Hello minna!
I'm so sorry, this update was wayyyy late but I've had a pretty busy past couple of weeks. I know this chapter is a little short too but I wanted to release it as soon as possible. There will most likely be some minor grammar issues and stuff but I didn't have time to edit... *sigh* Anyways, it's better than nothing and I wanted to give you all something to hold you over until the next part of the story!
There will be one of my weird little questions at the bottom of the chapter and It'd be great if you could all include your answer in your review, it would help a lot!
I know my twist at the last chapter was sortof out of my zone (by sort of I mean GAH I re wrote that SOOO many times I have no idea what I'm doing, screaming inside my head panic mode writing). But I think it's good for me to try and do stuff I'm not really comfortable with so I can get better at it. Thanks for the positive feed back, and don't worry my action and horror lovers, All The Fragile Ones will still strictly remain as gorey and actiony as ever. The story will not mainly follow this new ship, I promise. ^^
Thanks to reviewers:
`XxKingArthurlllxX
`Awesome D.T
`MT's Souless6
`zhane 17
`arosecas4
`Alice In MadLand
`MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan
`Black White and Superstitious
`Guest
`IcelandicPuffinCat
~Tiruneko ;3
X~47~X
Oliver wakes up from a rather confusing dream to find he's very hot. Sweat rolls off of his forehead and only when he opens one eye does he realize it's because of Rin. He chooses to ignore the feeling and slowly inches upwards, sitting against the arm rest of the couch. Beside him, buried into the crook of his arm, is Rin. Her left leg and arm hand lazily off the edge, her fingers grazing the floor and the blankets matted around her legs. Her hair, untamed by her usual clips and bow, lies like a feathery mop in spidery patterns and clumps on her face. Her mouth is wide open and Oliver listens softly to her breath, as if he didn't expect it to be there.
The couch is small and his position is a little uncomfortable, so, without waking her up, he eases Rin's head across his chest and scoots down a little off of the arm rest. She garbles something incoherent, a lingering remnant from her dream, and almost immediately falls back asleep. Oliver yawns, stretching his arm tighter across her shoulders. Rin shifts unconsciously under the new weight and lets out a large release of air, curling slightly and then relaxing again.
As the early dawn light spills out from the glass walls into the room and around the two on the couch Oliver's eyes adjust to the glare, creating tiny white spots of light in his vision. A bird screeches somewhere off in the distance and the smell of last night's coffee drifts in from the kitchen.
So much for watch duty… Oliver thinks, smirking to himself. Rin nearly passed out, considering she hadn't slept the night before and took a nearly thirty five mile round trip walk yesterday. He wasn't too far behind. They woke up around midnight together and he followed her outside for a little while when she decided she wanted to smoke. When he asked her why she simply replied, "Nightmare." And the subject was dropped.
As the gradually swelling warmth from outside the windows swells and his skin seems to warm even more, the sounds of all the birds suddenly fade and disappear. Oliver feels a creeping sense of dread clutch at him but he pushes it away forcefully, gulping down the hollowing feeling like water over a dry throat. In that moment the world seems to hang, suspended in a thickening silence, teetering on the edge with anticipation of the next noise.
Rin's face suddenly scrunches up and a loud buzzing explodes in her ears suddenly, like a wave, jarring her from sleep. She blinks one long moment and tries to ignore the sound. Oliver's eyes travel downwards and land on hers. "Morning…" She mutters. Then the noise swells like a clap and her hands instinctively fly to her ears.
"Rin… your eyes…" Oliver's own eye widens in horror at the brilliant shade of crimson swimming around her pupils. The red in her eyes is neon, almost gleaming like a crystal.
"Miku…" Len reaches out to touch the panicking teal haired girl on her shoulder. Her hands claw furiously at her ears. Len can hear it too, God what is that sound?
"M-make the buzzing stop… make it stop…" Her hands begin to shake and twitch violently around her ears and as if watching a movie play out from slow motion, he remembers.
It all slowly begins to click into place, the noise. That eerie and furious ringing that always comes right before anything bad ever happens… that swelling… burning… buzz…
Rin, as if being driven by an instinctual force, suddenly lurches forward, jumping on top of Oliver's body on all fours. Her hands fly up and grip around the back of his head, curling his chin to his chest in anticipation.
Then the silence tips.
An explosion of glass rains down on the floor with a loud pop and a burst of white light. Thick grey smoke fills the air and the scent of pepper is overwhelming. Rin, crouching over Oliver, pulls the collar of his shirt over his face and holds him there as jagged shards of glass begin to pelt her from all sides. She bites her tongue to keep from screaming. The pain is immense and her breathing is slowly becoming labored. Her back stings and burns and with each intake of breath the shards are pushed deeper in, then gradually forced out. Blood squirts like water out of a sprinkler from each cut and Rin's once white shirt is now a soaking red that begins to seep onto the blankets and Oliver's body beneath her.
