A normal, calm, moonlit night...

[Ottolette]

"The two strangers faced each other. Weapons were already drawn, as it due in this sort of meeting, all flaming and electrical and sonic, oh my! It was hard to tell who looked more deadly in the moonlit docks, with it being fairly late and most of the sailors and captains in beds or pubs. Needless to say, an onlooker would easily tell anyone that one of them was going to die... How would I know? Why, someone told me! I certainly wasn't there at that ungodly hour."
~
I looked upon my most hated foe and snarled at seeing his uncaring face. I knew that tonight, Vegence would have its way, The Red would fall in a pool of blood, and the curse would be lifted. There was no other way, it seemed like he also knew that he would die tonight, since there seemed to be no possible means of escape... but there was, of course. He *always* escaped. Tonight, however, I had taken the liberty of paying off a few sailors, to ensure his timely demise should he choose to flee by ship... if by land, he would never escape me.
~
"The scene was getting a little hazy, light fog had rolled in over the docks, and neither had moved yet. I suppose it was one of those, oh-so-dramtatic first-to-move-dies kind of thing. The first move, however, was made by the scythe master.

He pointed at the other direction, I kid you not, and yelled something about a dragon. The woman turned, in a surprisingly head-smacking move, and the scythe master ran. I don't really see why, considering that he certainly could have pushed in the blow and ended this little game. Hmm. People. What are you going to do?"
~
He fled, the coward. I felt ashamed at falling for such a simple deception, but reacted fast to it. Not fast enough, even with Strife and Vengence weighing down my arms, pulling me forward. Before long he changed his direction, and jumped into one of the larger shipes, which sailors I did not pay off. Lucky. Still, it was easy enough to board and I landed on the starboard, slashing in a wide radius when I did. Vengence tasted blood, if it was only a small cut. I smiled, because there would be more, and so
much worse.
~
"Oh my. It gets exciting now, doesn't it? The deadly and swift woman struck the other with a small blow, but it looked like it stinged muchly. They dueled a bit on the deck, with startled sailors looking onwards, and with the scythe master still doing nothing for offense. Hmm, I wonder if they even knew if there were witnesses on the deck..."
~
With my target in my eyes, I did not see any other. Only his red hood and glowing scythe was the target of my keen eyes.
~
"Anyway, they went at it quite fiercely. Well, mostly the woman, who's every other blow with those two deadly longswords hit him. He was certainly going to lose, if he did not fight back. Now, here is where the story gets odd, because he ducked behind the main mast, woman followed him, and the ship set sail with those two maniacs on board! Neither were seen on shore for the next few hours. I assumed they battled in an epic manner, until one of them reach victory and turned the ship around... what do you mean, you want more?! You gave me 5 gold for a story, you got a story! Deal with it!"
~
As the coward fled behind the mast of the creaking ship, I gave chase without hesitation. That only came when the boat shuddered heavily as it left port. I had no idea why it did, nor did I care at the time. The red hood of my target was in clear sights. Normally though, I would have suspected he had fled by jumping overboard, but previous encounters proved one thing: He could not swim.
~

Damn it, that water was cold! Thanks for pulling me out there, old man. Swimming ain't my strong point. What, you look like you want to ask me a question or two. Oh? Fine.

There is this crazy lady chasing me down, 'cause she wants tah gut me. So we fought a little, I jumped onto a ship and ducked around a little. Then, the ship left and I jumped ship. Yeah, she thinks I can't swim, and is currently chasing a sailor I paid to wear my colours, and the captain of the ship is paid to head to the Spine of The World, ain't no easy ship back here for the next few weeks!

What? That wound in my gut? Well, I suppose it's rather bad. I am bleeding quite a bit, aren't I? ...excuse me, I think I'm going to faint no-
~
While I chased the red-hooded character, I hoped, that deep in my heart of hearts, I was not mistaken that he could not swim. I gave a quick prayer to Eon, please, let it be that it was not deception, and that he could not swim...[/i]

[Ottolette]

"I know you're here. You were never any good at hiding."

She stepped out from behind the tree. "I was not intending to. It was simply a test to see if you were aware."

"Yeah?" The scythe master paused, to crane his neck to look at her. "Well, you got what you wanted. Lets, say, go home now, bury our weapons in some hole and not die until we're all old and wrinkly?"

He winced at the glare from her, somehow stabbing through her helmet and into his face. "Right, I thought so. Lets just get this over then."

The wind blew through the forest, stirring the leaves. The green and red cloaks flapped dramatically, and even before the moment was over her blade was already at his neck. Well, both her blades actually.

"HHGGG!" He tried to gasp, but that was maybe a little out of his reach, considering the gaping wound in his neck. He could already see his vision blurring. Worse still, he could see the sparkling sword she called Strife coming right for him.

"MMM-hkrlt?" Or, if he could talk properly, AHHHH-huh? He lifted his head from his arms, his scythe in a feeble pose to deflect the strike. It didn't, of course, the weapon was hardly built for that.

Her sword had paused right before it cut into his heart.

Red-cloak was confused for a second, and he stared at her face-less helm.
He could feel a cold smile at him. Suddenly, the terrible truth hit him, and all his hopes of getting out of this alive were crushed. He fell back in horror.

She was playing with him, he assumed. He was correct, of course.

For her it was a sweet release, the man who had tormented her for all of her life, she cut. It started with slow, thin slashes on his limbs, then faster and deeper, cutting into his face and chest. She did not kill him though, not yet. She knew how to keep him alive, and she did very much enjoy his screaming.

For him it was a nightmare. The deep cut she had given him in his last encounter made him feeble and weak; every attempt to defend himself resulted in worsening the bleeding. All he could do was meekly fend off the attacks with his arms, waiting for, almost hoping for the merciful last blow...

And it came, as she lifted her swords in an X-shape, ready to come down onto his head. She was prepared to kill, he was prepared to die, which makes what happened next even more surprising.

He reached out, with what effort he could muster, to stop the blades with his bare hands. His scythe was abandoned, and it was a last-ditch effort to fore-stall her. All she had to do was push in, or pull out into a quick stab into his head.

And she could not. His hood had fell off in the battle, scars on his face visible, blood bubbling at his lips. In his eyes she could see horror, the same kind that she had faced all too many times before. In his raven-black eyes she could see hopelessness, and hope, in a strange embrace.

She withdrew her swords, cutting deeply into his fingers. Quite calmly, she cleaned her swords on his cloak, and left the scythe-master there to bleed. She could not push for the last blow. But then again, she did not need to.

The pool of blood he was lying in would grow and kill him. Or the animals would find him first. She strongly hoped for the former, it was much slower and painful.