Last chapter was a great battle with Adven and all…I was sort of hoping you'd say that was cool after all…I mean…he had total control of the fight in the end and he was all bad-ass. I mean…directing the negative emotions into her body to attack? But, okay, if that wasn't enough to win you over to Adven's side let's see how Scene Three changes your mind. Adven had become sort of my favorite character when I read the story a year later. When I wrote the original NDS he wasn't anything more than plot device at first. Well…the man who became the basis for Emilia's character became a favorite too…so is the basis for Jet in this story…anyway…Let's continue with the beginning to the last act of this story. There will be two spoilers to NDS though…not major ones story wise, but character wise. I've already threw in the spoiler that is the new forms of the Negative Cannon attack. All that's left now is another Adven spoiler and a Raven's Wing one.

Also…I think by Christmas I'll have a new fic that will be totally different than any other. For one…no fighting…just Jet. It's sort of 1st POV too. It's not narrative. It's all told through his thoughts and the dialogue that he hears. It's sort of like…Jet doesn't speak a lot verbally, but mentally he's neurotic and doesn't shut up ever. Very funny, serious, and angst-ridden.

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Gallows stared at Kiev's extended hand as he watched the arcana swirl and come together. Ready to strike at him in a few moments. Gallows was blank in the head. He was facing death in the face, and he had no idea what to do. Should he shake his hand or kill Death before he killed him?

There was only one option that Gallows had. It would work out the best for him now. His last chance to escape this.

"So…you think you should be known as the best user of arcana?" Gallows chuckled with a grin. Fear of the face of the death present on his face, but hidden quite well.

"Of course! I am stronger than you after all." Kiev boasted. "I have defeated many with these skills. Strong monsters all."

"Is that right?" Gallows quips. "You better show me how many you've killed. Use your hands. I have this mental condition where I can only recognize numbers in visual form." Gallows lies blatantly. "C'mon…if you're really such a great man how many high-class monsters have you destroyed?"

"Pheh. I've killed nine!" The man showed through the digits of his fingers the number.

Gallows grin came easily. Kiev was too much of a braggart. He had to make a big deal out of his faux strength. It was because of that need that Gallows no longer was staring into Death. Gallows was quick to jump at this opportunity and tackled the other man onto the metal floor in a rough landing.

With the tables turned for the moment Gallows tried his best to form a plan to take now. He could never have one. Still, Gallows made the distance between the two. He was at a better status if there was space between the two of them. He would NOT get caught like he did earlier and be staring Death in the face again.

"You will never be the strongest if you fall for such an obvious trap like that!" Gallows mocked.

A loud grumble brought Kiev back to a standing position. "Cremate!" His blind rage sends three waves of the fire attack throughout the room—all missing. Gallows stood a bit startled by the events. As much as he scanned the hallways he still could see no part of the setting favoring him. "I admit…my ego went to my head a bit there." The braggart calms. "I will still kill you!" Gallows had no time as flames shot up from the floors. All of missing him, but he was worried one wouldn't.

Then Gallows saw what was really happening. His body was thrown into a wall as Kiev pinned him to it. Kiev used all of the arcana to distract him while making a real move on him. Kiev's strong hands meeting the Baskar's neck. The hands coming together and taking away some of the room in Gallows' throat.

A slight struggle for a breath rang out. Gallows was at his end if he couldn't get free. He couldn't even get his arcana to work. His hands in a nervous and shaky manner made their way to the other man's hands. Kiev's grip was too great though.

This is it?

There was a cackle from Kiev as the horrible smelling breath went into Gallows' face. "You won't last much longer now! See…I am stronger than you because my arcana is better and my physical attacks are as well!"

Gallows turned his grimace to a grin. A short laugh passing from his closing throat. "I…can…tell everyone's…waiting for me…they're probably all wondering…where the Hell I am…and what is taking me so long." His attempt of flexing his throat muscles and expand his wind passage began. "If I ever am to be killed I'm definitely not going to let it be by an asshole like you!" That was all he could muster. His throat was closed totally now and Kiev was the current victor. Death by asphyxiation did not sit well with Gallows.

His hands moved from trying to free his throat and instead moved down without notice from Kiev to the gauntlets on the man's arms. Gallows' grip growing tighter. He still tried to speak as well.

Gallows let out a small sound, "I…my…arcana…has always…been…like a curse. A sin…I can not…let…go…of." Gallows tried his best for a new breath. He got only a thin amount. "You…took this as a gift. They aren't…meant…to be…blessings!" With all of his might and a bit of his magic surging around his arms the Baskar shatters the gauntlets on Kiev's arms. In the process obliterating the forearms along with them. There was no blood in the room. As if it all had evaporated in the explosion made by Gallows' arcana.

