Broken Melody

Chapter 6

Ravissant Mort

Lovely Death

"And if there's no tomorrow, and all we have is here and now, I'm happy just to have you, you'll all the love I need somehow," Breathless, The Corrs

I would like to thank all my reviewers, however few there may be, because without you, this story never would have gotten this far. I am so happy that people like this story. I actually had this story planned for almost a year before I actually started writing down the first chapter. Thanks muchly to my reviewers, and please review!!!

Standard disclaimers apply.

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Jean-Paul's head snapped up from its former position on his arms as Kaitou Nightmare's shout rang in his ears:

"Laissa le jeu commencez,"

Jean-Paul smiled thinly as the other agents twitched their ears, trying to make sense of what the new recruit was shouting. Jean-Paul sighed at their hopelessness, shook the others awake, whispering one by one in their ears the translation.

"Let the games begin."

The agents grinned maliciously. This is what they lived for, causing pain and torment and suffrage. They all drew their knives and weapons, and crept out of the anti-chamber they used as sleeping quarters into the huge chamber, where the unconscious form of Kusakabe Maron slumped in a metal chair, ropes bound tighter than ever around her. She moaned softly in her sleep, and tried to shift, but the tight bindings would not allow her to move anything but her head anything more than half a centimeter. The agents didn't quite like her, mostly because she was stubborn and refused to answer their mock questioning. Apparently their half-hearted attempts to cover up the true point of this mission weren't working on her. She was too smart for her own good, they all agreed.

But now, that silly boy that was such a vital part to their plan had found their not so secret hideout. And, soon, their job would be done and they'd be on a first class flight to their homelands with nicer clothes and much fatter wallets. They just had to let him wander around for a while. Certainly it wouldn't take him long to find their large room. And hopefully, it wouldn't take him long to figure out what was in the center of the room. It had taken that smart bitch long enough. But, still, this was something a guy was more likely to know about. And once he figured it out, oh, how he would scream!

Jean-Paul and Nikolai exchanged a secret nod as the other agents chattered on about money and fine restraints and beautiful women. Once this operation was over, these agents would not have a home to return to.

Because if you're dead, then you're really not going anywhere, now are you?

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Kaitou Nightmare sprinted without hesitation through the hallways. Her long, now-black hair flowed behind her with the silk ribbons, which were torn. The black wings that had burst from her back were useless in such a small corridor with such a low ceiling. She rounded corners, ducked behind secret doors, and cut through dark and cold dungeons to be the first to arrive at the large chamber. Unfortunately for her, all the other agents were already there, so she was the last. Oh, well, it didn't matter, they didn't start without her. The hostage was still unconscious-obviously, Jean-Paul wanted to play cat-and-mouse with lover boy, and watch him suffer. Kaitou Nightmare snorted in disgust. Watching his beloved die would make him welcome death; she thought Jean-Paul liked to hear them wail to stop.

Oh, well, as long as they die.

Her untainted fangs glimmered in the gentle light of the flickering torches. If all went well tonight, then everything would be in order for Her to step in and set the real plan in motion.

She sighed with relief as she unfurled her massive black wings, some of the agents gasping in surprise. It had been a while since they'd had a full-fledged creature of the Night working with them. Once they got over their initial shock, their evil grins grew even larger. This was going to make their job so much easier.

"Fureur-etant," Jean-Paul said lazily to Nightmare, "Qu'est-ce-que nouvelles fais vous avons?" Nightmare smiled thinly in response.

"Le reine di^mes pour tuent eux tous," she said very rapidly. The other agents blinked in confusion, until Jean-Paul turned around and repeated what she said in English and Russian.

(To save time and space, I'm printing the translations right here: Fureur-etant means rage-being, Qu'est-ce-que nouvelles fais vous avons? Means something like, what news do you have? And Le reine di^mes pour tuent eux tous means something like: the queen says to kill them both. I'm really sorry if this bugs you, but I think this makes it far more authentic, and besides, I happen to like my English-French dictionary)

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Chiaki skidded around another corner, trying desperately to find Maron. If she was still alive now, it wasn't going to last long. Finally, he reached some sort of dungeon, and he could tell she'd been there not long ago, simply because a bit of warmth, obviously caused by a human. He followed the only hallway at a continued breakneck speed. After another agonizing length of minutes that seemed to last hours, he saw some light ahead; it was flickering and orange-ish red, so it was obviously caused by fire. That meant no electricity, though Chiaki wasn't quite sure if that was encouraging or not.

