How ya guys doin'? I know how I'm doing; lousy. A levels are SOOOOO hard! I've hardly had time to do this chapter! You guys are lucky I'm even trying to update regularly! Geez, Louise! Ahem, well, er, in this chapter there is a grand tour of the Kishido Research Facility! However, something tells me that Meno's other side might have other plans…
Chapter 26
The Favour
"Come. I'll show you." Meno pushed open one of the doors. "It's time you knew about me." She walked inside the building, still holding Aster's hand.
"Meno...hold on a second. Are you absolutely sure about this?" Aster protested, letting go of Meno's hand before he could even fully enter the building.
"Of course." Meno looked over her shoulder, smiling. "We are family after all."
"..." Aster looked down at the blood covered floor. "I guess..." He muttered.
"So come on. My room is close by." Meno ran down the corridor. "This way!"
"Meno!" Aster ran after her through the corridors. "Wait for me!"
…
"We're here." Meno stopped running, and stared up at what was in front of them. A huge set of steel doors reaching up to the top of the high ceiling was before them.
"This was your room?" Aster asked as Meno crouched beside a scientist that had lost both arms and a leg.
"Yes." Meno said, taking a card from the man's pocket. She stood up and showed it to Aster. "This is the key to every room in this facility. Everyone carries one of these. Even the cleaners." Meno swiped the card over a metal lock. It flashed green with a beep. There was a low rumbling noise, and the large steel doors gradually started to open.
"This way." Meno walked through the doors before they were fully open. "If we're not out of this room in five minutes, the alarm will go off."
"R-right." Aster ran inside the dark room. "Where are the lights?"
"Any second now." Meno answered. Sure enough, a single spotlight lit up on one area. Aster's eyes widened. In front of them was what looked like a large straight jacket long enough to contain an entire human, with a dozen small black belts hanging loosely around it. The jacket was supported by a metal stand, and a half broken metal helmet lay on the floor, along with miles of broken metal chains.
"They'd restrain me so much that I couldn't move. The helmet was a safety measure that any dangerous Kishido was required to wear. It prevented us from seeing anything." Meno picked up the biggest piece of the helmet. "You couldn't see. You could barely hear. There wasn't even a proper mouth hole, so any meals were fed through a tube." Meno dropped it back onto the ground, breaking it. "I felt like an animal."
"But you're not." Aster protested. "You're human." Meno turned around and faced Aster.
"You haven't even seen half of it yet. This is just the beginning. Are you sure you want to go on?" Aster hesitated before answering.
"Yes."
...
"This way." Meno silently pushed a door open and slipped inside another dark room, Aster following closely behind. "Stay down."
"Why?"
"Just stay down. And keep your voice down." Meno whispered. Aster nodded. "Over here." Meno crawled under a desk.
"So, where are we?" Aster asked, crawling under the same desk.
"This is one of the experiment rooms. Sometimes, a Kishido has her own experiment room, but that is hardly ever the case."
"Experiment room?" Aster repeated.
"Yes. Each room has a different function. There are reactions, brain readings and powers development to name a few."
"What's this one?" Aster asked.
"Listen." Meno said. "Do you hear that?"
"I...think I do. It sounds like...electricity."
"That's this room's experiment." Meno closed her eyes. "Not many come out of this alive."
"Why not?" Meno opened her eyes.
"Because this tests how long a Kishido lasts in a life and death situation.
"?"
"Look." Meno crawled out from under the desk and, still kneeling on the floor, looked over it.
"What is it?" Aster asked, joining her.
"Over there." Meno pointed at a large glass window into a room no smaller than a bathroom. Aster gasped. Inside was a girl of eight years old, wearing the black outfit Meno wore previously and with the same blue hair, except it was just past her shoulders. Her arms were held up by chains attached to the walls. "Her name is number fifty. She's been here since she was born, and this is the first time she's been in this experiment."
"What happens?"
"You'll see soon." Meno said sadly.
"!" It was then that Aster spotted the wires hidden around the chains. They began to glow blue, and the girl's eyes widened.
"No... Please..." She begged. "No more..." Electricity began to crackle around the chains. "No mo-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The girl screamed loudly as electricity filled almost the whole of the small room she was in. Aster's hands immediately covered his ears, whilst Meno turned away sadly.
"What is this?" Aster muttered. "What in the world is this? This is horrible. Those people..." Aster closed his eyes tightly when he heard the girl scream louder. "I can't take it!" Aster placed one foot on the desk and prepared to climb over it, but Meno grabbed his arm.
"Don't." She said.
"Do you expect me to sit here and watch her get tortured like that?" Aster yelled.
"But what can you do?" Meno asked. Aster's eyes widened. "How will you save her?" Aster jumped off the desk.
"Let's just get out of here." Aster said in a helpless voice.
...
"We're underground?" Aster exclaimed, walking out of a steel lift. The two of them were in a large tunnel lit up by faint lights hanging from the ceiling, and there were no metal floors or doors; just earth. There were small mounds on both sides of the wall, and metal doorways with slits in the centre acted as prisons.
"This is where genetic research takes place." Meno said. "Kishido's who have not yet developed their powers are kept here, along with failed experiments."
"Failed?" Aster repeated.
"Yes." Meno nodded. She looked to her left. There was a wooden door in the wall. "Step in there if you wish to see their fate." Hesitating slightly, Aster reached for the handle and twisted it, opening the door. He stepped into a room with white tiles for a floor and grey metal for walls. There was a large window on one wall over a control panel, but it was dark. However, Aster could faintly hear the whirring of machinery.
"In this room, they dispose of failed Kishido experiments in the most useful way they can." Meno went to the control panel and flicked a switch. Immediately, the lights switched on behind the window. Aster's eyes widened in horror. Before them was row after row of bloody spines with the rib cages still attached, all moving past the window on a conveyor belt.
"They rip out their spines and store them for biological research. See those black numbers on them? Those represent the names of each experiment." At that moment, another spine passed by them, and it had the number 50 written on the back. "The girl from before must have died." Meno closed her eyes.
"!" Aster's hand covered his mouth and he collapsed on his knees, coughing.
"Aster!" Meno knelt by Aster's side. "If you want to, we can stop."
"No." Aster gasped. "You wanted to show me, so that's what we're going to do." Aster stood up. "So, what else happens down here?"
BEEP!
"Oh no!" Meno gasped. "Someone's coming!" Meno grabbed Aster's hand. "Quick! This way!" Meno ran out of the room with Aster in tow, and dived into an open prison, sliding the door shut. Aster and Meno peered through the gap, just as two scientists walked in.
"It seems that they took care of the Kishido queen." One said.
"Of course they did. Without her, all of our research would have gone to waste."
"Okay. This is the one." The scientists stood with their backs to Meno and Aster, facing a prison two doors down. A scientist slid the door open.
"Come out." He ordered. A young girl of eight years old wearing the experiment uniform crawled out. Her blue hair was down to her waist, and there was a vacant look in her eyes and face.
"So? What's so special about this experiment, Iwashita?" The other scientist demanded. "She looks pretty dense to me."
"Patience." Iwashita moved the girl's fringe away from her forehead. There was a white circle inside her forehead. "See this? This connects directly to the brain. As long as this cap is inside her head, she'll obey our every instruction without fail."
"Every instruction?"
"Yes." Iwashita nodded.
"Prove it." The scientist challenged.
