Post by Kazuki Akimoto on Feb 23, 2007 4:57:42 GMT 1
ooc: Anyone who wishes to begin making threads here, either to speak with Taiku/Rene, party etc, feel free to do so. If you have a good reason to have to talk to Taiku, he will see you. ^^ 
ic:
Chapter 7 - Dark Memories, Starting Over Again...
-Flashback-
Smoke rose through the main floor of the Edge, filling the air and clouding the sight of all those who fought in this battle, enemy and ally alike. Blood trickled from a wound on his forehead as he squinted his eyes to see, the acrid scented fumes stinging and blurring his vision alongside the blood, pooling together with sweat and running into his eyes painfully. Gripping the waist of his shirt and raising it to his face, swiping away the dusty mixture, he forced himself to keep his eyes open long enough to get as good a look of the room as he possibly could in this moment...
What he would see, however, would remain burned into his mind for a long time to come.
'My god..'
Carnage, absolute chaos and mayhem befell his eyes, in front of him he saw what had become of his once beautiful business and it was enough to almost reduce the man to the brink of breaking down. Ahead of him, the entire main floor was slowly being reduced to little more but wreckage and ash. If it wasn't burning, it was broken, tables having been used as makeshift shields from the spray of glass from the firebombs that Kvists men had sent at them beofre being caught in the flames, reduced to nothing more than charcoal and cinders. His fingers coiling tighter around the grips of the shotgun, he steeled himself before pushing away from his shelter, charging forward and firing off four shots. He was certain two of them had hit, bringing the two recipients of the blasts to the ground before he had left a line of sight with them, the other two he was at least assuming had wounded SOMEONE..The spray on the shells may not have been too widespread, but they'd still stray enough to clip someone.
However, Taiku found himself with a problem here. The fourth shot had been the last one in the weapon, and he no longer had any ammunition to reload....Cursing himself quietly, he tossed aside the empty and now useless firearm and tucked his legs in against himself a moment. Trapped, unarmed and with nowhere to run, his mind scrambled desperately in search of a solution to his dilemma.....
-End Flashback-
As the young man paced slowly through the near-empty building, alone bar a few staff members throwing together the final touches for the opening night to begin in an hour or so, he found himself drawn back to thoughts of the past, of things that still haunted him in the quiet hours when his mind was allowed to wander away from things to do with work or something else. He had, however, grown used to the memories sneaking up on him, and though he still had nights that awoke him in cold sweats, he had grown able to cope with them in time.
'It's too quiet tonight. I hope the opening brings a good crowd in...'
Stopping in front of the large pane of toughened one-way glass that served as one part of the front wall, he watched the few people who paced around and looked at the entrance, glancing at the sign above the door that had been brought to life in a fluorescent glow of white, the name of the club illuminating the doorway and the surrounding sidewalk.
Legion, Taikus own small tribute to those who had fought with him back in Varron, his pathetic attempt at doing something to acknowledge their contribution that day, the risks they had all taken.......
-Flashback-
"Taiku! We can't hold them back much longer, they're gaining ground on us!"
The sound of those words ringing in the air were more painful than anything he had had inflicted upon himself tonight, but with a burning resolve along with unrelenting rage still oozing from his every pore, he spat out words that would seal the fate of many of those who stood by his side...
"Not yet....We do not run, we will not be beaten like this, I won't let Kvist beat me!!"
His own selfish motives fuelling him, the shotgun hanging in one arm as he picked up a bar stool in his other hand, twisting his body quickly full circle and releasing it towards the door with a vicious swing, sending the heavy steel legs into the body of an oncoming Hand member as he flicked his other wrist, bringing the firearm back up to a cocked stance and letting loose a shot into the air above the door, the spray from the shot striking one of the firebombs before it could be thrown and dousing the entrance in flames as it ignited overhead the Hands incoming grunts...
"I will kill all of you for what your leader did to her....You will suffer his penance! You will be the redemption of Kvist!!" he roared, charging towards an approaching member of the Hand and slamming the barrel of the gun into his jaw suddenly, sending him to the floor in a crumpled pile before his heel followed rapidly, directly onto the side of the young mans face, laced with a horror he relished at this moment...
