Chapter 30: Don't Fear the Reaper Side 2
(Alright everyone, hang on to your butts because not only will you get some character death in this chapter but a little explanation about Michael's abilities as well! Enjoy!)
Not a single eye was batted as the four Karakura High School students walked along the busy sidewalk. Not a single ear was tuned to their hushed conversations. If they had, one might have shown concern or at the very least, confusion. After all, it's not every day that you see a group of high schoolers actively hunting for a serial killer, let alone one that by all rights should be in America.
But that was precisely what Tatsuki and her friends were doing at that moment.
"Alright," Tatsuki said as she reached into the bag she was carrying. "It took my whole allowance for the week but I got each of us a walkie-talkie and some batteries to go with them." She pulled out one of these walkie-talkies and looked it over. "These babies will help us keep in touch while we search for that maniac!"
"Um, can anyone explain to me again just what we're all doing?" Chizuru asked as she fixed her glasses in place. "You guys haven't been making a lot of sense since school let out."
Tatsuki groaned in annoyance as she placed the walkie-talkie back in the bag. "Ichigo and the others are searching for this serial killer from America that might be supernatural and we're gonna lend a helping hand!"
"Oh!" Chizuru made an enlightened expression as if she suddenly understood...only to screw it up in confusion again. "How?"
"By finding this guy ourselves!" Tatsuki snapped. "After which, we'll let Ichigo and the others know his whereabouts."
"Exactly," Mizuiro agreed. "This way, we'll be helping without getting in the way."
"I still think this is nuts," Keigo muttered. "Why do I feel like all we're gonna get from this is Ichigo chewing us out for getting involved?"
"Ah will you shut up, you big baby?" Tatsuki hissed. "Don't forget we're not just doing this for our friends but for the people of Karakura Town! Do you want that maniac to take any more lives?"
Keigo remained silent, his mouth agape and his eyes hurt. With a defeated sigh, he turned away as the group neared the park.
"Well I for one am more than happy to help if it means protecting my precious Orihime!" Chizuru declared with hearts in her eyes. "I don't care if they're human, Hollow, or even something beyond that, no one's allowed to threaten that adorable mug on my watch!" She giggled to herself. "Besides, if I help out, Orihime might just finally see reason and give up on that idiot Ichigo for her true love!" Chizuru continued to giggle, her mouth drooling and a trickle of blood dripping from her nose as she fantasized about the "reward" Orihime was sure to give her for her heroic efforts...
...a fantasy that was knocked out of her head as Tatsuki sent her flying back with a kick to the face.
"I don't know what sick thoughts you're having but cut it out right now, you deranged idiot!" She shouted. "Seriously, forget Michael Myers. I'm afraid of letting you anywhere near Orihime!" She watched as Chizuru hit a couple of trash cans which toppled over her. Tatsuki breathed out and continued walking toward the park. Keigo and Mizuiro followed suit, leaving Chizuru to recover and get up on her own.
The group made it to the park in no time and gathered beneath a large tree. The Sun was beginning to set but there would be at least an hour or so of daylight left, plenty of time to search for Michael as far as Tatsuki was concerned. Whatever ground they couldn't cover tonight could be covered the following day. So far, everything was looking good and Tatsuki felt confident in her plan as she and Mizuiro placed the batteries inside the walkie-talkies and synced them with each other.
"Alright everyone," She said as she fixed the last of the batteries in place. "Let's keep this simple. There's four of us so I think we should each search a different direction for that bastard Michael. She handed a walkie-talkie to Mizuiro. "Mizuiro, you'll take West Karakura."
"Leave it to me," Mizuiro said as he grabbed the walkie-talkie.
Next, Tatsuki handed one to Keigo. "You take East Karakura, Keigo."
"Alright," Keigo accepted with a sigh, feeling unwell about the whole thing. Something in his gut was screaming at him to throw the walkie-talkie down and run off but, for what he could only guess was sheer stupidity, he ignored it.
"Chizuru," Tatsuki said as she passed a walkie-talkie to her fellow female student. "You take South Karakura and don't be causing any trouble!"
Chizuru huffed in annoyance as she took the walkie-talkie, her hair and clothes still somewhat dirty from the collision she had suffered earlier.
"And that'll leave me to take on North Karakura by myself!" Tatsuki declared as she held up her own walkie-talkie. "We'll keep checking in on each other every 30 minutes and if anyone sees anything even remotely suspicious, call the others immediately! Does anyone have any questions before we head out?"
Mizuiro and Chizuru shook their heads. Keigo, however, raised his hand a little, stopped himself, sighed, and then lifted it completely.
"Yes, Keigo?" Tatsuki asked.
"Well...w-what do we do if we happen to bump into Ichigo or any of the others?" He inquired. "What do we tell them?"
"Ichigo," Tatsuki muttered sadly as she thought back to yesterday's conversation with the orange-haired boy and how he had tried to keep them in the dark about this whole affair in the first place, one of the far too many times he's done that. Not just about Michael but about everything. She even recalled the day Orihime had gone missing, whisked away to Hueco Mundo around that time. Despite her beating him senseless, the only word she was able to extract out of him was a pathetic sorry. She gritted her teeth thinking about all that her friends must have gone through and how powerless she was to help them, just because she didn't possess unique abilities like they did. It ate at her. She hated feeling powerless and she wasn't going to take it anymore. She would prove to Ichigo and the others that she didn't always need their protection.
"We tell them the truth," Tatsuki said. "We tell them that we're searching for the same manic they are and if they try to chase us away again, we stand our ground! This is our town too dammit and we have every right to protect it as they do, any way we can!"
Chizuru and Mizuiro nodded happily and even Keigo, while still betraying a look of fear in his eyes, smiled slightly. "Right," He nodded as well.
"Alright everyone!" Tatsuki shouted. "Let's hunt down that psycho!" And with this, the four friends went their separate ways, each hoping in the back of their minds that they were the ones to find Michael Myers. Not because any of them craved the glory of being instrumental in the downfall of this foreign murderer but because they wanted their friends to stay safe.
Not a single one of them noticed the rain clouds approaching from the horizon.
"What am I even doing?" Keigo thought as he wandered through East Karakura Town. He had already lost track of how long he had been walking down the street, searching for any sign of violent crime or shady persons. He had yet to run into anyone from Ichigo's inner circle or anyone he knew from school for that matter and part of him was bitter about that. "If I bumped into Ichigo now, he could take this burden out of my hands. He'd be able to mop the floor with that Myers guy in seconds!" He thought. "Hell, it doesn't even have to be Ichigo. Afro-guy or even Don Kanonji would be a blessing to run into right now." Lost in his own thoughts, Keigo was scarcely aware of the abandoned buildings to his left. "Oh what the hell is Tatsuki thinking? How are we even supposed to- huh?"
Keigo froze, one foot over the other. He nearly lost balance and had to readjust himself. Within the tiny space between two buildings, he thought he could see some movement. At first, he thought it was an animal, maybe a cat or bird. As he continued to watch, the moving figure stood up, its back to Keigo and clad in what appeared to be a one-piece blue outfit. There was something off about his hair but Keigo wasn't sure what.
"W-Who is that?" Keigo took a single step forward and stopped again when he saw the bloody knife in the entity's hand, glistening beneath the gore it was covered in. With his other hand, the entity seemed to shoving something in its mouth although from behind it was hard to tell for sure. Keigo wasn't sure what to do, he was out in the open and there was nowhere to hide. And if this thing noticed him...
