A Game of Poker, Chapter 30: No Longer Family
Title: A Game of Poker
Author: Bookkbaby
Rating: Teen
Warnings: YAOI
Summary: LUCKY Pair. It started as a simple game of poker, but a little white lie from Lavi changes everything. ['If you lose... you spend the night here, with me, and let me do whatever I want with you.']
Warnings: YAOI, which means BOYS LOVING BOYS. If you dislike that, then the back button is easy enough to find. Please click that and leave. Limes are in the future, and lemons. Maybe some OOC, spoilers for the end of the anime later on.
Disclaimer: I don’t own these lovely characters, that honor belongs to Katsura Hoshino. (Though if Hoshino-sama ever has a sale, I call dibs on Tyki… what?) I don’t own anything but a copy of the anime series and all volumes of the manga in English. Anything you don’t recognize (like the plotline of ‘A Game of Poker’) does belong to me. Everything else… not so much. Please don’t sue.
Kudos to the awesome SisterWicked of AssHat Productions (a group I am now a proud member of), who got me started on Lucky and lets me use 'lovely'! Beta’d by N.H. Arawn and Misster Cackles! All remaining mistakes are mine.
CHAPTER WARNING: Minor character death.
Important Note On Upcoming Fics At The End Of Chapter
Last Time On ‘A Game Of Poker’:
Krory scowled, drawing himself up to his full height and glaring at the blond. Jasdevi stared back at him, smirking.
"I am not a vampire," Krory said firmly. "I am Arystar Krory."
He flexed his fingers again as the Noah just kept smirking. He hadn't gotten to teach them a proper lesson back on the Ark, but it was high time he did.
And Now, The Continuation
Chapter 30
No Longer Family
Allen cried out as he was shoved backwards, his feet sliding along the stone ground and his sword held up defensively. His arm had gone almost completely numb and it was only the Crown Belt that kept Crown Clown firmly in his hand.
He kept his gaze up as friction slowed him to a stop, blinking to see through the blood. The Earl had hit him in the head a few minutes ago and Allen knew that had opened a shallow cut; he could feel the blood soak his hair and slide down his face to obscure his vision.
The Earl shot forwards again, moving surprisingly fast for such a fat man. Allen barely had time to shift Crown Clown to defend his side and even then the sheer force of the Maker's strike sent him flying. Allen cried out as he hit the ground and he rolled to try and disperse some of the force of impact. He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could, his bruised limbs not wanting to listen to him. The Earl was already upon him again, not giving him a second to recover.
And the Manufacturer hadn't even taken out his sword yet. He was simply swinging Lero and using the pink umbrella as a weapon. Lero wasn't making any noise whatsoever; Allen was pretty sure the umbrella wasn't conscious, since the eyes in the pumpkin that served as its head were dark.
He brought Crown Clown up, bracing it horizontally above his head as best he could with only one arm. The Earl's attack slammed into the sword and pressed down. Allen's arm and legs buckled under the pressure, allowing the tip of the pink umbrella dangerously close to his skull before he could catch himself. His arm shook as he glared up at the Earl. Sweat stung the cut on his head and slid down his neck and chest. There were no cuts thanks to his cloak and Allen thanked God for small mercies, though he could already feel bruises forming.
The Earl, as always, smiled malevolently back at him, increasing the pressure behind Lero. Allen's arm threatened to buckle again and Allen could feel the limb shake and the muscles tear as he struggled to keep the weapon from touching him. He didn't know what sort of nasty thing the Earl could make it do, but he knew it wouldn't be pleasant and would be potentially fatal.
The Earl suddenly shoved down and then backed up a half-step, applying immense pressure and then removing it. Allen, the force against him suddenly removed, was sent stumbling forward. His eyes widened in shock.
The Earl raised Lero, bringing it down on the nape of the white-haired boy's neck. Allen dropped immediately, body numb and sword clattering to the stone beneath his now-loose fingers. He tried to push himself back up so he could get away from the enemy now looming over him, but his body was reacting much too slowly. He turned his head and stared up at the Earl in horror, seeing the man's grin go impossibly wider.
"Goodbye, Allen Walker," the Maker said, bringing Lero down. Allen flinched, closing his eyes and hunching in on himself though he knew it was useless. He heard the umbrella slice through the air and braced for impact.
"Seal of Fire! Hellfire!"
There was a sudden wave of heat above Allen and a surprised grunt. The white-haired boy looked up, dropping his head again with a yelp as some of the fire going passed him singed his hair.
"Allen!"
Lavi?
The heat disappeared. Allen lifted his head again and renewed his grip on Crown Clown before slowly pushing himself to his knees. He stared, surprised, for a moment at the Earl being engulfed by a serpent made of flame, then turned his head to look behind him.
Lavi stood there, slightly out of breath and with his Innocence in his hands. The redhead opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by another voice, this one coming from Allen's other side.
"Get up."
Allen turned towards the voice. Kanda stood next to him, staring down at him with an unreadable look. The white haired boy looked away and pushed himself slowly to his feet, legs shaking with the effort. He almost fell back to the ground as he straightened out his knees, but a firm hand caught his upper arm and jerked him back to his feet. Allen glanced towards Kanda's face, but the other Exorcist refused to look at him. His hand remained firm. Once Allen was steady, the British boy looked over at the Japanese teen and tried to smile gratefully. Kanda sniffed and removed his hand.
"Che. Idiot."
Allen's smile widened, hearing the distinct lack of venom in the other's tone.
"Thanks, Kanda," he said, then turned his focus back to the Earl. The fat man was just beating out the flames that had caught on his large coat, faint burn marks on his face and clothing.
Allen heard Lavi come up on his other side, the redhead's boots making relatively quiet sounds on the stone.
The Earl breathed loudly, his face crinkling into a glare as he changed his grip on Lero. One hand went just underneath the pumpkin head and the other held on to the handle. The hand on the handle of the umbrella began to pull slowly and the crackle of energy sounded in the air.
"That was a cheap trick, Exorcists," the Earl said, then turned his gaze to Lavi. His glare intensified, then disappeared entirely. A shiver went down Allen's spine, a sudden feeling of uneasiness weighing down his gut. He could feel Lavi tense beside him, meaning the redhead had noticed the Earl's sudden shift as well.
"You are... Lavi, correct?" The Earl touched the brim of his top hat in a mockery of respect. "I was hoping I would run into you, Exorcist..."
Allen's eyes widened and his gaze darted to the redhead next to him for a split second before he moved his focus back to the Earl. He could sense Lavi tensing even further, then hear the loud intake and exhale of breath as Lavi forced himself to relax. But for the Earl's voice and Lavi's small sigh, the air seemed almost deadly quiet. Even the energy created by the Earl slowly drawing his sword seemed somehow muted.
"Especially after what you did to my precious Tyki-pon..." The Earl's eyes narrowed again and the man tilted his head so his glasses slid down his nose and his eyes were visible beyond the lenses. "I think you get to die first!"
The Maker finished drawing the sword with a flourish and leapt towards the startled redhead. Allen heard Kanda inhale sharply, but both Exorcists were caught off guard and didn't have time to intercept the strike or at least slow the large man down. Lavi just barely managed to bring Ozuchi Kozuchi up in time to block, but the Earl's momentum forced them both backwards. The pair slid several feet, Lavi's arms visibly shaking with the effort of blocking the massive sword from cutting into his skull.
Allen's eyes widened in fear and he began to move, but Kanda was already in motion.
"Eight-Flower Mantis!" the Japanese Exorcist said, voice promising death and his eyes narrowed in a fierce glare. The attack hit the Earl's back dead-on, knocking him off balance and allowing Lavi just enough leeway to shove the Maker to the side and get out from under the sword's weight. The redhead quickly moved around to the Manufacturer's back, keeping Ozuchi Kozuchi up in case he needed to block. The Earl was already catching his balance and turning around.
"Thanks," Lavi said to Kanda, not looking at the other Exorcist.
