Old Friends and Allies [Abbadon]

[Kanjin Taiyou]

A Heart of Darkness Thread

Taiyou found himself smoking a cigrette in a small park in Tokyo, Japan, across the street from a small bakery and flower shop. Taiyou was unsure of what brought him to Tokyo of all places today, but in the annoying manner in which he slowly found himself either unwelcome or ignored in most place solitude seemed the best thing right now as he took another long drag.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

[This takes place after the events that lead to Abbadon's knockout in "Mission One (Operation: Keep-Away)" and his subconscious outer-body experience in "Across The Universe," located in the Joukai.]

Abbadon woke up inside what looked like a hospital, after having one of the most freaky-ass dreams he could ever remember having. He looked around to see an I.V. line connected to a vein in-between his left arm. Once he saw it connected to the liquid, he chuckled.

"Damn," he said. "That's some good shit."

Abbadon quickly pulled the needle out of his skin, catching the spurting blood vein with his sheets. He quickly found some cotton gauges and wrap-around bandages to stop the bleeding. He got out of the bed to find out he was in a hospital gown. He sighed in frustration, trying to figure out what happened to his clothes. Then across from him, he saw an empty chair. Draped over it was a white t-shirt, black dress pants, and a long black coat with a note in the pocket. Laying against the chair was his sword, along with Shadow's blade. He chuckled to himself.

"Figures," he said out loud.

Abbadon reached into the pocket of the long black coat and pulled out the note. When he read it, a smile came about.

"Thanks for being such a good test subject," he read it out loud. "Here's your next inquiry. Will explain the details later. Yours truly, Maggie."

Abbadon folded up the note once again and stood up. He changed into the change of clothes left for him. The pants were his, but he could tell that the t-shirt was Shadow's on a count of it being a little smaller length-wise than what he usually wore, since Abbadon was clearly taller than his supposed best friend. He grabbed his sword, attached the sheath back on his belt, and walked out of the weird infirmary.

After wondering around a bit, Abbadon easily figured out that he was inside the Devil Saint Headquarters. However, he couldn't find Shadow to save his life. And it was a good thing his life didn't count on it.

Well, at least not this time.

Eventually, Abbadon found the entrance to the flower shop through that maze of an organization building. He easily walked through the shop and outside, where the sun was waiting to fuck his eyes over. He used his hair to act as a visor somewhat before walking across the street. There was a small park on the other side that seemed like a great place for him to recollect how easily his first mission with the Devil Saints went to Hell so easily. He grabbed a pole after crossing, just for his hand to heat up instantly and start melting the area of it he touched.

Abbadon blinked rapidly in response to this. He watched it bend and fall over, waiting until the metal hit the street before jumping from surprise.

"Holy...!" he began. He looked at his hand and flicked it open after forming a fist, just out of curiosity. A ball of flames about twice the size of his head poofed instantly. He smirked.

"I guess that joint attack helped strengthen my fire magic," he said. "Sweet."

After he rid himself of the fireball, he walked over to the park and noticed a bench. He sat down and sighed as he fixed his hair back to normal, since he was sitting underneath a tree. That's when he noticed he was sitting next to a man with a red outfit on, smoking a cigarette. He stared at him out the corner of his eye, paying more attention to the cigarette than the person.

I haven't had one of those things in a while, he thought. Heh; I survived so much other shit, I guess a single smoke won't hurt.

Abbadon placed his right arm on the top of the bench and used his finger to tap the man's left shoulder.

"Hey, dude," he spoke. "Think you can grace me with one of your Cancer Sticks?"

[Kanjin Taiyou]

As soon as Taiyou took another drag of his cigarette, he could feel the familiar twinge of combustion in the air, sensing it coming from behind the small flowershop. Keeping his eye in that direction turned away is it disappeared as fast as it came. Soon, a man with blalck hair walked into the park, sitting next to Taiyou. His face and his features seemed very familiar to Taiyou, as if he knew him a lifetime ago, despite his apperance as a human.

