[Zero can't be positive that what he hears is authentic. It might even color him surprised by this point, if it is.
Yet, is he really the coherent one to judge? Even being within the building offers little reprieve to the fog that by now has his mind suffocating, wrapped in a murky distortion. His head throbs relentlessly along with the dry, white-hot heat at his throat. He can even feel the fine veins within his hands and fingers pulsing, pressing to the underside of claw-like nails.]
Where? Where...
[It's only a murmur, maybe even to himself. He stops every now and then amidst a slow gate and looks, searching for the sounds and the source of that voice, because of course he's familiar with it. Just like all the others, only this- this one and how real it had been, rather than the whispers that only echoed within his head. Even the feed and its images were more real than what he pulled the trigger on, earlier
( ... )
[It starts at the base of his skull. Uneasiness. He turns, only just -]
Ze -
[And then Kaito can't breathe through the pain. His body absorbs the impact, but it's his shoulder and arm that take the damage. He still feels slightly disoriented when Zero yanks his head back. He can hear the low voice beside him, words drifting over his ear like nonsense dying too slowly.
For the briefest moment, he almost laughs. It's only fitting that the wild card would find him first. How often he must lay plans to waste while dancing right into the tune of them. How closely are fate and bad luck connected? Kaito has more than enough of both to share, it seems.
He doesn't laugh, however. He can feel the bloodlust of the creature behind him crawling over his skin. Disgusting. His eyes are tinged with pain, but his voice stays true.]
I didn't think the Task Force would be good for anything... I don't even have it in me to pretend to be disappointed.
[How unsatisfying. Putting a nice amount of effort into pinning Kaito to the concrete, only to hear the most subtle crack! from within. Was it a rib or two? Or his arm? It would make sense, of course, although that would mean he was paying attention to the trivial matters. It's more exhilarating to sense, even for one tiny fraction of a moment, the way the heart stalls amidst a skipping beat, as if stumbling headlong to into a brick wall
( ... )
[He barely registers having the barrel of a gun pressed into his back, not when that deceitful tongue touches his skin - all his instincts rise and scream, but his body betrays him by freezing every muscle, leaving himself vulnerable down to the bone. No, no, he was no longer a child -
Fangs penetrate his skin. Pain. Fear, but they are so easily conquered. It's the fact that it's Zero who has bitten him that fills him with disbelief. He still sees the little boy, not this thing with its crimson eyes. He shouldn't be so surprised. All vampires were one and the same.]
One and the same. How could I be so blind?
[It's not vulnerability that coats his voice, it's the barely quaking rage that has always been hidden inside him - it swells and gushes out. Like the blood from his wrist, sucked out by this creature's mouth to sit warm and trapped in its stomach. What of the boy who died to give it its place
( ... )
[She only increased her speed in looking for Kaito when that second transmission popped to life momentarily. Was that really Zero or was it her mind playing tricks on her? (Please be okay, both of you!)]
Takamiya-san? [She'd been looking all over the place until finally arriving here, calling out desperately in hopes he would answer. There was low level fog even in the building but at least her voice echoed fairly well, sound being the one thing the fog couldn't suppress.] Takamiya-san!
[It's then that she smells it, she thinks, the absolute faintest trace of blood. Her heart starts to pound faster, grip tightening on Artemis as she continues forward to find the hunter. (she won't succumb to that smell, she promises herself-whether it's real or fabricated by the atmosphere. No matter how little or how much, she wouldn't-couldn't let herself be influenced
( ... )
[One and the same. It's no surprise, however. Even Zero himself has stated similar claims, after all, hasn't he? How the nature of all vampires is ultimately like that of a level E
( ... )
[She steps into the room and is a fraction of a second too late.
It's not that she can't react to Zero's attack, she's not so helpless. It's more like she can't prevent herself from the shock that's from seeing Zero in this state of mind. No, no, no, please no, this wasn't happening, this wasn't real. Was she going to have to really fight with him?
