WEIGHT

[main character: Shion]

- I think I love you Lilly...

LILLY: ...

- As I said, I've been talking with Kay about this and I really believe that-.

LILLY: Shut up.

...

LILLY: Listen, by words you would never understand what it means to love someone. I've never felt such thing as love in my life, so I don't know either, but I can tell you that what you are feeling is not.

- Uhm...

LILLY: And why do you look so worried!?

- I mean, the only person that I know that feels this way has let us into this situation... and I don't want to behave irrationally.

LILLY: Don't worry Shion. Let's rest for today, alright? We are both very tired.

- Okay.

LILLY: We are good friends Shion, I'm glad that you told me. But remember, as long as you act as yourself, nothing will go wrong.

I guess she is right...

Bye! See you in the morning.

- Bye. Good night.

But Kay exactly knew how I was feeling...

Anyways, I'll just stick with what Lilly said, as long as act as myself, everything will be fine...

I went to my room trying to get this out of my mind. All I had to do was act accordingly to the plan. Once inside my room, I checked the instructions again. Everything I had to do was pretty clear. Or so I thought.

[Next morning]

KAY: Well everyone, let's wait for Noah and Lilly . They'll be here in no time.

We are in the same room as in my first mission. Is it weird that I feel excited for this? There's a lot in the line and yet...

ANGELO: Hey Kid, you look really excited for this, did you wanted to do another mission so badly?

- Maybe.

ANGELO: We will be facing an Entaku, remember to not let you guard down at any times.

- I won't.

KAY: Shion, what did Lilly said? Did she said yes?

- Uhm... Yes? She said I was wrong...

KAY: Oh, honey, it seems that she has a tougher heart that I expected.

ANGELO: Master, I'm not sure what happened but I will make the recommendation to not pair people in relationships against their will. You know what happened last time.

KAY: Well, what can I say Angelo, I have an eye for this kind of things, wouldn't I be letting it to waste?

- What?

NOAH: We are here!

LILLY: Good morning everyone.

KAY: We are all here then, let us begin.

She explained us what we had to do all together. An abandoned warehouse in the middle of an industrial zone. We would have to just enter there, and fight. Simple as that. She will be waiting for us, Kay said that Coyote would not have had the time to fully prepare for our counteraction.

ANGELO: I already know. But, Master, shouldn't Lilly and the rest know the power of the enemy we are going up against?

KAY: Well, I guess knowing the power of one of the twelve won't hurt anyone. But remember, this has to remain a secret. Shion, pay close attention.

Will I finally be able to know a power of the Twelve?

KAY: haematochemistry.

- Haemato- what?

KAY: It's the technical name given to her ability.

NOAH: It's something related to blood?

LILLY: Maybe she controls blood and can build things with it.

KAY: Good job sweetie, but it's not exactly that. Although it is true that she is able to manipulate blood, she can't move it around, it is not a telekinetic gift.

- Then?

KAY: She's able to change blood into any sort of chemical composition. But! She can only activate it if she smells that person blood previously.

- Well, that doesn't sound that powerful. I thought it would-.

KAY: (SLAM!)

The table almost broke!

KAY: Her strength doesn't come from her power alone. She's incredibly talented with the sword and in chemistry. Remember everyone, never underestimate an Entaku, you will regret it.

She's dead serious.

- Would the four of us be enough?

ANGELO: Don't judge Master's decisions to much, when she-.

KAY: No, It would not.

ANGELO: Ugh?

LILLY: What?

KAY: That's why I called someone to help you there.

ANGELO: Don't tell me...

KAY: Yep! I called our head operative in the US.

ANGELO: Master please, I'm sure it wasn't necessary.

What is happening?

LILLY: Who is it?

KAY: His name is Nathan, he would be very pleased to help all of you in this mission.

ANGELO: No...

KAY: I will keep an eye on all of you from over here. So don't disappoint me (smiles).

ANGELO: ...

KAY: Now please, head to that door over there.

