Requiem

Turning Point

Where am I?

It hurt too much to be heaven, and it was too cold to be hell. Maybe I wasn't dead after all. Maybe one of these minutes, I'd wish that I was. I glanced around — I was still in the train station, though drugged out and put in a cage somewhere. The substances that clouded thoughts mind didn't help me register my surroundings at all, but it looked like a warehouse beneath the station. There was little light, no fancy tiling on the walls, or anything of consideration at all. I turned around, despite the sharp pain that stabbed at my spine and skull. And then I caught a glimpse of K sitting behind me.

“Fuck, I went to hell after all.”

She laughed in response, glazed eyes void of emotion, really. Maybe it would have been better if she was the one to imprison me here. But no, that wasn't the case. Instead, she was here, her hands tied to the metal bars with her looking pretty helpless on the whole.

“You again huh...”

“That's my line.” I rolled my eyes, wishing that I found it in me to properly interrogate her. I had better things to worry about though, such as whether I was going to get out of here and maybe even why I was here in the first place. K studied me as I studied her, a silvery flame starting at her left eye and spreading cross her body. I gaped, wondering if it was hallucinations from whatever they'd shot me up with.

“Why don't you go ahead and ask?”

Her voice was harder than usual. Cold as ice, and as smooth as its surface for that matter. It made my spine tingle in the weirdest ways, almost as if she were taunting me with the misty flames.

“Why don't you go ahead and explain?”

She sighed, and I allowed a moment of triumph to swell in my chest. There was honestly nothing better to do in this dank, dark basement. I searched for my phone in my pockets, but found that it had been taken from me. Not that any signal would even reach these depths, anyway.

“I was the Yotsugi.” She paused, letting it hang in the air.

— Was?

It wasn't as if I hadn't figured that out something along those lines already, but hearing K say that herself was a like of bucket of ice water to the head. Refreshing, but also shocking. An apparition then formed before me, separating itself from K's figure. It was like a duplicate of herself, except that it was lighter in color and had a stronger silvery tint to it. I shrank back in the cell, struggling to convince myself that it was no more than an effect of some drug.

“Ah, finally.”

The door creaked open, and in its shadows stood a figure cloaked in black. A strong aura surrounded him, and it spread across the basement.

Tap. Tap.

The sound of heels against the concrete floor rang in my ears. It was as if the advancing figure was enjoying every echo of it. K stiffened behind me, and the apparition mimicked her actions.

“Anneke, is it?” The figure spoke, his voice gentle and slightly husky with that. “I guess it's time... To send the dead back to the dead. And then, as for you...” He turned to me, a crimson eye burning right through me.

“... Anneke?” I questioned tentatively, studying K out of my peripheral vision. "Send the dead... back?"

A sharp pain shot up my chest and throat, and with a hiss I fell to the ground. I coughed. The smothering that consumed me refused to go away. Gagging, dark red spots began to appear in front of me, spraying the dull concrete with droplets. I wiped the foul tasting substance from my mouth, only to find that there was more. Raising my head was near impossible, but I did it anyway. I tried to calm my breathing, staring at the cloaked figure with wide eyes. What the hell was happening?

The figure mirrored my stare, smugly too if his dark hood would allow it. A pale indigo cloud outlined him, gathering at his feet. I gasped, but what went down my throat was not air but instead a liquid thicker than water. Was it blood? I spat it out, ignoring the apparition that shifted beside me.

“You fused your soul with the Yotsugi, didn't you?” The man was speaking to K, his voice filling my fluctuating consciousness. The air; I struggled to find it. No matter how much I tried, it was always replaced by the thick putridness. Whatever information that was revealed to me didn't help right now. It didn't stop me from drowning in the illusion or reality that swarmed around me. Any other time, I might have relished the words that graced my ears, but not now.

“... You made it seem like you took your own life, whilst you knew that you would be saved. You knew that the one called Kirihana would grant you godly powers...”

I closed my eyes. At least, now I knew. Somewhat. The sounds and tightness in my chest still echoed in the darkness, but at least nothing worse was brought about by struggling.

“You thought that you could just deal with your problems like that, but the Yotsugi is neither your hero, nor is it immortal.” There was anger in the figure's voice. A small, brighter flame sparked at his hands and ran down the metal bars, spilling onto the ground like molten lava. I steeled myself to stop from crying out loud. “Truth is, whenever a Yotsugi uses its powers, something needs to be sacrificed. Whether it is the life of others or the Yotsugi's sanity itself... Anneke's Murders was a selfish delusion, really.”

I clenched my eyes shut, but even then the bright violet did not relent. At the back of my mind, a thought too persisted: What did the Yotsugi do that required such sacrifice?

The electric heat burned every inch of my skin, and it spread to every nerve. The hooded figure spoke again, humming in my aching head like my consciousness itself.

“For a long, long time, the Verhon acted as the Yotsugi Family's private death squad...”

The apparition scoffed. I figured that she must have been the one referred to as Kirihana, whilst the mere girl beside me was Anneke. Her body never really disappeared after all.

“... Ending those who needed to be ended, just like a bunch of obedient dogs.” A chuckle. “But now, the roles are reversed. You've lost to your own game, Kirihana.”

The stinging reached my core, hitting harder than what I thought was possible. Then the light died out, leaving me in the dark absence of consciousness. But on the verge of surrendering to whatever wrath awaited, the door was thrown open.

There were voices.

Then, everything flashed past my eyes.

Too quickly.

~

A/N: Thanks for reading all the way up to here! I'm sorry it was short, I'll probably add another arc to this when my brain rewires itself to function normally again. *if I haven't come up with another story that snatches my attention by then*

Anyhow, I know the ending's weird but hey at least I actually finished something... sort of. Might rewrite, but for now it sits xD

Holes and unanswered questions will be answered in the -next- arc. I know there are millions of 'em, but oh well .-. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! (＃⌒∇⌒＃)ゞ