She can't even scream due to shock when Zero hits her, smacking back into the wall closest behind her. Despite Zero's speed, for her it's like watching everything in slow motion as it unfolds, her expression littered with more and more disbelief.
(Why is she surprised? This place, the lack of tablets, of course this is what she should expect.
She just can't accept it.)
Yuuki is horrified (--no please don't make me--), but not about to be an easy catch for a hungry vampire. That's why she moves, at a speed to rival his own and get off of the wall before Zero can pin her there. It takes her no time to have Artemis activated, the large scythe coming into full length and form. She
( ... )
Hunter, vampire. The boundaries between the two blur - I told you, did I not? I told you what they are. - leaving only a single enemy, the only enemy. Everyone.
Kaito nearly falls to his knees and grabs his arm, gasping as the bones start snapping back together. The clicks are audible, even over his strained breaths and again that sick, bitter laughter rises up from his throat, but it never makes it past his lips. Fury rises like a cancer in his throat, threatening to choke him.
No one could be trusted. No one. Except the one who entrusted him with a dark, vengeful promise.
He leans against the wall when he calmly points his revolver at Zero's back. His bones have not fully healed yet, but it no longer matters. Pain centres him, keeps him from teetering. The wound on his wrist is gone, only the blood remains.
The slight smile on his face is barely there but it's malicious.]
Don't turn your back on me.
[He doesn't even flinch when he fires several shots. No
( ... )
[He hears Yuuki's voice and her desperate plea, but it only adds fuel to the fire. The fear and worry and energy she exudes like a drug, and he takes pleasure in the way she can match him in speed. A slow target results in a premature ending, hardly satisfying at all. Even the sight of Artemis as it explodes to its true self is enough to thrill.]
What's that, now?
[A pointed sneer, another chuckle low in his throat. She believes her words will work so easily, does she?
It takes little effort to hone in on her again. He cuts across her through another deep-set ripple of hunger-driven pain, once more swift on his feet to suddenly appear behind Yuuki, pressed tight to the wall as he corners her for a second time. One arm locks around her, clamping both of hers down against her body in an iron grip, energy crackling when his hand firmly grasps Artemis and holds it flush against her.
Much like he had Kaito, Zero's other hand is a vice about Bloody Rose as he digs it into Yuuki's lower back. Only, with her, he dips in closer.
It's bad enough Zero is fast, but this fog makes him almost impossible to pinpoint once he starts moving. That's why, she tells herself, she isn't able to get away a second time. Surely, that had to be it, not emotions of desperation and denial causing her to be unable to actually use Artemis and her own skills as intended. Even as she's hit against the wall again, cornered, she can't help but wonder if she even has the willpower at this point to kill him if necessary (she doesn't want to; her childhood friend, no matter whether Zero sees them as enemies now, or not. But, hadn't she promised to stay alive so he would keep living, also?). If anything, Bloody Rose keeps her very still, because unlike Kaito, it would work on her.
Her eyes narrow as she listens to him, her mind automatically deciphering between Zero's wants and Zero's needs-]
Zero, please- [She can't finish her plea for him to stop, freezing in horror when she feels his fangs sinking into her. O-Oh god this isn't like before when she offered, this
( ... )
However - his eyes flicker back to the vampire stalking towards him - there is still the interloper to deal with first. His arm is still healing when he fires the next two shots - by his third, all the bones are back where they should be, as if the injury never even existed. He doesn't retreat to a better position to fight from, the way he normally would in this situation - instead he takes several aggressive steps forward as he unleashes each round.
He doesn't hesitate. He discards the gun and closes in, hunting blade retrieved from his boot already in hand. The only certain way to kill a powerful vampire was to cut out their heart.
It would be a nice parting gift to throw at her feet.]
[There's little time to react when the second round hits.
