These scars long have yearned for your tender caress
To bind our fortunes, damn what the stars own
Rend my heart open, then your love profess
A winding, weaving fate to which we both atone
The wolf I will follow into the storm
To find your heart, its passion displaced
By ire ever growing hardening into stone
Amidst the cold to hold you in a heated embrace
I know not if fate would have us live as one
Or if by love's blind chance we've been bound
-Priscilla's Song from the Witcher 3
/
"Oi, oi, oi!" a hysterical voice rang through the boarding house foyer. "A good master of a house always greets his guests!" the voice continued in the same condescending fashion, the loud words echoing throughout the wooden corridors of the building. Ichigo and Goro peaked their heads out from the entrance of the mess hall where the squad was in the middle of a meal. The condition of the squad's leaders left much to be desired, their skin covered in bruises and bandages on most of their surfaces. Chairs could be heard squeaking in the room behind them as the other members of Squad 13 rose to their feet wearily. Ichigo and Goro slowly walked over to meet the strange group of individuals that had so belligerently interrupted their dinner. Mitsuru rounded the corner after them, limping towards the duo with a cast beneath his right shoulder. "That's more like it! Leave it to dogs to not do tricks until their masters command them to!" a blonde boy ridiculed the inhabitants of the house, bolstered by the sneers and giggles of his comrades.
"Who are you?" Ichigo questioned him harshly, her voice sharp and immediately killing the humor in the boy's face with the speed of a gunshot. Her eyes were narrowed and her body was hunched slightly, hand clutched onto her ribs, applying pressure to a fracture she'd suffered from her adventure the day prior.
"Huh?" the group's apparent leader's face shriveled in disgust at the girl before him. His eyes surveyed her with the discretion of a cement roller, his pupils examining her from top to bottom with antagonizing pressure. "Pft" he made a sound as his eyes landed on her burnt skin. The leathery epidermis that covered the majority of Ichigo's body peaked out from her cuff and collar, looking slightly less out of place among the mountains of gauze on the rest of her body. "Sorry, I must have confused your guys' burnt steak dinner with someone else. We're here looking for Squad 13, do you know where they might be Beef Girl?" he leaned in with every word, not afraid to get right into Ichigo's personal space and spit the words at her. Ichigo's eyes flashed in hurt for a second and she averted her eyes to the floor, pressing her hand more firmly to her side as she became a dozen times more conscious of her malformed condition. Goro thrusted himself between the two with a snarl and pushed the blonde boy back into the arms of his teammates.
"Shut your damn mouth you brat" Goro shouted as he continued to throttle the small frame of the aggressive boy away from Ichigo, only to stop his assault when Mitsuru's hand clasped his shoulder.
"Ho ho, look out guys, the chef doesn't like us messing with his food!" the boy giggled as he bounced back into the opened arms of a short, green-haired girl.
"What do you want?" Mitsuru's frigid voice immediately silenced the intruder's antics again, his cold eyes meeting them fearlessly. Shaking his head and halting his laughter, the blonde boy dusted his shirt off and drew himself to his full height before the trio from Squad 13. The rest of Mitsuru's team, excluding a certain raven-haired boy, had all filed out into the foyer behind him, questioning eyes digging at every inch of the strange people who'd entered their home.
"We thought an introduction was in order" a boy with medium length, blue hair stepped forwards from the formation, his long bangs only revealing one of his snake-like irises. The blonde haired boy stepped around him, lightly pushing him out of the way to make his way back the front.
"Were the 9s, a better version of you guys" he snickered, chin rising upwards in arrogance. Zorome had a confused look on his face as he tried to make sense of the foreign presence in the room, but he knew for sure that they were picking a fight, and for that reason he stayed alert, subconsciously stepping in front of the girls. Futoshi's round eyes widened at the hateful words spoken, twiddling his thumbs standing at the base of the stairs. Kokoro's hands were wrapped together as she hid behind the backs of her teammates, not wishing to draw any slander towards herself from the aggressive antagonists in the room. Ikuno's hands were clenched into fists and her eyes were shooting lasers into the green orbs of the snobby 9s member who'd insulted them. Miku bit her lip in anger, her temper flaring at the attitude of the transgressors.
