They had come right into the heat of the battle, had watched demonic servants perish in the darkness that was Tsuzuki's power, and they had sought cover from the painfully snapping aura that destroyed everything it touched.

Tatsumi had witnessed the fall of Muraki, had watched the life drain from the mad man's eyes, and he had watched the last conversation between two enemies. He had seen the light die, but he had seen a new one come to life.

Muraki had asked Tsuzuki to release him.

He had wanted to die.

His body had disappeared, evaporating under the power Tsuzuki wielded. And now his friend rose, the energy wafting like giant, misshapen and ever-moving wings behind him. The cold eyes showed no more sign of Tsuzuki being in there. This was... not him.

He appeared ethereal, the face pale and like made of porcelain. Beautiful and deadly, graceful and divine. Tatsumi had rarely been in the presence of Enma-Daiou, but that was what he felt now. He gaped at the new Tsuzuki, at the man who had been triggered to release his heritage, and a cold shiver raced down his spine.

Not far away lay Hisoka, unconscious, covered in blood and healing wounds, all inflicted by Muraki. It had been the sight of his partner that had launched this and Tatsumi was under no illusions whether or not they could even get to Hisoka to check on him. He prayed the young shinigami would be all right.

"We have to stop this!" Watari shouted, eyes aglow with determination. "We have to stop him from losing himself in this!"

But how? Tatsumi thought faintly.

How could they stop something that had the power of Enma-Daiou?

He briefly closed his eyes, steeling himself against what was to come.

The answer was easy: do it whatever way possible.

"If I can get into his mind, I can throw the switch," Touda rumbled, his own golden eyes glowing wildly.

Tatsumi could only guess what was happening through the bond.

"He's blocking me, has erected shields, but if you can weaken him enough that I can get past his defenses, I can knock him out."

"Are you sure?" Watari demanded.

"No." A humorless smile graced Touda's pale lips. "I only felt his power rise once before and it nearly tore me apart. This is different. This is everything. The link is blocked and I think I know what to expect behind those walls. Can you distract him enough for me to get to him?"

Watari swallowed hard and looked at his lover. Tatsumi just nodded.

"We'll do what we can."

The shadows stirred, gathering, growing in mass and strength. Twice within a short amount of time he would go to his limits, Tatsumi mused. Even now he could still feel the ache of his abused body where shinigami magic had bruised the energy lines within his body. The shadows reacted as fluidly as ever to his commands, and he would use them to his fullest power, but it would probably knock him out cold. Or worse.

It would be suicide.

There was a flutter of tiny wings and a determined hoot. 003 landed on Watari's shoulder and nipped at his hair. The blond smiled weakly.

"All of us, huh?"

All of them.

Tatsumi let the shadows gather.

Yes, suicide.

He smiled humorlessly.

And the only way to maybe get their friend back.

° ° °

It was a battle of never before seen proportions. Tsuzuki was more than a match for what was facing him, and he was facing it with cold efficiency. Like an immovable guardian he stood in front of the crumbled form of Kurosaki Hisoka, shielding him, defending him, completely on automatic. Watari understood the need to protect a loved one; he would do the same if this was Tatsumi, but in Tsuzuki's case it was lethal.

Shadows boiled toward the creature their friend had become, the calculating, cold and demonic force that destroyed what they threw at him. Muraki's actions had released the power and no one could stop it. Tatsumi's face was a mask of concentration, fierce, hard, the blue eyes fixed on his target. There was hardly any movement from the man as he guided his shadows in the precise attack, like a surgeon wielding a scalpel.

It was deathly fascinating to watch, to see the mastery of such a lethal force, to see the elegance, and it was quite clear that only decades of control and training could yield such results. Watari had never seen his lover in full battle, without losing control of himself but not holding back his strength. Tatsumi was a scary man if he wanted to be, but he was a terrifying warrior, too.

Watari channeled power into the playground toys, life exploding through the dead wood, steel and plastic, and creating temporary warriors to weaken Tsuzuki, to breach his shields, for them to somehow knock him out.

Tatsumi let the shadows attack again, but this time it was as if Tsuzuki had expected them. He raised one arm and Touda shouted a warning, but it was too late. The incredible force of Tatsumi's attack was stopped and flung back at the Shadow Master, who was barely fast enough to create a protective wall of more shadows. Watari heard his partner's groan of pain, but instead of falling back, Tatsumi doubled his efforts. His eyes were long past the stage of a human expression. The blue was mixed with a strange silver color Watari had never seen before, turning the Shadow Master into an ethereal, dangerous and quite inhuman looking figure.