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An unnamed Russian man was arguing with Jean-Paul, which wasn't improving his mood. That creature of the Night refused to cooperate. OK, so she could kill them all with a snap of her slender, clawed fingers. Somehow, she thought that gave her the orders to completely disregard prior orders. It was nice to finally be able to speak in French again, though, and she was fluent with a flawless accent. The thing was, now she refused to speak anything but French, which annoyed the other agents to all seven hells.

Now the hostage was mumbling phrases and names in her sleep. Or, to be more precise, one name.

"Chiaki… don't leave… love you… don't go…Chiaki…" Was all that they could hear, and only Jean-Paul and Nightmare could understand it, but the others got the message from the look on Jena-Paul's face. This, he told himself, could complicate things very much. He was very sure it would, in fact. He was also very sure that Nightmare was thinking the same thing.

"Celle-ci mai presentez un probleme," Nightmare said, saying exactly what he thought.

"Oui, l'on faut non laissa cette changez no^tre planifiez," Jean-Paul replied, and they two shared a secret nod. They were the only ones with the brains to figure out what to do. The placed the palms of their hands on each other's foreheads, then quickly moved their hand away and had their index and middle fingers lightly touching the mark of darkness upon their foreheads. Nightmare completed the ritual of the Dark-servants by saying,

"Mai nulle Allumer cesser nous,"

(Celle-ci mai presentez un probleme means 'This may present a problem'; Oui, l'on faut non laissa cette changez no^tre planifiez means 'Yes, we must not let that change our plans, and Mai nulle Allumer cesser nous means, 'May no Light stop us')

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Maron awoke from her horrible dream to find reality a far cry worse. She was still bound to that very uncomfortable chair, she was still gagged with a dirty silk handkerchief that smelled and tasted like oil and grease and perspiration. She was still in that huge, stone chamber, and that horrifying object was still in the center of the room, and she was still willing to bet nobody knew she was gone. Normal people would probably have broken down crying, but Maron was trying to figure out why this was happening.

I mean, the Darkness doesn't just usually kidnap random teenage girls and tie them up for hours, lurking around and obeying the man who screamed in many different languages. Wait.

A new being had joined the man shouting in German, Russian, and other languages that she couldn't recognize. It was Kaitou Nightmare! But, she was…different. Black wings had burst from her back, and now unfurled at a great size. The ribbons in her hair had been torn and ribbed, her cloth boots were now tied by a blood-red ribbon, all traces of blue and purple and silver turned to blood-red and a very dark grey. Her normally-dark-blue eyes had become the darkest, yet coldest, grey Maron had ever seen.

 The two conversed for a while in French, then did some sort of promise ritual simultaneously, then Nightmare said something in French and walked off, and the French man stopped giving orders, and this seemed to be the same for most of the people to drop down on the ground and sleep. She then realized that the others that weren't sleeping were guards. She grimaced. These people obviously knew what they were doing. No hope for escape; better start making a mental will…

But wait! Someone was up in the stone bridge-type-things that crisscrossed the ceiling. Someone with beautiful amber eyes, a mop of unruly blue hair, and the most beautiful face ever.

She would have cried out in pleasure had she not been gagged. Chiaki was here to help her! She didn't bother puzzling over how he'd got here (wherever here was), how he'd gotten up there, or how he'd known she was missing. All she knew is that now she stood a slight chance. He nodded silently at her, mouthing the words 'I'm here to help you'. She nodded as much as the chafing ropes would allow, and tried not to draw too much attention to herself. She did wonder why he had not noticed the thing in the center of the room, and why he wasn't terrified. She brushed it off, though, because she knew that right now she wasn't exactly in a position to question her rescuer.

Nightmare appeared again with the French man, whom she had heard addressed as Jean-Paul, and they were conversing again in French.

