The Rebel and The Mercenary

Yuuki Terumi. A sole reason that Ragna had just made his latest error of assaulting a mobile unit where Terumi had supposedly been located, it was simply poor intel that led the Bloodedge into a heavy ambush of N.O.L. soldiers and specialist units that had been called in to defeat him. The effort had proved futile due to the natural, yet rough talents of the infamous SS Criminal. He had with some specific effort managed to defeat the large number of soldiers against all odds. It was with some brief use of the Azure Grimoire to drain the life force from several of the men that gave him the stamina to continue. The very thing which allowed him to race into the wilds and evade any reinforcements headed to the site of battle. Though even now, the thrashed rebel made his way out of a thicket and back onto something of a road off the beaten path.

Mildly cursing as he felt the numerous wounds and lacerations reacting to his tired body. Even though his body protested each step, Ragna trudged forth and continued his aimless grumbling.

"That bastard...sonuvabitch...that hurts." admitting to himself on a low tone while he stumbled down the path. When had the Librarium been so equipped? Since always...he knew better, but to think they had some heavy hitters amongst the usual rabblee had caught him off guard. It was why he was wounded so heavily.

That scent...

Bullet recognized it well. It was blood, and not animal blood, but that of a human. Thus, an internal struggle began inside her, she needed to hurry up and reach the next town before the night would come or she might get in trouble with the seithrbeasts... but on the other hand, the laws of the wild were clear, they all needed to help one another or everyone would die alone.

"Damn..." She muttered, balling one of her fists hard enough to make her knuckles pop. Whoever idiot got hurt here, it better be important.
She could handle a night in the wild, that she decided... so instead of following the path, she strayed off from it, onto a rubble road people sometimes used for travelling...

Not long from that point, she noticed a trail of red, leading further down the road.
It was serious, alright... she didn`t need to tell her legs to get a move on, they started running right away.

Ragna was used to serious battles and taking damage was something common to him, but nothing of a scope this bad. He imagined he would heal...though it'd be a bitch with how badly he was bleeding. Was he stable? His body felt aches and pains, it was obvious that he was bleeding and the chills were starting to affect him a little bit, but it was nothing that the world renowned criminal wasn't used to. This was so shitty to have to end up such a victim, of all things, he was suckered into a pointless battle and though he'd put down a bunch of Librarium soldiers, it wasn't really worth a damned thing in the end.

"Bastard...Terumi, I'll make you pay...ugh..." his minor rant was cut off from an ache that shuddered through his body, oh he was going to get that coward for all of this. The trap that he should have realized, had already served its purpose to either slow him down or kill him, the latter of which failed.

In the distance she could spot the origin of the blood trail now- a human male, carrying a sword on his back and clutching various wounds on his body, shakingly walking along the path...

At first, Bullet didn`t recognize it, but as she got closer and closer, she slowed down, then halted.

That wasn`t an ordinary man. It was Ragna the Bloodedge, the infameous criminal.... the highest bounty on record.
The light inside her Armagus flared up, and she was kneeling down to pounce him from fourty meters away...

Just this one strike. One. On the back of the head, the neck, the ribcage- anywhere vital, and i can finance my outcome for the next twenty years..

Her fists balled, and the muscles in her legs tensed up to jump.

"....ah, nuts."

Straightening up again, she hurried after him to try and grab him by the shoulder...
Criminal or not, by the way he was bleeding, it was pretty certain he would die within the next hour.

"Hey you, Ragna the Bloodedge, hold up!" She called out, reaching out her unarmed hand for him, despite grimacing at her weakness.

What the hell? A voice of someone? much closer than he would anticipated someone could get to him, but he hadn't heard her at all, let alone figured anyone was out there granted that being alone was the only ideal thing (or so he'd thought). He was in no shape to repel anyone save for general foot soldiers at this point, if this person had any kind of skill it would be a serious pain in the ass.

"Who...the hell...ugh." even though he'd wanted to speak out, there wasn't much more than a physical shudder and grunt as he slumped forward a moment, before forcing himself to stand tall. He didn't look really threatening there: holding his shoulder wounds with his torn up left arm and his only slightly better off right arm resting across his midsection. The hand to the shoulder spoke that she was easily within range to end a conflict before it begun. He'd have to wait and see what she was doing here, since she knew well who he was.

