FFOmega

Part I: Bitter-Sweet Dreams

Chapter 8

Looking to his opponent as he bent down low, Kyoto showed a sinister grin. And with a whirling of the air around his feet, he was blasted forward toward Norethfir. And right before he got to his opponent, he put his hands down and used them to spring him right over the man. He landed and went for a backward-facing leg sweep. He looked over his shoulder as he met no resistance, to see the quarterstaff coming down at him at high speeds, as his opponent had leapt clear over his sweep.

Rolling to the side, he watched as the pavement cracked where the staff hit, and then rolled himself over to a handstand as, where his lower body had been, the staff made another hit. Cursing to himself, he pushed backwards from the handstand into a handspring and then a crouch, before leaping toward his opponent. He was met with the end of the staff in the chest. 7 quick hits slammed into both lungs all too quickly, and then a baseball-like swing met his upper chest, sending him falling backwards as his legs seemed to not be able to hold him up anymore.

Before he hit the ground, he was hit in the stomach, the power driving him to the ground faster than the forces of gravity alone. He then took a shot to the knee as he tried to sweep out, but this left his other leg, and he pushed with his hand and rolled into a one-handed cartwheel, and he hit Norethfir in the shoulder, which gave him a moment to recover and stand.

Lashing out with a roundhouse kick that was ducked, he bent his leg back before it even touched the ground and slammed his heel into Norethfir's temple. Then, following through, he jumped and spun around, laying his boot's sole into the figure's chest. As Norethfir stumbled, Kyoto leapt at him. He overshot the tackle and got behind Norethfir and grabbed him by the neck in a chokehold before kneeing him in the back and forcing him to bend back over his left knee, while he raised his right leg and brought his foot down to slam on the man's head. Norethfir moved just enough to survive the hit, instead taking it to his upper chest, which drove him into the ground.

As Kyoto went in for another stomp, he felt a sharp pain, and stopped, before whimpering and turning around, walking off for a moment before sinking too his knees, and finally falling to the ground, curled up into himself. Norethfir stood and walked toward Kyoto, and the man on the ground looked up, and there seemed to be tears in his eyes. He raised his hands and made a "T" shape with them. Then his hands went back to hiding between his legs.

"You bastard." He muttered, before lashing out fast with one leg, hitting just off from where he was aiming. He caught the man in the kneecap, and there was a pop as he dislocated his knee. And then rolling back, Kyoto limped for a short distance, putting space between him and what he assumed to be a downed opponent. "My bloody balls…the ass…that was just cheap…"

He groaned, before he undid the hair-tie that was holding his hair tight at the base of his head. His hair was coming out of the braids steadily from the bottom from all of the moving, and running his hands through the braids quickly, his hair that was visible from under the hat came undone, and fell in weird twists and curls around him. Adjusting the hat to be on backwards, he gave himself one more rub in the groin before turning to Norethfir.

And he looked in shock as his opponent bent down, as he was still standing, and with a push, he seemed to force the knee back into place. And with a dark grin, he grasped the staff, and seemed to push something on the handle, before tapping it on the ground. And from the top, 3 blades arose, making it look kind of like a trident, but the blades were closer, 1 from the top of the staff, while 2 came from the sides, matching up like a V to each other. And with a dark grin, Norethfir slid the top, longer blade down his arm, from the shoulder down to his elbow. Blood pooled on his skin, before streaming down and dripping on the floor. And with a euphoric look on his face, Norethfir closed his eyes and sighed.

"Masochism is generally looked down on. But I seem to think that, when you literally draw power from it, then that makes it alright. Add to the fact that your blood has special purposes, and I find it a good power to have." And with those words he dipped the blades into the blood that had fallen on the ground, and then with a smile, He leapt at Kyoto, the newly-formed pole-arm head high and back behind him over his head.

Doing a handless back flip, Kyoto caught the man under the chin, but not before the blade mad a thin cut along his leg. From the looks of it, the blade should have cut through his leg, but seemed rejected, like it had tried to cut through a rock or something.

But Kyoto stumbled and fell to one knee, his mouth clenched shut and tight. "Fuck!" He finally shouted, before standing up, and trying a roundhouse to the ribs before he ducked under the counter blow toward his face, before slamming his fist into the man's chin, sending him off his feet just a bit. That was enough time, and spinning a full circle and then some, he kicked back, and caught Norethfir in the stomach, before landing, and stumbling as he felt the pain grip the leg he had taken the slash to.

