Yamato-gumi State; Satori Town.
Evening of July 3rd, 200X.
When they set foot on the cursed mansion, a million voices rang out to a tinnitus silence. The static she brought along plagued every electronic within range: Pet, device, terminals, the web. It reverted the Yamato State ten years in the past, out of the modern comforts of technology. Out of everything that could interfere with their encounter.
Luiza had isolated them from the world.
Garbed in the tattered gray, the vicious girl clipped through the dimly lit rooms, hunting for the one who brought this upon herself. She seeks out the withering smell of wisteria and old oak. The stench imprinted on her sweetheart since day zero.
Discerning it from the pooling iron became difficult the closer to the windows she trudged. She steered off from the outside, lapsing into the dark silence of the corridors where it happened. The atmosphere changed, it thickened, becoming charged like a storm cloud, and she made the ions clash.
Luiza tasted the eroding radiation from within and steeled her muscles. Suddenly, the very act of breathing became data. And there was but another cluster right there with her.
The drop of sweat, the battered breath…
All but silently preceded the drop of her contralto.
"Ɏ₳₥₳₮Ø. . . ł ₵₳₦ ₣ɆɆⱠ ɎØɄ ₮ⱧɆⱤɆ."
That half-breed is here? Already?!
Seiko tisked as she finished the wrap where the nail gun had grazed her arm. Even with the wound, the dark-haired one was more than enough to end that outsider's life.
Drawing the Katana scabbard close, the pure-blooded Electopian pushed away any stray thoughts, even pushing away why Tachibana… was still missing.
To which she'll find out why afterward.
With the lights out, perhaps the foreigner would be just as blind as she.
Though with one advantage that the redhead didn't have.
The home belongs to Seiko Yamato!
". . Ɏ₳₥₳₮Ø . ."
The foul pure-blood can't hide her stench. It remembers it.
With the gap between Cyberspace and the human world closed, her corrupted soul cuts open a wicked grin, relishing in the brief state of pure bliss.
Data is in everything.
Data is in numbers. Integers; binary code that runs in her companions. And even strings of thoughts, as well as the stench of wisteria, struggling to ward off the evil she awakened.
In one motion, Luiza thrusts her arm through the sliding screen, digging into the midnight locks and ripping the perpetrator out of her hiding spot.
" Ɏ ₳ ₥ ₳ ₮ Ø. . ." The guttural voice calls out while snatching her by the hair, a pair of slanted sapphires staring back at her in the dark, charged with malice.
A near six-foot-tall woman whose image twitched every other second.
Seiko couldn't even register what had happened while she stared into the sapphire eyes of the outsider. Struggling to decipher what exactly held her.
Impulsively, she reinforced the grip to her weapon and slashed at the mutt's wrist. At the very least, to build distance between the two of them.
"You dare touch me, Half-Breed?!"
Fortunately, Luiza drew back and shifted her forearms to block the cut instead. She backpedaled with a grunt; Seiko's blade had tasted her blood.
If the tattered hoodie was any indication, this opponent had braved the Yamato's swings and dethroned her once, but this time, the deathly sapphires promised cruelty.
After nursing her arms, she ducks, improvising a wooden stake out of the broken Shoji and using it to deflect the sword grip and body down the tyrant, employing her build at her advantage.
With the bloody blade being met by the wood, Seiko growled as she tried to pull back the Katana, only to be bodied back and land hard on the ground.
How dare she… touch her… with her body!
Seiko glared at the beast, only to realize their height difference.
She wasn't fighting a human, but a Titan. Regardless, even Titans must fall!
Shifting the hilt, Seiko employed all her strength to hit the Titan's temple before adjusting the weapon to slash her across the face. To give her the physical reminder of who Seiko was-just as she etched it into her cousin, and Vamos.
Luiza's head swayed from the impact, but only a little.
She quickly recovered and evaded an otherwise fatal slash, watching a red streak crossing her cheekbone. The strike prompted her to block the sword arm with her own, snake around it to trap it, while clenching the free hand into a fist that explodes on Seiko's perfect face.
Again, and again.
And a̴g̷a̸i̸n̶.
̵A̶n̵d̷ ̶a̴g̷a̶i̶n̸!̴
"̵Ì †ðlÐ ¥ðµ. . . †ð lêåvê µ§. . . ₳ⱠØ₦Ɇ."
