Chapter Text
"You still think that door-guy is still a normal person?" Graves asks. The zip-line had been quiet for a moment, allowing both to think on the possible opponents, but Graves had expected Apollo to… say. Anything, really. Especially a snarky 'Well then, they don't seem to be a problem at all hahaha, I'm so cool.'
Yet, he said nothing. All she had was his tense back to stare at. Even after she had spoken, Apollo barely even reacted. She opened her mouth to say something again, yet was interrupted when he said "I did not argue he was normal."
"Yeah, you did." Darcy says. "You said he was fine."
"Well… maybe he still is." Apollo says, looking over his shoulder.
"Apollo." Darcy smirks. "He's in the ritual, dumb-ass. How can he be normal?"
Apollo rolls his eyes. "I suppose… what do you think he's going to do? Take our jackets?"
"Maybe he bought a giant gun," Darcy says, "Just to mow us all down."
"Ha, that wouldn't work. I'd just dance around and cut his throat." Apollo says, tilting his head up as he confidently smiled.
Darcy smiles. There was the Apollo she was used to. "Yeah? You're faster than a bullet, golden boy?"
"With this power flowing through me, surely." Apollo said.
"Pfft, sure." Darcy says. "… What was on your mind earlier?"
Apollo looked ahead. "… Those two, really." He dropped down and pointed ahead at the duo they were facing. Mina twirled her umbrella, scowling as she yelled at Pocket. They were far enough where they couldn't outright hear every word, but the occasional insult told both of them how well she was handling the news of Arin's reappearance. "I can't believe they're alive." Apollo says, scowling more. "I can't believe they came back now, with… a briefcase. For what?"
"Does it really matter?" Darcy says. "We'll probably end up...killing... them at the end of all of this."
"Of course it matters." Apollo says, looking to Darcy. "Their father is very important and great man. It'll hurt relations if I killed his child."
"Ha, Maximilian? Great might be pushing it." Darcy says.
"He's a great man." Apollo insisted. "A very great man."
"Sure. The guy who made helped fund some of the worst weapons of the day. Do you know how many ghosts I spoke to that died from his factories??" Graves says. "It wasn't a small amount, Apollo."
"I…" Apollo purses his lips. He opens his lips to say something, before a bullet whizzes by and clips him. "Ghhaa.." He ducks under cover, clutching his sword arm.
Graves is pulled ahead by the hand right next to him. "Shit, are you okay?!" She looked over the cover, before another bullet fires from Mina's gun. "Godd damn her." She looks down, seeing Apollo craning his neck to examine the injury. She grimaces. It's much harder to stomach an open wound than the marks on the dead. It's an smooth groove. Not deep, not at all, but its… vibrant. Raw, not hard and necrotic like the scars of the dead. Blood slowly drips from it, but even now it slows.
Apollo looks to her. "Well, the patron's magic is healing. Still stings.." He sighed looking over the corner as a few boxes fell and crystal troopers marched on past them. Ahead, Graves and Apollo could see candle troopers march towards them "Lets begin."
Graves nods, and they both exit the cover to start fighting.
With a pull, the Lich drags Graves away from a swipe of Mina's umbrella. Graves had known that she became a vampire after Arin's.. death. Not by any real announcement, that came later, but by the sudden bat fashion and red she donned, and the new fangs she showed off in her fashion magazines. What Graves hadn't known is the sheer physical strength she had suddenly gained. She was catching up to Graves in heels. Had the Lich not been there, and as grumpy as Graves was to admit it, if the training she and Apollo did not happened, she might've died a few times over. Graves aimed the Lich forward, sapping Mina's life away as she twirled backwards. "ARIN. Urgh, can you do something?? Anything? I almost had this brat."
"I'm a little-fuck" Arin, Pocket, raised up their briefcase to intercept a sword swipe from Apollo. "Busy. Mina I'm busy."
Apollo chuckled. "Naturally. You're facing me, Fairfax." Apollo pressed a little harder with his sword, but Arin didn't yield. Whatever they were doing these years had them suddenly incredibly strong. Apollo glanced at the gun Arin was using. Despite needing two fingers to pull the trigger, the gun itself should be dislocating their shoulder every shot. Yet, they were brandishing it one handed, with barely much recoil. Speaking of the gun, Arin was starting to aim it at Apollo, though their hesitation was clear in actually pulling the trigger. Apollo kicked off the brief case into the air, taking a breath as he swiped his sword and little red slashes cut into Arin's back. Now that was new. Graves had seen Apollo in tournaments, but not once had he pulled that out. Nor did he use that in the training against her. He was holding back so much…
Her body rocked back as Mina unloaded a few bullets into her. Graves could feel this impending sense.. of something. Something looming over her neck, as if Mina was about to tear out her throat. The Lich almost certainly felt it too, for Graves was suddenly pulled behind some of the nearby scattered boxes. Graves's voice soon peaked out from behind the boxes. "Apollo, be careful! Mina can.. like.. bite you from afar?! I'm not sure. But be-" She was cut off as Mina spun around, and kicked her in the stomach, her heel piercing her stomach.
