~ ♖: Kurenai no Hana ~

Rai’s footsteps were silent as she coursed through the shadows of the large facility. Kazuki’s aura was getting sharper, stronger- she could feel him so close. Her hands quivered in rage, excitement, fear, and desperation. Her wounds throbbed violently under her clothes but she didn’t stop walking. With only one goal in her mind, ignoring the pain was easy. With her goal so near, the pain would end.

Koujin and Fuujin, her sensei, her clan, they all would be avenged and her Focus would be achieved. And once her focus was achieved, she could finally find peace and rest. It was a concept foreign to her. There was no rest for someone like her. Rest and peace did not exist for her.

Finally, she reached the roof deck, and waiting for her, right in the middle of the empty space was the man she had once considered her leader. “Why?” Rai wanted an answer to her one burning question. The only thing she wanted to know was what could Kazuki possible have to gain from renouncing his vows.

Kazuki’s face was stern, emotionless. “Haven’t you ever wanted a life of your own? A life away from the shadows? You, Koujin, Fuujin, allowing yourselves to be manipulated the way you were. Believing all those lies sensei waved. He controlled your life, he never gave you any freedom. That’s not a life.”

“A life? Haven’t we been spared from death when the master took us in?!”

“And living everyday facing that death again is living?” He spat his words out full of contempt. “What we were to him were just pawns for his revenge! The same way you are now. When was the last time you made a decision on your own? You have no right to cut me down. You deserve the same fate as everyone else in that godforsaken clan.”

Rai shook her head and drew her swords. “You will not corrupt the one thing I believe in, Kazuki. Your life ends here. It should have been ended the moment you betrayed us.”

He laughed maniacally at her. “What you believe in? And what is that? Justice? Truth? Lies! They are all lies! You will forever remain just another mindless pawn. Even now-”

Kazuki staggered back as Rai’s swords hovered dangerously by his eyes. He jumped back, easily avoiding her attacks. She was weak, just as he had expected her to be. Rai may have been relentless, but she was also human. She was only human and her body would be weak from the abuse she would subject it to. More so now that she has not fully recovered from their last duel.

He could smell it. Blood covered her, now masking the scent of irises that hung like a mist over her. She wouldn’t have long- though he also knew, neither would he.

When Changmin first found him- when he had uncovered their first bout of operations, he had been amazed instead of disgusted. A new world order, something he desired just as much as well. It didn’t take much for him to exchange his loyalty. The promise of freedom from the bonds that kept him to his clan was more than enough.

What Kazuki had always wanted, was to be able to hold something dear and protect it. As shinobi, he had no freedom to even regard something- or for that matter someone of high value. There was only his Focus. Even though the people he cared about stood next to him, lay next to him, his hand could never reach out to touch them. In the end, it would even be him to be the one to exterminate them should the need arise.

He was tired of it, of being told what to do. Yet, wasn’t that the same place he was in now? It was ironic. Kazuki had betrayed his clan for freedom, yet he gained none of it. Not when Changmin had literally pulled him away from death’s claws. He had been on the brink of death by Nichkhun’s sword when Kass and Yoojin found him again. He may have successfully pulled off the doppleganger, but he was still greatly injured.

Perhaps it was the fear of knowing that Raijin may not have survived the attack that led him to relinquish all controls over his own self. To be turned into the monster Changmin created.

It didn’t matter anymore.

Nothing mattered anymore.

He jumped to the right, avoiding Rai’s favorite somersault attack. She recovered just as quickly, running towards him, wielding Sadame and Izayoi- Hachiman and Dojigiri strapped to her back. It was a vision. Something he would have enjoyed had his body not moved on its own accord, sprinting to the right- Rai’s known weak side.

Swords clashed, kodachi against his gunblade. Literal sparks fizzled in the air like lightning in the sky. It was quite fitting, Kazuki mused to himself. Cold steel, thunderous rumbling from the fire that sparked from within it, and a howling wind brought about by the loud clap of his trigger.

Rai stumbled backwards, skidding on the concrete. The edges of her clothes were singed with soot, the ends still bright orange from where the gunpowder was discharged. Now she smelled of burnt flesh and dried blood.

And for the first time that night, Kazuki looked into her eyes.

Rai swiped at the blood dripping down her face. She didn’t even know where it was from anymore. Her body was peppered in bruises and scars, open wounds and flesh that rotted into her own muscle. Her own body was giving up on her, but there was one last thing she needed to accomplish before she let herself be taken by the dark.

Kazuki did not even limp as he walked towards her, gunblade high in the air ready to cut through her. Her feet were flat on the ground, and she could feel his every movement, even the cold beating of his heart. Her hands gripped her swords tighter, and she crouched even lower on the ground. She had one last breath left.

First was right. Block. Slash to the left. Parry. Turn. Jump.

And when Kazuki turned to face her, she let go of that one breath she had left, and dived into him. Kazuki’s gunblade pierced through her side- the same side as her wound, but Rai pressed forward ignoring the pain. Both her kodachi sank deep into his heart and blood spattered on her face and arms. Cold blood like ice on her skin. She remained crouched on top of him until his final breath. Until her own final breath.