Seiko's roar filled the corridor as she tried to free her right arm, only for her head to bounce upon the wooden floor.
Hitting, mushing. Seiko used her free arm to grasp the Outsider's face. For anything! Whether it be her mouth, the hair, or even the ear. Though… to no such luck as Seiko helplessly paints the redhead's knuckles.
Blow after blow, her fist blurred faster, hit harder, and the euphoria spiked. She burned the image of Seiko's twisted face in her mind, almost giving in to a killer frenzy but stopping when noticing the lack of response from her opponent.
She held her fist back, panting, tugging at the twisted arm with gritted teeth.
"§êråh... ï§ñ'† hêrê †ð þrð†ê¢† ¥ðµ ñðw."
Seiko's arms fell onto the ground while her face was being re-arranged by the fists of the Titan until she felt the edge of her PET out of her pocket.
That's it!
Gripping it with little strength, her fingers fumbled upon it until she managed to get a dark-colored Fusion Chip in the device.
Forcing the Navi's data to cover her!
"L̷̹͘-̷̮̾L̸̪̒-̷͙͌L̸̦̀e̸̯̒a̶̍͜r̴̹͌ṇ̴̀…̶̢͠ ̷̭͌y̵̭͑o̵͉͗u̴̻̽r̷̲͋ ̵͙́p̸̙̈́l̴̼̔-̷͙̿à̴̯c̶͍̔e̵̠̋!̵̲̆" stuttered the hybrid, opening the digital trench coat to unleash a flurry of blades.
The small device erupts into a dark aura, and the shockwave blasts her through another Shoji screen and across the tea-serving room, knocking kotatsu tables and furniture upon impact.
Shaking herself off of the stupor, Luiza pushes up a knee to find her enemy enshrouded in an ominous purple glow. Flying knives forced her out of contemplation and set her dashing out of the room for cover. A trail of blood now tracks her down.
While sprinting for coverage, she dug the bloody knuckles into her pocket and fished out the monochromatic device. It reacted to her intent by glitching and flickering back online.
Suddenly, the mansion fell back in silence. Nothing but the distant gunshots accompany Seiko, concealing the monster in the shadows.
And from the shadows, it emerged with an ax kick to the back of her head, following it up with a frontal push kick to the middle of her spine, knocking the hybrid forward.
But if Seiko still dared to rise, she better be ready, for a looming figure twitch as it glared her down. Behind Luiza, three other silhouettes threatened to re-surge.
A chained beast.
A fallen warrior.
And a plague maiden.
"Let's play a game. . . ð£ ĐɆ₥Ø₦ ₮₳₲."
Synchro Chip in, downloaded.
The dark-haired pushed off the debris to get onto her feet, only to turn to see the Titan fusing with her Navi.
Standing before Seiko is a bloodthirsty beast.
What kind of allies did Ezekiel get while she was away?!
… Still, any beasts can be put down!
With both arms turning into scissor blades, Seiko took a defensive stance with the blades before her.
"T̸̥̒i̸̖͐-m̵͕͘e̴̺̊ ̸̨̆t̴̤̿ŏ̴̺ ̶̘̊p̸̭͑ư̶͚t̸̰̍ ̶̮͐y̶̼͘o̷͛͜u̷̯̎ ̵͕͗d̶̦̏ǒ̸͓-w̵̦͊n̷͓̔,̶̛͔ ̶͍̉ M-m-Mutt."
The faded pink locks turned red, bristling down their back. Neon's blitz of electricity threatened to short-circuit, circling their body. They've become a radioactive battery on two legs, hijacking the very atmosphere with bug-ridden inputs.
Despite hunkering down, they still loomed over their target, baring fangs. After a whole minute studying their quarry, the werewolf zapped through the room, closing the gap between the two with a tackle, fangs tearing through Seiko's shoulder tissues.
Seiko's blood-curdling yell could be heard throughout the manor as she tried to move the Mutt's face away, while using the other blade to swing upon the fused redhead.
However, to no avail.
It seemed like the blades were being repelled by the flow of electricity that coursed through the beast's body, preventing any cuts to land.
As they effortlessly tackle her down, blood filling up their mouth, their stomach collapses.
They don't hear it.
There's no crowd, no jokes, no cute remarks mid-fight.
No acrobatics. No fancy kicks. No tricks.
