Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

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NOTES

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SORRY IDK WHY THESE POSTS ARE TAKING SO LONG


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"Tell me you've got a good reason for being here, Lambert," Minnie tutted, pausing her slaughter of the black-masked ghouls to frown at the man lying with his head on the seat of his chair.


Jackson flinched at Minnie's sharp tone. Even when she was in the midst of a fight, she had the time and breath to spare a word against her junior, and that word stung - but it was also fair. Numerous rules and regulations had been pushed aside in order for Jackson to join in on the mission he was told many a time not to get involved with, and as the older woman most likely predicted, he had paid for his stupidity in blood and broken bones.


"N-no, Ma'am," Jackson muttered back. He wanted to curl his fingers into balls as he would have done in any other situation that involved frustration, but his left hand was busily guiding the path of his quinque. In his position the man was quite useless, but with the weapon he could at least give Minnie some back-up by distracting the ghouls as they approached in waves.


"Yes, yes, I didn't think so." Slash. Minnie stuck her spear through an incoming ghoul's eye socket, then pulled it back out to bump another enemy through the chest. The ghoul stumbled backwards, and Jackson took the opportunity to drive it to the ground with the claws of his quinque, allowing the older of the two to finish it off with an explosive blow to the head. "So why are you here?"


Slash. Slice. Minnie continued to tear into the ghouls around her, and the numbers were wavering now that they knew the woman's ferocity. It was less strain on both man and woman, and for that Jackson was grateful. "I - I followed Adrian," he admitted reluctantly, rolling his left shoulder back in a defensive motion as his lips curled downwards with shame.


"Sanister? Your partner in crime?"


"Yeah..."


There was a pause in the conversation as Jackson felt something grab at his left wheel. Before he could be dragged farther than a metre away, Minnie had put a spear through the attacker's heart. "Hmph. Isn't he going to at least stay with you?" she questioned. "This is what I was worrying about before, you know."


"Err..." Jackson frowned. He didn't want to put Adrian in the spotlight like that, especially when Minnie was in a bad mood. But... Adrian's in trouble. Adrian could die. Adrian could, at any moment, get a claw through his heart, his throat, his head... Jackson swallowed hard. There are so many ways people can die. Maybe it was worth facing Minnie's wrath to get her aid over to the younger boy. "He... He didn't leave me. He's with Prince."


The sudden fire in his mentor's eyes set Jackson on edge, and he pulled his fractured arm inwards to his torso in an automatic defensive gesture. "Where?" The word was short, quick, snappy. Jackson knew what she meant, he knew what she intended to do.


"Just - just ahead, up against the wall."


"All right, I see him." Before Jackson could say another word, Minnie's spear was on the ground. Her hands, now free of their burden, fitted beneath his arms and pushed him back into his seat, and then she had her weapon again. There was no time for Jackson to look nor react - he could only watch the world spin past him as Minnie pulled on the back of his chair, propelling him in the direction in which he had pointed out Adrian to be.


***


One step, two steps, three, four, five. Minnie's feet were moving more quickly than she could think, and every step brought her one metre closer to her objective: the young boy Sanister. Unfortunately, having Jackson in her tow slowed and clumsied her movements, but she couldn't leave the young man alone again. After all, if he died now, it would be her fault.


Eventually she became close enough to her objective so that she could stop moving. The hand that had been pulling her apprentice along swung away from the back of his chair, leaving Jackson to fall back among the ranks of investigators, and aided her grip on the spear. She wasn't even thinking anymore. She didn't need to. There were more investigators piling in the scene by the second - if she needed it, backup was there. All that mattered now was getting on the attack.


Through her years in the profession, Minnie had learned the dangers of a battle cry; instead of calling out, she approached Prince with a silent glare that said all the words she need not utter. One, two, closer, closer. There were more investigators flanking her from both sides now, all of them circling around Adrian and Prince with quinques activated and ready to strike. Now she was close enough. Now she could speak without fear of being chased.


"Sanister!" came the voice, sharply and surprisingly loud. "What on Earth are you doing? Get back here before somebody impales you, child."


***


"Is that Lea!?" Irene's head whipped to the side as she heard a voice buzzing with an unceasing energy that she was somewhat familiar with. One look proved the girl correct - there she was, the senior investigator with light hair and big, round eyes. Lea looked ready to engage in a full-on slaughter, and there was yet more backup swiftly arriving to tail her on her death quest.


By the looks of things, it was that other ghoul named Jester that was the running target. Irene knew that one's mask, its nickname, its frightening rating of S. No doubt it was one of the strongest opponents here. Maybe Lea would need more help.


"Matt!" the girl called out to the ginger-haired male, who had just wrestled off a trio of scrawny-looking ghouls.


"What?"


"Cover everyone for me, would you? I'm going for Jester! Katherine, is that okay with you? Matt's going to be in charge of shielding for you and Ryan..." Strangely for the girl, she trailed off into her own thoughts after something new crossed her mind. "Uhh, Katherine. Where is Ryan?"

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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Adrian did move from his position on the ground, he didn't feel like it, plus the older ghoul had a spiked appendage through his arm, why would he want to force himself further down onto that? It was hurting so much, moving would only make it worse...as it wouldn't move with him. He felt like his head was going to explode, it throbbed so hard that he was convinced someone was playing the drums with his skull. No more tears were falling down his cheeks at that moment, all voices sounded muffled, nothing felt real.


He must have upset him. He must have made him mad. Leo wouldn't do this if Adrian hadn't done something wrong. Leo never hurt him. He had to make it up...he had to show Leo he was sorry. Was he too much? Did it become too much for him? Adrian's mind was going one hundred and one different ways, trying to figure out what he'd done so make his brother so furious with him. Maybe he should have been wondering why he was a ghoul, but with everything that had happened to himself in the last two days...that was easier to explain for him than Leo hurting him was.


Upon hearing the word 'Sanister' grey and brown eyes landed on Minnie. Both bring and Adrian had managed to turn their heads to look in the direction that the man was called for. Adrian eyes were wide, he was now starting to notice all of the investigators around them...this...this was bad. They couldn't hurt Leo, they couldn't kill him! He'd just found him! No no no! This couldn't be happening. The boy's heart rate sped up ten fold and he started to panic, they couldn't do this.


Prince's gaze was a lot more controlled, however there was a glint of hatred, something about her saying that name seemed to set something off inside of him, it angered him. Unlike Adrian, he didn't seem concerned with the influx on investigators, in fact his eyes scanned over them with an odd calmness, as if he was assessing how many he could take out in one go.


There was an awful ripping noise as the ghoul removed his kagune from Adrian's shoulder, causing the boy to yelp, the four dark appendages then took their place, looming above his head. His arm went down to where Adrian was finally trying to pull himself up from the ground, the man yanked the boy's hair, roughly forcing him onto his feet. Once Adrian had found his footing he tipped the boy's head up to let him take a look around, before letting go.


At the sigh he saw before him, Adrian just shook his head. Prince stood behind him, watching the boy. He was using Adrian as bait, because he knew what the kid would do, he knew how to play him. He wasn't afraid.


"N-No...No...you...can't..." His tone was practically begging, his eyes landed on Minnie, desperation and fear for what they would do to Prince evident. "Please....Please you can't...You can't do this!" Again tears welled up in the boy's eyes, but he tried to stand steady and keep them back, even if he was becoming increasingly more difficult. There was blood soaking his clothes, the side of his head was bleeding, his shoulder was pretty torn apart by the looks of things, and he couldn't move his wrist. It was broken. Completely broken. Yet he still stood there, kagune extended out behind him, defending a ghoul that was more than capable of handling himself... Because...Because he loved him.


"Don't!"


----


"Huh?" Katherine turned around after delivering an onslaught of red shards towards an enemy, "Where's..." She blinked, looking around, that was right... Where was Ryan? "I don't know...He's...He's gone." Where the hell was the man? What did he get himself caught up in? Oh no. She told them to stick together! Yet everyone was everywhere! If they weren't going to listen then what was the point?!


"Just go Irene! I'll worry about Ryan, you just worry about taking out Jester!" After she spoke those words another thought came to her, Teddy... Where...was Teddy? Not him too. "Matt! Incoming!" She warned, dashing forwards to deliver a rather strong blow to a nearby bikaku ghoul. This was becoming tiring...


----


"So, Jester. Anything new going on with you?" Lea hopped and skipped around the ghoul as they exchanged blow after blow, often knocking one another back or tripping them slightly now and again. A large stinger-like tail came down on Lea, but she used her quinque to block it, holding Jester back just long enough for her to move out of the way. "Not in a talking mood. What a shame. You really are boring sometimes, y'know?"


Smash. Smack. Crash. Thud. Clink. The two fought on and on, Lea giggling all the while, whilst Jester stayed silent, the only noise that came from him was the jingling of bells.


"I see Prince is here too!" After delivering a blow to the male's kagune, Lea jumped back, "It's not often I get to see you two together, or Prince at all, what's the special occasion?" She knew she wasn't going to get any reply, just simply attack after attack.


As she jumped over Jester she took a moment to glance over to the scene... Was that... Adrian?


"Ada?" Lea was caught off guard, she let up for a moment and Jester sent her flying into the wall of a nearby building. The girl dropped to the ground, but quickly shook her head and stood up again, picking her quinque up from where it had falling. "I don't know why you're not over there. It looks more fun! Prince has Ada and everything!" She exclaimed, making the ghoul look long enough for her to attack, however he knew she was going to do it and so she only managed to scrape him before being thrown off again.


"Oh, no fair!"

 

[yaint]

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NOTES

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SO SORRY IT TOOK LIKE 5 HOURS


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Adrian's heartbroken pleas were met not with the understanding, sympathetic frowns and gentle gestures that he needed, but with exchanged glances of confusion and raised eyebrows. Minnie, who was stood at towards the front of the mass of investigators and ghouls knotted in combat, licked her lips and bit down on her tongue as it slid over her front teeth. What on Earth was the child doing? Whilst the woman admitted to knowing his character only vaguely, even she could tell that the young Sanister boy was behaving strangely. Standing before a lethal foe, begging his teammates to stand down... No, that was not ordinary.


"Sanister," the white-haired woman said, the words whistling past her lips with a strangely discomforting quietness, "That is a ghoul, boy. Fall back immediately." Minnie's legs crossed over, one foot pressing into the ground several inches in front of the other. Even with her razor-sharp spear, she hesitated in her step-by-step approach of Adrian and Prince and kept the blade of her weapon raised protectively over her throat as she continued to move.


Behind the woman, other investigators too began to tip-toe forwards having abandoned their slaughtered enemies on the ground. One by one they fell in line, forming a three-man-thick wall around boy and ghoul.


"Someone move before it runs away!" growled one of the investigators to the crowd of chattering agents. They were met with cheers and shouts of agreement and the semi-circle began to lose its shape as a number of men and women advanced on Prince.


Minnie remained still as one, then two, then five investigators thrust towards the ghoul with their quinques of varying shapes and sizes. "Sanister! That is an order!" she called over the crowd, reaching out with one arm towards her junior and wagging her fingers at him in an urgent beckoning motion.


***


Irene's face contorted into a horrified grimace as she gradually became further aware of Ryan's disappearance. He really wasn't in sight, he wasn't in earshot... Could he have got lost or isolated among ghouls? There were nearly as many black-masked enemies dead as alive now, but the number scattered throughout the scene could easily pick apart a young Quinx if he were to be left alone.


"Oh, Katherine," Irene gulped at her leader. "This isn't good - I'll keep my eyes open for him too." She was going to wish the other girl good luck, but the conversation was cut short by the sight of another ghoul attempting to hide around a corner. It had its long bikaku sharpened and poised to strike, as though it were waiting to ambush somebody. With a stifled gasp, Irene realised that person would be Lea; the ghoul was stationed directly behind the investigator, its nose pointed unmistakably towards the blonde-haired woman fighting against Jester.


Her own kagune was weakening now after having been put under such heavy use for so long. It was becoming stiff and brittle - within minutes it would likely break and Irene would be forced to retract it into her lower back. If she was going to take on the ghoul targeting Lea, she would have to do it now.


With a powerful kick of the leg she pushed herself up into the air, several feet above the ghoul's head, her kagune folding and reaching out in front of her to form a two-pronged fork ready to rip out a good chunk of flesh. What she didn't expect, though, was to be heard. Within the second in which she was flying through the air, the ghoul had whipped around to face her, curled his bikaku into a lasso and stretched it out at the girl.


"Argh!" Irene gasped and pushed outwards with her arms as the appendage made a move towards her, but her weak-muscled limbs were no problem for her opponent. In a flash she was thrown up against the wall, bound in a loop of blood-red muscle with her arms pressed into her sides.


***


No, shit, oh no. Jackson inhaled sharply through his clenched teeth as he felt a countless number of investigators pushing past him on their way to gather ahead of Prince, dragging him outwards into the open again. Adrian? He couldn't see his friend anymore - there were just too many people blocking the way. It made his heart flutter with a sudden intense anxiety, and he found himself imagining everything his eyes couldn't see. What if Adrian has been killed already, and that was why everyone had gone to look? Oh no, no, Adrian, please don't be dead. Or what if the other investigators had gone charging straight for Prince, and Adrian got caught up in front of the attacks? Or maybe they had found out about him, the way he had changed... No, they haven't they can't, no, no, no!


"Shit..." Jackson hissed out his curse to nobody in particular. He was struggling to shake the sense of his own uselessness now. What had he done so far? He had stabbed his best friend, failed to get him away from the biggest danger here, and then rendered himself unable to move in the midst of a battle with countless ghouls. Shit, I messed up, I fucked up so bad, he thought, biting down on his lip. His arm was still searing with an intensity that made him want to scream. There was blood on his face and body from the wounds he had received during the fight. It was deserved. He had done nothing for his team. I've only made things worse.


