Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Capricious Infection ❯ Act 44: Tragic Schoolgirl ( Chapter 44 )

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Capricious Infection

Act 44: Tragic Schoolgirl

By: Melissa Norvell

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“You mean,” David pressed the subject. He wanted to know what Ares meant by that last statement. There was something more to the Dradel mishaps, something everyone was missing and he wanted to find out what. Did Ares do something to the ones who bought Dradel? Did something else happen to the Arcanes other than what was stated? Could Dove had been right about things?

“My ship consumed them after they escaped Arcane's destruction,” the Warrior King smiled deviously. If they honestly thought that they were going to get away with things that easily, they were wrong.

“Dude, that's fucked up.” So, in order words, Ares screwed them over. What a jerk.

Before their conversation could go on anymore, Lannad walked in and interrupted them. “Hey guys, can someone come with me? I need to collect a special type of stone for my wand.” It was an important task, and she required assistance.

“A type of stone?” Oz was a little curious as to what type of stone she meant.

“It's in the pulsar guns of the Ignit race and I've heard that some of them are fighting on this planet. The Cut Throat Crew are still out there, so I'll need some backup,” the blue-haired girl didn't want to come across them again. In all honesty, she was happy that they had not seen them in a while. It was best if they never saw them again.

“The Ignit race is extinct.” Unless this girl knew who had it besides the Ignit race, she wasn't going to get it. Ares was confused as to how she could even have seen anyone from an extinct race of people. This chick was crazy.

“Then that means they come from a doomed paradox,” Tony looked thoughtful. It was the only way that they even could have been there. The Earth was a place that defied logic, a place where any kind of race could exist. At this point in time, it bent the fabric of reality.

“I'll go with you, Lannad,” Rezzi offered. Instead of questioning her, it was better to help her.

“Me too,” Tony agreed.

“Count me in,” Dante didn't want to miss out on kicking some potential ass.

“But-“ David tried to interject, but he was cut off.

“You rest,” Dante placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, leveling him with a kind smile. “You'll need it. Besides, you should keep the blood ruby here. Ares and Oz can look after you.”

“So, I'm his wellbringer's keeper now?” Ares wasn't happy with playing babysitter to his little friend. Was this truly what his position had deteriorated to?

“I won't be any trouble.” It's not like David wanted him to watch him, either. For one, the guy was psycho and for two he could take care of himself. “You don't have to watch me, you know.” In fact, he would prefer it if he didn't.

“I am a warrior,” Ares folded his well-muscled arms over his chest, “it's my job to protect people. Besides, I'm the reason that they are here.”

“That's honorable of you.” It seemed like he did have some notable personality traits. Besides, he had to work with him; David didn't have to ruffle him the wrong way.

“I have my pride.” It wasn't very much, but Ares wanted to retain the small amount he had.

“I'll go with you all,” Tarvos tapped the end of his scythe on the ground a couple of times. If anyone had to die, they would need him anyway.

“Me too,” Karkatta wanted to join in the battle as well, “I want to bust some ass,” she slammed her fist into her hand with a twisted smirk. “I'll hit them so hard; I'll knock them back to their own paradox.” That was something she was good at. Besides, sitting around that house with all of those assholes was making her antsy.

“I'll stay here with human David,” Pregmacia decided to hang back. Besides, there were quite a few powerful people going already. They didn't need her hanging around.

Lannad thanked them. She felt much better knowing she had so many friends on her side.

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Everything around them lay in ruin. Buildings had been destroyed, their contents lying around as they walked around them with little disregard. Things that had meant so much to residents, things they had worked their whole lives to possess lay on the ground, broken and battered for the world to forget. The group of friends sifted through everything, turning over rocks and tossing broken items aside in their search for the ruby. They had been out there for hours, and still they didn't have any luck. Dante reached underneath a huge sheet of fallen rock and grabbed an old gun. He frowned and tossed it over his shoulder.

“How are we supposed to know what a pulsar gun is supposed to look like?” Honestly, Lannad could have told him something about the appearance of the weapon. Dante felt like this was all pointless.

Tony sighed and placed his hands on his knees. “Man, I hate being here.” It was too soon to come back to the ruins, and it only reminded of his parent's deaths.

“There's nothing you can do, little whiner. Be happy your wellbringers didn't have a gruesome death,” Karkatta was tired of his mourning. It had been a week since their deaths and it was time to move on. No matter how much he disliked it, they weren't going to come back.

“That's not the point,” the tan skinned boy stood and turned to her.

