[open] La nuit du chasseur

[Tyro Clay]

"Speech." - "Quote." - Thought. - Action.

Tyro was highly amused by how fascinated this dear, darling girl was with him. He wasn't surprised by any means - oh, not at all, he was used to endlessly seducing sweet, innocent girls and molding them to monsters that he could enjoy - but he was still entertained. She would've made a fantastic playtoy if he didn't need to turn her over to Chaos. Having her be attracted to him, silly as it was, was a nice bonus. It'd make this thing a little bit easier. Hopefully she was as weak as her ability to hide her emotions; that'd make this so much less painful on the both of them. Well, at least on Tyro.

Watching her walk away and organize a stack of papers to hide her blushing face was almost as entertaining as the fact that soon Tyro would be on a hunt to kill his own Alchemist to devour. It was still a shame that he had to give the heart to Chaos, but whatever, he'd just go somewhere else and find another one. Why not? He had all the time in the world, and a new ally would provide him with something to do when he'd taken what he wanted from other worlds. Really, it was surprising that Tyro didn't go on more killing sprees. That would be a fantastic way to spend a day - maybe two. Imagine going back home and dancing on the ashes of his parents' old house...

It was fortunate that he'd cut his hand when she'd chanced a glance up towards him. That would mean that the injury weren't for nothing. As a bonus, he'd get to see the concern on her cute little face upon noticing the injury. She immediately went for some first-aid supplies, and once she'd reached those, she made her way back over to him, saying in a surprisingly calm voice, "Let's get you fixed up." He let her get close enough to start wrapping his wound, but that was about all he was going to let her do. It was time to get to business.

"Sorry, love, but I won't be needing that." Immediately he set to work; he grabbed one of her hands with his newly cut one, and he yanked her closer, wrapping his other arm around her neck and immediately tightening it like a noose, cutting off all air as quickly as he could. The likelihood of a scream was next to none; now he just had to hope that she'd panic enough to make herself black out sooner than later, and that she wasn't nearly as strong and deadly as Chaos had implied.

[Chaos]

He grabbed her and a sudden fear gripped her. Had she been wrong about him, was he really a monster. She felt the vice like grip close around her throat. She brought her elbow to bear against his ribs many times. When that wasn't enough, she reached into her apron and grabbed a card.

She slapped it against Tyro's leg and put her will into it. It lit up and began to low. She slipped away into a deep sleep as the paper caught on fire. She hadn't been fast enough, she would die to this man she had angered. She had been such a fool.

--------------------------------

Chaos looked up to the sky. It was just becoming dark and he looked to the stars. Something had changed recently, and it was more then just the Heartless. He could hear it in the way the universe spoke to him. Things were heating up, and soon the Horsemen would ride out, slaughtering all who lay in their wake.

It was a good dream, and had been a good life. However now he would have to test these so called strong hearts. He would see their strength, and he would find their weaknesses. He would drive them to despair and destruction. He had grown skilled in such arts within his life.

After all he had been born to become this. He had known humans were beneath him even when he counted among them. Then they killed him, in fact the gallows from which he had hung were not far from here, of course that kingdom lay in ruins now. He had done so personally, he had taught them the error of their ways. After all he was Chaos, he would ride upon the winds of Armageddon and he would cleanse the worlds away.

[Tyro Clay]

"Speech." - "Quote." - Thought. - Action.

The instantaneous tightening of his strong arm around the poor girl's neck brought a rush of red-hot adrenaline boiling through his wicked veins; he could feel her every piteous struggle against his bicep and forearm. Oh, how easily it would have been to have simply snapped her neck and killed her right there and then to have a feast for himself. Were he not on a mission for his master, it was highly likely that he would have done so once he'd finished with his own fun. The girl had either been easy to fool and gullible as all hell, or this was proof enough that the hellhound had not lost his killer's touch after years of sitting like some useless pup in the Darkness.

Either way, the girl had not seen it coming; she was terrified and immediately began to panic, just as Tyro had anticipated - that was good, it meant she would tire and black out far more quickly. She thrashed around in his grip. At least, her arms and legs thrashed around, but her head and neck were trapped against his body in a death-grip that someone so weak and small as herself would likely not be able to escape from. He could feel her trying to slam her elbow into his ribs, hoping to cause enough pain to make his let go. There was no chance that it would work; in fact, Tyro liked the abuse more than most, and if anything, his grip tightened like a boa constrictor.

