Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

[yaint]

"Dead!" Kermit almost tore holes in his pockets. "You're shittin' me, right? You've got to be kidding. If he's dead, then everything's been for squat, eveything we've been working on. I held on to that picture for fourteen odd years for nothing, it's not even useful as proof or... Great! Wait here, men, I need a fuckin' smoke-"

Roxanne interrupted the man with an unnecessarily loud yawn, just to drown out his griping. Malcolm half-strangled him by yanking his hood back. There were some satisfying choking noises before Kermit could call out in shock, and by then a pudgy arm had already shepherded him back into place.

"No you don't," said Malcolm, lower lip curled outwards in a devilish smirk. "If you think really hard then you might even remember why else we're here."

"Wh-..."

"To be fair, he didn't exactly look alive so I dunno what we were expecting. These pictures'll probably give us a criminal record. But hey, did you forget who else's in here?" Roxanne sniggered as she watched Kermit wrestle against his accomplice's headlock. "I'll give ya three guesses."

Grunting and scrabbling with too-short fingernails, Kermit whined, "You assholes!"

"Incorrect," said Roxanne. "Hey ghouls, you seein' this? He acts like this all the time. It's a real shit-show."

"Let go, you dick!"

Although Gloria had already been spectating, the call for attention hooked her all over again. She gave the human girl a piercing gaze, to which the girl waved back and grinned. What the hell was wrong with these people..? Their calm demeanour should have relaxed them, but Daryl was right to show hostility. It was unsettling how little this triad appeared to care.

"Hey," Gloria began. That got their attention; Kermit finally ducked away from Malcolm, and the three humans filed together in a line to listen. "I've been told you followed us here from the beach. What exactly did you see?"

"Oh, you caught us? Well! I saw about a million zombie-looking folk waltzing down the street, carrying each other, all covered in blood. Got some photos, too. You guys really weren't careful about hiding yourselves, y'know... Freaked out a lot of passersby. Had some old man screech, 'ghouls!' and drop his groceries on the zebra crossing. Hah! I'll be damned if the CCG don't show their faces by evening."

"Roxanne!" Kermit hissed. "Shut up, if someone hears us then we're even more screwed. Let's just get the hell out of here... If Lambert's dead then we're just wasting our time."

"Incorrect again," the girl interrupted. "Oh dear, that's got to be three tries used up by now. Help a guy out, M?"

Malcolm barely lifted his feet. He just scraped his trainers along the ground, then stopped a few inches before Daryl. "'Sup," he said, not exactly smiling but not without warmth. "You look good, man. Don't sweat the dead guy. My friend was also planning on seeing someone else, see. Short guy, black hair? Little scrawny. We saw him come in, and I might be jumping the gun a little but he looked alive to me. Know where we can find 'em?"

*

Hurt or not, it didn't matter. Jackson could not lie; he was concerned. This guy was worryingly brittle. Another kick could turn him to dust. But he was also a stranger, and after everything that had happened, Jackson was willing to be cautious of everything. He kept hold of Adrian, gripping the boy's clothes especially tightly when he made contact with Zebedee again.

"Oh... I do?" Zebedee said as he shook Adrian's hand as vigorously as his trembling hand could manage. "Maybe that's because I'm from America! But it's been a while since I was actually there... Uhm, at the moment I'm on vacation with my friend and my little sister. We get to go all sorts of places. Actually, we just came to England three... No, four days ago. Do you all live here? It's really nice."

*

"W-wait, hold up. Don't actually-... Ugh, that fucking guy!"

Too late. Lorn was gone by the time she turned around, or she had run too far out of sight, and now the girl was as good as alone. Her outburst had spooked several pedestrians, and now even they were avoiding her. She thought she heard one of them mutter something rude as they passed. Something that sounded like 'crazy slut'. It seemed that Englishmen were not as polite as she had hoped when she got to this country.

Whatever... That kid was gone, but it wasn't like there was a shortage of scents to follow. That dog out-stank the rest of those weirdos, and Zebedee was in there somewhere. She just had to cling to that eye-watering tang of blood.

For many minutes the girl lingered in the streets. She meandered barefoot, through a sea of people and their crude chatter, through back alleys devoid of all life but damp mould, until her soles were raw and her hair damp with sweat. Only after she saw it did she stop.

A house... A tall, old-looking house with crumbling white paint and windows sealed by cobwebs. Lights were on in some of the lower floors. God, this place gave her the creeps... It was like a ghost house, and Zebedee's scent led straight inside.

 

[Yoki]

There had to be a joke in there somewhere, Daryl couldn't take these guys serious for more than a second. They had some sort of goal, but the way they approached it was anything but ordinary, how could they act so casual when surrounded by ghouls, and ghouls they knew absolutely nothing about. The man grunted as the group started to mess around again, crossing his arms, he was getting sick of their bullshit. When were they just going to spit out what they wanted?

Whilst the comment about the CCG showing up did put Daryl slightly on edge, he was too pissed off with these people to care much about it in that moment. The CCG could show their damn faces, he'd send them running to the hills. Bitches.

Gloria didn't look too happy about all of this either, thank god, she was the one initiating conversation, getting all of the crap out of the way and getting down to the real stuff. If 'Lambert' as they called him was 'dead' then yeah, they should have just been going, but...seems Jackson wasn't the only victim on their unfortunate list.

Scrawny guy, black hair, short. Now...who on earth could they be referring to there?

"You want to see the kid?" Daryl raised an eyebrow, staring at this strange, chubby faced individual with a look that said 'are you sure about that?' He had to hold back a snigger at that. They wanted to see Adrian? One, there was no way Jackson would allow that. Two, Daryl honestly couldn't say that kid wouldn't attempt to eat them on the spot. He was off his head after all. "I'm...guessing you fuckers don't know Adrian." He looked to the side, "Sure did want the fucking package deal huh? They kinda came as a pair, which...I'm sure you knew."

For a moment he was silent, but then those piercing green eyes of his landed back on the man in front of him and he leaned forwards, getting way too close for comfort in an over intimidating way. Adrian was a fugitive, these guys were human, as if he was stupid enough to believe they were just here to 'talk'. "Y'know, takes Jesus Christ himself to handle that kid." He looked around the group, "Don't think any of you shitheads have the balls or skill for it." His eyes landed on Kermit, "'Specially not you."

*

"Oh..." Adrian put his finger in his mouth for a moment and looked up as if thinking about something, Zebedee was from America... "Jackson," He turned his head sharply to look at the man keeping hold of him, "Where's America?" Sure, he knew of the nationality, but he didn't actually know where the place was. He turned back to Zebedee after asking the question, Jackson took too long to reply to him, "Did you come on a boat? Or...or a plane!" With a giggle, Adrian took his hand back from Zebedee and wrapped his arms around his legs, bringing them to his chest to lean his head on, "I went in a helicopter once... It was weird... I think." The boy shrugged as if he couldn't quite remember, "Too loud..."

