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Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

Every time those dark red eyes came a little bit too close for comfort, Jackson cursed loudly and heaved and all of the ghouls shrank back into the shadowy nooks and crannies where they belonged. They had no business staring at him anymore. Not at Adrian, either. The boy was just inches out of reach of Jackson's paralysed feet, too, which infuriated him that much more each time he failed to rise from his bruised back.


That one woman in the corner made the mistake of catching Jackson's eye. She withdrew as soon as she saw him staring, but she had already been seen. Not 'she', the soft-faced Irish lady with broken chains around her ankles and her bloodless daughter in her arms, but as a stronger ghoul than the walking corpses rushing out of the door.


"H-help me up," Jackson demanded.


The woman paused, her fingers frozen in Claire's tangled hair. She only stared back.


"Help me get up," he repeated, then made a point of twisting and turning his shoulders around to demonstrate. "I'm - I-I'm stuck."


That cold stare again. "No."


"No, I'm serious, I-"


"You heard what the Magpie said. Someone takes you out there, you're going to get yourself killed, like..." Somewhere behind her tongue was a waver in her hostility. Those watery eyes glazed over for a moment as she suddenly seemed to feel the weight of the body on her lap again.


Jackson squirmed on the spot. It felt like his fingers were live with static electricity. Maybe he should have asked what she meant by 'Magpie', but he could not be less concerned. The panicked noises coming from Adrian needed to stop. So he said, "That's not what I asked. I want to see Adrian."


Again, the man cursed this woman's hesitation. She spent far too long considering the order, turning it over in her mind. Her eyes traced a path over the footsteps of the old lady, then back to Jackson. She finally decided on, "No, not going to risk it." Then she went back to playing with Claire's hair and mumbling old lullabies in a hushed voice.


*


In mime of his master's non-verbal instruction, Aaron sealed his own lips with a thick, outstretched finger. 'Yes, Lorn.' He would have held his tongue by instruction or without it, but now the secret was sealed. 


Trident in one hand, the clean knife twirling in the other, Aaron straightened his stance and stood tall by Lorn's side. The old lady came to meet him in mirrored footsteps. Her lips had downturned in a haughty grimace when Daryl and his many fucks came out to join them all. "Keep your voice down, there are children present," she said, then used the back of her hand to deliver a light smack to Lorn's head. For emphasis, of course.


Reaction or no reaction, the old lady was no longer interested in the boy. Within a second, her attention had swerved - taken a detour to drink in the beautiful red of a severed arm's sinew before finally landing on the too-tidy investigator stood before them all. What was she? A leader? 


Aaron quivered in her presence. The old lady took note. Whoever she was, she could not have been as dainty and delicate as she looked. Underestimating was equally as dangerous as overestimating...


"Have we met?" the silver-haired woman finally asked with another emphasising smack, this time against Lorn's shoulder. "I do not recognise your face. Lorn, do introduce me to your new friend. I am dying to know what she puts in her hair."
 
"Ch- K-..." All sorts of noises were coming out of Adrian's mouth, but absolutely nothing comprehensible. He was shaking rather violently by that point, curling himself into an even smaller ball in order to protect himself from a danger than wasn't anywhere near him. It was Jackson arguing that was causing him to freak out more, not the fact that he was completely aware of their attacks outside. He wanted to help, but he was completely useless in his weakened state...keeping his eyes open was even a challenge. 


To everyone around him he must have looked like he was having a fit or something, his position didn't look comfortable and he definitely didn't sound okay... He wasn't okay... This was all happening too fast for him. They needed to stop. Slow down. Explain it to him. Tell him everything was going to be okay. But...no one was going to...even Adrian knew that. 


"Jackson, stop it." Bella muttered, raising her head to look between the man and Adrian curled up and shaking, "The more you two argue about it, the more freaked out he's going to get. You're making it worse. Just calm down." She sighed, shaking her head and exchanging a look of concern with Dane. The two of them were both pretty useless at that point, which was annoying...she wanted to help out, but...it was impossible right then... She couldn't even more herself. "Just take some breaths and calm yourself down." 


*


"Gah!" Lorn's hand snapped to the back of his head when he was hit, bright eyes darting up to meet the woman's next to him, "Why not hit him?" He muttered, pulling at his trousers again and muttering something to himself. That had obviously annoyed him...he had to get new ones now. 


"Whatever. We've got bigger fucking problems than what that little dickwad hears." Daryl hissed, turning his attention fulling to the team of investigators in front of them. He didn't recognise any of them, never in his life had he seen these people...but they didn't seem to be push-overs, not if their demeanour was anything to go off of. 


"Oh my," The woman at the front of the group took a step forwards and chuckled, "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to discuss that later on." Her heeled shoes clicked against the hard floor as she walked, "So you've recruited both children and Magpie into this little 'rebellion'... That's quite a range. What? Is the boy your fodder?" 


"Probably." Lorn grunted, grinning to himself, he obviously didn't care about the insult, he just found it funny. 


"Yeah, yeah, fuck off. We gonna fight or what?" Daryl was quick to release his kagune from his lower back, those two tails thrashing backwards and forwards. 


"Oh, someone's eager. I wouldn't be so self-confident if I were you." Clicking her tongue, the woman turned around on her heel and addressed her teammates, "I'm sure you can handle that one. If no one cooperates I'll just have to find Sanister myself." 
 
She had no right. Follow them in here, get lost, waste precious time patching up the hole in her stomach... Just a few minutes ago, Jackson had seen the damage that their enemies had inflicted upon Bella and his heart had wrenched with some sort of prognostic grief. But now his sympathy was forgotten.


'You're making it worse.'


Like she knew anything. Adrian knew exactly what he wanted, and even if that woman couldn't hear it, Jackson was near fluent in the boy's whimpers and whines. He wasn't making it worse; Adrian was crying out for his company and Bella did not understand. If only he were not so uselessly stuck, he would have thrown something.


The sheets of the hospital bed must have been creasing beneath the pressure of the man's curled fingers; a quick glimpse up was enough for the silken-haired Irish woman to decide that a comment was necessary. She pouted, "You should listen. She's right, you know."


"Don't," said Jackson.


"You aren't going to get anywhere if you're all up in a tizzy."


He snorted, "W-well, I'm not going anywhere at all un-unless someone helps me up. Can you-"


"Wouldn't hold my breath. They're still sorting out whatever's going on out there. Can you see anything from where you are, Bella?"


*


"Oh, shut your mouths, all of you. You sound like a bad audition to a western movie." There were insults, and there were threats, and then there was almost everything that the old lady said, which was somehow a perfect mixture of two very different types of spite. The message behind it was clear. She had no time for a scripted confrontation with the arch-enemy; it was all bullshit. Annoyingly, it was also the type of bullshit that she had to be wary of.


A quick, sharp analysis of this lady's stance and dress told a thousand words' worth of information. She wore her hair neatly. She spoke concisely, with wit. Her teammates were reduced to bumbling servants beneath her command, stripped of their bravado as leaders. Maybe the way she fought was equally as quick and clean. She seemed like the type to skewer her opponents in a single, swift movement that would end the battle quickly, or otherwise disable them with a quick slash. No time for messing around; it was time to mess with this lady's head.


With a lopsided grin, the old lady smacked Lorn once more and said, "Call the Jackdaw over, boys." Then she let her disguise fail. Those dark eyes turned blood-red. The madness came back to her face. Two stringy, dancing tendrils branched out from her behind and formed a wicked point suspended in the air above her head.


The lights spilled inky shadows from her ankles, and then filled up the empty space again when she leapt. At first she feinted to one side, striking out towards the bun-head with one claw, but the attack never quite reached within an inch of the woman's skull. It wasn't supposed to. It flashed before the enemy's eyes and struck against the tiled floor, propelling the elderly ghoul several metres into the air.


Her brittle body landed atop one of the other investigators - specifically the one named Urane, but her mind chose to call him Stumpy. Easy first target. Predictable, unfortunately, but he would be finished with before the bun-head could make a move. So she retracted both of those claws, coiled one around her body as protection and thrust the other towards Urane's heart.
 
"No." Bella craned her neck, trying to turn slightly, but it hurt too much...she couldn't do that. "Someone's back...but I think it's Daryl." She narrowed her eyes, watching as the individual threw their arms up in annoyance, "Yeah...definitely Daryl." She sighed, turning back towards the woman who had asked what she could see. "Sorry." 


On the bed next to Jackson, Adrian wasn't doing too good. He could hear the arguing, but instead of hearing words he simply heard muffled hissing. He heard the anger and annoyance in their voices and as it hit his eardrums it became warped and misconstrued, he was already stressed up and they weren't making it any better. This situation was too familiar, he couldn't move properly, he couldn't hear properly, his vision was blurry, people were arguing...all that was missing was- 


Suddenly, Adrian froze, his whole body stopping, for a moment it even seemed like he'd stopped breathing. He'd been panicking not too long ago, and now he had just stopped, gone quiet. Silent. 


This hadn't gone unnoticed by Bella either, she'd been watching the boy and his sudden halt of movement didn't look too good. The boy was drugged after all, could they have overdosed him? That would be difficult...but it was possible... What if he was really sick? "Hey," She started, tapping on Dane's shoulder and attempting to get every elses' attention, "Maybe we should-" 


An ear piercing scream errupted from the small boy huddled in a ball before Bella could even get to what she wanted to say. It didn't last long, but the second he'd stopped screaming he'd curled his hands over the top of his head and started to rock, making a sound somewhat close to that of stifled sobs. He kept repeating variations of the same phrases over and over again, each time sounding more and more terrified.


"Make...Make hi-im stop...I-I-I'm sorry! I'm...s-sorry! I w-won't... I... I... No... No-o... DAD!" His voice broke and his words turned more into slurs and whines as he curled up tighter, he was obvious afraid, but of what, who knew? 


