Kyuuketsuki Duo: The, Uh, Not So Wonder Years Part 2
Insidiae -- Part 3
This was interesting. It appeared as if his activities had caught the attention of the guardian. It had been quite a while since he had last met with the guardian line. This latest one seemed different, somehow, though. Perhaps even more powerful than the last. And his Shinma servant.... now how had he managed that? No matter. It would just be more of a challenge to steal his power, then, and he did love a challenge. There was nothing quite like the taste of another's power sliding down his gullet, their final anguish and torment tickling his palate. The fear of total loss and annihilation was a pleasing, tantalizing spice, and so was the last, sudden despair of defeat.
The powerful ones never thought that they would experience such defeat. They, who were so arrogant in their self-assured power. But he showed them, yes, he did, and woe to any who dared to think that they might do the same to him. Woe to the fools who would not think to give him a second glance. Woe to those who would seek to control him, to dictate his actions and place limits on his desires. Woe to the guardians.
This one would be the last.
*****
His icy amethyst eyes darted across the clearing, scouring the area for danger, and he felt his partner do the same with his own heightened senses. There was something out there, he knew it. He could feel the repressed power of that something tingling unpleasantly across his skin. It was building toward some unknown climax, and all the power would tell him was that he would be at the center of it. The prudent course of action would have been to retreat, to withdraw from this place that smelled of ambush, but prudence had never gotten him very far. It was here, and after days, weeks of tracking it this far, finally to have a confrontation, he would not let loose the prize.
::Do you sense anything?:: he silently mindsent his partner, second nature causing him automatically to route the message through the deep soul link that they shared. That way, he could be sure that no one sensitive to such things could pick up on it. Audible sounds traveled far on nights like these. The mist hung heavily in the air, a thick blanket of stifling grayness that reflected and refracted the cold moonlight in every direction and reduced everything within sight to a dreary, monochromatic palette. The air itself was just almost chill enough to render every breath a visible puff of vapor. Tonight, however, there was little in the way of sound. Nature's creatures appeared to have retreated before the supernatural forces gathered in the field. They were wise.
::Nothing definite,:: came the non-verbal response. ::He's flooded the area with power to mask himself.::
::I don't like that he's got that much power to waste,:: he answered warily, his feeling of unease growing. ::He shielded his power well, before.:: Despite his ire at the arrogant stray who had thus far eluded them, he was about to suggest that they discreetly withdraw until something more definite transpired, when that very same something preempted him.
A large portion of the generalized power consolidated on top of a small rise, first into an amorphous mass very similar to the murk of the gathered Shinma in the Dark, but then, from that dark shadow, came another form. It was humanoid in shape, with facial features that might have been termed handsome if not for the black pits it had in place of eyes, the skin that seemed much, much too pale for any living creature, and the sneering curl of its lips. It was shrouded in a black cloak, much as Heero was, only it was not made of shadows. The cloak seemed to be possessed of its own mind, fluctuating in an irregular pattern within a strictly defined space. Other than that, the figure remained eerily still.
"So. The guardian has come out to play, I see."
Duo stepped up to meet his adversary, resolutely ignoring the itchy feeling between his shoulderblades. Heero unobtrusively guarded his back. "Business before pleasure, I'm afraid," he replied urbanely, a cool, professional edge to his voice masking his inner anxiety.
"Oh? That's too bad. My business is my pleasure."
Duo's lips curved upwards with cold humor. "Yes, I've noticed. I've been wanting to talk to you about that, actually."
"Hmm? And what did you want to discuss?"
He tilted his head in a curious manner, taking a moment to study his opponent before continuing their verbal fencing. "What's a Shinma like you doing in a place like this?"
The creature's laughter sent a shiver up his spine, but he refused to let it show. "My, you are a spirited one. Nothing at all like your predecessors."
The guardian's eyes narrowed slightly. It had met guardians before... and yet it still remained? It was obviously a dangerous threat here. Why hadn't someone returned it? Or couldn't they?
"But to answer your question.... I'm here for the same reason every one else is. I just want power."
The guardian elegantly raised an eyebrow. "Straightforward, aren't you?"
"No point in denying it. I'm just taking the power from those who are unworthy to wield it."
"Hn. Self-righteous, too, eh?" he mocked lightly. "You've gone through all this trouble to attract my attention, leaving a trail and leading me on this merry little chase to this, our battleground. So tell me. Am I unworthy to wield my power?" A part of him said, if he says yes, I'm going to nail his sorry self-righteous little ass to the floor. But the other, more irrational part of him almost wanted the Shinma to say yes, as if that would somehow give him absolution from his duty. Rationally, he knew, worthy or not, that it was his burden and destiny to wield his power in the task passed down to him through his bloodline. The Shinma had made no mistake in naming him the guardian here. There were no others for the job.
