Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

[Yoki]

As Claire spoke Lorn dropped back and jabbed her in the side with his elbow, shaking his head. If she talked loudly like that then she'd hear them and might run away or something...or someone would find them out. 


"Shush. I got this okay?" With that he moved away from the girl and continued to follow until they got to a less crowded street. This one didn't really seem to have anyone on, or...any cameras in good positions by the looks of things... Perfect. 


With his hood up, the boy ran forwards and tapped on the woman's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Hi, uh...sorry to bother you, but...do you have a phone?" He pulled out his own, "Mine is dead and I kinda lost my family. We're...on a vacation here so I really have no idea where I am." 


The woman was left to blink for a minute before nodding and going into her pocket. 


"Oh, yeah, that's fine. Here." She passed over a rose gold Iphone, causing Lorn to smile in fake appreciation. 


"Thanks." After that the boy proceeded to pretend to dial a number and put the phone to his ear, "Hello? Hey, mum- Yeah, I know...I didn't mean to, I just went into a shop and..." As he spoke he walked closer and closer to a darker nearby side street, causing the woman to follow him slightly, obviously for the protection of her phone in case he ran. "Okay, yeah, I know where that is. Bye." 


Once he'd pretended to put the phone down he smiled again and held the item out to the woman, not walking over to her, but making her walk to him. "Thanks, I really appreciate it." 


"Oh." The female went to grab her phone, "That's okay..." Just to find that the teenager in front of her had a ran strong grip on it. As she stepped forwards to take the item, Lorn stepped forwards too, pulling it back whilst in his other hand producing a knife that ended up going right through her gut. Of course, to anyone who thought of watching it might just look like she was leaning over. He'd positioned himself well. It seemed like he whispered something to her before walking backwards into a side alley between in the houses and likely out of Claire's view if she didn't decide to follow. 

 

[yaint]

Claire might not have been half as smart as the boy she was following around, but even she knew better than to blurt out something stupid at this moment. Anyone who heard a young girl screeching, 'He stabber her, he stabbed her!' would end up rushing over and blowing the whole thing. So instead she kept close, side-stepping out of view of those on the busier street nearby.


"Whoa," she uttered quietly. Her nostrils flared eagerly when she caught the scent of blood. It made her mouth water, her pupils dilate and the hairs on her arms stand on end. She had not even realised how much she wanted that flesh until she was teased. "Lorn, ain't you gettin' your kagune out?" she asked again, her eyes briefly, uncontrollably flickering red. "I could... Use mine."

 

[Yoki]

"Hm?" Lorn had turned his head for a moment, before kicking the woman, who was now bleeding out, to the ground, "Why would I?" He asked, shrugging and falling to his knees. "There's no need." Again he raised the knife, putting a hand over the woman's mouth and simultaneously stabbing her right through the heart. He had to make sure he wasn't screaming and giving them away.


There was blood on his hands now, but that was easily dealt with, he just hoped that there was none of hi clothing... That would be a pain to get out... "You wanna use it now, go ahead. She's pretty much dead anyway." With another shrug, he took his hand off of the almost lifeless body and wiped it along the floor, "Messy..." He muttered, throwing his knife to the side, who needed it anyway. 

 

[yaint]

The woman whom Lorn had singled out was already dead or as close as she would come, but Claire did not want to miss out on his hunt. She stopped trying to mask the strobing colours of her eyes and instead let them settle to be black and red. Two spindly wings made entirely of long, sharp barbs erupted from her upper back. She grabbed at them with each hand, tore two of the barbs off and then proceeded to jab them through the soft body of the woman below - one through the left eye socket and the other through her right.


"That was fun," the girl commented light-heartedly. Then, her knees clicking as she moved, she bent down and took the barbs in her hands again. One by one she yanked them out, and with them came the woman's eyeballs and all of the sinew attached to their behinds. Claire licked some of the fluid from one of them like it was a lolly-pop whilst holding out the other towards Lorn and asking, "You want this one?"