"Che," Kanda replied, tightening his grip on both Mugen and the sword created by the Second Illusion. The Japanese teen didn't look at the redhead or acknowledge his thanks in any other way, instead rushing forward to go on the attack. He brought both of his swords up and then struck, slicing down to cut into the meaty part of the Earl's shoulders. The Manufacturer brought his own weapon up to block. Mugen had barely scratched against the metal when Kanda drew his swords him and dropped beneath the Earl's guard, bringing both his weapons horizontal to cut through the man at the waist.
The Earl stepped back, bringing his sword down towards the Exorcist's head. Kanda dropped quickly and rolled to the side, the fat man's attack narrowly missing the samurai's hair. Kanda began to get to his feet, but the Earl was already attacking again.
Allen stepped in, bringing Crown Clown up in defense. The Manufacturer's attack had him sliding a foot to the side, but before the Earl could recover and attack again, Lavi's voice sounded from behind him.
"Seal of Heaven! Violent Thunder!"
There was a loud boom that drowned out all other noise for a split second and then the crackling of lightning filled the air. The lightning converged on the Earl, shooting towards him and then through him. Some of the energy sparked on the Earl's weapon and traveled through the metal to Crown Clown and then over Allen's sword as well, but all the white-haired boy felt was a bit of a tingle in his fingertips.
The Maker's muscles spasmed and Allen took the chance to move, positioning himself so that the Earl would be in the center of a half-circle formed by the three Exorcists. If they all attacked him together...
He shot at glance at the other two and saw them raise their weapons, each having come to the same conclusion. Kanda's grip tightened on his two blades as he lifted them in preparation to strike. Lavi's lifted his hammer, the words of a seal to summon already on his lips. Allen grimly tightened his own grip on Crown Clown, feeling the Crown Belt wrap tighter around the blade's handle and his wrist, as if to be certain that the blade wouldn't fly out of his hand.
The Earl looked up, facial muscles still twitching as the last of the electricity worked through his body. Allen felt the Earl's gaze rest on him for a second and shivered, whole body suddenly going cold with fear, before the Earl's focus shifted to Lavi.
"Insolent fools!" the Earl hissed, lifting one hand. Dark energy rapidly began to collect in his palm and Allen could almost feel the shock and recognition radiating from the other two Exorcists.
They all knew this attack, though they had only seen it once before; when the Earl had leveled Edo.
Line Break
Lenalee's consciousness returned all at once, as though someone had flicked a switch.
She blinked, drawing her arms up to her chest as she reached out with her senses. She couldn't hear her friends fighting or hear Akuma exploding into dust... for a second she thought she had gone deaf, but then she realized that she could hear herself breathing. She rubbed her arms with her hands, shivering a bit in the chill she felt.
She was no longer on the cliff out in front of the Order; in fact, she couldn't even see the Order building any more. All she saw was miles and miles of slightly upward-curving ground, as though she was in the center of some enormous valley and surrounded on all sides by massive mountains. The ground was covered in what seemed to be huge, round checkerboards, though no playing pieces were visible and none of the circles overlapped. Each square seemed to be large enough to comfortably fit five people laying down.
There was no sky. The only illumination came from various points of light that moved almost like living beings. They grew and shrank as Lenalee watched and she quickly looked away, unnerved.
A laugh sounded behind her and she whirled around, looking for the source.
There was nothing.
She swallowed heavily and then took a deep breath to calm herself. Road couldn't possibly win just by leaving her here, could she?
She opened her mouth to call to the Noah, but then the laugh sounded again. The noise was behind her and she turned quickly, trying to catch the source of the noise.
Road stood there, her hands clasped neatly behind her back. The Noah tilted her head to the side, a petulant expression on her face.
"I was hoping for something more interesting, but you Exorcists are all alike, aren't you?" Road asked thoughtfully. She smiled. "At least it's fun to watch."
Lenalee narrowed her eyes at the girl, clenching her hands tighter around her upper arms.
"Are we going to fight here?" she asked. Road giggled in response and then straightened up and shook her head.
"Lavi asked me the same question," she said, voice full of sickeningly sweet venom, especially on Lavi's name. "I'm not the one you are going to fight."
Lenalee's eyes widened.
"What?" she asked. Road's smile widened.
"You don't get to have your Innocence either."
As if that had been some sort of cue - for all Lenalee knew, it might very well have been - she could feel her boots crack and disintegrate into nothing. She stared down at her legs in horror, belatedly reaching down and pressing the disintegrating material to her leg in a futile attempt to keep it in place. Her Dark Boots crumbled around her hand, leaving her with only a handful of black powder that disappeared from her palm in seconds. Lenalee felt a chilly breeze brush past her now bare legs and shivered, suddenly feeling naked and exposed.
She took another deep breath to calm herself, her hands forming fists as she straightened up.
This was only a dream, wasn't it? Her Innocence could not be destroyed; it was like dreaming of dying. Even if you died in a dream, you were still alive when you woke up. All she had to do was wake up and her Innocence would be whole.
She glared at Road, noting that the Noah was watching her with an interested expression.
"Who do I fight, then, if not you?" Lenalee asked. Road clapped her hands together, smiling once more.
"Don't you love surprises?" she asked in return. "I do, and telling you would spoil the surprise!"
Lenalee began to object, but then Road clapped again and the world switched off.
Line Break
Tyki studied his opponent warily, keeping his gaze on her and the knife she held as he lifted a hand to touch the thin line of blood she had drawn over his cheek. He held his other arm up as a shield, dark energy forming an almost cross-shape around the limb.
Lulubell stood fifteen paces away, shoulders heaving and her hair and clothes in a disarray. In her right hand she held the small dagger she had tried to shove through his eyes moments before, the dagger's empty sheath hanging on her belt. Her eyes were narrowed slightly in the most overt display of emotion Tyki had ever seen from her and he glared in response.
"Where did you get a hold of Innocence?" he asked, nodding at the dagger. Lulubell's hand tightened around the handle and she lifted the weapon, pointing it at the Pleasure.
"Our Master made these for us," she replied evenly. "I will not miss next time."
Tyki snorted quietly, dropping his hand from his face and concentrating dark energy around it until a cross-shaped glow formed. He had no doubt what those knives were supposed to be used for. He'd have to watch himself and make sure the Lust didn't have a chance to stick the blade anywhere it might do real damage.
He should have known - or at least suspected - that his former brethren would have weapons specifically designed to be used against him. His former master was the type of person who did not take betrayal lightly and tended to respond with a vengeance. The Earl had taken care to write him out of the code for any new Akuma he made, though at least the Maker hadn't been able to reprogram the older Akuma and change that basic hardwiring. Though the new ones hadn't responded to his general command to self-destruct, all of the older Akuma had exploded and that had hopefully helped the Exorcists in their fight. Tyki hadn't been able to check how the Black Order fared.
"Our Master may yet accept you back," Lulubell told him, voice flat as though she disapproved. Tyki almost laughed at the thought. Lulubell had never disapproved of anything the Earl did, whether it was sending the Noah to attack a playground so the bereaved parents would cry out for their children to return to them or if it was starting a war between two countries so that thousands of young men and women would kill each other senselessly.
"I see no reason to return," he replied, voice just as even as hers. "I quite like it here."
Her eyes narrowed further and she drew back her hand holding the knife. She coiled the muscles in her legs, getting ready to leap forward. Tyki noticed and braced himself, bringing one of his arms more firmly up to defend himself. He didn't bother checking to see how much room he had on top of the cliff - for him, standing on air was as natural as breathing it in. It was unfortunate that the cliff's edge provided no obstacle for Lulubell either. All the Lust had to do was will herself to have wings and she could fly.
Lulubell leapt at him, her knife hand scything out. Tyki jerked his left arm forward and felt her strike connect with his dark energy shield. He shoved both his arm and hers to the side, keeping his left arm up as a block while he darted forward, lifting his right arm to strike.
