Author's Note: Aw, man. Sorry for the tardy update. This chapter's been sorta tough to write. I can only pray that it turned out all right. I must steel myself and get myself out of this lethargic slump! Ugh, I've been so unnaturally lazy lately, not only with things regarding fanfiction. But it's here, now! The new chapter, that is! Read to your heart's content!
Disclaimer: Black Cat belongs to none but the best of mangaka. And I am certainly not counted among their ranks. And I hardly believe that I ever will be. Such an honor can only belong to those like Kentaro Yabuki, who is, to me, somewhat of a god, in a sense. If you're reading this fanfiction, it is likely that you'd agree.
"Why are you so broken up over this? It isn't like you to concern yourself so heavily with someone else's personal matters, at least not to this extent. Even if he is your friend."
Saya surveyed Eve from half-lidded eyes, her face contemplative.
"Or perhaps..." she barely smiled. "Perhaps you want to be more than just friends, and it's tearing you apart to see me reject him when you can't have him for yourself. You want him to be happy," she drawled mockingly.
Eve trembled, her fists clenching tightly, her downcast face obscured by her bangs.
Saya gave her one last condescending glance and swiveled to walk away.
"...That's right."
Eve's voice stopped Saya in her tracks. She turned back around.
"...What did you say?" Saya asked.
"I said that you've got it right. I only recently realized it myself, but I love Train. I want to see him smile, not get hurt. And for you to just shatter his hopes like that is unacceptable. You can give him happiness, when I can't, and...and you just decide to throw it all away? Train deserves more than that; he deserves what you can give him. Even if you don't deserve him."
Eve was silently crying. Angry tears dripped down her cheeks, and she made no effort to wipe them off.
Saya blinked a few times, with traces of disbelief in her expression. She quietly regarded Eve for a few moments.
Saya then shuffled closer, lifting a finger and wiping off a stray tear. Eve did nothing to stop her. Saya smiled softly.
"There are...reasons for what I did. I can't really tell you now, but...with any luck, the next time you see me is when I'll reveal everything."
She hesitated, then placed a hand on Eve's shoulder.
"...Thank you. You've helped me realize something important."
She withdrew her hand, turned around, and began to walk away.
Eve gazed after her, slightly stunned for a few moments, her tear streaks still frozen in place.
"S-Saya...? Wait! Wh-Where are you going?"
Saya laughed, - a bright, blithe laugh - seeming to sparkle, the sunset casting an orange glow about her frame.
"Eve," she said, without turning back around, "you truly are one of a kind. Did you know that?"
Still facing the dying sun, Saya continued to walk, a bounce in her step. Eve watched her outline fade away into the distance, the laughter still ringing merrily in her ears.
Whether Train was behind her, and Saya in front, or the other way around, Eve had no idea.
She only knew that hazarding any sort of inference at their fates was foolhardy and impossible.
One certainty, however, was that there would be pain. Near unendurable, inevitable pain awaited them, and Eve could only dread what was in store.
"Mr. Heartnet, I've brought you your-" the nurse was cut short as her breath hitched in her throat.
The silver platter she had held in her hands clattered noisily to the floor as ripples of hot soup cascaded over the side.
"Oh...Oh my God..." she exclaimed, a trembling hand held over her mouth.
Her wispy hair was brushed back and forth by the breeze emitting from behind the swishing window curtains. The glass itself, slid ajar, reflected within its shallow depths the strewn about bedsheets, looking for the all the world as if it had been afflicted by a ghost's imprint.
The cacophony in Eve's mind when she first woke could not have been more at odds with her surroundings. Even as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, its dull, drab atmosphere did not really distinguish itself from the blurred medley her vision perceived only moments before.
She groaned as her head pounded incessantly.
"Ah. I see you've woken up."
Suddenly alert, Eve snapped her eyes completely open and saw Creed standing a few feet away.
She thrashed about, but found her struggles rendered futile, her wrists forcefully bound by silver handcuffs, her legs and torso fixed in place to the chair she sat on by thick wire.