-End Flashback-
Blinking a few times, he stopped his mind as it drifted out again...He had a particular distaste for those memories when they chose to invade his mind, thinking with a bitter taste in his mouth how much it reminded him of an earlier time in his life, when he had nothing but memories of anger and loathing for the world around him...It reminded him of days like the rooftop back at Varron when he had nearly taken the life of his closest friend, when the beast in him surged with such control over him that he had nothing else.
Something inside him tightened, his muscles constricting as he wondered just how his friend was. He had seen nothing of him or the others since the day they had met up one last time at the hospital to see Kokaku, with the exception of Kira. She had been the only person he had kept contact with, in response for her asking for his help to move her things to the West coast. Despite this, he still wondered how the others were, hoping they were well, and that they had moved forward.
But Maverik, he was still slightly worried about him after that night. Perhaps he had been in a calm frame when he had appeared at the hospital, but the two of them had reverted to states of mind long since buried when Kvists picture message had been sent to Taikus phone that night. The sight of what they had believed to be Kira, dead, had pushed them over the edge once more. Dead Eye had resurfaced, the incarnation of pure violence that resided in the depths of Maveriks psyche, could his friend be able to control the beast that lay within him again?
-Flashback-
For the time being, partly resulting from the onslaught of rage that Maverik and Taiku were unleashing, Legion was staving off the attacking Hand members, the numbers that had made it inside the building facing a brutal fate at the hands of the two snapped men...Uninterested in what Maverik was doing, Taiku focused solely on punishing the youth he had pinned down, straddled over him with his knees pinning his arms at the biceps. His hands brought the butt of the gun down into his face with a wet, cracking sound with every strike, pummelling him into the ground with furious fervour before the gargled pleas of mercy began to reach his ears....Halting the attack the briefest moment, he grinned widely and set the shotgun down, smirking a moment.
"Mercy? Would you have shown mercy to the people who fight for me? Does your master allow you to show it?"
The moments respite disappeared afterward as Taiku gripped one of the youths hands, prying his fingers out from the clenched fist he was holding tightly to and wrenching the little finger back suddenly with a dull snap, bringing another yelp of pain from the kid he held down...
"Then you will receive none from me..."
"P-please...Don't do this...."
His last desperate plea falling on deaf ears, he could only release deep, carnal screams of pain as Taiku set to snapping the remaining fingers on the youths right hand, letting it fall to the floor again as he watched the tears slowly stream off the young mans face. The words that caught his ears next, however, would be the very thing that saved this persons life...
"Boss! There's something you need to hear!"
"I doubt it can't wait until later...."
"Taiku, it's some girl who needs to talk to you!"
"....A girl?"
"Yeah, here!"
Holding the headset up to his ears, his own having been tossed aside a while ago, he wasn't sure how or when, he spoke tentatively into it....
"Y-yes....?"
"Kazuki! It's Kira, I'm fine...I don't know exactly what you've heard, but I'm totally fine!"
Dropping the hand that held the headset, he backed up from the youth he had pinned and moved away, his mind scrambling to digest the information...There was a chance that this was a setup of sorts, but he doubted it. He knew her voice well enough to know it was her, and in an instant he felt as if he had been knocked clean out of his head. Around him, the sounds of gunfire and flames licking at the walls, rising and reducing the building to ashes as the two rival factions fought it out in this brutal battle, he found himself searching only for one person....
'Where are you, Maverik...Where are you??'
Quickly moving across the room, he skimmed over the place, hunting for the other male who had seen the picture of her, before his eyes caught him...
"MAVERIK!!"
Yelling at the top of his voice, he watched as his friends head turned, and with a flick of his wrist he brought the headset back to his mouth a moment, not bothering to listen, just speaking quickly....
"There's one more person you need to tell....."
As he slung the headset at him, he watched as a slightly incredulous expression met him, and he gestured for his friend to listen in on the line. The change in his expression was enough for Taiku, and he quickly moved away again, retrieving his shotgun a moment later and reloading it once more. She may have been alive, but he would not let that brief moment of relief stop him fighting. He couldn't risk everything like this, he had to keep fighting.
