< - 3:1 Dawn of Victory | 3:3 Angels of Darkness - >
Symphony 3: Hell’s Requiem
2nd Movement: Flames of Revenge
“Where did that bungling moron go?” Akron/Raven asked, agitation in his voice. “That silly little girl should not have been that much trouble for him, and even if she was he only needed to hold down the watch button for ten seconds.”
The possessive villainous entity was sitting on the grass leaning against a lone tree on the edge of a forest. In front of him was a grassy field of rolling hills, over which he could make out little woodland creatures going about their daily nothings. Nervously, he was pulling grass from the ground between his legs and looking at it intently. Then throwing it and watching whether or not the wind was stronger than the velocity of his throw, pushing the grass to land behind where he hand thrown it. He sighed with tell tale frustration in his voice. “I wasn’t expecting to have to wait for that clown.”
A yawn escaped the villain’s lips. It was yawn of boredom, not that silly thing mortals have to do called sleep. Though Akron/Raven wondered if catching a few winks wouldn’t pass the time between now and when Sanguineous got his act together more quickly. He rubbed at his scalp, and then he scratched it, taking some flaky dead skin from his head. A few minutes later he had a stick and was carving away at the bark around it with the Kurogatana reduced to something that looked like a goth-boy scout’s pocket knife. He couldn’t understand why waiting was making him so restless. Perhaps it was a defect to this mortal form he was locked in, that impatience was a curse he’d have to deal with.
Three hours had past since he left Sanguineous to fight Crystal. Getting bored with the seventeenth leaf he had picked from the tree behind him and torn up, Akron/Raven stood up and started walking around the outer limits of the forest. He touched the bark on the trees, paying careful attention to their coarse texture. He took in the fresh air that the photosynthesis processes of all this foliage was helping to create. “Maybe I should have chosen a more populated place to meet with Sanguineous,” he muttered to himself. “I suddenly feel like getting a hamburger.”
Then he thought a little more. “No, because if I’d gone to a more populated place I would have blown it up out of boredom, probably before I thought to get a hamburger.” The villain stopped in his tracks and picked up a random nut on the ground. “Why do I have to be so evil and destructive?” he asked himself, “I mean, if I was a better person, I could be spending time with some cute girl somewhere, relaxing, and not stressing out about killing some half-witted vampire and achieving my ultimate transformation.” He put the nut back down gently on the ground and kept walking. He then spent the next twenty minutes trying to smile nicely instead of evilly. It felt like it hurt.
It was then that he heard a buzzing by his ear. He looked at the tree above him and saw a nest of some insect that resembled a bee, only the size of the palm of his hand. One of them had flown down next to his face to inspect if he was friend of foe. He turned his head slightly to look at the small creature and tried to swat it away, its buzzing noise getting on his nerves. The insect swooped and swerved away and then flew in closer before it was swatted away again. Finally, watched the creature with all his attention and, when it came in for another pass, moved to catch it between his hands. He missed and the creature took the move for an attack and stung him on his cheek. The villain cried out in shock and stepped back several feet, right into the tree with the nest on it. The bump made the nest fall from its place and land on head. More of these insects than could be counted swarmed around Akron/Raven as he ran down the grassy hill, flailing his arms.
About half way down the hill he realized how silly he must have looked and stopped in his tracks. He threw the nest off his head and focused his energies and the dark aura of energy that he used to stop bullets earlier appeared to destroy the nest and disintegrate the small insects. Once all the little nuisances were dead, he put his arm behind him and fired a blast of dark energy at the forest, not looking back at it. The blast broke into a swarm of fireballs when it got close to the trees and lit the entire forest a flame.
“Now I remember why I’m evil,” Akron/Raven said, walking away from the raging inferno as if nothing had happened. “Because good.. is dumb.” He walked a few more feet before the places he had been stung started to get irritated and hurt. Akron/Raven growled. “That half-wit half-vampire better show up before I go insane.”
*****
So I take my face...
A child in a black tunic-like shirt stood in the middle of a corridor.
... I won’t have to see the pain.
Fogginess, then the same child looking at his own bloodied hands.
You’ve taken everything...
Darkness, then the image of some adult yelling at the child. The child was crying furiously enough for his mother to have died.
... and I can’t give anymore.
Darkness again, then an image of the child’s face, an expression of sorrow induced rage on his face. Anger and tears flushed his face. He had purple eyes that pierced the viewer. In the voice of a child, he spoke. Then, his face changed, and in the voice of an adolescent and he spoke. Finally, his face changed to that of a young adult, wearing glasses with tinted lenses and he spoke again. All three times, saying the words,
I’m here to stay, so bring it down.
Sanguineous opened his eyes and looked around his dark cell. Little light crept in from the small barred windows on the wall and the door. The walls were made of a smooth but strong black metal, a red stripe running around the middle of the wall.
Looking out the window at the morning sky, Sanguineous reflected on his recent actions. Who was this Crystal woman and why had Akron/Raven convinced her that he was some man she was looking for named ‘Vergil’? Sanguineous said the name to himself, hoping that doing so would open up some shut door in his mind. An ‘open sesame’ to gate of his memory, if you will.
He got nowhere. Vergil’s name didn’t mean a thing to him. Yet, he couldn’t shake the some small connection to him. Crystal had said he had purple eyes, perhaps the same shade as the child in his dream. Was Vergil a childhood friend of his? A rival? Maybe even a brother? He clenched his teeth and then sighed. Thinking some more, he opened his mouth and felt around his teeth, feeling the fangs he had as part of being a dunpeal, the fangs he’d never used.
