Content Warning: death of a side character

Chapter Thirty-Six

The Spark that Set the Worlds on Fire

Navia - 8 years ago

Gentle lips pressed against my cheek, pulling me from sleep. Eyes fluttering open, I saw him sitting beside me on the bed. His hand cupped my cheek gently as I shifted in bed to see him more clearly. The sun had barely risen outside the window, but the light that streamed in was enough to see the affection in his gaze.

"I'll be back by the end of the week," he whispered. "Give Nyoko my apologies that I won't get to join you today."

I nodded against his hand, reaching up to take it from my cheek to my lips where I could plant a kiss on his palm. The gesture was sweet, and Shono smiled. "I wish you didn't have to go," I replied, voice husky from sleep. Last night had been our first night together in a month, and sleep had been forgotten in lieu of spending most of the night wrapped in each other's arms.

"It's good money," he replied instead. I knew he never wanted to leave, but no one would hire an oblivion for work. Not unless it was mercenary or arson work. Work I had sworn off long ago. But Shono was a strongarm, a demon with profound strength, and he lent out his strength to whomever would hire him. "Are you sleeping some more, or are you getting up?"

"I'm getting up," I replied, hauling myself into a sitting position. "I need to get ready; Nyoko will be here soon." He didn't move for me to rise, though, and kept his gaze on me. Rather than standing, an idea popped into my head. I scooted closer to him and straddled him on the bed, pressing my body into his and kissing him. His lips parted eagerly for me. Our tongues met and his hands wrapped around my body, pulling me to him and trailing fire across my skin. Between my legs, I could feel him grow hard.

"Do you have time?" I asked, breaking the kiss to whisper in his ear before nipping at his earlobe. Shono growled deep and was already reaching to release himself from his pants.

"I'll make time." He kissed me again, hungrily, and he filled me as I lowered myself onto him. "For you, always."

Nyoko arrived much too soon, and even though Shono and I had lost track of time in each others arms once again, Nyoko missed her father by minutes.

"Is Papa not coming today?"

I had felt Nyoko approach long before she had shown herself. I had made sure she was a powerful demoness in her ability, but like me, she'd decided to make a career giving back to life instead of taking from it. Nyoko was a midwife's apprentice in the next town over, and I had made a living as a seamstress for the demons living nearby, always making clothes for them or patching things that others didn't know how to.

Her approach this time, however, was different. Deja vu settled over me, and I got the distinct feeling that I had been there before: braiding my hair as I hurried to finish getting ready so we could leave.

No, I was certain I'd never experienced this before.

Shaking my head, both in response to Nyoko and trying to shake the disconcerting feeling, I replied, "Your father had a job come up; he's sorry he's missing you. But, that just means we'll have a girls day!" Nyoko's face broke into a smile.

The midwife who had delivered me and practically helped my own mother raise me had been the same for Nyoko - Aunt Biyu. Biyu was a healer and was now who Nyoko was studying under. Biyu had always said that Nyoko was my spitting image, and "poor Shono" for not getting any say in Nyoko's appearance.

That was where she was wrong, though. No, Nyoko hadn't received Shono's raven black hair or his almond eyes. She'd received the same lilac eyes, silver hair, and brown skin that I had been blessed with from my own father. She had, however, gotten Shono's height and his smile: loud and unwavering. She'd also gotten his confidence and stubbornness. Even though she was her mother's twin, she was her father's daughter.

I deftly finished braiding my hair and grabbed the head wrap I always kept by the door, wrapping it around my head and tying it so it wouldn't fly away when we began running. As Nyoko scurried out the door and I turned around to lock it, I could feel her watching me, however the words that she spoke shocked me to stillness and I dropped the key in my hand: "When were you going to tell me you're pregnant?"

As she took in my shock, she continued, "I'm around pregnant mothers all day, Mama. I know the signs well enough by now."

I stammered, although there was no point in denying it, and no reason to. "I've only just found out myself," I said, picking up the key from the ground.

I finished locking the door and turned toward Demon World beyond the house Shono and I had built nearly half a century prior. It was the home that we made away from the world we had left behind, and something that was completely ours. We'd decided to travel into the wilderness of Demon World - far beyond the Alaric home I had grown up in, and far beyond the Spirit World lackeys that patrolled the major areas of the world. Spirit World didn't dare come into the wilderness. This was where the strongest demons lived and ruled. There were some areas that were peaceful, but for the most part, blood and fighting ruled these lands. Power was the only thing that anyone respected here.

Of course, the only areas where others gathered for enjoyment were in the areas that Spirit World patrolled. The Terasu Forest in Tourin was the home of the Autumn festival, which had become the annual event in our house when Nyoko was still a babe. So, once a year, Shono and I had laid aside our responsibilities and taken Nyoko to the festival, which she always loved. It was time we could spend as a family, and even as Nyoko had grown and moved out and onto a life for herself, she always returned home for the festival.

Nyoko now watched me with a playful smile. "Mmm-hmm." She murmured. "It should still be cause for celebration."

I smiled softly. My daughter. Always poking and prodding. "We'll celebrate when your father returns. We were planning on telling you together." Seeing Shono's face when I told him the night prior had lit my world on fire. He was an incredible father, and he was thrilled for another chance to raise a child again.

I took off running toward the Tourin boundary, knowing Nyoko would follow close behind. We kept to the canyons and the tops of the canopies of the forests, so as not to draw attention to ourselves. It took a few hours, but eventually we reached Tourin, and eventually, the Terasu Forest, ancestral home to the Hitomi clan, the most powerful family in Tourin, both while Raizen had been living and since he had passed on to the next world.

The festival marked the start of autumn and the colder months, and it brought every demon in Tourin to the Terasu Forest to camp and make merry. In the early days, when he was still young, Raizen was even said to attend. The festival always stretched over a few days, and while many demons camped throughout the forest, my family and I never did.

We arrived on the first day of the festival, as many of the merchants were still setting up their tables and wares, selling everything that one could sell: weapons, fine cloths, sweets, trinkets, and herbs to name a few. Barely anyone had arrived this early, and the ones who had weren't drunk yet, but keeping to themselves. Spirit World officers walked the area, mostly to keep things under control, but this early on they really didn't have to.

One of the first years we had come as a family, Nyoko was barely weaned when Shono bought her her first human world fruit: an orange. He'd been coming to the festival for years, mostly to purchase the fruit that one of the vendors brought directly from human world. They had bought all sorts of fruits: apples, bananas, peaches, pears, but Shono's favorite were always the oranges. Nyoko had latched onto the orange immediately, and ever since we always went to Chiyo's stand first to buy oranges.

Today was no different. The first stop that Nyoko wanted to make was to Chiyo. She purchased five; two for her and I to enjoy then, and one for each of us to enjoy once Shono returned from his job.

I liked oranges because Shono and Nyoko liked oranges; it was one of those things that I picked up because they liked them so much, and getting to enjoy an orange was a precious memory with them.

As we relished in our slices of orange, we wandered together through the merchants, looking at the little trinkets, soaps, pouches, water skiens, and so forth.

After a few hours, the oranges long devoured, we passed by a merchant selling fine cloth. It was something that we had rarely been able to afford, and I had long-ago learned not to linger too long at this table, but there was a bolt of cloth at the end of one of the merchants' tables that caught my attention and my breath in the same moment.

The patterns were exquisite, and the colors were rich magenta, gold, deep navy, and a light teal. Lost in memory of my own mother, I ran my hand carefully over the fabric, almost afraid to touch it. It was the colors of my family, and brought back the reminder of their love.

"Hasana?" Nyoko asked next to me. I could feel her gaze on me but I could not turn away. A lump had formed in my throat, and I could only nod. I only had a few memories of my grandmother, but she always wore these colors, as had my mother, Hasana.

Movement in front of us caught my attention, and I looked up to see the merchant had wandered over to us. Her back stooped in age and her hands were permanently stained with dye.

"That one there was inspired by the Great Mother," the woman's voice warbled.

"Truthfully?" I asked, the lump growing thicker. Emotion overwhelmed me as my heart hammered. The Great Mother, Talia, who united demons against the oppressive Spirit gods eight generations ago.

"I didn't realize anyone still remembered Queen Talia," Nyoko said, leaning forward on the table. Every demon child had heard the story at least once, though now she was mostly a legend. And few remembered her husband.

