Gahbreal Storytime #1
The rain fell just as it often did. Heavy sweeps pelting the rooftop as they sat on the couch inside. Cyva smiled in a pleasant manner as she always did, her hands steadily and carefully drying her daughter’s large wings which were dripping with water. Meanwhile, Gahbriogyva was beyond unpleased. There was a lack of happiness that came with finding herself at their family home, but none so much as finding herself at this place while her father was present. Gahbreal sitting across the room on the opposite end of the couch sipping from a mug of what smelled like a type of coffee, but also alcohol. It looked to be the same stuff Evagelyne would drink when she was particularly displeased with others. Surprisingly, however, he did not seem pleased as he normally did when she was around.
“What? Did you manage to fuck something up worse than normal?” she poked fun at the male only to feel the sting of her mother plucking one of her feathers and extracting a few tears from the girl.
“Language, dear.”
“Fine.”
“Don’t be so hard on her,” Gahbreal spoke to his wife who gave him a look that clearly stated not to tell her what to do, but he didn’t lift his head enough to see it himself. “It’s natural for the girl to be curious, no matter how old she becomes.”
“Don’t treat me like a child,” she shot back to which her fathers red gaze shifted to her.
“I rarely ever speak about work, if I ever do at all. Are you saying it has never interested you just how these things work?”
“I don’t need to ask questions about things I already know. I’m sure you handle everything perfectly. Just like the perfectionist everyone says you’ve always been. It’s not like you’ve ever failed a job anyway.”
“Well, that wouldn’t necessarily be true.”
Those words caught her attention, her face finally becoming more serious. Her father, failing at his job? That was unthinkable. Even her grandmother didn’t speak of anything like that, and she had made it painfully obvious that she keeps track of the work that all of her children and direct descendants are involved in. Stating that it was necessary to decide who would be in line after her, or something like that, but she had also said her decision was made.
“You’re serious? Don’t you kill people for a living? How could you fail and still be alive?”
“There is no need to pry into your father’s work any further. Just allow him to work,” Cyva spoke as she continued drying her daughter’s wings, but she was left shocked to see her husband place his paperwork down on the coffee table next to his mug.
“Perhaps it would be best to tell you about it for future reference, and warning.”
“Are you sure about that, my wolf? You know how Xainayne feels about you talking about your work to others.”
“It should be fine. It’s not like I can’t trust our wolf pup to keep a secret. So then, where to begin?”
The building was dark, the hurried footsteps dashing from room to room. They pranced up the stairs in a manner that no human could and quickly advanced down the hall and through a set of doors which led to a master bedroom. The doors quickly shut behind them as they tossed a rotting cupboard in the way to hold it closed and backed to the far end of the room. The building was dilapidated, falling apart, derelict in both look and actuality, but it held up well enough to count as a proper hiding place... or at least that was what could be thought for a short moment.
It wasn’t until she felt a tight grip around her neck that her gaze shifted downward, a hand emerging from the darkness at their feet and from it a figure of pure shadow emerging until they stood right before them. The figure of a woman yet a silhouette of purified darkness. She had known an assassin was going to be coming for her, but in knowing it there was still very little she could do about it. The tip was given by a claimant who had, without as much grace as possible, simply stated the date and method of their death by the hands of an assassin. When asked how they could survive the encounter they were told that there was no way and their fate was sealed. It was for that reason she had found herself fleeing this person, but it was also the words they needed to prepare the only countermeasure they could think of.
“Who are you?” she questioned her assailant to which they did not respond. She couldn’t even see their face! Nothing but darkness and despair. “Let go of me.”
“I’m sorry,” a woman’s voice emerged from the shadow along with a slight chuckle. “I just find it so stupid that you’d think an assassin would just reveal their name to you. However, I suppose you’re just a slight bit lucky.”
“Lucky? What are you talking about?”
“You get to live for a few minutes longer, while I deal with this disturbance.” The woman almost lost all composure entirely, watching as her killer drew their weapon and knocked away the one which approached her from behind to the side. The sound of the mass of metal slicing into the wall was disturbingly familiar, and it was at this point the shadow turned to see the weapon in question. A gasp escaping her lips as red eyes opened amongst the blackness. “An axe? No, that’s.”