They think only one thing.
She is the woman responsible for shredding the people I love more than life itself.
₦Ø. Not a woman. ₳ ₮₳Ɽ₲Ɇ₮.
Deaf to all but Seiko's shrill, it takes every fiber in their body to draw back from severing a tendon. Yet, charged with rage and frustration, the werewolf reaches for the face, purposely missing and breaking through the wooden floor beneath as an act of mercy – or resistance.
Stop. No ₭łⱠⱠł₦₲. Killing is too ₥ɆⱤ₵ł₣ɄⱠ.
To say that Seiko was living a nightmare was an understatement, as the girl with midnight-locks turned her head away from the claws that tore away at the floor below them.
She couldn't even imagine what would happen if…
No!
The data-clad Seiko growled as she thrust her bladed-arms through the redhead's sides to stop her from attacking. Digging her arms into the Mutt's sides before rolling them over.
With Seiko rightfully above the mud blood.
"I was told not to kill you…" Seiko seethed before spitting blood on the Mongrel's face. "To hell with it! I'll end you and that half-breed of a cousin!"
The werewolf didn't register the pain until blood erupted from their throats and out on the floor. Like a short-circuit, they jolted back into the present in a guttural snarl, fumbling for the bladed arms in an attempt to break free, only to be flattened to their back. Adrenaline kicked in as the coppery stench plagued the air.
Told not to? The beast writhed, struggling to make sense of it while getting its kidney impaled. Data spilled out, corrupting the floor in black and crimson as they stopped resisting.
And just as they lay motionless, the abyss of their eyes stared back, reignited.
This smell.
This unmistakable scent of peaches burned in oak.
This room–ɆⱠⱠɆⱤł₦'s̴̜̎.
"ɎØɄ wïll ñêvêr ₮ØɄ₵Ⱨ hêr ågåïñ." The hybrid coughed, pulling the bladed-arms out of their injury as they sat up, face to face with the assailant. "Ì wïll måkê ¥ðµ ₱₳Ɏ… £ðr hµñ†ïñg m¥ ₱ⱤɆɎ."
In a snap, they headbutt Seiko's face to knock her down and rollover. Getting up, the beast walks up to her, picks up speed, then tackles her through the wall and out in the open, with both rolling across the garden like animals.
Catching the blade in their mouth, Fenrir's potent 400-pound bite breaks through the dark-imbued arm, consuming it in its system. Their body bristles with malice, gaining strength.
Seiko's eyes widened at the sight of her blade being bitten in half before looking up at the monster's eyes.
That wasn't possible… to bite her blade in half like that…
However, she wasn't done.
She still had the other blade.
She still has life!
"D̴̯͖͆͝o̷̲̎ñ̵̺'̸̥̌̈͜t̵͚̣̓ ̷͉̦́y̷͇̹̕-y-y-yo̴͇͙͂ȗ̸̙̹́…̴̝̎͌ ̷͍̈́̚s̵̞̉̂-s-sọ̶́ḭ̸͎̏͛l̶̠̗̅́ ̶̪̈́͂m̵̙̉y̸̥̋̈́ ̵͇͓͘b̴̘͙̈́̕l̶͍̖͌̽a̷͓̗̅d̵͓͌̚e̴̮͛̕s̶̼͗̌!̶͔̋!" Seiko boomed, using the other blade to stab the Hybrid's chest.
The monster will die by her blades!
But their claw kept the blade from traveling. Holding it firmly, the animal pushed the arm back, then further, stopping only at the disturbing sound of a snap.
Seiko looked into the abyss – and the abyss stared back at her.
Inside those very eyes, the Yamato would find her mangled body with nothing for her family to identify. A reflection of the imminent future.
While holding the arm, the werewolf shifted once more, storing its boost in a twisted snarl as a pair of black wings burst through their back. Heavy lumps of corruption fell to the floor in thuds while they released the arm to grab Seiko's entire torso, the claw growing in size.
Purple flames ran up the arm, twisting its suit patterns erratically as data struggled to supply the heavy demand. A bug-ridden Valkyrie looms above.
Tightening the grasp, the chosen of the slain starts dragging Seiko across the garden, skinning her back against the ground and destroying every obstacle, rock, and tree on their path.
