Post by Rika Lefcourt on Aug 20, 2010 15:16:36 GMT -8
Friday June 22 2011
Diagon Alley, in front of Gringotts
Returning to England had not been really spectacular. The world of magic didn’t care about muggle transports and Rika, or better said Sayoko, had, once again, taken an airplane to get to London. She had stayed away from the magic folk for a day to get some sleep. After all, these flights sure took a long time, but they had the advantage that Sayoko could enter Britain unseen. The only issue was usually how to get past the security checkpoints. Muggle security was usually no match for a wizard or a witch, but it was somewhat annoying.
Being back in England felt strange. Sayoko was not up to date, she only remembered what had happened before she had gone back to England last year. Some guy named Trevor Williams had somehow taken over the wizarding world. How? Sayoko wasn’t sure. Why? Most likely the usual stuff, money, power, whatever. Who this Trevor Williams was Sayoko didn’t know, and to be honest, she didn’t particularly care either.
She so didn’t fit into this place. Wearing a blue track suit with that messenger bag hanging from her side she looked more than alien. Sayoko had cut her hair short again and as such had a rather boyish appearance. She had decided to bring her wand-sword because she had concluded that having two wands was better than one. Her bow was stored in her bag, together with the sword, should she need either.
It seemed that the people had not yet recognized her, but she had still grown since then, at least a bit. Her short hair made her look somewhat different as well. Yet her mind was focused on the here and now. She had come to Diagon Alley to have a look at the Lefcourt family vault in Gringotts. It was meant to simply check whether she still had access. But since she hadn’t heard anything about the issue around Lefcourt Castle and the rest of their possessions, Sayoko had assumed that she was still listed as a Lefcourt. And since the British had no way of knowing that she was actually a Nikaidô and not a Lefcourt it was actually quite likely that she was still officially a Lefcourt.
As she passed Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions Sayoko remembered how her fake father and her foolish mother had dragged her through Diagon Alley. If they could see her now. But of course they couldn’t, or so Sayoko believed. The dead were dead. They were gone. Maybe there was some kind of connection possible, like she had experienced it during the Harrowing, but that could have been simply her own mind. Though, all of that was pure speculation.
And right now it didn’t even matter. Gringotts was just ahead of her. First she would check, then she would have to find Annabelle and try to talk with her. Reasonably. Though reason... Sayoko shook her head. If Lance had been right during her first visit then Annabelle had gone off the deep end. The problem now was that Lance was usually right about such things. Sighing silently to herself Sayoko approached the bank. It hadn’t really changed, despite the different regime. But even regimes, if that was even the right term for the government of this Lord Williams, needed money. And money didn’t grow on trees. Sadly so, she thought.
Sayoko stepped on the stairs and began climbing them. On top the door opened and a woman left the bank. Apparently she was escorted by three guards, or something like that. At first Sayoko didn’t pay attention. But then she stopped and looked at the woman.
The woman had stopped as well and was staring down at Sayoko. She was dressed perfectly for her status and, apparently, she had her mother’s fashion taste, at least up to a certain extent. It seemed that, while her mother preferred clothing from around the Napoleonic era, this woman had taken a liking in a slightly later era. Still, this cream-colored Victorian dress, which looked very similar to a riding habit, suited her quite well. Though...
What were the odds for this?
Annabelle Lefcourt had just left the bank, right at the moment when Sayoko had started to climb up the stairs.
No really, what were the odds for this?
Several seconds passed in silence. *(1)
Then both suddenly reacted. Sayoko’s hand went for her wand, and so did Annabelle’s.
“Avada kedavra!” Annabelle screamed.
Sayoko, out of reflex, cast the greater shield spell that she had learned what seemed to be ages ago at Shirasagi.
“Avada kedavra!” again Annabelle fired off a green jet of light, but again Sayoko defended herself.
Now Sayoko was backing up.
“Kill the bitch!” Annabelle commanded those three minions.
They quickly had their wands out. The muggles had a term for such people. Hired guns. In this case they were more like hired wands.
“Annabelle, I want to... ” but Sayoko never finished that sentence. Instead she was forced to duck to the side and shield again.
Meanwhile people were screaming. The innocent bystanders tried to get out of range. But really, what were the odds for something like that? Right there, in front of Gringotts, in broad daylight, fate had forced Sayoko and Annabelle to meet.
