Fading – Chapter 5

-Black Oblivion, Part 2-

Really sorry for the late upload. I have exams and writer's block as an obstruction. Not to worry, I'm not dead so you can at least be nice enough to give me a second chance and continue reading...

Read n Review if you think this chapter deserves it. 3

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Several holes appeared around Aconite as she cried out in pain, clutching both sides of her head as she curled up, on the narrow windowsill in an attempt to stop the throbbing pain, "Aconite!" Cougar called and was just in time to grab Mimori's wrist before she touched the girl. Something was wrong. The woman on the windowsill wasn't Aconite.

Both her magnificent wings appeared before their eyes once more, as did her two swords, where her cries subsided. Her lips curled up into a cruel smile as she giggled, both her hands falling to her sides. Streaks of black appeared in her hair when her swords suddenly dissipated, absorbed into her white wing and tainting its snowy surface black as her left wing was. She looked up at the two; her once purple eyes now tainted red as if a drop of blood entered her eyes.

Cougar pulled Mimori behind him, extending one arm protectively in front of her to prevent the scientist from going anywhere near Aconite in her current state.

"My, my... So you ARE as fine as how Aconite described you..." she purred as 'Aconite' eyed Cougar from head to toe. She looked at Mimori, who was hiding behind the red-head, "And thanks to you, I am here right now," she said darkly, standing in a slouched position on the windowsill.

"Snap out of it, Aconite! What's wrong with you?" Cougar asked, not daring to take a step closer. 'Aconite' laughed at this,

"Are you still convinced that I am that silly little girl? Well then, I suggest you open up your ears and listen to me, COUGAR, "she said in a sickeningly sweet tone, emphasizing every syllable of his name, "I am Oblivion! Aconite's Alter. But, I'm not just any Alter, I'm her alter ego as well," she laughed at her own joke, which was in fact the truth and continued, pointing at Mimori,

"You're in the way. Shall I just dispose of you before I even out the score between Aconite and her beloved Cougar?" she said acidly, making sure to make Cougar as angry as possible. As she expected, the table in front of him dissipated, quickly forming his Alter which wrapped itself around his legs. Without warning, the red-head attempted to kick her inside the room, where Oblivion merely leaned back and allowed herself to fall.

Cougar cursed under his breath and leant out the window to see where she was. She was still falling, but at one point, she spread her wings as widely as she could and began to gain altitude as she flew up, stopping at her own window with her face merely inches away from Cougar's, "Outskirts of town, the deserted Inner town. I've got a lot of things you'd like to hear and you've got ten minutes..." she sneered, almost as if she was tempting Cougar to jump out the window.

He didn't, of course. He merely growled at the devil before him as she called, "I'll be waiting, Cougar! Aconite will be disappointed if you don't turn up... Ha, ha, ha, ha!" she laughed and flew off into the distance, towards the place she promised to meet him.

Strings of colorful swear words escaped the red-headed Alter user as he fought the urge to just lash out at anything within reach but mentally counted to ten and heaved a heavy sigh as his Alter disappeared.

"What... just happened...?" Mimori breathed out, sitting down on Aconite's bed so she could get a better perspective of what just happened. Cougar turned around and headed for the door, "Cougar, where are you going?"

"To the deserted Inner town. She's not taking 'no' for an answer, I suppose," he replied as normally as he could, although some traces of anger could still be heard.

Mimori looked down at her hands, "You're not going to kill her, are you?"

Cougar froze as the door opened. He sighed and decided to just tell her what he had in mind, "That woman wasn't Aconite. As she said, her name was Oblivion. She came here with the intention of hurting you and me. Seeing that you don't have an Alter, I think she's purposely challenging me so she could just see you go all worried. Besides, she's everything Aconite isn't, so I may just be able to knock her back to her senses without having to hurt her too severely," he looked over his shoulder at the raven-haired woman he'd fallen for and said before leaving, "I'll make sure we both come back safe and sound."

Mimori looked up at Cougar at this. He smiled at her and said, "I won't want to see you being depressed over either one of us now, would I? I'm off then," with that said, he started off towards the elevators to get to the ground floor and in a matter of minutes, Radical Good Speed was zooming off into the distance at high speed, towards Oblivion's 'perching ground'.

From the window of Aconite's dorm, Mimori looked on as the pink car sped off, "Be safe, you two..."

