Disclaimer: I own nothing except the contents of this story. Sakyo is from Yu Yu Hakusho, Deadpool is from Marvel comics, Ban is from Get Backers, and Shine and Bright are (heavily reimagined versions of characters) from Kirby's Dream Land 2.
Additional Disclaimer: This chapter features at least one gay demon. He is not a demon because he's gay; the two traits are coincidental.
A Winner Is Two: A Survivalist Is You
Sakyo vs. Midou Ban
Solace in Despair
To say that Sakyo was scared shitless would not be a gross overstatement. Several times he had wagered his life, and sometimes even against demons. However, getting told that his damnation was imminent and almost certain was something else entirely. The worst part was the feeling of being hunted by something he had almost no power to fight. Yes, he had sought training to defend himself to an extent, and yes, when he had learned Deadpool was on the island, he had surrounded himself with trusted henchmen and started to wear a large-caliber handgun on his person. But power granted by henchmen could never truly supplement the personal power that many of his BORED colleagues wielded, and a handgun was about the least efficient way to deal with this particular threat.
He turned a corner and met a pair of demons coming the other way. But for Sakyo, that was usually a good thing, and it certainly was this time. The two were still in human form – one was a mountain of a man with spiky blonde hair and a grinning, tanned face, dressed in a red leisure suit patterned with stylized yellow suns. The other man was also tall, but thin and angular, with a shock of silver hair at the front of his otherwise short, black crop. He had elongated, hooked features, but a peaceful expression, and his suit was dark blue with yellow crescents. The only stain on this good fortune was that Deadpool was tucked into one of the sun-man's arms (the other held a can of iced tea). He had his arms crossed in an exasperated manner, and was babbling about civil rights infringements.
"Shine, Bright, am I glad to see you guys! What's he doing here?" Sakyo pointed disdainfully at Deadpool.
"But he had a dream, and that dream was – hey, it's Slick Mullet! How're you doing, Slick?"
"We found this loony vandalizin' one of the cafeteria soda machines, Sakyo," the moon-patterned man (Bright) explained, in an accent that wouldn't be out of place in Jersey City.
"Okay…" Sakyo gestured for them to walk with him. "Deadpool, what were you doing?"
"Getting a drink."
Sakyo ignored him. "Why are you still here? Is there any further purpose to your being in this base?"
"Well, yeah…" Sakyo gestured for him to continue. "I just wanna see how it turns out. It's exciting."
"Are you for hire?" he asked cautiously.
"Nah, I haven't collected from my previous job yet."
"Fine. Do you mind just being a bystander?"
"Nah, that's what I was going to do."
Sakyo sighed. "Let him go. It's useless trying to fight him, and he's just dead weight if you carry him."
Shine shrugged and dropped Deadpool. "Thanks for breaking that vending machine, by the way. This is good tea."
"Woo, I'm free!" Deadpool thrust his hands triumphantly in the air. Then he noticed they were leaving, and followed. "Wait! Who wants to play twenty questions?"
"Okay," Bright said reluctantly. "Animal, mineral, or vegetable?"
"None of the above." Bright blinked.
"It's Schrodinger's Theory," Sakyo said exasperatedly. He turned another corner. "Good, we're almost to the elevator. Hopefully my pilot made it to the ship alright."
"Who told you it was Schrodinger's Theory?" Deadpool howled suddenly, his voice more panicked than Sakyo's.
"I've played you before. You ALWAYS pick Schrodinger's Theory, remember? It's not even legitimate… I shouldn't even be talking to you."
"Aww, don't you want to engage with me in melOOOOOOOOdious conversation?"
"No! Talking with you, fighting with you, any sort of interaction always makes things worse!"
"That's Schrodinger's Theory for you," Shine said thoughtfully.
"Actually, boss, that's more like Murphy's Law," Bright added.
"Yes, I think you're ri-" They stopped as the elevator came into view; its doors were just opening.
Sakyo didn't wait to see who was behind door number one; he swiftly drew a very large semiautomatic pistol from his jacket and fired a shot into the elevator itself at head height. The sound drove all conversation to a halt and caused Sakyo, Shine and Bright to all flinch. Sakyo also winced and held his right shoulder. "Heh… chrome-y," Deadpool commented. "Compensating for anything, Saki?"
