Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Into The Void ❯ Chivalry ( Chapter 20 )

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

By: MellyN

XxXxXx

Into the Void

Chapter 20: Chivalry

By: Melissa Norvell

XxXxXx

"Okay, you two can stand guard while we sleep," Sari smiled brilliantly at them. "You're two tough guys."

"You mean sacrifices," Zidane didn't like the idea that Sari was just going to feed him to the terrorists so she could get some sleep.

"Huh?" Sari asked.

"Ibuki's troops are stationed here," the scar-faced man informed. He knew the locations of just about all of the troops and according to his judgment; they should be near this shore. Their advancements were swift and truth be told. That man was right on their tales.

"That's right," Loreli replied, "they were to be positioned here."

"You two have to deal with that, don't you?" Zidane asked as Vincent whined and commented that they were going to die. Valentino simply glanced at his small, black pistol and mentioned that he needed a bigger gun. Hisamichi offered that Valeninto take his gun. The assassin agreed and took his rifle.

"I only wasted one bullet, so you should have a lot of ammo left if you need it," Hisamichi informed.

"Well, see you guys later. If you're not there in the morning, I'll know that the terrorists got you," Sari began to make her way back towards their current place of residence.

"She's so caring…" Vincent said in a sarcastic yet whiny voice as Ionna walked wordlessly by him. He turned his attentions to the black-haired woman and stared at her with lust-filled, dashing eyes. "Hey."

"My name is not hey," the woman shot coldly as her eyes pierced his soul.

"Ionna, aren't you going to say good night? Or are you still miffed about before?" Vincent asked playfully.

"Good night," Ionna wasn't going to be out right cold to him but she wanted to teach him a lesson. She would not be run over and come crawling back to him like some desperate, lonely whore. She would stand her ground against him. Plus, she was still cross at him for the prior incident.

"See you Valentino. Hope Vincent doesn't annoy you too much," Yaritza cast a cold glare at the bounty hunter, who looked insulted at the remark.

"Why doesn't anyone want to say good night to me?" He was a little angry that everyone was still being rude to him. He honestly didn't even know why they were being discourteous. He just stated his opinion, after all.

"Good night, Vincent-kun, Valentino-san," Bosnia bowed as Agata proceeded to tell him good night. He turned to her and said good night to her back. He couldn't turn down someone as pretty as she, naturally. Loreli bid everyone good night and Zidane merely uttered 'meh' and turned to walk off. Vincent was beginning to irritate him again anyway, so it was best that he left without a word.

Udo scoffed as his thoughts berated the impolite bounty hunter. 'It figures that he'd say good night to her.' With those thoughts leaving his head, he turned and walked back to their temporary stay.

"Good night, I do hope you have a better day tomorrow, Vincent," Ryouzonia sat a feathered hand gently on the bounty hunters strong shoulder.

"Thanks," he smiled at the kind bird. It felt nice to have some compassion shown to him. Everyone else seemed to be giving him such hell. Hisamichi also bowed and said his good night as Ryouzonia walked over to the assassin.

"Good night, Valentino. Be careful, alright?"

The assassin nodded in response and soon after, Ryouzonia left without a word more.

Now they were alone on the shoreline.

It seemed like a good two hours had passed as each man stood silently on the shoreline. Valentino would occasionally watch the waves rush calmly against the sand and Vincent occasionally ventured off into the depths of his own mind as he mulled over things and enjoyed the rush of night air through his long, brown hair.

The minutes seemed to drag on as moonlight bathed the two men's figures. They both looked around as they kept watch for any suspicious-looking terrorists that happened to comb the beach at night. So far, they hadn't found anything. Vincent found himself trying his hardest not to fall asleep at his post. With the growing sensation of fatigue, he became irritable and began to complain about his position.

"I always get the crap shifts," Vincent began to grumble. "All the fucking time."

Valentino said nothing in response.

