Chapter 12: A life relived (prt 3)
Author's note: lyrics: I need your love by Calvin Harris feat Elle Goulding.
L'amour n'as pas de prix-means love is precious.
Kumicho:Local boss of Yakuza in particular regions.
Seeking Salvation
I need your love.
I need your time.
When everything is wrong.
You make it right.
I feel so high.
I come alive.
I need to b e free with you tonight.
I need your love.
Endymion's beautiful dreams had spiralled into the nightmare memories of his own creation. His months of emotional abuse had left her a nervous wreck, bordering on a deep, brooding depression. The endless confusion and self conscious torment, of never know what to expect from him, how he might react to the smallest situations. The stress on no knowing lingered in the back of her mind always. The dangerous game he played of toying with her affections. Treating her well for a long time, allowing her to relax her guard and start to act naturally. Then suddenly pulling away, growing cold, tearing away all the security she felt in their relationship out from under her feet. Metaphorically tossing her off that emotional cliff at the right times to inflict the proper mental torture needed for Tomoe's experiments. The back and forth between acting kind and cruel to her. A slow emotional cyanide that had poisoned her bright loving personality. Tainting it with personal doubts and loathing of who she was deep down inside. Of endless apologizing, gifts and praise that he only destroyed later in fits of rage and brutal ridicule. He never struck her, his words always brutal enough of a weapon to cause deep emotional wounds. That he wondered bitterly if she could ever heal from them. Hoping, praying that after just one more round of abuse, he would push her over the edge and she would ascend. It was killing him how the light in her eyes had dimmed, how she was changing due to his horrible behaviour. She was always nervous, rarely smiled or had the kind patience for the children. She had begun to whisper to herself, chastizing every mistake she perceived with or without him around. She was confused now, broken and acted very much on egg shells around him. Her inner strength and confidence in herself had long since fled, now her whole being was focused on pleasing him. To make him happy in anyway she could. Memorizing everything he ever said to her, seeking to act and think perfectly as to not rise his ire or disappointment towards her. The tragic thing was no matter how hard she tried, how much of herself she gave up she would never please him.
He had become her torturer, her emotional jailer, and ultimately her final fate.
Beryl had been relentless in her attempts to protect and vindicate her only real friend. She had tossed rotten eggs into his room more then once. Ruined a whole washer full of his clothes down in their communal laundry, by dumping a bottle of bleach into the water. Left nasty notes of revenge and retribution under his door. That were becoming almost psychotic in nature. The other kids her age shunned Beryl. She never quite fit in, acting to grown up, to serious and with her sharp tongue it only made things worse. Serenity had been her only true support here, otherwise she would be left to fend for herself all alone. An eccentric little freak who had no place to belong. An eternal outsider alway cast aside and easily forgotten. Which is exactly what Endymion wanted. He had made Serenity choose him or the lonely little girl a long time ago. Forcing that choice was a nasty bit of emotional ransom that had ultimately froze her heart. She naturally choose him and begun to shun Beryl as well. Treating her with a dismissive, uncaring attitude that broke the little girls heart. He had watched the agony of treating Beryl so cruelly, tore at her soul. She was turning into someone she truly hated, but she loved him so much, was so frightened that he would leave her. She was willing to shed her old self and become someone he could love. He had understood Serenity deepest fear, had attacked her weaknesses to serve Tomoe's purpose. She feared that he would hate her too. That he would stop loving her and just disappear as her
mother had. She would do anything to keep him loving her, she couldn't bear to loose another person she cared so deeply about.
She had in the end become his willing puppet, eager to do what ever he wanted to keep the peace between them. To keep his love strong and unbreakable. Having long since lost her true self to his web of manipulation.
Beryl's childish revenge stopped soon after that, becoming a silent loathing that penetrated him like an icy burn, every time they were forced to be in the same room together. He knew nothing about her, had never bothered to even talk to her much. If he had, perhaps it would have saved them their tragic fate later on. For Beryl was a survivor, strong in spirit, stubborn, obstinate and unwavering in her beliefs. Her hatred of him and everyone including Serenity now had become absolute. Soon to become a driving force in her life. As she sought in adulthood to destroy every last one of them. Vowing to herself as a child that she would be the most powerful person. She would rule the world and reshape it how she pleased. No one would hurt her then.
So until that day, she would not mind being, ridiculed, hated, always alone. She wouldn't let the loneliness she felt consume her. Wallowing in her hatred, her resentments and unjust rage. Refusing to feel any sort of regret of her brutality of other's burden her. She would work hard to achieve her goals of becoming stronger, more powerful and unchallenged. Then everyone would pay!
Spring was warming the courtyard slowly, the ground still partially frozen and barren yellow even after the snow had melted away. Endymion was engrossed in his studies at a back round table of the main library in the Cathedral. A decent sized room, lined with heavy bookcases. With thick oak beams overhead and a cold white marble on the floor. Heavy rugs covered most of the floor, with round tables and plastic chairs scattered in the middle of the room. He was sitting content beside the large stained glass windows, a smaller rectangular portion of the pane pushed aside. To invite the cool breeze inside, accompanied by the smell of damp grass and rain. Dressed in a navy v-neck sweater with a white dress shirt untucked beneath and jeans. He was lounging back against a plastic chair, reviewing his history text. Ignoring the eight year old with reddish brunette hair currently glaring daggers at him from the other side of the room. She was attempting to read her thin chapter book, but his pressence was distracting her. He had far more restraint and ignored her easily.
Serenity was is such a good mood, she was practically skipping into the room through the worn double oak doors. A huge smile of pride on her face. Dressed in a sweet jean overall style dress. With a white long sleeve shirt beneath, and white tights and cute black tap shoes. Her hair done up in it' odango and tails, swishing merrily as she crossed the room.
"Afternoon Endy." She giggled as she sat in a chair opposite him.
He paid her a mild glance, letting her know subtly that she was disturbing his studies. She knew how important school was to him and quickly clamped her mouth shut.
"Oops. Sorry. Uhm..." She caught the cold look he offered her and was suddenly ashamed and nervous. "I just wanted to show you something." She finished, ducking over her knees to dig a test paper out of her backpack and handed it meekly to him.
He sighed heavily as she continued to intrude with her petty needs for praise. Taking one short glance at the mark before tossing it back to her.
"Stop apologizing, it is a very annoying habit." he groused as he held the paper up for inspection.
"You can do better." He stated, starting to gather up his scattered texts and close his binder. Acting like he never noticed how her face fell, how the shine of tears began to form in her eyes.
He loathed himself, wondered if he truly was a monster. This cruelty came so easily to him, as if thanks to his grandfather genetics it was ingrained in him like a virus.
"But, I got an eighty percent..." she stuttered. "It's a math test...my worst subject." She moaned, blinking away tears.
"Maybe, but if you study harder you could get a ninety. " He bent over his knees and tucked his books away into his own black backpack.
"I did study...for weeks. You were there, you saw how I struggled, how hard I worked." She defended herself, valiantly seeking a single word of kindness from him.
He sighed long a loud, standing up and slinging his pack over his shoulder. His aggravation and impending dismal of
her very apparent.
"Were are you going?" She whined, staring up at him in confusion. He had been avoiding her for nearly a week. She had no idea what she did wrong now, worried he was growing tired of her. Her stomach had been roiling for days, unable to eat or focus on her homework. Feeling utterly miserable over Endymion's hot and cold behaviour she was now on the verge of sobbing.
"I have a-lot of reading, Usako. I have my own marks to focus on. You know. I can't spend every moment helping you study, just to pull off a modest eighty percent." He growled.
"I'm sorry...I'll do better. I promise. Ok. " She valiantly swallowed back the lump of tears forming in her throat and sought to subtly dry her eyes with the corners of her fingers. She desperately wanted to please him, knowing he was intending on shunning her as punishment for barging in on his work at the wrong time.
"Good, then work hard and if you can pull off a ninety on your own. I'll treat you to a special date in the city. Ok." He turned and gave her a small smile.
