Book One- Dusk
Chapter 1: Sunset
Author's Note: I tried to make this reading experience as much like an actual anime as possible, so I added a theme after the first scene, and if you click on the URL below, I created a Youtube channel for created playlists to listen to while reading the story.
URL: playlist?list=PLuGNX60xWXIyITGsL8Ek5XcHIIZRZNeaC&feature=mh_lolz
The sky was a sickly yellow shade, and the warm, sticky summer air reflected the dankness that the sky cast over Mithril headquarters. The damage from Acheron's assault added to the depressing may air, dust from the rubble stirred by gentle gusts of wind that brushed Tessa's hair into her eyes.
Walking across the quiet eerie runway, Tessa could see the remaining Mithril agents who had volunteered to stay at the dilapidated base digging graves for their fallen comrades. Even from the runway, their pale, gaunt faces haunted not only by the stench of death and despair that clung to the corpses of their closest friends, but by the sense of utter defeat that accompanied a devastating pyrrhic victory.
Tessa's feet seemed to drag slowly towards the gravediggers as they toiled with the harsh sun shining down with a biting heat. As she got nearer, Tessa could see that the corpses had been lined up, their lifeless eyes staring up at the clammy sky.
Even as Tessa reached the first of the bodies, she could already feel the numbness seep into her bodies as she realized how accustomed she had become to seeing dead bodies over the last months, but how each one still haunted her.
Another gust of sticky air brushed her hair into her eyes as she stood in front of the body whose face would haunt her nightmares most of all. His once bright eyes were closed gently, and the peaceful smile still etched across his face made him look as if he were only sleeping. Despite herself, Tessa felt the tears flow to her eyes and she clenched her hands over her eyes to staunch the fall, but in the end all she could do was stand over the corpse and let her grief-ridden tears fall as the shovels of the gravediggers beat the damp earth with methodical rhythm.
Habataitara modorenai to itte
Mezashita no wa aoi aoi ano sora
Kanashimi wa mada oboerarezu
Setsunasa wa ima tsukami hajimeta
Anata e to idaku kono kanjou mo
Ima kotoba ni kawatteku
Michi naru sekai no yume kara mezamete
Kono hane wo hiroge tobi datsu
Habataitara modorenai to itte
Mezashita no wa aoi aoi ano sora
Tsuki nuketara mitsukaru to shitte
Furikiru hodo
Aoi aoi ano sora
Aoi aoi ano sora
Aoi aoi ano sora
"Jasce Hower…" Inui read aloud softly as he looked at the file in his hands, his long thin fingers unconsciously caressing the smooth cream folder as his attentive electric blue eyes flitted across the page, studying every word carefully.
Inui had never been one to ignore any minute details that might serve him in the future, and this time was no exception; no flaw or valuable scrap of information escaped his stark gaze. As he read further down the page, his thin lips twisted into a harsh smile as he read the last of the finely printed, uniform paragraphs before setting the file down on his desk. As his mind casually calculated a plan, Inui coolly thought over his subject's last failed target, and his smile curled into a feral snarl. Inui breathed slowly and leaned back in his chair, his eyes burned with a cool glare as he glanced back at the photo once more.
"How ironic… I suppose this will be an opportunity for him to amend that failure…"
Inui sneered softly as his pale hand moved across the flawlessly transparent desk onto the black phone, and as he pressed the button the line crackled to life.
"Approved, Phase Nightfall is a go…"
It felt almost surreal, almost illogical to think that he could be sitting in the calm halcyon of the classroom. Nearly even unnatural to realize that there was no constant danger lurking at every corner, and that now his greatest worry was not the safety of those who had become almost like a family to him, but whether he had done his homework for that day.
Sousuke momentarily allowed himself to slump onto his elbow, his soldier's will cracking as the length of the teacher's lecture began to take its toll on him. As his eyes flitted around the classroom, hoping that some little detail would catch his observant eye and provide the momentary distraction from the dullness and safety of a normal life, Sousuke's mind involuntarily slipped into ponderous thought.
"I am from Jindai Tokyo Municipal High School Class 2-4"
Repeating the speech that he had given to Gates before destroying him with his newly mastered Lambda Driver had been the moment of clarity Sousuke had been searching tirelessly for. For so long he had been trying to find out who he was, and when he had finally admitted to himself that Mithril did not matter to him, he had felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
"My student number is 41"
Even though he had finally come to terms with his oldest enemy and cast away his old life as Kashim, the orphan from the war-torn desert, a tiny part of him still longed to relapse into the safety of never being truly safe. The harder he fought to shut out the tiny part of him that wanted that, the more he realized that no matter how hard he struggled, he would always be torn between the two halves of his life.
"I am in charge of the garbage and the umbrellas"
Despite having renounced Mithril as a part of his identity, Sousuke still felt the familiar longing to feel the pressure of holding the fates of others in his hands, or to know that danger lurked around the corner because in truth, that was all he had ever known.
Sousuke shook his head vigorously, dispelling the troubling worries that clouded his mind. From that point on, Sousuke decided, he was student 41 from Jindai Municipal High School who was in charge of the garbage and the umbrellas, and that even though a small part of him longed for that, he would not allow it to drag him back into that world.
