Chapter 34

Behind the Mask

"You can't win. You must know that by now."

Deep in the forest in the hills surrounding the Resting Place, the two men faced each other, each panting for breath while watching their opponent warily. They had been separated from the others for some time now, but both were content with this; in their eyes, this was the real fight, their opposing ideas borne on the edges of their swords. Neither showed any sign of surrender, despite the blood trailing down their bodies. This fight would continue until death, Michael swore, and the madness in his enemy's eyes seemed to reflect that notion.

"You say that, but you're just as wounded as me. I have my convictions to keep me going; what do you have?" Michael lifted his blade once more, leveling it at his opponent. Without giving Sam an opportunity to answer, he charged forward, swinging his sword in an arc at his enemy's shoulder. Sam swiftly blocked the blow, but grunted under its weight, pressing the Judgment away from him through force of will.

"I have my destiny, and that is enough to end you!" Sam roared, freeing his blade from Michael's and advancing quickly. The goateed guardian was forced to retreat as Sam swung his sword wildly, the vicious spines and hooks decorating its edges promising a painful wound should it connect with its target. On the defensive, Michael concentrated on parrying Sam's assault, waiting for the traitor to tire. Soon enough, as he had expected, the traitor's attacks began to flag, and when Sam raised his blade above his head for a smashing lunge, Michael took advantage of the opening, driving his sword forward.

"Agh…" Blood trickled from the wound just behind where the two swords had met. Sam grinned at Michael, savoring the pain on the guardian's face as fresh vitality flowed into him, the spines of his sword lodged in Michael's shoulder drinking up the guardian's energy and passing it to its wielder. Michael had barely managed to keep the blow from sinking too deep; had he not realized that Sam's fatigue was feigned when he did, his sword-arm would have likely been severed from his body. A glow of anger, mostly at himself, grew on Michael's face, and he grunted loudly as he heaved upward, pushing Sam's sword away from him before he swung his own in a short arc in front of him, releasing the Judgment's powers in a flare of golden flame that Sam barely managed to dive away from.

"Do you see now, Michael?" Sam taunted as he climbed back to his feet, dusting himself off nonchalantly. He responded to the guardian's grim expression with a gloating leer. "Your words don't mean much when you allow yourself to be someone's puppet, moving at their whim. What are the convictions of a man without free will compared to my own, as someone who would defy the world in the name of his desires?" He laughed harshly, ignoring the determined step that his opponent took towards him.
"That doesn't matter. I'll stop you here. I won't let you harm Tsukune, and I won't let you help Thanatos any more," Michael stated calmly, taking another step towards Sam, his sword burning golden in his hands.

Sam's next words, however, made even that inexorable advance stall. "Help Thanatos? Ha!" The traitorous guardian shook his head in disbelief, eyes wide as he stared at Michael. "Why would I need to help him?" Sam grinned darkly, lowering his guard to shrug casually. "But I guess that shows exactly how little you understand about this whole situation. Really, if you wanted to stop my plans…" The barbed sword swung in the general direction of the Resting Place as the mad smile spread across Sam's face. "You would kill Tsukune yourself!"

The cold resolve Michael wore on his face was hardly the response Sam had been expecting, and the goateed guardian resumed his march forward. "I'm not listening to you any more. You let yourself be consumed by everything we fight against, and now you speak nothing but madness and hate. I'll silence you, for the sake of the man you used to be."

It was now Sam's turn to pause, and he openly gaped at the other man. "You really are that content to follow him, without ever looking at the world around you. You don't care, as long as he tells you that you've done the right thing. What would you do if you didn't have him to guide you by the hand, Michael? What happens when someone like me kills that old bastard?"

"I am the Hell-King's guardian," Michael spoke calmly, but the sword he held erupted into a golden blaze, as if feeding off the emotions Michael no longer permitted himself to show. He stared at Sam, now only a few steps away, and tensed for the final charge. "I won't let that happen."

Silence reigned over the two for a long moment as Michael waited for Sam to raise his sword back into position. It was the traitor's soft chuckling that ended the quiet, and he offered Michael a bitter smile as he shrugged in surrender. "You're way too much trouble right now, Michael. Sorry, but I don't have time for this any more. Unless I miss my guess, the Hell-King ordered you to stay a safe distance from the Resting Place; once I reach there, you won't be able to interfere any more. This is where we part, old friend," he spoke resignedly, the final words dripping bitter poison.

Realizing that Sam meant to flee, Michael drew his sword back as he charged forward, letting the Judgment's power build within him. "You aren't getting away this time!" he roared, unleashing the flames as he neared the traitor. He caught only the barest glimpse of Sam's slight smile before the pillar of golden fire exploded between them, rushing over the space that the former guardian had been occupying. Despite the destructive suddenness of the attack, Michael was not surprised to find that, once the flames died, there was no sign of the traitor. Sam had disappeared into the forest, racing towards his destination with a speed that Michael could not hope to match.

Sighing in deep irritation, Michael slid his sword into the sheath that materialized at his side before dismissing it. He glanced at the crater that his attack had left, shaking his head grimly. "This isn't over," he swore, before turning away. He began jogging through the forest, determined to rejoin the others before deciding how best to proceed.

