"Cinder's Story - An Interrupted Theft!?"
Hello my friends, fans, viewers, or otherwise.
This is your lord and savior Animaster777 here.
I just want to say that this will be following some cliche themes, but I will do it in a fun, but relatively reasonable way. Y'know for the sake of comedy, views, and UNLIMITED POWER! *cough* *cough* I meant, to make it easier for me because those are the closest things to human emotions that I know.
I also hope you've enjoyed the series. I certainly have.
Last we left off something unexpected occurred during the auction.
Who is the mysterious man, and what is his plan?
Let's find out!
*THE VILLAIN'S POV*
I leave the VIP room. Glancing around in the darkness I put a hand behind my back to reach for my night-vision goggles. Checking the area once more with my night-vision goggles I can see nobody of any large importance among the rubble of the explosion. At most, there are only 10 dead and half of them are most likely servants from backstage. The rest have started to flee out the emergency exit. No matter. They'll soon find all of their exits blocked and they'll be forced to stay down here until a rescue party comes. That won't be for another hour, though. Especially considering we have taken communications within the area down. VIP's are still trapped in their rooms, though, so no one of any threat will come and disturb me while I obtain the object.
All I have to do now is find the machine and take it back to them.
They've worked to get where they are alright. They've worked by stepping on every other person or living being that got in their way to push themselves even higher. Especially that goddamn Obsidian Family. They've got it all under their control, haven't they? I can only hear unsavory things about them.
Well… mostly unsavory. Turns out the great great grandfather of the current head of the Obsidian family was a stand-up man. He worked his best even before the Great War. He worked hard to earn his family's money. He never hurt anyone with his ideas either. He started companies and helped others gain many benefits from his work. He worked for others. Not to mention he came from a low-class family. His son was good too. He invested in stock markets and made a huge profit on it even after his death! However, that was when things got shaky. The family started having deals in the dark and had placed a hand in the underworld's black market too. That man, Hue Obsidian, was smart. He knew how to play the game of life. Not only that, but he cheated on it too.
Never got caught though. The only people who knew about his crimes were his partners and his son. By the time he died, the family practically owned the underworld. They controlled who went where, when, how, and why. He ran many drug businesses and gangs in downtown Mistral. He even created a drug that's known as red spice today. It causes blood to flow to your head and made your face flush as you reveled in the euphoria of it as you very quickly became addicted. He was calculating, cunning, and terribly evil. That family has been like that ever since. They caused the pain of so many people and made the people pay them in gold for the medicine to cure it. They always made a large profit on whatever deal they made. Though, they still owned clean businesses and held multiple monopolies. They run a bakery chain called Purple Powers' Pastries. It was originally owned by the Powers family, a nice and loving place for all. While nowadays, it caters mostly to the rich in the upper-class of mistral. Its pastries are still good, but they're expensive and have lost that 'home baked' feeling to it. This happened to many businesses across Mistral. The family prospered.
That was until Itami Obsidian came around of course. He was the rash type. He always strived for more and more power. Usually, that's a good trait for a crime boss. However, his hunger for power almost led to the downfall of the family. He even caused the untimely death of his father, Hue Obsidian, at the age of 50. From then on he got more involved in the underworld and did less and less clean business. He started and ended gang wars for the fun of it. One stunt of his even caused the stock market to crash, resulting in most businesses of the time failing. This leads to the police getting suspicious of their activity. While the police never found anything directly connecting him to the crimes, the police have been keeping an eye on his family ever since.
He was around until around twenty-five years ago when he was shot by his right-hand man, who got news of Itami sleeping with his wife. Supposedly, his son, Crash Obsidian, was only fifteen when he died. It apparently left him mentally scarred. But you wouldn't be able to tell from the way his business is running. His lifelong friend is the chief of police and he knew what would happen tonight. While the chief might not interfere directly for fear of being caught, he is more than able to turn a blind eye to some of the illegal activity going on. Crash apparently runs things in a similar fashion to Hue Obsidian, his grandfather. However, there's a rumor around town that he has anger management issues. It was apparently caused when his first wife died in a gang incident, only days after giving birth to his son. He's the one running my missions and deciding what I do. Damn it… If only I could walk up to him and strangle him half to death.
But it's a well-known fact that on top of being very rich, the family has all had Huntsmen training. They're deadly in a fight and few would be able to come out on top in a fight against an Obsidian descendant.
