I make my way to the living room, Ciel is sitting on the floor, watching the television. The screen illuminates her face as she seems to watch it, in a daze.
Hisui is curled up on one of the chairs, still asleep. She must have been really exhausted to sleep so late. The same applies to Akiha, I'd never seen Hisui sleep before though. Her sternness is gone from her face, her mouth is slightly open as she breathes softly, she looks more like a child than the strict maid I've been so used to seeing over the last year.
I look to the couch, to see Kohaku.
My eyes widen.
Kohaku was gone, she was just gone... I turn to Ciel quickly. But before I can ask the question, she already answers.
"I don't know, I haven't been able to find her. I checked all of the rooms. And I didn't see her leave when I was on guard."
She tells me this as she continues watching the television. It seems that the national news station is reporting about the Undead 'attack' on the city. They are calling it civil unrest amongst the ethnic groups within the city. Obviously, nobody there knows what is going on.
Many reports are claiming that they belong to a cult that uses psychoactive drugs and that they believe the city is evil.
The reports conflict, they conflict quite a bit. It seems every report coming across is either outrageously stupid or just downright untrue. They were just making up reports just to calm the people watching down, as if there is any sort of control going to come to the situation.
There wasn't...
Not now...
Not anytime soon...
The people in this city, all of them, they may die. Becoming slaves to the Kiru and Soeki, to continue feeding and searching for me.
Ciel turns her eyes toward me.
"Shiki, there is one thing I must tell you."
I perk up, my gaze fixes onto Ciel's, listening to her, she says.
"We must kill the Soeki first, the Soeki harbors the responsibility for the existence of the Undead. If she dies, the virus within the Undead will cease to function and they will all die."
"Wait, you said before that the Kiru can infect people as well, what about those the Kiru infected?"
"I have an idea of who the Kiru is in this case. And if it is him, then he relies solely on his Soeki to infect, he's too caught up in his own importance and agenda to both doing this himself."
".. Who is this Kiru then?"
Ciel turns back to TV and resumes explaining.
"His name is Imaeki, he is an ancient Kiru. He has existed since before even the Church, going back to the beginnings of the True Ancestors. He was the first Kiru, although it is disputed. He fought many battles against the True Ancestors in a similar manner as to how he is searching for you. He relied on his Soeki and the Undead to fight for him. Although in fighting the True Ancestors, it was the only effective way to do so, but it seems even without them to bother him his habits seem to remain."
Ciel stood up slowly and closed her eyes.
"Without his Undead, his power lies in between that of a Dead Apostle and a True Ancestor. Much more powerful than even Chaos or Roa but not as powerful as, say, Arcueid at her fullest. With his army of Undead, he's basically unbeatable against anyone who is not an extremely powerful True Ancestor. As you may know already, the True Ancestors power is almost self-sustaining, except for the urge to drink blood they can exist as self-sustaining beings. The Kiru cannot, the Kiru must feed to survive, they are much more like Dead Apostles than True Ancestors. Aside from raw power and their viral-like nature they are essentially Dead Apostles."
Ciel sighs, her eyes look weary.
"Another thing to note is that the Undead transmit the virus as well, but is a fraction of the strength of even the Kiru, so if any of us are bitten we should be fine. Since we all, even Hisui, are not fully human, we can fight off the infection. But if we were to be bitten or infected by the Kiru or Soeki, we would likely succumb to it."
I nod, but my concern shifts back to Kohaku.
"Shouldn't we look for her?"
Ciel adamantly shakes her head.
"Absolutely not, it's too dangerous for us to look. We'd give away our position to the Undead."
I'm shocked, Ciel would just give up on Kohaku like that. I feel the blood drain from my face as I realize this means she suspects she is already dead.
"How can we not! She is probably out there hurt, confused, or scared! We can't just abandon her!"
Ciel glares at me.
"If she wandered outside in her condition, she is dead. There is no reason to search and expose our position needlessly."
Ciel's words are harsh but there is a terrible truth intertwined with them. I didn't want to believe it, I couldn't believe it.
'Kohaku is stronger than that, she wouldn't just be killed so easily'
I keep telling myself this, I wanted to believe it. But the more I told myself, the more it felt like a lie and the more my heart sank.
Without warning, I felt Ciel embrace me.
