A Darker Path

TheReaperCometh

A/N: Warning: this chapter contains disturbing themes and scenes of gore. If you would consider yourself to be easily disturbed, or squeamish, this chapter will likely not go over well for you.

For the rest of you dark souls reading, enjoy :)

Chapter 6

"When it Rains it Pours"

POV Karma

11:15 p.m (20 minutes earlier)

.

.

.

I'm running as quickly as I can with no destination in mind. My mind racing, and heart pounding.

So long as it's far away from the mountain, I don't care where my legs take me.

I look down at Nagisa in my arms, whose sleeping face is a trembling mask of agony. Looking at his expression forces me to recall his distraught voice from just a few minutes ago, as he begged me to go back for Kayano. Never before have I seen such a display of hysteria from anyone.

I couldn't have saved her. It was an impossibility. It was either him, or her... and the correct choice was obvious to me.

I just hope Nagisa will be able to see that, and forgive me...

Where am I?

It's starting to rain, quickly escalating into a torrential downpour. I start darting my eyes back and forth, scanning street signs that I pass to try and figure out where the hell I am. The rain continues coming down more and more mercilessly. Hard droplets blown by violent winds pelt my face like thousands of needles, until my face goes numb and I can no longer feel anything at all. The biting wind howls, and I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with an invigorating rush. If not for my delirium, I'd be enjoying this. Puddles are already forming along the streets, and water has already soaked its way into my shoes, creating a sickening squish with every footfall. I have to find somewhere to take shelter. Suddenly I see a familiar sign. It's Nagisa's street.

Gee, must be my lucky day.

I use my last bit of strength to sprint down the street until I reach his house. His mother's car is parked in the driveway and a surge of anger courses through me at the prospect of having to explain what happened to that bitch. I don't feel like talking to anyone right now, especially not to her.

I reach the front door and take a moment to catch my breath under the roof of his house. Amazingly enough, Nagisa is still out like a light. In fact, his face looks... almost peaceful now, less agitated. Who knew getting blasted in the face by a torrent of rain could have such a therapeutic effect? I envy him. I wish I could sleep through the aftermath of this hellish night.

Hoisting him over one shoulder to free up a hand, I knock on the door, bracing myself for the shit-fest i'm about to find myself in. For a moment I entertain the thought of just ringing the doorbell, setting Nagisa on the ground, and leaving. Like some sort of cliche, where a mother leaves her baby at the foot of an orphanage. His mother would find him, and I wouldn't have to deal with her. If it were anyone else other than Nagisa, I might've actually done that.

But it is Nagisa, and I feel obligated to stay with him. Plus I know leaving him alone with his psychotic bipolar mother, as vulnerable as he is, would be a big mistake. And as much as I hate to admit it, Hiromi does deserve an explanation as to what the hell happened. I guess the truth about E-class being an assassination classroom will finally come out. I wouldn't be surprised if Nagisa is whisked away to the other side of the planet by his mother tomorrow, to get as far away as possible from here.

I knock again, harder this time.

I look in the window, all the lights are off.

For Christ's sake.

Still no answer. I ring the doorbell incessantly for a solid 30 seconds in frustration. I sling Nagisa over my other shoulder to give my one arm a rest.

So now I guess there's only one thing to do, though I doubt it'll work. I've never known Nagisa's front door to be unlocked under any circumstances. I reach for the door handle and give it a hesitant twist and a tentative push.

Shockingly enough, the door opens. Well great, now I feel like an idiot.

Taking Nagisa back into both my arms I creep inside and shut the door with a small kick. The only sound now is the perpetual drumming of rain against the roof and the muted sounds of thunder in the distance. It's pitch black, and I fumble around for a lightswitch unsuccessfully. Then I remember Nagisa's front entrance hallway doesn't have a light. His mother must be the only person dumb enough on the entire planet to not have an entrance light installed. I curse her name quietly, murmuring all sorts of improvised insults as I slowly skulk through the somber corridor. I take a couple steps forward and trip over something, causing me to stumble for a few steps before regaining my balance. Nagisa comes dangerously close to slipping out of my grasp.

The hell was that? It felt like a pole or rod of some sort.

I extend a leg out around me to try and feel for the object again, but it seems I've stumbled too far away to be able to reach it that easily. Whatever. As I continue to fumble through the darkness, I can't help but wonder:

Where is Nagisa's mother? She's definitely home. If she were anywhere else, her car would be gone. So she has to be here.

I decide to cast that thought away for now. It's not like I really want to find her anyway.

Having only my mental map of the layout of Nagisa's house to go off of, I slowly shuffle my way down the hall towards what I believe to be Nagisa's room. I cling to a wall to help guide me, feeling around for a light switch as I go, still to no avail.

