"I have a crush on someone from my class but..."
The strong scent of falling blossoms and spring winds filled her nostrils every time she would stop her breath as she looked at her adoration's target. Naomi's memory of that time still ran vividly. A time of isolation yet a certain type of newborn feelings are unable to bloom. That classroom of exactly twenty-four seats, but Naomi would always stay in the front.
"My presence makes it hard for him to notice me... As I'm a daytime lantern."
In the front seats, Naomi buries herself in studies and results. Nobody studies harder than she does, which is why Naomi's feelings are often conflicted as she feels guilty for having such strong feelings toward someone like him. Plus, due to her studying approach, Naomi is often neglected by her classmates, mostly in a negative way as she doesn't interact with them----her personality is overly introverted.
"Another A, Naomi. Once again, at the top of the class, most impressive! Your future is looking extremely bright, keep it up!"
Naomi's grades were beyond impressive as she always scored the absolute maximum every time, without any signs of decreasing from it. Furthermore, she would always be on time for classes, would do anything her teachers asked in terms of helping out, and is, by a long margin, a brilliant example of a student. Her only downside would be how shy she would be---her teachers lamenting her lack of initiative toward her classmates at times.
Her profound solitude consumed her as the years would go on.
"It's been like this for a while. They shower me with compliments like those, but deep down, I know. I know that I am not the perfect example, but even so, I will study and I will create results. Nevertheless, I just can't seem to process those words anymore."
Eyes filled with solitude, endless nights of studying, a repetitive mindset; grand results yet a feeling of dim dullness in her lifeless life. Naomi, from the depths of her consciousness, sought a way to ease this suffering and by that margin, her target of a newfound adoration eased up all of her feelings.
"That peerless presence..."
One day, she recalled it. In that looming classroom filled with laughter and smiles that Naomi could never identify herself with, a boy in her class said something to her that she would never forget.
"The subject of my admiration said... Words that I could not possibly imagine yet they vibrant a resonance in me that I knew not I had..."
In secrecy, inside her room where she had kept her studying sessions to a religious consistent degree, Naomi took off her glasses and decided to write in a diary. Full of enthusiasm but grounded with a sense of care, she wrote with her pen in a delicate manner. Unlike the times she would take her pen with the aim of solving each problem with speed and efficiency, she took her sweet time to think about what she would write.
Her feelings---how would she describe them on paper. What words would be the most correct to describe how she felt? Would it be correct to think about such logical approaches when it comes to something like feelings?
These overlapping questions melted Naomi's perception of what it meant to go beyond her usual routine full of studying.
"That diary of mine, where I would write all my thoughts---my feelings about him... And how he would make me feel, even to this day, I could never forget... And honestly, I've written some pretty ridiculous things, but even so, I felt the necessity to always bring it with me to my school."
Though Naomi never approached him, she would sometimes gaze in his direction. Not too much in order to avoid creating a pattern or for him to notice her doing so. He always sat back in the furthest seat to the windows on the left side of the classroom with a lack of composure yet a radiant aura around him.
Nonetheless, though Naomi didn't think he noticed her, the same couldn't be said for those who did notice her and knew immediately from the get-go how she felt.
"One day, just like any day, a teacher would ask me to grab some papers in the secretary's room where they would keep them..."
The teacher's angry shout toward the students that had taken hold of her diary, made Naomi shake as she stood outside of the classroom's door with the multitude of papers falling out of her cold hands. Her eyes widened as she heard the girls in her class discussing out loud the contents.
"Naomi has a crush on him, oh my God!!" She laughed in a maniacal manner "That stupid dumb nerd?! Holy shit, no waaaaayyyyy!!!" Their voices grow louder as Naomi's heart began to beat faster; the break bell ringing makes her feel paralyzed "Hey, hey, let's just tell everyone in school, hahah!!" As she heard that, Naomi ran away and locked herself in a bathroom.
She cried and cried. Although she tried to not be loud, it was visibly loud to some but despite that, as the break was over, she made up her mind.
"I have to go back... Or else, Mother will..." She wiped the tears off her face with hollow eyes.
Lifeless, Naomi exited the bathroom with all eyes on her. Naturally, these eyes weren't because she was crying, but because a certain piece of information had been circulating around. Even though she felt anxiety and an incredible amount of pressure, she was just on time for class.
That was the one thing that she felt was truly important to achieve. On her way to her seat, she kept her head down as she avoided all possible eye contact.
"Look at her, hahah--" A female voice with the scent of mockery spoke to another "She must've heard, don't you think?" The laughs continued "No way, duh, look at her, she's been crying all along!" Naomi felt like her body was frozen and stiff; she just wanted this to be over with and go home.
But, she went back to the front row and paid attention to the class at hand. By putting her entire soul into what she knew was the best, she persevered momentarily.
Later, as school ended, a certain boy would approach Naomi.
Emotionally taken aback by such an act and unable to rationalize what it could potentially imply, Naomi was quick to look at him in the eye, as she had finished packing.
"Hey, you." He said, with an aura of confidence to him "...Um, I-I..." Naomi couldn't speak properly as she was nervous, anxious, and mostly, shocked, but he simply gave her a soft smile "Can we talk somewhere else?" To which she nodded very reluctantly.
To the back of the school, on the first floor, on a sunny day before midday, Naomi was all alone with her adoration subject. This place was otherwise famously known as a place where confessions would be given and couples would be born.
It was particularly good to avoid unnecessary attention because no teachers would be around; plus, it was a fairly deserted area. Her skirt fluttered mildly amidst the midday wind as she purposely had taken off her glasses in order to look more presentable in front of him.
In contrast to what she might've expected, the boy wasn't exactly in the mood for what Naomi thought would happen. As such, he brushed his right hand to the back of his neck, sighed deeply, and put his left hand in his pocket.
"I kinda need to ask you this because maybe my memory is fuzzy here so..." He still avoided eye contact with her, as his disinterested eyes kept on looking up "...Who are you, again?" He looked at her from above as his height clearly towered Naomi's "....Eh...?" Naomi's eyes widened in disbelief; her body feeling slightly numb "...What do you---" He spoke in her turn "The girls told me that you had a crush on me and if you were even remotely attractive, I would've taken you into consideration but..." He sighed "You're kinda ugly." He delivered the spear-headed words; staggering Naomi transiently.
Two seconds past that, Naomi's knees started to buckle. Her falling figure embraced the rustic leaves and the sandy ground with peebles on it.
