A.N. This is interesting. I don't really know what to say, except here's the last chapter of Pure of Mind and Blood. Have fun. Go crazy. Eat food. Yeah…stuff…y'know, I actually write this after the chapter's finiahed and after the final author's notes, meaning that I've already seen the first part of the second season of Supernatural by now…but by the end of this, I'll have only seen the ending of season one.
Sorry. Just a little weird information about my weird, wacked-out little life.
Leave me alone and read the damn chapter.
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Axel emerged into the clearing, pulling at the fabric of the familiar black cloak with distaste.
"Do I really have to wear this?" he grumbled. "It's too hot out, now that the sun's come up, and I don't really want to—"
"Shut up," Saïx snapped. "This isn't about your comfort."
"Really," Axel said snidely. "I had no idea. I mean, I couldn't be any more comfortable right now, what with the gash on my back and the fact that my left arm nearly got torn off, oh, and—"
A clenched fist hit him squarely in the face, sending him crashing to the ground from the force of it. Saïx stared down at him, obviously feeling a bit better now, before snorting with contempt and growling, "Let's go, dumbass," stalking away between the close-knit trees as if they weren't there.
Grumbling to himself, Axel picked himself off the ground, wiping the blood from his lip and following the Luna Divider, saying some very nasty things about a certain blue-haired asshole. Unfortunately, his mutterings had him walking right back into the outstretched fist of that same blue-haired asshole.
"And if I hear you say one more word," Saïx said between gritted teeth, "You're going to find yourself leaving the bottom half of you here while the rest continues on. Let's fucking go now."
Deciding that maybe now wasn't the best time for smart remarks, Axel ground his teeth together and followed in a tight silence.
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Roxas squirmed, flinching as Tifa began wrapping bandages around his shoulder to staunch the heavy bleeding.
"Hold still," she chided. "Do you want me to fuck up your shoulder permanently?"
"I'll bounce back," the blonde snapped. "I need to get out there again. I need to find Axel."
"He could still be on his way, still," Sora said plaintively. Roxas turned his icy blue gaze on his Other, furious.
"Who the hell are you trying to kid, Sora?" he spat. "It's been three hours, idiot, three fucking hours! If he wasn't in trouble, he'd be back by now."
"You're hurt," Leon said, "It's not like you could do much right now."
"It would be better than just staying here and doing nothing."
"Then again, you wouldn't be wandering around like an easy target waiting to be ambushed and killed," Cloud said, not bothering to look over his shoulder at the other blonde. Which, of course, only served to make Roxas even more angry, and he pushed Tifa away.
"I don't care!" he yelled. "He's out there, and I—"
"I'll go."
They all turned at the quiet voice. Riku stood, arms folded, cerulean gaze looking at the forest, which still managed to look ominous despite the sunlight.
"I can go," he continued. "We might as well try and look for him now, while they're regrouping. Plus, the earlier the better, since they will need to take care of the three we took care of." His gaze swiveled around to meet Roxas' blue gaze. "And you shouldn't strain yourself, since you are hurt. They're right, Roxas."
"But—"
"I'll go with you," Sora said, and now all attention was focused on him. He shrugged. "Just so you're not alone. You could be a target, too, being alone."
"Why don't we all go, then?" Yuffie piped up, but Riku shook his head.
"The more people we have, the more chance we'll be noticed. Besides, we're not going out to attack. We're just trying to find Axel, wherever he went," the silverhair said. Cloud nodded, approving of the teen's tactical decisions.
"Fine," Roxas said, after a couple moment's hesitation, torn between one path and another. "Just…please hurry."
Riku nodded, disappearing out the door, with the brunette scurrying after him quickly. The ones left behind were quiet, and Tifa managed to catch Cloud's eye. The blonde held her gaze for a couple seconds, then nodded slowly.
"They should be fine," Leon said. "Should be fine."
Yuffie giggled. "I'd trust them. They're both perfectly capable of taking care of themselves."
Roxas didn't say anything, just staring out at the forest, watching two of his best friends disappear into the darkness. There was a sudden tug in his chest, and he glanced down, slightly puzzled.
'What was that…?'
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Axel was shoved into the middle of his old comrades, surrounded by the familiar mass of black. But instead of having Xemnas (or Mansex, as most of the Organization was fond of saying, he especially) at the head, it was the even more foreboding Sephiroth.
"Are you having fun, hanging around your boyfriend, Axel?" Marluxia said quietly. "Because your happy time's over now."
