8th Revolution: Grief, That Which Damns You?

As the rays of the setting sun danced across the room Rin stood at a mirror, that was hung on the wall to the left of the shop's front door, combing back his hair with a bit of gel until it was of a neatly slicked back style. The male, once he was happy with his hair, donned a slight smirk just as his hair shot back to it's spiked up style despite the layers of gel that was supposed to be keeping it in place.

Rin's smirk instantly faded to a glare. "Every damn time…" he huffed before palming his face.

"Going out somewhere?" Fumiko called to her son, a grin on her face as she watched him from the doorway to the back room.

"Something like that," Rin huffed once again while giving his hair another frustraited comb through, "I just wish my stupid hair would cooperate-"

Suddenly, Fumiko took the comb while cupping her son's cheek. "Don't fight it," she cooed as she ran the comb through his hair with ease, making it how Rin was trying to make it look earlier, "work with it."

Rin smiled at his mother as he examined her handy work in the mirror, "Thanks."

"This is all for some new guy, isn't it?" Fumiko asked with a smirk, pinching the young man on the cheek. "Anyone I know?"

"Oh yeah… you know him," Rin nodded, looking at her after taking in a big gulp. "You know that guy that came in earlier? With Syd?"

Fumiko's eyes suddenly widened, "Oh sweety…" she covered her mouth, "you didn't-"

"I asked him out, okay," Rin let out a sigh with closing his eyes. "Yeah, I know… network riders are a no go. But, Trey isn't one," he looked back to his mother, "right?"

"Rin…" Fumiko let out a sigh of her own, "network rider or not, he's working with one." With one hand, she reached out and gently held his shoulder, "Just, know what you're getting into… okay?"

Rin stared at her for a moment, then spoke again, "Will he show up tonight?... Tell me." With both her hands, Fumiko cupped her son's cheek then closed her eyes. "Well…" he muttered, "what do you see?"

"I see both you and Trey," Fumiko told him, "standing outside at night."

Rin took in a deep breath, "Are... we together?"

Slowly but surely, Fumiko opened her eyes and met her son's gaze, "What do you think?"

With a sharp exhale, Rin pulled away from his mother and looked into the mirror behind him. "He'll be there," Rin said as he adjusted his hair, "he said he would be."

"If that's what you believe, I'm not about to tell you otherwise," Fumiko said as she stepped away from her son and towards the doorway to the backroom.

Upon entering the room where she and Syd had just conversed, Fumiko let out a small gasp to see a violet chess piece in the shape of a noble steed staring back at her from the dead center of the table.

"Brother…" she whispered as she stepped forward and picked up the chess piece, closing her hands around it before holding it close to her heart, "are you here?"

"Of course I am," a cold yet even toned voice echoed out from the chess piece in Fumiko's grasp, "sister."

"Then please brother…" muttered Fumiko under her breath, "look out for Syd and her companions this night."

{Insert Opening Theme: "Rinbu Revolution" by Chihara Minori}

Later that night on the far side of town, Syd marched down an old dusty alleyway. Her eyes were fixed on the path a head of her as Trey tried with all his might to keep up with her alarmingly fast pace.

"Hey Syd," Trey panted as his footing slipped ever so slightly, "you think we can slow down for a moment?"

"My apologies Fledgling Trey, but we're under special request from an oracle," Eli informed him as Syd kept up her pace without a sign of slowing down, "take a break if you desire but my contractor and I have it in our best interest to remain focused on the task at hand."

Trey checked his watch which currently read five after eight. "Thanks for the offer," he said with a grin as he hurried on after Syd, "but I'm just as focused as you two are-"

With a sudden grab of his shoulder from Syd, Trey fell silent. With a gasp, he turned his head back to the female behind him who was presently staring dead a head with a finger to her lips. Without a word, she motioned the previously mentioned finger forward along her eye line.

As Trey turned to where Syd was pointing, he locked eyes with a hooded Naota who stared back at him like a deer in headlights. Trey stepped forward, only for Naota to step backward and sharpen his gaze in turn.

Gritting his teeth, he raised his ringed fist at the seeming duo in front of him. "BALE'GOR!" he barked, the reflection of his undead companion appearing in the stone in the center of the ring he wore.

"SYD!" Eli called out to his contractor.

Syd narrowed her gaze upon the ring and pulled out her buckle and green caster die, "On it!"

As the undead gatekeeper erupted from the ring, Syd grabbed Trey by the collar and tossed him out of the way as she slapped her buckle onto her waist with the green die being placed within in the instant it took her to pull it from her coat and attach it to her waist. She then gave the die a hard spin and pulled up her hood.