But it didn't, at least as far as Keigo was concerned. It lowered its arm and disappeared behind the buildings without so much as a sound. It took Keigo several seconds to regain his nerve enough to stalk toward the alleyway where the entity was but a moment ago. As he drew near, the rancid smell of blood smashed into his nostrils, causing him to screw up his face. He covered his mouth to suppress the coming gag and used his second hand to cover his nose which did little to lessen the impact of the odor. Once he entered the alleyway, he was finally close enough to see where that horrid smell was coming from and it took Keigo everything he had not to throw up at the sight of it.
Laying before him in the grass was the gutted corpse of a small white dog. The blue collar with a bell on it suggested that it belonged to someone.
"Oh my God," Keigo whispered from behind his hands. "Who could do such a thing? Wait, don't tell me..." As he put two and two together, Keigo suddenly began to shake violently. The urge to vomit was back with a vengeance and his instinct was once again screaming at him to get the fuck out of there.
But he had a job to do, and as horrific as coming across that poor dog's body was, it also motivated Keigo to keep going. To prevent a human being from meeting the same fate.
"That has to be him," Keigo thought as he forced himself through the alleyway. "That had to be Michael Myers. No doubt about it." He poked his head out through the alleyway and noticed drops of blood trailing down his right. He gulped and followed them, being sure to watch his step. "Man, Ichigo wasn't kidding when he said this guy was a freaking psycho! Who else could do that to a poor puppy? Come to think of it, he had his hand next to his mouth earlier. Was he...
This time, Keigo lost the battle with his stomach and had to release the contents. He could only hope Michael didn't hear him as he let it all out near some trash cans.
"Dammit!" Keigo thought as he continued his journey. "Why did I have to be the one to actually find this creep? I mean, I glad none of the others are nearby but still!" Keigo noticed the trail lead into another alleyway and made a turn, only to freeze as he saw Michael standing in the middle of it. His back was still to Keigo, giving the fretful teen time to duck behind the wall. After a few seconds, Keigo shakily peeked over the corner at the maniac. His blue mechanic's suit and the fake hair of his mask were covered in bloodstains. It was clear that this monster had already taken life in Karakura Town and there was no way of knowing just how many of those lives were taken today alone. His breathing was ragged and quiet, suggesting he had been at work for quite some time.
"Dammit! I always have the shittiest luck!" Keigo said as he tip-toed away from the corner to the other end of the wall. Once there, he turned on his walkie-talkie and spoke "Hello guys? Can you hear me?" into it. It wasn't long before he got an answer.
"Keigo?" Tatsuki asked through the static. "What's going on?"
"Hush!" Keigo shouted. "Not so loud!" He paused for a moment and tip-toed back to the corner to see if Michael had noticed him. The masked monster seemed to be ignorant of the boy's presence, staring off into space. Keigo retreated to the end of the wall and continued with, "I found him! I found Michael Myers!"
"Wh-" Tatsuki stopped herself from shouting and cleared her throat. "What?" She asked in a hushed tone.
"He's hiding out within the Suika District," Keigo said. "You know the one with all the abandoned buildings."
"Figures as much," Tatsuki said. "That place is the perfect hideout for a creep like that. Is he alone?"
"That seems to be the case." Keigo swallowed as he remembered the poor dog that would never return home. "T-Tatsuki he...he's already killed.."
"What!? Who? Who has he killed?"
"I don't know but there's fresh blood on his hair and clothes. He has a knife dripping with blood as well." Keigo shuddered and felt a tear trickle from his eye. He wasn't sure if it was from the sorrow he felt for Michael's unknown victims or the fear of being so close to such a monster. Speaking of which, he tip-toed back to the other end of the wall.
"Well just keep out of sight until we get there, Keigo." Tatsuki continued speaking. "I'll get the others and we'll fetch Ichigo. Everything's gonna be alright!"
"I hope so, Tatsuki." Keigo gulped as he peered over the corner. "I hope s-
Michael was gone. No knife. No footprints. Just a small puddle of blood where he was standing not but a moment ago.
Keigo's heart raced. His mouth went dry and he now felt tears freely leaking from both eyes. His entire body began to tremble and it took everything not to drop the walkie-talkie as he held it near his mouth. "T-T-Tatsuki-i, h-he's g-g-gone!"
"What do you mean he's gone?" Tatsuki asked in an angry yet concerned voice.
"I mean he's gone!" Keigo cried. "He was hear just a second ago but now he's wandered off! I don..."
As Keigo was speaking, a shadow loomed over him, sweat covering his body, he forced himself to look up at who was casting it. It was Michael, his expressionless mask now in full view of Keigo, the black holes one might consider his eyes staring down at the scared and shaking Karakura student.
"T-Tatsuki! Help!" Keigo screamed as Michael lunged for him.
On the other side of town, within a tiny alleyway, Tatsuki felt herself shaken to the core as she heard her classmate's screams. "Keigo! Keigo!"
She winced as a blast of static erupted from her walkie-talkie. And then, dead air.
"Keigo! Keigo!" Tatsuki frantically messed with the controls of her walkie-talkie, trying to regain contact with Keigo but to no avail. "Shit! Shit!" Tatsuki gripped her head hard as she attempted to process what the hell had just happened. "Is Keigo...Is he..." With a frustrated cry, she punched a hole in the nearby wall. "No! Stop thinking like that!" She demanded of herself. "Keigo's fine! We survived Aizen for fuck's sake! He wouldn't let some psycho Hollow wanna-be take him out! But still, I have to go!" Tatsuki rushed out of the alleyway, nearly knocking over an older woman in the process. "Sorry!" She shouted as she raced down the sidewalk.
"Hey! Watch it!" The woman shouted as she fixed her hat and shook her head. "Today's youth is always in such a hurry. She turned around and continued on her own walk home, blissfully unaware of where the teenager who knocked her down was going or what fate awaited her that night.
As she ran, Tatsuki tuned her walkie-talkie, trying to reach Chizuru and Mizuiro "I gotta tell the others," Tatsuki said. "Then I'm going to call Ichigo!" She looked ahead, fighting the fear and regret she felt brimming in her heart. "Just hold out, Keigo! We're coming!"
Ichigo was tired. To say that he had an eventful life would be an understatement to end all understatements. But today had been particularly tiresome, not because he had to fight a powerful enemy but because he was confronted by his friends concerning the sheer insanity that had injected itself into his reality for the past few months. This was after he learned about the unique nature of Michael Myers, the potentially supernatural assailant who now stalked the streets of Karakura Town. And if that weren't already something out of an insane fever dream, Ichigo had been called in by Kisuke after school along with the others for a meeting concerning an interesting development in the Myers debacle.
That something turned out to be the ghost of his old psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis who Ichigo now found himself studying closely The old man's eyes were tired yet wild and he was trembling slightly. He was corporal for the most part but his body was transparent as expected of a Plus. From his chest hung his Chain of Fate, long severed from his physical body. The end of it had already begun encroachment, tiny mouths on the chain eating away at themselves slowly. It reminded Ichigo of when he had witnessed his Chain of Fate undergo the same process while he was training with Kisuke and he felt sick to his stomach. Definitely not one of his fondest memories.
"You boy..." Loomis droned as he studied Ichigo in a similar matter. "Y-You can see me as well?"
