Chapter 10: The Night He Died
My legs felt weak, and I would've fallen back if I hadn't grabbed the walls. I couldn't stop hyperventilating, my chest going a million miles an hour, leaving me breathless to what I saw, my most basic logic and reasoning abandoning me. I had so many things to say, but not enough words to say them or even begin.
The man in front of me talked and talked, his words only distant echoes that I never heard. Nothing about any of this made sense - the man was dead, I had killed him.
Well obviously not, he was standing seven feet away from me.
My breathing got even faster, and I suddenly started crying uncontrollably as I backed up. I couldn't hear myself whimpering and moaning, but I knew I was doing it. Breathing was an exhausting task, my ragged breaths getting even more out of control as my chest felt tighter and tighter. My back collided with the door, and I felt completely trapped, so utterly and completely dumbstruck that I couldn't even think to open it.
Cassandra was looking at me from the bathroom, but my eyes couldn't move from the sick joke at the end of the hall. My hands tried to cover my eye, only hovering over my face and letting me see through my fingers.
And then I saw her leave the bathroom and go to him, standing beside him like they were partners in crime.
He stopped talking, had stopped for a moment before she strode up to him, before giving me a curious look and stepping forward.
Even through my blurry and covered vision, I saw him take that step. And that one step seemed to reboot me, or at least partially. I was able to hear more than just my heartbeat, able to hear the rain hitting the house and the sound of his second footstep hitting the floor.
I ripped the revolver out quick and fast, holding it in both hands so tightly that it trembled and shook. He didn't dare take another step forward.
"This isn't possible," I screamed, "You're not real, you're not real!" It's not possible, it can't be possible, ran on repeat in my brain.
"I'm real, alright, believe it or not."
It's not possible.
The words were real, I heard the words. I never in my life had a stronger urge to shove the barrel in my mouth and pull the trigger. Fall into the void. Embrace the darkness. Have my peace.
It's not possible.
"I… I…" I couldn't find the words, hell, I couldn't even find what I wanted to say in general.
"Calm down now, I haven't done nothin'. Put it down and let's talk some, Alex," He said, stretching his hand out like he wanted me to give him the damn thing.
"Talk?! What, like you talked to Tony and me?!" I cried. "And you know damn well my name's not Alex! Just like you ain't my father either!"
His face flashed with anger, before returning to its original state. His hand started slipping behind him, and I shot the wall to his right, hitting a picture of Cassandra dead center in the forehead where it fell to the floor.
"Move your fucking hand again, I dare you." I started to very slowly creep forward.
"Christ, Alex, put down the gun!" She yelled.
"My name's not Alex!" I yelled even louder. "You ain't my momma either! You're just some goddamn druggie he picked up in Atlanta! None of you are my family, they're all the fucking way back on the Prime!"
"Alex-"
"Say that name again and find out what happens, Frank." He sighed and spoke slower.
"Ah'koedhn, we were about to go out looking for you before you-"
"No."
"No?"
"No, you weren't. Even if you were, I don't buy it."
"If you'd let me explain-"
"You had a fucking decade to explain! You destroyed me and built me back up the way you wanted. You beat me and had them beat me and break me and let them fuck me until I was just a soulless fucking shell-"
"I did it to toughen you up." I stopped dead in my tracks at that, back at the end of the hall and within two yards of each other.
"I was seven!" My disbelief at the pure bullshit he spewed out was baffling. I could feel the rage boil up inside my chest, creeping up my arms and into my hands around the gun so bad, I had to take a deep breath to recompose myself. "But you know what? I don't care. I don't really give a single shit about whatever you tell me, truth or not.
"I came here to try and save that fucking imposter of a fucking parent from the r'ka about to swarm this place, but obviously she's got her loyalties settled."
"Listen-"
"Shut your goddamn mouth or you ain't talking again! Give her your keys," I said to him, then Cassandra, "Then get over here."
"I've got a better deal," He said quickly.
"Keys, goddamnit."
"I can show you where they are, kid."
"Are you deaf or did dying rot off some brain cells? Because if you haven't heard, I. Do not. Give. A fuck!"
"So you don't want to know how to find the Bad Bloods then?"
"Why are there so many?!" I shouted, shoving my pursuer with the slit throat to the ground and getting ready for the next. "I thought the cave collapsed!"
"It did!" Dante said. "They're from a different hive! Just keep fighting!"
"This is taking too long. Alex!"
Nothing.
"Alex, dammit, you need to hurry up!"
Absolute silence.
"Something's wrong, he's not saying anything!"
"Go! Find him! We'll keep them busy!" He said, pulling a body off his tail.
I hesitated, turning to run, before shouting back, "Go in the exact direction I go and look at the trees, I'll leave markings on them for you!"
He dropped another two. "Just go!'
I did.
There was a dull ringing in my head, whatever the hell it was. Maybe I got Tinnitus sometime tonight.
I have to admit, hearing that did make me rethink a few things. The idea of somehow finding and giving payback to the four other Bad Bloods was certainly tantalizing, I'll give him that.
But then again, it's fucking Frank. C'mon.
"You can either give me the keys, or I can take them off the second body I've looted today." He looked genuinely surprised at that.
"Damn," He said, "I thought for sure that'd perk you right up. They're on the table over there, honey." He pointed somewhere in the living room, my eye never leaving him as she walked back and forth.