"Jackson..." Bella murmured, "Jackson what the hell is he on about?" 


* 


"Oh please." The woman brushed her off, putting a hand to her mouth, she'd turned around, her back to the enemy without a care in the world. She was very sophisticated in her steps, very proper, and she didn't seem at all intimidated by the dangerous ghouls she had her back to. 


"Oi." Lorn looked up again just as the old woman's eyes turned black, he was going to say something, but he stopped, a grin crossing his face. Oh yeah. This was about to get interesting. "Right." He replied, edging away from the group of ghouls that was now growing. Diana had come to join them as well, readying herself of an attack, these people definitely didn't look like pushovers. 


The old ghoul's sudden forwards attack definitely wasn't expected by its victim, he'd looked up too late, eyes wide as a tendril barrelled directly towards his heart. From the fear in his eyes there was no way the man expected he'd live from this, he was expecting to be shot down, killed before the battle even started, but...that didn't happen. 


Clang. Something slipped in between that sharp appendage and the man's heart as someone rammed their body weight against the ghoul's side. That woman with the bun hadn't even had to look in her direction, someone else was already on the job. The man who had been standing behind her had directed his attention to this ghoul attacking his teammate, his quinque was the object that saved the other's life, his shoulder the force against the ghoul. Whoever he was, he was fast and refusing to play around like his leader. 


In the distance there was the sound of shots being fired, but it didn't seem like they were directed at the group outside of the infirmary, no one got hit. Still, they promoted action, Daryl had already made his way towards the male standing close to the investigator named Urane, attempting to take him out. Diana wasn't far behind, taking on the girl with the similar face to the man attacking the oldest of the female ghouls, and Lorn...well Lorn was standing still, blue eyes locked on that interesting woman moving through the crowd like it was nothing. 


Where was she heading? 


He'd be surprised if she hadn't heard the scream coming from the room next to them, he imagined she'd heard it before, there was a slight familiarity in her eyes. If she wanted Adrian...that's where she was going to go and get him. Why not have some fun?


In seconds Lorn had darted in front of the doorway, leaning casually against the frame so his body took up the majority of the space. 


"Sorry," He started, eyes alight and a cheeky grin on his face, "restricted access, better show me that keycard of yours if you wanna get through." 
 
All of the sounds had gone on for so long that they had begun to melt into the meaningless hum of the nothingness. The woman in the corner forgot to listen. The weak and the injured were too feeble to hear. Only Jackson, his eyes glazed at the ceiling and brown-and-blond hair plastered by blood to his face, still paid attention. That dreadful noise... It was all that he could think about.


 


When Adrian stopped, so did everything else. The new silence swallowed its captives whole. Dark, watery eyes dared to widen, but only for a moment. The ground beneath their bones trembled, not just with an outdoor clash's crashing, but with the warning rumble of an earthquake that nobody would have expected.


 


Bella said something irrelevant. Jackson briefly forgot to hold his breath, and ended up cursing her for being a distraction. It didn't matter in the end, though, because neither of them got to finish up a phrase that meant anything at all.


 


 Adrian erupted; first he began rambling strained phrases, and then it built up, folding into one painful, ear-splitting shriek. 'Dad!'


 


This felt like one of those moments when Jackson should have jumped or exchanged a glance with Bella, but his eyes remained frozen, on the ceiling. He didn't know what this was about, but he could tell anyone what it was. But he wasn't going to. Not now - there was no time for it. 


 


"Shush," Jackson's panic told the woman. He strained so hard to move that he could almost believe that his legs would jerk to one side. Obviously, cursedly, it wasn't happening without help. God, he needed help. He prayed and prayed and then he said, "Up. Up, get me up, right now!"


 


This time, for better or for worse, the blonde-haired woman did not risk arguing. She dropped Claire beneath her loose, broken chains and staggered on weak legs to the bed where man and boy lay. Two hands grabbed around Jackson's ankles, tightened and then decided that they would rather not touch him yet - just in case something odd happened. He could kick her in his frustration, for all she knew.


 


"Now," Jackson said again, his parched throat scratching the clarity from his voice.


 


The woman held on to his feet again. "What do you want me to do?"


 


"Over there." He raised a trembling hand and one clammy finger unfurled to point at Adrian. "Get me over there."


 


"What's wrong with him?"


 


"N-nothing, just go!"


 


'Nothing' had to be the fattest lie that Jackson had ever told, and the way the woman's eyebrows curved told him that it didn't take a super-genius to figure that out. At least she got the message of urgency. Somehow, her frail arms managed to curl around his body and twist him into a more upright position. His spindly little legs slipped over the edge and dangled towards the ground, and they definitely were not about to kick her away.


 


Once the woman had slid Jackson closer to Adrian (having had a heavy fist knock her arm away from the boy's shoulder), she took the hint of a sharp glare and retreated to the shelter of a dark corner. Just in time. Her legs gave just as she tripped over her daughter's corpse.


 


Jackson reached out and grabbed at the robes on Adrian's back. He pulled the boy in, perhaps not as gently as he meant, and wrapped him up in a warm, shuddering embrace. "Hey, hey, hey, hey," he kept saying, letting his hands press lightly down. Wake up, he thought through the painfully strained frown darkening his face, Wake up, wake up...


 


'Anything?' Claire's mother mouthed just widely enough to be seen.


 


Again, her question was fought off with one stare. Jackson kept rubbing his hands against Adrian's back. He kept praying that this would end, hoping that it would attract no outdoor attention, cursing himself for knowing that he could not be sympathetic just yet even though it broke his heart. Oh, why did he have to be so useless? It wasn't fair. All that he could do was hold the boy firmly and keep assuring him, "Hey, hey, y-you listen to me. It - it's- Adrian, it's not real. Calm down. It's okay, it's okay. You're okay. I'm here. It's m-me, Jackson. Look at me. Open your eyes and look - look at my face. I'm here."


 


*


 


For once in her short-lived freedom, the old woman with the slick silver hair did not have a witty remark for whichever poor soul which was in front of her. Or maybe she did, but that admittedly unexpected impact blew it right out of her - she ended up settling for a rather crude, "Kess ikhtak!"


 


Stumpy, Urane - whatever he was called - was a lucky man. He had come within a hair's width of death and somehow escaped his fate with the help of some kind of knight in shining armour. Who was this person? They had knocked the old woman to the ground. She panted hot breaths that rolled from her cracked, white tongue. If not for that protective coil around her middle, her brittle form might have been sent skittering across the ground. 


 


Hm... Yes, that would have been bad. She had only been on her feet for a few minutes - what a bore to end it all now.


 


Luckily, it looked like everyone was on the move. Daryl was heading to counter the counterer, as the old woman would have laughed at elsewhere. That rather dashing lady was doing her part, but... Where the hell was the kid?


 


Ah. Of course, the old woman realised as she twirled back to her feet and tried to ignore the way her knees were shaking, Lorn was out in the open. What a child. She should have hit him again when she had the chance. That other young man with the blond hair and bright green eyes swung his trident in the path of danger, fortunately. Whose side was that lad even on? Hard to tell, not hard to tell that he was useful. Whatever. As long as the child didn't die.


 


"Lorn, can you fight or shall I?" Aaron asked. He let the shaft of his trident thin so that the prongs could become longer, sharper and deadlier. 


 


The old woman called out, "Oh, use your common sense," at which the man squirmed uncomfortably and looked to his master for help.


 


At least the old lady showed no further interest in Lorn's interesting antics. She was up again, her eyes sharp, staring. She had made the mistake of poor preparation once and she refused to make it again. How did these people fight? The other tendril of kagune coiled itself around her. She remained quite still and watched, waited... Like a spider, motionless until her prey wandered too close.
 
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"Jesus bloody Christ..." Dane winced as the screeches and shouts bounced off of the walls around them. That boy could scream, and it definitely wasn't a pretty noise. It ran right through him, and the man was pretty sure that if he could have moved he would have shuddered. The pure agony and fear contained within that noise was enough to set anyone on edge, and if you didn't know any better you'd think someone was torturing the poor kid.


"Well that's the biggest lie I've heard all week." Bella was cringing, bringing her hand to her ear and trying not to move her battered body too much as the screams continued on. "Jackson, get him to be quiet, it's going to attract attention..." Whilst she was anything but an unsympathetic person, Bella knew how dangerous Adrian's screaming could be... This whole building wanted him, if he attracted attention...who knew what would show up? And the people in the room definitely weren't fit to fight. Did she feel awful for Adrian and what he was going through? Of course, more than awful, but...she knew they had to calm him down, and quickly. Still, there was nothing she could do, it was all up to Jackson now. 


The feeling of someone grabbing at him cause Adrian to arch his back slightly in discomfort and forced his legs closer to his chest. His breathing was crazy, as were the sounds escaping his mouth, no more full sentences, just words, phrases...sounds. Any basic onlooker would have only been able to describe his manic behaviour using one word...insane. 


He couldn't hear what Jackson was saying, he didn't even properly know who it was holding on to him at first, but at least he could make up muffled mumbling. It was something... His hands moved to his head, clawing and digging his nails into the sides of his temples as he whimpered about something incomprehensible. Adrian's legs had started to move, he must have thought he was thrashing them in his panic by the jerked movements they seemed to be doing, but in reality he was moving them slowly, jerking them randomly. His body didn't have the energy for anything more....


Whilst on the outside it didn't look like Adrian was responding to much, inside his head he was. He'd registered the word 'Jackson', the only full word he'd managed to register. His breath, which was already shallow, caught in his throats and he stopped seemingly trying to rip at the sides of his head with his hands. Quickly, the boy's head jerked up, his large eyes locking onto Jackson's face. For a moment he didn't do anything, in fact he looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle; his only defence to stay at still as possible. However, then he managed to swallow, making a short and higher pitched noise that sounded somewhere in the middle of a laugh and a sob. 


