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Skipping along the dusty hospital floors, with an oblivious smile smeared across her face, she came across the floor whre most of the commotion was happening. She was never really interested in being involved with things that weren't her business, so she simply stayed back and watched it all happen. She giggled at the sudden outburst the man with eyes similar eyes to hers, finding it funny and quite interesting. Man, things were weird during the purge, but at least it was entertaining. After seeing all she wanted to see, the continued to skip along the hallways, humming a tune. The tune in question was 'Cheek to Cheek', quite an odd song choice but it was haunting nonetheless. She finally made her way downstairs, where she then exited the building. At this point, she was already bored and didn't feel like continuing on with the plan she had in mind at the moment, so she looked around for something that piqued her interest. Her eyes landed on a gloomy building, one that didn't seem to house anyone, but she had an odd feeling something was there.

She walked across the street, ignoring the particularly flashy woman at the end of the street. This woman seemed to be holding a chainsaw, which was odd but Rei couldn't dwell on it. You had to do whatever you had to do during the purge after all. She knocked on the door ahead of her, which came with no response. She knocked again, nothing. She sighed and decided to kick down the door, which was surprisingly easy. "Helloooo! Aaaaanyone here?" She called out, casually walking through the dimly lit room.

---

After what it seemed like hours of walking, she watched another person walk by. "Hm. How nice. It would be a shame to die here." She mumbled to herself as she carefully watched the new, odd person. Yukimore never really understood the purpose of human nature. They just kill and kill, but yet again, this is the purge. Yukimore quietly followed the new person with complete silence, not to be disturbed by the metal clanking of her boots.

𝕬𝖟𝖗𝖆𝖊𝖑 𝕷𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖆𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖓
» Nightmare (English cover) «
0:58 ─〇───── 2:50
╔⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷╗
"Oh, where has that little boy gone?
Trampled over by the cruelness of the world,
With no one to go to,
He shook hands with the devil.
╚⊶⊶⊶⊶⊶✞⊷⊷⊷⊷⊷╝

Azrael couldn't make sense of anything that happened after that. While his eyes remained open, glaring an abnormal bright red, the pain had been too much for him to handle. It was worse than anything he'd ever felt before, and he almost seperated from reality for a second to try to numb the pain.

His vision went black.

He opened his eyes and found himself in the usual white room, though the walls were replaced with bars. He could still feel the throb in his head from the previous... experiment. He raised his hand to feel the slight bump from the stitches under the bandage on his forehead. As his vision slowly recovered, he silently looked at the two adults outside through the crack of the bars, looking over at monitors at weird graphs he couldn't make sense of.

He heard someone groan besides him and turned. The other boy's long hair covered his face, it's tips dipped with an unusual gold color. He looked as confused as Azrael. The two were probably the same age, still 9 years old.

"W-what's going on?" he asked, his voice hoarse, clutching his head at the pain. Azrael could only shrug and the two waited for their orders as usual.

They were used to this. And they knew well one person wouldn't make it. Azrael felt a grip on his hand and lowered his eyes to see the other boy's hand gripping his in fear. Slowly the tears came to his eyes.

One of them won't make it. He knew that.

"I'm scared" the other boy sobbed as he waited in the silence for the doom that awaits the two kids. Azrael felt just as scared, wondering if tonight would finally be the day he was ripped away from this life.

He found himself pulling the boy into a hug, a stray tear trickling down his own cheek.

"It'll be alright," was all he could say before the switch was flicked.

Who was that?

Azrael felt a prick in his arm and the pain gradually dissappeared until he could open his eyes slowly again. He squinted at first until he could readjust to the surprisingly bright room.

The first thing he was met with was blood.

By the looks of it, everyone in the room had been killed, most likely by his own hands. He turned to the right and groaned as he was met with a worser face.

It was that cursed woman again.

"For god sake, would it kill you to leave me alone?" Azrael grumbled, wincing at the sharp pain that was still coursing through his head. He glanced at the computer screen, pitch black with broken glass shards.

There it was, his oppurtunity to be free, grounded to dust.