The Noah of Lust scowled, turning to water heartbeats before the strike connected. Already committed to the blow, Tyki's body kept moving forward as her body flowed towards him, coming up inside his guard and reforming. Lulubell struck out with the knife again.
Tyki jerked his body to the side as much as he could, but it wasn't much of a dodge. He felt the blade bite into his side, drawing a shallow cut across his ribs. He gritted his teeth, coiling his legs and leaping away from the female Noah as she drew back her dagger to strike again.
Her blow rushed by just under his feet as he found purchase on the air and leapt again, his legs carrying him out of her reach. He turned, grimacing slightly as he felt the blood from his most recent injury soak the torn cloth of his shirt and adhere the material to his skin.
Lulubell turned to face him calmly, flicking the knife to clean the bit of blood from the end.
"You're slow, Tyki," she said flatly, staring up at him. "I will not miss again."
"I believe you have already said that," Tyki responded, smirking and lifting his hands. Dark energy still crackled around them, powerful and deadly. He briefly wished for the Tease - a small swarm would have been able to distract Lulubell long enough for him to strike a decent blow and perhaps rip out one of her organs. Perhaps even her heart, though he doubted the cold Lust would even notice it missing.
His smirk turned into a smile of dry amusement at the thought and then faded entirely as he watched his opponent. Lulubell's eyes were filled with chilly fury though her expression was still calm, at least on the surface. There was a small downward curve to her lips and her eyebrows were narrowed just slightly, enough to reveal her true mood to anyone who took a second look. Tyki stayed where he was, lifting his head and deliberately looking down his nose at her. Her eyes flashed angrily for a second, then she huffed resignedly. She sheathed the dagger and leaned forward just slightly, keeping her eyes on Tyki as she spread her arms.
Her sleeves exploded into shards of ripped material. Tyki could hear the crunch of bone and cartiledge as her arms changed shape. Bones lengthened and hollowed out - he could only imagine that the rest of her bones were similarly turning hollow and making her body light enough to take flight. Her fingers lengthened and her wrists popped, turning at an unnaturally sharp angle as her skin flowed, almost as if it was melting. Her flesh thinned, forming almost web-like growths between her now abnormally long and thin fingers.
The whole process happened in a manner of seconds. Lulubell flapped her new wings once, experimentally. Her shirt and jacket were in shreds, hanging on by threads and a prayer. The webbing of her wings extended from just under what had once been her shoulder to her hip and her wingspan was perhaps twice her height.
A short arm formed just in front of her right wing, far enough forward that it wouldn't foul her in flight. The hand at the end of the new, naked arm reached for the dagger in its sheath and drew it, holding it close to Lulubell's body as she jumped into the air. She flapped her wings, propelling herself up and at Tyki. She lifted the knife, ready to attack.
The Pleasure smiled, dropping effortlessly under her attack as her arm struck out in a wide half-circle. He caught himself on thin air and turned to look up at Lulubell. She had shot past his previous position and had turned, her wings still flapping to keep her airborne. She glared at him and his smirk widened in response.
He easily stepped up on the air, moving until he matched her height. Her eyes narrowed and she shifted, preparing herself for a frontal attack.
Tyki dashed forward. Lulubell tensed, lifting the knife as Tyki lifted his arms to strike.
Five feet in front of her, he dropped again. He tucked himself into a roll, sliding under her feet as she slashed downwards, unprepared for the unexpected move. He rolled to his feet behind her, deactivating the energy on his right arm and he struck towards her unprotected back. His hand slid without opposition through her flesh and he wrapped his fingers around her heart. He could feel the muscle's rapid beat between his ghostly fingers and he hesitated for a fraction of a second.
She had been family once, not too long ago. Maybe she wasn't family any more, but-
He had hesitated too long.
Lulubell turned to water in his grasp, falling several feet through the air before she reformed, wings and all. She flapped her wings once, to regain control and slow herself down, then gently glided towards the cliff top. Turning to water so suddenly had left her without a hand to grip the knife and it was embedded in the rock and dirt below.
Tyki made no move to follow, instead lifting his now-wet hand and charging the air around it with dark energy once more. He watched as she picked up the knife and brushed it off on her pants, carefully cleaning the blade. While that knife was the biggest threat to him, he knew he wouldn't have been able to move fast enough to get to it before Lulubell - he more than likely would have thrown himself headfirst onto the dagger instead and he had no intention of doing Lulubell's job for her.
The Lust glared up at him, still standing on the ground with a firm grip on the now-clean weapon.
"You've gone soft, Tyki," she said flatly. She tightened her grip on the knife, then smiled. It was just a small upturn of the lips, but Tyki felt a silent chill move through him. At no time could he recall Lulubell ever actually smiling; she radiated quiet approval or satisfaction when she was pleased, but she had never before smiled.
He had a bad feeling about this...
He watched, stunned into silence, as Lulubell's form morphed. Her hair shortened, as though it were growing into her skull, and lightened from black to bright, lively red. She shrank, her petite frame filling out and her breasts shrinking into the hard, muscular planes of a male chest. Her clothes couldn't change with her, but they hardly needed to for her to make her point. Her wings had disappeared, no longer needed, and two human arms were in their place.
She grinned, an expression that looked far more natural on the face she wore now than on her actual face. Tyki's eyes narrowed and he felt anger stirring deep within him, his darker side waking alongside it.
Lulubell lifted a hand and placed her fingers lightly on her cheek, under the emerald green eye instead of underneath the eyeptach that had formed over her other eye.
"I suppose it's this boy's fault, isn't it?" she asked in Lavi's voice. "He's the first whore you've lain with that has had such an effect on you."
Tyki's anger flared, but he didn't move to attack. Lulubell was trying to provoke him into doing something stupid and he wouldn't play into her hands.
Besides that, the Exorcist had left him. Lavi very clearly wanted nothing more to do with him, though there had been a few moments that had made him wonder, and then when Lavi had said 'be safe'...
"How many of the Order's men do you think he has serviced?" Lulubell asked, voice silky and smooth. That smarted, especially with Lavi's voice in the back of his mind, whispering that Tyki had given him nothing he 'couldn't find somewhere else with less hassle'.
Tyki kept a tight rein on his anger, feel his black side waking fully. He struggled to keep his darker nature at bay, knowing that letting his anger control him was exactly what Lulubell wanted. Rage would only cause him to make mistakes, and with that knife of hers, Lulubell would find it too easy to kill him and he refused to die. Not yet.
Though Lavi may want little or nothing to do with him, Tyki would not give up so easily. There was still that unnamable feeling inside of him, growing stronger and more desperate with each day that passed. It had been briefly assuaged when he had held Lavi in his arms earlier, but it was not the kind of feeling that would simply go away if he ignored it.
After this battle he would find the redhead and then they would talk, if nothing else.
"How many of our men could use him before he broke?" Lulubell asked, voice almost impatient. "Our Master could pass him around to the Noah, perhaps even some of the nobles... how much can his body take before he becomes useless? I'm sure even our Master would use him, though he might not be good for anything afterwards."
It was perhaps the most Lulubell had ever spoken at once before, but Tyki was beyond recognizing that fact. Hot anger spread through his body, images of the redhead being violated by his former employer and some of his less-savory acquaintances playing in his mind. He knew Lulubell was only taunting him, trying to draw him into an attack on the ground, but he was hard-pressed to stay in place and think of some taunt that would draw her back into the sky. Though Lulubell was fast and agile with wings, Tyki had the advantage in the air. He had to draw her back up here, had to come up with something that would infuriate her before his control snapped and he went after her. They were evenly matched on the ground and he had no weapon besides his own body whereas she had a dagger that could actually harm him.
"Road could always use a new playmate to practice her tricks on," Lulubell said, briefly switching tactics. Tyki bristled at the suggestion but bit his tongue on the reply that rose to his mouth. He couldn't let her see how much her insults were affecting him - she was already getting agitated, if he just kept silent for a few more minutes she would come after him physically. If he opened his mouth now, he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep from cursing her and letting her see how badly she was getting to him.
