"I know what you've done; I know what lives you've placed in jeopardy for this game of ours. And, if I cannot claim them, I will end them all."
The Wolf knew he was only here for his own protection; the Eidolons wouldn't be too happy with him if they found out he'd helped Kai with his quest against them-but he couldn't hep wanting to be a bigger part of the action. Because of his training, he was never one to sit on the sidelines of a battle, especially one that had direct impact on his own fate as well as the rest of the world's.
And, as he was about to discover, the sidelines weren't all that safe.
He was alone in his bedroom in the other KaibaCorp safehouse, poring over some of the files he'd taken with him when he'd broken into the Eidolons' headquarters when he sensed an unfamiliar presence approaching the building.
He stopped what he was doing abruptly, svelte forehead contorting in a frown. He wasn't expecting anyone: the only one who knew where he was, was Kai-and if he were here, Tala wouldn't be able to sense him.
He tried to hone in on the presence, using his enhanced abilities to try and ferret out who it was, or at least what they were doing here. He felt hostility, and an intent of violence-and, upon further examination, he found that it was a woman: one who definitely had power of some kind.
Unfortunately, he couldn't get any more specifics than that; but whoever it was, they definitely weren't here for a friendly chat.
Tala rose to his feet at that conclusion, rolling his neck and stretching his fingers, summoning up the wolf spirit that gave him his abilities in preparation for a fight.
"Prikhodite, Wolborg." 'Come, Wolborg.'
Against the tide of darkness all the beasts must stand
The air rippled around him, and he heard it loud and clear as the wards surrounding his hideout were probed for weaknesses. He curled his hand into a fist; he didn't think there were any, but, if he was wrong, he couldn't do anything to reinforce them. Wolborg didn't give him that kind of magic, and he didn't possess it himself, either.
A growl rang out inside his head as the wards were battered repeatedly, and with unwavering determination. Whoever it was that was coming for him wasn't going to give up until they broke.
Which, a few moments later, they finally did.
Tala felt it as the magic walls crumbled around him, and his bedroom door was blown aside to show a young woman dressed in a mottled pink cloak, carrying a striped sword in her gloved hand-a woman that, as it turned out, he did know.
"Mariah Yan," Tala half-growled, Russian accent coming out thick with disdain; he wasn't surprised by this. He knew Kai was planning on going after Lee Yan; obviously, he had done so, and his sister had found out.
As if to prove his assumption correct, the pink-haired-woman advanced further into his room, her tan face contorted in a snarl as she raised her sword.
"You helped Hiwatari kill my brother," she spat furiously, her amber eyes blazing with acid. "I never pegged you as the traitorous type, Ivanov; guess you had all of us fooled."
"And I suppose you're here to make me pay for it?" the wolf retorted, upper lip curling. "Your brother turned Kon against Kai, brought him to the place where he willingly destroyed Kai's life. I think that more than justifies Kai killing him."
Mariah lunged forward, taking a swipe at him in anger; but Tala sidestepped, his wolf-like speed allowing him to avoid it effectively.
"I disagree," she snarled, breaths wavering with the force of her-unconcealed-anguish. Her teeth lengthened into fangs and her eyes glowed like the demon she truly was. "And you're going to pay the price for your friend's mistake."
Spill his blood on the floor this is the cost of your betrayal
"Up until now I've allowed you to believe that you were winning this, and that you were eliminating my pawns without my knowledge. But now, the gloves are coming off: the true stakes of this battle have been revealed to everyone involved, and if they don't become loyal to me, or if they've betrayed hteir loyalty to me in the past, their lives are officially forfeit."
This time, Tala barely had time to react before Mariah came at him again, yowling out what could only be described as a battle cry.
Her eyes flashed as she barreled into Tala, knocking them both to the floor. She slashed at him with her claws, slamming the pommel of her sword into the side of his head-a blow he was only just able to escape. But her next one didn't miss: her blade raked across his cheek, opening another scar on his pale face.
The wolf hissed, lifting his leg in an effort to kick her off. She fell back, but she didn't stop moving; she rolled rapidly onto her side, sinking her fangs into Tala's unguarded neck with unmitigated savagery.
He couldn't tear her away; he could only writhe as her lips sucked the life from his body. Not even his powers could save him.
