Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

[yaint]

If Daryl needed a place to lose Jackson, he had just found one; every abrupt movement loosened the bespectacled man's grip. He clawed at the ghoul's clothes, desperate to find his hold, but Lea's strength was too demanding. His hands parted, and his weight pulled him to the ground. He rolled to the edge of Adrian's cell and came to a halt.


Under normal circumstances, Jackson would have considered himself helpless in this familiar situation - stuck on the ground, unable to move and with all of his allies busy keeping themselves alive, death would be imminent. But the little mass of crystalline muscle encasing his arm gave him a thread of hope. "Keep working on the door!" the man barked at Daryl, "I'll keep her busy - just go, go!"


Not a moment too soon, Jackson shot at Lea again. She was quick. The room was dark. It was impossible to tell which shots were landing and which were wasted, but if his weapon exhausted itself again he could simply replenish it with his own blood, so he kept up with the simple process of aim and then fire.


Aim.


He grabbed hold of his arm, forced it into the air and angled it towards Lea.


Fire.


Another spray of crystal shards exploded from the quinque's tip. Jackson could not move, but he could win, even if that just meant holding off for a little while longer. All he had to do was give Daryl an opening, and to trigger such an opportunity he shot at Lea again and taunted, "Come at me, you bitch!"


*


"Oh, I'm important enough, child," the woman cackled. Her dark, tired eyes traced Aaron's footsteps as he approached, and she held out her hands for him to take the chain. He snapped it in one swift movement, one crack of his arms, and a second later his trident had split the cuffs on her feet. The woman smiled to Aaron, touched her hand to the cheek of his soft face and told him, "Aha, good boy. Now you stand back."


Aaron took a step backwards as instructed, just as something came flying towards him. He caught the chocolate bar coming in from behind almost without looking. It slid easily into the pocket of his white investigator's trench coat.


The woman took a moment to stretch her limbs until they shuddered. Her arms were skinny, bones and soft, loose skin. Standing up required the work of some forgotten muscles, but the look on her face was far from pitiful. She watched the silhouettes dancing their bloody play in front of her, the investigators rushing in to Lea's aid and the ghouls struggling to resist.


"...Hmph. You know, I have been looking forwards to a chance like this. You there, child, fetch me a mask and a nice juicy leg and I'll make this battle easier for your friends."


*


"M-Ma..."


"Shh. It's okay, baby, it's okay."


Two. That was how many doors Claire had managed to open before her eye caught the sight of a mirage, a face she thought she would have forgotten. Her body had frozen in front of that window - she could not move, and she did not want to. Her hand touched against the glass and met with the touch of another woman with that same platinum-blonde hair, that same brightness in her brown eyes. The woman was smiling despite the way her cheeks twitched with perpetual exhaustion.


"Mam, it's me, Mam. Do you remember me?"


"Yes, Claire. Always," the woman assured. Her other hand pressed against the glass to meet with Claire's fingertips.


"I'm all grown up now, Mam."


"I know, baby, I know. It's been a while."


The battle behind her carried on, and Claire did not join in. She had forgotten all about it, for in this moment she stood, paralysed by disbelief, with eyes only for the mother she thought she would never see again. "Mam, it's really you, ain't it?"

 

[Yoki]

"Jackson!" Lea exclaimed, obviously insulted by the man calling her a bitch, "It's just a job, that's how the cookie crumbles." She couldhear other investigators running up to join the fray now, which only made her smile grow. "This floor isn't safe for you people. You're all gonna die if you're not careful!" Her high pitched voice got louder as she spoke, batting away Jackson's attacks. He may have thought he could fend her off, but she'd never shown the man how powerful she was, he didn't know anything about her. 


However, the distraction was enough for Daryl to get to the door and strike at it another few times. One. Two. Three. On his fourth try he heard the snapping of a lock, followed by an exclamation of 'hey!' from the girl that Jackson had been firing at. She'd dashed forwards, flinging her weapon in a downwards motion at Daryl's kagune. This wasn't going to happen on her watch. 


"Son of a-" Daryl hissed, spinning around as another swing caused him to have to back up away from the cell. His arm was dripping his blood from where the weapon had caught him, that thing hurt like hell...he wouldn't be surprised if it weighed almost as much as the girl... How was she still holding that. 


"Ada's ours now! Char said he was a present anyway, taking him away would be stealing!" Lea giggling, swiping at Daryl without so much as flinching as his kagune thrashed at her. "Why did you have to come Jester? You're just gonna run away from me again! Can you not do it?" It was obvious she was taunting Daryl now, attempting to get him to make a mistake, "Can you not beat me." 


* 


"Sure you are." Lorn rolled his eyes, "Goddamn narcissists." He muttered under his breath, crossing his arms as he followed the woman out. This fight was already pretty heated, how many people were going to die on their way out? Maybe this woman would, she looked frail enough to be taken down quickly. Now that would be a shame. 


He was pulled out by the sound of her voice again, practically demanding a mask and a leg, but like he was going to get that. No way. "Aaron, you heard the woman, right?" His eyes flickered back to the investigator that was listening to him, "That's what she wants." After that his blue eyes flickered up to the lady practically old enough to be his grandmother, "I thought little old ladies were meant to give you candies and own corgis, not kill people. Are you sure you can do this?" Sure, he was teasing, but that's what he did, "Might be too hard on your frail bones." 


"Nng..." There was a sound from behind the two as Caleb moved on Aaron's back, he squeezed his eyes shut tighter before shaking his head and slowly blinking them awake. What....what happened to him? The male didn't expect to open his eyes to darkness, but that's exactly what happened. It took a second for his vision to clear, and when it did he realised he was on someone's back...but...not just that...it actually was dark...there was the sound of fighting... Wait...


A loud yelp came from the individual as he fell from the person carrying him and onto the floor, light eyes wide. Okay...so...who was that? Where the hell was Dane? Dane... Oh...Oh shit... Caleb felt himself freeze for a moment, Dane...had been hurt. "Wh-Wh..." His words caught in his throat, he couldn't breathe, what was going on? Was Dane okay? Where was he? He had to be okay right? Right?! 

 

[yaint]

"Don't listen to her!" said Jackson from behind the deafening noises coming from the weapon on his arm with every shot he fired. "Just focus on Adrian!" Oh, this was no good. Lea was playing her game of distraction, giving her enemies the impossible goal of striking her down when all they needed was a free moment. Any minute now the power would come back on... Daryl had to keep his head on straight or lose this chance altogether. 


When an opening presented itself and Daryl took the chance, everything seemed to stop for a moment. There went the lock, Jackson thought with a little flutter of his heart. That was it. That was all they needed. Just one little push and Adrian would be free. But that blade had caught Daryl's shoulder. Could the man still keep up with Lea?