The merchant woman nodded sagely. "Queen Talia and her Azar," the merchant woman grew quiet as Spirit World guards passed by casually, laughing and joking as if they weren't watching every demon to keep them in line. Nyoko looked away from them, avoiding their gaze, just as I did. Just as I had taught her to avoid suspicion. As soon as the guards were out of earshot, the merchant woman continued, "May demons always remember that there is another way to live: without shackles to Spirit World! Though, I fear we have lost that memory." Another couple approached the tables on down the way, and the merchant nodded to Nyoko and I before stepping away to help them.

I knew the story, of course. It was the same one that my mother had reminded me of every night as she tucked me into bed. It was the one that Hasana's mother had told to her, and on and on for eight generations. It was the one that she had told to Nyoko, once she was old enough to understand. Ten thousand years of strong demonesses heralded by Queen Talia. My birthright. Nyoko's birthright.

"Mama, you should get the fabric," Nyoko exclaimed, eyes alight.

My hand ran over the fabric. It was truly beautiful, but I'd long ago distanced myself from the idea that my birthright was worth anything. No one looked upon oblivions as anything other than a threat. Not in many generations, at least. I had a family worth protecting, now, and that was enough. I didn't need the constant reminder of the blood that ran through my veins.

"When was the last time you made yourself something that you loved?" Nyoko pressed on.

In a quick motion, I snatched my hand from the fabric and stepped away. "We'll want to keep moving if we want to see all the merchants before we have to leave. Where else do you want to go?" I asked, whisking Nyoko away from the fabric.

We continued through the merchants' rows, but as the sun began to grow low in the sky, Nyoko turned to me, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Don't you need to stop by Ryumon to pick up Papa's new sword?" She asked, trying not to look conspicuous and failing miserably.

Shono had commissioned Ryumon to making a sword for him months ago and had yet to pick it up. Ryumon always came to the festival, so it was as good a time as any to pick it up, or at least check on it.

"What are you planning?" I knew that glint in her eye intimately. She was planning something, and something that involved me.

Nyoko clasped her hands behind her back innocently. "I just need you to give me a few minutes, that's all."

I didn't buy that for a minute. "You're going back for that fabric, aren't you?"

"That is my business," Nyoko replied dramatically, "And not yours. Just give me five minutes, please."

I couldn't hold back the laughter that spilled over. "Fine; I'll go check on your father's sword and I'll give you ten minutes. But then we should leave."

Nyoko nodded and turned, heading back toward where she remembered the merchant's table being. I watched her until she disappeared around a corner, reminding me of watching Shono disappear that morning, before turning and headed toward Ryumon's tent.

Ryumon had been a long-time friend of Shono and I, and really the only place that Shono ever commissioned his swords. Ryumon wasn't finished with the weapon, yet, but we got to talking for several minutes, catching up on things, before the drumbeats that signaled the lighting of the bonfire reached our ears. With the drumbeats, I realized that it had been more than ten minutes that Nyoko had said she would be.

Trying not to panic, I excused herself from Ryumon's company and stepped outside his tent. The sun cast long shadows through the forest, marking the end of a day as it made it's slow descent into the darkness of night.

The silver glitter of Nyoko's hair was nowhere to be seen. Quickly, I slipped through the rows of merchants' tables to where the fabric merchant had been.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" I asked as I got close, trying to swallow the panic that rose.

"Are you looking for your daughter?" the merchant asked as I nodded, relief washing over me. "She just left not even ten minutes ago." The merchant woman drew close and dropped her voice. "The Spirit World guards found her. I suspect she left with them to avoid a scene. She went that way," the woman pointed to the edge of the area with the merchant tables.

The relief I had felt not even seconds prior evaporated, leaving behind cold dread. I barely nodded and thanked the woman before sprinting in the direction the woman had pointed toward.

I traveled for what seemed like forever before I heard them. They were far away from where the rest of the camp was set up - far enough that no one would notice if Nyoko cried for help.

"What were you going to do?" I heard one of the men say, and right as the fear disappeared that Nyoko might be injured, I doubled over, the breath knocked from my lungs.

The leaves scraped against my knees as I clutched my stomach and tried to catch my breath. I gasped into the ground, trying to suck air back into my lungs. The man who had halted me stepped closer; I was barely aware of his footfalls as he moved to the corner of my vision.

"Mama?" Nyoko asked, and I glanced up, desperate to see Nyoko's face. She was terrified, but trying to hide it.

"Why were you running?" The guard next to me asked, and before I could answer, a sharp pain yanked my head up - he grasped my hair and forced my head up so I could see him.

"Aito, be nice," a third voice said from several paces away.

"You must be her mother," Aito said, ignoring the third Spirit World guard. They all wore the same uniform. Two men and one woman. "We caught her stealing."

"No," I gasped, desperate to convince them otherwise. "You have the wrong demon. My daughter would never-"

The first guard stepped away from Nyoko and toward where I stood, holding up the fabric from before. "This fabric is much too nice for someone like your kind. Oblivions, right?"

The guard holding my hair cut in. "Don't you all just murder everyone you come in contact with? Were you waiting for everyone to arrive to kill them all?"

"I've sworn off killing," I ground out, eyes watering from the pain in my scalp. I could feel that several hairs had popped out, but still he held fast. He would not see me cry. "Besides, we can go back to the merchant - she can tell you that my daughter purchased it fairly."

The guard that clutched my hair finally shoved my head away, releasing my hair. He stepped away and toward the guard that stood between Nyoko and I, the one holding the fabric.

I brought a shaking hand up to my scalp, pressing against it in an effort to stop the pain, and lifted my gaze to Nyoko. She still stood next to the female guard, worry etched in her face, in the way her eyebrows scrunched together. She watched the guards and watched me.

A feeling - the same one from that morning - settled over me again. Deja vu. Someone was supposed to be coming. How I knew that, I didn't know, and no energy signatures approached, but someone would be coming. I had to trust that.

I watched Nyoko, who was wary. "Nyoko, it's going to be okay, alright? We'll go back to the merchant - just let us show you." I directed the statement at the guards, and as they turned toward me - whether to tell me to shut up or agree with me, I'll never know.

Nyoko made a run for it in their distraction - trying to cross the space from where she stood to where I knelt.

She fell face first into the leaves.

Someone screamed. The sound ripped out of my lungs, and I was racing toward her before I told my body to move. Nyoko struggled against the leaves, and I fell to her side next to her. The sound of them crunching beneath us amplified in the otherwise silent forest.

"Aiko!" The woman chatised him, but I didn't look away from Nyoko. The attack had landed between Nyoko's shoulder blades. Blood rushed out of her body, and gently, I turned Nyoko over, so that her head was cradled in my lap. She was shivering, her eyes unfocused and searching.

"Mama?" She asked, voice barely a whisper. Warm liquid soaked into my skirt.

"Help!" I screamed, whether at the guards or into the forest I wasn't sure. But looking for the guards, they were gone - disappeared in their shame and guilt.

Someone was supposed to come. Someone would be here - but as I scanned the forest around us for someone - anyone - the trees around us remained still. No figures raced through the forest toward us. No energy signatures approached.

"Help!" I screamed as loudly as I could, the sound ripping out of me. I increased my power, hoping it would act like a beacon.

"Mama?" Nyoko asked again. I clutched her hand.

"It'll be okay, my love, I promise." I said, the words tumbling out. Someone was supposed to come. Someone would come.

Hiei - present day

Hiei had never considered Tokyo home. Sarayashiki certainly was not home. The mottled skies of Demon World had always been home. The plains as far as the eye could see. The forests filled with demons to fight. The air that smelled like death - the promise that life left behind… that was home. But Sarayashiki had been home for his time in Human World. Of course, Hiei would never have thought the little area would have grown on him so until he was standing in the middle of the town and seeing rubble and twisted steel as far as the eye could see. Tokyo was worse; nothing remained in Tokyo except ash. But out here in Sarayashiki, toward the edge of the giant city, a few reminders that life had once existed remained. Some building frames still stood, but they had been mostly stripped away under the oblivions' power. Only a few buildings still had roofs attached, and those that did threatened to collapse at any moment, but they had had little choice in where to let their injured rest and receive care. The moment they exited Demon World they had made a beeline for the only area they knew, and now they couldn't move them to the safe house in Cappadocia for risk of destabilizing their injured.

