[Fanfic] The Wicked [Chapter 15]
Title: The Wicked [Chapter 15]
Rating: T
Warnings: AU, slight OOC, and as it's a semi-musical based on a not so very popular broadway musical, it can be confusing.
Summary: The Citizens of Deimon are celebrating the death of a man they deemed Wicked. But is there more to it than what it seems? Could something bigger had happened behind the scenes? Semi-based on the Broadway Musical "Wicked" and is a semi-Musical. HiruMamo and SenaSuzu.
Disclaimers: I do not own the characters and the lyrics used here (despite the modifications). They belong to their respective owners!
Notes: I'm on a roll, I think. I'm already working on the next chapter for this cause OMG, things are going to be insane till the end of this story now.
First off, I apologize to all you Hiruma fans, cause I decided to leave him out of this chapter *hides*. But this way, it will help make the next chapter a lot more Hiruma centric, and this chapter wouldn't be too long. So err... do be patient?
So much love to moodylollipop for actually going through this chapter and giving me some useful constructive criticism. ^^
Anyways, enjoy. Things get kinda insane here.
~*~
Mamori reeled in shock for a moment at the voice that replied from behind the door. “Suzuna?!” she cried as she knelt by the door to hear better, Karin just behind her. “Suzuna, is that really you?!”
“Mamo-nee! Oh, thank goodness I found you!” cried Suzuna, letting out a sigh of relief. “Hold on, I’m going to break you out!”
“Suzuna, what are you doing here? It’s dangerous!” chastised Mamori, remembering what happened when she and Hiruma tried to break Musashi out.
“I know, but I can’t leave you here! Mamo-nee, you’re in so much danger right now!” The scrape of metal against metal told Mamori that Suzuna was trying to break the lock with something sharp.
“Suzuna? Are you trying to break the lock? You shouldn’t do that! It might trigger an alarm!”
“Mamo-nee, I don’t know what to do!” Suzuna cried, clearly in tears. “Listen to me, Mamo-nee! Agon is after you, he’s going to use you to gain more power!”
“Power? But... How? What kind of powers does he have, Suzuna?”
Suzuna carried on trying to break the lock. “I don’t know, but it’s powerful! I haven’t seen it, but he’s the one who transformed the boy into a gorilla, and Monta into a monkey!”
Mamori and Karin gasped. “But that’s impossible!” cried Mamori. “I suspected something, but no boy our age could be that powerful!”
“You don’t know him, Mamo-nee!” Suzuna replied. “He possesses something that’s beyond anyone’s understanding, and I’m sure he can do more than just turn people into animals! Whatever it is, because you ran away Agon will probably hurt you a lot more than he planned now! I’ve got to break you out!”
“Suzuna...” Mamori whispered, smiling a little. But her smile soon faded when she heard men’s voices from the distance and Suzuna gasped.
“Mamo-nee, someone’s coming!”
“Just run, Suzuna! Don’t get yourself caught!” Mamori pressed her ear against the metal door and listened as Suzuna’s quick footsteps faded away while the men’s voices grew louder.
“As long as we don’t rush this, we should be okay...” she heard a familiar male voice say. “Of course, we still need to take all the necessary precautions as anything is possible at this point. We’ve reached an amazing stage in the advancement of magical use. We could be making history!”
“Hold on, doesn’t the lock look badly tampered?” another unfamiliar voice interjected.
Mamori inhaled sharply, trying to calm herself down. She grabbed Karin’s hand and silently urged her to stay behind the door and remain calm. But the voices continued speaking out loud.
“Someone has been trying to break them out. Quick, call security! Look around and be careful, the culprit might still be nearby… In the meantime, open the door, take the girls out.”
The door opened and Mamori was visited by the sight of Munakata. “You...” Mamori whispered, utterly disgusted. “How could you...”
Munakata ignored her and urged two other men who wore lab coats to chain both Mamori’s and Karin’s hands and lead them out the door.
“I found the culprit! It’s... a cheerleader!” cried a man’s voice from down a corridor.
Mamori gasped as she heard Suzuna scream. There was the sound of a struggle as Suzuna cried out, “No! Let go of me! Stop it!”
“Don’t hurt her!” cried Mamori, as she saw Suzuna being dragged forcefully across the floor as another man attempted to grab her tiny waist and lift her to keep her from resisting. “Please, just don’t hurt her!”
Suzuna screamed when the man finally lifted grabbed her by the waist and now tried to hoist her over his shoulder, but she continued struggling making it harder to hold her still. The man raised his fist, obviously meaning to knock her out.
