Chapter 2

The next day…

The sun was shining warmly as Kouta and Yuka walked along the shores of Yuigahama Beach. Yuka had been thrilled when she found out that her cousin Kouta would be moving in with her, and as soon as he'd arrived she eagerly suggested that they go to the beach that they used to visit when they were kids. Now, she and Kouta were nostalgically strolling across the dunes, looking out toward the vast ocean.

"We used to play here a lot, didn't we, Kouta?" asked Yuka. Kouta had been silent since they had come to the beach, and it was making her uncomfortable. He hadn't seen her in several years. Did he not want to come?

Kouta, who was staring off into space, blinked and nodded his head.

"Yes," he concurred, "The three of us, including Kanae, came here on the last day. She...She was collecting seashells here."

Yuka frowned. How could she forget about what had happened to Kanae? She should have known that this would trigger memories of his late sister. Was it a mistake to bring him here? She began to say something, but then her gaze drifted toward a lone figure and her voice froze.

Standing about twenty feet in front of them in the shallow tides was a nude girl. She had long pink hair, reddish eyes, and what appeared to be horns. She was also bleeding from a cut on her head. As Kouta and Yuka stared, the girl cupped her face in her hands, as if trying to concentrate, and then looked up at them.

"Nyu?"

15 meters out at sea, the top half of Alma's head slowly rose out of the water, her long dark hair flowing around her in the water like tiny black eels. Yellow eyes locked onto the people at shore. Lucy was free. At long last she and her best friend would be together, just as Lucy had promised! She would not let anything come between them ever again. Alma watched Lucy interact with the two strangers. What was Lucy doing with those people? Why hadn't she killed them like the others? They had both decided many years ago that killing was the best way to deal with people that they didn't know. You don't like who you don't know, and if you don't like them, why not kill them? And if you really don't like them, then you killed them slow.

Alma began slowly heading toward the shore. If Lucy was having trouble killing these people, then Alma would kill them for her. Friends help each other, right? And she was Lucy's best friend. She would make sur-

Alma paused. The memories that these strangers had were...familiar. As she studied their thoughts, the two people looked out past Lucy towards her. They didn't see her, but Alma saw them, and she recognized who they were.

It was the Boy, and the girl was apparently his Cousin.

The Boy had grown since Alma had seen them, and judging by his emotions, it appeared that the Boy did not recognize Lucy, which puzzled Alma. Surely the Boy would have remembered what the two of them had done to his family, but as she scanned the Boy's mind, Alma was intrigued to discover that his memories were clouded and muddled, and were replaced with poorly-constructed recollections of a car crash and an illness. He had repressed his memories. How interesting.

Alma hesitated as she pondered what to do. Ordinarily, she would have killed them both, but she remembered what she had promised Lucy long ago, and best friends did not break promises. So for now, The Boy would live, as would The Cousin, but when The Boy's gaze drifted toward her, Alma couldn't resist giving him a little reminder about his buried past.

As Kouta was looking at the mysterious girl's injuries, his gaze drifted past her and out to see. It was strange, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. As his gaze drifted over the currents, he noticed something bobbing in the water, but before he could get a better look, his vision drastically altered. It was sunset, and he looked to be standing in some sort of park. He could see the silhouetted outlines of two girls. It all felt so vivid.

"Liar."

...So familiar...

"Kouta!" shouted Yuka.

Kouta blinked and looked towards his cousin, "What is it?"

"I've been saying that we should take her to your place for now," insisted Yuka as she gestured towards the other girl, "The place where you'll be living from now on."

Kouta nodded in agreement, but as they were leaving the beach, he looked back towards the sea, and saw nothing but waves.

Eventually, Kouta, Yuka, and the girl they decided to call Nyu arrived at Maple House. Yuka had previously explained to Kouta that the house had once been a restaurant, but he still wasn't prepared for how big it was. He and Yuka would be living here by themselves? The house was big enough to house ten times their number. As they entered, Nyu ran ahead, feeling very uncomfortable. She needed to pee really badly. As she looked around for somewhere to go, she spotted someone watching her. It was a young girl standing right against the window. Her face was blank like a dolls, but her yellow eyes were scaring Nyu.

...Lucy…

"N-N-Nyu! NYUUU!" screamed Nyu. She fell to her knees as her bladder finally gave out, and she peed all over the floor. Kouta and Yuka glanced at Nyu, then glanced at the window, but there was nobody there.

Kurama studied the twisted metal that had once caged the most dangerous creature in the whole world. All the tiresome precautions and heavy security and she had still managed to break out of the facility in less than thirty minutes. As shocked as he had initially been, a smaller, smarter part of him had always known that it was only a matter of time before she broke free. And as if things weren't terrible enough, he now had to deal with…

"Alma," he stated in a calm tone, his eyes still focused on the ruined cage, "What do we know about her?"

