The Betrayers

[Akito]

Standing in the middle of the hall in a certain Beasts' castle, Marluxia waited patiently for his guest tonight. Illumination was bright throughout the ballroom from the chandeliers above. It was a simple evening, one he would've preferred to share with a beautiful lady. But instead, it would be a most vulgar of nights.

Steps came from behind him. Slow, casual steps; they had both seen this day coming for a long time, what reason was there to be anxious?

"Are you prepared, Axel?"

[Zero [Axel]]

"As prepared as ever."

Leather stretched as Axel pulled the glove tighter over his hand. Cocking his head to the right, he readied the other glove. Surely, these gloves would be ripped and torn to uselessness by the end of the night, and most likely the rest of his attire as well. Upon coming to this castle, he knew he wouldn't leave it without at least a few gashes and maybe some broken bones to remember this monumental occasion. This was exactly how he wanted it to end.

"So, how should be go about tearing this place down?"

At that moment, a small circle of fire manifested on the sleek, marble floor and erupted in a roaring pillar that raced for Marluxia's back after a calm wave of his hand. A blackened scorch tarnished the immaculacy of the floor.

[Akito]

It was not hard to feel the heat at his back searing forth towards him. He pushed off with his right foot and moved his body sideways to the left and spun around as he did so, as to face his attacker. When he landed, he faced Axel with Full Bloom held high in his right hand. His left hand outstretched, Marluxia clicked his fingers and from the walls on both sides burst out an overwhelming quantity of vines, all aiming to entwine and restrict Axel's movement, while others were sent to crush his throat in.

"Like this," Marluxia replied, with a smirk. What? Did you think he had been idle while waiting for Axel? Of course not. Someone who planned as thoroughly as him would not be so careless.

[Zero [Axel]]

Without even flinching, Axel summoned more pillars of fire around him. They raced for the beautiful ceiling but their objective wasn't above. These flames of anarchy engulfed the incoming vines, reducing what entered them to nothing but ash beside him. A smirk slithered across the Flurry's lips as he stared at Marluxia.

"Aw, don't tell me you're starting to slip..."

In a flash of fire, his chakrams appeared and with swift hands he plucked them from the air. The fires died down, allowing the vines at Axel but the pyro had already charged towards Marluxia. With skill, he tossed the spiked rings at the pink haired menace. Of course, it wasn't intended to kill him. Where was the fun, or the logic, in that? He didn't even bother to look back to see if the vines were completely gone or not.

[Akito]

The power of plants lie in their persistence, their ability to regrow time and time again. They attacked Axel relentlessly and foolishly, perishing before the flames around him yet still regrowing and charging forward once again. As Axel expected, when he stopped his flames and charged, the vines would've resumed their conquest had he still been there; but he had decided to charge forward.

"Never. You should know that,"

Fortunately, all Marluxia had required was a knowledge of where Axel would enter the battlefield. And where else? There was only one obviously large and elaborate door to this ballroom. Using that as a basis, Marluxia had planted vines on the very floor approximate to where Axel stood. The Graceful Assassin knew his vines would be stopped by Axel's flames easily, so why would he waste the effort? You guessed it. A distraction. Vines from where Axel stood would twirl up from the ground, sifting away tiles and twirling themselves loosely around Axel's legs (They didn't bind down or even touch him, for fear of alerting the Flurry of their presence; they merely got into the position). When Axel moved to charge Marluxia, they tightened instantly. If successful they would trip him over and even if he still flung those chakrams, Marluxia would weaken their momentum by placing thickets of petals in their way and then easily smash them away with his scythe once they came in range.

[Zero [Axel]]

They tightened around his legs and ankles, halting his movement forward and bringing him downward. His hands managed to hit the floor first and eased the force of the fall. Staring at the ground with the smirk whiped from his face he lifted his arm. It was a dirty trick he pulled but all's fair in war. From the marble floor to the Graceful Assassin his attention shifted. Flames began to dance around the gloved fingers of his lifted hand.

"That's what I like to hear."

During the dialogue, the fire in his palm grew rapidly but his image vanished behind two columns of fire that erupted in front of Axel and chased after Marluxia, cutting through the thicket of vegetation that the chakrams failed to cut down. Behind the red-haired nobody, another column rose from the ground. The flames ate at the vines entangling the pyro's feet and he took off as soon as he was free. He emerged from the flames that lashed out at Marluxia. One more pillar of fire exploded from behind Marluxia, threatening to burn him while the others would scorch his front. On top of that, Axel charged furiously and caught one of the returning chakrams in his free hand.

[Akito]

"Oh? Have we stopped playing around?" Marluxia asked at the torrent of vicious flames that came tearing at him in order to prevent him from taking advantage of Axel's bound state.

