" All we can do is live while losing things."
- Renji Yomo (Tokyo Ghoul)
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Rize POV
Kaiko stood with a grin, opening his hands as he finished listening into his com on his ear. "It seems we've received new orders." He said.
After saying this, countless V members ran at us from all sides. I released my kagune and shot it at three in front of me, each tendril hitting their mark through their chests. Levin grabbed a few with a large talon and threw them across the street, the speed they traveled sent a blur to my sight.
Their bodies hit the ground violently. His other talon went through two others, cutting them both in half.
Some of them held quinques and some others released kagune. Levins eyes squinted through his broken mask.
"Rize, were escaping. We can't fight this many unharmed." He said, glancing at me. I gave him a nod as I ducked under a blade, and Levins Talon impaled the man through the chest.
As we're getting ready to open up a small way for us, a voice echoes through the courtyard.
"What is this?!" Said the surprised voice.
I turned around and scanned the face of a very particular man. Wearing a suit and glasses. Levin clicked his tongue in irritation. "Matsuri Washu." He mumbled.
That's Matsuri? A member of the Washu clan, one of the people I probably would've ended up as a breeding pig for. The very thought made me gag.
Matsuri scanned the faces and stopped of Kaiko's. "Kaiko? Why are you here? What has that bitch ordered you to do?!" He asked, his temper growing.
The investigators following him looked confused. They most likely had no idea Matsuri was a ghoul. But his whining, Kaiko smiled and let out a chuckle.
"It has been deemed that the Washu clan is a hindrance. You will be eliminated." He said.
Matsuri grit his teeth. "Damn you! I will not die here!" He yelled. He swung two quinque swords at Kaiko, but Kaiko just seemed amused by this.
His kagune slid from his back and grabbed both swords. And suddenly, as in a blink of an eye, dozens more blades came from Kaiko's back, and sliced all in different directions at once.
Matsuri froze for a moment, then fell into pieces, his guts and even brain protruding out of the corpse. His healing factor wasn't big enough to pull himself back together, I'd be surprised if anyone could survive an attack like that.
Even Levin winced at seeing this. Would Levin be able to brush off damage like that? I wouldn't know, but judging by the look on his face, he didn't want to test the theory.
"Hindrance indeed..." Kaiko murmured, then looked over at us, aiming his kagune blades. "Now to my other objective."
The Washu clan was being wiped out, and now we're his next targets. Goody.
I pull on Levin's sleeve. "Let's get a move on, we don't stand a chance against this guy." I said in a low voice so that Kaiko wouldn't hear.
Levin pursed his lips. "But if we don't take him out now, then he'll be a pain in the neck later." He said.
"I know but we don't have time to-!"
My voice was cut off by one of Kaiko's blades flying in our direction, slicing Levin in the shoulder. Blood poured from the wound and slashed on my side.
I grit my teeth, losing my temper and throwing all my tendrils at him. He sliced a few away, but one of them stabbed him clearly in the stomach.
He flinched and quickly sliced the last one off as I made more grow out of my back. Levin thrust forward with two talons, in which Kaiko deflected away, and tried for a stab at his side.
As his blades are heading for Levin I stop them, and give time for Levin to turn around and slice Kaiko in the arm, splitting it open. As he backed off from our attack, Levin rushed in, covering his body with his kagune from Kaiko slashing at his.
His kagune dispersed as he was right next to Kaiko, and punched him in the throat, making him cough and choke as he kneed his stomach also. Levin backed off for a split second, then propelled himself in the air a bit with one talon, while the others wrapped around his right hand, becoming a sharp blade and slicing his arm fully off.
I grinned at this. When it comes to close combat, Levin is one of the best. Suddenly, a kagune burst from the ground, and stabbed Levin in the leg.
He couldn't react in time, but with this distraction, Kaiko stabbed Levin with two other blades in the chest. Levin struggled, as I cut the blades off and backed away with him.
"Don't be reckless." I said under my breath.
Levin spit out some blood. "I can-! What the..." he trailed off, his back kagune sac trying to push out another talon, but nothing would come.
