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[ Port President, Marble Fort | Sixth day (Party Night) ]
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The whole building was filled with life for the grand day.
With all the guests finally at the Fort, the staff was busy tending to each and every need of theirs and at the same time making the last adjustments for the party. In a similar way, the two assassins did the same: after the last exchange with the master of the house and his second-in-command, Illumi had updated his partner with the last news he got.
They elaborated a plan--quite simple, but efficient. They'd have to act a bit more, but otherwise it would be the last everyone saw of "Pharis Nikiforov" and "Freyja Nacht".
Illumi was certain that it would end up well, clean and in a way that should satisfy even the most suspicious onlookers. It was an extra precaution he decided to take in the name of the same professionalism Shuji doubted the day before.
And even if that didn't work perfectly, it wouldn't be his direct problem anyway.
«Are you sure you want to use your needles, Illumi?» Eirene called from the bathroom, where she was just finishing her makeup. «Sounds like a waste to me, since we could honestly just kill the old man and be done with it.»
«Hm, we could. But we're at a party, Iri.» he replied, fixing the necktie on his chest. There was a large mirror on the inner side of the wardrobe door, which he was using right at the moment. «Wouldn't it be polite to give them a reason to remember it by?»
An amused beat of laughter reached his ears from the other room, just as the woman showed herself fully dressed. The attire Illumi had chosen for her fit her magnificently, highlighting the blonde's pale skin and feminine curves. Her hair, usually left down, was tied up in a loose bun, with some curled locks framing her face.
Illumi could appreciate beautiful things and his partner just now was nothing short of that.
«You should stop talking like that, you know? You're starting to sound more and more like me.»
He didn't reply, choosing instead to focus on his transformation. Once they were both ready to go, Eirene got a hold on his left arm as they left the room.
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Admittedly, she had never been at one of the parties held by underground groups. She knew enough of their ways to move around comfortably in case she needed to infiltrate one, but she never got the chance to actually stay long enough to listen to the speeches, the toasting and all that followed.
That would be the first and last time, if it depended on her.
Tedious, annoying, with too many people--those three factors didn't really mix well with Eirene.
She wanted to make it over as quickly as possible. Actually, she would have already gone for the kill if the damned man didn't surround himself with people all the time. It was as if he knew that someone was after his life.
Clicking her tongue silently, the woman looked idly around to find an idea to isolate her target before her instincts convinced her to decapitate him on the spot. Her sudden spike in aggressiveness bothered her a little, to be fair. Still, it was a matter she would deal with after completing the current job.
«Calm down, your bloodlust is showing.» Illumi chided her, turning her around again. They were on the dancefloor together with other couples, dancing on the melody played by the orchestra.
The woman scoffed, letting herself be led step after step. She mostly moved unconsciously, her mind being taken by her personal plan. «I'm honestly considering kidnapping. Fucking old man--whoops, almost got you--why is he so popular, anwyay?»
«I think it's because he's one of the oldest around here. Title and age mean a lot in this kind of society.»
A few other turns, the couple was directly in front of the group. He felt the woman in his arms tense a bit more and tugged her away again, another turn and once again in the loop of dancers. As Eirene lost herself in her mind again, his eyes scanned around the room: more than just a few people looked a tad too suspicious in his book, the constant stares towards him and his partner were the main reason for it.
Part of them were probably simple onlookers. Others, the one whose aura thrummed with hostility, were the one to look out for.
Alas, the ones that Eirene would be most interested in.
«Have you noticed them?»
«Yeah... quite insistent, if I may say so.» she mumbled back to his whisper, drawing close to him as the music slowed down. She smiled, placing one of her fingers on his lips and tapped them playfully. «I'll just have to see how far they are willing to go.»
They separated under the pretense of her needing the restroom and him having to speak with his old friend.
As they both imagined, that would be the perfect chance for the others to act against them.