His vision faded out, blurring while more and more blood was drained, and he let out an uncharacteristic, involuntary cry. He hadn't felt this kind of pain in a long time; not since Orochimaru's experiments when he was still a teenager. He hadn't expected to ever feel it at the hands of this particular lamia.
He was going to die; he couldn't fight Mariah off, not after losing so much blood. He just hoped that, after he did, Kai wouldn't take his murder as the challenge that it so obviously was. He didn't want anything else bad to happen to his only friend because of the Eidolons.
"Goodbye, volk," the female-neko jin's Chinese accent reverberated within his head as the last bit of energy ebbed out of his limbs. Those were the last words he heard before everything went black.
At the same time that one traitor was being executed, another was being found out; or rather, realizing that his actions had never been all that secret to begin with.
"You sold us out, Kisame," the silky, lilting baritone of Tyki Mikk punctuated the air as it rippled before him, the floor of his bedroom opening up to show the Noah rising up through the wood with his top hat clutched in his white-gloved hand.
The Shark didn't blink at the unexpected visitor-or the accusation. Truth be told, he'd been pretty sure that this was coming; even with Itachi's assurances that there would be no repercussions for his help, he'd known that, sooner or later, that would end up being a lie. It was only a matter of when the jog would be up.
It looked like that time was now.
"You gave the Reaper the information that lead to the panther killing my brother," Tyki continued in that same fluid, mildly chiding tone. "That wasn't very friendly of you."
Kisame turned around, a blank expression on his cyan face. He wasn't going to deny it-he wasn't that kind of guy-so, instead, he merely snorted.
"Yeah, well, I never really got the impression you cared all that much about your brother, anyways, Mikk, so what's it to you?" the Shark retorted coldly, glaring back at the dark-skinned man without blinking.
Tyki continued to lope toward him, an indulgent smile spreading slowly over his dark, curved lips as he slowly shook his head.
"Oh, it isn't about the victim; it's about the fact that you betrayed one of your own," he said mockingly, wagging his slender finger at the Shark. He pushed back his mane of black curls and replaced his hat on top of it. "It's about loyalty-something that doesn't exactly seem to be available in spades around here."
Kisame snorted.
"I wouldn't exactly call it loyalty; I think coercion, or manipulation by fear would be a more accurate term," he stated matter-of-factly, still not flinching, despite the distinctly predatory way that Tyki was advancing on him. "The snake threatened, tortured and experimented on all of us so we wouldn't be able to leave; it's only natural that some of us would want to find a way to subvert that."
Tyki chuckled, but it was a high, cold sound that definitely did not reach his glinting eyes.
"Well, I didn't hear you complaining all of these years," he pointed out in a low drawl, halting in his tracks, a malicious gleam in his topaz eyes. "In fact, I don't recall there being any threats or torture being inflicted on you; I'm pretty certain you joined willingly after you butchered your entire clan. I guess that should have been an indication that betrayal was in your blood; we won't make that oversight again."
Kisame didn't flinch as Tyki lifted his now empty hand, conjuring a ball of shadows into his palm-shadows that rapidly began to coalesce into a very familiar shape. He didn't even have time to react before the flurry of Tyki's distinctive weapons-the Teez-converged on him from all sides, going straight for his chest.
He recoiled instinctively, his body automatically going to lunge for his sword-which was propped up against the wall to the right. He didn't really want to fight; it was just a reflex.
Tyki disappeared between him and the weapon, though, that damn smile still on his face and a malevolent twinkle in his topaz eyes.
"Now, now, Kisame, don't fuss; it's been a long time since I performed an execution and I don't want to make a mess," he clicked his tongue like he was scolding a naughty child; the Teez responded to the sound, increasing the force of their attack tenfold.
Kisame was forced against the far wall, far out of the reach of Samehada, and an involuntary grunt made its way out of his throat as his back hit the wood. The unearthly butterflies bit into every inch of exposed flesh, stripping it away from his bones and keeping him still so he couldn't get away. He couldn't remember the last time he'd ever felt so powerless: he couldn't move, and he definitely couldn't fight.
Not that he really tried.
Oddly, he didn't blame Itachi for this. Even though the Reaper had conned him into giving away that information, he wasn't angry. He'd done what he did because, despite the way they'd met and last parted, he still considered the elder Uchiha a friend. And not even the fact that that he was waging a war against the people Kisame worked for had changed that. He'd knew there would be a cost to pay; he was resigned to his fate.