"Shiki.. Don't hate me for being pessimistic. I just don't want to see you get killed."
"Kohaku.. I know she isn't dead."
"I know you want to believe that Shiki. But those kinds of lies only hurt people, giving hope where there is none just for the sake of hope."
I felt Ciel's warmth, I close my eyes and the tears begin flowing from my eyes. I submit to it.. That Kohaku was gone... That I'd never see her smile or her cheerful attitude again.
And worse yet, Hisui had lost her sister... But she just slept, probably hoping to wake up to go back to taking care of her Nee-san...
"Hisui..." I mutter softly.
"It'll be terrible for her to hear, I know." Ciel whispers to me. "But she must know the inevitable truth."
We stay like this for a while as I empty my emotions into Hisui's embrace, she comforts me, just holding me there that morning. She says few words to me as I pour out what Kohaku meant to me, even though she was never as close to me as she was Akiha.
Just then I realized something.
Akiha... She'll be crushed.
After a little while more, Ciel releases her embrace. She stands and looks toward Hisui.
".. You tell Akiha. I'd be better suited to talk to Hisui..." Ciel orders me.
I nod and make my way to the bedroom. I close the door softly, as I turn around, I am greeted with the beautiful blue eyes of Akiha.
"Nii-san?.." She asks in a groggy voice. She must have just woken up.
I slowly walk to the bed and sit right next to her, my face betrays the news I must tell her. I can't hide my emotions like Ciel, not that I would want to but it would probably help if I could in this situation.
Akiha notices my look gets concerned.
"What's the matter Nii-san?"
"Akiha..." I say, as I reach for her hand and grab it.
Akiha looks even more worried, almost panicked.
"Nii-san, you're scaring me..."
"Kohaku is.. gone."
Akiha's eyes widen.
"Gone, what do you mean?"
"She... Apparently woke up and left the house last night. Ciel suspects she was confused and incoherent because of her illness and simply wandered outside..."
"No..." Akiha's eyes well up with tears. She doesn't even need to hear the rest but I have to tell her anyway.
"Ciel believes she has probably been killed already. She won't let us search for her because of that..."
"No.. No... No... No!" Akiha just keeps repeating herself, getting louder each time. The tears in her eyes overflowed and began running down her cheeks.
She throws herself into me and begins sobbing. I just wrap my arms around her and hold her as she wails, her body heaving with every sob. She was letting everything out all at once.
She was trying to say something but it just came out as broken, indiscriminate words. I didn't try to understand them, I just tried to comfort her.
Just then I heard a loud cry from the living room, followed by violent sobbing.
"Hisui!"
Akiha perks up from me, having heard Hisui.
I stand up and run out of the room, I can hear Akiha's footsteps behind me.
When we arrive at the living room, Hisui is on the floor beside the sofa, she had collapsed onto her knees and was sobbing into the sofa where her sister had been only last night.
"Nee-san!" Is all she said as she cried loudly into the sofa. Her crying was so violent that she struggled to breath, taking in deep and erratic gasps after ever sob.
Akiha, still crying sat beside Hisui and grabbed her shoulders. Hisui looked up toward Akiha, her face red and stained with tears.
"Hisui, we're here.." Akiha says, her face still wet with tears.
"Akiha! I want to see Nee-san!" She cries, as she collapses onto her, resuming her crying from before.
I watch them and realize this is the first time I've heard Hisui call Akiha by her name alone. A almost curse myself for noting such an irrelevant event.
"This will strengthen them Shiki, for now it weakens them but they will become stronger and closer for this. And we will probably need that unity."
I nod, even in such a tense and emotional situation, Ciel remains cool and calm. Always looking to the upside of even this situation.
Me and Ciel continue watching Hisui and Akiha cry together. I eventually volunteer to make breakfast, which was to be Curry, since that was practically the only thing Ciel had to eat in the house.
Eventually, we all gather in the kitchen around the small dining table.
The mood was still tense, emotions were still running high. Nobody was saying a word as we all slowly ate our curry. After what happened, it's unsurprising. My thoughts cannot help but wander to Kohaku... Ciel, the lifesaver of conversations, perks up however.
"I think we can all agree that running is inevitably useless. So we should fight this."
We all quickly turn our attention, wordlessly, to Ciel.