It wouldn't matter either way; Jackson could finish this by himself. His quinque, brittle and in need of a break, began to crumble beneath his weight as he dragged himself inch by inch along the floor. "Adrian, are you in there?" he asked just as he halted at the edge of the broken door. and began to push at its side, "It - it's gonna be okay, can you hear me? We're going to get you out of here. It's okay." 


*


Narcissist or not, the accusation made the old woman smile tightly at the masked hero in front of her. She wasted no time in dawdling, nor in drinking in her surroundings - as soon as Aaron had shuffled out of the way with a quiet but obedient, "Yes, Lorn," she was taking her first steps into the free world.


For a moment, the ghoul watched Aaron going to retrieve supplies from the fallen, but then her hand unexpectedly thrust out and cuffed Lorn over the head. For someone who had just spent an indefinite amount of time sat down in a cell, the hit was incredibly powerful. "Whoops," she said flatly, half of her smile falling away, "My arthritis. I must get that looked at."


"L-Lorn..." Somebody's severed, bloodied leg twitched in the space beneath the pit of his arm. There was a used gas mask slung around his neck. Aaron straightened up, turned back to face the place he had previously left Lorn, and froze. Caleb was apparently squirming on his back. "He's waking up. Shall I put him down?"


*


"It's really, really me," the Irish woman assured. Her thin legs crumpled beneath her body, and her shackles jingled as she sank to her knees. Claire followed her to the ground so that their fingertips could meet through the glass. They sat there with wide, frozen, tear-filled eyes. Each of them was a perfect reflection of the other.


It was Claire's mother who broke their silence first, having seen the flickers of darkness moving in front of the light. "Claire," she said, her voice having turned low and serious. "Claire, baby, I have something I need you to do for me."


"What's it, Mam?" Claire croaked back.


Her mother pulled her hands away from the glass. "I need you to open this door for me, as quickly as you can. Claire? Can you do that for me, big girl?"


Of course, the girl nodded. She could not refuse the chance to feel the touch of her mother's gentle hand on her shoulder again, to feel the warmth of her protective body on an ice-cold winter night. But when she did not move, the woman realised that her daughter was not just biting back tears - she was biting back blood.


Two tiny streams of warm, scarlet liquid trickled from the corners of the girl's mouth. Her mother's eyes widened. "Claire?" she whispered. A dark figure rose from Claire's back, and in the next moment her front was split open from behind by a blade neither of them had seen coming.


"M-M..." Claire tried to call for help, but she spoke only in the blood that bubbled from her open mouth.


Her mother's hands slammed against the glass. In that instant, the patience drained from her face. Her skin became sallow, her eyes sunken and dark. She screamed through the wall as she threw her whole body against it over and over, "Claire? Claire! Claire!"

 

[Yoki]

Landing a hit on that chick was a lot harder than it had been a few months back, what had she been taking? Steroids or something? She jumped back and forth like it was nobody's business, Daryl couldn't land his attacks because by the time he'd launched them she was already dodging the next. Her movements made no sense, yet they worked, and it royally pissed him off. 


"C'mon! Hit me!" She taunted, swinging her quinque down towards the ghoul's chest, but swiftly getting blocked and pushed back. "Honestly, I expected more of you! Where's Prince? I'll take him instead." Laughing, she dodged to the side, spun around, and delivered a rather nasty blow to the back of Daryl's calf. If he had moved any slower, it most likely would have shattered the bone... He was fucking lucky it didn't. 


"Bitch." He cursed, skidding to a halt away from Adrian's cell, he needed reinforcements if he wanted to get both Adrian and Jackson out of there. He could get away from this demoness, but only if others backed him up. He was lucky. At least he could hold his own again something that was far from human, they let those kind of people into the CCG but called ghouls monsters? The thought almost made him laugh. If people like Lea didn't have jobs killing ghouls they'd probably have dozens more serial killers on their hands. 


If he could just hold her off for a few minutes... Maybe if he led her to other investigators, took them out first... Yeah. That was a plan. 


*


"Jack...son?" There was a tired voice from inside the cell as Jackson spoke, followed by the sound of struggling, although...it was weak. "Th-....That's...you right?" It would have been almost impossible for Jackson to see the boy completely, but he was definitely there, though...it what state was a mystery. "You're...not gonna die right?" He mumbled, every second his words becoming a little more slurred and tired, he definitely wasn't on top form. 


*


"Ack!" A hand moved up to covered where he'd just been backhanded across the head as Lorn looked up to the older individual he'd just met. Did she just...hit him? "Arthritis huh?" He muttered, rubbing his head, "I mean, obviously I'm just a kid and wouldn't know anything about such issues, but I'm not quite sure that's how it works." His grin had returned as he studied the woman's features with a fake expression of worry on his face, "You sure you don't have dementia too? I swear you old people always get that." 


His attention was quickly stolen by Aaron talking of Caleb waking up and asking if he should put him down, to which Lorn waved a hand at him and nodded. "Yeah, just put him on the ground, I'd watch yourself Aaron, he's gonna be confused." He didn't spend too much time on the issue however, Caleb could sort himself out, if he wanted to live them he wouldn't be indecisive for too long. Even Lorn could tell that that male had some sort of combat experience, he knew what he should do, it was about what he'd choose to do.

 

[yaint]

"No, Adrian, I'm okay. Everyone is okay. Just - just hold on a little longer, we - I'm g-gonna get you out of there." Whether he could do it or not was not a question now. It didn't matter, because either way, he would. Adrian had been gone for days and Jackson was not about to let that turn into weeks, or God forbid years if something dreadful happened to them all.


Whilst Daryl kept fighting, Jackson kept pushing. He swung his arms at the door, battered against it with his crumbling quinque, punched it until his knuckles cracked and bled. The huge hunk of metal barely even budged, but all those little tremors and shudders added up. Human hands weak with skin and clothes tattered, Jackson gave it one final hit.


The door swung open.


They had done it. Even up against Lea, the face of death itself, they had set Adrian free. And that little figure sitting inside the cell... "Adrian, c-can you hear me?" Jackson asked with some of the last of his energy. "You're - you're free. Just stay where you are for a m-moment and Daryl's gonna come in and get you."


*


The old woman's eyebrows arched above her face when she caught the words off Lorn's quick tongue. "Well, I certainly hope not," she tutted, "Or else you really are in trouble." 


Aaron carefully rolled Caleb's newly-woken body down from his shoulders, making sure not to let him fall on top of his trident. Whether the boy would land on his feet or not would not be of his concern until Lorn instructed otherwise, of course, so he did not bother himself with turning around to check for Caleb's well-being. Instead he made quick work of covering the distance back to the cell. 


