The Rest of Michael's Family
Michael tried to hide his face from his father. While most of his friends tried to save face and not make complete idiots out of him, Shi seemed to be going out of hirs way for the sole purpose of embarrassing him. Stuffing half a turkey leg down hir throat without taking the time to chew it. Xander continued along, ignoring Shi's raucous actions, probably believing the best way to rectify this horrible act was to pretend it wasn't happening. Michael had to admit it was better than Melody's action and jabbing hir in the stomach and nearly causing Shi to choke at the dinner table and it was better than Ash's choice of actions, which included frequent bathroom breaks to wash his hands.
Michael just stared on in horror. Michael's dad had never been one for good manners, not to the same extent as Shi was right now, but he definitely was crude. And yet in the present of Michael's friends and colleagues, he was presenting himself as the perfect gentleman. A nice napkin tucked into his collar so his nice clothing didn't get stained, a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. He didn't speak when there was food in his mouth and when he did speak it was in a polite and elegant manner that would've put kings to shame.
The conversation at the table was rather dull. No one said much outside the usual courses of speech, Michael' dad asked about his friends, how he met them, and if they were good guys. His friends asked his dad about Michael's apparent missing mother, what he did now that he was out of war and even to a certain degree what he did while he was in the war. Of course, his father seemed less keen on answering their questions and more keen on having them answer his own.
Finally, he excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom. Since Ash had just returned from probably his sixteenth trip thus far, he probably had a good six minutes until another four or five minutes until a speck of ketchup or drip of gravy landed even near him or god forbid on him, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat to the bathroom to clean-up for his seventeenth time. This at least allowed Michael to take a short breath and looked back around at the serving room of his own house.
The rest of the night went on uneventful, no thanks to Shi. They were all invited to spend the night, but they were planning on heading out the next night anyways. As they didn't want to impose, especially since not one of them really felt like the invitation was extended because Michael's father really enjoyed their company. The invitation was there because it was polite thing to do and as a man of the military he felt a certain desire to uphold such conventions.
It was the middle of the night when Michael began to stir. He pushed the blankets off of him and tried his best to tip toe through the room. He crossed the room without crushing a single one of his friend's sprawling arms. He smiled briefly looking back at Ash and Xander, both of whom were content with passing out on the floor. The girls were in another room and Shi was…Michael had no idea where Shi was sleeping. The little guy could be almost anywhere. That just meant Michael had to keep quiet.
Michael moved throughout the building and soon found himself out in the field behind his house. It was a fairly dark night out, that didn't bother him. The night was quiet calming at his house. There were no prying eyes around at this hour and he was thankful for that. That little bit of privacy that made his visits home a little more enjoyable. He moved through the dark fields and to an old worn out sandbox. Michael had never played in this sandbox, they moved to this house while he much too old for sandboxes. Nonetheless, there was without a doubt a reason that Michael had snuck out in the middle of the night to visit a sandbox that held no memories for him.
He crouched down and stuck his golem fingers underneath the sandbox and with a might heave-ho he lifted it into the air and to the side. Beneath where the sandbox was was a small safe-like lock. Michael bent down and quickly turned it to the side and then back again, wasting no time plugging in the combination and then opening it up. It revealed a tunnel that went straight down into an old bomb shelter. It was old, but well-maintained. The tunnel was clean and reflected the moonlight back up and out of the tunnel. The bars had recently been replaced probably due to a defect in the original. Whatever it was something was down there and the bomb shelter had been well-maintained for that something. Michael slowly began to climb down into the tunnel.
His foot hit the floor with a heavy clang that caused Michael to flinch. It wasn't like anyone was around to hear it, but still Michael feared that the noise may have woken up his friends caused them to stir and notice that he was gone. He stood on the ground for a few second and looked up the tunnel he just traveled down and at the moon whose light shone in brightly.
Michael's finger stumbled across the wall until he finally found a light switch. He flipped it up and almost immediately the hallway came to life in a burst of light. Michael covered his eyes due to the sudden change from dark to light. Michael didn't mind it much and he quickly recovered from the sudden change and kept heading down the chambers. He hit the end of the hallway and found a startling large glass wall, well it would've been startling if Michael didn't know it was right here.