She got in front of me, deliberately getting in my line of fire and matching me as I moved side to side.
"Don't do this, Alex, please," She whispered, trying to grab the gun from me, though slowly and in a predictable fashion.
"Get outta my way before I shoot you too," I said, shoving her to the side.
In that rather short span of three or four seconds, Frank was already upon me, grabbing both my shirt and the gun much harder than Cassandra had, shoving me against the bar. The gun was aimed up between the two of us as we struggled for it, going off multiple times until I yanked it down and headbutted him.
He stumbled backwards, and I came in fast to hit him with it. He backed up quickly and grabbed it mid-swing, the gun flying out of my hand and into the kitchen somewhere. I was pulled in close to him, his fists hitting me hard in the side. I fumbled behind him, trying to reach for his own gun before finding out, he bluffed me.
And I fell for it.
I should've shot him when I had the chance. Him and Cassandra, whom I had no idea where she was, though I honestly hoped she ran outside like an idiot and got mauled at this point.
He threw me against the bar again, where I tumbled and fell into the stools. I was pretty sure one broke from the force, and I don't know if my ribs would've appreciated it more if it did or didn't break.
I groaned and sat up, seeing him stand there and wait.
"C'mon, just call it quits, stop letting your pride lead you, and let me help you."
I groaned and grunted some more, holding onto the bar to get my ass back up on my feet.
"Who'm I kidding? You're gonna fight regardless, aren't you?" He pulled out a large pocket knife, unfolding the blade with a quick flick.
My one eye bored holes into his as I slid out of my jacket and undid my harness.
"The last time I quit cost me who I was, and that was the worst mistake I've ever made," I said, pulling the dagger out of its sheath slowly before holding it with both hands, one on the handle and one of the butt.
"But I'd rather die than give up the fight this time."
He smirked, a spark in his eye that wasn't there before. He wanted this.
"So be it."
"Alex," I started, driving my claws mid-run across a tree, "I'm coming to you. Say something."
Nothing.
"I know you can hear me. Answer me!"
More nothing.
I slashed another tree.
"Please, just tell me you're okay."
…
Yet again, only silence answered.
"I promise, I'm coming for you. Just hold on…"
I charged first, the two of us roaring loudly as we prepared to slash and stab at each other until one of us came out on top. My attempt at driving the dagger through him center mass was sloppy and slow, and he sidestepped quickly. We both made to slash each other, our blades colliding in a small spark before mine went through the other like butter, leaving his blade half the size it used to be.
His arm shot back at me, an attempt to stab, and I grabbed his wrist just before the short blade reached my neck, headbutting him as hard as I could. He stumbled backwards, wiping his bloody nose.
"How could you have even remembered? They pumped you so full of shit, not even a Yautja could've sustained it!"
I hardly listened, trying to warp his mind to my will, but all I got was a sharp enough pain to make me tear and wince. He took the opening and charged me again.
He grabbed my wrist hard and drove my blade into the wall before I could even focus again. When I saw his short little blade going for my chest, I stuck my hand out, having it drive all the way through once a-fucking-gain.
"You should be dead!" I yelled, kicking him as hard as I could in his knee and dropping him. His grip loosened on the blade, and I wrenched it free from him and made to get him in the neck. He grabbed my hand, a struggle of strength between the two of us. "You're not possible, dammit!"
He only grunted, the veins bulging in his neck before he swung me around and pinned me to the wall, the blade now aimed at my eye. He struggled to push it closer, the blood on my hands making it more and more difficult to hold back before we heard a loud bang coming from my room.
We glanced over there, our struggle still happening but our eyes transfixed on the black form standing in my doorway, the door having fallen from its hinges.
I didn't have to look at him to know he was scared shitless at what he saw, because not a second later, as Xerxes came charging forward, he stabbed the blade in my shoulder and tossed me at him as bait. I didn't even have a chance to react to the pain or action, Xerxes grabbing me before I fell, Frank already missing.
"Get him!" I ordered, pushing off of him and running outside. The blade had already been ripped out, the pointy thing getting rain washed in my hand now. I didn't much care about the pain, jumping over the porch banister and landing with a splash in the mud, Xerxes right beside.
Outside, Cassandra's car was still here in the driveway, along with a new red truck bigger than mine parked in the grass. Frank was there, grabbing something from the open trunk.
"You wanna know who he is, Xerxes?" I started, not waiting for an answer. "That's Frank, love."
I didn't even have to look at him to feel the pure rage come off of him like a wildfire just erupted inside him. And I didn't even have to tell him to get after the bastard either, with him running just before I did.
He turned around in a flash, a large gun in his hands that he didn't hesitate to fire upon Xerxes. A large net shot out, slamming into him and dropping him to the ground in a razor-wire trap. He tossed the gun down, before extending the blades on his newly equipped wrist gauntlets.
"Alex, run. Run!" Xerxes screamed. I hesitated, not moving until Frank started after me. I dropped the broken little blade and ran back inside, slamming the door shut and running back to the bar where my knife was still lodged into a wall.
Right as I got there, I saw a blurry shadow in my left peripheral vision. Lightning struck close by, a loud boom and flash hitting me, my body lighting up in pain so bad it made me stumble. When I looked up, I saw it was Cassandra, the shotgun in her hands, the barrel smoking. I tried to take in a breath I forgot to breathe, barely able to gasp for it. My eye slowly drifted downward, an incredible amount of small holes littering my stomach, chest, and shoulders like tiny anthills.