The prisoner's twig-like fingers snatched the leg from Aaron's hold as soon as he came near. He placed the gas mask on the floor by her feet and waited for nearly a full minute as she followed her mouth around her meal. She ate quickly, urgently, as though she had not tasted fresh blood for a lifetime, and yet the way in which she tore flesh from bone was unsettlingly graceful. There was no way that she would finish the whole thing here, but she had eaten all that she needed.


"Oh, that tastes good," the woman sighed. Suddenly, her skin-and-bones figure tensed. She grabbed the gas mask up and pulled it over her face. The small of her back, visible beneath the paper-thin robes she was allowed to wear, churned and rumbled. Red liquid seeped out and hardened into a pair of vicious, hollow, pointed tentacles at least twice as long as she was tall. "Well," she said, "Why don't we get moving?"


*


"Claire! Claire! That's my baby girl, that's my daughter, you bastards!" Eyes streaming, face red with blood-rush, the woman with the blonde hair slammed her body against the sides of the cell. She was weak; every hit bruised her skin and made nought but a slight tremor in the glass. Nothing was working and Claire was out there, slipping to the ground as her face turned a deathly white.


"M- m-..." Again, Claire tried to call for her mother. She couldn't speak.


Frantic and frenzied, her mother rapped on the glass. She eyed the shape of a small boy, one maybe even younger than Claire herself, with a red mask around his eyes. "Help me," she screamed, her hands still slamming against the wall. "Someone let me out!"

 

[Yoki]

"Sh-She's gonna...come back..." Adrian mumbled, his head lolling, "She'll...kill you a-all...Jackson...don't...don't die..." He sounded distressed, like he was about to cry or panic because of this predicament. "Y-You...You can't...let her see you... Sh-She d-doesn't...like you..." Again there was the sounds of struggling, but they quickly halted after the boy yelped. "Sh-She really...w-ill..." 


*


"That's....the door." Daryl muttered to himself as he pushed away Lea's oversized weapon with the help of his kagune, her attacks were becoming faster...how did she do that? You were meant to lose stamina, not gain it. This girl truly was a nightmare to deal with, couldn't she just get over herself and surrender for him? "Whatever." He muttered, shaking his head and locking eyes with the smaller individual. 


There was a second of hesitation, but another swing of the weapon almost cracked Daryl's skull, if he'd been even a millisecond slower that giant mace would have sliced through his skull...like he wanted that. He'd run straight forwards, as if to grab the girl, but, as expected she'd jumped over him, he'd rolled, her mace had smashed into the ground behind him, and then he'd kept running. His target hadn't been her, in fact it had been the cell that held Adrian. 


He should have known it wouldn't work. 


Again, Lea cut him off, circling around the side and sweeping at his feet with her weapon, knocking Daryl over; he was straight on his feet again only seconds after. 


"Don't run from me Jester!" She exclaimed, "We're finishing this now, Ada's staying here!" They were going toe to toe, head to head, and with her in his heels Daryl couldn't afford to grab Adrian, he'd be too much of a burden, get them both killed. At least he could hold Lea off like this. 


"Crazy bitch." 


*


"Psh. Not me. Them." Lorn motioned to the rest of the ghouls fighting when the woman told him that he'd be in trouble, he hadn't killed anyone in that facility, he'd just stood back and watched everyone else do the dirty work. It was actually a little relaxing in a sense, quite the show. 


He kicked his foot along the ground as the old lady ate, becoming a little disappointed at how long she was taking... Was she not going to join them?


It seemed this time he was wrong, she once she was finished two long appendages appeared from her back, taking up enough space on their own. "Sheesh." He muttered, raising an eyebrow, "Okay, we get it, you're a big shot." With a grin, he started to walk forwards, "No need to show off... Aaron! We're going to fight, come on." 


During the chaos, Caleb had finally managed to find his feet, and he had more questions than answers... They were somewhere completely new now...had he been knocked out... That...that investigator who had hurt Dane...he was...followed Lorn? Where was Dane? No one was...was around...what did he... 


The boy backed up into the glass of a cell, pulling at his clothing, this was stupid... He couldn't really... Holy shit...what the fuck.... 

 

[yaint]

"No! Adrian, you list-listen to me now, okay? Do you hear me? You don't need to worry about me. Daryl's g-got my back. Just wait... Wait a moment. I promise, it's going to be okay."


*


Lorn was speaking to nobody, for by the time he had even opened his mouth to make a comment on the extravagant way the old woman was displaying her weapon, she had disappeared into the shadows. 


Cries erupted from afar. The old woman's kagune flickered back into the light to drop off the body of an investigator she had skewered on its tip. Even Aaron was caught off guard by the storm of dark shapes being thrown around above his head. For a little old lady - no, for anyone, this kind of bloodshed was monstrous... Whatever her name was, she was about to catch up to Lea's kill count.


Cell doors were punched in, unhinged, picked up and hurled at retreating squads. Skulls were crushed. Limbs were not cut off, but torn viciously from torsos with muscle-power alone. The sensible investigators threw down their gas bombs and fled for their lives in the smoke. All of the slower humans did not get such a chance to move - those the old lady did not tear apart, Aaron made quick work of with his own hands and feet.


When the path was cleared, the old woman turned around. Her cheeks lifted in another one of her tight smiles, but she did not watch Lorn for long. Her eyes went to Lea, the monster of a girl with the huge axe-mace quinque. 


"No, child," the old woman said through the corner of her mouth. Her kagune spiralled into the air and hardened, tips ready to pierce through Lea's young, tender flesh. "She's a big shot."


*


"N-no, no, Claire... My... Th-that's my girl, that's my little girl."


A pale shape crawled feebly beneath the remnants of the door that had held her in that prison. She struggled to move, to breathe. Her bruised skin ached with every movement. But she had to leave. She had to keep going and see Claire, her girl...


Warm hands found Claire's silky hair ruined by dark, sticky blood. They felt for her face, touched her wide, terrified eyes, and slid down to her neck. The pulse was weak. It was impossible to pretend that she would live when every heartbeat came more slowly than the last, but...


Claire mouthed something. Her mother put her forehead to her daughter's. 


"Shush," the woman choked out through the gas in her lungs. "You're okay, baby, I'm here. I'm here." Fear lent her strength. She somehow lifted Claire's weight and carried the girl's limp form against her front, the way a mother would hold her infant, and she fled on tiny, chained steps.

 

[Yoki]

"N-No...she'll...Jackson...she'll come back..." Adrian whimpered, "It won't, it won't, it won't, it won't... She'll hurt you..." 


*


Lorn's eyebrows raised as the old lady decided to go on a killing spree, he stood there, grin widening, an impressed whilst leaving his pursed lips. That was rather impressive for any ghoul, never mind one that had been stuck in a cell for who knew how long, she'd eaten and them wham! Everyone was retreating. He was impressed, very impressed, and that was saying something. 