"Should've brought the Mateba instead," Sakyo said through gritted teeth. The elevator, meanwhile, proved to be seemingly empty aside from the decent-sized new hole in the rear wall. "Who goes there?" A young man with narrow grey eyes and a spiky mop of black hair sulked out from behind the elevator's side. "Ban Midou… not the person I most wanted to see right now," Sakyo said curtly. "But then again, I don't think I really wanted anybody."
Ban stretched with the cocky air of somebody who knew they could dodge bullets. He still seemed to be favoring his left arm, though, and that made Sakyo thank the various demons he was still on good terms with for small favors. "Well, you seem to know me, but I'm not blessed to know any of you. I've had a lousy time on this island, and it's not a great time to test my patience, so who wants to introduce themselves?"
Deadpool was, of course, all too happy to respond. "Oh, Mr. Mullet here is Sakyo Valdez. He's one of the assholes in charge of this tournament, and the guy who came up with the idea of these assholes holding tournaments in the first place, so he's pretty much the whole reason you're here. His hair smells as nice as it looks. And these are his two extraordinarily intimidating bodyguards. Look how bulgy Mr. Shine here is!"
Ban looked at the three. Sakyo wouldn't meet his eyes… actually, that was exceedingly wise. None of them would. But they weren't denying any of it. "I… see. And who are you?" The speaker was wearing the same executioner uniform as many of the other random goons around, but with a very different mask, and different conduct.
"I'm Deadpool, the Merc with the Mouth, the Demon of Darkness, the Shogun of Sorrow… no, wait, not those last two. Anyway, it's my fault everything's crazy now, because I pretty much bring crazy wherever I go. Specifically, I let the demons out of the jar, opened the titular (heh, TITular) Pandora's Box… all for some lousy pudding. Well, I'm pretty sure it'll be pretty good pudding, but-"
Sakyo had checked his watch no less than three times before finally realizing he didn't have one at the moment. As best Ban could tell, the poor man had taken a little too much cocaine. "ENOUGH!" Sakyo yelled. "Yes, Ban, I'm responsible for this horrible shit you've gone through. Do you want revenge, or do you want me to pay you lots and lots and LOTS of money to go away? Easy way or hard way? Time waits for no man, and I can't either."
That just about broke the camel's back for Ban. This guy tried to shoot him without even finding out who he was! And now this arrogant spiel? "Hard way, definitely."
"Awesome. Shine, Bright, battle time. Don't underestimate him, don't make eye contact, he's got an evil eye thing, he's fast and strong with a super-grip-thing, and he's called the Genius of Battles. Go! Deadpool, get out of the way!" Around the time Sakyo had correctly identified Ban's epitaph, he had begun to sprint down the hall towards Sakyo. He would never bring that gun up in time. Bright, however, was much faster. A long, bony leg lashed up and around at chest-height. Ban had time to block it with his left arm, but the force still stopped his charge dead and knocked him off-balance. Bright's other leg kicked off the ground and came up knee-first in Ban's stomach, sending him sprawling as Bright twirled and gently landed on his feet.
"Ow," Ban said with some surprise as he got up. "You two are special, aren't you?"
"Nobody else does what we do," Shine said with a grin. "Bright! Nighttime." Bright disappeared with a nod, and parts of the hallway seemed to fade away. Before Ban's very eyes, the floor turned to tall grass, and the ceiling disappeared entirely, leaving them under a starry, cloudless night sky with a beautiful crescent moon. The steel walls and the elevator door remained, seeming incredibly out of place. Also quite out of place, Deadpool had taken a seat cross-legged against one wall, leaving Shine standing alone between Sakyo and Ban.
"This isn't so bad," Ban said cheerfully. "Some nice scenery, and one less opponent? Sounds like a blessing." He dashed toward Shine and feinted a punch before moving into a roundhouse. To his further pleasant surprise, Shine wasn't as fast as Bright had been. He had been countering the punch, and had only begun to react to the fact that it was a feint when the foot crashed into his head. The next surprise for Ban was less pleasant – Shine exploded in a fiery shockwave on impact, singeing Ban's skin and hair and sending him flying.
By the time Ban started seeing straight again, the initial blast had died down, but his opponent was still burning like a bonfire in the night. The core of his body seemed to be a sun about a meter in diameter, and his head, shoulders, limbs and pelvis were all slabs of granite floating along the perimeter of this fireball. A bulldog-like face made of coal-black stone gazed at Ban, eyes just empty sockets for the flame to spill out. "Now do you see why it is hopeless? Can you brainstorm a way to defeat me, Genius of Battles? You're an insignificant speck compared to me! The WORLD revolves around ME!"
