With a loud thud, Asako's body fell against the cold, stone floor of the Archive's lowest level. She was exhausted beyond belief and beat up after the countless times she fell over during the way down. Her face was outright swollen and bleeding from several places while the rest of her body felt worse then after a whole day of training under her drill Sargent. There were bruises all over it, and even the stump she was left with in place of her leg started to bleed again, albeit not quite as badly as it did when Tatsumi removed her leg. The only part of her body left untouched was her stomach which she made sure was protected at all times, no matter how hard she fell.

All those wounds were nothing to her though. Just minor inconveniences. Obstacles on her way and nothing more. She ignored them all until now, simply pushing through the pain they brought with them until she reached her currant position. That's when all of her exhaustion and fatigue finally hit her, making her resolve collapse onto the ground like a house of cards. In one moment, all of her muscles refused to obey her commands, all of her strengths abandoned her and all of her pain was brought to the forefront. Panting hard she remained still, with her face down on the ground. She couldn't even bring herself to try to get up after her first attempt failed miserably. This wouldn't go on for long though. Because as she was forced to lay there in the darkness by a body too weak to break through its limits, her mind stepped in.

She saw images. Memories flashing before her eyes. Moments in her life when she felt true and pure joy. All of which involved Akira.

Their first meeting when he saved her from a ravenous dog. How he treated her wounds, both the ones on her body and mind... And how she treated his. Everytime they met after that to talk, play and keep each other alive. How they cried in each other's arms and comforted one another in times of need. The time they run away from their worthless lives to start a now one together. Moment when they joined the Revolutionary Army and their training to become soldiers. Those many missions they went through together, covering each other's backs as comrades. The evening when he said he loves her and the night that followed... The first time she actually enjoyed sex, first time she didn't want the night to end... All of their close moments from then on, the kisses they shared, both gentle and rough, warm embraces they enjoyed, restless nights they lost themselves in...

And at the end of it... Their marriage. The happiest moment of their lives. The climax of their time together... The kiss that sealed their vows was the sweetest one she tasted, the smile that adored her face the whole day long the widest she ever made. The tears that wouldn't stop coming warmest she could remember and the night it ended with the best of her life... Was it also the end of them? The best and at the same time, last moment for them to truly be together? She didn't know, and wasn't sure whether she thought life in uncertainty would be better then harsh truth or not, but... She wanted to know. She had to know. Even if it meant being met with the image that hunted her worst nightmares, she had to know if those nightmares were reality or just the devil toying with her. She had to know if the knife Death held against her heart was going to cut it open or leave her be.

The conviction from her mind forced the rest of her body to raise. She pushed herself up on her hands and started to crawl forward. Her saber has broken at some point, making her unable to use it to help her walk. "Akira..." She called out, but her voice was too weak for anyone to hear as her vocal cords were sore from the crying and screaming she did on the way down. "Akira... Where are you..." She could smell death in the air... And scorched flesh... But it was not that of a human, that much she knew for sure. The burn marks on her back left as a memento from when she was still a child prostitute on the Capital's streets were a testament to that.

However, the little bit of strength she managed to muster was soon about to disappear. The lamp she had with her had suddenly burned out, and her resolve along with it. Her only source of light was gone, leaving her surrounded by complete darkness in which she couldn't even see her own hands held in front of her face. In anger, she threw the lamp away with a scream that only made her throat hurt more. "Akira... Akira..." She felt tears drip down her face again as she frantically tried to move forward, to get away from the darkness, only to place her hand against the still hot, broken glass of the lamp which cut straight through her skin. "Where are you... Please tell me... Please..." More tears came as she curled into a ball, desperately fighting against the dark despair slowly filling her head.

Panic started to set in, taking away all strength and determination she managed to muster in herself. 'Sargent Asako' begun to slowly fade away, the hard exterior she has built over her broken mind shattered like a castle of glass, leaving her as nothing more then a little girl she was years ago, sobbing and shaking in fear of the darkness that surrounded her. Just as she feared every night of her childhood... Just as she feared what those nights brought... She felt herself fall back into the dark sea of nightmares she so desperately wanted to forget about, where shadows of her memories already waited for her. It didn't matter how hard she struggled, once she was engulfed in the darkness there was nothing she could do to get back on the surface on her own. "Akira... Save me... Please..."

