Service Hours

Old Scars Burn 1.3

I sat gasping for air. I cry, scratching my eyes out, not wanting to believe it real. I scream at the top of my lungs for nothing to answer but the enemy's steps. I lose composure. I leave my cover looking for anything and anyone to kill. I grab the soldier's head, ripping it clean off as his associates look in shock and fire at me. The bullets penetrate my organs, but my rage won't allow me to stop. I use the head of the former soldier to bash his ally's skulls in. I grab their guns and advance back into the battlefield. As I advance, I find the corpse of Sadie hung on a pole, organs strung at the top as her eyes are popped out of their sockets. I vomit at the sight, trying my best to keep pushing forward, but I pass out due to exhaustion.

"Sunny, the party awaits," Daria says. Sunny seems lost in thought as Daria explains what has to happen. "De Seer will act as your date so that you won't be questioned as much," Daria states. "So you got a clan leader in on this?" Sunny says. "No, not necessarily; he thinks you are a slut for hire," Daria says with a smug look. Sunny glares at Daria with full intent to kill her. "Calm down. If he gets a little too touchy-feely, you can kill him. It'll make things easier for me either way." Daria says with a grin. Sunny walks toward the helicopter door, opens it and hops off. "Remember, Sunny, it's a one-time thing; do anything that brings too much attention, and things will just get harder," Daria says in a severe tone. Sunny looks at a man wearing an owl mask and a red suit with black accents. "You must be De Seer?" Sunny asks. The man turns to her, looking at her intensely momentarily before answering. "I am pleased to have such a beautiful lady accompany me on this fine night." De Seer says while kissing Sunny's hand.

Sunny holds in her disgust and goes for a more unamused approach. "Seems Daria blessed me with a more dignified harlot," he says snarkily. "Don't worry; I will surely shatter that pride by the night's end." he continues with a sinister smile. He grabs Sunny, pulling her towards him before releasing her hand. De Seer removes his blazer and places it on Sunny's shoulders. "What's this gesture for?" Sunny says blankly. "I am just marking my territory." De Seer responds with his eyes glinting red momentarily before receiving a phone call. Sunny makes her way to the party's front door, leaving De Seer behind to deal with his phone call.

As Sunny walks into the mansion to see gold plastered all over the walls and people conversing in groups while the weaker variants dance, the higher-ranked ones watch and gossip. Two guards stop her. "Who are you here with?" one of them asks, touching Sunny's shoulder. "Are you fucking retarded? That's Seeril's blazer; she is obviously here with Misuser De Seer." the other guard says in fear. The guards move out of Sunny's way as she enters the ballroom. Walking in, Sunny draws the attention of multiple men. Her elegant dress and eye-catching figure cannot help but pull their gazes, but Sunny is looking for only one person as she scans the room for Luciel, who appears to be on a balcony overseeing the party.

"I pray that you all are enjoying this celebration," Luciel says elegantly. "We will be having our leader's meeting later tonight, but for now, enjoy the party," he says, raising a cup for a toast. Sunny shifts past all the people dancing to get to the stairs but gets pulled to the side by De Seer. "Why couldn't you wait for me?" he says, staring at her lustfully. "It'll be better to take this to a room upstairs, no?" Sunny asks while touching his chest. De Seer grabs Sunny's hand and guides her upstairs to a side room reserved for clan leaders. "Let's start the fun," he says, walking towards the bed. "Have fun with this bastard," Sunny says blankly, whacking him on the side of the head with her pistol. De Seer falls onto the bed unconscious. "Had to sign me up to look like a slut didn't you, Daria." Sunny mutters to herself. "Little Dipper, don't fail me now," Sunny says as she steps out. Walking in the hallway, she finds Luciel conversing with other clan leaders.

