Split Apart

Kairi exhaled, the tension in her muscles slowly unwinding as she pulled the bloodied knife from Mariko's gut. The dying warmth of her body faded in the night air, but Kairi barely noticed.

She didn't bother looking back.

It was over.

Her boots scraped against the blood-slick ground as she walked toward the others. Aiko was clutching her ribs, Kasumi was shaking off the damage, and Jin looked like he'd been through hell and back.

"Still breathing?" Kairi muttered, rolling her shoulder.

"Barely," Kasumi groaned, wiping a streak of blood from her cheek. "You really know how to pick a fight, huh?"

Aiko forced a smirk through the pain. "Tch… remind me to never let you 'handle things' alone again. This was a disaster."

"Yeah, yeah," Kairi grunted, stuffing the knife into Aiko's hand. "Here. You're lucky I didn't lose it."

Jin cracked his neck. "We need to move. The place is compromised. And I doubt Arakawa's lapdogs are done hunting us."

Kairi nodded absentmindedly, rolling her wrist where it had nearly been broken. The pain was there, lingering—but so was something else. A presence.

Someone was near.

Her head turned slightly. Something shifted in the corner of her vision.

And that's when it clicked.

She wasn't alone.

Rin had been right beside them the entire time.

Kairi's gaze flickered between the bloodied, battered group before her—then past them, scanning the wreckage of the battlefield. Something gnawed at the back of her mind, an unease that refused to settle.

Then, it hit her.

"…Where the hell is Celeste?"

Silence.

Jin and Kasumi exchanged quick glances, their expressions tightening. Aiko shifted uncomfortably, wiping blood from her split lip.

"Shit," Kasumi muttered under her breath. "We lost her in the chaos."

Kairi's fingers twitched. "You're telling me she's missing?" Her voice was even, but there was an underlying edge—dangerous, sharp.

"She was still fighting when we started regrouping," Jin said, rubbing his temple. "Last I saw, she was handling herself, but…" His jaw clenched. "Then she was just gone."

Gone.

Kairi inhaled slowly, suppressing the urge to snap. She was already pissed, already wounded, already running on fumes—

And now Celeste was missing.

"She wouldn't just disappear," Kairi muttered. "Not unless someone made her."

Kasumi's expression darkened. "You think they took her?"

Kairi's teeth gritted. "…Of course they did."

She could feel it. That familiar, ugly feeling crawling up her spine.

Kayd's people weren't finished yet.

Celeste's head throbbed like someone had taken a sledgehammer to her skull. Her body felt like dead weight—cold, sluggish, wrong.

She inhaled sharply, her senses snapping back all at once. The air smelled like smoke. Leather. Blood.

And then—a voice.

"Look who's finally awake."

Her vision blurred, then cleared just enough to make out him.

Kayd Arakawa.

Lounging in a damn chair like this was a casual affair, one leg crossed over the other, an infuriating smirk playing on his lips. And behind him? His remaining forces—his enforcers, his assassins, the last dogs of war he had left after Kairi's rampage.

Celeste shifted, only to realize—restraints. Her wrists were bound, coarse rope biting into her skin.

She exhaled through her nose. "You've got about five seconds to let me go before I start tearing through every last one of you."

Kayd chuckled. Actually chuckled.

"Oh, sweetheart, I think you're misunderstanding the situation." He leaned forward, resting his chin against his knuckles. His dark eyes gleamed with amusement—and something colder underneath.

"You're in no position to make threats."

Celeste's jaw clenched. She forced herself to sit up, ignoring the screaming protests of her muscles. They got her. They actually got her.

But for how long?

Because the second she got loose—she was painting this entire room in blood.

Celeste tensed every muscle in her body, twisting against the restraints, feeling the fibers strain. One good pull. One snap.

Then—a flash of silver.

SLICE.

A cold sting kissed her cheek, sharp and precise. A thin line of red trickled down her skin.

Celeste froze.

The bastard who did it stood just beside Kayd—one of his last remaining enforcers, a sharp-eyed killer with a knife still hovering near her face. His expression was blank, but the intent behind the strike was clear. A warning. A message.

Kayd sighed, shaking his head with a faux look of disappointment. "See, this is exactly why you're tied up, Celeste." He motioned lazily toward her fresh wound. "Can't have you squirming around like some wild animal."

Celeste let out a slow breath, calm. Calculated.

Then she smirked. "That's funny." She tilted her head, letting the blood smear along her jaw. Her eyes locked onto the enforcer, drilling into him.

"Because the last guy who put a knife to my face?"

She grinned, wicked and full of teeth.

