Chapter 3: They Came at Moonlight
His fire blue eyes were filled with the light of the moon as they gazed up at the sky, looking at the stars, and trying to count them. Because of the city lights, not all of the stars were visible, hidden away by the overpowering artificial light. However, there was nothing more beautiful than a display of the natural lights of the universe. His gaze floated to the moon, only a half moon tonight. He sighed heavily, sitting up and looking out across the peaceful ocean, and readjusting his position on the sand. His eyes narrowed when he heard the distant sound of running feet shifting in the sand, and when he turned to see whom it was he spotted Mayu. He was glad to see her, but worry and concern overpowered it and he stood up, rushing to her, the girl only stopping when she reached him. "Mayu, what's the matter? Is something wrong?" Mayu rested her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
"Your friends… came to ask me… about… you… today," she managed to say between breaths, standing up straight as her breathing became more steady. "Are you going to return to them, David?" David ignored the last question, gently grabbing her shoulders.
"Mayu, you shouldn't be out here at this time all alone," he looked her in the eyes, silent for a moment. He let go of her shoulders, and sighed. "I was thinking about it…" He put his hands behind his head, his gaze turning to the sky as if in thought. Mayu watched him for a moment, her eyes gaining a saddened look. Suddenly, she blinked, squinting, and then her eyes widened.
"Uh, David…" He blinked, looking at her, and followed her gaze to where she was looking. He managed to catch sight of the pink-haired woman before something grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him slightly off the ground. He could see it – a disturbance in life itself, a living-dead creature that took the shape of an invisible arm. He managed to grab the wrist of it with his hands, but he couldn't budge it at all.
Mayu screamed with fright, looking at David, and then at Lucy. "No, please, don't hurt him," she begged, running to Lucy. "He's my friend!" She stared up at the woman, pleadingly, with worry, and hope. Lucy's emotionless gaze moved from the boy to Mayu, and back. She watched the boy, loosening the vectors grip just slightly to provide him a little more oxygen. She narrowed her eyes, and at her silent command, the vector dropped David, the boy landing with a dull thud. Mayu turned to look at David, sighing with relief, and then looked at Lucy. "Thank you, Lucy." She hurried to David, helping him to his feet as he massaged his neck, panting. "I apologize, David, I think she was only trying to protect me," she whispered in his ear, watching him to see what his reaction would be, and worried what he might do. He nodded understandingly, coughing into his arm.
"No worries, I understand," he blurted truthfully, coughing a little more before he finally caught his breath. He looked up at Lucy and walked to her, smiling, and extended his hand. "My name's David, I'm a friend of Mayu. You must be Lucy." The red-ish pink eyes of the diclonius stared at his extended hand for a moment, as if contemplating something, then looked at his face through her eyelashes. Her right arm tensed a little, as if about to react, when she heard a familiar click. She turned her gaze to the upper beach, where about a dozen soldiers stood or knelt in formation, all pointing their weapons at her, and a female scientist off to the side, watching them, and biting the tip of a pencil. Lucy narrowed her eyes' suspiciously at the scientist in her white lab coat.
"Well, if it isn't the long lost diclonii," the scientist spoke putting the pencil into one of her pockets. "You were right after all, bone-head." She glanced at one of the soldiers, whose eyes narrowed, not willing to look away from Lucy for even a second. She looked at Mayu and David. "Friends of yours?"
"I know that girl is, not sure about the lad," the soldier spoke up, his eyes glued to Lucy. The female scientist nodded, tapping her chin with her finger in thought.
David narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth uncertainly. "Lucy, take Mayu and run for it," he whispered to her out of the corner of his mouth, trying not to move too much. Lucy didn't move a muscle, staring at the gunman. Suddenly, the diclonius had Mayu in her arms and was running down the beach, with an occasional jump to avoid bullets that were showered after them. As soon as Lucy had started off, David dashed in the opposite direction, hoping to distract at least a few of them. Only one had his gun follow the boy, but he wasn't of the twelve on the beach. A sniper, hidden by darkness narrowed his eyes, looking through the scope on his gun, took careful aim, and fired. The sniper watched as the boy, seemingly in slow motion, spun around due to his momentum and the sudden force of the bullet, and tripped over his own feet, landing on his back and sliding a little across the sand, clutching his shoulder where the bullet hit, and gritted his teeth in pain. With a tremendous leap, the sniper was out of the shadows and bathed in moonlight, walking over to the young teen with his gun resting on his shoulder.
"Nope, nope, nope, can't let little you run away," the man said with a sneer, looking down at the boy as the red head opened one eye a little to look up at the source of the voice. "Your energy readings are quite the new obsession of my boss," he continued with a strange tone of cheerfulness. "I must make boss happy, or else, I must die. Now, if you be a good little lad, I'll stop the pain nice and fast and will have it healed in no time at all." David gripped his shoulder tighter, trying to stop the flow of blood as it stained his dirty shirt, and closed his eyes tightly, trying to ignore the pain.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open when he felt a searing pain in his leg, and looked down to see that the strange man had stabbed him with a syringe, injecting something into his blood stream. He slowly closed his eyes, and rested his head on the sand, his body going limp. The man stood up, adjusting his guns strap and then letting it hang from his shoulder, staring down at David, as he rummaged through a small pouch. "Now, where did I put that first aid kit," he mumbled to himself with an irritated sigh.
* * * * * * * * *
Lucy narrowed her eyes, replacing the branches of the bush and stood up, turning to Mayu, who also stood up. "Lucy," she started, but allowed her voice to trail off as she looked up at her adopted older sister. The pink haired adult stared at her for a moment, before crouching slightly, allowing Mayu to get on her back.
