Lies in Deceptive Shadows

[skyacezero]

Barbatos growled out of fury form the destruction of his staff. The behemoth broke free from the ice and bellowed. "This fight is far from over, Necrolon!" Barbatos said through clenched teeth. Barbatos piked up his broken staff and charged at Necrolon with the broken end pointed at him. Necrolon simply knocked it away and wrapped his claw around Barbatos' throat. "I beg to differ," Necrolon said and pulled his claw away, decapitating Barbatos in the process.

[Amara<3]

sora had been watching Necrolon, trying to figure him out, but also watching the fight. She threw her hand up in the air and yelled, "Yes!!!" Everyone that had been watching now turned to the behemoth.

"Necrolon," Keera said, momentarily ignoring the behemoth. "A green eyed Lilith gave me something for you. Let's get rid of this and we'll talk." She was very cautious about her words, as if she wasn't completely sure of what she was saying.

"Alright," Akui said and walked nearer to the behemoth with Michi. "I have to get on it."

"Then Atokata should be helping you," Michi said and Akui shook her head. She motioned for Michi and so Michi jumped up at the thing first, knowing the plan was that she'd be attacked first, and the behemoth wouldn't (hopefully) be quick enough to evade Akui as well. Akui jumped a few seconds after and landed on the beast's neck. She thrust her hands into it's back and wrapped her hands around the spine. She squeezed the bones to crush them, but a jolt of her power ran through her finger tips and pulsated through the creature. Her power was killing the cells in it's body, and she screamed as she pulled hard on the behemoth's spine, trying to rip it out of the body, like screaming would make it easier somehow.

[skyacezero]

The behomoth teeterted a few steps and fell on it's side. It started growling weakly, struggling to even move it's leg. Necrolon reverted back to Darryl. "That's the thing ablout behemoths, they're strong, but not very smart," he said as he approached the group. He looked at Keera, "You said something about a 'green-eyed Lilith?" he said.

[Amara<3]

"Mmm," Keera inclined her head. "Yes, she gave me a little charm and said something about you using it and freeing yourself and using on the others... something like that." She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out the little charm-like thing. "It was Lilith, that I'm sure of, but she seemed a little different, with her eyes being different and seeming scared. I told her if she was lying or doing something to getrid of you, I'd kill her. She didn't seem like she was lying."

Michi walked to the Behemoth's head and smashed it's skull in. Akui got up and wipped her hands on her black kimono. "Do they still have the same type of money system as they did back in our time?" akui asked looking at her kimono.

"Yes, I think to be a little more inconspicuous, getting newer clothes might be an idea." Kaori said and Akui nodded. They all needed newer clothing styles.

[skyacezero]

"You sure she wasn't wearing colored contacts and acting scared? I mean after all, she has been known to be a deceiver," Darryl said. "Oh, that's right! Keera, Barbatos mentioned something called the 'Gates of Oblivion' and said only someone like you can open them. What exacly are they?" he asked.

[Amara<3]

"I don't think so... I usually don't trust people that easy. It's possible though, I really want out of this, and I didn't stay around long enough to see if she were lying." Keera sighed. She seemed tired, and she seemed a little dull around the edges, rather than her vibrant, bright energy that usually flowed invisible to the human eye. "The... Gates of Oblivion?" Keera asked and looked a little confused. She had heard of that somewhere, but she couldn't remember where. "Did he say anything else?" She asked him.

[skyacezero]

"Aside form that they house some kind of power, nothing else," Darryl said. He looked over at Barbatos' headless corpse, it was starting to turn to dust. "And it doesn't look like we'll be getting anymore answers from him anytime soon," he added. There was a slight breeze and something came out of the brushline. It was the bounty hunter from the other night. "Huh? Who's that?" Darryl said.

[Amara<3]

"Hello," Keera said a little awkwardly, turning to the bounty hunter. Her and Kaori made no move to defend themselves, but the rest of the girls did. They surrounded Keera, Kaori and Darryl. Keera placed the charm back in her pocket, "What are you doing here?" Keera asked carefully.

[skyacezero]

"I came by to check on my prey," she said coldly. "And based on what I saw, he's coming along quite nicely," she added. "You didn't ansewr me, who are you?" Darryl said again. "I am a bounty hunter sent by the gods to dispose of any unwanted anomalies such as yourself," she said. "Anomoly? What are you talking about?" Darryl asked. "You haven't told them, have you? You haven't told them that you're already dead," the bounty hunter revealed.

[Amara<3]

Keera coughed a little. "If you're supposed to kill him... why are you waiting? So he can stop the Demon Lords and you have one less thing to do?" Keera asked in just as cold a tone. She seemed to be ignoring the fact that the hunter mentioned darryl was actually dead. In fact, it didn't seem to bother her at all.

"You're dead?" Kaori asked turning to Darryl. It seemed to bother her. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"We didn't exactly ask," Izuki said with a shrug.

