Chapter 55 - Between Us : Part 1

"I know your power will wear off in three minutes. You should've paid attention to yourself more, demon." The mercenary whispered with a revolver etched on the back of his counterpart's head.

The demon chuckled at the sudden threat. "You think I wouldn't know my own weakness?" He grinned, turning the threat against the human.

"When you use your weakness to fight, it's not a weakness anymore." The anarchist stated, flipping the situation around as the mercenary just realized that the demon's hand was already pointing at his neck, ready to slice him with his long dark fingernails in a mere second.

"Don't shoot." The words sliced into human Kiaran's ears, thralling his mind to obey, freezing his finger that was ready to pull the trigger.

"You tried to attack me just like my plan." The anarchist began, still standing unhurried in his place with his other self pointing a gun that couldn't shoot from behind.

"I'm planning to get rid of you this way." He continued, revealing his plan little by little. "I knew you would come sooner or later to try to take away my Axel from me."

"So when the demons attacked my house, I know it was your plan." He kept going with an unwavering hand against the mercenary's neck that could kill his counterpart at any minute.

"You fall right into my plan, human." He spat belittlingly, forming a venom full of shame toward his words.

"I'm the one who let you have your little play, your so-called world burn. I'm the one who helps you gather all the experimented human trashes to make the 'world burn'." The demon let out a mocking sigh.

"So I can have my Axel." He continued, side-eyeing the boy that was standing beside them with two worried ocean eyes.

"You can't even move an inch when I take him away from you." He scoffed mockingly as he tilted his head up. "And now I'll make sure you'll never move forever."

"You-" The mercenary's breath quivered as he trembled in his place. The gun in his hand was shaking as he stared at the demon.

The breeze flew across them, rustling the trees and making some of the leaves fall, ready to face their death. The birds were already gone, only the moon that accompanied them in the dark of night.

The demon's gaze widened in triumph, a sideway smile adorned with madness glued on his lips, knowing that he had won.

"-you are pathetic." Human Kiaran ended his sentence with an insulting laugh that was mixed with madness in every breath he took.

"It'll be a shame if I knew you'd do that, huh?" He turned the demon's words against him, using it as a shield.

"I knew you came to my house. I knew you came to his school." His blue eyes reflected the moon's light, turning its shine into a weapon of hysteria.

"Enchantments or not, I would let Axel go either way." Scorned the human, still with a gun pointed at the demon's head even though he could not pull the trigger.

"I didn't even try to fight back the day you took him away." He reminded the anarchist with a smirk. "Because you know me so well, didn't you?"

"I will always get what I want, and I will always get what's mine back." The mercenary sang in a melody of possessiveness that lingered around the breeze of wind.

"You won't kill him, but you'll make the same mistake as you did to your dear dead brother." The words carried on with the fallen leaves as one of them stopped at the top of his gun. "You scared him away because you forced him to be something he is not."

"And now you did the same thing to my brother, demon."

The anarchist gritted his teeth. "You scared him away first, human. I'm giving him a home."

The mercenary snickered at the statement. "Oh yes, yes. I did that, of course."

"I scared him away, yes. But a good manipulator doesn't have to use power to make him obey. You just have to make him believe he is born to be a murderer." The statement pierced through the air.

It pierced through the demon.

It pierced right into Axel's heart.

Though the mercenary continued, ignoring how Axel was listening to his words all along. "It's a shame really that you are weaker than me, considering you have power."

"I am a Machiavellian, and you are just a wannabe." The words remained mocking while his mouth never stopped spitting bitterness.

"He'll run back to me because he doesn't have anyone to run to. I never actually hurt him physically." The human pushed the gun even closer, making the demon's head thrash forward.

"Yet you did both. Physically and mentally." He taunted, ignoring how he could die at any second right now. "Though I'm sure you didn't realize that."

The demon's finger started to draw a little blood from human Kiaran's neck as it came closer. "Why would he run back to you if you actually hurt him too, then?"

