"Don't worry." Rall said to Zachary, almost in an afterthought. "The head's mine."
And with that, Rall and Negi stepped out of the door, and went moving over to the huge body of Bruce, which was now slumped on the ground.
Rall approached Bruce cautiously, holding his metal toenail-clipper arm out in front of him, the blade on the top twisted forward.
He took one step. . .
And then another. . .
And then finally, put his blade next to Bruce's neck. "Looks like your goose is cooked, buddy." he smirked.
Suddenly, he saw a flicker of a flame -- and as soon as he saw it, he brought his blade down, down, through Bruce's neck, sawing off the head in and instant.
As Bruce's head rolled to the ground, Rall blinked and tried to look at the spot where he thought he saw a flame. Had it really been there? Was it just an echo from the fire? Or was he just going nuts?
"Whatever. . ." he muttered, pulling a strange metal square out of his pocket. He placed the square on the top of Bruce's head, and out of it, came a large chain mesh covering. It spread out across Bruce's head, finally coming together at the bottom. Rall picked up the square, looked at the bag to see that it had sealed properly, and slung it over his back.
He stared down at the corpse, and looked through the pants, which had somehow not been burnt from all the fireworks Bruce had been doing.
"Well, shit." Rall said, his hands digging through Bruce's pockets. "This guy's gotta have about eight badges on him." He emptied the man's pockets, filling his pockets with theb badges. "That about does it." he said, turning to Negi.
"Right." Negi said. "Now let's look for Theodarus."
Meanwhile, Rose looked up to Theodarus, and her eyes momentarily stopping their reeling as he wrapped his hands around her neck. She seemed to stare deep, deep into him, and a smile broke through on her face.
"Kaen. . ." she said. "The day he took me from the building, he took my life as well." And then, as if she forgot something, she suddenly pursed her lips. "No. . .that's not true. I never had a life of my own in the first place." she stared up at Theodarus, as he tightened his grip.
He kept his eyes shut, trying to block out everything, and slowly found his hands finding their way not around her neck, but
inside it, as if he was digging deep into her. It felt wet, too, and soft. He squeezed harder, harder, under there was nothing left but water in his hands.
It spilled through his fingertips, which were not bloody at all, dropping on the floor again. It was not much more than the original amount of water that Theodarus had picked up.
Then, he could hear the voice of Negi, far beyond the dying flames around him. "Theo! Theo! Where are ya, buddy?"
The water was on the floor, but its texture had changed completely. It seemed. . .empty. As if, if it was poured in a pot, nothing would grow. As if, if it was drunk, there would be no energy to had from it. As if. . .the life had been utterly drained from it.
Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=molokidan>Molokidan</A] at: 12/7/04 6:31