The Serpent Inside (A Karmagisa Fanfiction)

10: Disarray

Nagisa rushed from his childhood apartment, a sickening feeling in his stomach. It wasn't the dead body that made him feel sick, of course not, he'd seen nearly a thousand of those. No, it was the memories of what the skeleton did when it was animated. Nagisa remembered the scorching hot iron she jammed onto his back, how she assorted kitchen knives eternally stained with his blood, the whips that drew lines on his pristine flesh. He remembered the mental torture- the person who was supposed to love him unconditionally, the one person he was supposed to be able to trust above all else had hated him since before he had even been born. All because he wasn't a girl.

Nagisa frantically shook his head from side to side, choosing to focus on a different agony which plagued his mind. His entire family was currently in the hands of someone not to be trusted. They were likely going through a similar torture he had been put through. Whoever had them was trained and knew what they were doing; who else would be able to take out an enraged Akabane Karma? 

Nagisa knew he was going to face someone dangerous. It was nerve-wracking that he only had speculations on who it was. He had himself some enemies- none of which knew his face and name... at least none of his assassination enemies.

That only left one person.

Nagisa grit his teeth but continued on. His family was the most important thing.

It didn't matter how skilled this kidnapper was, Nagisa was the strongest assassin in the world. He held that title with pride during times like this. Nagisa was the Reaper, as Silver-sensei had been and Korosensei before him. Korosensei. What would he do during this time? How would he save Karma? With his speed Korosensei would just speed through the notes, as he likely knew of Karma and Nagisa's past due to his absolute love for gossip and the fact that he could have asked Sugino for answers, as the baseball star had been close with Nagisa during that time as well.

Nagisa took in a deep breath. His mind was all over the place, thinking up so many thoughts all at once, leaving him a mess as he tried to sort out what to focus on and what to discard. Most of the time he found himself frozen in place as he cleaned his mind up. 

Finally, he opened the folded up note which had been stored within his mother. Only a few words were written on the bloodstained paper, but he knew that this letter took much more time to write. The information behind it would have needed so much time to gather, and the wording itself would take most people hours to put together.

"Where you took my love from me."

Nagisa knew what this was about. He knew what he was supposed to think. He was supposed to go to his father's home, where he killed the man.

But Nagisa no longer processed information in the normal way. He knew what the letter was saying. He knew where to go.

He knew what his mother truly loved.

What she loved doing to him.

----

Nagisa walked to the edge of the forest, the E Class building behind him. He took a deep breath and took his first step into the darkness, his vision altering quickly to allow him better visibility in the dark shadows of the forest. He was nervous, going back there, no doubt. The memories of his second kill still remained deeply vivid in his memories. He remembered the exact face she made when Nagisa turned the gun on her. He remembered the anguish in her eyes as the first bullet hit her. The bow she tied to his head had pulled at the roots of his hair whenever he moved to fidget in the chair, and it hurt when Karma ripped it out, but he hadn't cared because Karma had come for him. The gun she had stolen from the guards at the mental facility glinted when she pointed it at him. Her voice was like faux velvet— seemingly rich and sweet—but you could still see how it was made of cheap plastic. Nagisa remembered how the silken dress was stained with his blood, but she was smart and the dress was red and he found the slightest comfort in the color because red meant Karma and Karma meant safety and love.

He remembered how Karma yelped when she shot him.

He remembered the rage that flooded through his being. 

He didn't remember when he moved, since after Karma got hurt it all went red. When he came to, he had already shot the first bullet, and the next five just kept coming until the gun made mere clicking noises to show it was out of ammunition.

The very building was now right in front of him, and the door was open just the slightest.

Part of him didn't want to go in.

Part of him didn't want to see how battered and broken he knew his family would be.

But most of him wanted to save Karma like Karma saved him.

So Nagisa opened the door.