Blood and Rust

"Balo, wait!!"

Lana darted forward quickly and grabbed his scythe at the last minute, gritting her teeth as the blades dug into her palms painfully. She pulled hard enough to catch his attention.

"Balo...control yourself." She said as she tried to hold him back. No such luck.

'Trying but not as easy as it seems. Body is moving on it's own.' Without thinking, he let go of his scythe and decided to just slash his newly acquired claws at Aelfric.

Aelfric just chuckled to himself. "Nice try Balo but I am not so easy to catch." Before he could even attempt to dodge. Something made him stop.

Aelfric was shocked. "What the hell? Where did he go?" In an instant Balo was gone.

"...Balo?" Lana called out as she ripped her overly large shirt and wrapped the two torn shreds around her hands. Where had Balo gone...? Wait...THERE! She watched as her friend tackled Aelfric from another direction. What was he?

Aelfric hit the floor with such ferocity that the very floor shook at the impact. Balo had grabbed him by the face and slammed his head into the hard, unforgiving ground. 'Too easy...' Balo began to think. He watched as his brother's blood began to trickle down the street. Suddenly Aelfric burst out in laughter.

"That was beautiful! Almost as if you mastered the After Image. Brilliant but it will take more than that to kill me. Besides, I already know your weakness." Aelfric began to stand as he was dusting off his clothes.

After hearing Aelfric, Balo, for the first time in a long long time, became frightened for his second life. His conscious self anyway.

"After Image...?" Lana whispered. She awaited Aelfric's next move, but he suddenly disappeared. She suddenly felt warm breath on her neck...

"It would be best for your survival if you don't let your mind lose focus my deah." In a split second, Aelfric took out a katana and slashed Lana across the back. This gave Balo the boost to regain control of his mind. Although he was still in his new form, he had full control over what his body did. He used After Image to rush over and take Lana to take her away from his monster of a brother. Balo saw all the blood that was coming out of her and he bgan to panic.

Even though he hadn't cut anything severe, the slash still hurt like a bitch. Lana wasn't even able to move without a flaming pain in her back; in fact, she felt like she would throw up with every movement. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!" She hissed, but then whimpered from the pain. "Damn him..."

Balo put one of his massive hands on her shoulder. "No, you don't... he's mine." He picked up his scythe and stood at full height. "You are in no condition to fight and even if you were, you wouldn't stand a chance against this guy. I can take him." Only one problem...

Since he recovered control, his body was slowly losing the large amounts of power that he had previously had.

Balo saw only one way out of this mess.

'I had a feeling this ride wasn't going to last very long...' Balo had a smile across his face.

"Fine..." Lana didn't want to argue and applied as much pressure as she could to her back. "Just...take care of yourself."

She just knelt on the ground and watching, waiting for what was to happen next...

With scythe in hand, Balo and Aelfric began exchanging blows. Aelfric being overly confident decided to put his sword back in its sheath. "I don't even need a blade to kill an insect like---" Aelfric's boasting was cut short when he realized Balo was gone and that there was a bloody hand coming out of his stomach.

Balo had exhausted all of his energy with that last After Image. "Looks I won't need mine either. Then again, I never intended to use it. I also never intended for either of us to come out of this alive." Balo momentarily closed his eyes.

His eyes burst open accompanied by a loud roar. Suddenly both brothers were surrounded by black fire but unlike the the first one, this one was deadly... to anyone in it.

"Balo!!" Lana screamed, feeling the deadly power. Without even thinking, she began chanting, moving her hands in complicated patterns. Dark clouds loomed overhead and brought a downpour, extinguishing the dark flame. Trying to ignore the pain, she crawled over to her friend, reaching him and prying him from his dead half-brother.

"B-Balo...? Answer me!" He wasn't looking good in the least...

'Where am I?' Balo was in a dark room. This confused considering that just a few moments ago he was in the middle of the street fighting with his half brother. He saw a bright light on the far end of the room. "What is that?" Balo began to walk towards the light. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice. The voice kept calling out his name. "Who is that? Who's there?" He knew he had heard that voice before. The more he walked on, the louder the voice got.

"Balo listen to her..."

Balo quickly turned around. He remembered that voice perfectly.

"M-Mom?"

"Balo, come on! Don't die on me!" Lana continued to shout, shaking him. She pounded his chest, trying to revive him. "Don't you dare leave me! Wake up! Balo, wake up!!"