But nothing was left. Nothing. Not where Sarayashiki had once stood, and not in the conviction they once shared to stop the Legion. That would come again later, he was sure, but for now they needed to mourn. Mourn the loss of their home, and mourn the loss of their comrades.

Their sixty thousand comrades had been decimated against the Legion, which was why they had fled back to Human World. Someone had definitely tipped off the Legion. It was like they knew Hiei and his forces had dropped their guard for a moment. All intelligence had said that they had been okay to attack the Legion on October 17, but the Legion had taken them by surprise and attacked the Terasu forest and the Hitomi clan first.

Over half of their numbers had been killed in battle, including the once-great Yomi, Suzaka, and Chu's partner Natsume. By the time they reached Human World, their injured in tow, including Enki and Koji, half of their remaining soldiers had fled in fear.

Mukuro had gone missing, presumed dead sometime during the battle. Mukuro, Hana's brother Koichi, and several others. Those who weren't missing or dead were varying degrees of injured.

When he'd gone back to Tokyo, to get Genkai and her refugees out, as well as Yukina and Kuwabara, he'd had Bjorn open a portal to Cappadocia. Their safe house was there, and like they'd planned, the group was safe during the attacks. Once the battle was over and they had returned to Sarayashiki, Hiei and Bjorn had gone back to Cappadocia and brought Yukina, Genkai, and Botan back to Sarayashiki. Yukina and Botan to tend to the injured, and Genkai as support.

Yukina and Botan had been working for nearly three days without rest, Genkai relieving them when she could. Koji's wounds had kept reopening, and no matter what they tried, the energy he had been hit with kept eating at the healers' energies, and turning it back against Koji. No matter what they did, they couldn't keep him stable for more than six hours. Now, it was just about making him comfortable in his last few.

The chaos that had reigned after they arrived in Sarayashiki was palpable. Yusuke met with the members of Team Urameshi who hadn't been severely injured - himself and Kuwabara; Kurama had managed another wound to the stomach. Genkai had joined them, and eventually Enki, to discuss the battle and what had happened, and what had gone wrong. It had been a mess. A deadly, bloody mess. It was nothing like what they had been expecting. Their intel had been wrong. Once the meetings were closed, Hana had gone back to Demon World with a search party for those who were missing, and Hiei had Bjorn open a portal to London.

Ashley.

Anger rose -

"Hiei?" a voice asked from behind him. He didn't need to turn to place the voice; it was Botan. She sounded drained. "Can I tend to your wounds now?"

Hiei looked down at his body; he'd forgotten about his own wounds in all honesty. "Is Koji stabilized?"

She paused, briefly. "For now. Yukina and I have made him as comfortable as possible."

"I'm fine," Hiei remarked instead, clenching his fist and turning away from Sarayashiki's rubble to head back inside the shopping mall they had found. Half of it had been decimated while the other half still stood. Botan's arrival only reminded him of how much he wanted to escape from the day. What a day it had been. He wished he could untangle himself from all of it and escape to a tree somewhere - somewhere to relax and unwind, but there were no trees left. At least not here.

"You're not," Botan insisted, hurrying to get in front of him and place herself in his path. "You've lost blood. How you're even able to stand now, and after three days-"

He had sustained some lacerations, but for the most part they were healing on their own. There had been others with worse wounds, and he'd sustained worse in the past. The Dragon had been what had zapped him of his energy, but he'd been able to catch snippets of sleep here and there. He was looking forward to a long rest once they were safe in Cappadocia, to fully recover his energy.

"You've done enough, and I'll be fine," he said instead, glancing at her. "Have you paused to rest?" Botan kept quiet, but irritation rose. Hiei knew he had her there. It'd probably been close to twenty four hours since she recharged her power. "Go sleep. You're no good if you've exhausted yourself."

With a grumble, Botan turned on her heel and disappeared back to the room that she and Genkai had been sharing, along with a few other demons. Or rather, it was less of a room, and more of a store. They'd made do with what they were able to find.

"Hiei."

His name was spoken softly - more as a way to get his attention than a greeting - and Hiei looked up to see Kurama pause in his approach to the store that their war council meetings had been held in. As Hiei approached, Kurama continued. "Hana's returned."

Nodding, Hiei pushed the desire to escape the day out of his mind and followed Kurama into the shop, closing the door behind him. Inside, the rest of Team Urameshi had convened, as well as Genkai and Enki. Hana leaned against one wall, arms crossed over her chest, along with her second in command, Isamu. The rivers of dried tears had stained her otherwise dirty face, but she'd worn the marks like battle scars over the last few days. Still, her presence in the room without her brother spoke volumes. Not to mention she looked close to breaking, herself.

As much as he didn't care for the demoness, he could sympathize. She'd lost her brother, her twin, and Hiei didn't care to know the acute pain that that knowledge brought. He hoped he never would.

Once the door shut, Hana began. Although she looked like she had been through hell, her voice held steady. "We were not able to find Lord Mukuro or Lord Koichi," she said, gaze flitting around the room and landing on each of them in turn. She was usually haughty, and strutted around in her confidence. That pretense had been stripped away since the battle. "The Legion has taken full control of the Terasu Forest. Our homeland has been re-occupied."

Isamu looked away, anger boiling behind his eyes. He was a broad demon - broader in the shoulders and thinner at the waist - and his chest was bare, showing off the scars that cris-crossed across his flesh like the weavings of a tapestry.

"The last stronghold of Demon World has officially fallen," Hana concluded, but raised a leg and pushed against something on the ground. The demon groaned, and that was the first time Hiei actually noticed him. Hands bound by some of Spirit World's cuffs, he lay bleeding on the ground. His head had a nice wound, and he was bleeding all over the carpet. "We did manage to capture this asshole, though. He seemed pretty high up in the ranks, if the raucous that erupted was any indication once we grabbed him."

As if on cue, the demon moaned. His skin was a blueish gray, his eyes barely open, and his wings were ripped and torn to tatters beneath him, though he way laying in such a way to avoid having any weight on them. Standing, the demon likely would have stood as tall as Enki. He rolled to his side, favoring his wings, to glare daggers at Hana. As he did, Enki moved around his body to face him outright. "I know this demon." While he was a large demon himself, his breath still caught in emotion. "Kazuki, I know we've lost touch, but how…?"

"She's my queen, Enki," the demon replied as if desperate for his former friend to understand. His voice was hoarse like he'd been strangled at some point. "She doesn't just want to control the world; she wants to make it better. And-" he coughed from the effort of talking. "And she saw me. She saw my potential, and encouraged me. Encouraged all of us." He fell to a coughing fit again, finally coughing up blood which dribbled from his lips.

"Navia?" Yusuke asked, voice hard. He stood between Genkai and Kuwabara, hands shoved in his pockets. It had been awhile since Hiei had seen the guy so hardened.

Kazuki nodded weakly, head scraping against the carpet. "She… understands. Understands the torture of being beneath Spirit World." He turned to Enki, then, desperation filling his warbling voice. "Please, Enki, she is not your enemy. I am not your enemy. We just want a better world."

Genkai cut in, voice sharp. "By destroying humans?"

"No, never," Kazuki was struggling against his coughing, which had gotten stronger. He paused to cough into the carpet, and then continued, with blood dripping from his mouth. "She wants to reunite the worlds - just as they were in the beginning. Just as they should be. She wants us all to live in peace-"

Yusuke laughed once without humor. "Peace by destroying cities? Yeah, 'cause that makes a ton of sense."

"No! We would never." In his excitement, he began a coughing fit again. Yusuke stayed quiet to let him finish. "In the beginning," Kazuki continued, sounding more drained than before, "we were just trying to keep you all occupied. We never meant harm."

Hiei snapped, "And kidnapping Ashley? Was that not supposed to harm her, either? Let's not forget, it was Legion soldiers who took her and held her."

Kazuki turned as best he could toward Hiei, mouth gaping like a fish. "I - I don't know anything about that. I'm sorry." When he was convinced Hiei wasn't about to gut him, he continued and looked at each person within the room, "The Spirit World gods have held the reins for too long. Demons are just as equal in this world as humans are, and as equal to the spirits. Our brethren are trapped-"

Yusuke steamrolled over him. "That's enough of this. This is such bullshit." He turned away from Kazuki, bringing one hand out of his pocket and running it down his face before turning back to him and rushing him. Kazuki flinched away as Yusuke bent down, thrusting his pointed hand outward. "You can't lie there and tell me that that was to bring peace." That, being the battle. The battle that had cost them over three quarters of their forces.

