Cityscape Chapter 5: Day Four: Name, a no. 6 fanfic

The generators were loud. According to PR, this was their number one complaint. The generators were loud. It wasn't that the food sucked, the water tasted funny, they were afraid of the demons, or any of the other things that were happening. It was quite simply that the things that kept their electricity going were too loud. It was almost laughable.

He had not left the top floor since the earthquake, so, truthfully, for all he knew, the generators were too blasted loud for comfort. He couldn't care less. The technicians in the basement were working almost around the clock in preparation of what was to come. It would only get busier now that they'd hit the middle of the seven day stretch. The only problem was that they still needed that final piece...

As though on cue, the left door that led into his offices opened, and his head scientist entered. His head was bowed toward the papers, paying him no attention other than to utter his old nickname in greeting, "Fennec."

He had once disliked it when the Scientist called him Fennec. It had been a name he'd been given back in high school, he'd always thought it had been a jibe at his rather larger than normal ears. Perhaps it had been, back then, but now it was the name of his company, a household name with branches in every country of power in the world, though its base would always be right here in Tokyo. He never could remember the Scientist's name, and now, after years of working together, it no longer bothered him that he didn't think the Scientist remembered his real name. Fennec was fine. Fennec would soon be a name of even greater power.

"You couldn't knock, could you?" They always started out like this. How many years had it been? Before the lines of age had started to creep their way into both of their faces, but it was always the same. He mock scolded the Scientist for forgetting the normal social ques, and, largely, the Scientist ignored him.

Today he happened to actually look back at the door he had opened without knocking and bothered to close it before continuing his way into the room. Fennec raised an eyebrow. How unusual. Something must have happened. Whether this something was good or bad to their cause, he supposed he was about to find out.

"We've made some progress," the Scientist began, "We now have all the parts we need to complete the machine. They picked the last of them up from a store in Shinjuku."

Well, he supposed that was certainly something. In truth, he wasn't much for the thinking and brains. He had a dream, and the Scientist, as well as the rest of them, made the dream come true. All of them had their reasons, but in the end it all was the same. He got what he wanted, even if he didn't particularly care about the mechanics of it. "Anything else?" Surely his old friend had not come up here just to tell him that the machine could now be completed.

The man waved away his concerns with a simple hand gesture. "I'm getting there." The grin never faltered as he spoke, and Fennec resigned himself to listening. "While the last items were being taken from the store, we picked up a very interesting power presence nearby. We believe it was Lucifer's."

Lucifer. There was a name he hadn't heard in a while. When most people heard it, they envisioned a horned devil, with a tail and pitchfork, surrounded by flames. He envisioned something completely different. A homeless boy in a cell. No older than fifteen. Piercing eyes that spared the security camera a lot of promising glares. A plaid shirt at least two sizes too small for him tied around his waist. They had that shirt in a box somewhere, bloody and torn, when the boy had left it behind in his escape. Fennec was sure he didn't miss it. He had taken plenty of other things with him when he'd gone.

He had never met the boy they'd come to call Lucifer. He'd only seen him afterward on the cameras. After all, he'd been just another homeless child they'd taken. He'd been given some number up in the three hundreds and thrown in a cell to await his fate, just like all the others. The Scientist said that he'd been very promising. His voice was beautiful, and they believed that, in a couple of years he might develop an ability powerful enough to power the machine. Just in time.

They had never imagined that he already possessed the ability. They had imagined even less that he knew how to use it.

He had gone down to walk among the aftermath of the boy's escape. There had seemed to be more blood and brain matter than actual wall and floor, he'd never seen so much of it, but it somehow hadn't bothered him. He just thinking about the boy who had caused all of that death. Someone with that kind of power was exactly what they needed, but he had escaped. The name itself had come from the one guard on duty who had survived. He'd gone out of his mind in the struggle, and only kept on saying; "He's the devil. Lucifer himself. He's here. No escape." From what Fennec understood, the guard was still like that. So really, in the end, Lucifer had killed him too.

In the two years since then he'd barely heard about the child at all, only occasional reports that they'd picked up on his power signature. He had no doubt that they'd kept track of him. A few months ago someone had mentioned finding a boy of similar power radius, but he wasn't homeless. It would have been noticed if he had gone missing. Did any of that really matter now? When they were so close?

Fennec looked up to realize that the Scientist was staring at him, and that he had been silent for over a minute. "Do you think he was there to stop us?"

The Scientist sighed. "If he was, he didn't try, but I was told to ask for permission to take him out, if he's found."

"Granted." The last thing he needed was a little devil throwing a wrench in the gears. He didn't know if that boy really was Lucifer or not, but Lucifer was only ever a fallen angel, and he intended to become a God. "How is the power cell coming along?"

"Ah, perfectly!" The grin on the other man's face was almost maniacal. "We nabbed her from the airport just after the earthquake. She's not like her friend, who has power, but we're finding she has something better."

"And what would that be?"

"Purity. Her body, mind, and heart, are all untainted. It's so simple, I can't believe we didn't think of it before. The machine will be like a strainer, but with a lifeforce so pure, she'll just glide right through, sparking it to life with ease. It's truly amazing. I wish I had more time to research it." It was unusual, to see him get so worked up over something that seemed so small, a girl, or was it perhaps the new spark concept that had him going, but Fennec didn't really care about such nuances. He cared about the big picture.