"Not bad." The boy shrugged, "For an old lady." He tapped his foot on the ground, still not bothering to get involved with the fighting around him. Nobody had attacked him yet, they were all too busy, and the adults could handle it... Why should he have to risk his short, innocent life? He was just a child, he shouldn't even have been there really. Whatever, it was fun to watch. 


Speaking of children... Lorn's deep blue eyes moved around the room, where was Claire at? The girl had disappeared after he'd got her to go open doors, she must be tied up with something... Oh well. He'd find her later. Right now there was a fight to watch. 


*


"Ooh!" Lea was suddenly distracted from her opponent as she heard the screams and cries of investigators and ghouls become louder and louder, "Who did you let out?" The words were almost mumbled to herself, before she saw the ends of a familiar kagune,  a kagune she'd never seen in real life, but had definitely seen on paper. "Hello." With a slight giggle, the girl jumped into the air, hopping backwards so that she didn't have her back to the ghoul she'd just been fighting. "You wanna join in too?!" She called, slamming her quinque into the ground, "I guess I can allow that!" With another high pitched noise she'd launched herself forwards, aiming her quinque down upon the older woman's kagune. 


"Well fuck..." Daryl muttered after having been given some breathing space, whoever had just been released from a goddamn cell might have just saved this mission, at least now he could go in and grab Adrian. "Hey!" There was another ghoul nearby, running up in order to back try and backup the retreating, "C'mere. Grab Jackson, I'm gonna get the kid." With a nod, the person obliged, running over to kneel by the human who had been dropped by Daryl minutes before. 


Whilst Lea was distracted, Daryl stepped inside the dark cell where Adrian sat and moved up to his side. "Hey." He mumbled, kneeling down behind the boy, unlike the other ghouls, he wasn't chained by his wrists...instead Adrian had been put in what looked to be a straitjacket. "The fuck... Don't panic okay, I'm gonna try and get this off, give it a minute." He started to fiddle around with the locks and buckles that attached each of the parts together, but it was harder to undo that it seemed, and it didn't help that ever time he touched Adrian the boy flinched or attempted to move away from him... It wasn't very successful however, they must have had him on some strong shit for him to hardly be able to move... Or...maybe it was just because he was so small, gave the wrong dosage for his weight or something. 


"Shit shit shit... C'mon." Cursing to himself, Daryl pulled at the locks again, he couldn't spend forever on this...they only had a limited amount of time... Maybe he should just take the kid out like that, if there really was no other way to get it off, they could deal with it when they had more light... Right now he just had to- 


"G-" There was a gasp from Adrian and his head shot up, feet scraping along the floor as he attempted to bring his legs to his chest... "She's...here." 


There was a loud clang from down the corridor behind Lea, then a scraping sound as someone approached. There was clicking of light boots along the ground, steady and graceful sounding foot, yet menacing all the same. The sounds were accompanied by a scraping, mental against metal, like something was being dragged along a surface. 


Suddenly, a white boot stepped into the light, followed by the tall, slender figure of a woman. She stood straight, long curly hair pulled back into a ponytail behind head, a single piece fell next to eyes that looked almost black in the dim lighting. Her expression was unreadable, but suddenly the room felt a lot heavier, her presence alone was enough to silence half of the fighting. She looked calm, calculated, and ready to strike at any moment. Threatening would have been an understatement. 


"CHARLIE!" 

 

[yaint]

Rows of white teeth glinted in the harsh emergency lighting as the old woman's lips parted in a sly grin. She was enjoying this. "Aw, you recognise me? I am flattered," she said, although she was haughty in tone and in the way she caged her heart with outstretched fingers.


"W-wait a second, that's not..." Jackson scrabbled at his carrier's shoulders. Where had all of the investigators gone? It looked like they were all dead, dying or had run for their lives... As they should, considering the arrival of the woman whose familiar face cast a dark shadow on the trident-wielding man by her side. He realised now that someone immensely powerful had joined their numbers - someone new, someone quick, someone they needed to stand up against whatever it was Adrian kept whimpering about.


Adrian.


Where was he?


A quick glance to one side told Jackson everything that he needed to know. His chest swelled with relief; Daryl was alive. Adrian was in bad shape, but he was far from dead as of yet, too. "Thank God," the man could not help but mutter. "Daryl, that's it. Th- we have to go now. Let's get everyone together and-"


'Charlie!'


 Twenty pairs of eyes first widened and then slammed shut when that horrible screeching of metal against metal dragged itself through the room. Even the old woman cringed at the sound, and for a brief moment her swirling kagune tightened and curled protectively around her thin body. 


"Hello? Who is there?" the old woman called out. The smile dropped off her face when she found 'her', and she took a single step backwards. "Ah."


Jackson's heart stopped. "Run," he told Daryl from afar, "Forget the jacket, just take Adrian and run!"

 

[Yoki]

"Mmn...She'll kill you..." Adrian coughed, doubling over as his chest started rising and falling a lot more rapidly. He seemed to know better than anyone else that this person was dangerous, and damn was he afraid. 


"Don't do this now kid..." Daryl mumbled, grabbing at Adrian, which made him yelp, but the stronger of the two covered his mouth and immediately hoisted him onto his shoulder. Adrian was a lot easier than Jackson to carry, the boy was smaller and weighed a bit less, Daryl knew that he could run faster with just Adrian on his shoulder. 


The pressure in the room was obvious enough, he didn't want to stick around for any longer than he needed to, instead, on Jackson's command, he'd darted out of the room and made off down the corridor. His movement immediately caught the attention of the woman who had just appeared, but it didn't seem like she was getting through without slicing through tens of other ghouls who were also running away from the scene. 


"Look Charlie, they're all scared of you." Lea giggling, skipping up to stand by the woman, just got glanced at, but nothing more, "I'm guess it's time to go." 


"Mmn." The taller of the two nodded, throwing a her weapon up into the air just for it the clatter down in front of her again, "Yeah, it's time to go." She'd turned her gaze to the woman that Lea had been fighting only seconds ago, her gaze lightening slightly, "Associate Special Class Wren." She wasn't addressing the individual she was looking at, instead the rogue investigator that had betrayed them, "You're a disappointment, I thought you knew better than this." 


"Ignore her Aaron, she's just being a bitch anyway." Lorn had his hands in his pockets and walked up to stand beside the older ghoul woman who had just been freed, "Think it's time to leave yet? I'm sensing that's what everyone else wants to do." He tapped his foot on the ground, staring at their enemies, "Look kinda dangerous." 