When Mamori saw this, her eyes gleamed menacingly. Munakata noticed her eyes and panicked. “Stop, she’s going to use her powers!”
“I really don’t suggest doing that, ex-girlfriend...” Mamori heard another familiar voice say. She felt the air stand still as she turned to see Agon, looking very unhappy at the sight before him.
“Agon...” said Mamori, but anger filled her once again. “Hurt her and I swear-”
Agon raised his hand, signaling Mamori to be quiet. He turned to the man holding Suzuna. “Don’t injure her but throw her out right now. I don’t want her to be anywhere near here.” And then he looked straight at Suzuna. “Don’t expect me to go easy on you the next time I see you... or your boyfriend.”
“I’m not afraid of you anymore!” cried Suzuna. “I’m tired of you threatening to hurt the people that I care about!”
“And I’m sure you can do something about that eh, tiny little trash?” laughed Agon. He looked at the man. “Get rid of her. Munakata, take the girls to the room now. I’m losing my patience.” With that Agon, walked away.
“Mamo-nee! Mamo-nee!” Suzuna screamed as she tried to struggle free.
“Suzuna!” cried Mamori, but they’d already dragged Suzuna as Mamori and Karin were pushed in another direction. Mamori was shaking by now, but she wasn’t sure if it was out of fear or anger at her current situation.
“Mamori...,” whispered Karin. She wanted to say something comforting, but she knew as well that there was no way to find comfort right now.
They then entered a white room with a few tables and chairs around the sides that looked as if they had been haphazardly pushed out of the way to clear out a wide space in the middle of the room. Within that space, someone had scrawled a circle of writing on the floor. The moment they walked in, the men shoved Mamori towards the middle of the room and made her stand at the center of that circle while they forced Karin onto one of the chairs, far away from Mamori. In a position to examine the words properly, Mamori tried to read at least some of it and realized the writing was completely foreign to her. Agon entered the room now, looking smugger than ever. Karin’s eyes widened, even though Mamori had forewarned her of Agon’s involvement in all this the shock and hurt of it all came rushing in at once at the sight of him. “Agon! You cowardly bastard!” she spat.
Agon barely cast a glance at her. “Just wait your turn, trash.” Instead, he moved purposefully toward Mamori, a merciless smile widening on his features.
“Welcome back, Mamori,” said Agon. “Good to see you’re looking great, as always.”
“Why are you doing this?” asked Mamori, unable to hold back her desperation to find out what was happening. “Why did you do those things to that boy? To Monta? What do you want from me?”
“Ah, slowly now...” Agon smirked, obviously enjoying Mamori’s confusion. He stood just outside the circle, standing right before her. “I do hope you’ve realized by now that your running away has just made things a lot worse than they should be.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to stay around and continue playing girlfriend to you after what you did to Monta,” Mamori near spat at him. “You may have been drunk but I saw the real you that night. I saw what everyone in that school really was and I wanted no part of it anymore.”
“Ah, but look at what’s happened now? That Musashi is now a convicted traitor, his case looks even worst now since you and that demon tried to break him out. And that puny little trash just now? Oh, don’t look at me like that. I won’t hurt her. But I did warn her about what would happen if she didn’t listen to me, and I can’t go against my words, can I? That wouldn’t be right now would it...?”
“What do you want from me?” asked Mamori, her voice quavering ever so slightly. “Why me? Out of everyone you saw in college?”
“When I saw you, I must admit, I thought you were the kind of girl that was intriguing, but also very annoying. I had this desire to break you, and make you mine. But lo and behold, you possess much more than a fiery spirit I wanted to break, you possess... celestial powers.”
“How did you know that?”
He stared at her for a long moment, taking in her anxiety and enjoying it. “Wouldn’t you like to know... I should make you beg but I suppose you’re cowed enough, dearest ex-girlfriend.” Then Agon grinned as he put his right hand into his right pocket, and pulled out a blood red pendant, hanging from a chain. “This.”
Mamori stared at the pendant and for the first time, felt a chill run down her spine. The pendant emitted such a strong and dark aura that Mamori had never felt before. “W-what is that?”
“This lovely little thing is the source of what made me come this far,” explained Agon, eyeing the pendant. “I found this off some trash on the street a few years ago and I knew it had purposefully chosen me to posses it. I understood its powers and possibilities almost instantly, and I knew I had to gain full control of it. So I quit football and decided to experiment with it more... by going to Deimon College.”
