Gah! Late update again! So sorry, last weekend was the weekend of Commicon where I live and I spent all my free time working on my Gumi (from Matryoshka) cosplay! I blew 140$ in two days and actually touched the actor that plays Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, John Barrowman!
But now I'm back to working on ATFO! This chapter ends with the biggest cliffhanger I think I've done so far throughout the entire story~! *evil grin*.
Again, about the Gumi leaving thing, I knew a lot of you would be mad! So sorry but it had to happen!
-You, The Reader: "But why, Gumi! I love Gumi!"
-Tiruneko-chan: "Cos she knows what's best for her and it wasn't staying with the group."
-You, The Reader: "Why do you hate me!"
-Tiruneko-chan: "It hurt me too!" *sob sob* "Forgive me Kami-sama!"
Anyways, thanks to reviewers: Saints-Fan-12, Zhane17-sama, Black White and Superstitious, pseudoCalibrator, XxKingArthurlllxX, RandomNumbers523156, Awesome D.T, mlkqueen12, Ice-cream-and-cake-cake, iDon'tCare, mintyMocha, vanishingsoulsx, Guest 1, Guest 2.
Enjoy as always,
~Tiruneko ;3
X~58~X
Through the sickening madness came a new emotion. A new pain so deep, nothing can ever right it. Through the deep darkness came a vision. A vision so thick, everything else is blinding. Miki stares up through the swirling empty depths above her head, almost challenging the small panel she knows is above her head, somewhere up there. Even with her clouded and scarred mind, the anger is intense and violently thick, explosively so. But she can't help but feel immense and crippling fear.
It may have been minutes, hours, days, since she started staring upwards towards the far away ceiling (she had determined long ago- in the time where she still had some shred of humanity left- that her prison is underground), when the panel opening, casting blinding white light, the light of the heavens, downwards into her face. Still she does not shield her gleaming red eyes. She still has her pride.
A loud popping noise echoes out four times through the walls and it takes not even a second for the crippling pain to register and death to once again pull her away.
When Miki next opens her eyes, the white light is blinding and all around her. She is lying face down, her right cheek pressed into the cold floor. A chill rocks through her naked body as she pushes herself as far upwards as she can manage in her condition. A pulling on her skin and metal against flesh with the pain of only a tiny pinch causes her to slowly turn her head in a daze to see the IV hooked into her arm just above the crook in her arm.
The red head blinks her eyes once and hears muddled voices above her. It takes her moments to process what had actually been said, at first, it just sounds like noises.
"Can it function?"
"It will function enough." A woman with silvery white hair bends down in front of Miki, only a few feet away. Miki blinks heavily as spit dribbles down her face. Haku smiles. Miki shudders. The woman's purple tie hovers over the floor and her black slacks swish against her legs. "Can you speak?"
Harsh memories slam into Miki like a train and, without warning, she forces her weak body to lurch forward, flailing madly to scrape Haku's eyes out of her skull. Haku simply grips Miki by her wrists. If she wanted, she would simply have to pull down to break both of her wrists. Miki is incredibly weak, a skeleton with skin and hair.
"Monster…" She rasps, falling limp to the ground.
"The medication will kick in soon. It'll take a few days, but you'll be ready." Haku says, standing. The room is large and open, the size of a gymnasium with blinding white floors and rows of florescent above her head. There are no visible doors or windows.
A tall man with broad shoulders and dark hair addresses Haku, his voice deep and harsh. "This plan of yours had better work. You're wasting resources."
"It's necessary."
"You're simply lucky I was willing to lend you it." The man's glasses flash with the reflection from the lights.
"This plan will work." Haku frowns and Miki squirms slowly on the floor, eventually managing to push herself upwards again. Miki pulls at her IV line.
"…what is this…?" She croaks.
"Nutrition and sedatives." Haku answers.
A door slides out of the wall Miki is facing and with a swish of yellow hair it closes with a tall woman on the other side. She is wearing a brown and yellow dress with black fishnet leggings and weapons strapped around her arms and waist. A lab coat dangles around her arms. Her face is bruised and stitches are visible around her nose. Her expression is angry by nature and the second her eyes find Miki they flash with disgust.
"This is what you're up to?" She clicks her tongue condescendingly. She stalks forward, her tall black heels clicking against the floor. Lily scoffs at Haku and regards her bitterly. "Yowane."
