Disclaimer: See previous chapters
AN: Finally, after several long months, it's returned. Back for your entertainment.
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Chap. 28
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BBBBBSSSSSHHHHHHH!
The blast of the energy cannon exploded of the wall as Havoc dodged the now relentless Glaive. Elijah gritted his teeth as he maneuvered the machine away. Since meeting Glaive here, he had been hacked at, shot at, and nearly plastered against the walls by the white machine, with the pilot keeping silence as he attacked without letup. Elijah opened the com-link again to try and talk to him.
"Cain! What's up with you?"
The white machine seemed to glare and the Moonlight blade came to life. 'Not again' he grimaced mentally as the blue-white blade came flying at him. Snapping the controls back, Havoc managed to avoid the deadly swipe, which cut across the wall. But as soon as he did, Glaive lifted up his grenade rifle and fired. The concussion blast hit Havoc dead on and nearly hurled the machine to the ground. Inside, Elijah growled as the heat scorched him within. 'What the hell?' Elijah had practiced and trained with Cain, so he knew when he was serious or not. But he had never seen him fight like this before, much less against him. Not even when he…borrowed…Cain's Moonlight blade. On instinct, he pulled the trigger, causing Havoc to lift its machine gun and fire back. Glaive was too close for the bullets to miss, but it didn't stay long enough for it to do much damage as he pulled away to the side.
"Hey!" Elijah spat. "I'm starting to believe you're actually trying to kill me."
-"I am."-
Elijah's eyes widened, unaware that Glaive's OB boosters had flared and the white machine was now barreling at him, laserblade alit again. Again on instinct, Elijah guided Havoc to the side and out of the path of the attack. But Glaive's extensions shot out, causing the machine to whirl around and attack again with a energy blast while Havoc was still flying away. The blast hit the leg, causing Havoc to crash into the wall. Elijah groaned, but had no time to dwell on the pain, for Glaive was coming at him again. Igniting the boosters, Elijah flew upward, once again dodging the white machine's wrath.
-"Do you know why Armored Core pilots are named Ravens?"-
Elijah was surprised again as he landed the machine. He was ready for whatever his mentor had in store, but Glaive was still for a change and the pilot within continued to speak.
-"Because ravens are a symbol of an approaching death. That is why we are feared. That is why we are called." Glaive turned to glare at him. "We are harbingers of death. And when you face a Raven, know that death is a constant."-
Elijah shook his head in disbelief. 'He's serious. But why now?'
The blade arm of Glaive slowly lifted and its weapon slowly ignited. Elijah gripped the controls tightly, tensely waiting for the attack.
-"In that machine, you only have two goals. Completing your mission and surviving."-
Glaive charged and Havoc fired…
Hospital
The only thing worse than being in an operation room under the knife is being in the waiting room outside the operating room. At least, that's what Diana felt now. The waiting was more than frustrating and she was a minute away from demolishing the ticking clock on the wall. 'What f&)ing moron decided to put an old clock in the waiting room?' But she knew what was really bothering her. It has been nearly two hours since they began the operation and there had been no word on Koemai still. The light was still on, so they were still operating. But for this long? Was there something wrong? Was he alright?
'I'm going crazy here.'
With a huff, the redhead stood up from her seat and over to drink machine. Grabbing the can, she returned to her seat and began to drink. She was thirstier than she thought and pretty soon, she had emptied the can altogether. Dismally, she looked at the can then the clock and then the room. So much was uncertain now and she was beginning to lose it. 'How does Cain deal with it?' she pondered. She knew the wreck he was in when they thought Aria was dead. But after that, when he found her in a coma, how did he go on with her like that? Would I have to go through that? So many questions with no answers... Her hand began to tighten around the can she was holding until she remembered that night.
After the pool game…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Maybe we should call it a night."
After Elijah and Baron left, the two decided to leave the bar. It wasn't that late in the evening, but the two of them had nothing else to do. At least at first.
"Wait a minute."
Koemai looked over at Diana, who seemed to be staring off in the distance. When she kept silent, he faced her fully.