Where was everybody now? Adrian was with Prince. That blonde-haired Quinx girl looked like she and Matthew were still dealing with the rest of the black-clothed ghouls. So where's everyone else!? For several seconds his eyes scanned the scene, searching for faces he knew. Then he found Lea. She was with Jester, that ghoul from the rainy night in the alley. Then, over behind her...


"Lea! Look out!" Jackson piped suddenly. Out of nowhere, that young girl Irene, bound in the string of a kagune, was being slammed forwards at Lea's back like a wrecking ball. "Behind yo-"


The rest of his words were pushed out of his lungs without a sound as something large and heavy slammed into his stomach, winding him and sending him skittering backwards at a high speed. Another ghoul, one he hadn't seen coming, had lashed out at the man when he wasn't looking. It was in front of him now, and though its face was obscured by a thin layer of black cotton, he could see the way its lips stretched in what must have been a mad grin.


"Ough!" Jackson heaved out another nonsensical cry as something else slapped across his neck, leaving a shallow but wide cut beneath his chin. Then there was another sharp sting on his upper chest, his left arm, the edge of his hand. The whipping sounds continued, over and over, and Jackson was being pushed further and further back by the force of a sharp claw repeatedly slicing across his stomach, then his legs. No, no, get off! His quinque. He had a quinque in his hand, he could use that.


Sure enough, the ghoul didn't seem to expect three spikes to explode outwards at it, and Jackson was granted a brief moment of rest by his attacker's apparent surprise. But this ghoul was quick on its feet, and it was using its head. Zip, zip, skitter. It raced by in a blur, skittering behind the man's chair where his quinque could barely reach. His eyes were closed now, but he could feel something sharp pressed up against his throat. This is it, Jackson thought to himself, swallowing hard as he realised that this was one ghoul he wouldn't be able to fend off on his own, I'm dead. I'm dead, I know it, oh God...

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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Adrian whimpered, swallowing and shaking his head, she couldn't be serious... She didn't get it, he couldn't move, he just couldn't let them hurt Leo. It wasn't fair. If they killed him he wouldn't be able to cope! He'd just found him again, they couldn't do this to him!


"You don't understand... I-" Before he could finish someone had shouted out and there were a bunch of people rushing towards Prince. Adrian was both shocked and startled by the influx of people, there were so many people around... They needed to slow down...they were going to get hurt!


Again he heard Minnie's voice and looked in her direction, she couldn't expect him to just...obey that order. This wasn't about whether Leo was a ghoul or not! It was about the fact that it was Leo and he would not lose his brother again! He couldn't let them take him! But...everything was happening so quickly, and he was weak, he couldn't fight properly. Leo had hurt him too much.


If only he hadn't made him so mad.


Adrian wrapped his blood sodden arms around his torso and shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. This wasn't happening, everything was fine, everything was fine. He was going to be fine. Calm down. Calm down. He couldn't keep up, he just couldn't. This wasn't meant to be difficult, why did Leo have to turn up now? All he'd wanted to go was...was... What...did he want to do? The boy's mind had gone blank, he was crying, but he didn't realise it, and he wouldn't move, the most he did was stumble forwards. He hadn't just been hurt physically, he'd been destroyed emotionally as well.


Whilst Adrian pleaded and acted like a child, Prince had been watching his enemy. When they dashed forwards he was ready, he would have focused on them if it wasn't for hearing the word 'Sanister' over and over. It seemed to catch the ghouls attention, bringing another scowl to his face. He didn't enjoy that word.


His eyes caught the nearest investigator, he moved from behind Adrian, and with one swift movement he'd catapulted this new target up into the air, smashing them into a brick wall with all of the strength the ghoul could muster. They were lucky if they got back up again. His only goal was to get through the sea of nobodies and towards Minnie. His kagune pierced another male straight through the heart, before retracting just in time to help him vault over an incoming quinque. It seemed that these investigators had underestimated him. They'd given him a warning, then charged mindlessly. That was never a good idea.


Three more injured investigators later and more ghouls had arrived to back Prince up, with many ghouls in black outfits taking his place, he was able to swiftly push through the crowd towards Minnie. Once his gaze was locked onto her he'd attacked within seconds.


All four dark coloured appendages struck down towards Minnie just as Prince jumped into the air, they seemed to focus one point, striking down with amazing force and speed. Prince was putting strength into his attacks, if he was attacking investigators, it seemed like he was aiming to kill. Yet...he hadn't killed Adrian when he'd been given multiple chances.


---


Jester and Lea had fought back and forth evenly like that time in the alley on that dark night, they could only wait for the other to mess up, unless one of them somehow managed to trick the other, they were at a stand still. However, they fought on, quinque against kagune, slash after slash, dodge, hit, smash, crash. Their speed was incredible, Lea was an impressive individual, and Jester was a dangerous foe. Both of their skills were being displayed whilst they fought together.


The fight would have continued swiftly as well if Jester's head hadn't suddenly snapped upwards to look at something behind Lea. Just as he did this Lea heard a voice, getting the hint she suddenly jumped up, tumbling off to the side and avoiding getting hit by...her flying companion?


"Irene?" The girl blinked, there had been a ghoul hiding! She blinked, clambering back to her feet, if Irene had been attacked then who had been calling her? She'd known that voice... Oh. But she guessed there were more important things to focus on right now. Turning around, she expected to see Jester, but the male had completely disappeared. Wait...where did he go?! How did he move away so fast? She hadn't been turned away for that long. "Damn! Now I'll have to find him again!" She stopped her foot on the ground and grumbled, annoyed. If she had to find Jester, she should probably get off.


Of course, she'd help Irene out first. Lea spun her kagune, holding it out and aiming it towards the ghoul which had just tried to plough her coworker through her. She raised her arm, and then fired, sending the object spinning towards them. That wasn't where she stopped, however, as she followed the spinning weapon, ready to grab it again either after it hit its target or before it hit the ground.


----


From behind the ghoul that was attacking Jackson came a barrage of small, sharp crystal-like bullets. Katherine had seen the man getting attacked and had pushed through the ghouls in order to get to him, now she stood meters away from the ghoul attacking him. Her kagune crystallised after its first attack and she ran forwards, jumping to strike down on the ghoul's back. No way was she leaving anyone behind, she had seen Jackson enter the fight earlier with Adrian, and she knew that letting him die would be a bad idea for everyone.


She struck out with her now hardened kagune twice to try to pierce the quick ghoul that had Jackson in an awkward position, whilst attempting to pull at the man's chair, she wanted to get him away from all possible danger.


The woman was getting rather exhausted at this point, but she had to keep going for a little longer. She just had to finish this and then retreat for a moment. It may be best to take Jackson away from the fight anyway.

 

[yaint]

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NOTES

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post rally for tomorrow, buddy?


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@Yoki

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"Sanister!" Minnie barked, her face darkening as she noticed the young investigator's reluctance to obey orders from his superiors. What was going on here? Something wasn't quite right - she may not have known Adrian very well, but Jason had commended the boy to her for his motivation. The way he was stood frozen now gave the woman a shiver and sudden bout of gooseflesh that made the hairs on her skin stand on end. Her icy blue eyes glinted as she stared forwards. "I will say it one more time: step away from that ghoul."


She didn't notice herself doing it, but as the seconds began to tick away, Minnie's fingers curled into her fist one by one - a subconscious countdown for Adrian's remaining time to pick up and do as he was asked. Three. Minnie took another step forwards, as did the men and women around her. Two. More investigators were beginning to thrust themselves at Prince, their only plan seeming to be to open the ghoul's skin.


One. Minnie's arms tensed, and she flared her nostrils as her feet began to move again. The young boy Sanister's time was up, and he had not taken one step from the monster. Up went the spear in her grasp, turned forwards and ready to strike when...


Swish. Crash. Crunch.


The older woman straightened up as she heard and saw the sudden movements of her target. In the corner of her eye she sighted blood. It was the investigators - the ones who had thrown themselves at the ghoul just seconds ago. Prince had taken action of self defense and slaughtered them all.


The remaining agents were piping up now, crying out their shock and mourning and rolling out with further orders to attack. But nobody could reach Prince anymore; he had gone already, flown upwards and out of sight until Minnie craned back her head to stare at the flared silhouette soaring overhead.


Down it came. Minnie staggered backwards as the shape grew larger. It wasn't just coming close - it was coming straight for her. As quickly as she could, she took hold of the bottom end of her quinque with the hand that had been beckoning Adrian, raising the spear up in an attempt to block the incoming attack.


Too late. By the time the spear was up in place, Minnie could already feel the points of Prince's kagune digging through the thin layer of flesh over her ribs, pressing agonisingly through the gaps between bone and dangerously close to her pulsing core within. A breathless cry escaped her, but she didn't need to use her head to escape. Instead, the woman's instinct took over, guiding her hands to the ground so that she could push herself onto her side. Sure enough, the spikes slid easily out of her chest and allowed the woman to roll back onto her hands and knees, and then finally her feet.


Just as she was catching her breath and patting at the wounds on her thorax, a young man had passed in front of Minnie and thrust the spear into her hold again. "Thank you, dear," Minnie wheezed at the helped as she curled her fingers once more around the handle of her chosen weapon. She had not seen this investigator before, but already there was a kindling sense of cameraderie between the man and woman; he, of all the investigators, had been the only one to remain so close to Prince following his sudden massacre. All of the others had backed off by several metres and were instead engaging with the numerous other ghouls on the scene.


"You can still fight, Ma'am?" came the words from the more youthful investigator. Minnie met the boy's words with a nod.


"Aye, don't worry about me," she said as she crouched down to ready herself for a counter. The wounds on her chest were stinging and throbbing, but they weren't deep enough to put her down quite yet. She could continue to fight Prince. And maybe she could use this gentlemanly fellow to assist with Sanister. "I'll take Prince. You go on and get the lad over there somewhere safe. Is that clear?"


"Yes, Ma'am."


Another nod from both investigators confirmed their mutual understanding. Minnie could no longer put herself in charge of the Sanister boy's safety when her own was very much at risk; instead, she trusted that her new comrade would see to that job. For now she had her own opponent to deal with.


For a moment Minnie simply stared into the one-eyed ghoul's red and brown eyes, her own blue stare silently calculating the most suitable move to make against him. Then, as suddenly as Prince had attacked before, she was off; one, two, her steps were slow but she constantly changed her direction, leaping left and right to twist and turn around and confuse her opponent before she could switch to a more offensive approach. She knew that she was not as strong as her enemy, but she was older, wiser, and she had made this move many times before.


Left. Right. Back, around. She circled her opponent twice, then leapt to the side and jabbed at him from behind with her spear, ducking to avoid those swirling kagune protruding from his back. Did she make contact? Minnie couldn't tell, but she didn't stop to check. She just kept up her erratic movements, occasionally ducking inwards to try and stick her quinque into Prince's side.


***


"Sir! Sir, excuse me!" somebody called out to Adrian, and then from somewhere behind Minnie came galloping a young man wearing the same white coat as those investigators who had been circling Prince before. At the speed he was moving, it would be difficult for Adrian to tell what his face looked like - all that could be determined in that moment was that he had ghostly pale skin and a mop of blond hair just a shade lighter than Jackson's rich honey.


Strangely, the man did not stop running until he was just feet away from where Adrian was stood, instead ploughing his boot-covered feet into the ground and skidding to an unbalanced halt just in front of the boy's face. "Excuse me," he repeated again as he glanced the boy up and down. "You're hurt, aren't you? Come on, I'll get you away from here."


***


"Ha-argh!" There was a sudden outburst from the ambushing ghoul as it felt the sharpness of a quinque's bullet settled into the flesh on his side.


With an almighty crash and a grunt pushed out with all the power of her lungs, Irene landed chest-first against the concrete ground and rolled over several times upon being freed from the hold of her attacker. What had happened? She had seen Lea turn around, and suddenly the ring of kagune wrapped around her had loosened and slid away, sending the girl plummeting to the ground below. At least she hadn't hit Lea.


"Thanks a bunch," the bespectacled girl heaved, picking herself up limb by limb until she too was stood by her senior's side. That had been a close run - maybe being thrown across the clearing would not have killed her, but it certainly would have not been beneficial for her side of the fight. That quick thinking from Lea had been a save.


The girl froze for several moments. Jester had disappeared out of sight, and the masked attacker who had picked her up with its bikaku had vanished as well. Or so it appeared - when Irene was beginning to think that it had retreated, Matthew stormed past from around a corner, the bikaku ghoul skewered on the tip of his crumbling koukaku blade.


"Nice one, Matt!" Irene called over, cupping a hand to her mouth as the dead ghoul slid away from his kagune.


The ginger-haired male pulled a face and glared away from his squad-mate. "Where's Jester?" he grumbled, having to stop himself from folding his arms together in denial of the compliment.


***


I'm dead, I'm dead, Jackson kept hearing his own voice whimper inside his head. For the longest time, what felt like seconds stretched out to eternities, he dared not to open his eyes for fear of locking gazes with the one holding a spike to his throat. It didn't feel stiff and cold like the metal of a sword - kagune always had an uncomfortable, eerily warm aura lingering around them, and despite their sharpness they seemed to squash up against the shaped stretch of skin covering Jackson's throat.


Jackson waited. And he waited. The tension made his arms sweat and spasm with an uncontrollable, violent shudder, but somehow after what must have been several seconds he was still not dead. Instead of cutting into his skin, the point of the kagune seemed to fall forwards, relieving the pressure on the man's neck and taking its threatening blood-warmth away with it.


What the..? A tiny whimper escaped Jackson as he choked in sudden and deep breath, his eyes peeling open so that he could reluctantly take in his surroundings. Whatever he had expected to see, good or bad, it had not been that blonde Quinx girl stabbing his attacker through the back.


