A/N: This is a short story based off an AU RaNdOmNeSs990 made where Akira and Zia never became the PhantomAngel. Instead of fusing and understanding each other, they began to fight over who gets to rule the earth, day or night, darkness or light. So basically... Akira is darker than in the original, he doesn't really care about others, and he refuses to believe that he has a crush on Aaron, the Angel of Darkness that joined his ranks and lives in his ceiling (though that last part isn't something he knows XD) Anyway... I hope you enjoy this Dark versus Light AU Short story! ((It's Aakiron of course ;) )) Oh, also, warning. There is a slight bit of gore. Not much, just a bit. Thought I'd warn you. Alright, continue!

The battle between light and dark never truly seemed to have a winner. Battles may be won, land might be taken or lost, but the only way to defeat the other side is to capture the source of the light or dark, and either kill them at the barrier or force them to surrender their land. This task, while seemingly simple, was a rather difficult one to accomplish. Neither the Phantom or the Angel respond well to captivity, and will use any means necessary to escape, making it difficult to have them captured for long. 

Nonetheless, traps were set on both sides by the opposing teams. In the Dark Realm, traps of gold were hidden anywhere with a ten mile radius of the border, and in the Light Realm, traps of silver in the same manner as the gold. The traps were dangerous, sometimes even lethal if triggered in a certain way. That was their purpose. There was no way to capture Zia or Akira without inflicting a serious injury to either demobilize them or make them unconscious. Understandably, the task is very rare to accomplish, so the traps are more of a nuisance than an actual threat. However...

"Come on, Darky, keep up!" Aaron taunted as she flew a couple feet in front of Akira, just out of reach. The phantom rolled his eyes, his wings working steadily.

"Not everything is a race, Aaron, why don't you take it slow for once?" He suggested, his voice void of emotion. He rolled over onto his back, laying leisurely as he continued to fly. "Besides, when I beat you, you'd complain the whole way back, making excuses about how you 'weren't actually trying.'" He taunted, his eyes closed. Aaron turned around to face him, flying backwards.

"Pretty sure you're thinking of yourself, Darky. That sounds like something you would do. You're always making excuses for why you aren't as good as me." She retorted with a smirk. Akira opened an eye and narrowed it.

"How about I cut off all your limbs, turn them into stew, then force feed them to you while you're slowly being coated in acid? Does that sound like something I would do?" He growled. Aaron chuckled.

"Nope!" She replied happily, turning back around and taking off with a gust of wind that made Akira roll around again to stay balanced in the air. He couldn't help the small smile that played at his lips as he flew after the headstrong girl. Suddenly, his eyes caught something glinting in the moonlight. It was one of the traps. And Aaron was heading straight for it.

"AARON!" Akira cried in warning. With a loud crack, Akira had caught up to Aaron, grabbed her wrist, and flung her out of the way. No sooner had he done that than two golden harpoons shot out from the trees. Akira dodged one of them, but the other caught him in the small of his back. Akira couldn't help but cry out as the harpoon impaled his stomach, pinning him to the ground.

"Akira!" Aaron gasped, getting up from where he had thrown her to the ground and running over. She was shocked to see that the Phantom was still alive. A strange black liquid that Aaron assumed was blood was seeping out from the wound on both sides, and Akira's face was contorted in agony, his eyes squeezed closed. His wings were arched, nonmoving, as if moving them would only make it worse. The Dark Prince had amazing healing properties, and that was what Aaron assumed was the reason he was still alive, but they weren't enough to heal the wound, especially since it was gold, and that he was completely impaled, pinned face down on the hard dirt. It took a lot to kill an immortal. Apparently, impalement wasn't enough, not even with gold. They didn't have long before soldiers from the Light Realm showed up to collect their catch. Not to mention Akira was slowly loosing consciousness, and he seemed to be in a lot of pain. He was most likely bleeding internally as well. 

Aaron walked forward cautiously and put a gentle hand on Akira's shoulder.

"Akira? Can you hear me?" She asked softly, her voice trembling slightly as she tried not to process what was going on. The Phantom opened one eye, which was glowing red as he struggled to try and remain conscious. His face was extremely pale, and the darkness rolling off of him was filled with fear. Not the usual fear inducing darkness, but instead his own fear. Aaron blinked, surprised. Akira, the Phantom, the Prince of Darkness himself, was scared. He was vulnerable, he was weak, he was at his lowest point. Akira was on the verge of death. And he did it all for Aaron. She set her jaw.

"I'm going to get you out of here, alright? Just hang on." She insisted. Just then, there was rustling in the trees.

"Well well well..." A voice said from the shadows. Out of the darkness came seven Guardians of Daylight, the army of the Light Realm. Each of them had a different color for their armor. They were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, and they were armed to the teeth with golden weapons.. "If it isn't the Dark Prince and his precious Metal Bird." The red soldier hissed. Aaron narrowed her eyes, standing protectively in front of Akira, who was struggling to raise his head.