It got even harder to breathe, my legs feeling like jelly as I fell and held onto the bar. It hurt to move, to stand, to think, and I could feel the blood leaking out everywhere.
The door kicked open, a monster stepping in, not stopping or slowing down in the slightest as he came closer.
I weakly tried to pull the blade out of the wall, but he was on me in a second. He slammed my head on the wall, the bar, and then flung me over it, my body landing hard on the ground.
I coughed hard, the taste of blood on my lips.
"Xerxes…"
I groaned when I looked up at the bar's end, hearing heavy footfalls before seeing Frank come around the side.
"Xerxes… Please…" I said, terrified with every step he took. "Please help me."
He's gonna do it… Jesus Christ, he's gonna finish it.
"Alex… I can't… I can't move," He said.
My heart hammered hard as Frank pulled me up painfully, my weak struggles useless against him. He held me still as he jabbed me in my exposed eye, before getting me in the gut hard and throwing me against the counter. I could barely see, my vision going dark and my fatigue catching up with me.
He stomped on the back of my knee, before pulling my head back and slamming it on the corner of the counter. My body fell to the side, everything beginning to shut down - from what specifically, I don't know, but I could feel it.
He was down on his knees with me, punching once more in the jaw before pushing his forearm against my throat, his other hand pushing even more. I could see that in his eyes was nothing but rage and death, too much for one lifetime to possibly expel. My hands grabbed his, trying to push him away, but all I could really do was grab him.
"I love you, Xerxes…" I spoke.
I could hear him yelling, what his words were, I do not know. My eyes went everywhere, sure of my upcoming shut-off, but still searching for some deus ex machina to save me.
The revolver was at my left, one bullet barely visibly in the cylinder. I stretched out my hand, trying to reach it as a pulse started to form painfully behind my eyes. My hand felt like it was getting closer, but I knew it wasn't.
And then, in a moment of pure terror, the curtains started drawing, the play was ending. The lack of oxygen killed the pulse, killed my arm, killed my struggling eyelid, and eventually…
…Me.
"Alex!" I yelled. The net still dug into me, my talons doing nothing and my blood slowly breaking down a few strands.
I love you, Xerxes, was still echoing. I could feel him die, like a part of me went with him. It hurt so much worse than the cuts lining my body, the death of my hive…
I roared as loud as I could, all sound dying in wake of my own, as I finally felt the net loosen and slip off, the smoke gathering around me. Maka, who had finally made it, stood beside my seething form, pulling the few tatters left off me.
"You had one duty, and that was to PROTECT HIM!" I roared, her body flinching under me. "Make. This. Right!" She said nothing, the two of us climbing the stairs to the porch, a gentle but audible creak beneath our feet.
A blast of splinters and buckshot exploded out the door, clipping me and Maka but doing hardly anything. The simple act made me seethe with anger, nearly losing my cool and charging right into my death.
But Maka grabbed my arm, forcing me along with her and climbing onto the roof, no noise made this time. We stood up there, the rain washing the blood off the two of us as we waited.
We'd skin them both when it was time.
But I just sat down, listening to the rain and arguing below and waited.
I shuddered at his last words, replayed them over and over again in my head.
I love you, Xerxes.
I didn't even say it back.
I failed him. I failed him in the worst way possible. I let him die, and by the hand of who he feared the most.
By the stars above, we were in love. By the Queen-Mother, I know we were.
I'm not gonna hear him say the stupid shit he says ever again. Or see what he's like outside of the violence and fear.
It hurt to think. To even glance at the future, the next minute, felt like agony.
…
What now? Go with what's left of us now? I can't even begin to think of ending it, not after all he sacrificed for us.
I felt Maka touch my shoulder, nothing spoken but everything said in silence.
We heard the door close, and we both stopped what we were doing and listened carefully.
The female wretched below from the sounds of it, though she was going to be next. Her and Frank.
We peered over the edge of the roof carefully, seeing him walk around the porch to his trunk and back.
And that's when we heard the screaming and breaking glass.
"Give me the goddamn gun before you kill us both!" Frank yelled, ripping it out of her hands.
"You… Why… Why did you kill him?" She breathed. "I thought you were just going to talk to him!"
"Why are you blaming me?" He yelled, pumping the gun. "You put a full blast of buckshot into him, he was dead either way!"
"I… I…" She couldn't even speak.
He didn't pay her any mind, though, stooping down and grabbing his gun that Alex reached for. His gun.
"Oh, what did he do to my baby? Boy could never take care of what mattered. Thing's fucking filthy, and that blood looks a lot older than today's. Disgraceful…" He muttered.
"Shit, that r'ka's still outside. This could be a good and proper test of the thing, now that it's out of his grubby hands. Still has one round left. Yeah, it's time to fire the cannon."
Maybe it'd give the bitch a moment to calm the hell down.
I'm falling really freaking fast, I can't even breathe. I don't think I know how. I don't think my body exists.
I feel like I'm seeing my life flash before my eyes, before forgetting every flash of a memory flying by. Like it just disappeared in a black hole. Like I was going through a photo album and throwing away each picture after glancing at them.
I can't move, can't stop it from happening. Soon, I'll have nothing left, and despite this knowledge, I can't even feel sad or angry, can't fight it. I'm not okay, but I'm not not okay either.
