So, I got bored the other night, and stuff like this happens quite regularly, but most of them end up stuffed in a misc. writing folder. Someone, reassured me that I should post it up for people to read. This is, of course, a stand alone fic with no bearing on HA, and is not intended to necessarily match the actual characters, abilities, strengths, or even their personalities. This is basically my muse having a field day. That said, enjoy some pointless combat with a tiny bit of story.
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Mirror, Mirror
There was a sigh from the young man as he wandered the endless halls of the castle, looking this way and that as he came to another fork, why had they become separated, he thought. This was supposed to be a quick get-in get-out mission, and here they were fumbling at every turn, now ending up in the middle of a maze-like castle corridor with no end in sight nor any allies.
Joe's silent brooding were only interrupted by the equally not as silent boasts and jeers from Atomos in the boy's head.
As he planned to move forward and continue down his lone path, he could hear the steps of someone approaching from behind. He spun, anticipating an ally, only to face someone... else.
Louis, stopped and put a hand on his waist, observing the young man as he instinctively drew his back-sword, "Eh, that's quite the reaction."
Joe narrowed his gaze, looking the man up and down. This
was the man the others had spoken of and shown him pictures of through the charms, wasn't it? This figure standing across from him though, didn't seem all that foreboding or frightening as the others played him out to be. Suppose the hype wasn't all it was cracked up to be, he was just another traitor.
"Hmm, since you're not talking, I'll assume you have some reason to distrust me... let me think, ah, you must have spoken with Joe. b*****d never really did like me, even after I'd helped save people left and right. Ah well, what can you do. Those types will always be there I suppose."
He wasn't referring to him, right, he must mean their fearless leader. The blade was raised slightly higher.
After a deep sigh and shrug, he returned to the young man in front of him, "I don't remember your face, you must be new to the group then, allow me to introduce myself, I'm-"
"Louis, right?"
"Ah, so you do know me. Then you've been filled in on our little predicament then?"
"More or less."
"Well, that saves a bit of time I suppose, well, to finish up introductions who might you be since I haven't had the pleasure previously."
No reply, Joe's mind was already running multiple scenarios, thinking of a way to beat him based on the stories he'd been told and the information people had gathered during their time working beside the infamous Louis.
"Mmm, silent treatment. Nice weapon by the way, good choice. I prefer similar weapons myself," Louis waved a hand in the air gathering darkness to his palm, allowing a pit to form, then out of it slide a thin rapier constructed with metal that could be described only as practically eating the light around it, "It's nice to meet another fan of these weapons, they're truly brilliant, quick, light, precise, everything I love in a blade."
Keep talking jack a**, Joe thought as he continued to observe. Louis' clothing, was just that, light cloth, dark in color as to be expected from a traitorous b*****d who serves the darkness, over his shoulder was strapped what appeared to be a rifle, and on his thigh were two daggers in their sheathes. Since they were actually held in such a manor, it was simple enough to assume they were non-magical in nature,
Figures, guess the windbag isn't THAT dumb as to leave himself vulnerable to that tactic. Still, from what the others told me, he focuses primarily on magic, if that's the case, he shouldn't stand a chance."Say, since we're both here, shall we have a little fun," Louis smiled, squinting his eyes as he chuckled cheerily.
Oh god, here it comes. Seriously, could you be any more cliche?"Since we're both fencers, how about a match? Joining the group after I left must make it fate that you'd replace me with the same weapon class, still can't just give up my place that easily, gotta defend my honor, blah blah blah."
Joe's expression faltered into one of disbelief, the amount of cliche lines spilling out of this Louis guy's mouth were nauseating, how did the others even stand him when he was in their party? Atomos blustered in the back of his mind about the impudence of Louis and the completely inferior threat he poses in comparison to the great and mighty- okay shut it.
"Well? Since you've already drawn your weapon and have been charging a spell since I started talking, I take it that's a yes to my offer?" Louis' eyelids parted ever so slightly revealing a purple glimmer, his smile never breaking.
Joe braced himself, grip tightening on the hilt of his sword, He'd noticed? He was more perceptive than he thought. Windbag he might have been be but Joe couldn't deny he was an observant one.
Louis raised his blade and took up a stance, "Ready?"
Joe took a deep breath and steadied himself.
"Set?"