He didn't realize how wrong he was.
The soft rays of the fading sun fell upon the sidewalk, casting a gentle orange light on the lone pedestrian with long black hair as she made her way down the street.
Ayako sighed as she glanced at her watch, dreading the moment she arrived at home. To Ayako's relief, nobody at the school knew what went on inside her home, and despite all of her efforts to conceal it, her friends and her teachers had begun to ask questions.
As Ayako's mind began to wander, she noticed a foreign man pouring over a rumpled map, while a woman played with a small toddler, chasing the boy around the lamppost.
"He must be visiting with his family…" Ayako thought with a small smile as she watched the toddler squeal as his mother scooped him up; she couldn't remember the last time her family had had fun together, let alone travel with each other.
""Hey, uh… Miss?"
Ayako's thoughts were interrupted, and she looked up, slightly surprised as she saw the man with the map jogging over to her.
"Yes? Do you need something?" Ayako said putting on a bright smile as the man held out the map for her to see.
"Well… I was wondering if you might be able to point me in the direction of the… Shee-boo-ha district? I mean, she doesn't know this place either." The man said with a wide grin as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the woman who was trying to contain the squirming child as she rummaged in her purse.
Ayako smiled again, and pointed at the map.
"Alright, this is were you are now…" Ayako said, moving her finger across the map." And this is the Shibuya district."
"Ohh, I see… Damn it, how'd I manage to get all the way over here?" The man said hitting himself gently on the forehead.
"It's a big city, even I get lost here sometimes." Ayako said with a friendly laugh.
As the man pulled a sharpie out of his pocket, and began to circle the two spots Ayako had pointed to, Ayako began to walk away slowly.
"Wait! Um, sorry… But do you think you could show us to the nearest subway station? II don't think the little guy'll be able to manage walking that far." The man said with an apologetic smile as he nodded his head towards the toddler who was now screaming as his mother tried to push a pacifier into his mouth.
Ayako glanced at her watch, and then looked back at the man.
"I can't really just expect them to find it on their own, I mean the guy got lost with a map." Ayako thought, glancing at her watch again.
Not wanting to get home just yet, Ayako nodded and began to walk towards the station she had just gotten off of on her way home from school. The man motioned to the woman with the toddler, who didn't look up, but grasped the toddler's hand and walked along the sidewalk after Ayako and the man.
The first sign that something was wrong came to Ayako when the woman's phone rang.
"Hey sweetie!... No, I'm just bringing him now…" The woman said lightly with a laugh.
"Maybe they're visiting a sister or something…" Ayako thought with a frown, glancing back at the man who was smiling widely.
Ayako turned back to look at the woman, and a jolt of surprise hit her as she saw the woman turn onto a different street, the toddler in tow. Ayako felt a wave of fear crash over her, and tried to reason with herself.
"Wait… Isn't that your wife…?" Ayako asked nervously, dreading the answer.
"Hmm? Oh, no I've never met her…" The man said brightly." I guess, I'm being rude, you've gone through all of this trouble and we haven't introduced ourselves."
Ayako's insides began to squirm as she looked into the man's cheerful face, wishing for any sort of distraction to get herself out of this predicament.
"I- I'm Ayako Nakamura…" Ayako said, her voice faltering as her insides turned to ice in the cheerful gaze of the man.
"Jasce Hower."
Even the man's name sent chills through Ayako, who looked desperately for the station, hoping she could extract herself from having to be with the man another second.
"So I'm guessing you're a student? Where do you go to school? To be honest, I didn't think there were many good schools in Tokyo, but you seem pretty sharp for your age." Jasce said pleasantly, but as Ayako met his gaze, she saw a dark hunger there that sent a fresh wave of chills down her spine.
"Uhh, Jindai High…" Ayako said, her stomach turning knots as she felt the man pat her on the back.
As the two turned a corner, Ayako looked frantically for the station and when her desperate gaze finally found the flickering sign, she felt the fear dissipate.
"Oh, there's the station! I guess I should-" Ayako began, her relief spilling out of her hysterically.
"Actually, I was hoping I might get a chance to repay you," Jasce said coolly, cutting Ayako off." Maybe you could come to dinner with me? I've heard about a bunch of great Ramen places…"
Ayako was beginning to feel frantic and she abruptly stopped, shrugging the man's hand off of her back.
"No, it's actually getting late, my father will be getting worried, but maybe I'll see you later." Ayako said, tears coming to her eyes as she turned to jog away.
"I hope not…" Ayako said, already wondering what she would tell her friends the next day when she felt an iron grip on her forearm.
Her panicked eyes met the bracken eyes of Jasce Hower, and as the scream rose to her mouth, she felt the rough palm forced over her mouth. She tried to struggle, she tired to bite him but the man would not let go. She felt her body go limp, and she began to sob uncontrollably.
As Jasce dragged her out of the fading light of the dusk, she forced his hand off of her mouth and managed one last scream before the light faded from her eyes.
Author's note 2:
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review or follow, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I should probably explain the formatting of the book: The whole book will be split into three volumes, the first (this one) is "Dusk", the second is "Night", and the third is "Dawn". The full details should be on my profile if you would like more info, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Akuma out