This is starting to piss me off. Where the hell are all the lights? Finally, I come upon a room and flick on the lights. I recoil as the sudden burst of light assaults my eyes, forcing me to squint. I was right, it's Nagisa's room. I lay him on his bed, eliciting a soft whimper from his sleeping form. But he doesn't wake. I can't even begin to fathom how traumatized someone has to be in order to slip into a near-comatose state.

I then begin retracing my steps through the house, using the light shining from Nagisa's illuminated room to find the light switch in the hall right outside. Much better. I make my way through the house, activating each light switch as I go like a series of checkpoints. I grumble as I realize I had expertly managed to miss every single switch this house has to offer on my way to Nagisa's room.

Now I find myself near the entrance again, the only part of the house, along with the conjoined kitchen, still cloaked in darkness. To my credit, I was correct about one thing: Nagisa's front entrance has no light. I notice the shadow of the object I had tripped on earlier.

Its irregular shape both troubles and confounds me. What the hell is that?

I take a step towards the kitchen's lightswitch and my foot makes an odd squish sound. I instinctively retract my food, and the pitter patter of viscous droplets dripping from my shoe back to the floor sends an unnerving tingle down my spine.

My hand reaches the light switch and I flick it on.

I wish I hadn't.

There's blood. And entrails. Everywhere. All I see is red, painting the kitchen floor, the counter, the refrigerator. Juxtaposing bloody handprints and smears stain the white walls, like something directly out of a horror movie.

My eyes dart back and forth uncontrollably, absorbing every inch of gore they spot and morbidly engraving it into my memory. Then they rest upon the culprit responsible for tripping me earlier.

Nagisa's mother. My stomach lurches and I look away, staving off the urge to vomit.

What a horrendous sight.

She's hunched over, back against the wall. All her limbs are bent at sickening angles, bloody bones protruding from her kneecaps and elbows where they were snapped. I shudder as I realize the thing I had stumbled over earlier was one of her grotesquely demented legs, sticking out into the hallway. I look away, but the image of her corpse still remains burned into my retinas. I counted multiple gaping stab wounds across her flesh. Her head is hung low, with blood soaked hair concealing her face. It isn't difficult to imagine what her expression must look like. It's amazing how much detail you can remember from a gruesome scene after just a quick glance. I swallow the bile that had risen in my throat as I look back at Hiromi, compelled by some absurd desire to confirm what I had just seen.

Another stomach lurch confirms it.

Her chest is ripped open, exposing her ribcage which appears to have also been torn open. Her ribs are protruding out of her body, like ivory claws reaching out to grab me. There's an empty void in her chest cavity where her heart should be. dozens of gashes mutilate her entire body, including particularly deep ones along her wrists, leaving gnarled flaps of skin. A cut along her abdomen allows me to vividly picture her evisceration. Possibly worst of all, her clothes are in tatters, indicating another act of indecency other than torture and murder had taken place.

I look away and vomit over and over, completely emptying my stomach until it has no more bile left to offer. My fluids mix with the blood on the floor, creating a disgusting cesspool at my feet.

There's horribly dark bruising around Hiromi's throat that vaguely forms the shape of very large hands. My stomach ties into a knot, as I realize with horror that what I first perceived to have been her head hung low, face covered with bloody hair, is actually just the back of her head. Her neck was snapped a complete 180, causing her head to now be facing backwards.

This was not just a typical murder.

This was a premeditated, depraved killing fueled by the darkest of hatreds and sadistic needs. It's clear that some of these mutilations were done to her after she was already dead.

What kind of sick fuck could've done something like this?

I can't bear to look at it anymore. I can't stay here. I can't let Nagisa awake to this horrid scene. We need somewhere to go.

I have no energy after having just upchucked the contents of my belly. I'm too tired and drained to make the trek to my house, which is about 30 km away. That leaves only one option. The only other person I can think to turn to right now is Karasuma sensei. He's about 12 km away, if I remember correctly. I think I can make it there. No, I know I can make it there. For Nagisa.

My knees are trembling and I feel like crumpling to the floor. This is by far the most disturbing, gory scene I've ever witnessed. I force my unsteady legs to move me back to Nagisa's room.

He's still sound asleep, blissfully ignorant to the gruesome tragedy that took place just a few strides away from his bed. I lift him up and start walking back towards the front door. I just want to get out of here.

I chastise myself for having not turned the kitchen light off again, for my eyes once again bear witness to Hiromi's brutalized corpse. I avert my gaze. Nagisa murmurs in his sleep, which sends a panic through my whole body, and I quicken my pace to traverse the room. I pray to god that he doesn't wake up right now, of all times.

It's no longer raining, which for the sake of my own sanity, I choose to believe signifies the end of tragedies for the night. Under the ambient light of the Spear, I make my way towards Karasuma sensei's house…

.

.

.

POV Karasuma

11:36 (Present time).