"Unworthy?" the Shinma mused. "Perhaps. But you are a guardian."
"And?"
"I make it a point to eliminate them." No further warning was given, but they didn't need any more. They were already alert for attack. The Shinma flung out its dark shroud, and shadows poured forth from it. As they parted to surround the guardian and his guardian, they resolved themselves, and it soon became apparent that each one was the remnant of a Shinma that had been assimilated and absorbed by the one before them. He could feel each of their individual signatures, all of them subservient to the sneering form on the hill. Duo could not help thinking that the Shinma in the Dark which he nominally served would not have approved. The two of them were given just a moment to stare at the glowing black eyes arrayed around them before they attacked.
Duo readied himself before their onslaught, feeling deep down that Heero had prepared himself as well and that they were ready to guard each other's back, but he was not prepared as the ones on his side of the circle all rushed around him to attack his partner.
::Heero!:: he sent in concern. He whipped about to aid, his braid following him obediently, when a lance of power flew just past him and reminded him that the main threat still demanded his attention.
::I'll be fine,:: Heero replied tersely as he sliced through their dark ranks, apparently unfazed by the fact that they were resolidifying shortly thereafter. ::Keep your eyes up front, instead.::
He turned back angrily towards their original adversary, knowing he had no other choice. Turning to help his friend would only get him fried from behind. He could only hope that his opponent wanted a one-on-one confrontation, and that he didn't have to worry about a different attack from behind by the black mob currently harassing his partner. He also tried not to think that Heero would say he was fine if he had just fallen off the fortieth floor of a building. Instead, Duo sent a wordless pulse of concern tempered with trust through their link, before concentrating his full attention on the Shinma that was beginning to sorely irritate him.
"Just you and me now, I guess."
"Just the way I wanted." Oh, that was really, really irritating. It had to go and rub it in, it did. Duo refrained from commenting on it, though, and made it a point to smile real unfriendly-like.
"So," he drawled lazily. "Tell me again why you want to kill me?"
His opponent's eyes narrowed with thinly-veiled hatred. "You're the guardian," it nearly hissed.
"Yes, yes," Duo dismissed the statement with an idle wave of his hand. "And you make it a point to eliminate them. That's nice. But it doesn't explain anything."
He didn't know if he was trying to throw his enemy off balance by casually insulting and angering it, or if he was just trying to irritate it as much as he was being irritated by it, or if he was even thinking at all, but whatever his intention, he definitely succeeded in infuriating the dark Shinma. Its rage curled about it in a black haze.
"I will not be brushed aside so easily, Guardian. You and your kind have always claimed such spurious superiority over us, we who are pure Shinma, not mongrel hybrids as yourselves. But this time, I shall be the one to claim superiority. Tonight, I shall finish the work I started and destroy you, finally, the last of the guardian line!"
Duo's eyes widened as realization set in. "You...," he whispered harshly. In the background, Heero continued his static battle, making no progress against the mindless, enslaved horde of drained Shinma, but neither was he losing ground, and he was also successfully keeping them off his partner's back.
"The last fools who dared hold that name thought they won even in their deaths. But I found out their little secret. I found you. And tonight, we shall see how wrong they were."
*****
Why won't these things stay down? he asked himself. He slashed mercilessly through their shifting forms, keeping half an eye on the events transpiring just a little bit away from him. He had toyed with the idea of wading his messy way through the mob to help his partner, but decided against it, as it would likely just distract Duo from the larger task at hand, dealing with the Shinma stray, and so he carefully kept the crowd safely away from the confrontation. Unfortunately, he also knew that that was what the stray wanted. The wraiths weren't powerful enough to do him any significant damage, so long as he stayed on his toes, but he couldn't keep it up forever.
But as it turned out, he didn't have to keep it up forever. He spared as much attention as he could from his battle and turned it towards Duo, the moment he felt his charge's emotional balance thrown off. He took his eyes off the encounter for just long enough to block and counter the attack from the wraith on his left, and when he looked back, the Shinma had attacked. As it did, the assault of the stray's minions doubled as well, ensuring his non-interference in the confrontation of their master.
Between his own attackers, he saw only snatches of his partner's battle, a swirl of shadowsilk, a twitch of a chestnut braid, the ominous glow of otherworldly power being hurled at another. Then, a twinge in his heart echoed immediately after by a primal, triumphant howl. A chill wind. A dark umbra engulfed the conflict, and when it was gone, nothing. His own assailants disappeared with the departure of their lord.
Suddenly freed from the responsibility of having to defend himself, Heero searched immediately for his vanished friend. He was nowhere in sight, so he turned to senses beyond the physical, and years of strict discipline allowed him to easily suppress a groan.
However, it didn't stop him from remarking to himself with some asperity, 'Not again.'
TBC...
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