Blubble. Back from the dead, or rather, the void that is SCHOOL. *dramatic shiver* I’ve got a math test tomorrow and I’m dead, because there’s no way I’m going to pass. I went to the zoo on Tuesday =D It was fun. And yes. I’m a liar. A big fat liar. I’m sorry this chapter is 2 days late. ;_;

OMG NO WAI 160 LIKES. D= I LOVE you all. I really, really do. Thank you for supporting this random story, commenting, critiquing and stuff. Please never hold back from telling me something is crap or doesn’t fit. If the characters are being OOC, I spelt something funny, got something about the attacks/pwnage wrong, whatever. Tell me and I will keep improving.

To Zyali: ZOMG another person to join the Dark Army! >=D Rar. Thankyou, that’s really nice of you to say. <3 Welcome to MMO. Hope to see some leet bloggage out of j00. xD I’d give you my…skeelz, but they won’t come off. *tugs* Well, I have a whole load of crap written to entertain. Enjoyyy.

To Colon: Sorry! It’s just kind of the way I do things >.>;; It’s really annoying to my friends, because when I talk I put all these big, strange words in as well. D=
Essy is a bit of a Sue, isn’t she? >=3 My job is done.
Nu don’t be jealous. AZ LOVES ALL. Except the ones who screw around with him.
And thankyou. It was just a weird sketch born out of boredom. xD

To Fire: Looks like the BATTLE FOR AZ is on. xD *sells Az plushies* Seems like Az love is mighty and has some kickass powers, huh?
Saedas IS hawt. I agree. I am so horribly self-centred, but I totally agree. ^o^

Oh yes. If you want to try something – listen to this song when you read Section ii. It fits the mood, and…the lyrics. Don’taccusemeofcopyingoffMipplz. ;_; It’s just the song I was listening to while writing it and I thought it fit.

Here is a chapter. There may be a sketch later if I am inclined to add it. And some pictures. Currently I’m half-asleep. <__>
—-
i. Li
I could practically feel the cold coming off Az. He was radiating it, and Essy was looking at him with this terrified expression written all across her face. I probably was, too; I could actually feel my hands shaking just from looking at his frozen smile.
“You’re not going to just lead me on and tell me nothing,” Az said softly, and I couldn’t repress a shiver travelling up my spine. Saedas carefully tilted his head to one side, benign, inquisitive, then asked, “No?” The inflection in his voice indicated that the benign thing was just an act, and somehow, I didn’t feel comfortable being in a room with two guys who were both likely to explode and kill each other.
“No,” Az replied, voice still dangerously low and terrible. “If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I’m going to beat you bloody with my bare fists.” The Priest didn’t seem perturbed by the threat, and, feeling I had to do my bit for Az’s sake, added, “I’ll do it too.” Then I paused, picked up the steak knife, and aimed it at Allamar, adding, “Only to her.” I did my best to stop my hands quivering, but it didn’t exactly work. It was all I could do to stop the knife falling out of my hands. Al just gave me an absolutely unperturbed look, which made me feel even worse.

Saedas looked at me, then at the wizard, then at Az. His face gave nothing away.
“There is one thing I will say, boy,” he said finally, quietly. “Tomorrow, should you seek the answer, it will come to you. Today…there is nothing to be revealed. Least of all, my reasons.” He raised a hand and the bell rang, but his eyes never left Az. I glanced at him; Az was trembling. Slightly, but he was trembling. Just as the servants appeared, carrying fluted glasses containing something pale purple and translucent, he whirled and stalked off. I rushed out, prepared to start after him, but someone grabbed my arm and I turned back to glare at them, opening my mouth to start yelling, but the words died halfway up my throat.

