I am sorry for any inconvenience with any OOCness that may appear in this chapter, but this is just how the plans for my plot turned out. I was trying to keep everybody IC -- which is hard to do now that they're slightly different from how they are in the series considering everything that has happened to them in this story. n.n Good and bad... Ex. Brago being kinder 'cause he's a father...

I think the fight scene MIGHT last a max. of two chapters more after this... I'm unsure. It will end soon though, i assure you that!

Anyway, uh... (slowly backs away) Don't hate me for doing this to Kalu... Things will turn out slightly differently than what you may think at the end of this chapter. o.o I promise!

Brago: Twilight... What did you do?

Um...

Sherry: Yes, please tell us.

O.O SORRYGOTTARUN! (goes into hiding)

Brago and Sherry: TWILIGHT!

Disclaimer: I don't own this but i do own Kalu. She's mine, not yours, BUWAHAHAHAHA! o.o' And now people may hate me for putting characters in this story through a lot of pain... MEEP!

(Does anybody think this is rated T yet? Read this chapter n' please tell me what you think... Just 'cause of the whole 'violence' issue. n.n Going back into hiding now! BYES!)


A Gift from the Dark

Chapter 31

Compassion: A Weakness or Strength?

The fight continued on for what seemed like forever. Foliage was destroyed, earth was crumbled beneath Brago's gravitational attacks and Zophise's energy blasts, and there was no sign of an ending. And all the while the two powerful demons fought, Kalu could feel herself becoming weaker and weaker every minute...

Standing alone some ways away from his daughter, Brago stood staring up with his pupil-less gaze in the direction of his opponent. He still had the major cut on his forehead and was still slightly bleeding, but as the time went by and he continued to fight against Zophise even more, he received even more injuries all over his arms and other areas. His shirt was slightly torn and his left shoulder was showing. Beads of sweat were seen on his ash-pale skin as he heavily breathed, his shoulders heaving as he gasped for air.

Zophise, on the other hand, was quite injured as well, but not as much. He was hovering in the air with his robe slightly torn on the right sleeve, revealing a nasty gash that Brago had given him when throwing a volley of punches at him that ended with an Oruga Reis spell. His face had a large bruise forming on his forehead but that was slightly covered by his messy orange hair. His hands were scratched from being pulled under Brago's gravitational spells and other attacks. Zophise too was breathing hard, but not as heavily as the dark demon before him.

"Idiot," cursed the demon as he glared down at Brago. "It's time we finish this... You must die!" At this sudden statement that he had said quite a few times now during the fight with Brago, an abrupt blue aura began to form in Zophise's hand and suddenly a whip appeared. He lashed it about and thrusted it forward; it wrapped around the dark mamodo tightly as a sudden explosion occurred from coming in contact with the energy.

Brago growled with frustration as he fell to his knee, glaring up with a crimson gaze towards the enemy. "Damn it," he muttered as he painfully stood back up. I'm not the one who's going to die here, he thought to himself as he raised his right arm. It's going to be him...

Before he could take any action though, Zophise sent a couple of Radom spells flying in his direction. Brago smirked as he saw the pink energies flying towards him. This was just what he expected would happen, the other would see him raise his arm as if to attack but would then send his own spells hurtling towards him. The demon had other plans, however, and was not going to attack him then, but attack him now.

A white streak of energy emitted out of Brago's hand and soon formed a colorful, swirling energy known as the Dioga Gravidon spell. The two Radom attacks merged with this new spell and were nullified as they disappeared; the darker demon's spell now was racing towards Zophise.

"Humph, don't think I'll let this hit me so easily," muttered Zophise as he raised his hand, bringing his shield up to defend himself from the attack. When he noticed the shield was starting to break away, however, Zophise backed up and avoided the massive explosion that was soon created afterwards from the two powers.

Unfortunately for him, however, Brago was right behind him, arm outstretched, ready for action.

Eyes wide, Zophise screamed as the mamodo before him sent another spell hurtling his way. Out of instinct his arms flew to his face, blocking the gravitational attack with his arms. There was a rather small explosion, but instead of Zophise being sent to the ground, it was Brago. The other demon had tricked him into thinking that he was caught in his attack, but at the last moment he threw his own attack his way.

After coming in contact with the other's spell, Brago toppled to the ground but caught himself with his hands. Growling lowly, he stared up at the demon before him, hovering in the air.