Without saying any words, the male figure left the scene as Naomi started to silently cry; blurring her eyes with an ocean of tears in the process.
"Hey, hey, don't be so sad..." A female voice comforted Naomi in the female bathroom on the fourth floor of the central block of that school.
The five girls circled Naomi in the furthest bathroom allocation to the left, on the inside, as Naomi kept on sobbing. A particularly charismatically evil girl this black-tied hair in the form of a ponytail that would go over her shoulder length started to get on her knees in order to talk face-to-face with Naomi, who wouldn't look in their direction.
Her soft pale skin entranced in the palm of her right hand intertwined with Naomi's watery left face's cheek. With a wicked smile; emitting her radiant white teeth, she kept brushing Naomi's face; not whipping the tears necessarily.
"It's an awful thing, Naomi..." She displayed lament "But, if you really love him then I think..." She pulled out a small knife out of her skirt's right pocket, with the blade aiming toward herself "If you kill yourself, maybe, then just maybe..." Naomi's eyes widened, her tear stopping their downfall momentarily "Maybe he will feel something to you. Your death would perhaps impact him because his popularity would be directly linked to it. Just think about it." The knife fully went to Naomi's shaking hand as the girl made sure Naomi's palm could embrace it.
Naomi gave some thought about what she was talking about and deep down knew that it would actually be unlikely.
But even so, in her heart of hearts, Naomi wanted to feel some sort of genuine approval, no matter the cost.
"Genuine approval---somehow, no matter how---it is possible for me to achieve it..." She embraced the knife's edge deeper, causing her palm to form a trail of blood "Mother, why..." Naomi reached out to her right wrist, the edge approaching the final destination as the girls in the circle observed with wicked grins.
With her body on top of the toilet seat, Naomi judged that if that's what it would take for someone to genuinely approve of her, maybe, death wasn't such a bad thing---it had a somewhat noble side to it, she thought.
That sheer conundrum devoid of noise; filled with silence that didn't seem to break out of the cycle got shattered by an outroarish shout from a distant direction below that made Naomi remember something she had forgotten against her will.
"NAOMI!!" A familiar voice struck chords of sentiments onto her heart as Naomi lifted her head up by instinct alone.
A small smile of hope elevated in the corners of her lips; unknowingly, as the five girls----mainly the one that had dealt the knife to Naomi, started to get nervous in retrospect.
"FIGHT BACK AGAINST THEM WITH THE KNIFE OR THEY WILL KILL YOU!! I'LL BE THERE RIGHT AWAY, JUST FIGHT BACK, YOU MUST!!" The voice kept telling Naomi the important details as further nervosity rose to the surface.
The identity of the owner of such a voice came to mind then. The memories from her time all alone in that faraway isolated temple of water broken by his presence; the persistent existence that got her out of the nightmare she couldn't hope to survive.
".....Viktor....!!" Se started to cry---but the tears had a different identity to them, they seemed to flourish in a far happier margin as her smile elevated "Wait, why did I forget about Viktor...?" She asked herself, as Naomi found it weird that all this time, she didn't seem to recall that Viktor existed "Hey, who the hell is that?! I don't know that voice, speak up, bitch!" The girl with a black ponytail had a twisted expression driven by sentiments of anxiety and anticipation.
As they started to close in on Naomi from the door in order to not let her move, once again, a thundering shout emerged from the floors below.
"FIGHT BACK OR YOU WILL DIE, NAOMI! THEY HAVE KILLED YOU BEFORE, THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED!!" He clarified as his shout's sound echoed greatly; representing it as a sign of his approximal arrival in the future.
Naomi absorbed that information with a new clear mindset as Viktor's words weighted importance to Naomi far more than she knew.
"HEY, ANSWER ME!!" Still on the look for an answer, the girl kept interrogating Naomi, who was putting up the knife higher "What are you---" It happened faster than she could process.
Nervously, Naomi aimed at the girl's left side of the face, and through a meek and fragile swing, she managed to deliver a seemingly deep cut onto it; going as far as extending toward the eye---creating a rupture on the girl's skin.
She lashed out a scream by instinct as the pain quickly emerged; her two hands trying to cover the disaster born on her face as the rest of the four girls were left in shock and terror.
"GYAAAAAAA!!!!" Blood ran rampant on her face's left cheek; causing a small eruption of blood as Naomi couldn't believe that she had cut someone "THIS BITCH!!!" She looks at Naomi with hatred and spite and then toward the other girls with a distorted expression "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE WAITING FOR?! OVERPOWER THIS USELESS WASTE OF OXYGEN, RIGHT NOW!!!" She ordered.
Against her will, Naomi was fastly overpowered by the other four as they started to grab her arms and ultimately the strands of her twin tails; causing her to scream in agony and pain. Her knife then fell on the ground as the girl with a ruptured face immediately aimed for it without a second thought; ready to kill Naomi should she have the chance.
"Viktor... Viktor..." She began to cry as she called out his name in her mind "VIKTOR!!!" She closed her eyes and screamed as the girl with a wound on her face took a wide swing with an aim toward Naomi's right side of her face.
Right as she performed that swing, a right fist full of rage collided with her face's right side; completely shattering all of her right side's teeth as well as overthrowing her entire figure's balance as she ultimately clashed with the wall ahead due to the power behind that fist.
Naomi's eyes began to slightly open as she heard an unnatural noise from the shock between the body of the girl as she was pounded to the wall.
Viktor then proceeded to grab the closest one's long hair with brute force; smashed her forehead onto a sinker and moved to another. With his two hands clasped together, Viktor formed a haymaker and clobbered her temple mercilessly as her jaw became dislocated. With two more to go, he went for the one that was trying to exit the bathroom by taking a hold so strong to the point that she choked on the spot---Viktor then threw her back to the wall and kicked her entire face, breaking her nose in the process.
Lastly, the last one remained numb and paralyzed as she had no idea what was coming for her.
One and two motions to the right and left, it started to wind. When the swing was ready and fully potent, Viktor slapped her so hard she collapsed onto the bathroom next door, breaking the door.
He then cracked his neck a bit prematurely and looked at the stunned Naomi.
"Yo." Viktor puffs a lot with visible sweat droplets on his face "We're getting the hell out of here. Something tells me that it's not wise to overstay our welcome..." He dodges any unnecessary questions and decided to kneel down in front of Naomi "Huh?! Ah, yes----WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU?!" Viktor's set of movements threw Naomi utterly off guard.