Her head turned to the opposite side of her body, confirming the fist which was closing in on her person before she quickly moved out of the way. A few blows were exchanged in which a flurry of punches was deflected, followed by a kick which caused the woman to flip back across the room in a manner that suggested high experience, her red orbs never once leaving his form as a means to show his approach would not go unnoticed. The male walked over to his weapon and pulled it from the wall, holding it at his side as he positioned himself between the two ladies. He was shrouded in a coat of pure dark, but his face was far too familiar just as his weapon was.
“Your movements. They’re quite skilled. I haven’t met many people who can move like you do.” Serious, right from the start, she had to take note of that.
“Raminasuejji.”
“You speak Japanese and you know my weapon’s name? Interesting.”
“Leave this place, Gahbreal. It’s not meant for you,” she spoke as she drew her own blade. A kodachi which looked almost ancestorial. The blade was red, but not to be confused with red metal. It looked to be so stained with blood that it could never be washed away, only its finely sharpened edge revealing the deep silver edge.
“So you say, but I can’t just leave a claimant to be murdered. Can I?” he spoke as he readied himself. “Besides, I’ve seen the work of your weapon before.”
“And that means?”
“It means I can’t let you leave this place alive. You’ve killed too many, and you won’t go unpunished for it.”
“Fine then. Fine! If that’s the way you want to have it, then by all means. I can spare some time to teach a quick lesson in power. Just because you’re an aikekunai doesn’t mean you’ll ever outrank me.”
While he wanted to inquire on what she meant by saying he wouldn’t ‘outrank’ her, the time it took the woman to nearly slice right through his neck was fast. Too fast. So much so that he barely managed to dodge the attack and strike back with his own. The feeling of his weapon being knocked back even more surprising, his eyes turning to see his strike was directly blocked. His hope was that she wouldn’t be capable of managing such a feat with so small a weapon, but as he chose to throw all of his strength at the woman, he soon came to find that his initial thought wasn’t the case at all. She wasn’t blocking his attacks; she was deflecting them outright.
This had escalated things considerably, substantially! He had initially found her to be skilled compared to the normal claimants he would be left dealing with. Now, however, she was performing feats which would require the same output of strength equivalent or higher than his own. That was something only several people who existed could manage, only a handful among the claimants, and he had not known of this person at all. What was once a simple fight had fast devolved into an outright battle, his movements more refined than he could recall ever needing in recent years, but it still wasn’t enough to properly keep up.
“This is a bad habit of yours!” the woman called out as she grabbed direct hold of his hand in order to halt his attacks. A choice which made him all the more shocked. “For a killer you show too much mercy in your movements.”
She twisted his wrist around, the weapon falling from his grip as she kicked it into the roof before backing away slowly. It was a gesture that suggested their battle was finished, and yet Gahbreal was nowhere near prepared to let things end like this, and that was clear in his eyes which burned a confident scarlet.
“Just because I don’t have my weapon, that doesn’t mean you’ve won.”
“I’ve won because you can’t defeat me.”
“And yet I’m still standing. Now raise your weapon, because I will not stop,” he spoke as he raised his fists in preparation to continue on. The woman could only sigh in retaliation.
“How stubborn. Almost like a child... fine. If that’s how you want to have it,” she spoke as she put her weapon away and fixed herself into a basic martial artists stance. One that he had never once seen in his life. “If you want to be punished so badly, then I suppose I can do my personal job and scold you properly.”
He stepped forward, a fire lit inside of him like never before as he moved to strike and yet as his fist flew, he found himself outpaced entirely. The red eyes he could once see gone entirely and yet they still moved with such perfection. He fought with every technique his mother had taught him regarding hand-to-hand combat, a fighting composition made by his family for assassination, and yet this person countered everything. His kicks were dodged, his punches were redirected, between all of these she would strike back with strikes so heavy it was astounding! It wasn’t until he had chosen to use an intricate combination of blows that he chose to change his plan of attack. His punches were targeted, fast, well-paced and coupled with kicks that would sweep and strike with precision, but none of it even came close to landing. So instead, he resorted to using the things Xainayne had taught him, fighting more like an ancient than a claimant.