Deputy director Shirakawa, who had been waiting for him to speak, looked towards him then down at the paperwork she had.

"Based on eyewitness reports, she seems to have heavy pyrokinetic abilities," she stated, "Also, she seems capable of moving across great distances almost instantaneously."

"What did the footage from the security feed show?"

Pause.

"What. Did they show?" repeated Kurama. There was an edge in his voice.

"Um, the feedback was reviewed, but whenever Alma appeared, the cameras acted up, and there was nothing but static. We don't have any footage of her."

The headache that Kurama had been dreading had finally started. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Lucy had escaped, and between dealing with casualty reports and being chewed out by Chief Kakuzawa, Kurama was feeling drained. But she hadn't just escaped. She'd vanished. She and Alma, her friend that she had often asked about.

"The cause of the shutter system anomaly has not yet been determined," continued Shirakawa. Kurama snapped back into focus and finally turned his gaze to her.

"In time we'll sort it out," he stated plainly, "Right now the priority is finding Lucy and her friend and killing them."

"Killing them?" asked Shirakawa, "Not capturing them?"

"A Special Assault Team has been assembled," continued Kurama, "Having Lucy in the open is already a catastrophe, but if she's with this girl Alma, then mankind will surely perish."

It was a grand statement, but Kurama didn't feel like he was exaggerating. He wasn't even entirely confident that the Assault Team would be enough to handle Lucy and Alma, especially when he had such limited information about the latter. In retrospect, he wondered why he was so surprised that Alma had turned out as strange as Lucy. Anyone who stayed close enough to that monster had to be unnatural as well. But if Lucy and her friend had escaped, then why were they so silent? He would have expected to hear reports of mass heart attacks throughout the region, typical of Diclonius behavior. But now, as the soldiers would say, Lucy had gone dark, and this troubled him.

After cleaning Nyu's mess, Kouta had started unpacking things, setting up his residence in Maple House while Nyu quietly watched him like a puppy, wearing a white undershirt and shorts that had been provided by Yuka after her little accident. As Kouta finished unpacking, Yuka walked in.

"I did a quick cleanup of the place, so you owe me," she said with a wink.

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Kouta. He was feeling too tired to argue with his cousin.

There was a brief pause before Yuka spoke. "Kouta, have you seen anyone else in the house besides me and Nyu?"

Kouta looked up from his luggage. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was upstairs making the bed when I thought I heard someone giggling. It sounded like a little girl's voice."

Kouta frowned. "I didn't hear anything," he replied.

Yuka shrugged.

"It might have just been the wind," she said. Then she grinned mischievously, "Or maybe even a ghost."

"Does Maple House have any history of hauntings?"

"I don't think so," said Yuka, "But I guess hauntings have to start somewhere."

"I think one extra resident might be too much," said Kouta. He looked over at Nyu, who had been watching the scene with rapt attention.

"Maybe we should've called the police," stated Yuka. At first, the idea of having a guest at Maple House had sounded fun, but now it felt awkward.

"Maybe," agreed Kouta. Nyu had begun rummaging through the luggage and picked out a small box. She studied it for a moment, but then lost interest and dropped it on the ground. The lid fell off and a pink seashell tumbled out of the box and onto the floor. Yuka leaned down for a closer look.

"Isn't that from the last time we went to the beach?" she asked, gesturing toward the shell.

"Yeah," said Kouta. He gazed at the shell, and his mind began to wander off to that day he had spent with his sister, Kanae. She had been so happy to find such a lovely looking shell on the beach and had decided to give it to her brother as a present. It was one of the last good memories he had of his sister.

"She got sick and died shortly after," said Kouta, a hint of sadness in his voice, "This is like a memento, and since I came back here, I decided to take it with me."

"Kouta…" began Yuka, but stopped herself. She couldn't think of anything to say or do that would make her cousin feel better.

Nyu felt differently.

She had been quietly listening while Kouta and Yuka had been speaking, and had noticed how sad Kouta had gotten when he had picked up the shell. Clearly, it was making him feel bad, so the solution was obvious. She quickly swiped the shell from Kouta's hand and snapped it in half. She then looked at Kouta and gave him a big smile, as if expecting some sort of praise.

Kouta stared at her in shock. "What're you…!"

"Kouta," said Yuka in a cautious tone, but he wasn't listening. He stood up and roughly grabbed Nyu by her shirt.

"What're you doing?!" he yelled in her surprised face, "I said it was a memento from my-"

HANDS OFF!

The words seemed to penetrate through Kouta's mind with all the agony and precision of a heated drill. He immediately let go of Nyu and fell to the floor, clutching his head as he screamed in pain. Nyu, frightened by Kouta's sudden shift in behavior, also screamed as she ran out of the room.

