A/N: I don't really have much to say here for the time being except that, there are two more chapters and one epilogue left till Broken ends. With that out of the way, enjoy the update.
He was running through the narrow tunnels, the walls opening up before him to cut a straight passage to the very heart of the Complex and the Shaman's magic creating a protective cocoon around him to ward off any and all attacks from the hunters that were hot on his trail. He could see her fading aura up ahead; an orb of light so dull and weak it felt like the faintest of gusts would snuff the life out of it. He skidded to a halt right outside of the room that held her. Remembering the warning that the Shaman had given him about not killing anyone, no matter what he found, he had to physically reel in all his magic before he sent out a focused spell that blasted the wall apart. He might not have been able to see, but the reeking stench of blood and sex was all he needed to know what had happened. The only reason why he did not tear the bastard standing over her shuddering body with a blood covered scalpel apart was the knowledge that killing him would cause the Shaman to retract on its promise to get them both to safety the minute he had her with him.
A team of medics was on standby back at Magihidusi, awaiting their arrival. Dodging the scalpel thrown at him by the bastard cutting her up, he ran forth with an enraged roar. Tackling the man around his middle and bashing his head against the wall, he darted towards the life that was fading away on the metal bench. Grabbing hold of her hand, he felt the promised magic whisking them both to safety, healers rushing forth to take her from him as he slumped down on the cold stone floor, all his rage suddenly transformed into crushing helplessness as she continued to slowly drift away.
"I still haven't thanked you for the scar you gave me that night," Bauld sneered at him as he wiped off the blood dripping into his eyes from the cut on his forehead.
"You're lucky I was more worried about getting her out of that hell," he responded icily, summoning his knives back to himself with a lazy swipe of his hand, "or I would have taken my time cutting you up bit by tiny bit."
Before their fight had even begun, Nixon pushed all his emotions except for his hatred for the man before him to the back of his mind. Focusing on that feeling alone, he had been able to clear his mind of all the worries and fears and dreads about what might be happening to his friends all over the city. He wanted to completely destroy this bastard for what he had done. And he would do so, before the night was over. Casting a spell in the darkest of runes, he let his magic whip through the air like a spike aiming for the hunter's heart. The man dodged the spell, Nixon's magic scratching the Cerellium armor where it nicked him before the hunter was completely clear of it. The bald-headed man's aura flared in surprise for the briefest of moments as he realized that even the magic-nullifying metal was not enough to protect him from the Oracle's wrath. Casting twin spells with his knives, he dashed across the cavern towards the hunter, ducking under the battle-axe as it tried to take off his head.
Going to the infirmary to see her, dread bubbled up inside his stomach as his footsteps automatically hastened. He knew something was wrong the instant he came upon her sitting by the window. Her aura was in turmoil, moving about inside her weakened body like a caged animal, threatening to break free and decimate everything in its path, though she probably wasn't aware of it as she seemed to stare at something in her hand rather intently. His blood ran cold when he realized that that something was a scalpel, resting against the skin of her wrist. He raced inside, banishing the sharp tool from her hands before pulling her into his arms. She flinched at his touch, her entire body stiffening in his hold for exactly three seconds before she started screaming.
The hunter deflected his knives, metal screaming against metal as their fight became one of strength. The hunter was forced to push away when the spells the Oracle had cast went for the red-eyed man from both sides. Taking advantage of his opponent's retreat, Nixon lashed out with his heel, catching the hunter's leg. The latter grabbed the Oracle's arm, trying to use the momentum to his advantage by throwing him around. Nixon, however, managed to twist his body in mid-flight, landing in a neat crouch a little ways away. He grinned when his opponent's aura changed color in pain. Summoning his dagger from where he had plunged it into the hunter's shoulder while the bastard had been trying to throw him, Nixon straightened just a little.
