{Izaya's POV}
A low rumble woke me up. Not the rumble of thunder or an earthquake, but the rumble of something... something blowing up or collapsing.
As I looked around for the cause, I could only cover my mouth and stare.
"Izaya, what's going on?" Erin asked, sitting up, looking sharp and alert.
"Oh god oh god oh god..."
"Oh my god..." Erin gasped as everyone else woke up.
Streams of white-clad people bled into the night as the Omega building collapsed. Even from here, you could hear the screams. With a loud bang, part of the building burst into flames— something must've collapsed on the electrical systems or the like.
"They knew we were coming. They're trying to ward us off." Shizuo said darkly.
That was why I was scared...
"Bets that all the lower levels are completely untouched." Fierce muttered.
"Hope you're not putting money on that. When Celty investigated a destroyed lab in Japan, even the lower levels were totaled." I informed him. And I had seen. She had taken me there to search for Eidolon during the first three days.
"We should still investigate. When the fire goes out and everyone leaves." Erin said. "For all we know, they don't know we're here, they're trying to hide something from the local authorities. If we poke around, maybe we can find something that'll get them in trouble and flush out Eve. Besides, now you have me, Fierce and Shizuo. If things are broke or caved in, we can take care of that."
Sure...
Thinking about the first three days, I wondered how long it'd been... Those three... Another three... Several days of searching... Two weeks? Around that long? Was that how long we'd been living without Eidolon?
My hand went into my pocket, clenching around the choker in it.
"Tomorrow. Once everyone's gone. We're gonna go see what we can find. Besides, if OSI's just tryin'a warn us away, surely they wouldn't destroy everything. They'd hope that we'd get scared off and look elsewhere for your darling baby boy—"
"Oi!" Shizuo objected, his cheeks pinking a bit.
"— and then they'd move back in. Just like that." Fierce said with a growl. Celty nodded in agreement. I looked at Shizuo, who shrugged, and Erin, who was watching the building burn grimly. "So let's get back to sleep. We'll need our rest so we can dig."
OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO
{Eidolon/Adam's POV}
"The head of security's here." Tyrone told us, sticking his head into Eve's office.
"Oh. Thank you, Tyrone." Eve murmured. Her voice was dull and blank.
I blinked, looking at her in concern as Tyrone left.
She hadn't told me what these things in my head were. After her outburst last night, I had realized I was suffering from something similar, with the static and these pictures of people I'd never seen before in my life. Memories of running away from someone, getting hit by a car, and a quartet of people in a van...
She'd been so quiet, I was worried...
"Eve." She lifted her head to stare dully at me. I smiled reassuringly, saying, "Whatever's going on, we'll get through it together, right?"
She didn't answer, blinking. But after a moment, she smiled softly, bobbing her head. "Yes... I'm sorry. It's just a little nerve-wracking to always be in control and suddenly find it all slipping away."
"Well, you're a strong, smart, beautiful girl. Why anything would ever leave you is beyond me." I informed her, putting as much finality into my voice as possible.
Giggling a little, she stood up. "Well, should we go meet the head of security, then?"
"Sure." I smiled, glad to have cheered her up.
I tucked my hands behind my head, following her out of the office. I noticed that despite her seemingly cheerful attitude, her step wasn't quite as light as it normally was.
"Eve, honey, I love you." I stated.
"...?"
"But you're driving me nuts with this! You're driving Tyrone nuts with this! We're all worrying and waiting for you to tell us so we can make you better but you don't!" I said, grabbing her by the shoulders. She looked startled, jumping a bit, and I got a twinge of a 'GTFO' feeling from her. I compliantly let go, but stayed close to her. "Eve... Do you understand...?" I asked softly.
"... Yes... But I don't know if you can make this better... That's why I'm not telling, because I'm so confused about what this is. And— Hey, I told you last night!"
Dammit, she saw through that.
At least it perked her up.
"Well, we shouldn't keep the captain of the guard waiting, should we? Bad manners." I told her with a cheeky smile.
"Race you."
I barely even registered that before realizing she was already halfway to the stairs.
"OI! Get back here!" I yelled in playful mock rage. I took off after her, thundering down the hall. Whereas she kinda ran with swift, long, graceful strides reminiscent of, oh, a gazelle, I just kinda charged like a bull elephant who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. But as she came to the landing and turned right onto one of the flights of stairs, taking them two at a time, I ignored that and jumped over the railing. I landed on the floor with a very loud, ungraceful THUD and a bolt of pain up my right leg. "I, ow, win, ow." I said triumphantly, standing up as Eve stuck her tongue out at me.