Cassandra, bye. Frank, bye. Tony, bye. Everything ever, say, 'bye-bye'.
Xerxes... No. No, I won't forget him. But even as I desperately hold on, the meaning behind the word is bye-bye.
Next up, me. Get to be the first person to see the other side of a black hole. I'm kinda excited. What's exciting? I don't…
I think, therefore I am.
Who said that?
Who said what?
Pain.
I think. I am.
So much.
Let me stay.
Not enough.
I want to stay.
Take me to paradise.
Why do I want to stay?
Drag me to Hell.
I am.
Here it comes.
I am…
I…
Am…
N
O
T
...
...
A spark, a jolt, an explosion. Nothing turns into everything. I'm gasping so hard for breath it hurts.
I think, therefore I am.
If I am, then I'm back.
My name… Am I Alex? Is it Ah'koedhn?
I'm both, I think.
There's nothing but me and everything I lost.
An image comes over, something fuzzy and unrecognizable. A name is associated with it. X… Xander? Xerox?
…Xerxes.
Now everything truly is coming back. Names, faces, events…
This is what being dead is like? Just me and my memories?
…And that tiny light I can't quite reach, way up there. Is that where I fell from? Or is that my just out of reach light bulb taunting me again?
I looked down, somewhat surprised to see me, sorta. It was like my body was a hollow blue hologram, little dots and marks showing what I could only assume is what brought me here. I tried pressing my finger up against one, only for it to go straight through.
Maybe this is a lucid dream - I remember someone telling me once that being able to press your finger through your hand could trigger that, so maybe this is it? Am I tripping that hard?
…
No, I'm six feet under. Everything's too off for this to be a dream, too cold… everything.
Woah, why's everything shifting? Am I falling again? I can barely feel it, like gravity exists and is pulling me, but in no direction.
And like I snapped my fingers, I'm back in the house. No one's here, and it doesn't look like a fight of life and death just took place.
No, this can't be death. I wouldn't know if I were dead, that just seems stupid. And cruel as hell, too. No, but I'm not quite alive either. Especially if this is the best I can plop my ass back into.
I better not be fucking dead yet.
I could hear footsteps, heavy and fast. Who's my demon? Because let's be honest here, that ain't the ice cream man coming in.
Take your bets, kids! Because here they come in three, two, one…
The door slammed open.
Of course.
Frank - who else?
"This is getting predictable guys!" I shouted at the ceiling, like the masters of my simulation would listen. The sight of him terrified me on a primal level not ten minutes ago.
Now I'm just pissed.
I looked at my hands again, seeing them as actual flesh-and-blood hands this time. I'm still covered in my dots and dashes.
Frank stood there, staring quietly. It made my blood boil. The way he acted, the way he breathed, the fact he breathed.
I made fists and growled, baring my teeth like an animal.
He stood there still, grinning as his fingers snapped and the lights went out.
I roared in rage, every muscle flexing painfully to hold me back from lashing out uncontrollably. It felt good, and I realized that the flexing hurt good.
Taking this, I ripped the covering on my eye off, the pain sending me into ecstasy. I wiped away the slime and goo before it shot open. It was like the lights turned back on, the colors relatively the same except for a very light grey hue covering everything. I could feel, even see the lines in my eyes throbbing, small red lines at the bottom of my vision.
I'm ready to kill this fucker, I thought. In life or death, I don't care. But I will not lose.
Frank still hadn't moved, and neither had I up until then. It was when I took my first step that he finally moved, my dagger in his hold.
I ran at him, grabbing him by the waist and charging him into the bar. I backed up fast as he slashed the air I just occupied, before grabbing his wrist on the follow-up and twisting it so hard so easily that it cracked audibly. His scream sounded like a symphony of perfect composition to my ears, and I decided to throw the knife as far as I could to the other side of the room.
He acted like he wanted to reach out for it, but I grabbed his limp wrist and pinned him down, before punching him so hard in the mouth that my fist got caught on a tooth. I ripped it out, the pain pumping me full of drugs, before hitting him again.
And again.
You get the picture.
He still breathed by the end of it, despite his mouth literally overflowing with a pool of blood. I hit him as hard as I could in the gut, hearing the bar crack behind him when I did. These sounds made me laugh uncontrollably with insanity, giving me a pleasure that was nearly better than sex.
I backed up a step, grabbing a bar chair and slamming it down on his chest where it shattered.
He still wheezed some.
"Fucking die already!" I screamed. I grabbed his head by the hair and twisted him around, before slamming him against the corner of the busted bar. I did it multiple times in quick succession, the power behind it turning a small bloodstain large fast. When he still weakly breathed, I put my shoe against his head and stomped him into the edge, his head completely going to mush, and his body seizing up.
And then the ecstasy was gone.
My muscles relaxed, the only noise being my raspy breathing. What just happened, whatever the hell that was, felt like some fever dream. I slowly began to tip backwards, letting myself land on my rear and just breathe, before laying on my back.
When my breathing was finally quiet, there was nothing, not even the sound of rain on the roof.
I felt nauseous all of a sudden, and the whole room started feeling claustrophobic. I held my legs close to my chest, burying my face in my knees and silently cried whilst on my side.
"I don't wanna be here, please, don't keep me here," I moaned. My heart ached something fierce as tears slid down my cheeks. "Please, this can't be happening. I can't be dead, God, please. I miss you, Xerxes. Please help me. Please…"
When nothing happened, I sobbed out loud and cried like a child, knowing that this was it, this would be my eternity.
