Another chapter~ Reminder that underlined speech is spoken in English.

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Chapter Twenty-Four – The Demise

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

April inwardly sighed as he was always trying to assert his authority. Even so, she was currently in discussion with Ryan and didn't pay attention to Jacob. It was odd to find BK-201 still at the scene, not to mention in battle with another Contractor. They still didn't understand the purpose behind the attacks. A yelp of pain surprised her and she spun around to find Misaki dashing into the burning building.

"Misaki!!"

"What are you doing? Why didn't you stop her?!" Jacob yelled at her. "She's going to get herself killed!"

"Hey! Don't blame it on me when you're the one watching her! You can't even stop her from doing something crazy like that!"

"The bitch stomped on my foot! What do you expect me to do?!"

"Don't call her names!" April snapped. "Just be a man and catch her! Why do I have to do everything around here?!"

"Uh... You know, this isn't going to help now that she's in there," Ryan stated as he joined them. "She'll get killed in there."

"Damn it! Can't you do something?! You're a Contractor, aren't you? At least you could help your friend."

April resented the way he said the last word, like it was something disgusting to be considered a friend by a Contractor. She should have realized that something was wrong with Misaki and insisted that she stay at headquarters when they first heard about BK-201's activity.

Without taking her eyes off of Jacob, she stared at him as her eyes began to glow red, her body shimmering in blue. His eyes widened in surprise and he backed away from her. A loud rumble sounded overhead and she watched him turn his gaze to the sky where her storm cloud was forming. Moments later, they were pelted with a flood of rain, as was the building. It helped immensely as the small fire was put out and only traces of the large blaze remained.

"Damn it. Now I need a beer," she said to Jacob.

He quickly nodded his head in reply and dashed towards his car, sopping wet. April rolled her eyes and pulled a can from her pocket. Despite their no-alcohol policy, she had been granted clearance for the beer as it was still part of her obeisance. It was the first time in weeks that she had taken a drink and it felt so good, to feel the frothy liquid trickling down her throat.

"All clear!" she heard the firemen shouting.

"We're going in and we're not going to stop until we find any trace of Misaki," she told the rest of them. "Any problems with that?"

The rest of them quickly shook their heads as they had never seen a Contractor use his or her power before. They only understood the principles behind a Contractor's power – to a certain extent. The way her body had glowed and her eyes... It was creepy. Even Jacob had been scared by her.

"Sorry, I can't let you pass," a fireman said as April approached the building.

"Why not?"

"It's been too long and the building is unstable. It's too dangerous for anyone to enter."

"My friend is still in there," she snapped.

"I'm sorry... But by now, we can't do anything..."

"You're going to sit around when there's still a chance she's alive? Let me go. Even if you're not willing to go, I am!"

"Please! Don't do this! It's too late!"

April refused to believe it, brushing him off. But as she walked a few paces towards the building, there was a loud groan, mixed with creaks and cracks. Before she could move another step, she was dragged back and she watched helplessly as the building tumbled to reveal only the outer frame. Dropping to her knees in disbelief, she couldn't accept that Misaki was gone; she just couldn't. How was she going to face Foreign Affairs?

Noises buzzed around her as everyone was relieved by the containment. Without her help, it would have been a long and laborious task. It wasn't that they were heartless to her plight, but they understood the reality of such a situation. The building had been on fire for too long. There wasn't anyone in the building until she had rushed in by herself. To send in someone after her; it was too dangerous at the later stage.

The firemen packed up their hoses while the police sectioned off the area with crime scene tape. The paramedics checked on any of the firefighters who might have felt overwhelmed. All in all, it was quite routine for the others. April and the rest of the CIA team were left to watch in shock as the best member of the group was pronounced dead – not in words, but in the truth of the crumbled building.

"Ma'am, you're going to have to leave. There's nothing you can do here."

"This is part of our ongoing investigation," Ryan said, quickly stepping in when he saw that April was about to snap at the man. "We know Contractors were involved in this and it's our duty to investigate."

The man stared at his badge, a flicker of a glance towards April, before he nodded slightly and left. He couldn't say anything else if they were CIA. His explanation made sense as there had been no one in the building before the fire started. He would leave it up to them to capture any rogue Contractors.

"Come on, April," Ryan said, helping her up. "There's nothing you can do now. Let's go back."

"No. You're not going anywhere. You're going to help me find something that proves she was in there and we're not leaving until we do."

"We're supposed to be chasing BK-201."

"Don't make me kill you," April retorted, grabbing him by the collar, her eyes glowing red.

"O – Okay, I get it."

Disgusted by their responses, she dropped him to the ground before she approached the pile of rubble that used to be a building. None of them had any sense of loyalty and it was no wonder that they never got anything done. They couldn't even be bothered by the death of someone who had worked with them for over a month. She didn't want to believe that Misaki was gone, but she knew; there was no possible way she could have survived. Even if BK-201 hadn't taken care of her, the fire would have.

