Third Person

~

Kira raced through the night skies, each jump and landing taking her closer to where she had to be.

Why the hell were Troy and Kuro battling things out in middle of the street? Aside from the amount of damage they could cause, there was also the problem of the police. If the noise and effects of the battle became too much, the police would notice and send a drone to check out what was happening.

Kira threw herself into an alley on Troy's street, her costume coming off once she was sure no one was watching. It was dark, being in a residential area instead of a business one, and only street lights lit the way.

As she neared Troy's home, she slowly began to pick out the sounds of explosions and swift blade movements. She cursed under her breath, panting a bit when she finally got there to see Troy grab a flying Kuro by the leg before tossing him to the ground and bringing down a pillar of lightning on him.

Kuro's frown deepened, his feathers detaching to form a shield in front of him as he fell. The lightning hit the feather shield with incredible force, blowing air outwards. Once the glare died, Kira could see Kuro had his wings back and was trying to fly off once more but Troy smashed him into the ground once again.

"Goddammit, Angel boy! Let me go before I decide to get serious!" The younger boy wailed, bloodshot eyes glaring at the blond he held so much admiration for on a normal basis.

Troy landed on the ground, wings vanishing. He walked towards Kuro and made to punch the younger boy in the face only to be blocked by a smaller feather shield. They stood glaring as Troy tried to push back the shield, sparks flying.

They were so close and Kira knew that was a big step for both of them. Kuro never got into anyone's space, and Troy could easily take close-distance combat but he usually chose to use his bow and arrow move.

Troy wasn't going to give Kuro the space he wanted but Kuro didn't want to hurt him. The air was heavy with palpable tension and Kira was growing more agitated as time went by.

Kuro glided back, and Troy chased after him, dodging feathers that tried to cut him while sending out tendrils of sparks after the dark-haired boy.

"Kuro was about to sneak out," a voice said behind her.

It was Xie Ren.

"He wanted to go after the guy who hurt Ryu?" She asked tiredly. She should have known, but she'd thought they could all at least wait until morning.

Clearly she had overestimated Kuro's patience.

"You know it's a trap," Troy growled sternly as he threw Kuro to the ground once more, diving and kicking him down for good measure, "We all know it's a trap, so why?!"

Kuro grabbed the leg that hit him and switched their position mid-air so he was the one who drove Troy into the concrete of the street.

He stood over the blond, breaths coming out ragged and harsh, tears clouding his gaze, "They took away his legs, Troy," Kuro says in one shaky breath, "Tell me, how does one walk on the moon without legs?"

Troy's face scrunched up in confusion, but Kira understood and her heart stuttered violently against her ribcage, hurting as she easily connects to Kuro's pain.

Troy was sparking up again, Kuro held him down tighter, Kira grit her teeth, having had enough. With a burst of energy and a wave of her hand, she catches both of them off guard. Mammon's chains burst from the ground, wrapping around both boys and she has to restrain herself with the amount of energy she can feel pouring from their cores.

She had never used the chains to take powers and to feel the clash of energies flooding her body was an intoxicating feeling she knew she shouldn't get used to.

'No wonder Mammon likes this,' she thought to herself as she dropped them.

They both fell to the ground with bated breaths, powerless but the fight hadn't left their eyes. Kira marched forwards and punched Troy in the cheek before moving to Kuro, making his a bit lighter because she was biased, deal with it.

They glare at her instead now and she kind of wishes she had thought things through more but it was too late now.

"Are you two calm now?" she bit out, angry and upset at the same time.

"As dumb as you are Vermillion I'm certain even you know it's a trap. We can't let him walk into it, especially since we don't know what this stranger wants with him," Troy spat out through gritted teeth, clearly trying to stay in control and be the voice of reason.

"You don't get it!" Kuro shoots, pointing furiously as he gets to his feet and backs away from them.

"Kuro, calm down."

"Calm down?" he asks incredulously before breaking out in hysterical laughter, "Calm down? Some random person shows up and ruins the life of someone I care about but you're telling me to calm down? I can't calm down, Kira."

"I can help with that," Troy cracks his knuckles. Kira had never taken him for being overly violent but she understood that right now, he knew that was the only way to get Kuro to stay down.

She shot him a scalding look to stop him from approaching Kuro any further.

The blond snarls at her, "So you're taking his side now?"

"You three need to stop this," Xie Ren calls from the safety of the sidelines.

"I'm going to find the bastard who hurt Ryu and kill him," Kuro snaps from behind Kira.