"You promise?" She urged. He was known to promise things and then forget. Her needs always pushed to the side, for his own homework, Tomoe's extra research he was helping with or his long drawn out phone called with his grandfather.
He grunted in mute acknowledgment, before taking his leave. Never truly making it right out the door, he remained lurking just out of view in the hallway. Wanting to see how far he had pushed her, to see how worked up he had made her. He had been preparing her tortured mental state for another round in the lab wanting this to be the last time he had to hurt her. It had been six months of hell and he wanted to stop, wanted to start repairing things. He wasn't like this, at least he wanted to convince himself that he wasn't an abusive monster. Yet it was getting harder everyday to see anything good in himself.
I need your love.
Serenity bowed her head for a few minutes concealing her pain. Her shoulders were so dropped, as if the last of her spirit had been defeated. Trembling and shuttering as quietly as she could, as she let the tears finally come. When she had composed herself enough not to feel embarrassed she slowly raised her head, sniffed and pulled out her math text and binder from her backpack. Setting to work on equations, wanting to prove to Endy she wasn't stupid. Her happy mood now soured, as she braced her chin in a palm. Tapping the easer of her pencil in irritation upon the lined paper as she glared maliciously down at her math test she had once been so proud of.
"He is nothing but a bastard to you." A small voice floated out to Serenity, pulling her from her dark thoughts.
Serenity raised her head up to confront Beryl's angry eight year old face. Her red tinted brown hair hung in loose curls around her shoulder's. Her angled sharp green eyes burning with a righteous fury towards her. She looked almost like a young wolf cub, her eyes more cunning then a normal child's, more full of a feral rage hidden just beneath the surface. The little girl seemed to wear the same worn out pair of baggy jeans with the knees torn out and a maroon and grey striped sweater almost everyday. Not caring anymore how she looked to the others, falling back into her strange, aloof, eccentric ways since she had no one to lean on anymore. Her face always cast in a sour grimace, a festering animosity towards everyone, now a living, thriving thing that surrounded her like a shield.
"He is trying to fix me." Serenity defended, haughtily. Turning her back on Beryl in an attempt to get the child to leave her alone. What ever friendship or big sister relationship she once had with the girl had long since wilted over the long winter. The only person now in Serenity's life was Endymion. Even Ikuko had been placed at arms length early on. The nurse did not approve of how flippantly Endymion treated her. She had intervened on numerous occasions, seeking to defend her young ward from his sharp, venomous tongue. Serenity had been forced to put the nurse in her place, exploding on her in a uncommon bought of fury. That her concern and intervention was not wanted or needed. That she was not her mother, barely even her friend anymore and she needed to back off! Ikuko had been stunned, if her feelings were hurt by what Serenity had said. She never let on, she just pulled back. Their relationship from then on had become clinical and professional, it was as if Ikuko had pulled a switch inside her heart and shut off all personal feelings towards her. Serenity heart had rent in half that day, it was as if she had truly lost a mother's affection once more. She had felt completely broken and had sought out Endy's comfort. He had been to busy helping Tomoe, shooing her away like pest. Stating he would come to her room later to find out what was wrong. She had innocently believed him and retreated to her room. Where she dealt with her own misery on her own, as Endy never showed up to reassure her. What was even worse was the dark haired woman had mysteriously disappeared over a month prior.
Endymion had successfully striped Serenity of any emotional ties, any support system that might save her. She was completely at his and Tomoe's mercy. A tag team of emotional brutality that had been eating away her soul all winter.
"There is nothing to fix!" Beryl shouted, her little hands balled into fists at her sides. She had been watching Serenity slowly changing, trying to act and be everything Endymion might want. She understood it was a useless endeavour. Serenity would never please him, never live up to his unreachable expectations, no matter how hard she tried. How much she gave up to make him happy. She was losing herself to him and it was eating her up inside watching it happen.
"Look, Beryl I don't need you butting into my life. Ok. " She sighed, her closed body language a silent push for Beryl to leave her alone. As she leaned away from the girl, her arms wrapped tight around her breasts, it spoke volumes of the distance now between them. "You don't know anything, your just a kid. So just go away."
"How can I! When I see him treating you so badly." Beryl crossed her arms, stubbornly refusing to leave.
"Easy! Ignore me as I've been ignoring you. Your a weird, nasty little kid. Endymion told me all about your little revenge a couple weeks ago." Serenity narrowed her eyes up at Beryl, accusation and disgust clear in her heated gaze.
Beryl swallowed, hearing such hurtful words from her was common place now. As Endymion abused her, she in turn took her power back by being cruel to Beryl. The rest of the kids having been smart enough to leave her alone.
"Dead mice from the kitchen traps...You stuffed them in his clean socks down in the laundry room!" She shouted in horror. "That's just psychotic and creepy!"
Beryl thinned her lips into a white line her eyes watering. She was the only one standing up for Serenity. Since Serenity had long since stopped standing up for herself. She just stood there and took the abuse like a beaten dog.
"Look, I just want you to leave me and Endymion alone. Are you stupid or something, can you not see how fucked up in the head you are. I want nothing to do with you anymore. So just go away!" Serenity face was red with rage as she shouted back at Beryl.
"Right...Onee-san." Beryl snarled, as if the word big sister was a curse. Her little heart finally shattering in her tiny breast.
She had finally gave up on Serenity, she was truly all alone in this life.
"And don't call me that! It gives me the shiver's coming from a psycho little kid, like you. " Serenity called back, as Beryl turned away with a pained grimace. Her chin thrust downward in an indignation, returning to her book. Serenity was becoming a nasty piece of work just like Endymion.
I take a deep b reath every time I pass your door.
know your there b ut I can't see you anymore. And that's the reason.
You're in the dark.
I've b een a stranger ever since we fell apart. And I feel so helpless here.
Watch my eyes are filled with fear. Tell me do you feel the same. Hold me in your arms again.
Darien reluctantly opened his eyes, the shadowed interior of a cage swam before him. The bars rusted and bronzed from age. He could smell the sour stench of feces and straw, as he slowly struggled up to a seated position on the cold cement of his cell. He could hear the heavy breathing and low snarls of creatures in the darkness beyond his bars. It echoed ten fold in his hearing, making his heart jump and his veins run ice cold. He truly believed he had been captured by demons and imprisoned in hell.
"You awake man?" A low, strained voice called to him from the deep shadows.
Darien swallowed, turning to the side to find a dusty blonde young man, his hair a shaggy sweaty mess around his shoulder's. His face beaten and bloody, his left eye swollen shut. Leaning tiredly against the bars of his next cell. His white t-shirt hanging stretched out over one shoulder, with blood splattered around the collar. His jeans ripped horribly several times around the upper thigh. The material drooping low, showing greenish bruises along his legs. Dark stains
upon his knees and lower calves that could have been oil or perhaps something far worse. The young man stared at him impassively, patiently waiting for him to answer.
Darien half focused on the young man worried his vision would transform him into something frightful. His mind was a mess of disjointed thoughts and half formed ideas. His emotional state was a turbulent mess. His rational mind was a fragile, fleeting thing. Coming and going like a small boat fighting against a stormy sea. Lost amid the crushing waves of anxiety and fear. He truly felt he had gone insane, even the boys words were half heard echo's in his brain.
Unable to articulate words, he merely stared mournfully down at the cracked cement. Leaning over his knees and ducking his head away. His heart was pounding in his chest, his body vibrating with adrenaline for no good reason. He felt sick and nauseous, retching miserably between his knees for a few moments. But thankfully his earlier meal did not make a reappearance, he really did not want to deal with vomiting all over himself. He doubted it would alleviate his suffering anyway.
"They worked you over pretty good too then. Darien? " The young man stated with a sad sigh. Shingo could not see very well in the musty gloom of the underground shelter they were held in. But he recognized the man who had gave him a home and family back when he was kid and needed it the most. Even if it was just a brief, hazy memory now. He still held an intense fondness for the, strong, self assured, dark haired man of his youth. After so many years of living in fear, Darien had provided him with a safe, secure place to live. It had been the happiest, more meaningful time in his young life. That sort of connection did not easily fade.
