'Final Farewell' - Chapter Ten
~* Ikira *~
I stood with my back against the wall; my wings were out for show and were wrapped around me for warmth. One of the downsides to Rykira's power, I was acutely aware of the cold. I had slipped my headset on just after my bout with Vergil and started listening to its varied collection. I had calmed down substantially, my nerves finally finding some form of rest after the insane day I had. Daft Punk was currently running through my veins at a faster pace, but just as frantic, as the one before me was running around the little bowl in the middle of the room. He had started, or tried rather, to open the gates. He was missing something. He had sliced his own hand to get 'Sparda's' blood; I didn't like watching that part for some reason. I mumbled 'hypocrite' in my head. I didn't like watching self-inflicted pain being brought upon someone, yet I had not 30 minutes earlier let a 12-inch sword drop through my palm. He also had the amulets, both his and Dante's, joined and ready to open the gates. He had dropped them into the bowl and nothing had happened. His blood had a bit of my own mixed in from the earlier incident, but it was apparently not enough.
I pushed myself off the wall and knelt down to pull the dart from earlier out of my boot. I gripped the blade of the dart in my hand tight enough to cut through it. The scent of blood must have caught his nose as he suddenly stopped his ranting to look at me. I stood and started walking toward the bowl in the room's center. I stopped and held my hand above it and gripped the dagger tighter, allowing my pure blood to land in the bowl. It had yet to be tainted and Vergil knew that. He stepped up behind me and reached for the dart's upper half. He gripped the dart just above my hand and slid his hand down just slightly to cut his palm, setting his hand on top of mine in a since. His blood mixed with mine in that moment and I became tainted. The new blood dripped down into the bowl and he stayed where he was. I then noticed the difference in size. He dwarfed me.
I looked up at him, craning my neck to do so and found myself on the receiving end of his own gaze. Blue opal. He had dropped his emotional guard when he looked at me; each emotion he felt was reflected in his eyes. He trusted me, and if nothing else, he cared for me like a sister after the days events. I was satisfied with that, as was he. We released the dart and it fell into the bowl below our hands...
Right at the same time Dante and Luken burst into the room.
They had re-united somewhere in the tower and arrived together, like the couple they were. However, Luken was far from pleased at what he saw.
He knew now.
I was allied with Vergil.
His head fell forward slightly, his hair shadowing his eyes. Was he ashamed of me? Shocked?
Then I saw it.
Blue Flames.
Hellion in their ferocity and directed at me.
He wasn't shocked or shamed. Not even surprise was evident in his yes.
No, what I saw in his eyes was...
Anger,
Hate,
Disappointment,
but nothing similar to what I had seen before. There was nothing there to suggest the same, docile, calm, caring Luken I had come to know and love.
I knew then that I had made a mistake in his eyes.
I also knew one thing...
I was about to be fighting for my life...
Versus a True Fallen Angel.
--
Our fight was far from beautiful as if most picture a battle between two angels to be. It was far from it.
Bloody, damaging, powerful, and fast.
Each blow meant to kill, maim, or horribly destroy something on the other.
This was a fight to the death...
And it was one I would not lose.
--
Our fight continued, the two of us having bust a whole in the wall big enough to take it outside, till reached the grounds where Dante's office once stood. We had landed and continued fighting. This battle would end with one of us dead, of that I was sure.
I struck.
He struck back.
I struck.
He froze.
I had landed a single hit to his solar plexus, shattering it on contact and driving my Zambak deep into his chest.
The look his face held was hard for me to believe. He grinned at first, his pearl white teeth now red with his own blood, then it faded into a sad smile. His eyes showed the same look as they did when I met him. Kind, caring, and calm. Now there was something else mixed in it...
Pride.
He was proud of something?
"I'm proud of you Ikira."
Of me? Why...?
"You managed to beat me for one. And two, you finally found where you belong. I saw the look in your eyes when you were in the Lair of Judgment with Vergil. You may not have noticed it, but he holds your heart. And unless I have read him wrong, you hold his as well. I'm proud of you; you found your home, and your heart."
I couldn't speak, I couldn't blink, I couldn't even breathe. I knew he was right...
"Thank you Ikira. They banished me to live as a mortal. I have managed to find my wings though, and I died fighting as an Angel. Thank you Ikira... for setting a Fallen Angel free.... "
I heard his Bo staff drop, and a white light blinded me for a moment. I opened my eyes after recovering from the flash to see nothing but a pile of feathers...
Angel feathers...
A brief wind dusted my face and blew the feathers away, taking them to where ever it was going. I left the staff there; Dante would get it when he came back here.
I walked away from the scene, a single white feather lying under a bloodied Bo staff.
Luken had gone home...
And it was now time I returned to mine.