However, saying the glass wall was the most shocking thing in the old bomb shelter was the thing behind the glass wall. The hideously horrible thing behind the glass wall. The thing was close to human, but I was obvious that it was only close to human and nothing more. It was definitely an Evil Human. The thing had sharp talons that extended from every finger as well other various spikes that extended all the way down its arms and legs. It showed its fangs during its next ugly growl. It pressed its sharp fangs against the glass wall as it glared at Michael.
Michael paused for a moment, possibly taken away as he looked around its monstrous body. He paused as he tried to take it all in. The first thing he took note of was the heavy chains that wrapped around its legs and arms. The chains extended back into the wall and was basically welded into it. It couldn't break free from the wall even it tried its best. It stopped close to Michael and quieted down for a second. It made some low guttural sound as it tried to examine him for another few seconds taking him in.
Michael took another deep breath as he looked over it. The monster hunkered down next to the wall. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?" started Michael as he took a deep breath looking over it. Michael sat down onto the floor next to it. The monster flinched backwards for a second, half-snarling, but after a second or two it calmed down, let loose another guttural sound as it began to pace around in its cage, seemingly satisfied despite Michael's intrusion. "How are you doing mom?" The Evil Human turned its head as if trying to take in this information, but it huffed and turned around.
Michael paused for a second as he took a quick breath. It happened while Michael was a kid and his father was in the military on a brief mission. Michael was sent to his grandparents for a few days to live without causing too much trouble for him with his life being uprooted every few months. They decided to let him have a normal school year, too bad that that was the last bit of normal Michael ever tasted.
While his dad was away on a mission one day, his mother was left home alone. That's when the witches invaded. Witches are commonly known for cruel experimentation on people. They would abduct young people in the streets and conduct less than humane experiments on them to satisfy what could only be described as a cruel and unimaginable lust for power. Many witches wanted to evolve their own Kishins, there had been numerous experiments on this in the past and sadly Michael's mom was one of them.
At first the experiment seemed like a bust so they let her out to roam and return home filed away as just another missing person report solved. His father didn't think anything of it as he decided to go into the military and learn about firearms and tanks rather than go to the DWMA and learn about witches and kishins. Their lives went on until it happened. Michael's mom underwent her transformation into the hideous half-beast that was before him today. Of course, Michael drew pause every time he saw her…his growing knowledge of Evil Humans told him to do so, but he soon forgot about that and focused on her human side.
His father managed to trap her. Along with her human body went her intelligence. She devolved into a mindless animal rather than into an all-powered Kishin. He trapped her, sealed away and moved her down here into a bomb shelter out of the prying eyes of Lord Death or any other DWMA students. The bunker was specifically designed for that to reflect Soul Perceptions and block out anything that could give away the hints that he was harboring an Evil Human.
Michael realized that he may be hypocritical, going into the DWMA and killing Evil Humans almost day in and day out while refusing to end the life of the one before him and he rationalized those worries away. This one was locked up. It couldn't harm a fly if it wanted to. It never hurt anyone. It didn't have a choice. But in the end, even Michael accepted the fact that the ultimate rationalization and the real reason was the simple fact that it was his mom, but that didn't change the fact that Michael wasn't going to sell her down the river. He'd protect her and try his best to figure out if there was such a cure to this 'Evil Human-ization' that plagued her. If it can be done, it can be undone.
Michael looked back over at the large glass wall that separated them. There was a small slot for food to go in through there were more small holes gather around it at miscellaneous locations to allow air to flow through to make sure she didn't suffocate. In the back of the room was a slender metal tube that stretched up and into the ceiling and even further upwards and outside to help with the air flow. There were three separate large fans located up the tube to make sure that under no circumstances could anything get in or out through there. Combined with the heavy metal lid as the actual entrance, nothing could get in or out.
Of course, that didn't ultimately round up the defenses of the small bomb shelter. His father was an ex-military man. There were even landmines located in the walls designed to go when a witches' soul enters the chambers. Granted to say that the chambers were still in one piece and as a result, no witches had ever entered the bomb shelter. Why would they? This was out in the middle of nowhere with a crotchety old man guarding it.
Little did Michael know just as he was going over the schematics of this carefully kept secret another group was also discussing it…and exactly how they were going to break in.
If you recall awhile back I had Enma mention something about how Michael was a 'Kishin Lover'. I think I finally got around to explaining it. Michael's mom has been transformed into an Evil Human by witches, who, of course, wanted to create a Kishin. However, they managed to capture her before news got out to Lord Death and have been trying to keep her alive while they figure out how to turn her back. Obviously, its not going all too well.