Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Into The Void ❯ Sense of Madness ( Chapter 13 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: MellyN

XI.

Into the Void

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 13: Sense of Madness

XI.

"Night's falling," Udo mentioned, looking at the now darkening.

"Let's take the clothes off of these guards and use them as covers," Loreli suggested.

Her new lover agreed as they began to undress the dead bodies that littered the hallways of the run-down establishment. They threw them into a pile until is doubled in size. There had been more than enough uniforms for both of them.

Loreli looked at the large pile the two had created and sweat dropped. "Wow, that's more than enough."

"We need to be warm since we can't make a fire," Udo began to wrap the clothes around him and patted the spot next to him. "Come here and cuddle with me."

"Okay…" The woman agreed, climbing underneath the covers.

"Ah…" Udo sighed. "Much better."

"Did you love me?" The brown-haired woman asked, looking up to him in question.

"Huh?" This snapped Udo from his thoughts.

"Is that why you said yes? You've always complimented me."

Her neck was nuzzled in reply. "Just call me a secret admirer."

"That's good," she smiled before being kissed by the man. She responded to his touch by kissing him back and they pulled up the clothes around them, making out underneath.

XI.

Sari yawned loudly after looking at a small sundial in the room. "Well, it's late. I'm hitting the hay," she said sleepily.

"I'm going to stay up a little while,” Ionna told her.

"See you in the morning."

"Good night Sari."

"Good night…" Zidane told her.

As time grew on and the late hours stretch farther into the night Rubio was still awake. He pulled one of his swords from their hilt, the blade glistening against the moonlight. A few feet away, Valentino sat on the ground, looking at his gun. After a few minutes he sat it down and lay on his side in the middle of the floor, drifting off to sleep.

Suddenly, a sword went flying down, ready to deliver a death strike to the uninformed assassin. It nearly struck him as his red orbs shot open and he quickly dodged to the side. He had sensed that Rubio harbored a frenzied feeling so he faked sleep see if he would try and pull a stunt like that since it had been a while and he was correct on theory.

"What are - " Valentino began to ask, pulling out his gun to shoot Rubio but his wrist was held. Valentino was then pinned against the wall. He could feel the jolt of his body as his back was forced up against the wall behind him and Rubio's face was unusually close to his.

"You're good," Rubio remarked.

"You're crazy," the assassin replied.

"I hate you," Rubio shot venomously.

"You don't want another accident."

"The only think you'll kiss is my sword."

"I will."

"What?" Rubio was momentarily thrown off by his statement. That wasn't what he wanted Valentino to say, but he was powerless to stop him as he knelt down and kissed the blade. This infuriated Rubio and as his anger built, he found himself slamming the assassin to the ground.

"Smart ass!" His fists went flying as he pummeled the red and black clad man below him. Valentino didn't fight back at all. He simply let himself be hit.

"Rubio please…"

"It's all your fault! You killed my girlfriend," Rubio shouted, still punching him as he was overcome by his emotions.

"You can't bring her back," Valentino still remained calm.

"You have no heart," Rubio scowled as tears ran down his face. The assassin fell silent. "Your eyes make me sick. You're so emotionless," he grabbed him by the collar of his cape and brought him to his face, his hands trembling with the onslaught of emotions he felt. "You're not a man. You're a machine."

"Are you any different?" Valentino leveled him with a stern gaze, though the other features on his face held no emotion.

"What?" The other man drew back as if hit by realization.

"You knew what you got into being a terrorist. Angora was probably just using you-" The assassin couldn't finish his sentence before a harsh slap was delivered to his face.

"She loved me!!!"

The assassin's face stayed to the side as he spoke. "If you loved her, let her go. You've been making that mistake. You keep her in your mind."

"Why do you care what I think about?"

"You're hurting me."

"I'm not touching you."

"You were hurting me."

"What?"

"You showed me something I could never have. You're lucky…I once had it too…Many times, and each time they died, leaving me cold and alone," Valentino spoke cryptically.

"You're so selfish!" Rubio yelled.

"I killed her to kill the kindness in myself. I had to rid myself of memories…Of them."

"Who?"

"Love."

"You killed your own girlfriends? You'd better stay away from Sari you psychotic-" Rubio growled getting defensive of the spunky girl and her close relationship with a dangerous man like him.

"You're psychotic," Valentino narrowed his eyes.

Rubio simply growled in response.

"I don't want Sari."

"Why not?"

"Because she'll end up like the others…I'm saving her life."

"You did kill them," Rubio insisted, now becoming even more defensive. Before he could say anymore his collar was grabbed by the red-clad man and his other hand was put on the back of Rubio's head.