Agon paused and eyed Mamori, and Mamori knew he wanted her to continue asking him questions. Disgusted, but unable to hide her curiosity, she asked. “Then... why Deimon?”
With a self-satisfied smile, he continued, “Because I heard very interesting things about Deimon. Deimon, the city as a whole, was an unknown place before, totally unworthy of attention. When suddenly a high school football team from Deimon appeared and was slowly gaining not only in terms of popularity, but number of wins. Of course I’m pretty sure I could crush them if I wanted to. But in the end, I heard they were forced to disband due to the fact that they were gaining magical powers... not just one member, but almost the whole team! Deimon seems to be slowly gaining some form of powers, so I came to investigate it myself by attending the college here. I was right,” Agon laughed. “There must be something in the air here. I feel so much more powerful here, and then this!” He raised the pendant, staring at it almost obsessively. “This kept glowing whenever you were around!’
Mamori blinked in surprise. “Is that how you knew I had celestial powers?”
“Well I still wanted to be sure so I had that puny trash take a sample of your blood to confirm it with Munakata. And still you care for her... how foolish. But the pendant was right...” Agon grinned widely. “You’re exactly what I’m looking for.”
Mamori shook her head, eyeing Agon suspiciously. “I don’t get what you mean...”
Agon’s grin stayed on as he began to circle around Mamori. “I suppose it’s time I tell you the real reason why I’ve been after you all this while? Very well then... This pendant has all the powers a man could ever desire, but it has one fatal flaw.” Agon stopped and suddenly turned to look straight into Mamori’s eyes, the grin now gone from his face only to be replaced with a serious look, a hungry gleam in his eyes. “If I try to over exert this power, it will consume and destroy me.” Agon grinned again. “Now we don’t want that do we? No, what I need... is a shield, a barrier of protection to help control the flow of magic and keep it from consuming me.”
Karin let out a gasp of surprise at this and Mamori herself was shaken by the new knowledge. “A shield?!” she cried. “Against magic? But my powers aren’t that strong!”
“They aren’t now... which is why I had Munakata conduct some experiments that would help release that dormant power within you to make it strong enough for me to reach my one aim.”
“Full control over that pendant?”, Mamori asked, her body gone limp with shock.
“Oh, a lot more than that...” Agon grinned. “But I’m tired of waiting, and your running away has tested my patience long enough. In fact, it’s given me an idea of something I’ve been meaning to try for a while now. Let’s see how strong this pendant is and how powerful you have become... by trying to control you.”
Karin panicked and rose from her seat, but she was quickly pushed down by one of the men. “You’re insane! She’s only been here barely a day! You could kill her!”
“Ah, and that’s where YOU come in,” said Agon, finally acknowledging Karin. “Your powers are definitely weaker in comparison, but surely Munakata would have gained enough data from Mamori’s celestial powers by then to reawaken those dormant powers within you.”
“But you could still injure her!” cried Karin. “Why can’t you just use me first-”
Karin was cut off when Mamori shook her head at Karin. “It’s fine, Karin. My powers are still stronger than yours. Let him do what he wants. It’s me he wants after all...” Gazing defiantly up at him, “And I suppose this is punishment for the way I broke up with you?”
“This is why you fascinate me, Mamori,” said Agon. “You read your situations so well. Your actions, however, still need work. Now...” Agon nodded at Munakata who proceeded to one of the nearby computers. “Let’s see if you’re as strong as you claim to be.”
Agon raised the pendant, and the computers hummed louder in her ears. The pendant glowed fiery red and the circle of words beneath her glowed the same way. Mamori could feel a strange aura around her, threatening to overpower her. For a moment, she forgot where she was, and what was going on. Everything she saw was white, and there was nothing but that dark presence surrounding her. Then her heart felt like it was on fire and she panicked. Whatever this thing was, whatever was surrounding her and trying to claim her, it would control her and hurt her if it succeeded.
The moment she felt as though she was about to lose consciousness, she felt her hands clasp together in prayer and suddenly, she was back to where she was, except everyone was on the ground as though they were knocked unconscious.
Mamori blinked repeatedly to be sure that what she saw was real. Agon, Munakata and almost everyone was on the floor, groaning in pain. Karin, too, was slumped on her seat, but she was regaining consciousness quicker than the others. Noticing that there was no one to stop them now, Mamori quickly ran up to Karin. “Karin, are you okay? Can you get up?”