But when I pulled back for another breath, I saw it. Black lines and tendril-like things working their way up my veins. Towards my body and my head. The path they made felt… good, tingly, but good. They were doing something impossible, something that I can't rationally explain but knew within my heart of hearts.
I closed my eyes and prayed I'd be with Xerxes at the very least when I opened them.
The first thing I felt was an unpleasant tingling sensation all over, which was good because at least I could feel now. Then came the dull throb, the wet feeling, the nausea, and the disorientation to top it all off.
Everything I ever knew was forgotten for that first split second again, and then it all came flooding back.
"He was dead either way!" Someone boomed, whom I quickly recognized. I heard his footsteps coming closer, pick the gun up, leave, and slam the door shut. When my eye peeled open and I couldn't see either of them, I made my attempt to stand.
The nausea came back full force the second I moved my hand. I could still feel every wound, blood no longer leaking out. The pain was agonizing, but in a masochistic sense, it helped me level myself.
I huffed and puffed as I grabbed onto the counter, pulling myself up as I heard her gasp behind me.
"You… You…" She stuttered. I turned around slowly, feeling like a zombie before I hurled black liquid all over the floor. I spat out the remnants and looked up, our eyes meeting. She held my dagger shakily, a breath away from stabbing herself accidentally it looked like.
I didn't even hesitate, taking her by the mind in seconds, her hand drawing the blade closer to her neck, pressing against it just enough to draw blood. Her face was of total horror, her eyes pleading with mine. I wanted nothing more than to make her suffer for killing me, but instead, I took it back in my own hands, knocking her out with its butt.
Clutching my gut and doing a painful stretch and groan, I looked back at the front door, the thing full of holes, sort of like me. I could see outside the window beside it was Frank, looking at the roof with his wrist blades out and ready. And my gun.
You just had some training, I thought. Breathe and focus.
…
And in a moment fueled by bull-seeing-red rage, I roared my roar and charged to the window. Without a second of hesitation, I'm diving through it, shards and snowflakes of glass coming down with me in the rain as I drove my blade into his shoulder. The force of me landing on him drove the blade deep and sent his body out into the yard, sliding through the mud.
He looked surprised, having enough composure to start blurting something out. Whatever it was, I couldn't hear it over my ringing ears.
Either way, I didn't stop and think about what exactly to do - I decided to take Kaia's advice to heart, and started hacking away, his blood spraying my face and body.
He screamed a sound I had never heard until moments ago and found sickly satisfying to hear once again. Maybe I was screaming too, it was pretty hard to tell.
You don't really focus on the noises but the feelings, like how easily I felt the dagger-turned-machete reach his rib cage, his neck bones, his spine. He was tough, but he screamed like a little bitch and sang louder than I could ever hope to dream.
It quickly began to sound less like meat being chopped and more like mush and mud. And yet, even with that sick noise, I couldn't help but feel the most euphoric pleasure I had ever experienced - again, almost better than sex. And just like sex, I came out soaking wet, but in rain and blood, covered from head to toe.
Hands grabbed my shoulders, and I spun around swinging wildly.
I just barely managed to grab his wrist, the blade inches away from my neck. He gasped at what he almost did, the black veins surrounding his bandaged eye retreating quicker than a gunshot. His breath was a mess of hyperventilations as he dropped the blood-soaked instrument in the puddles of mud and blood.
Holy shit.
"Xerxes?"
I grabbed him hard and clutched him close, his hands holding me tightly too. He breathed hard, barely able to catch his breath.
"I thought I lost you, Alex."
"I… I did too…" His legs and body were shaking hard before he started collapsing to the ground.
"I've got you, I've got you. You're okay," I said, taking his weight and keeping him from falling. He hung weakly from my shoulders.
"Please… Please, don't let me go back…"
"I promise," I said, pressing my face into the crook of his neck and breathing in, taking in his scent like it was a decade since we last met. "You're safe now."
"He's… Is he dead? Really dead?" I pulled away and held him close, our faces barely inches apart. I didn't even have to look at the remains to know.
"He's gone. He's not coming back, I promise." I brushed the glass off of him.
Maka jumped down quietly, saying, "The others are coming, and from what little I can hear, they are not alone. We need to be ready to leave soon."
"Alright," Alex wheezed.
I held him close with one hand and grabbed his blade and gun with another, carrying him over and setting him on the truck's tailgate. I set the gun down beside him, flung any remaining blood off the blade, and slid it into his sheath.
"Is your mother still alive?" He nodded weakly. "Maka, go back in and grab the female." She did so, while I started taking his shirt off. He grabbed my hand.
"Go help her, I can do this."
"Help her with what? She is more than capable of doing this, and I'm not leaving you." I pushed his hand back down and pulled the wet thing off. Little black balls rolled out and away, no longer trapped by his shirt and making little splashes in the puddles below, the water slowly turning strawberry.
"What the hell?" He looked down at them for a second, before looking back up and saying, "It's the buckshot. I… My body pushed it out?"
"I'd say so. And your wounds - they're there, but I don't think they're bleeding. Let me bandage you," I said, giving him no time to protest. He was by no means healed or in good condition, but he wasn't going to die from what he had. Either way, this would speed it up, and by the time I was finished, there was nearly none of his skin showing on his torso, only dark organic bandages. "Do you want to keep the one on your eye a bit longer or take it off?"