"Rubio, you're a damned fool!" Valentino raised his voice and for once sounded angry. It took a lot to push him in that direction, but he was under a lot of stress and the terrorist attempting to take his life was no exception. "You think I'm a monster. You always take things at face value! You think with your head and not with your heart!"

"Fine words coming from someone without one!" Rubio shot back defensively. He wasn't about to let himself be belittled by Valentino. The assassin shoved him off and turned around, sitting down forcefully on the floor. Knowing that the other man had broken, Rubio stuck his head over his shoulder, smiling deviously.

"Well, tell me Mr. Black Hole for a Heart."

"You think I didn't love them…I did and they were taken from me. I didn't kill them," Valentino's voice returned to its former stoicism.

"Payback is a bitch, isn't it?" The silver haired man asked arrogantly.

The assassin fell silent.

"It's so satisfying to see the look of pain in your eyes,” the terrorist noticed the sorrow hidden beneath Valentino's emotionless façade. "How does it feel?"

"It doesn't. Remember?"

"I suppose not. But it's certainly ripping you up inside."

"It was a job," the black-haired man said simply. If Rubio thought that something

"And?"

"To love again is to make a mistake. I'm saving you. Ibuki-sama wanted her dead. He knew about your affair and so did I," Valentino informed.

"How?"

"I watched you for five days, monitoring of your moments…kissing…hugging…making out…sex…"

"You saw me naked?" Rubio asked, seeming offended at the thought, although it didn't bother him at all for some reason.

"What do you care?"

"Amazingly, I don't," he replied nonchalantly.

"You…Already killed me…" Valentino admitted in defeat. "Anything more is just insult to the injury. You are so perfect…You have love and are capable of regaining it. To need love you need emotion…Not I. I was going to kill myself when you were near the Baztok Republic, but you stopped me by sending Sari out."

"Gee, what bad luck," he could hear the other man's voice say in a mock-tone before he felt something metal press against his lips. "You're in pain, so kiss it."

"Rubio…" Valentino said numbly, sensing his odd masochistic sympathy.

"Go ahead," the other man insisted.

"You're not stable."

"Hush and kiss my sword."

Valentino inched his lips to the blade, kissing the weapon on its sharp end. A small trickle of blood ran from his lips to the blade, making its way across the metal in abstract glory as he pressed his lips more to the blade. Rubio grinned to himself upon the sight of the other's blood.

"It's nice to see you bleeding for once," he smirked.

"I should bleed."

"Yes, you should…Just like Angora did."

The assassin dropped his gun and looked to Rubio. "Then kill me…You want to so much."

"But I can't…and it pisses me off," Rubio growled.

"Why?"

"Because you spared me," the man showed his defeat.

"I understand you."

"No, you don't."

"…"

Then, Rubio couldn't stand anymore, and like any other time, his emotions began to take control in a fit of doubt. "I'm not like you. I could NEVER be like you!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "You're a killer!"

"So are you."

"Huh?" Rubio snapped his head back as a sword was put to his lips.

"Here," Valentino chided, turning the blade flat against his lips, offering his blood to Rubio.

"What are you-?" The man asked in confusion, but was cut off.

"If you want, I can bleed more for you," he offered.

"What?" The terrorist was confused as to why the assassin took these actions.

"Would you rather I slit my wrist? Blood is vital there. You can get more-"

"You're satanic and twisted," Rubio shot in anger.

"You hate that too, I suppose."

The silver haired man wiped the blood from his lips. "Don't do that to yourself," he scolded, his voice held a commanding air to it but also a bit of concern for the man's situation. Valentino obviously had suffered enough to make him suicidal so Rubio decided to lie off for that moment in time.

"You are…Better than me," Valentino said in defeat. "I do respect you…But I cannot make Angora come back and I do not regret it because it was my job."

"What about the other girls you keep mentioning?"

"I loved them…But they all left or were killed. Please understand that if I hadn't killed Angora, then Ibuki-sama would, then acting rashly you would have rushed in, getting yourself killed by him," the assassin explained.

"I understand," Rubio agreed, then questioned further. "Why didn't you spare her like you did me?"

"Selfish endeavors."

"I knew it." Light blue eyes narrowed.

"Looking at the two of you made me physically and mentally sick. It haunts me…everywhere. The love and the passion…all things that I could never grasp, it slips through my fingers…It wrings me dry of all emotion. I have to be cold in order to dull the pain," Valentino tried not to break his usual façade, but the small amount of emotion that glimmered in his eyes shown all of the suffering and wretchedness that he felt.

