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Chapter 41
By Agent Havoc
Today
Explanations and introductions were coming from everywhere as Darian shook hands with every single person with whom he was introduced. He noticed the corpse of a punk kid lying on the pavement but didn’t ask any questions It amused him that Nakano found one of his compatriots, (Byrce he said his name was? )among this jolly band of would be heroes.It also amused him that Anika and Phoenix were already picking arguments at each other. This was weird, two cops who quit tonight, a reckless and idiotic bounty hunter, an Ether Technician, an Interface, a biologist from outer space plus Anika and himself were talking about saving the world. As corny as it sounded, these were the kind of heroes that saved the world in cartoons… Ragtag bands of misfits.
Darian listened carefully as Anika and Talehn explained the whole situation in detail. Next to him, Nakano and Phoenix were listening and digesting all the information being given to them. Darian looked at Anika and thought she was a mess… She was covered with dried blood and the lively look in her purple eyes that was usually present wasn’t there anymore. She was obviously tired. As soon as Anika and Talehn were done explaining everything, Darian went to his partner and grabbed her hand. She looked at his hand and then, her gaze went up to his eyes.
« What is it Darian? » she asked.
« I want to talk to you in private! » said Darian softly.
« This will only take a moment Talehn! You guys stay here and we’ll be back in 10 minutes, I just want to talk to Anika alone. » said Darian.
« No problem! » answered the Ether technician backing off while smiling.
Darian, still holding Anika’s hand, made his way through where all his newfound friends were and led her to a corner of the alleys that was a little further away from where they all were.
« Tell me what happened ‘Nik, I can see it in your eyes that everything isn’t okay… » he said softly.
She approached him and buried her head on his chest and started to cry…
« Merrit’s dead… » she said sobbing .
« What ? » asked Darian, feeling his heart skip another beat.
She explained the whole story, from the moment she had crossed the Speed Demons, to how Merrit got her out of trouble, all the way to Merrit’s execution and her confrontation with the Cleaner… Anika was still crying her heart out when she was done with her tale. The scarred hunter held his partner closer and tighter and when he looked down, he could see her beautiful purple eyes, though still very teary, having life come back to them . A force drew them together and their lips were about to touch each other. He felt himself being drawn to her and he knew that she felt the same thing. The intense romantic moment was broken suddenly when he heard someone applausing next to them.
« This is way to corny! » a man in a black suit in a cold tone.
« Is this a new friend of yours? » asked Darian.
« He’s no friend of mine! » said Anika looking at the newcomer with hatred in her eyes.
« But from what I have heard, you are certainly a friend of my compatriot, Victor « The Cleaner »…Let me introduce myself, I am … »
« Shin Tetsuhara… » interrupted Anika « In the employ of Mr. Yodama! »
« Indeed! You’ve done your homework Miss Jansen! » anwered Tetsuhara amd applausing again.
« Yodama? » asked Darian, feeling thousands of memories flood into his mind « Hihori Yodama? »
« I was about to give you a message from The Cleaner when this jerk interrupted. » said Anika mockingly.
Darian ignored what Anika had just said and was looking at Tetsuhara with his usual cold stare. This was personnal.
« So, are you and Cisia going to come with me peacefully, Mr. Ashley ? Or will I have to kill all of your friends to bring you two back only hald alive? It’s your call ! » said Shin, giving away a very arrogant smile.
« Anika, go back to the others, I’ll take care of this amateur here myself! » said Darian coldly.
« But… »
« No arguments ‘Nik, this is personnal… »
Anika backed off and left…
« I’ll show you just who is an amateur! » cried out Tetsuhara, drawing his handgun.
« And I’ll be teaching you a lesson you’ll never forget! » answered Darian drawing out Escaflowne.
Tetsuhara was about to pull the trigger when Darian fired with Escaflowne once, hitting the gun Tetsuhara was holding and making it fly away. Just to nag this amateur a little bit more, the scarred hunter put back his hand gun in its hoslter and spun around with a kick, hitting Tetsuhara on the jaw with his heel. When Darian finished spinning, he punched Tetsuhara twice on the nose and the man was out of the fight, blood flowing from his nose. He was indeed an amateur that simply took himself to seriously.