Yuka was instantly at Kouta's side, and though her voice was raised, it initially sounded to him like she was calling out from a distance. "Kouta! Kouta, are you okay?"

Kouta blinked heavily. The pain was already beginning to fade, and he just now began to realize that he was laying on the floor. "I'm alright, Yuka," he replied, "It...it was just a migraine."

"Some migraine!" exclaimed Yuka in a worried, shaken tone, "I've never heard you scream like that in my life!"

"I'm fine, Yuka," Insisted Kouta, and in fact he was fine. The headache had subsided almost as quickly as it had come, but while the voice in his head is silent, he can still remember the message with grim clarity.

Hands off.

"Yuka," asked Kohta, "Where's Nyu?"

"Nyu?" Seeing Kouta in pain had made Yuka completely forget about their guest, but as she looked around, she realized that she had left, and judging by the open door, she had fled Maple House.

"I think she may have left," answered Yuka, "We should look for her. "

"Look for her if you want," said Kouta as he glared at the broken halves of the shell that Nyu dropped, "But good riddance, I say."

Yuka frowned. "She didn't mean to offend you, Kouta. Maybe...since you looked sad...I think she might have thought that the seashell was bad."

Kouta was upset about the seashell, but there was something else that troubled him. The migraine-inducing message had struck him just as he had grabbed Nyu. Hands off. It was short, but it was clearly directed toward him mishandling Nyu. Had Nyu done it? It was the only answer Kouta could think of, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Nyu had always acted pleasant, and had never displayed any of the aggression that he had felt in the message, and if she had sent it to him, then why had she fled in fear? Could it have been someone else?

During the day, especially in the summer, the great city of Kamakura was a veritable tourist trap. Though perhaps not as hip as Tokyo, the city nonetheless offered a warm reception toward people who were interested in simple city life of Japan. There were plenty of Shinto and Buddhist shrines, with statues that gazed down at whatever tourist group was passing by with solemn expressions on their stony faces. The beaches were also particularly pleasant during the right time of year, and hundreds of people came out to relax and swim. Tonight, however, a storm was raging, and the thought of stepping outside to catch a tan certainly wasn't on anyone's mind. Even the local tanning salon was closed this late at night.

The sheeting rain and dark streets blended together to create an almost desolate scene, where nature is cut loose and running wild, and humanity has temporarily retreated as they remember how small they really are. Lightning danced across the sky in arcs, preceded by loud claps of thunder. It was as if the gods themselves were setting off bombs in the sky. At the edge of the now barren Yuigahama beach was a row of old huts that had once been used by fishermen, back before Kamakura had turned to tourism for economic stability. Having long since been abandoned, the huts now seemed to sag against the debris and litter surrounding them, as if the amount of trash were somehow suffocating the wooden huts. During town meetings, someone would state that the huts should be demolished, while someone else would insist that they be renovated instead, and the whole argument would be tabled. It was almost as if Kamakura had its own secret little agenda, one that involved leaving the huts just as they were.

Given that many of the huts still had functioning roofs, it was no real surprise that there was a regular stream of complaints about homeless people squatting in that area. (It was, in fact, one of the main arguments used in the attempt to destroy the huts.) Tonight, however, there's only one person in this area who is worth mentioning in this story: A young girl barely out of her teens. She's not even in one of the huts, having made a small shelter out of old fishing crates and a tarp. She sits underneath it, shivering despite her woolen turtleneck sweater. and clutches a small damp bundle of fur to her chest for warmth. The bundle squirms slightly, and it's in fact not a bundle at all, but a tiny little dog named Wanta. The girl, who looks to barely be out of her teens, looks anything but comfortable, but she has been through worse situations than this, and a little rain is nothing compared to the terror that is waiting for her at home. She will endure the wet and the cold, and tomorrow, she and her little friend will stop by the nearby bakery, where, with a little luck, the nice woman running the place might have some spare bread crumbs for them, just enough to make it through the next day or two. For now though, she will remain with her friend beneath their shelter, and wait out the storm. The thunder is loud, but through it, the girl is able to hear something else: a steady, mechanical roar of a buzzer.

Mayu looks up just in time to see a military-grade helicopter pass overhead.

The chopper was buzzing loudly, but as they listened to the mission brief, the SAT troops inside hardly noticed or cared. It had been a good long while since they had been assigned a mission like this, where details on the targets were relatively vague, but the level of risk was all to clear. It added an air of suspense that made the mission seem all the more thrilling to them, including Bando. Especially Bando. The chief giving the briefing had little intel to give about the first target,, and even less to say about the second.

"As of right now, we are unable to effectively establish the full extent or origins of her abilities," announced the chief over the roar of the chopper's rotor, "But what has been made plainly clear is that this girl, who we believe is named Alma," (Bando rolled his eyes. What a stupid name.) "Possesses the ability to manifest herself seemingly of nowhere, is able to alter her appearance, and can combust several men sooner than you could light a match."

