Dark Side of Wonderland

Naraka

Halo Thirteen: Naraka:

The following documents Ikebukuro's dance in Hell. This did not happen overnight. All it took was a trumpet sound. Now, there have been three trumpets. Each one has brought more rot and ruin that comes with the Wasteland. Now, the Wasteland has been creeping in for some time now. But this time is different. This is in the final stretch of the game. Everyone is starting to notice that something is wrong. They are starting to notice that this is not normal. And now it is starting to get worse.

Before the next three days are over, there is going to be another trumpet.

Tōkatsu Jigoku

November 10th, 2015

Izaya struggled to keep his wits about him. How many times has she done this now? He's lost count. He can't walk the streets as confident as he used to. Who or what was she going to be? Where was she now? Was she following him now?

Izaya looked around. The streets were full of people.

"You think you've won?" he asked.

"You're still alive, aren't you?" she asked. She's a four-year-old girl now. Izaya would've found this comedic if he didn't know what she was capable of. The child smiled at him like a little angel. Izaya reached for his knife.

"Aw, you wouldn't hurt a little girl, would you, nii-san?" she asked. Izaya's right eye twitched.

"You're not a little girl," he muttered to himself.

"Hm?" she asked. Izaya shook his head. The little girl giggled. That sound made him so angry. The information broker glanced around. There were people around, yes.

"Hey! Hey!" Izaya shouted.

"They can't hear you," she said. Izaya whipped his head around. The child was grinning at him.

"You like it?" she asked. "Thought I would change the scenery a bit. Now, we can still be in public without anyone to bother us." A teenage couple walked through Izaya and the little girl like they were ghosts. The girl turned and waved at their backs. She turned back to her target.

"Now where were we?" she asked. Izaya stared at her unnerved.

"Ah, yes," she said. She moved closer to him in a blink. She broke into a huge grin. The innocence of a child was the cruelest thing. Izaya held out his knife. She pouted at him.

"Don't be a big meanie," she said. Izaya's right eye twitched. There had to be a way to break this curse. Kitano wasn't going to help him.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock," she said. Izaya's right eye twitched again.

"Stop doing that," he said through clenched teeth. That child's grin made him want to smack her. She was really... He didn't know what she was.

There was something else that she added.

"What did you say?" Izaya asked. The child grinned up at him. Instead of speaking, she reached up and touched him on the stomach. More violent images started to fill Izaya's mind. First came the wails and screaming. A thousand mothers of deceased children couldn't compare. It sounded like it was all around him. The sound seemed to be crushing down on his brain. Izaya couldn't move.

It felt like thousands of icy knives were stabbing his body. He could barely breathe. Invisible hands seized her by the throat. They've killed him before. A group of faceless men circled him. Each held a weapon in their hands. One by one, they came up to him. A giant blade stopped the information broker in the chest. Another took out a large Louisville slugger bat and beat him about the head and chest. Gray hands stabbed in the throat with an icepick. Izaya began choking on his blood. He looked down at his stomach. Her child mouth twisted into a smirk.