"Yes, Young Shadow, my blood is doing that to you. If it gets into you, it can cause more pain that many other known things in the world. There is only one thing I know of that causes more pain. Let's play with it. Crucio!" And he pointed the staff at Kyoto. The blast hit him, and he dropped down to a kneeling position as he felt the pain shake him. When it broke, he stumbled back and crawled back as he watched his opponent approach him. "Yes, I do have some conventional Wizarding magic. In this body, I have very little, I believe here they would label me just above those they call Squibs, but with this staff, and my knowledge from my last life as a Witch, I know the magic, and how it feels to use. Here, have another. Crucio." Kyoto rolled out of the way, just barely.

Squinting his eyes just so, he did a back somersault, rolling over himself from sitting on the ground to being on his feet. Punching out with a right, he followed it with a left cross and then his right hand delivered a right hook to the man's ribs. He kicked him in the side of the thigh, making the man fall to one knee. Grabbing him by the throat, he laid 5 punches directly to the face, before he pushed the man's face back and then slammed him with a vicious chop to the neck. Coughing, Norethfir spun away, his hair, and thus the weight on the end hitting Kyoto in the jawbone, causing him to spin away and bring a hand up to his cheek.

And bringing his bleeding arm up to his face, Norethfir sucked a mouthful of blood out of his arm, and as Kyoto came back to attack again, he spewed it into Kyoto's face. And Kyoto was hit with a blinding pain through his whole body, and his eyes seemed to not be working. And as he stumbled back, soon finding himself backed up against something hard, he heard laughing.

"Ah…playing dirty. Catching one unawares. Thus are the defining factors of that which is pain. You should learn. Maybe in your next life you might learn something that may allow you to win at some point. But since I have yet to be beaten so far, I don't know if you will be coming back again any time soon. Since I don't plan on dying any time soon, maybe that will give you enough downtime to think about what you have done wrong."

It was taunting, and soon Kyoto felt a shoulder drive him into the wall. And again and again he was slammed against the hard wall behind him. "Beg for mercy." Kyoto shook his head. "Do it." Again, he shook his head. He was not speaking for a reason. "DO IT!" the other Demon shouted. Kyoto smirked. "Now!" and with a fast action, Norethfir found his eyes covered in Kyoto's saliva. And with a push, Kyoto got space between him and Norethfir, before he placed a hand on the man's shoulder, and the jumped up to put one foot on the wall behind him and then leap over Norethfir, so he landed behind the man. And then he slammed his shoulder into the man, driving him into the wall. And then he kicked. He was fighting blind, be he felt he was hitting home.

And again and again, he kicked. And finally, stepping back, he ran up the man's body, pinning him even further to the wall, before flipping back, and landing, he drove his shoulder into the man's face once more.

And stepping back, he calmed his breathing, to allow his hearing to hopefully pick up the movements of the man he was fighting, as he tied his hair up and back away from his face so that his ears were exposed and not cushioned from sound by his hair. Hearing the wind whistle, he jumped back just in time to feel the staff-end of the polearm whiz past him, right up the middle, and had he not moved, he would have taken another shot to the groin. "Ok man, what the FUCK is up with the ball shots? Seriously, if I survive this, I think I deserve the right to have kids. I mean, come on!"

There was laughter. "Just needed to make sure you were a guy. Seriously, looking at you, you kind of look like a girl. I needed to be sure that there was something down there, otherwise you could seriously pass for a very flat-chested girl." And with a sick laugh, he heard, "If I didn't have to kill you to get my key, and therefore turn your body into dust…I would make some money off you, you little bitch. For that matter, you are fighting like a girl. I heard somewhere that you had a sister. If she looked anything like you, but had all the good girl parts, maybe when I kill you and bring her back, I will use her for that purpose. She can't be that powerful if you, in all of your weakness, could kill her, as I was told. For that matter…what kind of brother kills his own sister. You sick fuck."

And as Kyoto growled at this, the storm overhead broke. And with a crash of lightning, the water began to fall. And as the water flowed over him, the water washed through his eyes, and slowly vision returned to him. And as it did, Norethfir watched as his eyes narrowed, and he clicked his hands, cracking the bones in them with the other hand before doing his neck as well. And walking forward, something in his aura was radiating, and on his face was a deranged look. A psychotic smile. And reaching out to the momentarily paralyzed man, he ran a finger down the man's arm, collecting some of his blood. And then he placed it into his mouth, tasting it.

