Wrath

Renne leaped back within an instant, creating space between them. A purple mist flowed from her chest, and Renne grabbed the metal rod from within her. After swinging it around, the purple mist devoured Renne. The mist drifted around Onyx.

Onyx sighed deeply as he kept his sights on the door from which both his targets had just escaped. "This might end faster than I had thought." Without turning towards the purple mist behind him, Onyx crossed his guns behind him, straight at Renne's mist. The guns gave off a pastel blue complexion that gradually grew more radiant with every second. Right as Renne's mist reached him, he fired. Two wide light beams punctured the purple mist and ricocheted off the walls at high speed. The beams caused Renne's mist to dance around as, with each passing glance, a bit of her mist dissipated. Onyx gave a chilling smile as Renne's mist slowly whittled away.

Within mere seconds, the purple mist was a quarter of its original size. Onyx then turned towards the mist and shot another two beams. These two beams collided with the first two, causing the beams to implode. As Onyx shielded himself, a shockwave of energy shot outwards, sending Renne into a nearby wall. Before she could recover, Onyx appeared beside her. He brushed his thumb against the sides of his guns and shot at Renne. One bullet grazed her right arm, while the other grazed her left thigh.

Renne, with an astonished look, bit her lip. Her face twisted with a venomous glare. She slowly stood up, neglecting her injuries. Onyx desired nothing less from the girl known as Wrath. Seeing her stand, ready for round two, he applauds with a sinister look. It was clear to Renne that he had no intention of killing her.

"Meet the Gemini blaster prototypes. Thanks to our spies within the city's technology development committee, we replicated wielder abilities into a weapon." Onyx said with a clear and bold voice as if he was talking to a crowd. He paused briefly and peeked at Renne as if expecting her to say, 'WOW,' or 'How cool!' Betraying his expectations, Renne took a step back. Onyx shrugged his shoulders and continued. "These guns shoot anti-mist plasma blobs that can, well, disperse the mist. Hints the name. Which, might I add, is an excellent counter to a failed assassin such as yourself." Renne sucked her teeth at those words as she leaped into close range to strike Onyx with her metal rod. Onyx footed around her attack. "Hey! I'm talking here." Onyx holstered the gun in his left hand, then seized the metal rod and pointed the gun in his right hand at Renne's head. Renne let go of the metal rod and executed a roundhouse kick, hitting Onyx's right hand and knocking his gun to the ground beside him. Renne kicked the gun away from his reach and backed up to catch her breath. "Not bad. Seems like you are finally taking this seriously." He shook his hand in pain. "Looks like that training is kinda paying off. Too bad you seem to still be burdened by the past, Wrath."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!" Renne shrieked with a murderous glare. Black markings appeared around her neck. Her breathing became harsh, and a purple glow shined through her hoodie.

Onyx grinned at the sight. "Renne, come on now." Spoke in a playful tone. He unholstered his remaining gun and looked Renne in the eyes. "That this fight seriously, if you can't manage to kill me, how will you protect Alan and friends during our next trial? 'Her' plans are much worst than anything we snakes have up our sleeves." A twisted smile grew on his face as he watched Renne.

"What the hell are you going on about? I am taking this seriously." Renne retorted, falling for Onyx's provocation.

"You say this, but you still haven't used your true strength yet. I'm impressed that you disarmed me like that, but you still have that power of wrath hidden away in you." He then walked towards Renne. "Why are you afraid to use it? Are you afraid to kill? Are you afraid of a repeat of the last time, 10 years ago? Or maybe you don't want others to see that you are a monster? A monster capable of mindlessly slaughtering hundreds of people within an instant. You don't want to kill them like you did your own family-"

"Shut up...SHUT UP!!!" The black markings extended to Renne's face as she quickly closed the gap between the two. However, Onyx foresaw this, and as Renne tried to attack him, he grabbed her by the neck and slammed her down to the ground. Renne coughed up blackened blood. Onyx gave her a discontented glare as his voice deepened.

"That's not the power I speak of, little princess," Onyx said as he left to pick up the gun Renne kicked away. Renne slowly got up with the bit of strength she had left from being slammed into the ground. Onyx turned to give her a heavy sigh as he holstered both guns. "Renne, I have lost interest in this fight. I don't want to fight the corrupt you. I've already had to put down enough of my old friends taken by the corruption; you will not be the next. If I'm gonna kill you, it will be the true you, not one controlled by the spirits of the damned." Onyx walked towards the window, "This is the last time I will let you live, but just know that the next time we meet, I will kill you. So please show your true strength, or I will make sure your final moments will be nothing but suffering. A slow, painful death." He jumped out the window and disappeared into a shadow mist as he descended toward the ground. Renne got up and limped her way out of the room in pain as she searched for the two girls she had let escape.

