A/N: I hope everyone's enjoying their summer, and their winter if you're down in the SH. Anyways, here's an update for you all.
With the last update, this fic broke the 50 follows marker. Thank you all for the support, I may or may not do something to celebrate this, I don't know.
Maybe I'll throw up a poll to see if anyone wants me to actually make something in celebration. Yeah, that sounds about right.
He really should have picked another time in his life to quit smoking. A time that didn't involve the amount of stress he was dealing with lately. A time that didn't involve all the political bullshit that was swirling around his town.
Or maybe just a time after he forgot what he was about to do.
Looking up, he easily spotted who he was here for and, when he approached, he didn't hesitate in calling out to him.
"Yuki" He said, drawing the attention of the passing mute, along with a large majority of the nearby students. It wasn't everyday that a cop pulled aside a student after all.
"It's nothing too major," Kurosawa started, giving an even stare to all the teens who'd stopped to watch, most of which didn't return it, "Just some legal garbage to take care of."
He looked at him for a moment, before nodding in understanding.
The cop turned and motioned for him to follow, giving a slight nod to Arisato and Takeba as he left. The two walked down the road before turning a corner, and then another, and another.
They turned down an alley and halfway through it, the mute stopped walking.
Looking back at him, Kurosawa noted the stern, questioning look in his silver eyes and let out a sigh, "Straight to business, huh?"
He patted down his shirt pocket before stopping himself.
"Right, look here Yuki, I'm going to be honest with you here, things aren't looking good for you. I've been pulling as many strings and calling in as many favors as I can the last week or so, but whoever that prosecutor is seems like he's got more than I do. The appeal I sent in to get the case dismissed was rejected. The friend of mine down in the lab got fired just yesterday and I doubt I'm going to be in my position for very much longer," The officer chuckled darkly.
The blunet said nothing in response, verbal or nonverbal.
"Bottom line is this: at some point, I'm not going to be able to keep the political big wigs and the like off your back. You've got your friend Arisato to keep any thugs from trying anything, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. With what time I've got left, I'm going to set up a few things to at least slow down that prosecutor. Hopefully, the case and trial will be delayed long enough that someone with half a brain in their head will come along and throw it out. However..."
Kurosawa took a step forwards, staring straight at the blunet, "There's something else going on here, isn't there?"
To the mute's credit, he only shifted slightly at the question. The cop nodded before continuing, "I've been shifting through every report, every scrap of evidence, on this case and almost nothing of it matches up. People vanishing out of thin air around midnight, times of death that don't logically make sense, unidentifiable wounds, and no witnesses. Something that I've learned from my years as a police officer has taught me that physical evidence cannot lie. It can be fabricated, tampered, removed, and/or destroyed, but it cannot lie. So, if the evidence cannot lie, but it is also not making sense, then what could be happening here?"
He took another step forward.
"Is what is going on here something that defies logic, something that goes against all sense?"
The mute took a half step back as the cop moved even closer.
"Do you know what is going on with this case, Makoto?
With the use of his first name, he couldn't help but flinch and then nod slightly.
The officer backed off before talking again, "I'd guessed as much. But, I'm going to also take a wild guess and say that it's not something that you can explain nor is it something that you could properly prove, yes?"
Another nod.
Kurosawa sighed, fishing into one of his pockets before pulling out a slip of paper, "Here, something to help you out."
Upon seeing the surprise evident on his face, he motioned for him to take the slip, "Well? Come on now, we don't have all day."
The blunet cautiously took the paper and pocketed it. The cop stepped aside before speaking again, "Alright, run along now. It's Saturday, you can worry about that later."
Watching the teen walk out of the alley and disappear around a corner, he couldn't help the self-depreciating laugh that escaped his mouth.
"What a joke, I can't even reassure a kid. That damn politician was right."
He could only hope now that he hadn't just signed his godson's death certificate.
Despite what he was told, what Kurosawa had said stuck in his mind for the reminder of the day.
So, when midnight hit and the world shifted into its corrupted state, Makoto was already at the dumpster mentioned in the note. Checking around to make sure nothing was going to creep up and take his head off, the blunet cautiously threw open the lid.
Waiting for him at the bottom was a crowbar and yet another note. Grabbing both, the mute took another look around before reading it.
This was the best I could smuggle out of our inventory.
- K
"Oooh, what do you have here?" Whirling around, Makoto came face to face with Pharos.
"It looks like you followed my advice after all," His grin widened, "Even if you weren't really trying to."
He frowned at the mysterious kid, before pointedly turning on his heel and beginning to leave. When he rounded the corner, Pharos was standing there like he'd never left in the first place.
"Now, now, now, I'm not here today just to mock you," He shook his head and held his arms out, "No, I'm here to show you something. Something you're going to want to see."
After what seemed like a bout of aimless wandering around Port Island, Pharos turned to face Makoto as they came to their 'destination'.
The blunet could only look on in silent horror.
"It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you," The kid smiled smugly at the look the mute was giving him, "To the Colosseum."
What was in front of him was, no, what should be Gekkoukan Highschool.
What was actually in front of him was nearly unrecognizable from his normal school. To start off, the gate that normally ran around the perimeter of the ground was completely gone; along with the rows of trees, flowers, and…
Makoto looked around further. All of the usual shrubbery and plant life that were scattered all over the grounds were simply gone like they'd never been there in the first place.
And then his gaze caught onto the building itself.
The structure ahead was clearly far past it's hay-day, with several walls completely crumbled and others well on their way.
He was already slowly walking closer before he could realize what he was doing.
