Enigmatic Paradox

[BWoods]

Note: I started writing this story back when I was in high school (I'm 21 now, so maybe about 5 years ago.) I wrote several chapters of it, then it just kinda faded to the backburner, I was getting my grades up when my Senior year came by. This version of the story is worlds different than the first one, but the two main characters are the same, and their backgrounds as well. Adderon Ray and Enix Robinson. I hope you guys like it, I've taken a short hiatus from writing as of late, but I'm planning on picking it back up where I left off (Chapter 20)

~Prelude~

The scene opens at an ocean-side harbor. The sky is a dusk-orange, the clouds shadowed in purple. A large ocean-liner sits at the dock, a ramp extended to its deck. There are hundreds of people on the boat waving down to their families; a little girl stands up front waving with her arm over her head. She appears to be 8 years old, with long straight golden-blond hair, with two strands of hair curled across her face. She has a ribbon on the back of her head where her hair is pulled back into a pony tail. Her large green eyes complementing her gleeful smile. On the boat the girl's parents wave back to her. Her father with light brown hair cut short with the same green eyes as his daughter. The mother with long blond hair and blue eyes. They are leaving for a 2nd honeymoon, if only they knew...

Elsewhere in the same harbor, a man with a shadowed face stares sternly forward, the orange light from the setting-sun showing only half of his face. He has dark blue hair that savagely hangs over his face and a scar that runs across his left cheek. The view shifts to his hand, where he holds a remote device with a series of toggle switches and buttons. He holds it up toward the window before him, aiming the device straight at the liner where the girl and her parents are. With his arm in the air the man grabs for the intercom sitting on the ledge before him, as he grabs for it a trail of blood can be seen, following it it's shown that an older man, of about 40 years old lies on the flood riddled with bullets and laying in a pool of blood. His uniform showing that he is a navel officer, the captain of the ship, in which he died.

The ramp on the liner has been withdrawn and the boat starts to pull its anchor up, with one last wave the little girl from before turns to walk away with what seems to be her relatives, but as she turns there is a small explosion. The hatch from a nearby battleship's missile silo has been blasted open. Time seems to go slowly as a missile emerges from the smoke and fire, like a demon from hell, the large-grade explosive lifts off trailing behind it a pillar of smoke. Nobody has noticed this but the little girl who was in the middle of one last glance back to her parents. She is now about 40 yards from the spot where she was standing just minutes before, as the missile changes direction in midair the girl's eyes widen as it begins to take a bee-line straight for the cruse ship. The girl rips her hand away from her relative and begins to run back with a look of terror in her eyes, but in a flash the boat erupts into a massive ball of fire, the tower of the mushroom-shaped flame spouts upward over 300 yards, the screen flashes with a blinding white light as the image of the girl fades away.

Then the image of the dark man on the boat is seen, his face frozen in disbelief... as if this wasn't what he wanted to happen.

~Enigmatic Paradox: Chapter 1 - A Rose Painted Red in Regret~

The scene opens up on a rainy night, on a cobblestone street corner in a small German town. There stands a large church in the middle of this town, the towers of the chapel standing over the rooftops as if a watcher, a guardian. The building is made out of large rough edged stones. The archway extends upwards about twenty feet, the doors of the church twelve foot high with large iron hinges. The handles of the doors wrapped in chain with a large padlock on them, but the lock appears to have been shot off, and the chain hangs loosely. As the rain falls between the bumps and grooves in the street, a van pulls up in front of the church and shuts off. The black van has no descriptive details about it, but it sits there for a few seconds, then suddenly the back doors burst open, six SWAT-team members jumping out armed with sub-machine guns. They all wear ski-masks over their faces, dressed in black sweaters, Kevlar vests pulled over. They also wear black cargo pants with tactical belts, which have various pouches. Two of the SWAT officers run up the stoop and to the large doors, placing black boxes on them, while the other four sit at the bottom of the staircase, checking their weapons and armaments. After they are finished placing the boxes the other two officers join the others. The driver's side door of the van opens up, and another officer steps out. He is dressed in a navy blue button-up shirt with matching blue slacks. He also has a vest on over his shirt, the name Robinson stitched on the back across the shoulder blades. He doesn't wear a mask over his face like the others; rather his face is exposed, his light brown hair hanging just above his emerald green eyes. He stands staring at the church for several seconds before one of the SWAT members approaches him.

"Breaching charges set sir, ready on your command" He says as he turns to look at the church along with his commanding officer. "Tonight's the night, the information we received is pretty solid, but do you really think he'd be hiding here, it is an out of the way town, but still it's pretty close to the public reporting of his sightings. I would have thought he had of moved far from here by now." Robinson looks down at his comrade with a smirk on his face. "I've been following him for a while, I'm sure he's completely aware that we have reports on him being here, I think he's finally starting to fatigue." Robinson states, while he walks toward the rest of the team. The SWAT member blinks at the thought of his commander's words "You really think that sir?" he asks "Of course, it's amazing that he's been running non-stop for 13 years now, but since we nearly got him in Italy, he's really been moving slowly, but..." Robinson trails off as he focus's his view on the doorway of the church.” Sir?" the SWAT member asks "We're ready, on my mark." Robinson says sternly as he takes his position on the left side of the stoop. He raises his arm into the air, and then throws it down. The doors erupt into an explosion that shoots outward from the doorway. It shoots flames outward about ten feet then dissipates, replaced by smoke. The teams quickly charge in through the smoke and takes up positions inside of the church. Robinson walks in through the smoke as it starts to fade away; he stops in the doorway and raises his pistol forward with a grin on his face. "Yo, Adderon" he states in an almost friendly manner.

At the alter of the church stands a single man obscured in the shadows. Then a bolt of lightening shoots through the sky, the stained glass above the man giving backlight during that moment to the man named Adderon Ray. He has long blue hair that drapes over his face. On his left cheek a scar that extends from the bridge of his nose to his jaw line. He wears a long black trench coat that scrapes across the floor, the top two buttons are left unbuttoned, showing his black shirt underneath, along with a cross that hangs from his neck. He stands with his back to the officers, with a pack of cigarettes in one hand and a match in the other. Without much worry he pulls a smoke out of the package and lights the match. "I hope you enjoy that Ad, you won't be getting too many of those on death row, especially when you're placed in the number one spot." Robinson says as he begins down the isle toward the alter. "Justice is going to be served very swiftly for you." The comment draws a serious expression on the wanted man's face. "Justice? Kids like you shouldn't throw around a word like justice, especially since it's a fallacy."

"And what would you know of justice, your sense of justice got 653 people killed that day." Robinson counters as he continues forward, but suddenly he stops and sniffs the air. "Unbelievable... Ad, you're just hardly holding yourself together aren’t you." Robinson says smirking, one of the SWAT officers steps forward and begins down the isle but Robinson holds his arm out, keeping his gaze on Ray. The officer looks around and notices the carpet running the length of the isle is soaking wet, but there are no visible signs of leaks in the roof. On top of that each set of pews are strung with fishing line. "Don't make any unnecessary movements men. This wounded dog has booby-trapped this entire building." Robinson comments, his weapon still aimed right at Adderon. The criminal chuckles to himself. "You’re pretty sharp, but if you think analyzing the surface is going to be enough you've got so much more to learn." Adderon says as he takes out his lighter, sparking and throwing it toward the officers. As it flies through the air he then pulls out a remote device out of his coat pocket and flips the switch cover off. Meanwhile the officers have all begun to evacuate but the reaction is slow, the lighter hit the ground just at Robinson's feet, but there is no ignition of flames. Robinson's gaze is stuck on the lighter for a few seconds before he returns it to Adderon, but as he does so there is an explosion and the chapel once again is filled with smoke and dust. "Shit, it was all a diversion!" Robinson shouts as he hops over the fishing line down the isle. "You guys circle around the building, team one head South by Southeast, team two take the van and get to the market, try to block the streets off. I'll chase after him." "Yes sir!" the team members say as they retreat out of the front door of the church. The smoke clears out of the back of the church showing a large hole right behind the altars. Robinson curses aloud as he hops through the hole and heads down a small alleyway behind the church. "There was no gas, no trip mines, no nothing. He doused the first set of pews with gas to throw me off, and then made it appear to be a deathtrap. This is becoming all too common."

The scene fades away and shows Adderon running through the streets of the small German town. "I have to keep going; I have to prove it to the world. They'll never catch me as long as I have that hanging over my head.... 600 ruined lives." he thinks to himself as the image of him running fades to black.

[Devmastuh]

Pretty heavy hitting...And it's pretty good! Very nice, encore I say.

[BWoods]

~Chapter 2: Beyond the Echoes of My Memories~

The scene opens on a cobblestone street; two SWAT team members are positioned at an intersection, pressed against the wall, waiting for Adderon Ray to pass through. As they sit there the rain begins to pour down harder, making it hard for the officers to see past twenty or so feet in front of them. Meanwhile Adderon continues to run, breathing heavily as he pushes forward. He runs down an alley that exits into a main street. He stops in the middle of the street, gasping for breath. While standing he takes a few looks around, as if trying to find something or someone, after a few seconds he spots something and smiles. “Alright there it is, that means I’m in the South-East section of the town, just a little further and I’ll be out of here.” He whispers to himself, trotting down the street. He continues to glance around, reaching into his coat and pulling out his pistol. Meanwhile Robinson is trying to track the criminal through the streets; he exits the same alley that Adderon was just at and searches for his prey. “Shit, I can’t see anything. Where could he have gone?” Robinson asks aloud. Just as he finishes a couple of yells followed by a series of gunfire can be heard. Robinson immediately turns to the direction from where the shots came from and rushes off toward it.

Upon arriving at the scene Robinson grimaces. The two SWAT team members lie on the ground, one has a single gunshot in his forehead, while the other sits upright dead. Robinson inspects the body and notices up to twenty wounds in his chest, then an execution-style bullet in the back of the head. Both of the officer’s weapons have been taken, along with their flash bang and smoke grenades. “This motherfucker, he has to go down tonight.” Robinson thinks to himself. He takes a moment to lay the executed officer down on the ground, then he takes both of the men’s dog tags, which were secured on the inside of their vests. “I just wonder how a single pistol could have done this much damage though; it sounded like automatic fire.” Robinson says as he stands and looks to the East, where he notices a diluting trail of blood leading off to the city’s Eastern exit.

Adderon stumbles down the street, placing his left hand on his stomach as he props himself up against a wall. “Damnit, I was careless, but I did manage to get some good information out of those two before I disarmed them. I hate having to shoot people, but at least they’re still alive.” He says, pushing himself forward. “There it is” Adderon says, ducking into an alley, he presses himself against the black van that the SWAT members used to enter the city with. He jumps into the driver’s side and pulls out the keys. An image comes up of Adderon walking down the street just earlier. He struggles to see through the downpour but can notice two silhouettes against the corner just ahead. He presses against the wall and slowly edges himself closer to the objects, noticing that they are two of the SWAT officers that were chasing him. Suddenly one of the officers falls over, blood spattering all over the front of a shop. His partner doesn’t even notice it until he turns around. Then there is an eruption of gunfire, sounding as if from a heavy machinegun. Two bullets come through the wall and strike Adderon in the lower back, the bullets exiting through his midsection. He tries to hold back the grunt but it escapes from his mouth, immediately after he ducks down and aims his weapon toward the corner where a large shadow can been seen and the sound of steaming metal. There is a tense few seconds for the fugitive as he hopes for the gunner to go away. After a while the large shadow fades away, Adderon lets out a sigh of relief. “What the **** was that?” He asks, inspecting his wounds “It was strong enough to hurt me even through two to three walls.” He thinks, pulling himself up to his feet and checking around the corner. “This is just gruesome.” He says, picking up the automatic weapons from the officers and taking their grenades, also the keys to the van.

