This has got to be one of my weirder ideas, a crossover between the Cthulhu Mythos and Sekirei. I won't spoil anything further...
MADNESS, CHAOS AND WAGTAILS
CHAPTER 1:
THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SHINTO TEITO
In a moonlit park in Shinto Teito, a man walked through, almost dancing along as he did so, as if to the beat of a song only he could hear. Tall, slim, and dark of skin, he was dressed in immaculate, stylish clothing that was clearly expensive. Not quite haute couture, but certainly showing the man had his own sense of taste. Occasionally, he'd whistle an eerie tune, one that sounded unpleasant to human ears. He almost invariably had a smile on his face, as if he knew the punchline to a joke only he was privy to.
It might have seemed like the man's meanderings were strangely random. But in truth, they had something of a purpose. The man had been called here, and while he had been called before by the foolish, the avaricious, the megalomaniacal, and the just plain sane, the desperation in this call spoke to him.
He was newly arrived in Shinto Teito, that marvellous metropolis that was now the new capital of Japan. He actually had a soft spot for Japan: they came up with all sorts of interesting things, especially related to him. His wardrobe had increased quite significantly thanks to them. And Shinto Teito's grandeur was largely thanks to the megacorporation MBI, a corporation that had already attracted the man's interest for various reasons.
As he bobbed along to his own internal tune, he seemed unaware of the shadowy figures moving to intercept him. In truth, he had been aware of them long before they even made the decision to come for him. He just indulged them, as they would prove a most amusing diversion on his way to his true goal.
Sure enough, he was soon surrounded by a small but not insignificant band of thugs. "Alright, tourist," spat one thug. "Hand over your wallet and any valuables you might have, and maybe we'll let you go intact." He waved his knife to make a point.
The man chuckled softly. "Direct and to the point. But uncreative. Seriously, did you come out of some cloning vat for thugs and muggers?"
The lead thug lunged forward, and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pushing the knife to his belly. "Wrong answer, tourist. Empty your pockets now, or I empty you of your guts."
The man, at least as far as the mugger was concerned, should have reacted with fear. Instead, he laughed in his face. "I'd like to see you try, boy."
Now, this little gang of muggers had managed to get their own way through intimidation and non-lethal violence before. But the leader, on being insulted, decided that he could get away with murder. So he thrust the knife into the man's abdomen. He expected an exclamation of pain.
What he wasn't expecting was a moan of what sounded disturbingly like ecstasy. Then, the man he just stabbed looked at him with dark eyes, and a predatory smile filled with teeth so white they seemed to shine in the darkness, and said, "Darling, couldn't you have waited until…I dunno, at least a few dates before you shoved your pointy thing into me?"
The thug looked down at the liquid dripping down the knife. Only, it didn't seem like blood, or indeed any kind of liquid. It seemed more like living shadow, squirming and writhing. Suddenly, the knife was yanked out of his hand, being pulled right into the man's body, before it shot out of the skin of the man's palm, and into his hand. "Now, let's play a new game," the dark-skinned man said, still grinning his awful grin. "It's called 'Run Like Hell'. You could try praying to God…but, well, spoilers, I won't be listening(1)…"
She could hear the shrieks of men dying in agony nearby. But Akitsu couldn't bring herself to care. A most profound depression ailed her, and with it, an apathy to almost anything else. Only direct threats to her wellbeing roused her from her apathy. More than a couple of people had approached her with intent to do harm. She impaled them on her ice.
Akitsu was a slender woman with short, light brown hair that was almost grey. Her serenely beautiful features were marred by a strange tattoo, of an emblem depicting a bird flying over a taijitu or yin-yang symbol. She was almost wholly naked, her sole clothing being a tattered, bloodied laboratory coat that did little to conceal her body, including her rather large breasts.
Akitsu was a Sekirei, one of a number of alien beings who had come to Earth as an embryo in stasis. The entirety of her life had been spent in one MBI laboratory or another, being experimented upon. Unfortunately, during one of those recent experiments, something went awry.
You see, Sekirei needed to have their physiology adjusted so that they could live amongst humans without endangering them with their powers, only being able to use their full power in combat against other Sekirei. However, the adjuster in charge of Akitsu messed it up, leaving her broken. For Sekirei are supposed to find a destined partner, a human called an Ashikabi, to bond with. This bonding process, initiated by a kiss, was known as Winging, for it caused wings of energy to appear in the process. And the adjuster had caused Akitsu to self-Wing. They declared her a Scrapped Number, a Broken Sekirei. And her adjuster, fired for his incompetence, tried to murder Akitsu. So she killed him.
