HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT NEARLY TORTURED TO DEATH BY CULT

By Meiko Shoji, October XX, 20XX

SHIBUYA - A 17-year old teenager who went missing on Saturday was found starved and tortured nearly to death in a warehouse in Shibuya yesterday night, authorities report. The teenager, Boy A, had gone missing after going out for karaoke Saturday night, when he was kidnapped by a few Shomonkai cult members. Boy A was found by two other students of his school, Boy B and Girl A, and the owner of a nearby bar, Eiji Kamiya. The bodies of several Shomonkai members were found around Boy A. It is believed the Shomonkai members committed ritual suicide, and had been planning on using Boy A as a sacrifice to Belberith, a demon worshipped by the Shomonkai.

"We couldn't believe it when we got there," said Kamiya after the incident. "We found him collapsed on the ground, bleeding to death, with a bunch of dead Shomonkai cultists around him." Kamiya had met Boy A during the events of the Tokyo Lockdown two months ago, and had agreed to help Boy A's friends search for him after he went missing Saturday night. Upon discovering Boy A, Kamiya called the police and an ambulance.

At the time of his admission to the hospital, Boy A was in critical condition and was rushed into emergency surgery upon admission. As of this writing, he is stable.

The first thing Keiichi heard when he awoke was the beeping of the machine next to him. His body hurt. He was in a room of white, and he could feel his body was covered in bandages. There was a rather large and noticeable one covering practically half of his face. His blue hair fell across his face, and he didn't bother to move it out of his line of sight. Despite the cleanliness of the room, his hair still felt grimy. There was a rather dead, shellshocked look in his eyes. He didn't dare sit up. He didn't think he could. He struggled to recall what had occurred before he'd passed out. The memories were unclear in his head. The clearest part of what had happened was collapsing and seeing Atsuro, Yuzu, and Gin show up to help him. He screwed up his face as he tried to remember everything that had occurred. He immediately wished he hadn't as the memories hit him.

He'd made all of those people kill themselves. Even that one girl (he hadn't even bothered to learn her name) who had tried to help him so many times. He'd made them kill themselves… He didn't even know how he'd done it, he just had. The worst part was he felt that some part of him had enjoyed it. He felt sickened with himself.

Break free. Your soul is the blackest thing in this room, so remove yourself from the sea of white. Stain it red.

Keiichi gave a wince of actual physical pain at that thought. He still felt dizzy. How could he think these kinds of things?

"LET ME THROUGH!"

Keiichi turned his head toward the door at the sound of a familiar yell from further down the hall. He knew that voice. He didn't recognize the degree of panic and anger he heard in it.

"Kimura-san, you are quite aware of why you are not allowed in there."

"I don't give a damn! My little brother is in there, and if you think I'm just going to stand by and watch as he dies—"

"Kimura-san, what you think doesn't matter right now. We have our orders to move you out of Tokyo today. Familial emergencies do not apply here. You should be glad we gave you the grace period we did before deciding to move you to solitary confinement."

A pause before Naoya began to speak again.

"I don't think you quite realize what will happen once my little brother wakes up. You saw first hand the effects of his power. When he wakes up, he will be panicked and confused. His powers are unstable at the moment. If he wakes up with someone unfamiliar near him, he might panic, and then everyone inside this hospital will end up the same way those Shomonkai cultists did. And so I repeat: let me through."

Keiichi saw something on the other side of the window on the door move, and quickly rolled over so he was looking up at the ceiling before squeezing his eyes shut. He heard the noise of someone walking over to him and sitting down in a wooden chair to his left.

"Keiichi, I know you're awake."

Keiichi opened his eyes and turned his head back toward Naoya. He gave a weak smile. "You could tell, huh?"

"You were never a good liar," Naoya stated. His expression softened a bit. "How are you feeling?"

Keiichi didn't respond for several moments. "My whole body hurts."

"I would expect so, after what happened to you. The Shomonkai were trying to use you for some kind of ritual, weren't they." It was said as a statement of fact, not a question. Keiichi finally nodded.

"They wanted me to… release Belberith, I think they said. I don't know what they meant, but…" Something clicked into place in Keiichi's head. He attempted to sit up, only to wince in pain from his various wounds and lay back down. There was an urgent look in his eyes as he looked toward Naoya again. "Naoya, they wanted me to give them the ability to summon demons again. They thought me getting rid of Belberith was why they couldn't summon anymore. They mentioned Babel, too… How did they even know about Babel?"