She felt the shadows' hands touch her body. Hands that groped her when she was a child, touched places she never wanted to be touched, entered holes she never wanted penetrated. She felt whips and hot iron scarring her body, more hands beating her head, feet kicking her stomach. She felt spit and piss hit her face, enter her mouth. She heard sounds of laughter above her, felt stares of all man and woman that used her like a toy for their own sick pleasure. They all stood around her as she choked on her own sobs and drowned in despair, mocking her for ever thinking she can leave them behind. All of their faces were as clear as memories of pain and sorrow they brought her, only pushing her deeper into the darkness that clouded her mind.

Before long, she completely gave up. Outright laughed at herself for hoping Akira would come and rescue her again. He was dead, and she should have killed herself long ago before he had a chance to give her hope for a change, before he could show her how much better life could be for her... For them... At least she would have died not knowing what she was missing out on, what was taken away from her... And she wouldn't have to suffer the pain of losing him. She already gave up on the thought that he is still somewhere out there, waiting for her. Darkness was her biggest fear, one that only he could release her of... And since he was nowhere to be seen... Nowhere on this earth...

"Oh... I see..." If he was no longer here, then she should go meet him in heaven, hell or wherever people are sent to after death. As far as she was concerned, even nonexistence seemed like a better fate then living on without him. Her hand slowly reached out towards the piece of glass that had just cut it. "I'm coming Akira... I'll... See you... Soon... Very soon..." She held the glass shard over her neck, bracing herself for what she's about to do.

"Asa... ko..."

She felt her hands shaking as her grip on the glass tightened, further cutting her fingers. Tears continued to flow and her breathing became even more erratic with the sharp tip almost touching her throat. "I'll join you, Akira... Soon... We'll be together again... Forever..."

"Asako..."

Somewhere on the back of her mind, she heard a voice calling for her to not do it, to let go of the glass blade and keep on living, but she immediately squashed it down. To keep on living? Without him? Alone? What kind of life was that suppose to be? She was better off dead, there was no one who needed her anyways. Kazuto can handle it, he toughened out the loss of his whole family, he'll have no problem with handling loss of one adoptive daughter. She had no other family besides him too... She had no one to live for...

"Asako... Don't..."

"I'll do it... Now!" The blade shot up into the air only to be immediately brought back down... But it didn't cut into her, merely brushed against the skin on her throat. But why? She wanted to die so badly, to end that pathetic excuse of a life that only lasted this long thanks to one man who already left this world. She wanted to put an end to it all and yet... She couldn't. Because as soon as the glass shard started to approach her throat, she felt something from her stomach... A heartbeat.

"Asako!"

The piece of glass in her hand was suddenly knocked out of her hand. She felt something grab her wrist and in a rush of panic tried to rip it out of it, only for something to pin her down to the ground. "No! Don't touch me!" Another dark memory she buried deep within started to surface again. Memory of the man she was sold to by her parents and the night when he got to enjoy his new 'toy' for the first time. The horror she felt when he started to force himself into her, the pain... Nothing else that came after that came even close. She remembered how she screamed, called for her parents to come and save her, begged him to stop... All of that fell on his deaf ears. He simply laughed at her struggles to get away from the pain and continued to mercilessly rape her 10 year old body... And her parents? The food they got as a payment for her was poisoned. They wouldn't come even if they cared.

In a violent outbreak, she started to attack whatever it was that grabbed her. Having noticed that while she had one hand held in a tight grasp, the other one was free, she swung it around, hoping to scare away the thing holding her. "Let me go! Let me go!" It did nothing though. She definitely felt that she was hitting something, but it didn't get it off her. Her cries only grew louder and more desperate at that as her swinging became increasingly harder. She thought she heard some voice calling her, but she with her screams being so loud and her mind clouded by fear, none of that truly reached her. "Akira! Help me, please! Akira!"

She continued to trash around for god knows how long, unable to shake off the foreign presence off her. No matter how much she would hit it or how loud she screamed and cried, it wouldn't go away. "Akira... Akira..." Her voice finally started to break, finally becoming quiet enough for the voice she's been hearing all this time to reach her.

"It's me!" The thing holding her said, it's voice... Was calming... And familiar... It was almost as if the one holding her was... "It's me, Asako... I'm here..." The grip on her hand loosened as her body went limp with the realization of just who was atop her. "Everything is fine... You're safe now... They can't hurt you again..." His hand moved over to her tear covered cheek, gently rubbing it as even more tears started to fall. Her own hands started to slowly reached out to him, shaking all the way up until they reached his face. And in that moment, light finally returned to her world, letting her see him again. The same scar covered face she fell in love with. The same white hair she so enjoyed grooming. The same violet eyes that seduced her...

