Back by singular demand! Hope you enjoy the show.
Disclaimer: Don't own...
Chapter 3: A Fusion's Mind
Agi darted out from behind him and pressed his back against the wall. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You know you can't take it back in this state. You want to kill her?!"
His eyes were blank and dark then suddenly hardened into an arctic glare. Agi's head shot back in surprise. The look in his eyes sent shivers even down her spine. "Let-go-of-me," he growled, annunciating every syllable.
She slowly uncurled her fingers and scuttled back on her hands and three-toed feet.
He stood, eyes never leaving her, then levitated up through the hole. He stared down at Agi through it then turned and walked back out into the night.
Kibito's voice spoke in his mind. "Do not blame yourself master," he said.
"Then who is there to blame?!" Shin shot back.
Kibitoshin stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes.
Shin and Kibito stood on opposite sides of a pedestal in a featureless, wall-less room. It was more like a void, a gaseous bubble in the middle of a galaxy. Short chains of ghostly links bound the collars around their necks to the crystal hovering and turning over the face of the pedestal. Kibito stood calm and collected. Shin hovered eye level, fists clenched and shaking at his sides.
"Tell me!" Shin demanded. "Who would you say is responsible if not I?"
"No one," Kibito said sympathetically. "From what I have gathered all events were completely out of control."
"No!" Shin snapped. "Each one could have easily been avoided! But, as usual, I made every wrong turn in the book." He pounded his chest with every passing "I." "I denounced the Code of the Kais despite the warnings of my mentors. I was the one who wished that she would stay. I was the one who bound her. Because of me she went out alone against Bibi-Dee! Because of me! I never deserved her. So why does she have to suffer?!"
"Because you suffer," he replied. He looked at Shin. Everything about him had changed. Even when Kibito first met him, traces of the general impression he got from Agi could still be seen. Now it was like he was staring at Shin's parallel. He's broken...
"What?" he asked quietly. "You mean I should be happy she's banished?!"
"No," he said as he shook his head, silently relieved Shin didn't pick up on his thoughts. "I didn't mean that."
Shin rubbed the spot on his chest where his fisthad nearly broken.
"I mean she suffers with you."
"Is that supposed to comfort me?"
Kibito didn't answer. He only stared at the slowly rotating crystal cluster. He narrowed his eyes. There was something in it. Deep in the heart of the cluster was a tiny shard, dark like a black seed. "One thing is certain," he said in thought.
"And what is that?" Shin asked, trying to calm his nerves.
Kibito curled his hand around the evanescent links near the collar around his neck and gave it a yank. Nothing happened. "If this is to end, you and I must live as two separate beings."
Shin nodded. "Agreed."
"We will find a way."
A veil seemed to come over Shin's face. He suddenly looked remorseful and regretful. "Kibito, you have served me faithfully for several millennia and, I don't know you that well." He looked up at Kibito. "When this is over, I hope to remedy that."
Kibito smiled and nodded, "Welcome back Shin."
Yeah, I know, too short. That's why there's another chapter after this one. Enjoy!