"Mmm…hurts so fucking good." He seemed to moan, before sighing. "Love the taste, kind of like alcohol. Burns on the way down, but just burns too good to be anything but my own little slice of Hell. Too fucking bad about the whole thing, though. Seeing as I am going to have to kill you, and all." The voice had changed. It was the same voice, but there was something there, as if it was intoned and echoed out, seeming like he was talking over himself.

"Who…who are you?"

"Well, you asked for me. You said, I believe, something about 'Little Shadow' to me a while back. Well, I'm here."

"I thought…Darkness…"

"Yeah. You see, that was the sane part, from what I understand. But then again, you can't expect even him to be that sane anymore, considering, collectively, I have seen over three-quarters of a century in different Loony Bins. Oh well." And seeing the confused look on Norethfir's face, "Shadow" sighed. "Hello. Nice to meet you, I am Shadow. I will be your executioner for today. Considering you did something bad enough to get Darkness pissed off enough for the blocks holding me into the back of his mind to fall, that therefore tells me you either deserve to die, or you were doing something very…freaky…to him. Seeing as I know that, as a male, Kyoto is straight if sexual at all, and as a female, he rarely does anything at all but die, I am doubting the second option. I bet you opened your mouth, said something about his sister perhaps?"

It wasn't a question.

"Haha. I am what humans would call a Split Personality. Always with him, like his shadow. The Shadow to Darkness, making me even darker than he could hope to be. I was made to allow him to deal with the repeated deaths he saw that would drive someone crazy. I find myself leaking more and more into him, until I assume we will both become one sometime. My job is to keep him alive this time long enough for it to happen, so I don't have to start all over. So don't look forward to coming back any time soon." And with those words, "Shadow" stopped his musings. "Payback time…" And with those words, Shadow brought his leg straight up, his foot connecting to the groin of his enemy. There was a crack as the bone seemed to fracture just so, and the man's eyes teared up.

Smiling to himself at the other man's pain, Shadow started to dance, doing a dance he had seen somewhere called the running-man before he pulled his arm back and hit a harsh uppercut to the man's chin, sending him into the air just to crash back down. "Talked about his sister, I bet. He isn't happy. Since you like pain so much, let us give you more of what you want." Shadow stated, before lifting Norethfir up by his shins and then slamming the man into the pole on the basketball hoop near him. Repeatedly until the pole bent, he slammed the fairly limp man's back into the pole. And then dropping him, Shadow raised his leg high, and stomped down, making a small crater in the cement, while shattering the man's left shin bone completely. He repeated the process with the right as well, before bending down and smiling hugely.

Norethfir seemed to be reaching for the pole-arm, which was just outside of his reach. "Oh no you don't…can't have you ruining my fun." Smiling, Shadow did the same process with the man's arms.

Looking up, Norethfir saw some differences between Kyoto, or "Darkness", and this Shadow. He looked less calm, almost so happily deranged that it almost seemed pained, and his features had less of a soft edge to them. His canine teeth were very pointed, almost into fangs, and the muscles and veins in Shadow's upper body were incredibly prominent, the veins poking out and rigid on the skin, while the muscle definition seemed to grow greatly from its already high amount of definition. Norethfir could almost swear he could see the man's heart beating.

And as Shadow raised his hand to seemingly preen his nails as he paced for a few moments, knowing his enemy was going nowhere, Norethfir saw something different about him. The white-fading-to-black fingernails that were short but sharp, and bordered on claws, were extended a good inch, and could be called full-blown claws. "It's just too bad that you pissed me off so very much. We could have been friends, you and I." Shadow spoke slowly, before he launched his hand incredibly fast at the man's chest. However, suddenly he stopped right before his hand would have plunged, claws first into the man's chest. And blinking, Shadow's body seemed to soften, and his nails shrunk, literally. He blinked several more times before looking at everything around him, as the rain fell.

"Dammit…" He muttered, before looking to the man laying on the ground before him, immobilized. Walking over, he picked up the pole-arm and returned to looking down at Norethfir. And as the latter looked up, he realized the man known to him as Darkness, Kyoto, was back. And with a look, he smiled gently. "Few can ever get him out of me." He spit the word "him" like a curse, and Norethfir knew he was speaking of Shadow. "Sad to say we aren't that much different, me and him. Only issue is how much longer before the walls are all gone, and we become one person." And sighing, he spoke one last time to Norethfir. "It was a great, amazing fight. Thank you for it, I needed it. I needed to remember that I am not perfect, and can be hurt. I will remember your promise, and I shall keep hold of this wonderful piece of weaponry." And with a nod of deep respect, he rose it above his head, and then slammed the blade into and through the heart of his opponent.

