Chapter 21: Pain Rampage

The woman crossed her arms. The crowd that gathered was afraid to move, full of fear, but also curiosity. Takabi noted it as a running theme with humans, but pushed any and all other thoughts away.

"Nana," He repeated more firmly. "Is that you?"

"Nana?" Her voice even sounded the same. "Sorry, you got me confused with some other bitch. I'm Hailey."

"Stop talking nonsense," He spat. "What's with you? When did you even have the time to dye your hair?" He had a smile on his face. Every fiber of his being told him this obviously wasn't her, but his heart ached too long for her return. Despite being attacked, he kept his gaze on the woman and held his arms open. "Hell of a kick you got."

Hailey narrowed her eyes and rushed at him, heels clicking against the floor. She threw a punch, which he dodged, but purposely sluggish. His heart was tugging at him, clouding his mind, making him see what he wanted to see, what he hoped to see.

It wasn't a true fight, just a sparring match with the love of his life.

Hailey spun and connected a heavy kick. His head snapped back, before she threw her palm forward and struck him with a heavy wave of wind. He was swept up, sharp air cutting deep into his non vital areas. Takabi hit the floor behind the girl's booth. Both got up, watching him with wide eyes before helping him stand.

"What the hell is going on," Frannie asked loudly.

Shine snapped her gaze up, swinging her palm and willing a wall of magic to shield them from the explosive pelts above. Frannie let go of Takabi's arm, slipping between him and Hailey as she got closer. The two quickly exchanged fists, slamming knuckle to knuckle, before Frannie leapt up and crashed her knee into Hailey's nose. Blood spurt and the dark haired girl stomped back. "Damn. Got blood on my shirt."

There were three. One in front, two cloaked, hidden to offer support should Hailey need it.

Takabi picked himself up, his wounds healing. The smile on his face was still prominent, something that freaked out both girls. Frannie looked at Hailey, blinking, before saying, "Hold on. Nana, right? What are you doing?"

"Again with that?" She chuckled, nose sizzling as it began to heal. "Like I told the dumbass there, my name is Hailey. I don't know who this Nana is, nor do I care. I have a job and I'm gonna get it done so I can see my husband."

"Husband," The three repeated questioningly.

Frannie stiffened her jaw. Her eyes glanced back at Takabi, his smile replaced by a look of horror. It was that look that infuriated her. They weren't close, by any means, but he was a good person at heart. She knew how much he loved Nana, how he waited for her to wake. It was a shame that the next time he saw someone like her, she was married.

"Did you hit your head or something," Frannie asked.

"You ARE Nana. If you're not, you're a really good splitting image."

"Sorry, but I'm the one and only." Hailey licked her lips. "Now, get out my way. I have business with the other girl there."

"Knew it," Shine muttered. Her eyes were focused on the area around them. She had to get Takabi out. He couldn't fight, not someone who shared Nana's face. "Takabi, we need to go."

He looked at her. "But… Nana is…"

"It's not her, dude. Get your head in the game." Shine rubbed his head. "Takabi, whoever that woman is, she's not her."

Hailey clapped her hands together, a gust of air swirling heavily around the three. Frannie watched it, hair dancing, and reached out, unsurprisingly earning a deep cut into her wrist. She screamed in pain, stepping back and holding her wound. "Fuck. Why would I think we could just walk out?" She paused, glancing around. "There's so many innocent people in here, so I can't just blast this thing away."

Shine stood up, looking through the wind. "Frannie, how's your aim? Think you can take her out before she notices?"

"Nope," She admitted. "I just got used to using Magic. Distance isn't my forte just yet. What about you?"

"Trying to hold him back," She said, gripping Takabi's shoulders. His face was locked on Hailey's through the air.

The same powers, the same feeling of magic. Her face and voice. The way she looked so devious, yet so innocent at the same time.

It HAD to be Nana.

It wasn't. Takabi, deep down, knew that. Slowly, his head was coming back to him. Along with his common sense, came something else.

Shine yelped and pulled her palms back from Takabi, looking at the deep burns. Her gaze fell back on him, and she watched the intense heat bellow from within his body. He stood, eyes hard and exhaled. "Why do you have Nana's face?"

"I told you, I'm the one and only."

"BULLSHIT!" He yelled, violet flames igniting the air cage around them and snuffing it out. "Nana is in a coma! My girlfriend, My LOVE is in a deep coma and I don't know when she'll wake up! So why is it I'm standing here across from some BITCH who stole her face!?"

Hailey purred at him. "Foul. I like that. If I wasn't a loyal woman, I'd love to take that rage for a spin." She pointed at Shine. "Give me the girl."

Takabi watched her. He was seething, so much that the girls, any humans nearby, had to move away from the heat he was producing. Two figures moved next to Hailey, now visible for all to see. Dark cloaks, and blank masks over their faces. They held a staff in each hand, standing before her like guards.

"My lady, this boy…"

"I know. Carlos told me about him."

"Carlos?" Takabi repeated. It came to him, like a truck. A realization he should have, and possibly did, piece together. The feeling of it being basically spat in his face only made him feel worse. "You're with The Kult. With my Father… And…. And…" He could barely muster the words.

