I disclaim all rights to the song "Shell" by Bana and the series Witch Hunter Robin, as much as I admire and wish for the ability to own it. Having the ability to call up fire and whatnot with the flicker of an eye wouldn't be too bad either.
Frenzy
Outside it was a bleak and desolate evening. Wisps of nearly nonexistent gray clouds floated listlessly across a dreary sky. The last stains of a brilliant sunset had died. It was dark enough, that the few pedestrians walking on the sidewalks would have ignored the young woman walking down the streets.
Would have, except for what was in her eyes. They watched her for just a moment after she passed them. Haunted. The sight was enough to make one give an abrupt intake of breath. Then shake one's head, not understanding.
She kept walking, ignoring the stares. It was again that she was about to leave one place, and on to another. This time, only with a small piece of paper as her guide.
It had only happened a few, almost tangible, hours ago.
A huge explosion rocked the entire building. All stood up immediately alert. Then there was nothing but smoke and debris flying, bits of the wall, blown into smithereens, hit her face, clogging her throat. It was hard to breathe. She almost missed Michael¡¦s frantic shout.
"Robin! Run!"
Shots rang out, sharp blows rendering her partners, friends, unconscious.
And furiously blinking away the dust in her eyes, she saw them. Doujima, Haruto, Michael, Hatori. They were no longer standing.
She was still staring, still shaking, and still in shock, as the trigger was about to be pulled, and she was about to be shot, when Amon pulled her away, a bullet whizzing just past her shoulder. Where she would have been.
Then they were running down the stairs, him unlocking each story's door with an admission code. She followed, and listened.
Listened as he explained. Eyes, widened when he told her the whys of his actions.
They spun on their heals as shots rang out again, doors being forced open. They were being trailed again.
Out into the courtyard, their frantic footsteps echoing faintly against the cobblestone ground.
He asked her if she could make a hole in the wall. She said she could. And did.
She hadn¡¦t known then. Her mind had been too jumbled, her thoughts too frenzied. She hadn't known this burst of fire, leaving the smoldering remains of an opening against the stones, was her protection. They would go out to search for her. They would never suspect a hidden passage.
She looked back, after the dust had cleared. "You believed in me didn't you?"
There was a world between them then, as they stood there.
"I was ordered to overlook your hunt. But I couldn't do it."
When they went down into the passage, she hadn't understood then. Not when he had let her enter first. Not when he had pulled her around and slipped that small piece of paper in her hair.
Suddenly she was staring into his eyes. "Listen, if anything happens to me, look for this person."
Her eyes widened, as the entrance began to close, and he lifted himself out of the passage. When she tried to push the button, to stop it from closing, he had pushed her hand back.
And then everything was swallowed in dark.
She had been crying, but not hard enough to miss the shots that had rung out. Nor did she miss the thud of a body falling to the ground. Though she wished she had.
Then, it hadn't been so clear to her. The thought simply been forced into the back of her mind. As soon as she had step down in that swirl of molding stairs, hearing nothing but her own sharp breaths, and her footsteps resounding against the ageless walls, she was no longer a hunter. She had left Solomon behind. This time, the tables had turned.
It was now dark enough that even the most observant of passersby would have missed her. The solitary woman walking down the nearly deserted streets, looked up at the swirl of dark in the night skies without slowing her pace. Already, there were a million thoughts pushing their way into her mind. It was all she could do to remain calm. Keep walking. She felt watched. Like some wild animal. The predators just behind, just out of sight.
The tiny piece of paper was gripped tightly in her trembling hand.
So this is what it feels like to be one of the hunted.
And thus, I find myself lost astray in a world of pallid darkness
...if I were but to close my eyes, I'd soon vanish, fade, and disappear into oblivion...
Events based on the pivotal episode 15.