The Black Swan and The Aerial Assassin

This place was… Strange… Yuusui decided quickly after settling into things. Not so much because of its garish colour that looked more like a child's fingerpainting, nor the nightmarish labyrinth like layout that had already started to throw him for a loop several times. He could have sworn that he had passed by that set of decrepit double doors that were hanging on by a literal thread, at least once!

It wasn't even because of the debateable sanity of the staff. If he was being honest with himself, he was more than used to people above him barking inane orders and telling him to do worthless shit. In turn, it meant dealing with Fujinaga-sensei rather trivial. Or, so was his initial thought.

"Sooooooooo, Migoro-kun…" The clown drawled, balancing his chair on its hind legs, a smirk drawn across his face as a single playing card and its edge was pressed against the corners of his painted lips. "I would like to apologise for dropping you down in the deep end like that, Parasite told me what happened, and him putting you on the spot like that was rather distasteful of him."

Yuusui was sat with his shoulder hunched over, his body slumped in the shitty wooden chair that Subaru had given him. He wasn't particularly tall, he could already see Fukuro, Arius, and even one of the Twins as much taller than him, but that spoke nothing as to his general body type. He might not have been the tallest, but he was certainly much more developed and defined than one would reason for his height. It made him look so much bigger than Subaru, it was actually kind of comical.

"I-It's not a problem, Fujinaga-sensei…" With the way he was stuttering over his words, much like he had done so when he had had the interrogatory spotlight shone on him harshly by Hiroto and Oscar, one would've expected him to be undergoing much the same tell-tail signs of anxiety like he had done then. However, his face was sweat free, there were few, if any, wrinkles in his forehead, and there were no signs that his brows were going to furrow anytime soon.

"Ah, Migoro-kun, what did I say about the whole "-Sensei" thing~?" Subaru tutted, leaning his chair back down to earth and tapping on his desk with the card. "We'd rather not go around getting sued by suggesting we actually have teachers here, of all things to get sued over!" It was a trivial matter, something he had been told from above about how to frame himself that was passed onto the other staff members. The only one that could vaguely qualify for any kind of honorific like that was Sateriasis, and that was still a dubious claim at best with how Subaru found the new members after the white-haired male's hatchet job.

"O-oh! I'm sorry then… F-Fujinaga-san…" It felt foreign for Yuusui to say that, in a sense. It wasn't like everyone he had ever met would be referred to like he would want to refer to Subaru, no matter how many times they may have demanded him to do so. It just felt weird that, for once, someone in authority was actually being a bit deferential to him.

Still as he titled his glassy eyes up to take in the surrounding area and the man across from him, he sucked in a harsh breath. It was clear to him, having walked through many of the same areas the initial intake had, that a certain clown had been in charge of the colour co-ordination. The garish clashing of bright colours and dark ones like the vivid purple, yellow, and orange mixing with awful chemistry with the dark reds, black, and navy blue. Quite honestly, Subaru could've splashed a paint bucket about the place, and he would've gotten better results than what Yuusui was spying right now.

"Not a problem, Migoro-kun!" Subaru responded jovially, now propping his head up with his hands under his chin. "Either way, I wouldn't worry too much about getting adjusted to this place. It's just something that comes naturally, y'know? The others have only been here a few days themselves, so I wouldn't be all that concerned about fitting out, so to say. I think you're more than durable enough to handle."

That was at least reassuring to hear, although it did nothing to really sway Yuusui away from worrying about the looks of pure death he had received from a couple of his "classmates" already. Some of those glares were like hot fire against anything that wasn't sub-zero temperature, it felt like he was practically melting under the nuclear heat they had generated. He gulped at the idea of what they could do to him… He didn't need any more trouble like that, quite frankly. He was here to move on from that after all… From all those hazings…

"Oh!" Came a sudden exclamation from Subaru, starling Yuusui ever so slightly with his eyes only getting wider the more that the clown spoke. Something that was easily spotted and zoned within in Subaru's crosshairs in a moment's notice. "Before I forget, Niijima-sama mentioned to me that he spoke with your previous co-ordinator. He said that next time, if they ever choose to meet again of course, that he wants you to pass on that he would rather not have to spend time with "Greasy Sweathogs that would rather play with their dicks than bathe." Just a forewarning."

Yuusui released a breath he didn't realise he had been storing up, that didn't sound too bad… The implications, though, were something that were setting his mind aflame as he sucked in yet another deep, deep breath. Fujinaga-san had been told the full story… Right? D-Did the Foundation honestly expect him to-o… D-Do…

"Butttttttt, that's just in the event that Niijima-sama is unable to do it himself. Once more, I wouldn't put too much thought into it. Nishishsishishi~!" And there was that hyena like laugh of the pink haired man, sending uneasy shivers down the spine of the glassy eyed teen. Subaru couldn't resist the urge to smirk as his left hand found itself twirling one part of his hair that was now reaching down to the bottom of his chin, it had been too long since he had gone out…

And there was the second time that he released that breath, although this one was far heavier when it came out, his whole body practically heaving and slumping once it was all out of his system. No doubt, this whole conversation… There was something wrong with it, and he could just tell.

Still, Yuusui steeled himself, his body stiffening up before relaxing. The feeling of distress his body expressed being crushed down once he realised that there was little chance he could show this... Clown... Any of his weaknesses whether it be emotional, mental, or physical. That predatory look being tossed his way

The man in front of him didn't look like the canonical clown... but the way he carried himself suggested the manic or even sickening suggestion of safety real-life clowns would portray to children in those birthday parties he had heard about.

"Understood." Yuusui droned, finally speaking after a bout of intense silence and introspection so quiet that even the maddening ticking of a clock or the sound of shuffling cards couldn't make a dent in the absolute zero decibel level.

"That's wonderful!" Subaru exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air with all the dramatic flair that one had come to expect from him. Yuusui was rather lucky that his hands weren't full of cards, otherwise he was going to loathe having to play 52 card pickup for the psycho clown. "And, since you've been awfully helpful, and there's no scheduled class or training time, I think I'll help you complete your orientation now~!"

Jumping up to his feet with only the amount of pep that he could muster, Yuusui dragging his heels behind him, Subaru, grin on his face as always, led the new recruit down the many winding hallways and secret entrances of the Foundation.

Was he throwing Yuusui in the deep end? Perhaps. But, it wasn't like he was giving him any superfluous information that wouldn't be useful to him. It also wasn't as if he were dealing out all his secret pathways to him. Both of those would just be so tremendously silly!

Behind him, Yuusui was doing his best to try and keep up to pace. They were of roughly similar heights by the looks of things, Subaru wearing boots didn't do much to help that case, but Yuusui digressed. It just seemed like the pink haired adult was just that much faster than him and if was, frankly, a bit annoying.

Still, as he kept his distance behind Subaru, he, even now, couldn't grasp just what was setting him off about this man because there was so much to take in with Subaru's every movement and mannerisms.

Suddenly, he begun to miss the old man... maybe he was messed up in a way that he always wanted to go back to where he would most likely be treated like absolute garbage... all for the sake of homesickness.

Did that just make this whole experiment a humongous waste of time then? That he was wasting the efforts of the people that pushed to get him here? All that time… Just for him to immediately be ungrateful for it the second he met with the staff.