"Very well." Iwashita reached into his pocket and pulled out a large knife. He placed it into the girl's hands. "Number six." The girl looked up at him, blinking innocently. "Stab your arm with this knife. That's a command." She blinked. Her grip tightened on the handle of the knife, and she stabbed it straight into her left arm.
"!" Meno and Aster managed to suppress their gasps somehow, as the girl twisted the knife deeper and deeper into her arm, and dragged it upwards, increasing the size of the wound, and all the while, she never expressed any ounce of pain.
"Stop." Iwashita ordered. She obeyed, and pulled the knife out, along with a large gush of blood. "Well?"
"Stabbing an arm is stabbing an arm. It doesn't show absolute obedience. If you instructed her to kill herself, then I would believe you."
"If that will convince you." Iwashita looked at the girl, who was licking the blood around her wound. "Number six. Using that knife, stab your heart. That's a command." The girl blinked.
"He can't be serious." Aster whispered. Meno gripped his hand.
"Even if you're angry, try to hold back. We can't give ourselves away." She whispered back.
"Do it." Iwashita said firmly. The girl raised the knife and, gripping it with both hands, levelled it with her chest. She pressed the point against her skin, drawing a little blood. In one second, she pressed down on the knife, and it went all the way through her heart, the tip emerging through her back. Silence. Suddenly, a huge gush of blood overflowed from the new wound, while the girl remained expressionless. Aster and Meno recoiled away from their door in horror
"It really works." The other scientist said. "Absolute obedience."
"Indeed." Iwashita nodded. The girl collapsed on the ground, her eyes lifeless. "But we lost another subject."
"Oh, well." The other scientist walked past Iwashita towards the elevator. "We can always use her spine. Let's write up the report."
"Right." Both scientists entered the elevator, and soon, Aster and Meno were left alone. Slowly, Meno slid their door open, and they both crawled out of it, but neither of them stood up.
"That bastard." Aster muttered. "That girl hasn't done anything, but he still experimented on her and ordered her to kill herself." Aster clenched his fist. "And all he says is "oh, well"? That bastard!" Aster punched the metal door. "Bastard!" Aster punched the door with the same fist again, and carried on punching it with the same hand, yelling "Bastard!" every time.
"Aster!" Meno gasped. "Stop it!" Meno grabbed Aster's arm before he could punch the metal door again. "Your hand's bleeding now." Aster looked at his right hand. The right knuckles were now bleeding from punching the metal so hard.
"It's fine." Aster stood up. "I just needed to let off some steam, that's all."
"But you're hurt." Meno protested.
"It's fine." Aster showed Meno his hand. Small orange stars were dancing around his hand, and the cuts were erased. "Er...I hate to ask this, but...who else is in those cages?"
"Failed experiments." Meno answered quietly. "Many of the girls here have had genetic modifications made to them. Some of them are successful and have the luxury of staying up there, but the rest are confined in here until they die. That way, their spines can be removed." While Meno spoke, Aster knelt down in front of a metal door and looked through the gap. Inside was an extremely skinny girl of five years old with tomboy short blue hair and the white circular device inside her head. She looked up weakly, a blank look in her eyes.
"Hi..." Aster said helplessly. The girl crawled towards the door and reached a shaking hand out to the gap. Aster moved back when the fingers came through and clung to the edge.
"Pl...please..." She said. Aster clenched his fist before reaching out and touching her small hand lightly.
"I'm sorry. I wish I could help you. I really do." Aster grip tightened on her hand. "But I can't." Aster turned away, feeling his eyes sting. "I'm sorry." His arm dropped by his side. "I'm so sorry!" Aster yelled, burying his face into his hands.
"Aster..." Meno knelt by Aster's side and placed an arm around him. "It's okay."
"It's not okay!" Aster yelled, turning to face Meno. "You spent years of your life here, and these girls haven't done anything wrong to be locked up in here. The only sin they've committed is being born a Kishido, but that doesn't matter to me, so why should it matter to those bastards? They lock up baby girls like animals and torture them with experiments that are one big joke! They call that research? Girls are dying because of their "research", and they just shrug it off and move on to the next one! You're human! Just because you have powers doesn't give them an excuse to isolate you like this! This lifestyle..." Aster's hand clenched the dirt on the floor. "It's just..." Tears fell down Aster's face. "It's just too sad."
"Aster...you don't have to cry for me." Meno said, smiling.
"I know..." Aster rubbed his eyes with his arm. "I just wish I could have helped you somehow. I wish I could have prevented you and all the girls in this building from living like this."
"But...what would you do?" Meno asked.
"Well, first I'd..." Aster's eyes widened. "Then I'd..." Aster glanced at the floor. "Then..." Aster closed his eyes with a defeated sigh.
"See?" Meno smiled sadly. "There's nothing you could have done."
"But I could have helped you make a better future for you. One without killing."
"It's alright." Meno said. "I'm happy the way things are now."
"Huh?" Meno stood up.
"I know that it's every Kishido's destiny to end up in this building some time or another. I've accepted that now. But, my time came and went. I guess, in a way, I'm grateful to your mother for releasing me." Meno brought her hands up to her chest. "It's true that it wasn't a walk in the park living there either, but it's thanks to her that I got to meet you and Syrus and papa and everyone else. That's enough for me. Having fun with you. Fighting with you. Even laughing with you. That's enough for me. I know my other side comes out when I least expect it, but somehow...I know I'll get through it." She smiled happily at Aster. "Because you cried for me."
"Yeah." Aster smiled back at her. "Meno...there's something I want to ask you." Aster said, standing up. Meno blinked.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Well er... I know this may sound weird but...do you regret killing?"
"Every day,"
"Wait, let me rephrase that. What I want to know is...is there anybody you don't regret killing?" Aster asked. Meno's eyes widened.
"I..." Meno clutched her arm and turned away from Aster.
"If...if you don't want to answer, its okay. I was just curious."
"Yes." Meno said suddenly
"What?"
"There are some people I don't regret killing." Meno looked back at Aster. "But...I'm worried that you'll think I'm heartless."
"It doesn't matter to me." Aster said shaking his head. "What matters is that Meno will always be the best sister I've ever had." Aster patted Meno on her head. "'Kay?" Aster asked, smiling.
"'Kay." Meno nodded. "It's...it's my parents."
"You're...you're parents?" Aster repeated slowly.
"Yes. They're the only people I don't regret killing." Meno clenched her fist. "I hate them."
"But Meno...why?" Aster asked. "Why would you-"
"They abandoned me!" Meno yelled, scaring Aster. "To me, they're not my parents." Meno's voice quietened, but still had a vicious edge to it. "They knew I was different, and rejected me as their daughter. The only clothes I got were a dirty old t-shirt and a bin bag for a diaper. I was always left on the floor, and whilst I cried for a bath or food, they would be watching television. I would only be cared for when they couldn't take my crying any longer, but sometimes, they didn't tend to my needs and left me outside. When I was a toddler, I wasn't even allowed the luxury of a crib. I had to sleep in a pet bed. I was hardly ever fed, so I ate from the cat bowl, but they made sure it was clean, so I wasn't even allowed food. I was always beaten whenever I soiled my "diaper", I was always hungry, and I was always left on the floor with no toys and no-one to love me. It was a real living hell. But then, my powers developed, so I killed my parents. And I'm glad."
I've never seen Meno so angry before. Aster thought.