Sarah Fry stood before her son. "Balo, do you realize what you are doing? You are going to a place where those who care about can't follow. How can you just abandon them without even considering how this will affect them. Especially her..."

Balo heard the voice again. "Who is she? I feel like I should know her."

"She cares about you. More than you know Balo. You can't just leave her like this. I know you don't want to leave her either. Now go... go and be with those that love you and care about you."

Balo knew his mom was right. What had he done? He was being a selfish child. "Thanks mom." He turned to walk away and towards where the voice was coming from.

"Balo before you go, I just want to say that I am proud of you. You have become a great person. I will always be with you in your heart. Don't ever forget that." Sarah began to shed tears of joy.

"I know Mom... Thank you." Balo's vision began to go black. Suddenly he was feeling immense pain from what felt like burns. Slowly but surely he began to open his eyes.

Lana had given up trying to resuscitate him after several failed attempts. No...he couldn't be gone...NO! "Balo...don't leave me...please..." She sobbed into his chest, clinging to his cold body. "I need you..."

She was so torn up that she didn't even feel the body beneath hers twitching...

For a second, Balo forgot where he was. After his eyes came into focus and he looked at his surroundings, he remembered what he had just occurred. Although his body was in agony, he had never felt so alive before. He also felt uncomfortable due to the fact that it was hard to breathe. Did his chest get injured in the turmoil. He looked down to find Lana sobbing her eyes out on his burned torso. Without Lana noticing Balo smiled to himself. 'I guess Mom was right...'

Balo found the energy to form words although they came out softly and with a sarcastic tone to it. "Hey Lana, mind getting off my chest? Makes it hard to breathe. Plus it hurts right now."

Lana froze when she heard those words, and opened her eyes. What she saw was a...smiling Balo Fry? She must have gone insane from her loss...but she still reached out a hand to touch him. Her hand didn't pass right through his like she though it would; his face was solid. That meant--!

"Balo!!" She shouted happily, crying tears of joy, and threw her arms around his neck. "Oh thank god! I thought I lost you..."

"Ow ow ow ow that hurts ow ow!" Balo tried to gently push her off but she had an iron tight hold on him. Balo decided to try a more gentle aproach. He decided to hug her back. Ignoring the pain in his arms, he had never been so happy to see Lana. "Calm down, I'm here. No need to worry anymore."

SMACK!

Lana Black had just slapped Balo, and with good reason too. She may have been happy to see her friend, but she was also a bit mad. "Because of your mindless actions, I almost lost the most important person in my life! What the hell were you thinking, Balo Fry?!"

'OWWWW!' Luckily for him his face wasn't all that bad in terms of burns, but still...

Then again, maybe he did deserve that. Even Balo knew that he had put Lana through so much in just a few minutes. Or was it hours? Balo then realized that he had no idea how long he had been out for.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to put you through that. I wasn't thinking straight. I understand if you are mad but I just want you to know that I am truly sorry. If you want to leave go ahead. I can take care of myself. Wouldn't blame you if you did"

She didn't have the heart to hit him again. Instead, she looped an arm around the back of his neck and pressed her forehead against his. "Why would I want to leave the only bit of family I have left? Without you, I'm nothing. I just..." Lana sighed, but continued, "I care about you too much to want to see you die. I would rather die than let that happen, Balo."

She kissed his forehead lightly.

Balo felt the same way Lana did. He was willing to bet she knew that already though. "Now you understand why I did what I did. The thought of living my second life without you was painful. You are the only family I have left."

Balo began to shed tears.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here..." Lana said and held her friend in her arms, rubbing his back soothingly. "It's okay, Balo. I'm here, and I'm never going to leave you. I promise."

She wiped the tears away with her finger and kissed his cheek, holding him close.

"Glad to hear that." Balo's body was beginning to look more like his old self. "Hey, I know you are happy I am back but can you let me sit up. I think something is jammed in my back."

Lana then turned him over on his stomach, placing her hands on his back. "I think your back might be out of place. Okay, this might hurt a bit, but I want you to relax."

Taking a deep breath, she pressed hard until a loud crack rang out, popping his spine back in place. After cracking his back, she started chanting again, only this time calling upon the ice to heal him. Her hands went from warm to suddenly very cold, running them down his spine.

"Better?"