"Think you could've gotten away boy?" he hears from the broken earpiece, surprisingly still working through the damage. "Disobey me again and it'll be 10 times worse," he added. Azrael didn't answer and stood up, grabbing the bloody knives and phone, looking at the location given solemnly, he picked up the broken earpiece.

"[omg] you," he hissed as he crushed it under his boots, rendering it completely useless and making his way back up to the stairs.

---

"Who said they moved away?" He asked, almost bitterly. "Nah, I moved away from them. Some of 'em... well, I lost contact with some of them before then, but I had to move down to New Mexico after college for the job I was working." His tone takes on a dark, resentful tone as he mentions the job.

His face actually seems to light up at her second statement, however. For a moment, he almost smiles, looking back at the photo. "Eddie and I are pals. He's the reason I have ammo for these babies." He pats the MP5 on his back for emphasis. "Known him since I was thirteen. We go waay back."

The photo in question is one of six people, all around the ages of 13. The two in the center stood out the most - a small boy with blond streaks in his short, matted hair and a vaguely haunted look in his single working eye, and a much less healed scar on the left side of his face, standing next to a tall, confident looking boy with a ponytail not unlike the one Gordon wore today.

"He's an arms dealer, actually. Took over his brother's business when he turned 17?" He chuckles softly to himself. "He was there for me at a... really weird time." He trails off there, looking back down at the floor.

Gordon didn't seem to have a problem sharing trivial details of his past, but certain topics he seemed to dance around as they came up. He wasn't sure why he was so content talking about this stuff either, to be honest. The looming threat of possible death or worse along with being cooped up with a couple of strangers probably had something to do with it.

---

"Eep-!" Amber was startled by the knocking, and even more startled by the door being kicked down. She had just fixed that. But her thoughts were filled more with panic instead of anger. I don't wanna kill anybody, but a stab might- No, no, Amber, calm down. Despite her efforts at being calm, she was still hyperventilating. She still had a tight grip on the knife, but her arm didn't wanna work. Atleast she had chosen a shadowy spot to hide, but that would probably backfire as well.

Amber's mind was working to desperately come up with a new plan. Wasn't there a way she could just skip out on the Purge? She didn't know of a way. She was still hyperventilating in a shadowy corner. This is probably the end of me. So much for depending on the house's appearance to keep me safe.

---

Questions quickly began to bubble up while Cassandra listens to Gordon talk. What job did you have in New Mexico? Did something bad happen [in that 'weird time']? Cassandra doesn't dare ask these question out loud, recognizing that it was something he'd rather not reminiscence on.

"Sounds like you have a great group of friends" she says with a smile. "It sucks you had to leave the group...I understand that feeling. I left my home state to travel the Country. I've been doing it for a few years, long before the Purge was even a thing." She winces when she realizes what she just said. She couldn't chase away the memories of the first Purge. She remembered how terrified and confused she was. Granted, she was still terrified of it, but at least she understood it. But most of all, she remembered what it took from her.

"It hurts to leave good people behind-" another pang of regret hits Cassandra. The Purge was something that would be burned into everyone's memories for multiple reasons. Cassandra remembered it as the day her whole life changed. The day everyone she loved disappeared. Because of the ideologies of the Purge- one that didn't even work. Her family was gone, slaughtered, exactly one day before the second Purge was supposed to begin. "All that matters is that you continue to hold happy memories of them. It's great you are still friends with your childhood friend though! Maybe one day the two of you can find a way to come in contact with the others" she continues, with a slightly defeated tone. The memories hurt, but she didn't really want to share stories of her grief with a complete stranger.

---

Now it's his turn to listen to Cassandra speak, looking at the wall a short distance beside her as she did so. The wince didn't go unnoticed, and Gordon felt a feeling akin to empathy seeing the look in her eye. He knew that look. He saw it every time he looked into a mirror. The eyes of a person holding almost too much to bear - a story of grief, heartbreak, or something along such lines. It was strange, remembering that he wasn't alone in those feelings.

Gordon could see it, in the way that for a moment, the only emotion he could see in her eyes was a terrible kind of regret. He could just sort of... feel it. She'd lost someone too, huh? He couldn't think of anything to say to that realisation. Nothing came to mind that seemed too helpful. Instead, he waited for her to speak again. When she did, he gave a soft, empty chuckle.

