Chapter Fourteen: Love and Fear

Anubis' palace was pierced by the sounds of song. Amidst the groans and lament of countless trapped souls and tormented faces, the whimsical voice of an honest heart went whistling down the empty corridors. It echoed off the Damascus walls and spiraled down passageways that held nothing but despair. In this place of true suffering, the pop-like tune that he had been singing seemed to break the very air. Yet Acrolyth Suteki strolled along, alone and with his song filling every corner with displaced delight and unusual lightness.

Tragedy struck hard and quickly, tearing most from their minds and throwing them off a cliff into a crashing sea of despair. Some people dealt with it by becoming distant from that which harmed them, while others dismissed it as out of their control and complied with the pain. But there were a rare few who parried the dark currents in life and smiled even into the darkest pits of hell.

Suteki had always found time to smile. It was one of his character traits which had developed before the horrors of watching a world die, but had somehow endured all of the blood and tears to become his strongest lifeline and, with the progression a this new place, the bridge to his happiest state of being. Without his smile, he could have never caught Minako's attention.

But now the terrible palace was around him and he was separated from all that he cared about. Seeing as he was alone, he turned to his favorite conversation partner for his entertainment. "Now, we don't pretend to understand everything, but weren't we about to chow eternity when that Higekitai blew? All of a sudden we're in Dracula's beach house and alone. I'm as confused as an American with a Geisha girl," he lulled to himself and stopped his trek into the temple.

The hallways were endless and as empty as his words. Even the hallway he explored now seemed to go nowhere; a column lined canyon which offered no destination for one who had seemingly lost everything in a single day. Even his advanced form had left him unable to get the one thing that even his darker half desired above all else. "If we walk down this hallway farther, who will we run into first? Mina-chan? Yami-chan? Creepy Anubis-man? We hope it's Shibo," he said with a wry grin, imagining what he would do to his copy once he found him. His ranting had led to walking and his walking led to a single full-length mirror hanging on the stone wall of the temple.

Of course, upon seeing an image of himself, he simply had to stop and look. "This mirror will gotta be broken after I leave. No one else could ever look this good in it," he remarked, flashing himself a thumbs up as he posed.

The great puzzle was that his reflection did not move with him, but rather just stared at him motionlessly. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the Suteki in the mirror retained his blonde mop and was not the Scion of Venus. This irked him slightly and he leaned closer to the face. "What's this? This mirror's already broke! Keh! What are you looking at, handsome?" he called half-jokingly at his reflection.

"What're you gonna do when you find Shibo?" asked the reflection suddenly.

The Acrolyth Scion was startled and jumped, but then leaned once more and stared at his other half. He even went as far as to tap on the reflective membrane, but found it to be simple glass. It was a strange thing when someone questioned themselves as a matter of dialogue, so he was a little put off by the question. "What kind of question is that? Don't you know what we're going to do?" he asked blandly and stood straight.

The reflection stared back with a glass smile. "There's no 'we' in this, sweetheart. There's you and there's me. I know what I want, but you'll be how I get it. I gotta know what you plan to do," said the reflection, embodying all that was distinctly Hoshi Hitoshi.

The Scion was oddly miffed by this whole lewd scenario and snorted. It was something he didn't care to think about but this mirror had a way of kicking his brain into action. "What a lame question. I think we both know what we want to do about Minako, right? I mean…milk and cookies, if you know what I'm saying," he replied with a very profane smile, nodding slowly to accent the idea and even jabbing his elbow at the mirror.

But for once, Suteki was serious in the face of foreplay. He didn't respond to the innuendo and simply waited, something that caused his darker side had to sigh and rub his head. "Keh, you're no fun. What a time to get all serious on me. I know we can't have Minako unless Shibo is gone, but once Shibo is gone, we can't have Minako because we'll be dead. There, happy? I spilled the ugly truth about this. Look at you, all serious and stuff. You look like Yamito," he said, crossing his arms and looking away like a disappointed school friend.

