Wings exploded out of the human body's back, shredding the clothes, unfolding and spreading, strong and healed. Each hairline fracture, each break was gone. Glorious power.
He opened his eyes, golden, bright, filled with life drawn from his host. He felt young muscles move as he rose, felt the strength and security of a form he hadn't had in six years.
Part of him was aware of Satoshi far in their shared mind, but most of his attention was on the by now very uneven fight in the sky. A cold, ruthless smile stretched his lips.
"I'm back," he whispered.
Time to intervene.
He flexed his wings.
Time to even the scales.
Whatever it was that was fighting them, trying to take them down, it
was strong and close to impossible to pin down. Dark evaded the thing's
attacks, but he was tiring and too many blasts had come too close. Daisuke's
body was powering him, like a pair of incredible strong batteries, but
he knew his host's body would give out eventually. He had used too much
magic already, was draining him too quickly. Unlike the boy he had been
bound to before, this young man had better reserves, but they weren't endless.
What does he want? Daisuke wondered for the umpteenth time.
He woke you, hurt you, called me here… why?!
Dark felt another blast pass him way too close and dove out of the
way of the next. "I wish I knew," he growled. "He never told me. He never
talked much anyway. He liked our pain…Shit!"
His wing had been clipped by a second attacker that had suddenly popped
up behind him. He tumbled, able to right himself, but he couldn't evade
the next one. It struck him fully in the chest and he screamed as it tore
through him. Every molecule of body seemed to be blown apart and Dark felt
himself falling, but he couldn't think of anything but the pain – until
the moment he struck the ground.
Hard, unyielding, bone-jarring.
Gasping, he rolled onto his side, trying to get up. Daisuke was stunned,
reeling from the pain, and Dark wished he had shielded his host. But all
his energy had gone into destroying their attacker. Now it was too late.
Their attacker, a creature without shape or form, came closer, energy
and magic crackling around it.
"Dai…" Dark whispered.
He could feel his friend smile dimly.
We at least put up a good fight
"Dai… I… thank you," he finally managed, the sorrow and pain leaking
toward his host.
Daisuke reached out, touched him in a way he had been unable to do
as a child. I missed you, Dark. You are a part of me, always were. I
prefer this to the loneliness
Dark closed his eyes, his body trembling from exhaustion. He wasn't
changing back into Daisuke. For whatever reason, he remained as he was
as the creature gathered its energy for the death blow.
There was a terrible roar, the crackle and snapping sound of magic,
but the blow and the harsh but brief pain of destruction never came. Instead
Dark felt the death blow intended for him rush past, around him, over him,
ruffling only his hair. He opened his eyes a crack, but they flew open
on their own account as they took in the scene that presented itself.
Before him stood a tall, white-winged being he had known since his
own birth. Wings curling slightly, raw power wafting around him, hair flowing
in the stream of magic, Krad was facing off the enemy, golden eyes filled
with loathing and hatred. It was a hatred Dark had never seen before, not
even directed at him. There was a slightly crazy edge to them, something
that told the other that whatever happened now, his counterpart was ready
to do whatever was necessary.
"Krad…" he whispered, feeling Daisuke's confusion, quickly followed
by realization and horror.
Satoshi!
He glanced over to where Krad had been held before, but there was no
sign of Hikari.
No… He couldn't have… No!
Golden eyes fell on him and Dark stared at his other self, his mirror
side. The face was as familiar as the wings and the cat-like eyes, so inhuman
and unlike his own, but the expression was different. So strange… Yes,
there was the coldness, the hunger for power, but also fury not directed
at him. Determination and… resolution.
"So you think you can succeed where the other failed?" the voice laughed.
"No," Krad answered, still looking at Dark. "Because neither of us
can win. But someone told me that there is a balance."
Daisuke snapped to attention inside his host and Dark sent a question.
Light and dark… you are the darkness, you once told me, Dark. Krad
is the light. You are the same, just opposites. You are a balance.
"Balance," Dark murmured, getting to his knees.
A hand was held out to him. Dirty, nails broken, the wrists looking
bruised. So imperfect and different to the demon he had known.
He took it.
"I still hate your face," he growled.
Krad pulled him up, the two eternal beings looking at each other. The
white demon smirked.
"I never expected anything else, Dark Mousy."
He chuckled. "Then that's clear."