“He’s being held in this room, ma’am.” An officer dressed in Tiberian Sun era Brotherhood of Nod armor stated as he gestured to a cell. The black, worn, looking armored suits with cross visors that glowed red still gave Crystal a little bit of the creeps, but a lot of things about Vergil’s organization still did. As much help the Protoss might have been to her the lately, their resonating psionic voices and glowing eyes gave her the willies, and so did all the fanatic devotion of these Nod troopers. Luckily, she just had to keep reminding herself that they were on her side and she was still able to function.
Crystal nodded in response to the officer and walked towards the cell door. Using a key that she gained from the prison warden just a few minutes ago, she unlocked and opened the cell.
Slowly, the light crept into the room. Instinctively, Sanguineous raised his forearm over his face to guard himself from the light and made an angry hissing noise. Once his eyes adjusted, he lowered his arm and saw Crystal Graves standing in the doorway, Vergil’s Caster Gun in her right hand, some how no longer in the two halves it was last night. She wasn’t pointing it at him, at least not yet anyway.
The dunpeal smirked. “Come to beat me around some more, little lady?” He asked trying to hide a quivering in his voice. His jailers hadn’t let him have any blood since they locked him up and even though he didn’t need it to live, he felt weak without it.
“Hardly,” Crystal answered. She reached into the pocket of the short red coat she had on and pulled out one of the IV-blood packets Sanguineous was hiding his coat before they stole it from him. She threw it at the dunpeal who, oblivious to there being a lady in his presence, leaped forward at the thing, ravenously tore it open, and started to drink from it. After his first swig of it, he pulled the packet away, blood dripping from his mouth. He made a refreshed sigh and wiped the blood from his jaw.
“Then what are you here for?” Sanguineous asked. “I don’t have time to sit around and play jailbird.”
“I want to show you some things,” she answered, her facial expression unchanging. “If you cooperate and still don’t know who you are when we’re done, we’ll give you your equipment back and send you on your way.”
Sanguineous made a surprised expression then returned to his drink. Much to Crystal’s disappointment, his eyes remained red this morning. “So, you’re not going to make me pay for any damages I didn’t cause?”
“Fighting with you was enough to determine that you weren’t responsible for the destruction of the base,” Crystal replied, a remark that made Sanguineous give her a mean stare. “Besides, that level of destruction is something I’ve personally witnessed at the hands of that man before.”
Sanguineous gave more of his attention to Crystal at this comment. “How do you know Akron?” He asked, a calculating stare on his face.
“I don’t know Akron that well,” Crystal replied. “But one of his servants, Shais, was on a rampage on my world not too long ago. This 'Akron,' as you call him, looks oddly like Shais’ half-vampire son, Raven.”
Sanguineous looked down at his drink. He sat on the floor, his knees bent in front of him. His arms rested on his knees, his shirt and pants both damp with sweat from the night’s battle and the beating to settle him down before he was locked up. “Your Raven,” he began, his face still looking at the red substance, “has been possessed by his master Akron. Akron is trying to steal souls to increase his own power so that he might assume total control over Raven’s body, a state he has not yet achieved.” Sanguineous stood up and finished the rest of his drink. He was still a little shaky but he felt himself able to regain some of his composure. “So what’s the magical mystery tour you want to take me on?” Crystal replied by turning her back and walking away, leaving the door unlocked for Sanguineous to follow. Shrugging, the dunpeal walked out of the cell, stopping to speak to his guards. “Thanks for the room guys, though if I knew which one of you was the manager, I would recommend doing something about how... I dunno... dank this place is. Try getting fluffy pillows and a Gideon’s Bible in some furniture. In fact, while we’re at it, more furniture than a cot would be ni-...”
The Nod soldiers were glaring down at him, their helmet crosses glowing brightly. Sanguineous coughed and excused himself. He jogged a little bit to catch up to Crystal, who was walking down the hallway of jail cells towards a larger receiving area. She was still holding the caster gun in her right hand.
“Your guards need to grow a sense of humor,” Sanguineous commented as he caught up to her.
“I didn’t hire them,” Crystal replied. “You did.”
Sanguineous blinked in confusion, then remembered the events from the night before. “Right, you still think I’m this ‘Vergil’ guy, and I assume the point of your magical mystery tour is to prove yourself right.”
They cleared the hallway and Crystal gave the keys back to the warden. Wordlessly she kept walking towards an elevator. Sanguineous, still not sure what to make of all it, smiled and waved at the warden and followed her into the elevator. Once it began its trip upwards, Crystal spoke again. “Why do you keep calling it a magical mystery tour?”
“Because the Beatles are fun. Why do you keep brooding?”
Crystal didn’t answer until they had almost made it ground level. “Let’s just say I’m under a lot of stress to find Vergil, and your taking the situation so lightly isn’t helping.”
“Fine then,” Sanguineous replied as he assumed a serious pose. He tried his best to look as stern and fanatic as his jail keepers. Crystal looked up at him and noticed he was struggling not to laugh. The door opened and he walked through ahead of her and pounded his chest with his fist at a random guard, then continued walking. Crystal sighed and followed out after him.
