...
... ow.
...
What...? ... What happened?
Muffled noises rang in my ears and I became vaguely aware of someone shaking me.
...
Stop, that hurts...
Groggily, I cracked an eyelid, uncertain what was happening, unaware where I even was to begin with. It was dark for the most part, but I could see shadows and even some faces. The first one I saw, I knew very well from my dreams.
"Rin! Rin! Can you hear me?!" Her voice was frantic and I slowly shook myself out of my fog. "Rin! Hurry up, c'mon!" She was tugging on my arm, but I was too tired to move, and my body ached everywhere.
"Shima! Wake the fuck up, I'm not joking!" It was the first time I'd heard Bon sound so angry, but so scared. I blinked and opened my eyes wider, my hearing adjusting as well.
"Wha... what?" I glanced around, one of my eyes unable to open fully. Reaching up, I rubbed said eye, hissing when I irritated it even worse. Pullin my hand away, I was startled by the faint red tint to the liquid smeared on my hand. I was bleeding, what the hell happened?!
There was a racket and the lights turned on in the van, Yukio had kicked open the driver's side door and was desperately trying to pull open Izumo's door from outside. A quick look around had me both startled and terrified. A car crash... everything suddenly came back to me and I reached down to unbuckle my seatbelt, but the damn thing wouldn't let me go. With frightened eyes, well, eye, I darted my gaze to my friends.
Izumo, like me, was caught in her seatbelt. Shiemi was free from hers, but between me and Izumo, she had no way out. A small cut on her forehead bled a little, and she seemed shaken, but overall she was fine. Shura crawled over the center console; grabbing Shiemi by the arm and pulling her out of Yukio's door as well.
Frantic, my eyes moved back to the seats behind me. Bon was struggling, just like Izumo and I, and Koneko looked like he was on the verge of passing out. More worrisome, was Shima's slumped posture against Bon, his eyes closed. After a moment, Suguro gave a victory cry, finally prying his seat belt off of him. He gave me a quick look before turning his attention to Shima. "Dude, wake the fuck up," he smacked him, "now is the wrong fucking time."
My eyes wandered over to Koneko, then up to the driver's seat, then back to the small boy. "Koneko, can you move?" He shot me a panicked look, but nodded. "Can you crawl over the seats?" He looked around and nodded once more. I pointed to the only open door, "get yourself out of here, okay?" His eyes widened and he paused for a moment. "It's okay, we should be fine." Should. He nodded and stepped over the seat where Shiemi once was, his knees wobbling.
Once he was safely out of the vehicle, I turned my attention to Izumo, who was trying to shimmy her way out from under the straps. I reached over and pulled on the bottom strap, allowing her a little more room to move. It hurt me, however, as my own seatbelt dug into my abdomen and shoulder, which was burning.
The door flung open and I saw Yukio reach in, helping me with getting Izumo out. Finally, she was free and he helped her out. "Are you alright?" He asked, but I didn't see or hear her answer. My brother's brunette hair reappeared, his hands moving the seat forward, ushering Bon and Shima to move out. Bon hefted the pink haired boy's arms around his shoulders and he dragged the two of them toward the exit.
I focused my attention on my own predicament. There was no way the buckle was letting me go, and unlike Izumo, I wasn't small enough to slide underneath. Huffing, I pulled at the seams of the buckle, my nails cracking and a couple even tearing, causing my fingers to bleed. Grunting in pain, I tried harder, the seam popping open just as Yukio entered the van. He ripped the seatbelt off of me and grabbed my collar, yanking me out of the vehicle.
I cried out in pain when my knees slammed on the ground, my body still in shock. "Come on," Yukio grunted, pulling on my jacket. I bit my tongue and tried to kick myself up, but it only causing Yukio to struggle more. With a sense of annoyance, he pulled me over to where the rest of the group stood.
"Yukio, where's your phone? We need to call for help." Shura said and I had a small urge to thank her for pointing out the obvious, but I kept my agitation in check. Yukio didn't, however.
"It's gone, no doubt it flew out the windshield when it broke." Oh, the windshield broke, too? "Where's your phone?"
"I was holding it when it happened," I vaguely saw her pull something out of her pocket and hand it to Yukio. His grip on me loosened and I fell to the ground, "see, its busted." I rubbed my sore muscles and look up at my teachers, "does anyone else have a working phone?"
"Mine's still dead because Bon had my charger," Izumo stated, her chilled tone was muddled by a small amount of fear.
"Mine works," Bon stated and everyone sighed in relief, "but I don't have any service out here." I felt anxiety constrict my chest and I knew the others felt the same way.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Shiemi asked timidly, my gaze immediately turned to her shaking form and I had the urge to comfort her.
