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The world ended in a sea of blood and gnashing waves of fangs and mindless corpses-but-not. Lucy stares down at the fire she, Margaret, Kyouka, and Lousia have managed to construct in her space and sighs.
She wishes she had a calendar in here, but that's one of the resources they lack. She's done her best to reorganize her space with the help of the others, sorting foodstuffs in one area and the few medical supplies they've managed to scrape together in another, and so on.
They have run into no one but each other. Louisa won't speak of what happened to Fitzgerald, Margaret hardly ran into anyone before them, and Kyouka has been with Lucy this whole time. They can only hope those they care for are okay.
(...Lucy doesn’t want to mention where Hawthorne is. They have bigger issues anyway.)
Louisa’s glasses are broken, one lens shattered and the other just barely staying together. Migraines are frequent now, and adjusting to this kind of vision in this environment is a life or death situation; needless to say, she tends to stay in Lucy’s room.
While Margaret’s vision is clear, she’s still recovering from Akutagawa, and her body is faring worse now. She needs a cane, medicine they don’t have and can’t acquire easily, and being in this room all the time probably doesn’t do her any favors.
Lucy herself is fucked, because braces aren’t something that you can just take off, not to mention that damnit, she literally had an appointment the week it all went to hell! She doubts there’s any orthodontists left, and she has no clue what will happen if these are just… stuck on her.
Best case scenario… she idly reaches up, poking at them… best case scenario, she just manages to get them off. That’s all she can ask for now, and…
She eyes the others.
–
“This is a bad idea.” Kyouka announces when Margaret’s gloved hands are already in Lucy’s mouth.
Louisa blinks, looking up from the orthodontics book she's flipping through, squinting as hard as she can. “Margaret- wrong tool.”
Margaret pauses and holds up something that looks more like a cooking utensil. “It is?”
Kyouka sighs. Lucy also does, with more difficulty, because Margaret’s hand is still in her mouth. The braces itch, she wants them off her damn teeth by now.
Louisa holds the book closer to her face. “We have to do a scan before we–”
“Just take them off ,” Lucy groans, “My teeth are fine.”
Margaret leans over. “Didn’t you mention there’s glue on them?”
“Maybe we can find acid, and be really careful with it and–”
“Kyouka, we’re not risking melting Lucy’s teeth out.”
Lucy shoves Margaret’s hand away and sits up. “You know what, instead of resources, our next trip is finding an orthodontist.”
“I was gonna suggest that…” Louisa comments as she rubs her eyes. Lucy wishes she could help, but there’s not a damn thing she could do.
“They could all be dead.” Kyouka stares out into the vastness beyond Anne’s room.
Louisa leans closer to Margaret. “...That’s highly likely.”
“Well, there has to be someone out there!” Lucy huffs. “What about the agency doctor?”
“Yosano doesn’t do teeth unless you’ve got them all ripped out.” Kyouka says this far too calmly. “Should we find her and do that?”
Louisa makes a thoughtful hum, and Margaret almost seems to be considering it. Lucy glares at them. “Absolutely not. We don’t even know where to find her!”
“We need to move from our current location anyway…” Louisa chimes in, frowning.
“I can drive.” Kyouka adds.
“ I’ll drive, that’s a better idea anyway.” Lucy crosses her arms.
Louisa fidgets with her sleeves. “Make sure to remember which side of the road is the right one…”
–
Lucy grips the wheel like a lifeline as she drives the first car she could find. Louisa helped her rewire it, so now it’s screeching down the streets to the agency’s building.
She hardly sees a single soul around. Perhaps that’s a relief, given how little care she’s devoting to keeping an eye on the road.
The car roars to a stop just outside of the cafe, and Lucy tumbles out, groaning a little. She scurries up the stairs, and stops.
The office is a wreck . Broken windows, scattered papers. Not a soul in sight, and after searching, there’s not even a hint of hope.
And maybe she should be distressed, maybe she should be sad, but–
“GODDAMNIT!” She kicks at the ground. “Motherfucker–” She shoves a stack of papers onto the ground, watching them scatter.
They’ve searched the airport. They’ve searched the surrounding area. They’ve searched Katai’s place.
It’s like no one else exists. It’s like she and the others are the last four–five, if he counts in his current state–people around.
And it’s driving her up the wall. Maybe, maybe she should feel something more than irritation, maybe she should feel something that brings tears to her eyes as opposed to red, but she knows they have to be somewhere .
The agency wouldn’t just disappear. Atsushi wouldn’t just vanish.
So why does it seem like they have? Where the fuck did they go?