A thought hits me when I look at Levin's leg. A capsule with a needle is stuck there, the liquid that had been in it already in Levin's body.
"H cell suppressants!" I said, cursing under my breath. The kagune that came from the ground must've held in at the end of the tendril.
Levin cursed also. "Damn! Now we're definitely getting out of here." He said, growing worried.
Now your worried?
We both stood as Levin finished healing. But with the suppressants it was slower, and it'd only get more so if we stayed.
Another tendril burst from underground and stabbed Levin in the back. I cut that one in half, and checked the wound. Another suppressant was there. I pull it out before it can fully inject the fluid.
"S-Shit... I'm feeling woozy already." Levin mumbled, stumbling a bit on his feet.
I'm about to help him, but he falls to one knee. "Damn..." he mumbled in irritation.
"Feeling sleepy?" Kaiko said, his tendrils all aimed underground. We didn't know when they'd strike. Around us the V members and Investigators fought. But soon one side would be victorious and they'd swarm us for sure.
I left Levin up and glare at him, shaking him to snap him out of his daze. "Stay here." I said.
Levin looked confused, as if he couldn't understand what I had said. But I still turned quickly around, and pushed myself forward with my Kagune off the ground, and slashed at Kaiko from above.
He glided my blades to the side, and pulled his tendrils out of the ground, attacking me with them instead. I dodge to the side and quickly jab at his stomach.
I'm about to back off, when suddenly a blade flies at my face. I try to sweat it away with my hand and my Kagune, but it jabs me in the left eye. My sight on the left side went red and black, a weird mixture. Pain pushed into me as well as panic.
But I shook the blade off and with my sight available was able to land another uppercut on Kaiko, on his chest this time. He grit his teeth, beginning to feel that he was losing his grip.
Swung a fake with my Kagune, and leaned down to grab a quinque, slashing him across his jaw. It ripped it apart, the mace I had picked up worked nicely on smashing where I aimed. His jaw was barely hanging off his face, and his tongue wiggling around.
He panicked, but I took this chance and whacked him again with the mace in the side, I could feel the vibration of ribs cracking under its pressure.
He regained his posture and sliced downward, cutting my right hand off and making me drop my mace. I spin around his next try and stab him in the heart.
We stood there frozen for some time. I felt light for a moment, and my chest felt wet. I glanced down to find one of Kaiko's blades had found its mark, and was stabbed into the middle of my chest.
Kaiko laughed, it was more of a gurgle, from his messed up jaw. I glared at him. "You should ask permission before putting your hand on a woman's chest!" I said, ripping my Kagune upwards through his chest and head, splitting him in two.
His body fell to the ground, and I had to use my Kagune to balance myself. My breathing felt rigid. I looked over at Levin to find him passed out on the concrete. My body was beginning to feel numb. I glance down as see a vital of suppressant in my thigh. I pulled it out.
I stumbled over to him and picked him up with my Kagune, slowly walked down the street and avoiding the fights going on. I need to keep him safe.
Somewhere safe...
Safe...
Levin POV
(Turn on that sad music...)
My eyes slowly opened to the smell of the ocean. I felt numb, and my body ached. I sat up, noticing I was laying on a park bench. In the distance I could hear explosions and other noises.
That's right... V and the data! I checked around, and soon caught site of Rize.
She was sitting on the ground whilst leaning against the bench I was on. Her body was covered in blood and her chest was ripped open some. Her right hand was cut off, and she had am a scratches everywhere.
She looked up at me and smiled. "Morning." She said shortly. Her voice sounded strangled.
I keeled next to her, I moved slowly, as if a sudden movement could make her shatter like glass. I glided my hand to her cheek and smiled.
"You got messed up pretty bad." I said, my voice sounding small. She nodded.
"Yeah. I did." She said. "Come and sit down."
She patted next to her, and I obeyed, sitting on the concrete next to her. I sat in the pool of her blood that had covered the area around her.