“You know,” Sanguineous said, finally letting himself let go. “You’d be cuter if you’d lighten up.”
“I’m not trying to be cute for you,” Crystal replied, “Just because I have wider hips and larger breasts than you doesn’t mean my sole purpose in life is to be cute, or sexy, or attractive, do you understand?” Sanguineous threw his hands up in innocence and sweat dropped as Crystal crossed her arms and stuck her nose up at him. “I’m beginning to think there’s no way that you’re Vergil.”
”That makes two of us,” Sanguineous replied. “Does that mean I can take my stuff and go?”
“No,” Crystal replied firmly and took his hand. Wordlessly she led him towards a Protoss Warp Gate built in the middle of the Nod camp. Looking around at the sky and flora and fauna, Sanguineous was getting the impression that maybe at some point on his trip here he got shuttled off the planet he had fought Akron/Raven in. He shrugged as Crystal stopped dragging him, throwing her arm forward as to force him ahead of her.
“After you,” she insisted. Reminded of the large orange gun in her hands, Sanguineous sighed and walked through the warp gate. Crystal followed not shortly after.
-| The Monks of Notre Dame - Requiem Mass - Dies Irae |-
Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
A doubtlessly psychedelic trip later, Sanguineous came out on the other side of the warp gate and stood on top of a large platform suspended high into the air. Sanguineous couldn’t help but be awed by the sight that was before him. He could see the clouds below him and where there wasn’t cloud cover he could see the Earth which looked like a gigantic relief map. Despite the impressiveness of the sight, he couldn’t help but feel a little scared, even with the laser fences keeping him from falling from the platform large enough for a space-battleship to land on.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus.
Crystal stepped trough the warp gate and took note of Sanguineous’ amazement. A smile crept onto her face. “Come one vampy,” she said, walking to cylindrical chamber located not to far from the warp gate. On the ground in front of the chamber was written, “FavuTech HQ Chrono-vator.” Sanguineous wordlessly walked away from the edge of the platform and to the cylindrical chamber to meet with Crystal. The word “coool....” mutedly escaped his lips.
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
After stepping into the chamber, Crystal hit a button, then two more. She then closed her eyes shut and said, “this thing gives off a bright light that I’m still getting used to.” Not being a huge fan of bright lights, Sanguineous did the same as the chamber activated one of FavuTech’s hundreds of Chrono-spheres and shifted the pair down to FavuTech HQ, somewhere near Port Huron, Michigan in the good old US of A.
Mors stupebit et natura,
Cum resurget creatura,
Judicanti responsura.
Crystal led him from a public receiving area all the way through the primary hangar, where the Mammoth Gear Mark III’s final Prototype stages were underway, to the Primary Command Center she went to groggily the night before. They stopped along the way to catch some sights.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.
Most of the base was underground, hidden under what Crystal had been told to be a common looking house that she’d never seen. Supposedly, that’s where the majority of the human race thought Vergil lived, disguised as a simple resident of the town there. Below the pool on his property was were the base began, and once underground it spanned for miles and miles around, coming out to the surface at select locations, including in the middle of a huge chunk of undeveloped land whose “owner” refused to sell no matter what the price. That was where the primary HQ was.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet apparebit.
Nil inultum remanebit.
Sanguineous was amazed at all the people working on some sort of high-speed mono-rail like system that was supposed to connect this base with some auxiliary one in East Lansing Mi. He was impressed by all the high tech gadgets and monitors that all looked easier to operate yet more powerful than anything on the Athenian’s space station. They passed by the Versus Arena built above ground that Crystal had fought B’harroth’s men in not too many days before.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?
Once they had arrived at the Command Center, Favmar and Favdee were waiting for them. Sanguineous didn’t know quite what to make out of these little ball-shaped creatures with flat-circular eyes and antenna. Even he had to admit they were kinda cute.
Rex tremendae majestatus
qui salvandos salvas gratis
sale me, fons pietatis
“You must be Sanguineous,” Favmar said leaping off his chair. “My name is Favmar, Vice-President of Favu Technologies Incorporated, and this is my good friend and co-worker Favdee.” Favdee made the favu version of a low bow to the dunpeal, who returned the gesture with a deep, European style bow.
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuae viae:
Ne me perdas illa die.
“This is quite the place you have here,” Sanguineous said, looking around the control room. “Very... efficient.”
Quaerens me, sedisti, lassus;
Redemisti crucem passus;
Tantus labor non sit cassus.
“And deadly,” Favmar added. “Favu Technologies as more military might than most major galactic super powers my dear dunpeal. Power we, and maybe you, pride ourselves in.”
Juste Judex ultionis,
Donum fac remissionis
Ante diem rationis.
Sanguineous made a friendly sigh. “Look, I know the reason I’m not still rotting away in that prison cell is because you guys think I’m this Vergil gentleman, some dude with brown hair and glasses and purple eyes and what not. I’m going to have to tell you what I told the young lady, and that’s that I know nothing about the man.”
Ingemisco tanquam reus,
Culpa rubet vultus meus;
Supplicanti parce, Deus.
Favmar paused and then looked to Favdee. The High Favu nodded to his companion and then approached Sanguineous. “Please come with me. We would like to perform some tests.”
Qui Mariam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
“I haven’t had a drop since ‘81 when momma was pregnant with me,” Sanguineous jokingly relied.
Preces meae non sunt dignae,
Sed tu, bonus, fac benigne,
Ne perenni cremer igne.