Her swords dropped to the ground as she released all tension from her body. Raijin lay motionless next to her shinobi brother. Eyes on the sky directly above her, the setting full moon- it was the sixteenth night- shone unobscured by the clouds. Finally, her Focus had been completed.

Now she had nothing more to live for, and she closed her eyes.

~ ♕: White Flames ~

Nichkhun was not surprised to see Victoria and Kass right in front of Changmin who stood directly before the table June lay on. They knew he was coming, and Nichkhun felt the slightest bit regretful he had kept them waiting.

“Took you long enough,” Kass said, adjusting the wires on her wrist.

“You can always change your mind,” Victoria added, “after all, I’m here now, aren’t I? Don’t you like me?” Her saccharine smile was fuel to Nichkhun’s burning anger.

“What are you trying to do, Changmin? All for this? She will never be yours.” His voice may have been steady, but his heart was anything but. He ached to run into them and cut their heads off. He wanted blood on his sword, on his hands. He wanted all of them dead with their bodies pooled by his feet.

“I grow my dreams on the rotting corpses of your so called comrades. Shows how little you know about her. June wanted a better world, what would your sword be capable of doing?”

“And you think you can create a better world from corpses?” Nichkhun was not unaware of the way Kass and Victoria flinched. Though he did not understand completely- and he had no desire to, the way Jinwoon did, he had an intuitive feel as to what Changmin wanted to accomplish. All Nichkhun wanted was to take June and finally extricate himself completely from this Fortuna business.

“Corpses they may be, but they are much better than mere mortals. Mere humans. Soon my research will bring me immortal life and June will wake and I-” Changmin staggered back onto the table as Nichkhun charged forward. Victoria and Kass were there to protect him, but even the two females were taken off guard by Nichkhun’s quick attack.

Victoria’s nails and Kass’ wires were the least of Nichkhun’s problems. Even with their quick attacks, he could hear them distinctly as they moved. His main concern was getting to June before Changmin left with her. Before Changmin could do any more damage.

Sharp wires jabbed at him, leaving cuts and slices through his clothes and skin. Each stab stung harshly against his flesh, but the lack of the coldness creeping through his veins assured him enough they weren’t poisoned. Victoria’s nails also came at him at full force, but it was easier to ignore her- both of them.

They may have been faster, he gauged them to just as fast as Rai on a good day, but all those sparring sessions with the shinobi were not in vain. Rai moved far more erratically than the two women, her attacks far more unpredictable.

Nichkhun shook his head at the thought. Now of all times, he thought of Rai? He stepped to the side to avoid Victoria’s swipes, careful to make sure he wasn’t landing into Kass’ trap. He was at least thankful that the two women were hardly in sync. Then again, Kass was too much of a freethinker to ever be in sync with anyone. It would have been impossible for Kass.

That was when Nichkhun saw his chance. He drove his Krabi straight to the side slicing through Kass right side. She gasped in pain, but it did not stop her. Her wire darted in front of him again, and this time, instead of evading, Nichkhun caught the long strip of metal with his arm. The sharp edges dug into his wrist guards, but not deep enough to touch the skin of his right forearm. Sword in hand, he severed off the wire, leaving Kass slightly tumbling to the side.

He had no more time for them, however, as a distressed Changmin started pulling June away. He took a step towards him, but Victoria and Kass blocked his path immediately.

“Hyung!”

Nichkhun didn’t need to look behind him. He recognized Wooyoung’s voice instantly- and who else would call him hyung?

“We’ll take it from here.” Another voice, this time it was Jay.

“No subs!” Kass growled, eyes darting back and forth between the two men.

“You don’t decide that,” Nichkhun answered, pushing past her, leaving Victoria and Kass to Wooyoung and Jay.

Beyond the laboratory was a narrow corridor, one Nichkhun knew very well. Changmin crouched low as he pushed June’s table away. He muttered to himself, softly then loudly as he made his escape.

“Must get out, must get out! No no, we can’t be trapped here! No! You...You and I will grow our love together! You and I in a perfect world!” Changmin stumbled and slipped across the tiled floors. Nichkhun’s footsteps were loud and steady behind him, and frantic, he pushed forward with what strength he had in his arms.

Yes, his search for immortality was almost complete, but it was not perfect. Yes he may have managed to create Beast with their inhuman strength and immunity to physical pains but no cogntive skills, SNSD with their perfect aesthetics, Super Junior, a better upgrade of those two projects put together. Wahrheit’s designs were soon incorporated into f(x) and SHINee but the incubation periods were never optimized. His creations were faster and stronger, and more acute, and he couldn’t fathom how they could have still been defeated by mere mortals!

“Changmin!” Nichkhun roared, closing the distance between the two of them. He knew better than to think Changmin was not a threat to him. For all he knew, the lab rat could have performed those experiments on himself.

The scientist dropped down to the floor, arms over his head as he tried to protect himself. His legs kicked at the tiles to push him farther away from his assailant. “Kass! Kazuki!” He shrieked out for the names of his most trusted guards. Louder and louder still he called out for them, but none came.

