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.

"This isn't me... Dad." Dahlia breathed. "I can't be the princess in the tower... even if I thought there was someone coming to save me. I need to be fighting something... Protecting someone."

"But there can be sex, right?" Erik asked, that devil may care grin returning for the first time in months.

"Then leave Rama and go do what you must. I'll make sure you get free." Justice whispered. He kissed his daughters forehead, speaking to her in that secret language they used. 

"Depends on who gets there first." Gabbi said as she put her car in gear and headed for the nearest nightclub.

"I'm so lost." Dahlia whispered. "I don't know what I want. I can't go back to Gabbi, because Rama will know where I am, no matter what now. Besides... I wont just leave you here."

Erik wasn't smiling as they arrived. He got the feeling Gabbi meant to find someone else to satisfy her itch, not him.

"You'll have to sooner or later." Justice told her. "Now that Rama has me he isn't going to let me go. And I'm no longer powerful enough to get us both free."

Gabbi grabbed a dress she had in the back seat and wiggled into it, yanking her regular clothing off and tossing it off. 
Then she stepped out, slipping into a pair of boots. Already men were cat calling for her.

"Then I can't leave." Dahlia insisted, taking hold of her father's hand and squeezing it tightly. "You're the only one who never gave up on me."

Erik could do little but smooth his dark hair down a little before stepping out the car with her. Though he wasn't nearly as well presented as his companion, he still had all female eyes upon him. Not that he noticed this, his was too busy snarling at any man who looked at Gabbi.

"You think Gabbi gave up on you?" Justice laughed. "Do you realize how hard its been to keep her away from here? I have a witch friend who's using every trick in his book to keep her from remembering and using her Seeker abilities."

Gabbi paused at a TV near the end of the bar, frowning as her mind began to prick on a news story about Japan. They were talking about a sword and how a very rich business man had just found it. It was all she could do not to turn and make a run for the car. She had to get to Japan. Now.

"No... I don't mean it like that." Dahlia insisted. "I'm glad she's not here... I don't want her getting hurt like I did."

Erik was right there beside Gabbi when she saw the news story and grabbed her by her slender arm. "Don't even try it." He breathed softly. "Going back there would mean Dahlia will only worry about you more." He added, knowing his twin.

"You know I can't keep her safe forever. Not even Nicholas can. Or Erik. Eventually Rama will find her and we will have to fight him." Justice told her softly. 

"I'm going to find my best friend, Erik." Gabbi said firmly, no longer in a partying mood. "I've let her down for long enough."

"I know." Dahlia confirmed. "I would do it gladly, to keep my sister safe." She added firmly. "I love her, even if she doesn't believe me."

"How have you let her down?" Erik asked, still holding Gabbi's arm. "She made a sacrifice so you could live free. Running back to Rama would piss all over what she did!"

"More than you love the god?" Justice asked, getting to his feet. "What would you do for him, Dahlia? That's the part that scares me."

"I can't leave her to him." Gabbi hissed. "She wouldn't do that to me. I'm going back, Erik."

Dahlia didn't know how to respond to those words. "Have I done anything so far that questions my loyalty to our family?" She asked, a hurt tone to her voice.

"You're not leaving her to him, you're keeping him away from you, and that's the most important thing." Erik breathed.

Justice didn't answer this. He got up and returned to his spot by the side of her cage. Once again he looked like he were completely enchanted. 

"What do you care? You haven't spoken to me in weeks." Gabbi snapped. "For all you care I could be as dead as my parents..." She gave a soft sigh and shook her head. "I'm sorry...I don't mean to be this way...I'm just...lonely..."

Dahlia felt worse than before her father had dared speak to her. Alone, and like a traitor who couldn't be trusted to know what was the right thing to do.

Erik let his fingers drop away from Gabbi's arm, her words far more curt than anything physical. "Yeah... And I don't understand what alone is like, huh?" He asked sadly.

Rama entered the room close to midnight. Sure she was asleep he sat down on the bed, threading his fingers through her hair. "Where have you gone, my love? Has it truly been so long that you have forgotten me?"

"If you really knew what it was like...why would you ever do it to someone else?" Gabbi whispered.

Dahlia was somewhere in between the waking and the dreamworld when she felt Rama's fingers in her hair. "Who's gone?" She murmured.

"Because I would rather they be free and safe, than trapped because of my selfish need for them." Erik replied honestly.

