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Hunted – Part 8

(The Crossing)

"What reason?" Line heard himself asking the green-haired specter before him. He still had no idea what was going on, even reaching out to see if Marley was real, his hand pulling back when he felt the partially solid shape. This ghost, of a man he had shot, felt like his hand had broken through the thin layer of ice in a puddle; a little resistance at the surface, but it gave way to cold emptiness. The action, seemed to cause Marley to laugh, as if he was tickled, and draw away.

  Once he composed himself again, he locked eyes with the striped man before him. "You're here to help save John; he's more troubled than you think he is." Marley spoke, a saddened tone falling from his lips.

"Why would you ask me to save the man who killed me?" Line asked, confused at the odd request. "I know I killed you, but yet you ask me to save 'him'?"

"Yes you did, but you also did the right thing when you did that." Marley said, sweeping his arm out. Under his arm, a distortion took place to form what appeared to be a mirror. From within the ghostly reflection, images from The Hunter flickered.

Line watched the flickers, recalling how some of them had shown themselves before when he was unconscious from John's assaults. He tried hard to fully understand what was being shown to him, as Marley's image showed on the screen. This time it showed him standing before John's stasis pod, only this time he was human again. Blood leaked from his head wound as he rested his hand on the cold glass.

  "From the time things went wrong, a long time had passed. It took a long time before anyone found the ship. Yes, I went about the ship and killed the crew, but I wasn't myself. Neither is John, he too was…infected." As Marley explained, Line's eyes watched the brief flickers of the crew and how they died. He saw Rina impaled on the cooling pipe, followed by the death of Dr. Hubbard by the alien-Marley's arm taking her head clean off to prevent the scream she would have gave at the horrid sight before her.

  Line had to turn away as he saw Dr. Wayne get slashed across the back with a deep gouge, followed by the visualization of his leg being ripped off and beaten with. He even saw the Dr. Richard as he sent a desperate plea over the communication system, before glass broke around him as the creature broke through, the spike on his arm piercing him through the ribs before tossing him. Once the carnage had been revealed, it was once more the image of Marley before the stasis.

  "Months had passed before you arrived, but by then things were not any better. Before Rina was killed, she injected us with something…something that was found on Neon-7." Marley spoke softly, as if the memory still caused pain to his astral form. "A parasite, one not officially recorded by Command. We were suppose to be searching for a planet for people to live on, but it turned out that an alternate means were bringing us there. We should have thought about it more, the lucrative amount we were getting paid for just to run samples on a planet."

"How could a parasite do all that?" Line asked, sick from the bloodshed he had just seen. "I don't understand it at all."

"There are lots about space that we don't know of. The parasites, they're actually more of a race than anything else. They're small, but they have the ability to not only cause a physical change in whatever their host is and they can even control it, but they control the change through their hosts. Think of them as a cerebral puppet master, they get inside…inside your head and they attach to your brainstem. As a species with a higher intellect, more could be done with us. They're able to communicate with each other, through their host's mind, like telepathy. Its how I've been trying to get help."

  "But if that's the case, why didn't you just turn into that…'thing' and kill not only me, but my crew as well?" Line asked all this information hard to digest. He never heard of an alien race that could use people as puppets and then change them into something else.

"Because I couldn't." Marley said, dropping his arm and the images disappeared. "Rina hit me on the head with a fire extinguisher. Normally that would have killed me, but when it hit me it only damaged me. I felt 'it' inside my head, I could feel the wound it was caused by the impact. I could feel its rage, that's when I blacked out and the slaughter began. I remember it because after I awoke, it kept showing me what happened." Marley stopped, holding his head in his hand as if to block out his own memories. "Do you know what it was like, to be awake for months on end? To be starving and unable to sleep because you close your eyes and you see their faces?"

  Line reached out to hold Marley's soft structure, as if to comfort him. But yet he listened to what was being said.

"The worst part was, I could hear John…not physically, but mentally. I heard him call out to me even though he was in stasis. All I could do was sit there, staring at his sleeping form while I heard whispers in my mind; it was like the parasites were trying to communicate."

  Line could only stand there in silence, trying to wrap his mind around what was being told. All this stuff of parasites that were telepathic and not only able to control a host, but change it, was starting to hurt his head.