-End Flashback-
Slowly breathing, he glanced at his watch...A few minutes to go and he could open the doors, hopefully the growing crowd outside would be able to busy his mind enough to stop him being so fucking nostalgic, and as he turned away to approach the exit to the back of the club, he took one last glance over his shoulder to the queue outside...Would any of them tonight be former members of Legion, people he remembered from New York...?
Shrugging slowly, he slipped away and followed the stairwell up to the top level of the club where he had, like he had done before for the staff at The Edge in the past, converted a comfortable staff room, not to mention his office. Gripping the doors, he stepped inside and slipped his coat off, tossing it over the back of one of the two chairs in front of his desk, slipping out of his casual clothes and dressing in the neatly pressed suit that hung over his desk. First night, he figured, deserved the owner to make a good first impression. Reaching over and pressing a button on the phone he had on his desk, he spoke quietly and with a slow pace...
"Have the DJ start now, open the doors and let's get this circus into motion, Rene...."
"Sure thing, I'll be up to see how you look in that suit in just a minute, too....."
"Heh, alright. Let's make this a good one..."
Releasing the button, he turned around to look out of the large window in his office, the same one-way glass that he had used for the main wall on the lower level, over the quiet, empty floor before turning to the CCTV screen. Taking a quiet breath, he slipped his palms into the suit pockets and watched as the doors were opened, the deadbolts slid loose and the doormen standing outside given the nod to begin letting people enter....
'Back to square one, Kazuki.....', he mused quietly with a faint smile as the door to his office opened, in stepping Rene with a smirk on her lips, a bottle of champagne in one hand and two glasses hanging lightly from between her fingers of her free hand. Turning to acknowledge her as she walked in, he gave her a brief smile and turned back.
"Figured you could use a toast to this place...." she quipped, winking at him as she set the bottle down along with the glasses and motioning for him to turn around, smiling more serenely as she took in his appearance.
"Looking good, Kazuki...I assume you'll have invited Kira along tonight...?"
"Need you ask, Rene...?" he smirked, shaking his head and taking the glass of champagne she handed to him, tilting the top of the glass toward her lightly, "To Legion, both of the past, and of the present...."
"To Legion...." she replied, tapping the edge of her glass against his as they turned, leaning on the desk and watching in silence as the main floor gradually began to fill up....
ic:
Chapter 7 - Dark Memories, Starting Over Again...
-Flashback-
Smoke rose through the main floor of the Edge, filling the air and clouding the sight of all those who fought in this battle, enemy and ally alike. Blood trickled from a wound on his forehead as he squinted his eyes to see, the acrid scented fumes stinging and blurring his vision alongside the blood, pooling together with sweat and running into his eyes painfully. Gripping the waist of his shirt and raising it to his face, swiping away the dusty mixture, he forced himself to keep his eyes open long enough to get as good a look of the room as he possibly could in this moment...
What he would see, however, would remain burned into his mind for a long time to come.
'My god..'
Carnage, absolute chaos and mayhem befell his eyes, in front of him he saw what had become of his once beautiful business and it was enough to almost reduce the man to the brink of breaking down. Ahead of him, the entire main floor was slowly being reduced to little more but wreckage and ash. If it wasn't burning, it was broken, tables having been used as makeshift shields from the spray of glass from the firebombs that Kvists men had sent at them beofre being caught in the flames, reduced to nothing more than charcoal and cinders. His fingers coiling tighter around the grips of the shotgun, he steeled himself before pushing away from his shelter, charging forward and firing off four shots. He was certain two of them had hit, bringing the two recipients of the blasts to the ground before he had left a line of sight with them, the other two he was at least assuming had wounded SOMEONE..The spray on the shells may not have been too widespread, but they'd still stray enough to clip someone.
However, Taiku found himself with a problem here. The fourth shot had been the last one in the weapon, and he no longer had any ammunition to reload....Cursing himself quietly, he tossed aside the empty and now useless firearm and tucked his legs in against himself a moment. Trapped, unarmed and with nowhere to run, his mind scrambled desperately in search of a solution to his dilemma.....
