The building they found with no problems. Feeling the buzz Susan knew there was at least one Immortal in there, hopefully more than one. But based on that phone call from Owen... Getting out of her car she looked at the Father pulling up behind her, considering the situation they broke pretty much every traffic law on the books to get here as fast as they could. Surely the Lord above, not that she talked to him much lately, would forgive both of them considering the circumstances. "Stay behind me until we know exactly what's going one."
"You never did say how bad this could be," the Father said, trying not to look scared out of his wits and failing miserably. He came without having to be asked twice once he heard Owen had requested his presence. And he asked her that question almost as soon as they left the church.
Susan really wished she had an answer for him, but as it was she was currently in the dark about how bad was this situation actually was.. And if it was her worst fear... "You'll find out as soon as I will." For the millionth time she rethought her decision to not bring Serenity and Scott along. But the numbers might provoke Owen in his current state and frighten that poor girl even more. If she was still alive at this point. "Just stay behind me until I give the all clear." Father Andrews crossed himself and said a quick prayer as Susan drew her sword, but kept the point low to appear non threatening as possible, but ready to use it if the need arose. She prayed on the way here, but now it was time to put the nun she had once become aside and let the warrior she originally was start to stir.
Walking slightly faster then the priest she reached the still opened door and tried to stay out of sight as she looked inside, so far nothing. Cautiously she walked into the building, reaching out with every sense she could to find anything amiss. Glancing at the hole in the floor just in case, it wouldn't have been the first time an opponent used that particular tactic on her, and she only had to die once to learn not to immediately discount an attack from below. With he sword still held low, but the point held a little higher, she walked up the stairs. The first thing she saw was Janet, still alive for the moment but still scared.
She quickly motioned for the priest to come up the stairs and directed him to the girl. He spotted the headless body before Susan did. The Father paused momentarily, being not exactly use to that sort of sight, but continued on to the girl. "Hello," he said as warmly as he could in the situation as he knelt down beside her, "I'm Father Martin Andrews. Don't worry I'm not one of you so you're safe around me." Susan hoped that was true because she didn't see the dead body because her eyes went in the direction Janet had been staring as soon as she spotted her.
At the other end of the walk way he sat against the wall, head down and body shaking just slightly. But something told the old Immortal fear wasn't the primary reason for the shakes. No what he was going through had to be in full swing again. Getting between him and the others she made sure to get an exact location on where his sword and the two other were. Hoping he wasn't too far gone yet she gave out a cautious, "Owen?"
Hearing her voice the shaking seemed to stop, although his head was still down and his breathing started to get heavier. "I remember you,' he said in almost a whisper. The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand but she let the warrior come to the forefront a bit more on instinct. "You're the one that got away. You were there with me at the cemetery when McAllister just talked and talked and talked. And I got bored and bored and bored." He looked up and as mile starting to form on his face, one she had seen before but not on Owen.
"Dear God in Heaven," the Father said behind her.
"I was going to use you to ease that boredom, to hell with what McAllister wanted. Then that gnat got in my way," he started laughing more with each word. "Now I have the chance to get the one that got away." Then he shot up, crazed eyes zeroing in on his sword. Susan was already moving toward it before he was. He looked shocked to find her sword in his gut while he was reaching for the handle. He looked up at her. She watch the madness in his eyes slowly go away as confusion set in. "Susan?", he went, crying out in pain as she pulled the sword out of him and let him drop to his knees.
"Stay back!", she ordered as she heard the father move behind her.
Owen finally looked up at her, more sacred than anything. Almost more scared than Janet and Father Andrews were at the moment. "Do it," he pleaded with her. "I can't control it any more. I can't let him get out again. I'm a danger to everybody. Take my head and finish..." His face scrunched up, like he was in pain but Susan knew he was fighting with everything he had. And he lost as that wild eyed look came back and growled, "No." Susan punched him, over and over again until she as certain she knocked him out. Then as quick as she could she rolled him over and pulled out a pair of hand cuffs and bound his hands behind his back. Her she let herself relax, but not for long.
"What are you going to do?', the Father asked. She looked back to seem him worried but not at Owen, not exactly. No she was fully aware of the sword still in her hand. She looked at it then at Owen as she put the warrior back to bed.
"Try to help him," she said as she sheathed her sword.
"And if you can't?"
"Then I'll honor his request." Turning to face them she said, "Get Janet to your car then come back and help me get Owen in mine. We'll head to he church after that. Scott and Serenity should already be there."
Showing his displeasure over the options but knowing there were very few at the moment he turned his attention back to the young girl. "Come my dear, up we go," he said as he helped her stand, and trying to block her view of Owen as much as possible. "I think I have a blanket in the car you can use if you're cold."