But like an inverse reflection, Suteki smiled a bit more and finally shifted in the mirror. "I don't like being serious, but this time I gotta be. There's a lot at stake, ya know?" he said, though the real body just snorted and didn't respond. The reflection sighed heavily, but managed to keep his porcelain smile on tight while speaking the final truth, "So we're gonna kill Shibo. I got the reason and you got the fireworks."

"Ah huh, I know what we gotta do," Acrolyth Suteki remarked dryly, then glanced at the reflection with a smirk, "Why did I have to get hooked up with such a ditzy human like you, anyway? I don't even see why you want to die for her. There's thousands more girls just like her in the world."

Suteki smirked heavily and began to phase into the movements of the Scion, his individuality mixing back with him. Just before they became single once more, a dry voice came from the mirror in defiance of that statement, "There's no one like Mina-chan." As Suteki became synchronized once more, he took one last look in the mirror and started down the hallway again. In his mind and his heart, he saw a clear path he must take and a final destination for himself.

Somehow, in the countless levels and places in the palace, he knew where Minako was.

Acrolyth Kurai had also found himself in the bowels of the palace. Events immediately preceding his arrival confounded him, but he had little time to question the why and how of it all. There was the current dilemma to deal with. Yet another mirror had granted a vision to the wandering Scion, though this one came off as a slightly different arrangement than his comrade. Yet he was also fixed before it and answering to his own heart.

"My, this is quite the perverse situation. How is it that we are no longer we, Kurai?" the icy Scion queried as he stared headlong into the face of his human counterpart. The physics behind such a thing defied his knowledge, but many things about everything defied the realm of man's mind. But the Mercury Scion was quite pensive when it came to questioning his other half.

Kurai sighed from inside his reflective prison, a testament to his mental frame and his emotional standings with himself. If them all, his was the greatest task. "There is something we must discuss. It's no secret that I am, by far, the least in control of my darker side. You and I have a great chasm between us, but we're the same nonetheless. We must agree about our course of action concerning our common ailment," he said.

The Scion held a considerate expression as he listened and issue, which came in a single name, "Byoki."

"Yes. You know he cannot be allowed to exist any longer. He is a curse on the both of us and to the world itself," the reflection lamented with cool eyes.

This was, of course, things that the darker half already knew. However, the fact was Kurai did not have the will to force him to comply as the others did. It became a two-party decision within him and one half of the equation wasn't convinced of its merit. It showed in his calculating expression. "You cannot hide anything from me, Kurai. Even you lack the complete commitment to do this," he snapped back and caused the reflection to wince. Acrolyth Kurai cradled his chin with his fingers and watched him, forming every relevant thought and feeling into a focused point of evaluation. This was the gift Kurai had borne into him. "You fear the death that comes with Byoki's, for you have embraced this new life too fully. The thrill of academics blinds you to your duties and this girl Ami has only furthered your resentment of me. With all of these factors playing into my decision, why should I choose this path when you can't commit to it yourself?" he asked quite candidly.

Kurai was speechless, his eyes dropped and his lips twisted. This was all truth, but it came so much harder when spoken aloud. As fiercely as he wanted to deny all of this, his darker self was truly the one person he could not defy.

But even with this weighing on his mind, the human found a single reason burrowed in his other half's words. It gave him the strength to look up to him confidently. "If we don't kill Byoki, Ami-chan will suffer our fate," he said in a tone that surprised the Scion. Kurai lifted his chin and finally revealed passion, something his darker self had rarely found within him. "You're right, I am in love with my new life. And I'm also in love with Ami-chan. Though they both should exist together, my fate is that they cannot. If I must choose between my new life and Ami's life, then I choose hers because she is far more deserving of peace than I," he responded.

The power and finality of his words made the Acrolyth Scion smile lightly, as if some admiration beamed inside of him. He had existed within Kurai for seventeen years now, but this was the first time he had ever felt proud of that. This showed with his affectionate words. "I see. We've never truly bonded, you and I, but this time I agree with you. After all, a Scion is only an echo of his human side. For the first time since we have been alive, I can validate being a part of you. If our death means Ami's life, then so be it," said the Scion and a thawing smile crossed his face, "Because you wish it, Ahura Mazda."

