A Jamais Tombé
Arty – Well I'm once again starting this chapter before Chapter 5 gets posted…. Sorry but my beta is a little slow.
Yaumi – But we still love her!
Akuma – Do I even have a heart to love her with? Wait… don't answer that question.
Arty – Yeah I have been doing major plot tweaking, but trust me everything adds up in the end. I'm glad you guys really like Arty and Chris. That just makes my day.
This chapter is dedicated to Ladya C. Maxine. Congratulations, you just inspired me on ways to make my story more disturbing, gothic and gory. I take my hat off to you.
And hell while I'm at it, the story that inspired this round of gore was Ladye C. Maxine's Sinners. It's a fucking great story, but I won't recommend it to people who get a little gore queasy. But hey, if you're reading my story you can read her story. Good luck to you, iron guts out there.
Chapter 6 - Sept Péchés Mortels - Seven Deadly Sins
Kai finally saw Tala run out of school while yanking a sweatshirt on. Kai couldn't quiet catch the words written on the younger boy's chest but he could see a bloody white blob below the text. A smirk didn't appear on his face but it showed in his eyes. Sitting on top of the school roof made Kai feel like a king. It was most likely the closest he would ever get to royalty too. Anyone could feel like a revered ruler sitting that high above swarming crowds. Unfortunately for this King, he was basically invisible along with Manna, who was sitting on his shoulder. No one in the crowds below would ever think to look up at the roof, as far as they knew there was no way to get on to the roof. And that fact alone made Kai feel like he was smart. But being smart is a lot different than being a murderer. So what if Kai managed to get away with it? Congratulations! Most people don't. But hell, if the cops don't ever get him… the guilt will, right?
Wrong.
Kai was 100 okay with being a deranged serial killer. He would wear the name with pride, unlike others. He just didn't like gore too much or hurting others.
Flash back
Murder #2
Kai cracked his knuckles and put the gun back in his coat pocket where it disappeared in the folds of his clothing. Suddenly more of the song he was starting to remember filled his mind. It was like having ice-cold water dumped on your head in the middle of summer after running five miles. It would have been a nice feeling, but to Kai it just caused the pounding music in his head to play louder. It felt like the singer was personally screaming at him. All Kai could do was smile and pretend everything was okay. If he didn't he would sure as hell get caught. But he wouldn't have time to get caught; he was too busy getting to the scene of his next murder: the boy's locker room.
Kai placed his ear up to the door and he could faintly hear the muffled cursing of his next victim. With just the pads of his fingertips Kai pushed the door open and it made an eerie squeaking noise, like its hinges hadn't been oiled in a long time. Suddenly the cursing stopped and the other boy who was in the room with Kai was silent.
"Who's there?" a wavering voice cried out. Kai ran his tongue along the pointed canine teeth in the sides of his mouth. Already his victim was pissing his pants with worry. He didn't even bother to answer as he walked into the locker room. He moved quietly like an animal stalking his prey. And out of habit his hand went down to his suspiciously heavy coat pocket. Sliding into a nearby shadow cast by a large row of lockers, Kai walked quietly down to the row he knew his friend would be in. He would be waiting for Kai to come and kill him like an animal in a slaughterhouse. Grey eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Kai's friend must have shrugged the squeaking door off as either the wind or his imagination. Kai stood in the shadows and ran a hand along the smooth plastic of the handgun. He felt like a small child holding candy. He was that happy with himself. Just to freak out his victim, Kenny, Kai rapped his knuckles along the metal lockers. He watched Kenny jump in surprise and whirl around in the middle of getting changed. Now Kenny's back was facing Kai. Big mistake. For you see, Kai was never one to let good opportunities get past him.
"Hey Kenny? What rhymes with bag and is a nasty word for a gay?"
Kenny stiffened but didn't turn around. His murderer's voice was echoing throughout the whole locker room, making it impossible to pinpoint the exact origin. It was like a cold chill had passed through the room along with the echoing voice, and Kenny shivered and ran his hands along his naked torso. There was no mistaking it for Kenny, he knew someone else was in the locker room with him and he didn't need his brains or glasses to know that. Unknown to him, Kai pulled out the gun from his pocket and aimed at the point between Kenny's shoulder blades, but then as if on a second thought aimed a little higher. He was now going for the jugular vein. "Well Kenny you haven't answered my question. I though you were supposed to be smart? You do have the highest grades in the school district don't you?"
