Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell]

[Lubbock]

"Lubbock... I'm getting a vibe from Red Riding Hood that says you should probably assist him in misdirecting the conversation..." Syura resounded in the assassin's mind, and he stood stock still. And?! What do you expect me to say?! he replied, struggling to find words to use...

And in the end, "Yeah, the uh, dwarves might be wondering where we've gone." was the best answer Lubbock could think of. To his delight, though, it seemed to have diffused the situation somewhat... Or more accurately Gin had already conked out once more before he could even catch a single word that was elicited. Alain was already off, leaving Mami and Lubbock to deal with the drunkard.

"Well, let's just keep it simple and pick him up, a side each, I guess..." Lubbock suggested the obvious with a shrug. "Yeah, and hope you don't pop the poor guy's shoulders out of place." Syura interrupted, and it took all of Lubbock's power to keep from scowling - that would probably look a tad random in Mami's eyes... Then again she had seen the assassin acting crazy on one occasion.

The two finally forced the redhead into their grasp. Reason for having to force him being the boy unconsciously wriggling in his nigh-hungover sleep. Lubbock knew from experience that he wasn't a fan of being hungover; the party after saving Tatsumi from Esdeath (or more do just picking the swordsman up after he executed a near-perfect escapade) had him rather smashed when Night Raid had to defend the base. Fun times.

"Please tell me he's sober." Were the gruff words the three - or more correctly two, as one wasn't really 'there' - were met with. The duo briskly sat the drunkard down and began a conversation over the top of Gin's intoxicated ramblings...

But in due time, the alcohol seemed to have just evaporated into nothing from the redhead's body, as he was back to normal, or as normal as you could possibly get with Gin. The bright side was that he was energetic as ever and raring to go. Lubbock had to give him points for that. The dark side, on the other hand...

"Buuuusteeed..." Syura echoed in a sing-song tone within Lubbock's mind, and he gave a nervous chuckle as he attempted to think of something to cover his ass, but alas nothing came to mind. Instead, he meandered over to the two beasts, poking the dragon gently, snapping his hand back as the Sleeping Beauty was hellbent on taking the assassin's right arm for waking it up.

-----

Lubbock observed Mami's battle plans intently with his one visible eye. It seemed like an alright plan, but complaining would only mean that someone had a better idea, which evidently no one did. Lubbock received his role loud and clear, and responded with a swift salute... But that salute moved the overhanging hair just enough for him to catch a glimpse of a figure in the snow outside the cave.

Lubbock's head turned, and he kept his right eye trained on the silhouette. He needed to tell the group, but Mami was talking and...

"I don't think we're alone." He finally interjected as the figure grew near. Mami began to give a logical response, but Lubbock was already on his way to the exit. His view focused... And what he saw frightened him. No... Please... No... Not her... Not here... She can't be... Lubbock's heart began to pound, his head spinning. How was Esdeath there too?! There was no way... It had to have been some illusion...

But Lubbock took it seriously either way. "We need to get ready. We're going to have a bigger problem on our hands than just a dragon soon." He stated to the presence that approached his side. He looked down at Mami and nodded, the two turning and making their way back into the safety of the cave. Lubbock was about to call over the top of the crowd to shut them up, but that deed was swiftly taken care of by a lengthy blue spear of ice sticking out of one of the dwarves' raised arms. Silence enveloped the crowd, and the scene moved in slow motion...

Until the icicles began to rapid fire into the place of solitude. Spears off ice struck armour and flesh alike, tearing through flesh and leaving freezing pain behind. Lubbock's reaction was to unravel his wires and begin whipping at the icicles, taking out more than a few of them, but they only kept coming. He took a step out to get a better look at the assailant, and Mami rushed past him to investigate. More whips of wire lashed out over Mami's blond curls, striking the icicles heading both towards her and the cavern...

But Esdeath was quick to leave, shooting off as soon as Mami made it out. Lubbock's heart was still racing; she couldn't have been there too! The assassin's fists clenched and unfolded at his sides, his mouth shut as mixed thoughts combated within his mind. Only one thing other than his contemplation he could think of was a word to Mami. "Go make sure everyone's alright." He requested, his gaze still out over the frozen plains.