“Don’t worry yourself, Li!” Essy said, a little too loudly to be natural, as she started forward, jerking me backwards towards the table. “I’ll go after him.” I looked at her, bewildered; placing my hand on her shoulder, I was about to let loose an ear-scorching tirade on her, but she whirled on me, screaming, “Let go!” Taken aback, I snapped at her, “What’s wrong with you?! You’re not the only one who cares about Az here, you know!”
“I’m his girlfriend, I’ll take care of it,” she answered tersely, sounding very not-Essy. Not Finesse, but not Essy either. In fact, she sounded kind of like the possessive girlfriend. I resisted the urge to put her other eye out with a fork.
“Just because you’re his girlfriend-” I began, then stopped myself before I started spitting swearwords at her. She was already running for the doors; frustrated, I turned, only to see both the magicians watching me. Great. Doom-Flounder-ing great. I glared at the wizard, expecting her to come up with some insulting remark about my maturity, or something. Instead, it was Saedas who spoke.

“Go.” One word. The Priest’s hazel eyes were riveted on me. It was unnerving. Really, really unnerving.
“Why?” I demanded, my voice coming out a little bitterer than I’d meant. “She’s his girlfriend, after all.”
“And you’re a gullible, hapless idiot, but that’s not the focus of this discussion,” remarked Allamar dryly, and I bristled, hand going to my waist before I remembered my Steelys were being refilled. Then I realised what she’d said, and turned to her, snapping, “Then what is?” There was a heavy silence; only a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever. Between me and them, with their silent harmony happening somewhere out of my perception.
“You have been loyal to him,” Saedas said, and I nearly jerked out of my skin when he said it. The silence had seemed to have gone on forever; hearing him speak was a jolt. “Continue being loyal to him, Talian. Essy may be his…girlfriend, but you are his queen, and we all know the role a queen plays in chess. She is the most powerful piece. The protector of her king.”

I stared at him, then turned, switched on Haste and ran.

“Did you mean what you said?” Allamar asked, carefully dipping a spoon onto the pale purple jelly. He glanced at her; raising his own chalice, he answered, tone sardonic, “Would you accuse me of lying? Priests are sworn to keep their word.”

ii. Az
The wind off the plains was cold, but it felt colder inside me. Ice stung my face and hands, and, for some reason, my ankles. I didn’t feel like making up some snappy jokes about heat resistance and feet right now, though. Now hardly felt like the time for jokes. My thoughts were like little bits of shattered ice, raining around the inside of my head. They hurt. I folded my arms around myself, willing myself to just focus on the painful cold. Don’t think…

“Az?” asked Essy’s voice, and I sighed, letting the sound be caught up in wind and sleet. “Az, come inside! You’ll die of cold.”
“That’s what I’m hoping,” I said dryly, and there was no sound for a long beat. Then a soft, hesitant, “Az, don’t joke around. Please, come inside. I don’t want you to get hurt.” I laughed. It sounded bitter, which didn’t surprise me in the least. Evidently, it did Essy, though, for she walked up to me, sliding a little on the accumulated slush.
“Is something-” she began, and I felt the cold in me, coiling itself like a snake, ready to bite, ready to sting. It wrapped around my mind, and I said what that serpentine cold told me to say…willingly.

I never hated myself as much as I did during the course of that time in El Nath.

“It’s far too late now for me to not get hurt by you, Ess,” I said bleakly, and she flinched as if I’d hit her. On its own that should have given me pause, but it didn’t. I continued. Bitter, hurtful, savage. “If you’d wanted that, you should never have become my girlfriend. Do you know what happened to me in those three years?” Her eye was brimming, stricken, speechless, but I pushed on relentlessly, just wanting all the three years of pain to be gone, and this Zakum-cursed inner cold with it. “I accept that you lost something too. But I spent every day of those three years, blaming myself, hating myself and wanting to die for having killed the woman I loved by not being strong enough.” My hands clenched involuntarily about the railing, and I paused, ignoring her little sobs. “What are you now, Essy? Have you been changed by loss the same way I have? I don’t know. But the person I am now doesn’t love you. He cares, he’s glad to see you alive…but he…doesn’t…love…you.”

