Uh-oh! Mara's been caught, Kyle's healing, and we're going to have a
sibling showdown on our hands! Here it is, Chapter 7, A Year's Hello and a
Minute's Goodbye!
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Since I forgot to do this before, I will say it now. I do not own any of
the characters except for Audrena, Mara, Troden, James (yes he will be used
again, at least the name will be, veeeeeeeery far into the future.) the
Scythe Liger and her following evolutions, and any villains forthcoming
that you have never heard of before. Got it? Good! Now read!
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- "Audrena, it's been too long!" Mara cried, voice sickeningly sweet and sisterly. Audrena's expression didn't change.
"Cut the crap Mara." She spat, throwing a hand to the side to emphasize her point. "What do you think you were doing?! Kidnapping Kyle like that?!"
"Simple." Mara called airily, her voice a bored drone. "I have always been trying to hurt you Audrena. It's the big sibling instinct. You see it all the time in nature. Take hawks for example. They always lay two eggs in a clutch. And one chick, the strongest fledgling, always kills the second, the weaker. You simply have the luck of being the weaker of the two."
A long silence reigned while Audrena thought of a good comeback.
"What about when you killed our brother James?! He was only 2 weeks old and you cut him apart!" Audrena burst passionately, glaring at the much taller and stronger twin. Mara chuckled.
"You know, come to think of it, that was my first killing. We were what, 8 years old when he was born? Boy he made me mad. Little weakling, couldn't go anywhere without mom as well, cried through the night, always wanting something." She grinned, as though the idea of killing their little brother when he was an infant was something amusing. "It was quite satisfying when he finally did give up his miserable life. He sure did cry a lot in the process. Mom didn't mind, I think she wanted the little brat dead anyway."
Audrena's eyes looked like a pair of little dinner plates; they were so round. She remembered the tiny little boy, the only other thing in the house besides her father that didn't mind her in the same room. Kids that young aren't supposed to smile, but that one did. He cried when this mother held him, but quieted instantly when Theo Void or Audrena came around, and James would smile at them! With a bittersweet memory, Audrena recalled how her father's eyes had glowed when he held his little boy, his only son. The newborn would just relax instantly in his old man's arms, whereas he squirmed away when his mother tried to hold him. When Mara came around to look at him, James would just start bawling, and she remembered once that Mara, disgusted, had handed James off to her, stalking out of the room. James, even being an infant, stopped crying and looked relieved to be away from his older sister. The two children had just stared at each other for about 2 minutes before James started laughing as though Audrena's 8-year- old face was the funniest thing in the world. Audren had just gawked at him for a moment before she too started giggling. So he wasn't as bad as everyone said he was . . .
Laurana, Mara and Audrena's mother, she was home when Mara committed the crime, and didn't do anything to stop it! Audrena blinked, coming back up memory lane to the life we know as reality, and even her nerves were jarred when Mara started laughing quietly. "Though everyone says that infants don't really know any sort of emotion until they are old enough to name them," Mara went on, reflecting on how she gruesomely murdered her infant brother. "And can tell you what that child was feeling! You should have seen the fear in his eyes, the ugly turd! Pure livid fear! I could almost see him praying for me not to kill him!" Her laugh stopped abruptly.
"Scum like that should not be allowed to live." Mara spat, turning her back on her fraternal twin. "And you fit into that category!"
"Mara! He was only 2 weeks old! He hadn't even begun to live yet! How can you judge the kid on two weeks of life?"
"Enough!" Mara shouted commandingly, turning around once again. The two sisters exchanged a hateful glance before Mara's glare morphed into a malevolent sneer.
"I have been waiting a long time for this moment Audrena." Mara spouted, still smirking at her sister. Her emerald green eyes flared up and flashed acid green abruptly. Audrena's form began to shine with this unholy light as well, and her head jerked around wildly as she watched herself being lifted bodily into the air by seemingly nothing, and started thrashing about, trying to escape from what ever it was holding her off the ground.
"What the hell?!" Was all she got out before she was thrown easily as the nearest wall, the impact knocking the breath out of her.
" . . .Ow . . ." She muttered, sliding off the wall with black dots exploding before her vision. Stone jarred loose by the impact of her body came clunking down as Mara approached and lifting her sister again, but this time with her iron strong hands, lifting her about three feet over Mara's head, trying to suffocate her sister. Audrena's callused hands tried vainly to pry off the one hand that was attempting to strangle her, but to no avail.
"If there was one thing our flea-ridden father taught me," Mara hissed, holding Audrena's whole body up with one curled hand, the fingers and palm easily big enough to wrap around Audrena's small throat. "It would have to be how to use my mind as a weapon. He tried to use his own mental powers against me when I came for him, but by then I had far surpassed his cerebral level by the time I got to him." The very mention of that event got Audrena's temper raging all over again, having been temporarily tamed by the pain from being cast into a wall. Gritting her teeth, a booted foot caught Mara in the gut. Hard. Every once of air streamed from Mara's lungs, causing her to drop her sister and double over, wheezing.
Audrena scrambled up, rubbing her throat before sweeping the legs out from underneath her gasping sibling with another bit of footwork, sending her twin to the ground, still sputtering from that kick to her gut.
"Serves you right, you-ack!" She didn't get to finish. A sweeping leg took Audrena's legs out from underneath her as well, dropping her to the stone floor. Mara immediately sat on her sister, restraining the now furious pilot from moving. Grabbing the collar of her shirt with one hand, the other curling into a fist and started slugging the daylights out of her sister, thoroughly enjoying this.
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Kyle, right then, didn't really want to open his eyes. He would have rather drifted back off into peaceful, painless, and Mara-less unconsciousness. But, of course, his guilty conscience got to him.
But what about Fury? What about Audrena? She's fending that lunatic off right now . . . all by herself too . . . keeping her from killing us both . . .
His eyes snapped open, the rims bright with an electric blue glimmer. His pain was gone, he felt cloth on his chest again, and he didn't feel woozy anymore. Ready to go, he stirred, blinking a few times to clear his vision.
"Audrena? Anyone?" He called weakly, his voice still faint from before. He sat up slowly, his back a tad bit sore, but nothing compared to the fire it was before. Kyle was completely oblivious to the beating that was occurring about 50 feet away, still trying to get a handle on what was happening. Rubbing his head, he looked around, and spotted a pair of green tinted clawed feet standing by him. He grinned, looking up at his zoid, but his smile fell short.
"Fury? You look quite different."
"I know. Its Nitric now. Just stop staring and get out there, ok? Audrena needs some serious back-up here!"
"Are you the one who gave me this shirt?" He said, poking at his shirt, a white English-cut tunic style rough cotton piece of apparel. It may have been medieval-looking, but hey, it was a shirt, wasn't it? Nitric let out a growl and gave Kyle a painful nudge.
"Heeeeey!" Kyle snapped indignantly. "What was that for! You know that I just spent about 12 hours being whipped right?!"
"Duh. That's why I kicked you. To get your attention so you could go help your previously rescuing liberator!" Kyle blinked at him, taking a minute to make the connection.
"Wait a second . . ." It was only then did he look over to the scene that was taking place did he realize what was going on. Coming to him feet quickly and nearly falling over in the process, his silver-grey eyes flashed blue and Nitric's head was yanked down to Kyle's eye level.
"Why didn't you try to help her while I was down!?" He hissed angrily, shaking the zoid's head roughly. "Why didn't you?!"
"Because I don't want to end up a headless zoid corpse, so riddled full of holes that I look like Scythe's head! Which is now basically BURNT SWISS CHEESE!" Nitric rushed; getting really dizzy very quickly from the constant rattling his pilot was giving him. Kyle growled, releasing his hold on Nitric, letting the zoid drop with a metallic clang and turning to Mara, who was still slugging the crap out of Audrena.
"Nitric, grab Scythe and get back to base. Revive her, then come back immediately and full speed each way. Don't doddle." Nitric nodded, grabbing Scythe and splitting. That done, he could turn his attention to Mara . . .
The whites of Kyle's eyes quickly disappeared under the electric blue glow, leaving only the hazel irises and black pupils to be seen. He watched the beating continue for a moment, letting his anger and revulsion grow and boil over . . .
"Leave her alone Mara." He spat, glaring out from under furrowed eyebrows as she looked up from the now limp Audrena and smirked at him, standing and grinding a heel in her sister's face as she turned to face him. "You will never hit her again, so long as I live, you will never lay another finger on her again."
