New Halo!
Title: Dark Side of Wonderland
Fandom: Durarara
Characters/shipping: Mikado Ryuugamine, Anri Sonohara, Masaomi Kida, OC
Genre: Horror/Supernatural
Rating: M
Warnings: None
Summary: Ruri just wants to live a normal life. Tandeki already took that away from her. It's a good thing that she has Yukio and the other tadpoles there to help her heal. Meanwhile, Kenma, Wez, and Sojiro are adjusting to their new situation.
Halo Four: Ruri:
She's been trying to keep a low profile and lead a normal life. It's already the first day at Russia Sushi and already things are going tits up. It was just a box of napkins. Dennis sent her down to get a box of napkins. She got them but there they managed to find her in a supply closet. She ended up in a weird place and they tracked her down. Why couldn't they leave her alone?
She shut her eyes and shook her head.
"Why can't they just leave me alone?" she asked herself. But then, she froze when she felt a jolting shock run down her spine.
What was is now?
The door slid open.
"It's you," a man with short black hair said in the doorway. She felt her heart pounding in her chest as she recognized him.
"Yukio?" she asked. Memories of that place filled her head. She didn't want to ever think about that hell again. Yukio walked over to the booth she was sitting in.
"You're Takahara Ruri, aren't you?" he asked. She could've just lied. She could say that he had her confused with someone else. Pretend that she didn't know what he was talking about.
She lowered her head.
"Yes," Ruri said in a quiet voice.
"I knew it," Yukio said. "We've been looking for you and the others." Ruri's mind was back in that room with the white walls. The faint smells of bleach made her want to vomit."
"What do you want?" Ruri asked. Yukio took her by the hand.
"We want to help you," he said.
"I don't think you can," she said. Ruri lifted her head.
"Are you even real?" she asked. Yukio gave her a confused look.
"Of course I am," he said. He paused for a moment.
"Did someone mess with your head?" he asked. Ruri shifted her eyes away from him.
"Have you noticed anything different?" he asked. She pressed her lips together.
"Like what?" she asked. Those hands came in closer to her. They wouldn't let her sleep. Her body was there, but her mind became hazy.
"Hey! Hey!" someone shouted at her. "Stay with me! Hey! Hey!" Ruri quickly lifted her head. Yukio had a concerned look on his face.
"Please leave me alone," she whispered.
"I can't," Yukio said. "Things are going to get worse. It's better if we all stick together. Here." He reached into pocket and pulled out a pen. The tadpole wrote down his number on a napkin.
"Call me when you're ready," he said. The tadpole stood up and walked out of the restaurant.
"See ya," he said. And then he was gone. Ruri was left sitting there in the booth with a stunned look on her face. She slowly reached for the napkin and picked it up. Maybe… Just maybe…
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Meanwhile, Kenma, Wez, and Sojiro were adjusting to their new arrangements. Kenma would just sit in the corner of Celty and Shinra's apartment and draw.
"That's cool-looking," Nami said as she looked over his shoulder. He glanced up at her, frowning.
"Oh, sorry," she said. Kenma went back to his drawing.
"What are you drawing?" Nami asked.
"Deer," he said without looking up.
"Oh," she said. "Do you like drawing animals?"
"Not really," Kenma said.
"Do you draw people?"
"Not really."
"Nami, leave him alone," Taishi said. The water tadpole turned to him with her cheeks puffed up and frowning.
"But he barely says anything," she complained. "All he does is sit there and draw." Kenma furrowed his brow as he frowned.
"See look, you're getting on his nerves," Taishi said.
"Can you not talk about me like I'm not here?" Kenma asked. Taishi and Nami turned to him. By now, he was looking at them, frowning. They had never seen him looking so angry before. Usually, Kenma almost had no emotion on his face.
"Sorry," Nami said.
"Thank you," the artist tadpole said. He went back to his sketch of a deer in the woods. Nami and Taishi looked at each other.
---------
Ruri dwelled on the number on the napkin for days. Yukio had a point. He had been there for her during her days at Chou Mori. He was suffering too but he tried to put on a front for her. Ruri thought that he was her knight in mental patient clothes coming to save her.
She didn't exactly love him. She just wanted something to hang onto in that dreadful place. There were others there but she couldn't their faces right off the bat.
However, it was because him that she couldn't forget that place. Ruri tried to so hard with years of therapy to get better. She was so close to being normal again. But that was all taken away from her back in January. Since then, Ruri was pulled back into her old nightmare.