  Marley paused, watching Line as he stood there. "Look, I don't know if you understand what I've been saying, but the jest of it is this: you need help John break free of the parasite's hold, he will never be the same with that thing inside him." Marley's face held desperation, as if this could be the only way to save his Captain. "Please, Line. I forgave you when you shot me, now you can help me by doing this."

Line's eyes widened, as he recalled that fateful day when he was stabbed and he shot the man before him. As Line laid there bleeding, about to be carried out by his crew mates, he could remember a whisper seeming to escape Marley's body, one that seemed to say 'Thank you.' It was strange for him to hear such words from a seemingly dead guy, thought to be a hallucination from the blood loss he was suffering from. Line opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Marley's quick advancement that placed him right in front of the taller Moinii.

  "Line PLEASE!" He said, his voice shaking as what could only be tears poured down his face. "The man I love is hurting others, against his will. He really is a sweet man who cares for others. I can't lose him again, so please, I'm begging you," Marley paused, dropping to his knees in the ultimate sign of mercy, "Please save John, save the one thing that brought light into my darkened world." His words showed the love that he had shared with his Captain.

Line stood there, clearly in shock as to the sight before him. Never before had someone begged for something like this, he could see that what remained of Marley had searched for a means to end all this long after his death. For a moment, his mind drifted to Alessandro, his red and blue eyed vampire-insector lover who treasured their bond. The one who held him in his sleep and nursed his wounds, who made sure there was food for him to eat and who shared more than enough of the beautiful space with him. He knew that if something happened to him, Alessandro would stop at nothing to help him. Now it seemed right that he could do this for the love that someone had shared with another, a love that reminded him so much of his own love.

   "Alright, Marley. I don't know how, but I'll help you the best I can." Line said, reaching a hand down to assist the kneeling man to his feet, for the first time Marley's hand felt as solid and as warm as if he were a living being.

"You need to sever the connection the parasite has with him. When I got hit by Rina, it caused the one in me to become injured; it was only able to have a partial hold on me." Marley explained once he stood up. "When you manage to break the hold, he needs to remember, remember anything that could bring him to his senses. Here take this; it might be what you need to show him the light again."

  Line watched as Marley held out his hand. There, as if it has suddenly materialized in his hand, was a brooch. Shaped like a three petal flower with colorful petals that traveled in to a set of three gold rods that represented where nectar would be collected. A silver pin rested on the back for it to be clasped to its rightful place above the heart of its owner. The whole brooch, beaming its beauty against the contrast of Marley's light skin color, was now being presented as if it were the ultimate weapon. Line felt the cool metal against his skin as Marley handed it to him.

  " 'Three petals; one for the past, one for the present, and one for the future'," Marley spoke as if that phrase was the key to unlocking everything. Looking up, Marley then leaned in close to Line. "Now, go and save John. I promise things will improve if you can get to him in time.

Line's eyes widened as he felt Marley lift himself onto his toes to reach higher on the tall man before him. He felt warmth surge through his body as he felt Marley's lips meet his in a tender kiss. As Marley drew back, he seemed to blow on Line's face. This, in turn, set his head whirling as the white nothingness suddenly disappeared below him, as if Marley's actions had literally blown him away. He could see darkness enveloping him once more, only he wasn't afraid this time and he let the dark cloud his sight and his mind. He felt the warmth from earlier fade as a new cold settled in, and his eyes drifted closed.

  Line felt like his body was floating downwards, as if he was a leaf drifting on a gentle breeze to the ground. He felt his legs press against something, then it seemed as if his body was being guided into a laying posture, his head coming to rest after his body had already lain down. Now he felt as if his soul had returned to its rightful place. Now, Line found his eyes opening, greeted by a wave of renewed pain that let him know he was alive. Now, his eyes adjusted to the dim light around him, his ears picking up the sounds of a struggle. Line found his eyes traveling to his closed hand and upon opening his fingers, found that he held in his hand the brooch that Marley gave him. A soft smile formed on his lips, before he struggled to lift himself into a sitting position, his body still weak from the torment before. But as his hand enclosed the brooch, he felt strength returning to him, as if Marley was giving him a helping hand from the other side. Soon, Line's eyes spied a familiar device lying on the ground not far from him, and he started dragging himself towards it, his battered body leaving a crimson streak following his path along the dirty floor. Upon reaching it, Line noted that there was one round left, and that he would have to make his shot count. Now, as his eyes traveled to the glowing hallway to see two shadows dancing along the walls, Line's gaze narrowed as he mustered whatever strength was left in his body and he started to crawl towards his greatest battle yet.