Karin groaned a little. “What just happened? This red light surrounded you and suddenly-”
“There’s no time to think about that! Now’s the time to run!” cried Mamori. Though their hands were still chained up, Mamori grabbed Karin’s arm, pulled her up and they both ran out of the room.
By then Agon was conscious and he bellowed in anger. “NO! STOP HER!”
Mamori was about to reach the stairs down, but panicked when she heard footsteps rushing up. She knew she had no choice. She held Karin’s hands tightly, and they ran upstairs instead.
No matter how much Suzuna kicked and screamed, the men holding her would not let her go. Even when they were outside the building, she thought they would at least put her down and make sure she was locked out, unable to get in. Instead, they held on to her even as they marched out of the building. “LET ME GO!” Suzuna screamed. “SOMEONE, HELP ME!”
“Keep her down, she’ll attract attention!” said one of the men.
“I ain’t got nothing on me to tape her mouth shut! We’ve just gotta knock her unconscious!”
“We were told not to harm her!”
“Who gives a shit, it’s either we knock her out or we get caught!” He whispered angrily and raised his fist to strike Suzuna. She knew there was no time to scream, so she closed her eyes tight, waiting for the impact…
But she heard the man cry in pain instead, and she felt herself falling to the ground. Before her body hit the ground, something or someone had caught her, and she found herself zooming away. Suzuna opened her eyes and nearly sobbed in relief when she found herself in Sena’s arms.
Sena stopped at some nearby trees, and helped Suzuna to her feet. “Did they hurt you?” he asked her.
Suzuna shook her head. Sena smiled a little, “That’s good. Now stay here, I gotta make sure those guys don’t cause anymore trouble.” Sena bent down and picked up a branch, tested its sturdiness, then zoomed off.
Before anyone could blink, there was only a shout of surprise before each one of the men fell unconscious to the ground. Sena zoomed back to Suzuna, but he stood before her hesitantly, keeping his distance. “I... guess that’s the advantage of being fast at night,” he joked, laughing a little awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head with one hand. “Well, I guess we should go look for Mamori now-”
“I’m sorry!”
Sena looked at Suzuna carefully, and saw that tears were streaming down her face. “Suzuna?”
“I’m sorry that I hurt you! I didn’t want to break up with you but Agon...” Suzuna sobbed as she lost control of her voice. “He said he was going to hurt you and I couldn’t bear to see that happen! And I knew I couldn’t escape no matter what I did, so I stayed on thinking I could at least keep you from getting involved in this and that you’d be safe! But I still had to hurt you and-” Suzuna suddenly felt a pair of arms circle around her, and she was locked in a tight embrace.
“I don’t blame you one bit,” whispered Sena, unable to hide the joy in his voice. “I’m just so glad you’re all right. Though I still would have preferred you telling me the truth.”
“I wanted to!” Suzuna sobbed into Sena’s shoulder. “But I was scared, and everyone around me, the cheerleaders, told me to listen to Agon...”
“Ssh, it’s all right,” said Sena. “Like I said, I don’t blame you. I’ve been watching you since High School, remember? I knew you always had people around you, but you always seemed so lonely and did your best to depend on only yourself. It was just a moment of weakness, Suzuna... you shouldn’t blame yourself. Just... trust me, next time? I have a feeling it might save us a lot of trouble,” he grinned.
Suzuna laughed and cried at the same time. “I love you, Sena.”
Sena held her even tighter. “I love you, too.”
A voice suddenly rang out from the top of the building, “THERE THEY ARE!” Sena and Suzuna broke apart, and ran to have a look at the roof of the building.
They both gasped when they saw Mamori and Karin standing at the edge of the roof. “MAMO-NEE!” Suzuna screamed.
Mamori knew it was a bad idea to have run all the way to the top. But they were chased all the way before she had realized where she was. Karin was gasping next to her, tired and out of breath despite finally being outside and breathing the cold night air. Mamori heard the men coming closer, and calling others, making sure everyone knew where Mamori and Karin were. She hesitated, but she ran close to the edge of the roof, and held up a force field to stop the men from coming any closer.
Yet they still advanced, beating against the force field and slowly pushing her back. There seemed to be no solution to her current situation. She heard Suzuna scream her name from below and her concentration had wavered the second she averted her eyes to look for Suzuna.
Before she even realized what was going on, both she and Karin were pushed off the roof as the men rushed forward, and they were falling. Mamori heard Karin scream. She quickly grabbed Karin’s hands, and once the sensation of falling sank in, everything went black for Mamori.
