PHASE 5: Crossroads

Amaranth woke up as soon as the harsh sunlight tapped her alabaster skin but she tried to close her eyes once more to avail additional sleep. Lying on her side, she saw the blurry wall clock display the current time. Oops! I think I overslept... Realizing that, she hurriedly rubbed off sleep from her eyes and placed her weight on her feet to stand up. It was already past 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon, six more hours before her scheduled meet-up with Lacroix. Since there was still a long period of time before escorting him, she decided to relax a little more by taking a shower.

As soon as the freezing water fondled her supple skin, hostility of her past embraced her with thorns. She let herself get lost in thought while soaking in bitter nostalgia. Her remaining memories kept on repeating itself like a tormenting cycle that never ends.

Who was that boy? When will I meet him again?

Those two questions invaded her mind as images of the past haunted her. Remembering everything back then made her feel that she was being stung by Death himself. But one question came in for her sensual gratifications: How should I make him suffer?

As soon as the clock's hands approached the scheduled meet-up, she immediately concentrated her thoughts regarding her task. Formulating ideas on what to do for Lacroix's safety is one thing she decided to accomplish in the first place but her idleness prohibited her from doing so. "Meh… I am too lazy to plan the things I have to do. I'll just do whatever I want later," Amaranth whispered to herself.

"Good evening, you ready?" Dalzollene stood outside her room. He was clearly about to knock on the door but she came out first before he could.

"I always am," she said confidently while walking past him.

Her superior gave her the permission to go. "Good luck on your first mission and make sure you'll come back alive here."

"Thanks," she uttered while walking down the stairs, not looking back at Dalzollene. "But I wonder what's good about this evening?" She mumbled to herself. Tonight's a suitable evening for killing.

Outside the hotel, the luxurious car from yesterday was parked under the moonlight.

"I'll take you to the destination," Nostrade's driver said.

"No way, I can go there on my own and I can take care of myself."

His face slumped in displeasure. "But… Boss might get angry at me," he tried to explain his part.

"Do you want to die?" the silver-haired maiden asked harshly. As for the man, he froze as soon as his brain picked up her question. "Well, I'll take that as a no. I don't like being bothered when I'm working. Goodbye." Amaranth proceeded in her way without glancing back. She kicked off the ground to pick up elevation; her body vanished like a shadow consumed by darkness in the midst of the tall buildings of York Shin City.

"Is this really the place?! Or is this some kind of sick joke?!" Ahead of her was another tall building but unlike the other skyscrapers of York Shin City, it seemed to be abandoned due to its current state. It stood in the middle of civilization yet, it was completely outdated by modernization. Rubble of failed construction reclined along the ragged path leading to the entrance, eerie silence welcomed her arrival.

Amaranth started to get curious about her situation, why would she be lead in such place? She checked the map that Dalzollene gave her last night; she pointed at the location of the hotel on the wrinkled piece of paper and dragged her finger across the path she went through and leading to the meeting place with Lacroix. Everything appears to be correct, she's not lost but something was misleading her.

I can feel something's wrong…

"Are mafia businesses always like this? Too private…" She pondered for a moment and thought of Dalzollene's orders. "Bah… I'm doing perfectly fine! I followed his instructions without a hitch. If this is the wrong place, then I'll have him to blame."

She carried on exploring the interior of the building. Once she got inside, thick sheets of cobwebs brushed her silver hair. There was nothing worth looking at on the first floor so she decided to advance to another level. The moment her first stepped reached the second floor; she detected hostile movements within the vicinity.

Some 'unfriendly' people are already here…What's this? An ambush?

The floor plan of the second level was quite easy to memorize. In the front of her was a narrow hall which she speculated as an area quite inappropriate for fighting due to its limited space but it was still satisfactory, a staircase leading to the next floor was also visible on the farthest corner of the empty hall. There were two pathways to the east and west which served as the spots for several rooms and at the end of each hallway; enormous but splintered windows were set, letting the wind and the moonlight enter the current floor. Still, rough stones were scattered all over the place as the result of minimal wreckage and desertion.