LILLY: The door is glowing....

- This is how we move around the world, and that's how we brought you here.

LILLY: Oh... I see.

As we walked towards the door, I approached Angelo that had an expression of disgust in his face.

- Are you alright?

ANGELO: This guy we are going to meet... is a pain in the ass. He is to reckless and he might be a problem in our plans.

- Does he have a power like us?

ANGELO: Of course Shion, but it is very dangerous and might interfere with our discretion. It is not as dangerous as Coyote's but it is a problem anyways.

- Is Coyote's power that dangerous?

ANGELO: Now it isn't the time to discuss this, but listen: I suppose you saw her wearing a mask.

- Yeah...

She actually wore a really weird mask now that I think about it. It had a shape like some sort of dog and with some weird cylinders in the sides of the mouth.

ANGELO: That mask allow her to breath in whatever conditions she sets with blood. The gases she produces are venomous so don't let yourself be cut by her or it is a dead end.

I guess we can't rely too much on Lilly's power since we don't know it's limits yet.

LILLY: Shion?

- It's nothing!

I got distracted thinking while I was staring at her...

Anyways, lets hope this goes like the instructions I received.

KAY: Let your mission begin! You may now open the door. Everyone, good luck!

ANGELO: Let's finish this.

We all crossed the door. Noah was still silent and I could feel Lilly's tension. Maybe she feared the fact of not being able to save someone in need again. Once on the other side, before the light from the outside made us close our eyes, I saw a person standing in front of us.

???: Hey guys! What took you so long?

NOAH: Are you... Nathan?

NATHAN: Yeah. Nice to meet you... ?

ANGELO: His name is Noah, and that's Lilly and Shion. Enough talk let's get mov-.

NATHAN: Angelo! It's been so long! Two years?!

ANGELO: One year and eight months, but I wish it would've been more.

LILLY: Hello there.

NATHAN: So if you are Lilly, you are the one with healing powers?

LILLY: Yes.

NATHAN: Nice! Kay told me so much about you. Now let's get to work!

I don't matter?

ANGELO: That's what I said in the first place.

We followed Nathan around an abandoned industrial zone. He guided us towards Coyote's hideouts. Apparently, he already knew beforehand all the information about this operation from Kay.

- Ps! Angelo...

ANGELO: What?

- What's Nathan's ability?

NATHAN: Are you asking about my power?!

He heard me!

NATHAN: It is called Redistribution! I can give or subtract mass form objects or living beings. Isn't it cool?

ANGELO: Shut up. You always make a mess of things.

NATHAN: Don't be so dramatic. It is because you are Italian?

ANGELO: And don't be such an ignorant! It is because you are-.

NOAH: Hey Everyone. It's here.

NATHAN: Oh. You are right!

LILLY: Uhm... I have a question.

ANGELO: What it is?

LILLY: Are we going to fight without our weapons? I mean, I didn't wanted to judge Kay but are we really going to do this this unarmed?

- Let's just do what Kay told us. Let's enter the building first.

Angelo nodded to my words and we all entered that wide and spacious place just to see in the ground all of our swords laying in front of us.

LILLY: Okay. I guess I will never question Kay again.

- There's a note in mine.

- "Dear Shion, I know your sword is very heavy, so I made you all a favor and brought them directly here.

Your caring Master, Kay."

LILLY: I've never seen your sword Shion. You told me you had a great sword, but I've never imagine it would be this great.

- Well...

I could see everyone's blades. Lilly had the sword she received few days ago, Angelo had an standard sword, but Noah and Nathan had very unusual weapons. Noah had what it is known as a Tantō, a short bladed katana often used in Japanese suicide ritual, and Nathan had two big curved daggers that looked very heavy.

ANGELO: Now that everything is set. Let's begin. Just stick to the plan, that goes for you Nathan!

NATHAN: Yeah, whatever. This isn't a huge plan anyways.