As he made his way through the trees, the guardian's face steadily grew grimmer. The traitor had been right… Michael didn't understand what was going on. Still, he knew that, whatever his former ally had in mind, it would not be good. He could only hope that he and the others would be able to stop it.

With that in mind, he began running back towards his fellows, fighting to keep himself from imaging what could be happening to Tsukune at that moment.

Within the Resting Place, the pearlescent blade Charon lowered as its wielder stared sightlessly into the mirror in front of him. Thanatos was alone in the bedroom, and the house had fallen into silence. The wraith was consumed in quiet thought, striving to decide his next actions.

Tsukune had escaped. Somehow, the boy had sensed his presence before he had managed to strike, and had thrown himself out of the way as Charon had sought his life. Panicked he had fled the room, stampeding down the stairs and out of the house, terrified beyond reason by his assailant, and even now was running down the long driveway towards what he no doubt hoped to be his salvation. It wouldn't be enough, Thanatos knew; Tsukune could not run fast enough to escape him. Still, something gave the wraith pause, and he waited to decipher it before resuming his mission.

This was a trap, he knew, though he couldn't quite understand what Fairy Tale, or the other man that had spoken to him, had in mind. Certainly it couldn't be a coincidence; no, he had existed long enough to refute the existence of such vagaries of fate. Before he proceeded, he wanted to know why this target had been chosen for him, why this was to be his final act before regaining his soul.

Surely there was some reason he had been sent to erase a boy whose essence was nearly identical to his- or at least, who he had been when he was alive and whole.

Swiveling silently, Thanatos drifted through the Resting Place, his shadow rippling sinuously over the floor as he made his way down the hall. He knew that absorbing the boy would not harm him, not would reaping his essence drain him more than the others, so what was their goal? How did they intend to profit from this? He soared smoothly down the stairs towards the dying daylight that seeped in the open door, picking up speed as he went. If claiming Tsukune carried no specific threat, then he would be best served by completing that part of his mission as quickly as he could, before Fairy Tale interfered. Then he would have three days to decipher their intentions as he devoured each of his victims, gaining enough power through the four teens to devastate any opposition Fairy Tale would pose. He only had to reap Tsukune, and then everything would be in his hands.

With that decided, Thanatos paused before the door as skeletal wings spread from his shoulders, and then he lunged into the twilight air in a dark blur, racing like a gunshot after his doomed prey.

Tsukune gasped for breath as he raced down the hill, momentum lending him speed that threatened to send him rolling across the paved driveway should he lose his footing for an instant. Still, he dared not to slow down, not with that thing after him. He shivered uncontrollably as he remembered the quick glance he had gotten of the creature's reflection in the mirror: the darkness, the pale skull, the empty eyes…

He had to get away. He didn't know how, exactly; the Coopers had gone on their vacation after- they were gone, and had taken their car with them, not that he knew how to drive anyways. Still, there was the road beside their house; maybe he could flag down a car there, find someone to help him escape… whatever that thing was.

Tsukune's eyes widened as he discovered his mistake, and he slowed himself to a jog as he approached the end of his flight. "No…" He gazed in despair at the iron gates sealing him from the world outside, remembering that the remotes that controlled it were in the Coopers' home and, tragically, in the emptied house behind him. That one was even less of a possibility, Tsukune mourned. Desperation pressed him onward, and he stepped up to the gate, shaking it roughly before giving up on that idea and moving instead to the brick wall beside it. He tugged at the creeping vines that decorated its surface, but the plants pulled free easily. He grasped at the wall, wondering if it would be possible to scale it; perhaps, if he could, it would delay the monster behind him enough for him to make his escape. Somehow, though, he doubted that.

The twilight around him seemed to dim, and despite himself Tsukune glanced back towards the Resting Place. The hillside behind him looked to be coated in blackness, a spread of slithering shadows that oozed towards him, but one dark mass in particular made him press against the rough brick: the skull-faced monster that had tried to stab him in the bedroom. He turned and scratched at the brick, trying to dig his fingers into the gaps enough for force himself up its sheer surface. His efforts were fruitless, and knowing that he was doomed he turned back towards his pursuer, eyes wide as he realized how close the monstrosity had gotten.

The monstrous shadow had slowed to a gentle drift as it came close, but it was already in the middle of the driveway only a scant handful of feet away from him. Even if he could find a way to escape, Tsukune knew, the creature would be able to catch him, and he didn't dare turn away from it now. He swallowed as he saw the creature extend its pale blade towards him, the darkness around it turning the crimson sunlight glinting off the blade to the color of old blood. Wrenching his eyes away from the sword, Tsukune tried to defiantly meet its gaze, determined to at least meet his end with a measure of courage, but the endless black he found in the eye-holes of the skull mask it wore sapped him of his will, leaving him sagging against the brick wall as he waited for his demise.

"Tsukune-"

Both the wraith and Tsukune froze in place as they heard the roaring sound draw nearer. Light lanced through the bars of the gate, spearing at the wraith as both he and Tsukune turned towards the noise. Even the shadowed horror paused in surprise as he realized what was about to happen, and only just managed to slide out of the way as the iron gates exploded off their hinges and the bulk of the massive vehicle screeched to a shuddering halt half-off the driveway just beyond where Thanatos had been standing.