"I have to fight a hotheaded egotist?" Ban smiled. "I've conquered worse." Shine's stone face twisted into a scowl, and he raised a hand, sending a stream of hot plasma flooding Ban's way. Ban sidestepped it and dashed toward Shine again. Another plasma stream came from Shine's other hand, and Ban took to the air, leaping off the wall to bring his heel down on Shine's skull. The heat was painful even through his shoe, but hearing the undignified caterwaul Shine made was worth it.
Shine staggered back as Ban landed, and Ban was already planning on a quick skull-crushing Snake Kill to finish the job when he was ambushed by a razor-sharp spinning moon. He wanted to believe it was a hallucination, but the moon had begun to spin, dropped out of a surprisingly near spot in the sky (it was about five feet in diameter, apparently) and came rushing at Ban. He could tell it was real because it had scored a minor cut on his arm as he dodged, slicing his shirt open. Ban was pretty bewildered until it laughed and taunted him in Bright's voice, "eyes on the sky, evil eye!" The moon set up camp in a new spot in the heavens, and took a single potshot at Ban with a pale laser beam before it stopped spinning.
It was no trouble to dodge the beam, but he had barely regained his footing when the back of his neck suddenly felt like it was on fire. A timely backflip saved him from the large fireball Shine had tossed at him. "So that's your game, is it?" Ban asked. "Tag teaming from different angles? Not bad."
"You've only just gotten a taste!" Shine roared. Sculpting with his hands, he created a large ring of flame and pushed it toward Ban, and followed with up with an 'X'-shaped fire blast created with a cross chop motion. Ban knew that taking to the air would only leave him more exposed to Bright's shenanigans, so he dashed forward, skipping through the ring and sliding feet-first under the X. Shine, who had been watching eagerly with anticipation, followed up with a stomp that sent a wave of grass-devouring flames across the ground, finally forcing Ban to leap (and forcing Deadpool to repeatedly teleport out of danger). He jumped sideways and landed on the wall, but the moon swooped down again and forced him back.
Damn… fighting two opponents at this level, with no eyes to lock with, and they control everything here! Ban jumped back from a fireball that hit the ground where he had been standing, and nearly tripped over Deadpool, who had somehow gotten hold of an iced tea. "Hey! Watch it!" the mercenary yelled. That's it! Ban grabbed the protesting Deadpool by the neck and threw him at the moon as it was coming around for another pass. There was a wet slicing noise followed by the grinding of blade on bone, and Ban ignored the blood spatter as he raced toward Shine. Shine threw a cross-shaped blast of flame, but Ban leapt through the upper-right window, bounced off the wall, and slammed Shine in the head with a roundhouse kick. A satisfying crack heralded part of Shine's face flying off and bouncing away.
"How do you like them apples?" Ban asked, ignoring the blistering pain in his foot. Judging by the shouting, Deadpool is still keeping that freaking moon busy… now's my chance. "Snake-" then he saw Sakyo. Aiming his hand cannon right at him. "Fuck!" Sakyo had been wise enough to fire two-handed this time; Ban pulled out of his attack and managed to avoid the two shots, but he could feel the first burn across his cheek. He backed off cautiously, a prudent move as Deadpool's legs and lower torso dropped where he had been standing.
"Not my pants again!" Deadpool protested.
"Bright, he's really fast," Shine complained, clutching at his head where it had been damaged. "Tag in!" There was a flash, and Ban found himself in… the same place. The grass (as if it had never been torched), the open sky, the metal walls and elevator door; all were still present. But now, it was daytime. The morning sun shone gently on the yellow-green field. Bright stood in front of Sakyo, back in his human form; Shine was nowhere to be found. The only anomaly was Deadpool trying to gruesomely piece himself back together.
"Applesauce, motherfucker!" Bright said with a manic grin. He leapt forward and was on top of Ban before Ban could muster so much as an exclamation of dismay. He threw a punch, and Ban moved to counter it, but the punch was a feint. Ban realized he had been fooled by his own trick a second before the kick crashed into his ribs. He was knocked into the wall, but recovered fast enough to duck under the following kick. "I watched you pounding on Shine," Bright snarled. "I don't ever want to see you doing that again, you little fuck." He brought his arm down in a claw-like strike, but Ban rolled out of the way, lining up an attack of his own.
