She shoved the shelf in front of her body, all the while trying to drown out the panic rising in her chest. She watched in fear as the needle pierced through the wood, the liquid slowly oozing out from the vial. Without meaning to, Akiza slammed the shelf against the creature, a loud crack resounding from the thing. She jumped back, with that same, familiar scent coating the air. She didn't dare look down, didn't want to think about the bodies staring up pleadingly at her, at the nonexistent breaths she was going to have to count before they finally died out. Her gaze was fixated toward the wall, but in the end, she finally forced herself to turn toward her assailant.

Its head was twisted all the way around, its neck grotesquely reshaping itself from its almost-decapitation. Veins kept snapping back in place, the bruises quickly forming now vanishing before her. Raven strands of wiry hair cascaded down those bruises, and when it turned back around, it grabbed one of the legs on the ground, and tore through it messily. And when it finally returned her stare, white, emotionless orbs glared her down, with tiny hints of light azure overshadowing the thin veins stuck beneath. Bloody lips smiled at her, along with yellowish, pointed fangs marked all over its gums. Transparent skin covered its emaciated body, and its hospital gown it wore revealing its protruding ribs and bones. Its black nails were long, with stitches and scars covering the entirety of its limbs. On its throat, it wore a bright, pink ribbon, with tiny, white frills over the edges.

After a moment or so, it threw its snack away, and cocked its head. It stole a look down toward the needle. It looked back up toward Akiza, who, at this point, didn't know whether or not to come back into the room and lock the door. Her legs were numb, as she struggled to focus, all the while it looked out to her, radiating an eerie calm toward her, one she hadn't seen in a while. Finally, it started giggling.

Akiza narrowed her eyes. It was the same giggle she heard from the vents. There was no way it could've crawled in and back out the vents, at least, not without making a whole lot of noise. It probably used another vent somewhere here, forcing Akiza to stay in that room and, if possible, to go out.

A whole lot of good that did her.

She held the board against herself, and regarded it evenly. She took a tiny, bold step forward, all the while closing the door with a single hand, Sayer's weak frame coming away from her vision. Whatever this thing was, it looked no older than the twins. And it was small, thin, so thin Akiza couldn't help but gaze at how badly the thing was starving. If she squinted, she could see the tinniest of needle injections on their arms; drugs. Where this thing came from was none of her concern; it didn't even look human, and the feral gleam in its eye…

Before she knew it, it began tearing away at her arm.

She clenched her teeth, and stole her attention toward it. She bit down a yelp, as she dropped the board, and slammed it against the wall. She rose her pumps and kicked it away, all the while using both hands to pry it from her. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the needle in its flailing hand, the starvation in its eyes taking hold of its instincts. Then, without thinking, she grabbed the needle from its hand, and stole it away. She tried stabbing it in its arm, but it howled, and leapt from her.

In a split second, it dragged its claws toward her, the same, primitive grin smearing its face. Akiza narrowly dodged the attack, her senses focusing on the ragged footsteps it made against the ground. She moved left, then right, as she regarded its blank eyes evenly, before casting a gaze towards a dirty hand coming up to her from the side. Its arms were widely swinging at her, as it bounced off the walls uncontrollably, that same giggle pouring out from its lips.

Predictable.

When it was close enough, the same pattern laid out for her to see, she took a deep breath, and rushed in. She grabbed both its arms, and twisted it around. As it was struggling out of her tight grip, Akiza threw it to the ground, callously brushing aside its painful howl. She sat onto of the struggling creature then, with one hand wrapped around the back of its neck, the other on top of both wrists, laid out in front of it. She cast an eerie glance toward the needle lying just a few feet nearby, before coming back down to the child.

More than likely this was a patient from this hospital. After all, it was wearing one of the gowns, and judging from the way it knew where the air vents were directed, it seems its been here for a while. Well, the General Hospital did have a few problems, from what she's heard, but when it comes to something like this, in her opinion, this was just unacceptable. There was also the power outage; normally, the storage room is supposed to be locked by an employee. Unless this thing killed that employee before proceeding to slaughter everyone else standing in its way, she didn't think it could get away with murder.

She clutched its wrists tightly, the thoughts swirling around in her mind. The security room would be a good place to start. Whoever locked the door to begin with probably locked the outside too, and the lobby was probably the most likely place where they'd want to see her. Go to the lobby, and she'd be asking for a death wish.

She doubted this thing had any idea what it was doing; there was no possible way someone this psychotic would be able to handle themselves logically. And even if there was, unless they were following orders, they wouldn't have lasted long. The very fact that the creature was outside the door, just waiting for someone to come out, proves her statement at least.

Her eyes briefly flickered up to the cameras overhead, the bright, red light silently observing her from the background. Sayer's picture was plastered all over the city; if he left the hospital, everyone would recognize him as a criminal. Even in the General Hospital, she didn't think Sayer would've been treated the way he was. What he did to so many people shook everyone to the core, so much so no one could mistake him for anyone else, especially not the famous Yusei Fudo. Either that nurse was incredibly incompetent, or she was just blind.