"They...brought a kid?" Lea blinked, shaking her head, "Or is he just small like Ada... Hm." 


"It doesn't matter Angelina, come." The more mature of the two females moved her feet into a more battle ready stance, "We're wasting time." With that she shot forwards, moving to first swipe at and take out the older ghoul woman. She moved quickly, especially for a human, and her movements were calculated, perfectly executed, not a foot out of step. 

 

[yaint]

Before him, a woman he knew. Behind him, a stranger he obeyed. Aaron did not know who to look at nor to whom he should listen, and for once he found himself frozen on the spot. Those words had torn a wider gash than Caleb had done earlier. It hurt. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he didn't know what to do, he...


'Ignore her.'


Those inquisitive green eyes widened. Suddenly weightless, Aaron's legs spiralled and stepped around one another, almost dancing him to a protective position just inches in front of Lorn. "Here," he said, lips quivering with newfound certainty. He barred his master with his trident and stood his ground.


In front of them all, the old woman howled a deep laugh from the pit of her stomach, "Oho, sweet eyes of aggression! I have missed this." Charlie, as Lea had called her, came striding in with the first move. Her footwork was impressively quick, moreso than expected - clearly she had been practicing, and the old woman was almost knocked away by the force of the hit. Her kagune barely whipped around to save her in time; they were split open, but no blood was shed.


In that moment, pinpricks of light glowed into life around them all and in the following seconds swelled to luminous orbs in the walls and ceiling. An electric hum caught the attention of what remaining ghouls dared to stand in that corridor.


"Power's... Back on," said Jackson. Figures he could not remember seeing suddenly burst up in front of his eyes. People, their blood and their bodies, the redness of the flesh that used to be inside them. It was everywhere. Who... Had Lea done all of this? The old lady?


It didn't matter. If the emergency generators had activated the facility's security systems, then maybe the elevator would be in action again. That was all they needed.


"Everyone, get to the lift!" Jackson took the opportunity to command. People rose from the corners where they had used the shadows to hide, dragged their knife-bitten limbs along with them to wherever they hoped to find a quick exit. Somewhere nearby, a woman still in chains struggled to carry Claire's bleeding body after the crowd. Jackson beckoned to Daryl with his arm, shot at the investigator named Charlie with his quinque and then urged his carrier onwards.


Meanwhile, the old woman was taking her time to retreat. At all times she kept one of her twin tails locked in a spiral around her body, the other poised in the air, ready to strike. Every few seconds she would inch back, for she knew her place. There were only so many people a little old lady could handle before her joints began to ache, after all.

 

[Yoki]

The light flickered back on all around them, almost like they were welcoming this new woman into the fray. There wasn't much fighting going on now, simply running, but the doves couldn't let them get away, Daryl knew that...this wouldn't be the end of it. Besides, there were still people fighting on the floor above, if one group hadn't managed to wipe the other out that was. 


Adrian mumbled things from over his shoulder, but he wasn't really listening, he just knew that the boy was a pain because he kept trying to struggle. Did the kid understand that they were saving him here? No one was doing anything to try and hurt him. He needed to calm the fuck down, but...then again...nothing about this situation was 'calm'. To the lift. That was right, they all just had to get there... Being one of the faster ghouls, it wasn't hard for Daryl to keep up, but the slower ones...who knew what was going to happen to them, with those two investigators on their tails it was unlikely they'd last long... 


"Well..." Lorn put a hand behind his head and laughed, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I got a plane to catch an' all...so...I'll be on my way." The boy hopped back, with everyone retreating, he knew that this would be biting off more than he could chew. "Come on Aaron, let's leave before these psychos chop us up." With that he'd spun on his heel and darted down the corridor in a flash, the kid was fast, there was no denying that. 


"You take one side, I'll take the other." 'Charlie' had jumped back from her attack on the older ghoul woman, spinning a spear in her hand as she walked forwards. Take out as many as possible, that was her goal right now, deal with the weak, then delete the strong. 


"Aye aye Captain!" Lea exclaimed, saluting the woman, before darting to the right, heading straight for the running ghouls. She got close to someone of those lagging, slicing through them in instants, smashing heads against walls, cutting off limbs, forcing surrenders. Seeing someone slice through their companions so easily was bound to make everyone run that extra bit faster, oh and they did...they really did... 


Again the woman known as Charlie made quick work of getting into striking distance against her one and only opponent at the time, she sent her slightly curved spear slicing through the air horizontally, aiming directly for the other's kagune instead of her body. She knew if she managed to make those things move she'd have directly access to attack her enemy head on, and with a body like her opponent's it shouldn't have been hard to cut right through. 

 

[yaint]

Tiny, dark figures filed through the path of blinding light. They left a thunderous silence in their wake, and Aaron split the space between the escapees and the investigators with a crack of his trident against the tiled floor. 


The old woman was sensible enough to stand her ground when Charlie's blade came flying for her middle, but her bare feet still screeched against the blood-slick floor below as the impact sent her skidding backwards. Rows of scarlet tendrils writhed in front of her face where the blow had cut and frayed the fibres of her kagune. 


"Ooh," the woman whistled, her brow furrowed and lips pursed as she hissed out a noise that could almost have been sarcastic. "Good hit. Send my regards to your mentors, ladies - they trained you well enough." The irony in her tone did not last long; no sooner had she finished speaking than she lashed out with her only unbroken kagune, aiming not for Charlie or Lea but the space before their eyes. The moment that she had reached back far enough to shock them into flinching, she kicked down with one foot and slithered out of sight.


*


"Open, open, come on," one of the ghouls urged as they repeatedly smashed the 'up' button in with their hand. Having the power on might have been useful for transportation, but it also gave everyone of any kind of importance access to their precise location. More forces were chasing them from the next corner along. In seconds they would arrive and reduce their handful of fighters to a pile of entrails, unless this damn thing arrived.


Luckily for them, it did.


The glass dors slid open with a hum. As they had done before, people ushered each other inside and waited not for those who lagged behind, although somebody had the foresight to keep the doors open with a foot.


Jackson found the opening when it came into his field of view. "Go!" he said to Daryl, smashing an arm against the near wall to emphasise the urgency. "Get Adrian in first, e-everyone else comes after."


"Wait - wait for me!" someone called from behind. A woman, the same blonde-haired lady from before with a horrifyingly familiar figure dripping blood down her arms, was struggling to find her footing when there were chains around her ankles. Somebody extended a hand towards her and pulled her into the elevator where everyone else waited.


Claire's lips twitched. "L... Lo-..." 


Her mother fought back a flood of tears and ran her fingers through her hair. "What is it, baby?"


Those weak, ghostly white arms brushed against the woman's neck. "M-Mam, is - is... Lorn here..?"