Like whips and projectiles of incredible speed, the shadows lunged at their target, draining their master with the effort to maintain his defenses, and only because Watari looked closely did he see the first signs of exhaustion.

We're losing, the scientist thought, horrified. And he's not even breaking into a sweat.

A bright light exploded not far away and Watari gaped as 003 entered the hellish battle. She had been an angel once, something Watari had never known until she had saved his soul from a devil. She had resigned from her celestial position as a guardian angel and had become a shikigami. He had never seen her fight; he had never called upon her in a battle.

Now he did see her, and she was magnificent. The tiny owl was tiny no more, nor was she still an owl. She was large, about the size of a horse, with magnificent wings. She had paws, fur, feathers, a long tail, and an eagle's head. Her fur was dark brown, as were the feathers, and it glinted with a faint, reddish highlight here or there. She opened her beak and screeched a challenge.

Tsuzuki turned his head and looked at the shikigami griffon. 003 launched herself at him, the bright light of before reappearing and with a beat of her wings she lanced it at the demon they were facing.

"003!" Watari called, fear racing through him, and the toy warriors grew in rank and size.

In the wake of the light, Touda surged forward, his snake form gigantic and fearsome, but like all of them, he couldn't get past his master's defenses.

The light touched the demonic shields.

Something wavered.

Something sizzled.

There was a loud crack and Tsuzuki stumbled, just about able to evade a slice of shadow hurtling his way. Amethyst eyes flared and he made an abrupt gesture with one hand.

Tatsumi's shadows rallied to his defense, able to withstand the first blasts, but then even that wasn't enough any more. In absolute horror Watari watched as the black wall was decimated, as shadows fell under Tsuzuki's attack, a black wall that hadn't even fallen for the Five Generals. Energy sliced at Tatsumi, cutting into his clothes, drawing blood.

He knew he was screaming his lover's name, but Watari couldn't hear his own voice over the cacophony of demonic power versus shadows. He witnessed his lover's defeat, saw blood blossom on his clothes, watched as the realization of his imminent loss dawned on the exhausted secretary's face.

With a cry of pain, Tatsumi went down on one knee as Tsuzuki ruthlessly cut at him and a final blow snapped his head around. Glasses flew off the battered face, breaking on the ground.

Again.

Tatsumi dropped like a stone, eyes rolling back into his head.

Watari screamed in denial. It was more like a sob than a real cry.

Tatsumi lay unmoving, bloodied and seemingly broken, eyes closed, hair matted with blood, the glasses shattered.

"Nonononono," Watari chanted in his mind and out loud.

003's energy blasts battered against the demonic shields that now showed the first cracks. Touda hissed and Watari blinked as he witnessed the giant serpents strange attack. Touda curled around the demonic shinigami, hissing, rumbling, humming, his wings spread out, eyes aglow, and suddenly Tsuzuki tilted his head upward, looking into the reptilian eyes.

Watari held his breath.

Black wings quivered.

003 was suddenly flung back and tumbled head over heels, landing hard, hooting painfully as she reverted to her owl form. Watari was on his knees, trembling.
Tsuzuki still looked at Touda, then his gaze moved to take in his opponents, his friends. Touda hissed in pain and tightened the coils, but he never touched his master, who was in his own, personal bubble of cracked shields that still held.

Watari could only imagine what was happening on the mind-plane.

°

Hisoka woke with a start. Emotions raced across his empathically very receptive mind and he instinctively raised his shields, though not before he had identified the origins.

Tsuzuki. But not like the Tsuzuki Asato he knew. So hard and cold and dangerous and black and painful...

Touda. Trying to break through, trying to talk to his master, in such pain himself and still determined to do the impossible.

Muraki. Remnants of his nightmare, the terror of his childhood, the specter that had haunted him even after death. Those emotions were fleeting, fading, as if they weren't really there any more.

Hisoka opened his eyes and blinked.

The sight that greeted him was... impossible.

Tsuzuki stood within the black coils of the fire serpent, pale as a sheet, eyes literally glowing with the power he had inside him. Touda was hissing softly, feathers bristling, golden eyes wild and untamed. He was radiating heat. A lot of it. So much that Tsuzuki should actually be burning, but he wasn't. Touda was holding his master, but he was losing quickly now. All his own darkness and power was nothing compared to what Tsuzuki had at his disposal, at what he had already thrown at the others.

Hisoka stared at the unconscious, bleeding Tatsumi, at Watari who was barely able to still stand.

