The small speech mockingly echoed throughout the laboratory, passing through the many corridors and rooms as it eventually fell upon the ears of the other Rhodes Island squad on standby right outside the laboratory's backdoor. The sudden eye-piercing shoutings caught their attention, especially Ghost's as he heard the mention of 'The Angel of Destruction' rang on his eardrums,
his own title that he oh so despised.
Blood started to rush throughout him, as if his heart wasn't doing enough to accommodate his crazy movements. The sudden rush moved him instinctively, prompting him to hastily charge forward ahead of the others, heading straight to the source of the voice as if something innate was awakened deep inside him. Dobermann tried ordering him to halt, but her shouts fell on deaf ears as he completely ignored his own field commander's voice, maintaining his mad pace dashing forward, like a mad dog.
He felt an absurd sense of familiarity with the voice, as well as with the whole laboratory itself. It was as if he instinctively knew where to head through the complex facility, like the whole layout was engrained inside his skull.
It felt like he'd been here long, long ago.
It invoked a unpleasant feeling inside him the more he dashed through the many hallways of the lab. He hated it, everything about this place. The overly white panels that always repeated its pattern made him feel sick. Only mere seconds had passed, but the door to the room where dokutah's squad was located in had now come within his view. He quickly equipped himself with his trusted pistol and kicked the door down, startling everyone present in the room.
He then wasted no time taking aim at a seemingly random part of the large flat wall in front of him and started to rapidly blast away. With every gunshot that landed, the white wall panels started to slowly peel off one by one, revealing underneath the layer of fallen paneling a clear observer's window, and a person who stood behind it.
Ghost looked at the person behind the window. His eyes squinted, his brows furrowed. He instinctively moved into a combat ready stance. His series of expressions was clear evidence that he recognized the figure, and with a spiteful glare in his eyes he uttered,
"...General."
Ghost took a deep breath. Slowly, he took small and heavy steps forward, walking straight past dokutah's squad and finally stood right in front of Exusiai. He remained silent all the way, but his eyes were dead fixed on the figure stood behind the glass. The person he referred to as 'General'.
A general would not be a title that comes to mind first when laying your eyes upon the man. He was outfitted in a not so clean lab coat, stained and full of stitches here and there. He seemed old, with a rather long beard and a slightly wrinkly complexion to back it up. He then started to speak.
"It's...you?"
"...In the flesh. Codename Ghost. You wouldn't forget, out of everyone."
"....Tch.......I never knew letting you leave that day would come back to bite me in the ass today."
"What?"
"Nevermind. So, why are you here? I thought you left behind fighting?"
"...I'm with them."
"Haha! What a story this is becoming? Two men from initially from the same place defect, each ending up against the other in a big twist of events, eh?"
"The only twist is you. Why are you here? You had the backing of-"
"You had the chance to go silent, keep a low profile. You could've started a new life, unbound by anything else. Yet, you still chose to go back to pain and suffering. I did you a really big favor, to be honest-"
"Bullshit! Favor my ass, you sent the only family I ever had to march straight to death's door! You don't get to talk about favors. Now stop beating behind the bush..."
"....and tell me.....what do you mean, I left them behind to die...? Who are.....they?" Ghost's fury quickly shifted meek as he reluctantly asked his own former general, his hand, although shaking, still bravely was pointed towards the three masked men who stood mere meters in front of him. Coincidentally at this moment, Dobermann's squad had managed to catch up and were now also present inside the spacious white room.
"Oh, these lads? Hahaha...what a beautiful story this is becoming by the minute. What a touching reunion for us all, isn't it? Isn't that right boys?" The so called General quite pridefuly says as he slowly pushed a button amongst the many other buttons on the other many control panels in the room he was in. The anticipation all boiled up to the masks from the masked men to fall off suspensefully one by one, revealing their faces.
All too familiar faces.
".....wha..?" Ghost's eyes widened,
"E-Echo?" one mask fell down,
"Smo..ke?" two masks fell down,
"One...?" three masks fell down,
"It's really...you guys!" Ghost couldn't contain himself. After all these years, the loneliness, the emptiness, the suffocating sea of guilt his heart has been constantly struggling with. The man was shouting in excitement, you could tell his overjoy was pouring out from his face even covered in mask, but the three masked men had no reply, or any sort of reaction at that. Their faces remained stoic, though their body seemed to have some absurd jerking, a sort of convulsion in some parts of their limbs.