There was a stillness in the air, the dust caught in the light of windows bleeding in rays from the moon on the bleak cobblestone floor were just about the only movement between the two as they both seemed to hold their breath.
Silence, the shift of a boot, crumple of leather, a confident, single breath, then like a gunshot, "Go."
At the sound, Louis flickered forward, striking at Joe, but he was no longer there. Louis blinked in confusion, looking around to spot the boy dashing away down the corridor to his right, "So that's how it's going to be?" Louis sighed stepping up and rushing down the hallways after Joe.
Louis made it half way down the corridor before Joe turned around and snapped his fingers. From the walls spilled several phantoms, which to Joe's surprise only widened Louis grin to a crazed, maniacal smile. Why was he smiling?
With a flick of his wrist, Louis sliced at the air, vanishing instantly. The phantoms stabbed and swarmed the boy's location but to no avail, vanishing moments later, their duration spent. Joe's heart raced, wondering where Louis had gone, spinning around to see the arcanist standing confidently in the center of the next intersection.
Louis clapped a few times, "Fantastic," his smile hadn't faded, "I should have expected, you're no different than me after all, are you? I did the same thing once to the others. Hid a bunch of geists in graves when I lured and herded the others into a crypt. Did they tell you about that? About how it was me who aided in the creation of their replicas? How I had them running around like puppets on my strings?"
Joe grimaced, lifting his chin slightly in disgust.
"Oh, don't be like that," Louis walked forward, his guard completely down, "I won't do the same to you, I promise. I've changed you see, I would much rather take a more direct approach. I'd rather all of you just... die."
No better chance, Joe thought, rushing forward, stabbing into Louis' gut, but the boy felt no confirmation as the blade whiffed striking only shadows. He felt a kick to the back of his leg, he fell back, eyes going to his shoulder to look behind him, but instead shot back forward as Louis was suddenly there instead placing a boot to the underside of his chin, driving him to fall backwards.
Louis dropped down onto his prone body and crouched over him, blade resting in the floor so close to Joe's ear he could hear the hum of dark energy resonating from it like electricity. He didn't hesitate to swing across Louis' torso, there was the sound of ripping, and Louis was hopping back.
The arcanist settled a few feet away, picking up a piece of his shirt in order to look at the hole that had been cut cleanly across his chest, "Aww, I liked this shirt too." He observed there was no wound beneath it, "Well, that's lucky I suppose."
Yeah, lucky. Idiot."Oh well, all in good fun. Onward then," Louis flickered in and out of view again, this time, Joe kept up.
The two clashed blades multiple times, every strike met with a skillful and experienced parry. Louis stabbed three times in quick succession, each time batted away from landing a hit, but as Joe noted, there was so little force behind each hit either Louis was unbeleivable weak, or he was only testing the waters. Joe couldn't take that risk, he swiftly charged his blade and two successful jabs of his own, to which Louis made little to no reaction beyond side stepping each with a bored glare. Joe's free hand released a spread of small spheres, that raised Louis' suspicion and zipped around before colliding into each other behind him.
A singularity formed, ripping Louis back and throwing him into the black hole. Louis spun in the air and snapped his own free hand out, dozens of tendrils splayed themselves before him, quickly forming a net or web of sorts, catching Louis and suspending the arcanist in a kneeling position horizontally with the origin of gravity being the spell behind him.
Louis laughed excitedly, "Oh, this is PERFECT! You use gravity too?! Well, what I use is a little different but regardless this is just beautiful! You really are the best replacement. This is going to be fun, a true mirror match! Here, let me show you what I can do and we'll compare notes later!"
Louis spun around and cleaved at his own tendrils, and in turn, the singularity. The tendrils were cut and he was pulled in, only he didn't fall into the spell, but rather, a tear.
Before he could react, Louis fell into Joe from behind, plowing into him with the same force his singularity would have dragged his openent in at the epicenter of its gravity well. Louis took the surprise and proceeded to wail on the gray knight, sending him careening, bouncing off the floor and through his own spell, dispercing it as he passed through to the other side.
Joe stood trying to collect himself, spotting Louis doing the same but in a roll and continuing to charge at him. Another cut at the air and he vanished, reapearing as a tear formed right in Joe's face. The blink-like movement was disorienting to say the least, only able to step back once before Louis' fist came down charged with darkness and colided with his raised arm.