With now four people attacking her Sayoko had only one choice. She kept moving, knowing too well that cover against four attackers was useless. One of them would eventually flank her and then kill her. And Sayoko had no intention to die. Not like this.
She cast her own killing curse at the closest bodyguard, a woman, and hit her square in the chest. Then she stupefied the second guard. The third, however, got into Annabelle’s way and was promptly killed by Annabelle.
The whole action took just a few seconds. Now they were aiming their wands at each other.
“Annabelle, let’s talk,” Sayoko said finally.
“No talking, just you dying.”
“Let’s talk about the family.”
“Why did you come back? Oh, you want the money, don’t you? Too bad, it’s not yours. It’s mine, I won’t share it with a filthy startup like you.”
Startup? Oh the irony. Sayoko’s family was older than Annabelle’s.
“Avada kedavra!” Annabelle screamed once again but again Sayoko defended herself successfully. A few more killing curses followed and Sayoko managed to shield herself from them again and again.
“I can do this the whole day,” Sayoko insisted.
“So can I!”
“And that’s your idea?”
Annabelle hesitated. Giving Sayoko the chance to get a better look at her. Yes, Annabelle had also grown up. And it seemed that she had worked hard for the day when she would finally get a shot at Sayoko.
“Let’s just talk, alright?”
“I’m just going to kill you.”
“Then I’ll just continue to defend myself. As I said, I can do this the whole day.”
Annabelle’s eyes hardened, but then she started to smile. This was a fight that could not be decided by their proficiency with magic. Sayoko would really just defend herself until one of them would tire. It would most likely be Sayoko, but Annabelle knew that there was no guarantee for that. What if Sayoko would just get lucky? She couldn’t risk that. She had to kill the bitch.
“Fine,” Annabelle said finally. “It is obvious this contest will not be decided by our knowledge of magic. Do you still have this ridiculous bow of yours?”
“Your point?”
“I will lower my wand, you will lower yours. I have a better idea.” Annabelle then increased the volume of her voice. “And all of you stupid bastards stay out of this! It’s me or her! She will die and I will take my rightful place as the heir of my family!” She took a deep breath and screamed, “This is between me and her! You all stay out!”
“Why should I trust you?” What was Annabelle up to?
“Because I have something much, much better in mind. I know you wouldn’t attack someone without wand, you’re too good for doing that.”
Sayoko snorted, but Annabelle was right with that.
Slowly Annabelle lowered her wand. Sayoko hesitated, but then she saw how Annabelle stuck her wand back into its small leather sheath that she had inside her overcoat and thus Sayoko followed her lead.
“Now what?”
“Now you die,” Annabelle giggled. She opened her handbag, which had obviously been treated with an extension charm, just like Sayoko’s own bag. Annabelle reached into it, while Sayoko’s right hand hovered over her wand. Apparently Annabelle had found what she had been looking for and pulled it out.
Instinctively Sayoko took a step backwards. Her eyes narrowed at the weapon in Annabelle’s hand. She had seen similar ones before, had read about them, knew one or two things about them, too. But she had never wielded one of them.
Annabelle’s right hand held the rapier by its hilt. She dropped her handbag and unsheathed it. After dropping the leather sheath on the ground Annabelle pointed the long, but rather thin blade at Sayoko. “I am Annabelle Lefcourt! I’m taking my right as member of the Lefcourt family! And I will kill this fucking bitch!” Then she looked at the guards from Gringotts who had rushed out, but found themselves in a rather confusing situation, since the commotion was not on Gringotts premises anymore. “You stay out of this! All of you stay out! She is mine! This is a family matter!”
Sayoko noted that Annabelle was talking a lot. Her eyes were focused on the long, thin blade. A rapier was not necessarily made for slashing, like a katana. It was primarily made for piercing attacks, which left small, but nasty wounds. Though, it could slash just as well. Annabelle was taller than Sayoko, thus already had an advantage in range, but with the rapier her range was even larger. Sayoko shook her head. “Annabelle, for crying out loud, let’s just talk this out!”
“You murdered my father, my mother and my uncle! You murdered even your own mother! This is my right. I will kill you!”