At a look from the Jenova-infected being, the Graceful Assassin shut his mouth. Then the blue-green gaze was switched back to the redhead, and he understood why Marluxia had shut up so quickly. This guy wasn't just scary, he was petrifying. This was the first time he'd ever had this gaze set upon him, and it wasn't a pleasant experience.
"So…" Sephiroth said calmly. "I see you came back."
"Yeah," Axel said, shrugging. "Not really by choice, but yeah, I'm back. Woohoo."
A second later, he cried out as a sword pierced his shoulder, driving him backwards as the silver-haired man hissed sibilantly, "That's not what I told you to do, now is it?"
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Riku and Sora went through the forest quickly, tense, ready for almost anything. Both kept their blades clenched tightly in their hands, trying to keep their minds off the fact that nearly-invincible opponents could drop upon them at any second.
Sora flinched at a tiny noise for what felt like the ninetieth time before he realized it was himself swallowing nervously.
Riku, unfortunately, noticed. As he always did when it came to Sora.
"If…if you want to go back, I have no problem with that," Riku said, and Sora, despite everything in his body telling him to turn tail and run, found himself shaking his head almost too quickly.
"I'm not leaving you out here by yourself," he said, determined.
Riku smiled at the younger teen. "Thanks, Sora."
The brunette smiled back, somehow reassured by the confidence that the other boy nearly almost seemed to possess.
"But…why…why would you want to help save Axel?" he asked before he could help himself. But now that it was out, he might as well run with it…right? "I mean…you still love Roxas…why…"
"Because we can't afford to lose even a shaky ally right now," Riku replied. "We're severely outnumbered, and over half of our numbers can't regenerate, so I think that a chance for any ally is an opportunity, even if I still don't really trust him."
Sora nodded. It seemed reasonable enough. "You've become quite the tactician. Been listening to Cloud too much?"
Riku shook his head. "No, not too much. Just listening to him, and taking notice of how he works things out. I still have a lot to learn, and he seems to know more than the average fighter. Leon, too, but neither of them really speak enough to learn too much at a time."
Sora chuckled quietly. "I can definitely agree with that."
They continued on, both trying their best not to smile (both of them failed quite nicely) as they thought of Cloud and Leon trying to teach anything. Or talking.
But Riku soon stopped smiling, as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and he stopped, looking around carefully. Sora stopped, too, as he noticed.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "What is it?"
'Someone's here,' Riku thought. 'Someone's watching us.' Of course, there was no way that he was going to tell Sora that right up front. It would only freak him out and put him even more on edge than he was before. So all he said was, "I thought I heard something…I guess it wasn't anything. Just be careful."
Sora shivered. "Eurgh, don't tell me that. It scares the hell out of me."
Riku turned away. "Yeah…you're right, I shouldn't say that. Sorry."
They walked off, and Riku soon became positive that someone was actually following them. Trying not to alert Sora, who by all rights shouldn't have even come, he began trying to pinpoint the movements of their pursuer.
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With a smirk that was as close to a smile that he could get, Saïx kicked the bloody, unconscious form of the redheaded pyro that lay sprawled on the ground.
"What now?" he asked, and Sephiroth turned to look at him.
"Dump him back where he'll be found again," the silverhair said calmly. "But don't kill him. He may come in useful later on."
Someone came forward as well, but this one was a lot less inclined to approach, much less address, Sephiroth in person. Still, he began in a slightly shaken voice, "U-um…where should I put the others…who are hurt…I—"
Saïx snorted, trying to resist the urge to stab the stammering blonde.
"Who cares, Demyx?" the blue-haired warrior snapped. "They're not good for much right now. Just make sure they're out of the way."
"Yes," Sephiroth said, thinking about it for a couple seconds. "Make sure they're out of the way…in fact…we have no use for them. Save Yazoo. Kill the other two, they'll take too long to get back on their feet, and they'll only be in our way again. If they're too stupid and slow to get hurt like that in the first place, they may as well be dead."
Demyx paled visibly. "B-but—"
"You heard me. Kill them."
Even Saïx was taken aback by this new turn of events. Xemnas had been ruthless, yes, but he hadn't done anything like this before, just taking out two of his fighters without any hesitation. But the silver-haired man's words were final, and Demyx only hesitated for another second before nodding and scurrying off.
Sephiroth watched him go, and looked at Saïx. "Do you think he has the courage to kill those two?"
Saïx took a few seconds, thinking about the implications of his answer. "Demyx is not a coward, and he's a reliant healer with a decent power over water. But he may have some trouble doing it—"
"Follow him, make sure that there are three bodies."
"Three? But I thought you wanted Yazoo to—"
"You misunderstand me. I want you to kill them, and the third would be Demyx. He's not worth anything to us at this point. We have no need for extra baggage to slow us down."
