It was an unreal feeling altogether to stand there facing his best friend; Maxim's face was warped and his eyes were just not Maxim, and Juste knew this was not him. This was another side of his friend, one that Dracula's evil spirit controlled.

Maxim grinned, his weapon drawn. Juste wasn't sure if he was going to attack or not, but while he had raised his own weapon in defense, and he was as prepared as he just could be in case the evil side of Maxim decided to attack him. Not Maxim, not real. Juste cursed in his mind, but he couldn't bring himself to attack the man before him.

If I die now, your dear friend will perish with me!

Juste gritted his teeth, realizing the truth in the evil man's words. Death had told him the castle wasn't complete. He had tried to pay attention to the surroundings and had, after learning about it, quickly noticed which castle was which, but what if he attacked the evil side of Maxim here? The real Maxim was sure to feel it as well, suffer and possibly die. This Maxim wasn't real and Juste felt anger from all that this version had done, but still, he couldn't do it.

"Can't do it, can you, Belmont?" Maxim laughed as he stepped closer, swinging his blade through the air threateningly. Juste stepped back and glared at the man.

"I don't want to fight you," the silver-haired man replied, keeping his gaze locked on the other man in case of more attacks. "I don't know where Lydie is any more than you do, so you can just leave. You'll accomplish nothing by attacking me, and I'm not going to fight you. Leave!"

Maxim chuckled and jumped closer all of a sudden, bringing his blade down at Juste, but the Belmont successor knelt down and managed to slide out of the way of the attack. "Stop it, you devil!" Juste yelled at what looked exactly like his best friend. Looked like; yes, that was all there is. The aura, the expression, just the way this man was... It was not Maxim, and Juste prayed there was a way this side of the man could be destroyed.

The dark-haired man laughed again. "I have no need for you," he hissed, jumping towards Juste again. "You are a minor obstacle that keeps this idiot's memories from returning. If I killed you, things around here could get a lot easier... Yes, indeed." He went for another attack, and Juste dodged then blocked.

"Stop this!" Juste pleaded again, wishing there was a way, any way. He couldn't fight back, since fighting back would hurt Maxim. "We both don't have time for this."

"True, so in that case, let's finish it quickly!" Maxim attacked again, this time succeeding in cutting Juste's hand slightly as the Vampire Hunter blocked the hit. "Since you will not strike back, why don't you just stay still and let me finish?"

Juste glared angrily at his opponent, but he retreated again and tired to ignore his wound. He could have cast a spell or hit at Maxim with his whip, and it might have bought him enough time to escape the area and perhaps hide somewhere else in the Sky Walkway area until this evil side of Maxim would give up and leave. He concentrated and could have summoned an ice spell right then - but he suddenly remembered real Maxim's condition, how weak and wounded the man was. Maxim was somewhere around the other side of the castle, and what if the attack came on the wrong moment, right when Maxim was fighting his way through the castle, to find Lydie?

He shook his head. "No. You will not take neither Maxim nor Lydie, and you won't kill me either," he answered. "If I died, the real Maxim would be saddened. How do you think you could find anything then?"

"Hmpth..." The evil Maxim moved in for an attack again. Juste evaded but found himself backed against the wall. Maxim smirked and brought his sword at the silver-haired man, pushing Juste against the wall. The Vampire Hunter raised the whip in-between them, barely blocking the other man's sword.

"Why do you think I won't kill you?" Maxim asked, staring directly into Juste's eyes as he forcefully held the man there, locked against the wall. "It's not like he could find out about it if you die in this side of the castle."

Juste tried to push the man away, but he could barely manage to hold the whip there, to keep Maxim from cutting his throat. He had to do something, and he could still have used his spell, but while this wasn't Maxim it still was him, and Juste would have rather died than hurt his friend.

"Maxim," he mumbled. "Stop it. Stop... You told me earlier that you'll learn where Lydie is once Maxim gets his memories back. Won't that mean that he would know it if you did something to me?"

The dark Maxim frowned, his face twisting in anger. "Bah, he might, but it's too late for him. He's too confused to notice it was anything like that! He wouldn't realize it until it's too late and I have retrieved that girl."

Juste caught the slight hesitation in the man's voice. He smiled and lowered his whip slowly, and while Maxim pressed the sharp blade against his neck now, the dark-haired man couldn't seem to go thought with the move. Maxim still glared at him, but Juste raised his hand and grabbed the dark hair, pulling the man closer and kissing him.

It was a short kiss, and their lips barely touched. However, it did its purpose and caused Maxim to pull away, swearing aloud. "What do you hope to accomplish, fool?" The man snarled. "Fine, if I can't kill you... My servants can!"

Maxim fled the room, leaving Juste to catch his breath only for a second as he noticed that as strange shadow monster appeared, floating in the room. He prepared himself for the battle, silently hoping that Maxim was safe for now, and he would find a way to destroy the dark side of him.

As the battle commenced, Juste prayed that freeing his friend would not mean that he would have to fight Maxim.

Author's notes:

So I would've had a month to write something for the CV Fanfic LJ community challenge thing. So I actually started something but was unable to finish it. So I came up with this idea and wrote it the night the challenge was closing! Procrastination for the win!

That, and the Internet needs more Harmony of Dissonance fics.

- Lady Harken (July, 2006)