Before Seiko could react, the Pure-Blood found herself being dragged across the garden while her body burned in pain. With the broken bladed arm, Seiko tried to stab the flying assailant to break free.
Was this… an Angel of Death?!
Stabbing with the broken blade, the dark-haired one then twisted the remaining pieces within the Fallen Angel's body to break free.
The winged foe braved the stab, feeling it grazing their flank and cutting off a wing, slicing through the lumps of corruption as it soiled the state.
They fell from grace, now running across the ground as they dragged the vicious swordswoman. Their left arm shifted into a spear dripping with spite, deflecting and fighting the bladed attempts with their own.
Gritting her teeth through the burning pain, Seiko used the remains of the right blade to push back the oncoming spear before closing in and thrusting the broken blade into the Winged Demon's gut.
No matter… how many Navis Luiza collected.
She's still a lowly Human!
Pulling her broken blade back, Seiko didn't waste even a second to thrust it back into the wound with a twist of the wrist.
All the while, looking into the Angel's eyes with seething rage.
They pulled through the first stab, ignoring it, but as the blade returned to the injury with a twist, the winged fiend tumbled over, cold beads of sweat dripping from their angular face before the crimson red spilled out through gritted teeth.
In a flash of fury, they finally stopped and pinned Seiko down with the monstrous hand, taking their spear-imbued arm to pierce the woman's kidney, producing a reprimanding snarl.
Seiko growled when she was pierced through as blood rushed out of her body, though she didn't care.
Her body could become cold as ice, but she won't die until it dies first.
Through the pain, Seiko lifted up her head to face the demonic being before opening her mouth to ask one question.
One simple question.
"Am̸̛͚ Í̷̢ ̸̞̉ ̷̭̍P̷̱̊-̸̲͗P̷̣̊r̸̥̉é̷̞t̵͙͑t̷̺̄y̴̹̿…̷̬̏?̸̥̓"
While hoisting her off the ground, spear traveling deep through the one who started it all, the winged avenger couldn't relish just yet. This battle, Seiko's blood, her twisted face in pain, that wasn't enough. It would never be enough – not yet.
The raging hybrid paid her seemingly trivial question no mind and triggered their unexpected undoing, too caught up in the moment.
In a flash, the Valkyrian armor shatters into oblivion but fortunately protects the human within. Her lack of input had activated an otherwise passive check. She recognized that much.
With the virtual and the real merged, everything becomes a part of a function check, including words – or the lack thereof.
The skill's shockwave threatens to knock her out of cross-fusion, only for the half-blooded to unravel in the feathery cloak of a protective yet venomous plague doctor.
Valkyrie has fallen – so that Malady could rise.
How many Navis are there?!
No matter, when Seiko kills it, she'll ensure to stomp on however many PETs that the outsider has!
The dark-haired woman then opened the brown trench coat with the good arm to let loose a flurry of knives from the depths of her jacket.
The Outsider will die!
Their Lovers will die!
Ellerin will die!
The garden now soaks in black as radioactive nodes respond to the visceral fiend and form a toxic marsh of digital waste.
The figure of the plague itself had done her part.
Together, the hybrid braves the storm of ten knives ripping their cloak, tearing their feathers apart as they block their face with both arms in a crossed fashion.
Malady's embrace escapes her, but not before casting her ultimatum.
Neon-blue sparks run along the cloaked body, powering up into a human generator as the faded redhead casts her arms out, seemingly lost in her madness.
Moonlight overcast its light on their back, and the plagued hybrid's eyes ignited, generating a magnetic force potent enough to draw Seiko's body for a wicked embrace.
Program Advance, MagShock, activated.
Seiko fought but failed to keep her feet into the ground, finding herself in the cloaked being's hold while her body got riddled with electricity.
Her body trashed against the Outsider while producing guttural, almost inhuman, noises.
Her eyes started to roll to the back of her head, her mind beginning to fade into the nothingness in attempt to 'save' her from the near-fatal shock.
Perhaps, it wouldn't be a bad thing. To give in.
No more pain to endure…
Peace… at last-
NO!
Seiko refused to submit! Especially to someone as lowly as the redhead!
With the reserved strength, the Yamato willed her consciousness back into focus to see the red-haired attacker. She then shifted the broken blade to slash at the outsider's back!
Her blades switch to human arms, then glitch back to blades.