Her struggling was quickly losing its potency, which disappointed Tyro, if only slightly. Though he did desire for this fight to be rather quick and effortless, he also desired a bit more of a challenge. Oh, well. Perhaps the second one would display these so-called "tricks" which Chaos had warned the beast of. Tyro had let himself be convinced of the girl's surrender much too quickly. She apparently realized that her current tactics were very unsuccessful; slowly her sight would go black and she would lose her bearings. Her last resort would be her last resort, fortunately for Tyro. Unfortunately, her last resort would hurt like a bitch.

The Heartless wasn't entirely sure what her goal was or what had happened, but he felt a sudden slap against his thigh - quite possibly just a random flail that had resulted in his leg being sharply smacked - and glanced down, arm still tightly wrapped around her small neck, to see a card sticking against his jeans. "What the hell...?" Her struggling became more weak and pathetic by the second, but Tyro could see that, whatever the girl had been planning, it was working. The card began to glow, and immediately the man felt heat radiating from it. Within a second of her frail body going completely limp, the card burst into flame.

Tyro let out a feral snarl of rage and threw the unconscious girl to the floor, feeling the fire burn through his jeans and immediately start to burn his skin. He brushed his hands rapidly over his jeans, trying to send the fire away. Though it burned his hands, the fiery piece of paper fluttered to the ground quickly. Tyro's eyes narrowed, seeing the ignited flame slowly beginning to die now that it had nothing to fuel it; it reminded him of when he'd started his home on fire, killing his mother and father. It still angered the Heartless to no end that his little twin sisters had escaped him; he'd had no intention of killing them - in fact, he'd taken them out from the house before he set it on fire - but they had run away into the night, and he had never managed to locate them.

Perhaps that was what the hunter had set as his ultimate goal: to become a good enough hunter to find his sisters. If that was truly his goal, he would not admit to it under any circumstances. For a master to find out that he longed to find his sisters might devastate his reputation. Then again, he didn't even know what the hell he was going to with them once he found them. He didn't know whether he wanted to kill them or to befriend them or just to make their lives a living hell. Having been the pet all throughout his life, perhaps he longed to have his own little pets. Or perhaps he just wanted to be reminded that at one point in time he'd been normal.

Tyro was pulled out of his thoughts suddenly as the smell of smoke hit his nose; the card had been extinguished. The Heartless looked to the girl who was still motionless on the floor. On the one hand, he should probably bind her for Chaos - perhaps it would impress the Homunculus... on the other hand, what was the fun in that? Perhaps Chaos could use his own little struggle and chase. Whatever; Tyro could afford to bind her up. The man stooped down beside the girl, grabbing the knife which he had dropped and using it to cut several thick strips of material off of her apron. Strips in one hand, he grabbed her hands with his other and tied her wrist together.

Tyro wasn't a professional kidnapper by any means, but he was quite proficient at tying binds and everything. It was at least enough to keep this girl in place until he could hand her off to Chaos. Fortunately, now that he had the girl, he could quickly and easily use a portal of Darkness to get back to Chaos. The reason why he couldn't have teleported earlier was because he hadn't know where he was going, but since he had already gotten there, all he had to do was go back to where he had come from. With a soft sigh, Tyro threw the girl over his shoulder and stood up.

Tyro blinked, and as his blazing amber eyes opened, the portal of Darkness flared up from the ground, tendrils reaching into the air. The Heartless stepped into the blackness, and when he came into the open on the other side, he stood before Chaos whose pale green eyes were looking up to the darkening night sky. This was as easy as Tyro had anticipated it to be; he had a lot of time to mess around with his next kill, though he didn't know who or what it would be. "Evening, Chaos," Tyro sang rather calmly, his voice wavering in a strange song-like way. "One down."

[Chaos]

Chaos turned his head to face his pet. "Good I see you brought one." He then looked to Tyro's pants. "And I see she taught you something." He said with a smile. Then his eyes were drawn to the knife. He moved over to it with a sublime grace, plucking it from where it was and holding it in his hand. "Exquisite workmanship. A rather nice balance too." He said examining the blade.