Getting on her hands and knees, April started to search through the burnt cinders. Even if it took all week, she was going to find something. She couldn't return to Japan otherwise. She couldn't face the Superintendent or any of her former team members. It wasn't a rational thought, but that didn't matter – neither was friendship. But Misaki had been someone who understood their loss of November and helped them in any way that she could. She was someone she would be proud to call a friend, even if it went against her natural attitude.

She heard the others eventually join her in the search. Pieces were tossed aside as each of them took a small area to search. There had to be something left over amongst all the garbage and she was going to find it and return it. Her eyes felt moist and April held up the back of her hands to her eyes. July was going to have to be told as well and she didn't want to imagine how he was going to take it. She knew he had grown to like the other lady.

"I found something!"

April looked up to see Devon holding up BK-201's blade. They could take it as evidence, but she still needed something of Misaki's. It took them hours and even Jacob had helped after being threatened by April. All they could find were a few scraps of charred fabric and her melted cell phone. Also, they found a few small fragments of BK-201's mask. But that was it. They were going to need more help to locate her body.

***

"Hello?"

"Hi Kanami. This is April."

"April? The one who went with Misaki to America?" she asked.

"Yes... I have some bad news to share with you."

"What... Is it?"

"It's Misaki... She's gone," she replied with difficulty.

"What?! What do you mean?!"

April swallowed audibly as she knew she was going to be asked this question. Even knowing that, it didn't help. She had already explained once to July and he had ignored her for the rest of the day. He wouldn't leave Misaki's room. She had a feeling that he was searching for her. Jacob was responsible for doing a formal write-up, but she thought her friends deserved to know before they received that.

"We were chasing BK-201. He was at a burning building, fighting with another Contractor. Jacob tried to stop her, but she still rushed into the building..."

"Her body. Did you find it?! She can't be gone!" Kanami screamed.

"No... We didn't find it, but we found scraps of her clothes and her cell phone."

"Oh God, no!" Kanami wailed. "Why would she do something crazy like that?!"

"I – I have no idea. I thought you should know before they send out the formal report. Please, as difficult as it is, tell the others. I'm sending her things back as soon as possible."

"I... Thanks..."

Letting the phone drop to the floor after Kanami disconnected, April couldn't believe it, even now. Though they hadn't been able to locate her body, even when they had pulled out everything, she knew it was impossible to survive that fire. It was so hot in there that even the metal was twisted and warped. Her body would never be able to handle that kind of temperature.

Sighing softly, she left her room and made her way down the hall to the room which had now become July's. She entered it to find him curled up on the covers. Quietly making her way to his side, she gently sat down on the bed. He didn't move. It seemed like he was taking this even harder than November's passing and she didn't know what she could do. Slowly, she placed her hand on his head, hoping to give him some comfort.

He turned to stare at her with troubled blue-grey eyes. His expression hadn't changed, but she understood. He had developed an attachment to Misaki, one that she didn't understand – one that she had developed as well. She had changed from when they had first met her, but she was still the same in many ways. April had become accustomed to her companionship, and July her gentle seriousness.

"I'm sorry," April finally said, feeling like she couldn't apologize enough.

***

"Ishizaki-san, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

The others of Foreign Affairs, Section Four, glanced up at her as she had run into the room with laboured breathing like she had just finished a marathon. Glancing around for an empty seat, the only one free was Misaki's. Tears pooled in her eyes and she shook her head, her hands covering her face. It just couldn't be true! Misaki was strong and capable, calm and collected. It didn't make sense that she would run into a burning building, even if BK-201 was supposedly in there.

"Ishizaki-san, what's the matter?" Saito asked, the temporary leader of their group. "Did something happen?"

"It's Misaki," she murmured, wiping at her tears.

His body went stiff at hearing her words, the room enveloped in silence as they all waited with bated breath to hear what she said next. They were reminded of the time Misaki had come in, bearing the dreadful news that she was leaving for America. Now, with Ishizaki's reaction, they didn't expect good news.

"Well, what is it?" Kono asked, despite the thick tension in the room.

"She's gone..."

"Gone? Gone how?" Saito exclaimed. "I don't understand! She wouldn't run away."

"Gone... As in dead..."

"No..."

A gasp went up into the air, to fill the silence and they looked at each other in shock. It wasn't possible! She could do anything! She couldn't be dead and in America no less. She was supposed to come back and lead them, just like she did in the past. Saito collapsed to the floor when his hand missed the nearby desk. No one knew what to say.

"How... How do you know?" Otsuka finally managed to ask.

"Because April just called me this morning."

"I don't understand! How could she possibly...?!" Saito exclaimed, unable to get the word out.

"According to April, she ran into a burning building to chase down BK-201. But the building collapsed and there was no sign of either of them, except for bits of Misaki's blazer and her cell phone..."

"No! It's not true! She wouldn't do something like that! That's suicide!"

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A/N: Aww... My poor July~ :( Makes me just want to hug him. You'll have to wait a bit more to find out what happens to Hei, Misaki and Yin since this chapter and the next are to tie up the loose ends of the other characters. But I hope you enjoyed it :)