Suggested BGM: Shadows by Lindsey Stirling
...
"This place…" Yokozawa didn't know when he got here. He was in a dark and dank room. The musky air reeked of odd chemicals and iron. The metal walls had hints of mold that protruded from their cracks. Small hints of light ebbed from a glass window that connected to another room, of which is unknown.
"I've…" He walked past an aisle with a large set of cages on either side. "I've been here before, right?" Looking into the cages, he saw little children who looked to be no older than twelve years old. The vast majority of them had lied on their floors, emptily staring at the metallic ceilings of their cages. Their tan, tear stained cheeks were slightly sunken in, probably from malnutrition.
In one cage, he saw a little brunette with rare eyes. Her emerald eyes ringed with gold were slightly dimmed as they emptily stared into space. Her disheveled wavy locks encompassed her small face, which was caked with dirt. Her light colored clothing had hung off her body like a cloak, showing how thin she was.
"…" In the next cage, a little marred fist pressed down against the floor of the cage. A little brunet clutched his bandaged stomach as he tried to get up. "Agh…" He hazily lifted up his shaggy head to reveal his fierce emerald eyes. His tear stained cheeks were slightly scrunched up as he bared his teeth in stunning determination. "Stop it…" He hoarsely commanded.
"Hah…" At the sound of a pant, Yokozawa turned to see a young boy across the room. It looked like he was struggling to stay upright as a group of men in lab coats had surrounded him. A pale hand relentlessly squeezed at the mark filled arm, as if trying to block out the pain. His shaggy black hair clung to his forehead and slightly covered his dimming sapphire eyes.
"Now be a good boy, alright? We've come so far…" One of the men had calmly told as he tapped the side a syringe filled with a transparent green liquid.
"Uh…" The tall boy had started to whimper as he saw the taller man come closer. Having nowhere else to go, the boy backed away into the corner. His terrified eyes looked down at the dried stains of blood that decorated the metallic floor.
"…!" One of the men, a blonde, had hurried over and grabbed the boy. As much as the boy tried to struggle, he had next to no strength as he was dragged over to the table in the center of the room. "A-ah…!" He let out a weak cry as the needle was stabbed into his arm. The boy shook even more as the plunger was pushed down, releasing the odd liquid into his body.
"See? That wasn't so bad…" The blonde had cooed.
"Now for the next one…" The dark haired man turned to the tray on the nearby table. Even in the dimly lit room, it was enough to tell that the man had demonically pale yellow eyes. Grabbing the next syringe, the odd eyes showed no remorse as they turned to see the young boy's body involuntarily shaking. The boy's eyes had shuddered around as he made strangled gasps that echoed around the room.
The sulfur-eyed man calmly smiled as he pulled out a vial and put the needle of the syringe into the green liquid.
"Stop…" Yokozawa had quivered out with tears surfacing through the corner of his eyes. He walked forward, wanting to stop the event from happening. However, he was stopped in his tracks when he felt chains wrap around his ankles and wrists. He was thrust down to the floor, incapable of moving. "Please stop it…" He begged, shaking on the ground as he saw the needle getting closer to his younger self's arm.
"I SAID STOP IT!" A boy had angrily howled. Before everything turned white, Yokozawa saw a bar of metal flying followed by heavy clanging.
…
"…?" He didn't know when it happened, but Yokozawa now found himself in a hospital room. The soft beeping of two heart monitors had echoed throughout the bleak white room. Yokozawa had cautiously walked over to the two beds that lied side by side. In one bed was a middle aged man with pain strewn across his handsome face as he slept. Bandages were wrapped around his forehead, letting the dark locks of his hair rest over them. The well-built man had his hospital gown open, revealing the large array of bandages that were wrapped around his stabbed stomach.
In the next bed was a woman with a long and beautiful face. Long and thick eyelashes lined her closed eyes, delicately brushing against her high cheekbones. Her wavy black hair trickled around her shoulders and rested over her plump bandaged breasts. Her bandaged hands gripped the bed sheets as she shifted around, fending off what seemed like a nightmare. "Takafumi… Takafumi…" She deliriously mumbled.