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Oblivion sat atop a broken cable pole, her knees drawn in to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees and her wings covering her protectively. Her eyes were shut as she smiled, "Are you awake, Aconite?" she said to herself, not once did she open her eyes.

'Oblivion... Oblivion, what are you doing! Why am I here?' Aconite cried, trapped within her own body, by her own Alter.

The black-winged angel giggled and opened her eyes, "Do you really want to know?"

Aconite fell silent, "I'll just tell you anyway... I challenged your little sweetheart into a match."

'What! Why?'

"I want to see..."

The headlight of a racing car was now drawing closer to her...

"...if this man is worthy enough..."

The car was coming closer now; she could see its streamlined shape coming her way...

"...worthy enough for you to suffer over!" She stood up, her wings spread as if ready for flight, "You've compressed your hatred away from me for so long, your heart is clearly bleeding, Aconite! All those years you long to see him, all those times you spent crying by yourself over him, and these two days your heart practically shattered at the knowledge that he's fallen for someone else!" Oblivion jumped away just as the car crashed into the cable pole. The driver wasn't in the driver's seat and this surprised Oblivion greatly; the owner of the Alter was in mid-air, with her!

"Shocking First Bullet!" he swung his leg at her, in an attempt to knock her down. The kick never intercepted her squarely; her right wing covered her like a shield and with a mighty flap from the same wing, she threw him a few feet backwards, where the acrobatic man landed safely on his feet.

Oblivion smirked, "Controlling his car from afar so I'd be caught off guard... Smart. Sorry Aconite, but you yourself know that I'll only disappear when I've used up all that hatred you'd built up so I won't awaken."

Aconite gasped and Oblivion laughed at her master's blunder, "Don't worry honey, I'll try my best not to pulverize him beyond recognition..." She landed on a nearby ruin and raised both arms on either sides of her body, her wings glowing purple, "Black Rain!"

The aura escaped from her wings and formed numerous black feathers above Cougar's head, nearly covering what little light the moon had to offer and just as Cougar realized what he was in for, the feathers came raining down on him like a hail of knives descending from the heavens.

With his speed, this was nothing for Cougar. Even so, he sustained a few cuts from the assault that came one after the other. The attack stopped soon enough, but then he didn't notice Oblivion standing right behind him and whispering in his ears,

"Would you like to know something, Cougar?" this came as a surprise to him as he swung his leg at her once more out of reflex. Oblivion didn't take his reflexes into account so not surprisingly; she took the hit squarely and skidded across the ground painfully.

She picked herself up from the ground, using her wings as support and re-allocated her dislocated arm. Smirking, Oblivion started talking, much to her master's dismay, "I bet Aconite never told you this before; but I am an unstable Alter. In other words, Aconite and I can't synchronize well inside just one body. We don't have much time left, unless we are able to balance ourselves. But at this rate, it's impossible."

Cougar looked surprised at this; this was a new case of an unstable Alter. Oblivion giggled at the look on his face, "But I'm not disappointed. I don't need to. After all, my only purpose to exist as Aconite's Alter is to fight!" she flew up to him and twisted her body in the air to kick him in the face, but Cougar was naturally faster; he caught her leg and pulled her down towards the ground where she lost her balance, and that was where Cougar hugged her from behind, locking her wings behind her so she wouldn't be able to fly away anymore.

Blood rushed to Oblivion's cheeks when this happened. She knew it wasn't her who just blushed, but it was very evident on her pale skin. She struggled in his surprisingly strong grip, crying out in a fit of desperate rage, "Let me go, you bastard! Once I free my wings, you'll be sorry!"

Cougar smiled at her cries. He let his forehead rest on the back of her head as he said, "Well, let's call ourselves even, shall we?"

"I haven't lost a thing, now release me!" again, Oblivion tried to free her wings, but to no avail.

"I won't talk unless you quiet down."

"Why should I? All I care about is to beat you!"

"Really? Is that really you talking? Or is that simply blind rage getting in over your head?" Cougar countered, holding her closer still.

Oblivion's face turned crimson in embarrassment, "A-Are you saying that I'm merely shouting empty threats!" she hollered.

"I don't know, what do you think?" her captor said playfully, smiling to himself. Her cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink, if it was at all possible in her current state.