"H-H...He-He..." His voice had reverted back to its quiet tone, the energy seemingly drained, "He's...not c-coming back." That sentence cause his gaze to dip again, head retreating behind his arms. Again Adrian made that off laughing-crying sound, except this time it lasted a lot longer, and every now and again he'd repeat those words to himself, 'he's not coming back.' It might not have been the recovery they were hoping for, but at least he'd stopped screaming...at least he wasn't drawing all of the doves to them... 


*


"Seriously kid, don't do this." The well put together woman sighed, looking at her nails for a moment, "I don't normally kill children." 


"Oh?" Lorn's grin simply grew, "So I'd be your first?" He put a hand to his chest, "I feel so very privileged." 


"Oh don't flatter yourself. Now move." Although the woman had drawn out their encounter instead of attacking Lorn straight away, it did seem like she was becoming a little impatient with him. She waved a hand, but the boy still refused to abandon his casual lean against the doorway...which didn't go down well. "Alright, fine. I've been nice, let's get this over with already." 


Just as she'd readied her weapon, Lorn finally decided to make a move, hopping backwards, but...his eyes had moved for a moment, flickered to look at something to the left. 


"Y'know Aaron," He started, "Maybe you should take this one, 'Kay?" With that the boy skipped back a few more steps, never taking his eyes off of the woman in front of him, he wasn't stupid enough to put his back to the enemy. "Things to do, people to see, y'get the gist." 


"Really?" With a sigh, the woman looked towards Aaron, "I'm disappointed in you Wren, but I can't say I didn't expect it. Eren!" She snapped, gaining the attention of the male fighting off a rather rampant Daryl, "Get your-" 


Just as she was about to finish her sentence another shot rang out through the hallway and something large tumbled to the ground in the middle of the hallway. At first all that could be seen was an extremely complex span of muscle, taking up enough of the hallway to force people to move backwards. It had looked like the pulsating mess had been it by the way it fell, but soon enough it was proved that wasn't the case. 


It shook off, almost like a wet bird shaking off its feathers, before breaking apart and extending bit by bit and rising from its pile on the ground. That mass was shown to belong to a lean looking individual, dressed in rags that looked slightly too big, and a gas mask that they must have picked up off of the dead. A slender hand moved to adjust said mask, moving it front its slightly awkward falling position to a much more comfortable one. Soon after, the person raised their dark eyes and started to look around the hallway without a word, most others too stunned by the sudden appearance to react too much, or too wary to decide immediately what to do next.
 
"Yeah, well what the hell do you think I'm trying to do!?" Jackson snarled at Bella. He immediately regretted it; guilt had a nasty bite, and for a moment he froze to be stern with himself. Now was not the time for an outburst. Irrational behaviour was past him. Twice the man punched himself in the stomach, one stone-hard fist clenched so tightly that the bones almost cracked against each other. He couldn't feel the pain in his belly, but the impact felt good. Anger fizzled out of his fingertips.


His touch now gentle, Jackson wrapped his punching arm around Adrian's quaking form once more. This had never happened before - not under his watch, anyway - and it was frightening. What did he say? What did he do? He was supposed to be this kid's guardian, but even in the embrace of his caring arms, Adrian couldn't calm down. Some mentor, some big brother...


"Don't be daydreaming," the lady on the floor rather unhelpfully suggested. Jackson gritted his teeth and punched himself again before remembering that he had to keep hold of Adrian. Great. Instructions and women who couldn't keep their noses to themselves. Calm down... Calm.


Swallowing was harder than normal when the jaw was clenched, Jackson realised as he found the mother's white face in the shadows. 'Shut up, I'm trying,' he thought, the voice in his head unnecessarily loud. Of course, he never got to say it. Adrian moved and the man's eyes had to look.


He did not expect to meet that expression and that sudden, jarring silence.


"Adrian?" Jackson said. Those sympathetic 'heys' and 'it's okays' were forgotten for a moment as alarm bells filled the silence in his mind. Adrian was looking at him, but was that what he was seeing? It didn't appear so, and Jackson couldn't make out anything out of the ordinary when he turned his head to check the wall behind them.


He removed one hand from Adrian's shoulder and waved it in front of the boy's face to check. The woman on the floor looked away from the scene. 'He's not coming back.' That's what the kid kept saying this time, and Jackson couldn't comprehend it. He had ideas in his head and he didn't like any of them. A catch in his voice, he asked, "Who is it? Wh-who's not coming back?"


"Okay, don't bother - he's gone," the woman reminded Jackson when she could bear to look again. "Completely. Lost."


"Sh-shut up..."


"No, you pay attention. This place is a nest, son, and if we don't get a move on then there's going to be a hundred more doves come the time they get rid of those ones outside. The lad's gone. You aren't getting anywhere talking anymore, so better buck up and change your tactics. Do something else."


"Like what?" said Jackson. He was beginning to wonder how he was still sitting up.


A pair of brown eyes flicked over to the doorway. Blood rained down against the tiles outside, and in the distance rolled somebody's severed arm. "Hmph... Better get him something to eat, I'd say."


His mind told him to be calm, but Jackson told the woman, "Yeah, that's g-great. In case you haven't noticed, I can't move."


"And nor can any of us. There's some meat out there but it's on the other side of the hallway, and we're tired and weak, boy."


"So what - what the hell do I... Oh... Fuck."


Jackson hated that blonde-haired woman down there, and he hated himself more for agreeing with the little arch of her thin, white eyebrows. She watched him expectantly, and he had to face the other way before he was tempted to say anything stupid. 


Adrian's face was still there. It wasn't looking directly at the man anymore, but somehow this defeated slouch was even worse. This wasn't really him. Adrian wasn't supposed to get tired like this. He was supposed to be energetic, lively, if a little off-putting with his new murderous enthusiasm... If drugs had taken away that vitality, could something else give it back?


No time to waste on thinking about it.


He made it quick. Mouth open, lips curled back. He bit into his own wrist and tore back the skin and flesh until the hole welled up with sweet, dark blood.


"Adrian," Jackson said, strained. Through a pulsing agony, he pressed the wound on his wrist against Adrian's mouth and prised the boy's lips open with his other hand. The bloodflow was strong... Hopefully not too strong, but if he died feeding the kid then who really gave a shit? The blood was going into his mouth. That was all that mattered. "Drink it."


*


Something about the way Aaron's big green eyes followed Lorn back to safety made the old woman's focus waver for a moment when she looked. The man's stance was strong, but his shoulders shuddered suddenly beneath a weight that had never been there before. His master was retreating. He was forced to look his former comrades in the eye. But, dutiful as ever, he refused to complain and simply said, "Yes, Lorn."


The prongs of his raised trident partially concealed the man's face. He turned the tool around in his palms, sweat and dried blood rubbing into the handle and making it stronger with every movement. If one were looking from just the right angle, they would have picked out the hurt on Aaron's face when the scolding made him wince.


He tapped the butt of the trident against the ground. The prongs sharpened.


"I'm so sorry," he told the woman as his expression hardened again. "If I kill you then I promise to try and make it quick."


"Yeah, yeah, get on with it," the old woman muttered beneath her breath. It was surprising now that nobody was coming after her, and her aged mind worked quickly to assess every possible meaning behind it. Fear... Preparation... A delayed ambush? Unlikely. She took a moment to dip backwards, lashing out with one tendril in warning as she subtly hopped back to meet Lorn.


Up front, Aaron made his first move by going to assist Daryl's fight with a heavy, unarmed punch. 


"...Listen," hissed the old woman through the corner of her mouth. She nodded her head to Lorn without looking directly at him. "We aren't going to win this fight in time. If I distract the investigators for a moment, you go-"


'This distraction enough for you?'


She rolled her eyes almost without thinking upon hearing her own voice make a witty remark. Something had just appeared on the field and interrupted her improvised instruction. It was positively disgusting - some kind of pulsing mass, a twisting knot of kagune that looked wrong on so many levels. If only the old woman were not the type to get a kick out of gruesome revenge, she might have been repulsed by the sight. Aaron certainly was, judging by the way he stiffened for just a moment before carrying on with his assault.


Hmm...


Hideous or not, this was new and this was interesting; the kind of interesting that made the old lady's eyes grow wide and her throat produce a dry cackle, "Ohoho, hello there!"
 
"Guh..." Bella turned her head away as Jackson bit into his own arm, as a ghoul she should have been used to such things considering her food was humans...but...she didn't much like seeing that. It made her feel strange, someone biting into their own flesh, it just wasn't...natural.


It seemed she wasn't the only one, Dane had sucked air in between his teeth as he saw Jackson try to feel Adrian. Honestly, he didn't know what to think. It was brave, but also idiotic; he didn't heal like they did. Still, he couldn't deny that it would be more than helpful to remove the kid from this delusional state, and...it seemed to be somewhat working... 


The moment Adrian had smelt blood his head had snapped towards the source, by the time Jackson had pried his mouth open and he could feel blood on his tongue he'd already latched his small hands around the man's arm and pushed it towards himself. He was so hungry... They didn't feed him enough, not enough, he didn't get food... He wanted food... Jackson gave him food, because Jackson cared.


Almost instantly, he'd forgotten about his previous worries and was completely focused on the meal that had been provided for him. The boy latched his teeth into the gaps Jackson had already made in arm and tried his best not to rip his friend's arm to shreds as he attempted to lap up as much of the blood in the area as possible. 


After shuddering out of pure relief from getting food, Adrian's grip tightened on Jackson's arm. He really wanted to rip flesh off, he reaaally wanted to eat...he was ravenous. However, something in the back of his mind was reminding him just who was giving him this food...and what would happen if he took too much from them. So he didn't, he didn't rip off Jackson's flesh, but...every now and again he'd tug at it slightly. 