A short distance away, black ears perked as Clubs turned his snout in the direction of the noise and snickered to himself impishly. “Hey, it's those kids with the Divine Ones.”

“What are they doing here?” Hearts wasn't counting on that at all.

“It appears that they are digging through the rubbish as we are,” Diamonds looked a little thoughtful. “Perhaps they are trying to find power sources.” If he remembered correctly, they had magical items; no doubt they were powered by jewels of some kind or other anomalies.

“My brother isn't with them, so the Time Sword isn't either,” Dove found that unfortunate. Knowing her luck, he probably stayed behind at their base.

“Hmmm…” Boxcars narrowed his eyes a little. “I wonder if we could take that staff that Lannad has on her back.” The muscle-bound dog pointed to the little Lolita as she turned around and exposed her weapon to them.

Clubs rubbed his hands together as a smile painted its way onto his muzzle. “If we take it, then she'll be defenseless. Maybe we can even kidnap her,” he continued to snicker, much as he normally did. “Yes, a lovely little captive would bring that shades on in.”

“Nah,” Dove shot down his idea quickly.

“Why not?” Clubs was displeased. He thought he had a good thing going there.

“My brother was never too into girls. I think he's probably gay,” Dove arched her eyebrow. She was pretty sure he was gay. He never even hinted at liking a girl to her at all, despite dating a few of them.

“What would work then?” Boxcars knew that they needed a change of plans.

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Rezzi and Tarvos stood in a secluded section, far away from the group. The blind girl tapped around and moved things with her walking stick as Tarvos searched for the gun by digging around in a pile of old furniture. Bending down, Rezzi ran her hands along a few items before they came across something that held the shape of a gun.

Examining it as she ran her hands over it, the girl sighed. “It's only a small revolver. Have you found anything?”

“I don't think we'll find any pulsar guns this way,” Tarvos turned towards her as she dropped the weapon on the ground.

“Then where do you purpose we search?” The reaper knew more about pulsar guns than she did. Maybe he had an idea of where one of them would be located or even who could have such a thing.

“We need to go to the west to-“ Tarvos began, but he was cut off by an ear-piercing scream. The two of them turned their heads towards the source of the sound. “Well, that puts a kink in my plans.”

“That was Lannad,” Rezzi's voice was dire as she took off, hopping over and running through the carnage.

“Hmm,” Tarvos thought for a moment, “there shouldn't have been any survivors in this area.” A smile crossed his face, “how interesting.” Flapping his wings, he flew over everything and shot past his ally to see what was going on with the other part of the group.

When they arrived, they were met with a shocking sight. A large group of alien hunters surrounded them. They weren't like anything they had seen before. Rezzi didn't recognize their voices and the colors of their blurs were also foreign to her.

“Oh no,” it was bad. Rezzi wasn't sure of what to do.

“Oh, what fun,” Tarvos, on the other hand, was excited. “I was in the mood for a little gore today.” Good thing there were people around for a good kill. The true reason he had come on this journey was to destroy anyone who dared to try and off them. This was what Tarvos lived for.

“Give us your rare items!” The tall, lanky man that looked like the leader of the group threatened them. His skin was a light blue and his eyes green. Dark blue braids jutted from under his head band.

“I don't think so,” Rezzi shouted from behind them and held up her staff.

They turned to look at her and the reaper. No doubt these two were trying to play hero. Either that or they were actually part of their group. No matter, they would be taken out easily. “You can't stop us!” One of the henchmen folded his arms over his chest with an arrogant smirk, but his moment of talking shit was short-lived as he was decapitated by Tarvos in one effortless swoop. Green blood splattered violently over everyone that stood close to him. The reaper smile, his pointed teeth showing as his form was covered in blood.

“In order to take items, you must first be stronger than we are,” he noted as he swung his scythe again and cut another one of the hunters in half. A third tried to attack him, but he was cut down the middle. More and more blood soaked his clothes, but that meant nothing to the king of death. In fact, he loved the feeling of the slick substance against his skin.

“Well, I didn't have to do too much, did I?” It looked like Tarvos had everything covered. Rezzi just stood there looking decorative. It wasn't like she minded. She was happy that he made such short work of them and watched as the others made a break for it.

“Oh,” Tarvos was amused with her answer, “you won't have to worry about it too much.” He then glanced over to see more aliens running at them. His smile was still present and the look of bloodlust hung heavily in his eyes. Oh, how he wanted to lay waste to them, and paint himself even more in their blood. “This is going to be a slaughter.” His voice deepened into a sultry tone as he ran his tongue across the tip of his scythe, lapping up the blood.