God… It made him…

Well, he didn't know what it made him feel… His face didn't feel any different, it wasn't like his eyes could emote anything but glassy blankness, and his body wasn't hunching over or breaking into a cold sweat at the threat of disappointing the people who had worked so hard for him to have this opportunity.

…It was that feeling of emptiness that he hated the most.

"Are you happy to be here?" Came the question, no mention of name or any warning that he was going to speak.

Subaru may have been leading the way, and his head might have been locked in front of him, but if there was one thing that most sociopaths were good at it, it was pretending that they were normal, functioning members of society. Taking out a card from his sleeve, the One of Spades to be exact, he carefully ran it across his free hand. The edges of the card morphing into sharp, dangerous edges.

Yuusui narrowed his eyes, sensing something in the whole tone of the man's voice. Once more, the exact detail of just what continued to elude him, and yet stuck to him like some kind of slimy glue that refused to let go of his body and being.

"... Are you happy to be here?" The bigger figured teen inquired as the skin on his hands started to ripple, a ripple so tiny and imperceptible that even he was able to fully clock the concept of it happening. In addition, there was a certain emphasis on the "YOU" part of the question, his already deep voice dropping down a few octaves in that instant. A menacing tone of his own deciding to break free from the self-imposed chains.

"I am as happy as I will ever be." Subaru responded, wiping at the stray pieces of makeup that were near his eyes for some reason. That was the last time he got his "daughter" to help him with this shit, cleaning up after her was getting frustrating at this point. He also decided to ignore the emphasis and the deepening voice, he knew very well what the dynamic here was. There was little chance that Yuusui was going to risk acting out… Under any circumstances. "I just like to get to know the students I'll be helping on the road to recovery, and ensuring their happiness is the most important thing." He ended with a shrug, acting like it was the most natural thing in the world for him to say. Which might have been true if his name was anything else bar Subaru Fujinaga.

Happiness… What a wonderful and cursed word that really was. In truth, it was Yuusui's fault for continuing the topic in the first place when he couldn't answer his own end of the bargain. Finding such a thing, even in a place like this that was supposed to be the gateway, seemed almost like a pipedream.

It could be something he lusted over for years, decades, centuries, and still he would be nowhere near the tippity top of the mountain that was bearing down upon him. Especially with the unbearable weight that he had self-inflicted upon his shoulders, not to mention his own silly fantasies that had no chance of coming true.

He was kidding himself if he believed this place could bring them back… But maybe it was better that way? To keep believing a childish dream where the pain actually meant something, rather than the cold harsh reality that sometimes… There really was no light at the end of the tunnel, it was just a continuous void of black.

"Imagine this card as a 2D plain, up and down, left and right, completely flat." Out of the void he had placed himself in, Yuusui jolted back into life with the arrival of Subaru's voice. His eyes zeroing in on the card held tight within the pink haired male's gloved grasp.

With sleight of hand so tight and so impressive to the inexperienced eyes of Yuusui, two more cards emerged from behind the one that Subaru had spent the walk sharpening. In another fluid display of graceful cardistry, it seemed like they had not only joined together but had also grown to an exponential size. "If plains are added together, a 3D object is formed."

Another flourish, and they had all been interconnected. The edges melding together like glue. "Three plains connected by one dimension. To see the backside of it, one must rotate a 3D object." Flipping the cards around, he then began to place them against each other, forming a kind of prism. "The triangular cylinder you see before you is constructed around the space. In 4D space, any 3D object can flow in or out." To Yuusui's amazement, as Subaru's free hand went inside, he plucked out a red, plush die.

Another moment passed before he pressed the cards back on top of each other, and rotated them whole again, leading to the exact same position backwards. "However, when this cylinder is reversed, it has no inside or outside." In a movement so destructive and fast at the same time, Subaru pressed into the sides of the prism and Yuusui watched as they faded into nothingness as if they were never there to begin with. "What happens within this space? It collapses."

"…I see…" That was about all Yuusui could say in that instance, he was very much impressed by the unique display of skill, he had never seen a card magician like this before, but there was little he could actually emote about. His lips were still pressed into a thin line, and his eyes, glassy as ever, were unable to show any kind of spark of joy in them. To Subaru, it would've very much looked like a dead zone of static behind the other's eyes.

"Pfft, kids are no fun these days, must be something in the fucking water… I swear…" And that was exactly what Subaru saw it as, placing a hand on his forehead and shaking his head, the light reflecting off the many, many piercings on his face. "Either way, Migoro-kun, we're finally at your dorm!" He perked up, slapping the door that was right next to him.

Yuusui blinked, tilted his head slight as he took in his surroundings. He was here already? He hadn't been with the others for long but overhearing one or two complaints had revealed how long it took to actually get to this place. Now, that could've easily been because he wasn't as injured as they were, but still, it was weird. It was something he resolved to place to the back of his mind, though, as he went up to the door.

Taking a deep breath, spying his name scrawled in both what looked to be English and in the Kanji that he was used to, Yuusui was ready to take the next step. Although, he couldn't help but notice how shitty the handwriting really was. Judging from the clown baring down on his neck, he had a rough idea of whom had written it in the first place.

Turning around, and bowing, which caused some of his hair to once again fall in front of his face, he spoke 'Thank you, Fujinaga-san… I'll do my best in my stay here. I promise." Internally, Yuusui cringed with his stilted and robotic he sounded, never mind how it sounded like he was questioning himself at the same time. He wanted to slap himself across the face for sounding so goddamn stupid! He just hoped that Subaru wouldn't mind... People in authority with short tempers… They could do many-a-thing wrong to him…

Much to his surprise, however, he found a hand patting him on the head. The grinning face of the pink hired adult meeting him as he brought his eyes back up to a level playing field. "Aww, don't you worry, Yuusui-kun! I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll do just as well as the others in your own test!" With a dramatic flourish of his coat, Yuusui soon found that Subaru was now on the opposite side behind him, a kind of speed he hadn't expected given how sore his neck was from swivelling around that quickly. "Until then!" And with a wave, the clown was gone by the next time Yuusui blinked.

The cloud that had seemingly been following Yuusui left soon afterwards, with the teen immediately finding it easier to raise his shoulders that had been sagging the whole time he had been speaking to Subaru. No longer did he feel any sweat beads as well, nor did it feel like he would need to get new kneecaps.

Turning the handle into the room, he sighed…

Subaru's ominous last words playing hard in his mind.

"YOUR TEST."

And from what he saw of the others after their 'test', good fucking lord was he not looking forward to it!

On the other end of the Foundation, Arius was just headed back from his long ass journey around the entire place that he was able to get into. Turns out, if the place was a maze upon mazes whenever Subaru was leading him around, Arius didn't get much further than before.

It just seemed like every time he was able to get through one of the hidden doors, he was just stuck running his hands over the next wall to find the one further down the chain. It was almost like looking for a piece of hay in a needlestack, not to mention the amount of dead ends he had run into over the course of his journey.

But, hey, what was so bad about that when you brought it down to a security level? While Arius would never doubt his own ability, it did help with the place being as tight on the security end as Fort Knox. It was unlikely, in his mind, that it was going to be as simple as a group of villains walking into the place within two weeks without so much as a peep from their "security system." That would be just fucking stupid!

