Sebastian and Shinichi had heard the fighting and the gunshots before the others, and with a quick discussion with Migi and Ciel they unanimously decided that they would go towards the noise. Yukiteru and A-ya wanted to avoid it, but hey, I guess they just had to go along for the ride. They were still northwest of the battle, but they kept straight east and ended up just north of where the other groups were fighting, able to take refuge in the woods. Ciel was squinting at the groups south of them, trying to make out who was involved. The single hill made it difficult to see most of the battle from their angle.
"I sense two strong energies," Migi informed the others, and Sebastian nodded.
"That ridiculous Serpent is certainly involved," the butler agreed bitterly.
"Though there's more than just his group," Shinichi pointed out, gazing at the throng of fighters.
"Mm, it may seem that every other group is involved," Sebastian remarked, touching his chin thoughtfully.
"Really?" asked Yukiteru, appalled.
"I could be wrong," Sebastian shrugged.
Ciel's eyebrow(s) shot up. "Sebastian, wrong about that? Ridiculous."
"I… well…" Yukiteru hushed up, embarrassed. A-ya simply didn't speak up at all.
"In any case," Ciel smirked, "if every group is there, it seems we have a group to demolish, right, Sebastian?"
Sebastian blinked, then smiled in recognition. "Ah, yes. Group 2, I do believe… We did say we would get rid of them next time we ran across them, did we not?"
"We did," said Migi. "Shinichi, you did agree, so I wouldn't suggest making that troubled face." Shinichi sighed. "However, I wish to refrain from fighting this round – there is too much risk over there, and I think not fighting is preferable to me." Migi eyed his host with his single eye. Shinichi didn't seem to notice.
"As it so happens," Sebastian smiled, "I do still have a command to kill that other demon…"
"Um…" Everyone looked at Yukiteru as he spoke. The fourteen-year-old swallowed. "Uh, don't you think we should just stay out of this fight?"
"There are things I have left to finish," Sebastian answered coolly.
"Sebastian," said Ciel with a huff, crossing his arms. "Here is my order for this battle: Kill methodically. The most important background members should killed first, because once you're fighting the demon or whoever else Migi sensed, you'll be rather occupied, don't you think? And then those members will be quite troublesome…" He made that sly smirk again. "Take down the healers… the commanders. Any background leaders. Understand, Sebastian?"
Putting a hand to his chest, the demon butler bowed. "Yes, my lord." The demon left via the woods to watch the groups and get a sense of who to dispose of.
Shinichi watched with slightly narrowed eyes, gaze cold. The reason he'd wanted to come along was for the chance to save somebody, but it seemed the decision had led to the opposite of his intentions.
"…Shinichi," said Migi quietly, snapping him out of his thoughts. He gave a neutral grunt of acknowledgment. "I know your wishes. I still do not understand the concept of altruistic behavior; however… if there is something you need to do, I will aid you. If it becomes too much of a risk of self-harm, I will have to stop you, but until that time…I am on your side."
Shinichi blinked at Migi, a bit surprised. He smiled a bit at the parasite. As strange as it was, with all he'd been through, Migi had become to one closest to him… How messed was that? His best friend was his right hand… "Thanks, Migi."
"There is no need for thank you's," Migi answered dismissively. "I am simply offended by the fact that Sebastian used the term parasite as an insult when addressing Kuroha."
Shinichi chuckled. "That was pretty mean," he admitted.
"Yes, I do believe that is the correct term."
Shaking his head, Shinichi thought of what needed to be done while Sebastian made his proud appearance. We all go on.
"To you, Serpent…" said the butler after Tsuki had fallen, "…I must say that you make for a terrible demon. Where is your honor?" Then, just as quickly as he had appeared Sebastian was gone again. Yato grabbed the hilt of the sword named Yukine, disappearing moments afterwards.
Low laughter stopped the others from trying to find where they'd gone. "Honor?" asked Kuroha, eyes glowing yellow again.