"Oh really?" Mara taunted wickedly, glancing behind her at the seemingly unconscious Audrena. Mara hadn't gotten away clean of injury. Four of her teeth were missing, her nose was flat and bleeding profusely, and at least three bruises and a black eye were rising quickly. Kyle smirked internally. Good, Mara got a share of the thrashing.
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Audrena hauled herself up to her elbows with quite a bit of difficulty, trying to see through graying haze in her vision. She vaguely saw a large figure standing over her, another one further away. Hearing the two talking, the words that reached her ears were warped versions of themselves. She shook her head violently, clearing it in a minimal sense. She glanced up, and painful recollections of that battering Mara had administered came to mind. With a growl, Audrena lashed out with another sweeping foot, giving Mara the slip before collapsing again, trying not to black out . . .
The moment Mara started to fall, Kyle teleported behind her to Audrena's side, holding her so that her head rested against his right shoulder. Audrena hadn't been kidding when she said that Mara was really tough. Her face was a blanket of rising bruises, though she still had all of her teeth and her nose wasn't broken, unlike her sister.
When Audrena finally noticed that she wasn't on the floor, she opened a bleary eye, only to see Kyle's concerned face staring worriedly down at her, his back against a wall.
"Oh god, not you again . . ." Audrena groaned, shutting her eyes again.
"I don't know how you could have lived through nearly 20 years of beatings like this." He whispered, trying to make a joke.
"Go away . . ." She whined, trying to squirm away from him. He wouldn't let her go, and she didn't really have the energy to put up anymore resistance to his care. Kyle chuckled lightly.
"Still the same Audren. I guess you can take a whipping and keep on ticking."
"Bleh . . ."
Another chuckle, neither of them noticed that Mara was starting to stir. Audrena tried to hit him with a feeble fist, but it didn't get very far.
"Get lost you dim-wit," She attempted to shout; it came out as another groan. "Or I'll . . ."
"Or you'll what?" Kyle asked gently, still holding her.
"I'll do . . . something." She muttered drunkenly, her face feeling like a two-ton iron skillet just hit it. Kyle chuckled again, and Audrena opened a half-lidded eye, only to open them both wide from the sight that met her very sore eyes.
Mara had hauled herself to her feet, raising a threatening hand in the process, the palm sparking with purple-white energy, the same that had decapitated Dr. Toros not too long ago. On her face was a glare that could have killed the dead. (Yes, killed the dead. Now think about how much anger and bitterness would have to go into that one! Whoo!) At the sight of Kyle and Audrena though, it quickly changed to a crazed triumphant smirk, the kind that sends little kids crying to mommy and adults fishing out their teddy bear.
"Would you look at this, how precious." Mara sneered, thoroughly sickened by the sight of them. Audrena blinked, looking horrified, then pointed a 'He did it, not me!' finger at Kyle. Mara took no notice.
"Well, it seems that you've found a rock to hold onto." Mara spat, smirking evilly. "Please, allow me to speed the forces of erosion." With that, Audrena's fraternal twin raised her palm and fired off a Cinder Shot, aimed directly at Kyle's exposed chest.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment and Audrena saw everything in slow motion. She watched as Kyle's eyes expanded immensely, and his eyes flickered blue, trying to re-direct the stream of hostile power. It didn't work very well. It kept coming, and the flare powered down as Kyle realized that it wouldn't work. She watched as he swung his gaze to stare back into her eyes with an apologetic look, sad acceptance hidden in there as well. It made Audrena grit her teeth in guilt.
God bless it all, he shouldn't be the one apologizing!
Her guilt drove her to act on a split-second decision. Shutting her eyes tightly against what she knew she was throwing herself in front of, Audrena rotated just enough, just enough to absorb the blast as it came. She knew what would come of it, but did it anyway. After all, one has to protect the innocent in anyway they can . . .
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It took a moment For Mara to realize that she had gotten the wrong person. She had long before lowered her hand, and was now trying to figure out why she had been so inaccurate. She raised an eyebrow, cocking her head to the side like a confused dog. 'What was going on here?'
Kyle couldn't figure things out either. Now why would Audrena suddenly be face to face with him? Why was she suddenly looking like he did when he was being whipped? And what on earth was she doing practically on his chest?! Kyle began to connect things in his mind, especially when the both of them looked down, at the gaping hole where a heart and half a lung could have been.
"Oh god . . ." He sputtered, the only thing he could say in his quickly rising panic. Eyes going wide, he went as pale as fresh snow. He didn't want to believe it. It wasn't possible; there was no way this could to her. She wasn't supposed to die! His breath bring taken in with quivering jerks he held her closer as Audrena started shaking in his arms, and she was just as wide-eyed and pale as he was, and both Mara and Kyle began to hear a crinkling noise, like tissue paper being scrunched up. Audrena was too far into death to really hear anything . . .
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As soon as Audrena felt the impact of Mara's attack, she knew she was condemned to death. Even before the light faded from the initial contact, she could feel the flesh on her back beginning to disintegrate. That was what the Cinder Shot always did. Made a small hole, then dissipated into the surrounding tissue and fried it to ash, leaving a bloody mass of smoldering soot behind. In some cases, it would only spread to a certain point and stop, but usually it consumed the entire body, a very a grim prospect to anyone becoming a victim of it. Disgusting? Yes. But that was Mara's style. If you're going to kill them, why not make them suffer while you're at it?
She tried to wait it out without feeling, but that idea was shot to hell when Kyle turned her chin up to stare at her, a look of shock and disbelief on his face and shining in his eyes. She blinked, clearing her vision, then the pain struck. Doing her best not to cry out, she started quivering, trying to fight it off. It was enormous, but thankfully, something was numbing it. Maybe it was the fact that her spine had been eaten away, perhaps the shroud of expiration, who knows? Having no lungs to speak with, she looked up one last time, the message in Audrena's glazed eyes was all too clear, and Kyle received it with a grain of salt, his eyes starting to sting.
. . . Dragged you into this . . .
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Mara watched her sister expire in Kyle's arms with triumphant merriment, happy over the fact that she had finally exterminated that disgusting worm that shared her genetics.
"I hope you're happy, joining your father in Hell." Mara spat at the cadaver that Kyle was still holding, not being able to stop herself from smiling. She loved this! This was just like a paragraph out of a story she read, the two friends holding each other in the midst of death, in a dark room, no help available to them and no rescue with the villain triumphing over all. She loved it all! Pretty soon she'll have the whole of the Void base in her keeping, including all the priceless antiques it held . . . she could easily live the rest of her life as a wealthy inheritor! Her eyes sparked at the thought of it, and she complete forgot that Kyle and Audrena were in the same room as she was at the prospect of so much riches now in her grasp.
Kyle, meanwhile, was contemplating everything, also feeling a bit numb if anything. He didn't feel anything, and he didn't really know why he was still gripping the deceased Audrena to him, nor why he was still ablaze with mental energy, nor why the hands that held her were glimmering with the same psychic power that his eyes held. He knew nothing anymore. He had had a pretty good life up until the last few days, until this event came to pass. He wasn't concentrating on that. He was deep in thought, trying to understand why Audrena was apologizing with her last though. Why waste your last breath on something so trivial as that?
"Awww . . . Kyle's mournful because his one and only human ally has gone back to the Hell pit where she came from." Mara scorned, false pity dripping on every word. "What a tragedy!"
He glanced up at her, and something much deeper then anger and hatred arose in Kyle's veins. Mara . . . she had done this. Not only had she ruined his life, but had ended the lives of her entire family . . . What Mara saw in Kyle's eyes actually started the half-saiyan. There was an urge to kill in those normally gentle hazel irises. A desire to murder, to avenge, to butcher. Blinking, she continued to stare at him as he gently laid Audrena on the ground with the utmost care before rising slowly to meet Mara's gaze, sticking his hands in his pockets as he went. He was about a little over a foot shorter then Mara was, so he had to look up, but it didn't change the level of unease between them.
So Mara, Kyle taunted. I'm guessing you enjoy causing pain and bloodshed? Though, I can guess you're pretty used to it, with all the butchery you've caused.
Mara recoiled at this, furrowing her eyebrows in thought while staring at him oddly. 'Telepath, that's how he's speaking without moving his lips. He's a Telepath, just as I perceived and expected. Though I didn't anticipate he would obtain his intellectual abilities so soon . . .
