Chapter 5
It had stopped. The sun shone through the entry as it began to set. It had been over two days without a major battle, and now it was getting dark.
Mia looked back from her spot for the first time in hours, reminding the group of the owls from magic shops that never moved until you touched something that you shouldn't have. Then you knew you were in trouble. Her glance seem to have the same effect. "...You may want to start while there is still light."
"Yeah," muttered Yuskue, "On you."
Gino smiled lightly, looking at Yuskue. "So...how are we going to do this?"
The hanyou raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me?"
"You're the leader, correct?"
"So I've been told."
"So, do you just want to attack recklessly all at once?"
"Yeah," he said with a vicious smile, "Yeah, I do."
Gino continued to smile gently. "Good, I was worried there for a minute." He craned his neck to look at Angelo -who was sitting in the middle of the cave staring at Mia- and gave him a perplexing look.
"Vo taxsv bo zso ito." Angelo replied calmly. "Bev, A took vi vofp."
"Make sure. We need to know."
Dominic glared at him. "There is no way."
"Trust his judgement for once."
His brother snorted, but said no more.
The small man stood, brushing the dirt off his pants. "Let's get this over with." Suddenly his attitude was as it was before he became interested.
Yuskue smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Here we go."
The teams formed two lines. The brothers were towards the back while the detectives had their figures outlined by the setting sun, even Mia.
The pairings turned out as follow.
Yuskue vs. Gino
Kuwabara vs. Carmine
Mia vs. Angelo
Kurama vs. Sergio
Hiei vs. Dominic
Kerr vs. Vinny
As by some unseen cue, the chaos began. Yuskue launched a blast, sending the opposing team back. Gino was the first to react, throwing a heavy punch at Yuskue. Kuwabara and Carmine appeared to be having a match of pool chicken without the people under them. Their hands were locked and energy poured off them both as the tried to pull the other to the ground. Vinny and Kerr both had long swords and were beginning to look a lot like midevil knights. Except for Vinny's buzz cut. That ruined it completely. Kurama danced around with his rose-whip, trying to hit Sergio and his metal claws. Angelo and Mia were long gone, to who knows where.
Well, Hiei knew where, but he was to busy with Dominic to care. The man was easily as fast and the koorime, and equally unpredictable. He carried two hand scythes and used them in such an odd manner that it threw the fire demon off guard entirely.
He dodged, time after time, trying to find his opening, but the snake like man always managed to use the other scythe as a guard. It wasn't going well. Finally, he realized that Dominic wasn't going to give him an opening. With a swift move, he planted his heels and gave a ninety-degree turn directly into his opponent's face. Dominic faltered and stood dumb-founded for the split second that Hiei needed. The koorime swung once with his katana and sent the man flying into the wall.
Dominic gave a grunt and the distinct sound of ribs breaking came from his torso as he hit cold stone. He shuddered slightly and stood. "Bastard."
"You don't give up, do you?" muttered Hiei attacking again. Dominic quickly found it was useless for him to continue to fight. His cracked ribs lowered his speed just enough for Hiei to get past his defenses again and again.
The snake like man sunk to his knees, cuts covering his body. His breath came short in his lungs, and he could feel blood leaking into his punctured organ at an alarming rate. Dominic coughed up the blood, his body's sad attempt to remove the misplaced fluid. He looked up at Hiei, his eyes determined to remain conscious until dead.
The fire demon raised his sword to the side, not giving the man a chance to attack him, and came down hard.
Sadly, it was his body that fell not his weapon. A powerful blast of air or unseen energy swept through the cave before he could administer the death blow.
Rolling to his feet, he glanced at his opponent to see the man collapsed from either the blow the ground took to the side of his head or the blood loss. Either way, it gave him the chance to see what caused the sudden gust of wind. What he saw chilled him to the bone.
Angelo was on his knees in the back of the cave, energy flooding off him in sheets of green tinted light, hand phasing like a ghost's through where Mia's heart would be. A conquer's smile played across his lips. This alone would be terrifying enough, but as he pulled his clenched fist out and stood straight, it got worse.
Mia's body gave an involuntary shudder and what color that was in her pale features drained from her revealed face. Her pupils shrank and her arms went limp at her side. But she breathed. In shaky breaths, but her standing body was breathing none the less.
Angelo opened his clasped hand, revealing a soul gem. He stared at it as though he could read it like a book. The small man's face slowly became more and more confused as the crystal sparkled up at him. Slowly his aura began to fade and the shadows crept upon him, swallowing him whole as though punishing him for his act.
"No!" croaked Kerr's voice from near the entrance. Hiei turned to see the Atlantian glancing painfully into the shadows. Despite the Thirian's bruised and battered form. "Gino, get him out of there!"
The man blinked. "Why? This is a fight after all." Gino moved away from Yuskue's defeated body. He rubbed the blood off the cuts on his arms as the detective's body finally gave out and collapsed amongst Carmine's and Kuwabara's. "We all have to pay something. Your leaders was his pride. The girl's price was just a little higher."
"You don't understand!" Kerr stumbled to his feet. "You can't let Angelo do that!"
Kurama and Sergio stopped their fight, which up till this point had been at a dead draw. They each only had a few scratches.
"Why? It's not like he's going to eat the soul."
The Thirian gave out a shriek of frustration and stumbled over Vinny's battle scarred form and grabbed Gino from his current action of staring at Yuskue's defeated form. Kerr's voice cracked as he attempted to yell, "It's not what it looks like! SHE'LL-"
The sound of shattering glass filled their ears.