"GAME START! STRIKER! PIERCING SABER ARISE!" roared her buckle as Syd turned to Jayd's striker form. The network rider darted forward, swords drawn and caught Bale'gor's oncoming fangs and claws in an x shaped parry with both of her blades.

Naota took this time to turn on his heel and run down the alleyway.

"FLEDGLING TREY!" Eli called out to the boy on the ground, "Ensure that boy does not get away!"

Trey gasped, looking to his companions and noting their current situation, "BUT-"

"Don't worry about us," Jayd said as she kneed Bale'gor in the gap between his legs, using the opening it created to grab him by his forearm and hurl him into a nearby wall opposite Trey, "we got a job to do." She looked at Trey from over her shoulder, "Now get going already."

With a nod, Trey picked himself up off the ground then chased after Naota. It wasn't long after Trey had left that Bale'gor clawed his way back to his feet.

"That… was a deplorable tactic…" the undead sneered at his opponent, "have you network riders always fought such little regard for honor?"

Jayd paused for a moment, then laughed as she raised her swords at her foe. "You got a lotta balls for someone using a fledgling as a shield."

In a flash, Bale'gor disappeared from sight only to reappear behind Jayd moments later. Jayd gasped at the sight of this, quickly turning to the left and locking eyes with the beast that was now swiping both his claws down upon her.

"SYD!" Eli called his contractor.

"On it!" Jayd returned.

Jayd raised her swords to block the attack, but despite her best efforts she found herself no match for Bale'gor's raw strength as the undead tore her swords from her grasp with one claw and threw them to the ground.

"Wha?" escaped Jayd's lips as with the other claw, Bale'gor grabbed Jayd by the back of her head and slammed her to the ground.

"Give up Network Rider," snarled Bale'gor, grabbing Jayd's left arm with his claw as he continued to hold her down, "or else."

Grabbing hold of one of her swords with her free hand, Jayd shot a glare up at Bale'gor from where she lay in the dirt. "Not a chance, demon!" she spat at him.

Bale'gor's eyes narrowed upon Jayd, pressing his foot down on her back as he twisted and pulled back on her arm, "So be it then."

With a blood curdling scream from the network rider, Bale'gor tore Jayd's arm out of its socket. Jayd panted violently, the shock alone making it impossible for her to react to or even register the gate keeper continuing to hold onto her arm and ripping it right off from the rest of what connected it to her torso.

"Syd?!..." Eli called to her as Jayd fell lifeless on the ground, still in rider form as green sparks emitting from the stump where her arm once was, "SYD!"

As this went on, the Jester of the Court watched from above the roof above.

"Stupid Bale'gor," the Jester sucked her teeth, readying her claw with the undead in her sights, "she's mine to destroy! Not yours-" suddenly, a small chime pair of chimes echoed through the night sky which interrupted her train of thought.

With a gasp, she looked to the left of her to see the black rabbit mimic Poppy and the white rabbit mimic Clover standing on the roof with her. Though they were a few feet away, the way they stared at her in silence made it seem as though they were right on top of her.

"Really?" The Jester sucked her teeth, lowering her claw before balling it into a fist, "what do you clones want?"

"The Maestro asks that you do not engage with the network rider," Poppy and Clover spoke in unison, "or you shall suffer the penalty."

"Like I care!" The Jester scoffed, gritting her teeth together as she pushed past the twin mimics and leapt to another roof, "The network rider means more to me than whatever he can do to-"

As she landed on the next roof her eyes shot open as she caught the sight of a stranger who stood with his profile towards her and his eyes on the alley below. He wore a black long coat that matched his hair that was of a similar style to what Rin naturally had, a pair of sharp glasses framing his sunken in eyes and intense yet calm features.

"Another fledgling," she smirked, licking her lips. "Fine, I'll let Bale'gor have his fun for now."

Stepping forward, the Jester shifted into her more human appearance that she used under the name Kaitlyn. This time she wore a more punkish attire consisting of a black leather jacket over top a violet crop top with the letters 'bgdg' emblazoned across it in a gold spray paint esc pattern, as well as a pair of black cut off jean shorts and a spiked violet belt and black combat boots with a long sleeved fishnet unitard underneath her entire outfit.

"Hey there stranger," Kaitlyn cooed to the male as she approached him, swaying her hips in time with her stride, "what's a handsome man like you doing all alone on a night like this?"

