Angel: Heya everyone! Yes, I know I haven't gotten up the other chapters of my stories as I promised, but here's a one-shot for you to enjoy. This is #17 in a series challenge I'm participating in.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything in here besides for my characters, Mystle and Rutham. Everything else belongs to someone else.
There was blood everywhere, coating everything in a thick layer of red. Chains rattled against the wall, shouts of angry protest. A sword was drawn, metal scraping on the scabbard. Two strokes, glinting in the light, more red splashed onto the walls. A scream slowly gurgled into nothing, and cackling started to echo off the walls.
"No one can get out, no one can stop me, they might as well all die. Cause I'll only kill them, slower than ever, it'll save it from the pain." A voice sang to the tune of "Go Eat Worms". It kept humming as it sharpened its sword, making up words as it went along.
A demon slid inside the room, ruby red eyes shining in the dark. Even Hiei had to wrinkle his nose in disgust. This one room smelled worse than the worst part of the Makai. He looked around; thinking at first there was nothing there. But then he saw movement in a far corner, and the faint tinkling of chains echoed as the young girl moved around.
Gray eyes peeked out from under brown hair, and a whimpering escaped her throat. The demon was approaching her, singing aloud again. She scooted back, pressing her back completely against the sticky wall. "Please, p-please don't hurt me," She whimpered, ducking her head down.
Hiei's lip curled, she looked pathetic like that. Why didn't she fight back against the demon? That was when he saw the injuries; the strips of missing skin, the inch deep cuts, and her tail which was broken in two places. Festering, all of it into big red angry wounds.
She was chained hand and foot, the chains connected to the wall. So that was why she didn't retaliate, she had no way and no will. He spotted the demon holding the sword to the flesh on her arm. Pulling it back, the red liquid flowed freely down her grit covered skin.
Hiei frowned, but she uttered no sound of pain. She only shut her eyes and he could see her teeth digging into her bottom lip. As soon as the demon disappeared she opened her eyes, looking down at her wound. The fire demon was startled to notice there were no tears in her eyes. They were dry and filled only with regret. She dropped her head to her knees and started to hum in a shaky tone.
He raised an eyebrow and stayed in the shadows as her humming turned to soft singing.
"Stay low / soft, dark and dreamless / far beneath my nightmares and loneliness / and hat me, for breathing without you / I don't want to feel anymore for you / grieving for you / I'm not grieving for you / nothing real love can't undo / and though I may have lost my way / all paths lead straight to you / I long to be like you / lie cold in the ground like y-"
She cried sharply as a knife dug into her arm.
"Sssussshh now, Myssstle deary. The othersss are trying to sssleep." The demon from before purred.
"What others, Rutham?" She whispered, pulling the knife from the wound. "You killed them all and you won't even let their spirits free." She somehow pushed herself to her feet, her legs quivering from their lack of use in however long since she'd been here.
The demon growled and grabbed her by the neck, breaking the chains that held her so tightly. "Hussshh or I will dessstroy you."
"Do it then you bastard!" She choked out, still no tears or fear showing in her eyes. "Kill me like you killed everyone else!"
His eyes widened, never had the fire demon thought that the girl had a will and just wasn't using it. He watched as the demon pinned her against the wall, hissing and sputtering things in a language he didn't understand. AS it pulled out it's sword to kill her, he moved, pulling his katana from its case and blocking the attack. The ringing of metal against metal echoes for about a minute before getting absorbed into the blood painted walls.
The demon screeched at him and broke the block, dropping the girl to the ground and lunging at him. He back stepped and then moved behind the demon, going to stab it but his sword wouldn't pierce the skin. Rutham cackled and brushed the attack away. "Sssilly Forbidden. My ssskin cannot be broken by common metal," It said.
Hiei looked stunned and he growled, blocking the attacks the demon threw at him. Unless he actually used his abilities there was no way he could kill it. He pushed an attack back and parried it, slamming his elbow into the demon's throat and leaving it gasping for breath. He knocked the sword away from it and kicked it away.
"Foolissshh thing to do, sssmall one," It hissed and then the fire demon found himself dangling above the ground. Suddenly it gurgled and pitched forward, and Hiei wiggled loose and moved to the side just as it fell. Sticking out of its back was its own sword, and standing there was the girl with no expression.
Just as he was starting to stand up, she turned and shoved him down hurriedly. She was starting to go down when the body exploded, the force causing him to slide and her to fly. He could hear the walls crumbling and he coughed, waiting for the dust to clear. When it did he stared at what had become of the dungeon.
It wasn't there… it had literally been obliterated. He turned, looking for the girl. He spotted her against what was left of the wall, a gaping hole in her stomach and a chunk missing from her left leg. Even as she was dying she was still smiling, and her noticed then the four spirits that were hovering around her.
She was whispering something to them, and they were all shaking their heads. He heard a voice next to his ear. "Take care of her, Forbidden. Take care of my daughter. Make sure she lives."
The fire demon spun around to see who had spoken to him, and saw no one. Turning around again, he saw the girl pitch forward and he moved just fast enough to catch her. He frowned slightly and shook her (literally) out of her half asleep state. "Onna, stay awake. You sleep now, you're not waking back up," He said harshly.
He raised his eyebrows as she laughed weakly. "Not waking up sounds nice though. No more worry, no more pain…" She trailed off and her eyes closed again.
He growled and pulled out the communicator. As Koenma picked up he glared at the toddler. "If you want your little project demon to survive, I suggest you get us the hell out of here."
There was silence on the other end, and then a portal appeared in front of them. He lifted her up and walked through, breathing though his mouth. He didn't want to smell the blood, though tasting it wasn't much better. He wrinkled his nose and then they were through and the girl was taken from him, whisked away to the infirmary.
"Hiei…"
He turned to the voice and just looked at the fox.
"You might want to wash up. You're covered in blood head to foot."
Hiei snorted and shook his head. "It's hard no tot be, fox. That entire room was painted with blood."
"No, Hiei, that's not what I meant. You're covered in the girl's blood," Kurama said with a sympathetic look towards the hospital doors.
He looked down at himself and his chest tightened, then he sneered slightly. Before Kurama had turned back around he was gone, going to his room. He suddenly felt unclean, like having her blood on him was wrong.
He disappeared into the bathroom, peeling of his shirt and dropping it on the floor. His shirt had been soaked through, and he could tell that most of it was the girl's.
Mystle's…
He growled and looked at his chest, splashed in red. He snarled and started the water of the shower. As he climbed in and let the water rain down on him, he closed his eyes.
Why was he chosen to keep her alive? Was it because he had been the only one there? Or was it for some unknown reason?
He growled and slammed his fist against the wall. There were so many damn questions rattling around in his mind and no answers.
Unbidden his mind went back to the hell hole the woman had been held in, to when the explosion had gone off. He could see now, the girl flying back, a spike slamming into her stomach. Copper smelling red liquid pouring from the wound as she pulled it out, and then falling back against the wall.
He could feel his chest contract and he slid down the shower wall.
All he could see in his mind was blood…
Gallons and quarts of blood…
And all of it coming out of those he considered part of his pack… and the new girl.
Blood, lifeless eyes…
And unending silent screams.
A/N: This probably isn't as good as I thought it would be T-T But I wanted feedback on it besides from my friends xD