Something that had been instilled in Arius had always been that kind of respect for the authority of security. That come what may, there would always be this layer above them protecting the chain of command whilst allowing the lower ranks to properly attend to their own self-defence. Quite frankly, it felt a little bit like home.

Ambling back to his dorm, a place he had already resolved to commit to memory to prevent himself from the likely embarrassing scenario of getting lost, he couldn't help but think about the class he had missed to go on his failed escapade. It was unlikely that there had been anything of great note, and he would be amazed if anyone there would be able to stand his guts following his little shows after the battles, then the kitchen scene that had seemed to make an enemy out of that fox kid.

Granted, it just seemed like he had a hate boner for everyone. Was it Arius' fault that he wanted to have a little bit of fun in what would usually be a stale situation? If so, shoot him. It wasn't like the end result was going to change at all!

At least there seemed to be a few… Agreeable people, if that was the right term to ascribe to them. He just had to see how the icebreaking time period would go, and then he could go from there. However, as it stood, sniping from the sidelines, and then observing would do for now. It would be an insult to his old man and the people who raised him if he didn't map it all out mentally, after all.

Placing his hand upon the door, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and make a small, perplexed nose as it opened itself with the most minimal pressure ever. Arius didn't remember if Subaru had told them if the doors came with locks or not, but he sure as shit knew that they weren't supposed to open when you fucking breathed in their general direction!

Without much further thought, Arius slammed the door open the remaining distance with his fingernails clawed around the hinges as his eyes scanned the room. Much to his absolute horror, it was a total, utter pigsty. It looked as if a hurricane had blown through it, any books were tossed everywhere, the shitty bedsheets and the like were torn asunder with the ferocity of ten thousand lions, and it looked as if someone had even been trying to rummage through his wardrobe considering the fact his clothes seemed to be strewn all of the place as well.

Needless to say, as he picked one of his shirts out from what he assumed was supposed to be a wastepaper bin, Arius was not a very happy man. In fact, from the way his teeth were gritted and how white his knuckles were turning, you could call him definitely some form of pissed off. It just depended on how much he was pissed off if the person that did this got to live or not.

"Fucking bastard…" He growled, trying to get everything back into place. He had spent quite a bit of time getting it up to his standards and everything set neatly in place, having to put it all back into place because of some inconsiderate jackass was going to be a real pain in the ass.

However, that was in the near future. There was something more pressing he had to check first. As he bent down to his knees, he reached underneath the bed. He was a lucky one, he had gotten one of the beds that wasn't attached to the wall like some kind of prison side shelf. But that was besides the point.

Running his hand underneath across the cold floor, and ignoring the build of dust he would have to blow away once finished, he could feel nothing but relief when his hand meet solid steel and he began to pull it out from underneath the bed.

To many, this small, steel lockbox was the most insignificant thing on the planet. Hell, there were probably ones out there, amongst the millions of them, that were of far more importance and held more material wealth with what they contained within them. However, that was all in the mud as far as Arius was concerned, you didn't need to put a price on this particular one. He'd sooner go through hell than let some dickhead get their grubby little fingers all over it.

Clutching it against his chest, there was no chance he was ever going to let it go again until he knew he was totally safe to do so, his eyes scanned the room again. He had to figure out who did this, because there was going to be real hell to pay…

The destruction was like an untamed tiger had decided to break free from its pen and rummage through his shit, it spoke to someone with an inherently violent fighting style or a very vicious disposition that just did it for the hell of it.

Fukuro was one option he chucked out of his head quite quickly, because there was no earthly way he could be the one to do this. Seriously? Him of all people? Sure, he had given Arius quite the beatdown, but that was just business being business in a time of warfare. The big guy didn't seem like he was even capable of putting across a bad word about someone, let alone invading their privacy.

Ani could have been one too, it certainly seemed to fit her MO. Her ravenous nature, and her frankly one note personality were almost dead giveaways for someone that just wanted to scapegoat any random sod. Whilst she did have a motive, she had tried to cut off his arm as far as Arius cared to remember, he heard she as one of the ones in the class. So, that theory had no legs. Same could be said for that fox fuck or the girl he fought, Hisumi if his memory wasn't failing him.

In the end, therefore, it left him with just one suspect. The only issue, however, was that he was still unsure as to why Joseph, the only option, would do something like this. Did he overhear what Arius had said about his fighting style and take it personally like he was some egotistical elite athlete? Or was it something else.

Slipping the box into his pocket, he walked over to where another object laid. It was here when Subaru first let him into this dorm, and he still hadn't quite made heads or tails of it. Lifting it up, he scrutinised it with careful eyes.

What was the object? A simple mask. In Arius' eyes, it really wasn't all that, but a standard passer by might have had their eye caught by it. It was certainly… Distinctive to say the least. It looked a bit worn down too, and the way it had been left in his room, pretty much upside down and tossed without care, wasn't doing the paint job any further.

It was circular in design, lacking a space in the top right above the eyebrows. It was mostly black but had two orange lines form a V pointing inwards from where the cheeks would be. It also had an extremely narrow orange visor in the form of a V.

Licking his thumb and then using it to rub off some of the dirt he was spying on the visor part, he kept rotating it in his hands. Honestly, it was nothing to really look at. He had seen better ones on his local Heroes back home, and even at that he had seen more impressive pieces of headwear in his old man's platoon.

Which is perhaps why, when the owner of said mask. finally emerged in the doorway, Arius couldn't help but be stuck between confusion and disbelief that someone was this angry over something like this.

"…I knew you had it… Bastard…" Joseph seethed, although the general monotone of his voice still hadn't gone away, making the tense situation even worse because it mixed in some kind of unnerving calm into the scene.

Arius, in his own right, didn't back down as Joseph moved in closer to him. Arius might have been taller by a good degree, he might have also had the sheer durability advantage, but Joseph was a wild beast if he was being honest with himself. His bones were already aching from the beating Fukuro gave him, so it wasn't like he was rushing to the front of the queue to get pummelled again. Even if he would win, which of course, was absolutely never in doubt. "What? This old thing? Eh, I didn't take personally, must've been mixed up in my stuff."

It was the only logical conclusion Arius could come to, since there was little doubt Joseph was telling the truth. It must've meant that it was either an honest mix up, or it was planted there by one of the staff members. Arius had his own sneaking suspicions about the last part, but it wasn't as if he was going to vocalise it to Joseph.

The energy demon didn't look like he was very interested in hearing what Arius had to say, not with the gradual turning of his skin colour from the milky white up to the hellish red. His eyes were firmly locked on the mask and the mask alone, Arius might have well been the most evil villain on the planet as far as Joseph was concerned. "Give it…!" He snarled as he spoke, his extended canines poking out in full force, am inherited brutality ready to emerge.

Arius, thinking on his feet, backed up slightly but also decided to make use of his decent height advantage. Holding the mask up into the air, he couldn't quite comprehend why he was going this far when handing it back was the simpler option, was it spite? Well, it didn't matter. He was in knee deep now, and he wasn't backing down. "Hey! Hey! Hey! I don't think so, Sparky! Not when you trashed my whole place lookin' for this stupid thing!"