 

[Yoki]

"You eat the eyes?" Lorn asked, he didn't do that open, but if she was offering he wasn't going to deny. He shrugged, taking the eye from her and biting at the nerve on the end, "Y'know we need to finish this before someone finds us... Hey, I know what." He continued chewing, not caring much about the blood that now stained his hands, and was going to trickle down his arm if he wasn't careful. 


After wiping his hand on the ground he went into his pocket, producing a small, plastic bag that was pretty much empty. After that he crawled back over to his knife, deciding that he did need it again, and grabbed a part of the leg of the woman, starting to cut it off. "Might as well use it all, right?" He muttered, "We can cut it up and stuff." He licked his hand, sighing and looking up at Claire, "Y'know, this is a lotta mess..."

 

[yaint]

"Yeah, 'course I eat the eyes. They're the best bit, that's what Lee always tol' me. He says if you eat lots of 'em they help you see in the dark." Claire explained her wild concept as she played with her eye-on-a-stick like a puppet. She held it up in front of her own eyes and made faces from behind. "Hey, Lorn, how's you gonna cut all that up with just a kni-"


Claire froze. She had let the eye drop down by her side, and immediately she caught the gaze of another woman standing just across the street. Under normal circumstances, she would have flexed her kagune, hissed or shot a few barbs, but this woman was odd. She wore a big, cheesy grin, and in her hands was a huge professional camera.


"Click-click," the girl across the street said. She pulled her camera to her face, twisted the focus and snapped a picture of the two ghouls dismembering their fresh kill. Then, without a word, she shoved the camera back inside her little hip bag and skipped quite urgently out of sight.


For a couple of seconds Claire could only blink, dazed, at where this stranger had stood. "Hey, Lorn?" she began, again lifting the eye to her lips so that she could suck on the sinew, "I was gonna say somethin', but I forgot. Who was that?"

 

[Yoki]

He'd heard the footsteps, and made sure to keep his head down on his work... Maybe he should have been wearing a mask for this... Probably should have been wearing a mask. Oh well. Whatever. If he kept his head where it was then no one was going to see it anyway, he could just turn around and leave. 


Although, it seemed that this person, whoever they were, didn't scream or shout... In fact he heard her say 'click-click', saw a camera out of the corner of his eye and simply continued to dismember the body. She'd already taken it now, they could go after her, but it was a waste of time. She had a picture of Claire, nothing important of him. 


"Mmn." After the girl disappeared and Claire asked what it had all been about he shrugged, making the same clicking noise twice with his tongue. "Dunno." He replied, standing up and stuffing the bag back into his pocket, too much blood. "But...we should probably leave, so...grab what you want and eat and let's go. Cause...she has a picture of your face now." He licked his hands again, getting the rest of the blood off, "Don't worry 'bout it, it'll be my I'm sure. C'mon, let's go." 

 

[yaint]

Anyone else would have probably spent some time thinking about the appearance and disappearance of the strange girl with the camera. Claire, however, had not left her terrible memory behind in London; within the time it had taken for them to split the body between them and head back for the bicycle, she had forgotten all about it. They were soon on their way again, flying through the streets together and on their way back.


***


Jackson twirled the keys nervously around his fingers, repeatedly catching them in his palm and sending them in circles through the air again. 


"This one?" one of the ghouls grunted.


 The man nodded in return and slid one key from the ring. "Give - make sure you give that one t-to Diana. You... And everyone up to Callum, all of you on that boat there."


There was some reluctant shuffling from the crowd. Tommy-Jones, his hands wrapped around Callum's arm, stepped behind the others nearby and took a careful hop onto the deck of a large fishing boat.


A couple of other groups began to form on the walkways.  Several people crowded around some of the better known figures, Daryl and Bella and their housemates. Jackson glanced around. Having handed out every key but for one, it looked like his group and everyone else's leaders were the only ones left to board.