By taking hold of her legs and her back, Viktor grabbed Naomi like a princess---Naomi becoming overly bashful and ashamed as her face turned beyond red. With a great rush, however, Viktor started to sprint outside of the bathroom with a clear destination in mind.
"WHAT ARE YOU DO---" With her hands covering her red face, Naomi tried to voice a complaint but Viktor was quick to dismiss her "Do me a very small yet big favor, princess. Instead of delivering all the possible cliched lines in the book, AKA overreacting, tell me exactly how many are coming for my sweet ass, would you?!" Viktor instantly addressed the true nature of the situation.
Unbeknownst to her and even Viktor, a strange horde of students coming from the left side of the hall started to emerge.
With a slightly clear path to the right, as it would lead to the floor below, Viktor started to give more gas to his sprint as he ran with just the tip of his feet instead of using his full feet. Though Naomi could barely see behind her, with just a head twist, she saw the horde of unnaturally fast students from various classes chasing after Viktor.
"What the...!! They are so many, but why?!" She couldn't understand the sudden event "Is that so... Well then..." They had reached the end of the hall and were about to descend through the stairway case.
Instead of going from degree to degree, or even skipping a couple of degrees to go a bit faster----Viktor jumped toward the base that was almost fifteen meters ahead from the very top and then repositioned himself as he had to go down again.
Successfully so, Viktor, while holding onto Naomi jumped down to another base and they were now successfully on the prior floor with still a few more to go.
"GYAAAAAAA!!!" Scared by the authentic blood-pumping sudden brusque movements done by Viktor, Naomi couldn't help herself "PLEASE DON'T JUMP SO OFTEN, I'M GONNA GET A HEART ATTACK, VIKTOR!!" Her heart was beating quite fast as they began to run down the hall all the way to the left side in order to reach the staircase that would allow them to descend "HOW MANY?!" Viktor's increasing worries didn't cease and so, Naomi looked behind her only to find a disturbing sequence of events.
Students kept pilling on each other; consequently trampling over one another---stepping on others, going as far as twisting other students' body parts as long as it meant that they could advance toward Viktor and Naomi.
The size of such student body kept increasing, making it so hard to circulate around that students were beginning to fall over the windows at a frightening speed.
"What on Earth----" She reflected with shock but was fast to address the situation "MANY MORE, WE NEED TO HURRY OR ELSE---" She informs Viktor, who begins to see that the left side of the hall was starting to become extremely flooded with students erupting from the floor below; effectively locking away any way for them to escape.
There wasn't much time to think here. At an alarming speed, from both sides, hordes of students driven by a single objective like zombies were ready to launch forward as they would most likely terminate Naomi and Viktor's lives.
Viktor opened the glass window containing about three meters in height and a width of fifty centimeters while putting his right foot onto the borderline.
Below, he saw a successful trajectory.
"V-Viktor?! You're not going to---right...?" Naomi desperately shook as she pleaded to Viktor with a nervous look on her face "Don't worry now, princess." Viktor dispelled her worry "Oh God." Except it only increased it more "I'll be the one to take the fall, so just hold on tight!!" Viktor jumps out of the window with Naomi in his two arms "GYAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Naomi subsequently screamed out of her mind as she covered her vision with her own two hands.
One by one, at a ferocious speed, heads collided with heads. Bodies began to collapse onto one another after the physical clash was initiated as Naomi and Viktor had jumped through the window causing the horde of students to become vastly unable to physically perform.
Supported by a rooftop that connects intertwining blocks from an east and west avenue, Viktor and Naomi fell onto that rooftop from ten meters below, causing a small strain on Viktor's upper legs as well as some fractures on his ankles---yet nevertheless, with persistence and an insane drive behind his every physical ounce, Viktor did not stop as he continued following the rooftop's path.
By moving in the north direction, he would reach an intersection where he could continue north to a dead end; as it faced another block, or continue toward either west or east. In which case, the east side would lead to a larger path down the road as it connected with another intersecting block from four hundred meters afar---but Viktor went for the east one.
"Snap out of it, princess! I need your dear customer service!" Viktor brought Naomi back to reality with his words as she realized that they were still alive and kicking "NOW, PREFERABLY!" Forcefully, Viktor ordered her to which she elevated her horizontal body; going as far as brushing her chest onto Viktor's, but simultaneously gaining the ability to tell just how many were coming in his direction "IT DECREASED, BUT THERE ARE STILL A FEW, KEEP ON RUNNING, PLEASE!" She begged him as she looked at his unwavering confident smile "That so." He accelerated despite his injuries.
Each platform from the rooftop that connected the intersections began to fall one to another slowly as they started to approach the entrance of the school where Viktor had envisioned that this platform would ultimately lead.
"Keep me updated, don't slack off now!" He demanded as they were about to turn to the left side of one of the primary blocks that would lead to the area of the school's entrance "They are decreasing... No, there aren't any more coming at all..." She found herself wondering why as she began to feel far more calmer "....." Viktor paused and made sure "Very nice, by the way." Viktor noted as his eyesight shifted from Naomi's face to her more central parts that have been collectively mashing together with Viktor's "..." She hid her face in sheer shame as Viktor without any warning decided to jump seven meters down toward the entrance's ground "GYAAAA!!" Even after a second time, she couldn't help but let out a soft scream this time around.
Viktor lands on solid ground with his teeth clenched as this fall causes a thread of blood to emerge from the corners of his lips---his eyes completely on the verge of adrenaline.
"Ahhh---that shouldn't have hurt that much, really..." He critiqued with Naomi still in his own two arms "A-ARE YOU CRAZY OR SOMETHING, YOU IDIOT?! YOU COULD'VE DIED!!!" Naomi's expression became full of grief and lament as she feared for Viktor's wellbeing during the fall "But..." Viktor began to form a small smile, revealing a bit of his upper white teeth in the process "I didn't, am I right?" He gently started to put her down, and Naomi became a bit blushful at his smirk.
Without any students around, Viktor remarked something as they were side by side now.
"Looks like they aren't coming, huh?" He stated the obvious as they started to walk towards the entrance "Right... So..." A bit bashful still, Naomi kept switching between the ground and Viktor's eyes "Hmmm?" Viktor hummed "Well... Uh, we could..." Naomi started to fumble her words as she found it hard to convey her true intention with words alone "Could?" Viktor's lack of helpfulness made Naomi slightly ashamed and a bit mad "......Nevermind..." She put a semi-sad face on as they kept on walking "....." Viktor had a different idea "Is the ice cream here good?" She looked at Viktor immediately without a heartbeat "YES!" She replied with a cheerful bright enthusiasm "Really now. Wanna take a break in there?" He pointed at a gelateria that was located toward the cafeteria which was just about fifty meters north-east.