"Fool, don't underestimate me," said the demon casually. "You're compassion is making you weak... Hell, when you had none back when we first fought, you were at least stronger then. Now you're just a waste of time-- a bug that insists to not be squashed!"

Brago gritted his teeth tightly together as he stood up, glaring death at Zophise. His menacing stare did not to affect the demon so as he wished it would, but instead caused him to start laughing.

"And what's so funny, Zophise?" inquired Brago stiffly. "Trying to die of laughter?" He clenched his teeth together even tighter when the other continued to chuckle.

Tightening his hand into a fist, Zophise mused to himself aloud. "Don't you see? Now that you have emotion you've become weaker, Brago. You don't put up as much of a fight... You're holding back, aren't you? You're holding back because your daughter is right there in front of you," At this, he pointed with a snow white finger over in Kalu's direction. The girl was still staring blankly and helplessly at the entire scene. "You don't wish to hurt her anymore than she already is."

This was somewhat true, thought Brago as he glanced in his daughter's direction. Something was holding him back from actually killing the demon before him. Before, he would have done it without a second thought... Was it really compassion? Were Zophise's words actually true? He didn't want to kill him because...

Shaking his head lightly, Brago brushed away the thought. No, no, he couldn't kill him now because he wasn't trying hard enough. He beat him once, he could beat him again!

"Shut up, you bastard!" shouted Brago angrily as he jumped up, ran up onto a tree and tackled Zophise in mid air. They were both sent to the ground with a violent thud and unpleasant cracking sound as the demon before the darker one landed on his back as he was pushed down. "You don't know what or how I feel!" said the demon bitterly as he thrashed the other in the face.

Kalu's eyes widened. For however long this fight had been, she had never seen her father act so vindictive. And I thought that he scared me the one night after I lost control, she thought to herself. This is... worse... than that... Why?

The hybrid child's eyes widened even more when she saw her father take a hit, a trickle of blood flew through the air immediately afterwards. A sickening feeling rose in her stomach that felt as if she swallowed a few blocks of ice whole in one gulp.

That was it. She couldn't take it anymore. With all the strength she had left within her, the little girl sucked in as much air as she could, and almost in vain, cried out "Daddy!"

At this, Brago jerked his head to the side after hearing the little girl's weak voice call to him. "Kalu?" He stared, seeing his daughter in the predicament she was in, but suddenly was pushed over as Zophise kicked him in the face to get his grip off of him and then floated back into the air.

"Thank you, Kalu, for distracting him for me," said the demon smugly as he rose even higher into the air. "I'm very grateful. It was rather hard to get him to let go of me by myself..."

With a cry, the girl fell over onto the ground face first into the ground. She continued to weep as she felt most of the strength within her leave right after calling out to her father.

Standing up, the dark demon stared in the direction of his daughter. For a quick second, he forgot all about Zophise and the fight he was in. The only thing that was on his mind at the moment was his daughter.

"Kalu!" he shouted and then darted forward, completely ignoring the fact that Zophise was right behind him. When he reached the child, he bent down on his knees, untied her from the ropes she was bound to, and gently picked her up in his arms. She stared at him with a pained look on her face and made an attempt to speak, but miserably failed. Instead, more tears fell from her face and she emitted a low sob.

Standing up, the demon turned to face the other with his daughter still in his arms. His ruby gaze shifted from one side of the scene to the other, right where Zophise was hovering up in the air.

Suddenly he felt something slightly cold grasp his bare shoulder where his shirt was slightly torn. Looking down, the mamodo realized that Kalu had strained herself to rest her hand on his shoulder. An illegible look overwhelmed his face and he spoke gently to the girl, "Don't waste your strength."

Without saying a word, the girl released her hand and it fell limp to her side as it dangled from her arm. Brago gave a weak smile to her but the look soon vanished as he averted his attention from his daughter to the other demon up in the air.

"Zophise! You're going to pay for this!"

"Oh, am I? It's going to be rather hard to fight me with your daughter in your hands." A smirk crossed the demons face and he raised his hand, eyes twinkling with excitement. "This should be fun..."

Crimson orbs widening, Brago immediately darted away from his original standing position just in time to avoid a Radom attack hurtling his way. There was a crash, and right where he had previously been standing there was a small crater.

"What's wrong, Brago, have you become a coward?" laughed Zophise as he continued to send multiple spells across the scene towards the other mamodo. Brago dodged each and every one of them, shielding his daughter all the while doing so. He could feel her breaths becoming shallower and shallower... Damn, this was not good.

