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"Eh...I prefer not to roll around on anything...that's so...doggish." Giving a snort and throwing his nose in the air he folded his wings back tightly. "Speaking of said woman, I"m stealing her bed for the night." He gave an almost evil sounding laugh as he nuzzled Bastet's arm. "Night Kitty." So saying the ebony winged wolf padded off down the hall to claim his prize of fluffy four poster bed.

((tacos gave me a headache and I have work....I'm out))

Only a brief moment stood between the mirror doubles as they sized each other up. As if with the sound of a starting gun they both sprang to life with weapons bared.

Memories consume, like opening the wound.
I'm picking me apart again.

Between every sword strike both of them saw flashes of memory, both delightful and horrific, searching for their answer as the conclusion drew closer. But as gained solidity and substance from those memories, the other's mind splintered and panic took over with desperation not far behind.

You all assume, I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again.

Sealed away in the basement vault, a living body slammed into the solid wall and bled as its empty hand narrowly diverted a killing strike but paid the price of skin being parted and bone exposed to air. The attack was viciously returned but stung only air as the false Saradin proved to quick.

I don't want to be the one, the battles always choose.
Because inside I realize that I'm the one confused.

"Why do you continue!? Face the end with dignity!"

Incensed, the steel blades shot upward as Saradin smashed them away and body slammed into his enemy. "I'm trying to save you!"

The determined shade tried to speak but lost his voice as air was crushed from his lungs, his back pinned to the vault door.

I don't know what's worth fighting or why I have to scream.

After one sharp gasp, he spat back at him in contempt, "Trying to be the next broken saint!? Or just out to save yourself for once? Now that you've found a reason for yourself, you don't care who else suffers!" With the attack on his motives came a sharp right hook taking the advantage from Saradin with just enough room for a sword to be sent towards his gut.

I don't know why I instigate I or say what I don't mean.
I don't know how I got this way, I know it's not alright.

Saradin fell back a further step in response and swept the blade away from him with him own before crushing the offending hand to the wall with his boot. "Let it go! Face your own troubles and we'll be there to help you!" Sights on victory, his bloodied fist struck his duplicate repeatedly, praying for swift resolution.

So I'm breaking the habit tonight.

Helpless against the wall, the darker half slid his open hand down to the door handle as he received multiple strikes. Tumbling backwards as the gateway peeled open, he tumbled back and caught himself onto his feet in a moment. They took a second to rest themselves, watching for the moment to attack, during which one smeared the dark blood that was not his own from his face and the other focused onto his injury allowing it to mend. "Help me Saradin? How do you propose? My life is one of misery, and if I take leave of it more suffer instead." The stalemate broke as he pushed back and towards the stairs into the manor.

Clutching my cure, I tightly lock the door.
I try to catch my breath again.

"Leave them out of this!" With inhuman power granted by his unnatural design, Saradin caught himself and single-handedly flung the victim back towards the room they they'd emerged from. There again in a heartbeat, he kicked the still downed opponent hard enough to send him though the door and follow through and seal the door shut. "We settle this between ourselves."

I hurt much more than any time before.
I had no options left again.

"You put so much value in them. They're no better than you! Their first concerns to only themselves and those close to them, they don't care about the consequences on others!" The crushed ribs that he had landed on already numbed and quickly restored themselves as he climbed to his feet. "Very well, use your strength to protect them, lets end this quickly!" Things stepped up then as they unleashed their potential, bordering madness as the power surged into them. He bulleted forward, murder in his eyes, and though his careless punch missed, it hit the closed door again and two of the screws bolting it in place were stripped bare and shot to the floor outside.

I don't want to be the one, the battles always choose.
Because inside I realize that I'm the one confused.

"Control yourself! Your fight means nothing if you lose everything!" Saradin's elbow dropped onto the outstretched arm as the door still rattled in place and collided just below its shoulder. A deafening snap followed that matched the volume of the banging on the door, and his arm fell limp as he snapped away from Saradin enraged.
"It doesn't matter anymore! I was forced into this and I'll force it to end! It's for the future!" The dead arm rose to life, whole again and gripped beside its brother on the hilt of his weapon, now with a distinct black sheen sharp as Atropos' blade. Again the door was struck, not now in error, but because the rooms beyond yielded his new goal.

I don't know what's worth fighting for or why I have to scream.
I don't know why I instigate and say what I don't mean.

This black tool penetrated the door easily, and cleft it apart in one motion. Now unrestrained he was worsening Saradin own situation. Struck from behind, the false one was swept out the door and crashed into the wall opposite, the back of his head grasped and drawn back before being smashed again into the stone wall cracking it slightly. On the verge of blacking out, he melded into their second universe and true home to escape his pursuer.

I don't know how I got this way, I'll never be alright.
So I'm breaking the habit.
I'm breaking the habit tonight.

One after the other, they skipped between the boundries of reality and the clashing strikes brought them closer and closer to the manor's upper halls. "There is no future at all in your course! Just eternity in torment." But Saradin's words fell on deaf ears as they broke into the main hallway, undoubtedly drawing attention to themselves. Keeping things in control was now nigh impossible but Saradin had to try, guiding the fury of cuts and stabs towards the foyer hoping to drag this out of the building.