Splat. The ghoul landed heavily on the open and bloody wound on the rear side of its torso, but in its state it could do no more than weakly grab for Katherine's ankle before falling limp once and for all.


"Th-" Jackson jerked backwards in his chair, twisting and turning to find sight of his saviour once more. He was moving now, being pulled backwards and out of the danger zone, and the sudden movement had cut off his attempted utterance of the word 'thanks'. As the seconds passed, he found himself drifting further away from the death and destruction he had invited himself to take part in, and for that his heart swelled with relief. "Th-thank you," he tried again, gulping down after wheezing out his gratitude.


She saved me, he thought over and over, his heart still jumping and fluttering, She actually saved my life. I'm alive.


Perhaps Jackson would have attempted to speak again, but he suddenly found himself lost for words in the cool wave of relief that was washing over him. He was alive. He wouldn't have to die here, he wouldn't have to leave Adrian all alone...


Wait.


Adrian. Adrian! How could he have been so stupid as to forget!? His own life was in danger, so he ended up losing himself in a trance as he stared at the girl who saved him, when Adrian... Oh God, I stabbed him, he's with Prince. What if he had died when Jackson wasn't looking? What if it was his fault?


"Adrian," Jackson found himself stammering up to Katherine, his manners and gratitude suppressed to reside in the back of his mind. "Where's Adrian? Is - is he safe? Where is he?"

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

Minerva may not have been new to the game, but neither was Prince, just as she studied ghouls, he studied investigators. He did not believe she could beat him, he knew that alone she couldn't beat him, but she might be able to put up a pretty good fight. If anyone knew anything about Prince it was that he was known for making people suffer, he took lives without the need to and got away with it, because no one knew who he was...and no one could stop him. The people who should have been on the scene weren't, the special class investigators were nowhere to be seen.


Prince was following the woman's moves, his eyes went back and forth, studying the pattern. Was she trying to confuse him? His kagune shot up in the air, however, he made no real move to attack her. His swipes were feints, he was waiting for her to make a move on him, that was it would be easier to counter. And that was when he heard it.


The swishing on a spear from behind him, quickly he'd stepped to the side, spinning around to face the woman attack him. If she wanted to hit him then she'd have to be much faster than that. She didn't seem to stop there though and kept moving in that strange, slightly random pattern, but most people's random patterns weren't actually all that random. If he could pick out a place...


He dodged the incoming spear quite a few times, moving left and right swiftly in order to keep out of the way of Minnie, but he was getting bored. It was time he struck again. Prince raised his kagune in the air dodging another attack before jumping up. It seemed like he was going in for the same attack again, and if the woman had any sense then she'd think about dodging it. Whilst was exactly his plan.


Either way Prince's kagune were going to land behind Minnie, digging into the ground, once at her back he planned on delivering a powerful kick to propel her away. If she wanted to ruin his perfectly good day as well, then she'd pay for it. Wasn't it enough that he had that kid to deal with? He didn't need more bloody investigators getting in the way.


----


Adrian was freaking out, this was so much to take in, there was too much going on around him, and he really didn't know what to do. He was being told to do one thing, but he wanted to do another. Shouldn't he listen? It wasn't like he could hurt Leo, not even if he tried to, he loved him too much...why would he ever want to hurt him?


The boy was upset about a lot of things, he was freaked out when everyone ran at Leo, he felt like he'd done something wrong to the man, something that had made him this angry... Was...Was this all he fault? Had he caused Leo to end up like this? Was Leo unhappy? He didn't want him to be unhappy, he was too kind to be unhappy.


"I'm sorry..." He stuttered silently to himself, shaking his head, "I-I'm so sorry..." His hands were still wrapped around his torso as he let out quiet involuntary sobs. He felt so guilty. He'd upset Leo, he'd gotten Jackson hurt, and now...now Minnie was going to be mad at him too...everyone was going to be mad at him. That wasn't what he wanted, it was the exact opposite of what he wanted. He didn't want to make anyone feel bad, he was just confused. It hurt him that Leo wouldn't talk to him, it hurt that all he wanted to do was throw the boy around, but he guessed he understood it. He understood how tiring and clingy he could get, and Leo had had to deal with that his entire life, maybe he just got sick of it... He wouldn't blame him.


Honestly all Adrian wanted was to go home and lay on the sofa talking to Jackson, he wanted to relax. He didn't feel comfortable, he didn't feel safe, he didn't know how to process seeing his brother again and it was obvious he wasn't exactly thinking logically.. If only Jackson was around, he needed the other, he needed him now more than ever.


Whilst doubled over, staring at the floor, Adrian heard a voice. His eyes widened and his head shot up, what? There was a man stood in front of him, a man he didn't recognise... Who...Who was that? The boy stumbled back a few steps, simply staring at the newcomer.


He'd get him away? But...But he didn't want to go away, he wanted to stop here, he wanted to make sure that Jackson was okay, and that they didn't hurt Leo. He couldn't just leave!


Shaking his head, he gripped the blood soaked material of his shirt and stared on at the blond man. "N-No...I...I can't..." He replied, shaking his head vigorously. He was distressed, very distressed. It was often hard to get through to Adrian about dangerous situations on a good day, it would be nearly impossible on a day like this.


---


"Mmn...he's disappeared..." Lea had hopped over to Irene and Matthew after retrieving her weapon, looking around, "I had my eye on him just a second ago so..." She searched the battlefield, but she really couldn't see him. Well, if she couldn't see him then she'd just have to assume where he had gone. There were some rather obvious choices, she knew that some of the ghouls on this battlefield stayed with paticular others more often than not...and in this situation she knew who Jester's partner in crime was.


"Prince!" The girl exclaimed, looking in the direction where there were many an investigator gathering, "Jester's gone to see Prince!" She smiled, "Awww! How sweet!" After another laugh she bounded away from the two, doing a little spin to check what the Quinxes were doing.


"If you want to find him then I advise coming this way, hey, you might even get a fight that you weren't expecting." Lea held her quinque up in the air, smiling and then dashing off once more. She had to find Prince and then maybe she'd find Jester around, surely the male had also noticed the influx of investigators in that area.


----


Katherine couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when she realised that the ghoul was in fact dead, that was a close call... Jackson could have come off a lot worse than he had done. He really was lucky that the ghoul hadn't decided to stab him quicker.


She jogged with the man's wheelchair, trying to get out of the sight of any ghouls that could follow. Jackson couldn't fight, and she was running out of energy to do so, so it was best if they remove themselves from this battle for him.


"Hm?" As she scanned the surrounding area she heard Jackson's voice, "Oh, don't worry about it." Katherine smiled, continuing to push. She didn't need a thanks, she was just doing what she hoped every investigator would do for their team. They were doing their jobs, and part of their job was looking after one another and working as a team, which meant nobody got left behind. Everyone needed to have each other's backs, that way there would be less casualties.


They continued on, but Jackson didn't stay quiet after that, he just started to worry about Adrian, which was understandable.


"I don't know." She replied, "The last I saw of him was with Prince, I haven't seen him since." That didn't sound very promising, but she didn't want Jackson to assume the boy was dead, "But that doesn't mean he isn't safe. Someone might have gotten him out, or he might have run away, I don't know what's happening...but I'm sure he's okay. Try not to worry."

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

is this shorter than the last one? i think so, let me count.


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

Again and again, Minnie ducked inwards to thrust her spear blindly at the flesh of her fast-turning target. Not once did she pause to observe her influence on the ghoul, and not once did she spare a moment to rest; though she was not fast, Minnie knew that what strength she had would last for hours.


In. Stab. Out. Move. She kept going, constantly attacking using the same technique until she noticed a sudden shift in her enemy's balance. This movement, the way his feet whirled around each other and the way his kagune primed and sharpened... It wasn't the same as the moves he was making to dodge the woman's spear.


Once again, guided by instinct, Minnie's body twisted away from Prince with a stomach-churning suddenness that even she could not have predicted. From the corner of her eye she saw the white-cloaked figure rise through the air again.


Minnie had learned from her mistakes. Prince was strong - needless to say, a direct hit could easily end the woman right there and then. If she were going to try and live through this attack, she would have to abandon the impulse that was telling her to counter and simply escape the trajectory of the spikes pointed down at her.


Down came Prince, kagune outstretch. Minnie pounded the ground with one foot and flew across the pavement. The impact of hitting the ground threw the older woman off balance and she rolled down to her hands and knees, scraping her skin to tatters as her wiry frame skittered quickly over the hard stone below. Crash, went the kagune, straight through the ground where her body had been not a second before.


Minnie had escaped the attack, but not yet was she safe; just as the woman had risen to her bloodied knees again, she was sent hurtling backwards by a kick that she was sure had snapped several of her lower ribs at once. With a great crack she hit the wall on the far end of the clearing, then slithered downwards as she fell back to the ground. There was a streak of fresh blood on the surface of the bricks where she had come to a halt.


The seconds went by, and Minnie had not moved from her place. She even looked somewhat dead - her head had tipped to the side, her arms were hanging limp by her sides and neither of her legs seemed to work at all. It was nearly a minute before the woman released a gentle groan and her feet skidded over the ground to find their balance beneath her as she rose up once again.


"Strike one," Minnie croaked at Prince, spitting out blood along with those simple two words that accompanied her still-cold glare.


It wasn't that she had come out of that move without sustaining injury; Minnie was tilted slightly to her left, as though she were one of those old workers with a crooked back. Maybe the kick had been more powerful than first anticipated. Still, though, she continued to traipse back towards her target, one hand hanging by her side and the other cupped over the torn hole in her coat and shirt.


"Did you miss me intentionally?" the woman quipped sharply as she bent downwards to find the spear that she had dropped upon being struck at. "I could easily have been killed there, young man. Either you like playing with your food..." She raised the weapon upwards and pointed it towards her foe. "...Or you're merely incompetent."


There was little truth in the taunt as Minnie began once more to circle Prince, this time with a new resignedness and a caution unseen before. The damage inflicted on her had affected her ability to move in the same random, agile manner as before, and yet somehow the woman remained standing. If she was afraid, it wasn't showing. "I'm starting to think that the former is most likely," she carried on, blood still spattering from the tip of her tongue as she struggled to speak clearly, "You're not weak. Just soft, disappointingly soft. Don't you think I didn't notice you hesitate to attack Sanister. Care to explain why?"


***


"Pardon?" the blond-haired investigator blinked his brilliant green eyes owlishly down at Adrian, tipping his head to the side as he attempted to make sense of this strange boy. He was injured and clearly distraught - unfit for fighting, to say the least. The older investigator who told him to help the boy was right in that he needed aid.


The man suddenly bent his legs to squat downwards, back straightened as he tipped and twitched his head in the same way a small bird might inspect a worm. From this angle, it was easier to see what made this man's face. His head was round, almost circular, topped by a mop of hair that looked as though it would be messy and unkempt had it not been clipped back with several randomly-placed, triangular hair slides. The way he wore the girls' hair accessories so obliviously genuinely gave him a child-like aura, though he must have been older than Adrian judging by the thick muscle padding his limbs and torso. Oddly for a blond man, his otherwise-pale face was dotted with a spattering of dark freckles.


"You're hurt, Sir," the man decided, awkwardly shuffling forwards on his feet as he remained in a crouching position. "I have to take you away from here. It's dangerous."


There wasn't much room for Adrian to respond, and even if he were to decline the man's service, he already had his hands beneath the boy's arms. With a hefty push, he rose upwards, bringing Adrian to a standing position with him - likely against his will.


For a moment the nameless man's eyes wandered the scene, searching for somewhere that could be safer than the ghoul-infested battle ground whilst he let out an involuntary 'humm'. Eventually his gaze settled on a quieter-looking corner where he could see two more strangers - a man and a woman, one in a wheelchair, both caked in a layer of browning blood. "Why don't we go that way?" the man said, but it wasn't a suggestion because he was already pushing Adrian in the direction of the two adults.


***


There was a quick nod of agreement from Irene as she recomposed herself, straightening her coat and brushing away mud and gravel with her hands. "If we're going to attack, it should probably be as a team. Matt, are you coming?"


"What?" the taller man growled, averting his eyes from Irene as she addressed him.


"First Class Graham is already fighting Prince. We're going to go help her out, got it?"


"I don't see why that's necessary. Jester's still on the loose."


Irene sighed, but didn't stay around to deliver the man a lengthy explanation for she was already on her way to the scene of Minnie's plight with Prince. "Yeah, we're going to find Jester when we get there. Come on! Lea, we're with you."


***


Jackson swallowed as he met Katherine's words with a deep frown and gentle nod, and he found himself subconsciously rubbing against his right arm. It looked deformed, shortened and bent where there was not supposed to be a joint. But Jackson wasn't thinking about that now; he could only keep his mind on Adrian. He's fine, the man told himself, attempting to continue listening to the girl's speech. Her words were meant to be comforting, and he understood that, but a few soft words and rushed what-ifs could never be as good as fact.


True, Adrian might have escaped. But what if he hadn't? What would have happened then? He would have been ripped apart, caught up in a mass attack, trampled, ambushed... No, no, no no no no! He hasn't, stop it! Jackson tore at his lower lip with his teeth, picking apart the newly-formed scab from the last time he had drawn blood because of his own worry. Sometimes he really resented himself for bringing up horrible ideas and images like that. But what if it's real..?


Just as the man was about to open his mouth to express his worries to Katherine, he saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his vision. He turned his head to find the cause of the impurity in his vision, and then everything stopped. His eyes widened. His heart began to race again, he could feel his entire chest pulsing with the intensity. He's alive, oh my God, he's okay.


"Adrian!" Jackson wheezed, still taken aback by the sheer intensity of his own relief. There Adrian was - being prodded along by an odd-looking blond man wearing the signature uniform of investigators. In that moment he completely forgot about everything else. Katherine? She didn't matter anymore. He even attempted to push himself forwards, but the sudden searing agony that came back when he moved his arm reminded him once more that he was rooted to the spot. Whatever. It still didn't matter. Everything he had been trying not to believe for the entirity of the battle had just been washed away by that single image. "Adrian! O-oh my God, you're okay, I thought - I thought you were with Prince, I..."