"Always in the most terrorist infected areas. Not even any places to get some food," he continued on his tangent. The bounty hunter glanced at Valentino's silent form and decided to make this conversation a two-person ordeal.

"Hey…"

The assassin glanced over to him.

"Is it true that you're a vampire? You kind of look like one, so I was just wondering…"

Valentino remained silent.

"Because you don't have those pointy teeth," Vincent stretched his mouth and indicated to his incisors.

"Lockheart…" The man then heard his last name being uttered in monotone.

"Yes, vampy?"

"…Shut up…"

"Okay…"

XxXxXxXx

Rubio walked along the shoreline as looked around at the moonlight. The only sounds that could be heard were the slight movement of the air, the waves and rushing of water and a few night birds. The silent man stared out over the waters as he thought aloud to himself.

"It's really lonely here, so dark…A perfect night and no one to share it with," he commented as a small flash of Angora's face reeled through his senses. She was nude under white sheets and her ruby red lips were curved into a smile as lime green tresses fell over long, elegant shoulders. 'Strangely, I don't feel depressed about her anymore. I mean, is it wrong to feel at ease about it? She died a year ago.'

Then, Valentino's form flooded his mind. 'You can't defend someone's honor if that honor isn't there.'

'Maybe he was right…' The man gazed at the full moon, which shone high above and seemed so close to the sea. It was as if you could walk on the water and climb on to it.'Valentino…why do I feel so strange about him? I can't believe that I kissed him. But it felt so…different then hers. I can't admit it. I mean…I'm not gay…Am I? He…He is very handsome…those dead eyes that I once hated, I am now fascinated by. I can now see the things that I haven't seen before. They aren't so void now.' Rubio subconsciously blushed at his own thoughts as he slowly put a hand up to his elegant pink lips. 'I actually like it when he kissed me…Maybe I am a fruit cake. Okay, so I'm lying to myself. Valentino is beautiful. He looks fragile but he's strong, built for endurance. His hair is so beautiful…He's the shadow of me. I have silver hair and his is a pitch black. My eyes are clear blue and his are deep blood red. He's my friend. I don't love him. We're just…close…I'm just desperate and lonely. I need a girlfriend.' He sighed. 'Am I so desperate to kiss a guy? Or maybe Vincent was right about Valentino…He did state that love had no gender. Is Valentino…a fruit cake? But he had many girlfriends and a child. Maybe he's bisexual, or maybe I am too.'

XxXxXx

Vincent fell asleep at his post and stood with his eyes closed, leaned against the bark of a palm tree nearby. Upon hearing his heavy breathing, Valentino asked if he was asleep. At the other's voice, Vincent jumped a little and stated that he wasn't sleeping and that he was perfectly fine. The assassin called him a liar and Vincent could feel a bead of sweat roll down the back of his head.

"I'm worried about Rubio-sama."

"Huh?" Vincent looked to the other man in question.

"He should have been back by now," Valentino replied. Rubio had been gone for a very long time.

"He didn't say when he was coming back," Vincent stated. He didn't know what kind of comfort that line provided but hoped that he at least helped the situation. He didn't want to be considered a jerk again.

"But you heard Zidane-sama. This area is crawling with terrorists. Sending out on his own was a mistake," the killer's eyes narrowed as he took off running down the shoreline. He had to find Rubio. The ominous feeling in the pit of his gut was only growing as time passed. Something could be seriously wrong. There was a reason that he hadn't come back yet.

"Wait! You're going to get in trouble for leaving your post!" Vincent hollered after him, but it was no use. The other man was long gone. "I'm going to get beat up extra harshly for this. Ugh…Why me? Why always me? I mean, seriously, can't it be Udo or something?" The brown-haired man griped.

XxXxXx

A bullet whizzed by Rubio's head as his eyes widened. He managed to dodge the bullet after he nearly had a heart attack. He turned around, as he laid sights on several terrorists who were armed with guns and many other weapons. The tall, dark figures stood in a circle around the ex-terrorist and pointed their weapons at him. Rubio looked a little tense as he assumed a defensive position.