-0-
Knocking the third hunter into a stone wall and hearing the satisfying crack as his skull bashed against the rock and he fell to the ground, Sakura tried not to let her exhaustion get to her. She still had to protect Fai. The barest of screams escaped her lips as a sword sliced off a thin layer of flesh off her back. The princess whirled around to block the follow-up attack, trying to figure out where the last hunter was. Her heart nearly sank into the pit of her stomach when she realized that the man was gone. But the reason for her dread was the fact that Fai was as well.
With an enraged cry, she pushed back against the pale-skinned hunter, trying to refrain from calling on her magic for an attack spell. It would not do to waste her magic on something that wouldn't even work against an opponent protected by Cerellium. Pushing the sword-wielder's blade back on itself, Sakura thrust one of her short swords around behind the hunter's neck, forcing him to move closer to her in order to avoid the attack. She saw the man's eyes widen in realization as she drove the second sword towards his exposed side, his steps faltering in preparation for the onslaught of pain that raced through his body as Sakura pushed her weapons into his body. Blood sprayed across her hand and arm as the hunter dropped with a scream. Pulling out the sword, she did not even bother to spare the fallen man a second glance as she tore through the tunnels in pursuit of Fai and the last hunter.
Sakura knew the men she had left behind would live because she did not want to take another human's life. But that did not mean that the princess was above crippling them. Those monsters deserved to live with the pain of knowing that they would never be able to use some part of their body ever again. After everything that they had done not only to her friends but to all those other magicians whose spirits were still trapped in the stone walls of the Complex, she knew they deserved that much at least.
-0-
He wandered through the familiar-looking tunnels, wondering why those men had wanted to hurt him. Fai had not done anything to hurt those men. But they had tried to come after him…and Sakura had been fighting them. Why had Sakura been fighting those men? Why had they tried to hurt Fai? Maybe he should have stayed to help…but…what if they hurt him? They had wanted to hurt him. They had told him that before…before Sakura had started fighting them. Was she fighting them because they wanted to hurt Fai?
Maybe Fai should have stayed to help…but Fai could not fight… No, wait. He had his magic. He tried to reach inside himself for it. The light blue of his magic was just there. Just a little out of his reach, but it rose to his call. Or it would have, but a barrier slammed into its path and it sank back down. Feeling scared as shadows danced all around him, Fai froze where he was. A tiny whimper formed in his throat as he realized his magic was blocked. Why was his magic blocked? He closed his eyes, concentrating on calling it back out. The blue slammed into the barrier again before sinking back down.
The blond slipped to his knees, shoulders hunching as the shadows creeped closer to him. A pitiful whine escaped his lips the third time the barrier blocked his magic from reaching him and he curled further into himself. Set to the rhythm of the dancing shadows, the sound of footsteps approached where the blond lay on the ground.
-0-
"I liked you so much better with short hair." The woman drawled as Masooma tried to fight off the behemoth of a hunter trying to back her into a corner. It didn't help that the woman was using her Cerellium-barbed whip to herd her back like a shepherd would his cattle. Her gaze searched around the cave for the third hunter, finding him leaning against the wall to catch his breath, "Maybe I'll give you another haircut before I kill you."
Growling low in her throat, the witch spoke no words as she returned her attention to her current opponents, dropping into a low crouch to keep the barbed wire from scratching her face off when the female hunter flung it in her direction. She rolled out of the way of an oncoming blow from the male hunter, the earth where she had been moments before cracking under the force of the attack. Using her staff to deflect the silver-haired woman's whip, she jumped to her feet. Deciding that it would be best to get rid of the close-range fighter first, she raced towards the man with a vicious battle cry.
Calling on just a little bit of her magic, she pushed her body to move a little faster, diving out of the way of the sword of her second opponent at a speed that normal humans could not reach. Using her momentum to her advantage, she pushed off the ground with her hands in order to flip back to her feet right behind the man. Still moving at super-human speed, she spun around, swinging the staff through the air with her until the metal hit the man right in the throat. His eyes bulged out in their sockets as she heard the sickening crunch of cartilage giving way. The sword dropped from her opponent's hand, even as the man made to grab at his neck, choking on blood as the strangest of sounds came from his mouth. One blow to the head later, the man dropped to the ground like a felled log.