It was either simple. Noah will search for Carbon. Lilly, Angelo and I, (and also Nathan) we will look for Coyote and try to subdue her. Angelo's power comes into place once we secure a clear opening.

The building had further layers into the ground as the map showed, many empty rooms, as if it was constructed few days ago.

As we separated ways with Noah, I saw a sign of worry in Angelo's expression. But this time it wasn't towards Nathan.

- Is everything in order?

ANGELO: Something isn't right.

LILLY: What do you mean?

ANGELO: This place, has been changed. Some of the this rooms weren't in the maps we received yesterday.

- How?

LILLY: Carbon's power?

ANGELO: I suppose.

NATHAN: So are we lost?

ANGELO: Unless you can offer some-.

NATHAN: Shhh!

ANGELO: HEY! Don't you dare 'Sh' me!

I don't think this is a good moment for getting mad at each other.

LILLY: Ehm...

NATHAN: While you were doing your things in that house I learned some new tricks. See this.

Nathan looked at us trying to get our attention and proceeded to crouch and place his hands on the floor. A little vibration moved some pebbles loose on the ground.

NATHAN: I found her.

ANGELO: What?! Really?

NATHAN: Well, There's someone in the room we were looking for, but I am not sure of who's in there.

ANGELO: When did you...?

LILLY: I don't think we have much time to lose, come on!

- You are right, let's go!

Is that why Nathan was needed in this mission?

We followed him. The ground bellow the building was filled with tunnels and plenty of empty space. We spent around 2 minutes running until finally arriving at our destination.

This place surely is big. Was all of this made with Carbon's power alone?

NATHAN: Hey! What's up?

ANGELO: You!

Standing in the middle of the room there was no other than:

- JULY! What are you doing here?

LILLY: Oh no...

ANGELO: Isn't it obvious?

JULY: Guys please, this is not what it seems. I'm not here to fight.

ANGELO: But WE are. If you stand in our way, you will pay the consequences. You already sold us once, I won't let you do it twice.

NATHAN: Really? Hahaha... that sucks. Did he really betray us?

ANGELO: He IS the reason we are doing this mission in the first place.

NATHAN: Oh. Okay.

(ZOOOM!)

(KHSS!)

Ugh?

In a blink of an eye, Nathan blades clashed with both of July's.

JULY: As I said, I do NOT want to fight! Please listen what I have to say!

NATHAN: The ones that betray what we fight for are no more than dead weight.

JULY: I said! LISTEN TO ME!

An strange force made Nathan back all the way to us.

ANGELO: Be careful. Even though he is worthless he still has the power of one of the Twelve.

NATHAN: I know.

LILLY: Please. Let's listen to what he has to say at least. We still don't know why he is here.

- Lilly is right, please.

JULY: Thank you so much, Lilly, Shion. Everyone please listen. Don't you guys think that what you are doing is cruel?

ANGELO: I'm done.

LILLY: (grabs Angelo's arm) Stop!

JULY: Coyote doesn't have any intentions on coming back on her own and you are trying to force her return?

ANGELO: She has done enough!

JULY: Enough? We are the ones that never do enough. Even if you try to convince yourself otherwise there's no really a remarkable thing that we do. We only care about ourselves and ourselves alone. Everything we've done so far has been pointless to-.

(PUNCH!)

- AAAAAAAAAH!

LILLY: What are you doing!

NATHAN: Yes kid! Teach him a lesson!

ANGELO: I didn't even see him...

- Pointless? And what's with Lilly? And me? Saving our life was all pointless?!

JULY: (cough) ...

- Coyote threatened us, forced Carbon on shooting me in the chest, and then you are saying that what we do is cruel?! Are you kidding me?!

LILLY: Shion...

JULY: (sniffs out blood from his nose) That was a good hit.

What is he thinking!?

Wait, my power is already on, since when?

JULY: Kid, this is not about you, or Lilly, this is about someone that made a decision and you should respect it.

- If your decision is a piece of shit decision then we won't allow that.