"What…?" Tsukune managed, gaping at the bus as the doors shrieked open. He stared as one of the occupants stepped down, running a hand back over his dark hair before adjusting his headband. The young man grinned smugly at Tsukune as the bus' other riders made their way out after him: two girls younger than Tsukune, one with a pointed hat and the other with orange hair in twin ponytails, and the last was a dark-haired girl slightly older than Tsukune, with an elaborate wand in hand.

"It's been a while, eh, Tsukune?" The young man offered his traumatized and confused friend a thumb's up while the girls behind him grinned towards Tsukune, and even the bus driver stepped to the stairs of his vehicle and smiled darkly, nodding towards the human teen as he lit his cigar. "Looks like we got here just in time!"

Tsukune gaped towards the group of his friends, even the monstrous creature that had been pursuing him forgotten for the moment. It couldn't be… "Gin?"

"Y'know, there was entirely too little face-stompin' in that fight for my taste. We ride all the way out here to mix it up with that turncoat, and we get left behind to play fire-fighter while Captain Never-Happy gets all the glory. What's with that, hunh?"

Gabriel breathed a long, irritated sigh as he gazed over the smoldering piles of debris scattered across what had been their battlefield. "Maybe it would help if, next time, you don't set the whole forest on fire, eh Sparky? Just a little bit of restraint, that's all I'm asking." Fortunately, the worst of the blaze seemed to have subsided; for a moment, it had looked like their carelessness had started a forest fire that would rage out of control.

"It ain't all my fault!" Uriel protested loudly, sniffing and turning his face away from the other guardian as he scratched his bald head. "If you didn't knock all the trees into neat little piles, we woulda been fine!" He motioned towards the devastated forest, into which long scars had been carved, the trees heaped at the edges of each wound. "You ever think about becomin' a lumberjack? Cause that sword of yours sure would be handy in that line of work. Not like you're worth much elsewise, especially when you get cut up so easy." Uriel glanced towards Raphael, who was largely ignoring their bickering as he tended to Gabriel's wounded left arm.

"Shut it, hothead. He barely even bothered to attack you, so what does that say about your contributions-?"

"Gentlemen, it looks like our comrade has returned," Raphael interjected, nodding towards the forest as Michael stepped into the clearing that their battle had created. The older man tightened the bandage around Gabriel's arm, drawing a wince from the blonde guardian, before stepping towards their returning friend. Michael's grim, frustrated expression told them enough of what had passed between him and the traitor. "If you'll allow me, I'll tend to your-" Raphael offered, cut off by Michael curt dismissal.

"No time. Let's get back to the car and chase after him; at the least, we can set up a perimeter around the Resting Place to keep him from escaping after..." Michael grimaced, shaking his head. "Let's move."

The other three quickly followed that order, and they made quick time back to where their vehicle waited. As they reached the car, Uriel started to offer to drive, but one glance at Michael's dour expression silenced him. Before they even managed to enter the vehicle, however, the sound of approaching traffic made them pause. "Get in, I'll pull us out of the road-" Michael started, but the words died in his mouth as he caught a glimpse of the incoming convoy.

The first of the jet-black cars stopped a short distance from them, and the doors opened as four dark-suited men stepped out, each of them nonchalantly resting their hands near barely concealed holsters. Behind them, the second and third cars stopped to release their passengers, which were similarly attired and armed. Beyond them, even more cars approached, all of them as similar in appearance as their occupants.

"Fairy Tale," Michael deduced, the words a curse.

"Not that big of a challenge," Uriel noted casually.

"You didn't bother to count, did you?" Gabriel commented dryly, nodding towards the accumulating line of stopped cars, and, towards the back, a couple of vans. Each vehicle was dispersing its occupants, and it looked as if the nefarious organization had deployed the better part of one of its branches to the Resting Place. "They'll slow us down, at the least."

"If you gentlemen don't mind," spoke the leader of the advancing wave of dark-suited operatives, "we need to pass through here. If you would kindly move your car?" He smiled broadly, but the expression did little to reduce the threat coating his polite words.

"They can't interfere with everything else," Michael spoke resignedly, glancing over at his comrades. "We'll have to stop them here, and then go after the traitor." The other three guardians nodded before turning back towards the swelling mass of monstrous mafia members.

"Well?" prompted the leader of the contingent of Fairy Tale agents.

"Sorry, pal," Gabriel replied as the guardians reached down to take up their weapons. "It looks like you took a wrong turn. But don't worry, we'll make sure you end up in the right place. How's the nearest hospital sound?"

Before their enemy could manage a reply, the guardians lunged forward, diving into their next battle.

"You will not be allowed to interfere."

As one, Tsukune, Gin, and the others turned to face the hulking shadow that was drifting slowly towards them. The wraith's voice was even, still emotionless, but he held the pale blade out before him as he looked from Tsukune to the newcomers and back. "Flee," he ordered the group from the Academy, still determined to complete his task without distraction.

"Sorry, not happenin'," Gin responded easily, turning towards the wraith. "It took long enough to get here; I don't wanna leave just yet."