"Sure, but they lose their flavor when you refer to them as that." Taiyou said handing the man the small package of cigarettes, which was nearly empty save for 3. Finshing his cigarette, Taiyou crushed the smoking end of it between his fingertips, the heat from the tip disapating, as Taiyou succesfully flicked the butt into a nearby trash can. The man's uncanny resemblance to someone Taiyou might have known began to pick at him. Turning back to the man, Taiyou chuckled, "Say, you from around here, I need some directions to a place where I can grab something hard to drink." Taiyou said, lighting the end of the man's cigarette by touching it.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

Abbadon caught the pack of cigarettes the man in red offered him. He snickered as he pulled one out, finding the man's reaction to Abbadon's cigarette joke funny.

"Sweet," he said in response to finally having a cigarette. "Thanks, bro," he said to the man next to him. He pulled out a cigarette as he watched him shoot a 3-pointer with the butt of the one he murdered. Abbadon raised an eyebrow as he bobbed his head.

Impressive, he thought to himself.

Abbadon was about to flick his index finger to produce a flame on the tip to light his cigarette. He figured since he was stronger in his fire magic, he might as well show off a little, right? But suddenly he was beaten to the punch to his surprise. The man he sat next to touched the end of his cigarette while it was in his mouth, lighting it instantly, as he asked him if he knew anywhere to get a drink.

Now, there were things out in this world and the next that Abbadon would have called odd if he was just born a mortal. The fact that he wasn't always from the mortal realm knocked down his surprise level for big shit; like giant monsters fighting giant robots in a city in California that seemed to never get destroyed in the process, or spandex wearing super-teams that have sparks for blood. But lately, it's just been the simple things that seemed to catch Abbadon off guard; like another person with the ability to conjure up fire, other than his supposed best friend, Shadow Akuma.

Abbadon blinked rapidly as he saw the cigarette light itself after the guy who offered them to him touched it. He moved it closer to him with a motion of his mouth, just to get a better look at it.

Yep, he thought, it's lit.

"Heh," he said out loud as he took a puff and saw some of the ash fall off the cig. He smirked as he took the cigarette out of his mouth and looked at the guy next to him. He prepared to belch on purpose. When he did, flames exited his mouth, along with the usual sound the mouth makes when belching. He hit his chest a few times before placing the cig back in his mouth.

"Small world, huh?" he said to the guy in red.

Abbadon then placed his arms on his legs, taking another puff of his cigarette and started to think.

"I think I know a place," he said. "There's this bar I pass everyday." He chuckled. "I was looking for an excuse to go in and trash the place."

He looked back over to the man in red. "The names Abbadon."

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou looked at the apparently not normal man as he belched flames, returning back to his cigarette as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He had given his name, "Abbadon..." he said, the name striking a small ripple in the back of Taiyou's mind. "Taiyou... is mine. So... why exactly did you wan to trash this place, bad service?" Taiyou asked, his voice expressing mild humor, as well as interest and concern. The more Taiyou thought of this man next to him, the name soon became clearer as Taiyou found it attached to a face. That face was one he hadn't looked upon in more than a millenia, since he had left Heaven to fall along with Sanada Tomo, the greatest and worst act of his life.

Removing another cigarette, Taiyou lit it in the same manner he lit Abbadon's, taking a puff as he looked to the sky. The nagging would have begin to become unbearable if Taiyou had been a timid person, but thankfully for him, he wasn't. "Heh, you remind me of someone I haven't seen in a lifetime, a long lifetime... Damn, it seems like only yesterday." Taiyou said, melancholy in his voice as he though back on his days in Heaven's army, serving as one of Tsubasa's lieutenants before his defection. Then it hit him, he slowly began to piece together the familiarity of the person next to him. "Abbadon... Abbadon... Hakaisha Abbadon? It it really you?" Taiyou said now turning toward Abbadon in bewilderment.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

Abbadon started to blink rapidly as he saw the man who introduced himself as Taiyou seemed to pick his last name out of the blue sky. And the fact that he said his full name like he knew him didn't help the situation either.

