Every swing of Mandarin's sword was met with a saw or a claw.

Every hit Otto and Antauri went to make either didn't do significant damage or Mandarin dodged it.

Despite it being two against one, Mandarin didn't miss a beat. He didn't allow himself to become fatally wounded. Every movement was swift and precise.

Antauri and Otto dodged whatever they could, though they weren't free from a few hits. None of them were too fatal, but there was still blood to be shed.

They were getting tired, but they couldn't stop and they knew it.

One wrong move, and it would be all over.

Otto tried to attack from behind. Mandarin swiftly dodged him and Antauri.

Before Otto could move, he shakily gasped.

He coughed up blood. Green covered the ground below. His body shook.

Otto looked up. Tears welled in his eyes.

"Otto!" Antauri cried.

Mandarin took his sword out of Otto.

Love lingered in Otto's eyes. He weakly smiled at Mandarin. Those tears fell down his cheeks. His eyes flickered; they soon became blank. His smile faded.

Otto fell to the ground. He didn't move.

Blood pooled beneath him. It stained his fur and the soil below. There was a deep hole where his heart was.

Antauri looked at Mandarin. He snarled at him.

Calm, cold anger washed through him. He felt nothing but pure rage.

Mandarin took it too far this time.

Antauri lunged at him. He swiped at him left and right. Mandarin dodged every swipe.

Antauri used his Monkey Mind Scream. It didn't impact him. Mandarin swung his blade. He clawed at him.

They kept dancing around one another. They grazed one another. They cut each other. Lines on the ground were drawn with blood. Purple and orange created small images.

Each image was created with love and hate.

It was until Mandarin slashed Antauri's chest. He grunted at the pain. He put his hand on his chest. Antauri felt his blood run down his body. His torso and stomach became warm. His legs trembled.

Mandarin stabbed him in the chest. Antauri couldn't retaliate before that.

Antauri looked him in the eyes. His eyes held love and admiration in them. Confusion, anger, and a harsh cold stare also resided in there. It was a storm of emotions swirling inside of him.

It soon faded from his eyes, just like how Otto's eyes went blank and soulless.

He pulled his blade out afterwards. His blade retracted into his glove.

Antauri's body fell forward. He too stopped moving. He didn't even appear to be breathing, not even a few seconds after stabbing him.

Mandarin turned his back on him.

On the outside, he was calm. He appeared to be so proud of what he had done. Hell, a smirk crawled onto his face. He was the very definition of a monkey who was proud of killing his former allies.

On the inside, however, Mandarin felt empty and numb. He never intended to kill them, just wound them enough to leave them incapacitated for a few months. When he saw the life leave Otto's eyes, it was then that he knew what he had done.

He had stabbed him in the heart, and he had just done the same with Antauri.

Mandarin couldn't stop. He knew better than to stop in the middle of the battlefield, and he knew better than to get distracted. It could be a matter of life and death.

His time as leader was enough to gain that knowledge.

He struggled to keep tears inside his body. The last thing he desired was to show weakness. Not to mention, Mandarin never liked to cry.

Mandarin could collect Antauri's and Otto's body once he won the battle. Whether he won or lost, he had a couple of prizes he could take home. They were prizes that he could do whatever he wanted with them.

He took a step forward before he was stopped. He looked behind him.

Antauri pulled his tail. Mandarin fell back. His eyes widened.

How was he still alive? Mandarin stabbed him in the chest!

Antauri coughed. His hand turned into his ghost claw.

"If you believe I'll let you get away with what you've done unscathed," Antauri coughed up blood again, "then you're mistaken."

Antauri slashed his claw at him. Mandarin tried to dodge the attack.

Instead of clawing his face, Antauri struck his neck.

It was deep enough for blood to spew out. Mandarin gargled on his blood. Antauri's eyes widened, not intending this.

Mandarin tried to cover his neck, but it was futile. He fell to the ground. He looked at Antauri. It was then he realized his greatest mistake.

He stabbed to the left of Antauri's heart. He didn't get him in the heart like he did with Otto.

Within moments, the life from Mandarin's eyes faded away. His hands fell, no longer holding his neck. His body became stiff.

Antauri let go of him.

He wasn't proud of it, but at least he'd know one thing for certain now.

Wherever they would end up in the afterlife, it would be with one another.

"Antauri! Otto!"

Antauri looked up to see who was coming for them, but his sight was becoming too blurry. The team were simply colorful blobs at this point.

He fell to the ground as everything went black. He hated that they had to leave them like this.

There was only one thought in Antauri's, Mandarin's, and Otto's minds when they died. Antauri and Otto towards Mandarin, Mandarin towards them.

I'm in love with you, but how could you like someone like me?

A/N: Until FFN can get this scammer issue fixed, I'm no longer going to post fanfics on this site. You'll have to keep an eye on my works on AO3 until I decide it's fine to post more on here. That's excluding any multichaptered thing I've made, those will still be updated.

I'm genuinely getting so tired of getting those offers/scams. It makes me feel unmotivated to post on here. It feels like nobody actually cares about my fanfics, they just care about getting money out of me. Speaking of that, if you're reading this and you're planning on offering that to me, don't. Please just don't. You're why I'm stepping away from the site for a while. Fanart is fine though, I'm more than happy with that, but I don't want these offers. I cannot commission people right now and even if I could, I'd commission my friends and people whose art I've seen before, knowing for certain they're not scams. If you're genuine (which I doubt), just make a commission sheet and let people come to you instead of you coming to people.

Until I come back here, enjoy what I have here. If I end up making art to use as covers for the fics, then I do. If I don't, then I don't. Unless you're making a comment on the fic itself or you're wanting to talk to me about what I've made, just leave me alone.