Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Crucifixion ( Chapter 54 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: MellyN

XxXxXx

Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 54: Crucifixion

XxXxXx

The blonde angel awoke slowly and tried to focus on what had happened around him. He felt weak and light-headed, almost as if he'd lost too much blood. His side still ached from the blast as did his hands and feet. He felt a searing sensation, almost as if someone was literally stabbing him in the hands and feet. The right side of his face felt dry and crusty, as if something liquid had dried.

"Huh? What's going on?" Tsurugi tried to regain his focus, only to find that he seemed to be suspended in the air, and at the bottom of what seemed to be a large, wooden steak, were a bunch of vampires with torches and various sharp-looking weapons. 'Those are the vampires that I asked to help me. They must be rouges who work for the Holy Army...Come to think of it...They had crosses on their clothes...'

"Ugh," the angel let out a pained noise as his vision began to blur. He had truly been stupid for this mistake and now he was paying for his actions. "I can barely concentrate. Someone's placed a disable spell on me. They've also drained my energy and I don't have enough strength or magic to take it off of myself or get down from the cross." Tsurugi glanced at his pinned hands, which were punctured with a large nail. Blood ran down them and seeped into the wood below. 'I'm losing a lot of blood. The pain is so great and I can't heal myself...Hiro-kun, please help me.'

Tsurugi struggled to keep his eyes open as he fought off unconsciousness.

XxXx

Hiroshima and Azmy ran up a small hill and when they reached the top, had gotten a full view of the cross. They had also noticed that there was someone nailed to it and upon that realization, glass blue eyes widened in shock.

"Tsurugi!" Hiroshima exclaimed as the vampires who were near the edge of the cross turned their heads in unison. They glanced up the hill to see that there were two people who were just in eyeshot.

Azmy gasped as she threw her hands over her mouth in horror. "Oh my God."

"Hiro-kun..." Tsurugi's voice was low and faint as he smiled weakly at his mate. Pain was evident in his sleepy eyes but he was happy that Hiroshima answered his silent prayers.

"What did they do to you?" Hiroshima commented on the angel's condition. His mate looked pretty bad and must have put up with a lot of pain.

Tsurugi looked down. How could he tell Hiroshima that he was stupid and got himself crucified by trusting the wrong vampires. "It's my fault." He admitted. "I asked for their help and this ended up happening."

"We'll get you down!" Azmy shouted, then looked to Hiroshima and questioned lowly. "Won't we?"

"I will," the legend replied, "you go to the others and tell them where we are."

"But, I want to help you!" The gun slinger was very worried for him. What if something bad happened while she was going to get help? For some reason, she just didn't want to leave his side and it did more than surpass her feelings for him.

"No! Go and tell them. If you stay here and get in trouble, we'd have no outside help. We need to at least have them head in this direction so that I'd have some help." That and he didn't want Azmy to be attacked by the vampires. It was really for her own good.

The girl was silent for a few moments and looked torn between staying and leaving.

"We can't do this alone. One of us has to stay and fight and the other has to get help," the angel pressed. This was a matter of the utmost importance. He was counting on her to get the others and she could see it in his eyes. The girl didn't want to leave and every fiber in her being was telling her to stay but she ripped her gaze away from the angel and turned away.

"Alright," she replied a little sadly, "I'll go." Azmy took off running in the direction where she had remembered everyone heading. Some of the vampires at the cross had their sights on her and bolted to take off after her.

"Alright, you little bastards," Hiroshima pulled out his Crimson Blade once again and cut them off before they could reach her. "Let's do this!" He began to hack away at the vampires with his sword. Tsurugi watched as he struggled with them below. They weren't as easy to kill as humans and a major blow to a human was a minor blow to them.

Down below, Hiroshima's blade clashed with the curved blade of one of the vampires. Three other vampires rushed to his aid to help him out and all of them tried to stab Hiroshima with their swords, speak and other devices. The angel stabbed one of them in the head and managed to decapitate the other. He then turned around gracefully and cut another down the middle but there were a lot of them and they soon began to crowd him. He preformed his Crimson Slash and managed to blow the majority back and even kill a few in the process.

One of the vampires managed to sneak up behind him and attempted to bite the crook of his neck but Hiroshima brought his sword around as the vampire's mouth bit the sword. At that point, the angel was close enough to see that there were bite marks in the vampire's neck.

'Hmm...They've been infected by vampires. These must be rouges. If they were with Vasca, like Constantine and the others, then they wouldn't be this wild.' Hiroshima brought his hand around and slammed the back of the vampire's head onto his blade, causing it to cut his face in half.