I need to end one of these guys quickly. This guy, at least, seems safe to touch. "Snake Kill!" Bright saw the attack coming, but the angle of Ban's attack instinctively led him to dodge the wrong way – into the wall. Even the very edge of Ban's killing stroke tore a groove into Bright's outer right arm, shredding clothes and scoring muscle from bone.
"Human bastard," Bright hissed. Ban found himself leaping back in pain as rows of small, crescent-shaped yellow scales sprang out of Bright's wound, growing to cover his forearm and hand. Claws grew from his fingertips, and a cloak of semisolid darkness seemed to flare up around the arm, flickering around its border. "That'll be the last mistake you ever make," he continued, bringing the arm up in front of him.
A sudden increase in brightness around him distracted Ban from Bright just in time to dodge a column of flame that dropped from the sun. The beam of fire followed him, continuously pouring flames down into the corridor. "Shit," Ban said observantly. He dodged away from the flame again, only for Bright to zip forward and slash at him with his new, enhanced arm. Ban ducked under it and stayed out of the inky black trail it left in the air, coming up inside of Bright's reach and slamming an elbow into the partially transformed demon's jaw. He managed to keep his footing, and instead brought his human elbow down and knee up at the same time. The attack was extremely fast, but Ban had something faster – his right arm, which he'd noticed Sakyo eyeing earlier. Ban had allowed him to believe it was still broken, but now was as good a time as any to correct the assumption. "Snake Bite!" he yelled, slamming his hand into Bright's chest.
Bright proved once again to be Ban's equal in speed, dodging away even as Ban had dug into his chest. Ban came away clutching some clothes, skin, flesh, and even an entire rib, but he hadn't pierced any vitals. Still, a gaping wound of that caliber would be almost as much of a hindrance as a missing heart. To his surprise, Bright dodged straight into the beam of fire. Is it too much to ask that he just screwed up his tactics? Ban thought silently. A new, smaller stream of flames shot sideways out from the larger one, forcing Ban to dodge away again. Yes, of course it is. Another shot from Sakyo forced him to duck in mid-step, and he tripped into a forward roll. He came up in a crouch, one eye on Sakyo, and the other on the dissipating flames.
A new monster that could only have been Bright's true form exploded out from the fading columns. With Shine's true self resembling an anthropomorphic sun, Ban had expected a walking moon from Bright. Instead, it was a sort of crescent-scaled yellow-white werewolf with gleaming blue eyes, still half-shrouded in flames from Shine's attack. "Silly human, my master's light will only heal me!" he cackled, galloping towards Ban on all fours. Not totally, Ban noted, spying black liquid still seeping from a wound on his side. Bright sprang, and fiery beams shone down on either side of Ban and behind him, leaving him unable to dodge. "Perish!"
Ban leaned back and drove his toe up into Bright's wound just as the claws came within an inch of his face. Bright flinched and let out a canine yelp, and the momentum of his charge was halted, leaving him hanging in the air for a moment. As Ban pulled himself back up to a standing position, he had an instant to consider – Bright's backwards-facing, lunar-motif scales would tear up his hands if he used a crushing technique. His shoe was proof enough – the toe of the charred thing had been torn away entirely during his kick. No, a different method would have to be used for the moment. Ban simply drove his fist into Bright's snout as hard as he could. "I've heard this works on sharks!" And, apparently, it was just as effective on wolfish demons. Bright was thrown back down the hall, and collapsed next to Sakyo in a heap.
Sakyo looked up in surprise, and Ban was able to catch his eyes for the first time. This time, he didn't even bother to make the illusion plausible – he just wanted to inflict the man's worst nightmare on him while he had the chance. Sure enough, Sakyo's facial muscles went slack and he stood still. Ban was just starting to walk over to finish off the prone demon when the sun went out, and Shine teleported into his path.
"Hey!" Deadpool yelled from the ground, where he had successfully healed back into a single piece. "Teleporting is my gig. Speaking of which, things are getting a bit serious around here, and the action's moving way too fast. I can't hardly get any lines in at all! Well… I know when I'm not appreciated. Call me when you need some lighthearted comic relief." He blinked away, leaving Ban and Shine to get back to their fast-paced, serious moment.