"Kono—!" Shintaro was cut off as the android lifted him, rising from his sitting position and gripping the collar of his red jacket. The NEET grabbed at the arm holding him, legs flailing and expression in a grimace. "Konoha… I know…!"
"Konoha won't last long, fool!" spat the snake. "He can't overcome me – you should have let him kill himself when he had the chance! Just like a certain someone you used to know…hah?" Shintaro stiffened in his grip. "What was her name; that petty fool in the red scarf?" He laughed. "Yeah, wasn't it you who thought it was all your fault she killed herself? How rich! How stupid! Yeah, keep blaming your pitiful self." His grin stretched across his features. "Humans love so foolishly, even if they know they'll lose them. No matter how many times over this happens, humans never learn. Honor? What need have I for that? So long as I fulfill the wishes I'm existing for, there's no other rules I need to follow! Me, I bring to you the end – the stopping point of love and of ego! Beyond me, there is nothing else to exist! All of your petty lives; your hopes, your dreams, your bonds, your desires – they're all inconsequential to me! It doesn't matter! And in the scheme of things… it really doesn't, you know." He brought Shintaro in closer, and he tried to pull away to no avail. "You're all going to die anyway."
A crystal shard whizzed by Kuroha's head, slicing his ear in half. Kuroha looked at Seidou, who had finally freed himself from his frozen fear, eyes alight with determination. "Put him down! Whether they matter to you or not, they are our beliefs, and our ambitions! They won't go to waste!" He shot at Kuroha's arm, breaking the splint that held it together. The arm splintered again under the weight of another being, and Shintaro fell to the ground, hopeless. His grey eyes were somewhere far away. There was nothing left. Roppi was kneeling on the ground, hunched forward in despair. Tsuki was dead. That clumsy, awkward, scarf-wearing…
He was a lot like her, Shintaro thought to himself, feeling even worse. Yet again, I've…
When no one stood with Seidou, he began to tremble. Kuroha looked at him, eyes narrowed. Anger burned in those yellow orbs. Seidou pointed his gun, shaking, and Kuroha smiled, amused. "What was that?" Kuroha inquired. It sounded more like a threat. Behind the demon, Seidou could vaguely see Kaneki's kagune darkening and hardening as he became more insectile. Eyepatch was turning into Centipede, and if that happened, then…
No… The officer tasted salt on his tongue. No… Was he crying? Fright puncturing through the core of Seidou's heart, he stood tall. "They… N… no matter…." C'mon, Seidou… Bracing himself, he found his voice. "No matter who you kill, their deaths won't be in vain! If nothing mattered, we wouldn't keep fighting!"
"You know, your friends aren't—"
"I AM AN INVESTIGATOR!" Seidou bellowed, cocking his quinque, eyes on fire as the tears streamed. "I became that to protect people like them! So SHUT UP and go back to Hell where you belong!"
That being said, Seidou shot. The fight between him and Kuroha began.
Tsukiyama, seeing Kaneki in distress, tried to run for him again, only to be halted by Shirazu. "Dude! You're not getting past me…"
"I am severely offended by a fool such as yourself," Tsukiyama hissed, striking at him.
Shirazu jumped in the air and laughed, trying to kick the gourmet in face. "You're not gettin' rid of me, scumbag ghoul! I ain't done yet!~"
In all reality Shirazu was too afraid to look over to Kaneki or Psyche. He knew something had gone wrong; he could tell by the screams and by the way that Shizuo kept looking over with a really bothered expression. All he could do for now was refrain from turning his head. The best he could do at this point was keep the Gourmet from joining in.
Shizuo watched the scene unfold, mouth drawn into a thin line. Things were already starting to go wrong the moment that Kuroha had jumped over there. No, the moment Kuroha had caused a fucking earthquake and pretty much ruined everything. What's more, now that butler guy was around… This wasn't going to be a good time. How frustrating… And already, people had died.
