. His once icy blue eyes were now replaced with demonical cat eyes, much like his old ones. His blonde hair was still in place, neatly swept back.
"Ah, I feel better. Now, shall we pick up where we left off, Chichiri?" The former Seiryuu Seishi Miboshi purred scathingly. "You fleeing from my monsters before that child…Chiriko…died utmost needlessly because you guys decided you didn't care about his life?!"
A soft menacing chuckle came from him.
Father Faulkner felt a shiver in his body. It wasn't fear nor was it a chill; it was raw rage boiling in his blood. This monster first had to be reborn now here he was, taunting him, Father Faulkner. Actually, that wasn't what bothered Father Faulkner; it was more the reference to the youngest of the Suzaku Seishi, Chiriko who had died to save the others, that brought forth the lancing rage in the otherwise pacifistic monk.
Hefting the shakujo in hand, he turned an angered and cold glare on the German spy. "We cared about his life. He gave his life so we could fight the rest of your group without having to deal with your black magic."
"Say what you will, but you do feel the nagging guilt on the back of your neck for that, do you not?"
"Don't tell me about guilt until you've confessed to yours and atoned for it."
"I wasn't, I was merely asking if you did feel it. The question is if you felt it, not if you had any." Agent Yorck retorted, staring oddly at the former Suzaku Seishi Chichiri. He cleared his throat. "But enough on that, you now know too much just by being present in here."
With that, he raised his prayer wheel, the wheels slowly turning and clicking as they picked up speed and momentum with the words that spewed forth in the form of an incantation from the one initiating it. His eyes were closed while it slipped forth from his lips; they opened once more after it concluded.
Father Faulkner not about to be outdone also started the recitation of an incantation. The difference was simply that his was for good intentions.
With the conclusion of the incantation, the priest glanced up, holding out the staff, a bright red aura encasing him protectively. From the end of the staff pointing at his enemy, shot out a large brilliant scarlet red ball of electrified energy.
At the same precise moment,
the German spy floated back gracefully, the prayer wheel in his hands still
clicking as an azure aura encased him, one of his many monsters surfacing up from
the floor to loyally assist him. The
first one summoned lunged at the enemy.
Aiming the staff, the former Suzaku Seishi let loose a terrific chi blast
requiring a lot of energy, thereby stunning the beast. It didn't do much else, thus, the monk was
forced to summon another blast of chi to kill off the beast in a burst of
slime, guts and dust.
"Is that the best you can do?" Agent Yorck sneered.
Father Faulkner snorted derisively. "It isn't. I save my best for the finality of the battle when I shall send you to tell where you belong, you misbegotten satanic creature!"
"Then give it your best shot, for you don't know whence cometh the finality." The spy's slip twisted into a sneer, as he coldly stared down at his enemy, daring him to try something; anything.
Prophetic words, they were enough to bring a cold smirk to the lips of Father Faulkner. "Anything you say. I'll be glad to blow you off the face of God's earth into oblivion."
"I doubt that you could. You and the rest of your motley crew didn't even stand a chance last time. It took a young child to defeat me. Your magic was paltry."
Those were the final words of the German spy as the priest lifted his staff, the ring jangling as they clicked together. The spy would have no chance to speak another word for he didn't expect that the priest would actually call upon his deadliest weapon to vanquish the spy into nothingness.
He sighed, lowering the staff, his head hung as he stared at the floor for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He was therefore unaware of the fact that he had been watched as he committed this so-called "act of evil". He didn't think about it; he only reacted based upon what he felt, the gripping instinct of his pas bring this out of him more than his present life. This act hadn't been an act of exorcism to purify the world; it had been an act of revenge in the name of a child who had died long ago.
"Brother Faulkner."
The priest turned in time to see his superior standing there, a shock and repulsed look on his face.
"Father…"
"Brother, I have no choice but to defrock you for your actions. You have no purity in your heart, you have brought evil with you and no exorcism could cure you now."
