ALiVE (KHR Fanfic)

100. Vindice

100. Vindice

Irie

"Calm down, Sui-chan," Irie urged, "Start slowly. What story?"

Sui wasn't able to calm down. She was holding back tears, nervously she kept biting down on her lips, and her restless hands crumpled the hem of her shirt over and over-- 

"Rei-chan's journal," she started, "Rei-chan's journal... he always looks into it, but he never tells us what's in it. It's written in English, so we can't read it either."

Irie seemed slightly surprised. A journal, written in English.

His future memories-- those have given him enough knowing that Rei somehow just knew the future. Like he was a clairvoyant like the Sky Arcobaleno Yuni. 

But was the journal the real secret of his ability?

"After-- After the whole... Future thing," she muttered, her voice dying out at the topic-- now that she recalled, she had never addressed it properly, "Rei-chan told me I can read it if I could."

What exactly was making Sui panic so much?

"Everything's written in," Sui choked out the words at this point, "Even the parts Rei-chan doesn't see, even the parts you don't see, even the parts not involving Rei-chan..."

Sui was feeling concern? No, Irie realized, she was feeling pure horror at the realization.

"No--" she corrected herself, her eyes wide in disbelief, "Rei-chan is-- Rei-chan isn't... he's not in a single bit of the storyline..." 

Irie froze.

What?

Sui continued talking. "It's like Rei-chan isn't supposed to be in the story! Me too. Sae too. Papa too! We're not a part of the story at all."

It's the whole family, Irie registered, the whole family isn't included. Did Rei do this deliberately, to throw people off his case? But then, why would he allow Sui to see it?

...Was Rei the one that wrote the story in that journal?

And that was the least of the questions that flooded his mind now. 

"Shou-chan," Sui sniffed, "and-- and..."

Irie knew he should be urging Sui to stop now. Sui crying was not a common thing. Never a common thing. He had never seen Sui cry before, but--

But now, Irie was thirsting to hear more about it.

What exactly was the journal? Why exactly was it written?

"On the very first page of the journal..." she wiped her tears, "It said something in French... I didn't know what it meant so I searched it up and--"

Clinging to Irie's shirt, Sui cried. She cried really, really hard. Irie had never seen her cry out this badly-- nor has he seen her cry even once before-- completely at a loss, he could do nothing but pat her on the head gently and hoped she would calm down eventually. 

-

Je suis mort.

"I am dead."

-

-

Drew

Drew ducked behind a tree-- leaning on the trunk, he slipped down slowly, making his presence small, and subtly looking over his shoulder. 

"I don't think they'll chase you this far."

Flinching at the sudden noise before him, Drew shot back. The voice was low. Eerie, deep-- and solemn. And above all-- 

The black, wispy wind, the curly, dark clouds of flame--

There was but one of them-- but the man stood heads taller then Rei himself. Towering above, with an incredulously tall top hat, wrapped in bandages--

"Let me take a wild guess," Drew feigned calmness, a chuckle escaping his lips as she felt a little more despair and hopelessness than interest-- "Jager?"

The Vindice seemed unaffected by the reaction. "Indeed," he could only respond, "I assume you to be Ninomiya Rei?" he questioned.

Drew grinned. "Yes, I'm Ninomiya Rei."

There was a stale, strange silence. It was awkward, but in Drew's case, she really didn't want the silence to be broken.

"Oh--" surprisingly, the awkward got the her first. She broke the silence, even though she wished for it to stay. "Should I stand to address you, or do you not mind?" 

"I do not mind," Jager replied easily, "However, to clarify-- you are not Ninomiya Rei, are you?"

Drew grinned. "Yes, I'm not Ninomiya Rei."

At that sarcastic response, the silence settled again. Was Jager appalled, bewildered, speechless? Well, Drew wasn't lying. She was really proud of it, too.

"So," Jager broke the silence again, this time speaking slower, "You are-"

Drew let out a loud sigh. 

Jager perked up at the rude action.

"Look, I ain't gonna pretend y'all don't know about me." He spoke up fluently, confidently-- "I have used Night Flames before this, at a time where you people happened to be present after. I'm quite sure you oughta be wary about me." 

Drew spoke as if it were a common negotiation. Simple, blunt, and not careful. Did Drew not know fear and hesitation anymore? Those emotions seemed to only exist in Rei... who was alive.

Do the dead no longer hold emotions?

"Who am I?" Drew asked rhetorically, placing a hand at her chest as she smirked, "What am I? How am I here, how can I be here? Why am I here, what I here for? What is my goal, what is my aim? How did I acquire these Flames?"

A gassy chortle-- "Oh, am I a threat to you guys yet?"

It was a taunt, Jager came to realize-- but was he going to take the bait?

"You..." he wasn't agitated-- but regardless, it alarmed him plenty. "We have actually come to seek you in joining us," he spoke easily, "in the Vendicare facility."

"Join you?" Drew responded by rolling his eyes peevishly, "As a prisoner? No thanks."

"We would accept you even as a guard or a guest" Jager was actually making compromises, "We do not wish to imprison you. We simply wish to detain you of utilizing those flames as you please."

"Well, congratulations. I have no idea nor ability as of the moment to light a Dying Will Flame." Drew groaned, "To begin with, why are you guys so willing? So accepting? You don't even know what on earth I am!"

"Even if we do not," Jager finally raised his voice to snap back at me in anger, "we may not understand you, but understand what it takes to acquire those flames." 

That shut Drew up. 

"Oh?" she couldn't smile. She eyes narrowed into a glare, her brows scrunched up in irritation-- Her gaze mellowed into an emotionless, absent stare-- "You're basically offering me sympathy. Because I'm such a pitiable one."

That moment, the black hole that swam behind Jager spread out, the black mist towering over even Jager as five more figures emerged from the darkness.

Drew could only chuckle in despair. 

"Well, you aren't fuckin' expecting me to just go along, are you?"