Chapter 3:
Valkenhayn and Ragna sits inside the manor in Rachel's lounge. Ragna informs Valkenhayn exactly what took place inside of her room and what happened with Hazama. Valkenhayn, someone who is usually calm and collected, felt himself about to lose himself in rage over Hazama's action. It was very rare to see Valkenhayn of all people change from his usual calm, cool and collected tone. He was always calm no matter what. Well at least calm about everything except when it came to Rachel and her safety. Once she's in danger, all that calmness he had is thrown right out the window.
Once he heard what Hazama did to Rachel, Ragna thought he was about to jump into the boundary and find exactly where he went. Now Hazama was back at it again and this time Valkenhayn could finally get his claws on him. "So that's all that happened between me and the rabbit."
"I see… That is strange of her. Madam Rachel, whatever the case may be, she would not lose her temper so easily. So that hypothesis you have may be right. However something still does not make sense about this." Valkenhayn puts two fingers on his chin and began to stroke his beard. "Madam Rachel should have taken notice of this. To have Hazama do this to her without resistance and not even tell me… I question if she was being controlled the whole time or did Madam Rachel expect this and hatched a plan. Ragna, did she do anything or say anything that may give you a hint?"
"I don't really know… I don't think so at least…" Ragna began to think back to their argument, doing his best to analyze every and any detail that might give him something. He felt like his brain on fire as Valkenhayn could've sworn he could see some smoke coming from his ears. The sheer amount of strain on his face made Valkenhayn shake his head.
"Anything yet boy?" the old butler asks.
"Yeah… I think I might actually have something. Though I don't really know if their worth mentioning." Ragna says with uncertainty.
"Anything will do. If you can not find logic in it I might. You are not the sharpest one."
"Really?" Ragna says in awe and agitation. "You really wanna do this shit now? Now of all times?" Ragna was about to retort, but decided to let the comment slide as there was something more important to worry about. "Ok… It was how Rachel was talking to me before we starting arguing. Just thinking about her tone… It was almost as if when she told me to let her go…she was worried. Then she shot me this odd glare before I left.
"What about it?" Valkenhayn questioned.
"Well at first I thought she was just pissed off at me for the shit I said, but after calming down and thinking back it was like she was giving me a warning. Maybe she knew what was going on, but whatever Hazama was doing it was too late for her to stop it at the time."
"Is that it hm? I do not see anything wrong with that assumption, however small it may be. But that could just be a gut feeling you have. Though there really is nothing to go off of, given that I was not present when it occurred." Valkenhayn saw Ragna's troubled expression and asks. "Boy. Is there something you have in mind?"
"There is…" Ragna sighs. "But you aren't gonna like it… And neither do I." the butler gives him a confused expression, Ragna deciding it would be best to continue and explain himself better. "The mind eater curse that the rabbit is under is something that's been developing for what I can guess the last three months. It sucks…but we may have to shock her out of it."
"Shock her out of it? What do you mean?" Valkenhayn asks.
"The mind eater curse… It pushes the will of the caster onto the recipient. But the rabbit is strong. I doubt her will is gone. We need to wake it up…anyway possible. I think you know what I'm saying."
It didn't take Valkenhayn too long to figure it out. He slams his hand on the table. "I shall not do that! I will never dream of laying a hand on Madam Rachel!"
"We're on the same page, but what the hell else do you expect we do!? We can't just take her away from Hazama since with the mind eater activated her eyes are his eyes! It sucks, but we might have no choice!" Valkenhayn just stares at him and sees that he was hurting just as much or maybe even more then he was. It's not something he would do either. Ragna and Rachel have fought before, but never to an extent like this. He wouldn't actually dare to hurt her, but this time he's the one suggesting it.
With a sigh Valkenhayn begins to calm down. "Ok… But do you believe there is another way?"
"No. If there was another way I would've used it, but there's not. Old man… You don't need to do it. Just go for Hazama, but we have to do it separately. If we both go in there at once he'll just hold her hostage again and he's not afraid to hurt her. You know that as well as I do."
"Very well." They heard the door start to creak and looks to the door to see Nago and Gii come into the room. The two familiars go over to the two. "We want to come with you guys." Gii says.
"No. Just stay here. It doesn't make sense for you two to come." Valkenhayn says.
"It does. We want to know that our princess is safe." Nago says. "We couldn't help her before when she needed it and now I think it's time we did."
"Yeah!" Gii agrees.
The two stare up at them. Ragna looked into their eyes, their gazes were strong and had a burning fire behind them. He didn't have the heart to say no to that look. "Alright… But your gonna help the old man take care of Hazama. I'm gonna go for Rachel on my own. I've got a way to shock her out of it, but I need to be as close to a cauldron as possible. And I need to ask a certain someone for a favor…"
"Someone?" Valkenhayn questions.