She fled MBI, and ended up, after a series of misadventures, here. All the while despairing that she would ever find her Ashikabi.
It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes. And while this isn't necessarily correct all of the time, it's true that extreme circumstances sometimes drive people to reach out, in faith that someone or something will answer their prayers. It was certainly the case with Akitsu. Not that she necessarily believed in God or any deity, more of a kind of kismet or destiny would answer her prayers, bring her Ashikabi to her.
In retrospect, for many who would suffer afterwards, this was a bad idea. For something certainly answered her prayer, even if she didn't know it yet.
Suddenly, a thug ran out from a nearby wooded area, and screamed, "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
Akitsu cocked her head in curiosity. She had evaded these thugs before, not wanting to have to deal with them. So what had scared this one?
The thug suddenly tripped on the ground, faceplanting right near the bench Akitsu had been sitting on. Meanwhile, from out of the shadows, indeed, seeming to be born from them, was a tall, dark-skinned man, dressed stylishly. He was smiling in a way that reminded Akitsu, unnervingly, of Karasuba, the infamous current leader of the Discipline Squad. But unlike Karasuba's lazy predatory smirk, this smile was more jovial and friendly, and yet even more frightening. Akitsu felt a slight chill in her soul.
"Come on," drawled the dark-skinned man. "How did that line from that anime go? Those who kill must be prepared to die themselves, or something along those lines? Just fight a little, make it entertaining for me. I get bored easily. C'mon, hit me, fight me, give me a hug(2)!"
The thug saw Akitsu, before grabbing her, hauling her to her feet, and bringing her in front of him as a human shield. "Don't you dare take one step closer!" the thug snarled. "Or the bitch gets it!"
The dark-skinned man rolled his eyes, and stepped forward. "I MEAN IT!" screeched the thug, pressing his knife to Akitsu's back.
"And? Why do you think she's helpless? She's a Sekirei, moron, and that means that you're dead. You just haven't stopped breathing yet."
Akitsu agreed, mentally. Which was why she formed an ice spike that impaled her would-be hostage-taker. She remembered Takami once threatening to shove Karasuba's sword so far up Minaka's arse, he'd be able to pick his teeth with it. Akitsu did effectively the same thing with the icicle, only the thug wouldn't survive to be able to pick his own teeth.
The dark-skinned man whistled appreciatively, walking around to the now-dead thug as Akitsu freed herself from the dead man's hands. "Nice. I haven't seen impalement like that since old Vlad Tepes." Suddenly, shadow seemed to leap around the dead man, and absorbed him into the darkness. "Mmm," the man said. "Tastes like chicken and shit. Well, considering that he was chickenshit, I'm not surprised."
Akitsu stared at the man. Had he just used powers? As far as she knew, only one Sekirei had the power over shadows: Number 57, Yahan. Was he a Sekirei?
"No, I'm no Sekirei," the man said, as if discerning her thoughts, before turning to face Akitsu. "Please allow me to introduce myself: I'm a man of wealth and taste. I've been around for a long, long year, stole many a man's soul and faith." On her blank look, he sighed quietly. "We have to introduce you to the classics(3)."
"Ah…classics?"
"Yes! Music, rock and roll! Goes well with sex and drugs, I'm told." The man grinned. "Well, I don't partake of the latter, but rock and roll does go very well with the former. Anyway, you're the one who called me to this plane. Number 07, Akitsu. The Ice Sekirei, made a Scrapped Number. Broken. But, here's the thing, Akitsu." He put his arm around her in a manner that was surprisingly affectionate. "Many things that are broken can be fixed. And one man's trash is another's treasure. And you, dear Akitsu, are not trash. I can fix you. I can give you worth again. I can be your Ashikabi."
"But that's…"
"Impossible? Dear Akitsu, I sneer at the impossible. Many would call me impossible…when they're not screaming in fear or fury or just plain screaming. Speaking of people who need to scream," he finished, looking over to the side to see a pair of people approaching. One was a tall, silver-haired man with a sword in a scabbard and wearing a yellow scarf, his demeanour stoic. The other was a teenaged boy in expensive clothing, complete with ruffles.
"Mister, stand away from her," the boy said. "She's mine."
The dark-skinned man chuckled. "Oh my. Listen, brat…"
"I'm NOT a brat! I'm Hayato Mikogami! And I…"
"…Will be wishing for death in approximately thirty seconds or sooner if he doesn't give the ego a rest," the dark-skinned man said.
"Do not threaten my Ashikabi," the silver-haired man said in a calm tone, moving gently to stand between Mikogami and the dark-skinned man.