-End Flashback-
As the young man paced slowly through the near-empty building, alone bar a few staff members throwing together the final touches for the opening night to begin in an hour or so, he found himself drawn back to thoughts of the past, of things that still haunted him in the quiet hours when his mind was allowed to wander away from things to do with work or something else. He had, however, grown used to the memories sneaking up on him, and though he still had nights that awoke him in cold sweats, he had grown able to cope with them in time.
'It's too quiet tonight. I hope the opening brings a good crowd in...'
Stopping in front of the large pane of toughened one-way glass that served as one part of the front wall, he watched the few people who paced around and looked at the entrance, glancing at the sign above the door that had been brought to life in a fluorescent glow of white, the name of the club illuminating the doorway and the surrounding sidewalk.
Legion, Taikus own small tribute to those who had fought with him back in Varron, his pathetic attempt at doing something to acknowledge their contribution that day, the risks they had all taken.......
-Flashback-
"Taiku! We can't hold them back much longer, they're gaining ground on us!"
The sound of those words ringing in the air were more painful than anything he had had inflicted upon himself tonight, but with a burning resolve along with unrelenting rage still oozing from his every pore, he spat out words that would seal the fate of many of those who stood by his side...
"Not yet....We do not run, we will not be beaten like this, I won't let Kvist beat me!!"
His own selfish motives fuelling him, the shotgun hanging in one arm as he picked up a bar stool in his other hand, twisting his body quickly full circle and releasing it towards the door with a vicious swing, sending the heavy steel legs into the body of an oncoming Hand member as he flicked his other wrist, bringing the firearm back up to a cocked stance and letting loose a shot into the air above the door, the spray from the shot striking one of the firebombs before it could be thrown and dousing the entrance in flames as it ignited overhead the Hands incoming grunts...
"I will kill all of you for what your leader did to her....You will suffer his penance! You will be the redemption of Kvist!!" he roared, charging towards an approaching member of the Hand and slamming the barrel of the gun into his jaw suddenly, sending him to the floor in a crumpled pile before his heel followed rapidly, directly onto the side of the young mans face, laced with a horror he relished at this moment...
-End Flashback-
Blinking a few times, he stopped his mind as it drifted out again...He had a particular distaste for those memories when they chose to invade his mind, thinking with a bitter taste in his mouth how much it reminded him of an earlier time in his life, when he had nothing but memories of anger and loathing for the world around him...It reminded him of days like the rooftop back at Varron when he had nearly taken the life of his closest friend, when the beast in him surged with such control over him that he had nothing else.
Something inside him tightened, his muscles constricting as he wondered just how his friend was. He had seen nothing of him or the others since the day they had met up one last time at the hospital to see Kokaku, with the exception of Kira. She had been the only person he had kept contact with, in response for her asking for his help to move her things to the West coast. Despite this, he still wondered how the others were, hoping they were well, and that they had moved forward.
But Maverik, he was still slightly worried about him after that night. Perhaps he had been in a calm frame when he had appeared at the hospital, but the two of them had reverted to states of mind long since buried when Kvists picture message had been sent to Taikus phone that night. The sight of what they had believed to be Kira, dead, had pushed them over the edge once more. Dead Eye had resurfaced, the incarnation of pure violence that resided in the depths of Maveriks psyche, could his friend be able to control the beast that lay within him again?
-Flashback-
For the time being, partly resulting from the onslaught of rage that Maverik and Taiku were unleashing, Legion was staving off the attacking Hand members, the numbers that had made it inside the building facing a brutal fate at the hands of the two snapped men...Uninterested in what Maverik was doing, Taiku focused solely on punishing the youth he had pinned down, straddled over him with his knees pinning his arms at the biceps. His hands brought the butt of the gun down into his face with a wet, cracking sound with every strike, pummelling him into the ground with furious fervour before the gargled pleas of mercy began to reach his ears....Halting the attack the briefest moment, he grinned widely and set the shotgun down, smirking a moment.
"Mercy? Would you have shown mercy to the people who fight for me? Does your master allow you to show it?"
The moments respite disappeared afterward as Taiku gripped one of the youths hands, prying his fingers out from the clenched fist he was holding tightly to and wrenching the little finger back suddenly with a dull snap, bringing another yelp of pain from the kid he held down...
"Then you will receive none from me..."
"P-please...Don't do this...."