Naoya shrugged. "The man who ordered your kidnapping, Yamasaki, was formerly a high ranking member of the Shomonkai. It is likely he learned about Babel from Kuzuryu himself."

Keiichi nodded and looked back up at the ceiling again. There was a long pause before he said anything else. "Why did you come here?"

"Why shouldn't I have? You're my precious little brother, aren't you? I have a right to be concerned."

Keiichi couldn't resist groaning. "Again with the otouto stuff? We're cousins, Naoya, despite how much you may wish we were actual brothers."

There was an expression Naoya had at that comment that Keiichi couldn't read. It was almost a knowing smirk, but there was some regret mixed in there. Keiichi blinked, and it was gone, back to Naoya's usual smirk.

"Perhaps I just miss you calling me Naoya-niichan," Naoya teased. "I think I'd like that. You should start calling me Naoya-niichan again."

Keiichi groaned. "You are such a jerk…" There was a pause, and Keiichi turned his head to the side to look at Naoya a bit better. He gave a smile. With how tense things had been between them, they hadn't gotten a chance to really talk like they used to. It had been "Lockdown" this and "Throne of Bel" that for the longest time. "Hey, Naoya?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for coming."

"It was no trouble," Naoya said. He leaned back in the chair. Keiichi smiled and rolled back into his previous position, and closed his eyes like he was about to fall asleep again. Naoya only smirked and looked toward the door. They wouldn't dare remove him from Keiichi's bedside now that he'd shown how easily he could calm his little brother down again. With how long it would take Keiichi to recover, he could buy himself quite a bit of time. Their conversation had proved a few things, as well. Not only had Keiichi's demonic powers awakened (as already evidenced by the strange suicides of the Shomonkai zealots), but the emotional torment brought on by their awakening pushed Keiichi right back into trusting him again. He had actually been unsure about how things would work out for a moment there, but now that Keiichi trusted him again, things were more on track than they had ever been.

"Oh, Kei-chan!"

Keiichi winced as his mother's arms wrapped around him. "Mom… ow, that hurts…"

"Please, Kimura-san," the doctor put a hand on Keiichi's mother's shoulder as he addressed her. "You may aggravate his injuries further."

Mizuki Kimura let go of Keiichi and wiped away a few tears. "I'm so glad you're okay… when you didn't come home, I was so worried… and then when they found you…" She wiped away a few more. "I'm just so glad you're okay…"

"Thank you for making it here, Naoya," Kenta Kimura said to Naoya, who was still sitting down in the chair next to Keiichi. Unlike Mizuki, Kenta had blue hair. It was that same blue hair Keiichi had inherited. It was only through some kind of odd genetics on his mother's side that Naoya had gotten his silver hair.

"It was no problem at all, Kenta-ojiisan," Naoya said. He still had his characteristic smirk. Kenta didn't react to the honorific; either he'd thought Naoya was calling him "uncle" or had chosen to ignore the fact that Naoya had just stealthily called him an old man. "When I heard they had found Keiichi, I hurried down here as fast as I could. They wouldn't let me in until he was bandaged and stitched up, though." Keiichi gave a smile at Naoya's words, though it was unlikely his parents would realize why he was actually smiling. Naoya doubted Keiichi's parents had really ever seen his true face more than a few times. Everything he had just said was just so obedient and polite and older brotherly, it was completely unlike Naoya's true self.

Adam and Eve never saw his true face until he was dead, and only then did they realize what kind of monster they'd birthed-

"Excuse me…" The doctor attempted to cut in again. This time, Keiichi's parents actually looked toward him. "I would like to talk to you two outside before you leave."

"Oh, of course," Keiichi's mother said, and the two of them started for the door. The doctor looked toward Naoya, who shrugged and turned toward Keiichi.

"I suppose I can't do a thing about visiting hours being over."

And with that Naoya stood up as well. Keiichi frowned and rolled over, and Naoya stood there until he was sure Keiichi was falling asleep again before heading out the door. The doctor was standing out in the hallway with Keiichi's parents. The doctor had a rather grave expression on his face as he spoke.

"…Keiichi's injuries are very serious. His body is covered in injuries consistent with some rather severe forms of torture. Several of his ribs were broken, as well as one of his arms. There were several fractures throughout his body, and at the time of his arrival to the hospital, there was some internal bleeding. He was dehydrated and starved, as well. It is a miracle he is still alive."