"Yep," Ichigo answered. "I've been able to see ghost ever since I was a little kid. So can my friends." He gestured toward the back of the room where Orihime, Rukia, Sado and Uryu all sat, watching the old man with keen interest. Rukia even had her hand on her Zanpakuto, as if preparing herself to send him to Soul Society at a moment's notice. "But what I'd really like to know is why you've been tormenting my friend Riruka?" He then gestured to the girl sitting alongside Kisuke behind Loomis, her arms wrapped around her knees. Kisuke was also studying Loomis but Riruka was looking away.
"She's the one," Loomis muttered as he turned to look at her. "She's the one who released the evil!"
"Enough of that crap!" Ichigo suddenly shouted as he slammed his foot down on Loomis's head. "I've had it with this cryptic bullshit! Tell us what you're doing here now or I'll beat it out of ya!"
"Ichigo!" Orihime cried out.
"Knock off this foolishness at once!" Rukia shouted.
"Ichigo, I understand your frustration but beating Dr. Loomis won't get us anywhere!" Uryu added. "You need to calm yourself!"
Sado simply nodded.
Ichigo gritted his teeth and lifted his foot from the old spirit's head, leaving behind a nasty footprint in his forehead. Loomis tried to rub it and winced in pain as he retracted his hand. "I didn't think..." He muttered. "I didn't think it would be possible to feel pain in this state."
"Well you're gonna feel a lot more unless you tell us what's going on," Ichigo said bluntly. "Why are you here? And what can you tell us about Michael Myers?"
"Michael?" Loomis's eyes darkened. "Oh Michael. You've found yourself a new playground. Yes, and so close to Halloween. It always happens around Halloween, doesn't it Michael?"
Ichigo growled and grabbed the old man by his sleeves. "Dammit old man! Enough fooling around!"
"Ichigo!" Rukia barked. "What did we just say?"
"This is going nowhere." Uryu muttered.
"Talk dammit!" Ichigo demanded.
"Alright, alright!" Kisuke slapped his hands together. "I think it's time we recollect ourselves." He walked toward Ichigo and pushed Loomis out of his hands. "It's clear tensions are high and that's a given, considering the situation we're in. But the only way we can relieve this situation is by getting all our facts in order and the best way to do that is through a nice calm chat." He turned to Ichigo. "Right?"
Ichigo stared at Kisuke, his face still tense with anger and annoyance but after a few seconds, he sighed and nodded, backing away slightly.
Kisuke flashed a small grin and turned to Loomis. "Now, Dr. Loomis, I'm sure it must be confusing, being in a completely different country with that star inmate of yours still running around."
Loomis's narrowed his brows. "Was that supposed to be some sort of joke?"
"Heh," Kisuke rubbed the back of his neck. "I was never one for comedy." He lowered his hand as his eyes and voice turned serious. "But the fact remains, Michael Myers is here in Karakura Town and has already taken life. Furthermore, we have reason to believe that he possesses supernatural abilities given the reports of his invulnerability and we may even have a theory regarding the origin of those abilities that we'd be happy to share-
"You mean the Fullbring right?" Loomis interrupted. "A power born from those monsters you people call Hollows."
Everyone looked at Dr. Loomis in shock with Kisuke chuckling coyly as he fixed his hat. "Well well well, I guess you know more than we thought. I do apologize. Most normal humans have no idea of the existence of Hollows or Shinigami so-
Kisuke was interrupted again, this time by Loomis raising his hand. "Don't be. As a man raised on facts and science all his life, I found it hard pressed to believe in such things. But when I found those documents at Smith's grove, and after everything I had witnessed, all that I saw Michael do and live through, I knew I couldn't deny it."
"Deny what?" Rukia asked.
"The terrifying truth behind Michael's powers. What you call his Fullbring." Loomis whimpered. "The reason he won't die. The truest essence of his evil!" He swallowed, clearly trapped in the icy grip of fear. Tears welled in his eyes and as he opened his mouth, the words refused to come out at first. When they did, they trembled out in a hushed, droning voice. "The Heart of Darkness."
"Shit!" Tatsuki thought as she ran toward the abandoned buildings of the Suika district. "Dammit Keigo! You better not die on me or I'll kill you myself!"
"Tatsuki! Wait up!" Chizuru shouted as she and Mizuiro ran after her. They had both received her distress call detailing what she had heard from Keigo's walkie-talkie before it went dead silent. Mizuiro couldn't help but assume the worst and even now, his mind raced with a million questions. Chizuru felt the same, part of her wanting to turn back for help instead. The three students reached the two buildings their friend stood before not too long ago. The dog's corpse was still there and stopped the trio in their tracts.
"Oh shit!" Tatsuki whispered. "Is that...a dog?"
"Looks like someone hacked the poor thing into pieces," Mizuiro added. "And I think I know who."
Tatsuki stared at the dog's corpse for a few moments before growling and heading into the alleyway.
"Tatsuki wait!" Chizuru screamed.
"Keigo!" Tatsuki shouted as she emerged from the other side. "Keigo! Where are you?"
"Tatsuki, keep it down!" Mizuiro begged. "You'll lead you-know-who straight to us!"
Tatsuki grunted as she realized Mizuiro was right and scanned the area for any clues into Keigo's whereabouts. By now, only the top of the Sun could be seen from the ground. The sky was mostly black with the stars far too distant to provide any real light. Tatsuki mentally cursed herself for failing to bring a flashlight. That's when she remembered her phone. With a quiet gasp, she pulled it out of her pocket and turned the flashlight on. It was small and pitiful against the overwhelming darkness but at least she could see the ground in front of her...
...as well as the trail of blood leading down the pathway.
"Oh no," She breathed as Mizuiro and Chizuru stood next to her. "Is...Is that blood?" The former asked.
'M-Maybe it's from the dog," Chizuru whimpered. "Yeah! It has to be from the dog!"
"Only one way to find out," Tatsuki replied as she started following the blood trail. Mizuiro and Chizuru were left in the dark to stare at each other fearfully before reluctantly following their friend. The trio continued to follow the trail as it led down yet another alleyway to their collective left. Upon emerging from that alley, the trail crept to a stop, the red droplets vanishing into a dark red pool seeping from against the side of a building. Tatsuki froze on the spot, her body trembling as the rancid smell of blood hit her nostrils. Her friends were under the same spell, their eyes transfixed on the red spot before them. Summoning all the will she had, Tatsuki forced her hand upward to illuminate the wall above the pool of blood. First, she saw the feet, one foot missing the sneaker it had been clad in hours earlier. As the light continued its upsending crawl, it revealed a pair of legs clad in bloody and torn jeans and a torso with a huge gash across the stomach. Both of the arms were splayed out, each hand pinned to the building by a huge blade. Finally, the light from Tatsuki's cellphone finished it's morbid journey with the reveal of the head, slumped down with blood dripping from the bridge of the nose like water from a shower head.
It was Keigo.
"N...No way..." Tatsuki whispered through trembling lips. Her knees threatened to give in and the back of her throat went dry. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It had to be a nightmare, some horrendous vision born from her own fear and nothing more. It had to be. But as she heard Mizuiro whimper and Chizuru scream behind her, cold hard logic began to seep into her mind, fighting viscously against her denial and winning. "N...No! This isn't right!" Tatsuki thought as she took a step towards the body, her hand shakily reaching for the body. "This has to be some mistake right? There's no way it's Keigo. There's no way!"
She slowly lifted the head up and found herself staring into a horizontal gash running through Keigo's eyes. This time, all three teens screamed with Tatsuki stepping back.
"No! Keigo!" She cried.
"Oh God!" Chizuru whimpered.
"We have to call Ichigo, now!" Mizuiro shouted.