He paused to let these facts sink in.

"We have alerted local authorities about our two little fugitives, and right now, local law is busy pushing the city. This leaves us to scan the shores and countryside."

The speech was punctuated by Bando's loud yawn. It was obvious how little he cared for any of this. He felt like a high school student sitting through a history lecture in class. He didn't want to be lectured, he wanted to shoot live people and watch them bleed. Though definitely not the most mentally sound desire for a young man to have, it was this bloodlust that had molded him into a good soldier, one of the best in fact, which is why he was out here on this transport, about to hunt down two extremely dangerous targets. Extremely dangerous. In this context, he loved those words, as well as the options they gave, like firing at will and without warning. He promptly stood up in the middle of the chief's lecture and walked to the back of the chopper. He casually flicked a switch and watched as the cargo doors of the chopper slowly opened, revealing the sea moving rapidly beneath him as the chopper flew forward.

"Bando, what do you think you're doing?" shouts the chief, angry at being interrupted.

Bando looks back at the chief with an aggressive grin, "This target is someone we can shoot without warning, right? Then it's hunt or be hunted. It's one or the other! Hurry up and drop me off!"

As Bando opened his door to the storm, Yuka closed her door to it. She had just come back after spending about half an hour searching for Nyu in vain, although she felt that staying within a hundred yards of her house while shouting "Nyu!" against the relentless sound of the rain could barely be considered searching, but she didn't want to leave Kouta alone after he had suffered his headache. Now Nyu would no doubt catch pneumonia, or at the very least, a nasty cold, and it would be on them, although she couldn't blame Kouta for being so harsh. When she had gone back into the room where all of the drama had taken place, she had found Kouta there, and instantly knew that he hadn't budged from his spot since she had gone out searching. He was still sitting in the same spot looking at the two fragments of the shell that had been a gift from his late sister with an expression of despondency, as well as another emotion, but from where Yuka stood, she couldn't see it clearly.

"Did you find her?" asked Kouta without looking away from the broken shell.

"No," answered Yuka as she sat down next to Kouta with a sigh, "And now she's out there lost in the rain."

Kohta grunted in acknowledgment, but he still didn't look away from the shells. When he spoke, his tone was calm, but with a noticeable bit of apprehension.

"Yuka, something happened to me when I shouted at Nyu. I heard this...this voice inside my head, shouting 'hands off.' I think that's what triggered my headache."

Yuka frowned in puzzlement. "You had a voice in your head? You're sure it wasn't your own thoughts?"

Kouta finally turned his gaze away from the shell to look at his cousin, and Yuka finally realized what that other expression in Kouta's face had been, and it was this emotion that made her believe her cousin.

Fear.

"It wasn't me, Yuka," he said with a sense of confidence that was somewhat timid, "I know my own thoughts, and I've never had a headache that severe from them. I heard a voice. It...it was like a speaker going off in my head, but...it wasn't my own voice. It sounded like a woman's."

"Nyu's?" asked Yuka.

Kouta shrugged. Honestly, he couldn't even tell at this point. The pain in his head had taken up most of his memory, leaving little else to remember. He started to say this but was caught off guard by a sudden knock at the front door. He jumped slightly, startled by the sudden, almost intrusive noise. Yuka, however, always remembering her courtesy, was already halfway to the door before Kouta had settled. She opened the door to find two suited men standing at the door, both of which looking surprised that someone had answered.

"I always thought this place was vacant," said the man who had knocked.

"Oh, we just moved in today," said Yuka with a cheerful smile, though with Nyu missing and Kouta upset, she certainly didn't feel all that cheerful, "How can we help you?"

The second man took out is wallet from his trench coat and flashed a badge, "We're detectives, and we'd like to ask you a few questions to aid our investigation."

Yuka's smile dropped slightly, "Investigation? What's going on?"

Now it was the first detective's turn to take something out of his jacket: a photo of a person. He held it up for Yuka to see, and when she saw it, her already fading smile dropped completely. It was a photo of Nyu, but the expression she wore made her look completely different from the shy creature that had peed on their floor earlier today. The eyes in the photo looked back at Yuka with a stare that could freeze a desert, and her mouth was the flat frown of a person who is dead inside.

Kouta walked up beside Yuka "What's going on-" He then saw the photo of the thing that looked like Nyu and for a moment, his voice caught in his throat. It didn't last long, but it was enough time for Yuka to find her own voice.

"Officers," she said, trying her hardest to keep an even, steady tone, "What do you want with this girl? Did she do something wrong?"

The younger of the two detectives, the one who had flashed his badge, looked annoyed. He and his partner had spent all evening going from door to door with what he felt was a wild goose chase, expecting to find answers to their questions, only to end up answering the same questions.