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

When Minnie felt against the wall Prince turned away, letting out a sigh of annoyance. He didn't seem phased by the fact that the woman might be dead, it was a slight shame that he didn't get to fight her for longer, but at least he got out of the mess quicker.


The man only stopped when he heard her voice once more.


He turned around, locking eyes with the old woman. She was still alive. An eyebrow seemed to raise, impressed with her endurance, something must have snapped from that kick, yet there she was, standing. She should at least be commended for that.


Prince's kagune readied themselves once more, watching the slowness with which the woman moved now that she was injured. She was right, she could have easily been killed there had he chosen to stab out with kagune instead of kicking her, she couldn't have been killed had he chosen to make a more aggressive attack. She could still be killed. Minnie was weaker after having been attack so violently, if he chose to strike yet again and it hit...well...she probably wouldn't last much longer.


That was exactly what he was going to do, until she started speaking again.


The ghoul's scowl at her words and the look in his eyes suggested that he wasn't going to answer, instead she just seemed to infuriate him. He didn't speak, yet the look he gave her seemed to say it all. 'That is none of your business.'


There was no more time for talking, but Prince didn't move, an attack from him would have been expected by now. He'd made it perfectly clear he could and would kill Minnie, yet he made no move to attack her. She should have noticed the way his gaze flicked away from the woman and to something directly behind her.


The silhouette of two large kagune could be seem extending from a dark figure behind Minerva. They headed directly for her back, closer, closer, they were impressively fast, definitely of a similar speed to Prince's own. If Minnie didn't get out of the way soon she'd definitely be impaled, she should have been impaled, yet...


Clink.


"There you are~!" A high-pitched exclamation was heard as a figure dashed into view, they got in between the kagune and its destination, batting the ghoul off with a scythe-like quinque. Lea had arrived again. "I was looking all over for you Jester! Don't you know it's rude to disappear like that! I thought we were having fun!"


Her small figure could be seen standing around half a meter behind Minerva, staring at the figure that had now walked forwards to reveal itself. There was a jingling of bells as Jester's head turned to the side, staring on at his opponent without saying a word. His gaze then seemed to move to Minnie, before moving to the ghoul on the opposite side of the two. Both of them locked eyes with each other for a moment, like some unspoken form of communication, then he looked back at Lea.


"Oh. Sorry Minnie. Were you fighting Prince here?" Lea asked, blinking, but never moving from her position, she was ready to attack at a moments notice. "Didn't mean to intrude." The girl giggled once more, blocking another incoming attack from Jester. "I brought along some others as well, they'll be here in a minute!" What Lea had failed to notice whilst talking was that Jester hadn't been trying to hurt her, he'd just been trying to use her to vault over. The male's form flew through the air and over the two female investigators, landing beside the older ghoul, bells jingling.


Jester's shot at Minnie had been an attempt to end that fight. It seemed that a lot of Aegis was backing off now, and although the reason for that was unclear, both Jester and Prince had noticed and knew that they needed to go too.


Prince's gaze suggested he wanted to continue fighting in an attempt to kill Minnie, but there wasn't just Minnie to deal with anymore, there was Lea, and the backup that she had, as well as that from other ghouls that had now backed off. He would get overrun, plus if they were backing up there was obviously a good reason for it. Someone must have called them back. The man was not stupid, he'd just have to get her another time.


Jester jumped onto the balls of his feet, looking up to Prince, before darting off in the other direction as to follow the rest of the ghouls that were now backing up.


His companion seemed to hesitate for a moment, his gaze falling onto Minerva once more, before his kagune retracted into his back and he turned, flicking his white cloak behind him. Whilst Jester had been quick, he was a lot slower, simply jumping away and then walking in the direction of his subordinates, assuming none of the CCG would be stupid enough to follow him. Neither of the sides were coming off without casualties, they both had to deal with deaths in injured people, to follow him now would be imbecilic.


Lea had turned around, her head cocked to the side, she didn't understand why they were all leaving so quickly...


"Aww...but it was just getting good..."


She didn't, however, go after them, instead just standing with Minnie, watching as a lot of the ghouls started to retreat.


----


If it had been a choice, Adrian wouldn't have let this man move him. He didn't even know who the guy was and he was near him, and Adrian didn't understand exactly what was going on, and he didn't want to be forced away. Nobody understood, nobody understood that he had to go back.


He tried to fight back, but all it did was cause him more pain, he didn't want anyone's help right now, they didn't get it, he couldn't let them hurt Leo. He couldn't! Yet there he was, being forced away by some stranger that he didn't trust, unable to properly push himself out of the male's hold. Adrian wanted to cry, but all he could do was struggle and protest desperately at that moment. They were going to hurt Leo! If he let them do that what kind of a brother was he? Leo...Leo would have never let that happen to him!


Even as they got closer to their destination the boy continued to fight back, his arm burned, every time he move his wrist another a sharp pain ran all the way up his arm, his head was throbbing, and his vision was still recovering, but...but he didn't care, he had to go back! He...he had to...


A voice calling his name stopped Adrian's tantrum, making him look up, just to notice Jackson covered in blood. His arm looked bent out of shape, and he had multiple cuts across his arms, throat, and face. Adrian blinked to push the tears that were welling up inside his eyes, and obscuring his vision further, out. Jackson... He looked awful...what happened...


Adrian had a sudden realisation when seeing his friend, that...that was right, he'd left Jackson on his own. He'd let Leo throw Jackson around, and now...now Jackson was hurt. But Leo would never hurt Jackson, it was because he got in the way, he got in the way and Leo got mad and-


He stopped moving, tears pooling in the corner of his eyes at a drastic rate, until they were forced out, just to fall down his cheeks. This was his fault...wasn't it? He dropped to his knees, letting out a cry that was filled with agony, although whether it was from hitting something that was already broken, the pain from the wound on his shoulder, or just the emotional attack he'd been put under was unclear, maybe it was a mixture of them all. His arms wrapped around his torso once again and he curled up, his head falling down near to his knees, then the boy just started rocking. He couldn't believe himself, what had he done? Did he really do this to Jackson? Surely not. But then...who else caused it?


"I-I'm sorry... J-...Jackson I'm s-so sorry..." The boy whimpered the words through tears, if Leo had never turned up...if he'd never seen him...then this wouldn't have been so difficult. Adrian had never been bothered by death, he'd never been able to get upset over other people dying, he didn't feel it, but...when it came to Leo...or Jackson...it was a whole different situation. He depended on them. He needed them. And he'd upset both of them. They didn't deserve this. "I'm sorry!"


His crying didn't cease there, and he was finding it more difficult to speak by the second... Leo...Leo was still out there, how didn't Jackson know? How didn't he? Panic stuck him and his eyes went wide. They were going to kill him. "No... No, You can't...You can't l-let them...Jackson... Please don't let them... Please, Y-You can't... They...They...can't d-do this t-...to him...." It may have been gibberish that Adrian was speaking, but he was trying extremely hard to get the words out, to make Jackson aware of who they were fighting. He'd never want to kill Leo, Leo was his best friend. It wouldn't happen.


Even if no one understood him, his tone made it quite obvious that whatever he was talking about was extremely important to him. He sounded desperate and upset, just like someone was forcing him away from something he loved... Which...they were...

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

awwh this is getting sad again


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

It was only after Jester's spontaneous exit of the scene that Irene finally materialised from around the corner, Matthew hot at her heels. Both Quinx members' kagune were weak and beginning to disintegrate into flakes and shards that flew away in swirls above the gently winding wind.


"They're gone?" Irene breathed just as Prince followed his partner out of sight with a flicker of his white cloak. "After all that..." The girl folded her arms over and scanned the area with her narrowed dark brown eyes, taking in every aspect of the scene one thing at a time.


A corpse. One of the investigators had died in the arms of a black-clothed ghoul which now lay limp on the ground in the same position in which it had killed its enemy. More ghouls, nearly piled on top of each other by a corner painted with the wildly-splattered streaks of blood left behind from the attacks. Ghoul blood? Human blood? It all looked the same.


Irene swallowed hard before turning her gaze to a corner where several living investigators had congregated. She didn't recognise many of them, but the ones who were clearly in charge of the group were busy relaying information to their peers via a pocket radio. The wounded were tending to each other, every person donating scraps of their torn coats to use as temporary bandages until better support could arrive.


Her thoughts were shattered by the sudden clapping noise coming from Matthew as he swiped his hands over one another to brush off the dust and dirt accumulated during the battle. "Useless," he snorted as Irene caught the man's eye. The girl pouted at Matthew and adjusted the position of her folded arms. Already Matthew's momentary maturity was dissipating, giving way to what must have been his usual arrogance. "We come here specifically to get rid of Jester once and for all, and what do we do? Fuckin' lose half our men and every lead we've got! Balls-up if ever I've seen one."


The scowl on Irene's face contorted into a less angry, more thoughtful frown. "Look, Matt," she sighed at him, taking a moment to exchange a quick glance with Lea. "We all did what we could. Whatever happened here can count as a mass-extermination of the ghouls with the black masks."


"Oh! Fifty in fifty million, great difference that makes."


"Matt!" the girl hissed as she took several steps forwards. Something else had just crossed her mind; Minnie. What had become of the woman who she had seen battling with the ghoul named Prince? She didn't look like she was in good shape, so of course she would be needing assistance. But Irene was only half paying attention as she approached the woman, for she was busy countering Matthew's sharp words with her own. "People died for this, show at least a little respect, would you?"


"Respect? Being dead doesn't make you a saint, Irry."


Irene had to bite her tongue to avoid saying something unsavoury at that moment. Instead she simply glared daggers at her teammate, winning from him a scoff, before finally finding Minnie within her reach. "First Class Graham," she said, forcing herself to straighten up for a moment having forgotten Matthew and remembered her place at one of the bottom ranks.


Minnie may not have known Irene's name, but she knew her face. A quick nod proved her wakeness to the girl, and she too straightened her stature as much as her broken and battered body would allow for. "Thank you, Miss, but I am fine," the woman insisted, passing her cool blue eyes over Irene's bloodied form and nodding in approval. Afterwards she turned her attention to Lea. "Miss Wrentworth, it's good to see you alive. Your squad is relaying details of the outcome to base, as far as I am aware."


***


Jackson's eyes lit up with the flickering flames of concern as his own rambling died down upon Adrian's sudden fall to the ground. What the-!? Was this because he was hurt? Were his wounds still killing him? Oh no, oh no, I thought he was safe, he thought to himself, chest beginning to tighten as panic rose within him once more. Was this his fault? Was this because of the wound from when Jackson had stabbed him? Oh my God, no, I've killed him, I didn't mean to, I didn't want to kill Adrian...


"Are you all right, Sir?" The suddenness of an unfamiliar voice shook Jackson from his thoughts, and the make-believe images of Adrian lying dead beneath his hands wavered and disappeared. Who had been speaking? It's... Him.


Whoever he was, it was the man who had delivered Adrian to the safety of the corner in which Jackson and Katherine had been resting. He looked a little bit strange - the round face and muscular body were mismatched, and his hair was clumped together by numerous cheap-looking clips.


"Oh, it's okay," the new man said again, crouching down in the same way as before to meet Adrian on eye level. He frowned when he realised Adrian wasn't looking, but it didn't replace the look of curiosity on his chipper and wide-eyed face. Does he even know what Adrian's saying sorry for? Jackson wondered. Did he even know who Adrian had been talking to?


Like an arrow through his heart, Jackson felt a pang of guilt when he realised that he hadn't been saying anything. Adrian... Adrian was sitting down there, allowing his worries and woes to keep eating at him as he remained convinced that Jackson would be angry. The bespectacled man gulped again. Do my outbursts really scare him that much? I'm not, I'm not angry, this is my fault, not his...


"Uh - A-Adrian," Jackson began, dropping the quinque that had been balanced on his left wrist to wipe away a mixture of sweat and blood on his forehead, "It's fine! Really, I ... You didn't do anything, um, anything wrong." Shit, get it together! You stabbed the guy, a voice in his head reminded him. Jackson gritted his teeth together. The guilt he felt for doing something so horrible... It tore him up from the inside out, but Adrian was in such a disastrous state - was now really a good time to complain about his own emotional conflict?


Had Adrian even heard him? For the longest time, Jackson couldn't tell. He just waited for a response, staring down at Adrian with a look of panic as the new blond man remained crouching and kept glancing back over to the battlefield. He seemed awfully twitchy about something or other, as though he wanted to leave, but still he stayed.


It was difficult for Jackson to make out whatever Adrian was saying next, but as soon as he heard his name again the man's full attention was on the dark-haired boy below him. His lips set in a grim line and he turned his head away briefly to think. Somewhere, somehow he knew what Adrian was trying to convey, but right now he couldn't think about it. He didn't know why - a part of him chose to push those thoughts away, letting nothing through for a reason that he didn't understand. What... What do I say to this?


The fact that half of his thoughts weren't coming through didn't help; he had no idea what to make of the nonsense that Adrian was so desparately trying to piece together. But he had to say something. Even if it was just fluff, nonsense, there had to be something in some empty words of comfort that would calm the boy down. "Adrian, Adrian, it's okay," Jackson insisted as he craned his neck downwards. Once again he cursed himself for his self-inflicted imprisonment - perhaps if he had been able to move forwards, he could reach out towards Adrian for a hug. "It's okay. Are you - are you listening? I-it's fine, it's okay, it's going to be okay. I promise."

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

"You thought I'd die?" Lea giggled, balancing the tip of her right foot on the ground and turning it, "But, yes ma'am! I believe they're doing so!" She saluted to the older woman, giggling again afterwards. It didn't seem that the deaths around her were affecting her that much, but she should probably go and relay some of the information she had picked up and the dead bodies she recognised that she'd seen.