Sakyo was shocked to find himself in a prison courtyard, his hands tied behind his back. A squad of Klokateers stood in front of him, each armed with a rifle. A firing squad… I'm in the Jagan. I've been trapped by Ban in my worst nightmare.
"Cigar?" Sakyo turned. It was Death by Chocolate, smiling and offering his clawed hand. Chocolate flowed down and coalesced into the shape of a cigar. "They're yummy… may as well get some dopamine flowing for the last seconds of your life."
"No, thank you." Sakyo set his jaw. I know it's just a dream… that will only get me so far, but I'm curious as to where this is going. I didn't think a firing squad was my worst nightmare. "Just the blindfold, please."
"You always were a man of good taste," Death said, his voice oddly patronizing. "Very well." He produced a black cloth strip and tied it around Sakyo's head. Sakyo swallowed and gritted his teeth. This is going to hurt.
BANG! Sakyo waited for the pain, but none came. Surprised, he opened his eyes… only to be shoved forward. He landed on a wooden surface that seemed to hold his neck in place, his hair cascading into his eyes. He tried to push it away, but his hands were still tied, and he had to look through it as best as he could.
"Sakyo Valdez, you are here to suffer for your crimes against humanity." Sakyo looked up; another Klokateer holding a rope. He looked forward again, and saw an angry crowd composed of all the people who had died during this tournament. They hissed and booed at him; Waluigi threw a tomato, and it splattered on Sakyo's face.
"Any last words?" The voice had changed. Sakyo looked back, and the Klokateer had Death by Chocolate's eyes glowing out from beneath his hood. "Everybody's waiting to hear them. You've lost, gambler!"
Sakyo shook his head as much as he could in his current position. "Just get on with it," he pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut. He heard the blade of the guillotine fall as Death by Chocolate released the rope.
THUNK. He opened his eyes again, but his heart sank. He was in a dimly lit room with a single window in front of him. Behind the window were all ten of BORED's other members, smiling grimly at him. He tried to reach out to them, but he was sitting, and his hands were cuffed to the chair.
"Don't waste your effort," DbC advised him. This time, he was casually fingering a lever as a Klokateer wet Sakyo's hair. "You know you've done nothing but fail since you first contracted my services."
"No, your involvement here wasn't my fault-" Sakyo began, but the Klokateer cut him off with a light punch across the face before fastening an ominous and bizarre-looking helmet to Sakyo's skull. "It was Luthor who wanted the satellite that way…"
"None of you objected," Death said gravely. "None of you had second thoughts. None of you tried to get the project killed or even reprioritized. Your silence is your consent, and your consent is your complicity." Sakyo clenched his eyes shut as the demon threw the switch.
ZAP. Sakyo didn't open his eyes, afraid of what he might see this time, but the option wasn't his to make. He felt himself pushed forward, he stumbled on something, and his eyes shot open reflexively. He was hoisted to his feet, unable to get back up with his hands tied, so that he could continue climbing the scaffold.
At the top of the stairs, there were a rope, a trapdoor, and a demon. He stood where the Klokateer directed him and looked out at the crowd of angry faces. Contestants, Klokateers, Patriots… again, all the faces of the tournament's casualties. Even Yato and Kaito, Shine and Bright stood in the crowd, screaming incoherently at him with rage borne of measureless despair.
Sakyo tried to make a speech, but his voice caught in his throat. "Save it," Death advised, throwing the rope around the executive's neck and ensuring it was secure. "This is only one among many." He kicked the lever, and Sakyo closed his eyes as his stomach flew up into his throat.
The feeling was gone as quickly as it had came, and Sakyo coughed involuntarily, his eyes flying open. This time, the room was white and sterile, and the window was opaque. He was strapped very securely to a chair, and Death by Chocolate was rolling up his right sleeve.
Solidus was the other man in the room this time. He was speaking in a soft, grave tone on the telephone. As the demon rubbed Sakyo's inner elbow with a moist toilette, Solidus hung up the phone. "That was Luthor," he said cheerily. "He wants us to go ahead with it!"
"President Luthor supports the death penalty… who knew?" Death by Chocolate joked. Solidus let out a hearty laugh, and even Sakyo managed a feeble chuckle. "This may sting a little, but it'll be the last sting you ever feel." As the needle's contents flowed into his vein, Sakyo gently closed his eyes.
Is this what my own, personal hell is? Always being at the verge of a well-deserved death, without ever feeling it take me?
