Having no feedback annoys me...
So I'm really only posting this becuase I'm bored at the moemnt and have just written up some more chapters, so I'm pretty far ahead of this point as of right now. I hope you enjoy it, and I sincerly hope that it's as in-character as possible. I mean, I know my Fan-char is and all, but... arg, you get what I mean.
I try, that's all anyone can do.
"What the fuck?" Oracle watched from her temporary hiding place as he turned confusedly, knife that had been so ready to be thrown clutched loosely in his hand and eyes darting around the area. Slowly, she crept around the back of the vehicle, ever watchful of the other's movements as he carefully looked all around, trying to find where the girl had gone before moving. Oracle distantly noted that he was smart to do this, but unfortunately he had failed to take into account that he was fairly vulnerable out in the open.
Not that the girl was foolish enough to come out of hiding yet, nor was she wasteful enough to risk throwing her glaive. Like a predator stalking her prey, she kept a close eye on the movements of her opponent, the music reverberating through her headphones barely audible over the whisper of the chill breeze. The time dragged on, and still neither of the two would risk moving from their positions, and soon even the last fading colors of the sunset had left the sky, the previously blue heavens being replaced with a deep black canvas littered with bright points of stars and looked down upon by the cold, impersonal face of the moon. Far below, past the cliff, the same canvas was reproduced horribly by the bright lights of the city, a mockery of the true art of nature.
Oracle moved just an inch sideways from her hiding position, her legs tensing as she judged the distance between her and her adversary. He remained unaware of her movements, back turned to her, exposing a vulnerability to the unmerciful entity that was gathering herself for a leap, her glaive and gauntlet both crying soundlessly in anticipation, both screaming so loud that the girl could barely hear herself think. But that was no matter; something ice cold began to course through her veins, blocking out any feeling, any thought beyond that of the moment, the here and now that she was trapped in. Numb to all but her animal instinct and powered by her will, she lunged, her movement eerily noiseless in the night.
Suddenly, he turned, and she managed to get one good glimpse of his face as the moonlight reflected off from his eyes, hiding the pupils and making them as cold and lifeless as her own. She was aware of a ripping pain traveling across her back as she slammed into the dirt in a defensive crouch, and soon after she felt the strangely contrasting warmth of a trickle of blood beginning to ooze down her cool skin. Behind her, there was a muffled impact as the thrown knife hit a panel of wood in the rickety fence around the cliff edge.
Ignoring the wound, Oracle snarled soundlessly, pressing forward with the speed and agility of a feline and surprising the other enough with her action to strike out with her glaive, scoring a long but shallow cut that sliced through material before connecting with the flesh of his chest. He leapt back, his swiftness unexpected, and at the same time struck out with another blade that had been hidden in his long boot. Spots of blood flew into the air as he caught the girl above her left eye, and she growled before retreating back into the shadows, rethinking her strategy. The other did not follow, instead taking up a stance by the cliff, where he knew he couldn't be attacked by surprise. Slowly, never taking his eyes off from the dark forest, he removed the first blade from the wood of the fence, holding one in each hand as his eyes searched warily for movement among the shadows.
Oracle felt the trickle of blood seeping out of both of her recently gained wounds, but like so many times in the past, she heeded them not. Instead, her intense focus was again locked on the figure standing alone in the darkness, searching eyes flicking this way and that. Cautiously, the girl adjusted her crouched position in the tree, repositioning the muscles that were silently threatening to cramp up if she did not move out of her rigid pose. Careful not to make the thick branch below her creak as she shifted her weight, Oracle rose up, standing against the solemn, quiet side of the rough-skinned denizen of the cliffside, her light-sensitive eyes picking out the details of the scene before her.
The moon was bright, making the surroundings almost as bright as an overcast evening in the moments before a black rainstorm, but in the sky the girl picked out several thick, free floating clouds slowly but surely making their way towards the light source, intent upon blocking it and throwing the world into shadow. Almost imperceptibly, Oracle smiled, her bright teeth showing up as a faint gray-white in the darkness as she waited for the perfect moment, enjoying watching her opponent fidget as he waited for an attack or opportunity that was certain to come, though he knew not when.
Gradually, so slowly that the girl was shivering with anticipation, her limbs burning as they cried to move, to spring into action and let loose all of her primal instinct to fight, the clouds began to move in front of the moon. The night deepened, turning ever more gray, and then ever more black, as the already faded color seemed to bleed out of the world to be replaced with nothing but sweet oblivion. After a long, long moment, during which the girl glared into the gloom with her sensitive eyes, she found that she could wait no longer.
There was a blur of motion, unseen and unable to be seen as she streaked across the small yet large clearing separating her and her opponent. A whistle of rapidly displaced air shot past her, fading quickly into the night with a last dying impact of metal in dirt as she swiftly covered the distance, and suddenly there was a clash and the brief sight of several weapons gleaming brightly in the weak starlight, their edges already tainted with dark, thick liquid as the sounds of conflict continued as if they would never end, both participants only able to use a mix of hearing and animal sense as they struggled in the night.
A spark fueled by the friction of metal against metal took light, illuminating the determined faces of the two for less than an instant as they glared at each other, and high above the clouds rolled nonchalantly by, blissfully unaware of their influence upon the cliff-top scene. The moon's light elucidated the edges of the wispy sky travelers, trying desperately to find a way past the obstruction to illuminate the earth below as best it could. Finally, its chance came, and its bright face brightened even more as the mass of vapor began to thin to almost nothing, presenting the celestial body with an ephemeral window onto the land.