Azmy ran as fast as she could. She didn't know if the vampires were still chasing her but her mind wasn't even focused on the subject at all. She wondered what Hiroshima was doing now, and if he had managed to get Tsurugi down from the cross. The girl was very worried and couldn't shake the ominous feeling that befell her. 'I hope Tsurugi will be alright. He looked pretty bad. Despite everything though...he smiled when he saw him. No matter what, no matter how much pain he was in, he still managed to look happy...I want to be like him one day. No wonder Hiroshima loves him so much. They deserve each other, no matter what I feel for Hiroshima.'

'Hey, if I get hurt I'll be in touch.' Hiroshima's telepathic message interrupted her thoughts. Azmy looked slightly freaked out as she stopped and glanced around.

"What? How do I hear you?" She wondered if he had known about her thoughts regarding him.

'This is telepathy. If you get a message from me asking for help or telling you to hurry, then I'm in trouble, if not then I'm fine. Nonetheless, hurry up and find them.' Hiroshima communicated with her as he fought against the vampires.

One of the vampires who held a torch, was near the base of the cross. He smirked as an idea passed through his mind. "Hurry! Light the Cro- ARGH!" His comment was cut short as he was decapitated by Hiroshima. There was no way in hell he'd let them fry Tsurugi like Joan of Arc. On the vampire's half of a command, others with torches came towards the cross and tried to light it. They soon found themselves cut apart by the Dance of Blades attack.

"You guys are really pissing me off." Hiroshima grew irritated as he swung his sword around himself in large, half-circles. "Chaotic Winds!" The half-circles grew into strong winds as they swirled around his form violently and blew the vampires out as well as stopped their torches from burning.

This gave the angel enough time to jump up and begin to fly to the top of the cross.

"Hiro-kun! Look out!" He heard Tsurugi call as he looked down at his mate with worry and dread in his eyes.

"What?" Hiroshima saw a few vampires, who had been atop of the cross. There were four of them and they jumped down and grabbed his wings, preventing him from flying any longer. He teetered from side to side in an attempt to keep flight as he swung at them to try to either kill them or shake them off.

"Get the hell off of me!" He shouted as one of the vampires reached over his shoulder and attempted to bite him, they soon found themself smashed into the base of the cross.

"Got you!" Another tried to bite him from the other side and Hiroshima rammed his back into the base of the cross again to shake him off. The vampire his the wooden surface face first. As the vampire fell, his left two wings became free and he continued to fly lop-sided with one of the vampires still clinging to him. He wasn't about to give up, nor was he about to fall to his death and be bitten by the other vampires.

"Die!" The vampire held a sword and brought it down upon the angel, who replied 'like hell' and punched him in the face with all of his might. Down below, the vampires had began to climb up the cross after him and one of the vampires who had gotten smashed into the side of the base of the cross managed to hold on and was now climbing up along with them.

Hiroshima finally reached the injured Tsurugi, who smiled kindly at him and looked thankful to see his lover. "Hiro-kun...you came..."

"What the hell happened to you?" Hiroshima asked and despite his stern look, he was very worried.

"I think we should talk about this later. Please, help me get down," the blonde didn't want the vampires catching up with Hiroshima. His boyfriend agreed as he began to hack at the chains that he'd been tied with.

"You're bound up here pretty good," Hiroshima noted the many black chains that were wrapped around the angel's torso and legs.

"I don't even know how long I've been down. I just came to when I saw you and Azmy," Tsurugi replied as his chains slowly came off, one by one. "Hiro-kun...can you take the stakes out of my hands and feet. They hurt very badly." The blonde asked in a pained and tired voice as Hiroshima maneuvered around him, pulling out the large steaks. Tsurugi winced and made a small pained noise. He knew that it would hurt and that his hands and feet would only bleed more but it needed to be done.

"Maybe you can tell me as I'm trying to get you down. It would save time in case something else comes up," Hiroshima pulled another steak out.

"I went to scout and I got shot down. I was blasted close to my might side and got my wing. Looks like I'll have to wait another three days but my side is also injured. I saw vampires when I woke up from my fall and I thought that they were citizens of Sumeria but they managed to put a disable spell on me and drained my powers. Apparently, they nailed me to this cross and tried to crucify me like Joan of Ark but you showed up and saved me," Tsurugi replied as the chains around his chest were snapped off, as well as those from his legs, arms and wings.

