[OLD] Book 1: Densetsu.EXEcution

Chapter 26 - Forget-Me-Not

"Yes..." Desiree said weakly, looking up into Arashi's hollowed eyes, "We were foolish, weren't we Dante?" She rubbed her neck as she struggled to stand. "I was controlled by her...No, by my father. I was unable to see the truth behind what we were doing. I couldn't see the effects of anything at all."

"Desiree," Arashi said, "Are you willing to repent for this?"

"I am," Desiree replied. Arashi held out his hand.

"Those who are so much as willing to repent for their wrongdoings are forgiven," he said. She reached out to him and grabbed his hand in her own. He helped her to her feet, allowing her to fall faintly into his arms. "Remain strong, Desiree..."

"I sincerely apologize," said the Britanian voice of Dominic Arakawa from a cove above, "I do dispite to break up this moment of joy between you all."

"Enough of this, father," Desiree said, "Your plan won't work!"

"Oh dear," Dominic said, looking down upon them, "You've wishes to defy me? Your own father? Have you lost your bloody sanity?"

"No father," Desiree responded, "I've seen the truth. Your plans to reset the world will not work." She looked at him with a serious gaze. "I should have known better, after everything you've done to me..." She began to sob as she remembered her past.

---

Dominic turned to face Nikolai in his lab ten years earlier. Desiree was only a little girl, and Dante looked the same as he did then, with his skin unravaged and his body stable as before. Desiree and Dante were cased in glass on their own, connected by a red cord of some kind. Dominic made some calibrations on a keypad, and a red casing covered the glass Desiree and Dante were behind.

For several hours, Dante and Desiree had been placed through strenuous experiments conducted by Dominic and Nikolai. Every hour, Dominic would place an atomic pellet inside each glass casing, and observe its movement, along with Desiree's and Dante's reaction to it. Over the course of these hours, Dante would take in large amounts of pain from the atoms. Desiree would take the atom to her solar plex, as well as in left shoulder. Both of them underwent intense amount of pain.

On the final hour of the first day of experimentation, Dante collapsed before the atom was placed in his capsule. Dominic was enraged by Dante's weakness, and immediately placed three more atoms in his capsule. The four atoms, uncontained by the lack of air inside the casing, bounced off the glass walls, hitting Dante several times. His skin grew ravaged, and two of the atoms hit directly in his eyes. Dante had been blinded.

Desiree cried as she watched Dante take in every hit. As his body grew more and more ravaged, he pulled himself back to his feet, if not only to prove Dominic wrong. The atoms dissolved after an hour, leaving Dante covered in wounds, blinded, and unable to speak or move.

Desiree's eyes were full of fear. She stared at Dante and her father, who took notes on Dante's reactions of courage and bravery. "He seems vengeful," he told Nikolai, taking down notes, "It's as though he became motivated to absorb the pain of the atoms, simply because I told him he was weak."

"The man has a loaded weapon, does he not?" Nikolai asked, looking at Dante carefully. At the sound of a gunshot, he spoke again. "I suppose that answers that."

"You're in quite the pickle, aren't you, mate?" Dominic asked, reaching for a pistol from his belt. "I don't suppose you'll be crossing me then?" He shot at the glass, shattering it. Shards of glass fell into Dante's skin, and blood dripped from his arms. The atoms inside broke free and began to ricochet across the room. "Just certain you know the man you're messing with..." He aimed at the atoms, firing at them. Each one split into four new atoms, which darted around the room, knocking down Dante and Desiree, shattering the glass on her capsule as well.