"Guys....?" His smile disappeared. What was once a wide grin slowly warped upside down. He still kept trying to call out again and again to his mates, though seemingly futile.
"They can't hear you, 'captain'" The general uttered again, heavily pressing an emphasis on the word 'captain' in a very clear mocking tone,
"You! You told me they were dead! You lied to me! Why?!" Ghost quickly redirected his attention, his eyes were steadily filling with resentment flowing from its irises,
"You're naive. You really just believe anything your superior says. Haaa...you really are just an obedient little killing machine. You are truly a wonderful piece of work."
"What the hell did you do!?"
"What did I do? I just turned them to become like you, their captain. Efficient killing machines, albeit they didn't come out as perfect as your parents' results. Quite underwhelming, really. Disappointing even."
"My...parents...?" One after another, more things were being revealed to him in this short moment of time. His head was starting to feel fuzzy.
"You really know nothing, do you? Do you know who was it that gave you the sheer amount of power in your arts that you have now? The power, AND the pain."
"You...don't... mean.."
"Bingo! It was your own parents who experimented on you! Talk about heritage, they themselves made you their own subject for their own experiment! Guess you could say they never really loved you at all, did they?"
"..."
"But aren't you glad? You now hold the power to blow up whole of Terra if you wanted to! You're a walking catastrophe, some people would kill for that kind of power! You're that strong, you should be really thankful to them for that!"
"..." Ghost seemed as if his brain's systems had fried up. He was frozen, unmoved from the dreadful bits of information he'd been revealed to.
"I expected as much, though your silence now is making me bored. I guess Always knew you were the silent type. Hmm.....What will you show me now if I do this?," The general grinned a vile filled smile and presses yet another button on the panel with countless others, which at first, seemed to do nothing. But then a shouting voice could be heard, coming from a member of the three masked men, a voice which brought about relief to Ghost,
"Ghost!"
"Echo!" His head had never turned so fast in his life, not even in the face of imminent danger. The voice had resetted him, sending him running towards them filled with glad that one of them were still themselves. But as he came closer, another one of them, this time, One shouted to him,
"Don't come closer!" his words of warning was followed immediately by a blade swung towards Ghost, who barely managed to dodge it as he stopped himself in his own footing. The blade was swung by Echo, and as he recovered from his swing, he then looked at his former captain in the eyes,
"Don't get close to us! The bastard's done some fucked up things to us.....we're not ourselves anymore" He spoke with stutters. Ghost, now visible with rage, glanced upwards and glared daggers to the man stood behind the window, and with a menacing voice, cried,
"What the fuck did you do to them!?"
"I told you already. I turned them into killing machines. They're like you, albeit probably not as strong. They'd die if I did so, and that'd be a waste. But most importantly, they're mine now, and there's nothing you can do to undo it"
Ghost fell into silent, before abruptly unsheathing his sword, swinging in high the air as he held it firm beside him, a stance filled of determined resolve.
"Oi, don't go in alone! They're a tough bunch!" Vigna shouted out of concern for him. She tried to make her way to link up with him, but her steps were stopped by a translucent barrier that was beginning to form in between the Rhodes Island's operators and the reunited Phantoms, separating them.
A bright light then filled the room, catching the attention of everyone's eyes. It came from Ghost, as his halo shone the brightest anyone had ever seen it. Everyone immediately realized it was his own arts that had put up that barrier.
The man behind the window takes a deep breath at the mesmerizing sight. Incredible, how can I also make such a work of art, he thought to himself
"Ghost, what are you doing?! I told you to get away from us!" The situation prompted One to shout in a bewildered tone at his former captain. Ghost fixated his gaze to face them, staring right into their eyeballs. His free hand then moved itself to his Rhodes Island armband and instantly ripped it off his arm, gently putting it down as it revealing underneath the embroidered crest of the Phantom Task Force on the sleeve.
He never once forgot the ones who made it possible for him to be here.