…

Oh.

That had been the absolute wrong thing to say. Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven, Arius' mouth might have made him straddle the edge between danger and safety quite often, however, he had just crossed that line in the sand and pissed on it for good measure.

Joseph looked furious. It wasn't your normal kind of furious as well, where you might just get a good thumping between the eyes. No, this was "I'm going to murder your whole family, split them limb from limb, and then piss in their gouged-out eye sockets, you utter fucking bastard," mad. Arius hadn't poked a bear, he had poked the damn devil.

Melodramatic? Yes. But unless someone else was in this situation, Arius would page for them a much better descriptor!

In Joseph's mind, there was one goal and if he had to go literally through someone then so be it! He was getting that damn mask back, and then he was going to take his issue with the moron who had clearly felt the need to steal it in the first place! And that moron wasn't the absolute sack of dead meat standing in front of him as well!

Inching ever closer, his skin nearly fully turned into the demonic shade that seemed to complete his look to a tee, he was ready to chew through as many fingers, shards of flesh, and pieces of skin was necessary to get it back. He wasn't going to be a part of the tap dance Arius seemed to be planning with the mask hoisted in the air, did he honestly think that was going to do anything?! That utter moron! Joseph had gone through tougher opponents and challengers waking up than Arius had gone through his entire life!

However, just as soon as they were about to throw hands, because that was the inevitable reality that was going to come no matter what was going to be said. A voice broke through, digitised, and granulated, but one so distinctive that one would never mistake it for anyone else's.

To Arius, it allowed breathing space and allowed him to finally exhale that initial monster breath he had been holding.

To Joseph, it had just triggered something that instantly had him clutching the side of his head.

"Hehehehe! Electric Jellyfish-chan, Swordfish-chan, I would be willing to let this slide if this were any place else. Howeverrrrrrrrr~, not in the dorms! Why? Dunno, maybe because Hiroto-nii and I were actually involved in building them or something? Eh, who cares though, right? Oh… I guess Anglerfish-sama and Clownfish probable do! No one important or anything~!"

Through whatever means, Hideyoshi's voice was speaking to them. Not only was remarkably creepy in any normal sense, Arius felt gross just within the slimy leech's presence in person, but the fact he was watching them in their dorms. In the place that was supposed to be private to them and them alone!

"Oi! What the hell do you th-!" In fact, Arius was just about to raise this point, dropping the mask onto his bed, when he spotted just what was happening on Joseph's end of things. The red skin that marked the demon was beginning to fade, and not only that, but his posture also moved from that of a predator ready to pounce into that of a quivering prey as the buzzards surrounded it.

Out of the corner of his eye, the spiky haired teen could also spy the other's mouth moving, making vague sounds and muttering something indecipherable to Arius' golden-brown eyes. Never before in his life had Arius wished he had been a better lip reader than in that very moment.

"Hmm? Electric Jellyfish-chan…? Ah… Boss said this might happen. Oh well~!"

His eyes still watching Joseph's every little movement, Arius didn't have time to register how callous Hideyoshi's disregard truly was. Instead, his trained gaze picked up on the movement of Joseph's left hand, how it was almost straining over his neck, clawing at it as if he was suffocating on the oxygen itself. Meanwhile, his right hand seemed to be moving towards his face, almost like he was trying in a desperate panic to fasten something onto his face.

And, turning his head over to where he had dropped the mask on his bed, Arius had more than enough wits about him to figure out the surface level pieces of this traumatic puzzle.

Saying nothing, making sure to handle what he had regarded as a mediocre mask a handful of minutes earlier like it was a new-born infant, he slid it back to its rightful owner. Now, it was just a case of the waiting game.

In what must've been no more than a few seconds that yet seemed like a full agonising minute, Joseph's hand eventually found the mask and the rest of the action was elementary from that moment onwards.

"…Huh, interestingggggggggg…~"

Once more ignoring the slimy voice of the resident scumbag leech, Arius watched in silence as Joseph's breathing stabilised. To the outsider experience, it looked like… Well, Arius didn't quite know how to describe it. It seemed like a textbook version of a panic attack, but this was something else… Something that was definitely sinister to say the least.

"You're a real scuzzbag, you know that? And what the hell do you think you're doin' spying on us like this?!" Arius eventually spoke, totally indignant as he got back to the original point he wanted to raise. Although, he now had the added factor of looking down at Joseph, which was at least now breathing normally. Which was… Something, at the very least.

"Just my job, Swordfish-chan! You don't like it? I don't give a shit! You want a friend, go buy a dog! I'm just here for whatever Anglerfish-sama tells me to do!"

Oh great… As if Subaru wasn't a questionable enough authority figure, they had put literal scum of the earth in charge of surveillance. What was next, they were going to put an arsonist in charge of making sure this place wasn't set on fire?!

"Aww, just piss off, you slimy fuck!" His patience was already wearing thin from the whole situation since it began, but now he had absolutely no time to waste speaking to scumbags that wouldn't know class if it hit them like a five thousand pound concrete wrecking ball. Arius have been something of an asshole, that he could freely admit and he fucking loved it sometimes, but there was difference between being an ass and being low lying pond scum. "Why don't you go crawl back to what tadpole scum you crawled out of, huh?!"

"Eh. I've heard better. Hideyoshi out!"

"…Fucking typical…" Arius sneered under his breath as the crackling sound that had precipitated Hideyoshi's arrival sound out again, signifying his very welcome departure. Placing his hands on his hips and looking up to the celling, abstemiously to stretch out his stressed out back that had been kicked in multiple times already, when he was really scanning the white void to see if there were any cameras poking out, he let out another sigh. "…Fucking hell, Old Man… You really had to wish to send me here, didn't you?"

Leaning with his back now against the bed, Arius briefly shut his eyes in an attempt to regenerate some kind of calm back into his system. They were really making it difficult to support this place with all of his heart, weren't they?

The sound of shuffling nearby was what brought him out of that state before it could even begin to take hold, cracking one eye open with his trademark lazy smirk coming across his face, he spied Joseph making his way back out the doorway with the mask still firmly attached to his face. "You see, that's what happens when you try to rummage through my stuff, Sparky. Next time, think before ya act, okay? The walking trashbag, only spared you the humiliation of losing to me at the end of the day." Was it right to be cocky after he had seen what transpired? Eh, probably not, but as Arius shrugged it off in his own mind, there was no other state of mind he could rely upon.

In return for his words, Joseph sent a brief glance over his shoulder, the visor shadowing his face in its near eternity, making his eyes impossible to capture. "Don't touch my stuff next time." Came that same monotone voice that had threatened to turn him into a human shish kebab, it really was comical to the point where Arius let out a breathy laugh at how Joseph could make life ruining torture sound so mundane.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. My shit's wayyyyy better anyway! Speaking of, I gotta get back to sorting everything out, see ya around!" With that declaration, and Joseph's non-committal grunt as he left to go to wherever he new planned on heading, peace was restored to Arius' room.

Now, if only he could say the same for the work, he was going to have to do for putting everything back into place.

