"I told you we should have come in a different way!" Yuki hissed at the carpet, swatting it. "That was too damn close!"
They had just arrived in the city, and though Yuki had tried to dissuade the rug about charging right in, it had ignored him completely and flown in through a window. He'd thought about jumping off and taking his own way in, but his only option had been the courtyard where Cinda lived, and she was throwing an awful fit, enraged by Shuichi's screams.
"If we get caught…" Yuki muttered, glaring daggers at the carpet. They were balanced carefully on top of one of Tohma's gaudy velvet curtains, waiting for a chance to intervene.
"Maybe this isn't something we should force…" Tohma said to Mika in an offhand manner, not wanting to let on that he'd forgotten all of their murderous ideas about the Prince. "Maybe we should just wait for an opportunity to present itself."
"Tohma…" Mika muttered, glaring at Tohma.
"Just trust me…haven't I proven myself yet?" Tohma asked, hoping that bringing up his genius would suffice for an adequate distraction.
K perked up at this, wondering if he really had done some good and saved Shuichi for the day. He fell onto one of the cushier pillows and reclined, thrilled with himself.
"I suppose you have." Mika said suggestively, closing the distance and kissing Tohma. "You did know that Prince Eiri was a stinking street rat, you knew he had the genie, you stole his lamp, you killed the liar, you've done everything right..."
"Mmm hmm…" Tohma agreed wordlessly, kissing her back.
"And I'm sorry I didn't believe you…" Mika continued, kissing Tohma's neck and shoulder. He'd explained all of the details to her after he'd sent the fake Prince flying out of the window. As hard as it was to accept that she'd been wrong, she really had no choice. It was obvious that Eiri was an imposter, and that his charming assistant had been the genie in disguise. She'd felt stupid for a moment when Tohma reached the part of the story where she'd thrown him in prison, but she'd promised to more than make it up to him later. Now that he had the ability to overthrow her and leave her behind, she wanted to make sure that he didn't. Killing her stepson could wait; as long as she had Tohma's magic on her side, she was set.
"I know…" Tohma whispered, leaning in for another kiss. Instead, Mika put her fingers on his lips and pushed him away.
"Do you?" she asked quickly, wanting to guarantee her security. "You brilliant, brilliant man…"
"Oh yes, I do…" Tohma answered, kissing at Mika's fingers. Mika moved them out of the way and jumped into Tohma's arms, keeping him occupied for a few minutes.
"Still at it…" Yuki whispered, shaking his head and grimacing. It was horrible to watch Tohma being happy. He scanned the room, trying to get a lay of the land. K was lounging on some pillows, and Yuki couldn't tell if he looked worried or bored, or some sort of combination. Shuichi and Caspian were sitting on the floor, a few feet apart, making faces and inappropriate hand gestures at one another. He tried to find his brown-haired cohort, but he was nowhere to be seen. He stayed where he was in the curtains, and the carpet hovered beside him, still waiting for an opening. "Come on already…"
They broke their embrace five minutes later, and Mika flitted off and collapsed on a pillow, looking thoroughly exhausted. Tohma wandered around the room, trying to decide what to do next. He'd never staged a successful coup, and he wasn't sure what to do with himself if he wasn't yelling at subordinates, feeling up his woman, or reprimanding his bird.
He walked around in circles, scratching his head and looking confused. He played with his coat to stimulate some creative thought, and ended up conjuring up a fancy pillow and table for the lamp, which up until now had stayed on his hip. Once that was done he started pacing again, wishing he had a handbook for this.
"Tohma, what are you doing?" Mika asked after a bit. She'd been waiting for Caspian to say something insulting, but he was busy having a staring contest with Shuichi.
"Thinking."
"About what?"
"I dunno."
"Need something to do?" Mika asked, sighing and pushing off of the pillow.
"Yes…"
"Assert your power, kill something, create some new crazy law, torture a prisoner…" Mika listed out, ticking her ideas off on her fingers. "That's what dictators usually do, isn't it?"
"I suppose…" Tohma answered. "But I don't want to kill anything, you make the laws, and we don't have any-WAIT!"