The sound of the van’s engine turning over interrupts the flashback as Adderon clutches his stomach. “I’ve got to get out of here either way.” He states, putting the vehicle into drive. When he presses on the gas a series of gunshots can be heard from behind the van, he immediately gets down. The back window shatters, while the front holds together with five bullet holes in it, water from the rain draining through them. Standing behind the van is the young officer Robinson, with an expression of deep hatred on his face. “ADDERON!” He screams, ejecting the clip from his pistol and loading a new one in. Adderon opens the door to the van and steps out, one hand on his stomach and the other in the air. “Yo” he says nonchalantly, with a semi-smirk on his mouth. “Don’t feed me that bullshit; you’ve really dug yourself a hole now.” Robinson says, swiftly walking to the criminal, grabbing Adderon by his coat collar and slamming him to the ground in the rays of the van’s lights. Robinson puts his pistol against Adderon’s head, then he lets go of the coat and wraps his hand around Adderon’s throat. “Hey, I didn’t kill those guys, there was someone else there” Adderon says, holding on to Robinson’s arm. Robinson cocks the gun and presses it again against his target’s head. “I should just blow you away”

“Why haven’t you done it yet then?” Adderon asks noticing something behind the officer. The sound of metal scraping can be heard in the background; Robinson turns his attention to the van where a silhouette has appeared. The human shape stands on the hood of the vehicle, and then begins to lean forward. The lights from the van drown out all details of the figure but a female voice can be heard. “Heh, so this is Adderon Ray? This will be the biggest catch in all history!” she says, with the sound of a blade being unsheathed soon following.

[BWoods]

~Chapter 3: Demon with a Child’s Face~

The unknown girl sits on the roof of the van, sitting as an animal would. Both legs and hands on the ground. Strapped to her back is the outline of a giant curved figure, like a boomerang, it is about five and a half feet long, and two feet wide. She stands and hops down to street level, slowly walking into the light of a street-lamp. The girl only appears to be fifteen or sixteen years old, she has short cut silver hair and an awkward grin on her face. Her eyes are closed but she appears to see everything completely fine, also on her face are markings similar to animal stripes, two rows of them across either cheek, then another set between the hinge of the jaw and chin. She is dressed in a half-torn black kimono, baggy blue jeans with holes in the knees and tears down the sides.

“Eh?” Adderon exclaims, glaring at the girl. “Kiriko?” The girl’s grin widens after hearing him speak her name, she tilts her head just a little. “Oh, you do know my name then; well I thought you’d have forgotten.” She says quietly, looking downward, still with closed eyes. “Are you an accomplice to this man” Robinson interrupts, keeping his gun against Adderon’s head. “Not at all, I’m actually here to capture him” Kiriko replies, clutching the end of her giant boomerang tightly. “Bounty hunter” Robinson thinks to himself, trying to find the familiar-sounding name in his memory. After a second his eyes widen, noticing how much danger he really is in. “Kiriko… the Mongoose?” Robinson mutters, bringing a smile to Adderon’s face, now with blood starting to stream down his face, assisted by the rain. “You’ve gotta’ make a choice here kid. Either let me go and run, hoping she doesn’t chase after you. Or… you can fight her off here. Either way, you have about a 70% chance of death.” He says, taunting the officer from the ground.

Kiriko tilts here head to her left side, still with the same awkward smile on her face. “So, will you please let go of my prize, or will I have to cut your arm off?” She asks, in a very soft and unthreatening voice. The gleeful expression sending mixed messages to the officer. Robinson tries to pick up any subliminal hints from the girl, any body language, but to no avail. “Yo, you’re not going to get any hints from her, she’s usually sent out as the negotiator.” Adderon states quietly, trying to adjust his face away from a puddle. Robinson grabs tighter onto the con’s coat, attempting to pull Adderon to his feet, but just as he get up to one knee there is an explosion from underneath of him. In a moment Adderon reaches into one of the belts he took from the SWAT officers, strapped to his chest underneath the jacket, and drops a flash bang grenade. The flash of light illuminates the small side-street for a second before fading just as fast as it appeared. When he regains his vision, Robinson notices that Adderon and Kiriko are both gone, all that’s left of them is the jacket in his hand and an impact on the hood of the van, the same spot where Kiriko was sitting. “Again…” he says, trailing off, the sound of the rain drowning out his voice.

Elsewhere Adderon is seen running through a small alleyway, holding his bloodied stomach. Just as he reaches a corner he takes a look behind him. “Where are you at?” Adderon thinks to himself while pressing his shoulder against a wall next to him to catch his breath. He breaths in heavily, which causes him to wince in pain. “She’s close, probably watching me while I sit here. What else could I expect from an altered-human?” Just as Adderon says this he looks up and grins, in the background a bolt of lightening shoots down from the sky showing the outline of Kiriko standing on top of a two-story building with her boomerang across her shoulders. “Don’t stop running already Ad-kun!” she says, her ever-present grin across her face. “What would I say to Ne-Chan if you were to die?”

She jumps down from the rooftop with a simple hop, landing on the tips of her toes. “Honestly, I was expecting so much more from the great Adderon Ray. I don’t know what sis’ has for you.” Kiriko continues, walking over to Adderon, who has fallen to one knee, one hand set on the wall of the building and the other on his stomach-wound. “Really now?” Adderon replies with a wince “Well she’s never told you anything about herself then, just like her.” Kiriko kneels down and meets him with a face to face stare, still with one hand on her weapon. “You know Ne-Chan?” Kiriko asks, using her free hand to brush the hair out of Adderon’s face. “Only in a previous life.” He replies, trying to scoot back a little. Just as he tries to stand Kiriko grabs hold of his hair and pulls the full-grown man to the ground, Adderon’s face bouncing off of the cobblestone street. “She gets nostalgic when she talks about you. Not just that, I can feel pain resonating from her heart at the same time.” Kiriko says, her smile fading away and her eyes beginning to open up slowly. Adderon tries to push himself up but the power escapes him, using all the energy he has just to look up into the girl’s eyes.

When Kiriko has opened her eyes completely a feeling of pure terror begins to infiltrate his heart. Her eyes are colored bright orange with a ring of red in the center. “What did you do to my big sister to hurt her so much?” She asks, her voice no longer the bubbly teasing one from before, but the voice of a heartless being. After that she extends her boomerang over her head with one hand. Suddenly the sound of two gunshots rings out from behind Kiriko, but with blinding speed, she swings the huge weapon around, blocking the bullets with its size. She lets go of Adderon’s hair and stands up, turning to see the officer Robinson standing there, his pistol smoking with the rain falling on it. “Sorry, I can’t let you take him little girl.” Robinson says quietly “There are a lot of thing I still need to ask him.”

[evil-overlord]

woah, nice work man :) good read

[arancar]

good for you

[BWoods]

Thanks a lot, I'm still in the process of writing it, I've just taken a short hiatus (about 2 months actually xD) but I'm definatly picking it back up.

[BWoods]

~Chapter 4: To Destroy the World Around Me~

Robinson stairs straight into the opened demon-like eyes of Kiriko. He struggles to keep his composure and focus through the rain, plotting how he can capture Adderon and escape with his life. “There is also something I would like to ask you.” Robinson says, stepping forward. When he moves she drops down into a three-point stance, preparing to attack. “What’s that?” she replies, clinching her weapon tighter. “What use do you have with a criminal, especially since bounty hunting has been outlawed for several years now?” Kiriko raises an eyebrow at the question. “Why?” she replies, stopping for a few seconds. While she crouches down in the street the rain begins to let up. After a long moment of silence she finally stands upright and puts her weapon back around her shoulder. “I dunno.” She finally says, her demeanor returning to normal.

“What are you saying; you’re just chasing him because you can?” Robinson says back, irritated at the girl’s response. “No, I was told to. Just not why” she shoots back, smiling widely as she turns back around to Adderon. “One more question” Robinson says stepping forward, cocking his pistol and taking aim again. Kiriko looks over her shoulder at him, still smiling with childlike innocence. “Why did you act like you didn’t know him, but talked as if you had met before?” the officer asks remembering back to when Kiriko said ‘Heh, so this is Adderon Ray? This will be the biggest catch in all history!’ and then later ‘Oh, you do know my name then; well I thought you’d have forgotten.’ “You seem to know each other. Also, isn’t that right Adderon?” Robinson says, trying to dig into the past between the two.

Kiriko turns her head back to Adderon and smiles, and then she looks down a little, as if reminiscing. “I have met him before, but only when I was little. It was 10 years ago when I was still a little kid. I only remember meeting him once but it was nice to know he remembered me after all this time.” She says with a smile, wiping blood off of Adderon’s forehead. Adderon smirks a bit trying once again to sit up, but Kiriko grabs him by the bangs like before, her devilish eyes opening up wide again. “I was really hoping to have knocked you out with the first one.” She says quietly, slamming his head back down into the pavement again. This time Adderon does get knocked out. After checking him out Kiriko stands up and faces Robinson once again. “Though we may know each other, it doesn’t mean I don’t have my orders.” “Who’s giving the orders then? What organization are you working for?” Robinson asks, still trying to pry at the girl. She extends her arm out in front of her and puts her pointer finger up. “You said just one more question. This wasn’t part of our agreement Mr. Police-guy.” “But if you aren’t a bounty hunter, why are you trying to capture that man. Just answer that for me.” Robinson says, lowering his weapon. Kiriko lets out a giggle “We’re going to sell him to the highest bidder.”

Just as she says that there is an explosion and followed by the screams of several people in the distance. The next street over just behind where Kiriko is standing is engulfed in a reddish-orange light. “Ah, that’s gotta be Kuma-kun!” She shouts in glee, quickly turning to Adderon and picking him up over her shoulder. Robinson gasps at this little girl picking up a full-grown man without much difficulty, also carrying that large boomerang on her back as well. She takes on last look at the officer before running off with her prize. The young officer takes off after her down the street, getting closer to the epicenter of the explosion. When they round the street-corner he stops in his tracks at the destruction. The remaining three members of his SWAT team lie on the ground, various body parts all over the area, blood covering the fronts of the buildings. A giant fire burns in the center of the street with intensity. Suddenly something starts to emerge from the fire, the outline of a giant man. It stands about 8 foot tall and it at least 4 foot wide. Then the fires spread apart, the leg of the huge man stepping out, smashing into the ground with a shockwave. Robinson watched in horror, his legs frozen in place, as he watches this enormous man walk straight for him. In full view the man has long black hair that stands on end wildly; his face and body are covered with scars. Over his body he wears a long cloak, the edges of it frayed, also a sleeveless Japanese-styled gi. His pants match the gi, but they are torn and frayed, his left leg exposed under the knee, it’s a half mix of mechanical and organic parts. Over his shoulder he carries a huge gatling gun, carrying it as if it weighed nothing.

Robinson snaps out of his fear-induced freeze and takes aim at the goliath. “You must be who that girl was talking about, Kuma-kun?” he asks, trying to shake his terror. The man stands there unresponsive to the officer, each footstep he takes forward causing a slight tremor. He keeps his large weapon over his shoulder, but he keeps pressing the trigger, making the weapon wind it’s 6 chambers with a grinding mechanical noise. “Well it seems you’re not much of a talker, but now I know who killed my men.” Robinson fires off a shot at Kuma, the bullet flies through the air in slow motion, tearing through the air leaving three spiraling wind-trails. Just as it’s about to hit a flash comes down from above and gets in the path of the bullet, ricocheting it to the side. Robinson gasps, realizing that he’s now looking down the barrel of the weapon that killed all of his comrades. Expressionless Kuma winds the weapon up, the sound of the metal scraping against itself echoing through the small street. As the chambers reach a high revolution Kuma says something quietly. “Boom”

[BWoods]

~Chapter 5: Return To the End of My Existence [Version 1]~

“Boom” Kuma says, the word soon followed by a hail of gunfire, easily 10 bullets a second. Robinson drops to the ground, the wall of wooden buildings behind him explode into a flurry of smoke and splinters. After five or six seconds of constant fire Kuma eases off the trigger, still pressing it every two seconds to keep the barrel spinning. He takes a few steps forward, looking into a cloud of smoke that engulfs half of the intersection where Robinson was standing. Robinson stands up from the smoke his eyes set on Kuma. He raises his pistol again, thinking about what just happened. “He managed to just knock my first shot away, a combination of speed and the size of that weapon. I just wonder how I can take him.” He thinks, wincing in pain. One of the bullets from the hail of gunfire hit him in the leg. “It doesn’t seem to be fatal, but that’s defiantly not the kind of bullets I thought that thing would be shooting. They’re too small.” He says, noticing a small antenna coming out of the tail end of the bullet. The projectile has hardly breached Robinson’s skin at all.