"But that doesn't mean suicidally rushing the Undead. We have to find a place we can live in as well as easily defend when the Undead do inevitably come."
The first thing that popped into my mind was the first thing I said.
"The School..."
Ciel nods, a smile curling on her lips.
"You are correct, Shiki. The school would be best."
"Why not the mansion?" Akiha perks up, in a half-dead tone.
Ciel shakes her head.
"The Mansion it too small and the grounds would allow for us to be ambushed. Th School's grounds are vast and wide open and the school is much larger and easier to navigate. It also gives us more room to hide should it come to that."
Me and Akiha nod in agreement, Hisui is simply staring at her plate.
"I know this is hard Hisui, but we must continue to go on. We cannot mourn now, we need to continue to survive."
Hisui looks up.
"I understand. Thank you Ciel-san..."
With that, it was agreed, we would relocate to the school immediately. Ciel explained that Akiha and Ciel would be the first to make the trip, using a very obscure route to get to the school, as to avoid any Undead wandering the street. Me and Ciel would follow shortly after, Akiha originally objected but Ciel explained that the Undead most likely had a faint link to me, since the dream familiars are attacking me and it'd be too dangerous for all of us to go. Ciel also explained I'd be perfectly safe if she was with me. After that, Akiha reluctantly agreed.
Eventually, Hisui and Akiha left, following the directions on the paper that Ciel had drawn out and given them.
We waited...
It seemed like an eternity but we waited in silence.
It felt like hours had passed. But it had actually been only twenty minutes when Ciel stood up.
"It's time to go, Shiki."
I nod, standing and following Ciel outside.
The sun was still on the horizon as we made our way down the stairs. Usually, there would be activity at this time. People going to work, students going to school.
But there was nobody.
There was nothing but silence, as though the whole world had been devoured by this terrible silence. Like the four of us were the only living things left in the city.
As we made our way toward the streets, I was extremely uneasy, it felt almost like claustrophobia but I pushed on beside Ciel.
Ciel suddenly stops and I stop with her.
"We waited too long."
Before I could ask what she meant, I saw what she meant.
Undead...
They were pouring out from the side path we came down before and from both ends of the streets, it almost seemed never ending.
Ciel turned to me, and in a flash, the Black Keys appeared in her hands.
"Stay here Shiki, if they get too close, just run. Don't try to take them all."
Before I could get a word out, Ciel took off into the sky toward the group blocking our path toward the school.
What I saw next blew away my preconceptions about Ciel. It blew away what I thought I knew about her abilities.
She had only made two Black Keys appear in both of her hands, and now I realized why: She was going to use only them to try and dispatch the Undead.
Her swords cut through the Undead and the air with a symphony of beautiful and grotesque sounds, she was killing Undead in faster numbers than my mind could tell me.
She was acrobatically sailing around the group, they never stood a chance, their sluggish movements couldn't hope to react to her speed. Arms, legs, heads, Undead fell apart almost instantly to her blades, the ground around the group began to turn red and black with blood. Ciel was effortlessly dispatching the Undead without mercy, a cold stare in her eyes and her emotionless face began to get covered in blood from her killing of them. Eventually, she jumped again, landing in front of me.
"Ciel..." I say, simply in awe of what she was doing, her movements were so elegant, so perfectly fluid, and she showed no signs of wear even now. She just took my hand.
"Forgive me Shiki-kun, but this is the only way."
"Wait!"
It was no use in protesting, before I knew it I was in the air. Ciel had thrown me.
I was sailing high in the air. I managed to look below me, I was sailing over the group of Undead. I cleared the massive group through the air, I felt the string of the air against my body, I was going much faster than I thought I was. I realized that I was going to hit the ground hard.
I brace myself as best I could, when I hit the ground, I hit the ground with a sick thud. I began skidding, rolling and tumbling across the ground. My whole body was screaming in pain from the impact and my left arm went numb. My vision became blurry and disheveled, eventually I stopped.
Miraculously, I regained myself enough to stand up, but I felt dizzy and a pain shot through my formerly numb arm.
I look back toward the group of Undead, which had turned around and begun to march toward me. Ciel was standing in front of them, and buried the two Black Keys into the ground. She quickly leapt onto them, balancing herself with one foot on the hilt of each sword.
"Shiki! Look away! NOW!" She yelled.