Clover and Poppy watched this from a distance, keeping an eye on her. The male however remained silent, keeping his eyes fixed on Trey and Syd below.

Kaitlyn's warm gaze shifted into a mildly annoyed glare. "Hey… you know you're supposed to answer when a woman is openly flirting with you, don't ya?"

The man said nothing.

Kaitlyn huffed, cocking her head to the side as she crossed her arms, "You got a name or something?"

The man, once again, said nothing.

Kaitlyn snarled, then slammed her foot on the ground, "ANSWER ME DAMMIT!"

"Give me one good reason why I should," the man finally spoke, shooting her a glare in the corner of his eye as he pulled from his pocket a hexagonal tile marked with the violet impression of knight chess piece, "demon."

Kaitlyn gasped. "Oh crap!" she muttered under her breath as she leapt backward into a four legged defensive stance before reverting to the Jester of the Court. "How did you know?!"

"I didn't," the man said as he cast open his coat with a single flare of his none tile baring hand to reveal a belt of a similar make to Syd's, this one cast in gold and violet, "until now."

He pulled on a lever on the right of his buckle, a panel flipping over as the buckle opened, "GAME START!" cried the buckle as the man slotted his tile a slot on the now reversed panel then plunged the lever back into the buckle as the panel flipped back over.

The moment the buckle was closed, a stampede of violet horses made of energy descended from above the male and crashed upon him. As they disturbsed, they formed into the plate arm of a noble violet and gold knight with pauldrons in the style of horse heads. With a small whiny, a gold horse trotted out from his belt and flipped into his tri horned helmet to become the visor.

"KNIGHT!" shouted the male's buckle as he drew a long sword and small shield from his back, "ADVANCE!"

"Your move," the knight told the Jester as he stared her down.

"So it really is you, the network rider that slaughtered that old rock Astaroth," the Jester snarled as she readied her claws for battle, "Artemis!"

Meanwhile, back at Fumiko's shop, Rin stood outside by the door leaning against the display window. As he practiced shuffling his deck of cards, Fumiko came outside with the ringing of the door's chimes.

"Going somewhere?" Rin asked her, not looking up from the cards as he packed them together and finished shuffling them.

"Just for a walk," Fumiko told him as she managed a smile, "would you.. Like to come with?"

Rin shook his head, "I'm waiting for someone, you know that."

"Oh, I see…" Fumiko patted him gently on the head, then bowed to him. "Be safe then," she said before heading off down the road.

Rin shifted his gaze towards Fumiko for a moment, then turned his eyes back to the cards in his hand. Placing his unsteady hand on the top card, he took in a deep breath then exhaled, "Future…" he muttered as he drew the top card.

As Fumiko walked, her expression sharpened as she balled her hands into fists, "Please Chikane… hold on a little while longer."

{End of Part A}

{Star of Part B}

Back on the rooftop with The Jester and Artemis, the gate keeper and the network rider stared each other down.

"Well?" Artemis spoke in a cold tone of voice, "I'm waiting."

The Jester sucked her teeth, "What a pain." She ripped off two bombs from her hip, both marked with a smiley face, "One of the reasons I can't stand men!"

With a strong overhand throw from both her arms, The Jester hurled both of her bombs at the ground where Artemis stood. Upon impact, they erupted into a large cloud of black smoke which engulfed the network rider.

"Game over!" The Jester laughed, dropping to an all fours pouncing position with her claws at the ready.

She was about to dart forward when suddenly.

"Huh?" The Jester gasped as she saw a small shadow in the smoke.

Moments later, the shield of Artemis ripped through the smoke towards The Jester.

"SHIT!" She snarled, leaping to the left only to hit something moments later.

"What now?!" The Jester looked over her shoulder, only to freeze in horror to see Artemis directly behind her with his blade raised over his head.

Wordless, he brought his sword down upon the Jester and delivered a heavy slash across her back.

"AAHHHH!" cried the Jester as she was brought to her knees, unable to move.

"While you still live gate keeper... tell me something..." Artemis said as he stepped in front of The Jester, walked over to his shield and picked it up before turning his gaze back to his wounded opponent, "you're a spyre?"

The Jester clawed at her shoulder, gritting her teeth as the sting of Artemis' blade burned through her skin. "If I was…" she panted as she managed to stare down the network rider, "what makes you think I'd tell you?"

"So then, you're just a normal mimic…" Artemis let out a disappointed sigh as he grabbed the handle of his buckle, pulling it out before plunging it back in, "what a pain."