She gave up. Without the free mobility of her wings, she couldn't do anything. She could still use a few moves, but she risked hurting herself, which she didn't want. Oblivion heaved a sigh and fell limp, tired of struggling, "Alright, you tired me out. Congratulations," she said dryly, taking note that her feet were dangling a few good inches off the ground due to her 'enemy's height.

"That's a good girl. Now let's see... Where do I start?"

Oblivion huffed, a smirk playing on her lips, "How's about letting me go? Birds don't like being trapped."

He ignored her at this point, "When I said we were even, I meant it. I know you're listening Aconite, and I hope the two of you understand. I'm a dying man."

Both Oblivion, who controlled Aconite's body and Aconite herself, who was within her own body, stiffened at the news.

'What...? Cougar... Why... H-How...?' Aconite whispered in disbelief. Oblivion said nothing. She simply waited for the man behind her to continue.

"When I vanished ten years ago, it was because I went to the city with your father, who wanted to search for a job. That was why he left you at the orphanage. Because he had no money to feed you and he took me along because he was getting too old. He hoped I would take care of you for him."

Tears streamed down Oblivion's face at this point. It wasn't hers as she kept on listening silently.

"Your father's business wasn't very successful. Because I had an Alter, I was hunted down by scientists from the mainland. Back then, there was no HOLY. There was no place we Native Alters could run to. I ended up getting shipped off to the mainland with quite a number of Native Alters from the Lost Ground. Thankfully, they didn't get to you..." Cougar looked up into the dark sky as he paused for breath.

Oblivion waited, "Then? What happened to you?"

"Whose question was that?" Cougar asked amiably, knowing that there were two people in the lithe body he held.

"It doesn't matter, just go on!" Oblivion snapped, growing impatient.

Cougar chuckled in amusement, "Okay then... Where was I? Ah, right... When they were analyzing our powers one by one, I held back on my turn, hoping I would get sent back if I were too weak. It just wasn't my lucky day... I was refined."

Both Oblivion and Aconite gasped at this. Aconite has heard of it before, but she never expected her best friend to be one of those refined Alter users.

"My powers were forcefully increased through the process. Miraculously, I survived through those days of torture. But the side effect will kill me soon enough. My lifespan was severely shortened. It may be in a few more years, maybe even in a few more minutes... Whatever it is; my end is coming closer with every breath I take," he closed his eyes, and then rested his head on her shoulder, his Alter now dissipated into the air.

Without him noticing, his 'prisoner's right wing turned white again; Oblivion refused to stay any longer. She didn't leave without a trace; in fact, the fresh tears on Aconite's face were hers. She raised her hands the highest they could go and touched his arms, which were still wound around her as she cried.

Cougar took this as her being back to normal so he released her. Upon her release, she spun around and buried her face into his chest, pounding her fist weakly on his chest, crying in between sobs, "Why didn't you tell me...?"

Her cries grew louder as she no longer pounded him but instead vented out her frustration by simply crying. Cougar wrapped his arms around her once more and said, "I didn't want you to be involved in this."

They were soon on their way back to the city, in Cougar's car. Aconite's Alter had disappeared a few minutes ago, and neither of them said anything during the ride. Until Cougar asked her a question that caught her completely off guard, "Oblivion mentioned that you two weren't synchronized and that if you two keep on going unsynchronized, you'll end up like me, right?"

Aconite nodded slowly, her tomboyish front returning to her, "Yeah, what about it?"

"If we can find a way for the two of you to be synchronized, you should be fine then, since that power does originate from you."

Somewhere in the depths of her mind, Oblivion slapped herself on the forehead, 'Why didn't we think of that?'

Aconite smiled, "It's possible. But Oblivion and I just can't see things eye to eye. It's gonna take a lot of work on both sides."

"You can have a brighter future than mine, Aconite, work on it," Cougar said brightly, speeding up. Aconite smiled sadly at this; she wished there was something she could do to help him.

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Heh, finished the 5th chap. I told you it isn't as long as the 2nd chapter! O.O

I'm trying my best to shorten the chapters and put in as much info as possible and wherever possible, I'll be merging in scenes from the anime with this story. Hey, who knows; Cougar's fate MAY change. I make up stuff as I go, so there's no telling what will come out. Just keep reading to find out.

Ciao!