  (Nearby)

Alessandro cried out as he felt his back smash into something hot, his clothes barely stopping the heat from burning him as he pulled himself away. He reached back, feeling the lingering heat that would have burned a normal person easily. Soon, his eyes locked on his opponent.

  John stood nearby, his body battered and bruised just as much as Alessandro. Clearly their fight had been equal, both causing damage to each other during their battle. His shirt was torn in places from Alessandro's claws as they tried to disembowel the man before him. Already John's body had changed, his skin already seeming to take on its alien texture and color before a surge rushed over his muscles as if to grow stronger. Now, his hand had closed around a steel pipe and with a groan from the metal, broke off the crude club.

  Alessandro dodged to his left, barely avoiding the club as it was swung towards his head. He heard the clang of metal on metal and saw sparks fly from the hot metal his back had just been up against. He was always one step ahead, ducking and weaving as he fought the onslaught of strikes from his opponent, each one carrying a whooshing sound as it passed by his head. A clear intent to smash his skull in was clearly seen in every swing, and Alessandro had to think of a way to end this and fast.

  John's next swing forced him through the hallway and onto a large platform surveying a large room with large containers of metal far below. Moving along a planned route, each container was filled from over head with liquid metal that glowed and hissed as it went from its heated resting place to the colder buckets below. The heat from the mixture of red and yellow could be felt where they stood, flames licked the air around the container tops as the liquid released toxic fumes into the air.

  Each swing that Alessandro swiftly dodged brought him closer to the edge of the platform; soon his feet danced at the edge and at one point he flared his arms out in order to stop himself from falling over the edge and into the eminent death waiting below.

"All out of room to run." John's changed voice spoke these cold words, as if he were a cat that had cornered a mouse. His eyes held the same golden, serpent like eyes that seemed to hold no humanity within the dark pupils. He raised his club back and swung it hard.

  Alessandro arched his body to avoid the swing, but the resulting momentum was too much. He felt his foot slip off the edge, and soon his body disappeared over the unprotected ledge. He uttered no sound, just his eyes widening as an apparent 'Oh fuck!' showed in his features just before they disappeared from sight as he no longer stood on the platform.

John stood there, his eyes shifting from left to right as he examined the spot where his foe had stood moments ago. It was as if he was listening for something that was to come from his opponent's fall. Upon not hearing the expected sound, John crept closer to the edge and peered over. "Where did you go little mouse?" He said, his cold gaze looking down into the smoke rising from below.

  His eyes narrowed in hatred at what he saw: a couple feet below him, on a flat wall with no means of grip for the extensive drop below, was Alessandro. John wasn't sure how it was possible, but his 'mouse' was clinging to the wall as if his hands had grown suction cups that held him securely to the metal. He hung there, his every fiber holding him there, his foot pressing against the solid metal as sweat beaded on his skin from the sweltering heat coming from below.

Looking up, Alessandro saw John's eyes watching him. The surprise was up, he was hoping to find a means to climb around the area and attacking from elsewhere, but now he had to adapt and quickly. Thoughts raced through his mind as he watched John move his club over the edge and dropped it so that it fell towards Alessandro's head. He swung his one arm outwards, swinging his body on a pivot so he now hung with his back to the wall and his eyes watching the pipe slip past him, landing with a sizzling plop into the freshly poured, smoldering liquid metal below. Quickly he repeated the process so that he corrected himself and faced the wall again.

  John sneered as his plan failed, but a smirk showing interest at what was coming. "Let's go Mouse, let me see what other traits you have." He seemed to egg Alessandro on, as if their whole battle had been nothing more than schoolyard boys having a scuffle. He even took a step back as if he wanted his new plaything to get back up, maybe so he could throw him further from the wall so he did fall.

  Alessandro snarled, pressing his one foot slightly higher than his other. Putting all his strength into his next move, he jumped upwards. His inhuman abilities carried him up as if he had sprouted wings and flew up to the sky. Falling a bit short, Alessandro's hands lashed out and grabbed the ledge. He looked up to see John's foot come to rest in front of his fingers as they held on. He watched as the foot lifted a bit, then started towards those slender digits, the claw-like tips scratching into the steel as he waited for the crushing feeling that would accompany John's foot stepping on his hand. Only before it came, he watched as John whirled around as if he heard something behind him.

