When Two Souls Connect.

 The blade of blood in Axel’s hand collapsed, retracting back into his body. His eyes had glazed over, with his balance and consciousness leaving him. Before long, as Slater was still catching his breath, Axel’s body fell backwards, hitting the slightly sloped surface of the arch. The body soon became subject to gravity, as tugs from the unseen force prompted the comatose body to start rolling, until it found itself falling off the side of the archway unceremoniously.

The city below would’ve gotten closer and closer as the body had fallen in a downward spiral like a shot down plane, if the hand of the winner of the sword duel hadn’t reached forward to grab Axel’s hand before his demise had been assured.

What am I doing? Slater asked himself. Saving an enemy didn’t give him any sort of benefit, however, watching him die brutally wasn’t exactly something Slater wanted to see. His time to regret his decision was not long, as the weight of Axel’s body started pulling Slater off the side with him.

His brain thought of letting go, but with a flash of the blue woman, he found his muscles unable to disengage. Once his decision was made, he felt the wind battering his body as the pair’s freefall began. As Slater tossed and turned in the air, holding the wrist of his enemy in one hand and his blade in the other, his only option was to observe his surroundings with his limited time available and figure out a way out of the impending death he was falling into.

Spinning his blade to point it at the inner side of the arch, Slater extended the blade so that it dug into the surface, then, to prevent it from coming out, had the blade sprout spikes. Like roots, they kept the blade inside, but the two still were falling, forcing the blade to cut through the arch under the surface. To ease his concerns of the blade from somehow snapping from the force, Slater shortened the blade to bring him and Axel closer to the wall. Their descent had slowed substantially, but not to the point to save their lives yet.

Panicked at his lack of options, Slater turned his attention to Axel and his person. After a cursory look-over, he found nothing of use. That is, until he thought of Axel’s weapon. The wind kept banging at his eyes as his hand let go of Axel’s wrist temporarily to quickly grab at the device on Axel’s other arm before his body could fly off somewhere else and doom itself to an unfortunate meeting with the city streets, the streets which were mere moments from making contact with them.

The blade of blood activated, digging into the surface of the arch alongside Slater’s sword, slowly their fall slowed to allow Slater to place his feet comfortably on the ground. His legs collapsed soon after from the stress of all his split-second decisions accompanied b y the entire fight he had just concluded. As he lay recovering at the base of the arch, Axel’s body collapsed nearby. Far enough for him to be out of Slater’s range to pick up from where he was, but seeing as he needed a break, Slater didn’t mind waiting to move.

While his field of vision was limited to the area directly around him, he still was able to spy a pair of hands clapping as the figure who owned them walked closer.

It was the blue woman, free from the confines of the dark space he had only seen her in until this point.

“I’m proud of you, Slater.” She smiled warmly, crouching down next to him. “Not only did you banish those shadows, but you decided to protect somebody who was your enemy. Truly, you’ve impressed me.”

Slater appreciated the compliments, but still wondered how she had gotten here. He would’ve asked just that, but with his entire body being paralyzed in exhaustion, even opening his mouth was out of his hands at this point. Somehow though, the woman answered the very question he thought promptly.

“I just thought I’d stop by and congratulate you… But also, warn you.”

Warn me? Slater thought, moving his face into a confused expression best he could. He figured if she could answer his previous mental questions, communicating with his thoughts was the best bet at talking to her going forward.

“I can feel a part of me approaching this place. What I can only assume is a hostile, given the circumstances.”

Circumstances?

“I’ll tell you what I mean someday. For now, focus on regrouping with your friends. You’ll need all of you to defeat this enemy.”

With her final warning, the woman gently disappeared into fragments of blue energy, leaving Slater alone once again with an unconscious Axel at his side.

In a similar position at the same time was Cora Walker, who had fallen multiple stories after her gambit to free Blitz. The building blocked her view to see if it had paid off, so she could only sit and hope as she dealt with her broken left leg in the darkness of the corner of the building she had hidden in, biding time before the light dagger woman found her.

Her solace was short-lived however, as the very light construct she had been dreading to see lit up the dark in the center of the room as it hit the ground from above. Following soon after was Maya, who jumped from wall to wall to slow herself as she fell and prevented herself from meeting the same fate as Cora. When her feet hit the floor, she picked the dagger from the ground like a ripe fruit, admiring it for a moment, before looking around the room. She looked like a lost little girl, until she spied her target in the corner of the room, to which her face lit up as she scampered towards her.