"Uhh," he uttered as his cigarette started to slouch. His eyes looked around nervously, trying to see if there was anything else wrong with this situation. Aware that the guy in red was the only crazy around, he stared at him again, this time an eyebrow raised.

Shit, Abbadon thought to himself. It's happening again, isn't it? First Shadow and now this "Taiyou" guy? What the fuck is going on here?!

Abbadon took the cigarette out of his mouth after puffing out some smoke in his lungs as he looked at the guy in red.

"Yeah," he said to Taiyou, "my last name's Hakaisha." He pointed his two fingers with the cigarette perked between them toward Taiyou. "The question is," he continued, "how did you know?"

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Squinting, Taiyou starred at Abbadon, "Yeah... yeah! Dammit you look to familiar to be anyone else, what in the world are you doing here!" Taiyou said, laughing heartlily as he continued starring at what seemed to be an old friend, his cigrette falling to the ground. Taiyou then slapped Abbadon on the back, pulling his strenght but still leaving a feeling of being rather enthused. Turning to face him Taiyou placed his hands onto Abbadon's shoulders, "I remember you... We served in heaven army... and the failed coup de taet on Tsubasa. I thought you were dead!" Taiyou aid, shaking Abbadon excitedly, his restraint lessing with each shake.

This was the first time, in such a long time that Taiyou had meet anyone from his past that he was actually enthused to see affter his fall from the graces of both celestial nations. Sighing, Taiyou looked at Abbadon sensed something different about him, his celestial nature seemingly supressed. "You don't seem like yourself magic wise, are okay?" Taiyou asked, expressing genuine concern.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

At first, Abbadon didn't know what to expect from the guy named Taiyou. It was clear that he saw him before, but the fact that he couldn't even remember who he was started to make him angry. He didn't make it known to the man sitting next to him; it wasn't in his place to snap people out of their "happy place" unless he thought they deserved it. But after paying more attention to Taiyou's surprise, he could tell that it was completely genuine. He wasn't faking it; the slap to the back was proof enough. He actually knew who he was.

Abbadon listened as Taiyou spoke a few things out loud that he knew about him. Apparently he was a member of the Heavenly army. He took some time to think about what he just said.

A Coup d'état? he thought to himself. A rebellion?

Then he heard the name Tsubasa; a name that seemingly liked to screw his name over these past few days. He remembered the name when he had his first outer body experience, then the second time in his dream when he was in the cemetery and watched his younger self utter out the name through his angered mouth.

Who the hell is this Tsubasa? he thought to himself again.

Abbadon looked at Taiyou, trying to seem friendly enough to pass off his usual manner. I mean, how bad would you feel if you finally see someone you hadn't seen in like forever, under the impression that he was dead, only to be stabbed in the heart by saying to him, "I'm sorry, man, but I don't remember you"?

I mean, that's pretty fucked up.

Abbadon slouched on the bench after he realized that Taiyou got tired of shaking him by the shoulders and heard him ask about his magical abilities. He looked to the side and sighed.

"I..." he started to say. "I don't know. Things have been kinda wishy-washy since I settled here."

He placed his sheathed Sword of Darkness on his lap, surprisingly finding it lighter than usual. He looked at it, and thought about when he first woke up in the mortal realm in the sands of Egypt. All he could think about that day was the man that turned him; Oracle.

All he could remember was flames of black and red, with Oracle in the midst. Then afterwards, he saw the sword fall out of the sky and land blade-tip on a pyramid top. He felt compelled to reach it and kept it as his own weapon. He's been trying to kill Abbadon ever since. Then he looked at Taiyou, who had a look of concern, seemingly just as genuine when he first remembered him.

"I'm going to be frank with you, Taiyou," he started. "You may know who I am. As a matter of fact, I'm kinda glad somebody here does. But, no offense to you, I... don't remember you. I don't remember ever being in Heaven, I don't remember this 'Tsubasa' I keep hearing about."