Yusuke finally straightened when Kazuki remained silent, laughing dryly. "I'm not listening to this."

"I'll ask Yukina to heal him," Kuwabara finally spoke from his place across the room. His expression was darker than Hiei could remember seeing him.

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, keep him alive, at least. We'll try again later. I'm tired of listening to this." Yusuke caught Hiei's gaze. "Hiei, let's try another route tomorrow." Hiei nodded in agreement and followed Kurama out of the room. At least now, perhaps, Hiei could escape for awhile.

"It goes against everything we know about them," Kurama mused. "Reunite the worlds. Can that even be done?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Hiei muttered, not quite looking at Kurama. "But it doesn't seem like they want peace. Not by their actions, at least."

The night's silence stretched through a million galaxies.

Hiei had eventually found his room - the one that he shared with Yukina and Kuwabara. Like the previous two nights, he took to the far corner of the room - on the opposite side where Yukina and Kuwabara slept - and fitted himself into the corner, one knee cocked upright, and the other straight. A few feet away, Knox was spread out on his back, feet twitching in dreams. Yukina had been watching him for Ashley while Ashley had been in London, and had rescued the animal when the orders to destroy Tokyo came.

He hadn't wanted to even be in the same room as the dog - it was just a reminder of Ashley's betrayal - but rooming with Yukina and Kuwabara, there wasn't much choice. He had made it abundantly clear to the mutt, though, that he wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't want to be reminded of Ashley every time he looked at the animal.

Knox, however, was persistent, and always stayed just out of reach of Hiei.

Hiei's heart clenched, watching the dog sleep. The thing was ridiculous. How was that sleeping position even comfortable? But Hiei had lost all conviction to be rid of the dog. It could stay in it's own space. He didn't want anything to do with it.

It was just like Ashley, really. Always happy to see him and coming back to him again and again, no matter how much he snapped at it.

His stomach dropped in shame, but then burned in anger.

She'd left him. Just like that. In just a moment, she'd chosen her family over him.

Another voice, smaller, in the back of his mind asked if he would have left Yukina if the actions were reversed. If they were reversed and she didn't have Kuwabara.

The voice told him that no, he wouldn't have left her if he thought she needed him at all, but he was still pissed at Ashley. And pissed at himself, but mostly just pissed at Ashley. She'd just chosen to stay, when he'd been trying and trying to make it back to London for days, she'd chosen to stay in the war.

If he wasn't so pissed at her, he might have respected her. But even as the thought occurred to him, the stronger thought pushed to the front of his mind: She'd just tossed him aside like he was nothing. Maybe he was, after all. He'd known it growing up, even as he'd tried to force the world to make a place for him. The memory of tears that had welled in her eyes as he lashed out couldn't sway him. She was so full of-

"You're still awake?" Yukina's voice was small as she slipped into the room. The moonlight streamed through the glass ceiling of the mall outside their store, but with the glass store front, it filled the store as well. She looked like something out of a dream, except he heard her voice and her exhaustion, and could make out the bags under her eyes. She, like Botan, had barely slept in days. Power stretched thin, doing everything for everyone else and not taking the time to take care of herself. He thought about chastising her, but the exhaustion written over her features, and the way her shoulders hunched - like the weight of the world was on them - stopped him.

Kuwabara had come to bed hours before, and slept soundly in the cot they'd made with the clothes they'd found in the store. "He's sleeping enough for me," Hiei said instead, keeping his voice low so to not wake Kuwabara.

Yukina's lips twitched in a small smile, even if it didn't reach her eyes. "You need to sleep, too."

She crossed the room and sat on the clothes next to Kuwabara. She looked pained, almost, eyes downcast. He watched her. After everything that had happened, he'd thought, again, about telling her the truth, but hadn't yet been able to find the words. For a moment, he thought about telling her, but as he watched her, barely holding herself together after the day, he decided against it.

She, however, took a breath and opened her mouth, like she was about to speak. Her gaze flicked up to his, and as soon as he caught her gaze, she faltered.

"What?" Hiei asked, not moving.

Yukina closed her mouth and pressed her lips into a hard line. "Nothing." Hiei wanted to press, but Yukina could get scary when pressed in a direction she didn't want to go. And her reply to him was closed. "We'll speak later."

"Good," he said, and rolled his head back to the wall. "You look ready to pass out."

She was quiet for a long moment. "Goodnight, Hiei," she said, and finally laid down next to her husband.

It took nearly an hour, but eventually her breaths evened and slowed. Sleep finally claimed her, and still, Hiei was awake to the night.

He drifted several times, only to be awoken by noises in the mall. There was a battery-operated clock high on one of the walls of the store, and judging by that, he slept for no more than an hour at a time, even though he needed a desperate recharge of his energy. Finally, around three am, he was awoken - by what, he wasn't sure - but the night stretched, pregnant in silence.

He was awake, though, and was convinced that even if he shut his eyes he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again. Huffing a breath, Knox's ear twitched, his paws twitching with it. Across from him, Kuwabara turned on his side and snuggled closer to Yukina. Even in sleep she looked pained.

The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall, and Kuwabara's muffled snoring.

The night was empty, and their mall was quiet, but it was a quiet like something was heavy. Carefully, Hiei rose to his feet, careful not to stir Knox, who'd rolled over sometime during sleep and was much closer to Hiei than he had started off. Grasping his sword, Hiei crossed to the storefront, and then slipped out the door.

They'd set up patrols and demons to keep watch through the night. Two brothers, Ken and Masaru, had the watch currently, but something still felt off, even if no one had raised the alarm. Silently, Hiei walked through the mall to the outside where he'd posted the brothers to keep watch. As he was walking past Hana and her team's store, the demoness slipped out of the store as well. With a quick nod of acknowledgment, Hana fell into step next to him. "You feel it too?"

Hiei nodded silently. Something just felt… off.

As they were approaching the edge of the mall - torn and ripped apart and bleeding to the outside world without any walls or doors - Hiei and Hana saw it.

Masaru lay slaughtered on the ground a few feet from where his brother stood, sword punctured through his torso. Fear lit behind his eyes as he gasped for breath.

"Oh. You're awake." The demon behind Ken sighed and flung the poor boy off his sword like he was nothing. "Drat."

The demon was a woman, not nearly as tall as Hana, but she was shorter and had a round face and muscled frame. Behind her, Hiei could see other demons approaching at top speed.

Hiei increased his energy dramatically, setting off the signal to wake everyone, as Hana unsheathed the two knives she wore strapped to her sides. Across the mall, Hiei could feel the others waking and quickly mobilizing. Bjorn would open a portal, and Team Urameshi would get everyone out. Chu and Touya would join them as soon as they could. If he hadn't found the scene, he would have joined the fight along with Chu and Touya.

"Are you Legion?" Hana yelled to the demon, who merely smirked.

Hana launched herself into battle with the demoness with a cry, and Hiei unsheathed his own sword, leaping toward the other demons who approached.

He cut them down easily. Low-level demons that barely stood a chance against him. He didn't even have to use any special attacks. Hana was similar. Even though the demoness before had killed Masaru and Ken, she fell to Hana's binding energy threads quickly, leaving Hiei and Hana alone. A dozen bodies scattered around them.

"Surely that's not it." Hana said, huffing a breath.

Behind them, Hiei felt Chu and Touya power up, which snapped Hiei and Hana's attention to where they were. They were so far behind where Hiei and Hana were, for a moment it didn't make sense why they were powering up on the other side of the mall.

Even though the section of the mall that remained was massive, the orange glow of Bjorn's portal lit the night behind it. Chu and Touya's energy was definitely concentrated there.

The blood drained from Hiei's face, leaving him cold.

"We were the distraction," Hana realized aloud and they both broke into sprints, disappearing from the front of the mall and reappearing at the back of the mall. Sure enough, demons swarmed the portal. Touya encased a dozen in a wall of ice as Chu was engaged in battle with another.

Hiei and Hana jumped in, holding back the demons as everyone else retreated through the portal to safety. Injured helping injured, trying to reach safety before their lives were extinguished.

Hiei kept one eye on how many were left to escape, fighting back against the demons with what little energy he still had.