'Not this again. This was supposed to be relaxing…' He thought as he prepared himself for any possible attack they could launch at him. He knew Ibuki's tricks so he expected just about anything from them.

"You're coming back with us, McDougall. We need you and so does Ibuki-sama." One of them spoke up with a gruff and stern voice.

"So, are you going to comply?" A female terrorist butted in.

"I'm not going back. I resigned when Angora died. He has no further use for me," Rubio growled. He knew that as soon as he returned to Ibuki, torture and eventual death were the only things that awaited him. He had betrayed Ibuki and gave away vital information. That was a crime that could not be forgiven.

That was treason.

"Alright then," one of the men smirked maliciously as he gave a signal with his hand. On that simple silent command, the terrorists opened fire on the silver-haired man. Rubio jumped up to avoid all of their bullets and began to fight them and attempt to get their weapons away before he acquired any gunshot wounds. He managed to defeat many of them, but his strength and vigor ran out when there were still several more left to be defeated. His fighting slowed down as did his strength. A few of them managed to get hits in on him and one even managed to get a gunshot wound in his shoulder. The weaker he grew, the more hits that were delivered.

After he had taken all of the abuse that he possibly could and his body was completely drained of all strength, he collapsed on the ground. His battered body hit the sand with a thud and it felt oddly hard to be something so malleable. He lay on his side and felt the sand stick to his skin from his sweat and blood. The man glanced up as a masked terrorist held something in his hand that glimmered against the moonlight. It was a knife.

Rubio's eyes widened. This was it. He was alone on the beach and no one could help him. He had been too far away from their shore side dwelling so even if he called for help, no one would come to his aid. By the time anyone would find him, it would have been too late.

This time, he would die.

As the terrorist leaned in with all of his might to plunge the weapon deep within Rubio's flesh, a sword cut his neck. The man paused in mid-stabbing as blood spewed from his neck in a massive crimson glory. His disembodied head landed in the sand below and the corpse soon followed. Rubio stared in awe at the man before him as the falling corpse revealed his savior's identity.

It was Valentino.

"Huh?" The shocked man uttered as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"I knew it," Valentino said quickly as he darted in front of him with his sword drawn, ready to fend off the terrorists. His instincts were right. Rubio was in trouble and if he hadn't have showed up, and then Rubio would have died.

"You knew what?" His comrade stood up, holding his wounded shoulder. The assassin didn't even answer his question; he simply shot off after the terrorists and began to chop them up with great ease. Compared to a master assassin such as him, mere lackeys were of no contest. He swung his sword around and stabbed, chopped and physically beat them up.

One of the terrorists was standing on the side lines as his fellow members were being killed by Valentino. He looked from the assassin in action to the injured man who was holding his shoulder and charged for Rubio blindly. Rubio went wide-eyed as the man neared him. The terrorist drew back his sword and yelled 'got you' as he thrusted his sword into a thick mass with ease. Blood sprayed through the air and splattered on Rubio's milky white skin. His face lit up in dismay at the sight before him.

'Valentino….'

Blood dripped onto the sand below him. Valentino looked to the one who had stabbed him. Several more puncturing noises were heard as three more swords entered his body.

"Seems we have a few who like to test their patience," several terrorists jumped at the red-clad assassin to attempt to kill him or injure him further. Valentino easily cut through them as if they were mere neophytes in their professions. Their corpses fell to the beach shore motionless. The man stood there for a moment before his red eyes grew heavy from weakness and blood loss. The killer fell to his knees with dizziness. He heard Rubio call out his name as he sat on the ground in pain as he could feel the warm, sticky blood over his form. He then felt himself grow a little cold as he asked Rubio if he was alright.

Then he could see the fire in the other man's eyes. For some reason, he was angry with him. "Damn it!" Rubio cursed. "Why did you do that? I don't understand. Ugh! I said I don't need your help! So why are you helping me?"

Valentino was silent in response as Rubio's face battled in a war of whether or not to look cheerless or livid.