Needless to say, Naomi happily nodded with her eyes closed as they went there under that gentle rising sun filled with blossoming petals.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part IV: Russian Roullete - Nightmare Three
"That's rough." Viktor's blonde hair fluttered amidst the window in the gelateria as he took a bite out of the ice cream "...And that's the gist of it, I think. Now that I look back on it, maybe my feelings for him weren't as genuine as I thought..." She reflected as she took a small chunk out of her Häagen-Dazs with a caramel flavor and subsequently put that portion in her mouth "What do you mean? They definitely were, or at least I think a part of it was." He takes a huge bite out of his Solero Exotic with a semi-stoic look on his face "A nightmare more or less reflects something deep and dark about the nature of a problem that you, as a person, have in reality. As such, you can't say that what just happened wasn't genuine. Whether you like it or not, even though I don't know what he looks like, you did love him, Naomi." He takes a bigger bite, which creeped out Naomi.
She was surprised that he hadn't gotten his brain frozen at that point.
During that time, they were both seating with each other, face to face, across a squared table with brown stripes and hollow spaces in between. Though the attendant was nice, she was surprised that despite all that had happened, they were able to be served. And surely, in the midst of that gelateria, there were other students, however, they didn't seem to be able to acknowledge their existences; just like how Viktor was primarily invisible to them. In a corner next to a window, on the inside of the area, they both stood, getting sunbathed simultaneously.
"No, you're right." She acknowledged Viktor's point "It's just that..." She knew what she was going to say, but she ultimately couldn't as a sense of overwhelming embarrassment started to consume her "Oh... Um, I don't know why but... I couldn't remember you at first..." Naomi recalled the times when she couldn't remember Viktor or even know he existed, which was odd to her since they had been through a bit so far "That explains a bit, actually. I think if you initially remembered me, you would have known that I was coming for you, but you didn't, so you naturally went along with the flow of the event..." He finished eating his Solero Exotic, with a thoughtful look on the surface of his face "Say, what made you remember me?" He asked "...Uh.." She thought for a bit "I think it was when you shouted my name... I don't know, you just instantly clicked." She said in a very honest manner "...I see..." Viktor absorbed this new piece of information.
Viktor decided to lick the stick of his ice cream as it always contained a code.
"577... So close..." He lamented as he cracked it in half; Naomi was somewhat curious as to what it meant to him "Well---I think it's just going to be like that every time then, which means, unfortunately, no matter what I say to you prior, once we go to another nightmare, I will be out of the equation in your memory." Viktor delivered the cold truth, even though Naomi didn't necessarily like the way that sounded to her "....Yeah...." She gave a simple answer at best.
Ironically, at that same time, an awkward silence struck between the two.
"..." Naomi had a newfound struggle; keeping eye contact with Viktor "Hm? What's wrong? Got stuff on your mind?" He asked with genuine care and attention as he tilted his neck to the right, with a brazen smile beneath his right supporting palm.
However, Naomi couldn't keep eye contact with him anymore. Suddenly, she felt like her eyes had to be glued somewhere else; whether that was the well-kept floor of the gelateria, the ceiling with cute stickers of different types of ice creams, or even the surface of the table.
"How come I can't maintain eye contact with him suddenly... I---" Her face started to become red again as her palms united to cover it "Hey." He calls out to her from the other side, going as far as leaning his head below in order to forcefully meet with her eyesight; their intersection becoming unavoidable "We should get going. The faster we do this, the faster you can return to the real world, Naomi." Viktor brought that point back to life "...." Naomi's expression grew a bit stiff as she questioned something "...Yeah... I guess..." She replied with almost silence in her words; reluctantly.
After a while, they both started to exit the harmonious gelateria and moved forward to the school gate. Unlike last time, the school gate now had a gate portal similar to the one that allowed them both to enter the train station from the first nightmare.
Viktor's steps became faster and faster, while Naomi's steps started to show indecision and speed as a whole.
Of course, though Viktor noticed this, he didn't show interest in slowing down.
"There it is. Ready?" Viktor aims at the glowing portal in the middle of the school gate "...Yeah..." Naomi showed a displeased expression as she showed even more reluctance in her physical advancement toward the portal.
Regarding that, Viktor decided to halt his ambition for a bit, as he knew that Naomi didn't necessarily want to go.
And so, right before she became close to Viktor, not to mention the portal, Naomi halted her steps totally.
"...Come on, now." Viktor faced Naomi with a bit of impatience yet a considerable understanding "You just have to know this: No matter what happens, I will find you and you will get through the nightmare. The first and now this second nightmare---and the feat where I get you out of it---it's not a coincidence." Viktor reassures, aiming to ease her worries "...I know, but..." Even so, Naomi was still feeling reluctance ".....?" Viktor's skepticism reached a new level as he couldn't understand Naomi's worry and so, he waited a bit and allowed her to speak her true mind.
The eye lying underneath Viktor's uniform under that collar shaped with human skin started to gain interest.
"...I've been thinking about something..." She confesses "...You already know quite a bit about me, I mean... I'm eighteen years old myself but you have captured moments of my life that I find..." She didn't finish this sentence exactly and started a new one "The point is... I don't know much about you, Viktor..." Viktor realized the true nature of her worry "..." He sighed a bit, but not in a loud manner "...Why did you... die...?" She asked.
Viktor clearly recalled the moment he died, as it's a vivid memory lying in his turmoil still.
Nonetheless, he didn't reply for a while.
"I tell you what----" He gains Naomi's attention "Once we're through with this, I'll tell you, how about it?" He makes a proposal "...That's not really fair, Viktor..." She shows discontent and feels distrusted "Please don't feel that way." He comes closer to Naomi "It's just not that interesting, honestly. It's boring and predictable, but even so, despite that, I'll tell you. But, first..." Viktor looks toward the portal to which Naomi also gazed upon.
Showing some level of acceptance, Naomi started to walk toward the portal.
Just as she was about to enter it, she looked toward Viktor one last time.
"Viktor..." She gulped "...You won't let me die, right...?" Scared yet seeking reassurance from Viktor, Naomi asked nonetheless "I'll be there for you." He said, with a confident serious voice tone; unwavering magnifying eyes putting her emotions in the right place "..." Without saying anything and simply mildly smiling in his direction, Naomi went forth toward the portal, leaving Viktor alone.