Saïx, despite his hard outer shell, was now definitely getting uncomfortable with this situation. "But Demyx's powers of healing are—"
"Useless if I control fighters that can heal themselves perfectly fine. That's what they're bred to do. Now either you will kill him and the others, or I will make the body count rise by yet another."
Saïx nodded, turning to go, then, as if remembering, grabbing Axel and hoisting him over his broad shoulders. Satisfied, the Luna Divider disappeared into the forest on the trail of his subordinate.
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Riku didn't know what was worse—knowing that they were being followed but not being able to see whoever it was, or not knowing where anything was at all.
"Riku…" Sora said quietly. "What is it?"
The silverhair jumped at the proximity of the voice, which was right by his ear. He'd thought that Sora was further away. Dammit, he couldn't afford to be sloppy.
"What do you mean?"
"You…you keep…uh, smelling. Like, the air. As if you know something's out there. And you keep looking behind us, and you jumped when I said something. As if you didn't know where I was. Something's got your attention…what is it?"
"It's—"
"If you say it's nothing, I will hit you."
Riku sighed. "You put that together pretty quickly."
"You're not the only one who's been listening to Cloud, you know," Sora said quietly, never taking his eyes off of Riku for one second. "Now tell me what you're worried about."
Riku hesitated for a few seconds, not really sure what to say, finally deciding on the truth. "I…I don't really know what's got me worried, but…there's…something that's not right, here. I can't really put my finger on it right now…but something's there."
"Is someone—"
"I don't know," Riku interrupted, cutting off Sora's words. He didn't want whatever it was following them to know that he knew it was there. It may be better for them to know that he was on the alert, but not that he knew that they were there. "But…it's probably just the way it can be so goddamn dark in here when the sun's supposed to be up."
Sora looked disapproving, but nodded slowly. "Yeah…yeah, that is creepy. I don't like it, either. But are you sure that…is that all that's bothering you?"
Riku nodded. "Yeah. Positive."
Sora grinned nervously, brushing past Riku to continue walking, but as he passed, Riku heard a very quiet "Bull," hissed at him, almost inaudible. The silverhair smiled to himself, turning to follow the brunette.
"Little bitch," he muttered to himself.
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"Zexion…Zexion, wake up, please, we have to go, now!" Demyx begged, shaking the slate-haired Nobody's shoulder carefully yet insistently. Slowly, the blue eyes opened, looking around to focus on the Nocturne.
"What the hell do you want, dumbass?" Zexion said slowly, blinking up at the blonde, very irritated.
"I have to get you out of here, right now," Demyx urged, trying to get the tactician to stand up, almost dragging him to his feet. "Sephiroth's trying to kill you and Xigbar, and—"
"Because we're a liability, right?" Zexion said, amusement in his voice. "Yeah, figures…" he muttered, when Demyx didn't answer. "And of course, he sent someone to make sure that the job got done, since he's nearly as good as planning these things out as I am. Isn't that right."
Saïx stepped from the shadows. "Yes."
Demyx leaped about a foot in the air, and Zexion bit back a groan of pain.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" he stammered, whirling around and taking some hastily scrambled steps back, not noticing the pained expression on Zexion's face. "Y-you—"
"He's here to kill me, Demyx," Zexion said with a grim smile. "Even you can't be that stupid."
"B-but why—"
"Because we're in the way," Zexion said, with obvious annoyance creeping into his tone. "Could you at least try not to make yourself sound like you're worth killing, too?"
"It's too late for that," Saïx said quietly, and they both looked at him. He sighed. "Sephiroth's already ordered me to kill you. Both of you."
"But..but…"
"If you ask why, Demyx, I'm going to kill you myself," Zexion snapped.
"I don't understand!" Demyx cried out, unable to stop himself. "Why would he kill us? I know we may be in the way right now, but that doesn't mean—"
"I don't understand it any more than you do," Saïx snarled, making Demyx jump again. "So the only reason that the two of you aren't dead right now is because I want to understand." His golden eyes moved slowly to look into Zexion's one visible blue one, burning. "And I'm betting that you can help me with that. Am I right?"
"You, asking for help?" Zexion said, not bothering to hide his amusement. "I'm shocked."
"Shut the fuck up and tell me what the hell is going on."
Zexion thought about it for a moment, then said carefully, "Fine."
"Can't we bargain or something?" Demyx hissed at him. "You can't just tell him!"