"And? You still haven't answered my question." Mitsuru continued coolly, refusing to give any response to the histrionics of the team before him. Eyes glazing over in indignation at being ignored so swiftly, the blonde boy continued on his tangent.
Trying hard to hide the surprise on his features, the boy replied in a more calm voice, "We were sent here to defend Plantation 13 since you kids can't do it yourself." Mitsuru's eyes opened in realization and he shifted on his feet, reevaluating the presence of the 9s. "Where's the vegetable at? I've heard lots of things about the black-haired cripple boy who was Cerasus' only hope. Why isn't he here with the rest of you snivelling babies?" Alpha asked, visoring his eyes with his right hand as he childishly surveyed the room on his tippy toes. Ichigo stifled a sniffle and shook once more with anger at Alpha's insults.
"Don't call him that" she whispered venomously, her words barely audible but still cacophonous to all who heard them.
"Ah," a green haired girl raised her voice for the first time since entering the room, "the walking skid mark is back." At this quip, Alpha folded over onto his knees in a fit of laughter, his mad cackling giving off an disturbing air of madness that unsettled most of the teenage tenants of the hall. Goro took particular exception to his reaction and brushed out of Mitsuru's hold, rearing his fist back behind his head. With a growl of spite he lunged towards the blonde haired harlequin. His fist was snatched promptly out of the air. Following the arm of the obstacle he'd encountered, Goro's eyes met those of a tall, magenta-haired boy who'd stepped forward with a grin on his face.
"Tsk tsk, so rude y'know" the boy commented calmly as he tightened his hold on Goro's clenched hand. A single crack followed by a quadruplet of snaps after shot throughout the room as Goro cried in agony, falling to a knee as he pulled on his right arm as hard as he could to free himself, failing to muster any comparable strength amid his suffering.
"Leave him alone!" Miku sounded out from the back of the group, pushing her way past Zorome with a purposeful gait. Upon hearing the comments from the rear of the group, the short, green-haired girl leaned forwards, straining to see who had said the words with a predatory smile.
Upon seeing the owner of the voice, she smirked, beginning to open her mouth, "Here com-"
"Don't try me bitch" Miku interrupted her abruptly, shutting down her sentence like she'd dropped a brick wall in front of the speeding, immature mind of the girl in front of her. The green-haired girl quickly stripped a stupefied look from her face and stared at Miku with fire in her eyes. The air between their eyes could be seen cackling with fire and sparks as they locked eyes.
"Delta, Gamma" a purple-haired boy called out levelly, coaxing his teammates back to the group. The girl clothed in an golden emblazoned and white fabric uniform ducked out of her visual engagement with Miku and skipped to the back to the group near three masked girls who were perfectly identical in appearance. The boy who'd been revealed to be Gamma, smiled a toothy grin at Goro as he unwrapped his fingers one by one from Goro's shriveled and broken hand, proceeding to then take a step backwards towards the doorway.
Gamma opened his mouth into a toothy grin and gave out some withdrawing remarks as he slid back to the group, "You'd better not tease them Alpha, tell them all of the news." Alpha casted his gaze around the open wooden room a final time in a fleeting glance.
"Mm, it's too bad we didn't get to see the pathetic ringleader of this drivel. I guess we'll just have to come back later" Alpha remarked in a disappointed voice as he paced to a nearby wooden support in the wall, running his pointer finger across its surface. He examined his digit and frowned at the dust that rubbed off onto the white material of the glove he'd used. Rolling his neck back onto his shoulders, he threw his leering gaze back at the members of Squad 13, his long, blonde locks partly shrouding his eyes. "We look forward to working with you" he smiled again, rows of polished white teeth flashing within his mouth alongside his carnivorous words. With that remark, the members of the 9s all filed out of the boarding hall one by one, each waving a goodbye as they stepped out of the doorway, the sun behind them casting their long shadows so far that they almost reached the feet of the children deep within the building. Ichigo collapsed to her knees and trained her eyes on the palms of her hands, bringing them closer to her eyes. One eye saw smooth, white skin and the other saw a sea of darkness. She whimpered as her hands began to shake before her eyes, her ability to retain her composure completely shattered by the comments of Alpha.