"But the pain is still there," Rubio noted this. "There aren't enough masks to wear."

"Everyone I love has died, Rubio. You're right…I am a monster and my sins are unforgivable. You think I don't know? It hurts me too…But it's not going to get any better…So you may as well pretend like it doesn't matter."

"I can't do that."

"Afraid to forget?"

"I loved her…"

"I know…"

"I feel like things are getting clearer now," Rubio told him. "You're just hurting, but you hurt so much you don't want to try for anyone else. You don't think there's any more for you…I feel like an ass now. I think you were trying to warn me in your own subtle way."

"She's the reason you're like this. She used you against Ibuki-sama, took you for granted and destroyed your soul, leaving you cold and hurt."

"Not all women are like that. She couldn't help that she died. Just like your girlfriends couldn't," the terrorist consoled the other man.

"Rubio…"

"Yeah?" He turned his head to look at Valentino's face.

The assassin fell silent. Rubio gave him a look of sympathy and paused before uttering one sentence.

"You're my hero."

"I am no one's hero. I always let those who are close to me; those I respect face the worst."

"So why did you play mute with me on this before?" Rubio asked.

"It's not something everyone should know," Valentino stated.

"Should I feel special?" The silver-haired man was sarcastic in tone.

"You're such a nuisance. I don't know whether to kick your ass, or throw you to the terrorists…Or perhaps I should just go outside and shove your head in the snow until you stop being so stuck up…And don't you dare gag at me," Valentino defended himself, offended that Rubio would be so heartless as to play the sympathy game as a way to use his own ammo against him.

"I take back the hero comment," Rubio told him coldly, though he did actually mean it. His feelings were true and he just attempted to joke with him, but now it was war between the two once more. "You're still a machine."

"All of Ibuki's forces were designed that way…You would know."

"I don't care if we were on the same side…I still don't like what you did."

"You need sleep," Valentino mentioned that Rubio was more pissy then usual since he'd not had any sleep.

"And you need to be touched by an angel…Because you're pure evil, wrapped up in some frail, pretty boy body. You make me sick," he scowled.

"Maybe you make me sick," red eyes narrowed.

"Maybe I wish I cared."

"You're worse than a machine. You're just crazy," Valentino started a long list of insults between the two.

"And you're crazy."

"You're the one who attacked me out of nowhere. You're not even making sense and you look like you have rabies," Valentino noted upon looking at Rubio's frenzied state.

"I'll kill you!" Rubio grabbed the man by the hair and slamming his head against the ground. Thumping noises were created from Valentino's head being repetitively hit against the wooden floor.

Down the hall, Yaritza's sharp ears caught the commotion. "What the hell?"

Sari stepped out into the hall. "What the hell is that noise? Are we getting robbed?" She asked a surprised look on her face.

"We're getting robbed? Oh shit!" Vincent yelled after entering in the midst of their conversation.

"No…Well actually, I don't know but why does it matter?" Sari asked.

Crash!

Boom!

Thump!

"What the hell is that?! It's really pissing me off!" Sari was annoyed at the constant noises as Ionna, Agata, Ryouzonia and Zidane all stepped into the hall.

"Hey! Some people are trying to sleep!" Ionna complained.

"It's not me," Sari told her.

"Well, it's not me," Agata replied.

"What's going on?" Ryouzonia asked calmly.

"Damn…I thought this night was going to be peaceful," Zidane sighed.

"Yeah right," Sari nearly laughed at the mention of peace around these people. "Obviously you don't know what you've gotten yourself into."

Crash!

Bam!

"Damn it!" Sari ranted.

"Where are Rubio and Valentino?" Vincent asked upon looking around. "They're the only ones not down here."

"Valentino's upstairs," Agata noted.

"What?" Ionna exclaimed. "Then where's Rubio?"

"His room is down here," Agata walked down the hall. Suddenly, Yaritza yelled as she fell to the floor with a thud.

"Quit being clumsy!" Sari scolded.

The red-haired ninja propped herself up on her arms, and then looked down at the long, hard object that she felt between her ankles. "Someone left their sword lying in the middle of the floor."

"That's Rubio's," Agata's sharp eye immediately identified the weapon. "But one of them is missing."

"If he's trying to kill Valentino again, I'll hit him so hard he'll look like him," Sari complained, pointing a finger at Zidane.

'Not again…' The bald man thought, looking irritated with yet another ugly joke.

"If he's trying to kill Valentino that would explain the noises," Ionna noted as everyone took off running, noting the importance of getting there quickly incase the situation began to get grave.