Zophise continued to cackle as he watched Brago hide behind a tree. A few attacks hit the trunk but did not affect it. Here was a strong, sturdy tree that had been there for quite a while-- it would not go down so easily.

Carefully the demon set the hybrid down on the ground and stared at her with a worried look on his face. "Kalu, look at me if you can hear me," he said. She slowly redirected her gaze to look in his eyes and he nodded his head. "Alright. I'm going to get you out of here... It's not safe."

Kalu looked as if she was about to try and say something, but her father shook his head and gently stroked her face with his clawed finger.

"No... don't speak. Save your strength, you'll need it..." He continued to stare at her when suddenly a Radom attack came a little too close for comfort in their direction. Quickly glancing behind him, Brago made sure that Zophise was still having fun with target practice against the tree and he turned back around. "I can't fight him like this... I'm going to find a safe spot for you to rest... OK?"

One wouldn't be able to notice it very well, but Kalu managed to slowly nod her head. More tears trickled down her face when she felt herself be picked up once more by her father.

"Come on. Let's get you out of here."

"What's the matter?" shouted Zophise, now sounding aggravated. "Quit stalling so I can kill you already!" Right as he said that, he suddenly sent a Gigano Radom swooping towards the two. Brago looked up and ran as fast as he could right when the blast hit the tree.

Unfortunately for Brago and Kalu, the tree finally gave way. A rather loud cracking sound was heard as the trunk of the tree slowly began to lean forward and then slowly began to fall over-- right in the two's direction.

Cursing under his breath, Brago leaped as far as he could in order to escape the falling tree. It collapsed onto the ground with a massive crash and nearly swept Brago off his feet. Luckily he had already run a good distance away from its falling point.

"Fools, get back here!" said Zophise angrily as he swiftly flew over to where Brago was retreating. "Stop being such a coward!"

"I'm no coward!" replied the demon angrily as he continued to run. "I'm getting my daughter out of here!"

This response made Zophise angry. Growling with frustration, he raised his hands and began to gather energy in his palms. "I think it's time for my Dioga Teoladomu spell to end this... This will all be over very soon!" he spat as many gigantic flaming rocks formed above his head. "NOW DIE!" he shouted as he thrusted his hands down.

Every one of the rocks hovering above in the air suddenly swept down towards where the two Belmonds were. Zophise cackled maliciously as they quickly headed their way.

Brago turned his head to the side and saw the oncoming attack coming ever so closer to where he and Kalu were. "Kuso..." he hissed. "Kalu, hold on," he warned, now turning his back and running even faster than before, preparing himself just in case he were to be hit by the attack. Brago didn't want to take any risks of harming his daughter...

One of the shards of stone landed beside him and he jumped away from it and began running in a different direction. He saw one coming right towards him again and he cursed once more under his breath.

"Idiot, it's time you die!" laughed Zophise as he watched the boulder coming ever so closer to Brago. "Your compassion will be your fault!"

"No it will not!"

Everyone turned their heads to the side as a new person spoke up. Kalu's eyes lit up as she recognized that well familiar voice. Could it be, she thought, is he here...?

Out from nowhere, Zatch Bell appeared riding atop a horse-like demon everyone knew as Ponygon. The horse demon's muscles had increased and a golden armor was seen on his back, head, and feet; it was trimmed with a red design and a horn was on his forehead-- this made him look almost as if he were one of those elegant unicorns that you would find in a fairytale book for children. The Demon King was on top of Ponygon's back as the horse swiftly jumped from his spot and knocked Zophise's rock away from where Brago stood.

The boulder was sent flying to the right, knocking another one down as well. Zophise's spell was now gone as Ponygon attacked each and every one, sending them away from harming anyone.

Brago gently set Kalu on the grassy ground so he could turn around and get a better view of what was going on and block any other oncoming attacks if necessary. He watched as Zatch and Ponygon landed a few feet away from where he stood.

Zatch stared in Zophise's direction with a scowl clearly seen on his face, his amber eyes shining. "Compassion does not make you weak-- it strengthens your heart and your power! You know nothing, Zophise!" he shrieked. Zophise merely growled in irritation while Brago mused about how lame this sounded.

"Brago! Kalu!"

Turning his head to the side after hearing yet another new voice, Brago looked in the same direction where the other two had come from and saw Sherry running towards the scene, her golden hair flying behind her as she sprinted across the ground as fast as she could.

A sense of relief swam through the demon as he saw his wife was alright and he lightly sighed. That was good... But Kalu wasn't in as good of shape as she was...