"Y'know... I've gotta say something I've been holding in." Rize said, looking me in the eyes. "Remember when Kurona had disappeared, and everyone thought she had died? When Nashiro snapped you out of it, you were finally being yourself again."
I remembered. "Yeah, what about that?"
"When it turned out she was alive, I knew you'd do something reckless." She said, still looking me in the eyes. "I wished deep down that she had never come back."
I flinched when hearing this.
"Isn't that terrible? I'm terrible. I thought we'd go back to normal, and we could avoid fighting after Aogiri was taken care of. I thought I had a chance.
"If she was gone I could have a chance to make you fall in love with me. I wanted to mend your broken heart. But when I heard she was alive, I knew that chance was gone with the wind.
"Jealousy is terrible." She said, taking a long breath.
I opened my mouth a few times, trying to speak, but I finally got some words out. "That's a normal feeling. Jealousy." I said. I understood. I just did.
Rize smiled. "I know. But that still made me feel like crap. She's my best friend, Kuro. Yet I felt like that." She said.
"You don't have to tell me. Please." I said, I couldn't handle the truth anymore. I already felt like she had these feelings, but I didn't want to bring it up.
"Levin. Is this was what you want?" She asked.
"What I want? Of course. I want to become someone that everyone can detest, someone that can take all of the hate." I exclaimed.
Rize sighed. "Such a liar. Your doing to this become a martyr." She said, making me freeze. "You want to die. Simple as that. You don't want to lose anything anymore. Your tired of the pain you've gone through your whole life."
"Stop."
"You want to make everyone hate you so they won't miss you when your gone. You want to disappear, and forget your promise with Kuro and everyone."
"Please, stop."
"Why? Why don't you want to listen? Your only listening to what others tell you to do. Eto told you to take up the mantle of being the trouble maker, the one that keeps the ghouls in check with being menace. And Nashiro said you should become something that everyone can look to for something to hate. But they didn't mean for you to use that to die."
I grabbed her shoulders and shook her slowly, my voice small and insignificant. Her breath was slowly coming to a halt. I panicked, I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
"Not again, I don't want someone I love to die again. Not in front of me." I said, shaking my head and letting myself break down.
"I know."
"Dying is the only way to escape that! I don't want to see you or anyone die!" I yelled in defiance.
"Dying is the only way? Isn't that just cowardly thinking?" She said, grabbing my face and making me face her. Her left eye was gone, only blood covered her left side of her face.
"Yes. It is." I said. "But... I don't know what to do."
"That's alright. Just go seek help from the people you love so much for a change." She said, smiling up at me as she was slowly slipping from and upright position.
I grabbed her and held onto her. "Rize, I love you too." I said.
I could feel Rize smile. "Don't let this happen again, or I'll come back and haunt you, okay?" She said.
Closing my eyes and nodded and held her closer, I wanted to stay with her until...
We held hands tightly onto one another, and I slowly felt her tight squeeze become nothing. But I still hugged her. I still held onto her. I didn't want to look at her face.
A memory crossed my mind just then, as I was sitting there.
I was sitting in the garden with my mother following me. I was checking my flowers I had picked the other day we were here. I excitedly ran over to them, but to my surprise, they had all withered and died.
I remember crying and my mother kneeling next to me, her white hair looked beautiful in the sunlight. "Calm down. We can get you new ones." She said.
I looked at the ground. "Things are always dying. In a book I read yesterday, one of my favorite character died. Why do the best people die?" I asked.
My mother tapped her chin thinking, then smiled. "When in a garden, what flowers do you pick?" She asked.
I looked up at her and then looked around me. Vibrant colors around me and birds chirped with a beauty I couldn't describe. But I remember what I said to her question.
I opened my eyes and pulled away from Rizes body a bit. I looked at her face. She looked asleep, but I could see a smile on her lips. I felt myself grow more teary, and I couldn't help but smile in grief.
"I pick the most beautiful ones."
(I got a bit teary myself when writing this. But what's done is done. I wanted Rize to be Levin's mediator through this arc, and to let him see what his true goal was. Nonetheless I hope you enjoyed and have a wonderful day!) - MnMs171