"Wh-What the hell is this? Where am I?" she growled frantically.
"Hm. Well, we're in a warehouse, Princess, to answer your question," he replied calmly.
"Don't call me that!" she snarled "Y-You have no right to call...to call..." she trailed off quietly.
Creed raised both hands in a superficial gesture of peace.
"No need to snap. Nor is there any need for hostility. I hope to make this as comfortable as possible for the both of us."
Eve viciously lashed out at him, only to have her restraints jerk her to a stop mid-way through.
"Oh yeah, real fucking comfortable, strapping me to a chair like this," she seethed.
Her migraine was reaching astronomical proportions. She felt like as if her head was wracked with explosions. She couldn't handle such anxiety, such disorientation, such instability, much longer.
"Ah. That's a necessary precaution, I'm afraid. But that doesn't mean things have to be unpleasant. I merely brought you here so that Train is obligated to come as well. I need to speak with him, you see. It's rather urgent."
At the mention of Train's name, Eve's heart skipped a beat. Her memories, of everything, had all but returned by now. Her conflicts, her resolutions, her revelations; they all came rocketing out of her past, unwaveringly clear. And now, with her memories placed in context of the knowledge pertaining to her current situation, tears began to slide unhindered down her cheeks, her brows furrowed in sorrowed anger.
"You...you...You're the one who killed Sven, you bastard!"
Creed seemed surprised for a moment, before he chuckled.
"Never thought we'd hit this bump. That you've come to regard that guy's death as something personal...it seems that you've remembered, hmm? How unexpected."
Eve froze.
"Wh-What? How do you know about my...my memory loss?"
Creed smiled.
"That's confidential information. For now, at least."
Eve hiccuped, before glaring at him.
This person...is the one who killed Sven. I can't forgive him.
Eve then glanced at the only entryway present in the room: a solitary wooden door, flanked by bulky guards, both of whom wore black. Her vision was dim, partly because of the dismal room, but she could just make out that the men were equipped with firearms.
Her heart thudded painfully in her chest.
Train...please, don't come to save me. This is all a trap...I can't lose you too.
Eve's mouth formed a tight line.
"You're despicable. You're not satisfied with murdering Sven, but now you have to go after Train, too? I can't even fathom what you're after."
Creed's smirk slowly faded.
"You misunderstand, my dear. This has always been about Train, right from the very beginning. From the very beginning."
Eve's eyes were suddenly glazed over in fear.
What...what could he mean by that? Train...please, don't be reckless. I just got you back, this time for real. I can't have you taken away from me a second time.
Eve's ears suddenly picked up the sound of yelling, followed promptly by several gunshots. They were muffled, but not distant, likely emanating from just outside the warehouse walls.
Creed's smile twisted wider.
"He's arrived," he softly intoned.
"No...Train can't have..." Eve's lip trembled.
One of the guards turned to face the entrance way while the other walked up behind Eve, and held a gun to her head. She froze.
"Wh-What...?"
Suddenly the door was severed off his hinges and blown inward, so that the guard waiting at the threshold was swept backwards as well.
Along with the explosion came a yell so ferocious Eve felt goosebumps dotting the edge of her skin.
"CREEEED!"
Train's snarl rebounded off of the vast, cracked walls of the large warehouse, its utter emptiness only serving to amplify his rage.
Eve saw that the ground behind him was littered with bodies; the several men he incapacitated were groaning with pain, bullet wounds scattered all over their arms and legs, though it seemed that none were dead. He himself had sparse injuries, with only a few scratches here and there, or minute slices in the skin.
His eyes, however, burned with an unrivaled savagery. His hand tightened on his handgun with loathing, and his body trembled with utter contempt.
Creed was unfazed.
"Excellent. I'd expect nothing less from you, Train. I was worried that you might have trouble finding my quaint little establishment."
"Cut the crap, Creed!" Train's eyes narrowed like a feline's. "You know damn well how I got here! This is where I found Sven's corpse! Where you told me to go to find something 'interesting'! And I swear, Creed, if anything were to happen to Eve-"
"Now, now, Train. I only lured you here so we could have a little talk."