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[ Port President, ??? | Seventh day (night) ]
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Faking to be unconscious for a few hours had been quite annoying, if someone asked her. The fact that her hunch about "kidnapping" actually happened made her want to laugh at the irony--alas, she could not.
Out of the twenty three people she felt the eyes of, only six actually acted out against her. As soon as she was out of the ballroom and most of the people, the group cornered her and forced a cloth around her mouth and nose. The liquid which drenched it was supposed to be a strong drug to make the victim fall asleep for a few hours.
If the chosen victim was a normal person, it would have worked.
The most embarrassing part was keeping quiet and still when two of the men hid her in the luggage compartment of a car, hands tied behind her back like the hopeless victim of a third rate movie.
The room she was left in was something like an old prison cell, or something similar. To think Balaban still made use of those rooms to hold his hostages (or goods, as he called everyone he was going to sell later)... it made her cringe. It wasn't even a memory induced emotion--her current self was just annoyed.
She listened to the muffled noises behind the door. Seemingly, their Don's plan has gone perfectly.
Kidnap the woman, leave the party. Let some of his people spread falsehoods regarding the woman to slow down whatever attempt to find her might come up.
Easy, efficient and it bought him enough time to play around with his victim and dispose of the body.
Really... that man's ways haven't changed a bit in twenty years...
She sighed to herself, raising from the floor and freeing her wrists with a pulse of her aura: the ropes froze in less than a second, becoming dust at the slightest pull. Standing up, she faced the door with her hands behind her back and simply waited.
It didn't take all that long for her supposed captor to show up in her "cell".
Despite the years passed, Rogov held the same arrogance and cruelty in his eyes as he always had. Just, in the present it amounted to very little in her own mind.
«Oh, the Sleeping Beauty is awake? What a surprise.» he started off, walking inside of the room with four of his men.
Eirene eyed them calmly, tentatively sending her own aura against them and earning barely a shiver as a reaction--either they were non-nen users or very weak ones.
Worthless.
«I'd like to say I hope the ride was nice, but after your rudeness on our first meeting I day you don't deserve the sympathy, Miss Freyja.»
«Please, you wouldn't know sympathy if it kicked you in your mutt. All those creases would scare it away before it could, anyway.»
Rogov made a motion with his head towards her and two of the men stomped to her, making her snort in amusement. It only made them angrier--one attempted to grab her shoulder and arm, while the other went directly for a punch.
Neither succeeded.
«What?! Where-»
«You should choose your guards better, old man.»
The old Don couldn't move, his legs literally frozen on the spot by a thick layer of frost. No, that wasn't correct: his legs themselves had become ice. The other men were in a similar condition, the two that tried to assault her completely covered in it from head to toes. They were already starting to deteriorate: fingers and outer appendages turning into shiny, ice dust.
He didn't dare to look around, even if the woman he was planning to torture to death was right behind him.
«Remember what you told me in the past?» she whispered, soft breaths beside his ear. «It's just good business, no hard feelings.»
The awful terror that permeated the room got to her head like a fine wine, making her feel an oddly satisfying emotion warming the pit of her stomach.
«W-Wa--Wait!» the man pleaded, not bothering to hide his fear. «You're- you're Nastasya's-»
«Do not speak that name so lightly, after you cut her throat right before her children's eyes.»
«So I wa- I was right! You're her daughter! Listen, I can pay you back for what I did, so-»
«Are these going to be your last words, Rogov? You're pathetically boring, from the start to the end.»
The man panicked, his mind scrambling for an excuse--even the most measly reason that could prolong his life. «Wait! You... you don't know, right?! Where's your brother?! You've been sold at different customers, I can give you the names if you let m-»
«Tell me, what would I do with a name of twenty years ago? What makes you sure that he's still with the person you sold him to? What makes you so sure he's still alive at all?»
Ice crept up from his legs to his abdomen, constricting his chest painfully until only the head was left not frozen. At that point, the hurt of having his whole body in that condition and the awareness of his impending death brought tears to his eyes.