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Kyle took note that Mara was surprised and grinned smugly. Good. She was startled. Surprise surprise, my most heathenish Mara. Didn't know I was a psychic, did you? Heck, if you were as good as you proclaim to be, then you should have been able to pick up the mental aura and, if you were the smart rogue that you wish you were, would have eliminated me first. That way, there would be no way that Audrena, your intended target, would have been able to have been protected or revived by me. But, of course, you let your hatred and antipathy get in the way of your judgement, trying to eliminate your sister first. You eventually got that something was very strange with my mind, so in a tight spot, you tried to kill me when I had my guard down. But you didn't plan on Audrena giving her life for mine. Mara gave a smirk. She could see the solitary tear slipping its way down the side of his cheek. He wasn't as big and bad as he made himself out to be. 'Heh, cocky boy, he'll learn once he joins his fellow pilots.'
"Excellent perception Kyle!" Mara said in all false cheerfulness. "Guess what? You guessed my thoughts over this entire matter correctly. I have to congratulate you on that one. It won't come to help you though, even if you can read my thoughts. All I know is that you're a cocky 22-year- old boy without a drop of common sense or self-preservation and a set of mental powers that you haven't earned the right to use."
25. He shot back, quickly starting to become aggravated, having bottled up his murderous intentions for too long.
I'm 25. Kyle was becoming bloodthirsty. He wouldn't be able to detain his barbarous purposes much longer . . .
You know Mara; you have the worst set of family values I have ever had the privilege to see in action. Killing your own mother, your father, brother, and finally your own sister? All for what? You're grand vision of perfection? Sorry Mara, but eventually you've got to learn that everyone needs someone. You, in isolating yourself, have ensured the fact that no one's going to miss you once I'm done with you. He smirked, feeling his whole body start to flicker with that strange electric blue haze. It caused a sort of tickling sensation, but it didn't really matter. What really mattered was that it showed the build-up of Kyle's murderous ideas and vengeful motives, the mental stress elevating his power capabilities and maximums.
He had kept some control over it, having to restrain himself immensely from decapitating Mara when she sent Audrena to her demise. It was of Audrena's own causing, but he had seen Mara's triumphant smile. It's not like she minded either way who it was that she killed, just as long as someone died by her hand.
"Look Mara," Kyle started, keeping his voice as flat and emotionless as possible, as not to give away the gale of furious turmoil going on below. "I've always wanted to live a normal life. Never wanted anything out of the ordinary, except for the occasional upset or surprise. I guess I could blame Audrena for getting mixed up into this, but I know that the whole of my life collapsed through a small act of kindness that happened over a year ago. She told me later, Audrena did, about why she took me in after so many years of complete and total isolation from human kind."
Mara watched him get choked up with a mischievously malevolent smile. Though, she couldn't understand why he was breaking down so suddenly. She wasn't really good with the emotion thing yet.
"She told me about you, about how cruel and inhuman you are, about how you enjoy seeing people suffer. You know what? Audrena didn't need to tell me why she took me in. I made that connection myself." He paused, looking away and gathering himself up, before giving Mara a chilling look. "All of that, just because she didn't want to end like you." His emotions got the best of him on the last few sentences, and they carried so much malice and hostility that it almost caused Mara to take a step back. She stood her ground though.
"It all stems back to you!" He spat. After a minute of the two just glared at each other maliciously before Kyle threw his head back and shouted to the ceiling, not being able to take it anymore:
"CAN'T YOU EVER STOP RUINING OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES?!?!?" With that, he released his bottled up anger, letting loose the wrath he had held back all this time, the force of it explosive. Mara attempted to shield herself from the blast of conserved mental power, but her own brand of mental armor shattered like thin glass . . .
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People 10 miles away paused when they heard the sonic boom-like noise, looking around for the Raynos or Zabat that caused it. The bunch began to wonder what was going on when a sudden wave of intense heat began to circulate around. The more curious ones set out to search for the epicenter, stretching inward into the desert like a swarm of locusts. But, eventually, the group of meddlesome people couldn't stand the heat anymore and turned back, muttering amongst themselves as to what was going on.
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Kyle sat in the middle of it all, left leg sprawled out and right knee raised, his right elbow and his head resting on it. He was staring at the ground dejectedly, distancing himself from everything and everyone, including the gasping and gulpings of the severely burnt Mara. His face was singed to a slightly raw pink color, his clothing smoky and seared but still intact and pliable. Circling around his head was a seriously charred ring of flesh, encircling his skull like a blistering crown, marking the extreme let-off of mental energy. Even he had gotten hurt, but not so critically as his target. Grim satisfaction pulsed plaintively in his mind. Just as long as Mara was suffering, he would be somewhat content.
The building was gone, blown away in the initial outburst. The only thing left of it was a few stubborn stones and the floor. Mara hadn't been injured in the first let-off, it was the massive heat wave that got her. Outer skin pretty much baked, she had been thrown about 15 feet by the first burst, so she wasn't much a threat anymore. Audrena's body was untouched, the only thing other then Kyle himself within 5 miles that didn't get incinerated. He had made sure of that; he didn't want to end up having to tell the zoids that he had scorched her body to ashes . . .
Lifting his head as he started to hear rumbling footsteps, he eyed the shadowy figures of Nitric and Scythe as they approached at top speed. Even then, they did not grow much larger. Just seeing the two zoids made his heart heavy. He had tried to abandon his emotions earlier, since it made everything so much simpler if you weren't feeling anything. But the glimpse of Nitric and Scythe speeding towards him, and it defeated his attempts to hide from his grief. Raising his head from his elbow and knee, he glanced behind him at the cadaver. He shut his eyes tightly, teleporting to Audrena's side. Kyle stared at her lifeless face for a while, as though hypnotized by that pale mask.
"Dragged you into this . . ." He murmured softly, running a few fingers through the dead woman's hair in a delicate motion. He found in soft and silky to the touch; it only made him feel worse. "Why would she be apologizing? It should have been me who was apologizing." Crunching his eyes closed, he cradled her again, mindful of the opening in her chest, only visible where her shirt sunk inwards. There was a relatively small hole to mark where the destruction had begun, only about the size of a baseball on both front and back of Audrena's chest.
With great difficulty, he kept his emotions in check as he rocked her slowly, more for his comfort then anything else. He left Mara to suffer in her severe burns; after all, she was the one who caused all this.
Kyle was still hugging Audrena's body to him when the two zoids arrived, both skidding to a halt outside the foundations. They didn't have to ask what had happened when they saw Kyle cradling her body, the scene explained all.
"Oh my components . . ." Kyle simply nodded, his voice flat and controlled, still staring at Audrena's silhouetted facade.
"I know." Nitric poked him with a claw to get him to look up. He didn't.
"What're you going to do about it?"
"I . . . I don't really know." Scythe let out a sigh, looking at them all, mostly Kyle. She couldn't understand it. He could have stopped this parting, could he?
"Kyle, let me have the body." Kyle didn't seem to hear her. He continued staring at the cadaver, still holding her with his hands ablaze with light. Scythe nudged him, thinking that he didn't hear her request.
"Kyle? Hello?" Nitric suddenly whapped her upside the head with the massive cannon on the back of his tail, looking irked.
"Shut up!" He hissed. "Can't you see? He's mourning!" Scythe shut her jaw, but blinked at the human. "Err . . ." The zoid blinked, pointing at Nitric's pilot with a claw. "Take a look, he's glowing!" Nitric still had his back turned to them, not wanting to see his pilot in pain and to leave him to his business. Scythe had to smack him with the flat of her electrified blade to get him to pay attention to her command.
"I'm serious! He's doing some pretty funky stuff!" The word 'funky' by itself made him turn his head.
"Funky?" He said mockingly, not turning his body but only his head. "I swear, you have the vocabulary of a hippie!"
"Seriously! He looks like a little blue light bulb!" Nitric took no notice.
The liger's white face was illuminated and tinted blue for a moment before it died down again, the shimmering psychic energy completely used up for the moment. Kyle was half-lidded from the expendage, having drained him to the point of being drowsy. His vision going blurry, he shook his head a little, trying to keep awake. He didn't really know what he had done to make him feel like dropping dead asleep in the middle of the floor, but along with it was a sense of relief about the whole exhaustion. He didn't know why, but it was better then the extreme grief he was just experiencing, that's for sure.
