In the Darkness

A Mai Otome ShizNat Story

Chapter 13

"What could I have possibly overlooked?" The son thought aloud as he carefully reviewed the footage from two nights ago, the footage from when the brunette was in the school building.

He was alone in his bedroom and had been looking at the recording for three hours straight now, looking at it nonstop. His bright, blue eyes noticing, taking in every single detail on the small screen.

The women in the posters, the ones in their Robes, they were of different ages, both young and old. So, he ruled that possibility out. It had nothing to do with age.

They also seem to be of different races and backgrounds, so those possibilities were out as well.

They had administered the particles into one of their female guards just a few hours ago, but nothing happened, nothing changed. They were overlooking something, something important.

But what?

"What is it about her that allows her to bond with the particles so well?"

They knew it had nothing to do with her blood. When they had tested her blood, when they broke it down and analyzed it, there was nothing that stood out. There were no special genetic markers, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Perhaps our bodies are too polluted with radiation and nothing can be done…"

He stopped looking at the footage for he felt the room suddenly tremor, felt his surroundings suddenly shake. Saw a little bit of dust, or perhaps sand, fall from the ceiling. It felt like a small earthquake, but he knew it wasn't.

He stopped playing the recording and turned off the tablet, not wanting to waste energy.

For the past two decades, the usage of electricity in this facility had been minimized. That was the reason there was barely any lighting in the rooms and halls, why it was so dark most of the time. That was also the reason it was always extremely cold; because they didn't turn on the heaters, not anymore. And when they did it was only for an hour at most. Usually, they protected themselves with layer upon layer of clothing. That's what kept them warm.

The little energy they had left was being strictly reserved for the portal, to be able to use it. Using it required an immense amount of energy, energy that they could no longer generate.

The young man stood from his seat. He left his small desk and walked over to his closet to grab a pair of goggles, a jacket, an oxygen mask, and a camera. He was going to head to the surface for a few minutes to check out what the cause of the tremor was, to check out how big the piece of the moon that had crashed into the planet was.

The last time he had felt this sort of tremor was about six months ago, and the one prior to that was a little over a year ago. The time in between was narrowing more and more, the crashes were becoming more and more frequent as time passed. It was only a matter of time for the bigger pieces of the shattered moon to reach the planets' atmosphere.

The pieces were too big, it would completely destroy the planet once it hit the ground.

He was hoping that by the time that happened, they had already discovered the mystery of the curious particles they had found in the brunette's blood. So that whatever remained of his people, of his kind, could safely cross over to the new planet, to Earl, where they rightfully belonged.

They needed the healing power of the particles in order to survive. In the past, they had tried sending people to the other side, but within an hours' time or less, they died. Their bodies were too weak, too sick due to centuries of radiation. Radiation that was caused by their greedy ancestors who had carelessly engaged over and over again in nuclear war, not caring of the consequences it would cause since it was predicted that the planet was doomed anyway, that they wouldn't survive.

Their galaxy, the Milky Way, was in a collision course with the nearest galaxy, Andromeda. For thousands of years space experts had said that this collision, that this merge wouldn't affect their living, that it wouldn't affect their planet. That this collision wouldn't affect their Solar System at all.

But as the time of the collision drew nearer, as they gathered more data and started to notice changes in the distant stars and planets, the race for finding another suitable planet to live on began.

For centuries the space program sent out astronauts and scientists, sent out spaceships to the nearest, safest Galaxy. Their mission, their main objective, was to find a planet they could inhabit, one with similar features to their planet, Earth. When they did find one, the one that was now called Earl, a second Earth, they prepared for migration right away.

Most of the people in the planet did evacuate. But those who were against the migration, along with non-believers, stayed behind.

And what followed was complete and total chaos.

War between believers and non-believers erupted. War between countries began. Misconduct, disorder, and violence had spread everywhere, had spread to every corner of the planet. No one bothered to take care of the planet, no one bothered to see what they were doing to it, blinded by their greed and their lust for power.

And when the merger between galaxies finally occurred about a hundred years after the migration, when they realized that they had survived it, it was already too late. The damage they had caused to the beautiful, blue planet was irreversible, was beyond repair.

