Skye's memory snapped back faster this time than before. In a flash, Laxus and his grandfather found themselves looking over a vast water filled museum atrium. There were skeletons of flying creatures hanging from the high ceiling that Laxus had never seen before, and the skylight had bars on the outside and inside. They were standing on a sturdy makeshift scaffolding balcony and on the other side of the atrium, he could make out the neon sign: Iceberg Lounge, which hung over a set of double doors. Laxus looked to his left, and saw a metal hook that was extended over the water. He scowled as he gazed at the figure hanging from her ankles on the hook.
Skye glared at the group of thugs standing on the scaffolding. They smirked and watched her squirm uncomfortably in the rope bindings that cemented her arms and legs together. She tried to shout at them, but her voice was muffled through the ball of cloth and handkerchief tied around her mouth. One of the men grinned and approached her with an arrogant swagger.
"I'm sorry doll, what was that?" He chortled as he untied the handkerchief around her mouth. She spat out the wad of cloth in her mouth and continued to glare silently at the man in front of her.
"I don't think she likes you, Ricky!" One of the men called out. Ricky turned and swung the hook around so Skye was no longer above the water, but was now face to face with him.
"Come on now sweetheart, no need to be so sore," He crooned, as he caressed her cheek with his thumb, "We could have killed you on the spot. But Mr. Cobblepot wanted to talk to you himself. Don't you think you should show us a little gratitude?" Skye's nostrils flared as his thumb moved up and felt it's way across her top lip. He leaned his face in close to hers and slightly opened his mouth to kiss her, then violently recoiled and spat down into the water.
"You bitch! She spat in my mouth!!" He furiously spat into the water again. The men around them roared with laughter. Ricky raised his hand to smack her across the face.
"That's enough, son!" Shouted a voice. Everyone turned around and stared at a very short, and squat man approaching them. He wore an expensive looking black coat that slightly dragged on the floor behind him, and a monocle over his left eye. His nose was overly large and his eyes were beady. In his left hand was a walking cane with a large glass jewel on the top, and in his right was a smoking cigar. He walked with a bit of a wattle.
"Who's that?" Laxus wondered to himself. His question was answered immediately as Ricky threw a dirty look back at Skye before stepping back and saying, "Sorry, Mr. Cobblepot." Skye stared at her captor, unimpressed.
"Ugly little guy aren't you?" She said bluntly.
"How dare you, bitch!" Ricky stepped towards Skye once more.
"I said ENOUGH!" Cobblepot struck his cane down on the floor, making a thundering clang that echoed across the atrium. Ricky turned away, looking as if someone had fed him something extremely sour. Cobblepot then turned his attention to Skye.
"Why isn't she over the water like I told you lot?" He snarled at his men, who rushed over and swung her back over the water. Cobblepot put his cigar in his mouth and stepped to the edge of the balcony to face Skye.
"You've caused me problems, Missy. You killed five of my men when you were sneaking around my home. And then you try and make off with some of my business papers from my office? You're either stupid, or gutsy, or your boss really wants you dead," He took in a long drag from his cigar and lazily blew the smoke in her face. Skye closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose. "I'm going to ask you some questions, and if you don't answer or lie to me...Ricky! Come here." He snapped.
"You want me to hurt her boss? I can hurt her real bad." Ricky grinned as he swaggered to the edge to stand next to Cobblepot, who smiled pleasantly at him.
"That won't be necessary. Ricky, it's been a pleasure having you in our crew, and best wishes to you in the ten seconds left of your life." Cobblepot said in a dignified tone. Ricky gave him a blank look and began to speak when Cobblepot shoved him from the balcony. Laxus and Makarov moved to the edge to get a better look.
Ricky quickly surfaced and started screaming up pleas for mercy to Cobblepot. Skye watched him with an eyebrow raised, "You're gonna drop me in the water? So what?" A slight ring of metal attracted her eyes back to Cobblepot who now held a knife in his hand. He reached out and pressed the edge against her left arm. Skye winced as the blade sliced down her arm and blood started dripping from the cut down off of her shoulder and into the water.
"Just something to get him excited is all." The little man grinned evilly.
Within seconds of Skye's blood hitting the water, Ricky disappeared beneath the surface. Skye's eyes widened as the spot where Ricky had been was now growing redder and redder with blood. He never came up again. Laxus stared at the reddened water for a while and looked up at Skye,"You just can't stop surrounding yourself with psychos, can you?" He closed his eyes and pinched the skin between them. Skye stared into the water, visibly shocked. She then looked back up at Cobblepot.
"What's in that water?" She asked nervously.