It was only when he looked down again at the body in his arms did he get a real shock. Audrena had opened an eye slowly and was staring right back at him, through half-lidded eyes perhaps, but still! Blinking a couple times to see if he was hallucinating, he started to hear another crinkling noise. Glancing cautiously at the hole in her chest, he nearly face-vaulted at the sight. The gaping perforation was gone! He started to put two and two together and his expression turned from pleasant confusion to over-brimming delight. But that quickly went back to confusion and disbelief. He had healed her? How?!
"Did I do that?" He asked no one in particular; sounding amazed that he had actually brought a person back from the dead. Audrena stirred, turning Kyle's attention back to her. She groaned, having a tremendous headache, and blinked blearily through the blurriness, only to see Kyle's face hanging expectantly over her.
"Kyle?" Kyle's heart soared, and it was reflected in the beaming smile and the gentle hug he gave her. Audrena's eyes went wide at this sudden show of affection, but didn't really want to hit him at the moment. This was kind of nice, actually.
"Well, this is new." She commented dryly, trying to stop the massive blush on her face. Unlike Kyle, she actually could, and she stayed pale.
"Yes love, it's me . . ." He murmured warmly, letting Audrena go when she pulled away form him with all her might.
"What did you call me?!" She said breathlessly, shocked beyond human comprehension. Did he mean what she though he meant? Kyle grinned sheepishly, turning bright red and scratching the back of his neck, standing in the same moment. 'Might as well tell her.' He thought fearfully, watching her stand as well. 'This, after all, is the best time to admit it.'
"Well, the truth is Audrena, I've-" He gulped, hoping he wouldn't have to clean up his own body parts after this.
"I . . . I've come to love you . . ." He whispered, and Audrena's heart sank. After recovering form this blow, she looked into his eyes, hoping to god that he was joking. It was all there, no untruths, just a warm and tender gaze. Internally, she let off a growl. Why did this have to happen!
" . . .How long?" she said flatly, turning her back on him.
That wasn't the reply Kyle was expecting, but oh well. At least she hadn't killed him yet.
"I've just realized that my emotions for you were love, but I started to love you about 3 months ago, and it's just been getting stronger."
"No . . . way . . ."
Kyle never saw the punch coming. Extreme pain exploded in his temples from the curled fist, and he was unconscious before he hit the floor. So much for not getting hit. Audrena glared at him for a while before her face softened a little. Nitric and Scythe, having been watching this whole thing in complete shock and awe, let their jaws drop open as Audrena picked Kyle's battered and unconscious body up and hauled him to Nitric's cockpit, graciously lowered for her. The reanimated pilot jumped into Scythe's cockpit without a second's hesitation, leaving the burned Mara to suffer.
On the way home though, Audrena couldn't help but wonder about Kyle's statement, trying to run things over in her mind. It was still startling, and even her zoid could feel the alarm that was circulating her pilot's mind.
"A little on your mind Audrena?" Scythe teased, knowing it would tick her pilot off if she began prodding into her thoughts.
It worked marvelously.
"Yeah . . ." Audrena allowed, her tone bitter and sarcastic. "It's not every day that someone tells you they love you."
"Your father used to do that all the time." The zoid shot back in a matter- of-factly tone.
"That's parental love you dim-wit." The human remarked dryly.
"How am I supposed to know the difference? I'm only a machine!" Scythe cried indignantly.
"Look in your data banks. Tell me the definition. Maybe it'll click in your CPU then." There was a long pause before Scythe replied, sounding confused.
"Audrena, you scare me."
"No, Obscura should be the one who scares you."
"Him too. But you more then him."
"Of all heaven and hell, why?! Give me a hint, all knowing 4-legged 8- ball."
"You haven't called me that in years." Scythe gave a delighted squeal. "I feel so loved!" Audrena face-vaulted in the cockpit, up in an instant with a glare on her face at the radio screen. Scythe's green-eyed blonde haired mental image was there (disturbingly identical to Mara), pointing and laughing at her human counter-part.
"Shut up and answer my question." She spat, sitting back into the seat.
Scythe made a pouting expression with her mechanical face and put on a very good imitation of Audrena whining. It was too well done, and set off a warning bell in her pilot's mind. "Aww . . .Do I have to?" Audrena's eyes went wider and her face looked like a red Christmas ornament from the massive blush.
"You didn't!" She said, shocked and offended, hoping that the zoid didn't do what she thought she did. Scythe giggled evilly, and Audrena's fears were confirmed.
"What did you expect me and Fury to do the whole time you two were lollygaging around? Play solitaire?"
"You don't even know how to play solitaire!"
"Don't interrupt me, but me and Fury-"
"Fury? He's Nitric now."
"He was still Fury then. Now can I continue telling about my prying job?"
"You've got five seconds of amnesty before I start tearing you to shreds."
"Fine then. Well, we tracked you, and followed behind with stealth cloaks on full."
"I knew things sounded fishy from the start. And I thought that rumbling was the parade they were having for the discovery of the latest Ultimate X."
"Not exactly. So we tracked you and recorded the whole conversation, and Fury did a couple of mind scannings while we were at it!"
"Do you delight in making my mind miserable?"
"Yep! Besides, it was sort of funny listening to the inner-workings of your minds! That was when I first got a hint about the little fling going on between you and Kyle!"
"THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON BETWEEN US!" She screeched at the top of her lungs. Both Scythe and Nitric halted in their tracts, sweatdropping twice apiece.
"Err . . ." Audrena grinned sheepishly. "Eh-heh. Well, it's not like there is anything there . . . at least not on my side." The two zoids eyed each other and sniggered quietly in a private joke and continued on. Audrena let out a sigh of relief, then, secretly, called a com-screen to Nitric's cockpit. Unknown to either of the two zoids, she smirked at the unconscious Kyle Obscura. Other then the huge red mark on his face to show where she had decked him, he didn't look senseless; the guy looked like he was taking a nap. She chuckled quietly. Even knocked out cold, he looked completely innocent, untouched by the world's evil. Heck, that's the reason why she sacrificed her life in the first place. To try and preserve that incorruption that he held . . . She shook her head violently, shutting off the com-screen with a booted foot.
"What evil thoughts . . ." She muttered to herself.
'If they were evil thoughts,' said the annoying voice in the back of her head. 'Why would you keep thinking about them? Why would you keep going over what he said and why he said it?'
"Simple, trying to understand what on earth he would say something like that." She muttered, not really caring that she was talking to herself.
'Then again, you liked it when he said that, didn't you.'
"Most certainly not!"
'Heh. Liar. Don't tell me you've forgotten already about how your heart almost skipped a beat when you heard his confession, then went completely nuts in speed?'
"That was from shock!"
'Or how you were trying your best not to blush scarlet in what you convinced yourself to be embarrassment when it was actually joy?'
"No way! Who's the liar now!?"
'Or how that your conscious mind actually admitted that the sudden and alarming warmth in your heart wasn't all that bad? How about when you were almost happy that the icy walls encasing your soul were starting to melt at the utterance of three words? Three words was all it took!'
"I'm going to start ignoring you now."
'Fine then, but now at least I've planted a seed of truth. No matter how much you deny it . . .'
Audrena breathed a sigh of relief when that stupid conscience of hers went away. Though it's words had had a bit of truth in them. No matter how she hated to admit it, she did kind of like the fact that there was someone out there that did worry, that did give a damn if her life was on the line . . . She shook it off, shuddering blatantly. She shouldn't be feeling these emotions! They only complicated things!
"Hurry home Scythe." She finally stated and her zoid understood completely. "I'm in need of a CAT scan."
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A few hours later, Mara stirred, sitting up with a cry of pain. It felt like her muscles didn't want to move. Recollections of the past few hours came back to her and her anger shot to immense proportions.
"I will get them back . . . oh yes . . . they will pay . . ." She muttered, standing up with extreme difficulty, looking at the ground in her anger, but she stopped cursing when she spotted a broken piece of glass with her reflection in it. She blinked, limping to it to look full on, and a look of horror lit her face.
What she saw was a horrible monster, face blistering frightfully. The blast seemed to have melted her flesh and reformed it, so that lumps of muscle wadded up in odd places and left other areas skeletal. Her eyes had sunken dramatically; so they were corpse-like in their shining form the sunken pits that were her sockets. Her hair was gone, burned off completely except for a few charred chunks, and even her body was now hideously deformed.