"And the gauge?"

"Ah! The demons are certainly doing their work. We're already 55.6% of the way there."

"Excellent. You'll keep me informed of any changes, right?"

"Of course."

Fennec nodded and dismissed the Scientist. Things did certainly seem to be going well. They had the power starter now, the gauge was quickly filling up, the machine was almost complete. All they needed now was the right time. That was several days away yet. God and government could try to contain the disaster all they liked, but Day Seven would be here before they knew it.

It was astonishing how something so simple as a proper meal and a good night's sleep could improve everyone's mood. As he thought about it the next morning, Shion had realized how simple it really was, how used to the fancy things in life he'd actually been. School, electricity, fresh produce, even being able to cross the street without fear of being killed. Less than a week ago, they had all been basic things in his life. Trains, cars, even bicycles. Common. Now you had to walk everywhere, food was scarce, clean water even more so, even his own life, as Nezumi liked to remind him, was not his, it was not guaranteed.

They had all stumbled into the little basement exhausted, irritable, hungry, and all around on edge. Nezumi had made soup. It was simple, a bit salty, and tinny, but it had been warm, and filling, and when he'd been eating it, Shion could have sworn it was the best thing he'd ever eaten. Before, he would have never touched it. His mother swore against almost anything from a can, the microwave was almost nearly as evil, yet last night, food from a can had tasted like the elixir of life. The same could be said of anything. The bed was old and dusty, but it had felt like he'd been lying in a five star hotel, compared to the ground he'd been sleeping on the night before, and the cracked roof overhead somehow made him feel safe, despite knowing that, technically, it was structurally unsound.

He had fallen asleep to the sound of Nezumi's voice reading Jekyll and Hyde, and he had woken many hours later to the sound of Nezumi's deep breathing beside him. It had still been the middle of the night, and he'd smiled at the sound, rolled over, and fallen back to sleep again, if only to be woken up by Nezumi kicking him in his sleep. Shion learned something else that made him smile. Nezumi was a restless sleeper, when he didn't feel like he was about to be attacked. That too, was a nice feeling, despite the bruise on his shin.

In the morning, Shion found himself well rested, more energized, and more than ready to face whatever the day threw at them, and he couldn't help but feel like his friends felt the same way. They had not rushed about the morning, like they had when they'd been in Miyashita Park, but instead taken the time to wake up properly, and actually eat breakfast under the pretense of not knowing if the place would still be unoccupied when they returned that night. There had been no arguments all morning, and even Nezumi's scathing quips seemed to be lesser.

Even now, when they were just recharging their phones for their daily use, they seemed more at peace. It was Rikiga's turn and Inukashi was paying attention to the dogs while Nezumi drank one of the sodas, and Shion, once again, found himself sifting through Nezumi's army of mostly angelic and completely humanoid demons. "Nezumi? Who's Sandalphon?"

There was a moment between the question and the answer as Nezumi pulled the bottle of soda away from his lips. "An angel."

To himself, Shion rolled his eyes. He supposed he ought to have expected that answer. "Well gee, I never could have guessed that from his 'divine' classification."

"Oh, was that sarcasm? You're starting to learn." He could practically hear Nezumi's wicked grin.

"I had an excellent teacher." A couple of them, actually. Nezumi seemed to be the king of sarcasm, but Inukashi was quickly working his way up the nobility himself. He heard Nezumi chuckle softly behind him, and decided that it would be okay to press his question again. "But seriously. Sandalphon?"

Shion could see Nezumi's shrug in his mind's eye. As everything about him was, it would be graceful. "He's one of the most powerful angels. They all have their own purpose, but he's usually said to be the angel in charge of bringing humanity's prayers to God's ears, determining the gender of unborn children, and music."

Music. He remembered what Inukashi had said about Nezumi's singing. That was his chosen profession, at least it had been once, though maybe he had more of a passion for the written word, judging by all the books they now had among their bags. Still. Music. That made it very easy to see how Sandalphon would be the kind of "demon" Nezumi would pick. "Anything else?"

"Well, he's said to be very tall, and that is one of the few angels who started out as humans. I believe it is usually said that Sandalphon started out his existence as the prophet Elijah, but no one really knows. They are angels, after all. Why are you asking?"

This time, it was Shion's turn to shrug. "I'm looking through the stock you built up, and I noticed that Sandalphon was on it, but I also noticed that I can't summon him."

Nezumi laughed shortly, and Shion shifted a little as he felt Nezumi first ruffle his hair gently, and then sit down so close to him that their shoulders brushed together. Shion felt his face redden. That was the first time Nezumi had touched his hair. It wasn't unwelcome, quite the opposite, it was rather pleasant, if it seemed a bit odd for the standoffish boy. "Let me see." The other boy held his hand out for the phone, and Shion handed it over. The motion felt natural to him. It wasn't really his phone after all, it did really belong to Nezumi. He was just handing it back.

As the phone changed hands, one of the small nezumi, the gray one, bounded across their arms and settled itself on Shion's shoulder. Shion laughed quietly as its little whiskers tickled his ear. Inukashi and Rikiga may have looked down at the rodents, but Shion loved them. They were smart and soft, kind, and cute, with their little grape colored eyes. Nezumi said they had no names, and said he would never name them, and at that, Shion had resolved to name them himself. He already had names in mind for the brown one and the black one, but he had no name for this one yet, but he was sure it was only a matter of time.

