This is a story of acceptance.
As Katie stared ahead at the horde in front of her, her eyes had changed color from the usual dark blue to a new blood red. It was the oddest thing, for someone like her, who'd been through so much, you'd think it'd rare for them to smile- but here she was. Grinning from ear to ear, however, this smirk wasn't genuine or friendly like she'd give maybe Ace. All teeth exposed out to shine against the purple moon high in the sky, fangs grew out from further down the top row, a maniacal giggle burst out from her open mouth. From this point on, Katie had been enveloped by hatred entirely, without her knowledge and completely as a result of her holding onto this sword- she had shifted her psyche's mental state.
Just as her father before her could do this at will, she had now… turned herself psychotic! The leap she made off the ground embedded a crater in the ground, soaring through the smoke, she branded her Blackened Blade, their monstrous amalgamation of twisted eyes gazing upon her- Moon glared at them all sickeningly. There was no doubt within her mind, though she wasn't herself right now, there was nothing more she thought of. Without question, she would tear them apart, piece by piece… without hesitation!
She slashed right at their stomachs, and with the lengthiness of the blade mixed with the curved nature, it wasn't hard to send their torsos flying with intestines riddling the air, droplets of blood painting the atmosphere, Katie growled hungrily as it all splashed onto her face. Landing onto their innards painting the ground, she stabilized her footing, then raising her sword again- she roared to the crowd,
"WRAOGH!!!" She cried with all her might to the skies above, branding her sword yet again, swinging her sword from the left to the right- yet again, their waists disconnected their torsos… it was as easy as cutting through paper with scissors.
SHING-SQUELCH! More swirled intestines now hovered in mid-air, lungs cut apart soaring past her eyesight, hearts stomped under her very foot, Katie panted now. In total, she had taken out six of these things, including the two that had ambushed Ace easily. It had to have been a joke, right? Someone like her, a novice, cutting apart complete S-Rank monsters with ease that managed to incapacitate Ace?
Even then, she didn't care, she just stood there with her back bent over, gripping her father's sword's handle, bloody fingers dirtying the pale tint- once again, she could never withhold her excitement. More pigs to add to the slaughter, their unnatural growls and snarls entering her ears, as she turned her head, she couldn't help but giggle. This overwhelming intensity for her, yet this immense uneasiness for her victims, THIS WAS HER TRUE ESSENCE!!!
She could feel it wriggling through her skin, the way her heartbeat so intensely increased with such swiftness, had she been so bedridden this entire time? So stupid and insolent she hadn't figured it out from the start… but as she turned her head to see them all running right for her, she knew it, from the way she blinked from her psychotic grin spreading across her lips. Without a shadow of a doubt, as she tightened her grip over the Blackened Blade's white handle, she unleashed her true nature upon these wretched creatures. Absolute Hell.
More carnage, more bodies littered the ground, some sliced to bits, others were torn apart; while some were still being rid of. One being sliced right down the middle, Kate revealed her merciless smirk as she turned her head to the other monster, charging up that ball of erasure energy at her body. Just as the tilted nature of the Blackened Blade cut the beast right down the center for blood to spurt out the wound right into her eyes and dirty her face, Katie spun right around. The ball was just that, a circular sphere building up energy just for an explosive force to detonate behind it, and send the bomb right ahead, but Katie had another idea.
Right now, adrenaline was flowing through every single vein in her body directed right into her brain, she had no idea if this would work at all or she would get erased along with the Blackened Blade. Just then, as the projectile fired off aimed right at her face, her hand tilted the curved katana, so she could effortlessly cut right through the sphere of inter-dimensional erasure energy. She was thrown forward as if on instinct, not only had she sliced the ball in half, leaving an explosion to occur right in front of her face, but she had now been behind the monster she'd stunned… and without even an intention of doing so, she had sliced its head clean off.
Staring at the bloodied tip, she reached for the dress under the leather jacket she donned, cleaning it gradually, once again, those memories played like records. Formerly broken, her mind pieced them together, and as more flew into horde on top of her, she thought back to her father. His true name, lost in time, finally, she could remember as she parted her lips, the red glow faded…
"Now, let's get started… Dad," Katie's words were soft and gentle, she'd never met him, she never even hugged him, and yet she spoke this way.
His name, what a name for someone so righteous, she closed her eyes, more monsters reigned in on her; bearing their fangs at the strongest around. Azazel Karlo… huh? What a name for a righteous man.
More time passed, and while she tried and tried to keep fighting, she could feel it withering away from her bones.
Each new slice, each new punch, the more she threw her arms around, the force weakened. It was more like flailing her limbs at this point; the soreness had reached not only her arms, it had made them numb to anything. Another being came flying right at her, all she could do was use the Blackened Blade's side to block it, however, thanks to her weakened state, it had been too frail to absorb the projectile. It flew right out of her grip, reverting her fingers to ash, she hadn't even the strength to scream, now without her index and middle finger.