The forearm exploded upon impact, throwing off his guard, to which Louis only increased his rate of attacks. The rapier that was once in his hands spun through the air around them like a boomerang, cutting a tear in space of its own accord, acting like a black hole of its own, sucking Joe flailing back into the abyss.
Another portal opened, dropping Joe out into the path of Louis' readied kick, sending him into a stationary back-flip midair, suspending him as he rotated for a moment. Louis threw a palm to the floor, a blast leaving his hand that collided with the stone, a purple glyph appearing for just a second before opening another hole pulling the boy down for another anticipated trip through the abyss... but the portal closed after only a second causing him to smash against the floor hard enough to recoil back up and into Louis foot that punted him in the gut like a football down the hall, followed behind by a demi spell that collided with him the moment he slowed down, enrapturing him in darkness that crushed him under tremendous weight before releasing in an explosion allowing Joe to fall to the floor.
Louis strolled up, wearing a pleased smile on his face, "Alas, a replacement you may be but you're a poor one. Tell me, what use are you if you haven't even laid a scratch on me and I've managed to throw you around like a rag doll? Perhaps you fancy yourself a tank? Well, I'm sorry to say that kind of specialty doesn't do much for you here but make you a wonderfully resilient pin cushion."
Joe stood up slowly,
Huh, what the others said was true, his magic packs a punch, but his physical attacks aren't that potent, I barely felt them. His mind returned to the fist that obliterated his guard,
but he's able to amplify his strength with darkness. Sounds about right. The portals were to be expected but I didn't think they'd be this tricky.Joe noted how Louis confidently made his way to him this time, giving Joe the opportunity to recover. Was he really taking this so lightly, or maybe he really didn't have a grasp on how much Joe could take? Joe bet on the later and grinned, if he thought this was enough to take him out then he'd be able to turn the tables on Louis and kill him here and now, saving everyone else the trouble.
"Isn't this great? New meets old... like student and teacher, hmm? Or better yet, it's like a true mirror match. Gravity Fencer vs Dark Fencer, who'll win?"
PATHETIC HUMAN DARES TO CLAIM EQUIVALENCY TO MY AWESOME POWER?! KILL HIM NOW AND BE RID OF THIS AFFRONT TO MY BOUNDLESS GREATNESS!!!
Atomos, put a sock in it.Louis reached about two yards away, hen Joe finally spoke again, "I'm not your replacement."
"Oh? Then what are you you?"
Joe stood up entirely, swinging his blade up as he did so, apparently vanishing from Louis' point of view, causing his eyes to widen slightly as a voice whispered in his ear, "An upgrade."
Louis was slammed by a knee to the side of his face, causing him to collide with the wall disorienting him for a moment as Joe moved in and thrust the sword into Louis' side. The blade struck true and sunk deep into his flesh and the wall behind him, effectively pinning him by the torso to the cobblestone. Louis coughed up blood but that didn't stop him from slapping his hand against the wall and opening a portal to the air above and slightly behind Joe.
Louis drew his daggers and threw them out, but they halted an inch away from Joe, then reversed direction, an invisible dome expanding, throwing the blades and Louis so fast and hard that he collided into the roof, back into the floor, and rolled farther down the hall where he and his side weapons clattered to a stop.
Louis collected himself early enough to notice 3 more phantoms flying at him, his gun flipping under his shoulder fast enough to put 3 magitech bullets into each one, dispersing them and revealing an empty hallway. Louis anticipating another rear ambush, spun, a pit of darkness in his palm stretching out into a lacerated whip that tore apart the walls of the four way intersection he landed in.
There was however, no opponent present to be struck in its path. Realizing this only a second too late, he felt himself ripped from the floor and sent careening into the roof, met half way by Joe who passed by, drifting as though sinking down in water... but in the speed of their passing gripping the sword still planted deep in Louis gut, pulling and spinning, causing more damage from the blades violent exit along with another cleave at the arcanist as they parted.
A perfect finish, if only it were that easy. As a drop of blood fell from the roof onto Joe's face, burning and turning to vapor with dark shadows pouring off like smoke, he caught a glimpse of Louis who hung suspended by several black tendrils forming from what appeared to be his own blood. His eyes were bloodshot but with a purple-tinted black ooze that dribbled out and down his cheeks like vile tears.
