I can feel your breath.
I can feel my death.
I want to know you.
I want to see.
I want to say hello.
30 - Requirements
For a couple minutes, Belial closed her eyes in silence, her brows slightly knitting every now and then. It was only when drove past the primary school did she open her eyes.
I slowed down, unable to resist the urge to stare at the so-called hospital.
It was large, imposing and looked relatively new, perhaps from renovation. The Victorian style grayish-white architecture must have been preserved: three stories with two staggered four-story wings arranged in an echelon. The black roof had two small windows for each triangle, making it look as if the building had eyes. Behind the tall metal gates , it was nothing short of a horror house.
The second the vehicle was parked, Kyoshiro jumped out into the parking lot, his jaw slightly opened as he looked up at the building.
I put on my jacket and ran after him.
"They call it 'State Hospital' but it's a mental asylum; did you know?" he said.
It started to make sense that the fences were really high. It wasn't to prevent intruders, but to discourage escapees.
"Why am I not surprised?" I replied dryly.
I twisted, looking over my shoulder to see Belial staring up at the almost-full moon instead.
"The eclipse, you say?" I could tell she was still talking to everyone in the Link, but she said it aloud for my sake. "It's a requirement for the Summoning. All they've gotta do is get the Beast and the Woman in one place during the eclipse, make a sacrifice and say the words. Then, the beast will be Bound to the Woman. Forever."
My blood had seemed to turn into ice, sending shivers down my spine.
"That's why they lured us out of Halja," I choked out.
Kyoshiro tilted head to the side. "Let's get a move on."
He took the path along the fences. It was impossible to tell if the asylum was still operational, but I could tell he didn't want any trouble just in case we bumped into a guard. We were both wearing Nysmic jackets, but Belial wasn't.
Upon reaching the rightmost part of the building, he began to scale the fence. In a few swift moves, he landed on the other side without so much as a sound. Belial undid the loops of her braids, cast it to the fence. It caught on one of the metal spikes that jutted on the top and she used it like a harness as she 'walked' up the fence.
I backed away and ran, leaping as high as the momentum would allow me. Then I grabbed onto the bars and launched myself over the fence. As I hit the ground on all fours, Kyoshiro and Belial had already made a head start to the back of the building.
The yard was spacious, flat and normal-looking, probably suitable for games, exercise or gardening. When we reached the cemetery, though, what caught my eyes were the grave markers. There were no names. Only numbers.
I couldn't help but wonder how these patients died. Or if they were all patients.
I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice the enemy approach until a dagger was already aimed at the back of my neck. On instinct, I flicked my hand.
"Do not make any sudden moves," said a male voice from behind me, the point of the blade drawing blood.
Managing to level my breathing, I slowly dropped my hand and let the Cataclyst falter.
Kyoshiro and Belial began stepping cautiously towards me.
"Irvine," Kyoshiro called out in a laid-back tone. "Don't be stupid. We can talk about this."
In an instant, Irvine had already locked an arm over my neck, while the other held the knife to my throat. If it was an ordinary knife, getting out of this situation might have been a lot simpler. But it wasn't. I could tell from the almost crystalline surface of the long and slender blade.
A laugh filled the air, quiet at first, becoming louder and louder to the point of hysteria. It bounced off of the walls, a cacophony coming from the man holding me hostage.
"First, you call me stupid," he said in between the chuckles. "And then you expect me to talk? Really?"
The blade dug into my skin when I swallowed. I tried to keep my breaths as steady as possible. I wasn't too scared of dying, but I always imagined going out with a bang. In some event of epic proportions. There was no way I would die like this.
"Are you here for Vincent?" I rasped. "Because, newsflash: he's not here."
"What am I here for?" he scorned, but then it seemed like he wasn't really expecting an answer. "I could kill you right now."
Locking my teeth together, I fought the urge to grab his arm. "I bet you would like that."
"Does it matter if I like it or not?"
"It does," I answered, my thoughts going back to the day I had killed his mother.
Back then, I was so good at following orders that I had forgotten the consequences that came with every action. In the end, it wasn't the ones who had given the order who had to live with it, but me. Only me.
A strange struggling sound escaped from Irvine's mouth as he tightened his hold on me. "It must be done."
Carefully, Kyoshiro raised his arms. "Okay, Irvine. Just tell us what you want."
"What I want..." he murmured to himself. "What I want?"