"What is it?"
The woman turned to him and gave him a light smile. "Come with me."
Koemai looked at her strangely, but followed her regardless. Moving down a few blocks, they arrived at their destination, which caused Koemai to be all the more confused, and perhaps a little wary.
"Diana. This is your place."
"Mmhm." she replied as she opened the door.
He didn't budge. "Hold on. I don't want…"
She cut him off. "Before you start, just come in please."
Koemai narrowed his eyes and then finally conceded to entering the dorm. Closing the door, he saw her seat herself on the couch. He would have thought that she was coming on to him. Hell, that's what he figured when they arrived here. But her face was looking away and her eyes seemed somewhat distant.
"Sit."
Koemai carefully sat down opposite of her, keeping his gaze on her beautiful frame, but wondering just what was on her mind. Her eyes sharply curved over to him and she gave another light smile
"I know that look, Koemai. You're wondering what I am thinking."
"It has crossed my mind." he retorted.
She looked away again. "I wanted to say….that I'm sorry."
More confusion flashed in Koemai's mind and on his face as Diana continued.
"I pressed you about moving in together." she explained. "You just weren't ready and I'm sorry."
Silence reigned between them and Diana looked over at him. But for once, she was unable to gauge his thoughts, as his eyes became blank. Slowly, his jaw began to tighten, causing Diana to wonder even more. 'Was he upset? Why should he be?'
"I can't…"
"What?"
Koemai lowered his head and his hand unconsciously clenched into a fist. "I can't believe that I'm a Raven. I'm such a wuss. The truth is that I…I was afraid." He paused for a moment. "You brought it up and I panicked. I should have been ready, but I just…"
Diana was stunned by this revelation, but not surprised. The truth was that they both took the situation badly and it ended up in hurting them both. The woman placed a hand over his fist, soothing it away.
"Can we…just start over?"
Koemai lifted his head up to hers and their eyes met. A smile slowly drifted up his lips as he saw her, lovingly for the first time in a long while.
"I'd like that. No more being afraid."
Diana smiled broadly and suddenly stood up from her place. Circling around in front of him, she reached up her chest and began unbuttoning her shirt. Koemai was bit baffled by this behavior.
"W-what are you doing?"
She dropped her shirt on the floor, with her chest now covered only a red bra. She looked at him amusedly, but didn't smile. Rather, she reached down and began lifting of his shirt. He didn't resist it and she began speaking. "If we are going to start over, I would like to start it on the right foot."
She pulled it off fully and tossed it on the ground next to hers, leaving Koemai with his undershirt on. She then bent down and pried off his shoes and followed by kicking hers off. With that done, Diana turned around and sat in his lap. It was only then that Koemai realized what she wanted. With a smile, he wrapped one of his arms around her slender body while he hit the light switch with the other. In the shadows of darkness, the two shifted together to the side, now lying down on the couch. Though neither could see it, they felt each other smile, as they felt each others' warmth.
"I…I've missed this." Diana said lightly.
Koemai held her closer and whispered. "I've missed you."
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Her hand loosened up and she simply placed the can down. She couldn't afford to give up hope now. 'No more being afraid.' That was what Koemai said and she would stick to it. She would not give up. Not while he was still in there, breathing. She would wait for as long as it took. Her eyes stared back up at the clock.
'I guess it you and me again, clock…'
Unknown
"So that's it, huh?"
"Fitting. From the flames of destruction will be born the Horsemen of Apocalypse."
"No need for poetry just yet. Once we cross Silent Line…" "And what of our rivals?""There is no need for concern. One of them is out, injured from the conflict with Majestic Force and Blood Omen."
"So it appears that brought about an extra bonus after all."
"They will be of no consequence now."
"I agree. That is why I went out to scout the terrain. Here's the data."
"Hm. A wasteland…No hiding areas…""The element of surprise doesn't exist."
"Then we shall rely on speed. We can defeat the remaining Ravens of Nightwatch and head to the bunker without too much difficulty."
"Let us prepare then." 'Glaive. You will taste death. Reaper will see to it this time.'
