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"I feel like someone out of a shitty movie." Ken griped, sloshing onwards.
"Key word here being: shitty!" Youji quipped, infinitely amused with himself. He was the only one.
"Shut up, Youji." A harsh command from Aya, fully snapped back into leader mode. There were barely any signs of the limp now, rigid self-control lending to his presence.
"Yes. We have to maintain silence. Follow me. Watch me." Fate took the lead, equally cinematic in her chosen war gear, lots of camouflage fabric and belts, gleaming knives; practically weighed down by the weight of her massive hand gun collection. She looked like someone fleeing from jungle combat, hardy and functional, dark hair pulled back in a low pony tail. She cleaned up all right after all.
It all spiraled in on them, crushing their consciousness, making every step forward harder to take. Harder then it was already, knee deep in sewage and filth. It was cold, deadly so. Their coats weren't enough, soaked as they were. Omi had stopped complaining about the ache in his hands ten minutes ago. Youji was under the impression it was because he just couldn't feel them anymore and didn't want to think about it.
"Omi." So soft that didn't think he was heard, shuffling a little faster to catch up with the shorter, blond head he could just barely see ahead of him in the dim lighting. He caught up and saw he had Omi's attention, watched from the corner of narrowed blue eyes. "Here." Pulling his own coat off and draping it over Omi's huddled shoulders.
"No - I don't-"
"SHHHH!" Aya slashed a hand down between them, glare fierce. Youji smirked a little at Omi once Aya back off, triumphant. It didn't matter that he was just as cold; he was rawboned, being cold was something you get used to when you're short a healthy handful of flesh or two. It was more important right now, that Omi got out of this alive, that Ken escaped with his life. Youji and Aya were far more tainted, and he couldn't quite work up the same sense of tragedy for himself as he could for the two seeming innocents sharing their sentence.
Ken was watching him, Youji saw when he glanced over his shoulder, eyes pensive and opaque. It wasn't worth thinking upon, best to work on the self-assurance he so badly needed right now. Ko-Ishi wasn't to be feared, death wasn't to be feared, and death he'd face before any other alternative. Get in, shoot like mad, get out. He chanted to himself as he walked, as if he'd forget what to do and stand about like a buffoon.
Completely soundless, they trudged on, wary at the signs of life rapidly sprouting from the very walls, better lighting, signs of passage, and further on, a dry, higher ground as the walls deteriorated. They were in the older bits of the chthonic tunneling now, out of use for longer, more suitable to housing undead criminals.
Fate held up one hand as they approached a split path and they stopped in their tracks, waiting for her signal. She looked up, almost as if she were scenting the air. The upraised hand curled, leaving two fingers extended, jerking towards the right. They followed in a miserable, cagey little clump, not sure they took Fate's word that all would be asleep. She turned around, smiling, Something was up then.
Making sure they watched her gesturing. she pointed to an open portal in the stone wall, leading to blackness. Then she held up four fingers and pointed to her left. A repeat of the gesture, to make sure they understood. Four openings later, to the left. Then she pulled her gun from the holster at the small of her back, miming aiming it at an adversary. Four openings to the left, SHOW TIME.
Youji nodded, looking around to make sure his teammates got the same message. He saw Omi cocking his crossbow. Ken met his eye as they both pulled their guns. Some mission weapons were better for mass murder melees than others. Aya ignored the wisdom, relying on his blade as always, regardless of the fact that such behavior caused him his leg injuries to begin with. Fate smiled again and gave them the thumbs up, turning on her heel.
Shaking off the lethargy of the chill and the miserable long trek, they readied themselves as they stalked silently down the passage, reading to attack anything that moved. One opening to go, and Fate held up her hand again. She pointed to Ken and Youji and herself, waving the gun, and then pantomimed walking with her fingers, pointed to the upcoming doorway, and spread her arms out to indicate approximately two feet, then aimed the gun in a random circle, making a parody of the recoil. She repeated it again, taking their understanding nods as answer enough.
Omi and Aya fell back, complying with common sense for once. Total darkness lay ahead of them, leaving the contents of the fourth room unknown. It didn't matter. Anyone shot would deserve it. Who in their right mind would hang out in a sewer with a bunch of sadistic, murdering undead?
Sanity dissolved from that point on, swirling down the drain. Youji opened fire first, stepping ahead a few feet into the darkness as Fate had instructed, just holding the trigger down and aiming outwards. The first few flashes from the muzzle illuminated all too well how out numbered they?d be if they didn?t shoot fast enough. A sprawl of bodies across the floor, the stench of rot and filth.