Erecting the strongest shield she could summon around her to protect herself from the female hunter's weapon, the witch allowed herself to stand over the fallen man, watching the way life was slowly snuffed out of those hate-filled black eyes. Surprisingly enough, she felt no remorse in having taken yet another living being's life. If anything, a deep sense of satisfaction filled her for a moment, even as the repeated attacks from the silver-haired woman and her remaining partner were beginning to cause cracks in her shield. That monster would never hurt another person, ever again. It was only when the last of the choked sounds completely stopped that Masooma finally returned her attention to the final two hunters.
-0-
His head pounded in tempo with his heartbeat as he kept a vigilant watch over the witch. Sobs shook her fevered body even in her sleep, though she had yet to wake up after she had passed out somewhere in her screaming fit nearly a week ago. The healers told him that her body was merely trying to set itself right, her magic too diminished from the careless haircut she had received in the Complex to be of much use to help her heal on her own.
He tried not to flinch at the heat radiating off her body as he caught hold of her hand, her fingers trembling in his palm as a couple of stray tears leaked out her closed eyes, same as they had been doing for the past four days.
Growling in rage, the hunter rushed at him, going on the offensive with a flurry of rapid attacks that forced Nixon back a couple of steps. The hunter followed up on this advance with a slash of his axe to Nixon's left, forcing the Oracle to dodge to the right. His opponent had been counting on that as he was there in a heartbeat, the battle-axe trying to slice up his throat even as Nixon hastily erected a shield to block the attack. The sharp blade cut through his shield like tissue paper, buryingitself in the flesh of his forearm almost halfway to the bone before his magic strengthened enough to push the metal back out. Black ribbons of magic materialized around the wound to stem the flow of blood as Nixon once again moved to the offensive.
The water was freezing in the tiny shower stall he found her hunched up under the night she was released from the infirmary. Her skin felt colder still as he shut the water off and tried to pull her out. Not even realizing her state of undress, the witch only looked up at him with a tear-stained face, her short hair plastered to her face as she kept on scrubbing her already-raw skin.
"I can't clean it off…" she admitted as broken sobs spilled from her throat, "No matter what I do, I can't clean it off."
The barely- healed scars on her stomach felt almost scalding in comparison to the rest of her as he pulled the scratchy washcloth out of her fingers and pulled her to her feet, wrapping a towel around her trembling frame before guiding her to her new room.
"I wonder how your little bitch will react when she sees the state of your body once I'm through with you." The hunter hissed, blocking the Oracle's knife with his axe before charging.
Refusing to rise to the bait, the dark-haired magician only dodged out of the way of the attack, bringing up his second knife to slice through the tendon at the hunter's calf as they crossed each other.
-0-
"Did you think curling up on the floor with your tail between your legs would make me spare your life, you Magi scum?" Fai heard an angry voice say, causing the blond to look up. He had black eyes with equally dark hair. He looked at Fai with hatred, making the blond scrabble across the ground to put some distance between them.
Why did this man hate him? Was he going to hurt him? He did not want to be hurt. He did not like being in pain, but…this man looked at him like everyone had looked at him and his brother. Did this man hate him for being a twin of misfortune? But…Fai had not done anything to hurt him. Why would he want to hurt Fai when Fai had not even done anything to him?
"What's this?" the man laughed mockingly as he took another step closer. Fai pushed two steps back, "Nothing to say for yourself? I can see that you're afraid of me," he kept on advancing until the blonde's back hit the stone, "as you should be." hissed the black-eyed man.
"N-No…" he whimpered, the silkiest of whispers caressing the distant corners of his mind as the barrier inside him wavered. He did not like this. He did not like this man. He wanted to go away from here. Fai was scared and…this man was going to hurt him!