*

"Yeesh." From behind the girl came a voice she'd be too familiar with by this point. Lorn. The teenager was leaning against a wall, cigarette in hand, staring at it with one eyebrow raise and a slight grin plastered across his face. "Took you long enough." He dropped that stick of poison in his hand to the floor, crushing it with his foot, "I thought you'd be a little quicker, but whatever." After shrugging, the boy pushed himself off of the wall and went to stand next to the new girl,hands in his pockets.

He stood there staring at the house in front of them and tapping his foot on the ground for a little too long, but he was waiting for something, waiting for this girl to make a move. "Well?" Turning those confident blue eyes to her once more, he motioned with his head to the eerie and seemingly abandoned house, "You going in or are we going to stand here all day?"

 

[yaint]

It took a clearing of the throat and a few seconds of nail-picking before Kermit leapt two foot back, suddenly aware that Malcolm was staring, Roxanne was jabbing a thumb in his side and the weird-looking dude with the green hair was waiting on a reaction. Well, he got his reaction. Kermit thrust one foot against the brittle stone tiles and lunged towards Daryl with a lazy scowl on his face. "Wha'? What'chou talking about, I've got plenty balls."

"Less than me," Roxanne laughed, then added under her breath, "Got plenty of stupid though."

"More balls than this guy. Mate, you know what one of my kicks could do to you? One flick to the nads and you'll be on your knees with your pockets spilling lint and cash-"

He was interrupted by a light punch to the stomach. With a snort, Roxanne removed her fist from Kermit's soft middle to wring her wrist around and crack the bones together. She sighed, "I rest my case. Lay off, Kerm, this guy's hardcore. You don't wanna fight 'em. Uh... Malcolm, did he just refuse ya?"

"Didn't hear the word 'no'."

"I wasn't gonna fight!" Kermit carried on, regardless of the attention now having moved to the man scratching his head under Daryl's intimidating stance. "We know this guy's S-rated. You'd get creamed if I turned my back on you. Wait - what was that?"

By the time the young man had turned around, Malcolm was already pushing his way through the door past Daryl, one hand in front of him and the other fanning the sweat on his neck. Not even Gloria's stiff focus lent her enough speed to stop the man from entering through the back door.

"We're going in!" Roxanne screeched. "Is the kid in there? Do we get to see 'em yet!? Oohh, I am so pumped!"

"Hold on a moment, you're not going anywhere!" said Gloria, but she almost choked on her words when Roxanne, hands camera-free, locked fingers with her to wrestle the woman out of Kermit's way. Gloria held her own, but the girl scrabbling at her arms wasn't letting go, so she tried again - "Didn't you hear? It's dangerous!"

"Running away is for pussies. C'mon, Rox!" Kermit said. He saw his opening, made time to jab his middle fingers at Daryl, and disappeared through the back door in Malcolm's footsteps. Roxanne finally escaped to join him, albeit taking a sprained wrist from her fight with Gloria, and the trio congregated indoors.

They were inside. No doubt those ghouls would be coming after them in a jiffy, so Kermit did the most sensible thing he could think of: he grabbed his friends and piled them into the nearest room. That room just happened to be the kitchen, with the Magpie waiting inside.

"Uwah!" someone shrieked from within the room.

A second later, Sethe's head emerged through a crack in the door. She glared through the hall, out towards the back door. "Did you let these people in on purpose? I was trying to enjoy some coffee in peace."

*

"To the west... On the other side of the ocean," Jackson mumbled. He kept his hands tugging firmly on Adrian's shirt, but he could barely hear what the boy was saying. The topic of conversation kept evolving so quickly, it was impossible to keep up... He just wanted to close his eyes. He was sick and he wanted to rest without this headache of a ghoul keeping him and his little brother on edge all afternoon.

The headache himself didn't seem the least bit bothered by the multitude of questions, which was a relief to say the least. Instead, Zebedee answered them first with a warm smile. "Oh! You've been on a helicopter!? That's so cool!" Glittering eyes widened as the man reached farther across the bed, his dying-twig fingers digging into the sheets. "Was that the one on the beach? I didn't know they actually put people inside."

Jackson shot Dane a knowing look. 'Get rid of him?' he mouthed.

Zebedee continued, "A-amazing... You're so lucky. I've never been in the sky before... Me and my sister got here on a ginormous boat. Oh, hey! I just thought of something - do you know my mom? H-have you ever talked to her?"

*

The girl almost tripped over her own feet. Had she not caught herself on the front wall, she would have happily introduced her face to the hard concrete below - it would most definitely be more pleasant than having to confront this little rat again. That son of a bitch with his weird-ass mask and punk kid attitude was only here for trouble... His only saving grace was being a familiar face. Now she knew that she was in the right place, even if he had scared her shitless with that stupid act.

"Y'all need someone to learn your little turd-shit ass some manners," she snapped at him as she slid past and punched the door open rather unnecessarily. Don't look. Just go. "You just don't know how to treat a lady, do you?"

Almost immediately, the girl was choked by the stench inside the house. Dog shit, mixed with sweat, blood, BO, some kind of rot, definitely age-old mould and... Jesus, it smelled like something died behind the radiator.

"D-D-... Tch, ack, this is gross. Dee! Dee! Where the- hah!?" She was stopped when a familiar pair of jaws clamped down on her bare ankle. That no-good dog was back again, and its tiny needle-sharp teeth were after the kill. That little white terrier rat... If Zebedee were not somewhere nearby, she would have taken the opportunity to snap its flea-bitten little neck. That thing should be grateful it had backup, she thought.

The dog gnawed on her leg, and barked when the girl shook it away. "Down," she commanded. The dog yelped again, over and over. It was relentless. "Dude, kid, are you getting in here or what? I'm being eaten alive here - ah! Fuck off, Aladdin!"

 

[Yoki]

"Hey!" Daryl whipped around as quickly as possible as he saw Kermit attempt to dip inside the house, a scowl crossing his face. He wasn't worried as much as he was annoyed, these guys were just a fucking nuisance, he should have killed them already...he'd rather have killed them than deal with this shit. "Who fucking said you could do that you dickhead?"