"Take… Take it off," He said, his voice shaky and nervous.
I carefully poked a claw underneath it, getting some leverage on it before peeling it away slowly. The entire claw mark was gone, his eyelid looking much better than before - everything about his eye did, except for two things. One, it was still incredibly bloody, and two, there was a sort of black membrane on his actual eyeball, under the eyelid.
"Be very still," I whispered, grabbing his head in one hand and plucking off the thin skin in one piece. My heart jumped just a small bit, enough that I could suppress any sign of surprise showing. The area where his eye was supposed to be white was instead green, fluorescent green. His pupil and iris both pitch black.
His eye… It looks like mine.
He winced when I backed away, my body no longer hiding what little light was present.
"Are you alright?" Again, without waiting for an answer, I grabbed a roll of gauze behind him and wrapped it around his eye until I was sure he couldn't see out of it. I knew that pain, know that pain - he won't deal with it either. "Better?"
He nodded again, not looking at me. I could see him trembling, trying so hard to stay calm.
"Look at me." He slowly did, his eye flooded and shining. When his met mine, he started breaking down, and I held him tight again.
"Jesus Christ," He sobbed and choked, "I've never been that terrified in my life. I could feel myself disappearing, Xerxes. I… God, I died! And I was sent to this fucking look-alike of the house and Frank came in and… and it was like a nightmare I thought I'd be trapped in forever…"
He started sobbing hard into my shoulder.
"I know, I know. You're back, alright? You're not dead. We just have to leave now and then we can go anywhere we want. The last I checked, a planet is a big place, Alex. I want to see it, do you want to see it with me?"
I felt him nod.
"Then focus on that. It's almost over, my love. Just a moment away."
As I finished and he started calming down marginally, Maka came out with the girl, who I asked to be put in the back.
"Do you want her to come with us?" I asked. "Or should we just leave her?"
"I don't… I… Bring her." He didn't say another word, getting really quiet and distant. I wanted to say something to bring him back, but instead, I gave him some space and said one thing.
"Okay."
We all ran as fast as we could, the mere thought of fighting any longer becoming a death sentence.
There's just too many. And they need to be warned.
They pounced one of us, and nobody even had the chance to look back and even consider helping before he was submerged by the wave of darkness.
And it wasn't even the horde that we were running from - if you could even call it that from how much we thinned them out - but the thing making the Earth shake right behind us.
I had spun the dirty cylinder four times and lost three potential games of Russian Roulette by the time Xerxes came back from packing up Cassandra.
"Are you feeling any better? Physically, I mean?"
"Yeah… Are they much farther out?"
"They're getting closer. Are we almost-"
He was cut off by a harsh and desperate cry - a final attempt to get a message out.
"KAIA'S NOT DEAD! KAIA-" And it was gone as fast as it came.
I jumped off the tailgate immediately, fighting my legs to keep straight and not fall.
"What?!" I looked at Xerxes, who looked tense enough that he might just rip.
"She…" He drifted off, looking out into space. "I never felt it… I would've felt it if she died." His eyes darted back to mine as he grabbed my arm. "Alex, we need to leave right now."
"Oh, hell no!" I said, ripping my arm away. "We are not leaving anyone behind!"
"I thought we could do it. I thought we could kill her, but we're all gonna die if we stay and fight - don't you see that?"
"No. I see that we might die if we stay, but they'll definitely die if we leave."
I snatched my gun and started putting in the final four bullets.
"I saw the other side not ten minutes ago, or something close enough, and goddamnit I will not stand on the sidelines and let them see it too soon."
I snapped the cylinder shut and holstered it in one quick movement.
"Don't you want your actions to stick? We saved them earlier, and now we've gotta save them again, and I will be damned if I do one more thing that was all for naught. Do you trust me?" I finished, holding out my hand.
He did not look ready for this - not at all. I could easily see him running and making me drag his ass back here. But instead, he took it, rather surprisingly. "You better have a plan, Alex."
"Yeah… Yes, absolutely."
"What are you doing?" I was so deep in thought, I didn't even hear him.
"I've never actually made it before… Oh, you're gonna hate it so much."
"Alex…?"
"We gotta do it right now. We've gotta do it right the hell now!" I shouted, not out of fear, but out of excitement.
This can work. This can definitely work.
"Take Maka to the garage and grab every gas can you can, they'll be red with yellow nozzles. Grab any guns you can find, too - there should be a shotgun somewhere and some shells nearby, grab them and bring everything back to the kitchen."
"What are we about to do?"
"A little chemistry," I said, eyeing the truck. "I gotta see what Frank was packing, might help us - Oh! Grab any glass bottles too, like whiskey, and dump 'em."
The two ran inside, and I took a minute to look around at what I had to work with.
Cassandra's car and Frank's truck, Frank's dead body, a revolver with four rounds, an awaiting chemistry experiment, at least a few more firearms, and, of course, whatever the hell Frank brought with him.
I could easily see without much digging that he had a lot. A black canvas tarp covered a good majority of it, other than what he uncovered earlier. Gauntlets, spears, the whole nine yards. He got these weapons from off-world somehow, there's no way he got them from here.
Maybe I can get off-world, too. Earth's overrated in my book. Maybe I could even find the Prime again…
Would they even know who I was? Would they believe me? Maybe… There has to be some way.
