The Land of Chaos: Part I

Hunter looked down to Kymin and Serenity before his gaze went back to Batsu. I was only supposed to be a messenger, but now I see what Madness is doing to people. I guess it's time I've left the Unknown. Hunter hadn't told anyone, but if he were to draw the sword that had cursed him he would be able to leave the Unknown, but he'd been there for so long that the outside world scared him and with the sword, his immortality would end. It seemed unfair that those were the circumstances, but that was the consequences of seeking treasures that weren't meant to be found. He gave a sigh an then looked to Serenity. "I never thought I'd see you again," he said sadly. "This sort of feels like a dream, but this is reality. A fearsome one at that. I hate that we had to meet again like this."

Batsu hadn't heeded Cross's words for the simple fact that he had to pull Madness from Kana. Jasper and Boreas deserved their freedom. Speaking of, where were those two anyway? Hadn't they been with Kymin earlier? Batsu shook his head and decided to search for them first. On his way he encountered several people suffering from the affects of Madness. He kindly drew the evil force from them before moving on again. When he came across Jasper he wasn't sure how to approach. The guy looked as though he was in a daze. "Jasper?"

Serenity continued healing the dog, but looked at Hunter when he spoke. She looked down, her blue eyes sad. "I'm...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to do that to you." She hadn't wanted to hurt him. She nodded when he said it was a fearsome reality. She didn't know what to say. "Still...I'm...glad I got to see you again," she said with a small smile.

Jasper took a moment to stop after he heard his name. He almost hadn't recognized it. He felt so out of it. He couldn't even see who it was that had called him. "Who..?" He tried to form an ice kunai in his hand to defend himself, just in case, but Boreas wouldn't listen to him. Wouldn't allow him to defend himself. What that son of a bitch turning on him?? Had he been planning on letting him die this whole time so he could take over?! He took a step back from Batsu, even though he didn't recognize the being. His eyes were wide with a combination of fear and paranoia. "Back the fuck off," he hissed, forcing an ice kunai to materialize in his hand. Boreas was still his chakra, and it would answer to him!

Hunter looked away towards the village as Serenity spoke. "Like I said before, there's no need to apologize. You did what you had to do." He could see a lot of damage from where he was and nearly shuddered. What was becoming of this world. "I always thought that if the end ever drew near like this then it'd be the three of us," he said. "You, me, and Felix. It's almost strange that he's not here. Trouble always seemed to follow him wherever he went." He looked to Serenity. "I'm guessing you have no idea where he is." He shook his head and gave a harsh laugh. "Even though we didn't get off on the right foot, I'd be glad to see him right about now. Immortal or not, this is almost scary."

Batsu blinked when Jasper asked who and then he bristled when the guy told him to back off and drew a kunai. The grey eyed male couldn't believe his luck today. First he had a run in with Syndryl, then Madness walked through the door, and now he'd have to fight Jasper! No! He'd just draw the Madness from him, but that would require getting up close and personal. Batsu bit down, his teeth turning into canines. "Fine," he growled. Pushing himself forward by using his wings he tackled Jasper to the ground. The moment he made contact with the guy he pulled on the evil within the black haired male.

Serenity nodded slowly and gave a small sigh. "You and me both..." She wanted to see Felix too. To know he was alright, despite all of this. She knew exactly what he'd have done right now, and that would be to go recklessly off to stop that brown haired woman, because fighting was what he was best at. She paused when she was done healing the dog. "May I see your arm?" she asked Kymin.

The black haired ninja ignored Serenity completely and scooped Vishnu up into his arms, holding the dog against him with his eyes closed. "Thank you," he said quietly. He held the dog for a few moments before looking at Hunter and Serenity and speaking. He didn't know the brown haired male, but clearly they both knew Felix. Kymin had taken so long to speak, because he didn't want his voice quivering when he spoke. "And...I wouldn't get your hopes up. About Felix showing up, I mean," he said, his voice even more quiet than before.