"Papa was a much, much better father than my own!" Meno yelled. "For that I'm glad, but I can still never forgive my former parents!" Meno closed her eyes tightly. "Unforgivable! Unforgivable!" Meno shook her head with every word, until she opened her eyes, which were now shining with fury. "Parents are supposed to love and cherish their children, not neglect their child just because they're a little different! If even one of your parents neglected you, wouldn't you want them dead as well?" Meno's hands immediately went to her mouth with a gasp after realising what she just said. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Meno apologised, bowing each time. "I wasn't thinking when I said those things!"
But Meno's still Meno, angry or not. Aster thought, closing his eyes with a smile.
"If you want to get angry at me, I'll understand. After all, I must have insulted you in some way." Meno gasped when Aster placed a hand on her head again.
"Relax. I'm not angry at you." Meno looked up slowly at Aster. "But...what you said is true."
"Parents are supposed to love and cherish their children, not neglect their child just because they're a little different!"
"My mother tried to kill me because I was a phoenix warrior. When she failed, she ran away. I'm not denying the fact that I was angry with her for what she did. But...when I found Hannah, she gave me a message from her. That convinced me that, somewhere inside that shell..." Aster's hand touched his locket "The real Miranda, who loved me with all her heart, is still in there." Meno's eyes began to shine. "I understand why you are angry with your parents, and I don't blame you. But...when all this fighting is over, Miranda can live with me and dad and Magdala, and you can have the family life you deserve with us."
"Thank you..." Meno whispered, closing her eyes. Aster removed his hand from her head and held her hand.
"Come on. Let's go home. Everyone's waiting for us."
BEEP!
"!" Aster and Meno gasped as the lift doors opened. Two different scientists walked in, but stopped as soon as they saw the two children.
"What are you doing here?" One of the scientists demanded.
"Uh, is this the way to the bathroom?" Aster asked with a nervous smile.
"I'm calling security." The other scientist pulled a walkie-talkie out of the pocket of his white coat, but before he could do anything, it floated out of his hand.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that." Aster said, raising a hand in front of him. He clenched it into a fist, and the walkie-talkie was destroyed. The scientists could only stare at the remains, alarmed. "Come on, Meno." Aster ran past the scientists and into the lift. Meno pushed a button, and the doors immediately closed before the scientists could reach them.
"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP!" Aster yelled.
"This is bad, this is really bad!" Meno whispered, fiddling with her hands.
"Maybe it's not so bad. I destroyed that guy's radio. If we get out of here before they find another way of calling backup, then everything will be alright." The doors slid open as Aster finished talking, and they were met with five guards pointing their guns at them. "Or not."
"Hands up." A guard demanded. Aster and Meno immediately obeyed. "Hand the girl over, and we won't shoot."
"Oh, so that's how it's going to go." Aster said, smirking.
"And what's a duellist from the pro circuit doing here?" Another guard asked.
"I've got another one in a boat nearby here if you wanna meet him." Meno gasped.
Zane's here? Meno thought.
"Surrender the girl, or we'll shoot."
"Well..." Aster grabbed Meno's waist and jumped over the surprised heads of the guards. As he landed, both Aster and Meno began to run down the corridor. "You'll just have to shoot, won't you?"
"Don't just stand there! After them!" The five guards immediately began to run after them, and several of them fired a round of bullets at them.
"I was being sarcastic!" Aster yelled over his shoulder. He grabbed Meno's arm and turned around another corner, away from the bullets.
"Hey, Meno. Now would be a great time for you to tell me where the exit is."
"Well...it's...um..." Meno stuttered, thinking quickly.
"I'll settle for a hiding place?"
"In here." Meno opened the nearest door and they ran inside, slamming the door behind them. Aster twisted the lock on the handle and jammed a chair underneath it.
"Even though this never works in the movies, I'm pretty sure it'll work now. I locked the door and everything."
"Don't touch anything Aster." Meno said. Meno indicated the room they were in. There was a metal box stretching across the wall, decorated with different types of buttons, along with three black leather chairs in front of each of them. "This is one of the main control rooms."
"What, they don't have just one?" Aster muttered. Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door.
"Open up! We know you're in there!" The door handle twisted, making the chair shake, but the door didn't budge. Meno clung to Aster.
"Don't worry, Meno. I'm not going to let them touch one hair on your head."
CRASH!
The door was flung straight off its hinges and straight onto the floor. A guard ran in and grabbed Meno's wrist.
"Get away from her!" Aster grabbed his arm, but he punched him across the face, which sent him flying, and Aster landed with his back on the control panel. Immediately, a red light flashed in the room and loud sirens went off. Meno and the guard stopped struggling and stared at Aster.
"Uh oh. Did I do something wrong?" Aster asked, looking behind him at the control panel.
"Of course you did, you idiot!" The guard grabbed the front of Aster's shirt. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?"
"No I don't! And you were the one who punched me in the first place, so it's your fault!" Aster yelled back at him.
"Aster, you just pressed the button that release all the Kishido's from their cells." Meno whispered. "Now we're all going to-" A pink energy field whooshed past her head and made contact the guards own head, blowing it to smithereens. Several drops of blood landed on Aster's face, who shoved the guard away from him straight away.
"Die." A voice finished behind him. Aster spun around, and a three year old Kishido girl with the trademark blue hair was standing behind him.
"No way." Aster peered around the doorway, and his eyes widened. All he could see along the corridor were girls of different ages; all with blue hair of different lengths and wearing the experiment uniform.
"A human." They said at the same time. "A human is here." Their bodies glowed pink. "We must take revenge." Many pink arms shot towards Aster, but Meno stepped in front of him and created a pink energy shield, protecting them from the attack.
"We have to run, Aster. URGH!" Meno clutched her head.
"What's wrong?" Aster asked.
"It's nothing. Let's go. Run!" Aster and Meno ran down the corridor, away from the Kishido's. "The exit should be this way." Meno turned right, but there were another group of Kishido's blocking their way. "On second thought, it's this way." Meno ignored the turning and carried on running, Aster following closely behind.
"Why was that button even there?" Aster exclaimed. "Why do they have it? It's more useless than a helicopter ejector seat!"
"Those don't exist, Aster."
"You know what I mean. AH!" Aster skidded to a stop. More Kishido's were walking around the corner, and they all turned their heads towards the two siblings. "Oh, no." Aster looked all around them, and they were surrounded by Kishido's on all sides.
"Uh..." Meno's hands went to her head again.
"Come on, Meno. This isn't the time to be getting headaches."
"No... Stay out of this, Voice... It's nothing to do with you..." Meno hissed.
"Meno?"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Meno screamed.
...
"Ah...ah...AH-TCHOO!" Hassleberry sneezed loudly. He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and stared out the window of the control decks.
"It sounds like you have a cold from the storm." Daisy said.
"Nah, I'm sure some chick is talking about me." Hassleberry sniffed.
"That's unlikely." Daisy muttered.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."
"Oh, it's nothing important." Daisy said quickly.
"Daisy, how long are we just going to sit here in the middle of the ocean?" Jaden asked, walking into the room. "For all we know, Aster could be getting butchered in there trying to rescue Meno."
"He'll be fine, Jay. He's got powers after all."
"But Zane's here." Hassleberry said.
"Yes. He's here, not on the island, so its fine." Daisy countered.
"Oh, come on. Aren't you even a little worried?" Hassleberry asked.
"Yeah." Hiruko said, bursting into the room.
"Of course I'm worried. But I'll just have to leave everything up to him. He told us to wait, so that's what we're going to do."
