take me back to eden | niragi x oc

一

All Hiyori has is their focus. The world has gone topsy-turvy and they can't let it send them spinning out. This unreality is a storm, needing to be weathered until they can reach the other side, gone through and not around.

They dodge to the left, avoiding another rain of bullets. Dropping to their knees behind a low halfwall, they pant. They pat their hands through the mess on the ground, feeling small rocks and shards of glass nick into their palms and fingers. They ignore the prickle of pain as they uncover another piece of the puzzle. How many is that now? Nine or ten out of twelve?

Palming the puzzle piece, they shuffle along the wall, leaning their arm into it as they peer around the corner. No sight of the gunsmen, but that didn't mean they should be calm.

Another player jumps up from behind a different wall, squawking: "I found one!"

Within a blink, gunfire scatters through him and he falls and Hiyori hisses in through their teeth, ducking back behind the wall. Fuck. They want to just leave it, forcing someone else to have to go and grab it, but they don't have the time for such selfishness. They take a breath, crouching onto their toes, then dart across the divide towards the fallen player. A spray of bullets streak up behind them, missing by mere inches and burying into the wall.

Huffing, they wrangle the large puzzle piece out of the player's hand, ignoring the death rattle wheezing from his mouth. Crouching in wait, their eyes pause for a moment on the man then look away. There was nothing anyone could do for him now, and the game needed to be finished.

The pair of gunsmen go dormant again and Hiyori breathes quietly, shallow short breaths through their parted lips until they can work up the nerve to move again. They crunch the mix of rocks and glass under their shoes, turning cautiously. It's a quicker route if they keep moving forward, but if they turn back there's more places to hide, less chance of catching a bullet. They shift the second puzzle piece into their hand with the first.

Time is ticking, they don't have enough of it to waste. Their fingers curl tightly around the pieces, pointed edges digging into the softness of their dirty palm. A quick, deep breath, and they run.

More gunfire. A glass bottle shatters near their head, raining shards into their hair, tangling in the long strands. They don't stop. Ducking behind a wall here, darting across there, a quick twist in direction to throw off the watching snipers. Finally, they're sliding into the small hollow where another player was trying to fit pieces into the puzzle in the right order. Their shoes kick up the gravel and for a moment, when the bullet rain silences, it's the only sound other than their heavy breaths.

The other player stares wide eyed at them through her thick glasses. Hiyori shoves their gripped pieces into her hands, then sinks to kneel and heave in breaths. Tiny stones dig into their knees, dust further dirtying up their pale skin.

"Are you almost done?" They ask, the panting making them sound impatient.

"There's still one piece missing," the woman stammers.

Hiyori groans quietly. Carefully reaching a hand up, they ruffle it through their hair and dislodge the glass shards. The pieces make pretty tinkling sounds as they trickle to the ground. Shifting back onto their feet, they prop their arms on their legs.

"Any ideas?" They ask wearily.

"Two guys went that way and I haven't seen them since," she answers shakily, pointing.

Hiyori sighs. Either the two were dead or the last piece is in a complicated spot. Neither is a good option, but both are likely. Sitting back, they lean against the wall. The woman silently turns back to the puzzle, trying to fit the pieces into their proper spots.