Chapter X

In the entrance hall he stands, waiting in front of the swung open doors, the light glowing behind his back. Mask removed, only in a shadowy uniform, he smirks towards Sao, walking, steadily, down the stairs to greet him. Sao's sword gleams under the chandelier, his brother, unarmed, closes the gap between them with long, deliberate steps, till they were at arms reach of each other. The man raises his right arm, bringing it towards Sao's face, which Sao responds by tightening the grip on his sword.

'Now, now. You wouldn't swing a blade at your brother, would you? I knew you was messed, but I have seemed to underestimate your psychotic nature. Why did you run here, Sao? Were we not good enough for you? Were we not the family you wanted?'

Sao does not answer.

'Well? You ran here to live a life alone, without us. You abandoned us to live here, with mere hallucinations caused by a machine. The day you left, Mother was crying, she wouldn't in front of me, but when I came snuck down that night, wondering what where the noises that kept rousing me awake were coming from, who is it I see, head in hands, flooding their eyes with tears by the kitchen counter. Mother was distraught Sao. Therapists in, constantly, just to keep her from leaving us both. Father was never around, but he showed up when we needed him, far more than you may I add.

'Why do you think I have come this way, Sao? Why do you think I would follow you here? I have followed you to bring you back. You're not okay. Your brain is twisted and needs to be put straight. I will do that, as much as I detest your face; I will do it for Mother, Sao. You should thank her that I don't hunt you down and kill you for good. Instead I will settle for punishing you, disciplining you so you can fit back into society, our family. My Angels, bring them out.'

With the order set, the four angels walk out, each pair holding a girl between them. Both girls had bags covering their identity, but their identity was well known to Sao. Whisking the bags off, with one pair, Rose; with the other, Hannah. As Hannah's chin was revealed under the bag, Sao dashed towards them, all his muscles on overdrive, his sword mid swing; then he stops, in the air, a single hand around his throat, ricocheting him into the floor. His body recoils up, blood ejecting from his mouth in a spurt, his chest pushed forwards, shoulders held back, eyes stretched. Sao is heaved up by his brother's grip on his top, which is released then moved to the back of Sao's neck.

'I will say this once and no more, Sao. Understand? Doesn't matter. If you don't, I will have to ask Mother for forgiveness later.

'Obviously, you will not be allowed to leave on your own free will; you are coming back with me whether you object or not. I am not heartless, though, so I shall allow you to save one of these fictional characters. And no, this isn't one of those tricks where I kill the one you choose to save; as I said, I'm not heartless. Now, choose.'

Sao's eyes immediately turn to Hannah, but they are caught off guard by the defeated eyes of Rose. She whimpers through the hand of the guard covering her mouth, her eyebrows slanted upwards, her nostrils stretching and closing at a fastening rate. And what about Akuma? He cares for both. While Sao has a bias towards Hannah, the question has changed to him. Will he save Hannah or Akuma? An infinitely harder question than the impossible ultimatum stated previous.

Amidst the search for an answer, Sao's mind comes across Yuda; why wasn't he watching over Hannah? Why didn't he protect her? Resent brooded within Sao, his friend turned traitor; perhaps, but what if he was overwhelmed; that would mean Sao's situation was hopeless. He could not fight his way to an answer, a sacrifice seemed inevitable. But Sao cannot bring himself to choose. His options: family member one, or family member two; an impossible what if scenario brought to life.

'I need an answer, Sao. You know how this scenario works; if you don��t choose one, they both die. If you make any attempts to resist, they both die. If the answer you give is deemed insufficient, they both die. Understand? Now choose. I'm running out of patience.'

Now no alternative exists. Will he openly betray one, or reluctantly send both to dirt? Pick an answer: wrong answer, or wrong answer, or wrong answer. A question with three answers, none of which are right.

'Why do you struggle to choose? Just play eeny meeny miny moe and get this over and done with.'

Despite the solution, Sao cannot find the answer. His brain strains and he collapses as far as his brother would allow.

'Well, have you chosen? You didn't think fainting would get you out of this, did you? That would be an insufficient answer; you know what that means,' his brother whispers into his ear, the frustration building in his tone.

'I give you thirty seconds. Once that time is up, I'll consider it an insufficient answer.'

Who to choose?

'Thirty…'

Not much time.

'Twenty-nine…'

No closer to the answer, Sao relaxes his body, readying his instinct to answer for him.