"You're welcome," the assassin accepted his silent gratitude. He knew that Rubio thanked him, beneath the pile of stressed questions. The other's eyes widened shifted to the ground as he told Valentino to go back with him and helped him up by wrapping one of his muscular arms around the other man's small waist. Their eyes met as they stood there. Neither one of them spoke for a few moments.

Finally, Rubio turned his head away. "Let's get those swords out," he stated in a professional matter in order to dismiss the growing emotion in the pit of his stomach. After all, he had been thinking more than fondly of the man before. Rubio shifted his mind to other matters, such as pulling out the swords. He carefully pulled them out of the other man's body as he flinched involuntarily with each removal. It must have been painful to the assassin but he was good at keeping things like that inside.

He had always been stoic like that.

Each blood-covered sword hit the ground as he finished pulling them out. Rubio questioned him if he felt any better. Valentino replied that he did.

"Alright, let's go."

The other male nodded and the two men walked off as they headed for their place of rest.

XxXxXx

Sari was sound asleep inside of the quaint little house they resided in. The night air felt good against her skin and white light bathed her small form. Stars dotted the skies as they sparkled like diamonds. Everything seemed peaceful as everyone slumbered.

Suddenly, a loud crash caused Sari to jolt up from bed. The girl's large, round eyes went wide and her breathing escaladed as she looked around frantically.

"What was that?" She nearly whispered.

Yaritza grabbed a spear gun off of the wall. It had been hanging there with other nautical decorations. "Never leave it up to the men to stand guard," the red-haired ninja walked across the room and stepped on Udo's head in the process.

"Gmpf! Do you mind?" The spiky-haired man groaned in irritation. Having his face stepped on was not the way that he wanted to be awoken.

"I'm saving lives here, pal!" Yaritza looked over her shoulder at the man who had a large footprint on the side of his face. Udo sat up, half-asleep and heavy-eyed. It took him a few minutes before he was able to fully wake up.

"We think there's a terrorist in here snooping around," Sari stood up, ready for action. She was going to seriously kick someone's ass for waking her from her precious beauty sleep.

"Where the hell are Vincent and Valentino?" Udo asked. Weren't they supposed to be standing guard? Why did they let them in? Did something happen? Many questions ran through his half-foggy mind as the sleep slowly lifted.

"Probably sleeping, lazy asses," Sari cursed. If those two were asleep on the job, there would be hell to pay!

Zidane watched two shadows come down the hall slowly. "I see him. There appears to be two of them," he commented as Rubio walked into the room and rounded the corner of the wall. Everyone stood their guard as he appeared. Udo flung shurikens at him quickly. He wasn't going to give him a chance to explain himself and hadn't even really noticed that it was him. Rubio yelled and dodged them as he turned around and came face-to-face with Zidane, who put out his cigarette on his cheek. The man stumbled back and held his face as he shrieked. The cigarette burned into his flesh and the searing pain shot through his being.

"Ow! Zidane! What the fu-AH!" He didn't even get his sentence out as he had to bend backwards to avoid Udo's chain weapon, which flew into the wall. The flying debris beat against his skin.

"It's harpoon time!" Yaritza charged at him with her weapon drawn. He screamed as the girl cried out the word 'die' He knocked Valentino off of his feet and held him close. His initial reaction was to protect the other injured man.

"Rubio-sama…" Valentino uttered as he flushed a slight pink.

"I'm going to kill you like Moby Dick!" The ninja yelled as she charged him.

"She said dick," Udo smirked perversely at the sheer utterance of the word.

Rubio felt the fight or flight response kick in as he yelled at the top of his lungs. "It's me, Rubio!!"

The charging girl then stopped and lowered the weapon as she blinked a couple of times. "Oh…sorry. Can I still spear you?"

"Hell no!"