Jasper immediately went to slash at Batsu when the being came closer, thrashing when he was pinned to the ground. "Get off me!" he growled, trying to push the red haired male off him. The more he struggled, the more clearly he began thinking again, even though he was sure it had no correlation whatsoever. When his vision started clearing up, he blinked a few times in confusion. "Batsu?" What the hell was going on? And why did Batsu have him pinned to the ground? And why was there an ice kunai in his hand?

Cross watched the flames, blinking in surprise when he saw a shadow of a figure coming from them. He grasped his knife in his hand, waiting for her to come out. How was she moving? This made no sense at all. And then he saw it. There was a grin on her face like he'd once seen on Oblivion, and her chakra was dispelling the flames from around her. The look in her eyes made the larger male uneasy. He ignored the illusion that came towards him, but found that was the wrong move when its teeth tore into his arm. His eyes widening in surprise, he drove his knife into the creature, which only seemed to piss it off. Instead of letting himself get dragged around by this thing, which is what it seemed intent on doing, Cross held his place, the monster's teeth ripping across his skin, and with his other hand formed a spear out of pure swirling energy and drove it into the creature's side. In the next moment, Cross found himself being rammed into a still standing building by a rock dragon. When he looked up, the girl with the brown hair was approaching him, with that same wild look in her eyes. That same insanity he'd become so familiar with.

Hunter looked to Kymin. "What do you mean by that," he asked. "Dow you know where he is?" To be honest, Hunter really was hoping that Felix would show up and stop Kana. The guy was a walking weapon and it would be great to have him there right now. He looked to Serenity with questioning eyes and then back to Kymin, awaiting some good news. Maybe Felix was already here, but that was too much to hope for. Hunter knew something was horribly wrong right now.

Batsu kept pulling until he could no longer feel the Madness inside of Jasper. The grey eyed male blinked with relief as Jasper said his name. He slowly got up and pulled Jasper with him. "Welcome back to sanity," he said with a smile. He then turned in the direction of the battle. "I've got to go," he said. The red haired male left without another word. What he saw made him stop and reconsider his plan. What on earth had Kana summoned? Batsu shook his head. There was no time to question it. Cross needed help. Batsu moved between the two of them and launched himself at Kana in the same way as he'd done Jasper. Again he pulled on the Madness within her. He could hardly believe that anyone could survive with this much evil inside of them. It was almost impossible not to feel overwhelmed.

Kymin nearly choked up when Hunter asked what he meant, but swallowed instead. Vishnu had fallen unconscious, but since he was breathing, Kymin was okay. "I mean..." He paused when the brown haired male asked if he knew where Felix was. "He's...he's dead."

Serenity blinked and looked at the black haired male. "He's immortal, he can't be dead," she said in disbelief. This man probably hadn't known Felix was immortal, that's all. Even though that's what she believed, her eyes started tearing up. She didn't know what to feel. She should've been happy that Felix was up with Meridian, but...but god, she was going to miss him so much, and that thought alone made tears start forming in her eyes.

Kymin only shook his head, his gaze sad and on his puppy as he slowly pet the pooch. "Kyla killed him when Kana killed her," he said quietly.


Kana's eyes darted to Batsu when he came close to her and that look of amused insanity turned to one of rage. She pulled a kunai on him when he tried to pull on what felt like her soul again. She went to drive it into his stomach, but paused when she started feeling weak, her chakra spiraling even more out of control than before, leaving her pale and feeling a bit sick. She glanced to the Blue Demon, who went over to Cross in a menacing manner. "Stop," she called to it, just as it took Cross' throat into its jaws. She looked to Batsu. "Let me go or so help me he'll rip that man's head from his shoulders," she growled, that same wild look in her brown eyes.

Cross tried to push himself up, but with the creature closing in on him, he found that quick movements didn't quite suit his body's functions right now. The creature didn't seem too thrilled about being told to stop and it started snarling a bit, but not at Cross. At Kana. It still seemed like the thing would rip his head off at any sudden movement, but he was going to take his chances. "Get it over with Batsu," he called, shoving a ball of oil into the creature's mouth before he used his wings to boost himself to his feet. He didn't know if what he was going to do was going to work, because in the next moment the creature had Cross' leg in its oil covered mouth.

