Chapter: 3
Life. What does it truly mean? Is it meant to be a wonderful thing that we all have the capacity to enjoy, a series of give and take between right and wrong? Or is it something we are meant to suffer through before we can truly find happiness? Perhaps it is all just one big game being played by some all-mighty being. It could even just be one big dream that we all have a part in.
These thoughts and more passed through the head of one Shiage Kotomori as he sat in a stone room in the lowest layer of his 'father's' lab. Those very same thoughts were the only ones keeping him in his right mind. He had long since lost interest in counting the bricks while waiting in this horrible place.
26,341 in case you were wandering.
The only bright side he could see was that he was no longer being probed and experimented on. However that small light of relief was always crushed when he remembered why.
Subject Zero was a success and now numbers one through nine were being gathered and put through the same processes he had been through.
The boy was still being put to use in other ways as it was. They always had some sort of test setup to make him use his new abilities.
The last was a serial killer.
They let him keep his weapon.
Not that it mattered in the end, he was just like the rest. A new stain on the ground that would be cleaned later, and a new pile of mushy meat that could never be truly identifiable again.
When Shiage first began he was appalled by the very idea of what he needed to do. As he continued the feeling lessened until the boy felt nothing towards the life that was systematically cut down.
He always felt them, even when they were not present. His 'gifts' as they were so lovingly called by the staff. The pink eyed boy still didn't know what to call them, they were never named in any of his sessions.
He knew that if he ever had the chance he could escape this hell hole with nary a thought. It was not to be though, the...thing they put just under his skin would stop and start his powers at the will of the scientists. Never a comforting thought that his only way out, was under the control of others.
When release he had unparalleled control of his gifts and could use them for almost anything he could or would need. It was not much, seeing as he could only use them when his holders let him. Such things were out of his control at this point, and at times he even contemplated why he didn't just use them to cut open his own head in an attempt to remove the controller. It seemed like a win-win either way, and it came down to two possibilities.
He did it right and could live a free life after killing everyone on his way out. Or he did it wrong and died, meaning no more of this hellish life. The only reason he could find was that he still didn't want to give up on living, he would find a way out eventually. That was what kept young Shiage going.
He glanced down to his wardrobe. Simple white pocketless shorts and a white t-shirt, too plain for his tastes. That would have to be the first thing he changed once he got out of this wretched place. Some nice geta clogs sounded fun in his opinion.
The teen pulled softly at his now shoulder length hair. For some reason the tests changed it from coal black to maroon. The scientists, from what he picked up, expected it to change to a dark pink but for some reason the colors seemed to blend together into what is is now.
From there he took a look at his hands. How many had he already killed with those very appendages? With these only a handful, with the other hands far, far too many to count.
The number 0 that was permanently burned onto his skin mocked him every second it existed.
He was broken out of his musings by a series of knocks on his steel door. Why they even bothered was beyond Shiage's understanding, perhaps they thought that if they did then it made them seem not so bad? They were dead wrong.
"Subject Zero, today's test has been prepared. Follow me."
He didn't bother to respond and simply stood from his place. How many times had he repeated this process? It didn't matter to him, he just knew what to expect next. He would be returning to that room by the end of this anyway.
Within only a few moments he was in the testing chamber and was looking into the eyes of a girl with dark pink hair done in a bob cut. Girl had forest green eyes that got lighter in color as it went outwards. She was wearing the same standard white outfit as him with the only addition being a hood attachment.
She must have been new to this place unlike the others he had met here. Her eyes still showed life to them and she twitched occasionally, most likely from her kidnapping or something that was still fresh in her mind. He looked at her left hand and could make out the number 7 that still looked raw from the burning process.
His eyes widened by the tiniest of margins. So it seemed that they were pitting him against another experiment, he would have to be careful around her. If she had the same ability as him then this could prove problematic for the boy.
Then the intercom crackled before a very familiar voice spoke from it. "Subject Seven meet subject Zero, the first of our many experiments and someone very special to me personally. You both will fight and try to kill the other with your powers to see who is better, the original or the latest model. You may begin."
Shiage stared into her shaking green orbs with an unblinking gaze, this was going to be quick, from what he could tell she seemed to still be untrained. Didn't they know that she would need more training to even come close to hurting him? Apparently not because they sent someone fresh off the assembly line for him.
He opened his mouth to speak but jumped back when he felt something tingle in his head. He jumped back as quickly as he could and even used his power to help the force, yet he only just barely got out of the way as a large slice appeared where he was standing only a moment ago. That same tingle went off five more times and he followed along accordingly and dodged five more cuts.