When Sakyo opened his eyes again, he was staring straight up into a stormy, overcast sky. His arms were bound together again, over his head; this time, his legs were as well. He looked around; there was a horse whose harness was tied to each set of ropes. The horse above his head was ridden by Smoker, while the one below his feet was ridden by Kakashi.
Death by Chocolate leaned down and said something cryptic about the significance of Smoker and Kakashi here, but for the first time, Sakyo tuned him out in favor of his own thoughts. So this is damnation for me… death, always right around the corner. Always stalking, never striking. Anticipation is my hell. But that would mean…
"Here we go again!" Death gave the signal for Kakashi and Smoker to spur their horses on. This time, Sakyo would not shut his eyes. He forced himself to watch as his body was yanked taut and pulled in two. His eyes were still open when the illusion cracked like glass and crumbled around him.
"You can't win, you know," Shine said. "My attendant may have been knocked unconscious, but you'll find it's not so easy a trick to duplicate with me. You are a worthy opponent to have successfully struck me, however…" the 'sun' at his core intensified, and flames wreathed his entire body. "It won't be so easy this time. Your eyes will not affect me, and your grip cannot touch me. Flee now, mortal, and I may spare your life."
"Fleeing's not really how I do business." Ban wiped away the blood on his left arm. The shearing wound from Bright's sudden scale growth had done some deceptively serious damage earlier; he was losing a fair amount of blood. "I'm part of the Get Backers, and we retrieve things that have been taken unjustly. Your boss took my freedom… my dignity… and he tried to take my life. I'm going to reclaim what's mine."
Shine let loose a great big belly laugh. "Amusing. But first, you have to get past me." The flames began to grow even more intense, coalescing into a solid coil around his body as he continued to speak. "The sun is the giver of all life. Nothing could grow without the sun; in its presence, life springs into existence, and in its absence, everything will wither and die."
Ban recognized the chant as an invocation, not unlike his call to Asclepius. Indeed, a serpentine dragon was beginning to take shape in the flames. He recalled when he had attempted to use such an attack on Smoker. He had been sure of his victory, but the soldier had interrupted him in the middle and completely taken him down. Who was to say Ban couldn't do the same? It'll be difficult, though; with all that heat around him, I need to strike as fast and decisively as I can.
"Your light banishes that which is impure…" Ban took one last split-second to decide whether to aim for the head or the core. "Your fire scourges that which defies your whim…" he decided on the core – Shine didn't seem all that harmed earlier by the damage to his face, which was still present. Ban dashed forward. Shine focused on Ban, his expression daring the human to strike him. "You have lived two billion years, and you shall live two billion more…"
"But you won't! Snake Kill!" Ban drove his left arm into Shine's torso, and ignoring the agony of plunging his hand into a miniature sun, he crushed something dense in his grip. The effect was immediate and decisive. A small but intense explosion tore Shine in half, sending his top half flying in one direction and his legs in the other. Ban was thrown backwards. Groaning, he was on his feet before he even checked the damage. His left arm was a blackened stump below the elbow, and his shirt had been mostly immolated, leaving angry red burns across his shoulder, torso and cheek. Swallowing, he forced the damage out of his thoughts and forced his aching body to walk towards Sakyo. "Now, to end this."
Sakyo had been utterly unaffected by the explosion, despite standing only ten feet away from the blast. That's demons, I suppose. He was still locked helplessly in the Jagan's illusions. Ban sneered and walked right up to him. "I could kill you now, but you still have twelve more seconds in the Jagan. I want to see the expression on your face as I rip your black heart out." He pulled back his arm and waited. "Nine… eight… seven…"
The executive did something Ban wasn't expecting at all. He woke up on six… smiling. Ban was so surprised that he didn't react at all as Sakyo flipped the gun around in his hand and pistol-whipped him in the face. That woke him from his reverie, but the blow had been right on one of his burns, and the pain became impossible to work through for a moment. "Thanks for that," Sakyo said. "I realized something in that little personal hell you inflicted on me."
He pistol-whipped Ban again on the other side of his face. "I realized I'm already in my own personal hell. All night, I've been wracked with anticipation at the feeling of death closing in on me." His expression was totally serene as he brought the Desert Eagle down on Ban's forehead. "Whether I live through the night or not, I have nowhere to go but up. There is nothing Hell can do to me worse than what I'm feeling right now." Ban collapsed to the ground, and Sakyo prepared to shoot him in the head. "Thank you for playing, Ban, but I'm afraid the game is over."