Already it was clear he was gaining some of some of his strength back, as he was able to move a little more and he'd scrambled closer to Jackson whilst trying to get to his knees. Whilst the food was definitely helping, who knew if it'd be enough...Adrian was feeling more than hungry, and...he wanted to hunt something...


*


"Oh please." Stepping backwards, the woman in front of Aaron practically threw off her shoes, before raising her weapon once more, "Don't give me that bull, if you really were truly sorry Aaron then you'd learn to think for yourself. After all, you're not a robot." She didn't seem at all intimidated by him, in fact she just seemed annoyed that such a problem would come between her and her actual target. "You know, if you gave me Sanister then I could possibly get them to overlook your traitorous nature."


Hopping backwards, she moved to attempt to intercept the attack Aaron had made on her companion. "Now, now." She called, "Can you not see how busy they are?" She seemed about to say something else, but her attention was suddenly taken with the pulsing mass that was now expanding. "Oh great. Who let that thing out?" 


"Whoa. Nice." Lorn couldn't help the way his eyebrows raised at the sigh of such a kagune, his grin continued to grow as the situation became increasingly more interesting. "Yo, old lady, tell me you're seeing that thing too?" Turning his head to the other ghoul to check if she was just as interested, Lorn clicked his tongue, "Lucky it fits huh?" 


"Holy fuck what the-" Daryl definitely hadn't been able to avoid looking at the strange beast of a ghoul that had appeared, but his opponent didn't give him much time to gawk, he was thrown back into the fight in seconds, unable to take the time to truly look had the ghoul that had entered the fight. 


There was an eerie silence from the person standing beneath a large mass of kagune, pulsing and twisting, but not striking. In fact, some may have believe that this person wasn't even hostile and simply just confused from the way they stood, carefully scanning their surroundings. However, then the shots rang out... 


Two sharp bangs that resonated through everyone, aimed directly at their newcoming. The demeanour of the ghoul changing almost instantly as they heard them. They turned around as fast as lightening, and in the next second they'd controlled that mass pulsating on their back and swept it across the floor, going for anyone who didn't move quick enough. 


"CHANGE FOCUS! TAKE 202-564 DOWN!" 


"Ma'am-" 


"Ah, you're here. Fire again, quickly." 


The sound of footsteps revealed the arrival of more investigators, however, along with them came more ghouls too, and with this new ghoul...they'd definitely have an opening to run at some point. They'd just have to be quick. 
 
Jackson couldn't decide whether it hurt in a good way or in a really, lethally bad way. The stare that he gave Dane implied that the man should keep his eyes to himself, but maybe that was too harsh. Maybe he was right to flinch, because good or bad, it hurt a lot. He cried out, "Shit!"


The woman from before pursed her lips, visibly straining not to open that big mouth of hers. Her gaze lingered around Jackson's limp feet, and she kept her hands busy by combing through the bloody mop of dead hair in her lap. Her ears were pricked to listen.


"Okay, Adrian, nice one," is what she heard when Jackson struggled to cough out whatever words were stuck in his throat. "Take as much as you can. It'll make you f- be- f-feel better." He kept one hand anchored to the bed and the other around Adrian's head to reach his mouth, but his grip wavered every time he felt teeth tug at his torn skin. It hurt like raw Hell, like nothing he had felt in a long time.


"Are you alright, son?" the woman asked. She must have seen the way in which Jackson's face paled as Adrian leeched life from his arm. 


Jackson didn't answer. He wouldn't have wanted to say anything except 'shut up' if he could, but right now he just wanted to vomit. Keep drinking, he thought to Adrian, but wondered really how long he could keep going for.


"Hmph. I'll take that as a 'no'. Well, that's what you get."


"You..." The man swallowed hard. His eyelids felt too heavy. 'You suggested this.' That's what he wanted to accuse her of. But for some reason, he couldn't. Between Adrian, a migraine and the blood trickling from older wounds on his legs, the words inside of him were crushed.


The hand keeping Jackson balanced trembled and collapsed. His eyes closed. In a second, his entire body weight crashed down against Adrian's side and pressed the boy down against the bed.


Again, the woman commented, "He's out already? Didn't expect him to be so fragile... Alright, kid, you'd better stop drinking now or you'll kill the guy. Think you can stand up for me, son?"


*


Aaron didn't need someone else to tell him that he wasn't a robot. Every inch of him from bottom to top was what he had learned to call human. He had twitching, itchy feet, bulging muscles and a heart inside his chest that never stopped beating. Human.


Fists unfurled, the man wrapped those strong fingers of his around his trident and flexed it in a way that suggested that it wasn't just for show. "You're right, Ma'am," he said. Twice he stepped back to avoid her inevitable counter. "I'm sorry that I don't have an excuse this time."


*


"Please. I am old, not blind," the old woman tutted. Her wild eyes flitted endlessly back and forth, ears snagging every sound of every rattling breath in the room. She was fascinated by the investigator known as Aaron, but her attention could not linger on him for more than a second. One more look at Lorn. One more glance at Daryl. Then... The newcomer.


202-564.


Nice number. Too many even digits, maybe, but it sounded good when spoken aloud.


Another quick look around. The old woman's knees were trembling more than they should be by this point, and whilst her face facaded strength, she knew that she didn't have much time left in this fight. A couple of weaklings were staggering hungrily out of the safe room with the scent of blood in their noses. People were losing their minds, dying...


This time, the old woman smacked Lorn's shoulder with her kagune. "Look. There is our distraction. We will run from this fight, do you understand? Get everybody out of this place when you see a chance and I will take the others."
 
Whilst Adrian seemed to flinch slightly when Jackson cried out, he didn't stop ravenously drinking the blood from his arm, everything everyone said was going way over his head. He couldn't hear any of them. The only thing he wanted to focus on was eating, and well...being able to take blood from any source was pure bliss. 


It wasn't until Jackson said his last word and passed out that Adrian finally realised what he was doing, and who could really blame Jackson...the kid really wasn't going light on him. 


Moving his head away and dropping Jackson's arm next to his limp body, Adrian blinked in confusion. He climbed onto his elbowing and leaned down to the man's face, turning his head to one side, did he...kill him? There was a moment of internal panic within Adrian, but the second he felt Jackson's breath on him he blinked again and nodded to himself. He was okay. 


Now almost full awake and feeling the strength return to his body a little more every second, the boy was able to register the voices coming from the other side of the room. Who was that? His head snapped rather suddenly to look at the source of the noise. A woman...she...looked like someone he didn't quite remember... Why did she look so familiar? 


Adrian's brows furrowed like a confused child as he slipped his legs off of the bed he'd been place on and landed silently on the floor below. It seemed to take him a second to realise that he could move, as he'd let his arms swing forwards, but as soon as he was able to work out he wasn't restrained anymore he was stretching out and giggling to himself. 


However, his attention was quickly taken with the woman who had spoken again and he hopped over, glancing back to see if Jackson was still laying down, like he'd just get up and disappear if he didn't check for an extensive amount of time. 


"You're new..." He mumbled, head tilted slightly to the left as he looked up at her innocently. It seemed as if he was going to say something else, he even reached out towards the woman, as if about to grab her hair, but then his attention was taken by another noise. Turning his head to the right and pivoting on his heel Adrian looked around the room, "Where did we go now? Does Jackson like this place? I don't. Smells like..." He sniffed the air before blinking rapidly and shaking his head, eyes squeezing closed for a moment, "Mmnng...my head hurts..." After taking a few steps forwards, he turned to look towards the blonde woman once more, "Y'know," His tone was like that of a child's, in fact everything about him screamed juvenile, he was short, large eyes, messy hair, skinny, seemingly confused and innocent, yet extremely wanted by the CCG... "They'll make me choke again if they find me," He giggled, expression changing for half a second to something much more...unsettling, "They don't like it when I'm awake... And I'm...very awake." As he took a step forwards he managed to trip over his own foot, but caught himself awfully quickly and looked down... "Mmn... I'm hungry..." 


*


"I don't want your apologies, Wren." With a sigh, the investigator stopped for a moment as another shot rang out from behind her, "I want you to stop." She twisted her weapon in both hands, adjusting her stance so that she pointed the sharp tip directly towards her opponent's torso. "But you won't, will you? Because you're not capable of doing so." An irritated sigh left her, eyes darting to the side for a second as disappointment crossed her features, "At least tell me who it is that stole your loyalty this time... Don't tell me it's that child... Honesly Aaron, a child?"


*


"Hey, can't be too sure." Lorn shrugged, putting his hands into his pockets, "You old people seem to always be forgetting things, I wouldn't put it past you to forget you could see at least once this year." He grinned to himself, before stumbling forwards a step and grunting after being shoved by the woman's kagune. 


Run from the fight? Tch...how boring. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say ma'am." He mock saluted her and then casually started away from the woman, "You're a real buzzkill, y'know that?" Was all he called back as he made for the door, eyes towards the fight at all times to look for an opening.
 
"That guy? Son, your friend's out cold on a hospital cot - I don't think this passes as a holiday resort, if you know what I mean." Those dead eyes twitched in the shadow of their sunken sockets. Jackson, his scabbed lips parted to open a gate for shallow breath, lay almost lifeless where Adrian had left him. He was perilously close to dropping over the edge. But if he were to fall, would anyone admit to noticing?


Adrian's tottering advance had sent up a red flag. Everyone directed their attention towards his skinny little legs; it was the first time they had seen them straightened out, strained against the weight of a body that was so much lighter than it was supposed to be. Interesting. The kind of interesting that people often avoided out of some nauseating instinct, but interesting nonetheless.


