Toaru Hajime no Owari

A Certain End of the Beginning

Once again she found herself in this hellhole. But this time she couldn't move, she couldn't talk, she could do nothing but look out at the endless darkness and listen as the voice said 3 simple words to her. "You are mine."

Then she watched as her eyes opened and felt as her body moved. But she had no control, as if she was a prisoner in her own body.

Misaka made her way towards the switchyard at a quick but measured pace. She passed a few gangs of delinquents but they quickly ran away from the angry looking middle school girl with lightning shooting out of her randomly.

Winding her way through the buildings she began to get a bit lost. She had seen the switchyard on the map but had not paid special attention to it, so it was difficult to find. However her persistence soon paid off as she reached it. After that had been accomplished she began looking around, feeling for electrical currents in the air that would signal the place she was looking for.

As she was searching she grew more and more worried for the friend she had left behind. She had been acting so strangely, doing things that the Kuroko that Misaka knew and cared for would never do. She had thought that everything was cleared up yesterday, but it seemed that it only got worse.

She missed her, missed her happy smile, her playful antics, missed the face full of love and affection, not the one full of anger and hate. She missed the lectures, the displays of affection, all the little things that had always annoyed her... now that Kuroko was being like this she realized that there was a hole in her heart. She wasn't sure if this was just a burst of odd behavior or if Kuroko was changing. What if Kuroko really did hate her? What would she do if she lost Kuroko forever?

She was so busy thinking that she almost missed it. It was barely noticeable, a small current running beneath her feet. When she felt it she quickly pushed all those thoughts to the side, "that can wait until I've defeated The Queen." She followed the electricity and soon came across a door built into the side of the switchyard, heavy steel with a DO NOT ENTER sign and a complex electronic lock. However, to Misaka, military security was hardly harder to break than cheap civilian security; she would be through it in a second. However, when she touched the control panel she felt that it was already unlocked, so she simply opened the door and went on through, finding the lack of even a simple obstacle like that somewhat… disappointing considering how big and secure the door had seemed.

She found herself in a long hallway. The walls and floors were the same concrete as the outside, as if it had been carved directly out of the building. At the end of the hallway were a set of sturdy metal-grate stairs, leading downwards. She descended, the stairs went down and down, it was at least 4 stories below before they ended in a door. This one, too, seemed to be unlocked.

"Guess she had to get down here through here too..." she said to herself as she opened the door.

"Ahh, it seems you've finally arrived Mikoto," said a familiar voice, The Queen's voice, coming out of an intercom system mounted in top corner of the hallway, "It took you long enough, but I shouldn't have expected much coming from you. Now how about you stop wasting my time and go die in a gutter somewhere. Or, alternatively, you could come and find me so I can kill you myself."

Misaka was tempted to fry the speaker immediately. She hated The Queen's voice. It was a voice of honey and thorns, one that always held that haughty, condescending tone. But she could use it to find her. She reached up and touched the intercom, following the input signal back to the source. In under a second she had located it and then promptly proceeded to overload the circuit, silencing it once and for all.

It was a trap, of course it was, but she had no choice but to trip it and then fight her way out. After all, this was the first lead she had to The Queen's location. And if it was a trap then it was even more likely that she would be here. She would doubtlessly want to gloat over Misaka's demise. Of course maybe that was a little too cliché, even for the Queen.

She walked along the empty hallways. The walls, ceiling and floor were all made of metal so each footstep echoed throughout the corridors. "Guess that eliminates any possibility of getting a jump on her. But at least it means that her lackeys can't get a jump on me." She thought.

She wandered throughout the maze of empty corridors and closed doors, past darkened windows, searching for the location of the source of the signal to the intercom. Finally she came across a door. She sensed the signal coming from the other side, so she readied herself before pushing open the heavy door and stepping into the room.

At the far end of the room in a solid glass security booth sat The Queen in a luxurious chair, looking quite pleased with herself. "Finally, you made it, I'm so happy. Now I can watch you suffer before you die." She said, with a contented smile upon her face. Misaka heard the door shut behind her.

Of course, an ambush, typical. She turned to look at her ambusher only to receive a hard kick in the stomach. As she stumbled backwards however she caught a glimpse and her heart nearly stopped.

"K...Kuroko?" She asked with disbelief. She looked like Kuroko, but her eyes were cold, no spark of her vibrant personality left in them. Her face was flat, blank as a slate. She held herself in a ready stance, preparing for another attack. "No it can't be. This must be a trick."

"Nope," The Queen answered amusement in her voice, "that's really your best friend and she's really trying to kill you. That is unless you kill her first." She laughed, "After being hurt and abandoned by her friend and idol it was a simple matter of making her hate you. That's my power, Mental Out. Complete control over a person's emotions and memories, and when you control those you control the person."