"Now how do you know that?? I wanted it to be my little secret." Mina touches her heel with her gun, absorbing the blood into it. "…. Is it that ugly hand? What even is that? Ugh, doesn't matter." Mina raised her gun to Graves.
"Mina, watch out!" Arin yelled out, but far too late as Apollo carved a sigil with his blade and grabbed Graves in one fluid motion. It sent both of them flying back, under a guardian. Apollo pulled them behind a set of a boxes. "Graves, graves. Are you okay??" He touched her stomach, grimacing as a wave of blood flowed out. Too much, far too much for a human to sustain, had they not been blessed by the Archmother.
Graves nodded, pushing herself up with a superhuman will, and a bluish glow. "I'll live. Just.. distract them for a moment, Apollo. I'll go patch myself up."
Apollo looked up to her with worry, before he nodded curtly, as if she told him an order. "Understood. They won't know what hit them." He jumped out over the boxes.
Mina was the closest, lingering around, mumbling to herself how she almost had that brat and if only Arin spoken earlier, or handled his side of the problem alone. She smiled widely when she saw Apollo's figure in the sky. "How is she? Oh please tell me she died." She raised her gun to Apollo. "Hopefully I can get you anyways."
And then he was under her gun arm, a red blur. "Not in your wildest dreams." He stated, stabbing through her heart. Had the Patron not blessed her, she would've been dead then and there. Mina stumbled back, screeching in pain. She swiped with her umbrella again, but once again, Apollo was not there. He floated up in the air, laughing heartily as red energy levitated him in the air. "You were always subpar Mina Ha! Even now, with all you have!" His blade once again pierced right through her chest.
"Fuck you!" Mina fired a bullet. Point blank, it should've hit Apollo. But he had already danced away. "Fuck, how is he doing that??"
She looked left, and he was right. She looked right, and he was gone. She looked up, and he was still gone. Only when she stepped back did she find him, by bumping into his shoulder. She turning around, and stared right into his golden eyes. Large, wide, as it found fresh prey. The blade reared back, aimed at her head. "No match." Apollo remarked, thrusting the sword straight.
Arin however, had not simply watched as Mina was slaughtered. They had rushed over, barely fast enough to push her head to the side with their elbow. The blade only stabbed through the gun arm. The sword ripped through the bones and muscle, cleaving it in half, the flesh and bone hanging as Arin moved their arm to aim the Black Sheep right at Apollo's head. It should not be usable. It could not. Yet, an orange glow emitted from their arm, holding the gun steady at Apollo's face.
This time Arin did not hesitate.
Graves had zipped back just as a an explosive shot rang out, and she could hear Apollo's voice. It didn't have any tone she was used to though. Loud, shrill, but it quickly gargled. When she landed, she could see why. Half of his face was nearly gone. A mess of shattered bone, horn, teeth smashed together as blood poured out. Arin grimaced and looked away. Apollo should've just been dead, but he stood. Woozy, but he stood as a blue enveloped the bits of.. brain.. she could see, and slowly recorrected the smashed mess of the right side of her face. Graves rushed ahead, reaching out with her Mentor and tearing into Mina's back. "Gah!" Mina swatted at Graves, tears streaming down her face. "Get away! Get away! Arin!" Arin looks over just as Graves smashed a jar onto their head, and floating skulls dug and tore at them. Arin backed off batting at the skulls. "No, kill him first!" Mina says, as Graves grabbed Apollo and pulled him closer. She raised her lich in defense.
