𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 • 𝐊𝐍𝐘

Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ３６

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| Ｂｌｏｏｄ　Ｆｌｏｗｅｒ　Ａｒｃ |

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Ayame ran down the dark hallways, searching through the rooms for any sign of Cho Kocho, but she was having no luck. Her feet tapped against the wooden maze of a building and each time she had to focus to keep herself from collapsing.

'Damnit c'mon where are you..?'

Ayame cursed as she ran, she could barely feel her feet on the ground, and could feel her vision blurring to the near point of darkness. Every time she reached a corner she couldn't immediately recall if she had run from the direction she came in or another. Disorientation was definitely a symptom of kidnapping except it was 10 times worse due to her blood loss.

She could barely register if her fans were truly in her hand at times as she dove into empty rooms to avoid roaming demons. During one of these hide and stay hidden sessions she felt her body collapse as she held the post for support. Her vision blurred strong hues of red green and blue flashing in her vision. She felt the contents in her stomach rise nearly to her throat, but she forced it down. Her knees shook as if her legs were merely connected by rubber bands. It was dizzying as she shut her eyes tight and pinched her arm to regain her footing and balance with pain to focus on rather than the fact she was running for her life, and to escape.

She hadn't realized it but she found that she was sitting behind the door that she had slid behind, she heard more demons coming and forced herself back onto her feet and out the door again.

She would've made it without detection if the sliding door hadn't creaked.

Her attention spiked at the sound of chaos from the demons spotting her and now on the chase, she couldn't tell. It could've been a fight amongst themselves Akira and the messenger however she didn't want to stop to find out. The sound was getting closer to her and she forced herself to keep herself steady on her feet, running through the endless halls of charred wood that cracked and shifted underneath her.

She turned several corners, her anxiety growing with every room looking exactly the same as the next. It was like a maze with the demons playing cat and mouse with her. She was the prey, wounded and delusional as she stumbled through the enclosed space. They were stalking her and forcing her to back herself into a corner. In order to escape for a breath, she found herself in yet another room that held every aspect of the previous, down to the tee. She shut the door behind her quickly, slamming her back against the wall gasping for air as her body trembled from fatigue.

Her head spun, her vision blurring to the point that she couldn't tell if her eyes were closed or not.

'Damn it!' she gripped her fans tightly as tears threatened to leak from her eyes.

She tried to control her breathing to keep herself from breaking down to tears as she stared up at the ceiling.

"Why-" she whispered in her tired, frustrated and delirious state as her body was glued to the door behind her.

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"Ayame?"

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•⊰ 𖥸 ⊱• - •⊰ ꕥ ⊱• - •⊰ 𖥸 ⊱•

Yushiro and Etsumi walked in silence, Etsumi watching the path ahead of them, finding little clues, traversed branches, the scent of wisteria and little trinkets on the ground as if someone had left a trail.