FLASH. FLASH. FLASH. His world lit by the momentary sparks of ignited powder from each bullet fired. That got their sleeping enemies up quickly enough, jerking upright, reaching for weapons of their own, motions disjointed as from flashing black lights. A horror movie come to life. He couldn't see Ko-Ishi, in those momentary windows of visibility, but that didn't mean anything. He couldn't discern between many features.
"FALL BACK NOW!" Fate?s voice rang in ears partially deafened by the echoes of shots in such close proximity.
He stumbled back, but his rage had taken him forward into the twilight nightmare, and he was further from the door than he should have been, a body against his, and then a sharp bolt of pain up his side, the harsh rasp of breath against his ear as hands slid up around his throat.
"UHF!" A strangled exhalation as the body at his back went limp, trying to topple Youji before he could regain his feet. Another set of arms grabbing a hold of him, dragging him backwards even as he reloaded yet again, firing into his wake. Back to the almost-light of the corridor, glinting off the blood colored hair of his supposed assailant, Aya .
"Stand to side, shoot as they come out, we have them boxed in, but we are open targets like that." More rapid-fire statements from Fate, positioned at one side of the gaping doorway. It was at least ten feet across; too many men at once could come pouring through that opening. And pour they did, as they found their own weapons and figured out what had to be done.
At first it was like shooting fish in a barrel, firing into the density of it, bringing down as many as they could, leaving the stragglers to be finished off by Aya and Omi. Blood splattered, but it mostly wasn't theirs, and that was all that mattered. They were coming down too easily. Ken remembered the horrible vitality of the man he?d faced in the parking lot. It should take more than a bullet or two, or a thrusting blade to bring them down.
Second wave, and the real trouble started. They were different, their motion swift and aggressive, their eyes insane and empty. They didn't respond to bullets, to crossbow bolts through the head. Not all of them, at least. They swarmed Aya first, the pillar of stability, taking down more than they could handle, face tight and angry.
"Aya!" Youji attempted to cry out, to warn him that he was being pushed away, but his throat was locked, hoarse from mindless shouting all ready. It was so hard, to hear over the gunfire, and they had to retreat, back towards some sort of relative safety, something to shield them.
Ko-Ishi's men were mad, and they had guns too. Once the expendables had been dealt with, the tougher nemeses took the field. Ko-Ishi's elite little buddies of death. Giving up on common sense, Youji hurled himself forward, using his weapon as more of a bludgeon than a bullet projector, flailing fists and sharp kicks to back his advance. Not Aya, not like this, pulled down and trampled to death.
"?No, Youji, Stop!" And Omi was latched onto his arm, trying to pull him back while Ken and Fate covered the retreat. Omi wouldn't let go, and Youji realized he couldn't bring himself to carry on, knowing it was risking someone else now. He allowed himself to be pulled back, hands automatically releasing the spent ammunition cartridge and rearming himself with a new one. There were so many of them, Fate hadn't done the situation any verbal justice.
"Go around corner." Fate shouted to be heard, backing towards one of the darkened portals, jerking her head to indicate the others should precede her. "I need to reload, someone cover for me now."
Ken grabbed her shoulders, shifting to take her place as smoothly as they could manage without previous work experience together.
"Keep them at bay, or we all die, you understand?"
"No SHIT, lady!" His hands were shaking, fumbling with simple motions that shouldn't have troubled him in the least. Aya wasn't dead yet, he could hear sounds, over the angry shouting of dying minions and the roar of gunfire; he could hear Aya with his goddamned ridiculous war-cry of sorts, the howls of the dying. Youji should be with him, should be fighting.
"Running low." Ken looked back, not even aiming at this point, eyes wide and panicky.
"I'll cover now." Youji slipped by, leaning out far enough to selectively gun down his enemies without subjecting himself to the return fire. They had no conscious will, the sea of bodies, walking forward with not thought for their own safety, walking over their own as they fell. "Fuckin' Land of the Walkin' Dead" Youji hissed under his breath, spooked. "Haven't the sense to get out of the way."
A dead hush, as they halted, Youji fired four more careful rounds before he realized they weren't coming forward anymore. All sounds were muted now, hushed. He didn't hear Aya anymore. For a good reason as the minutes proved.
"Where is the one called Kudou? Youji Kudou?" A voice roaring over the horde facing them, poorly lit and blood splattered bodies suited to the gravel in the shouted question.
"What do you want?" He stayed behind the arch of their protection, facing his three remaining supporters, jade eyes glassy and blank with dread.
"This doesn't have to end in your merciless slaughters. We will parley with you."
"Parley, who fucking says 'parley' anymore?" Muttering under his breath, unable to maintain the calm he'd probably need, he stepped into their view, one hand touching the stone on his left, Ken with one hand on his shoulder, and the other finger twitching on the trigger, ready to back them into safety again. "I'm listening."