Tohma giggled manically and jogged over to where he'd stashed Ryuichi and Tatsuha. He'd forgotten that he had prisoners, and he was starting to get excited about the prospect of torture. That was usually Caspian's area of expertise, and he was looking forward to exploring that world alone and unaided, as the bird was still staring down the Prince. Both of them were tearing up, and Shuichi was twitching, but neither would give in.
K looked up again when Tohma started giggling, concerned for whoever was the cause of his glee. He remained seated, though he kept a close eye on Tohma and the bird.
"Well, which one of you wants to go first?" Tohma asked, throwing back the curtain and nudging Ryuichi with his foot. "I think you should volunteer, you and that rabbit."
Yuki instinctively grabbed the carpet, sensing that this was not the time to attack. Tohma was too close to Ryuichi, and there was no way for him to signal his only real ally. K was under oath to help Tohma, and Shuichi was concentrating on outdoing the puffed up conure.
"No! Take me instead!" Tatsuha said to Tohma, inching forward as best he could. The time he'd spent tied up next to Ryuichi had been heaven for him. Ryuichi had spent the time trying to free Kuma, and he'd passed the time trying not to drool on his fellow prisoner, and as such, he was unwilling to have his beloved untied for fear that his fantasy would come to an end.
"I'll get to you…" Tohma promised, untying Ryuichi and dragging him forward.
"Tohma, wait, let him go. He's my captain, he won't cause any trouble." Mika said, running forward and standing between Tohma and Tatsuha. He'd been loyal to her since his appointment to the guard, and she didn't feel right about letting Tohma have his way with him.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Tohma asked Mika skeptically. Rumor had it that Tatsuha and Ryuichi were good friends, not to mention Tatsuha offering to take the first round, and the last thing he wanted was any potentially dangerous alliances being unleashed on him.
"Yes, I am." Mika said. "Right, Tatsuha?"
Tatsuha weighed his options and thought about his answer carefully. He could swear his allegiance to Ryuichi, but that wouldn't help anyone. If he played along with the Sultana, he'd be free, and they might have a chance to escape. He took a deep breath and steadied his heart rate, knowing that he had to be a good actor in order to pull this off.
"Of course, my Sultana." Tatsuha replied smoothly, bowing his head to Mika. She in turn untied him and patted him on the back, smiling reassuringly. She apologized quietly and led him off to the side, out of Tohma's way.
"Tatsuha!" Ryuichi said, tears forming instantly. He'd thought that Tatsuha was his friend, and he was blatantly betraying him.
"Quiet you!" Tohma ordered, knocking Ryuichi over with his foot. "Now, give me that rabbit…"
"NO!" Ryuichi screamed, flopping around on the floor and trying to save his companion. Tohma reached down and snagged the bunny from his grasp, cackling. Shuichi hopped up from the floor and away from Caspian, willing to lose to the bird in order to save Ryuichi.
"Mika, restrain that!" Tohma said to Mika, noticing the movement. Caspian flew up and landed on his shoulder, rubbing on his face to say hello and then puffing up to look scary and manly, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea about his toughness.
Mika walked over to Shuichi and pulled his arm up behind him, keeping him from lunging at Tohma.
"And what do you want?" Tohma asked Caspian. "Decide to be friends again?"
The bird had been exceedingly cold ever since Tohma had found his way back into Mika's favor, and his shunning had been rather obvious.
"Yep." Caspian answered concisely, interested in what was about to happen to Kumagoro. He'd always considered himself the best sidekick, and the smartly dressed rabbit upstart was threatening his title. Even if it meant burying the hatchet with Tohma, he had to be a part of the rabbit's end.
"That was fast…" Tohma said, looking sideways at Caspian and raising an eyebrow. "You're just in it for the blood, aren't you?"
"Tohma! I'm insulted!" Caspian squeaked, throwing his head sideways and looking rather affronted. "How could you!"
"Yeah, right…" Tohma replied, rolling his eyes at the glittery, melodramatic parrot and flicking him a few times. "Fine, let's be friends again."