"I...was your captain, and I still am. I left you once before, I'm not going to leave you now." No one could deny it. His arms was noticeably shaking, however with a deep breath, he still took up his usual combat stance, ready to face the only people he wanted to meet again,
The only people who made him feel at home before,
The only people who he thought understood him,
The only people who were willing to laugh with him before,
The only people who he thought he'd never have to cross blades with,
With one last deep and heavy breath, his foot took off as he lunged into battle against the very men he'd cared for,
"All operators, don't just stand there! We need to gain access to that room that old man is in. If anything, it's probably a control room and where all the data is stored in." Dobermann's shout rang throughout the room. Her voice was strict, and somehow mixed with a slight fury, her eyes concentrated on the man beneath the window panel. Mayhaps the bit of conversation tipped her off, seeing that she was also a military personnel before, she understood the extreme of some things done in the army.
Though even for someone like her, this was too much. Far too much.
"How, though? The blueprints ended with this room. There's nothing beyond it." The dokutah stepped up and said, looking and scanning throughout the white room, closely trying to find something that could act as a clue.
"...Everything's white to make it worse..."
In the midst of a heavily one sided skirmish, Ghost blocks again another downwards strike from Echo, the only other true swordsman of the Phantom Task Force. Ghost might've lunged in with resolve, but in action he couldn't muster the strength to go fully head to head with them. As far as the battle's gone on, he had only been dodging and blocking each blow they kept dealing to him.
In reality, he was just lost, confused. As he always was.
"Spearhead Red! Ten o'clock level!" One, the marksman all of a sudden shouted really loudly. The others thought nothing much of it. Soldiers were commonly know for their obnoxious use of weird words and callsigns to hand out orders to their mates. But Ghost understood, he recalled this. This dumb wordplay they used to have together when they were mates before. Some things maybe haven't changed.
Maybe all hope is not lost, he thought.
"Vigna! stand still and look to your ten! Strike that way!" Ghost then shouted as well, this time narrowly avoiding a point blank shot from One's rifle as he did,
"What?! What do you mean by my ten?!" Vigna seemed quite confused by his words. She didn't know how those words worked or meant, but luckily enough,
"Vigna, imagine your standing on a clock, in front of you is twelve and your left is 9. That's where ten is!" Dobermann shouted at her.
"I see! Wait, am I supposed to charge into the wall?"
"Yes!" One shouted back to her. Vigna was now more than just a little confused. That's her enemy, right?
"Go Vigna!" Ghost then shouted to her yet again, this time simultaneously blocking back to back swings of both Echo's longsword and Smoke's double daggers. Though they were battling it hard against each other, it seemed that they were weirdly still in sync with themselves. It seemed as if all of them knew what the other was going to immediately do next.
"Ahhh dammit!" Vigna then dragged one of her legs behind the other before pushing it hard on the floor, charging herself forward spearheaded as she violently clashed against and through the wall, penetrating it as it revealed behind a new section of pathway, one they'd never seen before.
"Even after all this, you still dare defy me?" The old man slowly voiced out, pressing yet another button on the panel with many others. The effect it had displayed itself as groans of pain coming from the three men as they all fell on their knees,
"Hey, stop that! What'd you do!?" The sight felt overbearing to Ghost as he cried out in pain for his comrades. To feel pain is to care, and to share the pain is to help. He'd heard that somewhere, he can't really remember where or who said it. But he holds it dear to his heart. Wherever his heart might be at this moment.
"...Fucker's pumped us full of shit. I don't know what it is really, but it's what moves our bodies against our will. Also how he sent all the other researchers and workers to fight against you lot." Smoke spits out the truth as he slightly struggled to help his own body up. Can you really call it his own body at this point?
"Wait....you mean...!" Those words now gave a whole new meaning to his encounter with the wounded man a while back. Now everything makes sense, his mind shouted to himself,
"You mean everyone we faced against just now were all...researchers?" Meteor who'd caught what he'd heard muttered in disbelief. She couldn't accept it well, seeing that the foes who'd fought so valiantly with unrelenting force were mere men forced against their own will into battle. It was another level of twisted, she thought.