He turned his attention to the unconscious girl. "Good, now hand her over." He took her from the Heartless and held her up to the wall. He smelled her as he waited for her to wake. He took off the bandana waiting for the inevitable look of horror on her face when she realized who had her.

She slowly shook her head coming too, which was enough of a surprise for her. At first all she felt was pressure on her neck and wrists. Had she been kidnapped and taken to be sold? She slowly blinked her eyes open and confusion crossed her face. A man was holding her against a wall by her throat. He was smiling wikedly as he held her knife in his hand. She could see the boy from the shop, as well. "Please don't hurt me."

Chaos was shocked, she had looked to him with confusion. "Why don't you recognize me?"

The question confused the terrified girl even more. Why would she recognize this man, she was sure she would remember the tattoo on his forehead. "I swear I've never seen you in my life, please let me go."

What was this? Did she not at least know the mark of a homunculi? Did she think he was just a man. "I am Chaos of the Horsemen."

"I don't know who that is." She said, tears streaming down her face.

Chaos was stunned. He took a step back, bringing her with him. "How can you not know who I am.? How could the Horsemen have been forgotten? We raided and pillaged, we killed mercilessly, how can you forget us?" He asked as rage crossed his face. "HOW?" He screamed as he crushed her neck. Blood began to spill out the sides as she continued to struggle, despite the fact that her death was already sealed.

He threw the girl on the ground, who feebly tried to get up, or at least breath. She brought her hand to her throat as her lungs began to fill with her own blood. "How can anyone forget us? We should taught in school, mothers should use our names to frighten their children." He was breathing hard as the anger left him and the realization hit him.

The girl stopped moving as Chaos waved his hand, opening a portal of Darkness. "Do as you wish Tyro, you have proven yourself." He said flatly as his mind drowned in the fact that he was forgotten. How could so much time have passed?

[Tyro Clay]

"Speech." - "Quote." - Thought. - Action.

As Tyro's words rang gently in the emptiness that was the alley, Chaos turned his head to face the Heartless. Tyro couldn't help but be pleased with himself; he had plenty of time left to hunt down and toy with the second Alchemist that Chaos had assigned him to kill. Additionally, he had conquered this poor girl with minimal injuries and without making a huge scene (though that was less of a bonus and more of an undesired requirement). The Heartless could still feel the injury on his thigh stinging faintly, but it would heal shortly, no doubt, and Tyro would be well enough to go on the hunt once more. It seemed that Chaos noticed the injury as well, and the Homunculus responded, "Good, I see you brought one."

Tyro was not surprised by his success; he rarely lost his prey. However, Chaos also seemed to notice that Tyro had not come out of it completely unscathed. The self-inflicted injury meant nothing, of course, but the burn to the leg was rather obnoxious to say the least, and Chaos commented, "And I see she taught you something." Tyro merely snorted in response, adjusting his stance to take a bit of the strain off of his leg. Chaos noticed the knife which the Heartless has been carrying, and the man approached him, taking the knife from his hands. Tyro let him have it; he had no use for a knife, not when his power was better in his fists.

Tyro watched and waited patiently with the girl slung over his shoulder as Chaos examined the blade as though it were some rare, fine piece of art. "Exquisite workmanship. A rather nice balance too," Chaos murmured, looking rather impressed by the weapon. Tyro had no interest in a hunk of metal, no matter how sharp and well-crafted it was. Blunt, brute force was the way to go. At least, in his eyes. At last Chaos turned his attention to the girl which Tyro carried; the Heartless could feel the heart in her chest beating against his shoulder, and it made him all that much more anxious and excited to head off to his second hunt.

Chaos commanded, "Good, now hand her over." Tyro let the girl slip from his shoulders, and Chaos took the girl from him. With the weight now off himself, the Heartless began to pace, waiting for the order to fetch the second Alchemist whom he would be allowed to kill. Chaos seemed quite pleased with the hostage that Tyro had acquired as he pinned her up against the wall by her neck. Tyro watched, only half interested, folding his arms across his strong chest and running one hand through his hair, enjoying the feel of his fingers against his scalp. He ruffled his hair then, letting every dark indigo strand fall in his face and across his head. It felt good not to have it so sleek.