I guess you could say Lubbock was providing Mami with 'covering wire')

[Alain the Carnedge]

The moment Lubbock had mentioned an intruder, Alain had evacuated under his invisibility, levitating over the snow to leave no footprints and make no noise. Beginning the analysis of his target immediately, he held his hood up and kept an eye on them. The mercenary also tried to watch out for any backup she might have, but while the blizzard had passed, if only for a few moments, it still wasn't easy to see.

The mercenary kept where he was, waiting for an opportunity to strike or for his new friend to leave. They were watching the cave entrance rather intently, but didn't approach. Which meant they were either an enemy, or just wary of who was lurking there. But suddenly, icicles flew through the air at incredible speed, and when there was screaming from the cave, they just came faster. Alain scowled in annoyance and flew a bit higher to see where they'd try to escape to, but by the point he'd got into position, they were already on the move.

Rolling his eyes, he flew after them, but made sure not to descend just yet. He was thankful that he couldn't really feel the cold, otherwise this would probably be a lot harder. He took a moment to take in the information from the analysis. Alain had a few advantages; more abilities, better weapon variety, more skilled, faster, but she was stronger and was more durable. Also, she had ranged attacks, but dodging them hopefully wouldn't be too hard.

Alain went in with a rapier and a parrying dagger, just to make sure he had a slight advantage weapon-wise, and descended, going straight for his target. Landing and aiming for their back, but not anything vital as he'd prefer taking the woman alive instead of just decapitating her, he stabbed, invisibility fading for a second. The rapier pierced Esdeath's flesh, but just barely. She gasped in pain and he took a step back, pulling the blade out as he did so.

Esdeath turned around, not too happy with the sudden attack, and Alain went for a second lunge. She sidestepped it and tried to retaliate with a stab of her own, but the mercenary trapped her blade with the dagger in his right hand, kicking snow in her face and taking a few more steps back as he caught his breath. Icicles flew through the air and the mercenary took to the skies, gaining a burst of speed to get out of her sight for a moment. He didn't know when the invisibility went off, but it had. He went into stealth and descended slowly, making the most of the short break.

Esdeath was slowly moving away from where her opponent had taken flight, watching out for an attack from above. A green-skinned "person" approached her in the blizzard. Looked to be a troll. A scout, or reinforcements, perhaps. The rapier and dagger disappeared, reappearing as his usual blade as he descended once more, this time aiming for the troll's head.

While they were wearing a helmet and trolls were incredibly resilient, the troll wasn't prepared for a sword nearly as large as he was tall going straight through the back of his skull. The mercenary reappeared for a few seconds, realizing he failed to take into account that maybe getting the blade out would be a problem. The problem became ever more evident when he had to dive out of the way of a giant horn of ice appearing from the ground, which impaled the troll's corpse and took it off into the distance. He could vaguely see something crimson falling into the snow, likely a broken part of his sword, but now wasn't the time to investigate.

The mercenary ran, weaponless, gaining a burst of speed and delivering an uppercut to his foe's jaw when they looked like they themselves were starting to move. He could hear his knuckles breaking for that one, but the lack of feeling made it a minor concern. Esdeath staggered and he advanced, but he saw the blade moving and instinctively moved his arm to block it, the rapier piercing his arm far easier than it rightfully should have.

Trying to ignore the blood, Alain kicked his opponent in the knee and followed up with an elbow to the forehead, knocking Esdeath to the ground. The mercenary took the opportunity to start transforming, his hands starting to change into hellish claws, but stopped. He could hear voices, and the marching of multiple people, sounded like they were wearing armour. Alain knew his luck, and immediately assumed it was more trolls rather than dwarves. He thought he might be able to kill his foe, but doing that would undo a significant amount of the work he did to take them alive, death was just an inconvenience for who he assumed was a Prime, and whether or not he'd survive the trolls was a different question entirely.

Rolling his eyes, he started to take flight again, only barely levitating quickly enough to evade another frozen horn heading his way. He caught the sight of the armoured humanoids, though unable to get much more detail than that due to the distance. "We're done here. At least for now." Alain rasped before taking off again, gaining multiple bursts of speed just to make sure that any projectiles fired would be more likely to miss.