"Master Lily." Haku dips her head respectively.
"Save it." Lily hisses through a clenched jaw.
"…I'll…" Miki sways in place. "…never… be a-part… of your… plan…" She rasps, out of breath, her vision blurry.
Haku moves back towards her and again bends to her level, grinning sadistically, manically, like a mad-man, a truly, truly, evil madman, a joker. Her purple manicured fingers lift Miki's chin, and, with no power to resist, Miki glares at her with harshly deep crimson eyes. "Oh sweet, sweet, Akuma… you have no choice." She sings. Haku pushes against Miki's forehead gently and with a loud thud Miki falls backwards out of her sitting position, collapsed, unconscious onto the floor.
"How long until we're ready to make our move?" Lily asks, folding her arms over her chest, frowning darkly.
Hiyama pushes his glasses up the bridge of his noise. "I'd say a week until it's ready, at least a couple days for it to work."
"The sacrifice should be as soon as possible. Have we selected the Lambs?" Lily turns to Haku.
"The Servant said ten thousand, but after conferring further, it must be of the impure only, and no one over the age of seventeen years. At least two thirds must be female." Hiyama clicks his tongue, turning his head up.
"So unappreciative of the opportunities and specialties given to your gender…" he mutters.
"It must be in the presence of the Demon Children." Haku states, casting a glance at Miki.
"Then it should be done no more than a week afterwards." Hiyama offers.
"Seventeen days." Lily says, staring up at the ceiling. Her red lips spread into a grin. "Seventeen days and the will of the Lord shall be fulfilled…"
~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~
"Save me, Lenny!" IA cries, skipping in a circle around the edge of the roof of the abandoned apartment complex with her arms spread out wide like wings.
"IA, it's dangerous there, come back." Len calls, glancing up from his map.
IO's head shoots up at the word "danger", and he races to IA, pulling her arm towards him and tugging her away from the edge. She pouts, crossing her arms and flicking a braided strand of her hair over her shoulder.
"No one want's to play." She grumbles, stalking off to sit by Lapis.
Lapis offers her a warm smile and pats her lap. IA crawls on top of her and, using her fingers, Lapis begins to brush through her hair, braiding it into small, face-framing strands as she goes. Miku shifts in her position next to Len while IO sits by Lapis, watching IA protectively. On the other side of Len is Rin, and across from him are Yuuma and Oliver, all hovering over their weapon inventory and an assortment of stolen maps.
"We're seriously lacking because of Gumi…" Len trails off. It's been over a week since she left, and everyone is still reeling at mention of her name. "…so we'll need a game plan. I say we stay here. This city is massive and we can practically blend in as we please."
"Plus there's more stuff to do." Rin mutters, lying out flat on her back and shielding her eyes from the sun high above.
Len chuckles. "Yes, and there's more stuff to do."
"So, basically, we can live 'normally' if we lay low?" Yuuma clarifies. IA perks up.
"I wanna' be normally!" She cries, giggling.
"It's 'I want to be normal', IA." Lapis corrects, smiling. Len smiles sadly.
Suddenly a loud gunshot echoes out through the air. IA shrieks and covers her ears and Miku jumps, throwing herself on top of Len and clenching her eyes shut. Everyone turns slowly to stare at the roof of the building across from them.
Standing on the roof is a girl with their hand extended high into the air, a pistol aimed at the sky, smoking. Red hair moves like a cape behind them in the wind and the skirt of a black dress flows around their knees. The figure takes a step towards the edge of the twin building. There is no mistaking it. The glare of the sun reflects across the surface of crystal clear, red eyes.
"Miki…" Oliver's breath catches, then stops entirely. Rin looks at him, eyes wide with surprise.
On the building across from them, Miki bends her head into a mouth piece and mutters something indistinct. With encouragement from the voice on the other end, she points the gun outwards towards the group of eight on the roof across from her.
"Die." And she pulls the trigger.
A bullet flies across the sky and slams directly into Len, hitting him straight through his esophagus and sending blood spraying out of a hole blasted into his neck. IA screams. His body falls on top of Miku, pinning her to the cold cement of the roof with warm blood running across her. Lapis curls herself around IA and reaches around, grabbing IO's wrist and pulling him to the floor. She lies herself across both of them and clenches her eyes shut as IA continues to scream underneath her with everything in her lungs.