Kurai's eyes brightened at all of this. As the reflection began to phase back into a single image, Kurai closed his eyes and lived a change. He suddenly felt connected – integrated with himself. When his icy blue eyes opened again, they burned with a single goal and functioned as a single entity. He looked into the mirror one last time and smiled, finally seeing himself as he was meant to be; a whole soldier. His words reflected his state of being, "I will end this. Ami will have peace…I promise."

Shibo had been floating in a sea of mixed emotions. He stood, surrounded by an aura of nervousness and staring blankly at the figure lying across the bed. Minako had remained in her trance, forbidden to realize just what danger she was in. Her predicament was illustrated by her place; lying across the silk sheets comfortably, wearing silk nightgown that accentuated her features and laid milky white across her voluptuous skin. The material flowed across her skin as she breathed and every movement was like a sonnet. Even as she lay, seductive and helpless, Shibo didn't have the power to move on her – to embrace his desires. He was too afraid.

"Well, spank my buffalo!" called a voice that startled Shibo from his stare, "What a strange thing to see – me looking at my girl lying on a bed in the middle of Dracula's beach house. I've walked into the Twilight Zone!"

The Priest whipped around and found Acrolyth Suteki leaning against a column, partially shaded by the low light in the room and sporting a grin on his face. Seeing him made Shibo wince, for something had drastically changed in his origin. Before, he had never truly worried about his encounter with Suteki, but something was different this time. The Scion was a distinctly different color to him. That made Shibo very nervous. "Maa, Hitoshi. I had a feeling you'd come. I didn't hear you come in," he said nervously.

"I bet you did, Xerox," Suteki replied and walked into the light, coming directly face to face with the Priest and laughing at this new twist on a recognized development. "Whatcha up to, poser? Don't tell me you're planning to get naughty with my girl," he asked and poked his finger into the middle of Shibo's forehead. The Priest sheepishly chuckled in guilt. It was a strange report, seeing the two together like this. Born enemies, destined to be the death of one other, but still acting in the fashion of their original.

Shibo was grinning gleefully and rubbed the back of his head. "Eh heh, I thought about it, but since she's your girlfriend and all, you should get the first stab at it," he said with a laugh, but noticed Suteki was then looking down at Minako with lustful eyes, "Or we can go at it together. You know…tag team action?" The Priest watched the Scion carefully, trying to navigate this situation well and come out on top – or bottom.

Suteki looked at her with freed eyes, unable to deny what Shibo was saying didn't interest him. Minako seemed to be calling to him; her bare legs shifting across the silk sheets slowly; her chest swelling with each breath; her bottom lip being bitten ever so slightly. Even her melodic breathing seemed to whisper his name and he imagined her screaming it, bridled in the reigns of passion and pleasure. His eyes were not the only part of him that longed to have her, though they did glow with the thoughts of being with her like that. Even the contract between his two halves seemed distant when faced with such a sight.

He blinked slightly and tried to focus, but it was harder than he thought. "So you want me to forget that you've helped destroy my world, killed my friend Ryu and even brought your evil into this world too just because you're offering me a chance to do something I can do whenever I want anyway?" he scoffed and glanced at the Priest.

Shibo snorted lightly, but soon found an epiphany. Turning the Scion's head back to the bed, he leaned in close and chuckled deviously. He had other ways to rationalize it. "Without me, you'd have never met her. Besides, look how submissive she is. I think we both know how wild that makes us," he cooed to his counterpart.

Suteki's eyes were broken, his ability to see clearly gone with the soft words in his ear. With a weakened smile, he stepped from his copy and walked to the bed, taking a moment to look her over. She was a goddess. Every part of him wanted to take her, even his duty and his honor. There was no stopping him and Shibo laughed darkly as he watched the Scion lost in the throes of desire.