"Don't worry about it. Enough talk. Let's go get her back and kick Hazama's ass." He slams his fist against his palm. "He's gonna have hell to pay for daring to lay a fucking hand on her."
"He shall. Dearly. But Ragna I must ask you, who do you plan on asking for assistance?"
Ragna takes a long sigh. "Well one of them I don't really mind. The other one…makes my fucking skin crawl, but if it'll help get the rabbit back then I'll do it. Come on. We're taking a trip to Yabiko."
"Alright then Hibiki! Time for you to run a few errands for me." Kagura hands Hibiki a mountain of documents. Hibiki takes them and looks them over. His eyes scan the documents as he asks curiously. "So what do I do with these Lord Kagura?"
"All of these go to each of the representative houses. I know Jinny might hate it, but I need him to sign these. So just try your best with him." Hibiki bows and walks out. Kagura walks over to his desk and plops himself down on his seat. He leans back on the chair and groans. "So much work… Damn it all." Kagura was at his limit, all the work being piled up more and more since the activity in the NOL has picked up and finally for a good thing. Ikaruga is being rebuilt on orders from Homura and it's been going smoothly as the NOL and the Ikaruga ninjas worked together. Kagura stretches his arms up and yawns. "Talk about work… Nothing but work, work, work. Damn it I need a vacation."
"So I guess nothing really changes here." Kagura heard someone say as a portal opens up in the middle of his room. He stands up and looks to see Ragna and Valkenhayn walk out. With a smirk Kagura walks up to Ragna and chuckles. "And look who finally decided to get their ass out of bed."
"And look who finally decided to put down the booze and be sober for more then five minutes. I guess anything really is possible now."
"Smartass…" Kagura looks to Valkenhayn and gives him a friendly wave. "Hey there Valkenhayn. Haven't seen you in a good while now."
"Yes it has been sometime." Valkenhayn bows. He lifts his head back up as his expression turns a bit more stern. "However…we regret to inform you that we have not come her to catch up. Something happened."
"Something happened? What is it?"
With a sigh Ragna began to explain the situation to him, leaving out no details. Kagura rubs his temples and with a heavy sigh he says. "So you just need access to Kagutsuchi?"
"Yeah. The old man and I can take care of the rest. But, can you get a line to Kokonoe? I need to ask her a favor."
"I can, but what do you need to ask her?" Kagura asks.
Ragna looks at his right arm and says. "It's about the Grimoire. I need to ask her a few questions, but I can't go into specifics now. The more time I waste the more likely Hazama is hurting the rabbit." Kagura saw the sheer amount of guilt and worry in his eyes and asked no more questions and just gives a nod. "I can, but it could take some time. For now I think you should rest a little man… You look exhausted." Ragna didn't say no to the offer as he was right. He wasn't really in the mood to go back to the mansion. To him it didn't really feel the same. "I'll take you up on that… I am kinda exhausted from all this. You got a room where none of these NOL bastards will see me?"
"You can just go there." Kagura points the door at the side of his room. Ragna scratches his head and began to think. If memory served him, while Kokonoe was here she turned that room into a large ass elevator. Kagura saw his expression and sighs. "I know, but I'm not talking about the room. Just sleep in the lab. It hasn't gone anywhere, so just pick a spot and relax. Sorry for the poor luxury."
"It's all good. I'm used to shit like that so it doesn't bother me." Ragna let's out an exhausted breath. "I think anywhere will do." He made his way to the door and puts his hand on the doorknob. He doesn't turn it and stops in his tracks. "Hey, Kagura."
"Yeah?"
"Sorry for the trouble. I didn't mean to barge in on you like this." Kagura jumped a bit from his sudden change in tone. He didn't know what it was, but the sound of his voice was like a soft note on a flute. It was low and calm, yet sad and filled with melancholy. Kagura couldn't help, but feel bad for the poor guy. He just finished going through his first round of hell, just to come back to it again. "No problem… Glad I could help. I mean I do owe you big time for putting that bastard Terumi in his place and practically saving the world."
"Saving the world huh…?" he grips the doorknob tightly. "Saved the world…but I can't protect one woman..."
"Don't worry it's gonna be fine Ragna. We'll get her back from him. I'll call you the minute I get the ok from Kokonoe." Kagura reassures.
"Kagura."
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." He walks through the door and leaves Kagura and Valkenhayn's sight. They could hear the elevator starting to move and finally stop, signaling he reached his destination. Kagura leaned on his desk and let out a sigh. "Damn… And I thought the rebuilding of Ikaruga was hard enough… Shit that guy has some godawful luck."
"That he does." Valkenhayn says.