So this is what the consequences are
"You shouldn't feel bad, Kisame," Tyki crooned in his ear as the sensation of being ripped apart overcame everything else, falsely conciliatory. "You aren't the first person who's wound up dead because of Itachi Uchiha's actions-and you certainly won't be the last."
Kisame saw him step away just before his vision began to blur and fade. An uncharacteristic scream rose out of him, renting the room, cutting off with a choked, gurgling sound and the splash of blood spilling over the floor.
Being eaten alive by cannibalistic butterflies was definitely not how he'd expected to die.
This is the part where things start to get ugly. The battle has raged on for quite some time now, atrocities have been committed by both sides-and most recently, it has been revealed that it has all been planned. Everything from the dark-angel being press-ganged into Hiwatari's service by the one who calls herself the night goddess to everyone's dark, twisted pasts being subjected to the world's judgement, has all been a part of the game. The deal between two of the world's most powerful forces to be reckoned with has now taken a turn.
This is where the stakes truly become life or death. This is the crisis point.
Tekla was there once again when Itachi came back to the compound, reclined atop one of the chairs in the entrance hall and observing his arrival with folded arms.
Though he didn't say a word in greeting-or even really glance at her-she seemed to know immediately what was going on.
"Orochimaru spilled the beans to someone, didn't he?" she guessed, uncrossing her legs and watching him carefully for his reaction-not that she really expected to witness much of one.
Just as she thought, instead of answering, Itachi merely pushed back the hood of his cloak and took up a position near one of the windows, not even bothering to acknowledge her.
Far from being offended, Tekla seemed to take that as a confirmation of her assumption.
"So, what are you going to do about it? Has anyone tried to leave, or what?" she queried with a faint scoff, not letting the subject drop and continuing to eye him from the other side of the corridor.
This time, Itachi lifted his head, pausing only for a brief instant before responding. "At the moment, the only ones who've been made privy to the truth are Kaiba, the Legacies, and-,"
"Me," the easily recognizable growling voice of the panther finished for him as the speaker stomped in through the front door as well, blue-gray eyes slitted and blazing electric sparks when they landed on Itachi. "I know what you've been doing, Uchiha-and you owe me an explanation."
Tekla's gaze shifted to the Reaper as well, partly to see his reaction and partly to see if he would tell her to leave. His eyes were closed, though, and he didn't appear at all concerned whether or not she did so, so she stayed put.
"You want to talk, talk," the sorceress stated for him, gesturing pointedly for Kanda to go ahead.
Kanda's nostrils flared slightly as his gaze flicked toward her, but it quickly returned to the Reaper, his hand curling tensely around the pommel of his sword.
"This was a game between you and the snake the whole time?" he demanded in a clearly irate tone. "You're gambling with my life, with all of our lives, for some kind of prize?"
As per usual, Itachi wasn't immediately forthcoming with a reply, his alabaster features completely blank, as if he weren't even listening.
But they all knew he was.
"It was all part of the plan," he said lowly without turning around, so it seemed more like he was talking to himself. "The snake has something of mine, and it's in everyone's best interests that I get it back."
"Yeah, your soul, I heard," Kanda interrupted coldly, not mollified in the slightest. "Why wouldn't you tell us that from the beginning, though? At least, we would have all known what we were getting into, and it would have made things a hell of a lot easier on everyone-especially me."
Itachi was unmoved.
"This wasn't supposed to be easy on anyone; it was meant to be a challenge for all those involved-a challenge that, as I said, was planned."
"So, you're telling me that it was part of your plan for Allen to tell me about your fucked-up past, just so you could turn me against him and he would wind up dead at my hands?" the panther hissed, his hushed tone a result of the effort he was having to exercise in order to refrain from yelling.
Itachi's eyes stayed firmly shuttered and he remained perfectly still; so much so that it didn't even look like his lips were moving when he spoke again.
"He was meant to die, and you were meant to kill him. But you had to believe in him enough so that, when you discovered where his true loyalties lay, it would hurt to the point where you would want to kill him. That was how I decided it needed to go down."
"Why? Why would you want me to find out about your past that way? Why couldn't you have just told me about it yourself?" Kanda pressed, his eyes narrowing furiously.
His predatory glare did nothing to intimidate the elder man; when Itachi replied again, he was utterly unaffected.