"...A... A-Aki... ra..." Her voice was weak and quiet, outright broken after all the screaming. It's not like she needed it for anything other then crying though. "Y-You're... You're a-ali... ve..." He looked absolutely horrible. Aside from the scars and deformations that were a result of experiments performed on him as a child, he had his whole head covered in blood and bruises. A lot were a result of her breakdown, but the rest were hardly anything to ignore. His skull was visibly cracked in several places, with pieces of rock and such still stuck in it, probably only left there to not let him slowly bleed out. He really looked like he just crawled out of a grave... And like he was about to go back into it.

She couldn't have that. Not now when he was with her again...

Gently, her hands squeezed the sides of his face, forcing him to look straight into her eyes. She could swear he was about to loose consciousness. "A-Akira... Listen..." It took all she had to say even a word. Her vocal chords felt like they were on fire and every word she forced through them was like pouring gasoline onto that fire. Still, she had to tell him. "I-I'm... I'm... Preg... nant..." His usually stiff face twisted in shock. It quickly faded away though, replaced with a small smile. "You... Be-Better... Stay with... M-Me..." His head slowly fell down against her shoulder, letting her arms rest around it.

"I will..." His eyes slowly started to close as did hers. "I'll never... Leave you... Again..." Their wounded and exhausted bodies quickly fell into deep sleep. Tears still streaming down from their eyes; smiles still plastered to their faces.

Damn, they're kinda adorable together... Despite everything... Tatsumi thought as he looked at the unconscious married couple. His right hand was engulfed in bright flames he used to allow them to see, but seeing as they won't be needing that and he sees without issue without that anyways, he put them down without wasting time. He immediately picked them both up, careful to not cause any further damage to either. Especially to Akira. When Tatsumi found him buried under rubble he brought down on himself to not become food for the beast he had killed before finding him, the man was in a critical shape. He was outright holding onto his life with the sheer force of will. He had bones broken all over his body, internal bleeding in multiple places, severe head concussion... On top of that his right arm was completely crushed under a boulder. If he was a normal person, he would be dead long before the time Tatsumi was able to get to him, but the man proved himself to be far from it. It didn't take Tatsumi long to realize he was experimented on since very young age. His heavily misshapen body was a testament to that and the leftovers of injection sites on his remaining arm that survived even to this day all the proof he needed.

The boy couldn't be sure, but if he were to guess, the drugs that were tested on him were the ones that ultimately would end up used by Kurome. He's read some files Revolutionary Army had on those drugs as soon along with the rest of Night Raid and the part about aftereffects of early versions of the drug definitely matched what he was seeking. Furthermore, the early versions were meant to be used only once and mutate the subject's body. This ultimately proved fatal to most test subjects and ended up in the drug being make into a weaker version, making it necessary to regularly take in small doses at a price of a heavy addiction.

The drug must have caused a lot of pain to him throughout his life, even long after it's application, but ironically it's probably the only reason why he managed to toughen out through this and came out alive, if not necessary in one piece. He was in way too bad shape to be moved though and wouldn't survive being carried back to the surface. Tatsumi had to heal him up a bit, and luckily his blood had healing properties that were only a step away from those Lionell's possessed, making it perfect to slowly put Akira's body into a usable shape. He was hardly capable of getting back on the surface on his own, but he was definitely more then capable of rushing to Asako's side as soon as he noticed her and taking a beating from her while she was still in a full on panic mode. For a moment Tatsumi considered stepping in, but from the man's expression he could say this was not the first time it happened and that he knows what he's doing, subsequently deciding to stay out of this and just give him some light.

"Alright you two..." He was about to place each on a separate shoulder of his, but quickly found that the two are in a much stronger embrace then he would have suspected. It was hardly something he couldn't break, but seeing how happy they look, he decided to just leave them be and proceeded to carry both in his arms. Not that it was any effort on his part. "Time to get back up. Akame's waiting..."


In a single burst of speed, Leone cut through the air like a bullet. The tunnel around her shook as the shockwave left by her reached it, pushing all of the moisture that covered its walls away while she has already closed in on her target – the female figure ominously standing in the chamber ahead. Merely a fraction of a second after entering the chamber, Leone was already right next to the figure with her fist ready to smash it to bits before she even had a good look at it. It's not like she cared though, after what it tried to pull on her mind, she was furious, almost glowing with rage. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to turn whatever it was into a bloody pulp, but that desire would remain unfulfilled for now as the figure simply melted into the ground right in time to avoid her fist.