Lulubell scowled, then straightened up fully.
"Or maybe," she said, changing shape once more. She grew taller and her shoulders broadened, her skin darkening from a light bronze to light gray. Her chest remained flat and her hair went from red to black, lengthening slightly and turning wavy. Her voice deepened, taking on a seductive tone Tyki knew intimately well. "-it could be your body that violates him."
Tyki glared at her imitation of him, seeing his perfect likeness smirk in response. He could feel his control slipping, hanging by mere threads. The Lust's meaning was perfectly clear and he had little doubt that she would follow through on her threat to rape Lavi while posing as Tyki if given half a chance.
He would not let her even have a fraction of a chance.
He took a deep breath, trying to tamp down on some of his anger. It would not help him, though it would give him that much more satisfaction when he could finally wrap his fingers around Lulubell's heart and pull.
Tyki smiled at the thought, mouth going into an unnaturally wide grin. It had been so long since he had let his black side out to play.
Too long, in his opinion, and he was going to remedy that right now.
He threw back his head and laughed out loud. He could hear it, shrill and unhinged and not at all amused. He abruptly stopped laughing and looked back at Lulubell, feeling his smile go impossibly wider. She, still looking like Tyki, had backed up a step and had an expression he recognized as uncertainty. She had drawn up the knife defensively, as if expecting him to attack.
"I've gone soft, have I? Perhaps I'm just out of practice..." he said softly, just loud enough to be heard over the distant sounds of the Exorcists fighting. He took one step towards her and saw her tense. He almost laughed out loud again, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side as he took another step forward. "Perhaps I can be... persuaded to practice on you."
Lulubell held her ground, her form shifting back to her own shape as she braced herself for an attack.
Tyki abruptly dropped from his position in the air to the ground, still outside of her reach. He still wore the maniac smile, which he knew was doing its work unnerving her. He simply stood there. Lulubell hesitated, then her expression took on a decidedly determined edge and she sprang forward, lifting the dagger with a fierce cry.
Tyki sidestepped. The wild blow missed him completely and nearly sent Lulubell over the edge of the cliff. He kept his eyes on her, not moving to attack as Lulubell regained her balance.
"Lavi is a whore?" he asked, voice turning deadly with suppressed anger. "If so, then he is exclusively mine. He has 'serviced' no one but me."
If he had his way then no one else would ever see the face Lavi made at the peak of ecstasy. That expression was for him and him alone.
With a small cry of rage, Lulubell struck towards him again. Tyki stepped backwards, easily avoiding the strike. The blow had been even wilder than the last; he had been right. Being impassive to her attempts at infuriating him had frustrated Lulubell to the point that the Lust was the one making mistakes.
She attacked again and this time Tyki phased through the ground beneath his feet. He waited several heartbeats, then phased back up through the ground, correctly predicting that Lulubell's momentum would have carried her through the spot he had been standing. He was now directly behind the female Noah, and she was turning too slowly to get another strike off before he made his move.
He stepped close to her, inside her guard range, and grabbed her knife arm by the wrist. His grip was like steel, hard and unbreakable, and he quickly seized the knife with his other hand. He wrested it from her grasp and threw her to the ground. He stood over her with the knife, staring down at her impassively.
She glared up at him, eyes darting to the knife and then back at his face. He lifted the weapon, making sure that she could see it, then threw it over the cliff's edge without another word. He saw her gaze go wide and then narrow, shock and fury colliding within her. She morphed into water and he stepped back, effortlessly dodging the enraged tackle meant to drown him.
She reformed, glaring hatefully at Tyki.
"That was a gift from our Master," she hissed, furious. Tyki nodded.
"And now you have nothing you can use against me. Do you feel helpless yet?" he asked. His mouth split into another unnaturally large grin and Lulubell tensed in response. "I guess that's a 'no'."
He lifted one hand, already bringing his will to bear on the air surrounding Lulubell. Asphyxiation was supposedly a horrible way to die.
He couldn't wait to see.
The Lust glared at him, stepping forward and looking as though she planned to dart past him, perhaps borrow one of the other Noahs' daggers in place of her own. She clearly didn't know exactly what Tyki was capable of when he was truly angry, or what his hand raised in such a manner meant.
"Reject," he said softly, with as much pleasure as venom in his voice. The air shrieked, a sudden wind roaring up from out of nowhere. Lulubell's eyes widened, a hand going to her throat as she realized the poorer quality of the air.
"Reject," Tyki said again, stepping closer. The wind blew through him, picking up speed and growing louder as it spun in a small globe. The sphere was just large enough to encompass Lulubell. The Lust, too late realizing what exactly it was that Tyki was rejecting, tried to step forward but the ground crumbled under her feet as the wind carved out a small circle in the rock and dirt.
"Reject, reject, reject." Tyki's voice grew louder and louder, but the wind grew loud enough to drown him out as he rejected more and more oxygen from the atmosphere, creating a vacuum around his opponent. Lulubell was lifted off of her feet by the sheer force, suspended in midair as the ground disintegrated to nothing beneath her. Both of her hands were at her throat now, mouth wide open as she tried desperately to draw in oxygen that simply wasn't there. Parts of her body transformed, the Noah in her likely trying to find some form that would save her. Water boiled away to nothing, fire was quickly smothered, and there was no animal she could turn into that did not need oxygen.
No matter what form the Lust took, she needed air to survive.
Tyki watched, still grinning widely, as her struggles weakened, then ceased. He kept the vacuum going at full power, striding slowly towards her limp form. He reached the edge of the vacuum and stepped fearlessly inside, willing his own supply of air to stay with him as he approached his former family member.
He laid a hand on her shoulder, flipping her over. Her eyes were open but unseeing, slightly bulged out of their sockets from the force of the vacuum still pulling on her body. Blood vessels had burst within her eyes, coloring the once-white areas dark red. Her mouth hung open, jaw slack and tongue swollen and even redder than was normal. Her ears were stained red around the ear canals from blood vessels there breaking, and some blood ran from her swollen nose.
She was dead. Tyki let the vacuum die slowly, catching the Lust's body as the force of the vacuum released it. He stood unconcernedly on thin air, almost lovingly holding his former sister's dead body.
"And Lulubell?" he told her quietly, slipping one of his hands free and sliding it into her chest. His hand wrapped around the dead, unmoving muscle in her chest. "No one touches him but me."
He yanked, letting go of her body with his other hand. She tumbled free, quickly picking up speed as her body fell the countless feet to the distant, unseen bottom of the cliffs.
He stared calmly, then tossed the still-warm heart off the edge as well. Blood was thick and heavy on his palm and he wiped his hand absently on his shirt, cleaning it.
Tyki felt warm water run down his face and he sighed, cuffing the tears away. His Noah was crying for the loss of what it would always see as 'family', despite Tyki's changed allegiance. The tears were oddly comforting and he smiled even as more ran down his face.
Lulubell was well and truly dead. He hadn't expected her to survive, but a Noah could take quite a bit of punishment and come back for more. The tears were the confirmation he needed and he relaxed, turning back towards the cliff and the rest of the battles. He wiped away the tears rolling down his face, smiling turning into a smirk when no more fell.
He walked back on to solid ground, smirk fading to a serious expression.
Though he had killed Lulubell, she was hardly the only opponent and was definitely not the most deadly. He was fairly certain that a certain redheaded, hammer-wielding Exorcist was currently fighting the man who had the dubious honor of that particular title.
It was time again to meet the Maker.
TBC…
A/N: I unfortunately do not have Chapter 31 written yet (or even started), so I will not update this fic any time in the next two weeks. However, I will be posting a Lucky oneshot Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in the spirit of the season. I hope that tides everyone over!
I also have a Yullen oneshot in the works that is a ‘what-if’ fic set after AGoP, though it goes AU after Chapter 26. That should be posted sometime in the next few weeks.
Canis Luna will be updated on schedule next Sunday. Have a happy Chrismakwaanzakah!