Although, before she could do that, her attention was caught by Matthew. She put her quinque on her back, blinking at the man before furrowing her eyebrows. She didn't get his attitude towards all of this.


"I've heard Jason said that anyone who dies in this line of work is dying for a cause, they're helping, and so he says they're heroes." The short girl walked right up to the man, her bright blue eyes twinkled with amusement and there was a grin on her face, "'You'll never get to first class with an attitude like yours.'" Lea shrugged, "At least, that's what Jason would say." Her hands went behind her back and she took a step away from Matthew, eyes studying him.


"You're like an emo kid aren't you? But like...an adult... Why're you guys so...um...what's the word again?" She looked up, thinking, "Oh!" A hand shot in the air, fingers coming down to point at Matthew, "'Angsty'! I mean, it's not like we didn't kill ghouls." With a shrug, Lea lowered her hand and put her hands behind her back. If the man had never met the girl before, she may remind him of a certain someone he disliked, except she seemed a little less naive, even if her personality and height did match that of a child. Plus, she had much less of a filter when she spoke.


"Anyway." After losing interest in Matthew, she spun back around to address Minerva, "I think I'll catch up with my squad if that's alright. I have deaths to report." With a smile, Lea took a few steps away, "When I came in I saw Jester had just killed someone, so, I'll go report that. You need anything?" She always seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere, hardly ever settling in one place for long.


----


"Adrian..." Katherine didn't know what to say, all the woman could do was stare on at the scene, shocked. Somehow the boy in front of her was still able to move, how was he even still conscious? It looked like he'd lost a lot of blood due to that wound...and who knew how many others...


She could see that Jackson was trying to make an effort to say something as Adrian seemed to panic, whilst she didn't know how to deal with the boy in this state, she could help but pushing Jackson forwards. So, she grabbed the back of the chair and pushed it forwards slightly so that Jackson was a few inches behind the investigator she didn't recognise that had brought Adrian over.


After that she moved out from behind him, looking over to the battlefield, the ghouls were backed up, and investigators seemed to be crowding to try and help each other out. "I think it's over." She reported back to the three males that she accompanied, "It looks like the ghouls are all backing off..." Was everyone okay? She'd gotten a little split up from her team after dealing with Jackson, hopefully they were all still kicking, she didn't need to lose people now.


---


A whimper escaped Adrian as Jackson started to talk, he said it was fine...that he didn't do anything wrong, but was Jackson telling the truth? Did he really believe that? Or...was it just because Adrian was crying? He needed to stop, this situation was stressful enough for everyone, he was only making it worse. Shut up. Shut up.


The boy held his breath in an attempt to stop his crying, it helped somewhat, but he still couldn't stop completely. No one could understand him, he wasn't helping, he shouldn't cry. There were people here. He shouldn't cry.


It was hard to hear Jackson properly, and in his panicked state it was even harder to concentrate on his words. Adrian squeezed his eyes shut, biting the inside of his cheek. It would be fine, he just needed to clear his mind, he just needed to think straight, think the right things, he could do it. Stop crying. It felt almost impossible to him, how was he meant to stop when he felt so ashamed and guilty? So many things were his fault... Jackson got hurt because of him, he let himself get hurt, and now...now he probably let Leo get hurt as well. He was useless! Why didn't he do something! Why didn't he stop them! Why hadn't be made Leo stop!? Stupid...Stupid...STUPID!


Once he'd managed to calm his sobbing slightly, Adrian opened his eyes and looked up, there his gaze was immediately met with the strange blond man that had brought him over. His eyes widened and he yelped falling backwards and having to put his hands down behind himself to make sure he didn't fall onto his back. That caused the boy to let out an ear piercing cry of agony as a sudden, intense pressure was put on both his wrist and shoulder, both arms were immediately contracted and he fell straight onto his back anyway, crying again.


He hadn't been expecting someone to be so close to him...especially not someone he didn't know... So, it had shocked him. He hadn't meant to...


"I-I'm sorry, I...I didn't..." After a few moments, he spoke quietly, wiping his eyes again and trying to suppress his sobs as he attempted to sit back up. Of course putting down either arm was going to hurt, but he eventually went for putting down his good wrist. It would be easier.


Adrian took in a sharp breath as he rested his hands on the ground and pushed, but other than that he made no noise. He could deal with it...it was fine... Once in a sitting position he wiped his eyes with his good wrist, letting both of his hands flop limply into his lap afterwards. He seemed slightly calmer, but still in a lot of shock, and pain, as well as extremely upset and worried.


The boy started playing around with his broken wrist, he kept moving it up and down, taking in quiet, short breaths at times when he hurt himself by accident. It was completely out of place, and he was messing with it, that probably wasn't one of the best ideas he'd ever had. Why did Leo crush it? It looked like he was avoiding making eye contact with anyone, or even saying anything else, and he was...he didn't want to upset anyone, and he felt guilty. Adrian didn't want to curl up and cry, he didn't want to be completely useless, he could at least control this...

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

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NOTES

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SPEED-WRITING! SORRY IF MY STYLE HAS MUTATED. TELL ME IF SOMETHING DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

Countless times throughout Lea's barrage of sharp words, Matthew grunted and coughed out the beginnings of a retort, but each time he was cut off yet again and left to dwell in his own strained silence. Irene simply spectated from afar, her eyebrows raised as she glanced back and forth between Lea and Matthew. She noticed that the man became particularly strained and red-faced when the word 'emo' was brought up, but still he did not speak until the subject of conversation was changed and he had manage to slope away to somewhere he could complain out of earshot.


"I don't freakin' believe her!" he stage-whispered, spitting his words on the ground after shepherding Irene off to a corner with him. The girl simply shrugged and gave him a dead stare of complete indifference, saying nothing but urging him to carry on with a lazy flick of the wrist. "Bitch thinks she knows everything about me, bitch thinks she's up at the top, doesn't she..."


"Well," Irene put in with a yawn, "She's a senior investigator, Matt. And she has a point. You're a giant emo." For that last comment she received a sour look, but she simply met it with another snort. Other than that, though, Matthew elected to ignore Irene and continue with his miniature rant.


"I'll fuckin' tell you she isn't gonna know how hard I can fuck her up. Bitch. I bet she doesn't act like such a ... Such a bitch in front of her bosses."


Irene crossed her arms over again and stared away from Matthew, purposely avoiding his fiery glare. The girl's lips had tightened to a thin, neat line and her cheeks had risen and tensed. What should she do now? Matthew was off on one again, there would be no stopping him unless she could step in. Knowing his kind of common sense, he really would try to pull something on Lea, too.


"Rant all you like, Matt, but it's probably not going to be healthy for your salary," she warned. Matthew continued to scowl at her, but the sudden jump in his movements and the way his mouth closed itself to allow for silence seemed to prove that her idea had made its way to the sensible part of his mind. "Yeah. That's what I thought."


***


The young blond-haired man with the round, freckled face had been continuing to watch Adrian with something halfway between a frown and a smile on his face; though his brows had lowered and furrowed together, the edges of his somewhat thin lips had curled upwards and his round green eyes remained wide and wild. His only reaction to Adrian's surprise upon seeing him was to stretch his lips wider and nod vigorously.


Only when Jackson found himself slid closer to Adrian did the young man's attention waver. He glanced blankly up at Jackson, blinked quickly a few times and then put the baby finger of the right hand over his bottom lip, pulling it downwards to expose part of a row of brilliantly white teeth. "Hello," he slurred, not moving his finger to allow for clear speech. The boy was not looking at Jackson's eyes, but at the quinque lying limp on his bloodied lap.


Jackson did not greet the boy back, though he knew he probably should have. All that his mind could think of when he looked at the boy, though, was how odd. What was he doing? For taking Adrian to safety he was grateful, of course; even now, though he still felt the fluttering in his heart left over from the heart-wrenching anxiety caused by Adrian's absence, Jackson was still awash with wave after wave of relief. But his job is done. What's he still doing here?


After about a minute of uncomfortable, strained staring between the two blond-haired men, the one crouched on the ground suddenly appeared to lose interest in Jackson and turned back to Adrian, finger still curled around his lip and eyes still wide with wonder. As though the boy's movement guided him, Jackson followed the younger man's gaze back over to Adrian.


I hurt him, Jackson remembered, still glumly rubbing at the blood-crusted skin of his deformed upper arm. It burned, it stung, it hurt more than he could describe. Perhaps if he had not felt so numbed by guilt, he too would have shed a tear. But now his eyes could not be torn from the image of the wounds - the cuts, the scratches, the gaping gashes torn through his companion's body.


I hurt him, I stabbed him, and he thinks everything is his fault. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for Adrian to be like that, wailing and crying and afraid of threats that no longer existed when he hadn't done anything to deserve that fear. Was it Jackson's fault? It must have been, it must be the way he got so angry all the time. Is he scared of me? No, no, it couldn't be him, it couldn't. He was the one who was supposed to make things better.


Several times, Jackson opened his mouth and began to speak, but the words always seemed to get lost on the way out, leaving only forced hiccups and whispers of gibberish. What do I say!? He couldn't... He couldn't think of anything, it just wasn't working. Fuck... I messed up.


After a while, when Adrian had finally calmed down somewhat, Jackson's eyes drifted down to the boy's hands. What the- What!? What was he doing? That wrist, it didn't look right. The man swallowed and blinked to clear the water from his eyes, maybe if he could stop his vision from blurring so much then he would be able to see what was wrong. It wasn't hurt, was it? Adrian's wrist...


Another pang of guilt wracked Jackson's body, forcing the man to shiver again as he noticed that there was indeed something wrong. Adrian... Did Prince do that to you? It was broken, definitely. That must have hurt, it must still be burning. Why was he playing with it? That's not going to help... "A-Adrian," he began, his voice still unsteady as he forced the hoarse noise past his tightened throat, "Stop doing that, would you? You... You're, um, going to - you'll make it w-worse."


Jackson didn't really notice that his hand had left his own broken arm to droop down by his side. It was still difficult to reach from his position - though his hand was reaching out towards Adrian, the most comforting gesture he could make from where he was was to brush his fingertips against the top of the boy's shoulder. "Leave it... Leave it alone, y-you're fine, you'll be fine..."


As the man's voice trailed off into a static nothingness, the younger blond man's green eyes had glazed over land his frown of interest had loosened and disappeared. He wasn't paying much attention anymore - instead, he kept glancing away from Jackson, away from Adrian, instead peering over at the battle field where a grey-haired investigator was leading a string of battered-looking fighters across to a black-painted ambulance.


The vehicle had not announced its arrival with sirens, and it didn't appear to belong to the NHS - the colours were wrong and the people who must have been the paramedics were dressed in padded, armour-like clothing with the CCG's logo printed over the chest.


"Oh, they're taking people to the hospital," the freckled boy pointed out, his dull but projected voice filling the corner so that it could be heard by everybody nearby.


Suddenly Jackson's hand jerked back upwards, every muscle in his arm and neck suddenly tensed. Just as he had begun to feel more relaxed, just as he had come to accept that Adrian was alive... Oh no, no no no, this can't happen. Adrian? What would Adrian do now? He couldn't come to hospital, somebody would find out what had happened the night before, somebody would think he was a ghoul. What do I do!? He was stuck. He couldn't do anything, couldn't say anything. The best message he could send to the boy was a wide-eyed, panicked stare from his watery and bloodshot eyes.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

Lea had turned her head when she heard Matthew stage whispering, of course she wasn't really interested in what he said about her, she simply didn't give a shit about his opinion. With a shrug, she backed off again, there were still people to report dead, so arguing with some man who had no idea what he was doing was a pointless waste of time. She had to report back what she knew, plus maybe she could go and get them to find that body that she'd seen...was that kid's name...Teddy?


She turned her back on the three of them running over to another girl not too far away, her hair was an unnatural blue colour and she looked to be around five inches taller than Lea was. The two could be seen discussing something, before the taller female walked off beckoning Lea to follow.


The two disappeared behind a large, black vehicle, a male meeting up with them both a moment before they disappeared.


---


A 'hic' noise came from Adrian as he stared down at his wrist, why would Leo do this do him? Why did he crush it? It was going to take awhile to heal...how was he going to use it if it was crushed like this? That wasn't fair... The boy pouted and whined, moving his fingers one by one to test if they were affected, they were and he jumped slightly, obviously surprised at the pain, but didn't make any noise. It didn't hurt enough at that moment to warrant making a fuss. Well...at least to him.


Whilst the pain was bad, it wasn't unbearable, it might have been worse if he was trying to use his wrist normally instead of letting it hang limp. It was more of an ache than anything, a rather strong ache that felt a bit like someone was stabbing you if you moved too fast or touched the wrong part of it. It really was completely crushed, to think that Leo was that strong...he'd just taken Adrian's wrist in his hand and snapped it. Then again you had to compare the two of them, the boy was small, not very strong, and rather fragile, whilst the ghoul he'd been trying to get the attention of seemed quite the opposite. Tall, muscular, and obviously quite powerful if they went by how effortlessly he seemed to throw Adrian around. It shouldn't have been a surprise that it was easy to crush his wrist, he was probably lucky that Leo didn't crush the rest of his body too... If he'd just stood on him that one time...if Jackson hadn't stopped him...


His breathing had started to even out, and he felt a lot calmer than he had done moments ago. He was still upset with himself, but he couldn't panic, there was time for that later. He'd been given the opportunity to cry a little, and so he knew that now he'd be able to keep himself together for awhile, even if just for the sake of others. he didn't really feel like crying anymore anyway, at that moment he just felt...numb...