"You're never going to win this," the demon in front of him mocked with a wicked grin as the demon swung a kusarigama in his hands idly. "You've lost. Why don't you just give in?"

Hiei glanced around at the battle briefly, taking in where everyone was. Hana was closest to him, while Chu and Touya had been drawn out and away from the portal. Only the strongest demons remained fighting them, the rest had been slaughtered. Behind him, the last of those who were fleeing had made their way through the portal. He needed to disentangle himself from the fight and leave, but every time he moved, the demon in front of him followed. The demon was also quick on his feet, though not as fast as Hiei would have been if he was at full power. The demon had already been able to land several hits on Hiei, and he was bleeding profusely from his side. He could barely catch his breath; his body was exhausted.

He was really starting to regret not letting Botan heal him when he had the chance.

Calling on the Dragon wasn't an option at this point, but he needed to end things quickly.

He forced power to his feet, launching back into battle and meeting the demon with a flurry of attacks. Each attack was blocked by the demon, and the demon had the upper hand against Hiei, though Hiei was still able to block-

"Hiei, watch out!" Hana called, but before Hiei could react, a sword pierced him. Looking down, he realized that the sword had impaled him from behind. It dripped with his own blood.

Shock stalled his hand, and another blow came - this time from his front. The kusarigama came down where his shoulder met his neck, and he fell to his knees.

He tried to keep it down, but blood was filling his mouth and the liquid slipped from his lips.

This must be what Kurama always feels like.

Hiei tried to rise again, movements slow, but flinched as the demon ran toward him again. He couldn't find his energy - couldn't pinpoint it to call upon it.

The demon was struck down in front of him, blood spattering upwards as he howled in pain.

He knew he needed to rise - get to your feet! - but on his way up, he lost his balance and topped back to the ground, the sword that was still pushed through his chest lodging deeper. His body felt cold.

Darkness gathered at the edges of his vision. Even as he fought against the encroaching darkness, another part of him sagged against the weight of it.

Ashley appeared in his mind, smiling. A memory, but the edges were fuzzy, or maybe she was fuzzy. Panic gripped him - surely he wasn't forgetting her so soon.

He could remember her laughter as she realized she was annoying him. She had woken him to kisses and he had switched places with her so that she was beneath him and he was on top. Her fingers traced the lines of his torso; delicate and fleeting, like butterfly kisses. "You're pretty amazing, you know that?"

Ashley.

He kissed her. "No, you are. You're incredible," he breathed against her lips.

I'm sorry.

His world went dark.

Ashley

"Ashley. You need to come with me." Oliver's greeting was less like a greeting and more of a power play. Outside their home were Guardians, dressed in their black fatigues and rifles in their hands pointed toward the ground. Some watched the street and the neighbors warily, who were more interested in watching the rounding up of the Wright family than their own business, while other Guardians barked orders from inside the house. The front door was open wide, left forgotten in haste.

"Oliver," Ashley said his name carefully, trying to decipher the situation and what she had approached. He was still a few feet away and the nearest Guardian was next to a black SUV parked at the front of the house, several paces away. "What is this? What are you doing?"

"I need you to pack a bag," he said, gaze watching her like one might watch a frightened animal. "We're going away. Somewhere where we'll be safe."

"Safe from what?" Ashley asked, gaze flicking from Oliver who approached her at a slow pace, to the front door where she could see people moving within, but couldn't quite see what they were doing.

"Safe from what's to come." He was somber, and his tone caught Ashley's attention immediately. Her gaze flicked back to him, and she unconsciously took a step back.

Oliver had never been particularly talented in the world of the supernatural. Sophia had always just known things, and finding her psychic ability as a Connection had deepened that. Oliver had had an ability, too, but he was never able to control it with quite the same amount of strength or finesse as Sophia had.

But his visions - for lack of a better word - could always be trusted. Sophia knew the past, and Oliver saw glimpses of what was to come.

"What's to come?" the words slipped from Ashley's mouth like a whisper of a prayer. She didn't repeat the words back to him, but asked him outright, never breaking eye contact.

His entire being was sadness personified. Eyes, filled with depths of blue, watching her. Despair and hopelessness radiated from him. Whatever knowledge he held was heavy, and it cut him to his core. Eyes swimming, he heaved a sigh unable to look away from her.

He didn't need to respond. He didn't have to. Whatever it was that he had seen, it was immense and boundless. Something more than what they had just witnessed from the Fourteen Gone.

Hiei. She shouldn't have let him go. She should have gone with him, she knew now, but he had left her over an hour ago. And there was no way to contact him on her cell phone anymore.

And if she went with Oliver now, she would never be able to contact him again. The Guardians… they would never let her out of their clutches and into the arms of a demon. They'd kill him before they would let her go.

And if they ever found out about her psychic ability…

Ashley's blood chilled, her stomach dropping out. It took everything in her to have the courage to take another step back. Oliver, rather than approaching her, shifted, noting her slowly angling her body away. His hand came out of his pants pocket and reached toward her.

Everything that happened next occurred in quick succession.

The Guardian closest to the SUV glanced up beyond Oliver, finally noticing Ashley's presence. "Sir?" He asked Oliver.

Before he could respond, a presence reached Ashley's senses as Sophia stepped out of the house. "Ashley?" Sophia asked aloud. Ashley didn't even need to look at her sister. Ashley was watching Oliver, wary he was going to do something to try to grab her. "Run!"

That was all the encouragement Ashley needed. Turning on her heel, Ashley took off down the street.

A couple shouts behind her - she recognized Oliver's commanding tone - and suddenly, she had several foot falls pounding behind her.

She had to outrun them. She had to. She couldn't be caught.

The neighbors scattered for her, all chattering nervously, and Ashley turned a sharp right and bolted down the street. She needed to lose the Guardians, who no doubt had radios to communicate to the others scattered throughout the city. Trying to reach Hiei with her full power was too risky - though she considered it briefly - but if she could find a hiding place, she could use it to deter anyone from coming closer, as long as her power didn't register on the Guardian's monitors.

Lungs had already started burning, and the crisp autumn air lit her throat aflame. Adrenaline pumping, she was on high alert.

She wasn't just running to escape. She was running for her life.

Whatever animal instincts that awoke with adrenaline knew if they caught her she would die. Maybe not immediately, but slowly. She would never escape, and she would surely die, especially if they found out about her power.

Three more Guardians spilled out onto the street ahead of her, and seeing them, Ashley changed direction, hooking a left and running down an alley.

She wanted to look behind her, but that would cost too much time.

She had gone to school here. She'd spent her teenage years in this neighborhood. It was fancy, but she knew the streets, having explored them over the years when she was bored with fancy party after fancy party.

The alley let out onto another street, and Ashley ran down this street until she came to another alley.

Alley after alley she crossed through her neighborhood, staying off the main roads, but always, not too far behind her, she heard her enemy.

She must have run a mile, running through alleys and down others, zig zagging through her old neighborhood, and leading her followers on their own chase. She didn't have much left in her, though, when she burst out of one alley and onto a street crammed with old businesses.

She immediately spotted one - an old bakery - down the street about a block. The couple that owned it was as old as dirt. Mr. And Mrs. Tromme, who used to give Ashley and Sophia a free biscuit whenever they'd visit. Ashley prayed that they had come to work that day. She needed a way to lose the Guardians. She ran in her spare time, but sprinting was another beast.

She nearly ran into the front door and yanked it off its hinges in her desperation to get inside. It opened for her just as she heard Guardians behind her shouting.

She raced inside, nearly running into someone who was on their way out.

"Ashley Lynn?" Mrs. Tromme asked from behind the counter. She was a thin lady, possibly in her early seventies, and her white hair was always rolled into curls. Round glasses adorned her face, the lenses thick, and she always wore skirts, blouses, and always pantyhose. Even today, three days after the Fourteen Gone, at the edge of the supposed apocalypse, she looked as put together as always.

"Please," Ashley rasped, sparing a quick glance over her shoulder at the door. "I need a place to hide!" She could barely make out the words, but Mrs. Tromme didn't ask for an explanation. Her expression steeled.

Without speaking, she motioned to Ashley to follow her towards the back of the shop. Back towards the ovens. Quickly, she moved aside an island on wheels, and pulled open a trap door in the floor. "Get in."