She used to be able to disassociate herself at times like these. It used to be so much easier. Now, that was being taken away from her too. Either she couldn't figure or she made herself a target to forces that hunted her down. Living in reality didn't help either. At first, her friends and family kept asking questions. Her mother tried to get her more help. Ruri sat at the kitchen table, shaking her head.
"No!" she shouted. "No more therapists! I don't want to go on any pills! Just stop it!" Ruri just wanted to shut out everything. Sadly, her hyper-senses wouldn't allow that anymore. Her friends tried to make her feel normal again. That worked only for a short time. They would take her out for coffee and meal dates. It all started to blend together. Ruri tried to pretend to be normal. She was able to do that for a short while. Pretty soon, she couldn't hide her little "quirks" as her friends called them anymore. Ruri ate like a horse. The boys and men were staring at her like they saw her naked. Ruri tried to hold herself back when responding to what her friends were thinking. Some of them were put off by how she was. It got to the point where Ruri had to isolate herself from everyone for three months. At least she had her powers under control.
Now, Ruri held her phone in her hand. Was she really going to do this? Yukio wanted her to reconnect with the others. It would just take one little call. One call to end the loneliness.
She broke and made the call.
"Took you long enough," Yukio said on the other line. "Are you alright?" Ruri closed her eyes and leaned against her wall.
"Not so good," she said. Tears wailed up in her eyes.
"Do you want to talk?" he asked.
"Yes," Ruri whimpered as she nodded.
"We can meet up near you, okay?" Yukio said. Ruri felt like she was going to collapse.
"Okay," she said.
"Noon sound good?" he asked.
"Okay," Ruri said.
"Good, we will see you there," Yukio said. The other tadpole nodded. They hung up. Ruri drew her knees to her chest. This was the right choice, yeah? She wasn't going to be alone anymore at least. The only way to see if Ruri made the right choice was to let it play out.
---------
Wez is doing much better.
"Do it again," Shingen said. The tadpole looked at him, frowning. How many times were they going to do this exercise? Sweat formed on his brow. Wez took in a breath and raised his hands. He slammed them down onto the concrete block in front of him. It exploded like a bomb. Pieces were flying everywhere. Wez still wasn't used to all of these tests.
"Do they do this all the time?" he asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Yukio said. Wez sighed and rolled his eyes. The other tadpole patted him on the back.
"We all have to get through this," he said. "They are doing this just to help us."
"But why?" Wez asked.
"Why what?" Yukio asked.
"Why are they doing this for us?" the other tadpole asked. "What do they stand to gain from all of this? Just… why?" His friend pressed his lips together for he had no answer.
Shingen wrote down more notes on his clipboard.
"Very good! Very good," he said. Wez turned to him, frowning.
"Can we stop now?" he asked.
"Hm? Oh, sure. Take a little break," the man in the gas mask said. Wez sneered at him before walking out of the room. He stood in the hallway of the apartment. The others came and went here at different times during the day. Only Chie lived here. Wez rubbed his forehead. Now why did he think this was a good idea? Oh yeah, it was to get away from those demons. He managed to find some security in his life ever since Halloween. It was nice to see Yukio and Itori again. Same with the others.
"Everyone still isn't here," Yukio pointed out yesterday. Wez gave him an odd look.
"How many more do we have left?" he asked. The other tadpole counted up on his fingers.
"We just found three others," he said. "I think… There are twelve of us uned for. We're still looking for them though."
"Can I help out?" Wez asked. "It will give me something to do."
"Sure," Yukio said.
"Thanks," Wez said.
The explosion tadpole pulled out his phone in the hallway. Yukio added him in a group chat on his phone. Oh look, he had a new message. Wez tapped the screen.
"Going out to meet with Ruri-chan. Anyone want to come with me?" Yukio's text said.
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-4:00 p.m.-
Ruri sat alone in a café. She swallowed down her nerves. Who else was showing up today? She looked at her phone. Yukio invited her into a group chat on her phone. She had yet to respond to it. The tadpole didn't know what to say. In fact, she found herself in a confusing place. She tried to live a normal life since January. Her mother and friends couldn't help her. How could they be any different?
Ruri froze when she felt that jolting shock down her spine. She slowly lowered her phone. Yukio, Wez, Naomi, and Hifumi stood inches from her table.
"Yo," Yukio said, waving. Ruri gasped as she covered her mouth.
"You guys," she said. They all sat around at the table. Ruri looked down at her phone in her hand.
"So what can you do?" Naomi asked. Ruri held up her hand, palm up.
"I have electricity powers," she said in a soft voice. Little sparks jumped up from her hand.