"I don't know." The woman stood up straight and fought her way back through the lift. People were still on their way, still scrambling to get through that opening before it shut their friends away. "Lorn?" she called into the distance. "Someone, Lorn! Where is Lorn!?"


"Oh, he is on his way," a small but sturdy voice assured. The old woman from before scurried along the edge of the corridor, her feet moving more quickly than she could blink. Somewhere back there she had overtaken the boy and not bothered to look back; his scent followed her on her way. He had not gone missing. "Child, you are wanted up ahead."

 

[Yoki]

"Lea." Charlie nodded to the girl and both set off, moving as fast as they could to catch up with the ghouls, they chopped a few more down and left them in their wake, moving as fast as they could to catch up with the heard, but people were already starting to get into the elevator...and good job too. These girl did not seem to mess around. 


*


Daryl had seen someone who had been running, but now seemed to be dawdling, unsure of what to do. He wouldn't have payed much mind if he didn't recognise the male... Caleb. In seconds he'd grabbed the boy's shirt collar and shoved him into the elevator in from of him. moving the startled individual into a corner so that they could fit more people in. That was a point...if Caleb was here...then where was Dane? And...and where was Bella? 


"Holy shit..." He mumbled to himself, panic flaring up inside of him, he hadn't watched out for them... God...they better be with Diana, anywhere but on this floor, fuck... He couldn't lose them, not now... Not...ever... As people started to pile in, Daryl had to convince himself that they were alive and well somewhere...he couldn't face them being dead, Diana had to have them, she had to have been keeping them safe. 


*


Lorn had continued running without looking back, slipping into the elevator just like he had the time before. Although...this time...his name seemed quite important... 


"Oh?" Looking up to the lady he'd just met, he raised an eyebrow, then he heard his name called again. His head turned and he squinted his eyes, who...was that? He didn't recognise that voice... "Yeah?" He spoke casually, making his way through the crowd swiftly to get to the source of the noise, "What is...it..." 

 

[yaint]

"Nevermind that now - talk inside!" 


Apparently, being prisoner for God-knows-how-long had not blessed this old lady with the virtue of patience, although that fact may have saved more than one life. Those long twin tails, the ones she had not bothered to retract into her body, wound around and pulled a couple of stragglers into the open elevator barely a moment before its doors snapped shut in the face of an arriving squad.


Jackson was busily passing his hand over countless shoulders, repeating the words, "Adrian - Adrian, where are you?" People flinched as the floor shuddered beneath their collective weight. Suddenly there was a sickening lurch, and the hiss of moving air told that they had begun their ascent to the upper floors.


Amidst all of the chaos, the woman with the blonde hair and the chains on her hands and feet struggled to stay standing. She followed Lorn's voice and stared at him, almost accusing lycanthrope, until her round brown eyes softened. Claire was toggling feebly at her mother's robes as she lay cradled in her arms like a baby.


"I don't know," the woman admitted. She could barely take her eyes off her dying child. "She was asking for you. You - you know her, don't you? She... Made a friend..."

 

[Yoki]

"Stop it, we can't fucking get you outta that yet." Daryl muttered as he tried to move Adrian into a position that would prevent him being such a pain in the ass. God the kid didn't want to stay still, he was obviously scared or something, understandably so, but would it kill him to stop squirming for just a moment. It wasn't like Daryl wanted to drop him, but at this rate it was a possibility. 


Upon hearing a voice calling out Adrian's name, the man's green eyes snapped up. "Yeah, he's fucking here Jackson, you got your kid." He replied, leaning his forearm against the elevator wall, trapping a worried Caleb in the corner. There were still people to think about, still people to find, if only he could... Bella. Dane. He wasn't going to leave until he knew exactly where they were, they were his friends, family, and he wouldn't abandon them. 


"Oh." Lorn blinked out of surprise when he came face to face with a woman who reminded him of an older version of Claire, in her arms she carried a bundle, one of blood, limbs, hair....it wasn't even a bundle, was it? It was Claire...


The boy approached, eyebrows furrowed, "Yeah...I know her..." His voice was uncertain, "Why? What...happened?" Was Claire dying before them? Was she bleeding out? Surely she be able to heal at least a little, people must have sustained worse damage and survived after all. After getting a little closer, Lorn leaned over Claire's body and tapped her nose with his finger, "You're her mother?" He asked, deep eyes shifting to the older of the two girls, they looked too similar to not be family, but Lorn knew what Claire had told him about her family... "Hm." He moved his gaze back down to the teenager and smiled, "Yo." After mumbling the word, Lorn let his arms drop to his sides, "What's up?" 

 

[yaint]

The end of this hellish mission was in their sights, and Jackson wanted to follow the light that would take him, Adrian and as many other people as possible out of this tower of death. The lights on the walls blinked as floors fell fathoms below them and disappeared. That floor where everyone split up was getting closer - they couldn't see it, nor could they predict their path through its maze, but they were almost there.


"Adrian..." Jackson watched as his arm reached out through the crowd to touch at the boy's shoulder. When he made contact, his fingers recoiled, like they expected to phase through a cloud of smoke rather than touch something very real and alive. "Just keep still. It's okay, w-we're just going to find where everyone else went and - and then we'll g-go home."


*


Held gently against her mother's front, Claire almost looked peaceful, but the image became more gruesome when the woman turned her child around. The clothes she wore had been split open at the front, and anyone would have seen the splintered ribs lining the gash where a blade had hacked her lungs apart.


"He's here, Claire. Look," the older woman mumbled. She ignored Lorn's question for the time being, but still crouched to meet his height. Something about the tired way she looked at him was warming in the same way as standing by a crackling log fire was. "Look, baby. This is Lorn."


"Ma..."


"I know, I'm here too." Again those sympathetic eyes flitted up to rest on Lorn's face. She had never seen this child before, but somewhere inside of Claire's mind, the sight of him was calming. But the girl said nothing more, and again the woman carrying her was forced to take over. "I don't know what she wants," she told Lorn, "She's barely holding on. What... What exactly are all of you doing here, anyway? Did a man named Lee come, too?"

 

[Yoki]

Daryl had ended up moving Adrian from his shoulder to carrying him like you would a small child, the boy was practically passing out and his struggling had subsided, plus it would probably be a little more comfortable; maybe freak him out a little less. 


"I doubt he can hear you." He muttered, looking down as the smaller male's head rested against his shoulder, "Dunno what the hell they gave him...whatever it was, was definitely a shit ton of it." Looking up, he caught Jackson's eye again, "You realise we gotta figure out how to get out without getting caught by kid wonder and fucking colossus." Daryl sighed out of aggravation, "And anyone else they fucking bring... What the fuck is this mess..."