As he watched Naomi go through, he took a deep breath and collected his general thoughts.
"Now then..." He looked at the cerulean sky and its bright tall sun "I said all that, but the truth is, she will probably die a couple of times." He didn't run away from the truth at all as he started to march forward.
By bypassing the gate portal and embracing a blinding light, Viktor would encounter the new location of the upcoming nightmare.
On the skirts of a wealthy mansion of over two kilometers in width and over eight-hundred meters tall, Viktor found himself standing on his feet with a different piece of clothing this time around. A well-adjusted black suit with a white clean shirt underneath as well as black fit pants---beneath them; extremely tidy debonair black shoes. A personal red tie to top it off; but more importantly, Viktor had a set of weapons around his belt beneath the top suit.
As for the area, he was in front of a water fountain in a garden filled with brilliantly-cut plants amongst trees. Multiple avenues with a golden formula to their brackets models could be seen as they would lead to the entrance of the mansion forward and west to east in addition.
The midnight moonlight shone in all its might as there were no clouds in the sky at that given moment. However, the weather was beyond cold yet that didn't remain key for Viktor to recognize.
Instead, a transmission that was instantly delivered onto Viktor's earpiece on the right side of his ear---that was what he deemed key and critical as it would fundamentally deliver what he would need to hear.
"I'll repeat myself one last time." A strong stoic voice could be heard through the earpiece "The Hohenzollern's last family members are to be killed; efficiently killing their last family tree members. The targets for assassination are the main head: Oskar Karl Gustav Adolf of Prussia; his wife: Ina Marie Von Bassewitz; and their daughter: Naomiria Sophia of Prussia. They are to be put down at all costs. Over." The transmission was therefore over.
Viktor realized that Naomi's name was a diminutive; precisely not the real name.
But, something else reigned over Viktor's mind.
Naomi's life this time was simply a matter of time before it was utterly killed off for the sake of an assassination mission.
First, he took a deep breath in order to gather some of his thoughts. Then, he looked towards the massive glowing golden mansion ahead of him with amassing rows; indicating a multitude of floors inside. The illuminating lights from underneath were so powerful that they overcast the looming shadows of the night.
"If I'm caught or let Naomi die, it will reset just like last time... Furthermore, if this is based on tries, I can't afford to waste my luck here, so..." He started to move not toward the central area of the mansion, but toward the back of it as he didn't want to gather unnecessary oppression. "Shouting Naomi's name is out of the question, naturally. I'm not the only one here and if they noticed my weird behavior, they will put a bullet in my brain before I can do a thing about it..." Viktor notices that there are other black-suited individuals like him; moving in secrecy as they infiltrate the mansion carefully.
Viktor, upon having those exact thoughts, realizes that the best he could do in this situation, as he knows nothing about it, is to team up with someone and eventually rescue Naomi by pretending to be one of them.
However, little to his own aid, he is left all alone as the remaining others already had gone ahead and infiltrated the mansion from the outside to the inside, without necessarily alerting the brutal number of guards from it.
He makes his way to the back of the mansion by keeping his posture low; covering himself in bushes, until he reaches a door with a small staircase of twenty centimeters with three degrees. As he climbs it, he takes off one of his guns, a desert eagle---and applies a silencer onto it.
"I think the real question here is where exactly Naomi is... Though, the easiest way to answer that question is..." He swiftly opens the door with his left hand and fastly turns around; killing the two guards that were guarding the entrance to the kitchen before they could react.
No other human was around, not even the cooks, so all Viktor had to do was go through the kitchen with bright illumination and overly expensive decoration to its arsenal.
"Two down..." He grasped the door hold with great care.
He slightly opened the door and checked for any guards as he was on the left side of a massive stairway that would lead to the upper floor. Three guards remained on standby guarding a golden-decorated door to the left; to which Viktor showed no hesitation to kill with his gun under a silencer.
After having used five bullets, Viktor reloaded by using ammunition from his central belt.
Subsequently, Viktor hid and looked toward the golden door that was mirroring the door where the three guards---now dead---were. He found those guards also dead, but it was not the work of Viktor, which told him that someone was already way ahead of him.
As such, Viktor began to climb the golden staircase with a frontal red clean carpet of golden stripes. The size of the staircase underneath a voluptuous luminous chandelier containing prestigious minerals and rare diamonds was about twenty meters in width and it had a diagonal direction to which it would lead to two intersections; one to the left and the other to the right.
To his surprise, by instinct alone and nothing else, Viktor raised his gun as he thought he had sighted a guard, due to the similar black suit; however, that couldn't have been further from the truth.
At the top of the staircase, a familiar figure to Viktor greeted him with a smile.
"Hey." With almost the same height as Viktor, but slightly shorter, a man around Viktor's age of twenty-one, if not a bit younger by a year or two, stood "There you are, I knew that you wouldn't take long..." One of his most particular identical features aside from his bright smile was his short black hair in the form of a long curtain that went all the way to his jaw alongside his round glasses; furthermore, his physical structure was quite alluring and hard to miss yet just like Viktor, he didn't go beyond the ideal margin "....Damian." He finished the sentence, revealing something that made Viktor visibly twitch.
At that moment, Viktor realized the reality of the situation without having to connect any dots. However, it was slightly foggy for him; memory-wise, so he opted to stick with the present as he withdrew his gun and continued to climb.
"....Yeah. The girl, do you know where she is?" Viktor avoided using any questions unrelated to the current matter and opted to stick to the real crucial deal; as he covered his premature shock from earlier fairly quickly ".....You... don't know where is?" Skeptical and dubious of whether or not Viktor was serious, he interrogated Viktor "I... wasn't paying attention to the leader's speech, Vladimir..." Viktor clarified, now toe to toe with Vladimir "...Huh..." Vladimir adjusted the middle part of his glasses and put on a somewhat apathetic face "Follow me then, Damian." Vladimir led the way to the left.
On their way forward, they encounter an empty hall full of paintings and extremely expensive items thought to be extinct; occasionally blessed by the outer moonlight.
Two guards emerged from the upper floor at a twenty-meter distance.
"Halt--GAH!!" Vladimir shoots one in the heart "St--" And Viktor fires a bullet to the other's head.
Vladimir reloads his pistol. Viktor wonders why Vladimir isn't using a silencer, as he thought it would be more efficient, but he didn't want to waste time with questions.