She sinks to the ground, and buries her head in her hands. She appears in her room a moment later, and Louisa and Margaret rush to her side.
“Lucy?” Louisa shakes her shoulder a bit. “What did you see?”
“Not Yosano.” She mumbles.
Margaret sits next to her. “Lucy…”
“We’re all doomed.” She looks up at them.
Kyouka makes eye contact from across the room. “No sign of Atsushi?”
“Or anyone else.” Lucy lays on the floor, back against the tiles.
Margaret lays with her, grasping her hand. Her skin is cold against Lucy’s, but Lucy doesn’t mind. “Lucy… It’ll be alright.”
“You don’t know that.” Lucy looks at her. “There’s no one out there, Margaret. Not in the buildings, not on the streets. They’re gone.”
Louisa shyly brushes some of Lucy’s stray hairs out of her face. “People don’t just disappear.”
“I know that!” Lucy scoffs. Louisa backs up and she immediately feels a bit bad, but she doesn’t apologize. “I’m just– just saying what I saw.”
“Let me go out with you the next time.” Kyouka is suddenly peering down at Lucy and she jolts a little, because when did she even get there good lord .
“No.” Lucy deadpans. Kyouka fixes her with an unreadable look, but perhaps it’s an attempt at puppy dog eyes.
Lucy sighs.
–
Lucy can't quite say why they go back to the airport. Or, well, calling it an airport is a compliment, really. It's in ruins now. Planes have been ripped apart, their windows shattered, the glass of the massive airport panes scattered across the ground.
It reeks of death. There’s no corpses, only blood scattered around, but if she closes her eyes for even a second she can imagine all of them there. It makes her stomach churn to wonder, but she can’t help thinking to herself–
If there were bodies here, would one of them be Atsushi? Ango? Another member of the agency?
Her hand stops on the edge of a doorframe as she peers into the airport. The stores aren’t as damaged as they could be, but there’s so much debris scattered around and it’s been too long for most of the food to be considered safe.
Every step lends itself to a crunch as some of the wreckage crumbles beneath her feet. Sometimes it’s someone’s watch, sometimes it’s more glass, sometimes it’s a keychain. Sometimes it’s a locket, holding a picture of someone precious.
There are advertisements which still flash on screens. Smiling faces and sunny beaches feel like they’re taunting her, there’s flight estimates which are now all wrong. They’ll never take off. There’s no more pilots, no more passengers.
The airport is empty. And there was a time when she hated crowds, when she hated places like this, hated the pushing and shoving and yelling and constant chatter, but she finds she despises the alternative.
It’s like those quiet nights at the orphanage, when she snuck down to the library, and it should have been full of laughter, or talking, or something, but it wasn’t. She could hardly bear the silence after a few minutes, and she would always run back to her room, locking the door and sinking to the floor.
It’s like that, now. But even if she disappears into her room, it will not change the rest of the world. There’s a horrible taste to her mouth, a strange bitterness, that maybe she’s the reason they’re all still here. It shouldn’t be a bad thing.
But she doesn't know how long she can take this solitude. How long she can bear to hide his fate, because Margaret will ask sooner or later.
But how would she even begin to tell her? She'd have to talk of what she knows about what happened to him, she'd have to look Margaret in the face and tell her she can't see him right now. That she doesn't know if she ever can let that happen.
Nathaniel’s mind is another ailment of their group—if he were to count—but his is so much more severe. Something she cannot even begin to understand how to help. Something that she doesn't know if it can be cured or not.
Maybe, foolishly, she hopes that something can be done. That they can bring him to his senses, that Nathaniel could be more than just another one of the presumed dead with a missing grave.
And yet, if she were to try, and he were to take out that bloodthirst almost demonic on them, it will stain either his crimson waters or theirs onto the floor of Anne’s room.
She knows he has no qualms with hurting them. Louisa told her how he attacked her like a wild beast. He would have attacked her too.
She shakes her head, about to take another step, when–
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Lucy freezes. She hears no other footsteps, no other breaths.
Drip.
What the hell?
She covers her mouth with her hand to inhale, looking around. She’s not scared. There is no monster.
Drip.
Those don’t exist.
Drip.
Not like this, at least. She’s trembling, and she doesn’t know why, but oh, that noise seems louder–
DRIP.
She disappears in her space, hugging herself so hard that she digs her nails into her arms. “What the HELL.”
The other three look over. “What happened?” Kyouka tilts her head.
Louisa goes to Lucy’s side, resting a hand against her forehead, her own brow furrowed. “Did you… meet something?”