Nikaidô Sayoko sighed. She moved her right hand away from her wand. Then she took off her messenger bag. “Fine. I tried to be reasonable. I tried to find a peaceful solution. But oh well. Have it your way.”
“You think you can just walk into Gringotts and take my money? You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?”
“You know, for a second there? Yeah, I kinda did.” Sayoko replied. Then she opened her messenger bag and pulled out the shorter and completely black wooden scabbard of Akakage. She kept it in her right hand, dropped the bag and leaned the still sheathed weapon against the backside of her right arm.
“Your instrument is quite impressive,” Sayoko said looking at Annabelle’s rapier. “Where did you get it from?”
“My family, who you murdered. But if you must know, it’s originally from Spain.”
They were slowly approaching each other.
“Spain? Where in Spain?”
“Toledo. It’s a Toledo Salamanca.”
Sayoko had heard about the Toledo swords. Brilliant weapons, absolutely lethal in the hands of someone who knew what he was doing. Was Annabelle such a person? One thing was certain: Annabelle was nuts and it was likely that she had spent every free minute training, working on getting good at this. Even if her fencing skills were worse than Sayoko’s, then Annabelle was still a highly determined opponent, and such people usually didn’t just give in. It was then when Sayoko realized that this was truly a fight to the death. When two tigers meet, Sayoko thought, one gets mauled, the other dies. “Impressive,” Sayoko said.
“You know that swords never get tired?” Annabelle stopped. “I hope you’re ready to die. Though I have to admit, as last looks go, you could do worse.” The Lefcourt smiled softly. Honestly, she still had this crush on Sayoko, but... there was no way around this. Sayoko had to die. It was the only way to finish this. Annabelle then removed her overcoat and dropped it on the ground. She lowered the rapier again in expectation of what Sayoko would possibly do.
Sayoko slowly approached her and then, to Annabelle’s surprise, bowed. *(2) She shifted the scabbard into her left hand and brought it up vertically right in front of her face, edge up, so that the hilt of the weapon was pointing to her right side. Sayoko’s right hand slowly clasped the hilt. She could feel the skin of a stingray under her right palm. Quickly she drew Akakage from the scabbard, but only to a certain point, just a few inches. She stopped there.
Annabelle brought her rapier up, the tip of it pointing right at Sayoko. It was a surprise for her that Sayoko had a sword as well, but it didn’t matter. This way it would be not just duty towards her family and vengeance for their deaths, but also fun.
Then Sayoko slowly drew the sword from its scabbard.
Akakage sang its song.
Slowly Sayoko lowered her sword, but she kept the scabbard in her left hand, lowering it as well.
Annabelle’s left foot shifted forward just a bit. Then she attacked.
Sayoko managed to parry with the scabbard, quite a feat when considering that it was made of wood. She also parried Annabelle’s second attack, then spun away to the right side, catching Annabelle’s downward strike with both sword and scabbard before pushing her opponent back a little. Sayoko tried to strike Annabelle, but the other woman backed up quickly, thus Sayoko’s low strike missed her opponent.
Slowly Sayoko straightened. The two faced each other, then Sayoko attacked first with her sword, then with the scabbard. Annabelle successfully defended herself, pulled back, dodged another one of Sayoko’s strikes, and then cut off Sayoko’s scabbard. Sayoko backed off and looked at the scabbard. It had a been a stupid idea to begin with, after all it was just made of wood. Finally she discarded it.
Sayoko brought her sword into a middle guard and they both approached each other slowly. Both weapons seemed to hum slightly and then they touched.
Annabelle moved closer, but then Sayoko broke the contact and tried to strike Annabelle. Once, a second time, even a third time. Annabelle deflected two of them and dodged one, then she thrust forward, but found herself suddenly next to Sayoko. They looked at each other for a split second before Annabelle struck out for Sayoko, who moved to the side. Both turned away from each other, Annabelle just a little bit faster. She used her greater range to strike at Sayoko.
Sayoko cried out and stumbled forward. There was a slash in the back of her track suit and she was bleeding. Annabelle had hit her. The sudden pain was bad. Sayoko felt strangely wobbly. Her right knee gave in and she landed on her back.
Her former cousin looked triumphant. “Silly Japanese girl likes to play with swords.”
Merciful gods did that hurt. And lying on her back didn’t really help either. Sayoko gasped for air. The cut was deep, but not deep enough to hurt her spine. Annabelle was toying with her, or so it seemed.