"So, this is the tall, dark, and creepy that the Headmaster warned us about," Kokoa smirked eagerly, reaching out the grasp the bat flapping at her side. In response to her touch, the diminutive creature began to reshape itself, one wing lengthening into a slender blade. In just a moment she held a falchion easily as tall as herself, but despite its obvious weight she hefted it with a single hand effortlessly. "Looks fun," she commented, not bothering to hide her bloodthirst.

"Tsukune, stay out of the way. We'll handle this," Ruby suggested, taking up her wand as six green-black wings unfolded from her back. Beside her, Yukari also raised her wand, glaring at the wraith.

"But don't go too far," the young witch stated. "You have to be the one to finish him, according to the Headmaster."

Thanatos watched them silently, his dark gaze focusing on Ruby for a long moment before shifting over to the bus. At the steps, the bus driver met his gaze, reaching up to tip the brim of his cap before turning back into the vehicle. "I'll just get this thing turned around," he stated calmly, closing the door behind him. A moment later, the bus roared back to life before making its way up the hill, leaving the five teens alone with Thanatos.

Once the bus had departed, Thanatos turned his attention back to Tsukune, ignoring the others. The skeletal wings behind him spread slightly, and he darted forward with deceptive swiftness, descending on the helpless teen with the speed of a stopping hawk, the ivory blade aiming for Tsukune's chest. It all happened in an instant; Tsukune had no chance to move away-

"Not so fast!" Gin roared, slamming into the wraith's side. At the same moment, twin tendrils wrapped around Tsukune's arms and wrenched him away from the brick wall, pulling him out of line with Thanatos' attack and closer to the witches. Noticing that the tendrils that had saved him were extended pinion feathers from Ruby's wings, Tsukune nodded his gratitude to the witch, who smiled in response before focusing her attention back on the wraith.

Tsukune glanced over to Gin and Thanatos, noticing that Gin had taken on his monstrous, lupine form, coarse fur spread across his body and lengthened face. Gin's true form as a werewolf placed him among the strongest of monsters, close to vampires; if any of them stood a chance against this monster, Gin would be one of the most likely.

Tsukune froze. Wait, werewolves? Witches? Vampires? Just this morning, he had been thinking to himself about how odd his school's name was, but it wasn't a school for monsters- The spike of pain made him groan audibly, and he clutched his head, trying to fight the agonizing headache away.

A short distance away, the werewolf chuckled hungrily, flexing his fingers as he watched the skull-mask of the wraith before him. "You're pretty fast, but you're nothing compared to a werewolf under-" His eyes widened as the wraith lifted its other hand.

"Away," Thanatos ordered, and the shadows under his form shot forward in grasping strands, wrapping around Gin's limbs and throat. As the werewolf reached for the tendrils of shadow at his neck, fighting to claw them away from him, Thanatos motioned to the side. In compliance with his unspoken order, the strands of darkness lifted Gin from the ground and tensed to throw him aside. Before they could, however, a blade sliced through them, sending Gin sprawling to the ground.

"My turn!" Kokoa announced cheerfully, running past the supine Gin towards Thanatos, the bat-turned-blade ready at her side. She made it within a few feet of the wraith before the shadows erupted from the ground at her feet, rising up to consume her torso and head. This time, no one managed to act in time to keep Thanatos from flinging his enemy aside, and Kokoa landed a good distance away, partway up the hill.

"Stand aside," Thanatos ordered the witches, drifting towards them with deadly purpose.

"We won't let you hurt Tsukune," Yukari declared, flourishing her heart-shaped wand. A metal washbasin materialized above the wraith, but a strand of shadow shot from the ground to bat it aside, Thanatos not even bothering to glance at it. Yukari didn't show any disappointment at this, instead smiling harshly. "Maybe you should take your own advice and run while you can, because we're not moving."

"Then you will die." Yukari blinked as the wraith's wings flexed, and an instant later he was gone. The voice came from directly behind her, but she couldn't manage to turn in time to see the attack coming; instead, the wave of shadow crashed into her and slammed her into the ground with crushing force, sending the wand spinning out of her hand.

"Yukari!" Tsukune shouted, rushing over to her side. To his immense relief, the young witch looked to be alright, if dazed. It was a moment too late that he realized that he had drawn closer to the wraith, and he turned to face Thanatos as the blade raised to point towards him.

"Enough," Ruby ordered, eyes tight as she concentrated. Thanatos glanced down at the feathers that bound him and his blade before turning to face her ominously. The shadows around him began to extend, reaching for the witch, as if to bind her in turn. Meanwhile, Thanatos' form seemed to expand, stretching the feathers that held him in place to the point of breaking.

"Haven't you ever heard that you're not supposed to hurt girls?" growled the voice from behind the wraith. Still constrained, Thanatos couldn't turn to face Gin as the werewolf pounced upon him, ripping into the wraith's back with a bestial fury. For all his efforts, an assault that would have shredded a flesh-and-blood foe, Gin's attacks seemed to have no lasting effect on the shadowed mass. Instead, as the feathers snapped and gave way, shadows erupted from the ground behind Gin, once again wrapping around the werewolf and pulling him into the air. This time, however, they didn't try to fling him aside; instead, they retracted into the ground, pulling Gin against the earth. Still they didn't stop, tightening around his arms and legs, as if trying to force Gin into the ground. The werewolf tensed, fighting back against their pull, but they redoubled their efforts, and as his bones began to creak Gin roared in agony.