Kenny nodded and looked up at the ceiling. "Kai, I know that's you, I hope you know I'm sorry I changed your exam… But I couldn't let someone like you beat me. I mean why should a fag get the fucking highest score in the school district! Fag does rhyme with bag, doesn't it? And isn't it another word for gay? Huh Kai?" Kenny spoke in a soft all knowing voice. That voice made Kai want to be deaf for the rest of his life. In fact Kai couldn't determine which punishment would be worse for Kenny, slitting his vocal cords or killing him. Both would probably hurt the backstabbing genius equally. But if Kai let the little fucker live he would have to deal with his identity getting known. One murder was bad, but two? He smiled and Kenny started shaking.
"Well, I guess you do have a mind after all, too bad. It's going to be missed." A dark spot formed on the front of Kenny's jeans and he started shaking even harder and he didn't notice his finger nails digging into the skin of his palms. With a wink Kai unleashed three bullets that tore through Kenny's body with horrifying speed and accuracy. The bullets caused Kenny's body to be thrown about like a rag doll. Barely alive Kenny slumped to the floor, unable to speak after having been shot in the throat, his leg hung at an odd angle because of his kneecap having been blown to tiny slivers moments before. He mouthed words that would fall on deaf ears. Even if Kenny had still possessed the ability to talk it would have done him no good. His murderer stood there in a daze staring hopelessly at the ceiling, a disturbing smile on his face. He laughed; the song was defiantly running stronger in his mind. And the odds were against Kai losing the song's words again. For now it was almost complete, only one verse was missing.
End Flashback
Suddenly Kai felt a hand on his leg, but it was too large to belong to Manna. His reflexes kicked in and he moved his hand forward in a blur of speed in an attempt to hit the person's face. Suddenly a searing pain entered his mind and for a few seconds all he could think about was the terrible pain in his hand.
"I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time remembering how to control myself. It's been so long since I've lived. I should have known better than to surprise you like that." The unknown person's voice came floating into Kai's ears. He knew that voice. But how could he not notice the voice that he had listened to almost nonstop for five years?
"I guess old habits die hard. Yes, Rei?" Kai smiled up at his first true friend and cradled his hurt fist close to his body. It was an automatic attempt at trying to stop the pain from continuing its throbbing journey up his arm. Needless to say, it did nothing to stop the ache. Rei winced, even though the words had been said in a kind way. He took Kai's hand away from his body and held it in front of his golden eyes. Rei studied it with a cold calculating glare and then with out warning, touched the hand and caused Kai to flinch as a bolt of pain rocked his system. He too was not used to living. Kai glared, his eyes like smoldering ashes as the black haired figure just smiled. "It's for your own good Kai. Please don't hit me." Kai cocked an eyebrow, confused at why Rei would say something like that. Then Rei used his long fingernails to slit the skin on the back of Kai's hand and dug his nails in. The burning sensation shot up to Kai's head, slowly forming the beginnings of a massive headache. Kai had no clue what Rei was doing but if he opened his mouth he was sure as hell going to scream. Not only would that be embarrassing, but it would also attract unwanted attention from the thinning crowds below.
Rei's thin fingernails slowly pushed a piece of bone that had snapped off when he had grabbed Kai's fist, back into its rightful place. A sharp intake of breath was heard from the younger boy, but Rei ignored it. Before Kai could begin to use his healing magic the bones needed to be touching. If the slice of bone had been missing, the magical healing would have backfired and killed everyone within a three-block radius. Uncontrolled, the fallen angel's magic would be enough to destroy the whole city. Any fallen angel's magic could. But as of current, the only fallen angels in existence were Rei and Kai. And for a long time it had just been Rei. After a few more seconds of quick surgery Rei pulled his nails out of Kai's hand and let the rain wash the blood off. At some point Kai must have realized that if Rei didn't put his nails in his skin it would have been Kai doing it. Rei always did have the higher standard for gore. He could take much more of it than Kai could.
