Inquisitors; Rulers Of Past

Old Friend

Things were not going as planned.

First of was Sakura. He had no idea that she would be assigned to this part of America. The Inquisitors worked on a constantly rotating shift, meaning one day you could be sent to Africa and then the next time it was all the way in Russia. Since Sakura wasn't a new member, she'd probably been all over the world by now.

The second was that she wanted him to help her in a daemon extermination. He just hoped that she hadn't passed by the base to check on them otherwise he would be in a real hassle this late night.

"So, how are things back at base?" Sakura asked breaking the silence. Her question confirmed Barry's thoughts, splashing a wave of relief over him.

"Oh they're doing well. Martha's gotten better."

"Well that's a relief." Sakura smiled, "finally."

"Yeah," Barry said, feeling the guilt weigh on his heart. "Finally."

"And I heard from Aaron that there was a new guy... who was it?"

"Kyler Tason. Weirdo but he's got a big heart."

"Hard to find guys like that in our line of work."

"Exactly."

The two stopped at the edge, watching as the large river slowly flowed. Sakura watched it for some time, a peaceful expression drawn on her face.

"The daemon is under the bridge." She said, her gaze remained on the river.

"I say we split up and attack." Barry suggested.

"I prefer a frontal assault. That's how I roll."

"C'mon. Attacking a daemon from both sides is the best strategy. Even a toddler should know that."

"Yeah, but I'm really not a coward."

"This isn't about cowardice. This is about killing the damned daemon."

"This is going to go on for a while. Heads or Tails."

"Tails."

The daemon sat in silence, waiting for any unfortunate person who happened to pass here. It was that tall but it was quite large. Its right arm was bigger than its left. He had three eyes, two on the right side of his face and one on the left.

The Daemon stood up, standing on its hind legs, its bright yellow eyes widened. It turned to the left and to the right, before sitting back down. Due to his pitch black skin, no one would see him in this darkness, or hear him thanks to the flowing river.

But alas, he overlooked a lot.

The blade cut off his smaller arm, spraying black blood all over. It could barely cry out in pain before a spear pierced through his chest. The last thing he saw was a scythe being wielded by a silver haired girl, swiftly and effortlessly, slice of his head, before he dissolved in to nothingness.

"See, nice strategy, right." Barry said, grinning.

"For once, I'll give you credit. It was pretty decent." Sakura said, "It's just left with one small detail."

"And what could that..." Barry raised his spear and barely blocked the scythe that was swung down by Sakura.

"You were never this slow."

"Um... things change. Also please stop with the sudden surprise attacks, it's kinda scary..."

"You weren't sent here, were you?"

"Really?" Barry grinned, "What makes you say that?"

Sakura looked at Barry for a long while. She shook her head and smirked. "Aaron says hi." Barry stopped grinning and sighed.

"So they sent you to bring me back, huh?"

"On the contrary, no." Sakura said, "The Inquisitors don't have the time, resources or people to go after a rogue inquisitor, Barry. Like you already know, I'm here to exterminate daemon and I'll be on my way."

"Ok. But could you at least drop the scythe?"

"Hell no, Barry. Did you really think that I was going to let you drop that spear in the river?"

"How did you..."

"It's a usual thing. You're not the first one. Stupid guys like you drop their stuff in the river and next thing you know, some guy, or terrorist group gets it and starts using it."

Barry smiled awkwardly. Sakura withdrew her scythe and slumped herself against the wall. She eyed the spot where the daemon had died and then turned back to Barry.

"Do you really want to stop?" Sakura asked. Barry said nothing, turning to the slow moving river. He dipped the tip of the spear into the river. He swirled it round and round for some time.

"No. And Yes." Barry said, "I can't decide."

"Is it that hard?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah. It is." Barry replied, "I still get nightmares every time I go to sleep. I've come this far from Boston, tried to cut ties with everyone I know...and knew. But it didn't work out. Anywhere I went, it followed me."

"You didn't ditch the suit though."

"Yeah. I couldn't." Barry took a deep breath before turning to Sakura. "Do you ever feel like...?"

"Quitting? Yeah." Sakura responded, standing up straight, "And I have before. But then, I thought of the family that I would leave behind. Martha, Aaron, Jake, Shino...you. I knew if I left them, there would be one less of us alive."

Sakura rested her scythe on the wall. "Sure you could argue that there are other inquisitors but you know better, Barry. There are not enough people who are willing to sacrifice themselves to save the rest of mankind. People like us are a rarity, trust me."

"Even if it means seeing all of our friends die all over again? Doesn't that scare you?"

"It does, Barry," Sakura said in a low voice. "It does. Every single day I go out, the thought of a powerful daemon emerging crossing through my mind. Images of what happened eight months ago pop up in my head over and over again. But Barry, this is our noblesse oblige."

Barry turned away, watching the silent flowing river. His mind drifted off to the past, to his old friends; to Garm. To how he was slaughtered right in front of him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the pain in his chest becoming more and more unbearable.

"C'mon, Barry," Sakura said, patting Barry's head, "let's go grab a bite. I can spare a few minutes before I head off."

"Where to?" Barry asked with a wry smile.

"Dunno. But the fee's on you."