His disbelieving eyes went to Tsuzuki again.

His partner.

Tsuzuki seemed to shiver and another surge of dark force touched them all.

Touda groaned softly and suddenly Tsuzuki broke free of the confines, the hell serpent collapsing into a small heap of arms, legs and torn clothes, unable to maintain his battle form. Still he moved, got to his knees, tried to stand.

"Tsuzuki," Hisoka whispered, straining to keep his shields up.

He had been under an immense emotional pressure, the return of Muraki opening old wounds and new ones just the same. He had survived the torture. He had endured the touches, the silky words, the hunger in those unnatural eyes. He would endure this as well.

He wanted to touch his partner and lover, feel him, but he knew it wouldn't be a good idea. Right now Tsuzuki Asato was an overload waiting to happen. He was lost, almost gone, in the ocean of limitless power that was his heritage.

And no one could stop him.

The others had weakened Tsuzuki, but not even Touda had managed to break into the steel ball his mind had become. He had cracked the shields, but he had been repelled.

Hisoka inhaled sharply.

He squared his shoulders, gathering what power he still had, collecting it into one sharp spearhead to fling at his target.

"Tsuzuki," he whispered and met the inhuman eyes.

They had always been like this. A violet color that no other human had. Tsuzuki had been born like this, an aberration, suffering from the taunts of other children, being beaten and laughed at, being pushed away and alone. He had demonic blood in him, a lot of it, actually, and powerful at that.

But for Hisoka, Tsuzuki Asato had been more than a man with strange eyes. He had learned to look past the difference, past the child-like façade, and he had discovered something a lot deeper. He had found a warm, caring personality. He had found a core of steel. He had found a sharp, quick mind. He had found a soul suffering from his past, from the nightmares, from his heritage, and from loneliness.

He had found his partner and lover. Asato.

"Asato," he said the name out loud and took the first steps toward the man who wore his lover's face.

The eyes never shifted, the power never spiked. He was being watched by a predator. Hisoka knew he was prey; easy prey. But he was also who Tsuzuki had protected, had always protected.

"It's over," Hisoka went on, voice soft, like talking to a skittish animal.

He was talking to a dangerous creature, though. Lethal. Precise. Strong enough to beat back the attacks of two powerful shikigami and a Shadow Master.

"I'm safe. Muraki is gone. You can come back. I want you back. I want you, Asato, not this. Please come back."

He walked ever-closer, never taking his eyes off Tsuzuki. Touda was watching him, kneeling not far away, frozen in place. He had done what he had been able to, being the one most intimately linked to Tsuzuki, but he hadn't succeeded.

Hisoka swallowed a little as he entered the immediate core of the power that was Tsuzuki. It was cold and smooth, like silk, but he knew that it could tear him apart in a second.

"Asato..." he pleaded. "Come back to me..."

He needed an opening. He needed to see Tsuzuki in those cold eyes before he could act.

"Asato..."

There was a flicker, but nothing concrete.

"You saved me. It's over," Hisoka repeated. "Muraki is gone. You were there to protect me. But I need you now, too. I need you to hold me. Please, Asato. Please..."

His shields were strained and Hisoka stumbled a little, gasping softly. Tsuzuki twitched and the flicker was more pronounced, a tiny piece of his old self breaking through at the sight of his lover's distress.

"...soka...?"

Hisoka knew it was now or never. He had only this one chance and he used it, whatever the cost for him. His hand reached out and he touched the cold, pale skin of his lover, cupping the beloved face, soaking in the moment. He gazed into the warmth that surfaced for a second, knew he was looking at Tsuzuki, and he acted.

The empathic shard shot right into Tsuzuki's mind, destroying the shields that had been cracked under Touda's attack. Without that, Hisoka knew he would never have stood a chance.

Tsuzuki's eyes widened in shock.

His mouth opened in a scream that never happened.

Inside his mind, everything crumbled, collapsing in on itself, burying Tsuzuki's consciousness underneath.

There was a last defensive spike of power that flung Hisoka away.

Tsuzuki swayed, then sagged into himself, collapsing to the ground.

Silence descended, only broken by the fizz of dispersing energy and the sizzle of Touda's still rather active aura. The serpent's expression was wild, dangerous, the eyes still glowing. Energy crackled around him as he tried to close down the link that had let some of what Hisoka had flung at his lover through.

The darkness was still everywhere and with his shields now too thin to protect him much longer, Hisoka felt every spark of it. He curled up, moaning softly.

tbc...