“You may not be able to fight like a Lefcourt, but you can at least die like a Lefcourt.” Then her eyes hardened and she pointed her rapier at Sayoko.
Sayoko climbed on her feet. Her right hand clasped the hilt of Akakage. Slowly she managed to stand up. There was no peaceful solution. She accepted that she had to kill Annabelle. “Attack me with everything you have.”
And Annabelle obliged. She swung the thin blade for Sayoko who barely managed to defend herself against it. In fact the force of Annabelle’s attack was strong enough to make Sayoko wobble backwards. But she didn’t give up that easily. Sayoko renewed her attack and struck back. Their blades smashed against each other. Ancient Toledo steel against ancient Japanese tamahagane.
The swords locked for a second, but Annabelle managed to strike Sayoko’s blade down. Using her momentum Annabelle spun around to give her strike more power. She barely missed Sayoko who managed to duck underneath Annabelle’s swing. Sayoko, however, slashed for Annabelle when she ducked. She could feel a familiar resistance.
Annabelle froze just for a split second, then she distanced herself from Sayoko. She was limping. Sayoko had hit her.
Sayoko was now aiming her sword at Annabelle with one hand while the other woman was leaning against a wall behind her. It was when Annabelle realized that killing her cousin wouldn’t be so easy after all.
The older one lowered her sword and then noticed a red liquid appearing on Annabelle’s right foot. Apparently she had struck Annabelle a bit above her right knee. The cut through her former cousin’s skirt was clearly visible.
Slowly Annabelle collected herself. She saw the expression on Sayoko’s face and realized that this fight could very well turn against her very quickly. Sayoko was determined, so it seemed and bringing her down would be a lot of hard work for Annabelle.
Sayoko’s breathing calmed down. Suddenly it seemed that everything around her was gone. The world itself had turned into shades of light grey. The only colorful spot was Annabelle right in front of her.
“For ridiculing you earlier,” Annabelle said suddenly -and for Sayoko totally surprising-, “I apologize.”
It took Sayoko a few seconds. “Accepted,” she said. Strange, right at this point, Sayoko felt something like respect for Annabelle. “Ready?” Sayoko asked.
“Come on,” replied Annabelle.
They rushed at each other. First their blades struck against each other high, then low. They locked, and Annabelle used her left hand for additional strength on her hilt. From her point of view she managed to push Sayoko’s blade down towards her own left side, but they remained locked. Then they separated and Annabelle turned away to get some distance between them. They rushed alongside each other, with enough space to prevent either of them hitting the other, towards the entrance of Knockturn Alley.
Then both swung at their opponent with all the strength they had.
The force of the first contact of the blades made both spin around. One of the blades connected with flesh. Blood splattered on the street and on a wall.
Akakage sang its song.
Annabelle slowly let go of her rapier while Sayoko, trying to keep balance with both arms extended, gasped for air. *(3) The young Lefcourt had a strange, confused expression on her face. She moved her lips. “Im... po... ssible... ” Then, slowly, she dropped on her knees and finally fell over on her right side.
Sayoko lowered her weapon. The pain in her back was still there, of course. She needed medical attention. Slowly she turned her head to have a short look at Annabelle’s now dead body. What she could see was somewhat disturbing. Apparently Sayoko’s strike had removed the top of Annabelle’s head. The brain was completely exposed and the dislodged part of the skull, still attached to skin and Annabelle’s hair, had been propelled several yards to the side by the force of Sayoko’s strike.
Then Sayoko slowly walked away, back towards where she had dropped her messenger bag. But before reaching it Sayoko sat down on the curb, completely ignoring the mass of people, who had taken cover when the fight had started, coming from their hiding places. She leaned forward and slowly let go of the sword. Somebody would eventually come to arrest her or something, but at this point, she didn’t care. Exhaustion was taking over, primarily from the loss of blood. Sayoko had not wished for it to turn out like this, but ultimately Annabelle had not left her any other way out.
The Lefcourts had ceased to exist. Officially Sayoko, still known in England as Rika Lefcourt, was the last one.