"Though… Losing her is really getting under his skin. I don't think I've seen him like that, even with his own family. It's weird to see him like this… Almost uncomfortable."
"Yes… It is quite unsettling indeed. I just pray that we can rescue madam Rachel from that bastard. When I see him I'm going to rip his throat out for even DARING to lay so much as a finger on her." Kagura heard the pure amount of malice coming from the butler. He knew messing with the old man was a bad move, but doing anything to Rachel, now that's a death wish.
"Guess I better get my ass moving… I'd rather have Rachel back here as quickly as possible. That beautiful women should not be in the hands of that hipster."
"Again… You never cease to amaze me Lord Kagura."
Ragna arrived in Kokonoe's lab and walked over to the corner of the room. He sat down and leans his back on the wall, the man letting out a heavy, tired sigh. As he sat there his mind began to run away from him, his thoughts running to one person, one woman. "Rachel…" Ragna mumbles. He looks down to the ground and bites his lip hard. He clenches his fist and grinds his teeth together. He started to recall everything he said to Rachel and what Hazama said to him, this only serving to make his blood boil even more. "Damn it…!"
He didn't want to think about him snapping at Rachel. Even though it wasn't their faults and they were only being manipulated, he couldn't help, but blame himself for it all. The guilt stabbed him over and over again. As he continued and Rachel's emotionless eyes appeared in his head he felt like salt was being rubbed in the wound. He turns his fist over to look at his knuckles and clenched it tighter. "I swear Rachel… I'll bring you back. I'll save you… No matter what it takes. I'll bring you home."
Kokonoe sits in her chair and yells in annoyance. She sits back on the chair, arching her back and looking behind her. "Where the hell is Bullet and Tager?" Kokonoe sat back on and slams her elbow on her desk and rests her chin in her palm. She began to tap on her desk in impatience. Kokonoe sent Tager and Bullet on a mission to retrieve something from one of the Sector Seven bases and they should've been back at least two days ago. "Come on damn it…" Kokonoe looks in annoyance at her empty candy box. "My silvervine candy… How the hell did my whole supply go out?"
Kokonoe puts her arms on the back of her head and closes her eyes. "Fuck…" Kokonoe groans. As she sits there her eyes shoot open back as she heard ringing. She turns her head to the side to see her communicator ringing. Kokonoe's hopes went up as she quickly grabs the communicator and puts to her ear. "Hello!? Tager, Bullet is that you!? Are you back yet!?"
"No… It's me, Kagura." Kokonoe's excited tone dropped to a depressed and uncaring one. "Well damn… Alright I'm hanging up. Bye Kagura."
"Wait a minute Kokonoe this is serious!" Kagura panicked.
"Fine, fine don't get your panties all twisted and tied up. So, what's so urgent?" Kokonoe asks.
"It's about Rachel."
"Huh? Rachel? Why the hell should I care about that annoying bitch?" Kokonoe heard a long sigh through her communicator and it wasn't that of annoyance. She knew Kagura was always one to joke around and act like a pervert, but this time wasn't one of them. "Alright Kagura you got my attention. Tell me what happened?"
"Hazama… He's got her."
Kokonoe slammed her hand onto the desk and yelled into the communicator. "Are you shitting me!? How!? Didn't that asshole jump into the boundary!?"
"Yeah…but it seems like he left a piece of himself inside of Rachel's soul. Now he's back and has Rachel under the mind eater. And with her powers now back up to how they used to be well… Let's just say it won't be good for us."
"You're kidding me…!" Kokonoe hisses her teeth and curses. "Son of a bitch… Ok, where did you hear this from?"
"I heard it from Ragna. He's here at the Yabiko branch with me and waiting for you. He apparently has a plan and wants you to check his grimoire, but he's resting right now. The guys tuckered out and worried sick over the princess." Kagura says.
"I see… Well if Hazama is back, even if he's not as dangerous as Terumi he's just as, maybe even more, viscous then that bastard. Alright I'm on my way right now. I should be there in about an hour or so." Kokonoe hangs up the communicator as she stands up and curses. "Fucking damn it…! Don't these assholes know when to stay down!?" Kokonoe heard her doors open behind her and looked to see Tager and Bullet walk in. Kokonoe looked to see they were carrying her candies and the ingredients to make more of them in their hands.
"Really guys? You couldn't have come in earlier?" Kokonoe asks.
"Well it took some time to get here." Bullet answers in slight irritation.
"We're sorry about this." Tager says. He and Bullet walks up to her desk and puts them all down on the desk. Kokonoe rests her palm on her forehead. "Ok… You two stay here and keep this in balance. I'm off to Yabiko to take care of some urgent business."
"What happened Kokonoe?"