"Z...Zia..." He said so quietly it wasn't audible to anyone but Aaron. The Angel of Darkness furrowed her eyebrows. Zia is here? As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Angel appeared behind the soldiers, a look of sadness in her eyes despite the fact that things were turning in her favor. Behind Zia was a girl Aaron had never seen before, even after her time in the Light Realm. The girl had long blonde hair tied up into two braids. She had dark blue eyes and fair skin, a few freckles dotted across her nose. She was wearing a gold dress with black leggings, and in her hair was a headband with the medical red cross on it. Aaron was surprised to see the girl out here, considering she looked no older than twelve. The way she hid behind Zia was almost like a scared child hiding behind her mother.

Aaron shook her head to get her thoughts back on track and glared down the soldiers in front of her.

"Hand him over, you metal witch, or we'll take him by force." The blue soldier snarled. Aaron huffed a small laugh, closing her eyes for a moment. She crossed her arms, still standing stubbornly in front of Akira. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she opened them again and she held out a hand.

"You know, they say seven is a lucky number." She told them casually. The soldiers readied their weapons, not trusting her. Aaron smirked. "Let's test that theory." Before the soldiers could even move, Aaron jumped up into the air, snapping her wings out. She summoned seven long shards of shadow glass in front of her, then pushed her wings forwards with enough force to send the shards shooting towards the seven soldiers. Four of them either dodged or knocked the shards away, but three were impaled through the skull. The little girl behind Zia shrieked slightly, burying her face in Zia's wings. The angel hugged the girl, trying to comfort her. Good, Aaron thought. The last thing she needed was Zia getting involved in the fight. The impaled soldiers glowed brightly then disappeared, leaving the shadow glass on the ground, as if they had never been human in the first place. A bit confused, Aaron dropped to the ground for some hand-to-hand combat, trying to get a better look at the soldiers. Aaron knocked a sword away with her wing then drove a blade of shadow glass into the man's chest. She looked at his face when she did this and saw that no pain registered. His face remained passive as he exploded into light. They must be fake. That's why Zia isn't concerned. She concluded as she kicked another soldier in the side of the head, knocking him onto another then driving the shadow glass through both of their chests. They too exploded into light. Aaron turned to the last soldier, who seemed completely oblivious to the deaths of his comrades. As a matter of fact, all of the soldiers looked the same, except for the color of their armor. Clones...? She wondered as she spun like a corkscrew, her wings acting like knives and decapitating the last soldier. He burst into light and Aaron turned to face Zia, her razor sharp wings raised defensively as she guarded her prince. Zia sighed and walked forward.

"Aaron, I don't want to fight you." She told her. Aaron bared her teeth.

"You're right, you don't." She snarled viciously, her eyes narrowed, blade of shadow glass appearing in her hands. The girl behind Zia was trembling with terror, her eyes locked on Akira, as if she was scared that at any moment he would jump up and rip her throat out. Which, as Aaron considered it, wouldn't be all that surprising, despite the fact that he seemed to have finally lost consciousness.

"Aaron, listen to me. This is Chance. She can heal Akira." Zia introduced the scared child, who's eyes darted to Aaron. Aaron frowned slightly, letting her arms drop, though her wings were still raised.

"Why would you do that?" She asked skeptically. Zia sighed, looking down at her feet.

"When a trap goes off, the Prism Guard appears, much like your Shadow Warriors in our realm. They are not real soldiers, they are merely there to insure that the trap wasn't set off by someone else, or that anyone around the trap isn't going to try and free him." She explained, walking past Aaron as if she wasn't there and crouching down beside Akira. Aaron stepped towards her threateningly, but didn't attack. Zia was never known to be one to manipulate or lie, but that didn't mean Aaron trusted her.

"When a trap goes off, footage of the trap going off is immediately sent to me, so I know wether it was Akira or not. If it is him, I immediately fly over. However..." She trailed off, placing a gentle hand on the golden spear. The weapon vanished, and Akira's wound was revealed for just horrible it was. Black blood was still spilling, and the edge of the wound seemed almost burned. Aaron assumed that it must have been the gold that burned him like that. Seeing Akira so hurt... Aaron was filled with a strange kind of pain, an agony she didn't understand, and that she didn't want to feel ever again. She had to look away.

Zia looked up at her sadly, understanding what she was feeling. "When I saw what had happened, how Akira sacrificed himself for you... I knew that I couldn't kill him. I couldn't let him die. Akira never does that... he never hurts himself for others. He thinks it's pointless. Yet, for some reason... He did it for you." Zia told her with a sad smile. "You're special, Aaron. I don't know what Akira's going to do in the future, and I have a feeling that when I get caught this war will be over, but... Seeing him save you like that, watching as an emotion he isn't familiar with surfaces and takes control... It gives me hope. Hope that perhaps, one day, it won't be day or night, but night and day. That maybe someday we'll see eye to eye."