"That's why I didn't have an insane urge to kill you..." Akui said like it was supposed to be a thought and not said out loud. "I just assumed you were because you walk and talk."

Keera stood infront of the hunter, between her and Darryl. That meant, in that instant, that Keera wasn't willing to just let him be killed. The others became silent, contemplating their next action. Kaori didn't take her eyes off of him, waiting for him to say something.

[skyacezero]

(Sorry for my absence. I had to baby(or dog)sit Marley all weekend.)

"I never said anything because......" Darryl's eyes fell away from Kaori's. "Because I didn't think you needed to know," Darryl said. "So what are you gonna do?" Darryl said to the bounty hunter. "Are you going to kill me now while you have the chance, or like Keera said, wait till I kill the remaining Demon Lords and save you the trouble?" Darryl asked. The bounty hunter turned and walked away in the other direction. "It's not in my nature to kick a man while he's down," she said and vanished. Darryl tuned around and saw that everyone had a look on their face that said 'you have some explaining to do'.

[Amara<3]

"But... you should have said something..." Kaori said walking over to Darryl. Keera watched Kaori move towards Darryl with a bit more than caring in her eyes. Keera hesitated before stopping her.

"Kaori..."Kaori stopped and looked at Keera, who was giving her a warning. "If they're going to kill him..."

"I know," Kaori whispered and looked back at Darryl, seeming to become a little awkward, like she was holding something back. "Darryl, how are you here if you're dead?" The rest watched in silence, wondering the same thing, but letting Kaori take the truth that none of them really wanted to hear. "What happened to you?"

[skyacezero]

Daryyl walked over to the stump of a tree and sat down. "I thought talking about it would get easier with time, but I guess some hurts just never go away," He said while looking at the ground. "You see, I was born in Orwell City, the most god forsaken place in the United States. Everywhere you went, there was someone buying or selling drugs, being killed or raped, and no one does a damn thing about it. In 1994, several gangs started large tiots throughout the city, I lost both my parents during this. I was four years old at the time. About twelve years later, I was supposed to meet someone, it was night and...."

*Flashback

Darryl was just a couple blocks away from his destination when someone grabbed him from the side and slammed him against the wall. "Your little girlfriend cost me eight hundred dollars worth of damage to my car," it was Brock, the football team captain, and as usual, he was accompanied by his lackeys. Darryl wrenched free from Brock's grip. "Your the one who hit that fire escape, not me," Darryl said and two of Brocks lackeys grabbed him by the arms. "If she's not gonna pay for the damages, then you're gonna hafta' pay instead," Brock said, cracking his knuckles. "And I want it in cash," he added. Darryl acted out of pure instinct and blurted "F--- you, 'riod monkey! I'm not scared of you!" Brock approached the restrained Darryl. "You've been askin' for it, Dandridge, and now, you're gonna get it," Bock started repeatedly unching Darryl inthe stomach until they heard someone yell, "5th Street, muthaf-----s!" followed by several gunshots. Brock's group immediately dispersed and Darryl say two sillouettes holding guns shooting at him. Darryl made a break for an alley, hopped a fence, and turned several corners until he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He fell to the ground and tried to get back up, but felt something tear through his shoulder. He gripped both his thigh and shoulder and started writhing on the ground. Someone approached him and turned him onto his back, the next hing he was was the end of a gun barrel. "Wrong time, wrong place, dawg," and the gun went off. Someone else came by and took a picture of the shooter and Darryl's body. The did a gang handshake and departed. Darryl's vision seemed to zoom inwards, like a camera zooming in. A dark figure seemed to wheel through the sky, expanded and enveloped him....

*End Flashback

"After that, Necrolon followed them to a night club. Killed one of them, left the other for the police," Darryl said. "You see, Necrolon is who's keeping me alive, I don't age, I can speak every language in the world, that's why I've been speaking fluent Japanese," Darryl continued. "And we have a sort of symbiotic relationship, if I die, he dies with me, and vice-versa," Darryl said.

[Amara<3]

"Well, that explains the situation, but I don't understand why they want to get rid of you," Michi said in a thoughtful tone. Sora looked to be the only one other than Kaori was thoroughly upset.

"That's terrible..." Kaori whispered. She hadn't realized that she was walking forward until Keera gripped her shoulder. Keera noticed some sort of attraction between Kaori and Darryl, though she thought it may just be one sided. Kaori was oddly drawn to him, but didn't seem to realize it herself. Then Keera thought of ssomething. Maybe his girlfriend...

"Darryl," she began. "What did your girlfriend look like?"

[skyacezero]

"Well, the girl that Brock was referring to wasn't my girlfriend, she was just a friend, a new student in my class, that I decided to meet up with as a friendly gesture," Darryl said and took out the picture he had shown Kaori earlier. "This is what my real girlfriend looked like," he handed the picture to Keera. "I have to admit though, she did slightly resemble Kaori, but she was nowhere near identical to her," Darryl said.