“I’m afraid we’re testing something more complicated the blood-alcohol content,” Favdee laughed as he replied. Politely, he continued to gesture Sanguineous along, whom, without any other inkling of what to do, did as he was asked. Once they had left the room Favmar turned to Crystal.
Inter oves locum praesta,
Et ab hoedis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.
“All you and I can do now is wait,” he said. “Come on, let’s go see what’s going on with our Mammoth Gear, eh?”
Confutatis maledictis
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictus.
Crystal sighed and started to walk out of the room. “Do you think he’s Vergil?” she asked like a little girl asks her mom and dad if Santa Claus is real.
Oro supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
Gere curam mei finis.
“We can hope,” Favmar replied. “We can hope.”
Lacrimosa dies illa,
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
Pie Jesu Domine:
Dona eis requiem. Amen.
*****
Favdee explained to Sanguineous what an R&D was and how FavuTech played into the balance of power concerning Home Office while they were waiting for the test results. Once he was done, Sanguineous explained what little he knew about his past, including all of his encounters with Akron, hoping to prove to Favdee that he was not Vergil.
“This Akron gentleman sounds like something to be given much concern to,” Favdee stated.
“That’s why I want to get out of here as soon as I can and deal with him, no offense of course,” Sanguineous answered, “I’m worried that he knows who I really am and is off destroying the life I had before I forgot it as we speak.”
“You know,” Favdee began, “Maybe this Akron of yours thinks you’re the same person we think you are.” Sanguineous turned his head away from the favu as it continued. “Crystal says she knows him as one of the people she and Vergil fought on her world. Maybe Akron thinks, for some reason, you’re Vergil and that’s why he was here yesterday, trying to do damage to Vergil’s hard work over all these years.”
Sanguineous didn’t want to admit that it made sense. “Look, even if you’re right,” he began, his tone more serious. “I don’t think I want to be this Vergil of yours.”
”Really?” Favdee asked doing a good job of sounding unbiased. “Why so?”
Sanguineous sighed. “This whole thing, all this technology, business, army stuff, is way too uptight and secure for me,” he explained. “I’d rather be shooting across the cosmos, searching for adventure, woman, and a bite to drink than stuck at some desk job like this.”
Favdee laughed loud enough that it could have been offensive. “Trust me,” he answered, “Vergil’s job is hardly a desk job.” Favdee was about to explain Vergil’s constant rivalry with the other R&D masters when a man in a white lab coat walked in. Dr Madea was Japanese man who met Aya Brea during the second Eve incident in New York city, seeking to contain its damages using what he’d learned from the Tokyo incident. He had since become a leading researcher on Neo-Mitochondria, but his studies didn’t take as well as he’d hope since the US government covered-up the true goings on of New York, 1997.
That was when FavuTech picked him up, and it was Madea who suggested to them the power a Neo-Mitochondrial creature in their ranks would have. Ever since FavuTech picked Vergil up off the street not too many years later, Madea had served as Vergil’s personal doctor, using his genetic data to continue his Neo-Mitochondria research at the same time. It was the same Dr. Madea who stepped into the room today with the test results.
“Um, yes,” the man began. “The test results are as follows, ahem.” He looked at the printed out paper and then began. “Test Subject: Sanguineous. Known malefactors: Vampiric Curse. Side effects were accounted for during test as a result. Blood type AB, eyes Red, hair unable to determine due to a pollutant agent corrupting his hair growth and making it the color it is...”
“He knows his name and eye color, Madea,” Favdee interrupted, growing anxious. “Just tell us what the results of the important tests are!”
-| Yoko Shimomura - Parasite Eve - Aya Remix|-
Madea stuttered and then bowed gently with his head. “Ah, oops... err.. sorry, right. Um, let’s see... Presence of Neo-Mitochondria confirmed.” Sanguineous gasped in shock as the doctor continued his report. “Not only does is body carry Neo-Mitochondria, the genetic mutation potential and ‘Parasite Energy’ potential of his Neo-Mitochondria actually exceeds Vergil’s!”
Now Favdee was up in arms. “WHAT?!” he cried, “How is that possible?! Vergil was supposed to be the last and best ANMC they ever made!”
As Madea started to stumble through the research data to prove his findings, Sanguineous felt himself growing warm. He hunched over his chair, starting to sweat up a storm. His eyes were pulsating in color, going from red to purple as quickly as a strobe light. His mind began flashing images in front of him... images of the child in his dream, of the gun in Crystal’s hand when he lead him out, and of three rather tough looking gentlemen, all wearing smug looks on their faces.
By the time Madea and Favdee became aware of the tremendous heat Sanguineous’ body was giving off, it was too late. The dunpeal leaped out of seat and out of the door to room, running as fast as he could. Favdee swore, something he did rarely, and leaped off Madea’s shirt collar to give chase.
Sanguineous wasn’t quite sure why he was running. He should have been polite to his hosts and at least let them finish with their lab study and then polite refuse their offer to take him in as some new Vergil. He couldn’t do that.... his body was out of his control. He felt as if something inside of him was waging a war, at a biological level.
He came to a corner in the hallway where it split in four directions. A security officer stood at the hallway looking around when he noticed Sanguineous come up. Without thinking the dunpeal ran up the officer, grabbed his body and stepped behind him. He then bit down on the officer’s neck and drank liberally his blood. The flowing in of blood into his system seemed strengthen his vampiric powers against this “Neo-Mitochondria” seeking to take control him, but he would need more.