Her hand had just barely touched his body, then it broke away under the brief contact, collapsing like a house made of playing cards. How did he manage to pull himself this far? There wasn`t an ounce of strength left in his body, yet he seemed to walk for at least two miles before...

....what now. She could leave him. His bounty was dead or alive, afterall. He probably didn`t want help from a mercenary in the first place- they had the tendancy to have people pay them back dearly.
A deep breath. Inhale, exhale.
Then she kneeled down and checked his pulse. The NOL be damned, that man needed her help and if she would reject helping him here, she would never be able to look at herself in the mirror.

His pulse was there, though weak. He lost a lot of blood. His breath was erratic, as he just passed out he had little control over his body... so in the end, Bullet had no other option than to strip him topless and treat his wounds, bandageing them the best to her ability to stop the bleeding.

The collapse did come and despite all of his strength of will, he was completely helpless against anything in the end. He'd wanted to try and fend her off at first, but here the blackness that engulfed him threatened to swallow him; this stuff that tried to claim him and devour him whole. He was that one who would stand against it; not allowing something like the all encompassing beast within devour him, he was the Grim Reaper and that duty was his own. To feast upon the evil of this world and save the whole damned thing, his fate was nothing if not something that he would control.

Seriously what did this guy do? His whole left arm was torn up like he got into a weedwhacker, and his chest had multiple deep knife wounds on it... his right arm was fine, but that looked like it was made of solid seithr anyway, so she wasn`t suprised.

His breathing got more and more erratic, and soon enough, she had to help him out by breathing air into his nostils because his lungs were too weak to pump air into him themselves...
For a good half an hour, she was busy treating wounds, giving him breathing aid, patchimg him up with herbs, occasionally restarting his heart as it ran out of fluids... but strangely enough, he seemed to get better after a while, as if his body was regenerating itself. Slowly, but after 47 minutes of intensive care, on the verge of her strength, his breathing and pulse stabiized...

The darkness that threatened to eat him was soon chased away, it was by something that Ragna was grasping for...the light that he reached for was nothing that he was sure had a shape. Only at one point did it finally have to do with something that he reached for in real life, it was during this time that the woman would find he had weakly grabbed her shoulder and neck region, it was a grip with his weak left arm; the hand here just trying to lightly embrace. She would lightly feel the draw of the grip, trying to draw her down to his chest. When all in all, Ragna had no real idea that he was trying to draw his savior into something of an awkward hug...

"L-Light...saved..." the words of a delirious man who was almost dead and yet now he was reaching for something that he didn't know.

Gasping for her breath after the exhausting procedure, Bullet sat down on a treetrunk and downed an energy drink that she just happened to have with herself- a professional like her didn´t travel unprepared.
Ragna was waking up. Good. Then maybe she`d get some answers once he would stop to think he was in heaven.

"Don`t overdo it, man. You were halfway across the line already. Wouldn`t have taken much more." That was all she saved before Red Bull silenced her, and a quiet moan of relaxation escaped her lips as she stretched her arching limbs.

"You...saved my ass back there...thanks." it didn't take much for Ragna to admit his thanks for someone who'd just saved his life. Ultimately she was the main reason why he was here and that was the most important thing that mattered. He wasn't nearly the scary man that so many people in the world thought that he was once he was in such a vulnerable state...at least not if the person was of some actual decent kind. He'd had his own weaknesses, a few of them being a little cliche (i.e. crying girls/women), but everybody had some proverbial chink in the armor. Though still his vision wasn't clear, he could tell by her tone that she was a woman and obviously she'd stuck around to make sure that he was okay; something that he was mentally thankful for.

"....yeah, i did. I dunno why i did it, but i did. Could`ve bought me a house with your corpse in tow, really." A chuckle followed. He was grateful, that was a start, at least. And besides, she was impressed by his ability to survive from that near death situation.

So, ultimatively, she handed him her half empty Red Bull can and stood up to stretch.
"Here, its not much, but... Nhhg... you´ll need it more than i do, i imagine.
Once again she eyed down at the guy lying there in a puddle of his own blood, opening his eyes like a zombie... was that why he was so fameous? That he could come back from the dead?

Accepting the red bull that was in hand, he took care to show more of this manners...well after all the one who raised him unfortunately instilled some semblance of a good code at which to go by.