When the blonde reached the two she jumped and wrapped her arms around Brago's neck. "I was so worried..." she said, and quickly removed her arms so she could stare down at her daughter. "Oh, God..." She sat down and tenderly picked the girl up in her arms and turned to Brago.

He said nothing but merely turned his head away; Sherry sensed the seriousness of the scene and looked down at Kalu.

"She can't speak right now, let her save her energy," responded Brago when he felt that Sherry was about to talk to the girl. Sherry looked up in curiosity when he said that. "I don't want her loosing anymore strength than she already has."

Nodding her head, Sherry set the child down onto the ground right after giving her a light hug. "I'm sorry..." she whispered in the hybrid's ear, a certain glint appeared in Kalu's eyes. Kalu understood, though right now she really wanted to see Zatch... Unfortunately she couldn't, she was still too weak to do anything...

Back to the other scene, Zatch was staring in the other's direction. Zophise was still hovering in the air, watching the little family reunion taking place. "Damn it," he cursed. "Furigaro should have taken care of her!"

It was at this moment that Brago skulked over to the King and stared down at him with a slight frown on his face. "I could have defended myself on my own, you know," he said dryly.

Still serious, Zatch looked in Brago's direction and smirked. "You looked like you needed help. I found Sherry about to be attacked by another demon too so I helped her, and while coming here I ran across Ponygon." The King pointed in the horse demon's direction.

"Meru!" proclaimed Ponygon.

Zatch nodded his head and turned his attention back to the Belmond family and then over in Kalu's direction. His eyes widened. "I didn't think it was this bad..." he said quietly to himself. He looked over at the immobile hybrid and a saddened expression overwhelmed his face. "Brago, I'm sorry... It's my fault she's like this. I wasn't doing a very good job guarding the portal between the human world and the demon world... I'm sorry..." Zatch now bowed his head to the ground as he said that. "I figured out why Zophise was escaping... And it's my fault... I hadn't been guarding the gate. I didn't think anybody would try to escape! I--"

"Enough," Everyone looked over to where Sherry was, now walking up to the two demons. Kalu was behind her, still lying on the ground. "What has happened has happened," stated Sherry solemnly, eyeing Zatch. "It can't be changed. Let's just get this fight over with so we can defeat Zophise once and for all."

"Hn?" Brago stared at Sherry oddly as she said that. "We?" he inquired.

The woman nodded her head. "I want to help too! I know I can do something!" she said, tightening her fists. "It's not Zatch's fault that Kalu is like this... It's that thing's fault. I want to help fight!"

At this remark, the demon shook his head and responded, "No, Sherry. You're not going to fight. This is something Zatch, the horse thing and I will do on our own."

Sherry glared. "I know I can do something, Brago!"

"I know you can, you can look after Kalu while we fight."

"Brago, listen to me!" said Sherry angrily, clenching her fists together even tighter than before. This irritated Brago.

"NO!" he shouted, baring his teeth. "You are not going to fight. Kalu needs to be looked after!"

"But Brago--"

"Dammit, Sherry, can't you see she's dying?" Brago stated, now raising his voice. There was an unusual tense silence between everyone as soon as those words escaped the demon's lips. He looked away with an infuriated look and cursed to himself.

"..."Over to the side, Kalu was as silent as ever. Those words broke something within her and her purple orbs contracted as tears formed in the corners of her clouded eyes.

I'm... dying...?

Sherry stared at the ground, her heart wildly beating inside her chest. This was a situation she would rather not be in, but this was concerning her family-- her real family, not somebody cruel and spiteful like her mother. This concerned those she cared for...

With a low sigh, Brago walked up and rested his hands on the woman's shoulder. "Will you look after her?" he asked.

"I... Brago, I don't..."

"Will you, Sherry?" The demon cupped the blonde's chin in his hands and forced her to look at him. She was silent, but after a moment's silence she slowly nodded her head. Brago smirked and quickly leaned in and kissed the woman on the lips.

He broke the kiss after a quick second and quickly turned away, his back facing Sherry. The woman stared after him and quickly whispered, "I know you can do it..." before turning back around and running over to Kalu's side.

Zatch, now looking up at Brago, walked up to him and asked, "You ready, Brago?" Ponygon walked up to the King's side as soon as he said that.

Brago took a step forward and stared up in Zophise's direction, who was becoming even more infuriated by the minute. He cracked his knuckles to loosen his hands and smirked.

"I'm more than ready. Let's go."