"CHECK MATE!" roared Artemis' belt, his sword becoming engulfed in a brilliant violet flame as five tiles of light shot out from his belt and fell in a left facing L shaped pattern between Artemis and the Jester.

"No… not like this!" The Jester screamed in her mind, the face of Syd smiling in front of her replacing the image of the charging network rider for a moment as time seemed to slow to a claw around her. "It can't end like this!"

As Artemis reached her, he swung his blade towards the Jester who knelt at his left only for Clover to materialize between the Jester and his blade.

Just as Artemis cut through the white rabbit mimic, the Jester's eyes opened before shaking in horror at the sight in front of her.

"Sister…" Clover muttered as she looked over her shoulder to The Jester as her body began to crumble into threads, "get her out of here…"

The Jester, reaching forward allowed for only one word to escape her lips, "CLOVER!"

The Jester's grasp did not reach her however, as the Black Rabbit Poppy emerged from a rift behind the Jester and grabbed her by the shoulder.

Before Artemis could so much as pull back his sword, Poppy stared him down and muttered, "The Maestro has his eye on you," before falling back into the rift, taking the Jester with her as the rift closed behind them.

"The Maestro?" Artemis questioned, lowering his sword before pulling out the lever from his belt and returning to his civilian form. He placed his hand over a pendant that hung from his next that appeared to have an empty space where a gemstone was once held, "Looks like I now know the name of my next opponent…" he said before staring up at the full moon that l "my darling Luna."

At the exit of the alleyway, Naota darted out from it and onto the dead city streets. He was about to make a break for it down the empty sidewalk, but was instead tackled to the ground by Trey.

"OW!" Naota winced as he slammed across the pavement. Looking over his shoulder to Trey who had him pinned at the waist, Naota began smacking the other male on the top of his head with his fists. "IDIOT!" he yelled at Trey, "LET ME GO!"

"NO!" Trey yelled back at him, his hold on Naota only getting tighter the more he was hit.

"WHY THE FUCK NOT!" Naota demanded.

"Because Naota…" a familiar voice echoed from in front of the quarrelling males on the ground, "your mother needs you, more than you know."

With a gasp under his breath, Naota took his gaze off of Trey and looked over to in front of him to see Fumiko standing in front of him basked in the moonlit from above. As his eyes met hers it became clear to him from her expression alone that she was on the verge of heartbreak seeing him in this manor.

Naota took in a deep gulp, then muttered, "A-Aunt Fumiko?"

Back in the alleyway with Bale'gor, the gate keeper loomed over the network rider with her severed arm still clenched within his claw.

"Well?" he asked the limp Jayd beneath his feet, shaking her with a slight movement of his foot, "Anything left from that stubborn mouth of yours?" He paused for a moment, waiting for a response only to snarl when he received none. "Figured as much," he said, dropping Jayd's arm in front of her as he stepped off her body, "your kind has always been so fragile."

Bale'gor took a few steps away from Jayd, her arm and stump continuing to spark as the gate keeper got farther and farther away. He reached a turn in the alleyway, a good ten feet away from Jayd which was then that the network rider reached for their remaining arm and grabbed hold of the one that had been severed.

With a hiss and a hum, the sparks from Jayd's severed arm and her stump grew violent as the network rider rose to her feet. This sudden movement caused Bale'gor to look back in the corner of his eye, then narrow his gaze upon Jayd.

"Will you never learn?" he muttered.

In the blink of an eye, Bale'gor turned back to Jayd and got down on all four before breaking into a lightning fast spring towards her. Opening his jaws, he raised his head and readied his jaws to bite down upon Jayd's head. Just as the undead bit down however, Jayd raised her still attached arm to the undead to allow him to bite down on her forearm instead.

With his fangs digging into Jayd's sleeve, Bale'gor laughed, "Are you aiming to lose another arm girl?" he asked, only to pause at the reflective metal surface just beneath Jayd's sleeve that his fangs were digging into.

With a now shaken gaze, Bale'gor looked Jayd in the eye who stared back with a now more focused glare than before which could be felt through the yellow eyes that illuminated through the black void of her hood.

Despite the undead with his fangs in her arm Jayd raised her stump to the severed limb she still held before releasing it from her grasp. Like a fly to a lamp, the severed arm became drawn to Jayd's stump and with a large spark of green energy her arm repaired along with her sleeve. With a gasp, Bale'gor released his fangs from her arm and leapt backwards away from Jayd.

"After all that I inflicted upon you… you should be dead by now…" Bale'gor snarled as, with a powerful kick from her feet, Jayd swept her two swords up off the ground and back into her hands, "Are you even human?! What ARE you?!"