I looked around at Frank, slowly washing out in the rain. He was an absolute mess, a work of art - truly.
Christ, psycho, dial it down some.
I got down on my knee and gritted my teeth, taking from his pockets his keys, seventeen bucks, and… a computer chip? It glowed a faint blue.
"So you don't want to know how to find the Bad Bloods then?" He had said.
"Holy shit," I breathed. "He really had this."
I started breathing wildly, true excitement for the future for once. Something about seeing that chip made everything seem a little more possible all of a sudden.
I ran back and ripped the canvas off.
Three full gas cans, several now empty glass bottles, one formerly hidden pistol, Alex's jacket, one shotgun, and three boxes of shells laid there on the bar. By the time he barged in with that packed duffle, I added a small pile of rags and a myriad of pill bottles for possible use.
He dropped the bag on the last open spot on the bar with a thud, and boy did it thud.
"What the hell did you put in there?" I said, then quickly added, "Wait, should we worry about Cassandra?"
"It's a lot of useful, and no. I put a tarp over her. Anything else that happens is out of my control." He clapped his hands together. "Alright, time for a little chemistry. Who wants to make some napalm?"
"What's-"
"Sticky fuel, when lit, sticky fire - we've got limited time, so follow my instructions." He talked while moving, plugging the sink and tossing a few packages of styrofoam cups, bowls, and plates to the side of it.
"Pour all the gas you can in there, then tear the white stuff up and put it in too until it's all thick. I'll be back, hold on."
He was gone before I could even say anything. At least he's focused - keeps his mind off the past events for just a while. He was back in a minute, holding a box full of bottles of motor oil and more cups, and missing his shirt and shoes. There was a gruesome amount of blood splotches covering him.
"Here, this should be more than enough," He said, setting the box down.
"Why are you losing layers?" I finally asked, and he didn't answer until he was a foot away from me.
"Because I thought about having one last go with you before certain death, Xy sexy," He said, tracing a finger down my chest.
"How much were you hoping that would work?" I said, doubting this but still finding myself heating up.
"Not a whole lot." He pecked my lips. "Wish we could though, but I need to armor up and you need to help Maka or something 'cause we really don't have enough time for this." I started using the leftover gas to soak the rags over the sink. The smell was terrible, and I had to fight myself from getting away from the extremely flammable situation happening - Maka too, I'm sure.
"Armor up? What the hell did you find?"
"The one genuinely good gift from Frank," He said, opening the large bag.
He was not kidding. It was a full set of Yautja armor, from gauntlets and chest plates to boots and even a face mask - all of which looked to be sized for him. Beneath that all, I could see the faint glint of something sharp, something big.
"He was gonna make you one of them."
"Technically I already am."
"You know what I mean."
"Wait," Maka interrupted, "What exactly are you? A hybrid? Why are you here then? Shouldn't you be a skilled hunter by now, taking our heads as trophies?"
He winced at that, like visibly winced. But he regained himself just as fast.
"I… It's a really long fucking story."
"Part of the story is better than no story."
"I-"
"Maka," I said, "Drop it."
She went back to pouring with a sigh.
A minute later, and he was dressed up alright. A nice set of boots, netting over his arms, gauntlets, and a chest plate covering his torso. Finally, all he had left was the mask, which he held tentatively.
My heart pounded softly as I looked at the mask. It felt dirty to put this on, like this was some dark magic that must stay locked up and forgotten.
"Alex?" Xerxes said.
"Yeah, I just - Hold on."
C'mon, don't lose your nerve. Not yet. It's a fucking mask, you've worn one your whole life.
I sighed. I don't like being right.
Let's end this.
I put it up against my face, a little tripped out that it stayed on so easily with my bandage and the lack of straps or anything. Red symbols and general information popped up, all in that language I never knew until today. It linked to the gauntlets, status bars and such appearing, and even a greeting with my name on it showing up too. My fake one, I mean.
Vision settings were there, from infrared to night vision, to the basic everyday sight of a human - the one I picked, of course.
I would've loved to have looked through it all, but by the time I had the vision stuff figured out, we could all feel the ground shake. I looked at the sink and saw that the left side was finished, the two adding the foam to the other side now.
"Aw hell, here we go." I grabbed my jacket and rolled the sleeves up, the thing more of a vest now. "Xerxes, you're with me. Maka, fill the bottles and rag 'em like this," I said, carefully scooping some into a bottle, pouring the oil, and jamming the rag in. "Don't get any on you and fill as many as you can."
I tossed Xerxes the harness I wore earlier, which was laying on one of the stools. "Grab the shotgun and load it, you'll need it more than me. Some shells are already in one of the pouches."
"I think I'll be fine without that."
"Ooh, hey there sexy," I said, grabbing the pistol off the counter. "I don't care where you came from, but you're with me now." I tucked him into my waistband, one on my hip and one on front.
Turning back to X, I said, "Xerxes, I admire your optimism, but there's no kill like overkill, alright?" I dug through the armor bag, grabbing the large sword and plasma cannon. The cannon got stuck on my shoulder, the mask telling me it was linked up in seconds.
The sword was like the dagger, but somehow lighter and just over half my height. I brought it over to the sink and dipped it in, rubbing as much as I could along the blade with one of the spare rags.
"Alex, seriously, I can fight better with my tools," He said, holding up his talons and baring his teeth.