"…Fuck's sake…"

He supposed that pair of underpants sticking out of the toilet was going to be a good start…

Kagekatsu was just having one hell of a time, thank you for asking! He was having soooooooo much fun here, couldn't you tell by his wide toothy smile and with the eagerness he used to jump into every single task that was given to him? He just loved how he had been used as a ragdoll and then had his fucking clothes being examined by the same people as if he were some kind of porcelain dress-up doll.

Sure, he knew he was handsome, he couldn't help but be aware of that fact as it was likely his personality was ever going to draw someone in, however, being ogled like that had really struck a nerve in the fox boy. It wasn't his fault that quality fabric and clothes that didn't look like they had been put through a shredder attracted louts, they didn't look like they had had a fresh change of clothes in fucking years!

Mei… That girl was the worst fucking offender there. Being so fucking touchy with his kimono, asking stupid questions like where he got it from, why he wasn't wearing it when he first got here, and how expensive was it. The first two were about the most pointless and redundant things he had ever heard said to him. Was that being a bit hyperbolic? Yes. Did he give a shit? No. The third question, though, he didn't like the gleam in Mei's eyes as he estimated the approximate value. Something wasn't right there, and he felt like there was definitely an air there that he needed to clear up eventually.

As he finally sauntered back to his dorm, he had been very careful to ignore the calamity he had heard coming from where Arius and Joseph were threatening to square off earlier, on top of being careful to avoid the latter of the two who was passing by the other way. The less he concerned himself with dealing with the fights of petty morons, the better. He had done that one too many times in his life already, and if he wasn't in the shape then, the chances he was going to be in the right shape now were less than fucking zero.

Pulling the door open, he soon found himself face first on the bed with his head buried deep into the pillow. Any kind of footwear, as if he was ever interested in it, was kicked to the wayside as he tried his best to gain some kind of warmth in the ice-cold room. Just stepping on the floor, if he was being honest, was like dunking your whole body into liquid nitrogen just because you were bored and just felt like it.

Apparently, it seemed like they were too cheap to even afford central heating. Really doing a good job of making him feel like he was finally out of prison, weren't they? Sadistic sociopaths, unstable people are his age range, shitty food, and a "dorm" so cold that he might as well have gone of to Antarctica and buried himself in ice like Frankenstein's monster.

What had he actually been thinking?! He had already been shitting himself out of fear the second that goddamn vampire had sat the opposite side of him, as much as he would like to forget that little episode as something totally out of character for him. Either way, it had meant that before he could even think of through the consequences of his decision, he was dumped back in his cell and then dropped off in the mud in front of this place. If he was being perfectly honest, as his tail battered the mattress with furious vigour, it made him look like such a chickenshit in front of someone with actual authority.

All he had really done, when he got to the straight and narrow of it all, was that he had traded cold steel and degradation walls for a soul sucking white void of steel and concrete. It honestly felt like he was in some kind of secret medical facility, that it was some kind of secret government stich up, where they were all be sedated, having their mind blanked, and then being experimented on every waking moment of the day.

Was he being melodramatic and hyperbolic again? Absolutely, but that didn't mean he couldn't possibly think about the ulterior motives that were swirling around this place. If it were something like a reform school run by sane and sensible people, then maybe he could understand why they were all gathered here. Instead, it seemed to be, as he had already surmised, filled with the dregs of society and utter fucking psychopaths.

It didn't take some kind of enhanced smell in order to sniff that something was up with this whole fucking place.

Rolling over onto his back, silky yet stringy hair spread out across the mattress and his ears twitching about like no tomorrow was to come, it brought Kagekatsu's thoughts right to the offending article. His back…

Inked on there was the worst choice he had made his entire life, flexing his hand, which had been made stiff from its lack of use and the general damage he had withstood from Hisumi, he couldn't help but stare at his chipped nails and calloused fingers.

He wasn't going to be some sappy pussy who moped inwardly into himself with crap like "Oh! Woe is me! I am scared of the monster I once was!" or some random goddamn psychopath, a lot like what was probably the case with that fucking dickhead Arius, by going "Yeah, I did it, so what?! Are you going to cry? Yeah, go on, Baby, cry!"

Kagekatsu Nakamura was neither of those two kinds of people. Not the person who let it dominate his life and demand sympathy. Not the man who would run past it and own it as if it was something to be proud of. There were too many wimps in the first category, there were far too many absolute dickheads in the second.

Yet one thing that was a constant between all three of them… No matter when the time was told, they would all pay the toll in the end. It would be different in every case, of course, not everyone was in the same situation as he was, but the inevitability remained.

Given how he had ended up in prison in the first place, and his first mental breakdown when he had stepped foot in this place initially, his own beliefs on what this place was hadn't changed. Just because he was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for the time being, and that time was already wearing very thin, it didn't mean he wasn't going to keep his wits about him.

That vampire… he seemed to know exactly what had gone on that got Kagekatsu into the desperate position to accept the help in the first place. Coming almost to the day of the anniversary as well…

Dropping his hand to his side, he snarled. He hated how cynical this whole deal was, his other hand now covering his face and pinching the bridge of his nose as a result of his rambling mess.

It was just so… exasperating to be living like this. To wish for better at this point was only natural, but was there really any kind of light at the end of the tunnel?

As he turned back over in the bed, not bothering to removing his crinkling clothes, Kagekatsu waited for sleep to pull himself into the one world where his dreams could come true. Even if it was only just for a single, fleeting moment before the destructive reality settled back in.

Haru didn't know where he was…

He had spent the waking moments after he had found that thing just in total shock, he was refusing to call it a body because there was nothing there that would suggest it even being close to a human cadaver anymore. Of course, trying to move on gammy legs was a losing battle, however, what turned from moving in quicksand turned into a psychological minefield mixed with walking up shit creek without a paddle.

His whole body shook, the trickles of the molten hot blood that had swam up his legs was starting to take effect too. He could just feel the encroaching burns, slithering and scorching his skin like they were meant to be there in perpetuity. The fact that it was still boiling and bubbling even as he walked into it meant just one thing, second degree burns at best, third degree burns at worst. Knowing his luck, it was going to be the latter. It always was…

It wasn't until a voice called out to him that he finally took stock of where he was.

"You. Tell me what you saw."

The world coming into focus alongside him, the white walls of the Foundation entry way and the incredibly colour clashing spectrum of the room they had first been lowered down into acting almost like a kind of safety blanket. As he sat up, not even realising that he was laying down in the first place, he was surprised to find himself in the infirmary, the shock from the event dissipating as he saw the person standing right across him. The owner of the place that said it was going to heal his broken heart, Kyte Niijima. The vampire Quirk user as poised and composed as ever, just like the first time they had met.

Even then, Haru couldn't help but evert his gaze from the elder man, his singular visible eye just tearing away and looking at the ground. The less he had to look at people, the less that image would hopefully come to mind. He had seen a lot of destitute people, people with nothing left to lose doing horrific things for the sake of finding a reason to live. However, he had never seen something that level of violence, it had redefined the definition of the word to him.

Kyte folded his arms, trying to extract information from sweathogs always proved to be a hassle at the best of times, and like pulling teeth at the absolute worst of times. Lord knows how many hours of his life had been wasted when talking to them, he had far better things to be doing that trying to talk to people that wouldn't react to him. Still, with what had been told to him once Haru was dropped off at the Foundation after being found at the scene of the crime, it wasn't like he could simply ignore him as he may have wished to do.