And up came trouble. Seven feet tall, solid muscle, face like a used punching bag. He held Aya in the air, dangling from the ham hand around his throat. For one wrenching moment Youji was afraid he was dead. The body hanging a foot off the ground wasn't dead though, merely too dignified to struggle in such a position. Slitted violet eyes met his across the distance. Not pleading, asking nothing; just watching. "I would be willing to make a trade, a new one. His life, for yours." An ugly smile. He wasn't Ko-Ishi, but the sentiment was the same. A close confidant then.
"What do you want with him?" Ken decided to open his mouth and insert himself where he wasn'?t wanted.
"I don't believe this trade involves you." Flat and belligerent. "What do you say? I will set him down on his feet and we will all back away. You step forward, and your friends go free. Even the woman." A hint of animosity there. "No tricks, no lies. You're more valuable than you know." Another unattractive smile.
"Youji?" Ken's hand tightened to the point of pain on Youji's shoulder. What could he say? This wasn't a call any of them were suited to make. "Youji?" Throat constricting as emotions welled out of control. "What are you going to do? Why do they want you so much?"
"Just my charm, I guess." Youji glanced over his shoulder, just quickly enough to show the sick grin plastered on his face. "No other choice." The first step was the hardest, sickness rising in the pit of his stomach, towards the giant with malice in his eyes, towards the redhead with the dead eyes, towards a wall of empty-skulled humans, bent on violence. It was fear, but it was a sacrifice he would make. Not for a smile from Aya, heaven forbid he ever suffer enough to get something like that in thanks. For himself. He didn't want to die, didn't want to hurt, but Aya was more important. Both of them. He should have taken Ko-Ishi's initial trade, saved them all the heartache and confusion.
"Youji, No!" Omi darted past Ken, arm outstretched, only to be hauled back by the retraining grip Ken looped around his torso, the angles of Ken's arm padded by Omi's many layers of clothing.
"What would you have him do?" Ken growled in his ear. "If you go forward now, we'll all die anyway. Youji has something up his sleeve, it's okay, you'll see." Lying through his teeth, but Omi didn't know that. Ken had seen the look in Youji's eyes, the off-kilter despair. The lines of red from too many days without enough sleep. It was too late to stop him.
It was heart-attack inducing, the sudden crack in the hush of impending doom. Things fell forward into the time stream after that, no longer frozen in tableau. The giant of a man crumpled, scarlet rot pouring from the hole that had appeared in the center of his forehead. Aya hit the ground rolling, knocking legs aside like bowling pins as his gloved fingers scrabbled across the packed dirt, came swooping right back up, a line of carnage flying from the blade safe in his grasp once more. Laughing out loud, Fate fired like mad, watching only closely enough to avoid giving Aya something new to bleed about.
"Ko-Ishi is not here, they are a headless serpent! Scatter, all of you! Scatter and kill! He had their power, but I killed him!" Still crowing triumphantly and babbling, Fate threw herself forward, a simulacrum of innocnet joy. The streaks of blood adorning her face sort of ruined the whole picturesque image. Aya was off again, and Youji couldn't find him, shooting left and right, too close to avoid a mess, too far to catch up to his main concern. And then he was alone, separated from everyone else, breaking free and running, because he was surrounded and he couldn't fathom dying like this, pointless and alone.
He had to find Aya, had to find Ken and Omi and Fate. Running, and the tunnels were darker now, but still populated with those who wanted to take his life, popping out of nowhere attempting to do him bodily harm. He hadn't been so afraid in a long while. Not the fear you'd feel if you were walking alone in a parking garage and were afraid someone was under your car, but the deep gut wrenching terror that something horrible and grisly was about to befall you as something grabbed your neck, breathing the hot stench of rot into your ear. It wasn't very pleasant at all.
There were so many of them, tucked into their little secret warren, away from the rules of the world above. He was running out of ammunition their numbers were so great. Hundreds he'd seen, hopefully hundreds he'd killed. Hopefully hundreds who wouldn't ultimately return to life, a little stinkier, a little more maggot-ridden, but still set on vengeance. Alone. Alone. A beating echo in his head, something to remember as he stumbled now, weary and bloody. Some of it was his own, trickling, tickling down his side and face.
As long as his legs supported his weight and his feet carried him away from those who wished ill on him, it was a tolerable situation. His watch didn't work, the time-telling function at least. It had to be over an hour as he wandered, jumpy and gone astray in a maze no one in the city above would even believe existed. Running, and then a sudden drop as the ground dipped down. But the ground continued to drop for a moment even as he connected, the surface beneath him rumbling ominously. He splashed down onto his hands and knees in liquid, icy and sludge thick.