I complied and turn around, looking at the ground. I heard the sound of crackling, like thunder during a storm and the ground in front of me slowly began to gain a blue hue. The color became stronger and stronger, until it was like an extremely powerful spot light had been turned to my back, my shadow on the ground stretched along the ground. The light was so intense against my back it felt like it was almost on fire. I heard another crackle and then a the sound of a small small explosion which rocked the ground.
With that, the incredible light faded. And I heard hasty footsteps approaching from behind me and before I could turn to see, I felt my right arm get grabbed by Ciel. I stumbled at first then ran along with her.
"What did you-"
"Don't look back, Shiki..."
She said this with a deadly serious look, so I comply. But eventually I detected the faint smell of burning hair and flesh in the air and it made me feel sick.
We continued running down the streets, weaving from street to street without losing our pace, heading toward the school. But as we turned one of the corners of the streets, we saw a man standing in the middle of the road. He was wearing a beige overcoat, a very old fashioned overcoat with a beige fedora. He looked like someone from 1930's America, except this man was large. He would dwarf Akiha and was even taller than Ruro, he was at least 6 feet tall, probably more than that.
Ciel suddenly stops.
"Fuck." Ciel mutters.
For the first time, I heard Ciel swear. Which meant something had probably gone horribly wrong.
"This way!"
She pulls me in the opposite direction. But before we could gain any ground, the man had somehow appeared directly in front of Ciel.
Her eyes shot wide open and she prepare to strike the man, but he had beaten her to that idea. With one swift backhand, Ciel was sent flying across the street and crashing into the wall of an office building, he back hit with such force it put a crack in the wall. She fell forward with a groan and collapsed onto the ground.
"Ciel!!" I turn to her and try to run from her but I felt some sort of vice grab me by the back of my neck and lift me into the air.
"So this is the infamous Tohno Shiki. Or should I say Nanaya Shiki."
The man's voice was rough and deep. He spoke with an air of calm arrogance in his voice.
I just grunt, bringing my hands to his hand and trying to pry him away.
"Rrr.."
I struggle, my throat couldn't form any words because of the tightness of his grip.
"Ah, you have fight. Spunk. I like that in a servant."
I thrashed about wildly, trying to free myself to no avail, he tightened his grip even more and my neck went numb. He could kill me any moment.
"... What a disappointment. You are still far too human to have realized your potential. You're pathetic."
With that, he lifted me into the air further and threw me against the ground, my chest and face striking the ground hard. The sharp pain filled all of my senses and my vision blurred to the point of where I could barely see.
Pain...
I was going to die...
I couldn't see...
Everything was blurry...
"It looks like I'll have to kill you. I'll have to use my second option then. Good bye Tohno Shiki, I'm sorry we couldn't have had a longer talk but I can't stand useless people."
With that I felt something heavy press against the side of my head.
His foot...
He was going to crush my head against the ground like a fruit...
No.. I don't want to die...
I have to protect Ciel... Akiha... Hisui... I'm sorry. I let you all down.
Just as I closed my eyes and accepted my fate, the weight on my head vanished with a grunt.
I heard the sound of a pair of feet hitting the ground and of someone stumbling back.
The man groaned loudly. And he spoke with irritation in his voice.
"You never learn when to stop, do you?"
Silence.
"You stupid girl... The more you fight, the more foolish it makes you look. You cannot stop me, you couldn't stop me before, you can't stop me now. You forget, I killed you once, and I can easily kill you again."
No reply...
".. Have it your way, you're just delaying the inevitable. Consider this my last favor to you, I've run out of pity for you, next time we meet like this. I will break you again."
I hear a gust of air and felt the man's presence disappear.
A short silence... Then the sound of footsteps. My vision was still distorted so I could hardly see anything other than colors and outlines.
The footsteps stop right next to me, I then feel a pair of hands roughly grab my body and lift me into the air. I was set done on something soft.. yet hard.
I think back, I've felt this before.
Ah..
When Ciel took me home that night...
On her shoulder...
I was on someones shoulder.
I felt more movement and then a stop.
I felt like I was tilting, then straightening again, with lots of rustling.
I then hear a solemn and sad voice say.
"I'll take you to the school then."
A voice... A female voice..
But whose?...
I think these last thoughts before my vision finally fades out and I lose consciousness.
