Colors of Fire Ch. 25
Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist or its characters.
And I'm back! I had a large can of dog food and I'm ready to go! Wow, I can't believe I'm actually writing two chapters in one day. My brain must be in overdrive right now because I'd never have been able to do this otherwise!
I'll admit I have done no thinking while I was taking a break. Thinking is reserved for sitting at my writing desk and those ten minutes before I go to sleep at night. So, as usual, I'm finding out what will happen just as you are!
Sorry if I confused anyone last chapter when I was talking about dragons. I was just… thinking.
Alright, let's light this candle!
o.O.0.O.o
Koneko's POV
He was glad they'd found Izumo when they did. He'd been about to voice his negative thoughts and say that she was probably dead. It wasn't very Koneko-like of him to be thinking that way, but after seeing the hell that was the "subject room" he'd lost his optimism.
Koneko was somewhat grateful for the severity of the mission. The urgency of having to find the last Exwire had restrained the more untamed thoughts at the back of his mind. He'd focused on the situation at hand and blocked out the black tide threatening to overpower his thoughts.
He figured they were all thinking along the same lines as him. The entire team plus their rescued charges had witnessed the horror in that room. Koneko knew that none of them would come out of this the same. He knew that when this team got their hands on the people responsible for that room that there would be hell to pay.
Koneko, being the animal-loving person he was, he especially was disgusted with them. For reasons he could not fathom, they'd taken, abused, and twisted these creatures beyond recognition. The sounds they made, their gory, tortured appearances, it sickened Koneko to his very core. For the first time in his life he felt utter loathing towards human beings.
The cruelty of these humans surpassed the sinister nature of demons. They were comparable to Satan himself. And even Satan, when he attempted to take over Assiah, had less harmful intentions than these people did. Satan only wanted to fulfill his and his wife's dream of creating peace between the worlds.
At least, that's what Mr. Okumura told them.
These scientists… they wanted to mutilate and corrupt the whole of humanity, but they didn't stop there. No, they were experimenting with normal animals too.
Koneko had a few theories as to why these people wanted Neko. She was a successful product of merging two animals. Well, as successful as one is ever going to get, anyway. She could fly and use the raven's abilities to their full extent. And she could think and talk just like a human. And even that wasn't by itself, she was a witch on top of all that.
If these people wanted to make the entire world just like Neko, at least that was in range of comprehension to Koneko. At least that he could understand their motive. But their methods were far too barbaric.
Koneko's anxiety gradually worsened at the thought of Izumo. He didn't know where she was or why she was separated from the group, but it was pretty easy to figure out that whatever they were doing with her wasn't good. He'd silently prepared himself for when they'd eventually find her.
He prepared himself to see another living nightmare from the subject room.
Koneko had been relieved beyond reason when he'd caught sight of her, standing at the end of the hall, perfectly fine. Terrified and desperately trying to tell them something, but fine. And then the guard had appeared and pushed her forward, past the corner and out of their line of view.
"Alright crew," Murphy whispered to them as the crouched and came to a stop right before the turn if the hallway, "Dragoons surround and close off the perimeter. Knights, disarm the guards, and Doctors, grab the kids and get the hell out of here."
Mr. Okumura looked rather confused; he was being forced to choose between two courses of action.
Minutes later the team was surrounding the scientists, the Dragoons (including Mr. Okumura) were aiming their weapons in a circle to keep them enclosed. The woman in the middle of the mass started shouting at the guards and all hell broke loose.
Koneko was brought back to reality when a guard attempted to grab him. The world was brought into focus as instincts he didn't know he had took over. His body began automatically moving on its own, dodging and ducking as the enemy tried to capture him. On normal missions he'd find himself reciting passages to take out the demons, but right here and now he was locked in combat with something that didn't have a fatal verse.
The odds weren't exactly in his favor, the guy was probably three times his size, but his light weight form allowed him extra agility and flexibility. He didn't know why or how he was doing this, he could only guess that his body had picked the "fight" response instead of "flight".
In between avoiding incoming fists he caught glimpses of the chaos around him. Bon decked one of the guards who then sprawled on the floor clutching a broken nose. Shiemi, surprisingly, was up and fighting, kicking and clawing at the guard that was trying to restrain her.
Even Shima was fearlessly whapping people on the head with his staff, effectively causing some bruising.
Koneko saw all the exorcists around them, all locked in battle like he was. The bald monk nearly got clipped in the chin before he finally snapped out of his trance.
His opponent growled at him. "Stay still, dammit!"
Suddenly, hearing the malice in that voice, Koneko leveled the severity of this fight. These people deserved worse than being taken to prison, and as soon as the police arrived they'd be relieved of this battle. They'd be taken away smiling smugly as they escaped uninjured for the horrendous crimes they've committed.
They'd evade proper justice as soon as they were arrested. Right here and now was the only punishment they'd serve for what they did. And it was then that Koneko realized just how important this fight was to him.