Had he come this far, that he was back in the mostly workable sections? A moment of blind panic peaked and ebbed, leaving him to stand up to his knees in an unknown (thankfully) substance, shivering, feeling sick down to the marrow of his bones, trying to make a mental map in the air with the waving of his fingers. If he went back, maybe made a lot of left turns, he'd get back to somewhere familiar.
The resonating tremors through the earth had been reminiscent of explosions, and he was even more afraid of what he'd return to find. He hadn't seen any ladders to get him back up to the real world, and quite frankly, he wouldn't have escaped if he had. There were four other people he was partially responsible for down here with him. He couldn't bail out on them now. Everything these days was about proving himself. Youji was not a coward, and he wouldn't abandon anyone, no matter how much he clashed with them, to any ill-deserved fortune.
t seemed to be working. Left it was. Don't knock a good thing if it works. Youji couldn't claim his surroundings as familiar, but stepping over corpses and random destruction, he sort of got the feeling he was headed the right way. Legs aching, he tenaciously kept on. Endless, the time flying by. He was just starting to relax when something came careening around a corner, slamming him backwards. Nope, it definitely wasn't one of the four people he most wanted to see; in fact, he could have done without seeing the filthy, blood daubed man standing over him, fists clenching and unclenching.
"I'm going to tear you apart." And he smiled, and damned if the man wasn't even spookier this way, a lightless jack-o-lantern.
"I'm going to shoot you in the forehead." Youji smiled right back, beyond reasonable reactions. "Gods, that was stupid." He muttered to himself as said action brought a reeking, dead body down on top of him. "Ugh." Helpless sounds of disgust as he scrabbled backwards, one handed to keep a defensive grip on his real lifeline out of this place, cold metal bravado.
Stupid, to think they were all dead, or tired of playing war. He should be more careful, check every corner, listen for every sound. Paranoia had its places. He had to work harder and harder to keep thing under control. This was a terrible situation to panic. Where had everyone gone? Why didn't he at least hear fighting off in the distance? Was he the only one left alive? He couldn't leave without knowing, but he was afraid. Shamefully afraid that he'd slip up and get himself captured. Not killed, but held prisoner again, tortured and forgotten.
Soft footsteps, the soles of shoes rasping on the packed floor and its random bits of lose pebbled. Youji stopped, listening. He wasn't responsible for the sound. Gods, not again. He wasn't sure if this was a good development, or a disastrous one, but an open encounter was infinitely better than sneaking around the dim tunnels thinking about imaginary happenings. Bracing himself mentally, Youji whipped around the corner, both hands poised to blow away any opposition.
Freeze frame. Shocked eyes meeting his, turning from surprise and anger to relief so great it was almost painful to behold. "Youji! We thought you were dead!" Ken's lips spread in an almost helpless grin, so young and vulnerable with dirt streaked across his tanned skin. Even Fate looked mildly pleased. Aya turned away, mouth twisting , battening down the hatches to the world once more. Youji wasn't sure if he wanted to hug Aya or shake him like a disobedient child. When Aya wouldn't meet his gaze again he did neither, feeling gawkish and awkward as Ken's face fell, looking behind him. "Omi isn't with you?" Color draining from his face, leaving him ashen and shell-shocked.
"I thought he was with you guys! I've been wandering on my own for at least an hour." Youji raked an unsteady hand through his hair. "How did you get split up, we can go back and look?"
"Oh no"? Eye brows drawn together in absolute despair. "He had your coat!" Ken whirled and grabbed Aya by the shoulders, angry. "Why didn't you remember? Why didn't you say anything!" He pushed Aya away, fists to his own eyes, unable to cope. "Fuck."
"We find your coat, blood and torn." Fate explained when Ken remained lost in his own personal land of desolation. "We think you dead or detained elsewhere."
"But it was Omi who had my coat. You thought I was the one who'd been-"? The unexplained emotion in Aya's eyes making sense all of a sudden. "Where did you find it? We have to go back, and see if we can follow him." Youji pounded one fist into another.
"We can't. Everything's collapsed back behind us. Didn't you feel the tremors?" Ken looked up, eyes empty and cold. "He must have been back there." Struggling with a grief too great to bear.
"Ken, that can't be true, I mean-" What did he mean? Could it be true? One of them was going to die, but not sweet natured Omi! It was never supposed to be him. It was supposed to be Youji, or Aya, or maybe even Fate. The heartless sinners and obnoxious bitches. Not Omi.
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This is the part where you can feel free to bludgeon me to death or something. This isn't over yet, the story, so don't go wailing off into the distance going "Waahhh, Omi is DEEEAAADDD." There are three other members of Weiss left, and they want you to read about them. Hey, I know where you live! -points the finger of doom- [email protected] or [email protected] Tell me what you think.