"Are we ready?" he checked before rolling across to the very edge of the walkway where an empty vessel lay in wait. "Okay, ev-everyone on board. We're going."

 

[Yoki]

Honestly, there were quite a few unhappy faces as people started to board the ships, although they'd all signed up for this...they knew what was in store. For some it was more about the boats in general, it was hard to feel safe on such vessels, others just didn't want to get caught by owners without their masks on. They were lucky everyone had one, they were going to need them for this trip. 


Once everyone had boarded it was simply the leaders and Jackson left, all staring one another. Daryl was grumbling and muttering curse words under his breath as Bella attempted to shut him up, Dane stood, arms crossed, Caleb staying directly by his side. The boy was more than nervous about this mission. Diana didn't seem too phased at all, she stood casually, like this was just another day at the office. It was a simple yet complicated task, get in, get out...except...that was much harder than it sounded.


"Finally." Daryl muttered as the call to get into the boats was issued, he was the first to leave, followed by Diana, and then Dane and Caleb, leaving only Bella left.


The woman smiled at Jackson mouthing 'good luck' before waving and walking after Daryl. On this mission, they were all going to need that luck... Hopefully it was on their side... 

 

[yaint]

Everyone else had made it on board without sinking any of the boats. That in itself was a borderline miracle, but now Jackson had to figure out how he was going to get himself on too - which was about to become a lot more difficult, because there was suddenly a short, sharp 'hey!' barked out from afar.


One backwards glance told Jackson all that he needed to know. The fishermen were back from their lunch break and they wanted their vehicles back.


"Jump!" A familiar voice cooed. Claire rose from her seat and waved her hands at Jackson. Jackson really, really did not want to jump. But those men behind him were gaining ground. After another yelp of, "Jump, I'll catch ya!" he forced himself to move. In barely a second, he dropped forwards into Claire's arms. One of the ghouls leaned over and snatched his wheelchair from the dock. Then, just as the boats' owners caught up to the shore, the rope was loosened and the vessel drifted out of reach.


"Daryl!" Jackson called above the hissing of the tides to the leader of the group as someone pulled him onto one of the seats, "Ignition, Ignition, drive!"

 

[Yoki]

Although Daryl could hear commotion going on behind him, he was too interested in talking to Bella to pay attention to any of it, instead he just sighed and muttered something to himself. Leaning against the wheel of the boat. 


Well...


That was until Jackson suddenly called out to him.


The man's head turned almost instantly, noticing people coming up on the boat. Bella jabbed him in the side, exclaiming something about driving, and then there were the yells from Jackson to start the ignition. All of that combined set Daryl into action. He couldn't believe they were actually doing this, he just hoped that they wouldn't regret it afterwards... It was risky, even if they were helping other ghouls...it was very risky and everyone knew what they'd signed up for.


"Yeah. I know." He barked, driving the boat forwards and away from the dock, hopefully those people hadn't seen too many faces, or...maybe it would be good if they had, that way they could easily get confused. 


Each of the boats had started to drive away now, avoiding angry owners who obviously wanted their vehicles back. They'd get them back...eventually... 


"That was close." Bella leaned her head on Daryl's arm for a moment, letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Holy crap, listen quicker." 


"Oh fuck off." The man muttered, looking out at the ocean, "I acted as fast as I could." 


"Yeah, sure." She patted his arm, pushing herself away and walking towards the area where Jackson was sat down at the other side of the boat, "Jackson!" The woman offered a smile and a small wave, "Are you alright?" 

 

[yaint]

"D'ya think he knows how to drive a boat?"


"Ohh, I hope so," Jackson groaned back to Claire just as a spray of ice-cold salt water clapped against his back and soaked both him and Claire from behind. The boat had given a sudden lurch as its engine revved into life, throwing many of its passengers to one side. Jackson clung for dear life to its hull whilst his legs slid down the deck on a sheet of water. His glasses were swinging loosely from one ear.


