* FoUrTeEn * Restart

Mission Failed. Would you like to restart from your last checkpoint? Too bad, this is life. No checkpoints. Again, this is in Koki's point of view.

Rio . . . my father. I have finally noticed how much I actually despise him. I was so blind with doing "good" for him that I never really noticed how strict and abusive he was. Now I remember very well how he'd always hit me when I did one little thing wrong. He will pay, but not by my hands or weapon.
Here he was. He was waiting for Dan to come with us. I wonder what he plans to do with us.
"Ah, Dan, you brought them. Joyful," muttered Rio with his usual calm exposure.
"It was quite difficult, they were arguing just a bit," chuckled Dan.
I glared at Dan. Got to make this believable.
"I heard. They must have made a few attempts to escape?"
"Of course."
Rio closed his book on his lap and placed it on the desk slowly. "My son, are you acting along with this girl or actually friends with her?" Rio asked me.
I scoffed, "Don't go trying to convince me to join back with you! You abused me!"
Taryn looked at me with shock. Oh yeah, I never told her that.
He stood up and took a step closer. "You had to learn your lesson. Apparently, I didn't teach you right."
"You're crazy! I bet you killed Mom!"
He rushed to where Taryn and I were standing and glared at me. Quickly he reached his arm toward us, and I thought he was going to punch me or something. So I shut my eyes ready for the blow . . . but I didn't feel anything. I heard a startled yelp and looked over to see him grabbing Taryn and pulling her toward the desk. I went completely wide-eyed. This ruins the plan. I looked at Dan, and he was shocked, too.
"What are you doing!? Leave her alone!" I shouted angrily.
"You think I killed your mother, do you?" Rio asked, untying Taryn's rope and clamping her arms to the desk.
Once he finished, he pressed a button on a pad on the wall. The wall, which was filled with paintings, revolved to reveal a tank filled with bubbling water. Inside that tank was a woman . . . it was my mother. She was wearing a normal white tank-top with jean shorts. And on her skin there were thin scars on each arm and leg, they went the length of each section of her arms and legs. I was completely enraged.
"What did you do to her?!"
"She asked me to, her bones were getting weak."
"You probably forced her!" I shouted.
"I did not." Rio pressed another button that drained the tank, waking her up. She looked around at us and waited for the tank to open. Once it opened, she walked out, dripping. She walked to Rio, reaching for him, and almost fell, but he caught her.
"Who is here?" she asked with a raspy voice.
"One of my apprentices, one of our sons, and his friend."
"'Friend'?" she questioned, looking to me.
"Over there, Dear." Rio looked over to Taryn.
I watched as she looked over to Taryn and instantly scowled. Taryn looked confused in the situation.
"This is his friend? Who is she?" she demanded.
"Taryn Mitchell," stated Rio.
"He is just pretending to be her friend, right? That's what we told him to do."
"Not anymore. He is admitting to actually being her friend. He is not acting." Rio glared at me.
"Seems our sons have both betrayed us in joining with this girl."
They both looked over at Taryn, who was completely lost. Then the thought struck me: "What if they plan to kill her?" I quickly started to untie my loose rope as fast as I could.
"What should we do with her?" my mother asked Rio. "Should we weaken her?"
"That's what I was planning to do," Rio replied.
After I got free, I glanced over at Dan with our weapons. He was in an immovable state. So I snatched my gun and knife from him quickly. I ran up to where my parents were and aimed my gun toward them. "Leave her alone, now!"
They turned around and stared at me calmly.
"You really think you could kill us?" Rio asked with a small smirk.
I hesitated, and he saw it. Quickly, my mother came face to face with me and grabbed my gun. I tried to pull away, but she pulled me forward.
"It's okay, Koki. Now watch what happens when you disobey your parents."
She grabbed my gun and threw it then grabbed my arms and held them together behind my back.
I looked up to see Taryn tense with fear as Rio went closer to her. I kept trying to pull free, but my mother was too strong. I thought she was dead all this time. And now to see her like this: completely psycho and insane. This is unbelievable!
We heard a clank behind us. I looked back to see that Dan dropped Taryn's weapons and ran through the closed door.
"Now what should we do, June?" Rio asked, once he reached Taryn.
"Try and get some answers from her," June said with disturbing glee.
What is wrong with my parents? Have they been too power-hungry all this time and I never noticed? They plan to torture her now?! I can't do anything!" I shut my eyes in anger. But June grabbed my head and made me open my eyes. I watched as my father gripped at Taryn's right arm, while she resisted as much as she could. He forced it onto the desk and grabbed his knife from his pocket.

