Chapter 5: The great rescuer: Zero part 1(Nightmare)

Count's pointveiw:

I was in my room thinking about the previous events, the kid really saved my life despite of everything I've done to him. 'Isn't this our chance to join him?' Gankutsuou said in excitement. I just shook my head and said: "It's not the right time, yet."

Right then, Blaze rushed through the door with haste, holding a letter in her hand. "We have a trouble!" she said while giving me the letter, I took it from her and read it. I was shocked by what I read, "PREPARE THE CARRIAGE! HURRY!", I shouted at her and she went as fast as she can to do what I ordered her. 'We DO have a trouble. A big one', I thought as I was looking at the symbol on the envelope. I just wish the kid would stay out of it.

Normal pointveiw:

Zero was on his way to the Champs-Elysee. When he reached there, he saw Raymond and Gabriel and greeted them and asked about the Count. "I'm sorry, senior Zero. But the Count is not here at the mean time." Raymond said politely.

"Did he say when he'll be back?" Zero asked

"Unfortunately, he didn't. I'm really sorry" Raymond answered him. Zero turned around and disappeared from their sight and used his speed to get into the house. When he was in, he sneaked carefully into the Count's room. He saw a letter on the desk and what shocked him is that the envelope had the Maverick's symbol on it. 'Could it be...?' he thought, then he opened the envelope and read:

"Gankutsuou. If you want to keep yourself and your servants safe, come and meet me in Boulogne at ten.

Nightmare

Oh, by the way, look at the back of the paper."

Zero looked at the back of the paper. His eyes widened of fear when he read the word 'Shinigami' -which means Grim Reaper or Death in Japanese-. "Oh no. This means he's in danger... Ah!", something hit his head so hard that it made him fall to the floor. He looked up and saw the Count looking at him with sad eyes:

The Count: Sorry, kid. I don't want you to get involved in this.

Zero(weakly standing up): Wait!

The Count(turns around): What?!

Zero: Don't go. You'll get killed.

The Count: I know. But I must do this. Fare the well, Zero.

Zero: Wait! Don't go! They'll kill you! Excellency. Excellency!...(falls to the floor again)... No. Ed...mond.

That was the last thing he said before he fainted.

Meanwhile, the Count went to meet Nightmare. He knew that he was going to death with his own feet, but he had no choice. The carriage stopped and he got out of it. Then, he walked into the forest with the four of Blaze, Silver, Raymond and Gabriel. He reached the meeting point and looked at his pocket watch, it was pointing at ten. 'Strange, he has to be here by now.', as he finished his thought, a troop of Maverick soldiers surrounded his followers. "Well, hello there...", he turned around and saw Nightmare who smiled and continued his words,"...Excellency."

Back at the Count's house, Zero woke up, still feeling dizzy from the Count's hit. Haydee was sitting next to him, "Are you alright?", she asked him with worried tone in her voice. The young Hunter looked at the alien princess with his blue eyes for a few minutes. Then, he suddenly stood up and started running, "Wait! where are going?!", she shouted but he didn't stop to answer her. He kept running until he reached his Chase Rider, he activated it and went to Boulogne. When he reached there, he got down and ran as fast as he can. 'Edmond... Edmond...' "Edmond!", his voice echoed through the forest as he kept running and hoped that the Count would be okay.

That moment, the Count was getting beat up by Nightmare. He was badly damaged and could barely stand on his feet. "You...bastard", he said weakly then collapsed on his knees. "Say what you want, you're done for.", he held his claws in the air, assured of his ability to kill the exhausted aristocratic. Blaze and her comrades looked at them with fear in their eyes, then Nightmare swift down his clawed hand and the Count closed his eyes prepared for his demise. But when he opened his eyes, he saw Zero standing in front of him and blocking Nightmare's hand. "Monsieur Zero!", Silver shouted in excitement. The others looked happy to see him, "What?!", Nightmare said annoyed by Zero's appearance.

"I won't let you hurt him!", he pushed Nightmare backwards, used his Chaos Emerald to destroy the soldiers then turned to the Count:

Zero: I'll take care of him. Hurry up and leave.

The Count: But what about you?

Zero: I'll be fine. Bertuccio and Baptistin are coming after me to take you from here.

Bertuccio(from afar): Excellency!

Zero: Just in time. (notices that Nightmare was starting to stand up)Bertuccio! Quickly, take the Count and get out of here! All of you!

Bertuccio took the Count and the others all ran away. Then, a battle between Zero and Nightmare started.

While they were running, the Count and the others could hear the sounds of the battle between the two reploids. Suddenly, the Count stopped when he heard a cry of pain that belonged to a dragon. "Excellency, what's wrong?", Silver asked. The Count said nothing. He just turned around and went back to Zero's place, "Excellency! Come back!", Blaze shouted but he didn't listen to her and kept running until he reached the battlefield. The others arrived after a short time and saw the view of two dragons fighting in the sky. When they landed on the ground, it was easy to identify each one of them. Zero was a blue dragon with yellow eyes and golden armor parts on his shoulders, chest, legs and head, Nightmare was a three-headed black dragon with red eyes and violet armor covering his body. The three-headed dragon held the blue dragon with his hands and the two heads on the sides bit the blue dragon's neck while the third one was breathing dark fire at the injured dragon:

Blaze: Oh, God!

Silver: This is very cruel! I mean... He just saved our lives and now he takes all the pain!

Raymond: He'll die if this went on.

Gabriel: No! We can't let that happen!

Bertuccio: It's over. He's doomed this time.

The Count: Not if I had something to do about it.

A fire spear formed in the Count's hand. Then, he ran to Nightmare and threw the spear at him. Nightmare felt the stinging pain of the spear's fire, he let go of Zero and removed the spear from his shoulder. He roared angrily and tried to burn the Count and his followers, but Zero held him from behind and flew up as high as possible then dived down hardly and crushed the ground forming a huge hole. The Count and his followers went to the hole to check if Zero was okay. They saw Nightmare getting out of the dust cloud -after he was back into his normal form- and thought that they were done for. All of a sudden, he collapsed and Zero was standing right behind him. He seemed to be weak because of the fight. He lifted his thumb and smiled to them. "I... always... keep my word.", he said weakly. The Count smiled at him in relief, then Zero waved goodbye to them and flew away.

Later that night, the Count laid on his bed, thinking of the earlier events. 'So I guess now is the right time?', Gankutsuou asked boringly, he was tired of being hunted all the time. The Count's lips formed into a smile and answered: "Indeed.". Then, he fell asleep.