The Trails of a Troubled Mind~ [PRIVATE - Mero and Utena only.]

I had given up on any magic attack, it defiantly wast my strongest. I sliced through all her attacks using my sword and smirked at her. She had to be hiding something, even I knew I was in trouble if she had this ultimate secret power. I wasn't to worried and if I died, well there was always another me to replace me.

I charged forward, dodging any attacks,and moved around her so I ended up standing beside the shadow Mero, holding my sword to her throat. "That's quiet annoying, would you please stop throwing those things?" I smiled wickedly at her. "And Utena won't jump in", I reassured.

I needed to continue analyzing this battle. I would have to find a way around beating Shadow Mero, it seems she had the upper hand in all of this. She did have this secret power within her, it was ultimate, absolute and great. But, my curiosity lies with why she didn't use it from the very beginning if she had it. For one thing, if you are angry at someone and you want extinguish them from their own place here on Earth, I would think you'd use all of your power to do so. But, this was a very puzzling battle indeed. The Shadow Mero seemed to be cornered as the sword Mero possessed was held to her neck/throat quite threateningly. Was Mero winning?

"Oh please Mero. You think you're going to be able to defeat me this way..... I'm so weak, I need princey over there and Bryant to come save me. You can't do anything yourself but still, you're delusional enough to try that and actually believe it. If you believe it, then it will happen. What a crock of bullshit! I don't buy it one bit. And another thing I don't buy is the fact that you have this idea created in your mind you're some great fighter than will win this battle at all costs. You denied me Mero, that was YOUR choice and it was a very stupid choice because now you must fight me! You must own up to your private thoughts and feelings, admit them, accept them. DO IT. If you're so keen on destroying me, then do it! I'd like to see you try."

Shadow Mero shouted whilst she moved her hand swiftly to grab one of the pistils she had on her and proceeded to shoot Mero. There's no way she could miss because of the proximity of Mero to her. It was then that I witnessed a bullet fly through Mero on one end and out the other; the bullet had gone through her body.

'Mero..... no....'

As much as I tried to fight it, tears kept trying to find ways to gather in my eyes. I felt a stinging sensation in them and a pang of sorrow play in my heart like the saddest song ever created. I wouldn't be able to take it if Mero died while fighting this battle. I didn't want to have to come to her rescue again. I didn't want to have to fight her shadow, this was her battle and I knew she could win it.

"Don't worry, if you die here, I'll make sure to replace your miserable life and fuck up anything you hold dear to you. Don't worry that bullet, it was a special kind of bullet. This is just to start things off, see. That was a spirit bullet. It only shoots through your spiritual essences, more like chi or magic and if it gets you.... well, you should feel really limp right now, like your body is sloppy and not in your control. You should feel not so emotional, more leaning towards the apathetic side. But, don't worry you still have emotions and you can still feel them, in however little quantities that bullet would allow for. This gun does come in handy, especially when you're facing someone who annoys the crap out of you!"

So far, all Shadow Mero was doing was throwing balls of power that seemed to be comprised of just darkness within them. So she did know Darkness, as an element of choice, and the opposite of that is light. I know white magic, that could be useful. But, then, the shadow did something I would have never expected. I couldn't make sense of it till I took a look at her form....

Suddenly, from all the plants in the immediate area, little white balls of power began to surge to her hands, which she was holding in a wide, open and inviting position. She was calling forth an attack. I thought, 'What right does she have to do this to the poor living things on this planet?' And then I realized, usually magic does take away from the things here on Earth, I was a contradiction myself. But, that was besides the point.... how could she draw life like that? ..... She's an angel. I noticed the two wings on her back, one light, one dark, and remembered that angels do have that sort of power. This was a spirit attack, she was drawing power from the living things here. But, what would she plan to do with them?

"You will die where you stand Mero. Get ready for one of my all time greatest attacks....!" 'In this state.... She continued in her thoughts. This battle was sure turning out to be something else. All the while I needed to keep thinking and analyzing. I needed to find a weakness for Mero to exploit, since I'm sure she had her hands full. I needed to find a way to beat her ultimately and get rid of her once and for all, I think I was on the track of getting this answer. And I also needed to, at times, conduct Mero on what to do, if ever stuck; I had telepathy, but, how could I get my thoughts to her without the shadow reading them. They were one in the same! Confused and bewildered, I sat atop the tree branch and continued to watch and think, there was nothing more for me to do but guess at this situation.

I stepped back a bit, in a sloppy motion. My shadow had shot me. I'd be impressed with the shot, if it wasn't for the great pain I felt. I grunt but continued to stand strong. I watched as she gather energy from the nature around her, and listened as she droned on about me dying at her hands.

