"Cousin? What are you taking about? I don't know you, nor have I ever seen you in my life."
The stranger walked closer and closer to Roxanna. There was a clearing in the trees where the branches released a glint of pale light about a foot wide. As he walked closer, Roxanna took a few steps back, clenching the frail stick in her hands as hard as she could. Her body warmed up with every passing second, she wiped her forehead and felt a stream of liquid rest on her hand. The man walked into the illuminated patch of grass, showing his bulky figure. His white hair brightened in the moonlight like fresh snow and made his skin look even paler. He had long hair with a black band going across his eyes, cutting off his sense of vision. He had a long thick scar on the right side of his cheek that reached his chin. Taking a deep breath, the mid-night black cloak he was wearing expanded to match his inhalation. A gleaming zipper ran down the middle of his chest, chased by a necklace that was attached to the cloak. Matching black gloves hung at his side listlessly as a strange animalistic croon drifted through the forest. Roxanna was confused why the man called her cousin. She knew she had a cousin but never met him for he left when he was sixteen. Roxanna lowered the stick to her side and cocked her head to the side a little. A breeze brushed her light hair forward and made the man's hair blow back. She stood there gazing at the person that called her his cousin.
"Do you know where Kenway is!?" Roxanna could feel tears in her eyes "Please tell me where he is."
"You're worried about Kenny. Oh that's so cute, a sister that worries about her brother. Frankly I don't know where he is. Or do I?"
"Please don't do this. I need to make sure he's OK." Roxanna released her head and stood there feeling broken, miserable in unknowing whether her brother was alright. "I beg you, Just please tell me and I'll go, Please tell me please… I need to know."
"Ok, Ok I… I know where he is. But first you need to call off your boyfriend."
"Roxanna get away from him!"
Dante dashed in front of Roxanna putting him in front of her with his scythe ready. He grasped his wicked blade in his right hand and signaled with his left for Roxanna to stand back. Dante didn't take his gaze away from the stranger, staring at the black band searching for eyes. The man opened up his arms and put them gave a little sigh.
"Oh… Dante so glad you're here. You know I was starting to worry that you wouldn't wake up in time to rescue Roxanna."
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"Daniel leave now! Your presence is not welcome here."
Daniel released his arms and let them drop down to his side while giving a slight grin. Looking down, he shook his head while letting his bangs drop to the center of his black band. Laughing, he raised his head and brushed his pure white hair back into place slowly, with meticulous care. His ethereal mane flowed in a wave and lifted itself up from his head and stood there. After a few seconds he stopped laughing and focused his body towards Dante who looked like he was not amused by the situation.
"What the hell is making you laugh like that? Nothing about this is funny." Bellowed Dante.
"Nothing… nothing, I just laugh a lot when I'm about to come across an opponent that looks like he's about to shit his pants."
"What do you mean by opponent? You're not a keyblade wielder."
Dante had a bad feeling about the situation he was in. He hasn't seen Daniel in over five years due to the Daniel leaving at a young age. He started to sweat bullets and his palms were moist from gripping his weapon so hard. Adjusting his grip on the scythe, he waited for any signs of danger that could come from the young man.
"I don't know about that boss. I've changed a lot over the years. I trained with the master for years waiting for this very moment. Oh and I brought some new toys to the table."
Daniel opened his hand and two keyblades appeared in his hands. They were both about four feet long and each shared a curve up towards the point of the blade. His left hand wielded a white keyblade that shined in the moonlight as his right hand controlled a black keyblade that blended into the night. The left side of Daniel's body was in the moonlight and the other side was in complete darkness. He grinned a devious grin and pointed his left blade in the direction of Dante.
"Ha mine is still bigger." uttered Dante with a little laugh at the end of his sentence.
Even though Dante couldn't see his eyes, he had a feeling that Daniel was watching his every move, trying to analyze the right moment to attack. Dante, recognizing he wasn't wearing his suit of armor, felt his stomach cave in and the sensation of butterflies fluttered in the deep dark caverns in his gut. He nervously turned his head an inch to make sure that Roxanna left his presence before turning his head to face the absent presence of his former apprentice and friend.
Where the hell did he go? He was right here! I'm so stupid, I let my guard down and now I don't know where or when he is going to attack! What should I do? What should I do? Take a deep breath and just loosen up. Come on, you got this.
