'Because you're a horrible human being.'
The words of a forgotten father resounded through the abandoned corridors.
Hollow cases of shed skin scattered about with dried blood dirtying concrete tiles, Katie's head hung, retinas hidden by her hair's shadow. The man's words were akin to a virus, gradually infesting her from the inside; one time, she believed in 'no escape'.
However, a miracle occurred. Just as she'd said herself, maybe she hadn't known or maybe she'd known all along, yet... something, somewhere, changed ever so slightly.
And now, the shadow of Death's Source loomed behind her with an ominous scowl. At the pier of the Island, a blackened aura surrounded her build, only adding to her spirit's intensity. Her determined eyes, previously fueled by the raging flame of revenge had now quelled. Without sight of lifeful energy enlightening her pupils, like a ghost waiting to be freed, her dead eyes admired the risen stars, the way they sprinkled their brightness onto her face. Just one hand, no matter how short, with will as strong as steel, she could reach that place, that freedom, that happiness. Beyond the night, wherein reality's center laid, she could only hope.
'I still want to believe...'
A fallen angel's wing burst from her bones, darkened feathers scattered around her feet, a heavy breath vented from enclosed lips. Just one flap and the wind sent the watching birds to the air. Flying through the breezy summer night, she beheld the sight of such a trivial world from above the clouds, but no dazzle sparkled in her dead eyes, instead, all she saw was red. So much blood spewed for a useless cause, the world now in shambles because of the corrupted will of but only one. Because of him, the world was a cage, and she was imprisoned.
But she was different from everyone else. She was special, her lineage was cursed, but who said she had to wallow about it? The world that ignored her, the world that crumbled, all for one man's vision, so blinded by ambition he remained unable to spot the cracks of hate peeking out from the sides. A world so cruel, but held the potential to be so beautiful. Maybe this hope was childish, maybe she was still enveloped by her euphoric escape, but it didn't matter, nothing could change her mind as she ascended further into the air with spread arms. However high the sun was, one day, just maybe...
'There's a world we don't know about out there.'
She could reach that eternal place, attain that higher dream. Freedom. What a joke.
Back to the Hawk's Nest, after August's debacle with Naraku, every remaining had their efforts spread thin. Rapidly-moving footsteps scattered about the bloody carpet, fingers picking at minuscule objects, deafening vacuum inhaling bloody remnants, June, working the device, noticed something. There her brother sat, idle, on the gore-covered sofa.
Luckily for her, the light signaling life hadn't yet faded from his eyes' centers, meaning, she could plop beside her sibling, and sway her upper-half side-to-side. The cycle she committed to, just one particular movement repeated infinitely, how it irritated him so. Even the way he was now, the second she spotted that vein over his temples, she grinned.
"Why're you bothering me when I'm already thinking too much? God, you're so intolerable at such awkward moments, I can't imagine how Dad would react if he saw you..." Ace petulantly commented.
With a hand on his head, he turned to his sister. To his surprise, the ginger's words hadn't grazed her heart in the slightest. What replaced his negative assumption of her reaction was none other than a wide-toothed smile. Immediately, he thought of their parent. Flowing white hair, two discolored retinas that peered through all, and that smugness about him that continually persisted, no matter the realm.
"I..." He started, June jerking curiously at his voice, "I don't know how to describe how I feel."
Kima slid the cracked china into a black garbage bag, Azazel rolled the towel up, he threw it to the black-haired girl as she exited the kitchen. Flawlessly, she caught the rug in her bag without even looking. Now free of the rug, Karlo turned his head, swiping the mop from its bucket, smashing the wettened head against the ground. Washing away the infectious crimson puddle with splashes of soap intertwined with water, Natalia's trembling fingers slipped a blanket over Madi's headless corpse.