Meanwhile Kiriko has gotten outside of the town and is now traveling down a narrow road toward a forest in the distance. Adderon is still out cold, his body hanging limply over the young girl’s shoulder. Kiriko focuses forward, heading straight for the wall of trees, hearing the echoes of gunfire over the farm country hills. She reaches the edge of the forest and looks around, finding something that brings a smile onto her face. “Ne-Chan!” she shouts waving to a woman standing next to an airship. She is dressed in a black v-cut t-shirt with blue jeans, a long trench-coat grazing the ground next to her. She wears a pair of sun glasses oh her head tucked into the bangs of her shoulder-cut straight black hair. “Kiriko, you’re back. You were almost over our allotted time limit.” She says looking toward her little sister. With a stern face “Yep, he wasn’t too hard to get, but there’s this annoying police-guy and his friends.” Kiriko replies, setting Adderon on the ground before her. She stands over him for a few seconds, looking downward. “Ne-chan?” Kiriko says quietly. “Yes?” “Are we really going to do this? Ad-kun is important to Ne-chan isn’t he?” she says, looking up with half-opened eyes, sadness reflected in them. The woman looks at Adderon laying there on the ground, then walks over to Kiriko and sets her hand on her sister’s head. “We don’t have any other choice. He made a promise he couldn’t keep.” She says quietly, sliding her hand down to Kiriko’s cheek. “I’m sorry.”

Back in the city there is an explosion, pieces of wood and dust clouds flying through the air. Robinson is sent skidding across the wet cobblestone a few feet, then hits a curb with a thud. He pushes himself up off of the ground and up to one leg. His right leg now has a piece of cloth wrapped around it, a sleeve ripped off of his navy blue shirt. “This isn’t going well; it’s almost as if his bullets are moving in flight. There’s no way that weapon could be this accurate at that rate of speed.” Robinson thinks, while watching the monster Kuma step over a pile of rubble, about 200 feet away from the officer. He continues to spin the barrel of his gun while holding it over his shoulder. His footsteps echo though the narrow city streets while slowly closing the space between the two of them. “Boom” he says quietly. Just as he says it Robinson’s eyes go wide, starting to notice the pattern to Kuma’s chaos. Suddenly there is a whistling in the air, Robinson picks up the sound and jumps to his left into an ally. When he lands the ground where he was just standing explodes into a cloud of stone and dirt. “I’m starting to understand what’s going on now.” Robinson says to himself, standing up and taking off down the alley. “I don’t think he’s actually shooting anything out of the gun with that first shot.” He begins to think about Kuma’s actions from just a second ago. The image of Kuma’s gun spinning runs through Robinson’s mind, but he can’t remember seeing any muzzle flash from the barrel. Just as he realizes this he gasps, his eyes widening. “So that’s it!” He exclaims, exiting the end of the alley and sliding out onto the open street. Kuma stands at the end of the street, with his gun spinning like before. Robinson drops the clip out of his gun, reaching into a pocket on his belt, pulling out another clip and reloading the gun. “Alright big guy, I’m ready.” He says with a smirk on his face. Kuma stands without any hint of emotion on his face.

A few tense moments pass, the two men watching each other for any openings to take action. Suddenly from the sky, a piece of rubble from the previous explosion falls into the middle of the street. With that Kuma opens his eyes wide. “Boom” he says, when he says it Robinson holds his ground raising his weapon and taking aim at the monster. Just as Kuma is about to fire he winces in pain, blood dripping to the ground. “What!?” he screams, dropping his weapon to the ground and clinching his wrist. “I finally figured out your secret.” Robinson says as he walks up to his opponent. Kuma reaches for his gun with his right hand but he is shot through the center of the hand by Robinson. “No more of that.” The officer says, standing just a few feet from Kuma. “How did you manage to figure the trick out so quickly?” Kuma asks kneeling down, blood streaming from both hands now. “I noticed whenever you started attacking; you would spin the barrel on your gun constantly. This was to distract me from what you were doing with your left hand. You would reach behind you, getting something out of this.” Robinson walks behind the giant and pulls a small bag out of his belt. This brings surprise to Kuma’s face. “You used the same trick 3 times in a row; there isn’t a way I wouldn’t have noticed. In this bag you would merely flick the bullets at me with your thumb” Robinson continues pulling out one of the peculiar antennaed bullets from before. “When I noticed that these bullets were too small for that weapon I began to notice your ridiculous strength, then I realized that you didn’t really fire from the gun minus the first flurry. This is because they are remote controlled electromagnetically.” Robinson continues, dropping the bag and the bullet he pulled out of his leg next to Kuma.

“You’ve really taken a hard look at my movements kid.” Kuma says, looking over his shoulder. In a wall in the distance a trail of dust falls from a bullet hole. After a few seconds all of the holes have a steady stream of dust coming out of them, the bullets starting to wiggle out. Kuma glances back and forth between the wall and Robinson. Suddenly, Kuma jumps up and grabs for the bag of bullets. Robinson is caught off guard and steps back while Kuma gets the bag, sliding it back into his belt. “There’s one thing you didn’t notice.” He says with a smile, pulling a bullet out of the bag. He holds it in his giant hand between his thumb and pointer finger, then with a quick flick the bullet flies through the air, hitting a wall behind Robinson. Robinson stands for a second, not knowing what has happened, but then a pain shoots through his right shoulder. “What the hell?” he thinks to himself, looking at the wall noticing that it’s filled with bullet holes now. Then he turns his head, noticing that the minigun is still sitting on the ground next to him. Kuma lets out a laugh, as he pulls out another bullet from the belt pouch. “Just because they have been fired, doesn’t mean the bullets in the walls are incapable of doing damage to you.” After he says that Kuma holds up another one of the peculiar bullets.

Suddenly the image goes completely black, the sound of shell casings echoing into the blackness.

“It was such a long time ago...” Robinson’s voice says from the darkness. “I swore that day I would live. This is why I worked so hard…” A scene fades slowly in from the darkness, a little boy standing on a hill that overlooks a marine harbor, the sun setting in the background. He sits with his arms around his knees, sobbing quietly to himself. From behind him a teenage girl sets her hand on his shoulder. The boy is surprised and gasps, quickly wiping his eyes and turning to the girl. She smiles warmly and puts her arms around him. “Don’t worry Enix, I’ll come back in a few months. I’m only going over to America for a semester of school.” She says, looking at the large orange sun. “Anyway, you’re going to be 10 in a few days, I’d hate to know that my last picture of you I had before I left was of you crying.” She says with a giggle. “But why do you have to take that stupid boat?” the boy asks grumpily “Well since we live so far away from the airport, it’s easier just to go by boat to the next town, anyway I like the sea.” She says letting loose her grip on her little brother. “You know how I hate boats, especially since that day.” Enix replies, tugging at the grass beneath him. “Don’t worry about me; anyway Uncle Jessie is here to pick you up. He’ll take you to America, won’t that be great?” Enix just sighs, standing up with his sister as they walk off together. “That’s why I have to live, that’s why I have to kill everyone who stands in my way. In the way of my path to Adderon Ray.”

Robinson opens his eyes wide, now back in the present standing in front of a wall filled with bullet holes. He breaths heavily as he holds his shoulder tightly, blood rushing down his fingers and onto his gloves. His eyes have a determination of them that sends shivers up Kuma’s spine, the giant trying to recompose himself for another attack. Before he can reach for another bullet two gunshots ring out. The inside of Kuma’s left elbow joint and his knee are shot, dropping him to his right knee. Still Kuma reaches for his bag again, but Robinson rushes over and plants a boot right in the injured man’s face. Kuma rolls over and skillfully hops to his feet. He reaches again for his bag but can’t seem to get it. Suddenly what sounds like change in someone pocket can be heard, Robinson stands with the bag in his hand, tossing it up and down with a smirk on his face. Quickly he pulls out his empty gun clip from before and loads a single bullet into it from the bag. “Sorry, I can’t let someone like you kill me, not when I’m this close.” He says, cocking the gun and taking his shot. The bullet hits Kuma right in the forehead and lodges into his skull. The monster drops to his knees and his arms fall to his sides. A few seconds pass and then there is a rumble. The wall behind Robinson explodes, a wall of bullets flying out of the rubble straight for Kuma.

The scene fades to black once again.

[BWoods]

~Chapters 6: Return To the End of My Existence [Version 2]~

The blackness pulls apart as if eyes opening for the first time in days. The image blurs in and out finally stabilizing to show a midday sky with no clouds in sight. Walls of a rock formation tower overhead the jagged edges jetting outward toward the sky. The sound of waves can be heard, the person whose eyes are being looked through sits up, looking at the deep blue ocean come to an end at a small secluded beach. “You’re finally awake?” a female voice says from behind, with that the scene flashes white.

When the image re-stabilizes it shows a young man, only about 21 years old, sitting on the same beach. He has short blue hair that blows in the wind. He looks over his left shoulder, his cheek patched up, a circle of red emitting from the center of the bandages. Behind him, a young woman sits on a rock staring at the man with a smile on her face. “I’m glad.” She says, looking off into the ocean. “I thought you were going to die.” She glances at her company and smiles, pushing herself up and hopping down to the sand. He just stares at her as she speaks, seemingly bewildered by her presence. He doesn’t say anything; he just turns his head away, looking back into the horizon. The girl sits down next to him and sets her hand on his wounded cheek. The man gasps and jumps back to his feet, reaching for his right leg in a reaction, much like a gunman drawing his weapon. When he clinches his hand down he realizes there’s nothing there. The girl just smiles, pointing to the rock she was sitting on, showing the man where his gun holster and tactical belt are. “You know, I’ve never seen that outfit before, are you a soldier?” she asks, the man looks at his clothing. He wears camouflaged pants tucked into combat boots and a white tank top with a camouflage jacket over the top of it. Dog tags hanging from his neck. As he stands there he looks at his clothing, then he holds his hands up and stares at them for a moment. “I don’t….who…” he mutters, looking up at the woman. She stands up and walks over to the man, her head lowered as if she were about to cry. When she reaches him she embraces him tightly. “I don’t know… who I am…” he says quietly, dropping to his knees, the woman falling to her knees as well. “Don’t worry.” She says with a smile. “I’ll be here for you, I’ll help you.”

The scene pushes a few minutes forward, the two of them standing in the water on the beach, looking out into the ocean. “So, since you don’t have a name.” the girl starts saying, smiling with happiness. “I guess I’ll have to name you hmm?” she says while giggling. “Name me?” the man repeats, raising an eyebrow. After a moment of silence the girl reaches into the pocket of her jean shorts and pulls out a cross attached to a chain. “This used to belong to my brother; he gave this to me when he was really sick. Just days before he passed away, he told me to give it to someone I cared about.” She says, looking at the cross in her hand with a smile. She sits up on her knees and leans over the unnamed man, wrapping it around his neck. “His name was Kino, Kino Katsumate. So that will be your name from now on, until you gain your memory back. Ok?” she asks standing up and running down into the water. Kino takes the cross in his hand and holds it up to the sky. He smirks and stands up. “That sounds good to me.” He thinks, running down to join Yvette. The scene fades to black.