Shizuo was angry, so angry about the whole thing. He was furious. He was mad at the game, he was made at the assholes who made it, and he was mad at those fucking demons and everyone else that was actually buying into this shit and killing people. Oh, and he was mad at Izaya, but that's just because Izaya was Izaya.
Shizuo looked over at Yoh, who he'd smacked around pretty well. His own blood was all over the ground, but he didn't really feel it so for now he didn't care. I need a fucking band-aid or something… He sighed heavily. Shirazu and the obnoxious gourmet were fighting fine over to Shizuo's right, and before him, in the sky, the butler and Yato were fighting and making those weird gusts of wind as they went. This whole thing was insane – he felt like he was in one of those anime shows that Erika and Walker always rambled about.
Looking at that maggot Izaya alone on the hill, Shizuo realized there was another problem: Psyche was no longer protecting Izaya if he wasn't around anymore… Gods and demons and who knows what else were fighting all over the place – Shizuo knew that Izaya could dodge pretty well, but when it came to demons he didn't think the informant could react that fast. Could he?
He's only a human, Shizuo reminded himself, heaving another sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose. As much as Izaya denied being human and as much as he fucked with people's heads… As much as he pissed Shizuo off, he was still a human. And no matter what Izaya said to him and no matter what he himself believed, Shizuo didn't want anybody else to die. Not even fleas. Well… human fleas. Cussing aloud and unable to believe what he was about to do, Shizuo kicked Yoh irately one more time before skirting around Shirazu and Tsukiyama to reach the hill.
Izaya watched the scene with growing apprehension. The switchblade was out, and the informant was distractedly twirling it around with his fingers. Was he afraid? Perhaps. He still had a biological predisposition to fear, didn't he? He cooled down the mind, eyes chilling. Calculation. Just keep track of everything going on – that way he wouldn't be caught off-guard, right? Even though there were some insanely fast fighters right now…
Though Izaya had the belief that he was no human in terms of souls, he was distinctly aware of his very human, very mortal body. And if he believed that he had no soul, no religion could possibly matter to him even if he did believe in a god… So… where could he possibly go? Would he merely disappear?
Izaya knew that if there were anything that he was afraid of, it would be death. In all honesty, he'd rather go to Hell and know that he had existed than to cease to exist altogether. Chuckling bitterly to himself, he couldn't help but think of Yato and Kuroha. Existence, huh…? Both of them feared ceasing to be. Izaya supposed it didn't have to be a uniquely human fear after all. He laughed a bit more. To think, even demons, even gods feared an ending of their own existence… How… how terrifying.
As he watched Sebastian come out of nowhere and kill off Tsuki in one hit, Izaya knew that everything would be askew from here. The plan had already been mottled when Kuroha had shook the earth with his android fist, but now that another demon was around and he'd made it very clear he wasn't on their side… well, this was about to get a lot more complicated.
After Sebastian disappeared, Izaya unknowingly stiffened. It wasn't until he saw the butler fighting Yato slightly north that he relaxed and realized that he had been tense in the first place. "How ridiculous… getting all rigid." He chuckled, continuing to twirl his switchblade. "This is certainly an impressive battle to watch. And I've got the best view~"
Izaya's cruel smile was pulled taut across his features as he watched everything develop further. They no longer made a triangle but a diamond, with Kaneki in the middle of it all. Izaya watched with morbid interest as the half-ghoul rose from his crater, looking possessed. His scales had molded with his skin like some kind of armor, and then had formed a half-mask around his face. It looked to be half of a diamond, too, just like their formation missing one of its points.
Yeah, this wasn't scary, it was fun. The informant convinced himself that his pounding heart had more to do with the thrill and excitement than it did with the fear of his own mortality. And yet, when those rushing footsteps behind him reached his eardrums, he froze.