"Hey guys! I suggest all of you to come out now, it would be best to take me on all at once." She tried provoking the unknown entities but all she got was peace and quiet in return. Giving them another chance to answer, Amaranth waited for a few more seconds yet, there was still no response. "Silent type, huh? Well… That's annoying," she muffled under her breath, irritated. Deciding to break the skulking silence, she screamed to the top of her lungs, "So you want to play hide and seek with me, eh? Watch your backs! I'm coming for all of you."

Two on my flank. Another two on the next floor. One hiding beneath the stairs. Who amongst them should I play with first?

She already spotted her victims; all she had to do was to choose the one who would get the initial bloodbath. But before she could even pick, a knife wielding-hand rapidly swayed towards her torso.

"You're fast… But not fast enough!" Amaranth uttered, knocking off her attacker's weapon. She immediately grasped her aggressor's wrist and twisted it until she heard splintering sounds. In order to stun him for a while, she arched her legs and gave his attacker a heavy kick on the gut. She gave another succession of fatal attacks without a warning; low, middle and high reverse roundhouse kicks soon followed. Her last strike hit the man's chin and due to the severe force, the attack broke his neck, rendering him dead. "Now that's what I call fast," she said for the finishing.

"I told you earlier, you should've attacked me all at once. Not one by one!" she howled.

Taunted by her screams, another two intruders emerged from the darkness to deal with her. "You're going to die lady," the man hiding beneath the stairs told her. "Don't expect us to show mercy just because you're a woman," the other said while withdrawing a knife. Both of them hurriedly drove their bodies towards her direction, aiming their blades ferociously.

"Only two?! How… unexciting," she yawned.

Before the sharp edges hit her, she evaded the commencement of hostilities by performing a cartwheel. Amaranth stopped midair and focused her strength in her hands and used it to stand on the ground. Seeing herself getting cornered by close-combat attackers, she extended her legs and propelled her body in a circular motion similar to that of a helicopter. "Eat this!" she exclaimed while her boots hit the faces of her attackers, knocking them on the floor. After that, she finally stood on her feet.

One of them immediately gained his momentum back, he thrust his knife to stab Amaranth's legs but his assault was counter-attacked with another kick, sending the knife flying in the air. Irritated, she drove the slender heels of her boots to one of his attacker's eyes sockets, making the man screech in anguish while he cried blood. "Do you like that?" she inquired whilst catching the knife before it fell on the ground. She then threw the knife at the man's face, hitting him directly in the forehead. "Bull's-eye!"

"Oh you're still alive," she referred to the other guy who was struggling in physical torment from being hit by her boots. "Can you stand up or do you want me to help you…?" The silver-haired maiden stared and stepped on his throat to choke him. His prey tried catching his breath as his hands swayed aimlessly. Afterwards, he died of being smothered. "Sorry, I was talking about helping you die to end your suffering right away."

Amaranth took the knife stabbed on the forehead of his previous victim. "This will come in handy! Let me borrow it for a while, will you? Hmmm… Silence mean yes," she told her dead victim, laughing ironically as she mocked the dead.

Hearing the loud noises of slaughter, two more thugs finally came in to help their comrades but they were too late. "Three down, two more to go," Amaranth said as her lips stretched into a murderous smile. "So, who's next?" She slightly bowed her head while extending her arms with open palms as if inviting them to their inevitable death.

Suddenly, handgun's bullet sliced into the air and went straight for her. She was able dodged it at the very last moment but her hair got caught in the mess; strands of her long hair which were cut by the bullet fell onto the cold floor. "You'll regret coming here lady!" the gunslinger said.

"What was that?! A free haircut?!" she wailed as more bullets started to come after her.

"You'll pay for that…" Amaranth moved together with the rhythm of the air, building up her speed and evading the bullets by kicking on the walls in a zigzag motion. Once her targets were in her reach, she swung around and gave the nearest one a flying back kick right on his chest then she continued speaking, "…with your life." His poor victim felt several of his ribs crack, his broken bones were pushed deeper inside by the impact, causing them to pierce through his heart and lungs. "One more to go!"

His final target was stunned by the events he witnessed. The coward even surrendered without giving her a decent fight.

