บท 18: A Perfect World
"Wake up kid," A faint voice lingers in the air. "Hey!" The voice spoke louder and harsher. "I said wake up!" A splash of water wakes Arima out of his daze.
"Goodmorning sunshine." Denji greets Arima as he holds a bucket of water. His greasy brown hair now in a mess as he wears a giant bandage across his chest and a puffy brown jacket. He winks at Arima as Arius is sat on a stool to the right of him.
"Where... am I?" Arima speaks softly, his cracked lips soaking up all of the water thrown onto his face. The room was damp and smelt of centuries-old mold. The corners were filled with a dark musty substance and the only thing resembling an exit was a giant metal vault-door.
Arima stuck his tongue out as he lacked even the saliva to coat it, instinctively licking the sides of his lips to hydrate his mouth.
"Don't even border trying to escape, you're under Primordial Selection." Arius speaks through her teeth as she takes a puff out of a cigarette in her mouth. She wore a bandage around her neck, probably due to the strangling she received from Arima. Arima looks at his hands and he's chained in as he feels two sharp dog-like bites on his wrists. Even though he was already constrained, he couldn't even move his arms to wrestle about even if he wanted to.
"Must've been a tough day for you, kid," Denji yawns through his mask as he lays down, taking off the gloves on his hands as he squats down onto the floor to face Arima up close. As he takes the gloves off, he reveals his scarred and damage hands. "First you're enjoying a vacation, then you're caught up in a fight you didn't even want to start, then you start to experience things you didn't even know you were capable of." Denji looks down and inspects his hands, rubbing his palm with his disfigured fingers.
"What happened...?" Arima asked, in a slight daze, as he's still adjusting to his environment.
"A lot happened," Denji grabbed Arima's face with his disfigured hands and pulled him upwards to look at him. "But its easier to let him explain."
Denji stood up as the metal wheel behind him starts to twirl open.
A gust of wind flows into the room as an uncanny, almost sinister, presence enters the room.
Arima looks up and sees the slight silhouette of a man, dressed in a hoodie with long black pants and sneakers.
"Arima," He spoke with a raspy voice. "It's nice to finally meet you."
Without even glancing upwards, he could feel the atmosphere in the room turn stale. Whoever was speaking wasn't human, nor a hybrid or even a chimera. It was something far beyond sanity. Arima kept his head low and away from the man.
"My name is Solitaire," Denji moves out of the way and allows him to walk into Arima's view. "But you can call me Sol." He bends down and looks at the chained up Arima.
"Sol." Arima looks at his shoes and the puddle of water surrounding them. From the bright white light hanging above his head, he could make out a face in the reflection of the water. His face was heavily disfigured and brutally scarred. His bony hands were slender and sleek, barely filling his sleeve.
"I'll cut to the chase Arima," He pauses for a moment, thinking about what to say. "Your very existence is a threat to mine. With Xolotl gone, I can create a society where Chimeras and Humans can live together in harmony. A perfect world."
"You're going to kill me?" Arima says. "If you were going to then I wouldn't be awake here." He scoffs.
"Very funny," Sol said sarcastically as he puts his hand on Arima's chest. "Do you still think this is funny?" Within a instant between Sol placing his hand on his chest and their bodies connecting, every single nerve within Arima's body ruptures and explodes.
His entire body convulses internally as his organs rupture. His bone tie into knots and his muscles turn to liquid. However, the immediate moment he releases his finger from Arima's chest, Arima completely drops moving. All of his contorting bones and muscles immediately return to normal.
"Plaugh!" Arima spits out blood like a waterfall from his mouth, sweat dripping from his forehead. Denji physically revolts from the blood and steps backwards.
He points at his heart. "That extraordinary ability to regenerate at such a rapid rate, something akin to that of Xolotl's."
Arima's body convulses at the mention of the name Xolotl. It was as if the very DNA in his body is attracted to that name.
"As we're speaking right now, an entire country is currently looking for you," Sol says calmly. "There are exactly 417 B class and above Poachers searching the Miyagi area for any signs of life remaining after that battle, and you're the Organisation's top priority."
Arima swallows his own spit, atleast what he had left in his mouth. "Joorie, Sasorie... Urahara," He finally looks up directly at Sol. Their eyes meet as Arima feels a tingle down his spine. It felt as though he was staring down death itself. "Are they... okay?"
"It's been 13 hours since the incident, apparently its being called the Miyagi Train Incident by the media, but I digress," Sol smirks. "As far as I know, your little friend Urahara is missing, wiped off the face of the earth. On his own accord or not, that I'm not sure of."
"Your two other friends aren't in the best of shape either." Denji added.
"Urahara... dissapeared?" Arima looks up at Arius and Denji, darting between the two of them.
"Well, not yet," Sol shrugs his shoulders. "Harbouring a chimera is one thing, harbouring a chimera that could incapacitate the Phoenix Hybrid? That's some sentence he'll receive."
Arima grits his teeth as he lunges forward, striking Sol's head with his own forehead. The immediate moment their heads make contact, Arima's head pops like a balloon. Sol falls on his back and lands on the water, clutching his head. "Hey!" Denji summons a swarm of mosquitos to slam his neck against the wall as Arius strengthens her clasp on him.
Arima's head regrows as Sol remains on the wet floor, his hoodie soaking up all of the water. "Tsk!" He wipes his forehead off with his veiny hands. "And to think I could reason with a monkey like you." Sol stands up and looks down to Arima.
Arima looks back up, fueled with hatred as he stares intently back into his eyes.
"Denji, you'll receive your pay tomorrow." Sol turns around and heads for the door.
"The agreed upon sum?" He turns to Sol.
"Yeah. The agreed upon sum."
"Hey, what about my cut?" Arius questions Sol.
"Your cut?" Sol turns and looks to Arius. "You don't deserve anything."
"The fuck does that mean?" She raises an eyebrow. "Hey, I did the same amount of work as Denji, if not more. I was the one who lugged this shithead here into the woods." She points at Arima.
Sol glances back at Arima and nods his head. "You're right," He looks back to Arius. "You deserve your pay." Sol raised his hand and grabs Arius' throat. "Hybridise." He whispers as the veins in his arms pop, supplying a steady stream towards his hand. His finger nails extend as it digs deep into her neck, ripping through her flesh as blood drips from beneath his fingernail, supplying itself into her neck.
Arius howls in pain as her eyes roll backwards, the veins in her neck popping as her entire body starts to convulse. Her arm twitches and snaps into uncanny positions. Her entire body is mutilated, just like how that one man was in the street. However, just as it seemed like her body was about to implode, her body twisted back to normal and the fingernails retracted.
Arius falls to the ground as her limp body lays on the floor.
"Hey... what did you do?" Denji swallows his own spit, him too, afraid of what Sol was capable of. Arima had no choice but to look at Arius' motionless body on the floor.
"She's got a resilient body." Sol states. "I just gave her the pay she wanted." Without further clarification, Sol walks out of the room.
Denji glances at Arima and picks up Arius, her clothes wet from the water on the floor. "Goodnight kid." He throws her over his shoulder as he walks out of the room, closing the giant metal door behind him.
The contraption locks itself into place as Arima is left to bask in the liquids on the ground. His cold metal shackles weighing heavy on his weak arms.
Arima looks down at the water and sees the reflection of himself. Only as a ripple forms in the water, his image is replaced with a mirage of the Xolotl's.
"Let's make a deal."
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