"They must have found Kei-chan just in time…" Mizuki whispered. Kenta nodded. Naoya wasn't satisfied with that answer. The man's expression clearly said he had more he wanted to say, but didn't know how to say it.

"You're not telling us something," Naoya growled.

"A-Ah, well… I was getting to that. You see… Keiichi's injuries are healing extraordinarily quickly. Since he was brought to this hospital a day ago, most of his minor cuts and wounds have already healed. Not scabbed over. Completely healed."

"How is that even—"

"I'm not sure, Kimura-san," the doctor said to Kenta. Mizuki gave a startled gasp at the doctor's next words. "But your son is healing faster than any normal human should be able to. His bones are already healing, even though that kind of process should take weeks. The marrow and bone cells were forming so quickly, we nearly didn't set the bones in time before any kind of permanent damage set in. As you can see, this situation is very strange. Now, I have heard rumors the cult that kidnapped your son were performing some sort of… human experiments—"

"They weren't experimenting on him," Naoya said matter-of-factly. The three others looked toward him, and Naoya shrugged. That was all of the answer he gave, and the other three continued speaking.

"In any case, at his current rate of healing, he should be fully healed in two weeks at most. Perhaps even just a week. However, I would like to keep him here longer to run some tests. In order to see what is causing this strange cell growth, of course."

"Oh… yes, that would be important, wouldn't it…" Mizuki said. She clutched her upper arm and Naoya could see she was holding back a few tears.

"That would be fine," Kenta said hurriedly. The doctor gave a quick bow.

"Thank you," the doctor said. "Now, you three should return home. Visiting hours are over, and I have already kept you far too long."

"Ah, I see," Kenta said. "Yes, thank you very much." He bowed to the doctor, and put a hand on Mizuki's shoulder, startling her. Naoya sighed and started walking down the hallway before Kenta and Mizuki could start down it. Keiichi's parents were always like this. They wouldn't be able to visit Keiichi regularly due to their work schedules, either, something that would greatly pain Mizuki at the very least. But unlike them, Naoya could actually make it here to visit Keiichi. That kind of company would make Keiichi trust him even more.

He neither noticed nor cared how far ahead of Keiichi's parents he'd walked when he finally stopped. He smirked at the woman standing in the corner of the nearly deserted lobby. Earlier that day, she had been wearing an SDF uniform, but now her outfit was much less armored and more formal. The woman glared back at Naoya.

"How cold, Captain Izuna," Naoya taunted.

"We already have the information on your cousin's condition. That was a dangerous card you pulled earlier," Izuna stated. Just as she was about to add onto that, Naoya cut in.

"Don't you think we should wait until we're somewhere more private to talk, Captain?" Naoya asked and gestured around to the people standing in the lobby. "You wouldn't want to violate any secrecy acts, would you?"

Izuna continued to glare at Naoya, and Naoya maintained eye contact between them. He was the one who ended up breaking eye contact by turning back toward the hospital doors and walking right out. Izuna opened her mouth to voice some sort of protest, but Naoya only continued walking. She followed after him, and waited until she had caught up to him to speak.

"You hold immense control over Keiichi, and we already know you wish to use the demons for your own purposes. Considering these facts, I see very little reason to allow you to spend more time with Keiichi like you requested," Izuna said in a harsh whisper. "Should you bring the demons upon Tokyo again, everything we have worked for will go to waste."

"I respect my cousin's choice, Izuna-san," Naoya said. "You honestly believe I would use this moment of weakness to force him to bring back the demons?"

"I would not put it past you."

Naoya only gave a dark chuckle at that. "Nevertheless, I am also the only one that can calm him down should he lose control. And if he loses control, Tokyo will undoubtedly return to the hell it became two months ago. Hm, what to do…"

Izuna scowled. "Your attitude makes me sick." Naoya only gave another chuckle and walked even faster. Eating out of the palm of his hand…

"Alright. You may remain in Tokyo until your cousin leaves the hospital." Izuna sped up and stopped in front of Naoya. "But once he leaves, you have to leave Tokyo as well. You have stalled the inevitable long enough. You should be glad we haven't deported you for treason."

"Because being jailed somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in Hokkaido is so much better," Naoya said, his voice bleeding with sarcasm. "I think the only worse place you could send me would be Miyakejima." And without another word, he pushed past Izuna and continued walking toward his apartment. He would be back at the hospital in the morning to see Keiichi. They could continue their talk then.