"Uh." Adrian blinked, looking up from his wrist whilst gently pressing at it with his other hand, it sent small jolt of sharp pain up his arm, but he was just trying to occupy himself with something... It might as well be that. He seemed a little confused at Jackson's attempt to stop him, the boy looked back down to his hand, turning it over. Why shouldn't he mess with it? Jackson said he was going to make it worse, but he wasn't sure how much worse it could get, it seemed pretty broken already... Could you break a broken bone?


Still, he removed his hand from his broken wrist, Jackson probably knew what he was talking about, so he shouldn't argue with him over it.


As he started to compose himself a little more Adrian managed to look over at the male who had brought him here, the man was awfully close and wore the weirdest of things. Actually, he was rather intriguing... Why hadn't he seen him around before? Was he new? What was his name?


Maybe he shouldn't have been staring, but Jackson knew that Adrian had never been good at hiding when something interested him. He was friendly, excitable, and decently social, but it didn't mean that he understood all social queues, or how to act in all situations. He never had gotten the fact that staring was rude.


His arm went up to touch the strange blond man's hair clips, but it quickly retracted again as he heard the guy speak. Wait...what was he...


Adrian's head turned to look over towards the battlefield and he suddenly noticed that all of the ghouls in the area had disappeared...


Where...was Leo?


Suddenly he felt another pang of panic over his brother, and so turned back to Jackson to look for help, just to see that the man was staring at him with wide eyes. Why was he looking at him like that? What...What was it? He turned his head to the side, trying to think of a reason. Then it sunk in...


They were taking people to the hospital.


Adrian wasn't the smartest, but he knew what these injuries meant, they'd take him there, but he couldn't go...because...then they'd find out....


"Oh." The small, dark haired male, put and arm down on the ground, flinching at the pain as he forced himself to stand. He stumbled, grabbing his opposite arm with his good hand and looking around, "I..." What did he say? Jackson knew he couldn't go with them, he knew he couldn't go with them, but...


He looked over at his friend, apologetically smiling as he backed away from the ground slightly, "I...gotta go..." His voice was quiet, almost as if he wasn't meant to be heard, he knew that Jackson might not be happy about him running off again like this, especially when he was so hurt...but did he have a choice? It was that or...or... The boy shook his head. He didn't want to leave, he needed Jackson right now, but he had to...he'd be back soon. It wouldn't be for long.


"Sorry."


After that he turned, moving away as fast as he could with his bruised and battered body.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

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NOTES

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no notes


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

Jackson had to stop himself from calling out towards Adrian when he caught sight of the younger male staggering to his feet, the words, 'where are you going' catching in his throat instead of falling carelessly out of his mouth to draw the attention of those nearby.


Adrian... Just because Jackson had not asked aloud did not mean that his mind had stopped swimming with thoughts and emotions and words that he wished he could put together into something that made anything close to sense. 'Take me with you,' he wanted to plead, 'I'll come with you and bind your wounds up.' But he was gone, and he could not leave now - not when there were people nearby, no doubt with questions buzzing through their own minds.


Jackson wished that they could just mind their own business, let him leave if he wanted. Adrian can't get help from the doctors, I'll have to do something myself. What if he ran into trouble as he tried to flee to safety? If there was more fighting to be done, the boy was a goner; a hole in his shoulder and a crushed wrist... Not even someone with a body like his could recover from that in the few minutes he had before something could crop up.


But it's too late. He was gone. Out of sight, out of earshot, probably out of mind to most of the investigators who hadn't witnessed his escape; whilst Katherine and that strange freckled boy would likely express confusion, he would safe from the higher-ups like Minnie and Lea. At least, until they came back to identify the fallen and notice that the boy was absent both in hospital and on the field. It's just a matter of time...


Just as Jackson had begun to contemplate excuses and fake alibis that he could later pass on to Adrian, a voice suddenly broke through the silence in which his thoughts dwelled, cutting through his plans and bringing his attention back to the present.


"Oh, he's gone," observed the freckled boy after removing his baby finger from the corner of his mouth. The words were not spoken with the raw enthusiasm which he had used when ushering Adrian to safety - instead they were now dull, monotone. Bored. His knees clicked as he rose to his feet and turned to face Katherine and Jackson. "That's a shame. He seemed fun."


Jackson sucked his teeth for a second. Fun? In what situation could Adrian's behaviour ever be interpreted as entertaining? He had been crying his eyes out, wailing in pain and sorrow... That's not fun. In truth, the boy did seem a little strange, though in what way Jackson could not tell. He looked and sounded kind enough, but those hair clips, they just ruined the gentleman's vibe.


Jackson watched the boy closely as he approached him with hands outstretched. What was he meaning to do? He- Oh... He was moving him. One hand and then the other pressed palm-first against his back and suddenly he was being pushed past the corner behind which he had hidden. "I'm taking you to the black ambulance, Sir," the boy announced dutifully as he took the man to the open back of the second vehicle to have pulled up.


So I see, he thought with a sigh as one of the armour-clad paramedics began speaking at him in words he couldn't bother to listen to, I just... It feels weird going in without Adrian.


***


Once Jackson and the remaining survivors had boarded the ambulances and been patted down to a satisfactory grade, everybody had been driven to the CCG's private facility for emergency treatment away from the public hospital (which the paramedics insisted was 'too slow').


Though it wasn't comfortable being pushed and dragged and poked and prodded, Jackson did appreciate the speed at which his doctor dressed the worst of his wounds - within the hour he had been bandaged around the cuts on his legs, stomach, shoulders and head, leaving him looking like something out of a casualty drama but feeling much more secure than he ever did in the open.


Beyond his open wounds, the medics refused to touch his aching and deformed-looking arm, instead insisting that Jackson be taken to the regular hospital with others sustaining similar injuries for less immediate care. The transfer took him farther from home, so after several hours of x-rays and several more of tedious waiting, Jackson called his parents to arrange a lift back. Promptly as always they arrived, spent several minutes cooing over his new cast, then finally took him back to the apartment in their car. It must have been close to the first hour of morning when they arrived, because the sky outside was once more painted with the dark orange glow of London twilight.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

It was hard for Adrian to just up and leave, he had the car sure, but he didn't know whether he should go back to it or stay in an alleyway for a little bit. The boy felt a little tired and so ended up heading into an alleyway and hiding behind some crate. If anyone came in, they wouldn't see him.


For the next few hours he sat there, curled up against the wall, eyes half shut. It helped relieve the pain, and honestly almost being asleep helped him to stop worrying about everything that had happened, everything that he had seen... It was so much to take in.


He knew that he'd have to tell Jackson when he got back, he needed to tell him about Leo, to tell him they had to go find him, but...not right now, he couldn't worry about it right now. They hadn't killed Leo anyway, Leo was fine, everything was fine. He just had to convince himself that everything was okay and he would feel better, because in the end everything really would be okay. It had always been okay, he'd gotten out of every situation that had made him upset, even if it had been someone else who had pulled him out of it.


Adrian didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but it must have been quite some time, since when he finally decided he was strong enough to get up it was dark. It had been easier to hobble back to the car than it would have been earlier in the day, as he had a lot of his energy back, but the pain from his wrist was still there... As well as the hole in his shoulder, even if it was going to heal soon... He didn't know how long it would take.


Once at his car, the boy had gone in the back and grabbed a jumper that he always left in there. He climbed into the boot, shut the door behind him, and then took off his shirt, ripping at it by holding it down with his knee and pulling with the other hand. He'd tried using both hands and soon realised that that really hurt and was not a good idea. After that Adrian tightly wrapped the shirt around his wounded shoulder, it hurt to tie since he had to use his broken wrist to help out, but he was able to bear it. After that he put on his jumper and climbed out of the boot and into the front of the car.


It was then that he realised he had a major problem.


He couldn't drive the car.


This sucked... How was he meant to drive his car with one hand? Would he have to...but... Adrian whined and turned his head to the side, curling up on his seat. He didn't want to. Still, it might be the only way.


It must have taken him an hour or so to finally decide what he was doing, but he realised he had no choice but to drive the car either one handed, or attempt to use his wrist. It was painful and slow, but he did manage to get home, even if it was early hours of the morning before he did so. By the time he got back his wrist was burning, as was the wound in his arm, and all he wanted to do was flop onto a bed and relax... He didn't like driving, he'd never liked driving. That experience only made it ten times worse.


Adrian entered his apartment building, went up the lift to the ninth floor and then walked to his door. He opened it with the set of keys he'd kept in the car, fumbling around for awhile since moving either of his arms required more effort than normal. He then pushed the door open carefully, he'd left Jackson again...he hoped someone was helping the other... How many times had he been irresponsible for Jackson this week? Mn. Too many to count. He shouldn't be allowed to help people, he shouldn't be left alone with people who needed care, he was useless...


"Jackson?" The boy's voice was quiet, as if he expected the other to be asleep, but on the off chance that he wasn't...he was calling out.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

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NOTES

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word count decreasing rip


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

It was either late in the evening or it was very, very early - either way, the dark twilight sky looked the same, the only differences in appearance being the odd flashing of a plane's lights below the faint twinkling of what few stars were visible in the sky far above. The roads were as good as empty on Adrian's journey, most of the traffic being gaggles of night-wandering youths on their way to or from some midnight gathering or another. Adrian's car was one of the only vehicles traversing that area of London.


The apartment building was as quiet as it always was at this hour - that was, until Adrian opened the door to be met with a familiar voice's endless muffled chattering and the incomprehensible noise being pumped out by the television's crackly speakers. A familiar shape was located just by the right edge of the sofa, facing towards the screen.


"Huh?" Jackson's head twitched and turned to the left as his ear caught the noise of the door clicking open and the gently projected call of a voice he knew too well. With one arm he pushed himself backwards so that he turned around in a tight circular motion, continuing to move until his back made contact with the wall.


The man's eyes lit up with delight when he found Adrian's gaze. "Oh! Adrian, you are back, after all," he exclaimed breathily, freeing his left hand to greet the boy with a quick wave. It didn't look like he would be able to come to the door for a face-to-face meet-up; though he had switched his blood-soaked clothing for a simple silk dressing gown, the impact of his injuries were still obvious. Each of his legs had a single strip of bandage tied around the calf. There was a rectangular patch taped to his neck and ear, and the arm which had previously looked so sickeningly deformed had been treated with a cast and then hung over his chest in a sling, leaving one sleeve of his robe dangling over the side of his chair.


The same chattering that had first been heard upon Adrian's arrival was still continuing on and on, and as the figure of a portly, grey-haired woman shuffled around the corner from the kitchen, her words suddenly became clear. "-Though a lot of people really don't think to allow for things like that, it's just unfortunate for people such as - oh!"


Jackson chewed on his lips and cast a nervous glance at his mother as she dropped whatever point she might have been about to make upon catching sight of the boy in the doorway.


"Tilly?" came Eric's recognisably gruff voice, but Tilly wasn't listening. She simply shuffled up to Adrian, her socks rubbing against the soft carpet, and wrapped her arms around the boy's arms to greet him with an enthusiatic cheek-kiss.


"My goodness, dear, we were beginning to think you weren't about to turn up at all. Are you well?"

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

Adrian had smiled, he was so glad that Jackson was okay. It looked like they'd completely patched him up, which meant he'd be fine now. That was good. Jackson was okay, he didn't have to hurt anymore. He was about to speak when he heard another voice from the kitchen, wait...was that...


Tilly appeared, she was talking about something or other before she caught sight of Adrian, but stopped the minute her eyes landed on the boy. Jackson's parents were here...he wasn't expecting that, they must have taken him back from the hospital. Play everything off normally, it would all be good, he just shouldn't worry. Hopefully they wouldn't ask too many questions about where he'd been, he didn't want to explain that he'd been sitting in a back alley for who knows how long, half asleep.


"Ahum...I-" The boy started his sentence as Tilly went in to wrap her arms around him, his eyes seemed to widen and he winced, but he tried to make the reactions as minimal as possible. It was a sudden jab of pain that was sent the whole way down his arm, but he refused to acknowledge it too much, he could do this.


"I'm okay." He smiled, holding his wrist with the opposite hand, his gaze moving over to Jackson. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but soon closed it again. He was going to apologise. That wasn't appropriate here, he couldn't do that.


"Are you, Jackson?" His head cocked to the side, staring at Jackson. It was obvious Adrian was tired, but he was going to stay up for a little bit, he didn't want to sleep until he managed to sort Jackson out for the night... That was his job, he was going to at least he useful whilst home... Even if his wrist was broken. Who cared? He just drove a car home, he could do it.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

and the awkwardness begins... jfc claire's not even there yet


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

Jackson couldn't stifle the enormous exhaled breath that passed out of his throat when he heard Adrian's words. I'm okay, he had said to Tilly. Yes, he had winced at her touch, he looked exhausted, his wrist was still held in the clutch of his opposite hand. But he had said that he was okay. Adrian is okay.


Only after Adrian had asked about Jackson's wellbeing did Tilly let go, but not before pulling him into a tight hug and firmly patting a hand on his back. "Well, I suppose 'okay' is better than nothing, isn't it? Oh, what's that?"


Jackson blinked and cracked his neck from side to side upon hearing Adrian's question. Am I okay? Well, apart from the wounds and the fact that his arm had been snapped in half, there wasn't anything that would put him down as anything less than 'fine'. Yeah, I guess I am. Adrian looked worse. "Oh, um - y-yeah, I-"


"Oh yes, he's been patched up," Tilly cut in with a quick, shallow nod and a tiny grin. Eric emerged from around a corner, slouching as always and with a hand contemplatively scratching at the back of his head. "Gracious, you should have seen the x-rays, though. Nearly put me off my dinner!"


Without thinking about it, Jackson subconsciously mimicked his father's gesture and put a hand to the back of his head to scratch at it as he thought. A frown had set on his face when Tilly had spoken over him, but he made no move to complain. She can speak more clearly.


"Oh! Yes, that's right. Eric, love?"