Hailey raised an eyebrow, watching him with a strong curiosity.

"It's Carlos… He made you…. In her image… And…"

"Listen, if you're not gonna speak up, you can go die." She snapped, the two Kult members running at him. They spun their staffs, leaping into the air and bringing them down hard. The wood snapped against Takabi's body, both members exchanging glances.

He snapped. For the first time, in such a long while, he snapped.

He succumbed to rage, and erupted in such a blinding anger, none nearby could react fast enough. The Kult members were incinerated, not a single speck of ash left behind. Frannie grabbed Shine, and leapt to the floor, willing a shield of magic that barely held against the heat.

Shine touched Frannie's wrist, the two pooling the magic power together to keep themselves safe. They watched, as Takabi's skin turned black as night. The skin by his eyes cracked, followed by the orbs turning a pure bright violet and black feathered wings bursting from his back. The violet fire erupted fast, human after human, man and woman, elderly and child alike, burnt to nothing in an instant. Flames ripped through the rooftop, blowing stone, brick and mineral apart. Violet markings were faint on the left side of his body, odd skips of movement from around him.

His hair shot out in length, dancing in the air in sudden spurts. One moment it would be in the air, then it would suddenly snap downward.

Hailey watched with wide eyes, covering herself with a shield of air.

The mall was in ruins. Ripped apart, the ceiling now a skylight. The clear blue blanket above now turned into a grey cesspool illuminated by violet.

He grit his grown fangs, charging forward at Hailey. The girl couldn't react before he gripped her head, slamming it into the now black floor and dashing away, digging up tile after tile with Hailey's skull.

The girls' released their shield, shaking madly.

Fear. They felt an ever growing fear from what they witnessed. All of his emotions, everything he held inside, just unleashed in the blink of an eye.

"S...Still think we can take him," Frannie asked.

Shine shook her head. Pulling herself, and Frannie, up, the pair rushed after Takabi, unsure of what they could do in this nightmare situation.

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She stirred. Slowly, sound came to her ears. Orbs fluttered open, gaze rising on a white ceiling. A heart monitor to her right, on a shelf above her.

Where was she? Why did her body ache so severely? Her limbs felt significantly weaker, like noodles that had just been boiled. She would come to physically, she just needed a moment.

People scrambled by her room. One face she recognized, and wanted to see. It wasn't him, just his twin. He looked a little older. Different. Time passed.

How much?

Her head, pounding, stomach weak, nauseous.

Taste. Bitter.

Feeling. Weak, but passable.

Strength, nonexistent.

Yet, something called to her.

She sensed it. Someone needed her. She knew who. Knew him. So long, she felt, since she moved. Slowly, she unhooked herself, sliding off the bed, standing. She fell, hit the floor hard, almost passed out again. Slowly, carefully, she pushed up, grabbing the table for support, opened the door and simply left.

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Takabi threw Hailey through trees in the park. His body, burning with rage and hatred. He roared, a roar so loud and powerful a Dragon would be proud. The girls bounded behind the trees nearby, hiding, watching.

Hailey picked herself up, wounds slowly healing as she brushed herself off. "Fuck. You actually pack a damn punch."

He moved, knuckles striking her cheek, forcing her off balance. Hailey stumbled, before hopping back, releasing balls of air at him. He vanished, appeared behind her, kicking hard. She flew, smashed through tree after tree, hitting a boulder face first. Takabi landed, roaring again, letting a beam of white and violet magic rampage through the woods.

Hailey was swept up, and the beam erupted in a fireball explosion. He waited, and waited, before Hailey burst up from the soil, running her fingers through his chest, striking his heart. He went stiff for a moment, tear oozing from his eyes.

He gazed at her face, before striking her again. Her brain rattled in her skull, and she pulled away, holding the ringing to try and calm herself. Takabi gave no chance, his anger driving him to hit her into the dirt. He pounced on her, wings stretched wide, and then it began.

No magic. Just the constant sound of knuckle making contact, striking hard. His anger had taken control. His darkness had come out after he kept himself in check for so long. The darkness that he held at bay became too strong with his anguish.

He craved Hailey's blood. He wanted to see her die, die for taking his loved one's face. It wasn't just death, he wanted her to suffer for the sin of mimicry.

"Takabi! Enough!" Shine yelled. She left the tree. He turned, and swung, flames erupting between them, before he turned and continued.

This wasn't him. This was a demon. A monster he kept locked away, now free to kill as he pleased.

Kairas arrived first, pulling Shine back before she could try to get any closer. She looked at her brother, then the two with him. The Dragons, Porrelth and Garuga. "What happened?"

"He… He just… Snapped! That girl, she looked exactly like the one in the infirmary and he just…." Shine's voice trailed off.

Kairas watched his brother, stepping ahead. "Takabi, calm down! It's done!"

His fist hung in the air. Slowly, he faced his brother. Kairas watched him with a worried, but eased look. He moved forward, raising his hands defensively. "Calm down. Okay? It's alright."