Footsteps gradually approach behind Rin and she holds her head leveled. Her eyes begin to burn violently, tears clawing like talons at her eyes. But she isn't crying.
A figure is standing behind her, she can feel the person's breath through what sounds like a gas mask. Rin begins to cough and sputter violently, the tear gas flooding her system like a thick poison. A brown haired woman raises a pistol and presses it into Rin's temple.
"Let's see what you're hiding under you, oh I dearly hope it's a new toy… I simply love breaking them." Meiko hisses, smirking.
A loud gunshot pops through the house and Meiko staggers backwards, head reeling from a sudden blunt impact. A smoking bullet hole lies in the wood floor and a flash of yellow blurs across Rin's red-impaired sight. The yellow blur surges upwards with incredible speed and Meiko nearly falls backwards, barely dodging. Her limbs clumsily flail around her as she searches for the trigger of her pistol. The yellowish-orange spins, creating an oval with it's speed, and comes crashing down, almost impossible to follow with your eyes. As Meiko skids on her back across the room, crashing into the coffee table, the figure and yellow blur halt immediately, frozen in space for a moment.
Gumi stands, her now bloody crowbar draped across her shoulders like a broom. Her goggles cover her eyes and a white bandana is tied around her mouth and nose. Her boots clink against the glass as she runs over to Rin and Oliver, tossing Meiko's gun into her pocket.
Len comes skidding out of the hallway, barely dodging the fist of a watcher as it flies over his head. He returns a harsh kick into the man's ribs and the force sends him hurling backwards. Len, with one more kick to the man's face, shatters his mask and crushes his nose with a spray of blood. "Rin!" He shouts, panicked as his eyes fall on the blonde, close to death.
The popping of a bullet from a gun whizzes through the air and misses, sailing just above Gumi's head. In a fraction of a second she has drawn a slim green dart from her pocket and returned the shot with an arsenal of her sharpened and rusty new long range weapons. Gumi skids to a stop in front of the couch and rips the pillowcase off of Oliver's pillow. She tears it into one long rectangle with her bare hands and gently eases Rin back off of Oliver. The smoke is starting to clear, the troops called "watchers" will be moving in soon. Gumi ties the cloth around Oliver's nose and mouth and taps him roughly on the shoulder, shouting, "Let's go!"
Oliver's burning eyes slowly open and he quickly needs to close them. Not because of the tear gas, but because of what he saw. Rin's body is still hovering just above his own, her eyes not even an inch from his. Blood trickles out of her mouth and through the corner of her mouth streaming steadily through each crack in her lips and dribbling on Oliver's cheek. His breathing becomes ragged and frantic, his pupils shrinking with panic. Rin's own breathing is so infrequent it seems every time she exhales it will be her last breath.
"Oh God, Rin…" The burning sting of tear gas stabs into his lungs violently and Oliver retches as a splatter of blood lands on his eye patch.
Len's hands wrap around Rin's waist and he drags her off of Oliver. She doesn't even groan at the pain, it's too fierce to feel anymore.
"Rin…" Len drapes her over his shoulders, pinning her to his back with one of his arms. Rin lies nearly lifeless across his back. "Oliver…" Len coughs violently. "Come on…" He pulls the shaking boy to his feet and Gumi skids to a stop in front of them, halting them in their path.
A masked Watcher is forcing her into the wall by her shoulders, Gumi pushing the blunt end of Gumo into his chest. She brings her knee up, smashing into his stomach. The man falls to the ground in his own vomit and Gumi places Meiko's gun in Len's hand.
"I'll get Miku and Lapis. You guys get the car. Drive exactly thirty miles north and pull onto the side of the road. Make sure you're not followed, I'll see you there." Gumi winks, darting off as the smoke begin to clear. Len's eyes burn with tears from the sting of the gas.
"Len!" Miku shouts, hiding in the entrance way of the hallway. She cowers behind Lapis, her eyes wide with dangerous excitement. "Len!" Miku can feel the panic seeping into her voice and she begins to shudder with fear.
"There!" Lapis points out of the hallway and through the slowly dispersing smoke at a bobbing blonde head crawling out of the shattered glass of the wall.
"Len!"
"Len, Len, Len. Is that all you ever say?" A harsh female voice seethes behind them. Miku shrieks, spinning around and cowering behind Lapis.
"M-Ms. Megurine…" Lapis stutters, gulping down palpable fear.
Luka stands in front of the two girls, a gun clutched in each hand, aimed at the heads of both girls. Her eyes spit fire and her mouth is pulled into a thin, emotionless smile. Miku pulls Lapis into her chest, terrified.