« Do you truly work for Hihori Yodama! » screamed Darian at his fallen adversary as he held him by the collar.
« Fuckyou Ashley! » said Tetsuara, spitting a huge chunk of blood on Darian’s face.
Darian punched the man again , this time in the stomach.
« I said do you truly work for Yodama! If you don’t answer me, i swear, I will be ripping your teeth out one by one » screamed Darian.
« Eat cow shit and die! » replied Shin…
Darian punched him again on the face and realised he had knocked Tetsuhara out. He picked up the unconscious man’s handgun and let all of the painful memeories flood back in his mind…
8 years ago
Darian stood up and raised a glass of red wine, smiling. Sitting around the table were his companions and friends who all looked at him attentively. This was to be their last meal together as a team and as companions. Hopefuly, it wasn’t going to be their last meal period. But death was the last thing on Darian’s mind right now, he preferred to enjoy the moment and have fun with those he considered his friends and who had shown him the true meaning of life in the last year. Before going off in this hunt, he was always training to become the best Raider the corporation of TracerCo had to offer in between missions. Pleasure, laughter and friendship were concepts that he had learned of only in the last few months. It was weird to him that at the age of 21, he only recently discovered concepts that most people had discovered when they were only children. Then again, at the age of 21, he was also one of the most skillfull assassins and surgeons alive, all thanks to the money TracerCo had invested in his creation and training.
There were six of them around the table… compared to 21 when this hunt first started a year ago, he could easily say that they had suffered major losses during this whole affair. Hunting and capturing the Necromancer Ancient Mage Dalasius had proven itself to be much more difficult than they had expected. All the great organisations of the world, wether it was the Ministry itself, the crime Syndicate or any given corporation, had lent their most proficient combatants for this operation and so far , things weren’t going so well. But Darian was confident that things were going to end tonight, one way or another…
The companions were all there, sitting on a large wooden table in a huge hotel room with a lot of food on it: luxurious food that none of them could usually afford . But Derek had pulled off a credit card scam to pay for this meal and they were all ready to eat their hearts out.
Derek Keaton was a sitting on Darian’s right, taking a bite off one of his fried potatoes, still looking at the young TracerCo Raider. Tall and slim, Derek was considered by most women to be a good looking man. At the age of 31 he didn’t look a day older than 21. "Clean living kiddo!", he always said. His large brown eyes always gave away an aura of peace while his mouth was always spitting out jokes.
Keaton was a hacker, a weaponsmith, a scam artist and a renegade minor mage. When this hunt started off, the first lead the the then complete team of hunters had led to Keaton, who seemed to have a personnal vendetta against Dalasius. While Keaton wasn’t officially a part of this team, he followed them to settle the score with Dalasius himself. The Ministry didn’t know of his existence and it was better that way. The political standing on mages being what it was, Derek would be declared a fugitive wanted by justice quickly enough, and then, he would be aprrehended and executed. And that was something none of the companions sitting around this table wanted : Derek had become an invaluable asset to the team as well as everybody’s friend in this group. He was cheerful and always positive, he knew how to lighten the mood always in heavy situations and cheer everyone up in dark times . He was in himself the morale booster of the team. And he also was the man who had come up with the plan to take Dalasius down for good: he had created 6 ether induced special guns that were inmpossibly precise and had a very long range, and also stole a considerable amount of j-10. Each of these guns were unique in their own way and were given to each member of this team as a sign of friendship, and as a means to take down Dalasius. All the bullets that they had at their dispostion were dipped in J-10, so that they could penetrate the magical barriers that Dalasius produced. But wether they triumphed or failed, Darian was glad to have met Mr. Keaton here, who he considered to be his best friend now.