It was time to lay waste to all who opposed him.

The other members of their group ran into trouble down the road, however. They stood together as they were surrounded by a few troubles of their own. The Cut Throat Crew was all around them, glaring holes into their bodies and waiting for the right time to kill them off and plunder their findings. Dante looked tense. The last thing he wanted to do was fight any of those dogs again. He clutched his kusarigama close to his chest. Dove and Spades stood on the outside of their group.

“Give us the blood ruby,” Boxcars demanded. He wasn't leaving until he had it.

“For the last time,” Dante pressed, “we don't have it, you shit-faced mutt.” They were stupid for continuing to ask for something they didn't have. What? Did they want them to shit it into existence?

“We'll just have to help ourselves to the weapons that you do have then,” Boxcars wasn't going to go out of their encounter empty-handed. Even if the only thing he gained from it was a few lousy weapons, at least it was something.

“Yes, that magic device would be bloody useful in obtaining an alternate means of time travel,” Diamonds thought it was a great idea. They needed another magical device, since they had lost their own. The sooner they got it, the better off they were.

“No,” Lannad's words were stern, “I won't let you have it.”

“Oh, we weren't just asking you to kindly hand it over. We pretty much are going to force it from you,” Clubs was cutting through their useless banter. They didn't need to play stupid with him. Everyone knew what was up.

“Pretty sure we'd rather die than give it to you,” Tony retorted. Did he honestly think they were going to comply to his demands?

“Fuck off;” Karkatta flipped them off, “we're busy. We don't have time for this shitfest.”

“Give us the wand and we will fuck off,” Diamonds held out his hand.

“You cocky, English bastard,” Karkatta mumbled under her breath.

“Dong off, you pretentious poppycock,” Diamonds insulted her back. If it was a battle of words she wanted, then he would give her just that.

“Up yours, douche canoe,” she continued.

“'I say-“ Diamonds was cut off as Hearts took out her guns and fired them.

Dante stepped in front of Lannad, determined to protect her and keep them from getting her staff. However, the blue-haired Lolita wasn't the type to hide behind anyone. She pointed her staff skyward as a light emitted from the jewel. It expanded and consumed them all, bathing their forms in shimmering vibrancy. She called out the word `barrier' as the bullets bounced off.

Boxcars slammed his barbell down and split the ground. It rumbled and cracked as pieces of debris flew up with force. Lannad nearly lost her footing but Dante grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the sinking around. She thanked him and smiled.

“I'm not done yet,” Boxcars had a plan B. He drew his barbell back and slammed it down again. Lannad pulled up her wand as it collided with his weapon and bathed him in a yellow glow. “What?” The gladiator was caught off guard by her movements. Out of everyone there, the last person he expected to counter him was a dainty-looking little girl.

“I won't let you,” her visage was serious and her eyebrows knitted as she held her ground. Lannad wasn't about to let him win.

“We weren't debating options,” Boxcars extended one of his arms and it turned into a shadow-like substance, darting at her with light speed. She gasped before she was staring down a large, phantom-like hand. Before it could grab her, a figure wrapped their arms around her waist and jumped out of the way. The hand slammed into the ground, fingers tearing holes in the earth like a plow.

They landed a few feet away and she could hear a vibrant, female voice fill her ears.

“Are you alright?”

Opening her eyes, the Lolita looked at her savior. She was a lanky creature, cat-like in appearance. She had large eyes with irises shaped liked diamonds and yellow sclera. Whiskers on her cheeks and curly, jaw-length hair that was brown in coloration with cat ears poking from the top. She wore a green hoodie that zipped down the middle with a low-cut belly shirt and a pleated skirt. Her long tail peeked out of the bottom of it. On her feet were black sneakers with white tips and baggy, white socks.

“Who are you?” She had never seen this alien before, and the Lolita could only hope that she was a friend and not someone who wanted to kill her and steal her weapon.

“Just a purr-fect stranger, my dear,” it seemed the cat alien was also fond of cat puns.

“Thank you for saving me,” Lannad stood and bowed to her.

“What the fuck?” Dante exclaimed as knives flew past him. He barely dodged them as their blades came close to cutting his skin. “Ugh,” he groaned in irritation and turned to see that snickering pierce of trash, Clubs.

Dante threw his weapon at the Arcane, but he was quick to dodge it. Clubs charged at him as Dante caught his weapon and drew it back, wrapping the chain around him.