The Blood Lotus family has been known as their right hand. That was until they had a disagreement over Itami's affair with the current head's wife, Lianhua Koun, originally of the Minikui family. The head himself, Lianhua Mudan, had sworn a blood feud with the Obsidian family and claimed that Itami had raped his wife, probably to protect his wife's dignity and honor. He was very nice to his followers, a loyal and passionate man, but after that incident, it's said he grew very distrusting of those around him. He's old enough to the point of retirement, but he doesn't even trust his own son to run the family anymore. Soon, though, he's gonna croak and leave his family to his son who has no idea what to do anymore. His son, Lianhua Xiangxin, has spent most of his life trying to establish a connection with his father. Having failed to do so, he hoped to raise his son as a loving and reliable father.
However, his son, Lianhua Shiwang, truly stuck to his name and was a disappointment. He often went out on the town and partied with gangs and other bad influences. He liked to play around with hookers and whores before moving on to the next. He kills people if he's had a bad day. He could have had a bright life in front of him, but he squandered the opportunity and had caused shame upon his family.
This family was running a lucrative business as well. While drugs and gang fights weren't their specialty, they were involved in a similar business. While connected with the Obsidian family they borrowed some money in order to get into the firearm industry. In exchange for the borrowed money, they gave a part of their profit from the firearms to the Obsidians.
They weren't the only ones to do this. There were many families involved with the Obsidians after their rise to power. Some of them include the Hei'an, Wugu, Shinigami, Ai, and Satsujin families. They each have their own part in the underworld activities, but most of them control legitimate businesses within their own territories.
There have been countless other people involved with the Obsidians, but these are the major families. It seems as though they've made an alliance and banded together. It seems there's something more at stake than what their previous goals assumed. It seems like Crash has some sinister plot in mind.
But, I wouldn't've cared if not for the fact that they forcefully dragged me, Shinigami Kira, into this mess. I'm turning forty next month, and all I wanted was to spend the rest of my life in peaceful retirement. I left my house to my daughter, but it seems that she's fallen in love with someone from the Ai clan. I was in hiding from them and spending time with my wife, but apparently, my daughter thought she could trust the man she loved and told him our location.
I… I tried to fight them off, but they were prepared. They came after my wife first and used her as a hostage. They surrounded me with their elites and fought me to a standstill. Instead of fighting and seeing my wife die, they let me choose to join their cause. I wish I could've done something, but they took what was most important from me. They didn't even spare my daughter.
So I'll do their dirty work for now. But if a time ever comes where I get the choice to enact my revenge I'll make sure they pay dearly for even thinking of crossing me and my family.
I take a left to move towards the stage. Jumping up six and a half feet up I land on the front stage and head towards the back. I calmly make my way forward and stride confidently to the back. In the back, there is a multitude of prison-style cells containing the products of the auction.
I knock on the walls of one of the cells.
*Knock* *Knock*
It's cement. The items are blocked off with iron bars and a locked door. Quite the drastic change from the more modern look outside. It seems to require a keycard to open it. I take out the VIP card and insert it into the first cell.
*Click*
As I take out the card I hear the oh so pleasant sound of a door unlocking.
*Creak*
It creaks as I open the cell behind door number 1. In the center of the 8x8 room is a chest. I open it with ease and look inside.
It's one of those fire-proof suits they had shown earlier. I don't have much use for this as my aura is more than enough to ward off most burns. Another useless item I suppose.
Well, no more time for dilly-dallying.
I put it back in the chest and walk out of the cell. I continue to walk down the empty corridor. I keep an eye out for anything interesting.
*Clack* *Clack* *Clack* *Clack*
The only sound I hear is of my footwear hitting the ground. It echoes throughout the hall as I walk slowly and without haste.
*Click* *Clack*
I stop in my tracks and spin on my heel towards the right as I find what I'm looking for. The blue glow bounces off the walls of the cell and faintly illuminates it. I take off my night vision goggles as I grab the card out of my pocket and reach for the cell door…
*Cinder's POV*
W-what's going on!? Why did this have to happen the one time I step out of the lower-class district!?
I try to reach my hands out for Saecul in a very jittery way.
"S-saecul? Where are you Saecul?" I ask in a shaky tone. What if he's gone? What if there's someone or something here and he hurt Saecul and is coming after me next?
"Over here, Cinder," A soft voice reaches out to me in the pitch black darkness that surrounds and consumes me.
"T-thank goodness you're still here… " I mumble softly to myself in slight relief at not being alone. My worries are ridiculous…
"What's that?" Saecul faintly catches my mumble and asks in curiosity.
"N-nothing! Everything's absolutely fine!" I say in anxiousness at being found out for my silly worries.
I imagine that Saecul looks quizzically at me as he says, "Are you sure? You seem a bit shaken."
"T-thank you for the concern Saecul, but really it's alright. Nothing important!" I say in a very unconvincing and slightly panicky voice. Oh god, I need to relax, like, right now.