Then he sighed as he looked at his blade once again remembering his dream.

"I don't even remember my own parents," he said sadly.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou's face began to show signs of distress, as Abbadon told him bluntly he did not remember who he was. Looking at his old friend, Taiyou sighed and removed his hands from his shoulders, reaching into another pocket to remove a new pack of cigarettes. As he tore open the plastic wrapping, he patted the back of the box, loosening the tightly packed cigarettes. Removing one, Taiyou lit its tip in the same fashion he did Abbadon's, breathing in the smoke before exhaling away from him the two of them.

"Dammit it all, what could've happened to you. After everything that went down, you don't forget someone like Tsubasa, even if you lived to be close to three thousand. You said you don't even remember your own family..." Taiyou trailed off, smoking some more of his cigarette as some of it burned while he spoke. "Let me see if I can put things in perspective, I served her, she was chiefly responsible for all of the political upheaval, and you brought it to my attention it may have been to seize the vacant throne of Heaven for herself. When facts came to surface to support this we tried to stop her, and a close mutual friend of ours, Seijin died, you disappeared after one of Tsubasa's operatives supposedly got to you, and I fell from grace along with my wife." Taiyou said, thinking about his past, the reflection full of remorse and regret.

"I didn't believe that bitch could do anything to you, but I couldn't wait around until she killed everyone involved. To save my wife, and everyone else involved I left Heaven to, taking responsibility for the rebellion, and I took it all with me. But damn if it were all for nothing, Tomo fucked us all in a way heaven never could have. I trusted her, devoted my life to her and her cause and the result, my family, friends, and home destroyed, while she sat back and did nothing." Taiyou said,a s the anger began to grow inside him.

"when she found out it that bitch Chiiyo, she did nothing but twiddle her thumbs, I guess the person who did nothing when you were ousted means more than we who scarified everything, EVERYTHING!" Taiyou burst aloud, his cigarette exploding into a miniature fireball, his magic ignited the small burning stick. Looking back at Abbadon, Taiyou rubbed his forehead, "Why I am even saying this, you don't even remember who or what I'm talking about." Taiyou said, chuckling sarcastically at everything he said, taking another cigarette, now feeling withdrawn from Abbadon, who had no recollection of past events.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

Abbadon listened to his story closely and thoroughly. From hearing how he was when he went on about Tsubasa and everything else, he could tell that he wasn't trying to fuck him over on his mind. He didn't need that right now. And when he mentioned Tsubasa's operative, he could easily tell that he was talking about Oracle. Just thinking about him made his grip tighten on the sword on his lap.

He could even sense the anger in his voice that was mixed with emotions about both his family and Abbadon himself for not remembering him. He couldn't help but feel like a total ass when he heard Taiyou say that he and his family fell from grace after he supposedly disappeared from Heaven before Tomo's fall. That was odd, since he never even heard of Tomo until after he roamed the mortal realm for a good while. The fact that he said he took full responsibility for the rebellion to make him and his family fall told him one thing.

He really knows me, he thought to himself.

Then, he remembered Taiyou saying a familiar name that he heard in his dream not even a half an hour ago. He looked forward and his face formed a frown.

"Seijin..." he said out loud. He looked at Taiyou, who seemed to be feeling a bit withdrawn. He couldn't say he didn't blame him, though.

"His first name didn't happen to be Shadow, would it?"

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taioyu looked the other way to see a bird landing in the tree next to them, turning back at Abbadon to answer his question. "Might have been, slim guy, purple hair, yeah... as a matter of fact it was Seijin Shadow." Taiyou said looking at Abbadon curiously as he puffed on the cigarette in his mouth, his anger at the recollection of his past not completely subsided, yet subdued enough for the sake of conversation with a man he thought long dead.

