A/N: For the sake of simplicity, words listed in italics while not in quotations are translations for any foreign words.
"Alright, these guys are low level, should be easy enough. I'm going to be as loud as I can... blow everything in that facility up." I nod. She runs out from cover.
When Noire meant we are going in loud, she meant loud. We ran straight towards the front gate of the compound, and I kicked the gate open, and we split up. I took the left side of the courtyard while she took the right.
Three guards immediately reacted, running up to me spears and swords ready. I pulled out my shot-gun, and loaded in shock rounds. Non-lethal unless, of course, they have a heart condition... Oh well.
The first guard to reach me swung his sword down in a crescent shape, and I dodge it easily, and as he followed it up, I swing my M1014 at his sword, unbalancing him. I point the shotgun at his leg.
BANG BZZT
The guard convulses violently as he falls to the ground. The impact still caused some bleeding, but it wasn't lethal as I turn around to block spear with the barrel of the gun. Fortunately, it didn't break anything in my weapon as I snapped the spear head off of the pole and ripped out the tip from my barrel, firing another shot into him. It wasn't enough, and I fired two more into him.
BANG BANG BZZT
He falls to the ground, joining his previous comrade. I turn around once more and fired the rest of my magazine into the last man.
CLINK CLANG
Unfortunately, this one brought a riot shield, and he didn't hesitate charging straight at me. He piles straight into me, knocking me on my ass as I fall over.
"Tough son of a bitch aren't you?" I ask him. He doesn't answer, or rather he answers by taking his shield and slamming it down. I roll out and back onto my feet as I kicked him in the back of the leg. I take advantage of this moment and take the barrel of my gun, holding it like a bat.
I bring it down, hitting his riot shield. Not the most efficient way to deal with him, but the most satisfying.
THUNK THUNK THUNK CRACK!
His riot shield cracks under the continued assault of my brutality and shatters, or maybe that was his arms? I couldn't tell for sure, I was hitting him pretty hard.
He passes out from the pain, confirming the latter part of my assessment. I look over to my right and I see Noire cleaning house. She is effectively dueling seven men at once, with more waiting in line.
I whistle, "She can really go." I take a moment to process things, "Hey! Wait a minute! How come they are all paying attention to you?!" Half of them turn around, shrug, and return to Noire.
My eyes twitch. "Okay then... hope you like a good shock then." I go prone on the ground, and set up my AS50.
BANG BANG!
I fire two shots, straight into the rear ends of two guards who were taking a break. The clutch their rear ends, defecate, and pass out.
'That can't smell too nice.'
Only four guards left standing. Well, not exactly standing. Two were kneeling, begging for Noire's forgiveness, one was throwing up, and the fourth was running away.
'Well, I guess she can deal with that.' I think to myself as I run to the factory, and propel myself inside.
I sneak around, avoiding conflict and planting charges on the main supports using a blueprint I found. I'm trying to use minimal force to make it implode, rather than explode into shrapnel.
"Wonder where those two went..." Hm? I peeked around the corner, and much to my displeasure, I saw a small child wearing a simple cheap mini-suit with brown hair. The hair was kept down and was long, and unless you saw his face, you could mistake him for a little girl. He wore white gloves, which are stained slightly with blood.
"On the the off-note... Je te vois..." He said, looking straight at the corner I was hiding at.
I see you
I walk out of the corner, pistol at ready, aimed straight at his head. Doesn't really matter much either way, but it's good to be prepared. "Yeah... enough with the French already, you have hundreds of other languages, use them."
"Aw... mon frère et mon création... why so hostile?" His accent not quite matching up too well with Japanese.
My brother, and creation.
"Oh no reason... "Just Business" as you say." I say, obviously not pleased to see him. He skips over and around me.
"It was Onii-chan, don't be so sour." he says, latching onto my back. I sighed, clearly annoyed and went on planting the explosives. I stuck another square onto a pillar, and set it to active.
"I'm a little less upset that you tried to kill me last time, than I am that you didn't come back."
"How come?"
"You left Ryouichi hanging with a burnt down house and no family, that's why." I said venomously. It's not often I get this worked up about something, much less another person, but something about this whole situation rubs me the wrong way.