The boy decided to test his theory and sent out one of his arms and made sure to aim for her heart. He watched in a sort of odd fascination as her eyes widened before she avoided his attack with a little less ease than he did previously.
'So i was right, we can sense each other's gifts. I really need to think of a good name for them...and this should be interesting.' He smirked and crossed his arms as he started thinking of a strategy.
Maybe this match wasn't as useless as he first thought.
SMHM
The sound of wood clacking against stone could be heard throughout the night as Sora walked through the deserted streets of Kuoh. It was nothing but silence in the town as he walked, but that was to be expected because most if not all of the town's residents were sleeping soundly in their beds.
The maroon haired teen loved the nighttime, there was just something about how the light from the moon shone down on the world and filled it with life that even the sun just couldn't give. It was as if people truly existed at night and everyone showed who they truly were no matter what.
Even before he became a devil Sora loved the moon and the calmness it brought with it. He wouldn't trade a second under it's light for anything in this world, except maybe- He stopped himself from continuing down that road again by digging his nails deep into his palms.
A few deep breaths later, he sighed and took a look at his surroundings for the first time since he began his walk. Nothing but quiet houses and empty streets. Or maybe that wasn't as accurate as it could be.
He spied a figure riding a bike to a medium sized house a block away. What was that person doing out so late anyway? Didn't they know what could happen if they stumbled upon the wrong person I.E Sora himself?
Oh wait that's right! That fool Issei was supposed to be doing a job tonight wasn't he? So that was most-likely him. The teen shook his head and started to walk off before he was hit with a small breeze. Under any other circumstances that wouldn't have meant anything in particular but there was a familiar smell to this wind, a smell that he had come to enjoy throughout the years.
Blood, and a lot of it.
Sora turned back around and looked towards the house only to find one of it's windows wide open with the curtains dancing in the back and forth wind.
He smiled lightly and started his walk to the origin of the scent.
SMHM
"That's a sword of light!"
"First i'm going to cut out your evil heart with my heavenly blade of light, then with my righteous gun i'm gonna blow a hole in your wicked demon face! How does that sound DEVIL!?"
In a flash a man with straight white hair and red eyes with a ring in them dashed forward in an attempt to bisect Issei with his blade only to miss when the teen dodged. The white haired man spun in mid-air and fired off a round into Issei's leg, forcing the brunette to the ground in pain.
"How do you like that you shitty devil! Blessed bullets don't feel so good do they, so why don't you kiss your shitty little existence goodbye!" He raised his gun once again and aimed for Issei's forehead. The brunette saw his life flash before his eyes as he looked down the barrel of the exorcists gun, and couldn't help but feel that he should have done more with his life. As far as he could see the only thing of any real worth he did was when he awakened his sacred gear, and even that, he felt, was no great achievement. It was in that moment he swore to work harder to make something of his life if he got out of this.
'I will have my harem dammit!'
"DIE DEVIL!"
The man squeezed the trigger and time seemed to slow down for Issei as he awaited death. He closed his eyes tightly for the inevitable, but it never came. The teen slowly opened his eyes and saw the man staring at his arm in shock and confusion. It soon became clear why when a small fountain of blood sprayed out of his wrist and the hand holding his gun flopped down to the ground uselessly.
"Well well what do we have here? A waist of space exorcist who thinks he has a right to kill us. You look so damn adorable in your little outfit, so much so that i want to flay you alive." Issei's eyes widened in shock at the voice and jerked his head towards the source.
"S-Sora.."
There he was, his apparent savior sitting in the window sill looking bored as can be possible while at the same time looking like he just hit the jackpot. How he mixed those two Issei had no clue.
The man, Freed Sellzen, was pissed however. "You...YOU FUCKING BASTARD THAT HURT LIKE HELL! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!" He yelled as he charged the window with his blade of light poised to strike the maroon haired devil down once and for all. Sora simply tilted his head to the side with that same bored look before he planted his fist firmly into the white haired man's stomach, sending the man flying into the same corpse that Freed had strung up before Issei's arrival.
Issei stood there with a slack-jawed expression at the raw power displayed by his fellow devil. It looked to be on par with something Koneko could do, so that meant - from what he could piece together - that not only was the other teen deadly at long range, he was nothing to sneeze at for close range either.
