PLACEBO

Ghost, Come to Me

The train station was rife with a bizarre fervour. Naked light beams glowed overhead, casting eerie shadows among the crowd. A train had come to a stop just moments ago, and now a new wave of people flooded the platforms. Holiday-goers, businessman and students alike, they ambled towards the signs which pointed to exits in various directions.

Chrome hurried over to a stairwell. The humid air and smell of sweat disgusted him, as did the clusters of people that smoked idly around corners, sipping Link and amusing themselves with gossip and rumors. He held his breath and brushed past the throng.

At long last, he broke out into the surface of the city. It wasn't much better than the station, but an improvement nonetheless. There seemed to be a lower density of people, and the sunlight actually reached the sidewalk where he stood. 

"Chrome, up there." Keisari pointed towards the top of a building, where a figure lingered. "Slade"

Chrome rose his head in the direction that Keisari had gestured to, giving a brief nod of acknowledgement.

— I'll deal with him later... He won't attack in public, right?

He scowled to himself, dragging Keisari towards the road by the wrist.

"Chrome, wh —"

"You're so noisy," Chrome chided sharply before Keisari could finish his sentence. "Shut up and run."

He pelted across the zebra crossings, ducking into one of the shops. The gate at the front was open, though the interior was dark. It glowed only faintly from an orange orb at the very back of the room.

"Tarot Reading. Seriously, Chrome? 'Errands'?"

"For the sake of sanity itself, shut the hell up!"

"Why would I keep my mouth shut if it's there for talking?"

"Because I'll kill you!"

He took off up the flight of stairs, brushing past the marble statues and paper bundles stacked atop one another. He threw open the door at the very top, and at once he found himself in something that resembled a storage room. Keisari eyed the gloomy place, scanning over the crystal orbs that emitted faint glows. A misty curtain ghosted across the nape of his neck, and he suppressed a yelp of surprise.

— What is with this place? 

He grumbled to himself, pressing against the wall.

"Hey, Chrome," a slurred voice called out, slightly muffled. 

"Earth to Arun, what is it that you want this time? Hideout cleaning service?"

Keisari watched through the doorway, struggling to keep the grimace off his features. The dark haired man didn't shift from his position, slumped over the desk draped in red velvet. Underneath his nose was a stack of papers, and surrounding him was a sea of candy wrappers. 

"No need. Instead, would you be kind enough as to finding this person for me?" Aruna replied, finally lifting his head. From a pocket of his silken robe, he fished out a photograph. "Slade's right-hand man, Chrome. Can you handle?" 

"Why?" Chrome studied the picture for a moment, finding his spine chilled by her stern face. There was no smile, no make up nor anything, but he could tell that she was pretty. And dangerous.

Aruna gave the boy a hard look, tapping the tabletop with a finger. "Don't ask. Might be the key to the murder mystery; 'that good enough for you?"

Chrome nodded, jumping slightly as something crashed into the door. He whipped around, turning to look at Keisari's flailing silhouette.

"Kei?"

"Tripped. I'm leaving."

Keisari turned and fled down the stairs, a sheen of cold sweat beginning to form on his forehead. He unlatched his weapon from the inside of his coat, running into the building where he had seen Slade stand on top of. There had been something odd about the room, Keisari was sure of it. And yet he couldn't quite place a finger on what it was, or if it was just him after all. Maybe Slade was screwing with his mind.

Taking ahold of the handrails of a flight of stairs that would lead to the roof, he ran up three steps at a time, the weapon sticking out beside him.

He felt the heat of someone — something watching him. Reaching the next floor, he ducked behind a pillar, staying there as he studied the scene.

— Someone's presence is close, but... Where?

He looked around again, his back pressed against the pillar. He liked the feeling of cold concrete through his coat.

Then, an aparition near the balcony railings caught his attention. It appeared to be no more than a teenage girl, her filmy appearance so fragile that Keisari half expected it to vanish.

And then it did. 

He leaped back on instinct as he felt the air current change, and suddenly a force swept him off his feet anyway. Rolling onto a crouch, he searched for the aparition, and found it right next to him. 

Just as the image wavered again, he lashed out at it, ducking underneath the assumed path of its movement. He found, however, that his blow failed to make contact with anything. Standing still once again, he surveyed the area. There was no trace of the figure. 

He looked up, finding a girl seated on the ceiling joists.

"Keisari Kyo," she said. "If this was real, I'd have killed you twice."

"Is this your way of admitting to being a global serial killer?" 

She glared at him. "If that was the case, you wouldn't be here talking to me now, stupid. What I wanted to know whose side you're on now."

She leaped off the joist, landing in a crouch on one leg. 

"What is your answer, Kei?" She tilted her head to a side, walking expectantly towards him. "Where do your loyalties lie?"

"Placebo Children don't have loyalties. We're born into obligation, Miyanna. We're bound to each other and the abyss by blood." 

She laughed.

"Trite. Trite, but pretty. Do you know why parents sold their children in to the Placebo Project, Kei? Because all those years ago, it was the only way they knew of to ensure that these children would be raised with three meals a day, and a decent shelter. Yet all the same; who will you choose? Me or the Premier?"

Keisari took a deep breath, and Miyanna continued.

"Slade's done for, Keisari. Along with the current Versailles. He took a strong dosage of Link and has gone completely nuts, that's what you felt back at the Tarot house. He'll most likely abandon Versailles and go straight for the Premier's head itself, Kei. Then the government, and the ID system will collapse. And I," she tilted her head to a side, a smile tugging at her lips, "will then have full control of Versailles."

He studied her for a moment.

"If you come with me, we can free the fate of all the Placebo Children. We have to, Keisari! Even the murders that are happening now across the world, are because of the Placebo Children."

He swallowed, avoiding the grey stare that pressed him. He never expected to hear those words ever, but he knew at the back of his mind that it was true.

"...Deal."