Neku and Joshua fell through the void for a while. Neither particularly cared to say a word to the other. Neku was beginning to nod off when light opened up under them and the Shibuya streets suddenly rushed up on their feet. Neku landed on his rear with a jolt; Joshua floated down gently, chuckling.
"Welcome home dear." Joshua extended his hand, and Neku took it. The two stood in the populated crosswalk just outside the 109 department store. No one seemed to notice the two boys fall out of the sky, but Neku thought that was likely a part of Joshua's design. It was all one part of his scheme or another. He didn't even care.
"Ugh," Neku groaned, shrugging an invisible weight off his shoulders. "I missed this place. I think I'm going to fall asleep in an alley before I even get home..."
"Heh, I'll call you a cab." Joshua plucked at his phone, frowned, and swiped through a few pages. "Hmm."
"What?"
"The portal extension. It's gone. Must have been removed when we were in the return portal..."
Neku grinned and punched Joshua in the shoulder. "Good, you have enough toys to play with as it is. Now how about you call me a real taxi or something? You have Reaper taxi drivers or something right? You have them doing all kinds of random crap."
Joshua looked at his phone another moment, sternly resolute on finding some trace of the extension, then chuckled and dialed a number. "I get a lot of new hires, gotta give them some kind of job. If all of them were off erasing Players nobody would make it through the first day." The line connected, and Joshua muttered a few things to the person on the other end. In a matter of minutes a compact car painted entirely black pulled over beside them. An unfamiliar face peered out the drivers-side window.
"Mr. Kiryu. Mr. Sakuraba." The driver gave a curt nod to them both. "Need a lift back to headquarters, sirs?" The man got out of the car, Reaper wings fluttering to his heartbeat, and opened the back door for the two.
"Neku's place, please. And Ed, for the fiftieth time, it's Joshua."
"Whatever you like, Mr. Kiryu." They sat down and were off down the road, weaving through traffic like a snake through grass. Traffic moved irrespective of them, as always no one could see the Reaper's vehicle.
Neku shifted in his seat, struggling to reach into his pocket. "Before I forget..." He pulled out the bag of Pins. "Here are these back."
Joshua stared at the bag oddly, like he was being offered a bushel of radishes, and pushed them back to Neku. "Keep 'em. Consider it my thanks for helping me with that. Also the bag is deep so you can keep that gun in there so your parents don't find it and freak out."
"Dude," Neku pressed. "I don't need these things. I'm just a kid now. High school, mall walks, video games. None of this..." He shook the bag, agitating the Pins inside and making them buzz like bees. "This. I only hang onto my normal Pins in case I get mugged or something. This is enough to fight Superman."
Joshua shrugged and took the bag. "Alright, but if you get mugged by Superman, these'll be waiting for you." The two laughed, easing into the leather seats and releasing the tension of the last few days at a light drizzle. Neku dozed a bit until they pulled up to an isolated neighborhood and the driver, as instructed, parked just outside the five block stretch he actually lived on. Reapers were not allowed to know Neku's full address. Only Joshua was privy to that information.
"Give Shiki my best," Joshua said as Neku stepped onto the sidewalk. "Ask her if we're still on for shopping this weekend!"
"You two are such girls," Neku snickered as he walked away.
"Hey man, that outfit I picked out for her was fabulous and you know it!" Neku waved goodbye, and Ed the driver shut the doors and set off back to the city. "Drive around for a bit, Ed," Joshua said. "I have a couple phone calls to make."
"Yessir." A tinted black glass barrier appeared between the front of the car and the back, completely blocking out any sound either side made to the other. Joshua noticed Ed fiddle with the radio and twist the volume dial judiciously. He chuckled and stretched out to relax a little himself.
First he called his Conductor to be updated on the day's Game. A sizable amount of Players had been erased that day, as planned. The remaining teams were dwindling to the single digits, and stress levels were high as the week came to a close. Overall, things were progressing within expected parameters. The regular Games had become boring to Joshua, but he had to do some basic ones for a while until the heat from the Higher Ups cooled down. He hoped the successful completion of the Annabelle job would help clear him of the watchful eye.