"There's more to balance than black and white," Krad told him. "There's
also the host…"
Dark's eyes widened. "Satoshi…"
A mirthless grin appeared on the other's lips. "He made the choice
this time, just like your Tamer. His own free will. Their will…" Krad glanced
at the still hovering creature, golden eyes narrowing in disgust. "Because
maybe it's the right way."
Dark gazed at him. Krad… talking about something being the right way…
and that involving their cooperation…
Dai? he asked silently.
Daisuke seemed to ponder the demon with the same disbelief as Dark
himself. Maybe it is the only way, he finally said.
Krad held up one hand, cradling pure white-blue energy inside. "It's
worth a try, hm?" There was the old light in his eyes, something that came
from an unhealthy dose of fury, mixed with cold calculation and a sprinkle
of insanity.
He's right, Daisuke murmured. Loath I'm to admit it, but
he's right
Dark reached for his host, his Tamer, his friend and partner. The need
to connect was strong, and he touched the other part of himself.
Let's show this thing what we're made of, Daisuke, he whispered,
gathering his own energy.
The kaitou nodded at his counterpart. "This is a first," he remarked
sarcastically.
Krad grinned, a mad edge to his expression. "There's a first time for
everything, Dark."
The two winged entities took off, for the first time united in a fight
against a common enemy.
It was a dance, deadly but graceful, elegant and almost like choreographed
in advance. Magic crackled and whizzed through the air, struck solid mass
or disappeared in nothingness. Krad felt the strain of the fight, felt
the Hikari body that was his source and protection weaken with each blast.
Satoshi was stronger than he had expected. As a child he had been weak,
had slept little and worked hard, had tried to keep the demon in check
by mistreating himself. He had had a mind of steel, striking out and controlling
Krad sometimes, keeping him caged, but Krad had been too strong for him
throughout time.
Now he was a young man, had made up in the years for the abuse of before,
but even a healthy body would fail some time. Krad snarled as the enemy
tried a sneak attack, only Dark's quick reaction saving him from a possible
injury. Both were in a worse growing shape and they had to find an end
soon.
--Balance-- Satoshi whispered, his mind-voice still strong,
though there was a waver in it.
"What?" he demanded sharply.
--You and Dark, you have to be even, like a scale… You need to find
the balance--
As Krad drew again, lancing an attack at the creature, he felt Satoshi
falter. On the planes of their shared mind, the tall, slender form broke
to his knees, hands digging into the virtual ground, face a grimace of
pain.
This was going to kill them all if it continued any further.
Suddenly Dark was at his side, streaks of blood running down his face
from a cut that had to be close to the hairline. His violet eyes were duller
than before, but there was still a spark in them. Life and determination.
"Not good!" the kaitou growled through clenched teeth.
"Balance," Krad said. "Hikari said we have to balance it."
"How?" his other half demanded.
Krad turned to his Tamer, but the life energy was flickering badly
already. --Tell me how!-- he cried.
--Together-- his host managed.
--I can't draw that much again!--
If he did… Hikari might perish. If he did… this body would be empty,
except for him. For a reason he didn't know that disturbed him greatly.
But only briefly.
Then the survival instinct was back, the need to win and kick the bastard
wanting a piece of him back to where he had crawled out of.
--Do it! You never had any qualms before!-- Satoshi snapped,
anger lending him strength. --Do it, damnit!--
Krad was pulled out of the way of the charging creature by his counterpart,
barely able to keep his balance.
"Together…" he whispered hoarsely. "A last time… one blast."
Golden eyes bore into dark ones, saw understanding and realization
there. They had come from the same source, belonged together, were strongest
when they combined… He gathered his energies, feeling Satoshi slip-slide
further away. He detected a slightly psychotic edge to his thinking, something
he had experienced before. It was like a haze creeping over his mind, blocking
out every rational thought.
Survival.
This was it.
Live or die.
In a way, it had been like this all his life, only that he had always
survived.
Dark's expression was determined. "Together," he agreed.
His own magic glowed in a deeply blue and black light. Both men looked
at each other as their hands touched, the energies crackling and hissing
as the opposite sides flowed together.
Krad had never felt Dark's magic like this before. It was almost mild
compared to the angry, hateful blasts directed at him in their fights.
It writhed around him, enveloped him, just like his own power merged with
Dark's.
Together.
Balance.
Krad lost contact with Satoshi completely, but the moment the blast
ripped out of him, the moment he felt Dark's own magic, coupled with what
could only be describe as Daisuke's essence, even that thought was annihilated.
Darkness and Light combined, became one, and with it, everything else
ceased to exist.