As Shizuo rounded the back of the hill through the trees to better approach where Izaya was with all the rubble around, all he could think to himself was that he couldn't believe he was doing this. That ungrateful shit would probably tell him to go back into battle instead of stick by his side… As if Shizuo wanted to be anywhere near him. This entire situation sucked. But if he did stick around and got to help out that god-forsaken maggot of a human, then he could feel a little better about himself anyway… Despite everything, he knew he didn't actually want him dead. And in that way, Shizuo thought to himself that maybe that part of him wasn't a monster.
He felt the tremor of a crash, and Shizuo wondered to himself who it might have been – his first guesses would have to be Yato or the butler Sebastian. He hoped it was Sebastian. But through the trees, Shizuo saw Sebastian land in that too-fast-to-see, demon-ish way of his, he knew that it probably wasn't Sebastian that had fallen.
The demon held up his hands, a bullet between each of his fingers. He was smiling a coldly sweet smile. Was he gonna try and kill Izaya?
Am I really… Shizuo sprinted up from crag to crag, feet pounding on the ground beneath him as he jumped behind Izaya and Sebastian threw the bullets with a flick of the wrist.
I can't believe I'm doing this. He felt something red-hot nestled in his chest. He realized that the trees were growing taller and recognized he was on the ground. His torso felt warm and wet. His lungs felt weak.
When Izaya turned around, switchblade in hand as he grinned at whatever was threatening him, he stopped suddenly. Shizuo had collapsed onto the ground, chest moving unevenly with his breaths. Sebastian rose from the forest, hand to his chin. "My, my," said the demon, "I meant to hit the puppeteer, not you. Oh dear…" He looked at Izaya with his red eyes. "How very sweet of him." Stepping over the ex-bartender, Sebastian paused, then smiled at Izaya.
Izaya smiled back. "What, master's orders?" he taunted.
"Indeed," Sebastian agreed, and he was gone. Izaya tensed, unsure where he'd be coming from. Just as he rematerialized before the informant, about to swipe him down and likely kill him instantly, Yato crashed in and the two toppled down the hill together, both pushing off of said hill to get back in the air together. Snarling, Kaneki lunged into their battle, aiming for Sebastian.
Izaya laughed with a hitch. "Shouldn't he be going after Kuroha?" he asked no one, and looked at where Shizuo lay. Izaya's ears began to ring. The silence was deafening. He could no longer hear the sounds of battle all around him. A smile was plastered onto his face. He approached his rival and prodded him with his foot. "Hey, Shizu-chan, what were you thinking?" he teased.
"…Not gonna… let… you… die, y'shit…," Shizuo answered him brokenly, and Izaya chuckled weakly.
"Didn't you want to kill me, Monster?" Izaya smiled a thin smile. "How very uncharacteristic."
"No… Even if I—hate you… you…rrrr… still… hu—man…" His words became more choppy; each syllable was rasped out with difficulty. "Un…gra t e fu l… F l e a…."
Izaya laughed again, the tone a bit higher-pitched, a bit more off. "Shizu-chan, that's not something you can just go and do, y'know. We can't have my least favorite monster to torment die or anything."
Shizuo could only look at him hazily. His misty golden eyes were rather calm.
"Really, though, I mean it," Izaya said, his voice getting harsher, more serious. "That's not, I mean, you shouldn't just go and break character like that, y'know? Completely sends the wrong message of your true nature! You can't… just…"
Shizuo just watched him, having lost the capability of speech. His arch nemesis began to unravel before him.
"Really, really! What, you trying to prove you're not a monster? Come on, come on! You're being silly!" His voice was getting slowly more hysterical. "You hate me, why would you do something like that? You wouldn't!" He tittered a bit. "That just doesn't make any sense, does it? You know it doesn't. What reason would you have to do that, huh? What's your ulterior motive? What is it? Huh?"