I caught her hand before she could come close to my face. In my normal state, with her as Finesse, I could never have done this. But she was distracted by grief, and I had the clarity of the bitter, enraged cold.
“I gave up three years of my life waiting for you,” she whispered shakily, and I looked at her with eyes now glazed with pain and a sort of…acceptance, I supposed.
“I never asked you to,” I replied softly, as cruelly as I could.

I let her go and she ran, brushing past another shape at the door on her way. Turning back to the ice fields, I smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile.
“Az.” Li.

I turned to her, still smiling. Shortly, I dropped the smile and stopped to check if I had any loose teeth while she glared at me, throwing arm still half-raised. It released the cold’s grip on me. Just a little bit, enough for me to fight back. Forcing myself to cling to that raw, painful edge beyond the cold.
“Ouch,” I said, affecting bemusement. “Man, I think you fractured a tooth. I don’t think I can chew any more. You’ll have to spoon-feed me.”
“You’ll have to suck your food with a straw if you ever pull something like that again,” she growled, and I looked her up and down a couple of times. She was shivering. I wasn’t sure if it was the physical cold, or a different, more personal variety, and decided not to take my chances. Giving her one of my widest infuriating grins, I grabbed her by the collar and hauled her back inside, to the new, hot, crackling fire, the towels draped over the chairs and the two mugs of steaming red bean soup on the table.

iii. Interlude
The door to the room swung shut and the girl collapsed, sobbing, against it, tears soaking her lavender hair. Suddenly, the lights clicked on, and she spun, startled, as a figure in the centre of all spotlights raised one arm. It held a slender black stick.

The figure began to conduct. Slowly, then the silent music rising in tempo to a violent downward swing. Bringing it back upwards, slowly, drawing out the motion like a caress, the baton prescribed small waves in the air before another sudden swing. The girl watched, transfixed, as the figure appeared to conduct a particularly vigorous section of music, drawing the final section out with a delicate horizontal motion. Tracing slow waves in the air, he suddenly drew the baton upwards, then a smooth, prolonged curve down. Turning, he lifted a stack of paper from the stand in front of him, and just as she began clapping, he hurled the sheets away. She screamed, tears forgotten in her awe and fear, and shielded herself as the music scores drifted about her like huge, yellowed snowflakes.

“My symphony is unfinished,” said the voice darkly. Male, cold, and edged. It wasn’t cold in the sense of Saedas’ voice, distant and closed. This was the sharpened ice that grew along gutters and roofs, prepared to kill. Like Az. “The overture has been played. There is only the coda, then my beautiful pièce d’art, my masterpiece, will be finished. Done.” She drew a sharp breath as he began to walk towards her. On his back was slung the legendary devil-bow, which pulsed deep black in the fading light. She huddled, unmoving, as he drew to a quiet, graceful halt in front of her, gently tilting up her chin with a finger.

“Finesse, Finesse, sweet,” he whispered, and she cried out as Finesse responded to his voice and his touch. Her mind was viciously shoved to the back, away, while the entity inside her screamed with laughter, tearing through her to reach the forefront of her mind, where it would be in control. He watched the expression on her face change as he lifted off her eyepatch, holding out another to her. One that was bright crimson.

“Darling,” breathed the lavender-haired girl, as she took the new patch from his hands, hands with a strange, unnatural bluish cast to them. Slowly, she tied it on, her one free eye fixed on him with a daring, almost sultry look. He smiled; placing his hand on the side of her face, he leaned in, and their lips locked for a long moment. Then slowly, tauntingly, he drew back, and her fingers were reaching for his shoulders before he caught her and pushed her away.
“Lovely Finesse,” he murmured, pressing her hand to his face, and she smiled coyly at him.
“What do you need me to do, Lord?” she purred, and he laughed, a sound that would freeze the blood of any sane person. Finesse was hardly sane, though.