The man stomped inside after the group as they dipped into the nearest room, disturbing the one person you probably didn't want to mess with, honestly...Daryl was secretly relieved to see Sethe. "No of course I fucking didn't." He spat back, "What the fuck you take me for? They let themselves in," He moved towards the doorway, eyes steely, arms crossed, "And they're gonna let themselves fucking out too." Each second he spent in these people's presence he felt his IQ dipping that little bit more... Fucking children, he felt like he was dealing with children, and he'd dealt with way too many of them recently. "I ain't no goddamn babysitter, get the fuck outta here."

*

"Mhm!" Adrian nodded and giggled, "I went in that thing! But...they wouldn't let me move...so I didn't see much." He looked to the side as if bummed out by that fact, but...he didn't quite look upset as much as he did annoyed that he wasn't allowed to explore more of the helicopter.

The boy had heard Zeb's next question, looking up and blinking in confusion. Who? He turned his head to the side slightly as he stared, obviously not quite putting two and two together, "Your...mother?" Just after speaking the words, Adrian's head jerked up, his acute hearing locking on to several new sounds in the house. His eyes locked onto the door, hands dropping to his sides as he listened. They were coming from all over...what was that? And...that smell... Oh!

"Hm!" After making a sound that was closer to a mouse's squeak than any sort of human noise, the small male darted forwards, breaking from Jackson's grip and vaulting over the bed in seconds. Something had grabbed his attention and he didn't seem to be waiting around for anybody. In seconds he'd opened the door and practically tumbled down the stairs in the house, following that scent.

It took him directly the a taller man that he recognised slightly from back awhile ago. For a moment he stopped, eyes locked on the back of the male's head and he stared in awe, leaning on his tiptoes to try and get closer without actually moving. After his second of admiration was over, he skipped forwards and slid under the other's arm, popping up in front of a group of different individuals he'd never met before. The boy stopped, freezing in place as his large grey eyes ecstatically darted around the room, a little too fast to follow, he didn't say anything, or even go anywhere else, he just stood there taking every individual in in turn.

"Wh- Oi!" Having noticed someone else slip into the room, Daryl looked down, eyes catching the form on the one person he'd wished would stay away. "Oh fucking hell..." He muttered to himself, eyes almost rolling back in his head. Adrian. Of course. The boy was standing there in clothing that was practically rags at this point, messy hair covering half of his face, rocking back and forth in place. Why the hell was he away from Jackson? He hadn't seen this before...usually that kid clung to the guy like superglue... What changed?

"Hey. Adrian, back up a little wouldya?" Daryl motioned to the kid, but he didn't seem to be paying much attention, in fact...he seemed much more interesting by the strangers in the room. "For fucks sake..."

*

"Hm. Maybe you should teach me some time." Lorn replied, crossing his arms as he let the girl open the door and step inside before him. It was entertaining to tease her, she seemed like the kind of person who got pissed very easily, they were always the most fun. He was looking forwards to introducing her to Sethe, the woman would just love that.

The appearance of that dog that the scrawny ghoul she was looking for owned only made Lorn snigger, he passed by without so much as giving her and the mutt another glance. It really hated her then huh? "Might have to bring that guy along with you." He replied, kicking off his shoes for no reason other than effect, "You guys look like good friends."

As he started to survey the house he realised that everything wasn't as it seemed, there looked to be some...gathering in the kitchen, a gather he could get down with. Pulling a bar of chocolate out of his pocket, Lorn made his way from the hallway and towards the kitchen door, also pushing Daryl's arm out of the way to come and join in the fun. "You guys having a party without me or something?" He asked, breaking off some of the chocolate and placing it in his mouth, gulping it down instantly. Although he shouldn't be eating it, he didn't much seem to care. "Yo..." There were plenty of people in the room he recognised, including that child that they'd been on that whole mission for, but the stench of human was overwhelming, "Who's the new guys?"

 

[yaint]

Three clueless intruders. Countless strangers. A new arrival, an infamous killer, Britain's most wanted boy. What would happen if they were all to meet? Jackson's first guess was simple: chaos. But he did not have the fortune (or misfortune) of being able to watch everything fall together. Instead, he could only punch at the wall above his head and curse whilst Zebedee scrambled after Adrian, face flushed with excitement.

"What the hell..?" the girl from the streets croaked. She suddenly forgot about the dog attacking her heels; she heard her own heart, not its yelps. People. She hasn't expected so many people. Oh no, this was that no-good punk, wasn't it? That kid must have set up a goddamn ambush!

Roxanne hooked an arm around Malcolm's neck and tripped Kermit up with an outstretched leg. With a grunt, both men froze on the spot. Sethe waited behind them with a scowl on her face. In front of them were countless ghouls - Irish lady, some girl in a dress, a crippled scarecrow, probably that green-haired guy with a short temper too... And a dog.

"We're surrounded, you idiot," Kermit choked when he finally regained his balance. "We gotta abort!"

The camera-weilding girl jumped on the spot. "Wait, look!"

"Huh?" Malcolm and Roxanne both pointed to Adrian directly. Short kid. Black hair. Kinda scrawny. Could it be? Kermit's jaw dropped when he heard Adrian's name. "Hey, it's him! Change of plan, boys - get that kid alone."

Roxanne dived at Adrian. Gloria fought her way through the crowd, saying something like, 'Wait, stop!' But her hands closed on thin air as Roxanne reached the little black-haired boy and grabbed him from behind. "Gotcha! Now...hold...still!"

Sethe sipped coffee and watched.

*

As Kermit leapt forwards to help wrangle Adrian with a stronger, more masculine pair of arms, the girl in the dress whipped around to eyeball Lorn. "What is this?" she demanded. "Where on Earth have you taken me!? This isn't... You didn't say all these people would be here..." She could barely breathe. Zebedee was here somewhere, oh God...

"Kez!"

There. The girl, Kez - whatever people wanted to call her - only remembered to breathe after she heard that voice. Zebedee ambled down the stairs, cane dragging behind him from one hand. He tripped and almost fell from the last few steps, but Kez was there to catch him. She wailed into his ear as she held him, "Zebby, oh thank God... You idiot! I thought you were staying at home! What are you doing here?"

"Sorry... I just wanted to be with my friends."

"Friends?" Kez glanced to the side and saw Kermit wrestling with Roxanne for the best hold on Adrian. "No. No, no, Dee, these people aren't your friends. They're dangerous. Come on, we gotta get out of here-"

"Ke-ez, wait!" Zebedee pleaded. His feeble arms fought to steady himself. "You don't understand, they're really nice."

"Hold my hand."

The man habitually placed his hand in Kez's open palm as soon as she let him go, but he tried not to let her pull him away. "We can't go home yet, you haven't even met my mom! She's here, look!"