Kai remembered many times when his grandfather had set him loose on a target and, watching the bullets tear through the body, had made him violently sick. He remembered throwing up right next to the mess that had once been Toshiba's brain. His grandfather had laughed as Kai puked, finding it insanely funny that his serial killer grandson couldn't hold his lunch against gore. Kai shook his head slowly to clear if from the haze of pain as his hand started healing itself. "Kai, did you meet the boy you're watching over?" Rei asked. Rei's fingers twitched as a raindrop hit him on the nose. Cats don't like water.
"Don't worry Kitten, I've met Valcov. Interesting fellow… has a very twisted sense of morals. Cares more about his friends finding out he's being terrorized by his old gang than telling someone about it and getting peace of mind." Kai started going off about the red haired beauty as if saying all of Tala's problems would make up for the one's Kai had.
"All you see is people's faults. He's beautiful and you keep looking at his faults. Kai, you seriously need a life. You tell a person's character by their faults. That can't always work out right. I mean, look at you: a serial killer who gets queasy at the sight of gore." Rei looked slightly angry as he spoke to Kai in an even voice. "You had better keep an eye on Tala though because I heard from someone in the school that the gang is going after him again today." Kai nodded his head, barely listening.
"Rei, if I save Tala's life are you also getting a chance to go where you want to?"
Rei didn't answer for a few minutes. "Kai, I don't want you to fell like my fate is resting on your shoulders. I mean, what should my fate have to do with your succeeding in saving Tala? I'm a useless player in this game. Verchiel is only letting me take part in this to watch me screw you up. I always screw up and he knows it. I screwed up bad enough to get myself killed when I was living. And now I could kill someone else with my stupidity!"
"Rei…"
Rei rubbed his eyes as tears started to form, his heritage coming full force, causing him to look like a cat rubbing its whiskers.
"Rei…" Rei sniffed a little as Kai called his name.
"Yes Kai?"
"Stop taking the whole world on your shoulders. You're only one tiny person. I'm pretty sure that if you suddenly went missing I would be the only one to notice." Kai got up and handed Rei a few tissues. "Stop crying. It makes your eyes red."
Rei smiled and took the tissues from Kai appreciatively. He nodded and watched Kai walk away. Even though what Kai had said to Rei sounded mean and rude, Rei knew enough about his friend to tell that it was Kai's way of saying 'I care about you.' Rei blushed and hugged himself. Right before Kai disappeared down the stairs he turned back and yelled at Rei.
"Sometimes faults make the creature seem even more beautiful."
Rei sat wide-eyed watching Kai walk away and then he nodded to himself. Kai thought Valcov was beautiful too. With one last glimpse of Kai, Rei suddenly shivered. The girl that had been sitting on Kai's shoulder was staring at him and grinning. Her eyes were a malicious red, her nails were long and pointed and she was suddenly a lot paler and grayer looking than before. Her wings also took on a look that made them look dead and decayed. But most disturbing in this sudden change was the grin.
That grin.
Fangs protruded from the sides of her mouth and she sent him a grin that made his blood run cold. There was a crazy look in her eyes as she grinned in a way that made her look of the wrong mind. Rei stared open mouthed and she grinned at him and suddenly disappeared off of Kai's shoulder. Rei was almost certain he would never be able to get that grin out of his head again.
Arty fell asleep sometime after watching music videos with her hair finally brushed. A few hours had past and dinner had come and gone. Tala had left a few minutes ago and Arty was finally waking up. She opened her eyes groggily as Chris poked her cheek.
"Arty, Arty, you have to wake up now," Chris whispered in her ear; close enough so that she could feel his breath. "You need to wake up Arty." He nudged her slightly and she grabbed his hand and held it close to her chest.
"No…"
"No… what? No peas…. No bagels…." It was so much fun annoying Arty. Especially when she was half asleep and had no idea as to what she was saying.
"No waking up…. Dammit."
"You have to wake up, I have to go back to Tala's because he forgot Miriam's sweatshirt. Miriam will freak out if Tala isn't wearing it tomorrow morning. And you know we'll forget to bring it to him, so I'm giving it to him now and you're coming." Chris dragged Arty up into as sitting position and leaned her back against the sofa.
"Give me a second. I need food."
"We'll be back in a few minutes, Arty. And when you come back you can have all the food you want. Now stop acting like a little kid."