After the left she looked toward Owen as he said, "You should have just killed me. I'm already trying to figure out ways to tear off your head with my hands like this."
"I'm not giving up on you yet Owen," she told him with some authority. "You are not totally gone, if you were we would not be having this conversation. Then I would have to explain to Natalya why I killed you. And I do not want to have that conversation unless I had no other choice." She mainly said to add a little levity to the situation, and to cover her own nervousness as well. But it still seemed to calm him down a bit. "You've been fighting him this long, you can fight him back a little longer. I just wished you didn't wait until it got this bad to let me know he was still in there."
Those words must have worked because he actually help to get him standing but he wouldn't look at her. Father Andrews came back in as soon as they hit the first floor. ""She said she's not leaving without her sword. She wants to be able to protect herself." Susan blew out a breath while glancing sideways at Owen. There was a very good chance there was no time for this. But Owen nodded his head. Trying to interpret what that gesture meant she told the priest where her swords was. They reached the door when she looked back and saw the Father had grabbed all three swords as he made his way down.
"Wait until I get him in the car," she ordered. He nodded in agreement and stood by the door as Susan guided Owen to her vehicle and placed him in the back seat and buckled him in. Although she kept looking at him for any signs he lost again. Once he was fully secured she looked at the Priest who brought the swords to Janet. She took her sword from the bunch and looked a little less scared at the moment. "Put the rest in your trunk," she told The Father and he did so. Getting into her car she looked up at the rear view mirror to glance at Owen. This had better work because she was in no mood to end her friend today.
When they pulled up an alley next to the church Susan made sure she was close to the building as possible. "We're on holy ground now, so whomever listening at the moment you can't hurt me or the girl." She got out and made sure Father Andrews got the girl inside the building first before calling for Scott and Serenity, who had arrived while they were gone like they had planned. Susan opened the door and waved Scott over to help her.
"Great, I got to deal with him on top of all of this," Owen groaned once he caught sight of him.
"Well he's as delightful as ever," Scott said as he got Owen to his feet. "You're lucky I respect the Sister so much otherwise I would have listened to the wind and be gone by now."
"I'm sure you can catch up," Owen told him. Susan pointed further down the alley and Scott guided Owen that way. She watched them hoping he didn't show up suddenly but she was prepared for that as well. "Ser," she addressed her former student, "stay out here for a moment. I need to talk to the Father but I'll be right out." She nodded as Susan entered the church. Inside he and Janet were sitting in one of the pews talking. Well he was talking she just st there with a blank expression on her face and straing at the floor. Getting his attention Father Andrews excused himself and joined her. Speaking softly she said, "Owen should be in the shack now. I'll let you know if we were able to save him."
Father Andrews just looked at her, "And you'll let me know if you can't."
"If we can't," she looked over at Susan, "you'll know before I have a chance to." His features hardened but he seemed to understand. He went back to Janet as she headed outside. But she was in earshot long enough to hear her finally speak.
"Are they going to kill him?"
"I pray they won't have too," was his reply.
Not saying anything to Ser as she headed down the alley they found the "shack" as she called it.. Actually it was a small abandoned building that nobody had used for a couple of years according to the Father. Actually the inside reminded her a bit too much of the place Owen was holding the thief when he finally got him. Hopefully there wouldn't be a repeat of how that thing ended. Once inside Scott had Owen in a chair, one end of the handcuff transferred from him to one of the arms in the chair. "He didn't even put up a bit of a fuss," he told them after Susan closed the door behind them.
"So what is wrong with Owen?", Serenity asked. Before she answered she took out another set of hand cuff and handed them to Scott. Again Owen didn't put up any resistance. As he did that Susan told her former student, "Something I hoped to never see again."
"It's Dark Quickening," Scott said suddenly. "It has to be."
"I never told you about the Dark Quickening," Susan told him.
"Never told me a lot of thing," was his response. "But if you keep your ears open you can hear all sorts of wonderful thing you're not supposed to know about."
"Wait, what's a Dark Quickening?", Serenity asked. Susan shot an angry glance toward Scott who tried to look innocent, but quickly set himself in a chair for his part in all of this.
"It's a bit of a legend, sometimes you absorb one evil person too many, as the legend goes. That quickening makes you... well evil for a lack of a more proper term. You still who you are but it's like your personality has flipped."
"Is something like that even possible?", Ser asked.
"I am almost positive," she answered. "Because I ran across a person who was changed by a Light Quickening once. A man named Darius. I met him once, briefly, on holy ground as we were passing through the same territory a few centuries ago. He was a bit of a war lord them. A few years later I came across him again and he was totally changed. He told me the story of how it happened. I heard he died a couple of decades ago, a pity he was such a lovely man after it happened. He helped me find my current way back then."
"So Owen hasn't changed right?", Serenity asked. "I mean he didn't seem any different when I was told to get him a couple of month ago and when he left to get the brat. So what's wrong with him?"
"Something I've only seen once, when I was still learning under Finlay. Something I'd hope never to bear witness to again. I can not repeat that enough." Susan took a moment to gather her thoughts. "It's extremely rare, but an Immortal can defeat another but their quickening is so strong they can't absorb them fully. So parts of them is still there, in the back of their mind. Slowly getting stronger in the worst cases."
"Who did Owen beat to cause this?"
Scott spoke up, "Big Evil love." Her eyes went wider as she remembered that man. The darkness of his hair, the savagery in his eyes. The pure joy he appeared to feel when he killed Keith. "Me and the sister caught a glimpse of it a couple of months ago when he was doing the save the day thing. He was in there and almost came out then."
"But that was almost three years ago," Serenity said. "Why is he coming out now?"
"He never went away Ser," Susan told her. "A few months after it happened Owen confided in me that he had been hearing, what he described like a chuckle, in the back of his mind. It usually happened after a duel with another Immortal. But that was it. It be there then be gone for awhile. But it started coming back. Last time he told me about one was right before he started his job teaching. Then he said nothing about it after that. Part of me was hoping that was it."
"It got stronger," Owen finally spoke up. "I felt it when I dueled the man who killed Douglas. I felt something then, something that tried to take over but it didn't last long. I started started getting worse when I saw her." Both Scott and Serenity looked at her but now was not the time to explain that particular thing. "I thought I could control it."
"Owen," Susan told him, "I sincerely doubt he just popped back up like that. Like I said in the worse cases they sit back and get stronger. He was always there, testing you every so often. Waiting until you were detracted to push a little harder. I wouldn't be surprised if he fed off your anger at seeing Himiko's killer again to grow even stronger." She walked away a bit before facing him. "I know how to help you here Owen, Finlay showed me how when I came across it before. He had dealt with it a couple of time apparently and knew of a way. I showed it to Scott after I asked him to stay until this particular moment happened."
"And I'm going to use the technique she showed me," Scott took over, "to help her friend here look inside his own head. Where he will battle once more with the darkness inside of him."
"Then what are doing in the mean time?", Ser asked. "What if Owen loses?"
"We're not on holy ground," Owen said. Naturally he'd know where they were as he'd been here enough over the decades. Serenity looked over at Susan in total shock as that never occurred to her.
"You do nothing," Susan told her. "The less people in here while this is going down the better, Finlay was very clear about that. Head back to the church. You'll see us one way or another after this is over." Although things were still a bit frosty between the two of them Serenity shot a worried look at Owen as she walked past her former mentor.
With just the three of them Susan made sure the door was locked then walked until she stood behind Owen. He picked up his head, just a bit. Enough that Scott flinched a bit but he didn't do anything. "Susan," he said sounding very tired at this particular moment, "if this goes wrong...". He paused, long enough that she was worried he lost control again, but he eventually finished with, "Don't hesitate."
Drawing her sword she assured him, "I won't."
"Since we have the touchy feelies out of the way," Scott produced a crystal pendant and held it in front of him and started to slowly twist the chain it was on to make it spin. "The sister assures me this was the same one they used back then. No replica no worries as it were. Now just look at the way the light hitting it and the soothing sound of my voice." he was half way expecting some sort of crack but Owen seemed almost transfixed by the crystal. And it seemed almost as unnerving form seeing it from this side how fast it happen, considering he almost went under immediately as well when Susan demonstrated how it worked. This was something old and powerful all right. "Now stop looking at the crystal and start looking deep inside. Look for that thing that doesn't quite belong. That little foreign bit you know shouldn't be in there."
Scott kept talking but Owen had long stopped listening. He was already inside his own head, heading for that very spot and it was easy to locate. He could just feel how sick the darkness made him and headed for it. At first he saw and felt nothing. Then he was standing on something. Looking down he was on a single step. Looking up mores steps just appeared before him out of the air as a banister formed to his left. He continued to look up and saw the top of the stair, which lead to a familiar looking landing and door. He looked at himself, he wasn't wearing the clothes he had on, highlighted by the gray hooded jacket he hadn't worn in a couple of years because of how ripped it became.
Slowly he made his way up the steps as the door became clearer with each one. Cautiously he put a hand on it and pushed. It swung inwards easily, revealing nothing but darkness as first. He didn't remember moving but suddenly the door closed behind him. Surprised he looked around trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Then his eyes went to his right and a series of bookcases. He knew these but they weren't loaded with books like he remembered. No each shelf had a single book that was opened. Taking a closer look at one he saw a picture, no it was actually moving. Then he recognized what was going on, it was the first time he had met Victor and Natalya. Then he glanced at another one sitting on the shelf below. These pages were a bit darker and there was a scene he had no recollection of at all as it involved a gang of angry looking villagers. This made do a quick look down the line at the other bookcases. The all had at least one open book with those dark colored pages.
Then he became aware of another presence close by. Something dark and sickeningly familiar at the same time. Turning he saw a giant picture window he never noticed before, and in front of it an old Victorian era chair. Then he focused on the person sitting in the chair. Looking exactly like he remembered him, in the same clothes. A small chuckle, the same one he had been hearing since it happened, came from the person as he looked around a bit before saying, "I hope you don't mind, I made myself comfortable."
Owen stared at the man, locking his eyes on the cold, hard ones the other man possessed. The leather trench coat seemed to flow into the darkness around as he held his hands, still wearing those studded gloves, together and waited. One word, a name, escaped his lips, "Dijkhuizen."
"I am honored to be remembered," he said with a sick grin. "Because one can not exist without being remembered." He rose from the chair and came toward him. "Don't mind the extra clutter on the selves, it's still a work in progress. I am almost done, I just need that one final push to get to the finish line." He chuckled again, which seemed to echo around the room, "I believe that's the term. My memory's a bit jumbled with all the junk in here." He knocked one of the cleaner books off the shelf, he caught a glimpse of himself and Deborah before it hit the floor. "I'm sure you understand."
"Why are you still here?", Owen demanded. Something caught his eye as that book that was knocked off was suddenly back in place.
Ignoring his confusion Dijkhuizen told him, "Just taking care of what is mine."
"This is my mind!", Owen snapped at him.
"For now," came the response, "but not for long. I am getting closer, I just need that one last push to take over for good. The fact that you're hear makes this so much easier." He moved his arm in a downward swing. Owen just caught a glimpse of that red blade coming at him. On instinct alone he got his arms up to block. Metal clashed against metal as he blocked the move with his long sword.
"What?", Owen grunted, taking his eyes off the man before him and on the blades. He wasn't even holding his sword when he came in. Where the hell did it come from? Oblivious to his confusion Michel pushed him back and tried to cut him in half. Again Owen blocked the move and pushed back.
Remembering his last fight with this man he knew he couldn't be on the defensive for long and tried to take the offense. Dijkhuizen easily blocked his attempts, laughing the entire time. Swords clashed as they moved closer to that window into nothing. The thing in his mind that was supposed to be Dijkhuizen started to ge more aggressive, more wild eyed as the fight went one. Suddenly Owen found himself more comfortable, this he knew. He'd seen it first hand and survived. He could do this again.
Then he started seeing something he didn't see before, a pattern. Owen kept seeing it the longer they lashed. He saw his chance and took it. Michel came in high with a swing with everything he had behind it. Owen went low and grabbed him by the coat. Feeling him stumble forward by his own momentum Owen used that to hurl his opponent out the window and into the nothing. Then the red sword came through his chest. In the real world Owen reacted in a similar manner of getting rammed through frightening both Scott and Susan. So much so the older Immortal almost took his head right then and there. "That is the very definition of not right," Scott muttered. Inside his head Owen looked behind him as best as he could to see a new door swing back and forth behind Dijkhuizen's twisted grimace. That was his weapons room as Owen recalled. Why was it there now?
"The rules you're thinking of don't apply here," Michel whispered in his ear. He used a foot to kick Owen off his sword and let him fall to he ground. Instinctively grabbing at his chest he was confused once again. There was no wound, he could still feel the pain but he wasn't bleeding. He almost dwelled on it too long as he realized Dijkhuizen got in position to take his head. Spinning to his back he got his sword up and blocked. Then realized how bad a position this actually was as that red blade started to rain down for blow after blow. Spinning just enough he kicked at the other man's knee causing him to to fall forward. Owen got his blade up and got the tip into Michel's chest. He looked even angrier than in pain. Owen couldn't worry about it now, Pushing he was able to force him back enough as he got to his feet and removed his sword. Owen went for a killing strike as the other man's neck was exposed.
Out of the darkness a hilt of a sabre with a familiar looking family crest punched him in the face. Staggered he went down to a knee as it punched him again. "There's a couple of people in here who really don't fucking like you," Dijkhuizen taunted and did nothing as he stood. Then what looked like a machete came at his neck before he could react. It was stopped by a walking stick that appeared in front of him. No, by the blade the hidden inside the stick.
He felt something comfortable surround him as the machete was pushed back. And he swore he heard something, no somebody very familiar say, "Not the most honorable of tactics is it?", before retreating back to the darkness.
Now Dijkhuizen was confused at what just happened. Owen didn't care he'd take anything at this point, "Looks like I have at least one friend." Owen went at him again with a renewed vigor. Dijkihuizen matched it with his anger. As they fought he could swear he could hear another battle take place in the darkness around them. Sparks flew off their swords and the one battling in the nothing.
Then he saw the pattern again. Then he realized he knew that style Dijkhuizen was using. He saw it every time he trained. That was his style. Suddenly things clicked for Owen as the room they were in seemed to change even more. "I will take over!", Michel shouted. "I will fucking live again! And I will fuck with everyone you know! Starting with that little bitch you love so dearly." Owen was unfazed at the new attack, it only fueled his determination even more. With a power he didn't know he had he pushed Dijkhuizen back toward the window. Then he turned and ran for the new door and jumped through. Michel turned around in time to see Owen grab the top of the window and swung through, planting both feet into his chest. Standing where he was Owen just waved him one.
With a primal scream Dijkhuizen charged swinging widely with his red blade. Now Owen was easily blocking the other man's attack. "I will fucking kill you!" and he lunged that red blade right at Owen's heart. Batting the blade away with his sword it stuck in the wall behind him as he hit a palm strike into Dijkhuizen's chest.
"No!", he barked as the man went back, slamming into the floor. "This is my mind," he repeated. "Here I am king. I am the one. You are nothing, nothing but a fragment of an evil long since defeated. You are part of me now." Owen took his eyes off of Dijkhuizen, "All of you are."
The room was suddenly filled with people, shoulder to shoulder. He saw Victor, Natalaya's adopted father, and Rodger, who chased him after he accidentally killed his newly immortal girlfriendm near the back. In front Naoto, Ezekiel and a couple of others were holding onto Dijkhuizen as tight as they could as he struggled against them. Everybody before him, every face he could see, they were the immortals he had fought and killed over his lifetime. "My apologies Little Immortal," Naoto said, "that we could not hold him."
"It wasn't your job to," Owen said with a sight smile. Then he turned his attention back on Dijkhuizen, "No, this ones on me. If he clinged on to something to stick around it was because I let it happen. And frankly I don't give a damn what that was. But I'm correcting it now." Without looking he reached back and grabbed the handle of the blood red sword. It changed into his long sword as he pulled it free. Not taking his eyes off off the dark presence that inhabited the back of his mind he swung it, cutting through Dijkhuizen's neck. His head disappeared as a whirlpool of sorts formed and quickly spread, covering everything in the room.
On the outside Scoot and Susan still kept watch. Outside of that one reaction Owen hadn't moved since he went under. Scoot nervously played with the crystal, up until Susan came and around and took it for him. "It's not a toy," she said as she resumed her position.
Not even phased by the rebuff Scott eyed Owen keenly. "So when will we know who ended up reigning supreme in there?", he asked. Susan wasn't forthcoming with an answer. The only time she had done this it took a while. Finlay claimed that one of the two he witnessed didn't ended until after three days. The other one, well it got a bit messy and was the reason why he knew a person could lose this particular battle. "If Owen here did lose it would be..."
"I swear to God," Owen grunted as he finally began to stir, the other two immortals tensing and prepared for anything, "if I hear you say 'interesting' one more time." Grabbing his hair Susan pulled his head back and looked him in the eyes. Looking up at here Owen mustered a small smile and uttered a weak, "Hi." Susan didn't respond, she just stared into his eyes, looking for anything that would indicate Dijkhuizen was in there and not Owen.
There was nothing there but the look she usually associated with Owen, even on his darkest days. "Oh thank you God," Susan said as she let got of his hair and hugged him around the neck. She let go to kiss him on the top of the head before hugging him around the neck again.
"Not that I'm complaining," Owen said after a bit, "but you hesitated there." Susan pushed his head a bit. "Now came we get me out of these now? And can we not tell Natalya about this bit. She get's enough ideas as it is."
"In front of the sister," Scott tsked, "as cheeky as ever."
"Then you better not do anything to annoy me then Owen," she told him as she she retrieved the keys from her pockets. Owen won, and she prayed as hard as she could at the moment that she wouldn't have to go through this experience again.