The mercenary dropped to the ground at the first opportunity to catch his breath and evaluate the situation, and realized a few more icicles had hit than he'd originally thought, though by sheer chance they hadn't hit anything vital. Or he didn't think so, the lack of pain made it hard to tell whether or not he was dying. Sighing in a way that made it seem he was a lot less injured than he was, Alain faded from sight and started to summon some medical supplies before heading back to the cave.

[Gin Yatreg]

Future reference for this post, *** = a time skip while ~~~ = a scene change.

"Dammit, what the hell was that?!" Gin exclaimed as he pushed aside an extremely large ice spike.

"Is everyone alright?!" Mami yelled, running back into the cave.

"Nay! We have wounded here!" a dwarven voice called out in response.

Mami quickly ran over to help, motioning for Gin to follow and assist. The two pushed away a large chunk of ice and found a dwarf with his leg impaled. Mami quickly bent down and went to work bandaging the dwarf, meanwhile Gin set off to help those trapped under ice. Soon the wounded were placed on their back in a line a bit deeper into the cave, hopefully where they would stay safe for the moment. Gin did a quick head count of those still standing, it was not very many. At most, only three dwarves were still battle ready, and as for his team of primes- hey, wait a minute.

"Where the hell is Alain?" Gin asked, confused.

Mami looked up and looked around, " Huh, that's odd. He was here just before the attack hit." she said, "If he left, Lubbock would've seen it right?"

"He would have, yeah. I'll go ask." Gin said. He got up and carefully moved towards the cave entrance, wary of more ice spikes getting shot through again. As he rounded the corner he saw his green hared friend lying prone and looking through a pair of binoculars. "Lubbock! Have you seen Alain?" Gin asked.

Lubbock, without looking up from the binoculars, pointed out in the distance. "Yeah, he just got into a fight with our worst nightmare."

"Our wha?" Gin ask confused.

"General Esdeath. She's from my world, and right now I wish it were anyone else. Hell I'd settle for Ogre right now." Lubbock said.

"Not sure who that is, but this Esdeath lady sounds pretty strong. So how do we beat her?" Gin asked

"I'll tell you when that actually becomes possible." Lubbock said, rather dryly.

"Considering our circumstances, I'd say impossible doesn't exist anymore, don't ya think?" Gin said, looking our over the horizon, trying to spot any movement.

Lubbock made a small grin, "Heh, true enough I guess." he says as he stands back up. "How's the gang back inside?"

"Only three of the dwarves can still fight, the rest are further back in the cave resting."

"Alright. As soon as Alain gets back we'll probably only have a little while before Esdeath returns with back up.", Lubbock cracks his knuckles. "So let's prepare something for our esteemed guests."

"This outta be good." Syura echoed in Lubbock's head.

"Ah shaddap" Lubbock thought.

***

Alain arrived back at the cave to find the remaining primes and dwarves hard at work. He soon made his presence known to his allies, who rushed him inside so they could help him out with his wounds. While he had already summoned a medical kit, there were places he couldn't reach. While getting patched up, Lubbock took the time to explain to Alain their plan for Esdeath.

To make sure they aren't bombarded by ice again, Mami and Gin will combine their efforts and summon a defensive wall in front of the cave entrance and two near the base of the mountain. After that, Lubbock and Alain will set up some traps around the area to take care of whoever Esdeath brings with her. The dwarves will take care of whoever survives. Once the battle begins, Gin, Lub, and Mami will distract Esdeath while Alain sneaks in for the kill. Easy, right?

***

The wait for battle to come felt like days as the minutes ticked by ever so slowly. Nobody spoke a word, at least not to anyone else. Everyone seemed to be on edge, knowing the odds would be stacked against them.

"Here they come." Gin said, peeking around the new entrance wall.

The rest of the group quietly got up and prepared for war. Lubbock quickly moved to the other end of the wall and prepped Cross Tail, Mami took Gin's spot and summoned a musket, the rest stuck near the middle of the wall waiting for the signal.

Esdeath came to a halt and observed the new additions to the mountain in front of her, it seems the occupants have been busy since her last visit. If a member of Night Raid was here, chances are they've most likely set up traps for defense. "You there." she said, pointing to a random troll, "Scout the area ahead."