"There's not point in trying to ask him to spare whatever's left of our lives, idiot," Zexion replied, not lowering his voice. "It's called lying. Anyways, back to Sephiroth's master plan. At least, part of it." He looked right back into the yellow-eyed warrior's gaze without flinching. "What I can tell so far, and keep in mind that this is my speculation and nothing more, is that he's getting ready for a final assault on our opponents."
"How do you figure that?"
"Well, for one thing, he's disposing of those that are weakening his forces."
"Why would he get rid of Demyx?"
"He's more of a healer than a fighter, always has been. And even if Nobodies needed a healer every once in a while, werewolves don't. So Demyx becomes useless."
"Hey—"
"Shut up," Saïx and Zexion said in unison, neither of them looking at him.
"But you could get better by the time that the next fight—"
"That's just it, though," Zexion said with a smirk. "He's planning something that's going to happen soon. Before we have a chance to recuperate."
"But that's crazy. We're not going to attack during the full moon?" Demyx asked, swept up in this as well. "Why wouldn't we?"
"Because they're not expecting it either. Obviously, we'll have the advantage of surprise…or at least, you will, since we'll be dead," Zexion said, a bit smugly. "The point is, he's going to do something big that includes all capable fighters, and he's not going to wait around for us."
"So…this is going to be a full-on attack?"
"Seems like it," Zexion replied.
"But then what about Yazoo? Why is he being kept alive?"
"Maybe because he's a sharpshooter that can pick off people long-range. Maybe it's because they share genetic material. Who knows, but I can tell you that he's not keeping him alive out of compassion. He still wants to use Yazoo for something."
"I see."
"So, now that I've gone over all of that," Zexion said with a wry smirk. "You can kill me now. Wasn't that what you were planning to do?"
"Yes. That was the plan," Saïx said grimly. The claymore appeared in his hand, and he looked at it for a few seconds, as if considering, before raising it, brining it down in a spray of blood.
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Riku turned to his left, stopping in his tracks. Sora noticed, looking back at him with a worried expression. "What? What is it?"
"Blood," the silverhair said quietly. "A lot of it."
"Where?"
"Right where I'm looking. That way." He pointed.
Sora looked at the darkness of the trees, then at the silverhair, then back at the trees. "Do you want to go check it out?"
"I think that would probably be a good idea," Riku said quietly. "That's way too strong of a smell to be a minor injury."
Sora nodded, and they moved quickly off, urgency making them hurry. But not enough that Riku couldn't tell that whatever it was behind them was still there.
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"You can open your eyes, Demyx," a cold voice said with amusement. Demyx, in response, cracked one eye open, following it with the other.
"What's going…what happened?" the blonde asked, looking around. His eyes fell on Xigbar, the claymore protruding from his chest. The sharpshooter's head was lolling, now, his only visible eye now dulled and clouded over in death.
"He killed Xigbar," Zexion said simply.
"Well, yeah, I can see that, but why…I thought he was going to kill us?"
"Apparently he went for the cripple, first," Zexion said with another of his smirks.
"Watch it, emo boy, you're hurt, too."
"True."
"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?"
Zexion and Saïx exchanged glances, then the blue-haired warrior turned back to the blonde and said flatly, "Get out of here before your stupidity convinces me to kill you right here and now." He turned away, and Demyx called out, "But what are you going to tell Se—"
"It doesn't matter," Saïx snarled angrily. "I'll figure something out."
"But—"
"Shut up and let's go," Zexion snapped, dragging the blonde along with him despite the wounds he had, and Demyx staggered, then hurried along with the slate-haired Nobody. Saïx watched them go, satisfaction flickering across his features before turning back to his regular apathy, turning away from the carnage that he'd created to disappear through the woods.
One more body lay there, now, though, the red hair blending in with the blood spattered on the leaves and dirt.
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A.N. This is the final chapter of Pure of Mind and Blood (wow, it's been a long time since I've written that title.) Sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger like that, but it's better than the original chapter I've got saved on my computer.
Anyhoo, I have no idea what the last segment is going to be called. The last story, I mean. So…if anyone has any bright ideas, they're going to get their title and name used. If anyone wants to. If not, I'll make up something stupid, probably.
Wow, I wish I had more to say than this, but I'm really tired and I've been watching Supernatural for almost two straight days and I'm very, very tired. Like, very, very tired. Still, can't get enough of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Gotta love those two.
Wow, off topic. Anyhoo, hope you like it, and I hope you like what you see. Give me ideas, too, by the way, 'cuz I'm running out.
I love every single one of you. Y'know, like, a lot.
P.S. I'll know you're a Supernatural fan if you can answer appropriately: Jerk.
Ciao
BlackFalcon002
aka Chris
Love y'all. Loads.