Chapter Twenty-Four: I Promise

Jr. cocked his guns. I clenched my fists. KOS-MOS stood beside Shion, who cradled MOMO's poor tiny body in her arms. I had lost track of chaos in the sudden convolution the series of events had taken. I placed myself between the women and Albedo.

"Shion," my voice was harsher than I'd hoped. She looked up with a gasp. "Whatever happens, stay with MOMO." I managed to glare into her wide green eyes. "I made a promise."

It was at that moment that I made another promise, this one to myself. I promised that I would give that monster every ounce of pain that he had caused to MOMO, make him feel everything that she had gone through because of him. I swore that he would never get his grubby, searching hands on MOMO, or Shion, or even Jr. for that matter. He would never again sully one of my friends- not while I still had enough strength in me to fight him.

I cracked the knuckles in my right hand.

"Jr., circle around to his left flank while I focus on a frontal attack. I'll divert his attention-"

Strategy was lost on the boy as Albedo was assailed by a hail of flying bullets. The man held up one nonchalant hand, and the bullets miraculously refracted off of some invisible shielding he had created. I ducked as one bullet whizzed by my head. Sighing at Jr.'s incompetence, I dashed to Albedo's left flank under the cover of the raining bullets and swiftly brought out my arm blade in a quick upward thrust.

My face was spattered with blood as Albedo's left arm parted with his body at the shoulder. I shut one eye against the flow of blood from the wound, but I could still see the look on the man's face. He wasn't in pain, or even wincing in the least. At most he seemed annoyed, as if all I had done was cause him a minor inconvenience. So I cut into him again. His shoulder disappeared with a flash of my blade into his skin. Again, I cut into him, slicing through his chest to his clavicle. I caught myself just as I was about to thrust the blade through the center of his neck.

His newly formed left hand had seized me by the throat. Sharp nails dug into my neck, and I gagged as I tried to draw breath. It hadn't been the first time I had underestimated my enemy.

"Well, well, Rubedo," Albedo's voice was hardly a foot from my ear. "What good friends you have. The better to tempt you with, my dear." His grip on my neck tightened. Three of his sharpened fingernails pierced my skin, and blood ran in three neat rivulets down my neck. A gasp- Shion's, I could tell.

"Let him go, Albedo!" Jr. shouted. "This is between you and me!" The image of the bright red hair blurred as my air supply thinned.

"Ah, pain," Albedo's voice was now sickeningly close. "It seeps from you like a dammed-up spring. No matter how many of the holes you obstruct, you always spring a leak." A grin inches from my face. "I wonder if that is what it feels like to die. By the looks of you-" he held me farther away from his face to inspect my mechanical body, "-you might have died once. You and I have both been cheated by death, I see. Tell me... What's it like? That Abyss that awaits us after life has ended?" As if suddenly bored, he tossed me to the ground, where I tried to gather as much breath into my lungs as possible.

I glared darkly at Albedo, trying to staunch the flow of blood from my neck. With a determined grunt, I pulled myself unsteadily to my feet.

"Don't worry," I growled. "I'll send you there to see for yourself soon enough." I held my fists- one cold and metal, the other flesh and bloodstained- before me in an offensive position and barked, "Come on, Jr.!"

"Old man-" He was concerned, damn him.

"Forget about me," I told him in a hard voice. "Don't let me hold you back." He glared toward Albedo, then nodded, reloading with a flick of his wrists.

This time, we entered the fray as a unit. Jr., guns ablaze with motion and light, dodged and fired around my own aimed attacks of fist and blade. We must have been a red, white and blonde blur, ducking and weaving, blocking and shooting. Albedo blocked everything I threw at him, while every one of Jr.'s bullets went through him without doing one hint of damage. And he was laughing. That stabbing, maniacal laugh dug into me and ate out my courage.

Before I could register what had happened, I was on the ground, facing the ceiling. I had a searing pain in my chest, and it took a great effort to breathe. I realized that was because Jr. was lying unconscious across my chest. Blood was trickling from the side of his mouth and his arms dangled limply by his side. I threw myself to my feet, bringing Jr. with me.

"So weak, so tender." Albedo, turning one of Jr.'s guns over in his hand, looked up as I stood. "Living life on a satin cushion does wonders for the complexion, but when the harshness of reality, the pain and suffering the living are damned to face, it only makes it that much harder to bear." I shook Jr. awake, and he gazed, owl-eyed, at the world again. "Why don't you show me your true power, Rubedo? We both know what will happen if you do."

"I won't-" Jr. stumbled out of my reach and picked up the remaining gun from the polished floor. "I'm not that... person anymore..." He coughed, clutching his ribs, as blood flecked on his lips.