Desperate to save their friend, Ruby and Yukari acted simultaneously, the younger witch diving for her wand and swiping it towards the wraith as Ruby willed her feathers to extend once more. Another wave of darkness blocked Ruby's attack, forcing the feathers back at their master as she was bowled over by the shadows. Yukari's efforts, however, proved more successful: she conjured her favored winged tarot cards, the first of which drew Thanatos' attention towards her and away from Ruby. Most of the cards buried themselves harmlessly in his shadow-formed flesh, save one, which glanced off of the bone-white mask the wraith wore. Even though the card didn't even scratch the mask, the wraith grunted, and Gin's screams ended as his constraints suddenly loosed.

Yukari smiled darkly, raising her wand once more. The mask, it was his weak point; she only had to- Her thoughts were interrupted as a pillar of shadow spiked skyward from her feet, throwing her into the air to fall limply against the grass a distance away.

Thanatos turned towards Ruby swiftly, extending his free hand. "Stop." As if by his command, the witch froze completely in place, her eyes half-lidded in the midst of a blink. Even her breathing was stilled; it was as if time had ceased to move for her. With that done, Thanatos glanced over the groaning werewolf and the limp form of Yukari before turning triumphantly to face his true prey. "Tsukune Aono," he said resolutely, holding Charon aloft.

He paused as he saw that Tsukune wasn't looking at him, but instead at something to the side. He turned in time to catch the motion as the figure that had been sprinting towards him launched into the air, the sword she carried held vertically over her head. He saw the laughing green eyes and the manic grin on the young vampire's face, but could not react before she descended, the sword falling precisely across his mask.

Kokoa landed in a kneel, smirking up at the wraith as she stood back up and lifted her sword once more. "Forgot about me, didn't you-?" Kokoa paused as the two halves of the mask clattered to the ground before Thanatos, rocking to a rest before fading into the air. Her eyes widened as she stared at the wraith's face, and her own quickly slipped into a mask of rage. "Don't think I'll take it easy on you, just because you look kinda like my sis!"

Tsukune blinked, also staring at Thanatos' face. Kokoa was right, the monster's features did look like the face from the memories he had been having all day, except slightly different: the hair was darker, and the eyes were green, and overall the face looked softer, gentler, or at least it would if not for the bitter expression of hatred it wore. Still, it wasn't anyone that he recognized… "Ah… ah… AH!"

Kokoa glanced at Tsukune, shocked by his scream, and that distraction was all the advantage Thanatos needed. A surge of darkness collided with her stomach, doubling her over, and another arced up from the ground, slamming against the back of her neck. Thanatos drifted towards Kokoa, the feminine face he wore sneering down at her, the expression in stark contrast to his emotionless voice. "You are a nuisance. Die." The shadows surged up around Kokoa, ready to consume her.

A fierce swing of her sword sent the shadows reeling back, and Kokoa grinned angrily at the wraith, chuckling under her breath. "You think that can kill me? I fought my sister, daily! You're less than nothing!" Roaring that as a battlecry, she lunged forward, slicing down at the wraith. Her blade scratched against his as she pressed forward, eager to wipe the gloating, almost-familiar expression from his face.

A short distance away, Tsukune writhed on the ground as thoughts exploded in his mind. He felt as if his world was twisting and warping around him, and half-seen memories and images fizzled all around him. Vampires? Kokoa didn't have a sister - Moka, Moka, "Learn your place!" – He lived alone, he didn't know anyone named that - "Something to remember this by. I hope you don't mind carrying it." – He was a normal high school student, normal, normal – The taste of her lips, her fangs in his neck, the feeling of surrender as she drank his blood – Moka Akashiya. Moka Akashiya.

Thanatos watched as Kokoa was lifted into the air, her blade falling from limp fingers as her head lolled back listlessly, and she stared numbly up at the sky. Satisfied, Thanatos willed the shadow-strands to tense, and then release. Like a whip, the shadows arced Kokoa higher into the air before bring her back to the earth, or, more specifically, the pavement of the driveway. Releasing her still form, the shadows slowly drifted back to Thanatos, who stared expectantly at Kokoa, waiting for any sign of a revival. He had been tempted to erase her, so stubborn of an opponent was she, but he knew that it would be better to conserve his energy for his target, and those that might come after. When Kokoa failed to move, Thanatos nodded, as if in respect, before turning back towards Tsukune, the face he wore twisting into an expression of sadistic expectation.

"Give her back."

Thanatos paused when he saw Tsukune standing before him, the teen's head lowered. No matter, he decided, leveling his sword as he prepared for the final blow. He only had to strike, and then… He hesitated as Tsukune's head lifted, and the nascent moonlight glinted off of the boy's crimson eyes. Something in Tsukune's aura had changed, Thanatos realized; this was more akin to the other girl, the personality of the final girl that he hadn't managed to take-

"GIVE HER BACK!"