“I- I don’t know. Maybe??” Lucy sucks in a breath, looking back at the door to her room. “There was… It was like someone left their faucet on. It was weird.”
Louisa’s hand freezes where it is. Margaret’s eyes widen, and Kyouka’s hand goes to her dagger.
“Did it see you?” Margaret asks, voice barely a whisper.
Lucy grasps at her hair. “Uh. I… I think it might have.”
Louisa steps back, staring at the door now too. “We have a week. If we ration right.”
“A week? What- what are you talking about–”
“And that’s if we’re lucky, maybe it’ll leave, but I doubt it…” Louisa paces.
“Can you just explain??” Lucy huffs.
Louisa takes a breath. “Sit down, then.”
And Louisa tells Lucy a tale of a devil, a god, and what happened to create the wasteland around them. Lucy listens with increasingly wide eyes, and it’s only when the story ends that she really registers Anne’s plush hands around her in a hug from behind.
“This shit sucks.” Lucy mumbles, leaning against Anne. Margaret laughs humorlessly.
“Hah.. Yeah.” Louisa smiles weakly. “We’ll have to get used to this room, I guess.”
Kyouka nods. “Mhm.”
“Won’t be that bad.” Margaret shrugs.
Lucy hugs her knees. “You don’t have to pretend to be nice.”
Kyouka huffs and makes her way over to Lucy’s side first, plopping down. Demon Snow leans against Anne, patting her as Lucy pats Kyouka. Margaret sits on the other side of Lucy, while Louisa stands there for a moment awkwardly.
Lucy looks from the others, then up at Louisa. “Well, don’t just stand there.”
Like a mouse, Louisa scurries over, settling next to Margaret. Margaret relaxes at the shared heat of the improvised cuddle pile, and wraps an arm around her. Lucy watches, in mild amusement, as Louisa’s face goes red when her head ends up leaning against Margaret’s chest.
Lucy can practically feel all of their hearts beating, and she hates that the fear they’re now living in is her fault. But despite that, tiredness tugs at her, and she lets her eyelids fall shut.
They will figure this out, damnit. They have to, one way or another. They’ve made it this far, and she refuses to let it end now.
–
- day 1 -
Lucy doesn't sleep very well, haunted by thoughts of a man with gray hair and a mask, a ragged robe whipping in the wind. He claws out of her closet, letting his blood pour out into a demon–
Lucy wakes up to the sound of pained coughing. She doesn’t even have to open her eyes before she’s yelling out-
“Margaret!” And she grasps Margaret by the shoulders, letting her collapse against her. Margaret breaths in and it is a pained sound, which makes even Lucy winch. “How can we help-”
“Make sure she sits up straight.” Louisa instructs, bending down next to them. “And careful breaths.. Um, Kyouka, can you heat up water for us? Maybe make coffee?”
“Okay.” Kyouka goes to start the fire as Demon Snow grabs one of the various bags of coffee grounds Lucy still has stockpiled.
Together, they help Margaret recover from the asthma attack, but there’s a sinking feeling crawling up all of their spines.
Lucy’s teeth itch, and she notices Louisa grimace and rub her eyes as she rummages around for pain meds. Kyouka stays, unwavering, by Margaret’s side, holding her cup of coffee for her as she breathes in and out.
It’s strange, Lucy thinks, about how all prior allegiances have become void. It would be heartwarming in any other scenario. Maybe.
But they are here, crammed in her room because she walked into the lair of something devilishly divine, and their mission is to hide or forsake their lives.
It’s her fault, and that is eating away at her as much as the crawling sensation of continuing to lie to Margaret. She should just tell her, she knows that. Get it all over with.
But they’re stuck here like sardines rotting, and she doesn’t like the thought of rotting in hatred. Because Margaret would despise the fact she kept the knowledge to herself if she learned, right?
Lucy has her best friend trapped like a fly. He’s vicious now, like an untrained dog–or perhaps a dog trained too well–and would draw blood, but she was never that close with him. This shouldn’t be her choice.
She stares at the closet where she knows Nathaniel resides. If nothing else…
If nothing else, it should be Margaret’s choice. Whether to redeem him or to put him down. She shakes her head, looking back at the others. Kyouka is staring at her, like she sees right through her.
It sends a chill down her spine. Kyouka’s eyes have gotten brighter since her days in the mafia, but there are still moments where they look like the end of a dark hallway.
God. She doesn’t know how long this faux-calm will last.