"...Don't sweat the details. There were also military personnel. Though that may just consisted half of the total forces you lot went up against. Now go!" Echo took his turn now to talk.
"We know. All operators, CQB formation, the upcoming hallways look tight. Stack up and stick close." Dobermann then shouted, albeit her voice had a displeased hint. Maybe the fact he made light of such a thing was something, but he was right. It's already done, no use thinking about it now. Vigna, once again as the leading vanguard took position in front as the others formed up behind her, ready to advance through the newly discovered hallways.
As they did, Echo then stood back up along with his other mates, though they now seemed to differ from mere moments before. Their veins looked to have expanded more and visibly seemed to beat through their skin. They seemed more monstrously violent than before. Ghost noticed, but could only muster a deep stare at the old man, seething with hatred more and more. Me being the only monster is enough, or so the thought passed through his mind.
"...That is what defects look like. Do you understand how special you are now? Though you should also understand something else from this too."
"Grrh...I don't have time for your cryptic talks, you were always like this even back then. The only thing I need to understand now is how to save you all."
"...That's where you're wrong. You can't save them."
"I can! I'll bring them back, Rhodes Island can save them!"
"...You don't get it yet..." The old man says once again, coughing slightly as he did. A slow sigh ensued, though it weirdly felt out of sympathy. His attention shifted to the rattling noises of a door being banged over and over, likely attempts of breaking through it. He looks over to his right, the banging on the door gradually got harder and harder.
"I guess I'll show you why you can't." Another button. No surprises there, it's basically the only thing he'd been doing for the past minutes. Arrogantly pressing buttons without a care in the world as he looked down on others. Maybe it was that stance that made Ghost feel sick at the sight of him, how he looked as if he never cared for anything nor anyone.How he never cared that he'd lied to him, watched him suffer as he did.
"Tch, what now?!" Ghost's voice rattle slight in his throat, shaken that whatever he did or what buttons he's pushing, his mates are at the mercy of it. He took one quick glance at the old man, before quickly diverting his gaze back to his lads surrounding him. He felt a weird aura emerge in the air around. Menacing, as the panting of three men starting to get heavier and more vigorous,
Though at the same moment, the group of operators had managed to break through the door leading into his personal space, where they finally got to see the full sight of the man for the first time. He seemed casual, wearing full lab attire like any normal old researcher would look. You wouldn't guess this was a mad scientist conducting unethical experiments on live people. Never judge a book by its cover, as people say.
"There he is, get him-" Dobermann shouted out as her index fingers snapped pointing at the man, but to her absolute surprise, a figure swiftly ran past beside her in full charge into the direction of the old scientist, her bright halo left a trailing line of light as she ran into him at full speed, her fists buckled up and pulled back in full swing for the utmost force she could generate,
Though as she tried swinging at the man, aimed straight for the cranium of his skull, another wall slid into face right in between them, a thick wall made from a metallic material which was what made contact with her fist instead of the man's wrinkled face,
"AAAAAAAAAAA" She screamed internally, grunting in pain as she grabbed the rim of her now beating fist, her face making as many expressions as possible in a short time in an effort to withstand the blunt pain,
"You coward! Hiding behind walls, you don't deserve to make them suffer like that!" She screamed at the man on the other side, her scowling face bringing about a sense of surprise to the others trailing to her for how strong Exusiai's emotions felt in her words were at that time."What a nuisance." Though this popped a thought into the old man's.
"...Ghost." The old man called out to him by his codename. The first in a while, though he hated the sense of deja vu it's given him hearing that. He merely eyed his former commanding officer, his guard still up in case his mates suddenly sprang an attack on him.
"I didn't plan to tell you this, but in a couple moments from now on, your squadmates will be overrun by the overwhelming power coursing through their veins. It's the effect of them being incompetent to handle the experiment at its full potential, unlike you. You are what people call, 'perfect', though to me you've always had a flaw. You were emotionally absent, incapable of apprehending complex emotions. At least, that was what I believed. Now, prove to me, you are indeed capable of 'suffering' as your 'friend' said here. Fight them and see them off peacefully, or let them die ablaze, wiping out you and everything here." He said, expressionless as ever for his face remained stoic throughout his long dialogue.