Not his enemy,

A worthy opponent.

And pulling the weapon from the man's now lifeless body, he sighed. Because the man didn't possess Kyoto's key, the body would not turn to dust. He would have to dispose of the body. The soul was gone, and the glow from the body told him that the key that the man had held within his soul was gone and within him now. Taking the body and lifting it up, he remembered what the man's blood had been capable of. He smiled and then looked around, surveying everything. There was cracking in the cement walls of the Center where they had had their little battle over control of the other person, and the wall, and the basketball pole was bent to a near 45 degree angle.

Going to the pointed side, Kyoto raised his foot and gave it a good kick, and righted it the perfect amount. And turning, he gathered up his things and then the staff. He pushed the button the man had pressed, and tapped the ground with the staff, and the blades retracted. Then, holding it as he placed his things under his arm and the man's dead body over his shoulder, he crouched low and then leapt, disappearing from the area.

-----

Harry found Blaise in a room covered in blue mats on the floor, stretching. She was doing the splits at the time while sitting, and stretched her arms to touch her left foot, then gripping the bottom, she rocked and stretched more, before repeating the process with the other foot. She did some more ground stretching before she stood and bent down, holding one foot. And as she stood, still holding the foot and bent still, she pulled the leg up as well, all the while holding the foot, until she was standing and holding the foot she had grabbed, her leg straight up and to the side of her some.

Smiling, he whistled and cat-called. She turned to him, dropping her leg and staring at him. "What?"

"Nice to know you have that flexibility." He replied. She rolled her eyes at him before running over and leaping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He caught her and kissed her deeply, before she dropped from his body.

"Good, you can help me stretch." And with that, she placed one of her legs on his shoulder, her heel sitting on his shoulder, as she bent forward and toward him, her other leg firmly planted on the ground. She smiled at his face, as he stood there flustered, not knowing what he was to do, before she dropped her leg, repeated with the other leg, and then dropped that leg and kissed him again. "That's enough for now. Ron went through that door," she pointed to a door to the side where there was the clanging of weights. "And Hermione took Ginny into one of the bathrooms so they could adjust their clothes to come out here and mess around as well."

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing if I still have it." She replied with a smirk, before walking away from him, and dropping her body back from a standing position into a bridge position, and going from there into a handstand. He was watching intently, as he had never seen anything like this, and his eyes met hers. And from this handstand, which was strong and unmoving, she tried to do what seemed like a vertical push-up, but shook for a moment and then fell back, landing on her back on the padding. "Dammit."

"What? Are you alright? What happened?" Harry asked this all very fast as he helped pull her to her feet.

"Nothing, just put on some weight since the last time I tried to do that, is all. I'm alright, that is what the padding is for." She smiled.

"Yeah, I bet I know where that weight went." He said cheekily, slapping her on her rear. She smiled despite herself, and with one last kiss, he headed off toward the door Ron was said to have gone through. He smiled to Hermione and Ginny, who he saw standing by the door he had come through to get into the padded room. Hermione smiled, but Ginny seemed less…happy about something. As he left, she scowled at his back, and then Blaise, before heading into the room, following as Hermione had gone in already.

Harry entered the room to find Ron sitting on a bench, doing curls with a barbell. Harry sat across from him and grabbed one as well, doing the same as his friend in silence until Ron spoke. "So…you and Blaise, then."

"Blaise, now? Not Zabini? You sure you want to be on friendly terms with a Slytherin?" Harry asked calmly.

Ron shrugged. He smiled to himself calmly before speaking again. "She is a fine specimen. Too bad school robes hide so much." He grinned to himself before speaking again. "Harry, what kind of man do you consider yourself. A chest man, or an arse man? Because Blaise seems to have both, to a nice degree, and I was wondering for reference."

"Uh…well…Blaise does have a nice ass, and I find myself touching it more often than I thought I would be touching anything on any girl outside of her lips for years. I'd say she has a nice chest, it isn't huge, like Lavender's, or damn near non-existent like Marietta's. I'm not sure."