The troll hesitated, but realizing whatever happened to it would be better than dealing with Esdeath should he refuse the order. It ran ahead with little caution, making it to the base of the mountain with no effort. It turned and waved at its allies before taking a bullet to the head. Esdeath looked around for the source of the shot and spotted a pair of blonde curls moving behind a wall placed in front of the cave entrance. However there seemed to be no traps on the path the troll took, which eased her worries. She then gave the order to charge.

"Steady...steady..." Lubbock said, waiting for the trolls to get closer. "NOW!" he shouted, using Cross Tail to cut a far away wire, dropping the pitfalls on both sides of the frozen field. The first wave of trolls fell to their doom, forcing those following behind to take the center pathway.

As the second wave breached the guard walls at the base of the mountain, Mami shot another bullet at a conspicuously placed red box. Once the bullet hit, a chain reaction was put into motion. A line of explosions blew away the wave of trolls, leaving nothing but ash behind. Leaving only one more wave of trolls to deal with.

"That's it! Let's go!" Lubbock yelled.

The group of seven charged down the mountain, meeting the trolls and Esdeath head on at the foot of it all. The four primes went straight for Esdeath, while the three remaining dwarves, led by Urist, took on what remained of the trolls.

***

Gin, Lubbock and Mami stood in front of Esdeath, prepared for battle against the cold witch. However the woman seemed to be unphased by the odds against her. "Quite the coincidence that we're on opposing sides once more, don't you agree, Lubbock of Night Raid?" Esdeath said in a calm voice. "Of course I certainly wasn't expecting to have to deal with Night Raid ever again."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Lubbock asked in a serious tone.

Esdeath chuckled, "It's exactly as it sounds! I thought I had taken care of Night Raid and wouldn't have to deal with that distraction ever again. Yet here we are." she said.

"Bullshit. There's no way in hell you could've taken all of us down! Especially Akame!" Lubbock yelled.

"Are you so sure about that? You think you could doubt the only source of information about our world. I'm sure you're curious about what's happened since you came to this place. I know little Tatsumi missed you dearly" she sneered.

Anger flashed in Lubbock's eyes, "I've had enough of this!" he shouts before throwing a trick knife at the evil woman in front of him.

Esdeath sidesteps out of the way, dodging the knife. "Hmph, you'll have to use something better than an assassination tool if you wish to fight me. And especially if you wish to survive against my new pet!" She yells before snapping her fingers. A roar sounds, and from over the horizon comes a dragon being ridden by a troll.

"Shit! She has a dragon!" Gin shouts.

"Stick to the plan! We'll deal with that after her!" Mami shouts back.

Just as Mami says that, an invisible force hits Esdeath and knocks her backwards. Alain rematerializes and yells to his comrades, "NOW!".

Gin and Lubbock move first, rushing past Alain, and move to hit Esdeath with a Shield Fist and a Wire Whip respectively. Esdeath rolls out of the way and quickly gets to her feet. Mami raises a musket and puts Esdeath right in the center of her sights, then pulling the trigger.

At that moment however, the dragon finally lands. Right between Alain and Mami, and Gin, Lubbock, and Esdeath. Splitting the group in half, as well as taking the bullet meant for Esdeath. The creature flinches in pain and charges at Mami, spraying a blast of fire from it's mouth. A sudden glow came from Mami's soul gem, filling her with power, and allowing her to jump out of the way of the oncoming blast.

"Come on, it's gotta have a weak point somewhere." Alain thought as he used Insight on the foul creature. Mami soon arrived next to him, her soul gem still glowing incredibly bright.

"We need to use our original plan on this thing. It's our only shot." Mami said.

"We had more people in that plan." Alain said.

"We haven't much choice, no?"

She was right, Alain thought. There was no way the dragon would let them pass to help Gin and Lubbock, and the blue haired woman wasn't going to give them the chance to come help Alain and Mami. The dragon turned to face them and took a deep breath, about to blow another blast at them. "Hang onto me and get ready to use your ribbons." Alain said.

"What?" Mami asked.

"I'm altering the plan! Now hang on!" Alain shouted as he grabbed Mami and super jumped just as the dragon shot its flames. "Now! Use your ribbons and then shoot it!"