"Don't fuckin-"
"Don't fucking toy around with him!" Dobermann now followed suit and hastily tried whipping away at the metal door, though seemingly also futile, only leaving dents as scratches on the shiny metallic surface. Her face now also scorned. She herself was a former military officer couldn't bear with his concept of twisted. Maybe some General's do lose their mind after some time. Maybe the value of life has long since disappeared from his head
"Ghost, stay put. We'll get this dude." Dobermann added to herself, whipping her whip once more onto the wall in full force,
"You have more people caring for you than I thought. Though catching me has reasonably no use. The process is irreversible. The power within them will keep surging until their bloodstream cannot contain it anymore, the force would burst their bodies into pieces and their power will rush out into an explosion of such magnitude, destroying everything in its radius."
"Don't let him get in your head!"
"He's....not lying." Echo voiced out, though in a slow voice as their bated breaths tensed up the situation at hand.
"...All of you should get out of here, now....It's still not too late. You'd already be safe in the cave systems." One added, he'd always been the most calculative of them all. His voice shook, was it out of fear or fatigue? What could he even feel anymore?
"...No...You'd waste yourselves for nothing then. The general gets away and the data'll get lost. And I'll get regret." The man in the center spoke out, his voice flat and strict. A facade all in all.
"General." He called out, to the man behind the window. This time, the general felt a sense of nostalgia. When was it the last time he inquired him? An amused grin slowly carved itself on his face, his hands crossed resting behind him.
"Yes?"
"Tell me, how do I stop them?
"...Let's see. The restrictions I took to make sure they didn't die during the experiment meant their power is restricted to their heartbeat. Stop the heartbeat, stop the flow. That's all."
"...Roger that." His voice was monotonous, contrasting the mad lunge towards his foe in front of him, luckily or unluckily being Smoke. Though his split second dash still managed to get countered by his dual daggers narrowly redirecting the blade heading straight for his chest to miss out on it barely, grazing his clothes instead.
"Heh, you're still the same old Ghost. Always aiming to complete the objective." Smoke said out with a wild grin, repositioning his body back into his combat stance with his head firmly locked onto him.
"I'm glad you're still you." His words swayed him, intentionally or not. They were sincere, they were what he had always wanted to hear, though of this moment,
"...I can't...." Ghost started to shake, his voice rattling harder than before,
"You can. Just do it. We're your enemies now." Echo spoke up as he took stance behind Smoke,
"You can never be my enemies...."
"Then face us as brothers. We're at the end of our path. But you, you have much more in front of you. The new friends you've made look like a caring bunch. Maybe now we can lay in peace."
"...How...can you say that...."
It was painful for them as much as it was for him. To be forcing a comrade to go on their own is cruel. But when has his life ever been other than cruel?
"Please...?" Echo, now pleaded. His voice was calm, resigned. He was happy to see him for one last time in the end, the others were too. Maybe fate is kind, though twisted in its ways.
A howling battle cry born from despair filled in the air, as Ghost once again took another mad dash towards them, sword pointed with only one place to aim at. The hearts of those he cared about.
He wasted no time slashing his sword towards them, first hacking away at Smoke who although managed to accurately cross his daggers to block his swinging blade in its tangent so as to fully absorb the impact, still was flung across the white tiled floor. He recovered himself and looked up, eyes darting as he saw Echo to his front left already in motion to take a slice upon him, willfully or not.
He made a grace dodge before following up with a thrust of his sword upwards upon his bent body, targeting directly for the heart. He just wanted everything to end quickly. His heart was screaming don't dodge, don't make this harder for me. But still, Echo flipped backwards, the tip of his blade only managing a cut on his chin.
Well, third time's the charm, hopefully. The peered to his side, One already aiming his rifle straight for his face, his eyes gazing into the dark void of its barrel. In a heartbeat, it lit up as a combustion forced a bullet into his direction, though this was all too usual for him. He adjusted his head accordingly, before seeing an opportunity, one he never wished to even see but had to take.