"Cheep - Cheep!" the little nezumi cried into his ear, clearly asking for something, but for what, Shion didn't know.

Nezumi did. "He wants you to read to him."

"He does?" Shion looked down at the small rodent and nearly swooned at the sight of it nodding its small head at him. It was so adorable, and so intelligent! How could he possibly say no to it? "What does it want me to read?"

He looked over at Nezumi expectantly, and soon enough the other boy rolled his eyes and said, "Hamlet," and then, he brought his face closer to the phone screen and added, "He always wants Hamlet," in a rushed muffle.

Hamlet, huh? Shion nodded, feeling as though he had been given a very important task. Not everyone got to read to nezumi, after all, especially not nezumi that were definitely listening to the words. "Do we even have Hamlet?"

"Yeah," Nezumi replied, his voice more idle than before, and Shion suspected he was giving most of his attention to the phone. He seemed much more at ease with it than Shion was, and, not for the first time, he wished he hadn't left his phone at home that day.

As usual, Nezumi turned out to be right. It was at the very bottom of the bag, its paperback cover folded over where one of the other books had been sitting on it, but they had Hamlet. Shion took it out and opened it to page one. It was a play. Shakespeare. Hadn't A Midsummer Night's Dream also been by Shakespeare? Hadn't it also been a play? "You want this one?" He asked the nezumi with a smile. His response was a nod of its little head, and with that, Shion began.

It wasn't long before he had all three of the little nezumi sitting together, their heads tilted up to look at him, bobbing lightly as he read. Oh, they were so adorable! They definitely needed names. Cravat was for the brown, Tsukiyo for the black, and for the gray...Hamlet. A grin broke out over his face as he realized he finally had a name for the third. It was perfect. After all, Nezumi had said that he always wanted to listen to Hamlet, right? Why shouldn't his name reflect that?

"All right, all right. That's enough of that." Nezumi's voice, somehow both soft and harsh, reached his ears, and all three of the nezumi ran over to him, scampering up his outstretched arm and hiding themselves in among the folds of his scarf.

Shion watched them disappear, oh so adorably, and then made note of where he'd stopped so that maybe he could pick it up again later, if Nezumi allowed it. For now, it appeared as though Nezumi had finished looking through his phone, and that it was now time for their respite to end, no matter how nice it had been. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah," Shion noted how indeed graceful the taller boy's shrug was even as he shifted just slightly to hand the phone back over to him. Not for the first time, he wished he could be like that. Elegant, graceful, smooth. Nezumi didn't trip or stumble, but was instead like water, gliding over everything. Next to him, Shion was little more than a klutz. Also not for the first time, the feeling left him a little breathless as he took the phone back from him, and Nezumi continued to speak. "It was obvious, in the end. Your level's not high enough."

"We have levels?"

"Of course we do." The taller boy nodded toward the phone in his hand. "Demons have levels, so it only makes sense that we do too."

"But how does the app measure that sort of thing?" He hadn't known this. This was fascinating.

Nezumi sighed, as Shion had come to expect him to whenever he started asking what Nezumi doubtlessly considered too many questions. "There are many factors, I'm sure, but I know it all has to do with the strength of..." the taller boy paused, making a dramatic gesture with one hand, "The 'soul,' or some shit like that. Strength of will, courage, intelligence, things like that, life experience, and so on. I imagine it has very little to do with anything physical. After all, demons aren't physically here until we summon them, and even that is very temporary." The dramatic twisting of one hand continued as he he went on, "To be able to control a demon, you have to be of an equal or higher level as them-"

"Or they eat you." Shion remembered the girl that had turned out to be a demon, and he remembered the phone that had once belonged to someone the girl-demon had eaten. The owner of that phone had been too weak, and had summoned too high on a first try. The thought was unpleasant. He did not want to be eaten. He wanted to live.

"Yes, or they eat you." Nezumi's smile lingered in the zone of sadistic for a moment before returning to its neutral state. "Don't worry, little prince. Your phone is already broken in. It won't let you make that fatal mistake."

While the others finished grabbing their stuff, Shion looked through his phone a little more. According to it, he was a level forty-three. The demon he'd been asking about, Sandalphon, was level sixty-nine. Nezumi had been able to control that demon. That meant that when this phone had been his, he'd been at least a level sixty-nine, and that was before this tragedy had struck. How strong could one's soul be? Was Nezumi already there?

Splitting up had been the natural choice for today as well. If they were to find a way out, they would do better to cover ground in two groups than in a single group. Inukashi had briefly tried to make a case for splitting even further, into four groups of one, but even Nezumi had thought that was too risky. There was definitely more chance of death if they went alone, though Shion had a sinking suspicion that he was talking more about him than he was about any of the others. Regardless, two groups was agreed on, they would meet up back here two hours before sundown, that way, if their spot had been taken, they could find somewhere else to camp out.

Inukashi and Rikiga had agreed to go down toward Minato and Shinagawa, where he and Nezumi would head more toward Meguro and Ota. Shion thought it had been generally agreed on that if today proved fruitless, they might try to get to Koto, Edogawa, and beyond tomorrow, even though Shinjuku had proved to be nothing more than a concrete desert at this point.