"Like hell it is!" Ban swept his foot out and knocked Sakyo to the ground. He was up before the executive could correct his aim. "Snake-" A yellow crescent shot past Sakyo and severed Ban's right arm at the shoulder. Ban, for once, was utterly speechless. Sakyo was splattered with a bit of his blood, but his reaction, a taunting, knowing smile, was more piercing than any bullet.
"You…" Bright was on Ban in a flash, pinning him against the wall with a single claw. "My master… the light of my life… you slaughtered him!" He threw back his head and let loose a mournful howl, and the sky changed. It turned blood red, and where a sun or moon had formerly hung, a black void ominously pierced through the heavens and gazed down on the world. A spiderweb of cracks spread from it through the sky, and Ban couldn't help but have the morbid thought that he had shattered the progression of night and day.
That's when Bright started wailing on him with his claws. The first slash tore a huge rent across his chest, and the second crossed it down his already-wounded left side. The word pain didn't begin to describe it. This can't be happening, he thought, trying to cling to rationality. It is unthinkable that it would end like this. I cannot lose… I am a Genius of Battle. Two demons is nothing. Two demons is a cakewalk.
"You you you you you…" Bright stopped attacking for a second and clutched his head, his eyes tearing up. "He's gone… he was my everything… oh, Lucifer, I can't believe he's gone…." Ban stared at him. He could easily slip up and make eye contact in this fragile state. I'll disappear if I use the Jagan again… but disappearing would be a blessing if it gets me away from this agony. "You think you're so smart with those eyes…" Bright sniffed. Without any further warning, he reached up and tore both of Ban's eyes from his head. Ban screamed. "I'm keeping these… as a reminder of my failure."
No. Inconceivable. I am the Genius of Battle. This must be an illusion. Bright slashed him across the face, cutting through skin and muscle, splintering bone. I must've become trapped in my own Jagan somehow. This is an illusion. This must be an illusion. Another slash, high on his face. Ban's ear and part of his scalp came off. This is an illusion. This is an illusion. This is an illusion. This is an illusion.
"Illusion… illusion… illusion…" Ban whispered. Bright let him drop to the ground, running over to the upper half of Shine's body, where he sat and wept. Sakyo walked up to what was left of the Genius of Battles. "Illusion… illusion… illusion…"
"Pathetic." Sakyo wasted no time lining up the shot, making sure to put a bullet through each of Ban's empty sockets. "You didn't know when to give up… and look what it got you." He fingered the spare clip in his side pocket, but decided he couldn't afford to waste bullets. "Come on, Bright."
"He's… he's…" Bright gave an incoherent shout of dismay, followed by another howl. The broken sky above and the charred grass below faded away, returning to the simple wooden-colored chrome floor and ceiling they had been before. "He was my everything, sir," he finally managed to choke out.
"I know, Bright. I am deeply sorry for your loss, but we have to keep moving." An explosion sounded down the hall, surprisingly close, lending emphasis to Sakyo's words. "Shine's sacrifice meant something. If you stay here and weep by his body, yours will not."
Bright nodded and reached toward Shine's cooling skull. He removed it with a sharp twist and cradled it close, getting to his feet. The dark cloak wrapped tighter around him. "What he represents still lives on. I need to do so as well." He inclined his head. "I'm at your command, Sakyo."
"Glad to hear it." Sakyo slid his keycard through the elevator. "Now, come on. We have to get to the jet five minutes ago." As he reached for the button that would take him to the hangar, he found he had to suppress the urge to whistle. It's good to be alive.
End of Chapter
As I was planning this chapter, I looked back on my earlier work and decided I'd been writing Sakyo out-of-character. This is a man who faced his death with unflinching dignity canonically. As such, this chapter is largely about justifying the mischaracterization and working him back to his true form.
The "should've brought the Mateba" line refers to the fact that I basically chose Sakyo's gun after shamelessly browsing the Rare Guns page of TV Tropes. He's certainly wealthy enough for one, and there are/were all kinds of people on the island who are more easily dealt with if your gun is particularly powerful... Nero, Bowser, Ginger...
Man, I did some weird stuff with Shine and Bright. Well, no regrets. I'd been wanting to use them for a while.