  "You're alive? How's that possible?" John exclaimed, his hands forming clenched fists as he spoke through his shock.

Alessandro used his arms and lifted himself higher to see what, or who, John was speaking too. His eyes grew wide as he saw an image that brought tears to his eyes. Eye level with him, was a pair of blue eyes with a blue streak along one side of the face. It was a face he knew all too well, having woken and slept with such a face next to his.

Using the momentary distraction, Alessandro repeated his earlier set of movements, this time his momentum carried him up and over not only the ledge, but John as well. He landed with a thud between him and the source of John's distraction. All but forgetting the posing threat, Alessandro ran over to the form lying in the hall.

"Line!" Alessandro cried out as he slid on his knees to come to a stop beside Line. "You're alive!" Tears fell down his face as he held Line's bruised face in his hand. He lowered his head and kissed his Moinii lover before Line broke the kiss.

"Alessandro, don't…don't kill him." Line pleaded, his eyes locking with his lover's dual colored eyes. "John isn't responsible for all this, it's not his fault."

"What are you talking about Line? He did all this." Alessandro spoke of the multiple wounds that covered his lover's previously flawless body. His eyes drifted to where John stood, watching as the man seemed to just stare at them, as if the whole scene before him was strange.

  "No he didn't. I can't explain it all, but it's not him doing all this." Line said, his eyes pleading in a way his words could not. "We have to help him, please trust me."

Alessandro knelt there, unsure what to make of his lover's 'delusional' rant. But his thoughts were disrupted by an odd sound, a sound much like that of bones grinding against each other as they shifted and changed within their flesh confines. Both his eyes and Line's traveled to where John was, and they watched as he folded over at the waist and emitted strange sounds before he changed. No longer did he have well defined muscles, they were replaced with thin, boney arms that still showed their untapped strength. His face looked like a skull, his hair seeming to withdraw into his scalp. When he unfolded himself, letting out a too familiar sound heard from The Hunter, he was no longer human.

Description
Hunted – Part 8

(The Crossing)

"What reason?" Line heard himself asking the green-haired specter before him. He still had no idea what was going on, even reaching out to see if Marley was real, his hand pulling back when he felt the partially solid shape. This ghost, of a man he had shot, felt like his hand had broken through the thin layer of ice in a puddle; a little resistance at the surface, but it gave way to cold emptiness. The action, seemed to cause Marley to laugh, as if he was tickled, and draw away.

  Once he composed himself again, he locked eyes with the striped man before him. "You're here to help save John; he's more troubled than you think he is." Marley spoke, a saddened tone falling from his lips.

"Why would you ask me to save the man who killed me?" Line asked, confused at the odd request. "I know I killed you, but yet you ask me to save 'him'?"

"Yes you did, but you also did the right thing when you did that." Marley said, sweeping his arm out. Under his arm, a distortion took place to form what appeared to be a mirror. From within the ghostly reflection, images from The Hunter flickered.

Line watched the flickers, recalling how some of them had shown themselves before when he was unconscious from John's assaults. He tried hard to fully understand what was being shown to him, as Marley's image showed on the screen. This time it showed him standing before John's stasis pod, only this time he was human again. Blood leaked from his head wound as he rested his hand on the cold glass.

  "From the time things went wrong, a long time had passed. It took a long time before anyone found the ship. Yes, I went about the ship and killed the crew, but I wasn't myself. Neither is John, he too was…infected." As Marley explained, Line's eyes watched the brief flickers of the crew and how they died. He saw Rina impaled on the cooling pipe, followed by the death of Dr. Hubbard by the alien-Marley's arm taking her head clean off to prevent the scream she would have gave at the horrid sight before her.

  Line had to turn away as he saw Dr. Wayne get slashed across the back with a deep gouge, followed by the visualization of his leg being ripped off and beaten with. He even saw the Dr. Richard as he sent a desperate plea over the communication system, before glass broke around him as the creature broke through, the spike on his arm piercing him through the ribs before tossing him. Once the carnage had been revealed, it was once more the image of Marley before the stasis.