After climbing a bit, Viktor notices an extremely oversized painting of the family with just the core three family members in it. Viktor started to realize Naomi's origins and what it meant to her, little by little.
But, such catharsis was broken as loud gunshots from the upper floors were heard; immediately alerting Viktor as he didn't imagine that they could have reached out to Naomi yet.
"The mother and the father are dead; all that's left is the daughter. Over." A general transition sent chills down Viktor's spine in the midst of their climbing to the second floor "Copy." They both replied.
With Naomi's mother and father now dead, the thread of her life began to start to fade as Viktor knew something had to be done or she would die.
Therefore, he looked toward Vladimir while slightly anxious.
"Hey Vlad, can you just tell me where she is?" He tried to not sound nervous while saying that and it took a while for Vladimir to reply to it "...Go for the fourth floor, that's where she is. The third floor is where the father and the mother were. Remember?" He delivers the information to Viktor "Oh yeah, I remember now." Viktor starts to sprint like never before as he reaches the upper stairs that would lead to the third floor.
In silence, Vladimir watched Viktor with a grim expression on his face.
"....Damian... Are you really the Damian I know...?" He said those words while taking the right side of the second floor; opposing Viktor's current path.
As for Viktor, he climbed to the third floor with astonishing speed, coming across other black suits but not paying them any attention. Right now, his simple focus is to get to the fourth floor and encounter Naomi at all costs. If Naomi's father and mother are dead, then that only means she's next.
Viktor didn't bother to check any room that is mirrored to the windows on the left side of the floor. Despite the numerous rooms he could have checked, he simply didn't care as he made his way to the fourth floor.
Only then, did he check the rooms within that floor as he acknowledged that there wasn't anyone on that floor.
From the right side to the left side as well as shouting a heeding call to Naomi, he began to check every room.
"NAOMI!! ARE YOU THERE?!" The first room was a library, completely devoided of existence and shrouded in only moonlight, therefore Viktor was quick to move to the other room on the north; just ten meters up ahead "IT'S ME, VIKTOR!! SAY SOMETHING SO I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!!" A room dedicated solely to piano practices with no windows could be encountered but not a single soul in it.
The rooms kept on changing in what they were designed for, but they all had one thing in common---there wasn't a single soul in it. Until Viktor reached the furthest room on the left, just below the staircase that would lead to the fifth floor.
This specific door with golden stripes wasn't with its lock unlocked, it was, in fact, ultimately locked. Not that it mattered because Viktor fired at the door hold and by doing that, he was able to access the room.
"NAOMI?!" He shouted, hoping for an answer but no response came forward.
It was a dining room with a rectangular table for three, underneath a beautiful soft blue carpet as well as a marvelous chandelier on top. Since the lights were turned on just like any other room in that mansion, Viktor could clearly see that, unlike the other rooms, this room did have some sort of soul in it.
"....No---that can't be..." Viktor was beyond confused as he saw Naomi's father and mother's dead bodies mirroring each other on the table's end "Vladimir said that they were dead on the third floor but this is the damn fucking fourth floor...!!!" That alone was enough for Viktor to completely ignore their dead bodies exerting pools of blood onto the luxurious white dining table and now-soaked floor.
He slapped the door with all of his might and tried to make his way to the fifth floor as soon as possible, but then, he heard a loud gunshot from a floor above, which caused him to be momentarily stunned; unable to react.
"Oh fuck------" Viktor knew and so, a transmission came through "She's dead. Over." Vladimir's cold voice created a sense of horror and paranoia in Viktor as he realized what had happened all along "What the fuck just------" Time went back on its own once again.
Around Viktor's neck, the eye in the necklace made out of human sentient skin, spoke to Viktor---as Viktor encountered himself in the same exact place as before.
"Two tries remain." Viktor clenches his fist with so much force that it causes his palms to become dark red "Vladimir, you bastard..." He stuffs the necklace with the eye inside his suit "DAMNED LIAR!!" He erupted in rage but was able to calm himself as he started to analyze a few things.
Given that the scenario was able to overlap itself once again and the fact that Viktor knew exactly how it would play out, he thought for a bit as his vision grew narrow.
"Do I just kill Vladimir and erase him out of the question...? For some reason, he lied to me about the floor Naomi's father and mother's dead bodies were in, and most importantly, he lied to me about where Naomi was---for no damn reason! ...But even so, he's not the necessary component here. As long as I specifically know where Naomi is, Vladimir is absolutely irrelevant. With that in mind..." Viktor decided on his renewed plan of action as he sought to efficiently destroy this nightmare in the most practical way possible.
Unlike last time, Viktor did not go for the back of the mansion through a kitchen door but instead went for the front side of the mansion in order to meet up with a few members that he instinctively recognized the moment he saw them from afar.
By climbing a few degrees from the stairs in an area isolated from any guards; as it was a part of the entrance that had a specific blind spot to it---the blind spot being: through the bushes on the left side, there was a gigantic parallel rectangular vertical piece of boulder that blinds anyone that watches it from the right side. Simply put, if a guard were to look to the right side, they couldn't see the entirety of the mansion's left side as a huge chunk of it was covered by this structure---Viktor was able to meet up with them.
"Sergey, Boris, the girl is on the fourth floor, let's go." Viktor started to do the exact same thing that they were doing; which was---to create a soundless hole in the windows' glasses and infiltrate right away "What the hell are you on about, Damian?" Sergey, in a black suit just like Viktor and the rest, with a small height and long tied hair, quickly corrected Viktor "It's the sixth floor where the girl is." Viktor glared at Sergey's expression to see through it in case he was lying; as Sergey continued to create a fissure on the glass "Damian dumb. Damian forget the leader's coordinates." However, all worry ceased the moment Boris mocked Viktor.
Unlike Sergey and Viktor, Boris was a bulky overly tall man, reaching beyond two meters and a few centimeters. His head was completely shaved off and he had a unique talking style. But, it was due to the fact that Boris was the one who gave him the secondary information and how Viktor knew that Boris would never lie, that he decided to evaluate the information as the truth.
Furthermore, it cemented a degree of truth in all reality. Because the shot that killed Naomi, from Viktor's memory, most likely came from the sixth floor, judging by the distance and the impact of the sound alone.
He doesn't answer back to any of them and proceeds to enter the first floor through the windows.
Viktor, Sergey, and Boris---this time without the usage of a silencer from Viktor---killed the three guards that were guarding the staircase's entrance. Furthermore, they killed the additional guards that were covering the other doors as they came in from the lateral lines only to get shot at.