"Are you sure? I mean, we're probably gonna be here for a while, so if you need something be sure to let me know, okay?" He says in concern to my panic.
"I-I-I means, it's just- I-well-um… " I stammer and don't know what to say in response to that. How long is a while? This is just my luck…
'Why am I panicking!?' I scream inside my head. 'I-I just need to stay as calm as possible and keep a straight face like usual!'
"It's alright to let me know what's wrong, I'll make sure to help in whatever way I can." He says in a very reassuring voice.
"W-well-I, You see it's-I just-I-I-I-" Oh no, I have no counter against heartfelt concern! Here I am, stuttering and mumbling and I are so nervous and panicking and oh God I'm about to tell him, aren't I? I'm about to tell him my deepest darkest secret that nobody but my parents know…
I know it's silly. I don't show it to anyone and you'd never get the impression from me that this would be the case. But I… In this situation how can I keep silent!? Who knows if I won't die from a lack of oxygen down here or some other bizarre event!? With my luck today it seems possible!
I open my mouth and can feel my face flushing red and hold back the tears in my eyes as I turn away and say, "I… I… I'm afraid of the dark!" There! I said it! It's such an embarrassing thing! I'm already 11 and I'm about to turn 12 in a month, but I still haven't grown out of it! I'm trying to set an example for myself to be the best person I can be, but still… I-I can't bear the embarrassment from this!
I try so hard to be mature and strong at all times, but I've never been able to get over my fear of the dark. It's the most embarrassing secret I've ever had! I know I'm self-conscious, but it doesn't help the matter right now!
"..."
"..."
It's over, isn't it? He's going to laugh and point at me and call me names and leave me. Just like all the others… I know it's silly, but I'm afraid of being judged! I know what it's like to have friends turn on you for something stupid…
With that thought, my embarrassment turns into anxiety and I start to tremble ever so slightly out of shock and fear of what I might've done, but it only lasts a moment. I hurriedly try to reassure myself. 'No! Saecul's not like that! He's gentle, well, not gentle, but he is smart, well, not smart, he's kind of an idiot, but he is caring and goofy and completely, utterly, absolutely unlike those from before!
"Just, please, forget what I just said," I beg for him to never mention it again as I cover my face in shame and fear of rejection.
"Cinder… " I hear Saecul call out from my side. I don't turn back to him. It's so dark in here… I-I… I just want to leave.
But unexpectedly I feel his arms wrap around me as he pulls me in and he starts patting my head.
'And I know he's… '
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were afraid of the dark. I suppose I was being a bit insensitive." His unexpectedly caring voice comes to me and he continues, "You don't have to worry, I'll do anything to help you right now Cinder. Just name it."
Hearing those words I get stunned for a moment and stop crying. Then I start to cry for a different reason. Flashbacks of my past resurface into my head and I start to cry for a different reason. I never thought I'd find someone my age to be my friend after that incident. I really just can't even begin on how much it means for him to act like this. Even if he doesn't realize this…
I knew that Saecul was different from other people, but I always thought that he suffered from some sort of bipolar or schizophrenic disease, but he's a genuinely nice guy. I thought he was just a big goofball who really liked clean clothes, but after today I'll have to rethink my entire impression of him.
'And He's… '
I remember all those pranks he'd done to me and Sam. He gave Sam those mustard and ketchup bottles you'd see in restaurants and filled the ketchup bottle with mustard. Then, when Sam wanted to put ketchup on because he thought it was in the mustard bottle, it ended up being mayonnaise! I remember that time he broke a washing machine by putting too many clothes in it and he ended up hiding it from Sam for about a week until he got caught. Then there was the time he accidentally got bleach in his eyes and ran around the store screaming until he went to the bathroom and washed it out. His eyes looked irritated for the rest of the day.
I give a chuckle and pull myself in closer to him.
'He's… '
Then I remember the sweet moments we had together. I remember one day I fell down and bruised myself on the sidewalk and he ran a mile and back to bring me a first aid kit. He looked exhausted after that. There was another time where I really wanted a milkshake, but couldn't afford one at the store, so he went and bought me all the ingredients to make a great milkshake. I was acting a bit spoiled at that and made him make it, and I swear, I've never had a better milk-shake in my life.
"Can you just hold me like this until we're out of here?" I shamelessly ask him while pressing my face against his chest. While doing so, I can feel his unexpectedly toned and muscular pecs and abs. I push my face against his chest more in fear of him seeing my growing blush.
"... sure…" He murmurs softly after a long pause. I enjoy his presence for a while as he continues to comfort me.