  "Months had passed before you arrived, but by then things were not any better. Before Rina was killed, she injected us with something…something that was found on Neon-7." Marley spoke softly, as if the memory still caused pain to his astral form. "A parasite, one not officially recorded by Command. We were suppose to be searching for a planet for people to live on, but it turned out that an alternate means were bringing us there. We should have thought about it more, the lucrative amount we were getting paid for just to run samples on a planet."

"How could a parasite do all that?" Line asked, sick from the bloodshed he had just seen. "I don't understand it at all."

"There are lots about space that we don't know of. The parasites, they're actually more of a race than anything else. They're small, but they have the ability to not only cause a physical change in whatever their host is and they can even control it, but they control the change through their hosts. Think of them as a cerebral puppet master, they get inside…inside your head and they attach to your brainstem. As a species with a higher intellect, more could be done with us. They're able to communicate with each other, through their host's mind, like telepathy. Its how I've been trying to get help."

  "But if that's the case, why didn't you just turn into that…'thing' and kill not only me, but my crew as well?" Line asked all this information hard to digest. He never heard of an alien race that could use people as puppets and then change them into something else.

"Because I couldn't." Marley said, dropping his arm and the images disappeared. "Rina hit me on the head with a fire extinguisher. Normally that would have killed me, but when it hit me it only damaged me. I felt 'it' inside my head, I could feel the wound it was caused by the impact. I could feel its rage, that's when I blacked out and the slaughter began. I remember it because after I awoke, it kept showing me what happened." Marley stopped, holding his head in his hand as if to block out his own memories. "Do you know what it was like, to be awake for months on end? To be starving and unable to sleep because you close your eyes and you see their faces?"

  Line reached out to hold Marley's soft structure, as if to comfort him. But yet he listened to what was being said.

"The worst part was, I could hear John…not physically, but mentally. I heard him call out to me even though he was in stasis. All I could do was sit there, staring at his sleeping form while I heard whispers in my mind; it was like the parasites were trying to communicate."

  Line could only stand there in silence, trying to wrap his mind around what was being told. All this stuff of parasites that were telepathic and not only able to control a host, but change it, was starting to hurt his head.

  Marley paused, watching Line as he stood there. "Look, I don't know if you understand what I've been saying, but the jest of it is this: you need help John break free of the parasite's hold, he will never be the same with that thing inside him." Marley's face held desperation, as if this could be the only way to save his Captain. "Please, Line. I forgave you when you shot me, now you can help me by doing this."

Line's eyes widened, as he recalled that fateful day when he was stabbed and he shot the man before him. As Line laid there bleeding, about to be carried out by his crew mates, he could remember a whisper seeming to escape Marley's body, one that seemed to say 'Thank you.' It was strange for him to hear such words from a seemingly dead guy, thought to be a hallucination from the blood loss he was suffering from. Line opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Marley's quick advancement that placed him right in front of the taller Moinii.

  "Line PLEASE!" He said, his voice shaking as what could only be tears poured down his face. "The man I love is hurting others, against his will. He really is a sweet man who cares for others. I can't lose him again, so please, I'm begging you," Marley paused, dropping to his knees in the ultimate sign of mercy, "Please save John, save the one thing that brought light into my darkened world." His words showed the love that he had shared with his Captain.

Line stood there, clearly in shock as to the sight before him. Never before had someone begged for something like this, he could see that what remained of Marley had searched for a means to end all this long after his death. For a moment, his mind drifted to Alessandro, his red and blue eyed vampire-insector lover who treasured their bond. The one who held him in his sleep and nursed his wounds, who made sure there was food for him to eat and who shared more than enough of the beautiful space with him. He knew that if something happened to him, Alessandro would stop at nothing to help him. Now it seemed right that he could do this for the love that someone had shared with another, a love that reminded him so much of his own love.

   "Alright, Marley. I don't know how, but I'll help you the best I can." Line said, reaching a hand down to assist the kneeling man to his feet, for the first time Marley's hand felt as solid and as warm as if he were a living being.

"You need to sever the connection the parasite has with him. When I got hit by Rina, it caused the one in me to become injured; it was only able to have a partial hold on me." Marley explained once he stood up. "When you manage to break the hold, he needs to remember, remember anything that could bring him to his senses. Here take this; it might be what you need to show him the light again."

