Chapter Three: Angels, Demons, and Bonds.

"Can't find the exit. No matter where I run, I can't find the exit!" A demonic voice was heard within Taisho's mind.
"A being such as myself, caged like a bird. How dare he do this to me!"
Out from the inky darkness in his mind, a stream of purple energy was shot, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
"Fumio! Release me now! I refuse to be sealed like this!" A continuous barrage of beams were fired out as the voice began to sound increasingly infuriated.
A shining light appeared in the center of Taisho's mind. A calm, yet demanding voice spoke from inside of it.
"You were sealed for a reason. You are like a dog on a leash. A puppet on strings.
As you said earlier, you could even be compared to a bird in a cage. When you're released from your imprisonment is up to me.
Don't think you can just leave when you please. You're my dog, my puppet, and my bird. At least for the time being. Now please. Cooperate."
"I belong to no one! Not you, not Fumio, and not anyone else!" The voice echoed throughout his mind.
"Then tell me. Why is it that you are being confined like this? Your fate for now is decided. You will be imprisoned here until you are called upon."
The light then scattered, wrapping around the darkness and holding it in the center of his mind...
I lay there in my bed, my consciousness slowly returning. I rolled around for a few minutes until my eyes finally opened.
"Oh man..." I groaned as I sat up. "Why is it that whenever I wake up, I can barely move?" I continued to mumble to myself as I stood up.
"Time to find Fumio." I said as I took a few steps away from the bed. As I walked through the door, I heard the snap of someone's fingers.
"Looking for something?" Fumio stood in front of me, smiling just as much as ever. However, something was different about him. He had three claw-shaped marks on the right of his face. Where they came from, I didn't know.
"Where'd you come from? And what are those marks on your face?" I asked him.
"I was just strolling around until you woke up. Looks like I showed up at the perfect time. As for my face, you should already know what I'm going to say. All will be explained in due time. Anyway, we have work to do. Come with me." He began to stride towards the elevator.
It seemed like he was always dragging me around somewhere, and whenever he did, something always happened to me.
"Fine. You owe me an explanation for this though." I pointed to the metal plate in the middle of my chest. I followed him until we reached the elevator.
"That plate in your chest is Project Hakumei. It's a limiter system I created to prevent your powers from spiraling out of your control.
Without that plate in your chest, you run the risk of killing yourself." He revealed to me.
"I see... I suppose I should thank you for that." I held my hand to my chin and closed my eyes.
"Killing myself... I never thought that I could end up killing myself. Not once in my entire life. It seems like the life I once had is slowly fading away."
My thoughts were soon interrupted as I heard Fumio's voice.
"Come on already, we have to make a quick trip to the lab." He turned away from me as he said this and stepped inside the elevator.
I followed suit and we took the elevator down to the lab.
Meanwhile, within Taisho's mind, the sphere of light unraveled itself. There were four strands of light that spread out, curving inward. Golden chains jutted out from the four ribbons. Within those shackles was... Taisho. Or at least, what appeared to be him at first glance.
Same hair, same clothes, same everything. Except for his eyes. Those glowing red eyes that tear your soul apart. The eyes that you'd see in your nightmares.
The same voice from before was heard again. Controlled, yet forceful.
"How strange. You've stopped resisting. Have you finally come to understand that you are not to be released unless summoned?"
The man in the center said nothing. He made no form of movement whatsoever, as if he had gone into hibernation.
"I never thought I'd end up like this. Not again. Confined to yet another body." He thought to himself, still appearing to be frozen in place.
"So you've finally accepted it then. Excellent. Thanks to you, my mission is now all the easier." The voice sounded content, satisfied.
"I guess I truly am accursed..." The man concluded as the chains tightened around his limbs...
Concurrently, in Arcadia, Taisho and Fumio had arrived at the lab.
"Do you know why we've come back to this room?" Fumio inquired, looking at the examination table.
"If I knew, I would have told you already." I retorted.
"You have a point there, I'll give you that much. Regardless of that fact, the reason why we've returned here is because of this." He tapped the plate in my chest as he said this. "We're going to test you out. Now that this inhibitor has been implanted inside of you, your body will be able to handle the power you possess. You shouldn't have to worry about bringing about your own death anymore." Fumio explained to me.
"Shouldn't have to worry? Don't you mean won't have to worry?" Ironically, I was solicitous as I said those words.
"Hehe, you get apprehensive easily don't you?" He chuckled at me, giving off that smile of his.
"Wha-whatever!" I barked, stuttering slightly.
Fumio looked at me with, for the first time, a pair of reassuring eyes. It was like he could see what was really going on inside of me, what I was really feeling. He saw those feelings, and he understood them.
"Look, you don't have to put up a brave front Taisho. All you're doing is putting up a wall to hide what you're truly feeling. Don't bother trying that. It's not going to get you anywhere. If it did, don't you think every human would hide their feelings?"
"Whatever. Let's just get these tests over with." I still wore a melancholy look on my face as I laid myself down on the table.
"I try to make a guy feel better, and this is what happens." Fumio thought as he strapped me to the table. "This isn't going to hurt a bit."
Fumio placed his hand over the plate in my chest and it began to glow yellow and purple. Strands of golden and purple energy flowed out into his hand.
"There. I told you it wouldn't hurt."
I laid there with a plain look on my face, the plate still radiating energy. Fumio then moved over to the incubator from before held out his hand. Just like before, the energy flowed out of his hand in ribbons of gold and purple and made it's way to the small containment chamber. The sphere that formed from the threads was different than the last. As they wrapped around each other several times, both sides of the sphere were exactly opposite. Light on the left and dark on the right.