"No . . ." She whimpered, even her voice was twisted and thick. With now monstrously grotesque hands, she touched a blister as it cracked, creamy white/yellow pus leaking into her now shaking palm, her face that of someone who has just witnessed the apocalypse.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
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Yay! Mara got hers! And now comes a hopefully peaceful period, but with me, always spelling doom for these two, you can never know! Anyway, I'll see you in chapter 8, Affinity or Abhorrence. Bye!
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- "Audrena, it's been too long!" Mara cried, voice sickeningly sweet and sisterly. Audrena's expression didn't change.
"Cut the crap Mara." She spat, throwing a hand to the side to emphasize her point. "What do you think you were doing?! Kidnapping Kyle like that?!"
"Simple." Mara called airily, her voice a bored drone. "I have always been trying to hurt you Audrena. It's the big sibling instinct. You see it all the time in nature. Take hawks for example. They always lay two eggs in a clutch. And one chick, the strongest fledgling, always kills the second, the weaker. You simply have the luck of being the weaker of the two."
A long silence reigned while Audrena thought of a good comeback.
"What about when you killed our brother James?! He was only 2 weeks old and you cut him apart!" Audrena burst passionately, glaring at the much taller and stronger twin. Mara chuckled.
"You know, come to think of it, that was my first killing. We were what, 8 years old when he was born? Boy he made me mad. Little weakling, couldn't go anywhere without mom as well, cried through the night, always wanting something." She grinned, as though the idea of killing their little brother when he was an infant was something amusing. "It was quite satisfying when he finally did give up his miserable life. He sure did cry a lot in the process. Mom didn't mind, I think she wanted the little brat dead anyway."
Audrena's eyes looked like a pair of little dinner plates; they were so round. She remembered the tiny little boy, the only other thing in the house besides her father that didn't mind her in the same room. Kids that young aren't supposed to smile, but that one did. He cried when this mother held him, but quieted instantly when Theo Void or Audrena came around, and James would smile at them! With a bittersweet memory, Audrena recalled how her father's eyes had glowed when he held his little boy, his only son. The newborn would just relax instantly in his old man's arms, whereas he squirmed away when his mother tried to hold him. When Mara came around to look at him, James would just start bawling, and she remembered once that Mara, disgusted, had handed James off to her, stalking out of the room. James, even being an infant, stopped crying and looked relieved to be away from his older sister. The two children had just stared at each other for about 2 minutes before James started laughing as though Audrena's 8-year- old face was the funniest thing in the world. Audren had just gawked at him for a moment before she too started giggling. So he wasn't as bad as everyone said he was . . .
Laurana, Mara and Audrena's mother, she was home when Mara committed the crime, and didn't do anything to stop it! Audrena blinked, coming back up memory lane to the life we know as reality, and even her nerves were jarred when Mara started laughing quietly. "Though everyone says that infants don't really know any sort of emotion until they are old enough to name them," Mara went on, reflecting on how she gruesomely murdered her infant brother. "And can tell you what that child was feeling! You should have seen the fear in his eyes, the ugly turd! Pure livid fear! I could almost see him praying for me not to kill him!" Her laugh stopped abruptly.
"Scum like that should not be allowed to live." Mara spat, turning her back on her fraternal twin. "And you fit into that category!"
"Mara! He was only 2 weeks old! He hadn't even begun to live yet! How can you judge the kid on two weeks of life?"
"Enough!" Mara shouted commandingly, turning around once again. The two sisters exchanged a hateful glance before Mara's glare morphed into a malevolent sneer.
"I have been waiting a long time for this moment Audrena." Mara spouted, still smirking at her sister. Her emerald green eyes flared up and flashed acid green abruptly. Audrena's form began to shine with this unholy light as well, and her head jerked around wildly as she watched herself being lifted bodily into the air by seemingly nothing, and started thrashing about, trying to escape from what ever it was holding her off the ground.
"What the hell?!" Was all she got out before she was thrown easily as the nearest wall, the impact knocking the breath out of her.
" . . .Ow . . ." She muttered, sliding off the wall with black dots exploding before her vision. Stone jarred loose by the impact of her body came clunking down as Mara approached and lifting her sister again, but this time with her iron strong hands, lifting her about three feet over Mara's head, trying to suffocate her sister. Audrena's callused hands tried vainly to pry off the one hand that was attempting to strangle her, but to no avail.
"If there was one thing our flea-ridden father taught me," Mara hissed, holding Audrena's whole body up with one curled hand, the fingers and palm easily big enough to wrap around Audrena's small throat. "It would have to be how to use my mind as a weapon. He tried to use his own mental powers against me when I came for him, but by then I had far surpassed his cerebral level by the time I got to him." The very mention of that event got Audrena's temper raging all over again, having been temporarily tamed by the pain from being cast into a wall. Gritting her teeth, a booted foot caught Mara in the gut. Hard. Every once of air streamed from Mara's lungs, causing her to drop her sister and double over, wheezing.
Audrena scrambled up, rubbing her throat before sweeping the legs out from underneath her gasping sibling with another bit of footwork, sending her twin to the ground, still sputtering from that kick to her gut.
"Serves you right, you-ack!" She didn't get to finish. A sweeping leg took Audrena's legs out from underneath her as well, dropping her to the stone floor. Mara immediately sat on her sister, restraining the now furious pilot from moving. Grabbing the collar of her shirt with one hand, the other curling into a fist and started slugging the daylights out of her sister, thoroughly enjoying this.
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Kyle, right then, didn't really want to open his eyes. He would have rather drifted back off into peaceful, painless, and Mara-less unconsciousness. But, of course, his guilty conscience got to him.
But what about Fury? What about Audrena? She's fending that lunatic off right now . . . all by herself too . . . keeping her from killing us both . . .
His eyes snapped open, the rims bright with an electric blue glimmer. His pain was gone, he felt cloth on his chest again, and he didn't feel woozy anymore. Ready to go, he stirred, blinking a few times to clear his vision.
"Audrena? Anyone?" He called weakly, his voice still faint from before. He sat up slowly, his back a tad bit sore, but nothing compared to the fire it was before. Kyle was completely oblivious to the beating that was occurring about 50 feet away, still trying to get a handle on what was happening. Rubbing his head, he looked around, and spotted a pair of green tinted clawed feet standing by him. He grinned, looking up at his zoid, but his smile fell short.
"Fury? You look quite different."
"I know. Its Nitric now. Just stop staring and get out there, ok? Audrena needs some serious back-up here!"
"Are you the one who gave me this shirt?" He said, poking at his shirt, a white English-cut tunic style rough cotton piece of apparel. It may have been medieval-looking, but hey, it was a shirt, wasn't it? Nitric let out a growl and gave Kyle a painful nudge.
"Heeeeey!" Kyle snapped indignantly. "What was that for! You know that I just spent about 12 hours being whipped right?!"
"Duh. That's why I kicked you. To get your attention so you could go help your previously rescuing liberator!" Kyle blinked at him, taking a minute to make the connection.
"Wait a second . . ." It was only then did he look over to the scene that was taking place did he realize what was going on. Coming to him feet quickly and nearly falling over in the process, his silver-grey eyes flashed blue and Nitric's head was yanked down to Kyle's eye level.
"Why didn't you try to help her while I was down!?" He hissed angrily, shaking the zoid's head roughly. "Why didn't you?!"
"Because I don't want to end up a headless zoid corpse, so riddled full of holes that I look like Scythe's head! Which is now basically BURNT SWISS CHEESE!" Nitric rushed; getting really dizzy very quickly from the constant rattling his pilot was giving him. Kyle growled, releasing his hold on Nitric, letting the zoid drop with a metallic clang and turning to Mara, who was still slugging the crap out of Audrena.
"Nitric, grab Scythe and get back to base. Revive her, then come back immediately and full speed each way. Don't doddle." Nitric nodded, grabbing Scythe and splitting. That done, he could turn his attention to Mara . . .
The whites of Kyle's eyes quickly disappeared under the electric blue glow, leaving only the hazel irises and black pupils to be seen. He watched the beating continue for a moment, letting his anger and revulsion grow and boil over . . .
"Leave her alone Mara." He spat, glaring out from under furrowed eyebrows as she looked up from the now limp Audrena and smirked at him, standing and grinding a heel in her sister's face as she turned to face him. "You will never hit her again, so long as I live, you will never lay another finger on her again."
"Oh really?" Mara taunted wickedly, glancing behind her at the seemingly unconscious Audrena. Mara hadn't gotten away clean of injury. Four of her teeth were missing, her nose was flat and bleeding profusely, and at least three bruises and a black eye were rising quickly. Kyle smirked internally. Good, Mara got a share of the thrashing.
