Bloody turquoise eyes | JJK x OC

Canto XXV - Lost Lamb

A clap of hands preceded the disaster. The impact turned the air into fire and leveled buildings to the ground, the blast of the explosion so clangorous that haunted the survivors long after its detonation with a severe tinnitus ringing in their ears, and the glow illuminated the night sky of the concealed district into daytime, even if it was for just a second. Then the ashes rose and expanded, and soon enough the streets were flooded by a grayish cloud that reduced the visibility down to a palm distance. The clutter of wings ventured blindly amid the artificial mist, eyes darting desperately for incoming obstacles while, clutched between the arms, a small child held on against gravity. Gabriele didn't know what had happened prior to the impact, he remembered fingers wrapping around his midriff and being tossed into the air, then the blastwave pushed him further ahead, destabilizing the flow of essence in the wings just before the pall of ashes obscured his sight.

He couldn't help but curse mentally as he checked on Hoshi, her grip almost tearing the shirt as her hair repeatedly whipped around with the current. The kid didn't dare to face away from his chest, to imagine how scared she must be to soar the skies, to be one drop away from death.

He proceeded to gain altitude, careful to maneuver between the narrow spaces amid the complexes’ failing structures, up above until they were finally above the cloud or any remaining building in the area. The defecting exorcist took advantage of the moment to orient himself, from there he could see the bright insignia of the 109 was far to the west, the Hikarie was closer up north while what remained of the Shibuya Stream was in the opposite direction, and right below his feet was the expressway. By following route 3, they should arrive at the tollgate where Dr.Shoko is stationed in no time. He checked again on the child, finding her dark teary eyes halfway, staring up at him not in fear, but in wonder. Her gaze shifted from her fingers to the ground and back at him, Gabriele assumed she wanted to talk to him and started to look for somewhere to land safely.

In a short moment, he noticed an empty roof, gradually the winged exorcist descended onto it until his feet touched solid ground. Hoshi hopped off his arms, relief appeared naturally on her expression. Gabriele kneeled and tapped twice on her shoulder to get her attention: “Is it something in the matter?” he said in a quick succession of signs. She didn't reply, instead, she stuck her fingers toward his wings. Promptly he caught her just as she almost brushed against the fiery feathers.

He let go of her hand, “You should be more careful of what you put your hands on.” the exorcist reprimanded as gently as he could.

Hoshi looked at him with an inquisitive gaze, before her fingers started forming her perplexity into a word that left Gabriele confused in turn. Tenshi, the equivalent of an angel in Japanese Buddhism.

“No, no. I'm not that.” He told her, promising explanations in calmer moments as he, again, rebutted the urgency of leaving the place at once. “Come. We’re almost there.” the young man opened his arms wide, soon welcoming the warmth of the child close to him as she belted herself around his neck. A strong flap of his wings and they were in mid-air, this time Hoshi seemed less frightened of traversing the winds. Gabriele was vigilant as he flew over the route following the trail of discarded cars, however, the flying paladin found it odd that he couldn't see the black borders of the curtain anywhere near where he thought they would. For that reason, he decided to glide lower and lower, but the more they drew closer to the curtain’s end, the more his apprehension got intense. Something was wrong, the ominous thought kept telling him over and over.

There was a pillar of smoke not too far ahead, the young man caught sight of a long line of cars occupying both lanes that led up to a crash right to its front. Landing a few meters away, the two walked in the middle of the road looking through the clear windows of each car, devoid of any passengers as if everyone had just got up and left them there. As he got closer to the line’s head, the vehicles were crushed into one another, the signs of the skidding wheels marking the tar beneath, a last attempt to save before the abrupt halt.