As she spoke Kuroko launched several more attacks against her. They were slow enough the Misaka could dodge most of them, but Kuroko had far more martial training than Misaka had, when she did land a hit it hurt a lot. Misaka knew that she needed to do something about it but whenever she saw her face she found she just couldn't bring herself to hurt her best friend even more.

"You want to know the best part? I didn't even do much, just a little nudge. All that pain and anguish was already there, and you are the cause of all of it. I didn't poison her against you, you did. So I guess I should be thanking you. Thank you Misaka for being so horrible to the people who care about you."

A bolt of lightning crashed against the glass of the security booth but it didn't even make a mark on the glass. She began to shoot a more concentrated bolt, hoping to melt the glass and with it the smug look on that damn Queen's face, but before she could Kuroko took the moment of vulnerability to kick her once again in the stomach.

"Dammit, I can't make a move with her here. I guess I'll just have to take care of her first." she turned to face her opponent. "Now if I just use the power that I used to take out those delinquents." But therein lay the twofold problem. The first part being that Kuroko had built up quite the resistance to electricity, even twice that power was only considered by Kuroko to be her "love whip". But she couldn't just go higher, what if she went too high and seriously hurt her? She couldn't experiment with it or she'd end up hurting her several times.

The Queen was right. She had hurt Kuroko so much in the past, physically and mentally, and Kuroko just took it all in stride simply for the chance to be close her. She hadn't imagined just how much of an impact her actions had on the poor girl.

She didn't want Queen to win. She didn't want to get hurt. She didn't want to hurt Kuroko. She didn't want to do any of this anymore. All she wanted right now was her Kuroko back with her. All she wanted was to see that smile and hear that voice again.

She lunged forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Kuroko, drawing her in and holding her close.

"I'm sorry Kuroko,"a tear ran down her cheek, "it's all my fault. I'm so sorry." She said, her feelings poured forth in these words, and for once she simply let her heart speak for her as she whispered, "I love you Kuroko, please just come back to me." Then she leaned in and took her lips with her own, kissing her with all her heart "Nothing else matters, I just want you back right now." she thought. All the confused feelings that had been haunting her for so long evaporated along with every ounce of uncertainty that had gone with them. All the emotions that the chaos of the situation had stirred settled in on love and happiness [1].

For a second nothing happened, then Kuroko's eyes, dead to the world a moment ago widened in surprise. The next second they closed again as she sank into the kiss, returning it with all her heart soaking up the love that poured forth from her and returning it with her own. It continued for what felt like an eternity but still it ended far too soon.

"Onee-sama?" Kuroko, confused, quietly asked as they pulled apart

"Aww... how touching..." The Queen mocked, "But such a pathetic display won't do you any good. Kuroko fini..." her order was cut off as a pair of tan shorts suddenly appeared in front of her, or more specifically, right in the walls of the security booth, displacing part of it and leaving only a thin layer of fabric where only an instant ago had been three inches of solid glass.

"Go to hell," Kuroko said in response. Having run out of needles long ago and knowing they wouldn't work for the trick she had in mind anyway, she resorted to using the only appropriate ammunition available. The very shorts she constantly cursed Misaka for wearing had finally gotten a use. However, that last action was too much for the girl, already so exhausted by all that had happened. She felt herself go limp as her vision blurred and blackened.

When Misaka realized what exactly she had done, Kuroko had already slipped into unconsciousness. So she set her down gently before standing up. Normally she would have been extremely embarrassed by such an action, but right now the opportunity it presented was well worth the unfortunate side effect. By this time The Queen had figured out what was going on as well, and she looked very worried about it. She looked around for a way out, but there would be no escape.

Through the hole that the fabric had shunted out of the glass she shot a lightning bolt: large, powerful, and as painful as she could possibly make it without it killing her target. Misaka was not a cruel person but what The Queen had done had been unforgivable, she deserved to suffer.

The Queen cried out in pain as the lightning struck her, her muscles failing her and her nerves on fire, sending random confused signals to her brain. A burn crept like a spiders web over her skin from her shoulder where the lightning bolt impacted, branding her with the vengeance of The Railgun.

She kept the charge going for around half a second before ceasing the flow of electricity. The Queen fell off her chair as her body failed her. Misaka walked around to the door. It was still locked obviously, manual and electronically. Oh well, she had time now. She conjured a powerful charge and shot it at the door, maintaining a steady flow of high voltage. Quickly the glass heated up, getting redder and redder as the heat built. It soon began to melt, the now molten glass sliding down the door and leaving a gaping hole.