I step to the side, door wide open, silently inviting the red haired boy to enter. He takes a step inside. I swallow to wet my throat.

"Karma, what happened up th-"

I'm caught off guard as Karma, without a word, extends his arms, offering Nagisa to me. He looks broken and exhausted, I recognize the look in his crimson eyes - vacant and distraught. I've seen it many times before in agents that return from missions that went horribly wrong - I rarely see them return to work ever again after that. I take Nagisa away from him, and he immediately collapses on the floor, sitting upright against the wall. I glance down at the fragile boy in my arms and I wonder why he's knocked out, as I see no sign of injury. I need answers.

I narrow my eyes.

"Karma."

He continues to stare blankly at the wall.

"Karma. Tell me what happened".

I set Nagisa down on the bench behind me, propping him up against its back. I kneel down in front of Karma and gently shake his legs.

"Karma! What happened! Tell me goddammit!"

I realize how unfair this is of me. He comes here seeking help and refuge, only to be yelled at for answers when he's clearly in no state to be discussing what he's seen. But I need to know.

With blank eyes, Karma slowly lifts his head up to mine. He's looking right at me, but I can tell he can't see me. It's a miracle he made it all the way to my house. He opens his mouth and a dry voice croaks out,

"I… couldn't do anything. Believe me, sensei… I tried, but I couldn't save them…" Tears start to trickle from his unblinking eyes.

"Save who, Karma, who's in trouble? What happened? Who attacked you?"

He blinks for the first time since he entered my house, and seems to notice me for the first time.

"Kayano… a few others… Nagisa's mother… I couldn't save them. They're all…"

He chokes on his words for a second. The air around us goes cold.

"...dead."

The word hits me harder than any bullet ever has.

I allow myself to lean back against the wall to steady myself. Kayano and a few students are dead?

But I need more answers.

"Karma, you need to tell me WHO attacked you. And how was Nagisa's mother involved?"

"Not a who… a what. I… don't know what it was. Nagisa's mother… found her at his house… already dead."

I take a moment to decipher his broken sentence.

"What sort of creature attacked you? Was it the same thing that killed Nagisa's mother?"

Karma lays down against the floor, turning his back to me.

"Giant...black...tentacle monster. Not korosensei. It...killed him too."

My eyes widen. Another tentacle monster?! And it killed korosensei? Did it escape? Is there a murderous monster on the loose?

"Karma, did this tentacle monster escape Shield while you were retreating?"

A moment of silence. I see his whole body quivering slightly. But he makes no sound, not even a whimper. He's a tough kid. I feel like a real asshole right now for pushing him so much.

"Karma! You need to-"

"No. I don't think it had any means of escaping."

That's all I needed to hear. I reach for my phone and call Bakama Shinji and alert him of the potential threat. I tell him what Karma said, and that he should fire the Spear ASAP, and post reinforcement troops equipped with anti-tentacle weaponry around the vicinity of the mountain to look for signs of the creature's escape. Bakama hangs up immediately after I finish speaking without saying a word. He obviously understands the gravity of the situation and I know he'll do everything possible to address this pressing concern.

I look back at Karma. He's no longer shuddering, his breathing is back to normal.

"Karma?"

A soft snore is his reply. I gaze up at the ceiling absent-mindedly, trying to speculate possible suspects. It has to be someone who knows E-class, and has ties to the government or military. Nobody else could've known about the situation tonight, and without ties to the government it would have been impossible to procure the tentacle serum, because that information was top classified. The culprit somehow knew that E-class would be going to see Korosensei tonight. Assuming the beast that attacked the students tonight is the same person that killed Nagisa's mother - which is a logical conclusion - and given the fact that Shield was erected a full week ago, There's only one possible deduction. The killer must've murdered Nagisa's mother earlier in the night as a human, then passed through Shield, injected himself or herself with the tentacle serum, and then gone up to E class where he or she awaited for the students' arrival. So the one responsible for the atrocities tonight has ties with the government, knows E-class very well, and seems to hold a grudge particularly against Nagisa. I'm sure these filters narrow down the list of suspects greatly, but my mind is racing so much, overloaded with information that I can't think of anyone in particular.

I look at my phone again. It's 11:43. As if on cue, a bright light suddenly floods the entire house, momentarily blinding me.

Spear has fired.

I open my eyes as the light dies down a little bit. Through squinted eyes, I can see a massive pillar of red light striking down from the heavens into the top of Kunugigaoka's mountain. It's a mesmerizing and reassuring spectacle, for I know that it is purging the world of a horrible abomination.

Just as quickly as it came down, the beam becomes thinner and thinner, dimmer and dimmer until the horizon is once again plunged in darkness. I blink, and it's as if it never even happened. But the lack of a red glow in the night sky confirms that the spectacular beam of light had indeed been launched.

