POST-SERIES

Amon and Robin somehow escape from the Factory, under very strange circumstances. But then, some of Amon's past begins to come out as a mysterious witch, called the Angel, falls into the STN-J's crosshairs...

Nature's Folly

WARNING: POST-SERIES

((NOTE: I do NOT own Witch Hunter Robin, or any characters from it. I'm not making a profit off this, so don't sue me. Lastly, if any of the religious or sexual topics (If you want me to be specific (which would spoil quite a bit of the story) email me.) involved in this insult you, don't send me hate mail. This is called ART, children, and therefore I am free to make it as I see fit. Any suggestions, please send to and please state the subject, or it might be deleted. Thankees much! Fluffy-sama))

Chapter 3: Awakening

Ghosts, thought Amon as he loaded his gun. Has to be ghosts. No one has been in that house.

"Damnit!" he yelled as he dropped the cartridge for the umpteenth time. Nagira jumped at his sudden explosion. "My hands are shaking. Why are my hands shaking?"

"You don't have to do this, you know." Nagira eyed his brother. "You already look like hell. Do you really want to go back in that house? Having all those memories tossed in your face isn't going to do you any good."

Amon started to pace. "There was a little girl in the front yard, and she looked like her. Am I supposed to just ignore that? It's impossible, but if you all saw her… but she's dead! There was way too much blood for her to have lived. The damn reports said there was music coming from the attic. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. She loved that piece. Who the hell could possibly know enough about Angel to find the house, get in her room, and play her favorite music?"

"As in who else besides you, right Amon?" He took the gun and loaded it himself. "She had fans, you know. Maybe if some witch found out where you guys lived and took over the house when she died. Maybe if they had the power to make someone look like her…"

"There are too many 'if's to be sure of anything." He sighed as he sat down next to Nagira and strapped on the gun. After a long moment of silence, they both stood and walked to the door, pulling on their coats. "Whoever it is, they are going to regret defiling that house."

Later…

Robin knelt at the end of the driveway and looked up at the signs drawn all over the cracked concrete. Behind her stood the other Hunters, all waiting for her to clear the way. Suddenly, she stood and walked up to the edge of the invisible barrier, extending a hand out cautiously. As her hand reached over the wardings, it met resistance, like a rubber band made of air, trying to push her away. The marks glowed palely in the darkness. Withdrawing her hand, she turned to her companions.

"It looks like I'll have to burn through, but the backlash will surely give us away. We'll have to move fast once the barrier is down. Are you ready?" At their nods, she faced the house and put on her glasses. Squinting, she set a spark at the edge, expanding it as it caught onto the stored power. With a spreading effect like paper burning, the spot of flame became a ring, pushing outward, and then curving around, following the dome-like barrier. As it burned off, they moved in toward the door, Robin sweating just a bit from the effort. Standing on either side of the door, the group waited for Amon's signal.

But before he and Haruto kicked the door in, he paused, closing his eyes and taking a slow, deep breath. And then the door was down, and the Hunters entered the house in a cloud of dust. Every finger on a trigger quivered, every eye searched the darkness, anticipating an attack.

No attack came, and for all that could be seen on the first floor, no one had been anywhere but from the door to the stairway in a very long time. There was furniture covered with cloths that had once been white, and a thick layer of dust covered everything but a slightly clearer path leading to the second floor. No signs of life were in the small front room, kitchen, or dining room. Silently, Amon led the way upstairs, gun at the ready.

At the top of the stairs, the path remained straight down a narrow hallway, but they checked behind every door anyway, finding only two bedrooms, a bathroom, and an office, all in similar states of neglect. At the end of the hall, another, smaller stairway spiraled upward. Slowly, Amon climbed these as well, now raising his gun. In the silence, all the Hunters were beginning to quiver. An unsteady, golden light was coming from above. With a slight pause to prepare, they all rushed up the last few steps, into the attic.

This room was clean, and there was a slight scent of lavender and candle wax. On one end of the room was a loft bed under an open window, with a desk under the bed. Lining the sloping ceiling/walls were shelves of books and pictures pinned up, but the light was too dim to see them clearly. At the other end, a gleaming black grand piano and some other instruments in cases stood, with some candles placed around them on some more shelves. Atop the closed piano lay a figure all in black. The form did not stir as they approached, did not even seem to be breathing.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" yelled Amon, stepping a bit closer with his gun leveled. Now the creature moved, reaching one thin, white arm to cover its head.

"Leave me alone…" choked out a raw voice. A female voice? "This is my house. If you're here to steal, go now before I hurt you. If you're here for me, I don't want to see you. I'm dead. Leave me alone…"

"Are you a witch? And if you're dead, why are you here?" demanded Miho, even as Amon faltered.

"I was, and I don't know. Maybe this is hell."

Amon put his gun away and walked up to the piano, shaking so much he had to steady himself against it. He bent close to her, and whispered in a hoarse voice, "Angel?"

The woman flinched, as if he had struck her. Her arm moved once more, and she pushed her long, matted black hair out of her face, looking at Amon upside-down. She blinked her dark eyes once, slowly. "Get out of my head. Let me forget you. You're as dead as I am. I don't want to see things right now." She curled in on herself.

"Angel!" he cried, grabbing her hand. "Angel, I'm alive! So are you. But where have you been?"

"Oh, God… I can feel you now. I'm mad and dead." She was starting to cry, pulling away. Now Nagira began to move closer, as the others stared, shocked and baffled, with their weapons still in hand.

Amon held onto her hand, and brought her closer, gathering her into his arms and sitting on the bench next to the piano. With his other hand, he gently brushed her hair away from her face. Brushing his fingers across her cheek, he gazed at her eyes, searching for answers to old questions. "They did not kill you, but what did they do instead?"

"They were Hunters. They took me to some new place they called the Factory…"