"I guess I could find one or two of 'em, if I looked hard enough..." He trailed off slowly. his eye traced the faces of his old friends, a somewhat pained expression on his face. Dammit, quit that, he told himself. He looked weak enough, he didn't need to start showing emotional vulnerability!

"Not like I need them, though." He deflects quickly, turning away with a false grin plastered on his face. "I could survive on my own if I wanted. One friend? Already more than I need!" He laughed at his own statement, forcing himself to push away the... other emotions. Ugh.

---

Like Gordon, Cassandra didn't miss the pained expression that crossed his face. It was easy to forget how fragile life was, and how easy it could be taken away from others. She couldn't help but feel bad for the loner. She would've gone crazy from grief if not for meeting Aster. She couldn't imagine how Gordon got through it.

"You seem to be doing great without them" Cassandra agrees with a chuckle. "You'll have time to find them. But for now we should focus on surviving through tonight." She pauses to glance over at Aster- who was silently listening to the conversation while looking out the window. "Is the coast still clear?" She asks.

"I haven't seen a single soul. I have to hand it to you Gordon. You chose a great spot to live. I think it's safe to say that nobody- besides Cassandra and I- will stumble into this area... Hopefully... Probably..." Aster trails off. "I hope I didn't jinx it"

---

"You seem to be doing great without them."

At those words, Gordon had to bite his tongue to stop himself from getting too... visibly emotional. Blinking harshly, he forced a chuckle out of his suddenly aching chest. Calm down, he told himself. She was talking about your friends. Don't make this more emotional than it needs to be. He takes a second to make sure he's not going to break his composure, before looking down at the carpet. That didn't need to hit so close to home, dammit. He had other things to focus on right now! He forced himself to tune back into Cassandra's words.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. Although, I don't think surviving is too much of a problem for us. I have a bit of a track record with narrowly avoiding my demise, or whatever." He spared an anxious glance out the window, this one seeming almost compulsive. "I've brushed with death so many times, I really oughta start giving him high fives when I pass." He limps over to another window, looking through the blinds for any signs of intruders.

Aster's words brought a cocky grin to his features, folding his arms proudly. "I know, right? It's got everything! No loud traffic, no stalkery neighbours, and I haven't seen a single owl around here!" Some strange criteria for a house, but whatever. "It's crazy, I didn't even know this whole purge thing was a thing before I bought the place. Guess that explains why it was so cheap." He didn't seem terribly phased by this genuinely awful luck the gods seemed to keep throwing at this man. "Only the mailman comes down here, usually." He mutters something about said mailman being a creep under his breath.

---

Rei was completely aware of Yukimore's presence, yet never acknowledged it due to her not caring. Besides, she would get sidetracked from what she had come here for. Before she arrived, she saw a silhouette in the window, peering out into the dangerous streets below, which quickly disappeared into the shadows. That mystery, mixed with the house's appearance, intrigued her. "Helloo-" The sudden noise stopped Rei's calls, alerting her of another human in the room. She grinned and slowly moved towards the sound, basically feeling her way around due to the lack of light. Not long after, she found the one who made the sound, cowering in the corner. "Peek-a-boo!" she giggled, stepping back after she uncovered Amber's hiding spot. She almost bumping into her follower in the process, but Yukimore was far enough away, and concealed enough, that it didn't happen.

---

Honestly? Amber would've screamed. "Pleasedontkillmepleasedontkillmepleasedontkillmepleasedontkillme-" She frantically whispered. She had stopped to take a breath, and held the knife a few inches away from her face. I'm to young to dieeee! Her eyes were closed and looked away. She could've started sobbing right then and there. She felt like she was living in a nightmare. Amber was always easily scared. And Rei . . was scary. The 'peek-a-boo!' and the giggle that followed right after was terrifying.

---

Cassandra couldn't help but laugh at his words. "That's good to know! We're still new at the whole 'narrowly escaping death thing.'" Both boys were starting to make Cassandra feel anxious. It suddenlt dawned on her that she was not doing a great job in ensuring her own safety. She trusted Aster, and was quickly starting to trust Gordon. But if they were going to be attacked, she'd rather see the warning signs for herself. Old habits die hard, it was difficult having to rely on others. She moves closer to Aster so that she could also look out a window.