The two pairs slunk off into different directions, Inukashi and Rikiga arguing loudly about their directive even as they walked. Nezumi watched them, and in turn, Shion watched him. He opened his mouth, hesitated, but then spoke anyway. "What are you thinking right now?"

"Hm?" Those piercing gray eyes turned on him. Instinct told Shion to look away, but he held the other boy's gaze anyway. They were so cold, but so beautiful. He knew he would never see eyes like Nezumi's anywhere else. "I was wishing they would learn to shut up." Gloved hands were somehow elegantly shoved into the pockets of Nezumi's worn leather jacket. They're going to attract the attention of demons." He paused for less than a second before adding, "Or humans." The other boy stared at him for a moment, as though daring him to argue the point, but Shion had decided to remain quiet on the issue, and they quickly began to move on again.

It truly was amazing how different the damage seemed to be from area to area. Shinjuku had been virtually impossible to cross, and Shibuya was perilous at best by this point. Upon first sight, Meguro seemed to be almost untouched, and if it weren't for the occasionally toppled building, or the cars that all sat askew, Shion might have thought that the disaster might not have hit here. It was probably because it was a more residential area, he surmised. The buildings weren't so tall, there was more greenery, less concrete and glass, so that maybe it was just logical that it didn't appear as damaged.

Still mystified by how normal it seemed here, Shion silently followed Nezumi down the street, only pausing when the cracks in the road were too big to simply ignore. Even that seemed almost normal, just abnormal potholes that the road commission had yet to fill in. It would be easy to pretend that was the case, and it seemed like a good idea to perhaps stay somewhere in the area for the night, if the bunker in Shibuya were taken when they returned. It seemed like such a good idea in fact, that Shion had been about to suggest it aloud when the sound of music stopped him in his tracks.

Where was that music coming from? He swiveled his head around until his ears caught the direction of the music. Ahead of them, to the left, there was a church, one of the Catholic ones that seemed to be getting more and more popular in the city. The building was pristine, even compared to the rest of the area. It screamed safety. The music that floated out from open windows was organ music, and highly hymnal, and underneath that...yes. Shion could hear the sound of voices singing along. He was not a religious person, but the sound of prayer in music was strong, and it called to him. He began to make his way toward it, the sound of hope, of safety, and then-

"Shion. Stop." Nezumi's voice cut through the music like a hot knife through butter. The words were so intense, so powerful.

They brought him right back to those first moments of the disaster. The train station all but caved in, the demons shadowy and incorporeal, approaching them. Nezumi had told them to stop as well. His tone had been so strong, so demanding, simply so full of command that the demons had listened to him, if only momentarily. That same voice, overflowing with authority, spoke to him now, and Shion stopped, after simply finding that his legs could not, would not, carry him any farther.

"Good. There's a good little prince." There was a chuckle and then he felt a hand pat his shoulder as another...released him. Shion only had to turn his head slightly to realize that Nezumi was right next to him, that the other boy had been literally pulling on him, trying to get him to stop, so hard in fact, that as he was released, his shoulder began to ache just slightly, complaining at having been abused. How had he not felt that? Why had Nezumi stopped him?

As usual, Nezumi seemed to read his mind and as he took a step back, he jutted his chin back toward the church. "Take another look. What do you see now?"

Shion did as he was asked while he swiveled his shoulder, and felt it pop just a little painfully. Its unpleasantness was nothing compared to the sight that lay before him now. It was still a church, but the pristine condition it had been in before was gone. One door lay broken on the lawn, the other only swung by one hinge, threatening to fall off at any moment. Most of the windows were broken, and the ones that were not were stained and spattered a suspiciously reddish brown color. The signal of safety it had been sending before was definitely gone.

For a moment or two, he stood in shock before he realized that there was still music emanating from the building. It wasn't organ music, but it was certainly beautiful, and they were certainly voices. He took a step forward.

"Shion-"

"No." He cut Nezumi off. He didn't need to be stopped, there was no way he was going to head to the church now, but, "What is that? The singing..." It had been so beautiful, it still was, yet since Nezumi had told him to stop, it didn't compel him to come anymore. Still, it seemed to whisper sweet nothings, trying to entice him with something he now knew to be false.

"Have you ever read The Odyssey?"

"No." Shion looked back over his shoulder just in time to see Nezumi sigh in such an exaggerated manner that his shoulders heaved. He then rolled his eyes in such a way that Shion felt like he could almost hear his next words before they were even spoken.

"Of course you haven't." A brief shake of his head was all that separated him from his (mock?) exasperation and his explanation. "In The Odyssey, Odysseus's ship sails past the sirens. Sirens sing, and lure you to your death, to avoid it, Odysseus had his crew fill their ears with beeswax, and tie him to the mast."

"Why didn't he fill his ears with beeswax too?"

"Always with the questions." Nezumi grinned in such a way that Shion found himself reminded of a wolf looking upon a deer. "He was curious of course. He wanted to know what the sirens would sing to him. What would they promise him?" The boy gave a short ha of laughter and shrugged. "What they promised Odysseus doesn't matter, but I'm betting they promised you safety." He gestured back toward the church. "Didn't they?"