"Ou est celui?" Nightmare screamed, stomping through the chamber, kicking sleeping agents and hauling them up on their feet. About half were sent to search the huge stone underground labyrinth, or, Maron guessed they were searching. Jean-Paul was trying to calm her down, desperately talking in French, gesturing wildly with his hands. But it was all in vain, because Nightmare's eyes glinted with a rage that was unmatched before now.

"L'on faut commencez juste aussitot," he tried to tell her. "Oublier le gamon, pensons seule de le planifiez," Though she calmed down only a little, she stopped screaming and kicking and the other agents returned without any news of the boy, so it was decided that they would begin without him, which very much annoyed

Jean-Paul and Nightmare.

(Ou est celui means 'Where is the boy', L'on faut commencez juste aussitot means something like 'We must begin without him', and Oublier le gamon, pensons de le planifiez means 'Forget the boy, think only of the plan')

They began conversing quietly again in French, and Maron didn't bother trying to listen, because (obviously), she doesn't speak French. Without moving her head, she glanced up and saw Chiaki still perched up there. He was slowly inching down, and it seemed that there was a staircase carved into the stone bridges. Jean-Paul tired of conversing with the still-angry Nightmare, and came over to her. She tensed as he neared, for Nightmare and all the others had left. A sickening feeling was bubbling in her stomach. One of his pale fingers reached out and stroked her pale cheek. She began to tremble as much as the ropes would allow, for now she saw the desire that burned like a black flame in his eyes. She could practically hear Chiaki clench his teeth.

She ignored him, as he continued stroking her cheek. He was muttering in French, and she was trying desperately to loosen the ropes when she felt her left hand brush against something sharp. It pricked her skin and left a shallow cut; she felt the warm blood dripping silently from it. She delicately gripped it between her index finger and middle finger, and pulled it sharply outwards. It was a needle of some sort, she could tell now that it wasn't stuck in the chair anymore. The chair was obviously old, and there were some chips in the metal, large, intentional ones and the point where each leg met the seat of the chair. Somehow, the needle had become wedged in that niche.

She tried desperately to saw at the ropes, and to her surprise it worked slightly. However, after she'd sawed through half of one rope, the needle slipped form her hand and clattered on the stone floor. Jean-Paul instantly saw the needle, and his mind just as quickly put two and two together. He snarled in a rage at Maron, and slapped her full force across the face. She gasped in shock and pain as his hand, covered with heavy rings and strong enough as it was, connected forcefully with her cheek. It instantly turned red, and she could feel and Chiaki could see a large bruise forming. He growled and ground his teeth together quietly.

Unfortunately for him, the room was dead silent and it echoed very, very well. Jean-Paul snapped his head up almost before the echo had ended. Chiaki had not had time to pull his head back, and Jean-Paul's cold black eyes met Chiaki's amber ones, and you could almost feel the hate between them. Jean-Paul snapped his fingers, and Chiaki was unwillingly brought down, and bound by invisible ropes that he knew were there but could not feel or see. He was moved over next to Maron, and fell heavily on his knees. He winced, but brought his hands, which were bound together in front of him, up to lightly brush Maron's cheek. She did not flinch just tried not to let her tears fall.

The rest of the agents darted in, Nightmare running at top speed in front of them all. She smiled evilly, her white fangs standing out against her lips stained with black lipstick (or something). She shrieked something incomprehensible in French, and the lights suddenly brightened to an almost unbearable brightness. Maron and Chiaki gaped, Maron because it was her first time seeing the machine in full light, Chiaki because it was his first time seeing the machine at all. The agents grinned, for they realized it was time to set the third part of their plan in motion.

When you think about it, it made sense that they had that machine. I mean, the dungeons sort of gave it a medieval feel. So it kind of made sense.

It just gave a whole new meaning to being drawn and quartered in the village square.

~End Chapter 6~

Well? What did you think? Didn't take long, did it? But I really like this chapter. By the way, sorry for the shortness of recent chapters, the next one will be back to the average length, or even longer. But I really wanted to get this out and I like it so XPXPXPXPXPXPXPXPXP. Anyways, thanks for reading, sorry for all the French, it will hopefully stop in the next couple of chapters, and please review!

-Knife thrower