"OK, here's how it's goin' down…we need fire, a troll, a few large knives, and a gigantic mallet." Caspian spewed quickly, clucking to himself to make sure he'd remembered everything.
"I think I want to take this one on my own, if that's alright with you, bird." Tohma said, scratching Caspian's neck to make sure the bird didn't take it the wrong way. He'd been looking forward to his solo debut into the world of torture, and he didn't want the bird to over-enthusiastically rain on his parade. "Not that that doesn't sound like a…wonderful idea."
"But!"
"Bird…"
"Tohma! I wanna play too!" Caspian squalled, hopping up and down and whining in an extremely shrill voice. "PLEASE!"
"Caspian! Breathe!" Tohma told the bird, used to his begging. He flicked him a few more times, waiting for the quacking to subside.
"I want to kill the bunny!" Caspian screamed, flapping his wings in his excitement and smacking Tohma in the face. "You said we were friends again!"
"You can kill the other one! I've got this one, just calm down." Tohma told Caspian, conjuring a bucket of donut holes on the floor next to him to distract the conure. Even if he agreed to stay out of the planning process, he was like a shark. As soon as he sensed blood in the water, he was bound to somehow get involved, unless of course there were sugary treats in the vicinity.
"DONUTS!" Caspian screamed, diving into the bucket. All thoughts of bunny-cide flew out of his head and he clawed his way into his own personal heaven, savoring each delicious bite. Tohma could have all the prisoners for all he cared, as long as no one took away his precious love.
"Caspian…" Tohma sighed, shaking his head at the bird. At least he was predictable, but it was still sad to see his right-hand bird making such a fool of himself. He shook his head a little bit harder and cleared his throat, getting himself into the zone. He had a rabbit to torture after all. "Well, let's get this show on the road."
"NOO!" Ryuichi screamed again, trying to get up.
K raised his head slightly and looked over, feeling utterly useless. Ryuichi was definitely a threat to Tohma, and no amount of accidental shooting could change that. He'd have to sit by and watch, and if Tohma called him over to help with Kuma, he'd have to. The rabbit wasn't real, and he was bound to follow Tohma's orders as long as they pertained to his second wish.
He sighed heavily and looked away, hating himself. Ever since he'd failed to distract Tohma from massacring those closest to him, he'd shut himself down and tried to stay busy watching the ceiling. He was about to give that up too when a shadow caught his attention. He whipped out his gun and looked closer, trying to figure out what was haunting the room.
"Dammit…hold still!" Yuki told the rug. Ryuichi's agonized screams were putting it into a frenzy, and it was taking all of Yuki's strength to keep it from attacking Tohma. He glanced down into the room to check on the situation and noticed that K was staring in their direction. "Seriously, someone will see us, knock it the hell off!"
K scanned the ceiling for a few more seconds, and then told himself that it was his overactive imagination. Besides, if anyone, or anything, was in the room, they wouldn't last long once Caspian extricated himself from the donut bucket.
"Now, what to do, what to do…" Tohma said to himself, twirling in place with Kumagoro held high.
"Leave him alone! PLEASE!" Ryuichi shrieked, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't bear the thought of a life without Kumagoro.
"You're starting to annoy me…" Tohma whispered dangerously, tossing the rabbit aside and turning his attention to Ryuichi. "So I'll play with you first."
"Kuma…" Ryuichi whimpered, crawling towards his rabbit.
"No, not going to be that easy!" Tohma said cheerfully, clapping his hands together and depositing Ryuichi into a large cage that hung a few feet off of the ground. "Aww, do you want your bunny?"
"KUMA!" Ryuichi shrieked, clawing at the bars and coming unglued. Tohma had picked him up again, and was tossing him in the air.
"So this is what's most important to you? Is he your best friend?" Tohma asked Ryuichi softly, a malicious glint in his eyes. He hadn't forgotten how Ryuichi and Kuma had assaulted him in the hallway, and he wasn't going to forgive that easily.
"Yes…" Ryuichi cried, the tears starting to affect his voice. Tatsuha turned away and tried not to hear. He was committed to saving his love, but there was nothing he could do with Mika watching him so closely and Tohma still warming up.