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Audrena hauled herself up to her elbows with quite a bit of difficulty, trying to see through graying haze in her vision. She vaguely saw a large figure standing over her, another one further away. Hearing the two talking, the words that reached her ears were warped versions of themselves. She shook her head violently, clearing it in a minimal sense. She glanced up, and painful recollections of that battering Mara had administered came to mind. With a growl, Audrena lashed out with another sweeping foot, giving Mara the slip before collapsing again, trying not to black out . . .
The moment Mara started to fall, Kyle teleported behind her to Audrena's side, holding her so that her head rested against his right shoulder. Audrena hadn't been kidding when she said that Mara was really tough. Her face was a blanket of rising bruises, though she still had all of her teeth and her nose wasn't broken, unlike her sister.
When Audrena finally noticed that she wasn't on the floor, she opened a bleary eye, only to see Kyle's concerned face staring worriedly down at her, his back against a wall.
"Oh god, not you again . . ." Audrena groaned, shutting her eyes again.
"I don't know how you could have lived through nearly 20 years of beatings like this." He whispered, trying to make a joke.
"Go away . . ." She whined, trying to squirm away from him. He wouldn't let her go, and she didn't really have the energy to put up anymore resistance to his care. Kyle chuckled lightly.
"Still the same Audren. I guess you can take a whipping and keep on ticking."
"Bleh . . ."
Another chuckle, neither of them noticed that Mara was starting to stir. Audrena tried to hit him with a feeble fist, but it didn't get very far.
"Get lost you dim-wit," She attempted to shout; it came out as another groan. "Or I'll . . ."
"Or you'll what?" Kyle asked gently, still holding her.
"I'll do . . . something." She muttered drunkenly, her face feeling like a two-ton iron skillet just hit it. Kyle chuckled again, and Audrena opened a half-lidded eye, only to open them both wide from the sight that met her very sore eyes.
Mara had hauled herself to her feet, raising a threatening hand in the process, the palm sparking with purple-white energy, the same that had decapitated Dr. Toros not too long ago. On her face was a glare that could have killed the dead. (Yes, killed the dead. Now think about how much anger and bitterness would have to go into that one! Whoo!) At the sight of Kyle and Audrena though, it quickly changed to a crazed triumphant smirk, the kind that sends little kids crying to mommy and adults fishing out their teddy bear.
"Would you look at this, how precious." Mara sneered, thoroughly sickened by the sight of them. Audrena blinked, looking horrified, then pointed a 'He did it, not me!' finger at Kyle. Mara took no notice.
"Well, it seems that you've found a rock to hold onto." Mara spat, smirking evilly. "Please, allow me to speed the forces of erosion." With that, Audrena's fraternal twin raised her palm and fired off a Cinder Shot, aimed directly at Kyle's exposed chest.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment and Audrena saw everything in slow motion. She watched as Kyle's eyes expanded immensely, and his eyes flickered blue, trying to re-direct the stream of hostile power. It didn't work very well. It kept coming, and the flare powered down as Kyle realized that it wouldn't work. She watched as he swung his gaze to stare back into her eyes with an apologetic look, sad acceptance hidden in there as well. It made Audrena grit her teeth in guilt.
God bless it all, he shouldn't be the one apologizing!
Her guilt drove her to act on a split-second decision. Shutting her eyes tightly against what she knew she was throwing herself in front of, Audrena rotated just enough, just enough to absorb the blast as it came. She knew what would come of it, but did it anyway. After all, one has to protect the innocent in anyway they can . . .
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It took a moment For Mara to realize that she had gotten the wrong person. She had long before lowered her hand, and was now trying to figure out why she had been so inaccurate. She raised an eyebrow, cocking her head to the side like a confused dog. 'What was going on here?'
Kyle couldn't figure things out either. Now why would Audrena suddenly be face to face with him? Why was she suddenly looking like he did when he was being whipped? And what on earth was she doing practically on his chest?! Kyle began to connect things in his mind, especially when the both of them looked down, at the gaping hole where a heart and half a lung could have been.
"Oh god . . ." He sputtered, the only thing he could say in his quickly rising panic. Eyes going wide, he went as pale as fresh snow. He didn't want to believe it. It wasn't possible; there was no way this could to her. She wasn't supposed to die! His breath bring taken in with quivering jerks he held her closer as Audrena started shaking in his arms, and she was just as wide-eyed and pale as he was, and both Mara and Kyle began to hear a crinkling noise, like tissue paper being scrunched up. Audrena was too far into death to really hear anything . . .
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As soon as Audrena felt the impact of Mara's attack, she knew she was condemned to death. Even before the light faded from the initial contact, she could feel the flesh on her back beginning to disintegrate. That was what the Cinder Shot always did. Made a small hole, then dissipated into the surrounding tissue and fried it to ash, leaving a bloody mass of smoldering soot behind. In some cases, it would only spread to a certain point and stop, but usually it consumed the entire body, a very a grim prospect to anyone becoming a victim of it. Disgusting? Yes. But that was Mara's style. If you're going to kill them, why not make them suffer while you're at it?
She tried to wait it out without feeling, but that idea was shot to hell when Kyle turned her chin up to stare at her, a look of shock and disbelief on his face and shining in his eyes. She blinked, clearing her vision, then the pain struck. Doing her best not to cry out, she started quivering, trying to fight it off. It was enormous, but thankfully, something was numbing it. Maybe it was the fact that her spine had been eaten away, perhaps the shroud of expiration, who knows? Having no lungs to speak with, she looked up one last time, the message in Audrena's glazed eyes was all too clear, and Kyle received it with a grain of salt, his eyes starting to sting.
. . . Dragged you into this . . .
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Mara watched her sister expire in Kyle's arms with triumphant merriment, happy over the fact that she had finally exterminated that disgusting worm that shared her genetics.
"I hope you're happy, joining your father in Hell." Mara spat at the cadaver that Kyle was still holding, not being able to stop herself from smiling. She loved this! This was just like a paragraph out of a story she read, the two friends holding each other in the midst of death, in a dark room, no help available to them and no rescue with the villain triumphing over all. She loved it all! Pretty soon she'll have the whole of the Void base in her keeping, including all the priceless antiques it held . . . she could easily live the rest of her life as a wealthy inheritor! Her eyes sparked at the thought of it, and she complete forgot that Kyle and Audrena were in the same room as she was at the prospect of so much riches now in her grasp.
Kyle, meanwhile, was contemplating everything, also feeling a bit numb if anything. He didn't feel anything, and he didn't really know why he was still gripping the deceased Audrena to him, nor why he was still ablaze with mental energy, nor why the hands that held her were glimmering with the same psychic power that his eyes held. He knew nothing anymore. He had had a pretty good life up until the last few days, until this event came to pass. He wasn't concentrating on that. He was deep in thought, trying to understand why Audrena was apologizing with her last though. Why waste your last breath on something so trivial as that?
"Awww . . . Kyle's mournful because his one and only human ally has gone back to the Hell pit where she came from." Mara scorned, false pity dripping on every word. "What a tragedy!"
He glanced up at her, and something much deeper then anger and hatred arose in Kyle's veins. Mara . . . she had done this. Not only had she ruined his life, but had ended the lives of her entire family . . . What Mara saw in Kyle's eyes actually started the half-saiyan. There was an urge to kill in those normally gentle hazel irises. A desire to murder, to avenge, to butcher. Blinking, she continued to stare at him as he gently laid Audrena on the ground with the utmost care before rising slowly to meet Mara's gaze, sticking his hands in his pockets as he went. He was about a little over a foot shorter then Mara was, so he had to look up, but it didn't change the level of unease between them.
So Mara, Kyle taunted. I'm guessing you enjoy causing pain and bloodshed? Though, I can guess you're pretty used to it, with all the butchery you've caused.
Mara recoiled at this, furrowing her eyebrows in thought while staring at him oddly. 'Telepath, that's how he's speaking without moving his lips. He's a Telepath, just as I perceived and expected. Though I didn't anticipate he would obtain his intellectual abilities so soon . . .