With a lunge full of haste and vigor, he thrusted forth his dark blade once more,
Heavy he felt his sword was, as if stuck. He looked at his arms, the sensation of flowing blood on his hand accompanied his pain. Their pain. His blade pierced through One's chest and heart clean through, just as he'd hope. He didn't to make it painful, he just wanted it to be a quick end.
A pat made its way onto Ghost's shoulder
"Hey, Ghost....Thanks for making me....your sniper....I hope....I've made you proud...." He said, stuttering while his mouth gasping for breath due to all the blood gushing out of his open wound, straight from his heart,
"You...you've never once disappointed..."
"Heh...of course."
He then raised his other arm that still held his rifle, albeit loose and struggling to grip it.
BANG!
The thunderous shot shocked Ghost, and so the others who saw One shot his rifle. He was quite surprised to have not felt any pain from the shot. But what then did he shoot? With hesitance present in his heart, he slowly turned to look behind him, just to see a now injured Smoke with a bullet wound carved through his shoulder, only mere meters away from backstabbing Ghost with one of his dagger.
With one final, deep breath, One muttered,
"Consider this...my last shot for you...bud" The rifle he held then fell to the ground, his hand's grip loosening as his consciousness left himself, soon followed by the body itself falling lifeless flat onto the ground. Ghost could do nothing but look at the deceased body in front of him.
He died with a smile. Was he happy?
'Is this really what I should do..?', he thought to himself. But he couldn't be doubtful now. He swore to himself he'd finish it all. His past ends here. No more running away. He then gripped tight his sword's handle once again and turned around to face yet again another old comrade, Smoke, now with a minor injury to his shoulder from the piercing shot.
"...Aight, guess I'm next, eh?" Smoke bantered. He tried a smile, though it seemed weak, barely maintaining its form on his face. The usual comedic relief of the bunch, whose face never looked to have any worry present on it ever, now was trying his hardest to maintain what he though he did best. A nervous single laugh trailing out of his mouth,
"I'll....see this to the end..." The both of them swung their blades, opening their bodies into stance, before lunging forward into each other, blades swung and everything. Smoke was an excellent crowd control. His rapid movements and smooth combinations of flexible agile strikes made him a beast with prey surrounding him. Ghost knew this, he knew everyone's speciality.
He knew everything, weaknesses, strengths, he never once tried to forget. He knew One was never flexible and agile, yet his eyes were as sharp as ever, his hands were smooth and as gentle as any woman would ever hope to be.
He dodges a rapid slash targeted straight for his throat, narrowly getting out unscathed as he positioned his movement to transition into an overly improvised blocking stance, deflecting another blade incoming for his thigh. Wasting no time, he redirected the momentum of his swinging blade and lifted up his leg as he quickly kicked Smoke before the previously dodged blade managed to made its way into his skull.
He's fast. Very fast. He always aims for the vitals, misdirecting his foe as he takes a chance to hit another part of the body he's made vulnerable to injure them, and if he saw the chance, straightaway go for the kill in the next move. He tried all of them, though Ghost knew this all too well too. He figured he'd need the space to work on a way to get a clean strike on his heart.
He doesn't want them to suffer. Though observing Smoke's injured body clearly sent him a message that the injury didn't affect him in the slightest. Though he can't help but wonder,
"...Do-doesn't it hurt? That wound...." He asked, overwhelming worry in his voice. This wasn't the situation to be asking such a question, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered in this situation anymore. It's just him and his battle.
"...No...I can't feel anymore. I'd forgotten what warmth felt like. This stuff burns all your receptors in your body...It's horrible really." Smoke answers back, his voice quite normal albeit a little intentionally higher pitched, possibly in an attempt to make what he'd said not that too big of a deal.
Though it didn't make it any better, as Ghost's face gloomed down. Smoke noticed, but what can he do? He can say things, but that's just the extent he's able to do. That's always been what he was able to do, trying to make everyone laugh and have a good time.
He remembered the first time he made this, at that time, seemingly depressed bud laugh. And it was just a stupid pun. Like, really?
'Oh, you're Ghost? Fosho? I can see you though?'
That was dumb, but it made Ghost laugh. The memory brought a vivid smile to his face. And now, that face was inching closer and closer by the second, with the tip of his blade directed straight at him. He didn't want that dumb boy's smile to be gone. He didn't want him to live on a better life, laughing more and more. Though it won't be to his jokes anymore.