'He's the guy I like.'
He continues to run his hand through my hair and under his attention and coaxing I eventually fall down into a soft and blissful slumber, surrounded by the warmth of his body and ignoring the darkness as I have found my light...
*AUCTION HALL'S ITEM STORAGE 3RD PERSON*
The cloaked figure reaches his hand out towards the door. Dressed in all black he's wearing a robe that makes telling his figure or identity very difficult. He's also wearing a white mask which contrasts with his hood and the rest of his outfit. He has night-vision goggles over the mask and takes them off, chucking them to the other side of the hall, opposite the door. The mask has a fox face on it and it seems pretty old and worn, but at the same time, it seems to give off some kind of powerful energy that makes people back off because of its intensity.
Just as he was about to reach the door, he suddenly stops and turns his head to the right. He retracts his hand and slowly reaches for the kunai on his waist.
*wheeze*
Shinigami hears something from down the hall and swiftly takes the kunai and prepares for battle. He crouches close to the ground and observes the dark hall with his night-vision goggles now tossed to the side. He closes his eyes to sense the enemy's movement.
*wheeze* *crash* *bang*
He furrows his brows when he hears the crashes from farther away. It's a deep and heavy groan from way down the hall as well as multiple crashes. He opens his eyes when he realizes the enemy does not intend to make a stealthy approach.
'An amateur?' He thinks to himself. 'No, impossible. No fool would send themselves into unknown territory unless they were completely certain of their ability. They're either very confident or an imbecile. Maybe both.'
Staring down the hallway a bead of sweat can be seen crawling down the side of the face as he prepares for contact.
'I hope I'm overthinking it.'
He starts to count down in his head.
'Five.'
*Wheeze* *Crash* *Bang*
Shinigami frowns as the noise gets louder as he can clearly hear who, no… what is crashing down the hall?
At this moment he realizes this won't be an easy fight.
'Four.'
*Wheeze* *Bang* *Bang*
Shinigami tenses up as he can feel the tremors caused by this monster and he steels his resolve by thinking of his wife and daughter, locked up in chains while being held at gunpoint. His eyes shine with determination. But those low grunts aren't helping him. It's likely a powerful Grimm. Especially so for it to get into the city.
'Three.'
*Screech* *Crash* *Bang*
An ear-shattering screech comes from down the hall. It's high-pitched and frankly terrifying. It sounds like someone gave a child helium and told them to scream as loud as possible into a megaphone, except it's about a dozen times louder. Like something you'd hear in a horror movie. He takes a deep breath and waits pensively.
'Two.'
*Screech* *Crash* *Rumble*
The nervous assassin takes a step back prepares to attack. He takes no other action.
'One.'
As the countdown finishes and the halls shake he waits for any sign of movement and gets ready to leap at any figure that comes down the hall.
…
…
…
…
...
*Silence*
Expecting there to be a large hulking Grimm coming down the hall he takes a minute to react before he realizes that whatever was coming for him isn't there anymore. He's bewildered, but he doesn't have the time to think about it. If that thing comes back for him, he's screwed.
He cautiously raises from his crouch and clutches his kunai tightly. He glances across the hall once more before grabbing the night-vision goggles he wore before and putting them on. He can't be too cautious anymore.
He goes to turn around to unlock the door.
*SCREECH*
But as he turns, a deafeningly loud noise comes from behind him as from out of nowhere a large shadowy claw-like hand has grasped his face and slammed him against the concrete wall.
*BANG*
His body sinks into the wall as a crater is formed from the impact. The crater reveals a wall of steel behind the shattered concrete.
A black glow surrounds him as his aura protects him from the brunt of the damage. The claws are still grasping his face as he's lifted off the ground and see the monstrosity he's been caught by.
It's an eight-foot-tall humanoid shadow creature with no legs. It flies and has shadowy mist exuding from everywhere on its body. Its ghastly face looks like that of a decaying zombie painted black. It resembles what would result in Reaper from Overwatch and a Dementor from Harry Potter had a baby. Its claws seem to be formed from shadow to resemble the hand of a human and the claws of a bird of prey.
'What the ****!'
He swears in his mind because of his bad luck. He'd most likely be screaming out loud, but the claw covering his mouth is preventing any sound from coming through.
*SCREECH*
The terrifying reincarnation of death lets out another loud howl as he is slammed into the wall once again. The wall breaks even further and the steel behind him dents in about one foot before his body stops again.
The being brings its arm back once again and slams him over and over, sinking in about four feet more before smashing Shinigami Kira through a two-foot thick wall of solid reinforced titanium.