On Darian’s right sat Isabella Manchester. The love of Darian’s life. Should they survive this confrontation, Darian swore to himself that he would ask her to marry him. He knew that he could grow old with her and be truly happy… that would be the greatest gift life could possibly give him. Isabella was a tall wowan, also at the age of 21 she was as tall as he was. Her piercing compassionnte green eyes always got the better of him. Her flowing auburn hair was the objet of many men’s desire. A body to kill for. Yet, It wasn’t the physical beauty that attracted Darian to Bella, it was truly what they shared. It was a relationship that would have been beyond his wildest imagination a little more than a year ago. Bella was also a TracerCo Raider, like himself, only she wasn’t genetically engineered like he was. She was born of natural means and was raised the traditional way, but she had managed to pass all of the tests to enter the Raiders program wich was conceived for genetically engineered soldiers that had been training since birth. On top of that, she ended up becoming one of the best the corporation had to offer. She was a very skilled Raider as well as a genius in the field of photography. All TracerCo Raiders had to know a second profession to go undercover for years if needed. Isabella was a photographer, and Darian was a surgeon... Somehow, he could picture himself in the future being a simple surgeon with her as a professionnal photographer. Living a quiet and uneventful life, filled with nothing more than love and happinness. He knew that this kind of life would disgust many, but he decided tht he had seen his share of events in his still very young life.
But then again, he should not get carried away here... Bella didn't even know how he felt yet, perhaps she didn't feel the same way...
He pushed away this dreadful thought as quickly as it had come to his mind.
Next to Bella sat Hihori Yodama, the yougest member of the team. Hihori wore his dark hair long yet very well combed. His skin was a little more tanned than all the other members of the team and he had slender eyes with a nonchalant look in them constantly. Yodama was the most reckless member of the team, since he was also the only one who never had any millitary training. He was the best the Crime Syndicate had to offer for this mission. Young, reckless yet, he always managed to do the job well… His unpredictabillity had pulled the team out of tough situations a few times. Then again, he got himself in more trouble than anyone else and Darian had risked it all to save his neck a few times. But Yodama was still like a kid brother to him and he couldn’t help liking him… Darian knew that the kid was in love with Bella, and felt sorry for him… But that was the way life went…
After Yodama sat Jake Hudson, Captain Jake Hudson… Law enforcement Agent extraordinnaire like he always said. Jake was an arrogant pretentious and annoying man. He was also the best that Central District’s police department had to offer. And by now, Darian knew that beneath the arrogant and mocking mask that he wore, Jake was a very sensitive soul that didn’t know how to talk to others without hurting their feelings, that he was actually the first one to be hurt when he hurt others.
And finally, there was Edward Amos… “Psycho Ed” as the rest of the team always called him. Not much ws known about Ed except the fact that he worked freelance and amassed quite a reputation in the underworld. There was this one time, when the whole team wasabout to get in a gunfight with street hoodlums. Bizarely enough, Ed simply stepped forward and when one of the hoodlums recognised him, and screamed in terror “It’s Psycho Ed!” all of their adversaries turned tail and ran. Ed kept pretty much to himself, speaking rarely, but he had proven himself on more than one occasion in battle. At the age of 42, he was the oldest member of the team.
Looking at each of his companions, Darian could tell himself only one thing: No regrets.
“I’d like to propose a toast ”said Darian softly raising his glass a little higher, “to friends and companions, past, present and future, departed or still among the living living.”
“And to the fall and capture of Dalasius!” added Derek in a joyful tone, also standing up and raising his glass .
The rest of the group stood up and cheered as the bumped their glasses lightly together.
“To friends and the capture of Dalasius.” they all said together.
For a good while, the supper went without interruptions or events afterwards. In Darian’s eyes, they were all simply enjoying the moment, forgetting about any worries that they could have for a good while. They were normal people for a while, they were all laughing and having fun. They were all normal people even if It was only temporary.
“Take that gawking look off your face Darian! You’re embarassing yourself!” said Derek in a light tone, his mouth still full of a mixture of half chewed chicken and rice…
Darian snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his friend.