The next scene opens with the two walking through a forest, a trail cutting through the trees. “So Kino-kun, have you learned anything about yourself recently?” Yvette asks as she brushes her medium cut black hair behind her ear. “I have had a few dreams, but I can’t pick any facts out of them.” Kino responds, kicking a rock down the path. “That’s too bad.” Yvette responds, putting her arms behind her head and looking up at the overlapping branches, hiding the sky above. Kino stops for a second and kneels down, setting his hand on the ground and wiping dirt from the trail all around. “It’s just so frustrating, knowing that I have to be someone, having another life… but never being able to know it.” He says grabbing a handful of dirt. Suddenly Yvette screams a monstrous roar. Kino looks up, seeing a bear standing on its back legs. It towers over Yvette, standing at least 12 foot tall, its foreleg extended over its head ready to strike. Without thinking Kino pulls out his pistol, it’s an odd looking weapon, a short handle but it is thick, as if taken off of a rifle designed to be held by two hands. The barrel of the pistol is at least a foot long.

Kino takes aim quickly and with the marksmanship of a seasoned hunter aims for the bear’s head. Yvette drops to her knees and puts her arms over her head, anticipating a force to come down on her, but there’s only an explosion and a thud. She looks up and notices that the bear is still standing, but its head is at its feet. Yvette’s eyes fill with tears as she turns to Kino, who is lying on his back with his pistol 15 feet on the ground behind him. He sits up and sees Yvette starting to sob, as the body of the bear falls backwards, kicking dust up. Kino looks at his hands which have turned red from the recoil of the weapon. “What have I done?” he says quietly, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He hops up to his feet and takes off down the path, leaving the weapon to lie in the middle of the path. Yvette watches him run off and stares at the ground.

A few minutes later Kino sits back at the beach he first awoke at, staring at the ground. Yvette walks up from behind him with his gun in her hands, she offers it to him but he doesn’t respond. “Kino?” she asks setting the weapon down on a boulder behind him. “Thank you.” She continues “For saving me.” Kino shakes his head at the comment. “I feel…. So disgusting… so empty.” He says, his words trailing off as he looks to his close friend. “Was this the kind of person I used to be?” he asks her, knowing that she couldn’t answer it. “You did it to save me though.” She says “but I still took a life… no matter if that was just an animal or not… knowing that it will never breath again… what kind of person could live with themselves after doing that…” Kino stands up and grabs the pistol with one hand and Yvette’s wrist with the other.

Minutes later they are walking up the same forest path as before, Kino holding a shovel in his hands while Yvette carries the weapon. Kino spends the next 20 minutes digging a grave for the bear and pushing the body into it. After he manages to get the body into the hole he throws the shovel into the ground and takes the gun from Yvette, dropping it into the grave and covering it with dirt. After finishing he stands there with his arms at his side, Yvette whispering a quiet prayer. “I’ll never kill again, no person, no thing, nothing. I will never…. I promise you Yvette.” Kino says, turning to his friend. She smiles, a tear in her eye. “Maybe, this is the best thing to do. Maybe you shouldn’t become whoever you were before.” She says, turning from Kino and walks down the path. Kino smiles as he stands up “That’s probably true.” He says while the scene fades to black

“But that was the last time I were to stand there as Kino Katsumate” a voice says in the darkness. “Two years after that incident, I killed again… I killed over 600 people. It was my fault” the voice says, an image of Kino, now with longer hair and a long trench coat on, a scar across his left cheek. He stands in front of a large hole; only bones are left in it, along with the pistol he left there. “I’m sorry Yvette…” he whispers as he reaches into the hole to retrieve the weapon. After that the image fades to black.

[BWoods]

~Chapter 7: After the Dream~

“I’m alive…” Adderon thinks to himself as his eyes open up after a long sleep. He takes a quick look at his surroundings, noticing that he is no longer in the streets but now in a small bunk. The metal walls and floor leading up to the small steel bed that extends out of the wall, held up with two chains. A low hum can be heard, not coming from any single spot in the room any more than another. Adderon tries to set his hand down to stand up but realizes that his hands and feet are cuffed together. “Well it seems as if the uncatchable has been caught.” He jokes to himself, sliding his wrist through one of the cuffs easily. He brings his other hand in front of him and reaches into his pants pocket, pulling out a lock pick. First he reaches down and unbinds his feet, then unlocks the other handcuff on his wrist. After freeing himself Adderon rubs his left wrist. “They really didn’t need to put them on so tight. It leaves marks.” He smiles, sitting up and taking a better look at the room. The room seems to be separated a third of the way down, but other than that there is no furnishing or any notable details. “Seems that I’m on their airship, that hum is most likely the airplane props, and with nothing to work with I only have one option.” He thinks, walking across the room, stepping over a small support ring where the parts of the ship have been joined together. On the other side of the ring he notices a hatch. He grabs the hatch in his hands and turns it with all of his strength. After 3 rotations the door starts to open up. “This is too easy.” Adderon notices, stepping away from the door as it swings open harshly. The hatch only leads to the exterior of the plane, nothing but blue sky outside. The force of the air pressure change pulls him to the edge of the doorway, he props his feet on either side of the door and pushes on the walls with his hands, trying to keep from falling out of the room. Suddenly the sound of an electrical motor is heard as the door pulls itself shut, the handle spinning back and locking it tightly. Adderon falls to the floor and slides back against the far wall, gasping for air. “We knew that any kind of locks we had would easily be bypassed by you Adderon, that’s why when we designed this airship we made that special holding cell. Just for you.” A voice says echoing off of the walls with a tinny sound.

Suddenly a panel of the ceiling pulls out, revealing a grated hatch to an above room. Adderon stands and uses the bed to get a closer look into the room above him. There is a giggle from the other side, making him even more curious to see what’s on the other side. He notices the gauges and controls of the aircraft on the left side, and windows, letting in the rays of sunlight. Suddenly Kiriko’s face appears right before Adderon, only inches away from him. “HOLY SHIT” he yells, falling down to the floor. Kiriko just laughs, her misleading smile recognizable through the grate. “He said a bad word sis.” She says with a giggle as the panel slides back into place, leaving Adderon in the room by himself once again.

Back in Germany, police and ambulance vehicles have been dispatched, Robinson standing at the rear of one of the ambulances, receiving treatment to his shoulder. He watches as several officers tape off the entrance to the church, starting a forensic investigation. Then he turns his head and sees several medical staff members bring a stretcher with a black tarp over it into the back of an ambulance. “Enix?” a voice says from his side. He looks over from where the voice came from, a young female officer with blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her green eyes bringing warmth to Robinson, after his long and disheartening experience. “How are you, I heard you got hurt.” She asks him, setting her hand on his wounded shoulder. Robinson winces, pulling his shoulder away from her grip. “Ow, Ayami, that’s the wound.” “Oh damn, sorry Enix.” She says pulling away from him. Robinson lets out a light chuckle, and then looks back at the ambulance as another body is loaded into it. “I really screwed things up this time.” He says, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “How bad was it?” Ayami asks, sitting down next to the lone survivor. “Everyone.” Robinson replies, bringing an awkward silence to the somber scene. “He really has escalated things now.” Ayami says quietly. “It wasn’t Adderon; he didn’t even have a weapon on him.” “Then who was it?” Robinson looks up at the sky for a moment; the clouds start to open up, letting the half-moon shine through. “There were two others actually, one of them was Kiriko, the Mongoose. The other one I haven’t heard of before, his name was Kuma.” The name of Kiriko shocks Ayami. “What kind of connection is there? You sure you didn’t just see her because of blood loss?” she asks, setting her hand on Robinson’s forehead. “Stop it, I saw her. And it seems that they knew each other already.”

“Detective Robinson, you have an urgent call from the Captain.” Another officer says, standing by a squad car with a cell phone in his hand.

[BWoods]

~Chapter 8: Return to My Second Birthplace~

“Yes sir? Yes… Yes sir, everyone but myself…. He…. escaped, I know sir. I’m sor... Yes sir.”

After his conversation with the Captain, Robinson steps out of the police cruiser he was in, with a dejected look on his face. He walks over to Ayami, who is setting on the hood of the car, awaiting orders. “How’d it go Enix?” She asks, looking over her shoulder. “He’s fucking pissed off.” Robinson says, letting his frustration show through. He walks past Ayami, heading for the chapel stoop, where the entire episode started. Ayami hops off the car and follows behind, keeping close. “Why are you here anyway?” Robinson asks, setting his foot on the first step leading to the hollowed doorway. “You’re my commanding officer Enix; I’m here to help you. Also, aren’t we childhood friends still?” she says, stopping just short of the staircase. Robinson stops at the top of the stoop, turning back to Ayami. “I don’t want you mixed up with Adderon Ray. He’s too dangerous.” He says coldly, staring into his friend’s eyes. Ayami stares back, becoming slightly annoyed. “Don’t act like you’re the only person who’s suffered because of that monster.” She shoots back. “That’s the reason why we went into the police force together Enix. Don’t become a self-serving selfish asshole because you just came inches from your goal.” She continues, walking up the steps, stopping on the step beneath Robinson, staring him right in the eyes. There is an intense moment between the two before Robinson turns around, laughing to himself. “That’s why you’re the only person I can trust Ayami-chan. You are the only person in the world with more intensity and drive than me.” He turns to see Ayami smiling at him. Together they enter back into the church, the scene fading to black.

In the blackness there is a thud and then the sounds of an electric motor starting. Suddenly a ray of light pierces the darkness, showing the small holding cell that Adderon Ray is in, trying to sleep on his ‘bed.’ Adderon remains on the bed, one arm over his face to block out the light while he slept. He moves his arm up to see who has entered the room. It is Kiriko, standing right over Adderon, grinning as she always does. “Wakey Wakey Ad-Kun.” She says, pulling Adderon off of the bed, letting him drop to the floor. He just manages to lean forward enough to keep from landing on his head, but still lands with a thud. “Damnit, why are you so strong?” he asks, puling himself off the ground. She just giggles and cart wheels over to the other side of the room.” “Come on, Ad-Kun, it’s time to see sis.” She hops out through the door, Adderon following her outside. He takes a deep breath of the air, smelling the salt of the ocean, feeling somewhat nostalgic as he follows Kiriko down a trail. “So Ad-Kun, I just need to let you know now to get any ideas about escaping or anything. Sis tells me you like to run away. She said if you tried to run, I could kill you, of course that’s only after I put you through excruciatingly painful torture.” Kiriko says in a playful voice, after saying that she tumbles across the ground and hops up as if sticking a landing like a gymnast. “My my, for such a little girl you say such harsh things with little humanity.” He replies with a smile “Don’t worry; I know where I am now. There’s nowhere for me to run anyway.” After saying that Adderon looks down at the ground, his smile fading away. “After all this time I never thought I’d be back here again.” He thinks to himself, reminiscing on the past

Adderon lays a hand across his stomach, checking the severity of his wound, but he realizes that it has been treated already. “So did your sister bandage me up?” he asks, puling of his blood-stained shirt, taking a look at the bandages closer. “That’s right Ad-Kun. Sister seems to like you, I don’t know why though.” Kiriko says, turning to take a look at the shirtless Adderon. Her eyes slightly open up and her smile fades away, noticing all of the scars that cover the man’s body. She stops walking long enough for him to catch up, taking an even closer look at him. “Wow, you’ve got a lot of marks on you, what happened?” she asks innocently. Adderon quickly puts his shirt back on, covering his body back up; he passes Kiriko up, heading straight for a building at the end of the trail. Behind the house a village can be seen, the view from the higher ground giving a good perspective of the ocean as well. From within the house a piano can be heard, a solemn song is being played by someone inside. Walking up to the door, Adderon presses his back against the exterior wall, closing his eyes and taking in the music. Inside, the woman that Kiriko called ‘sis’ sits at a small piano that sets against the near wall, next to the doorway. As she plays she closes her eyes, feeling the music out while she plays. Though the music itself is filled with sorrow, she keeps a smile on her face. Adderon crosses his arms across his chest, leaning in toward the door. “This always was my favorite song. Are you playing it for me?” he asks taking a looking into the room. “This is the ballad of my brother’s death that I wrote long ago.” She says, opening her eyes and looking directly at Adderon. “Yvette… Don’t say things like that.” Adderon replies, turning to stand in the doorway. “Kino… he’s dead, and he died again the moment you left. You’re nobody I know any longer… Adderon Ray.”