The next shot hits Miku straight through her skull, even with her position under Len's body. Rin stands, her own gun drawn, but within less than a second's time a bullet hole blasts through her palm, sending the gun flying. The next bullet slams through Rin's right eye, killing her dead instantly. Her body falls with a loud thud. Miki reloads in two seconds flat and is aiming again. She moves swiftly across the roof and bends until she has a decent angle. With the accuracy of a sniper she shoots both IA and IO out from under Lapis, leaving the blue haired girl clutching two blood soaked corpses bellow her. Miki plows down Len, Miku, Rin, IA, and IO with three more bullets each before tapping her mic piece.
"I'm crossing." She backs up and runs forward, throwing herself with awe inspiring power across the gap between the buildings, her hand hitting a window pane three floors bellow the roof. She swings inside and disappears.
Yuuma darts upwards from his position under their classable plastic table. His mind reels. Miki could have killed him and Lapis and Oliver just as easily as she did the others, but she left them alive, why? Because their mortal? That makes no sense… He bends, picking up Rin's gun and cocking it, standing against the wall of the entrance to the roof. He can hear her running footsteps up the stair well. Lapis jumps off of IA and IO and runs to hide by Yuuma.
Yuuma continues to dissect the situation. Then it hits him. The door to the roof flies open and Miki comes walking cautiously out, her gun raised. Yuuma rounds the corner and pulls the trigger. She yelps a millisecond before Yuuma's bullet pierces though her temple and sends her body hitting the roof, dead. She may have been given orders or taught to shoot, but she lacks the combat experience, giving Yuuma his opening. He stands over her corpse and picks up her gun, aiming both down at her body.
"Lapis!" He yells behind him. "Get everyone inside!"
"That won't be happening." Lily rounds the other side of the stairwell where Lapis had been hiding. Pinned under her arm with a rag of chloroform over her mouth is Lapis, unconscious. She drops the girl to the floor and aims a gun at Yuuma, who now has a gun pointed down at Miki and out at Lily.
Len stirs above Miku and jumps back with shock, reaching for his gun. A bullet hit's him through his chest and just barely misses his heart before he has a chance to grab it. Len falls across Miku, still dead, and pulls his arms around her as blood begins to pour out of his mouth. He curls his entire body around her, like a shield, and dies with her body clutched under him.
Luka Megurine lowers her gun from shooting the boy and just as Rin begins to come to, fires three rounds into the blonde's skull.
Miku doesn't breathe nor move. She can feel the coldness of Len's corpse around her like a security blanket, his grip so tight her skin is whitening. She plays dead.
A troop of Watchers enter from downstairs carrying steel cages and a cart to transport them. Yuuma reluctantly lowers his weapons, dropping them to the ground as he's surrounded and injected with sedatives that render him unconscious immediately. Miki stirs, jolting upwards, and blinking her eyes.
Two Watchers attempt to pull Len and Miku apart and put them into cages, but his dying grip is too strong, and they lack the materials to sever them cleanly.
"Just pack them in together." Lily orders, directing the group of workers around. Within a minutes time Len and Miku are in a cage, Rin is also as well as IA and IO.
Soon each Demon Child has woken from death and sit, kicking and thrashing in their temporary cells. Lily bends in front of Len and Miku's cage, grinning as behind her Oliver's uncouncious body is packed into a crate besides Miki's where she sits placidly, watching and unfazed.
The stairwell door opens again and Haku steps out onto the roof with Hiyama Kiyoteru behind her. Her eyes fall on IA's cage and fix there. She moves forward.
IA's eyes widen in absolute terror and she stops breathing. Len turns to her, peering through the bars. Haku takes off her sunglasses and stares down into the cage of the young, immortal, girl.
IA shudders with something greater than fear. She opens her mouth.
"N-no… no Mama…"
Haku Yowane glowers down at IA Yowane.
"Welcome home my forsaken daughter."
Miki has found the group, executed her fellow demons multiple times, kicked some ass, sat placidly in a cage and betrayed Oliver! Go Miki!
IA has found her mother, the one that lit her on fire as shown in chapter 20 of ATFO Part I, Her Story.
And the human sacrifice of ten thousand is nine days away for the group!
I know, I'm evil ;3 Thanks for reading!
~Tiruneko ;3