"Well, I came here first. I believe the standard term is 'dibs'. As you didn't come here first, you do not get to claim her. Is that a simple enough concept for your Ashikabi to grasp? Or has he been skipping remedial classes at the school that his parents have clearly wasted so much money on?"
Mikogami gaped, his brain struggling between rage and astonishment, before his face settled into a cold mask. "Killing other humans is forbidden by the rules. But Mutsu, you have my permission to break him."
Mutsu sighed as he readied his sword. Meanwhile, the dark-skinned man held up a finger. "Just one point I'd like to dispute, brat. I never said I was human. Allow me to introduce you to Daddy."
Suddenly, Mikogami vanished into a dark portal with a shriek. "What did you do?!" Mutsu snarled.
"Oh, don't worry. He'll be fine…physically, anyway." Another dark portal opened up, and Mikogami, shivering and covered in rime, was spat out. "Mentally, though…"
"Master!" Mutsu said, hurrying over to his Ashikabi.
"The flutes…the drums…the flutes…the drums…" Mikogami whimpered, his eyes wide. A darkening stain on his trousers suggested that his bladder control had gone the way of his cockiness.
"He should be thankful," the dark-skinned man said. "Few have witnessed the Nuclear Chaos and survived with their sanity more or less intact…though I daresay he'll never sleep properly again." He chuckled again. "Take him home…or I'll send you to Daddy as well…only for keeps this time."
As Mutsu gathered up his master in his arms, he glared at the dark-skinned man. "There will be a reckoning for what you did." He then retreated with as much dignity as he could.
"Ah…" Akitsu began. "What did you do?"
"I sent him to Daddy Dearest," the dark-skinned man said with a grin. "The Nuclear Chaos, the Blind Idiot God that lies at the centre of all creation…better known as Azathoth."
"Ah…Azathoth?"
"Oh, you don't know him? Shame." The dark-skinned man turned to face Akitsu, and then said, "Still, I think we'd better get down to business. You called for your Ashikabi…and here I am. I can mend you, Akitsu. In fact, I can do it right now."
Akitsu opened her mouth to deny it, only for the man to press a hand to her forehead. What came out of his mouth next couldn't properly be called a word, a syllable, or even a sound. It was the sound time and space would make if part of it had been suddenly crunched. It seemed to pierce right through her skull, the sensation not painful, but singularly unpleasant. For a moment, her brain seemed to twist in on itself in her skull…
…And then, it was over. Something was lost in its wake…but she realised that it was something she was glad she had lost. She could feel a heat building in her chest, her heart was beating hard and fast, she could feel herself flushing. She looked into the man's eyes, and knew that this was her Ashikabi, human or not.
She lunged forward and kissed him, her tongue entering his mouth. She tasted something bitter and exotic in his mouth. She felt herself being Winged, the surge of energy throughout her being, leaving pleasure in its wake.
"Number 07, Akitsu, is yours, now and forever," Akitsu whispered in awe-filled devotion. "May we shatter our enemies for all eternity."
"Yes, we shall," her Ashikabi said with a smile. "It's good to have such loyalty, Akitsu. For now, you are the Sekirei of the Crawling Chaos. You are the Sekirei of Nyarlathotep."
CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:
Well, crap. Is it the end of the world as we know it? Or is it just the end for MBI? Either way, the Crawling Chaos has just entered the Sekirei Game, and that's not a good thing by any metric.
Now, in terms of appearance, I actually thought about how Nyarlathotep would look (and this is, admittedly, only one of many appearances he can take on). I eventually decided that he should look like a taller version of the Cat from Red Dwarf, albeit without fangs or pompadour. His voice is closer to Danny John-Jules' regular voice in my mind, but he has a few of the same mannerisms as the Cat, like how the Cat, in earlier series, liked to almost dance to and fro while on the move. As Nyarlathotep is something of a troll, even in Cthulhu Mythos canon, I thought I needed someone quirky. I also took cues of behaviour from Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, and so, Nyarlathotep, in this story, is basically a hybrid of an evil version of the Cat and Abridged Alucard.
1. Perfect Cell says a variant of this at the end of Episode 54 of Dragonball Z Abridged, Tiles and Tribulations. Like Abridged Alucard, he is voiced by Curtis Arnott, aka Takahata101.
2. This is one of many lines I will be pilfering from Hellsing Ultimate Abridged. This one comes from Episode 2, when Alucard is about to kill Luke Valentine.
3. For those of you who don't get the joke, Nyarlathotep is quoting from the opening of the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil.