Libitina's POV:
I was just sketching random drawings on some loose-leaf paper I had. I wasn't really focused on anything, just thinking about the events going on right now.
Could Yuri really be back? Would she really be coming back for me?
It was so hard for me to wrap my mind around it, I never thought I'd ever see her again, nonetheless be alive long enough to see her.
My thoughts kept diving in and out of us interacting with one another again. Would she be as I remember? Would she recognize me? Would it be weird?
I chastised myself for thinking so weirdly. I drew in a deep breath and tried to clear my mind.
'I'm sure everything will be perfectly fine.' I tell myself. 'She'll show up, we'll reunite, and….'
My mind falters. What the hell will happen after? It's not like we're in the most relaxing environment. Her presence is enough to cause every guard here to go on high alert!
I stand up from my seated position and walk to my window. I peer out, only catching slightly glimpse of the two rooms in front of me. The girls didn't seem like they were in distress. Just doing their own makeshift hobbies to pass the time in this hell.
I sigh dejectedly and return to my bed, laying down on my back.
'Who am I kidding? Whatever is going on is just a weird coincidence that coincides with the past. Nothing more.'
I felt my heart ping at the thought. Why did that hurt?
I sigh in frustration of my emotions and palm the page with the poem I wrote on it. I re-read it for what feels like the hundredth time, trying to understand where the inspiration came from.
I feel a large rumble and a shrill-sounding explosion from outside my room, causing me to drop my belongings.
I sit straight up, freezing in place.
The sounds of screams and gunfire fill the halls. I shoot up off my bed and bolt to my window, planting my face against the semi-transparent glass. I am immediately greeted with the sight of blood and fire, with Onyx guards running down the hall and getting obliterated by unknown forces.
I clutch my hand to my heart and try to control my breathing.
"What is happening? What is happening?"
I see the doors get opened and the members on the inside dare not move. I lock eyes with one of the girls across the hall from me and we share the same fear.
I scream out loud as an Onyx guard is thrust up to my window, his blood painting the transparent surface.
I fall back on my rear and crawl back to my wall.
"This can't be happening. This can't be happening." I tell myself in between breaths.
I hear a loud wiping noise and look up to see an individual on the opposite side of the glass wiping the blood clear at eye level. I slowly stand up and stride to the window and gaze to the outside.
Standing on the other side with a smile on her face is a taller girl with intense purple eyes and long, purple hair. Her tan sweater she had on was covered with blood and her black pants didn't look any better.
She places a hand on the glass as if to reach out to me. I slowly put my hand up, feeling tears leave my eyes. She see's my face and shakes her head as if to tell me not to cry and walks over to my sealed door. In seconds, the door crumbles and is smashed out of its place, opening my room up to the rest of the facility.
She walks in and I feel her wrap my arms around me, and I lose all self-control and break down.
"Yuri, I thought I'd never see you again." I tell her in between breathes.
Despite the overhead sirens, flames and whimpers, I feel overwhelmingly at peace with Yuri.
"I told you I was coming." She says softly. I feel her hands gently caress my silver hair, flowing her fingers through my straight locks. "I just needed time to gain my power back."
I softly push myself away so I can see her face.
"This whole time you planned on coming back?"
She smirked and chuckled, though I felt a dark undertone under the laugh.
"Of course, I couldn't leave this place behind like this, with these tyrants using false promises and torturous ways to oppress those who are trapped here."
She inhaled slowly and hummed softly to herself as she squeezed me again. I focused on the lights dancing around my room from the sirens and slowly started to return to reality.
"Yuri, what is your plan for all this?" I say as we stand up.
She looks towards my window.
"I'm going to take care of some unfinished business. To take the lives of every single member in this facility to taking ours away. Or our rights, I should say."
I shift awkwardly in place.
"Wouldn't it be so much easier to escape? Destroying the facility would just create mass panic, and word would spread like wildfire. We'd have a whole new situation on our hands."
Yuri turns to me with lightning speed, her purple eyes sharp.
"They will all pay. Their show of power was unjust, and they shall pay for their sins."
Her stare silenced every doubt I had. Their intensity spread through my bones, causing me to shiver. Since when was she this determined? Or dangerous?
She grabs my arm and practically drags me out of my quarters.
Small fires were crackling throughout the halls and a red light was flashing on the ceiling. Blood was splattered all over every surface and limp bodies lay lifeless, garbed in the guards' uniform.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath from the carnage. I felt a tug at my arm and re-opened my eyes, following Yuri.
