Disclaimer: Okay I could not help it. I wanted to write more of this new arc. I was going to write something else but you can blame my video production class professor for making me want to write more of this. Why? Because in class he made us watch a film that shows all the evil themes the world has. You know; murders, kidnappings, rape…

Believe me, it was not easy to sit through the detailed rape scene; I nearly hurled. But despite that it gave my brain a jog and now I am back with this!

NOTICE: These drabbles contain Lightis and some other couples depending on the story, and are in no particular order, nor do they tell a specific tale of just one story. Some of the drabbles might have a second part in later chapters, and if readers become fond of a certain drabble story, that drabble might have the chance to become a new full story.


CHRONICLES

Chapter XLIX: Hunting Parasites

Rating: M

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Crime, (bit of) Supernatural

Characters: Lightning, Sazh

Pair: None at the moment

Notes: The night was exhilarating to her. Like a cat she would prowl and stalk, enjoying the cover that the darkness gave her. Her new hell-given enhanced senses made the fun all the more exciting; there was much to do and so much time. Why rush? Why stop at having nine lives when the number thirteen was a more deadly "bad karma" number?

CAUTION: Violence, blood and gore, rape scene, psychological themes, Dark Lightning with a foul mouth and dry sense of humor, has a sadistic side, and extreme loneliness. Not for the faint of heart. Part of the Cat Eyes arc.


The world is full of monsters. To children monsters were creatures that lurked underneath their beds or closets in the dead of night; to some others monsters creep in the dark in the woods with sick fascination and determination of stalking their victims. Cliché, yes. But they were not far off from the true description either.

Monsters do lurk in the dark and stalk hapless prey with inhumane determination. There were plenty of them and of course hearing the word monsters people would disregard the thought and laugh it off, not knowing that those monsters were in deal real—but then again, nobody would even bother to pay attention to each description carefully to notice it.
There were monsters, and they were real but in the human tongue they go by the titles rapists, murderers, psychos, and many other titles.

To many, those words along with the people who were labeled as such were the bane of peace. But to Lightning, they were more than that; they are prey, they are Parasites.
On a night like tonight she would be sitting at home in her apartment indulging in some leftover pizza or some fried chicken fresh from the fried chicken joint. So why was she here on the rooftops instead of stuffing her face with her favorite meals?

Simple: she was out for blood.

A mile away she could smell a Parasite lurking about, causing havoc in the city. Truth to be told, Lightning did not give two fucks about the lives of other people, hell, she did not even give two fucks about herself. Then why bother hunting these monsters? It was because she was hungry—hungry for redemption, revenge, for blood, and even hungrier for the screams of her prey.
Dressed in a black sleeveless leather turtleneck under a white long-tailed trench coat that had red on the inside, dark blue jeans, black leather gloves on her hands, and black-and-red boots, Lightning was—in a sense—dressed to kill.

It took damn long enough for her to get used to her new…talents, and even longer for her to stop feeling disoriented whenever her killer instincts kicked in.

"This better be good…" Lightning grumbled to herself. She despised needing to get up when she was just about to devour a whole bucket of fried chicken; it was bad enough that she could see, hear, and smell things that were off in a far distance that could distract her, but to have almost no choice but to deal with it—damn her fucking new obsession with hunting—was taking things too far.
Even just a bite of chicken was too much to ask for it seems. Typical; life was screwing her over like a bitch once again.

Once again the law was way too stupid to even begin their little investigation. Lightning had to admit; she had seen better police work on television, on those crime drama shows. And that is just sad. Pathetic; and they call themselves the law. Nobody was following their laws nor were they enforcing their rules enough.

"I am getting sick of going by the rules…" Lightning grumbled again as she began walking to the edge of the building. The heights did not scare her, even before she had received her special senses. It always felt exciting to look down and feel the adrenaline rush when falling; those bungee jumping holidays helped her with realizing that.
Without any hesitation, she leapt off the edge. Lightning straightened her body downward, feeling the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Within the last minute she twisted around and dug her fingers into the side of the building, halting her descent.

It was funny how concrete now felt like Styrofoam underneath her fingers when she put enough strength into her hands. Lightning continued to scale down the building in a speed so fast that nobody would be able to notice her presence.

Again she could smell the scent of death and the dark stench of malicious intent. It was disgusting; like a clogged up toilet that had not been cleaned for years.
Lightning snorted and pinched her nose. She still had to get used to her sensitive nose but she was getting there. For now she needed to focus on trailing her quarry.

Her best bet was to follow the scent and the trail that the cops had left behind. It was a start; as long as she would be able to fuck around with her prey's head and head home to her bucket of fried chicken, she could walk away happy. Luckily for her, the trail was still fresh and very much…smelly.

