Blood and violence warning ⚠️
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"Just get to the theatre... just- get to the theatre..."
(Y/N) huffed and trudged down the sewer tunnel with her focus on reaching the blockade. The headache was slowly becoming more painful by the second. The random spikes made tears well up in her eyes from the pain. She couldn't feel her arms anymore and was scared to look at them. Her elbows now felt numb, she was sure her skin was cold to the touch, she didn't want to imagine what she looked like overall.
To keep herself focused and ignore the pain in her head, she repeatedly whispered those words to herself. Once she got to the theatre, she'll find a good place to lie low and check up on herself. For now, she needed to keep moving.
Whenever she passed a different tunnel, she would peak to make sure no one was in them. Akai is still out there and it's been almost an hour since she left Edith, Ki should be aware of her disappearance by now.
And for the first time, (Y/N) wanted I9 to appear. If she can stop the virus from getting worse, then she'll be ready to end it.
"Just get to the-" (Y/N) stopped when she felt something cold hit her boot. She looked down and saw water. Following it, the water got deeper and deeper until she couldn't see anymore up ahead from the darkness. She squinted her eyes and noticed that the tunnel seemed to stop there. Was she at the cave in?
'I made it?' Stumbling through the water that began reaching her ankles, (Y/N) reached the cave in and placed her hands on one of the pieces of debris that fell from above. Remembering that there was a sewer gate she was supposed to take, she found it half submerged to her left. (Y/N) cringed at the idea of getting her parka soaked due to the cold but she'll warm up when she reaches the theatre.
(Y/N) approached the sewer gate and got down onto her knees. When she went to open it up, an echoing thump sounded from somewhere above her. She quickly looked up at the ceiling. The street should be above her so maybe it was an animal or a demon walking by? Thinking back to what Edith said, the theatre is in route of Capturers and should be filled with gas so nothing will be able to smell her. (Y/N) sniffed the air and indeed, she picked up a chemical scent. She got back to work on the gate and crawled through it when she pulled it open.
When she got through, her entire front, arms, and legs were soaked. She shivered but pressed on.
And once again, around the same area as the last thump behind her, it echoed again and really started making the girl nervous. A ladder leading high up must've been the one Edith was talking about but (Y/N) began hesitating. She didn't know what those bumps were and if she was going into unfamiliar territory, would she be alright? To ease her nerves, she pulled out her knife and held it close to her while taking the bomb out of her backpack and storing it into her parka's inner pocket. In case I9 was around she can quickly pull it out and use it.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before heading to the ladder. "You got this, (Y/N). You're almost out."
As she climbed, she thought about everything that has led her up to this. The decisions she's made, the people she's come to know. If she had done something differently, maybe her fate would be different.
If she'd never pursued demonology in school, where would she be instead?
If she was never so friendly to Ki and Akai, would they still have fallen for her?
If she didn't force them to stay in their cells when so many other demons had gotten out due to I9, would they still have chosen to kidnap her?
Maybe if she did something differently at the start, she wouldn't be here, climbing up an old ladder to who knows what above ground. She could be climbing to her death and not know it. Or she could be climbing to her freedom. She was in a 50/50 situation and didn't know what the outcome would be.
A small tear fell down her cheek as she focused on climbing. All she wanted was to see her sister again and she'll continue until she does.
And with a sniff, (Y/N) reached the top and quietly placed her fingers on the cold metal lid. The tiny holes were blocked with dirt but to her fortune, the lid wasn't locked or blocked by anything. She carefully pushed it up just enough to see a concrete floor littered with boxes. Her eyes panned the floor until she almost jumped at a skeletal hand blocking her view of a door. The skeleton laying next to a lid wore a tattered worker's uniform that was worn by theatre employees. It also had a key resting in its bony fingers that (Y/N) carefully took. She lifted the lid up more, being mindful of the creaking noise it made, and silently set it on the floor. Once she got out, she was able to see that the skeleton was missing its entire lower body and it appeared that the person pulled themselves into the room by the dark dried up trail leading to a closed metal door. (Y/N) pieced together what might've happened to the poor skeleton and her idea was... brutal.
Looking around some more, the room she was in did appear to be a backroom. Knocked over shelves, opened lockers with more of the uniforms and other stuff, and boxes with faded logos displaying"Neptune Cinemas" across the tops.
"I made it..." (Y/N) whispered.
The scent of the gas was more stronger and (Y/N) had to cover her nose while she approached the door. The key she got from the skeleton must've gone to the door. She could make this room her hideout but anything could suddenly pop up from the sewers without warning.