He d his pocket for his one last resort, and his fingers wrapped around the syringe he kept there. A formulation he spent the last two years researching. Not even he knew it’s full effects, but in theory it would make him invincible. And he was never wrong. His plans may have fallen apart, but it was simply because his prototypes were not perfect as he had thought.

This time he was sure. After all, if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself.

Nichkhun’s eyes narrowed at the the pitiful creature before him, but before he could stab his blade through him, Changmin screamed and for a moment his high-pitched screech disoriented Nichkhun. As soon as the blonde came to, Changmin had stabbed himself with the syringe, and an oozing dark red liquid pumped into his body.

Nichkhun waited in horror- waited for Changmin to change into his own creations, but only screaming came afterwards. His sword only saw one target, and it was easy piercing through his heart. Nichkhun felt it. He didn’t only hear the way his sword ripped through Changmin’s skin, but also through his flesh and through the muscle that was his heart. He felt every tremble as he heard every fading decibel of his screams.

But one stab to the heart was not enough. No, Nichkhun was not satisfied with only one. Rage filled him, and the gates he usually locked his anger in were set loose. With every fiber of his being, Nichkhun stabbed at the lifeless body of what used to be June’s laboratory partner. His intentions were meaningless to Nichkhun. He didn’t care for scientific discoveries or dreams of a new world. All Nichkhun wanted was his revenge.

Bones broke under his feet and skin tore apart under his blade. Blood covered the white walls and the tiled floor, but he was not satisfied. For all the pains Fortuna caused, for all the lives that were lost, for Nichkhun’s own self that he had to let go, Hell’s Queen delivered his own retribution.

And as he stared down at the dismembered body and the blood pooling at his feet, he finally felt the relieve he desperately waited for. Yet it was nothing like he had expected. Inside him a dark cloud still hung and he laughed bitterly. Of course. No one who sold their soul to the devil would ever feel like the world was set right again.

Everyone, it’s all set. leave the building as soon as you can!

Taecyeon’s voice over the transmission was loud and clear followed by warnings from Seulong, and the nearest escape routes from Fuu.

Nichkhun emerged from the building cradling June gently in his arms. Behind him, Wooyoung and Jay limped from previous injuries exacerbated by the last bout with Kass and Victoria.

“Didn’t think you’d let your targets go that easily,” Jay commented offhandedly as they struggled over the wall.

Nichkhun didn’t answer. It was never relinquishing his targets- Kass and Victoria were never his targets, even though he may have wanted to kill them on occasion.

Beyond the wall were the rest of Hell and Schatten in various states of injury. Mai was unconscious as Taecyeon and Seulong carried her, Junsu was silent for a change, Chansung appeared battered and bruised, and Nichkhun would have pronounced Rai dead if not for the faint beating of her heart as she hung limp in Junho’s arms.

Overhead, Nichkhun looked up at the column of light from the sun breaking the dawn. Behind him, the place he had known for refuge, and soon after pain, lit up in a burst of flames as a resounding explosion echoed across the field.

Now it was over, and finally, Nichkhun could walk away.

This is Yang Nara reporting from Kapitel. Early this morning, the Academy laboratories were engulfed in a sea of flames, burning it down to the ground. Authorities and reports from the Weather Station attribute the damaging losses to faulty circuit breakers in a highly sensitive area of research. Casualties include several personnel, the list will be flashed on your screen.

Nara concluded her report with another concocted lie, and as Ian called it cut, she looked briefly behind her where Jung Jihoon was being interviewed. Currently, no acting Chief of Police had been appointed yet, and in her mind, it would take a while before LSM’s position was to be filled- LSM’s and every other official taken down by their own selfish dreams.

“Do you think people are gonna buy the story?” Chance asked, as soon as he shut down the cameras. Youngsky and Peter were already lugging the boom mic away.

“I don’t think they’d have a choice but to believe in what information we feed them. It’s not over, you know. There’s still Daniel Henney to look for. All this hype about the Main Office isn’t going to go away, and we need a new Staunton. I doubt we’ll be running into any of Hell anymore. We need to get as much coverage as we can this time.”

“Alright. So Fortuna was, what exactly? Max’s rise to and fall from power?”

Nara sighed. “Maybe we’ll never know for sure. But whatever it was, whether it was the search for the elixir of life or some indestructible army, just proves to show it didn’t work out right in the end. It’s just a bit sad though. No one will ever know the truth behind all this. No one will ever know just how many lives were risked for this. In the end, all their efforts are still in vain because no one will declare them heroes.”

Chance shrugged. “Guess so. So, who’s buying lunch today?”

Both their eyes turned to Ian as he walked in, and a smirk appeared on their faces.

~ End ~

If there was a mirror to reflect the world

Is hate what it would show? Is it love?

The last night descends upon us

I wonder, will these memories save us?

To the distant watching God, will the angels be calling?

Will you steal away an uncorrupted smile?

- One More Angel, Weiss Kreuz -