That stopped the girl dead in her tracks. Her fingers unfurled and Zebedee's hand fell limp by his side. She dared to look again at the crowd; her gaze sifted through all of the unfamiliar faces, skipped past the humans and then found Sethe's piercing glare. The old woman sipped her coffee and angled her body away from the two ghouls who shared her dark skin, brown eyes, and the natural crescent slope of her nose.

"Oh my God," Kez whispered, her eyes growing wide and face a sickly grey. Her feet dragged the stench of fear back through the carpet as she blindly inched backwards, away from the strange old woman. "Wh-what is she doing here?"

"It's okay, she's family!" Zebedee beamed back. "It's just like Dad always said, huh? We found each other on the beach a little while ago. Don't you at least wanna say hi?"

Kez shook her head, grabbed hold of Zebedee's hands and turned tail. The man tripped and struggled to keep up with her pace, but she didn't look back. She just kept dragging him, past the kitchen, past Kermit and Gloria and Daryl, and she only halted to give Lorn a hard kick in each shin. "That's for kidnapping my friend." Then she kicked him again, in the knee. "That's for setting me up." And she was about to give that little chocolate-eating masochist creep more strike for luck when an enormous hand clapped down on her shoulder and lifted her up in the air.

"Lorn," said a familiar voice. A round face rose behind Kez, green eyes blinking down at his master. "Do you need any help with these people?"

Zebedee, his arm twisted back at a near-impossible angle by Kez's flailing arm, dropped his stick to wave. "Hello, Aaron!"

"Aaron!?" said Kez.

Aaron frowned at the girl. She was struggling uselessly against his ten-ton grip... "Shall I do something?"

 

[Yoki]

No one was fast enough. Not fast enough to stop them, and certainly not fast enough to stop the backlash of their actions.

It was a simple rule.

"Don't touch me."

You didn't have to do anything else.

Just follow that rule.

Follow that rule and everything would be fine.

But they didn't want to listen.

They were quick to assume, quick to assume that they could contain the explosion that their foolish actions had incurred.

It was a simple rule.

All they'd had to do was follow it.


The feeling of arms attempting to restrain him was enough to cause Adrian to freeze. He'd only come in to see what was going on, but now someone was grabbing him and he regretted every decision he'd made within the last twenty minutes. It was like a wake up call, to how many people stood around the room, to where he was, to the fact he didn't know these people, that...Jackson wasn't there. Where...where was he? Where was Jackson? He didn't leave did he? No, no, no... He wouldn't have done that. He didn't leave. He never left.

Adrian bit down on the inside of his cheek, the familiar metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. They still had hold of him, attempting to throw him around like some sort of puppet, and it was starting to freak him out. He could feel his heart speeding up, he couldn't focus properly, no one's words made sense... Where was he? Where was Jackson? What were they doing to him? Nope. No, no, no, he wouldn't let them do that, not again. Not again.

The boy's head dipped down, eyes squeezing closed as he tried to focus himself slightly. They wouldn't hurt him, he wouldn't let them hurt him, not again. A small hand wrapped itself around an unsuspecting arm, grip unnaturally tight for someone of the owner's size, and it squeezed. But...not only did it squeeze, oh no, it dug in nails, sharp, jagged nails that were half broken off but not completely, the type of nails you certainly wouldn't want to be against your skin. All within an instant of gripping the arm this happened, and then Adrian yanked, he scraped the skin and yanked as hard as he could, opened his eyes, spun around, and locked those deranged grey irises onto his target's shoulder.

There was nothing more than a moment of pause, a split second where those eyes looked up at their prey and a grin spread across that small male's face, a grin that said 'dodge this'. And then it happened. His eyes flickered back down and he leaned forwards biting down hard into flesh. There was an awful ripping noise, followed by a spouting of red, and it was the most satisfying shit Adrian had experienced all year. Hell...

But he wasn't done there.

Ripping his teeth away from the human's flesh, he spun around at lightening speed, raising a leg that would connect with the abdomen of his second attacker if he judged it right. However, that was simply a weak, dummy kick anyway. The boy used the momentum to jump in the air and send out a rather powerful looking blow likely to connect with his other attacker's skull if they didn't move. He didn't wait to see if they did. His eyes had locked onto his next weapon as he landed, which sat on the counter nearby. A frying pan. Old. Used. The perfect thing to thwack over the back of someone's head.

Zipping over to the makeshift weapon, Adrian's fingers outstretched and curled around it, the minute he picked it up he'd already swung it around to try and connect it with that shitty girl's head. Where was her friend? His gaze flickered to the man that had attacked him and his grip on the pan tightened, he pushed off of the wall with one foot, bringing the pan backwards and swinging it with much more force than necessary towards the taller male. Along with the attack, he kicked forwards, aiming directly for the male's midsection. Then another hit with the pan, a third, fourth, fifth. Honestly, with the speed that Adrian was attacking it didn't look like he'd stop swinging until he somehow smashed the guy to a pulp.

"Okay, fucking- Jesus Christ!" Having seen more than enough of this shit show, Daryl stepped in the instant Adrian stopped darting around. He wasn't going to lie, the kid was fast, and he didn't know if he was fast enough to get in between all of that when he was ducking and weaving shit like something out of a goddamn movie, but when Adrian finally stopped moving here there and everywhere he was straight on the kid. He moved up behind him, putting a hand over the boy's mouth and then the other over his eyes, dragging the two of them back. "Shit, calm the fuck down before you make dinner early kid." He muttered. Honestly, he'd expected more resistance from Adrian, having just seen what happened when those humans touched him, but...there wasn't much.

Adrian's tensed up muscles relaxed slightly, the pan in his hand clattered to the ground, and he brought one arm, loosely wrapping it around Daryl's wrist, but one thing he didn't do was fight back. The taller of the two didn't know what it was that caused that, he didn't want to know, but he was mighty glad of it. It wasn't that he didn't like seeing Adrian beat these guys to a pulp, he couldn't think of anything these shithead deserved more, it was just that he didn't want to have to deal with cleanup later on. "Someone fucking deal with this shit, willya? I mean...did no one just fucking see that?!" For safety reasons, he kept his hands over Adrian's mouth and eyes and moved the two backwards, "What a fucking goddamn mess. Did you fuckers think I was joking or something shit?"

*

"Oi!" Having wanted to watch the drama unfolding, Lorn was quite irritated by the kick to the back of the shins. It didn't hurt that much, and sure, maybe if he was paying attention he could have moved, but this girl really just liked to be a bit of a bitch didn't she? "Lighten up chick," He grunted, "Like I said, I helped your friend out, don't write me off as some good for nothing or something." Crossing his arms and turning his attention to her, he felt another kick connect with his knee. "Bitch!"

