Author's note: Sorry this update came so late, I've been busy with many things lately and haven't had much of a chance to work on this project. Things are starting to pick up now. Enjoy.

-The Leader of the Talking Palmtree's

Part two: Escape

The sound of ripping metal echoed and screamed through every alleyway within the floating city. The very foundation shook uncontrollably like a single leaf caught in a hurricane. Soul was thrown from his spot upon the gallows to the hard concrete ground below him, landing with a thud. He scrambled to his feet, trying hard to keep his balance from the rupture. The city suddenly let out a large groan as Soul looked up to see the very same clock tower begin to crumble and collapse to the ground in a billowing cloud of smoke. The guards were shocked and horrified at the events unfolding before them, paying no attention to their prisoner.

At that moment a small thought popped into Souls head "…run…run now…".

Letting his body take control of his actions, Soul broke out into a sprint, heading for the left wall of the prison yard. At that moment, large bits of debris began to rain down upon the yard, smashing the gallows and sending a few unsuspecting guards flying into the air. The ground lurched and a large fissure began to snake across the distance of the yard. Soul looked around that the destruction surrounding him with much fear burning his heart, knowing at any moment he could be crushed, shot, or swallowed by the very city caving in around him.

The guards regained their complexions and balance. One of them finally realized that a convict was making an escape, "He's trying to get away, shoot to kill!" he yelled to the others.

Before Soul knew it, bullets were whizzing pass him at high speeds. Soul tried his best to brake the shackles that bound him, but to no avail.

"Dammit, what are these things made of?" he growled, ducking and weaving rapidly to avoid the wave of bullets.

A loud crash then emanated beyond the wall as the large clock tower loomed over the entire yard, ready to crush everything with its enormous girth. It smashed right through the north wall like it was made of wet paper, crushing screaming guards that had no time to dodge the immense building. Soul turned back to stare the wall of destruction heading right for him. With all his might, Soul pushed off the ground to dodge it, twisting into the air as the sleek metal side of the tower barely grazed across his shoulder. Soul toppled to the ground, feeling the pavement bash at his face. To Soul's luck however, the tower managed to crush the left wall, making a large escape rout for his advantage. Soul leaped to his feet and made a large grin as he dashed through the broken wall.

Outside the prison yard, Soul looked over the entirety of the Ark, its towering silver and white skyscrapers were a sight to behold, almost blocking out the sun completely behind their massive size. Dark smoke snaked and twisted around the skyscrapers, creating a black blanket that blotted out the sky above the city. Soul quickly looked around, scanning his surroundings for any guards still patrolling around the city although he suspected that they all went to evacuate the citizens to safety bunkers around the edge of the Ark.

"No time to lose." he muttered, making a dash into the vacant streets of the city.

Within the great city stood a white tower that was far beyond the tops of all the others around it. Its architecture was smooth and slick, its walls looked almost like polished marble. Its windows were all tinted with a bluish hue that stuck out from the rest of the clear glass windowed skyscrapers. The tower was obviously the Council of thirteen's main hub of their operations. Far above of clouds, on the top floor, was the largest window on the building. One of the Council's hooded members stood just behind the glass, overlooking the destruction miles below him. The terror below had made no impact on him however, he was completely relaxed even though he knew the disaster below. He stood in what looked to be a large office, it had a fully shined marble floor and ebony black furniture made of some dark wooded tree lining every inch of it.

The figure let out a long hollow sigh and turned his head back towards the door having heard the sound of panicking footsteps a moment before. Just as he predicted, a sweaty flustered man had burst through the door, panting and wheezing. He wore a black robe as well, but this one did not have any hood or chains hanging from it like his superiors.

"M-m-aster Saix…" The man now known to be called Saix made a small nod to the exhausted man "…Do you bring news on what is conspiring?" "Y-yes sir" the man replied with much fear clogging his voice "…a short ranged missile had made contact with the lower right region of the Ark, it has sustained a large amount of damage and the shockwave had caused some towers in the outer ring to give way to their supports. Moments before the missile struck, eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a letter appear on monitors throughout the city, it was an uppercase K." Saix fully turned around to face the man, crossing his arms "so that infamous letter appears again…" Saix answered in a emotionless voice, almost like that of a robot's. "Any casualties?" Saix then questioned. "Over twenty citizens are dead, most were guards at the Ark's prison center." the man replied with much sadness lingering in his voice. "I see, has the rest of the city been evacuated to the shelters?" Saix said. The man nodded his head slowly.

Saix broke his focus from the man, looking back out the window to the clear blue sky. "Master Saix…" the man began, pausing for a moment. "…there is something else you should know."

Saix remained stationary, not looking back to the man. "Well, speak up…" he replied.

The man nodded "…Soul Evan's…has escaped."

At that moment, Saix, the man that was completely un-phased by the horrors below, completely tensed up, his body became rigid and a small sound emanated from him, it sounded like he huffed heavily through his clenched teeth.

"…find him." he muttered quietly.

The man raised an eyebrow to him, not hearing his reply "I'm sorry sir what wa-" he started before he was cut off by Saix…

"Find him and kill him!"

Back below on the surface of the Ark, Soul slowly creped through the shadows of the skyscrapers like an alley cat on the prowl. He glanced around himself, taking in the magnitude of the city, Soul didn't leave his hometown of Death City often, the town's buildings were mostly made of brick, wood and toiled iron, but the Ark's buildings were so far advanced. It was like a wonder of the world he was beholding and it calmed his nerves ever so slightly. The fact remained real, he had to get out of the city at any cost. One slip up and he could kiss his life goodbye.