Batsu found himself in a very uncomfortable position as he saw the demon grab Cross, followed by Kana's threat. The grey eyed male narrowed his eyes and continued to pull, but this time more slowly. He hated the look in Kana's eyes. How animal like she seemed to become when only a few months ago she seemed only determined to protect her village. "I should have ended your suffering there," he muttered. Batsu nodded slowly when Cross gave him the go ahead. Grey eyes turned red as Batsu's tugged on Madness with all he had. He formed a barrier over Kana and himself to keep from taking out the entire village. The feathers on his wings seemed to burn from it's own flame as a miniature supernova formed inside the barrier. Within seconds the flames had turned black before there was a loud pop and the two were consumed in a mass of fire. The only thing that escaped the barrier was the sound of that pop which sounded more like several thousand explosions at once and a flash of light that shot straight up into the air before it disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Batsu had pulled as much Madness as he could handle and more until he'd become too overwhelmed to keep his grip on Kana. His goal was to withdraw the Madness and damage her as much as possible to keep her from retaliating. As the barrier dropped, Batsu stumbled away, reverting back to his normal self as he went.

Hunter didn't believe what he'd just heard. Felix was dead? He shook his head. "I don't believe you," he said. "I don't believe any of this." Hunter didn't understand what the world was coming to. He turned his head at the sound of the explosion and expected to see the village go up in flames again, but all that followed was a flash of white light. "What was that?" He almost wanted to go see what it was, but at the same time he felt obligated to stay next to Serenity.

Cross wasn't going to wait for whatever Batsu was doing to try and take this creature out. He shoved an explosive tag into its mouth after sticking a knife into the side of its jaw, backing away as quickly as he could. Once he heard the sizzle before the explosion, he braced himself, because he knew if he wasn't far enough away the explosion could take his leg or some other limb clean off. He wondered why the explosion seemed louder than normal, but then realized Batsu had set off an explosion at the same time.

Kana swallowed when she heard the other male give the go-ahead. Didn't he care for his own life?! She screamed and tried to tear away from the red eyed male when he started pulling the Madness from her faster and faster. "Get the fuck off me!" The more Madness got pulled out, the more pain she found herself in, and when the explosion occurred, and the shield disappeared, leaving Batsu to back away, the Blue Demon howled, reverting back to a chakra-state and getting pulled rapidly back towards the brown haired girl. Kana was shivering by the time it was over, both from the pain of her wounds from the fire and the fight, and the pain she felt of her chakra and the Blue Demon's chakra tearing through her veins. It took a moment before her body, rigid with pain, relaxed enough to collapse forward. She fell unconscious the moment she hit the ground, even though her body curled up.

Kymin almost glared at Serenity and Hunter. "I was there when he died, okay?" he said harshly. "The guy died in my arms, so yeah, I know he's dead, and whether you believe it or not is up to you." He stood up at the noise, ignoring the pain in his arm as he brought Vishnu up with him. He'd only briefly seen the flash, and he wanted to go in, but he didn't want to take Vishnu into harm's way again, and he didn't want to leave his puppy with these people.

Serenity's eyes were tearing up more and more with each thing Hunter and this other guy said. Felix was dead. She hadn't even gotten to say a proper goodbye. He'd said he'd try to stay alive, so they could say a real goodbye. Warm tears spilled over as she started crying, bowing her head as she did. She didn't care for the explosions happening in the village. Felix was gone. Really gone. She felt so selfish for being upset like this, when he'd been in as much pain as she'd been in, and because of her no less. But she couldn't help it. She was going to miss him so much. She'd never get to see him again, not ever...

Batsu held steady as he waited for Kana to make a move. Thankfully the blue creature disappeared as Kana passed out. Batsu felt relief wash over himself. He gave a shaky sigh and then dropped to his knees. He felt horrible. So much Madness was running through him that he'd literally gotten a headache because of it. He held his head in his hands as he tried to will the discomfort away. How could he have been stupid enough to consume so much in such a short amount of time. Batsu closed his eyes wrapped his wings around himself, although all his feathers were falling off at a fairly steady pace.

Hunter blinked when Kymin snapped. He then turned to Serenity who was crying. He slowly approached and hugged her. "It's gonna be okay."