"Yeah." He looked back at the church. It was a building meant to be safe, where violence was not meant to be committed. "I bet it promises safety to a lot of people."

There was no malice in his voice when Nezumi responded with, "I'm sure it does." With that, he turned, and took several steps in the opposite direction, now seeming to be determined to avoid the church altogether.

As he began to follow, thought rung hallow inside Shion's chest, "You can hear them, can't you?"

"Of course I can. How else did I know to stop you?"

"What did they promise you? What did you see when you heard them?"

Shion was sure that there would never be a moment when those gray eyes would not steal his breath when they looked at him, no matter how hard Nezumi glared. Their color was more soul stealing than the siren's song. "I saw the church as it truly was."

"Why?"

"Because I like things as they are now, Shion. A siren has nothing to offer me."

Shion did not question the answer. If anyone could thrive in a world such as this, Nezumi had already proven that it was him.

Two walls. One had been hastily, but neatly created in the aftermath and chaos. It had two layers, the first a weak, but visible chain link barrier, tall, but not so tall that a sporting young man could not jump it. Karan knew this to be fact, for she had actually watched one such young man try to do exactly that. He had been stopped by a barrage of bullets from the second layer; military personnel.

It was the first death Karan had ever seen. Full of blood, but no pain, Karan thought. she did not think that the man still been alive when he'd hit the ground. Still, she thanked herself over and over inside for the fact that her son was not such an athletic boy, and would probably never think to try and climb over a wall like that. At least that would not be his death.

Fear was an excellent way to control people, and the threat of guns was, thus far, working well. The chain link fence, so weak, had been reinforced with sandbags and barbed wire in the days since. Karan herself had never seen anyone else try to jump the fence, but she was sure others had tried. She was also sure people pleaded, begged, and cried through the links, only to be driven off. Karan had not tried.

Karan had more pressing matters.

Nerima had been shaken quite violently in the quake, but the damage had been surprisingly minimal. The apartment she'd been living in with her son had been a mess, with the books and small trinkets all over the floor, and there had been a couple of broken windows on the lower floors, but the lights had turned on.

That first night she had waited on the couch, her breath all but held as she waited, but naturally, no matter how hard she'd tried to avoid it, she'd fallen asleep. The morning had greeted her the same way the night had, alone. Shion had not returned. The worry she'd felt the night before had doubled. Irrational thoughts of him trying to climb a fence slipped through the cracks, but she had shaken them away. Shion had always been gifted, mentally, so she knew he would never attempt something so stupid.

Karan also knew he'd been down in Shibuya, with Safu, when the quake had happened. The television was useless, as it only repeated the same words over and over. Stay calm, stay inside, wait it out. Karan did not have her son's intelligence, but she knew propaganda when she saw it. She needed to find her son. Shibuya it was...or that had been the plan until she'd hit the second wall.

Wall was perhaps a strong word for what it really was, but it served the same purpose. Cars, asphalt, and other debris were simply piled too high and too precariously for anyone to sanely climb. The barrier separated them. Karan could feel that Shion was on the other side of this second wall, searching, waiting, something. Alive. That was really all that mattered to her. As long as Shion was alive, she could keep going forward, keep waiting, though without work to do, she felt listless, wringing her hands, waiting for that moment where she either saw him approaching her, safe and well, or she felt that prick in her chest that would tell her mother's instincts that she had lost what was most precious.

Since the discovery of that second wall, Karan had resolved to do as the television screen instructed; stay inside. She felt perfectly sane and good, but she was not ignorant of the world, and she knew that sooner or later looters, murderers, and rapists, would come. That did not scare her. The thought that whatever had made those piles of cars coming did. Whatever it was, it wanted them out here, and everyone else in there.

For what had to have been the thousandth time just that morning, Karan glanced out the windows, and she started at what she saw. It wasn't Shion, though she was also still sure he was alive. Instead what she stared at was a little girl. Lili was the girl's name, and before she was really aware of what she was doing, Karan had rushed down the stairs, out the door, and was calling the little girl to her side. "What are you doing out here, Lili-chan?" Her chiding was gentle and the girl smiled, running to her side easily. Karan thanked the stars that she had noticed the girl before anything unsavory had decided to walk by.

"Mama was tired, so I decided to come play out here while she takes a nap!" The girl's voice was boisterous and full of joy, even though the world around them was a mess. Karan smiled for the first time since the earthquake. Perhaps she wasn't really aware of how bad it was. Maybe she was only aware of the fact that right now, she didn't have any school. She would have liked to have been so innocent.

"Well, why don't you come inside? It's cold out here. I was going to make some cookies. Would you like to help me?" At the prospect of cookies, the girl eagerly agreed, and they made their way back up the stairs.

If Lili's mother really had decided to sleep, Karan would be more than happy to watch her daughter for her. She could hardly blame the woman, she was pregnant with her second child, and her husband had yet to come home, much like Shion was still missing himself. As though the pregnancy weren't enough, now she had to worry, and deal with this catastrophe. The poor woman probably needed those extra couple hours of rest.

Back in the apartment mixing bowls were taken out, as well as flour, sugar, some of her remaining eggs and milk. Making cookies would be productive for her as well at the cute child beside her. Cooking and baking were all she did most nights, and even as she began to explain the process of creaming, she felt herself calm down-

Until the lights went off.