"You should be more careful. If it hurts that much, you really shouldn't do that."
... Ow...
The 'ow' wasn't from my leg this time. Looking at this guy, my instant reaction was pretty much fear and ow-ness. I mean, he looked like Eve and Tyrone had spent too much time reading Frankenstein. He was composed of at least two people, cut apart and then stitched together to make one being.
And he seemed vaguely familiar, and not just in a manner reminiscent of the modern Prometheus.
"Eve, Adam, this is Kas—" Tyrone began.
"Mignon. Not KE, Mignon. Please." the patchwork guard said softly. His voice was... different. Two of them, overlapping into a bizarre, garbled mess that was kinda fuzzy and somewhat tricky to understand.
I blinked, suddenly noticing the sling he wore. It wasn't that he was hurt... It was more like the slings you carried babies in. Tilting my head a little, I spotted familiar wavy brown hair.
... The head...? They gave it to him as... a pet of sorts...?
Ah, he caught me staring...
"Nice to meet you, er, Mignon." I said with a bit of a forced smile, offering him my hand.
"Likewise." he said softly, accepting my hand. His grip was so delicate, like he was scared of breaking me... or maybe of me breaking him? I was really strong...
Mignon...? That didn't seem right... Like it wasn't his name, but one he adopted in favor over his old one...
He was bowing slightly to Eve now, and as he took her hand, I noticed it was with the same delicacy he had mine.
... Maybe he just... had a very gentle touch...?
OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO
{Shizuo's POV}
"Ow. Careful. Glass." Erin warned, nursing his cut finger and sucking away the blood.
I frowned, hefting the wooden beam over my shoulder. Izaya yelped a little, ducking, and Celty jumped as I knocked her helmet off. "... Sorry..." I muttered.
"Better be...! You almost took my head off! You took Celty's head off!" Izaya half-yelled.
I let the beam fall to the ground in a cloud of dust, throwing up my hands. Fierce yelled after me as I picked my way across the rubble. Reaching the edge of the ruins, I sat down on a portion of destroyed wall. Putting my elbows on my knees, I buried my face in my hands. Behind me, I heard the others arguing. I did my best to ignore them, tuning them out the same way I did Shinra back in high school.
There was this feeling, prickling at the base of my neck, the same one that used to tip me off about seeing Izaya shortly before I picked up his scent. Try as I might, I couldn't shake it off. I felt like something was going to go horribly wrong.
"Hup..."
I didn't move as Erin came up beside me. He didn't speak, but I could feel his eyes on me. I could hear Fierce whining about having to do all the work while we cuddled behind us. Izaya then objected that he and Celty were helping the best they could. The wind blew over us, carrying their voices away and chasing away the warm of the sun.
Like a bad omen.
"What do you think is down there?" Erin asked softly.
"... I don't know. Nothing good... A trap, maybe..." I said into my hands.
"Uh, sorry, couldn't hear ya past your hands."
Sighing, I sat up. I didn't answer for a minute, staring at the sky as I tried to swallow the lump in my throat a few times. "... I feel like something awful is gonna happen. He isn't here, but some trap is. This is a setup, but... I don't..."
Erin put a hand on my shoulder. "... you don't wanna crush Izaya, who's all worked up."
Swallowing, I nodded, hanging my head.
"Look. We'll go in, look around for two minutes, and come back out. Nothing major. We'll check, like, three floors and leave. Okay?" Erin offered, smiling softly.
"... Sure..."
"C'mon, I don't know how much longer Celty can hold those two at bay."
OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO
{3rd Person POV}
Blue eyes blinked. One rusty red and one honey-like brown turned to look at the owner of the blue.
"They're hesitating. They're in, but they're hesitating." they stated. A wave of their hand had the second relax, sitting back down. "As long as they get past the first floor."
The second didn't respond. Two-colored eyes looked down at hands that didn't match, clenching them into fists and unclenching them. Clench. Unclench. Clench. Unclench. Clench.
"Soon enough. Don't worry, you'll be part of all the action soon, Mignon." the blue-eyed specter reassured with a smile.
The patchwork person growled, frowning. "I hate that name so fucking much..." he hissed.
"Once everything comes together, you can pick a new name. But until then, just stay calm..."