"How sentimental." Tohma replied, clapping again and making a large vat of lava appear next to Ryuichi's cage. Tatsuha immediately stepped forward, ready to act if he thought that Ryuichi's life would be in danger. In response to the clanging from the pot's arrival, Caspian wrenched his head out of his donuts and popped up over the edge of the bucket, curious about what Tohma was up to.
"Tohma…be careful…" Mika cautioned, more than a little concerned about Tohma and liquid fire working together. She tightened her grip on Shuichi and gulped.
"Stop fretting love, I know what I'm doing." Tohma said over his shoulder, ceasing his jaunty tossing of Kumagoro and summoning a rope. He tied it around the bunny's waist and snapped his fingers, securing the robe to the ceiling above the lava. In one hand he held the other end of the rope, and once he made sure that he had Ryuichi's undivided attention, he started lowering Kumagoro into the fiery concoction.
"KUMAGORO! KUMA! NOOOO! PLEASE DON'T HURT HIM!" Ryuichi screamed, sobbing uncontrollably. Ryuichi started swinging his cage in an attempt to save his friend, but Tohma had put him just out of reach of Kumagoro. "PLEASE!"
"Genie, some ambiance please." Tohma called over to K, smiling wide.
"That's not part of the wish." K replied, standing up and walking over to the vizier.
"You'll do it, or he'll get the same!" Tohma told K, jerking his head towards Ryuichi and trying to look K in the eye.
"You have magic, do it yourself." K answered, glaring down at the shorter man. "And I'm so flattered that you look up to me. Really, just beside myself, so honored."
"Very funny…" Tohma hissed, turning on his heel and stomping away. If the genie wouldn't cooperate, he'd pay, and after the slight on his height, he was feeling capable of murder. He raised his arms and some deep tribal music started playing.
"Hey! That's my music!" Caspian screeched, hopping onto the edge of his bucket and twitching at Tohma. "Tohma!"
"Caspian, not now!" Tohma yelled at the bird, waving him off and returning to the task at hand. He dropped more of the rope and watched Ryuichi's panic-stricken face tighten even more.
"Please, please, I'll do anything!" Ryuichi shrieked, his eyes red and bulging from his tears. "I'm begging you!"
Shuichi struggled against Mika's grasp, trying to break through. He hated seeing his friend in such agony, and he didn't want anything to happen to Kumagoro either. Up in the curtains, Yuki was starting to lose his battle against the rug, and he was wondering if it was a good idea to keep fighting it. If someone didn't intervene to save the stupid rabbit, Ryuichi would be completely devastated, and he'd be impossible to live with.
"But it's my jam!" Caspian said, still twitching.
"Caspian!" Tohma replied, shaking his fist at the bird and lowering Kuma some more. The rabbit's feet were getting very close to touching the lava, and Ryuichi looked like he'd reached his breaking point in the cage. "Behave yourself!"
"Oh, I'll behave…" Caspian muttered, flying over to his house and rummaging through his closet. He emerged wearing a hula grass skirt and an elaborate feather headdress. "Just watch me…"
Caspian flew over to the lava pot and perched on the edge, doing his best tribal dance around the simmering liquid.
"Oh good lord…" Tohma whispered, banging his palm against his forehead several times. "That's not behaving!"
"You just wish you could dance like this!" Caspian replied haughtily, stepping up his routine and adding some jumps and spins.
Tatsuha looked away from the grotesque parrot dancing and closed his eyes, wishing that there was an easy way out of this. The genie seemed like he was torn, but there was really nothing he could do. If Tohma was going to be stopped, it was up to him.
He took a deep, rattled breath and started trying to formulate a plan. He had to not only save Ryuichi, but also the rabbit or the former would never recover. He loved his job, and had been thrilled to get it, but he loved Ryuichi more and if it meant losing his career, or even his life, he'd do anything for the thief. Something in him had changed for the better when he'd befriended him, and he'd go through hell and back if it would better Ryuichi's life.