"…" A deep pang had penetrated Yokozawa's chest when he realized that these were his parents lying in these beds. "That's right…" Yokozawa clutched at his aching head as he recalled a distant memory. "When I came back, they were…"
"Grandfather…" At the sound of the melancholy voice, Yokozawa turned to the corner of the room to see his younger self and an old man sitting in their chairs.
"Grandfather…?" Yokozawa looked at the old man in surprise. "Grandfather!" Yokozawa excitedly cried out. He instinctively hurried over to where his grandfather was with tears in his eyes. However, he stopped halfway when he realized that his grandfather couldn't hear him. "Grandfather…"
Calming down, Yokozawa took in the sight of his grandfather, who was wearing a pure white lab coat. He was a very old man who held a lot of love in his sapphire eyes. His thick white hair was long enough to be pulled back into a ponytail. The man shared a lot of Yokozawa's facial features such as his long masculine face, sharp eyes, and subtly thick eyelashes. They even seemed to share the same tall physique.
Yokozawa then looked at his younger self, who sat right beside his grandfather. All of his limbs were covered with bandages to some extent. Not much could be made of his face since he was hunched over in his seat with his shaggy hair draping over his forehead. No emotion seemed to go across the young boy's dull eyes as he looked at his bandaged arms. In his bandaged hands was a small black ball. For some unknown reason, the boy constantly rubbed the top of the ball with his thumb as he held it.
"What do I do now? I'm a monster now. Mama and papa won't love a monster like me…" The boy shook his head in shame. "I wouldn't love a monster like me…"
"You're not a monster!" His grandfather pulled him for a firm hug. "You're not… you're my grandson…"
"…" The older Yokozawa furrowed his brow and had glanced over to the glass of water that was on the nearby table. He couldn't help but walk over to the table to pick it up. He then walked over to kneel at his mother's bed and lifted the glass to his lips to drink the water but didn't swallow any of it. Yokozawa propped his elbow on the foot of his mother's bed and rested his filled cheek against his hand. He looked on to see the scene unfold.
"I'm so sorry, Takafumi." The old man tightened his hug around the young boy. "Your mother, father, and I just fed you lie after lie…"
"Hoh…" Closing his eyes, he gently exhaled as if he were smoking a cigarette, only there was a watery form of a little fish coming out of his mouth. It swished its way from his lips and happily swam about in the air, shining from the stark sunlight. Soon enough, the lights had turned off and considerably darkened the room, causing the fish to glow a soft blue. Emptying the contents of his mouth, Yokozawa consecutively exhaled three more watery fish into the air. They all danced around each other, brightening up the dim room with their glow.
"But even if you don't forgive us because of what recently happened… if you don't forgive us because you don't know everything…"
"It's alright…" Yokozawa softly whispered.
"There's one thing I have to ask of you..."The old man reluctantly pulled a syringe filled with a green liquid out of his pocket. "I wish I could do more for you though…" He took a deep breath as he handed over the syringe to the young boy.
"Even if it was only for a while, you gave me the false freedom from something that others would've killed for…" Opening his glowing eyes, Yokozawa looked up at all the neon fish flapping their tails around. He couldn't help but feel a lot calmer at the sight of them. In his own hand, Yokozawa then looked down to see his glass transform into the syringe. All of the little fish flew down and phased into the tube, turning into a greenish liquid. "Something that Onodera would've killed for…"
"…!" Yokozawa felt a strong vibration ravage throughout his body. Dropping the syringe, he hunched over and hugged his arms in order to get rid of the unsteadying vibrations. He clenched his eyes shut before he sensed something approaching him. He turned to the side for the source and became completely wide eyed by the sight.
Everything blasted into whiteness.
…..
