Chapter 11 - The Lady or the Tiger

[Jack]

(EvelynXandii)
This boy, Kirimisa, was standing not too far from where she had appeared. She knew instantly that they were surrounded, but a side effect of being in her current state was that she could no longer communicate her voice or presense to another plane of existance. In other words, as far as the mortals of this world were conserned, she wasn't here. At least she couldn't be killed again. The boy on the other hand, would need more than just his spiffy arm shield for this one. She stood and watched as the dogs crept closer, wishing she could help...

[Jack]

(ONizuka)
An enormous tiger flailed through the air, bringing his feet below him to land as all cats do. The winds tossing Finch about faded away as well, and she stalled the force of her fall with a delicate acrobatic roll. She sat up, rubbing dust from her jacket and sleeves. Onizuka stalked off, hunting through the outskirts of the Second level of Hell for his trinket, while Finch started walking back to Limbo.

The puzzle of recent events was falling together differently now, bringing foreboding thoughts to mind. First had been Cynric, a flaw in the system of Hell, but an explainable one. Then Evelyn's appearance, and the group he had distantly felt before passing the powers of Hell to Evelyn, and now the strange man with the scythe..Long ago when the Lords of Hell were many, and the demon princess Kurai ruled, she had spoken of a war to come, between heaven and Hell. Now it seemed the only original lord left was the Vulture lord Tenia, the workings of whose mind Onizuka couldn't fathom. Kurai had left Hell ages ago, promising that she would bring help to the war, but never returning. What was going on now could only be the war she had spoken of, the battle between Heaven and Hell. A battle he'd do his part in. But he'd need help. Regretting leaving Cynric behind, Onizuka gathered the feathery box in his teeth and trotted back to find Finch.

As Onizuka slinked back to her, she was kneeled, staring thoughtfully down at Xandii's body. Wondering whether the strange girl was mourning, the tiger stepped closer to get a look at the fallen body, and gave a start at seeing the face.

It was a face he'd seen before, the spitting image of Evelyn, the woman who he'd left with Cynric. He recalled Evelyn saying she had business to attend to in the upper levels of Hell, and the tiger was sure this is what she was talking about. Still, he wondered just who the fallen woman had been. Evelyn's sister, perhaps? A twin? Some sort of bizzare preincarnation? The young girl with the throwing star seemed to have known her.

With a cautious slowness the large tiger prodded the girl in the back with his muzzle. Finch turned with suspicious, but ultimately weary eyes that conveyed her annoyance with a clarity that spoken words lacked. She could see that the tiger wasn't going to eat her. For one thing, it already had something stuck in it's mouth, something with dull old feathers sticking out of it. Moreover, she could see by looking into its eyes that it was intelligent, that more was going on then appeared. Unsure of what to do, Finch simply picked herself up and began walking back to Limbo. The tiger, who happened to be as tall standing up as she was, took a few small steps and was walking alongside her. She watched it, not really sure what to expect, as it crouched down on its legs slightly, lowering it's back for her to climb on. Tired from her fight with Xandii still and having just been knocked around again, she climbed on and grabbed full handfulls of fur, sure she would fall off as soon as it started moving.

Instead of walking, or even running, as Finch might have expected, the giant tiger crossed the Second level of Hell through a series of enormous leaps, jumping from boulder to wind-worn boulder with untiring grace. Onizuka, who had been just as sure the girl would fall off, found that her hands, threatening to pull two patches of fur off his back, seemed to prevent her doing so. Within a matter of moments they reached the gate to Limbo, and the pair put the Second level of Hell behind them for the last time.

[Jack]

(Kyi\\Finch)
..Yet the last one.

Finch figured, as she and the tiger leaped their way back to Limbo, that if any more odd people were to come to the higher levels, it would be best to be with a group of people. Whoever these random appearances were, they simply weren't normal. They all knew how to fight, and they knew how to very well. Too well for Finch's liking. Whether or not a vast amount of people were to keep coming, Finch thought it may be best to be near the portal. On the living side. She had heard news about other people out of Hell had gathered in certain places, just in case the invaders were to come out. If there were three of them in a group, one person alone wouldn't be able to take them on. It had to be a group versus a group.

As Onizuka and Finch reached Limbo, Finch carefully slid off the tiger and flicked her fingers when she came to the ground. Tiny tufts of fur flew off from her nails. She glanced at the tiger's back, which showed no sign of loss of fur, so she must have only torn a tiny bit off. She nodded at the tiger gently in thanks, then headed to the small makeshift door in one of the castle walls.

As Finch glanced back towards the tiger, just to see if he had gone back to the second level, she found him behind her. She stared at him awkwardly. For once, it seemed, she may have a companion.

The two tiredly walked to Purgatory, taking their time. To Finch's slight surprise, they found no Hell creatures, or anything else for that matter. When they game to the gate of Purgatory Finch noticed that the creature whom had guarded it, now lay dead.

[Jack]

(Onizuka)
The orange and black Onizuka paused to sniff the skeleton that was sprawled across the entrance of Purgatory. It had been there for days, perhaps weeks, a fallen minotaur. Onizuka remembered a giant minotaur had been Kurai's bodyguard, following her to and from her residence in the Seventh circle of Hell. He wondered grimly if this was the same one. They continued on and the dead forest gave way to a snowy field with a village.

A little boy in ragged clothing ran out to meet them, apparently unafraid of the huge tiger stalking towards his village. The boy ran past Onizuka and gave Finch a polite bow. She nodded her head and gestured towards the little town, and the boy eagerly guided them through the ancient town and ushered them into a small church. Speculation had gone around about the identity of the girl whom had been sent medicine, and Finch found to her awkward surprise she was welcomed as a local hero of sorts. She was given a pack of food for her journey and an old but well-kept long coat of midnight blue color. In Purgatory small heroes like her are regarded as messiahs, and rightfully so, as the right inspiration can lift a repenting soul from Purgatory to heaven. She nodded politely to everyone, already wanting to be away from them all. Onizuka paced lightly just outside the small church, not wanting to cause a panic with his less then friendly appearance.

Before long they were off again, away from the town, heading up through the small stands of trees to the Darkened Sun portal.

The reflection of the twisting portal flickered faintly in Onizuka's pale green eyes as the tiger loped into the clearing about the portal. The wide pads of his paws crunched the snow lightly, and a low growl rumbled its way past the feathery box in his teeth. Finch followed closely behind, ignoring the portal and scanning the shadows about the trees for an ambush. The girl brought her attention back to the mass of orange fur before her, just as Onizuka stepped without trepidation into the flames, which roiled angrily but didn't burn him. Onizuka's tail was the last to pass through, pulled after the tiger through the whirlpool of flames with one quick movement. Finch stared into the sheet of moving fire where the giant cat had been moments before. Why would she follow the tiger? Why was she leaving Hell, after having stayed there for so long? Her mind echoed back to her with the same reasoning that had brought her into Hell. Her bitter voice, heard so rarely, echoing back to her. "Why not?" Finch stepped back and leaped gracefully into the vortex, shielding her face from the tongues of flame with her arm.

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