Aaron let her wings relax, crossing her arms uncomfortably. She wasn't special... was she? Akira didn't really like her, he just didn't want to have to deal with her when she was wounded. That was it...right?

"Despite that," Zia continued, getting to her feet and letting Chance take her spot next to Akira, "if this happens again..." Zia's eyes flashed white, the light from her harsh, almost painful to look at. "I will take his life and free this world from his darkness, understand?" She warned. Aaron nodded quickly, caught off guard by the change in attitude. Zia's light faded back to a soft glow, her eyes back to their normal golden color, and she smiled slightly.

"Good." She said kindly. Aaron looked at Akira and Chance, wondering how the little girl was going to be able to do anything. Though Chance was trembling uncontrollably, she held her hands out over Akira's wound and a golden trail of light began to dance from her hands and to his wound. Aaron watched in shock as the wound began to heal, as if the injury was being reset, like it had never happened. The blood returned to his body, the whole in his body reversing, as if the girl was...

"Resetting the molecules." Chance explained, sounding out of breath. She timidly smiled at Aaron, having seen her shocked look. Having finished healing the wound, Chance sat back, her face beaded with sweat, her hands shaking slightly. "It's a bit tiresome, but... At least something good comes out of it." She added quietly, swaying as she stood up. She walked back over to Zia as Akira began to stir.

Just as Akira lifted his head, his eyes opening, Zia picked up a piece of shadow glass from the ground and drove it into her arm. She cried out as Akira jumped to his feet, the memory of the pain still present on his face. Zia glared at Akira and Aaron before grabbing Chance's hand and flying away. Akira furrowed his eyebrows and turned to ask Aaron what had happened when the Angel of Darkness threw her arms around him. Akira tensed, his haphephobia kicking in, but he didn't push her away.

"Never do that again, you hear me? Next time, let me get impaled!" She snapped at him, her relief outweighing her embarrassment at showing she cared. Akira blinked a few times, surprised, but then he hugged Aaron back, holding her close. 

"Next time, don't run into any traps. Then I won't have to save you." He retorted, his voice cold, despite his warm gesture. He pulled away from Aaron, his face impassive as he looked down at her, his silver eyes glinting in the moonlight. "Thank you." He added quietly, words completely void of emotion, as if he didn't know how to say what he was thinking. Aaron furrowed her eyebrows slightly.

"What?" She inquired, having never heard those words come out of his mouth. Akira huffed, turning away from her and beginning to walk back to the castle.

"You heard me." He growled, jumping into the air, his wings stirring up leaves on the ground below. He had a hand to his stomach, where the harpoon had impaled him. The wound had been healed, but it still hurt. Not as much, of course, but molecules reset or not, he had been internally scarred by the gold. It would pass in a week or two. His scars always did, for some reason. Aaron smirked and jumped into the air after him.

"Heard what? I didn't hear you say anything." She mused, flying beside him. Akira rolled his eyes.

"I'm not saying it again!" He grumbled, though he wasn't actually irritated. Though he would never admit it, he liked how stubborn Aaron was. The way she would talk back to him, how she was so free willed... Of course, at times, it got a bit annoying, he could never bring himself to be truly angry at Aaron, no matter how hard he tried.

"Aw, come on, Darky!" Aaron insisted, barrel-rolling around him. "Don't make me get you stuck in another trap." Akira chuckled a small laugh and Aaron grinned. It was quite the task to make Akira laugh, and here she was, not even trying, and the Dark Prince was not only chuckling, but actually laughing. It was a sound Aaron had never heard before. It put a smile of Aaron's face and made her laugh as well.

The two flew the rest of the way in silence, and by the time they landed back inside the throne room, Aaron figured the moment was over, and Akira wanted to be left alone. So she began to walk away without saying a word.

"Aaron." The Angel of Darkness couldn't help but flinch at the cold tone. She turned back around as if she didn't care, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Her cool demeanor vanished as quickly as the Prism Guards had when Akira grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a kiss. Aaron's face burned, her cheeks bright red. Akira pulled away with a smirk.

"I saw what you did. You're a better fighter than I give you credit for. If you weren't there, Zia would have won." He admitted. Aaron tried to act natural, crossing her arms.

"W-What was that? I didn't quite hear you." She managed to say, her eyes glinting mischievously. Akira rolled his eyes, turning around, hitting her with his wing lightly as he did so, making her step back, giggling slightly.

"Go away, Aaron, before I kiss you again." Akira threatened, sitting down on his throne. Aaron laughed, jumping into the air.

"Yeah, yeah, Darky, whatever you say." She teased before flying off. The Dark Prince smiled, his darkness lessening momentarily. In the Light Realm, Zia could feel the shift in power temporarily even out before returning to its usual Total state, and she smiled slightly. Perhaps there was hope...