With the girl's ability to breathe faintly inhibited, she began to awake; Chaos had removed his deep red bandana, revealing the strange marking on his forehead. Tyro said nothing, merely folding his arms once more and watching the show from beneath his dark hair. The girl's eyes fluttered open softly like little black butterflies with pale green bodies opening their wings after a long night's sleep; immediately fear struck her face, but something about this was off... Tyro could sense it. The girl's eyes focused on the pale blonde-haired man in front of her, and what came from her mouth was a trembling plea, typical of any captive: "Please don't hurt me."

Tyro watched silently, his blazing golden eyes flickering to Chaos as the man - for the first time since the Heartless had met him - seemed caught off guard and taken aback by such a simple reaction. He asked, dumbfounded, "Why don't you recognize me?" The girl's eyes widened; she was even more fearful of this man now, but she could do nothing to release herself from his grip. She responded, her eyes growing tearful, "I swear I've never seen you before in my life - please let me go..." Tyro narrowed his eyes, looking between Chaos and the girl. Chaos was dissatisfied... displeased. What was causing him such fury and confusion?

"I am Chaos of the Horsemen," Chaos stated, as though the name would remind her. What tears had gathered in her eyes were now slipping down her pale, soft cheeks, and she replied in a sobbing voice, "I don't know who that is!" The Horseman's face began to contort with anger and fury, and he stepped back from the wall, dragging her with him in his tight fist; her feet dragged against the ground and she could barely even writhe or struggle against his grip. Chaos snarled, his voice hot with rage, "How can you not know who I am? How could the Horsemen have been forgotten? We raided and pillaged, we killed mercilessly, how can you forget us?!"

There was one final scream - "HOW?! - before the girl's life was quickly ended; Chaos's fist tightened to crushing force around her neck and crushed her windpipe, and his fingers cut open the sides of her neck. Chaos tossed her to the dirt, disgusted and enraged by this sudden turn of events, and Tyro watched lustfully as the blood spilled from her neck over the dusty ground. The Heartless closed his eyes and breathed in; the tang of blood electrified him, excited him. His pupils dilated as he watched the girl bleed out and eventually grow still. The Heartless gritted his teeth, his best attempt to maintain control. Chaos was still unhappy.

"How can anyone forget us?" the Homunculus asked rhetorically. "We should be taught in school - mothers should use our names to frighten their children!" The man's breaths were coming raggedly. Tyro did not move; he merely watched his master with his hungry, fatal eyes, tightening his fists on his arms and digging his fingernails into his skin, trying to keep a hold of himself. Slowly Chaos's anger began to wither and melt away, and it seemed that he knew that things were not as they had once been in the worlds. The Horseman waved his hand, and a portal of Darkness opened, preparing to take him away.

"Do as you wish, Tyro; you have proven yourself," Chaos said flatly. Tyro narrowed his eyes and retorted, "I know you cannot be so pathetic a being as to admit defeat simply because one girl does not know you. If a single defeat against an ignorant child is enough to curb your anger and drive for revenge then I believe it is you who need to prove yourself, not I." He uncrossed his arms, moving towards the girl and grabbing her hair, picking up the limp, dead body and bringing her cold face near to his. The monster sniffed at her neck before gently sliding his tongue up the side of it, collecting a pool of blood on his tongue before stating to Chaos, mesmerized eyes fixed on the girl, "Have I chosen to follow a man, or have I chosen to follow Chaos?"

[Chaos]

Rage contorted Chaos' face. The air around him seemed to quiver as he drew on his power, preparing to strike. How dare this child? It could not know the blow that had been struck. It was just a feral beast, content to strike in the shadows feeding on the weak. Chaos was a creature of magnitude. He was a force to be reckoned with and a force to be feared. However in the time since he was sealed they had forgotten him. It was a fate worse then death, anonymity.

Strike from the shadows. Was it really that simple? The worlds had changed, even his own, he would need to gather information. He could use this new found anonymity to walk unseen beside them. Chaos would teach them for forgetting him. His rage would be unquenchable and his assaults brutal. On top of it all there would be no record of his defeat.