With no interference whatsoever, Viktor's conviction grew far clear. As a matter of fact, he opted to use two desert eagles instead of one; both on each hand.
He began to climb the staircase with lightning speed.
"Vladimir shouldn't be here yet if the time matches, so... No---there's no point in worrying about Vladimir, I just need to reach the sixth floor. Stop worrying about him, he is not relevant to the equation. All I need is to get to Naomi, then the nightmare will be over." Viktor reached a crystal clear conclusion.
Storming through the first floor and second floor; killing every guard in his way alongside his companions----some of them dying---but nevertheless moving forward, Viktor began to grow closer and closer to where Naomi was.
As Viktor reached the third floor and allowed the assassination of Naomi's parents; he ran past the entire shootings; only killing whatever stood in his way---however, as Vladimir, who had just climbed from the second floor onto the third one, watched Viktor's behavior, he couldn't help but make a comment as he adjusted his glasses and placed his chin under his right hand.
"......Odd." Vladimir's expression grew skeptical.
Viktor's progress would essentially be put at a halt when he decided to emerge to the fourth floor. In the stairs that separate the staircase from the entrance to the grand hall where the floor's rooms would become available, he saw that a great number of his companions were actually on the losing end as the number of guards on the fourth floor overwhelmed the current members of the black suits.
As the black suits from Viktor's side started to get shot, Viktor took this time to regroup with Sergey and Boris who were hiding from the front lines due to the massive number in adversity.
"Take cover!!" A rain of bullets spread across the hall, killing all the front-line members of the black suits, as Sergey attempted to get some of them to potentially come back and hide "Fucking damn it, this is too much!!" He complained further.
Hiding behind the wall, they would take a peek at the number of guards protecting the fourth floor, but only very shortly as the fire that was being traded was deadly to the point of backfiring any overstays.
With his position slightly crooked, Viktor approached Sergey and Boris.
"What's the situation?!" He immediately demanded to know as he saw how much Sergey and Boris were panting; Boris was on the look for the guards as Sergey would proceed to explain "It was a damn trap all long! They lowered the number of guards on the prior floors in order to make it look like they were not prepared but as we climbed as the majority, we were ambushed by a hail of bullets!!" The false reality was broken at that moment "We are beyond outmatched, and damn it----" Sergey looked at the windows on the north side with worry "Where the fuck is the backup at?! It should've been here a long time ago!! At this rate, we're fucking smoked!" Sergey remained unfiltered about it.
Meanwhile, Boris, as he saw that the guards were moving forward, as time was of dire treatment for them---decided to go on a whim. He took out his two guns and put his current one on the ground--throwing it in the process. He loaded the two guns and got up, catching his breath.
"Bastards----" In a strong Russian tone, Boris showed fearlessness as Sergey knew exactly what was about to happen "BORIS WILL SHOW THEM HELL!!!" Out of sheer rage, Boris went to the hall of raining bullets and started blasting like a madman "Wait, Boris!!!" Sergey got up too and tried to halt himself but ultimately went along "Ah shit, what the hell...!! Hey, Damian, a little hand?!" He asked for Viktor's assistance to which, Viktor simply got up as he saw Sergey join Boris "And call for backup if you can, damn it!" Sergey would say those words as he got hit with a bullet on his head; Boris being able to withstand a few but ultimately being taken down as well.
Surely, Viktor could've helped, but he instead wanted to see just how many guards they had killed. In the end, as Viktor crooked down his posture and looked through a small narrow from the staircase, he saw that they had taken out six to seven of the remaining guards---though Viktor judged this to be the work of Boris and sincerely, not Sergey. Ten or so guards remained as Viktor saw just how greatly outnumbered he was.
Needless to say but going in, was not an option. The only reason Viktor had gotten so far was because of the mid-crossfire that had gotten on his way which had caused him to gain the upper hand as he used his companions as shields before advancing.
The guards then decided to move even forward, now putting pressure on Viktor.
"Good choice." A voice whispered to Viktor's left ear softly ".....!!!!!!!" The sight of Vladimir's wicked gentle smile was enough to cause Viktor to coldly sweat for a moment, nevertheless, Viktor did not show any signs of abnormal behavior this time in order to avoid the same thing happening again, somehow "Where's the damn backup at?!" He asked, as Sergey had requested it multiple times "Did you forget?" Vladimir pointed right outside the window "There's our backup." A helicopter rapidly emerged from above; descending all the way to the point where it mirrored the fourth floor from the outside.
As it cast a roulette of bullets throughout the hall from the outside via its artillery canon, every present guard was brutally annihilated without any chance of coming back to life.
When the guards were officially dead, the helicopter pilot gave a transmission without delay, which Viktor and Vladimir instantly took notice of.
"We're moving onto the fifth floor, get ready!" This was enough for Viktor and Vladimir to get up; trample over Sergey, Boris, and the remaining black suits' bodies and get a move on to the fifth floor "How many are there on the fifth floor, Vargasov?" Vladimir spoke to the earpiece before climbing to the fifth floor.
Despite being equipped with an artillery cannon and a mini-gun to it; Vargasov and his team were primarily tasked with scouting the parameters and delivering that information onto the rest. Their late arrival indicates that there was some trouble prior, otherwise, the operation would have gotten far smoother, from Viktor's current perspective.
Vargasov delivered a transmission soon after.
"Twenty thr---GAAAHH!!" A bombardment echoed outside as Viktor and Vladimir witnessed a flashing fire outside alluding to a nearby explosion "Those motherfuckers shot us with a bazooka!! DAMN IT, WE'RE DONE FOR!! WE'LL TAKE OUT AS MANY AS WE CAN, HURRY UP!!" Vargasov and his team started to kill as many of the fifth-floor's guards as they could.
In the end, they were able to create harm in the totality of their numbers before completely exploding, but it wasn't enough damage to call a "victory".
Now nearer the goal itself, Viktor had to precisely calculate what was the best way to go about this, as they both began to climb through the stairway that would lead to the fifth floor.
"...Damn it... Naomi's on the sixth floor and we are about to get to the fifth floor. Our backup measure is gone; furthermore, Vladimir is here, which spells bad news... I need a way to somehow get rid of the upcoming guards and Vladimir altogether..." Viktor concluded that the only logical way to move forward would be if he made the two adversary factors collide with one another.