Rubio reached for the gun and pointed it to the black-haired man's head. The man gave no hint of emotion; he just looked at him with void eyes and simply told him that he would regret his choice.

"The hell I will. I'll be smiling and celebrating," Rubio said victoriously.

"I'm the only one with information regarding Ibuki-sama," Valentino stated gravely.

"I have Zidane."

"Zidane doesn't know what I know."

"Spare me!" The silver haired terrorist nearly laughed at Valentino's attempt to bargain with him. "I know Ibuki too."

"He hid things from you."

"And so did you. Killing you will be my first step to getting rid of my problems," the other man smiled as a crazed look crossed his face.

"I thought you only hated what I do."

"I do but now it's my turn to tell you…You have to understand. I'm out to rid the world of your kind."

"I'm trying to help you," Valentino tried to tell him as the door went flying off of its hinges a short distance away. Rubio replied to the crashing noise with a 'huh' in confusion as he froze in position. The gun was still pointed to the red-clad man's head. Suddenly, his weapon was knocked out of his hand by shuriken throwing stars. He yelled in surprise and looked over to see Yaritza holding three of them in one hand.

"Not today, buddy," Yaritza said boldly. "Do we have to baby-sit you two? I can't leave you alone for two seconds without you trying to kill each other."

"What the hell are you doing, Rubio?!" Sari fumed, her fists clenched and held close to her chest.

The man turned to her with a frenzied look in his eyes. This caused the girl to blink and withdraw herself a little.

"Huh? Are you all right?" She asked more concern to her voice then previously.

"More like are you all there?" Vincent added.

"All of you are getting on my nerves," Rubio told the group venomously.

"Rubio-"Valentino started to speak, but what cut short.

"Shut up! I hate you. HATE you. Don't you get it? Why do you keep following me? Why?"

"What the hell is your problem?" Sari attempted to defend the assassin from being jumped all over by Rubio.

"What's yours?" Rubio shot back.

"I don't have one."

"You all have problems. So why don't you kill each other and get them over with."

Ionna was beginning to grow annoyed as the vein in her head was now visible and she clenched her trembling fist. "He's beginning to piss me off…"

"Would you mind toning it down?" Zidane stood in the door way.

"Would you mind going to hell?" Rubio shot back in irritation as a vein similar to Ionna's soon became visible on the scar-faced man's head.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Sari didn't want Rubio taking his anger out on Zidane, especially because Zidane had been injured and she didn't think he needed any of that drama.

"I'd tell you to shut up, but obviously you don't know how."

"I established that when we first met."

"There will be no fighting in here," Ryouzonia walked into the room calmly.

"Yeah!" Sari aged on. "Did you hear that? Fight and sleep outside! Loser!"

"Sari, shut up," Valentino advised. He knew that her foul mouth was no help to the situation, especially with Rubio being so unstable.

"Hey! I'm trying to save your ass! Get over here and apologize!" Sari demanded.

"I'm staying over here."

"Are you really that suicidal?" Agata asked. "It's pathetic."

"If Rubio wants to kill me then he will. There's no stopping it. He's been sucked into a void and indulged with chaos due to his own loss of control over his emotions. To stop him now would only prolong the problems and that does nothing for the mission," Valentino stated.

"I'm selfish? What about you?" Rubio looked to Valentino.

"We are all a little selfish. Our dreams come first, being in this group is secondary and so is companionship. Everyone here will admit that they have something to achieve, or they would not be here, but at the same time, they know they can't achieve their goals alone. We are acting as mercenaries to take on a force much greater than most of you can comprehend," Valentino spoke, and then Rubio opened his mouth to speak but the assassin kept talking. "Note, I said most. Some of us, who have experienced this type of ordeal know exactly how to deal with it, just not how to overcome it. No matter how much you all want to keep it confined. We're all in this together, each playing a vital part of the mission. We are like a team - a dysfunctional team, but a team nonetheless."

"I ever had a problem with anyone here. I was just doing my job," Zidane stated.

"So was I, but some can't seem to get over that," the black haired man agreed, his eyes shifting to Rubio's form.

"No joke," the spunky girl murmured under her breath.

"It doesn't help the team to be so wrapped up in your own problems that you don't see the whole picture," Yaritza explained.

"We're probably all guilty of that," Agata admitted.

"Guess we've been so into getting our own individual goals that we're not concentrating on the big problem," Ionna looked down.

"We needed to hear that," Vincent agreed.

"Yes," Agata agreed.

"Let me guess, Valentino's right and Rubio's wrong," Rubio was irritated.