Tatsuki started dialing Ichigo's number as she turned to face her friends. "I'm calling him right now! I'm-
She froze, cutting off her own sentence as she saw the towering man in a white mask standing behind a frightened Mizuiro. Tatsuki could barely utter a syllable of warning before the sharp end of a knife erupted from the inside of Mizuiro's neck. The resulting blood splattered on both Tatsuki and Chizuru, causing the latter to scream in hysterics as she tried to wipe the warm liquid off of her glasses. Mizuiro opened his mouth to say something but only a choked croak and a trickle of blood came out, his eyes wide and darkening.
"No," Tatsuki whimpered. For just the briefest moment, her grief and fear gave way to unbridled rage, tensing up her body as she clenched her teeth and fist. "No!" She screamed as she ran toward the monster draining the life from her friend. "Get away from him!"
The man she knew to be Michael Myers turned his hollow gaze toward her and lifted Mizuiro up with the knife, producing another horrid croaking noise from the boy. He launched his knife and the teen it was currently impaling at the charging Tatsuki, knocking her to the ground. Her phone flew out of her hands and landed just out of reach. She groaned as she struggled against the weight on top of her. "Mizuiro! Get off!" She pleaded. "He's gonna kill us!...Mizuiro?" Tatsuki picked Mizuiro's head up in the same manner she had picked up Keigo's and just like with Keigo, she found herself staring into the eyes of a dead man. Mizuiro was gone.
"Mizuiro...no..." Tatsuki mewled, tears flowing from her eyes.
"Tatsuki!" Chizuru called out as she held a hand toward the air. The blood on her glasses had left behind a red tint on each lens which, combined with the encroaching darkness of the night, made it damn near impossible for the young girl to see. The most she could make out was a shape lumbering toward her. "Tatsuki?" She asked with both arms outstretched toward the shape. "Is that you? Say something! Sa-
Chizuru suddenly felt two heavy hands clasp around her throat and pull her up. She panicked as her feet lost contact with the ground and thrashed about violently, kicking into Michael's stomach as hard as she could. "Let...go..." She wheezed through her squished throat. She started swiping and clawing at Michael's mask in a desperate attempt to escape. If the madman felt any pain from her scratches and kicks, he did not show it. Instead, he simply held her over him and squeezed on her neck even tighter. This in turn, caused Chizuru to move even more violently, losing a shoe and her useless glasses in the struggle.
"Chizuru!" Tatsuki summoned all her strength and pushed Mizuiro's body off her. She jumped to her feet and rushed at Michael once again. "Leave her alone, you bastard!" She screamed as she jumped in the air and slammed her foot into Michael's temple. The masked killer wobbled for a moment, his momentum thrown off temporarily. He relaxed his grip on Chizuru, allowing her to bite his hand and force him to let go completely. She fell to the ground with a thud as Michael stumbled away, allowing Tatsuki to run up to her friend. "Chizuru! Chizuru! Are you alright?"
Chizuru tried to respond but as with Mizuiro before, only a trickle of blood left her mouth. Her neck was horribly bruised and all attempts the girl made to speak came out in garbled croaks.
"Chizuru," Tatsuki fought the urge to cry as she grabbed her friend's arm and draped it over her back. She looked around for Michael Myers but the killer seemed to have vanished back into the darkness. "We need to call Ichigo and the others. Orihime can fix this! Maybe she can even save the boys." Tatsuki turned toward where her phone laid abandoned and took a step toward it. I have to-
And then Michael appeared over the phone, emerging from the shadows like a specter. He slammed his foot down on the phone, crushing it beyond repair.
"No!" Tatsuki turned away, determined to take her remaining friend to safety. "Come on, Chizuru! We have to hurry!"
Chizuru opened her mouth but more blood trickled out so she closed it again and settled for nodding in agreement. Tatsuki fixed Chizuru over her back, draping her arms over her breast. "Hang on!" She took off as fast as she could, not daring to look back at Michael who remained in place until Tatsuki turned the corner at the end of the alleyway. Once she was out of his sight, Michael started walking.
The chase had begun.
...
Tatsuki wasn't sure of just how far she had run. She stopped keeping track after she had left the Suika District and made it back into the populated streets. Only as she ran down them, Chizuru gasping for air on her back, she found not a single soul to reach out to for help. Everywhere she looked, she saw nothing but closed shops and empty sidewalks. She even had yet to see a single car moving down the street.
"Dammit!" She thought. "Why? Why did this happen?" Tears streamed down her cheeks, flying off into the night air as she ran. "This is all my fault! I just wanted to help Ichigo and the others. Show them that we could protect this town as well! But we were way over our heads! That man...no...that monster was too much to handle. We shouldn't have gone in as blind as we were! How stupid can we be!?" Tatsuki choked up. "No, how stupid can I be! This was my idea in the first place and now Keigo and Mizuiro are..." She fought against the memory of her friend's lifeless bodies that she was forced to leave back with Michael. They were still burned in her mind, she could still feel the heaviness of Keigo's head as she lifted it up and the cold look of death in Mizuiro's eyes as his life drained from him.
Tatsuki was freed from her mental torment by another sound slamming against her ear. The sound of revolting coughing. She felt warm blood splatter on her wrist and realized what was happening. "No! No! No! Chizuru!" She forced herself to stop and scanned the area for somewhere they could rest. She spotted a small alleyway and rushed into it. Once out of sight of any potential pursuers, she kneeled down and laid Chizuru against the wall, gasping with pain as she saw the lifeless look in her sightless eyes. It was almost the same as Mizuiro's.
"Chizuru no!" Tatsuki cried as she grabbed her friend's shoulder. "No don't die!" Chizuru turned to Tatsuki, giving her a small glimmer of hope. "It'll be okay! We'll find Ichigo! We'll find the others and they'll destroy that monster! An-And Orihime will heal you too! You don't have to worry about anything so just don't give up!"
Chizuru opened her mouth but said nothing. She could hardly say anything with her crushed larynx. Quite a shame too for she wanted to tease Tatsuki about having felt her boobs as they ran through the streets. But as she felt her life leave her body, she figured she would have to be content with a smile. "I sure hope I go to Soul Society after this," She thought. "I want to tease Tatsuki...I want to tell her...so much...like...
"Thank you."
Somehow, possibly through sheer force of will, Chizuru was able to croak out those last, barely audible words through her crushed throat. Then she turned and let out a final, almost relaxed sounding sigh. And then, she was gone.
"Chizuru..." Tatsuki whispered, deathly silence all that surrounded her now that Chizuru's labored breathing had ceased. "No...NO!" Tatsuki grabbed Chizuru's shoulders again and rocked her back and forth violently. "Chizuru wake up! Wake up dammit! Chizuru!" Tatsuki broke down into a sob as she buried her head into her deceased friend's neck. She didn't bother trying to mentally write it off as a dream this time. There was no point. It was real. All of it. All three of her friends are dead at the hands of that monster.
She felt another drop of liquid fall on the back of her neck, this one freezing cold. She slowly looked up to the sky as more rain drops fell all around her. Some fell on her face and intermingled with her tears. "Why?" She thought. "Why them? After everything we survived, only for this to happen. Why!?"
And then she felt it. The paralyzing yet familiar presence of a predator looming over her in the dark. She lowered her gaze to her right and saw nothing but blackness and falling raindrops. She remained perfectly still, too overcome with fear and exhaustion to move, the weight of Chizuru's lifeless body leaning into her. As her eyes adjusted to the inky blackness, a shape began to form.
The shape of a white expressionless mask.
"No..."