So he dodged yet another kick to the side, shoved the next offending arm away, and socked the guard in the jaw.
o.O.0.O.o
Percy's POV
"Yo, Mr. Okumura!" he shouted, having just knocked out another guard, "Where've you guys been the last few days?"
The young teacher turned to him in surprise before being forced to face his next opponent. Quickly the Dragoon shot a tranquilizer dart, sending the guard roughly to the floor. "Mr. Jackson? What are you doing here?"
"Same as you! Rescue mission, right?" Another guard went down.
Teal eyes stared at him in amazement for a moment, then they traced over to Annabeth and Izumo. Percy's girlfriend was currently whacking a guard's helmet with the flat of her dragonbone blade. He had to admit, she looked pretty scary with that sword. Ever since coming back from… that place they'd sparred several times a week. His girlfriend picked up on sword-fighting quicker than he would've originally guessed.
"No offense, and not that I'm ungrateful for the help," the young teacher started, "But this isn't exactly your fight. Why did you come here?"
Percy took offense to that, but swallowed his pride and argued, "Someone told me to come here and rescue Pigtails over there" he pointed to the purple-haired girl.
"Izumo? Why her?" their Dragoon instructor took out the guard behind him without even looking.
Percy swung his sword and smacked a scientist upside the head, who crumpled into a useless heap on the ground. "Don't know. I'ma slice-first ask-questions-later kinda guy."
"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, four or five of them closing in on her.
He was at her side instantly, kicking, shoving, and slamming his blade into the enemy. All of the fighting sort of blended together after Mr. Okumura re-entered the mass and left them with the guards.
o.O.0.O.o
Finally, after all the waves of guards were down for the count, only two enemies remained. Unfortunately all the Dragoons had lost all of their sleep-darts and were only left with real bullets, which obviously wasn't an option. Never the less, they kept their weapons trained on the woman and her gold-toothed accomplice.
Percy was surprised that she hadn't set the whole place ablaze yet, but he guessed she didn't want to ruin all her precious research that the building likely contained. Plus, Greek fire wasn't something to be toying with in a very crammed, flammable hallway.
The Knights, including Ms. Kirigakure, were slumped against the walls, panting in exhaustion. All of the doctors were tending to the wounded exorcists. Percy saw one of them calling for back-up.
As for the Exwires (the real ones, not him and Annabeth) they were huddled up in a corner being cared for by the blonde girl. Izumo had an odd look on her face, like she'd just received extremely disturbing news. She clutched what looked like a fuzzy rope in her hands. The bald one with the glasses was rubbing his knuckles and talking with the guy with the mo-hawk and the vampire-looking dude.
Percy could just hear what they were saying.
"… wish Rin was here. He could've been a big help." mumbled the vampire dude.
He didn't know who this Rin was, but the other Exwires, plus Mr. Okumura, all agreed with him.
The mo-hawk guy then snorted. "Yeah, I bet you wish Rin was here."
The vampire dude blushed deeply. "Oh c'mon! A guy makes a mistake once! ONCE!"
The bald one laughed. "A pretty big mistake."
They all started laughing, excluding the vampire, but the brightened mood dimmed again when the window at the end of the hall shattered. From the glass ruins rose a black-haired girl with a gnarly scar right across her eye. Raven's wings folded against her back and she scanned the scene carefully.
o.O.0.O.o
Neko's POV
One look. That was all it took. One look and she knew that this was the same woman who'd merged her with the raven.
Neko would recognize that smirking face anywhere; it was imprinted in her brain since day one of the experiments. This was the woman was her creator. Her Victor Frankenstein. And she was the monster who cursed her creator and loathed her with her entire being. She'd been extremely lucky to have escaped when she did and not a moment after.
A frightened eleven year old girl was shoved harshly into a room with white walls and a woman with black hair occupying a steel workbench.
"We've found the little witch, Ms. Lemere." the guard said, closing the door behind him to prevent the escape of the poor child.
The woman turned around and smirked, the first smirk she'd given the girl. It was the first of many. "Excellent. This subject should do quite nicely. Hopefully her mixed blood will allow her extra resiliency for future operations."
A few months later, after many "operations" the girl was yet again shoved into the white room, only this time the guard took care not to damage the newly grown wings on her back. The girl twitched and jerked as she fought her new hybrid avian nature. She wanted to fly. To fly away as far as her wings could carry her.
And she was still in the process of freaking out over having wings.
The smirking woman strapped the girl down to the table and presented a new piece of equipment before her patient. It was unlike anything the girl had ever seen before, and instinctively she struggled under the restraints.
The woman frowned. "Now now, we'll have none of that. This will only be a pinch, okay?"
The girl knew it was not okay. It was never okay. Whenever she went in for these operations she always passed out from the pain. But at least then she'd always known what the equipment did. That thing in the woman's hands looked like some kind of evil torture device, and she was not about to let this lady do that to her.
That was the day she'd gotten her scar. And that was the day she escaped.