"I'm just a wandering network rider," Jayd said in a voice devoid of emotion as she popped her green striker die out from her belt and replaced it with her red finisher die, "That's all you need to know."

"FINAL ROLL!" roared the belt as Jayd gave her belt a hard spin and lowered herself into a deep, wide legged stand with both her swords spread out in a pincer like stance. As violent red energy swirled around her blades, the die in her belt came to a halt, "SIX! CRITICAL STRIKE!"

What happened next was something that not even Bale'gor could perceive. One moment, Jayd stood before him and the next she was behind him with her swords crossed over her chest. Feeling all his strength leave his body, Bale'gor smirked as his head lifted clean off from his body as his entire being began to dissolve.

"Sorry Naota..." he muttered to himself as he became dust in the wind and his remains blew away, "looks like this is as far as we go…"

Across town in the darkened third floor hall of the city's hospital, the ring on Naota's finger cracked and crumbled away to dust as Fumiko led both him and Trey in dead silence. It wasn't long before Fumiko came to a halt in front of a single closed door, the two men following suit not a moment later.

Turning back to look at Naota, she then quietly motioned her head to the door causing both Trey and Naota to turn towards it.

Taking in a deep breath, Naota stepped towards the door. "She's in there…" he muttered after a sharp exhale, "isn't she?"

"Go on Naota…" Fumiko told him as she opened the door, allowing the faint beep of a heart monitor to echo out from the room, "there isn't much time."

Naota looked through the door, seeing the bed where his mother lay peacefully asleep. After the slightest stumble forward, Naota caught himself on the doorway before finally making his way forward towards the bed.

As Naota approached his sleeping mother, Trey watched on with a complete loss for words. It was then that a small gasp escaped his lips, reaching into his sweater and pulling out the silver heart shaped necklace he still wore.

Gripping the necklace in his hand, Trey looked towards the bed ridden woman as his gaze sharpened upon her. He took the slightest step forward, only for Fumiko to reach out her hand and grab him by the shoulder.

"That's not going to do much good here… sadly," Fumiko told him.

Trey looked at Fumiko, his eyes shaken as he muttered, "W-Why not?"

"Death is but a part of life we all must face," Fumiko said quietly, removing her hand from Trey, "as is grief."

Within the hospital room, Naota knelt down at his mother's bedside and reached for her cold almost lifeless hand. "Mother…" he muttered to her, "It's me Naota.. I'm here…"

Slowly, but surely, Chikane opened her eyes and turned her head to face her son. After a moment, a smile came to her face, "My boy…" she managed to speak, reaching her trembling hand to cup her son's, "I knew you'd.. Make it…"

"Yes mother, I'm right here," Naota sniffled, his heart aching more and more with each passing second, "I'm going to help you get better… you hear me?"

Chikane's eyes widened ever so slightly, then they closed as a slight chuckle escaped her lips, "My sweet Naota… if you remain as hopeful as you are now…" a single tear ran down her cheek, "it would make me the proudest mother alive…"

"Mom…" Naota breathed, beginning to choke up as he clenched as his mother's hand, "I… I love you…"

Chikane's entire body relaxed, her smile widening as yet another tear ran down her face from her other eye, "I know you do… my son…"

Silence fell over the two as Naota's head slowly lowered onto his mother's bedside, the boy breaking down into an open and vulnerable fitting of tears.

"Fumiko…" Syd's voice called out from behind the Oracle and Trey, the two looking back to see an undamaged Syd in her civilian form standing by a now open window, "is she…"

Fumiko nodded, "Yes…" she told Syd, "she's at peace."

Syd let out a breath, stepping towards the door and looking inside at Naota, "So is the boy… by the appearance of things." Eli's voice called out from Syd's bracelet.

Syd raised her brow at Fumiko, "Is this cause we get rid of the gate keeper that was after him?"

Fumiko shook her head, "No… I do not believe so."

"Then what did it?" Trey asked.

"It's simply because, in spite of everything that happened to him," Fumiko said as she looked Trey in the eye, "that boy learned a lesson he's likely to never forget."

"What lesson was that?" Trey asked quietly.

"You'll only make things worse if you go around making promises…" Fumiko told him as she looked back to the hospital room door, "when you know you can't keep them."

On the other side of town in front of Fumiko's shop lay a single torn up card from Rin's deck. The remains of the card, flipping over as a result of wind and gently rolling into the nearby gutter, was the king of hearts.

To be continued

{Insert Ending Theme: "Again" by Beverly}