Lightning huffed, "These fuckers really think there is such a thing as a perfect crime… I'd feel bad for busting their chops if I wasn't so pissed off and starving."

The second her feet touched the ground, Lightning straightened her white coat and the tail blew from the slight breeze like a cape. Her electric-blue eyes could see everything as clear as day despite the darkness of the evening. Seeing in the dark would be her best advantage during this hunt; no doubt that the Parasites she was after would take refuge in a dark area.

It was not long before Lightning spotted a cop. He seemed to be staring and observing something intently. "What a surprise…" Lightning mumbled mentally. She had to give the guy credit though; he was the first cop she had ever seen to be carefully inspecting something instead of just looking it over and throwing it to the side.

She approached the man and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and nearly jumped in surprise. "Ah! Ahem. Sorry about that Miss, I did not see you there." The cop apologized. Lightning shrugged it off casually, "I get that a lot. Nothing new."
Taking a closer look at the cop, she noticed with amusement that he had an afro for hair. She didn't think the force would allow anyone to get away with having such a funky hairdo, but this time Lightning was glad they allowed it to happen; this cop seemed to stand out so far.

"I was just passing by Officer, and I can't help but notice the ruckus. What happened here?" Lightning asked, trying her best to act curious and ignorant of the situation. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

The cop shook his head. "Well it's nasty. As you could probably tell, this place is a whore-house. But they have rules and regulations inside, of course…" He trailed off, looking around with his eyes to make sure he missed nothing.
Lightning looked up at the neon sign of the building. "Loveless. Huh, appropriate name for a whore-house considering its business is about getting a fucker's dick to stand up from his pants rather than making his brain consider some things in life. Not that I would know. Life is a bitch after all." Her words surprised the cop, making him turn to stare at her oddly.

"No offense ma'am, but you sound like a cynic."

"Maybe I am. Or maybe I am just more…insightful."

Lightning stared up at the sign again. "So…what exactly happened here, Officer?" The cop sighed, "One of the girls was reported to have been abducted. A witness had mentioned seeing her getting in a silver van before it drove off with her. My guess is the poor little miss must've gotten involved with dangerous people… Maybe she was not able to pay them back for something…" The cop narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Interesting…" Lightning drawled. She looked in the direction where the horrid scent was coming from; she knew where the van went, all she had to do was track it, find it and the hideout, then have some fun mutilating Parasites. Rapists would be easy; their only skill was to sneak around, seduce, and fuck anything with long legs.

As she turned away, the cop called out to her. "Hey! If you're strolling around at night, then please keep a lookout. Don't want any innocent souls getting hurt again."
Lightning raised an eyebrow at his sincere tone. "How touching… Fine, I will keep my eyes open. Have a good night Officer…"

"Katzroy. Officer Sazh Katzroy—glad to be of service. If you see anything, ring us up at the station." He said with a friendly smile. Lightning turned around again to face the direction she was heading towards. "You know what? I just might…" Without another word, she walked off. The end of her white coat flew behind her as she moved.


It did not take her long at all to find the van and where it would be parked. It was parked in front of an abandoned compound, in the outskirts of the city. Not a bad choice of hideout, but still not good enough for Lightning. "What a shame. And here I was thinking I would end up having some sort of challenge; stupid me." Lightning rambled in a bored tone.

The smell of malice was everywhere, especially from inside the van. No doubt they had tied up the woman in tape when she did not shut up.
How sad; to have to resort associating one's self with brainless small-dick fuckers like these just to make it through in the city. Now they seemed to have been upset that their pay had not made it to them. "Why am I not surprised…?" Lightning sighed to herself and crept up to the seemingly-abandoned compound.

She avoided the lights that lit up the place. They were not searchlights but the Parasites needed them to be able to see what was happening.

Lightning thanked her luck that her eyes functioned like a cat's. She was at full advantage here, and with a place like this, she had many spots to make use of. She was faster, stronger, and more dangerous than whoever was in the compound.
There were two men sitting outside, chatting and drinking beer. The lookouts perhaps? Or maybe just two of the men who decided to take a lunch break. If so, then these Parasites were arrogant for thinking this place would never be searched.

Though Lightning had to admit that was partially true, it still did not mean that one of these days the compound would either be searched or crushed to make way for a new building.