"Nice," Yukio said, nodding. "Hifumi can control chains. Wez can blow up things with his hands. Naomi changes the elements of non-living things. I can make people tell me what they really desire." Ruri looked at all of them, staring at her. It felt so weird to be back together with them. She tried to push away through old memories. Naomi reached out and touched her hand. Ruri turned her head.
"You're safe with us," Naomi said. Ruri pressed her lips together. She knows that she is right. But that wasn't going to make anything go away overnight. Trauma doesn't work that way.
"What happens now?" Ruri asked. The other tadpoles looked at each other.
"We just keep it together and keep fighting, I guess," Yukio said. No one said a word. Even he wasn't too convinced of his own words.
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Meanwhile, Saori won't give up on Sojiro. He doesn't get her.
"Why are you so interested in me?" he asked in bed. Saori looked up at him.
"Hm?" she asked. Sojiro shook his head. She rested her head on her chest.
"We all need someone to cling to," Saori said. The sand tadpole wrinkled his nose.
"I don't need anyone," he said under his breath. She smiled up at him.
"I don't believe you," she said. Sojiro frowned and rolled his eyes. She was just like the other people in his life. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Saori didn't need to ask why he was like this.
"I'm not going to give up on you," she said. The other tadpole frowned and rolled his eyes.
"Whatever," he muttered. Saori cuddled close to him. Okay, the sex was actually good. He wasn't going to lie about that. He didn't have to worry about his coworkers trying to hook him up with a date. Still, they would be trying to get up in his business. He already had the other tadpoles trying to get him to their group.
"We just want to help you," Saori said.
"Get out of my head," Sojiro said. The locator tadpole laughed.
"I'm not hearing your thoughts," she said. "I can tell by your body language."
"Well, don't," he said. "You're being annoying." The other tadpole smiled to herself. Sojiro was going to need some work. It was raining now. In a way, it felt fitting for an evening like this. They have done this before. She will do this with him again. Not because Yukio asked her to. He doesn't have anything to do with this. No. This was on her own accord.
"I'm not doing this because Yukio sent me here," she spoke up. "I'm doing this for me and you."
"Whatever, I didn't say you were," Sojiro said. "Look, why are you even here? Tell the truth." The locator tadpole looked him in the eye.
"Because I have grown fond of you over these many cycles," she said. "I know that it sounds crazy. But I'm not lying when I say that." The rain had gotten heavier outside. It looked like it was going to be an overnight rain. Maybe she should try to get home. What time did the trains stop again? Ten? Or eleven? If she hurried now, she could still make it.
Saori shook her head to herself. No. She couldn't leave him. It wasn't that he really needed her. Well, he did but he didn't. It was more like she didn't want this night to end. She cuddled up to the sand tadpole's body.
"I'm not going to abandon you," Saori whispered in his chest. "We all aren't. Please just come with us." The sand tadpole turned his head.
"Whatever," he muttered. He wrapped his arm around her body. This would have to do for now. His future lover smiled as she slowly closed her eyes.
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Today, Ruri is doing better. She's talking to the other tadpoles and isn't so nervous anymore. She knows that she isn't alone. They all are trying to help her. Especially Yukio. Ruri's grown close to him. She doesn't know exactly how she feels about him. However, she doesn't act. He only has eyes for Itori. Ruri and Itori do get along.
"You okay?" Yukio asked. The lighting tadpole turned her head.
"Uh-huh," she said. She leaned back on the couch. Celty watched them from across the room. She too noticed the change in Ruri's attention over the past couple of months. Though, she did have concerns about how close she was getting to Yukio. The dullahan was sure that it was nothing. Yukio wouldn't do something stupid like cheat, would he?
Suddenly, her phone rang.
"Celty!" Shinra said on the other line. She wants to tell him about Izaya. Before she got the chance her lover cut in.
"Turn on the TV! Quick!" Shinra said. "Do it!" The dullahan hurried over to the TV and turned it on. Kitano Chisa appeared on the screen at her podium. She had on her usual red and white robes but something seemed off.
"Good morning, my flock!" Chisa began. She began with another sermon. However, that wasn't what had Celty's attention.
"Hey, is that Hijiribe Ruri?" Erina asked. The dullahan took another look at the screen. Her nonexistent jaw dropped.
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Hijiribe Ruri has been reported missing for close to two months now. For a high-profile case, there were no leads. The police were stunned. The only thing had were two women in red and white robes. Her agency and Kasuka put out a huge reward for her safe return. There were so many rumors about her disappearance. Was she murdered? Was she kidnapped? Did she run away with a secret lover? Was she even still alive?
Well, everyone was going to get their answer real soon. The revelation came the same day that Izaya's body was found. This would be so big that it would overshadow that story. And it all started with a TV broadcast.
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