"Hm? Pardon?" Eric grumbled as he turned his body to face his wife.


"Did you take that chicken out of the freezer? It's late, but be oughtn't be packing off until we've fed the boys, you know."


For a moment Eric paused, neither moving nor speaking as his lips fell apart in thought, but then a nod confirmed his answer. "Chicken. Oh, oh yes, it's on the worktop. What was I supposed to be making? Curry, was it?"


...Curry? Jackson nearly swallowed his own breath upon hearing the mention of supper. No, of course, they... Damn it, what am I going to do!? He couldn't let them try to feed Adrian, it would be a disaster. Adrian would get sick, Eric and Tilly would panic, maybe... Oh no. What if they found out about Adrian?


"Um, actually - Dad, you, uh, don't worry about cooking," Jackson stammered at his father, eying the thawing foodstuff placed on the kitchen counter ahead. "It's fine. You - you only had to stay here until Adrian got back. And, err, we ate at work."


"Oh, that must have been hours ago," Tilly tutted with a wave of her hand. "You boys are going to starve yourselves one of these days if we leave you alone."


"We can just... Order a take-away. R-really, it's late, you don't have to stay."


This time it was Eric who chimed in on the conversation. "Hm? A Chinese? No, no, that's no good. What happened to watching your health?"


Jackson bit down on his lower lip. Damn it. Trust his mother and father to act like, well, parents... for once the man just wished that they would take 'no' as an answer and leave it at that. This isn't good, something's going to happen in a minute...


"Adrian, honey?" Tilly called back after freezing on her way to the kitchen. "You wouldn't mind eating on the sofa tonight, would you? Eric's hurt his back fixing the washing machine, see, so we're going to both be needing a table."

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

"Mhm!" Adrian nodded, flinching as he was patted on the back, but again he tried not to say anything about it. They were only trying to help, they didn't really realise that he was that hurt or anything...it wasn't their faults. They didn't need to know, he didn't need to worry them. What had Jackson told them for them to be this calm about him coming in late?


The boy stayed quiet as they all started to talk about Jackson's injuries, moving towards the couch, after taking his shoes off, so that he could be closer to his friend. He'd had another pretty hectic day, and all he wanted now was to know that he was safe...plus...he really needed to talk to Jackson about something. Something very important to him. Although, that should probably be left for another time, they had Jackson's parents over, and Adrian knew bringing up something like that in front of them would be...awkward and unexplainable.


He sat down on the couch, bringing his legs up and laying his head on the arm rest, trying to relax. Underneath his jumper he was still caked in blood, but he'd wash it off later, not right now. They were all busy right now. In his tired state he listened to the conversation going on between the family. It was nice to have a bunch of people in one house and not have to worry about them fighting with one another, he liked having Jackson's family over...it made him feel...safer...


By the time Tilly came through, Adrian had almost dozed off on the sofa. At the sound of her voice he jolted up, blinking and then wincing at the pain in his shoulder... Too fast. He turned to look at the woman, smiling, it took him a second to take in her words, but nodded once he realised what he said. Maybe...it hadn't quite sunk in, and it didn't until he'd turned back to look at the wall again.


Wait...


They mentioned food.


Adrian looked around worriedly, he couldn't eat... It'd make him sick...but...but he couldn't be rude and deny it, that wouldn't be nice. What was he going to do? He was either going to upset them or...or have to force himself. But...how?


His gaze turned to Jackson, he didn't look too worried anymore, just a little upset. His light grey eyes looked tired, worn out, the gaze he was giving Jackson was a 'please don't make me' kind of look. There had been enough going on today, he didn't have the energy to run back and forth from the bathroom, he didn't want to throw up again, it was awful before...but what else could he do? They couldn't tell Jackson's parents.


There was an audible sigh from Adrian as he turned his head away, curling himself into a smaller ball and laying his broken wrist on the edge of the sofa, playing around with its fingers with his other hand. What did he do? If they gave him the food...maybe he'd just have to eat it... Or...somehow find his own way around it.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

oh hi claire what a great moment you picked to show up!


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

"Hm, what's that, dear? Oh, no no, no need for that," Eric insisted, swiping an arm through the air to dismiss his wife's suggestion. "Adrian, my boy. Sit up here, 'if you so desire' as they said once upon a time."


"Really? Oh, go on then, Adrian. Your - I mean Eric's not going to sit up there now, you know what he's like, after all," Tilly instructed. Her nose was buried inside one of the top kitchen cupboards, but she spoke loudly and clearly to the boy she could almost call her son. The lady released a tiny 'ah ha' as her fingers curled around an almost-untouched bottle of ground herbs. A moment was taken to shake the container, peer at the printed expiration date with a squinted eye and then finally crack the lid open to sniff the contents.


Shit... Shit, no, I can't let them... Jackson's eyes locked with Adrian's for a moment. He felt another pang when he saw the raw panic flickering in his friend's grey gaze, and suddenly his left thumb was continuously, repetitively rubbing over the skin of his right wrist. His glasses were sliding down his nose again, likely on account of the sweat which had formed on his forehead and dripped downwards to make the bridge of his nose cold and slick. Adrian knew that he was in trouble, Jackson could tell from that look on his face. What could he do to get rid of his parents? What could he say to convince them to stop?


Jackson bit down on his own cheek as his thoughts were interrupted by a simple question from his obliviously-humming mother. "Forgive me for forgetting, Adrian, dear. How do you like your curry? Want some spice? Jackson, I'll have Eric make yours mild, of course. Oh, let's just put some chilli powder in Adrian's, it won't be too strong." Shut up, shut up, shut up! Why did she have to be so nice? So annoyingly insistent on feeding somebody who didn't even live with her? She was interrupting his thoughts, she was stopping him from finding something that he could use to get Adrian out of this-


Tap-tap-tap.


Jackson grabbed at the skin on his wrist and dug in his fingernails, leaving five tiny crescent-shaped dents on the surface of his flesh. Great, he thought, inhaling through his teeth as he attempted to block out the sudden tap-tap-tapping sounds that suddenly began to assault his ears. More distractions. How was he supposed to find a solution with all these noises everywhere? Tilly's chattering, Eric fiddling with the switches and dials on the oven, somebody choosing now to knock on the door... It was beginning to stress him out, he could feel his neck tightening, his face heating up. Was he flushed red? He hoped not, but there was certainly a burning sensation in his face, so he decided to check his reflection in the window.


It was dark outside and light within, so finding his own reflection shouldn't have been too difficult, provided he had a clear line of sight between his eyes and the glass. Yet when he found what he thought to be his own face, he realised that there was something about it that didn't look quite right. My hair isn't that long, he realised as his left hand released his right and went to grab and touch at the locks of shoulder-length hair draping by the side of his head.


Tap-tap-tap, went the knocking sound again as his 'reflection' rapped its knuckles on the glass. Jackson jumped back in his seat, almost pulling out his own hair in surprise. What the fuck!? That wasn't him, that definitely wasn't him. There was a person outside the window, a grinning, wide-eyed little girl, and she kept knocking on the glass.


"Mum," the man squeaked, frozen on the spot but managing to move his lips just enough to form the words that he needed to say. "Mum, err, you couldn't-"


"What's wrong, honey?" Tilly hummed back idly as she continued to rummage through the cupboards and tut at her husband, who was busily experimenting with the different buttons on the oven.


Jackson's eyes traced back to Adrian for a moment. Did he see..? Surely he must have heard the tapping, maybe he had seen the little girl outside, too. Her image wasn't clear, but... That's the girl from before, isn't it? It must be, it looks like her... Did Adrian recognise her? Shit, shit, this is bad.


"Err - sorry, Mum, could - would you mind if Adrian and I could just have a moment? Um, you can-"


"Pardon? Oh, oh yes, of course!" In a flash Tilly had clapped her hands together to hook Eric's attention. "Come, Eric, we're just going to Jack's room for a minute."


"Hm? Are we?" the man grumbled as he abandoned the oven to straighten up again.


Tilly placed a hand on the grey-haired man's lower back and gave him a light push to usher him away. The woman screwed up one half of her face in a 'subtle' wink as the two adults passed Adrian and Jackson to disappear into their son's bedroom, closing the door behind them with a quick click.


That's one way to shut them up for a second, Jackson thought with a sigh. They had been surprisingly quick to leave... What on Earth did Tilly think the two boys were going to talk about? No, he just couldn't let the ghoul at the window see them, find them... Not only would Adrian be in deeper trouble if that happened, but they were so painfully oblivious that it wouldn't be hard to see them as easy targets.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

What Adrian wanted to say was that he didn't mind sitting on the sofa, but they seemed to have already decided what to do themselves, and he didn't have the energy to argue it. Maybe he should just tell them he couldn't eat anything because he was too tired, that would get him out of the situation, right? With a sigh, the boy sat up, crossing his legs and looking down at his hands, which laid limply between his legs.


It probably would have been a good idea to panic a little more, try and figure something out, but whilst he didn't want to eat and throw up, he knew it wasn't the worst thing to happen that day. He could handle it, he'd just have to get away quickly. It wasn't pleasant, but things like that never were, it wasn't anyone's fault that he'd ended up like this...it just...happened.


The boy looked to Jackson, giving him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Everything would be okay. Maybe they'd be able to come up with some sort of excuse before the food was done, but if they couldn't, then he'd just eat with them. It was that simple. He lowered his head, listening to his surroundings instead of looking at them, his eyes really wanted to close.


It was comforting to sit there and listen to domestic sounds go on around him instead of shouting, or fighting, it was peaceful and he liked that. Adrian closed his eyes, sitting still in order to listen to all of the sounds and take it all in. He was listening...and listening...and listening...and...then there was a change. He could still hear chattering, the clashing of pans, Jackson's quiet breathing near him, everything like that, but along with that he heard tapping. Was someone at the door? At this time? Surely not. So...where was that tapping coming from?


Adrian opened his eyes, turning his head in Jackson's direction as he opened his mouth in order to tell him about the knocking, but he found Jackson staring at something else. The window? The boy looked over, baffled at why his friend looked so shocked when staring at the window. Then he saw her. He blinked, cocking his head to the side, Claire was here? Why now? It was too late.


After noticing the ghoul Jackson had immediately started to call to his parents, for a moment Adrian had been worried he was going to bring attention to Claire, but he knew the man better than that, if anything he was going to 'remove his parents from the equation.' That was a phrase he'd learned from Jackson. The blond man did exactly that, asking if they could go in his room whilst he talked to Adrian for a moment. It was a good excuse, but how long could they keep them in there. He should go over there and see Claire. What was she doing here anyway?


Waiting until Tilly and Eric had disappeared, Adrian stood up, he held his broken wrist, standing next to Jackson as his head turned slowly back and forth between Jackson's chair and the window. Once a minute or so had passed of this tired and sloth like movement, the boy walked over to the window to get a better look.


Just as expected, there was Claire, that blonde hair, child-like face, and strange expression gave it away instantly. It was nice that he got to see a friendly ghoul today, hopefully she wouldn't hurt him... Maybe she knew something about Leo. Whilst thinking about this Adrian had ceased all movement, blankly staring through the glass at the girl in front of him, it might have been a little creepy to her, he was completely zoned out after all, but she'd probably seen scarier.


Realising he'd blanked out, Adrian shook his head and blinked, looking down at the lock to he window. He wasn't really thinking all that much, he was exhausted, and so he took his good hand and unlocked the window without even asking Jackson first, like he usually would. Then he pushed it up, letting in the cold night air, it was a rather nice feeling, they should keep a window open more often. His eyes met with the girl's in front of him and he smiled wearily, letting his head loll slightly to one side.


"Hey." His voice was slurred and slow, it was more than obvious that he was beyond tired at this point.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

no notes


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

"Huh? A-Adrian, where are you..." Jackson's eyebrows hung low as he trailed off, freezing on the spot to watch the boy halfway through a frown. There was a ghoul at the window. There was a ghoul hanging loosely on the wall nine floors from the ground, and it was tapping at their window.


"Adrian?" There was a slight edge to Jackson's words now, a low-key sharpness with a hint of warning that slipped out when he first caught sight of the boy's arm reaching out to the window's lock. He wouldn't, the man promised himself, nut-brown eyes growing rounder as he saw Adrian grab on to the latch, He wouldn't, he knows better, he's not going to...


Click! The face at the window dipped out of sight as the pane at the top of the glass split in two, dipping inwards and allowing the coldness of the night air to suck the warmth from the homely atmosphere within the room.


He did it. He actually did it. It felt as though time itself had slowed. The beating of his own heart, the suddenly-loud and crisp sound of Adrian's breaths, even the movement of the ghoul as it leapt upwards to hang from the open window - everything seemed like it was playing in slow motion until Jackson finally choked out the words that had been hanging on the tip of his tongue.


"...Are - are you out of your g-goddamn mind!?" the man cried out, his voice splintering as he watched the ghoul swing its legs up through the gap and then drop down on the carpet beside the spot where Adrian was stood. It barely missed landing on the TV. "Th - no, Adrian, get it out again." He didn't like the look on its face; those yellow teeth that were bared in a wide, evil grin, those ghostly white, emotionless eyes that stared straight through Jackson's mind as he numbly gawped back at it in sheer horror.


Oh no, oh no, Adrian, what the hell did you just do!? Surely he wasn't so tired that he was losing all traces of his common sense? But then again, it looked like he might have been... Letting a ghoul into the apartment when he was too exhausted to know different, letting a ghoul run loose in a house where Jackson was trapped and his parents' oblivion made them an easy meal... Oh God, what if it kills them? His parents... He couldn't let it see them, he couldn't let it touch them. They were safe in his bedroom for now, but they weren't patient enough to spend the rest of the night cooped up in his tiny, stuffy room with nothing to do but read the books and comics lining the shelves.