"What I'm experiencing right now is my weakness, fully throttled onto me. But not only that. My guilt, too. I had this power in me, to be as strong as Dad, all along. And yet, no matter how hard I try, I can't reach the height of my potential. I couldn't save Katie, I slaughtered everyone, and now, I'm here. In a society collapsed by my selfishness because we have nowhere else to go. Maybe if I was stronger, things wouldn't have occurred the way they did. If I'd saved Katie and if I trained more, maybe the first two things wouldn't have happened," But Ace finished there oddly.
Just leaving June to silently wonder about the third event he'd mentioned; the collapse of this society via his selfish hand. Silently debating never got anyone anywhere. So her finger poked his arm, adding a childish,
"Aannnnnddd? What about the Capital's collapse? You just said you feel guilty about it happening because you were selfish," She annoyingly queried, persisting in her pesky action.
It was hard to remember they were having a serious conversation when she was so obviously bothering him physically. His head now hung, fingers caressing his brow with closed eyes, a heavy breath escaped his lips. A truth he didn't want to admit...
"I can't come up with an excuse. I feel responsible, weirdly. I know I did it and I wanted to do it, but I can't come up with a justification. Dad told me to live, but if that for you meant to find a way to make yourself happy, maybe that's what he meant for me, too. And destroying the Capital, ridding this world of a societal hierarchy where foolish old men perpetuate traditions from the shadows, that's what my happiness was,"
The ugly truth of his innate nature, had he been so oblivious to it from the start, or was he choosing to act ignorant? Could he have turned this way from the simple admiration of the man he named his savior? It was almost unbelievable, he'd been so hideous from the inside the moment he was born, and yet, no tears fell from his eyes. The potential to eradicate lives was enacted upon but there was no sadness to reveal. The hide of despair hidden within him had vanished, for the enlightenment of delight he exasperated by small grinning.
"That's right. My nature—if someone tries to take my freedom, I won't hesitate to take their own."
It seemed disturbing. To see someone take such mellow joy in realizing the slaughter of hundreds was nothing more than his uncontrollable nature. But oddly, they shared the same genuine minuscule smile. She felt proud. But, at the same time, it felt sickening. If it were anyone else besides him, besides Katie or Kima, they'd think that were unforgivable. But, that sickening feeling that others—she couldn't find anywhere. Maybe it was something wrong with her and she was blind like Katie, but, here, it felt right. So at the moment, all she felt… was proud.
"I'm right there alongside you."
Neither of them shared a look, but they knew. Their knuckles collided, and they shared a fist bump, leaving Ace's smaller smile to expand, in contrast to his sibling. The same wide-toothed grin with closed eyes their father seemed to show so regularly to his friends and foes.
No matter what anyone else thought, they had each other, and maybe one of them was wrong, but that didn't matter. As long as the other was happy, was that not enough? To her, as long as she could see that smile perpetually stain her brother's lips, that was good enough. That was her happiness—the smile of others.
"Alright, idiots, time to debrief. June, you were here and awake, tell me what happened before I awoke and the other two got here," Azazel abruptly intruded upon the siblings.
June looked to the Detective, Ace and Kima keeping their eyes on the younger girl as her retinas searched the truth with that enhanced sight her blessing was known for. With enough passed time of silent reminiscing, she cleared her throat and raised her head; everyone gazing upon her captivating features.
"Not much was happening. I recall scrolling on my phone when I heard something from the living room, and only two people were in there: Mei and Aunt Madi. So, I checked what was happening, and Madi had frozen up. It felt like an eternity, but I watched her head explode, leaving Mei to pick up the scraps of her mother's scattered brain. But that wasn't all. The same thing occurred to Ed, but there was no one near him. Instead, his head's detonation had simply occurred in the comfort of his room. Natalia was also in the living room with me, and Jefferson was upstairs. That was when Naraku came down and immediately dealt with Natalia and me. And then you woke up on the couch. That's the synopsis of what happened."
"I think it's safe to say that Naraku's plan wasn't anything elaborate when he devised control of the Spirits summoned. I think he simply called them in hopes of some of them joining our team and eventually he kills them before us, just to torture us further. I don't think we have to speculate about his motive anymore."
