MYSTERY II: Their nightmare

The hell...

The whistled howling of a woman's voice echoed in the air. The misty air floated in a dense moisture, eventually it would fall and become one with the wet land, tall trees and vegetation spiraled around each other and grew towards the sky. The leaves crowded the cloudy sky and prevented any source of light to reach the earth. Giggles of small mystical beings jingled like bells to their ears, the bugs danced around each other in mid air, glowing shades of silver and gold. His frost-mint hair seemed to have blended with his surrounding, it shared similar shade of the forest. Glowing eyes watched them from afar, it didn't approach them but it also didn't look away, as if waiting for the right time to pounce. Unease crawled the young detective's skin.

Yukio watched his non-human companion look at the center of those tree, it spiraled in a form of barrier to protect the green deep body of water at the center. The voice of the singing woman turned to crying- sobbing and screaming. Saqib clenched his fist around the iron pipe- Yukio would assume it to be so. However, it didn't look like iron, it was drenched in a strange black slime, it even stained Saqib's hand.

“I don't think that is a good weapon of choice.” Yukio stated, still eyeing the iron pipe. The air was cold enough to fog their breaths, it caused Yukio to stretch up his turtle neck shirt to his chin. Saqib had dressed differently from what Yukio had seen him wear at Kaname's house, his usual trench coat that did the job of hiding his scale-like skin was gone. Saqib didn't bother answering to Yukio, he simply demonstrated the purpose of the strange iron pipe. One foot back from the other, Saqib swung the slimy pipe in his hand against the nearest tree.

“What the-!” The surprising turn of events made Yukio curse under his breath, he took a step back from Saqib. It was not out of fear but to give Saqib the space to do what he had come here for. The moment the pipe collided with the tree, the leaves on the tree shriveled and fell- crisp and dead. The husk of the tree died and lost its colours. Alas, the moment Saqib started destroying the rich green life protecting the lake-like water body, a loud painful shriek sounded in the air, it came from the direction of the lake. The voice was far too familiar for both the men, for different reasons. While Saqib's throat tightened from nostalgia, Yukio's heart palpitated with adrenaline and horrifying familiarity. It was their nightmare.

Yukio's shoulders once again felt heavy but this time, there were no legs dangling from his shoulders. It wasn't the curse, it was his trauma. The place was different, it was not the mountain or the Kitsune shrine where he saw his mother being killed but the painful screaming was indeed familiar. Maybe- just maybe, it was Yukio's biggest fear. Saqib caught the glimpse of the early symptoms of his hyperventilation from over his shoulders. “Don't cave in now, our guest hasn't even arrived yet.” Saqib urged Yukio, in his own nonchalant way. Being near Yukio did not feel pleasing to Saqib, they were much too similar in their stories. Both lost their mothers and the burden of that has been tormenting the both of them to this day. Perhaps this was one of the major reasons why Saqib felt pity for this human.

Yukio clutched his aching chest as he tried to exercise the method to calm his breathing. Breathe in through to the nose and exhale from his mouth, a few conscious attempts and Yukio found himself out of the woods, he wouldn't faint now. “Hey-!” Yukio choked out. “Are you sure he'll come? Kira might be his daughter but he's a complete psychopath..! His obsession with power and my mother has brought him alive so far, why would he come here in an obvious trap?” Yukio suspected things, he had always known the unhealthy obsession his uncle had with his own cousin who was a ningyo vessel as well as a mother. But he had never expected his cousin sister Kira to suddenly break the news to him.

“I can lure him out to follow you guys into the ningyo's lake.” Kira had volunteered while avoiding Yukio's eyes. “How?” Yukio asked a simple question but it had left Kira at a loss for words, only for the sudden arrival of the ningyo himself to break the silence. “Because the jester of hearts, who calls him the Arlecchino of the stage is, in fact none other than Kira’s supposedly dead father. He never died but he did escape while he was severely injured. His face is basically unrecognizable after I almost crushed his skull for hurting Kaito.”

Safe to say, the three of them had a long conversation after that. From the previous Kanzaki heads being abusive towards Kira and Kaito to Saqib cleansing the house of it's dirt to Kira taking over not only as the heir but also the ningyo's vessel, for Yukio's mother died around the same time. Saqib had revealed the source of curse being the lake which needed to be destroyed and the jester- Arlecchino’s ultimate goal was obtaining the ningyo's lake to covet its powers. Yukio and Saqib had shared a similar goal, hence what brought them here together.

Saqib had allowed the entry of anyone seeking the lake. Yukio had only one objective, to find the reason for killing his mother. While Yukio already knew the answer, he wanted to hear it from his uncle's mouth... The reason for committing such a heinous crime. No human law could bring justice to his victims. That being said…

I won't kill him.

Yukio had no plan to commit a murder. However… He won't protect him from the ningyo's clutches either. “He will come.” Saqib confirmed while destroying more plants on his way towards the center. Saqib had sounded firm, as if he had seen the future already unfolding. Yukio silently followed Saqib behind who pruned almost all the beautiful vegetation and trees on his way, finally stopping in front of the lake. The air smelled wet and rotted, the murky lake’s water had not changed, it was still rich with the essence of life.

Yukio had plugged his ears to hear some pre-downloaded classical music to ignore sobbing and screaming voice coming from the lake, he didn't realize that the sound of screams had stopped. Saqib stared in the water that reflected his face with no light in his eyes. His face was the same as that day, devoid of warmth and afraid of lonesome. A clean slate of eyes that showed sorrow of being left behind. Like a cicada who was sick of it's own face and skin, Saqib wished he could shed his own skin and become someone new and leave behind the current him too.

You're such a bad man, leaving your beloved behind by herself…

The voice sobbed inside the water. The still water didn't move but the reflect of Saqib's face had changed. In the reflection, Hands of a familiar woman wrapped around his neck. Brunette hair with fox-like eyes that pierced his soul, she smiled in the reflection with unseen affection. Her mouth hovered over Saqib’s ears, it tickled him ever so slightly. The woman he loved was gazing at his face with eyes so affectionate, Saqib almost fell for it when her fingers glided under his chin to turn his face toward her. She giggled when their noses bumped into each other. Saqib did not feel the spark.

Such cold eyes, not even a smile when I could give you what you always wanted? All you have to do is come back home to me, in my arms~

Ah.

Tempting words reached Saqib's heart when his hooded eyes gazed at her unusually cherry red lips. Her fingers caressed his lower lips to tease him. He always wanted to taste those audacious pillow-like and senselessly greedy lips. Just one more inch and his dreams and desires would come true.

Just one lick, just a taste-

“Saqib! She has no face!” Yukio's horrified voice ringed in Saqib's ears. Saqib didn't flinch, he simply swung the pipe in hand against Kira face. She screamed and flailed as she fell on the ground. “I know.” Saqib knew it wasn't Kira from the start. “Kira would never touch me like that, she hates the smell of fish.” Saqib mumbled in a voice dripping with disappointment. Saqib finally lifted his head up, perhaps he wanted to see the face of the child that selflessly worried for him.

Perhaps it felt good to be worried for by the child that avoided him his entire life…

the child he could've fathered.

Alas, fate was a cruel thing. What Saqib saw was not the worried face of the child that Layla had left behind but a pair of terrified eyes that looked at Saqib with trembling horror in them. Crimson mixed with the wet moss under Yukio's feet, Yukio coughed and spat out a wet slug of blood. Over his shoulders a woman's legs wrapped around his neck, squeezing the air out of his lungs while his greatest fear stood in front of him.

A human.

Arlecchino.

With a dagger that gutted his abdomen.

Maybe the fate of his death has finally caught up to him.