Irvine chuckled again, although not as lively as before. He trailed into silence as if to think. His eyes--red around the edges--lost focus, frantically roaming the ground. When he spoke again, his voice was weak, hoarse. "Nobody ever asked me that before. I've only ever done what Fathers wants, what Cai wants, what Sharifa--I thought I wanted this to happen... But I don't."
I felt his arm loosen from my neck while the other pressed against my back, violently shoving me towards Kyoshiro and Belial. It took a moment to regain my bearings, but when I did, I faced Irvine.
He let his hands fall to his sides, his blade hitting the ground with a dull twang before faltering. Backing away, he caught his head between his arms, his face contorting in utter distraught.
I looked to Belial and Kyoshiro for answers, but they, too, looked as confused as me. Even back when Cairo and I Scried their hideout, I already sense some degree of hesitance about Irvine. But he and Sharifa had done so much damage it didn't occur to me that he would want to stop.
"I don't..." Irvine repeated in a whisper, lifting his wide gaze to us. "You need to stop it. You need to stop her."
"Stop what?" Kyoshiro said. "Aren't you here to fight us?"
Irvine shook his head. "For what? Vincent's not here."
The realization came crashing at me like a piano from the sky.
They knew! They knew he wouldn't be here, yet, here they were trying to pick a fight. What was the point?
"Then what are you doing here?!" Kyoshiro demanded.
Irvine stared at his shoes. "Stalling. She's getting him to say yes."
A gasp pushed its way out of my throat. I had a pretty good idea who 'she' and 'him' were. "To what?!"
It was Belial who answered. "Another requirement: the Beast must permit the Woman to perform the Binding ritual. Once the permission is given, it cannot be taken back."
All it took was three whole seconds of silence to process everything.
"We really have to go," Kyoshiro ordered. "Now."
Before anyone could make the first step, I saw a figure on the roof. It lunged at a speed even my immortal eyes couldn't keep up with.
With one sweep, Irvine fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. The blood from the long deep laceration stained his shirt in no time.
Before anyone could respond, the attacker had already jumped back into the darkness.
Kyoshiro went to catch his brother. Irvine was losing a lot of blood and it wasn't helping that he couldn't spontaneously heal.
Unconsciously, I ran in front of them, my hand flying to my neck to my mark.
A fraction of a second later, I found myself clutching my staff horizontally with both hands. As I raised it at the level of my face, a blade bounced off it. I saw a similar blade appear right over my stomach. I spun my staff once, parrying the attack, before catching it with one arm and the tip touching my elbow. I stepped and thrust forward, jerking the staff with my elbow to create a twirling motion at the far end. It hit the attacker's hand, knocking the blade off, sliding to the ground near Belial's sandalled feet.
The blade was triangular, no longer than a foot, connected to an H-shaped perpendicular handle--a katar. From what I learned--from Rosario--it always comes in pairs.
Irvine's eyes widened at the sight of the weapon, perhaps because he knew exactly who it belonged to.
"W-why?" he croaked, eyes fixed forward.
With an enraged cry, Sharifa charged out of the darkness, brandishing the remaining of the pair. "How could you, Irvine?! You've betrayed me!"
I managed to deflect it, but not before she had grazed me on the cheek. She was too fast, making these whirling movements, almost as if she was dancing, that I couldn't predict her next attacks.
Feeling overwhelmed, I began to pull my staff down onto the ground to activate the blade when Sharifa twirled, kicking me in the face as she did. My head just about snapped back, but I held my ground. All of a sudden, she ducked and knocked my feet from under me with a swipe of her leg.
I felt my head bounce on the ground. Blinking the daze, I tried to get up, but I could already see her bare feet stepping to me. She drew her arm back, about to thrust the katar into me when the ground started shaking.
Through the dizziness, I could barely make out Belial on all fours, her palms against the ground. Her long thick braid undulated like a dancing snake.
Sharifa's feet staggered with the quake. The grave markers flew out of their places, causing a momentary distraction.
As fast as I could, I slipped my hands under me and pushed myself up.
Kyoshiro darted past me, both hands on the hilt of his katana. He swung at Sharifa who only had to cartwheel on one hand to evade.
Once the earthquake was over, Belial ran to Irvine and pressed a hand over his wound. Irvine's face had lost all color, his eyes droopy.
"Link to Vlad," I inadvertently barked at Belial. "He can heal him."
For a moment there, Belial narrowed her eyes, her lips forming a lopsided smile due to some grim humor.