"Yeah, she has what looks to be a perfect size considering you don't care for Lav's chest. A good handful, I'd say. I think her ass might be her best quality, and you seem to like it a lot."

Harry was looking at his friend for some time, before speaking again. "Uh…Ron…why are you asking about my taste in girls? And why do you care if I like breasts or ass better? And more than that, I am uncomfortable having a talk like this about my girlfriend, especially when the door is open and she is in the next room." He whispered the last sentence harshly, motioning to the door. Ron hopped up and closed the door, before heading back to his bench and then changing arms to curl with.

"Well, truth be told, Harry, there are two reasons. Ginny put me up to it. She wants to know what you like, and I think she was hoping for a definite answer that she wanted me to report. Personally, thinking…what was the word…analytically, I think she wants to know so she can know what part of her she wants to...acc…accent…show off to you, and what part to downplay. She wanted to know, from what I understand, as the reason she told me, because she thinks you and Blaise are a summer fling.

"She figures that you two will break up before school starts or early into the school year, as the 'pressures will be too great, with house rivalries, and she will want to go back to reporting to Malfoy on her hate for Harry' according to her. These are her words, not mine, mate, but she wants to be ready to rebound there for you. I know she is wrong, but she is my sister. Besides, I think I would like to know as well, just as guy talk. Also…well…just from you to me, I think you and Blaise are good together, she seems quite nice, oddly, and she looks great," Ron smiled slyly as he said this.

Harry smiled at his friend's admission, "Well, what about you, Ron? What do you like most about a woman, physically?"

"Well, I figure we are talking about body-wise, and with that, I would have to say chest. They say every man grows up to marry his own mother, in a way, saying that a man likes a woman like his mother. You have seen mum, so you understand, right?" Harry nodded. "Yeah, so I am waiting for school to start, so I can hopefully get myself in position to be able to sidle up close to Lavender, or even, if we had to go all out about inter-house coupling, and if anything to get the slack off of you, maybe I can get to Daphne Greengrass.

"She is a hot little piece, and from what I understand, her father spent a great deal of his own money in support of the research that is ongoing on the Unforgivables, as well as the campaign to keep Malfoy's dad in jail. So she may be catching a lot of flack about all of that." Looking to the door, Ron seemed to check to make sure it was closed before he leaned toward Harry and whispered so Harry could just hear, "Don't tell anyone, but I have been writing to her. Well, I have since yesterday, when I heard. She sent me something fast, and it seems like we might be able to work out a friendship."

"What, I thought there was something about you liking Hermione…"

"No, mate. The blow-up between her and Ginny was too big, I don't need something like that happening between her and I. We have finally been able to have some conversations without arguing since getting to the house, once I accepted she didn't like me. There was…someone else…" He looked warily at Harry.

"Me, right?"

Ron sighed. "Good, you know. Well, there was a blow-up, and she wasn't talking to any of us, and we weren't talking to her. But it was all resolved seeing you and Blaise. It was kinda…cute…never tell anyone I said that word, or you die. But, well, she and Ginny had to come together, sleeping in the same bed and all. They are alright with each other, being in the 'In Love With Harry Potter' club, and all. They are talking, I think more on Ginny's part because she needs girl talk, and she won't go to Blaise. Says she 'hates' her. I am doubting that, as I haven't really talked to Blaise, but I can't hate her, because I like her if nothing than because of the way she makes you act.

"You both seem happy together. Hermione, on the other hand, gets along great with Blaise from what I understand, leaving Ginny betrayed. But personally, I think you and Blaise match better than you and Ginny. Your parents were great, but I am pretty sure that having 'Lily and James part two' isn't something that anyone wants, especially you. Besides, I think you having kids with Blaise, if anything, would piss Snape off enough for me to give up having you be, legally, a part of the family, just to see. Besides, regardless of any law, you will always be part of this family, as long as mum, and especially I, have anything to say about it." Ron finished with a big smile.

Harry continued his reps, and they both worked out in relative silence for several minutes. Harry put down his barbell upon seeing Ron place the weight down and start to look for something to do. The boy was restless and bored, Harry could see that, and he was feeling similar. Going to the door, they opened it to see Blaise doing a short series of cartwheels and flips, as Hermione seemed to be coaching Ginny on how to do a proper 2-handed back-flip. Blaise stood and, seeing Harry, walked over and kissed him.