'Twenty-one…'

Sao forgets his responsibilities, allowing a pure logical answer to emerge.

'Thirteen…'

Deus Machina is needed, is prayed for by Sao, someone who had never prayed once in his life.

'Five…'

Please, someone.

'Four…'

Please, something.

'Three…'

Anything.

'Two…'

Anyone.

'One-'

'Sao! Rose! Hannah! Let go of them,' a shattered voice roars from the top of the stairs.

Akuma crawls forward from behind the banister, staring fury towards Sao's brother.

'Is this another one of your toys, Sao? What is your name?'

'My name is Akuma, and I'm going to be the one who kills you if you lay a finger on any of them.'

'Big talk from the grounded stump. You couldn't save the girl before, you're not going to be able to save her now, so I'd advise you to give up.'

'No!' Akuma shouts, pulling himself up the banister to stand on his two feet. 'I will never give up. Giving up isn't an option. As I said, I'm going to be the one who kills you.'

'Kill me? Do you know who I am? -'

'You claim to be Sao's brother. Personally, I don't believe it.'

'Don't believe it? It is a fact. It is in our blood. We are one of the same; we are far closer than you are with him.'

'And why is that? He didn't choose you as his broth-'

Sao's brother appears in front of Akuma, as if teleporting, grabbing Akuma behind the head and pulling Akuma's stomach into his knee, pushing the air out of the lungs of Akuma, released in a wheeze.

'You speak too much for your own good,' Sao's brother says, turning back down the stairs. 'My name is Abel. Remember it. I'm going to be the one who kills you if you speak again.'

Abel returns to a panicking Sao, on his hands and knees, head unable to look onward, forced to gaze at the marked floor below him.

'I need your answer now, Sao.'

Recalling the faces of the two whose lives he had at stake with a name, he notices something; while Rose was trying her hardest to cry, Hannah, who now has glasses, was staring at the ground, without expressing any emotion on her face, simply concentrating on something.

'I choose Hannah,' Sao answers, shakily.

All his answer relied on was faith. After his answer, Sao sat and prayed, one more time.

'You heard him, release the other girl. She can do what she wants, she does not matter anymore. Line the other up against the wall.'

Two of the Angels release Rose, her new freedom used to run up to Akuma, who writhes in pain, clutching his gut. The other two Angels attempt to drag Hannah towards the wall, but she doesn't budge. They yank, they shove, they strike; nothing moves her feet.

'What's wrong with you two? Move her already.'

One of the Angels punch her across the face, cutting her cheek, plasma piling up. Then, the ground below the Angels slithers up their legs, constricting, and crunching the bone; the blood on her cheek separates into a dried red cast, sealing the wound, and tentacles of plasma that wrap around the necks of the Angels, choking and gagging them. The two Angels collapse; responding the others pick up their guns and begin to fire, but their bullets fall out of the barrels with no propulsion. Akuma reaching out his remaining arm out in desperation; one last push and the guns exploded in the Angels' hands, sending them to the floor.

Abel watches as his Angels fall one by one, a scowl growing with each one.

'Get your filthy hands off my Angels,' Abel orders under his breath.

He once again appears at the top of the stairs with Akuma and Rose, throwing both of them to the ground floor; then, now appearing in front of Hannah, drives his knee through her abdomen, clicking her spine, and using the moment to spin to her back and toss her into the pile of Akuma and Rose in the middle of the entrance.

'You chose Hannah, correct?'

Abel takes Sao's sword from him and drags Hannah in front of him on her hands and knees. The sword rises high above Abel's head, before with a scream, he begins its descent. Instead of Hannah's neck, it cuts through Sao's string of sanity; he fires forward his right fist into Abel's face, violent ripples across Abel's cheek, the pushing back of the jaw; Abel holds the right side of his face, still standing.

A car horn start outside, relentlessly reverberating through the echoing hall. Sao picks up Hannah and starts running to the door, holding onto Rose's hand, who pulls Akuma with her. Outside, Rahat has pulled in front of the gate in one of the trucks Abel and the Angels used to track down Sao.

'Hurry up and get in,' Rahat calls.

The others comply and all pile into the truck. Sao in the front, Rose and Akuma in the back with Hannah lying across them. As they drive off, back home, Sao looks at the wingmirror to see Abel, watching them drive off, his Angels gathering their footing and standing beside him; all five of them, chasing him with their concealed eyes.