Chris pulled his sweatshirt over his head and slipped his feet into his sneakers. Arty was grumbling recipes to certain food dishes she would like to be eating, as she was slowly putting on her sweatshirt. "I'm ready," she grumbled.
"No you're not, your sweatshirt is on backwards, hurry up and fix it. It's getting dark outside and it's still raining." Chris was getting impatient. This whole thing should have taken five minutes and instead it was taking twenty. He ran a hand down his face in frustration and helped Arty get her sweatshirt on the right way.
Arty grabbed Tala's sweatshirt and opened the door, immediately a gust of wind blew into them and Arty grabbed onto Chris's sweatshirt, holding tightly. "It's really nasty out." He mumbled, "I can't believe Tala walked to his house without a sweatshirt on."
"He can be really thick at times, you know that Chris."
Chris nodded; he often wondered why Tala always had a faraway look in his face. It might have had something to do with an event in Tala's past, but so far the twins knew next to nothing about Tala's past. They walked the next few blocks in silence. The rain had let up since that afternoon and was now just a drizzle. "You know, sometimes I wish he would just tell us stuff instead of keeping it to himself. No one knows anything about him from before we met him. It's like he never existed or something."
Arty shrugged, "Hey, we could at least stick by him. Don't say mean things about him when he isn't here to defend himself."
"I wasn't saying anything mean about him. I was just saying how I wished he would tell us more about his past."
"He'll tell us when he's ready. Why don't you understand?" Arty snapped at him and stopped holding on to the back of his sweatshirt. They were more than halfway to Tala's house at that point and fell into a quiet period until the next block.
"You're a real bitch sometimes, you know that Arty?'
"Well at least I don't say things about my friends behind their backs!"
"I wasn't saying anything mean! What don't you understand?" Chris was angry and he whirled around to face Arty. "Stop being so blind and look around you! There's something wrong with Tala. People don't just frickin' appear out of thin air! And how come he always comes to school with bruises? Someone beats him up! I don't know if you noticed Arty, but a lot of other people certainly do. What is wrong with you? Do you just ignore it or can you not see it? Stop being so goddamn blind!"
Arty slowly backed away a look of fear showing in her eyes. She moved back another step and felt something hard behind her. Chris was staring somewhere above her looking, in horror at what she had just walked back into. "Chris..." Arty mumbled.
"I'm not Chris, little girl… Let's get that straight. The name's King and if you move another again, I'll slice the most important vein in your neck." To prove his point, King moved a small pocketknife closer to Arty's neck and let it rest against her skin.
Chris let out a small growl in anger; no one should touch what was his. "Come this way, the both of you, I have some people here I think you would like to meet." King slowly dragged Arty backwards, his gaze never leaving Chris's. Out of a shadow stepped another figure, one that somewhat resembled King. Chris snorted to himself. Don't tell me their name's Queen.
The person stepped into a small space that was lit by a streetlight and placed their arms on their hips. The perfect image of confidence, it wasn't hard to tell their gender. It was defiantly female; the tight outfit defined her ample breasts, hips and thighs. She looked like something out of a Victoria's Secret magazine. King must have caught Chris looking at Queen. "You like what you see? She's mine. Had her since I was little. A pretty vixen, she is. And if you haven't guessed, her name's Queen." King laughed long and hard after that, obviously overjoyed that he had 'caught' Chris looking at Queen.
"She's nothing but a whore," Chris answered, his gray eyes hardened and looked a darker shade in the lack of light. It was a creepy effect.
King sneered at him and wound an arm around Arty's waist as he slid the pocketknife around her throat, making a shallow indentation. The cut bled a little making, it look as if Arty was wearing ether a string wrapped around her neck or a thin neck choker. Chris's hand flexed and then formed a fist. What he wouldn't give to smash his fist through King's face. "Your little girlfriend will be a whore too, especially when I'm done with her…. Chris." King laughed again his eyes took on a murderous glare. Queen looked slightly hurt that he was giving so much attention to Arty.
"King, we have to go."
"You're right as always, my beautiful Queen." With that King turned slowly and backed away from Chris, forcing the boy to follow him down a side street, away from the public's view. Floating around further down the side street were seven or eight hulking figures. King smiled at Chris and he moved his fingers around Arty's stomach, making intricate designs. One of his fingers left off right underneath Arty's breast and Chris held his breath. If that fucking asshole lays one finger on what's mine, I'll tear him apart and paint the streets with his blood. Seeing the look Chris gave him, King figured it was time to finish what he had started. "Signal the boys, Queen."