Gallows fell to a knee gasping for air as shouts of horror and pain rang out through the hall. Echoing off of the metal walls. Kiev stumbled into the wall behind him in hysteria. Falling to the floor soon after as his half-limbs fell to his side. Gallows could not understand the next motion made by his enemy. It was this dreadful and fear-instilling cackle of a laugh. A man who just had his arms taken from him was laughing?

"I…knew something like this would happen." Kiev regretted. "That's why I went to the liberty to plant a bomb under the floor here that will kill anyone in this hall and scar the room itself!"

Gallows didn't waste any time. He didn't wait to regain a steady heartbeat or gather all his breath. He just ran as hard as he could from Kiev's body as the hallway burst into multiple clouds and pockets of explosions. Gallows threw himself out of the hallway just in time to miss the destruction and get only the burst of heat.

Gallows had not moved after that. He just sat on his knees. Hanging his head in disgrace.

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Virginia and Sweet continued a short staring contest that had come when Virginia suddenly refused to fight. Sweet was the most confused. She had no clue as to why Virginia just up and quit like this.

"I won't fight you." Came Virginia's bitter words.

"Of course you won't. Because you're the weak and spoiled brat I told you about. This just proves it." Sweet gave off a satisfied laugh.

"Shut up!" The booming demand from Virginia quieted the hall. "Listen to me for once instead of talking like you know everything." She snapped.

The tension couldn't be cut with a knife. The sharpest of knives would break against this tension. The heat of Virginia's obvious anger cooled. She looked to the floor rather than her enemy. "I know what it's like to be a protective sister." Virginia comments. "I don't have any real brothers…but those people I came with are as good as family to me." There was a silence. "I don't have a mother and a father. They've died…each in their own horrible ways. My father to Yggdrasil and my mother to illness. All I've truly ever had was an uncle and an aunt for the most of my life. Even then…they can't make up for a mother and a father."

Virginia returned her look to her once companion. "My father taught me how to use ARMS. It isn't easy. I had to work at it. Everything I've ever done I've had to work at! I don't get things easy like you seem to think I do." She counters returning anger to her voice. "Everyone thinks I'm too weak to last out there in this world of ours. I think I'm better suited than anyone else. I have ambition. I have my family. I would do anything for a friend! They know that!"

"And…even that family…I had to work at having. You don't gain people through simple means…you have to bond to them, and that's a hard process."

"Yes…I do have things you don't have. I also don't." Virginia laughs. "That 'boyfriend' you keep speaking of…doesn't exist…but…I do love him. There's no doubt there at all. And…if I were spoiled it wouldn't be so hard to work at trying to have him love me back openly…but it's so hard for me to do that as well."

"Still," She continued. "I would do anything to protect him…and that means I have to get past you now. I have someone I want to protect…and so do you."

"Wouldn't life be so much easier without the need for revenge and one-upmanship? Without rivalries?" Virginia questions. "Rivals are never really enemies in the end. I see that now that I've been watching Adven and Jet. They are the worst enemies…and the best friends because of it…neither of them will admit it though." She laughs. "And…there was Maya…someone you never met…but…she and I were rivals…but when the shit started to fly in the end…she was there to back us all up. That's what a rival really is…an ally there for you when the crap starts flying and the sky is raining blood and up is down…and yet…when peace comes you both becomes oxymorons to that notion and become competitive and aggressive."

Virginia looked straight into the eyes of the other woman. "I'm not your enemy, and that is why I refuse to fight you. We're just…two really good friends who've let the years tear us apart."

"Do…you remember Sweet…when I helped you learn to read? An enemy doesn't do that."

Sweet stares at the brunette. She wanted to continue fighting Virginia…but the will to do that seemed sapped up. Something was stopping her. "I…I must be sorry." Sweet mumbled. "I'm sorry that…I could do this over something…so small…that I never took the time to realize or find out." Sweet tilted her head. "How could I fight over something so childish? I'm supposed to be the maternal figure to my twin brother…but somehow I became his baby sister."

"I have to go after Jet." Virginia said with determined resolve. "Can you trust me?" Virginia wondered with a hand stretched out to the other woman.

Sweet took the hand with gratitude and the memory of years ago when they first met came to mind. When Virginia asked a similar question about something else…and she had agreed. Bitter enemies and arch-nemesis seem to start as good friends in the past. But…those same people have the capacity to also become the greatest allies and team. It just depends on the journey they take.