"Range is our friend here, especially with the flammables. I do not want you to get burned, I don't want to get burned, and I do not want to get my ass kicked twice in one day."
"Actually-"
"X, I swear to God, please pick up the shotgun so I don't have to worry about accidentally burning your ass. This shit's potent. If it gets on you, it's not comin' off, and you're way more vulnerable to the flame than I am."
He looked at the harness and long gun nervously, grabbing the two when the ground shook harder.
"Thank you." I took the bottle and held the sword, the two of us about as ready as we could be.
"Now let's get biblical on these pricks."
Deep within town, in an alleyway only a couple of blocks away from the main mechanic shop, was a large truck. His owner, presumed dead, would no longer need it.
Two guys in street clothes, one taller than the other, approached it, this being the third alleyway they've gone down. The tracker on the truck was an old piece of junk, but it got the job done. They could hear someone screaming from the rooftops, which only made them walk faster.
It was in relatively okay condition, aside from a nasty key scratch along the side of it, though they only needed to bring it back. Not like they were taking it for their own use.
"I'm gonna miss that kid."
"Me too, Jim. Me too," The short one said.
"How's Robert handling it?" Said Jim.
Shorty opened the car door and peered in, hopping in the driver's seat. Jim came over on the passenger side.
"Not well. Despite losing Tony, I think Alex was like the son he never had."
"Damn…" He said. They both put on their seat belts and started the thing. "Anyone even told his mother yet?"
"Shit, I don't think so. They're probably gonna send someone over soon if they haven't already. What are they even gonna tell her? The truth? That seems like a pretty dumb fucking idea."
Shorty sighed. "This whole thing's gone to shit, man. Too many of us are dead - this can't be some normal gang shit anymore. None of this is normal anymore."
"Ain't that the truth."
We were nearly out of time, not much longer than two minutes if we were lucky. I was beginning to think my hearing was improved now compared to yesterday, considering how close they sounded earlier and how long it's taking them.
Xerxes dragged all of Frank's weaponry out, unrolling them all from their dark cloth on the ground, while I moved the vehicles back, aiming them all towards the approaching woods. By the time we were done, Maka brought out a bar stool and a box of bottles, all ragged and ready to fly.
"What's that for?" I asked, gesturing to the seating instrument.
"We need something to light these, too," Maka said.
"You didn't think you were gonna be the only one chucking these, did you?" Xerxes said.
"I… hmm, I guess I did. Well, I hope y'all are ready," I said quietly, taking Law's lighter out and igniting the sword. Flames burst to life near the guard, travelling up the blade to the tip as if the sword itself was pouring fire from its core, and it was in that moment that I instantly named it, The Phoenix's Sword, because even in the rain and wind, the flame did not die.
They nodded hesitantly, the two grabbing a bottle each and letting me bring the flame over for them. They held the bottles away from them, fighting the wind threatening to blow the fire their way while I lit the chair aflame. It desperately wanted to die out, but the napalm stuck and preserved the heat.
"We're not going to die," I said, "We're immortal if we've made it this far."
"Yeah… If we did it once, we can do it again," he said.
"We just need to knock her over, once that's done, I bet we can finish her."
"You really think we can do this?" Maka asked.
"Maybe, maybe not. But we've nothing to lose and with how far we've made it, I see little reason in giving up so late in the game. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a message to relay."
It was straining to say the least, to try and encompass everyone like I was broadcasting on a shared frequency. But I steadied myself and prepared my message.
"Hey, you fucksticks way out there, Kaia and you're cronies, I hope you can hear me loud and clear, I hope you all can!
"These past forty-eight hours have been a rollercoaster of hell and excitement and all sorts of shit I'd've never thought possible before yesterday. I've been able to remember my past, thanks to you, and I know now that I was never fully human, though I don't see myself as even part Yautja now either… The shit my body has endured in this short time…
"So you wanna come kill me, kill them, kill us? Well, that's fine. I doubt you guys will, not that you won't try, but that you'll succeed. Because you jackasses seem to have forgotten a few key facts. We've been fighting this battle all our lives, and this is the day of reckoning. You think because we are small and weak that this will be easy for you? We're desperate, we've nothing to lose at this point but our lives. You're going up against the weary and the weak, the desperate and dying. You're up against us and me, and you should be terrified!
"You wanna kill us all, huh? That's fucking fine! I'm fine with finishing you dumbshits off in round two! Any one of you standing against us won't see the sun's rise tomorrow! And any of you up against me will be forced to kill their own, and when you're standing over the dying bodies of the ones that trusted you, you will smile, because I command it!"
Dante and his group just darted out and towards us, and I got ready to charge.
"You want to kill us all?! Fine, the feeling's mutual! This is going to be a bloodbath, but if you want it, by God you'll have it!"
There was Kaia, coming right out of the bending trees snapping like gunshots under her weight. She was grinning and looking right at me, her eyes hidden yet burning into my soul. I only burned back.
"I'm taking your head before the night's through, Kaia. Win or lose, your time's over, bitch!
"WIN OR LOSE, YOU WILL DIE!"
She grinned even wider.
…
Rain fell, fire flew, and we ran into the crowd, raging against the dying of the light with all we had.
My kudos to Incurser for previewing this and putting up with my shit. As always, please go ahead and send some love his way.
Apologies for not having this up sooner, hopefully it'll be faster for the next one, though no promises. Until then, stay healthy and keep an eye on the news, we don't need nobody getting sick here.