Blind in a rabbit's hole

We fall beneath the earth

And watch the shell come unraveled

As the seed begins to rise

-

「Lycas Heel」

Here I am walking around the hallways with a content yawn. I stand corrected; I slept last night. Peacefully, in fact.

I don't know how my brain works, but after what happened last night, I headed back to my apartment and whacked my brain into fitting the confusing puzzles together only to pass out in my room a few minutes later. Maybe because I was thinking too much that my head malfunctioned on its own and I just shut down. Although, I should've seen it coming. Brain-whacking jobs just aren't for me. That's why I have a partner who is pretty good at it.

Right. My partner. If I guess it right, by now, she should be looking for me all over the place with her heels on fire.

"Hoy," a very familiar voice booms from behind me.

I thought I'm prepared to face her but her eerie shade of green eyes proves me wrong. There's a nervous tick inside my chest.

That's Cine Undrehart, for you I guess. The metaphorical and literal heart-throb of the organization, although I only experienced the literal one.

As one of the few foreigners in InerOrg, people can't help but look her way. It's not often people around here see a natural ginger beauty, and she just so happens to fit almost perfectly for that aspect. When we first met, I was in denial when she told me she was born in this third-world of a country and was raised like any average middle-class people here. It's a pretty tough environment and yet she looks so... untouched. Untouched even for someone who stepped in the middle of the road and pressured upcoming cars to stop with a gun in hand.

That more or less applies to people in this organization. I never saw her get close to anybody except for people she's working with; her British best-friend, her paralegal boss, the chief, and me. It was odd but, thinking about it a bit more, I'm kind of a loner myself. Good-looks aren't an exception to being a loner, I guess.

Clearing my throat, I greeted her, "Hi." Damn this stiff voice.

Her eyes narrow slightly, as if examining the inside of a frog being dissected, the frog being me. "Is that all you have to say?"

Rapidly, my eyes blink, looking at her in my poker-confused look. Hopefully seeing that I'm just being stupid, more than just once or twice... or thrice.

"Last night," she prods, crossing her arms over her chest. "You were rather odd. I can only figure that something happened when you were chasing the thief, am I right?"

Sure, a shocking revelation, is what happened. To think that your lazy Brit friend, your squinty-eyed boss, you, and me are in the list of high profile targets. What gives, right?

Yeah, as if I'd say that at 7 in the morning. Though, I can't imagine how she's going to react when she knows, so maybe there's that tiny curiosity. Sure that as partners we have this mutual agreement not to withhold information. I personally don't like it, but I have to tell her eventually. Just not now. "Later. Gotta do something."

"Alright."  For once, she walks past me without excusing herself. The crowd watching us in the hallway eyes her brisk walking. Huh, so this is what dejected feels like?

Walking as well, I jog on to the Chief's office. I'll have to forget her for a while.

As if the event agrees with me, two guys are walking up to me waving a hand, catching my attention.

"Look who it is," whoops one guy.

"What's up, Lycas?" greets the other, grinning like a hyena. "It's been a while, man."

What? Who are these people? "Um, hi there, friendly... members of the InerOrg."

They laugh like it was the best joke they've ever heard. I laugh along, even though it wasn't my intention to joke.

"We heard that you beat the ass out of that traitor," one of them say with a goatee, glancing at his other friend with a soul patch.

"Must be traumatizing, since the guy's dead as a wet rat. What did you do to him?"

"He's dead?" Not in surprise, but in disbelief. I thought I only felt funny last night with all that prickling sensation all over my being.

They blink at me in confusion. The soul patch guy speaks first, "You haven't heard? The guy's dead this morning. He died a horrible death, too."

The mention of horrible death makes me tense, but I try shaking it off. The soothing friction on my fingers pinching a thick string works wonders in my head a little.

"They say it was a murder, but maybe he killed himself by drowning himself, you know?"

"His body is destroyed to the bones, man. Of course, it's murder!"

I bulge my eyes at them, but they're too busy talking to themselves for them to notice, which is a good thing for me.

"He was found in that river. Everybody knows that river can kill a person there. The strong current must've done him, stuff like that."

"You watch too much horror movies."

"It's called forensic science, man. Not horror movies."

"Hold up," I chime in, looking at the two weird bearded guys in front of me. "Where did you guys get that info from?" Our division is the one managing the mission regarding the traitor, either I'll be informed by my partner or find it out by myself. 

"News," The goatee guy gave me the 'duh' look.

Of course, from the news. I had almost forgotten news is actually a thing.

Well, I'd rather not remember it being a thing. It bothers me how many people can digest every single headline about knowing how many people were burnt inside their homes or how many children are currently assaulted these days, without scaring their pants out.

I shake my head from those thoughts. People are masses of oddballs and that also includes me, I guess. "Thanks for keeping me in touch, but I gotta go. Job calls, you know."

"Sure thing, dude. But one question, are you free on the weekend?"

I stare at them long enough for them to blink rapidly at me.