"I'm not quite sure who killed him though, but it was me that found his body in the outskirts of the fifth layer of Heaven, arouund a place Tsubasa was known to trespass and venture, she was the king of the damen layer for god's sake." Taiyou said, looking at Abbadon. "look buddy, if none of this is ringing a bell, we have nothing more to talk about, reminiscing about the past to someone who can't remember is like telling a story, a bad story that I'd like not to revisit, so if that's it, I'm done here/" Taiyou said as jhe stood in frustration.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

Okay; Abbadon was already convinced that this guy wasn't some quack off the street. He knew who he was and he knew who that "Shadow Seijin" guy was from his dream earlier. This had to be proof enough that what he dreamed wasn't just a dream.

Oddly enough, Taiyou's description of the guy oddly enough fit Shadow Akuma; the guy he'd been spending these past few days with. At first, it made no sense to Abbadon, but then he started thinking. And whenever Abbadon starts thinking when he wants to, well, lets just say that he comes up with some shit next to Einstein.

Is it possible, Abbadon thought as he squinted his eyes. Could Shadow Akuma be... could he be Shadow Seijin?!

Abbadon came out of his thought when he heard Taiyou say he was preparing to leave. As soon as he stood up, so did Abbadon, grabbing his arm before he made a run for it.

"Hold it, guy!" Abbadon said somewhat forcefully, like he was used to giving orders or some commando-shit like that. "Listen. I know you're telling me the truth. And lately I've been reliving a whole lot of shit that I didn't know happened in my past; like my brain just laughed at me while pointing and saying 'fuck you' and shit. I think my mind wants to remember but it doesn't know how. How do you think I knew that Seijin's first name was Shadow?"

Abbadon frowned before getting a good look at Taiyou's face, only to recognize his own trademark scowl on his own. It kinda threw Abbadon off at first, but then kinda realized the possibility of where he got the look in the first place.

...You? he thought to himself.

Suddenly, he was blinded again. Once the light faded, he could see himself and Taiyou. He was performing an attack on a dummy, channeling fire from his sword. When he saw the successful attack, he flinched.

"Holy shit on a stick!" his past self said.

"Calm down, Hakaisha," he heard Taiyou say. "You go through curses just as fast as I go through smokes. Now concentrate."

The past Abbadon closed his eyes and unsheathed his sword. The present Abbadon could easily tell that it was the Sword of Darkness; a blade he only thought he had since his transformation into a human. Once the past Abbadon opened his eyes, he twirled the blade and slashed at the dummy, only to watch flames immediately cover his hand holding the sword. He yelled with raw anger as the flaming sword cut through the dummy like butter. His past self calmed down before smiling and twirling his sword back into his sheath.

"No biggie," Abbadon said in a cocky manner.

Before Abbadon came out of his little outer body experience, he could hear the Taiyou in his vision say one last word.

"Dumbass."

Abbadon blinked rapidly before letting go of Taiyou's arm and looking at him in a new light.

"...You," he began. "You taught me how to wield fire?"

[Kanjin Taiyou]

As Taiyou turned his back, Abbadon grabbed him by the arm, Taiyou turned back to see him with a familiar scowl on his face. Tauoyu empathized with Abbadon because of their past friendship, so he listened to what he had to say about thing being hard to remember and such. Then Taiyou heard a question that made him almost drop the cigarette he held between his lips, Abbadon asked him was it he who taught him to wield fire.

"Dumbass! Our couse it was me!" Taiyou said, blowing his smoke into Abbadon's face. "Dammit Hakaisha, you wielded fire like old people fuck, and your memory is just as bad as it always was you slack." Taiyou said, smiling now, happy to find that Abbadon found a common spark, something to tie their near two thousand tear old friendship together again.

"But you go better, and I was proud of for that... just what happened, and how can we set this right. I know that I won't be returning after I fight the Yami-ou soon, but is there anything I can do to pay back the bastard that did this to you." Taiyou asked, his lips now curled in a smile as the cigarette continued to burn.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

Abbadon kinda smirked, relieved that there was a common denominator the two of them shared... or something like that...