Hearing his love in so much pain was about to kill him anyway, and the way he saw it, Tohma couldn't hurt him anymore than he already was. He could be the one dangling over the lava, or being fed to Caspian, or ripped apart by some other sinister spell and it wouldn't compare to how he was feeling now. It felt like someone was punching him repeatedly in the stomach, and the longer he sat idly by while Ryuichi screamed his lungs out the more intense the pain was.
He sighed and gritted his teeth, preparing to take on the enhanced vizier and his small army of cohorts. He took a deep breath and started running towards the lava vat. He knocked Tohma out of the way and grabbed the searing edge, catapulting himself over it and tucking the bunny safely into his arms. He rolled when he landed on the other side and immediately started running in zigzags, terrified that Tohma would start casting spells at him.
"Tatsuha!" Ryuichi squealed, jumping up and down and clapping, the miserable panic subsiding instantaneously.
"What the hell?" Tohma asked, disoriented. He rubbed his hands and winced, his palms rubbed red from Tatsuha wrenching the rope out of his hands. "Mika! You said we could trust him!"
"I thought we could!" Mika yelled back, twisting Shuichi's arm and making him yelp.
"Now!" Yuki said to the rug, jumping on its back and swatting it a few times. "Come on, what are you waiting for, go, go!"
The rug swooped forward and Yuki jumped off, landing near where Tatsuha was crouching with Kumagoro, occupied with untying the rabbit. Tatsuha screamed and fell over backwards, startled at the sudden appearance of a street rat that was supposed to have been dead for weeks. When Yuki smacked his flailing legs and shushed him, he quieted down, his eyes popping.
"Shut up! You help Ryuichi, I'm going after Tohma." Yuki hissed at Tatsuha, still shushing the blubbering guard. After witnessing his heroic rescue of Kumagoro, Yuki realized that he'd joined their side for Ryuichi's sake, and he was relieved that he had one less person to worry about.
The carpet made a beeline for Caspian and knocked him off of the pot, earning itself several vicious bites and several highly insulting curse words.
"RUG!" Tohma screamed, trying to zap the rug and missing terribly. Instead, he hit the lava container and exploded it, showering the area with magma.
"Watch what you're doing!" K yelled, snapping and turning the boiling rain into flowers. Once that crisis was averted, he quietly cheered on the rug man, dancing a little whenever it scored a blow on the parrot.
Yuki started darting around the various cushions in all of the confusion caused by Tohma's mishap, distinctly aware that he needed to regain control of K. If he had to go up against a power-crazed Tohma and K, not to mention Caspian and the Sultana, with only a bunny-hugging ex-guard captain, Shuichi, and a possessed piece of flooring, things weren't going to go well. Tohma had left the lamp unguarded on a fancy table, and Yuki channeled his thieving instincts to avoid capture; if Tohma caught him, it was all over.
"GET IT PO!" Tohma screamed enthusiastically, afraid to attack the carpet with it so close to Caspian. The bird had escaped its clutches after being tackled and was now engaging in a heated game of tag with it, shedding feathers, grass from his skirt, and thread as he went.
"I'm working on it!" Caspian replied, somersaulting in midair and launching himself at the carpet for a renewed assault.
Mika watched the aerial battle with mild interest, paying more attention to restraining Shuichi, who was squirming even harder now that an ally had reappeared. She'd already lost some points from Tatsuha's betrayal and the last thing she wanted was to set Shuichi loose on Tohma, who was crouched next to a pillar, afraid to look at what was happening above him. His initial joy at Caspian's varyingly successful counterattacks had given way into maternal worrying, and Mika was trying very hard not to doubt his ability to hold it together.
She looked away from the chaos and felt herself go numb with shock; it wasn't just the rug that had magically reappeared. The street rat was bolting towards the unguarded lamp, and no one else had seen him, not even Shuichi, who was currently occupied with trying to gnaw himself free by chomping the air near her shoulder.
"TOHMA! RAT!" Mika yelled, her voice cracking with the effort. "LAMP!"
"NOOO!" Tohma bellowed, spinning around on the floor and catching sight of Yuki streaking towards his ill-gotten treasure. "No you don't!"