The space experts were right about most predictions they had made. Most of their predictions about the merger of the galaxies had come true: The air had become almost un-breathable, although the radiation from warfare had a big impact on that as well. The lakes and rivers and oceans, had immediately frozen. All vegetation had withered, most animals had died.

The planet had been pushed further from the sun, becoming much colder. And instead of one moon, two others had joined, making the days a lot shorter and also messing up with the planet's rotation.

During the merger, one of the two moons ended up crashing into their original, friendly moon, shattering it to pieces. And now those shattered pieces were falling one by one on what was left of Earth.

Yes, the experts were right. The planet wouldn't survive the merger, not under these new conditions. Not when it was so far away from the sun. Humans, the cycle of life, every living organism in general existed because Earth had been positioned at the right spot all this time. And now, it no longer was.

And nothing could be done about this, everyone in the planet knew it. If they wanted to survive, they had to leave Earth somehow. But they didn't have enough energy to power up the remaining ship, didn't have the resources to get out.

And even with the resources, out there, outer space, was unstable and infinite. If they got out, they had no idea where to go and what they would find. They didn't have the resources nor the technology to start over elsewhere. And they weren't astronauts, they weren't space experts, they were people. Regular people. Most of them, at least.

Development, technology, any kind of positive advancement had stopped the moment most inhabitants had left Earth. It was not until recently that they had started working on an alternative to leaving the planet, on getting the portal to work. It was an experiment, a project that the space program had started working on one decade or so before the migration process, but couldn't finish it, couldn't figure out the missing links before leaving the planet.

And after much dedication, much time and effort, his father had finally made the machine work.

But there was a problem, they couldn't control where it opened, where it led to. It led them to that desert.

The desert wasn't their main concern, though. Once they got to the other side, they couldn't breathe, not for long anyway. The high levels of radiation in their bodies, plus two centuries of living underground in a manufactured environment, generation after generation, had changed the way that their bodies processed oxygen, along with other basic elements in the periodic table.

They wouldn't be able to survive in Earl, not without the help of the curious particles. Those particles would heal them, correct their genes. Those particles would be their salvation.

His father, however, not only being a scientist but also having military upbringing, had other plans in mind. He was too focused on power, too focused on finding the source, finding whatever powered up the Gem so that they could power up the weapons of mass destruction that they had. Too focused on finding the source so that he could make powerful warriors like the beautiful brunette.

His father just didn't want to survive, no, he wanted more. His father wanted to rule the new world. His father had different priorities, a different vision in mind. A vision that he didn't share, at least not anymore, not since he had seen how beautiful and prosperous Earl was.

The young man left his room, quickly closing the door behind him not to let the little heat that was there escape. Then, he walked the empty halls, flashlight in hand.

"Your head isn't shiny today, Ichiro-kun. Does this mean you're not haunting your girlfriend in her sleep tonight?"

He heard one of the older guards mock him as he walked by. Somehow, word had gotten around that he had a 'thing' for the gorgeous, Crimson eyed brunette.

How this spread or became known, he wasn't sure. Someone must've been eavesdropping, perhaps even snooping around his bedroom while he wasn't around. But he was glad that at least they didn't make such comments around his father. His father didn't like that he had a 'thing' for the beautiful brunette. He said that it made the connection, made going in the dark very unstable. That the technology was very old and very unpredictable. That it had been classified as a failure, and that the neon-yellow serum had many unexplored effects. His father said that it was best to keep feelings out of it, at least for now. He could do whatever he wanted with his feelings once they were successful, once they were on the other side of that portal with their weapons of mass destruction.

"What do you do when you take over, anyway? Do you make her feel good? Do you touch her?"

Even if he wanted to touch her, he couldn't. His father was always watching, always. And it's not like he, or Deadly Beautiful could feel anything while in the dark anyway. He could only move, hear and see. He couldn't talk, couldn't feel.

"You're a virgin, right, Ichiro-kun? Do you even know how to touch her?"

Ichiro, as always, just ignored him and kept walking away.

This facility was the only inhabited facility, the only inhabited place left on Earth. Most humans had died either because of starvation, coldness, radiation, or by the hands of war.

There weren't many of his people left, either, about one hundred and fifty, maybe less. He was twenty-eight years old, one of the youngest in the group. And the one who followed him was barely four years old.