*(1) Quincy Jones – Ironside (first 16 seconds)
*(2) Santa Esmeralda – Don’t let me be misunderstood
*(3) Kaji Meiko – Shura no Hana (Flower of Carnage)
Diagon Alley, in front of Gringotts
Returning to England had not been really spectacular. The world of magic didn’t care about muggle transports and Rika, or better said Sayoko, had, once again, taken an airplane to get to London. She had stayed away from the magic folk for a day to get some sleep. After all, these flights sure took a long time, but they had the advantage that Sayoko could enter Britain unseen. The only issue was usually how to get past the security checkpoints. Muggle security was usually no match for a wizard or a witch, but it was somewhat annoying.
Being back in England felt strange. Sayoko was not up to date, she only remembered what had happened before she had gone back to England last year. Some guy named Trevor Williams had somehow taken over the wizarding world. How? Sayoko wasn’t sure. Why? Most likely the usual stuff, money, power, whatever. Who this Trevor Williams was Sayoko didn’t know, and to be honest, she didn’t particularly care either.
She so didn’t fit into this place. Wearing a blue track suit with that messenger bag hanging from her side she looked more than alien. Sayoko had cut her hair short again and as such had a rather boyish appearance. She had decided to bring her wand-sword because she had concluded that having two wands was better than one. Her bow was stored in her bag, together with the sword, should she need either.
It seemed that the people had not yet recognized her, but she had still grown since then, at least a bit. Her short hair made her look somewhat different as well. Yet her mind was focused on the here and now. She had come to Diagon Alley to have a look at the Lefcourt family vault in Gringotts. It was meant to simply check whether she still had access. But since she hadn’t heard anything about the issue around Lefcourt Castle and the rest of their possessions, Sayoko had assumed that she was still listed as a Lefcourt. And since the British had no way of knowing that she was actually a Nikaidô and not a Lefcourt it was actually quite likely that she was still officially a Lefcourt.
As she passed Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions Sayoko remembered how her fake father and her foolish mother had dragged her through Diagon Alley. If they could see her now. But of course they couldn’t, or so Sayoko believed. The dead were dead. They were gone. Maybe there was some kind of connection possible, like she had experienced it during the Harrowing, but that could have been simply her own mind. Though, all of that was pure speculation.
And right now it didn’t even matter. Gringotts was just ahead of her. First she would check, then she would have to find Annabelle and try to talk with her. Reasonably. Though reason... Sayoko shook her head. If Lance had been right during her first visit then Annabelle had gone off the deep end. The problem now was that Lance was usually right about such things. Sighing silently to herself Sayoko approached the bank. It hadn’t really changed, despite the different regime. But even regimes, if that was even the right term for the government of this Lord Williams, needed money. And money didn’t grow on trees. Sadly so, she thought.
Sayoko stepped on the stairs and began climbing them. On top the door opened and a woman left the bank. Apparently she was escorted by three guards, or something like that. At first Sayoko didn’t pay attention. But then she stopped and looked at the woman.
The woman had stopped as well and was staring down at Sayoko. She was dressed perfectly for her status and, apparently, she had her mother’s fashion taste, at least up to a certain extent. It seemed that, while her mother preferred clothing from around the Napoleonic era, this woman had taken a liking in a slightly later era. Still, this cream-colored Victorian dress, which looked very similar to a riding habit, suited her quite well. Though...
What were the odds for this?
Annabelle Lefcourt had just left the bank, right at the moment when Sayoko had started to climb up the stairs.
No really, what were the odds for this?
Several seconds passed in silence. *(1)
Then both suddenly reacted. Sayoko’s hand went for her wand, and so did Annabelle’s.
“Avada kedavra!” Annabelle screamed.
Sayoko, out of reflex, cast the greater shield spell that she had learned what seemed to be ages ago at Shirasagi.
“Avada kedavra!” again Annabelle fired off a green jet of light, but again Sayoko defended herself.
Now Sayoko was backing up.
“Kill the bitch!” Annabelle commanded those three minions.
They quickly had their wands out. The muggles had a term for such people. Hired guns. In this case they were more like hired wands.
“Annabelle, I want to... ” but Sayoko never finished that sentence. Instead she was forced to duck to the side and shield again.
Meanwhile people were screaming. The innocent bystanders tried to get out of range. But really, what were the odds for something like that? Right there, in front of Gringotts, in broad daylight, fate had forced Sayoko and Annabelle to meet.