The hybrid's back seared, washed in sweat and blood. By the end of their bravado, it was merely the redhead standing, digging into the Yamato's flesh resiliently.
Malady's touch escaped her, leaving the operator to recover from the rebound of a program advance and the unfiltered hatred showered upon her back.
Slowly, the physical pain eased. Seiko's frantic clawing was no more than a provoked stray cat's. But it still pained her.
It pained her to know that Ellerin endured this every day. It pained her to know that Donovan can't look at himself in the mirror anymore.
All because of this miserable ρяєу writhing in her arms.
Grabbing her midnight locks felt no different than scuffing a cat. Swiftly, the redhead tore them apart and cast a clean punch to the face, adding some distance between the two.
Fenrir demanded a sacrifice, and she could hardly suppress the wolf anymore. Bringing both fists up, she got into a fighting stance, breathing out slowly.
The dimensional rift threatened to collapse in itself. The server had long since crashed. It was only a battle of endurance now.
Seiko's head fell back from the impact of the punch, causing more bloodshed to fall between the two fighters. Though the dark-haired one didn't bother to wipe her mouth as she glared her opponent down.
"W-what…? Fighting… hand-to…" Seiko panted while the crimson liquid trickled off her chin. "Hand…?" scoffed Seiko as her left-bladed arm flickered back to the normal form.
For a moment.
"You've… already lost!" The crazed one screeched before stumbling forward and slashing at the Outsider's face!
For a moment, the street fighter saw the blade impaling her. The adrenaline of that imaginary outcome kicked her into dodging the advance in the nick of time, reeling herself back and against the cut.
She brushed off the gash across her lip and dashed forward, feigned, and sidestepped from the range of Seiko's good arm, aiming a lead jab to her face and following it with a rear uppercut.
Seiko's arm wavered as she struggled to keep her sight upon the redhead until the jab exploded, forcing her to stumble back with the help of the corrupted pool at their feet.
Once the street rat was in view, Seiko saw the upcoming attack and blocked it, countering with a slash across the mongrel's face.
The follow-up slash slapped the redhead's face away, dragging her body along before pivoting back up to brave the final strike.
Time… to end it!
Mustering all the remaining strength into her right arm, Seiko followed it up with the broken blade above her head and slashed downwards!
… Only for her hand meet the outsider's shoulder.
Seiko's Navi wasn't able to protect her any longer
ʙᴇᴇᴘ-ʙᴇᴇᴘ-ʙᴇᴇᴘ-ʙᴇᴇᴘ.
Luiza's PET went off. They found her little brother.
The flat hit connected and bounced off the shoulder, getting caught by the calloused hand of the redhead, who rose back up impetuously.
Just as the virtual realm's grasp fades, the singular beeps echoing from the outsider's pocket and the faint gasps for air are the only sounds left in the eye of the storm.
They've done it. Lio's safe. He's out of this hell.
Nothing is holding her back now.
Electronics and appliances alike combust in a chain reaction from within the manor. The generators to the dimensional field whirred back to life, crying out as they're rushed past overdrive.
The night's sky flickers, both dimensions collide and collapse in kaleidoscopic web-works in the atmosphere. A raging inferno breaks out from inside the building, consuming all of Seiko's most prized possessions and memories.
A glimpse at the day of reckoning reenacted, the day of PROTONET, spewing out from a single wounded human who grabbed Seiko's hand and cast it off of her.
"¥ðµ årê ï†. . . Ɏ ₳ ₥ ₳ ₮ Ø."
Seiko shot her gaze upon the redhead.
Drawing her arm back, the pure-blood Electopian took a step back and ran towards the manor.
Regardless of the pain of the battle; of the broken left arm; or anything. She ran down the hall.
Gashu was out of commission, and her, disarmed. It was a fleeting chance, but if maybe… just maybe…
Seiko could strike her down for good.
Luiza's stomach churned. Fenrir's influence compounded in her smoldering rage had driven her after the rich brat, chasing their prey into the burning mansion.
They needn't hurry now. They had all the time in the world to pay back for what the Yamato did.
For Donovan's limp body dragged around like garbage. For Ellerin's mud-covered face, clad in scrapes.
Seiko will pay for Akira's silence. Pay for killing Kyosuke's life.
Old oak breaks underneath her steps. The looming human enters the burning mansion.
Seiko will pay for breaking into Rina's home and stripping her from safety.