"Come on, I need to finish liberating the rest of your section."
I nod my head in a stupor and follow suite.
Yuri seemed to possess immense power, just slightly turning her head to doors, removing them from their hinges and bolts without lifting a finger.
A guard ran out from one of the rooms, alone and his weapon drawn. Without a chance to speak, his rifle flicked up towards his head, the weapon firing and painting the walls with his head matter. His body falls limp on the floor, and I flinch in place, covering my mouth with my hands.
Yuri continues moving as if nothing happened. I feel hands grip my arm and I jump in place, shaken up. My eyes fall on Ilia and I squeeze her into a hug.
"What is going on?" Ilia says to me.
Without saying a word, I break off the embrace and point down the hall. Ilia's brown eyes open wide in disbelief.
"Sh-she actually came back?" She stammers out, wrapping her mind around it. I grip her wrist and pull her down the destroyed hallway.
We slow to a halt as Yuri gazes around the section, her face calculating her work. She takes a breath and smiles, clearly content with the outcome of events.
"Sisters! Come!" Yuri hollers, her voice resonating throughout the hall. She retreats into the Playroom, the only untouched room from the carnage.
Me and Ilia idle in place, turning to see our section mates poke their heads out reluctantly from their rooms. They see us and cautiously exit, slowly forming a cluster and stepping over the rubble and bodies.
Some of the girls' whimper and cover their mouths, while others just adopt wide-eyed, shocked expressions, drinking in the scene before them.
They stop before Ilia and me, unsure on what to do next. We stand still for a few moments, with just the crackling of fires entering our ears.
I look to Ilia and nod my head, entering the room after Yuri and gesturing everyone to follow.
We all entered and formed a group against one of the walls. Yuri sat suspended in place, like she was sitting in an invisible chair. Her legs were crossed elegantly, and she donned a large grin. Her purple hair flowed throughout the air as if she were in water. Her fingers were intertwined and place center in her lap. Her whole demeanor screamed that she was in utter control.
Discomfort was clear from all the girls, with a majority of them shifting in place nervously. The room was silent, no one daring to answer.
We all flinch in place as Yuri claps her palms together, shifting to a standing position.
"Welcome, my dears! Today, we will rid ourselves from this plague and escape, escape out into the world that has been stolen from us. A world where we can live in harmony, without the oppression of those who fear what we harbor deep inside us."
She begins to pace around the room, her hands held behind her back.
"For too long, these beasts have taken advantage of us. That all ends today."
Some small murmurs out in the group, but no one dares speak up loud enough to Yuri.
"Follow me and allow us to walk free. Together, we will reclaim our lives."
The group murmurs a bit louder now, with optimism in their voices. I turn to Ilia, seeing her giving me a soft smile. We really are going to get out of here.
"Come!" Yuri says as she exits past us to the door, the group parting like she was a plague. "We must liberate the rest of the sections. I will guide you to Section F, where we will all meet to exit."
She spins in place to face me.
"Libitina, when we part ways, I need you to lead the rest of the way. You'll know where to go."
I nodded dumbly, feeling stress grow slightly in my chest.
This is a prison break, and now I'm responsible for everyone when Yuri isn't around.
Ilia squeezes my arm and brings me back from my thoughts. Yuri turns and takes off running down the destroyed hall. The rest of us begin to follow, not wanting to fall behind.
We turn out from the main lobby of Section E, being greeted from a series of halls. It was clear Yuri was here before, due to the carnage displayed. Bodies were mashed into walls, and the once-white walls were now a shade of crimson.
Emergency light's flashed overhead, painting the room in a red glow. Twisted and turned through the labyrinth of the facility. I turned occasionally to make sure no one was lagging behind. Luckily, everyone seemed to have the drive to escape.
The hall we were in opened up into a larger square room, it being as a sort of hub. Decorative plants were in the corners and benches were against the walls. Small portions of wall stuck out all over the room, creating cubbies with information inside them, like a makeshift helpdesk.
Before I could question what the room was used for, I almost collided into Yuri, who halted to a stop. The rest of the group caught up and stood still, huffing and heaving from running.
Yuri clenched her fist and that's when my focus turned down on the other end of the room, my heart stopping.
The sounds of stomping boots halted as energizing weapons rang through the air. A formation of guards stood mounted up, ready to attack. There were dozens of them, and from the looks of it, they were aiming to correct mistakes of previous encounters with Yuri. They split up through out the room, forming a wall between us and the door past them.