She walked past the bodies of men and children alike, clutching her chest in pain. The black markings on her body illuminated a faint purple as shadows poured out. The shadows were a perfect black, devouring any light that dared to cross them. Renne leaned on the walls, her face twisted in pain. Memories of the past filled her mind.

~~~L~~~

After they escaped from the school, the two girls ran. However, no matter where they ran, the nightmarish hellscape followed. In a never-ending looping street of dead bodies, the girls ran into an alley covered in snow and collapsed. The girls barely held onto their sanity as the nightmare of 10 years ago hunted their vision. As survivors of the quake, seeing that many bodies broke the mental lock they had kept in their minds.

"A-are we safe?" Lucianna was the first to break the silence between them. She glanced at Audrey, who held her neck with a horrified expression. The alley they had found themselves in was free from dead bodies. With a worried expression, Lucianna tried to comfort Audrey."STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!" she shouted, startling Lucianna. Her eyes were empty as if she was unconsciously moving. She then forced Lucianna onto the ground, the snow protecting her from the concrete below. Lucianna let out a hushed cry as Audrey sat on top of her stomach, preventing her from moving. Unable to see who it was, Audrey balled up her fist and swung at Lucianna's face.

"AUDREY, IT'S ME!!!" Lucianna clamored. Her face grew pale as Audrey's fist stopped mere inches from her face. Audrey blinked a few times. Audrey stood frozen by the realization of what she had almost done. During this moment, Lucianna noticed that Audrey's scarf was missing. A large burn in the shape of a hand wrapped itself around her neck as if a demon made of fire attempted to strangle her.

Audrey vaulted off Lucianna, ripped a piece of her uniform off, and wrapped it around her neck. Lucianna relaxed and stood up. She walked over to Audrey and gave her a hug. While she did not hug back, Lucianna felt a warm liquid drip down her neck. Without letting go, Lucianna allowed Audrey to weep silently. Once finished, Audrey gently pushed her off.

"I'm sorry...." Her voice was low and filled with shame. She held the piece of clothing wrapped around her neck. Audrey took a deep breath and looked Lucianna in the eyes. "Where are we?" Seeing that Audrey bounced back to her usual self, Lucianna gave a weak smile.

"In an alley, away from the...bodies."

"Okay..." Audrey slapped her face. "Let's wait for that girl. I have so many damn questions to ask her." Lucianna nodded in agreement. Afterward, they sat in silence. Lucianna stared at the sky and witnessed a strange crack in the sky. It was as if an enormous glass dome was shattering around them. Audrey noticed a peculiar purple mist just after the dome shattered, and she immediately stood up. She moved in front of Lucianna. Fearing the worst, Audrey assumed a fighting stance as the mist traveled closer. But to her surprise, the mist dissipated, leaving behind a wounded girl with a strange soft purple glow emitted from her grey hoodie. The girl's face and arms were covered with a strange glowing set of characters that the girls were unfamiliar with.

"It's her!" Lucianna said while Audrey lowered her guard. The two examined her body and noticed a gunshot wound on her right arm and left thigh. Audrey wavered, looking for anything around the area to wrap around the wound to limit the bleeding, but failed to find something. Knowing that she needed to save the person who saved them, she removed the scrap of clothes around her neck and patched Renne up the best she could.

Although faintly, Renne felt the two girls helping her. Knowing that she would soon lose consciousness because of her injuries and her corruption, she raised her arm out. Audrey grabbed her arm. Renne, with the last of her strength, called Alan. However, before he could answer, she lost consciousness, leaving the two girls with an unknown person on the other end.

"Hello?" He said with a slightly concerned voice.

The two girls looked blankly at each other, trying to mentally ask one another, 'who's gonna answer.' Lucianna glanced back at Renne with a flustered look. Audrey sighed and answered rudely.

"Are you the boy hero?" As Audrey asked that, Lucianna's gaze danced back to Audrey. Audrey noticed Lucianna's disapproval and silently apologized.

There was a brief silence from Alan's side as faint key presses were heard, a noise that girls had not heard in years. "Who the hell are you?" Alan responded in a deep voice, trying to hide his anger.

Audrey sucked her teeth and relayed in a somewhat nicer tone, despite hating the fact that she had to talk to a man rather than a woman. "I apologize for that rude opening, but your companion here became injured after saving us from a terrorist."

"..." Alan didn't say a word, but the sound of key presses persisted faintly in the background.

"Are you not gonna say anything? Do you not care that your friend is unconscious and injured?" Audrey took offense to Alan's silence.

"I don't know who you are, but if you are tricking us by luring us into a trap. I WILL kill you myself. People will be there shortly. Do not call anyone from the Northern District."

"How do you know where we are, you creep?"

"Renne's implant is being tracked by some friends of ours, so just hold tight, and others will arrive soon." He said, giving Audrey a vague answer. Before cutting off the call.

"Ugh!" Audrey sat down. "This is why I hate men. Always doubting and never trusting." Lucianna gave a wary laugh.