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Kyle took note that Mara was surprised and grinned smugly. Good. She was startled. Surprise surprise, my most heathenish Mara. Didn't know I was a psychic, did you? Heck, if you were as good as you proclaim to be, then you should have been able to pick up the mental aura and, if you were the smart rogue that you wish you were, would have eliminated me first. That way, there would be no way that Audrena, your intended target, would have been able to have been protected or revived by me. But, of course, you let your hatred and antipathy get in the way of your judgement, trying to eliminate your sister first. You eventually got that something was very strange with my mind, so in a tight spot, you tried to kill me when I had my guard down. But you didn't plan on Audrena giving her life for mine. Mara gave a smirk. She could see the solitary tear slipping its way down the side of his cheek. He wasn't as big and bad as he made himself out to be. 'Heh, cocky boy, he'll learn once he joins his fellow pilots.'
"Excellent perception Kyle!" Mara said in all false cheerfulness. "Guess what? You guessed my thoughts over this entire matter correctly. I have to congratulate you on that one. It won't come to help you though, even if you can read my thoughts. All I know is that you're a cocky 22-year- old boy without a drop of common sense or self-preservation and a set of mental powers that you haven't earned the right to use."
25. He shot back, quickly starting to become aggravated, having bottled up his murderous intentions for too long.
I'm 25. Kyle was becoming bloodthirsty. He wouldn't be able to detain his barbarous purposes much longer . . .
You know Mara; you have the worst set of family values I have ever had the privilege to see in action. Killing your own mother, your father, brother, and finally your own sister? All for what? You're grand vision of perfection? Sorry Mara, but eventually you've got to learn that everyone needs someone. You, in isolating yourself, have ensured the fact that no one's going to miss you once I'm done with you. He smirked, feeling his whole body start to flicker with that strange electric blue haze. It caused a sort of tickling sensation, but it didn't really matter. What really mattered was that it showed the build-up of Kyle's murderous ideas and vengeful motives, the mental stress elevating his power capabilities and maximums.
He had kept some control over it, having to restrain himself immensely from decapitating Mara when she sent Audrena to her demise. It was of Audrena's own causing, but he had seen Mara's triumphant smile. It's not like she minded either way who it was that she killed, just as long as someone died by her hand.
"Look Mara," Kyle started, keeping his voice as flat and emotionless as possible, as not to give away the gale of furious turmoil going on below. "I've always wanted to live a normal life. Never wanted anything out of the ordinary, except for the occasional upset or surprise. I guess I could blame Audrena for getting mixed up into this, but I know that the whole of my life collapsed through a small act of kindness that happened over a year ago. She told me later, Audrena did, about why she took me in after so many years of complete and total isolation from human kind."
Mara watched him get choked up with a mischievously malevolent smile. Though, she couldn't understand why he was breaking down so suddenly. She wasn't really good with the emotion thing yet.
"She told me about you, about how cruel and inhuman you are, about how you enjoy seeing people suffer. You know what? Audrena didn't need to tell me why she took me in. I made that connection myself." He paused, looking away and gathering himself up, before giving Mara a chilling look. "All of that, just because she didn't want to end like you." His emotions got the best of him on the last few sentences, and they carried so much malice and hostility that it almost caused Mara to take a step back. She stood her ground though.
"It all stems back to you!" He spat. After a minute of the two just glared at each other maliciously before Kyle threw his head back and shouted to the ceiling, not being able to take it anymore:
"CAN'T YOU EVER STOP RUINING OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES?!?!?" With that, he released his bottled up anger, letting loose the wrath he had held back all this time, the force of it explosive. Mara attempted to shield herself from the blast of conserved mental power, but her own brand of mental armor shattered like thin glass . . .
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People 10 miles away paused when they heard the sonic boom-like noise, looking around for the Raynos or Zabat that caused it. The bunch began to wonder what was going on when a sudden wave of intense heat began to circulate around. The more curious ones set out to search for the epicenter, stretching inward into the desert like a swarm of locusts. But, eventually, the group of meddlesome people couldn't stand the heat anymore and turned back, muttering amongst themselves as to what was going on.
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Kyle sat in the middle of it all, left leg sprawled out and right knee raised, his right elbow and his head resting on it. He was staring at the ground dejectedly, distancing himself from everything and everyone, including the gasping and gulpings of the severely burnt Mara. His face was singed to a slightly raw pink color, his clothing smoky and seared but still intact and pliable. Circling around his head was a seriously charred ring of flesh, encircling his skull like a blistering crown, marking the extreme let-off of mental energy. Even he had gotten hurt, but not so critically as his target. Grim satisfaction pulsed plaintively in his mind. Just as long as Mara was suffering, he would be somewhat content.
The building was gone, blown away in the initial outburst. The only thing left of it was a few stubborn stones and the floor. Mara hadn't been injured in the first let-off, it was the massive heat wave that got her. Outer skin pretty much baked, she had been thrown about 15 feet by the first burst, so she wasn't much a threat anymore. Audrena's body was untouched, the only thing other then Kyle himself within 5 miles that didn't get incinerated. He had made sure of that; he didn't want to end up having to tell the zoids that he had scorched her body to ashes . . .
Lifting his head as he started to hear rumbling footsteps, he eyed the shadowy figures of Nitric and Scythe as they approached at top speed. Even then, they did not grow much larger. Just seeing the two zoids made his heart heavy. He had tried to abandon his emotions earlier, since it made everything so much simpler if you weren't feeling anything. But the glimpse of Nitric and Scythe speeding towards him, and it defeated his attempts to hide from his grief. Raising his head from his elbow and knee, he glanced behind him at the cadaver. He shut his eyes tightly, teleporting to Audrena's side. Kyle stared at her lifeless face for a while, as though hypnotized by that pale mask.
"Dragged you into this . . ." He murmured softly, running a few fingers through the dead woman's hair in a delicate motion. He found in soft and silky to the touch; it only made him feel worse. "Why would she be apologizing? It should have been me who was apologizing." Crunching his eyes closed, he cradled her again, mindful of the opening in her chest, only visible where her shirt sunk inwards. There was a relatively small hole to mark where the destruction had begun, only about the size of a baseball on both front and back of Audrena's chest.
With great difficulty, he kept his emotions in check as he rocked her slowly, more for his comfort then anything else. He left Mara to suffer in her severe burns; after all, she was the one who caused all this.
Kyle was still hugging Audrena's body to him when the two zoids arrived, both skidding to a halt outside the foundations. They didn't have to ask what had happened when they saw Kyle cradling her body, the scene explained all.
"Oh my components . . ." Kyle simply nodded, his voice flat and controlled, still staring at Audrena's silhouetted facade.
"I know." Nitric poked him with a claw to get him to look up. He didn't.
"What're you going to do about it?"
"I . . . I don't really know." Scythe let out a sigh, looking at them all, mostly Kyle. She couldn't understand it. He could have stopped this parting, could he?
"Kyle, let me have the body." Kyle didn't seem to hear her. He continued staring at the cadaver, still holding her with his hands ablaze with light. Scythe nudged him, thinking that he didn't hear her request.
"Kyle? Hello?" Nitric suddenly whapped her upside the head with the massive cannon on the back of his tail, looking irked.
"Shut up!" He hissed. "Can't you see? He's mourning!" Scythe shut her jaw, but blinked at the human. "Err . . ." The zoid blinked, pointing at Nitric's pilot with a claw. "Take a look, he's glowing!" Nitric still had his back turned to them, not wanting to see his pilot in pain and to leave him to his business. Scythe had to smack him with the flat of her electrified blade to get him to pay attention to her command.
"I'm serious! He's doing some pretty funky stuff!" The word 'funky' by itself made him turn his head.
"Funky?" He said mockingly, not turning his body but only his head. "I swear, you have the vocabulary of a hippie!"
"Seriously! He looks like a little blue light bulb!" Nitric took no notice.
The liger's white face was illuminated and tinted blue for a moment before it died down again, the shimmering psychic energy completely used up for the moment. Kyle was half-lidded from the expendage, having drained him to the point of being drowsy. His vision going blurry, he shook his head a little, trying to keep awake. He didn't really know what he had done to make him feel like dropping dead asleep in the middle of the floor, but along with it was a sense of relief about the whole exhaustion. He didn't know why, but it was better then the extreme grief he was just experiencing, that's for sure.
It was only when he looked down again at the body in his arms did he get a real shock. Audrena had opened an eye slowly and was staring right back at him, through half-lidded eyes perhaps, but still! Blinking a couple times to see if he was hallucinating, he started to hear another crinkling noise. Glancing cautiously at the hole in her chest, he nearly face-vaulted at the sight. The gaping perforation was gone! He started to put two and two together and his expression turned from pleasant confusion to over-brimming delight. But that quickly went back to confusion and disbelief. He had healed her? How?!