She pushed the key into the lock and opened up the door before taking quick peaks outside. She was met with a dark hallway that went two ways and a red curtain wall in front of her. She looked down to the left and saw a dead end, then to her right saw another door with a broken "main room" sign above it. Pulling out her knife, she began walking to the door while praying to whatever god she can pray to have her back in this moment. She's gonna need all the help she can get, even spiritual luck.
Before she could get closer to the door, another noise stopped her in her tracks. This time, it was ahead of her...
The noise sounded like something made of glass broke. Now she was for certain that it wasn't just the building settling...
Did they find her..?
If Ki, Akai, or even I9 did show up, they couldn't smell her. The chemical gas was so strong that she had to cover her nose with her shirt and sleeve. It should be strong enough to cover her scent. (Y/N) obviously couldn't stay in the building though, at least in an area where she's inhaling gas. If the virus doesn't kill her, the fumes will.
After the noise, it went back to dead silence. (Y/N) reached the slightly opened door and peeked through it like she did the last time and found nothing besides an empty opening area of the theatre.
Damaged ticket booths, a very messy concession stand, old posters of very old movies, and a shattered glass pane on the ground below a glass wall. That must be what broke...
But what broke it?
She didn't see any animals or anything swinging down from the ceiling. The ceiling was also made of broken glass so piles of snow covered parts of the theatre floor.
The building wasn't welcoming but it was going to be her safe house, if she can make sure that she's alone that is...
(Y/N) got low to the ground and hid behind a counter close to the door. The gas was the strongest in the main area of the theatre so if she can find another backroom like before, she won't be inhaling so much of the fumes. Theaters are pretty rare to find in the Zones, not many are built or frequented because not that many movies are being produced and a lot of older movies from before the apocalypse were lost in the rush underground. But if (Y/N) could remember from the last and only time she visited one, the screening rooms are pretty far in the back.
"Ok..." she muttered before getting up and heading to a hall that led to the screening rooms. She made sure to stay out of sight just in case anything was around and ducked into the hall quickly when she heard something else break from behind her. She hurriedly covered her mouth when her breathing quickened and pressed her body up against the hall's red walls.
Something was in the main room...
It must've come out once she got out of sight. It had heavy footsteps and ragged breathing like some type of brute. (Y/N) was afraid to look in fear of being seen. To her relief, it didn't sound like any demon she knows but that still means it's an unfamiliar enemy.
The demon didn't sound huge but not small either, and by the footsteps, she can tell that it walked on all fours. It must be pretty built or stocky to have ragged breathing. (Y/N) listened as it trudged around, bumping into things and breaking objects in search of food. Thankfully her scent is hidden since it didn't sniff her out already.
What was she going to do with that thing nearby?! She mostly relied on Ki and Akai to handle the demons but now she's on her lonesome. And remaining stealthy didn't seem like much of an option. She had to get rid of it somehow.
After spending a couple of minutes devising a plan to hopefully get rid of the demon, (Y/N) thought of one that may work.
'Most demons are weaker in their centers. If I can guess, the floors near the concession stand is easily breakable. If I can get it there and somehow get it stuck, I can jump in with one of those metal poles on the wall behind the stand and stab it in the gut close to its heart.' She used her knowledge of demons and her camera to see the creature without putting herself out there.
It matched her early estimation perfectly and looked like an overgrown bull dog with multiple eyes and short back legs. If she can aim at its heart perfectly from whatever angle it falls in, she can kill it in one go, or at least weaken it enough to strike again.
'Thank god I paid attention in school...'
(Y/N) placed her camera back in her bag and pulled out one of the uncooked meat she still had. It couldn't smell it but the noise should get its attention. Chucking the meat, it landed near the floor of the concession stand and showed that the area was far weaker than she had expected. It almost caved in from the small piece of meat. The demon heard it land though and ran over to get a bite of the food when it slipped on its own hind legs and into the weak floorboards where a loud crash sounded throughout the main room. (Y/N) took this as her queue to quickly jump out and dart behind the stand. She wrapped her hands around the metal pole leading to a sink and with one tug, yanked it from the wall.
The demon behind her struggled to free itself and obviously heard the girl running. It snarled and barked at her presence while trying to push its body up.
(Y/N) climbed onto the counter above it and angled the pole towards where its heart should be. It fell into the floor with its front going down... this should be hard.
She raised the pole up and prepared to strike down when a sound further above her almost made her drop her weapon.
A glass portion of the ceiling broke and rained down on her, forcing her to duck away. Then a very familiar figure struck her view and she almost gasped at the realization.
"Shit!" She huffed and ran, dropping the pole and sprinting over to the ticket booths for a place to hide.
'Nonononono!' (Y/N) thought as soon as she hid behind a booth close to the ground. She peeked out and saw the blond hair standing out from everything else.