For a second or two, she stood there in shock, a pit of black weight rolling in the bottom of her belly. Lili tugged at her sleeve, and with that she returned to the present, and she smiled, already knowing in her heart what this signified. This was when it would start to get bad, but she would try to make sure the girl didn't have to worry so much. "Lili, we're going to stop for a couple minutes and go get your mother, okay?" It would be better for them, if they stayed together.

"Will we still be making cookies?"

"Oh yes. Don't worry, I have matches." With the power now out, cookies were an even better solution as they would need to use up all the perishables before they did just that. "But first, your mother."

Karan ushered the girl out toward the door, and as she passed in front of the window she paused. All this time she'd simply been waiting for Shion to return, for the walls to be removed, and for things to return to normal. Now that the power was gone she wondered for the first time whether there would be an "after" to this disaster, even if her son did manage to return.

In front of her, Lili screamed.

"What is it?!"

"Look!"

Karan's gaze followed the invisible line Lili's pointed finger created. Right in front of the door was a very large gray nezumi.

"Where's Hamlet?"

Ahead of him, Nezumi stopped and actually turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised in such a way that Shion could not help but feel that Nezumi's gaze was trying to pierce right through his skin to his soul. The taller boy also had his head cocked to one side in a display of what Shion felt was actual, genuine curiosity...or suspicion. Shion was pretty sure the two emotions had some amount of overlap in Nezumi's mind. "Hamlet?"

Shion nodded. Yes. Hamlet. "The gray nezumi. I haven't seen him since this morning."

"Hamlet." Now Nezumi's eyes were narrowed and definitely more suspicious than curious. Shion also thought he detected a hint of anger on the young man's face, but Shion wasn't going to back down. He couldn't always give up to him.

"Yes. I chose it because he likes to be read Hamlet so much."

Nezumi's scowl deepened, and made a sound that Shion was not exactly sure how to interpret. Was it a scoff? Or was it a growl? "Don't name my friends."

"But they like it! Don't you?" He took his eyes away from Nezumi's face and down to the scarf he never seemed to take off. "Cravat? Tsukiyo?"

Before Nezumi could express his exact level of displeasure at his other names, the brown and black nezumis popped their heads out of the cloth and began to make their cute little nezumi sounds at him.

"Cheep - Cheep!"

Shion smiled at them, they really were just so adorable, with their little noises and whiskers. He suspected that, deep down, Nezumi thought they were cute too. After all, he seemed to take better care of them than he did himself. Even when they had to skip meals, the little nezumi always got a cracker. Even the look that he had on his face right now as he looked over at them on his shoulders betrayed some sort of affection, Shion thought. Now he waited for him to cover it up, and sure enough, a second later, Nezumi scoffed, and grumbled, "Traitors."

"Does that mean they can keep the names?" Shion could feel his heart pounding a bit faster against his chest. Could they? He wanted the answer to be yes. Not just for the nezumi themselves, but he felt that as though if they kept the names, it would strengthen the seemingly hair thin connection he had to the other boy. It wasn't much, but maybe, it would be a start.

Nezumi shrugged, as though he were trying to convey an air of not caring, even though everything else about his stance screamed irritation. "They say they won't give them up, and I can't make them."

Yes. Relief flooded Shion's system, and for a short second he let himself bask in his win ( perhaps his very first actual win against the other boy, ) before he remembered that the original topic had not been about the names, but, "So where is Hamlet?"

Another shrug slid elegantly off those shoulders as Nezumi turned himself around and they began to walk again. "I sent him off to do something. He'll be back."

Curiosity took Shion over as he jogged a little to catch up with his companion. "What's he doing?"

A grin that Shion could only describe as evil took over the other boy's lips as he looked up at them from the side. He felt like this was probably going to be the first jab of many that Nezumi would be taking as revenge for naming his friends. "I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not?" The words had spilled from his lips before he could even truly think them over. He knew why, but he wanted to fight it anyway. You had to pick your battles with Nezumi, but Shion was also starting to learn that if you just rolled over for him, it annoyed him even more than fighting. Nezumi thought fighting meant living, if you didn't fight, you were giving up. Shion was going to fight more...but not too much.

"Because hope is a fickle lover, and you have too much of it as it is."

No matter how he cajoled him, Nezumi would not say more than that, and eventually, Shion gave up the fight. He wasn't going to win this one, and if he kept trying, Nezumi would probably start to get really annoyed with him, not just for the questions, but for slowing them down. It was already nearly the time that they were due back in Shibuya to meet up with Inukashi and Rikiga, and they were still on the edges of Meguro.

After the incident with the siren they had spent most of the day in Ota, trying to find a way out. A great deal of Ota bordered the ocean, but there was no escape there either. Barriers like the ones that blocked the path to Nerima were erected along much of the coastline, and in the spots where there was nothing blocking them, there were no boats or ships, not that Shion knew how to sail a ship. Nezumi said that was just as well, and had pointed out to him a demon in the water. It had been hard to see, since they hadn't gotten all that close, for safety reasons, but both Nezumi and the phone had identified the creature as a kraken. If the description was to be trusted, that was certainly not something they wanted to try to fight, no matter how high or low their level was.