Chapter 14 | Chapter 16
Rating: T
Warnings: AU, slight OOC, and as it's a semi-musical based on a not so very popular broadway musical, it can be confusing.
Summary: The Citizens of Deimon are celebrating the death of a man they deemed Wicked. But is there more to it than what it seems? Could something bigger had happened behind the scenes? Semi-based on the Broadway Musical "Wicked" and is a semi-Musical. HiruMamo and SenaSuzu.
Disclaimers: I do not own the characters and the lyrics used here (despite the modifications). They belong to their respective owners!
Notes: I'm on a roll, I think. I'm already working on the next chapter for this cause OMG, things are going to be insane till the end of this story now.
First off, I apologize to all you Hiruma fans, cause I decided to leave him out of this chapter *hides*. But this way, it will help make the next chapter a lot more Hiruma centric, and this chapter wouldn't be too long. So err... do be patient?
So much love to moodylollipop for actually going through this chapter and giving me some useful constructive criticism. ^^
Anyways, enjoy. Things get kinda insane here.
~*~
Mamori reeled in shock for a moment at the voice that replied from behind the door. “Suzuna?!” she cried as she knelt by the door to hear better, Karin just behind her. “Suzuna, is that really you?!”
“Mamo-nee! Oh, thank goodness I found you!” cried Suzuna, letting out a sigh of relief. “Hold on, I’m going to break you out!”
“Suzuna, what are you doing here? It’s dangerous!” chastised Mamori, remembering what happened when she and Hiruma tried to break Musashi out.
“I know, but I can’t leave you here! Mamo-nee, you’re in so much danger right now!” The scrape of metal against metal told Mamori that Suzuna was trying to break the lock with something sharp.
“Suzuna? Are you trying to break the lock? You shouldn’t do that! It might trigger an alarm!”
“Mamo-nee, I don’t know what to do!” Suzuna cried, clearly in tears. “Listen to me, Mamo-nee! Agon is after you, he’s going to use you to gain more power!”
“Power? But... How? What kind of powers does he have, Suzuna?”
Suzuna carried on trying to break the lock. “I don’t know, but it’s powerful! I haven’t seen it, but he’s the one who transformed the boy into a gorilla, and Monta into a monkey!”
Mamori and Karin gasped. “But that’s impossible!” cried Mamori. “I suspected something, but no boy our age could be that powerful!”
“You don’t know him, Mamo-nee!” Suzuna replied. “He possesses something that’s beyond anyone’s understanding, and I’m sure he can do more than just turn people into animals! Whatever it is, because you ran away Agon will probably hurt you a lot more than he planned now! I’ve got to break you out!”
“Suzuna...” Mamori whispered, smiling a little. But her smile soon faded when she heard men’s voices from the distance and Suzuna gasped.
“Mamo-nee, someone’s coming!”
“Just run, Suzuna! Don’t get yourself caught!” Mamori pressed her ear against the metal door and listened as Suzuna’s quick footsteps faded away while the men’s voices grew louder.
“As long as we don’t rush this, we should be okay...” she heard a familiar male voice say. “Of course, we still need to take all the necessary precautions as anything is possible at this point. We’ve reached an amazing stage in the advancement of magical use. We could be making history!”
“Hold on, doesn’t the lock look badly tampered?” another unfamiliar voice interjected.
Mamori inhaled sharply, trying to calm herself down. She grabbed Karin’s hand and silently urged her to stay behind the door and remain calm. But the voices continued speaking out loud.
“Someone has been trying to break them out. Quick, call security! Look around and be careful, the culprit might still be nearby… In the meantime, open the door, take the girls out.”
The door opened and Mamori was visited by the sight of Munakata. “You...” Mamori whispered, utterly disgusted. “How could you...”
Munakata ignored her and urged two other men who wore lab coats to chain both Mamori’s and Karin’s hands and lead them out the door.
“I found the culprit! It’s... a cheerleader!” cried a man’s voice from down a corridor.
Mamori gasped as she heard Suzuna scream. There was the sound of a struggle as Suzuna cried out, “No! Let go of me! Stop it!”
“Don’t hurt her!” cried Mamori, as she saw Suzuna being dragged forcefully across the floor as another man attempted to grab her tiny waist and lift her to keep her from resisting. “Please, just don’t hurt her!”
Suzuna screamed when the man finally lifted grabbed her by the waist and now tried to hoist her over his shoulder, but she continued struggling making it harder to hold her still. The man raised his fist, obviously meaning to knock her out.