"You wanted to know about my ties to the Vampire Lords, and why I seemed to have power over so many people, even some of the Eidolons. Walker knew those things, so I figured it would be akin to killing two birds with one stone."
"Let me guess: your twisted little mind thought that if it was Allen who told me those things, it would make me trust him enough that it would hurt just that much more when he showed me his true colours," Kanda all but spat, clenching his fist at his side so his nails dug into his palm.
All he got for a response this time was a flat, monosyllabic, "Hn."
The panther snorted disparagingly; he should have expected that.
"Nice to know that my life depends on the screwed-up intelligence of a fucking depraved person," he snapped acidly.
"Don't blame Itachi for this, Kanda," Tekla piped up sharply, getting to her feet and getting in his way. "If you want to blame anyone for all the shit that's gone down, blame that pathetic excuse for a man, Orochimaru. This all goes back to him."
"Don't defend me, Tekla," Itachi cut her off quietly, still not even bothering to open his eyes, let alone shift from his current inert position.
The brunette looked at him, clearly taken aback by his words.
"Well, why not?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe because there's nothing to defend," Kanda put in before Itachi could say anything else, his upper lip curling as his glare intensified. "I think all those experiments the Eidolons performed on you seriously fucked with your head."
"Crass much?" Tekla commented caustically, folding her arms again before turning serious. "And Itachi is not depraved or insane; he's just someone who needs to maybe learn how to trust people more."
Kanda just snorted a second time, then waved his hand dismissively and stormed back out of the compound in a huff.
Tekla shook her head.
"Well, that went well," she said with feigned optimism, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets and turning to look at Itachi again with a crease on her forehead.
The Reaper let out a soft, soundless breath.
"This changes nothing," he declared flatly, still with his eyes closed. "The plan is still going ahead as planned; just because some of them know now doesn't mean they can interfere. And that definitely isn't the panther's place, so if he screws this up…"
He let the vague threat hang ominously in the air, left to the imagination how it ended.
Tekla stared at him, her frown deepening. It wasn't like she'd thought Itachi'd have a complete breakdown or anything; but she had been expecting this to change something for her friend. But Itachi was acting as if this was what he'd known would happen all along-and that just didn't track.
"Did you want Orochimaru to tell people or something? 'Cause, if so, why didn't you just tell them yourself like Kanda said?" she queried, tossing Itachi a confused glance.
Itachi finally opened his eyes and tilted his head back to meet her gaze, his thin face characteristically blank.
"Because the challenge is what are they willing to do in order to gain their freedom from the Eidolons?" he told her, tone unreadable. "I made this choice, to have the snake lose Walker at Kanda's hands because I wanted to test him most of all. After all, he and I are the true key pieces to this game-without him, I cannot protect myself, or the rest of the world, from what happens if I lose."
Both of Tekla's eyebrows flew up.
"What do you mean? What happens if you lose?" she enquired warily, sure she wasn't going to like whatever Itachi said next.
And she was right.
"If all of my pawns are eliminated, but the snake remains alive, I will be the one who is forced to take his place as the leader of the Eidolons," Itachi revealed in a dull voice that definitely did not reach the tone of his sentence.
That statement left the brunette speechless.
"What?" she said softly, her voice trembling slightly.
"You heard me," Itachi stated without emotion, turning away from her again so she couldn't see the look on his face.
Tekla continued to stare at him, swallowing hard. "You never told me that before."
"You didn't need to know the risks; neither did anyone else. And like I said, nothing changes, which means there are still jobs to be done."
"You mean like the one you gave Kuran and Kiryu?" the sorceress quipped. "How's that going, by the way?"
Surprisingly, that brought the barest trace of a smile to the blacknette's lips.
"It's just about to come to fruition," he breathed, still sounding as if he were speaking more to himself than her.
And it's not the only one
The more Kanda thought about what Uchiha had said, the more furious he got. He still couldn't get over the fact that Itachi had just been using them-using him-all this time just to win back his soul from Orochimaru.
He couldn't understand how anyone could do that: put so many people's lives in danger without telling any of them the real reason why. He knew Uchiha wasn't exactly the most emotional man, but he'd never thought he was that heartless.
That said, though, he didn't think that leaving would be the best idea, either. He still wanted to take down the Eidolons, and he wasn't cocky enough to think he could get rid of them all on his own-even with his new powers.