I grab the last charge needed for the building to collapse with the Killachines inside of it, and plant it.
Thud
"Hm?" I turn around and point my pistol.
Ryouichi POV
After receiving that cryptic message from Xiang, I followed Nirito. Eventually, we just started roaming around the streets, looking for Xiang.
"Just like him... leaving us with no clue with what he is doing." I mutter. Nirito picked up on it.
"Does he do this often?" I nod my head.
"More often than he likes to admit at least." I smile, and walk along with my arms behind my head. "Still though, he should really just give us a heads up-" I stopped talking, as I heard gunshots frighteningly close to us. I gulp once, and watch as Nirito scaled the wall next to us and peeked over.
"Well, looks like Xiang is here with Noire... Shall we?" He motions towards the opposite side of the compound, clearly signaling for us to go. I nod, as we run off in the opposite direction of the fighting.
We scaled over the south wall and landed silently inside. It looks like all of the guards have located to fight Xiang.
'Sad... I was hoping to test out this new ship.' I had conjured up a new whip, this one has the ability to receive electricity and output it. Meaning, a whole new 'shocking' experience. I shake my head and follow Nirito and climb in through a window...
We land silently inside, after discovering that the entire section of the catwalk here was out of commission. We walk through the compound, not seeing much danger either way.
"Wonder where those two went..." We hear someone talking, and Nirito pulls me to the side behind a pillar. "On the the off-note... Je te vois..." He said, looking at a random corner.
"What's a boy doing in here?" I whisper. Nirito shrugs and redirects his attention to who steps out.
"Yeah... enough with the French already, you have hundreds of other languages, use them." Xiang steps out, gun pointed straight at the little boy. My eyes widen, terrified at the idea of another young child being killed. I start to step out, but Nirito grabs me and shakes his head.
"Aw... mon frère et mon création... why so hostile?" Is that... French? It couldn't be him right? Last I remembered... he would be around 31 by now.
"Oh no reason... "Just Business" as you say." Xiang replies back coldly, obviously still not pleased to meet this boy.
My breathing starts hitching up, though I manage to keep it silent.
"It was, Onii-chan, don't be so sour." Onii-chan? The evidence was right in front of me... but I didn't want to believe it.
"I'm a little less upset that you tried to kill me last time, than I am that you didn't come back."
"How come?" My heart is pounding at this point, to the point of which I thought I was going to pass out.
"You left Ryouichi hanging with a burnt down house and no family, that's why." Xiang said with venom.
That was it. Something inside of me snapped, and I stood straight up, stumbled a little bit and fell backwards. Xiang stands up and spins around to me, pointing his weapon. He sees it's me and relaxes a bit, before tensing up again.
Léon jumps off Xiang's back, and looks away, neither guilt nor worry is existent on his face, and starts skipping towards me. I kick away, backing up against a pillar, and start standing up.
"Gh-... X-Xiang... how long?" I stumble out. I'm sweating at this point, blindly reaching out for something to grab a hold of. I'm extremely pale, and I should be.
I've just seen a ghost.
I feel something solid, and I grip it tightly, and it squishes inwards slightly.
"Shit no! RUN!" Xiang hollers, grabbing me and Nirito as when he saw him and ran. Though, it was apparent I was in no position to run, I couldn't even tell what we were running from. Killachine? Thugs? It didn't matter. I just wanted to lay down for a few minutes... and I did.
Xiang barked something at someone and wrapped Nirito and himself in his wings... and he fell over in a cacoon. Suddenly, I feel someone grab and and turn me around. I go face to face with a youthful face, Léon. He wraps me with soft feeling feathers that make me feel safe, though the wings sting, and holds me close as the area around us turns into a fiery scene.
Xiang POV
'It wasn't supposed to happen like this.' I think to myself as I force debris off of me and Nirito. I get up, bleeding slightly from some shrapnel. I see someone digging frantically through the debris, and I quickly identify her as Noire.
I shake Nirito awake, who passed out during the onslaught, and called Noire over. She heard me and jogged over.
"Jeez, when I said you could blow it all up, I never meant you too!" Noire scolds me. I hold up a hand, and run over and start digging. After a minute, I take one big scoop to debris and cut my hand, though not on wreckage.