Those words hung. He reacted, striking Kairas with the back of his fist. The boy stumbled back and hit the floor, holding his broken jaw. Garuga and Porrelth rushed through the flames as Takabi stood. He smiled, fangs visible, smirk twisted.

He wasn't himself.

Evident as he attacked without hesitation. The Dragons tried to restrain, but he broke from their grasps. He punched Porrelth's cheek, kicked Garuga's ribs and broke them under his heel, and he laughed. He laughed as he pushed them, pressured them. The evil in him had control.

And knowledge. Once he knocked the two back, flames bellowed in his palm. A sphere of darkness shaped around it, and both Dragon's watched wide eyed. "Is that…"

"He's not actually going to use Nova, is he?" Porrelth grit his teeth, then the two stood in front of the girls.

Kairas slipped before them, jaw healed, and he rose a wall of ice. "Take cover!"

Cover did nothing. Once Dark Nova connected, the impact was too great. Had the Dragons, and Kairas, powered up and fought him to a stand still, maybe they wouldn't have suffered injuries.

The ball of magic exploded. The flames burnt the group, all but Porrelth. The girls flew back with Kairas, all three hitting their heads against a tree and sliding down unconscious. The Dragons slid back, Porrelth's arm covered in red scales. His coat was burnt, but overall he was okay.

Garuga was standing, struggling, before he broke into a cough and dropped to his knees behind his brother in arms.

"Garuga," Porrelth called to him.

The Shadow Dragon wheezed, digging up dirt with his fingers and he tried rising. Takabi approached them, face still twisted. The evil burned, and burned deeply. The soil, the wood, the grass. Any and all near him would succumb to his flames.

Scorn, The voice in his mind uttered. Show them all of it. All of our pain.

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Why was she here again?

The soil against her bare feet felt welcoming. There was an incredible heat in the air, but it felt great against her skin. The air was thinner, but enough for her to consume and regain her lost strength.

She walked now, perfectly, with a natural strut that she needed to adjust to. Her body grew, oddly. She didn't remember being this developed. Her hips held a fierce curve, coupled with her ample creamy breasts and juicy rear, if she had to describe herself.

Forward she went, following the pained air. Following the sound of coughing, of groaning, of cackling fire. The violet light was intense on her eyes, but she would adjust.

Around the tree, her eyes fell on three. Broken, breathing, but unawaken. Her gaze moved from them, to the two men before her. A man in all back, coughing intensely. Next to him, a man with a burned coat, sizzling severely. Her gaze then fell on the creature. He didn't seem to notice her at first, not until she gasped.

The men snapped their gazes back. "What the he-, Nana!?"

"What's going on!? What happened to him?!" She asked, running ahead. "Takabi, stop this! Calm yourself!"

He sneered, pulling his fist back and unleashing flames. Nana, unafraid, leapt overhead, air bellowing around her. She cried out with power, the gust striking him overhead. It didn't damage him, that wasn't her intention. She just wanted to restrain him. How she would fight better than the others, she didn't know. Maybe, just maybe, she could speak to his heart, instead of the surface.

"Takabi! Honey, wake up!" She landed, rushing closer. "It's me! It's Nana!"

He broke the air around him, running at her in a blind rage. Nana dodged his attacks, body somewhat unresponsive to her actions. He was faster, much faster than she remembered. He snapped his gaze around and connected a punch to her gut.

She slid back, but held her ground. "E.. Enough Dear…" He came at her again. Breathing in, her eyes held a faint violet glow, before she pushed her palms out and caught him with her pure Mana. She barely had the strength to hold him completely, but at least she could speak.

"Takabi, that's enough."

He snarled at her, struggling against her magic. Nana shut an eye.

It was taking all she had to keep him at bay. "You've never used this power before, and why do you think? It's tied too closely to your emotions! Whatever happened that made you this way, you have to let it go!"

Garuga held his broken ribs, wheezing, "You… Nana… Do you know anything?"

"No… I…" She paused, watching Takabi. "I… Woke up and just came here."

"You were in a coma. For months."

"I was?!"

Takabi snarled, mana cracking under the pressure of his power.

Shine slowly came to. Her blurry gaze fell on her brother, before she picked herself up and held onto the tree for support. "Takabi…"

Nana relaxed herself, and the magic cage. She stepped closely, bit by bit easing the magic. When she touched his face, his anger stopped itself. "Enough, Takabi. I'm here now."

His body visibly relaxed. The light in his eyes slowly began to dim. His arms wrapped around her, black skin returning to its coco color. His senses seemed to return. "I'm sorry I left you alone for so long."

He couldn't find any words, until it hit him.

The realization, the memories of the blood on his hands and the amount of lives he just ended in his rampage. All the guilt hit him at once, and once again, he broke.

He dropped to his knees, and cried, hard, loudly. Nana knelt with him, burying his face in her chest and humming softly to him. The world melted away, so much so that no one noticed Hailey crawling through the dirt through the bushes.

Her wounds were healing, but slowly, painfully. She'd need treatment. Once she had that, she'd come back, and she'd slaughter them all. She etched his face in her brain, feeling the burning hatred brew in her black heart.