Shingo looked him over more closely, he was covered in sweat and his whole body was shaking as if he was some kind of junky coming off an epic high. Shingo was just assuming that Darien had been beaten as well.
The use of his true name gave Darien a sudden sense of clarity. He slowly raised his eyes, greeting for the first time with understanding the beaten face of Shingo. Now a man of sixteen, staring at him with watery soft blue eyes.
"You remember me." He breathed uncertainly, as the image melted away with his rational thoughts. As Shingo's half smile changed into a feral grin of a demon, as insanity took hold once more. Groaning and with his whole body trembling violently. Darien hung his head wanting to shield his vision as much as possible, suddenly feeling nauseous again.
Shingo chuckled bitterly, if a bit nervously. "You were the plumber back at Serenity's, you told me your name then...remember?" he offered, back tracking his mistake with an easy lie.
"Oh...yeah...I guess? " Darien mumbled. His mind was a cluttered, knotted mess. He could barely remember his name let alone what occurred several hours ago.
"So why were you at Serenity's ?" Darien inquired vaguely, not knowing if Shingo remembered his sister or not. But not wanting to sound like he was obviously prying.
Shingo rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted see her again, in case this crazy plan of mine blew up in my face."
His choice of wording again had Darien befuddled. He spoke as if he remembered her, a fondness in his tone he shouldn't have for a stranger.
"So you do remember her." Darien stated bluntly, he was never one to play games. Before merely flopping back onto the cement his body was on fire and he needed to cool off. Slowly unbuttoning his dress shirt to air out his chest.
Shingo groaned, knowing he had screwed up his cover once again. Feeling the stinging pain of his beaten body more acutely, he leaning heavily into the iron bars.
"Well...not really. I..." Shingo was flustered now.
"So you were wanting to re-connect with her, incase you died tonight?" Darien interrupted, not having the patience for his poorly executed cover ups. Slowly closing his eyes, basking in the cold hard cement. His shirt now fully removed and tossed to a corner. The sharp ice like burn upon his skin, clearing his mind briefly. It seemed physical pain eased the torment in his mind, how wonderfully ironic.
Shingo was silent for a long time, working through his turbulent thoughts. At the beginning of this crazy night. He merely had a sense of deja vu concerning the woman Serenity Moon. An intense desire to meet her face to face. The man now conversing lazily with him had held the same odd sense of recognition. When he had ran threw Serenity's condo earlier that evening. Laying here in the dark, his mind was forced to process the strange dreamlike memories now emerging. Faint, colour faded images that resembled old photo's then true memories. Surfacing from some murky fathomless
place that had been hidden from him for years. It was like thumbing through an album, images of Serenity much younger sleeping above him in a cot of some run down room. Watching her dressed as a cheerleader, dancing and spinning with such joy it made him feel giddy. Four young women that were her own age joking and taunting him playfully on the playground of some school yard. Images of hanging out in a small apartment with the dark haired man. A brotherly connection fluttering through him at every comforting image. Names floating to the surface of his mind of people that had meant a great deal to him in the past. People who were paper thin to him now, not quiet real yet.
"No...I don't' really know." He sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. "Honestly, she was just a cover to get to Tokyo with out to many questions from my adoptive parents." He admitted, an blunt honesty in his statement.
Darien clenched his jaw tight not liking that Shingo had used Serenity, perhaps playing oblivious to actually knowing her back at her condo.
"I had business in Ginza, which got me all the way out here in Kanto." Shingo finished not seeing the cold scrutiny in Darien's eyes. Shingo wasn't as honest or honourable as he used to be.
"Great!" Darien huffed, bitterly understanding he was officially in the middle of no where. "Where are we?" he sighed, rubbing his temples feeling so very tired and sleepy all of a sudden.
"The Onii Arena." Shingo stated bluntly.
"What!" Darien bolted upright, nearly throwing up right then and there from the sudden action.
"How the hell did you get involved in all this?" He shouted.
"I could ask you the same thing?" Shingo responded defensively.
"Are you Genesis born?" Darien just plunged right in not mincing words.
Shingo laughed, a hollow jaded sound that hurt Darien's ears.
"No, and I know what Genesis is." He stated bitterly, the horrible memories of being tortured and dragged around the world by a psychotic super powered bitch. Resurfacing as nightmares over the last year, leaving him unable to sleep and in the end researching the Genesis Project on line. "But no, just a plain old human." Shingo shrugged. "You?"
"Uhm...Yeah..how much do you know?" Darien was suddenly guarded.
"Just what I found on the computer. Some old project to create super human's. One of them went nuts and nuked a whole city. The project was then shut down permanently. "Shingo stated. " I am guessing a few of those freaks survived, or someone is trying to make more. Otherwise why create the 'Thunder Dome' " He raised his hands up to illustrate the arena just beyond their cells.
"I figure this place needs to be destroyed and all the monster's like'm need to be euthanized. You know, keep the world a safer place. We were not meant to blow shit up with our eyes!" He finished with a low bitter growl.
Darien kept his peace, understanding that Shingo knew nothing about him or his sister's power's. It might be better that way. He had a major hate on for all Genesis Born, thanks to Beryl.
"Some strange new drug started filtering into the parties back on campus. It gave people temporary powers, like a Genesis Born. " Shingo grew reflective, his voice low and full of emotion.
"Did you try it?" Darien asked, deeply concerned. Thinking back to Endymion's party and how people were acting strange.
"No Way!" Shingo shouted out. "I am not that stupid!" He defended vehemently.
"But a few of my friends got hooked on it. Things were getting pretty out of control at my school. Lots of fights and damages happening around campus. The police were starting a surveillance of the school. Then my classmates started disappearing and things toned down for a while. Crazy stories started up that they had run away to Tokyo. Then my girlfriend disappeared at the last party at my dorm. I left the next day to investigate those stories about Tokyo. " Shingo finished with a deep breath.
"Was she on that new drug?" Darien asked quietly.
"She only tried it a couple times. " Shingo admitted with a non committal shrug. "Nothing happened to her, she just acted real loopy for a while."
"Was she on it that night?" Darien pressed.
"I don't know. I took her back to my room to stay safe. She seemed very drunk." Shingo scrubbed his face in anguish. "When I woke up the next day she was gone and I was kicked out of the dorm. One of my dorm mates caught me sneaking her into my room and ratted me out to the Dorm Manager. Cause girls aren't allowed to be in our rooms overnight." he chuckled darkly.
"Did you find her?" Darien felt bad for him, understanding how losing the woman you loved could torment you.
"Yes, she was taken by Onii-hunter's. Just like you." His jaw was clenched in fury, as he glared out of his cell. "I found out the only point of the drug was to create new fighter's for the arena.I guess they are big money." he growled.
"Serenity told me about the Arena, it doesn't surprise me. That the serum is still being refined." Darien commented, sadly. Thinking turning high school students into a Genesis State then kidnapping them wasn't to under the radar. These kids would be missed and the police would be issuing a man hunt for someone soon enough.
Shingo narrowed his eyes. "So my..." He fell quiet working out his fragile memories. "Onii-san got you involved in all this...how does she know shady people like this?" He demanded, his clean image of his DJ idol sister now slightly tarnished.
"You know Usagi. She's a trouble magnet. Always was always will be." Darien smiled weakly back, not offering anymore.
Shingo merely stared at him before finally nodding in agreement. A small smile of fondness creeping over his face. Accepting that maybe since she was rich she would have ties to the clientele at least who betted at the arena. Darien had been training to be a fighter back in America. Maybe he was here to just test his skill against monsters? Shingo had bigger worries though so he left it all unsaid.
"So I came here to bust her out." Shingo stated, a waining determination in his voice.
"But you ended up getting your ass busted instead." Darien cleared his throat, shaking his head attempting to clear the grogginess away.
"Or it could be all a part of the plan." Shingo called back smugly, patting the back pocket of his jeans.
That had Darien raising his head again to stare at the blurred vison of Shingo's grinning face. He looked all disjointed and murky as if he was staring at him through the end of a glass bottle.