"We'll see just what kind of man you are, Rubedo-" Albedo was cut off severely as the long-missing chaos appeared behind him and gave a swift chop to the neck with his bare hand. Albedo stumbled to the ground, the gun in his hand tumbling across the floor to Jr.'s unsteady feet.

"I don't want to fight," chaos said quietly as he brought his leg swiftly across the back of Albedo's neck. "But you've given me no other choice." Albedo shot to his feet, exchanging a keen glance with Jr., just as a bright ball of violet energy materialized in his clawed hand.

"chaos!" Jr. warned. Albedo fired at point-blank range in a flash of blazing light. I heard Shion cry out, but no sound from MOMO. The light dimmed, and I was witness to the first look of anger on Albedo's face. chaos had blocked his attack, the light streaming to either side of the fair-haired boy. Determination was etched on his featured. With a simple motion, he threw Albedo backwards, thudding into the wall. I was learning more and more about my companions in the Song of Nephilim than I had the entire time we had known each other.

"Jr., are you all right?" chaos asked. Jr. picked up his second gun and wiped the blood from his lips unceremoniously on his sleeve.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He glanced toward where Albedo's form had fallen, but saw nothing. He looked back. "How about you guys?"

"Never better," chaos said with a grim smile. I could see the strain that Albedo's attack had caused him. He was drained, and might not hold up against an onslaught. I cracked my neck, feeling the wounds tentatively in the lull.

"Nothing I can't handle," I assured them.

My breath caught in my throat as I felt my wrist clutched with more force than I had expected. Albedo was behind me; I could tell by his foul presence. He twisted my human wrist hard into my back and held it there, excruciatingly. Jr. was quick to his guns and aimed them at my captor's head. chaos jumped into a defensive stance, ready.

"Such wonderful pain," Albedo mused. "Even you can feel it. Every bone in your arm being pulled slowly from their joints, cracking under the pressure. Let me feel your pain! Make me feel alive!"

"Don't you dare!" Jr. shouted, cocking both of his guns.

"Jr., don't let your anger take over," chaos warned.

"What are you going to do, Rubedo?" Albedo smirked, and he pulled my arm further up my back. "Shoot me?" He was going to break my arm. I felt my bones straining, ready to crack.

Then nothing.

It was the same feeling I'd had on Miltia, that I was seeing something that had already gone by. A memory, covered by the dust of time.

I was in my Federation Police uniform, at the station. Everything around me was familiar, and yet now so alien to me. One of my young operatives was standing in front of me, and I recognized him immediately. Michael Oltman, young and dark-faced with his coarse black hair braised close to his scalp and pulled back behind his head. He had the smile he was so fond of lighting up his dark skin.

"I don't know why I have to practice your moves, Captain," he said with an air of whimsy, "when all I have to do is control our unit's dives."

"You can never predict the mind of a terrorist, Michael." My voice was younger, brighter. "I'm making everyone else go through with officer's training, just to be on the safe side." Michael shrugged, then rolled his shoulders in preparation.

"All right, Captain, you're the boss. Just be ready for me. I should warn you that I was known as the Oltman Hurricane in High School."

He rushed at me. He had studied our defense and offense in the training programs I had instituted regularly. He blocked my blows high and low, then grabbed onto my wrist and held it tightly behind my back. I could sense the smirk on his face.

It was all over in a flash. I brought the free arm's elbow sharp against Michael's jaw, which caused him to loosen his grip on my captured arm as a response. In that split second, I grabbed his arm and flipped him neatly over my shoulder. He groaned as a sign of his defeat. Walking over to the fallen man, I smirked down at him. He squinted through the pain to look up at me.

"You seem more like an Oltman Tropical Storm," I said with a gruff laugh. He blushed under his dark skin as I helped him to his feet.

"You'd better remember that trick, Captain. Never know when something like that might come in handy."

Michael's voice shattered around me as I cracked my free elbow into Albedo's jaw. I could feel the blood from his lips at the contact. I gripped his wrist with both hands, and with all the energy I had left in me, in one swift move, flipped him over my shoulder. He landed with a dull thud that resounded through the large room.

Breath hissed through my lungs. Jr.'s eyes were locked on his rival, but I had felt his gaze on me as I had thrown Albedo. I tried to ignore Shion's green eyes on the edge of the battle. Albedo wiped the blood from his lips with a cackle. He was staring at me, and I felt my insides go rigid. He sat up and leaned casually forward with one arm on each knee.

"I see," another cackle interrupted his speech. "Both of you, then. No, the three of us want ma pêche for ourselves. It's too bad that there isn't enough of her to go around!"