"…?" Yokozawa blinked twice in his new surroundings. "An arena?" There was a large stadium that seemed to be the size of a football field. The ground beneath Yokozawa's feet was pure dirt, kicking up into small puffs as Yokozawa had walked around to assess the arena. Around the perimeter of the arena was a chain of grates. Walking close enough, Yokozawa could hear the sound of running water. Looking up, he noticed that there was only a ceiling of earth from above.
"…Didn't the city have a-" He slightly flinched at the sensation in his stomach. Looking down, he finally took note of the bandages that were wrapped around his stomach. A memory flashed through his mind of when he was attacked by the leader. He remembered the mind numbing punch and he was pretty sure that something else had happened in its duration. He could remember the feeling of something being pulled out of him, but he wasn't sure what.
"Zen…" Lightly pressing his hand against his stomach, Yokozawa frowned at the last memory of Kirishima's face. His heart also felt a pang at the memory of Hiyori's blood covered, frantic face. "Idiot… I should've used it…" Yokozawa gritted his teeth as he suddenly clenched his bruised stomach with his hand, letting a jolt of pain course through. Despite the pain he felt, he still wasn't quite sure of whether or not he was having a dream or not.
"Hah… just what the hell have you been doing, runt?" A deep voice had called out.
"…Eh?" Yokozawa turned to the source of the voice. "Wait, you're that leader!"
In the stands was a lone figure. The leader of the group that had attacked the hotel was now standing in the front row. He kept his thick arms crossed over his chest. He had already shed the bloody jacket that he wore previously and now only wears a dark wife beater along with his pants. Small traces of what seemed like scars had poked out of the shirt and rested on his muscular chest. On top of the wall in front of him were two little black balls.
"And you're that stupid runt." The tan man had retorted. He scoffed at Yokozawa's bewildered expression before looking up ahead. "You might want to move out of the way though."
"…!" Yokozawa immediately turned and fumbled out of the way as someone had charged at him. Yokozawa wound up falling flat onto the dirt. He quickly turned onto his back to find the attacker about to pounce on him. Yokozawa had suddenly stretched out his hand to the distant grate ring and a stream of water had shot out of it. Yokozawa swung his arm in the attacker's direction, causing the water to launch at him.
"Gh…!" The mystery man had been flung into the distance by the surprising force of the water. Getting back up, Yokozawa held a sigh of relief when he noticed the attacker showed no signs of getting up.
"…" Yokozawa started to shake at remembering what he just did. He looked at his own hand and back at where the attacker had landed before stepping back out of fear. Unable to calm himself, he crossed his arms and hugged them.
"Hah…" The leader sighed.
Looking off into the distance, the attacker got up and darted back to Yokozawa. Massive amounts of dust were kicked up in his wake as he leapt into the air. Holding his fists up, he pounded down into the ground as soon as he landed nearby Yokozawa, causing large debris to float all around him for a moment, including Yokozawa. Jarred from the sudden burst into the air, Yokozawa was slightly thrown back but managed to land on his feet.
"Onodera?! What the hell are you doing?!" Yokozawa had gasped when he realized that the person who had attacked him was Ritsu. Clad in his dress pants, the soggy bandages that were wrapped around his wet torso, and the shackles on his legs were the only other articles of clothing. It was clearly noticed that Ritsu had also gotten pretty muscular while maintaining his lean frame. His hair had also seemed to have considerably grown, reaching down to his shoulders.
"Nn…" Ritsu slightly tilted his small head. A scar had already formed on his left cheek from where he was previously shot. His moist bangs had clung to his forehead, slightly covering his ferociously glowing green eyes. "Hah…" His mouth had parted to reveal unusually sharp teeth that could rip flesh at the slightest touch. This wasn't Ritsu…
"You… you did something to Onodera, didn't you…?" Yokozawa started to back away as he saw Ritsu walking up to him. The ground had cracked with each step Ritsu had taken. Yokozawa instinctively shifted the water around him into the form of a large ring.