"What is wrong with you?" Shingo asked, his tone dry but very concerned. Darien's bleary eyes and sweaty countenance was disconcerting. "Your acting all strung out, like your high or something?"
"I feel sorta high...or something..." Darien groaned, scrubbing his face with his hands in a vain attempt to clear his mind. He had done a lot of drugs back in Vegas, had crashed off those highs in a big way. But the brutal feelings of withdrawal was nothing compared to what he was going through right now.
"Your not going to go all Genesis on me...are you?" Shingo asked, a slight waver of fear in his voice.
A rumble of shouts echoing just beyond their dark enclosure, drew both men quiet. It was the sound of highly excited crowds, all screaming and bellowing for their gladiator. The raw intensity of the crowds so very familiar to Darien. It was having his body buzzing with adrenaline instantly. As their gladiator's finished with the fight in the larger enclosure just outside.
"And that's my que." Shingo nodded, pulling out a crumpled up piece of paper from his back pocket.
"What's your que?" Darien crawled over the rusty bars, reining in his fears by reminding himself that none of the horror's he saw were real. Believing now he was just having a really bad trip. Able to control himself a bit better with that realization.
"Mika is in a cell around here somewhere." Shingo mumbled, flicking a lighter to life as he pressed the map flat to the cement.
From his odd angle, Darien could only make out the Kanji symbols inked over an array of poorly drawn squares, he had no idea which was Mika's name.
I need your love
I need your time
When everything is wrong
You make it right.
I feel so high.
I come alive.
I need to b e free with you tonight.
I need your love.
The wild shouting beyond their cells grew into hushed conversations, the scuffing sounds of foot steps approaching becoming more predominate. A loud vibrating clang echoed out from the dusty shadows beyond their cells, before a sharp flood of neon light shone in through a huge garage door. That was slowly being hauled upward manually by a thick chain. A huge monster made of pure muscle stood before the chain, wrenching on it with long fluid pulls of his powerful arms. His skin was an odd greyish white, the thin webbing of blue veins clearly visible beneath the paper thin skin. Dressed in nothing but a black pair of what looked like spandex shorts. His huge barrel chest heaving at every pull upon the chain. Massive shoulder's rippling and bulging around a twin set of tiny cue ball shaped heads. Their black beady eyes gleaming in the darkness with a mirrored sheen. Each wearing a leather steel studded collars making the beast resemble some sort of humanoid dog then a man.
Darien swallowed back the lump in his suddenly dry throat, his eyes flying wide in terror. He had seen a grotesque mutant like this before back at the high school. Yet it had been even more malformed then this poor man was. All the horrors of that fateful day was thrust in intense acuity upon his psych including his crushing death. Leaving him a shuttering, traumatized husk, unable to form the simplest of thoughts. The reality of the monster, was enhanced ten fold by the influence of his Genesis induced mania. It made his blood run cold, as if ice had formed within his veins. His body was frozen, if he was to move he felt he might just shatter.
"Darien...man...com'on get a grip!" Shingo lunged a hand through the bars and shook him by the shoulder's violently.
Shingo was honestly scared now, his cocky, once self assured bravado unable to cope with his childhood protector's sudden vulnerability. Darien wasn't blinking, barely breathing, just staring in unrestrained horror at the huge malformed brute lifting the main doors. If the man who personified all that was brave and strong in his youth was scared. Made him start to feel like a right good fool for just waltzing so fearlessly into this dungeon. His youthful sense of immortality now shaken, certain that his death was now lurking just beyond these rusty metal bars.
"How many other's are there like him...here?" Darien whispered, his tone filled with caution.
"Uhm...I don't know. The Onii are all different." Shingo shrugged, glancing around the bare cells now coming to view in the encroaching light from the main doors. He knew a few cages further on held all kinds of monster's. He had listened to them moan and whimper in the darkness for a good couple hours now. Powers and physical differences varied, as spectacularly diverse as the variety of personalities there were in the general population.
"I need to get you out of here." Darien was quickly pushing his fear down deep, his brotherly need to keep Shingo safe spurning a fragment of clear thinking.
"Not without Mika." Shingo hissed back, crab crawling back against the far wall of his cell. As a trio of guards dressed in all black suits sauntered into the holding area. Their chests bulging somewhat as bullet proof vests were worn under their dress shirts. They each had military issue utility belts, with several guns, holstered and a taser clipped on their hips.
Darien laughed softly, an odd thought that they looked like 'The Men In Black'. That perhaps this whole wild night was just some drug induced dream he was trapped in. That he might be able to wake up if he just willed it strongly enough.
Shingo cast him a strange look, now thinking his hero had become completely unhinged.
A small oriental man dressed in a fine royal purple silk dress shirt and black pants entered the holding area. The top of his bald head seemed to shine under the lights, a white beard adorning his smooth chin. As his hand toyed with coins in the pockets of his pants. Looking like what Mr. Miyagi might look like if the old man was a pimp.
"We are so glad you could come all this way." He beamed up at a tall, over weight gentleman in a dull grey suit. Who walked with measured steps beside him. His feet clicking upon the cement in gleaming snake skin cowboy boots. Dyed
an awful neon blue, the brilliant hue clashing with everything around him. Sporting a shockingly white pinched front cowboy hat. That dipped over his eyes, shading them slightly from view. A ring of long, wispy salt and pepper hair hung wildly below the hats ridge. Framing a strong yet weathered face, with the most piecing blue eyes. Dressed in a bright suit with a pale pearl dress shirt and black string bolo tie. The silver pendant in the middle sporting some etching of an aztec pattern. He wore simple gold ring upon most of his pudgy fingers, swinging a sharply hooked gold handled cane. A strange cross between Willie Nelson and Boss Hog from the Dukes of Hazard. Either way the strange juxtaposition between the two men had Darien reeling.
The shorter man was most definitely a Japan native, with angled features and almond shaped eyes that twinkled up at the large American he was escorting. As they past the cells closer to the main doors, Darien took note of how the little man was pointing and posturing. As if showing off prized animals at a zoo. Promoting them to the large, no doubt rich oil tycoon.
As they drew closer both Darien and Shingo could easily over hear their quiet conversations.
"It is intermission now, the perfect time to show off our gladiators." The small man's voice was low but proud. The annoying clink of yen a constant backdrop to his words.
"This is quite the spectacle you put on. Sato." The taller man stated with a very thick texas lilt.
"Well, the business of underground death matches is quite lucrative. " He nodded, "Adding monster's to the mix only adds to the excitement." His smile was smug and knowing.
"Yeah, from what I've seen you pull in a great deal of yen." The taller man nodded back.
"But, I don't know if this is quite right for my audience." He finished, his face falling into grim musing. As the smile slowly faded from the shorter man's face.
Darien gasped as the two halted before his cell. The Texan was Robert Walton, he was a long time promoter of many of the great fighter's to hit Las Vegas in the last ten years. Sarge was smart enough not to get involved in the politics of the fights. He negotiated him a decent contract with an increase in salary based on wins. When the old man died so did that honest contract and Darien's career in the American MMA fighting arena's. It was a known fact that any fighter who got mixed up with any shady promoter got unfairly paid. But most young men didn't care they were just happy with the fame. The thrill of being seen as some sport celebrity on t.v. It was alway fleeting though.
Darien watched with mild amusement as the two men began to morph into very real demon's before his eyes. It was fitting, seeing them in that context. They truly were predator's seeking their fortunes through the physical suffering of others. Like glorified owners of fighting rooster's, tossing their chosen cock into the ring to fight to the death.
"Look, you contacted me discretely over a year ago interested in my offer to bring the Onii-Arena to America. This is a very lucrative business with very little financial draw backs. Since you don't have to pay your fighters. I see no reason for you not to take my deal? Unless a man of your financial 'girth' is having cold feet." The short man laughed shrewdly, passing the larger man secret glances.
Walton took a deep breath, licking the corner of his lips in a calculating manner. Rocking back on his heel decisively.
"I have the means to make you a very rich man, far beyond your current wealth. For a very modest cut of your profits mind.
