Over time, I learned that I was stuck in a crate box; only the noises of sparse shuffling reminding me that I wasn't alone. I broke out into a cold sweat as any possibility strapped into my mind. The straining of wood met my ears; the crate was opening. My sight remained impaired, but someone pulled me onto my feet. Small chatter occurred around me, and I couldn't help the shivering my body produced.
"Here's our next one, number 238." someone announced, catching my attention. "This is a new recruit to the CCG. She's also quite young. Any takers?"
What seemed like a large audience, moved from a quiet chatter to an enormous uproar. There were numbers being thrown around. Well, that among death threats. They were bidding on me? The blindfold was removed, and I found myself in the center of a small theater of masked ghouls. I looked at the announcer, hoping for some sympathy, but the unfamiliar person only commented about my light brown eyes, which made more bids come in.
"What the hell is all this?" I murmured. With the starting bid at three hundred thousand, there was too much room for others to place a bid.
Then, someone put their marker up, "Four million."
Apparently that's the highest anyone would go for me. The person before me went for one hundred million, so now I felt incredibly cheap.
"Sold to number nineteen!" the announcer cheered.
Sold? They were buying humans, most likely to consume them, and I was the next course for number nineteen. I was escorted off stage, and told to wait for my buyer. It was empty back here. If I made a run for it, I couldn't get caught, right? I took one step, and then another. So far, there was nothing to stop me, and I took off.
My hair blew behind me as I looked for the nearest exit.
I happened to look back to see my purchaser, the number 19 attached to his lapel. Their mask was unfamiliar to me, resembling a crow, though there were several holes in the mask.
"I didn't purchase you to go running off." they commented.
"Stay back!" I warned with no true threat. "I'm a Dove, you know."
"Are you? You're not very threatening." they chuckled. "No Dove would run from the chance to take down a ghoul." they stepped closer, and I stepped back.
The voice seemed familiar, "U-Uta?"
"Who else would buy you?" Well that hurt. "Come on, we have things to do."
That sounded familiar… but wh- and then it hit me.
"You're No Face." I deduced. He paused and looked at me. With the mask, I was unable to read his expression.
"According to your papers, you've supposedly never met a ghoul," he moved his mask only a fraction, a solitary red eye staring me down. "How do you know who I am?"
I didn't, that's the thing. All I remember was that No Face was a ghoul who happened by me when I was a kid, and didn't eat me, surprisingly. I only saw his face a handful of times, but now, everything looked similar, aside from the hair. To be honest, I never knew he was a ghoul until much later.
"Why did you help me then and now? There was no point for you to leave me alive." It was true. He was a violent and sadistic ghoul in his past.
"So you are that kid. I thought you looked familiar."
A loud crash came from a floor below. "What was that?" I questioned.
"Doves. They must've found out that you and several other humans were missing." he pondered, not too interested. Uta wretched me by the arm, shoving me into a small closet. "Stay here. I will come back for you when I'm done."
"What are you going to do?"
"Don't worry about that." He closed me in, locking the door. Then something occurred to me, what if Takaku was here? He could get killed. I had to get in contact with him somehow. There didn't seem to be a fray nearby. Reeling back, I began to kick at the locked door, hoping to disengage the lock. One more kick, and the door swung open. Now all I have to do is find Takaku and get out of here without running into Uta or other ghouls. Running through a few hallways, I found a staircase, and made my way down.
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Takaku burst through the main door with his weapon at the ready. With his team by his side, he would have to fight hard to find Mariko. A few ghouls ahead of him summoned their kagune, not in the mood to be messed with by Doves. This would take some time.
"Takaku, go find the humans with the other fleet. We'll take care of this." It then began, Doves moving left and right, while Ghouls matched them punch for punch.
Takaku ran through the halls, making sure to avoid any trouble.
"Takaku?" he whirled around at the mention of his name. The voice all too familiar.
"Mariko?" he questioned. Peering around the corner was Mariko, though upon sight, she didn't approach. "Are you alright?"
"I found a way out, come here." she beckoned.
He was elated that she was alright, but something didn't seem right about this atmosphere. Takaku followed with caution, weapon at the ready in case something were to go down. Following Mariko, he rounded the corner, the girl nowhere in sight. Instead the man in the bird mask was in her place.
"You're Takaku. I didn't think it would be so easy to lure you here."
"Where is Mariko!"
"Was that the name of the human I bought? Don't worry about where she is."
"Listen ghoul, I'll let you live if you return her." He was ready to stand down, but when the masked figure continued to stand there unimpressed, Takaku lunged, ready to tear into the ghoul. The masked figure never fought back, dodging elegantly, much to the Dove's surprise. In a second, Takaku was thrown back, a simple knife pierced into his hip. He winced, kneeling to the ground in an attempt to catch his breath.
"Have you ever actually encountered a ghoul?" the figure laughed, though his kagune remained unused.
"Of course," Takaku blurted, though not one this skilled. On top of that, he knew where Mariko was. "This is your last warning to stand down, and tell me where Mariko is."
"My human is safe, until I find myself hungry again. I'll be sure she begs for you; the help that'll never come."
That did it. Takaku lunged again, ready to pierce the ghoul when he became trapped, said ghoul's hand gripping his throat.