Suteki knelt onto the bed and leaned over the spellbound girl, settling his hand over her stomach tenderly. As he leaned closer down to her, thirsting for a chance to taste her sweet lips again, a soft blush crept over her cheeks and she shifted in arousal, muttering one name in a whimpered tone, "Jin-chan…" Had she been awake, her actions may have very well coincided with his desire, leading the way for an intimate reunion in that dismal place. Yet it was in her dream state, the fact that she was embracing only her deepest thoughts and feelings, that she provided the only type of deterrent to pure lust.

She whimpered her transcendent love for him.

All Shibo could see was him looming over her, frozen in poise. The Priest blinked, then leaned to the side and called out in hopes to move it along and get his counterpart in a position where he could deal a lethal blow. "What's up? Don't tell me you're dragging out the foreplay, you letch," he asked with a playful grin. After all, the only thing more arousing than sex was survival.

Suteki slowly stood next to the bed and looked down at her, his smile finally forsaken to his fate. Hearing her say that name, his real name spoken in tones of true love, had derailed any intention to deflower her. For the first time, Suteki realized that what he had attained with Minako was not just simple desire, but full-blown love. It was enough to diffuse any amount of hormones present in the air.

When his voice came out, there was no joy in it – only bitterness. "Having her body a thousand times isn't the same as having her heart once. As much as I want her now," he replied and turned to the Priest disdainfully, "I'd rather love her forever."

Shibo scowled and found there would be no middle ground for them. Instead, he focused his power along his arms and prepared himself for a battle between the two. To this, Suteki laughed bitterly and shook his head. "No no, it's over, Xerox. There'll be no long fight – no chance for you to hurt her. I wanna show you something, which will unfortunately be the last thing you ever see. Call it a twist on my original attack," said with a grin and raised his arm up across his chest. The same glow of power appeared on his arm, but Shibo's expectations were soon shattered. Instead of a single blast to stretch and destroy like a tentacle, the glow split and became two, then four, then eight, each crackling with bright orange potency.

With eight blasts circling his arm, Suteki winked to his copy and aimed his hand right at him, eager to direct the new attack on him. "No long kiss goodnight. Adios," he said.

After the taunt, the first blast of energy shot out like an arrow, grazing Shibo on the shoulder and gashing open his gray skin. With his eyes draining, the Priest held out a hand to protest but his scream found only a following of energy blasts speeding through the air at him. Each blast fired from Suteki's arm was replaced by another, making an entire barrage of small blasts sailing at him like horizontal rain. It was a Gatling-style assault that tore apart Shibo's body as he screamed, though Minako just slept through it without stirring.

When the attack was done, Shibo had been reduced to a swirling mass of energy, lingering over empty space and signaling a second death. Suteki simply lowered his arm, the energy blasts fading from it, and turned back to Minako. She still hadn't woken, but he smiled at her.

Leaning down, he kissed her cheek and smiled bitterly, all while the energy swirled into a point. Suteki spent his last few moments holding her hand and sitting at the edge of the bed, playfully brushing strands of her long hair away from her content face. As if she knew he was near, her face had given him a dream-filled smile while a true nightmare was playing outside of her sleeping peace.

The energy from Shibo then snaked through the room and entered into Suteki's back, tearing his uniform and flesh alike. The last thing he did was gasp, choking on his own death and falling onto her. Before Minako could even wake, Suteki's life ended and he laid motionlessly with her on the silk sheets – taken away without a goodbye.

Minako's face twisted, as if she somehow knew through the boundaries of sleep and dreams that her lover had been taken from this world. Yet she remained asleep, as if afraid that upon waking she would find only an empty void in her heart.

Some new beginnings were only brought about for an end. The understanding brought about by love was something that granted new strength to one of the Scion, though only the strength to facilitate his death. Even braced by his new arrangement, Kurai felt a distinct and trembling fear when he walked into the room where he was to die. Byoki sat idly in a chair, his eyes locked onto a chess board before him. In the opponent's chair was Ami, still locked into this trance she had been in and staring at the board with dead eyes.