"…Haven't we all?" The chill in the leader's voice had suddenly melted.
"You're…" Yokozawa was really confused with that question. "Were you and Onodera…?" He stole a glance at the leader and his eyes widened at the sight. The look of what seemed like despair had filled the leader's blue eyes as he looked directly at Ritsu. Yokozawa could already tell that there was some kind of bizarre relationship between Ritsu and the overgrown man…
"In the end…"
"…!" The entire stadium literally shook from a mini earthquake that had formed from a single stomp of Ritsu's bare foot. Cracks had spread to the edges of the arena, coming from the little crater Ritsu had created.
"ARGH!" Ritsu roared.
…
Down, down below the city of Tokyo was a large metal network of hidden tunnels. The system had spanned for miles underneath the city. However, directly beneath the Teito hotel was a train that sat in one of the tunnels. It was covered in an odd coat of metal that had shone a glint of green from the overhead lights.
"….Just what the hell is going on?" Inside the train car was a large group of people. They all wore long navy blue jackets that were worn over their formal outfits. The insulated jackets had protected their bodies from the chill that was all around them. On the shoulder of each jacket were the large letters, 'AF,' in a warm orange. They each wore a pair of shackles on their legs that were bound by a single chain.
"Hey! This isn't funny! Let us out!" Pounding away at the door of the dim vehicle, Henmi, Yokozawa's subordinate, frantically called out for anybody who might've been in the next car. However, there was no response as he kept pounding away.
"I want to go home…" One woman had whimpered, letting a small mist escape from her mouth.
"Won't anybody save us?"
"I doubt anybody besides those bastards know we're down here…" A deep voice had called out. Everyone turned to a dark-haired man sitting in the corner.
"Ijuuin-sensei…?" The infamous mangaka was intently staring down at the shackles on his ankles. His dark eyes were sharply narrowed as he lifted his head to make eye contact with his fellow hostages.
"We're on our own."
"…" Nearly everybody looked at each other in the stunning realization before looking down at the shackles that bound their feet. They all recalled wandering around the hotel for whatever reasons they had, only to be captured when the terrorists had made their move. Being blindfolded and knocked out before they were taken underground, none of them knew exactly how they even got from the hotel to where they were now in such a short period of time.
"…Dammit!" Henmi kicked the door out of frustration. Turning around, he crouched down to the floor and leaned against the door. He held his shaking head in his hands as little tears fell to the floor. "I don't want this…"
"Just what is with these men? What's the point of taking us?"
"They're just in a desperate situation." Another deep voice had explained.
"…?" Across from Ijuuin was another man. He kept his head down and his face was hidden from the hood that was placed over his head.
"Why the hell are you taking the side of those low-lives?" Somebody asked.
"We're probably going to get killed by these pieces of trash!" Another had yelled.
"…Have you ever thought about what they're fighting for?" The stranger asked as if trying to test them. He slightly lifted his head to reveal brown eyes. Waves of gold had trickled out of the hood as he looked on.
"What's there to think about? They're criminals." Ijuuin had retorted.
"Tsk. How annoying." The stranger clicked his tongue as he stood up.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"…!" Kneeling in front of Ijuuin, the tall man grabbed at his chains and pulled them apart in one tug. The broken link from the chain fell to the ground with one clatter, leaving everyone staring in awe.
"Despite their different natures, none of you have the worth to label any of those men as anything. Only people who've felt their pain have that right." The man put two fingers to his eyes to remove his colored contacts and revealed emerald eyes ringed with gold around the pupils.
"…" Everyone looked at the man who revealed to be Arihel, the head of the Onodera family, in awe as he removed his hood. However, the vast majority of them who never met him before looked at him as if he were some kind of god.
"But if you want to get out of this situation, I'll help you."
"Really?" Ari nodded. He was about to go to the next person before he felt Ijuuin grab at his sleeve.