As the Blackened Blade fell from her hand, she fell to the ground, breaths ragged, she controlled her breathing, letting her chest fall and rise. Katie mumbled, her hand reaching out to touch the spirit of her father, but as a Crow flew overhead, she was now lying in the bloodied puddles of her destroyed enemies. Powerless? What a joke.
As the world started to become cold and dark, she could feel time stagnate around her as if a never-ending nightmare had ensnared her within its claws- she reached out her hand one final time. As if to reach out to some God, another second passed, the embers of her remaining strength had all but faded, and all she could do was stare ahead, eyes closed, she wandered off to the world of darkness within her mind. Just like that, she had fallen asleep, now able to be taken advantage of by these lowly monsters of the wretched underworld.
But as they were about to sink their rotten claws and fangs into her slumbering peaceful body, all of them vanished. They didn't explode, they didn't get pushed back, they were simply erased from this plane of existence where you needed both a physical and astral body to exist. Wiped away from the Book of Knowledge that held all of life within it, a man with white eyes, a bear, and tied-up hair examined Katie's unconscious body,
"You really are his kid… huh? I guess this makes you my niece-in-law. Nice to meet you, Katie Moon,"
Where had she heard this voice before? The way he'd said her name echoed through the fabric of her dream reality, his face, though she'd never even seen it before; it was there. Right in front of her face, like she'd known him for a while, but as she gasped awake and stared up, the ceiling above was one that she'd never seen before.
The light shining upon her clean face was that of a flat light, something shaped like a rectangle, from the smell, the atmosphere; it all gave off the tint of a hospital. It seemed so familiar yet so unusual, like she'd been here before but not in reality, and as she sat up, she groaned. Turning her head, rubbing the haziness out with the sides of her fists, she groggily stared at his blurry figure. Wearing his all-black outfit for the day, the Instructor laughed happily spotting their awakened new Agent,
"Thank god you're awake!! I thought you actually died!" He enthusiastically cried with another chortle exiting his mouth showing not only his happy grin but letting his teeth shine. There was no mistaking it, this was her father's sister's boyfriend, it seemed,
"Are you… Alexander Amara?" Asked Kate curiously of the older man in front of her, different from how he looked in her father's memories yet immediately recognizable.
The Instructor couldn't help but grin, the same childish one full of hope he had in the future, he nodded his head up and down. Alexander Amara had been cast into the New World, but Kate couldn't help but shake her head at it, rubbing her temples. Further down the road as her uncle reincarnated the Multiverse into the New World, Azazel was watching, and surely enough, none of those other spirits from the Old World retained their knowledge of their past lives. So, she had to ask,
"How… are you here?" Questioned Moon of her relative, on her aunt's side, Al couldn't help but remember back to the story he told Ace and June when they received their father's Artifact implanted into their eyes.
"Well-" Amara started to unravel his tale yet again of how he was found, but as the mechanical doors automatically widened to reveal the intricate outdoors, there stood his second student,
"Grandpa decided to let him live when rewriting the Universe. Likely cuz he was young when things happened the way they did. It's rather funny, to think of this old idiot so young, I can't even imagine it," Ace interjected his mentor about to begin his story as if knowing in his heart; he'd just make it complex for the sake of complexity. Stepping into the lit room from the dim hallway, he revealed his outfit.
Fluffy red hair the same color as his eyes with that iconic whitened planetary pattern surrounding the pupil, Ace now wore a repaired version of his previous outfit dirtied with blood and ripped by those Celestials. Hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket, he pushed up his sunglasses to cover Divergence's distracting signature crimson hue. Standing on the other side of the bed, Wilder still shoved his hands into those pouches, now with an entertained smug-like smile, he looked down upon her. Kate couldn't help but give him one back, the tension in the air able to be sliced through with just the simple cleave of a knife, Alex didn't even attempt to muffle his laughter.