The ghoul itself was twisting and turning its neck around, assessing its environment bit by bit and using her tongue to push away whatever strands of greasy hair fell in front of her face. It's looking for an attack path, Jackson decided, shivering when he met those cold eyes once more. It was the only thing that made sense. That ghoul, it had seen the man before, seen what a mess he had been, how easy of a meal he would be with nobody but the weakened and starving Adrian to stand between them. What the hell is it planning to do?


"The place looks different at night," the ghoul suddenly blurted out in its trademark Irish accent, its eyes fixed on the cold yellow light pooling from the fixture built into the ceiling above. "Kinda cosy-like."


Jackson ground his teeth together as the ghoul hopped forwards on its bare feet, leaving tiny smudges of mud between the fibres of the carpet. Get out, he urged silently, leaning backwards with his neck as the creature suddenly dipped forwards and thrust its face at Jackson's own. After an 'ooh' and a 'humm' he was released from its intense stare, for it had given up inspecting the man and had danced back to Adrian's side.


"You two look a li'l beat up. What's wrong with your wrist?" it chirped, grabbing at Adrian's arm to jab a finger into the soft, tender flesh where the bone had been misplaced.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

"What was that...mmn...Jackson?" Adrian turned his head, arms limply swinging by his side, "I...didn't hear you?" He was smiling still, trying to make an effort to keep himself awake. He couldn't fall asleep now that Claire was here, Jackson might be at risk... That he knew. Plus, Jackson didn't seem to like Claire, he didn't understand why though...because Claire was really nice.


At first Adrian had just seemed very relaxed about things, but then he heard Jackson shout out. He flinched, eyes widened for a second as he was forced to think about his actions. For a moment after Jackson cried out it almost looked like Adrian was about to cry, he was tired, he didn't expected to be making people angry this late at night. Claire wasn't going to hurt him, it would be fine...right? But...if the man didn't like it, it wasn't fair to keep her around. Still, she'd travelled all the way here.


The boy's gaze stayed on Jackson, for a moment it appeared as if Adrian had something to say, but not sound came out of his mouth, and he'd shut it soon after. He looked down, then to the left, then the right, then back to Jackson.


"Jackson..." Finally he spoke again, his voice a whisper, "Please...? She...She won't stay...long..." He didn't want to fight, but he didn't want to be cruel to Claire either. That just wasn't fair. She came here all alone as well, kicking her out all of a sudden was nasty. It would be polite to at least see what she wanted first.


His eyes followed Claire, watching her jump backwards and forwards before ending up next to him again, Adrian had made a habit out of smiling every time someone looked at him that night, he didn't know why...maybe it was just because he was tired. The girl took his arm, prodding at the out of place bone and making him whine and move his arm away sluggishly.


"I made Leo mad." He talked quietly, cradling his arm, "So he...crushed it..." With another smile, he looked down at the wrist, "But...it's okay. It was my fault." Considering his wrist was broken, he was strangely fine with it. Why didn't Leo just tell him what was wrong? Why didn't he have to throw him around like that? Did...did he hate him too? Adrian smile dropped at this possible realisation. Leo wouldn't hate him right? Why would he have any reason... Not unless the boy had somehow made him super mad. It wasn't possible though, Leo said he'd always be there, he said he cared about him more than anything.


He said he'd never hurt him.


"Hm?" Realising he'd completely zoned out yet again for a moment, Adrian raised his gaze, "Oh. Sorry."

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

claire, please remove yourself


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

Jackson stiffened and froze when he caught that look in Adrian's eye, and a twinge of guilt played in the base of his throat. Were those tears welling up? The man's head drooped downwards and his lips parted in a grimace. He didn't want to upset Adrian, he didn't want to make him cry. I'm not angry, I swear, he said inside his head, I'm not. He was just afraid. There's too much going on today... Not just this, but earlier it was- No. No, it wasn't. Even if Adrian said his name, that ghoul from the battle was not Leo. Leo is a dead man.


"Sorry 'bout what?" Claire questioned, one eyebrow raised. Her eyes were glazed over, tiredly failing to focus on Adrian's face. It didn't much look as though she had been listening to his talk of Leo, but she was certainly intrigued by the softness of the boy's crushed wrist. Once again she reached out and grabbed at the flesh, digging one jagged-nailed thumb into the place where a bone was supposed to be. "Y'know, you're real squishy for a ghoul."


Jackson flinched as he saw Claire playing with Adrian's wrist. It was his upper arm that had been snapped, but there was still a slight prickling sensation in his own wrist where he felt Adrian's second-hand pain. That has to hurt, that can't be nice...


It took several seconds for the man to work up the breath and courage to speak again, but eventually he decided that it wouldn't hurt to talk directly to the ghoul - so long as he didn't look at her. Please stop hurting him... "Stop... Stop it," he croaked with the volume of a mouse.


The sudden tremble in Jackson's voice must have caught Claire's attention, because she dropped Adrian's hand with a painful suddenness and turned her attention to the older male once more. "Why?" the girl asked, leaning backwards and curling her arms in at the elbows. Her lips were pressed forwards in a pout that made Jackson want to grind his teeth again.


That was easy... There was another twinge and a twang of unease in the pit of the man's throat. He was being toyed with. What the hell is this thing going to do to us? He had to get it out. He had to make sure Claire was out of the apartment, out of sight. Preferably dead or miles away. I have a quinque in my room... No! A quinque? He wasn't about to create a bloodbath in his own living room. The best chance of getting rid of this thing was to get through to Adrian, but the poor boy didn't look like he could stay standing long enough to shoo away a bloodthirsty wild animal.


"Adri- ack!" Halfway through his first word, Jackson was cut off as Claire suddenly felt the need to dart towards him, stop herself from falling by slamming a palm at the man's throat and then reach out towards his face. What the hell!? His heart began to race again, but once more the world felt like it had slowed down. It's going to kill me, he thought, slamming his eyes shut so that he didn't have to look at the ghoul's face. It's going to murder me right here, it's going to...


"Yoink!"


Jackson blinked his eyes back open and found that the world had been reduced to a colourful blur. A hand placed over his face confirmed that his glasses had been taken. "H-hey!" he called out to Claire's pale shape, but the girl was no longer within reach.


"I'm jus' looking at 'em for a minute," the girl whined, gasping as the frame slid over her nose and rested in front of her eyes. The circular lenses made her equally round eyes appear huge and bug-like, but she seemed only to care for her own perspective. "Oh, this is so weird! Adrian, you've gone all fuzzy-"


Knock, knock. "Boys? Are you done yet?" Tilly's voice called from behind the door to the right.


Oh no. Jackson whipped around to face the direction of his bedroom door. Even without his glasses, there was no mistaking the movement of the door handle, the way it turned downwards as the door cracked open half an inch. No, Mum, not now, no, bad timing!

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

It took a few moments for Adrian to realise that Claire had spoken to him again, asked him a question even. He shook his head, blinking and opening his mouth to speak when she grabbed hold of his wrist again. He felt a finger dig into the slightly swollen skin, pushing bone that was already out of place to the side. His eyes widen as another wave of sharp pain shot up his arm, but he kept his mouth shut, simply breathing out shakily instead. Yes, it was rather painful, but he was okay with it...it wasn't like she knew. He shouldn't make a big deal out of it, she seemed tired anyway... She probably wouldn't understand at this point. He focused on evening out his breathing as Claire continued to mess with his wrist, it really hurt, but he kept that tired smile on his face. At least it was keeping him awake, right?


His saviour was Jackson, as the man chimed in, telling Claire to stop. She did, dropping Adrian's wrist and instead facing towards his friend. The boy grabbed his arm at that point and cradled it into his chest, should he put something around this? He didn't know how fixing broken bones worked... Was it best to keep it in one position? He probably shouldn't keep moving it...and Jackson had told him earlier that poking it was bad... So, he probably shouldn't let Claire to that again.


The two had started to converse, Adrian's mind wasn't processing the words, well, not until he heard half of his name. His gaze flicked to Jackson and his mouth opened as if to answer when he saw Claire dart forwards. What...was she doing? For a moment it seemed threatening, which would have made the male move, but he relax again as he saw the girl snatched Jackson's glasses and put them on. See...Jackson should trust him, they weren't dangerous. He wouldn't have brought them back earlier if they were.


Again he managed a smile and a giggle as Claire talked about how weird Jackson's glasses were. It brought him back to when he used to do the same thing...


Around the time that Leo had...gone missing...Jackson had approached Adrian, the two had quickly become friends, but it was obvious from the start that Adrian's mental age was lower than his physical. Despite being close to turning thirteen at the time, the boy often stole Jackson's glasses and played around with them, he'd ran into quite a few things doing so, but it was amusing and he enjoyed it regardless. They were fascinating to him, and he found it strange that Jackson couldn't see without them. Even at his current age he'd still steal them on occasion, although he wasn't silly enough to run around hitting his head off of furniture and walls.


Adrian was brought out of his daydream by the sound of knocking and a voice. Tilly's voice. Wait. Were... Oh no. Jackson's bedroom door was coming open and Claire was still in the room, if they saw her then... They couldn't see her. Everything could be given away if they saw her. Whilst he stood there, staring, the door continued to open more and more.


As tired as he was, he was able to process that quickly enough to step over to Claire and grab her wrist. Without saying anything the boy started running, dragging the girl along behind him. He ran down the corridor and shouldered open his bedroom door, making himself wince at the pain it cause, before practically flinging himself and Claire inside and shutting the door again. His room wasn't exactly tidy, but it didn't matter at that point, they just needed to get Claire out of the room so that no one saw her.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

my first holiday post ! i'm so proud


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

Just as the door cracked open, Claire's gaze drifted over to the tiny sliver of pink flesh and silver hair visible before the yellow light pooling on the floor from Jackson's bedroom. The young man himself was sitting stiffly, his eyes frantically wandering the scene to find whatever blurred image of his parents he could make out with his spectacles rested over Claire's nose.


"Oh, there's someone hidin'. Who is it?" the girl inquired, her large and owlish eyes blinking curiously behind the glass lenses which made the world look strange and dizzyingly warped. Just as she had been about to open her mouth for further interrogation, however, a sudden tightness around her bony wrist squeezed the thought clean out of her head. She had to hold out one arm to keep from tripping as Adrian led her blindly into the room behind.


Click, went the door. Claire pulled her wrist out of Adrian's curled fingers and rubbed at the base of her palm, pushing her lips forwards in a pout of frustration; she was used to being bossed around, not dragged from place to place without so much as a word. Still, though, her own wonder and excitement won over her annoyance.


"Wo-ow," the young girl whispered in a voiceless sigh of reverence. Despite having been so apparently intrigued by the mystery behind Jackson's door, Tilly and Eric were all but forgotten in the moment - now Claire had eyes only for the trinkets and furnishings around her.


The first thing that she decided to explore was Adrian's bed. Like a whirlwind she leapt with one foot into the air and demonstrated a great twirl before heavily whumping down onto the mattress. Her matted locks of greasy blonde hair rolled over the edge of the pillow, and the dirt on her denim dress left muddy smears on the surface of the duvet. "I di'n't even know you had another room! It's so comfy-like." One side of her face pressed against the bed, pushing Jackson's glasses into a wonky position that made Claire look almost half as flaky as she acted.


***


No. Jackson could feel his heart rising up to his throat, the great force of its hammering sending endless pulses of adrenaline coursing through his body. Oh no, not now. If his face was red, he didn't care this time; looking 'like a volcano' was of little concern when there was a ghoul a deranged, man-eating monster standing around in the living room.


In the corner of his eye he caught a flicker of movement - with Claire in possession of his glasses, it was hard to tell exactly what was happening, but he didn't need to see to know that Adrian needed time.


"Hang on!" he called out in as calm a voice as he could manage. Footsteps to his left confirmed that Adrian was on the move. Good thinking. Jackson silently thanked the Lord that his roommate was not too tired to lose all of his sense. If the boy was making an effort, it was up to Jackson to ensure that it did not go to waste. "Just - j-just a second, Mum, Dad - sorry-"


The blurred line of yellow abruptly stopped growing after Jackson had called out. The patterns of light and dark that could either have been hands or hair danced up and down for a moment before a voice hollered back in response to the instruction. "Hm? Oh, yes, yes, how much longer are you likely to be, lads?" asked Eric, his naturally gruff voice raised to a lighter tone as he addressed the boys.


"Just... Not long..." Click. There went the door. Adrian's taken her..? Neither he nor the ghoul were in sight, but there was a muffled, lilted voice coming from the direction of his bedroom. Okay, it's gone - now! "Y-yeah... Okay, uh, come in."


Almost instantly the tiny line between door and wall widened into a crevice that then spat out first Eric and then Tilly. For a moment Jackson's mother wandered the living room almost aimlessly, checking the surroundings with wide eyes like some sort of crime scene. Eric, on the other hand, immediately found his place in the groove of the sofa - the spot where Adrian normally sat when he wasn't sprawled over the thing like a cat - and let out a great sigh as his head turned to face Jackson.


Just as he was about to try and make some sort of pathetic conversation to his father, Jackson was cut off by a hand touching at the prickly stubble growing on the sides of his face. Tilly had crouched down in front of him, and from such a close range the man could see what must have been a frown on her face.


"What have you done with your glasses, darling?" came the start of the interrogation.


Jackson swallowed and turned his head to force Tilly's hand to slide away. A bead of sweat rolled down the bridge of his nose and settled in the nook of skin where his glasses normally sat. "They broke," he lied, rubbing at his nose briefly with his left hand. "Adrian, uh, Adrian took them to go and fix them." Wait, Adrian. Shit. Adrian wasn't there either. Fixing broken glasses wouldn't excuse him for the rest of the night; if he was absent for more than a few minutes, more questions would surely follow. Neither he nor Adrian would need that. I've got to cover for him. "Err, actually, he went to bed. Um, you know, he had to work overtime, and it's late..."