Someone else towards the back had reeled in the rope. "Catch!" they roared over the tides to someone on one of the other boats. That person extended an arm to catch the end of the rope as it was thrown, missed and then caught it in their kagune instead. Both parties tightened the knot which kept their vessels from drifting apart, then yelled back to their leaders, "We're attached!"


Already the shore was beginning to shrink towards the horizon. Claire turned over and sat atop her knees to lean over the edge so that she could watch it disappear. "Lorn! Lorn, look't that, we must be going real fast-like!" she cried out in awe. Everyone followed her gaze except for Jackson, who was still trying not to loosen his grip.


"F-fine, Bella," he croaked again. "But that was close. Did everyone get off shore in time?"

 

[Yoki]

"Huh... Nice." Upon hearing Claire call to him, Lorn walked up with his hands in the pockets of his jeans and his jacket hanging loosely over his shoulder, getting blown by the wind. "Interesting right?" He looked over to the girl so amazed by the sigh, "You should try going on an aeroplane, now they're cool." After speaking, he moved right up to the edge, took his hands out of his pockets, and leaned out. "You know anything about the ocean Claire?"


"Too right." Bella nodded, moving her red hair out of her face, "And uh...I think so, from what I saw it looks like everyone's off." She glanced around them just to see that there seemed to be several other boats appearing here and there... "Everything looks fine." This was crazy, they were actually on their way... She knew she wasn't well enough prepared, this was a giant risk, but...ultimately, it was about all of those people inside that facility, they needed to let them out. "Do you...uh," Again, she had to move her hair out of her face, "think we're actually going to get there?"
 


She heard shouts from her left, turned out it was simply Lorn barking something at the boat across from them. Honestly, she hoped the kid didn't try to jump between the two, he seemed like that kind of person...completely crazy...but...not quite insane. It was like he knew what he was doing, but at the same time had no idea what so ever. 

 

[yaint]

Whilst Claire stared with starry eyes at the ocean and sang an answer that got lost in the wind, the lines of the English coast began to melt away into the horizon. People longingly watched their home country disappear, some undoubtedly wondering if they would ever return. Gulls laughed from above. Jackson listened to their mocking 'haw-haw-haw' and sat silently on Bella's question, brooding without answering.


His hair plastered to his face, clothes soaked through to the skin and knuckles white from gripping to the hull, the man could do nothing but hope.


They were on their way. They could see the end. But nobody knew what that end was, what it would bring or how permanent the damage it would cause was going to be.


***


It was remarkable how easy it became to lose track of time when drifting on the open sea; the long nights spent gazing at the Milky Way had made four days feel like a hundred, and supplies were running thin. The ghouls were becoming thirsty for fresh water. Whenever Jackson brushed a hand over his stomach, he could feel it churning beneath his skin. Some people had even considered giving up, just turning the boats around and heading for shore like faint-hearted dropouts. But of course, Jackson had refused their suggestions.


He would rather starve than give up on Adrian.


And now, as he stared out through the grubby window of the crew's cabin in a direction he could not name, it looked like that dedication was soon going to pay off. In the distance loomed a dark shape which rose from the waters and reached into the skies. It was far away, but it was unmistakable. There was no other structure so large and so far out.


"There," Jackson barked suddenly, which caused Claire to jump on the other side of the glass. He could barely reach it from the safety of his seat, but when he crawled across to the next chair along he could tap at the window. "Bella, look, look at that. Do you think that's it? It - it has to be, right?"

 

[Yoki]

The wait was a bore, but the way everyone seemed to perk up at the mention of land nearby was astounding. Lorn had taken to sitting against the side of the boat, seeing if his phone signal would work all the way out in the ocean. Spoiler alert: It didn't; not very well at least. 


His remarkable ears had picked up Jackson's voice the minute the man had spoken, his head shot up, attention gained. It seemed like he muttered something under his breath, but even to a ghoul it wouldn't have been audible. 


Wanting to see the land for himself, the boy climbed onto his knees and peaked over the edge, blinking at he saw a rather strange, but somewhat familiar structure come into view... He'd never been here before... So...