So this is it, huh… Cora felt the dread of her impending death. I lived a nice life. I may never have found Elio, but I did find a guy I care about a lot, even if I never got the chance to tell him. She gave a solemn smile. But, at least my last action in this life was helping him out.

Maya drew ever closer, skipping along and twirling her dagger in her fingers. Cora couldn’t help but stare silently at the exhibition she put on. Before long, Cora found Maya bent over staring directly in her eyes mere inches from her face. As a bead of sweat awkwardly made it down her cheek, Maya wordlessly put an arm under Cora’s and lifted her up, helping her walk her way out of the destroyed building.

“W-Why?” Cora weakly got through her lips, looking at Maya determined gaze she had aimed towards the exit with a compassionate smile.

“You told me you have someone you’re after too. Call it empathy or whatever, but…” Maya looked at the girl she was helping. “I couldn’t just leave you there knowing you were just like me!” Her smile threw Cora off her guard.

“Leave me? Did you not even think about killing me?” Cora was dumbfounded at how shallow her savior seemed, but considering the circumstances, she felt no need to be so harsh with her language.

Her first response was a laugh. “I’ve never had my heart in all this killing business. I get missions done, but just with immobilizing. You already were, so I had no reason to hurt you anymore. I wouldn’t even be here unless Axel was anyways…”

“Then that’s my first piece of advice to you.” Cora chimed in. “If you want to move things along with him, you need to find your own reason for being where you are. One unrelated to him.”

Maya smiled at the girl’s advice, before her face soured soon after. “Crap! Now I owe you advice too, don’t I…”

“Just leave it for some other time, you don’t need to say anything now.” Cora blew off her concerns, as the two finally made it out of the building and were drenched in the fading light of the city streets. As they kept moving, Cora asked “Where are we going anyways?”

Maya let out a lighthearted chuckle. “Oh, I saw something before I found you. It’s not too far, and I figure it’s the best place for us to go right now.”

Cora looked at Maya with a raised eyebrow, but that didn’t stop the blonde haired girl as she continued their trek to the location she had in mind.

The onslaught of flame and wind from April kept Lupus and Charlotte on the move, with each batting away and dodging what attacks they could. The twisters from her blades never stopped, no matter how long the two held out. Charlotte was getting desperate, and turned to her boss for a final gambit.

“Director.” She said, giving a determined nod. He returned the gesture, before both dodged as two twisters assaulted them once again.

April analyzed where the twisters dissipated, not finding either of her targets. As she searched the air, two roots grew from the ground and grasped her blades.

As April tugged to try and free them, she heard a yell from behind her. The Werewolf she had feared so greatly had his claws outstretched, moments away from tearing his prey apart. April closed her eyes as she prepared for the claws to make contact with her.

However, it was Lupus who was shocked as his claws were stopped right at her skin, or rather, just short of it. A small blue barrier had erected around her entire body, keeping him from damaging her.

“What?” He let out by accident, before he was batted away by a kick to the side.

“What was your name, aether girl?” April ripped her swords loose, turning to Charlotte, who was had been hiding off to the side to support Lupus.

“Ch-Charlotte Charlton.” She was too distracted to reject her question.

“Well, Charlotte. Why do you think I understood what it was you did earlier when you saved your life?” She started walking to the paralyzed girl. “I will say, it is interesting to find another person similar to me. Even in the West, it’s quite rare.” She gave a smirk, an ounce of emotion she wasn’t used to. When she reached Charlotte, she raised her sword above her head. “Now, Charlotte, let’s see if you can learn to do that trick again.”

She pulled her arm back to bring it down on Charlotte yet again, but as Charlotte closed her eyes in fear of the impact, another impact in the concrete behind them took everyone’s attention.

A blue flash like a thunderbolt had created a crater in front of the building , not too far from where Lupus was launched. In the center of the crater stood a moderately built man in a white cloak adorned with silver and gold designs, indicating some sort of high standing. The man cracked his neck as he observed the surroundings.

“Geez, I need to get used to that. Aether is one hell of a thing to utilize.” The man spun around, spotting April and Charlotte, particularly noting April’s slight blue aura. “Were you guys the ones I sensed?” He waited for a response from the two awestruck women, before he put up a hand to acknowledge his rudeness. “Oops, sorry. Allow me to introduce myself first.” He rubbed the back of his head. “The name’s Icarus. Newly appointed Apostle under command of Vergil. Nice to meet you.” His eyes turned downward as his hand fell to his side. “I apologize, but I’m going to have to take both of you with me.”