The Dragon's Vessel

"You did this to yourself. You got someone killed and tried to hide the fact." Benkei stated. "You were a danger to everyone around you,"

Matt gripped the sides of his head. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" He screamed repeatedly, breathing heavily.

"Stand down Matt, it doesn't have to end with one of us dead. Let's talk this out," Benkei tried to reason but Ryujin knew Matt wasn’t going to listen, he was having a mental breakdown and doubted anything could get through to him in this state.

Matt stood frozen for a second before sprinting over and swiping his gun up in the process of ducking behind a large beam.

Benkei fired off his arrow, aiming to down Matt but not kill him however Matt managed to duck behind the steel beam in time. Benkei watched Matt’s arm appear, gun out as he fired off two shots toward Benkei without even caring to actually see where he was aiming and Benkei took the opportunity to duck for cover. Ryujin moved to stand on the sidelines, his back against the wall and his posture tense.

“I’ll take away everything from you! Your diner was the first to go, I would have loved to have killed your sister as you arrived but nevermind, I’ll kill you and hand her your dead body before I end her miserable life too!"

Benkei’s mind reeled with all the information Matt was giving him, so he had started the fire, but he didn’t know the damage had been minimized. "You've lost your damn mind Matt," Benkei shouted over the silence of the warehouse. Matt wasn’t the only one that could talk shit. “You think your words have any effect on me? You won’t ever lay a hand on my sister again.” As Benkei spoke all the lights switched on suddenly, forcing Benkei to remove his night-vision goggles quickly.

"I've been preparing for this for a long time!" Matt emerged from behind the beam he had been hiding behind wielding a massive light machine gun. "You can run but you can't hide Benny boy," Matt cooed, a sadistic grin on his face.

Ryujin shifted uncomfortably, that type of weapon even made him jittery, was Benkei going to be okay? Maybe he should step in and take care of this? No, this was Benkei’s fight.


Meanwhile, Natsu arrived at Benkei’s jeep and set Elizabeth down against it before trying to open it, "locked, shit I didn’t grab his keys." Natsu realized, not having thought about the fact that Benkei would lock his vehicle in haste. Natsu turned to look at the now lit warehouse, not hearing any noise coming from it. He turned his attention back to Elizabeth, crouching to check her over for any serious wounds. "Wendy will be able to heal these," he stated but frowned, he couldn’t tell if she had any serious internal wounds and grew worried.

“Heal?” Elizabeth replied in surprise, “she can take away all this pain I feel?”

Natsu grimaced, “only minor injuries, sorry.” He apologized.

Elizabeth smiled but winced as it stretched her split lip, “that’s still amazing,” she whispered, feeling tired.



Back inside the warehouse, shit began to set off as the gun Matt had begun to spin into life. Bullets began to fly everywhere as Matt had no clue where Benkei was, so sprayed the area with ammo. Benkei flinched at bullets ricocheted around him, deciding to ditch the bow Benkei pulled out one of his own guns from its holster. He checked the bullets before he prepared himself, taking a deep breath he pulled a flash grenade out from his belt pocket, readying himself for an opening.

The hail of bullets slowed to a stop, "come out, come out wherever you are Benny boy!" Matt called, letting his guard down at the thought that he may have gotten Benkei during the chaos.

Seeing his opportunity Benkei pulled the pin on the grenade before throwing it over his cover and as the flash went off he heard Matt cry out in pain. Benkei pushed himself away from his cover and fired off several shots in Matt's direction aiming for his arms. Two rounds missed but the last one hit its mark and the large gun clanged against the concrete as Benkei dived behind another set of covers.



Back outside Natsu tensed and Elizabeth whimpered, both hearing the spitfire of some type of heavy impact gun. “It’s going to be okay,” Natsu muttered, taking Elizabeth’s hand and giving it a squeeze. By now he was sitting beside her, they were both leaning against the jeep, Elizabeth was against the furthest tire out of sight. She didn’t reply to Natsu, instead leaning her head against his shoulder, burying her face against him.

Natsu watched his arms transform back into their human form and sighed. "And I thought only my family had a crazy lifestyle." He tried to ease the tension with a lame joke.

Elizabeth managed a painful smile, "I'll tell you about mine sometime. Though we aren't dragons." She teased.



"One last chance Matt!" Benkei shouted, "don't make me do this!"

Matt cackled in reply, ignoring the pain of the bullet wound in his arm. "You were never strong enough to make these kinds of harsh calls. You are and always will be soft!" He taunted, trying to figure out where Benkei was hiding. He struggled to pick up the gun but somehow managed to lift it just high enough to lean it across a crate.

Benkei grit his teeth as he spotted Ryujin who had ducked behind his own cover when all those shots were going off. "I’ll do whatever it takes to win!" He shouted as he went to fire his gun only to find he had expended his ammo and given away his cover by popping out. His face dropped as fear began to take over. "Fuck.. Fuck!" He ducked back down and looked to Ryujin "Can you get the gun away from him?" Benkei asked, receiving a firm nod from Ryujin who stood to his full height. "Look, let's just end this between us okay? No more guns. No more tricks." Benkei yelled, distracting Matt as Ryujin raced past and took away Matt’s machine gun.

By the time Matt realized his machine gun was gone Benkei emerged holding his own gun directly at him. “Here’s what’s going to happen, you’re going to surrender, I’m going to call the cops and you’re going to get the help you clearly need,” Benkei ordered.

“As if!” Matt roared at Benkei’s audacity. Pulling out a second concealed gun and firing at Benkei’s chest. Benkei was thrown back, gasping for air as Matt pulled the gun back to face himself and firing.

“No!” Ryujin yelled as Matt collapsed dead. He turned and grabbed Benkei, hoisting him up and leaving the building to get him help.