As he went to stand by the wall, she followed and stood in front of him, and his hands slid down to her hips, rubbing her thighs for a moment before coming to a neutral place around her waist. Harry was watching Ginny and Hermione as Ginny completed another of the flips, and then Hermione demonstrated a cartwheel to the girl, and they moved on to that, both laughing to themselves.

Suddenly he heard Blaise gasp, and he looked. The rain was pouring outside. He had come in and it was still fairly nice out, if nothing more than some clouds in the sky that seemed more likely to send the rain down later that night. He smiled and pulled her closer to him, kissing her temple. She grinned evilly, and looked to Ron, who was watching everything, going from looking outside the window, to Hermione and Ginny, to Harry and Blaise. She smirked at Ron, and made a motion for him to watch her, and then she began to grind her rear into Harry's waist, and along his legs. She reached back and wrapped her arms behind his neck, holding him slightly hunched so he was down to her level. She ground herself more and more into him, and just as he got over the initial shock, she stopped. And turning to him, she gave a chaste kiss to his lips, and then walked over toward the window, shaking her hips as she did. Ron laughed loudly at this, pointing at his friend and holding his stomach good-naturedly.

Growling to himself, Harry rushed behind her, tackling her lightly to the ground, and kissing her as he kneeled around her, not sitting on her at all, but her body on the mat, and him on his knees, a knee on either side of her. He then helped her up, or tried to, and fell victim to his own trick, the newly named by Blaise"Potter Pull." And he found himself on his back, as she had pulled him down and rolled on top of him. And reaching down, she began to tickle him.

And his laughter came out muffled as his breath caught from his half-scream as he fell, and to Ginny and Hermione, it almost sounded like cries of pain. Blaise stopped and sat up straight. His legs were bent and up, and she reclined back, her back on his legs, as she tickled him a bit more before laughing to herself. She reached down and grabbed a handful of his hair, taking control off his head, as she seemed about ready to kiss him.

And as Ginny looked over, apparently to her, it looked like Blaise had attacked Harry. And rushing over, she side-tackled Blaise, and in the scuffle that followed, she found herself under Blaise, and this was not a friendly straddle. Ginny reached up to scratch Blaise, and would have scratched her badly as well, had the girl not been wearing the long-sleeved shirt she wore.

Blaise seeing this, as well as having to pry away from the girl's grip as Ginny reached up and grabbed her hair, pulled back her fist, and laid a punch right to and across Ginny's face. Ginny's lip tore in the corner, and Blaise brought her other hand back and laid into the redhead again, this time hitting Ginny's eye and forcing the girl's head to the side. And pulling her left hand way back, in what promised to be another punch, she was lifted off of Ginny by Harry. He lifted Blaise up and off of Ginny. The girl, on instinct, turned and slammed her fist into the person who had grabbed her, and Harry took a hard hit to the cheek, one that started to bruise almost immediately. Blaise looked appalled at what she had done, and put her hand to her mouth, before stopping her fight and just allowing Harry to hold her to him.

Ron and Hermione had run over to help get Ginny up. She had seen Harry come and grab Blaise, and was ready for him to be there to hold her to comfort her for his psychotic, hopefully ex, girlfriend had attacked her when she had only been attempting to save him.

But what she saw was him holding her to his chest, as her legs and arms wrapped around him and she was crying, apologizing all the while. He ran his hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her, as she kissed his cheek over and over again. And when she moved from there and buried her face in his chest, crying her heart out in apology, they all saw a bruise forming on his face. Ginny scowled as he told Blaise it was alright and kissed her softly on the forehead before heading toward the door.

-----

Ms. James Zabini was home alone, and therefore was currently walking around in little more than a long t-shirt that she called her "nightshirt" and some fuzzy pink slippers. Her hair was pulled into a high style atop her head, somewhere between a ponytail and a bun, and messy as all hell. As she entered the study, having been checking the house for where all the heat was escaping to, she came to a stop.

There, sitting in the sill, his back against it, and one leg dangling off the side of the building on the outside, while the other was bent up with his arm resting on it, was Kyoto. She was glad that she had chosen incredibly large windows, as the man seemed to come and go a lot through the windows. It was a random and fleeting thought, as she looked to see the lifeless look to him. Even with empty black eyes, he still seemed a lot more lifeless than usual.