I pull on the foreign object, and a large set of wings come with it. The tips of each feather seemed to be made with knives, though the rest was silver. They retract revealing an unconscious Ryouichi, and a depressed Léon.
He looks at me and tries to run off, but I hold him by the collar. "The hell you aren't." I growled. "Do it once, shame on circumstance, do it twice, and shame on your life." Léon pales at the threat, for I was one of the few that knew how to permanently, kill one of 'us'.
Léon knew the circumstances, and followed along obediently as we all silently carried Ryouichi down the street to Chian's place.
A few days have passed, and I received a call from IF that both sides were taken care of, and Blanc has decided to put off the campaign for a while. That also means I've got nothing urgent on my plate once more... except for the one sitting in front of me. I frown, looking straight at Léon whom was fiddling around with something, avoiding Ryouichi, whom was visibly upset.
He hasn't said a word to either of us since the factory went down in fire. That bothered me. Noire noticed this, and uncharacteristically, she offered to help.
"It's Halloween tomorrow, we could use that to our advantage."
"Halloween? What good is that to us? We aren't kids looking for candy." I say. To be honest, I have a little bit of a sweet tooth.
"People still do it, from children to adults. Hmph, besides that's not what I had in mind." Noire said.
Not sure what she had in mind, but it is 'tommorow' and we were just sitting around, feeling a bit awkward. Nirito had returned to Leanbox on 'business' too. Ryouichi continues plucking away at his spell book, and occasional spark sparking.
I spoke up, "So... Ryouichi, as you know this is your... 'brother'." I shifted uncomfortably. I was never good at breaking news to anybody... this isn't an exception. "So Léon, anything to say?" I say, throwing all responsibility onto the young, yet old boy.
"...Sorry?" I wince. Our 'kind' never was good at apologies either, but that was just cringe worthy. Ryouichi looks up and smiles.
"Hm? Did you guys say something?" he says, but before I can reply, he goes on. "Today's Halloween right? That's great, perfect."
"Ryouichi..." I mutter. It was obvious him saying that is already stretching his comfort zone.
"Look... I'm sorry alright? J'ai fait une erreur..." Léon starts. "I shouldn't have gotten so attached, nor should I have abused it..." Léon was extremely blunt, but it worked all the same.
I made a mistake...
"Why... why did you just up and leave?!" Ryouichi shouts at the little boy. "I lost everything and then you just... just left!" Ryouichi snaps.
I didn't know what to say, even if I did... I shouldn't be butting my nose in. This time at least. Léon looks away, not ashamed, but he is regretting what he did. Tears started falling from Léon's face. Whether he is actually 7 or 700 years old, his mind never ages. As such, his body doesn't know any better.
Ryouichi saw this, and softened up. "Listen... I'm upset but, I don't blame you." He looks up at me, "Or you." Even though I can tell it is the worst told lie ever told. Léon wiped away his tears.
knock knock
I sigh in relief, as I slowly rise from my seat.
knock knock
I hurry up and open the door, revealing Noire who is holding four slips in her hand. "Hey, what's that?"
"Geez, you leave me waiting at the door and don't even say high. How rude can you be?" Noire replied, flipping her hair.
"Sorry, I say. We were... caught up in something." I say, dodging the implied question. Noire looks at me, but drops the subject.
"Well, I got some tickets to a Halloween scare house." Noire says, "Not exactly in my interests, but they shouldn't go to waste."
I shrug, and look to the two others. They shrug and stand up. "Guess we are going."
So, here I am. Stuck hanging upside down by one leg with cuffs around my wrists. I took another look at the slip in my hands that we entered this place with.
"Halloween Survival Course." I read out loud. I couldn't even bust out of these cuffs, since the entire place was surrounded by an anti-magic field. "What's taking them so long?" I grumble.
I look around, and there is blood scattered on the walls, with fake corpses along with them. Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of something transparent, but I can't be sure.
"Screw this." I mutter, as I grab my knife which was hanging from my back. I attempt to lift my upper body up, and I grab the rope. I cut through it, and I drop down in the least glamorous way possible. "Oof." I grunt as I crash to the floor, my armaments echoing in the house.