Viktor then had a somewhat unhinged idea. From his accessory belt, he took hold of a wooden rope that had a four-way anchor to it. Though small, it was enough for it to land on any surface, and depending on the angle it landed, it could provide solid ground for someone to use as a point to climb.
And, of course, Vladimir noticed this, as Viktor's grin grew wider.
"You have got to be kidding me, this is really not the time, dude." Vladimir sighed and showed great displease as Viktor ran up the staircase; completely disregarding the potential barrage of bullets that would nevertheless aim at him.
However, with a quickening speed and great physical strength, Viktor crashed into a large window he threw his body out of a golden large window ten meters in height as he started to fall on the outside.
His fall, not only was entirely seemingly fatal, but it created doubts among the guards that were on standby.
"What?! Where did he go?!" As Viktor crashed into the window, they could not comprehend why he would do that, as it seemed like a suicide attack.
Meanwhile, what Viktor was actually doing was the following: The moment he threw himself out of the window by literally crashing it; he aimed with brute strength at a main central balcony on the exterior border of the sixth floor where a certain row of windows would be allocated. Midst such, he could've shot some of the guards on the fifth floor, but Viktor purposely opted not to.
Vladimir knew what this meant.
"Oh dear, oh dear. This is most certainly not optimal. Their numbers are a bit too much for me to fight against if I'm honest." Vladimir voice his honest opinion out loud, primarily to himself as he grabbed onto two time grenades and rolled onto the red carpet toward the central hall, subsequently throwing them in the guards' direction "...Hmm...?!" However, despite being timed, in the range of at least seven guards, the timed grenades, which are about two seconds in time only, were fast in delivery as the guards shouted their last words to the earpiece "OH SHIT-----" And the true sentence "PROTECT THE MISTRESS AT ALL COSTS, NO MATTER WHA-----" A large explosion then engulfed the fifth floor as it blew away the majority of the guards with some still alive.
As for Viktor, he climbed the rope that was linked to the central balcony and broke onto the sixth floor via a window, by also breaking it. However, before entering, he threw a smoke bomber to the center and only when it was foggy, did he infiltrate the floor.
"What the?!" Their lively surprises clashed with one another as they failed to identify the true culprit "Shoot, shoot!" Regardless of not being able to identify Viktor, they nevertheless started to blindly shoot and so, Viktor had to hide in the wall cover that lies in the staircase connected to the fifth floor.
Bullets were fired in Viktor's direction as they had seen someone roll towards the staircase.
"SHOOT HIM UP AND PROTECT THE MISTRESS AT ALL COSTS!!" The main guard ordered advancement toward the area where Viktor was seen.
Without any sort of worry, ten of them charged right down the hall through the fog and that was the only reason why the time grenade worked out in Viktor's favor as a huge bombardment was triggered; instantly taking their lives.
"A bomb?! Shit, I'll handle this! Don't leave your damn posts, the mistress must be protected at all times! The head guard decided to take action amidst the fog "Show yourself, coward! How dare you no-name bandits infiltrate this sacred place?! Have you no---" A silent shot pierced the head guard's brain as Viktor put a bullet to his brain while wearing x-ray glasses.
One by one the guards started to fall as Viktor gained complete advantage through the fog created by the smoke alongside the combination of the unknown x-ray glasses that allowed Viktor the ability to identify any moving organism with it despite natural interferences.
Viktor removed the glasses and placed them on his central belt the moment he noticed that there was no one else on the floor guarding that specific room at the very center of the sixth floor.
Furthermore, Viktor also acknowledged that the very fact that a multitude of bullets was still being fired down there could only mean that Vladimir was being kept on that floor or he was dead. Either case was fine for Viktor.
Knowing those factors, Viktor started channeling his lung strength.
"NAOMI!!" From the outside of her room's door, Viktor shouted as the bullets from the floor below managed to mask the sound a bit "...VIKTOR?!" A nervous voice from the inside of the room came crying out as Viktor forcefully opened the door by kicking the door hold; breaking it in the process.
And with that single action, the binding gate between them was broken and the sight of Naomi in her bright blue pajamas in tears calmed down Viktor a bit. In addition to that, she hugged Viktor with all of her might as tears fell down from her face.
"VIKTOR, IT'S YOU!!" She hugged him more "I was so scared, oh my God! I just hid under my bed without any idea of what was going on all the time and when I heard your voice, Viktor---I---I couldn't help myself I just really wanted to see you!!" Naomi began to speak so much that Viktor was having a lot of trouble informing her about what truly needed to be talked about "And you came for me! You didn't let me die, just like you told me!!" She cried and cried.
For a moment, Viktor let go of her and tried to face her face to face, now that her teary face with heavy eyebags clearly showing, was visible to him.
"I'm glad I was able to do all that, Naomi, but believe me for now we need to-------" A bullet across the hall staggered the left side of Naomi's cranium three times as her head titled to the right as her life was stripped off from her "?!" Viktor began to shake ever slightly as his eyes widened and became blurred in disbelief.
The sight of Naomi's lifeless face and her purple dead eyes streaming dry tears had Viktor immediately check out who it was that had inflicted a mortal wound on Naomi, not once, not twice, but thrice.
"I've been keeping the tabs. 376 kills for me and 421 kills for you." Vladimir sighed as he stuffed his gun back to his belt as he approached Viktor "That was a bit mean, I can't lie. Thankfully, all I had to do was jump out of the window, grab onto the rope, and climb onto the fourth floor. I think you got a bit too busy trying to seduce the target. I understand the entire process of doing things like that, but I don't know, there's something about stealing kills from you, Damia----" Viktor's red eyes glew in rage and fury as Vladimir realized that he should not speak more "When I see you again-------you will die by my hands." Viktor didn't remove his glance from Vladimir as he was taken back in time once again, with Naomi dead in her arms this time around.
Vladimir sincerely smiled back to Viktor "I'm always up for a challenge, brother. Even though I am technically on the losing side; but even so I will try my hardest to impress you." Vladimir's fading voice would take Viktor back in time transiently.
But, the time would be different than usual, as Viktor would now start when Naomi's parents were being murdered by the black suits; himself included---on the third floor where gunfire spread like wildfire across the hall. Viktor's plan at that time was to move to the fourth floor, but as he stands in the crossfire, he makes his mind as the eye speaks to him for the last time in this nightmare.
"One try remains."
With an ice-cold voice tone, Viktor took hold of his two desert eagles; loaded them up---ultimately looking back in Vladimir's direction as he greeted Viktor with a smile.
"Change.... of plans...." He began to grit his teeth as the target is on sight.