Mami quickly understood what Alain was thinking and summoned her ribbons, sending them towards the dragon. The ribbons ensnared it, surrounding the lower neck and wrapping the base of its wings together. As the dragon reeled back, and throwing its rider off balance, a large percussion-lock rifle appeared in Mami's arms.

One.

Mami takes aim.

Two.

Gravity takes hold as the two begin their decent to the ground, with Mami keeping the shot lined up.

Three.

The rifle fires, shooting two large cannonballs straight for the dragon. Mami quickly desummons the ribbons, just before the cannonballs hit and cause a huge explosion of smoke and steam from the melted snow. Mami desummons Tiro as her and Alain land on the ground.

~~~

"Weisschnabel!" Esdeath shouts before shooting a barrage of icicles at Gin and Lubbock.

However the two boys are ready for this, and combine their shields, Lubbock using his Steel Cocoon as the inside layer while Gin uses his Bubble Shield as the outer layer. The barrage collides with their defense, with Lubbocks cocoon catching the icicles that Gin's shield couldn't block before dissipating. Lubbock tears down the steel cocoon and the two boys rush Esdeath, Lubbock using his Cross Tail to subdue her while Gin follows up with multiple Shield kicks and punches. Lubbock recalls Cross Tail, cutting Esdeath's skin as it unravels from her arms and legs.

"I dunno what you were so scared for, Lubbock. This has been pretty easy so far." Gin said.

"Don't get cocky yet, she's still alive." Lubbock said, not taking his eyes off his target.

Gin looked back at Esdeath, and saw a giant pillar of ice forming above her head. "Oh." he said.

"HAGELSPRUNG" she shouts, moving her arms in a throwing motion. The giant ice ball flew straight towards the duo, forcing them to flee.

"You didn't tell me she could do THAT!" Gin shouted as he ran.

"Don't worry, all we have to do it outrun it and we should be fine!." Lubbock yelled back. However, as if on cue, as the ice pillar landed it began to roll at high speeds. "Okay, new plan! You got those platform things right?" Lubbock yelled, starting to run faster.

"Yeah, what about 'em?!" Gin yelled

"Just summon a couple and I'll take care of the rest!" Lubbock said

Gin spun around and placed two maneuver platforms vertically in the air, unsure of what Lubbock planned to do. "Okay, they're ready!"

"Awesome.", Lubbock thought. He stopped and turned to look at the rolling ice ball of doom and used Cross Tail to create a net of wires inbetween the two floating platforms. "Gin, get back!" he yelled, to which Gin happily obliged. The ice ball hit the net, its momentum stating to fade. However the platforms wouldn't last for long, as Lubbock could already see by the cracks beginning to form on them. But all he needed was a few seconds anyway. He weaves together a large axe out of his remaining wire. Twirling it in the air, he began counting down in his head. Just then, the platforms shatter, releasing the still spinning ball of ice. As it enters Lubbock's range, he brings the axe down, splitting the object in half.

"Damn, that was too close." Gin said, walking up next to Lubbock. "Nice thinking back there."

"Thanks, though to be honest I didn't think it would work." Lubbock said.

"I think that's something you outta keep to yourself, dude." Gin said, unnerved by that remark. "Hm?" Gin saw something out the corner of his eye, sidestepping just in time to have a rapier scrape him across the arm.

"Gin!" Lubbock yelled as he watched his friend get injured. Lub rewound Cross Tail and whips it towards Esdeath, cutting her across the face. She jumps back, putting space between them.

"Okay, this might be harder than I thought." Gin said.

~~~

"GYAHAHAHAAA, TASTE THE STEEL O' ME AXE YE FOUL COLORED SONS OF HARPIES." Urist yelled at the top of his lungs and his axe split a troll's head in two. "FIGHT TILL YE LAST BREATH MEN! SHOW THESE UGLY BAIRN STEALIN' SPINELESS BASTITCHES WHAT A DWARF IS CAPABLE OF! FOR DWARFHOLM! FOR HONOR! FOR AAAAAALE!"