Peacefully, Shizuo closed his eyes. Seeing Izaya like this…he couldn't be all that mad. Was it over? Maybe if he'd been a little less angry… Ah, he couldn't believe that this, of all ways, was the way he'd go…
"Damn it!" Izaya snapped, kneeling at the ex-bartender's side and pressing both his hands to Shizuo's chest. "You can't just go and die like this! You can't! You can't die now!" Pressing down and trying to staunch the bleeding, the informant gritted his teeth. Shizuo's white shirt was stained carmine – it was soaked with blood. Sticky. "You can't… You can't, just…" He paused. "Shizuo! You can't die for me! It wasn't you; you fucking dumbass! It was me! I'm the monster, not you! So… so… so you can't die, not like this! This isn't right! It isn't!"
Ever so slightly, Shizuo's mouth upturned into a smile.
"Shizuo, you damned protozoan; you'd better live…" Izaya glared down at him. "You… haven't caught me yet…"
Sighing, Shizuo released his breath. His chest didn't rise again. Izaya stared at him. And stared at him. His mouth twitched, then twisted into a smile as he began to laugh in a spell of hysteria. After a moment, the laughing cut off and he slammed his fist into the ground once, twice, three times before hunching forward and remaining that way from quite some time. No tears came. Eventually, slowly, so slowly… Izaya stood, eyes cool. He gazed at Shizuo for a bit before turning towards the group of Seidou, Shintaro, and Roppi, all facing Kuroha even though only Seidou was putting up a fight. Putting his hands in his pockets, Izaya calmly began making his way down the hill towards them.
Sebastian found himself to be having a tough time fighting both Yato and Kaneki at once, in the meantime. Fighting the powerful Yato was one thing, and this ungodly half-ghoul was faster than Sebastian had first determined. He had to admit he was somewhat impressed. However, the most difficult piece of facing Kaneki was his current state of unpredictability. Teeth clenched, the white-haired nineteen-year-old growled and would fight from a different side than he started on, going every which way while uttering nonsensical things. It was bothersome enough to try and keep track of him, but he was trying to fight Yato at the same time.
Much to the butler's chagrin, he found himself in a repeat of his battle with Kuroha as Yato faked him out from one side before allowing Kaneki to use him as a spring board towards the demon, sending them both flying into the ground, destroying perhaps fifty trees at once as they tore a hole into the wooded area below. Atop the demon, Kaneki clutched at the butler's newly broken arm, ripping it from his body and mumbling to himself, "HUngrY… Got… to… Need… I N Ee d it…" As Kaneki ravenously chowed down on his arm, Sebastian disgustedly kicked him with the side of his leg, sending him into a nearby tree. Kaneki spat out his meat in answer, mumbling something about it tasting like shit anyway.
Eyes burning red, Sebastian stood and brushed himself off with his single arm. "You're nothing but a beast, aren't you?" His eyes narrowed in distaste. Before Yato could come crashing down after him, Sebastian sprinted away back towards the initial battlefield, Kaneki shooting from tree to tree after him.
When the two had smashed to earth, the ground had trembled again. Seidou, facing Kuroha, regrettably lost his footing for a moment – long enough for Kuroha to be suddenly right in front of him. Seidou took a huge intake of air out of surprise, and Kuroha grabbed his quinque, tossing it to the side. Seidou knew he was done for, his eyes as large as dinner plates as he stared into the unforgiving face of the serpent. His voice had left him. All he could make out was the faint whisper of, "No…"
Kuroha cocked an eyebrow at him. "And you thought you could take me," he said, demeaning, and Shirazu bounded forward and onto the back of the demon.
"Banzai, baby! Don't think you can fucking kill anybody else, ya got it?!" In the background, Tsukiyama was helping Yoh to his feet.
"Get off me, brat," Kuroha hissed.
"C'mon, ya got no real arm in ya! Ya've only got one hand and even that arm's broken. Give it up already!" He knocked on Kuroha's head. "Yo, Konoha! Wake up already, we're freaking out out here!"
Shintaro looked at Shirazu blankly, as if he were crazy.
Kuroha spun around and threw himself into the ground, slamming Shirazu beneath him before jumping up and skillfully landing back on his feet. Shirazu somersaulted backwards, ready to jump again. Seidou, snapping back into gear, grabbed for his quinque to aim again.