“What gawking look?” asked the young Raider in a mocking tone.
“The one that spelled out on your forehead that you don’t know how to enjoy yourself and are amazed to see other people do it… just let yourself go for a moment, have fun…” replied Derek as he took a sip of his wine.
“Hey!” retorted Darian in an exagerated hurt tone “I know exactly how to have fun… You know a well as I do that I outdrank your sorry old ass last time we partied…”
“Why don’t both of you boys both shut up and just eat?” interrupted Isabella with her soft tone and smiling delicately.
`”He started it!” said Derek pointing at Darian with his spoon.
Darian could see that Ed, Jake and Hihori were pretty much laughing between themselves on the other side of the table.
It was then that the phone rang. Everyone around the table stopped talking and reached for the cell phone. Soon, it was clear enough for the young Raider that his phone was the one that was ringing…
“It’s mine!” said Darian as he answered the phone.
“Ashley!” he said as he answered, seing all of his friends putting back their phones in their jackets.
“Raider Aslhey, this is Chief of operations Micheal Ulrich-Dietrich!”
Darian’s heart skipped a beat.
Dietrich was his immediate superior from TracerCo. The young raider hadn’t spoken to him in almost a year, since he was assigned to thi operation.
“Yes sir, how can I help you ,sir?” asked Darian.
“We know that the remaining members of your team are in company of Derek Keaton, we have known so for months and tolerated this fact because we quite frankly don’t care about mages!” said Dietrich coldly “ But the Ministry has discovered this bit of information today. So that we stay in good terms with the Ministry, you and Raider Manchester are assigned to bringing Keaton to the Ministry before capturing out Dalasius. “
“But sir…” asked Darian .
“You have your orders Raider Ashley, I expect you to carry them out.”
A small click that sounded like it was deafening rang on the other side of the phone line. Darian felt as empty as he was before the all ofthis companionship, before all these events he had lived through… He felt like a livng dead man… his companions looked at him with a concerned look, withut any doubt awaiting an explanation. He flicked his phone off and put int on the table next to his plate. He opened his mouth but no words would come out. He felt dizzy as blood rushed towards his brain.
“Darian, spit It out!” said Derek jokingly…
Darian looked at his best friend with what was probably the saddest look he had ever given anyone, and he then reached for his gun, Escaflowne in his jacket and he drew it, pointing the gun at Derek. As fate would have it, Darian was pointing the gun that Keaton had made for him at Keaton himself. Tears were flowing from the young hunter’s eyes, blinding him. When the tears cleared up, Darian could see that Derek stood in place, with a very calm look on his face while all of his friends had drawn their guns on the young Raider, all of them had the gun that Keaton had made for them pointed at Darian. Isabella had Wylde Child aimed for his head, Yodama had Tainted Love aimed for his heart, Ed had Chronicles aimed for his guts and Jake had Legends aimed for his neck. Darian looked around and saw the confused look in all of his friends’ eyes, especially the ones in Bella’s and Derek’s.
“What the hell are you doing Darian?” asked Keaton…
“Get out of here Derek, get out while you still can… Leave and don’t look back… The Ministry has found you out as a mage and they want you…Isabella and I are supposed to bring you in…”
“What?” exclaimed the whole room in surprise and pointless chatter and ideas on what to do started to fill the room.
Darian put Escaflowne on the table and wiped his tears. All of his friends tucked in their guns and they all started to make a plan to get Derek to escape…
His next look went to Derek, who, bizarrely enough, took a sip of his glass of wine and then, grabbed a spoon to tap on his glass a few times to get everyone’s attention. It took a while, but the whole team stopped chattering soon enough.
“I’m not leaving here to be hunted down like a dog!” said Keaton…
“ Derek, You know that we’re all going with you, we’ll help you survive until we fnd a better solution!” said Bella desperately.
“So that you all become fugitives too? No thank you, I’d rather not…” said Derek laughing.