Kurai, feeling much like a frigid game piece himself, looked to her and then with fear still present in his eyes, looked back to Byoki. "If you've harmed her in any way, Byoki…" he warned though it only aroused a lukewarm response.

"Calm yourself, Scion, for I have not touched her. She's quite good at this. It seems she shares the same love for chess as we…rather, you do," the Priest replied and moved a piece on the board. Kurai's teeth were hard against each other, which only seemed to amuse the Priest further as he shifted his eyes to the new player. "I assume you're here to kill me then. What a valiant soul you are," he said with a biting tone, purposely stabbing at the fact that Kurai feared the death that followed, "Since neither of us are the fighters that our comrades are, I propose a different form of battle."

With a free hand, Byoki snapped his fingers, causing a blue aura to appear around Ami. In a flash of terror, she was replaced with a single chess piece; a white queen. Kurai gasped in disbelief but Byoki merely pointed a finger down, causing the piece to float down next to the white king. It clicked on the board like a guillotine.

It was a cruel twist on a game Kurai had always admired and Byoki loved every ounce of the irony. "Play me, Kurai. If you win, your unfortunate lover will be returned and you may take my life. If I win, you forfeit your lover and your own life. Those are the rules," he continued and ran his hand over the board, returning the pieces to their starting points and then moving a single pawn into position.

"Your move," he called and sat back.

For a moment, Kurai considered using his Triad to simply dispatch Byoki, but he didn't know whether that would return Ami back to normal. It also meant he would meet his own fate. With little choice, Acrolyth Kurai frowned and moved to the empty chair, unable to see an acceptable outcome aside from him winning the game. No game had ever held such stakes and his eyes lingered on his queen, the only piece with the symbol for Mercury on it.

With his icy eyes burning, he looked back to Byoki as he moved a pawn as well. "A battle of intelligence instead of a battle of power?" he asked.

"That's correct – a forum I foresee as being better suited for both. It is no secret that your powers, and by deferment mine own, are not as advanced as the others," Byoki replied and began to think, using the basis of Kurai's skill as his own.

It was a truly vicious thing, to place life and love into a simple game. Byoki adored the idea and moved confidently across the board while Kurai, constantly reminded that someone he cared for was counting on his performance. Byoki was thrilled at his preoccupation. "Your attacks are weak, but very lithe. Ice is a very defensive thing, you know; not powerful or swift like fire or lightning. My only notable abilities are limited to that which the master has given me. Your only offense is that Triad you carry, a creation of your own to bridge the distance between you and the others. Without it, I'm afraid you're no more dangerous than I am, offensively speaking," the Priest chatted as he watched Kurai's restrained movements with a pale smile.

The Scion listened silently, but was a fury of thought and strategy. As the game progressed, pieces disappeared and moves became more and more critical. With his queen still locked in a defensive place, Kurai was handicapped. He would not risk her by moving her onto the board, yet he effectively tied one of his hands behind his back because of it. "Perhaps I am weaker than the others, but I'm not a burden. Sailor Mercury retains more of an offensive ability than I, but even she proclaims her brain over her power. I have no regrets about being weak because I still contribute to the team," he said solemnly and moved a piece. It wasn't until after he had moved his hand off did he see his mistake.

Suddenly, a lethal opening presented itself on his side of the board and he let out a shallow breath in his hindsight. Byoki had seen it even before the move was made. "Your reluctance for offense has just sentenced your king. Had you been more willing to risk your queen, you would not be in this position," he said and slid his own black queen across the board, setting it into a place where it could strike directly at the white king.

"Check," he said through a great smile.

Kurai stared at his queen blankly, his mouth hanging open in defeat. There was one single way to avoid losing his king but it meant giving up his only true treasure – the thing he was trying to protect. Byoki smiled at the situation. "Oh my, there's a way out after all. Your queen can take his place and you may evade this loss. So, it seems you must sacrifice your queen or lose. Either way, Mizuno Ami dies," he said sweetly and rested his chin on knitted hands.

