People surrounded the busy street. Apparently there had been an accident, it had happened so very quickly. Chi had called out for her puppy, Pantsu. There was no reply, no speedily rush to be licked on the cheeks by her puppy. She had been very happy to receive this gift from Hideki. He had told her it would be a big responsibility, something that was soon to set in.
She made her way into the street to find Pantsu, however he no longer barked or yelped.
"Pantsu…?" She picked him up, still no sign of movement. An unfamiliar red liquid seeped into the hard cement. The driver of the car jumped out apologizing the best he could, only to discover she was a Persacom.
Someone from the on looking crowd walked up to her. "He's broken…" The horse voice said. Chi turned to the kind face.
"Pantsu is… broken…?" She asked.
Another person, clad in white came up to them. "Your incapable of understanding such matters, and neither are you, Adam. Leave this poorly made Persacom be, we have to get back to the labs for your debut." The kind faced Adam looked on at the girl, as he was tugged away.
"Father…I want to help her!" Adam told the man.
The man clad in white stopped cold, looking stern. "Father? Don't tell me you still have bugs to be worked out? Man, this is going to set me back quite a few bucks." He had to pull him away like some kind of child. Of course in a way, this Persacom was still his child.
Chi looked up to the driver. "Can you fix him?" He only looked down at her, saddened. "Hideki will know what to do." She said and then left.
"Father, why are Persacom's not able to understand? I want to understand…" Adam pleaded.
The man just kept walking. "Perhaps I made your vocabulary too advanced. Hmm, maybe If I tweaked your systems here and there…" The Persacom had a look of sadness as he watched the girl fade away.
-
The slasher dragged Yumi from the van. There wasn't time to be messing around; he knew that soon his plans were to be challenged. It was better he was the first one to strike. He'd just have to secure this girl first. "Not much farther," he said. "That tower, that's where we are going, it will be a fitting place to broadcast the signal. Yes, that's where I'll do it, I'll free my siblings from there."
The room was cold, and damp. It was very dark, as dark as the fear Yumi now felt. Earlier she had thought she would have had the chance to escape, a glimmer of hope. That had faded the moment she realized this man wasn't just a killer. He was a monster. He had the devil's eyes, dull and kind one moment, fierce and lifeless the next. Not to mention the ominous red glow, what was he? The only freedom he had given her was that she now was no longer gagged but still bound.
Why would he do that? "Who are you?" She sobbed but he never answered.
"Get in there and shut up. I'll be back tonight, I have to take care of something," he had screamed pushing her into the room. He violently smacked her and said "I'm not very friendly, so try not to make your last few days on Earth a living hell…don't make me angry or I may end up killing you. It's been hard enough for me not to use my full strength, and I still need you as bait." He left leaving a bruised Yumi, who crawled into a corner, almost as if to hide her shame she now felt. Though there wasn't anything to feel shame about…
It was hopeless. She was going to die soon, the sheer strength of this monster guaranteed it. There was no way she could fight back. There was no hope, none at all. She cried herself to sleep, all of her hope lost.
The slasher made his way outside, from the abandoned radio tower. This is where he'd be able to do it. He'd soon free all Persacoms, and instill the need to kill humans. Humans, the source of his hatred and problems he thought. "I'll make you pay for what you did to her…you pathetic humans." He spoke as he left the vicinity.
Yumi began to dream, her only escape. Her only way of seeing anyone she knew on the outside, even if it was a false sense of security. She found a young Hideki, who was crying. He turned to her, "Why did she die?" He asked.
Yumi backed her hand away. This was…this is what he had asked the one night he sought comfort in her. She remembered it well. That had been the night she had the creepiest feeling. The creepy feeling had been right. The young Hideki moved his arms revealing blood seeping from his wrists. Then she saw herself run to him, not her…it was a moment in time being replayed.
She had quickly aided Hideki and hugged him. "Shhh, it's all right…let it all out," she tenderly whispered. "It wasn't your fault." That had been the night she caught him, cutting his wrists. He was attempting to end his life. Yumi watched on as the scene played out. What had given her the feeling? How did she know? It seemed there was some kind of unseen helping hand, that had been protecting her as of late. Helping her for whatever reason.
It was nothing more than creepy. Where was that unseen force now?
-
Hideki started for the door. Paul turned to him, and gave him his best wishes and he left. Hideki wasn't quite sure exactly why Paul had asked him about that night. There wasn't anything he could see that made any sense. How was that accident connected to the killer? Had it been an accident at all? Of course it was, Hideki had been there. Chi saved him.