"Thanks a lot."

The simple words fumbled out before he'd brought the can to his lips, how long had it been since he'd sipped anything? Finding a moment to drink all of it down, before realizing at least that it might just be of some use. She'd find that he was groaning, forcing himself to sit up after thinking that he had been down for far too long.

"What's your name...eh?" he wasn't really speaking well, but gave it a shot anyways, his voice a bit hoarse from the weakness he'd been subject to for quite a while.

"None of your business. Just call me Bullet." She answered quick and snappy, shooting a glare at him, though kind of regretting it. People didn´t get why that question ticked her off, so she had no reason to be mad at him.

"You`re Ragna the Bloodedge, right? You look a lot different than the wanted posters make you out to be." She commented, leaning in a bit to inspect his face halfheartedly. She also noticed his rather impressive packs and abs, but that was something that came from carrying and using that ridiculously big sword, presumably.

There was a moment that he'd almost cared that she snapped at him, but he ignored it shortly following since it meant nothing to him; truth be told she was still a stranger even if she did save him. Is there anything that he really needed to care about? Well the fact that he was still indebted to her was one such thing. He was still a damned mess and didn't feel better yet, though he supposed that his body would work ever so slowly as it was (in his mind), he'd hoped to be on his feet in about no time.

"Shitty artists...it makes it easy to get into the cities, when people don't have a good look of you." he knew that he hated the artwork but it was better that these people of the world had not ever truly discovered his appearance down to the letter. Ragna propped himself up against something rough, either a rock or a tree stump; it was stubby whatever it was. His vision cleared somewhat, and that heterochromic gaze of the SS Criminal was soon resting upon his savior's, albeit a blurry image of what she looked like...at least she was pretty; even if she had a snappy attitude.

"'Suppose it does, if no one ever caught you so far. Well, someone nearly did, but it`d be ironic iof the real Grim Reaper got the Grim Reaper." She smirked, crossing her arms as well as her legs, while looking at him... he could move, that was an amazing feat for someone who nearly just died five minutes ago... seems like whatever he did to himself ceased to make him human.

"So, mind telling me what the hell you were doing in that kind of state, out here in the middle of nowhere? You got into a knife fight, i can tell that, but those wounds were laced with contact poison... i had to wash out your wounds before they would cease to bleed."

Truth to be told, no matter how much he would`ve struggled, he simply wouldn`t have made it to the next town without bleeding out, but she didn`t want to break that to him too directly. Most people wouldn`t take that well.
So, her first impression of him? A rough, rude young man with a dangerous life and a body that was interesting in more than one way, but she never judged people by first impressions. First they prusuade you, then they stab you in the back.

"Quite the curious one aren't ya? Well you saved my life, so I owe you enough." taking a moment to clear his throat, which earned him more chest pain, of which he ignored quickly. Straightening himself up as much as possible, to test his mobility for a moment before speaking out on what it was. There was no purpose to hiding the key facts, he could give her something of an answer without lying to her face and likely pissing her off.

"Let's just say...I ran into a few friends from the N.O.L. on the way...like a flew platoons, then as you see I walked away from it; well dragged myself away, but you get it." a simple statement that explained it in a vague enough manner to his satisfaction. It wasn't like she needed to know his reasons or anything else, she wanted to know how he got hurt and he just gave that answer up without much struggle.

Well that was an obvious answer in more than one way.
Obviously he got mixed in with the NOL, who else would try and murder him like this. And obviously, he survived.... and obviously, there was more to this than that, but he simply didn`t tell her. Smart man.
A very smart man- keeping secrets was something of a lost art these days, and thats why the NOL`s intelligence department was flourishing so much.

"Well i guessed that much. Think they`ll be back? Its not exactly hard to follow you with the trail you left behind."

She wanted to buite her tongue, really hard, because as soon as Bullet said that, she heard a rustle in the bushes nearby... was it a seithr beast, or a vigilante... or something worse?
Either way, she began to ignore Ragna right there, and turned to face the noise, her fists raised.