The women in their small colony, they couldn't procreate, they had problems becoming pregnant or died during childbirth. The little girl that was born about four years ago had been the first birth they had had in over two decades. She was a miracle and was named as such by her parents. But unfortunately, her mother died hours after giving birth.

When the young man reached the door that would lead him to the surface, he wore his jacket, goggles, and oxygen mask. Then, he proceeded to open the Airlock door and closed it behind him, going up the same narrow staircase the brunette had climbed a little over two years ago.

Once he reached the top, he opened the second Airlock and climbed the short set of steps after that. And once he was outside, he took his camera and pointed it upwards, towards the moon. He took a few snaps of it to see how it differed from last time the earth trembled.

He sighed as his bright, blue eyes looked at it, not through lenses but his own, two eyes.

"Deadly Beautiful…" He said aloud, referring to the brunette. Even though he knew her name he couldn't bring himself to say it. Only because he didn't hear it from her, he heard it from that Emerald eyed blunette. And he really hated that blunette. He wished she were dead. "I wonder what your thought was when you saw this"

He knew she must've seen this. She must have. He knew that she had made it all the way to the top, and when she saw there was no escaping this, when she had seen her surroundings, she had probably decided to head back down, knowing that out there, she would die.

"We're running out of time" One of the bigger chunks seemed to have moved closer to Earth. It was very noticeable that they were running out of time.

Meanwhile, Back on Planet Earl

Streets of Wind Bloom

Natsuki and Shizuru were side by side, walking the quiet streets of Wind Bloom. It was a warm night, but the light, cool breeze helped alleviate this, brought some relief to their warm skin.

It was a quarter past nine. They had just left the Planetarium and were walking towards the nearest café. They were going to wait for Garderobe's driver there since they had left the place a little earlier than anticipated to buy some ice cream.

"Did Natsuki enjoy the exhibit?" Shizuru asked the quiet blunette, trying to fill the silence, to make conversation with her.

She noticed that Natsuki had been rather quiet and pensive, rather serious most of the night. She was physically there with her, but her mind seemed elsewhere most of the time. When she had asked her if anything was wrong, she had replied no; and although she didn't believe her, she left it at that.

She could tell something was off, that something was bothering her. Something was occupying the blunette's thoughts.

But what?

"Hai, I did. It was very enlightening" Came the honest, short answer.

"I'm glad that our ancestors decided not to bring any of that harmful technology to Earl when they migrated" Shizuru thoughtfully added, "Science is wonderful, but when technology is developed without reason, without a clear purpose or without heart, it is very unstable and harmful. If used the wrong way, it could be devastating… chaotic"

And Natsuki nodded, agreeing one hundred percent with this. "The knowledge did make its way here through articles and books though. It is our job as Otomes, as Columns, to contain that old technology and keep it safe. To prevent war and not to repeat our ancestor's mistakes"

Yes, most of the knowledge is locked up in Garderobe's underground library, where the rests of the Founder, along with many other previous Columns who had fallen in battle, peacefully lay.

"We should prepare a field trip for the Corals sometime" Kyoto-ben then let out, "It'd be nice for them to see this, since it is a part of their curriculum to learn about Earl's and Earth's history" Then adding, "And it is a good reminder of where we came from, of our ancestry, it would be rather educational for them, don't you think?"

"Hmm" Natsuki hummed in agreement, "I'll talk to Miss Maria, she normally plans the student's off-site activities. I'm sure she will not have any objections" and then she remained silent once again, staring straight ahead at the empty, lonely street.

After another long moment of silence,

"Did Natsuki like her gift?" Shizuru changed the topic to something lighter, warmly smiling at the blunette.

And Natsuki's cheeks turned a little pink, softening up, emotion finally reaching her face. Her right hand going up to her neck, touching the beautiful, white gold necklace Shizuru had surprised her with while they were having dinner.

"Hai, it's very lovely…" The blunette timidly smiled and reached out for her girlfriend's warm hand, entwining their fingers together. "Arigato, Shizuru. You really didn't have to do this"

"Ara~" Shizuru then pulled the blunette closer as they walked, showing her beautiful smile, "There's my Natsuki" her nose playfully caressing her girlfriend's blushing cheek and then giving her a quick kiss there before adding a little distance again, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable.