"Ehahahahaa! Yes! That's more like it! Show me more! Come at me with everything you've got," Louis laughed hysterically, as his eyes completely went black, in fact, his whole body did, till he was as a living shadow, suddenly expanding out like an explosion and engulfing everything, which it did moments later, demolishing the entirety of the corridor structure and leaving the two standing in the middle of a clearing of rubble slowly being covered in snow.
The magic, while potent, did not seem directed at Joe, but rather the structure, saving him from the majority of Louis' magic potency, which despite being unnervingly powerful, did not break the gray knight's poise. Around them, he could see the many eyes of heartless watching, waiting, undoubtedly to devour the loser of this confrontation. There was no other way to look at at this point, there wasn't an escape for this battle, Louis had been put into a crazed, ravenous state and would hunt Joe down to the ends of the earth at this point and would only be satisfied if one or the other died, no less.
There was a flash of red in Louis' pitch black pits called eyes, and portals all around them opened like a massive dome. Joe braced himself from an attack, casting shell on himself anticipating a barrage like that out of the final battle in Kingdom Hearts 2, but was instead assaulted by Louis directly who came at him with claws sprouting from each hand covering them in black fire like gloves.
Louis fought like a cornered animal, viciously tearing at Joe with such ferocity it was hard to recover. Admitting retreat was the best option, he leaped back, only to be grabbed by the ankle, then savagely whipped against the ground and nearby rubble repeatedly like a child's abused toy before released to fly at a pile of stones. Joe miraculously recovered in the flight, opening a portal at his back and exited behind Louis. Too fast, Louis wouldn't have a chance to spot him, he would finish it here. Or not.
Louis spun around with unbelievable speed and struck him right in the chest, knocking the air right out of him and sending him flying backwards once more. Lucky.
Joe skidded to a stop, looking at Louis who stood awkwardly, legs spread out unevenly, one shoulder higher than the other, head tilted lazily to the side and back, torso bent over, one arm hanging limp while the other tugged at the collar of his shirt without enough force to start tearing it. The man had clearing become deranged.
The darkness pouring off of him reminded Joe, his magic could be used to amplify his physical strength. He needed to remove that if he was going to move in for the kill. Still, he was sure Louis couldn't be standing on much, he's taken a sword to the gut and bled out pretty badly, how was he still standing, not to mention the disabling pain. That was beside the point now though, he needed to cut off Louis' magic, and to do that, he needed to do what he did best as a gray knight, destroy Louis' mana reserves.
Joe stood at attention, bringing his blade to his center, gray mist pouring off his shoulders as he summoned his magic further. His charge was left surprisingly unhindered by Louis and the more he charged, the more he wondered if Louis was truly stupid not to take advantage of this opening. Alas no attack came and Joe released the spell, a shift like waves above a flame spreading in a spherical fashion. Countless pale, grey wisps appeared in the air all around Joe. He whispered to himself a recitation of his spell and locked onto Louis with a glare, "Raspaja."
The wisps shifted and an army of phantoms took shape, each brandishing a sword similar to Joe's. With a wave of his hand, they charged in from all directions.
Louis, with the grace of a predatory cat, leaped, ducked, and rolled out of the way as several made dives at him from various angles, dispelled as they passed through Louis' claws that extended outward like whips, cutting through them like butter and returning them to the mist.
Joe gritted his teeth, He's too agile, have to stop his movements. At that moment, he extended his hand out again, a glyph appeared on the floor in Louis' projected path, a trap meant to bind him and leave him defenseless against the army's onslaught, but to Joe's surprise, he even saw through that and redirected himself, shooting out a tendril and pulling himself out of the way of both trap and phantom.
"How the actual fu- s**t!" Joe was still in the middle of his surprise when Louis returned on the offensive, using another tendril to drag himself across the floor, an pillar of ice erupted from beneath his palm to launch himself careening skyward in a tornado of lacerated whips. But he was in the air now, helpless, and the phantoms homed in. Another demi spell fired from the arcanist, pulled him to the side slightly, just out of the way before he lashed out and cut all those phantoms that converged on his previous position. Then Louis fell- flew- it wasn't quite clear but what was is he'd directed himself to land on top of Joe.