With now four people attacking her Sayoko had only one choice. She kept moving, knowing too well that cover against four attackers was useless. One of them would eventually flank her and then kill her. And Sayoko had no intention to die. Not like this.
She cast her own killing curse at the closest bodyguard, a woman, and hit her square in the chest. Then she stupefied the second guard. The third, however, got into Annabelle’s way and was promptly killed by Annabelle.
The whole action took just a few seconds. Now they were aiming their wands at each other.
“Annabelle, let’s talk,” Sayoko said finally.
“No talking, just you dying.”
“Let’s talk about the family.”
“Why did you come back? Oh, you want the money, don’t you? Too bad, it’s not yours. It’s mine, I won’t share it with a filthy startup like you.”
Startup? Oh the irony. Sayoko’s family was older than Annabelle’s.
“Avada kedavra!” Annabelle screamed once again but again Sayoko defended herself successfully. A few more killing curses followed and Sayoko managed to shield herself from them again and again.
“I can do this the whole day,” Sayoko insisted.
“So can I!”
“And that’s your idea?”
Annabelle hesitated. Giving Sayoko the chance to get a better look at her. Yes, Annabelle had also grown up. And it seemed that she had worked hard for the day when she would finally get a shot at Sayoko.
“Let’s just talk, alright?”
“I’m just going to kill you.”
“Then I’ll just continue to defend myself. As I said, I can do this the whole day.”
Annabelle’s eyes hardened, but then she started to smile. This was a fight that could not be decided by their proficiency with magic. Sayoko would really just defend herself until one of them would tire. It would most likely be Sayoko, but Annabelle knew that there was no guarantee for that. What if Sayoko would just get lucky? She couldn’t risk that. She had to kill the bitch.
“Fine,” Annabelle said finally. “It is obvious this contest will not be decided by our knowledge of magic. Do you still have this ridiculous bow of yours?”
“Your point?”
“I will lower my wand, you will lower yours. I have a better idea.” Annabelle then increased the volume of her voice. “And all of you stupid bastards stay out of this! It’s me or her! She will die and I will take my rightful place as the heir of my family!” She took a deep breath and screamed, “This is between me and her! You all stay out!”
“Why should I trust you?” What was Annabelle up to?
“Because I have something much, much better in mind. I know you wouldn’t attack someone without wand, you’re too good for doing that.”
Sayoko snorted, but Annabelle was right with that.
Slowly Annabelle lowered her wand. Sayoko hesitated, but then she saw how Annabelle stuck her wand back into its small leather sheath that she had inside her overcoat and thus Sayoko followed her lead.
“Now what?”
“Now you die,” Annabelle giggled. She opened her handbag, which had obviously been treated with an extension charm, just like Sayoko’s own bag. Annabelle reached into it, while Sayoko’s right hand hovered over her wand. Apparently Annabelle had found what she had been looking for and pulled it out.
Instinctively Sayoko took a step backwards. Her eyes narrowed at the weapon in Annabelle’s hand. She had seen similar ones before, had read about them, knew one or two things about them, too. But she had never wielded one of them.
Annabelle’s right hand held the rapier by its hilt. She dropped her handbag and unsheathed it. After dropping the leather sheath on the ground Annabelle pointed the long, but rather thin blade at Sayoko. “I am Annabelle Lefcourt! I’m taking my right as member of the Lefcourt family! And I will kill this fucking bitch!” Then she looked at the guards from Gringotts who had rushed out, but found themselves in a rather confusing situation, since the commotion was not on Gringotts premises anymore. “You stay out of this! All of you stay out! She is mine! This is a family matter!”
Sayoko noted that Annabelle was talking a lot. Her eyes were focused on the long, thin blade. A rapier was not necessarily made for slashing, like a katana. It was primarily made for piercing attacks, which left small, but nasty wounds. Though, it could slash just as well. Annabelle was taller than Sayoko, thus already had an advantage in range, but with the rapier her range was even larger. Sayoko shook her head. “Annabelle, for crying out loud, let’s just talk this out!”
“You murdered my father, my mother and my uncle! You murdered even your own mother! This is my right. I will kill you!”
Nikaidô Sayoko sighed. She moved her right hand away from her wand. Then she took off her messenger bag. “Fine. I tried to be reasonable. I tried to find a peaceful solution. But oh well. Have it your way.”