"The short man smiled up at him, as smoot and sly as a snake. "You will supply me with the Serum..." Walton mused.
"We have been able to synthesize our own, soon it will be in steady production. Our Kumicho wishes to expand our power and influence world wide. Your position as the head of our American affiliate would be guaranteed." He finished, bracing his hands behind his back in a patient manner.
"The man power and means to get set up discretely in Las Vegas? " Walton was chewing on the inside of his cheeks debating how wise this decision was.
"Hai." The short man nodded.
Walton was quiet again, the money he could pull in with an underground arena like this would be unbelievable. Working on the whole picture of risk and demand. Of how easy it would be to hide an illegal gambling arena like this in the Sin City? The prospect was risky but held promise. The young wealthy back home were bored, complacent sheep,easily manipulated to spend their money on cheap trends and any kind of thrill to find refuge in. Just to make their lives more worthwhile, more exciting. Having more money to waste then there was things to consume. This arena of monster's
would be huge! He would be a ground breaker. Ushering in a new age of illegal entertainment.
"We have a deal then, Mr. Sato." He turned with a proud grin taking the small man's hand in his and shaking it hard.
"As long as you keep up your end of our bargain...then?" Walton added, his smile fading with clear threat in his cold blue eyes.
Sato began to laugh not taking him seriously.
I need your love
Darien watched the two would be business partner's walk down a side aisle of cells across from theirs. Straining his hearing to make out the hushed conversation happening on the far end of the cell block. As they scrutinized what lay within.
"If I could offer one piece of advice. " Sato began. "Control your underlings with an iron fist!"
"These are just kids?" Walton was aghast, his voice thick with disbelief.
"An unfortunate mistake that we are currently repairing. I let my guard down and was betrayed by one of my most trusted soldier's. He was like a son...but I am afraid he sold the serum to a local drug dealer out in Osaka for a quick fortune. The local idiot thought it was just a more refined heroin cocktail. He unleashed a hell upon the streets, that I have paid dearly to clean up." Sato snarled.
"These poor souls will never see the light of day again." The short man snapped his finger's. "It is unfortunate but we must always leave no trace." His voice was drowned out by frantic cries of pure terror. Darien sucked in a cold breath, as his altered mind saw two inky black skinned demons that looked very much like the horror's from Alien. With long bulbous mouths filled with huge serrated teeth and dripping saliva. With mighty crowns at the back of their heads. Sinewy torsos that rippled with tight muscles, with dragging arms and powerful hind legs. Their thick claws clicking on the cement. Dragging a struggling young woman with long sweeping black hair. She was dressed as a roman sacrifice in an all white gown, that hung off her lithe frame like a thinest silk. Her face was streaked with tears, deep brown eyes darting around the gloom as she fought and struggled in their claws.
"Well that's just peachy..." Darien shuttered, his grip on sanity still as fragile as ever.
"Dammit! All to hell!" Shingo cursed in very thickly accented english, making Darien do a double take. As Shingo swore his own epitaph fluidly.
The young man was moving quickly now, pulling out two stiff metal needles from his jeans pocket. Reaching through the bars with them in his hands, his finger's twisting the pins and bolts in the lock with practiced ease.
"Hang on Mika...I'm com'in honey...I'm com'in..." Shingo chanted to himself, his heart ready to burst from his chest. He had felt two steps behind all night, watching her being dragged to the ring to fight for her life was killing him inside.
As Shingo burst out of his cell, slamming the old bars aside. Darien rattled the bars against his own cell desperately.
"Sam...I mean...Shingo!" He called in a panic, stopping the young man in mid dash.
"Your gonna die! I can help..." He urged, wrenching on his bars to emphasis his point. His deep blue eyes searching for that trust, that undieing belief Shingo once held for him. As an unconquered hero, who would always keep him safe. He couldn't allow him to run off into certain death. His need to protect, to keep safe what his Sere held the most dear.
Temporarily curing him of his mania, he was thinking clearly for the first time in hours. His focus was clear and centered straight at her crazy, brave hearted little brother. Who was about to through away his life in a valiant attempt to save his own true love.
"No time...man. Sorry. I just gotta get her out of here. " Shingo apologized, his face cringing with regret then he was gone racing through the slowly closing garage door and into the ring. The monster manning the huge door paid Shingo no mind, thinking the crazed young man was merely part of the show.
Darien screamed in frustration as his clarity was once again shattered, sprinkling back into madness. Left pacing like a caged animal behind his bars, fighting to get his mind to work coherently enough to devise a way out himself.
Shingo was going to die! He had to get himself together!
He could hear the roar of the crowds as the fight announcer began to introduce the combatants. Rolling with the added fighter to the death bout, as the betting began in earnest. Darien snarled and cursed, shaking the bars of his cell in a
futile fury. His mind working sluggishly and not co-operating. Coming up blank with anyway to pick the lock or bend the bars with his powers.
"Hmm, This will not due. " A gentle maternal voice rang from the heavy shadows further in the maze of cells. "This will not due at all."
Darien blinked in disbelief as a woman dressed all in black, her face hidden behind a dark cloth mask. The only part of her face to be seen was her striking blue eyes. They were familiar yet held no warmth. Staring out of the darkness like two shards of ice, full of only determination and perhaps a resignation towards the life she had lead. The heavy crows feet wrinkles along the corner's of her eyes, giving away her advanced age. She looked like a Shinobi, a Japanese ninja from the movies. With flowing pants and whisper quiet boots that ran up her leg to close to the knees. The kimono style jacket was wrapped securely over her diminutive frame, buckled with an old military utility belt. The small pouches filled with various tools and equipment she might need, with an assortment of dagger's sheathed in leather hilts along one hip. Her movements were precise, with no action wasted. An assassins grace clear in how she glided across the floor not making a single sound.
She moved over to his cell, leaning casually against the bars casting him almost hidden smile of amusement from beneath her mask. Her eyes never showing any emotion, remaining cold and impassive.
"The Sin of Greed at it's finest... Mr. Shields. That is what this place represents." She gave an apathetic sigh.
"How do you know me?" Darien inquired, quelling the ghostly shiver that past over him. As if someone had just walked over his grave.
She ignored his question, waving it off with an absent hand as if it meant nothing.
"My sleeper has awakened far to soon. It would not suit my plans at all if he was to die tonight." She stated casually, folding her arms over her breasts. There true size hidden under the flowing black fabric of her tunic.
"It is also unfortunate that you managed to get yourself caught up in all this." She added, studying his face for a moment. "She would have been happy with you...at least for a brief time."
Darien eyes narrowed, he had no idea what this lady was talking about.
"You see, my daughter is a rash, impetuous soul. She burns bright like a new born star, then slowly fades away. She wants to be happy, content and with out responsibilities. Yet her destiny prevents such simple sweetness in her life. Ultimately she can't deny her true self and in the end she destroys everything she holds dear. " The old woman sighed heavily, a jaded understanding laced in her words.
Darien's interest was peeked at the mention of the word daughter? Who was this woman? How was she connected to Serenity? How did she know her so intimately that she could judge her character like this?
"She has a death wish...perhaps it's genetic..perhaps it's my fault. Either way she is like a moth to a flame, trapped in an endless round of karmatic suffering and rebirth she can never escape from." The woman shrugged her shoulder's pushing away from the bars with a soft clang. Turning to face him with a cool, committed air.
Darien's face paled, his heart starting to hammer in his chest. The woman was speaking of Serenity as if she knew her, or had known her before her first death. As if she was some sort of human phoenix. Her strange aura of grim melancholy was like a jagged knife slicing through his mind. The idea that Seres was trapped in a sort of living purgatory in which she was forced to relive the same tragic outcome life after life. Chilled him to the core.
Yet it seemed from the far off depths of the old woman's eyes, that she had seen and lived far more then was required of a person. Her eyes looked ancient and tired the light long since extinguished from them.
"Who are you?" Darien breathed, again she ignored his question passing him a weak smile.
"We are in the middle of the end game, now" She sighed, staring off into some far corner of the darkness as if seeing someone there. Darien was both alarmed and confused by the woman's action. Her voice trailing away, before refocusing upon him again.