Zorome jogged over to Goro's crouched form and patted him on the back, checking on his condition as Futoshi joined them. Miku knelt beside Ichigo, pulling the shivering girl into a tight embrace. Kokoro could do nothing but sit at the base of the stairs, still in shock trying to process the hostility of their new peers. Ikuno ducked out of the room and away into the corridors of the boarding house, not wanting to stay any longer in the war zone that'd once been their foyer. Mitsuru sighed and turned back to the dining hall, shaking his head as he moved to return to his meal. A cloud floated in front of the sun, hiding all the light that had just been shining through the doorway and windows on the facade of the building, and the caws of birds began to stir in the trees.
/
Hiro opened his eyes. A palace of white was before him in all directions. Snow blanketed the floor around him for miles like petals at a royal wedding. Slim, birch trees stood around him like the escorts of a king's promenade. He inhaled clear, cold air, the frigid wind surprising him as it whisked itself up his nose, making him sniffle in discomfort. He exhaled and a cloud of harsh vapor jetted forth from his lips, diffusing into the air about him like a drop of grey paint leaked into a pool of alabaster water. He floated through the forest as if some otherworldly force carried him on a magic carpet. The trees passed by him, their branches still and frozen from the heaps of snow amassing atop their roofs. Icicles dangled from twigs and bark like the jewelry, light refracting into glistening beams as they passed through the untainted shards of water.
The world suddenly stopped moving past him and he fell. The snow crunched beneath his feet and he rose back to his full height. Hiro's eyes shot open in confusion. He looked left, right, up, and finally down. His legs were extended fully and supporting his body. He tested his strength, picking up a foot and placing it down in front of him. The thick layer of snow collapsed in a bite sized chunk beneath his foot. The foreign sensations of contact and balance flooded his mind like an avalanche. He moved another foot forwards. Then another. The snow gave into his will and bowed beneath his feet like servants capitulating before their absolute ruler. He broke into an awkward run. The freezing wind bit the soft skin of his cheeks as it rushed by him. Branches snapped away from trees as he parted the crowd of trees with his outstretched hands. A genuine smile flashed onto his face as he broke into a clearing, collapsing to his knees, the sweat beneath his skin permeating through his uniform's thin fabric and melting the adjacent snow he'd fallen into.
He'd ended up just in front of the large trunk of a tree. The girth of the wood and its solitary position amidst the center of the clearing made it stand out compared to the rest of the wooden persons within the glade. Suddenly, a blunt force crashed into Hiro's back as he was peacefully examining the tree. The force bludgeoned him forwards onto his hands as he shouted in pain, his back igniting in agony. He began to push himself off of his hands and back to his feet but was quickly shut down by a successive blow to his back. He buried his head in the snow and screamed in torment, the ethereal frosting that covered the dirt muffling his shouts like a pillow suffocating a boy woken from his sleep. He tried with his newfound power in his legs, he tried with his weak arms, he tried to roll over in any direction he could, he writhed beneath every blow that collided into his frame, but he was helpless.
The strikes attacked him like the timed tolling of a bell, crashing into him with rhythmic brutality. One. After another. After another. Until he could no longer move, face down in a puddle of mud and melted slush, panting thick clouds of exertion. He closed his eyes and bit his tongue. The pain was unbearable and every nerve in his body shot off on all cylinders nonstop.