The heat closes in, and the redhead grabs the tattered remains of her hoodie and rips it off of her, spotting the scrambling Target.
"Come out. . . åñÐ þå¥ £ðr whå† ¥ðµ'vê Ððñê, bitch."
Seiko's body chilled from the inside-out as she heard the redhead's footsteps, while her right hand fumbled the hilt of the Katana.
Finally!
Seiko didn't waste a second to spin around to slash at the monster that was chasing her.
"Stay away!" she cried out in terror while the blade cut through the air.
Wanting… hoping… that the nightmare would eventually end.
The half-blooded grabbed the sword in mid-swing like a dull blade. At a glance, Seiko would see not the redhead but the wolf, the amazon, and the plague maiden flicker simultaneously, all of whom helped prevent the slash.
Louise's calloused palms bled, but her grip strengthened, snapping the precious samurai steel into two and tossing it back at the assailant.
Now there was no more tool to inflict any more pain except for herself.
No… No.
No-no-No!
There was nothing left for her…
Seiko backpedaled in fear as she let out a shaky breath, holding onto the remaining blade that connected to the hilt.
Nothing… left for her.
Ellerin was gone; Tachibana was missing; Gashu was near deletion.
Her home… burning away.
Seiko has nothing.
The realization struck her like a truck as she fell onto her knees while tears damped her cheeks. Her once flawless cheeks now marred by the beast.
Seiko had nothing… Nothing to live for…
Turning the broken Katana in her hand, Seiko raised it above her head as she closed her eyes, aiming for her stomach.
One last pain… to end it all…
Except that pain never came.
Seiko heard the grunt followed by a raspy reprimand, meeting with the earnest look of a fighter through the sheen of sweat and streaks.
And to find her bleak reflection in those deathly sapphires.
"Ððñ'† êvêñ †hïñk åß𵆠ï†." The redhead took her by the arm. "You'll live – and þå¥ for your ¢rïmê§.̵" She ripped the broken blades out of the pure blood's grasp and dragged her out as the ceiling beams collapsed, electricity conducting the atmosphere.
They sped through the shambled frames, and despite all, not a single cinder laid claim on the wretched pure-blood. Seiko was the most protected she had ever been, close to the deadliest person she had ever met.
For this moment alone, Seiko knew what it was like to be a friend.
The Yamato failed to hold back her tears while being carried by the monster from her home as it was now lost to the fire; smoke rising aloft in the night sky.
She cried loudly at everything she lost while held in the redhead's hold.
"Why won't you die...?!" Sobbed the Pure-Blooded.
While cutting through the labyrinthine mansion, smoked corridors and burnt wood hindered their progress. Even now, the dimensional rift glitched in and out of existence.
The intense heat was the reminder that this very moment wasn't a dream.
The smoke rising to be a signal for those who looked in their direction.
As Louise carried Seiko, figments of their Navis happened for a mere moment in their reality. Gashu's blade runs for the human's neck only to be deflected by Valkyrie's ghostly spear and Fenrir's phantom claws.
As they made it outside, the dark-haired girl would kiss the dirt hard, reality creeping up at her again.
There, she'd scramble back on her feet to meet the impending redhead whose digital ghosts kept near.
"Lê† me tell ¥ðµ §ðmê†hïñg." The avenging girl started. "£ðr åll ¥ðµr ₥Ø₦ɆɎ... £ðr åll ¥ðµr ฿ł₲ ₮₳Ⱡ₭..." She grunted, looming over.
"...You're only just a human."
The lumps of corruption pixelated from her feet, freeing the grass as if nothing had ever dirtied it in the first place.
The generators burst out of fuel, tearing down the digital veil. But the human stood tall and visceral.
"You can't work independently. You can't heal your wounds. You can't coexist between dimensions and mediate. D'you catch me?" The half-blooded spat, relieving her comrades' resolve.
"At the end of the day, you're just a small brat with an attitude…" Her three pillars glitch through her one final time before returning to the device in her pocket, sizzling out.
"But, me?" The woman's frown wore off, staring back with eyes that rejected life itself.
"You can't kill what's already dead."
A look into the half-blooded girl's eyes felt like staring into the void.
Then how – how did that cousin of hers find love from such a creature?!
"You…you're not human…" Seiko forced out as she tried to move away from the vindictive woman – THING. Did any of this even happen? Was she comatose?