"But it can't be helped. I guess you will just have to be part of my diversion." She then pulled out a set of keys from a side pouch. "You see, Mr. Shields at this point, the Karmic cycle will either change or repeat. Every one of us has a role to play, a purpose to carry out. My duty is to destroy the unwanted player's in this little drama. To finally free her from their shallow plots. To give her the opportunity to finally ascend into her glory or once again destroy herself. So that we may start this all over again." She confessed softly as she thrust the dull metal key into the lock. Her voice sounding dull and
uninterested in the events to follow.
"Why are you telling me all this?" Darien confronted her, his voice low, a growling hush as if they were sharing international secrets.
"Because you are of no consequence, what ever secrets you think I told you are merely truths that she already knows.
Besides I doubt you will survive the next few minutes anyway. " She smiled wanly before dashing off into the darkness.
As he tentatively left his cell, he could hear the clinking of bolts pulling free of several more locks. She was releasing all the monster's that lay locked away in this holding area. Soon the roar of the crowds beyond the huge doors was overshadowed by the primordial howls and manic screams of the damned as they threw themselves down the narrow corridor's of cells. Darien stood in disbelief in his open doorway, as the snarling mass of monster's surged past him. With a hard swallow he moved from the security of his cell and was quickly swept up in the rushing fury of the Genesis mob. All kinds of half formed men and mutated demon's moved as a thoughtless mass, fighting amongst themselves and tearing apart anything that was't bolted down. Like wild animals seeking freedom they converged upon the weakest point, the huge garage door the sealed them into the cell block. They attacked with a blind fury, disorganized and ill prepared for the fight that would lay beyond. They tore at the thin metal with claws and various elemental attacks. While Darien hung at the outskirts of the chaos, merely taking stock of the monster's. He didn't know what awaited him beyond the door, but he wasn't going to go running blindly into it. This was madness at it's most raw, it would be a deadly free for all when they got out. Already he could see the weaker onii laying dead upon the grimy floor, taken out early by the mob. So far he had remained ambiguous, he hoped to keep it that way long enough to get Shingo and his girl to a safe place.
He held his fear in check this time, as it always sought to crush him. It had become a constant companion for him for the last few hours, waining into a dull noise in the back of his mind. That plagued him like a festering wound, that slowly ate away at his mind. He kept himself focused upon a single need, a simple action of protect and defend the one person his girl cared more about then herself. With that commitment strengthening him, he seemed to have slowed the destruction of his mind. He knew that eventually he would no longer have the energy to fight against the insanity and he would become a mindless killing machine like the rest of these monster's but he would hold out until Shingo was safe. In a matter of moments hell was going to break loose from it's cage.
All the years.
All the times.
You have never b een to b lame.
And now my eyes are open.
And now my heart is closing.
And all the tears.
All the lies.
All the waste.
I've b een trying to make a change.
And now my eyes are open.
Late spring...
"I do not approve...not in the least!" Ido was fuming, pacing Soichi's office near the lab. Well dressed in a dark suit and tie, a long grey over coat flapping around his ankles. He still held onto an umbrella, gripped tight in his left hand as if it was becoming a weapon.
Endymion lounged in a black leather arm chair in the corner, his hands clasped loosely upon his stomach. Dressed in jeans and a maroon sweater with a white dress shirt untuck beneath. Merely watching the politician and the scientist argue like some old married couple.
"I have almost unlocked her powers." Tomoe protested, as he rose from behind his immaculate cherry wood desk. A heavy, antique piece of furniture Daiki figured was carved straight from a tree trunk. With two wolf statues glowering over a cliff face holding up the thick table top. It was uncanny how those two wolves reminded him of both Tomoe and Ido...and perhaps now himself. They had all become predator's in some way, seeking to claim power through the slow destruction of their prey.
"Physical pain...I agree with. It will leave no lasting scars!" Ido raged, his logic lacking some what. But it didn't register his voice still filled with a passion so all consuming, all he could focus on was the glorious outcome. "But this mental trauma you torture her with has got to stop!" He threw his threatening glowering at Daiki. His wild salt and pepper eye brows raised in accusation. Eyes boring down upon him like a cold, calculating judge.
Daiki, who was usually quite pompous when confronted swallowed hard then hung his head. The guilt for how he had been playing games with her heart had been a constant weight slowly crushing him.
"But it's working!" Tomoe regarded him his voice sounding desperate almost whiny.
"I don't care if it takes another thirty years for you to unlock this power!" Ido retorted. "This abuse stops now!" He thumped the butt of the umbrella upon the dull yellow tile floor for emphasis.
"This place used to be full of happy children, eager to prove how intelligent and powerful they could become. Now it has become as silent as a crypt! They walk around like zombies, terrorfied of one another. Worried that any miss step and they will be punished or ridiculed!" Ido snarled. "The compound has been poisoned and I blame both of you for it."
Endymion hung his head, he couldn't refute how grim things had gotten here at the Cathedral. Serenity was so preoccupied with staying in his good graces she had begun to ignore the kids. Her own bright personality dimming, changing to become what she thought he wanted. Now she acted more like a carbon copy of himself. Taking out her own unjust treatment by him out on the kids. So now the atmosphere around the cathedral was one of unending scrutiny and sour comments. Everyone was hurting now. The stronger became predators, while the weaker cowered like prey.
"Your selfish actions have destroyed the potential of this place!" Ido finished, pointing his umbrella towards Endymion. "Fix this!"
"My research has been leaked." Tomoe stated in a low, growling voice. Ido swung his cold gaze back towards him.
"How...when?" He breathed.
"A few months back. Ikuko was a spy for the American's, she smuggled out a copy of my research before disappearing herself." Tomoe was seething, his hands clenching and clawing at his beige dress pants. He wanted to kill her, dreamed of griping the life out of her with his bare hands. Her betrayal would not be forgotten if he ever managed to find her again, his retribution would be swift and permanent.
"So we are in an arms race yet again." Ido sighed in frustration, rubbing a finger between his eyes.
"I will have to think on this...Soichi." He murmured, taking his leave with a resignation in his eyes.
I need your love.
I need your time.
When everything's wrong.
You make it right.
I feel so high.
I come alive.
I need to b e free.
Endymion had made up his own mind that afternoon, having retreated into the city for a gift. He aimed to begin making amends for his cruelty. Heading threw the silent halls of the girls dorm that evening. The long windows along the outer hall were all open. Allowing a wet, clear breeze to infiltrate the musty stonework of the cathedral. The glowing horizon shone just over the inner courtyard below. The brilliant lilac and pink of the setting sun an awe inspiring backdrop for the determined young man now striding with purpose down the corridors. The gorgeous sunset bringing with it a clarity of thinking that Endymion hadn't indulged in, in a long while. It was like something precious had died during the cold, grey days of winter, only to be revived by the spring's warmth.
He now stood before her door, a bouquet of dark red roses clutched in his sweaty hand. His eyes full of remorseful tears that he held in check with an iron will. He had approached her door humbled and very broken inside. Finally finding the courage to be true to his own heart, his own needs.
To hell with Tomoe...and his endless ambitions. To hell with his grandfather's undieing expectations of success. He had made the most horrendous mistake in believing in Tomoe, allowing his grandfather to rule his life yet again. He was a grown man now and he was going to finally take the rutter of his own life. This would be the start of a new relationship, if she would forgive him just one more time. He promised he would treat her right, show her how much she meant to him. He would never play such cruel games with her ever again. This time his words and actions would be honest and heart felt as they should have been in the beginning. Tomoe and his grandfather be damned!
Taking a deep breath, he lightly knocked upon the wooden door. Swallowing a very large lump that had formed in his dry throat. His heart thundering in his chest, he was about to confess to her everything. It was a fear so overwhelming he felt like he was slowly suffocating with the weight of it.
