Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, owned DN Angel. I really need to think of some clever way to say this…

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Dark arrived with Harlem in tow only a few minutes later. I heard a group of feet shuffling through the dirt, and a clinking sound I figured was plate armor. There were several pairs of feet ascending the stairs, and I assumed they belonged to Krad, Satoshi, King Hayato and Queen Rio. I didn't bother looking up though, because I knew even though they could see me, they wouldn't help me; wouldn't think anything of my glance toward them but as a plea for help. I did not want them to think of me as weak, especially not now.

I heard the latches opening and felt dread swoop into my stomach. I had the most awful feeling that I would die here; that Krad and Satoshi and the rest of the world would turn their backs as I joined my mother and father and uncle in death. The door swung open yet again, and I prayed that I would live to see it grant me exit from this place.

Dark stood silhouetted in the doorframe. This did not surprise me in the least. I had figured he would release Harlem into the pen, or arena; whichever I was supposed to call it. However, I was a bit stunned by the thickness of the chain attached to the heavy metal collar that was securely padlocked around this beast's neck. I shuddered, and again dread raced through my veins. I was going to die here. Harlem was at least twice my size and I was going to die here.

A low snarl rippled out of Harlem's lungs. He wore a dull coat of armor, and a helmet with a spike sprouting from the forehead that looked to be just as much of a weapon as a decoration. His tail was also draped in a coat of spikes, like a mace. Dark slowly walked in, with Harlem, still snarling, at his heels. I could tell that this creature was doing his very best to remain docile while his master was next to him, but I could also tell that if I made one false move right now, the warhound would not hesitate to do what he thought was right.

Dark pulled a key out of his pocket, knelt down, and carefully unlocked and removed Harlem's collar. It was then that I noticed a very surprising something –Harlem's neck and throat were bare. Was Dark really so confident to leave such an obvious Achilles heel in his precious warhounds armor? But then I realized: my throat was bared too. My armor only touched the base of my neck before stopping.

I heard Dark begin to move again. He stood, brushed the dust off his pants, and walked to the door. He paused, turned, and looked at the two of us for a moment before opening the door and slipping out. For what I was sure was the last time in my life, I heard the latches close. As if on cue, Harlem snarled a loud, horrible, terrifying snarl, baring his teeth. He began to slowly circle and, without thought, I did the same. We slowly paced around each other for a minute that felt like a lifetime, and then, without warning, Harlem leapt at me.

Instantly, without thinking, I snarled, lunged for his throat, and missed by a country mile. My jaw clicked shut painfully, and whirling around the moment my paws touched the dirt, I leapt again. But this jump was even blinder than the last, and felt my helmet tear away from my face. I was choked briefly, and then the straps that kept it in place tore. Harlem threw it toward the wall, and I saw what I thought were dark droplets of blood flying off of it. However, there was no pain to accompany the 'blood', and I realized with a sudden dart of horror that sapphires were raining off the metal. But there was no time to think about that, because now that the warhound knew my face was unprotected, he came leaping at me, teeth bared. Not knowing what to do, I dropped and rolled to my right, meaning to spring back up and dash away.

But Harlem was too fast. He switched directions almost in midair, crashed down on my ribcage, knocking the wind of my lungs, and nearly blinded me. Four razor sharp claws tore my face open from ear to muzzle, and I heard myself howl in pain. Half-blinded by my own blood, I bit down hard on Harlem's leg, realizing as I did so that he wasn't wearing the metal guards on his front legs, or back. He reared onto his hind legs, pulling me up with him. I tasted nothing but sweet, metallic blood, and I suddenly began seeing red again.

Releasing Harlem rather reluctantly, I sprung away from him, feeling some sort of instinct guide me. I felt as I had when I had seen Lyra stabbing my uncle –uncontrollable and furious. As I heard Harlem begin to follow me, I leapt toward and rebounded off the nearest section of the wall. This was quite a feat with such heavy armor on, but I managed to land behind him.

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten about the spikes on his tail until they cut the other half of my face open. Harlem whirled around on his hind legs and raised a paw that seemed to be the size of a chessboard up into the air, and I could see his claws glinting in the moonlight. I shuddered, frozen in place by the terror of the sight. I really was going to die; then and there. The huge paw sliced through the night air, and I could feel every muscle in my body tense.

