Music: 'You' - Keaton Henson
Readers be warned: this fanfiction is full of heavy spoilers from the tail-end of Jujutsu Kaisen's second season (the Shibuya Incident). If you are not yet familiar with what happens in that arc, I would bookmark this series to come back to when you have.
General Warnings: SFW, slight fluff, but not much (yet), mostly exposition, at least PG-13 due to graphic depictions of injury/gore
The air was dead silent - an eerie sound during what was supposed to be a busy, bustling subway packed full of excited people in all kinds of costumes for Halloween in Shibuya.
Hundreds of bodies had been strewn about the halls of the underground passages, torn apart by what Himawari could only assume had been a massive attack by a catastrophic swarm of curses.
I've never seen damage this bad before... Himawari frowned, continuing her shuffle forward, jumping slightly when the lights flickered and threatened to cut out and leave her in darkness. Breathe, Hima. Just breathe. Mako and Suzuha must be down here somewhere... maybe they survived.
Himawari gulped, knowing her hope was slim at best. Her two friends had been civilians with no knowledge of curses and the dangers they brought. She knew it was unlikely that they had made it out of the subway, but she felt she had to at least try to find them.
As she walked along to the next platform, she spotted the backend of a train, halted around the corner.
"There!" She gasped, quickening her pace and trying to ease her quivering knees. "Please, please - let them be okay..."
To her dismay, as she rounded the corner, she spotted an even more staggering number of bodies - both human and curse alike, piled haphazardly overtop of each other. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stepped carefully among the carnage, hands shaking as she swiveled her head around her, saying a silent prayer that who-or-whatever was responsible for all this destruction wasn't still nearby.
Whatever's happened here, it's big. Bigger than anything that's happened in my lifetime, anyway. Himawari pulled out her phone to check the last message Mako had sent her - a blurry selfie of she and Suzuha in their costumes in front of the platform sign that read:
'Hurry up, Hima-chan! We need our Scarecrow to complete our set! 3 3 3'
She chuckled to herself. Mako and Suzuha were dressed as the Tin Woman and the Lion from the Wizard of Oz, snuggling up with Mako's yorkie Zun-Zun, donning a tiny Dorothy dog costume, and looking very unamused.
Himawari pulled the sleeves of her Scarecrow costume down her arms a little more as a chill swept through the tunnels. She was briefly reminded of her short time at Jujutsu High.
I'm sure they're already on this. If anyone can sort this mess out, they can. Otherwise, we're all in big trouble...
She stopped when she heard a faint jingling noise of a tiny bell echoing throughout the platform walls. Turning to face the source of the noise, she saw Zun-Zun skittering toward her, covered in blood and dust, the red leather leash still attached to her collar.
"Zun-Zun!" Himawari exclaimed. "Here, girl - come here."
As the puppy trotted closer, trembling in every bone, Himawari let out a cry of shock when she noticed Mako's severed hand attached with a white-knuckled grip to the other end of the leash. Himawari quickly removed the leash, shaking and trying not to scream, pulling Zun-Zun in to her chest.
"It's okay, girl. I'll get you out of here..."
As Himwari rose to her feet, she turned to continue up the stairs when she was stopped dead in her tracks.
On the cold tile floor were two long legs in white, blood-spattered dress pants. A long streak of blood painted the floor around it where the rest of the body should have been.
"Oh my God..." Himawari's stomach turned. Poor bastard...
As she drew nearer, she realized the blood was still somewhat fresh. Whatever had happened, it had only been a few hours ago. She turned her head to scan her surroundings nervously.
"Whatever did all this might still be nearby. I should keep moving."
Before she turned away, her eyes caught a glimpse of a pale forearm, just a few feet away grasping a dull blade wrapped in a familiar white-and-black spotted covering. Her heart sank when she started putting the pieces together.
"Nanami-san..." she looked back down to the carnage that was the remains of her former colleague. "I never knew him that well, but only a true monster could have done this to him. He was no pushover."
Lowering herself to kneel beside his remains, she placed Zun-Zun beside her and gave her a gentle pat on the head. The puppy simply shuffled to lean against her thigh, still trembling in uncertainty. Himawari rolled up her sleeves to her forearms and tied her hair back with a huff, tossing her Scarecrow hat to the side.
"Poor guy." Himwari pulled out her crystal senbon and laid them around the spattered blood pool, holding her hands over Nanami's waist and summoning her cursed energy. I don't know if my time manipulation can undo something this intense... but I have to try. I just hope I'm not too late.
Inch-by-inch, Nanami's body began to come together, but the process was agonizingly slow. By the time she'd repaired up to his neck, it had been nearly three hours. She could feel exhaustion threatening to rip the consciousness from her, but despite her aching limbs and blurring vision, she pressed on.
Come on, Hima... just a little bit more...
Finally, after nearly five hours, the half-burned body of Nanami Kento was pieced together. Himawari clenched her eyes as she pushed as far as she could go, not noticing the remaining hazel eye of her patient flutter open to see the blurry vision of a figure with honey-brown hair. Nanami's eye rolled back to a close once more.
"Now the burns..." Himawari sighed, her body shaking with exhaustion, covered head-to-toe in sweat.
She continued her casting for as long as she could, but her vision began to fail her as she wobbled and fell forward, her forehead resting on top of his chest. Her world went black as she heard Zun-Zun's worried whining near her face before her consciousness failed her at last.
~ To Be Continued...