Disclaimer: I don't own Scryed...yeah...moving on...

Chapter 4: Caught

(A.N.) Again, thanks to all of you who are reading this story, and reviewing it. This chapter may seem...a bit off, but I was advised by a close friend whose words I value that I needed this in here. So enjoy!

Mimori's P.O.V...

I was ready to drop dead, literally.

Ryuhou has been racing after me for the past five miles, at full sprint. I mean, really, I can jog ten miles no sweat, but sprinting? Hell no. My heart feels like it's going to explode, my blood pounding in my ears like a loud, hallow drum. Plus, it didn't help that the last half of this chase had first been uphill, and then into the Alter Forest. The jumping, ducking, and weaving around trees, logs, rocks...and an enraged bear...was not helping me in the slightest. I had hoped I could loose him here, but... Well, everyone's entitled to have a bad idea now and then. Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted him about two yards behind me, slowly gaining.

Fuck.

Legs pumped faster, drawing on some hidden reserve of energy you only seem to find when you are desperate, that hidden cache that is only made accessible by adrenaline. A second later, I finally broke the tree line, only to find a steep hill. I threw myself into a roll, hitting the ground and taking the impact, somersaulting down the slope.

"Zetsui!" Ryuhou shouted from behind me.

I felt the slope end, pushing to my feet and kept running. In some rational, matter-of-fact part of me, I knew that I was not going to out run his Alter, but I kept going, not wanting to do this now. The confrontation at the village had been enough. My Alter was not going to do a damn bit of good against his, Zetsui is just too fast to be frozen. End of story.

Purple tendrils wrapped around my ankles, yanking backwards. My feet went out from under me, and I almost didn't have time to twist so that my head didn't strike the ground. I struggled out of pure instinct, kicking wildly. More ribbons wound themselves around my wrists.

Ryuhou came and stood over me, looking down, panting. I glared back.

"Let me go, Ryuhou!"

He glared back. "You are under arrest..." He had to stop to take a deep breath.

"For what? Having a conscious? Some human compassion?" I spat, angry. How dare Zigmar... Making it seem like I was the evil one. God, he needed to take a look in the mirror.

"So you keep saying..." the youth above me remarked, "If you aren't a fugitive, Miss Kiryu, then what is going on?"

"If you want to know, then let me up so we can talk like civilized people. There's a rock impaling my back." I shifted uncomfortably, trying to hold my body off the stone.

His crimson eyes narrowed suspiciously, but a moment later I found my wrists and ankles free. I rubbed the reddened skin thoughtfully, not really sure if he would believe me. Ryuhou thought the world of HOLY.

"Now tell me. Why did you leave HOLY? How the hell did you end up with an Alter? Why are you helping th-?"

"I can only answer one question at a time you know," I said wryly, cutting him off. "I left HOLY because Zigmar locked me a fucking cell. Sorry if I don't like being locked up."

"Sarcasm isn't helping you, Miss Kiryu," he said stoically. "Why did the Commander imprison you?"

"Why else? I found out his little secret. You know the low-level Alter users that you and the other HOLY officers capture? They are being sent to the Mainland to be guinea pigs for science, used like animals and treated like animals too." I watched his face carefully, searching for denial, or acceptance, or...something, anything.

Nothing.

He was completely blank, devoid of anything that would have given a hint to what he was thinking, not even his eyes. That said a lot to me. There once was a time when those same eyes had been open as a book, full of hopes and fears, fears and anxieties. Now there was nothing. It takes a great deal of practice...or damage...for a person to do that. A very great deal.

Ryuhou was silent for so long that I got worried, despite the little voice in the back of my head that said not to.

"You still with me?" I reached over and shook his shoulder.

A hand and a purple tentacle entrapped my arm, squeezing painfully. "Don't touch me," Ryuhou hissed.

"Ryuhou," I gasped as both restrainers tightened, "you're hurting me." I tugged my arm, trying to pull it out of their grasp. "Let go..." I yanked more to no avail, finally shouting, "LET ME GO!"

Alter glowed around me, frost encasing my arm, Ryuhou's hand, and Zetsui's tentacle. Zetsui was fast enough so that only the tip was touched by ice, but Ryuhou was not. We were literally frozen together.

"What did you do!" he yelled, eyes burning with rage.

"How the hell should I know! I've only been an Alter user for a couple of hours!" I screamed back, slapping him solidly with my free hand.

Total and utter silence followed.

He stared at me, wide-eyed. I barely noticed. Fighting back a complete breakdown was taking up most of my concern. For the first time, all of it crashed into me, everything that had been happening since I came to the Lost Ground. Tears pricked at my eyes, threatening to fall and never stop. Too much, too fast.

I fought it desperately. I refused to cry, not now, not ever. I needed to be able to do this. If I couldn't...

Squeezing my eyes shut, I hung my head, trying to get control of myself. Breathe, just breath... Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

One tear slid down my cheek.

"Damn it," I whispered. "Goddamn it all to hell..." Rubbing furiously at the offensive drop, I felt another fall, followed in quick succession by another. Shit. More green lights glowed around my body, and all of a sudden, the ice was gone.

"Are you...crying..?"

"No!" I choked out. "Why would I be crying, you stupid, arrogant, heartless bastard?" I wrapped my arms around my stomach, still struggling for some particle of control, some shred of strength.

A tentative hand tiled my face upward. Finding myself looking up into those dark red eyes, I couldn't bring myself to fight him. Too many memories rested there, most of them good, full of light. How do you fight the past? How do you protect yourself from what rests in memory?

I wish I had the answer. It probably would save me from heartbreak.

I pulled away sharply, stumbling. "I can't..."

"Mim-Miss Kiryu-

"I will fight for this, Ryuhou! I will fight because what is happening is wrong! Even if it's at my expense or yours..." I turned around, taking that first, reluctant step away from him. Then the slightly easier second step. I even managed a third pace...

Until an arm wound itself around my waist from behind. "You are not walking away. I will not allow you to walk away after that," Ryuhou told me harshly.

An old hurt rose, choking me. "Why not? You did, you walked away."

His arm twitched, tightening its hold around my body. "I had to." The answer was clipped, full of some meaning I didn't even begin to understand.

"So do I. That's what you don't seem to understand. I have to do this."

"Damn it, Mimori!" he yelled, "Why do you insist on fighting me at every turn?"

I twisted around, looking at him over my shoulder, completely stunned. He hadn't called me by my name in...Forever. "Say it again."

"What?"

"My name, Ryuhou...Say my name again."

He stared at me. I don't think he even realized that he had said my name. It almost made me giggle. Almost.

Ryuhou sighed. "Mimori..."

Maybe I could convince him after all.