Serenity slowly opened the door, a small smile pulled upon her lips as she greeted him. Dressed for bed in a simple white cotton night shirt. That hung a little to much off her slender frame. She had lost a great deal of weight from stress over the winter. Endymion was now smacking himself he should have brought her supper too? Her long golden hair trailed freely down her back, her pale skin looking as white as paper from poor nutrition. He felt like the worst person alive as he took in her frail, almost fragile looking body. Never realizing the full extent of the damage he had done to her.
He stood before her his cheeks flushed from the crisp wind of the city. Long dark hair looking wild and unkept from the winds assaults. Still dressed in his jeans and sweater now looking somewhat damp and disheveled from his ill prepared journey through the city.
Her wide blue eyes took him in, the smile turning uncertain as she found the roses now thrust before her face.
His smile faded immediately as she remained standing completely poleaxed in the doorway.
"Is something wrong?" He breathed.
Serenity merely stared at the flower's with a distant almost scared look.
"You have never given me flower's before...is everything alright?" Her voice was small, nervous and very meek. He hadn't showed her a single kindest with out a hidden agenda for months. She had no idea how to accept the gift. Instead of happiness it filled her with a sense of foreboding that a very painful shoe was going to be dropped before her. She wondered when he did drop it if she could find the strength to overcome it.
"No, I just wanted to talk...we need to talk." he stuttered, while she stared a moment longer before moving aside to allow him to enter her room.
"Come in I didn't mean to be rude." She stated, her face becoming even more pale by his words. He offered her the roses with a hopeful grin, she responded back in kind.
"There beautiful thank you." She took a long sniff of the blooms proceeding him across her bedroom. The joy that should have been shining in her eyes was absent, instead a look of veiled sadness lay there.
Endymion hadn't been in her room in months, he had remembered how lovingly furnished it was back then. With a colourful round rug set in the dead center of the room, warming the cold stone floor. Her long window decorated with sun catcher's that refracted the sun's glow into a prism of sparkling colour that anointed her room until dark. Her simple iron bed dressed in soft pink blankets with countless whimsical throw pillows. The walls filled with poster's of unicorns and romantic pictures of knights and princess's. Small beautiful objects had cluttered her wooden desk in the corner, making studying upon it quite difficult. It had always smelled like lilac's and fresh soap, with just a hint of vanilla. It was her scent and it comforted him on so many intimate levels.
As he entered the room again his breath caught in his throat. The walls were now barren, the desk cleaned of all trinkets only her books remained. It looked more like a cell now then her own personal refuge. The only thing that remained the same was her bed now absent of all pillows except one and the same colourful rug.
He couldn't speak at first so startled by the change.
"What happened?"
She turned back to him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Were did everything go?" He waved a hand around her spartan room that strangely reminded him of his own. His heart dropping cold in his chest, understanding now how he had killed the person she was.
"They were a distraction, so I got rid of them. My studies are more important." She shrugged, heading over to her desk.
Not expecting any kind of affectionate greeting from him at all. She had long since stopped initiating or presuming anything from him. He had to often brushed her advances aside, stating they were ill timed or just plain clumsy. She didn't want to be hurt so remained aloof sitting back down at her desk, dropping the roses upon her open text book, to wait for him to start talking.
He brushed his hands nervously through his hair as he sat on the only place left, her bed. Serenity was taken somewhat off guard by the tears welling up in his hazel eyes. He resembled more a beaten dog right now then a the stoic, driven young man he had been.
Suddenly her heart was aching for him, wondering what had happened. She leaned forward uncertainly, placing a hand comfortingly upon his hunched shoulder.
"Talk to me?" She commanded, her voice soft yet full an uncommon strength.
Endymion released a heavy shuttering breath.
"I'm sorry..." He whispered brokenly, he had had a speech prepared. Having been working on it in his mind all afternoon.
But once confronted by the sheer pain and suffering he had put her through he had no words.
She pulled her hand back, frightened now by his show of emotion. Not understanding how to handle him since he hadn't been anything but ambivalent or judgemental with her for months.
"Usako..." He raised his head to face her. The words of his confession failing him as he found her crying silently before him. Seeing the pain and self loathing in her eyes, the war within herself over how she might have hurt him. How his pain was all her fault, everything was her fault...It was killing him.
He hung his head in remorse and remained that way for a few moments gathering his thoughts, breathing deeply. Needing to get this right...if he failed at everything else in his life he would be ok with that. He just needed to make her see how wrong he had been how perfect she truly was and that he had been a complete fool to follow Tomoe's demands.
"I'm...Sor...Sorry." She stuttered through quaking sobs, the tears streaming down her face and dripping off her chin upon her folded hand in her lap.
"Oh..Kami no!" Endymion rushed before her, sliding on his knees as if about to ask forgiveness. Reaching up and cupping her wet cheeks with his hands, his eyes pleading for her to listen.
"You are absolutely amazing." he blurted out. "And I have been a complete bastard to you!"
She instantly stopped crying, blinking away the last of the moisture to stare bewildered down upon him.
"Nothing is your fault...there had never been anything at all wrong with you." He stated, pulling her into a tight embrace. Petting a hand down her hair, as she now clung to him. Not used to this level of intense affections from him she instantly stiffened in his arms.
Endymion cringed as he felt her doubt over his loving attention. He had screwed things up so badly between them. How was he to proceed? How was he to make this all better?
He slowly released her, guiding her to sit beside him on the bed. Still holding her hand he stared down at her with a pleading in his eyes. Confronting yet again the wounded soul behind her own eyes, that seemed to be crying a warning that this was an illusion. An angle he was playing testing her or setting her up to fail in some way.
A trap...yes.
Her eyes were searching his for something truthful to believe in.
Endymion swallowed hard again, holding her hand tight as if it was the only anchor keeping her at his side.
He felt so inadequate so ill prepared to seek her forgiveness. He didn't deserve it, he didn't know how to ask for it either. But he had to start somewhere so he just plunged ahead, feeling like he was dropping into freezing waters. His whole body felt stunned and numb. As he began to bear his heart to her for the first time in months.
Explaining all the breakthroughs Tomoe had been making with her since the winter. How he came to understand that mental and physical pain was required to ignite the Genesis spark in her brain. How he had been helping him achieve this by treating her so unkindly, playing a cruel game of hot and cold with her. Trying to create turmoil inside of her soul to
finally break the barriers of her Genetics.
Serenity looked uneasy, staring down at her hands. The expression she gave him made him move away a little in response. It was a twisted grimace of both disappointment and horror.
"I'm sorry..." He moaned.
"Did you mean any of it!" She cried, her hands now curling into tight fists.
He looked at her with a surprised expression the statement was so vague he didn't know what she was asking about. It took him a moment to formulate a reply.
"I can only wish that you would forgive every slight, every cruel moment I have ever inflicted upon you and seek to only remember the times in which I showed you love and understanding."
"Really." She answered in a breathless pant, her gaze falling inward becoming distant.
"I am a fool, Usako. I stupid, stupid idiot. So wrapped up in getting this project to succeed I forgot about the true reasons I wanted to see this all through in the first place. It was a means to remain at your side." His smile was weak, uncertain. Reaching up he cupped the side of her face. "From the first moment you threw that failed test paper in my face. You have shown me how strong, resilient and forgiving you could be. I took that all for granted, the things I have said, the things I have done to you...I could never forgive or forget. I expect the same from you. But I promise from now on things will be different. I will be different."
She looked at him with surprise, her expression layered with a deep emotional hurt he may never be able to wipe clean.
"I can't trust you." She took a deep breath and dropped her eyes again. Then started to shift away from him preparing to stand up and claim some distance from him. She couldn't believe he had been hurting her on purpose. Playing games with her heart in the hopes to drive her to ascend. He had been the one true thing in her life she thought she could depend on. To find out he had been using her, lieing to her, hurting her consciously...It boggled the mind. She could not understand how anyone could be that cruel and calculating towards something they professed to love.