Then he called Mr. Hanekoma. The Producer was lazing around his shop as usual. Joshua asked if he had invented anything interesting recently, and the answer came in a charming joke, backhanded comment, and a lot of jibberjab that could be summarized with "No." A man after Joshua's own heart. He asked for him to get to work on something Joshua could put to use in a fight, something that wasn't a new app or a variation of the same Pin they already had three iterations of.
"Oh, what's the new flare for weaponry Joshua?"
"I've recently been inspired. Thinking about taking up monster hunting. I'll give you details in person tonight. I think I want to start with some inconspicuous armor, something you could wear on a Sunday stroll."
"Heh, got it. How much am I making, and what are the sizes?"
"Hmm..." Joshua played with a bit of string poking from the seat. "Start with four. Three men's, two small one medium, one women's, also small. You should have an idea what colors for each. I want something that can stop more than a bullet, Mr. Hanekoma."
"No problem. I'll have some materials for you to decide on before dinner."
"You're the best. I'll get takeout, we'll make a night of it."
He hung up, internally debating whether he wanted to go with something classy or something with fur. Joshua did not have a lot of cold weather clothes. Maybe he would split the difference and get a nice jacket with a lot of inner pockets. Stick a Pin on the lapel, make people think he was a yakuza for the fun of it.
"Alright," Joshua said to no one in particular, dialing one last number. "Which dimension is it again?..."
The sun cast dusty rays of evening light through the barren house of Hellsing. Madam Integra, aged beyond her years, sat alone at her dining table chewing thoughtfully at a bit of roast. Her eye socket itched an inch behind the patch, just deep enough that she could not scratch it safely. That was going to drive her mad for the rest of the night.
Two sharp knocks rang from the dining room door before it swung open and a creature in a red coat with deep red eyes strode in. Integra stopped, momentarily taken out of time. No, no of course it was not him. Silly.
Seras yawned like a panther. "Evenin' Integra."
"Good evening Seras." A suited body oozed out of the shadows and procured a dish with bottle and chalice, which Seras took in one hand as a gloved hand poured crimson ichor near to the brim.
"Thank you Markus."
"Of course miss." The body melted back into the shadows, all without Integra ever setting her eyes on it. She had not looked at Markus once since he had been hired ten years ago. It was remarkably easy.
Seras sipped at her blood wine as she took the seat to her right, as deference to Integra's remaining right eye. "How are you Master?"
"Hmph." Integra swallowed the bite of bread roll she'd been masticating. "I'm tired, Seras. I'm tired today, I was tired yesterday, and I will be tired tomorrow. It's the nature of things." She looked it too: gradually developing wrinkles, blonde hair greying, and only in her mid-thirties.
"Things've been quiet though," Seras said, poorly concealing her pity that Integra certainly did not want. "Not a single undead or supernatural outbreak in weeks."
"You know, I do more than vampires Seras. You were with me just two days ago at the latest Round Table meeting regarding, ugh, this EU mess." Seras grinned slyly: the voted separation had been a powerful point of contention for Integra, and she was used to making everyone intimately aware of her opinion. She had become very used to listening to her have screaming matches against a government body that agreed with her but still could not really do anything to de-escalate the situation. Matters not involving hard combat were not Hellsing's forte.
"You know it's not going to last," Seras said.
"Says the immortal girl," Integra countered. "I have whatever is left of my life to worry about."
"Integra," Seras said, frowning. "You know you really shouldn't talk like that."
"Psh, it's simple fact girl. Us mortals die, I'd think you were used to that."
Seras' expression soured, and Integra sobered a bit. This was a line of talk they had followed every now and again for nearly two decades. Nothing new was going to be discussed tonight, and frankly she was sick of her own negativity.
"Anyway," Integra said, putting a lighter tone into her words. "How is your business going? Your, ahem, 'Reaper Game?'"
It had been a considerable adjustment, learning all that Seras had become in the aftermath of the war. The concept was as difficult to grasp as when Kiryu had first vaguely explained it to her in her office all those years ago, but now she had a sort of go-between for her organization and what was effectively God. In an ideal world Integra might have loved to rub it in the face of Section 13, but this sort of oddity was not something she could make official. Her in-depth conversation with the man-thing Reece Nayake had convinced her of the cosmic importance this afterlife death game remain confidential to herself, Seras, and only anyone who was already involved. She still thought the name was insipid.