*Cough* *Cough*
Kira gets on his hands and knees as he coughs out blood from his internal injuries. Thanks to his aura he's still alive, but it still dealt a heavy blow to him.
He takes a look at the room he's entered through the wall.
It's one of the VIP rooms. The walls are decorated lavender and the carpet is a deep red. There are two tables and a long black couch at the side. Putting aside the strange aesthetic choice he hurries to find a hiding place from the creature.
That 'Grimm' comes through the hole in the wall covered in shadowy mist, but finds no trace of Kira. Its form eerily floats over to one of the tables and throws it to the side…
*Crash*
… revealing nothing beneath it.
Slightly upset, the creature moves quickly towards the other table and throws it to the side. There lays nothing beneath it. Having revealed nothing once more, it turns its attention towards the black leather couch.
The spectral creature lets out a hollow sigh and moves towards the couch slowly, like a predator sneaking up on its prey. The ghostly claws grasp the head of the couch as the haunting and eerie face peeks over it.
…
There's nothing there. At this, the creature tilts its head in seeming confusion. 'How could he not be here? Where did he go?' The specter seems to express through its head tilt.
But no matter how much it searched the room it could not find any trace of Kira. With a ghastly sigh of frustration, it floats out of the room.
…
…
'I thought it'd never leave… ' Shinigami Kira thinks as he lets out a sigh of relief. From his position one would ordinarily be able to see him very clearly, however, he had his hands crossed with his fingers making a weird symbol that intertwined his fingers at painful-looking angles.
It seems that Kira's semblance was, unexpectedly, ninjutsu!
'Now, I need to take that core out of here and report to the Obsidians.' He thought in the silence. 'They'll want to know about this… '
Thinking that he was safe he swiftly undid the jutsu and headed for the hallway. Looking up and down the hall one more time, he noticed that whatever terrorized him before, is no longer around.
With a purpose in mind, he headed for the door directly in front of him as he saw the glowing omega symbol on the machine. He immediately took out the card and placed it in the cells electronic lock which does not fit it's cell design at all.
'Guess they probably didn't have a big enough budget to get high-tech doors too.'
As he guesses the situation the auction hall was in, surprisingly accurately, he unlocks the door with a *Click* and quickly pulls open the door.
As he does so, he feels a huge force pull him back and slam him against the wall.
*BANG*
Another indent is created to the right of the previous crater.
Kira quickly looks in the direction of the attacker and finds the same phantom he fought against earlier. He looks on in horror as it reaches its hands, or rather, claws, out towards the machine he needs to take.
'No! I can't afford to mess this up!'
Kira quickly shoots out his kunai as he prepares several pieces of paper with ink writings on them behind his back.
*SCREECH*
The kunai shoots into the body of the phantom as it screams out in pain with a loud shriek and writhes in pain.
'So, it can be harmed after all… '
With this in mind, his confidence soars to unseen heights. He was caught off-guard last time. But now that he's prepared for the attack this phantom won't even be able to touch him!
The shadowy humanoid turns its attention towards the man it had discarded earlier and its eyes seem to glow red in fury as multiple arms jut out from its back as it seems to radiate a killing intent. A six-armed reaper with glowing red eyes now stands in front of Kira.
'Okay, not too bad. I can still deal with this…'
But, as if to mock his thoughts, the eyes of this ghastly creature spews lasers as it burns through the ground in front of Kira before locking its sight on him as Kira steps back a bit in surprise and shock.
'Oh, you've gotta be kidding me… '
His thoughts go unheard by the author as he prepares for the true battle to begin…
*Omake Time Baby*
One day in peaceful and so very uneventful Mistral…
Cinder: Hey, Saecul, do you have any secrets?
Saecul: Why do you ask, Cinder?
Cinder: I just want to know what Saecul-senpai's like in private!
Saecul: Are you sure you want to know?
Cinder: Yes, Senpai!
Saecul: Alright then…
…
…
Saecul: I'm gay.
…
…
Cinder: …
…
Cinder: S-saecul senpai… T-that jokes not funny…
Saecul: It wasn't meant to be, it's the truth.
Cinder: …
Saecul: …
THE END
Poor Cinder… She just wants her senpai to notice her…
Oh, and it is partially the truth.
'What does that mean?' You ask?
Well, you'll have to have to continue reading to find out. I probably won't even be able to remember what I've written on here, so make sure to remind me often my loyal fans!
Oh! A question for people who still read this even with its horrible and inconsistent updates!
Do you prefer more frequent uploads? Or longer chapters? Let me know, please! I'll be very Grateful!
I might even give you a cookie!
Next Episode on Dragon Ball Cinders ( Cinder's Story: A Truth Revealed!?)
