Out of fear, Megumi closed her eyes and turned away, expecting the worse to come. But then…
"YEEAAHHH!!!"
Not feeling herself being pinned, she peeked and to her shock she found the boy dancing and jumping around.
"I caught you! I caught you!" He laughed joyfully. "You're it! You're it!"
Megumi got back up, completely befuddled as she watched him escape up the hall stairs. The once monstrous child turning into just that. A child
"Catch me if you can!"
"What??????" She approached the hall stairs, looking up, still bewildered.
SMASH
Megumi turned quickly, finding that the mob had broken through the kitchen door! They began to flood the home with one pointing straight at her.
"There she is! She's right over there!!!"
A man in the crowd suddenly threw an ax at her. She dodged, letting it hit the stairs. She backed herself within a hall that was practically a dead end. Lucky for her, she noticed a doorway just under the stairs. Taking her chances she hurried inside, slamming the door shut!
But this was no use as with a few hits, she was easily over power by the mob chasing her. She tumbled down the stairs, falling unconscious.
The mob of men quickly surround Megumi picking up by both her arms as one of them readied another ax in their hands.
Not long after, Megumi quickly awakened in time to see the ax wielding man approach. "O-oh God." fear began to creep back into her as tried to free herself in vain. "L-let me go! Let me go!!"
One of the men jerked her head down. "Make it quick."
"Right!" The man with the ax lifted and swung his weapon true. As he did, even more crack appeared beneath Megumi's eyes.
"I'm…"
Suddenly the hand of the man fell in front of Megumi and the mob.
"M-my hand!!" The man gripped his not stubbed arm in shock.
"Oi. What do you think you're doing to my friend?" Everyone looked up the stairs, finding the boy that chased Megumi earlier standing menacingly. His face contorted to that of pure rage. The boy began to outstretch his arms and the men n the mob began to panic,
"Wait! Isn't that… A demon!"
In that instant, the boy stretched his arms past the mob and zipped past them at a blinding speed. Before they realized it, he sliced the head off of three of them. He slid behind them, ready to continue his attack.
"I-it killed them!!"
His gaze sent chills down their spines. Some of the men started backing away and towards the stairs.
"W-what kind of demon is he!!?"
Looking at the boy they realized that they had two choices. The majority of them choose to run, dashing up the stairs and knocking Megumi to the ground in a stampede. Slowly the dead bodies around Megumi began to turn to dust. Looking back at the boy, his arms became pitch black with claws. A strange black mist also surrounded his arms working its way around the boy.
"Who do they think they are?" the boy growled.
He outstretched his arm again grabbing the heads of one of the assailants.
"H-hey! Hey! Help!!"
The boy made short work of him, launching himself and slicing the man's head from his shoulders. He slid at the wall and launched himself through the door of the basement. Quickly closing the gap and cutting off another three heads!
Turning back to the crowd, he went on the offensive, slicing and cutting through five more men! He sliced arms, cut stomachs and ripped through anyone that retaliated against him. He eviscerated everyone he saw until only a few remained.
He stood there with his back turned against them. He slowly calmed himself down knowing full well that they were helpless.
"P-please, just let us go. We promise we'll leave you alone and n-never come back. W-well even keep your hide out a secr-"
"NO." the boy interrupted. "You tried to hurt my friend…" He glanced back with a gaze lace with even more toxicity. "I'll never forgive any of you for that!!"
The boy shaped his right hand and arm into a large blade ready to finish them.
Another of the men ripped out his knife charging in. "F-forget this! You can go to hell!!!"
The boy easily used his new arm to cut through both the man's chest and blade wielding arm. He then posed his left arm at the remaining men.
"Die."
Suddenly his finger sprung forth like blades penetrating the last of the men. And in one swift move of his arm, he sliced them all to ribbons.
Back in the basement, Megumi could hear the screams of those men as she huddled herself at the wall of the basement. Unsure what to do, she hugged knees in a desperate attempt to calm herself down.
"I just wanted to be with Eric…" She whimpered. "E-even here's it's the same… I just want to-…"
Megumi heard the creaking from the stairs. Looking back up she found the boy standing with his arms still black.