"Why don't you leave the interrogating to us?" he asked agitatedly, "Have you seen her or not?"

His older partner shot him a look, but honestly, the younger detective felt proud that he had held himself together this far, and hadn't lost his temper five houses down, when the elderly lady living there had tried to sic her yapping dog on them, only to have the thing try and pee on his shoes.

"She's a missing person, that's all," said the older detective, "We also believe she might be accompanied with a little girl in a red dress. Have you seen either of them?"

"Sorry detectives," said Yuka, staring at the photo so she wouldn't have to meet the detectives' gaze, "We haven't seen either of them."

The detective holding up the photo nodded and put the photo away. The bluff seemed to work. In the back of her mind, Yuka recalled reading somewhere that people tended to believe the answer that they expected to hear.

"Well, if you happen to run into either of them, be sure to let us know," the officer turned to his partner, "Let's go."

The two men turned around and walked back out their nearby vehicle. Yuka watched them go, and it wasn't until their car had driven off that she felt safe enough to turn around. In the hallway, she saw that Kouta had been standing several feet behind her, a pensive expression on his face. She wondered how much her cousin had heard, and if he had seen the disturbing image of the girl that had recently been in their home.

"Kouta, are you okay?"

He looked up at her, his gaze steady and grave.

"We should go look for Nyu. Together, this time."

The declaration surprised Yuka. She thought that Kouta might have still been angry, but she didn't question his judgment. After all, she too was worried about Nyu. She fetched an umbrella from the door and the two of them headed out into the rain.

Out by the beach, two men from the Special Assault Team were patrolling the wet dunes, decked out in combat armor, ballistic helmets, machine guns, the works. Bando was leading the patrol, and he had the eager expression that a child might have when they're about to go see a horror movie, one packed with awesome gory violence that was cool to watch. The man behind him, Satou, did not look quite as fervent. He thumbed his walkie-talkie and radioed in an update for the sixth time that night.

"Satou from Bando Group. We've arrived at Yuigahama. We're continuing the search."

The hand holding the radio returned to gripping the barrel of his gun with tight apprehension. His gaze traveled toward Bando, who was looking over at the lit buildings across the beach.

"We're only authorized to search the coastlines," reminded Satou, "We're to stay away from populated areas."

"That's up to our enemy," replied Bando cooly, but his eyes turned back to the shore. Satou felt a small sense of relief at this, (In this line of work, collateral damage made for a massive inconvenience in several ways,) but he did not feel entirely eased.

"They said that our enemy carries a special weapon," continued Satou," But what do you think it is? I don't know how to handle it if it's a weapon we don't know anything about. And the other one, do you really believe she can just materialize and set others on fire without gas and a lighter? What if it's some kind of special weapon? I doubt we'll be able to-"

Bando suddenly whirled around, pointing his gun at his squadmate's chest. His mask covered his face, but Satou could still see the Bando's anger and frustration in his narrowed eyes and clenched teeth.

"SHUT UP!" he roared, "Would it kill you to shut your mouth? If you don't quit whining, you'll be the first casualty."

Satou opened his mouth to either reason or beg for his life, but then spots something over Bando's shoulder, about twenty yards from them.

"Uh, Bando..."

Bando looks behind him at what Satou has seen, and a smile spreads across his face. A smile that is both fierce and genuine.

"Bingo!"

Nyu walked along the shore, looking out toward the sea where she had come from. She had wanted to return to a happier place, where her friends had looked at her with concern rather than scorn, but with the nightly rain, things just didn't feel the same. She could still hear the anger in Kouta's voice, and all when she had been trying to help him feel better. Now, she was hated. Unwanted. It all felt familiar for some reason

As Nyu stood by the shore watching the dark waves, she had the strange, unexplained sense that comes when you feel that you're being watched, but don't quite know someone's watching you. It's an uncomfortable feeling, made all the more unsettling for Nyu out in the dark wet rain.

"Nyu," she muttered to herself as she covered her eyes and began to childishly shake her head in stress, "Nyuuuu!"

Strangely enough, her little ritual actually seemed to work. She didn't feel so cold or wet anymore. She opened her eyes, and blinked. What she was suddenly seeing still remained, even after she blinked again. She was no longer standing on the beach. There was no rain in her face, nor any sand between her toes. She was in a hallway, and though her stunted memory limited her perception, many would have noted the candy-colored walls and the small classroom chairs and recognized the setting as a school. But of course, Nyu had no idea what a school was, and she sure as heck didn't know where she was.

You do know.

Nyu let out a startled yelp and whirled around, looking to see who had spoken. The voice didn't sound like it was coming from anywhere.

Don't be afraid.