All those flashbacks ran through her head, clear and vivid as the days she'd received them. Neko outright ignored everyone else in the room and zeroed in on her enemy. Ms. Lemere held her staff topped with Greek fire, same as she did when they'd forced Neko through "training". She'd learned the full effects of Greek fire the hard way.
Neko realized she needed to get these people out of the building.
She glanced around and caught sight of her mission team. Then her eyes scanned everyone else. The whole Exwire class, it looked like. And even a pair of teens she didn't recognize.
Are they experiments too?
They didn't look any different than normal humans, but she couldn't be sure. When she caught sight of Izumo again she nearly cried. No wonder she'd been screaming. She had "the look" on her face. She had "the shattered light" in her eyes. The same ones she saw in the mirror every day. Neko knew they'd done something to her. But she didn't have time to figure out what.
Right now she needed to be alone with Ms. Lemere, take her down, and sort out this mess later.
All that scanning had been done in five seconds flat, and the exorcist team jumped in surprise when she shouted, "Alright! Everyone get out of here!"
"Miss Shen, we can't just…" Yukio protested, but was cut off.
"I said get out! Leave! I'll be fine here, but they won't!" she gestured towards the Exwires and received a small nod from Yukio.
He turned around and repeated the order, the team gladly complying.
With the circle of Dragoons no longer pointing their guns at her head, Ms. Lemere smirked that knowing smirk and straightened. "So we meet again, Katoptris. I've waited a long, long time to see you here again. Don't you even think I'll ever let you go a second time."
The elder witch readied her staff and took a deep breath, preparing for a very powerful, energy-draining incantation.
o.O.0.O.o
The first spell had barely nicked her in the ear, just passing her head. It was the closest call she'd ever had with that particular spell, and she never wanted to repeat the experience again.
Her ear however, wasn't let off so easily. The flesh was stinging and burning, crumbling to dust as the infectious necromancy spread. Neko had leaped to one side, dodging another blast, and recited the proper spell to stop the effects. As the elder witch moved closer she fired more and more pestilence spells.
It had been a long while since Neko entered magical combat, and she was fairly rusty at it. This didn't matter as much, because now that she was older she had a few more tricks up her sleeve than when she was eleven.
"He Taw!" Neko commanded and the roof exploded above the black-haired woman, causing her smirk to flee, only with her body. The elder witch launched herself upward and out of the way of the falling rubble. A huge chunk of wood and pressboard landed right where the witch was two seconds prier.
Dammit!
Seeing as how the hallway was open to the floor above them, it presented new opportunities to take the advantage. For Neko, it was the advantage of height.
The raven chimera took the opportunity and leapt up to the second floor with the help of a wingbeat or two. Ms. Lemere growled from beneath her and headed for the stairway.
Several minutes had passed until Ms. Lemere finally made it to the room Neko was in. Neko had prepared an elaborate trap for the other witch with the time it took for her to reach her. She was in no way prepared for the fresh set of guards she brought with her.
o.O.0.O.o
Angel's POV
He was having a relaxing time sitting in his study, reading about the arrogance of the people during the Salem Witch Trials of America. He'd recently signed a piece of paperwork allowing access of two American transfer students into the exorcism program, and he was brushing up on the country's history.
Then he received a phone call through an assistant saying that a large amount of back up was requested at an old warehouse. The assistant informed him of the reports coming in. Reports of a possible witch sighting.
The blond-haired man smiled. How fitting. I was just reading about that…
He'd reluctantly got off his lazy ass and decided to check things out for himself. If it was something interesting to do besides sitting around and reading then that was fine by him. He knew he could use the exercise.
Witches weren't exactly demons, but they have caused problems in the past. Angel recalled a recent case when a student of the Cram School caused quite a mishap, changing the gender of their very own satanic charge.
Supposedly that student was a witch, and that had been the reason why she was grouped with the half demons in the first place. He remembered how Mephisto defended the witch's actions and took it upon himself to adjust the hell spawn's paper work as needed.
Angel smirked. Yes, witches were a worthy reason to leave the comfort of his reading chair and investigate. He didn't have to do this himself, he could've easily sent in investigators of lower ranks.
But Angel wanted to see this "magic" for himself.
o.O.0.O.o
Hey guys, you know those awkward times when you forget how to eat a Pringles chip? And you're trying to stuff the whole thing in your mouth like you usually do but it's just not working? And you do it anyway and end up making a mess of yourself?
Yeah. I just had that. Not fun.
Ahem, back to the story! So I haven't been paying Angel any attention at all since this story started. I had genuinely forgotten that he even existed for a short time. It was strange.
So now I've decided to add him in, just to shake things up!
Conclusion of the mini arc (I might as well call it an arc at this point, it's certainly big enough) will likely happen next chapter!
Unfortunately my brain is fried and two chapters in one day have done me in. Now I must rest my brain so I can write tomorrow.
Oh yeah! I keep almost forgetting. I oughta not do that…
Additional Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan. Y'all know what I'm talkin' about.
Alrighty then… I'm tired and I must figure out how to eat a Pringles chip properly again.
Fare thee well, strange ones!