Tohma stood up and smacked his hands together, sending a shockwave towards Yuki that knocked him off of his feet and sent him flying into a pillar. K stepped forward and then stopped himself, knowing full well that he couldn't help his friend. Instead, he groaned angrily and punched a few pillows, trying to calm down.
"Eiri!" Shuichi called out, immune to the shock of seeing his supposedly dead lover resurrected. He'd been dead three times now, and the novelty of it was starting to wear off. He started twisting violently to break Mika's hold on his arm, and when he stomped on her feet a few times, she finally slipped a little bit. He pushed off of her and ran for all he was worth towards Yuki, wanting to shield him from Tohma. He was writhing around on the floor, trying to pull himself. Above, Caspian and the rug kept up their battle, each intent on destroying the other. There was still bad blood from the first incident, and neither was ready to give in.
"No…get the…lamp…" Yuki tried to tell Shuichi, the bells ringing in his head making him extremely disorientated.
Shuichi couldn't hear anything over the horrendous racket that Caspian was making, and kept running for Yuki. As he was about to skid to a stop next to his beloved, he heard Tohma cackle and clap his hands. He thrust out his hand to reach Yuki and was wrenched backwards by the force of Tohma's spell. Before he knew what was happening, he was strapped to a large wheel up against one of the far walls, and Mika was advancing on him, looking positively delighted.
"Have fun, love, and stay back. I don't want to hurt you." Tohma told Mika, walking over to her and kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Time I took care of our rat problem."
"Like to see you try…" Yuki replied shakily, standing up slowly and glaring at Tohma. Off to the side, K was babbling at himself, trying to find a way to help Yuki. Every few seconds he pulled out a weapon and charged off in some direction, but he always stopped after a few leaps and bounds, unable to provide any legal genie assistance.
"Oh really? Then make sure you keep both eyes wide open." Tohma answered, rolling up his sleeves. "But first, let's make this a fair fight, shall we?"
Before Yuki could answer Tohma, the vizier turned on his heel and sent a spell flying at the rug, causing it to burst into blue flames on impact. Caspian swerved at the last second and fluttered down to the floor, rolling around to put out the fire that was creeping up his tail.
"Dammit, Tohma!" Caspian yelled, the remains of the ravaged grass skirt starting to burn. "Learn how to aim!"
"Drama bird." Tohma responded, snapping his fingers and dumping a pail of water on the smoking conure. "Now, where were we?"
"DAMMIT! WHO THE HELL DO I SHOOT?" K yelled suddenly, grabbing frantically at his ponytail and spinning in place. Tohma thought about giving him an order, but he'd never seen someone's eye twitch that way, and he wasn't sure he wanted to risk something violent happening to him if the genie snapped. Instead, he kept quiet and shuffled his feet, avoiding eye contact. Yuki lowered his head and shook it slowly, wondering why he'd wanted K back in the first place. When no one answered his question, K burst into tears and fell over, stroking his gun and cooing at it intermittently.
"For the love of…" Tohma sighed, reminding himself of the benefits of a magical superpower and then returning to the task at hand.
Tatsuha had been biding his time in the corner, waiting for the best moment to sneak over to Ryuichi's cage. The thief hadn't been in any immediate danger, and he hadn't felt too rushed now that the rabbit was safe in his arms. When Tohma seemed focused on Yuki, he started edging forward, unsure of how fast he could move without drawing unwanted attention. As he was about to come around the last column between him and Ryuichi, Tohma flicked his wrist and sent him flying backwards, and Kuma went tumbling out of his hands.
"Slow it down, you!" Tohma's voice rang out as he advanced on Tatsuha. "What to do with a traitor? Hmm…oh Caspian? Another present for you."
Tohma smiled and clicked his tongue, imprisoning Tatsuha in a large donut costume.
"Don't go too crazy now, bird." Tohma told Caspian, nodding at the conure and then returning to Yuki's area of the room. "Alright, street rat, let's do this."
"DONUT!" Caspian screeched, the fire completely forgotten in the face of a larger than life pastry.
"No! Not donut!" Tatsuha yelled at the bird, putting his hands up and backing away rapidly. The suit that Tohma had strapped him into was a large, chocolate covered donut with sprinkles, and Caspian looked like he'd died and gone to heaven. "NOT DONUT!"