"Oh," Seras was not expecting the question. Integra very rarely showed interest in her second job, assumedly out of respect. "It's going fine. Last night's coming up, so you know I'll be occupied."
"Mmhmm. With, ah, paperwork?" Integra had legitimately no idea what Seras actually did beyond decision-making.
"More or less?" She shrugged and smiled apologetically. "You know I'm not allowed to tell you the specifics. Me being new, and undead, They still see me as a potential liability."
"Heh, I'd hardly think you're still new to the job."
"Immortality, master. Compared to a lot of others I haven't been on this job long at all."
Integra ruminated on this. She looked passively at her hand, thin and lightly wrinkled between the knuckles. "I suppose you're right. Hmph, I've had enough. Markus, take this away."
"Yes, Master Hellsing." A gloved hand slipped into Integra's view and quickly disappeared with her dishes. "Would you care for any dessert tonight?" Integra procured a thick cigar from under the table and held it in her mouth for the glove to cut and light.
"No, thank you. That will be all." She sensed a bowing to her right before the door opened and sharp footfalls led down the hall.
"You know," Seras said cautiously. "You have to look at him eventually." Integra raised an eyebrow, and Seras tapped her temple. "You think I of all people wouldn't notice?"
Integra blew a heavy cloud of smoke. "I see him every day."
"Oh really? What race is he?"
Integra paused. "White?"
Seras grinned cattily. "Close! Asian-English."
Fumes smoked from Integra's nose. "Bah, how am I supposed to tell behind his glasses?"
"He doesn't wear any. Twenty-twenty vision on that one." Her smile widened. "Care to try again? I bet you can guess his hair color."
"Oh shut up!" Integra snapped, and Seras chuckled playfully. "Don't you have reports to write or something?"
Seras looked at the mounted clock: quarter to seven. "As a matter of fact, I do." Seras downed her glass in two quick gulps and excused herself from the table.
"Seras?" Integra called after her before she left.
"Hmm?" The red sashay, that cherry confidence, and Integra lost herself again.
"Do you...?" She touched her neck meaningfully, trailing off.
Seras looked at her a moment, then smiled understanding. She pulled her collar down so Integra could see her bite marks, still puckered and indistinctly twitching. "He's still going. One day, I promise."
"... Alright." Integra nodded. "You're excused."
The city of London was an ancient city. It had been a simple village by a body of water thousands of years ago, with hairy men and women shambling about with pelts over their shoulders and no dental care. Nowadays pelts were signs of financial status, the water was not safe to drink, and everyone had access to dental care but forgot because the football game against the Irish was on and everyone wanted to see who would be mauled this season. The people may no have been so hairy, but they were much the same: humans trying to make their way through life with a full belly and a happy family.
Seras Victoria was not one of these humans. At this point she was two times removed from them. Once for being dead, twice for being undead. It didn't bother her so much, no anymore anyway. One would be surprised how much company you have in the place between Earth and Hell.
It was late at night, or early morning, whichever made more sense. Seras couldn't quite distinguish time anymore, the days and nights blended together. The Players were out, at her behest, and had been out every night previously. She was curious how they might perform in a Game where they do not get to sleep. The results were predictable, but admittedly comical when the Players all bump into each other.
"What do you think?" Pip's voice asked from within her. "They don't exactly look robuste enough to take Amy. Perhaps a Noise instead this week?"
"No," Seras looked down at her Players caringly. "I think at least one of them can handle it. I'll have a word with her tonight if I think she's going to go too nuts."
Seras perceived the mental implication of a shrug. "Whatever you say, ma chere."
"Well," Seras stretched with a yawn. "I think they'll be okay until morning. Let's head back to HQ."
"Right, tonight's Mario Kart night! Oni already owes me four bottles, I'll bet he'll double or nothing me again."
"You know we can't drink scotch anymore."
"Yeah, but I like making him watch me pour it down the sink."