"W-What-, what do you mean?" Natsuki's face reddened even more by the sudden closeness and attention.

"Natsuki's thoughts have been elsewhere tonight, it's the first smile I've seen on those sweet lips of hers in over two hours…"

And Natsuki let out a nervous laugh, not realizing she was so easy to read. "I-Is that so?" When Shizuru smilingly nodded, "Ah, gomen" The blunette then cautiously added: "I was thinking of a few things I still need to take care of when we get back to Garderobe. I still have paperwork to review" That was a lie, yet it had some truth since she did need to review some files, they just didn't have anything to do with the school.

All through the evening, she couldn't help and think of what Nao had told her when she had returned from her mission.

The blunette didn't have the chance to speak with the young Column much, more so since Nao had returned later than expected, and she herself needed to meet Shizuru in the city. But what little Nao was able to tell her on their short meeting was troubling.

When Nao returned to Garderobe, the first thing she told her was that, yes, that she had found the man, but that he was dead. She then told her a little bit of the man's background, of why he was in that desert to begin with, and also gave her a short synopsis of how he spent his time before dying.

Basically, the man was a simple commoner, a simple merchant from a neighboring kingdom who was traveling to Wind Bloom for work, to sell his homemade goods. From what the neighbors were able to tell Nao, he used that dangerous route often, went through that treacherous desert often since it was the shortest, fastest way to Wind Bloom's capital.

On his last trip, the man just didn't return. He had disappeared and there was no news from him. No one had heard from him, not until he was found about five months later.

The neighbors told Nao that the man had completely lost it, had lost his mind. That at the beginning, when he was brought back to his family, he had been docile, very friendly and calm. But that weeks later the screams and nightmares began. And that once his memory started to return, he started to become delirious, somewhat insane. That he kept saying that his wife wasn't his wife, that his kids weren't his kids, that his family wasn't his family, that they were all dead. That he had seen them die over and over again. That this wasn't reality, that this was all a dream.

And one night, while they were asleep, one by one he murdered them all. He took their life, just like that. He murdered his wife and three kids without a single thought.

After that, he was sent to a mental institution and was locked away. The man couldn't be sent to prison for his murders, he was completely hysterical, insane. And after many exams and psychological evaluations, he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, for he was hearing voices as well.

Apparently, about three months in, the man had woken up completely lucid one day. Amnesia gone. And then, committed suicide after he had realized what he had done. That he had murdered his entire family, the people he loved and cherished the most.

The moment Natsuki got back to Garderobe, she was going to meet with Nao, to debrief her properly and get all the details of what she had found. Nao had brought back with her the man's patient file from the mental institution, so she was going to review it, review the tapes and hear his sessions.

"Shizuru, when we arrive, I need to stop by my office and make some calls, so you can head to our quarters without me-" Another blush suddenly appeared on Natsuki's cheeks, "N-Nani?" she tensely asked, for Shizuru's face was so, so close to hers all of a sudden again. She also had that playful smile on her face.

"Fufu, say that last part again, the one about our quarters" Shizuru sing-sang, "I like that part" her lips so close to the blunette's heated cheek, giving her another kiss.

And as she heard the blunette timidly mumbled something, Ruby eyes noticed the two figures walking behind them, walking at their same pace.

She found them odd, for they were wearing very long trench coats for a hot, summer night. And they were looking straight at them.

One of the men was in front with a hand in his right jacket pocket, and the other was following a few steps behind him, holding a piece of paper in his hands, perhaps a photograph, and then she watched him put it away.

Now that she thinks about it, she recognized them, she had seen these guys when they had left the restaurant, right before heading for the Planetarium. They had been standing by a streetlamp right outside.

Were they following them?

Why?

She discretely watched them for a few seconds as she made conversation with the blushing blunette. They were looking straight at her, straight at Natsuki.

What did they want?

Why were they looking at her?

Why?

Right now, right this second, Shizuru's instincts, Shizuru's senses were heightened, were working overdrive. The moment she found an opening, the moment they had reached the corner of the street, she immediately pushed Natsuki to the side, making her fall on the ground,

"O-Oi!"