"An old friend decided to come back… And now I've gotta deal with him before shit hits the fan again." Kokonoe sighs.
"Old friend? Judging by your emotional patterns your using sarcasm." Tager says.
"Tager… Did you just scan me?" Kokonoe asks.
"No, just making inference."
"So where do you want us to put these blue silvervines?" Bullet asks as Kokonoe points to her desk. Bullet and Tager puts the patches of blue plants onto her desks and walks out. Kokonoe looks at them and began to curse at herself. Just when they got it another problem arises. "Fuck this! Goddammit when I find him I'm gonna make SURE his ass doesn't come back!" Kokonoe stares at the patches of blue plants with passion as she walks over to it and takes one of them up. She smells it and sighs in relief. "Just wait for me my sweets… I'll back soon."
"Um…" Kokonoe heard a voice and quickly turns her head to see Bullet and Tager standing in the doorway.
"What? Don't judge me."
"I think I will…leave you alone for now…" Tager and Bullet slowly exit the room as the door slides closed. Kokonoe just shrugs and kisses the plant down. "Just wait ok? Mommy will make you into the best candy ever. Who's a good plant? Yes you are? Yes. You. Are." Kokonoe puts the plant down and walks out the room. As she walks down the hallway she began to think about Hazama and just how to deal with him. Kagura said that Ragna had a plan and it involves his grimoire so maybe she'll just tweak it to his liking and see what happens.
"Alright then… I gotta make this quick so I can get back to my babies. The legendary blue silvervine… Oh I can taste it already!"
"Oh man… It's good to be back in a body and stretch myself out…" Hazama smiles, his voice that of an adolescent and his face that of an excited child. "I feel fantastic, but how do you feel? Rachel Alucard…" he snickers and looks up to see a certain vampire tied up by his various snake chains with multiple slashes on her clothing and her face. "I think we're up to forty five. I wonder…just what little old rags is gonna say when he sees this? Maybe I'll have some more fun. Showing him this won't do me any good."
Hazama closes his hand into a fist as the chains began to squeeze around her tighter as she began to choke. He began to laugh as he stared at her painful expression. "HAHA! JUST LOOK AT YOU! Looks like your pretty chained up there." Hazama opens his hand as the snake stopped squeezing her and released her as Rachell came falling down to the ground and landed with a loud thud.
Rachel started to get up, but was brought back down by a hard boot to the head by Hazama. "You know… I've got this urge to just…I don't know…throw you into the boundary." Hazama says darkly. "But," he continues, his voice changing back to his playful and child full manner of speech. "I'm a gentleman and a very good looking one at that, so I'll just have little Rags come in here. I hope he likes it here…"
"R-Rag…na…"
"Oh?" Hazama bent down and picked her up by her hair, her lifeless eyes now looking directly into his. "You've still got some of your conscious left huh? I guess it wouldn't be fun if "you" couldn't feel this pain huh? To be honest it'd be a waste of time." Hazama stands back up, Rachel's hair still tightly in his grip as he hoisted her up off the ground. He started to shake her a little as he heard her wince slightly. "Looking at you…really is very annoying… I don't know what Ragna sees in you really. He has some weird taste in chicks. I guess he likes the bitchy ones, I'm not one to judge though."
He scoffs and tosses Rachel down to the ground like a doll as he puts his hands in his pockets and turns to walk away. "I wonder what's taking Rags so long… I'm getting bored." He looks over his shoulder back to Rachel and looks to see her slowly getting up. Hazama snapped his finger as a snake chain appeared and wraps around Rachel, tightly squeezing her as she was ready to pop like a balloon. "Man… Boooorriiinnng…. I've already seen that exprresion." Hazama drops her as she falls on her back.
He walks over to her and steps on her chest. With a psychotic grin he raises his foot up and stomps down hard, earning him a loud gasp from Rachel as she spat up a few drops of blood. She began to cough and rolled on her side as Hazama kicked her back onto her back and this time stomped on her stomach. Rachel yelled in pain as Hazama chuckles a little. "Ok, now that's new." Hazama stomps on her a few more times before removing his foot from her and leaving her coughing and gasping for air.
His footsteps were heard throughout the entire room as he stopped right next to the cauldron. "So this was the "future" I ended up in… Not bad, but I would've rather gone to "his" world. Seemed like fun. Oh Terumi… You can be so demanding. So let's see," his eyes open up to reveal his snake like eyes and a wide grin, stretching from ear to ear appears on his face.
"Just how this story will end…"
Ok that ends this chapter. I hope you all liked it as I am actually getting some rather positive feedback from this. To be honest I wasn't expecting any positive reviews, but I guess anything really is possibly. Any who read, review and I'll see you next chapter!