Some held rifles in their hands while others partnered up to wield heavier, more powerful models of weaponry. I stepped back, but Yuri held up her hand as if to halt all movement.
"Don't move!" Shouts one of the guards in the frontlines, his aim centered at Yuri.
Yuri exhaled happily and hummed to herself.
"Take cover, girls." She says and flicks her wrist.
One of the men crumbles into himself, his bones sticking through every ounce of skin her had on him. He clambers lifelessly to the ground and all hell breaks loose.
Without an order, all the guards open fire. I yelp and yank Ilia with me, diving down onto the floor behind of one of the booths.
I look up and see the girls trying to do the same thing, getting shot and splattered in the process.
I heave uncontrollably as I hold onto Ilia tight, squeezing her for dear life.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god…" Ilia mumbles over and over to herself, causing me to hold her tighter.
I shift up to a sitting position and rest of head against the wall, turning my head slightly to use my peripherals to see, not daring to stick my head out.
Yuri was moving gracefully around the room, dodging and weaving in and out of danger. Some of the energized bullets seemed to bend around her, redirecting into other guards.
She was going from guard to guard, ripping out throats, caving in chests and using them as meat shields. All while giggling like a crazed lunatic.
I flinch when a blast explodes over my head, littering the ground with rubble from the wall. The sound makes my ears ring, temporarily stunning my senses.
I forcefully swallow the lump in my throat and fumble around with my hand until I'm squeezing Ilia's.
I gaze around the room to see the carnage Yuri is causing. Deceased section mates and guards, blood painting every surface and the walls caving in on themselves.
I try to calm my breathing, starting to wonder if Yuri has cornered us to our demise.
…
-Andrew's POV
My senses came back to me and I groggily opened my eyes. My hands were bound behind my back with some sort of restraint and I had two guards on either side of me, dragging me along with a group.
I dared not to speak, so I just soaked in the sights before me. Everything in this place looked uniform. The walls were all white, with a sort of tile flooring basking in a shine.
The steps of the soldiers around me echoed around us, booming down the halls.
"Hey, there's reports of Section E's occupants heading this way. We'll cut them off in the main hub for their section." I heard one of the guards say.
I felt the pace quicken and their grips tighten, and we sped down an assortment of halls and through doors.
We burst through a set of double doors into a large, open room. Walls jutted out through the room, forming what looked like cubicles. The guards started taking up tactical positions throughout the rooms, planting weapons for stability and taking cover.
The guards holding me dragged me to a side and pushed my back up against a wall.
"Shouldn't we take him to the confinement section?" Says one of the guards.
"No time. They're coming and fast. We need to be ready." Replies the other.
They left me against the wall and took up a post. None of them are focused on me, however. Just locked and loaded, aiming down towards a hallway adjacent from them.
The room is silent, and suspense hung heavy in the air. Other than the guards shifting slightly in place, no one made a sound.
After a few moments, footsteps echoed from across the room. Standing in front of a gaggle of tattered, worn out girls stood Yuri, covering in head to toe with blood.
'Yuri? What the hell is going on?'
The group behind her cling to each other, clearly terrified. There were two girls in between Yuri that stood in front of the rest, one with long silver hair and another with shorter, brown hair.
The girl with silver hair had surprising features that mirrored Yuri's. In fact, other than the height difference, eye and hair color, they looked identical.
"Don't move!" Shouts one of the guards.
Yuri exhales with a creepy hum and smirks menacingly.
"Take cover, girls." She retorts.
All hell breaks loose, with gunfire piercing my ears and the splattering of carnage around me.
"Holy fuck!" I scream as I dive down to the floor next to me.
Using my legs, I kick the floor to crawl to cover.
I hiss in pain as my wrists were being burned, no doubt from the restraints.
My eyes dart around the room, seeing young girls being torn apart by gun fire and pieces of the room being blown to bits. Yuri was elegantly dodging attacks and….killing people. I couldn't wrap my mind over what I was seeing.
As if she could sense me staring, she turns her head to mine and smiles. Without skipping a beat, she slowly strides over to me, almost as if a battle wasn't happening.
Strange, lightening-blue bullets were curving around Yuri. They kept missing and I couldn't tell if it was on purpose or not.
She knelt down next to me, a smile stretched on her face.