I'll paint it on the walls, because I'm the one at fault.
I'll never fight again, and this is how it ends.

Distracted in his manipulation, Saradin was struck. A clean mark straight across his chest was left as a sword's edge peeled open his body and along with it a crimson stain that spread around them, staining the room. Agony meant nothing to them, wounds were petty and the scars would mean nothing, but the pain Saradin knew was much deeper.

I don't know what's worth fighting for, or why I have to scream.
But now I have some clarity to show you what I mean.

The front door was behind them already as Saradin stumble backwards, wounds accruing and stability lost. Beneath the Phoenix's gaze, the end drew near. He had more power, the frenzy of his state carrying him as his mind caved in, little more than a tool of death now. The last of his sword strokes came down onto Saradin, who knelt in his own blood.

I don't know how I got this way, I'll never be alright.

He was on the verge of giving in, losing his soul, Saradin's fear. Now in the near mindless state, his attack was so plainly forward that bypassing it was done in an instant. The only thing that would prevent this miserable creature from becoming part of the darkness now was death, and Saradin solemnly offered it.

So I'm breaking the habit.
I'm breaking the habit.

Saradin's sword pulled neatly free of his double's chest, and he turned away to avoid the sight of so much blood and the body as it doubled over. "I'll go to oblivion, in order to beat you." The shadow climbed up again, clutching the hole in his chest, his heart no longer sustaining him. Somewhere in between the following moments, Saradin could hear his own bones break, and see the cries of pain in his assailant's eyes. Afterward, they both lay on the ground, neither moving.

I'm breaking the habit, tonight.

Through the haze, the thoughts that were mixing into nothing began to assert themselves. Something was keeping him from sinking. Saradin. "Why?"
Gasping for breath and trying to laugh at the same time Saradin answered. "If I can't save others, and I can't even save myself, what am I really worth?"

((God damn those glitches...))

((Another show stopping number brought to you by Saradin, *started playing Breaking the Habit halfway through the post* ))

"Night Clipsy." Bastet, caught off guard, at first heard a lot of noises coming from the vault area, then as she was about to investigate that, the yelling crashed into the Great Hall. Eyes went wild and sai left their holders as she watched a horrific scene unfold before her. Saradin was fighting is copy again, and not quite winning or losing, he looked in bad shape. Even she had to turn her gaze as blood went flying everywhere, and she cursed herself for going soft. As she watched the battle move further and further away, she tried to react, but everything happened so fast that she could not until they had both become very still. Too still. The thud she heard from the bodies hitting the ground resounded louder than any of the previous noises. Finally, she ran up to the both of them and knelt beside what she perceived to be the Saradin she knew, and gazed down upon him. "Sa-saradin? You have to be ok."

Bastet smiled at Saradin as speaking was always a good sign, then her gaze shifted to the copy lying on the ground near them. Her jaw clinched and set, she remarked. "You ask me to take him inside and patch him up, when you can not move? Logic does not help that add up in my mind. But you request it and I can not carry you both." Damn Eclipse and everyone else who has gone to bed. Emerald eyes flashed with defiance, then softened as she moved over to the other pitiful looking limp body. She negotiated picking him up, until she could effciently get him to the infirmary. She patched him up as best she could, then wished she had osme way to heal them both.

She sighed and finished taking care of him. "I wont let you die because he wont let you die, and he wont let you die because, well I do not know. But I will respect his wishes. Saradin has always been different, you will have to ask him that. Though, stop trying to get it, and just accept it. There is not always a clear reason behind everything."

She dimmed the lights a bit, then trooped back out to Saradin and picked him up, then started to the infirmary with him. "So, inquiring minds want to know why you were trying to kill each other and now you want to save him."

Bastet grows concerned as Saradin goes completely limp, but quickly she can tell that he is breathing, labored, but breathing. "Well, hopefully he gets it, he is somewhat denying understanding, but hopefullty he does." Reaching the imfirmary again, she put him down and began patching up his various wounds.

When she finished, she covered him up with a blanket and moved back to the other Saradin. Beginning to check him once more, she gave him a blanket as well, and sat down inbetween them. Tentatively, "How are you?"

She moved a little and leaned on the edge of the bed as she listened, "And what do these thoughts say? Do they say that they want to use you? Or that you should simply live for the sake of being alive?" She poked him lightly, her voice becoming calmer, and more soothing, "Pretty real illusion. Can you be a true copy if you have thoughts of your own? Thoughts different from his, no matter what they may be?"

Jumping a bit she watched him try and move, "Stop that, no matter what you are you must heal. And what lies do you see? I see that he did not want to kill you. The reason you are not dead is not because he can not move, but because he does not want you dead. And not because he wants to use you." She watched his eyes not needing an empath to see beyond them. "There is a way for anything to happen, especially a form of escape. I am new to this, but he seems to think you understand."