"I've almost got you," Hiroshima continued to hack away at the few chains and roped that had been left.

At the very top most point of the cross, three vampires stood and watched the events take place below them. One turned to the other two and asked if they were ready. The second vampire replied that they were and on the word go, they jumped down in unison, headed towards Hiroshima and Tsurugi at free-falling speed.

At that moment in time, the blonde angel received a premonition and his head snapped up. With a wide-eyed expression, he shouted for Hiroshima to look out but it was too late. The legend asked 'what' in a confused tone, as if he hadn't heard what he was saying and wanted him to repeat it but by the time the word escaped his mouth, he felt the weight of the three vampires land on him.

"Come with us!" One of the vampires said as they sunk their fangs deep int he crook of the angel's neck. The angel closed one eye but dismissed the pain as he continued to try and free his bound love. Nothing was going to stop him from freeing Tsurugi, especially not some bastard rouge vampires.

"Hiro-kun!" Tsurugi cried out in an emotional tone.

"Forget about it," Hiroshima chided him. It wasn't important. All that mattered was if he got Tsurugi free.

"...but you were bitten," the blonde angel was nearly in tears. He felt like it was all his fault that this was happening. Hiroshima was bleeding from his neck and no doubt he was in pain. At this rate, something bad was going to happen. If he hadn't have been so stupid as to blindly trust those vampires then he wouldn't be like this. None of this would have happened at all! It was all his fault.

"I don't care about that right now. All I care about is that you get free," Hiroshima was bitten again. The legend winced once more.

"Such sweet blood," one of the vampires commented as they licked up the blood from the seeping holes on his neck.

"You'll regret doing that, you little bastards," the legend smirked.

"This is unlike any blood that I've tasted." Another vampire commented in sadistic joy. "There is such power and richness in this blood."

Tsurugi couldn't stand seeing the other angel like that but what could he do? His hands were useless and he had no strength. When Hiroshima needed him the most, when he counted on him, he could do nothing. Once again, he was weak in Hiroshima's eyes. Tears began to flood down his face.

"I'm so sorry, Hiro-kun!" The angel cried as the third vampire bit Hiroshima.

"Damn it! Look, don't apologize."

"It's my fault that you're going through all of this hell," Tsurugi wailed.

"Stop blaming yourself for everything!" Hiroshima didn't need to blame himself for something that he couldn't help. "You sound like Azmy!" He didn't need another person who regretted so much, not after all they had been through. Hiroshima had been trying to help Azmy deal with her feelings of regret and Tsurugi most certainly didn't need to regret anything kind that he'd done for him in order to save him. That's what being mates was all about.

The blonde looked down and sniffled. "Please don't die..."

"Heh," Hiroshima smirked in a way that almost seemed endearing and kind, "you were always too kind, love."

Battered and bloody hands shakily reached up and caressed the other angel's face as Tsurugi kissed him. Both angels fell from the cross with the vampires clinging to Hiroshima's back. Tsurugi didn't care what happened now. He was with the one that he loved most and even though it hurt to hold his face, he didn't care.

He closed his eyes as the wind flowed through his hair. 'Hiro-kun...' A recreation of the moment he had been stabbed for him in the past reeled through his head with vivid accuracy. 'The wielder of the legendary Crimson Blade, Dark Angel and Winged Boy...The one I love, from the moment that we became lovers, we vowed to protect each other...but who I am to protect you now? At a moment in time in which you needed me the most...You were right all along...I am the weaker of the two of us...and now, more than ever, my heart is filled with regret. Can you ever forgive me, Hiro-kun?'

"Heh...Got them," Hiroshima smirked deviously as the three vampires made pained faces.

"Huh!? What's going on?" One of the vampires asked as blood busted through his chest and shot out across the land. The others scream as blood ripped through their bodies as well. Their blood-curdling screams ripped through the skies as they fell dead, into a pool of their own blood, killing off the last of the vampires.

"That's why you don't drink magical blood. Tsurugi..."

"Yes?"

"I love you," Hiroshima smiled kindly at his mate. He knew at a time like this, he really needed to know something like that.

"I love you too...Thank you for saving me."

"Never regret the kind actions of another," the legend replied as the wings on his left side turned white.

"Hiro-kun...Your wings..." Tsurugi watched the black wings fade to a pure white. Hiroshima had preformed another good deed.

XxXxXx

Bass and Baratone's swords collided as both of the pushed against the other's body weight in an attempt to knock them back.