"Did I do that?" He asked no one in particular; sounding amazed that he had actually brought a person back from the dead. Audrena stirred, turning Kyle's attention back to her. She groaned, having a tremendous headache, and blinked blearily through the blurriness, only to see Kyle's face hanging expectantly over her.
"Kyle?" Kyle's heart soared, and it was reflected in the beaming smile and the gentle hug he gave her. Audrena's eyes went wide at this sudden show of affection, but didn't really want to hit him at the moment. This was kind of nice, actually.
"Well, this is new." She commented dryly, trying to stop the massive blush on her face. Unlike Kyle, she actually could, and she stayed pale.
"Yes love, it's me . . ." He murmured warmly, letting Audrena go when she pulled away form him with all her might.
"What did you call me?!" She said breathlessly, shocked beyond human comprehension. Did he mean what she though he meant? Kyle grinned sheepishly, turning bright red and scratching the back of his neck, standing in the same moment. 'Might as well tell her.' He thought fearfully, watching her stand as well. 'This, after all, is the best time to admit it.'
"Well, the truth is Audrena, I've-" He gulped, hoping he wouldn't have to clean up his own body parts after this.
"I . . . I've come to love you . . ." He whispered, and Audrena's heart sank. After recovering form this blow, she looked into his eyes, hoping to god that he was joking. It was all there, no untruths, just a warm and tender gaze. Internally, she let off a growl. Why did this have to happen!
" . . .How long?" she said flatly, turning her back on him.
That wasn't the reply Kyle was expecting, but oh well. At least she hadn't killed him yet.
"I've just realized that my emotions for you were love, but I started to love you about 3 months ago, and it's just been getting stronger."
"No . . . way . . ."
Kyle never saw the punch coming. Extreme pain exploded in his temples from the curled fist, and he was unconscious before he hit the floor. So much for not getting hit. Audrena glared at him for a while before her face softened a little. Nitric and Scythe, having been watching this whole thing in complete shock and awe, let their jaws drop open as Audrena picked Kyle's battered and unconscious body up and hauled him to Nitric's cockpit, graciously lowered for her. The reanimated pilot jumped into Scythe's cockpit without a second's hesitation, leaving the burned Mara to suffer.
On the way home though, Audrena couldn't help but wonder about Kyle's statement, trying to run things over in her mind. It was still startling, and even her zoid could feel the alarm that was circulating her pilot's mind.
"A little on your mind Audrena?" Scythe teased, knowing it would tick her pilot off if she began prodding into her thoughts.
It worked marvelously.
"Yeah . . ." Audrena allowed, her tone bitter and sarcastic. "It's not every day that someone tells you they love you."
"Your father used to do that all the time." The zoid shot back in a matter- of-factly tone.
"That's parental love you dim-wit." The human remarked dryly.
"How am I supposed to know the difference? I'm only a machine!" Scythe cried indignantly.
"Look in your data banks. Tell me the definition. Maybe it'll click in your CPU then." There was a long pause before Scythe replied, sounding confused.
"Audrena, you scare me."
"No, Obscura should be the one who scares you."
"Him too. But you more then him."
"Of all heaven and hell, why?! Give me a hint, all knowing 4-legged 8- ball."
"You haven't called me that in years." Scythe gave a delighted squeal. "I feel so loved!" Audrena face-vaulted in the cockpit, up in an instant with a glare on her face at the radio screen. Scythe's green-eyed blonde haired mental image was there (disturbingly identical to Mara), pointing and laughing at her human counter-part.
"Shut up and answer my question." She spat, sitting back into the seat.
Scythe made a pouting expression with her mechanical face and put on a very good imitation of Audrena whining. It was too well done, and set off a warning bell in her pilot's mind. "Aww . . .Do I have to?" Audrena's eyes went wider and her face looked like a red Christmas ornament from the massive blush.
"You didn't!" She said, shocked and offended, hoping that the zoid didn't do what she thought she did. Scythe giggled evilly, and Audrena's fears were confirmed.
"What did you expect me and Fury to do the whole time you two were lollygaging around? Play solitaire?"
"You don't even know how to play solitaire!"
"Don't interrupt me, but me and Fury-"
"Fury? He's Nitric now."
"He was still Fury then. Now can I continue telling about my prying job?"
"You've got five seconds of amnesty before I start tearing you to shreds."
"Fine then. Well, we tracked you, and followed behind with stealth cloaks on full."
"I knew things sounded fishy from the start. And I thought that rumbling was the parade they were having for the discovery of the latest Ultimate X."
"Not exactly. So we tracked you and recorded the whole conversation, and Fury did a couple of mind scannings while we were at it!"
"Do you delight in making my mind miserable?"
"Yep! Besides, it was sort of funny listening to the inner-workings of your minds! That was when I first got a hint about the little fling going on between you and Kyle!"
"THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON BETWEEN US!" She screeched at the top of her lungs. Both Scythe and Nitric halted in their tracts, sweatdropping twice apiece.
"Err . . ." Audrena grinned sheepishly. "Eh-heh. Well, it's not like there is anything there . . . at least not on my side." The two zoids eyed each other and sniggered quietly in a private joke and continued on. Audrena let out a sigh of relief, then, secretly, called a com-screen to Nitric's cockpit. Unknown to either of the two zoids, she smirked at the unconscious Kyle Obscura. Other then the huge red mark on his face to show where she had decked him, he didn't look senseless; the guy looked like he was taking a nap. She chuckled quietly. Even knocked out cold, he looked completely innocent, untouched by the world's evil. Heck, that's the reason why she sacrificed her life in the first place. To try and preserve that incorruption that he held . . . She shook her head violently, shutting off the com-screen with a booted foot.
"What evil thoughts . . ." She muttered to herself.
'If they were evil thoughts,' said the annoying voice in the back of her head. 'Why would you keep thinking about them? Why would you keep going over what he said and why he said it?'
"Simple, trying to understand what on earth he would say something like that." She muttered, not really caring that she was talking to herself.
'Then again, you liked it when he said that, didn't you.'
"Most certainly not!"
'Heh. Liar. Don't tell me you've forgotten already about how your heart almost skipped a beat when you heard his confession, then went completely nuts in speed?'
"That was from shock!"
'Or how you were trying your best not to blush scarlet in what you convinced yourself to be embarrassment when it was actually joy?'
"No way! Who's the liar now!?"
'Or how that your conscious mind actually admitted that the sudden and alarming warmth in your heart wasn't all that bad? How about when you were almost happy that the icy walls encasing your soul were starting to melt at the utterance of three words? Three words was all it took!'
"I'm going to start ignoring you now."
'Fine then, but now at least I've planted a seed of truth. No matter how much you deny it . . .'
Audrena breathed a sigh of relief when that stupid conscience of hers went away. Though it's words had had a bit of truth in them. No matter how she hated to admit it, she did kind of like the fact that there was someone out there that did worry, that did give a damn if her life was on the line . . . She shook it off, shuddering blatantly. She shouldn't be feeling these emotions! They only complicated things!
"Hurry home Scythe." She finally stated and her zoid understood completely. "I'm in need of a CAT scan."
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A few hours later, Mara stirred, sitting up with a cry of pain. It felt like her muscles didn't want to move. Recollections of the past few hours came back to her and her anger shot to immense proportions.
"I will get them back . . . oh yes . . . they will pay . . ." She muttered, standing up with extreme difficulty, looking at the ground in her anger, but she stopped cursing when she spotted a broken piece of glass with her reflection in it. She blinked, limping to it to look full on, and a look of horror lit her face.
What she saw was a horrible monster, face blistering frightfully. The blast seemed to have melted her flesh and reformed it, so that lumps of muscle wadded up in odd places and left other areas skeletal. Her eyes had sunken dramatically; so they were corpse-like in their shining form the sunken pits that were her sockets. Her hair was gone, burned off completely except for a few charred chunks, and even her body was now hideously deformed.
"No . . ." She whimpered, even her voice was twisted and thick. With now monstrously grotesque hands, she touched a blister as it cracked, creamy white/yellow pus leaking into her now shaking palm, her face that of someone who has just witnessed the apocalypse.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
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Yay! Mara got hers! And now comes a hopefully peaceful period, but with me, always spelling doom for these two, you can never know! Anyway, I'll see you in chapter 8, Affinity or Abhorrence. Bye!