She became aware, slowly, of being able to see more than just shadows and flashes as she dodged another lethal strike, feeling the whistle of the hungry blade miss her skin by only the narrowest of margins. At the corner of her vision, a large, sickle-shaped hook descended towards her, and she leapt back out of range, again positioned in a threatening crouch as the moon broke free from its swathe of clouds for a few brief moments, but those few moments were all the girl needed to gather the new developments in the situation. Her golden-yellow eyes flashed in the lunar brilliance, ever watchful of the panting form before her, just as she was aware of her own breath heaving from her body. A bead of sweat mixed with the blood running in a clear rivulet down her face from the cut above her eye, stinging as it connected with the broken flesh.
He was watching her coldly, though Oracle faintly glimpsed something that might have been respect glinting in the deep, muddled, but determined eyes that stared back into her own. The girl supposed that she had also gained some respect for the other, as well, for though she moved easily and showed no pain, her body was riddled with slashes and cuts that she had been unable to dodge or counter, each dripping red fluid onto the ground below her in a slow but steady rhythm that somehow matched the whisper of her music in a type of sickened harmony. Her opponent was certainly not untouched, however, seeing as even with the slightly insane glint in his eyes and his faint, even more disturbed smile, his own cloths were slashed raggedly in places and stained with the dark color of his own blood. Oracle narrowed her eyes, refusing to show any emotion –especially amusement- to the other. Instead, she brought her gauntleted hand up so that it flashed ominously in the light, flexing the red-coated fingers and glimpsing the five ragged slashes on the other's shoulder that had been caused by the weapon's lethal hooks.
At the same time, he brought up one of his knife-wielding arms, the crooked point of the weapon dripping darkly as he aimed it at the girl. In that dramatic moment, the clouds crept back upon the light-giving face of the moon once again, making the cliff-top a shadowed battlefield one more. Almost as quickly as it had halted, the fight started up again, the sound of metal crashing against metal echoing through the hushed stillness of the air, everything in the area deathly quiet as if awaiting the outcome of the conflict with bated breath.
Oracle winced as a blade bit deep into her thigh, feeling the muscle tear slightly as she moved back, forcing the metal to be ripped from her limb in a spray of blood. For a single, breathless moment after the shock of pain, she felt herself stumble, her injured limb spasming involuntarily, and through her music she could hear –feel- the second blade slice through the air, approaching her as a demon of true death, laughing melodically at her weakness. Growling with an animal rage, Oracle pulled her arm back with one swift motion, unsheathing the still hidden machete and bringing the thick, single-edged blade up just fast enough to deflect the descending specter, driving the side of her weapon hard into his hand. She heard a yelp from the other, the loudest sound that had emerged from either of the opponents in the entire course of battle, and pulled back just enough to keep out of immediate range of the other knife and gather her power before she dropped, swinging one leg out and feeling it connect hard with the back of the other's knees. There was a muffled curse as he fell to the ground, landing hard on his back, and Oracle quickly sprang into action, unwilling to let this fleeting chance at victory elude her.
She gripped his wrists, forcing his arms to stay against the ground as she pinned his legs to the earth with one boot, carefully balancing most of her weight on her injured leg but twisting the other so that he could barely move, much less struggle and knock her off balance. It was an awkward and uncomfortable way to pin an opponent, but extremely effective. The point of the glaive, which was still gripped tightly in her right hand along with the corresponding wrist of her opponent, glittered dangerously near his throat, making it impossible for him to lift his head without receiving a fatal injury. He was helpless, at her mercy.
Oracle snorted in barely concealed laughter, looking down dispassionately at the adversary that had done so well for himself as the moon finally broke free of the band of clouds for good, shining brightly down upon the sleeping world as if nothing had happened.
His eyes were narrowed down to slits, though the girl could still see that he was looking at her. Unlike so many of the others, those depths reflected absolutely no fear at impending death, though they still reflected everything that Oracle had found so intriguing about them in the first place. Surprisingly, even though he showed no fear, the hands that she was gripping were trembling, almost as if he was fighting to keep away from the touch.
"Might makes right," Oracle whispered with a smug look, seeing one eye widen slightly as the blade of her weapon lowered marginally, nipping at the tender flesh beneath. The blade of the glaive sang, crying for life, screaming to be fed with the blood of another victim. The girl smiled bestially; skin tingling as she felt the rush of power accompanied by becoming the seasoned predator, the rush brought about by simply being able to take down her prey in a single, gloriously fulfilling moment.
Even so, it would be a shame to kill the only one that can match you, whispered a wheedling voice at the back of her mind unexpectedly. Oracle forced it down, her eyes hardening as she narrowed them, pressing the blade another half-millimeter into flesh. She thought she had gotten rid of that voice so long ago; Do you really want to be alone in your mission? Maybe this one can help you… he seems to know about the human condition. See, he's almost as cold as you are!
Shut up! Oracle hissed back at the voice mentally, 'Feel no mercy'! I am not allowed to even think of sparing one pathetic germ in this cesspool of rot!
But what if he's not a germ? The voice argued, refusing to be silenced this time, what if he's a part of the cure?
The girl, caught off guard, hesitated. The thwarted blade of her weapon gave one dissonant mumble of anger that was echoed in lower notes by the gauntlet and machete, but did not protest more than that. Oracle narrowed her eyes into slits, letting out a long breath that turned into a growl at the end as she measured the advantages of letting just one, only a single entity, escape her. Finally, her growl turning deep and rumbling in her throat, she forced her hand to lift the blade from the exposed neck, looking longingly at the beginning cut there before snarling and leaning down so that she could whisper in the other's ear.
"I think I'll let you live," she hissed icily, almost spitting the words, "For now…"
With that, she kicked him away, and by the time he had managed to get to his feet, she had disappeared.
AGAIN with the disappearing. Man, this girl is like a fricken ghost or something...