A chilling sensation, a thousand times more intense than the tundra about him, pressed into his sweaty cheek. The strange feeling was joined by four more dots of arctic contact. He cracked his eyes to see five, dainty fingers run themselves across his face. It was like the beads of sweat on his face were crystallizing due to their vicinity to the algid vortex of the finger's caress. The appendages wrapped his face in their cooling kisses, blowing across his visage like a tidal wave of compassion. The pointer finger and thumb wrapped themselves about his chin like snakes slithering about a goblet of wine, gliding over the angle of his jaw with the care of an angel nursing a child. A force gently prodded his face upwards from his chin, pleading for him to raise his head towards the sky. Hiro craned his neck. The contact of the fingers numbed his senses like a drug, cutting off all connection he had with his nerves save for the ones that would allow him to experience the strokes of the angelic digits. He blinked. He opened his eyes to the white purgatory that was the sky, ignoring the backdrop for what was inches from his face. Two brilliant turquoise irises dripped tears unto him, canvassed by waterfalls of pink locks. A teardrop crashed onto his forehead and melted into his peached skin. The warmth of the droplet sank into his mind like lava running freely across a plane of ice, burning canals of fire in his mind that had been a frozen crypt, thawing the deepest chambers of the ice-encased dungeon. His cerulean orbs blasted open, taking in every detail of the girl crying above him. He had found what he had lost. He tried to not blink, terrified of losing the goddess above him, centimeters from his touch, if he took a single, greedy second to refresh his eyes. He would succumb inevitably. And his fears would come true.
/
"Doctor, you know why we called I presume?" the robed figure asked from behind his eccentric primate mask. The Doctor scratched at his cheek aggressively,as if the remaining skin on his face was irritating him in some way.
"I'm afraid you'll have to remind me" his voice filtered out, his feigned ignorance falling upon deaf ears. The frame of the robed figure before him in a hologram visibly declined in stature, as if annoyance was weighing him down.
"Don't play games with us Doctor. We're cutting you off" the figure paused a brief moment to let his words sink in, his eyes locked onto the agitated face of the scientist. "Henceforth your efforts will be redirected in a different direction that we, the members of council, have deemed a more worthwhile investment of our assets than your profligate expenditures" the monotonous voice continued to drawl out decrees to the Doctor regarding his work, and the senior inventor could do nothing. The robes of the figure rippled as the character shook his head, "We're sending you the details now. This is your last chance Doctor."
"Of course" The Doctor said levelly, his voice not showing any signs of the rage inside of his head. As soon as the comms clicked off, The Doctor turned to the nearby desk and swept all of the items off of it in a single movement. Loud clangs and bangs sounded out across the floor as papers and vials crashed into the metal floor. Chemicals sizzled against the floor and a computer screen flared up with error signs, it's monitor melted from the contact of a concoction that had landed on it. Murmuring in a voice akin to a growl, The Doctor limped over to another computer across the room and checked the files the council had sent him.
"Hmm" he harrumphed as he combed through the folders of schematics and data. His eyes curiously examined the list of chemicals and drugs that he was requested to make. Another box of text noted that he was to use the field assets they'd placed around the subject. His eyes widened as he opened the last file attached to the cache he'd been delivered. A precisely drawn and meticulously measured schematic for some sort of exo suit that somehow was implemented beneath a person's skin. The Doctor put his hands on the counter before him and leaned forwards to put his weight on them, sighing longly and shaking his head. So this was the new direction they spoke of. More folly.
/
Nana was pacing back and forth across the room, her elegant, crimson locks ruffled and frizzled. All ten of her fingernails were bitten to the bare crust from anxiousness, her eyes panicked and flicking around the room. Hachi was sitting in his chair before a single monitor at a oak desk at the head of the room. His hands were folded together and his head rested atop them, eyes closed in wait. The sound of Nana shuffling around the room, the wood creaking beneath her, and her wild whimpers were all too similar to the human ear.