Snapping their heads to him, Amara stood upright grinning at them both, then sticking his hand right out to Moon lazily bedridden. Reaching out to her, his voice; the same as Ace's, she could feel the soothing feeling in the back of her head,
"Welcome to ANZEN. You're now designated as the Fourth Agent, the Daughter of the Foolish Crow, Detective Azazel Karlo. My brother-in-law. You now wield the artifact: the Blackened Blade. A pleasure to work with cha, we'll get you situated with Agents Two and Three later in the week- Hey, did you tell her about the benefits about working her voluntarily?" Asked Alex of his protege with a curious expression over his face pointing his pointer's end at her puzzled face,
"Hah! Like I'd need to do something like that, I just said somethin' dramatic and she fell for it, hook, line an' sinker!" Ace declared, laughing loudly thereafter, his tone of voice made it clear to the other two, younger female and older male... he was being an idiot,
"Ignore him, he's just like his father, guess it adds to his charm, at least," Alex advised Katie with a gentle whisper as to make sure not to interrupt his cliche laughter, Moon nodded slowly, the teacher with his new student together chuckling,
"Anyway, about those benefits I mentioned! You get a weekly salary of about $5,000, a shared home with all other three Agents; basically, ANZEN pays for all your expenses, no questions asked as long as long as you're a volunteer," Amara informed the Fourth Agent of ANZEN pulling back so he could list them off easily putting down fingers as he remembered, to which Kate scratched her cheek looking to the side,
"These guys don't sound too bad; Ace made them sound so much worse," Katie remembered as she thought back to his speech late last night when she was recruited,
"Alex suggested the beneficiary program for volunteers to ANZEN's higher-ups. They caved like scared dogs. Luckily for them, they have the only living Requiem specimen working for them so upsetting him would mean their destruction. Guess he's needed for their plans or somethin'," Ace commented now sitting backward on a chair he'd found and unfolded, legs on each side of the seat, arms resting against the top,
"I told you not to call me 'Requiem.' Those don't exist anymore, I'm just... heh, the 'Strongest.' I have a legacy to uphold, one my mother left behind as the last conscious Rivera. So, all four of us, we're forming a rebellion against the higher-up old dogs of the Secure Society," Alex reminded Katie, reaching out a hand, he finalized his words with...
"Join us, won't cha? If you do, I can offer you... your aunt, and your father. I promise," Alex never backed down from promises, as Ace stared upon his instructor's body, he saw the smile over his pink lips, kept intact from the chapstick he kept in his pockets and grinned.
Kate's eyes wide, her black hair flowed in the wind, her beautiful smile, she could sense that same bubbly energy radiating right off Mr. Amara. The diamond implanted on the ring encircling his finger shining against her eyes, Alex's white peepers glanced from the jewelry, then branding it to her,
"Ah, yes! This, I'm married, ya see, to your aunt. Which makes you my niece-in-law, technically. Rose... thinks you never existed, so it's probably best you met your father first," Alex suggested, nodding to Ace, the younger of the duo was the first to walk out the sliding doors and wave back at his new partner.
That teasing look in his eyes sent a blush over her cheeks, sheepishly waving back as she moved her fingers slowly as if imaginarily wiggling them. Pushed right out, the doors slid shut so Alex could rest his back against the door, arms behind him, he looked down to the ground. Everything about her, the way she moved, seemed so quiet and gently spoke; the worst had come to pass, unfortunately, just as he'd suspected,
"It… uh, it was never my intention for you to live such a life. Your father works at the Riverton Police Department, you could go there any hour during the day and find him. I was thankful when Ace appeared, same with June, the both of them had good parents. August made sure of that, so it happened. He wished the same for you, but you were not his child, so unfortunately, you weren't born into it. Azazel, in this timeline, he doesn't know you're alive," Alex informed the young girl, and as she gasped, eyes spreading agape, Katie whimpered for tears to spill out the corners of her eyeballs, streaming down her cheeks- she wiped them away quickly with the swiftness of her wrists,
"Maybe had a falling out with your mother, I don't really know what happened with Blaire in this timeline. It'd be better if you met him at his house, so, after you get acquitted with everything, I'll send you the address when I find it," Alexander's words were reassuring, to say the least, turning his back to her, he went to scan his fingerprints at the door.
Just as he was about to, a tightening pressure enveloped not only his back but his waist, as well, leading to a surprised grunt exiting his lips. Turning his head gradually, her face buried into the back of his hoodie, Katie sucked in air through the hard sobs, just so she could let out a pained…
"Thank you," Weakly whimpered Moon through the plethora of tears, she gritted her teeth and bore it all. That tightening feeling in her chest, she rejected it without hesitation, and increased the volume of her vocals so she could scream it as loud as she could! "THANK YOU!"
If you'd asked her in this moment to describe this feeling she was experiencing, it would've been out of reach for her, the way she felt the hotness all over her skin, the will to never want to let go. Alex could stare down at her with all the love in his eyes, she really was just like her father, with some of her aunt sprinkled in there, the Instructor placed his hand on her head and kneeled so he bend down to her level,
"I'll make sure- no one leaves you ever again. You're home now, Katie. So, come on out, and try it," Amara suggested, turning his head so he could open the doors, he stepped out, just a line away from the both of them residing in the same space.
Kate turned her head from side to side, as if curious to what she was supposed to do, considering she was still in her hospital gown… but it didn't matter. She felt she'd seen this, the welcoming of someone you could trust with open arms, someone who could never hurt you. She made sure to tie the gown right so her exposed back couldn't be seen, and stepped out. The smile as same as her bubbly aunt's and his wife's, she parted her lips and sweetly declared,
"I'm home."
"Welcome home, Katie Moon."
This is a story of acceptance.