"LUIZA!"
That sharp and valiant voice brought attention to her small, short-haired girl breaking from the hold of a bulldozer of a man, desperate to reach them.
The look that tiny human had for the redhead made Seiko bitter. Nanako's infatuation paled in comparison.
That look is all she could've hoped.
"Stand back!" Shouted a taller brunette who drew what appeared to be a taser gun, squeezing out from between two bodyguards.
No. No bodyguards. Punks.
Jester's punks.
That familiar voice broke the silence in great clarity.
The bruiser turned to her right to find the one she fought to protect. Two of the people she traded her humanity to avenge.
Ah…They followed her, just as they promised so.
Despite the bitterness of war, warmth returned to her chest, and this time, it wasn't blood. Her heart pounded, but not from adrenaline.
Luiza breathes out carefully, her eyes regaining their usual melancholy but flaring red the second she casts her gaze upon the wretched Yamato.
Wordlessly, the towering woman approached, crouched near, and rummaged for the device hosting the captive AI.
Seiko barely tried to fend off the redhead's advancements when she took the last thing that she could call her own.
Now, she has nothing.
Not even her own PET anymore.
You're not human.
"You're right," The disheveled woman husked, pulling back with a smudged and beaten-down PET.
"I'm Louise Bluemoon."
Finally breaking free, Ellerin sprinted across the battlefield that was once her home and tackled the only one that mattered into a tight hug. She mustered up all her strength in that embrace, almost pushing her tomboy down to the ground.
Louise made an effort to ground herself, still armored up in the presence of the enemy. She couldn't tear her eyes off of Seiko but managed to return the embrace, grunting as she felt her insides squish from the hold.
She could tell by the utter silence and rapid breathing of her partner that Ellerin disagreed with her decisions, and that's alright. They still welcomed her despite her ugliness.
"What else… Do you w-ant?" Seiko spat out as she adjusted herself on the ground, her eyes daring to steal a glance at her… at Ellerin.
And Louise.
How could anyone love that beast?!
The onyx-haired brunette glanced at Louise and Ellerin, before glaring down at Seiko with a deep breath, trying to quell her burning anger.
"For you to never come back." Seija stated firmly as she trained her taser gun at the Yamato. "For you, and your family, to leave us alone. To leave Ellerin alone."
It's too late to try to fix anything, Seiko.
The frigid embrace of the night made her more conscious of the many blemishes sustained. The cutting wind from the canal cast the smoke heavenward, defying some of the suffocating heat of vengeance, and the faded redhead can only watch the pathetic sight before her.
Louise pulls her grip on the salvaged device, exhaustion quickly creeping up the longer she stays in Ellerin's embrace. But one look at the burning mansion reminded her that it's not safe to loiter.
A round of applause has her tighten the hold on the snuggled partner, whipping her head towards the source when Ellerin's small hand quells her belligerence with a touch. "It's okay. It's just them."
Still skeptical, Louise spares the second woman a look and drags her gaze to the approaching silhouette of a shapely woman- no.
A short male strutted towards her, relishing upon the sight. The sleazy look in his eyes and the guard dogs he brought along made the bruiser recompose and step aside.
She knew what the vultures wanted.
"More drama, yes!" The shortest of the group voices his sharpest tenor in utter delight, giving the redhead a passing glance. "Except this time… I get to leave the audience and play the acting role."
Shadowing him are two pillars; behemoth Inaba and full-time punk Mitsuru.
A price paid in full.
"We're even." Louise spat, sparing her partners the imminent disgrace by departing from the ruined mansion's grounds.
The smirking thug could only huff in the blissful payday, drawing out a pocket knife reflecting Seiko's terror-filled eyes.
And in the umbra of their twisted justice, he echoes Seiko's very words when she carved their friend to near death.
"Strip her bare."
Fin!
AU: Thank you for reading it this far. This is an original story based off of an on-going Roleplay series made by friends, taking the universe of MMBN as a primary stage for the unfolding actions.
I'd like to thank ZeroWolfWriter in particular for helping me compose this re-imagining of the scene played in the forums.
Characters [Jesters] belongs to MorbidTwinTails.
Seiko and Ellerin Yamato belongs to Nakashima Hatsuharu.
This is LukiaDeathstalker logging out.