It all happened so quickly, in a matter of seconds. She hastily turned around, a hand going for the first man's right hand who had quickly drawn a gun on her. She quickly grabbed his hand and raised it,

BOOM!

He had pulled the trigger, but luckily the shot ended up in the air.

She quickly twisted his arm with all her strength, instantly disarming him,

"AAAHHHH!"

And then her right hand connected with his stomach,

POW!

"Ugh~"

Her left hand quickly hit his chest with extreme force,

BAM!

"Argh!"

Pushing him hard, making him fall backwards on the ground.

She quickly grabbed the gun from the floor and pointed it straight to the next guy, straight to his head. She thought and acted so quickly, her movements were so fast. She didn't know she could move like that, didn't know she could punch and fight like that.

"Not a single movement from you" Kyoto-ben calmly commanded, for his hand was reaching for his gun that was hiding in his pocket.

"Drop the stick, sweetheart"

"H-Hands… Hands behind your head" Shizuru added, shaking the sudden memory away. This was not the right time to be getting flashes of her past, she was a little busy right now.

"Do it slowly, please" Kyoto-ben added, and then her Ruby eyes watched him do as told.

As she cautiously took a step towards him, wanting to disarm him, she heard the blunette's hasty steps.

"Stay where you are, Natsuki. Keep your distance… Please, do not fight me on this" She strictly warned her while taking the gun away from the man, not for one second removing Ruby eyes off him.

Then, she reached for his left, chest pocket. That's where she'd seen him put away the piece of paper less than a minute ago.

Ruby eyes quickly scanned the piece of paper. It was a picture, a picture of Natsuki. This was taken two weeks ago at the summit in Aries. She remembered the clothing, remembered what the blunette was wearing that day.

"Shizuru?" Natsuki said her name, not understanding what was happening right now and who the hell these two guys were. She had a million questions on her mind.

But Shizuru didn't answer her. Instead, "May I ask why you are following Natsuki?" she asked the man in front of her. She was as serene as ever. As composed as ever. She was like her old self again.

But the man, he didn't reply to her. Not a word was heard from his smug lips.

"Let's try this again, ne? It is rude not to answer the questions when someone asks them" She didn't like his silence, didn't like his confidence, his calmness. He was defying her.

Did he think she wouldn't pull the trigger?

Was he not afraid?

"Who sent you?" She patiently asked him again, her Kyoto-ben making the words sound so, so sweet. "Why are you following her?"

And then he willingly took a step forward, the gun now touching his smooth, tanned forehead.

But Shizuru didn't move, didn't flinch. She wasn't scared of him. "What were your orders?"

And then he grinned at her. He could give her an answer to that.

"To eliminate the Gakuenchou"

And after those words were said, that's when she heard it,

- Beep Beep -

Heard the faint sound, the rapid beeps. She could only hear it because she was standing so close to him.

- Beep Beep Beep -

And then she noticed that the other guy was starting to nervously crawl away, keeping some distance from them. From him. So, she herself, subconsciously took a step back as well.

- Beep Beep Beep Beep -

"Natsuki Kruger!" The man's angry eyes fell upon mentioned woman, "My Nation does not approve of your new Otome laws!"

- Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep -

"DIE, OTOME SCUM!"

Her Ruby eyes widened in realization, "He's got explosives on him…" and then, she got in front of the man, arms spread, not allowing him to get any closer to the blunette.

"N-Natsuki, RUN!" She shouted at the woman, at the love of her life. She would protect her no matter what.

This man, he had a bomb on him, perhaps a close-range one, and it was about to detonate any given second.

This man did not care for his life at all.

And Natsuki quickly sprang into action, "MATERIALIZE!" and while she ran towards the brunette she transformed into her Robe. "Shizuru!" She quickly grabbed her and pulled her away from the man.

- BEEEEEEEEEEEEP -

And tried to add some distance between them, to shield Shizuru as best she could as the bomb went off.

BOOM!

But there wasn't enough time, she wasn't able to fly away, to flee on time. The force of the impact pushing her forward, making them fall on the ground.

THUD!

Shizuru winced, the back of her head had hit the floor, had hit the pavement with force.