Without thought, I leapt a foot to the right and tore at Harlem's throat with my paws before springing away. I stood there, snarling, for a moment, but then leapt at him again. This time he met me halfway, knocking me aside like I was nothing more than a fly. I noticed with satisfaction that he was bleeding slightly on the side of his throat, until I felt something warm and wet trickling through the fur on my left side. My armor had actually dented when Harlem had leapt on me, and now I was bleeding. Whether it was from the damage to the metal or Harlem taking advantage of that, I didn't know. The gashes on my muzzle and face were beginning to sting from the dirt in them, and I didn't know if I could keep this up. I would have to finish this battle, or be finished in it.

I whirled around and tensed to spring, but then suddenly, something in the back of my mind whispered 'wait'. I looked up, towards where I thought I had heard the voice coming from, and saw two tiny pinpricks of acid green watching me. I stayed tense, but didn't move. Harlem did the same, standing some twenty feet away from me. He was snarling, a deep snarl that seemed to come from the depths of his lungs, and I suddenly decided to listen to him.

"You fool… can you hear me? You cannot fight. I am not allowed."I stared at him, confused.

"I can hear you now," I replied. "I am Rue."

"I am called Harlem,"he snarled. He began circling again, and I followed suit. He seemed to be suddenly less fierce, though his eyes still glowed with raging fury. "My master tells me not to fight you."

"Why would he do that?"I asked, and Harlem snarled deeper in his throat and lunged at me. I met him; we clashed, and he shoved me away, where we continued to circle. I had a feeling that from then on, all the fighting we would do would be only for show while we continued our conversation.

"Because he is a fool. What are you to him?" I shook my head, and continued circling. But there had been something in Harlem's voice…

Fool… he speaks in lies. Kill him. Now. I saw what looked like a pair of glowing gold eyes to my right, but the moment I turned my head they were gone.

The moment I turned my head, the eyes were gone and I was pinned to the ground on my side, one of my hind legs being ruthlessly bitten until I felt my bones snap. I howled in pain, and Harlem released me, stepped back, and let me struggle to my feet. He then lunged forward, bit my right ear, and released it, tearing the tip of it neatly in half with one sharp fang. I snarled and stepped back, shaking my head and showering the dirt with droplets of blood. I felt the two small pieces of my ear flapping back and forth.

Calm down. He is weak. Know your own strengths. I saw a flash of green, and then it was gone. But I couldn't find a single strength in the slowly bleeding mass of pain that was currently me. Hush. Be brave. Be smart. Watch. Now, I'll help you. But whoever the voice belonged to was soon silenced as Harlem again leapt at me and I was forced to perform an ungainly scramble to escape his claws and teeth. My hind leg was broken, that much could be taken in at a glance. I was delirious from blood loss; I was hearing voices! I didn't know what to do anymore; where to look, or fight, or even think. How could Dark have thought I would be any good at this? I was truly going to die here, without anyone or anything to come to my aid.

Suddenly, without anything to bid them to my mind, Satoshi's words sprang to my mind. "Confuse him," he had said, and I'd be mincemeat if that wasn't what I did. Drawing my hind leg close to my bloodied, battered carcass, I limped forward.

"Stop," I growled quietly. "Why are we fighting? Because those people up there," here I turned my muzzle up to where the royals and Dark were sitting, "commanded it?" Harlem stood staring at me, his armor glowing in the moonlight. He tipped his head to me, and for a horrifying moment I thought he meant to gore me with the spike on his helmet. Then I saw that he was showing me something branded to his ear; his right ear.

It was a tattoo, a curling, scrollwork pattern of bright dyes forming a fang; a fang dripping with blood. "We fight because we are marked to fight," Harlem snarled, and in that instant I knew I had to act. Without thinking, I bit his tattooed ear and refused to release it, even as Harlem began tearing at my throat with his claws. I held on grimly, doing my best not to rip his ear off; feeling my wounds bleed as my eyesight blurred.

"Stop! Harlem, back!" Whose voice was that? Was it Krad's? Or Satoshi's? "Harlem get back! Rue, let go of him!" No, it wasn't either of the two princes. This voice belonged to a being that had ended my human life. This voice was Dark's. He grabbed my muzzle (my jaws still being firmly locked around Harlem's tattooed ear), and without warning, pulled a dagger from some concealed sheath and, using the handle of it, rapped me sharply across the nose. Shocked and in a considerable amount of pain, I released Harlem instinctively and turned toward Dark, snarling. Without any thought at all, I lunged at him. It took my body precisely five seconds to realize that I had lost enough blood to pass out, and apparently, five seconds is too late when you're in mid-air.

"Well," I thought, "so much for confusing him." I felt myself crash into Dark, and blackness consumed my vision.

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AN: … Ermegersh, this is so late… Please forgive me, and please push that NEW AND IMPROVED review button! (I should have a cover image for this story soon… I hope. Maybe Rue…)