  Line watched as Marley held out his hand. There, as if it has suddenly materialized in his hand, was a brooch. Shaped like a three petal flower with colorful petals that traveled in to a set of three gold rods that represented where nectar would be collected. A silver pin rested on the back for it to be clasped to its rightful place above the heart of its owner. The whole brooch, beaming its beauty against the contrast of Marley's light skin color, was now being presented as if it were the ultimate weapon. Line felt the cool metal against his skin as Marley handed it to him.

  " 'Three petals; one for the past, one for the present, and one for the future'," Marley spoke as if that phrase was the key to unlocking everything. Looking up, Marley then leaned in close to Line. "Now, go and save John. I promise things will improve if you can get to him in time.

Line's eyes widened as he felt Marley lift himself onto his toes to reach higher on the tall man before him. He felt warmth surge through his body as he felt Marley's lips meet his in a tender kiss. As Marley drew back, he seemed to blow on Line's face. This, in turn, set his head whirling as the white nothingness suddenly disappeared below him, as if Marley's actions had literally blown him away. He could see darkness enveloping him once more, only he wasn't afraid this time and he let the dark cloud his sight and his mind. He felt the warmth from earlier fade as a new cold settled in, and his eyes drifted closed.

  Line felt like his body was floating downwards, as if he was a leaf drifting on a gentle breeze to the ground. He felt his legs press against something, then it seemed as if his body was being guided into a laying posture, his head coming to rest after his body had already lain down. Now he felt as if his soul had returned to its rightful place. Now, Line found his eyes opening, greeted by a wave of renewed pain that let him know he was alive. Now, his eyes adjusted to the dim light around him, his ears picking up the sounds of a struggle. Line found his eyes traveling to his closed hand and upon opening his fingers, found that he held in his hand the brooch that Marley gave him. A soft smile formed on his lips, before he struggled to lift himself into a sitting position, his body still weak from the torment before. But as his hand enclosed the brooch, he felt strength returning to him, as if Marley was giving him a helping hand from the other side. Soon, Line's eyes spied a familiar device lying on the ground not far from him, and he started dragging himself towards it, his battered body leaving a crimson streak following his path along the dirty floor. Upon reaching it, Line noted that there was one round left, and that he would have to make his shot count. Now, as his eyes traveled to the glowing hallway to see two shadows dancing along the walls, Line's gaze narrowed as he mustered whatever strength was left in his body and he started to crawl towards his greatest battle yet.

  (Nearby)

Alessandro cried out as he felt his back smash into something hot, his clothes barely stopping the heat from burning him as he pulled himself away. He reached back, feeling the lingering heat that would have burned a normal person easily. Soon, his eyes locked on his opponent.

  John stood nearby, his body battered and bruised just as much as Alessandro. Clearly their fight had been equal, both causing damage to each other during their battle. His shirt was torn in places from Alessandro's claws as they tried to disembowel the man before him. Already John's body had changed, his skin already seeming to take on its alien texture and color before a surge rushed over his muscles as if to grow stronger. Now, his hand had closed around a steel pipe and with a groan from the metal, broke off the crude club.

  Alessandro dodged to his left, barely avoiding the club as it was swung towards his head. He heard the clang of metal on metal and saw sparks fly from the hot metal his back had just been up against. He was always one step ahead, ducking and weaving as he fought the onslaught of strikes from his opponent, each one carrying a whooshing sound as it passed by his head. A clear intent to smash his skull in was clearly seen in every swing, and Alessandro had to think of a way to end this and fast.

  John's next swing forced him through the hallway and onto a large platform surveying a large room with large containers of metal far below. Moving along a planned route, each container was filled from over head with liquid metal that glowed and hissed as it went from its heated resting place to the colder buckets below. The heat from the mixture of red and yellow could be felt where they stood, flames licked the air around the container tops as the liquid released toxic fumes into the air.

  Each swing that Alessandro swiftly dodged brought him closer to the edge of the platform; soon his feet danced at the edge and at one point he flared his arms out in order to stop himself from falling over the edge and into the eminent death waiting below.

"All out of room to run." John's changed voice spoke these cold words, as if he were a cat that had cornered a mouse. His eyes held the same golden, serpent like eyes that seemed to hold no humanity within the dark pupils. He raised his club back and swung it hard.

