Kaleidoscope: The Fox And The Butterfly

21- Little Bit of Foolishness

Hugging his knees as he leans into the room's wall, Ren buries his head into his thighs while Sion and Niz sit beside his right and left respectively. Silence is the only driving force within this inmate viewing room. Only Sion's intermittent whistling and Niz's tapping feet fill in the blanks. The clock keeps on ticking, its needle already pointing at three a.m, exactly three hours after Samuel began possessing Azayaka.

Since then, Ren couldn't bear himself to look through the glass. His tail would shiver at the thought of seeing her all jittery as if she's having a chronic seizure. Throughout the hours of him sitting beside his friends, all he could do is to trust their words that the demon possessing her, Samuel would keep himself away from eating her soul. Maybe it's quite racist for him to assume that, but who would be willing to see a goop of ink-like monster forcefully enter through every single of a friend's facial orifice like that?

"Clack."

Amidst the silence, a clack echoes across the inmate viewing room. The door leading to the cell opens for the Chief to step out. Ren immediately stands and approaches the door with his fists clenched, but the Chief nonchalantly blocks his path.

Seeing his furious steps, Niz goes to stop the fox, but with a tug to his scaly fingers, he stops and looks back to see Sion shaking his head with his lips pursed.

"Get the hell out of my way," Instinctively, Ren's clenched fist sparks with electricity as he glares at the Chief.

She only tilts her head as she puts her hands behind her waist, "There's no need to worry now. I already made sure everything's gone smoothly as planned."

At that, Ren looks towards the viewing window, widening his eyes at the sight; Samuel has already started to release Azayaka from his possession. Slowly as she lies unconscious on the floor, lengths of his body starts to slither out from her mouth and nose before floating towards his sister, Anastasia, who's lying limp on the floor with her eyes wide open, displaying her grotesquely empty eyesockets. Through those eyesockets, the ink-like demon starts to enter.

One by one, Anastasia's limps suddenly snap upwards like a puppet before falling back down. Her body starts to jitter and convulse as the last bit of Samuel's body slithers into her. Thus, when there's not a drop of ink to be seen anymore, Anastasia closes her eyes for a moment before opening them again, revealing them pitch black as her lips form a small smile.

"Haah..." She yawns as she stretches her arms. She then goes to kneel beside the still lying Azayaka before Samuel in the form of his cartoony venus-flytrap head comes out of her left eye. Black shadowy tendrils start to eject from the length of his snake-like body. They slithers around Azayaka's back and knees as Anastasia stands up, the tendrils lifting the dark fae in a princess carry. The siblings then puts her gently onto the cell's bed, tugging her goodnight.

Ren could only raise an eyebrow in confusion. Yet, his heartbeat lessens as a breath of relief escapes his lips.

"See?" With that, the Chief steps away, approaching the viewing room's exit, "I'll be in the office if any of you need something. Also, Ren, I suggest to let her rest. Usually, it takes six hours for people to wake up after Samuel scours through their memory."

At the last part of her words, Ren's ears perk. But when he glances behind, the Chief is already nowhere to be seen.

The siblings soon step out of the inmate cell. Ren immediately grasps the sister's shoulders.

"What did you see..? Please... Tell me!"

Anastasia and Samuel look at each other before both give Ren their silent smile, then with soft spoken voices, both of them speak, "The way we see it..." They glance to the viewing window, towards the unconscious Dark Fae, "It's better if she tells you herself."