"No?" the man growled menacingly and Fai pushed back even more. He had to get away. He had to get away. He had to get away or this man would hurt him and… Fai did not want to be hurt. Screwing his eyes closed, he tried to reach for his magic again. The blue rose, collided with the barrier and sank back down. More wordless whispers sounded in the back of his mind. "'No' what? No, you're not scared?" the man laughed and it echoed all around him. His magic rose once again, collided with the barrier and fell back down. More whispers, more whispers.
Cold fingers closed around his throat, lifting him off the ground as he tried to push the man away. His heart thundered inside him as the whispers grew louder. The laughter grew louder. Magic rose, collided and fell. Rose, collided and fell. He scratched at the hand holding him up. Get away. He had to get away. He did not want to be hurt. No pain. No more pain. No. No. No. No. Magic rose, collided and something cracked. The whispers grew louder but there were no words. The man was speaking but he did not know what he was saying. Everything was spinning and spinning and magic rose again, cracks spread and he had to get away! No more pain! Couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe, power rose, something shattered. Get away, get away, get away! Magic burst out of him in an uncontrolled torrent, power flaring through his veins as the man began to scream.
Fear vanished and anger appeared. He wanted to hurt him. That man had wanted to hurt him. That man had wanted to hurt Fai! Fai would hurt him!
"No more pain." Fai hissed at the hunter. The black-eyed man still had his fingers wrapped around Fai's throat, even though he was screaming and trying to let go. Fai caught hold of his wrist and the man screamed louder."You won't hurt Fai."
Uncontrolled magic poured from his body into the other through the points of contact, the man screaming and screaming and screaming. Fai did not care. His magic ripped through the man's body, tearing it apart from the inside as he began to cry tears of blood, more crimson leaking from every opening in his body, his mouth, his nose, his ears, even from under his nails, but he did not stop. It was only when the man when to the floor in a lifeless, bloodied heap that Fai finally realized what had happened. Eyes going wide, he stayed where he was to stare at the bloodied corpse for exactly three seconds before he was pushing away and running and running and running, the sounds of screeching metal and falling rocks and magic crackling through the air growing closer and closer.
-0-
Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she ran through the darkened tunnels without any sense of direction. She was only spurred on the by the immense need to find Fai before the final hunter or someone else from the attacking party found him. The hilts of her blood-covered swords felt comfortingly warm in her sweaty palms, the weight providing her with the reassuring comfort that she was strong enough to do this. That she was strong enough to protect someone, for a change. Hearing the sounds of an ongoing scuffle down a tunnel that branched off from the one she was in somewhere to her right, she skidded to a halt for just a moment. Hastily backtracking to the opening, she didn't wait to make out who the voices yelling up ahead could belong to as she tore down the narrow passageway. Ignoring the nausea bubbling its way up inside her at the thought of what might happen to the blond if she did not get to him in time, Sakura pushed herself to overcome the screaming pain in her muscles begging for relief.
She had been pushing herself to her limits ever since Kurogane had returned to Clow with Tsubasa, and now…now it seemed like she would have to push herself just a little further. Besides, there would be plenty of time to rest once this fight was over. Right now, her exhaustion, her pain, none of that mattered, heck she didn't matter. No. What mattered was that she to get to Fai before anyone else did. So she ran and ran and ran until the sounds of fighting were upon her. She came to a brightly-lit opening- a branch of the sun caves. Her green eyes widened just a little as she saw members of the Magihidusi Guard locked in a bloody battle against the Hunters.
A severed head flew through the air to land right at her feet. A keening wail formed and died in her throat as empty blue eyes, set in a pale face framed by choppy blond hair, stared right up at her. Giving in to the urge to be sick, she staggered a few feet away, dropping to her knees as her stomach emptied itself of its contents. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the acidic bile dripping from her lips as her entire body shook with sobs.
A/N: And it looks like things took a turn for the worst after all. Drop me a review and share your thoughts.
Till next time guys.