Bullet number four slams into his right shoulder. He can feel and hear as metal draws fine and subtle cracks in the bone, tearing through tendons and muscle. It tightens his jaw and demands more composure from him. Each step takes careful focus,
Five.
He laughs this time. Again. Sharp and cynical through a clenched and bloody snarl, however catching as a wheeze, as though the bullet punctures a lung. His balance falters, but he steadies himself just before he lurches forward, taloned hand striking fast at Kaito's throat, once within reach. The first hit is a miss, however, pitifully and simply marring the hunter from lower jaw to mid-throat with a nasty gash, even if one nail penetrates the delicate area.
Bitter with the miss, a scowl begins to rise up from the back of Zero's throat, that same hand moving in for a second time, only when six hits
( ... )
Yet, is he really the coherent one to judge? Even being within the building offers little reprieve to the fog that by now has his mind suffocating, wrapped in a murky distortion. His head throbs relentlessly along with the dry, white-hot heat at his throat. He can even feel the fine veins within his hands and fingers pulsing, pressing to the underside of claw-like nails.]
Where? Where...
[It's only a murmur, maybe even to himself. He stops every now and then amidst a slow gate and looks, searching for the sounds and the source of that voice, because of course he's familiar with it. Just like all the others, only this- this one and how real it had been, rather than the whispers that only echoed within his head. Even the feed and its images were more real than what he pulled the trigger on, earlier ( ... )
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Ze -
[And then Kaito can't breathe through the pain. His body absorbs the impact, but it's his shoulder and arm that take the damage. He still feels slightly disoriented when Zero yanks his head back. He can hear the low voice beside him, words drifting over his ear like nonsense dying too slowly.
For the briefest moment, he almost laughs. It's only fitting that the wild card would find him first. How often he must lay plans to waste while dancing right into the tune of them. How closely are fate and bad luck connected? Kaito has more than enough of both to share, it seems.
He doesn't laugh, however. He can feel the bloodlust of the creature behind him crawling over his skin. Disgusting. His eyes are tinged with pain, but his voice stays true.]
I didn't think the Task Force would be good for anything... I don't even have it in me to pretend to be disappointed.
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Fangs penetrate his skin. Pain. Fear, but they are so easily conquered. It's the fact that it's Zero who has bitten him that fills him with disbelief. He still sees the little boy, not this thing with its crimson eyes. He shouldn't be so surprised. All vampires were one and the same.]
One and the same. How could I be so blind?
[It's not vulnerability that coats his voice, it's the barely quaking rage that has always been hidden inside him - it swells and gushes out. Like the blood from his wrist, sucked out by this creature's mouth to sit warm and trapped in its stomach. What of the boy who died to give it its place ( ... )
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Takamiya-san? [She'd been looking all over the place until finally arriving here, calling out desperately in hopes he would answer. There was low level fog even in the building but at least her voice echoed fairly well, sound being the one thing the fog couldn't suppress.] Takamiya-san!
[It's then that she smells it, she thinks, the absolute faintest trace of blood. Her heart starts to pound faster, grip tightening on Artemis as she continues forward to find the hunter. (she won't succumb to that smell, she promises herself-whether it's real or fabricated by the atmosphere. No matter how little or how much, she wouldn't-couldn't let herself be influenced ( ... )
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It's not that she can't react to Zero's attack, she's not so helpless. It's more like she can't prevent herself from the shock that's from seeing Zero in this state of mind. No, no, no, please no, this wasn't happening, this wasn't real. Was she going to have to really fight with him?
She can't even scream due to shock when Zero hits her, smacking back into the wall closest behind her. Despite Zero's speed, for her it's like watching everything in slow motion as it unfolds, her expression littered with more and more disbelief.
(Why is she surprised? This place, the lack of tablets, of course this is what she should expect.
She just can't accept it.)
