"Oniisan...What did they do to you?" Etsuko whispered, her voice trembling in despair. Her eyes were wide, brimming with tears as she stared at him in shock.

Takashi.

He let out a sigh and looked away disdainfully, though the look in his eye remained composed; it was the only real indication that told her that this creature standing in front of her was still that ghoul she had grown to love the most.

The ghoul who had been kind to her.

"It doesn't matter what they did to me - " he started.

"Of course it fucking matters!" she exploded, the rage inside of her boiling hot, causing her body to tremble in fury. "They did this to you! They tortured you! How can you think that it doesn't matter to me?"

Takashi clenched his jaw, the pained expression upon his features daunting and utterly frightening to her. It hurt her to see him in such a state, and it enraged her knowing that the CCG had done this to him. What did those disgusting humans do to him?

"Why?" she wailed, burying her sobbing face into her hands. "How could they do such a thing? How could they do this to you? You're the one who had the most faith in them, and yet..."

She let out another wail, Takashi unable to do anything but stand there with his marred face spread out in a look of utter disbelief.

"I'm sorry," she wept, her voice hitching in between sobs. She curled her fingers, scratching at the white skin that stretched across her agonized face, her pink lips pressed tight and her body rigid like marble. Her sobs had stifled after a few seconds, her mind swirling and building up the composure she needed so dearly in a time like this. Oh yes - definitely in a time like this. She brought her eyes back up, a hardened stare with crimson irises swirling against a flowing pit of black tar; they had been emptied of the pain and anguish that had twisted itself within her glare, and instead, only the immense madness raged on like a black storm.

Takashi was sent aback, frightened by not the scowl she made towards him, since he was used to seeing this back when she reigned the Fourteenth Ward as its Bloody Duchess, but the intensity and concentrated essence of determination shimmering within her eyes; this was something he had not seen in all of his years with her, and that one look dragged out the remaining wisps of his staggered breath.

"They're coming," Etsuko murmured, pushing herself back up onto her feet and swerving around on her heel, taking a few steps towards the mess of broken kagune and warped metal at the entrance of the cell. She snatched up a length of her own kagune and snapped off a chunk with her teeth, crunching the crystal and swallowing it before going to take another bite; she offered the remnants to him. "Eat. You're going to need the strength."

Takashi gawked at it in disbelief, his mouth slightly ajar.

"I can't," he said solemnly, his disfigured face turning down into a sorry frown. "After everything they did to me in the lab, I've been permanently disabled from using my kagune anymore."

She scowled, snarling a little before scarfing down the rest of her own kagune shard, whipping back around to slam her hands against the side of the door; she crumpled the metal to a distorted mass of chrome with significantly less effort, as though it were clay, and then motioned for the other ghoul to come out.

"Stay close to me. I'm breaking you out," she seethed.

The shouts of incoming guards echoed throughout the facility, unaware of the wrath they would soon taste from the ghoul they had infuriated. Her eyes flashed, and were then swallowed up once more by the inky black armor.

A burst of jet-black flames erupted from her shoulder blades, the fire rippling and blazing in her crimson-red eyes. Her lips were turned down into a low snarl, a ripping growl churning from the pit of her belly. The flames crackled and hissed as they hardened, the curled, muscular black tail looming over her figure as her ghastly aura plummeted from an icy tingling to a subzero, numbing state. Etsuko turned back to Takashi, her crimson slits gleaming banefully as she offered out a soft, white hand.

"Change of plans. Hold on as tightly as you can."

Takashi, without any hesitation, bounded towards her and clasped his hand onto hers. She pulled him up and hugged him around his chest, the both of them dangling in the impenetrable black cage that surrounded them. She let out a gnarling hiss, and flew at an inconceivable speed towards the cluster of guards, who barely had any time to comprehend what had happened.

Five of them were down by the time the men had some time to regain their senses, the dark blood running thick like a river of lava down the side of a mountain, dripping to the edge of the ring before tumbling down to the darkened depths below. She shook off the bodies that had skewered themselves on her limbs, smacking other guards back into the wall with a massive force that indented and crumbled the steel. The Q bullets were fired, bouncing off the legs of black crystal that were too fast to let the incoming shots breach their defenses. The monstrosity of a beast staggered forward, brandishing her mighty tail in the air before letting it crash down onto the head of a nearby guard, smashing through his helmet and digging deep into the mush of his brains, splattering it everywhere as though he had been cuffed in the head by a shotgun.

Behind her to the left, she sensed a threatening danger that sent her to merged back her legs into massive wings once more, wrapping them around her and Takashi's body in split second, hardening it and bracing herself before she felt the explosion.