Yuzu had been incredibly excited to hear that they were finally allowing K1 to have visitors. No one blamed her, but she was super excited about it. She had been so depressed since they'd found K1. She'd been the first one to see him when they got to that warehouse. It had been pretty gory. A bunch of dead Shomonkai surrounding K1, who had been just about dead himself. After the incident, they hadn't been allowed to see K1 for a couple days. But now they were letting him have visitors, and they could finally come by! Atsuro, the nerd, was of course bringing all of the homework K1 had missed.

When Yuzu and Atsuro walked into K1's room, they hadn't expected to see Naoya sitting there next to K1's bed, though. Yuzu scowled at the man. He'd always unsettled her, but after the Lockdown, she disliked him even more. She looked over at K1, and just looking at him made her stomach flop. Much of his body, including part of his face, was covered in bandages. They ran around his arms, up his neck, across his chest… It was horrible. But the worst part was K1's eyes. The look in his eyes was not unlike that of a dead man. It was like no light could shine in them. It was disturbing.

Naoya and K1 both looked up as the two of them entered the room. K1 gave a smile that in normal circumstances would have been sweet, but to Yuzu it just looked creepy. She looked toward Atsuro, and his expression rather matched hers. So she wasn't imagining it…

Atsuro managed to walk over to K1's bed grinning. "Hey, K1! How ya feeling?"

"Better than I did when you found me," K1 said with a small laugh. He looked over at Yuzu and gave a grin. "Hey, Yuzu."

Yuzu gulped and gave a wave. "Heya, K1." She saw Naoya's smirk widen and glared at him. What the hell did he find so funny? Why was he even there, anyways? K1 had said Naoya was moving soon; shouldn't he have been busy getting ready to move far, far away? She ignored Naoya and walked over to K1's side before kneeling down beside him. She laid her left arm down on the bed and rested her head on top of it while grasping K1's hand with her right. "I missed you."

K1 blushed and looked away. "Yeah, me too."

At that moment, a large leather bag dropped on K1's bed. Both Yuzu and K1 jumped and looked toward Atsuro, who had a large grin on his face. "That's all the notes and homework you missed. I figure you get pretty bored here, so might as well pass the time with this crap, right?"

Naoya gave a wide grin and leaned forward. "He won't have the chance to. They've been doing tests on him since he arrived here."

Yuzu frowned and looked back over at K1. "Tests? Like what?"

K1 shrugged. "Every now and then, they've been taking blood samples… I think they took a marrow sample once, too."

"Marrow? Like bones?"

K1 shrugged. "I don't get it either." Atsuro frowned, then looked over at Naoya. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, as if the three teenagers in the room were expecting an explanation from the older man. Yuzu could tell Atsuro certainly was. After about a minute of silence, Atsuro finally grinned and whipped his laptop out of his bag.

"Oh yeah, Naoya-san! Would you mind looking over some coding I made last night for me?" Atsuro placed the laptop on the bed next to K1 and powered it on. Naoya shrugged and leaned forward to look at the laptop, even as it was still booting up. Yuzu groaned and looked back toward K1.

"There they go again," Yuzu complained. "I wish you could get out of bed right now. Then we could ditch these losers and go somewhere fun." K1 gave a laugh in response, and Yuzu smiled back up at K1. She was glad to be here. Even with those dead eyes staring at her, she felt happy to be here, by K1's side. She really didn't want to move from this spot. Most of all, she wished time would just stop, even though she knew the days she'd wanted to go on forever had already ended.

Atsuro and Yuzu spent a very long time with Keiichi. Later on that afternoon, a Keisuke Tagaki had shown up. Naoya vaguely remembered giving the boy a COMP prior to the beginning of the Lockdown, having already known that he was an old friend of Atsuro's and would likely be caught up in the Lockdown. Unlike Atsuro and Yuzu, Keisuke hadn't hidden his dislike for him. Naoya hadn't really cared, but K1 had spent much of the time Keisuke had spent there telling him how much of a good person he really was. If only his little brother really knew…

Atsuro, Yuzu and Keisuke had eventually been ushered out by a nurse, and Naoya had only left later because the nurse knew he visited every day. Even when they technically hadn't been allowing visitors to Keiichi's room, they'd still allowed him in, much to the nurse's confusion. She'd eventually stopped arguing with him and just let him continue on.

Naoya continued walking out of the hospital with a smug look on his face. The SDF were fools, especially Izuna. She was easily manipulated, and would do anything to protect her country. No wonder she'd allowed him so close to Keiichi, despite the risks. She didn't realize it was a lose-lose situation…

"You're certainly spending quite a bit of time with your previous little brother, aren't you, Naoya?"