"Oh my God, that's so mean! Don't do that to him!"
Down below a desperate group of exhausted Players fended off the unending waves of spider Noise, hissing and spitting in a black and red mass of legs and teeth and terror.
"So are you gonna play tonight?"
"Duh."
The party was already rolling when Seras entered HQ. Richard and Oni were staring intensely at the television screen, red and blue controllers held tightly. Oni was very clearly driving drunk, and Richard had nachos stuck in his beard that he could not quite remove with his tongue but was unwilling to release control for an instant. Reece was sitting on the counter with his personal modified handheld resting comfortably on his knees. He was sporting a sizable lead in first, and appeared to have somehow hoarded a Star all the way into the position.
"Seryyyyy!" Oni whined drunkenly. "Mr. Nayake is cheating again!"
"I don't cheat," Reece responded in a level manor, not removing his eyes from his lap. "You're just terrible."
"Oy oy oy!" Pip asserted himself into the room, clapping his hands. "You boys started without the Grand Prix champion? Pas bien, pas bon du tout!"
"We didn't start without her, Amelia's in the kitchen refilling on snacks." The three men chuckled (and Oni flew into a pit) at Pip's scowling face. He stalked to the entertainment center and switched on his and Seras' console, grumbling about lifetime points and win/loss statistics. Seras giggled at how cute he was.
"Ay ma che-" Pip caught a glance at Reece, watching him in his peripheral vision. "Eh, Madam Compositeur. Care for some un contre un while these chuckleheads finish their game?"
Seras shook her head. Those two had been butting heads about Pip and Seras' relationship since day one. It got tiresome fast, and she put her foot down on their bickering faster than she would on a roach. Reece still insisted that Pip, as the official Conductor, show Seras proper respect. The fact that no one else had to call her "Madam" was irrelevant to him.
"Nah, I need a drink first. I'll get in on the next race." Pip waved acceptingly, giving her a disguised wink, and turned back to the second television they had to get when video games became popular.
Seras kept all her blood in very clearly labelled bottles in a specially marked compartment of the refrigerator, just to make absolutely sure no one mistook it for tomato juice. Amy -- Amelia, whatever she went by that particular season -- was pressing her face into the microwave as though her stare would make the cheese on her heaping pile of nachos melt faster. She was still wearing her work clothes, the horribly torn tees and violet cargo shorts filled with not even Seras knew what. Her skates had at least been replaced with fuzzy bunny slippers (googly-eyes additional), and her short bobbed hair was in a crimson tizzy jutting out of her scalp at angles a mathematician would be baffled by.
She also still had her Noise leaning over her shoulder, a feathery little beatbox of a parrot that liked to nibble her earlobes.
"Evening Amy," Seras greeted her Reaper casually, uncorked a fresh B-negative vintage and gave herself a frugal portion.
"Mornin' Composer," Amy said drowsily. The Noise chirruped a happy tune.
"Sleepy?"
"More like crashing. I ran out of Monster an hour ago and those fucking spiders are a handful and a half."
"Heh, maybe you should head to bed hun. Can't have my final boss falling asleep in the middle of her big fight tomorrow night." The microwaved beeped, and Amy sniffed deeply into her cholesterol-filled goo pile. The smell might have made Seras nauseous even before she couldn't eat human food.
"Nah, I'll be fine for a couple hours. 'Sides, I got Reece to bet me a new CD if I can take him for another Grand Prix. I want to teach B-rad here some new songs before our debut tomorrow." She scratched the Noise affectionately under its chin, which sent the bird into a reverie. Seras said nothing: the Noise had been Amy's single request the day Seras came back. It was made out of the remaining soul bits of another Player she had been quite close to. It was not the same person, and Seras tried to tell her as much, but... the "conversations" she had with the Noise when no one else was around were disturbing. Doubly so when the parrot could say things back.
"Just... don't let yourself get too exhausted. I'll send Richard out on a shopping run in the morning so you can caffeinate, but I want you to sleep. You need to take care of yourself."
Amy waved a hand dismissively. "I'll be in bed by curfew mom. Now come on, I've got a blue shell with Reece's dumb face on it!"