Nyu felt very much like being afraid, and when two figures darted past her, she let out another surprised cry. Whoever they were, they had been small, and had scurried into one of the classrooms before Nyu could get a good look. Despite her panic, Nyu hesitantly started forward, feeling a strange sense of curiosity. What made it strange was that it felt like the curiosity wasn't really from her, but rather something forced in her to make her move forward. It was an indescribable feeling. Nyu walked into the classroom, where sloppy child drawings lined the walls, and tiny chairs and tables were grouped about. Nyu saw the two girls, sitting together at a table near the corner whispering to each other quietly. She couldn't hear them, but she recognized one of the girls as the one who had been following her, the girl with the long black hair and creepy yellow eyes. The other girl looked a lot like Nyu, only younger.

This is where we met. It's where we became friends.

The yellow-eyed girl had turned away from her friend and was now staring intently at Nyu, and Nyu, for whatever reason, no longer felt afraid, though this did not mean that she felt good. Who was this girl? Did she know her? How could-

A sharp pain stabbed Nyu through the lower left-hand side she cried out and the classroom seemed to shatter around her. She could feel the rain again, and the sudden sensation of cold water on her face was almost as big a shock as whatever had hit her in the back. She yelled again and fell onto her legs, as the dark, depressing shores returned around her, and the dream collapsed into the storm.

"Got her!" exclaimed Bando with ferocious glee. In truth, the shot hadn't been enough to truly "get" their target, only enough to send her to the ground with a painful flesh wound. But that moment of terror and agony that had filled her eyes as the bullet had torn into her was truly beautiful to a killer like Bando. He recognized it as the moment when a predator realizes that they have just been shot down to prey. Now, it was time for the final act. He walked up to Nyu, his rifle cocked at her, expecting any moment for the girl, who had been designated as a top-level threat, to stand up and savagely lunge at him and his partner, who was following behind Bando a few feet away.

"Any sign of the other target?" asked Satou, "If we found Lucy, then Alma ought to be close by as well."

Bando didn't bother answering. He could deal with the other girl later. Right now, it was Lucy that had earned his special attention.

Satou pulled out his radio to update HQ, pausing for a moment to wipe the rain off his visor. He could barely see bando in through the wet and the dark, and he certainly didn't spot the other figure that was standing about 20 yards away from them, watching the scene with cold, yellow eyes.

"This is Satou at Bandoh Group. We captured someone who appears to be Lucy. We're at Yuighama-"

He got no farther as Bando whirled around, striking Satou with the butt of his rifle. The radio dropped and Bando crushed it beneath his heel, digging shards of plastic into the sand.

"Don't do anything without my orders!" he snarled. He looked back down at Lucy, who was clutching the wound as she whimpered, and Bando smiled. "Especially when the fun is only starting."

He placed a heavy boot on the quivering mass, rolling her over onto her back. He aimed down the sights at Lucy, but didn't fire.

"Word is you're some kind of stone-cold killer," he sneered, "So why don't you show me what you got? Let's rock n' roll!"

Nyu started crying, nothing more. Bando frowned, the way people do when they believe somebody is trying to pull one over them, and promptly kicked Nyu in the side. It wasn't even hard enough to crack a rib, but the crybaby's sobbing seemed to double, her tears mixing with the rain pouring down on her face.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" he shouts, "Are you a killer or not? Put up a fight! Come on!"

Nothing. Freaking nothing.

Satou watched Bando as his face began to get angrier, but then all of a sudden, he let out a sigh, and the white rage that had filled him only moments ago seemed to be gone. There was nothing but disappointment.

"Man," he sighed, "What a letdown." he turned and began to trudge away from the cowering girl. "Satou, shoot the girl."

Satou was taken aback by this statement. Bando wanting someone else to take the kill? He would have been less surprised if Bando had told Satou to shoot him.

"Sir…"

"I said shoot her!" snapped Bando, not even bothering to turn around, "That's an order, soldier!" He pulled off his helmet, stuck a cigarette in his mouth, and took out a lighter, trying to set it alight.

"Yes, sir." Satou raised his rifle toward Nyu. He aimed down the sights at the huddled girl. It was all over pretty quickly. For a brief moment, Satou felt oddly warm, as if his blood had begun to simmer, then at the same moment that Bando's lighter gave off a tiny flicker of flame, Satou spontaneously combusted. Fire burst out of him from every orifice, his hair singed and his ski crackled like chicken in an oven. His flesh fell off his bones in burning chunks, and by the time Bando had fully turned around, all that remained of his partner was a few charred bones, barely standing out amidst the dark sand surrounding it.

Alma's patience was at an end.

