Happy New Years to all you guys! *smiley face and blows party favors* I'm feeling in a write-y mood, so here goes 'nuthin.
January 3, 2014
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
-A
Kage's POV:
Kutabare. Kutabare kutabare KUTABARE! I mentally swore in panic, thrashing frantically as Arro calmly approached, his thin lips set in a smug smirk. I shakily inhaled, thinking as fast and as coherently as I could. The Black Mass…but Eibon…didn't he…and I don't see the Book anywhere…this is impossible! The Black Mass is DEAD. It hasn't been seen for…since Asura was sealed away! THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! I thought desperately, seeing Akuma snarl and twist towards Hazel, grabbing her by her half-shifted arm and reforming her into the cannon, starting to fire as Arro smirked and his outline fizzled out again, the flickering black edges of his essence in constant flux as he merely absorbed my brother's shots, leaving me to fruitlessly claw with my physical and mental fingers at my spell and restraints as he continued to relentlessly approach.
"Yatte…c'mon ya stupid damn spell…just…let me go!" I muttered, sweat running across the stinging bite mark and sending a blast of pain rocketing through my body, one I gritted my teeth around and endured, working at the unyielding restraints. Queenie…Kyōfu…I know you're nothing more than a wisp in me now, but please…help us. Help them. I mentally whispered, feeling not even a flicker within me as I clenched my fists, hating my inability to act as Akuma whizzed by me, the more grainy, flickering mass that was Arro in hot pursuit. A trickle of anger filtered into me as I saw DK moan and turn over weakly, coughing as his dark blood splattered the ground. "GODAMNIT THIS IS FOR OUR BROTHERS!" I shouted angrily, thrashing once against the cuffs before something deep, deep in my very essence thrummed, then settled.
Black tentacles of shadow whipped up from every corner of the room, and I heard startled cries as they blocked Arro, wrapping around Akuma and DK protectively as I saw the bleeding slash on my brother's forehead. That was all the time Akuma needed before he ran; slamming his hand against DK's chest as more shadows sucked them all up, vanishing into what I knew was safety. The shadows fell away into wisps as they did, and I flinched instinctively as Arro got up from his kneeling position, his coal-black eyes calm. Not enraged, not furious, not even irritated, but perfectly, absolutely, calm. As if he had been planning to let them get away. He slowly, quietly approached me, his footsteps deliberate and poised. "Anata chikushō musuko no-" I started to snarl, but stopped with a hiss as he backhanded me.
"No foul language. And speak English. The Demonic tongue grates on my eardrums." he said softly, and I turned to spit out some extra blood that had found its way into my mouth, then looked back at him. "English? You want English? YOU SON OF A-" I snarled, but this time he hit me with a solid roundhouse, making me flinch as my cheekbones broke under his hard fist. He pulled his hand away, slowly licking my blood off his knuckles as I glared hatefully at him, wanting him dead more than almost anyone else I had encountered in my enemy-filled life, even more than Jack, even more than Asura. He smirked, beginning to circle me like a shark homing in on prey as I closed my eyes, dragging in a long breath through my nose, softly listing off all the Great Old Ones I knew.
" Asura, Madness through Madness."
Step.
"Lord Death, Madness through Order."
Step.
"Eibon, Madness through Knowledge."
Step.
"Kage, Madness through Terror."
Step.
"Gekido, Demon King, Madness through Rage."
Step.
"Excalibur."
Step.
"Vajra."
Step.
"The Black Mass…Madness through Power."
Pause.
He was now directly behind me, and I inhaled slowly once more, then let it out. "The eight Great Old Ones. Likened to Gods, so powerful that their mere existence and presence drives the mortal into madness. They exist solely to spread their influence of their branch of madness. However, some are not as…driven as others.Those that have fragmented." I said slyly, looking at him out of the corner of my eye as he smirked icily. "Lord Death." I smirked. "The Black Mass." I returned, practically feeling the sudden tide of emotion at the retort, although he kept whatever it was hidden well under his half-smirk. I returned to looking ahead of me smugly. "Great Old Ones who created more out of themselves, sealing away their aspects therein. You are one of those fragments." I said softly, then tensed, feeling his hand on my back. "You are correct. I am not a true Great Old One. I am merely a fragment of the true Black Mass. You like that, don't you?" he asked bitterly, then knotted his fingers in my hair and jerked it back. "DON'T YOU?! YOU LOVE THE FACT YOU HAVE SO MUCH MORE POWER THAN I DO! YOU FEEL SO SMUG AND SUPERIOR ABOUT BEING A TRUE GREAT OLD ONE!" he raged in my face, and I held perfectly still as something fell on my cheek, be it a drop of spit, a tear, or sweat, it didn't matter.