When Mamori saw this, her eyes gleamed menacingly. Munakata noticed her eyes and panicked. “Stop, she’s going to use her powers!”
“I really don’t suggest doing that, ex-girlfriend...” Mamori heard another familiar voice say. She felt the air stand still as she turned to see Agon, looking very unhappy at the sight before him.
“Agon...” said Mamori, but anger filled her once again. “Hurt her and I swear-”
Agon raised his hand, signaling Mamori to be quiet. He turned to the man holding Suzuna. “Don’t injure her but throw her out right now. I don’t want her to be anywhere near here.” And then he looked straight at Suzuna. “Don’t expect me to go easy on you the next time I see you... or your boyfriend.”
“I’m not afraid of you anymore!” cried Suzuna. “I’m tired of you threatening to hurt the people that I care about!”
“And I’m sure you can do something about that eh, tiny little trash?” laughed Agon. He looked at the man. “Get rid of her. Munakata, take the girls to the room now. I’m losing my patience.” With that Agon, walked away.
“Mamo-nee! Mamo-nee!” Suzuna screamed as she tried to struggle free.
“Suzuna!” cried Mamori, but they’d already dragged Suzuna as Mamori and Karin were pushed in another direction. Mamori was shaking by now, but she wasn’t sure if it was out of fear or anger at her current situation.
“Mamori...,” whispered Karin. She wanted to say something comforting, but she knew as well that there was no way to find comfort right now.
They then entered a white room with a few tables and chairs around the sides that looked as if they had been haphazardly pushed out of the way to clear out a wide space in the middle of the room. Within that space, someone had scrawled a circle of writing on the floor. The moment they walked in, the men shoved Mamori towards the middle of the room and made her stand at the center of that circle while they forced Karin onto one of the chairs, far away from Mamori. In a position to examine the words properly, Mamori tried to read at least some of it and realized the writing was completely foreign to her. Agon entered the room now, looking smugger than ever. Karin’s eyes widened, even though Mamori had forewarned her of Agon’s involvement in all this the shock and hurt of it all came rushing in at once at the sight of him. “Agon! You cowardly bastard!” she spat.
Agon barely cast a glance at her. “Just wait your turn, trash.” Instead, he moved purposefully toward Mamori, a merciless smile widening on his features.
“Welcome back, Mamori,” said Agon. “Good to see you’re looking great, as always.”
“Why are you doing this?” asked Mamori, unable to hold back her desperation to find out what was happening. “Why did you do those things to that boy? To Monta? What do you want from me?”
“Ah, slowly now...” Agon smirked, obviously enjoying Mamori’s confusion. He stood just outside the circle, standing right before her. “I do hope you’ve realized by now that your running away has just made things a lot worse than they should be.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to stay around and continue playing girlfriend to you after what you did to Monta,” Mamori near spat at him. “You may have been drunk but I saw the real you that night. I saw what everyone in that school really was and I wanted no part of it anymore.”
“Ah, but look at what’s happened now? That Musashi is now a convicted traitor, his case looks even worst now since you and that demon tried to break him out. And that puny little trash just now? Oh, don’t look at me like that. I won’t hurt her. But I did warn her about what would happen if she didn’t listen to me, and I can’t go against my words, can I? That wouldn’t be right now would it...?”
“What do you want from me?” asked Mamori, her voice quavering ever so slightly. “Why me? Out of everyone you saw in college?”
“When I saw you, I must admit, I thought you were the kind of girl that was intriguing, but also very annoying. I had this desire to break you, and make you mine. But lo and behold, you possess much more than a fiery spirit I wanted to break, you possess... celestial powers.”
“How did you know that?”
He stared at her for a long moment, taking in her anxiety and enjoying it. “Wouldn’t you like to know... I should make you beg but I suppose you’re cowed enough, dearest ex-girlfriend.” Then Agon grinned as he put his right hand into his right pocket, and pulled out a blood red pendant, hanging from a chain. “This.”
Mamori stared at the pendant and for the first time, felt a chill run down her spine. The pendant emitted such a strong and dark aura that Mamori had never felt before. “W-what is that?”
“This lovely little thing is the source of what made me come this far,” explained Agon, eyeing the pendant. “I found this off some trash on the street a few years ago and I knew it had purposefully chosen me to posses it. I understood its powers and possibilities almost instantly, and I knew I had to gain full control of it. So I quit football and decided to experiment with it more... by going to Deimon College.”
