Kiri was growing desperate. The magic flying through the air was setting her teeth on edge and making her hair stand on end in a very unpleasant manner. And worse, she was running low on bullets. She had been firing off her shotgun in the general direction of Midas since the battle began, but she could only hope that she was actually hitting. The flashing lights of the spells being cast made accurate aiming nearly impossible. It only got worse when Destiny and the other two joined the fray. The only positive aspect to this all was that none of the spells were aimed at her!
Midas and Black Diamond had to be immensely powerful wizards to still be standing with the sheer amount of magic they were throwing at each other. Then again, a good amount of it seemed to be shields that deflected the other’s spells, but still. All she could do was the prodding spell, and one handy little Water spell that paralyzed the target. If it hit, that is, and if she was succesful casting it. Which were big ifs. She was no wizard, after all. Better stick to her guns for now.
Even that wasn’t going to work for much longer, now. She paused to reload and found to her dismay that she only had six cartridges left. Her mind raced, mentally going over what she had in her bag. There were always her revolvers, but if her shotgun wasn’t doing much damage, the pistols would do even less. She had a smoke bomb or two, but it wasn’t like anyone could see anything anyways.
Then it hit her. At the bottom of her pack were two grenades that she had bought way back in Onsen before she ever took on this job. They had completely slipped her mind, but now would definitely be the time to use them - if ever. She slipped a hand into her pack and felt around until her hand came in contact with the familiar cool, round, ridged metal shape of one of the grenades. Her hand closed around it and she pulled it out quickly. A quick prayer for luck to whatever gods might have been listening, and she yanked the pin out and chucked it as hard as she could towards Midas.
Black Diamond must have noticed it, because she felt the magic that had been holding her in place weaken for a moment. She took the opportunity and bolted, running as hard as she could down the alley away from the battle. Footsteps and a quick glance behind her showed that Tomlyn was doing the same thing. Seconds later, the grenade went off, the shock wave knocking them off their feet.
After the smoke had cleared, Kiri got to her feet shakily and looked back towards the others. Apparently her aim had been off a bit. Midas was still standing, his arm raised and his face streaked with soot, but otherwise unharmed. Black Diamond, on the other hand, had been thrown backwards and was now sitting on the ground holding his arm, which appeared to be bleeding. Kiri muttered a curse but shrugged and continued to flee - so she’d hit the wrong one, but at least she was free. Without her pay, maybe, but alive.
Her cursing changed from a mutter to a shout when she found herself unable to flee. Apparently Black Diamond had regained his senses. Once again she found her limbs moving of their own volition, carrying her all unwilling back towards the battle.
“You will not leave me! I command you to fight! Defend me!” Black Diamond practically screamed, the air growing dark around him. In fact, everything was growing dark. He seemed to be drawing Chaos to him, preparing for some new attack. Kiri pulled out her revolver, but kept it by her side, ready in case things went crazy again.
Black Diamond continued to draw the darkness towards him, but Midas acted before he could. He took his staff, raised it high in the air, then slammed it down on the ground. From the point of impact came a flash of blinding light, so bright Kiri was forced to close her eyes or risk losing her sight. When she could finally open them again, she saw Black Diamond lying prone and all too still on the ground.
Midas sagged to one side, the effort of that last spell apparently having drained him thoroughly. Kida quickly stepped over to help him, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He said something to her, too quiet for Kiri to hear, and Kida began helping him walk forwards towards his fallen foe. Kiri quickly moved forward as well, stopping a few feet away, well within hearing. Midas dropped to his knees next to the other man and laid his hand on Black Diamond’s forehead.
“Matt…” he said quietly. “Matt, it’s time to wake up now. The Chaos is gone, you can come back now.”
Unbelievably, the still form of the man stirred and began to breathe again, color rushing back into his cheeks. After a long moment, he sat up and blinked, looking around with a puzzled expression. There was something different about him, and it took Kiri a moment to realize it - his eyes were no longer black. Now they were blue, a clear, brilliant blue that fit his face much better. Instead of the scowl or smirk he had worn before, his lips now curved into a brilliant smile.
“Midas, you did it!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around the other man.
Kiri stood there in shock, blinking. None of this made sense.
“Wait a minute…” she said. “Weren’t you two just enemies?”
Midas helped Black Diamond to his feet, both of their faces transformed by happiness, as if a great weight had been lifted off both of them.
“Yes, we were,” Midas answered. “Black Diamond was, in fact, my enemy. This is not Black Diamond. This is Matt Fisher, my best friend since we were children.”
Kiri just looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “That makes no sense.”
“Doesn’t it?” Black Diamond - or rather, Matt Fisher - said. “When we were students in Blowin, I made the mistake of delving too deep into Chaos. It took me over, turning me into a slave of the darkness. I became Black Diamond. Midas has spent the past ten years studying Chaos as well, trying to find a way to free me. And you succeeded, didn’t you, old friend?” He clapped Midas on the back, his strength returning almost visibly, moment by moment.