It was Akai...
He looked like a total mess and the most infuriated she's ever seen him. His hair was grown out to his shoulders, huge red horns that curved towards the back of his head, and bright red eyes that looked like lava. His body was more muscular than the last time she's seen him, one of his arms was red with sharp claws that can tear through anything and his red leathery wings were back once again but this time, they looked more like another set of winged arms on his back.
How did he find this place?! He doesn't seem to notice her presence yet, to her luck.
Akai used his wings to lower himself down to the ground near the stuck demon that was now snarling at him. But after Akai landed harshly on the ground and mean mugged the creature, it started to whimper and cower where it sat. Maybe it realized that it had no chance of winning a fight against him?
Akai tsked at the cowering demon and proceeded to use his sharp claws to stab the demon in its gut and rip out its heart.
(Y/N)'s eyes widened at the brutal kill. The demon soon passed away but Akai didn't stop there. He growled and shifted his other arm into a sword shape and repeatedly slashed the demon, decapitated it, and so much more that (Y/N) couldn't look anymore. The sound of it getting slaughtered to pieces mixed with Akai's angry growling scared the girl to her core.
He's furious. Furious because she was missing.
Akai attacked the poor demon while imagining it to be Ki. He imagined slashing the dark demon till he was unrecognizable. He imagined seeing Ki whimper to him, be scared of him for taking his girl away from him. Akai wanted to find Ki and make him regret ever getting put in the same cell as him. The black blood from the demon splattered all over Akai, freezing once it was exposed to air and further pissing the raging blond off.
(Y/N) couldn't help but think that'll he'll hurt her if he ever noticed that she's here. If she was to stay here, he can't be here. She's not going to let him ruin her chance at escaping again.
She gripped the knife in her hands tightly and started thinking back to her lessens on humanoid demons. A lot of them have different weak spots which are usually their most sensitive areas.
That area should be the back of Akai's right ear. If that spot makes him melt, then it should also be the weakest area of his body. She silently thanked Yama for exposing it. Gripping her knife again, she slowly moved out of hiding and tiptoed her way to him. Akai was busy making so much noise in his fit that he didn't hear the girl he loves approach him with the very knife he gave her.
While he ripped the poor demon's hind legs off, (Y/N) locked her eyes onto his neck and stayed mindful of her steps. If she misses, she's dead. She had to make her first swing count or else he'll see her, maybe be happy, surely be pissed, and most likely hurt her right back. She raised up the knife above her head and held her breath.
Then she struck.
She yelled as the blade flew downwards and hit its target straight on. Akai didn't realize she was there until the sharp blade dove down into the area behind his ear and rip into his flesh. (Y/N) put all her force into it and with doing so, lodged the knife deep into his skull before yanking it back out and thrusting again quickly. The blows left Akai gritting his teeth in pain and sending him to the ground. She yanked the knife out while breathing heavy and staring down at the struggling demon. The wound burned his head and black blood began spilling out with some covering (Y/N)'s blackened arms. At least they were numb so she didn't have to feel it sizzling into her skin.
(Y/N) stumbled back with a shocked look at what she had just done once the realization hit her.
She got him to the ground...
She injured him...
She needed to run!
And so she did. (Y/N) didn't waste a second to book it into the theatre before Akai could have the chance to see her again. Meanwhile, the demon struggled to breathe on the ground.
Blood was filling his throat and he struggled to breathe while his head felt lighter and lighter as he bled.
He saw her eyes as he went down. He heard her voice. She did this to him.
"What- the fuck- (Y/N)!" He choked as he began shifting the inside of his body. He couldn't stop the inner bleeding in his head but he did harden the wound enough to keep from losing anymore and closed his throat to prevent choking on his own blood. He kept seeing so many colors and blurs that it confused him.
He was going to teach his girl a lesson for doing that...
He spat out his blood and sharpened his teeth as he pushed himself off the ground, using the confession counter as a support, and tried tracking down the direction she went in. "(Y-Y/N)!"
Akai broke tables, threw chairs and decor, smashed the rest of the glass wall out, even punched the doors leading to the screening rooms off their hinges in his attempt to find her. He couldn't smell her beautiful scent. And he couldn't hear her from her being silent. He enjoys playing cat and mouse with her but this time he was pissed.
"(Y/N) GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!"
From inside screening room 3, the girl he was after was ducked down in the rows of seats with a hand covering her mouth and the other tightly holding the blood stained knife. But it was slowly inching towards the grenade she carried.
She could hear the muffled sounds of Akai in the hall and his rampage through literally everything while trying to find her.
"You know I missed you, babe. So if you come out now, maybe I'll forgive you~."