Just then Seras' phone went off in her pocket. "Who the hell is calling at this hour?" The caller ID read "LONGEST DISTANCE."
"Hello?" she said into the staticky connection.
"Hiiii Seras!" It was a questionably male voice, charming and innocent in a vaguely malicious way. The voice implied ancient knowledge, divine power, and a childlike lack of total empathy. "I hope I got the right number, these extensions are expensive you know."
Seras would have recognized him unquestionably even if it hadn't been so many years. "Joshua?"
"Oh good! First try, I'm going to count that as a personal victory. How are you doing dear, Higher Ups didn't incinerate you for blasphemy or anything?"
"Is that Josh?" Amy turned away from the second pile of chips and cheese and various meats and veggies she was working on. "Like, JOSHUA Josh? Ohmygod let me talk to him, it's been so long!" Seras held up a single warning hand. She may not know the Japanese Composer that well, but her personal experience and the numerous reports she had read were reason enough to be suspicious.
"Heh, good call," Joshua was still talking over the line. "I really only called to talk to you, she would be a long-winded distraction. Tell her I say hi though!" Seras glared at the phone and quietly informed Amy of Joshua's message and that she would be taking a call in the throne room if anyone needed her.
Seras waited until she had the door to the throne room shut tight. The room had changed since she was a child. It felt colder now, cold in a way that even she could feel. Off in some hidden corner was a passageway that led to her office, an extension that Annabelle had added herself. Inside were... well, she chose not to think about that now. "It's been almost twenty years Joshua. Twenty years and not a damn word."
"Oh?" Joshua feigned perplexity. "It's been maybe an hour on my end. Sorry, I had to take a few minutes to drop Neku off at home and check on my Game. I apologize for the extra fifteen minutes you had to wait."
Seras pinched her nose. Time travel. "Alright. Fine. I'll give you that. You don't have to be so passive aggressive about it."
"Heh, forgive me. I suppose it all starts to get to me after a while. You know how it is, knowing so much more than everyone else. Or at least you will, given enough time."
Seras grinned sardonically. "You know if you weren't so smarmy you might actually be a decent guy."
"I sincerely doubt it," Joshua said chipperly. "My smarm is my charm! So, fill me in Composer Victoria. How's unlife treating you?"
Seras twisted her mouth. She had not been expecting pleasantries. "Fine, I guess. The world carries on no matter how many times it seems to blow up, literally and metaphorically. Integra's been on a warpath with the EU thing lately, so that's been pretty boring on my end. Given me some time to work on my Games at least."
"Heh, I bet juggling those two jobs has been hell on your social life."
"Haha." Seras was not amused. She hadn't met a new person that wasn't a child in fifteen years.
"Speaking of our good Madam Hellsing, how's she handling 'Queen of the Dead' Seras? I do hope she hasn't tried anything... uncouth with her official superiority over you."
Seras scoffed at the suggestion. "Of course not! She's not some power-hungry fiend Joshua, and we've established some very clear boundaries between my Hellsing work and my Composer work. It helps that we helped with London's reconstruction, and I think she thinks she can take most of the boys in a fight if she has to."
"Ha! I'll bet she does. She isn't even wrong, seeing as how Composers are the only ones who can use UG powers in the RG."
"And Neku, apparently. Which reminds me... What the flying FUCK were you thinking?!?"
Joshua flinched away from his phone. "You heard about that huh?"
"EVERYONE heard about it! The Higher Ups practically sent personal memos to every Composer on Earth saying 'Don't do this or you're soul is forfeit!'"
"Hahaha, yeaaaah." Joshua scratched his head awkwardly. "Honestly they were more upset about me keeping Neku longer than a week than anything else. The threatening to annihilate my territory was a really noteworthy second though. And reviving an erased Player. And assassinating most of my upper management. Not to mention-"
"I get the picture," Seras cut him off. "Just... Why did you DO it?"
Joshua thought about this for a while. "Well... ah... couple reasons I guess. Shibuya was kind of terrible at the time, I thought maybe it could use a hard reset. But if I just did that without giving them a chance the Higher Ups would get upset and there would be so much paperwork! And, well, I'd never admit this to Neku because he'd kill me, but... I got bored."
