"We assemble at Akashi's call. He's, after all, our true Captain."
Takao Kazunari had his full attention on the man speaking those words, the cogs in his brain running at full speed. Lean, tall, with unusual, pine green hair, he was sure he was supposed to remember that person from somewhere. More familiar than simple a member from the notorious Generation of Miracles, a group that came as the elite of elites from Teikou, familiar in a sense most dreaded.
Midorima Shintarou was one to hold quite a few quirks. A tsundere and, despite his youth, a superstitious person. Someone who valued people who try their best regardless of special traits or skills, despite being extremely talented himself.
He wanted to prove himself an equal to skill to him. After all, both were trained to fight, to kill. He might have not been trained in an Academy and graduate as one of the best, but in his eyes, his trainer (one of his uncles), was one of the best.
He was surprised to see him constantly practicing with his weapon of choice, a bow and arrow. Even that is weird about him, he thought with a smile.
"Something wrong?" he heard him ask.
"Nothing, Midorima Shintarou-kun~" he gave a cheerful reply.
"How do you know my name?" he inquired.
This time, he couldn't contain his laughter. "You're one of the Generation of Miracles, are you not? It wouldn't surprise me if you guys were known across the nation and beyond."
He turned to gaze away from his black haired teammate, seemingly flustered by the compliment. "Perhaps it is as you say. I sincerely hope it is not though."
Such statement left Takao perplexed. Why would someone not want to be known for his skill and ability? Was it that being talented in that field was a burden that made them feel constantly threatened? Was that what high expectations did to you?
Such thoughts accompanied him to deep slumber, promising at first, slowly turning into a darker, twisted thing.
It was the hushed tones that alerted him, that this wasn't a simple dream anymore. He couldn't see clearly, most things were a blur, as if trying to see through blurry glass.
"I believe there'll be a counterattack." he heard a familiar voice.
Uncle?
"Don't be silly! There's no one strong or dangerous enough to lead a successful counterattack! If anything, more will fall!"
"It won't hurt if we prepare for the worst!" his uncle argued.
Ah. So that's what it is.
Takao, being a trainee back then, stayed close to his uncle whenever he was called to action. His uncle protested, of course, but he was stubborn and wanted to be present even for what was later called Purging of Aeons.
It was a mistake.
Such a terrible mistake.
It shook Takao to the core. No mercy was shown. The strength in numbers was surprisingly working. So many bodies littered the streets; it could be definitely scarring to most. He couldn't possibly forget that night, and, in the end, he didn't want to. It served as a reminder in his head. A reminder of the vicious circle humans and ghouls were entrapped into, a vicious circle left unbroken until the end of time.
(He remembers seeing a female ghoul holding a baby in her arms, trying to make it stop crying. They weren't allowed to live. The mother –she must have been the mother- was ready to give up her life if it meant for her child to live. She was begging to let the baby live. The baby was killed after the fake promise to the woman to let it continue living. Such a cruel fate to bear.)
He didn't, and couldn't, forget that night.
But the following night, that he was glad he had forgotten.
"But you know, you really should have prepared for a counterattack."
Takao turned his head to the direction of the new voice. It was certainly unknown, but he could pinpoint the emotions coming out of it. Malice. Hatred. Anger. The voice belonged to a boy, he could tell, despite not being able to see clear. He was accompanied by five, no; six more people, and, if he had to guess, he'd say they all were in their teens. Each one was framed by a different colour, and the boy who spoke was red.
"Who decided we stand lower than you?" he heard the yellow blur speak.
"Who thought our loved ones wouldn't be missed?" the blue blur added, hugging tightly a pink blur.
"Who said we won't grieve for them?" the gigantic purple blur yelled.
The blur he almost missed stood behind the red blur. "Nii-sama, maybe we shouldn't…"
The red blur seemed to share its head, but it was the green blur who spoke.
"Every action has consequences, and they need to face the consequences of their actions now."
What happened next was simply chaos. The group of seven who he couldn't recognize, ghouls, he could now see what they were, charged forwards, the purple blur moving lethargically, the pink and aquamarine blur just defending themselves, the yellow blur being ordered by the red one (their leader, he guessed,) while the blue and green ones battled remorseless and fiercely.
It was a true bloodbath; a terrifying sight to witness. People he thought he knew, he was familiar with, or people close enough to be family; they lay on the ground, unbreathing.
The giant moved and grabbed someone's arm, munching on it lazily.
"We need to get going." the red blur commanded. "There are more around. Don't let your guard down." he instructed. "You wanted to do this; I agreed. Let's go."
He witnessed the teen ghouls exiting the room and moving downwards, more screams, more pain, more fear, and more agony reaching his ears, a proof of their gruesome work.
Takao awoke without realizing, drenched in sweat.
(avoidance)
It had been two weeks since Takao started avoiding Midorima. It had been almost half a year since their Miracle joined them, and three months since the strange dream started, repeating itself on most nights. He got a strange feeling around the green-haired man. He gave an air for familiarity for an unknown reason. It brought him uneasiness.
Until he couldn't deal with it, and one evening, he approached the other, asking the question he was afraid to for a while.
"Did you lose someone you cared for on the Blood Night?"
The taller male merely glanced at him, turning to gaze towards the horizon. "I lost my mother during the Purge."
The Purge? he wondered at the sound of the foreign term. Indeed, it had a malicious echo in it, but chose to ignore it, and allow his teammate to continue.
"I hate this thing." Midorima replied. "A hateful war, a circle that goes on and on, never stopping, never ending. I hate having to pretend to be something I'm not, but life never is so kind. You need to show a mask to everyone for them to accept you. You can't understand."
Takao focused on his eyes, and, without having to see anything different in his eyes, the same shade of green as his hair.
The next words came out without thinking them.
"You're a ghoul."
"And? It doesn't gross you? Aren't you going to tell everyone about it?"
"What I wonder about most is why you're here. Killing your own kind." he voiced. "Are you cannibalizing?"
"No!" he exclaimed. "Gods, no. That's disgusting."
"I want to understand why you're doing this." he confessed.
"It's not possible for you to." he stated.
"I can try."
Midorima sighed. "It's a complicated thing, sometimes even I feel I don't understand it. There's practically no coordinated authority in ghoul society, this is what we're trying to do."
"We?"
"The ones called Divine Beasts." he answered, still unsure why he was telling the human all these things. "That's what other call us, right?"
Takao's eyes widened in surprise. "No way! You're one of them? The Divine Beasts? Like, for real? You definitely don't look like the part, Shin-chan!"
Midorima glared at him. "First don't yell like that. Do you honestly don't want to let others know? I doubt it." he scolded.
"I'm sorry, Shin-chan." he apologised.
"I guess I can forgive you- Wait, why did you just call me?"
"Don't you like it?"
"It sounds unnecessarily friendly, Takao."
"That was the point of it." he laughed, much to the annoyance of the green-haired ghoul.
(chapter end)
Another chapter done! Phew, I'm so proud of myself! Well, this story will be kind of pairing-free. But there will be platonic ships (because platonic ships are amazing). And I thought I'd give you some MidoTaka before resuming back to the Red or Black storylines.
Black line focuses on Kuroko and Seirin and is the main storyline. Red line focuses on Akashi and, soon enough, Rakuzan, and is the secondary storyline. I have many plans for both, but that doesn't mean you won't get snippets of what happens with the rest.
Also, I'm sorry, but I can't be sure when the next update will be, since my laptop's charger is done for, and I can't tell if I'll be able to get it fixed or forced to replace it.