Abbadon coughed a bit after Taiyou blew the smoke in his face, almost finding it common. Even his little comment about how he used to be able to wield fire made him laugh, kinda realizing where his loose tongue came from.

"I don't know what happened just now," Abbadon admitted. "It's like whenever I touch certain people, I get a bit of my memory back or something. Shit's been getting on my nerves. It's like watching an episode of 'Lost'; I have fifty new questions and no fucking answers!"

In a way, Abbadon was happy. Finally there was someone who knew him; someone he could talk to and be himself around. But there was still one last question he had to know the answer to, and it involved his supposed best friend, Shadow Akuma.

...or... Seijin...

whatever...

"Yeah," Abbadon said in regards to Taiyou's question, taking the time first to think why he would want to pick a fight with Tomo of all people. "Yeah, there is something. I know you said that you found his body in the fifth layer of Heaven, but I think that Shadow Seijin is still alive. The only reason why I think so, is because for the last few days, I've been drawn to this guy who looks exactly how you described him to me. If this guy really is Seijin, then all of this bullshit that has been happening to me these past couple of days is more than just fucking coincidence."

Abbadon pointed to the flower shop across the street.

"You see that flower shop?" he said. "That's actually a front for some kind of Bounty Hunter organization he hired me to. I think he's inside. Now, since I have clearance to go in there, I'm gonna need you to wait outside the shop for me while I go and look for him. Hopefully if he's in there, we can all talk about this and figure out what the fuck is going on."

[Kanjin Taiyou]

-So sorry about not updating in so long, I apologize for whatever inconvenience this caused to anyone's thread or plot development-

"I guess, but this thing I got with Tomo can't wait. That bitch gonna die by hand, on the lives of my dead wife and children I swear." Taiyou said standing up to stretch, leaving soot and scorch marks on the bench where he sat. Looking at Abbadon, Taiyou placed another cigarette in his mouth and touched it's tip in his usual fashion to light it.

"I'm here if you nee me for anything... I just wish we could have met up earlier Abbadon. I don't think I'll be coming back fro this one old buddy. Honestly, I don't even think I can kill her, not without dying myself. but I have to try, cause if I don't... If I don't she'll never understand that those of us who fell for her, never had the person we fell for as our king."

"We waited for her to come back, but she never did, and after I lost them, and my family..." Taiyou paused and looked to the sky. "I need some time dude, go in there any grab Seijin, or whatever the hell his name is now and tell him to come out here, I need to cool off.." Taiyou said, walking away to finis his thoughts in solace.

[Hakaisha Abbadon]

Abbadon squinted as he started to figure out Taiyou's story. The odd thing was that he was able to relate a bit. If there was anything Abbadon was able to understand more than anything, it was revenge. Abbadon wanted Oracle to pay for whatever it was he did to him, turning his mind into a fucking rubix cube.

He knew there really wasn't much he could say to try and talk Taiyou out of confronting his oldest allies. He didn't necessarily know how Tomo was in Heaven; just how she is currently. Hell, he even wondered if Chiyo still gave a rat's ass about her. But Abbadon didn't need any memories of their situations to realize that the two of them would always have something in common with each other, even if they never did meet in Heaven.

And that would be vengeance.

Abbadon nodded at Taiyou's suggestion about bringing out Shadow, instantly irritated over the fact that he could have known about a lot of this shit beforehand that could have interfered with that random-ass fallen earlier today, along with other things.

"Alright, bro," he said calmly and supportive, feeling as if he used to sound like that to him all the time. "Hold tight, guy; I'll be right back."

Abbadon crossed the street and headed back toward the flower shop. The talk of and random occurrences of old friends and allies was really starting to piss him off. And it all seemed to point toward Akuma Shadow.

God damn it, Shadow, Abbadon thought to himself before he reached the door. Who the fuck are you?!

[We can end this thread here, Taiyou. Feel free to respond to Recall Part 2 whenever you find it right to intervene.]