“Oh shit,” Clubs cursed as his body slammed into the ground.

Boxcars stared down at the cat-alien. Cold, blank eyes dug holes in her body as she stared back up at him with defiance. “Who the hell are you?”

Hepesta smiled, “you could call me a Divine One. My name is Hepesta, purr-fectly charming to meet you. I've heard about you. You're Boxcars, right? Although that isn't your real name.”

Diamonds' attention was reverted back to the two of them. His ears pricked at catching that part of their conversation. “Oh my, you mean she actually knows Boxcars?”

“Not good,” Spades' eyes narrowed. He wanted to know how and why she knew that specific detail about the gladiator.

“What now?” Dove wondered to herself as she watched the battle unfold.

“Oh yeah?” Boxcars was intrigued. Not many people knew that little detail about him. “Who do you think I am?”

“Your name is Olin,” Hepesta knew that for a fact. Even if Boxcars denied it, she would continue to call him out. It was about time he fessed up.

“Olin?” Karkatta turned from what she was doing to pay attention to that little detail. “The universal gladiator? So, that's what Oz was referring to.” A smile crossed her face. Yes, it all made sense now. “Well, this could be fun.”

Karkatta walked until she was toe-to-toe with the burly Arcane. Looking up at him, that smile was still plastered on her face. “Hey, Olin?”

Boxcars looked back down at her with a smile plastered on his muzzle. “You're Karkatta? Finally, a challenge. If I win, then I get the stuff.”

“You're on,” Karkatta agreed, “give me your best.”

“Karkatta what are you doing?” Dante couldn't believe that she would just throw away all of their weapons on some gamble that she thought she could win a fight with that guy. Was she insane? What made her think they all agreed with her anyway?

“Fine,” Boxcars sneered as he stuck out his arms. They separated and morphed into several snake-like extensions.

Lannad's eyes widened and she held a hand to her chest. “This must be what David was talking about.”

“Look out!” Dante shouted as Karkatta jumped backwards. She held her arms out and swords shot out of her body, digging their blades into the snakes and causing him to scream out in pain as blue electricity surged over his body.

“I'm not falling for that shit,” she landed on the ground. “Now, feel the pain of a Thousand Swords of Hate.”

“A Thousand Swords of Hate? What? How can that be?” Clubs was astonished. It was impossible for someone to even have that as an attack, much less have it be used on them. What in the hell was going on?

“What?” Karkatta cocked her head and placed a hand on her hip. “You don't know about my curse?”

“Curse?” Dante sure didn't know anything about it.

“Inside of my body lie a thousand swords of pure hatred, composed of the bitter feelings and pain of the universe. Whoever they touch will feel it as a physical onslaught,” Karkatta had a few tricks of her own up her sleeve. If they thought that she was going into that battle blind, they were wrong.

Hepesta's cat-like eyes lit up in realization as she pointed a clawed finger at her. “Then you're…”

“I'm Karkatta the Miserable,” the unisex Dius introduced herself.

“You really are a Divine One,” it was just as she had thought. Hepesta knew that she was in the right place now.

“What will you do now, Olin?” Karkatta taunted her opponent.

“Rah!” Olin's arms wriggled and undulated, ridding themselves of the swords as purple blood dripped down them. He could still feel the pain shooting through his body, but he had to move on. It was in his nature to take on damage and keep going. He was the toughest gladiator in the entire universe, after all,

Tarvos and Rezzi finally caught up with all of them. Rezzi's footsteps were heard as she came nearer and nearer. “What happened?” She asked.

“Karkatta released her most powerful attack,” Tarvos smiled in delight, “I knew she wouldn't let us down.”

“You bitch!” Boxcars shouted as he charged at her.

Karkatta ran at him. “Want some more, do you?” She taunted as he lowered his barbell again. Before the weapon could make contact with her, she launched herself into the air and flipped over his head. One of his arms came at her and she punched a snake in the face. She spun on one foot, turning around as he did the same.

Just then, the ground exploded, sending out a burst of energy that collided with their bodies and threw them backwards. Debris was propelled through the air at high speed and the smell of smoke and charred earth filled their senses. Karkatta lay on her side and Boxcars on his back a few feet away.

“What the fuck?” Karkatta grumbled in pain as she dragged her small frame up.

Lannad just stood there with shock written on her face.

“What?” Dante stared at the blue-haired girl. She looked as if she had been consumed by fear.