Just then, red flashing light klaxons went off in the hallway and a computerized version of Vergil’s voice spoke. “Attention, attention, unauthorized dunpeal loose in FavuTech HQ. Contain immediately.” Sanguineous didn’t wait for the message to repeat before he took the FavuTech issue Laser Rifle form the limp security officer’s hands and ran down the hallway. He had to find that watch of his and he could escape this nightmare.
A few blocks down the hallway, he was taken a back as a part of the wall flipped open and fired homing rockets at him! Taking advantage of his vampiric speed, Sanguineous was able to confuse the pair of rockets, but two more simply launched out of the wall launcher. This time the vampire ran away from them and then shot the rockets down with his laser rifle before targeting the launcher itself. Once the launcher was gone, he continued down on his trek.
That was when he found another four way split in the hallway. Looking in front of him, he saw Favmar and Crystal at the far end of the hallway. Favmar saw him and called out his name, drawing at least 10 different guns from nowhere and opened fire in his direction. Forced with no other choice, Sanguineous turned left down the hall way and started running even faster.
He perfectly retracted his steps he had taken with Crystal, figuring that his stuff was back on the base he was being held on. He took care to be as quick and stealthy as he could, but this wasn’t Metal Gear Solid. There were too many cameras to shoot them all down, many of which Sanguineous couldn’t even see. Security teams appeared in tens instead of three or four at a time, all loaded and ready to open fire. Keeping causalities to a minimum he made his way back to the receiving area and found the Chrono-vator he used to get to the platform high in the sky. As he reached it, he heard Favmar and Favdee broke into the room with Protoss Zealots and JDA Castagars waiting to take him down. Sanguineous wasted no time leaping in the device and activated it. Favmar’s request to shut down the Chrono teleporters was too late and Sanguineous was taken straight the platform in the sky.
When Sanguineous came out on the other side, he ran right out of the cylinder to make a b-line for the warp gate but came to a screeching halt only a few feet through.
Crystal Graves had beaten him there, and she stood before the warp gate, Caster Gun in hand, but not pointed at him. Sanguineous started to raise his Laser Rifle at her when he noticed a suitcase at her feet. She calmly kicked the luggage piece across the platform towards him. “That bag contains your old clothes and some replacements for your dirty shirt and pants, as well as your sword and your watch.” She said. “Now get out of here before Favmar shows up.”
Sanguineous threw the Laser Rifle to the ground and zipped open the suit case. He threw on his coat and took out the watch and the sword, then zipped it shut and put the stuff he had extracted on. As he worked, Crystal slowly walked forward. “Why are you helping me?” Sanguineous asked as an after thought to putting on his coat. “I thought you wanted your precious Vergil to come home?”
When Crystal answered she was only three feet from him. “I guess... I guess I care too much about him to make him suffer.” She answered. “I know how hard this job is, and if you’re not Vergil then you shouldn’t have to do it. And even if you are Vergil, it’s unfair of us to force this on you while you don’t even know who you are let alone want to remember.”
Sanguineous picked up the suitcase and held it under his arm. “Well, um... okay... thank you anyway, I guess.”
“Hold it,” Crystal demanded as Sanguineous started to go for the button on his watch. Then she spoke again, this time a little more sheepishly. “There’s something I have to do first. Hold still, please.” Sanguineous did as he asked and Crystal walked closer to him. He gulped nervously as she looked in his eyes, which she made it a point not to comment on their purple color. They stood, facing each other for what felt like an eternity to Crystal before she took his face in her hand and kissed him on the lips. She held the embrace for a few seconds before she broke it off. “I owed Vergil that from a while back. If you ever see him, tell him I’m still good for it.”
Sanguineous wasn’t able to say anything else than a dumbfounded ‘uh-huh.’ Then he snapped to and turned back to his watch. “Good bye, Ms Graves,” he said as he pressed down the green button. “I hope you find Vergil, and thanks again!”
“You’re welcome,” She answered as the whirlwind appeared and took Sanguineous out of this realm and into whatever dimension Akron/Raven was waiting for him in. Not long after he was gone, Favmar and Favdee and their flunkies walked through the Chorno-vator. When they inquired where the dunepeal was, Crystal didn’t answer for some time. Tilting her head down in an attempt to hide her tears, she finally said, “He wasn’t Vergil. So I let him go.”
“Let him go?!” Favdee yelled, “What do you mean he wasn’t Vergil?” He started to protest about the research data but Crystal shushed him.
“I won’t hear any of it,” she said. “Now go back to base. I want the Mammoth Gear final test ready by tomorrow. The system told me The Dominion and Void maybe up to something.”
*****
Akron/Raven was standing on his head on top of a rock, his hands and legs in a meditative sutra position when the funnel appeared in front of him and Sanguineous popped out. He didn’t move as Sanguineous wiped his clothes off and faced his enemy. “Miss me?” He asked.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Akron/Raven replied in a sarcastic tone. “I’ve been going insane waiting for you. Do you think I normally practice chants to Amida upside down on a rock like this?”
“You’re Buddhist?” Sanguineous asked a look of disbelief on his face.
“No, but you’d be surprised what you learn when you take people’s souls,” he replied, “I’m just doing this to pass the time.”