"You got bored."
"Yeah. Seras, I've been in the Game for a LONG time. I couldn't count the weeks if I wanted to. History is kind of a blur to me, I don't even remember my own mother's face. Much less the countless Reapers I've worked with. I was a grunt for a length of time I can't pin down, a Conductor for a while, I think I might have been a Producer for a week before I reverse-engineered a hydrogen bomb and got demoted back to Conductor, and then I got promoted to Composer during either the nineteenth or twentieth century. It got sooooo booooring! I'd seen the same Games over and over again, so much that when I got promoted I started throwing in little twists to the Reaper hierarchy. Point systems, gate guardians, I have a limo driver now, rotating management positions, I just started throwing out ideas and they did it. After a while I figured I'd play a Game or two, then I started getting new ideas, one thing led to another, and the Neku incident happened."
Following the trail of consciousness Joshua was going down strained Seras' brain, but she couldn't help but be reminded of Alucard, hearing the things he said. The never ending passage of time, flowing over the stationary point of immortality like a murky stream. "It was still stupid," Seras eventually decided on. "You could have gotten killed. Or probably worse."
"Heh, Seras darling, we're all supposed to die one day. You English Composers keep Reapers for two hundred, three hundred years. I've seen Reapers get erased in a week. The Game is designed to kill, otherwise you get nut cases like me walking around. Or worse, we ascend. Gods have mercy on the poor bastards who ascend."
"Uh huh..." Seras wasn't sure what Joshua was going on about any more, but she thought she would let the man talk. It seemed like he hadn't had an opportunity to let all this off his chest in a very long time.
"Seras." Pip's voice resounded in her head suddenly. She could hear the distant sounds of Baby Park chaos in the background. "Are you coming? Everything alright?"
"Yeah," Seras answered inwardly. "I'm on the phone, be out in a little bit."
"Anyway," Joshua said, talking on a lighter tone. "I just wanted to check up on you, make sure you weren't doing anything I would do, haha."
"Heh, not on your life. But Joshua, before you go..."
"Hmm?"
Seras collected her thoughts. She could tell he was trying to leave prematurely. He had probably made himself uncomfortable, and she really did not want to have a continuation of this conversation. Plus, she had a question of her own. "Why did you enthrone me?"
"Because I had to," Joshua said simply. "You were the suggested replacement for Miss King, who was my actual target. I led with you because I thought the process would go smoother if I could convince you to take the throne before emptying it."
"Okay but, why take out Annabelle? Why you?"
She could feel the Cheshire grin through the dimensions separating them. "That was a part of my To-Do list that's making up for that rap sheet I told you about earlier. I'll have other jobs in the future, whenever the Higher Ups decide to call me in. I tell you what, so far it has not been boring. So I'm counting this as an overall win for me!"
"But-"
"And because I know you're going to ask, I don't know what Annabelle does that makes her a target for the Higher Ups. It had to have been something worse than what I did though for Them to go all Terminator on her. Like, cycle-of-life-and-death, changing the fabric of the multiverse kind of bad."
"Well. It was a tough judgement, I'll tell you that."
"Judgement?"
"Yeah, you know. The judgement for Heaven and Hell? I can't tell you where I sent her, I'm told that's confidential, but it was hard to watch."
"... Heaven and Hell?"
Seras blinked. "Yeah. You do that right?"
"Um... No. No I've never heard of that. Heaven is real?"
"What? Yeah of course Heaven is real! What do you mean you don't do judgements, I thought all Composers did that!"
"Definitely not! I didn't even know there was an afterlife! I've been telling people that when you get erased your soul vanished from existence."
"WHAT?!"
"It keeps the suicides from double-suiciding."
"You're a terrible person. Like, abjectly wretched."
"I didn't know! Do you even know?"
Seras stopped. Did she even know? The Higher Ups had never given her any evidence that her choices actually influenced the fate of dead souls. "... Shit."
Joshua laughed. "Man, the Higher Ups are still playing Games on us. I guess you never really stop being a Player huh?"
Seras chuckled against her will. "I guess not."