Kuroha backed up to get into fighting position, only to find Shintaro hugging tightly at his legs. He looked down with perplexed and annoyed yellow eyes. "I'm not letting go," Shintaro said simply, and Shirazu grabbed at his torso. Roppi remained with Tsuki, head bowed.
"Yo, Seidou, hurry up and get him!" cried Shirazu.
"Konoha…" said Shintaro in a defeated voice, "…forgive me. Too many people are dying… Remember… you're…my friend, okay?"
Seidou approached, pointing his quinque at Kuroha's forehead. Kuroha looked at the investigator with cold eyes. Izaya, reaching them just then, began to clap. "Bravo, everybody…!" They all looked at him with eyes like ice, from Seidou to Kuroha. Roppi didn't look. Izaya gave a bitter smile to all of them before addressing the snake. The smile was short-lived, and though his eyes were teasing, his expression was dark. "Kuroha-san, are you frightened? You may just die… No matter how many injuries you can sustain, you simply can't survive a shot to the head, can you?"
Kuroha glared at him. All of them felt ten degrees colder, and the temperature continued to drop. Shintaro shivered.
"I thought not," Izaya nodded, eyebrows raised in satisfaction. "And after all, the only reason you're alive is because of a wish. All you want is to remain real. We could end that right now. How does it feel, Kuroha-san? For you to cease to exist like all of the people you just extinguished?"
Kuroha's yellow eyes narrowed. "You can't kill me."
"Oh? Can't we?" Izaya asked, tilting his head.
"You can't," he repeated, mouth twitching. The darkness began to circle him again. All of them stiffened in preparation.
After Sebastian had crashed into the ground with Kaneki, Yukiteru made the decision to run. He gripped A-ya's hand and squeezed. A-ya looked at him, eyes vaguely questioning. Yukiteru knew this wasn't a good place to be. He knew it wasn't a safe place, nor the right place. No, right now the best option was to flee and hide. "A-ya," he said. A-ya blinked at him, and Yukiteru gave an extra squeeze before taking off into the woods, pulling him along behind.
Shinichi wheeled around. "Yukiteru? A-ya? Wait—!"
Yukiteru didn't listen. He just ran and ran and ran – he knew things were about to get really hairy, and he had to get as far away from it as he could, together with A-ya. They passed through trees, maneuvering around them, jumping over roots, and dodging low branches. After he felt that they were far enough going at top speeds, Yukiteru cut to the left, running even faster, the adrenaline pumping with the knowledge that they might still be in the line of fire cutting across like this. If they could just make it to the other side of the playing field… If they just kept running and hid out, then they might just make it. This game didn't need death or fighting. It was just… a game of hide-and-seek.
Breathing hard, they came upon a more barren area where the factories and shops were. The ground beneath them was dirty and dusty but very flat – here, the earthquake hadn't destroyed the land.
Despite this, Yukiteru felt A-ya's hand get yanked from his fingers as the raven-haired one tripped and fell to the ground, sliding on the dry earth with a cloud of dust around him. A-ya began to cough. The thought of a game of hide-and-seek breached the gap between their consciousnesses and A-ya realized what kind of game this really was. Looking back on what he had tripped on, A-ya examined the ground.
Yukiteru continued on a few steps, skidding to a stop while A-ya began brushing the dirt off of where he had tripped. As the dirt was dusted away, a handle was revealed. A-ya blinked, enlightened. A door!
"Yukiteru, come on!" A-ya said as Yukiteru hurried back to him. A-ya was back and he was determined as he grabbed at the handle and lifted a hatch, revealing a ladder leading to the underground. The two looked at one another. The ground shook beneath them, the perfect cue for their reminder of imminent danger. A-ya began descending the ladder as quick as he could go into the darkness. Yukiteru followed swiftly behind, trying not to fall or kick A-ya. As soon as he was far enough in, he slammed the hatch shut and locked it, leaving them both in pitch black darkness.
Safe.