For Fame and Glory

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"Kusanagi." Dahlia DeAngelo was grinning from ear to ear as she flopped into the seat opposite her partner in crime. This bar was their favourite haunt when trying to relax, and she had known where to find the other woman right away. She let the word hang for a moment and waved for the attention of the bartender and gestured that she wanted a beer. Dahlia leaned back and let her arms hang over the back of her seat, though it was clear she was damn near bursting with excitement.

Dahlia shrank back to where she had been huddled against the wall, finding Gabbi's demeanor somewhat colder than she remembered. The dark haired girl didn't need to look to the doorway to see her brother standing there. She still didn't blame him for what had happened, even she had seen it as an accident. "You need to leave." Dahlia insisted, though her voice was somewhat less bossy than it had been in the past. "He will be coming for you soon."

"So you still want to be rid of me?" Gabbi asked, feeling very much like the odd person out all at once. "What have I done to you, Dahlia? Will you at least tell me that?"

Just as Gabbi was feeling she was being cast out, Dahlia felt she couldn't please anyone. "No." Dahlia replied simply, finally thinking it best, and safest, for everyone if she simply cut herself off. Her father had told her she needed to chose a side, perhaps this was the only sacrifice that would finally mean something.

Gabbi sighed deeply and ran her fingers through her hair. All these months of fighting and searching just for Dahlia to turn her nose up.

Dahlia didn't want any of them to know what she had been weak enough to give Rama, only for him to then reject her. 
Erik was still leaning in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest as he watched his twin closely. He knew that look in her eyes, it was the same one he himself often wore when trying to do the right thing, and failing. "Gabbi, maybe we should let grouchy get dressed?" He suggested, thinking maybe a little space would help the both of them.

"Yeah. I'm going back to the club." Gabbi's tone was bitter  and she was doing everything she could to keep a hard frown on her face. "I can't believe I turned down a shot to come home. For what? She regrets leaving the monster that trapped her brother and killed her father. I seriously need to get laid." The little blonde slammed the door and marched out, climbing into her car before Erik could say anything. He was right, Dahlia didn't want to be found. She'd wasted her time. Whatever friendship they had was apparently over.

"Wasn't that kind of harsh?" Erik had again appeared inside the car without the door even opening. "We don't know what happened, or why she's suddenly back after all these months." He pointed out.
Back in the house Dahlia had pulled the blanket off her bed and was simply curled up in her closet, something she hadn't done since she was a small child, since before Gabbi had been a part of their family.She didn't expect Gabbi to understand... The woman who could have any man she wanted simply by smiling. Dahlia hated Rama, and so she hated herself for having wanted him in the first place.

"You don't know what happened before you showed up." Gabbi muttered, starting the car. "She's made it clear she's done with me. This feels as bad as losing my parents and you. You know that? It's like it's happening all over again. I wish there was something in my life I couldn't lose. Just one thing." Gabbi breathed, returning her concentration to her driving.

Rama watched the small car leave and motioned to his men. This would be easier than he'd planned. Lilly was out cold with the potion he'd given her. 
Justice kept his treasures hidden in a cave beneath the house. He would have at least twenty four hours to pack things up. That was plenty of time to...keep him from thinking about her...

"I'm here now, aren't I?" Erik breathed, watching Gabbi as she focused on the road. He knew going back to that club put him in real danger of being captured by Rama's minions, but he didn't care. He just wanted whatever Gabbi wanted.

With Justice still under Rama's control, Dahlia had realised his task of keeping everyone safe now fell to her, knowing that her brother could be re-captured at any point. It was unfortunate luck for both her and the man she now hated, that she had come to her senses and was no longer nursing her broken heart. If Rama had sent her away for anything but selfish reasons, he had only served to drive an even bigger chasm between them.

"I wish you were mine." Gabbi whispered, turning into the parking lot. "But you've turned out to be alot like Dahlia. You want nothing to do with me. No amount of wishing will change that."

"If the Djinn comes against me, kill her." Rama ordered, sending the men storming into he house.

The words hurt, there was no denying that, and it played out in Erik's eyes much as Dahlia's emotion played out in hers. "I don't know what you want me to say, Gabrielle... It was becoming clear you loved my sister more than you did me. I only wanted what made you happy."

Dahlia had heard them from the moment they entered the house. Her weapon stash was soon opened and she was cracking the door very slightly to get an eye on anyone storming upstairs, if they even bothered. Killing intruders was just the distraction she needed from everything that had fallen down around her.
"Just the Djinn, sir?" One of the men asked. "No prisoners?"

"I don't love anyone." Gabbi said woodenly. She had to say it. It was the only way she could save her family. She'd already hurt them enough. "I wish you would go away, Erik. Now."

"She is the only one here." Rama said with the wave of his hand. He truly believed that Dahlia had appeared else where. He was certain she was not here. "Get a move on. I want my new treasures."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that... seeker." Erik whispered, silently telling himself she didn't mean the things she spat at him. "You are the one thing Rama wants more than anything in this world, I can't let him have you."

The man began to spread out, most of them searching the ground floor, knowing that's where an entrance to underground storage would be. It would most likely be some time before any of them realised two of their party had ventured upstairs and were now laying on the ground with broken necks.

"See...I was right. Wishes aren't real. Neither is magick." Gabbi whispered. Though she said this she truly had to wonder. Her heart was making a wish for him to take her far away from there and once again whisper sweet nothings in her ear.

Rama remained at the bottom of the stairs, using his magicks to locate the treasures. He was surprised when he picked out the Seeker's lifeline nearby. The other life line he chalked up to the sleeping Djinn. Dahlia was long gone and it was still eating away at him.