Lightning almost jumped like a startled cat when loud screams reached her ears. They were the sounds of a woman suffering, begging but were being ignored. Obviously that was the Innocent who was screaming bloody-murder.
She knew she did not need her sensitive ears in order to hear the woman's screams; the two men who were sitting outside had turned their heads towards the sound. The woman was screaming that loudly. It only meant that her torture was great; how sad…

First things first: Find an entry. Sounds simple enough. The rooftops would be ideal for Lightning to begin her stalking of her prey.

She sneaked past the two men undetected and made her way to a dark area around the structure. She placed her hands on the concrete wall and began scaling up until she reached the roof. As predicted, there was nobody guarding the upper area.
It seems that she was dealing with a dangerous gang who thought they were high class criminals. Wannabes seemed to be a more appropriate word for them, Lightning mentally added.

The screaming of the woman got louder as Lightning scaled around the walls and ceiling, her fingers digging into the hard surface as if it were made of Styrofoam or sponge.

She knew she was getting closer when the woman's screams began hurting her ears like a school bell ringing in her ear. It was becoming annoying to hear.
Lightning's feet made no sound when she walked down the dark, messy halls of the compound. The gang seemed to have fixed the place up—if that was what you would call it—just to their liking. In Lightning's opinion, they did a very fine terrible job. The place smelled worse than shit and the place was just that; shit.

Finally she approached a room that had its door opened slightly. Lightning peeked in and was disgusted; her preys were there. There was more than one of them, but that suited her just fine; it meant more Parasites to disembowel.

The woman was tied to the bed, stripped of all her clothing while one of the Parasites had one leg up on the bed, his back facing Lightning as he forced his little cock down the victim's throat. He was sighing and groaning in satisfaction, and it reminded Lightning of a school loser who masturbated to porn or his mom.

The other men held the women down when they decided to change positions and force themselves in every opening they could find.

Luckily they were so preoccupied that they did not even notice Lightning standing there at the doorway. Either they were that fucking stupid or Lightning was just too silent for them to notice. She decided to go with fucking stupid. After all, how hard was it to spot something colored white—obviously her trench coat—in such a dimly-lit place?

The rapists continued to let out animalistic noises of lust and pleasure while the woman was muffled by their disgusting cocks. The sounds reminded Lightning of a bunch of baboons going insane over a stolen banana.

Lightning lifted an arm and carefully pulled a slim silver blade from her sleeve. "I have always wanted to use this…" She murmured to herself. She admired the shine that her hidden blade had before turning her attention to her quarries.
She approached the sex-crazed men slowly with predatory intent but they still did not notice her. It did not matter anyway; she would be the last thing they would ever see whether they had spotted her or not.

Once she was close enough, Lightning lifted her arm and impaled her hidden blade into the back of the man's neck.

His companions jumped out of shock and finally noticed their intruder. Lightning pulled her weapon out of her first prey's body and wiped the blood on the dirty mattress before retracting it back into her coat's sleeve. The men began yelling in a foreign language, but it was obvious that they were pissed but they sounded like over-dramatic spoiled boys who wanted things to go their way. Lightning watched in amusement as one of them grabbed his gun and the other charges at her. Big mistake.

Lightning lifted her arm again, but this time instead of a hidden blade, something else was set to kill the brainless fucker charging at her. "I have a poisoned dart with your name on it." She said with a cruel smirk and within a second, a dart flew from her sleeve and struck the man's throat.
The effects of the poison were instant; the man began flailing around like a drunken dancer, smacking everything in his way, even his own buddy. He then ran in a circle until he finally fell to the floor and twitched several times before finally going limp.

The man with the gun took his aim. Lightning rolled her eyes. "Aren't you going to wear something first?"

Her sarcastic comment was ignored as the man pulled the trigger. He shot at her multiple times but the bullets only flew past Lightning due to his panicked and enraged state. His aim was atrocious. Lightning stalked towards him as the bullets continued to fly. "You are terrible at aiming."
Suddenly one of the bullets managed to hit her, smacking into Lightning's shoulder and staining her coat red with her blood.

Lightning glanced at the wound on her shoulder then back at the Parasite. She finally reached him and grabbed his gun. "You shouldn't be playing with these." She said before lifting her arm, letting her hidden blade unsheathe itself. She thrust her hand down and the man is dead within that instant.

She took the gun for herself and looked at her shoulder wound again; it was not hurting so much anymore. Lightning slid her coat down slightly and saw that the wound was closing up. Boldly, she held the bottom of the bullet between her thumb and index finger and pulled it out of her shoulder. She sighed in relief and placed her coat back on properly.

Lightning looked at the victim and shook her head at the pitiful sight; the woman was a mess; her face was slightly bruised and her naked form was degrading sight. The look in the woman's eyes told Lightning that she as suffering, she wanted to die. She had enough of this life.

