If God Will Send His Angels
EPILOGUE
"Johnny take a walk with your sister in the rain
Let her talk about the things you can't explain
To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal
If you want to touch the sky, better learn how to kneel"
–U2, "Mysterious Ways"
"Hey."
"Hey."
The two men greeted each other tersely. No other words needed to be said just yet. Ramsus nodded. Fei acknowledged it.
Fei started in with a barrage of kicks and punches that seemed to blur the line between practiced and mechanical, instinctive. It was clear to Ramsus as he parried each blow with his sword that Fei had gotten much stronger since the last time they'd fought hand-to-hand– well over a year ago in the top towers of the Bledavik palace. That was to be expected– you don't slay God without getting a little tougher.
Fei finished his attack with a roundhouse kick that shook the wooden practice sword and pushed Ramsus back a good two feet; the dust and scent of burning rubber soles wafting into the space between them. Ramsus willed his eyes to narrow again, willed himself not to be surprised at the intensity of the kick. Something in the back of his mind registered the attack as being the Senretsu form. Hadn't he seen that in Aveh as well?
Ramsus charged, swinging the sword in a feint. Fei was not so easily fooled, however, as he slid to the left and grabbed for Ramsus' arm. Twisting quickly, Ramsus evaded the grapple and brought his weapon around for a strike– but Fei dropped to the floor and swept Ramsus' feet out from under him. Both men hit the ground hard– Fei on his back and Ramsus face-first. Fei rolled away and Ramsus pushed himself to his feet. "Not bad," Ramsus said. "Not bad at all."
"I'm just getting warmed up." Fei's voice seemed to come from both sides of him– Ramsus barely brought the sword up to block the punch that he knew was coming. He felt it, too– the spirit of battle that he'd missed for so long. This was what he was made for– the grace and elegance of hand-to-hand combat, not the clumsy attack patterns of a Gear. Maybe now...
His thoughts enveloped Ramsus' attention, which was just enough of an opening for Fei to slip around behind him and lift him. The martial artist's powerful hands gripped him tightly as Ramsus saw the world spin and flip around him. He dropped his sword and pulled on one of Fei's arms to try to free himself. The change in Fei's grasp caused him to lose his balance, and as he toppled backwards, Ramsus positioned his elbow to drop onto Fei's stomach.
Fei grunted in pain at the shock– he'd tightened his belly in expectation, but he never imagined Ramsus capable of putting that much force into the blow. Ramsus pulled him off the ground and stepped back. "You OK?" he asked. Fei, still out of breath, nodded. "Not too rough," he gasped. "Save some for Elly."
"She likes it like that?" Ramsus said, his eye cocking mischievously.
"I'll never tell," Fei smirked. He leapt high into the air– Hagan, Ramsus thought. If he connects with even one kick, I'm done for. He stepped aside and reached at his side for his sword– which, he realized instants later, was in Fei's hand. The black-haired man dropped to the ground and swung the weapon clumsily– Ramsus grabbed the wooden blade and wrenched it from Fei's hands easily. Fei hopped backwards and focused his concentration. A glow appeared around his hands, as Ramsus righted his grip on the sword.
A ball of light flew from Fei's hands and towards Ramsus. He blocked the Chi attack before remembering that counterattacking with Ether wouldn't work, and remembering that Fei's power was different. "That's hardly fair," Ramsus laughed, as he parried a few more of Fei's kicks and swings.
"Well, I am unarmed," Fei retorted.
"Point," Ramsus said. He released his right hand from the sword and let it flail to the left in an uncontrolled windup. Fei shifted his focus to the sword– just long enough to fail to notice Ramsus' right hand heading straight for his midsection. The sucker-punch caught Fei completely off-guard, and he went stumbling backwards. Gasping for breath, he eyed Ramsus carefully and nodded once.
Ramsus nodded in return, and threw the sword aside. He rushed Fei, feinting with his left arm as his right came swinging forward– but the martial artist wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. He blocked the punch expertly and landed a couple of his own on Ramsus' chest before the Solarian grabbed his fist. Ramsus twisted sharply, and Fei rolled with the attempt to flip him. Cartwheeling to the right, he swung his legs wildly, and managed to knee Ramsus in the side of the head. Fei landed on his feet, and Ramsus staggered backwards, clutching his head.
"Are you OK, Kahran?" Fei asked.
"I'm fine," he said, clearing the stars from his eyes. "It'll take more than that to knock me out."
"I don't think I want to go that far," Fei shrugged. "But you called for this."
"Yeah," Ramsus said, hands up. "I just wanted to see..."
"Don't," Fei said. "Don't think about who's better or who's inferior. Just fight, and let the results speak for themselves."
"Is that how you always did it?"
"No," Fei admitted. "It was because I didn't care about the results. I didn't want to be this way, I never wanted to fight. But, it was something I was good at."
"You're better than good, Fei," Ramsus said. "You're better than me."
"You're wrong," Fei said. "I don't think so, anyway. I'd say we're about evenly matched."
Ramsus sat down on the grass. Fei walked over and sat next to him. "Nisan's a beautiful place," Ramsus said absently. "I wonder if I might want to stay here. Study the old religion."
"It's a thought," Fei said. "Elly's expressed an interest in it, too. I know Maria and Margie would love to see you again."
"Margie... she doesn't hold a grudge?" Ramsus asked.
"Of course not," he replied. "You were just doing what you were ordered to. And in fact, she tells me you were one of the nicest people to her during the siege. Says a lot about a guy, how he treats those who can't do him any good."
"But she could have done me a world of good," Ramsus countered. "I still needed the Fatima Jasper, remember? I was just trying to get her to tell me where it was."
"You can say whatever you like, Ramsus," Fei smiled, "but I know the truth. Margie does too. And so do you."
Ramsus smiled back. "Yeah," he said. "I guess I do."
"You know what the toughest thing for me was?" Fei asked. "Dealing with the fact that I wasn't perfect. That deep inside me was a horrible, murderous killer."
"Id, right?" Ramsus said. Fei shivered at the mention of his deplorable alter-ego. "But Id wasn't who you really were."
"That's just it," Fei said. "He was. And I was, too. It was the fusion of Id and who I thought I was that made me, well, me. It was really hard for me to reconcile that. But you know what? Someone told me something yesterday, and I