Ashley didn't stop to wonder about why Mrs. Tromme had a hidden trap door in her bakery, but got in quickly. Possibly, it was left over from the blitz nearly a century ago.

Without a word, Mrs. Tromme shut the trap door, plunging Ashley into darkness. Heavy rolling wheels sounded above her and she knew Mrs. Tromme had rolled the island back into place.

She tried to catch her breath quietly, sucking down air as fast as she could take it in. But the thing about sprinting so far, and now needing to be as quiet as she could for the sake of her life, her lungs screamed for air. Her heart roared in her ears, but she could still hear the faint bell chime above the front door at the front of the shop.

"Are you the owner?" a woman's voice spoke, clear and definitive, ringing with authority.

Ashley's breaths stalled immediately, straining her ears for the conversation around the blood roaring in her ears.

"I am," Mrs. Tromme replied casually with an air of impatience. "What, may I ask, are you doing in my shop?"

"We're looking for a young girl. She's in danger. Have you seen anyone come through this neighborhood?"

"Just my every day patrons. Now, I must ask that you either buy something or leave at once!"

There was silence, then a crash.

More silence.

Where Ashley waited, there was nothing but darkness. Darkness, and the prayers she sent up to whatever god was listening.

Several hours passed, though it was likely only several minutes. Ashley didn't dare relax, though, especially not when she heard the island being rolled away from the floor boards above her, noise as loud as thunder in her ears, and certainly not when the trap door was lifted away.

Mrs. Tromme's line-creased face greeted hers.

Ashley's knees gave out in relief, and she sagged against the wall of her hiding place, the breath leaving her lungs in a rush.

Mrs. Tromme didn't speak at first, and instead offered Ashley a hand out of the hiding spot. She must have missed the bell over the front door, because there was no one else in the room except the older lady and herself. "What was the crash?" Ashley asked.

"One of them knocked off one of my display trays," she replied. "I don't think they were happy to lose you."

She still didn't ask, and Ashley opened her mouth to explain, but Mrs. Tromme held up a hand. "I don't need an explanation."

Ashley helped her lower the trap door back down and rolled the island back on top of it. Even after being inside the cramped space, now that she was on the other side it didn't look like anything was amiss.

"Why did you help me?"

Mrs. Tromme hesitated in the doorway. "We need a little more kindness in these times."

Ashley didn't stick around for long. As much as she wanted to stay and hide out there for awhile, she knew she couldn't risk the Guardians coming back and finding Mrs. Tromme sheltering her. She had to move on. Before she left, Mrs. Tromme gave her something to eat, and Ashley inhaled it quickly, then thanked her for her kindness, and left.

By the time the coast was deemed clear and Ashley snuck out the back of the bakery, the sun was low in the sky and Ashley was across the neighborhood. Temperatures dropping, there was no way she'd be able to make it home before nightfall. And even if she did, Guardians were likely posted at the house. With the way they pursued her, she wouldn't doubt it if they put out an alert to the other Guardians in the city, either. They were likely all looking for her, but going home was not an option.

Anxiety clawed at her stomach, forming a knot. Thankfully, Sophia had insisted she dressed warm… had Sophia known about this?

No. Surely not. Surely she would have told Ashley. Surely Sophia was just looking out for Ashley.

Ashley pulled her hood up as she began walking. Walking where, she wasn't sure, but if she stayed on the streets she'd eventually be found. And she knew she needed to change clothes, too - at least that was what people always did in the movies - but the Guardians likely had noted what she was wearing anyway, and it would be easy enough to spot her: blonde hair, jeans, Cambridge hoodie. But she couldn't go home, and she didn't have any cash on hand. Her wallet still carried her credit cards, but they were useless without electricity to power the credit card readers, and her cell phone, which was in her back pocket still, was as good as dead. It had felt wrong leaving it at her house, though, when she'd left that morning. At least until she could figure something out, she'd just stay off the main streets and avoid as many people as possible.

There were a few small blessings to having the electricity out. Even if she couldn't use her credit cards to buy new clothes, at least the city's security cameras weren't working, either. No one could spot her unless she wanted to be spotted.

As she walked, she realized she had found herself just a single neighborhood over from where Eckhart had told her Mako likely was.

That conversation felt like a year ago. And Hiei… was that really only a few hours prior?

Had the world come to an abrupt halt only three days prior? The Dean's College fundraiser was less than a week ago, yet it felt like ten years.

A mammoth eon stretched between where she found herself and the life she remembered from a week ago.

Tears pricked at her eyes as her throat became tight.

No. Now was not the time for crying. She had to find shelter for the night.

Pushing away the bothersome emotions, Ashley pressed on.

"Shelter" ended up being a shed behind a house in a neighborhood that had been evacuated. Warnings of leaking gas were posted everywhere, but likely it was just a way to avoid the public asking questions; the warehouse Eckhart had told her of was barely two streets over.

The shed was secluded enough, but even so, Ashley sent out a tiny amount of energy to surround the shelter. Once upon a time, in another life, physics had taught her that exposed wires often created feelings of unease in humans: the exposed electricity interacting with the neuroelectricity beneath humans' skin. People generally stayed away from places that were uneasy, so at least she knew she'd be safe from any wandering teens or Guardians. And the amount of energy she sent out was so small, but she still waited several hours into the night, huddled beneath a work bench trying to keep warm, and waiting for the Guardians to find her - to throw open the shed door and haul her out. But no one came, and eventually sleep claimed her.

Something pressed against her side as she stirred to waking. Shifting, she moved so she was pressed against his side more firmly - Hiei. Turning toward him, she caught his eye and grinned - Bjorn or Chu had just said something funny and even though he didn't smile as widely as she did, his crimson eyes lit in mirth. With the firelight dancing across his face, she could even see flecks of amber nestled next to his pupils-

With a start, Ashley was awake, catching her head before it drooped off her shoulder.

It took her several long heartbeats to realize that she wasn't surrounded by her friends in front of a campfire.

To realize it wasn't Hiei she was sitting against, but rather the legs of the workbench she'd hidden herself under the night before.

To realize that she had chosen to stay, rather than going with Hiei, and there was no way to contact him and beg him to come back.

There were no cell phones, no Jagan eye, no use of her power without risking the Guardians finding her.

Her family was gone, Mako was taken, and she was totally, and utterly alone.

The world had lost over a billion lives four days prior, and there was no one she could call - Isla was dead, her parents were god knew where, Oliver had betrayed her deepest trust, and Hiei was more pissed at her than she'd ever seen him. And his words - even the memory of them cut sharp - "You're nothing but a distraction!"

Her heart squeezed and shuttered, remembering his curt tone. The betrayal and anger and hurt in his gaze.

"As long as you're here, you've betrayed me."

The way he stepped away from her, as if she had shocked him.

"It's obvious you didn't love me like you said you did. - Love is just a convenient excuse."

"Try not to die."

Ashley broke.

She knew she shouldn't cry; she needed to get moving, but the memory of their last interaction absolutely broke her. His words sliced her to the bone.

Every event that had happened over the last few days tumbled out of her in her sobs. Just open sobbing, crying. Crying for the loss of Hiei, crying for the loss of life, crying for the loss of her family, and normalcy, and all those cities just gone, and crying for not knowing what to expect next, and destroyed plans, and dreams and goals, and knowing what she wanted to do with her life, and the loss of being able to play the piano any time she wanted, or listen to music, or go out and buy something as simple as a candy bar. The loss of being able to laugh with her best friend, Knox's kisses waking her up on Saturday mornings, watching scary movies with Oliver and Sophia, dreams of traveling anywhere in the world, or just picking up the phone and calling anyone -

Everything that was normal, that she knew she could expect from her life, all of it left her in the open, ugly crying and snot that ran down her face, tears that soaked the front of her hoodie. As soon as she thought she was done, memories of Hiei surfaced again, and she dissolved once more. Her heart had been ripped out of her. It had been ripped out of her in four days' time. Four days, and the world as she knew it had disappeared. What was even left?

Ashley cried for the better part of an hour. Many times she thought of her father and how he would always tell her and her siblings that they could cry for five minutes, or ten, and then they would need to clean themselves up again and continue on.

But she really didn't want to do that, right then. And the tears wouldn't stop, besides; it was like a great chasm opened up where her heart should be, and she didn't want to force herself to stop if she was just going to cry again later.