With a sigh, Lightning cocked the gun and pointed it at the woman. "Poor kid. You've had it rough—no pun intended. I would feel sorry if I wasn't so pissed at missing a bite of my favorite fried chicken." The woman did not respond, could not respond. She did not even move but merely stared at Lightning with blank eyes that held some awe left in them.
Lightning placed her finger on the trigger. "Your suffering will end now. Don't worry; you won't be left here." She promised and the woman closed her eyes, ready for the bullet to her brain.

"Sleep in peace." Lightning said and pulled the trigger.


She had no problem with carrying a wrapped-in-sheets corpse around in her arms. No, the problem was that the Parasites who were still left alive were getting on her nerves. Lightning set the woman's body down in a safe spot before facing off against the remaining gang members. They were all inexperienced and more brainless than Lightning had thought and went down fairly easy.

Only two more were left to kill. Lightning enjoyed the sound of them losing their life when she struck at them; this was what she was meant to do ever since she rose again from the grave.
"You seem proud of your puny dicks…" Lightning mocked, "Why don't I help with humbling you a bit." The Parasites continued to run at her. She smirked as they got closer.

The men charged and threw punches at the intruder but froze when they realized she was not even in front of them anymore.

Lightning chuckled darkly, grabbing the men's attention. She lifted one bloody hand up and the Parasites' eyes widened. Suddenly they broke into a scream and fell to the ground, clutching their bleeding crotch. As they rolled around, trying to push away the pain, Lightning dropped their now severed manhood in front of them.

She had considered finishing them off, but since she had castrated them perhaps letting them bleed to death would be a good enough punishment. Lightning then returned to the woman's wrapped up body and lifted it into her arms.

It was time to head back and make a little delivery. She had her fill of destroying these Parasites, might as well end the night. Rolling her shoulders, Lightning nodded to herself in approval; the wound on her shoulder was now fully healed. Running should be easy without it now.


Sazh rushed through the front doors of HQ with several other officers in tow. Once they had taken a step outside, they saw the bundle that sat there at their doorstep. Sazh approached carefully and pulled the dirty sheet back to reveal the woman's face. He looked at his comrades. "It's the victim! Call the chief and the victim's parents, stat!" He ordered and the others rushed off.

He was confused but he supposed it was better than nothing. Although it was disheartening to find the victim like this, dead and cold. With a tired sigh, Sazh picked the body up and walked back into the station, hoping that now the victim would be able to get the peaceful rest she deserves.

Once he was out of sight, Lightning moved out of the shadows she had concealed herself in. She pulled a pair of dark sunglasses from inside her trench coat and put them on. "Now if I remember correctly, there is a big bucket of fried chicken with my name on it back home." She turned on her heels and strolled back home through the dark streets, her coat's tail flying behind her.

In the distance the sounds of cats yowling pierced the cold evening air.


This one had been on my mind for some time so I am glad I finally got to write it down here. Now I can relax and work on Sanctuaire's next chapter.

"Parasites" is what the bad guys or targets are referred to as. I wanted to confirm this in case somebody thought they were mutant insects disguised as people. They are called Parasites because they are the monsters of society and a parasite to those they prey on.

Lightning shot the victim in an act of a mercy kill.

She does not take pleasure in killing Innocents because they cannot fight back and would be easy to destroy, hence Lightning decides to perhaps kill two birds with one stone: kill Parasites because they are more of a challenge and at the same time it is also technically a community service on her part.

One of you mentioned that Lightning seemed like Spider Man for a moment in the Cat Eyes chapter. Well to better explain it, she does not have sticky fingers; it's more like her hands are strong that they can grip tightly and her fingers can dig into hard surfaces so that she can climb, as she had demonstrated in this chapter.

Lightning's outfit is a modernized version of her Lightning Returns outfit, Equilibrium. I changed her leather/body suit/corset armor into a black leather turtleneck (without the LR logo on it), her cape and faulds (the cloths that are over her legs) were changed into a white trench coat. Just imagine Dante's coat except its white with red on the insides.

The weapons Lightning used are references to the Assassin's Creed's Hidden Blade and Poison Darts. It is not mentioned in this chapter but Lightning created a customized bracer that works like an Assassin's, hence her weapons.

And yes, you did read that correctly, Lightning tore off the rapists'…man parts. Get used to this Dark Lightning whenever this arc is around…

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I enjoyed writing it! Keep voting for your favorite arcs you guys! Because Sanctuaire is coming so far now, it will need a successor once its job is done. Have fun reading and ask anything. I will do my best to answer in the next chapter.

Until then…