BOOM!
"What the..." Hiruko started.
"It's that light we saw!" Hassleberry yelled, spotting a beam of pink light shoot out from the building. After several seconds, it began to crack and crumble. "It's gonna collapse!"
"Forget what I just said. We are going there right now!" Daisy pulled a lever, and the boat shot forward.
"WAH!" Everyone, minus Daisy, fell over onto the floor.
"This isn't a speedboat, Daisy." Hiruko snapped, sitting up.
"It doesn't matter right now. I just want Aster to be okay." Daisy said almost frantically.
"What's going on?" Zane yelled, bursting into the room.
"That's what I want to know!" Jaden yelled back. There was another loud boom, which made the boat rock so much, it almost overturned.
"We're almost there. Just hang on, guys!" Daisy pulled several levers and the boat slowed down as they reached the island. No sooner did the boat reach land, the entire building collapsed into rubble.
"ASTER!" Daisy pulled one final lever, dashed out of the room and jumped over the railing of the boat onto the earth.
"Aster! Aster! Where are you? Aster!" Daisy yelled, running around piles of debris.
"Daisy, calm down." Syrus said, climbing down the ladder.
"How can I calm down?" Daisy snapped. "A building has collapsed, and Aster could be seriously hurt! Urgh!" Daisy pushed a boulder over and began to dig through the rubble. "That moron's probably taking a nap somewhere in here...Using pebbles as a mattress...and a giant rock as a pillow!"
"Actually, that's me you're talking about." Jaden corrected, grabbing the railing of the boat and jumping over it. "Come on, guys! Aster and Meno are in this rubble somewhere, so it's our job to dig them out!"
"You slave driver!" Hassleberry yelled, as he and everyone else got off the boat.
"Who put you in charge?" Daisy asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"As Aster's best friend, I'm pretty sure he'd have me as second in command if something were to happen to him."
"Best friend?" Daisy exclaimed, their faces so close together, their foreheads were touching. "I'm his girlfriend!"
"Since when are women put in charge?" Jaden demanded, pushing against her forehead.
"You sexist bastard!"
"U...um..." Haru started, ready to interfere.
"Haru..." Hassleberry placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's best not to interfere when Daisy's involved."
"And you two! Shut up and get digging!" Daisy yelled, shoving Jaden to the ground.
"Yes ma'am." They both said quickly, and quickly dug into the nearest pile of rubble.
"HYA!" Syrus shoved a metal pole between two rocks firmly. No sooner had he done that, he jumped up and began jumping up and down on it.
"Move...you...stupid...rock..." Syrus grunted with each jump. Suddenly, on the next bounce, the pole flew out, making Syrus land on the ground and the pole to whirl straight through the sky, until it landed in the ground right in front of Hiruko's feet.
"Hey, watch it!" Hiruko shouted.
"Sorry!" Syrus shouted back. "Ow." Syrus stood up slowly, rubbing his back. His eyes widened. "Guys! I can sense Meno again!"
"What? Where?" Zane asked, immediately rushing to his younger brother's side.
"She's...she's over there." Syrus pointed to his left.
"Right!" Zane began to climb up the rubble hills.
"Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?" Jaden asked.
"It's dangerous." Haru protested.
"I don't care." Zane finally reached the top of the rubble. "You keep looking for Aster. I'll find Meno myself." Zane slid down the other side of the hill until he reached solid ground.
"Geez. That jerk." Hiruko muttered, his hands on his hips.
"Don't think I can't hear you, because I can!"
"!" Hiruko flinched.
...
"What morons!" Zane shook his head. "Meno! Meno, you here!" Zane yelled, walking carefully through the debris. "Hey, Meno!"
Damn...Zane thought. It's like searching for a needle in a haystack. Suddenly, a hand burst out through a pile of rubble just next to Zane.
That hand... Zane looked closely at the hand. It had a pink cuff around the wrist from a cardigan. His eyes widened.
"Meno!" Zane ran straight up the small pile and dug through the plaster and metal. "Hang on, Meno! I've almost..." Zane stopped when he felt his hand grab a collar. "Got you." Zane pulled up and Meno emerged from the hole, coughing and spluttering and covered in dust. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yes, I'm alright." Meno said, sitting up on her knees. She gasped and looked up. "Zane!"
"Thank goodness." Zane sighed with relief.
"No!" Meno attempted to stand up, but as soon as she stood up, she winced in pain and dropped onto her knees again.
"What's wrong?" Zane asked.
"I think I've twisted my ankle." Meno's hand went to her left ankle.
"Let me see..." Zane's hand reached out towards Meno' but she slapped it away.
"You mustn't." She said quietly. "I don't deserve your kindness. I'm a monster."
"No you're not!" Zane said defiantly, surprising Meno.
"But I am. I killed your father. You treated me with a kindness no-one had shown me in my life, and how do I repay you? I kill someone who is dear to you."
"Meno...is this what you've been doing for the past five years?"
"What do you mean?" Meno asked.
"Have you been blaming yourself for what happened?"
"No!" Meno cried. "Not really...yeah..." Meno sighed and hung her head.
"Heh..." Zane gave a small smirk. "That's strange. I've been blaming myself, too."
"Zane..." Meno whispered. "It's not your fault."
"Maybe...But maybe it is my fault. After all, I lied about my cousin being your dear friend. That's what caused you to kill my father. If I had only been honest, then we wouldn't be here today."
"Don't say that!" Meno protested. "It was my fault for giving in to my other side in the first place."
"HAHAHAHA!" Zane laughed. "Look at us! We're both trying to find ways to move the blame over!" Zane ruffled Meno's hair. "You're a good kid, Meno. You know that?"
"I…" Meno blushed. "I can't go back there. Everyone in the city will hate me. After what I did to them, I won't be surprised. But…it's not me doing it all, but I still look like her, so it's all the same. How can I go back to a world where no-one will accept me for who I really am?" Meno gasped when Zane suddenly hugged her.
"You idiot." Zane whispered. "You've got people who accept you right here."
"Oh, Zane…"
CLANG!
"Dammit!"
"What the…" Zane pulled away from Meno, but still had his arms around her.
"That hurt…" A bathtub right next to them lifted up, and Aster was underneath it, covered in dirt and massaging his head, but alive. "Eh?" He stared at the two of them in an embrace, and a long, awkward silence stretched out. "Er, I'm not interrupting something am I?" Meno's face immediately flooded red.
"N-n-no!" She stuttered, pushing Zane away from her with one arm. "I-I-It's not what it looks like! Honest!"
"Hey, hey, I'm kidding." Aster pushed the bathtub away from him and stood up.
"Are you alright?" Zane asked.
"Yup." Aster gave Zane thumbs up, grinning. "How's Meno?"
"She's hurt her ankle, but she's fine."
"Well, that's good."
"What exactly happened here anyway?" Zane asked, looking around at the rubble.
"I'm not sure."
"I…I think my other side took control temporarily so that we wouldn't get killed." Meno said.
"Huh?" Aster exclaimed. "She destroyed an entire building with one blow! Was it really necessary?"
"But she came out on her own." Meno muttered. "She's never done that before."
"What did you say?" Zane asked.
"I-It's nothing. Let's go home." Meno said. "Oh, but…I can't walk."
"Climb on." Zane turned his back on Meno, who blinked in surprise.
"Aw, how kind of you, Zane. Did you do that with Syrus?" Aster asked playfully.