The trek back from Ota had been a bit of a fight. They'd met hardly any demons on the way there, but almost as though they'd been awakened by their coming, the way back had been teeming with them. Nezumi's senses had picked up on most of the trouble before it got too close, but Shion shuddered to remember a couple of close calls. He was glad that he was getting quicker and better with his phone, summoning demons before one could rip out his or Nezumi's throat. He was even more glad that Nezumi's own speed and aim with his knives were probably unrivaled anywhere in Japan. He could not count how often those small blades had saved them.

"Cheep - Cheep!"

"Oh!" Shion glanced down at his feet to find that Tsukiyo had abandoned the shoulder of its master and was now scampering alongside his own shoes, looking up at him with pleading grape colored eyes that could only be asking for one thing. "Do you want me to carry you?" He stopped walking and the little nezumi's head bobbed up and down in a yes. Shion grinned. So smart!

"Okay!" He knelt down and held out his hand, palm up for Tsukiyo to climb on. The small creature immediately bounded on up his arm all the way to his shoulder, where it sniffed at his ear, tickling it with its whiskers. Shion bit back a chuckle. "I don't suppose you know where Hamlet is, do you?" Naturally, Tsukiyo couldn't actually speak, and so all he got in response was more sniffing in his ear, but Shion was satisfied. Hamlet's companions didn't seem too worried, so he would try not to worry about it either. Hopefully Nezumi was right, and Hamlet would be back soon.

"Oi!" Ahead of him, Nezumi turned and yelled. "Hurry up! We're going to be late!"

"You're late."

A small bubble of irritation rose up in Nezumi's chest as he heard the words form at Inukashi's mouth. The sneer only added to it, but what was most annoying was that the child was right. The return back from Ota had been much slower than the going, and they were arriving back to their meetup spot nearly half an hour late. Not that he was just going to let Inukashi have the victory, or see his irritation for that matter. "You try searching the entirety of the largest ward in the span of about three hours. Let me know how that goes for you."

The words had the desired effect on Inukashi. The sneering grin fell right off those lips, and filthy, nearly matted hair flipped haughtily as the child turned away with a huff. "Meguro's definitely a no go. They're guarding the Rainbow, and there's fence everywhere." Nezumi already knew that, but now they knew it as a whole. Slowly, the search would become pointless, it was a matter of when Shion would acknowledge that.

"Ota was much the same, fencing, and then the water is guarded by a kraken."

"A kraken?!"

"Did I stutter?" Nezumi glanced over at the aging man, who looked a bit worse for wear and a lot more pale than he had that morning. No, the environment was definitely not doing Rikiga any favors. Soon, the lack of food and booze would start to show in more than just his pallor. That would be amusing, though the kvetching would be the exact opposite. "Yes. A kraken."

"Who managed to summon a kraken?!"

"Who knows?" Nezumi shrugged, raising his hands in a mock show of surrender. "But it was the largest kraken I've ever seen."

"And exactly how many krakens have you seen?"

Nezumi grinned at Shion's comment. He definitely heard a little bit of bite and snark in those words. A couple of days ago, Shion would have never dared to say such a thing to him, and definitely not in that tone of voice, but the boys moxie was increasing. As a reward, he decided to relent a little bit. "It's also the smallest one I've seen." Just a little bit.

"I'll bet it was the government," Inukashi piped up after letting a beat pass by. "They could probably muster up the manpower to summon something like that." Nezumi knew that it was just the child's hate talking, but he didn't think Inukashi was wrong. The phone system couldn't quite manage something that big by itself, but if you got enough people together and drew the proper circles, it was manageable. Nezumi was also sure that the people who had taken part of the summoning hadn't realized they'd die in the process.

"Why would they do that?" It sounded like a question Shion would ask, but the words came from Rikiga's mouth. Nezumi could not resist a roll of his eyes.

"Because they want us here."

"But why?"

"To contain it." That was Shion's voice, soft and solemn, quite unlike the boy he knew.

He looked over at him, those black eyes, the red mark that was now just visible under his jacket and sweater, that almost irresistible translucent hair. Nezumi bit back the urge to run his fingers through it again. He had thought that this idea would be lost on Shion, so full of joy and hope. He'd expected the boy to say that the government would want to help get them out, to save them, but instead he said the opposite. The earlier bubble of irritation had burst, replaced with a smaller bubble of subtle pleasure. He knew the boy was book smart and capable of learning, but this was beyond his expectations. In fact, a lot of things about his marked one were.

"Go on," he nudged gently, wanting to see if Shion could continue to impress him.

"Well, it's pretty simple, really." Shion shrugged, it was a simple gesture, not dramatic like his own, but then again, Shion didn't seem to have any room in his brain for theatrics. "The earthquake happened, and it released all these...demons. Of course the government doesn't want those loose all over Japan."

"But what about us?" Inukashi drawled frowning.

"The app," Nezumi saw Shion shuffle his feet under the scrutiny, but his resolve seemed to firm up again when he continued to speak. "People are summoning demons too. We're all a threat. So we have to stay. A few for many."