Michael stepped closer, his entire body bleeding from the shadows like liquid.
"No."
He raised his knife over Tatsuki, the blade glistening in the dark.
"No!" Tatsuki raised her arm over herself just as Michael swung his knife down. She cried in agony as the blade sliced into her flesh and hit the bone. Fighting through her pain with clenched teeth, she slid out from under Chizuru's body and delivered a sharp kick into Michael's crotch. The masked murderer backed away, pulling the knife out of Tatsuki's arm as he moved. She cried out again and jumped to her feet. She gripped her arm just above the wound, staring with horror as blood leaked from three different places. It was a deep wound, one that was sure to slow her down. Nonetheless, with no other options, Tatsuki turned around and ran. She only got a few feet before noticing the dead end standing in her way. "Fuck!"
By then, Michael had recovered from her little kick and was gunning for her, bloody knife raised over him. Tatsuki pressed herself against the wall, her eyes darting for a weapon or an escape route. She found both fairly quickly, the weapon in the form of a lone pipe lying next to her left and a fire escape at her right. With an angry shout, she lunged for the pipe, narrowly dodging Michael's swipe. The tip of the blade cut her forehead but she paid it no mind as she grabbed the pipe and swung it into Michael's side.
He made no grunt of pain but did fall to his left knee and held it, indicating to Tatsuki that it hurt. That was all she needed to began wailing on him with the pipe, screaming at the top of her lungs as she slammed the metal into him. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" She cried over and over again, aiming for his head. The pipe, weakened from decades of exposure as it was, broke apart on his skull. One half rolled to the other wall leaving Tatsuki panting with the other half still in her hands. Michael was still and bleeding from his head, appearing to be all but dead.
But Tatsuki knew better.
"Shit!" She dropped the broken pipe and headed for the fire escape, climbing it as fast as she could. The rain made this quite a difficult task, not only by falling directly into Tatsuki's eyes as she tried to look up but making the rungs slippery. Halfway up the ladder, she lost her grip and fell to the bottom, catching herself on the fourth rung, her feet an inch above the ground. "Dammit!"
That's when she heard the sound of cloth rubbing against cement. She turned around and gasped as she saw Michael slowly but surely getting up. An single eye was visible from the shadows beneath his mask and it betrayed complete and utter rage.
"Oh fuck!" Tatsuki began climbing the ladder again, twice as quickly as before. She gripped each rung as hard and as tight as she could, constantly blinking to keep the rain out of her eyes. She screamed as she felt Michael's hand grab onto her left ankle and yank, pulling her down a rung. "No! Let me go!" She violently trashed her feet in an attempt to shake Michael loose. She felt her foot hit his head and repeated the action again and again. Then she felt the sharp pain of his knife stabbing into her right ankle. "Dammit! Let go!" With one final forceful kick, Tatsuki finally forced Michael back once more. As he moved, his hand pulled the shoe off her foot. She continued frantically climbing the ladder, ignoring the horrid sensation of her exposed sock as it quickly became drenched by the rain.
At last, she made it to the roof, she involuntary somersaulted as she let go of the ladder. She wanted to rest, if even for a few seconds but she knew she couldn't. She knew that monster could climb the ladder as well, maybe even with more ease than she had and that she was too exhausted and hurt to defend herself. She needed to pull the ladder up. She flipped herself over and crawled over the the side of the building, her hands feeling for the mechanisms that would allow her to pull the ladder up. As she searched for them, however, she noticed the alleyway down below.
Michael was gone. Only a running puddle of blood remained where he stood.
"What..." Tatsuki was shaking now. "W-Where'd he go?" Hesitantly, she got to her feet, her eyes still transfixed on the bloody mess washing out in the rain. Fear spread throughout her body like a viral infection and as she slowly got back to her feet, her body continued to tremble. Her lips were quivering and her pupils faint. Unsure of what else to do, she turned around slowly...
..only for her throat to be grabbed by the masked assailant standing right in front of her.
"Gah!" Tatsuki gasped as Michael lifted her up by the neck with a single hand and started walking toward the edge. It was clear to the high schooler that he intended to drop her and she slammed her foot into his face in response. Michael backed up a bit but it was not enough to keep him from continuing his march toward the edge. Tatsuki tried to yell in defiance but with Michael's hand clasped around her throat, speaking was impossible. All she could do was kick and punch at the monster that had taken her friends and was now looking to finish her off. After a few seconds of blind swipes and kicks, Tatsuki locked her fingers together and slammed Michael down on the head as hard as she could. She felt the bones in her hands crack but it worked as Michael let her go, mere inches from the edge.
"Bastard!" She cried out as she kicked him once again in the stomach and a third time in the face. Michael fell on his back with the last kick and Tatsuki ran away. The rain had made the roof they were standing on slippery however and she fell face-first near the edge facing the street. She tried to get up, only to feel a heavy foot slam on her back and force her back down. "How? How is he recovering so fast?" She thought as she gasped for air, his heel digging into her tailbone. "Get off!" She shouted as she violently trashed about in a attempt to free herself. "Get off!"
Thanks to the rain, Michael's footing was just as poor as Tatsuki's and he slipped on his other foot due to her rapid movement. Tatsuki struggled to get up as her entire lower back was roaring in pain. She briefly wondered if she would even be able to stand up in the first place and breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her foot plant itself on the ground. By this time, however, Michael was also getting back up, somehow picking his entire upper body up without any help from his arms. He and Tatsuki completely picked themselves up at the same time and stared into each other's eyes.
"Why?" Tatsuki asked. "You're not a Hollow! You're not gaining anything from killing innocent people so why!?" She teared up again. "Why my friends?"
Michael's only response was a head tilt.
Tatsuki growled as she clenched her fist. "You son of a bitch!" She aimed for Michael's throat, hoping to get him to back off once more so she could slip through back toward the fire escape. But this would not come to pass for in that one brief moment, Michael grabbed her wrist and stopped her attack.
It was a fast movement, faster than any that Tatsuki had seen him make before. She could hardly even register what had just happened until he sliced through her wrist with his knife. The resulting blood splatter on both of their faces and clothes yet neither flinched. The hand, still clenched in a fist, fell behind Michael, hitting the roof a few times before finally coming to rest. Then and only then did Michael let go of Tatsuki's arm.
"Gh..." Tatsuki brought the stump closer to her face, the awful reality of what had just happened finally dawning on her. With little choice for otherwise, Tatsuki screamed like a banshee, wreaking havoc on her already damaged throat. She gripped below the bloody stump where hand once rested and squeezed, desperate to keep the blood from freely flowing out of her body. She backed away, stopping once she remembered that she was in fact near the edge of the building.
Michael took a step forward, his bloody knife raised. Before Tatsuki could react, he sliced at her left eye, cutting it open and painting half of her vision red while also Forcing her back. "Noooo!" She screamed as she lost her footing and fell from the roof. Michael waited in silence to hear the sickening splat of her body hitting the pavement, of yet another young victim losing their life to his evil.
But there was none. The only sounds he could hear was his own breathing and the rain falling around him.
Confused, he walked toward the edge and leaned over, expecting to see Tatsuki's body crushed against the road or perhaps her even clinging onto the building and to her life for all the good it'd do her. Instead, he saw the broken and bloody girl in the arms of an older woman, her purple and white shirt stained with red and her umbrella tossed to the side.