Author: Bookkbaby
Rating: Teen
Warnings: YAOI
Summary: LUCKY Pair. It started as a simple game of poker, but a little white lie from Lavi changes everything. ['If you lose... you spend the night here, with me, and let me do whatever I want with you.']
Warnings: YAOI, which means BOYS LOVING BOYS. If you dislike that, then the back button is easy enough to find. Please click that and leave. Limes are in the future, and lemons. Maybe some OOC, spoilers for the end of the anime later on.
Disclaimer: I don’t own these lovely characters, that honor belongs to Katsura Hoshino. (Though if Hoshino-sama ever has a sale, I call dibs on Tyki… what?) I don’t own anything but a copy of the anime series and all volumes of the manga in English. Anything you don’t recognize (like the plotline of ‘A Game of Poker’) does belong to me. Everything else… not so much. Please don’t sue.
Kudos to the awesome SisterWicked of AssHat Productions (a group I am now a proud member of), who got me started on Lucky and lets me use 'lovely'! Beta’d by N.H. Arawn and Misster Cackles! All remaining mistakes are mine.
CHAPTER WARNING: Minor character death.
Important Note On Upcoming Fics At The End Of Chapter
Last Time On ‘A Game Of Poker’:
Krory scowled, drawing himself up to his full height and glaring at the blond. Jasdevi stared back at him, smirking.
"I am not a vampire," Krory said firmly. "I am Arystar Krory."
He flexed his fingers again as the Noah just kept smirking. He hadn't gotten to teach them a proper lesson back on the Ark, but it was high time he did.
And Now, The Continuation
Chapter 30
No Longer Family
Allen cried out as he was shoved backwards, his feet sliding along the stone ground and his sword held up defensively. His arm had gone almost completely numb and it was only the Crown Belt that kept Crown Clown firmly in his hand.
He kept his gaze up as friction slowed him to a stop, blinking to see through the blood. The Earl had hit him in the head a few minutes ago and Allen knew that had opened a shallow cut; he could feel the blood soak his hair and slide down his face to obscure his vision.
The Earl shot forwards again, moving surprisingly fast for such a fat man. Allen barely had time to shift Crown Clown to defend his side and even then the sheer force of the Maker's strike sent him flying. Allen cried out as he hit the ground and he rolled to try and disperse some of the force of impact. He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could, his bruised limbs not wanting to listen to him. The Earl was already upon him again, not giving him a second to recover.
And the Manufacturer hadn't even taken out his sword yet. He was simply swinging Lero and using the pink umbrella as a weapon. Lero wasn't making any noise whatsoever; Allen was pretty sure the umbrella wasn't conscious, since the eyes in the pumpkin that served as its head were dark.
He brought Crown Clown up, bracing it horizontally above his head as best he could with only one arm. The Earl's attack slammed into the sword and pressed down. Allen's arm and legs buckled under the pressure, allowing the tip of the pink umbrella dangerously close to his skull before he could catch himself. His arm shook as he glared up at the Earl. Sweat stung the cut on his head and slid down his neck and chest. There were no cuts thanks to his cloak and Allen thanked God for small mercies, though he could already feel bruises forming.
The Earl, as always, smiled malevolently back at him, increasing the pressure behind Lero. Allen's arm threatened to buckle again and Allen could feel the limb shake and the muscles tear as he struggled to keep the weapon from touching him. He didn't know what sort of nasty thing the Earl could make it do, but he knew it wouldn't be pleasant and would be potentially fatal.
The Earl suddenly shoved down and then backed up a half-step, applying immense pressure and then removing it. Allen, the force against him suddenly removed, was sent stumbling forward. His eyes widened in shock.
The Earl raised Lero, bringing it down on the nape of the white-haired boy's neck. Allen dropped immediately, body numb and sword clattering to the stone beneath his now-loose fingers. He tried to push himself back up so he could get away from the enemy now looming over him, but his body was reacting much too slowly. He turned his head and stared up at the Earl in horror, seeing the man's grin go impossibly wider.
"Goodbye, Allen Walker," the Maker said, bringing Lero down. Allen flinched, closing his eyes and hunching in on himself though he knew it was useless. He heard the umbrella slice through the air and braced for impact.
"Seal of Fire! Hellfire!"
There was a sudden wave of heat above Allen and a surprised grunt. The white-haired boy looked up, dropping his head again with a yelp as some of the fire going passed him singed his hair.
"Allen!"
Lavi?
The heat disappeared. Allen lifted his head again and renewed his grip on Crown Clown before slowly pushing himself to his knees. He stared, surprised, for a moment at the Earl being engulfed by a serpent made of flame, then turned his head to look behind him.
Lavi stood there, slightly out of breath and with his Innocence in his hands. The redhead opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by another voice, this one coming from Allen's other side.
"Get up."
Allen turned towards the voice. Kanda stood next to him, staring down at him with an unreadable look. The white haired boy looked away and pushed himself slowly to his feet, legs shaking with the effort. He almost fell back to the ground as he straightened out his knees, but a firm hand caught his upper arm and jerked him back to his feet. Allen glanced towards Kanda's face, but the other Exorcist refused to look at him. His hand remained firm. Once Allen was steady, the British boy looked over at the Japanese teen and tried to smile gratefully. Kanda sniffed and removed his hand.
"Che. Idiot."
Allen's smile widened, hearing the distinct lack of venom in the other's tone.
"Thanks, Kanda," he said, then turned his focus back to the Earl. The fat man was just beating out the flames that had caught on his large coat, faint burn marks on his face and clothing.
Allen heard Lavi come up on his other side, the redhead's boots making relatively quiet sounds on the stone.
The Earl breathed loudly, his face crinkling into a glare as he changed his grip on Lero. One hand went just underneath the pumpkin head and the other held on to the handle. The hand on the handle of the umbrella began to pull slowly and the crackle of energy sounded in the air.
"That was a cheap trick, Exorcists," the Earl said, then turned his gaze to Lavi. His glare intensified, then disappeared entirely. A shiver went down Allen's spine, a sudden feeling of uneasiness weighing down his gut. He could feel Lavi tense beside him, meaning the redhead had noticed the Earl's sudden shift as well.
"You are... Lavi, correct?" The Earl touched the brim of his top hat in a mockery of respect. "I was hoping I would run into you, Exorcist..."
Allen's eyes widened and his gaze darted to the redhead next to him for a split second before he moved his focus back to the Earl. He could sense Lavi tensing even further, then hear the loud intake and exhale of breath as Lavi forced himself to relax. But for the Earl's voice and Lavi's small sigh, the air seemed almost deadly quiet. Even the energy created by the Earl slowly drawing his sword seemed somehow muted.
"Especially after what you did to my precious Tyki-pon..." The Earl's eyes narrowed again and the man tilted his head so his glasses slid down his nose and his eyes were visible beyond the lenses. "I think you get to die first!"
The Maker finished drawing the sword with a flourish and leapt towards the startled redhead. Allen heard Kanda inhale sharply, but both Exorcists were caught off guard and didn't have time to intercept the strike or at least slow the large man down. Lavi just barely managed to bring Ozuchi Kozuchi up in time to block, but the Earl's momentum forced them both backwards. The pair slid several feet, Lavi's arms visibly shaking with the effort of blocking the massive sword from cutting into his skull.
Allen's eyes widened in fear and he began to move, but Kanda was already in motion.
"Eight-Flower Mantis!" the Japanese Exorcist said, voice promising death and his eyes narrowed in a fierce glare. The attack hit the Earl's back dead-on, knocking him off balance and allowing Lavi just enough leeway to shove the Maker to the side and get out from under the sword's weight. The redhead quickly moved around to the Manufacturer's back, keeping Ozuchi Kozuchi up in case he needed to block. The Earl was already catching his balance and turning around.
"Thanks," Lavi said to Kanda, not looking at the other Exorcist.