Or she too, was simply following orders.

This wasn't just some random attack.

Before long, her golden orbs returned to the corpses in front of her. She neither shuddered, nor shied away from them, and instead, regarded their bodies evenly. Bite marks, feral scratches, so very much like the ones she saw in the garage. What were these people hoping to accomplish anyways? Why bring Akiza to that room, and have a murderous child wait outside, with a needle? Why slaughter the entire hospital staff? Were they looking for Yusei? Did have something to do with the Signers? Is that what all this was?

She felt the child beneath her begin to convulse.

It was shaking violently, its eyes wide with fear. It kept gurgling, trying desperately to squirm out of her grip. Its claws gripped the once smooth, white tiles, as it opened its mouth, a whispery scream pouring out of its throat. She saw white, silvery mucus come out from it, with tiny droplets of blood falling from its lips. It gasped painfully, attempting to reclaim the oxygen she knocked out of its body. Before long, the trembling stopped, and Akiza was left to stare at its cold, glassy eyes.

So that's what that drug did.

Steadily, she got up, and made her way back to the room. An frightening tranquility washed over her, the tiniest grips of reality coming back to terms with her. She didn't bother checking herself, to see if she was, at the very least, presentable enough, nor did she think twice about the child again. All that mattered now was getting both Yusei and Sayer to safety, as well as all the other survivors. She didn't have time for anything else.

She wrapped her fingers around the doorframe, and looked in. Sayer jolted up then, but when he started to talk, he froze.

Scared.

"Sayer," she stated then. "I've got to go now. I'll make sure to lock the door, alright?"

A few seconds later, he nodded.

"If I can find some crutches, I'll bring them to you."

Slowly, she reached down, and shut the door. She stared at it for a while, then turned back to the dead child, lying in the hallway. Then, without looking down, she stepped over the bodies and into the darkness.

Yusei clutched the walls, trying to steady himself, as his eyes adjusted to the same darkness. Iron diffused from their bodies, the faint scent of bleach easily coming to him without another hesitation. Forms began taking hold of his eyes, and before long, he could see the black and red oozing from them. Pristine lab coats seemingly draped the hallways in black, the soft azure from their shadows falling away from their bodies. He couldn't help but gaze at them for a while, before finally turning around, and continuing down the hospital corridors.

Torn, white curtains were stained with the same, gruesome liquid he'd seen just moments before. There were cracks in the windows, something only that the fickle moonlight could illuminate. As his footsteps resounded from the walls, the echoes gave way to a subtle, more primitive noise softly crawling through the hallways. If he stopped, his cool, icy breath halting in one, split second, he could hear something moving from within the shadows. Scavenging, before something tore away from the bodies; an arm, a leg, an organ. Yusei simply stood there quietly, and waited for the sounds to cease. When they did, he would look up, and continue on his way, as those presences left in search of the other survivors to kill.

He could practically see the shapeless animals in his mind, from the way they cowered, to the savage decorum they bestowed upon their victims. He could see their emaciated frames scouring for something to eat, something hideous, disgusting, horrible, anything their tiny hearts set their attentions on. He could see their clear, watery eyes, trying to comprehend the fear they've instilled upon others, all the while wallowing in their own, poetic morbidity. He could see the tissue falling from their bleeding gums, the painful quiet of their struggling meals still in play. He could see them crouching down, trying to hide their latest kill from their fellow companions, trying to gulp the entire thing down hurriedly, desperately. He could see them there, and he laughed.

Memories upon memories came crawling back to him, some of which were doused in pale nostalgia, others waiting beyond the brokenness of a cruel abyss. When he looked up, he saw that young woman there, from his dream, the woman who'd damned and saved him, dancing within the silhouettes of the corridors. There she was, smiling her own, idiotic, archaic smile, as she led him down the maddening moments they've shared together, the lachrymose entwined within her own shallow grave. Up ahead, he could see two other helpers behind her, with faces he knew all too well.

But he refused to join her merriment.

His eyes slid carefully from corner to corner, the tension building in his shoulders. Slowly, his hand began moving away from the wall, as he steadied himself from the aftereffects of the drug. Soon, he stopped stumbling, and not long after, his pace quickened, the alarm gradually descending onto him. He remembered the Violets' words, and just like that, the panic vanished.

Stoic, calm, even after he killed them.

Well, who else could have done it anyways?

He forced himself to slow down, as he heard the sounds yet again. Yes, he did do something like that…didn't he? He made a game, where anyone and everyone could come after him, could try and kill him, if only for the sake of some vain title. He wanted to know how many people would actually take his offer, how many would risk their own prides, for the sake of the slimmest of chances that they might've actually become the leader of the coven. No doubt there'd be some, but to think, that the nobles would take things so far…

The nobles…

He sighed disappointedly.