He grimaced, letting out a heavy, exasperated breath. This was not at all what he had expected to happen when he'd agreed to help take down the ghosts-he had not been expecting it all to have just been a smokescreen; he definitely hadn't expected it to turn out to be about Uchiha's revenge, not Hiwatari's. But that couldn't be helped now.
He gripped his sword, clenching his jaw. If he was going to be trapped in this "crusade", at least he could get something out of it.
It was high time he carried out that mission Uchiha had given him.
Kanda exhaled again, then closed his eyes, concentrating his tracking abilities on the Noah of Dreams again. This time, he was determined he would really find her.
It took a moment-maybe a little bit more-and soon, he began to get impressions, images of a location.
A night sky swirling with mist only a few stars visible through it the edge of a rooftop of a brick building ten stories high an umbrella at her side with a jack o lantern on the tip while a voice a familiar voice sang a children's song that rang out in the darkness
Kanda balled his hands tighter at his sides, his lips pulling back in a slight snarl. He recognized the location he saw in his mind. It was in the northern part of Kyoto, a residential neighbourhood where very little ever happened.
Until now.
Road was most likely there scoping out her next victims, he thought with a fresh rush of anger racing through him. He couldn't let her go through with that-and he wouldn't.
He opened his eyes again and started heading away from the compound. There were wards on the grounds, so he had to get off of them in order to use his transportation powers; he wasn't going to try and get a vehicle-that would be far too conspicuous.
He walked to the end of the property, pulling up the hood of his robe as he did so; once there, he brought the location to mind again.
The air rushed around him, and he vanished on the spot.
He reappeared on a rooftop in the middle of a fast oncoming rainstorm, water pounding him instantly. It didn't bother him, though; he was already focused on his next move.
How to kill another Noah.
His target was on top of the opposite building, clutching that talking umbrella in her dark-skinned hands and waving it about like a toy. She didn't seem to notice he was there; though that was probably just a show.
"If it isn't Yu Kanda," the blue-haired woman giggled without turning around, sounding more like the child she appeared to be than the fifty-five-year-old she really was.
Kanda wasn't here for witty repartee, though; he was here to do a job.
He didn't waste time with actually talking; he simply drew Mugen from its sheath and took off running toward the edge.
He knew it wouldn't be that easy-so when Road disappeared right before he would have collided with her, he wasn't shocked or angry. He didn't hesitate; he spun around, raising the glowing katana in an offensive arc.
An inhuman burst of speed pulsed through him and somehow, he was able to catch up with her. Mugen clashed with Lero, making it scream like it was in pain.
Road actually reeled back, an uncharacteristic look of shock crossing her face so briefly it was hardly noticeable-but Kanda noticed.
He took advantage of the opening and pressed her back further, exerting more pressure on her through his sword. She pushed back; he sensed her conjuring up those candle weapons of hers behind his back and, despite himself, he had to suppress a rueful smile. She probably thought she would take him by surprise like she did with everyone else; she probably didn't know about the enhanced abilities being a Shifter granted him.
Right before they would have hit him, Kanda ducked out of the way, bringing the point of his sword low and plunging it into her stomach.
He felt the electricity crackling over his blade and it pulsed into Road's body, making her shake violently. He pushed the sword further in, and black blood started to stream out of the wound, soaking into his fresh silk gloves.
He heard her choke and felt her crumple. He didn't think she would go down that easily; but he could tell she was going to fade fast.
The pulsing sword made a sickening squelching noise as he slid it out of the Noah's ribcage-a sound heard also by the man who was watching them.
"Well, that is a nice first sight to see of the neighbourhood," the distinctive voice of Tyki Mikk commented smoothly as he appeared on the roof, irony heavy in his voice.
Kanda gritted his teeth again, turning around slowly to find the other Noah watching mockingly as his niece fell to the ground between them.
"You wanna be next, asshole?" he threatened, aiming his bloody sword in Tyki's direction, blue-gray eyes flashing with unconcealed loathing.
Tyki let out a smooth, mirthless chuckle, raising his palms in an exaggerated gesture of surrender.
"Now what could I have possibly done to evoke such hatred?" he asked innocently, feigning confusion.
The former Exorcist bared his teeth scathingly.
"It's a long list and I haven't got the patience to go into it today," he retorted. "So, watch yourself because the next time I see you, I will kill you."
Tossing one final distasteful glance at the Noah of Pleasure, Kanda slammed Mugen back into its sheath and transported himself back off the roof top.