"Nana, it'll just be a day. One day. I can't watch you anymore, you need to get it together now" Hachi's stern voice stopped her steps, the wood groaning as she came to a halt and turned to him with nervous eyes. She nodded her head eventually, her chin pressing into her chest as she finished her gesture of acknowledgement, head twitching every couple seconds. Hachi sighed and dropped his arms down to his sides as he rose to his feet. He strode across the room and as he was passing Nana he paused, casting a backwards glance at her. Studying her closely he noticed her shoulders were shaking, like she was shivering in fear. His right hand twitched but he blinked immediately and shook his head. He finished his withdrawal from the room, the only indication of his exit being the clicking of the door as it snapped back into place.
Nana's head rose like a whip as the house creaked ambiently, her head snapping around to examine every shadow and dark spot in her periphery. She brought an arm to her elbow, holding her arm and wringing her fingers into her skin warily. She pivoted about her heel as the curtains of the open window fluttered into an odd position. Her exhales matched the automatic pumping of her heart that was beating combatively like a war drum. She chattered her upper row of teeth into her bottom lip, the skin peeling and bleeding beneath the pressure of her incisors. A ding suddenly broke her focus on the apparitions she thought she was seeing. Nana yelped in terror at the sudden sound but eventually comprehended that it was just a notification on the computer. She took a cautionary look to her left and right before sprinting over to the desk and checking the message. She tried to calm down as she digested the orders, lethargically running her hands up her sides and neck. Her fingers were taut and straight as her hands glided over her cheeks and covered her eyes, her body hunching over the monitor's screen. With a banshee-like scream she shot her hands up into her hair and pulled on the locks as hard as she could, feeling her scalp burn up in pain.
Her wails subsided eventually and she stood up straight, her shoulders locked to attention. She marched across the room, set on completing her orders as fast as she could. She made her way to a locker in the farthest corner, and after entering a code on a keypad, the metal sheet door slid open. She reached in and cursed as she fumbled with a syringe. She inevitably wrapped her fingers around the small object, withdrawing it from the storage unit in her twitching hands. She used her shoulder to push her way out of the room and sprinted through the halls of the boarding house, her long hair flowing behind her like a wreath of demon fire. She bumped into walls and stumbled many times before reaching her destination.
She thrusted the door open, the hinges squealing from the explosion of force. The door slammed into the wall and banged loudly, the sound frightening Nana more than it should have. She jumped back and the syringe slipped out of her hands, falling onto the floor and rolling away till it came to a rest against the wall of the corridor. Realizing how much noise she was making she turned away from the room and recoiled back into the hall, her back colliding with the wall opposite the door frame. Her head snapped left and right for a couple minutes before she realized the time of day. The children would all be away now, training. Wouldn't they? She shook her head and growled at her indecision. She dropped to her knees and crawled over to the syringe, clasping it roughly in a hand and then rising to her feet swifty, dodging away into the bedroom she'd opened the door too.
Nana menacingly padded over to the bedside, still not analyzing her surroundings, her mind locked onto the possibility of other people being in the house. A scream from below her made her head flick downwards and examine the raven-haired boy before her. Hiro was shifting around wildly, writhing beneath the sheets of his bed, sweat dying the sheets a damp shade of gray. Her eyes softened for a split second and her lips clasped shut, her bleeding lower lip meeting her upper one as she pressed them together into a thin line. The house creaked and the abruptness of the sound snapped her out of her trance. She screamed in fright and clenched the syringe in both hands, thrusting it into the sleeping boys chest, her thumbs pressing onto the plunger firmly. All of the green liquid contained within the vial attached to the needle eventually ran out, now coursing through Hiro's veins. Nana flung the syringe to the side and wrapped her arms about the sleeping boy, pulling him to the edge of his bed. She stood his wheelchair up and unfolded it, placing the drugged boy onto the mechanism and quickly pushing him out of the room. The wheels gave off a continuous, eerie sound as they traveled across the planks of the boarding house's halls.
( AN - never will enjoy writing these slow parts compared to the more emotional stuff, but it adds up in the end so, been spending less time proofreading so I apologize for the errors, and the views and reviews are keeping me interested ty guys ;0, hope my boy boozehound still around somewhere)