By Animenadie

So dark this day, this night, this hell...
That brother, sister, must it veil.
And in this dark day is Fate's decision...
To pit blood against it's own.

A twist, a turning of the table...
For in one mind, Kain must kill Able.
The darker, stronger must win.
The good in one will fight evil in the other...

But in the end, both will regret...




"Sister..."


A lone figure stands outside a building, looking in through one of the large windows at another figure inside - also alone. The figure outside stands emotionless while the sky berates him furiously with its tears, soaking his black hair and the dark clothes that cling to his sleek yet muscular frame. Cold blue eyes warm only slightly as they watch the figure inside of the gym harshly punch and kick at an invisible opponent.

Left hook, right jab, roundhouse to a back kick, followed by a step back and a back flip, all as if the person were in a real fight. Long dark hair flowed freely, lashing wildly around with each swift movement. The sleek form of the woman clad in sport bra and loose jeans moved faster with each punch and kick, showing that her deceptively frail-looking frame hid a surprising amount of speed and power. Music blared through the speakers of her CD player as she moved, the song seemingly reflecting her thoughts and mood. The young man watching felt a small tinge of pride as he observed her skills, though his face would never show it.

Somehow he knew that the ferocity the girl showed in training would rarely show on the battlefield. The intensity in her blue eyes which glared at the imaginary opponent would fade when she fought with a real person. The small tinge of pride faded...

He knew she'd have to overcome this problematic reluctance to hurt, to kill another person. If she were to survive, that is. He sighed, something he rarely did, as he remembered the "mission" he was given. Still he watched, putting it aside for now. No amount of so-called discipline and training had ever prepared him for the task he would soon have to perform...

The impassive facade that he had worn changed slightly, saddening just barely as he looked on. She was so similar to himself... yet so different, a reflection of what he used to be. There was a fire in her eyes that had long been extinguished from his own. He watched as she summoned a small amount of the God-given talent that few could understand, letting tendrils of blue fire dance between her hands before the they swirled around her fists, making each punch more lethal. The small bit of pride returned, she had learned how to control and use her power almost completely on her own. Though she hadn't mastered the advanced attacks he had... she had progressed very well indeed. Something that he was both proud and regretful of. On one hand, she could take care of herself very well, on the other, it drew attention. Attention from the wrong person...

Naar...


**The day before**


"Astaroth..." a deep, frightening voice summoned.

A dark figure sat upon a throne in a large, very dimly lit room. By human measurment, he was huge, surrounded by smaller, yet still large creatures that lined the walls, awaiting to serve him. The creatures themselves, for which no human lauguage had the words to fully describe, were all twisted and evil, comparable only to demons. Yet two stood out among them, each human by appearance. Though the look in their eyes was anything but human, morelike death itself. Each one was a young man, looking to be around the age of twenty. One of them stepped forward, walking till he was a few feet infront of the throne.

He knelt and kept his blue eyes downcast, shadowed by his dark bangs, "You call my lord?"

"Yes... I have been watching your sister recently..." the dark voice spoke again. Astaroth kept silent, though a sense of dread tugged at whatever was left of his heart.

The voice continued, "She's becoming very good. Excellent by human standards... her powers are developing almost as fast as yours did..."

"I see... what do you wish that I do?" Astaroth hated himself for asking.

Naar twisted his mouth into the nearest thing he could get to a smile, "I believe it's time that she join us, don't you think? She could be an asset to us with the proper training..."

Astaroth's jaw tensed at the words "proper training". Still he kept his eyes down and said simply, "Yes...."

"You should approach her, either during your other mission or before, whenever the time is right. I believe you are the only one who has a chance of convincing her, being her long lost brother and all..." Naar said. Astaroth's eyes closed breifly before he nodded, "Yes... master..."

That dreadful feeling grew stronger as he forced himself to ask, "Is there anything else?"

Naar's twisted smile widened slightly, "As a matter of fact there is... if your sister doesn't accept, kill her. We can't have her on the opposing side now can we?"

Astaroth's eyes closed, his hate for himself growing as he swollowed quietly before answering, "As you wish..."

With that, he got up and walked away.

*******


Still, he stood and watched, listening closely to the lyrics of the song that played...


Angels, lend me your might...
Forfeit all my lives to get just one right...
All those colors long since faded
All our smiles all confiscated

Never were we told
We'd be bought and sold...

When we were innocent...


There it was again, haunting him as he watched the girl. That dread... he knew that this wouldn't end well for either of them, no matter if she refused the offer or not. Either way, he secretly cursed Fate for dealing such a cruel hand.