Laughter sounded behind him and he didn't even turn to look at Pharos when he spoke up, "Well, now, no need to feel shy."
Swallowing the lump in the back of his throat, Makoto continued up to the front door.
If you could call a large hole in the outer structure a 'front door', that is. It looked like something had ripped the original entrance apart from the inside out. The steel supporting beams were the only things in this area that were still standing in a vaguely straight-ish way. He winched at the sight of one said beam that appeared to have been ripped in half. Definitely 'vaguely'.
All thoughts on what had happened to the front ceased when the blunet caught sight of the inside of the ruined building.
The name 'Colosseum' was rather apt.
The entire roof was gone, letting the moon cast it's reflected light over the ruins. The topmost sections were only just barely standing, with the available structure widening as one moved closer and closer to ground level where it flattened out into a massive arena floor.
The mute couldn't help himself, he dropped off a ledge and walked out onto the platform.
Without the ceiling, Makoto had a clear view of the waning moon almost directly overhead.
"Isn't it beautiful," Pharos was right behind him without a previous sound, "This is the Colosseum. This is where the End will begin."
He turned and gave the striped shirt wearing child a hard look, daring him to continue.
He shook his head in response, "Oh, don't look at me, I don't have any idea what 'the End' is."
The blunet blinked and Pharos was suddenly directly behind him, "But, I do know that things aren't going to get any easier for you during this time. That last battle, against the woman who needed a serious haircut, don't you think you cut things a little close there? You got lucky and managed to kill her on your first try, but just imagine what a monster like her could have done to you if she'd killed you instead. Imagine what something like that, something that can analyze and plan, would have done with prior knowledge."
It "She-"
Would "-would-"
Have "-have-"
Killed "-crushed-"
Me "-you."
Makoto shivered uncontrollably as his thoughts lined up with Pharos'.
"But," The jaunty look on his face unnerved the mute more than it should have, "That is why we are here! This place is perfect to train yourself. There's no shortage of opponents here and you don't even have to worry about collateral damage. Ah! Speaking of enemies, here comes some now!"
The kid looked over the blunet's shoulder with a smile, before promptly vanishing.
He slowly turned around and stared at the three figures that were approaching him. All three were practically identical, with what looked like light metal armor on their bodies and a rustic brown cloak down their backs. They each carried a thin, light sword in one hand and a small round shield in the other. On their heads appeared to be a helm of sorts, but Makoto could get a good view at it with the telltale mask covering their faces.
He gripped the crowbar tightly in his hands, feeling completely outclassed with his meager weaponry. Kurosawa might have meant well enough, but the mute did exactly what his gut told him to do: run.
Without looking back to see if they were following him, the blunet ran for the other side of the ring. An archway connecting to a dark hallway was the only opening on this side, and thus Makoto took it without thought. Turning to the right, the path opened up into a large corridor with a gradual curve to it that told him it must follow along the outside of the arena.
Slowing his run down to a jog, the mute silently traveled down the dark halls, looking around all the while. Statues of more armored knights lined the path, their weapons varying greatly from simple swords and spears, to more exotic blades and bows.
And then one of the took a step forward out of the shadows, unveiling the mask that covered it's face. He began sprinting again as more of them began to move. The sound of shifting armor and heavy footsteps chased him further, until a massive knight with a shield bigger than Makoto was stepped in his way.
The swarm of foot soldiers closed in when he spotted it. Just off the side of the hall was a doorway with a golden arch surrounding it. Encourage on by the sound of weapons being drawn, he flung open the door and slipped inside.
Upon closing the door behind him, all sound from the hall cut out entirely. Makoto would have thought about it further, if he wasn't currently occupied with what he was looking at.
The stairs he was on led downwards in a large spiral, a quick peak over the edge telling him that he couldn't see the bottom. But his attention on what was below him was suddenly dwarfed by what was directly above him.
A massive rift sprawled out along the ceiling, the mute quickly thinking to himself that he must be looking at the underside of the arena floor, small bolts of lightning crackling around in dark colors along the edges of the distortion. The anomaly itself was seemingly in a state of flux, the border of it almost undefined and whatever was on the other side of it was simply pitch black.
Makoto had scarcely made it down to a level section of stairs when a sound akin to metal being torn to pieces echoed out of the void. Looking up, the mute stared blankly as something was slowly traveling through the rift. It's head made it through first, the upper body dangling freely in the open area as the lower body slowly made it's way through as well.
The figure suddenly dropped down and landed only a few feet from where the doorway was, giving Makoto his first good look at it.
It was a foot or so taller than him, wearing what looked to be a tattered blue cape and equally damaged armor that had long since lost its shine. A helm completely different from the previous knights adorned it's head, casting a shadow over where the mask should have been on it. Like the monster that had attack him at the orphanage, this too was excreting some kind of dark fog. It stood up in a slight hunch with it's right arm raised upward. A moment later, a massive blade dropped into its waiting grip with scarcely a shudder from the monster.
The black fog pulsed before rising up in a flurry, the monster letting out an ear-splitting shriek.
Completely flat-footed on the stairs, Makoto could only barely raise his crowbar in a guard when it lunged down at him.
The strength of the blow lifted the teen completely off his feet and the stairs. His momentary flight ended when he slammed into a pillar that he hadn't even known was there.
He could only stare in shock, the greatsword had nearly cut his crowbar in half with one swing and was now currently the only thing keeping him from falling due to being pinned against the pillar.
The monster suddenly jerked the weapon away, and then Makoto was plummeting into the darkness.
A/N: Say hello to the replacement for Tartarus.
Say hello to the replacement for the Reaper.