I didn't want his disgusting essence on me.
"I know a fragment like yourself. He's polite, calm, and one hell of a fighter. He perfectly exhibits the traits he was designed to display. I do not, and have not, ever felt a single ounce of superiority over him. He is a friend and someone I am honored to fight alongside." I said quietly, smirking a little as a flash of white stripes against black hair flashed against the inside of my eyelids. Then a flash of pure white slammed down, one that had nothing to do with recollection and more to do with the fist that had cracked into my forehead, my eyes going even hazier as he shook me by the grip on my hair. "SHUT UP! I know who you're talking about! The Shinigami no danpen! I know what you feel for him!" he screeched, then suddenly released me, wiping both hands on the slightly grimy silk handkerchief as he gave me a disgusted look. Without another word, he turned and left, oddly enough choosing to walk as I smirked after him, pleased with the ending to our little verbal joust. Now, all I have to do is heal myself and get the heck out of dodge. One impossibility after another in the life… I thought with a morbid chuckle, starting to seek out the toxin in my veins and slowly burn it out.
Hazel's POV:
I landed on something soft, then realized I had landed on my knees, looking around frantically to gasp, seeing DK unconscious with his already ethereal skin pale, Akuma leaning over him with a long slash on his forehead bleeding sluggishly. I scrambled over, gasping again as I saw the gaping, gory wound in my meister's stomach, looking around frantically for something to stop the bleeding. Akuma wordlessly handed me his jacket, and I barely spared a glance towards the slim but athletic physic it had hidden, urgently pressing it against DK's stomach as he lurched, coughing heavily and wetly as blood poured over his lips. I started to panic, looking up towards his face and touching it to wipe away the blood, only for him to lunge upright and grab my wrist. "I'M ALIVE! I'M ALIVE!" he shouted, shaking violently as I felt the fabric under my hands grow damp. "Calm down! You're opening the wound up more!" I cried out, but he didn't seem to hear me, thrashing about and crying out things in a language I had heard Kage and Akuma mutter under their breath several times before.
"Yatte!" Akuma muttered frantically, shouldering me out of the way and shoving both his hands down on my demon's shoulders. "CALM THE HELL DOWN MAN! DK YOU'RE GOING TO KILL YOURSELF!" he bellowed, and the cries stopped, but the demon continued to thrash, shuddering and gasping wetly as blood poured over his chin and neck, grinding a small divot in the forest floor as Akuma held him down, making me marvel silently at his strength. I gasped as I saw DK's clawing hand shatter a large rock effortlessly as he accidently slammed it down, yet Akuma held him down as if the bucking and writhing demon was only a squirming toddler. I wrapped both hands around his neck, silently asked him for forgiveness as I squeezed as hard as I could, feeling him choke under me as the flailing slowed, grew more controlled, and his hands urgently scrabbled at mine, making me hiss as the sharp nails dug gouges and slashes in my wrists and hands, effortlessly shredding my shirt sleeves.
Suddenly his blood-crusted eyes opened, and he choked one last time before going limp, making me hurriedly let go as he began to cough, closing his eyes again to do so. He sucked in a deep breath, then smirked a little. "Damn Hazel…you've got a tight grip." he said weakly, making a tiny, helpless giggle escape me, before I squeaked, a stinging –literally– hand smacked me over the head, Akuma's other painful smack landing on DK. "THAT WAS RECKLESS! YOU MAY BE A DEMON BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T DIE YOU DAMN CRETIN! Yatte, kutabare yarō!" he bellowed, and DK actually looked down in shame, biting his already bloody lip. "I…it's when…Look bro, I don't plan on dying and leaving you guys to fend for yourselves. But when my face gets cut…right there…" He traced a line down his cheek a little, across the faint grey scar I had come to wonder about. "I just…I can't..it freaks me out okay? I'm fine now though. It's all good." he said seriously, his face set and calm, but still faintly shaky, as I could tell by careful observation. He then looked down. "Jeez, please don't tell me I got totaled by another tree stump. I don't think my ego can handle that kind of blow again." he said irritably, and I followed his gaze, then squeaked, hurriedly setting the jacket over his gaping stomach wound as he wheezed in pain and lay back, his eyes staring mutely at the sky, his lip caught between those hard, sharp fangs.
*Kutabare, as said before, is a naughty demon word.
*The longer sentence was the beginnings of "You SOB"
*Fragment of the Grim Reaper
Well, that's really all I can squeeze out of my mind right now, so hope you enjoy and Emma checks in with what's going on. Danke for your time. Review, Request, Rcomment, Auf Wedersien!