“Flattering, aren’t you,” he whispered, and she pouted at him, as he brushed a finger across her lips. “I need you to do something very…special for me, pet. Can you do that?”
“Do what, darling?” she whispered, and he leaned in and began to whisper in her ear. As he spoke, her lips curved into a joyful, insane smile.

iv. Li
The fire was still going the next morning when I woke up, and I lay there enjoying the warm towels and the soft carpet. There was a shaft of sunlight falling in front of my face, and I watched the dust motes dancing in it for a while before I sat up and looked around for Az. Just in case he’d pulled anything stupid, like trying to kill Saedas while Allamar still had a full set of functioning limbs. Gathering myself up, and the towels with me, I tottered to my feet, only to be tackled to the carpet in a stack of fluff and Az.
“Gerroff!” I yelled, and he laughed, tousling my hair with wet hands. Ew. I didn’t want to know where those hands had been.
“Aw, the Kitty-kins is being all prissy and ebil. Let’s get it wet and mucky so it can’t be prissy and ebil any more.” Glaring at him, I snarled, “I’d like to see you try.”

The minute the words were out of my mouth I regretted it. He was already giving me that grin which made my throwing hand itch so badly, and my normally Avarice-coated arm felt disturbingly lighter all of a sudden. As he disappeared in a flash of Dark Sight, I switched on Haste and dodged for the balcony, hoping it would give me a little more manoeuvring room.

Snow sledged off the roof and landed on a now-rather-visible shape, making him appear suddenly, sinking dramatically to his knees, moaning.
“O cold! O misery! O terrible, ill fortune! Lady Luck, thou hast forsaken me!” I gave him a funny look and, pointing at him, declared as smugly as I could manage, “That’s proof that nature isn’t always on your side, huh?” I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was suspicious. Glancing up at the roof, I shielded my eyes from the sunlight with an arm and saw a dark silhouette, crouched against the glare. Oh, Dark Lord…
“Az-” I began, but he was already on his feet, twisting me up before I had time to protest. As I watched, a bronze arrow spanged off the iron railing, shattering and leaving a deep scar in the twisted metal. His shinkita seemed to have appeared out of nowhere; I wanted my Avarice very much right now, so I could tell this newcomer what I thought of him.

The next second, the stranger had flipped off the roof and landed in front of us, green armour rustling. Az had, almost subconsciously, moved in front of me to block me off, but I shoved him out of the way, muttering, “This is my fight too. Stop being so self-centred.” I didn’t get to hear his reply, for our attacker had straightened and was looking us over. Or rather, he looked me over once, quickly, then switched to Az, which ticked me off. He was carrying a red-black bow that seemed to absorb the rays of sun playing around him, and my hands tightened into fists against the dying of the light.

“Azrael, Black Angel. The Deathbringer.” His voice was cool and amused, and instinctively I dug for Steelys before remembering they weren’t there.
“What do you want?” Az asked; his voice was threatening, but it didn’t have the cold edge, and I was grateful for that at least.
“The same thing everybody wants from you, of course. Everything. What else?” taunted the bowman, shouldering the dark weapon. His eyes were hidden by the slump of his hat, but when I looked at what was visible of his face, the skin seemed a pale, inhuman blue. I shook my head. A trick of the light.
“I can’t give you everything,” Az answered darkly. “I need some of it.”

“Very well then,” the Ranger said. I recognized that bow now, from one of the books I had read as a child. It was a Metis. Dark Lord, how powerful was this guy. “I want a duel, Black Angel. One-on-one.” At that, he tilted back his cap, and his eyes bored into me as if warning me. I stiffened; taking a step forward, I opened my mouth-
“What happens if I say no?” Az asked, and now the cold was beginning to run through his voice. I shivered involuntarily, and a cold smile flickered onto the Ranger’s face. Deliberately, he extended one hand in the direction of the village, spread out below us.
“Then that house, and the people who live in it, are going to burn. One house for each day you take to decide, Black Angel.”