Slumped in heaps against beds and walls, a couple of ghouls managed low groans. Adrian had reminded them of their own hunger - and the hunger that ghouls felt wasn't like humans'. It attacked their while body, and they wanted to ease that agony in their head and stomach and bowel. 


The woman on the floor was the only one not watching her daughter's still chest. "Alright, calm down for a second. They do what now?"


"Mmn... Me too," said someone on the other side of the room. "Can't wait to get a bite." Hungry red eyes rolled past Claire and rested on the stream of blood still dropping from Jackson's open wrist. They wanted that. Everyone wanted that, or anything at all, but they were too weak to stand. But Adrian wasn't, and it was quickly becoming clear to the mother on the ground exactly what this boy's intention was.


A pair of feeble arms tightened around Claire's shoulders. "No," the woman said, pulling her daughter closer. "Absolutely not in your life. Find someone else."


*


Not a robot.


Aaron was not a robot. That's what he kept telling himself now, those were the words that he was suddenly obsessed with. He was human. Always human, nothing but human. And yet oh so robotic, because despite the chill that turned his arms rigid, he could not turn away from an order.


"No, Ma'am. I will not stop," he said. Then, "Yes, Ma'am. It is the child." It took him every effort not to add that obligatory 'I'm sorry' to the end, but she didn't want his apologies.


Shame.


The trident felt heavier in his arms after that, but his shoulders could bear the burden. They swung the weapon around to clash with his opponent's; she would be easier to kill unarmed, and that edge didn't look friendly. 


*


"Being dead is a 'buzzkill' as well, you know!" the old woman called after Lorn, but her voice must have been lost in the chaos. She ended up tutting to herself, wondering how she ended up here and if she was in too deep to flee without taking everyone out with her. Then again, her weakening legs warned otherwise. If she were to fall alone, nobody would be around to carry her.


Not that she needed carrying, of course. Nobody carried the Magpie but the winds on which she flew.


Now... Where was it? Lorn was gone on his way to the room where those half-dead scraps lay in wait. Everyone here was actively engaged - Aaron, Daryl, whoever was firing those unnecessarily loud firearms and this new numbered ally that had appeared in a pulsing mass. Where was that golden opportunity?


"Aha."


There. Towards the edge of the corridor, there was a gap - a little stretch of floor that nobody seemed to touch. That was their route out of here. The old woman kicked off from the ground, bounced on the curve of her kagune and twisted one pulsing red arm around the first shape she landed by. It just so happened to be Daryl.


"Stop killing people and let's go," she said, ushering him with both hands to the safe route. "I have got your back."
 
"No...I don't." Adrian blinked, clearly not understanding what the woman was getting at as she spoke to him, however, his attention was quickly diverted again to the body close to her... That was what he was interested in, no one else.


The boy didn't even seem to be paying attention to the voices around him, if he'd even noticed the other people at all. Instead he was rubbing his foot against the back of the opposite heel and chewing on the inside of his lip as if thinking about what to do next. It was already clear that that woman didn't want him anywhere near that body...but if he'd cared about that then he probably wouldn't have even looked at it. 


Her refusal was pointless, he'd ignored her and hopped forwards anyway, dropping to his knees in front of the two. "She's dead y'know." He informed the woman, "She can't feel it." His eyes flickered up to look at this unfamiliar person and he smiled eerily, "I could." After mumbling that he looked down again and reached out a small hand, moving some of the corpse's hair out of its face. He seemed to freeze for a moment, head turning to the side in some odd sense of recognition. It wasn't... 


The smile had disappeared from Adrian's face for a second and he'd recoiled slightly, shaking his head as if he'd seen a ghost or something that just couldn't be real. "... Did you-" 


"Alright lackeys." Another voice from the doorway sounded out, cutting Adrian off and drawing his attention away from the body. Lorn was standing there, arm on the doorframe, eyes alight. "We're leaving, so like, either you come or you die, pretty sure that's how it goes right?" His eyes scanned over the crowd for anything or anyone he could use, before landing on the odd scene near the corner. "Look who decided to the world of the living." 


The two locked eyes and Lorn stepped forwards crossing his arms casually, "Looking alive." His gaze flickered to Jackson's body on the hospital bed, moving down to the stream of blood from his arm, "Hm... So...that's why." He sighed, he'd probably have to do something about that. "Whatever. Oi! Aaron, get your ass in here when you can and pick up Jackson! Old lady says we're leaving!" 


* 


"That's exactly the answer I didn't want..." With another swing of her weapon, the woman sighed in exasperation, "You're letting a child control your every move? And a ghoul child at that. Your own intelligence is only equivalent to his if you continue acting this way Wren." She sweep at the man, stepping forwards to hold her ground, "Is that really how you want to live the rest of your life?" 


He had no time to answer. There was a shriek and several more shots, before a pulsing mass of muscle swooped in on the two, slamming down hard on the ground. That ghoul was becoming more and more of a problem, one that could not be ignored...and the woman fighting Aaron had realised that. It had already locked onto her team and it didn't look like it was about to give up...if they didn't contain that... 


"You'll have to wait."


*


"Hey, what're you fucking-" Daryl stumbled out of the way of an attack, turning around to face the old woman who had pushed him. "Since when did you become the fuck boss." He muttered, but he didn't argue, he knew they needed the opportunity... Hopefully the others would take it too.  


Kicking out behind him, Daryl pivoted and made his way towards the route, whistling to Diana on his way there. The brief eye contact he got was enough to for him to tell she understood. 
 
The woman's eyes were not the right shade of brown to be anything but warm, like the deep orange of the sun's evening glow. Even after they turned black and red, it didn't look right when she tried to be cold. Actually, she looked a bit dead like the corpse in her lap, what with the greyish skin and those blisters on her wrists, which oozed when she pulled Claire back by the hair. But that didn't stop her from trying to frighten the boy away with bared teeth and an icy glare. "Didn't you hear what I said? Get away from us!"


"Give it up," somebody moaned as a weak hand grabbed at the ground. "It's her or us, lady. It isn't your choice."


"And it isn't your daughter," said the woman. That shut the other guy up for all of three seconds before there was another chorus of pathetic outrage from just about everyone else in the room except for Jackson, who still lay on the bed, skin growing impossibly white as the colour dripped from his arm.


It was only when Lorn burst into the room, calling orders with his loud Australian mouth, that those countless red eyes flicked back to green, brown and blue. The blonde woman used the opportunity of distraction to scramble as far up against the wall as she could, away from that creepy little cannibal.


*


Aaron bristled. The voice behind this woman's words was just screaming deliberate provocation. Was she trying to get him riled uo, to come back to her side of the fight? If she was, it wasn't working. He couldn't respond to hostile undertones; if she wanted a ghoul skewered on that trident, she would have to say so.


And Lorn was a child, but maybe he was a little more than that as well. Aaron was reminded of the two chocolate bars stashed in his pocket, probably a little gooey by now, a little melted. Ghouls didn't normally carry chocolate.


The man stepped back. He didn't know what he was supposed to say, but that strange mess of a prisoner had saved him from thinking of a response. He trieled the trident between his fingers, shrank it down to a reasonable size and came running to his master's ankles at the call of his name. "Yes, Lorn!"


*


The old woman boosted Daryl's escape by tucking her kagune beneath his feet for a little elevation. She secretly hoped that the gesture would shock him; it made her laugh just to think of the look on his face.


Someone crashed down to the ground by her side. She spun on one heel, squinted, and saw a slow stream of ghouls stumbling and tottering from the little room. Aaron was at the door, Jackson's limp body cradled in one arm whilst he helped pull everyone to their feet with the other. For once, the trident was on the ground.


"Get up, you'll be fine," the old woman insisted. She leaned down and helped the fallen escapes back to their feet. They struggled along in Daryl's path and disappeared around a corner, to the place where the distant scent of fresh air wafted in between clouds of dissipated white smoke.
 
There was a loud screech from the battle between the new ghoul enemy and the CCG, it was hard to focus on the lesser ghouls when there was such a big threat standing right there in front of them.

The woman fighting Aaron had rolled her eyes as the man disappeared at the beckon of the child he now seemed devoted to, but she knew she had bigger problems than worrying about that. She had to command her team, and that's exactly what she was going to do.

"Alright." With a sigh, she twirled her weapon in her hand and spun around to face their new enemies, all the while shouting commands to investigators nearby.

*

Lorn walked out of the small infirmary with his hands in his pockets, dark blue eyes darting around before locking on to that old woman he'd taken too much interest in talking to. Everyone seemed to want to leave, they were so frantic, maybe he should be too.

With a shrug, the boy jogged forwards, quickly skipping past the woman herding away ghouls that were finding it hard to walk.

"You're welcome." He winked as he passed, a grin crossing his young face. After that he too disappeared after Aaron and the others.

*

Lorn wasn't the last to leave the room however, there were definitely more. Adrian was part of that group.

Confused why everyone had suddenly up and left, the boy had bounded out of the room after Jackson's body had been picked up. His eyes shined two different colours in the manmade light, their normal dull grey, and then a dark black and crimson on the other side, hungry and wanting. He seemed to be searching for something, thin arms swinging by his sides. He didn't look like he was in a rush, and those rabid eyes of his only widened, along with the smile on his face, as he saw the large enemy to his left.

However, his attention shifted again when he smelt something... Flesh. The boy's head snapped to the right, locking onto an arm that laid on the ground, untouched. Swiftly, he hopped up to it and snatched at the ground, picking it up. Food... The one thing he'd really wanted. With a giggle and another large smile, Adrian went to bite into the arm, but someone grabbed the back of his ripped garments and yanked him forwards before he could enjoy that meal.