Yuuki is horrified (--no please don't make me--), but not about to be an easy catch for a hungry vampire. That's why she moves, at a speed to rival his own and get off of the wall before Zero can pin her there. It takes her no time to have Artemis activated, the large scythe coming into full length and form. She ( ... )
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They are indistinguishable, corrupt. Broken.
Hunter, vampire. The boundaries between the two blur - I told you, did I not? I told you what they are. - leaving only a single enemy, the only enemy. Everyone.
Kaito nearly falls to his knees and grabs his arm, gasping as the bones start snapping back together. The clicks are audible, even over his strained breaths and again that sick, bitter laughter rises up from his throat, but it never makes it past his lips. Fury rises like a cancer in his throat, threatening to choke him.
No one could be trusted. No one. Except the one who entrusted him with a dark, vengeful promise.
He leans against the wall when he calmly points his revolver at Zero's back. His bones have not fully healed yet, but it no longer matters. Pain centres him, keeps him from teetering. The wound on his wrist is gone, only the blood remains.
The slight smile on his face is barely there but it's malicious.]
Don't turn your back on me.
[He doesn't even flinch when he fires several shots. No ( ... )
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What's that, now?
[A pointed sneer, another chuckle low in his throat. She believes her words will work so easily, does she?
It takes little effort to hone in on her again. He cuts across her through another deep-set ripple of hunger-driven pain, once more swift on his feet to suddenly appear behind Yuuki, pressed tight to the wall as he corners her for a second time. One arm locks around her, clamping both of hers down against her body in an iron grip, energy crackling when his hand firmly grasps Artemis and holds it flush against her.
Much like he had Kaito, Zero's other hand is a vice about Bloody Rose as he digs it into Yuuki's lower back. Only, with her, he dips in closer.
Yuuki ( ... )
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It's bad enough Zero is fast, but this fog makes him almost impossible to pinpoint once he starts moving. That's why, she tells herself, she isn't able to get away a second time. Surely, that had to be it, not emotions of desperation and denial causing her to be unable to actually use Artemis and her own skills as intended. Even as she's hit against the wall again, cornered, she can't help but wonder if she even has the willpower at this point to kill him if necessary (she doesn't want to; her childhood friend, no matter whether Zero sees them as enemies now, or not. But, hadn't she promised to stay alive so he would keep living, also?). If anything, Bloody Rose keeps her very still, because unlike Kaito, it would work on her.
Her eyes narrow as she listens to him, her mind automatically deciphering between Zero's wants and Zero's needs-]
Zero, please- [She can't finish her plea for him to stop, freezing in horror when she feels his fangs sinking into her. O-Oh god this isn't like before when she offered, this ( ... )
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She would be next.
However - his eyes flicker back to the vampire stalking towards him - there is still the interloper to deal with first. His arm is still healing when he fires the next two shots - by his third, all the bones are back where they should be, as if the injury never even existed. He doesn't retreat to a better position to fight from, the way he normally would in this situation - instead he takes several aggressive steps forward as he unleashes each round.
He doesn't hesitate. He discards the gun and closes in, hunting blade retrieved from his boot already in hand. The only certain way to kill a powerful vampire was to cut out their heart.
It would be a nice parting gift to throw at her feet.]
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Bullet number four slams into his right shoulder. He can feel and hear as metal draws fine and subtle cracks in the bone, tearing through tendons and muscle. It tightens his jaw and demands more composure from him. Each step takes careful focus,
Five.
He laughs this time. Again. Sharp and cynical through a clenched and bloody snarl, however catching as a wheeze, as though the bullet punctures a lung. His balance falters, but he steadies himself just before he lurches forward, taloned hand striking fast at Kaito's throat, once within reach. The first hit is a miss, however, pitifully and simply marring the hunter from lower jaw to mid-throat with a nasty gash, even if one nail penetrates the delicate area.
Bitter with the miss, a scowl begins to rise up from the back of Zero's throat, that same hand moving in for a second time, only when six hits ( ... )
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