Prisoner of War
Part One: Fall
It started in the Americas. Skyscrapers in the large cities crumbling, an attempt of exodus by the citizens, all of the stereotypical signs of an oncoming apocalypse. No one could be really certain how it had happened—especially not the masterminds of Rekai. One would think that a mass migration of yokai to the human world would be obvious and, therefore, preventable.
In this case, one would be wrong.
The Americas fell almost instantly. Then Europe. Asia. Africa. The islands. Everything. Within two months, the entirety of Ningenkai had fallen to the control of the yokai lords. Millions of humans were slaughtered—who would turn down such an accessible food source?—but a rare few found themselves in the custody of the yokai. Whether or not these individuals were lucky or unfortunate could not be said.
The final battle against Reikai was remarkably short: the larger and stronger armies of yokai plowed through the best of the Reikai forces. Within a week, the leader of the yokai, Mukuro, had Enma-Daioh's head on a spike displayed at the gateway to her residence.
There were still some rebels to be dealt with—there are always rebels when one person controls entire continents. But that was what these executions were for.
As the executioner's blade dropped onto the neck of the last of the exorcists in the area, the crowd of yokai gathered around let out a series of cheers; Mukuro and her right hand man watched the carnage from the balcony of her new fortress.
"It's pathetic, Hiei, isn't it?" she said, smirking at the bloodshed. "All these years, no one before me had been able to find a way into the human world. It was so simple all along, and no one thought of it."
"No one ever looks in the obvious places," Hiei replied coolly.
"True," the ruler said. "Quite true."
The blade dropped again, this time onto a doctor.
"They're destroyed so easily," Mukuro mumbled. "But still, they're dangerous."
Hiei glanced over to his superior. "What makes you say that?"
"The intelligent ones. They're smarter than we think they are. That doctor. He'd found a way to bind the powers of A class yokai. He was working on something for S class. We doubt them because we have more strength than they do, but we underestimate their wit. Intelligent humans are dangerous. That's all there is to it. Intelligent humans are our only threat."
"Interesting."
Another execution—a teacher this time.
"They team up with each other," Mukuro continued, narrowing her eyes. "There's still a small pack of them that we have yet to find."
"But that's being taken care of, isn't it?"
"Oh, yes. We've caught one of them. A girl. But there's been some difficulty getting her to talk."
"You seem to be taking her silence well; isn't her refusal to speak a problem?"
A smirk creased Mukuro's face. "She'll talk. She'll just have to be broken first."
The blade sliced a final time as the sun went down in a blaze of red.
"Enough for one day, I think," the ruler sighed. "Come, we have quite a bit to discuss before tomorrow's meeting with that girl."
Mukuro turned on her heel and ambled through the door and into the pale yellow light of her fortress, Hiei following her.
A child curled up on the damp, dirty floor of the dungeon cell, whimpering and crying in her sleep. Her tears left streaks on her thin and dirty face.
"Momma…" she mumbled. "Momma? Momma!"
A teenage girl crept over to the child's side, picking the little girl up from the floor and holding her and brushing strands of her chocolate hair away from her eyes. "Amrie," the teenager whispered, "wake up, sweetheart, you're having a nightmare."
The little girl opened her cerulean eyes cautiously, waiting for the object of her nightmares to sneak out from a dark corner and attack her. "Calai?" the child sniffled.
"Yeah, sweetie, it's me," the teenager whispered, smiling softly.
"I saw my momma," the child muttered. "They were hurting her again."
Calai wrapped her arms tighter around the little girl. "They can't hurt your mom anymore, Amrie."
"I know," the child sniffed. "I don't like it here."
"Neither do I."
"When can we leave here?"
"I don't know, sweetie."
"I want to go home. I want to see my momma again."
"You will one day, Amrie. I promise. One day we'll get out of here."
"Soon?"
Calai smiled. "Yeah. Really soon. Now go back to sleep."
The little girl smiled. She gave her elder friend a hug, then curled up against her stomach and drifted to sleep once again.
End Part One