"Che," Kanda replied, tightening his grip on both Mugen and the sword created by the Second Illusion. The Japanese teen didn't look at the redhead or acknowledge his thanks in any other way, instead rushing forward to go on the attack. He brought both of his swords up and then struck, slicing down to cut into the meaty part of the Earl's shoulders. The Manufacturer brought his own weapon up to block. Mugen had barely scratched against the metal when Kanda drew his swords him and dropped beneath the Earl's guard, bringing both his weapons horizontal to cut through the man at the waist.
The Earl stepped back, bringing his sword down towards the Exorcist's head. Kanda dropped quickly and rolled to the side, the fat man's attack narrowly missing the samurai's hair. Kanda began to get to his feet, but the Earl was already attacking again.
Allen stepped in, bringing Crown Clown up in defense. The Manufacturer's attack had him sliding a foot to the side, but before the Earl could recover and attack again, Lavi's voice sounded from behind him.
"Seal of Heaven! Violent Thunder!"
There was a loud boom that drowned out all other noise for a split second and then the crackling of lightning filled the air. The lightning converged on the Earl, shooting towards him and then through him. Some of the energy sparked on the Earl's weapon and traveled through the metal to Crown Clown and then over Allen's sword as well, but all the white-haired boy felt was a bit of a tingle in his fingertips.
The Maker's muscles spasmed and Allen took the chance to move, positioning himself so that the Earl would be in the center of a half-circle formed by the three Exorcists. If they all attacked him together...
He shot at glance at the other two and saw them raise their weapons, each having come to the same conclusion. Kanda's grip tightened on his two blades as he lifted them in preparation to strike. Lavi's lifted his hammer, the words of a seal to summon already on his lips. Allen grimly tightened his own grip on Crown Clown, feeling the Crown Belt wrap tighter around the blade's handle and his wrist, as if to be certain that the blade wouldn't fly out of his hand.
The Earl looked up, facial muscles still twitching as the last of the electricity worked through his body. Allen felt the Earl's gaze rest on him for a second and shivered, whole body suddenly going cold with fear, before the Earl's focus shifted to Lavi.
"Insolent fools!" the Earl hissed, lifting one hand. Dark energy rapidly began to collect in his palm and Allen could almost feel the shock and recognition radiating from the other two Exorcists.
They all knew this attack, though they had only seen it once before; when the Earl had leveled Edo.
Line Break
Lenalee's consciousness returned all at once, as though someone had flicked a switch.
She blinked, drawing her arms up to her chest as she reached out with her senses. She couldn't hear her friends fighting or hear Akuma exploding into dust... for a second she thought she had gone deaf, but then she realized that she could hear herself breathing. She rubbed her arms with her hands, shivering a bit in the chill she felt.
She was no longer on the cliff out in front of the Order; in fact, she couldn't even see the Order building any more. All she saw was miles and miles of slightly upward-curving ground, as though she was in the center of some enormous valley and surrounded on all sides by massive mountains. The ground was covered in what seemed to be huge, round checkerboards, though no playing pieces were visible and none of the circles overlapped. Each square seemed to be large enough to comfortably fit five people laying down.
There was no sky. The only illumination came from various points of light that moved almost like living beings. They grew and shrank as Lenalee watched and she quickly looked away, unnerved.
A laugh sounded behind her and she whirled around, looking for the source.
There was nothing.
She swallowed heavily and then took a deep breath to calm herself. Road couldn't possibly win just by leaving her here, could she?
She opened her mouth to call to the Noah, but then the laugh sounded again. The noise was behind her and she turned quickly, trying to catch the source of the noise.
Road stood there, her hands clasped neatly behind her back. The Noah tilted her head to the side, a petulant expression on her face.
"I was hoping for something more interesting, but you Exorcists are all alike, aren't you?" Road asked thoughtfully. She smiled. "At least it's fun to watch."
Lenalee narrowed her eyes at the girl, clenching her hands tighter around her upper arms.
"Are we going to fight here?" she asked. Road giggled in response and then straightened up and shook her head.
"Lavi asked me the same question," she said, voice full of sickeningly sweet venom, especially on Lavi's name. "I'm not the one you are going to fight."
Lenalee's eyes widened.
"What?" she asked. Road's smile widened.
"You don't get to have your Innocence either."
As if that had been some sort of cue - for all Lenalee knew, it might very well have been - she could feel her boots crack and disintegrate into nothing. She stared down at her legs in horror, belatedly reaching down and pressing the disintegrating material to her leg in a futile attempt to keep it in place. Her Dark Boots crumbled around her hand, leaving her with only a handful of black powder that disappeared from her palm in seconds. Lenalee felt a chilly breeze brush past her now bare legs and shivered, suddenly feeling naked and exposed.
She took another deep breath to calm herself, her hands forming fists as she straightened up.
This was only a dream, wasn't it? Her Innocence could not be destroyed; it was like dreaming of dying. Even if you died in a dream, you were still alive when you woke up. All she had to do was wake up and her Innocence would be whole.
She glared at Road, noting that the Noah was watching her with an interested expression.
"Who do I fight, then, if not you?" Lenalee asked. Road clapped her hands together, smiling once more.
"Don't you love surprises?" she asked in return. "I do, and telling you would spoil the surprise!"
Lenalee began to object, but then Road clapped again and the world switched off.
Line Break
Tyki studied his opponent warily, keeping his gaze on her and the knife she held as he lifted a hand to touch the thin line of blood she had drawn over his cheek. He held his other arm up as a shield, dark energy forming an almost cross-shape around the limb.
Lulubell stood fifteen paces away, shoulders heaving and her hair and clothes in a disarray. In her right hand she held the small dagger she had tried to shove through his eyes moments before, the dagger's empty sheath hanging on her belt. Her eyes were narrowed slightly in the most overt display of emotion Tyki had ever seen from her and he glared in response.
"Where did you get a hold of Innocence?" he asked, nodding at the dagger. Lulubell's hand tightened around the handle and she lifted the weapon, pointing it at the Pleasure.
"Our Master made these for us," she replied evenly. "I will not miss next time."
Tyki snorted quietly, dropping his hand from his face and concentrating dark energy around it until a cross-shaped glow formed. He had no doubt what those knives were supposed to be used for. He'd have to watch himself and make sure the Lust didn't have a chance to stick the blade anywhere it might do real damage.
He should have known - or at least suspected - that his former brethren would have weapons specifically designed to be used against him. His former master was the type of person who did not take betrayal lightly and tended to respond with a vengeance. The Earl had taken care to write him out of the code for any new Akuma he made, though at least the Maker hadn't been able to reprogram the older Akuma and change that basic hardwiring. Though the new ones hadn't responded to his general command to self-destruct, all of the older Akuma had exploded and that had hopefully helped the Exorcists in their fight. Tyki hadn't been able to check how the Black Order fared.
"Our Master may yet accept you back," Lulubell told him, voice flat as though she disapproved. Tyki almost laughed at the thought. Lulubell had never disapproved of anything the Earl did, whether it was sending the Noah to attack a playground so the bereaved parents would cry out for their children to return to them or if it was starting a war between two countries so that thousands of young men and women would kill each other senselessly.
"I see no reason to return," he replied, voice just as even as hers. "I quite like it here."
Her eyes narrowed further and she drew back her hand holding the knife. She coiled the muscles in her legs, getting ready to leap forward. Tyki noticed and braced himself, bringing one of his arms more firmly up to defend himself. He didn't bother checking to see how much room he had on top of the cliff - for him, standing on air was as natural as breathing it in. It was unfortunate that the cliff's edge provided no obstacle for Lulubell either. All the Lust had to do was will herself to have wings and she could fly.
Lulubell leapt at him, her knife hand scything out. Tyki jerked his left arm forward and felt her strike connect with his dark energy shield. He shoved both his arm and hers to the side, keeping his left arm up as a block while he darted forward, lifting his right arm to strike.