"Holy shit, kid!" She screamed at the limp Tatsuki. "You look like you've been put through a meat grinder! What happened?" Then, as if noticing his staring at her, the woman turned toward Michael. The two maintained eye contact as Michael dwelt on what to do. Deciding he had had enough fun for tonight and didn't want to risk attracting too much trouble, he simply turned away as the woman called out to him.
"Hey! Get back here!" The woman, named Ikumi Unagiya, heard footsteps approaching and turned to see a businessman rushing toward her. "Oh my goodness!" He shouted. "What on earth happened here? Did that girl throw herself off the building?"
"No," Ikumi shook her head. "I think she was thrown." She handed Tatsuki to the man who helped to lay her down on the ground. "I'm going after the culprit. You call the police!"
"What!?" The man seemed shocked but started nodding. "R-Right! She pulled out his phone with Tatsuki's head in his lap. He felt her head moved and looked down to she her looking up at him weakly. "Don't worry!" He said. "You're going to be alright! We're getting you help right now."
Tatsuki didn't bother trying to say anything. She could feel her consciousness slipping away and had no idea if she would ever wake up again. As her mind went blank, her thoughts gravitated toward a certain orange-haired Shinigami. "Ichigo, I'm sorry."
Meanwhile Ikumi was running down the alleyway when she spotted Chizuru's body laying before her. "Shit!" She rushed up to it and shook the girl by the shoulders, only to stop once she realized how cold they were. "No, I'm too late! Fuck!" Ikumi then noticed the broken pipe and the fire escape. She climbed up without much trouble thanks to her work gloves. Once she reached the roof, however, all she found was more blood in the process of being washed away by the rain and a severed hand, no doubt belonging to the girl. The man in the mask responsible for this tragedy was no where to be seen.
"Dammit!" Ikumi cursed. "Somehow he got away," She looked back out into the street where now other people were showing up, attracted by the commotion. "Well, it doesn't matter right now. The number one priority should be getting that girl help and seeing if we can find any more survivors." As she began her climb down, however, Ikumi knew deep in her heart that there were no other survivors.
Whatever happened tonight in the shadows of Karakura Town tonight, that girl was the only survivor.
"I first met him 15 years ago. I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding in even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, of right or wrong." Dr. Loomis paused for a moment, swallowing nothing before continuing. "I met this...six-year old child with this blank, pale emotionless face...and the blackest eyes...The Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply...evil."
"With everything he's done, he certainly fits the bill." Ichigo replied quietly.
"Surely, there had to be a reason for this madness." Uryu said. "Even the most psychotic killers have some sort of motive."
"Not Michael," Loomis said. "For Michael, evil in of itself was the motive. The desire to hurt, to destroy, to terrify. That is all that drives Michael. And for many years, I thought it was the reason for his indestructability. The reason that, no matter what happened, he would always come back to take more life! Even as I prayed every night that he would burn in Hell, I knew that Hell would not have him!" Loomis started shaking, his eyes cloudy with sadness and fatigue. "I never realized just how right I was."
"You're talking about his Fullbring right?" Kisuke asked. "His Heart of Darkness?"
Loomis nodded listlessly.
"When did you find out about it?" Rukia asked.
"That fateful night at Smith's Grove when the Cult of Thorn was preparing their ritual." Loomis explained. "They were to pass on Michael's curse to the next generation in order to prepare a new era of pointless bloodshed." He tensed his fist and shook violently. "Those damn fools! They didn't know! They didn't realize that their twisted believes were based on a pack of lies!"
"Easy old man," Sado spoke up. "You might be dead but you still shouldn't get all worked up like that."
"Chad's right," Orihime agreed. "Just take it nice and slow."
Loomis, realizing the young girl was right, took a few minutes to compose himself before continuing. "I...I remember being knocked out while talking to Dr. Wynn. When I came too, I realized I had been left in the office with the door locked. It would have appeared as if Wynn was satisfied with keeping me alive as long as I couldn't interfere with his plans. I must have banged on that door for several minutes before my fist ached and I had to sit down, rest a little and hope that Tommy and his friends would come to find me soon. As I sat at Wynn's desk, I noticed a strange folder sticking out from one of the cabinets. It was orange and as I pulled it out, I saw that it had the Thorn symbol painted in blood on it. I figured that the papers inside must have information related to Michael's curse, maybe even a way to stop him. So I looked through it."
"What did you find?" Ichigo asked. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
Loomis's face darkened again. "In a way, I suppose you could say I did." Another pause to collect himself. "I found the truth."
"You mean about the so-called Curse of Thorn right?" Rukia asked.
"And of Michael and his evil!" Loomis added. "I found the truth about the Fullbringers, the Shinigami and the Hollows!"
Riruka tensed up a little. Even as he was restrained to a circle she still didn't feel any more comfortable around the old man. She felt light-headed.
"Must have been a real shock, huh old man?" Ichigo asked.
Loomis nodded. "You'd have to forgive me for being reluctant to accept what I was reading as fact. After all, I was a man of science and mental health being asked to believe in tales of corrupted souls and otherworldly beings granting them salvation. But the more I read, the more I realized how it all fit into the grand scheme of things, the less I was able to deny it. Especially when it came to the Fullbringers, the humans empowered by these Hollows. It would seem that the Cult of Thorn was founded by an ancient Fullbringer centuries ago. One with powers similar to Michael's."
"Hence why he played such a heavy role into their plan." Rukia guessed. "They must have thought Michael was a reincarnation of some kind."
"They thought that his invulnerability and his drive to kill all that he saw were because of the Curse," Loomis confirmed. "Something that could be passed down to someone else. The damn fools." He shook his head. "Only Wynn seemed to know the truth about Fullbringers and even he seemed to worship Michael religiously, incorporating the origin of his supernatural abilities into the core beliefs of the cult."
"But what about the Heart of Darkness?" Uryu asked. "Surely you discovered it through the pages on that folder right?"
Loomis nodded. "It was buried underneath all the other notes, hand written by Wynn himself. It was him who discovered it you see, the true nature and power of Michael's Fullbring. How exactly he did it, I do not know nor care to. All I know is that reading that final page shook me to my core, granted me answers to questions I never dared ask." Even as he spoke, Loomis shook violently. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, ready to weep bitterly at the memory of that horrible night. It was Sado who walked up to him and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Take your time old man." He said. "Don't rush yourself."
Although no one else verbally backed up Sado's quiet demands, no one spoke against them either. It was clearly painful for the old man's spirit to have to relive the final night of his life this way and as necessary as it was to finally uncover Michael's secrets, it didn't make the guilt Ichigo and his friends feel inside any less heavy.
After a couple of minutes, Loomis seemed to calm down and with a grateful smile, lightly patted Sado on the arm. "Thank you, boy." Sado only smiled before returning to his spot. Loomis cleared his throat and continued. "I always knew Michael was pure evil. Even without that damn Fullbring, he'd be the walking manifestation of evil. In fact, I think only a truly evil person could ever get any use out of such a terrible power."
"What does the Heart of Darkness do?" Ichigo asked. "And for that matter, what exactly is it? I mean, all Fullbring abilities are tied to an item important to the user. What could be that important to someone like Michael?"
Loomis shook his head sadly. "Nothing but himself if only so he could continue to kill. His body, his mind and his heart." Loomis looked up gravely to Ichigo. "The Heart of Darkness is Michael's actual heart, pumping evil through his body like a black infection."
"His...heart?" Ichigo repeated quietly. Part of him was ready to rebuke such a statement until he remembered that Sado's Fullbring consisted of the skin on his arms. If something like that could constitute a Fullbring...