"Kuro, we have to talk about this-" Kira tries not to sound too patronizing but Kuro is interrupting before she can continue.

"Ryu was hurt because of me, Kira, you can't just expect me to sit back and wait for that person to strike again. What if he kills one of you next?" He grabs the sleeve of her shirt like a lifeline, "I don't know who it is, but I have this feeling, like I know them and they're bad news."

Kira gulps down her trepidation, trying to look away from the pleading but determined red eyes that stared up at her.

"Revenge isn't everything, Kuro," she says in a low voice.

"I don't care," he seethes, "I want blood, and I'm not stopping until I get it. You can either help me or stay out of my way.

Troy growls quietly as he watches, looking at them, he can already tell what Kira is going to choose. She's weak to seeing Kuro in pain and he can practically see the sympathy dripping off her.

He has half the mind to leave them, and let them get captured and killed. They were both destined to die, so why not end it a little early?

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He shrugs off Ren's comforting hand on his shoulder, "Go ahead and die for all I care. I'm done with both of you."

"Troy!" Ren snaps.

He was frustrated, all he's done is try to help but they keep throwing themselves into dumb situations that get them nowhere.

"Fine, Mr. Hot shot, we don't need you anyway," Kira snaps back at his retreating back, "I won't lie that it's not crazy, it's probably the dumbest call I've made but the only reason I'm making it is that I believe we can do it."

"Stop with that!" The blond spun to face her, "Stop. With. That. There's nothing special about us, the last time you said that we almost suffocated to death."

"But we trained after that, we have more experience and we're stronger," she hissed back.

"Be reasonable, both of you are hardly ever reasonable," He glares, this isn't an argument they should be having in the middle of the street but they're past that point now.

He walks up to Kira, jabbing his right index finger into her chest as he scowls down into her eyes, "There is nothing special about any of us, nothing special about you, and you sure as hell are going to die. Be it now," his vision flashes painfully at the back of his mind, "Or later."

He steps out of her space, turning to Kuro, "You really want to take everyone down with you again? Go ahead, I'm not going to be part of it."

Kuro's face drops with hurt for a beat but it's gone almost as quickly as it came, a mirthless smile rests on his features, "Remind me never to tell you anything ever if you're going to use it against me."

Troy says nothing and turns to the house while Ren is muttering apologies to the other two members of the once team.

Kira is at odds with herself. The rational part of her mind telling her that they needed to talk things out but her heart was against leaving Kuro's side. He trusted her to be his support and in a way, that's what she's ever wanted. To be trusted and seen as competent.

"I'll protect you," She says as their costumes slowly shadow their forms. Kuro nods, dark wings raising him towards the pitch black night devoid of stars.

"Just follow me," He states as they begin their journey through the metropolis.

Kira couldn't help but let her thoughts run wild as she tailed him. Her eyes watched his form from behind when not observing their surroundings. Small and emotive but bursting with unshakeable resolve and daunting intelligence.

'Kuro...reminds me of someone used to know,' the thought fills her mind, 'And it surprises me because in more ways than one, they're different in their similarities.'

She shook herself out of it, this wasn't the time to dwell on the past. Their movements came to a stop on the edge of a short building overlooking a dark alley. With her enhanced vision, she could easily pick out a figure trudging through, the smell of blood assaulted her nostrils leading her to believe their target was injured.

Kuro looked absolutely ravenous, eyes already picking apart his prey.

Kira didn't like that look, there were different sides to every person, but side of Kuro was something she wasn't sure she could bare with.

She held his shoulder as he went to dive in, he faced her with a questioning look, "You're just going to get information about the boss, if we're able to pull that off, I'm sure it'll be enough to convince Troy were capable-"

"We don't need him, you said it yourself."

"I say dumb stuff when I'm stressed," she chuckled nervously, "I'll keep a lookout, just shake him up a bit."

All she heard in response before he descended was a murmured, "I'll do more than that."

Kuro stuck the landing behind his target. He could almost feel the coppery taste of blood on his tongue as the scent wafted up from the clumsily bandaged stub.

His boots made dull thumping sounds as he approached, drawing the attention of the man in front who turned around with wide fearful eyes.

"To think such an ugly piece of shit would have the nerve to hurt someone I care about," He hissed, watching as the man stumbled back, moving his lips but no words were coming out.

Kuro tilted his head curiously before he finally noticed the lanky man's tongue had been cut out.

"He cut out your tongue so you don't blab?" Kuro asked as he got closer. The man was nodding frantically, stumbling hurriedly with his back towards the exit of the alley, "Sorry for him but I don't need your voice to get what I want."