No.

He lifted it to Taryn's face and let her look at it. She was panicking, I could tell.

No!

He then placed the tip of the knife on her wrist carefully. Then he quickly sliced down her arm, while she cried in pain. Her scream rang in my ears.

NO!

Quickly I grabbed my knife and slashed at my mother's arm to weaken her enough to let me go. I darted to my father and grabbed his hand with the knife in it, pulling it away from Taryn. I squeezed it out of his grasp and threw it across the room. Out of nowhere, he grabbed my throat and ran over to the opposite wall, shoving my back to it. I couldn't breathe. He wasn't loosening or anything. Everything was going blurry . . . then dark. When I was almost completely passed out, I heard a door slam open and Taryn shouting, "Koki!!"


. . . then everything was pitch black . . .


In maybe a minute, I felt someone grabbing my shirt and tugging on it. I lifted my head off the cold floor to see Taryn lying on the ground slightly away from me. She was pulling my shirt with her bloodied right hand.
"Taryn, are you okay? How did you get free?" I asked in shock.
She looked up, and I saw her other hand gripping her throat, which was bleeding.
I gaped at it, reaching to her. "Tar-"
"Quiet down! I'm fine, it's just a slight slash. It's not deep enough to reach my throat. Now get up and help them!" She pushed me with weakened strength.
I gazed in front of me to see Kei, Steve, and Dan in the room. Everything was insane! Kei and Dan were facing June, while Steve was against Rio. Quickly, I pulled Taryn and set her against the wall then grabbed my gun which was beside her. I ran over to Rio and Steve's face-off. Quickly I grabbed Rio from behind and pulled him back. He grunted and tried to look at me. Right then, Steve took his dagger, thrust it into Rio's side, and automatically pulled it out. I let go of Rio, making him fall to his knees. I glanced up at Steve with his angered expression. Suddenly his face went to surprise. Then I noticed my mother behind him. I gasped and ran to Steve and caught him before he fell. My mother was smirking strangely. But then her face went to shock. She looked down to see a dagger through her heart and died instantly. Her body fell limp to the ground and revealed Dan behind her. Dan looked down at Steve, went to his knees, and grabbed his brother into his arms.
"Steve?" Dan whispered.
"I'm still here . . . for now," Steve muttered, gasping for air. His wound was in his chest not too deep but deep enough to pierce a lung just a bit.
"Where's Shylo when we need her?!" I shouted.
"Guys! He's getting away!" Taryn shouted from behind.
I looked behind me to see Rio walking toward the door. Kei with his unnatural speed ran in front of him to stop him, but Rio shoved him into the wall hard. Kei's new and weak body instantly reacted to the pain. I took my gun and fired at Rio, but the sliding doors shut before my shot could reach him. I slammed my gun to the floor in anger.
"Okay, Steve, we'll have Kei lift you outside," I said, retreating to a calm demeanor.
Kei came over stretching his left arm over his head. "Yeah, I can do that." Kei lifted Steve's small frame easily and headed to the exit with Dan.
Remembering where I left Taryn, I saw her passed out over a small puddle of blood under her right arm and blood soaking her shirt from her throat. I crouched beside her and asked, "Taryn, are you awake?"
"Yeah," she muttered, keeping her eyes closed.
"I need you to focus. I want you to lift your right arm for me."
She opened her eyes lazily, "I can do that." She lifted the arm slowly but to where I could see the full amount of damage.
"Great." I pulled off my tank-top and ripped off the clean parts into strips. Then I wrapped her right arm with the longest strips. Next was her neck. "Lift your hair," I ordered calmly.
She listened and replied by doing so slowly.
I wrapped the last two pieces around her neck. "I'm guessing you're too tired to do anything else?" I asked, rolling my eyes because it was obvious.
She blinked slowly then tried to push herself off the floor but failed easily with a grimace of pain.
"Mhm." I picked her up carefully and carried her out to the rest of them.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think, please!!!