His last desperate plea falling on deaf ears, he could only release deep, carnal screams of pain as Taiku set to snapping the remaining fingers on the youths right hand, letting it fall to the floor again as he watched the tears slowly stream off the young mans face. The words that caught his ears next, however, would be the very thing that saved this persons life...
"Boss! There's something you need to hear!"
"I doubt it can't wait until later...."
"Taiku, it's some girl who needs to talk to you!"
"....A girl?"
"Yeah, here!"
Holding the headset up to his ears, his own having been tossed aside a while ago, he wasn't sure how or when, he spoke tentatively into it....
"Y-yes....?"
"Kazuki! It's Kira, I'm fine...I don't know exactly what you've heard, but I'm totally fine!"
Dropping the hand that held the headset, he backed up from the youth he had pinned and moved away, his mind scrambling to digest the information...There was a chance that this was a setup of sorts, but he doubted it. He knew her voice well enough to know it was her, and in an instant he felt as if he had been knocked clean out of his head. Around him, the sounds of gunfire and flames licking at the walls, rising and reducing the building to ashes as the two rival factions fought it out in this brutal battle, he found himself searching only for one person....
'Where are you, Maverik...Where are you??'
Quickly moving across the room, he skimmed over the place, hunting for the other male who had seen the picture of her, before his eyes caught him...
"MAVERIK!!"
Yelling at the top of his voice, he watched as his friends head turned, and with a flick of his wrist he brought the headset back to his mouth a moment, not bothering to listen, just speaking quickly....
"There's one more person you need to tell....."
As he slung the headset at him, he watched as a slightly incredulous expression met him, and he gestured for his friend to listen in on the line. The change in his expression was enough for Taiku, and he quickly moved away again, retrieving his shotgun a moment later and reloading it once more. She may have been alive, but he would not let that brief moment of relief stop him fighting. He couldn't risk everything like this, he had to keep fighting.
-End Flashback-
Slowly breathing, he glanced at his watch...A few minutes to go and he could open the doors, hopefully the growing crowd outside would be able to busy his mind enough to stop him being so fucking nostalgic, and as he turned away to approach the exit to the back of the club, he took one last glance over his shoulder to the queue outside...Would any of them tonight be former members of Legion, people he remembered from New York...?
Shrugging slowly, he slipped away and followed the stairwell up to the top level of the club where he had, like he had done before for the staff at The Edge in the past, converted a comfortable staff room, not to mention his office. Gripping the doors, he stepped inside and slipped his coat off, tossing it over the back of one of the two chairs in front of his desk, slipping out of his casual clothes and dressing in the neatly pressed suit that hung over his desk. First night, he figured, deserved the owner to make a good first impression. Reaching over and pressing a button on the phone he had on his desk, he spoke quietly and with a slow pace...
"Have the DJ start now, open the doors and let's get this circus into motion, Rene...."
"Sure thing, I'll be up to see how you look in that suit in just a minute, too....."
"Heh, alright. Let's make this a good one..."
Releasing the button, he turned around to look out of the large window in his office, the same one-way glass that he had used for the main wall on the lower level, over the quiet, empty floor before turning to the CCTV screen. Taking a quiet breath, he slipped his palms into the suit pockets and watched as the doors were opened, the deadbolts slid loose and the doormen standing outside given the nod to begin letting people enter....
'Back to square one, Kazuki.....', he mused quietly with a faint smile as the door to his office opened, in stepping Rene with a smirk on her lips, a bottle of champagne in one hand and two glasses hanging lightly from between her fingers of her free hand. Turning to acknowledge her as she walked in, he gave her a brief smile and turned back.
"Figured you could use a toast to this place...." she quipped, winking at him as she set the bottle down along with the glasses and motioning for him to turn around, smiling more serenely as she took in his appearance.
"Looking good, Kazuki...I assume you'll have invited Kira along tonight...?"
"Need you ask, Rene...?" he smirked, shaking his head and taking the glass of champagne she handed to him, tilting the top of the glass toward her lightly, "To Legion, both of the past, and of the present...."
"To Legion...." she replied, tapping the edge of her glass against his as they turned, leaning on the desk and watching in silence as the main floor gradually began to fill up....