Train glared at him, then glanced worriedly at Eve for a moment, before switching his gaze back to Creed.
"Let her go, Creed."
"Nothing would please me more, dear Train, but only after I've had my talk."
"Stop bullshi-"
Creed's eyes narrowed, and he clicked his fingers once. The brute behind Eve cocked his gun menacingly, causing her to yelp slightly.
"If you don't cooperate, Train, or if you make one move towards attacking me or rescuing her, then she dies. Keep this simple, for her sake and yours."
Train gritted his teeth, before forcing himself to relax.
"Fine. What the hell do you have to say to me? And why the hell go to this much trouble, just for something like this...?"
Creed chuckled.
"Train, to do anything otherwise would be pointless. You know as well as I, I hope, that anything meaningful, any real truth, anything of any value whatsoever, can only be derived from a situation such as this. This anxiety, this tension, the raw emotion I see emanating from you, Train...this is what I'm trying to instigate. What..." He suddenly frowned, before continuing.
"What she nearly ruined." Creed pointed an accusatory finger at Eve.
Both she and Train blinked in surprise.
"What are you talking about?"
Creed pursed his lips, before answering.
"You have such potential, Train. Such restrained, wonderful fury within you. Your murderous intent, the path of blood stretching out before you...Train, I merely want you to see your true destiny, as a person, fulfilled. I wish to help you, and work alongside you to finally unlock and unleash your true passions."
"Train is nothing like that! Nothing like you!" Eve burst out.
"Shut up, girl!" he viciously bellowed.
His face twisted in fury, before swiveling back towards Train.
"Don't you see, Train? It is people like this," he motioned towards Eve. "who inhibit you! They deny your genuine self! You are muddled by these wretches crowded about you, day by day! That is why I killed your friend! He held you back. And she is doing the same. I've seen the cold, gnawing anger inside you, just begging to released, Train. Unless I get rid of these pests who surround you, I cannot get through to you! I am standing here today, Train, in order to implore you: join me. You and I will establish something great, the likes of which this world has never seen. It is a complete waste, it would be utterly foolhardy, if the floodgates holding back your inner tides were to remain upright any longer."
Train shook with indignation, his bangs overshadowing his eyes, which were wrought with intensity.
"That's...That's why...? For some stupid reason like that...Sven died? His life was wasted because of your twisted logic? I will never forgive you...Creed. So you can screw yourself, and your so-called proposition."
Creed was silent for a few seconds, before heaving a dramatic sigh.
"It seems that I will, once again, need more to get through to you. If I must become the adversary in all this, in order to release your identity, then I am ready and willing. Once more, it seems that I must let hatred take reign of your body and become the catalyst. I am sorry, Train, but I am doing this for you."
Creed nodded towards his subordinate, who grunted in reply.
Train's eyes widened in a split second realization.
"N-NO! Eve!"
Train raised his gun faster than the henchman could even begin to press the trigger, and he shot him square in the shoulder, causing the larger man to stumble backwards, clutching his wound in agony, before slumping against the far wall.
Eve's took shuddering, haggard breaths, having just barely avoided death.
"Tsk," Creed uttered in annoyance, before pulling out his own gun.
Before he could aim it at Eve, however, Train surged towards him, attempting to knock him off balance.
Creed easily dodged backwards, and thrust his leg into Train's abdomen, causing Train to lurch backwards, a minuscule amount of blood spurting from his mouth.
"Were we fighting under normal conditions, Train, you would no doubt have had the better of me. But that injury still stings a bit, hm?"
Train growled, wincing as he pressed his hand onto his ribcage in order to stem the resurgence of blood staining his bandages.
"Now, then..." Creed turned back towards his captive, only to find her standing upright, her hands still clamped tightly by the handcuffs, but the rest of her body free of the now harmless wire coiled on the ground in front of her.
Her breaths were labored, but she glared all the more threateningly at the man in front of her.