He was overreacting as he leaned down and put a hand over the area, it didn't hurt that much, in fact he was over it, he just liked to make a big deal would of nothing. Though...it was amusing to hear that all too familiar voice, and as always it was addressing him. Lorn looked up, a grin crossing his face again as he saw Aaron standing with their little house guest in his hand. "Yo Aaron."

Getting over himself and standing back up, Lorn put his hands in his pockets and walked to stand in front of Kez. "Now, you can complain." He winked at her, his all too casual attitude towards the situation probably more than a little off putting, but that was the point.

He turned his back on the ground as Aaron asked what he should do, digging his heel into the ground. "Well..." The teen started, shrugging slightly, "I was going to suggest showing this...respectable young woman the exit...but...it seems her companion has other...obligations." As the last word left his lips, Lorn spun around, making direct eye contact with the girl in Aaron's grip. "So, how about you make sure they stick around for a bit Aaron? There's someone who's dying to meet them once this is all over I'm sure."

 

[yaint]

Gloria did not have time to be grateful for how lucky her escape was. When that skinny little arm emerged from the tangle of dark grins and grabbing hands, she leapt back and watched the chaos that followed. Roxanne's shrieks of delight quickly turned urgent as teeth sank into her soft flesh. She fought to push the target back towards Kermit, but by the time he had decided to grab her hand and flee, she was already out cold on the ground. For a second, he thought he had a chance to escape. He was wrong. From nowhere at all, Adrian came back and oh God he had a pan and he was hitting and hitting and he wasn't going to stop...

"Oh hey, you broke Rox's camera. She's gonna cry when she wakes up," said Malcolm, the least useful of Kermit's crew. On his knees and doubled over with a mixture of blood and spit hanging in strings from his mouth, Kermit coughed out something that was supposed to resemble words. 'Not joking, he was not joking, no way.' Malcolm sniggered. "Whoa. This guy sounds like what happens when a goose hits puberty."

"J-j-just help me up, you moron, I don't want that thing to kill me!"

"Hmph. You had warning. Should've listened."

"That - that's not my fault! The kid's psycho crazy, he... He... Nobody could predict that, it was like a freakin' frying pan monsoon. Oouugh, my ribs..."

In the back, Roxanne released a tiny groan. She was still slumped against the wall. Her eyes were both shiny and swollen, bloodshot when she tried to open them.

Malcolm took one glance at Kermit and said, "I'll carry Rox."

"Wh-!? What about me? She can walk herself, I'm the one without any damn legs to stand on."

There was a short pause. Gloria let herself look again, and she did notice that beneath the frayed bottom of Kermit's trousers, Kermit bore plastic and metal where there should have been flesh. Still, Malcolm didn't seem to have much pity to spare. He just snorted and left the man on the floor with, "Your legs don't hurt." Then he bent over, scooped Roxanne off the floor and hoisted her over one shoulder. Kermit watched in horror as his crew marched out of the kitchen and through the back door.

Gloria leaned in to Daryl and waved her hand. "Hey. You think it's safe to let those clowns go?" she asked.

"Clowns?" Kermit whined. The woman elected to ignore him.

"There'll be trouble if word gets out about this... I can grab Harrison and find them both."

*

Kez felt like her shoulder was being crushed. Aaron's hand had such a heavy grip - like the jaws of a bear, but far worse because she was at the mercy of a little boy who liked this game way too much. Oh, she would kill him. When she was free, she would knock all of the teeth out of that perfect little smile of his, and then she would stomp on them and grind them to glittering white dust under her foot. That would shut the little brat up.

"Kez?" said Zebedee, voice suddenly trembling. The girl was too riled up to even think about letting go of his hand, despite the way he tried to tug away. "They're hitting each other over there. What's going on? Lorn?"

"Let go. Let go! Put me down!" said Kez as she kicked back at Aaron again. "Kid, make him drop me. I don't want to meet anyone."

"Ke-ez?" the skinny little man whined again.

Aaron panicked and squeezed Kez even more tightly. "I can't let you go, I'm sorry."

"Kez... Please may you let go of my hand?"

The pleading wasn't enough. Nobody seemed to be doing fuck-anything today, so it was up to her instead. Great... Getting her kagune out was supposed to be a last resort, but with Zebedee complaining like a little kid and that Lorn guy having a goddamn party, she didn't have a choice. From her body erupted two slick, pulsing appendages, red in colour and accented by darker veins of purple. Aaron squirmed when he noticed them slithering towards him, but he was immobilised by his orders. He had to stand and watch as Kez ploughed her kagune into his abdomen, feeding through two gaping, bleeding holes.

That wasn't the end.

By this point, Zebedee was wailing and yanking the girl's hand down as hard as his frail arms could manage. "No! No, please don't hurt him!"

But Kez wasn't listening. The kagune shrank inside the entry wounds, and those veins turned to crystal and split through Aaron's body like a web of evil spikes. One spear exploded from the man's stomach. One from his back. Several more could be seen jutting out from beneath his clothes, only completely emerging when his body twitched and skin split open.

His vision was growing dark, eyes unfocused and knees somewhat less steady than the solid rocks they had been before, but somehow Aaron was still standing. True to his orders, he kept his hand wrapped around Kez's shoulder, albeit a little more loosely than before. That was okay. She was still struggling, the kagune now back inside her body, and she still could not escape. The only real change was that Zebedee was now sitting in a mess of blood staining the carpet around Aaron's ankles.

"Aaron!" said Zebedee. "Oh no..."

 

[Yoki]

He'd could feel him shaking. It was strange, to think that this kid could cause so much damage in such a short about of time, and then immediately revert to that innocent and childish persona they'd become accustomed to. Adrian is was still now, despite the chaos that was still going on around them, completely quiet and calm. His hand was tightening and loosening around Daryl's wrist constantly, it was like it was a comfort thing to him, as if he was trying to remind himself someone was there. Plus he was shaking...Adrian's whole body was shaking slightly and Daryl couldn't quite work out why, was he afraid or something?

The shouting and balling going on didn't seem to help, it was making the male flinch, every exclamation from that Kermit guy was followed by Adrian tensing up. Daryl didn't know what to do... It wasn't like the kid he had hold of wasn't dangerous, he couldn't afford to let go of him, but...he almost felt bad for holding him in that position. After all, those fucking idiots did attack him first. If anything it was their faults, not his.

"Hey!" Suddenly feeling the impulse to snap at the people left in the room, Daryl leaned over Adrian's head, pulling the smaller male closer, "You wanna shut the fuck up for two seconds?" His voice was violent, protective even, "I think you've done enough freakin' out the kid for one day. It's your own bloody faults you got beat up, don't fucking touch him next time, yeah?" He honestly didn't understand their stupidity. He'd told them Adrian was dangerous and volatile, if he hadn't stepped in, all three of them could have been killed... Two for sure. And they still had the audacity to complain about it.