"I'll be asking the questions if that's alright with you." He took another long drag and once again blew it in Skye's face. She stared back into the water and began to fidget with the bindings around her wrists which were held firmly behind her back. A very large shadow moved beneath the water and Skye's breathing began to quicken.
"Now then! Question one: Who are you?" Cobblepot asked. Skye glowered at him, but was silent. After a few seconds, he puffed his cigar and moved on the next question, "Who do you work for?" Again, Skye didn't answer. Cobblepot started to look angry, "Do you want to find out what's down there that badly? Why were you trying to steal my business papers?" Skye didn't answer for a third time, and Cobblepot had had enough.
"Fine then! Time to die." He kicked a lever that controlled the hook and Skye dropped down into the water. She plummeted down into the depths, desperately trying to cut through the ropes with her wrist blades. The shadow moved under her, as she finally freed her wrists, and bent down to work on her ankles. Then she stopped. The shadow swam towards Skye, and out of the gloom revealed itself as a gigantic shark, large enough to swallow her whole body. They both stared at each other as the shark circled her hungrily. A red streak in the water called her attention to her still bleeding arm. Skye then went back to working on her ankles, but with all the haste she could muster. The shark swam past Skye and disappeared into the murky water. Looking all around her, Skye cut her ankles free and swam for the surface.
She took a giant breath of air and stared all around her for any sign of the shark once she broke the surface. There was no sign of it, but she felt something rub up against her foot. She took another large breath of air and went below the surface. The shark had swum past her and was at a distance where she could barely see it. It then turned around and darted directly at her, gathering speed with every wave of it's tail fin. Thinking fast, Skye froze the water around her fingers to create ice needles, which she sent speeding like sharp torpedoes into the giant shark's gills. It faltered and sped past Skye, trailing blood from it's new wounds. She then twirled around in the water and motioned up with her arms and she sped up through the surface of the water and landed on a sheet of ice that she created by blowing on the water's surface.
"What the bloody hell is this!? You're supposed to be dead!" Cobblepot angrily shouted down at her.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't plan on dying today." Skye replied. A movement in the water told her that the shark was once again ready to come after her. She looked all around her for an escape route, and finally she rested her eyes on the doorway to the Iceberg Lounge. She frowned and looked down into the water, then up at the scaffolding balcony where Cobblepot and his men watched angrily.
"Screw it." She mumbled, and with one quick movement she took off across the water. She skated on the water's surface like it was an ice rink. A loud splash behind her made her look back. The shark was on her heels and gaining on her. Every move she made felt like she was in slow motion, as the shark drew closer. When she reached the other side of the atrium, she stopped and spun around and motioned with her arms. A column of water surrounded her feet and launched her up into the air, towards the doors. Still in mid-air, Skye threw a punch into the air and a huge fireball erupted from her fist and crashed into the doors of the Iceberg Lounge, busting them open.
She raced through the club as many well dressed lounge members looked at each other in complete confusion. Two of Cobblepots men stood in front of the doors to the outside to block her escape. Skye charged them and slid under the legs of one who was trying to grab her. She quickly got up behind him and delivered a high kick into the back of his head, which sent him straight to the floor. She ducked a right hook from the other man and thrust her fist deep into his groin, bringing him to the ground as well. Turning around, Skye pulled open the doors and sprinted out into the night. She ran through several alley ways before she stopped to catch her breath.
"Crap....he's not going to like this." She mumbled, "My phone!" She jumped and pulled out her wet phone. She waved her hand over the phone and the water flowed out of every crevice until her phone was dry as a bone. Laxus stood behind her and looked over her shoulder as she turned on the phone and made sure everything was okay. When she looked satisfied, she let out a sigh and called a number on her contact list. Skye stood in silence for a few moments as she waited for someone to pick up.
"It's me....I failed. I got busted by Penguins crew and nearly got fed to his shark......No I wasn't able to escape with any.......yes sir........Where?......When?......Alright." She hung up the phone and placed it back in her pocket. Somewhere far off, a bell rang midnight and Skye looked up into the night sky.
"Happy Birthday to me.....Happy Birthday to me....Happy Birthday dear Skye...Happy Birthday to me." She softly sang to herself. She smiled sadly at the full moon and walked to the street past the alley. The memory faded out and changed to the hallway in the girl's dorms.
Skye held her left arm as she made her way down the hallway. Every few seconds she checked on the cut that Cobblepot gave her, which was still bleeding slightly. She stopped in front of the dorm room, and opened the door. She jumped back as Heather leapt in front of the door in a white tank top and froggy pajama pants with a cheap noise maker in her mouth.
"Happy Birthday!!! Get your butt in here!" Heather reached out and pulled Skye into the room and sat her down on her bunk," You look like you jumped in the river. Oh my gosh, you're hurt!" She gasped as she noticed the cut on Skye's arm.
