**Disclaimer: I do not own Zankyou no Terror or any of the characters in the anime. The title of the story is a lyric from the song "Von" by Yoko Kanno.**

Í Eilífri Hring (In an Eternal Circle)

Chapter II : White Sin

In the dead arcade lobby, Nine stretched back in a fold up chair. The beaten chair's surface seemed to punish his aching body even further. He rolled up the sleeve of his gray sweater. Trailing down his left arm glared 12 angry scars etched deep within his skin, not enough to kill, mere premonition. They were perfectly aligned horizontally no further than a centimeter apart and symmetrical to the other 11 scars on his right arm. It amounted to the 23 murdered children at the facility. Nine pulled out a Swiss army knife from his rucksack. He grazed it against his ulnar artery. This one would be vertical. Nine thought to himself.

"Don't do that." Said the voice of the girl with a sick spirit.

"You have destroyed everything." Nine accused.

Fragile, white wisps of hair danced across her thin face pallid and unreadable, making her way to Nine. "God Nine. You still haven't changed." Five whispered. "Always blaming others for your own mistakes." Her eyes were dead and yet had the life-force of one that could drain all of the light from a room. Her violet eyes held both darkness and light. Her white body the epitome of perfection and sin. She gently took the knife away from Nine. "Always blaming yourself for others mistakes." Five pointed to the self-inflicted scars on his skin.

"21...22... 23. Isn't that adorable? You're cutting yourself for the weak, dead children."

"They weren't weak, they were innocent." Nine replied darkly.

"Would they have wanted you to destroy yourself for them?"

"It's my punishment for surviving. They were murdered without a reason... cold blooded, senseless killings. No justice was served, so it can only be me-"

"Who cares?"

Nine finally looked in her eyes, angry at her selfish tone. He hated that his heart still beat for her after all these years. He trembled slightly under her intensity. "Do you think anyone explained why I was raped everyday? Do you think all those politicians, judges... all those men in prestigious positions in society served any justice while they were fucking me? I was a goddamn child!"

We all were. Nine thought bitterly. Five held nothing, but hatred for the dark memories resurfacing. "We just want to see your skin. Is it white there too and whatnot... Vile! Those disgusting, filthy monsters!"

"It's okay. You're safe now." Nine wrapped his arms around her, and Five dry-heaved, failing to vomit. "I would kill them..." Nine held her tighter and said nothing. "I would make it slow.. And agonizing enough they would beg for death... the way that I did." Nine just nodded his head. "I can't even cry you know. They took that away too. Never. I'll never forgive them." Five crawled onto Nine's lap. "Just one last time okay?"Nine hesitated, letting go of her shaking his head. Her voice full of pain, terrified and tired like her cold, sickened spirit. She was beautiful.

"Please one last time... make the monsters go away."

Nine's hands fell onto her cold body and for the last time made her warm.

An undisclosed amount of time later~

It was cold. That was the first of her realizations. The world... No, her world was gray. This is okay, Lisa told herself. This would just be like living with Mother. She was suffocating enough to suck all of the warmth out of her life. Lisa was used to being sucked dry of all she had ever wanted. There was a distant speck of light, so small Lisa had to squint to assure herself she had not imagined it. It was slowly getting stronger, brighter… blinding. The white speck of light had become so large and bright that even if she were to close her eyes, she could not ignore its radiance. These sensations reminded her of Twelve. He was cold at first and later warmed up to Lisa to the point of it almost feeling too much. It was like winter and summer converging.

Then it was wet. The sting of freezing water burned her skin. She lie naked and chained in a tub, submerged in ice water. She could not see a thing."Why do you fight it?" She heard a voice in the darkness ask. "Your friends will not come for you." Lisa could not recall where she had heard such an accent before. It was perhaps American? The cold made her brave or maybe her numb body made her dumb. Either way she was not afraid.

"...Nine."

"He wanted me to show you this."

There was the click of a button and a large flat screen television lit up. The picture was fuzzy at first, but her eyes adjusted after a moment. She recognized the setting as the arcade that her, Nine and Twelve were staying at. There were two people in what looked to be an embrace. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying. "Oh, you can't really hear it can you? Your senses should be shutting down at this point. I will make it nice and loud for you." It was the sound of Five and Nine having sex. Lisa was crushed.

"You see both he and Twelve were with Five the whole time."

"But… why?" Lisa choked out.

"But why not?" Another voice sang.

It was Five. She stepped out of the shadows as if she herself were darkness. "How are we feeling?" Five asked, placing her hand on Lisa's clammy cheek in mock concern. "Not dead yet?" Five motioned for the foreign man to come over. Lisa realized he was a tall, blonde American. "It's time our guest receive her warm welcome." Lisa's handcuffs were unlocked, the American man lifted her out of the tub of ice whist wrapping a towel around Lisa. "You will suffer." Five smiled at Lisa. "Only in death will you find release, that is when I am willing to give it to you." A button clicked once more and the television changed again.

"Lisa!"

The video was of Twelve, running down a long, winding hallway. Lisa stirred at the sound of his voice. "Yes, your savior has arrived." Twelve had reached the end of the hallway. There were five doors to choose from. "He has decided to betray Nine and for that he must die."