Her own speed has carried her forward almost two hundred meters before she was able to slow herself down and turn around. However, just as she was about to locate her enemy again, she felt great pain spread through her head. It was hardly enough to stop her, far from it, but still, it was not only a major annoyance, but also meant that she is not completely free from Hive Queen's control. She had to deal with it fast, or her time might run out sooner then she expects.

Groaning under her breath, she looked around the chamber in search of the figure. She found it exactly where it was before, looking at her as if nothing happened. Leona was quick to make another attempt to kill her foe, this time getting a good look at her beforehand. As she thought, it was a women, or at least had a body of one. She was naked, with bits of black chitin covering parts of her body along with dark, brown skin. Her bone white hair reached down all the way to the floor, seamlessly melting into. She was also extremely tall, way over two meters which easily made her dwarf Leone in comparison, even if the lioness was on the high end of the spectrum herself. Her arms, neck, legs and just about any part of her was very thin, though not to the point where one could see her bones. She clearly had a lot of muscle on her, just like Leone, and that coupled with the length of her arms and legs immediately made the alarm bells ring in Leone's mind.

And then there were her eyes… Just one glance at those black, empty orbs and the malice hidden behind them was enough for Leone to know what kind of enemy she's dealing with. A self-righteous monster. One with a cause it believes righteous enough to cost 'a few lives'. And the 'few' in that case doesn't mean the bad guys. This thing was ready to murder anything in its way and then some for whatever cause it believed in. Leone might not exactly be an angel herself, but she has never killed someone who hasn't deserved it one way or another. She would never even consider killing innocents, no matter what her goal is... But that thing would. And for some reason, Leone had a strange feeling that killing innocents itself is part of whatever it was planning for the world.

It had to be stopped. Leone just knew it on purely instinctual level. With haste, she rushed ahead, this time making a wide swipe at the creature's legs, forcing it to jump to avoid the attack and thus allowing Leone to attack it directly. The lioness halted in place and instantly jumped after her opponent with her fist ready to attack, not holding back even a bit of her strength. The sheer force of the attack would be enough to outright vaporize most enemies and speed of her arm great enough for air around it to catch fire... And yet, it was not enough. The punch did send her foe flying away to the very ceiling of the chamber, and shattered the chitin on its body to pieces, but as soon as it reached the fleshy ceiling, it simply entered into it just as it did before when she attacked for the first time. Less then half a second later it was already back out, without even a hint of damage to it's body left to be seen. It instantly fell back down, so fast that Leone, still surprised by the development, didn't react until after her face was outright split open with a single kick to it.

Her reaction was all but what one would expect. Before the damage done even managed to heal, the women grabbed the leg that just attacked her and pulled her foe back towards her, delivering another crippling blow, this time to it's head – outright blowing it into pieces. This was hardly the end though. Leone immediately proceeded to punch her foe again, quickly turning its body into nothing but scraps that fell all over the ground before.

That too, in the end achieved nothing. As soon as the lioness landed back on the ground, she spotted the Hive Queen emerging from the ground yet again, with body as good as new. "Tch..." She clicked her tongue. This isn't gonna get me anywhere. She probably wasn't even facing Queen's real body, just a doll meant for her to break herself over, an Avatar it uses to present herself before her. Hell, for all she knew, the hive itself may be queen's body. And if that's the case... Well, she'll have a lot of smashing to do. There must be something here I can use... Some sort of brain or heart I can destroy to end this thing for good... The blood flowing all around her had to lead somewhere. And that somewhere sure as hell was important in some way.

Knowing that the direct fight with the Hive Queen's Avatar is pointless, she turned on her feet and was just about to rush back to the entrance, hoping to follow the blood to it's source, but was suddenly stopped before making even a single step. The pain she felt from her head before has returned, far stronger then before. It outright make her drop on one knee the moment it hit her with it's full force. "Grrrr..." Growling in anger, she got back on her feet as fast as she could, but was unable to react in time to escape an incoming attack. All she managed to do was put her arms up to defend herself, resulting in both of them being broken in half by the sheer force of the attack as she was sent flying towards the wall. Her bones merged back together almost instantly, but that 'almost' was enough for the Queen's Avatar to close the distance between them again.

Leone quickly gathered herself together and jumped into the air, just high enough to for her feet to be on the same level as the Avatar's head at the moment when its fist into the wall. The kick that followed was powerful enough to send its head flying away without the rest of the body. That was not much of a help though. As soon As Leone landed back on the ground Avatar's still headless body swung its fist at her. She was just barely able to avoid it by ducking under the swing but then was met with Avatar's knee as it rushed to meet her chin. Again, Leone barely got away untouched, this time by jumping to the side just as the Avatar's head grew back.