"I-" Arin grimaced, stepping away from Graves as they batted at the skulls. "Let's just-"
"Useless fucker!" Mina says. She rears a kick and.. and Graves had seen this before. The same kick from earlier. Apollo had tossed a kick at this angle at their training. Straight, clean into her stomach. Before she knew it, her body had already done the thinking her mind could not, and repeated the movements again. Move her own arm to the side, knock the opposing leg aside. Mina was knocked off balance, onto the floor, Graves could attack, but she wasn't sure—
The lich pulled, pulled right forward, rotting the flesh and tearing it off like the skin of an orange to get at what was underneath. Bone turned to dust as that too was stripped away, clawing into the organs below. Graves, after her frenzy subsided, was suddenly staring at Mina's heart held by the lich. She took a breath. It was coated in blood and a thin membrane. Her breath shuddered as she stared down in at Mina. Her face was contorted in a scream. Graves didn't hear it. Or maybe she did, and continued anyways. She could hear.. something, but all of it was muddled down. Her vision narrowed, darkness constricting down until all she could see was rotten dilapidated crater where Mina's chest used to be. Her chest tightened. Her breath quickened. The heart and body glowed orange and vanished, but the blood, oh gods the blood on her face and arms was still there. Running and dripping down into her clothes, sinking deeper into her very soul—
Apollo pulled her back just as Arin's cloak flew past them. She looked up at him, his face still a gorey mess but better and he was clearly conscious now, not the woozy stationary man he was before. She clung to him as he pulled her back towards the shop, sitting down with her. He stutters, coughing out some blood, and took a couple of gasps.
"I—I didn't mean to, really. You were just— you were going to die! I had to defend you, I just. I—" Darcy covered her mouth, before quickly turning to the side and vomiting. Vaguely, she could hear the Archmother praising her for killing the first person in the ritual, which caused her to dry heave more. Apollo patted her back after a moment, his head glowing green. After a struggle, he managed to sputter out. "First.. kill?"
Darcy nodded after a moment, sitting against a wall with her knees to her chest. "I didn't mean to. But she.. she was going to kill you. I— I parried her. Like we practiced and then I just I just, tore into her. Oh gods I'm in over my head. there's blood on my mouth, and, and on my face and—" Apollo gently dapped at her face with a handkerchief, starting with her mouth, which quickly quieted her. Honestly, it was.. nice, for the moment, even if it was absurd. She glanced at him. His face was looking much better, though the right side still looked slightly caved in. He hadn't died. He was still alive. She hadn't killed for nothing. He was safe. She relaxed a bit. "Why'd you bring a handkerchief to here of all places?" She asked.
Apollo rolls his eyes, the best he could. "To burn, clearly. It's to clean, Graves. What else would it be for?"
"...Have…. have you killed anyone, Apollo?" Darcy says, her voice lingering on his name. "I… I could feel it. The energy of death. She was alive and then.. then she wasn't. I absorbed some of that energy.. like.. like when the little candle guys died and.. and.." She exhaled. "…. I'm not sure how to feel about it."
Apollo nodded. "You won't for a while. I've.. well. I've been trained for a while to keep myself safe. It's come in handy." He looks to her, glancing slightly downwards, as the sounds of the candle troopers from the Hidden King get closer. "You'll have all the time after the ritual to process it. For now though.. I'll watch your back. You watch mine. How's that sound, Graves?"
Graves nodded, picking up her mentor and a jar of skulls from her bag. "…. Perfect, golden boy. Just don't get yourself killed." She pointed at the right side of her face, slightly smiling to him.
Apollo scoffed. "I had them, if you waited for a moment." He readjusted his grip on his sword, stepping out.
"Sure. A thank you wouldn't kill you." Graves tossed the skulls out. It was a little amusing, seeing the skulls work in tandem with the crystal troopers of the Archmother. She needed something amusing. They slowly tore into the wax of the candle troopers, though, and that brought a wave of nausea.
Apollo pulled a medical kit off one of them, and it quickly burst into this wave of magic that fully restored his face. "Quite handy!" Apollo touched his face. "I can see from that eye again. And I can see Mina. She's.. alive. Are you sure you killed her?"
Graves hurried over and squinted. And he was right. There, with her red umbrella and a look of unbridled rage, stood Mina Ha. Alive, almost as if nothing had happened to her. "I'm sure.. maybe not.."
A voice boomed. The Archmother spoke to them.
"Until The Hidden King Is Vanquished, They Will Return. If You Perish, You Will Return. Now Is Not The Time For Mercy."
It relived Graves to know that, well. That she hadn't permanently caused the death of someone. She told her mentor she would do whatever it took, but it relived her that, on some level, she hadn't fully crossed that line. However, she thought, Mina Ha would be angry at her. She, after all, just killed her. And with how Mina was raising her gun, Graves knew she should duck behind some cover, and soon did before the bullets whizzed by. She looked up. "How.. how long has it been?"
"…. 5 minutes?" Apollo says. "Give or take one or two."
It was going to be a long ritual. Graves tightened her grip on her mentor.