The girl nodded and held a hand up in the air. Quickly, she flashed a symbol with her pinky finger and thumb and than let out a low whistle. Out of the darkness came the lurking shadows that were revealed to be muscled thugs. Probably the most stupid thugs ever to walk the streets of their city, Chris looked in horror at Arty. There was only one thing thugs were good for, and that was beating the crap out of someone. And beating the crap out of someone usually meant violence, violence of the extreme kind not meant to happen to girls. They would hurt Arty badly and then most likely rape her. Chris squeezed his eyes shut; Arty was his and no one else's. These problems with Tala would have to wait… His baby sister was in trouble.
"What's you name beautiful?" King spoke with a slight purr as he gave Arty a kiss on the cheek.
"A-Arty."
"No need to be afraid, love. Save the fear for after we're done with you," Queen sneered, her exotic face scrunched up making her look a lot like a snarling tiger. A few of the figures behind her laughed evilly and smirked. King moved an eyebrow at Queen; she was acting more bitchy than usual.
"Well what are you waiting for? Someone take this dirty whore off my hands." King smirked and placed a finger to his lips as if in thought "Oh yeah, don't forget to make the boyfriend watch every second of her impending pain." If looks could kill King and every one of his relatives would be dead. Chris was getting annoyed quickly. "Have fun loves." With that King put a hand around Queen's waist and blew a kiss at Arty. "You could both be twins, you know that?" King and Queen were out of sight within a few seconds.
One of the thugs took over. "Hello lovely." He cracked his beefy knuckles and leaned down to look Arty in the face as someone came up from behind her to grab her arms and stopping her from fighting back. Another man grabbed Chris and held him up against the wall, his arms pinned above his head.
"Arty?"
"Yeah Chris?"
"I'm so sorry I woke you up and made you walk here with me. This is all my fault, everything that's going to happen, I'm just so sorry." Chris looked over to Arty and for the first time since she had been captured finally met her eyes, eyes that were void of emotion and were staring down at the floor, looking at nothing, their shade of gray was a light color and almost white. Chris's apology fell on deaf ears.
Rei tied his hair up in a ponytail as he lounged around in the apartment he had been given at the start of the mission. Golden eyes stared up at the ceiling, half closed in boredom. Who knew living was this boring? Rei continued to stare up at the ceiling and out of nowhere he remembered the creature sitting on Kai's shoulder. The one that had looked like a docile cute little fairy and the next second gave the impression of something that just crawled out of a grave. Rei shuttered. Did Kai see what Rei saw in that creature? Did Kai see the eyes? They were enough to cause Rei, a neko-jin, to almost rip out his eyes to avoid seeing hers. She was evil and Rei had a sinking suspicion that Kai didn't know what had happened behind his back.
Rei ran his clawed fingers through a lock of ebony hair. His hair was so long. Nowadays everyone's was short. People in school had been staring at him and his hair. They stared at his eyes too. With all the other freaks in school, they thought he was weird. He had seen weirder people. For God's sake, the boy Kai's supposed to be looking over has got to have one of the brightest hair colors I have ever seen. If Kai's hair wasn't dyed black it would be two different colors! Rei huffed in annoyance and let go of his hair. Slowly, he fell asleep.
A Fae Pixel flew closer to Rei's sleeping form. It was the little creature from before and behind her, two others. Each one held a blood-dripping weapon. As soon as they flew into a patch of moonlight they transformed to human size.
The Pixel from earlier looked the same as she had when she was acting innocent, but another step forward and her skin cracked and fell off. For a second she was just a shadow and than all of her skin and features literally appeared before from nothing. She looked evil again. With the claws, fangs and creepy grin… And you can't forget the giant axe she was holding. Her comrades following behind her laughed and cracked their knuckles. They too had changed and looked like the Fae Pixel in front.
The second one was also a girl and she stood with a passive look. It barely looked like she was even breathing. Obviously she didn't like to move much, but occasionally her wings would twitch or flutter behind her. She wasn't touching her weapon or making any notice that it was there, but it was a giant crossbow with large spiked arrows.