The Noah of Lust scowled, turning to water heartbeats before the strike connected. Already committed to the blow, Tyki's body kept moving forward as her body flowed towards him, coming up inside his guard and reforming. Lulubell struck out with the knife again.
Tyki jerked his body to the side as much as he could, but it wasn't much of a dodge. He felt the blade bite into his side, drawing a shallow cut across his ribs. He gritted his teeth, coiling his legs and leaping away from the female Noah as she drew back her dagger to strike again.
Her blow rushed by just under his feet as he found purchase on the air and leapt again, his legs carrying him out of her reach. He turned, grimacing slightly as he felt the blood from his most recent injury soak the torn cloth of his shirt and adhere the material to his skin.
Lulubell turned to face him calmly, flicking the knife to clean the bit of blood from the end.
"You're slow, Tyki," she said flatly, staring up at him. "I will not miss again."
"I believe you have already said that," Tyki responded, smirking and lifting his hands. Dark energy still crackled around them, powerful and deadly. He briefly wished for the Tease - a small swarm would have been able to distract Lulubell long enough for him to strike a decent blow and perhaps rip out one of her organs. Perhaps even her heart, though he doubted the cold Lust would even notice it missing.
His smirk turned into a smile of dry amusement at the thought and then faded entirely as he watched his opponent. Lulubell's eyes were filled with chilly fury though her expression was still calm, at least on the surface. There was a small downward curve to her lips and her eyebrows were narrowed just slightly, enough to reveal her true mood to anyone who took a second look. Tyki stayed where he was, lifting his head and deliberately looking down his nose at her. Her eyes flashed angrily for a second, then she huffed resignedly. She sheathed the dagger and leaned forward just slightly, keeping her eyes on Tyki as she spread her arms.
Her sleeves exploded into shards of ripped material. Tyki could hear the crunch of bone and cartiledge as her arms changed shape. Bones lengthened and hollowed out - he could only imagine that the rest of her bones were similarly turning hollow and making her body light enough to take flight. Her fingers lengthened and her wrists popped, turning at an unnaturally sharp angle as her skin flowed, almost as if it was melting. Her flesh thinned, forming almost web-like growths between her now abnormally long and thin fingers.
The whole process happened in a manner of seconds. Lulubell flapped her new wings once, experimentally. Her shirt and jacket were in shreds, hanging on by threads and a prayer. The webbing of her wings extended from just under what had once been her shoulder to her hip and her wingspan was perhaps twice her height.
A short arm formed just in front of her right wing, far enough forward that it wouldn't foul her in flight. The hand at the end of the new, naked arm reached for the dagger in its sheath and drew it, holding it close to Lulubell's body as she jumped into the air. She flapped her wings, propelling herself up and at Tyki. She lifted the knife, ready to attack.
The Pleasure smiled, dropping effortlessly under her attack as her arm struck out in a wide half-circle. He caught himself on thin air and turned to look up at Lulubell. She had shot past his previous position and had turned, her wings still flapping to keep her airborne. She glared at him and his smirk widened in response.
He easily stepped up on the air, moving until he matched her height. Her eyes narrowed and she shifted, preparing herself for a frontal attack.
Tyki dashed forward. Lulubell tensed, lifting the knife as Tyki lifted his arms to strike.
Five feet in front of her, he dropped again. He tucked himself into a roll, sliding under her feet as she slashed downwards, unprepared for the unexpected move. He rolled to his feet behind her, deactivating the energy on his right arm and he struck towards her unprotected back. His hand slid without opposition through her flesh and he wrapped his fingers around her heart. He could feel the muscle's rapid beat between his ghostly fingers and he hesitated for a fraction of a second.
She had been family once, not too long ago. Maybe she wasn't family any more, but-
He had hesitated too long.
Lulubell turned to water in his grasp, falling several feet through the air before she reformed, wings and all. She flapped her wings once, to regain control and slow herself down, then gently glided towards the cliff top. Turning to water so suddenly had left her without a hand to grip the knife and it was embedded in the rock and dirt below.
Tyki made no move to follow, instead lifting his now-wet hand and charging the air around it with dark energy once more. He watched as she picked up the knife and brushed it off on her pants, carefully cleaning the blade. While that knife was the biggest threat to him, he knew he wouldn't have been able to move fast enough to get to it before Lulubell - he more than likely would have thrown himself headfirst onto the dagger instead and he had no intention of doing Lulubell's job for her.
The Lust glared up at him, still standing on the ground with a firm grip on the now-clean weapon.
"You've gone soft, Tyki," she said flatly. She tightened her grip on the knife, then smiled. It was just a small upturn of the lips, but Tyki felt a silent chill move through him. At no time could he recall Lulubell ever actually smiling; she radiated quiet approval or satisfaction when she was pleased, but she had never before smiled.
He had a bad feeling about this...
He watched, stunned into silence, as Lulubell's form morphed. Her hair shortened, as though it were growing into her skull, and lightened from black to bright, lively red. She shrank, her petite frame filling out and her breasts shrinking into the hard, muscular planes of a male chest. Her clothes couldn't change with her, but they hardly needed to for her to make her point. Her wings had disappeared, no longer needed, and two human arms were in their place.
She grinned, an expression that looked far more natural on the face she wore now than on her actual face. Tyki's eyes narrowed and he felt anger stirring deep within him, his darker side waking alongside it.
Lulubell lifted a hand and placed her fingers lightly on her cheek, under the emerald green eye instead of underneath the eyeptach that had formed over her other eye.
"I suppose it's this boy's fault, isn't it?" she asked in Lavi's voice. "He's the first whore you've lain with that has had such an effect on you."
Tyki's anger flared, but he didn't move to attack. Lulubell was trying to provoke him into doing something stupid and he wouldn't play into her hands.
Besides that, the Exorcist had left him. Lavi very clearly wanted nothing more to do with him, though there had been a few moments that had made him wonder, and then when Lavi had said 'be safe'...
"How many of the Order's men do you think he has serviced?" Lulubell asked, voice silky and smooth. That smarted, especially with Lavi's voice in the back of his mind, whispering that Tyki had given him nothing he 'couldn't find somewhere else with less hassle'.
Tyki kept a tight rein on his anger, feel his black side waking fully. He struggled to keep his darker nature at bay, knowing that letting his anger control him was exactly what Lulubell wanted. Rage would only cause him to make mistakes, and with that knife of hers, Lulubell would find it too easy to kill him and he refused to die. Not yet.
Though Lavi may want little or nothing to do with him, Tyki would not give up so easily. There was still that unnamable feeling inside of him, growing stronger and more desperate with each day that passed. It had been briefly assuaged when he had held Lavi in his arms earlier, but it was not the kind of feeling that would simply go away if he ignored it.
After this battle he would find the redhead and then they would talk, if nothing else.
"How many of our men could use him before he broke?" Lulubell asked, voice almost impatient. "Our Master could pass him around to the Noah, perhaps even some of the nobles... how much can his body take before he becomes useless? I'm sure even our Master would use him, though he might not be good for anything afterwards."
It was perhaps the most Lulubell had ever spoken at once before, but Tyki was beyond recognizing that fact. Hot anger spread through his body, images of the redhead being violated by his former employer and some of his less-savory acquaintances playing in his mind. He knew Lulubell was only taunting him, trying to draw him into an attack on the ground, but he was hard-pressed to stay in place and think of some taunt that would draw her back into the sky. Though Lulubell was fast and agile with wings, Tyki had the advantage in the air. He had to draw her back up here, had to come up with something that would infuriate her before his control snapped and he went after her. They were evenly matched on the ground and he had no weapon besides his own body whereas she had a dagger that could actually harm him.
"Road could always use a new playmate to practice her tricks on," Lulubell said, briefly switching tactics. Tyki bristled at the suggestion but bit his tongue on the reply that rose to his mouth. He couldn't let her see how much her insults were affecting him - she was already getting agitated, if he just kept silent for a few more minutes she would come after him physically. If he opened his mouth now, he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep from cursing her and letting her see how badly she was getting to him.