"Jamais vu." He muttered to himself, using his arms as leverage to get to his feet, "Hey Claire, you see that?"


Lorn wasn't the only one glad to have seen a large building on the horizon. Daryl was done with this boat, he was done with the sea. Honestly, he just wanted to beat up some doves and get over with this... Of course, he knew it wasn't going to be that simple, but he wasn't thinking about that, who needed to think about that when you could think about how this mission wasn't going to fail and how everything was going to go smoothly. He grunted to himself at the thought... Yeah. Right. 


"Well...I mean, what else could a building that size out here be?" Bella asked, crossing her arms and turning to Jackson with a smile, "We found it. We...really found it." 


"Yeah. Well, don't get your hopes up yet." Daryl muttered, shaking his head, "That was the easy part. C'mon, let's just try and get to land with the others... They're gonna try slaughtering us from now on... Everyone's got their masks, right?"

 

[yaint]

"That's a funny place to build a house," Claire commented thoughtfully as she strained her eyes to make out the shape in the distance. "But that's it, right? It looks real strange too, it does. Oh, hey, Lorn? Since you're already wearin' a mask an' all, you won't need another one, so does that mean I get two?"


The building kept getting bigger with every mile they crossed, rising taller, higher towards the clouds like a skyscraper. Just looking at it from below gave Jackson vertigo, so he had to keep his eyes on the tides. Everyone else, however, would have seen the odd way it appeared to be built in the shape of a triangular prism rather than the cylinder they had all taken it for at first sight. 


"Masks are here," Jackson reminded Daryl. The only supply box they had brought with them which remained untouched was the large cardboard container which they had used to carry stacks of gas masks. Hopefully they had not gathered dust, but particles in the atmosphere was of the least concern when what they were hiding from was an RC-suppressant drug. "Everyone take one and hold on tight, we're g- we're going to try and dock in under an hour. Daryl, radio the other leaders and let them know too if you can."

 

[Yoki]

"Nah." Lorn walked up behind the girl and elbowed her in the back, "I still want a mask." He told her with a grin, "So, you can only have one." After putting his phone back in his pocket, he yawned. "What would you need two for anyway? Isn't that just carrying around extra weight? You gotta fight and stuff so there's no point in that..." It didn't seem like he really waited for an answer, pushing the wall of the boat to start walking away, "Anyway, we're docking soon..." It seemed like he was gone, but on the end of his sentence he added a little extra. 


"Good luck." 


---


The boats had docked a little away from the actual building, hoping to be hidden from any potential camera, of course, it was always likely they were going to be caught by one or two...but that didn't matter so much, they just needed to get inside quicker. Diana had started organising people, and Daryl was talking to some of the Aegis members to make sure they knew exactly what they were doing, but...they were Aegis...of course they did. 


Meanwhile, Bella stood next to Jackson, waiting for everyone to get into their little groups... She was starting to become a lot more nervous... If they didn't manage this...all of these people's lives would be on their hands. 


"No turning back now..." She mumbled to herself, shifting her feet, "So," She turned her attention to the bespectacled man next to her, "What's the next step?" 

 

[yaint]

Jackson had to keep pushing his glasses up to sit atop the bridge of his nose. He had spent most of the journey in the little cabin where it would not matter if he was shaken out of his seat, but now they had thrown their anchors overboard he had been aided outside to contemplate his options.


"Next step," he began absent-mindedly, feeling that dizziness again as he tried to look at the top of the tower, "Uh - we find a way in. Bella, I d-don't think there are any actual doors down here. There's not even a dock. We're going to have to look for a - m-maybe an air vent, or a pipe."


"What about that thing?" Claire interrupted over all of the noise. Someone on another boat, their voice too far away to carry over the ocean, was pointing in the same direction that she was looking. "I ain't so sure if it's a good idea or nothin' but if we get someone really tall then we can open that gate, right?"