She froze as he moved far quicker then ever before, seizing her face with his hands and kissed her. His lips were soft and insistent, almost demanding. Her eyes opened wide in shock as he forced himself upon her. She instantly froze in his grasp, he had claimed that he was trying to make her better, trying to improve her that was why he had been so harsh on her. So demanding of perfection in every aspect of her. She couldn't trust him, couldn't trust that this confession wasn't a lie. That he would remain as open and emotionally honest as he was now. And not just revert to his old calculating, cold demeanour in an hour or so. That commanding personality that sought to control her in every way, to mold her into the perfect companion. How could he just love and accept her flaws. To be content with who she was after so many months of telling her she just wasn't good enough. Her whole world was now spinning out sideways and she needed to gain some perspective.
She pushed against his chest as he released her unwillingly. She stared up at him in complete amazement. Then dropped her eyes to the side as she found the profound look of desperation in his face a bit startling. She quickly rose and crossed the room, holding herself tightly. Seeking to reclaim some self-control she felt ready to break down into another bout of ugly tears.
After a moment she spoke, facing her long window unable to look at him. Focusing on the thin crescent moon ascending over the hills just beyond the courtyard's stone walls. The soft light pooling over the stones and spring grass draining all colour from the ground and casting it in a dull silver that made it all look carved from ice.
"You know...I have never worked harder at something then I have to change myself in the last few months. I have given my all to become smarter, more graceful in how I move, more articulate in how I speak. Everything you would admire in a woman. And now you come to me and tell me I was fine the way I was before?" Her voice was high pitched and filled with bitterness.
"You've changed to suit me. You now think the way I think, you speak the way I might accept. You now see the world from my own eyes. What I did to you wasn't fair and it wasn't right. I want the old, fun loving, goofy girl who was passionate about her own things. Who loved life and saw it as a beautiful thing. " He reasoned.
She went quiet again her answer when it finally came froze his heart. "I think she may be dead, Endy. I don't think I could resurrect that innocence, or that idealism I once had. I have suffered far to much to see the world in any sort of rose coloured glasses any longer."
"Then I'll make the world a better place for you again. I'll make you happy, cheerful and cleanse away all the pain and bitterness I have caused." He leaped to his feet. "Anything...Usako...I'll will do absolutely anything to mend what I've done to you." His voice was high pitched and urgent. He wanted to rush to her side and wrap her up in his arms. But her closed off posture made him keep his distance and wait and pray she may offer herself to him.
"I am finding it hard to take this all seriously." She sighed, staring off at some distant point on the horizon.
"But I am serious!" He relented, crossing over to the window to search her expression for any sort of positive response. She was now blocking him out, pushing him away she had every right to not want anything more to do with him ever again. But he felt if he had to live without her, he might just die of loneliness and regret. That fate would be a living hell for him and perhaps that is what he deserved.
Endymion watched her face, she was staring out the window without emotion. A blank mask he had inadvertently taught her. She was now able to hide her true feelings as readily as him. When once she had been a emotional open book to him. Now he was faced with the grim understanding that that trust...the trust to take care of her heart had been locked away. She might never trust him enough to show her true feelings ever again.
"I will make up for all my transgressions against you...I swear I will never hurt you again, or manipulate your emotions for me. I...need you to believe in me." He relented, raking his hands roughly through his hair.
"Why?" She narrowed her eyes, in distrust. "What is it you really want? Daiki?" She stated, her voice cold.
Endymion swallowed, she had never spoken his real name. Never gave voice to him with such venom. He could see the tears threatening, the flush of anger to her cheeks. His confessions had literally ripped out her heart bloody and bleeding before him.
"I want you to forgive me...To give me a second chance to love you." He sighed, watching as her look of disbelief melted into one of shock then finally fell upon silent contemplation again.
Endymion sighed and looked up to her ceiling, his chest was aching as if someone had stabbed him. A hot burning pain that throbbed through out his body. This moment felt like they were breaking up. "I need you to make me understand how you could choose this project over me? How your heart that was once so full of honour, loyalty and love for me would ever be swayed to torture me so insistently for so many months?" She shuttered, giving him her back yet again as she focused all her attentions of the rising moon.
"My grandfather...I idolize him, he the strongest, shrewdest business man. Always one step ahead of the other's back home. He had managed to pull my family out of the gutter of poverty and into a high social standing in Korea. Also he rules my family with both wisdom and an iron fist. I guess when he talks, I listen...he is very intelligent and he convinces me easily of many things. In the end I was always loyal to my family first no matter were my heart lies. I can't let him down, I couldn't stand to be a disappointment to him. " Endymion shrugged with a long defeated sigh.
"So it was your grandfather that convinced to do this to me? " She commented back.
"Yes." He nodded.
"Well, now I understand." She said kindly. "You love your grandfather it's only natural to want to please him."
"That's not it at all." He interrupted her, his voice filled with a bitter ugliness. "I fear him!"
"And fear out weighs love?" She confronted him, her anger rising.
She had put him in his place with only a few words. He had nothing to respond back with, left merely staring at her, another heart felt apology laying unsaid between them. His eyes bluring with tears, confronted by his cowardice for the first time in his life.
"I now know were I rank in your life. Daiki-kun. I was only a temporary diversion in your life. Someone to pass the time with, to enjoy a few hours of carnal pleasures here and there. It was all about being a success. Since you could not achieve this on your own merit, you were convinced to help claim those laurels for yourself through me?" She turned back to stare at him, as if he was something nasty she had just scraped off her shoe.
Endymion's face grew somber. "No..but...I"
"I figure you have been under a lot of expectations from your family back home. The golden boy...who could never fail at anything. " She kept on, never faltering on her cold truths as if she had spent many a night figuring them all out. Seeking to understand him in every way, while he had spent very little time truly contemplating her. She had just become the one
constant in his life that the took for granted. The warmth and comfort that was always available when ever he needed it.
He scowled and cast his head down he couldn't fault her logic. That was exactly how he perceived his own actions as well. He was seeking his victory through her, he was no were near ascending but if he could help her no matter how vile then he could say that he wasn't a failure.
"What then..." He could feel his desperations surfacing again. "What do I have to do to have you give me another chance?"
"Another chance to hurt me?" She laughed shrilly, her voice grating like a jagged knife in his ears.
"A chance to show you how much you mean to me. How I have finally come to my senses. A chance to act upon my true feelings for you. A chance to cherish you, to love you in all the ways your deserve. To spend time with you in an honest way. To gain your trust again that I can take care of your heart properly this time. To..." He stopped his words failing him, swallowing that huge lump in his throat that was now choking him.
She reached up and pressed her hand softly against his cheek. "L'amour n'as pas de prix." She began. "I do not think you understand that."
Endymion blinked rapidly, as she pulled away from him heading towards her door and opening it wide. It was her way of goodbye. She stood resolutely beside her doorway patently waiting for him to gather himself and leave. She had always spoken to him in japanese, giving him the proper respect to speak the same language that they both understood. It would be a very long time until she would speak to him again. Until he had earned her trust back she would speak only in her own native language towards him. It would be up to him to put in the effort to understand her for a change.
Rini was placed on guard over Endymion's body, still dressed in her ripped jeans, white leotard top and pink hoodie. As he was submerged into a stasis tube in the sub basement of the mansion. She sat bored upon a wooden chair, leaning back on two of it's legs playing games on her cell phone. The chair creaked eerily in the poorly lit room, that was so similar to a small six by six cell. With barren white walls and only one door and the glass container that looked very much like a glass coffin.
The pink haired teen currently rocking on the back legs of her once sturdy wooden chair. Glanced up from her phone only a few feet away from the clear glass containment pod, survey the murky green liquid like pond water that covered man's burnt body. Endymion's body lay suspended within the healing water's, only the crest of his face lay above the lapping waves. Every inch of him now covered in his golden armour, that had slowly formed over his burnt flesh like a metal scab. Looking like an ancient roman gladiator incased within the waves of the sea. Rini turned her head in confusion as she suddenly noticed wet trails ebbing from the corner of the golden statues eyes. It looked as if the comatose man might be waking up, if he was conscious enough to cry this was definitely a change in his condition. For good or bad she didn't know but Ido would want to know. He had been laying like a corpse for most of the night. Rini jumped off her chair, her strawberry blonde tails snapping behind her as she darted out the door to report to Ido.