'Like hell you will!' She thought while listening to him try to sweet talk her out.
"I didn't think you had it in you!" Akai yelled as he touched the blood that covered his neck. "If I'm being honest, babe. That was kinda hot! But I'm still fucking pissed!"
She stabbed him and he thought it was hot?! Why couldn't she be given a sane demon like Tuca? Why those two?
(Y/N) heard him getting closer and closer to the room she was in as he continued to yell threats and sweet nothings at her.
"If you don't come out here in five seconds, I will burn down each fucking room until I flush you out!"
(Y/N)'s eyes widened. The gas... If he even lights a spark, the whole building will go!
"Don't!" Her voice echoed as she yelled but quickly covered her lips.
'Shit!'
Akai heard her yell and smirked. He's well aware of the gas and knew she was too. He looked at screening room 3 and dropped his smirk into an angry mug. "I wonder what's behind door number three."
(Y/N) almost yelped when the right doors to the room were kicked open. She inched closer to the dark seats as Akai began making his way down the steps.
"I wonder how you managed to get away from Sir Quiet. I was ready to beat his ass and snatch you up but I don't see him anywhere. Not like I care." Akai tsked, glad that Ki was not accounted for right now.
He growled as he kicked a seat hard enough to send it flying from the floor. "The fuck you stab me for?! I searched this entire area of this fucking city and when I actually find you, you stab me in the fucking head!? You better be lucky I don't find your ass or I'm gonna do way worse than slap you in the fucking face!"
Akai's still having a hard time breathing and hearing. His right ear was completely done until he can heal up again. The echo his voice was making bounced all around the room and it made him dizzy. "After everything I did, after all the things you made me feel, this is how I'm thanked? If you think you can escape me, then you must be the dumbest fucking human I have ever met!"
He snickered but growled which made her tense up in her hiding spot. "Can I just know why you decided to shank me in the head before saying hello?"
"Cause I'm sick of you!" She yelled.
Akai stopped and looked around the screening room.
"I'm sick of running, I'm sick of constantly feeling in danger, I'm fucking sick and tired of being treated like fucking object! You and Ki can go rot in hell for all I care!"
Due to his lack of hearing and the echoing of the room, Akai couldn't pinpoint where she was.
"Don't think for a second that you have some kind of ownership over me! I'm my own person and I want to go home! Back to the Zones, back to my sister, and far away from here!" Several angry tears fell down her cheeks as she watched Akai listen to her rant. He looked more angered now by her words than the stabbing.
"You want to go back down there? Why? After they tortued you?! Imagine what they'll do to you after all of this! They'll have a field day with you and I won't be there to stop it! And your sister, she doesn't care about you! She didn't care to pay a visit, she doesn't care about what you're doing!"
"You don't know that!" She glared.
"Oh I do, babe! Cause my brother is just like that." Akai growled as he kicked another seat that was sent flying into the blank white screen further down. "Who else is gonna be waiting for you down there, huh? The redhead? That bitch is dead and trying to kill you right now!"
"That's not Blythe..." (Y/N) wiped her tears as she had to move further away when Akai started walking in her direction.
"Who else is down there waiting for you? No one!"
"My friends are!" Axel and Angel are still there and she hated that they, along with her sister, aren't aware of where she was. They must be worried sick.
Upon hearing 'friends', Akai grew the most sadistic smile that (Y/N) feared. "Friends, huh?"
He started laughing which confused (Y/N). "Like your 'friend' Angel? Oh, that's richhh..."
What was he getting on about? (Y/N) watched him closely as his ego physically went up. She started to dread what he was going to say regarding Angel. She knows that Akai hated him but why was he laughing?
"Yea, sorry babe. Your little Angel is dead. He got in the way of us escaping, so I ripped his guts out~."
...
(Y/N) dropped her knife. She couldn't speak, she couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. "You-... wha-...?"
At that same moment, the left doors to the theatre burst open, and in came a crazed looking demon that Akai didn't have the pleasure of seeing. But since he was pissed at (Y/N), he decided to rub in the heartbreaking news some more.
"Hey, Ki! You remember us brutally murdering Angel after he found out that we weren't Scientists?!"
Ki didn't care and instead limped his way over to Akai to finally shut him up. He looked just as ragged as Akai. His ribs were still broken and the blond took notice of this with a sadistic smirk.
Before they could finally battle it out, something they both wanted to do since the Outsiders incident, (Y/N) revealed herself from the seats she was hiding behind. Both demons stopped as they saw the girl they loved with tears streaming down her face, her blackened hands and (e/c) eyes beginning to become more yellowish and bright despite the darkness.
"You killed him...?"