Joe stepped back and avoided Louis' impact that sent up a cloud of debris and dust that Louis wasted no time exiting in a billow of smoke parting like a burst of moister leaving an object breaking the sound barrier.
The two clashed, trading blows and parries, the arcanist reverting back to his previous weapon to match Joe's. They seemed evenly matched at first, though Joe had the upper hand, he had experience, real experience and training that made his swordsmanship far greater than that of a wannabe fencing mage who moved on instinct.
With his free hand, Joe reached out to the nether and opened a hole in space far above the battlefield, from it came careening a massive meteor that fell towards the middle of their circular battlefield. Upon impact, it not only knocked both to the ground, but kicked up a cloud of dust.
As both recovered from the blast, he could see Louis' silhouette attempting to stand and with the last three of his phantoms, called them to pin Louis from back, side, and above. The result... was a success.
As the dust faded, Louis could be seen with all three phantom swords burning away from his torso as the spells faded, their purpose served.
Louis glared at Joe as his eyes lost their abyssal hue and started returning to normal. That was it, this had to be.
Louis however wasn't going to stop there. He dashed forward, pulling his rapier from the abyss, striking with reckless abandon, fangs gleaming in his mouth as he screamed at Joe, he blinked, his irises now yellow, the heartless hoard trembled in unison, excitement running through the ranks, they were ready for a feast.
Joe fought back, though he could feel his wounds slowing him down, he was on his last legs. At this rate, Louis would overtake him and he'd be the main course for those heartless. His breathing was heavy, blood trickled down from his forehead and into one eye, it burned but he refused to close it, instead everything was dyed red as he retreated one step at a time. His back ran into something cold, a wall of ice summoned amidst the chaos.
Louis, for a moment, pulled back, surely to ready a finishing blow, it was now or never. Joe lunged forward, cleaving across Louis' torso, but his rapier was already there, blocking his blow... or... it was. In that moment, Louis' eyes widened, fangs bared. A sharp, sickening squelch and splatter. Joe, paused in shock, staring at his blade that had passed through the rapier parting it into wisps of smoke and sank deep into Louis' ribcage.
He'd won! He'd actually won! Joe watched as the yellow in Louis' eyes flickered and dimmed, the boy swallowing hard, shade under his eyes becoming prominent as his skin took on a stony pale blue color. Louis' hand rose up, and touched Joe's chest, settling there for a second before harmlessly falling away.
With that, Louis was dead. Joe let the arcanist's body fall to the wayside as he caught his breath. He'd won, he'd really won. The b*****d was dead and wouldn't bother anyone ever again. Joe laughed, looking at Louis' body on the floor.
When he'd finished laughing, he brushed himself off and turned to leave, remembering the lesson he'd learned from most video games and cliche villain habits, so he turned around and summoned his blade once more. He lifted it up over Louis and leveled it above his neck, "Just to be sure."
But just then something struck him in the ribs. Pain surged through his torso, shooting out from his chest. He lifted his hand and gripped his shirt but nothing was there. The pain seemed to subside from a moment but returned a second later with increased potency, causing him to double over. On his knees, he could see Louis' final expression that became clearer as the pain got worse. He was grinning, despite having a gaping slash carved into his heart, the b*****d had been grinning at Joe.
Again, the pain pulsed through him causing him to fall over and writhe on the ground. The words of Anthony rang out in his head, insight he'd forgotten till now, "Louis has the ability to inject darkness into others through physical contact. He used it on me to help me gain control of my own darkness but the experience was extremely painful... and I don't think at the time he'd actually been trying to hurt me. If he used that to kill..."
Joe cursed his memory for returning now and not earlier. Was this it? Was this Louis' plan? He could see the image of a spider in the back of his mind, and he, trapped in its web as it sank its fangs into his chest. Though numerous swords skewered the beast, the poison had already made its way into his system. As that final nightmarish vision plagued his venom rattled mind, heartless gathered above him blotting out the sky. Then all went black.
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Joe opened his eyes and found himself with Kyle standing over him along with several of the others, "W-what?" It all came back to him, the talk about training, the decision to use a spell to produce an illusion and put him in a near realistic scenario. So, it'd all just been like a dream, a really bad dream.
"Did I pass?" Joe laughed.
Kyle helped him up off the floor with one hand and steadied him with the other, "Mmm, I'd give you a B-."
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