"Grate," someone corrected from the crowds. 


"Same difference. But lookit, it's goin' somewhere, it is."


Jackson stared up along with everyone else. 'Someone really tall' was an understatement if anything - it looked as though that vent was as high up as the chimney on his house. There were no bolts to unscrew, no latch to unhinge - just bars over a cramped little passageway. But it was the best they had at the moment, so he clapped his hands together, announced, "Perfect," and then turned his head to Bella.


Claire's eyes lit up. "Oh, it's really perfect?"


"Yeah. Listen, everyone, Bella. This wall looks like it's made of concrete. We can climb up to the vent, break it - uh, then we'll have to just f-find our way in, I guess. Everyone should start getting ready to go in now, so grab your masks and start stretching. Daryl, radio that over to the other groups too."

 

[Yoki]

"Ahuh." Daryl had turned around and walked away from the group slightly as soon as Jackson had told him to radio the other groups about their plan. He didn't know how much he really liked the idea of climbing through a vent, but he assumed that that was their only way in... Well, the only way they could see. 


They were idiots for attempting this, everyone knew that the worst was likely to happen, yet they'd all come anyway. He had to be absolutely crazy to try and break into a detention centre this far out... It was going to be crawling with doves... And if they hadn't seen them already, then they would soon enough. 


Everyone else had already started to grab the gas masks and place them over their heads, chattering amongst one another. They were organising themselves again, decided on their own little group missions and strategy. Everyone there came for a reason, they weren't all after what Jackson was after, however, they were in this mission until the end. 


"Yo...anyone got a kagune that can reach that?" Lorn tapped his foot on the ground, walking up next to Claire to look up to the vent, "I mean...are you sure it isn't a material we can't break?" He raised his eyebrow, moving his left foot to behind his right heel. The boy didn't seem nervous or anxious about this mission at all...in fact, unlike everyone else who were being careful to plan and make sure they were completely ready, he was awfully casual. The teenager reminded Bella of that one kid in every year at high school that never studied for tests, slept in lessons, and hardly came in, but still managed to get As at the end of the year. They were never worried about anything because they knew they'd pass. His expression was too close to that. 


"Um..." Bella looked to Jackson, and then around at everyone else, "I'm sure there's quite a few people...." 

 

[yaint]

Maybe Claire did not notice the way Lorn acted so strangely, but his calm attitude was certainly off-putting for Jackson. The man kept trying to look away, to ignore the stranger with the mask on his face, but every few seconds his eyes kept drifting back and he found himself wondering, who? Who was this kid, and why did he feel so creepy?


Meanwhile, Claire bounced on her toes. "Ooh! Me-me-me!" she volunteered with a hand stretched up into the air as high as she could. "I want to have a go!"


"No, Claire, we need - s-someone strong," Jackson silenced her. The girl puffed out her cheeks and jumped on the spot to exert her frustration, and the movement made the boat start to rock. Jackson paid for his abruptness by being forced to grab on to his seat, but he still stood by his statement. "Try a man, someone with, uh, maybe a rin-"


"I'll do it." One of Leo's ghouls from the next boat along called up over the waves. 


For a few moments Jackson assessed him - muscular, tall, he stood on the rocking floor with ease. "Okay," he called back. "You try first."


*


The other ghoul's response had been instantaneous. Where there was once empty space suddenly erupted two twin-pointed arms of pure, blood-red muscle. They wound around the man's body and hooked right through the concrete wall when he lunged from the boat.


"Ack - it's slippy, be careful," the ghoul announced as everyone watched his feet scrabble against the wet wall. He took a moment to find his balance, and a couple of people clenched their jaws when he slipped, but within a minute he was flying.


Concrete cascaded from above with every step of the ascent and landed in the water around the spectators.  Jackson, when he was not shielding himself, asked, "How's it looking?"


"Not great," the ghoul admitted when he finally got a hold of the grate. "It's going to be a tight fit, and this thing's made of steel."