Agon paused and eyed Mamori, and Mamori knew he wanted her to continue asking him questions. Disgusted, but unable to hide her curiosity, she asked. “Then... why Deimon?”
With a self-satisfied smile, he continued, “Because I heard very interesting things about Deimon. Deimon, the city as a whole, was an unknown place before, totally unworthy of attention. When suddenly a high school football team from Deimon appeared and was slowly gaining not only in terms of popularity, but number of wins. Of course I’m pretty sure I could crush them if I wanted to. But in the end, I heard they were forced to disband due to the fact that they were gaining magical powers... not just one member, but almost the whole team! Deimon seems to be slowly gaining some form of powers, so I came to investigate it myself by attending the college here. I was right,” Agon laughed. “There must be something in the air here. I feel so much more powerful here, and then this!” He raised the pendant, staring at it almost obsessively. “This kept glowing whenever you were around!’
Mamori blinked in surprise. “Is that how you knew I had celestial powers?”
“Well I still wanted to be sure so I had that puny trash take a sample of your blood to confirm it with Munakata. And still you care for her... how foolish. But the pendant was right...” Agon grinned widely. “You’re exactly what I’m looking for.”
Mamori shook her head, eyeing Agon suspiciously. “I don’t get what you mean...”
Agon’s grin stayed on as he began to circle around Mamori. “I suppose it’s time I tell you the real reason why I’ve been after you all this while? Very well then... This pendant has all the powers a man could ever desire, but it has one fatal flaw.” Agon stopped and suddenly turned to look straight into Mamori’s eyes, the grin now gone from his face only to be replaced with a serious look, a hungry gleam in his eyes. “If I try to over exert this power, it will consume and destroy me.” Agon grinned again. “Now we don’t want that do we? No, what I need... is a shield, a barrier of protection to help control the flow of magic and keep it from consuming me.”
Karin let out a gasp of surprise at this and Mamori herself was shaken by the new knowledge. “A shield?!” she cried. “Against magic? But my powers aren’t that strong!”
“They aren’t now... which is why I had Munakata conduct some experiments that would help release that dormant power within you to make it strong enough for me to reach my one aim.”
“Full control over that pendant?”, Mamori asked, her body gone limp with shock.
“Oh, a lot more than that...” Agon grinned. “But I’m tired of waiting, and your running away has tested my patience long enough. In fact, it’s given me an idea of something I’ve been meaning to try for a while now. Let’s see how strong this pendant is and how powerful you have become... by trying to control you.”
Karin panicked and rose from her seat, but she was quickly pushed down by one of the men. “You’re insane! She’s only been here barely a day! You could kill her!”
“Ah, and that’s where YOU come in,” said Agon, finally acknowledging Karin. “Your powers are definitely weaker in comparison, but surely Munakata would have gained enough data from Mamori’s celestial powers by then to reawaken those dormant powers within you.”
“But you could still injure her!” cried Karin. “Why can’t you just use me first-”
Karin was cut off when Mamori shook her head at Karin. “It’s fine, Karin. My powers are still stronger than yours. Let him do what he wants. It’s me he wants after all...” Gazing defiantly up at him, “And I suppose this is punishment for the way I broke up with you?”
“This is why you fascinate me, Mamori,” said Agon. “You read your situations so well. Your actions, however, still need work. Now...” Agon nodded at Munakata who proceeded to one of the nearby computers. “Let’s see if you’re as strong as you claim to be.”
Agon raised the pendant, and the computers hummed louder in her ears. The pendant glowed fiery red and the circle of words beneath her glowed the same way. Mamori could feel a strange aura around her, threatening to overpower her. For a moment, she forgot where she was, and what was going on. Everything she saw was white, and there was nothing but that dark presence surrounding her. Then her heart felt like it was on fire and she panicked. Whatever this thing was, whatever was surrounding her and trying to claim her, it would control her and hurt her if it succeeded.
The moment she felt as though she was about to lose consciousness, she felt her hands clasp together in prayer and suddenly, she was back to where she was, except everyone was on the ground as though they were knocked unconscious.
Mamori blinked repeatedly to be sure that what she saw was real. Agon, Munakata and almost everyone was on the floor, groaning in pain. Karin, too, was slumped on her seat, but she was regaining consciousness quicker than the others. Noticing that there was no one to stop them now, Mamori quickly ran up to Karin. “Karin, are you okay? Can you get up?”