As Yvette says that she hits the last few notes, pressing the keys softly, the note fading slowly away as she keeps her gaze on him. The scene fades to black.


~Chapter 9: Even the Sky Weeps for You~

The chirps of a charm of Finches can be heard in a row of bushes. The birds perch themselves on a row of branches intertwining, they carry seeds in their beaks, eating them while keeping an eye out for predators. The camera pans upward, showing a row of people dressed in black, filing their ways through a graveyard, a group of four pallbearers carrying a casket lead the way. The procession walks down a gravel road, still damp from the previous night’s rains. A light mist fills the area, the rays of the sun poking though between clouds, like lines being drawn through the air. Finally the line of grieving people reaches a small hill with a hole dug out for the casket to be placed into. Several minutes later, everyone starts to leave, but two people stay behind, a man dressed in a black suit, his left arm in a sling, there is also a young woman with him, wearing a short black skirt with a button-up blouse, her blond hair tied back with a black band. Their faces come into view, its Robinson and Ayami. They stand at the edge of the grave looking into it. “This is our fate.” Robinson says, breaking a long silence. “No matter how hard we try to avoid it, we end up just like this.” “Enix, you blame yourself for this, I know, and you’re well within your right to do so. But can’t you show a little sorrow?” Ayami asks, pulling the band out of her hair, letting it down to blow in the light wind. She looks from the hill across the cemetery, the fog starting to dissipate slowly as the time goes by. “That’s something I stopped doing a long time ago, you know that better than anyone.” Robinson says, grabbing Ayami’s wrist with his right hand. He pulls her around, staring her in the eyes. The glare sends chills through Ayami’s body, as she looks away from his stare. “As much as I replay the sequence in my mind, I know that this is what will happen in the end.” He says coldly, loosening his grip on her wrist. But as he does so he holds her hand softly. “What I do between those times though. Will be decided by how I react to reality. If I looked at this and let it kill my resolve, destroy my will, and crush me completely. Then I will be as good as dead, but if I can hold on… only with your help… I can change this story.” Robinson lets go of Ayami’s hand and looks down into the grave. Then he closes his eyes and raises his hand in front of his face, in a traditional prayer. Ayami just stands, looking at the ground before her, as Robinson walks away silently. She smiles as a tear runs down her face, the words from her lifelong friend making a deep impact. The wind picks up, blowing her hair into her face, with one hand she brushes it behind her ear, in the same motion she wipes the tear from her cheek. “Only you can bring me to tears.” She thinks to herself, turning away and following in Robinson’s footsteps down the hill.

Back with Adderon, he now stands inside of the emptied building, looking out of one of the old dust-covered windows. He runs his hand along it, leaving a layer of dust on his fingers. Yvette still sits at the piano, keeping her back to Adderon. She rests her hands on her lap, looking at the keys, seemingly lost in thought. “So, why am I here?” Adderon asks as he turns to Yvette. His gaze makes her feel uncomfortable, even when she is not looking at him. A few seconds pass while Adderon leans back against a space on the wall between two windows. Yvette tries to bring herself to speaking but her voice makes no sound, her breath escaping in a short breath. Adderon raises an eyebrow, becoming annoyed at the silence. “What? You kidnap me, you bring me all the way across the world, and then you don’t even give me a damn good reason as to why?” He says, pushing himself off the wall and taking a few steps across the room toward Yvette. Suddenly she stands up, the piano bench falling over. She sets her hands down on the piano’s keys; the ugly sound of the mixing notes can be heard, the small empty room giving an echo. “Did you really do it?” she asks, looking straight down at the floor. Adderon stops in the middle of the room, his gaze easing off of Yvette and do the ground as well. “What does it matter? The story is world-wide common knowledge.” Adderon says, glancing up. “Please… Answer my question. Did you? Kino? Did you really kill all of those people?” Yvette yells, her voice breaking as she turns around. On her face a look of immense sorrow and confusion. The sound suddenly goes out as the camera zooms in on Adderon’s mouth. He says something to Yvette, making her eyes widen, she appears to nearly cry but she composes herself and smiles, tears beginning to well in her eyes. She says something back and then walks out of the room, the silence only letting through the sounds of birds in the background chirping over the low roar of the waves. The scene fades to black

“Through my direct actions, the lives of so many people were lost that day. Though I was without malice, I still was responsible for what happened. That terrible day 13 years ago.” Adderon’s voice says through the darkness. “I can’t live with myself knowing that their blood is on my hands, that’s why I’ve fought for this long. To find out the truth as to what happened, I believe I was set up.” He continues. “I was hoping to hear that.” Yvette’s voice breaks in, still sounding troubled, but somewhat at ease. “That proves to me that Kino hasn’t been stolen from me by the aura of Adderon Ray. So there’s no reason for me to play my brother’s death ballad anytime soon.

[BWoods]

~Chapter 10: Plea~

Adderon and Yvette walk along a dirt path together. The early morning sun shines down from above, reflecting off of the ocean water from the left, on their right the outskirts of a forest. Adderon walks with his hands in his pants pockets, staring into the distance, deep in thought. Yvette holds here hands together, looking downward, glancing up every few seconds at Adderon. “Kiriko has changed a lot since I saw her last.” Adderon says while turning back to Yvette, as he turns he winces a little due to his stomach wound. “Don’t push yourself too hard.” Yvette says, setting her right hand on his shoulder and the other on top of his hand, covering his wound. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse amazingly.” He says with a smile. “Anyway, about Kiriko.” Yvette slightly smiles, and then looks down at the ground, with a troubled look on her face. “Of course you know that I adopted Kiriko as my sister shortly after I met her.” She says as she smiles softly. “Yeah, she was really quiet back then; she wasn’t nearly as bold as she is now. Nor as confusing. Now that I think about it, she seems like an entirely different person.” Adderon says, raising his hand to his chin in thought.

“You should have been here for her Kino.” Yvette says, interrupting Adderon’s thought. “What’s that?” he says, having not heard her comment. “Kino…” Yvette looks into his eyes, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “Kino, do you remember how long ago you first came to this village. The time when we first met?” she asks, putting on a half-hearted smile. Adderon raises an eyebrow at the question. “I’m not sure, maybe 17 years ago. Why do you ask?” “There’s something you need to know about Kiriko.” Yvette says, bringing her right arm across her body and holding onto her left shoulder. Adderon turns to face her, waiting for Yvette to continue. Suddenly there is a look of discomfort on her face; something in Adderon’s face causes her to become uneasy. She looks to the ground and smiles a fake smile. “She really admired you before; she would talk about you all day back before her… loss.” “Her loss? What’s that mean?” Adderon says, becoming more confused as the conversation goes on.

The scene fades away and reopens in the past, Kiriko being just a child. She wears a blue kimono with yellow flowers that twist and climb up either side; she walks with Yvette along the same path that she and Adderon are walking on right now. She has an excited look on her face, her glee showing through as she skips along the path, holding her big sister’s hand. “Hey sister?” Kiriko asks, looking up to Yvette. “Yes Kiriko?” “What’s he like? Your friend?” Kiriko lets go of Yvette’s hand and steps in front of her, tugging at her pants’ waistband. “Please, tell me.” “My My, Kiriko, you’re awful excited over his visit aren’t you?” Yvette says with a smile. “Well, he’s a very kind person, so nice that you always think that you are a burden to him, but that’s never true. He’s so pleased to just be alive and breathing, he would do anything for anyone.” As Yvette talks they pass a tree on the side of the road, on top of a small hill. She smiles as she stands under the tree, looking at the branches swaying in the wind. “Did you know that he and I planted this tree long ago?” Yvette asks, looking down to her little sister. “Really? That’s amazing. I love this tree!” Kiriko exclaims, staring at the tree with her large orange eyes. “He and I planted this for a special person.” Yvette thinks to herself. Then the two of them continue down toward the beach, into the hidden beach where she first met Adderon.

When they arrive they see a man sitting on the large boulder in the center of the area. He stares off into the distance, his hand on his chin, propping his arm on his knee. He has long blue hair that scraggly hangs over his face, a scraggly beard on his face. As he turns to look at Yvette and Kiriko they notice that he has an eye patch over his right eye. “Kino?” Yvette says to him, trying to see her friend through the physical changes. “Hey, it’s been a while Yvette.” He says, sliding off of the rock to the ground. His left pants’ leg slipping up, revealing a pistol strapped to his boot. Yvette notices it but doesn’t react to it, noticing that something is wrong with him. “This is your friend Ne-san?” Kiriko says, holding on to Yvette’s pant leg. “Yes, it is. Why don’t we go over and talk to him?” Yvette says, starting to walk over to Adderon. While she walks she becomes more and more uneasy, as if something just isn’t right about Adderon’s appearance or demeanor. Adderon just stands there with his hands at his side, an awkward smile on his face. Suddenly an overwhelming sense of fear comes over Yvette, causing her to stop in her tracks. Kiriko bounces off of her sister and falls to the ground.

Suddenly blood splatters onto Kiriko’s face a large force falling down from above onto her. Yvette falls to the ground with a gunshot wound in her shoulder, blood flowing out. Adderon stands there with his gun drawn, a psychotic smile stretched across his face. He begins walking toward the two, an almost evil chuckle echoing throughout the area, resonating from Adderon. Yvette tries her best to roll over and protect Kiriko but she is snatched up off of the ground by the wild-eyed Adderon. He picks Yvette off of the ground by her hair, bringing the woman to screams and tears, then without emotion Adderon shoots her once in each leg. Kiriko watches this, her face completely frozen in shock, her body unable to move. “This day shall be grand, for you will be with a god.” Adderon says aloud, turning around to Kiriko as he holsters his weapon. “KIRIKO, RUN! THAT’S NOT KINO!” Yvette screams, trying to pull herself to her feet but her body unable to gather the strength to do so. The man walks slowly over to Kiriko, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her into the air. He sickly licks his lips as he slams the child against the boulder he was just sitting on. Then he uses his free hand to grab hold of her Kimono. The scene goes black as the sound of ripping cloth can be heard. “STOOOOOOOOP!!” Yvette screams the screen shattering back into reality.

Adderon stands staring at Yvette as she pushes tears back. “Why did you ask me that?” Adderon questions, turning his gaze to the ocean. “And you never returned here until now?” she asks, turning to Adderon. “Are you feeling ok?” he asks “You never returned here Kino, is that right!?!” Yvette repeats, her voice beginning to break up. Adderon notices the seriousness of her question and stares right into her eyes. “When I left here, I never came back until today.” The picture goes to black once again. “Then, I believe you.”

[BWoods]

~Chapter 11: As I Continue to Struggle Onward~

~Two Years Ago~

The scene opens on a city street late at night. Rain pours down onto the cars and down to the sidewalks, the neon lights from the buildings and the car headlights leaving long multi-colored streaks across the ground. At an intersection cars are stopped at a red light, while another street’s traffic passes through, several cars turning left at the light. People walk along the sidewalk, umbrella’s dancing down the street in swarms. A young girl walks down the street alone. She has dark brown skin and black hair that is cut to about eye length. It is braided in the back, a length of hair stopping just between her shoulder-blades. She has a troubled look in her emerald green eyes, as she struggles to carry a large duffle bag, along with another bag on her back and some books in her arms, an umbrella wedged between her body and the books. Suddenly wind picks up from behind her, pushing the umbrella over her face just as she steps into the street. She tumbles to her knees, dropping the bags and books, the umbrella flying away into the street. Suddenly there is a scream followed by the sound of a car honking. This breaks the girl out of here trance long enough for her to notice a car barreling right at her. The screen goes black.