A second gust of wind blew away his words and the strange human's hands slipped from Gino's collar. That's when Hiei saw it. Fear. It was etched in to every line of the man's face.
Light began to flow from the entrance into the back of the cave, swirling like a black hole. The color drained with it, as though something was pulling the very life from everything around them and in them.
No energy came from whatever was causing it, yet the Thirian took steps away from the back as though a mighty beast loomed in the shadows.
Slowly two forms appeared foggily against the darkness. The light was drawn to the connecting point between Mia and Angelo. As it grew, Hiei could feel his mind grow weak from energy loss, yet all he wanted to know was what was causing him to feel like he should join the shadows.
Despite the fact that only he, Kerr, and Gino were left standing near the light.
The fighters became black silouets in the dark. One was standing, gathering the light in it's hand that held the other off the ground by the head. The latter form was struggling soundlessly, hands clawing at their unrelenting captor. A wave of light shoot down the dangling body and a scream filled the air. But it wasn't the one Hiei was prepared to hear.
Gino gaped, "Angelo!" He started forward only to be hurled back by Kerr shoving his way by.
The large man ran forward, sword griped deathly tight in his scared hands. "Mia! STOP!"
The girl gave him a dead look so creepy and mechanical it stopped Gino from following. But the Atlantian continued. "Drop him!"
"Stay back, Thirian." Her voice had a metallic undertone so cold that Hiei drew his sword out of instinct. The small woman, some how still managing to hold up the victim by the head despite her obvious lack of muscle tone, held up her other hand straight at Kerr.
Hiei couldn't figure out how she did it, but an unseen force slammed the much larger man into the stones. She then lowered her arm at a leisurely pace and continued to stare at the struggling man in her hands.
Kerr growled. "Should've called him back when you had the chance."
Gino gave him a startled look, his composed features cracking for the first time. "What happened?"
"Why don't you ask her. She'll probably be generous enough to answer our questions before she kills us all."
The leader of the opposing team stared at him, wide eyed. "She couldn't take us all!"
"Watch her... especially if she thinks you all can do that soul thing as well. And if she thinks one of us could pick up that trick anyway, she'll wack off our heads too. Then, when she realizes that we'll want revenge she'll just blow the whole cave up. She's logical like that."
"There-" the light gathered in an explosive display of sound and energy. Mia, looking the same as she did just half and hour ago, dropped Angelo's writhing form. Markings covered the small man's body in symmetrical form. His once human appearance and been shifted into a form of demonic characteristics. Fangs grew out from under his upper lip. Small claws, similar to Hiei's, covered Angelo's fingers. The man was curled into the fetal position, holding his head.
Mia moved away from the body, the swirling light and color in her hand casting eerie shadows on her sharp features. She walked towards the group as she pulled up her hood and spoke, "So... you're of the royal family?" Her tone was conversational and smooth.
Gino, his eyes taking turns staring at his suffering brother to the strange woman before him. "What if we are?"
"Just...curious." She sat on a rock and tucked one leg under the other. "Your brother it quite a special person despite how much his twin berates him."
"Keep your mouth off my brothers," Gino hissed.
"I praise someone, and I'm treated like a criminal?" Though she worded it as a question, and even spoke is so, there was an undertone in her voice that spoke galaxies more. "How unjust."
"Look at what you did to him!"
"It's his fault. I don't take kindly to people trying to peep into my soul. Not to mention he shattered a casing that took a year to make. That in itself is enough for him to have a little pain."
"A LITTLE! HIS BODY IS CONTACTING INTO A $#&# BALL!"
Mia glanced up from under her hood. "The sudden transformation is all that pains him. Such a force causes the mind to have to shut down for a moment to reconnect with the new physical changes, giving the body a massive migraine. He'll live."
Kerr stared at the woman before him. "He..."
"Didn't reach my soul...luckily for him. I nearly swept off his head before I regained control." Her voice was deeper than normal.
"How long are your memories from this life going to be faded?"
"Not a clue, I'm afraid."
Gino relaxed ever so slightly as he went to his brother. "What was it he had then? Angelo is very powerful in that area... it's hard to believe that he could miscalculate so much."
"I ... have my ways of hiding it from intruders. Though I have to admit, he hid that talent very well. I didn't even sense a the royal blood in him until the last second."
Hiei stared in disbelief. This was the woman who said not to get attached! What the heck happened? He glanced back to Angelo to see him walk forward, gasping for air, one eye closed in pain. "G-girl," he panted nearly collapsing against the wall.
She turned her head slightly under her hood and stared at him. In the same conversational tone, she answered, "Yes?"
The small man threw the shell of a soul he had pulled from her with a mischievous grin. "It's only a matter of time before they come for it."
Mia caught it easily with a uncaring shrug, her voice switching back to the one that Hiei loathed so much. "That's life. I don't suppose you're going to keep your mouth shut."
"N-not a chance." The man struggled with a last glittering smirk before going unconscious.
Mia let the orb hover in front of her for a moment before it floated back to it's rightful place. She stood and squared her shoulders at Gino. "Nothing personal." Before the man could fight back, Mia slammed the hilt of a dagger -Hiei could only imagine where she got it from- into the man's temple, causing him to collapse in a heap.
The defeated team slowly faded away.
"I hope you don't kill me for leaving you in this situation, Hiei." Her tone was sarcastic.
The koorime raised a suspicious brow. "What are you talking about."
"If I grated on your nerves, Edeth will have no head by the end of tomorrow."
"Who the hell is Edeth?"
"Your new team mate." With that she shuddered and passed out against the stone wall behind her.
"Hello," echoed a male voice behind him, causing the fire demon to groan silently.