In My Heart, In My Soul, I am out of Control
He glared at Vincent, "I'll fight you, but you knew I'd say that, didn't you?"
Vincent smiled, all was going according to plan. "You Gaiused right!" He drew his knives.
"Gaius! Your treachery will end here! This is the end!" Vincent declared.
"Clear a ring," Gaius ordered. His soldiers complied and Vincent's family moved back slowly.
You have no idea what you're doing, do you?
Perhaps…
Gaius unsheathed two short knives. Now was the time.
Here ended the treachery.
Vincent reaffirmed his grip on his long knives. And he waited for Gaius to make the first move.
They both stood still for a moment, until Gaius jumped forward at Vincent. The tactician ducked to the left and slashed with his knife. Gaius blocked it with one of his knives and made an attempt to stab Vincent in the stomach. Vincent's other shiv met Gaius' with a clash of sparks.
The two of them jumped back after the exchange. Then the real fighting began. Vincent went on the offensive and swung his long, curved shiv at Gaius. The assassin blocked it, but the two of them held their knives there at a stalemate.
Vincent flipped the other knife in his hand so that it was facing the sky versus the ground. Gaius saw what the spymaster was doing and broke the stalemate by jumping backwards. He threw one of his knives at Vincent. The tactician dodged out of the way, though it sliced through his cloak. Irked, the black haired man ran at Gaius.
Gaius stepped back, caught Vincent's shiv in the hilt of the assassin's knife. Twisting his wrist, he disarmed Vincent's left knife. The knife fell to the ground. The spymaster continued the offensive as if nothing had happened. He reached out his foot and tripped Gaius. The crowd gasped around them.
Swearing, Gaius rolled out of the way. Vincent's knife missed him by inches. The traitor jumped up and kicked Vincent in the stomach. The spymaster doubled over and Gaius stabbed with his knife. The tactician purposely fell over to avoid the blow. He rolled like a professional and got up to his feet.
Gaius was ready for him though. His fist collided with Vincent's face. The spymaster swiveled around due to the force of the blow and took a few steps away from Gaius, turned around and walked it off. The two of them began throwing punches at each other in addition to knife attacks.
After a flurry of blows, Vincent emerged with a split lip and Gaius with a black eye. The two leapt at each other like feral dogs, no sympathy for the other. Gaius began to overtake Vincent. The spymaster lost ground due to Gaius' quick onslaught of attacks.
The tactician blocked as many of the attacks as he could, but a few left various cuts and scratches. And Vincent was getting tired. He wasn't as well rested as his opponent was. Gaius continued to pound upon Vincent's defenses.
He tried to trip Gaius again, but the assassin knew what was coming. He kicked the tactician in the shin and brought down his knife on his face.
Vincent screamed. The knife cut into his skin starting from his cheek and going down his body as well. The space in between his cheek and shoulders were spared, but blood oozed out of his wound.
"How does it feel?" Gaius whispered. "Do you surrender? Oh wait, that's right, this is a fight to the death."
Vincent swore and covered what he could of the gash, trying to stop the bleeding. Blood loss would lose him the fight. He could here screams in the background. He spared the briefest of glances to see what was causing it. The Ylissean League had arrived.
Vincent's eyes locked with his opponent's. Fueled by rage, Vincent made a last ditch effort in attacking Gaius. He stopped trying to cease the blood flow and drew a second shiv. He ran at Gaius who only grinned and got into a defensive position.
The spymaster put the assassin in the same position he had been in, a fast onslaught of attacks. Even someone as good as Gaius had trouble keeping up.
This is it! Where all of what you've done matters!
Vincent couldn't last much longer at this rate, he had to do something drastic. Gaius caught his hand by the wrist as the tactician swung down his knife.
No giving up!
As quick as lightning, Vincent brought the other knife up and hit the unarmored part of Gaius' wrist. The knife passed bloodily through Gaius' hand, severing his hand from his arm.
If Vincent's scream had been painful before, Gaius' was a hundred times worse. The assassin fell to his knees clutching the stump of where his hand used to be.
Vincent stood stoically over his fallen opponent. He sheathed his clean knife and held the bloody one tightly.
"Spare…me. I don't…want to die," Gaius croaked.
Vincent grabbed Gaius by the collar of his assassin's clothes. "Tell me, you bastard, why should I? You know me better than most. You've done more wrong than right. Why do you deserve to live, assbutt?"
"I…never harmed your family, Vinnie," Gaius whispered.
Vincent glared with hatred. And the bloody knife slowly slipped from his hand. Gaius let out the breath he was holding, "You won't regret this."
"I already have," Vincent flicked his wrist and a knife slid into his hand. With fluid motion, Vincent burrowed it into Gaius' heart. "Burn in hell, Gaius. Tell the demons I say hello."
Gaius' response was a gurgle of blood and his head tilted to the right. He was dead.
Vincent dropped the body to the ground nonchalantly. He slowly walked over to his family, ignoring the rest of the onlookers.
He gazed at each of them in turn. Remy, then Morgan, then Jessie, and finally Anna. They all had expressions of disbelief.
"I…am…" Vincent then began to fall over. Jessie quickly caught him.
As he drifted into unconsciousness, he could hear his wife shouting, "I need a staff! I don't care if I have to pay for it, get me a staff!"