"As for it's power, well it's a little hard to explain." Loomis continued. "The best way I could put it is that it manipulates the souls of objects around it to bend circumstances into Michael's favor."
"What do you mean?" Orihime asked.
"Well as I mentioned before, the closest thing to love Michael feels toward anyone is the desire to protect himself. He doesn't want to die, not because he's afraid of dying but because doing so would mean he couldn't kill anymore. Thus, the Heart of Darkness made Michael semi-immortal, allowing him to survive what would have killed any ordinary human."
"Such as getting shot six times out of a window?" Uryu added.
Loomis nodded. "Of course, the Heart of Darkness, at least at that point in time, wasn't perfect. There was a limit to how much Michael could endure, how much he could be damaged and still carry on. When I set him ablaze later that night at the hospital, he was put into a comatose state where he spent the next ten years."
"Wait, what do you mean by that point in time?" Ichigo asked. "Are you saying the Heart of Darkness got stronger?"
"The Heart of Darkness is an ever-evolving evil, still growing in power even as Michael laid comatose for all those years," Loomis explained. "And more than ready to cater to his unholy desires once he finally recovered."
"What desires?" Sado asked.
"Kin slaying." Loomis answered gruffy. "More than anything, Michael wanted to kill his sister, Laurie Strode. But she had passed away in the ten years he laid dormant. Car accident. I...I attended the funeral myself." Loomis cleared his throat again. "The Heart of Darkness was still limited at that time so all Michael could was settle for the closet thing to his sister."
"I presume you mean Jamie Lloyd." Kisuke spoke. Not asked. Spoke.
"Yes," Loomis's eyes watered and his lips trembled. "Oh that poor little girl. Even now, I can still hear her cries for her older adoptive sister and her screams of terror when her own uncle tried to kill her. Never once in the two years that I knew her did I ever see any kind of hope in that child's eyes."
Ichigo dug his fingers into his knees without even realizing it. "First his older sister, than his younger sister and then his niece!" He thought. "This bastard keep preying on his own family! Who...Who could do such a thing?" Both Rukia and Orihime noticed Ichigo's inner turmoil and each placed a hand on his shoulders to calm him down, Orihime's reaching his first.
"I still remember when she and Michael were declared missing after that police station massacre." Loomis continued. "Even though they had been shot to death, I still firmly believed that Michael was solely responsible for the deaths of those policemen and Jamie's disappearance. I felt as if I had failed that little girl and although I did my best to move on, even once I entered retirement, my thoughts always seemed to drift back to Jamie" Loomis let out a long, regretful sigh. "Which made the discovery of her body at a farmhouse all the more tragic."
Orihime covered her mouth with a whimper as everyone's eyes fell downcast. There wasn't a single soul in the room that didn't feel sorrow for the fear-filled life of Jamie Lloyd, a girl whose existence seemed to have been all but forgotten by the World of the Living.
"That's when Tommy Doyle approached you with her baby," Uryu spoke up. "When you got involved with the Cult of Thorn."
"Leading us right back to reading those notes in Wynn's office." Loomis confirmed. "We've come full circle."
"But there's more to the story isn't there," Kisuke spoke up next. "After all, as sad as Jamie's story is, a lot of the more recent news articles completely ignore her existence as well as that of the Cult's or Michael's activities in Haddonfield." His eyes darkened. "The Heart of Darkness has something to do with that, doesn't it?"
Loomis turned to Kisuke, his eyes betraying an earnest reluctance to continue. After a few seconds, however, he sighed and nodded. "As I mentioned before, the main target for Michael's evil was and always had been Laurie Strode. That never changed even when she died. Jamie was nothing more than a replacement and a temporary one at that."
"Temporary? What do you mean by that?" Ichigo growled.
"As I mentioned before, the Heart of Darkness works on behalf of Michael's subconscious desires by affecting the souls of surrounding objects. The ground, the air, even the water of a dark and lonely pond could be affected. I also mentioned that it was a power that grew stronger over time, not even slowed by Michael being rendered comatose." Loomis slowly turned back to Ichigo. "Once one accepts the existence of beings such as Hollows and Fullbringers, is it not fair to assume that such an power as the Heart of Darkness could eventually control the soul of time itself?"
"Time itself?" Ichigo shuddered as the full implications of Loomis's words dawned on him. "Wait a minute, old man! You're not saying-
"The Heart of Darkness has the ability to control time itself," Loomis stated bluntly. "And Michael used that ability to bring his sister Laurie back from the dead so he could kill her himself!"
Everyone gasped at the revelation, with Orihime beginning to shake. Rukia noticed and hugged her.
"This is insane!" Uryu refuted. "Surely there must be some mistake. It is true that a Fullbringer's powers rely heavily on the souls of objects and places but to suggest that a concept such as time has a soul? Have you gone mad?"
"No he's right!" All eyes fell to Riruka as she spoke up. "It's rare but certain Fullbrings can utilize time!" She looked down with a mournful expression on her face. "Giriko's did.
Uryu stiffened as he remembered the eyepatch-wearing Fullbringer, the one who could set perimeters enforced by the so called "God of Time" He sucked his lips, hating himself for forgetting all about it. "I'm sorry, Riruka."
"It's ok. I understand," Riruka replied without looking up. Her headache was getting worse. "After all it's one thing to use the power of time but to actually control it? Can one even use such an ability?"
"Not perfectly," Loomis said. "As you all could tell from the conflicting news articles, it wasn't as cut and dry a process as simply bringing Laurie back from the grave. The Heart of Darkness had to undo her death itself and give her a life to fill up those 20 years since Michael had last seen her. And given the process explained in that notebook, I would imagine that it was only possible because Laurie's soul still lingered in the World of the Living."
"But what about Michael's other victims?" Rukia asked. "The ones that had already entered Soul Society?"
"As far as I know, only the World of the Living was affected," Loomis said. "Any soul that had already crossed over should be safe although I imagine their memories are quite foggy. As for the ones still lingering like Laurie's..." Loomis trailed off, his licking his dry lips with a profound sadness reflected in his eyes. "I'm afraid I simply do not know."
Silence fell over the entire room and continued to reign for several minutes. No one wanted to think of the fate of those souls who had failed to cross over into Soul Society before the Heart of Darkness activated its powers. Once the silence was broken, it was by Uryu's voice. "What did you do next?"
"Well I tried to stop it, of course!" Loomis shouted suddenly. "There was a...another page next to the one concerning the Heart of Darkness, one discussing a forbidden technique for sealing a Fullbringer's powers."
Ichigo gasped. "Sealing a Fullbringer's powers? Is such a thing even possible?"
"Not without great sacrifice it seems," Loomis replied. "It was called a Soul Shell Encasement Ritual and required the sacrifice of ten human souls to perform perfectly. I think Dr. Wynn kept it to keep Michael's power in line in case he couldn't control it anymore, not that it did him any good in the end." Loomis paused as a mournful look appeared on his face, perhaps lamenting his old partner's fate? Then he shook his head and continued. "Eventually, Tommy and the others managed to defeat the Cult and set me free. He said he had defeated Michael as well but I knew better. Even without those notes, I would have known better. I volunteered to stay behind so I could find Michael. So I could seal the Heart of Darkness and end this nightmare once and for all. I must have searched the corridors of that damned sanitarium for hours, stepping over the bodies of the cult members whose beliefs had betrayed them. At some point, I ended up in the operating room were Michael had...dismembered Wynn and his minions."
Riruka stiffened at those words.
