Forces of Darkness
Chapter 19: The Longest Hour -- Acte II
(Scene: Otaku's house, Unknown.) 2140 hours...
Through his circular framed glasses, Otaku witnessed the chase between Daisuke and Claude through the hallways of the Manor, in the comfort of his home. He turned and checked the PC screen next to the surveillance monitor to see if his friend, the writer from Minnesota, was still on the line.
"I take it you're watching this as well?" he asked the writer.
The writer nodded as he watched through the second monitor at his place. "This is so much better than reality TV... even if they are anime characters..."
Otaku smiled. "Y'know, you're not really supposed to be watching this."
"Hey, we're in on this together, aren't we?" the writer shot back.
"Right, right..."
The writer sighed and put the headphones that he had wrapped around his neck, over his ears and pressed the play button on the CD player.
"What are you listening to now?" Otaku asked his J-pop savvy sidekick.
"Kaijiura's Fiction CD." the writer replied. "I got it today, but I haven't got a chance to play it the whole way through. I heard it's quite a collector's item."
Otaku nodded. "It is. What track are you on now?"
"I just finished track two."
"Go to track seven."
"Why?"
Otaku chuckled a bit. "You'll see..."
The writer quickly flipped through the tracks, all the while checking to see the name of the song he was looking for: "zodiacal sign."
(Scene: A hallway in the Manor.) 2142 hours...
It felt like he was running for hours, but it only had been less than fifteen minutes before Daisuke nearly fell into an ambush. I wonder if Altena was behind that attack as well... he thought as he hid in the blind spot of a connecting hallway.
Along that same hallway was another nun, moving in the shadows, both gun and dagger drawn and aimed at her oblivious target.
Or, so she thought before Daisuke, not once looking at the nun, drew his gun and fired one round.
Knowing that Blackhawk could easily find him now, Daisuke turned around to face the near-death nun and ran down that hallway. As he ran past the nun, now kneeling, he discarded his empty gun and took the loaded gun that the nun had, all the while, putting a deep gash in her throat, ensuring her death.
2145 hours...
Another sprint down another hallway led Daisuke to another ambush. This time, one armed nun sprang out behind a doorway and fired at the cloaked teen.
The bullet was easily blocked by the unholy sword that he held out in front of his face. He then pulled out the gun hidden in the cloak and fired one round.
A doorway further down and on the opposite side of the first door flew open. With it, a nun firing blindly at Daisuke.
He managed to slipped past every bullet fired as he made a swift charge towards the nun, drawing the sword across his chest then throwing a slash that was able to cut through the side of the wooden door and the nun's throat. He skidded to a stop, taking in a deep breath after that small scare, then continued on his way, where ever it may be...
(Scene: Altar of the Manor.) 2150 hours...
One of the double doors swung open and Daisuke stumbled in, nearly tripping down the dark aisle. He caught himself and looked up towards the moonlit altar.
...Dead silence was all he heard as he slowly crept along the aisle, listening to every footstep made. "Someone's here..." he muttered. "...but where?"
He stopped as soon as he got near the front of the altar, closed his eyes, finding the other sound that he heard without the use of his vision.
Footsteps... he thought. ...behind me! He quickly opened his eyes and turned around to find the ragged, half-sane Claude Blackhawk charging into the altar with a sword in his hands.
The two blades clashed, setting off small sparks of light on impact. Daisuke glared at the foolish opponent that attempted to push him back with all his strength.
"Miss me?" Claude hissed.
Daisuke smirked. "'Course not." He shoved Claude back to the aisle, gaining some fighting space.
Claude smiled back. "It's about time that you accept your fate and die by my hand!"
"Your hand?" Daisuke's eyes narrowed. "What ever happened to Noir?"
"I refuse to see the one that I have been going after get killed off by someone that is half is young as me!"
"Then what was the point of hiring her in the first place?" Daisuke hissed. "You set up this whole 'round-the-world chase for nothing!"
"I was foolish." Claude replied. "So what?" Holding the sword tightly in his hand, he charged once more at Daisuke. "Your death is all that matters now!"
Unconsciously, Daisuke drove the unholy sword through the air, burying itself in Claude's chest.
Both combatants smiled in their insane manner.
"You missed..." Daisuke said, barely feeling the sting of the cut on his left cheek.
"...And so I did..." Claude hissed. "I hope that Noir will take over in my place so that she can kill you in the same way that you did to me..."
Daisuke pulled the blood-stained sword away as soon as Claude began to close his eyes and his lifeless body succumbed to the force of gravity.
To be continued...
T.R. Fanatic: This is about as far as I'll possibly get in long-chapter fanfics until I get motivated to continue writing this piece (and find a way to end this story).