Rolling my eyes, I returned my attention to the ongoing battle. Irvine was an enemy. He tried to kill me and my dad. But more than that, he's also Vladimir's brother. Besides, after what his beloved Sharifa did, I couldn't imagine a worse punishment.
I just had time to stab the ground for the blade to swing out before I saw Sharifa pounce at me. She had somehow managed to retrieve her weapon and was now trying to repeatedly slash me with it. I was using the flat of my scythe as a shield when I noticed that the crack on it was longer, thicker than before. As it absorbed the force from Sharifa's blows, the cracks began to branch out.
Rattled, I leaped backwards.
Kyoshiro appeared in front of me, apparently aware of my sudden reaction. As the two of them stabbed and parried at each other, I traced the cracks with my fingers. It ran in a slanted zigzag across the blade.
My breaths become ragged as I did a mental count of how many times I had already summoned it; this was my third time. Or fourth. I couldn't remember.
Fear gripped my lungs, making it harder to breathe. I closed my eyes so tight I thought my eyeballs would sink into my brain. But then, I had no time to get scared. I knew what was coming. All I had to do was steel my guts, hope for the best and focus on the here and now.
With my teeth clamped together, I willed the half-moon blade to disappear, reverting the weapon into a staff.
I joined the fight, jabbing when I saw openings, deflecting when Kyoshiro couldn't. It appeared to me that he didn't need my help that much. But I wanted to get this over with as quick as possible and find Vincent.
As we fought, I repeatedly tried to Link to Vincent. I even tried using the Transference Link, but it seemed to me that he was to far out of my reach.
Alex's warnings echoed inside my head despite my efforts to ignore them. How much time did I have left? Was there a way to fix me? But then, I didn't feel anything different. So maybe, Alex was just being melodramatic.
All of a sudden, Sharifa pounced at me; eyes ablaze, lips curled, her usual gentleness all gone. Gripping the staff with two hands, I raised it horizontally, bracing for impact. But then, as if hitting an invisible wall, she froze in mid-air before dropping to the ground flat on her back. Shock registered on her face. Scooting up, she began struggling, but it looked as if there were ropes tugging at the her arms from behind her.
I squinted through the dark, just yards away. Just as I thought, someone was standing there. Not really standing, but hunching, one hand on his knee, his shoulders rising and falling with so much effort.
"Vlad!" Kyoshiro cried out in relief. "For a minute there, I thought I'd really have to kill Aneki!"
He seemed to be pertaining to Sharifa when he said the last word.
After catching his breath, Vladimir straightened himself and closed his hands as if pulling on something that was invisible to me. Sharifa let out an angry shriek as her hands abruptly joined behind her back. Looking harder, I finally caught glimpse of the transparent thread restraining Sharifa. It was Vladimir's Binds.
It didn't take a minute before Amyr, Mei and Cairo emerged from round the bend.
Vladimir moved his head sideways to wipe the sweat that fell over his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket.
"I'm glad you held back, Kyo-nii," he said, trying to smile in between the panting. "She made us chase her all over town. Sorry we couldn't come sooner."
"Yeah," he answered, looking at Irvine. "I'm sorry too."
Cairo ran to Irvine's side, his composure breaking as he asked silent questions to Belial. His eyes fixed on Vladimir, only to fall back again on Irvine.
"Make sure she doesn't go anywhere," Vladimir ordered, tilting his head towards Sharifa.
Amyr squatted beside Sharifa, his face a blank mask for the first time. Wordlessly, he grabbed her arms while Mei proceeded in frisking her.
Sharifa began struggling again, screaming as she did. I think I saw Amyr's eye twitch before he drew a handkerchief and gagged Sharifa with it. One way or the other, I sympathized with Sharifa. But Amyr knew her, trusted her, defended her even. Now betrayal had made his eyes cold.
"I found it, Master," said Mei, breaking the silence.
She cradled the small book in her arms as though it would explode if mishandled. Vladimir nearly smiled at the Grimoire before slipping it into his jacket's inner pockets. Then, rubbing his hands together, he started for Irvine.
Before he could begin the healing, Belial shook her head. "It won't work, kid. You simply don't have the juice. I'll stay behind and see what I can do."
"She's right, Vladimir," Cairo added before Vlad could protest. "Go find Vincent. I was not able to save my brother. But you can save yours."
With a heavy heart, Vladimir nodded.
to be continued...
Thursday.