DarkWing (Final Editing in Progress)

Chapter 24

"Brother?" I forced out between gasps for air. She place her foot on my throat, and pushed down. I felt my neck forcefully strain against her weight, making my fight to breathe even harder.

"Brother..." It echoed in my head. "She's... She's my sister... I'm... I'm her brother..." I felt my consciousness slowly slip. My mind gradually shut down due to the lack of air. "I'm... I... Can't be... No... No. She's not my sister." I grabbed her foot with both of my hands, then put all of my strength into pushing upwards. Shadow struggled against me. "She's not my sister." I pushed harder. "No sister of mine." I felt the pressure of her weight lift off my neck more and more. "Would do this." Her foot was completely off my throat.

"To me!" I screamed. I snapped her ankle by twisting her foot quickly. I pushed off the ground with my wings and flew up to her height. I cocked my hip, then spun and unleashed a powerful punch directly into her face. She flew backwards and flipped in the air, then planted her feet onto the ground and slid backwards, struggling to maintain her balance. She stopped sliding, dropped to one knee, and looked up at me. I stood straight up, my wings outstretched, my fists clenched. I smirked, then said, "I was never a fan of family reunions."

I could see the anger burn behind her eyes. It lit up her face, and ran through her blood. She stood up looking at the ground. Her anger was then replaced with a smile, and she looked at me.

"Do you know what it's like to be blind?" she said. "Forever trapped in a world of darkness, forever lost, forced to adjust to something that everyone around you doesn't have to deal with?" The blinds around us began to drop once again, slowly cutting off every ray of light illuminating the room. Just before I was consumed in the darkness, I saw Shadow's smile, and heard her say, "Welcome to my world."

The room was void of any luminance. My eyes fought the darkness, but it was to no avail. I was drowning in it, and there was nothing I could do.

I heard a footstep to my right and quickly turned. I felt something brush my left shoulder and threw a punch, connecting with nothing but empty space. I felt someone shove me from behind, and I released a roundhouse kick, again, hitting nothing.

"Damnit,"  I thought to myself. "I had bette-" Shadow punched me powerfully, connecting perfectly with my face. I fell flat on my back, and began to see stars. Sadly, the stars didn't help me see. I jumped to my feet, my mind clouded. I tried to relax when I noticed that I was breathing a lot faster and heavier than usual. "Gotta calm down..." I thought to myself. "Take a deep breath. Gotta figure this out." I closed my eyes. They weren't doing me much good anyways.

There. I spun around and threw a right hook. I felt my fist connect with a face, and heard a small cry from Shadow. She wasn't expecting it.

Two steps. I took two steps forward then shot out a kick. I felt a rib shatter against my foot and heard air escape her lungs. I lifted her off the ground slightly, then took my leg back and let her fall onto the floor. I picked up my foot, and let it hover over her.

Do it. I left my foot there. I couldn't do it. I could remember too much. All the memories, my desperation. Shadow and everyone adopting me, helping me rediscover myself. She may have betrayed me, Jinx, Drake, Wulf, but I couldn't help it, couldn't help but feel some sort of sentimentality towards her.

What was I doing. Standing there, giving a second thought to killing her. No matter what she did, who she was, she was different now. Hell, the girl that I knew before never even existed. She was just a lie, nothing more than a lie. And now, now she was my enemy, she was trying to kill me. She's no one to me, just another casualty.

"I wish I could say I'm sorry. But I'm not." I dropped my foot powerfully, and cracked the tile under my foot.

"It's a shame, my brother," she whispered in my ear. "I am."

"No!" I screamed as I swung around and threw a punch hitting nothing more than thin air. "I am not your brother!" I heard a dark feminine laugh swim through the darkness, echoing against it's unbreakable boundaries. "And YOU are no sister of mine!"

"Really? Then how about you ask our father?" she said as she continued to laugh.

"Yeah? And who would that be?" I snapped back at her while turning in the darkness.

The hum stopped. It was pure silence. It was unsettling. One wall of blinds lifted, and it was the one directly across from the elevator. I could see Vaine, him and his chair creating a dark silhouette against the ominous sky behind him. He stood up, walked to the side of his chair, and looked at me, standing near the middle of the room. I could see nothing more than a black outline, but then, I saw them. He opened his eyes, and they shot at me, his glaring eyes, two small, bright circles, piercing the darkness, stabbing at my soul. My heart dropped. I suddenly couldn't breathe. I tried to hide the fact that I was struggling for air. I put my hand on my chest, and tried to unnoticeably squeeze my chest. But I figured it out. They didn't have to tell me.

"Hello, son." But they did anyways.