"Stop! P-Please stop! Don't kill me!" His eyes widened and he stumbled in fear.

"You crack me up! Do you think I will listen?" She grabbed the man by his collar and gave him a cold stare. "But let me ask you something… Where is Jacques Lacroix?!"

His eyes avoided her stare and no answer came out from his mouth. So she thought of negotiating according to her ways to speed things up.

"You are pretty stubborn, aren't you? Let's just have a fair deal." She tried to make her face appear friendly by smiling but she ended up scaring the shit out of the guy, making the hair at the back of his neck prick in fear. "If you don't answer, you die. If you move an inch, you die. If you try to escape, you die. If you piss me off, you die. If you speak about nonsense, you die. See? Isn't it easy to understand?" she winked at him. "I'm even generous enough to give you a lot of reasons for your death. So hurry up before I start to get impatient."

Her words, cold-like ice, seemed to cut deep into his very soul. Hearing such consequences, the man's heart raced like the thrumming wings of a caged bird. He started to speak, thinking that it would be the key in saving his pitiful life.

"That m-man, Lacroix… W-We were ordered to track him d-down and kill him. An order was r-released to us last w-week but we really had no leads about his whereabouts…" he paused to catch his breath and continued soon after. "But f-fortunately, some information l-leaked out of nowhere last night, indicating that L-Lacroix will be meeting up w-with his e-escort in this building."

"Is that so…? Thank you, I have heard enough from you," Amaranth said dryly in suspicion.

Could it be that 'they' leaked that information on purpose and plotted against me?

Her death-like eyes which were devoid of emotions pierced the man once more. "I swear! I-I know nothing more," he continued stuttering in horror. "I cannot say anything more for that is what I only know. Please don't kill me. D-Don't kill me!" he pleaded endlessly.

"Shut up."

"Have mercy on me! I was j-just ordered to do this! I r-really have no inten–"

Two of her fingers slit into his mouth in a blink of an eye, causing his plea to be void of being understood. "I already told you to shut up. You annoy me." The man muffled his incomprehensible words while burbling blood. "The cat got your tongue," she spoke while showing a soft, red pulp in between her fingers.

He was stricken into silence while staring at his own flesh. Terror pervaded his senses when he realized that he had lost his tongue.

"You know? I do hate it when someone talks more than I do, especially when they're guys." Amaranth stabbed the guy on his mouth and continued slicing up to his ears. Blood immediately flowed from the cut and now, his victim was good as dead. "Worthless scumbags."

"What a waste of time… A person named Lacroix isn't even here. What could be the reason?" She thought for a while until an idea entered her head. Wait… I think I get it now… They used me as some sort of decoy. There's really something fishy going on here… Or more like, they're doing this because they don't trust me at all.

"I'll just go back and ask Dalzollene about this unfortunate incident," she walked away from the corpses, cracking her knuckles.

A sudden gust of wind from the broken windows came inside; she felt the cold breeze slap her skin but instead of making her feel mere coldness, she felt pain. It was then when she apprehended that three golden needles penetrated her shoulders.

Shit. What's this? When did…?

She realized that there was another unpleasant visitor in the building but unlike the others, this one was different. All of a sudden, an anonymous figure emerged from one of the windows, cutting in her thoughts. Amaranth noticed several needles in between the fingers of the unknown. Whoever that person is, she was now certain, it was her new enemy.

She retracted her body and concentrated on her defense. Amaranth knew that her current adversary isn't someone to be taken lightly. While glaring at her approaching enemy, an aggravated question came out of her lips…

"Who are you?!"

Author's Note:

I don't want to miss giving thanks to Razorblade Mistress once again, I really appreciate everything and I'm glad you like how the OC in this story behaves. I, myself, know that I'll be very grateful to you in the future. ^^ Moreover… I also wish to express thy gratitude to Chibi-Vi, a friend of mine on DA, for correcting thy mistakes on the previous chapters and to Nispedana for giving me a review (the one on my so-called "chapter 1"). Hehehe! xD

By the way, I might be releasing updates for this story slower since I am going to be busy with college life again. I might also spend a little less time here on FF due to the same reason...