Death Comes Sooner or Later...

[Brakus Vs. Hanzo]

Brakus dashes into Hanzo, landing a solid strike. Hanzo recoils, gripping his face.

"You stupid child... every action is meaningless unless it leads to death...." , Hanzo covers the entire surrounding area in dark smoke, ".... And you cannot kill me without losing your innocence..." , Hanzo phases through the smoke and reappears, stabbing Brakus in the back of his leg.

"I have nothing against killing a kid.... but you resemble someone I used to know, and it makes me want to tear you to shreds" Hanzo stands over Brakus, admiring his blade work.

Brakus is rolling around on the ground, suppressing his cries of agony, until he finally struggles onto his uninjured foot and faces Hanzo once again.

"Yeah , you may be right about me not being able to kill you. But murder won't solve anything! Screw your ideology, you would rather die here and now? instead of living a long life? we all die anyways right?!?" Brakus's voice cracks with emotion as he mutters this short speech.

"Why do we act like it's okay to die. Like it makes death necessary? Heroes hide behind their Capes..." Brakus mutters to Hanzo

He launches himself at Hanzo with explosive punches, but every punch is easily deflected and countered by Hanzo.

"You're getting slow brat, you should save your breath if you want to hold on to your precious life" Hanzo licks his blade before sliding it back into it's sheath and once again the clicking of bones echoes off of him.

[Hanzo, Daniel and Matthew]

"There's something strange in the air Haru, do you feel it too? That menacing burn on the rear of my neck is familiar.." Daniel says nervously

Matthew gives him a curious look , and he quickly breaks eye contact when Daniel notices.

"Is there something that we need to know that you've been hiding?"

"It's nothing, there's no way it's happening this soon.." Matthew's words behind to trail off.

Haru takes note of Matthews suddenly change in posture and decides to interject, "No way what is happening this soon? ... I knew something was off about this "alliance" of yours.." but Matthew stops his sentence dead in it's tracks, his eyes are seething with anger and sorrow.

"--- With all due respect , you aren't going to sit here and imply that im a liar. --or that I have some sinister plot. Everyone I know is dead! Screw you Haru!"

He grips Haru by the collar of his shirt, almost tearing it straight off his shoulders . Daniel is frozen in place, not from fear but out of respect for Matthew he decides not to intervene.

"Everything I told you about the alliance was true, but for all I know, I have no country to go back to. So forgive me for not considering your feelings!..." Matthew explodes in anger , leaving an awkward silence in his wake.

"Get it together soldier.. We are at war and there is no room for emotions now" Haru responds sternly with the tone of a drill sergeant.

"Without emotions there wouldnt even be a war! There isn't a single logical reason to murder one another...." Matthew loosens his tight grip on Haru's shirt and drops his head in defeat, "..... And I'm not a soldier anymore, just Matthew.."

"Guys , now may not be particularly the best time for this, Look!.." Daniel interrupts the solemn moment, he is waving and pointing at dark smoke in the direction of Brakus's house. "....We should deal with that anomaly first!"

Both men look at eachother and nod with a hint of an unspoken agreement to keep the peace; Haru firmly pats Matthew on the shoulder and Matthew smiles and follows Haru.

Daniel observes that Matthew is walking with a different confidence than before, actually.. this is the most confident he has looked since they've met.

'How strange' he shrugs his shoulders and walks away with the others.

[Brakus vs. Hanzo cont.]

Hanzo is slowly creeping towards Brakus with a sinister smile which is growing with each step.

"Death is celebrated, all around the world.. Families who never communicate will always come together when somebody dies. Death is the only time that we aren't treated differently..." Hanzo slowly pulls his blade from his sheathe once again "... You only know the safety of Ironwell, of course you don't see what I see. why would you? The wall only hides your people from the truth"

Brakus stares him down defiantly , any fear he may have had up to this point has been washed away and replaced by a focused gaze.

Brakus's dark aura begins to well up inside of him , dark red energy seeps through his eyelids. Brakus steps towards Hanzo, before punching him in the face.

Hanzo stumbles backwards while holding his face. Blood flows between his fingers and rolls down his arm. He begins to convulse with excitement and a grim chuckle escapes his lips.

"I can feel the killers intent in you. hahahaha, this is starting to get entertaining! The old man will have to wait."

Brakus attempts to kick him but Hanzo grips his leg and digs his thumb into the wound that he inflicted earlier. He headbutts him and knocks Brakus to the ground, Hanzo holds him down by the neck with the tip of his sword ; the blade slowly begins to dig into the skin as Hanzo's smile turns into a grimace.

"Death comes sooner or later for everyone, and in your case...much sooner"

"Does killing me...make you a hero?" Brakus mumbles weakly

"What did you say?" Hanzo kicks him, without moving his blade a single hair.

"Will killing me make you a hero?" Brakus spits the words out along with a bunch of blood

"What kind of a stupid question is that?"

Hanzo is caught of guard by this, giving Brakus enough time to get out of striking distance and to scramble onto his feet. This time Brakus looks ready.

"Weren't you talking about how I couldn't see the truth , Heroes battle for the truth and justice. If you aren't a hero then you can't be sure that it is worth killing me, can you? " He can't help but chuckle at his own childish retort.

Suddenly, there is a bright flash of light between them that temporarily blinds both of them for a moment. When the light finally dissipates , A familiar man with a blue mask is stood in front of Brakus with his chest puffed out.

"Hey Brakus! Didn't we tell you to stay out of trouble? That may not have worked in your favor, the universe must really be out to get you! ahaha" Daniel teases.

"Hey! It's not my fault that the world went into mayhem" Brakus retorts, he has his arms crossed and his face is red with embarrassment.

"We will deal with this issue later but for now, I think we have bigger fish to fry"

Hanzo is seething with rage, he grimaces in their direction. The crimson flame of hate in his eyes burns with a darker ember and he has a huge smile on his face.

"You! Where is the Old man? I only want to kill him, but if you get in my way...I'll kill both of you."

Hanzo drops his sword. The blade begins to transmutate into dark smoke which engulfs him once again.

"Deaths retribution!"

He turns the whole area into smoke. Brakus and Daniel begin to gag and cough on the thick darkness. They desperately search for the threat but he is impossible to locate.

After a few moments, Daniel begins to get ripped apart with tiny cuts, blood explodes in all directions and he slumps onto the floor.

"Daniel!!! What the hell did you do?!?" Brakus fights through the coughing. his eyes are burning and he has no sense of direction. He swings wildly into the smoke hoping he makes contact with Hanzo, but the thick smoke simply rolls around his strikes. Hanzo laughs sinisterly, he watches as Brakus struggles in vain.

"This war was started because of the insolence of Ironwell's government. He didn't have to die for this country. But now.... his life had meaning"

"Now his life has meaning!? You killed my friend and that's all you have to say!"

Tears begin to well up in his eyes as he runs over to Daniel's Lifeless body. He checks the pulse on his neck and the inner part of his wrist; he feels nothing and his skin is beginning to get ice cold.

Brakus slowly closes his eyes as a tear rolls down his cheek. His heart begins to throb as he slowly rises, his eyes remaining closed. A menacingly violent aura begins to emanate from him and he focuses on Hanzo's location .

"Since you want death so bad, I'll give it to you! No more of this , I can't take it." Brakus explodes into rage , there is no stopping him from murdering Hanzo in cold blood. The brightness that used to be in his eyes has faded almost entirely.

"Hahaha , There he is ! The monster I was waiting for, and it's more magnificent then I ever could have imagined!" Hanzo sounds genuinely happy, but there is something unsettling about the way his voice flowed throughout the surrounding smoke.

"And now we can begin!"