Lulubell scowled, then straightened up fully.
"Or maybe," she said, changing shape once more. She grew taller and her shoulders broadened, her skin darkening from a light bronze to light gray. Her chest remained flat and her hair went from red to black, lengthening slightly and turning wavy. Her voice deepened, taking on a seductive tone Tyki knew intimately well. "-it could be your body that violates him."
Tyki glared at her imitation of him, seeing his perfect likeness smirk in response. He could feel his control slipping, hanging by mere threads. The Lust's meaning was perfectly clear and he had little doubt that she would follow through on her threat to rape Lavi while posing as Tyki if given half a chance.
He would not let her even have a fraction of a chance.
He took a deep breath, trying to tamp down on some of his anger. It would not help him, though it would give him that much more satisfaction when he could finally wrap his fingers around Lulubell's heart and pull.
Tyki smiled at the thought, mouth going into an unnaturally wide grin. It had been so long since he had let his black side out to play.
Too long, in his opinion, and he was going to remedy that right now.
He threw back his head and laughed out loud. He could hear it, shrill and unhinged and not at all amused. He abruptly stopped laughing and looked back at Lulubell, feeling his smile go impossibly wider. She, still looking like Tyki, had backed up a step and had an expression he recognized as uncertainty. She had drawn up the knife defensively, as if expecting him to attack.
"I've gone soft, have I? Perhaps I'm just out of practice..." he said softly, just loud enough to be heard over the distant sounds of the Exorcists fighting. He took one step towards her and saw her tense. He almost laughed out loud again, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side as he took another step forward. "Perhaps I can be... persuaded to practice on you."
Lulubell held her ground, her form shifting back to her own shape as she braced herself for an attack.
Tyki abruptly dropped from his position in the air to the ground, still outside of her reach. He still wore the maniac smile, which he knew was doing its work unnerving her. He simply stood there. Lulubell hesitated, then her expression took on a decidedly determined edge and she sprang forward, lifting the dagger with a fierce cry.
Tyki sidestepped. The wild blow missed him completely and nearly sent Lulubell over the edge of the cliff. He kept his eyes on her, not moving to attack as Lulubell regained her balance.
"Lavi is a whore?" he asked, voice turning deadly with suppressed anger. "If so, then he is exclusively mine. He has 'serviced' no one but me."
If he had his way then no one else would ever see the face Lavi made at the peak of ecstasy. That expression was for him and him alone.
With a small cry of rage, Lulubell struck towards him again. Tyki stepped backwards, easily avoiding the strike. The blow had been even wilder than the last; he had been right. Being impassive to her attempts at infuriating him had frustrated Lulubell to the point that the Lust was the one making mistakes.
She attacked again and this time Tyki phased through the ground beneath his feet. He waited several heartbeats, then phased back up through the ground, correctly predicting that Lulubell's momentum would have carried her through the spot he had been standing. He was now directly behind the female Noah, and she was turning too slowly to get another strike off before he made his move.
He stepped close to her, inside her guard range, and grabbed her knife arm by the wrist. His grip was like steel, hard and unbreakable, and he quickly seized the knife with his other hand. He wrested it from her grasp and threw her to the ground. He stood over her with the knife, staring down at her impassively.
She glared up at him, eyes darting to the knife and then back at his face. He lifted the weapon, making sure that she could see it, then threw it over the cliff's edge without another word. He saw her gaze go wide and then narrow, shock and fury colliding within her. She morphed into water and he stepped back, effortlessly dodging the enraged tackle meant to drown him.
She reformed, glaring hatefully at Tyki.
"That was a gift from our Master," she hissed, furious. Tyki nodded.
"And now you have nothing you can use against me. Do you feel helpless yet?" he asked. His mouth split into another unnaturally large grin and Lulubell tensed in response. "I guess that's a 'no'."
He lifted one hand, already bringing his will to bear on the air surrounding Lulubell. Asphyxiation was supposedly a horrible way to die.
He couldn't wait to see.
The Lust glared at him, stepping forward and looking as though she planned to dart past him, perhaps borrow one of the other Noahs' daggers in place of her own. She clearly didn't know exactly what Tyki was capable of when he was truly angry, or what his hand raised in such a manner meant.
"Reject," he said softly, with as much pleasure as venom in his voice. The air shrieked, a sudden wind roaring up from out of nowhere. Lulubell's eyes widened, a hand going to her throat as she realized the poorer quality of the air.
"Reject," Tyki said again, stepping closer. The wind blew through him, picking up speed and growing louder as it spun in a small globe. The sphere was just large enough to encompass Lulubell. The Lust, too late realizing what exactly it was that Tyki was rejecting, tried to step forward but the ground crumbled under her feet as the wind carved out a small circle in the rock and dirt.
"Reject, reject, reject." Tyki's voice grew louder and louder, but the wind grew loud enough to drown him out as he rejected more and more oxygen from the atmosphere, creating a vacuum around his opponent. Lulubell was lifted off of her feet by the sheer force, suspended in midair as the ground disintegrated to nothing beneath her. Both of her hands were at her throat now, mouth wide open as she tried desperately to draw in oxygen that simply wasn't there. Parts of her body transformed, the Noah in her likely trying to find some form that would save her. Water boiled away to nothing, fire was quickly smothered, and there was no animal she could turn into that did not need oxygen.
No matter what form the Lust took, she needed air to survive.
Tyki watched, still grinning widely, as her struggles weakened, then ceased. He kept the vacuum going at full power, striding slowly towards her limp form. He reached the edge of the vacuum and stepped fearlessly inside, willing his own supply of air to stay with him as he approached his former family member.
He laid a hand on her shoulder, flipping her over. Her eyes were open but unseeing, slightly bulged out of their sockets from the force of the vacuum still pulling on her body. Blood vessels had burst within her eyes, coloring the once-white areas dark red. Her mouth hung open, jaw slack and tongue swollen and even redder than was normal. Her ears were stained red around the ear canals from blood vessels there breaking, and some blood ran from her swollen nose.
She was dead. Tyki let the vacuum die slowly, catching the Lust's body as the force of the vacuum released it. He stood unconcernedly on thin air, almost lovingly holding his former sister's dead body.
"And Lulubell?" he told her quietly, slipping one of his hands free and sliding it into her chest. His hand wrapped around the dead, unmoving muscle in her chest. "No one touches him but me."
He yanked, letting go of her body with his other hand. She tumbled free, quickly picking up speed as her body fell the countless feet to the distant, unseen bottom of the cliffs.
He stared calmly, then tossed the still-warm heart off the edge as well. Blood was thick and heavy on his palm and he wiped his hand absently on his shirt, cleaning it.
Tyki felt warm water run down his face and he sighed, cuffing the tears away. His Noah was crying for the loss of what it would always see as 'family', despite Tyki's changed allegiance. The tears were oddly comforting and he smiled even as more ran down his face.
Lulubell was well and truly dead. He hadn't expected her to survive, but a Noah could take quite a bit of punishment and come back for more. The tears were the confirmation he needed and he relaxed, turning back towards the cliff and the rest of the battles. He wiped away the tears rolling down his face, smiling turning into a smirk when no more fell.
He walked back on to solid ground, smirk fading to a serious expression.
Though he had killed Lulubell, she was hardly the only opponent and was definitely not the most deadly. He was fairly certain that a certain redheaded, hammer-wielding Exorcist was currently fighting the man who had the dubious honor of that particular title.
It was time again to meet the Maker.
TBC…
A/N: I unfortunately do not have Chapter 31 written yet (or even started), so I will not update this fic any time in the next two weeks. However, I will be posting a Lucky oneshot Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in the spirit of the season. I hope that tides everyone over!
I also have a Yullen oneshot in the works that is a ‘what-if’ fic set after AGoP, though it goes AU after Chapter 26. That should be posted sometime in the next few weeks.
Canis Luna will be updated on schedule next Sunday. Have a happy Chrismakwaanzakah!