"Yyah!" The noise came closer as Rubio looked over to see a foot in his face. Sari delivered a flying kick to his face. "Take that loser!" The girl yelled in irritation. If nothing else, he deserved the kick for scaring the hell out of everybody and making them think that they were being attacked by a terrorist. The kick was so powerful that it sent Rubio backwards with Valentino in his arms. They both landed on the floor with the assassin on top of him.

"What was that for? You knew it was me!" Rubio fumed. Sari did kick him in the face AFTER he announced who he was. It seemed like she had done it purely out of spite.

"I was in the middle of my kick but I had to finish it, so I did. Had to finish what you started and such." Sari reasoned.

"Now that my face got reconstructed."

"It looks better with a big foot in it, don't you think?" Sari asked sardonically as Valentino got up and clutched his chest in pain. After he had made contact with the ground, it had jarred his injuries. Even if Rubio had cushioned his fall, the thud still made the pain resurface.

"You're hurt!" Sari hadn't noticed the extent of his injuries until now and ran over to his side.

"Stab wounds," Udo observed. "These aren't from the bayonets of guns, these are long swords."

"I left my post to go and find Rubio…" Valentino informed.

"Well, I don't see any wounds on Rubio, minus his shoulder," Sari stated.

"I'd say that you have yourself a keen bodyguard," Zidane remarked as Rubio looked to Valentino with concern. It was his fault that he had been hurt.

"Don't you look cute?" Vincent teased from the doorway.

"Shut up, Vincent," Rubio shot.

"I…" Valentino started but then grew quiet.

"Since he saved you, you should take care of him," Yaritza leveled. It would only by right.

"It saves me the trouble," Agata stated.

"Do I have to? I mean, I have no medical training," Rubio didn't want to end up hurting Valentino more then he already was due to his inexperience. He would rather have someone else do it that knew what they were doing.

"No medical training? I thought to be qualified to be a body guard that you had to have knowledge of pressure points, CPR and even the minutest medical training," Udo stated with a glare.

"You've got me there. Okay, okay I will," Rubio sighed, having been caught in a lie.

"Hey Agata," Vincent said to the stoic woman.

"What?"

"Will you take care of me like that when I'm hurt?" The brown-haired man got close to the white-haired woman who gave a look of disinterest. He was hitting on her again and he would fail at it again. She rolled her eye and walked away calmly without a word. He wasn't worth the stress.

"I will," Ionna winked.

"That's nice, Ionna," Vincent hurried the sentence out as he ran off after the white-haired woman. "Oh come on Agata, please?" He begged as he followed her.

"Come on, " Rubio ignored the two as he took Valentino by the arm gently.”Let's go."

"What a way to treat a patient who's spilling such lovely blood," Udo said with amusement.

"Yeah, no joke," Yaritza scolded. "You should be nice to him, he saved your life."

"Yeah, pick him up you jerk-faced bastard!" Sari blared.

"How kind of you," Rubio dead panned.

"You're welcome," the girl beamed happily. Anything that ticked him off made her day.

Rubio picked up the wounded assassin. "Okay, you are happy," he glared towards Vincent. Of course he would be happy; he was the one who kept assuming that they had some type of relationship going on this entire time. The bounty hunter smiled as he got hit in the face with a shoe.

"Ow," Vincent muttered as he held his face.

"I don't need your commentary," Rubio seethed.

"That was my shoe," Udo pointed a finger into the air.

Vincent looked aggravated, mostly because he was hit in the face with a shoe.

"Can I have it back?"

"Would you like it in your face or up your ass?" Vincent picked up the shoe and held it in one bent up arm in a threatening manner.

"Whichever spills more blood," the spiky-haired man smirked sadistically in delight, even if it was his own torture, he would definitely benefit from it. As long as he saw blood, it didn't make a difference whose it would be.

"That's it!" Vincent had enough of the sadistic man's comments. "You're getting annoying!" He seethed as he jumped at Udo as the two rolled on the ground, engaged in a fight. Arms and legs and even pieces of ripped clothing flew through the air as they tussled about on the ground.

