The Human Heart [COMPLETED]

Worth a Change

Pain. There has never been so much of it in Chishiya's life. But then again, he has never been shot before, so it's only natural, right?

Within the blink of an eye, a single bullet has set his whole shoulder on fire, knocking him off his feet and hurling him across the street. He doesn't notice the rain soaking his clothes and running into his eyes, since the searing flames quickly spread all over his arm and chest. How annoying!

Only slowly, the other senses return. Chishiya blinks against the rain and waits for the rushing noise in his ears to ebb down, only to hear a familiar laughter, a voice that definitely doesn't belong to Arisu. A third player has joined their little party, and there is just one in all of the Borderlands who will shoot precisely enough not to kill him and then laugh like a maniac.

Niragi.

It's obvious that the former Militant didn't plan to kill him. If Chishiya was intended to die, the bullet would have struck his heart or head instead and not his shoulder. The left one on top of that, where it is still a huge bother but won't disable his main arm. Niragi wants a fight. He wants to end the never ending strife between the two of them, maybe three if Arisu is counted as a real part and not just an appendage.

"I'm so happy we meet again!" shouts the Militant and another shot follows, but no new pain erupts in Chishiya's body. Arisu pants and seems to scramble across the floor, and Chishiya can see out of the corner of his eye that the clever boy is hiding behind one of the many cars covering the street. If only the pain wasn't so strong... makes it much harder to focus.

"What are you up to? Why the hell did you shoot Chishiya?!"

So naïve, after everything that happened. Just like his stubborn. How convenient that she ran away, because she will be spared the chaos like this. The least thing Chishiya wants is to see her shot by Niragi. She has nothing to do with all of this. Even if it means that he will most likely never see her again... she'll be safe.

"Should I have hugged him instead?" Niragi laughs with a rattling sound, and it is obvious that his health has seen much better days. Without proper treatment outside of the Borderlands he will die, but he wants to take other people with him. Sadistic asshole until the very end. "The three of us don't have that sort of relationship! Let's kill each other – that's the only possible thing the three of us could be doing!"

Chishiya coughs, a sudden wave of fresh blood sputtering across his lips when the sound turns into a dry chuckle. He must have bitten his tongue with the shot, since there is no internal damage that could have caused it. "You purposefully missed my vitals..." because you don't want to go down without a fight. And what fight would that be if I were already dead?

"I ain't going to let things end with a surprise attack. Hurry up and get up; let's get things started!" He reloads his rifle, and Chishiya clenches his teeth while he manages to sit up and rob towards another car that will shelter him at least for the moment. Niragi wants a fight, but he has never been the most patient one. And listening to Arisu's begging won't reach up to his expectations.

"Us players are supposed to be on the same side", the puppy boy shouts out while hiding behind a car as well. Chishiya can see him close, quickly growing desperate over the fact that this won't be a fight to be solved with words.

"Come to think of it", Niragi ponders, "the three of us are pretty similar. Born from being unable to adapt to society; always being selfish... no touch with reality, desiring real world experience – wanderers." A bit too poetic especially for a brutish man like him, and his speech is interrupted by a heavy cough, followed by much more blood than covering Chishiya's lips. Opposite to him, Niragi is obviously suffering internal and lethal damage, and he's aware of the fact. "Sorry – but I don't have the time left to be worrying about the next stage or clearing games. Isn't this fine? As similar souls, won't you entertain me?"