"Man… escorting someone through a bunch of zombies… is a lot more trouble than I thought it'd be!"
Kiana was left panting as the trio burst through the doors of the old school building, Soleil quickly grabbing the nearest heavy object to shove in front of the double doors to prevent anything from following them in. Without many other ways to go, the three began to head further into the old building. Mei was silent most of the way through, up to the stairwell as Soleil and Kiana looked to get to some higher ground.
"Why… why did you two help me?" the sudden question from Mei brought a pause from the other two, Soleil giving an amused look she chose now to speak up.
"Took this long to say something huh?" Kiana chuckled.
"A person like me should just die…" Mei's muttering brought Soleil and Kiana to a halt. "Maybe even being born was a mistake…"
"Haaah?!" Kiana leaned on the stair's railing, her face stilted into an appalled gape. "What are you on about? Who the heck says the kind of thing about themselves?!"
"You can just leave me behind," Mei stopped moving entirely, Kiana glaring at this point, while Soleil remained more placid. "You can stop pretending to care. I know you only approached me because I'm Raiden Mei."
"Not incorrect," Soleil muttered, "But definitely not for the reasons you're thinking we did."
"Raiden… now that I think about it, you're name's really familiar..." Kiana put a finger to her chin, and then the lightbulb went off. "Oh, right, you're..."
"She's the daughter of Raiden Ryoma, the CEO of Massive Electric Corp.," said Soleil, Mei's expression darkening. "Nicknamed Senba Academy's "Thunder Empress" due to her high status, and infamous for that time she rejected twelve guys all in the same day. Up until recently, she was the darling of the school, the onee-san everyone looked up to and respected."
"Are you just going to mock me?"
"Just stating the facts. We are classmates after all," Soleil leaned on a hand, his eyes drawing to a slight glow peeking beneath Mei's shirt. Kiana noticed it too. "But, we're not leaving you behind. Doesn't matter what people said about you after that scandal happened, I'm not leaving someone to the horde out there if I can save them."
"Let's get somewhere we can rest first, yeah?" Kiana suggested. "This kind of doom and gloom talk isn't good at all in this kind of situation! Positive, positive!"
Despite Kiana pointing out a smile, Mei's look remained glum as the group started up the stairs again. Though considering it was merely an old school building, it wasn't as if there was much around, though the infirmary being on the second floor was at least a tad more convenient for a temporary hiding place. Soleil got to rifling through the medicine cabinet for anything he could shove into his messenger bag. Kiana was checking her pistol, the magazines she'd empty set out on the old desk still in the room.
And Mei was seated at a window, looking out over the grounds with a dour expression.
"People really are… rotten to the core, aren't they?" Her gaze was cast to some of the zombies shuffling closer to the building, the sight of them enough to churn anyone's stomach.
"If you're gonna feel anything towards the people out there, feel pity," Soleil spoke up, clasping his bag shut and picking his bat up. Mei's gaze shifted towards him, and he kept his back turned. "People like us are the lucky ones in situations like this. Being turned by Honkai like that? It's not just death. Everything about the person is just… gone. The body that's left behind is just an empty puppet being dragged along by whatever instinct it has left. Best we can do for them is put them down, so that their souls can rest a bit easier."
"You talk like someone from a church."
"Hahaha, well, the organization I'm with did used to be theocratic," Soleil leaned against the wall as he snickered. "I guess you could say it makes me a modern Knight Templar of some kind. Though I'm not religious myself."
"Schicksal…" Mei's murmur got a nod from Soleil and Kiana.
"Also, don't you think it's kind of cruel to say people are rotten?" Kiana slid a full magazine into her pistol, glancing at Mei as she finished preparing it. "I mean sure, people turning on your for something as stupid as your dad being accused of embezzling funds is stupid, but I also think it's fair to say some people felt kind of betrayed. Someone they looked up to turned out to be connected to something shady, and it hurt them. So, they lashed out."
"You really are mocking me," Mei's voice was venomous, but Kiana didn't look fazed.
"Not at all. I'm just saying that rather than blame everyone else, it's better to find ways to better yourself," Kiana stood and chuckled. "Because who cares what some dumb people say? Anyone who's really worth being a friend won't care what rumors there are about you. And then you just have to prove yourself… if to nobody else, then yourself most of all."
"Huh, didn't take you for the philosophical type," Soleil smirked, Kiana puffing out a cheek.
"I thought it sounded good!"
