The final two members of Riot continued sprinting, Natalia stumbling a bit with a moan, Kim kept moving, ignoring her obvious pleas to halt. Coming out of the end of the corridor still running, Natalia couldn't help but feel shivers down her spine.
"There's no one here…" She whispered.
"Ace and Katie must've killed them all. C'mon, let's meet up with them up there."
It didn't take long for them to reach the height of the stairs, sliding their soles to a grinding halt, searching from side to side. Unfortunately for them, neither had the special eyes the Wilders had, meaning they had to do this the conventional way. Kima stuck up her pinky and index, letting the middle and ring touch against the thumb as if forming the head of a fox.
"Kon."
The summon of the werewolf, starting from the snout's bones rapidly forming to the claws pointing outward, the canine howled in anticipation for the shining moon to rise over the horizon, begging to replace the sun.
"He's so cute…" Natalia thought aloud, reaching a hand over to rub his head, patting him like the good dog he was.
"Be a good boy for me, Konnie! Find the bad men, okay?"
Scratching at his head then rubbing below his chin, Kim cooed to her summon, kissing at his face like an owner would to their house pet. After the pleasure of being loved, Kon turned right ahead and zoomed off, panting happily after receiving so much attention. One hand in her pocket, Natalia couldn't help but smile,
"You love your 'beasts', huh?"
Kim couldn't help but smile at the mention of love, nodding her head, she reached to sit against a wall; sliding down against it before her bottom hit the floor. Natalia did the same, sitting to her left, legs stretched all the way out while Myers kept hers so her knees would reach her chest.
"But sometimes it's never enough. I wanna ask you a question, Natalia. Do we seem like good people to you?"
Kim's question wasn't based on reason, but rather a sense of opinion, meaning, objectively, there was no 'right answer. Subjectively, coming from the heart, what was Natalia's stance on the matter?
"In my experience, there's no such thing as 'good' and 'bad.' No one is objectively righteous when they do the things they do, whether it's for another person or themselves. People would rather you help others rather than yourself, and only caring about yourself is selfish. So I do things my way and ignore what others think. For me… that's the righteous way. And if you're by my side, then you're righteous, too. Does that make sense?"
Natalia's smile was so infectious, she could feel its shine against her face burn at her skin like she were at a beach with no sunscreen. But even so, despite this unnatural light singing away at her skin, she couldn't help but admire the wondrous future of the sunlight peeking over the horizon during nightfall's resurgence. Burning away while living to the fullest, Kim couldn't help but smile as those balls of flames appeared over her hands, awaiting… for what she should say next.
"You're a kind person." That was all she could manage to spit out.
"I wasn't always. In the Old World, I was a mass-murdering dumbass, named myself the Crow after Katie's dad. I even had the cool-ass power to rearrange molecules to destroy and repair. I think I was being manipulated… by someone, but even so, I felt responsible for the sins I committed. I want to keep both eyes open, so I ensure the justice that's served is the righteous one. What about you? Are you happy with the way you perceive yourself?" Nat turned her head, curious sparkles shining in eyes' centers as she stared anxiously, awaiting Kim's future answer.
"How I perceive myself…? Kate probably told you all about how I abandoned June after Ace got arrested. I wanted to be myself, not anyone determined by someone else's superiority ordering me around. Ace got what he deserved, June was all alone and I was free because she was too weak to impose any order unto me. So, I was able to do whatever I wanted. In the end, though, yet again… I was only a slave for them to control. If the proper time would come, they'd use me whenever they'd like to, and they'd know exactly how to mess with me. It's not like I hate everyone, or even myself, but I've come to terms- or rather realized one truth I was hoping to avoid.
No matter what, in this world, I truly couldn't be happy from the bottom of my heart. That's how I perceive myself."
Maybe Kim expected some round of applause from what she'd said, but turning her head to meet Nat's gaze, she was met with the cheek for her companion. Staring at the sky with sparkles glistening in her eyes, she shrugged her shoulders and smiled,
"People always hate you for a choice you'd make to better yourself over them. I don't hate Katie for disliking you or Ace for hating you, neither do I dislike you for leaving them. If it happened to me, I'd be angry, as well, and if I were you, I'd do the same thing. That's the irrefutable truth of this godforsaken world, that there are no shades of black or white; only grey. That's… all there is to it."
A silence declared its reign over them, holding them by their heads to keep their eyes blinking, eyebrows fluttering for the respective girls every couple of seconds. Maybe then, in this vast trench where sounds seemed a myth, she could find it. The source of her happiness, she's she didn't have to be a pawn anymore. After all, wasn't that the purpose of this raid? To ensure others didn't have to go through the same thing she did; being manipulated to keep the lambs from escaping their pens. Who told her to be their savior? Why couldn't she fight- for herself?
The werewolf returned soon after, having caught the stench of cruelty not too far from where they were. Barking at Natalia, who'd somehow managed to fall asleep, after being startled awake, the duo resumed their search to end this oppressive nightmare.
"So this is where it was being kept. After all this time, I finally got you, huh?"
Lifting a Key out of a container, shards surrounding his feet, he turned his head at the semblance of light shining against him. It'd seemed they'd reached their destination, Natalia raising her hand for fingers to serve as a light, illuminating the dark chamber, Kima walked around with her ally and wolf summon as her guide. It was only a matter of time before Kon's paw stepped into a bloody puddle, stepping back with a ferocious bark.
"Looks like doggie found somethin'."
Natalia noticed a hanging bulb attached to the ceiling of the room, flicking her hand just a bit forward, it was lit and the rest of the room was illuminated yet again. And there it was, a horrifying sight that almost set Kim to hurling, hanging twisted bodies, mangled beyond belief with blood oozing out their nostrils. Nat couldn't help but squint her eyes at this sight, walking around the hung bodies, almost like trophies; souvenirs. Where had she'd seen this sight before?
"Did… did Ace do this?" Kim worriedly asked, muffled in her question, hand over her lips.
"No, I don't sense any of his residuals from Divergence. I think I know who did this, but more importantly, these corpses are those of the New World Order. Meaning… someone just took away our purpose for coming here for us." Natalia informed, to which they were all standing without it their clothes, naked in a blizzard. It was a miracle they'd survived such a harrowing storm, but what comes after?
What comes next, now that the New Government has been toppled like it was nothing but a speck?
Or rather, what comes next for the former Agents of ANZEN? As now, entering through the meeting room, there sat the Founder at the head, fingers interlocked, allowing his head to rise as he examined his subordinate's figure.
"So?"
Icarus had only one thing to say, for the orchestration played out entirely as expected on both ends, with revealing their cards onto the table as if they were playing a game… Chrollo raised his hand to reveal the key levitating above the palm. The Jester couldn't help but smirk at the mention of more chaos shortly, for it had been promised, and as he revealed his fanged grin, he couldn't help but say but one thing.
"Yahtzee."
Part One: Phantoms Arc - Fin.