The face that Thanatos wore blinked once, and then the fist collided with it. The wraith's head snapped back, and for a moment he struggled to think. The boy was faster, and that blow felt as though it had loosened the magic that bound – Tsukune struck again, this time a punch to the stomach that staggered the wraith, and then a cross that impacted with the angled cheekbones of the face he wore. Thanatos gripped the hilt of Charon, ready to stab the boy before he could continue to attack; every punch was diminishing the magic that restrained his last victim. He had to –

"MOKA!" Tsukune howled, drawing back as his entire body tensed. He stared at that face that he knew he should remember for just a second, letting the pain of forgetting fuel his rage. For just a second, he thought he saw fear in the depths of those green eyes, and that struck a primal chord deep within him; Moka was in danger, and he was all the hope she had left. This monster had taken her from him.

He would take her back.

The instant after the punch landed, surge of utter darkness emanated from the wraith's falling form. In its wake, the world changed; altered pictures corrected themselves, memories flooded the minds of those close to Tsukune and his friends, and, before the mirror in one of the bedrooms in the Resting Place, a person faded back into existence. Blinking, Moka Akashiya glanced down at herself, struggling to understand what had just happened. Just a moment before, she had been in Tsukune's room, staring blankly at one of the walls, and then-

"Move!" ordered the voice from her rosario. Moka glanced down at it, confused, but she could feel the desperation her other self was trying to communicate. "Get the Belmont, quick! Tsukune is in danger!"

That was enough for Moka. She lunged for the whip, grasping it and turning towards the door even before its magic had the chance to cancel out the power of her seal. As the transformation restored her vampiric form, however, she used her power to sprint through the hall, leaping down the stairs in her haste. She could feel Tsukune's presence nearby, and knew that he would be facing the wraith; she could only hope that she could get there in time to help.

At the base of the hill, Tsukune panted as he back away from the prone form of the wraith. He had thrown everything into that final punch, and it seemed like it had worked; he could remember everything now. He remembered meeting Moka on the first day of school, he remembered all the times she had drank his blood. He remembered living with her in the Resting Place, and the date he had shared with both of her sides, and the time that she had come to his bedroom the night before she had vanished…

He remembered the headaches that had plagued them both. The headaches that had haunted him every time he tried to think of her, after she had disappeared. The headaches they had both been suffering from for days now.

Epiphany stabbed into Tsukune like a knife. If the headaches were a symptom of whatever this monster had done to Moka, then… did that mean he had done it to someone else? Someone else close to Tsukune, someone he cared for? He thought of the empty bedrooms, and, unbidden, a phrase from one of the books the Headmaster had made him read forced itself into his mind: "The fact that wraiths lack a soul also constitutes one of their greatest weaknesses. Because of this, they are reliant upon other beings to provide the necessary life-force to keep them animated, draining the spiritual energy from released souls in order to avoid destruction." Had that monster… eaten someone else he knew? How many? How many friends had he forgotten? Had they been acquaintances, family, someone he loved?

Would he never know?

Tsukune groaned in pain as the headache blazed through his mind, and his fears consumed his heart. His friends, with the exception of the still-unconscious Kokoa, glanced at him worriedly as they tried to force themselves to their feet and to his side. So concerned for Tsukune were they that it took a moment for them to register the other movement near him, the roiling shadows rising up from the ground where Thanatos had fallen. "Tsukune, look out!" Yukari shouted, as Gin threw himself to his feet and dashed towards his stricken friend and the recovering victim.

He wouldn't make it in time. As Gin neared the wraith, Thanatos turned to face him, and the werewolf's eyes widened as he saw that the mask the creature had worn was reforming, quickly covering the unfamiliar face the wraith now wore. As the last strands of blue hair were covered behind the skull-mask, Thanatos extended a hand towards Gin. Hoping to reach the creature before he could unleash whatever he was intending, Gin willed himself to move faster, his clawed hand drawn back to attack. Still, he seemed to be slowing down, and it was taking too long to reach the monster… too long, too slow…

Thanatos stared at the werewolf as his motion slowed nearly to a standstill, and beyond him the two witches were similarly afflicted, raising their wands with glacial sluggishness. Tsukune, however, he left untouched by his chronomantic powers; not only had Tsukune proven surprisingly resistant to his magic, but also he would need that energy to erase the boy, now that the essence of the vampire had been ripped from him. His powers had mostly recovered from his earlier assaults on the three girls, but now he had lost everything he had taken from the last of them, and that left him weakened enough to not want to press matters. No, after he claimed the boy he could wait to erase the vampire last, and then his work would be done.

In front of him, Tsukune moaned in his mental anguish as he struggled to reclaim the memories that had been ripped from him. Try as he might, he could recall nothing, not even a hint of who it was that he had lost. Instead, the pressure in his head grew to unbearable levels, blanketing him in a pain that threatened to suppress his thoughts. He had to remember, he had to fight against the wraith's powers… he had to get them back. But… who were they? The faces he had forgotten, the memories that they had shared…

Slowly, the pain in his skull began to diminish as Tsukune felt himself drifting away, a numbness spreading through his body. In the place of the pain was a growing red tint, an aching hunger. He couldn't remember them, but he could get them back. He could make that monster pay for what he had done. He would have its blood, its life… he would rip it apart with his own hands.