"Ma'am, I am sorry for intruding. But…I needed some help. I don't know where else to go, and if I go anywhere else, they will just lock me up again." James mouthed "again" to herself, before quieting her questioning mind as he continued. "I understand if its not something you are used to, dealing with Demons, but…can I tell you a story?" as he spoke, he never looked at her at all, just kept staring off into space, his head not even turned to face her. But she nodded, he seemed to know this. "We, 'The Locked' as they call us, are a lot like you humans, in a way. That is all we ever wanted. In a way. Well, not so much we, as much as them."

"Them?"

"I never wanted all of this. Me, I am only here because of my sister. I loved her with everything that was within me. If I had to, I would have killed everyone on this Earth and in Heaven to give her a chance to have a life as a human. Or to be returned to the place I feel that she always deserved to be, back in Heaven as an Angel. The Angel I always knew she was. But with all of this…I never wanted it. But maybe that is why I am so good at it. Because I haven't the human mindset everyone wanting to get Unlocked has.

"All of the Locked are fighting to be free. Because that is what they want so bad. They are mentally human already. They have all allowed themselves to steadily become more and more human. Can you think what would happen if a bunch of humans were say…locked inside a steadily shrinking room, and they had to kill everyone inside to get out, and to survive. If they didn't they would all die anyways, what do you think they would do? They would kill. But not without regret or thought." It was not a question. "But think about adding one Demon to that mix of humans. A Demon that, all it knew was killing, and wouldn't regret it much at all. Those humans would take a lot longer to kill each other off than it would take the Demon to destroy everyone else in that room. And he'd feel a lot less bad about it as well. That was me."

He sighed sadly. "I have been alive since the dawn of this planet, in many ways. This battle is one that has lasted as long as the existence of Hell, and doesn't look even close to ending. Everyone else has succeeded in using this to help them get unlocked. But Me…You know, I wonder some times when, exactly, I went insane. Millennia upon Millennia of watching death. I am a Demon to the deepest part of my being, and I used to go out, seeking fights, even when I didn't have to. I didn't respect life. And to some degree, I still don't. But sometimes I wish I could just kill myself and go back to Hell, where I belong. I don't want this anymore."

"What of your sister?" James asked.

"I killed her. Like a bastard, I killed her. I had to, we both knew it, but she is gone, my reason is gone, so I am madness without a method, and pointless destruction." He laughed to himself. "Want to know something funny?" Not waiting for her answer, he continued. James wasn't sure she wanted to know, as the man before her was in such a depression that she was sure that if he could kill himself, he would have. "I am known as Shadow. Well, not I so much as the other person who happens to live in my head."

James drew a deep breath. "Yes, I see you know of his…our work. Good. But let's recap, shall we? Shadow is the entity that my mind created in an attempt to find a means by which, to deal with the things I was seeing. An outlet to place all of the negative and maddening things and emotions I felt inside of me, and still be able to function as a normal person, to some extent, seeing as I'll never actually be 'normal.' This entity was little more than what some would call a conscience. Nothing more than a reminder, nerve and memory synapses firing, reminding the conscious of truths the brain collected.

"Only thing is, Demons are not humans. We do not have consciences. And this was not a 'good' conscience, as one would say. Humans call them the Angel on one shoulder, and the Demon on the other. Well, I had Satan himself in the back of my head, the Angel on the one shoulder had Fallen into a dark being, and the Demon on the other shoulder was me. I had...have no positives. But I repressed them. I repressed them until it got too much. I do not even know the time period, all I know is that, even after 793 years collectively within the last 2 thousand years of being locked up in some mental institution, 75 in the last century at the very least, the madness seeped out. And the only way to keep it in, was to not only give it a voice, but…"

"To give it life." James spoke slowly in realization. She was going to ask about the whole mind speech he had given, it was incredibly scientific-sounding, but after hearing how long he spent in various mental institutions, she realized he had probably heard it all again and again.

"Exactly. And from Darkness, Shadow was born. But…I don't know what to do, Ma'am. I don't know how to handle it all. I need guidance, or something."

Finally he turned to her, and there were red streaks running from his eyes. At some point, he had started crying, but she couldn't tell when, given the deepness of his eyes. "I killed a man today. I killed a man, because he wanted to kill me. And as I did, I lost myself. Shadow took over. And it wasn't until right before the killing blow was struck, I realized something."