"Wait… can you at least explain what this Queen's case is, if you know of it? Before I was taken down here, I heard that announcement and that title's been bugging me ever since…" Ijuuin asked. Ijuuin's dark eyes momentarily widened before they narrowed in realization. He shook his head. "No… it wasn't bugging me… more like pissing me off…"
"It sounds like you have very good intuition." Ari had said, earning a look of surprise on Ijuuin's handsome face.
"Will you?" Henmi had asked.
"I don't see why not." Ari shrugged as he proceeded to break everyone's chains. "A lot of cats are going to be out of the bag by the end of tonight."
"I'd say this underground area would be one of them…" Somebody mumbled.
"But to understand the Queen's case, I'll have to start with a bit of a back story. As brief as I'll try to make it, it'll be a while until I get to the actual event."
"Well, isn't that how you're supposed to explain any kind of story?" Ijuuin pointed out. Ari nodded off to him before going to the next person.
"It was basically an incident waiting to happen." Ari had told as he went around. "For a very long time there have been human experiments conducted underground. Many of these people wound up suffering immensely before dying. Others who managed to survive and leave wound up going into hiding so they wouldn't risk being targeted. Some stayed underground while others just blended in with society. But to this day, not a single soul has ever filed a police report about what happened… "
"How terrible…" A woman had murmured.
"Not entirely. There were some people who knew and dedicated their entire lives to helping the victims. Last time I checked, one of the most influential of them had a grandson that worked at Marukawa." Ari solemnly sighed as he broke Henmi's chains. "He was also a victim that my son used to know…"
"Really…?" Everybody had gasped.
"…Yes. He's even found a way to contribute to the cause. But as things stand, that person won't be able to live past forty." He didn't look up to see the shock on everybody's faces. "It's a fate he's already come to accept."
"…Just… just what was the point of those experiments?" Henmi had murmured.
"…!" Everybody in the train car froze when they heard loud and steady sounds coming from outside.
"W-what's that sound? It sounds too heavy to be a human's footsteps…"
"Gh…!" Henmi freaked out at the sight of the approaching figure coming from the darkness and stepped back.
"W-what the hell is that?!" The pale figure slowly walked and creepily swayed with each step. He was at an unnaturally tall, eight feet in height. The overtly muscular male had only ripped pants on, showing a large amount of pale skin. A clump of shaggy black hair had covered a portion of his marred face. However, the most unsettling part about it was the glowing green eyes.
"That…" Ari pointed at the window. "…Would be one of the most unfortunate of the survivors. The closest beings to what they wanted to create. An experiment…" The large person walked up to the side of the train car and tried to put its large scaly hands against the window. The moment he did, electricity started to form at the window's exterior and shocked the experiment's hands.
"Rgh…!" He jumped back in shock and held up its hands. The palms were charred and constantly releasing steam.
"A-an experiment?"
"No longer considered human, no longer considered alive, no longer considered anything, they can only be called what they were made from. That is what an experiment is…" Raising his foot, Ari shifted the chain of his own shackles underneath it. The entire train car shook as he stomped on the chain and broke it.
With a grunt, the experiment hunched over and gritted its jagged teeth before opening his mouth. "Raghh!"
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for waiting so long for me to dish out this chapter. It's a bit shorter than what I'd like, mainly because it'd be too long to put the whole damn thing in one chapter. So just to let you know, this fic will be considerably longer than i intended so i hope you can deal with that. There'll also be some dark stuff you guys might not like. I might consider putting this fic under M rated when it comes to that.
Also, in other news, I'll still be pretty busy because while I'm still dealing with college stuff, I've also been commissioned to illustrate some children's books, enough that would set me for the next year or so depending on how much my client can afford me. My client is pretty lenient about deadlines but I find using the money to pay off college for the fall semester to be attractive so I will be switching priorities as I go on. I hope you'll be able to deal with that. ^^;
Also, I've been thinking up another fic after this one is done. Well, two actually. However, I have some other fics that I really have to work on finishing before I start these two. I hope you look forward to them.
Please Review!
Until again...