The girl's speed increased even more as she spun around, kicking the air. Her expression dark and her mind lost in thought. That day's news had confirmed that which she wondered about for years, but in a way she deeply regretted. She would have to practically hunt down one of the few remaining family members she had, probably even fight him, maybe even worse. They said he was dangerous, they said he was a killer, but he couldn't be. He just couldn't. She had seen a glimpse of him, though at the time she had no idea who he was. Now, she refused to believe that he was a murderer...


**Earlier that day**


Natalie sat waiting in the office of FBI Agent K. D. Jameson, her current superior officer. Having been an agent for only six months, she had already racked up a few bad marks on her record, and today she had no doubt she'd earned another for hacking into restricted files.

She'd been caught a little under eight months ago by the FBI. The official charge was that she escaped prison while she was under the suspicion of murder, but everyone knew that would be a petty reason to get the FBI involved. The underlying motive to their involvment was the power she used to kill the three men who she claimed tried to attack her and another girl. It fascinated them. Using one's own life force in battle was not unheard of in the least, but all whom they had heard of before had at least some training, she hadn't. By all logic, a girl her age and size with no martial arts training whatsoever should not have been able to kill three large, fully grown men, especially not by summoning fire from nothing at all.

When they finally did catch up to her, it took several of their best agents to subdue her. And even then, one could tell she was holding back. Basically, they offered her two choices, 1. join the FBI and use her abilities to do many of their most dangerous jobs in secret, or 2. go back to jail with no hope of being pardoned. Grudgingly, she chose option one. Her record was wiped clean and most of her identity either changed or erased. Then, they basically went taught her all the rules and what not, how to use a gun, and attempted to get her to train in martial arts. They gave up the latter when she beat all their trainers.

A little more than six months had passed since she officially became an agent, and even though she either broke or bent every rule, she was a damn good one. Since she'd been put on the field, she had never once failed to achieve the desired goal.That was the only reason they kept her around, and she knew it. By all FBI standards, she shouldn't have even been there in the first place. But here she was, waiting for some pencil-pushing moron to tell her she'd been a bad girl and not to do it again. Didn't matter to her, she found what she needed.

Natalie sighed in boredom, Jameson was late. Again. She guessed he was probably in the next room flirting or God knows what with his secretary, and she'd sooner rot in her boredom than interrupt them. She'd seen enough gross things in her life, walking in on her superior officer doing the nasty with his slutty secretary did not need to be another. She sighed yet again, wishing briefly that she could get out of the little peice of hell she'd been forced into. To her, hell was exactly what "working" for them was. To everyone who wasn't high enough in rank to know, she was just a young secretary, but whose? No one ever bothered asking. Most were too busy teasing or flirting, one of the reasons this was a small peice of hell. The other... was much worse.

Twenty-three. That was the number of people so far that "duty" had called her to reap the ultimate vengeance on. Twenty-three, was the number of people whom she had killed. All of them were either major drug dealers, weapon runners or terrorists of some sort. To the FBI, death was proper punishment for them, plus it saved them the time and trouble of taking them to court and feeding them in prison. She only killed as a last resort, only when another agent or someone else's lives were in danger, and it was true that the lives she had taken were evil, but they were lives. She knew the sad truth, she was one of the government's little secret weapons, for them to use when and how they pleased. Besides, there was far too much blood on her hands to wash off now...

Her attention was snapped back to the present when the forty-something Jameson opened the door and strode into the office, his shirt slightly wrinkled and his tie a bit loose. She raised a brow, eyeing him as he sat down at his desk before her. She hated being right...

"I've been waiting for a while, sir. I won't ask why I've been sitting here staring at your paperweight for thirty-nine minutes if we can make this really quick," she stated in a low but flat tone. A. D. glared at her for a moment with a none-to-happy look, something she was getting used to.

"Agent, might I ask why you hacked into restricted government files, again?" Jameson question, slight exhasperation in his voice as he eyed her over the frame of his glasses. Natalie looked back at him, her expression non-chalant.

"'Cause I didn't find what I was looking for the last time," was the flat reply she gave. Jameson sighed tiredly, closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"Agent, you are aware of the rules we have about these things. If you don't abide by the rules, you will be punished.... again."

"So? It not like you can kick me out of the FBI, unfortunatly. And as for sending me on missions that are less than desirable, been there, done that. It didn't work," she states.

He sighs tiredly, "Exactly. So, because you already know of the situation on Shadowlaw as well as what information we have on this 'Astaroth' person - not to mention your attitude is less than needed around here - you have been reassigned. What forces we have on Shadowlaw are simply not enough, so you will be joining them in a couple of weeks. I suggest you prepare, this may well be your biggest mission ever."

