That woman's body hit the floor, sending chills up Izumo's spine.
She kicked about, wailing and screaming for life while the main scientist watched in glee, contrasting her terror with squeals of excitement until that died down along with the lady who tried saving Tsukumo and her.
When the only movement left was the woman's twitching body on the floor, all tension pinned into Izumo.
It felt as if every shadow there created a deep hole where her future awaited her, filling her with terror. Whatever she did, no matter how long she could plan on escaping, there was really no hope for her freedom, much less, a chance to see tsukumo again, was there?
Streams of tears ran down her face and dripped off her chin, now neverending at the thought of being in the same situation as that lady.
Even when his grating voice tch'd and started rambling on, it didn't matter enough to pay attention. Whatever those words meant stirred and blended until they appeared to fall dead to Izumo's ears.
She knew what he was explaining to her, believing every bit, but the words would not settle.
Not until he mentioned taking her mother's role as carrier of nine-tails did fear finally show itself with her scream.
He responded with fake wide eyes and sarcastic surprise in his tone then proceeded to mention searching for Tsukumo. When he realized Izumo's full attention was now at his hand, he offered up letting Tsukumo go on free if Izumo stopped resisting.
"R-Really?" she choked.
His smile poked her heart before memories of the woman from earlier, her mother, and a time where her 'family' was together, untouched, flowed in, squeezing at it completely.
Izumo placed her faith in others - that's why everything always fell apart.
That's why she always fell apart when things took a turn for the worst.
"I'll do what you say!"
She'd kill them all.
One day, when she's finally free.
They'd regret it all.
"Regret it all.." echoed Izumo through a soundless whisper.
Her eyes pierced at the scientist like needles to a balloon before he burst into fits of giggles.
"You should see how you look this moment!-" he waved -"I'm well aware you won't trust me or anyone here; it's obvious by your eyes."
Those maniacal features stared down at her.
"I'll promise you one thing: I'll make sure your report is a success since my higher-ups want results quicker than the time I want to spend exploring every feature of the unappetizing human body. Which means I'll have to prepare you for when your mother fails so everything works out much smoother than what your current stats suggest."
Then.. he burst into cackles.
"I hope you'll know that out of every person in this room, you'll be the most monstrous out of all of us."
Izumo trembled, tears never seizing.
Author's note:
Hey.. so.. I've been spending the latest months fighting myself to continue writing, and in the meanwhile, I've suddenly fallen into shipper hell. This was the outcome. This took me months to write. I hope some people take joy in reading it. Next chap is up tomorrow and the next will be up in the next century by my pace. (Joking)
Good day/night.