"Quinque steel?"


"I dunno, but I'm going to try to and break it."


Jackson swallowed his anticipation and nodded even though the other man could not see. If that was quick question steel, this was going to take a long time, but even the most resistant materials could be broken. The entrance was taken care of so far. Now it was just preparation.


"Guys," he started, clapping his hands together to draw attention. "Everyone ready? Got your - Claire, where's your mask?"


"Oh, sorry. I forgot." The girl grinned sheepishly and then grabbed a couple of gas masks from the side of the vent. One she handed to Lorn, letting go before checking if he was holding it, and the other she pulled over her face. 


"Okay. This is important, so listen up. We're - while we're out here, we're okay. But as soon as we get inside they're going to know we're here. If you're weak, stay with me or one of the leaders. Don't take your mask off. Try not to use your kagune when you don't need it, because some of the drugs can enter your system through their liquid forms. We're g-gonna go in there, look for a control room and disable as many locks as we can. Nobody wan-wanders off. Guys, is that clear? No questions?"

 

[Yoki]

The tension could definitely be felt in the air, as well as the nervousness which radiated from almost everyone. It was a tricky task, being nervous was normal....but they had to do it. They were there now. 


Daryl stood at the back after having told the other groups the news, it seemed Diana's boat was already very prepared, but...he expected nothing less. That woman was an overachiever to say the least, but...she was actually one of the few people he didn't dislike, she gave you something to respect. 


"Careful, okay!?" Bella called, wrapping her arms around herself as she watched the man hanging onto the grate, it was going to be difficult to break that if it was quinque steel... "I really hope this isn't harder than it needs to be..." She mumbled, almost to herself, all she wanted was to get this whole thing over with. They were there now, which meant the danger was real... Not ever in her life did she think she'd have to do something quite so dangerous, Bella was much more of a sit back, don't get involved sort of person... She wasn't into all of this fighting, she didn't want to be, but...it was just this once. All she wanted to do was free the people inside...and maybe...just maybe they'd... No. No, probably not. Not here. 



*


"Dane..." 


"Yeah?"


"I don't...th-this is..."


"You'll be fine. You know that." 


"It's...it's not th-that..." 


"Hey. Look at me, don't worry about it okay? Don't think about it, we'll all be fine, I'll be fine, you'll be fine, everyone else will be fine." 


"B-But Dane...this is-"


"I know. Just...think positively, okay? Everything will work itself out, everything happens for a reason." 


"O...Okay." 


"No matter what, I'll protect you. You don't have to do anything you don't want to." 

 

[yaint]

"Watch out!" The cry of warning from the man clung with one arm to the wall came just a fraction of a second too late. Claire caught the bar of metal as it came spinning down almost too quickly to see. "They're starting to snap off now, so just keep your heads down."


"Lo-orn!" Claire whispered excitedly into the boy's ear, and with her hand she waggled the metal bar in front of his face. The gas mask made her voice come out muffled, but nothing could drain the excitement from her eyes. "This is, like, an actual part of the buildin', lookit! Ain't that cool?" Everyone ducked as another bar was flung down into the water, but the Irish girl was oblivious. "Maybe I could give it to Tay when we get back or somethin', I'm sure he'd love a souvenir, he would. Oh, but if I split it in th... Yeah, in three, then I could give one to you an' Lee both, too. All my friends get a piece, see? Oh, this stuff is shiny, I bet it's super rare and expensive too."


*


The rest of the metal had been carefully aimed for empty space, so there were no further incidents of knocking people out or damaging the vessels. Now, when the ghoul swung to one side on his koukaku blades, there was naught but an empty hole rimmed with razor-sharp metal teeth. 


"How's it going up there?" Jackson checked. He still had not pulled his own gas mask over his head.


"Done. It's all open now so we can start going in, just watch you don't catch your clothes on that metal. It's nasty sharp, could tear up your outfit."


"Okay... Okay, everyone, st-start moving. We go in one after the other and remember, we're looking for a - for a c-control room."