«P-Please...! I'll do anything!!»
«Then die painfully and alone, like you deserve.»
His legs cracked and his whole world turned upside down--he laid on the cold floor, body shattered in frozen pieces while his supposed victim stood before him smiling and ruthless.
He expected the finishing blow, but it never came.
His ears managed to register the door creaking closed.
The screams died in his throat as the woman's technique finished the job.
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"Fimbulvetr".
The Great Winter, prelude to the twilight of the Gods.
She literally fell in love with the myth she read when she was younger, so much that she adopted the name.
Saying that her training to be able to transmute her aura like that had been pleasant, would be a huge lie. Nonetheless, it paid off rather well on the job.
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Eirene's steps were deadly silent as she walked through the modest villa used as a support house. With her job finished, she could just go back to the agreed meeting point.
Loud fits of laughter followed by a squeaky scream and sobs halted her walk. Expanding her nen, her perception reached a few rooms down the corridor: three more people there, a few more others in the adjacent rooms. She felt someone a little farther in the house, a stronger aura, but she could deal with them later.
For now...
The room she focused on was occupied by two adults and a young teen, the latter covered in bruises. Why he was being beaten up by the man--he tried to run, offended one of the jailers; or simply he was too old to be sold in their business, so he was left as a "plaything" for the minions-- she didn't know. The last occupant of the room simply watched, taking a swig from the bottle he had in his hand as he laughed at the child's misfortune.
Aura covered her fingers, taking the shape of elongated talons. Those same talons she used to pierce the skulls of the two men, freezing them almost instantly on the spot.
A frightened sob escaped the teen's lips, together with even more tears rolling down his face. His body was undoubtedly hurt, but Eirene couldn't fail to notice the way some bruises were visibly starting to fade under her scrutiny.
Interesting.
«You stay here now.» she ordered calmly, not missing the shivers shaking the boy. «And don't do anything stupid.»
She disappeared back in the corridor again after that.
Four people easily disposable, one a little stronger--the former, she would make easy play of. The latter maybe could offer her a little entertainment.
It didn't come to her mind that those were meaningless assassinations, "extras" she wasn't paid for. Even if it did, she didn't care enough to stop at that moment.
After a few more turns, she finally felt the strong aura from before.
Fifty-six meters to her right stood her supposed next, and possibly last, victim: it was a young looking woman, petite and slim enough to pass as even younger. Pink hair tied up in a messy ponytail, simple yet eye-catching clothes typical of Jappon combined with more continental ones.
She too turned around, bright blue eyes locking onto silver ones--recognition hit them both at the same time.
Eirene felt her bloodlust fading away a little upon seeing a hold... acquaintance in the flesh.
«We should really stop meeting this way, but well... we'll take what we get.» the assassin began, strolling down to the other. «It's been a while.»
The other woman rolled her eyes, but her emotions were betrayed by the little grin on her lips. «That it has. You're here for a job?»
«Aren't we both? I just finished, anyway. Kind of.»
«Kind of?»
«I need to retrieve a brat from a room over there.» the blonde continued, gesturing with a hand as if she was shooing away an invisible fly.
The look of slight surprise broke the other woman's usual composure. Eirene knew that look, she would have stared at herself the same way had she been in the other's position. «Why not kill him together with the rest?»
The blonde shrugged. «He might be a good asset for the future. He's got a crazy regeneration rate.»
«Enhancer?»
«Most probably.»
«Well, it's up to you, really. I was just around to retrieve something and those men were in my way.»
After that brief explanation from the other woman, Eirene said her goodbyes to her and went back to the room where she left the kid. She didn't really lie: with the right training and some guidance, he could really become something else.
The fact that she wanted to give the same opportunity given to her in the past, well... that part was left unsaid.
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[ Adalheid, Airport | Last day ]
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The sun was rising from the horizon when Eirene and her new charge arrived at the Adalheid Airport, the meeting point with her fellow assassin.