I close my eyes tight for a moment, shutting off a very weird and disgusting thought. The Chief and his crude jokes are giving bad influences on me. I should complain this to him. "Um, yeah. Why?"

My answer returns the grin on their face close enough to tear their cheeks apart. "Wanna hang out with us for some little booze? There's this night bar downtown, and we thought you might need to chill. 'Sides, been a while you've been hanging with us."

I really don't remember them, but maybe it's because of my decision to forget things that have already passed me by. Especially to things like murdered traitors or any killings in particular...

"I'll think about it," I casually say in response. I don't drink, but I guess I do need a change of pace. Or some distraction. They've been nice to invite me to it too for me to flatly refuse. "See ya, guys."

They call over in unison as I'm going away, continuing where I left off. I concentrated on the trivial details of this floor and this overall building to distract myself. Fortunately, this building is a huge mall that is pretty taxing to walk around, serving as a good distraction.

Two years was it? That I've been keeping myself in this organization? At first I thought the Chief was kidding about the personnel only area being the HQ but here I am, lucky to have the mall to go to just right out of here.

I also remember visiting an enchanted forest as my first mission and it scared the bananas out of me.

Life is strange, as they say, but I didn't expect the world to be full of weird-crazies.

And never would've expected that I'll ended up here.

For a dorky organization, this meant a lot to me. If it weren't for the Chief's help, I don't think I'll stay the sane after all what happened years ago.

... Nope, no flashbacks. Keep it together, Lycas.

I stop in front of the Chief's office door. Should I knock or kick the door open for the heck of it?

Since this is a good morning, it wouldn't hurt to be loose to him for this once. And also inform him about the fact that the traitor was-

I clamp a hand on my hair that stands on end at the back of my neck.

He probably knows about that now, though, but just in case... I should. Taking another step forward to get closer, I softly knock on the door.

After a moment or two, I heard a flushing sound inside.

-

"Where are we going?"

I ask the Chief, for the eleventh time.

Because of his smooth-as-baby-buttcheeks talks I don't know where he's taking me to. We've been walking through halls that feel like it's been forever. For a building this huge, having to walk back and forth and back again is just too much.

He only glances at me to glare at me. "Ssh."

I sigh like a kid impatient for my toffee candy.

"Ssshh!"

"Okay!" I whisper back.

Hallways.

Doors.

More hallways.

Lesser walking people.

This is making me nervous. He's not leading me to my death, is he? We've been going downwards the building without taking the elevator for a faster choice.

Finally, we came to a dead-end of some large, metallic doors; the only one in that kind to have in this particular hallway. No one is around, not even a single footstep from the distance, and the lights dull compared to the bright, eye-stinging lights from the rest. The distance and the dim light gives an eerie ambience as if there's something paranormal looming behind the large door.

Should I just bail the heck out of here?

"I'm going to open the door," he announces, putting a glove on his right hand, opening and closing his fingers to adjust the fitting. While he's doing the process of pressing sets of buttons onto the password lock, I raise both of my brows at him.

Whatever this room is, I'm not sure if I really want to know.

Before I make any sort of decision, the doors open in a low groan. There's another metallic door looming inside the bleak room. There are Plexiglass panels between it. Below those two panels attached some metallic slabs, the kind that are used like a side-table. So what's inside is almost like an interrogation room.

I swallowed.

Why do I get a feeling there's someone inside there?

... And there was. With the lights turned on, a person flashes clearly into view.

Something sinks in my chest.

I can feel the Chief's gaze looking at me. "I don't need to introduce you two to each other, no?"

Because we know each other, is what he's emphasizing.

Fighting back the urge to do something reckless, I watch the familiar person on the bed raising her head from her folded arms, almost. Slow and steady, as if raising from the dead.

Just as I am surprised to see her here, she jolts in surprise too. Immediately, she's up and away from the bed she was sitting on, as she's now standing by the Plexiglass window, pressing a hand on to it. Her eyes, which I know so well before, now has a fiery glow to them. Pupils unnaturally white and dilated. Her mouth gaping, she stifles a yell, "Why are you here?!"

Why do you have those eyes?

They're a cross between the light of a campfire and the glowing sunset, flickering brighter or duller in sight.

Almost simultaneously, we turn our shocked looks toward the Chief rubbing his neck.

"Sorry. It's not like I want you two to reunite in this way..."

"This is wrong," she mutters, sounding irritated. "This is wrong to happen."

I don't know what I'm supposed to do, to react. Seeing her now in front of me, I should've been glad. I should've been happy that she's just right here after spending my three years to find her. But instead, I only feel uneasy.

I don't want to admit it, but her blazing eyes bothered me. Showing a different side of herself is an understatement.

"Really, what's this all about... really?" I ask to no one in particular, trying to keep my head from spinning inside with piling questions.

She darts me a look that shows she doesn't approve of me asking that question. I did my best not to look back, only to frown at her in turn, searching through those strange eyes of hers if there are any answers to my new found questions; I didn't find any. Just the sense of intensity that I have to look away. I feel hurt that I can't explain.