The sound of the seal cracking did not make Thanatos pause. Instead, he leveled Charon at Tsukune's chest and drew back. He noticed the red lines spreading up the boy's neck, the sudden look of childlike serenity that had taken over Tsukune's face, but took this as reason enough to hasten the end, and lunged forward, driving the blade forward. It ended now.

Charon's path was diverted with a gun-loud crack, and the wraith glanced down at his sword, noting the whip wrapped around its blade. The hollow eyes turned towards the hill, and the crimson-eyed girl standing there, the handle of the Belmont tightly gripped in her right hand. "You had to sneak up on me to erase me," she noted, her smiling baring her gleaming fangs. "So I'll consider this making things even."

"You should wait your turn," Thanatos commented, raising his free hand to send his powers at his new opponent. Motion in front of him drew his attention, however, and he turned to see Tsukune lift his head, the peaceful expression the boy wore fading in favor of an eager smile, the crimson eyes empty of everything save bloodlust. Tsukune took a single step towards the wraith, and Thanatos willed his shadows to seize him, wrenching at grip of the whip as he tried to place Charon between himself and his enemy.

It was too late. Tsukune, or rather the ghoul that had taken his place, lunged forward, tearing through the shadow tendrils that tried to bind him, swatting the leather-wrapped sword out of Thanatos' grasp with one hand as the other sought out the wraith's mask. Thanatos fell back, but still Tsukune attacked, raining punches onto Thanatos' body and mask, sending shards of the mask flying into the air. Even as the wraith fell to the ground, Tsukune's assault only picked up speed, and he laughed eerily as he ripped and pounded at the amorphous shadowed form and the quickly-misshapen face it wore, ignoring the strands of darkness that struggled to tear him away. On the hillside nearby, Moka nodded in approval, even as she winced and looked away from the mindless violence the ghoul was inflicting on their enemy.

It ended with a pulse of darkness. Thanatos lay limply as the surprised ghoul blinked, straightening and looking dully up towards the Resting Place. Almost immediately, a winged shape rose over the edge of the hill there, and Kurumu quickly dove towards them, a brilliant smile on her face as she sought out her beloved. The ghoul stepped towards her, pausing as he heard the low, dangerous call from the vampire. "Tsukune, restrain yourself," Moka warned, drawing his attention to herself. "If I have to knock you out until Ruby and Yukari can restore your seal, I will."

Realizing that something was wrong, Kurumu swooped down beside Moka. One glance at Tsukune's appearance and empty expression was enough to tell her what had happened, and she nodded to the vampire. "I'll bind him, you see if you can help everyone else," she offered. Moka gave her an appraising stare before nodding, turning towards their still nearly-inert friends as thick cords of shadow reached up to wrap around Tsukune's arms. The ghoul pulled at the bindings, threatening to snap the illusionary bonds, but more sprang from the ground to hold him in place. The succubus' eyes widened, however, as more and more sprouted from the earth, some wrapping around Tsukune's neck and tightening dangerously.

"Look out!" Kurumu shouted as tendrils of darkness sprang up to clutch her, wrenching her off balance. Moka turned in time to realize the danger, leaping into the air to avoid the first wave of shadowy strands, but even as she descended more erupted from the ground and locked her in the air, all but coating her form. The three friends were lifted into the air as the hulking form of the wraith once more rose upright, the skull visage looking at each of them in turn.

"It seems I will have to solve this another way. Your deaths will have to suffice, instead of being erased." As he said this, Thanatos willed the cords around the trio's necks to tighten, strangling off their breath and digging painfully into their throats. He watched as they struggled, waiting for their movements to still. One after the other, their thrashing ceased, but still he did release them, wanting to be certain that they perished.

A faint flicker of light from the gate drew his attention, and he turned to glance in that direction. Standing there, nonchalantly taking a deep puff from his cigarette, was a black-suited figure. The man nodded casually to Thanatos, a threatening smile on his face, and he wagged a finger disapprovingly. This was enough for the wraith to understand the situation he was in: weakened as he was by the loss of the essences of his last two victims, and the energy he had spent in erasing them initially, he would stand no chance against Fairy Tale's forces. In killing his targets now, he would have to deal with them in this depleted state, and they would likely take exception to the means he was using to dispatch his victims. This man would be his executioner, should he kill the trio he held at the brink of death.

He had to have more energy before he could face them. Thanatos glanced up at the now-limp teenagers, loosening the tendrils that gripped them and letting them fall to the earth. Without a word to his observer, the wraith turned and slid away into the darkness, rising up the hill towards the forest surrounding the Resting Place. He had one final means of recouping his losses, and soon enough that would be prepared for him.

As the wraith disappeared, Sam smiled to himself and stepped back outside the gate, hoping to avoid the notice of the recovering teenagers. His work had been done, for now; he only had to wait for the final act, and then he could step in. It was going fairly close to his plans… so far. Chuckling, Sam followed the edge of the wall around the Resting Place, moving to take his post and observe the rest of what was to come.

It wouldn't be long now.

"Tsukune… are you alright?"

Tsukune coughed and gagged, rubbing at his throat as if still trying to free himself from the choking tendril that had released him minutes ago. He forced his eyes open, trying to will himself back to full consciousness, but pain lanced through his eyes and brain in silent rebuke for his haste. Slowly, he twisted his neck to glance at the person kneeling beside him, her eyes wide and anxious as she watched him recover.