Most of the smoke had cleared from the sky, the clouds now seemed to just sway peacefully in the light breeze. The streets were silent and still, abandoned cars lined the streets and shops were vacant, it seemed almost too quiet and peaceful for a disaster evacuation. Soul wandered from the shadows of the alley into the deserted street. He panned around, shifting his sight at every detail of the city surrounding him, trying to detect the slightest movement.

"They sure cleared out fast" Soul said to himself in a hushed voice.

Soul suddenly felt a small irritation on his eye, he wiped it to relieve it, but noticed a peculiar thing about the irritation. It was a bright red light just gleaming out of the corner of his eye. Soul suddenly tensed up and quickly lunged to the left. A shot rang out from a far off building as a sniper shell smashed into the pavement, leaving a fairly large hole in the ground where Soul was just standing a second ago. The red light was a sniper beam aimed for his head.

"Damn, of all the luck" he growled as he dashed back into the alley shadows.

Another shot broke the silence, piercing the corner of the alley and blowing shards of sliver metal in every direction.

Soul covered his face to protect him from the flying debris, running as fast as his legs could take him. He heard the echo of footsteps behind him, judging by how loud they were, the guards were not too far behind. Vast amounts of adrenaline pumped throughout his body, he felt almost weightless as he made a sharp right and dashed down another alley connected to the one he was just in. Bullets ricocheted off the walls in large numbers, trying very desperately to hit their mark. Soul wheezed and panted heavily, his lungs felt like they were swelling up like balloons and could burst at anytime. Before Soul even realized it, a searing pain surged through his left shoulder and blood spurted from it like a long red ribbon. A bullet managed to pierce his shoulder. Soul screamed out in pain, clutching his bleeding wound.

Soul started to slow down, if he tried to run any faster, his wound could open up and he could bleed to death. Soul groaned, pressing on as the guards followed in full pursuit.

"Shit…" he gasped. He began to stagger, his vision started to fade.

He had lost too much blood. Soul then weakly looked up ahead. At the end of the alley was the very edge of the city, the outer ring. He cringed, there was no place to run, no place to hide. He could either die by the hand of the guards, or jump. Soul limped on, he could hear the guards closing in on him. The edge grew closer and closer to him, he could feel the cool breeze and smell the salty air. Freedom was just out of his reach.

Suddenly a noise came from above the alley wall. A figure jumped down right in front of Soul, blocking his only way.

The figure glared at Soul, letting out a small scoff "you should have just stayed in that courtyard and been crushed to death…now I'll have to finish you off."

Soul eyed the figure, he could barely make out the man's appearance through his hazy gaze but he could recognize that voice.

"So, your one of those Council bastards, aren't you. Heh, what makes you shut ins so special anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter anyway" Soul spat. "Could I at least know the name of my executioner?"

The man nodded from behind his black hood, "I am Saix." He then reached into his black overcoat, pulling out a long gleaming sword and brandishing it a couple times "I won't keep you waiting…prepare to die" Saix growled. He then lunged at Soul with great force, aiming to strike him down with one slash.

Soul quickly reacted to the attack, lifting up his hand cuffs and stopping the sword with its chain.

A few small sparks fly from the clash "Heh, what the hell was that?" Soul chuckled, "slow and weak, come on now, your better then that dumb ass."

Saix retracted, taking a few steps back from Soul. A glint of his golden eyes burned through the veil of darkness covering his face. Soul's glaring red eyes stared right back, both sets of eyes locked onto one another. They both stood their, a moment or two, silent, waiting for either opponent to make his move. Saix suddenly, lowered his weapon, giving off a deep sigh. Soul raises a brow at Saix's gesture. Was he giving up, after one clash?

"Evan's…" Saix uttered, he then reached a hand into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out a small shiny object.

Then, with one swift flick of his wrist, he tossed the object into the air. It fell to Soul's feet, making a soft clinking noise. Soul, still having his eyes locked onto Saix, reached blindly for the object, plucking it from its spot. Soul then took a moment, staring at the object he obtained. It was a small silver key.

Saix shifted slightly from his stance, Soul's eyes immediately shot back up to him "…what's this for?" He muttered, clutching the key in his palm.

Saix just stared at him, his golden amber eyes never ceasing to look away, or even blink.

"…I thought this would make the fight more of a fair match…you would want that now…wouldn't you?" He said, his voice seemed to soften, becoming as flat and emotionless as before in his office.

Soul stared at the key once again, breathing hard. His wound was opening up even more, letting out more blood from his body. He took the key, jamming it into the lock of his handcuffs. With a small click, the cuffs came free from his wrist, clattering to the ground.

Soul chuckled softly, rolling around his wrists to get the blood flowing into his fingers "Heh, I guess this should make this fight more interesting. Might even be a cool experience." Soul said, clenching his hands into tight fists.

Saix nodded slowly "Then lets begin, show me the power of a weapon of the D.W.M.A." He held up his sword again, ready for the ensuing battle.

Soul grined, holding out his arms in a airplane fashion "…alright, I won't keep you waiting."

Suddenly, Souls arms began to glow a bright hot white color. They then burst into an aura of light, completely enveloping his arms up to the shoulder. Saix looked away for a moment, the light was almost blinding. As he looked back upon his opponent he saw his own reflection gleaming against the red and black scythe blades that replaced Soul's arms.

"Impressive…" Saix said, inspecting the blades closely "…I've never seen such a transformation before…"

Soul laughed, getting ready to make his strike, "Thanks, lets do this Sai…just know that I won't hold back."