The timeline was going to reset soon. Kuroha took it upon herself to make best use of her remaining time before the stage would be renewed and the actors would repeat this horrific, never-ending story. When she turned to face the figured slumped on the ground her features upturned into a grin, almost too wide to be human.

Lying on the floor Takane shook, she was terrified, who wouldn't be? The corpses of her friends lay around the cold floor. Each lifeless body had blood pouring out from various gaping wounds; just the look of it made her want to throw up and gag. She thought gore would be something she was used to, seeing how much she played zombie shooters known for their grotesque graphics, but when it came to people she knew and when the damp, revolting scent of blood was in the air the girl was soon tasting the lunch Kido had made only a few hours prior.

Slow footsteps reverberated from behind, traversing closer at an excruciatingly slow pace. When a chuckle escaped the dark figure behind the sound pieced straight through her core. It was the voice which was the worst of all. It was a twisted form of her voice; Haruka's voice. The crouching girl refused to acknowledge they were the same, but with every word from those disgusting lips came an old memory of a girl with all too familiar long, brown hair, a soft smile, and a mole under her right eye which had long since been etched into Takane's memory.

When slender, pale fingers touched her shoulder Takane flinched away. Kuroha smiled. This fear, it was delicious. Clasping the defeated girl's shoulders roughly, Kuroha forced her to face her with her own tearful eyes. Kuroha could recall her past memories and in all of them she never saw Takane cry and tremble like this. Honestly she was much more fun to play with outside of that wretched phone. There's so much more that you get from a body than a screen. Her yellow eyes gleamed. She truly relished in it.

"Oh Takane, why do you make that kind of face at me?" With the question covered in feigned hurt, Snakes slithered their way around Takane's wrists and up her arms to bind her in place. Trapped. Just like in that phone of her 'Master'. The taller girl brought her hands to the sides of Takane's head, embedding them in her hair which had grown so much it was sickening. Using her thumb she traced the bandage under her eye, the damp tracks where her tears were made it all the more pleasurable. "I thought you'd want to see me, it hurts to see I was wrong." The syllables with an 's' were drawn out, the distorted voice of such a kind-hearted person, it was worse than the sick she had tasted in her mouth.

The eyes of the woman in front of her glimmered like topaz even though they were connected to someone dark who wrought so much despair. Takane's voice was breaking and barely audible when she tried to respond, even over the deadening silence.

"D-don't speak… as if you're her," It was scary to defy this thing before her but in this situation, even if her amount of pride was almost non-existent, she would protect Haruka's.

For a timespan that felt like minutes when in reality only seconds ticked by, the only sound cutting the silence was the heavy breathing from the weaker female. The scales sliding across her forearms were becoming increasingly uncomfortable, not that they weren't already. It was only when Kuroha brought out a bloodied pair of scissors when the fear in Takane's heart began to overflow. She began to struggle but it was fruitless when the snakes' hold was as persistent as ever. The only thing she had gained was more of the burn from the scale's friction.

Words were finally uttered; dark and deep. "You really shouldn't talk as if you are the Takane she once knew either." The helpless girl gasped when they were pressed against her throat, firstly because of fear, secondly because of the cold temperature the stationery held. After not feeling for two years every little touch, every little sensation was amplified tenfold. A light chuckle escaped Kuroha's lips before she brought the scissors back, a red imprint of the liquid that coated them decorated the girl's neck. How unsettling it must be to have your friend's blood smeared on your throat.

"Imagine how disgusted Haruka would be to see you like this, your hair is so long and ragged; how unattractive." It was true, after two years of not using her body the hair was grown far beyond the length Takane would have ever allowed, it was unkempt and covered in split ends. But in all honesty, Kuroha herself found it endearing.

Leaving the scissors discarded on the floor for the time being with much anticipation Kuroha grabbed Takane's twintails (much less soft and smooth as her own) and forcefully brought her in to a discordant clash of lips. As teeth clattered together it caused a grunt of pain to be heard, only added on by the pain of hair strands clinging to her skull. The taste of vomit from earlier was apparent in the kiss the repulsion couldn't be described in words but then again Kuroha had an affinity for repulsive things; she had an affinity for this Takane. She slid her tongue across the lips of the girl before her, lapping up the remaining taste she could find. Unable to move away Takane had to endure the gross action. Any movement caused tension on her hair strands and the pain was beginning to become immense. Although it was her heart that ached more than her head. To finally be kissed by the girl you love only for them to be corrupted and horrific, surrounded by corpses of loved ones and crying tears of anguish, not even in her deepest nightmares could she imagine herself in this state.

Thankfully she pulled away. That was the only positive thing to have happened throughout these recent events. Remaining saliva coated her lips, leaving them cold, too cold it was uncomfortable. She wanted to leave, wanted to run away. Even if she tried, he legs wouldn't carry her far though, they were too weak, her overall strength was too weak. She could never break the confines of these snakes and the more she thought about it the more hopeless she became, the more her willpower decreased.

Throwing her remaining pride out the window the last thing she could do was beg.

"Stop, please. I'd rather Haruka forgot me then to remember me like this." If it was anyone else, anybody who wasn't her maybe she would be able to cuss and spit at them. But she forever struggled with the inner turmoil she was bearing.

"You're right. She deserves so much more than you, so much more than what you have come to be." Kuroha brought her hand down to clasp the scissor handles again, holding them up to the hair clenched in her other hand. "So as a last act of gratification for her, why don't I try and revive that old pristine image of you she once had, hm?"

Her own ebony hair fell down beside her as larger amounts were cut off. Clumps gathered at each side of her covering the snakes around the floor that only gave annoyed hisses in response. Takane could only feel the slight itch of the bits of hair brushing her skin, it was nothing compared to the bruises the snakes caused. But even as all this passed she could make nothing but pathetic cries. After a few minutes of nothing but hisses, sobs and slow shearing sounds. Kuroha ran her hands through the much smaller strands of hair. It was uneven and sloppy but that didn't matter. She softened her features into a smile she had made many times in the past, with a voice just as soft, she spoke.

"Ah yes, just the way Haruka loved you…"