And all Shizuru could see before giving-in to the light, before becoming unconscious, was red. Red rain.

She could feel drops of it landing on her white, porcelain face.

"These particles in her blood, they allow her to heal…"

"Prepare the machine, my son, we'll do a Blood Wash and remove them from her bloodstream"

And along with the bloody rain, came the memories of her lucid, captive days.

"Damn it!" Natsuki hissed, pushing herself off the brunette. She had taken most of the impact, but since she was equipped in her Robe it did nothing to her, there was not a scratch on her.

Emerald eyes looked behind her, at the man. There was nothing left of him, only blood everywhere.

And then, Emerald eyes fell below her, fell on the brunette's unresponsive form.

"Shizuru, are you okay?" Her hand went for the brunette's face, went for her left cheek. "Hey..." And when she touched her there, her head tilted to the side on its own.

"Shizuru?"

And then she noticed the small trail of blood that had started escaping from the brunette's nose. She was bleeding internally, this was Shizuru's blood.

"N-No no no no no no no" Natsuki quickly said in a hushed tone, in a desperate whisper, "Don't do this to me" instantly raising to a sitting position and hovering over the woman she loved.

"Shizuru, w-wake up..." Her hands desperately touched her lover's bloody face, touching her cheeks, opening her eyes for her, "I need you to wake up... P-Please, please wake up" and then, she tried to calm down.

Tried to breathe, to think.

She quickly rested her head, rested her ear on Shizuru's chest. She noticed she was barely breathing, and that her heart was beating. She could hear the Doki Doki sound; it was faint, but it was there.

She slowly grabbed her and carefully carried her bridal style, resting her head against her chest not wanting to move her too much, not wanting to cause any more harm to her. And then, started to make her slow ascend in the air.

The other guy, he was laying on the ground, unresponsive as well, but she couldn't deal with him right now. Couldn't think of anything else but her lover right now.

She could hear the sirens approaching, so she knew he would be taken care of. She will find him later and question him, make him pay for this. Right now, she needed to take care of Shizuru. Needed to go back to Garderobe right away.

And while Shizuru was under, while she was unconscious, she was perfectly aware of her surroundings somehow, at least for a little while.

She could hear the sound of the wind against her ears. Could feel the air in between her fingers, tickling her skin. Could smell Natsuki's scent, the one produced by her own body, because Natsuki wasn't wearing perfume, not tonight. Could hear the frantic beat of the blunette's heart.

…I'm safe… Shizuru thought, …I'm with Natsuki… And she completely surrendered, gave in, completely succumbed to the bright lights that called her, that pulled her in.

And when she finally opened her Ruby eyes again, when she was strong enough to do so, she was disoriented, confused.

She wasn't with Natsuki, she was no longer in her lover's embrace.

She had found herself unmoving, standing still, staring ahead.

Yes, staring ahead.

Staring ahead at a familiar, old, long, dark hallway.

And then, she tilted her head downwards and looked at her hands. Looked at her hands to find that they weren't her soft, delicate, feminine hands. They were a man's hands.

And then she grabbed the camera that was hanging by a strap from her neck, and she used the large lens as a mirror, used it to look at her face.

And when she did, when she stared at her reflection, she didn't see herself, it wasn't her, she saw a different face. Saw his face.

This wasn't her body.

She wasn't in Wind Bloom.

She was back in that place. That cold, dark, miserable, godforsaken place.

And she was wearing her captor's face.

- 0 -

Thanks for Reading!

And Thanks for the Reviews/Comments/ PMs

I think this is a good stopping point. I like to post whatever I have on Wednesdays. Wednesdays are my personal deadline (otherwise I will never post lol) But since I doubt I'll have time to write, not for a few more days anyway, I'm posting this a day early.

I didn't think I'd have anything to post this week since I've been busy, but I did have a little time to write yesterday.

I hope I'm not confusing anyone, I think I have multiple things going on in this story, but hopefully they will all get resolved by the end. If not, I shall post a special chapter, I don't like loose ends.

Oh and the reviewer called Cami: Yo hablo español, no te preocupes puedes escribir tu Review en Español. Aunque tu inglés no está nada mal ;)

Let me know what you guys think of the chapter/story so far!

"For the love of ShizNat"