I decided to waste no time. Ignoring the pain from my close to deadly wound I moved forward. I took hold of the shadow Mero's shoulders,tightly. I could feel my energy slipping away from me as I held her. I used one of my hands to pull a gun from its hilt. In a swift motion I had the gun under her chin pointing upwards and pulled its trigger.

I looked up at Utena in pure horror. "Ute-..." I paused. "Why the hell did you do that? That wasn't very bright." I pointed out to her, tears daring to make their presence known. "You should have stayed back, this was my battle. Everything the shadow me was saying was true. I hate the fact that I need you and Bryant to step in for me. I always get you guys in more trouble then you need because of it. This time is no different. I never mind taking my mistakes and facing them head on, even when I know I may die."

I stood up and pain ran through my body. I shook it off and moved closer to Utena, making sure she was still alive after the attack. I put her arm around my shoulder and made her walk over to a tree. I sat her down under it. "Utena, thank you, but please never do that for me again. Just please don't close your eyes and see if you can use any of the energy you have left to heal your major wounds." I got up and limply walked back over to the shadow.

"Are you satisfied with that!? You've hurt my friend... you've hurt your friend". I glared at her and picked my sword off the ground. I pointed it at her then waited for her next attack.

I picked up the sword and smiled to myself. It was a good looking blade and I could feel the balance that it held. I moved it through the air and my smile grew wider. I then looked at the shadow. "It'll be nice to get rid of you". I charged forward and lunged the blade towards her chest.

"Oh, foolish child you think so! You think this is the end! Well you're sadly mistaken."

The shadow smirked and then tried to summon her magic. Nothing happened, her reserves were completely empty. She had to give herself more time to recover from the major attack she wasted on me. Second, she tried to move, she couldn't move. None of her was moving, almost as if she were frozen. Well that was almost the case. She looked down at her feet and found magical steel sealed chains that bound her to the ground by the ankles, harshly. She couldn't escape no matter what she tried. Mero continued to dash, somehow noticing she was gaining more strength and health along the way she was dashing. It was almost as if she'd never been hurt, just a little disoriented. The Sword of Dios, or the God's Sword, bestowed upon me, obeyed Mero and stuck itself into the shadow Mero's chest. This, did not cause her to bleed. It did not kill her, instead, a light flashed and she reverted back to the form that looked exactly like Mero. She felt to her knees, the sword sticking out of her chest and her head down in defeat. The shadow had been defeated and now it was time for this thing to finally be over, the acceptance...

"Never did I think you, of all people, that you could find a way to beat me. But, alas you have. You're really somethin' Mero, you know that?"

She smiled and cringed a bit but looked up into Mero's eyes.

"Heh, you've certainly got a special friend there. What I wouldn't give to have someone like that in my life....."

A pause and the sun was back to shining in the sky dimly.

"I've come to accept you as a part of me Mero, you're my conscience, the original me, I am just your hidden thoughts as I've said. Now I know why you didn't want to accept me before..... you love your friends with every fiber of your being and every beat of your heart and you would give anything to give back to them what they've given to and done for you. I understand that now... you and I are of two different spectrums. I am in your head, your hidden thoughts, your darkest secrets.... but, in no way do I have any correlation with that of your heart... and that... .that is the thing that has slain me... So Mero Imaimashi," She cleared her throat. "Me.... how about it?"

Another smile and she extended her hand towards Mero, awaiting her response.

I took her hand and nodded. "I accept you as well, in every way. Truth is I had accepted you from the beginning... I just wanted to see if I was strong enough to beat you. Turns out though, I still had help from a friend". I laughed sheepishly and smiled.

I had heard Utena's voice in my head and looked over to her once the shadow was gone. "Shit Utena!" I ran over to her only to find her past out. I was injured pretty bad, and unsure how much longer I could stand but I needed to get Utena somewhere to heal properly. I looked around knowing we were in no short distance to any hospital. I sighed and thought a moment, I could carry her until I could go no more, but my eyes began to droop and I felt myself slipping into the black.

After a moment I could fight it no more, and fell unconscious.

I was still unconscious- or rather just sleeping by this point. The battle had taken a lot out of me and now I had to sleep it off.

After a bit more time I woke up and looked around. I saw Utena and I looked confused, "Where am I?"

"The hospital? Grooosss... Couldn't you leave me in a ditch or something?" I complained. "Sorry you had to drag my ass here.. I didn't count on her shooting me at a close range".

"I'm leaving whether they release me or not" I laughed and got up walking towards the door. "Hurry up Utena, if we sneak out we avoid the paperwork!"

"So what happened? After she shot you I kinda just glazed over in rage...Don't really remember anything else after that either, aside from her disappearing".