“It's Mae…” Tony trailed off as he saw the blonde standing between them. She was still wearing the clothes that she had died in, but they were free of dirt, debris, blood and tears. They looked brand new. She stared at them with the eye that was uncovered by her blonde hair. It was then that Tony noticed it was a deep, blood red. She held a sword in her hand and pointed it at all of them.

Karkatta turned towards everyone with a frown plastered on her face. Who the hell did she think she was interrupting her moment like that? She almost had that guy beat! “Who is this bitch and why shouldn't I rip her eyes out?”

“Mae? She's my brother's friend.” Dove knew that girl. She's seen her many times, actually.

“It appears that she's taken an active role now,” Spades noted that things were about to get interesting.

“Just how many people are on their side?” The girl couldn't believe this. Why in the world would that blonde want to work for someone like Calypso? What did she have to offer her?

“How? Tarvos killed her…” Tony glanced towards the grim reaper, hoping that he would have had some sort of explanation for him. Tarvos was silent.

“What did you say?” However, Karkatta was not.

“It's can't be her. She's dead,” he wanted to deny it, to just write it off as some kind of bad dream. Tony watched her die. He saw Tarvos kill her. This had to be some sort of imposter or something! Maybe they made a sinister clone of her somehow, because that was not Mae.

“You obviously recognized her,” Spades pointed out an undeniable fact.

“Why is she standing there, if she's dead?” Dove was confused. Someone needed to clear this up.

“Dude,” Tony looked towards the two, “I don't even know.”

“Mae, is that you?” Lannad asked in a bit of a shaky voice as she took a step towards the girl.

The blonde turned and looked at her with a cold, unmoving face. “Are you surprised to see me, Lannad?”

`Her eyes are blood red,' her thoughts noted the small change before she answered her. “How did you live? I could have sworn that Tarvos' scythe blade went through your chest.”

Tarvos examined the blonde's body for a moment. `No wounds…not even a rip in her uniform where I impaled her. She shows no signs of decomposition, so she's not a zombie or a corpse puppet. She actually is alive. There are only about three of us who have this power, and whoever it was negated my death toll and overrode my authority.' He wasn't happy about that at all. Above all things, the dead stayed dead and lives lost could not be taken back. That was the rule of existence and the cycle of life. So, who had done it?

“So, this is how you honor my death? You have some nerve to side with the very man who took my life,” Mae was more than displeased to see where her friends ended up. How dare they just forget the fact that she was murdered and sweep it under the rug. They weren't even friends to her anymore. Now, they were just as dead to her as she was to them.

“But-“ Lannad immediately felt the prang of guilt and sorrow pierce her heart. She could explain, but even then, the fact that she worked with her friend's killer would still present itself to her face. Lannad couldn't talk her way out of it or make herself seem like a good guy at this point.

“Did you think this was going to be a happy reunion? I'm not here to join your team. I'm here to destroy it.” More than anything, she would get revenge on them for doing what they had to her.

“What?” Another sharp spear of pain drove its way through her chest as Lannad's heart fell even farther.

“I will right the wrong that has been done,” Mae raiser her sword above her head, like a hero striking a valiant pose.

“No hard feelings,” Tarvos spoke with the same smile on his face and the same amused tone he always had. Hearing it made Mae's stomach churn with revulsion. “You had a marking time. I know it's beyond your comprehension but killing you is my job. I don't know who brought you back, but it was an illegal action, so I'll have to put you back in the hole you crawled out of. So tell me, who brought you back and why?” The least she could do was release that information. If she did, he'd be nice and let her have a dying wish.

Mae pointed her sword to him, glaring at him in malice. “I've been given a new chance at life and I will not let someone like you take it away. Now die!”

“Don't do this, Mae,” Rezzi tried desperately to talk her friend out of making that decision. “We can work this out-“

Mae ran in front of her, panting as she pointed the sword an inch from her face. “I owe you no explanations. We are not friends anymore.”

She drew her sword back and thrust it forward in an attempt to stab her in the neck. “I will spill your blood for the sake of a new world!” Then she felt a jolt as her blade flew into the air, toppling end over end and stuck into the ground.

Mae looked over her shoulder to see Karkatta standing there, balancing herself on one leg with the other in the air. She had kicked the blade out of her hand.

“Fuck you,” Karkatta berated the human, “you're not killing anyone. I'll put your ass back into the ground myself.” If anything she was going to get her back for interrupting her battle with Olin.

“There won't be a need for that,” Tarvos spoke as everyone turned their sights to him. “We can settle this by our own means.”

If anyone was going to put her back into the ground, it would be him.

…To Be Continued