"I just…" Megumi brang her head down as he continued his approach. "I just… I just…"
The boy now in front looks down at her.
"I….."
The boy suddenly dropped himself to the ground, crossing his legs.
"...Are you alright?"
Megumi became shocked by this question. She looked back to him, finding that he looked a little more normal. His black eyes dulled to a gray and his teeth seemed a little less sharp than before.
She brought her head back down, unsure how to answer.
"Hey miss… Are your oka-"
"Leave me alone!" Megumi bawled his fist as she thought about her life before. She suddenly slammed her fist like a hammer into the ground. "D-damn it! Damn it! Damn it!! Damn it!!!"
Tears began to fill her face once more, each one falling off fiercely and evaporating seconds after.
"W-why did it have to turn out like this? I-it wasn't supposed to be like this! What am I supposed to do now?" Megumi held herself tightly with tear's continuing to fall. "It feels like my entire being is being crushed. And I hate it…! I HATE IT!! I just… I just want to die…"
The boy continued to listen to Megumi's plight attentively as her last few words softened. He saw as the cracks on Megumi's face deepened even further.
Slowly, Megumi began to release herself, trembling. "I guess now that I'm in purgatory… Nothing really matters anymore."
The fractures continued rippling across her face, despair settling in within her very being. Suddenly, the boy grabbed her hand, surprising Megumi.
"H-hey! Let go of Me!" She feared the worst, but then, he placed her palm on the top of his head. She felt the roughness of his hair.
"W…What are you doing???"
"...Now… I'm it." he said.
He released her. And slowly reeled his head back, leaving Megumi puzzled. She then remembered about the game of tag he forced her into a little earlier.
He spoke up. "When I was sad…or felt alone… My dad would come and play games with me…after that, I would always feel tons better!" The boy then briefly glanced upon some scattered boxes with various labels.
"But when he wasn't home, or when I was by myself in school, it always felt lonely… he'd always try to make it up to me by playing more games or telling fun stories… But…"
Megumi could hear a hint of sadness within his voice. The boy then rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I never really had a lot of friends back then. Maybe one or two, but they…were…"
The boy stopped and looked back at Megumi a little more somberly. "I know how it feels to be sad and alone…And 'I don't think you deserve to be hated at all.'"
Echoes of Eric's past remark hit Megumi.
The boy then smiled widely. "Besides, you can't feel alone if you have someone to play with, right?"
Megumi looked back tha boy much more somberly. She could tell just by his smile the sincerity of his words. The cracks in her face slowly began to recede as if by some mysterious force. She calmed down, wiping the tears from her face.
Suddenly, he poked her in her knee. "Tag. you it." the boy flashed a smile."Lets have fun, yeah?"
Megumi looked at her hand curiously. She then leaned forward towards the boy, slowly reaching out to him. "T…Tag?" She placed her hands on his shoulder.
She leaned back, hearing his chuckle. "Looks like you got me this time." he then posed himself, as if preparing some special attack. "But this time I'll getcha with my super duper tag attack!"
"Super duper tag attack! Activate! UWAAHHH!!"
The boy quickly scooted himself closer to Megumi and patted her shoulder. "Tag."
Megumi blurted out into a chuckle, seeing the silliest display so far.
"Yeah! I got you again!" he cheered.
"Eheh… Alright… I guess I'm 'it' then" Megumi readied herself to tag the boy again, but he then scooted back away, she reached out further for him to jump back playfully. She fell to the ground trying to reach him.
"Hah. Missed me."
Unexpectedly, Megumi pulled him to the ground. He hit the ground hard, looking a little stunned. Not long after he laughed, Megumi soon followed along, having forgotten her circumstance.
After a little while they sat back up, recovering from their laughter. "O-oh yeah! I don't think I introduced myself. My name's Cider! Cider Lynch! It's nice to meet ya!"
"That's an interesting name…" Megumi Noted. "I'm Megumi Truman. B-but everyone still refers to me by my previous name 'Megumi Scorn'."