"C'mon kiddo," Diana muttered, practically dragging the boy forwards, "I'm not letting you get lost again after all of this effort." As she pulled him forwards, she shoved something over the boy's head, "And get this on, we have too many people to worry about carrying."

*

Daryl led the group as quickly as he could around the hallways, he didn't have a chance to stop and check for people or make sure everyone was okay, he just had to be sure they were. Maybe he would have gone back if Bella wasn't right in front of him, yes, but his mind was on other things, to the point where he couldn't think of any one person for too long.

He'd stopped the group in front of the room they'd come in by and started ushering people through, a few strong people first, followed by the weaker individuals that were going to need help. He and Diana had started a chain, trying their best to make sure everyone who was severely injured was supported by someone else.

"Fucking hell...the kid's up?" Daryl muttered to Diana as he noticed Adrian running his bloodied fingers along the wall.

"Yes." She sighed, eyes flickering from the boy to another person she was to usher through, "And have you seen Jackson?"

"What?"

"Just look over there?" Diana motioned with her head to Aaron, "He's out cold,
bleeding too."

"Well someone better fucking patch him."

"They will, let's just get out of here before that thing and those doves come back."

"Yeah no shit, I'm trying. Keep your fucking hat on."
 
It was almost embarrassing how pathetic they all looked. Ragged, rased, bedraggled and bruised. People dragged each other's feet forwards with strength that they couldn't afford to waste, knotted together in twos or threes so that nobody would fall alone. Those lucky enough to have picked up a morsel on the ground stood in place and swung their arms around, picking up the weary and tossing them to the other end of the corridor so that they could slink into one of the side rooms without trouble.

Jackson still lay cold.

The bleeding in his arm had softened by now. Aaron had picked up his trident and then squeezed the wound in his enormous hand until it clotted, and most of the ghouls had given up licking at the dark red trail that had been left on the ground. Of course there were the stragglers, but they were almost dead anyway. The doves would pick them off soon enough, and maybe that would buy the others another few seconds of sweet freedom.

Daryl and Diana had to be some of the loudest of the 'others'. They flapped their mouths like crazy, almost as though they weren't dragging a literally psychotic young man along with them. But then the old woman appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to stick her slightly-above-averagely-large nose in the middle of their conversation. "Well, you aren't trying very hard," she said through her mask. "Come on, I will help you. We are getting left behind."

"Where the hell did you guys get in?" a familiar voice gasped through the tainted air. The old woman had to dip back a way from Daryl and Diana, so that she could lend her strength to that Irish woman lagging behind. She held scraps of what used to be her daughter in her arms - little shards of splintered ribs and a few matted locks of hair. The rest had been taken by force.

From behind, Aaron called out, "Just up ahead, Ma'am. You can smell the fresh air from where they broke in."

"Oh, I wasn't asking the doves."

"He is with us," the old woman reminded her. The mother shrugged her shoulders a little too much and put a little more effort into that feeble limp of hers.

*

It took them a bit longer than they would have liked to get back to the beginning. Doves were on their tails - they smelled it but did not dare to look - and there was no time for a head count. One of the strongest ghouls stood by the broken vent and yelled at people to "Go, go, go!" as he shoved them up into the tunnel, one atop another.

People lusted for that ocean air. The tang of salt in their noses was the best thing they had ever felt, and even the little old lady with the strange accent could not hide the buzz in her fingertips. Her eyes went wide with anticipation. She ended up positioned on the other side of their only exit, lending a hand and two kagune to everyone funnelling out.

The Irish woman stepped up into the tunnel, Claire's gruesome remains tied to her chest with twisted hair for ropes. The metal rings on her wrists and ankles clattered against the steel walls.

She was out. Most of them were gone, even though their panicky cries still echoed back. But there were a few people left over who would be more challenging to rescue.

Adrian. Jackson. Bella. Dane.

Help had come to push Bella and Dane to the room, but they weren't going to be of any use in a tunnel. Jackson was barely awake - just some head-lolling and groaning in the crook of Aaron's arm. Naturally, the old woman went over to slap him across the face and say, "Up, up! Wake up!"

"Urgh..."

"Come on, unless you want to get killed. The investigators are coming."

"Shit." Investigators. That word flooded Jackson with energy, and he reacted with so much force that he nearly rocked himself onto the ground. Aaron had to swoop to keep his grip, but the bespectacled man was already grasping around with shaky hands. "Adrian?"

"He's here, Sir," Aaron said. He turned to give Jackson a better view.

The old woman whistled at the new accessory. "Looking sharp, boy," she commented. "He suits a good mask."

"Y-yeah, we haven't got time for that. Adrian, you okay?" He was still dizzy. The words came out horribly slurred, but the old lady understood them well enough to cackle. "Adrian, I want you to-"

"Calm down. He will be fine."

"He goes first," Jackson demanded, slack face heating up red. "And then m-me. I want to go with him."

There was a moment of pause where everybody thought but nobody spoke. Jackson knew that he wasn't making sense, but when he could almost hold freedom in his hand, he couldn't care less.

"Sir," Aaron tried.

"Adrian first," Jackson repeated.

The old lady pursed her lips. "Fine. But you will all get stuck - look, all of you are a mess. You cannot move, these two are in a wheelchair. Go on top of each other."

"Adrian on my back," Jackson said. He wasn't giving up; already his arms reached towards Adrian, grasping for the boy's hand. Not for the first time, Aaron looked suddenly squeamish. He glanced around, wild green eyes searching for a trace of Lorn.

"And you two!" The old lady's gentle finger came to brush atop Dane's forehead. "One on top of the other, if you can. Young lady, take this gentleman by the waist. It's alright, sit up. I will help you."
 
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"Doing our fucking best here." Daryl muttered as he continued to usher people through the vents. They were getting down to very few numbers, the people left were those harder to get through the vents than anyone else... Which wasn't good. If the invs got done with their little show on that rather vile ghoul they'd seen earlier then they'd soon be there, ready to tear their weaker members to shreds.

Daryl wasn't having that.

"I got it." Stepping forwards as the old woman started to order Dane and Bella around, he spun the wheelchair Dane was in and looked over to Diana, "You go before them, I got the other two."

"Right." With a nod, the woman hopped into the vent and waited as Daryl tried to getting Dane through as carefully as possible, carefully placing Bella on top of him. She gave him a sheepish smile to signify everything would be okay, but he was unable to return it, everything was too hectic at that moment. His mind was in several different places at once.

"Yo. Waaaait a second." Finally deciding to have some input, Lorn pushed himself off of the far wall, "Pretty sure they have helicopters that go from the higher floors in places like this." He grinned, turning his attention to Aaron, "Wanna go hitch a ride? Oh, I mean, be a dear and go grab one Aaron."

"We need Jackson on the boat."

"Then take some of the other up there. There's...what? Several of us left?" Lorn scoffed, "Just send a few up to the helicopter now."

"If they get fucking caught cause of your-"

"Ah, calm down. They'll be fine. They've got every bodybuilder over here." He motioned with his head to Aaron."

"Let them go Daryl." Diana called from the vent, as much as she didn't want to agree with that eerie kid, he had a point. "It's less people to get through."

"Fine." Eyes scanning the room, Daryl picked out several weaker ghouls and a few stronger looking ones to accompany Aaron on his journey. "Now get fucking lost before I change my mind." His gaze flickered to Aaron, obviously agitated.

"You heard the man." Lorn crossed his arms and shrugged, moving on to entrance of the vent as the few ghouls who were left attempted to get Jackson into it.

*

Adrian had been unbelievably quiet during all of this, looking around, trying to make sense of his environment. Hearing Jackson's voice had quickly brought him back to reality, but he was unsure of what to say to him... So, for once, he simply stayed quiet and listened.

It was like someone was turning a switch on and off again in his mind. His energy was dwindling a little bit, but...he didn't know why... Food would also be nice... Mmn...he could do with food. Would they feed him when they left? He sure hoped so. They didn't feed him much there. He was pretty sure it was because they didn't like him. Either way, that's all he wanted.

*

With everyone started to sort themselves out and finally get through the vents, Lorn sighed and walked over to the old woman. It was quieter now...but he could hear shouts from doves down the hallway.

"Guess we leave before we get caught." He muttered, kicking the ground, "Shame. I thought this might be more eventful. Was the last time." After a moment of looking at the floor with a sigh, he shrugged and walked back over to the opening to the vent. "Whatever. Things to do, people to see so..." The boy saluted the elderly ghoul, slipping soundlessly into the vent, "See ya on the other side!"
 
The other side was ugly. It was empty, vast, suspended beneath a yawning black sky dotted with sharp little pinpricks of light. Nobody could tell whether or not that shadow of land on the horizon was a mirage, but they all held each other's icy hands and hoped that it wasn't. They needed to be somewhere else. Somewhere where the salty water didn't try to swallow them, where the wind did not rock them sideways.

Anchors had been reeled in. Ropes chewed through and snapped. The boats groaned under the strain of too many feet, but they still kicked up a white foam and skipped over the waves, hurtling northward.

Someone at the head of the fleet cupped their hands to their mouth and called, "Anyone dead?"

"None here."

"Just a couple!"

The Irish woman's lips pressed tightly together. She said nothing; her bare white shoulders shuddered against flecks of sleet, but she refused to accept anyone's warming touch. When the old woman offered a hand, she shrank away and turned up her nose. The corners of the elder's mouth tugged down in disdain.

'You'll get cold,' she considered warning her. But this lady was stubborn, thick-skulled, and from somewhere behind them Jackson was whining. "C-come here," he groaned, "You forgot about Adrian."

"I looked at him already."

"So look again!" The sharpness of tone drew a few eyes to the scene. Jackson shuddered under so many gazes and managed a quieter, "Just check him out p-properly. All you've done is stare."