Abnormally, the one who deduced that wasn't the Fool Detective, rather, it was Riot's Scarlet King. For he'd arrived at this conclusion with a hand over his chin and a sure-fire conscience accompanying his absolute hypothesis. Everyone seemed to look at him with widened eyes, garnering them a collective, "What?" spitting out Ace's mouth.
"Lemme ask you something. Since when did August live inside you? And how can you be so sure about Naraku? We still don't know his end goal, not to mention the Founder's," Azazel added, standing with crossed arms.
"He implanted his consciousness inside me before I broke outta Paradise. It seemed he was in control of if and when he appeared, but not how long. About Naraku and the Founder, I don't know. Dad did a number on Naraku, but Rivers is another story. We still have his girlfriend and the last time I talked to him, he was feeling somewhat regretful. It could be possible he wants to get as far away as he can and try to live a normal life," Ace replied.
Azazel nodded, "We still have some loose ends, though. Not only Katie but The Jester. The last time he was spotted was when Natalia was fighting him, and then he vanished, presumed dead," He concluded.
"Somehow, I doubt that," Tiredly exasperated Ace, enveloped into the couch's cushions, arms extended.
'Could Icarus be waiting for something, like us to make another move or try to allocate his whereabouts? Or maybe he's waiting on Katie to finish expanding the Source's strength, and he wants her as a specimen. After all, he did order her assassination back in November. He probably witnessed the extent of its destructive power and instead, wanted it for himself to attain whatever motivation he's sought out. Control, control, control. Everyone wants to make something a slave to their whim. I can only imagine how Katie feels about all these people trying to imprison her, take her freedom.' He sighed aloud.
'I hope she's okay...'
While all this was occurring and Riot was pondering their next action, Katie laid her eyes upon the fruit of her labor, the consequences of the past. Above the clouds, soaring like an angel, even like this, winged as she was, she couldn't deny her devilish actions. After all, the remnants of Riverton were left forgotten, for if anyone were to dare step foot on the Island again, they would be met with baseless bloodshed. But that wasn't what she dwelled on, instead, she entered Evolutionary airspace, witnessing the fallen Capital in a shambles. Gunfire polluted the streets, mutilated corpses the new normality. The second her feet dared to grace the City's concrete, she was met with the sound of irritable ringing infecting her ears.
'A bullet.' She apathetically thought.
Taking one step to the right, the shell crumbled before it could even graze her skin. The perched sniper quickly reloaded, prepping the next shot. Before he could pull the trigger, his head fell from his shoulders and it tumbled off the roof's verge, blood puddling below the dislocated skull as it splat against the sidewalk below.
'Everything is so shitty. God, I can't help but feel bad about how things turned out, and all because I couldn't speak up. Just to think, how many children are out starving on these streets... without homes, without families.' She perched at the rooftop's edge, surveying the block as she thought.
There was nothing to note. Casual crimes being committed so normally it seemed basic. Nothing scratched at her brain to intervene, instead, she just watched. However, there was an unfortunate irregularity, and it all began when she felt that weighing presence. Like a dumbbell slammed onto her shoulders, she could feel her bones ache as she dared to turn her head.
That limping body was no elder. That familiar presence she despised so much; she could feel it aching to be released, Death's Source looming behind her. The Blackened Blade was a mere means to an end, a simple guide that would mark the path to the climax with every new step she made infusing more of her hatred into that sword. Katie's apathetic blue eyes reflected the moon above, but as she vanished, the former Founder could only stare at the clouds. The prohibiting grey blocking the light from shining on his face, Callum exhaled and turned his body to see, now enveloped in darkness, his end. None other than Katie Moon, with the tip of the Blade to his throat, staring into his scarred eye.
On this fateful night, in these destroyed streets, little did anyone know, resting or awake, reality's fabric would soon dissipate. And starting a chain reaction, it all began with their confrontation. The words that would spark a lit flame to start raging spat out his mouth; she swore she could spot saliva spewing from his lips.
"You... look so much like your father."
To Be Continued.