28 DAYS [MakoHaru]

thirty four

Chapter Thirty-Four

It starts to rain on Makoto's way home.

Not your typical winter shower; no, within minutes the sun has set, the sky is releasing a torrential downpour, and the rain is starting to absorb into Makoto's worn-out high tops.

By the time he enters the house, he's completely soaked. Welcomed by the warmth of a heated home, he creeps into his room, which is completely dark. He shuts the door as quietly as he can, shakes off his damp jacket, tosses it carelessly somewhere, and fumbles for the lightswitch.

As his eyes adjust to the sudden bright light, he immediately notices Chaos sitting on his bed, long legs crossed and hanging over the side of his bedframe. She's staring at him intensely, and Makoto can't figure out if her stare is out of spite or pride. He simply cannot tell; there are a million emotions flashing through her creepy heterochromatic eyes.

Weirdly enough, he doesn't shout out in surprise. Maybe he's just used to these supernatural beings sneaking up on him unnoticed and unannounced, or maybe he subconsciously knows exactly why she's here.

"You did it," She announces quietly. Makoto could be mistaken, but she actually looks impressed, in her own sickening away.

"What do you want from me now, Chaos?" Makoto demands tiredly. "It's late, I'd like to go to sleep."

"Jeez, you did it!" She says louder, this time to herself, blatantly ignoring his question even though her eyes are trained on him the entire time. She hops up, starting to pace about the room, rambling under her breath. "I mean, I figured I at least had more time to plan than this, even just a day or two, but I suppose angsty teenagers don't need much more than sex nowadays to feel something other than-"

"What are you going on about?" Makoto asks impatiently, sick and tired of her babbling and treating him like he can't understand anything she says. "What did I do?"

"You did it," It is said a third time, but it's from someone else. It's all too calm and oddly familiar. Makoto recognizes it in a heartbeat.

He whirls around. "Death?" He gasps. Sure enough, Death has made his grand entrance, leaning against the door and looking very annoyed; however, his irritation is not directed at Makoto for once, but rather, it is pointed directly at the young woman on the bed.

Death does not regard Makoto for a second. "What is your business here?" He demands to Chaos, keeping his voice level. His arms cross loosely over his torso, but the rigidity in his stance shows he could attack at any moment.

"Death! How kind of you to join us!" Chaos greets him cheerfully, giving him a wave by curling her fingers. Makoto notices she's wearing a ring on nearly every finger, the most prominent being a large red – perhaps a ruby - gemstone on a silver band, on her middle finger. "Shall we tell dear little Makoto what he's done together?"

"You have no right to tell him," Death practically spits. "Let alone be here. Trickster scum like you don't belong on the surface."

Makoto's never seen Death speak so harshly before. Granted, the only conversations he's seen Death have had been with only him, and those were usually just sarcastic remarks and cautiously dancing around his questions. Still, he makes a mental note to never get on Death's bad side and he takes a step back, not wanting to get in between what looks like one step away from nuclear warfare.

"Fine, have it your way," She smirks, snapping her fingers together. "We'll go somewhere else."

Makoto blinks, and suddenly he's standing on the edge of a rocky cliff in an unknown, desolate location. He makes the mistake of looking over the edge amidst his shock; hundreds of feet down is nothing but a murky blackness.