Sunny goes to a table nearby to try and eavesdrop on them. "Looks like everything is going to plan." a man with a navy blue tux says while drinking heavily. Luciel laughs at the man while taking a sip of his drink. "There was no real plan, as this was a celebration, after all," Luciel responds with a smile. Sunny tries to listen in some more before being approached by a woman wearing a dark green dress and a tiger mask. "You seem to be La Fonte's date; my name is Juliette," she says, reaching for a handshake. "Some party this is," Sunny says, refusing to shake her hand. "Well, it is being thrown by the president, after all," Juliette says while awkwardly lowering her hand. Sunny tries to escape Juliette but is being pestered by her words. "La Fonte used to be my husband but decided to cheat on me. Don't fall for him so easily," she says while sipping her drink. Sunny nods, walking away before Juliette tries to start another conversation. A few moments go by before all the clan leaders head downstairs to dance with their partners while Luciel goes to his room to prepare his speech.

Sunny walks over to his room and sneaks in while he is looking at the mirror, muttering the speech to himself. Sunny locks the door before confronting him. "Hello, old friend," she says coldly. "Had a feeling you would come, Sunny," Luciel says, smiling. "What happened to you, Luci?" Sunny asks with a disappointed demeanor. "I should be asking you that, Sunny. I thought you were dead." Luciel says, slowly losing his fake smile. "I had to get away, Luciel," she responds coldly. "You had to get away, but what do you think happened to the remaining Emberfall?" Luciel says, getting agitated. "I couldn't handle it," she says, throwing her mask off her face. "You really haven't realized you weren't the only one affected," Luciel says with a disheveled expression. The room grows silent and cold with awkwardness. Sunny stares at Luciel, wanting him to explain himself, but he averts his eyes. "Luci, what happened to your morals?" Sunny questions. "Oh, out of all people, Ms.Kaijo wants to ask me about morals," Luciel says sarcastically. "If you really wanna talk about morals, let's talk about what happened to Cleo after you left!" Luciel yells. Sunny is shocked by how angry Luciel is but doesn't have the energy to argue. "What happened to Cleo, Luci?" Sunny asks, showing genuine concern. Luciel takes a seat, letting out a depressing sigh. "Cleo took her life," he says blankly. Sunny is stunned by the statement, but he continues. "She took her life after being called a war criminal; she got blamed for your crimes, Sunny," Luciel says with a heavy heart.

"That can't be true," Sunny says, confused. "The people who blamed her were non-variants who knew nothing about the war, people who thought the soldiers were just expendable trash. I had to do something; I just had to get revenge," Luciel says, covering his eyes with his hands. "Luciel, you are a non-variant too. What do you mean 'get' revenge?" Sunny retorts. "I 'was' a non-variant; I am no longer," he says, standing up from his seat as his iris glows a disgusting hue of burgundy. Sunny backs up, firing her pistol wavelengths at him, but he takes cover behind a chair.

Luciel throws a pillow at Sunny, who dodges it as it hits the floor, exploding on impact, caving the room in. Luciel grabs the rubble from the floor, looking for Sunny, but she appears behind him, tackling him and forcing him to drop the rubble. "Luciel, stop this, please. Why can't things go back to the way it was?" Sunny pleads with him. Luciel averts his eyes as if he is withholding heavy information. "Sunny, you know I always saw you as my sister," Luciel says grimly. He kicks Sunny off, grabbing her throat and throwing her out the window. Luciel follows, getting ready to throw rubble at her to finish the job, but he hears a loud ringing noise in his ears before he can throw anything. Trying to ignore the ringing, he throws the rocks at her, expecting them to explode, but they just fall to her feet, doing nothing in response.

"What, Sunny, when did you?" Luciel questions her. "I shot you when the floor caved in; you were just too pumped with adrenaline to realize," she responds coldly. "Luciel, let's stop this, please. You are my family. You can still make the changes you dreamt of all those years ago." Sunny says, smiling. Luciel lets out a chuckle. "Never thought I would see the day the quiet child would actually smile; I guess you have changed," Luciel says in amusement. "But I guess that means I changed too," Luciel says, staring at Sunny with overwhelming bloodlust. Luciel lunges at Sunny, getting on top of her, before whispering to her. "I need you to help me. Daria forced me to make these laws," he says hurriedly. "What do you mean-" Sunny tried to ask, but before she could get a response, a loud boom rang through the air. Within a moment, Sunny's face was covered in blood, and her ears rang like never before as she saw Luciel's body go limp.