"Shut up!" Zane exclaimed, standing up with Meno on his back.
"I'm sorry about this."
"Don't sweat it, Meno. You're not that heavy."
"Hey, guys! Can you hear me?" Aster yelled. "It's me, Aster. We've got Meno!"
"Aster! Thank goodness you're okay!" Daisy yelled back. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, I'm fine. But Meno's hurt. Hang tight, and we'll be over in a second."
"Leave it to me. Haru, Hassleberry, get to it!"
"What?"
"Why us?"
"Just do it! Or I'll make you do it!"
"Alright, alright!"
"Geez! Um...you might want to stand back a little."
CRASH!
"Watch it!" Aster yelled, fanning away the dust with his hand.
"Sorry." Haru apologised sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "We did say stand back."
"Aster!" Daisy ran past Haru and wrapped her arms around Aster. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I'm sorry about worrying you."
"Why couldn't you have climbed over it or something?" Hassleberry demanded.
"Well..." Aster discreetly pointed at Zane and Meno.
"Ah...right."
"I'm sorry if I worried any of you." Meno said quietly.
"Relax, Meno. You're our friend. Not only that, you have a family who worry about you." Daisy winked at Meno playfully. "So no more running off on your own, okay?"
"R-right." Meno nodded. Her eyes widened.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Daisy asked.
"LOOK OUT!" Meno cried, shooting a pink energy field from her hand to a rubble wall behind Hiruko.
"WAAAAAH!" Hiruko yelled. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Move!" Jaden yelled, pushing Hiruko out of the way, just as a pink energy beam shot out to where he previously stood.
"What the..." Hiruko started, eyes wide. In the rubble was a young Kishido girl, her body halfway in the rubble.
"Come on!" Jaden grabbed Hiruko's arm and ran to the others.
"What's going on?" Daisy asked.
"Well...while in the building...I kinda accidentally released...all the ...Kishido's." Aster said nervously, fiddling with his hands. "So... in other words..."
"!" The gang looked all around them. Surrounding them were many Kishido girls of various ages and hair lengths, either standing on rubble or the ground. They stared at the gang with malicious eyes.
"We're trapped." Aster finished.
"We. Are. So. Dead." Hassleberry muttered.
"Nobody move." Zane said in a hushed voice. "We don't want to provoke them into attacking us."
"They're provoked already." Aster hissed. "They blame humans for their suffering, so of course they'd want us dead."
"But we've got Meno. She's practically their queen, so we should be okay, right?" Hiruko whispered. Meno clung to Zane's coat.
"I don't think they will." She said. "Look in their eyes. They're so full of hate. If we do anything wrong, they'd attack us whether I'm here or not."
"Alright...Let's just move really slowly back to the boat, then we can get the heck outta here." Haru said. Everyone, minus Meno, began to back away slowly towards the boat, never breaking eye contact with the Kishido's. The Kishido's turned their heads as they moved away, ready to strike.
"We're almost there, guys." Aster said.
"Look at how they're staring at us. It's just creepy!" Syrus muttered. After taking another step back, the back of Syrus' foot hit a pile of rubble, and several large stones crumbled down it. "Uh oh."
"Ah!" Meno gasped as one of the stones hit her on the shoulder. The Kishido's all turned their heads to Meno.
"The queen is hurt!" A five year old Kishido yelled.
"The queen is hurt!" They all shouted at the same time. "Kill the humans!" They raised their right arms up, and shot pink energy fields at them.
"Run!" Daisy yelled.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Jaden exclaimed, running back towards the boat with Hiruko, several energy fields whooshing past them.
"Stay with me, Syrus!" Zane grabbed Syrus' hand.
"Right!"
"Bad idea, Haru! Very bad!" Daisy yelled, running to the boat with everyone else.
"Oh, come on! How was I supposed to know that-whoa!" Haru jumped to his right, just as an energy field whooshed past him. "Wasn't going to work?" Haru finished.
"Drive, drive, drive!" Hassleberry shouted, climbing onto the boat.
"I'm trying, but it's not letting me!" Aster yelled through the window of the controls.
"What?" Zane gasped, getting onto the boat, Meno still on his back.
That's weird. Hiruko thought. They've stopped firing at us. He quickly shook his head.
"Come on, Aster!" Hiruko yelled. "If we don't get moving, they're gonna kill us!"
"I told you, it's refusing to move!"
"Don't tell me..." Meno turned her head towards the Kishido's. They all had their hands raised. "They're preventing us from moving!"
"You shall not leave!" They said in unison.
"Hey, no fair!" Daisy whined. "They've got telekinesis!" Haru's eyes widened.
Telekinesis? He thought. If that's what they're using, then maybe...
"Zane, take Meno downstairs." Haru said firmly. "And stay there until we give you the okay"
"But..." Zane started.
"Just go!" Haru snapped. "If you don't, then you're going to die!"
"You-"
"Please stop!" Meno cried. "Just do what he says Zane. He's got a plan, so we've got to trust him."
"Alright." Zane said reluctantly. "Syrus, come on."
"Okay." Syrus nodded.
"Telling me what to do...that he-she." Zane grumbled, taking the stairs downstairs.
"I am NOT a he-she!" Haru yelled angrily. "Jerk... Aster. Tell me where the problem is."
"It's er... it's in the engine. Take the second door and follow the stairs."
"Right. Jaden, make sure those girls don't attack us. If they do, stop them."
"But how am I supposed to do that?" Haru opened the door to the engine and faced Jaden.
"Zane's downstairs isn't he?" He asked. Jaden's eyes widened, before he smirked.
"Oh, I get it."
"I'm so stupid! Why didn't I think of it before?" Aster exclaimed, bursting out of the door from the control room. "Haru, you are a genius!"
"Can I go now?" Haru asked, looking nervously down the stairs towards the engine.
"Yeah, sure. Do whatever you need to do."
…
"Wow." Haru muttered. "This thing's a lot bigger than I thought it would be." Before Haru was a large metal engine that went from floor to ceiling. It had some pipes sticking out of it that were attached to the walls, and it constantly made a humming noise. Haru placed a hand on the body of it.
It looks like the main area is fine, but I'm picking up something on those pipes. Haru thought. He looked up at one of them. It was glowing a faint pink. Haru reached out to touch it, but as soon as he did, he withdrew his hand straightaway with a yelp. It's hot…which means that the Kishido's are using their powers on this. However… Haru raised his hand up again, but made sure that it wasn't touching the pipe. I also have a telekinetic ability. He hesitated. Wait... I can't counter it. If I do, this whole boat might sink. Should I risk it?
"Hurry up, Haru!" Hiruko yelled from outside, pounding on the door.
"Alright!" Haru yelled angrily. He turned his attention back to the engine. "Right…" Before he could do anything, he heard a rattling sound. "Eh?" The rattling sound got louder, and a screw began to come loose. As soon as it rattled on the floor, a jet of steam shot out. "Damn it!" Haru covered it up with his hand. "HOT!" He jerked his hand away immediately. Haru could only watch as several screws loosened and more steam shot out.
"Hold on. They're not using telekinesis to stop the boat; they're using it to destroy it from the inside!" Haru ran to the door and pounded on it. "Aster! Get over here! They're going to destroy the-"
"They're destroying the engine?"
"GAH!" Haru spun around to see Aster right behind him. "Don't do that!"
"That's not important. We've got to figure out how to stop this thing from exploding!"