  Alessandro arched his body to avoid the swing, but the resulting momentum was too much. He felt his foot slip off the edge, and soon his body disappeared over the unprotected ledge. He uttered no sound, just his eyes widening as an apparent 'Oh fuck!' showed in his features just before they disappeared from sight as he no longer stood on the platform.

John stood there, his eyes shifting from left to right as he examined the spot where his foe had stood moments ago. It was as if he was listening for something that was to come from his opponent's fall. Upon not hearing the expected sound, John crept closer to the edge and peered over. "Where did you go little mouse?" He said, his cold gaze looking down into the smoke rising from below.

  His eyes narrowed in hatred at what he saw: a couple feet below him, on a flat wall with no means of grip for the extensive drop below, was Alessandro. John wasn't sure how it was possible, but his 'mouse' was clinging to the wall as if his hands had grown suction cups that held him securely to the metal. He hung there, his every fiber holding him there, his foot pressing against the solid metal as sweat beaded on his skin from the sweltering heat coming from below.

Looking up, Alessandro saw John's eyes watching him. The surprise was up, he was hoping to find a means to climb around the area and attacking from elsewhere, but now he had to adapt and quickly. Thoughts raced through his mind as he watched John move his club over the edge and dropped it so that it fell towards Alessandro's head. He swung his one arm outwards, swinging his body on a pivot so he now hung with his back to the wall and his eyes watching the pipe slip past him, landing with a sizzling plop into the freshly poured, smoldering liquid metal below. Quickly he repeated the process so that he corrected himself and faced the wall again.

  John sneered as his plan failed, but a smirk showing interest at what was coming. "Let's go Mouse, let me see what other traits you have." He seemed to egg Alessandro on, as if their whole battle had been nothing more than schoolyard boys having a scuffle. He even took a step back as if he wanted his new plaything to get back up, maybe so he could throw him further from the wall so he did fall.

  Alessandro snarled, pressing his one foot slightly higher than his other. Putting all his strength into his next move, he jumped upwards. His inhuman abilities carried him up as if he had sprouted wings and flew up to the sky. Falling a bit short, Alessandro's hands lashed out and grabbed the ledge. He looked up to see John's foot come to rest in front of his fingers as they held on. He watched as the foot lifted a bit, then started towards those slender digits, the claw-like tips scratching into the steel as he waited for the crushing feeling that would accompany John's foot stepping on his hand. Only before it came, he watched as John whirled around as if he heard something behind him.

  "You're alive? How's that possible?" John exclaimed, his hands forming clenched fists as he spoke through his shock.

Alessandro used his arms and lifted himself higher to see what, or who, John was speaking too. His eyes grew wide as he saw an image that brought tears to his eyes. Eye level with him, was a pair of blue eyes with a blue streak along one side of the face. It was a face he knew all too well, having woken and slept with such a face next to his.

Using the momentary distraction, Alessandro repeated his earlier set of movements, this time his momentum carried him up and over not only the ledge, but John as well. He landed with a thud between him and the source of John's distraction. All but forgetting the posing threat, Alessandro ran over to the form lying in the hall.

"Line!" Alessandro cried out as he slid on his knees to come to a stop beside Line. "You're alive!" Tears fell down his face as he held Line's bruised face in his hand. He lowered his head and kissed his Moinii lover before Line broke the kiss.

"Alessandro, don't…don't kill him." Line pleaded, his eyes locking with his lover's dual colored eyes. "John isn't responsible for all this, it's not his fault."

"What are you talking about Line? He did all this." Alessandro spoke of the multiple wounds that covered his lover's previously flawless body. His eyes drifted to where John stood, watching as the man seemed to just stare at them, as if the whole scene before him was strange.

  "No he didn't. I can't explain it all, but it's not him doing all this." Line said, his eyes pleading in a way his words could not. "We have to help him, please trust me."

Alessandro knelt there, unsure what to make of his lover's 'delusional' rant. But his thoughts were disrupted by an odd sound, a sound much like that of bones grinding against each other as they shifted and changed within their flesh confines. Both his eyes and Line's traveled to where John was, and they watched as he folded over at the waist and emitted strange sounds before he changed. No longer did he have well defined muscles, they were replaced with thin, boney arms that still showed their untapped strength. His face looked like a skull, his hair seeming to withdraw into his scalp. When he unfolded himself, letting out a too familiar sound heard from The Hunter, he was no longer human.