At this size the Fae Pixels liked to walk and stand on the ground.
The last Fae Pixel was male and stood hunched over with a malicious grin plastered on his face. The boy laughed again and readjusted his grip on his weapon, a large sword just a little short than him. The weapon was on his back strapped with complicated buckles, buttons, screws, zippers and leather straps. There was blood dripping off the weapon and onto the carpet, leaving a small puddle of the red stuff.
The first one sneered, "You know too much Precious, but we're here to make that all better." She lifted up her axe with one hand, causing her body to go lopsided. "We'll chop off your limbs one by one and have a grand time listening to your screams." The boy behind her obviously found great joy in that statement when he let go of his weapon and hugged himself. The other girl remained impassive.
"Me first! Please Manna?" the boy begged. His eyes were glued to Rei's sleeping figure as he moved closer.
"Just leave us something Clause." Clause nodded and pulled the weapon out of its sheath. He was careful that it didn't bang against the walls or ground, lest it wake up their sleeping victim. He lifted the oversize sword above his head and a drop of blood fell of Rei's face.
A drop of blood fell on Rei's face. Rei woke up and almost screamed when he saw the giant weapon coming down on him. Quickly Rei jumped and ran off the couch, the sword missing him by inches as it crashed down on the sofa. Rei was shaking when Clause turned to face him.
That grin, that grin was going to stay in Rei's mind for a long time.
"Well, you're awake. Clause, you were supposed to chop off a limb, not wake him up." Manna looked annoyed but she singled to the girl behind her with a wave of clawed fingers. "No matter, please do the honors Kage."
Kage stepped forward and Rei shivered. She had that gigantic crossbow in her hands, now with an arrow in it and pointed at him. Rei backed up to give himself time to catch the arrow if he had to. "Nighty night, Rei-chan." Kage notched the arrow a little higher and took aim. Clause giggled and rubbed his hands together, his weapon lay forgotten on the floor. Kage blinked and let the crossbow fire.
Rei moved to catch it before it hit his stomach and fell, effectively dodging the oncoming arrow. Another one was fired off and Rei managed to catch that one. Rei heard a third arrow being fired off but he also sensed movement above him, it was that boy Clause. Clause held his weapon over his head and was bringing it down of Rei. Between the oncoming arrow and Clause, Rei would definitely choose the arrow. Rei twisted his lower body and managed to slam Clause in the face with one of his feet, knocking Clause out the window.
The third arrow entered his lower stomach and was deeply embedded. Rei looked down, unfazed at the offending weapon. There were two more giant 'whooshes' and Rei felt an arrow pin his arm to wall behind him and the other one enter his stomach just a little bit higher than the first arrow. Manna chuckled and Rei started to faint and look dizzy. Within a few seconds he blacked out. Clause fluttered into the room, via the window, and looked unscathed except for tiny cuts and a large piece of glass embedded in his neck. "Bitch!" Clause screamed and kicked Rei's unconscious body. Suddenly there was a weight on his shoulder and out of the corner of his eye he saw a large axe resting on his shoulder.
"Behave yourself, Clause. After what he did to you… You should have no right to kick him when he's down," Manna spoke with an icy tone. "Now, you asshole, you can pick him up and we can be going." Rei sensed himself being picked up and carried. He didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't afraid.
Am I dead?
Arty – Yes, is Rei dead? What is going to happen to Arty and Chris? And where the hell is Tala?
Akuma – Oh stop you know exactly where they are. Don't play stupid.
Yaumi – She wasn't playing stupid she was trying to heighten the suspense.
Arty – Wow, it's the apocalypse. Yaumi knows what she's talking about.
Well Kai should be getting to the guarding point soon, because the story is finally starting. Kai is noticing his attraction to Tala, no matter how small it is. Rei is also starting to feel lonely and left out, he's in a completely different time where he is a freak to everyone. Tala is getting beat up again and Chris and Arty aren't as stupid as they look. Well at least Chris isn't. Mariam and other people should be coming in again along with Bryan, Ian and Spencer. We can't have a Beyblade Fanfiction without Tyson and Max, can we now?
Hugs and Kisses to my beta, The Wishful Thinker!