Naoya stopped at the familiar voice, seeming almost startled. He closed his eyes and chuckled as the usual smirk returned. "I didn't expect to see you here. Shouldn't you be in the demon realm with everyone else, Loki?"

Leaning up against the hospital exterior wall was a rather stylish man wearing a purple suit. His hair was slicked back, and he had a confident air about him, but being around him also gave you the sense that there was something wrong about him. Naoya had known this man for a very long time, though not always in the same form. He also didn't like him much. Loki's own smirk, one very similar to Naoya's own, remained plastered on his face as he walked over toward the other man.

"Not all demons come through the King's Gate," Loki chuckled. "Something even you don't seem to realize. I thought you smarter than that, Naoya!"

Naoya gave Loki a cold stare. "You didn't come just to taunt me, did you?"

"Oh, how cold, Naoya. Could it be you miss my comfort? I'm sorry to say, my love is only for Keiichi now."

Naoya rolled his eyes. If this was all Loki was here for, then he had no reason to talk to him. "Your games sicken me. And I would prefer if you stayed away from him right now."

"Despite all of the help I've given you in the past?" Loki shook his head sadly. "Well, he's certainly moving along quite well now. It won't be long until his demonic blood fully awakens."

"Indeed," Naoya grumbled.

"Y'know, you should be thanking me," Loki continued. "If it weren't for the name I gave those zealots, it's possible Keiichi would have remained the way he was…"

The moment Loki finished talking, Naoya's hand grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him up against the hospital wall. There was an almost murderous look in Naoya's eyes, and he was very obviously seething with anger.

"You told them Keiichi's name!"

"But of course! After all, what better than a bunch of Bel worshipping cultists to awaken Abel's true self?" Loki's smirk only grew wider, even as Naoya pushed him further against the wall. "It was so easy, too. All I had to do was take the form of a human woman and claim I was an angel, and they listened to everything I said. All they needed was Abel's human name and a 'ritual' to awaken him, and everything was in place. It didn't even occur to them once that no angel would willingly tell them a ritual to essentially awaken a sealed demon. It wasn't even a real ritual, either. Just a way to scare little Abel into actually acting."

"You bastard!"

"You have no right to complain. This was the opportunity you were waiting for, wasn't it? Thanks to me, your plans can continue unhitched." Loki's expression became serious. "You know quite well you can't have both the human and the demon. The longer you hold onto your sentimentality toward him, the more you hinder your own goals."

Naoya let go of Loki's collar and stepped back, still glaring at the demon. "Leave. And don't let me ever catch you near him again."

Loki's expression remained serious. "Your indecisiveness will cost you everything you've worked for, Cain." A chilly wind began to blow, and Naoya shielded his eyes as a rather strong gust blew past. When it faded, Loki was gone, and Naoya was alone.

He clenched his hands into fists and punched the wall. That damn demon knew how to get under his skin every time. And he was right. For the first time in millennia, Naoya was regretting his actions. Naoya knew all along he couldn't have both Keiichi and Abel. He was just deluding himself. The constant visits, the banter, everything he had done for Keiichi wasn't out of straight manipulation. It had aided him, but in the end, it had been because he'd loved Keiichi the way he would a brother. Like he had Abel before he'd so cruelly killed him all of those years ago. Maybe he'd done what he'd done during the Lockdown for his own gains, but how much of what he'd done was his own brotherly love shining through?

It had to be some sort of divine irony the way Keiichi had turned out. Somehow, he had ended up more like the original Abel than any of the other bearers of Abel's essence Naoya had met over his many, many lives. At times it had infuriated him just how damn innocent Keiichi could be. But it was that personality of his that had driven Naoya closer to him, and it was that personality that had caused him to become so attached to him. Thousands of people trapped in the Lockdown, with at least ten bearers of the essence of Abel among them. And he'd chosen Keiichi, not because he was the one he had the most ability to manipulate, but because he was closest to the original Abel.

He knew he had to let go of Keiichi. Once that demonic blood awakened, that human personality wouldn't be able to remain. It was the simple facts of things. The demon that had gained the title of Bel was just too strong, and even if any of Keiichi did remain afterwards, a human heart wouldn't be able to take the hell they would have to go through for a war like that. He would succeed in corrupting God's favorite son, but at the same time, he would lose the Abel he had known forever. It was too late to turn back now, those memories were already awakening. Naoya just wished there was some kind of possible compromise.