The sword pierced his chest clean through, his body weirdly frozen in stance, betraying Ghost's expectations of a fierce battle.
"...Why...?"
"...was that surprising...? Huh..?"
"..."
"I guess.....right now....you could say....I was heartless to do that?" It was a bad joke for a massively bad situation. The near death coughing laughter didn't help.
"Ha...Ha..!" Though Ghost still laughed. As pained as his laugh was, he wanted to honor him as much as he honored him with his jokes all these years. It would be rude, though Smoke was practically an embodiment of that himself.
The both painfully laughed away at themselves as the pair slowly fell down, the weight of Smoke's body gradually putting more pressure on the two as it slowly gave out. With whatever energy he could have left after that terrible joke, Smoke looked at him in the face once more, Ghost's face with a twisted forced smile of pain, but he had to keep smiling.
"Hah, you look hideous....but still....keep smiling, it....suits you more." With that, his soul finally let go of his earthly body, as the weight of his dead body sets in and causes it to hunch over into Ghost's chest. Ghost carefully pulls his blade out of the dead body, and laid the body neatly on the ground before him.
"I promise I will, Smoke....I...I will....." Two down, one left to go. Taking deep breaths, he slowly got up and dramatically turned around to face the last of his former comrades, Echo. He never realized life was so fragile until now. Dead, or alive. A big gust of air escapes him mouth, a sigh. Ghost stances himself one last time, his eyes affixed as he charged forward once again, towards the only other true swordsman of the squad.
The two swords violently clashed with each other, a reverberating shockwave felt its way into the walls and floor as the two connected men connected by the blade stood firm in place,
"You're as strong as ever." Echo offhandedly commented as he gathered force in his hand and swung forward his blade, knocking back his foe a generous distance away as his body moved to prepare for another strike,
"You don't need us anymore!" He launched himself forward unto Ghost, who easily blocked him away and redirecting him over to his right, his body kneeling down from the orientation of his maneuver,
"So, keep your head up. You've always shone bright, brighter than the beaming sun itself. So stand tall with your head held up. The light you've warmed us with, warm other with it too. Don't stop shining. That....would mean a lot to me. To us."
Ghost had his eye concentrated at him as he said that. A droplet of tear dripped and fell onto the floor, as his eye traced it back to Echo's eyes. A gentle smile, though everyone knew it was a depressing blend of reality underneath it.
He snapped his gaze away as soon as the sight fell onto his eyes. He couldn't look at him, he didn't have the heart to. Because he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to go on. He grit his teeth, frustration ablaze to whatever led them to this moment, a deafening cry left his lungs, a release of pent up emotions as he charged forward into his target,
"You've changed." His smile only grew wider.
The two swords clashed, sparks flew and filled the air every second with each contact made, the both took their time deciding the victor of this cruel duel that fate had ordered for them. But the end was to be expected, as if predetermined. Once again, Ghost's sword, already bloodied with the blood of two other friends, pierces Echo's chest, yet another comrade pierced with his own sword, by his own hands.
"...Hey Ghost..."
"mmhm...."
"Thanks..." Though, he could already hear him slightly wimpering already in his arms.
"I never thought you could make sounds like this. Heh...I'm gonna miss you, buddy" He though to himself as his eyelids felt unbearingly heavier by the second. Until he finally gave out, only mustering one last push to hug the boy in his grasp.
Ghost felt the pressure of his arms gently enveloping him, though he realized it was getting weaker and weaker. He immediately let go off his sword, and held tightly Echo's dying body in his hands. The blood from Echo's wounds tainted Ghost's outfit, but he didn't care. Nothing did at this moment. He only wanted to hold close his friend, his comrade for one last time.
The dead body's weight pulled Ghost down, kneeling over as he refused to let the body go, even though with every passing moment, he could feel his squad mate getting ever colder and colder, losing its heat. Losing its life.
The other operators could only watch from above the devastated Ghost with Echo's body tight in his embrace. Silence bestowed itself into the air in the room. The air that was already stagnant and heavy.
"Interesting. You're suffering."