How much power was Axel using? Such unnecessary excessive movements. Just like him. His power was formidable, even without Marluxia's natural weakness to flames. Marluxia would not be able to block the flames with his paltry resistance and nor could he dodge them unscathed normally. He could escape from behind if he really wanted to, but to his front was a hopeless fortress. It would be more convenient to go to the side. A good thing it was then that vines wrapped itself around his abdomen and shoulders, pulling Marluxia away to the left faster than he could dash.

A sudden burst of cherry blossom petals littered the ballroom, a blinding and sudden rush of pink that would cover as much of the ball room as could be in a sudden gust. Of course, they would be eliminated upon touching the fire pillars, but all else was a sudden gale that could've only lasted a second or two. During that time, the sound of breaking glass could be heard. When that torrent was over, Marluxia was no longer in plain view. The door was still wide open from Axel's entrance, and one of the large window panes were now shattered. Where was the Graceful Assassin?

[Zero [Axel]]

Pink petals turned to red wisps of fire as they floated to the ground, finally hitting as gray ash. For enough time, they had blocked Marluxia from Axel's line of sight. The pillars of fire eventually died, as did the other lofty pyres. Soon enough, the once pristine ballroom had come back into view. Piles of gray littered the ground and numerous, circular scorch marks tarnished the marble floor. Shattering glass rained down, radiating sharply.

"Resorted to running? I expected better from you..." he said to the vacancy.

He took quick strides to the large, windows ahead of him, picking up his chakrams from the ground along the way. A decent sized hole remained from where Marluxia jumped out. A deep sigh escaped the Flurry's maw as he stepped through the hole in the window, knocking down some loose glass as well. The full moon lingered overhead, illuminating the courtyard behind the castle. His green eyes quickly searched above him to prevent a sneak attack from above, then scanned the area below for the adversary. He could only wait for that silver tongued devil to rear his pink head in again.

[Akito]

Marluxia smiled. As Axel stood on the threshold, about to exit the ballroom via the hole in the windows, a scythe quietly and swiftly descended upon the back of his head from behind. A silent and deadly movement that came from above, the Graceful Assassin brought his scythe in a downward slash on Axel's head using the momentum of his mass and gravity. It was thankful that the ceiling of the ballroom was so high, it was difficult to see anything hanging from it unless one craned their head up specifically.

Yes, those vines that had pulled Marluxia out of harm's way, carried him up to the ceiling and there he suspended, quietly watching like a Venus Fly Trap. Axel had followed the obvious, Marluxia had thrown one of his Full Bloom scythes at the window during the confusion. These were window panes designed for aesthetic and they broke rather easily under the slightest pressure. If Axel had time to look out before he was attacked, he would find only a single petal which had once been in the form of Marluxia's scythe. He should've known by now not to take the Graceful Assassin at face value, he would pay for his ignorance.

[Zero [Axel]]

The single petal caught the pyro's eye. It was all too familiar. When they were plentiful, it was usually a escaping or confusion tactic; however, when there was a lone petal, it usually was a trap. He wasn't sure if Marluxia put it there while escaping to hinder Axel's movement somehow but it was best to dispatch it, just in case. His pace quickened toward the petal and he raised his hand to burn it. The sudden increase in speed is was saved his life in the end. The razored edge of Marluxia's scythe trailed cleanly down his back, slicing deep and leaving a large gash. Warm blood trailed down his spine as he stumbled through the hole, bouncing off the jagged edge of the glass. Sharp pieces burried into his side as he caught himself on the stone balcony. His hand searched his side, pulling out large shards before turning to face the man.

Quickly, he tossed a flaming chakram aimed for Marluxia's chest. For now, he needed to keep him at a distance until he could find a way to stop the bleeding. He hopped over the ledge to a more open area to fight in. With his free hand, he conjured a small flame on his fingers and placed it on the open wound. The pain was instant and the smell of burning skin was potent as he trailed up his back, cauterizing the wound.

[Akito]

Marluxia clicked his tongue. He had failed to kill his target, such a miss would mean death for an assassin under normal circumstances. Fortunately, this was not one of those times, Marluxia did not like it, but he was also able to fight on even ground. The prey was wounded, surely he would die from blood loss or...would he? Cauterizing was not out of the question. This is why Marluxia had always avoided direct conflict with Axel, even back in Castle Oblivion. That man simply won't go down easily.

A flaming chakram came at him, but Marluxia blocked it with his scythe as he had once before when they first fought. A rehash of Castle Oblivion. It was a thrown weapon, so even powered up with flames, it would not pass a weapon held steadfastly in both hands. He pushed the chakram away to the side like a toy after it lost its momentum.

Marluxia now faced Axel directly, who as expected cauterized his wound, for the first time since the start of the fight. He stood upon the threshold of the ballroom, just before the broken pane of the window. Fittingly, he stood above Axel who had escaped into the Castle gardens; Marluxia had the high ground. "Surrender, I will not ask you again,"

As he spoke, a mass of petals began to surround the area. They were spread out surrounding Axel and gradually coming closer to him at a casual walking pace. At any moment they could rush at Axel with blinding speed.