When her friend had run from the big house, away from the Boy and his cousin, Alma had made sure to stay close by. This had actually proven to be a great opportunity to reconnect with Lucy away from the others, people who would not appreciate her for her abilities. However, Lucy had continued to act strangely while wandering across the beach, thinking about that stupid seashell, and when Alma had tried to heal her friend's broken mind with a familiar memory from when they'd first met, where they had gone off together, only for it to be interrupted by those men with guns. They reminded Alma of the guards in the facility where she'd been kept, who beat her if she didn't behave, and would even kick her kennel while she was inside it.

She waited for her friend to strike, to tear that soldier apart like she had done to so many others, but when she didn't, Alma attacked for her. She smiled as she watched the soldier burn to a crisp. She could sense the agony from his mind as it felt the man's body burn. Billions of neurons screaming in a unified agony as the fire claimed him. All for her. For Lucy.

Alma smiled. She was such a good friend.

Bando had only a second to register Satou's infernal end from over his shoulder, as well as Alma standing nearby with a smile from nightmares, before his partner was nothing but ash and Alma was gone. Nyu was still huddled on the ground, but she...it had ceased being Bando's main concern. Alma had shown up, and unlike her friend, this thing was a real threat. Bando needed to put some distance between him and that monster, but the problem was that it had disappeared, like it had vanished into thin freaking air! But it was still here. He couldn't see it, but somehow Bando could sense that Alma was nearby, like an unpleasant memory that refuses to leave one's mind. Bando sprinted several yards from Lucy and dove for cover behind a nearby overturned boat. He peeked out from above with his rifle raised, and despite his panic, he was somehow unsurprised that he didn't spot Alma. Whoever...no, whatever it was, it knew how to hide.

Do you know what else I know?

The voice, eery and withered, seemed to worm through Bando's ear and into the deepest depths of his brain. He turned to see Alma's wasted face inches from his, but before he could scream the thing had grabbed him. It was on him! The hag was on him!

I know what it's like to know only suffering.

Its hands were burning into the flesh of his right arm, melting it like butter. The pain was too great for him to yell as it ripped his limb from his body, making a horrid sound that only torn meat can make, and the right side of Bando's torso seemed to instantly turn red with blood. Alma threw the severed limb behind her without looking away.

I know the joy of hurting those who've hurt me.

On instinct, Bando swung his left arm at her in a clumsy chop, but Alma grabbed the arm. She didn't tear it off like the last one, but squeezed it hard, and Bando finally screamed as the bone was crushed to splinters.

I know how much pain a person can stand without dying. And you know what else?

Skeletal hands grabbed Bando's head, forcing his gaze up to hers as she crouched down in front of him. The thick rain had plastered Alma's hair flat against her scalp, making her head resemble a skull cap. This did not help her look any less hellish as she gazed down at Bando with red malice.

I know a dead man when I see one.

Her thin thumbs darted out and straight into Bando's pupils, tearing the soft tissue of his eyes as they dug into his sockets. Blood spurted from his eye holes in twin tiny geysers. Bando bellowed in agony.

"I'll kill you!" he finally managed to shout, his voice hoarse from screaming, "I'll kill you, dang it, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Through his own newly found darkness, he felt two hands clamp around his throat in a vice grip, and begin to squeeze.

It was probably a good thing that Bando had been deprived of his vision, for seeing the ghastly smile that was spreading across Alma's haggard face would've forever plagued him with night terrors. Alma was feeling good. Almost as good as she felt when she'd slaughtered all of those people at that facility. It was often in her nature to kill quick and be done with it. Some fool would get in her way, then fwoosh: nothing but ash. But with her best friend, she had learned that sometimes, taking your time is better. Sweeter. And now, as she strangled the life out of this wretched man beneath the heavy rain, that fact had never been clearer to her than now. And it was all thanks to Luc-

It was at this moment that Alma had suddenly become aware that Lucy was gone. Had she been so wrapped up in this man's torment that she hadn't even noticed when her best friend had left? She looked around, her mind scanning along with her eyes, but both turned up empty.

LUCY!

Bando yelled out as that name burned through his brain, then paused as he realized that he could in fact yell. He could also breathe. The cold, thin hands that had been throttling him had suddenly vanished, leaving quicker than they'd arrived. He still couldn't see, but there'd be time to stress about that later.

"Where are you?!" he yelled, flailing about in a frenzied manner that all wounded animals seem to know, "If you're so tough, then come back and finish me!"

Through the rain, he heard the soft voice of a girl. "Excuse me. What happened?"

Bando began to thrash around even harder, unsure if the wetness he felt seeping through his body armor was from the rain, or his own blood.

"I swear I'll kill you!" he screamed into the blackness that was now his whole world, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"Stop moving!" the voice shouted. It was still soft, but this time there was a note of impatience that made Bando hesitate. He tilted his head toward the direction that he thought the voice had come from. Blood flowed from his sockets like thick red tears.

"Who are you?" he asked warily.

"I want to help," the voice replied.

