A New Generation: A ZoroMiku Story

30: Taken

Miku

Hyaku's hand was pressed against Miku's mouth, his other hand pulling her close to her body as he dragged her farther and farther from her home, farther from where the ceremony was supposed to be as well. Her eyes were wide with terror and she kept trying to squirm away from him but it was no use. He was too strong and she was pretty much only half his weight. She was normally quite a fighter but this was one fight that she felt extremely helpless in. 

She tried telling him to stop but it was pointless, her voice only came out as a mumble due to the boy's hand being pressed against it. She was beginning to grow exhausted from squirming and from the shock and stress of the situation she was in. 

"You brought this on yourself!" Hyaku snapped, jerking her closer to his body. She whimpered, her heart racing. "If you had just accepted me instead of that whiny dumbass Zorome, we'd be together like we were meant to..."

Meant to? Miku was confused. She didn't understand this guy's obsession with her or why he wanted her to be his partner so bad. She had Zorome and she had made that clear to him. It hadn't been because she hated him or anything, she just simply would never be able to leave Zorome in the dust. She had always intended on staying friends with Hyaku regardless. 

"But it's too late," Hyaku went on as he dragged her on his way to the beach. By now they were already reaching the outskirts of the housing settlement. "You thought you could defy fate by being with Zorome. But you do not belong with that idiot. You belong with me, Miku...I know it. You are so much like she was...like 988 was. I feel like fate has destined for you to be with me. But...if you're not going to cooperate, I don't think anyone should get to have you." 

Miku was terribly afraid of Hyaku. Her stomach churned with dread and she was beginning to grow weak, making it increasingly harder for her to fight back. She had trusted Hyaku...viewed him as her friend. She didn't understand why he was doing this, nor did she understand why he wanted her as a partner, not when he'd already had one that he'd been piloting the FranXX with right before they'd been freed from Papa. 

He keeps saying I'm like his first partner, 998... Miku thought, wincing as her knees painfully scraped the rough ground as Hyaku continued to drag her. Am I really that much like his first partner? She wondered.

Hyaku managed to drag her all the way to the beach. He stood at the edge of the sand for a moment then gave Miku another crazy-eyed look. "It doesn't matter if I take my hands off you now. Nobody will be able to hear you scream and cry, Miku. I am sorry that you made the choice not to be with me...we would've had so much fun together...I'm doing this because I know you belong to nobody else..." And with that, he began to drag her across the sand over to the water, which was lapping against the shore. 

Zorome

When he finally reached the house, prepared to angrily demand Miku what was taking her so long, he was startled to see that the door was left wide open. "Huh?"

Zorome stepped into the tiny house. The lights were still on. He looked around but couldn't see any sign of his partner anywhere, aside from the dirty clothes that were lying in the laundry basket beside her bed. "Miku? Hello? Where are you? You there?" He frowned. He seemed to be talking to an empty room. 

"Miku? Are you in the bathroom?" Although the door was open, he wondered if she was in there in a spot that was out of his range of sight. He nervously peeked his head inside the bathroom, preparing himself for his partner to angrily shout at him and accuse him of being a pervert. Nope, she wasn't there either. Their little house was empty.

Did I miss her on my way here? Zorome wondered. Maybe she went back to the Meeting Centre and I just didn't see her. 

But as Zorome turned to leave his small house, he frowned and inspected the ground by the door. It looked like something had been dragged from his house, as an odd trail led away from the entrance. Something or someone. 

What the hell? Zorome was confused. He couldn't see any reason for Miku to have been dragging something heavy and she was also not one for leaving the door open because she liked her privacy. 

Bracing himself, Zorome began to follow the trail. He wasn't sure what was going on but he was guessing that the trail had something to do with Miku. He just hoped she was okay...and, of course, if she was, he'd probably get pretty pissed at her for holding up the meeting with what she was doing. He hoped that was the case, that perhaps something had distracted her, and that they could get back to business as normal for the rest of the night. 

For some reason, however, Zorome couldn't shake off the sense of dread he was feeling. It weighed down on his chest like heavy cinder blocks. He felt like something was horribly wrong...he just hoped he was hallucinating and that his brain was being stupid.