Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo is owned by someone other than me. If that person and/or people should happen to read this, I would be quite flattered if they would send me money, rather than suing me, which would be totally pointless, I assure you. I guess you could have my lava lamp and my Tori Amos CDs, but really I'm pretty poor. Ta. The Legacy of Kain - Chapter 15 (At What Price Freedom) Hunter paced through the command room of the Yagami. The ship had been gutted mercilessly - little remained of the interior. All that was left was the engine room, separated by a thin wall from the command room - a throne room that had taken on the aspect of a workshop. Odd bits and components littered the floor and were heaped in piles, various tools and implements scattered about them. Hunter stopped before a large, clear block that appeared to be a cube made of plastic. Inside it, Sasami knelt on the floor, her wide, pink eyes gazing upwards in supplication. A single tear was frozen halfway in its path down her cheek. In her arms she cradled a small, fluffy bundle. Odd, thought Hunter distractedly, that she should have begged not for her life, but for the creature's. Strange, weak and sentimental people. Hard to imagine it was they that defeated...Him. He felt something. "Hello, brother," he said, not turning from his perusal of the small Princess. Kevin stood across the room, silent, his fists clenched. "Like it?" Hunter said, running his hand over the smooth, clear surface of the block. "An invention of Washu's. Plasmite freezing. She should be quite well preserved - assuming she survived the freezing process." "Release her." "No," said Hunter, turning to face his brother. "If I were to do that, I'd have no hostage. No leverage, and no power. Then where would I be?" He smiled grimly. "Honestly, Walker, have you forgotten everything Father taught us?" "Don't make the mistake of assuming this is a conversation, Hunter." A patch of the deck before him suddenly buckled and cracked, as though supporting a great weight. The disturbance shot across the room, ripping up the floor as it went, and slammed into Hunter. He was flung backwards, connecting with the far wall with an audible THUD. "So." Hunter grinned, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Not everything, after all." He held out his hand. A dark crimson blade flashed into existence. Kevin ignited his, purple-white in the darkness, and saluted Hunter. "Have at thee, brother," he said, quietly. Hunter laughed, and the battle began. "Hah!" exclaimed Washu in satisfaction. She sat back, stretching, and rubbed her eyes. Finally got rid of that damn virus Hunter left in my system, Washu thought. Pernicious thing. Kid's good - took me fifteen minutes to get rid of it. She looked around. They had moved outside, a ways away from the charred shell of the house. The clouds were slowly clearing away, and the first hints of false dawn were appearing in the east. The men of the house, uneasy with inactivity, had allowed Katsuhito to press them into service, beginning the long process of clearing away the rubble and bodies that littered the grounds. Mihoshi insisted on helping, and the occasional crash, yelp of pain and stream of burbled apologies served to prove that some things never change. Ayeka sat slumped against a pile of timbers, staring blankly at the ground. Ryoko stood stock still, staring up into the sky. Washu sighed inwardly, shaking her head, feeling the sting of her daughter's pain. Nothing to do now but wait. And hope. To keep herself occupied, she began taking an inventory of her equipment, still down in the lab. As the list scrolled down the screen, she frowned. Most of it was merely wrecked, but one item was gone entirely. A 'port disc. But what... Her gaze snapped upwards. "Uh oh." Kevin parried desperately. Hunter was better than he was - always had been, and the strain of blocking his attacks and deflecting his telekinetic strikes - whoa! He ducked as Hunter's blade sliced through the space where his head had been a split second earlier. He blocked the back stroke, staring into Hunter's wild eyes as their swords locked, hissing and spitting. Maybe, he thought, I should point out that I'M the good guy... Hunter suddenly backed up, wrenching his sword free, and lashed out his foot in a swift kick that connected with Kevin's stomach. He lurched backwards, almost falling, and slumped onto something hard and smooth. At last, he thought faintly, and jerked his arm. The 'port disc slipped from his jacket into his open palm. He spun, slapping it onto the cube of plasmite and around to face Hunter. He lifted his sword to the guard position, hearing the soft -whumm- behind him, and took one delicious moment to savour the look on his brother's face before leaping back into the fray. "Uh-oh." The soft mutter dragged Ayeka from her private reverie. If there is one thing one never, ever wants to hear, it is the greatest scientific mind in the universe saying "Uh-oh." "Miss Washu, what...oh..." she trailed off. There was a shimmering in the air, a soft blue glow that expanded and brightened, quickly becoming too intense to look at. There was a soft -crump-, and a huge block of clear material appeared out of thin air, a block that contained - Sasami. It settled to the ground. With a slight ping, a spent teleport disc fell from its side, landing in the grass. Washu was at the small panel on the side of the block in an instant, stabbing at the controls. Ayeka reached out, touched the block, and felt wetness under her fingertips. There was a faint smear of blood across the smooth surface. She stared at it. "He did it," she whispered. "Son of a bitch!" Parry. Thrust. "I won't have you maligning our mother's memory like that, Hunter." Leap. Duck. Swing. "I'll see you BURN..." "Not today." A fist came out of nowhere, slamming into Kevin's jaw and spinning him around. Hunter howled, thrusting his hands forward, and suddenly Kevin was airborne, spiralling across the cabin to ram into the far wall, leaving a sizable dent. "Agh..." he wheezed softly, fighting his way upright. He was slumped against the back wall, through which he could feel the faint thrum of the ship's engines. Engines...? He gagged suddenly, coughing up a torrent of blood. Hunter strode swiftly towards him. "So. You managed to rescue her. Good for you." He lashed out with his fist, knocking Kevin back against the wall. "Of course, all you really did was buy her a few more hours of life." He kicked Kevin in the side, who slumped back to the ground with a weak groan. "I hope it was worth it." He reached down, pulling him up by the front of his coat so that the two brothers were face to face. "What say you now, brother? I suppose you must be very proud of yourself." "No," said Kevin. He smiled. He tensed his fist, summoning every last ounce of strength he could muster, and struck - driving it backwards, through the broken metal of the engine housing. His hand, bloodied and broken, closed over a thick tube. "NOW I'm proud of myself," he said, and pulled. Hunter looked at him in horror as the room went red, ten different alarms sounding. The room lurched sickeningly - Ryoko smiled, looking away from Ayeka and Sasami's tearful reunion. She looked down at the rumpled cabbit cradled in her arms and felt the reassuring presence of Ryo-Ohki in her mind again. "Miya?"