Natalie raised a brow, her lips pursed slightly. She spoke in monotone, "Fine. Any other orders?"

"Yes, in fact, this Astaroth guy may be in on all that's going on there, it seems most of the worlds biggest criminals and assassins are all involved somehow. If you meet any of them, especially Astaroth, attempt to subdue them and bring them in. If that's not possible, use any means necessary to stop them. That's all," he said, looking through papers as he spoke.

Natalie's eyes widened slightly. She knew they had no idea what they were asking her to do, but she couldn't tell them. After a moment of silence long enough to force Jameson to peer at her through his glasses with a raised brow, she answered quietly, "Yes sir."

*******


Punch, kick, punch again. Natalie's body fought almost mechanically as her thoughts continued their focus on her earlier discovery. Based on rumors she heard about his appearance, she had reason to search the files for any information she could find. She'd finally found a photo and a some info on the man known only as Astaroth. The man had been vaguely connected to several terrible incidents involving the loss of human life. When the FBI had sent their agents after him, they were all found slaughtered with no evidence as to who did it. It wasn't hard to guess that it was indeed Astaroth. None of that surprised her much, until she saw the photo. Though taken by a security camera, it was rather clear, he was even facing the camera, she could almost swear he intended for them to see him. His face shared a striking similarity to hers, with icy blue eyes and black hair. All of which confirmed what she had feared. This Astaroth... was her brother, David.

She had old pictures from her grandmother's journal of a small boy holding her when she was a toddler. She found them after being set free from the prison she was temporarily in by a mysterious man, whom she confirmed was her brother by comparing what he looked like with the boy in the picture. And that man was the same as the one in the FBI photo. There was no doubt about it, her brother and Astaroth were indeed one and the same.

That was not something that pleased her, as Astaroth could tell by the troubled look on her face, for the fleeting moments he could actually see it that is. He knew the orders that she'd been given, in fact he let the FBI get the vague information on him so she could finally find out what had become of her brother. Though, he deeply wished it had been something better.

Natalie was, at that same moment, wishing the same thing. She conitnued her training exercise, still unaware of being watched. Astaroth took notice of the cross pendant that dangled from the choker around her neck. He absently touched the black crystalline cross that he wore, usually hidden beneath his shirt. Another difference between the two of them; Natalie still held her faith dear, he had long forgotten his. Her fervent belief in her God was something that still amazed him to an extent. So many bad things had happened to her to cause her to believe there wasn't a God who cared, yet she still believed there was. He had given up believing anyone at all cared about him, due to Naar's "training".

He guessed that time would tell which one was right. He sighed once again, knowing his time here was short and drawing to a close. He looks at Natalie once more...

"Goodbye for now, little sister... Take care of yourself..." he thinks. As he turns, he sees a tall figure, also clad in black, leaning with arms crossed against the corner of the brick building. The bangs of his raven hair obscure most of his eyes, which are directed at Astaroth.

"Hello Jin..." Astaroth said, his voice almost a sigh. He knew Jin had been there for a while, waiting for him to finish so they could begin their mission. Jin was the only other person who knew about Astaroth's visits to Earth to see his sister. Jin swore never to tell anyone, and Astaroth in turn swore that if Jin ever required something of him, he would comply - no questions asked.

"Ready?" Jin asked in monotone. Astaroth looks one last time at Natalie before nodding and turning to walk towards Jin. Natalie has finished her exercise and catches a glimpse of something moving outside the window. She catches a fleeting image of a man in black disappearing around the edge of the large window. She immediately think of who it possibly could be...

"David... Astaroth..." she thinks as her eyes widen slightly.

Astaroth walks past Jin and the latter turns and walks by him as they prepare to leave. A strange, fleeting thought passes through Astaroth's mind as he glances at his comrade. If anywere to happen to himself, could Jin take care of Natalie? Jin never saw her... but something told Astaroth that if he ever did, things may change for all of them, for better or worse. Somehow, Astaroth knew their three fates had just been intertwined.

Jin kept walking, his facade as cold as ever, completely unaware of his partner's thoughts. The two opened a portal to Naar's realm just as the front door to the gym flew open and Natalie ran out into the rain, hoping to catch up to her brother. She looked around, only to see nothing. She yelled to the sky...

"DAVID!"

From somewhere dark and cold, Astaroth looks at his little sister...

"I'm sorry Natalie, David is gone..."


~owari~ (end)