"It's only a cut. Get me the first aid kit, and I can patch myself up. What's all this?" Skye took a look around the room which had streamers hanging from the bunk posts, and off the corners of their desks. A few balloons were scattered on the floor next to the window. Heather opened up Skye's top drawer and took out a moderate sized metal box with a red cross on the top. She put it down next to Skye who opened it and took out antiseptic wipes.
"Well I thought we should celebrate a bit tonight! It is your 18th birthday after all. The second most important one, next to turning 21. So what happened? I thought it was going to be a simple robbery job?" Heather took out a wad of gauze and bandage wrappings. Skye hissed as she wiped the antiseptic on her cut.
"Yeah. That's how it started out. Everything was fine until I got caught in Penguin's office. I almost ended up as shark bait. He has this huge shark! It's a freaking monster! I ended up using bending to get away." Skye mumbled through the bandage between her teeth. Heather stared at her with a blank face.
"So, what I gathered from that horrendous explanation was: You got caught, and were nearly eaten by a giant shark, which....belongs to the Penguin?" She looked at Skye, who nodded while wrapping the bandages around her arm, "And you managed to escape, but did you get what you went there for?" Skye shook her head.
" No, I didn't manage to steal anything. Sionis isn't happy at all about it. He wants me to meet him at the old Soder Cola factory at ten tonight to 'discuss my failures'" She made the quotes sign with her fingers. Heather looked worried and took Skye's hand.
"Be careful, okay? I hate it when you come back all beat up." She stared intently at Skye, who smiled and nodded.
"I will. I don't like coming back like this either, you know. But there was nothing I could do. I was tied up, hanging upside down. And one of his men tried to kiss me." Skye shuddered at the thought, and Heather made a face.
"How was he not able to kiss you if you were tied up?" She looked at Skye suspiciously.
"I spat in his mouth when he got close," Skye grinned, " It really pissed him off." She started giggling, but then stopped," And then he got fed to the shark." Heather's eyes widened and she got up from the bunk.
"Lets move on then! I got you something! Well, actually it's for both of us." She started to rummage around in her drawers, before she took out a velvet necklace box and handed it to Skye. Skye took it with a puzzled look at Heather. She popped up the golden clasp with her thumb and gasped at the contents. Inside lay two silver half heart charm necklaces with the words 'Best' on one, and 'Friends" on the other in gold. Skye took out 'Friends', and fastened it around her neck, and Heather did the same with her's.
"Thank you. They're beautiful." Skye got up and hugged Heather who beamed at her.
"I'm really glad you like them! Hey, can I ask you something?" Heather asked. Skye frowned slightly and nodded. Heather thought a moment before speaking
"What would you and Laxus do on your guys' birthdays in Fiore?" Heather cocked her head a bit as she spoke. Skye smiled at the floor.
"We'd have a little celebration in the guild hall. Then we'd leave and just hang out together for the rest of the day. Laxus would go home in the evening and spend time with his grandfather and father on his birthday, and I would spend time with my dad on mine. For as often as he was gone throughout the year, he never missed my birthday." She answered.
"Seriously, were you and Laxus glued together or something?" Heather rolled her eyes, and then over dramatically covered her mouth with her hand, "Or could it be something else?" She slyly grinned at Skye, "You like him don't you?" Laxus looked at Skye, who's face turned as red as her hair and smirked.
"Do you now?" He muttered to himself as Heather started to tease Skye.
Almost immediately, the memory faded out and back again to the dorm room where Skye was adjusting her wrist blades, and Heather was watching her from the top bunk.
"I'll have the kit ready when you come back." Heather said as Skye went out the door. She weaved through a few girls who were still awake, and headed downstairs to the lobby, where two men waited for her. One of them grasped her bandaged left arm and guided her outside all the way to a waiting car. She silently sat in the back seat while the two men sat in the front and pulled out of the driveway of Augustine.
"So what does he have planned this time?" Skye asked dully. There was no answer from the front seat so she rested her chin in her hand and stared out the window until they finally reached the Soder Cola factory. The moon shone brightly through the cracked windows and illuminated old machinery. Skye was led into the middle of the production room where Black Mask waited. She looked all around and noticed his men were surrounding them. She started to look nervous.
"You've been letting me down an awful lot lately. I don't like it when my employees fuck up their jobs. You failed three assassinations in 2 months, and now you can't even steal some papers! I brought an old friend of yours. Maybe he can set you straight." Black Mask motioned to a large patch of shadow. Skye took a step back, and clutched her stomach, as a huge, crocodile man stepped out of the shadows. His teeth were sharp, and sticking out of his mouth at odd angles. The creature's torso was monstrous and his arms were as thick as tree trunks with a set of nasty looking claws on each gigantic hand.