"Oh, the Shion child remembers me. Great, that makes introductions much simpler…" Luka hisses through brutally clenched teeth. She sneers, eyes glittering with malice. Her knuckles are white around the handle of the gun. "Oh I've needed this… I've needed this…" She begins to laugh hysterically, her pink pony tail bobbing behind her head like a whip. "Oh… The Lord hath given me a blessing today… all of that damn office work was killing me! Now then let's-"
A large tea pitcher smashes into Luka's face and a gunshot discharges throughout the hallway. Miku collapses onto the ground, her hands gripping her ears so tight the tips begin to whiten. Her pupils shrink into tiny black pin points in the swimming red depths of her eyes and her breathing stops all together. Lapis drops down in front of her, grabbing Miku's wrists and attempting to pull her up. "C-mon Miku, we've gotta' go!" They had gotten lucky that Miku forgot the tea pot on the shelf in the hallway. Lapis is out of ideas and Luka's angry with a gun.
"OH!" Her voice is shrill and furious. "OH you bitch!" Luka's face is completely numb and a sharp ringing rockets throughout her ears. "I will KILL YOU!" Her roar rips through the air like a shrill cry of an enraged beast, and once she final rears her head upright, no one is there. The hallway is empty, and the two are gone.
~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~
"Yuuma?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm tired…" IA whimpers, reaching her small, tube like arms upwards. They wrap around his arm like rope, his hands in the pockets of his jacket. She clings to his arm, resting her cheek on the side of it and closing her eyes, walking lifelessly along his side. IO trots behind her, reaching up a hand to rub his eye.
"Don't worry, we'll get to the motel soon." Yuuma looks down at her and removes his right hand from his pocket, placing it on top of her head and ruffling her hair gently. She's so childish and sweet. IA cracks a tiny smile and IO frowns from behind. IO moves around to IA's other side, pouting, and grips her free hand away from Yuuma. So IA slouches over IO's shoulders, her arms wrapped around his neck. He seems happy to be supporting her and only slows slightly.
The group walk along in silence until the florescent sign of a middle of nowhere motel flickers to life on the hill. "Nearly there." Yuuma says gently.
IA gives a weak nod and yawns. IO shifts a little under her weight. She's practically lying across his back. They're about the same size, too.
The old motel looks like it only has about twelve rooms, all on one floor. Only three cars are in the cracked asphalt parking lot and the O in the motel sign flickers from green to a mucus colored yellow. Yuuma tentatively pushes open the door, ducking to avoid the chime in the frame. He is very, very tall and thin for his age, a mere fifteen.
"Can I help you?" The woman at the counter grumbles, clearly not happy to be there. A mass of frizzy, fake blonde hair sits in a tangled hive on top of her round face. Her cheeks are covered in dark brown freckles, indistinguishable from one another, forming brown circles on her cheeks and around her eyes.
"Uh, one room with two beds please." Yuuma fishes a wad of cash out of his pocket and counts out the last of the money. The woman seems more than disinterested in Yuuma. She reaches into a drawer on the desk and drops a red key into his hand.
"Enjoy your stay." Her speech is slurred and she smells like alcohol and cigarettes.
Yuuma nods and picks up IA off of IO's back. IO scowls, frowning at Yuuma. He carries IA, nearly asleep, out of the lobby and into the main hallway. The numbers on their door are faded and chipping. He pushes open the door and IO grips his leg, hiding behind him. He utters a tiny whimper.
"IO?" He asks, confused.
IO shudders behind him. "It's… dark." Yuuma flicks on the light switch and the florescent bulbs flicker and surge to life overhead. The beds are covered in a rusty, orange-red color with golden flower patterns. IO's eyes widen with excitement and their red depths swirl. He races over to the bed closest to the window and reaches out a finger to touch it. He gasps and pulls away quickly. "Soft…"
Yuuma lets IA down gently and she yawns, her eyes half closed, and walks over to the bed that IO is standing in front of. She waits for something, as if expecting a silent cue. Yuuma glances at her. "What?"
"…Len always checks… 'Tells me when it's safe…" She mutters softly. The young girl is clearly exhausted.
Yuuma smiles. "You're good." IA nods and climbs up on the bed, crawling to the far side and squirming under the blankets. IO watches her in anticipation. She turns her head slightly sideways, questioning him as Yuuma begins to unload his backpack.
IA pats the spot next to her and IO nods, gulping, and crawls up to lie beside her. As IA gets comfortable and closes her eyes, IO watches her protectively. Soon IA's breathing calms and she's sound asleep. IO succumbs to the soft folds of the mattress and soon finds himself wrapped in the blankets, curled against IA's soft body, sleeping.
Random Question Previously Mentioned: Hi guys! So I was wondering about my chapter names. I've been trying to make them sound cooler and more "deepish" and I was wondering about them. So, my question is, my past few chapter names have been a little less blunt than usual. I'm interested to know about what your take on them is and what you think each one means specifically (related to said chapter of course). It'd be great to know what you think, but if this is totally lame and stupid don't worry about it ^
Character Pole:
Miku- 8
Rin- 8
Gumi-8
Len-8
IO- 3
Oliver- 3
IA- 2
Lapis- 2
Gumo- 2
Luka- 1
Haku-1
Yuuma- 1
~Tiruneko ;3