[Zero [Axel]]

Axel panted heavily, having just dealt himself an extreme amount of pain to seal the wound. Sweat trickled down his narrow face and dripped from a pointed chin. He smirked and chuckled through the pain at Marluxia's offer.

"Sorry, Marly. I just can't see myself surrendering to you before this fight even gets interesting."

A column of fire erupted directly under Axel, the force of which sent him rocketing back up to the balcony. Upon ascending, the chakrams appeared in his hands. He landed skillfully on the stone balcony edge. With his right chakram, he swung to the right at Marluxia, hoping to push his scythe out of the way before thrusting his left chakram into Marluxia's chest. Axel had the advantage of close range now that he was inside Marluxia's swing range.

[Akito]

Marluxia smiled. It was a stupid thing to ask, that man didn't know when to give up. So Marluxia would simply have to teach his body what it meant instead. Axel was always fast, but the rocket made him hard to respond to even for Marluxia.

Axel's vicious swing would indeed push back Marluxia's scythe, but not to the desired effect. Instead of being pushed out of the way, by twisting his hand and wrist around and curling his fingers Marluxia was able to use the force Axel applied to the scythe to spin it around the back of his palm to complete a full 360 degrees. In doing this, the back spin would parry Axel's subsequent thrust at what he had hoped would be an exposed Marluxia.

The Graceful Assassin knew well the limitations of a polearm his large swings, he had sparred before with his 'shocking' partner whose small enclosed attacks were the bane of any polearm user. So he picked up a few tricks here and there to cover for it; this was one of them, using the force of the opponent against them.

Of course, that was the extent of it, it wasn't like Marluxia could match Axel at that close a range. So he took a quick retreating step back after the parry and countered immediately. He was in his range now. Marluxia's follow up flurry was brutal, giving no room to counter lest Axel risk being pierced from the side. Marluxia swung his scythe from all angles, horizontal swings, vertical swings, diagonal swings and all in between. A scythe was not like a spear, at this range Marluxia's scythe came like a pick axe prying at Axel's sides. Yet all his blows were aimed at crucial areas, the lungs, the jugular, the head and the neck.

Unfortunately, because he swung it so quickly, Marluxia could not dedicate too much momentum or force behind any individual one, so they were weaker comparably, relying mainly weight of the blade itself. This also meant however that even if it were parried or blocked, recovering from it would be easy and a successive blow would be quick to follow up. Flower buds lined themselves up behind Marluxia and waited for their chance.

[Zero [Axel]]

This pink haired man had made a deperate attempt to regain the offensive of the battlefield. At his current position, Axel couldn't back up. The hurried attempt to escape the slashes would surely throw off his balance, causing he to come crashing down in the garden. But he wasn't completely traped. Like before, a pillar of fire erupted from under him, however, another pillar lurked under this one. Axel was thrown up and over Marluxia, crashing through some more glass. At his zenith, the other pillar ripped through the ground, emerging from the other pillar and racing straight toward Marluxia. Axel landed hard and slid to a stop but remained standing. At the exact moment of landing, he tossed both of his chakram at Marluxia. Hopefully this plan would work. Marluxia would remain trained on Axel through the jump. The pillar would have time to hit and alter his attention, giving Axel a chance for an open hit.

The chakrams would boomerang back and upon catching them again, burst into flames. Then they again would be thrown at Marluxia in a constant volley of spiked, flaming rings. Two chakrams had manifested and all four were being juggled at an extremely fast rate as Axel tried to close the gap between them.

[Akito]

It was the same as before, the heat radiated from such a pyre would be too evident for Marluxia not to realize its presence, however, it was difficult to dodge even knowing it was coming from that distance and when his attention was already on the red haired man. He made a desperate leap to the right and landed on a deep stance, a cat-like stance. Then the chakrams came out of nowhere. Marluxia knew he had not the time to evade or parry this one, but there were two things he could do: minimize the damage and counter-attack.

The first chakram rolled across Marluxia's right cheek, even coming dangerously close to tearing off his ear had he not tilted his head to the left at the last minute. The second tore a gash in his left arm such that he temporally lost feeling in it. It would still be usable, but not without a great deal of pain. Blood was minimal because the flaming weapons themselves would partially cauterize the wound.

The losses were acceptable. Because when the chakrams returned like a boomerang, someone had to be there to catch them. And that someone was approaching him, Marluxia could see him coming. So when the first volley of chakrams were almost coming to return to Axel, two lasers thick as the trunk of a grown oak tree (The heat from Axel's last pyre was put to use, converted into energy to strength the flower buds behind Marluxia) would direct themselves straight at Axel, side by side. The lasers would then split, with the laser on the right making a right sweep, and the laser on the left a left sweep of the premise; thus, escape to either side became unfeasible. All the while, the remaining flower buds floated casually in the air between Marluxia and Axel.