"Gotta pay you back for last time." It growled. Skye stared at it, unable to move. She jumped, when one of Black Mask's men opened the doors.
"We got her boss." He dragged in someone who was struggling to get away, and to Skye's horror, she saw it was Heather. Skye tried to go to Heather, but stopped as the thugs surrounding them aimed their guns at her.
"What is this? She has nothing to do with this!" Skye couldn't hide the panic in her voice. She stared at her friend as she tried to wrestle out of the thug's grip.
" Oh, I think she has plenty to do with this." Black Mask had walked up to Skye and leaned his masked face close to hers. They stared at each other for a while until he turned around and spoke to Heather, "You see miss, your friend here was supposed to keep her mouth shut," He wheeled around and punched Skye in the face,"About our business relationship. That's why I had her watched. To make sure she doesn't do that. But what does she go ahead and do? She tells you, and that's where this problem comes from. I think Skye, here, needs to learn that if she misbehaves, things get taken away. What do you think boys?" He called out to his men, who cheered and yelled in response. Skye desperately grabbed Sionis' suit and begged him to hurt her instead. He considered her for a moment before gently holding her face in both of his hands and whispering, "But I am hurting you." He looked up at the crocodile man and nodded. The creature immediately charged forward and snatched up Heather in one hand, and swatted the thug away with the other. Heather screamed out as it crashed through the doors.
"Heather!!!!" Skye screamed. She threw her arms up in the air and spun around, creating a strong gust of wind that blew Black Mask and his men to the ground. Not taking a second to look around, Skye sprinted out the doors, to a recently opened large manhole. She could hear screams along with the rushing sound of the sewer water. Taking a breath, She jumped into the manhole.
Skye followed Heather's voice through the damp tunnels, until she could see the monster's back. Skye glared at its back as she thrust her fists together, and the ground rose up to create a wall, blocking it's escape. It turned around and faced her with malice in it's eyes and began to laugh.
"You think a dirt wall is going to stop me? I can smell fear on you, and blood." It guffawed as Skye furiously unsheathed her wrist blades.
"Croc! Give her back, now!" Skye snarled and got ready to attack.
"You want her so bad? You can have her. After a taste." He put Heather's torso in his mouth and chomped down. Heather's screams turned into wet choking sounds as her ribs were crushed along with her lungs. Skye's face went from angry, to utter disbelief and tears freely started flowing down her cheeks like two rivers. Her legs wobbled, and she fell to her knees as Croc spat Heather out and punted her over to Skye with a clawed foot. Skye crawled over to Heather and held her head in her lap. She was dead.
"No...no no no...Heather wake up. Don't do this." She sobbed. Croc watched her crying, and began to laugh once again.
"She tasted like candy." He snorted. There was a lull in Skye's crying as he spoke. She stared at her hands which had become red with Heather's blood and started mumbling: "You killed her.......You killed her.....You killed her" over and over. Croc's smile faded as Skye looked up at him. Laxus and Makarov watched, shocked, as Skyes eyes began to glow bright blue, her face went blank, and she picked herself up from the ground. She continued to repeat her words as Croc took a step back and growled,"What's this energy?" and punched through the wall of earth to escape. Skye immediately gave chase as the earth around her rose up and sped her after the beast. She chased him to a large dead end reservoir of water it seemed he was planning on diving into. Still riding on the mound of earth, Skye froze the reservoir solid just as Croc leaped forward. He landed on the ice with a loud crack from his skull. He got up and slipped around on the ice, trying to get footing. Skye watched, eye's still aglow on the edge of the sewer tunnel. She extended her fists out, pointing them at the ceiling of the tunnels.
"Killer Croc, you have killed someone that I have come to love as a sister. Now, I'm going to kill you." There was no mercy in her voice as she thrust her fists down, and the tunnel followed suit. Croc was still trying to get up from the ice as the tunnel collapsed on top of him in a thunderous crash. Skye air bended the resulting dust cloud away and watched silently for signs of movement. After a few tense moments of nothing, the pile of rubble began to move. She jumped down, and landed evenly on the ice. Croc had dug an arm out of the rubble and was now clearing fallen rock away from his body. Skye knelt down and bent a large mass of water over the rubble pile and froze it, imprisoning Croc. After doing so, her eyes stopped glowing and she bent over, holding her head in her hands.
" I killed her..." She whispered, and raced back down the tunnel, which seemed endless. She ran as fast as she could to the place where she had left her friend's body. Tears started to flow again as she rounded the corner, and stopped. Heather's body was gone, and the memory faded to black.
No comments:
Post a Comment