"I cut his throat so deep he gargled on his own spine."

The enforcer's grip on his blade tightened.

Kayd, ever the composed snake, chuckled under his breath. "Oh, I do love your spirit. It's a damn shame I can't keep you, but, well…" He motioned vaguely to the door. "Business is business."

Celeste flexed her fingers, subtle and slow, already mapping her next move.

One way or another—she was getting out of this.

Kayd exhaled sharply through his nose, barely masking his irritation. Celeste was too much trouble to keep conscious. He turned toward his enforcer with an impatient flick of his wrist.

"Take her back. Knock her out if you have to." His voice was smooth but sharp, a blade hidden behind velvet. "I'm done entertaining her."

The enforcer nodded. CRACK. A brutal fist slammed into Celeste's temple.

Her vision blurred. Her knees buckled.

Darkness swallowed her.

Kayd barely paid attention as she was dragged away. His fingers were already moving to the phone in his pocket. Mariko should have reported in by now.

He dialed.

One ring.

Two.

Three.

Four.

No answer.

Kayd's jaw twitched. His fingers curled around the phone, squeezing it just slightly. He tried again.

Still nothing.

"…Tch." He clicked his tongue, irritation bleeding into his composed exterior. Mariko never ignored his calls. Never.

Something was wrong.

—Meanwhile.

The abandoned room was eerily silent. Blood was still fresh on the floor, bodies strewn across the wreckage of their brutal battle. Kairi's breath was still ragged, her injuries throbbing, but her senses were razor-sharp.

Then—

RING.

Everyone froze.

The sound of a phone, vibrating against shattered debris.

Kairi's gaze flicked toward the noise. Mariko's phone.

She stepped forward, slow and deliberate, ignoring the sting in her ribs. The others watched as she knelt down and picked it up.

Unknown Caller.

Her thumb hovered over the button for a second. Then she answered.

A brief silence.

Then—Kayd's voice, laced with mild irritation.

"Mariko. Finally. What the hell is going on over there?"

Kairi closed her eyes for a second, then let out a low chuckle.

"Oh, Kayd…" She brought the phone to her ear, her tone drenched in venomous amusement. "She's not answering for a reason."

A pause.

Then, Kayd's voice lost its casual edge.

"…Who is this?"

Kairi's grin widened.

"The one who's going to find you." Her voice was ice-cold, unwavering. A promise. A death sentence.

"And the one who's going to end this."

Click.

She hung up.

The air in the ruined building was heavy with exhaustion and blood, but no one had the luxury of resting. Kairi turned back to the others, her mind already racing. They needed a plan—now.

She exhaled sharply, rolling her stiff shoulders before addressing the group.

"Kayd won't sit still after that call. He knows something's wrong, but he doesn't know what. We use that." She looked each of them in the eye. "We're taking the fight to him. No more running. No more waiting."

Kasumi, still supporting an injured Unknown, raised an eyebrow. "And how do we do that? We barely made it out of this fight."

Kairi smirked. "We make him come to us."

She grabbed a map from the broken table, slamming it down. Her fingers traced the routes they could take—places Kayd's forces had under control, weak points, ambush spots.

"Kayd's men are spread thin now, and after losing Mariko, he's gonna be pissed. If we hit the right locations—fast, efficiently—he'll have no choice but to show his face." Her gaze darkened. "And that's when we end him."

The others nodded, determination hardening in their expressions.

All except for one.

Rin, still in her masked disguise as Shatterwraith, was… not listening. Not really.

She was staring.

Staring at Kairi.

Her intense presence. Her commanding voice. The sharp, confident smirk that sent a shiver down Rin's spine.

God, she was hot.

Rin barely processed the strategy being laid out, her mind replaying every interaction she had with Kairi since their first encounter years ago.

The night Kairi saved her and Natsuki.

The way Kairi moved—lethal but graceful. The way her voice cut through the chaos, unwavering.

The way she didn't hesitate to put herself in danger for someone she barely knew.

Rin had never forgotten.

And now? Watching Kairi in real time, taking charge, battered but unbroken?

Yeah. It was over for her.

She blinked back into reality when Kairi snapped her fingers.

"Shatterwraith. You in or not?"

Rin stiffened, her heart skipping a beat at hearing Kairi say her name.

She quickly cleared her throat, trying (and failing) to act cool. "Psh. Of course. I—uh—always in. Yeah. Let's… let's go."

Kairi narrowed her eyes slightly at her weird hesitation but shrugged it off.

"Good."

With the plan set and their next move decided, Kairi glanced at the group. This was it.

The final war against Kayd had begun.