"My Dahlia. You have her eyes...her lips...her kiss...but I fear she is gone from me. Her soul must have finally given up on me..." Rama told her sadly. 

"Excuse me...I hate to interrupt..." A tall leggy blonde stopped almost in front of Gabbi. "But I was wondering if you'd like to dance?" She asked Erik, her fingers sliding along his chest.

"No such thing as a soul..." Dahlia murmured sleepily as she curled closer to the warmth that had dipped the bed beside her.

Erik looked down at the fingers that dared touch him, then took hold of the woman's wrist to remove them. "No thank you." He told her, the tone of his voice making it quite clear that she had chosen the wrong time to interrupt.

"I'm going to let you go." Rama's voice was hollow and broken. "When you wake you will be back in your home." He got up and stared to disappear.

"You can say that to me but not him." She purred.

Those words had an effect on Dahlia, tears dripped down her temple as she slumbered, even if she didn't remember Rama as he wished her to. Waking in her own home was about to remind how truly alone she actually was.

Erik knew better than to create a scene, and smiled at the blonde. "Sure thing, babe. Now run along and find your own pleasure... We both know you're good at that." He purred, pushing her aside to take Gabbi's hand and try and get her out of there as calmly as he could.

Rama returned to his throne and simply sat staring into the darkness. He would play bad guy tomorrow. Right now he would mourn his beloved.

The blonde grabbed Gabbi's wrist before he could reach her and jerked her backward. "You're in a lot of trouble, Djinn. No one betrays Rama or steals from him. When he chains you again you're going to wish you were just a slave."

It was still dark when Dahlia woke, the room around her feeling cold and empty compared to the gilded cage that had been her home for six months. The first thing the young woman did when she realised what Rama had done was scream and pick up anything she could find to simply hurl against the wall. She didn't see it as he did; he had simply gotten what he had wanted from her all along.

"Explain to me the difference." Erik sneered, every muscle in his body suddenly tensed and ready to do what was needed. "You do this to please him? You saw what happened to the last witch stupid enough to want him, right?"

Rama could feel her anger and heartbreak and it was eating him alive. Everything in him was telling him to go to her side, to make it better. However, he had other things to do now that the Seeker had been found. He wanted her out of the way for it. 

"Of course I want to please him. I'd be stupid not to. Rama is a fallen god. His power and his darkness..." The woman purred. She would have said more had Gabbi not stomped on her foot. 
The little blonde was glad she had picked boots to wear in that moment. Once the witch let go, Gabbi launched forward and grabbed Erik's hand. "Come on! Run!" She shouted pulling him toward the enormous crowd on the dance floor.

Thanks to Rama's actions, it wasn't just anger that Dahlia was feeling; it was hatred. She hated him for having a piece of her she could never take back now, that no one else would ever have. Right now, Justice had little to worry about when it came to who it was his daughter would fight for; she wanted Rama to hurt.

Erik didn't question Gabbi's instruction to run, it was the only time he was glad of the writhing, dancing bodies around them. The crowd was like a pulsing mass, the two of them being consumed by it as they headed for the exit.

When they returned home, Gabbi headed for her room without speaking her foster mom. She was on the phone booking a flight on the next available plane back to save her best friend. She was so wrapped up in the task she didn't even notice that that very friend was now in the room with her.

Dahlia hadn't even heard her friend come in. The dark haired woman was sat in the very corner of their room, her knees pulled up to her chest as though she were trying to make herself as small as possible. She was desperately trying to quell her angry sobs, hating that Rama had made her feel this way; weak.

"Dahlia?" Gabbi could barely breathe when she saw her best friend. She stumbled to her bed and threw her arms around her, sobbing. "I'm so sorry I didn't save you. I'm so sorry I let them hurt your family because of me..."

Dahlia's shoulders were still shaking, though she did return her friend's embrace. "It's my fault... I wasn't strong enough..." She managed to choke out.

"How did you get free?" Gabbi asked . Now that she was calm she began to check Dahlia over. "What did they do to you?"

Dahlia had calmed herself enough to let her arms drop away from Gabbi and look up at the blonde. The other woman would see her friend's eyes were red rimmed and somewhat bloodshot, but other than that the only difference was that her hair was a little longer. "He grew bored, sent me away." She whispered, not divulging what exactly had happened this past day.

"Why do I get the feeling that is what is bothering you?" Gabbi asked, getting to her feet and brushing off her dress.