"Should I leave you to the others?" the ghoul asked.
Takaku couldn't breathe. His vision was going blurry and his lungs were on fire.
"Wait!" A voice, to Takaku, seemed so far away. The ghoul dropped him, making a curse of annoyance in the process.
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"How did you get out?" Uta moved to me, steps hollow.
"I… uh. Leave Takaku alone. I promise, I won't run, and I won't tell anyone about this. Just let him live."
"Mariko, don't." Takaku breathed, trying to assess his injury.
"Is this what you want?" Uta questioned. I nodded, ready to take the consequences. "Fine then. Let's go." Uta took me by the hand, and began escorting me out of the building. I gave one last look to Takaku, knowing that my time, however short it was, at the CCG, was done, and I wouldn't see him again. My parents would be worried, and my brother would be angry. But that didn't matter anymore… it couldn't.
Back at HySy, I swiveled in a stool, unable to go anywhere. I hadn't been labeled as missing, due to the fact that it was a ghoul that took me away. The CCG must've believed that I was nothing but someone's dinner at this point.
"Your sulking is not attractive." Uta continued to work on a mask, while commenting on my sour mood.
"Too bad." I snapped.
He set down his materials, and made his way over to me. "Don't test me, Mariko. This was the choice you made." There was a look in his eye that I didn't like. It was malicious, hungry. Clearly, me being a human was getting to him after a while. "Mariko, you're pushing your limits."
"What limits? I'm trapped here. I can't see my family, or go to work. What do you want me to…" I caught his expression. He stepped away, walking around his standees of masks, while keeping his eyes on me. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Imagine yourself as a fly trapped in a web, Mariko. You're struggling to tug at your binds, only to find yourself even more tangled."
"What are you getting at?" I felt myself trembling.
"Think of me as the owner of that web; the spider." Uta grinned as he approached. "I can keep you wrapped up, nice and safe, only for a while. But in the end, the spider can only hold off its hunger for so long."
He knew I understood what he was talking about, and I couldn't be upset. This was his lifestyle, not by choice. Still, I didn't want to die. I was brought out of my thoughts when his hand caressed my cheek, pausing at a vein of my neck.
I needed to run, to flee. Looking around, the studio area was quite small, making it too difficult for me to find a place to hide, let alone run. Even then, I wasn't fast enough. He was around every corner I turned. None of the other districts were safe as I had nowhere to go, and my sense of direction was absolutely terrible as of late.
"You're not planning on leaving, are you?"
"N-no."
"Good. I wouldn't want to chase you down again. You nearly didn't make it last time."
I didn't. He was right. Only two days ago was I brave enough to bolt out of the shop in an attempt to find safety, but before I could even make it out of the alley, he was there, blocking me off. As for my punishment for fleeing… let's just say that I'm missing a finger on my left hand. He commented that if I fled again, I would lose more than a finger. It hurts. Occasionally, he would meet with other ghouls, and at the supposed destruction of someone I didn't know, they celebrated, enjoying the chaos they seemed to have caused.
Uta remained nearby, a coy smile playing his features.
"Mariko, what's on your mind?"
He really was like a spider, waiting for prey and weaving webs to trap them. I just happen to be the first one I knew of. Who knows how many others have been suffocated in his web, and drained of all life they've had. His eyes were trained on me, looking for an opening to strike.
"U-Uta?"
"Yes?"
"Why do you liken me to a fly?"
"Because, Mariko, that's what you are in the grand scheme of things. It's how our food chain works. Humans, like yourself were at the top, but then there are ghouls like me; knocking you down a peg. Think of it as fate that you're meant to die by my hand, Mariko."
"What if that's not what I want?"
"Do animals have a choice when humans take their lives for consumption?" he questioned in a teasing manner.
"No." I knew what he was going to say next, but I didn't want to hear it.
"Then why should you?"
I wanted to scream, to run, to fight; anything that would keep me alive even a little longer, but I couldn't even begin to move. It was as if I were paralyzed. Uta reached, pulling me into his arms in a gentle manner.
"Do you remember the poem I taught you when I found you wandering the district?" he hummed.
It took me a minute to think, but he did tell me something of the sort when I was lost in his district; when it was too dangerous for humans like me. I was only a child then, and found any story interesting. It was the Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt. Only now, I wished that I were more knowledgeable in my childhood. Now, as the fly, I've stupidly meandered into the spider's parlour; and the spider was hungry.
"That poem…"
"Do you finally get it, Mariko. I knew you'd find your way back. All of them do." he smirked. "Mariko, you should have known it would be like this. I've been leading you to me, even after we parted back then. You're probably the easiest meal I've ever had the pleasure of capturing."
"This isn't fair." I attempted to move, but to no avail. With my arms pinned to my sides, there was nothing left I could try.
"Such is life. Don't worry though, you won't go to waste." He flexed his fingers, hand coming closer to my face. "Maybe I should start with your lovely, little eyes." said the Spider to the Fly.
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Happy Halloween!
I hope the second and final part of the Spider and the Fly are to your liking~
Did you enjoy, let me know~
I've also been thinking about another story woth Uta, based on a poem or story. what do you think?
Time to announce some new followers!
followers!:
basecannon
Rough Draft Writer
See you guys later!
This is Emerald,
signing out~