She was given no rest though. In an instant, a barrage of punches and kicks was sent her way, each powerful enough to snap her steel hard bones in half as if they were mere matches and faster then anything she had ever encountered. If it wasn't for her merging with Lionell, she would be done for long ago. Her opponent was on the same level as someone of Esdeath's caliber and was not handicapped by attempts at mind control. And to top it off, the Avatar could regenerate itself as many times as it wanted, with thousands tons of raw material to use for that. Lionell's regeneration is limited to what she can carry in her. It might be extremely efficient, wasting no precious resources where there was no need to, but it could effectively heal her for only so long before the need to restock arises. The result of fight was practically decided from the start without her knowing, even if it wasn't for her currant handicap, she'd be fucked either way. Fuck! Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!She knew more then well enough that attacking the Avatar did nothing to get her closet to her goal, but that was honestly all she could do now. With it pressing an offensive this heavy she had no room to get away, and even if she did find an opening, she had no idea where to go in the first place.

Finally, one of the Avatar's attacks proved to be too much to dodge, forcing Leone to take it head on with her hands. She tried to twist the attack against her foe somehow and attempted to grab it by the wrist and let the force of the attack to take them both away in hope that would create an opening for her. No such luck though. As soon as Leone moved her hand to intercept the attack, Avatar's clanged fist turned into an open hand that pierced right through the palm of Leone's hand. The pain was strong, but not nearly as much of a problem as the one coming from her head and it wasn't long for Leone to try countering. She swung her other hand at the Avatar's head, only for it to be met with a swing of equal force. Before she could come up with anything better, the Avatar had sent her flying with a kick to the stomach. While Leone was still in the air, trying to recover, the Avatar had already closed in and kicked her again, this time sending her flying towards the ceiling. And once she reached it, the Avatar dissolved into the ground, immediately appearing on the ceiling above the lioness with both hands prepared to strike. Now, she was sent flying back to the ground, right next to one of the walls with two bleeding holes on her body. One along her lower spine, the other on the back of her head.

This was still not the end though. For the one final attack, the Avatar dived from above with it's leg extended towards Leone. That strike would prove fatal and as soon as Leone realized this a rush of adrenaline hit her and enabled her to roll away and get back on her legs. The shockwave that formed after the Avatar fell on the ground has sent Leone back, against the wall. Seeing that its attack has failed, the Avatar immediately moved in to follow it up with a punch.

Miraculously, Leone managed to jump away just in time to avoid being pierced through by Avatar's hand which smashed into the wall instead, sending another shockwave throughout the whole chamber. "...Struggling is... Fruitless..." Instead of attacking again, the Avatar simply stood there, facing Leone, it's fist still held against the wall. The lioness was barely able to bring herself back on her feet as the pain made her body feel numb, not even able to see properly. Shaking from the effort, she put her arms in a defensive stance, taking one step back and trying to recollect herself before an attack she could only wait for. Not that any of it would do much to protect her if such an attack actually came. "...No matter... What you do... You are... Already... One of us..." As if on cue, Leone felt as if someone set of a bomb inside her head. All the composure she managed to regain vaporized in an instant as she fell on the ground, screaming and holding her head. She could feel something moving inside, spreading itself throughout her brain and taking away her will bit by bit.

Almost as if she was looking through a fog, she saw the Queen's Avatar approaching her, carefully sizing her up, looking down at her. "...Your body... Is strong... It will be... A new... Vessel... For our will..." Leone suddenly felt something pull her towards the wall, dragging her over the slimy floor. She was soon partially sucked into the wall of flesh, completely immobilizing her weakened body. She struggled to break free with all she got, but all of her attempts were ceased in an instant with a single punch to the stomach. As the Avatar's hand pierced into her body, all Leone could do was fall limply, saving the last bits of her strength on keeping her mind her own. "...First... You must be... Processed... And then... You will be the... The final tool... In our quest... To free the humanity... From itself..."

With one last burst of anger, Leone's hand was freed from it's prison. It immediately accelerated towards the Avatar's face... But that punch wouldn't even make a children cry. It was weak. Pathetic even... Though the hate filled glare that accompanied it was anything but. "Go to hell... I'll wait for you there..." Never letting up on that glare of defiance, Leone was slowly absorbed into the wall of flesh, leaving the Avatar to stand idly in place, awaiting it's next order. However, unbeknownst to the Hive, as a silence filled the chamber, a single tear rolled down the Avatar's face and fell down between its feet. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Soon, more tears followed. "I'm sorry... Vel... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."


Song of the day: Icon for Hire – Off With Her Head