Oh, it sure was amusing to watch that awfully calm man leave with the girl in his arms, abandoning their teammate, but Daryl didn't have time to deal with this shithead. He was the worst of all three. He couldn't believe that the others were just letting these shits walk out, he really wanted to kill them now, but after just having saved their lives...that wasn't exactly logical. Police reports would be one hell of a nuisance if three dead humans turned up around an area like this.

"Huh?" His attention turned from the human left groaning on the ground to Gloria as she asked him what to do. Like hell if he knew. Who could be bothered with those shits anyway? "Tch. Fucking waste of time." He muttered, "They ain't doing shit for anywhere." Still keeping tight hold of Adrian, who was starting to shake a little more violently and wobble on those skinny legs of his, Daryl motioned with his head to the legless human on the ground. "This one is pretty dumb though." He grunted to himself, "Take him upstairs, yeah? Put him in one of the rooms or something, we'll get outta this guy what he wants if it takes all week. He ain't movin' any time soon anyway." The green eyed male paused and looked the human up and down, "And if he does we just give Adrian a meal. I'm sure they won't miss one."

"Gj-" Hearing a noise from next to him, Daryl was forced onto one knee as Adrian collapsed on the ground, attempting to pull his head away from the other.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." The green haired ghoul pulled against Adrian, locking him in place, "It's fine." His voice was slightly softer than before, no reason to freak the boy out more. "You're fine Adrian. You can hear me, yeah? If you can hear me sit still for a second."

Although his command was listened to, Adrian did seem extremely uncomfortable... Daryl didn't know whether to risk letting go of him though. "Okay..." He started, looking to Gloria to get Kermit out of the room like he'd asked, "I'm gonna remove my hands now...and you're gonna stay right there, okay? You need to promise me you're gonna stay there." There was a small nod, signifying Adrian understood, which was enough for Daryl. He was feeling mighty uncomfortable about all of this anyway.

Slowly, he took his hand off of the boy's eyes and then his mouth, bringing his arms to rest by his own side. Immediately, Adrian had let go of Daryl's wrist and his hands had gone over his own mouth as he'd doubled over, practically retching. His shaking had become much more violent and he'd recoiled into himself, avoiding even looking at anyone else in the room. Stressed wasn't a strong enough word to describe Adrian's situation, Daryl didn't dare to touch him in this state. In fact, he backed up a little, just to be safe.

"And whilst you're up there," He called, "Find out how to deal with...this." He motioned to Adrian with one hand as he looked in the other direction, this was Jackson's forte, and that guy was being a useless shit upstairs.

*

Lorn sucked in air through his teeth and cringed as he watched the scene in front of him unfold, that kagune was lethal... She was lethal. It was unexpected to say the least, but he couldn't say it wasn't interesting, and Aaron? Well...Aaron would live. At least, hopefully he'd live...those wounds weren't exactly child's play.

"That's...gonna leave a mark." He muttered to himself, stepping forwards as the girl's kagune disappeared into her back. Aaron was bleeding all over the floor, he had numerous holes, and he looked to be in pain, yet...he still stood there. Lorn admired his loyalty. Sure, they had a lot to work on, but at least he knew that Aaron would give his life up for an order. "Yeesh dude." His awfully calm blue eyes landed onto the large man still holding the teenage female, "I should give you a lesson in self preservation some time." He quickly pointed to the man, moving his gaze to the girl, "Remind me to do that some time."

Now... As for this...'rebel'. "You're quite the piece of work." The boy grinned, staring directly into 'Kez''s much darker eyes, his gaze too smug for this situation, "I know you're the guest and all, but...us hosts can only take so much, y'know?" His head cocked to one side as he spoke, "I mean, that...that was awfully rude of you. What did he even do?" Without any warning, Lorn's arm suddenly because covered in a dark material, pointed at the shoulder. His arm had completely disappeared, replaced by a rather thick looking, sharp, blade-like kagune...that was stuck right through the side of the girl's abdomen. "That was all me." His expression sank slightly, but he still managed to keep that grin on his face, never breaking eye contact.

"You can let go now Aaron."

 

[yaint]

A moment ago, Kermit was sure that he could not walk. Now fear had offered itself to him as a crutch. Adrenaline pumped him up to his metal feet, back against the wall, broken bones rattling beneath ghastly white skin. He could go. Right now, oh, he could just get the hell out of here and collapse on the grass and hopefully not throw up on an ant hill. That fresh air begged to be followed. He almost made it, too. But again, he was choked after barely a step by his own jacket - Gloria had grabbed the hood.

"I don't wanna die here," Kermit whimpered as he crumpled up around the splinters of his ribcage.

Gloria pouted. "You won't, as long as you behave."

"But-"

"Oi, Daryl?" the woman interrupted. She jerked Kermit away from the door when he struggled, but her gaze was softly set on Adrian. That boy... She didn't know what to think of him anymore. At first sight he had sent chills down her spine; trust was out of the question. Yet he was just a child. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Just keep him busy until then - and don't let him outside."

"No wonder they had the little guy chained up," Kermit commented. Then he produced several more cries of pain as Gloria prodded him out of the way, helpfully sticking her thumb in his chest until he obediently shrank away from the door. She took his place. With one hand she held him, and with the other she grabbed the handle and...

Click.

The door swung open. The smell of blood rushed into the kitchen from the hall where Lorn stood and played his games with Aaron playing his pawn. The stuff was everywhere. Kermit struggled even more viciously, screeching and yelling and scrabbling uselessly at his captor's arm.

Gloria simply stood in place with her mouth agape. "Actually, Daryl... I think you'd better grab that kid again. Don't let him see this."

*

Kez's stomach, churning and gurgling though empty as it was, came quite close to ejecting a jet of bile onto Lorn's inflated head at one point. This sport of his was sickening. It had ruined everything; her mood, her dignity, and her dress, because that little fucker Aaron wouldn't stop bleeding everywhere.

Could it get worse, though? Yes. Of course it could.

"Guests!?" she choked. "That's rich, coming from the guy who's trying to kill us. What the hell is your deal anyway, dude? Every time I ask you, you just talk back to me in stupid riddles like you're the big man in the house, and like who the hell do you think you are other than some psycho little brat? Fucking kidnap Zeb, set up a goddamn ambush... W-wait, what are you-"

The air was stolen from her lungs by a terrible, earsplitting shriek. The girl's grip now loose, Zebedee rolled over. He had his hands cupped over his ears to drown out the agonising, skull-ringing noise, but his dark eyes had grown large and round. "Lorn, no!" he cried when he saw the blood seeping from the girl's middle. "She's hurt..."