“Then what do you suggest, Keaton?” asked Yodama…
Derek looked at Darian straight in the eyes, making the young man feel uneasy. Darian looked away.
“I want my best friend to kill me, because I wouldn’t have the courage to do it myself!” said Keaton softly.
“THAT IS OUT OF THE QUESTION!” screamed Darian in anger as he stood up and slammed his fist on the table.
“I’d rather die here and now by the hands of my best friend than on an operation table at the Core…”
Darian gave Isabella a look that she didn’t meet by looking away… All of his companions also looked away…
“You have to do it Darian, as a friend, I’m asking…No..I’m begging you to do it… Would you prefer for me to die here as your friend, or would you prefer me to be die a slow painful death on an operation table, cursing your name till the my last breath because you didn’t have the guts to do it?” asked Derek in a disturbingly honest tone…
Darian picked up Escaflowne and aimed it for his friend’s head. Shaking away anything that was human feelings in him and calling his up his years of training to become a cold-blooded killer, Darian let his icy blue eyes lock in a gaze with Derek’s brown ones.
“You are cruel to ask this of meold friend…”
“I ask you because you are the only one who can do it…”
Suddenly, there was only Derek and him left in the world. Nothing else really mattered.
“Goodbye Derek Keaton, I wil always remember you a my best friend…”
“I know, Darian, and I am sorry… Goodbye Darian, and all of you…Good bye… I have led a very full life and by meeting you all, I got to end it in a beautiful way…”
A moment of silence happened… Darian’s world turned upside down and he felt more nd more nauseous. Feelings, not good for a killer. He had to shake the feelings away to be able to pull the trigger. But he could not. Darian closed his eyes and screamed in anger! He then heard a loud explosion and when he opened his eyes, he could see that Escaflowne was smoking,and that Derek was dead… He fell to his knees and cried his heart out as his friend gattereds around him and lookedatthe whole scene without saying a word… After moments of shedding tears that seemed like an eternity, Darian stood back up and looked up, he saw that his Derek’s body had been covered with a blanket. His friends all looked away from the young Raider except for Bella, who was looking at him with teary eyes as well. Finally managing to tap into his training and shaking away his feelings, Darian dried up his tears with the sleeve of his jaket and took out his cellular phone. He punched in a number. The phone rang…
“ Dietrich!” answered a voice on the other side…
“Sir, it’s Raider Ashley…Keaton resisted, I was forced to kill him!”
“Good work, you may now return to your hunt. Happy hunting Raider…”
Darian snapped the phone back off and looked at all of his friends…
“Let’s get this over with!” he said coldly as he tucked both Escaflowne and his cell phone back in his jacket. His companions all followed him closely as the young raider headed for the hotel room’s exit. As empty and as hurt as he felt, this was something he had to do…
Darian opened the door slowly and gave a peek inside. Dalasius was nowhere to be seen. The inside of the Cathedral was dark and it took a moment for his eyes to adapt to the darkness. His heart was beating quickly as he felt sweat soaking his forehead. Random thoughts of Dalasius and Derek filled his mind and he tried to shake them all away. A Raider that wasn’t one hundred percent concentrated on his prey was a dead raider, that was the first thing they all learned in training. But as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t shake those ideas away. A friend who doesn’t mourn for the loss of his friend was not a true friend to start with. Darian saw himself more as Derek’s friend than a « proud » TracerCo Raider. Somewhere in that cathedral, he decided that he would defect from the company as soon as he handed in Dalasius. Perhaps Isabella would wantto leave with him. They could both get away from all the death and destruction they were so used to. Peace an quiet…
« It will not be here that you will find peace and quiet Darian Ashley! » boomed a very chilling voice yet fammiliar that echoed in in the whole room.
« So much for the element of surpise! » muttered Darian as he pointed Escaflowne towards where the voice was coming from.
« LET THERE BE LIGHT! » screamed the voice.