"Change? That's right…" Soleil and Kiana flinched when Mei started to chuckle. Her eyes were widened, the expression her face broke into anything but a pleasant smile. "It's not me who's the problem. No… it was them… it was this world! This world that deceived me, my father!"
"Crap!" Kiana shot over, grabbing Mei by the shoulders. "Hey, you need to cut it out with saying things like that! Look, I know it may not make sense, but you're in a lot of danger right now! If you start thinking like that, who knows what could happen?!"
BWOOM!
A boom of thunder accompanied the cutting flash of lightning. Violet electricity was crackling along Mei's body. And the glowing mark at her hip was visible.
"Yes… it wasn't me who was wrong…" Kiana seemed entirely shut out as Mei chuckled, her eyes gleaming with violet light. "So, if it was the world that was wrong… then I should just destroy that world!"
"Kiana, get back!" Soleil grabbed Kiana by her shirt's collar as his instincts fired off, yanking the Valkyrie away as the energy around Mei intensified. Their eyes fell to the glowing mark, and they realized what it was immediately: A Stigmata. "Shit! Looks like that friend of yours was right! She's a Herrscher!"
"Pot meet kettle," Soleil growled as his "other" chuckled in the back of his mind.
"Mei-senpai, listen to me!" Kiana shouted. "Whatever you're hearing right now, whatever the Honkai's voice is saying, don't listen to it!"
"And why shouldn't I?!" Mei snarled at the two, electricity sparking at her right hand as the Stigmata's glow intensified. "These people… first they take away Father, then turn my life into hell all because of what they believe he did! They're wrong, all of them are wrong!"
"And what, for that the world should go with it?!" Soleil reached out, Mei throwing her arms up with a scream. And as the girl's arms raised, lightning blasted from her arms, blowing Soleil and Kiana across the room, the two slamming into the wall with remaining sparks of the jolting edging across them.
And a wild smile broke across Mei's face as she looked at her hands. "Something like this… yes… if this deceitful world is destroyed, then it can all go back to how it was. Father… everyone… it will all return to me."
"Don't… listen to it!" Kiana pushed herself to her feet as Mei started for the door. "It's not worth listening to that voice! You won't get anything back by giving into it, much less by destroying the world!"
"Quiet…" Mei's eyes flashed red as she raised her right hand. Kiana braced herself as lightning sparked at Mei's fingers, only for the bolt to be met by Soleil's bat as he jumped between the girls, the weapon burning with blue flames as he caught the strike.
BWOOM!
But with another flash, Mei was gone with the sound of thunder. Soleil growled as he lowered his bat, his arms thrumming from the lingering electricity that had run up them.
"This has just gotten ten times worse…" Soleil grumbled as the booming of thunder resumed, and it was quickly followed by the drumming sound of heavy rain.
"Uhm… Rei-senpai, I think we're about to have more than just zombies to worry about!" Kiana moved to the window, trying to look through the pouring rain as lightning flashed in the clouds gathering above them. "Something's… ah crap! Get down!"
"Not my style!" Soleil spun around as something burst through the window. His bat ignited and slammed into whatever had come barreling in, Soleil carrying the swing down into smashing the offending thing into the floor. What he'd just smashed was something… alien in look.
Its body was plaster white and purple, shaped almost like some kind of large bird, but as if someone had merely drawn the silhouette or one and plastered on a few extra lines while leaving the body and wings separate. Where Soleil had smashed it was broken in like cracked stone, the cracks leaking a bright purple fluid a bit too close to blood for comfort.
"Seraph-type… shit."
"Definitely gotten worse," Kiana stepped over as Soleil withdrew his bat from the creature. "Honkai Beasts already? They shouldn't be showing up so soon. Then again… there is a Herrscher on the verge of awakening."
"Yeah…" Soleil clenched a fist, a burst of blue fire coming from his hand. "The Honkai radiation is also getting stronger. We need to find Mei, fast!"
"But where the heck did she go?!" Kiana readied her pistol as Soleil hurried back to the hallways, the duo being met with a group of zombies that had gotten in all too quickly once they reached the stairs.
"Maybe they'll have something to say about it."
"Is this the time for jokes?!" Kiana snapped as she domed a zombie with a quick shot, Soleil smashing in the head of the first one to lunge for him.
"A bit of levity helps decompress, alright?!" Soleil turned and grabbed the next zombie that leapt towards him with his left hand, flames bursting from his palm and dropping the zombie like a sack. "Let's see if Mei went upstairs!"
"I hope she did!"