Kez bit her tongue after a second. Her screams were reduced to quiet moans and coughing, but the expression on her face stayed the same: pure, concentrated fury. She watched Lorn from above with a heart-stopping glare. 'Kill you,' said the look in her eyes. 'Kill you. I'm going to tear you apart, limb from limb, and I'm going to enjoy it.'

But then Lorn gave Aaron his permission, and the man dropped Kez to the ground. Her furious glare evaporated when she hit the blood-soaked carpet. Aaron soon followed, landing hard on his hands and knees and retching the blood welling in the back of his throat. It was a sorry sight.

In the midst of the chaos, Zebedee noticed something fly from the folds of Kez's dress. It was a mobile phone - not something new, but an ancient flip-phone model. And when the scrawny little man picked it up, he dropped it again immediately because it started ringing in his hands.

"Oh!" Zebedee gasped. "Kez, your phone is ringing!"

The girl groaned. She was too busy trying to keep the blood inside of her body to move. "Who is it?"

"I... I, um, I don't..." Zebedee squinted at the front screen, brows bumped together in a frown. It had the caller's name written on it - 'Cartwright'. It might have been plain as day to anyone like Aaron or Lorn, but Zebedee gave up and just handed the little object to Kez.

Kez snatched it, one trembling hand from another. She took one look at the screen, and then the colour drained from her face. Not for the first time, she turned a sickly grey, and felt nauseous for a reason other than Lorn's games.

"Are you okay, Kez?"

"Yeah," Kez lied, shooting Lorn another quick spiteful look before hurriedly taking her attention back to her phone. "Zebby, come with me, please. I gotta take this."

"Who is it?"

Snap. Kez ignored the question, instead flipping the old phone open and plugging it against her ear. "This you?" she asked in a suddenly shaky voice as she took Zebedee's hand. The two of them stood up together, and Kez dragged the man away from Lorn despite the way he tried to reach out.

Silence. A tinny mumbling from the other end of the line.

"Oh," said Kez into the receiver. "Right. T-today, really? I swear that's not what you said last time. I thought it was for next week, so I didn't... I haven't exactly-"

Cartwright's voice exploded from the speaker. Zebedee instinctively flinched away from the noise, but Kez was frozen. She stared into the blank space ahead of her like she could see the other person. Whatever she was seeing, it terrified her.

"Kez?" Zebedee whispered. He went ignored.

The girl said into the phone, "Not now. I can't. S-something happened, we ran into a little trouble with some of the locals and it's gonna take me a while to catch up. Not long! Not long, just - if you'll please just give me a few more days, I'll work something out, I swear, but we can't do this without the extra-... Huh? Yeah, he's with me. Shut up or he's gonna hear you. I told you I don't want him getting involved in your bullshit. Just fucking call me later, this is not the best time-"

The voice yelled again.

"Shit," said Kez. "One. That's... Not serious, is it? P-please, I didn't mean it, just let us have another day. I got jumped, I, I can't work like this, Zeb's starving, we-"

The line cut off. Where there had been a voice, there was now a long, flat tone. It was worse than silence.

"Tomorrow," said Kez. The blood seeping from her middle finally took its toll. Beneath Zebedee's soft touch, she sank to the floor beside Aaron and dropped the phone from her hand. She was defeated. "Tomorrow, not tomorrow..."

 

[Yoki]

"Oh fucking hell what's going on now." Daryl muttered, attempting to get up from his position behind Adrian. There was no way there was more drama going on. What the hell could they possibly be doing out there?

He was a little bit apprehensive of leaving the kid on the floor alone, but he did so, slowly rising to his feet and moving to stand by the door to see what exact everyone was staring at. Although....he couldn't say that he didn't regret his decision. Blood everywhere, people laying on the ground, another kid involved in a mess.

"Okay, I'm out." Holding his hands up, Daryl spun around and walked back over to Adrian, "I'm not dealing with that shit. Nope. Fuck that." Whilst Gloria had told him to grab Adrian again, he was pretty sure it was best not to touch him in that moment. He honestly looked like he was going to throw up, but Daryl couldn't work out if he really was or not... If he'd been human it would have been a little more than frightening. In fact, they'd probably have been calling an ambulance.

There was a reason Adrian always stuck with Jackson, and Daryl was pretty sure that this had to be part of it. He didn't know whether the boy felt physically sick or whether it was a mental thing...but he looked like he was having an absolute overload... His mind probably couldn't take it, everything that was happening, everything that had happened... He'd only just got back, and honestly...no one could blame him for being broken. The shit that guy had had to endure... Even as a human. Daryl knew Adrian didn't deserve this, but he had no idea what to do about him. What did you do with a broken psychopath?


*

That gaze was anything but new to Lorn, in fact he was so used to it he hardly reacted, just a small raise of the eyebrow in reply. She could be as angry as she wanted about this, she wasn't going to touch him, she wouldn't even be able to get close. Anyway, if she hadn't felt the need to stab Aaron so many times then he wouldn't have felt the need to remind her that she wasn't the one in control of this situation. Maybe it was a power thing, maybe he needed to calm down a little bit, but this bitch was way too rowdy for her own good. If she wasn't careful someone would kill her for her attitude eventually, and then there really would be no second chances.

The boy returned his kagune to his back just as that phone started to ring, his attention was taken by it immediately, and he probably would have picked it up himself if Zeb hadn't gotten to it first. However, he listened to the conversation Kez was barely able to have intently. Something about the way she spoke, and how the person answered, was way too familiar to him. He'd heard that tone of voice before, he'd listened to pleas like her's one too many times... Something about it made him slightly uncomfortable, but he didn't show it, what was the point in that?

By the time she was done on the phone she was defeated. There was blood everywhere, everyone was collapsed in piles on the ground, and Lorn just stood there above them all, arms crossed and looking down on them. His expression hardly changed. It wasn't so much of a grin anymore, but it was pretty neutral, there wasn't any anger, but there was no sympathy either. For a young teen he was awfully calm about all of the bloodshed he'd caused, but...then again, why shouldn't he be? It wasn't like it was anything new.

"What in God's name is going on out here?" That voice was too unique for Lorn to not recognise it, he didn't bother turning around, knowing that the man would come to him. And he did, followed by the woman who had been staring him down since he arrived. She knew Zeph somehow, Lorn was aware of it, but he didn't want to think about from where.