“Right,” Sanguineous replied, containing the urge to laugh. “I suppose you, um, probably have some prophetic villainous speech for me now?”
Akron/Raven thought for a moment. “You know, if you’d shown up on time I might have, but now you don’t even get that. I hate minions who are late, so I’m just going to kill you and be done with it.” Then he paused. “That’s okay with you?”
“Oh, that’s just fine with me,” Sanguineous replied cheerfully, “But do you mind if I change first? This stuff smells.”
“By all means,” Akron/Raven replied, gesturing to a tree nearby. Sanguineous went behind the tree and changed out of his old clothes and into some newer ones. Crystal hadn’t managed to replace his collared shirt with frills, but had a black Large-size t-shirt to replace it with. She also got him a darker, but workable, red vest that buttoned up to near his neck and had a collar to rest on the fur of his coat. The coat was fine so he just wore that again instead of the dark blue coat that was in the suitcase. The only thing that went off was his pants, which were still dark blue, but cut normally instead of how his old ones used to billow out. The belt she gave still worked with the sword scabbard though, and they fit, so all in all they were a perfectly functional pair of pants that he couldn’t really complain about.
Stepping out from behind the tree, Sanguineous drew his sword and faced his nemesis who was doing wall-pushups against another tree thrown into the landscape. “Ready?” Sanguineous asked.
“Just a sec,” Akron/Raven replied, “...198, 199, 200.” He then flipped over towards the ground and landed on his feet, drawing the Kurogatana as he landed. “Okay, now I’m ready.”
“Hooray!” Sanguineous chimed.
-| Cue: Rhapsody – Legendary Tales - Flames of Revenge |-
Instantly both warriors grew the vicious looks of hatred they had been holding back and charged at each other. Just after the first blade contact, both fighters began moving faster than the human eye could track, the battle being only noticeable by the loud clangs and vibration shockwaves caused by their swords clashing. In the middle of it, Sanguineous slowed to visible speed in front of a set of trees. Akron/Raven appeared in the air above him and unleashed a fury of fireballs at his prey. Sanguineous stepped it back up and was gone from the tress, saving himself, but not the poor flora and fauna.
My princess, why must I assist at your death?
I can't endure this tragic pain
Now I close your eyes while thunder strikes the sky
I cry to see the innocent die
The battle continued like this for some time. Sanguineous’ newfound Neo-Mitochondria seemed to have boosted his strength and speed to match Akron/Raven’s, and both warriors had yet to have their blades hit the other’s flesh after five whole minutes of exchanging blows. Tree after tree, bush after bush fell prey to their violent battle.
Brothers I'm ready: the ride can begin,
for you I must win
Finally, Sanguineous struck his enemy in a way that Akron/Raven fell hard into the ground, causing a creator to be formed. When Sanguineous tried to stab his blade into the prone villain, he was already gone, but the heat given off by Sanguineous’ body when he landed caused a few of the grass blades to catch a flame. Later, a flock of geese-like animals were flying through the air overhead when a stray fireball from Sanguineous lit their leader aflame. The birds scattered in fright and a few more of them were later cut down by sword swings that missed.
Now the time has come farewell my dear old friends
Ancelot is calling for my help
From the sun of Elgard to the middle plains
for salvation of enchanted lands
As Sanguineous finally struck a good hit and knocked the Kurogatana free of Akron/Raven’s grasp, both warriors were oblivious to the fact that their little fight had caused a flash fire that was consuming the surrounding landscape. Sanguineous smirked as both warriors landed and his blade was pointed at Akron’s neck. Akron/Raven smiled as he guided the Kurogatana with his will to become a throwing blade that came flying from its old place in the ground for the back of Sanguineous’ neck. At the last second, Sanguineous turned around as if he knew it was coming all along and slashed the spinning blade away and then leapt away from his enemy, who turned the weapon back into a dai-katana and continued his attack.
I'm looking forward to avenge all those killed
to be face to face!
The clashing of steel continued for another minute uninterrupted when Akron/Raven faked Sanguineous out, leaving him open for a barrage of fireballs that sent him flying into the ground.
Fire and steel
follow me through my lands
you will burn hordes of hell
in the deadly raging flames of revenge
Sanguineous rolled on the ground when he landed, putting out the flames and dodging Akron’s descending slice with his blade. Sanguineous then leaped into the air to get back on his feet, but Akron/Raven was already leaping after him, his sword in a stabbing position pointed for Sanguineous’ heart. He was too close for San-san to try a parry. Akron/Raven licked his chops as he drew closer, the blade about to contact Sanguineous’ coat when there was a loud noise from behind them. Much to Sanguineous' relief, his enemy appeared to have been frozen in ice and unable to move any farther!
Come out from your abyss:
The tears seek revenge
For this cruel tragedy
Flames are burning high!
The frozen Akron/Raven descended to the ground in a block of ice that shattered with a loud crash when he hit. Sanguineous landed on his feet and made it a point to notice where the attack had come from. The first figure he noticed was that of woman standing behind where his previous enemy had been frozen. He was only able to notice the pale, but red eyes of the woman before she vanished from his sight. He was about to try and look more carefully for her when he heard a yell from above him. Looking up he saw another woman with some energy circle with a star in the middle glowing beneath her floating figure. She looked down at him, green eyes gazing at him, and threw her right arm forward in a sweeping motion. Sanguineous didn’t see the attack, but a powerful force flew out from her and pounded into him, sending him inexplicably flying through the air spinning in a barrel roll. He landed on his back and slid for several feet before he was able to flip himself back onto his feet, just in time to dodge another blast from his floating attacker.
