Shadows of the Past
A sharp creak split the silence, followed by the heavy slam of a door against the wall. The room, already thick with tension, seemed to constrict as two figures barreled inside, near the west entrance of the room.
Grim didn't move.
He had been through too many near-death situations to flinch at something as simple as an entrance. But when he turned to glance at the two figures standing in the doorway, his body froze anyway.
Hiroshi. Arashi.
For a moment, the world narrowed to just them. Their presence hit like a fist to the gut - unexpected, unwelcome, and carrying the weight of something that should have stayed buried.
Nozomi, standing beside him, reacted differently. She stiffened, her gaze locking onto the newcomers like a predator assessing threats. Then, recognition flashed across her face.
"Hiroshi and Arashi of Unit 16," she murmured, her voice laced with disbelief.
SGA Strikers. A tier above her, above most. They weren't just elite—they were legends.
Which raised the question:
What the hell are they doing here?
Her hand twitched toward her holster as a silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.
Then Hiroshi sighed, stepping forward with the same calm authority Grim remembered from years ago. His face was harder now, of course, etched with new lines, but his eyes…
They held the same weight. The same expectation.
"It's been a long time, kid."
Still, Grim didn't respond.
He wanted to. In many cases, he should have. But his throat locked up in that moment. The past was supposed to stay in the past, yet here it was, staring him down.
And suddenly, he wasn't here anymore.
******
Years Ago
The Night the Abyss Stared Back
He had been small, exceptionally so.
The alley that he had been standing in was endless - an open maw of darkness swallowing his world whole. Furthermore, the air stank of rust, mold, and something worse.
And then it appeared.
The gami.
It slithered out of the abyss, warping the light around it. Limbs that shouldn't have been there jerked and twisted as it crawled forward, turning toward him with an empty face.
The sound it made was worse than anything he had ever heard. A clicking, chittering noise that wormed into his skull, setting every one of his nerve on fire.
But young Grim couldn't move. Not even could he breathe - because it saw him, which inevitably meant, it was going to devour him right there and then.
At least that's what he thought.
Just before the gami could snap it's maw shut - around the head of young Grim - the alley ignited.
A golden arc of steel sliced through the darkness in a swift motion, causing the gami to shriek and its malformed body to twist in agony.
Two figures - moving with enchanted agility - stepped forward, cutting through the void like a blade through silk.
Hiroshi. Arashi.
They moved in tandem, one striking high, the other low. Their blades sang as they carved through the creature's limbs, forcing it back. The gami screamed, its presence warping reality itself, but it didn't matter.
They were stronger.
The creature let out a deep, reverberating screech before lunging—too fast for something that size. Its mangled limbs clawed at the air, and its hunger was palpable.
But Arashi was quicker.
A blur of silver, and his blade found its mark, carving a deep wound across the gami's torso. The creature howled, and the very air around them warped from the sheer malice of its presence.
Grim, for some reason, couldn't move. He was trapped - not by the gami, but by the weight of fear itself - until the ancient shadow fell and Arashi stood over it placing one last stab to its chest.
"Hey, kid."
Grim blinked - Hiroshi's voice in that moment acted as a lifeline in the chaos. Even more so did his words:
"Don't look at it, kid. Look at me."
Grim tore his gaze away from the abyss and met his eyes.
"You're lucky we found you," Hiroshi continued, barely winded. "This city isn't kind to kids who wander too close to the abyss."
Arashi, standing over the gami's twitching corpse, turned to glance at him. His gaze was sharp and calculating as he asked a single question:
"Name?"
Grim hesitated, then swallowed hard.
"Danuja."
"Well, Danuja," Hiroshi muttered, turning back to the shadows, "stick with us, okay kid. Learn a thing or two. Maybe we can keep you from getting swallowed up by the same darkness your parents are tangled in."
Grim had wanted to believe that, stealing a backwards glance at his fleeing parents. Their shapes shrank the farther they ran.
He had wanted to believe that he could be saved.
******
Guess some things aren't meant for the damned, he thought, recalling everything about that night.
However, the memory faded, and Grim forced his expression blank. His silence spoke louder than words ever could.
Hiroshi noticed how he clenched his fists - realizing it had been because they tried. Tried to steer him toward something better. But in the end, fate had pulled him back into the abyss.
"You remember," Hiroshi said quietly.
But it wasn't a question.
Arashi studied the grown up Grim and sighed.
"Still the same stubborn brat, I see."
Meanwhile, Nozomi's gaze darted between them, sharp as ever.
"You know him," she stated, and even that wasn't a question.
Arashi shrugged.
"We did."
Then, before anyone could say more, a slow chuckle echoed through the room.
Grim - irritated - turned.
The figure who had been standing with them this entire time, watching with quiet amusement, finally stepped forward.
"How sentimental."
His voice was smooth and composed. Even the air in the room shifted just then, heavy with something unseen.
Then the figure smiled, tilting his head.
"A touching reunion. Truly. Almost makes me regret what comes next."
And then he said something that should have been impossible:
"Danuja Yomiyama. Hiroshi of the Fallen Order. Arashi, the Silver Fang. And Nozomi, ever the righteous flame."
Silence fell upon the room as Grim's pulse spiked. If you listened closely, you could here the engine thundering in his chest.
In interval, Nozomi's fingers curled into fists, while Hiroshi's expression didn't change, but the shift in his stance told another story.
"I do love when a room is full of such fascinating people," the figure continued. "You see, I make it my business to know things. And you all? You're quite the collection for by quest board."
Nozomi's experience darkened.
A bounty hunter?
The Hiroshi stepped forward, his voice cold:
"Who the hell are you?"
The man's smirk deepened.
"A Monarch Gami."
The world stilled. How was something like this possible? For all intended purposes, Guilds hired bounty hunters to execute bounty retrievals all across the 12 divisions - that included gami... especially gami. Do how was this bounty hunter claiming to be one of them.
Grim, however, didn't care for the answer. In the blink of an eye, he moved - no hesitation. No second thoughts.
Just action.
His blade ignited, and he lunged, faster than thought itself.
And failed.
One second, he was mid-strike. The next...
He was airborne.
The impact against the wall ripped the air from his lungs. Then, hite-hot pain exploded through his ribs. He hit the ground hard causing his vision to blur at the edges.
Above him, the bounty hunter smiled.
"That," he said, amusement dripping from every word, "was a mistake."
Frustrated, Grim gritted his teeth, forcing himself upright, but Hiroshi was already stepping forward.
"Stop."
His voice cut through the tension like a blade as he continued:
"Acting on impulse won't get us anywhere. We do this together."
Grim's jaw tightened.
Every instinct screamed at him to ignore the captain, but Hiroshi was right. And for a moment, the silence stretched again. Then...
Arashi sighed, cracking his knuckles.
"Can't say I love the idea, but I suppose we don't have a choice."
Nozomi nodded, her eyes still locked on the bounty hunter as he revealed jagged teeth beneath a sinister smile.
"Oh, this should be fun."
In an instant, the air changed, and gone was the uneasy quiet of the reunion. Gone was the lingering nostalgia.
Now, only the promise of a battle remained, and Grim felt a murderous rage growing inside.