The next scene opens up at a receptionist desk in the lobby of a hospital. The attendant at the counter reads the news on her computer screen, sighing with boredom as she clicks the mouse a few times. She doesn’t pay attention to the front door when it opens, she just continues on with her reading. After a few seconds a tall figure catches her attention from the corner of her eye, the shadow reaching over the desk and across her keyboard. The young receptionist gasps and closes the window she was just reading, turning her gaze to the figure. As she does so her eyes go wide, noticing that a tall man has carried a girl into the clinic. The man has long black hair that matches his trench coat, the colors so close it seems as if the hair blends into it. He has a wild look in his eyes and a large toothy grin, almost a mannequin-like face that’s unchanging even as he begins to speak. “Oh excuse me young lass, it seems I’ve happened upon this young woman who was stricken by a motored chariot” he says, his odd accent adding a sense of creepiness to his already unique appearance. The receptionist reaches for the microphone to make an announcement but keeps her stare on the odd man. “Attention, any available medical staff please report to the lobby.” She says, her voice uneasy but still keeping calm, just as she gives the notice she watches him set the unconscious girl down on a chair in the lobby. Then he turns around and begins to walk out of the building, the ease of his movements almost making it seem as if he is gliding across the floor. “Sir? Sir wait please, you need to answer some questions” the receptionist says, reaching for a clipboard with some papers clipped to it. When she raises her head she notices the man is stopped in the doorway, looking back at the young woman. “I haven’t the need nor temperance to restrict myself here to answer generic questions about this woman here. I haven’t the slightest who may be, but before you on the floor are her belongings.” He says, as he points to the duffle bag and book bag on the ground, lying against the desk. “Sir, what is your name?” she asks, setting the clipboard on the desk. “My name, is rather irrelevant, her life is dependant on your actions now.” He takes a step out of the door but then another voice echoes from him. “Avarice.” It says, the camera showing a shadowed face in an unknown location, only the nose and mouth are shown, but a smile comes across their face, then a grimace, like a shot of pain. The girl writes the name down and looks up again to see the door closing as the medical staff arrives there is a flurry of voices that mix together as the scene fades away.

~Present Time~

“Here we are” a taxi driver says, pulling his cab over to the side of the street in an older looking neighborhood. The back door opens and out steps Robinson, Ayami soon following him. Robinson stretches his arms a bit. “It feels so nice to finally have that sling off. Damn my elbow is so stiff.” He says, bending and straightening his left arm over and over. Ayami smiles and gives him a slight elbow to the ribcage. “Don’t overdo it, your wound may be healed but going back to the beat so quick? Why don’t you rethink taking some extra vacation?” she asks, speaking in a worried tone. “I need to get back on Adderon’s trail as soon as possible.” He replies, walking up a set of stairs in front of a brick building. “Don’t worry about me so much, it gets embarrassing sometimes.” Robinson says with a smile on his face. He opens the door to the building and holds it open for her. “If I didn’t worry about you nobody would, idiot.” She shoots back as she gives him another elbow to the ribs. Ayami turns her attention back into the building, noticing someone standing in the hallway waiting for them. Robinson closes the door and turns his attention to the person. “Yo, it’s Sara.” Standing in the center of the hallway the girl from the previous scene, she carries several large folders filled with papers. She stands just staring at Robinson with a happy look. “Detective Robinson!” she says with excitement. Robinson gives a slight smirk and begins walking down the hallway. “It sounds like you’re Japanese is improving Sara.” “Yes, I’ve tried hard to be getting better.” She replies, her speech a little shaky. “Sorry to interrupt you two but Enix, you need to see the captain right away.” Ayami says, pushing Robinson from behind. As she passes, Ayami gives Sara an unfriendly stare, leaving Sara a little confused and disheartened. She stares at the folders in her hands for a moment; the camera zooms in on her eyes. Suddenly there is a slight sparkle and a small red light appears to shine out from behind her green pupils.

After the light fades away Sara’s faces goes blank, as if she just forgot what she was thinking about. “What was I just doing?” she asks herself, looking at the folders in her hands. “I could have sworn Detective Robinson just got back.” She says, the scene fading to black.

[BWoods]

Author's Note: Finally back to writing this after such a ridiculously long time, still have a few chapters saved away to give me a bit of a cushion. Anyway enjoy! (please?)

~Chapter 12: I May Have Your Heart, But He Has Your Body~

Inside of a well-kept office a single man sits in a chair, a line of windows behind him on the wall letting through light. The rays are clearly seen through the thick fog of cigarette smoke that fills the room. The man sits with a folder lying on his desk opened with several stapled pieces of paper. He appears to be an older man, in his 50’s, his dark brown hair streaked with gray and bags below his deep blue eyes. The door across the room slowly creeks open, drawing his attention away from the folder. “Robinson, I’m surprised to see you’re willing to come back so quickly.” The older man says, shutting the folder and setting it aside. Robinson pushes the door open and enters the room, walking to the desk. He stops just in front of the desk and stands at attention, with his arms behind his back. “Captain, I can’t stay off the force for too long, especially when Adderon Ray so narrowly esca…” Robinson starts before being cut off. “I’m taking you off that case starting today.” The captain says, putting his elbows on his desk, intertwining his fingers together and placing his chin on his hands. “What!” Robinson screams, the traffic and desk workers down the hallway outside of the office all stopping to stare at the door. Back inside Robinson stands with his hands on the desk, leaning over to the captain with fury in his eyes. “You’re being taken off of Adderon’s case until further notice. You’re actions caused us 6 good men, and a large portion of our SWAT force. For now we will back off and get some officers trained.” “Captain, the risks were very well known going into that mission, but the appearance of Kiriko the Mongoose and Kuma Ashitosen was totally unexpected. I don’t see how my being removed from the case due to unforeseeable circumstances can be justified.” Robinson says, gritting his teeth in anger as he stands up straight. “I understand your disappointment but we can’t risk any more pursuit as of this moment. Also, he has disappeared off the face of the Earth since that night. We have to take this opportunity to investigate some other cases for now. Also, you are in no physical condition to even be out on Adderon’s trail even if we had a lead. This is also why I’m asking you to stay home for the next few weeks.” Robinson sits down and stares at the floor in amazement, the feeling of uselessness overcoming him. The captain stands up and steps over to the window, looking outside. “I’m sorry detective, this is for the best. It’s only temporary, as soon as we get word on Adderon I’ll bring you in, but for now, pick up on another case and review it from home.” After hearing this Robinson clinches his fists and stands up. He walks over to the door and reaches for the doorknob, but stops just short. “I’m not going to stay off his case for long. I had him in my hands once, next time I’ll bring him in.” Robinson says as he opens the door and walks out. When the door shuts the Captain turns around and picks up his phone, hitting one of the speed-dial buttons. “Yes?” a voice on the phone says. “There should be less pressure now doctor.” The Captain says, holding the phone against his ear. “Good, then you should understand the next step. Send her here as soon as possible.” “I understand” The Capitan then hangs the phone up and turns back around and stares out the window.

In the front hallway of the building Robinson heads for the door with a bag over his shoulder, his expression of total disgust. “You’re leaving Detective?” a voice says from behind him, he stops and turns to see who it is. Standing at the corner is Sara, leaning against the wall. “Oh, Sara. I’m going to be away for a while so Ayami is in charge.” Just as he says that Ayami rounds the corner right behind Sara. “I told you, you should have stayed at home.” Ayami says, folding her arms over her chest. “He took me off the case, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop working on it.” Robinson says, turning back around and heading for the door. As he walks away Sara tries to say something but she looks over to Ayami and stops herself. Ayami turns around and heads back inside, but stops just as she passes Sara. “The way you look at him all the time, and the way you act. I know you crave for his attention little girl, but know this.” Ayami says. Sara looks over to her and their eyes lock. Sara tries to look away but it doesn’t help, she feels very uneasy as Ayami continues her glare. “I’ve know him all his life, nobody in this world knows or loves that man more than I do, but he’s never shown affection beyond friendship towards me.” Sara’s eyes go wide; while she stares at the floor, pressing herself against the wall further. “I’m just telling you what to expect when you actually do say something to him. That’s all.” With that said Ayami turns around and walks away. After she leaves Sara’s eyes glow red again as she looks up to see the Captain standing on a balcony above. She nods slightly and begins to walk toward the front door, as if possessed, her eyes filled with lifelessness.

Elsewhere, inside of a confined room that is lit by computer monitors and console lights a single man sits in a chair. On a large screen in front of him, there is a map of a city, and a single red dot that moves slowly down one of the many streets on the screen. The sound of a keyboard tapping can be heard, and then a box opens up on the screen. It reads “Level 1 Restriction: Activated. Enter Keyword for Level 2 Unlock” a few stars appear on the screen then the image of the man’s hand pressing a key can be seen. “Severity” he says as he breaks into a twisted bellowing laughter.

[DARK_ZANGETSU]

man u got sum skills plz send a copy of that to me on my addy my addy is prince_solz_1991@hotmail.co.uk

[BWoods]

~Chapter 13: Matador Shuffle~

Robinson walks along a sidewalk in a worn down part of the city. As he walks he takes notice of the actions of people around him, he notices two men standing next to each other, slipping objects behind their backs to the other’s hand. Robinson begins to slow his walk when he runs into three more men, all of them with impatient and angered looks on their face. “What ya starin’ at?” the man in the center says. He stands at about 6’7” and is pretty muscular-looking. His hair is shaved; a streaming tattoo going down his arms, up his shoulders, and across his head can be seen. The man to the left is shorter, about 6’2”, he also appears to be around 300 pounds and out of shape, though his arms are still large and muscular. The third man is average looking, he is only 5’8” and seems to be skinny, but wears a baggy hooded sweater with the hood pulled over his head, and baggy pants that are tied down with a belt. Robinson takes a step back and looks at the three men, not showing the slightest bit of panic or even unease. “Hey, I asked ya, what are ya starin’ at ya punk *****.” The center man says again, reaching out to Robinson.

Quickly Robinson swings his bag across from his left side, catching the man in the face and sending him flying into a parked car next to the sidewalk. Keeping his momentum, Robinson drops the bag and punches the fat one directly in the face, sending him toppling over backwards. When Robinson stops the skinny guy has pulled out a knife and lunges at the officer, he swipes the blade a few times, Robinson just sidesteps each time. After the forth swipe Robinson grabs the man’s arm and clinches his wrist, putting his thumb just between the wrist and thumb and pressing hard and twisting the arm back. The man lets out a scream and drops the weapon, when he does that Robinson pulls him in and trips him. As the man falls to the ground Robinson places his knee on his attacker’s back and drives him face-first into the pavement. Calmly Robinson picks his bag up and begins to walk away. “Just so you guys know, I’m a police officer, but I don’t bother with chumps like you. Anyway, I’m pretty fucking pissed right now.” With that Robinson turns and continues down the street. Just as he passes in front of an empty lot he hears footsteps behind him that sound like a running person. He just sighs and drops his bag, spinning around with a kick. He sees a blur pass right over him and then a strong force that knocks him to the ground. Robinson rolls over and jumps to his feet, turning to see who has attacked him; his eyes go wide as he recognizes who it is. “Hey Hey Mr. Police Man” Kiriko says, sitting in the middle of the sidewalk with her legs crossed. “Kiriko? What are you doing here?” Robinson says as he steps backwards, reaching for his bag. “I’m only here because my sister told me to. She says that someone is going to try to kill you.” She smiles slightly and then hops up to her feet, brushing off the back of her shorts. She turns around and begins to skip away. “Wait!” he shouts, unzipping his bag and pulling out his pistol. “Hey, that’s no fair, I thought you gave those back before going home?” she asks, her smile fading away to a slightly disappointed expression. “Where’s Adderon Ray?” he asks, walking forward. Kiriko hums a little bit, and then opens her eyes. “It looks like you’ll have to wait.” When she says that Robinson turns around, when he notices who it is his eyes go wide in fear. “Sara” Kiriko lets out a laugh and hunches down as an animal would before pouncing. Sara stands on the sidewalk, in her eyes there is a red ring just outside of her green pupils and another ring just inside of them. Her face has a jagged tribal marking running across it, her face seems very animalistic and her expression is also primal. She is hunched down in the same position that Kiriko is in.