"Hey, Andrew. Glad to see you're doing okay."
I stare at her piercing, purple eyes and don a flustered expression.
"Okay? Doing okay? Yuri, what the hell is going on? People are shooting and dying, and…you! You're like killing people and shit!"
She chuckles and caresses my cheek, her hands as cold as ice.
"I know. I apologize that you have to be caught in the middle of this." She calmly tells me.
Bullets are ricocheting and piercing the barriers around us, causing me to flinch in place every time.
She calmly moves her hands down my back, and I feel my hands become freed. She holds up a silver-metal object with a blue laser chaining the cuffs together. She tosses them to the side and stands up.
"Fall back to the few still standing and wait for me to return" She says.
With a wink, she pivots and returns to the fray, immediately bending bodies in the process.
I pierce my eyes shut and take in deep breathes.
'Okay, okay. This is some sort of weird, crazy dream. I just gotta go with it.'
I open my eyes and scan the room among the chaos. Across the room, I caught sight of the silver haired girl peeping from one of the cubicles.
I turned and saw the guards distracted with Yuri, so I took it as my chance. I low crawled my way, sticking close to the walls as to not draw too much attention to myself.
I got to the girls and dove to the wall, sticking my back up to the wall with my chest heaving.
I looked around to make sure I wasn't followed before turning my attention to the two girls before me.
They both were staring at me with wide eyes. I didn't know what to do so I just stayed quiet and still.
My heart ran cold when I heard the whimpers of a girl. I followed my gaze towards the entrance to the room where a girl lay on the floor, only her torso remaining. She was dragging herself towards us slowly, with tears and blood follow from her face.
"P-please.." She coughs and whimpers.
I stayed in place, shocked to hell and back.
She only made it a foot or so before falling limp and lifeless.
I uncontrollably vomited next to me in a corner. I cough and sit up straight, burying my face in my hands.
"What the fuck is happening…" I moan helplessly out loud.
I hear soft whimpers and look up to see the brown-haired girl crying onto the silver-haired girl's shoulder.
I hear the sounds of battle die out, just some footsteps patrolling across the room. In a moments notice, Yuri re-appears in front of us, a content expression on her face and drenched head to toe in the blood of her victims.
She does a quick look over of us and the deceased girls, huffing disappointingly.
"Well, that was very unfortunate. While I did expect some resistance, the move of sending entire squads did throw me off, I am afraid. Nonetheless, we must push on, it was but a minor inconvenience."
She turns to move, and the silver-haired girl speaks up.
"Minor inconvenience? Minor inconvenience? Are you kidding me? Everyone is dead!" She stammers out with a mixture of disbelief and anger.
Yuri pinches her eyes shut and takes a breath.
"Libitina, listen. This is not an easy feat. As much as I'd love to demolish every resisting force in the facility, I'm still not at full power yet. Casualties are inevitable. The sooner you realize that, the easier this will be."
The girl who she called Libitina shot to her feet.
"Yuri, I don't want to see everybody die. They've been stuck in here just like the rest of us!"
Yuri narrowed her eyes to the girl.
"Dear sister, must I remind you of the countless days of pain this facility has harbored. I will take down this place by any means necessary."
The punctuated her sentence with a firm aggressiveness, almost like a threat.
The girl opened her mouth to retort, before closing is and taking a breath.
Yuri turns to me.
"Andrew, I need you to accompany these two. I have unfinished business in other parts of the facility that require my undivided attention."
I shuffle nervously in place, unsure on how to answer and how I should feel about pretty much being called dead weight.
"Er-okay, fine. But do you mind explaining just what the hell is going on here?"
She wipes some excess debris off her shirt while she answers.
"What has been going on here is a little too much for you to comprehend, I'm afraid."
I took a step forward.
"Well then why the fuck did you bring me here then? If I would just be in the way or if it's too much for me to understand, why waste my damn time? Not to mention the fucking horrifying shit I've had to witness!"
Yuri falters back slightly like she didn't expect me to fire back.
"If you must know, you are important for the endgame of this excursion. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way. Oh, and it would do you well to mind your tongue."
She pivots in place and takes towards the doors I came through with the guards. I felt a strange sensation surge through me, either through the extreme stress I've just endured or not agreeing with her aggressive demeanor.
"Your threats mean nothing to me, Yuri. Watch yourself." I call to her.
She pauses in place for a moment, then keeps going without saying a word.