A rumbling sound drew his attention to the other side of the room where the exorcist was freeing himself from the wall. "DAMMIT THAT HURT! You're a real pain in my ass you shitty devil!" In a blitz of fumbling movements the man was in Sora's face and slashing away at him, or at least he tried. It seemed as though the hit from just a bit ago messed up his equilibrium, that combined with the pink eyed devil's natural reflexes made him miss every attempted cut.
Sora sighed and ducked down low to avoid another cut aimed for his stomach, in one swift motion he kicked his leg out and spun around tripping Freed in the process. On his second round-about the teen lashed out with a fist to the falling man's face. Sora smiled as he felt cartilage snap under the pressure and the blood leak out onto his fist before the red eyed exorcist was sent away in a spiraling motion.
The teen stood up and cast a glare at the prone figure of Freed.
"You wanna get up human i can keep this up all night, but i'd much rather end your worthless existence right now." Sora then struck down with a knife hand towards the man's heart. Only a moment before it connected, the door to the room opened up to reveal a young blond girl in a nun's outfit.
"F-Father Freed!" She cried out in shock. "W-What's going on why is this man attacking you?!"
"Asia! Thank fucking hell you're here this shitty devil is trying to kill me! Get over here and help me now!" He called out frantically. Finally some back-up, even if it is just the girl she could heal him and maybe even reattach his hand while she was at it. This damn shitty devil didn't have a chance in h-
"What makes you think i'm going to let her exorcist only a fool would let their foe heal themselves. Even if they are pathetically weak. No, no i think i'm just going to kill you and be done with it." He dove down once again and was only a centimeter from piercing the man's heart when Issei called out. "No stop!"
Sora growled in annoyance, "What is it Hyoudou, can't you see that i'm busy with something over here."
"You can't just kill him! It isn't right to just end someone's life like that!"
The pink eyed teen leveled the brunette with a glare. "So you are telling me that i can't kill this pathetic trash. You say that even after he tried to kill you and even killed another of his kind in cold blood just for summoning you? For that matter what makes you think you could stop me anyway?" He said as he pointed out the different things in the room that Freed personally caused.
Before Issei could respond, the shocked voice of the girl named Asia made itself known. "F-Father Freed, did you really do this?" She said while staring at the bloody crucified and slightly smashed corpse leaning against the wall, her hands covering her mouth with horror.
The man twitched, "What does it matter if i did or not Asia?!" He sent the girl a furious look before continuing. "I killed him because he summoned that shitty devil over there!"
Her horror filled gaze landed on Freed once again. "W-Why?"
Freed growled in annoyance. "That man contracted with a devil. It's our job to judge him for his sins. The brown haired one is the one he summoned, the other one came to his rescue. It's also our job to kill them because they are devils!"
"But the are just innocent people!" She then pointed to Sora, "I'm sure the only reason he is attacking you is because you were hurting his friend!" The teen growled and was about to go after the girl instead but grew the tiniest bit intrigued when Issei spoke.
"Asia?"
The girl turned to the other devil with wide eyes as she realized who the other person was. "I-Issei?"
Freed opened his mouth to speak but was stopped via a hand through his chest courtesy of an annoyed Sora who had just lost interest in whatever they were going to say. "Enough already."
He pulled his hand out with a wet squishing sound and flicked the blood off his hand onto the ground beside him, glaring the whole time. He wasn't about to let them keep flapping their mouths while that scum was still alive. Bad enough that he couldn't just end it from the start, but having to listen to those two talk? HAH! At least he stopped Freed before the man could monologue like a classic villain.
Sora turned his attention back to the girl - Asia if he heard right - and gave her a look that pierced straight through her very soul. To his mild surprise, she didn't flinch or turn away from him. It puzzled him that someone so harmless looking could stand up to something that brought lesser men to their knees in terror.
Smirking to himself, Sora turned away from her and cast his eyes down towards his fallen...what was Issei to him exactly? Teammate? No, annoying friend of a mutual acquaintance fit much better in his head. "I advise you wait for King to come and get you Hyoudou. Better hope she gets here soon, I smell a few dozen birds coming."
Issei's confused look gave him the smallest amounts of amusement. "W-what do you mean?"
"Who knows." Was his last words before he vanished in a burst of speed leaving the two alone together.
SMHM
Marry Christmas everyone and happy holidays to those of you that have a different celebration going on!
Here is chapter 3 for your reading enjoyment (did I say that right?) and I hope you all have a great day wherever you are in the world.
If you have any questions, concerns, comments, etc. please feel free to pm me or put it in a review - if you feel so inclined.
Ja-ne!