Inukashi scoffed, mumbling violent obscenities about biases, but Nezumi clapped softly, smiling. "What a wonderfully sound theory. Very government like." Except instead of trying to save many over a few, they were only trying to save themselves, saving others was just a good cover up. "But I suppose the reason doesn't really matter, now does it? We're here and they're there. We're also burning sunlight." He looked back over at Rikiga, and their eyes met briefly. It was Rikiga who looked away. "Did you happen to check our last night's hovel while you so painstakingly waited for us?"

"No," Inukashi grumbled.

"Then why don't we start there?" Even Nezumi had to admit to himself that it would be nice if the basement they'd found were still empty. It was convenient on multiple levels, not the least of which was that they then wouldn't have to go searching for a new place. Of course, it would also be fairly simple to kick any new occupants out, but...no. One look at Shion was enough for him to know that the boy wouldn't allow that. Rikiga would probably be against it as well, though for an altogether different reason.

Together they made their way toward the stairs that led to the basement. It wasn't that far from their position, though it was well hidden behind bars and fallen debris. Though the stairway was narrow and dark, the sinking sun still gave Nezumi enough light to see that the door was slightly ajar. They had made sure it had been shut tight when they'd left that morning. The hairs on the back of his neck raised up. Something was wrong here, and it wasn't just that someone had been here since they'd left.

When Inukashi reached out and lightly pushed open the door, Nezumi knew. Perhaps the sound of it reached his ears before he fully registered it, or perhaps some flash of shadow pushed him into motion, in fact, for all he would ever know it could have been the cosmos, or his old residence reaching down to whisper the knowledge in his ear. It could have been anything that told him what lay inside, but nothing rational would tell him why he reacted the way he did. He didn't even think about it before doing it.

Shion. The pale haired boy was in front of him, and the instant he knew the horror beyond the door he reached out, grabbing him from behind and pulling him back into his chest, one hand covering his eyes. "Don't." He hissed into Shion's ear when he began to struggle and protest. He didn't want him to see it. Something inside of him told him that. This was too much, he didn't want the change that would come with this. It was horrible, somehow too horrible for Nezumi to let the boy handle the sight of. Anything but this.

What was this thing behind the door? Nezumi already knew, but the sounds that he could not prevent Shion from hearing combined with the remaining sunlight gave form to it. Golden eyes gleamed from within, accompanied by the sound of rasping, gnawing, and a little separate from that, death rattle gasps.

As the seconds ticked by the scent of blood reached his nostrils, and the whimpering sound of Inukashi's dogs joined the horrid chorus from within. Then a drip, and another drip, another. Not blood, not quite liquid, but Nezumi could see the gelatinous globs of demon flesh as they melted off the creature.

"What is it?" Even in a whisper, the disgust of Inukashi's voice rang out loud and clear. At the top of the stairs, Rikiga made a retching sound as the creature dipped its melted head back into the belly of the still living man. The sound of gnawing redoubled.

There was an unexpected pain in his side, and Nezumi gasped, allowing Shion to break free of his grasp. "Don't look!" He tried to command the other young man, but it was too late. Shion was nowhere near blind enough to miss what ever the dogs could see, a disgusting, acidic, creature eating a man who still breathed, however faintly. As his instincts had known, Shion couldn't handle it and he leaned over the railing, whatever little had been in his stomach now gone.

"Old man, take him. We'll be back up soon."

"Yeah." Rikiga shimmied his way around Nezumi and carefully took Shion by the shoulders, leading him back up the stairs and to the street. Once they were out of sight, Nezumi rushed down the stairs.

"What are you-"

"Shut up." He strode past the child into the room. The creature paid him no more attention than it had when they opened the door. It had no mind, it only knew the food in front of it. Nezumi knew it would sit there and eat, and eat, and eat until there was nothing of the man left, and only then would it hunt for more. That was all it would ever want - more. It did not stir, even as he knelt down next to it and whispered a single command into its being. Naturally, the creature could not refuse, it was too weak. It dropped dead mid gnaw, but Nezumi had already moved onto the man. His eyes were open, but they did not see. All he knew was pain, he would be dead soon enough.

Nezumi stood, and Inukashi's voice echoed off the walls. "What did you just do?"

"I stopped it." He couldn't kill it with a knife, not without potentially sacrificing a hand to its acid. The word had been sufficient.

"And you're not going to finish the guy off?" Inukashi's shadowy form nodded at the man, still gasping for his last breaths.

"Why should I? He's not going anywhere. Besides, killing him would be easy, and he deserves to suffer for his stupidity."

"You really are the devil."

Nezumi grinned, amused by the accusation. "You're not the first person to accuse me of that."

"It's true, you are absolute, utter evil."

"Then aren't you glad you're on my side?"

The child's lips pursed together, unable to properly response to that revelation. Why yes, they were working for the same team, and in that moment, Nezumi knew Inukashi was disgusted by it, so much so, that instead of talking about it, the subject was changed. "What is...was that thing?"

"That, my dear child, is what happens when you are enough of an idiot to try and summon a demon that is stronger than you." Careful to avoid stepping in the creature's filth, Nezumi stepped over the body of the dying man and back toward the door. "Do try to avoid that level of idiocy."

The young man watched as Inukashi seemed to process that. His eyes flickered back and forth for almost a minute before the child settled on a question. "What now?"

"The food inside is still good. Be a dear, and use that backpack of yours to carry as much of it as possible. Then we'll find somewhere to sleep." As though anyone other than him would be sleeping after this disaster.