"Well to be fair to his point of view, this girl is a wanted criminal, and you answered suspiciously as if she were a hostage." Lucianna said while trying to get Audrey to reflect on her wrongdoings. The two continued to talk while attending to Renne. Shortly after waiting for about half an hour, two men walked into the alley wearing police uniforms that belonged to the Eastern District.

"This isn't your jurisdiction, officers." Audrey got out and gave the cops a menacing glare.

"Greeeeat," Maverick said while approaching the three girls. "Another nutcase."

"What was that? "

"Quit your yapping and carry Renne to the car. We are taking you three into protective custody as a request from a friend of that girl." Tony said. Audrey sucked her teeth, then gently picked up Renne with the help of Lucianna and carried her to the nearby unmarked vehicle the officers used.

Maverick sat behind the wheel, ensuring the girls in the back were ready before he took off to the Eastern District. While traveling there, the car of five people was in complete silence, with Lucianna tending to Renne. Audrey gave Maverick the stink eye whenever he looked at her in the rearview mirror. Tony angrily taped his knee as if something was bothering him. Trying to break the silence in the air, Maverick turned to Tony. "Umm...Tony, why are you so pissed?" Lucianna looked at the two.

Tony gave Maverick a murderous glare, and Maverick gulped in fear. "I'll tell you why," He said with a soulless tone. "First, I was in the middle of doing paperwork that should have been turned in last night, MAVERICK. Second, Renne disobeyed us and ran off to play the hero. Third, Alan went fucking work instead of having the mental capacity to think that protecting a friend should be more important. And last, we are stuck with a group of anti-social kids who, for some reason, hate men."

"Heh... heh..." Maverick gave a slightly awkward laugh. Lucianna saw the look of regret on his face. Hearing Alan's name, Lucianna stared at the back of Tony's head, lost in thought. She tried to imagine what her childhood friend would be like, assuming they were about to meet him. Maverick noticed her spacing out look and asked, "Umm...short brown-haired girl, what's your name?"

"Lucianna." She answered.

"Lucianna, that's a beautiful name-"

"Wait a minute." Tony cut Maverick off. "First, you suck at following up with a response. Second, this might just be the opportunity we need to suppress Alan's corruption."

"Now hold on a minute, I am not gonna let you use Lucy as some 'opportunity.'" Audrey shouted. Lucianna tried to calm her down.

Tony turned to look at the girls. "Girl, I need you to shut up and not jump to false conclusions. What I said was in the pretense of it befitting both Alan and Lucianna."

"How on earth is Lucy supposed to benefit from meeting that good-for-nothing hero wannabe?" Tony glared at Audrey.

"W-what?"

"As much as I want to agree with the good-for-nothing part, you have no right to judge him based on what you know from the news outlets. Alan never wanted to do this; he was forced to. And the hero wannabe part, get your facts straight before you accuse him of that. He went through a lot of shit just to save his friends. He even had to kill his own father just to save that girl over there," he points to Renne, "so I don't care if you hate men or whatnot. Don't disrespect the individual just because you hate the group. But to answer your question, from what we've gathered, Alan and Lucianna are the only two survivors of a certain elementary school during the quake. Correct?"

"Yes, though it was confirmed to us that he died...after saving me." Lucianna said in a soft voice as she remembered the fiery day. Seeing that she lost the support of Lucianna, Audrey backed down.

"That information was falsified, for reasons classified, of course. But just like that angry girl beside you, he's part of the 1%."

"The 1%?" Lucianna tilted her head in confusion as she turned to look at Audrey. Audrey turned away, holding her neck.Maverick glanced at Audrey through the rearview mirror and spoke up. "Sorry, Lucianna, but we will continue this conversion at Alan's apartment. The 1% stuff is a very touchy subject for all survivors." Tony turned back to face the road, realizing that he went too far. After that, the vehicle fell victim to an awkward quietness as the atmosphere grew too tense for anyone to say anything.

After driving for about half an hour in a tense atmosphere of awkwardness, Maverick pulled into a parking garage next to Alan's apartment building. The two girls got out of the car while carrying Renne, and the two officers gave them directions just before taking off in their car to head back to the police station.

"Tsk, the least they could do was walk us to the boy's door," Audrey said, trying to sound pissed, but she was too worried about what would happen next.

"You okay?" Lucianna picked up on Audrey's attitude and worried about her.

"Yeah...I guess that I'm kinda mad at myself, to be honest. What the buff officer said made me realize...." She trailed off. They then stopped at the top of the stairs on Alan's floor. "What if, because of how I answered that call earlier, he hates us...?" Her voice dampened. Lucianna had seen Audrey show remorse for her actions against a guy for the first time in the many years of being with her.

"Well, that's not gonna happen." A voice unknown to the two girls was heard. Surprised, Lucianna and Audrey looked up and saw a short boy with messy hair walk up. "Looks like you two will stay with me. I'm Alan. I would say nice to meet you, but~ I really dislike you, but I don't hate you."

"Heh...heh," Lucianna gave an awkward laugh as Audrey turned her head away in shame.

"But don't worry, I hate you rich people all the same. But unlike you, I can see the good in the individual." Alan smirked. "Anyway, let's go in." Alan led the way for the two girls into his apartment.