Really, if it had been described any other way to him, he would have either Subaru or Sateriasis do this job. Maybe even Hiroto and Hideyoshi, but then again, he wouldn't wish that on anyone, not even his worst enemy in the whole wide world. "Are you going to talk to me or are you going to ignore me. I'm a busy man, Sweathog." Kyte said, breaking up the long pause from the first time he spoke.

Haru felt compelled to look up, not quite sure as to why, but as he put his eyes back on the blue haired vampire, he couldn't help his mouth from moving beyond his control "…I dunno what it was…" He mumbled, looking back down at the floor as soon as he was done. The overwhelming presence of Kyte, however, was not something that one could easily ignore.

Said adult sighed, pinching the bridges of his nose and closing his eyes. Tapping his foot on the ground, syphoning out unholy thoughts about what he could do to this worthless excrement in front of him, Kyte brought out the most important object pertaining to this conversation. "If you tell me just one thing, Sweathog, tell me this. Did you notice anything out of place?"

Well, where to start with that? Some sardonic, sarcastic side of Haru wanted to quip about the fact that dead bodies in the middle of a public place, no matter how seedy, were generally out of place. However, the cold, logical side of him knew better than to make light of the situation. Especially with a man like Kyte across from him.

Doing his best to search through the memories, and cringing all the while as he did so, hands turning white on the side of the bedsheet he grabbed, because reliving that was not something he wanted to go through ever again, something, finally, stuck out to him. "Numbers… There were numbers on the back…"

And that, that got Kyte's attention right away. Gone was the clearly exasperated Vampire Lord, and in was the very interested and trained red eyes that scanned over Haru like he was a canary that had found a diamond down in an abandoned mineshaft. Within mere seconds, Haru caught sight of something that looked very important. The same black binder that Kyte demanded to be given during his last meeting with Sateriasis and Subaru, and with how the blue haired male was clutching at it like grim death Haru would be an idiot not to think it important.

"Would you care to state what they are?" Kyte flipped to the middle of the binder, the putrid smell of the thing as it was swung open almost knocking Haru for six before he could even answer the question. There was a quiet kind of intensity now settled into the conversation, the snappy, curt speech, while something that could be expected from a man like Kyte, swerved the atmosphere a hard right.

Going back to searching through his memories for that answer, his gag reflex having to be put into overdrive as he tried not to irritate the owner of the Foundation by blowing chunks all over him as he tried to recall every detail he could. Once more, even thinking about the state of the thing was a tall order. However, through the flaming memory of it all, he finally managed to dredge up the numbers. "It said… 15… 21…"

A silent Kyte's eyes went down to the binder, a pen being pulled out at blinding speed to note down that crucial comment. Within mere seconds of doing so, he was up on his feet and already turning to leave the infirmary. The less he had to spend in this place, the residue of blood overwhelming every time he walked in here, the better he went about his day. "I appreciate your memory, Sweathog." Stopping at the door, and clutching the binder tight to his chest, the Vampire Lord cocked his head backwards "As for what you're doing next, you're to stay in here until I say you're allowed to come out, do you understand?"

Normally, Haru might have forced an objection. The way his right hand clenched into a brief fist before jerking back into an open palm, and the way his eye briefly narrowed, spoke a lot as to his internal temperament, but once more he wasn't going to fan the flames even further. Especially when he was in no position to back up his words, like he had done so many times before. "Yes, Sir…" He etched out, tearing his eyes from the man, and placing it back down on the floor.

"Good." Came the curt reply from Kyte, his lips pressed into a thin line and his face betraying no emotion alongside those steely eyes that never shook or wavered for even a moment. "Hideyoshi will be in contact with you shortly, from there, he will bring you to someone that will be able to assist with making sense of what you saw."

Oh, what joy… As Kyte left him to be, slamming the door with his foot on the way out, Haru couldn't help but think one thing. Beyond the fact that he would have to deal with Sateriasis and Hideyoshi on a daily basis from the looks of things, and that he wouldn't be able to work anymore for the time being. That left just one thing that was pertinent.

What was he going to do now?

Lucky for him, it seemed, the message at the moment hadn't been passed on to a one Sateriasis Fauser just yet. Instead, he was much too busy trying to manoeuvre the state of mind he found himself in.

"Hideyoshi, over here." Sateriasis said, motioning for one of the twins to come over to his side. His voice was back out of its disturbing falsetto which seemed to only be a feature of his Quirk whenever the makeshift nurse decided it would be. There was also just the slightest hint of exasperation seeping into it. Something that could only be a natural course of actions when dealing with his assistants.

Following the orders, the more extroverted of the twins came next to Sateriasis with a big grin on his face and his shark like teeth poking through in droves. He was still holding the bag that had been tossed his way just a few days prior, although it was now looking noticeably lighter than before. "Yesssssss?" He said, mimicking his boss' manner of speech with the additional hiss of a snake to drive it home.

Closing his left eye and crossing his arms over his chest to refrain his idle hands from doing something he might regret, the white-haired man sighed "Where's Hiroto? I need him to do something for me." A very simple order and question, something that even someone like Hideyoshi should be able to handle without much fanfare.

But of course, it wasn't going to be as simple as that if Hideyoshi's Cheshire-like grin was anything to go by. He had known these pair of parasites for nearly as long as he had known the rest of the parasites in his life that served him in a different way to Hideyoshi and Hiroto, none of those years were enjoyable in the slightest. "Oh? Hiroto-nii? He was busy talking to Niijima-sama last I heard! Not really sure where he is now, lost him on the cameras… Oh, now that I think about it, he's probably still harassing Octopus-san."

Sateriasis ran his hand down his face, he didn't quite know why, out of all the people in the world, it was always Hideyoshi that ended up clinging to him like a monkey. The taller of the twins just had this kind of fascination with making things as difficult as possible with people. The white-haired male often mused that he must've been spending too much time with that clown, and that he just liked being difficult on purpose. "Just go and make him aware, I'd rather not deal with him complaining that he was blindsided again." He finally came out with, directing traffic so it would jam up later and cause him even more stress. Would you believe that white wasn't the colour of his hair when he first started here?

Hideyoshi grinned, teeth glinting in the low laying light. "Sure thing, Boss! I'll make sure Hiroto-nii is made well aware when Anglerfish-sama comes back!" Tugging at his gloves, and then tossing one more innocent look towards his "boss", one of the much-derided Hirudinea twins was off to join up with his other half…. Lord have mercy on the world and the person who had the misfortune of running into them next.

Watching the retreating back of his assistant, Sateriasis shook his head, rubbing at his temples. What was all this hassle really over? Why was this the year, out of all years, where Niijima-sama decided to break with his own rules? They had gone through six classes over the past twenty years, each with the same number of members and everything had gone fine.

Turning on his heel, he walked down the halls without a clear destination in mind. Scratching at his skin, his Quirk deciding to flare up at the worst time much like it usually did, the make-shift nurse scoffed at the suggestion that just entered into his mind. He just… Really needed to go some place now. Somewhere where he didn't have to deal with someone with as annoying a laugh as Subaru, and somewhere where he wouldn't have to deal with the risk of falling back into that seedy crowd that would rather play with their dicks than bathe.