Erik could ignore her wish no longer. Her car would be left to cruise down the street with no one in it, while the two of them appeared in a hotel in Prague. Gabbi was lay beside Erik, his fingers gently stroking her golden hair, afraid that he had misread her wish and she actually wanted Him far away from her.

Dahlia had often expressed her unease at having to wear delicate and beautiful dresses while she was Rama's captive. She again wore her dark jeans and tank top, a knife in her belt and a gun strapped to either slender thigh. This was the life she had had to live as protector of the seeker. She had no memory that in her own ancient past she had loved beautiful clothes, having been worshiped as a goddess, Queen to Rama's King.

Gabbi buried her face in Erik's chest and fought for a steady breath. She'd dreamed of this moment for so long. "You remembered..." She could see the hotel brochure as she lifted her head. "We always said this would be this first place we came. In our honeymoon..right? But I can't remember what we planned to look for..."

Rama was ornately dressed as always, wearing a pinstripe suit that did nothing to hide even the fact that he carried a gun in his back pocket. 
He was in the kitchen, searching for the hidden door Justice had told him about.

"We weren't looking for anything." Erik assured her, his fingers still lightly stroking through Gabbi's hair. "Just you, me... and whatever we want to do." He added, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

On the stairs there was another body that Dahlia had quietly laid down as she made her way through the house. So far no one had seen her coming, which was all the better until she stopped whoever it was dared invade her home. It was as Rama discovered the hidden door that Dahlia took out another of his task force; the fallen god wasn't as protected as as was assuming.

"I miss those days. I never would have made it through my grief without you and Dahlia." Gabbi whispered, closing her eyes.

Rama's fingers tingled, he could barely breathe. It was here. There were a lot of things here like the Seeker's notebooks. But most importantly...
"Her necklace." He breathed. The one he'd stolen from Dahlia combined with the one that had belonged to his soul...

"Your grief was our fault, it should never have happened." Erik breathed, still holding Gabbi against him.

Dahlia had never been in this place before, such were the secrets her father kept from his children. "You have some nerve." Dahlia's gun was pressed firmly to the back of Rama's skull as he stood there staring at the piece of jewelry that was making her skin hum. "You attack my home, and now you think you can steal from my family?"

"I know you said it was Dahlia's fault but...how? It was a fire. That's no one's fault." Gabbi said gently, though she kept her eyes closed.

"This necklace is mine." Rama said, his hands hovering over the piece of jewellery. "In fact there are many artifacts here that belong to me."

"Funny thing about Djinn... we have a way of twisting what you wish for." He chuckled, thinking of all the beatings Rama had given him for just that reason. "Dahlia didn't know what she was doing, just that she wished you were her sister, magic did the rest."

"You lay claim to a great many things, doesn't mean they belong to you." Dahlia replied icily.

"I still don't believe in magick." Gabbi said, her words beginning to slur as she finally allowed herself to sleep. "I don't believe in anything..."

Rama's heart beat painfully in his chest. He'd heard her say those things before. Though she meant them differently than she did now. "I am taking the contents of this room, girl. Try to stop me and it will not end well for you." He hissed, his memories making him angry.

"I believe in you." Erik whispered, only once he thought her asleep as he lay still as the grave. It was a rare moment he could simply lie here with Gabbi in his arms like this.

"Oh please, try." Dahlia mocked, clearly wishing to inflict pain on the man she believed had scorned her.

A single tear slid down Gabbi's  heel but she gave no other indication she had heard anything at all. 

Rama turned quicily, grabbing her arm and yanking her up against his lean frame. "What were you going to do with that gun? Kill me?" He hissed, his lips brushing hers.

For the first time Erik simply fell into a gentle slumber. Usually he was barraged with memories of things Rama had made him do, or the painful reminder that Gabbi would never truly be with him.

"Hardly, death would be too quick for you." Dahlia breathed, closing her eyes as Rama's breath played against her red lips, reminding herself of the misery he had caused her.

When he woke, Gabbi was on the patio, her slender legs dangling off the stone. She had her head tilted back, smiling at the sun. 

"Promises, promises." Rama purred, nibbling on her full bottom lip. "You'd better stop...I already have half a mind to take you upstairs."

There was panic in Erik's eyes when he woke to find the other side of the bed cold and empty. The young man sat up, his golden eyes searching the room for Gabbi. When they rested upon the open door and the sun catching on the waves of blonde hair he relaxed. For what seemed like an infinite amount of time he simply watched Gabbi.

"You only have half a mind." Dahlia sneered, suddenly shoving Rama with enough force to send him crashing into a table that held several expensive looking artifacts.

Gabbi couldn't remember the last time she'd relaxed enough to do that. She loved the sun but she and Dahlia always seemed to work in the dark. Her best friend seemed to prefer it that way. 

Rama took a long moment to get up. He was surprised by her strength. That was new, even for a dragon lord.

"Is it more interesting out here?" Erik breathed, lowering himself down behind Gabbi so she could lean back against him.

If Dahlia's show of strength was anything to go by, the gun had never been anything more than decoration. Justice had schooled his daughter well as both his replacement, and protector of the seeker. She may not look dangerous, but the dark haired woman clearly was. "What's the matter? I thought you wanted to take me upstairs?" She mocked.

"No...but you were snoring like a freight train. I had to leave you to it." Gabbi laughed, leaning her head back against him. "You didn't used to snore."

Rama rubbed at his side, cursing this form. "I do." He said simply. "But you are not her." He didn't explain himself as he moved forward.