If these traps aren't that bad, the 'robots' roaming around dressed up as zombies are. Thankfully, they ARE robots. I pull out my pistol, and adapt my grip to the cuffs. "I doubt this is going to end well..." I mutter, as I fire at the lock on my cuffs. The end result was what I wanted but.
THUNK
I probably should've used the glock instead, as the M1911 goes right through the lock, and into my gut. I clutch my stomach.
"Nice one stupid." Auguste appears next to me, shrouded in shadows. I shake my head, I'm being recorded right now and I am also on broadcast to the entire nation. I'd rather not have the 'Black Winged Angel' be pegged as insane.
I shake off the broken cuffs, and trudge along the path that Noire and the others went through.
I walk for a while, and I hear something groaning. I turn around, and I see a group of three 'zombies' coming after me. I ignore them and keep on going, only to be stopped by another set of three.
"So much for 'easy' and 'fun'." I say, as I pull out my pole-arm, since I can't summon my swords. I take the initiative and stab one right through the head. A liquid bursts out of the hole, and some of it gets in my mouth.
"...ketchup?" I felt like we've already made that joke before. Author's imagination must be extremely dull...
I spin around my weapon, "Alright then, better call the deli, because I'm going to need some hotdogs!"
A Few Hours Later...
"Ugh..." I moan, "Out of all the prizes they gave out... they gave us mustard?" The prize for getting through the course without being bitten was four crates of mustard. Unfortunately, guess who had to carry it?
"It IS a stupid prize, but my shares are skyrocketing this week." I sigh, at least something good came out of it. "Plus, some yellow would do you good..." Noire says, looking at me. It's true, I'm pretty much completely red. The author didn't take too kindly to my insults, and dropped a horde on top of me.
Noire and myself arrive back at Chian's which is where we were staying for the time being, just until Blanc is ready and the Basilicom calms down. Ryouichi and Léon aren't with us. Léon had told me that the both of them are going to work out their issues...
I sigh, as I drop the boxes down in the corner. I say hello to Chian, and head up to the showers.
Two Days Later...
Ryouichi's POV
I frown, as I follow Léon around town. Buying mundane things. They don't look out of the ordinary, except for the fact that none of the items relate to each other. Some chalk, paper, and kitchen knives.
We walk out of Lastation, and out far into the plains. I was starting to question his motives, especially with those kitchen knives. I let my thoughts drift as Léon starts setting whatever he was trying to set up, sticking the kitchen knives into the ground to keep the paper from flying away.
He draws an outline with the chalk, consisting of characters from a demonic language that I don't recognize. "What's that?" I say, finally breaking the silence.
"Do you know what today is?" Léon replies back.
"The second of November. Why does that matter?" I reply, being a little bit hostile. Léon doesn't seem to pick up on it though. Part of me just wants to jump and take my frustrations out on him... but that won't solve anything.
"Today... is La Toussaint." He replies.
All Saints' Day.
"La Two sons?" I reply back, confused.
"No... La Toussaint. More specifically, the second day of it... All Souls' Day." He stands up, and looks up at me. "I'm taking you back to see... your parent's resting place. That is... if you want to." See... my parents?
My mouth opens, and no words come out. I nod furiously instead. I wanted to see my parent's graves, and say goodbye one last time. It's the only thing I regret about coming here. Not giving them closure...
Léon lifts his finger up, and bites it, drawing blood. He kneels down once more, scuffling along the parchment, outlining the chalk with his blood. He finishes, and the seal starts to glow, and I see plains, just like the one we were in now, except there were graves. Léon hops through, and I practically dive through.
I land hard on the ground. I brush myself up, and I raise my head. I froze. I looked straight up into two black and white pictures of my parents. I look around in the cemetery, and it looks beautiful. Flowers were placed everywhere, even on my parents' graves.
"Hey Mom... Dad..." I started, looking straight at both pictures. "I never did come to visit here... and I regret that." I say tearing up. "I hated myself for not being able to do more to help..." I said, wiping out tears from my eyes. Léon puts his hand on my shoulders, and comforts me as I let it all out...
A/N: Hey guys, Have a Happy Halloween, and for those who don't know what La Toussaint is. It's a holiday in France. It translates to All Saints' Day but, many consider it a vacation week.
So, see you guys next chapter, and go get some candy!