"Not at all Tyro." He said calmly as his aura returned to normal. "But now I must start again. This involves drastically different plots then just picking up where I left off. How few of us get a chance to start again, I would be a fool if I wasted mine." He turned back to the portal. "It won't be long before we march across every world, burning them to the ground. When naught but ash remains, you will have your answer."

[Tyro Clay]

"Speech." - "Quote." - Thought. - Action.

The Heartless had better things to worry about than eating his spoils before the blood was all gone, spilled from the quickly cooling body of the freshly fallen teenage girl. Really, she had been quite a beautiful little creature with her glinting green eyes and shimmering black hair. Tyro nearly felt bad for how quickly and easily he had captured her - he certainly felt bad that Chaos had killed her before he'd had his chance to have some fun with her. Regardless, the Homunculus had given the hound permission to do as he wished, and he wished to have a snack. She had good blood; it tasted very metallic, surprisingly, a flavor which Tyro had come to love more than the saltier tang of blood. It was like chewing on a bullet.

Still, it was hard to enjoy a meal when the very matter of the world around the Heartless was shifting and warping and humming to the tune of destruction; it made his dark indigo hair stand straight on his neck and made his grip on the corpse's hair tighten, bringing the limp body a bit closer to his lips and giving her skin a gentle nip - not enough to break the skin, but enough to give himself some comfort and release from the sudden maelstrom that Chaos seemed content to thrust this world into. The Heartless still stood tall, his blazing amber eyes refusing to look at Chaos, the being with the power who could, in all honesty, likely squash him like a bug. The Heartless did not want to incur the wrath of this infuriated being.

It seemed that after a moment of thought, Chaos went quiet, and the world followed suit; the seething rage which had hissed like snakes between the being's teeth ceased and only then did Tyro let his eyes flicker from his prize, his meal. Something which Tyro did not know had suddenly quelled Chaos's anger, and he responded with a rather amiable, "Not at all, Tyro. But now I must start again. This involves drastically different plots then just picking up where I left off. How few of us get a chance to start again, I would be a fool if I wasted mine." Tyro listened for a hint of joking or madness or anything in the being's voice, but there was none.

Quickly the girl's body was losing its warmth. The blood was dispelling and beginning to grow thinner. Her smooth skin was growing cold, and she was starting to go rigid. A cold meal was never fun. The smell of blood, still quite pungent in the air, made Tyro shiver, and as Chaos turned back to the portal, Tyro brought up one hand, jagged knife-like black claws extending his fingers. He took in a deep breath, put his fingers together like one giant knife, and thrust the hand into her chest; he grimaced, if only for a moment, as her shattering ribs and sternum cut the skin of his hand, but once he felt her still warm heart in his hand, the pain did not matter. He jerked the heart out, cords snapping and blood splattering as he did so, and then he dropped the body.

With a bloody heart in his palm, Tyro let his gaze wander back to Chaos; it was a shame that the Heartless wouldn't have time to enjoy a full meal. "It won't be long before we march across every world, burning them to the ground. When naught but ash remains, you will have your answer," Chaos stated, and Tyro responded in a voice that seemed strained, "I do not doubt the power you possess." With that in mind, Tyro brought the heart to his lips and dug his teeth in like some starving man devouring a raw steak; he ripped and tore at it relentlessly until it had disappeared, and then he licked his fingers clean and approached Chaos, waiting for further instruction.

[Chaos]

Chaos watched the grisly sight, impartial. A seed of doubt had taken root in the Heartless. No great leader should have human failings, especially one as great as Chaos must be. That the Heartless had seen him in such a state was outrageous enough, but that this miscreant would still continue to doubt him. Well he mustn't let anymore of his human failing bubble to the surface.

The beast could still be managed, and he had made his point clear, he didn't doubt the power, just the man. Chaos would show Tyro who it was that he followed, he would announce to all of the worlds of his coming doom to all of them. He was not a being to be trifled with, but he would not let pride stop him this time.

"That will have to do for now. In time, my actions will far outweigh one outburst." He said calmly as he looked off distracted. "I will have to change much of my plan, but this gives us a period of scouting, before the main event starts."

He turned back. "Go, enjoy yourself, I have much to plan. Shortly you will have to leave this world, and find out as much as you can from the next, for know you hunt information."