She kept crying, allowing herself to grieve, and slowly, Ashley quietened. The tears stopped flowing, and her ears were full, and she couldn't breathe out of her nose. She felt raw, like an open wound, but at least she'd stopped crying.

No matter what came down the line, she knew she first had to reach Mako, and get him out of whatever prison held him.

Gingerly, Ashley stretched and slowly got to her feet. She was sore, of course, from sitting on the concrete floor all night wedged between the wall and the workbench's leg, but she could move comfortably. She still couldn't breathe from crying, but she didn't have anything to blow her nose. That could wait, anyway.

Hunger gnawed at her stomach, and she knew she ought to find water at some point, too, especially if she was going to try to find Mako and get him out of whatever prison he was in. Watching her neck, which was sore from her sleeping position, Ashley removed her sweatshirt and turned it inside out. At least the Cambridge logo wouldn't be seen now. Not much she could do about her pants or shoes. Her hair was down, and she didn't have a hair tie. Looking around the shed, she tried to find anything that she might be able to use as part of a disguise, but there was little in the way of clothing. Only tools and wood shavings, really. It looked like a carpenter's shed.

But, the shed was behind a house - which she caught a glimpse of as she looked for anything to keep her hair tied back. A house in an evacuated neighborhood. And no one had electricity anymore to keep security systems active.

The idea clawed at her mind as she watched the house from the shed's window, hair tie forgotten.

Most likely the house would have food, too. Her stomach growled at the thought.

It might be the dumbest thing she would ever do, but she needed food and new clothes.

Carefully, Ashley crossed the distance between the shed and the house. Climbing the steps to the porch, she carefully looked through the darkened windows into the house beyond. No one moved inside, and though she strained her ears, she couldn't hear anyone either. Reaching out with her energy, she couldn't feel any energies within, either, which either meant that either someone was inside and hiding their energy, or more likely: the house really was deserted.

Even though she was certain that it wouldn't be unlocked, Ashley tried the back door first… to find it unlocked. The door swung open for her like it had been expecting her.

It was obvious that these people, whoever they were, just were trusting enough of their neighbors to leave their back door unlocked. Or had forgotten to lock it in their rush to leave. The house looked like whomever had lived here had left in a hurry. Nothing appeared to be ransacked, but papers were left where they had been placed, breakfast still sat on the table, attracting insects.

Ashley made quick work, running upstairs first to find any clothes she could wear. Two bedrooms looked like they belonged to two young girls: the rooms were covered in pink frills and clothes that looked like they would fit kids younger than ten. Clothes were strewn about on the floor, and a couple of the drawers to the dresser were cracked open. The next room was obviously the master bedroom: queen sized bed and His and Hers closets. As much as she wanted to go to the Hers closet first, Ashley realized she should wear clothes that gave away as little information about herself as possible. And warm clothes. Not knowing where she'd be sleeping in the coming days, she needed to be dressing as warmly as possible.

The "his" closet held exactly what she needed, after digging through it for a bit. Cargo pants, a long-sleeved top and jacket, as well as a ski cap. The cap might not work during the day, but during the night it would probably be great. In the dresser, she found a backpack, and shoved an extra jacket into it. Mako would probably need an extra layer. She found some hiking boots in the "hers" closet, although they were too big for her feet. Tennis shoes would have to do, then, until she could find a better option.

Ashley left the bedroom once she had everything she needed and was about to head downstairs before passing the linen closet. Hesitating outside it, she finally opened it, peering inside for an extra toothbrush or two, toothpaste, deodorant, maybe a hairbrush, or even a hair tie. No extra hairbrush, but there was an extra two toothbrushes and paste. She grabbed them both. In the children's bathroom she found a bundle of hair ties, and took one around her wrist, and took another to tie her hair up in a loose bun.

Downstairs, Ashley found some bottled water and threw a few of those into her pack and downed another. Canned goods lined the pantry, and she threw a few cans of beans into her backpack along with a can opener after she opened one of the cans of beans for herself - breakfast of champions. But food was food, and she didn't dare complain. It could have been much worse as far as deserted houses went.

Before an hour was up she was back on the street again and walking toward the warehouse that Eckhart had told her about. The building at Lacey and Hill, however was less a warehouse, and more an old newspaper printing office. Still, the streets around it also led to trade buildings. As she got closer, though, more and more Guardians began popping up. From street patrols, to guards who had been staked out on top of roofs. Chain link fencing had been set up around the building itself, though, knowing what the building held within it, it was almost laughable that they thought chain link fencing, even with barbed wire on top, would slow down the powerful demons inside. Because with the paranoia-level security, Ashley was positive that she had found the correct place.

She found an alley that led out to the main street that the building was on, and she could easily see it if she was at the edge of the alley. As much as she wanted to storm into the building, grab Mako, and leave, she also was completely aware of her lack of power. Sure, she could bring demons to their knees with the slightest touch, but against the high-range guns that the Guardians toted she was as defenseless as a powerless human. And she wasn't about to kill anyone - Guardian or not. Not again.

She shivered at the memory of her power racing through those demons' bodies, mapping them from the inside out before killing them, and quickly shoved the memory aside. She couldn't get lost in those nightmare memories, not if she wanted to get Mako out from the prison he was in. Not if she wanted to be productive.

Ashley watched the building for most of the day. Normally, she wouldn't have noticed that the lights at the front of the building remained on, but it was four days since electricity had been lost to the general public. Apparently that was not the case for government-operated buildings. Or Guardian-operated buildings, rather, not like there was much of a difference. The Guardians wouldn't even have known that Mako was a demon except that that customs officer had had to record it when they landed in Heathrow the week prior, which told her that they were working closely with one another - just like Isla had warned her before.

The guards changed out front just like Eckhart had told her - right at noon. There was some stiffness to their movements, but for the most part they were lax. Few visitors came in and out the front. Likely, they thought that they only had to worry about their prisoners inside.

Movement caught her peripheral vision, and Ashley's neck turned on a swivel immediately. It was down the alley, but when she looked, no one was there. It hadn't necessarily been the bulkiness of a human, but almost like -

No, that was impossible.

Still, a chill rose up the back of her neck, hairs standing at attention. She had the very particular feeling of being watched. The last time she had felt this was back at the House when Annabelle would stand in the doorway or over her bed and watch her as she slept. Slept, and tried to ignore the feeling.

She couldn't ignore it now. Ashley glanced up to the rooftops above her, but no one was there. Eyes darting back to the alley, still no one showed their face.

Just when she was about to chalk it up to being paranoid and turn back toward the building to continue watching it, more movement caught her attention. This time, it occurred in the space of the alley's opening, between her and the building beyond. Just like she originally thought - it was like silk slipping down an invisible wall, or water rushing over rock, slowly, and then all at once. The space next to her glistened, and caught the light like oil, creating fragile rainbows that were suspended in the air.

If she'd been any less mesmerized by it, Ashley likely would have caught the very human movement, then, which rushed at her and caught her by the shoulders, slamming her against the wall. The back of her head knocked against the wall harshly, and she blinked away stars.

"Who are you?" He shouted, but behind him, down the main street the Guardians continued on as normal, as if they couldn't hear the man.

"Ugh- They'll- They'll hear you!" Ashley gasped, trying - for whatever reason - to convince the man to keep his voice down in fear the Guardians would notice them and capture them, too.

"Who are you?" He snarled again, his voice a deadly razor, and Ashley turned her attention to him. She raised her hands in surrender.

"My name is Ashley Wright," she began. He was dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, hood pulled up over his red hair. He looked only a few years older than her, and very much not a Guardian, but pissed off angry. "Please, keep your voice down - they'll hear you," she hissed in a whisper, pleading with him.

His face cracked into a grin, eyes alight. "But they won't. You're in my territory, now." Territory. Genkai had told her about those. "Even if you scream they won't hear you."

She had half a mind to test his statement, but something else struck her. "You wouldn't have activated your territory if you were concerned about them hearing us. Which means you're not one of them."

He was frowning before she could speak the words.

"Let me guess: you're here to rescue a boyfriend? Girlfriend?" He was disdainful and let her go, having seized her up enough to not consider her a threat.

While Ashley was grateful he had let her go, a small part of her was offended that he would think so little of her. "Friend, actually." She straightened her jacket, then reached for the back of her head, which was a little sticky.

"Think you're going to break your friend out, then?" He stood across from her, leaning against the wall, hands shoved in his pockets. He was confident and cocky, watching her as if he knew that even if she tried to attack him he could easily defeat her.