His two fellow dwarves shouted in unison and charged, screaming their battle cries as their weapons met troll flesh.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD DWARF"

"I'M DRUNK"

"I TOLD YOU TO CHANGE THAT YA DAMN FOOL"

"AH PUT AH SOCK INNIT AND KILL SOME TROLLS"

~~~

The dragon roared from within the cloud of smoke and steam, and a figure came walking out. The dragon, now missing a rider, seemed to be no worse for wear aside from missing clumps of scales all around its body. "Perfect." Alain said, spotting some vital spots now open to attack thanks to the missing scales.

Mami seemed to have the same idea, "I'll bind it once more, and you cut one of its wings off in its weak point." she said.

"No problem." Alain said, drawing Sresveltr's Odachi form from its sheath.

Just like before, Mami used her Ribbons to entangle the beast, allowing Alain a chance to get close and attack. This time however, the dragon began to claw at the ribbon, forming a tear in it. Pain began to spread through Mami's body, but she remained steady so Alain can finish his job.

Alain finally closed the distance between him and the dragon. Sensing his presence, the dragon swung its tail at Alain, hoping it could stall him long enough to tear the ribbon from its neck. This backfired for the dragon however, for Alain grabbed onto its tail and used it to get up on the Dragon's back. In one swift moment, his sword had cut through the base of the dragon's wings. The creature howled in pain from losing its limbs. Alain quickly jumped away as the ribbons fell free from the stumps they were now attached to, allowing the dragon to move its head around and try to take a bite out of the crimson man.

Mami quickly dematerialized the ribbons before they were damaged anymore, and in turn cause her more pain. She then summoned multiple muskets and began firing on the now permanently grounded dragon, taking time to aim at the exposed skin.

The creature howled, it was tired of this fight, it wanted all of this to end. It had been forced into servitude and now it had lost its wings, something the creature took great pride in. The beast roared in anger, and glared at Mami. It was that human that had given the other the chance to take its pride. The dragons rage grew, it wanted revenge, it wanted to rip this human apart.

And the dragon charged.

"Shit, it's going for Mami!" Alain thought. "MAMI! MOVE!" He shouted, chasing after the dragon.

Mami nodded, but as she started to move, her soul gem began to dim. Her power up had been exhausted. Her movements became slower, she wouldn't be able to dodge the dragon like this.

"DAMMIT!" Alain shouted. "I need more speed, NOW!" he thought. Alain's form began to shift, hellish claws replaced his hands, and his overall appearance became that of nightmares. His sword Sresveltr transformed as well, transition from the Odachi into that of a Katana. His speed increased, and he finally caught up with the Dragon. He swung at the dragons neck multiple times, until finally he cut it off.

~~~

The ellipsodial shields around Gin's fists turned a dark purple, he had an idea. "Lubbock, do you think you can keep that sword of hers away from me until I can get a good hit in?" he asked.

"No sweat." Lubbock responded. Using Cross Tail, Lubbock weaves a sword made from its wires. "Ready?"

Gin nodded, and the two boys charged. Esdeath swung her rapier only to be blocked by Lubbock's newly formed blade. Giving Gin an opening to hit her straight in the gut. Esdeath prepared for the worst, however she felt nothing from the punch. She broke her rapier's contact with Lubbock's thread sword and made another attempt at striking Gin down. Lubbock parries the swing, allowing him and Gin to back away.

"Gin, what the hell was that?" Lubbock whispered to him.

"Something I've been saving for the right time, I think I'll call it the Poison Fist." Gin whispered back.

"How long until it takes effect?" Lubbock asked

"Uhh...I actually have no idea." Gin said innocently.

Lubbock felt like smacking Gin right now, but he decided to wait until after they got out of this mess.

"Enough!" Eseath shouted. With a wave of her hand, more icicles appeared in the air, albeit not as many as before.

Knowing what was coming, Gin and Lubbock begin to create their dual layered shield.

"Mahapadma." Esdeath says under her breath. Time around her stops, even the forming of the boys shield comes to a halt. "I only have five seconds." she thinks as she runs straight for them, rapier drawn. She stops right in front of the half complete shield and thrusts her weapon forward. "This is the end of Night Raid." she says.

~~~

Alain's form returned to normal after cutting the dragon's head off. Working through the fatigue using the form gave him, he made his way to the front of the dragon. "Are you alright Mami?" he asked.

No answer.

"Mami?" he called out.

Still nothing.

As he neared the front of the dragon, he saw a large pool of blood, and a still body. He sat down in the snow, worn out. "Shit."