*


"Um." Lorn chewed on his lip as he looked down at Claire's torn up figure, she...was dying? He looked up to the woman holding her, trying to mimic her expression somewhat, a show of remorse, worry, upset, whatever it was it definitely wasn't as prevalent in his face as it was her's. "It's a break out." He replied, "So, we're here to mess shit up I guess." The male's hand went to the girl's arm, and he smiled, obviously trying to keep her somewhat calm. 


There was a moment of silence before he looked up yet again to the lady holding Claire, "No," He replied, shaking his head, "Lee didn't come. She...uh, got split up from him, him and a guy named Taylor, but...that's all I really know. Never met them." Again his foot tapped on the ground, eyes flickering from Claire to what seemed to be her mother, he at the very least appeared as if he cared. "I thought she lost you in Ireland. That's what she said." 

 

[yaint]

Even Jackson could see when he was chasing after a lost cause. His hand fell from Adrian's shoulder and rested again on the back of the person who had offered to carry him. "If - if I know anything," the man started, "They would have RC-suppressant drugs, m-maybe sedatives or a strong painkiller. It's not poison, but it needs to come out. We can - I... Fuck, I don't know, Daryl, I... I just..."


"I will have a look at the boy later," said the old woman in that same careful yet harsh voice of hers. Now that her kagune had done its work, it had slithered back into the crevice of her lower back and disappeared, leaving only the smiling figure of a sweet little lady with no trace of the berserker she had been before. "He will be in good hands. Now get ready and stay behind me - we have work to do, chop-chop."


*


Another sickening lurch signalled the end of the upwards journey, and when the doors slid open again they formed a clear path back to the control room. This is where everyone had split up... If Bella, Dane and Diana's group were alive then they were somewhere on this floor.


Claire's mother was among the first to leave the elevator. It did not bother her dearly that the chains on her ankles nearly tripped her up, for she walked slowly for her daughter's sake. "She did," the woman forced herself to laugh. "She did, they all did. God, that was years ago... I didn't even know she was still alive. The plan was to never come back for each other, but she just had to go looking for me, huh? Never did have much common sense..."


Again, Claire struggled. Her eyes still open but glazed, she watched Lorn and tried to say with breath she did not have, "H-h-...'Eya, Lorn. Lookit..."


The woman shushed her, "Shh, baby, don't try to talk."


"Look...Wh- I f-foun'."


Her mother trod in her leaders' footprints. "Lorn. Is that your name?" she asked, changing Claire's subject quickly. "What's a handsome young man like you doing... In a breakout like this, anyway? Are your parents here as well?"

 

[Yoki]

"Nng..." Adrian seemed to try and move his arm, but of course, with that jacket securing them in place it was never going to work. It was a weak movement, and the last he made, after that the boy was finally completely still for the rest of the journey. Had they tried to make it harder for them to break the kid out? After all, if he couldn't move...then he was more a liability than anything. 


"Of course they fucking did." Daryl muttered to himself as the doors opened and he pushed his way out, he was about to leave when he looked back, noticing yet again a very confused and terrified Caleb cowering at the back. With a sigh, he pushed back through the crowd and grabbed out at the male, tugging his clothing, "We'll find them, okay? Just...c'mon." Although it seemed like he didn't want to, Caleb nodded, following quickly behind the only other person he even slightly trusted. Daryl knew this situation must have been impossible for him to deal with, Dane missing, too many people, too much commotion, but he'd helped them out...and that's what mattered. He was there and now he had to get out. There was no way Daryl was going to lose all three of them. 


*


"O-Oh..." Lorn nodded as Claire spoke about what she'd found, "Yeah...I see, you found her Claire, you did it." He smiled, keeping his hands in front of him as to not too rude. His gaze flickered away from the situation as people started to exit the corridor and spread out, but...he had this situation to deal with now, watching fighting could wait for a little while right?


What was there to say? Claire was dying in the mother she'd only just met again's arms, and she wanted Lorn there. It wasn't like he was supposed to now how to react to her, he was just a kid. "Um." Hearing her mother address him, he looked up and shook his head, "Ah, no, they're not. My parents are dead." He explained, rubbing the back of his head, "I guess I came because everyone else did...and them letting me into their car kinda saved me from the CCG so...yeah." 


Almost everyone had filed out by that point, and they definitely weren't done fighting, there was something going on around a corner...but it wasn't obvious to the party what that was as of yet, they weren't in view. 

 

[yaint]

The mother's eyes flooded with apology. Here she was, not a small girl but a grown woman, trembling in fear for herself when a youth such as Lorn had come here having lost his own family. It made her blush with guilt. "You poor thing," she said. "It's not right, is it? For a youngster like you to be all alone."


"M-Ma... Mam..."


The woman stopped abruptly. Her hand touched at Claire's chest and came back bloody, but this time the redness on her skin was dark and sticky. The blood was drying, and Claire's eyes were streaming with salty tears. Maybe if there had still been more left of her lungs, she would have been sobbing.


A gentle hand pressed the girl's head back again. "I know it hurts, Claire, I know. Shh."


"I d-d-... Wa..."


"Stay with me, baby, it's alright. Just hold on for a little while. We - I'll get you out of here, you hear me? We're going to make it."


Claire's fingers twitched in Lorn's direction, like she wanted to reach out to him. Her eyes weren't moving. Her lips were blue, and they mouthed just three tiny words:


'Where are you?'


"You're okay," the girl's mother promised as the three of them started to catch up with the group running ahead of them. Aaron behind them, the old woman in front, all of them were naught but blurred images to her. She kept telling her daughter, "You'll be okay."


Claire tried to speak again. Nothing happened. Her eyes rolled back, white into white, and beyond that point she moved no more.


"You're going to be okay."


*


"Wait! Hold on." Jackson shakily raised a hand as the group went to wheel around the next corner, but others had heard those noises before his weak human ears had even realised that something was going on. Everyone else had halted seconds before - at least, everyone except for the old woman from another land. She crept around the edge of the group on the balls of her feet, eyes thinned to slits. The small of her back churned, and the first tendrils of her reformed kagune snaked out.


"Everyone stand back," she commanded to the group she had barely even acquainted herself with. "And let me see what all of this dreadful racket is about."

 

[Yoki]

"Yeah...I...guess..." Lorn's smile turned sad as he looked down and kicked at the ground, it was an awkward topic for him it seemed, not something that he talked about easily, but there was still Claire to think about dying... There wasn't much they were going to be able to do for the girl, she was dying, she wasn't going to make it...but her mother was trying to see she did... Even if it was impossible. 


Seeing Claire's hand twitch, Lorn looked at it, hesitated, and then took hold of it for a moment. It was the least he could do right? After all, she was dying. She was going to die, maybe she deserved to know someone was around. "It'll be cool Claire, no point worrying." He grinned at her again, but he was pretty sure she'd almost slipped away... 