"Doubt it...no real heroes from any waypoint station will come...I destroyed their communications and-" stopping with a small grunt of pain before hearing the rustle, Ragna again defied the impossible actions by moving again; rising to one knee, even though his other leg rested flatly and his body trembled with his visible effort. It was that same will that kept him alive this entire time, even if he was on death's door, he'd be damned if some petty creature was his undoing. He was prepared to activate that damned grimoire again; even knowing that it was a dangerous effort to make on his part. This young woman was in better condition than he was, yet if it was a beast; still he planned to jump in.

A chill hit her body. It was odd, this was the middle of the summer, but somehow she felt really cold...
A second later, she knew why- a sword made of ice raced towards her, and she had barely time to react and dodge it. It raced past Ragna and buried itself in a tree, before out of the undergrowth leaped a blonde haired man wielding a Katana- obviously an Ars of some soort, as the blade was made completely out of ice.

It came closer, and closer, and closer... her hand shot up nearly automatically and the gauntlet on her lower arm blocked the strike, but it pushed her back.
She was a trained grappler and had four black belts- and this guy pushed her back with a sword strike! Who the hell...?
It was then when she recognized the uniform of an NOL Major.That ice blade...

"Is... are you Jin Kisaragi?!"

Rather than answering, the man ignored her and ran past to get to Ragna, who was just getting up.
Damnit, this wasn`t good. Charging up her armagus, she prepared a strike to knock him out, hitting the back of his head- but her fist never connected, instead she was struck back by the sheath of her sword hitting her in the chest.

"Aguh..!"

It was in that moment of feeling the chill that Ragna knew it was exactly who he thought it was, the psychopathic brother of his was here to no doubt try and kill him yet again. The ass didn't know when not to show up. Not fearing his little brother, the white haired criminal rose to his feet shakily and held out his arm of seithr...disregarding the warnings entirely as he focused on his brother. Granted if he couldn't keep it together, holding the solid fist before him, he opened his fingertips in an open palm. He was really going to do this wasn't he? His body screamed out in resentment of the actions he was forcing. His body shuddered under the effects of the Grimoire's force, he couldn't get the words out just yet...quickly he tried to adjust to its effects.

"I`m over here, asshole!"

It came from behind Jin, and the swordsman had to turn around and block a powerful strike to his side, which slightly staggered him to the side.

"Pfft. Annoyance... do not interfere when i`m with my big brother..!!"
A shout followed by a spike trail of ice, which Bullet had to avoid as fast as she could- her armagus flared up and upon release, it covered her in a magical flame- something that would hopefully counter Jin´s ice attacks for now. Roaring out, she tackled the man and indeed, the three ice swords he sent out to her were turned to vapor upon hitting the flames.

Jin was brought to the ground, the wind knocked out of him, but he already raised his blade again to stab Bullet into the side and gut her.

The effort to release the Azure Grimoire failed miserably, he was getting back to business since he seemed to lack the necessary stamina to activate it, but it didn't stop him from acting in some desperation. Through his usual tact of his fastest attacking move, his left fist surrounding with a mass of darkness as he launched forward, planning to smash his brother...he wasn't sure if it'd be as potent as usual but he struck hard.

"Hell's Fang!" the surge of darkness grew with intensity upon each of the moments that tracked after him, soon he was launching forward, hitting with as much force as he could muster; hoping to either knock Jin's sword from his hand or to damage his wrist so that he couldn't wield Yukianesa with such of his usual grace.

Ragna was coming at him, and Jin had no time to finish his attack on Bullet. Instead, he had to block the surge of the Azure aimed for him, and as such, was knocked out as Bullet chucked a rock at his head.

"And stay down this time!" She growled, cracking her knuckles. He wasn`t bleeding from it, but it sure put him down for a while- Still, she didn`t feel very comfortable here, not with this guy that just came back from the dead and might as well return to them any moment now.
She glanced at Ragna, then made a swift hand movement down the road.

"Lets go.. while he`s unconcious. I don`t think he`ll be any friendlier waking up!"

Ragna's body slumped forward even though he had not been finished by a long shot, his foot pressed into the ground as he forced himself to stand up tall before staggering down the road. "Fortunately the scumbag sleeps for a long time, lazy bastard."

The words themselves had little place, was Ragna trying to be funny? Even though he was hardly up for it, the Bloodedge pushed himself down the path and moved as fast as his nearly drooping body would allow. Despite healing for all of this time, the chance was short that he'd even be ready to move so quickly for very long.