I let out a sigh of relief.

There's only one thing left to do now.

I get up and carefully sling Karma and Nagisa over my shoulders, carrying them upstairs and into the guest room, a few doors down from my own. Why I even have a guest room is beyond me, the house came with it and I never bothered to change it. I pull back the covers, which proves to be challenging with two bodies slung over my shoulders, and carefully set them both on the bed next to each other. I only have the one extra bed. I leave the bedroom quietly and shut the door.

Now to my next destination. I creep down to my cellar and grab the first full bottle of whiskey I can find, which happens to be a 60 year old Nikka I had been saving for a special occasion. Fine by me, the stronger the better. I walk back up to the main floor, and after grabbing a shot glass, I take a seat at the kitchen table. I pop it open and take a long drink, gulping down two mouthfuls before I remove the bottle from my lips. As The liquor travels down my throat, it leaves a wonderful burning sensation in its wake. I immediately bring the bottle back up for another mouthful. I rarely drink alcohol. I try to avoid it aside from an occasional beer now and again, or during special events or celebrations. I hate being even slightly inebriated. I like being in complete control of my thoughts and actions, and so my whole life I've generally avoided alcohol, and put a taboo on non-medicinal drugs. But tonight is a necessary exception. I really need to be drunk right now. I take another long gulp. I let out a satisfied sigh, and I can taste the strong aftertaste of the beverage on my breath.

I fill my shot glass to the brim, and with a swift backwards tip of my head, I down the warming fluid. I can feel my cheeks turn rosy. I wipe my mouth with my sleeve. My original hope to drink myself into an incoherent stupor and forget about tonight backfires as my mind subconsciously keeps going over the events of tonight between sips, drawing the same tormenting conclusion that I had wanted to ignore, over and over.

This is my fault. I never should have allowed them to go tonight.

So this is what true guilt feels like. Not that guilt is a foreign concept to me: I've made mistakes in the past. But I've always been able to quickly look past them. But not this time. I can tell this guilt is much more genuine, rooting itself deeply into my conscience. My mind keeps going over Asuma Young's report earlier, and the word he used to describe E-class' students. My students.

Children.

Remembering the utterance of that single word feels like a kick in the groin.

It's been so long since I saw any of E-class' students as children. So long since I had recognized the correlation between them and the connotation of the word "children". I realize now, that at the end of the day, that is what they are. Young, inexperienced, and naive.

What was I thinking?

They aren't master assassins, or soldiers, or agents.

How could I have let them go tonight?

For the first time in a long while, I feel frustrated - no, infuriated - with myself.

Because I fucked up. I take another long sip of whiskey, attempting to fill the growing void in my chest.

I should've stopped them. I shouldn't have allowed them to go

Or I should've been there with them.

I should've listened to my gut feeling earlier. If I had driven there as fast as possible immediately after being dismissed I might've been there in time. I might've been able to do something.

I clench my fists so hard that my nails dig into my palms and they start to bleed.

It's your fault

A dark tone whispers from deep within my conscious.

" I know... " I grumble aloud, taking another gulp of whiskey.

The venomous voice continues,

Why didn't you stop them, Karasuma?

"Because… I trusted them and their abilities. And besides, they probably would've gone even without my consent".

You're just trying to convince yourself. Why weren't you there, Karasuma?

"I… couldn't be there. I had to stay behind and do my job. My hands were tied, I couldn't be involved-"

So you value your job over the lives of your students?

"What, of course not!" I take another shot of whiskey. The bottle's almost empty.

Then why weren't you with them? They're just children, Karasuma-

"I know". I'm starting to get a headache.

You should've been there. You could've saved them. It's your fault.

I feel my blood start to boil.

"I...know" I spit out with a clenched jaw.

And now some of them are dead. Innocent children, entrusted to you, to train and watch over. You failed them. You weren't there when they needed you most. You-

'I KNOW!"

I exclaim, jumping to my feet and hurling the whiskey bottle across the room. It shatters into thousands of fragments against the wall, spraying glass and the last remnants of liquid everywhere. The voice recedes in the back of my mind. But I know it hasn't left for good yet.

I sit back down at the kitchen table, head resting in hands. I take a few deep breaths. I feel as though all the guilt I've ever bottled up over fallen comrades in the past just came gushing out. My head throbbing, I rest my head in my arms against the table. I close my eyes and slow my breathing, focusing on just one thing. Sleep.

Finally, from a mixture of alcohol and exhaustion, the world fades to black and I succumb to a deep slumber.

I won't be getting up for my 6 a.m jog, that's for sure.

A/N: As if things could get any worse! What will happen now? How will Nagisa take the news of his mother's death? Was the malicious tentacle monster really eradicated by the Spear? I Hope this chapter wasn't too disturbing lol.

Next chapter: POV Nagisa.