The detonation shattered her kagune shield, blasting her back into the wall to smash the back of her head into the steel. She let out a cry of agony, grunting in immense pain as she immediately curled into a ball around Takashi's body, her tail curling in front as her only line of defense before the next discharge flashed before them, splattering the flesh of her kagune and kakuja armor around them and leaving her frighteningly exposed.

The smoke was thick, clouding around the tangled pair of bodies against the wall as the guards swarmed in and surrounded the corner, pointing their guns and readying their quinque for any sudden movements. It was silent, the smoke from the explosion beginning to thin out as the suspension was dragged out, nothing ringing in their ears but the siren-like, high-pitched screeching of silence.

Then, like a rocket sparked to launch, an outrageous flash bolted across their eyes.

Etsuko, with her seven-meter wingspan, hurled herself from the wall with an enormous, powerful push of her legs, flying out and up into the top level in only a blink of an eye.

"Her wings? I thought we destroyed them!"

"M-multiple kakuhou?!" some of the guards exclaimed.

"Of course, you idiots! It's a SSS rank!" their leader snapped at them.

The guards below were left breathless, gawking at the immense speed and power the ghoul withheld, only to be interrupted by a thick shower of jet-black needles. From above, she had flapped another whirl of projectiles, killing a good handful of guards before they jumped back onto duty out of fear, and began surging towards the stairs.

"Scorpion on the first floor with Lizard! Secure all exits!" the head warden roared.

Etsuko stumbled down onto the top of the guard center, collapsing into a heap of sprawled limbs and heaving breaths; the spell of needles she had just released exhausted all of the Rc cells within her second kakuhou, leaving her terribly drained.

"Etsuko-chan!" Takashi shouted, sitting up frantically to cradle her weak body. "Etsuko-chan!"

She gave out a cough, sputtering up a small mouthful of blood before spitting it to the side.

"Shut up, you idiot. I can hear you just fine," she rasped. She wriggled from his grasp, sitting up as quickly as she could without injuring herself any further, and pushed herself back onto her wobbly feet, stumbling to the side a little before fully regaining her balance. She craned her aching neck up, seeing the trap door above still open. With a shaky breath, a third round of jet-black wings vented from her shoulders.

"Etsuko-chan!" Takashi exclaimed again. "Be careful, don't overexert yourself! Isn't that your last ukaku kakuhou?"

"I have one more, you idiot," she garbled, another massive tail sprouting from her tailbone. She narrowed her eyes, focused on the night sky just above as she sighed. "But this is the last one for my bikaku."

"Don't push yourself too hard," Takashi warned her, his voice laced in worry. "I wouldn't ever forgive myself if you died trying to save me."

Etsuko gave out a seething scoff, half annoyed and half filled with immense ardor. She rolled her crimson eyes over to him on the ground, seeing the scars upon his face and the skin that drooped down like slime. She felt a surge of anger, sorrow, pity, hurt, and guilt flood over her, blaming no one but herself for what had happened. If she had only been strong enough and healed quicker, she could have saved him. If she had acted quicker, and threw him up there instead, he could have been saved. Instead, he had protected her by sacrificing himself, submitting to this torture and bullshit experimentation those CCG bastards had done to him.

Experimentation. That was something she could never ignore; never, in all of the good and sin in this fucked up world, could she ever forgive them for what they had done. They had experimented on him, just as her parents had done to her.

No. This time, she was going to save him for sure. It was her turn to protect him, and there was nothing that could stop her from doing so.

"I could never forgive them for what they did to you," she murmured to him, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I will never forgive them."

Takashi shook his head, desperate.

"No, please," he begged her. "Please don't blame them, Etsuko-chan. They're just trying to protect themselves - "

"And I'm trying to protect you!" she screeched, the fiery wings upon her back flaring up to ten meters of searing hot, black flames. "I'm going to protect you! And I'm going to make them pay for what they did to you!"

She reached her hands up towards the sky, and then slammed them down hard against the metal top of the guard center, the quinque steel screeching and groaning against the pressure as it concaved inside. She let out a raging roar, the collision so powerful it sent a shockwave of wind and heat to tremble the floor, shaking the bridges that connected the center to the outer ring; the paths began to crumble, chunks of concrete and steel tumbling down to the next center further below.

Through all of her rage and fury, Takashi tried shouting out to her, yelling and screaming for her to stop as the black flames engulfed her body, the dark tongues lapping at the air around her skin and flickering menacingly around her face as her narrowed crimson glare pierced through the eeriness of the night.

The first wave of guards came rolling in from the staircase, dressed in heavy gear and those gunner goggles that glinted a silver sheen, glaring threateningly at her; they wielded different weapons, ranging from guns loaded with Q bullets to quinque to quinque artilleries, all equally as foreboding as they charged towards her, their shouts and yowls deafening in the hollow of the prison. They showed only immense, murderous brutality, which she was going to return back to them tenfold.