"Hopefully that luck continues. We can use some good fortune right about now" Cassandra responds while gently rubbing her bandaged forehead. She had forgotten about the wound up until now. The worse of the pain had long passed, leaving only an annoying sting. "No owls? Now that's what makes living here worth it" she adds with a smile.

---

Rei's smile quickly turned into a frown upon seeing the fear Amber had. "Kill you? Now why do you think thaaaat?" She stepped forward to get closer to the girl, leaning down and around th knife to get in her face. She moved her head back and forth to examine her expression and details, then focused her attention on the knife. She first pinched it, then lowered her finger on the tip a bit before running her pointer finger down the blade, enough to draw blood. She didn't wince in pain or even seemed to notice, but instead put her bloody finger in her mouth to lick it off. "A little dull... Not bad, but ya gotta take care of your blades..." She grumbled, almost pouting. In an instant though, almost like a switch, her expression changed to be all happy and giddy again. She would've snatched the knife from Amber's hands, but usually a scared person would have a tight grip, not making it easy for Rei to just take it. She swiftly pulled out a knife of her own, hanging from the belt on her shorts, and waved it around carelessly. "See? I got one of my own!" She giggled once again, like she was a toddler at a playground meeting another kid

---

Amber had peeked an eye out to look, purely out of curiosity. She did not like what she saw, and it only made her tremble more. Her hands were shaking even more, and she could've cut her face if she wasn't careful. She didn't like this person, she didn't like the knife, she didn't like the purge. But she was a little confused, just a little bit, not enough for it to actually show on her face, on why Rei hadn't killed her already. Because that's what people do during the purge. Don't people murder during the purge? That should've been obvious to Amber, as there were audible screams in the background. She didn't know where they came from, she just knew there was death somewhere. So . . . why wasn't she dead already? She was weak and had no defense.

---

Yukimore saw the new person, of course, with another person. She stood there for a moment, before inching closer. "There's 2 now? This just gets even better~!" She hummed to herself. Moments later, she cranked on her chainsaw. She laughed to herself as she got closer to them. Since the 2 seemed close to each other, this would be way easier for her to just kill them both at an instant. Most people had knives, so this gave her an advantage to kill people easier.

Rei had twirled around at the sound of Yukimore's voice, her attention immediately fixed on her instead of Amber. The poor girl wasn't saying anything, or doing anything really, which gave Rei nothing to go on and she lost interest faster than she could switch her moods, or at least the fake ones she had to put on a show. "I was wondering when you were gonna speak up!" At first she was excited, finally having someone else to 'play' with, but she immediately started to pt when the chainsaw was turned on. She let her head fall to her shoulder and gave a mad, but also disappointed glare at the other crazy lady. "Heyyy... That's no fun, that clunk of junk is way too loud... You're gonna scare off this poor lady!" She had pocketed her knife at this point, and instead decided to circle around Yukimore, eyeing the chainsaw angrily, and even getting dangerously close to it, close enough where she wouldn't be able to react if it's wielder made even the slightest movement. The look in her eyes almost made it seem like she was tempted to touch it, but hadn't done so yet.

"Put it awaaaaayy..." She whined, "You're no fun..." Rei paused for a second before somehow immediately putting on a smile once again. She quickly moved to get in Yukimore's face, grinning ear to ear and that look of insanity flashing in her blood-red eyes once again. She made her voice low and menacing, like she was trying to kill her with her looks and voice alone, but immediately dropped the smile. "Y'know... I really hate people like you, ruinin' the fun... You kill without a second thought, without a reason, you don't even bother to put in any effort. You're the scum of the earth, you know that? Well I sure hope you do..." She giggled then backed away, switching back to being giddy and annoying. Rei looked back at Amber and moved closer to her, puting once again. "C'mon... talk, will ya?"