"But how?"
"I don't know!" Aster slammed a fist on the metal. Aster looked at the engine and banged on it again.
"Pounding it isn't going to do anything you know."
"I know. But I felt something." Aster knocked on the metal twice. "Something like…earth."
"Earth?" Haru banged on the engine. "Hey, you're right. I feel something in there."
"You do?" Aster asked.
"Metal comes from the earth, so there are traces of it left in this metal." Haru placed a hand on the engine as he explained. "If we can use that earth to seal the holes, then we can get away from here."
"Right!" Aster nodded. "Let's get on with it, it feels like a sauna in here." Aster ducked just as another screw came loose and shot out where his head would have been. "And fast. Where's the first one?"
"It's right…here!" Haru covered a hole with his hand, and took his hand away from it straight away. "OW!" Haru clutched his burnt hand. "It's too hot."
"Let me." Aster covered the hole with his hand, and when he removed it a few seconds later, the hole was welded shut.
"How did you do that?"
"Well, Hassleberry said I had Hannah's powers, so I figured that the power of fire would prevent things from burning me." Aster answered with a smile. He turned back around and began sealing the rest of the holes. "I did some practicing in my bedroom, but it was risky, seeing as they were based on theories I came up with. This is proof that my theories are correct."
"Wow. I had no idea you were this smart."
"Don't you ever look me up on the internet?" Aster asked, after finally sealing the rest of the holes. "I am a pro athlete with a high IQ, two PhD's and a photographic memory."
"But why can't you remember anything about your mother?" Haru asked.
"That's different." Aster muttered, sweat dropping. "Anyway I've fixed the engine, so we should be able to leave now." Aster snapped his fingers, and the engine rumbled. "It worked!" He said happily, walking past a dumbfounded Haru with a spring in his step.
"How does he do that?" Haru exclaimed to himself. Aster reached out to grab the door handle, but it opened before he could grab it, causing the door to slam straight into his face.
"Aster!" Zane yelled, bursting into the room.
"Just me." Haru said waving.
"Where is Aster?"
"Right here." Aster moaned, a hand on his face. "Ouch. It must be important if you almost broke my nose."
"Meno's gone."
"What?" Aster removed the hand from his face, wide eyed. "What do you mean she's gone? I thought she was with you!"
"She was, but she started acting really weird after getting these headaches, then she just stood up and vanished!"
"This is bad." Haru said.
"Oh, thanks for stating the blindingly obvious, Haru!" Zane yelled.
"Zane, calm down!" Aster yelled. "We have to-" A blast of pink energy whooshed behind him, stopping Aster from completing his sentence. "What the…" Aster peered around the door frame, but ducked as soon as another blast of energy whooshed over him. "They're attacking again."
"What?" Haru's head appeared above Aster's. "Is it Meno?"
"Aster!" Daisy ran up to Aster, holding green knives in her right hand. "Thank goodness you're here. Meno has…" She quickly hid the knives behind her back when she saw Zane leave the engine room. "Well, see for yourself." Daisy pointed up to the sky. More specifically, it was the sky that was above the ruins of the facility. There in the sky was a bright ball of pink energy, and beams of pink light shot out from all directions. In the centre of this ball was Meno, her arms outstretched and her eyes blank. On land, the Kishido's were all staring up at Meno.
"Get down from there, Meno!" Jaden yelled.
"You'll fall!" Hassleberry shouted.
"That's not helping, you know." Syrus muttered.
"Is this her other side?" Hiruko asked.
"I…" Jaden shielded his eyes. "I think it is. And she's gone berserk." Coco trembled on Jaden's shoulder, his thick tail hiding his eyes from the terrifying Meno.
"Mind filling me in on what's happening?" Aster asked, joining Jaden by his side, allowing Coco to happily jump on his shoulder.
"We have no idea what's going on." Jaden shrugged.
"Die!"
"Huh?" Hiruko blinked. "Did Meno say something?"
"This island has tormented many of my kind. All by the hands of humans." Meno said, her voice layered. She looked up sharply, fury in her blank eyes. "You cannot be forgiven!" The beam around her expanded gradually and passed through the Kishido's and rubble harmlessly until it filled the whole island.
"What's she doing?" Haru wondered out loud.
"If she's trying to kill us, then she must have lousy aim." Hassleberry answered. Aster's eyes widened.
"Everyone! Get down!"
"What? Why?" Hiruko asked. His question was answered when there was a loud rumbling noise, the waters around the island grew choppier and the land began to crack.
"You heard him!"
"Hit the floor!" Everyone on the boat ducked down onto the ground, just as there was a bright flash of pink light and a loud BOOM! That rocked the boat so much that it nearly overturned. The sky darkened and the clouds twisted into a spiral, the eye being the centre of Meno's beam. Vicious winds blew around the storm, and pink lightning flashed around the eye of it. The earth of the island crumbled apart into chunks, and the Kishido girls all fell into the water. Only Meno remained where she was, and the beam created a huge whirlpool that tossed around the remains of the island and the Kishido's.
"She's...she's destroyed the island!" Zane yelled over the storm.
"And we'll be caught up in it if we don't get out of here!" Aster stood up on one knee, but as soon as he did, the boat was hit by a large wave, tossing the entire gang to the other side of the ship as if they were ragdolls.
"Ouch!" Jaden's head hit the railing with a loud thump.
"Oof!" Daisy landed heavily on the ground. "Whoa!" Daisy and everyone else rolled across the boat once more as the storm got more and more vicious, and the boat was getting closer to the whirlpool.
"Aster, do something!" Syrus yelled.
"What?"
"I said do something!"
"I can't!"
"What?"
"I can't!" A wave bigger than the others crashed over the boat and created puddles on the boat, as well as splashing everybody.
"Well you better think of something fast!" Hassleberry shouted.
"There are two non-swimmers on board, you know!" Haru yelled, pointing at himself. The whirlpool started to get smaller and shallower. "And I certainly don't like the look of that."
"Aster, maybe its okay to use a little of your powers, as long as Zane doesn't see." Daisy said.
"But...what?" Aster asked. "There's no way I can do anything without Zane noticing."
"What? Don't you have, like, a future seeing power or something!"
"One: I haven't got it yet. Two: How is it going to be useful? Three..." Aster stopped talking when he noticed that the whirlpool had completely vanished, and instead, the water rose higher. He gasped. "Grab onto something!"
…
"Oh…Zane." Jesse blinked.
"Zane? You mean the duellist in the Pro League?" Selena asked, sitting next to him on a bench in front of the beach. She was dressed in her school uniform, and still wore the moon pendant around her neck.
"Yeah. He was a student at Duel Academy, but we haven't spoken to him recently. It was just a passing thought; nothing to worry about." Jesse said cheerfully.
"Really? But I thought he was visiting you." Jesse's smile froze.
"Excuse me?"
"I said that Zane was visiting Syrus." Jesse groaned and hung his head.
"We are so doomed. If he finds out about us…"
"Have faith in Aster." Selena said happily. "He'll find a way to keep our secrets."
"Yeah but… I heard that Meno disappeared, and that's going to cause some problems." Selena opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say something, she stared off into the distance.
"Hey, what's that?" Selena asked, pointing across to the horizon. Jesse looked up.
"Where?"
"Over there. It's in the middle of the ocean. Can you see it?"
"I think I can." Sure enough, in the distance, there was a small pillar of light, and a group of clouds were gathered around it. "What the heck is that?" He saw the clouds become even darker, and the water in the distance rose up. "Is that a tidal wave!"