Another dead. That's just what it was. They'd killed a lot of people by going in there. Unfortunately, she was collateral damage...and he knew there'd always be someone... It was expected. There was nothing they could do. 


"Hm." When Claire stopped moving, Lorn dropped her hand and returned it back to his side, turning his head forwards, "Sorry." He looked up to her mother and smiled sympathetically, before directing his attention to the commotion up ahead. The woman he'd met earlier had started to move forwards and he was quick to follow, moving to stand by her side... Who was yelling? 


*


"COWARD!" The yell was unbelievably loud and came from a woman that most would recognise. Diana was on her tip toes, hand gripping tightly onto another person's shirt as she held them against the wall. They were taller and slightly stronger looking, but by no means extremely muscular. The man had short, messy, blond hair that fell down to his ears, an defined jaw, and rather handsome features in general. He was giving the woman a rather sheepish smile, like someone trying to worm their way out of a situation they knew they wouldn't be able to. 


"Hey." He raised his arms, grabbing her wrist with his hand, just to be smacked off by the furious female, "Look I-"


"No! Shut up you asshole!" Diana moved him off of the wall, just to slam him against it again, "YOU LEFT HER! YOU FUCKING ABANDONED HER! THEY WERE YOUR CHILDREN! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO THEM!" 


"Diana..."


"HOW DO YOU KNOW THEY'RE NOT ALL DEAD?! WHAT IF THEY GOT SICK AND KILLED THEM ALL? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT YOU SICK BASTARD?! DO YOU WANT THEM ALL DEAD?"
 


"Diana...there's..." He tried to point to the group coming around the corner, but Diana just grabbed his wrist and slammed it against the wall. 


"You don't deserve to be alive..." She growled, her eyes narrowing, "It should have been you. Not them." 


"People Diana...People..." 

 

[yaint]

The old woman hung back for a moment after dipping her nose around the corner, and her nostrils were flared to match the sneer on her face. "Ah. My apologies. I think we have interrupted a soap opera."


Jackson's face lit up as soon as those voices untangled in his head. One of them was new, as far as he could tell, but the other one was clear as a bell. "That - th-that's Diana," he said, and a few of the ghouls exchanged uncertain glances. 


The old woman gave Jackson a sidelong glance.


"She's with us."


"Ah."


Again, the former prisoner licked her shining white teeth, but she did not linger with the group. Bare feet silent on the hard, sparkling floor, she tip-toed around to meet with the two ghouls caught up in what appeared to be a childish argument. Family matters... How out of place in a facility like this.


Eventually, the man pressed up against the wall seemed to send the conversation spiralling down into oblivion. The words became muted, softer, probably easier on their throats after having likely scratched them raw. 


With a smile, the old woman tapped her foot on the ground. "Excuse me, are you done?"


"Where's Bella?" Jackson blurted. The grey-haired lady in front of him looked less than happy about the interruption, but his heart was pumping more adrenaline than blood at this point. They didn't have time to be witty; they just needed to get out. "And Dane. Diana, p-p- just put that guy down and drop it, we need to get everyone together and get out of here. We... We found Adrian."


*


She wanted to believe that Claire was sleeping in her arms. Those broken ribs were just decoration, the blood a stain from the meals they shared in better years long since passed. Anything was possible, and now it was this mother's job to pretend that it was true. She passed the cleanest part of her hand over the girl's face and closed her eyes.


Claire was gone.


Lorn had left.


These children... In their own ways, they and thousands like them had lost their youths - and for what? It was all just to prove that this world was still broken.

 

[Yoki]

It took a second for Diana to register that everyone was behind her, but when she did she finally let go of the man in front of her and dusted herself off, placing her hands behind her back. How unprofessional of her... There were here to do something good for all of the ghouls trapped in this facility, and there she was, pinning an old family friend up against a wall and shouting at him. 


"Sorry." She cleared her throat, throwing the man a murderous look, before she turned on her heel and looked off down the corridor. "I saw Bella not too long ago, her and some others had been scouting, I think they were trying to open up some more doors afterwards...but...we got split up." She sighed, "The're on the floor, I wouldn't say they're too far away. If you've got what you came for...then we can finish this." She flicked some of her dark hair over her shoulder and made off in the direction of where there was some more commotion. 


The man that had been with her paused to watch Diana disappear, before dropping his gaze to the ground and putting a hand to the back of his neck. After a few moments of silence he looked up towards the silver haired lady who had practically saved his hide and gave her a contrite smile. 


"Uh. Thanks." His accent was odd, it had a hint of some foreign country, but years spent in England seemed to has distorted it a little bit, he said nothing beyond words of recognition. 


"Yo...Who's fighting over here." Lorn walked up, hands in his pockets, looking as casual as ever... He acted like he didn't just witness a teenage girl die in front of him, almost like nothing was wrong at all. The boy's eyes landed on the man left in Diana's wake, who...surprisingly, was already staring him dead in the eyes. It was like the other was surprised, his own blue eyes were studying Lorn's like there was something hidden behind them, which only weirded the teenager out. Furrowing his brow, Lorn broke the awkward eye contact and looked up to the powerful old granny who seemed to be sorting all of these situations out, "What's with this guy?" He muttered, taking a glance back, only to realise that the man's gaze had now shifted away from him...


What was that all about anyway? 


Creep. 

 

[yaint]

Jackson made the mistake of trying to cast people into groups with both hands at once; he would have dropped to the floor if not for the quick reflexes of the person beneath him. Despite the near fall, however, he was quick to continue with what he perceived to be the most important of concerns. "Daryl, y-you take Adrian and a few other guys with you to the next floor up. Look for the v- for the vent where we came in and wait for us there, but just go if we don't find you in the next twenty minutes. I want everyone else looking around for Bella, Dane and anyone else you find."


At the click of a finger, the ghouls began to sort themselves into groups. More powerful members teamed up with the injured or otherwise more vulnerable and began filing off in different directions, kagune outstretched in readiness for another deadly encounter. The old woman, along with Claire's mother and the quivering form of a young boy to be recognised as Callum were among those staying behind.


The old woman clapped Lorn on the back as people rushed around them. "Why don't you ask him?" she suggested with a devilish grin, but the wit of the moment was forgotten quickly. She was more interested in this blue-eyed stranger, and she kept casting him sly, secretive glances from the corners of her eyes. 


An almost forgotten follower lurked in the back. Aaron watched with his worried green eyes as a few of the last stragglers made arrangements among themselves and started disappearing into the branching corridors, and his feet could not stop kicking at the ground like they wanted him to join in, too. "Should I go, Lorn?" he asked, head snapping over to beg for permission or other instruction.