"Of course you're wrong!" Sari yelled. "You're the reason we're up here! I'm missing a good two hours worth of sleep!!!"

"Sari…You're doing it again," the assassin warned.

"Sorry, he just makes me mad."

"I guess some of us do get under each other's skin," the bounty hunter admitted.

"Tell me about it," Agata stared him dead in the eyes.

"We should try to be a better team though."

"That also means that we shouldn't distance ourselves from each other," Rubio glared at Valentino.

"But…"

"You said we need to work as a team. If you make the rules, then you have to abide by them," the silver haired man stated further.

"I can't do that," Valentino argued. "I won't allow anyone else to fall victim to my doing."

"You act like if you dare to even say hi to us we'll drop dead. Surely you can't be that cursed?" Sari told him.

"I hope not," Vincent added.

"Well, you could kill someone if you said hi and you had an extreme case of halitosis," Yaritza commented.

"Yaritza!" The spunky girl warned.

"What?"

Sari glared at the ninja.

"Okay, okay, Sorry. That was uncalled for."

Rubio stood up and walked towards everyone, not crazy anymore but extremely pissed off. He walked past the bounty hunter and leveled him with a glare, pointing his finger at him.

"You, shut up," he warned his voice cold.

"I didn't say anything!" Vincent defended himself, offended that Rubio just singled him out like that.

"Just in case you were going to."

"Can we go back to bed now?" Sari looked at a nearby clock. "It's 3:00 in the morning."

"Well…That was eventful," Ionna commented as her twin got up and began to walk off slowly.

"I should rest now."

Suddenly, he felt a tug from his back and looked over his shoulder to see the spunky girl holding his coat tails in her hands. "Oh no you don't! I'm going with you, because I'm, not worrying about you dying in the middle of the night from psychopath there."

"He won't kill me."

"How do you know that?"

"He said it himself."

"And that safeguards it? Besides why do you believe him of all people?"

"Because he hasn't pulled it off yet and he's had plenty of opportunities," Valentino let that little piece of information be known.

"He doesn't want to kill you, just torture you because he doesn't think you know how he feels. After losing Angora like that he thinks that you took her away from him, plus he was found out as a terrorist, which was something he was obviously hiding," Zidane educated. "He's insecure, worried, depressed and stressed. He's been pulled in several directions, just like the rest of us, but Rubio doesn't do well with stress. It rusts the cog wheels of his internal structure, breaking down his sanity and sense of reality, causing fits of schizophrenia and post trauma syndrome."

"What?" Sari was completely confused at everything he just said.

"Surprisingly, I understood that," Vincent commented. "But how did you know that?"

"I'm head of the Dark Renegade Interrogation Corps. I've studied the human brain and its physiology and psychology intricately. Mental torture is my specialty."

"That's why you seemed so confident in giving me the false information,” Sari noted.

"I can pass a lie detector test no problem with complete falsehoods."

"You taught me how to do that," Valentino mentioned.

"Yep. Just goes to show you how reliant on machines humanity can be. They don't always do the job as well as one would like to think," the bald man commented.

"So, you're like a walking lie detector?" Vincent asked.

"You can say that."

"That's awesome!" Yaritza complimented. "You can totally play mind games with people!"

"With the right phrases, you can get humans to do anything you want. The mind is a complex structure, but if it sound logical enough. It computes the request."

"So you don't even need slaves, you can do it to unsuspecting people?" Sari was intrigued.

"Yes, most impressionable younger and older with illness and amnesia or forgetfulness. Old ones are a bit harder. You can also get the crazy, desperate or helpless easily, " Zidane informed.

"Fine Sari, if you want to sleep with me, and then go ahead," Valentino finally gave in, knowing the persistent nature of the girl. He'd been through enough that night and arguing with Sari wasn't something he wanted to add to his list.

"Good," the girl agreed.

Yaritza picked the gun up off of the floor and put it on a nearby table. She kneeled to pick up the sword and noticed the small stream of blood that was staining the metal and looked to Valentino in question. "This has blood on it." A worried expression crossed her face.

"Cut my lip," Valentino partially lied. He had cut his lip, but there was more to it than that- something secretive and masochistic.

"I was going to say, neither one of you had a scratch you just looked a little jostled," she replied.

"Well, I'm reporting in," Agata was too tired to stay up any longer, and it seemed like the situation resolved itself. "See you in the morning."

"Same here," Ionna agreed.

"Good night," Zidane told everyone.

"Rest well," Ryouzonia commented.

"Let's go," Valentino looked at Sari.

"Right."

To Be Continued…