Karin groaned a little. “What just happened? This red light surrounded you and suddenly-”
“There’s no time to think about that! Now’s the time to run!” cried Mamori. Though their hands were still chained up, Mamori grabbed Karin’s arm, pulled her up and they both ran out of the room.
By then Agon was conscious and he bellowed in anger. “NO! STOP HER!”
Mamori was about to reach the stairs down, but panicked when she heard footsteps rushing up. She knew she had no choice. She held Karin’s hands tightly, and they ran upstairs instead.
No matter how much Suzuna kicked and screamed, the men holding her would not let her go. Even when they were outside the building, she thought they would at least put her down and make sure she was locked out, unable to get in. Instead, they held on to her even as they marched out of the building. “LET ME GO!” Suzuna screamed. “SOMEONE, HELP ME!”
“Keep her down, she’ll attract attention!” said one of the men.
“I ain’t got nothing on me to tape her mouth shut! We’ve just gotta knock her unconscious!”
“We were told not to harm her!”
“Who gives a shit, it’s either we knock her out or we get caught!” He whispered angrily and raised his fist to strike Suzuna. She knew there was no time to scream, so she closed her eyes tight, waiting for the impact…
But she heard the man cry in pain instead, and she felt herself falling to the ground. Before her body hit the ground, something or someone had caught her, and she found herself zooming away. Suzuna opened her eyes and nearly sobbed in relief when she found herself in Sena’s arms.
Sena stopped at some nearby trees, and helped Suzuna to her feet. “Did they hurt you?” he asked her.
Suzuna shook her head. Sena smiled a little, “That’s good. Now stay here, I gotta make sure those guys don’t cause anymore trouble.” Sena bent down and picked up a branch, tested its sturdiness, then zoomed off.
Before anyone could blink, there was only a shout of surprise before each one of the men fell unconscious to the ground. Sena zoomed back to Suzuna, but he stood before her hesitantly, keeping his distance. “I... guess that’s the advantage of being fast at night,” he joked, laughing a little awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head with one hand. “Well, I guess we should go look for Mamori now-”
“I’m sorry!”
Sena looked at Suzuna carefully, and saw that tears were streaming down her face. “Suzuna?”
“I’m sorry that I hurt you! I didn’t want to break up with you but Agon...” Suzuna sobbed as she lost control of her voice. “He said he was going to hurt you and I couldn’t bear to see that happen! And I knew I couldn’t escape no matter what I did, so I stayed on thinking I could at least keep you from getting involved in this and that you’d be safe! But I still had to hurt you and-” Suzuna suddenly felt a pair of arms circle around her, and she was locked in a tight embrace.
“I don’t blame you one bit,” whispered Sena, unable to hide the joy in his voice. “I’m just so glad you’re all right. Though I still would have preferred you telling me the truth.”
“I wanted to!” Suzuna sobbed into Sena’s shoulder. “But I was scared, and everyone around me, the cheerleaders, told me to listen to Agon...”
“Ssh, it’s all right,” said Sena. “Like I said, I don’t blame you. I’ve been watching you since High School, remember? I knew you always had people around you, but you always seemed so lonely and did your best to depend on only yourself. It was just a moment of weakness, Suzuna... you shouldn’t blame yourself. Just... trust me, next time? I have a feeling it might save us a lot of trouble,” he grinned.
Suzuna laughed and cried at the same time. “I love you, Sena.”
Sena held her even tighter. “I love you, too.”
A voice suddenly rang out from the top of the building, “THERE THEY ARE!” Sena and Suzuna broke apart, and ran to have a look at the roof of the building.
They both gasped when they saw Mamori and Karin standing at the edge of the roof. “MAMO-NEE!” Suzuna screamed.
Mamori knew it was a bad idea to have run all the way to the top. But they were chased all the way before she had realized where she was. Karin was gasping next to her, tired and out of breath despite finally being outside and breathing the cold night air. Mamori heard the men coming closer, and calling others, making sure everyone knew where Mamori and Karin were. She hesitated, but she ran close to the edge of the roof, and held up a force field to stop the men from coming any closer.
Yet they still advanced, beating against the force field and slowly pushing her back. There seemed to be no solution to her current situation. She heard Suzuna scream her name from below and her concentration had wavered the second she averted her eyes to look for Suzuna.
Before she even realized what was going on, both she and Karin were pushed off the roof as the men rushed forward, and they were falling. Mamori heard Karin scream. She quickly grabbed Karin’s hands, and once the sensation of falling sank in, everything went black for Mamori.
Chapter 14 | Chapter 16