Jean Beaumont, a knight to the Black Rose, was an incompetent fool. He kept going on and on about how loyal he was to Yusei, how, even if he was tortured, he would never betray him in the least. The man would watch over the territories, guard the coven even if he had to die to do so. And yet, when Yusei had announced the game, he was the first to turn. He was the first to declare his candidacy, the first to point out that anyone who wasn't a pawn could participate, as long as they were willing to accept their shattered arrogance if they lose. He bet everything he had on that one, single hostage crisis, and he lost. A liar, a cheat, a coward, someone Yusei had thought about stripping him from his position time and time again. After all, no one wanted him there anymore, and the man was even starting to interfere with some of the operations. How many of those territories did he simply give away? How much chaos did he wreck, only for the hope that someday, he would take over the coven? Why he waited until now to act, however, was a complete mystery to Yusei.

Then there were the Violets. Bishops, from what he could remember. Bishops who didn't know when to shut their mouths when they were supposed to, bishops who were always talking on and on about how fun it'd be to kill and kill and kill. They were so annoying Yusei had a hard time tuning them out. If not for the fact that he'd forgotten about them, along with the obvious assurance that he never told them anything, he probably would've sold them off to some other coven. Unlike the other pawns, they never were children he should bring to meetings, and whenever he did, someone always ended up dying, which, of course, was bad for his reputation. If those children attacked an Ace or another King, it'd be an insult, a declaration of war. An easy war, but a war nonetheless. Still, the way they spoke was charming, and he would've spared them, if not for the fact that they mentioned Amrbosine.

As he began walking again, his eyes slid to the mark on his arm. He was only beginning to recall the animosity he'd lost, and remembering this abnormal thing on his skin was enough for him to recall even more. Beaumont had said before that this thing was a mark of Fallen. An organization, and a source of hatred between the Signers and the coven.

Someone had sent him a box of cyanide, along with the alias Nikolai Izinski written upon it. He couldn't tell whether or not that was a threat, or if someone had just decided to play some harmless prank on him. Yusei would've casted the doubts from his mind, had it not been for the fact that Sayer attacked him just a few days later. Akiza losing her memory of the incident was yet another source of confusion for him.

His mind came to the mysterious person named Amrbosine. Could she have something to do with those incidences? Perhaps, considering how those stupid Violets, of all people, managed to point her out. Then of course, it could also be an alias; aside from that name, there was nothing else he could go off of. And he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about getting anyone involved into this mess.

As he rounded the corner, the steel staircase carefully spiraling downwards, he caught a glimpse of the same scenes he'd seen from across the halls. He saw it, and he walked on ahead, without any mention of the victims lying nearby. He'd seen so many nightmares now he'd gotten used to it. He'd seen the bodies and the gore, and even before he had, it seems the scene was so familiar to him now, a scene he'd known for so many years.

He checked the rooms, the doors, everything he could think of. After he woke up, he saw the Violets leaning toward him, traitors who had a connection the person called Amrbosine, a woman who decided to "take him in." Judging from the way things stood within the hospital, it seems she'd no intention of helping him. If anything, from the way those two boys behaved, to the grotesque wounds on the corpses lying around, she might've even wanted him dead. With everything that's happened so far, it's safe to say that it had something to do with the Black Rose coven.

Sir.

And again, he laughed.

He made a game, in which he would allow the nobles to try and kill him. Candidates who, if they succeeded, could lead the coven in a new direction, somewhere that led everyone out of the edge of nothingness. Candidates that would, at the very least, be strong enough to subdue enemies, all the while destroy everything around them, keeping only the members safe. Candidates who, if they took over, everyone would cower away from, who would give the coven a darker title, one that represented a regret Yusei had no idea had existed until now.

Mark of the Crimson Dragon. Saving the world from destruction. Defeating the Dark Signers. Prejudice erased from society, both high and low. The Satellite and Neo Domino, coming together to finally resolve their issues. A peace everyone was after, a dream that'd finally been realized.

The lie was so pathetic he could just die.

Carefully he walked into the security room, avoiding the shadows lingering near. When he was sure they were gone, he silently closed the door and turned back, his finger flickering the lights as they did. He blinked away the brightness, as he examined the monitors. He stepped over the bodies of the security guards, and casually set himself in front of the screens, his icy blue eyes reflecting back everything toward him.

Those things were prowling around, creatures that kind of looked like dogs. When he squinted, he saw tiny hands, tiny feet, and it wasn't long before he realized that they were children. He bit the inside of his lip, as he watched the same scene over and over again. Cannibalism, scavenging, eating anything they could get their hands on; he could just sit there, and predict the results. Sometimes, they'd spit their parts out altogether, while other times, they simply shake violently, their eyes wide with fear and realization, before finally stumbling away, quick to escape the cameras.

His fingers came toward the mouse. As he switched through the monitors, he couldn't help but notice a familiar silhouette, standing there, just through the curtains. He couldn't see who it was, though by the time he turned away, it vanished, fleeing from him as it would before. Yusei paused for a brief second, then checked the other cameras; probably just another straggler.

And then he saw her.

Akiza.