"Because one," the mercenary challenged the anarchist as he brought his neck closer to the pointed black nails. "You are a stranger to him, not actually a family."

"And two," He paused, causing a moment to spit another word of lingering venom like molten lava. "He knew I actually wouldn't let him die like your dead Axel."

The fingers twitched at the statement as the black nails became sharper. "I'm going to kill you."

"Not if I do it first."

Three minutes had ended, and the mercenary did not linger any second to shoot and jumped back in a swift move.

The anarchist managed to dodge at the last second, causing the bullet to only pierce through the side of his forehead while he tried to slice his counterpart's neck, which quickly dodged back.

The two finally faced each other again, with ice and fire swimming in each other's eyes.

Axel's eyes twitched at the blood that was oozing from his brother's neck. His wavering blue eyes moved to see the blood that was running down from the side of his pseudo brother's forehead.

Axel opened his mouth to stop the two from killing each other. "Wait! Please- don't kill each other! Kiaran- both of you, please stop, you'll only hurt-"

"Axel, shut up!"

The boy froze at the sudden united yell from the two.

The two counterparts were still looking at each other, refusing to tear their gaze away.

"Axel, look at this sad version of myself. He could not even protect you." The mercenary began with a gun pointed at the counterpart unwaveringly.

"No-" The demon raised his voice with veins that started to pop out in his neck. "I protected him. I saved him! I made him better."

"Oh, please, he is nothing without me! I'm letting you to make him better for me, making him a demon, and I'll thank you for that. He is still mine and only mine to use. I'm saving him and protecting him with my plan." Replied the human harshly, completely overridden with a fit of contained anger.

"He is mine since you hurt him." The anarchist spat, reminding how the mercenary hurt the boy too.

"Oh, really?! Look at the mirror and see how you hurt him more than me." Human Kiaran gripped his gun tighter. The messy locks on his face fell and swayed around with the gust of wind.

Demon Kiaran sneered at the sentence. His dark blouse blew around as he spat again. "See, Axel? Your so-called real brother is only using you. I can be your brother without using you."

"Oh, yeah?!" The mercenary chuckled in disbelief as he continued. "Axel, look at this man living in denial by using you to wear off his guilt."

That was the last straw for the demon. He spread his wings wide as he waged them up to the air with two dangerous red eyes. If a look could kill, the mercenary would be dead by now.

"You live in denial too. A denial that you actually care about him, human." Said the flying demon with teeth that were clenched together.

"Sorry, I can't hear you!" The mercenary yelled from below with hands that covered each side of his mouth so that his words reached his counterpart's ears.

"I'm wearing an earplug right now to resist your bullshit!"

The demon's eyes burned at the words. He reached his hand to the mercenary as he flew to him, trying to claw the human. The mercenary easily dodged and tried to shoot at his counterpart, only for the anarchist to shield himself with his wing.

They jumped back together, creating a space between them.

The demon waged his wings again, and the human reloaded his gun. They took a step back, ready to lung into one another again.

But then a sudden increase of wind formed right in front of demon Kiaran, throwing the demon to a nearby tree. His back slammed hard onto it as he quickly fell to the ground with a loud thump.

The mercenary did not have time to react when he was suddenly met with a warning shot right in front of his feet, causing him to freeze at the sudden attack.

The anarchist snapped his head to his left while the blue-eyed version of him turned his head to his right at a fast speed. The sight that they got after looking at the source of the attack caused their eyes to widen with a mix of amusement and shock.

There stood a knight and a lieutenant, looking at them with determined eyes; one was green, and one was red. Each of them was guarded, ready to attack them at any time again.

The wind formed around the two blonds, guarding them against their sworn enemies. The leaves from the trees slowly fell down from the impact of the knight's power. Demon Valerian's ears twitched as he stared down at the two Vergessene counterparts.

"This was not planned.." Both Kiaran said it at the same time.