Yes that was right…
But something wasn't right, a darkness followed Hideki. It tried covering him, like it had so many times before. However this time he turned to face it. "Yumi…"
Disappointed, it vanished as quickly as it had come.
-
The slasher made his way toward the parking lot. Two young women were talking about something, giggling at whatever inside a blue car, and then there was another, a rather bulky looking young man. The slasher's destination wasn't too far away, but a long walk. The sooner he got this done, the better. He made his way to the car…
"Babe, really…do it." He told her it would make him happy if they kissed each other. The two looked back at him like he was nuts. "Oh come on…" He excitedly spoke.
The innocent one couldn't help but blush. Her friend looked at her. "I'm not going to do anything Ami doesn't want to…oh did we tell you about the homeless wacko we saw this morning?"
The boy looked disappointed. "Oh come on, don't change the subject. Just one little peck on the cheek?" He asked Ami.
Her face became redder. "Edo, I can't do that…it just wouldn't feel right. You two can kiss but please, leave me out of it, kay?" She looked out the window to see a tall blonde man walking towards the car. "Hey, is that guy coming towards us?"
The man knocked on the drivers seat window. Ami motioned her friend to roll the window down. It looked like he may need help. "Give me your car." He said.
Edo started laughing at the man. "What a fruit, come on let's get out of here Mai…what's he going to do, kill us?" The slasher smiled perversely. He smashed the window, and grabbed for Mai. She screamed trying to stay away from his grasp.
Edo jumped out of the car to grabat him. However, He was pushed down and knocked out, ignored.This man was stronger than he looked. He pulled Mai out of the driver's seat, his eyes turned to an ominous red glow. He stared into her eyes.
Ami was too afraid to move. She watched on as this monster brought his hand up and heard a whirling noise. Mai looked on interror as the hand turned into a monstrous weapon. It resembled some kind of drill. Then Mai started crying. He quickly dropped her. "Must… fight… you…I don't want to kill… RUN!" He screamed at her. The two girls ran away crying dragging an awakening Edo along.
His eyes turned kindly once again. "You can't…fight me…we will get our revenge."
-
Hideki entered Tirol. He found Ueda worried sick. There wasn't much more that he could say, what was there to say? It was Hideki's turn to comfort Ueda. He was crying, something he hadn't seen before. Hideki sat down next to him.
"Man, we'll find her. Don't worry, I'm sure she's all right."
Ueda looked down. "I yelled at her…"
Hideki's heart nearly dropped. "I yelled at her the day she disappeared," he sobbed. "What if I never see her again, what if I never get the chance to apologize?" Hideki didn't have anything to say. He wasn't good at these kinds of things, he never had been.
It reminded him of the day Chi died. Then a thought came into his mind, how had he forgotten?
"Adam…" Hideki finally said. Ueda looked at him strangely. "Sorry, Ueda, I'm not going to be back for awhile. I think I just remembered something important…"
-
She opened her eyes from the nothingness to find an old face staring down at her. Where was she, and who was this? He looked different from most of the humans. "Ah, your awake! You were mangled up pretty bad but thanks to the goddess; I was able to save your main unit. She looked at him confused. "You know your soul, where your memories are kept. I'm still surprised they threw you out, such little care they put into you Persacoms."
She looked around to get a better view of her surroundings. It was a dim room full of many different Persacom parts. "Where are we?" Her gentle voice hit the ears of the homeless man.
He smiled at her and then said, "Home…well I call it home. People call me crazy but I show no excuse for the way I act, living in a junkyard and all. The goddess told me I needed to wake you, in order to save someone. Yeah, that's what I believe she told me, save a redhead Persacom like you. We're going to go meet him soon but I need to know…what's the last thing you remember?"
She looked confused for a moment. The last thing she remembered was…
"Ken."
The man smiled warmly. "Well, the goddess guided me well on this…"
"Goddess?"
"You know, she speaks to everyone. She's very sad, and she tries to contact anyone she can to help her. It's been like that for a while now. She says someone is hurting, so very much so…and then she told me of the demon." She wasn't too sure what the heck he was talking about, sounded like the talk of some sort of loon. Of course, she had only been activated for so long. She had only ventured into the world however long ago, but her mind was advanced enough to know this talk was nothing more than babble.
Still, it intrigued her.
"Who's hurting?"
The old man got up. "Oh, it's nothing for us to worry about. Tomorrow, we'll see him. The Goddess said we'd see him tomorrow. We have to help him defeat the darkness."
---
Chobits owned by Clamp, not me!