Misaka waited for a while to let the glass cool down before she stuck her arm through the door and disengaged the manual lock. Then with a simple touch to the keypad the electronic lock was also disengaged, leaving the door to her goal wide open.

She walked in, over to the still disabled body of her opponent, kneeling down and ripping the token she had been tasked with recovering from around The Queen's neck.

"Don't you ever mess with my friends again," she warned to the unconscious girl before leaving the security booth. She walked over to Kuroko bending down and hooked an arm under her knees, her other arm supporting her head, picking her up in a bridal carry. Kuroko was light as a feather in her arm, peacefully sleeping in her arms, a ghost of a smile on her face as she completely relaxed in Misaka's arms.

"You're a pest you know that," Misaka said to her, "ever since we met you've been causing me troubles. When you're not stalking me you're scolding me, when you're not scolding me you're clinging to me like a lovesick puppy. You're possessive and you get jealous so easily. You treat me like a child who needs to be told what to do. You frequently call me immature, reckless, and irresponsible when you're hardly better. You have no shame or respect for personal space."

Misaka finished climbing up the stairs and nudged the door open, stepping out into the fresh air and afternoon sunlight. She began walking towards the nearest exit point of the district. Luckily it happened to be quite close by so she would be there soon.

"But above all you're the single most stubborn and persistent person I have ever met. You completely devote yourself to whatever you set your sights on and never give up until you have it, even if what you devote yourself doesn't deserve that kind of effort. You don't know the meaning of the words 'give up'." She sighed in exasperation, "it's so annoying."

But as she walked on she smiled, and thought to herself, "but what I said was true… you really are important to me, despite your flaws." And as if she could hear Misaka's very thoughts, Kuroko's smile widened a tiny fraction as she shifted in her arms, facing and clinging to her.

They soon reached the road leading out of the abandoned district, connecting to the next one over. Standing there was the same tall man in a black suit that she had dealt with at the beginning, who had explained the rules and conditions of the contest. He wore no personal identification and he had not told her his name, for all the world nothing but a generic G-man.

"Please present the item you were tasked with acquiring," he said flatly, holding out his hand. Misaka briefly shifted her hold on Kuroko to retrieve the token from her pocket and deposited it in his opened palm. He took out a scanner from his pocket, running the light over the surface of it. It beeped and flashed a green light in validation of the objects authenticity.

"Very well. Congratulations, you are free to leave. You may keep your token if you wish, we have no need of it. Would you like me to call an ambulance for your friend?"

"No thank you, I'll just get a cab." Misaka responded politely before walking off.

Once she was out of earshot the agent took a cell phone out of his pocket and made a call. "It seems that Misaka Mikoto was victorious sir, as you predicted."

"A bit disappointing but I suppose it is for the best," the voice at the other end of the line said, "She has considerable potential but getting her to cooperate with us would have been quite difficult. You know what you need to do now, make sure everything goes smoothly, I'm counting on you."

"Yes sir, I shall begin immediately." The agent responded as the line went dead. He closed the phone, putting it in his pocket before commencing his given task.

Hanging up on his loyal subordinate the man heaved a brief sigh. "It isn't like she won't become involved anyway. " he walked over to a row of flowers, sitting beautifully in porcelain pots, "it seems a bit cruel I suppose, but sometimes even the most beautiful of roses must be cut in order for the bush to flourish." He said as he calmly began pouring water into the pots.

"Damn that Misaka," Said the dethroned Queen. She had recently regained consciousness but was still in pain and unable to move her legs. "She will pay for this, she will pay. I will get revenge on her if it is the last thing I do."

"Would you care for some help with that endeavor?" A voice said from the shadows of the room. The Queen quickly turned, glaring at the newcomer. Then she stopped to consider it. She had suspicions about this… but she could always use some more unwitting pawns, and her ability would make sure that they stayed exactly that. So she looked up at the person, "What kind of help?"

Author's note: Ok, chapter four. I'm really excited about this and I'm having a lot of fun. I'd like to thank all of my readers and assure you all that this really is just the beginning and there is far more to come. The intrigue and romance has just begun to form so be sure you stick around and read.

I wanted to get this out quickly to wrap up this 1st arc up, I'll try hard to write the next chapter quickly (it is a sort of epilogue or finisher to this arc so it would be good to get it out within a short time of the others) but after that the next update may take a while, as I'd like to write a couple chapters of the next arc ("The Jericho Arc" I call it) before updating again.

[1] Then rainbows and Care Bears descended from the skies, and with the power of love and bubbles, turned all those evil people good so that Pyroland was once again a joyous and wonderful place and everyone lived happily ever after.