As that invasive train of thought steamrolled into his mind, he shoved it out just as swiftly. It was no use complaining about things that couldn't be changed. He wanted to get back to wondering why now was the time, out of all times, for a new member. Sure, were they always successful at first? No, and Sateriasis wasn't going to be the man lying about that. It sounded much more like something Subaru would do in order to save his own hide.

Still, the whole concept was so damn foreign to him. It just meant, until he could find someone with actual medical competence, because it didn't look like that person was waking up any time soon, he would have to add another person to the list of people he butchered the surgery for. This was only supposed to be a temporary job as well, so learning on the job was just something he was expected to do until the professionals came in. And yet, there was little movement on that front, and he would be lying if his hair didn't get just a little bit whiter from it all.

But alas, work was work, and he had little to no control over what he was supposed to do. When one owed a favour to those that were more powerful than oneself, it was a zero-sum game if you chose to be foolish and rise up against your betters. He could complain to Niijima-sama, but the result would never change.

Stepping out into the dimly lit midnight, traces of smoke from some nearby bar making him almost gag as he breathed in, Sateriasis walked off into the night. Where was he going specifically? Well, he wasn't sure. But he'd find a way… He always found a way…

Certain places were, naturally, off limits for a person like him. For instance, bars. Niijima-sama made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that none of the staff were to ever come back smelling like alcohol or even the slightest bit tipsy. Of course, there was an exception for one person, but that was the exception that proved the rule and Sateriasis would rather chop his own hand off than deal with Niijima-sama's wrath.

It wasn't like he was a fan of those places, though. He had kicked that filthy addiction out of his system years ago, knowing that all it did was make him a ticking timebomb. On top of that, from the few stories he had heard from other people, there were Quirks that could control alcohol in people's systems and use it like a puppet's strings. Frankly, he didn't want to imagine what that looked like.

Nor did he even want to entertain those thoughts any further as well, what was with him and deciding to go down train of thoughts that were the most useless things in the whole world tonight? Was he really that rattled by a break in routine?

Walking through the streets with his head down, hand over his mouth to make sure he didn't accidently inhale the brunt of the hideous cloud of second-hand smoke that had collated before him, he just had to keep walking…

The longer he spent thinking about pointless things, the more he risked a reversion to that brutish state of nature he had found himself in before the Foundation. For the sake of everyone at the Foundation, it would be for the best that they only dealt with one resident head case in that fucking clown rather than two.

Hacking up his lungs as he came out of the cloud, the disgusting ash mixing with the clean air in a disgusting concoction, he powered onwards. He was still nowhere close to figuring out where he was actually headed, and now had half a mind to just walk back to the Foundation and make sure his parasites weren't messing things up on purpose to make things more difficult for him.

However, just as soon as he was debating about whether to bite the bullet, the gun had already been shot for him with a voice he was loathed to hear under normal circumstances. Although, there was always an exception that proved the rule…

"Wandering around so late? That's not quite like you, Fauser." Clarity… Fucking finally there was clarity in his mind. It wasn't the type he wanted, but history was full of little concessions and removing that pain from his ass was going to go the distance in the long term. Plus, she didn't seem to be in one of her moods as Hideyoshi had so eloquently put to him a year back or so.

At least she didn't sound like an outright maniac for one, he could deal without having to look over his shoulder every time someone spoke to him. "Needed to get out, having to listen to all the shouting is a pain in the ass at the best of times." He muttered, seeing no need to ham his voice up again, he was much too tired for that shit. "Although, if you take your eyes off me for a second, you sitting here of all places is much less of a shock. Flaunting the rules only gets you so far in life, y'know?"

"Get off my back, Fauser. Got a little distracted and missed one of my allotted times." Came the snappy reply as Sateriasis dragged his feet over to the location in question, covering his nose once more in a pitiful attempt to not have to smell the drunken masses.

Bars like these… He could tolerate, so long as he was under every reassurance, he wasn't going to spend anything more than a handful of minutes at any given moment.

He already fairly repulsed by alcohol in general, he didn't need to have that own internal monologue again for a couple days, but he was plainly disgusted as he squeezed his lithe yet tall frame in between the dividers and onto the worn down, colourless leather stool.

"If Niijima-sama catches you, and you know he will, I'm not going to stitch your limbs back on this time."

"If it's anything like you did to those kids, boy, I'm real lucky then." She blew off his threat like it was nothing to her, whether it was Dutch courage or some kind of foolish bravado from experience Sateriasis was still unsure.

"Asking the guy who usually wields the hatchet to do the job of fixing the scars is like asking an arsonist to put out a fire." Sateriasis mused, tapping his fingers on the bar-side table. He really should've brought his gloves with him, because he could already see the appalling amount of grime he was picking up on his usually pristine nails. "But hey, at least I did my end of the job. Same can't be said for all of us."

Raising an eyebrow, the woman put down the glass of wine she was about to sip from. "I'll have you know, Fauser, that some of us are still doing work behind the scenes to make sure everything goes smoothly amongst the staff too. Those profiles don't make themselves, just so you know." She replied, hands going up to make sure the bun she had placed her chestnut brown hair into was still in place.

"Hiroto does most of the work for you, for fuck's sake. Pack it in, Shion." Sateriasis sneered, placing his free hand up against the side of his face. His already messy bangs obscuring his eyes even further, casting an almost half-shadow over them.

The now named Shion, Shion Amamiya to be exact, remained calm and collected even in the face of her snarling colleague. A few days away had dulled her to just how screwed up some of these people really were. "Just reminding you, Fauser. Just like establishing the basis to work from, you know? The boss and I have been busy as well, it's not as if your little parasite does all the work, is it?" She said, now taking the time to take that sip from the delicious wine she had been desperate to take for the past few minutes.

"Because the last time someone left you alone to do the work went so well." Came the rather dismissive reply of Sateriasis, who had now taken to looking down to his phone where he was now typing away a storm to no one in particular. It was another few minutes before he finally tore his eyes away from the screen and back up to the wine drinking woman, missing the fact that that comment had caused Shion to flinch just ever so slightly. "Either way, there's a new poor hen in the fox's den. You might want to get your hands on him early if you can help it. The clown has already decided to stick his nose in again."

Hearing that last part, Shion let out a long, dragging sigh. The wine glass was back at her lips soon after. "So that's what has gotten you all twisted up in knots? Jesus, Fauser, if the boss can't control Fujinaga, what chance do you think I'm going to have? I'm a professional, not a miracle worker."

Sateriasis shrugged, holding his hands up in the air. "I don't know how you'd do it; I'm just telling you before you start complaining that the Clown has fucked someone else up. I'll swear it on my grave, no one's the same after having spoken to him."

"Want to place a bet on that?" Shion perked up, smirking and deciding to have a bit of fun with the very clearly stressed out Sateriasis. However, before she could incur any of his wrath, she was already waving him down "I kid, I kid, just trying to lighten the mood a bit! Anyway, I'll see what I can do. Might just have to talk to Fujinaga myself to test your hypothesis…"

The makeshift doctor said nothing, just glaring at the other with his top lip curling up into something of snarl. Maybe the whole mindless wandering alone with his shitty thoughts was better than talking to this bitch after all? Ah, Jesus Christ, what the hell was wrong with him today?!

