My love, Broken and Twisted (Tyki Mikk)

Chapter 22

Shaun wiped the blood from her knuckles with a damp white cloth, after her meeting with Lavi she was feeling overwhelmed again and so she had conveyed those feelings through her fists as she often did. It was funny to her how such a raw form of pointless and brutal aggression could calm her head so much, it never made her feel like a million bucks afterwards, but at least she didn’t feel as trapped inside of herself. Especially at a time like this when everything felt so surreal, clinging to the null pain would make her feel strong again, as if convincing herself that the wall would surely break before she did. She sighed, feeling an irritating tickle in her throat she coughed into the already blood stained cloth, What do ya know… She thought as she examined the now completely ruined white fabric, Even more blood… Yaaaay… She tossed the cloth onto the floor and stared over at her weapon, “So you think I betrayed you right…” Shaun asked the innocence out loud, for obvious reasons it didn’t reply. “It’s not like you’re the one getting hurt here.” She scowled, but knowing that an argument with an, for all intents and purposes, inanimate object would get her nowhere, Shaun pushed up off of the bed she was resting on and moved to the bathroom to take a much needed hot shower.

She stripped off her clothes and ran the water, testing it with her hand until it rose to a comfortable temperature. At this point Shaun was barley even fazed by the state of her arm anymore, the whole ‘Oh my god this can’t be happening to me!’ effect only lasts so long before you just accept it and move along with the time you have left. As the warm water streamed over her body she laughed a little, This stupid scythe is almost acting like my father… She shuddered, Now that’s a scary thought. Her father’s decision upon seeing what Shaun had done was absolute, there was no way to avoid his anger, similarly no matter how she looked at things , the decision of her innocence was the same. For a moment Shaun considered ending things with her own hands rather than having the innocence slowly and painfully take her life, but she didn’t know if she had the courage. Casting the thought away she made the decision to go chop up some straw training dummies instead of going to dinner. Shutting off the water, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed her towel, quickly rubbing it on the top of her head to dry her hair a little before wrapping it around herself and moving back into her room to get dressed. As she pulled on her uniform she began to wonder who would miss her. Maybe Lavi, she knew that he wasn’t supposed to care for her but the friendship they had, Shaun pulled the scarf around her neck and cuddled into it a bit, there were only a handful of people who she trusted as much as Lavi, that had to be real. Kanda? He was a stuck up asshole, but she couldn’t deny that she would be very hurt if he didn’t miss her even just a little after all that they had been through. As she reached for her scythe a certain Noah popped into her mind, Would… he… A low growl rumbled in the exorcist’s throat, angry at herself for thinking of him again she aggressively snatched her weapon from its place on the wall and headed down towards the training hall.

Shaun pulled open the large double doors and stepped inside, the huge room was completely empty, save some floor mats and a few dummies that someone had neglected to put away. Examining the sturdy straw dummies she wondered if she should practice her innocence’s special ability, she hadn’t used it in such a long time, but that was because it made it so much harder for the exorcists around her to fight. Shaun rarely used the ability unless she had to and despite everything that had been happening, she really hadn’t needed to lately. The exorcist shrugged, crouching into a low fighting stance she readied herself and reached back to unsheathe her innocence, “Innocence, Heaven’s sha-?” A small sound halted her, causing her to perk up, it had come from the door. Did someone just lock me in here? Uuuugh, idiots. She scowled, turning to the doorway she started towards it, that’s when she saw it, stopping dead in her tracks, that’s when she saw him. Phasing through the door Tyki was in his casual white dress shirt with the first few top buttons undone and his hair down, “Sorry I had to lock that-” He gestured over his shoulder, “-but I don’t want anyone interrupting  us.” The Noah boldly walked straight up to her, stopping about an arm’s length away, he searched for her eyes but Shaun would not look at him. The exorcist’s gaze was trained on the floor and she ground her teeth, “Shaun…” He called to her gently and reached out a hand to move the hair from her face, SLAP! Shaun struck his hand away, pulling back her own she smashed a fist into his gut, hard, making the Noah stagger backwards a few steps. “I TOLD YOU!” She shouted furiously, “I… HAVE NOTHING…LEFT TO SAY TO YOU! NOTHING! NOW STOP SHOWING UP EVERYWHERE I FUCKING GO!” Shaun was panting uncontrollably. Tyki wheezed a bit and caught his breath before speaking again, “I remember… You have nothing left to say to me…” His squinted gold eyes seemed to flash a little, as if those words hurt him to say, Shaun, after a brief silence glanced down at her fist and then back up to him. “Why… just now.” Shaun’s breathing slowed but the fiery rage in her eyes remained, “Why didn’t you phase through my hand…” She could almost hear her heart thudding away in her chest. “I’m… not sure… I guess in a way, I felt that I deserved that.” He shrugged, reaching out a second time, Shaun stiffened but this time Tyki was able to tenderly cup one side of Shaun’s face without her stopping him. Shaun took in the feeling of his skin touching hers again, his hand was cold, at least compared to her cheek anyway, and soft. Spinning away from the grudgingly comforting touch she kept her back to him, “So you have nothing left to say...” He began, “Then you don’t have to speak, just listen to me love… that’s all.” Shaun remained still, leaving the Noah with nothing but silence to answer him. His tone was low and serious, “Well I guess …. honestly at first I was just going to have a little fun and be done with this…” Tyki shrugged, Shaun hugged her arms around her chest . “But the more time I spent with you, I… It was different from before… You were different…  Than the others… I Uuuugh.” Tyki’s head was starting to ache and he was getting frustrated with himself, “When I hurt you before, putting that tease in your arm… it was because I didn’t want anyone else to… and when I, when you said…” The Noah seemed to be tripping over the simplest of thoughts, struggling to express his real feelings out loud he gave up on explaining himself and sighed. “I can explain on the way, just please love follow quickly before someone sees us.” He placed a hand on her shoulder only to have it swatted away, “On the way!? Follow you!?” She spun around and shook her head in shock, Tyki raised his brow in surprise at her. “Well yes, you… know we can’t stay here…” He stammered, “Why the fuck would I go anywhere with you now!?” She laughed, leaning in closer to him she gave him a shove backwards. “I’M NOT YOURS TO KEEP! I'M NOT A POSSESION TO JUST PICK UP AND TAKE BACK, AND I’M NOT A TOY TO ENTERTAIN YOU!” She seethed, “DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT I WOULD JUST DROP EVERYTHING AND LET YOU, WHAT? WHISK ME AWAY INTO THE FUCKING SUNSET! NO!” Shaun’s knuckles were snow white as she clenched her hands into even tighter fists. “… With everything that happened… you know that we would both be better off moving on anyway…” The exorcist snarled, Tyki grasped both of her shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eyes, “I CAN'T! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT AT ALL!?” He shook her a little. “Why do you think I keep showing up where you are!? Why do you think I haven’t destroyed that damned scythe of yours!? Why do you think I was treating you that way!?” He demanded, noticing that Shaun was wincing a bit at the strength of his hold and favoring one arm, he paused and released her. Shaun cradled her injury but kept her angry eyes fixed on Tyki, silently challenging him to come up with an excuse good enough to explain the things he had done. “I’m selfish!” He snapped aggressively, “I wanted you to be mine and mine alone! I’m risking so much for you, to try and twist the ending of this crooked tragedy into a fairy tales happily ever after!” Tyki’s head was spinning like a top and his face felt hot, “Why can’t you understand that I’m going against everything I know, because!?… I… need you.” Those last few words weren’t planned, they just sort of tumbled out before he could think. He couldn’t take them back now, besides, he didn’t want to. “Heh… Happily ever after…” She scoffed, eyes suddenly dark again, “It’s far too late for me to have one of those now thanks to you and this stupid innocence.” Tyki perked up at her words in confusion, “Hmm?” SHINK! CRASH! Both Shaun and Tyki turned to face the noise, “I knew I smelled smoke…” Kanda growled, turning his nose up at the Noah and stepping through the empty frame and debris that was the locked door.