"I think it's right for Cas to know." The Chief gives a certain look at her that I couldn't describe. "Don't you think, Len?"

"No. He does not need to know any of this."

I step forward, still frowning, looking from the latched door to the interior of the locked room through the glass. My throat feels heavy and it kinda hurts to talk. "Why are you locked up in there?"

Her hand on the glass forms into a tight fist. She casts me a black look, but whether it's directed at me or something distant, I cannot tell. "I want to be here," she darkly says.

"Why do you want to be there?" I ask slowly, taking another few steps forward without questioning myself why I'm doing it.

"Can you not see?" she says hotly, now her eyes burning like wildfire. "I am not a human!"

The spinning thoughts in my head floors into a sudden, screeching stop. "What-?"

A metallic clunk and a loud thud stop me from completing my question.

Turning my gaze farther to the windows, there's a person behind her crouching on the floor. Based on how he positioned himself, he must've jumped after that moment, his back facing me and the Chief.

The door to the inside is now unlatched open. I hear a clicking of metal within the room.

It was the Chief drawing out his gun, the barrel aims ready at the crouching stranger.

I don't know what's going on at this point.

As if I know any better what's going on in the first place.

"You there!" the Chief bellowed in his steely, commanding tone. "Hands in the air!"

Flinching, the stranger raises his shaky arms up. Subtly, he's digging his head down.

The Chief notices it too. "Turn around. Reveal yourself!"

"I-I'm not a bad guy. I'm just-"

The Chief didn't let him finish, as his sharp voice turns rough as if he's grinding his throat. "Reveal yourself or I'll put a bullet to your head right about now."

That makes the stranger whimper in fear, almost as if he's about to cry. The shocking part is that the stranger sounds like he's still in his puberty phase, not the kind of a guy who passes his teen-hood or any kind of a guy that fits him being here. Just a boy.

I'm even more shocked when she stands near the Chief's gun, the barrel pointing at her torso. Her unfamiliar blazing eyes boring through the Chief. "He is not dangerous."

"You know him?" I ask her but she didn't give me an answer.

"P-please, just listen!" continues the boy, his hands now over his head. "I'm only a-"

I flinch in surprise when the room, the halls-everything- goes completely pitch black. Only her eyes can be seen glowing immensely like a torch.

The Chief curses out loud.

I feel a prickling sensation behind me that I have to look back, just in time to hear the door groaning shut. My breathing strains as I'm seeing another person looming over the doors. He's just staying still, not moving at all.

But he gives me so many levels of goosebumps.

"Get down!"

I duck in time to see a light flashes and hear a gunfire echoes, making me blink back white worms from my eyes and smelling the burnt from the propellant. Glancing, the silhouette retracts his head backward and stumbles, but nothing else that suggests he was in pain or that he's dead.

But he's supposed to be dead. As close as I can make out, the Chief had managed to aim the bullet at his head.

The next second something brushes against my skin, cold and hard that makes me shiver, but definitely human flesh by touch. It pulls hard on my wrist, but I keep myself grounded on the same spot. I noted that he can see me as clear as day. Without a second thought, my hand finds itself snaking around and grabs his wrist that's been holding mine. Legs springing, I shove him by my weight, feeling his hard musculature against me as I ram him forward until he's against the wall.

That should've made anyone knock their breath out. But he didn't.

"Cas, get away from him!"

I couldn't. An inhuman strength sends me backward in an instant, my back hitting the cold floor, knocking my air out.

I choked by the vice grip curled on my throat. My face burning, feeling my muscles and veins crashing together in my neck, I try kicking him to where his vital spot could be but didn't receive a flinch from him. His fingers and palms feel so much more than just flesh now. His arms I'm clutching onto are thick and hard as bones and muscles used together. Something like strands of hair touches my face, telling me that his face is creeping closer or that he or it has a long mane of hair. I didn't have to squeeze my eyes to adjust to the view of the darkness. This person hovering on me isn't human. His eyes are completely black. Blacker than the blackness of the room.

Scurrying white lights frames my widening visions. I'm feeling weak from stomping him in a useless effort, fainting.

But then my normal breathing returns and the white lights slowly fades from my eyes. Puffing, I watch the black-eyed man being skewered through something long, large, and very black pinning him to the walls, away from me.

What in the hell was that?

I didn't get the time to understand what I just saw right there, as I hear the Chief shouting my name. Following his command, I roll away from the spot, going inside the room as well along with the others, calming my wild breathing. I'm too preoccupied to hear the other sounds save for the strange slither. But a hissing sound catches most of my attention.

"A tear gas?!" The guy's voice cracks in the distance.

The gas is fast to its effect. My head starts to feel... lighter.

It's not a tear gas.

"Don't let it get to your... syst..." the Chief trails off after a thud.

They all go silent. Or maybe it's just my ears unable to hear.

What's left of my strength are sucked out as I feel sprawled on the floor, unable to get up, unable to move, unable to think. My eyes heavy and drooping.

There's fear that I couldn't express.