Marcus Faulkner hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry Father."
He didn't know what else to do; he felt lost.
His chi calmed, his garb returning to normal. Noticing this, he sighed softly and stripped off the robes he wore, down to wearing merely a white shirt and simply cotton pants.
"I… I'll leave now."
Turning, he left the room, not turning back to note the condition that it had fallen into because of the fight with Miboshi. His heart was too heavy as it was…
Wandering into a room at the back, he shut the door and knelt in front of a chest. Unlatching it, he opened it and pulled out a neatly folded uniform. Standing up, he let it tumble down, unfolding, mothballs rolling off.
He stared down at it for a minute before draping it over the chest and stripping off what he wore except for what was under. Letting those garments fall to the floor, he took the uniform, and he put it on, everything right down to the boots.
Stepping back, he did up the belt once he had pulled all the parts from the chest.
Pivoting sharply, he stood rigidly, catching a glimpse of himself in a dusty mirror. Curtly he saluted.
"Lieutenant Marcus Faulkner ready for service, sir!"
~~~~
A soft smile fell over the lips of General Marshall as he gazed over a telegram he held in hand from an old friend of his that had been in the same division as him in the Great War. He remembered the man clearly…
In the trenches they had fought side by side. Together they had seen their colleagues die needlessly at the hands of the faceless merciless Germans that had their hands on the worse imaginable weapons that could forever destroy mankind. Together they had brushes with death and the bitter taste of loss. But most importantly, they had been together on the day when the Germans surrendered, triggering the end of the Great War.
Following the end of Great War, the friends had parted with Dwight Marshall saying that he found his calling in the military and wished to stay aboard. His friend, Marcus Faulkner sadly said that he didn't see his calling in the military and had chosen to rather pursue a life as a priest. He had seen too much death and felt that mankind could be redeemed.
Dwight had merely nodded, asking if Marcus could keep in contact. The friends had done that since 1918 when the Great War had ended; bringing a hope that it was the first and last trench war that would ever have to be fought in this life time.
They parted, Marcus heading off to become a priest, Dwight staying on with the army. Despite not having seen each other for so long, they had maintained contact through telegrams. With the commencement of the Second World War, Dwight hadn't noticed that the contact had dwindled between him and Marcus, until he received a telegram from his friend.
He had received it at the height of the war, when the bombings were most intense. It was reassuring to know that his friend had a loyalty to the country that would drive him to give up priesthood. He didn't know the full truth, but didn't think there was more. After all, Marcus hadn't written much in the telegram that he sent to his friend in the early part of 1943.
They message had been simple:
General Dwight Marshall,
It has been quite some time since we've exchanged messages, but given the times at hand, it doesn't seem to be inappropriate that we haven't.
Recently I have been defrocked for actions I cannot speak of, for they are too unreal even to me. To make up for being defrocked and stripped of my position, I have reenlisted in the armed forces.
I shall see you soon my friend.
Sincerely,
Lt. Marcus Faulkner
General Marshall held the telegram in hand still before placing it on his desk. He sat back, clasping his hands over his lap. 'Once more friends shall be fighting side by side. First as Seishi, then in the Great War and finally now. Welcome back, Chichiri.'
To be con't in Chapter 24…
~~~
Author's Note: It has been a long time since I have updated my fanfic, but it doesn't mean that I have abandoned it. I have been busy with school and didn't have much of a chance to touch it. I have been slowly adding bits and pieces to it so that it hasn't been completely neglected. I would like to than everyone who have been patient and to everyone who has given me encouragement. I promise all you my readers that I shall finish this story.
Chapter 23 is what I consider that pivotal chapter in the story. You should as well because after this point the characters will start to come together. The plots will start to overlap. I had separate stories, some that were meant to overlap, some to give the story a flavour sample of the time. I hope that you all enjoyed it and will continue to read it. I promise to continue until I finish it.