–
- day 2 -
Louisa doesn’t get out of her sleeping spot that day, a migraine coming on so bad that she can hardly move. Margaret settles next to her, wrapping an arm around her, and Louisa curls close and buries her head in her shoulder.
Lucy almost wants to join them, but she can’t stop pacing. There is a point when the safety of Anne’s room becomes confinement , and she’s beginning to cross that. She hasn’t been in here for this long since she was a little kid.
Anne follows her, as if pretending to pace with her will alleviate any of her feelings. It doesn’t, but Anne provides a nice thing to flop against when she needs to sit down.
Kyouka is staring at the door to the outside, one hand over her dagger. Demon Snow appears to be checking Margaret’s temperature, when Lucy looks around to see where it is. Lucy considers asking why it’s doing that, but bites her tongue when she realizes she couldn’t explain half of why Anne does what she does anyway.
Louisa sits up suddenly, groaning. “I feel sick…”
Kyouka looks over. “Do you need to throw up.”
“I-I might.” She frowns, nibbling her lip in discomfort. “Sorry.”
Kyouka scurries for a bucket, and Louisa spends a few minutes bent over it, Margaret rubbing her back. She doesn't throw up, thank god, but the brief tangibility is unsettling to all of them.
The day is very dull, all things considered. Lucy’s anxiety eats away at her in the background, but otherwise…
“Do you want to play poker.” Kyouka’s voice interrupts her thoughts.
Lucy pauses, staring at her. “What?”
She holds up a deck of cards. “Poker. Ace taught me.”
Margaret grins a little. “Fuck it, sure.”
Louisa wins most of the rounds, earning her… well, nothing but the feeling of achievement. But the smile on her face is brighter than most of the nervous ones that cross her face, and Lucy and Margaret feel like they’ve actually won at that, in truth.
–
- day 3 -
Lucy wakes up to Louisa curled up to her, Anne wrapped around their makeshift cuddle pile in entirety. The giant doll seems to almost be nuzzling Margaret, and Lucy, still waking up, tries to shoo her off. “Annie- ‘s weird, quit it.”
Anne backs off, patting Margaret before just floating there, and Lucy groans, burying her head in the nearest thing. It squeaks.
…
Oh god that is Louisa.
“I-I am so sorry-” Lucy backs up, suddenly very awake now. “Oh my god.” Her face is redder than her hair.
Louisa’s is too. “Um. It’s. It’s fine.” She shakes her head, looking away and glancing at Margaret.
Lucy rubs her eyes, looking around for Kyouka. For a moment she’s terrified Kyouka is going to let him out, but…
“Can I borrow this?” Kyouka steps out from the designated clothes section, in one of the dresses Louisa found for herself. It’s a bit big, but nothing some hemming wouldn’t fix.
Louisa nods. “I, um, don’t mind. I was actually going to ask… Lucy, would.. it be okay if I maybe borrowed some of your clothes?”
“Oh…” Lucy tries to ignore how that paints her cheeks even redder. “Uh, yeah? Do whatever.”
It’s like a mini fashion show, when everyone is awake and onboard. Lucy tries on one of Margaret’s, and the purple hue of it actually doesn’t clash as much as she thought it would. Huh.
Louisa tries on several of Lucy’s outfits, and then also one of Margaret’s. She does a little spin, smiling shyly.
Margaret, while rather keen on her own fashion, finds comfortable outfits from both of their wardrobes, and settles on a combo of them. A long skirt from Louisa, a snappy vest from Lucy. She looks great.
Kyouka settles with one of Louisa’s outfits and goes off and does her own thing, though Lucy feels a freeze of anxiety when she notices Kyouka sitting near the closet. But it’s not like she’s opening it, so Lucy attempts to pay it no mind.
Margaret looks happy today, and so does Louisa. She can’t take that away.
–
- day 4 -
Margaret sleeps in that day, and they let her; she needs the sleep, after all, and they don’t want to prevent her from getting more healing in. Kyouka stares at the door to the outside, and Louisa paces before sitting back down next to Lucy.
Lucy is about to start the conversation herself when Louisa says, “You can’t keep him there forever.”
She pauses. Any reply she could think of has already died in her throat.
Louisa curls up, hugging her knees. “I know so much could go wrong if you do. But you really can’t hide this for the rest of your life- or his.”
“But she’ll–”
“She won’t. Or… if she does, then it won’t be permanent.”
“Permanent doesn’t matter. We barely have time.” Lucy eyes the closet.
“..Lucy…” Louisa frowns.