The double doors she passes through close and resonate throughout the room, leaving us in silence.
I sigh in slight frustration and turn to the girls, who have their eyes on me.
"So, I'm assuming your name is Libitina from what Yuri said.." I say to the silver-haired girl, who nods, "..and your name is?"
Ilia turns slightly to Libitina before responding to me.
"M-my name is Ilia." She says.
I nod my head.
"Well, given these weird ass circumstances, it's nice to meet you both. The name's Andrew by the way."
The girls nod their heads and I look them over.
They both were smaller than me by a few inches, easily. Libitina's hair was extremely long for any girl I've every come across, that is. It was silvery-white and hung low to her middle back. Her blue eyes contrasted against her paler-white skin. She wore one, longer sky-blue and white gown, that has become tattered through these defenses.
Ilia was garbed in the same gown, with more or less the same withering. Her skin tone was darker than Libitina, making me assume she could have a multiracial background. Her brown hair was no longer than her chin, and more frayed and unkept. She had chocolate-brown eyes that had a hint of innocence in them.
"Sounds like your Yuri's sister then?" I ask to Libitina, who nods her head.
"We've been separated for years after she escaped from here." She states solemnly.
I stood in thought for a second.
"Wait….so she was here just like you guys before?"
The girls nod their heads.
"But….she's been going to college with me. She's always been a little weird, yeah, but I don't understand how this could've been her life before. Or that she could be so…extreme after learning her soft, innocent demeanor."
"Tell me something, Andrew," Libitina starts. "Have you ever talked to Yuri about her background? About her life before you knew her?"
I opened my mouth to respond and shut it just as fast. No, as a matter of fact. That never came up.
"That personality you knew prior was her more human trait, what she would be like if she didn't have her powers."
I bit the inside of my cheek and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Er-her powers?"
Ilia speaks up from beside Libitina.
"You mean the outside world doesn't know about this place?"
I shuffled in place.
"To be completely honest, I don't even know where the hell we are."
The girls look to each other.
"Well, this is some sort of remote facility away from civilization. We don't know the exact place were at but given how some of the guards talk and their connections, it has to be located in a centralized place where multiple higher powers have access to." Libitina says.
I look around the broken room, seeing nothing to give me answers.
"For as long as we can remember, they've kept us in small units and experimented on us to awaken a trait that we all possess, a power that converts us into killing machines. They call it the Third Eye."
I look into her eyes, seeing complete seriousness.
"They call it becoming Awakened around here, I guess because your inner mind awakens with the unimaginable power. They push us through tests day in and day out to extract our powers. We don't know exactly what happens when they fully awaken us, but we expect the worst."
Ilia lifted up her gown on her arm and speaks up.
"We get these brands like cattle, where they keep track of our assigned sections and rooms or something."
I step forward and calmly grab her wrist, having her slightly flinch. I gently slide my finger over her mark, E-6, which seemed to be etched into her skin.
"So, you guys possess the same power as Yuri?" I say as I step back again, Ilia covering her wrist again.
"Well, not exactly…" Libitina says. "..Yuri has gone what we call Full Awaken, where she has complete control over her power. Most people can't suppress it when it happens and get taken to a remote location where we never see them again, but Yuri….she has control. That's what makes her so dangerous."
I step out into the open room, examining the carnage. Bodies lay wasted and dismembered all through the room. I swallow hard and sigh heavily.
"What if….Yuri is doing this all wrong?" I say without looking to the girls.
Silence takes control of the conversation for a few moments before Litbitina speaks up.
"That's what I'm afraid of."
I think back to what Yuri said, about helping these girls out. If they're assigned sections, then that means there's more of them.
"We need to try and get the others out then, before Yuri does something irreversible."
I turn to the girls who look at me with expectant eyes.
"I don't know if I entirely understand what the hell is going on here, but I get a feeling Yuri is going over the deep end. She's either a powerful ally, or an eloquent enemy."
Ilia peeps up quietly.
"My sister is in Section C. I haven't seen her in so long and I'm scared of what might happen…" She falters off.
I shift in place and my foot kicks something. I peer down to see a long, cylindrical device that I recognize as the weird laser batons the guards had. I kneel down and pick it up, pressing a button that charges it to life. Turning it off again, I turn my attention to the girls.
"Sounds like we have our next destination. Let us see if we can find where this Section C is at and help them out."
Ilia's eyes light up with a small amount of hope and the girls follow me out the double doors that I came from.