~~~

Esdeath seemed to teleport before Gin's very eyes, before he even realized it, she was directly in front of their shield with her rapier sticking straight through. "Wait...what?" he stuttered, confused. It was then that he realized Lubbock's Steel Cocoon had stopped forming. Esdeath smiled and pulled her rapier away, it was soaked in blood. He heard a thump behind him, and slowly turned around. "Lubb...ock?" he said.

Lubbock coughed, he could hardly breathe. Everything was starting to lose it color, the world was getting darker. "D..Damn... looks like I'm out." he managed to say. He turned his head to look at Gin, "Guess I'll be going now, later...Gin..." Lubbock managed to get out. It was a strange thing, dying. His eyelids felt heavy. For a split second, he thought he saw someone else standing behind Gin. Someone he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Come on Lubbock, stop kidding around. Lubbock! LUBBOCK!" Gin yelled. Gin thought back to his old life, how the monsters that took over his station killed friends of his right in front of his eyes. After they had sealed off the infected half, he promised himself he wouldn't see that again. But he failed. It happened again and there was nothing he could do. Nothing. Nothing. NOTHING. NOTHING. NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL.

Something inside Gin snapped.

"You'll be joining him next." Esdeath said as she raises her Rapier once more to end it. She swung, and hit Gin dead on. Something was wrong though, the blade didn't even break skin.

Gin reached up and grabbed the rapier by the blade, claws seemed to have formed over his fingers and spikes now protruded from his forearms. He pulls it out of Esdeath's hand and tosses it aside. He stand up and turns around and looks at her with solid yellow eyes. Without even saying a word, his shield fist ignites. "I'm not gonna die today." he says before delivering a swift punch straight to Esdeath's face.

Esdeath is shot backwards through the air, smacking into the ground 15 feet away. Before she can register what just happened, Gin closes the distance and begins to pummel Esdeath.

It was obvious the boy had lost control over his emotions, Esdeath had only one chance to get away from this. Luckily, the boy was so lost in his rage that he failed to notice the giant icespike forming nearby. Esdeath then felt a wave of nausea sweep through her, something was wrong with her senses. She had to hurry and get out of there. "Grauhorn!" she shouts. The giant ice spike slams into Gin, sending him barreling into the mountain side. Esdeath wasn't sure if it was a direct hit or not, whatever was messing with her head surely screwed up her aim. But she didn't want to stick around to find out. As much as she hated it, she had to fall back for now. She got to her feet and started making her way back to Zul’gurand to get healed.

Meanwhile the ice spike, while not hitting him directly, still pulled Gin along for the ride. And as it struck the mountain side, Gin's head hit rock. The exoskeleton his powered up form had given him took most of the force, but it was still enough to knock Gin unconscious.

***

Gin opened his eyes, he seemed to be staring at the cave ceiling. He sat up and looked around the chamber, he spotted Alain in the corner staring at a device in his hand. "What happened?" Gin asked.

Alain looked up, "Huh, I thought you'd be out longer than that." he said as he put the device away. "We won, the dragon's dead, and the dwarves are taking their wounded back to their home."

"Where's Mami and Lub..." he stopped himself, remembering what happened to Lubbock.

"Both of them died. But they'll be back." Alain said.

Gin looked at Alain in shock, "What?!"

"They were primes, and after a prime dies they come back in the nexus after a few days."

"WHAT?!" Gin shouted

"What?" Alain asked, confused.

"I'M GONNA KILL THAT ASSHOLE FOR MAKING ME THINK HE WAS GONE FOR GOOD!" Gin yelled as he jumped to his feet. "Come on tonic!" He called for his faithful avian steed. The Chocobo looked up from its nap and ran over to Gin. Gin quickly got on and rode out of the cave.

"Hey wait up!" Alain yelled as he ran out after him. Alain summoned a motorcycle as fast as he could and drove off after the hyperactive red head.

As Gin rode towards the gate, he couldn't help but feel relieved and happy.

I hope I got everyone's character right! Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna rest my fingers from typing so much. *slumps over*