Cider laughed. "I like Megum Scorn, It sounds super cool!"
"D-does it?" Megumi became a little embarrassed hearing this. At that moment, Cider offered his hand. "I'm sure we're gonna be great friends!"
"Friends? Can I really-... No, it's different this time."
"Y-yeah…" she said.
"This time… Everything will be just fine."
"Let's be friends…"
To her utter shock a bone tentacle suddenly ripped through Cider's chest. He was left only to utter her name. "M-meg…gumi…?"
The tentacle then lifted Cider into the air and threw him to the furthest wall!
"CIDER!"
The Reaper Burst through the ceiling of the basement and posed his hands at Megumi! "'What a mess you've left me with!" Bone tentacle wrapped around her in that instant and pulled to the wall.
"L-let me go!" she yelped.
The reaper sighed to himself as he approached. "Silence! You don't seem to understand the situation you've put yourself in."
Cider suddenly went on the attack chargin at the Reaper. The Reaper grabbed him by the neck with ease. "My Job does not require me to treat you with care or Kindness. I am simply here to take you to 'Arc' to be judged. That's it!" The reaper threw Cider away from him.
He posed his hand and the plethora of Tentacles pierced through Cider leaving him to blurt out in pain.
Megumi tried to struggle to break free, but the bone tendrils were much too strong.
The anger within the reaper's voice arose. "But you went on like the foolish women you were, making yourself a prime target for even more foolish souls that would end your miserable existence!!"
The tentacle's piercing Cider released. The reaper glanced back at Cider, annoyed. "And to top it off, you put yourself in direct danger, to a demon of all things!"
"B-but… He's just a kid." Megumi wheezed.
The Reaper lifted her in the air, looking at her straight in the eyes. "It doesn't matter what he looks like. Demons are one of the most unpredictable beings in Purgatory. But a stupid girl like you wouldn't know that."
"L-leave her, alone!" Cider wobbled in with an attack from the side. He completely missed and simply cut the Reaper's robe. Cider collapsed between the two and Megumi could only look on in horror.
The Reaper released Megumi at that moment, irritated. "Bah! What a waste of time!" He then turned his attention back to Cider. "I'm surprised that he's still alive"
"C-cider!" Megumi rushed to him, finding that he was dissolving away into ash.
"He'll be gone in a few seconds. It's better not to waste your breath."
Megumi ignored the Reaper instead trying to pick up Cider's head. "Cider! Cider!"
"N-no! It can't be happening again!" Megumi briefly glanced back at her ungloved hands. "I-I thought it'd be different this time! It's just like Eric and the others… Everyone and anyone I care about… They always Die…!"
"Megumi?" Unexpectedly Cider lifted up his hands shakily. "Do you think… We can play more later?"
Not long after his body completely dissolved into a pile of ash. Her hand now in the piled remains of the demon she believed she could befriend.
Megumi is left to stare at the pile in disbelief.
"Whether or not you like you, you'll be coming with me now. If I need to, I'll rip your core from your body." The Reaper began to leave. "If you're finished, we should get going. We have quite the distance to travel..."
He abruptly stopped. "That smell… It's still here… It can't be…" He turned to face Megumi again, seeing that her hand was rustling in the pile and the cracks on her face becoming more noticeable. An ominous energy surrounded her, bringing his guard up.
Like magic she pulled a black round sphere from the pile of ash, levitating it under her left hand. And like magic, she conjured forth a long rod. The rod quickly reshaped itself into a long handle followed by a crimson blade curved from one end. At the center of the blade was the very sphere she pulled out, that pulsed with dark energy.
Megumi swung the weapon in the air, posing and revealing her weapon to be a crimson scythe that oozed a bloody essence from it.
The Reaper watched as Megumi brought the scythe down to her side as she stood tall. "This is bad. All this time… I thought that the stench of death was coming from some demons. But it looks like I was wrong. And now you're entering the state of Chaos…"
Megumi flashed a crazed smile at the Reaper. "Eheheheh…"
The Reaper Became more serious, Preparing for the worse. "How annoying.."