Dislike boiled within her.

"Going to try," she replied and he scoffed. "Look. I don't know about you, but my friend is in there and I need to get him out."

Even as her words were stern, he scoffed and shook his head, like he couldn't believe her. "I have got agents in there to break out demons and psychics. We go into motion tomorrow, and you're not messing that up for us." He said it condescendingly.

She bit back a retort, and instead stood straighter. "I want to help."

Angry Boy looked back at her, narrowing his gaze and sweeping her up and down once. "Can you take someone's life if need be?"

The one question she wouldn't answer with an affirmative. "No," she finally admitted.

Angry Boy shook his head and shoved off the wall, stalking toward the other side of the alley. "Then you'll just be in the way."

She raced after him. "Why? I can help in other ways-"

"I don't think you understand the situation we're in." He rounded on her, and Ashley was immediately backpedaling to avoid running into him. "This is no longer civilized society. We are under the rules of war now; of Demon World: kill or be killed. I'm not babysitting some prat who won't even defend herself-"

"I'm good with technology!" Ashley broke in. "They have lights - electricity - that's what I have an affinity for. I'm a psychic, too. What creates more chaos than darkness when it's least expected?"

Angry Boy was quiet, watching her, but when she didn't backtrack or stammer or continue talking, he finally nodded. "Fine," he said, as if agreeing to something he was sure was going to come back to haunt him. "Follow me."

The plan was simple enough, Ashley reminded herself as she hid next to the circuit breakers outside the newspaper building. Just trip the circuit breakers, and make a beeline through the allies and away from the building. As soon as Guardians came to check out the power surge and get the electricity back on, the plan would begin and Ashley's part in the plan would be done.

Angry Boy - Aaron, he had introduced himself as - had explained that he had agents posing as demons and guards inside the prison. Once the power was out and the Guardians were scrambling, then they would be the ones to break the others out. Ashley just had to wait for Aaron's signal and then she would begin working.

Aaron was supposedly posing as a mailman and had been working on forming a relationship with the guards posted at the front of the building for weeks. Sharing smoke breaks, or something. From her position behind a dumpster, she could barely make out the end of the alley, but Aaron's signal would be as he walked past the opening of the alley and dropped his cigarette. Simple enough.

But her heart still hammered in her chest with nerves.

The sun was close to setting for the day, creating long shadows and plunging her alley into darkness already. She could hear him howling over something one of the Guardians said at the front of the building, and slowly, finally, he began his trip across the open mouth of the alley. He was smiling about something, hands spread wide as if encouraging or embarrassed. Between two fingers in his right hand he held the cigarette.

One of the Guardians shouted something, and as he did, Aaron took a long drag of the cigarette as the other hand shot up into the hair in goodbye. As he turned away, he put out his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe and dropped it.

Aaron continued walking away and Ashley looked down at her watch.

He'd said to give it fifteen minutes. And Ashley stared at her watch, as if her life depended on it. Willing the minute hand to go faster. None of the Guardians had passed through her alley yet on patrol, but she knew from watching the building yesterday that they passed through the alley every thirty minutes, and she'd planted herself here after the last one had passed through. She prayed the Guardian's pace hadn't picked up in the twenty four hours since she last watched the alley. Once her watch reached fifteen minutes she would have only a scant handful of minutes to disappear before the next guard came through the alley - and that was only if the guy didn't notice anything amiss. Likely, they would come running toward the circuit breaker, giving her seconds to get away.

Finally, the minute hand clicked into place. 4:45 pm.

Ashley yanked open the circuit breaker's door and placed her hands over it. She wasn't really sure how, exactly, to do this, but she didn't have much time to figure it out. With a quick prayer, she raised her energy levels, calling upon it and pushing it into the wires.

Nothing happened.

She raised her power more, and more, and more, finally losing patience and pushing all of her power into the box all at once. With a snap and pop the thing exploded and a shout was heard from inside.

Stepping back, a grin broke over her face before she began sprinting down the alley, toward the opposite side that Aaron had walked past. As she did, she tucked her energy back down, hiding it from any trackers that might be trying to find her. It likely wasn't enough to have gotten Hiei's attention, but it probably - definitely - would have captured the Guardians'.

She turned a corner, and down another alley, sprinting with all her might to get away from the building. She ran through the maze of alleys, the way Aaron had showed her earlier in the day, and back toward the front of the building, where he'd said they demons would come from. Ashley gave the newspaper building a large berth, and finally stopped in the same alley that she had been in the day before, just on the other side of the street. Catching her breath, she watched for something - anything - to happen. The guards posted at the front had disappeared - likely racing inside to try to help with the chaos within.

Without anyone around and the Guardians that had been on the roofs yesterday gone, Ashley crossed the street quickly, stopping in the alley she had been in the day prior. She had a better angle from this side of the street.

Minutes passed. Checking her watch, it had been ten minutes, and she began to get antsy. How would she know if this worked? What if it hadn't? What if all it had done was piss off Guardians and get them to tighten security? What would she do if that was the case?

At one minute before five, the front door of the building blew off it's hinges and collided with the buildings across the street. Dust and smoke poured out the front doors as demons and psychics poured out of the front of the building like ants, and scattered into the allies beyond.

Some were headed her way, and she pressed herself against the alley's brick wall as some slipped down her alley and ran.

She kept watching for the violet hair of Mako, and eventually she saw two figures racing toward her. One was wearing a Guardian's uniform, but was encouraging the other to keep running with a wave of her hand before she turned back toward the building. Ashley caught the violet streak of Mako's hair as she finally caught his gaze. Coughing, he reached Ashley, and she pulled him into her alley, turning back toward the main street to see the woman who had been helping him out was facing down Guardians that were beginning to spill out the front doors after them, and more racing down the street in armored cars.

The Guardian who had helped Mako planted her feet wide and threw out her hand in a snap. Except, it wasn't a normal snap of her fingers. The sound was magnified, like a sonic boom, and it roared down the street, shattering the windows along both sides of the street and forcing the Guardians that were racing after them to their knees. Covering their ears, they fell to the ground, completely at her mercy. The tires blew out against the sound barrage, and the driver lost control as his own hands went to his ears and the car swerved, until it finally crashed into one of the buildings.

The Guardian didn't wait to see the devastation that she had caused, however. She turned tail immediately, as if knowing exactly what her power was going to do, and raced toward the alley the way that Mako had come.

Ashley barely caught her face as the Guardian sped toward her, but the Guardian hooked a left down Ashley and Mako's alley with a desperate, "Come on! We've got to go!"

Even though Ashley hadn't caught the woman's face, the wind was knocked out of her and she stumbled, reaching for the wall for support.

It was impossible. Ashley had seen Heathrow collapse and she'd heard the line click dead. She had resigned herself to the fact that she would never hear that voice again in her lifetime.

But she had just heard it again, and as far as she could tell, she wasn't dead yet.

Turning, Ashley saw that the Guardian was already several paces down the alley, but she had stopped, as if waiting for Ashley and Mako to catch up.

Ashley tried to find her voice, and then it was all she could do to speak as she took in the woman in front of her. It was impossible.

"Isla?"

This chapter was, in a lot of ways, both really really hard to write, and cathartic. A lot has happened in the last month, and I barely recognized my life from even three weeks ago. I added that scene with Ashley crying toward the end of writing this chapter. I didn't think she would have at first, cried like that, but after experiencing what it's like, personally, to have your entire world come crumbling down, I think that's exactly how she would have reacted. If you're feeling similarly, know you're not alone. We're all trying to adjust to this radical new reality we find ourselves in, and if you haven't allowed yourself to grieve yet, I highly recommend it. You will feel better, I promise.

Writing a story about the world coming to an absolute halt was fun and exciting when it wasn't real life, which is another reason why it's taken me so long to get this chapter out. I'm going to try to keep putting chapters out at a more consistent basis, because I've learned that the only way through a tough situation is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Keep moving forward, no matter what. I'm going to channel Ashley, and go through this with her.

I will be taking a short hiatus to participate in Camp Nanowrimo this month, and then I'll be posting again in May.

Thank you to musicnutftw, rsaenz18, JohnGreenGirl, and VictoriousVal for your reviews since August 6! I always love getting to read my reader's comments, and know what you think. Please, please review!