Caspian ignored the protests of the talking treat and charged, slipping on his own drool. Tatsuha screamed bloody murder and ran in the opposite direction, not paying any attention to where he was going in order to watch the scurrying predatory parrot behind him. He smacked into the wall, hard, and fell to the floor unconscious.
Ryuichi, who had been braiding his hair for something to do, heard the noise and looked up, not too concerned when he saw Caspian doing a victory dance on top of a huge donut. He shrugged and returned to his work, wishing that he had some beads to make it fancy for when he saw Kuma and Tatsuha again.
"Time to feast…" Caspian whispered, ceasing his celebratory jig and bending down to take a chomp out of the conquered treat.
When his beak closed on fabric and stuffing, he nearly choked. He scrambled backwards and fell off of the donut, shocked. He'd been so excited about the prospect of that much sugar in one place, and it hadn't even occurred to him that the donut would be fake.
"Tohma!"
"Diabetes!" Tohma yelled back, pointing his finger at the bird.
"Point taken…" Caspian mumbled, flying over to the vizier and biting at his ear for some payback. If he hadn't been paid off with the bucket of deliciousness earlier, there might have been blood, but he had the feeling that this wasn't the time. The genie was still talking to his guns, and the street rat looked like he was regaining some color.
"So many interruptions…" Tohma said to Yuki, cracking his neck and smiling again.
"Just delaying your demise." Yuki responded curtly, straightening up and staring down the bird and owner. He started moving towards the duo, wondering if he could hit Tohma hard enough to incapacitate him long enough to reach K's lamp. After he'd taken a few steps, however, the tense silence around the dueling trio was shattered by an ear-splitting scream.
"WATCH IT LADY!" Shuichi screamed at Mika, trying to wriggle free. The wheel that Tohma had attached him to was rotating slowly against the wall, and Mika was biding her time by throwing daggers, trying to hit some vital body parts. So far, she'd been a terrible shot, but Shuichi was sure she would inevitably start cheating. "YUKI!"
"Dammit…" Yuki cursed under his breath, trying to sidestep Tohma, who immediately blocked him.
"Nuh uh!" Caspian sang out, stretching himself out and ruffling his wings at Yuki. "Nice try, lover boy."
"EIRI!" Shuichi yelled again.
Mika was stepping closer and closer, growling every time one of her knives missed. When he landed a blow that cut open Shuichi's cheek, she jumped up and cheered, blowing a kiss at Tohma to thank him for the opportunity to slice up her only living family member.
Yuki tried dodging Tohma again and couldn't get around the vizier. Frustrated, he tried running at Tohma, but the latter hit him with a few spells and knocked him back, making him even angrier. Shuichi was whimpering from the gash on his face, and the blood was streaming down his neck and soaking into his shirt. Yuki's heart rate increased as did his breathing and he started seeing spots. He was enraged that they were doing this to Shuichi after everything else they'd put the boy through. He glared at Tohma and charged again, earning himself only cruel laughter and a sore back.
When Shuichi screamed again, he felt like he might be sick. The younger man had become the most important person in his world even though he'd decided to leave him. It was one thing to live in denial and tell himself daily that Shuichi would be better off without him, and it was a different one to watch him being tortured. He felt so helpless; Shuichi was his whole world, and he couldn't save him.
He growled at Tohma and stood back up, ready to rip the vizier and conure apart piece by piece if he had to, magic or no.
Could this scene be any longer? I swear…I think I have a problem, I can't seem to contain myself.
Well, not too much to say right now, it's four in the morning and I just finished the last part of this chapter. Yes, that's right folks, the fight scene is finito'd. Gonna start the ending stuff soon as my homework OCD calms down. Hope you enjoyed, I'll be posting Chapter 31 Part C next Friday, and there probably won't be anymore double updates. The next chapters don't really require the splitting that this one did, so as of now, I'm back to updating every Friday as long as my material/muse holds out. I have two more chapters ready to go, and I have the rest planned out, so here's hopin'. Adios.
-exhausted Amaya, persnickety Po