Brothers, I'm ready: the ride can begin
for you I must win
“What the heck is going on?” Akron/Raven growled as he struggled to get back onto his feet. It was then that his attacker struck him three or four times in the back with a blade of some sort, cutting through his cape and slashing at his clothing underneath. Akron/Raven spun around quickly, but when he had, his attacker was already gone. It was not too much later when a spinning blade few through the air and nailed Akron/Raven’s hand, knocking the Kurogatana free of his grasp. His blade became a dark mass and then vanished once it hit the grass. He readied himself for another attack but it was too late, another ice blast nailed him, this time producing a cold prison more than his size, solid of ice. His attacker appeared next to him, proudly placing her hand on the cold prison and looking at Akron/Raven’s frozen stare with her own look of smugness.
Fire and steel
follow me through my lands
you will burn hordes of hell
in the deadly raging flames of revenge
Sanguineous fared little better. Finally regaining a footing long enough, he tried to leap at his attacker, but she seemed fully in control of her flying capabilities, and easily moved out of the way and nailed him with another blast of power, this time knocking him straight to the ground in a spiral, forming a broken mass of rock where he landed. By the time he managed to get back up out of the rock, his foe was behind him, a cord of energy drawn from between her fingers. She quickly wrapped the cord around his neck and pulled.
“Surrender yourselves and we will spare you!” she said in a forceful but not too harsh voice. Sanguineous replied by brining his arms up to try and pull hers away, which was not a good idea. The next thing he knew they were flying high into the air, her choker still wrapped tightly around his neck. “Surrender or I’ll let you go!” she demanded, this time her voice more firm.
Sanguineous growled in response, his fangs growing out as he drew on his vampiric strength to throw her away and then started to descend. For the first time since he’d awoken in the Nod prison chamber he felt total and complete control of his body, and he’d noticed his vampire powers oddly increased. Taking advantage of this discovery, Sanguineous called for this dark power and augmented his form into that of a Bat and began to try and beat his wings furiously to fly, not bothering to worry about how he knew how to do this. He cleared the pull of gravity just in time to start flying away from his attacker when he was nailed by a flying blade. As a bat he was knocked right out of the sky, his black winged form crashing towards the ground at top speed. He managed to revert back to his human form at the last possible second and landed with on all fours, his teeth and bones rattling at the force of his landing. He was about to stand back up when he felt someone throw him to the ground and then sit on his back. Whoever it was then pulled up on his hair and pressed a blade against his neck. Based of the sound of her smug voice, Sanguineous guessed it was the woman who was fighting Akron/Raven.
“That’s enough, Mizumi!” The woman who was fighting Sanguineous in the sky yelled as she descended lightly in front of them. Sanguineous then felt his hair pulled on again as he was forced to stand up, the other woman’s blade still at his neck.
For the first time Sanguineous got a good look at his attacker, who he would have found very attractive if she probably wasn’t hell-bent on killing him now. Her eyes were unlike he had seen before, slanted but not too small, they were a light shade of green. She had long dark brown hair which went down to the middle of her back before it was tied off by some golden hair-piece. Her shoulders were bare, covered only by an ornate piece of jewelry with a shiny, round, red stone in the center. The stone reminded him of something he’d seen Zeth wearing. She wore a top that was cut just above her breasts that was connected to some tight-fighting sleeves that tied to her middle finger at the ends of her hands. Metal devices that looked similar to Zeth’s, but much sleeker, were worn on her lower arms over the sleeves. Her dark green top was tied down the middle with cross-ties and was short enough to reveal much of her lower torso. She wore a pair of large, flowing pants that one would think was a long skirt if she stood perfectly still. The pants were patterned in various maple leaf shapes of varying shades of green and around her waste was tied a white sash, or maybe a ribbon, that hung from where it was tied town to her knees.
Yet the most noticeable part of her attire, or at least what struck Sanguineous as the most strange, was her hair band that connected to her ears a metal ornament that looked like a golden wings. Sanguineous wondered to himself if it was from there her powers of flight originated. He took this moment to remind himself of something. “I hate fighting women.”
“Aw, come on, Ashandiel, You’ve seen the amount of damage these two have caused!” the other woman cried, “Let’s finish them off here and not mention it.”
“No, Mizumi, it’s been a long time since we’ve had travelers from another world here,” the first woman, named Ashandiel replied. “If someone has figured out a way through the seal, then the elders must be informed.”
Mizumi sighed. “But Ashy, you’re pretty much an elder! You’re an adult now, and your father is the highest elder on the Celreestian council! It’s in your power to handle this situation yourself.”
Ashandiel shook her head. “There is no way for us to cover up the damage these two beasts have caused. We will take them back with us alive and ask the council what to do about it.” Sanguineous made a sour face at being called a beast. Akron/Raven was frozen, so he made no face at the statement.
Mizumi sighed, “Great, so you’re probably going to put this poor sap to sleep and hope your spell actually works on these off-landers and hope he doesn’t wake up on the way back? Honestly, Ashandiel, sometimes I question if you’re one of the Kootta after all.”
“Maybe I’m not,” she answered, taking a step forward and raising her palm towards Sanguineous.