And suddenly, every single candle in the room lit by themselves. Darian could see everything clearly now and was only a few feet from Dalasius himself. The Necromancer stood at nearly 7 feet tall. He was dressed in a long black robe and his head was covered by a hood. The upper part of his face was shrouded in shadows that the hood produced. His armes were crossed, but Darian still felt that he was ready to take the Raider on… Darian didn’t hesitate for a second and pulled Escaflowne’s trigger twice, but before his projectiles could hit home, Dalasius vanished into thin air.
« I don’t believe shooting at an illusion is a good thing Mr. Ashley! » laughed Dalasius cruelly.
The young man simply couldn’t figure out where the voice was coming form and decided to run for cover behind one of the Cathedral’s wooden benches. Taking a peek over the bench and towards the back entrance, Darian could see Jake entering the room, with his handgun, Legends in hand. To Darian’s horror, he could see Dalasius appear behind Jake.
« Roll, Hudson! » screamed Darian frantically.
Without hesitation, Jake rolled and avoided by inches a fireball that Dalasius produced with his left hand. As soon as Jake finishe hs roll, he shot back at Dalasius who, by that time, had already vanished. Teleportation , Illusions and mind reading, Dalasius had learned quite a few new tricks since their last encounter.
« Jake, take cover! » screamed Darian.
Far away, Darian saw Jake’s signal telling him that it was alright, that he knew what he was doing. By now, he told himself that this fight was going to be much more difficult than they had expected.
« I believe your friends will be crashing through these windows any second now! » laughed the Necromancer.
Darian looked towards the second floor and saw that the robed mage was standing there, on the ledge, right in front of where Bella and the others would come in… Darian pointed Escaflowne towards the mage and pulled the trigger repeatedly, but the mage simply waved his hand Darian stated with fear that Dalasius managed to repel the bullets.
The bullets were indeed dipped in J-10, but the strength of Dalasius’ spells was enough to make all the J-10 evaporate from the bullets before they hit home, and from then on, the Necromancer could do as he pleased with the lead the his gun spat…
Dalasius’ attention turned immdiately towards Yodama, Bella and Ed as they crshed through the windows with their guns blazing. But in one swift move, Dalasius used what was apearently a Telekinesis spell to fling Ed bak out of the window… For all Darian knew, Psycho Ed was probably dead… Both Darian and Jake covered Yodama and Isabella as they poiunted their guns at the mage and shot repeatedly again… Seing so many bullets flying at him, Dalasius vanished again…
« REGROUP ! » screamed Darian…
Within seconds, Jake, Hihori, Bella and Darian were all behind the same wooden bench.
« The plan didn’t work out! » said Jake panting…
« He just manages to make the J-10 evaporate before deflecting our bullets, » said Isabella.
« If that is so, then we have to take this fight up close and personnal before he can make the J-10 evaporate for our bullets… » said Yodama .
« It’s a risky call! » replied Bella « But we’ll have to try it, we don’t have any choice! »
« Did you two see if Ed made it? » asked Darian.
« It passed by so fast, I didn’t see a thing! » said Bella.
« Neither did I ! » replied Yodama.
« Alright, we’ll have to do without him then » said Darian « We’ll check on him afterwards! Now fall out, we make too much of a big target here together! »
The four companions each went on a separate direction ready to take on Dalasius again. However, as soon as Jake got out of cover, a glowing white beam went straight for him.
« JAKE! DUCK! » screamed Isabella as soon as she could.
But it was too late, the beam hit Hudson dead on and he was instantly covered with Ice, freezing him on the spot. Knowing nothing better to do, Darian shot at Dalasius who repelled his shots easily and sent a huge fireball towards the frozen Hudson that tore the Law Enforcement Officer to pieces in a matter of seconds.
Anger took a hold oF Darian as he kept on shooting frantically at Dalasius. The mage, flicked his wrist towards Darian and his fist started to glow… This was going to end here and Darian stayed in place, still shooting. It was then, that the young raider realised that Isabella was approaching the mage with stealth and it was his responsability to distract him from her presence. Darian stood his ground and kept on shooting.
