This is chapter forty. Thank you explosivebagel and Dracula X for reviewing last chapter!
Chapter Forty: Discovered
Gillick whipped around at the sound of the voice, jerking his sword out of its scabbard in the same instant. The man standing before them wore the armor panels of a Keyblader from the Dark Army and a sadistic smirk, but he wasn't attacking them…yet. "It looks like three blind mice have stumbled into my house."
Gillick snorted. "I'm not interested in nursery rhymes." Mala shot him a look of combined frustration and nervousness, but he chose to ignore it.
The man snorted. "I'm sorry, I must correct myself." He looked over the three people glaring at him. "One mouse…and two rats."
"Very clever of you," Silver commented dryly.
Gillick noticed the Keyblader's yellow eyes flicker and tensed immediately. Get ready… "Really? I thought so too." Then his Keyblade burst into his hand and he launched himself forward.
Gillick, however, was ready, and rose to intercept his blow.
Mala gasped with surprise and, out of the corner of his eye, he could see that even Silver appeared stunned. The Keyblader before him, however, just seemed amused. "Oh, I suppose I should've known you'd see it coming."
Gillick had a sinking feeling he knew where this was heading, and he had no intention of letting his secret get revealed. "Mala! Silver! Get the person in that torture chamber out of there!"
"I believe I'm the one giving orders, here," Silver retorted, frowning.
At the same moment, Mala exclaimed, "Are you nuts? She's the assassin that's been trying to kill you!"
Gillick suddenly felt his feet swept out from under him. "We don't have time to argue!" he growled after he hit the floor, rolling to the side to avoid being impaled by the dark man's weapon.
"I suppose…you have a point," Silver allowed.
The next moment, Gillick heard her footsteps and Mala's receding, the sounds of the torture chamber replaced with new ones. That takes care of that, he thought. No to take care of this…
The Keyblader brought his weapon down towards Gillick, who rolled over himself and returned to his feet. "Oh, so you don't want them to know you were part of our army once, do you?"
"Why do you care?" Gillick spat, taking the opportunity to go on the offensive and charge forward.
"I don't," the Keyblader responded, parrying the blow and taking several hops backwards. "Just curious, is all."
Gillick's eyes narrowed in frustration as he whipped around and brought his sword down in a powerful overhead arc towards his opponent's head. The dark Keyblader spun smoothly to the side. While his back was still towards Gillick, he lifted his Keyblade above his head and pointed it backwards, a burst of darkness flying from the tip. The former Keyblader, unprepared for the attack, was hit dead on by the blow. He stumbled, but was able to prevent himself from falling.
He eyed the Dark Army Keyblader warily as he began to slink around him with all the grace of a cat. I can't fight this guy like I normally do, he thought in frustration as he watched the man; his opponent's yellow eyes were narrowed in sadistic amusement, a wolfish smile curling his lips. Gillick's felt his heart pound with agitation. At least Xuren can be provoked; this guy doesn't seem to be bothered by anything. And that was what would make him an all the more challenging opponent.
Gillick feinted to the right, then slipped to the left, lashing his sword out. The man parried his blow. "Oh, you'll never get anywhere that way," he purred.
Gillick kept moving, trying to dodge around behind his opponent so he could hit him. However, the Keyblader kept spinning around to face him, moving easily on his toes. Frustrated, he snapped, "What are we doing, fighting or dancing?"
"I don't see why we can't-"
He didn't have the chance to finish his sentence; Gillick had lunged forward to strike him while he spoke. He'd managed to lift his Keyblade in time to keep from getting impale, but Gillick was able to slide his sword down the weapon and cut open the other man's side. Then he began to hammer at him.
Gillick's success was short lived. After only a few more blows, the Keyblader sent him flying with magic. He managed to keep his feet, though barely, and his head was ringing and body hurting from the impact. Grimacing, he lifted his head to glare at the Keyblader.
The other man had a few painful - looking cuts, and his expression had changed from one of morbid amusement to one of fury. Then his expression relaxed again, and he purred, "That wasn't very polite, now was it, Gillick?"
"Because you're just so polite," Gillick growled back at him, dashing forward. He ducked low, then jumped upwards, attempting to hit the man with an upward slash.
The Keyblader twisted his Keyblade around Gillick's weapon, nearly causing the black-haired boy to lose it. "Oh, but I am," the Keyblader responded, lifting a leg and kicking his opponent back. "When you die, I will thank you for it."
Gillick skidded backwards, and tried to start moving again immediately before his opponent could strike. "Thanks a lot," he muttered.
He eyed his opponent as he moved. The Keyblader seemed content to wait for him to make the next move, so he stopped momentarily, though he didn't take his eyes off him. He frowned, thinking. What can I do to through this guy off his guard?
Suddenly the Keyblader lunged at him. An idea sparked to life in his mind, and he let himself fall backwards. The only sign that his opponent was caught off guard was the rapid blink he gave, but it was enough to give Gillick a thrill of satisfaction. He took the opportunity to knock his opponent's legs out from under him, causing him to come crashing down beside him. Gillick slashed his sword out to the side to cut through the man's skin and clothes before he rolled over, regaining his feet. Then he jumped forward, lifting his sword above his head to bring it down upon his opponent.
The Keyblader, however, was able to recover, returning to his feet in a similar manner as Gillick had. They lifted their weapons, striking and parrying blows for a few moments before jumping away, watching each other warily. The Keyblader smirked. "Well played. Perhaps you are a worthy opponent after all."