"I do not know what your intentions are but you will not get your bloody hands on Master Vasca," Bass promised.

"You're sorely misled. I'll kill every vampire in Sumeria under the name of all that is Holy! Stand aside, demon!" Baratone shouted .

"You'll have to tear through me first," Bass turned his blade horizontally and said 'hellion' as he blasted the Catholic priest back.

"Magic Shield!" Baratone held up his hand and put his shield on, then laughed that the lord's futile attempt to protect his king. "None of you can get past my magnificent Holy Army! Get them!" He commanded as his armies flooded towards the group.

"Here we go with this shit again," Zephynthos replied as Mikunai ran past him.

"What are you doing?" Helix asked.

"I'm going straight to Baratone," Mikunai replied.

"Do you need assistance?" Helix ran alongside of his master.

"If you want."

"Of course," the white-haired man followed suit.

"I'll back you up. Whirlwind!" Zuri spun around and blew many members of the army back who attempted to follow them. Ko managed to judo flip another soldier.

"We'll help you out, right guys?" She shouted back at her other team mates.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Chichiri punched a man in the face.

'Where are Azmy and Hiroshima? They should be here by now.' Keiji wondered as one of the soldiers jumped behind him in an attempt to kill him but they were cut off by Treble's sword blade as it sliced across their chest.

"What's wrong?" Treble knew that something was troubling the green-haired boy.

"Nothing," Keiji took a fighting stance, reading for the next soldier who tried to go through him. "I was just thinking about something."

"Stay focused," the dog-man advised.

"You can predict the future, right?" Keiji asked.

"Yes."

"Is this worth it?"

"Would you really want to know that?" Treble wondered why Keiji would ask him such a question in the middle of a battle that he'd already been fighting in for some time.

"Yes."

"It is to me but whether or not you think its worth it is a matter of opinion. I think, as long as you fight for something you believe in that it's always worth it," Treble said gently as he smiled at the boy.

"Rip Tide!" Undine'swater washed several soldiers away.

A few feet away, Fife wrote out a stream of magic symbols in blue energy and said the phrase 'Dance of Blood'. Suddenly, the blood from the slain and fallen soldiers flowed up and formed a circle around him. Then it rose into the sky in the form of mid-sized round blobs. "At my command, aid me in this fight. Transform yourselves into weapons to use at my dispense," the feminine boy commanded as the blobs transformed into swords that rained down on the Holy Army.

"Blood-Composed Arsenal!" Fife shouted as his weapons continued to rain from the skies.

Baratone looked over his shoulder to see that some of the swords were aimed at him. He quickly dodged a few and jumped out of the way of the others. He dodged them for a while but he knew that he couldn't keep up his pace if he wanted to avoid them completely. If he didn't flee now, then something or someone would injure him and he couldn't risk that at this moment in time, especially if he wanted his plans to go through to the next phase.

"I've got to get out of here! It's too soon for me to act," Baratone turned and began to run but he didn't get far. He soon hit something large and white that felt like a brick wall. He fell on his butt a few inches back.

"What?" He looked up to see Mikunai and Helix, staring him down.

"Hello there," Mikunai smiled dementedly as Baratone arose.

"What's going on? How did you get in front of me?" The priest hadn't foreseen this predicament.

"Well, naturally, we're faster than you," Mikunai replied.

Baratone turned to run in the other direction but as soon as his face was pivoted in the other direction, his chin met with the point of the Fire Sword. He was trapped between the demons and the vampires.

"I say, I do believe that you've lost this time, Baratone," Bass replied.

"Give up, we've got you now," Mikunai responded.

"There is no escape for you now," Helix agreed. This time, they had finally gotten Baratone where they wanted him and they weren't going to let him escape. For Baratone, this would be the end.

XxXxXx

Tsurugi held Hiroshima his arms as he sat on his knees in the dirt at the base of the cross, where the bodies of the dead vampires were strewn all around them. Heavenly blue eyes glanced down at the man in his arms, who was breathing heavily and seemed to have broken down in a cold sweat. Hiroshima's body quivered in his arms and it wasn't because he was cold. It was because he was in a tremendous amount of pain. "I've got to do something."

'Keiji-kun...please help us...We could really use your help right now.' The angel thought to himself in sorrow as he tried not to cry in front of his suffering mate, who had risked his life to save him.

Now, more than anything, Tsurugi was afraid and for once in his life, he felt powerless to do anything to help the person that he so dearly cherished.

...To Be Continued....