"They took him," Lucy stated bluntly just before she started running. Mayu gasped, gripping a bit more tightly as her rescuer took off at inhuman speed through the forest, toward the city. The brown haired teen said nothing for the rest of the trip, just trying to hang on and not make a noise as they snuck down sidewalks and allies towards their home. Lucy came to a stop and put Mayu down, nearly two blocks from home. All of the shadows seemed to move, making noises and playing tricks on them. Mayu gulped, blinking when Lucy grabbed her by the wrist, and the two made a break for home.
The two girls passed another street, and heard a man call out from it, "There she goes!" Lucy pushed Mayu abruptly into some bushes, continuing to run down the sidewalk, her speed increasing now that she no longer had the young teen to worry about. As she had hoped, the men followed her, not even bothering to look for the young girl that just disappeared. Lucy smirked, making a huge leap to the side as the men attempted to lock their guns onto her.
Mayu peeked out of the bushes only when she heard the footsteps fade. She looked up and across the street, seeing her home. Without thinking, she stood up, quickly brushed her pants off and ran as fast as she could, beginning to worry about her pink haired friend. However, as soon as she reached within three feet of the door, she heard a strange thud and turned around to find Lucy sprawled on the sidewalk. Mayu's hands flew to her mouth to stifle a scream, hurrying over to the girl and collapsing to her knees beside Lucy. However, as she was about to put a hand on the seemingly unconscious girls' shoulders, Nyu opened her eyes, blinking a few times before she began to cry, holding her head from the pain of the fall. Her young brown haired friend thought fast, wondering how much Lucy had lost the soldiers before pulling a disappearing act. "Nyu, let's go inside, I'll make it all better," she promised with a forced, calm smile. Nyu sat up, tears welling in her eyes and nodded, allowing Mayu to help her to her feet, and then followed her inside. Once there, Nyu sat in front of the table, rubbing her eyes sleepily and drying the tears. Mayu went to the kitchen, fumbling around in the dark for what she thought she knew inside and out. Finding a cloth, she dampened it, and returned to the dimly lit dining room, asking Nyu where it hurt. Nyu rubbed a spot on her head, now bulging due to the soreness. Mayu rubbed it gently with cloth, massaging it expertly. Nyu let out a little whimper, her hands instinctively heading to the source of pain, but she quickly pulled them back down and set them on her legs, piercing her lips together tightly. While she did this, Mayu swallowed hard, wondering what she should do about David… she figured she'd ask Kouta, but should she wait until morning?
The question answered herself when a yawning, blue haired adult walked into the room, rubbing his eyes. He froze, seeing the two girls, and noting Mayu's actions, as well as the look on her face. Instantly, he knew something was wrong. Blinking, he walked over to them. "What's wrong, Mayu? What happened?" Suddenly, a lump appeared in Mayu's throat, and she tried her best to hold back tears, knowing that they would not help the situation.
"I went to see David tonight," she began, slowly, her voice cracking ever so slightly, but Kouta noticed. He waited patiently, keeping an understanding-father-like composure, which encouraged Mayu to continue, but her words were rushed. "Lucy followed me, and then some soldiers came, Lucy got me away, but they took David." She bit her lower lip, trying to hide the worried quiver. Kouta's eyes narrowed in thought, hugging her affectionately. Nyu looked up at the two, her eyes saddening as she hugged Mayu's legs, wanting to help her friend feel better.
"I'll wake Yuka and then head down to the police station." With one last squeeze to Mayu, Kouta dashed away to Yuka's bedroom. Nyu stood up, whimpering sadly. Mayu forced a small, tired smile.
"Thank you, Nyu, I feel much better now." This lit up the pink haired girls' expression. Hugging Mayu happily, Nyu bid her a childish "good night" and then skipped off to bed.
Mayu stood there in silence, hands grasping her arms just above the elbows in anticipation. Soon, Kouta returned, flashlight in hand, and the two hurried to the police station, Kouta not even bothering to get fully dressed. "Mayu, why did you go out at this time of night," Kouta asked her gently as they jogged. Mayu glanced at him, just to note his expression.
"I worry about him at night," she admitted honestly, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "It gets so cold… especially tonight." Kouta glanced at her, saying nothing as the two rounded a corner, coming upon the police station. As the two entered, Kouta noticed that the two officers were different from the ones he had dealt with before. He was glad about that. The first officer looked up from his paperwork, eyeing them over his glasses' rims. Kouta approached the desk, followed closely by Mayu.
"Excuse me officers, my daughters' friend was kidnapped by soldiers," Kouta took out a picture from his pocket, unfolding it and showing it to the officers, a picture of David with his three friends. "The red headed boy." The officer raised his eyebrows, scanning the picture, and then his eyes moved up to Kouta, and then floated to Mayu, who shifted uncomfortably.
"Soldiers, you say," he asked evenly, his facial muscles hardly moving. Mayu nodded firmly, regaining her casual composure. The officer nodded to himself, biting the right side of his lower lip as he looked down at his desk, looking under some stacks of papers until he found a phone book. "What color were their uniforms?" Mayu thought for a moment, trying to remember if she had seen the uniform in the light.
"Dark green, with some black," she finally spoke, rubbing her shoulders, even though they were not cold. The officer nodded absentmindedly, picking up the phone and dialing.
"Are you sure he was kidnapped and not arrested?"
"Yes, sir."
"If you two would kindly leave your names', residency and contact information, you two may head home and I'll contact you first thing in the morning with whatever results I find." Kouta narrowed his eyes, wanting to remain at the station, but reluctantly nodded his head, accepting the pen and paper offered to him by the second officer. He scribbled down the information, bid a polite farewell to the officers, and led Mayu home, the two remaining in relative silence for the rest of the trip.