Calmly watching Sateriasis, Shion was also in the boat of saying nothing at all. It wasn't like anything she said was going to be particularly useful at this point, her colleague, on a very obvious level that even a total moron could figure out, was stressed to the nth degree. She, herself, couldn't help but think it trivial, but watching the opposite thought process play out in front of her. These kinds of divergences were always so… Interesting, as would be the very general way of putting it.

And a new kid, huh? Well… That was another nose to the grindstone then! She was going to have to get busy when she got back to the Foundation! Initially, she had planned on a very segmented and almost regimental approach to these kids for their sessions, but maybe… Just maybe… A little bit of retooling was going to do both parties the world of good.

"Watcha watching?" Either way, that was a future problem as she heard a particularly interesting piece of audio coming from Sateriasis' phone. She had been graciously left free by Kyte earlier today, and she was going to use that time to the fullest in order to relax. No use going grey when you were only thirty-two years young, was there?

Regarding her with another glare, hating himself for forgetting to bring earphones or headphones with him, the white-haired male relented after the few seconds of awkward silence had settled. "There's some short of performing arts show on, been wanting to watch it for a bit. Was supposed to be headlined by some guy called "The Holy Dark Emperor: Mephisto", but he's no showing for whatever reason. Some replacement, Black Swan or whatever, is replacing him."

"And you just want to watch it to see the whole thing fall apart, don't you?" Shion answered, levelling Sateriasis with a deadpan expression that grew to be very much justified whenever she saw the look that crossed the other's face.

"If I speak anymore, I'll get in trouble." Was all that spilled from Sateriasis' lips, all the conformation that Shion needed.

Shaking her head as Sateriasis went off into his own world, she drew the last millilitres of liquid from her glass and gave one last lick of her lips to pick up any of the remnants that dared to try and escape her inevitable clutches.

One thing was for sure though, in her mind, she would enjoy speaking to this new recruit of the Foundation very much. Right alongside the first member she had planned to speak to at the start, they were sure to get on like a house on fire!

The world's stage was such a wonderful place, the big show that was simply his destino. It was what he was entitled to, it was where he belonged. In front of millions, his eternal grace and elegance would live forever. Something that would burn bright for a whole age. Never once stopping, even if an age was at its end.

What he had to do to achieve it, however, was a different story. How he had to fight, struggle, scrap, and claw his way to the tippity-top of the mountain! All of that… It would make for an excellent story, even if it was the furthest thing from the truth. The only thing that could possibly make it even more fake would be if he spoke about how amazingly humbling the journey was, sometimes it was such a joy to see the troglodytes eat up his words like they were the sweetest things known to man.

The idea, in many cases, was more powerful than the man. You could easily lead a horse to water but making it drink was another story altogether, lesser men would struggle in that case to overcome such an obstacle.

But in some cases, the elite few, and more importantly as was his case, it was the man that was more powerful than the idea. A shining beacon of the new era. One that lived forever as the buzzards circled the carrion around him.

Ad majora natus sum

He was born for greater things, not like the rest of these useless peons. Not like the people he worked with on a daily basis, not like the people who believed they could look him in the eye and not bend their knees directly after, and not like the people who would overlook him. He would never be like those people; they were lower than human.

Weakness like that, it was something he could never dare to taint himself with. He was a prodigy, the future, and he wasn't going to be buried under the pile of useless trash that they claimed to be better than him. He was barely into his 20s, his 21st just under a few months away, and he was already better than people with more "experience" double his age.

But, in the end, who cares about weaknesses? If you can make your strengths so strong… It's impossible for any little piece of self-doubt to survive. Crushing them under the sheer force of will before using that strength to obliterate all who may defy you.

Holding the mask that grew to define him on the stage, fingers cupped within the eyes as he raised it aloft to the heavens, he swayed about the room. The light glinting off of the cracked reflective surface, swirling around in a graceful beauty as his body moved with practiced and exquisite steps.

Did they think the fire in their eyes, as limp and putrid as it was, full of sound and fury but meaning nothing at the end of the day, made them a tiger in disguise? A ferocious beast, chomping at the bit and circling around him like vultures waiting for him to kick the bucket?

They could circle around him all they wanted... If they lined themselves up, he would knock them all down and that would forever be the bottom line. His radiance, brighter than the Morningstar, would burn them all to ash before even a lick of their useless flames tried to dance over his skin.

Passionless puppets of eternal darkness, that's all they really were. Beings that no longer could reflect the light.

As he slid and flowed with graceful agility between every little motion needed for the perfect performance, it brought about a certain train of thought to his mind. Trying to wrap his head around these useless, mentally deficient, inbred trashbag puppets.

One of his illustrious compatriots as he had been told to describe them as, whether he liked it or not, often talked about this little thing called sacrifice. About what one had to give up something of equal value for whatever they wanted to get, or in the more often case, persevering through enormous hardship in order to maybe scrape just past that status quo. To make them believe they had actually achieved something…

What an illness of the mind.

Sacrifice, he had been told, could only be achieved properly through the spilling of blood as if a holy sacrament. Blood alone would move the wheels of history once more, just like it had done decades, centuries before he was even allowed to grace this disgusting country with his presence.

His sacrifice was difference, he had tossed aside and dropped everything he didn't need anymore. People who could not recognise what they had, didn't deserve to be able to attain it in the first place. That wasn't a hard concept to grasp, he would've thought, but continuous slating from hicks and bimbos destroyed the solitary positive assumption he had of them.

However, why was that his problem?

If it was him against the world, then number one was what he had to be.

Bringing the mask back down to Earth, he paused in his routine. The music still a backing track in his head, but his body no longer registering the tune.

If there was one thing, a single thing in the sea of garbage opinions the others had, he could agree with it was that that pest done away with the past day had sacrificed nothing. That is why they had to be tossed aside to the dustbin of history, and the Exalted one had told him a fun little fact.

There was another member of the family… One who had given up even less and yet acted like he had been blacklisted from existence. A life so forgettable in the grand scheme of things, and yet the target in question acted like they were a victim of special circumstances.

Twisting his wrists, pain shooting up through his nervous system as he tried hard not to grimace, he pushed his ebony hair back and slid the mask into his face.

There would be a time and a place for everything, because when the goal was to live forever, what was an extra few weeks or months to the tally?

Everyone would fall to the Aerial Assassin eventually.

As had been gifted to him…. As was his God given right… As he stepped out to the world stage… This was his takeover…

This was his moment!

A/N: Yeah, there was another delay here. Nothing too special, got to celebrate my mum's birthday, watched and though the new James Bond film was the most average film I've seen, and also started university back up and get to enjoy a four hour wait on a Tuesday between classes (I'm having a blast, can't you tell?)

Either way, I'm glad I was finally able to get the chapter done. I hope to pick up the pace a bit from now on, considering that most of the characters have now being introduced proper to the story. Speaking of that, I was a bit dumb the last chapter and didn't point out that Oscar was sent into me by Mei's Submitter, KaousuShin. Similarly, Shion was created by Akashi's submitter, Stylish Descent.

That's all I want to say for now, until I update next time. Which I HOPE will be the end of the month, provided I get the time.

Tick Tock.