Bando leaned his head back, not answering. He reckoned that beggars couldn't be choosers. Taking his silence for consent, Mayu slowly approached Bando and began wrapping a sheet around his stump of an arm.

Kouta and Yuka slowly trudged back toward Maple House. They had gone out searching for Nyu, but had been unable to find her. Yuka wanted to keep looking, but, not wanting to catch hypothermia, Kouta advised that they head back home and try again tomorrow. But what good would that be? If they couldn't find Nyu tonight, then they'd certainly be unable to find her tomorrow, when she'd have more time to put more distance between her and the people who'd abused her. It was a shame that she had left before he could even form a solid opinion of her, but then again, it wasn't like he'd been such a great host in the end. Will I eventually stop believing in her? Kouta wondered vaguely. The morning that he'd found her on the beach was already beginning to feel like a lost memory, as vague and insignificant as an old locker combination. Her horns only seemed to make his recollection all the more unreal. And years from now, when he looked at that broken seashell, he would probably believe that it was he who'd broken-

"Kouta!" shouted Yuka excitedly. Kouta looked up from his dull mindset to see Yuka pointing eagerly at the doorstep of Maple house, where a familiar horned figure was sitting hunched up on the steps.

"Nyu, we were so worried!" said Yuka as she happily ran up to her. Kouta's approach to the horned girl was a bit more somber, though it was Kouta that Nyu was looking at. As he approached she slowly stood up and offered him something. Kouta looked down and saw a pink seashell, exactly like the one that his sister had once given him. Kouta stared at the shell for a full ten seconds, then crouched next to Nyu and enfolded her in a hug.

"I'm sorry."

Mayu stood on the beach with Wanta dripping beside her. She was certain that this was the spot where'd she'd left the wounded man, having gone only for a minute or two to find an ambulance, but now he was gone. Had he just gotten up and walked away. Unlikely, given that his eyes had been gouged. Still, she couldn't think of any other explanation. Hopefully, he was safe.

Mayu turned and headed back to her shelter with Wanta loyally following behind. Amidst the pouring rain, neither of them heard the roar of the helicopter as it flew away.

Tension was thick as Kurama and Shirakawa walked down the hall. Kurama had just received word from the SAT from Shirakawa. To her surprise, he didn't seem as angry as she'd anticipated, almost as if he'd anticipated SAT's failure in terminating the two targets.

"From the SAT debriefing," continued Shirakawa, attempting to sound as formal as possible despite the bad news, "We can confirm that Lucy ashore, along with this...Alma."

She cleared her throat and resumed. "Agent Bando's testimony indicates that Alma immolated his partner, Agent Satou, before attacking and blinding him."

"And throughout all this, Lucy didn't attack at all?" Kurama asked. He tried to hide the contempt in his question and almost succeeded.

"That's right, sir. She did not attack either of the agents."

Kurama had a hard time believing this, but the blood test he had requested on Bando had come back a negative on the Diclonius Virus, which meant Lucy must not have attacked Bando after all. But why had Alma taken her time with Bando specifically? Why not burn him quick like the others? What was her relation to Lucy? What was Alma?

One headache at a time, he thought, as he came to a halt before a fiberglass window.

"It doesn't matter," he said as he stared at the being on the other side, "It will not be long before Lucy sinks back into her old habits. Such is the way of monsters."

"Regardless," replied Shirakawa, "I hope we don't have to bring out No. 7."

When Kurama didn't reply, Shirakawa didn't speak up again. Instead, she followed the General Director's gaze toward No. 7, and watched as Nana quietly cried in her blood-stained cell.

"…Papa…"

"I'm glad you're alright," said The Boy as he helped Lucy to her feet, "Thanks for getting another shell for me."

"Come on, you guys," said The Cousin, "We can rejoice inside, where it's safe and dry. Nyu's been in the rain long enough."

"Of course," said The Boy, and the three of them went inside. A moment later, Alma's bony form emerged from a nearby bush. She walked forward a few steps, then came to a halt about twenty yards from the house. In one hand, she still had Bando's torn arm, and as she studied it, she wondered how it would feel if she were to tear apart The Boy, something she should have done years ago when he had attacked Lucy. But she would never go against her best friend and was willing to take her time and wait a short while if necessary before Lucy would come around, and then nothing would ever hurt them again. Alma smiled as she examined the burnt flesh of her new trophy.

Sometimes, taking your time is better.

Sweeter.

If there is one thing that I cannot stand, it is an unfinished fanfiction. There are so many great stories out there that have been left unfinished. Maybe the writers have their reasons, but it's always a shame to leave a good story incomplete. I know my posts are infrequent, but I promise you all that I will see this thing through to the end. Also, I've got more news: I'm planning a sequel for Hyuga Cestus! Please give good reviews, as they always encourage me to write more, and I will see you guys in the next chapter!