"Stop calling her that, you bastard!" Jr. cried. "She's a person, not some... toy!" Jr. leapt forward, shooting. Albedo simply grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt and examined his face.

"On the contrary, my dear Rubedo, ma pêche was constructed for the pleasures of the eyes, ears and flesh!" He chuckled darkly, which transformed into that deafening laugh of his.

"Stop it!"

All four of us turned to face Shion, her eyes livid and full of hate.

"Stop it! Stop it! I can't stand it anymore!" Fists clenched, eyes ablaze, she looked nothing like the Shion I had come to know. Was that what I had looked like to her on the Elsa?

As if suddenly disinterested, Albedo tossed Jr. aside, raising stagnant dust from the floor. Albedo stared greedily at Shion, who still held MOMO close to her. He had the look of a man starved for days setting his eyes on a steak.

"A sweet mother, cradling the head of her tiny child. How sentimental, that you cherish this mechanical angel as a human like yourself." He was a step away from them.

"Don't come any closer!" Shion warned.

I had blood on my blade. Albedo's head lay at his feet. I was breathing heavily, anger seething in me like a boiling stew of emotion.

"Don't you touch her," a primal growl escaped my lips, so low I could hardly hear myself.

A new grotesque face grew between Albedo's shoulders, and Jr., chaos and I were ready for it. I gave it a hefty punch that it hadn't been expecting, and Albedo's body flew to Jr. A blaze of bullets, flares of pure ether energy and a crescendo of laughter followed. Without taking my eyes off of the battle, I spoke to Shion.

"How is she?" I asked.

"Ziggy..." Her voice was shaking.

"Is MOMO all right?" I persisted.

"Y-yes..."

"KOS-MOS," I called. The blue-haired android was at hand in an instant. "Stay close to Shion. Make sure that bastard Albedo doesn't get too close."

"Affirmative. I will protect Shion and the 100-Series Observational Unit MOMO." Her red eyes met mine in affirmation. I didn't allow myself to glance down at MOMO. It would have been too much for me.

I rushed into battle once more. chaos was out of commission, eyes closed but chest still rising with every breath. Jr. had Albedo pinned to the floor, punching him repeatedly in the face. The madman's features were nearly indistinguishable under the blood. And still he smiled.

"Why don't you just die!" Jr. was exhausted, or near it by my estimation. With a laugh, Albedo summoned to him an aura similar to Jr.'s in every way but color. It burst forward in a wave, rocketing Jr. into a nearby wall. I could hear Jr. cry out in agony. Albedo neared him with slow footsteps.

"Don't you see, Rubedo? That's all I ever wanted! To taste the sweet milk that flows from the other side! That, or complete domination of the cosmos, whichever comes first!"

Albedo split into two pieces as KOS-MOS fired her beam cannon straight at his midsection. His lower half tumbled dead to the floor, where his upper half lay cackling incessantly. I looked quickly to my compatriots. chaos was conscious, and helping Jr. to his feet. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, and I turned slightly.

"Hold still, Ziggy." Shion's voice was beside my ear. She placed her hand on the back of my neck, and I winced in pain. "Sorry-" and warmness spread from her palm. Her ether abilities, like MOMO's, sealed the wounds Albedo had caused.

"This isn't working," I murmured, rubbing the circulation back into my neck. "As much as I want to, I can't kill him. If he keep regenerating like that-"

Jr. and chaos were beside us again. The redhead was sporting a broken nose, but was bearing it well. chaos, strangely, seemed unharmed at all.

And there stood Albedo, as if he had never suffered so much as a black eye his entire life.

"Ah, Rubedo. You're getting closer to your old self. But you're still not quite there yet. You were much stronger than this back then, weren't you?" He created the aura around himself again, this time in a half-circular shield that swirled with energy. Jr.'s eyes glowed red-hot with anger.

"Damn you, Albedo! Don't get cocky!" His aura exploded in a burst of fiery flames. The two separate energies met in a bright flash of white light. I felt the heat on my skin as I placed myself between the flames and Shion and MOMO.

I'll protect you. I promise.

AN: Huzzah! The party fights Albedo! Man, I hope I got Albedo right. I mean, making someone pedophilic and creepy is easy enough, but nailing Albedo is harder than that. he also has intelligence along with his insanity. And huzzah for Ziggy!flashbacks... I get all of my Pied Piper information from zarathustra . kaisho . org if you're wondering where I got Michael from. Oh, and the game script starts again when Albedo says, "Ah, Rubedo. You're getting closer to your old self." Everything else is a ShoelessOne original. So, tell me what you think! I love you guys! ... Wow, this was a long chapter...