Facility
CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHC!
The bullet fire tore through the air and at the white core, while Glaive itself continued its advance with his saber lit. Havoc blasted off to the side and Glaive sliced out. He knew what was coming next. Glaive now aimed his energy cannon and fired at the retreating Raven. Havoc dodged aside and Glaive charged again. Eljiah smirked somewhat. 'You're getting predictable.' He awaited the glow of the blade and sure enough it came. Havoc's boosters ignited, but instead of dodging off to the side, he jumped right over Glaive's head. Havoc landed and began to turn around, but Glaive was gone.
'Son of a…'Elijah realized too late that Glaive had continued on after his first strike and was now circling around. Looking at his radar, Elijah saw the swift approach of the Raven. He realized that his mistake was that he forgot to take into account both Glaive's extension booster and back extra boosters. The result was a machine that was very highly maneuverable as he was about to find out.
SHHHHRAAAANNNGGGGGGG!
Havoc boosted off to the side, but it wasn't enough and soon, Elijah's world spun in a flash of light, sparks and motion. Glaive's blade had cut in deep on the left, severing the arm totally and nearly penetrating the core. Elijah could have sworn that he actually saw the tip of the blade fly through his cockpit. His reflexes had saved him, but it cost him an arm. Looking down briefly, he saw the entire left arm on the floor, along with the blade that was attached to it. 'He really is trying to kill me.' Elijah couldn't believe this. Cain wasn't the type to try and kill his opponent. Normally, he would work to disable his opponent, as he saw killing as an absolute last result. It was what made him unique as a Raven. 'What the heck happened to him?'
"Ravens are a symbol of an approaching death… We are harbingers of death…"Elijah tightened his hand over the trigger. He may have lost his arm and blade, but he still had his right arm, machine gun, EO option, and missile. That alone made him more equipped than the white machine. However, Glaive had the speed advantage as well as forceful attacks. And Elijah wasn't used to his new energy cannon weapon. Normally, he would deal with a solid grenade blast from the white machine, knowing that it had slow reload time. While that was the case here, this energy weapon was much faster than the grenade launcher and thus the timing was different. Speaking of which…
BBBBBSSSSSHHHHHHH!
Havoc launched away from the energy blast, but the shockwave threw him off a bit. Regardless, Havoc managed to align itself enough to lock on to Glaive. 'Fine. Have it your way.' Hitting the EO switch, Havoc raised his weapon and fired. His ammo was low, but he still had enough for a fight. At the same time, the EO sprang up from the back of the AC and fired in unison with his gun. Glaive soared around the fire, but suddenly changed directions and came right at Havoc. Havoc backed away, continuing to fire on Glaive. Glaive took in the damage as he closed in and Elijah pulled his machine away from the imminent laserblade slash. As he backed off, he looked at the attacker in question. What made him change direction like that? Glaive could have easily soared away from the shots for a long while. But then again, Glaive was acting more aggressively he had ever seen before. But there still had to be some key to this.
"In that machine, you only have two goals. Completing your mission and surviving."
Two things… Well, it looks like surviving is out of the question. So that leaves completing my miss… Wait a second. A blast from Glaive's weapons staved off his train of thought for a moment, but he knew what he had to do now. Placing aside his thoughts of survival, he aimed. Glaive continued to charge at him, but it didn't matter.
He had a mission to complete…
CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHC!
The bullets flew straight at Glaive and passed right over its shoulder. The fire continued on behind him, hitting the Raven's true target, the generator. He unloaded the last of his machine gun fire into it and the generator soon erupted into fire and exploded. 'Gotcha.' Glaive was now in close with its blade extended and Elijah prepared for the worse. But to his surprise, Glaive stopped in mid-attack and slowly backed away.
-"Mission failed. Returning to base."-
Glaive turned away and headed for the exit. Elijah sighed with relief that his battle was over. And a good thing too as his generator had chosen now to break down, power fading away in the machine. But before it cut off totally, he received a transmission from Cain.
-"You are a true Raven now, Elijah."-