"What?" Selena jumped up from the bench and immediately went to the railing beside the steps to the beach. "That's just not natural!"
"This is insane!" Jesse joined Selena by her side, also gawping at the approaching tidal wave. "Hang on a sec… there's a boat. There are people on there!"
"We have to help them!" Selena reached her necklace, but Jesse gently grabbed her wrist.
"We can't. Someone might see you."
"But what should we do?" Selena indicated the wave. "That wave is only a few miles away, and the city might drown if we don't do something!" As Selena finished speaking, the tidal wave abruptly stopped and sunk into the ocean again, but the boat was in midair, and it flew towards the beach.
"Get down!" Jesse dropped onto his knees, Selena following suit.
"!"
CRASH!
"Oh no!" Selena gasped, the boat now in ruins on the sand. "Are you alright?" Selena stood up and ran down the stone steps towards the destroyed boat.
"Selena!" Jesse protested. With a groan, she ran after her. "Is…is everyone alive?"
"I think I'm alive." Jesse's eyes widened.
"Aster, is that you?"
"Hang on a sec; let me get out of here." There were several shuffles among the piles of destroyed boat, until eventually, a large piece of metal lifted up, and Aster was unharmed underneath it. "Oh, sorry, was I interrupting a date?"
"Aster, this isn't funny." Jesse said sternly. "You could have been killed, what were you thinking?"
"Well, we're alive, aren't we? Besides…" Aster pushed the metal off of him and climbed out of the hole. "It wasn't me, it was Meno."
"Meno? Does this mean she's back?" Selena asked.
"Well, we did rescue her…" Jaden crawled out from underneath the rubble. "…but she went berserk and destroyed the island we rescued her from."
"She's crazy!" Hassleberry exclaimed, punching himself out of the rubble.
"She's not crazy." Haru protested, standing up beside Hassleberry. "She's just…um… got Multiple Personality Disorder…I think."
"It's a Kishido thing, Haru." Daisy scrambled out of the same hole Aster emerged from. "And that's Aster's sister you're talking about."
"So she's still missing, huh?" Jesse muttered.
"BLEUGH!" Hiruko gasped, bursting out from the rubble and startling everyone. "I'th got thand in ma mouf!" He exclaimed, spitting out sand and scraping it off his tongue.
"But I'm so glad everyone's okay." Selena sighed, relieved.
"Hang on a second…" Jaden twisted his head left and right, and lifting up various pieces of metal and searching under them.
"What's wrong?" Aster asked. Jaden turned to face Aster, on the verge of panic.
"Syrus and Zane. They're gone!"
…
"What the…" Syrus' eyes opened, as did Zane's. They were no longer kneeling on the boat; instead, they were kneeling on solid ground, and it was raining. The brothers looked around their surroundings, and Zane kept a protective arm around Syrus. "This isn't Aster's boat. Where are we?" Zane diverted his gaze towards a building, and his eyes narrowed.
"A memory." He answered.
"A memory?" Syrus repeated. Zane nodded.
"This memory is what binds me to Meno. See that shop?" Zane pointed ahead of him. There was a small shop with televisions, mp3 players and other gadgets in the window. "That's where we first met. I saw her again the next day in that same spot; that was the day our father died. But now…" As Zane spoke, the illusion gradually crumbled away, revealing an empty street with no rain, and the shop had wooden windows and doors, the paint was peeling from the front and there was graffiti sprayed on the wood. "…that memory has been destroyed." Meno stood in front of the shop, her back to Syrus and Zane. Meno looked down at the ground, her eyes shining sadly. Zane walked away from Syrus and stood by Meno's side. She looked up at him briefly, and then turned back to gaze at the shop. There was a long silence.
Should I do something? Syrus thought. This should be a private moment between the two of them, but Meno's my friend, too. I guess, for now…all I can do is watch.
"You are our Meno now, right?" Zane asked. Meno nodded. "I see…how long until she takes control again?"
"I don't know." Meno answered quietly. "It could be at any moment. She's never done this before, so it could be when we least expect it."
"Oh…"
"You know, I…" Meno hesitated, clutching the sleeve of her cardigan. "Ever since that day, I came back here every afternoon, waiting for you. That is, until I got taken to the facility. I don't know why I did it. I thought that…that you would never forgive me. I knew you would be angry with me, but I couldn't help it. I kept coming back here again and again, waiting for you. I suppose… that part of me thought that you still cared for a monster like me."
"You're not a monster." Zane said defiantly, but with a gentle tone to his voice. "You're Meno."
"You have to understand. I was born to kill others." Meno touched the flaking paint of the shop. "Memories die. People die. Plants die. Animals die. Eventually, I will die as well. For me, this memory died a long time ago. I used to be able to remember things like where a dog would bark, and even which flowers were where, but now, when I create that illusion, I can barely remember it. My memory of you was dead." Meno turned to face Zane. "Zane, what I did was utterly unforgivable. Even if your memories of me aren't dead yet, please, for our sake, destroy them." Meno smiled with tear-filled eyes. "That way…we can both move on with our lives." Meno turned around. "Goodbye, Zane." Meno began to walk away.
"DON'T GO!" Syrus suddenly ran up to Meno and hugged her from behind. Meno gasped.
"Syrus, what are you doing?" Meno cried. "I killed your father."
"I don't know!" Syrus yelled. "There's no way…there's no way that me and Zane can forgive what you did to our dad. We can never bring him back. But I…and Zane, too… we don't want to lose the Meno we care about. We don't want to lose you!" At this point, Aster ran round a corner but, seeing the brothers and Meno, decided to shrink back around it and watch. His friends all followed, and he outstretched an arm, preventing them from moving any further.
"Tell me, Meno. Do you want to leave us behind?" Syrus asked. "Do you want to forget about Aster and everyone else as if we never existed?"
"No…" Meno shook her head. "I don't want to forget."
"Then stay. You and your other side. Whatever that girl throws at us, we'll be able to survive and move on. I miss my dad, and I will never stop, but Meno…I'm okay. And Zane's okay too because we have you. Do you understand? We don't care that you're part evil; we still love you."
"Syrus…" Meno tightly closed her eyes. "Zane…" Meno held Syrus' hand and turned around, never letting go of it. "I never, ever wanted to leave you. I just felt like I had to because I was afraid I'd kill you. You were the first people to accept me as a person rather than an evil killer." Meno glanced away for a moment. "Besides, I…I…" Meno was interrupted when the wind picked up. "Eh?" Meno looked up and gasped. "Oh no!" Above them were ten helicopters, and as five of them lowered, the buzzing and rotating of the propellers was so deafening, everyone had to cover their ears.
"Come on!" Aster yelled, and ran towards Meno, Syrus and Zane.
"What are you waiting for?" Daisy shouted, following him.
"Get a move on!" Jesse yelled, also running towards Meno, holding Selena's hand. Eventually, Jaden, Hiruko, Hassleberry and Haru followed suit. The five helicopters landed, and several men wearing helmets with plastic visors and dark blue overalls plus bulletproof vests jumped out and stood in a half circle around the gang, pointing their guns at them.
"Jesse…" Selena clung to Jesse's shirt, and he placed a reassuring arm around her shoulders.
"Surrender number thirty seven. She is the perpetrator of the destruction of the Kishido Research Facility and the death of countless human beings. If you refuse to cooperate, you will all be placed under arrest."