She lunged at them before they even had a chance to blink, bearing her sharp canines that were slick with saliva as she ripped out a nasty snarl. Her crimson eyes flashed, the hot blood splattering in liters over her body as she sliced tapered hands clear through the incoming bodies, tearing out chunks of oozing flesh and snapping brittle bones. She felt the goosebumps flutter across her pale skin, the immense fusion of anger and rage and satisfaction taking a heady toll upon her rampaging form; her eyes grew round with madness, letting out cries of frenzy and seething with fury as she flashed across the mob of guards, who dropped like flies one by one in the growing pool of thick, crimson blood.

Her rampage was disrupted by the slice of pain slashing across her abdomen, causing her mouth to open and choke out a sputter of blood. She tumbled forward, crashing and rolling on her side as she sprawled on the cold ground, groaning and yelling out in pain. She sensed a weapon coming her way, and she quickly dodged to the side, barely missing the mace that smashed into the spot on the floor she had been crouched over just a split second ago. She glowered, spitting in disgust as she clutched her wound, which slowly but surely began to stitch back together; however, the quinque that had gashed her skin inhibited the healing process, and thus her mind swirled with possibilities and weighed the outcomes with the benefits and cons. She scowled, grinding her teeth as she glared at her incoming attacker, his mace looming over her with a face of despair. She let out a screech.

The black flames that engulfed her being crystallized and pierced themselves into the guard's body, splitting him is four uneven slivers of flesh and thick blood. The bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the prison, stunning the guards just enough so she could reappear back at Takashi's side. She grasped him by the arms and lugged him up, hugging him around the waist as her black stilts of legs carried her high into the air.

She could hear another round of guards - the second wave - pound their way up the staircase as she towered over the remaining few of the first wave, her body trembling and the gash across her abdomen dripping blood onto the cold ground.

"Etsuko-chan!" Takashi cried, feeling the blood soak into the rough material of his prison jumpsuit.

The voices of the guards became more apparent to her ears as they trudged up the steel staircase, their shouts ringing like gunshots through the air that reeked of ghouls and bleach and warm blood.

Her glare roughened harder than her kagune, spitting out flames hotter than the sun.

"I'll make them all pay," she whispered.

With one massive push, she launched herself, with Takashi in her arms, up towards the trap door like a missile. They broke through the barrier, entering the night sky like a bird as she merged her legs back to their original state. She flapped her wings twice, pushing them to the side a good hundred meters before they plummeted back towards the ground.

She landed softly, breaking their fall with her wings as she rolled over back onto her feet, retracting her kagune back into her skin once more. She set Takashi back on his own two feet, grabbing his hand while the other clutched at her wound, still mending slowly as she made her run for it down the street, following the concrete path next to the wash that ran from the detention center. She pulled him along as she ran as fast as her exhausted and battered body could take her, the blood dripping from the corner of her mouth and her legs limping a bit from the wounds and impact of the explosions earlier. Her breath heaved, gasping as she ran with hope spreading across her eyes as they ran further and further away from the facility, freedom finally within grasp as she led him on and on.

The face of a little boy suddenly made its appearance in front of her. With wavy, charcoal black hair and dark eyes, he gazed at her with an emotion filled with understanding and an ardent love that made her heart race. Yes, he loved her - he still loves her - and in return, she loved him back. After a year of separation, their lives were going to return back to normal. His mangled appearance now didn't even matter, since as long as they were together, she will be eternally happy; they were going to be together, after she would tell him that she felt the same about him.

And for the first time in a year, she pulled her lips back into a gleeful smile.

She heard his struggle for air behind her as she tugged him along, feeling him tense up suddenly as she heard his breath hitch.

"Etsuko-chan! Watch out, there's - !"

A round of gunshots interrupted him, sputtering at them volley after volley as they ran further still. She cursed to herself, hearing Takashi let out a screech as she screamed herself, flaring up her hardened wings again and tugging him up so he stumbled in front of her.

The pain that spread across his face and the blood that trickled from his mouth triggered her eyes to widen, fear trudging through the pit of her stomach as her eyes found the cluster of bullet holes that opened his body.

"Oniisan!" she shrieked.

A ghost of a smile appeared upon his lips, as if he were smirking at death itself; it frightened her to her very bones.

"Go," Takashi rasped, stumbling upon his feet as she pushed him onward. "Leave me."

Her chest fluttered in a flurry of panic, her face spreading out in horror.

"You blabbering piece of shit!" Etsuko screeched, sputtering with the tears that streamed down her bloodied cheeks. "Do you really think I could leave you behind? You can't throw me away this time! There's no way I'm going to leave you again!"

Takashi coughed, splattering the blood out again.

"You must," he rasped, his voice fading; he grunted, tripping over a step with his feet twisting against the concrete.