The old lady pouted. "I am more concerned about your arm. That is a big bite. Maybe it will get infected and then it will kill you." Much to her disappointment, Jackson didn't give her any little whimpers of terror or pleading. He was tired, defeated, and behind those glasses his eyes were glazed and uncaring. With a little reluctance, the lady finally agreed. "Fine. But I get first pecks of your corpse."

Jackson loosened the grip he had held for so long on Adrian's shoulders. He had kept the boy cradled close, a weight against his own, arm over arm. Each of the pair was a tiny core of warmth to the other. It was pathetic.

Those old knees clicked when the makeshift medic sank to the deck and cast her eyes upon Adrian. She stared at the boy for a good minute, chin in hand, before Jackson could not hold back another interruption.

"You're the... The Magpie, right?"

"No autographs," said the woman. "And do not call me that out here. I am Sethe."
 
"The Magpie?" From behind the three a familiar voice could be heard, the youngest member of their comparatively larger than before gang had approached, eyebrow raised, grin now on full display. "Looks like I didn't pay enough attention in 'Ghouls 101'." He grunted at his own joke, "If he knows you, you must be some superstar or something."

Lorn looked down at the woman who had now revealed her name to be Sethe, "How do you spell that?" He asked, "I assume it's foreign, doesn't sound like you're from around here, but...y'know, join the club."

"Like the bird?" Having finally been given a little room to move by Jackson, Adrian blinked and leaned forwards, landing on all fours with a thud. His large, wide eyes were locked onto Sethe's, head tilted slightly to the right as he stared at her with the utmost curiosity. "You don't look like a bird." The boy giggled and leaned further forwards.

His eyes looked tired compared to when Lorn had first seen him wake up, and he seemed to be having a problem keeping himself steady on the swaying ship. It was a lack of energy, he had overestimated himself and given more than he'd got...now he felt like he was crashing, but it wasn't hard to push through. Apart from the occasional shaking of the head and the blood that covered his hands and wrists, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, not a scratch.

Lorn couldn't help staring at Adrian, he was an interesting subject. That Jackson guy went on an entire mission just for some kid...it was a strange thing to do, but...the CCG sure wanted him. What was so special?

"Oi." The blue haired teen stepped forwards, gaining Adrian's attention as his foot hit the ground, but he wasn't going for that, he was looking at Jackson instead. "You did all this for him?" He asked, "One kid?" His eyebrows raised and lowered again in surprise, "Is he that important?"
 
"Just like the bird." Sethe was a woman who could shape a different smile for every situation. This time the corners of her eyes crinkled, and her lips curved into a soft crescent. "But that's only a nickname. Like the 'doves'." This was the first occasion on which she had been genuinely kind. Adrian was lucky. He got to have weathered, long-fingered hands pressed gently against his skin in a check for broken bones, cuts, any sign that the blood on his hands was his own. But other than the wounds from the biting edges of those shackles, there was nothing.

The boat lurched over a patricularly tall wave. Jackson groaned with the effort of holding himself against the hull; his legs were washed down towards the cabin by floods of icy brine. Fierce winds stole the breath from his lungs. Sethe was the one to grab him by the shoulder in the moment when his strength failed, and keep him and Adrian both anchored to the spot.

Jackson stared in stunned silence.

"No need to thank me," said Sethe. She let go of both him and the boy to clap her hands together, brushing off the dust that she had wiped from their clothes. "Listen: you don't need to worry. The boy will be fine after some supper and a good night's sleep."

"But-"

"No. Take off your shirt."

A few times, the man opened his mouth and closed it again. He knew what he wanted to ask, but it only came out after the twelfth attempt. "Wh-what!?"

The old woman smiled. "Take off your shirt," she said. "Unless you want me to take off mine."

Jackson grabbed at his collar and tore the shirt from his shoulders. He flung the ripped, bloodied rags into Sethe's open hand, and she offered another smile - this time toothy, mad, caging a silent laugh behind those white fangs of hers. She watched the man's shoulders shiver violently against the cold for a few seconds before advancing to patch the bite on his wrist.

Naturally, there was some whimpering and outcries as Sethe worked. She silenced Jackson with a smack across the head and spoke now in response to Lorn's childish wit. "You know, boy, they say I'm famous in some states. A real historical figure. You haven't heard of me? Tch - don't they teach you children anything in school?"

"You're a murderer," interrupted Jackson through gritted teeth. He looked a little bit green beneath the old woman's figure. "I remember. They... In the Academy, we learned about you. You led massacres in North America."

Sethe tugged at Jackson's bandaging more than a little too roughly. Jackson screamed.

"Yes, that's right. Are you starstruck?"

"Are you done?"

"Almost."

"G-good, 'cause I want you to look at Adrian again." There was a moment of silence. The old woman grimaced and turned her head back to shrug at Lorn, and Jackson somehow turned back from green to red with as little blood as he had left. "Look, I... I know you don't give half a shit about him, you and Lorn both, but just d-do what I say, goddamn it. He's not okay, even I can see that. You can look at Bella afterwards but just humour me this one time!"

"He's... That important? But he is just a child." She echoed Lorn's words in a hollowed voice and tried to catch the boy's blue eyes once more.

Another pause. Somewhere overhead, propellors whipped up a wind around their little fleet of fishing boats. Jackson promised, "I would give my life for Adrian." But nobody heard him, because the helicopter drowned out his feeble words as it passed overhead, red lights flashing among the stars.
 
"Oooh!" Adrian's grin widened and he giggled again, nodding his head once at Sethe's answer. She was named after a bird...but she wasn't a bird, it was just a nickname. Like when he gave people nicknames. "Do you like it? Who gave you it?" He asked, but no one was paying attention by that point, and his voice was quiet than he would have liked it to have been. Honestly, he felt a little dizzy...maybe he should...

"Oh wow." Lorn started, sarcasm obvious in his voice, "I'm seeing a real life murderer?! No way! A real one? Someone who has killed someone?! Holy-" He looked around frantically, "Where the hell is my autograph book when I need it, gotta document this one." Although he wasn't impressed with Sethe having killed, he was definitely impressed that she was so well known. She'd said 'states', he knew enough about geography to know that she wasn't referring to England, most likely...America.

Tapping his foot on the ground he sighed and looked over the edge of the boat, "They should be teaching about me, not some old hag." His voice was purposely loud enough for Sethe to hear, he was just playing anyway, no need for anyone to get hurt.

Jackson's demand for Sethe to look at Adrian again wasn't ignored by either of the young looking males in the vicinity. Adrian had blinked in confusion, and Lorn had raised his eyebrow. He didn't understand why Jackson thought that it was so important Adrian was definitely checked.

"Seems fine." Lorn shrugged, speaking once the helicopter above had disappeared, "He is a ghoul, he won't be in that much danger..." He studied Adrian for a moment longer, before turning his head away and muttering something under his breath that was obviously only meant for his ears.

"Mmng..." Adrian sat back on his calves and rubbed his eyes, "Jackson I'm fine." He replied, opening his eyes again and turning his head, but he kept blinking...like he couldn't clear his vision or something. Things...were getting blurry... "There's..." He started, but didn't finish, energy dwindling from his voice, "I don't..." Letting his head fall a little, he rubbed his eyes again and coughed. "Mnmn..." He shook his head, hands slamming down on the ground, "It's hurts..."

His head was pounding again and he didn't want to deal with it.... Adrian sat up after a moment or so, eyes staying squeezed shut. He looked uncomfortable, and he was scratching at his at with realising he was doing so. It was just a way to ignore the thudding in his head.
 
Sethe must have moved silently, or maybe impossibly fast - one or the other - because suddenly she had a hand on the back of Lorn's shoulders. A little push threatened to send him tumbling into the ocean. "I wouldn't run my mouth so close to the edge," she warned with a different kind of strained smile, which she had definitely painted over a snarl. But then she laughed and released him. She was already a killer, but there was no need to waste energy on a child. "Some old hag might just push you over. Killing kiddies is a-"

"Will you two just shut up!?"

The old woman wasn't the only one who froze in her tracks. That Irish lady, several other ghouls and the drivers in the cabin all twisted around to stare at the heaving mass of sweat and brine that was Jackson.

It wasn't pretty. With a bare torso, his malformed spine jutted out through vein-stricken white skin. His ugly, too-soft belly throbbed with enormous, seething gasps. Broad shoulders quivered, but not just because of the cold. He was crying through his clenched teeth and the seawater plastering his hair to his face, and maybe he was holding on to Adrian more tightly than he needed to be.

"Uh-oh, you got 'em mad," someone teased to break the silence. People laughed for the sake of laughing, despite the twitchy glances they kept shooting back. "You won't like 'em now that he's mad."

"I s-said shut up," Jackson tried again, but his false anger failed him. His words were too unsteady to be as intimidating as he was hoping for. Sethe crossed her arms and raised her arched eyebrows in wait.

For a moment, nothing. The man just hugged Adrian tighter to his chest and mumbled something inaudible beneath the ocean's roar. To the trained eye, it looked a lot like the words, 'It's okay. I'm here. You're safe. It's okay.'

Sethe waited. She started to tap her foot against the floor.

Jackson kept mouthing comfort until Adrian's voice dwindled away. Was the boy asleep? Probably not, but there was an outburst rising inside Jackson's chest and he could not contain it with the power that he had. He tried and failed to keep calm. "Just stop talking. About th-that. I don't want to hear a fucking word of it and nobody does here either."

Silence. Sethe resumed a rock-solid position, still staring without breaking eye contact. A wave broke over her back and she did not move. Jackson kept hold of Adrian's hand, but now the words he mouthed were more like, 'Murderer, murderer. I am a murderer.'

He cried again, and this time he wailed and felt lucky that it sounded like he was singing a lullaby. That was for Adrian, he decided.