“Kanda wait.” Shaun sighed as he neared them, Aaaaah shit this is bad… Drawing his Mugen, the exorcist hadn’t acknowledged her words at all. Tyki’s eye’s narrowed, “I’m not here for you…” The Noah stated flatly, Kanda sneered at him, “I’m not here for you either…” He retorted, Tyki raised a brow and pointed at Shaun, “Her?” He laughed, amusement as well as jealously visibly taking over his face. “Tyki, don’t… Kanda…” Shaun growled, but neither boy paid her any attention. “Get away from her.” Kanda spat, Tyki began to grin, as serious as the situation was he couldn’t help but want to torment Kanda as much as he could. “Oh, you don’t actually think you’re protecting her do you?” He chuckled, with a snap of his fingers all three of them were surrounded in a small whirlwind of tease, “Tease!” He called to his pets, “Keep Shaun out of this!” He ordered, finally glancing back at her he cast her a charming smile. “Sorry love, be angry at me later but you won’t stop me this time.” Shaun reached back for her weapon but was soon consumed by a sea of blackness, her feet were no longer touching the ground and she had no idea which way was up or down. The exorcist’s nose scrunched up with anger at the sight of Shaun being swallowed by the swarm of black butterflies and lifted into the air, she was trapped and he had to get her out of there, but this was his chance to finally settle the score. Taking another bold step closer, “You make me sick…” Kanda snarled, before charging at the smirking Noah, letting out a low battle cry as he ran. The exorcist slashed Mugen where the Noah was standing but Tyki had already dropped away through the floor, CRACK! Kanda had spun just in time to parry the large shining weapon that engulfed his enemies’ right hand. “I make you sick huh?” Tyki laughed, pushing right in close to Kanda’s face while both of them bore down on each other’s weapons, “If that’s true and Shaun is the girl you want…” He grinned wickedly, sparks flying as their blades ground together. “I could share things with you that would make you more than sick.” Kanda’s face contorted with revulsion, pulling back his sword he ferociously slashed at Tyki, who was quick enough to block each blow. Leaping backwards to escape Kanda’s rage he chuckled some more, “Oops, did I cross a line?” Tyki mockingly faked a pout.

Shaun finally managed to pull her innocence off of her back, she was disoriented, nauseous and wanted to throw up, but if she didn’t do something fast they would tear each other apart. Aimlessly swinging the scythe around her, the thick cloak of black would momentarily reveal tiny light tears as the tease avoided or were destroyed by the blade.  The swirling swarm pushed at her from all sides and the random slashing, despite her best efforts,  wasn’t working at all, there were way too many. Well… She thought as she weightlessly tumbled around in the blackness, Guess I will have some practice time today, “INNOCENCE!” She called through the dark mass of insects, “HEAVEN’S SHADOW!”