Rustling foliage from a tree above him made Dante crack his hallowed expression up to the motionless sky above. An opening of the leaves stunned Dante and forced him to get back into his hostile station. Plummeting down from above, Daniel surprised Dante, almost making him trip over a figure that was static on the ground behind him hidden in the brush. Daniel's merciless blades cut through the cold air as well as through the heat that was radiating off of Dante's nervous painted face. Dante forced himself back clumsily, which made him crash into the muddy earth, though he sprung himself back up into fighting position immediately. Looking in the direction Daniel was, he found himself dumbfounded at the emptiness of Daniels presence. All he saw was an eerie silhouette of a human fading into the frozen night. Just behind Dante he heard the cracking of leaves, which gave away Daniels position, and he spun behind wrapping his scythe around his body. This prevented any attacker from slashing him, but that ultimately failed when Dante felt the skin on his leg split open. The dual blades cut through the pink flesh and spilled an ample amount of thick red paint onto the canvas of earth. Falling to one knee with a gasp, Dante heard the abrupt gust of wind to his side and raised his scythe with haste, hindering Daniels life threatening blow. Daniel didn't predict Dante's movement exactly, so when his blades sparked off Dante's scythe he lost his control in midair and collided full force into a lone tree, breaking a rib or two. He expected to kill Dante fast and effortlessly, yet knew now that he essentially had to try and was more than eager to show off his new abilities.
"Did I give you a little cut?" Daniel said while coughing up a bit of blood.
Dante grunted before answering, trying to hold back the discomfort so Daniel wouldn't be able to see the throbbing agony he was concealing inside.
Damn he's gotten stronger since the last time I saw him. I don't know if I can end him like this. I mean he's Roxanna's cousin. No I need to. For my sake and Roxanna's.
"Let's go Daniel. You wanna spill blood? Then I'll spill some more, you're never going to touch Roxanna, not as long as I'm alive."
"As long as you're alive, oh please that's so cheesy. I never said I wanted to kill you, well not that I can remember. I just wanna have some fun."
Daniel charged at Dante while dragging his blades across the grass, spewing the green blood. Dante, dodging one blow to his left side by backing up, countered Daniel's other attack coming to his right. He stepped on the blade that was in Daniel's right hand and used it as a ramp to force himself above Daniel. Daniel dropped the blade and lifted his left hand ready to block. After blocking Dante's strike, coming across about to slash open his chest in a lateral position, he rolled towards his other key blade picking it up with his right hand. Daniel grabbed the two blades and smashed the butt of them together, forming one double sided blade. He extended the arm with the now double sided blade and pulled back like he was firing an arrow. Muttering the word "Mshale" a light neon blue like band formed at each end of the blade and connected where his fingers were. A sapphire neon arrow formed in his pulled back fingers and was waiting to be released at any second by its master. Taking a breath, Daniel fired a few arrows that each shattered into multiple beams heading straight for Daniel who was about eight yards away.
Reacting at almost in-human speed, Dante pierced his scythe into an nearby oak, using it as a catapult to dodge the projectiles that were being fired in his direction. Daniel dashed furiously at Daniel kicking up dirt and stranded leaves and twigs in the process. Dante landed quickly, drawing the hardened scythe from the oak he rushed to match Daniels reckless advance. Daniel released the shimmering blue beam and charged at Dante with more velocity due to Dante's wounded legs. Their impact shook the whole forest and echoed through the windy air, carrying the noise to other wandering travelers that may have been navigating the forest. The two's faces nearly touched, both could feel each other's gasping breath and noticed the condensation forming on each other's blades. Sweat cooled their foreheads and traveled down their faces before falling off and dropping like steady rain drops onto each other's blades. Standing there for a few seconds, they both pushed off of each other after hearing a high pitched female voice roar over the forest into their ears. They didn't break their gaze, staring into each other's souls while having a war with their eyes. The black band around Daniel's eyes was soaked with sweat and dripped down his face.
"You two both need to stop. We are not going to find Kenway if you too keep fighting. We need to work together no matter what happened in the past."
"Roxanna's right, we should work together to find Kenway. Dante we need to work together."
"Give me one reason why I should trust you right now."
"I… I know where he is and I can take you guys to him if you can trust me. It won't be a trap, I've been spying on their camp for a couple months now and I saw them drag Kenway in this morning."
Dante's scowling face lightened up, Roxanna jumped in joy and ran to Daniel, hugging him so hard he could feel his bones cracking with every second he was in her grasp. She let him go and started walking away.
"Where are you going Roxanna?" Dante nervously asked.
"Back to the camp sight dumb dumb!" She replied with a laugh.
"Looks like your girlfriend trusts me." Daniel said with a smart ass tone.
"Don't fuck with me Daniel, Roxanna doesn't know what you are but I do. Just to make myself clear I'm doing this for her AND Kenway, if you come close to hurting or even touching Roxanna I will not hesitate to slit your throat open on the spot."
"Well looks like we are going to have a fun adventure."
Dante stood there while Daniel walked off to the direction where Roxanna went. He looked up and kissed the air that was pushing his hair forward, his closed eyes basked in the cool breeze that lessened his fatigue. He could feel something crawling inside of him, Dante scoffed as he shrugged off the feeling and started walking to make sure Roxanna was safe.