Eventually, the Irish woman opened her mouth. She had had enough of standing by, but this kind of conflict was too much to bear. Instead, the topic she chose was too bright and friendly for the crash they had all just witnessed.

Looking to Lorn, she squinted through the darkness and said, "So... You're from Australia?"
 
Lorn jumped just slightly as he felt hands on his shoulders, but he'd soon relaxed again as he heard the voice of that old woman, a smirk crossing his face. "Is that a threat I hear?" He asked, "I'd be surprised if an old one like you could even lift me off the ground y'know?" Teasing this woman was more fun than he'd expected, and they probably would have continued if it wasn't for Jackson's obnoxiously loud voice.

"Streuth..." The teen put a hand to his ear and cringed, "No need to shout so loud, we can all hear perfectly fine... Well..." His gaze wandered to Sethe for a minute, "Most of us anyway."

People were already laughing at Jackson and Lorn got why, the guy was pathetic... He couldn't do much but shout, if they wanted to they could have killed him whenever. In fact, he was probably lucky he was still alive.

That guy really was a buzz-kill, he had his little friend now so couldn't he just be quiet whilst everyone else tried to have fun? Whatever, Lorn couldn't be bothered with it, he might as well just go with whatever this guy said for now, everyone else seemed to be doing it.

"Hm?" After something he would have classed as an 'awkward silence', someone else spoke up. Oh, dead corpse lady. Well... Lorn nodded in answer to her question, "Yea," He replied, leaning against the edge of the boat and uncrossing his arms, "I know, quite far away from England right? But y'know," He shrugged, "That's that."

With that persistent banging dying down slightly, Adrian was able to open an eye again. He thought the headache had gotten better, but maybe that was just because Jackson wasn't shouting anymore... He didn't like it when people shouted.

"Jackson..." Adrian tried to wiggle himself away from the man slightly, just so he could look up better, "Where...'re...we going?" Nobody had told him anything, and he wasn't strong enough to ignore those prominent thoughts at the moment...he couldn't move around, which really bugged him.

They were on a boat. That much he knew...and they weren't with the CCG anymore...so where were they?

"Are...Are you okay?"
 
"S-sorry, Adrian. I didn't mean to shout."

Sethe watched with slit-thin eyes as Jackson shook himself through various stages of insanity, exhaustion and eventually something that looked like sense. Bare-backed and shaking, he was still just as pathetic as he had been moments ago. A careful eye could catch the way in which his throat throbbed with unspoken words. Or the way his fists tightened for an uninitiated punch. Everything he did warned of the end to unfinished business, but it was an empty, hungry threat that he could never fulfil.

That little kid. Sethe had never seen anything quite so sad in her life, and she had seen a lot of things. He was strong, to some degree; that was for sure. Nobody got out of that place unless they were strong in one way or another. But really, what did that mean when the child had to hold the hand of such a lousy lump? A human, no less. She didn't mean to scoff, but the Irish woman from across the deck caught her with her nose curled.

"Hey, c'mere," said the human. He wiped the salt from his nostrils with the back of his hand, then bounced Adrian in his arms like an infant. Sethe's brow twitched. She listened. "It's alright, see? I've got you, so I'm alright. Don't worry, just - just close your eyes. C'mon, give me your hand. I want you to try and get some sleep now before we get home, okay? B-big day tomorrow."

The Irish woman stole a smile from the moment, and she almost took that warmth to Lorn before remembering that she was pissed off. Those words had been big, but she didn't want to hear from that man's mouth again. Too loud. Too obnoxious. Jackson was actually saying something now in that angered tone again, spitting in Sethe's face as she approached with hands on hips. The Irish woman wasn't listening, but she saw how she almost snapped Jackson's neck with the force of that slap.

No smile for Lorn. Lorn got a quiet shrug and a rolling of the eyes. She said, "Yes, very far. You come all this way by yourself for this? I'm sure you've noticed it isn't exactly a fishing trip, son. You're just a young'in, you could've died."

Gentle hands caressed that lock of hair wrapped around one of Claire's ribs.

"Like my girl. She... Called for you with her last breaths, y'know. She must have really liked you." A short pause. Distant noise from the helicopter now far gone. "Thanks for taking care of my baby, kid. However you did it, you did some sort of good coming all the way here from down under. Claire would be grateful if she understood."
 
"Mmnph..." Adrian mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he wiggled around in Jackson's grip, he was tired...the throbbing was getting worse and he honestly just wanted to sleep. "Mmn..." He turned his head as Jackson started trying to reassure him. Big day... Big...day...? What? A part of him wondered what the man meant by that, but he didn't bother to question it, for the first time in a long time Adrian just really didn't want to speak. He actually wanted to keep his mouth shut.

Well, he did. He wanted to keep his mouth shut until he heard more snapping. The boy jumped slightly at the noise, before hearing an all too familiar noise...skin hitting skin...rather...hard. He knew that noise. And with it...Jackson's silence. Why did he... No.

Rather suddenly, the small male's eyes shot open, but...they weren't their normal shade of grey, at least...one of them wasn't.

One of those innocent looking, weak, grey eyes had changed to a bloodthirsty red, although...they didn't look so tired anymore. In seconds he shot from his position at Jackson's side, his foot lifting off of the ground and connecting with Sethe's hand faster than the speed of light. His eyes were hard, locked on her's, expression surprisingly sinister, yet there was still something close to insane amusement lingering on his features.

He didn't speak, but he stared intently, making no noise at all, not that he needed to. It was warning enough; touch Jackson again and he'd send her to hell. Nobody...touched...Jackson.


Lorn too had notice the interaction between Sethe and Jackson, and although Claire's mother wasn't paying much attention, he sure was. He had an eyebrow raised, casually leaning against the edge of the boat still, a slight grin upturning the corner of his lips. How amusing. That boy was fast and...there was something strange about him, those eyes...he knew them.

"Huh. The more you know." He mumbled to himself, turning his attention towards the woman speaking to him. "Oh." He blinked and chuckled, shaking his head, "Well...yeah, I suppose. But, I've been fine so far, right? I mean travelling's pretty fun." The boy shrugged, obviously very nonchalant about the whole thing.

That wasn't a big deal.

"Claire called..." He almost seemed surprised that the girl would call his name of everyone's, it wasn't like they knew each other all that well. She got that attached that quick huh? He seemed to hold back a grunt, nodding instead and smiling at the woman across from him, "She was sweet, shouldn't have been involved in all of this." Lorn eyes flickered back to the scene between Sethe and the new boy, "I didn't expect we'd be rescuing that."
 
Jackson's head was still turned, shoulders shuddering and a hand-shaped bruise branded onto his cheek, when the boy in his arms lashed out. He didn't see what happened through the back of his head. He wasn't even sure that he could move, but Sethe didn't need his help to fend this stunted kid off. She caught the foot in her right hand before she even saw it coming. Those same soft, weathered fingers that had held Adrian gently now curled around his toes. She let the nails dig in a little.

Two eyes.

One grey.

One red.

That shouldn't have made her smile, and it didn't, though she strained not to chortle at the gasps rising around them. Not releasing Adrian's foot, her free fingers pulled down at the loose, wrinkled skin beneath her eyes. "Oh, that's how it is? Aww. That would have been impressive, but I actually have two of those." She took her hand away from her eyes so that they could blink. When they opened again, they were both deep red. Two red eyes to Adrian's one.

So... She was dealing with a half-breed. Intriguing.

By the time Jackson had pushed against the pain in his neck, everyone had caught a glimpse of the freakish eclipse on Adrian's face. He didn't know what those hostile, fearful glares were for until he opened his ears and heard the whispers.

'Look. Did you just see that?'
'His eye. There's something wrong with it.'
'It isn't turning red.'
'He's one of those freaks, isn't he? The little bastard's a freak.'
'Oh, that poor kid...'

The man forced himself to look, though it was another agony to even try. He searched for his little brother's face in the moonlight and found something that wasn't human. Adrian. Jackson looked up. Sethe, still standing there, holding the boy's foot in a vice grip. Behind her, faces of different shape and colour, all open-mouthed and staring like zombies in a horror movie.

"The hell are you looking at?" said Jackson behind a sudden rush of fury as hands scrambled to turn Adrian away from their prying watch. The faces lingered for a moment and dropped nervously back into the shadows, popping out of existence one by one. Their eyes still glinted from the darkness.

Jackson watched them all retreat. He followed up his outburst with, "Y-yeah, that's... I thought so. That's what I thought." He gave Sethe a hard look until she released the foot and walked away too, mumbling obscenities in another language. Within a few seconds, she had disappeared into the cabin with the remains of Jackson's shirt.

The Irish woman's ears rang for far too long, and she was afraid to speak until the whispers came back. Then she resumed staring as she had done before, but spoke to Lorn through the corner of her mouth. "You can say that twice... Hell, it's good to be out of that God-forsaken box, but you lot are really in the doghouse now. I thought that kid was sweet, but have you seen what he's done?" A finger lifted up a shard of Claire's ribs, one of the few pieces she still had left of the girl. "Went after my girl and drained that bastard of his blood." That same finger jabbed towards Jackson.

"Go to sleep, Adrian," Jackson kept mumbling. "It's fine. I'm not going anywhere."

Again, the woman muttered, "Wouldn't have minded if he'd killed the guy whilst he was at it, minds you, but you can have too much of a good thing. I waited in there for years and... Got what..." Her eyes suddenly turned watery, her knobbly knees weak. She sank back into the seat in which she had been sitting and bit back the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

One little gasp, and then she stopped. Finished. A wobbly hand extended to Lorn's own, and a stony face greeted him with the words, "You know, I've only been out here for a few minutes and I already hate this place. The name's Gloria, son. Remember it, 'cause I'm not sticking around when we get to land."
 
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