Mala didn't like this. She didn't like the idea of leaving Gillick to fight that man all by himself…although, she had to admit, she liked the idea of fighting him herself even less. She also didn't like the idea of running into a torture chamber to save someone who was likely to turn and around and stab them in the back.
Silver had drawn her twin sword from her back, and Mala instinctively pulled off her bow and strung an arrow. Then Mala saw just what lay before her and paled considerably. A woman was strapped to a table in the chamber, with burn marks lacing the visible parts of her body. She assumed that was the assassin, who looked a lot worse off than when she'd last seen her. Nearby was a man holding a Keyblade.
Silver wasted no time in lunging forward, her twin blades clashing against the dark Keyblader's one. "Wasn't expecting guests," he commented, his face oddly calm.
Silver glanced towards Mala. "Mala, get Allia out of those shackles!"
"Allia?" Mala questioned.
"Who's the only one here in shackles?" the assassin hissed from the table. She swallowed hard, then hesitantly slipped her bow back onto her back and returned the arrow, heading over to help the assassin.
"How does she know your name?" Mala asked quietly.
"You thought Gillick was the only one who ever ticked the Keybladers off, girlie?" Allia scoffed. "Silver had a hit on her, too, and I was sent out to kill her by the Dark Army's leader. Decided I preferred to let her live."
"What?" Silver yelped, obviously overhearing the conversation. "I beat you, you-" her words turned into a cry of pain as the Dark Army Keyblader slashed his blade into her side.
"Maybe you should pay more attention to the fight!" Allia called, sounding amused.
Mala looked hesitantly towards the assassin. "You're not going to kill us the minute I let you go, are you?"
"Oh, so there is a brain in there," Allia commented dryly. "Though apparently not much, considering that any fool could see I'm too injured to do anything at the moment."
Seeing her point, Mala bent down and examined the shackles around the assassin's wrists. She pulled her lock picks out of her pouch and inserted them into the lock.
Mala found it difficult to ignore the battle raging behind her, and more than anything wanted to turn and run away. Once, a bolt of magic hit near her, and she let out a yelp of fear, flinching away and ceasing all movement for several moments until Allia's jeering gave her the courage to continue. Finally, the lock clicked around her one wrist. "There. That one's free," she whispered, shaking. "Only…three more to go…"
Allia watched Mala as best she could as she shifted around the back of the table to the assassin's other hand. "Explain something to me," she commanded. "You don't like this; you're scared shitless. I can tell you want to run and hide yourself away somewhere. So why are you here? Something valuable here for you to steal, and you just got mixed in with this mess?"
"It's…not easy to explain," Mala replied quietly, trying to focus on her work and ignore everything else. How could she explain how hurt and abandoned she felt after what Trevor had done? How could she explain about her world coming crashing down around her?
Allia snorted with amusement, a sudden grin crossing her face. "It's Gillick, isn't it? He got you all messed up in this?"
"What?" Mala yelped in surprise, the lock clicking open in the same moment.
Allia sat up slowly with a grimace of pain, rubbing her wrists. "Well, you were with him last time, weren't you? You could've left him behind to me, but you didn't. And what the chick over there's fighting for sounds like it's something that's right up his alley. So I'm guessing he's involved in this. It'd make sense you'd want to be involved, too, seeing as you two are pals."
"We're not exactly 'pals'," Mala informed her awkwardly.
"No?" Allia asked. "Well, then I suppose you're comrades. Either way, you two are connected to each other."
Mala opened her mouth to deny it, then stopped. How many times have we crossed paths? she wondered. How many times have we ended up working together? …Too many, it seemed.
The sound of Silver's swords clanging on the chains still attached to Allia's legs brought Mala back to reality with a yelp of surprise. "You were taking too long," the woman explained briskly before she was forced to turn around and fight the Dark Army Keyblader again.
"What now?" Mala muttered.
"We run," Allia explained simply.
Mala nodded an assent, slipping her shoulder beneath the assassin's to support her as she edged nervously towards the door. "Silver! Let's go!"
"I'm not leaving yet!" Silver barked. "Get her out of here; when you're done, come back!"
"W-what?" Mala stuttered.
"You're insane!" Allia snapped at the leader of the Silver Fang. "These guys will eat you alive. Get out now, instead of dying for your damn pride."
Silver looked away. "Just go, you two."
"Idiot," Allia muttered. Mala glanced from Silver to Allia, then made her way out of the torture chamber.
Gillick was panting with exertion as he and his opponent jumped apart. Now that he was beginning to understand his opponent's odd actions, the Keyblader was proving to be less difficult, and both warriors had sizeable cuts along their bodies. He heard a sound behind him and jumped towards the wall, pressing his back flat against the surface. He didn't relax even when he saw who it was. "Where's Silver?" he barked.
"Still in there, fighting," Mala replied, looking paler than a ghost.
"What?"
"She wouldn't listen when I told her it was time to leave," the assassin muttered; she was currently being supported by Mala.
Even I wouldn't do something as crazy as that, Gillick thought dryly. "Get going!" he told Mala.
"But…what about…"
"You're not going to be any help fighting," Gillick barked. "We all know that by now. Use what you can do to get the assassin out, and see if you can find the others."
Mala hesitated, then nodded, a steely determination appearing in her eyes. "Ok." Then she headed off.
Gillick began to head towards the door to the torture chamber, but had to stop and block an attack from the Dark Army Keyblader. "You didn't forget about me, now did you, hm?" the Keyblader purred.
Gillick gritted his teeth. "Maybe it's time I made you nothing but a memory."
There's the end of chapter forty. If you'd review, I'd appreciate it!