“Yo, Mr. Police man, you should get out of here. I can stop her.” Kiriko shouts, jumping up and running directly for Sara, her hands hanging down to the ground. “Wa… Wait!” Robinson shouts, trying to hold Kiriko back. She simple dodges his arms and pushes him aside. Sara jumps forward, slashing at Kiriko with her nails, which have extended to almost look like claws. Kiriko stops and ducks underneath the slash. The attack leaves four small scrapes in a building’s brick exterior. Sara punches downward at Kiriko, but the attack also misses and Kiriko responds with a double kick to her stomach. Suddenly there is a gunshot and a ricochet between the two fighters. Robinson stands with his pistol smoking, Kiriko and Sara both looking directly at him. At that moment he realizes that both of them have red rings in their eyes, but Kiriko only has one ring on the exterior of her pupil. “What the hell is this.” He thinks to himself as he grips his pistol tighter. Then he begins to look between the two of them, first looking at Kiriko then over to Sara, and back again. Just as he takes his eyes off of Sara she turns to her right and runs away with inhuman speed. “Stop!” Robinson attempts to follow but Kiriko punches him in the stomach, doubling over the officer, the pain causes him to drop the gun. “You’re alive, something that you ad Ad-Kun have in common for now. My sister just wanted you to know that.” After she says that Kiriko turns and runs away, leaving Robinson to try to catch his breath on the ground. “What the hell is going on?” he thinks, the image fading to black.

[BWoods]

~Chapter 14: My Mind: In Havoc~

Two days after his encounter with Kiriko and Sara, Robinson walks down a sidewalk near the same area he was in before. As he walks along he thinks about what happened, trying to make sense out of the entire event. Images of Sara’s face run though his mind, the markings on her body and the red circles in her eyes, he seems to be entranced until he passes in front of an electronics shop with several televisions in the main window. Suddenly, the voice of a reporter can be heard breaking into the image. “And with this exclusive footage, the question of police corruption is being asked by the people. The images on this video have even sprung the government into action, declaring the region under military policing until the charged against the involved parties are cleared.” Robinson’s eyes widen as he glances to the screen, seeing a security camera’s video of him standing with his gun drawn on Sara. He takes a closer look and notices that Kiriko has been removed from the picture along with Sara’s markings. “What the hell?” he says to himself. “Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Detective Enix Robinson please notify the local military officials.”

While he stands in front of the store a group of people start to gather around him. He can hear them as they whisper when his faces comes across the screen. He gasps in disbelief, and then his breaths become shorter as a rush of anxiety overcomes him. Suddenly there is a single voice in the crowd that can be heard clearly above the others. “What will you do now?” the voice says, almost as if in his ear. Robinson spins around, but there is nobody there, the crowd that gathered is gone now. Suddenly a single man standing in the center of the street catches his eye. The man stands with his arms behind his back, his face with a wild smile across it and his eyes wide open. It is the man from Sara’s accident two years ago. “What will you do now?” he asks again, soon after he drones into an evil laughter. Robinson looks at the man’s eyes, noticing that they have the same red rings as Kiriko and Sara have. “Who are you? What connection do you have with Kiriko and Sara?” Robinson asks, but the man just ignores him and continues laughing. Suddenly he disappears and the world crumbles apart around him.

Robinson lets out a scream as he sits up, waking from a nightmare. He sits on a bed in the corner of a small, single-bedroom apartment. “What... only a dream?” he says, staring at the wall across the room from him. A few seconds pass while he sits there, and then there is a knock on his door. Robinson steps out of bed and puts on a pair of pants then he walks to the door. “Who is it?” he asks, standing a few steps away from it. “It’s me, Ayami. Open up” she says. Robinson undoes the locks on the door and opens it up to see Ayami standing there in a blue t-shirt with a black hooded-sweatshirt on. She wears baggy blue jeans and carries two juice bottles with her. “I though you needed some company. You look like hell anyway.” She says, handing him one of the bottles. “Thanks, I guess I am a bit wrecked.” He says, rubbing the back of his head, trying to straighten out his hair. A few moments later they sit at a table in the center of the room. “You know things are really getting out of order back at the station. The Adderon case has completely fallen on the backburner. It’s almost as if the captain wants us all to forget about it.” She says, leaning over the table slightly, her chin resting on her hands. “Really?” Robinson responds, taking a sip out of his drink. “Ayami…” he says, trailing off. He sets his drink down on the table and looks down. “Enix? What is it?” she asks, concern coming over her face. “The other day, I came across Kiriko again, on the street…and I saw Sara… something wasn’t right.” As he talks about it, the images of the fight between Kiriko and Sara run through his mind. “Sara seemed…” “Possessed?” Ayami interrupts, turning her gaze out of the window to her left. “Yeah, how did you know?” “It’s because she came into the station today, claiming that you attacked her, that’s why I came here.” Ayami turns her head and looks straight into Robinson’s eyes.

“What?” “She has the wound to prove it… and we received this.” Ayami pulls out a videotape from her sweater and sets it on the table. Robinson quickly picks it up and after a few minutes they watch the same video that he saw in his dream. “Enix… did that really happen?” Robinson stares right at the screen, his eyes pried open by fear. Suddenly there is a bang from outside the window, the resonance of the sound echoes loudly into the room. Robinson flinches and jumps up, then he run over to the window and looks outside. “What he hell?” he asks “Ayami?” Robinson turns around and drops his drink on the floor, Ayami lays on the table, a stream of blood flowing from the left side of her chest. “Ayami?!” the image goes black again. “AYAMI!!”

[BWoods]

Updates will be done on Wendsday only from now on. So I don't end up out of chapters while I'm trying to get over this writer's block on chapter 21.

~Chapter 15: My Heart: In Torment~

Several blurry sequences pass by quickly, images of Robinson running down a city street carrying a bleeding Ayami in his arms, another with him setting her down in a hospital stretcher with several doctors and nurses pushing it along. Then a last image of him standing alone in the hospital foyer, and then collapsing onto the floor in tears. The image fades into Robinson sitting on a bench in front of a set of double doors, he has fallen asleep but a look of distress is still on his face, after a few moments one of the doors open up and out steps a doctor holding a clipboard. He walks over to Robinson and slightly pushes him on the shoulder. “Officer Robinson?” he asks while giving Robinson another tap. Robinson wakes up with a yawn and wipes his eyes, when he notices that the doctor is standing there he stands up quickly. “How is she? Is Ayami going to live?” The doctor pulls his mask off and sets his hand on Robinson’s shoulder. “One of her lungs has collapsed, but it shouldn’t be life threatening.” The doctor says. Robinson lets out a sigh of relief and falls back down to the bench. After a second his eyes open wide then he looks up to the office. “Doctor, wasn’t’ she shot through the heart? I mean the wound was almost perfectly placed on her heart.” “Oddly enough Officer Yamichi has a rare medical condition called Dextrocardia, meaning all of her organs are mirrored from their normal positions inside of the body, most likely she would have died instantly if she didn’t have this condition.” Robinson looks toward the ground with a semi-smile, then looks up to the doctor again. “When can I see her?” “She’s currently asleep, but I can allow you to see her for a few minutes.”

Ten minutes later Robinson opens the door to Ayami’s hospital room; he turns the corner and sees her hooked into an IV machine, as well with an oxygen mask over her face. He walks over to her and pulls a chair over and sits down next to her. He sits in silence for a few seconds; guilt starts to overcome him as his eyes begin to well with tears. Robinson reaches over and holds Ayami’s left hand, clutching it with both hands. “Ayami…I don’t know who would want to do this…” he says quietly, tears beginning to run down his face. “I’ve always taken you for granted, since… you’ve always been there for me, always protecting me, always lending me your ear.” He looks at Ayami’s face and clutches her hand tighter. “The truth is, though I’ve always acted like some sort of emotionless machine… I’ve always thought of you as more than a friend, more than a sister… once I realized that I might have lost you so suddenly… It became so much clearer to me…” As he speaks Ayami moves her hand and holds onto Robinson’s tightly, he gasps a little and looks to her, noticing tears starting to stream down her face as well, her eyes slowly opening. “E…ni...x” she says very quiet and painful voice. “Don’t push yourself.” “I… do...to” After she says that Robinson smiles and nods to her. “Just go to sleep now. I’ll come back soon.” He tries to stand up but Ayami holds on tightly to his hand. “Ayami…” she looks at him with her deep green eyes and instantly Robinson can tell what she wants to say. He nods and sits back down next to her bed.

After Ayami falls asleep Robinson quietly exits the room into the dark hallway His footsteps echo down the corridor but as he walks he hears a low hum ahead of him, then a chuckle. Robinson raises an eyebrow at the noise but continues on forward, the entire way the laughter becoming louder and more menacing. Then the voice breaks straight through the darkness. “What will you do now?” the voice says as a silhouette appears on the edge of the darkness. Robinson stops walking and tries to get a good look at the image; while he looks the image distorts and then shoots sharply at him. The same man from Robinson’s dream seems to fly down the hallway and straight into him. Robinson lets out a scream and as an explosion of blood flies out from his chest and back. Suddenly he is back in his apartment just as before, the rays of sunlight shining in through the window. Robinson is covered in sweat and his eyes are wide open; his heart racing while he tries to catch his breath. After a minute or so he starts to get out of bed when there is a knock on his door. He stands and walks to the door, still shaken from his experience. “Who’s there?” he asks. “It’s me” a woman’s voice says from behind the door, Robinson quickly undoes the locks and pulls the door open expecting to see Ayami standing there but instead it is Sara standing there with her arms behind her back and her eyes looking toward the ground.

“Detective Robinson, I have a message for you.” She says shyly, pulling a note out from her pocket. When she hands it to Robinson her eyes can be seen with a single red circle in them. Robinson stares at her for a second as he takes the note. When he opens the note there is a single word written on it, and a map. Robinson’s expression becomes serious and he drops the paper running back inside to get dressed. He walks out of the apartment placing his weapon inside of its holster, and then he looks at Sara. “Lets go.” He says walking off; Sara blinks and then looks over to the paper. The map on the paper is a map of a small pacific island range several miles off of the Japanese coast. The word written on it in large red letters “Adderon.”

[BWoods]

~Chapter 16: To Destroy the World Around Me: Redux~

“I guess that was all a dream.” Robinson thinks to himself when he drops the piece of paper on the floor. He closes the door with Sara following him, but the camera re-enters the apartment. The echoes of Robinson’s words can be heard as the camera floats over to the table in the center of the room, on the table there is a faded bloodstain with a video-tape box setting on top of it. “It was all a dream.” Standing in the room is the man from Robinson’s ‘nightmares’ against the wall. “Why don’t you stop playing with him already?” A voice says from seemingly nowhere. “These games I haven’t played in quite the while. I find a sense of delectation in the frolic of mesmerizing, you should understand this by now.” He replies, stepping over to the balcony and sliding the glass door open. “These games get boring, next time there’s a chance, I will kill him and get this nuisance over with.” The voice says, fading away into nothing but a whisper.

Robinson runs down a sidewalk with Sara following closely behind, as he runs Robinson notices that they are passing the street where he saw Kiriko and Sara. He shakes the thought from his mind and focuses forward. “That was just a dream. I have to get Ayami, and then we can get a boat to the island.” He thinks while rushing into an apartment building. Sara stops at the front door of the building and looks straight up, then follows him in a few seconds later. She runs up a staircase, hearing Robinson’s footsteps just above hers. She hears the footsteps stop and continues on, seeing Robinson standing in front of a kicked-in door. “What happened?” he says quietly, staring into the room. Inside, the apartment is torn apart, pictures thrown on the floor, furniture turned over, and broken glass lying on the floor. Robinson walks into the main room and picks up one of the pictures, he turns it over, seeing that it is a picture of Ayami and Robinson from when they were children. “Detective…” Sara says quietly, standing at the doorway. “Detective Yamichi, was admitted to the hospital just yesterday, you were there all day long… don’t you remember?” Robinson turns around and looks Sara in the eyes. “I thought that was just a dream.” He thinks, setting his hand against the wall and his other hand on his head. “En...uh... Detective, are you ok? What are we doing here?” she asks, stepping over to the pictures on the floor. She picks them up one by one and sets them onto the shelf. She looks at one of the pictures from Ayami’s graduation from the police academy. Ayami stands in her uniform and cap. Standing next to her is Robinson dressed the same; he has a smile on his face that Sara has never seen before. “He seemed so happy, I’ve never seen him more than smirk.” She thinks, looking to him “Detective?” she begins, but when she says that Robinson put the picture he has in his pocket and walks out of the room. “Come on Sara, if that was true then there is something I need to find out.” Sara blinks, watching Robinson walk out of the apartment.