"You really suck at tying people up, Creed," she bitterly mocked.
He blinked.
"Oh. I see. Along with the memories you've regained are the skills your body once knew. The ones you originally obtained from constantly training with your friends from the past."
He smiled, before whipping his gun towards her and firing.
Her re-attained reflexes flared to life within her, and she was already dodging to the side when the bullet was launched, rolling swiftly along the ground, before fluidly rising to her feet, using the stone wall as a stabilizer. Her handcuff chain clinked with her constant motions.
Creed once again aimed his revolver towards Eve. This time, with her hands still restrained, she was unable to push off from the wall quickly enough, and thus unable to duck away from the line of fire in time.
"Stop it! Creed!" Train pleaded, struggling to rise to a standing position.
Creed ignored him, and his fingers began to squeeze the trigger.
Eve, however, had a determined gleam in her eye. She carefully but quickly positioned her hands at eye level.
The gun went off, and the bullet soared straight towards Eve.
It struck, not skin, but metal, and the chain of Eve's handcuffs was blown apart, severed down the middle, in a shower of sparks.
Creed's lips parted in surprise.
"Heh..." he exclaimed. "How intuitive."
It was then that another shot fired out, the shell of the bullet impaling the back of Creed's right knee, causing him to immediately crumple down onto the ground, sprawled out in a barely sitting position.
Train, from behind him, had risen up on one knee despite his re-agitated injury, and now held steady a gun, its tip smoking. His other hand clutched his bloodstained wound, and sweat matted his forehead as he panted heavily.
Eve quickly darted forward and snatched the gun from Creed's suddenly loosened grasp.
She backed away slowly, all the while pointing Creed's own gun at his slumped form.
Creed raised an eyebrow.
"Hmph. Well, the tables have turned, haven't they? Go on. Shoot me like I did Sven. I can tell you, it's a liberating feeling, pressing that final trigger. Ending someone's life."
Eve's hands shook. Her lips trembled, and beads of sweat slid down her face. Her mind was teetering on its very edge.
"I...I..."
She bared her teeth in suppressed agony.
"I WON'T...I'm not like...I'm not like you...Sven wouldn't want me to...to become that kind of person. And neither would Saya!"
At that, Creed broke into sudden laughter. He started laughing so much that the sound reverberated off of the walls, throughout the hollow, deadened room.
Eve and Train stared, bewildered, dumbfounded at Creed's abrupt behavior.
"You think you knew what Saya wanted? You think you knew her at all?" His voice was laced with malice.
Eve almost dropped her gun.
"What did you say? How could you possibly know about Saya? And about my memories and past, for that matter!"
A cruel, twisted smirk appeared on Creed's visage.
"Of course I know about Saya. How could I not? No one knew my sister better than I did."
Both Train and Eve's expressions shifted to ones of utter astonishment.
"Your...sister...?"
"Oh, didn't you know?" Creed said in a mocking voice. "You never asked her for her last name, did you?"
"Of-Of course we knew her last name!" This time it was Train who spoke in retaliation. "Her name was Saya Minatsuki!"
Creed grinned.
"Of course she would tell you that. But that was our mother's maiden name, so she used it as a fake last name for herself. Her real name was Saya Diskenth."
Eve couldn't bear to hear this.
"Don't lie to us!" she hissed.
"I assure you, I am not lying. She and I, Saya and Creed Diskenth, were the heirs to the Apostles of the Stars."
"The...Apostles...?"
Train replied to her unspoken question.
"I've heard of them. It's a criminal organization, one of the topmost. They're known as the "Gods of the underworld". Basically, an elite mafia."
"Bingo," Creed affirmed with a smile.
Train glared at him.
"I can understand you being a part of that group...but there is no way Saya would degrade herself to be working with filth like you!"
Creed laughed once more.
"And I told you that you know nothing about her. Weren't you listening? She not only worked with me, she was my sister. Our father was the leader of the Apostles. I am to take his place as the next, once he relinquishes his title, because I am the next male heir. In reality, though, Saya had as much influence and power as me. She was to work alongside the new leader, basically as a second one, as his sister, and lead our organization to prosperity along with him. Me."