“Um, ladies, if I may interject,” Sanguineous started to protest, but Mizumi only put her blade closer to his neck. “Okay, okay, I won’t! Geez, what is up with me and getting captured as of late?”
A high pitched ring sounded from Ashandiel, and a glowing magic circle with an “x” in the middle appeared at her feet. She began to chant to herself in an unknown tongue. Sanguineous tried to struggle one more time, but Mizumi’s hold was stronger than he thought. He then heard Ashandiel’s voice resonating inside of his head, creating a soothing and wonderful sensation. A shiver ran down Sanguineous’ spine, and that was the last thing he felt before he dropped into a deep sleep.
*****
-| Cue: Naoshi Mizuta - Parasite Eve 2 – Mitochondria Reactor (Repeat until dream sequence ends) |-
“Okay, Ninety-two, please sit on the table.”
“Okay,” a small child with purple eyes and short brown hair answered. He seemed be wearing some long black shirt with red stripes on the sides. Sanguineous couldn’t tell if the wore any shorts under the shirt or not, but he assumed as such or else that nurse lady telling him what to do was sick. Sanguineous found himself more in control of this dream, almost as if he was invisibly standing in a corner of the lab room he was in. Yet, he had no control the events... he was watching playback from a memory.
The child leaped onto the medical table, complete with the sheet of paper over it. He wore a happy go lucky face as the nurse attached random monitoring equipment to his body. Sanguineous was relieved to find the child was wearing shorts when she lifted his shirt up to put on a heart monitor. She then took a blood sample from his finger and put it in some machine. The child turned his head, smiled and waved at some people standing behind some glass.
“I thought he couldn’t see us,” a man in a lab coat asked who was standing on the other side of the glass. Beside him stood a tall man with a gasmask and a camouflage suit with a Kevlar vest. The man was hunched over like an Evangelion so he was about at eye level with the man next to him, despite his true height.
“I assure you he can sense you,” the hunched over man replied as he breathed loudly through his mask. “Even we Golems shiver whenever we’re anywhere near him. His presence is strong.”
The man in a lab coat nodded. “It is true that he has much presence. We had to recalibrate the whole system’s Neo-Mitochondria sensors after he matured into this form so that we didn’t think a flood of creatures had broken out into whatever room he was in.” The man looked down and pulled out data test results from a laser printer. “Still, he is a monster. A beast, a Creature....”
At this point the playback paused. Sanguineous found himself standing alone, frozen in time. Then his vision was blurred and he saw the child again, the man with the lab coat dead before him and blood on the child’s hands.
Then he saw the child’s face, again now looking like more of an adolescent’s face, and it spoke: “I’m here to stay,” again like the night before.
Finally, Sanguineous was standing in a dark room where he could see nothing but a mirror. Frightened, he walked up to the mirror and gazed into it. His reflection was a young man with light brown, slightly messy hair, and glowing purple eyes, dressed in the same clothes he was. Sanguineous leaped away from the mirror when the reflection’s hand stretched out from it and started to reach for him.
“I am ready,” the reflection said, “Let me free.”
Sanguineous tripped over in fear as the reflection’s arm kept growing to reach for him. He was crawling backwards now, on the floor, trying to get away when he suddenly saw a sword on the ground next to him. Without hesitating, he grabbed the blade and cut the arm down where it was. It didn’t bleed, but instead disappeared and the reflection looked back at him, angrier now.
“Sanguineous,” it said, “Look at your blade.” Sanguineous did as he was told and noticed he held Akron’s Kurogatana. He looked back up at the image where the young man was replaced by Akron/Raven, who said to him, “If you do not set me free, you will become one with him. I am ready! Set me free!”
“NOOOOO!!!!!” Sanguineous cried as he charged the mirror and shattered it with his fist.
He awoke alone in a suspiciously comfortable bed. The room he was in looked something more like a guest room than a prison cell. Yet this was not his primary concern. He felt a tremendous pain on his right hand, the hand he had used to break the mirror with in his dream. Looking down at it he saw a strange orange ooze leaking out where there would have been blood. It reminded him of the ooze he saw the day Zeth found him. He stared intently at his hand for some time before the door to his room opened. Ashandiel and two men dressed in open red vests and black pants with similar attachments to their ears entered the room.
“I see you have arisen, Sanguineous of another land,” she said politely. “I have shown you to the mystics, and they...”
“Give me a mirror,” Sanguineous interrupted. He wore the face of a crazed man.
“Excuse me?”
“I SAID GIVE ME A MIRROR!” Frightened by the intensity in his voice, Ashandiel walked over to a dresser-drawer in the guest room and pulled out a pretty hand mirror. She then personally approached the bed and set it on it before Sanguineous. Nervously, he picked up the mirror and held it to his face.
“I,” Ashandiel began, “couldn’t help but notice when I came in the streaks of brown hair and the change in your eye color from our meeting yesterday. Do people from your world undergo such a metamorphosis so rapidly?”
Sanguineous turned away from her. “I would like to be alone, please. Come back in a few hours.”
Ashandiel didn’t know what to think. She walked away slowly from Sanguineous, a look of concern in her face. Nodding to the guards, they left the room. They did not lock the door behind them. Once they had left, Sanguineous collapsed on the bed and lay there awake. “Vergil...” he muttered under his breath. “What do you want from me?”
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