The two of them walk back down the flights of stairs from which they came and return to the front entrance of the building. When they arrive, the front door of the building is riddled with holes, so is the sidewalk and cars outside. There are multiple bodies outside and pools of blood falling off into the store drains outside. When he sees this sight Robinson immediately remembers the sight of his SWAT unit when he discovered them. Suddenly there is a rumble and then a grinding sound. Sara sees all of the destruction and gasps in shock, falling backwards onto the staircase. “Oh my god.” She says with shortened breath. “Sara…” Robinson says, turning around to her. He sees into her eyes, noticing that the red ring in her eye has begun to spin and glow brighter and brighter. She begins to panic more and more while a pool of blood slowly seeps across the room toward the staircase. “Sara!” Robinson yells, grabbing the frightened woman by her shoulders, trying to shake her back into her senses.

From Sara’s point of view the entire world is shaking and blurring in and out of focus, then it seems a static-snow begins to buzz in. Suddenly the entire view goes black and a single red bar crosses the screen. Then, black letters form from within the bar. “Severity. Stage Three Activate.” As that happens the image comes back in but it is dyed with red. Sara’s eyes go wild as a second ring forms in her eyes, just outside of the pupil. The two rings spin quickly and glow brightly, then her body begins to tense up and widen out, as markings begin to form on her body. The lines and designs slowly climb up her neck and onto the left side of her face, when Robinson sees this he steps back, and then tries to exit the building, but when he reaches for the door there is a large formation blocking the doorway from the outside. The only sound that can be heard for several long seconds is a metallic grinding. Suddenly it stops and a voice breaks through the deafness.

“Boom.”

[BWoods]

~Chapter 17: Iron Smile~

Robinson stands in fear after hearing the all too familiar voice of the man he thought was dead. “There’s no possible way” he says quietly, taking a step backwards. Robinson steps into a pool of blood and slips, falling against the staircase next to Sara. Then suddenly, there is an explosion of gunfire from behind the front door. The glass panels in the door shatter as clouds of dust and wood splinters fly though the air, making it difficult to see through the entryway. Robinson stands without thinking and picks Sara up in the hail of bullets. “I’ve got to get her out of here, there’s no way I can fight that man again under these conditions.” Robinson thinks and he heads back up the staircase, with Sara limply hanging over his shoulder. The gunfire can be heard up the flights of stairs, their sound resonating off of the walls, dulling into a low tone as they get further and further away. Reaching the top of the stairwell Robinson opens up the door to the roof and steps outside, but he stops immediately after exiting the building.

Standing in the middle of the rooftop is the man Robinson feared was still alive, though much different than before, the monster human that faced off with the detective during the night Adderon Ray got away, Kuma. Kuma stands with his chain gun draped across his shoulder, a string of ammunition hanging over his neck like a chain. His face seems distorted, a metal plate has been attached to his face, screwed into his right jaw and extending down to his chin, the skin around it tucked painfully underneath. As he stands there the barrels of his weapon hiss and creak, smoke slowly rising from each of the 6 bullet-spewing tubes. Kuma stands calmly there with his left hand balled up and placed on his hip, an annoyed expression on his face matches the almost bored body language that he puts forward. Robinson stands in fear of the man, replaying the images in his head of the monstrous man taking a bullet to the head and then a hail of gunfire just after. “How?” he begins to say, but the words can only be worded in his state of amazement. Without a word Kuma lowers his arm to point his weapon at Robinson and Sara.

The weapon’s barrel slowly begins to spin and the world seemingly becomes slower and slower. The sound of the gears within the gun slowly becomes more like a set of fingernails across a chalkboard. While he stands there Robinson tries to form a plan to escape the current situation. “There is a little bit of cover, the air conditioners, the stairwell behind me, those seems like the most obvious places.” Robinson thinks to himself. “I could drop Sara and fight, or I could run, but he managed to follow us all the way up here from the front door. It seems that either way, she could die.” Just as he finishes his thoughts a voice breaks in through the stillness of the world. “What will you do now?” Robinson’s eyes go wide and the world stands still, a bird overhead is stopped in mid-flight and Kuma’s weapon has completely stopped.

Robinson clutches Sara tight and spins around, thinking that the voice came from behind him, but there is nobody there. “What will you do?” the voice says again, again coming from behind. Robinson turns around again, noticing that Kuma has disappeared and is now replaced by a tall-shrouded figure. The area around the figure is distorted much like how a heat wave appears. The figure has its head tilted downward and its arms at its side. It stands completely motionless, but the world deforms more and more each second. “What the hell is going on here?” Robinson thinks, looking down to Sara’s face. Her breathing is short as sweat runs down her face, her eyes pried open by the pain that she is in. The markings that have run up the side of her face begin to thin and dig into her skin, like tightly wrapped strings on her skin. The markings begin to lighten from their black color to a scar-tissue light-pink, creating a contrast against Sara’s dark skin. The two red rings in here eyes continue to spin quickly, her green pupils still visible underneath. “It is time we become acquainted with one another, young Detective.” The voice says, booming from the direction of the shrouded figure. Suddenly the stairwell behind Robinson disintegrates into a cloud of ash, blowing off the side of the building. Robinson turns around and watches the ash fly off but then loses his balance and falls over backwards.

The entire city is nothing but a wasteland of molten lava, large stacks of fire and magma shoot up like solar flares at many spots, then one shoots up on the opposite side of the building. Robinson looks in the direction of the tower of lava to reveal the man who has haunted Robinson in his nightmares. The man’s long black hair floats around him and waves in the air, his eyes are shut but his large toothy grin can be seen through the blackness that surrounds him. The building that they are standing on begins to crumble apart, creating a pathway between the dark figure and the two officers. Robinson shifts Sara’s body over to his left hand and reaches for his pistol with his right. Just as he does that the figure’s eyes open up, revealing the same red rings that Sara has. “I am very pleased to meet you Detective Enix Robinson.” He says very calmly. “You must be burning to find out who I am.” The man says, putting an emphasis on the word burning with a gleeful sadistic tone. “I… excuse me… we, are referred to as the host and the parasite, or the third and forth kin of our father. My name is Avarice.” As he says this his grin slowly turns into a scowl and he lowers into a pouncing position. “Pleased to meet you…”

[BWoods]

~Chapter 18: Dear Brother: My Plague~

Standing on a narrow walkway that hangs precariously several stories over a sea of lava Robinson holds onto Sara tightly, trying to keep his balance. When ever he looks downward the platform seems to sway under an imaginary wind. On the opposing side of the wary platform, Avarice kneels with his hands and feet placed on the ground, in a position much like a stalking cat does. His eyes glow with the same red fire that flows in Sara’s eyes at the moment. The world distorts around his body and pillars of fire and magma shoot up from behind him into the air, high above the broken remains of the building. The fires stay afloat in the sky and begin to slowly fall back downward but are stopped by an unseen force. Then they string out into a line and begin to wrap themselves around Avarice. They stretch and form into chained-segment designs, and begin to float near his arms and legs. His coat sleeves burn off and the fires touch his skin, the moment that the fire makes contact the design spreads across his body and lifts him into the air. His left arm begins to glow bright red and extend as if it were steel being forged.

“What am I going to do?” Robinson thinks as he sets Sara on the ground. Then he reaches for his pistol, but when he tries to stand from his crouched position he slips and nearly falls of the edge of the narrow remains of the roof. When he slips Robinson glances across the rooftop to Avarice who has a sense of urgency in his eyes as he shoots forward, his arm forming into a 7-foot long, crudely-sharpened blade. The sides of his arm-blade appear scratched and uneven, the center still glowing red from the heat of the fire. Only a second passes but Avarice closes in enough to be able to just touch Robinson with his blade before the officer collects his balance and fires off a three-shot barrage. Avarice manages to block one bullet that was on a course for his head with his blade. Another bullet hits him in the leg and the third ricochets off the ground, Robinson sees the bullet’s impact create a dust kick up, but when he notices the position of the cloud he focus’ in on the area. The bullet has kicked up dust in midair, off to the side of the broken roof. Avarice takes a few steps back as he winces in pain. “Damn it Avarice, how stupid are you?” a voice shouts, booming from every direction. Avarice lets out a disgusted huff while he inspects his blade, noticing the bullet that hit it has lodged inside of the center of it. “So where’s your brother Kuma hiding? It isn’t that easy to hide something that big.” Robinson says, feeling as if he’s gained an upper hand in the conflict.

“What’s he talking about?” the voice booms again almost breaking into a mocking laughter. “Do not worry yourself with this situation brother, return to your sleep.” Avarice says. He then raises his right arm as a pillar of fire shoots from below and wraps itself around his injured leg as it did with his arm. Robinson sees a chance to attack and fires off another two shots, but the bullets appear to fly right through the demented, flame-shrouded man. “Don’t think that you have some kind of opening for attack young detective.” Avarice mocks, after saying that the bullet in his leg pops out of the bullet wound with a small squirt of blood, then the wound closes, transforming his skin into a metal shield. Avarice then lunges at Robinson, stabbing with his blade. The blade just grazes against Robinson’s leg but Robinson falls onto his back screaming in pain. “It’s been quite the while since I have had the capability of using this blade of mine. Its surface temperature is still quite high, in the 2800 degree area. On top of that...” he says with a sadistic smile, looking down at Robinson, who has edged away from Avarice, dragging his injured leg. “I can break it down and control if pieces break off. I quite enjoy the sight of my foes with tiny gashes, scrounging around in pain whilst their wounds burn their flesh.” With that said Avarice licks his lips and takes a step toward Robinson.

“What will you do? Will you abandon your colleague here and try to escape? Where will you escape to?” Avarice murmurs as he drags his sword across the ground. Pebbles are flipped around and a small flurry of sparks fly out. Robinson manages to open his eyes, seeing the sparks fly out and off the side of the tightrope-like walkway, but crash into an imaginary floor where they should fall straight downward. “This isn’t right, there has to be some kind of trick here, it almost looks like…That’s it! This has to be an illusion, come to think of it; I don’t even feel the heat from the magma.” Robinson reaches down to his leg and into his wound; the action causes Avarice to stop his advance. A painful scowl comes across his face as he pulls out a piece of metal from his leg. The small metallic shard is about the size of an arrowhead, and is lodged much deeper than it had appeared.

When he looks up from his bloodied leg Robinson notices that the world has gone back to normal, there is no ocean of fire and the rooftop is undamaged save a few bullet holes and a slash mark. Avarice stands with a smirk on his face and raises his blade. “Quite impressive, I can honestly say that you’ll make a fine….” “I’ve had enough of this shit, let me out.” The voice from before interrupts. “We are almost done here.” Avarice replies “Let me out or I will COME OUT!” the voice asserts, it’s tone becoming more agitated and bloodthirsty every second. “If he’s this good… I must” Avarice lowers his weapon and takes a step back, he drops the remains of his overcoat on the ground as his shirt begins to bulge as if something were inside of it. Suddenly the shirt rips into shreds showing that his body is ripping apart from the chest, it opens much like a Venus-fly-trap’s jaws do, showing a dark figure with burning red eyes sitting just inside of Avarice’s hollowed-out chest. The sight makes Robinson feel sick, but he forces the feeling down as he stands up and takes aim. “What the **** is going on here?” he screams, watching as a small boy climbs out of Avarice’s chest, his face is covered in crossing slashes. The cavity in Avarice’s body closes as he steps back, his eyes fading to black and his arm returns to its normal shape. “This is my brother, as it currently stands.” Avarice states “I don’t have a real name, I just go by Rapacity.” He says while he tilts his head to the side and shows a disgustingly evil grin.