There was an odd, choked sound from behind her, and Kiri turned to see Destiny stifling what was either laughter or sobs, or some cross between the two. She shook her head and left the two men to their happy reunion, along with Kida and Ares, who had come to join them. Tomlyn was helping Renee, who had hidden behind a box during the fight and seemed to be suffering from a slight panic attack. Kiri considered going to check on her, but Tomlyn was handling it just fine. And now Destiny was beckoning to her, an odd look on her face.
“You all right?” Kiri asked once she had reached the ninja.
“Yes, yes… it’s just that everything’s finally coming clear. I mean, we knew about Matt Fisher and Black Diamond…”
“You did?” Kiri interrupted.
“Oh yes, Zadkiel told us.”
“Who’s Zadkiel?”
“Nevermind that. Anyways, we knew about them, but not that they were the same person! It makes so much sense now!”
“Really? ‘Cause I’m still confused.”
“That’s ok. Besides, I… I need your help with something.”
Kiri noticed that Destiny’s expression had changed, grown serious. Where before she had been almost exuberant, barely containing her laughter, now she was almost grim, and was staring with an odd intensity at Kida. At least, Kiri thought it was at Kida, it could have been Ares - they were standing right next to each other, after all.
“You need my help?” Kiri couldn’t help the sarcasm in her voice. After all, they had just been on opposite sides of a massive magical battle. “Oh, this should be interesting.”
Destiny seemed to ignore the snarkiness. “I need to put a hit on my friend over there. I’ll pay you two hundred and fifty gold.” She nodded in the direction of her two companions.
Kiri let out a low whistle at the amount. “You must really want ‘em dead. Which one?”
“Kida, the one you can’t stand.”
Despite herself, Kiri found herself surprised and a bit reluctant. True, she felt a certain amount of animosity towards the blade-loving snob, but not enough to kill her without motivation. And from what she’d managed to pick up, Kida and Destiny were friends - good ones, at that. So she couldn’t help but ask: “Why?”
“I have my reasons,” was Destiny’s only reply.
“Well, I figured that…” Kiri heaved a sigh. Clearly she would get no better explanation than that, and the money was… well, very attractive. Especially when the job involved killing someone she really didn’t like in the first place. “How much time do I have?” she finally asked.
“You have one day.”
Kiri blinked at her in shock. “That’s mighty short notice. I’ll… well, I’ll think about it. What if I don’t finish the job? I still get paid?”
“You get the gold when you complete the job. Don’t complete it, no gold.” Destiny clearly was not budging on this aspect of their growing agreement.
“All right, well… like I said, I’ll think about it.”
“How will I know if you agree?” Destiny asked. Kiri cocked an eyebrow at her.
“If Kida turns up dead within the next day, that will be a pretty good sign, I’d think.”
Destiny seemed about to argue, so Kiri added. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you in the loop, ok?”
“Fine… just don’t go running your mouth and telling her, all right?”
“Pfft. What do you think I am, an amateur?” Kiri laughed. Now that she had the job, her mind had started plotting as usual. This might actually turn out to be fun! The first step was to keep them all together as a group. She knew if she didn’t take action the party would probably fragment back into its individual parts, and it would be rather difficult to kill Kida if she took off with Destiny and their new wizard friend again.
An idea occurred to her, and she pulled Destiny over to the others, who were still gathered around Midas and Black Dia… Matt. A jerk of her head had Tomlyn and Renee joining them as well.
“Hey, well, isn’t this great? Two old friends reunited, and no one dead. This calls for a celebration! I say we hit up the local tavern and get roaring drunk, what do you say?”
Matt grinned and looked at Midas, elbowing him in the ribs. “Sounds good to me, what do you say?”
“Apparently the Chaos has messed with your head. Don’t you remember what happens when we wizards get drunk?” Midas scolded. “We’ve caused enough property damage already with our little spat.” Midas motioned to the alley around them. The walls were cracked and charred - Kiri felt a bit sheepish when she realized a large part of that damage had been caused by her grenade.
“I think we’ll pass,” Midas continued. “But you kids go have fun.”
Before Kiri could object to being referred to as a kid, Matt distracted her by pulling out a generous bag of gold. “Before I forget,” he said. “You carried out your job perfectly, so I believe I owe you this.” He tossed the bag to her and she caught it easily. From the feel of it, there was a good deal more than the two thousand he’d promised her.
Heck, if things kept going this well Kiri would be a rich woman before long! It was almost enough to make her question the job from Destiny - two-fifty wasn’t all that much compared with what she was just paid. But it would be so much fun… While she pondered, she pocketed the gold with a smile and a quick “Thanks!”
“No, thank you, Kiri. Without you, without all of you…” He looked around at all of them. “Midas would never have been able to save you. So I say again, thank you. Words simply cannot express my gratitude.”
There were murmurs of acceptance and assuredness that “Oh, it was nothing,” and “We were glad to,” from all involved. Then, with a good bit of urging from Kiri, they managed to set off in a group - minus Matt and Midas - to the nearby tavern. Destiny shot Kiri a look as they left the alley, which Kiri pointedly ignored. Plans were already taking shape in her mind. The night to come might just prove more interesting than the day that had just passed.
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