(The hell if this is gonna be the end of Batsu.)

Cross was relieved to see the creature had disappeared by the end of the explosions, but he'd gotten hurt by his own. He didn't realize until that point how much blood he was losing. His right leg had been bitten by that thing, as well as his left arm, the skin of which had been practically shredded when he'd kept the demon from pulling him away. And then he had the burns from his own explosion just now, which had pretty much toasted the skin on his shredded arm. On the bright side, that arm had now all but stopped bleeding. He looked tiredly around, blinking when he saw Batsu fall to his knees. The guy had done one hell of a job with taking care of Kana and the Madness inside her, even if it wasn't all gone. Limping over to the red haired male, Cross put his good hand on the other winged being's back. "Stay still," he said quietly, the only indication of his weariness being the tone of his voice. The skin on his hand began turning a darker color as if something black was being pulled into his very veins. His expression changed to one of weariness for a moment and his breathing became slightly heavier, his eyes narrowing. He allowed as much Madness as he could from the being in front of him before he stumbled back a step. His vision blurred. He didn't know how much he'd taken. It could have been half, it could have been three-fourths, or it could have been all of it. All he knew was that it left him feeling more tired than before, now that he had to fight off the Madness raging inside him. His wings flapped restlessly a few times, kicking up dirt and dust in the area, but he found himself too weak to take off. "Are you okay?" he asked Batsu quietly. His turned his gaze briefly to the cause of this all, wondering what they were going to do with her. He had to turn his gaze back to Batsu after a moment. His eyes were flickering, and he was fighting a sweeping exhaustion. He'd felt this weary on a couple of different occasions and it never got easier.

Kymin looked away when Serenity started crying. If she'd really cared for Felix the way she seemed to while crying over his death, she wouldn't have told Batsu where he'd been. He didn't believe her fake tears for a minute. They only pissed him off.

When Hunter hugged her, Serenity turned in his arms to bury herself against him. "H-he said he'd come back to say a final goodbye, a real one," she said. She wasn't ready to lose him. There was no closure in a death like this.

(Awwwwww. So much sadness!)

Batsu was relieved when the pain seemed to ebb away. He looked up at Cross with half dazed grey eyes and nodded when asked if he were okay. "I'm okay," he said with a sigh. "Just tired and burned." He looked at his wings. And battered.... The red haired male slowly rose to his feet, his head spinning. "Thank you." He looked to Cross for a second before he spoke. "Do you want me to go get Alice or take you to her? There's a lady just outside the village that can heal you." Batsu was thankful for Cross, more than the guy would ever know. He looked around slowly. Where was Jasper? Was Kymin healed up and Vishnu alive? How many casualties were there and how many were still infected? Batsu didn't know. He just wanted to go back to the Unknown. The red haired male sighed. He had to help those changed souls. With very little steadiness he took a step forward, then stopped. The Phantom, where was he? He needed to give Jasper that staff. So much responsibilty. It was easier being evil.

Cross swallowed, but nodded when Batsu thanked him, saying he was okay. He still had more to do here. He didn't know why it was so, but he felt the need to absorb whatever Madness he came into contact with, no matter how overwhelming it was for him. Even now his feathers were shedding, just as Batsu's had moments before. Only Cross didn't seem to crumble under the pressure. His face remained blank as ever, his eyes only flickering every now and then. "I'll find her myself," he said, his voice still low. "There's other things I need to take care of..." He looked to Kana. He supposed he could try and take her to the Unknown. Somehow have her sealed there. He didn't know. She had so much more Madness in her, but something was stopping him from approaching her, from taking it from her. So,he just accepted that he wasn't meant to absorb the Madness from her. But for now, there were others too, who needed Madness taken away. He looked to Batsu. He'd half a mind to ask him to watch Kana's body after he got healed, but decided she wasn't likely to go anywhere. "Go get healed. I'll return for her in several minutes." With that, the raven haired man started off with a slight limp to look around the village, and see what remnants of Madness he could find. The first thing he saw, was a white haired being, who seemed perfectly fine. So he ignored it, until the being talked to him. "Is she alive?" Cross was quiet for a few long moments before nodding. "I'm going to take her to the Unknown." He blinked when the other being shook his head. "I will take her," he said simply. Cross looked the Phantom over. He had absolutely no Madness in him. Of course, that didn't mean his intentions couldn't be bad. Several long moments of silence passed between the two before Cross simply moved on.