Kurai clenched a fist and stared, unable to clear his mind. He had been so foolish, keeping his most agile piece aside for fear of losing her. In any other situation, he could have defeated Byoki by simply outthinking him, but he had been distracted the entire match and he would now lose because of it.

But then something struck him. The board suddenly became different, a field of battle where pieces were lost and gained for the overall victory. He had been participating on the premise that the queen was more valuable than the king, seeing as his lover was the piece. However as soon as he considered the white queen for what it was, the most powerful piece on the board, he suddenly realized that Byoki had also made a fatal mistake in assuming Kurai would never move the queen. A sublime smile came across his face. "There's another option. Your eagerness to force my choice has left a wide hole in your defense, Byoki," he said.

The white queen was slid across the board and used to topple the black king, much to the utter shock to Byoki. In moving his killing piece to check the white king, a clear path had been opened for the white queen to checkmate. Byoki stared in horror but Kurai smiled and laid his cheek against the back of his hand, eyeing his other with a perfectly amused expression. "Checkmate. While I was too worried about Ami-chan to risk her piece, you were far too careless with your own strategy to protect your king. A conservative defense can often defeat even the fiercest offense," he lulled and the board began to glow. The white queen flashed away from the black square it was on and Ami appeared on the ground next to them, still unconscious to the entire thing. The worried Scion jumped to her side and checked her, grateful that she was fine. His cool reasoning was able to save her after all.

The Priest stood and his hands shook at his sides. There was no compliance in him and he began to glow in anger. Being beaten by his other self was simply too much to bear and knowing the price for losing was too much for him to accept. "You tricked me! I will not simply die! I'll have you both at my feet!" he roared and held out a foreboding hand.

It was this exact position that he was resigned until death. A supplementary glow appeared around both figures of Mercury and touched his hand, causing the limb to freeze where it was held. Before Byoki could avoid the glow, his body was overtaken and he was left in that position, a statue of ice and evil. It was a just fate for one who could not overcome a fear of dying. He hadn't even a chance to scream. He was frozen there – eyes filled with hate and fear.

Kurai didn't even look. He finally came to understand the true depth of his own power as it resonated with Ami's – like two icicles singing in a winter wind. With that he was able to stop his counterpart and freeze him. But now the true winter settled over him and he shivered at the impending sleep. "I'm just glad you're okay before I go, Ami-chan," Kurai said quietly as he ran his fingers through her hair. She was still unconscious but he found peace in that. He didn't want her to watch his end.

His free hand came from his side and the Triad was held in it, a beautiful and brutal weapon of his own design. However, he had lost his affections for it and shifted his eyes to his doppelganger. "I may be weak, but I can fight my own battles now. I don't need this anymore, Byoki," he said and tossed the Triad into Byoki's frozen hand, as if the Priest could get more use out of it. The impact sent a crack into the frozen arm, which went farther into the body. Byoki's arm then fell to the ground and shattered, taking with it the abandoned weapon. The fractures spread until the Priest's entire body was wizened.

In the end, Byoki shattered into many shards of sparkling ice, which then turned to vapor and formed into a swirling form of dark energy. It thrashed about the air violently and seemed ready to spring on him, silently screaming for revenge and eager to take another into death.

Seeing it, there was no more fear in his icy blue eyes. The Scion simply looked back to his fellow soldier, his lover and friend. There would be no more late nights for them, no tired eyes and elated hearts. He would not get the chance to see her in a graduation cap or proudly becoming a doctor as they both strived to do. He would never again feel her warm kiss on his cold skin. He would never be there to help her through the difficult destiny she subscribed to.

But he smiled knowing that she could do all of those things – with someone else.

She would at least get that chance. "Goodbye, Ami-chan," he said quietly and the swirling energy was upon him, tearing him away from the quiescent lover that was completely oblivious the loss she was experiencing.