“You think you can just walk into Gringotts and take my money? You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?”
“You know, for a second there? Yeah, I kinda did.” Sayoko replied. Then she opened her messenger bag and pulled out the shorter and completely black wooden scabbard of Akakage. She kept it in her right hand, dropped the bag and leaned the still sheathed weapon against the backside of her right arm.
“Your instrument is quite impressive,” Sayoko said looking at Annabelle’s rapier. “Where did you get it from?”
“My family, who you murdered. But if you must know, it’s originally from Spain.”
They were slowly approaching each other.
“Spain? Where in Spain?”
“Toledo. It’s a Toledo Salamanca.”
Sayoko had heard about the Toledo swords. Brilliant weapons, absolutely lethal in the hands of someone who knew what he was doing. Was Annabelle such a person? One thing was certain: Annabelle was nuts and it was likely that she had spent every free minute training, working on getting good at this. Even if her fencing skills were worse than Sayoko’s, then Annabelle was still a highly determined opponent, and such people usually didn’t just give in. It was then when Sayoko realized that this was truly a fight to the death. When two tigers meet, Sayoko thought, one gets mauled, the other dies. “Impressive,” Sayoko said.
“You know that swords never get tired?” Annabelle stopped. “I hope you’re ready to die. Though I have to admit, as last looks go, you could do worse.” The Lefcourt smiled softly. Honestly, she still had this crush on Sayoko, but... there was no way around this. Sayoko had to die. It was the only way to finish this. Annabelle then removed her overcoat and dropped it on the ground. She lowered the rapier again in expectation of what Sayoko would possibly do.
Sayoko slowly approached her and then, to Annabelle’s surprise, bowed. *(2) She shifted the scabbard into her left hand and brought it up vertically right in front of her face, edge up, so that the hilt of the weapon was pointing to her right side. Sayoko’s right hand slowly clasped the hilt. She could feel the skin of a stingray under her right palm. Quickly she drew Akakage from the scabbard, but only to a certain point, just a few inches. She stopped there.
Annabelle brought her rapier up, the tip of it pointing right at Sayoko. It was a surprise for her that Sayoko had a sword as well, but it didn’t matter. This way it would be not just duty towards her family and vengeance for their deaths, but also fun.
Then Sayoko slowly drew the sword from its scabbard.
Akakage sang its song.
Slowly Sayoko lowered her sword, but she kept the scabbard in her left hand, lowering it as well.
Annabelle’s left foot shifted forward just a bit. Then she attacked.
Sayoko managed to parry with the scabbard, quite a feat when considering that it was made of wood. She also parried Annabelle’s second attack, then spun away to the right side, catching Annabelle’s downward strike with both sword and scabbard before pushing her opponent back a little. Sayoko tried to strike Annabelle, but the other woman backed up quickly, thus Sayoko’s low strike missed her opponent.
Slowly Sayoko straightened. The two faced each other, then Sayoko attacked first with her sword, then with the scabbard. Annabelle successfully defended herself, pulled back, dodged another one of Sayoko’s strikes, and then cut off Sayoko’s scabbard. Sayoko backed off and looked at the scabbard. It had a been a stupid idea to begin with, after all it was just made of wood. Finally she discarded it.
Sayoko brought her sword into a middle guard and they both approached each other slowly. Both weapons seemed to hum slightly and then they touched.
Annabelle moved closer, but then Sayoko broke the contact and tried to strike Annabelle. Once, a second time, even a third time. Annabelle deflected two of them and dodged one, then she thrust forward, but found herself suddenly next to Sayoko. They looked at each other for a split second before Annabelle struck out for Sayoko, who moved to the side. Both turned away from each other, Annabelle just a little bit faster. She used her greater range to strike at Sayoko.
Sayoko cried out and stumbled forward. There was a slash in the back of her track suit and she was bleeding. Annabelle had hit her. The sudden pain was bad. Sayoko felt strangely wobbly. Her right knee gave in and she landed on her back.
Her former cousin looked triumphant. “Silly Japanese girl likes to play with swords.”
Merciful gods did that hurt. And lying on her back didn’t really help either. Sayoko gasped for air. The cut was deep, but not deep enough to hurt her spine. Annabelle was toying with her, or so it seemed.