“We don’t!! You basically told me that yourself!! There’s such a high chance we’re going to die–”
“But it’s not certain–”
“Something bad is gonna happen if I let him out.” Lucy slumps. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Or hurt her.”
“Isn’t… putting it off like this worse?” Louisa gently grasps Lucy’s hand in hers. “We can both tell you’re stressed about something here . Margaret just doesn’t know why.”
Lucy laughs humorlessly. “And how did you find out?”
Louisa hesitates.
Lucy stares at her, trying to read her expression. She always seems to easy to read, but now Lucy’s not sure.
Louisa shrugs. “I saw him.”
“...Oh.” Lucy swallows. “Why did you look?”
“I was just… wondering.” Louisa sighs. “Sorry.”
Lucy doesn’t reply with words, but squeezes her hand instead.
She shouldn’t put it off any longer, she knows that. But she just got Margaret back, and maybe she’s selfish.
But, like Louisa said, Margaret can also tell there’s something off besides just their current situation. She sighs.
Before Margaret wakes, she tiptoes to the closet, peering inside. Nathaniel is still there, limp like a broken doll, looking ragged and in need of repair.
But is that even possible ?
She has no idea. She wishes she did.
“Lucy?”
She goes as still as a statue , which is a terrible thing, because Margaret is at her side before she can think.
“NATHAN?”
–
- day 5 -
Today is spent in uneasy silence, a not-quite peace settling over them all. Nathaniel stays at Margaret’s side, like a sheep in need of a shepherd, and does not say a word.
Lucy thinks she hears the drip, drip, drip, of tears now and then, when she focuses on nothing but the sounds of the room. Anne stays near the two, but does not approach so close that she’s in their space.
Louisa eventually pulls Lucy over to her corner, where she and Kyouka are playing poker again. They all know Margaret and Nathaniel.. deserve at least a day of quiet.
–
- day 6 -
Margaret leaves Nathaniel’s side and he stands up like a beast possessed to follow her. He’s like a bodyguard, really. It’s terrifying.
Lucy stares at him though, properly takes in his appearance in the light.
..He’s not a beast, actually. She wonders where his glasses are, Louisa mentioned he didn’t have them then, so… Did Fyodor take them?
But that’s kind of a stupid thing to take.
“...why are you staring.” She jolts at the sound of Nathaniel’s voice. Margaret looks over at Nathaniel in surprise and Louisa takes a step back, while Kyouka doesn’t really react.
“Uh.” Lucy bites her lip. “You need a haircut.” She blurts out without really thinking about it. Nathaniel pauses, running a scarred hand through his hair experimentally. She almost expects him to snap, but… he nods contemplatively instead. It’s so mild a movement it’s almost more unnerving.
Not even ten minutes later, they’re all sat on the floor, Nathaniel watching them as keenly as he can manage. Margaret’s sat in front of him, expression set in a frown, but Kyouka is the one actually cutting his hair.
With a dagger. Because Lucy doesn’t want to use her fabric scissors on human hair.
Nathaniel hisses as Kyouka basically yanks his head back, but they manage to cut it to a shorter length.
It’s not pretty, but it works. Nathaniel complains of a headache after, and it manages to turn into Louisa commiserating with him.
Lucy sits next to Margaret as the other two talk.
“I see why ya hid him.” Margaret says as Lucy opens her mouth to apologize. “I.. I would too.”
Lucy nods, slowly. “...The things he was willing to do for you were… terrifying. I just…”
Margaret sets her hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “I know now.”
“...I wish you didn’t have to.” She mumbles. “I wish we weren’t even here .”
“Hah. Yeah, I do too.”
–
- day 7 -
It’s a day spent in dread for all of them. Nathaniel’s been informed of what they’re dealing with, and Lucy could see him praying last night before bed. Louisa paces until she has to sit down, Margaret fidgets with her nails until she accidentally cuts herself, and Lucy does everything from tear her hair out of its braids to rebraid it to braid everyone else’s hair to actually hem that dress for Louisa.
Louisa joins her in sewing, then Margaret, then Nathaniel. Kyouka uses scraps to make herself a tiger plush to accompany her rabbit, and that occupies them for a good few hours.
They play poker again for the next few. Kyouka mops the floor with Nathaniel, and then Louisa does the same with the rest of them. Lucy does not like playing poker with Louisa.
It staves off the stress somewhat. Not majorly, but…
It makes the thought of tomorrow feel a little better.
Lucy can almost fall asleep when they curl up to rest.
–
The following morning, Lucy steps out of her room, meeting the stale taste of the airport once again.
She has no mission but to get
out
of there. No matter what happens.