He was silent for some time. And with a deep exhalation, he continued. "I am Shadow. As much as I deny it, this other personality…it isn't a different personality. It is just me. And I have been fooling myself into thinking that I am not evil. That I am not as sick a fuck as Shadow is. That I don't, in some sick way, get off on hurting other living things. Fooling myself into thinking I'm not completely unfit to be alive. But I am that sick. And I am that dark. And I apologize for being as I am, not to you so much as to the whole world, to your people, to everyone you will ever meet and every person you never will."

And wiping his face, he finished. "It's interesting to think that I have done such bad in my life. Maybe something I will find will be such a worthy cause as to let me make up for the people I have killed. Until then, and until the next time, take care of Harry for me? I shudder to say he reminds me a lot of myself, considering how I have turned out, but he reminds me a lot of who I used to be. And hopefully, by learning the things to do, he will be who I always wanted to be. I see my hopeful future, my dreams that have yet to come to pass, in someone oh-so-many years my junior. What has the world come to?" He chuckled weakly before saluting her.

"Take care of him?" he asked one last time.

"Take care of yourself, ok?" James answered. She nodded to him, and he nodded to her. Before he left, she crossed the room, and looked at him. She smiled weakly as she looked at him, thousands upon thousands of years of pain in one person. And leaning down, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Keep care of yourself. There are people who care about you, and I know you care about Harry. He is going to need you and your help." And with that, she ran her hand through his damp hair, before turning and leaving the room, hearing as the air "whooshed" as he leapt from the building and disappeared into the night.

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They all left the Center, Harry paid for them all on the Knight Bus, and Blaise stayed awake and conscious, as well as not crying just long enough to tell the driver where her house was. When they got to Blaise's house, Blaise was asleep. Harry carried her in his arms, and when they entered, Ginny ran upstairs, crying. Harry passed the room on the way to dropping Blaise into her bed, to find Ginny there, her things packed and by the door, and her laying in the bed, holding the pillow he had favored as he slept, to her face.

Ron came up to say goodbye, and Harry bid his friend a farewell with a good handshake which turned into a brotherly one-armed hug, and he wished his friend luck with Daphne. He in turn wished Harry luck and well wishes with Blaise, and apologized for his sister's behavior, on her behalf. Hermione came in and gave Harry a huge hug after sitting on the bed and looking at Blaise, and sticking the girl's hair behind her ear, musing about how innocent she looked like that. She asked Harry to tell Blaise goodbye for her, and then they were all gone, Ginny hadn't come in at all.

Harry sighed before looking at Blaise. The girl still had slight tear streaks on her cheeks, and with her eyes all puffy and red, it did make her look innocent. The freckles helped as well, and he smiled as he thought of them. Thankful that the shirt the girl wore was fairly baggy, he adjusted her so she was sitting up some, and then pulled it off and over her head. He undid the tie on her hair and ran his fingers through it, before he undid the button and the zipper on her pants as well and raised the covers before going to the end of the bed and pulling, successfully sliding the pants down without having to actually see the girl without her knowledge. He folded the clothing up and set it in a pile on top of his trunk, along with his shirt.

Climbing into the bed with her, he scooted close to her shivering body and held her to him. Rainy days always made him sleepy, and the current time was no exception. He was drifting soon, holding her to him, he kissed her softly on the forehead before he fell asleep. She unconsciously moved closer to him, and she seemed to almost purr for a moment before the movement in the room stopped outside of their slow, rhythmic breathing.

Ms. Zabini looked at them from the doorway, and sighed as she watched her daughter. When it rained, Blaise never slept well. Lightning, and thunder especially seemed to disturb her greatly. The silencing charms were also placed to keep the sound of thunder out, as it often woke her up, and caused the girl to shake. History kept the girl near paralyzed at the sight of the lightning flashes through her windows, and she usually sat up, awake and shivering, not moving outside of her shaking, whenever there were storms such as those.

It was nice to see her daughter sleeping so well. Hermione had filled in the older woman on what had happened during the day, and she sighed gently as she looked at the light bruising on Harry's face. Blaise would never let him live it down, and would apologize for as long as it stayed there. But even with that being the fact, James loved seeing her daughter so happy.

With one last look at them, she turned to leave the room. There was the flash of lightning, and the sound of thunder in the distance. Blaise stirred in her sleep, but when Harry unconsciously pulled her closer to him and nuzzled into her neck, his arm draped over her as he pulled her back more into his chest, she drifted back to sleep. Ms. Zabini sighed contently as she looked at her daughter and the young man she was getting more and more respect for all the time.

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