*


When the first ghoul managed to worm his way over those spikes and disappear into the blackness of the vent, other people began to move, too. One of the other boats was quickly emptied as people leapt from handhold to handhold, sometimes using their own kagune to create new grips for the others to come. 


"Watch the spikes," a few people warned on their way. 


Claire could not stop bouncing on her feet, constantly tip-toeing back and forth impatiently like she was about to leap forwards. "Lorn, ya think we can go together? I ain't so sure about going somewhere dark is all... An' that looks tight, real tight."

 

[Yoki]

"Yeah, real rare." Lorn raised an eyebrow and laughed to himself, Claire was a strange creature to the boy, but it seemed like he didn't mind being around her. He'd just stood there as she babbled on about her friends, watching as the bars fell from the grate and people started to climb through. 


Everyone else was still talking, discussing plans. He was less than worried. 


"Uh." When Claire asked if they could go together he shrugged, "If it's real tight then we can't." He replied, "Hey, uh, I guess we kinda can. If you go first I'll follow you. Come on." With that he'd grabbed the girl's wrists and started to weave his way through others and towards the grate, everyone wanted to get through, but was smaller than most of them, Claire too, so it was easy for them to squeeze towards the front. "You first, then me." 


"Jackson." Daryl came up behind the man, looking down at him, "You understand that's gonna be rough right?" He'd looked over to Bella for a moment, who seemed to have also realised this. 


"It's possible." She replied, although in a quieter tone than normal. 


"Well fucking yeah it is, has to be." The green haired man, moved Jackson's wheelchair and looked at him through the glass of the gas mask. "You gotta be ready to hold on tight, we'll get you in one of the last, Bella can go after you. Then we're fucking done." With that, he moved to tell everyone to get a move on. They really didn't have all day before they were seen. 

 

[yaint]

"Just shut up for a - for one moment, Daryl. We'll figure it out." Jackson held up a hand to silence the other man's queries, although he could not truthfully say that he was not having the very same thoughts. If the tract was anything like how they looked in the movies, their journey would happen in a labyrinth of interconnecting tunnels - and they didn't even know what they were looking for at this point.


With keen brown eyes, Jackson watched the other ghouls disappearing one by one into the vent, using their arms and legs to make the task look easy. As promised, the one human among the group stayed put alongside Daryl and Bella, waiting anxiously as his hands wrung together until he saw one ghoul help pull another up using their kagune.


The idea sprung upon him and lit up his eyes.


"Wait, that's it. I've - I've got an idea," Jackson announced to the others when the three of them were the last ones left to move. "Daryl, if you go in just before me then - you use your kagune to get me to the vent. Bella, w-would you mind bringing my wheelchair? Just take it apart and come in behind us if you can, it should - it shouldn't be too heavy." With that last statement, he grabbed at his own gas mask and fitted it carefully over his round-framed spectacles. "Come on, they're probably waiting for us."

 

[Yoki]

"Like I hadn't already figured that out." Daryl muttered, shaking his head and walking over to the vent, "You're slow today." They didn't have time to argue though, this was something that had to be over and done with. The worst part of this was going to be those vents... Or...at least that was the worst part in his eyes. He'd motioned with his hand for Bella to start coming over, which she did, pushing Jackson's wheelchair with her. 


It wasn't hard for Daryl to climb up to the vent, and in seconds he'd released that familiar, sharp-tailed kagune and hoisted Jackson into the vent, turning around to face the other direction and retracting the kagune. He wouldn't have been surprised if the guy was worried, he'd hauled him up without a warning at all. 


After a moment of thinking, he realised that the only sensible thing to do was have Jackson grab onto him somehow, then he'd move and the guy could just sit there. "Jackson. Grab my ankles..." He mumbled unhappily, "Don't fucking move too much. Then we'll get outta here. Bella! You good?" 


"Yeah!" The woman called, "Go on, I'll be there soon! And be quiet!"