"Oniisan!" Etsuko screamed again, catching him in her arms. The tears were hot as they cascaded down her face, her eyes fluttering around to find anywhere they could hide.

The bullets came at them still, though the shouts of the guards were a good five hundred meters away.

"Hold on," she begged him, choking on her voice as she scooped his weak body into her arms. "Hold on, you hear me?!"

"Etsuko-chan..." he wheezed, his breath frail.

She clenched her jaw as she mustered up the remainder of her strength, sucking in a deep breath before shooting herself forward. The blast of bullets deafened as the space between the ghouls and the guards spontaneously widened, her legs springing her forward, out into the street, and turned her into a small alleyway. She pounded her legs against the asphalt as she carried him further, twisting and winding in a labyrinth of corridors and roads; before she knew it, she was in the next ward, gasping for breath as she slammed her back against the brick wall, sliding down with his bleeding body limp in her arms. Frightened, she shook him, frantic and desperate.

"Oniisan! Oniisan!" she cried, the tears unrelenting as they flooded down her face, scrunched up in agony. "Oh god, please no! Oniisan!"

Takashi coughed, sputtering up a mouthful of dark blood as he fluttered his eyes open, foggy with pain and ominous with a gloomy tranquility, like the eye of a storm.

"Hey, Etsuko-chan," he murmured to her weakly.

The tears wouldn't stop; she couldn't stifle them for the life of her.

"H-hey, Takashi-nii," she stammered, gazing down at his mangled, peaceful face. She placed a hand on his smooth cheek, cradling him in her lap as she bent of him, her face scrunching up in despair.

"Shh," he hushed her, reaching up to caress her own cheek in his hand, bloody and gnarled. "It's going to be alright. Do you hear me? It'd gonna be alright, okay?"

Etsuko opened her mouth to speak, but found that her voice stuck in her throat like barbs. She shook her head, and then hung it as she cried some more.

"Etsuko-chan," Takashi murmured hoarsely, catching her attention again. She stared at him, bleary-eyed as another teardrop tumbled down the corner of her eye. "Please, from the looks of it, I'm not going to make it - "

"Don't," Etsuko snarled, her grip on him tightening as she sobbed. "Please, don't say that. I'm going to get you out of here, like I promised. You're gonna live - "

"You never promised me you'd get me out," Takashi whispered to her, gazing into her sad golden eyes with his single dark one. "But you did. You did the impossible, and got me out of Cochlea by yourself. Isn't that great? You'll be remembered for that, you know."

He only chuckled, which was a sad chime that struck her heart in the most aching way. Etsuko let out another sob, choking on her breath as she stared down at him, her face pained with distress.

"Oniisan..." she started, unable to finish her sentence.

Takashi shook his head, a contorted finger brushing against her lips.

"Before I go, do me one final favor, okay?" he asked her gently, his breaths becoming mere wisps.

"Don't say that!" she screeched, bending down to bury her face into his bloody jumpsuit. "Don't say that!"

"Etsuko-chan," Takashi murmured, stroking the back of her white hair as he stared up at the sky before him, the clouds drifting over them like black sheep. "Please don't blame them for my death. They did experiments on me, but only because they wanted more information to protect themselves. It's the ghouls who are so hostile and violent towards the humans that make them so horrible to us. So please, Etsuko-chan, promise me one last thing."

She didn't respond, only weeping harder into his chest as she hugged him tighter, the tears mixing with the blood that trickled down onto the black asphalt below. Takashi sighed, a small smile appearing on the untouched side of his lips, and his eye shimmered with peace as he blinked it once solemnly.

"Please don't hate them because of me," he murmured softly. "And I'm sorry life has been so hard on you, but it's going to be alright, Etsuko-chan. Just remember that I will always be with you in your heart, and that I will always love you."

She let out another sob, clutching onto his bloody jumpsuit as she sniffled and wept some more. She brought her head up to look at him one last time - so he could see her one last time - only to find his dark eye empty, kissed with the chaste black void of death.

She scrunched up her face into an agonizing expression, and then let out a heartbroken wail, weeping as she cradled his cheek in the palm of her hand, gazing into his stilled features as his single eye stared up into the dark heavens looming over them. Her breath hitched, her heart sinking to the bottom of hell as she crept her hand up his face, two shaky fingers hovering over the lid of his eye before dragging it down, closing it forever.

"I love you too, Oniisan," she sobbed, rocking back and forth as she hugged his body against hers. "I'm sorry..."

~~~✿~~~

The death of Takashi, and the motive for all the sins Etsuko has committed since. Tragic, is it not?
If it isn't, that itself would be tragic, since I consider tragedy my specialty genre T-T

ANYWAYS, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to VOTE, comment, and to add this to your library for future updates!

And as always, thanks for reading!!