I lost it. Stomping forward, I yelled, “Who the Lava Dungeon do you think you are?! You can’t just decide who lives or dies because of some stupid whim! And-” Az had clapped his hand over my mouth and was dragging me back; I kicked, screamed, fought and nearly tried to stomp on his foot before he hissed, “Shut up,” to me.
“Well, that vocal little whelp seems to have decided for you,” the Ranger answered, and his voice held a trace of gloat. Az’s arms tightened around me as I jerked forward, preventing me from breaking this – this – none of the swearwords I had lined up even remotely fitted the occasion. Basically, breaking his face so he couldn’t be all smug any more.
“She didn’t-” Az began, but the bowman was already walking away, waving one hand.
“You’ve decided. The lives of those innocents will be on your head…Azrael.” With that, he disappeared in a flash of green. Az let go of me and dashed to the edge of the balcony; evidently, he didn’t see anything, though. I had the terrible feeling I’d done something very, very wrong.

“Az?” I began tentatively. He whirled around, catching me across the face hard, and I let out a short curse before I pressed a cold hand to the injured area; glaring at him, I was about to start ranting at him before I was drawn up short by his eyes. Whatever I had helped put back under control last night, it had now resurfaced.

I hardly had time to dodge before he grabbed me by the collar, shouting at me, “Why couldn’t you keep your cursed mouth shut? For once, it would have helped to not have you mouthing off! People are going to die for your…your idiocy, Li!” I’d never had him scream at me this way before, and I just hung there in stunned silence, staring into his face, before something imperceptibly clicked. Slowly, he let me go, making me stumble back, catching the railing as I regained my balance. What he had said had struck home, and I was just about to babble a meaningless apology before he said softly, “…sorry. I’m sorry. I just…it wasn’t your fault. Forget what I said.” His face was half-buried in his hand, and I worked my mouth, still speechless.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and he looked up at me sharply. I stared back, while he replied, a little roughly, “Don’t bother. It wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t mine. We just happen to have a mild case of psychostalkeritis.” His mouth quirked wryly at the little joke, and I gave him back a tremulous smile.
“We can fix it,” I said, once I trusted my voice enough. It wobbled a bit, but it was coherent. “Do you remember which – which house?”
“My sentiments exactly,” he said appreciatively, and I realised how much of an effort it must have cost him to still act cheerful while everything was falling apart. But still he pushed on, and I never admired him as much as I did during that trip in El Nath. For still managing to – somehow – hold it together.

About half an hour later, I was discreetly camped on the roof of the house, along with Az. It was a pretty tall house, so we could see the whole of El Nath village below us, all the way out to the snowy fields. It would have been nice if there wasn’t this uncomfortable silence between us. Eventually, he broke it with a soft, “What are you going to do if this ends up with me getting killed?”
“What?” I demanded, taken aback. He was wearing a lopsided half-smile that scared the Stirge out of me, just as badly as the cold did. “You’re not going to die! If you die, I’ll kill you!” At that, his weird expression changed to one of genuine amusement, and he burst out into laughter. Hysterical laughter. Familiar, annoying hysterical laughter.
“Cli-chéd, kitty-Li is cli-chéd,” he sang, once he was properly coherent, and I felt my ears beginning to heat up despite the brisk weather. “Kitty-Li is evil and psycho and clichéd. Kitty-Li’s brains in the cold have decayed.” That was it. I launched at him, slipping on slush-laden tiles in my pounce, and, laughing, he disappeared, leaving me sliding dangerously close to the edge of the roof. As I struggled back to my feet, a tile slipped away from where my left foot had been and clunked down into the snow.

Hurriedly, I cautiously took a look over the edge and leapt back as the tile arrowed – literally – back up, burning. As it arced back groundwards, landing with a metallic clunk, I chanced a glance down and scowled at the Wizard responsible, who seemed to be looking amused, or perhaps derisive. I didn’t like either. The Spearman the tile had bounced off on its second journey down stormed over to make threatening gestures at her. Az had now drawn up beside me, and he settled down to watch the show.