“You may not be able to fight like a Lefcourt, but you can at least die like a Lefcourt.” Then her eyes hardened and she pointed her rapier at Sayoko.
Sayoko climbed on her feet. Her right hand clasped the hilt of Akakage. Slowly she managed to stand up. There was no peaceful solution. She accepted that she had to kill Annabelle. “Attack me with everything you have.”
And Annabelle obliged. She swung the thin blade for Sayoko who barely managed to defend herself against it. In fact the force of Annabelle’s attack was strong enough to make Sayoko wobble backwards. But she didn’t give up that easily. Sayoko renewed her attack and struck back. Their blades smashed against each other. Ancient Toledo steel against ancient Japanese tamahagane.
The swords locked for a second, but Annabelle managed to strike Sayoko’s blade down. Using her momentum Annabelle spun around to give her strike more power. She barely missed Sayoko who managed to duck underneath Annabelle’s swing. Sayoko, however, slashed for Annabelle when she ducked. She could feel a familiar resistance.
Annabelle froze just for a split second, then she distanced herself from Sayoko. She was limping. Sayoko had hit her.
Sayoko was now aiming her sword at Annabelle with one hand while the other woman was leaning against a wall behind her. It was when Annabelle realized that killing her cousin wouldn’t be so easy after all.
The older one lowered her sword and then noticed a red liquid appearing on Annabelle’s right foot. Apparently she had struck Annabelle a bit above her right knee. The cut through her former cousin’s skirt was clearly visible.
Slowly Annabelle collected herself. She saw the expression on Sayoko’s face and realized that this fight could very well turn against her very quickly. Sayoko was determined, so it seemed and bringing her down would be a lot of hard work for Annabelle.
Sayoko’s breathing calmed down. Suddenly it seemed that everything around her was gone. The world itself had turned into shades of light grey. The only colorful spot was Annabelle right in front of her.
“For ridiculing you earlier,” Annabelle said suddenly -and for Sayoko totally surprising-, “I apologize.”
It took Sayoko a few seconds. “Accepted,” she said. Strange, right at this point, Sayoko felt something like respect for Annabelle. “Ready?” Sayoko asked.
“Come on,” replied Annabelle.
They rushed at each other. First their blades struck against each other high, then low. They locked, and Annabelle used her left hand for additional strength on her hilt. From her point of view she managed to push Sayoko’s blade down towards her own left side, but they remained locked. Then they separated and Annabelle turned away to get some distance between them. They rushed alongside each other, with enough space to prevent either of them hitting the other, towards the entrance of Knockturn Alley.
Then both swung at their opponent with all the strength they had.
The force of the first contact of the blades made both spin around. One of the blades connected with flesh. Blood splattered on the street and on a wall.
Akakage sang its song.
Annabelle slowly let go of her rapier while Sayoko, trying to keep balance with both arms extended, gasped for air. *(3) The young Lefcourt had a strange, confused expression on her face. She moved her lips. “Im... po... ssible... ” Then, slowly, she dropped on her knees and finally fell over on her right side.
Sayoko lowered her weapon. The pain in her back was still there, of course. She needed medical attention. Slowly she turned her head to have a short look at Annabelle’s now dead body. What she could see was somewhat disturbing. Apparently Sayoko’s strike had removed the top of Annabelle’s head. The brain was completely exposed and the dislodged part of the skull, still attached to skin and Annabelle’s hair, had been propelled several yards to the side by the force of Sayoko’s strike.
Then Sayoko slowly walked away, back towards where she had dropped her messenger bag. But before reaching it Sayoko sat down on the curb, completely ignoring the mass of people, who had taken cover when the fight had started, coming from their hiding places. She leaned forward and slowly let go of the sword. Somebody would eventually come to arrest her or something, but at this point, she didn’t care. Exhaustion was taking over, primarily from the loss of blood. Sayoko had not wished for it to turn out like this, but ultimately Annabelle had not left her any other way out.
The Lefcourts had ceased to exist. Officially Sayoko, still known in England as Rika Lefcourt, was the last one.
*(1) Quincy Jones – Ironside (first 16 seconds)
*(2) Santa Esmeralda – Don’t let me be misunderstood
*(3) Kaji Meiko – Shura no Hana (Flower of Carnage)