"By the time I found Michael," Loomis continued. "I could already feel something happening. Not just in the air or on the ground but just...happening all around me. It felt wrong as if I was in a photograph being burned to cinders. I found Michael standing in a corner in the deepest level of the sanitarium, maskless and bleeding red and green all over. I noticed one of his knifes and, remembering the ritual detailed in Wynn's notes, I removed my gloves and carved the Mark of Thorn into each of my palms. The sound of my pained grunting caught Michael's attention and marched toward me, his dark eyes no different than when they were underneath the mask. I began to chant the words as I held my hands away from myself. I can still feel the blood dripping from my palms as Michael's grabbed me by the throat and started to squeeze."
Orihime gasped. "Y-You don't have to go over that part of the story." She whimpered.
"But I do, child." Loomis said gravely. "I do because that's when I experienced it first hand. The Heart of Darkness at work. I could feel it's power emanating from Michael's very soul like the stench from a roadside carcass! I could feel it's cold embrace seeking to engulf everything around it! I could hear the deafening silence it's user wished to inflict upon the world and upon every mortal soul! I felt it call to me, wanting to devour me as it had so many of Michael's past victims!" The could feel time itself splitting apart! Oh and he knew! Michael knew what power he held at last! He knew the pain he was causing and enjoyed it, embraced it like the shadow of death over my life!" Loomis sank back down, panting heavily. Ichigo considered briefly how a ghost could get winded but he quickly squashed it. Right now, that didn't matter.
"You alright, old man?"
"I'm fine!" Loomis replied quickly as he fought to collect himself. "I just...never thought I have to revisit that memory again."
Guilt ensnared Riruka's heart like a vine.
"What happened next?" Sado asked.
"As I mentioned, I was already starting the chant before Michael could break my neck. The drive to vanquish the evil helped my soul to continue the chant even as it left the body and I was bombarded by the horrors of the Heart of Darkness. It felt like forever but eventually I felt its power waning as I lost consciousness, my soul forming a seal around that wretched power. My final thought before the ritual was complete was how I hoped it would be enough, preying to whatever deity would listen that the Heart of Darkness's powers would be sealed away forever even with only 1/10th of the full ritual's powers. And for almost 20 years, that seemed to be the case."
"Until we ruined it right?" Riruka spoke up. Her eyes were teary and her lips trembled. "Until me and Yukio messed everything up by trying to destroy Michael. We..." She sobbed quietly. Kisuke placed a hand on her shoulder and, much to everyone's surprise, Loomis scooted up to her and gently grabbed her left hand while the right wiped her tears. "It wasn't completely your doing, child." Loomis said. "As the years went on, I found myself semi-conscience again. I figured that, as weak as the seal was in the first place and with as strong as Heart of Darkness was, it was doomed to break eventually. If anything, you only served to speed up the process."
"But we did speed it up!" Riruka cried. "We brought Michael here! We..We.." She broke into another sob, pulling her hand away from Loomis so she could hold her face. Loomis watched sadly as the girl continued to drown in her guilt until he heard footsteps dashing behind him and turned to see Orihime running toward the pink-haired Fullbringer. Equally teary-eyed, she wrapped her arms around Riruka and held her close. Riruka stiffened but then let herself sink into the hug, burying her face in Orihime's chest. Loomis and Kisuke both smiled at the effort Orihime was making to comfort the guilt-trodden Fullbringer.
"I..I did it..." Riruka sobbed. I brought him here. It's all my fault!"
"You were trying to destroy him," Orihime reminded her. "And on a lesser enemy, it might have worked. You couldn't have known."
"Orihime's right!" Rukia spoke up. "None of us knew about the Heart of Darkness until tonight although now that we do, it's a rather disturbing thought." She turned to the doctor. "Dr. Loomis, now that your soul is no longer acting as the seal, will the Heart of Darkness continue to grow?"
Everyone stiffened, most of all, Dr. Loomis. "I...I'm afraid so." He said. "Now that there's nothing standing in the way and now that Michael is more aware of his ability, it will continue to make up for the years lost. Growing stronger and stronger in power until at last Michael can rewrite the souls of time and space again." Loomis began to shudder. "And this time, it is likely that all three worlds will be affected. This world, the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo! All of reality rewritten by that madman! There's no telling just what he'll do!" Loomis began to babble incoherently, forcing Kisuke and Ichigo to get up and hold him back. As the chaos unfolded, a sudden ringing filled the air, catching everyone off guard. All eyes fell to Uryu as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and accepted the call.
"Hello?" He asked sternly. The voice on the other end was too faint to be understood by anyone other than Uryu but it sounded panicked and saddened. Uryu's expression darkened as it continued to speak, his mouth opening agape as if allowing a tiny gasp to escape.
"Uryu?" Orihime asked. "What's wrong?"
"Yes...I see...I'll be right over." Uryu ended the call and placed the phone back in his pocket. "It's Tatsuki. She and the others were attacked."
Everyone gasped, even Loomis.
"T-Tatsuki?" Ichigo gritted his teeth. "What do you mean attacked? Was it Michael?"
"I don't know." Uryu answered. "It was one of the nurse's at my father's hospital who called just now. She said that Tatsuki had been brought in with serious injuries. Apparently, she and several other students were attacked by the same person."
"Other students!?" Ichigo shouted as images of Keigo and Mizuiro entered his mind. "What about them? Have they found them?"
Uryu tensed up as he looked down. "T-Tatsuki's the only one that survived the attack, Ichigo."
The room went silent. Ichigo became still, unable to process just what he was hearing. Those images of his classmates still danced in his head as before but there was faintness about them as if the idea that they could be dead was enough to poke a hole into them and drain the essence like the fluid in a IV bag. Orihime began to whimper, her hand covering her mouth once again. Riruka switched roles with her and placed a hand on her head even as she began to tear up as well, her guilt tripling in strength. One of Sado's eyes was visible beneath his bangs, wide and just as unaccepting of the situation as Ichigo. Rukia, Kisuke and Loomis were all looking down in sadness, unsure of what to say to their others to comfort them.
"They recognized Tatsuki as one of my classmates and so they called me," Uryu continued. "I'm going to go over there now. Anyone coming?"
"How could you even ask something like that?" Ichigo clenched his fist. "Of course, we're coming!" "He turned to Kisuke. "You still have that flying carpet we rode on after returning to the World of the Living?"
"Flying carpet?" Loomis asked quizzically.
Kisuke blinked for a few moments before realizing what Ichigo had said. "Oh! Yeah! New and improved too! I'll go get it!" He rushed out of the room, his hand pinning his hat to his head as the others began getting up.
"Come on, Riruka." Orihime said as she helped the Fullbringer girl up. "We got to go see Tatsuki!"
"Tatsuki," Riruka breathed, her eyes clouded. "She one of your friends?"
Orihime nodded through her tears as she wiped her nose. "She's one of my best friends! I think you met her once! You'd like her!"
"Yeah..." Riruka suddenly whimpered as she grabbed her head, her headache worse than it ever was before. It was as if someone was pounding on the inside of her skull with a hammer. Orihime noticed at once and held her close.
"Riruka! What's wrong?"
"I..I...I remember now..."
"Huh? Remember?" Orihime tilted her head in confusion. "Remember what?"
"I remember...that night." Riruka turned to Orihime, still wincing in pain. "I remember the night made the vow to kill Michael Myers!"
(Well shit. I guess we're doing a flashback chapter again. No need to fret however for there will still be some linear action. I may revise this chapter a bit in the near future but I think I accomplished what I set out to do so for now, I hope you enjoyed my 30th chapter!)