"We will never hand her over to you." Zane snapped, standing in a protective stance in front of Meno.
"Zane…" Meno started.
"I'm not going to let an arrest scare me." Zane whispered to her. He turned back to the guards. "If you want to arrest Meno, then you'll have to get through me first." A few of the guards hesitated, lowering their guns slightly.
"Zane, what do you think you're doing?" Aster hissed. "They really will kill you."
"Aster, take the others and get out of here. I'll protect Meno."
"But…"
"Just go."
"…" Aster hesitated, but he nodded. "Guys, come on. We just have to leave things up to Zane." As soon as they took several steps forward, a guard fired a shot in front of Hiruko's foot.
"Hey, watch it!" He yelled.
"That was a warning shot." The guard said. "Another step and the next one will be in your heart." Hiruko grimaced and jumped behind Jaden.
"On second thought, it looks like we're sticking around." Aster glanced at Zane.
Zane...He thought. Don't do anything stupid.
"Mr Truesdale, do you understand what you're dealing with?" A guard demanded.
"Yes. I know exactly what I'm dealing with." Meno peered around Meno at the guards, and she immediately clutched Zane's coat. "But, the girl you want is my friend, and I'm never handing her over to you." Zane glared at the guards. "Got a problem with that?" He asked, challenging them.
"Look..." A guard lowered his gun. "This girl has killed thousands of innocent humans over the past five years. Do you honestly think we're just going to shrug them off and say "oh, well"?"
"But that's what they said at the facility!"
"Huh?" Zane looked over his shoulder. "Aster?"
"I can understand why you can't ignore a person dying, but for Kishido's?" Aster shook his head. "No. I shouldn't call them that. They are human beings just like us, but their powers are just an excuse to pass our time for "research". You're killing monsters to save mankind? Don't make me laugh. Those experiments are torture! Hundreds of little girls were tortured by your so-called research, and some of them even died! You say we can't shrug off the deaths of humans, but for these girls, you do just that! One word; hypocrite!" Aster's fist clenched. "To me, you're the monsters."
"How dare you?" A guard yelled, holding a handgun up at Aster, but another guard lowered the gun before he could fire.
"You idiot, you can't shoot him." He hissed. "He's a pro."
Aster...Zane... Meno thought.
"Ah!" Meno gasped, a hand going to her head.
"Meno." Zane turned around to face Meno. He got down to eye level with her. "Are you alright?"
"I...I'm fine..." Meno smiled at him weakly. "It's just a headache. Ah!" Both of Meno's hands clutched her head and she dropped onto her knees.
"Meno!" Zane grabbed Meno's shoulders.
"H...Hey. Are you alright?" Aster reached a hand towards her.
"Stay back!" Meno cried.
"Huh?"
"We're not going to leave you!" Zane said. Meno looked up at him with pleading eyes. Zane's eyes widened. Her shine in her eyes kept appearing and disappearing.
"Please... get away from me!" Meno screamed. A pink arm materialised behind her, and it swatted Zane away from her and into Aster, who collapsed into the gang and caused them all to fall onto the ground. Just as this was happening, there was a huge burst of pink light, and the upper halves of all the guards were gone. All those who were further away from Meno were lucky enough to have their chests left, but the rest had only their legs, and the bodies collapsed all over the pavement in a pool of blood, while the rest left alive could only watch, horrified.
"Wh...Wha..." Zane stammered.
"What the hell?" Hiruko finished.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Selena screamed, clinging onto Jesse.
"Haru!" Hassleberry caught Haru just as he collapsed.
"Damn you..." Meno muttered, standing up with a slight stagger. "Damn you..." She turned around to face Zane and the others. She looked up, and her eyes were blank. "Damn you!" She yelled. Meno became surrounded by a pink fire made from pure energy. Tendrils shot out into the sky, and they passed through the helicopters in the sky, destroying them with great explosions while the remains showered the streets. Other tendrils shot through the buildings and across the city, and some also passed over the heroes, who could do nothing but duck down.
"Stay down Hiruko!" Jaden yelled over the roar over the great power, his arm wrapped around Hiruko, who had his hands on his head.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Hiruko yelled back. Jesse wrapped his arms around Selena in a protective hug, who clung to him, and Hassleberry did likewise to Haru.
"Aster!" Daisy shouted. "Watch out!" Daisy pulled Aster back to the group, just as a tendril swooped over his head. Aster sat up slightly and stared at Meno.
"This is insane..." Aster muttered, shaking his head.
"Syrus!" Zane yelled, grabbing Syrus' arm. "Stay close!"
"Right!" Syrus nodded. "But what about Meno? What do we do?"
"I..." Zane looked down. "I don't know..." He said helplessly.
"A lot of people are going to die!" Meno shouted her hair blowing in wind that her powers created. She grinned triumphantly. "This world...is mine!" The fire got even bigger, and more tendrils flew out, reaching across the city, crashing through buildings, and passing through the sky. "Before I hand this world over to those pathetic humans...I will kill them all!"
"Stop!" Zane yelled. "Stop it already! You'll destroy the city!"
"Shut up!" Meno snapped. A group of tendrils rose up into the sky, and shot down to the ground. "Everything has come down to this! Everything!" Zane's eyes widened as he realised that the tendrils were heading towards him. "It's all your fault!" Zane closed his eyes tightly and clutched his little brother. Suddenly, a transparent pink barrier encased the gang, and the tendrils bounced straight off them. Zane opened one eye.
"Eh?" He opened both of his eyes and loosened his grip on Syrus.
"Dammit! Don't interfere!" Meno hissed. In one instant, the pink fire stopped roaring, buildings stopped collapsing, and everyone within the force field stopped moving. A transparent Meno appeared inside the barrier, the shine in her eyes returned. She smiled.
"Meno. You're okay." Zane said, beaming.
"No..." Meno shook her head, her voice sounding echoed. "I am Meno, but I'm just the illusion of my consciousness. My consciousness is working to protect you, so that my attacks don't hurt you. But, I can only protect this small spot."
"Illusions?" Zane repeated.
"Yes..." Meno nodded. "Only those who have had a direct link to me can see me. To everyone else, I am invisible."
"Huh? Meno?" Aster looked up. "How come everyone's not moving? Hey! Jaden! Over here! Snap out of it!"
"They can't see her, Aster." Zane said.
"What?" Aster gasped, sitting up onto his knees. "Okay, I'm confused."
"What in carnation?" Hassleberry exclaimed. "There's two Meno's!"
"Like I said, only those who have a link with me can see the illusion." Meno looked down. "But...there's a reason why I am here. There's a way you can stop me from destroying the city and killing humans all over the planet." Meno looked at Syrus. "Syrus?"
"Uh... yeah?" Syrus said, pulling himself away from Zane.
"Do you remember the favour?"
"Wh...What favour?" Syrus asked. Meno smiled sadly.
"If I can't control myself...If people carry on dying." Syrus' eyes widened as he remembered.
"I want you to kill me."
OH NO! What's Syrus gonna do? Will he kill Meno? Will mankind be wiped out? AH! THE TENSION'S KILLING ME! Ah, don't worry guys, I'm not REALLY going to kill Meno off...or am I? HAHAHA! You'll just have to find out next time, where it will be a lot sooner than the previous chapter! (But come on! I'm in my final year of my friggin' A levels, plus I'm eighteen on the 10th of December! Cut me some slack!)