Bullet after bullet, Darian was prepared for death. And then It came out of Dalasius’ fist, a flying star that was made of fire…
He barely avoided the magical projectile by moving to his left and felt it scratch his right cheek. A seering burning pain was felt on his cheek as he heard the loud explosion behind him. Had he not moved, there were chances that his head would have been ripped off…
Darian kept on shooting until he had no bullets left. As he was changing magazine, he saw that Bella was only a few feet from Dalasius. She pointed Wylde Childe towards the mage and pulled the trigger a few times, the bullets hitting the mage in the stomach. Dalasius screamed in pain and sent a lightning bolt that hit Isabella straight on her chest…
« NO! » screamed Darian as he ran towards her.
During that time, Yodama ran towardsDalasius with a seringe of J-10 in his hands and stuck it in the mage. The mage lost consciousness and the battle was won.
As soon as the young Raider got to Isabella, he knew from the gravity of her wound that It was too late for her. He held back tears as he looked in her still compassionnate eyes.
« How bad is it? » she asked in a weak voice.
« It’s…It’s just a scratch Bella! » said Darian
« You have never been a good liar , you know that? » she said, forcing herself to smile.
Darian could feel Yodama behind him, looking over to the woman they both loved.
« I want you to have this… » she said handing Darian her handgun « Since I gave it to you, It will come back to you when you call it now… »
« Bella… » whispered Darian… " You can't die... I... I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you...I love you..."
She looked at him with a passionnate look, one that would stay be printed in his mind for the rest of his life.
"You... You don't know how long I've waited for you to tell me that Darian...I've loved you... since I first laid my eyes on you..."
She coughed a few times and then closed her eyes, and never opened them again… The loss was simply too much for him to bear and he screamed. His scream echoed through the whole church.
As trucks belonging to the ministry came by to pick up the mess in the Cathedral as well as Dalasius, Ed, Darian and Yodama were all three looking at the whole scene. The place that had been earlier occupied by only Daria, his friends and Dalasius was now swarming with cops.
« So I guess this is It, huh? » said Ed.
« You’re quite lucky to be alive old timer! » said Yodama in a rather nonchalant tone.
« Yes, this is it… » said Darian, his icy eyes seemingly looking empty.
« What will you two be doing now? » asked Ed.
« I’ll be going back to the Syndicate I guess…There’s nothing more I can do here! How about you Darian? »
« I don’t know anymore, and I quite frankly don’t care…Probably return to TracerCo…I’m their property after all… »
« And you Ed? » asked Yodama again.
« I’m going to see those boys at the Ministry and take my fat paycheck, and then, I’m taking me a long vacation! »
Looking up, Darian saw men from the Ministry who were obviously awaiting for for Ed. Psycho Ed obviously saw them too.
« Well, If any of you two ever want to start in the Professionnal Hunting business, just give me a call, I’ll give you two a few contacts. I have to go now, my money is awaiting. Stay out of trouble you crazy kids »
Ed bumped fists with both Darian and Hohiro and went towards the men in suits that awaited him.
« She wouldn’t have wanted you to be like this Darian! » said Yodama looking at Darian.
Darian didn’t answer .
« She loved you and would have wanted you to be happy… »
Darian still didn’t answer.
« Answer me damnit! » cursed Hohiro angrily.
Darian looked at Yodama and smiled.
« Take care kiddo! » said the Raider « I’ll see you around soon enough… Stay out of trouble, because I won’t be there to bail you out anymore. »
Yodama looked at him with sad eyes. They both shook hands. And then he turned around and started walking, leaving Yodama, the Ether technicians, the Cathedral, Dalasius and this whole scene behind him.
« She loved you too Hohiro. » said Darian as he left « Only in another way … »
Darian touched the still open wound on his right cheek and looked at the stars. Isabella, Derek and all the others who died were somewhere out there, looking at this scene, and were happy that their deaths hadn’t been in vain.
Somehow, that didn’t comfort him all that much…
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