"I guess everyone's a bit irritable tonight," Zidane looked at the two men, who were fighting like children on the ground.

"I bet Rubio's 50 yen that Udo wins!" Sari called out, as if she were actually going to bet on the fight.

"Why are you betting my money?" Rubio placed his hands on his hips and glared at the girl.

"Because I don't have anything to lose."

Valentino lightly rested his head on Rubio's chest as he slowly fell asleep. Rubio looked down at the man who peacefully slumbered in his arms. Amongst all of the violence of his team mates, Valentino remained calm and somehow managed to sleep at a hectic moment like this. It truly was amazing.

'Valentino-kun…' He smiled lightly at the other man.

Vincent and Udo now sat on the floor panting as they glared each other down. Shredded clothes lay all around them. Vincent had a surprisingly short shirt, no jacket; no cowboy hat and one of the legs of his pants were missing. Udo only had on what seemed to be very short homosexual looking shorts that used to be pants.

"Give up?" Vincent asked in between pants.

"Can I have a taste of your blood?" Udo asked slyly with a smirk.

"What!?" The other man exclaimed and before he knew it, Udo had crawled on top of him in a seductive manner and licked the corner of Vincent's mouth in a slow, sensual manner. Vincent felt the chills go up his spine in disgust and fear as he felt the warm, wet muscle glide up the corner of his mouth.

"You should bleed for me more," the sexual man purred.

Vincent then gave him a swift kick in the stomach and crawled out from underneath of him. "You sick freak! Get off! Your tongue was WAY and I mean WAY too close to my mouth!"

"You're no fun," Udo faux pouted as he sat on the ground with a hand over his stomach and his legs bent.

"Rubio, you should take Valentino to the empty room in the back. That way he can rest," Loreli offered.

"Thanks Loreli."

"You're welcome," she was happy to help him out. Besides, Valentino was already asleep and he needed some peace and quiet in order to make a better recovery. As Rubio left, Hisamichi entered the room and rubbed his eyes. He had heard Vincent's screams of disgust and stirred awake.

When he came into the room, he saw the mass destruction before him- Udo and Vincent were half-clothed, there were weapons everywhere, a hole in the wall and everything was in disarray. "Wow, what happened?" He asked as he looked at his team mates, who stood in their pajamas in the middle of the room.

"You're a tough sleeper. We could have all gotten abducted before you came to the rescue," Udo joked.

"Sorry, what happened to Valentino?" The red-head had seen Rubio carrying him out but didn't ask about the situation because he was in a haze of sleep he passed him in the hallway.

"Let's assess the situation," Udo could only guess at what happened, since no one truly asked Rubio but he had assumed that they were attacked by terrorists. Someone had said something earlier about Rubio being attacked anyway and Valentino leaving his post to save him.

"Well, your version of assess and my version of assess are quite different," Zidane remarked.

Sari piped in, but only because she'd heard all the wrong pieces of information. "Who's talking about asses?" She had only faintly heard their conversation and out of curiosity asked why they would be talking about such a subject at this time of night and during this type of situation.

"Assess and asses, moron," Zidane corrected.

"WHAT!?" Sari had already been irritated that she hadn't gotten any sleep and woke up scared to death and now she was being called a moron just because she happened to misinterpret something!

"Never mind it," the scar-faced man dismissed. "We don't want another fight to break out. Let's go see about Valentino." Things wouldn't get better if he had come back with something sarcastic and the assassin was the one that needed their help and support right now. Fighting could wait until he had recovered. Besides, Zidane wanted to find out what happened to him and Rubio.

"Right," Udo agreed. "We should at least get him situated for the rest of the night. With him being injured, it's going to put us behind a little."

"We're going to have to stay here a bit longer too, which isn't good," Loreli informed.

"I'll stand guard with Vincent," Udo offered.

"Right," Vincent agreed, much to his silent detests. He had already been creeped out by him tonight, who knew what other tricks the man had in mind for later on during their guard session.

To Be Continued…