He pulled out his garrote and slid its blade across his palm, letting the blood flow down the thin string, "Prison of blood and feathers," he states dully, and almost immediately the string flies from his grasp, feathers fly and dip around the former train possessor to trap him in an intricate mesh of tightly wound string and blade-like feathers.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," Kuro says with a sick smile dancing on his lips, "Go too fast and you might end up slicing up your own neck."

The man's face is a mess of snot and tears, his words coming up in a garbled mess of spit and incoherent sounds. Kuro doesn't care, he's riding on a high now. He was going to make this lowlife suffer.

"With your blood on my tongue, I can dive into your mind you know? Not for long but it should be enough," he's bouncing on the soles of his feet, it's been so long since he'd had to torture someone, "You're going to tell me what I want," he whispers, "And then, I'm going to make you suffer for how many people you killed on that train."

Kira heard the gargled screams, they're not loud, and if it wasn't for her powers she probably wouldn't know what Kuro was doing down there.

But she had heard what he said, she could sense the aura of bloodlust rising up from the alley and she could clearly hear the sounds of ripping flesh and the muffled pleas of someone who could no longer speak.

The smell of blood had grown too much, she wanted to puke.

"It would more fun if I could hear you scream." Kuro kicks the limp body at his feet, riddled with deep lacerations that would be fatal but he was keeping the man's blood pumping, meaning he wouldn't bleed out but feel all the pain Kuro wanted him to feel.

Kuro snapped his fingers, and another feather dove in, slashing straight down the sternum and through the stomach.

Another garbled scream.

That was all Kira could take. She jumped down, hands clenched tightly at her side.

"Kuro, that's enough!" She cried out.

He doesn't turn to face her but there's another slash, this time at the jugular but Kuro keeps the blood from spraying out, watching the pain bloom on the target's face.

"Kuro..."

When those red eyes finally turn to face her, they're almost unrecognizable, "You should go, Kira."

She stood her ground, determined to get him away from the dying villain. Whatever had awakened in him, she was really beginning to worry.

Unknown to the two, a shadow several blocks away was watching the alley, poised to strike, violet irises brimming with mirth.

There was a glimmer, followed by a swift throw that was guided by a sure aim.

Kira felt the shift in the air and the call of her instincts that unfortunately screamed she was too late even as she turned around to find the danger.

Suddenly there was a flash of white. Snow-colored feathers crashed to her feet with an all too familiar blond.

"Tro- Archer!" She screamed, as he hit the floor, a thin silver needle was poking out of the vein of his neck.

Kira stared, horror and confusion clouding her judgment. It all came to a stop when she slowly realized she couldn't move her own body. She felt the pricks at her neck, two, before her skin suddenly lost all sensation and her limbs became too heavy to move. She fell to the ground beside Troy, staring at Kuro who was watching, irritation and confusion evident on his face.

"Demona? Archer?" He called softly.

She wanted to tell him to run but her lips wouldn't move, only her hearing and sight had remained.

Kuro stared at the delicate, intricately made needles, for some reason, they struck something in him. A sense of familiarity.

Before he could figure things out more were flying towards him, and as they were far too thin, they slipped past the feather shield, hitting various pressure points on his skin.

He fell, only to be caught by a figure that seemed to have come from seemingly nowhere. The figure cradled him in both arms, "Hush, my love, I'm not going to hurt you."

Kuro cringed at the voice, wishing he could at least do something but the acrid smell from the train accident earlier was everywhere.

Who was this person, and how did they know so much about how to weaken him?

Kira let her eyes linger on the shadowy form that caught their falling friend. Tall, obviously a male but young, probably around Ren's age.

The person approached her and Troy at the alleyway's exit, Kuro swaying unconsciously in his arms. Bright violet eyes looked down at her with non-interest.

"Demona...or should I say, Kira Vermillion, my only priority is Kuro, and since he cares deeply for you and the other male, I'll let both of you live." His voice was light and smooth, almost playful like he was making an exchange with a toddler.

He stepped over their bodies so he was outside her field of vision, "The toxin should wear off soon. Once it does, go home. Kuro doesn't belong in your world, he doesn't exist to fight the foolish battles you're chasing. I know who you are and your family will suffer if you try to chase me."

Kira was trying as hard as she could but her healing powers were working slower due to her numbed senses. She had to save her friend.

Troy was right, this person was out of their league and there was nothing she could do but lay helplessly and feel Kuro's aura get further and further away.

Until it no longer called to her at all.