The Phantom, taking this as a sign of approval, moved on to find Kana, picking her up gently. When he'd found Batsu, wherever the being was at this point, he called his name. "Batsu." He walked up beside the red haired male and handed him the staff, holding Kana with one arm. "Thank you," he nodded, before starting away again.

Batsu looked to Cross as the guy said he'd handle everything else. Batsu nodded slowly and started away. Part of him wanted to draw whatever Madness remained in Kana, but he was far too exhuasted for that. He needed rest and he knew exactly where to go. The Unknown where he belonged. Rubbing his burned feathers he started for Serenity but stopped here and there to remove Madness from those who were infected. He was finishing up with a few kids when the Phantom called his name. He looked up and blinked when the staff was handed to him. "Thank you," he said kindly. He wanted to ask a few questions but the guy was already leaving. Batsu sighed and fluffed his wings, frowning when more feathers shed from the base. Yeah, he needed a break.

Kymin looked at the crying Serenity silently for a few moments before he stood up. He needed to find Batsu and Kana, because he had a feeling everything was over. He just didn't know who had won. He held Vishnu close in his arms. "Thank you for healing him," he said almost coldly. He didn't like this woman, but she'd saved Vishnu, so he wouldn't be openly cold to her. At least not to the extent of which he felt it at. Shaking his head, he started away from the three. The winged creature was still unconscious, but Kymin couldn't say he cared. He felt cold to the world right now. Kana had essentially gone insane, and there was nothing he could do because she hated him and wanted him dead. As afraid as he was of not existing, maybe it would have been better to just let Felix fade then break his own soul orb back at the sanctuary underneath the dojo back home. The black haired male glanced around for any sign of Batsu or Kana or that other guy with the black wings. He wanted to know what had happened.

Batsu had located all the people who had been infected and 'cured' them. Afterwards he found his way to the nearest exit. He had to get back to the Unknown. Just as he was about to exit he spotted Kymin. He turned to the shinobi and tilted his head. "How's the little guy holding up," he asked as he came over and petted Vishnu. "And why didn't you get your arm fixed up?" His grey eyes blinked curiously. He still held the staff in his hand and it was a reminder that he found Jasper. "Have you seen Jasper," he asked.

Kymin kept his head down, his gaze on the sleeping down in his arms as he walked. Vishnu was larger now than he'd been several months before, but he wasn't big enough for Kymin to be unable to carry him when he needed rest. He looked up when he saw Batsu, but couldn't bring himself to smile or grin. "He's fine now...thank you for saving him," he said, looking back to the red haired being. He felt more depressed than ever. He'd lost Kana and he'd nearly lost Vishnu as well. The green eyed male glanced to his arm at Batsu's question. "I don't want to be around that woman any longer than I have to be," he stated simply. He shook his head. "No. Not since Kana started getting out of control earlier."

Upon hearing his name, Jasper walked towards the two. He knew he wasn't nearly as exhausted as the rest of them, but his head was killing him. "Present," he said, holding up a hand. He stopped walking, his eyes a bit wide when he saw what Batsu was holding. "Is...it that..?"

Batsu couldn't lie and say he wasn't happy to see them back together. Their little party had put up one hell of a fight against Kana. Batsu looked between the two of them. "You should really get your arm looked at, you'll be no good to the dog if you bleed out," he said. His grey eyes turned to Jasper and he nodded. "Yes, this is what I promised I'd help you get back." He handed the staff to the other male. Batsu was glad that they'd all managed to make it out alive, but something inside of him said this fight was only the beginning. With Madness spreading like wildfire, it was only a matter of time before things got so out of control that no one could stop it. He sighed. "I have to get back to the Unknown, I've got some things to take care of," he said. He had no idea how the hell he was going to manage stopping Oblivion from turning the souls. He guessed he'd have to move them out of the Unknown once they got themselves a new form, but where could he take them was the question.