Until We Break

Loss and Denial - Chapter 9

Mai POV

The city was quiet. Too quiet. Where was all the demons. Where was that one guy who we could never beat. It had been two weeks since I engaged in combat. It was weird that I hadn't seen him or Em since. I walked the sidewalks, one or two cars passing by occasionally. If I didn't hear fighting from about a block away, I would've gone home. As soon as I heard the sounds, I rushed towards them, taking a left and another left. It lead me to outside of my school. I was confused. I had helped the monastery keeper put of runes against demons, but I didn't know why he wanted them. All I knew was that he didn't sit right

The fighting was coming from a group of six athletes getting their asses kicked by some cloaked figure. He looked like a ninja. The only thing I really knew was that he wore a Spirit Kitsune mask. The mask had black red and gold detailing on the white base.

The shadow like figure wore an outfit similar to a ninja in folklore or something like that. But it was black. His black hair was tied back to reveal a small black heart tattoo on the back of his neck. I immediately butted in, using my staff to try and trip him, but he kicked it away before looking at me. He stopped. Almost like he recognized me. He then scoffed and walked up to me. "That all you got, princess?" He asked, before striking my head. It all went black after that.

Akira Pov

I walked home, the cold breeze swaying as I looked around. I quickly looked around as I heard a loud shattering sound from behind me. Nothing was there. That's when someone jumped on me, putting my hands to my back and sitting on my legs. "What the hell!?" I yelled, trying to figure a way to break their hold. That's when I saw a pink strand of hair. I immediately tired to look at them, failing as I couldn't turn my neck far.

"Azrael?" I asked, still trying to get out of this persons grasp. That's when I saw Itona in front of me. He knelt down to me and whispered something to me that made me stop in my tracks it took me a moment to process before I was hit in the back of the head. Everything went black.

"Just rest, Akira... it'll be over soon."

His voice echoed in my head as I found myself in the darkness again. A familiar place. It always meant I was going to wake up soon. It was almost like a dark stage, where you can see every single one of your feelings but nothing made sense. They showed up in people form, but were always demented. There's faces didn't even exist.

The only familiar faces I saw were three of people I had seen only a few times prior to this. Norway, who's eyes were blackened out with a black like screen. His smile was more of a smirk but it seemed in pain. The second person was Azazel. She was laughing maniacally. Like something was more than funny to her. Then, there was Itona. He was the only one who wasn't smiling. Instead he was sitting on the floor, looking up at me with his head slightly tilted. "When you wake up, something is going to happen." He finally spoke, breaking the silence as what I saw disappeared, only leaving the three figures. "Everything is going to change." He continued.

I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?" I asked. In turn, he burrowed his face into his knees and hugged them. Like something bad was going to happen. "You will have unlocked your full ability. And I'll..." he tried to get it out but failed. I walked in front of him, kneeling down and trying to get it out of him. "You'll what.... Itona?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I tried to help him find the words he needed.

"I'll be gone. You can control your emotion and you have self control... I'll no longer need to be here." He explained, taking a deep breath. I took a moment to process this. He was going to leave? "What does that mean, Ito..."' I asked, trying to understand what was going on.

"My life has been long lived. I going to die, Akira. Take care of the others."

For the first time in the time I had known Itona, he had never smiled genuinely. His smile that moment left a scar on my heart. "You'll get some mark, near your back. It kind of looks like a wing tattoo. It signifies that you are a full fledged demon now. Good luck." Itona smiled, tears pouring out of his eyes.

I woke up.

I was in a bed in the middle of an unfamiliar room. The room was painted an olive green. I sat up and looked around. The room was empty. Except for the bed and a ninja... sitting on the floor. He looked familiar. Why did he have a spirit Kitsune on? He answered that question by taking off the mask and the one that covered his mouth underneath. Norway. He looked at me for a moment before sighing and getting up. "He's gone... isn't he." Norway asked, his tone more sad than anything.

"I... I don't want to think about it." I looked at the bed sheets, and putting my hands on my face. I was crying. Why was I crying. It's fucking pathetic of me. I barely even knew him. "I'll need to check out that tattoo... if you'll let me. It might get infected if I don't." Norway took a moment right after I took my hands off my face. I didn't want too.

"I'll do it myself." I spoke coldly, getting out of my bed. That's when I noticed. I was in a black shirt that was a size too big for me and in shorts. A shit sense of style and a complete disregard of my privacy. It was baggy and I noticed a whole wait off my chest. My breath sped up for a moment as I tried to figure out what was going on. There were bandages on almost every part of my body. The more I noticed the more I panicked. "You kinda... demoned out in a way... you went crazy and we had to grab a bunch of undercover demons to stop you. Your clothes were a consequence of that. Also don't worry, I know nothing, princey." He tried to reassure me.

I looked at him before trying to slow my breathing down. "Can I be alone, please?" I asked. He nodded and opened the door, uncrossing his legs before turning to leave. But he stopped.

"Oh. By the way. Hiro wants to talk to you sometime soon. About that Darwin guy?"