After cleaning up the kid (whose name was Yvan, as she found by the end of day) the best she could, the assassin got a change of clothes after her "clean up" spree in the house used by Rogov and his men, her previous dress disintegrated like the rest of the occupants of the building. A pity, but a must do.
Now wearing a simple pair of jeans and a plain white sweatshirt a little too large for her, she walked around with the kid holding onto her shirt, in search of the familiar aura until her perception led her to a bar before the check in area. Sliding onto the free seat on the right of the man, Eirene raised a hand to get the attention of the barman to order something for her and the kid, who still stood nervously behind the two assassins.
«You took a while. And who's the kid?» Illumi asked, a hand holding his own drink as she ordered. He slided her wallet towards her, with id and credit cards, cash and other necessities to move around.
«I had a little cleaning up to do.»
The barman placed the new drinks on the counter right before her.
She took a little sip first, tasting it in her mouth, only to take another one right after. She also motioned for the child to sit next to her, opposite to Illumi, and gave him his analcoholic drink.
«He's Yvan. He's going to train with the butlers back at the estate.»
Illumi wasn't really convinced, even less as he eyed the nervous kid. He seemed to be a scaredy cat if the way his crimson eyes darted around were of any help. And yet, his body thrummed with aura under the weak looking apperance.
The assassin decided to let it go and swap topics for the moment. «The clients have paid for the job. The rest is completely up to them.»
«You managed to leave without problems?»
«Yeah. The low-level needle men I used created enough of a disturbance. I think we might have helped shifting the power of the Katagiri Famiglia, but that's it.»
It was understandable. Eirene eliminated one of the troublesome rivals and Illumi had used some of the Balaban's group minions to create an opportunity to slip away himself.
Taking into consideration the image and the traditions, the "innocent" groups would probably side with the "offended" one on that case. For people who valued honor and appearances above all, such a lack of those and respect for the established common grounds would create chaos. And with it, at the end of the day, a new balance.
She hummed, taking another sip. «Are you going back to Kukuroo Mountain after this?»
«I have another hit. A standard one, this time.»
«Lucky you, then. Have fun.» the woman threw, a bit absent-mindedly. She felt the inquiring stare from her partner even without looking at him, so she continued a moment later. «I think I'll go back visiting Heaven's Arena, it's been a while since I've been there.»
«You should go back.» Illumi's words surprised her a little. He'd never been the overtly ordering type with her, yet such a tone left her confused at first. «You must have noticed, my nen is not working on you anymore. There's a high probability you'll lose control.»
She kept quiet.
Undoubtedly, both her emotions and her bloodlust had been wavering a lot lately, her impulsive decision of sparing the kid at the villa being only the positive side of it. Ever since the exam, where she accidentally messed up with her control and got disqualified (well, thanks to Illumi's intervention) during the second to last test, she hadn't been feeling the same calm over her mind.
Illumi's needles usually had induced that effect on her and she was just so used to having them that she almost didn't notice it gone, until he pointed that out.
That's troubling.
But also very exciting.
«Do you think I'll be able to hold out without your needles to keep me in check?» she asked abruptly, making him stare at her in an indecipherable way.
The male assassin waited a few moments before answering.
«You actually managed to complete the job.» he said at first, earning a snort from her. «I'd rather have you under my control again, but you deserve some reward... Your luggage is the lockers, by the way. You'll find the number and combination in your wallet.»
Eirene scoffed, downing her drink in one gulp. «Gee, thank you for your faith. If I didn't love you, I'd just cut your throat for saying that first part, Umi.»
She didn't give him the time to reply--stepping down from the stool, she brought a hand to his cheek and her lips on his own, stealing the kiss she didn't give him a few days before.
With that, she was gone again.
And she left the kid with him.
His phone beeped a moment after the realization hit.
[ see the kid back to Kukuroo Mountain after your job, thank you :) ]
Damn her.
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[ to ---- a monster | port mafia arc ] COMPLETED
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