LILLY: I've never seen Shion this angry before...

ANGELO: Me neither.

Am I sticking to the plan? Any of this was in it? I guess It doesn't matter at this point.

NATHAN: This kid... (smiles)

- Come!

My sword was specially designed for using my power on it. During my training I've used it so much that had grasps of my own energy inside of it. Reacting to an increase of energy, the swords goes to its core, in other words, towards me.

- (grab) Now tell me were Coyote is and we can all go home.

JULY: I guess Yui trained you well. But as I said, I don't plan on fighting back.

- So tell us where is-.

(CRACK!)

The floor we were standing started to crumble.

JULY: There is no need to...

- Huh! LILLY!

NATHAN: Angelo look out!

Suddenly, everything went black and we fell meters deep. The lights that filled the tunnels turned off and we were left with only our voices.

LILLY: cough! cough!

- Lilly! Are you okay?

LILLY: Yes, I am. Where are the others?

A distant voice could be heard across a wall of rocks we had next to us.

ANGELO: Shion! Lilly! Are you there?!

- Yes! We are okay!

ANGELO: July is nowhere to be found. We will divide ourselves to find Coyote and maybe him. If we find her we will use our radio!

LILLY: Okay! Good luck!

- Radio? When did we get a radio?

LILLY: Only I, Angelo and Noah got one.

Only them?

LILLY: Anyways, they probably got a flashlight or something, Shion could you...

- Oh yes. My flames of course.

With those we will get some illumination. It reminds me of the first time we met.

- Well, probably the light will come back later. The ground was the only thing that fell down and probably any of the wires had not been severely damaged.

LILLY: So this means that someone turn off the lights?

(blink) (blink)

- Hey it seems the light is coming back again.

Lilly looks worried, maybe this was too much for her after all.

- Don't worry, everything will be fine.

LILLY: Shi... Shi...

- Lilly what's wrong?!

LILLY: Shion... behind you.

By the time I turned around the lights weren't fully restored yet, and between the blinks of light and darkness, ochre eyes were looking at me through a black zoomorphic mask.

COYOTE: I see you don't care about taking risks.

- We aren't afraid of you! We already know about your power!

COYOTE: And you think that's going to make the difference?

LILLY: This fight is going to be meaningless. Coyote, why don't you turn yourself in and we call it a day?

COYOTE: Apart from a good quirk you also have good sense of humor. Do you really think that I will-.

- HYAAAH!

(KSHH!)

Her's just a regual sword and yet it feels tougher than mine!

COYOTE: You move fast with this thing.

LILLY: Hana no Chika-.

COYOTE: Not so fast!

(KICK)

- Argh! Watch out!

After quicking me in the liver, Coyote approached Lilly quickly, placing her left hand on her face keeping her mouth and nose shut.

LILLY: Mmmh!

- Whatever you do... ugh!(pain).

That kick again. It hurts every time.

- Do not breathe the poison.

COYOTE: She is well aware of that.

- LILLY!

(POW!)

LILLY: Ack!

A knee to Lilly's stomach forced her to inhale in an expression of pain. After that, Lilly closed her eyes and fell backwards without saying a word.

COYOTE: One less. Next.

- WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!

COYOTE: I'm just testing her power to its limits that's all.

- I... I'll...

COYOTE: You thought that if you attacked first, then maybe you'll have an opportunity. Well, look at this room we are in.

This place is covered...

COYOTE: My own blood is spread in this room.

There is no way of defeating her?

One of the stains of blood near me disappeared. A sense of sickness covered my body. I couldn't see properly, and no longer than seconds passed since my other senses started fading away.

I felt like being trapped in a dense mud that kept on feeding on myself before banishing me from existence. The more I tried to move the hardest it became.

COYOTE: Yui's power is truly annoying. But this will keep you quiet, dead most likely.

In the instructions... was any of this was in them?

What am I supposed to do...?

What am I...

Am I...?