The white haired male had knelt down beside the bleeding teenager that he'd just watched his ward stab, moving a hand over the wounded area to check it out. "Are you insane?!" He snapped, turning those piercing red eyes to the boy standing only a meter or so away. That seemed to pull Lorn out of his thoughts, he'd been staring blankly up until he was addressed, but he seemed to relax and roll his eyes as Zephaniah started to yell.

"Crikey Zeph, no need to deafen me." He rubbed his ear, looking down to Kez for a moment, "What? She practically incapacitated Aaron, and you're yelling a me?"

"Yes, I'm yelling at you. Are you not capable of being left in a room alone for two seconds without brutally mauling someone half to death?"

"Now, that's an exaggeration."

"Is it Lorn? Is it really?"

"Y'know. I don't like your tone much."

"And I don't like your attitude." Feeling a hand grasp the dark hair on the top of his head, Lorn turned those calm blue eyes of his to look into those of a woman he'd hardly bothered to remember the name of. She looked unhappy to say the least, but her anger seemed too strong for this situation... Sure, he understood why'd they'd be a little pissed, but...the way she looked at him...it was like she truly despised every part of him.

She didn't even know him.

"Oh. Hey." Grinning sheepishly, Lorn scratched the side of his head, what did he even say to her?

"Be quiet now, the adults are talking." Diana practically threw Lorn backwards, causing him to stumble as she moved forwards to lean down by Aaron, who looked less than well. "Someone get a cloth! And some water! Plus any other medical supplies you can find." She ordered, looking around to the other ghouls that stood doing nothing. After a moment her eyes fell onto Lorn again, but she wasn't able to say anything before he was pushed against a wall by a rather furious looking Zephaniah.

"Oi!" Lorn reacted a little too late, as the next time he looked up a hand was descending towards him and there was a loud slap as his head was thrown in the opposite direction.

"Imbecile!" Zephaniah spat, keeping tight hold of the boy's shirt, "Do you have nothing better to do but terrorise other's? Look at this mess!" His gestured to the blood across the floor, along with the individuals now laying there, "As if this household didn't have enough injured, but you must always add to the body count, hm? Do you have no common sense?"

"Hey," Still with that awfully calm tone, Lorn laughed awkwardly and rubbed his cheek with his hand, "I mean I clearly disabled a threat," He weakly reason, obviously not too bothered about the excuse being viable.

"Oh, don't kid yourself." Zephaniah was seething as he looked into the boy's eyes, "You and I both know she was no threat."

"She could have been."

"Do not play."

"Jesus Christ Zeph." Lorn rolled his eyes, earning himself another slap from the male in front of him.

"I cannot believe your insolence. Look at yourself, you're a disgrace! If J-" Zephaniah stopped himself and the two looked at each other for a moment, before finally he let go, turning his back on Lorn and walking towards Kez on the ground again. "I do not have time for you."

 

[yaint]

Well, there went Daryl. "Real useful, sonny," the woman scoffed when he turned tail. Leave that kid to run free after he'd caught the scent of blood? They had all had their first whiff of danger, but setting that little butcher on the loose was just adding fuel to the fire. He'd kill someone without supervision - or worse. And now his captor had backed out. As if Gloria's hands weren't already full...

"Hey, ow-ow-ow-ow!" said Kermit as Gloria took a sudden swing around, twisting the collar of the youngster's jacket around his throat. He fought against her iron grip with both hands, and considered kicking her until she ground her foot into his shoe. "Okay, you can let go now. I - I don't wanna end up like that bitch over there, see? I swear I ain't gonna say a word, okay, jus' gimme a quick ticket home. Or to the hospital."

"Will you quit struggling already? I'll end up pitying you," the woman said, though her words were mismatched to the icy sharpness of her tone.

"So I get mercy? -Ow!"

Gloria twisted Kermit's hood again just to shut him up long enough for a quick word with Adrian. One arm extended towards the boy but not quite touching, she tried to soften the stone-hard look on her face for him. Her left eyebrow twitched. It didn't really work. "Come," she told the boy, and waggled a single finger in beckoning. "We'll go and find your friend, alright? You can stay with him."

Kermit interrupted, "Friend? Whossat?" He got no response but for a quick jerk sideways, and suddenly Gloria was thrusting a hand up towards Adrian's face, far more aggressive than the restrained beckoning from before.

*

Kez could have been sure that she was going blind. Although, when she thought about it, that was probably just because she had her face pressed into the carpet. Her eyelashes had clumped together, sticky with thick globs of clotting blood. She could just make out flickering lights in the corners of her vision. The ground span beneath her hands and knees and she felt like she was falling sideways, but there was never any floor for her to hit.

And then the hands came. One pair of hands, long-fingered, skinny, with bones that should have dented her skin but somehow brushed over it so lightly that they felt like the legs of a spider. She knew whose hands those were. That was Zebedee. He was holding her in his freakishly long arms, pawing at her ruined clothes and crying out in distress. "You can't fall asleep!" he pleaded, "There are people here, look, they're helping!"

"I'm not sleeping, you idiot," Kez groaned. "Just get outta here. Don't let these guys touch you."

"Uh... But, Kez-"

"I said move! You're not freakin' staying here after I came all this way to get you out, alright!?"

There it was. Zebedee reluctantly stood from the ground, and along came a second pair of hands, but just for a second. She could have predicted another, what with Zebedee's more-than-ample warning, except this time she couldn't guess who it was by touch. The shouting told her something about a man called Zeph... Zeb, Zeph - Jesus, her head hurt too much for this. She couldn't even work out who Lorn was talking to anymore. This was too much. People kept touching her, kept making noise, and there was no way she could run away like this. No, no, this was bad. She had one day. There was no way she could get caught up here. She had to just get out, and get out now. Give them whatever the hell they wanted just to make them leave her alone.

Tick tock.

Her ears had almost stopped ringing by the time Zeph approached again, and this time Kez was ready. Her head snapped up, eyes glassy and unfocused, but she could see the man well enough to know where his legs were. Her hands grabbed at the belt of his trousers; desperate fingers fumbled for a buckle, or a button.

"No time, huh?" the girl panted. "Yeah. Me neither, so let's just hurry this up. You - a-and that fucking kid... I don't know what kind of wild goose chase you're leading yourselves into, but you tell me what the hell is it you want. It's this, isn't it!?" She tugged at the man's garments with aggressive strength. "'Cause I don't have anything else. He - Lorn - he knows it, he heard that conversation. I'll do this, alright? I'll do this for you. You don't even gotta help me with... With this..." Again, she flinched like the wound was new again. God, it hurt. "You don't even gotta do anything, I promise. Just let us go and I'll do it, that's the deal. No more games, no nothing, o-okay? So you can stop. I just want to go home."