---

It was only now that Gordon really registered her injury, a frown forming on his face. "That doesn't look good. Has that been cleaned? Disinfected? I can grab you some painkillers, if you need. Not sure if you can tell , but I'm a man with a big supply of medical stuff. Self-prescribed and otherwise." He really wishes he could have emphasised that statement with a wink, but... Yeah.

"Oh. And don't worry about the treatment being poorly done, either. I used a pocket knife to fish bullets out of my arm once, stitched and disinfected all the wounds myself! I turnout out great, in case that wasn't clear." ...huh. There must be a lot more than just a limp, a missing eye, a mangled ear and a missing finger on his scar list, hiding under that scuffed leather jakcet he wore.

"I'm a doctor, anyway. Not a medical one, but still." He gestures vaguely towards a small stack of papers collecting dust on a shelf just barely out of view. The shelf itself looks old, and worn, and there's various other things that look like they must hold a great deal of sentimental value. Only one half of the shelf is visible from where either of them stand, but it can be assumed there are more things on display.

---

Yukimore, at that point, was not happy at ALL. Since she was sort of close enough, she had the effort to quickly grab Rei and slam her against the wall near the other girl who just wouldn't speak. "You know~ don't try to fool me, ever since I was a kid.." She stopped before getting close to her ear. "I saw everything." Without a care, she tossed Rei to the other side of the room. "Luckily, I'm going to kill YOU first~" She hummed before facing her chainsaw at Rei, so if Rei approached her, she would run into the sharp blades of Yukimore's chainsaw.

"It's been dealt with, with the best supplies we had available" Cassandra responds with a sheepish grin. "Which-... Isn't too impressive to say the least. It's not too painful anymore. It's more of an inconvenience than anything else" she admits.

"We were in a bit of a rush, both to pack the items and escape with them" Aster pipes up. "Better supplies would be greatly appreciated. The most I could do was stop the bleeding." Aster's eyes widen while he listens to Gordon explain how he managed to heal his own injured arm. The man continued to surprise the two in the best way possible. Is this man even human? Aster wonders with an amused grin. "I'm amazed" Aster says while taking a step closer to examine Gordon's arms. "It's quite a task to fix a gunshot wound, especially on yourself!" Both Aster and Cassandra silently thank their fate for being in alliance with Gordon, because man, he would be a terrible enemy.

"Well, between you and Aster helping me, I'm certain this wound won't be the death of me" Cassandra says with a chuckle.

---

The somehow incredibly violent throw had caught Rei off-guard, and even knocked the wind out of her, forcing her to spend a few seconds to recover. Her body was surprisingly durable and strong for her thin, child-like appearance, so not that much damage was done. She let out a few coughs though as she got up, but otherwise acted like nothing happened. She had time to react, and even soften the blow, yes, but she decided she just wanted to take the hits. She didn't really care anymore, none of this was fun anymore and it was just a waste of time. She really did make a mistake with that detour, she should've just kept walking... As she was getting up, her face had once again changed to a look of boredom and anger, and she seemed to be really pissed off. She wiped the small amount of blood that had accumulated on her lip off before narrowing her eyes at the chainsaw wielder. She pretended not to notice the weapon, and instead slowly walked to the far side of the room, as far away from the woman as possible. She kept her gaze fixed on Yukimore's, continuing to walk to the door. Once she had finally reached it, she let out an irritated sigh and closed her eyes, lowering her head. "Whatever, I'm not listening to your BS anymore..." she grumbled before slamming the door, not caring if she followed. She could care less about what happened next in that damn room, or to her really. Her mood was completely ruined and now, her true colors were beginning to show. It was all really just a mask she used to try and make things easier and better for her, but stuff like this always had to happen and tear that mas straightoff her lying, pathetic face. But really, she knew that if it came down to it, that psycho would end up killing her anyways. It wasn't like Rei could do anything, even considering her immaculate strength, agility, and terrifyingly good mind games. That woman had a chainsaw and she was clearly insane, just like her, so mind games wouldn't do anything. Rei just had to figure out a way to either keep her off her trail, or do something that wouldn't make the lady hate her. Both of those were too much work, but it didn't matter in the end, right? Rei didn't fear death, she welcomed it with open arms, but she at least didn't want to leave this earth with deeds unfinished.

---