"I don't know," Yukio stated calmly. "First of all, we need to make sure you are all okay." Midway through his sentence, he walked up to Bon, who was still shouldering Shima. "Did he hit his head?"
"I have no idea, but the fool didn't have his seatbelt on, so probably." Yukio asked him to set the teen on the ground gently. "Do you need a flashlight?" Bon stated, pulling out his phone and turning on the bright light without needing an answer.
We were all silent as Yukio checked over our motionless friend, "he's okay, nothing major. He'll probably wake up soon enough, but let's not move him much just in case." My twin stood up, "who's next?" His eyes fell on the person closest to him, Shiemi, and he moved to look at her wounds. "Does anything hurt?"
"My chest, but that's because the seatbelt dug in." She said quietly, her small hand rubbing a sore spot over her heart. Yukio hummed and assessed the small cut on her forehead.
"Can you manage?" She nodded and he sighed moving to Izumo.
"It's the same deal with me, I'm alright, just some bruises from the seatbelt."
With a nod, he turned on his heels to Koneko, something telling me that he was saving me for last. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing, but I guess I'll find out. Koneko was shaken to his bones, and seemed slightly disoriented, but after a few visual tests from my brother, he was deemed okay enough. Bon seemed irritated to be fussed over, but he dealt with it anyway. Shura walked up to me during it and knelt down, "you okay?" She whispered, her features barely illuminated by the moonlight. I honestly didn't know the answer to that question, and I moved to shrug, but pain flashed through my joint.
Her mouth formed a thin line and she stood, grabbing my brother by the collar and yanking him over to me. "Stop being a prick and focus on what's important," she hissed. "Ryuji, point your light at Okumura." Boy, she sounded pissed, and I've seen her in battle.
A glaring light blinded me and I squinted, which wasn't much different from the half open eyes I had before. There were a few mutters among my classmates and I felt myself grow shy under the light. "Christ Okumura, you're worse off than all of us combined."
I huffed, holding a hand up to block the light from my eyes, "I'm pretty sure we hit a tree, and that tree hit me specifically... ha, I think."
I heard Shura growl something, and I assumed it was in my brother's ear because within a few moments, someone was in front of me, tilting my head up. "Can you open your eyes?" His voice held a small amount of concern, but I had a feeling he was hiding it for the most part.
"The light is too bright," I whined and said light shifted so it wasn't directly hitting me, but still allowed Yukio to see my features. Blinking a few times, I tried to widen my eyelids, which led to a lot of discomfort.
"Is his eye bleeding?"
I flinched, yanking away from Yukio's grasp and clamping a hand over my eye. Was it? My brother huffed and pulled my hand away gently, resuming his work. "It's scratched, but most of the blood is from around his eye." He sighed deeply and grasped my hands, "can you stand?" I nodded without thinking and tried to get to my feet, realizing in dismay that I couldn't.
I stared down and my legs, confused as to why I couldn't make them do as I asked. My eyes, err, eye flickered up to Yukio and he sighed with exhaustion. "You probably bruised them, or you might be in shock, I'd give it a little while." He turned to Shura, who immediately shook her head.
"I'm fine, kid. I'll have a bruise in the morning from that damned seatbelt, but other than that, I'm alright." Even in the dim moonlight, and with only one eye, I could see a faint mark that ran across her sternum. It would be a nasty bruise, to say the least, I wouldn't be surprised if she actually had a broken rib because of it.
I cleared my throat and a few people turned toward me, "why did the seat belts lock like that? And you know what? The airbags never went off either, what the hell kind of death machine does Mephisto have you driving?" My annoyance echoed off the trees and dissipated in the emptiness of nature, my friends starting to question our vehicle choice as well.
"Is Sir Pheles trying to kill us?" Bon asked angrily, his hands forming fists at his sides. My brother tsked and shook his head, shooting down our frustrated theories.
"No one is trying to kill us, obviously. A deer ran in front of the vehicle, it was an act of nature, not a demon." He sighed and muttered to himself, "at least a demon's actions can be predictable."
Shura groaned and sat down on the ground next to me. "What are we going to do, Chicken?"
His silhouette gestured and I assumed he threw a finger in her direction. "Why the hell are you asking me? You're the oldest one here, shouldn't you be wise in this area?"
"You're in charge of this mission, I'm just back-up if you fuck up." She scoffed, "and I know that you won't admit it when you fuck up, which you obviously have. So until you do, please, figure out how to get us out of here."
"Can you two stop bickering? Sheesh," Kamiki-chan spat and I could imagine her red eyes flashing in exasperation. "We have more important issues than your egos, so can we focus on that instead?" The air was thick between my two teachers, but I eventually heard my brother sigh.
"Alright, everyone needs to work together on this, let's figure out how to contact help."