"Kurumu… you're back," he managed, smiling brightly despite the aching in his chest and neck. "So… glad…"

Moisture gathered at the corners of the succubus' eyes, and she grabbed Tsukune and pressed his face between her breasts, cradling him fiercely. "I was so scared! I tried to tell you, but you couldn't see me and everything started turning grey and I don't remember what happened towards the end but it was bad and-!" Tsukune weakly pawed at her shoulder, his already beleaguered lungs not ready for one of her trademark chest cuddles quite yet, but it took Moka grabbing Kurumu and yanking her away to free him from her affectionate grasp.

"Just be glad that seal locked away his ghoul side after he was knocked out," Moka chided her friend, but despite the harshness of her words she couldn't restrain the smile that tugged at her lips. "Come on, Tsukune, let's get you and the others back to the house. We can try to figure out what scared off that creature later."

The sound of a body hitting the ground distracted them from their reunion. The trio of teens glanced over to where Gin had fallen, the werewolf's slowed charge suddenly resuming and throwing the older teen to the ground. At the same time, Ruby and Yukari thrust their wands into the air before blinking in surprise. Moka, Tsukune, and Kurumu shared a smile, glad to see their friends freed from the wraith's magic.

"Ouch…" came a low cry from the driveway, and Kokoa sat up, rubbing at her bloodied scalp. "When I catch up to that guy, I'm going to make him regret that…" Her eyes snapped open, and she glanced around her, trying to figure out what had happened since she had been knocked out. Those thoughts were derailed as she noticed one of the newer additions to the group, and she threw herself up from the ground, sprinting towards the other vampire with arms outstretched. "Sis!"

Moka grunted as she held Kokoa at arms' length, not willing to handle the younger vampire too roughly just yet. "I'm glad to be back too," she yielded, smiling down at Kokoa.

"I take it the big guy turned tail and ran, hunh?" Gin asked, sitting up and rubbing at his bruised nose as he reverted to his human form.

"Something like that," Tsukune commented, still not certain what had happened after he had blacked out.

"Good for him!" Yukari chimed in, thrusting her wand upward menacingly. "If he comes back here, we'll get him for sure!"

"I'm just glad that we got both Moka and Kurumu back," Ruby suggested. "If we hadn't, who knows what would have happened to them?"

A shiver passed through everyone present as they struggled to not imagine what such a fate would have been like. Kurumu seemed especially affected, staring off into the darkness with terror in her eyes as she remembered the emptiness that had been eating away at her in the final hours. If she had stayed like that… there might not have been any of her left to come back.

"Yeah, but we don't have to worry about that," Tsukune said, a smile of relief on his face. "We got everyone back, and everything is fine now. After we find out who that guy was and how we can make sure he won't come back, then everything can go back to normal. Let's go to the house and contact the school, and then we can rest and recover from everything we've been through."

Every cheered in approval, and together they stared the walk back to the Resting Place, Kokoa still attached to Moka while Ruby and Moka helped support the still-unsteady Tsukune. As they walked, however, Tsukune's smile began to grow brittle as he remembered what he had been thinking as he had allowed his ghoulish nature to take over. The wraith had been terrifying, and one of the most powerful opponents they had ever faced, but it was his manipulation of memories that was especially unsettling. Even now, how were they to be certain that everyone was back with them? Was that pain in his head a leftover from being strangled, or was it another of the headaches that had come from the creature's magic? How was he to know?

No, he had to have faith that they had won. They were all back now, and everything was fine. Right?

….Right?

Author's Note: Whew, quite the exhausting installment this time. Hopefully not as tiring for my readers as it was for myself; I was concerned about having so much action packed into a single chapter, but the flow demanded that I keep it together. And, in my defense, any further action can wait until after a short break. Not that I have much reason to have more action, right? Heh heh…

Hopefully the next chapter won't take the better part of two weeks like this one did, despite the fact that it also will have quite a lot of important stuff in it. (In my defense concerning the delays this time: I had assumed that letters of recommendation were typically composed for you by the recommender, and thus I was quite surprised when I had to write three of them along with a cover letter this past weekend.) Next time shall be the conclusion of this story's heavier elements, or at least until the epilogue, so, for those of you craving what fluff this tale has left… there will be some next time, but mostly it shall be in the following installment.

On this chapter, allow me to say that it is quite possible I will end up revising certain elements; despite the time it took me to complete it, this one was hard to shape and, ah, 'balance.' Also, some elements of Thanatos' powers still might not be entirely clear; some of that will be revealed later, while yet others… well, I don't know. ^_^; Let me say that it all makes sense to me; I just have to insure that it does so for you as well. If you have specific questions, feel free to send me a message about it, though I will warn you (as Artful Lounger can no doubt attest) my explications on these matters tend to be… long-winded. Extremely.

So that I can get back to bed- I mean, so that I can get this released sooner, I believe I shall end this note here. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing, and please let me know what you think of this latest chapter. Until next time…

(Yay! I can sleep now! Wait, what…? I have a chapter of Toren due tomorrow? Noooo…!)

~Wynn Pendragon