"Well hey, think about it this way: Hades always had to put up with Zeus' shit, and Hades probably gave his people shit. That's us, Hades' kids."
"You lost me."
"Eh, I did some research on the other versions of you. Don't worry about it, it'll only give you an existential migraine. And probably give you nightmares. There's some really creepy versions of us out there, let me tell you what. And our grammar is TERRIBLE!"
Seras had officially run out of responses she could make up to subjects she did not understand. So instead she surrendered the battle entirely. "Good night, Joshua."
"Heh, good day Composer Victoria. I'll give Neku your regards. I sincerely hope we never have cause to meet again except to exchange notes over a nice cup of tea." And with that the line went dead. Seras looked at her phone for a while, sighed, and tucked it back into her shirt pocket.
Suddenly Seras remembered something. "Oh shite, I almost forgot to feed him!" She jumped out of her throne into a mad sprint down a second hallway she had designed. It was dark, so dark that Reaper eyes could not quite perceive it. But she could. It was designed specifically so that only she could make it through the twisting passage, or Pip in an emergency.
It opened up into a wide, dank chamber. It was completely unlit, a place of absolute darkness. A place where only the creatures could find their way. Seras followed the outer wall to a crate that a semi truck would not be able to drive. She opened the hatch and pulled out a slab of cold, wet, stinking meat.
Something moved in the darkness. The sound of skin and slime rubbing against metal. A muted growl. Seras approached the center of the room, meat chunk in one hand, the other stretched forward in a defensive stance. The cage held him... most of the time.
"Hey Rocky."
A massive curved head slammed into the sturdy frame of his cage. The Tapewyrm roared angrily, upset that its dinner was so late, upset that Seras was still alive after what she had done to Bob, upset with the world in general. Rocky and the Tapewyrm were a temperamental pair.
Seras tossed the hunk of flesh through the bars and watched as the Noise ripped it apart. It was a messy business, and never quite enough for them, but Seras knew from experience if she fed it any more it would get too big for its cage and Reece would have to make a new one while she contained it forcefully.
The beast finished its paltry meal and continued to scream and thrash in Seras' direction, held back by the Producer-designed restraints only barely.
"Still hate me, huh?" Seras asked sadly.
She had been told after the fact what became of Rocky during the one-night war. About the Butcher, and Rocky's suicide. Told of how he felt about her after she crushed Bobby's poor head. It was hard to hear, and equally hard to remember now. Reece had suggested they destroy the Tapewyrm, as it had become exponentially more powerful after eating the Butcher's remains, but Richard convinced Seras otherwise. He said Rocky had to still be inside for the Tapewyrm to live. It was only a parasite after all, it had to feed off of someone. And the way it beat against the walls of its prison to get at Seras in such a blind rage... well. Seras wasn't ready to say goodbye to another friend. The Wild Geese, Alucard, Bobby, Megan, even Annabelle in some way. Seras wouldn't let Rocky die too. So she kept him, deep in the dark where he could not hurt anyone, until perhaps she could draw him back out if such a thing was possible.
"I'm sorry, Rocky." The Tapewyrm screamed.
Back outside the races were going hard. Oni was half asleep and driving into a wall. Richard had successfully dislodged the nachos from his beard and was aggressively pursuing Pip for third place. Reece and Amy were bashing into each other wildly, battling for first.
Pip turned when Seras entered the room. He smiled knowingly, and Seras felt a bit of warmth in her heart again at the sight. He offered her the red controller and she sat down, ready to join the race. And dammit, she would play as Cat Peach and nobody could say a damn word to judge her!
The Noise Bradford squawked. "Kick their asses Ames! Raawk!"
And outside the night was quiet. The Noise were all gone, dead or dispersed. The remaining Players had dwindled to the single digits. A young girl walked to each of them, tending to their wounds with Pins. Tears were streaming down her face, but she continued healing everyone anyway. Everyone embraced each other, thankful to be alive.
Many were lost.
But they still lived.
And if they tried, if they struggled and fought and climbed there way out, they could even win.
They earned it.
Thank you for 5 years of support and love. I enjoyed this a lot. Please support us in our future endeavors!Sincerely- Chaos and Matsuri