Gahbreal had begun slipping in and out of the shadows, sliding through the area like a raven amongst the mist, only striking at what were the perfect moments from places in which she could not see. Emerging from the shadows for a kick, only for the woman to dodge and retaliate with an attack of her own, but upon retaliation he would simply vanish once again into the darkness. This would continue on, the woman just barely dodging his attacks and yet being incapable of landing her own. This caused her to sigh and place her hands together in a praying position, of which he could have sworn upon hearing the sound of bells chiming.
“A proper technique of a darkness claimant. However, it’s wasted on you.” Her words carried through the air as she continued to avoid his attacks by a hair. “If this is all you’re capable of you don’t deserve the title of aikekunai, Dimea, and most certainly not Chisuke.”
Her words caused a stir in his chest, an anger he did not know he was capable of harboring from simple taunts alone and yet this person had thrown an insult his way so profound and direct it was as if they were attacking his very existence! It was for this reason that as he emerged from the darkness behind her, not making a single sound, that he put his all into silencing this person who so willingly believed they could speak to him in this manner. But things rarely work the way we want them to, and as he watched her eyes turn to face him at speeds he could barely register, it was clear to him that this was a fight he wasn’t going to win.
“Amazing,” he spoke under his breath. Left in awe at this woman’s raw power and capabilities.
“Now then,” she spoke as she coiled her left arm around his striking right to hold him in place. “I believe it is time you go into time-out!”
His feet couldn’t even reach the ground before he felt the impact of three palms on his stomach and chest. It felt like death, each strike breaking its own personal rib just before she released him with the final strike. A direct hit to his sternum which blasted the air right out of his system. It felt as if he were suffocating, his vision fading in and out, yet he could only focus on the woman herself who was not done. The way she crouched down before jumping into the air, her body twirling in a dancelike manner just before her foot rose above them both and crashed down against his head in a merciless manner which sent him careening through the floor. The structure of the building crumbling beneath his body as he couldn’t stop himself from his downward spiral until he could feel himself slam against the concrete floor on the basement, the stone shattering beneath him.
“That, is all I can remember. Next thing I know I’m being woken up at Eviax’s with multiple broken bones, fractures, and ruptured organs. Apparently just about every attack she used was more violent than I had anticipated, and mainly targeted my internals rather than just dealing direct damage. She fought like a real assassin, and there aren’t many people who would have survived the encounter. In Eviax’s opinion, she said she believed they didn’t want me dead or I would be. I’m inclined to believe her.”
“Holy shit,” Gabi responded only to find another of her feathers plucked from her wings. “Ouch! Mom!”
“You’ve never told me this story before, Gahbreal. Why tell us about it now?” Cyva questioned him to which he shrugged and leaned back against the couch.
“No idea. Although, I’d rather you both be prepared if this person ever decides to attack either of you. Although I doubt either of you could escape them reliably, so you'd have to fight her off. They weren’t particularly different from me physically, but they were highly skilled, even more so than myself. I could see Nier giving her trouble, you’re a machine for combat wolf pup so I wouldn’t undermine your success, Stasia as always can't be fought easily, DeVian always has a strict guard up, Evans’ unpredictable nature may hold her off for a time, there are a few others as well who might put up a decent fight such as Shinzo and Haden, preferably the two together, but it will only do so much in the long run. That woman is like my mother but worse... a monster in combat.”
The woman sneezed as she reached for a tissue to wipe her nose.
“You’re not getting sick, are you? I don’t want any sick fucks in my house.”
“Claimants don’t get sick, Yva. Don’t be stupid,” she spoke as she lifted a cigarette to her lips and lit the item with a personally customized lighter featuring cute illustrated dogs and cats.
“Maybe someone’s talking about you aunt May,” Koven spoke as he dropped a few cubes of ice into her cup of coffee. “You can never rule it out.”
“You know I don’t care for superstitious bullshit. All that matters is reality and what’s right in front of us.”
“Yeah, and meanwhile we live in an existence in which one of the ancients represents the opposition of love and relations.”
“If there were an ancient who represented making me sneeze every time someone decided to talk about me, I'd kill them in their sleep without a second thought.” She lifted her cup to her lips and sipped the now cooled down beverage. “That would be far too much of an annoyance, even compared to what we have to deal with now.”