Eve started shaking her head.
"No...not Saya...you have to be lying...she was...out of all us, she was..." she could not complete her sentence.
"Trust me," Creed continued. "You two have no idea who Saya, the true Saya, really was. By the age of twelve, she had killed more people than you could have ever believed. She was the genuine princess of the Apostles. Like all of us, she reveled in carnage."
His face, however, suddenly became clouded over in contempt.
"But...then, she began to spend more time with...the three of you."
Bombarded with all of this new information as he was, Train still did not let his aim with the gun waver.
"With...us...?" he carefully inquired.
"Yes," Creed said. "The more time she spent with your little posse, the more she drifted further away from her true goals. She became soft. She decided to start valuing life, cherishing friendship, all nonsense that she was better off doing away with. And one day, she came to me, and decided to fucking quit. She wanted to quit the Apostles of the Stars. Due to your influence, her ideals that she attained alongside us as we reached for our ambitions became fogged, and even shattered. That was unacceptable. Unheard of, within our syndicate. One does not, cannot, just simply quit the Apostles. I pleaded with her to reconsider. I truly did. But she would have none of it. Her 'decision was final,' she said. It is all due to the influence of trash she associated with. I had no choice...but to end her. There is only one way to cut oneself off from the Apostles: through death."
Eve's face went pale. The final node in the chain of her mentality exploded, and her mind snapped. Sweat poured off of her in buckets, and she was trembling so badly that the gun almost slipped from her hands at numerous occasions. She screamed in absolute despair, and the claws of agony ruptured, ripped, tore at her soul.
"Li'l Princess!" Train cried out in alarm.
Her thoughts swirled chaotically about her, and any attempt to stem the torrent of hysteria proved fruitless.
"No...it can't have...Saya...she...no...because of...me...Creed...Saya...Sven...killed...both...dead..."
Creed sneered, before rising slowly on his uninjured leg.
"I'd say you've lost to your inner emotional throes. Since you've basically succumbed to death, you won't mind if I just end it for you, hm?" He started slinking towards her slowly, occasionally wincing in pain from his wound.
Her eyes snapped open.
"AHHHHHHH! NO! Stay away...STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
Her knuckles white from gripping the gun too tightly, she abruptly fired off disjointed shots in front of her. Bullets soared off in all different directions, ricocheting off the walls and floor, some barely grazing the air beside Train's head.
Four of them managed to lodge themselves in Creed's chest area, and another two embedded themselves in his stomach.
Blood gurgled out from his mouth as he stared curiously at the metal piercing his body. He then toppled backwards, arms flailing uselessly at his side.
Out of bullets, Eve's gun clicked repeatedly, before she too fell over, tumbling to the ground, the gun clattering noisily to the floor beside her. She moaned in pain.
Train gritted his teeth, before dragging himself upright and then walking slowly towards Eve.
Creed's eyes peered out from behind half-closed lids.
"...Tch. If-If I can't have you, Train..." Coughing up blood, he forced his hand to reach inside his jacket pocket, and he pulled out a miniature device, with a small black button poised at its center. Creed's blood-tainted thumb smeared the button crimson as he pressed it.
"...No one can."
For a second, it almost seemed to Train as if stars were bursting into existence all around him, their brilliant light emanating in sudden vibrations, as if their very inceptions had bombarded the universe with incandescent explosions of fire and eruption.
As the warehouse began to collapse in a sea of flames, Train had eyes only for the glimpses of golden hair in front of him.
Dashing towards Eve, focusing on his sole directive, he did not even acknowledge or realize the world plunging down around him, to its demise, into the very bowels of Hell.
Author's Note: Whoa. Intense, no? Worth the wait? I certainly hope so. Review, if Time hasn't got you in her devilish clutches, like she did oh so unmercifully with me.
Random quotation of the day:
"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved through understanding."
-Albert Einstein