Butterflies

Chapter 2

"Arlo," she called out into the phone once the initial ringing stopped four rings in. The skirt hat covered her from waist to mid-thigh was creased and ruffled from the night's activities but that wasn't the least of it...

He was gone. Taken by other ghouls.

She had to find him. She couldn't live without him.

She slid down the walls, wrapping her arm around her knees.

A tear ran down her cheek.

Why couldn't they have just stayed in for the date? For the night?

"Remi?" Arlo asked, calling down the channel that connected the two phones. "Are you alright? What happened? Did that dick of a CCG officer do something?"

"He's gone!" she cried out into the room around before she broke down into continuous sobs that she could barely breathe between.

"Who's gone? Is it Isen?" he asked down the phone line.

"Blyke!" She sobbed, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, your oyfrined," he replied, mumbling off near the end. "What happened? Did he break up with you? Did I need to beat his ass? Or did he find out?"

"They took him!" she wailed. Why did he always assume bad things about him?

"Who took him?" he questioned. Finally, he was taking her seriously.

"Other ghouls!" she cried, sobbing into her hands again.

"Oh," he responded. There was a break on the talking as she waited. "I'll look into it. You didn't recognise them, did you?"

"No, they were masks without design. Like the ones..." she trailed off, glancing around the room before making a decision. "The lady and even Joker somewhat. Plain black with a crystal-like surface. You know what I mean. Some alterations to make them unique. I couldn't pick out the details in the moment."

She broke down into sobs. Clang. The phone hit the ground.

"I'll look into it now>"

The call hung up.

Blyke choked. Oxygen was flooding into his lungs, but there was liquid in front of his eyes.

He didn't want to open his eyes. The chlorine would irritate them.

However, there were whispers – voices outside of his mind. There were people. Maybe it was an oxygen mask. Maybe Remi had called the CCG and he was in the hospital.

"How's 011?" one of the voice, feminine, asked. He didn't recognise her voice from the earlier mumbles: private conversations. Footsteps tapped across the floor.

"It seems that the kakohue organ has taken place in his body much better than any of the other specimens. I think it may have something to do with blood type – at least it increases the changes of success," one of the voices from before answered. "I wish we knew more about what they used to do in Japan."

This wasn't a hospital.

He shouldn't let them know he's awake.

"That shouldn't matter," the lady replied. Her footsteps rung out again. Closer. "At last getting him is turning out to be worth it. It had some of the highest risks to it with X-Rei being there."

X-Rei. That was an elusive ghoul. Were they watching as it happened?

They had to be part of a rival ghoul group. Ghouls were observed to work together and there was known to be one massive group in Wellston; only one group that there was no evidence that X-Rei had anything to do with the 'Butterflies'.