A few minutes later, we were watching the Spearman scamper away, leaving a sizzling trail behind as he escaped, occasionally falling over. Allamar looked up at us, squinting against the sunlight.
“You’re wasting your time. Nothing’s going to happen until sundown.” With a flash of bluish light, she teleported onto the top of a stack of barrels, then a balcony, then she was on the roof, next to us.
“How do you know that?” I demanded, and she shrugged, but she was wearing the look that said, My intellect surpasses yours. Don’t question the magician. Now I had my Avarice back, my arm was itching to put that smirk off her face once and for all.
“Let’s just say my master has…business associates who work best at sundown.” She smirked and I looked at her, uncomprehending, until it finally struck me.
“What?!” I screamed, switching on Haste so I could pound the spit out of her. “You mean Saedas and that freaky dude were in this together all along?!”

Az suddenly had his hand on my arm and was dragging me back towards him. At first, I resisted, then decided that a raked roof wasn’t the best battleground.
“In that case, why do we have any reason to trust you?” he asked, and I heard him drawing his shinkita.
“I came to help you,” she said dryly, fishing in a satchel she was carrying. “You can either take these and disbelieve me like true idiots, or take these and let me stay to help, which would be the…intelligent thing to do.” With that, she threw a pouch at each of us. Catching it, I opened it up to see an accumulation of small, wrapped pill-shaped items. I knew what these were, and looked up at her to catch her shrug.
“A gift,” she said, folding her arms. “Take them. Don’t worry, I don’t waste poison on imbeciles.” I seethed; shoving away the packet of pills, I started towards her, then stopped myself and looked at Az. He looked thoughtful, then he nodded slowly.
“Stay with us,” he said, adding, “It might be useful to have someone known around El Nath to help out. Even if they are in league with our enemies the rest of the time.” Her lips quirked, but she nodded, brushing away some snow and settling down.

Sunset came sooner than we’d thought, still used to the more regular cycle of light and dark of Victoria Island. I wasn’t looking forward to the oncoming confrontation.
“What do you think he’s going to do?” I asked, glancing suspiciously at Allamar. She smiled derisively, tilting her head to one side.
“You think I’m going to turn on you and burn the ground I’m standing on? Do you take me for that kind of moron?” she asked, her tone almost rhetorical. I bristled; the whole time between her arrival and now had been spent in an edgy game of words, mainly between her and me. Unfortunately, I’d come out worse-

With a terrible, sickening crunch and crack, a house a little ways down the road exploded, spraying debris on a hot gust that threatened to blow us off. Az, however, was on his feet, swearing loudly and viciously at any sailor. I hadn’t expected him to know half of those words.
“That damn, cursed son of a crack-Werewolf,” he snarled. “He knew we’d be guarding this house so he took an unguarded one.” Haste blazed around him and he was suddenly bounding off, running so fast he was just a streak of motion against the rooftops. I glanced at the wizard only to realise she wasn’t there; instead, she was teleporting down the road towards the burning house in flashes of whirring blue.

I bit my lip, switched on Haste and followed her. As she stopped outside the house, she put the satchel on the ground and raised her hands. Stepping in, I asked tentatively, “What can I do to help?”
“Leave me alone and get my master,” she said softly, and I nodded, speeding back towards the house on the hill.

v. Az
“You’ve made your point,” I snarled furiously, the cold nipping at my self-control as the figure crouched on the roof of the potion shop opposite me. “You curse-forsaken, Zakum-spawned…
“Let’s not be crass,” an icy voice replied, and I definitely recognized it as the one which had plagued us upon the balcony. “Anger makes us say rash things.”
“I have every right to be angry,” I replied softly. “I…don’t want any more innocents hurt.”
“Then you agree,” he said smoothly, and I nodded jerkily, saying aloud with some effort, “I agree to the duel.”
“The first icy cold field, dawn tomorrow,” he answered. “Be there. You should have known you had no choice to begin with, Azrael. No choice at all.” I heard a swish of clothes; sinking to my knees on the roof, I buried my face in my hands.

You had no choice, Azrael. No choice at all.

—-
Ugh, I’m half asleep. So this chmmg ifa hisha crf. (I didn’t say it. Don’t fish-slap meh.) Ice-skating today…was incredible. Suffice to say, it was painful, but I would have given anything for those five special minutes to go on forever. Those five minutes made it all worthwhile.

I’m emo. So? xD