"Well I have good news for you. Your energy levels are perfectly balanced. Neither side of you has more power than the other." He told me with a smile on his face.
"So I take it that this means I won't have to worry about dying right?" I replied, bringing up what he said earlier.
"Right. Unless you're killed that is." He joked, laughing under his breath.
"Well great, that makes me feel so much better." I retorted with a sarcastic tone of voice.
"Glad it does."
"Hm..." I closed my eyes and turned my head away from him.
Fumio then unstrapped me from the table. I stood up and turned to him, sticking my hands into my jacket pockets. He extracted the energy from the incubator into his hand. Going through the process in reverse, he placed his hand on the plate in my chest and transferred it back to me. I held my left hand to the plate and I felt a burning sensation on my hand.
"Burns doesn't it?" Fumio looked at me. "That's to be expected. After all, you're basically a human sized cauldron overflowing with power. It may sound like it, but this isn't really a bad thing."
"I know what you mean, but. I just don't understand how all of this happened so fast." I looked down at the floor and took my hand off the plate.
"Darkness. Death. The supposed end of everything. That describes what we're going through right now. Don't you think?" Fumio questioned as he turned away from me and began to walk out of the lab.
"I guess." I responded, a somber tone in my voice. I followed him through the door into the hallway. He continued walking towards the elevator. Fumio turned to me once again.
"There is only one option we have at this point in time. Our only plan of action." The door to the elevator shot open and the white hooded man stepped inside. Instinctively, I followed behind him and the doors closed behind us.
"That option is to fight." Fumio declared. The elevator's movement was synchronized with his speech.
The both of us stood side by side in complete silence. No thoughts went through either of our heads. It was as if we were husks, left behind to stand motionless forever. This went on for until we reached the bottom level of Arcadia. Finally, Fumio broke the silence.
"That's all we can do. Attempting to reason with Amida would only lead to your own destruction."
I acknowledged his words and stepped out of the elevator with him. Once we got to the end of the bridge , I noticed cracks scattered about the dais. They weren't very deep and they had about the width of a person's hand turned on it's side.
"What are these?" I asked Fumio, pointing to them.
"Those? Those are the visible aftermath of your transformation from earlier." He answered.
"Transformation? What are you talking about?"
His response left me puzzled. What did he mean by transformation?
"Oh that's right, you wouldn't remember what happened. It wasn't you who actually did anything after all."
"Wasn't me? What do you mean wasn't me?"
"Exactly as I said. It wasn't you. You see, within you lies a power that most people can't fathom. You showed me that power yourself." He explained as he pointed to the marks on his face.
My eyes widened slightly and my eyes shifted over to the claw marks.
"I...did that?" I questioned.
"Yes, did I not make it clear enough for you?"
It was moments like these that really made me want to shut him up for a few hours.
"Smart aleck..." I thought to myself.
Fumio placed his hand back at his side and began to speak again.
"Let me refresh your memory. I fought against the force that lives inside of you not very long ago. It showed itself as a chaotic black and blue aura around your body. I'm not sure who or what it was that took control over you, but it gave me a minor challenge. That I'll admit. Close to the end of the fight, I began to worry. Your body looked unstable, as if it would literally combust right before my eyes. I wasn't left with any other choice, so I shut down all of your organ systems. All except for your circulatory system. I wouldn't want to kill you now would I?"
I stood in front of him in complete silence. His explanation had me both terrified and interested. From what he said, I became.... a demon? No. That couldn't be. Could it?
"I drew a portion of your energy into my body, hurled your body over my shoulder, and carried you to the laboratory. I transferred the energy into the containment unit, just like before, and converted it into light. I bet you feel like you missed a lot right?" He inquired with a small smile on his face.
"I suppose, but. I believe I remember part of this? I said, unsure of myself. "I'm really not sure what it is, but I remember. The burning feeling, fighting against you. Everything else is just a blur..."
"I see. I guess you weren't fully possessed at that point. It's strange how possession works really. If the host's body isn't fully taken over, then both the host and the spirit inside them will retain memories of anything that happened."
Fumio replied, trying to clear things up for me.
"Rewinding back to the recap, after the conversion process was over, I put the plate in your chest and gave you back your energy. It was then that you woke up. You should remember the rest."
The blanks in my actual memory were now filled, and I felt... strange. As if I was no longer myself. Taisho Watanabe. I had a sense of understanding, but also a sense of confusion. I stood, my eyes locked with Fumio's. Finally, after what seemed like hours, I shook my head to show him I understood.
He walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
"Taisho. You and I both know that I could say one sentence. One sentence that would sum this up entirely. I would rather not say it again. I don't want to feel like the broken record that you most likely feel like I am. I'm not exactly good at comforting people, but I'll tell you this much. The both of us are in this together. In times like this, the human race needs to come together and defend itself as a unit. Even though my own life is on the line, I'm actually more concerned about you at the moment. Everything I've given you was to help you. Despite all the pain I put you through in only a matter of a few days, it's worth will be shown soon. After all, we're in the middle of a full blown massacre. So now, I need to ask you this. Are you ready?"
I looked down at the floor, then back at him.
My family, my former life, my friends. All of these things have disappeared. Originally, I thought I had nothing left. Now, a man I had never met before in my life is willing to protect me. Willing to fight with me. I don't consider him my family. No one will ever truly replace them. However, despite not having met him previously, I'm not in any sort of position to reject any of this. Especially since my body will never truly become what it was before, and I can't fix what has already happened. I closed my eyes, thought for several seconds, then opened them quickly. I had made my decision.
"I'm ready. I know that I can't run away from this. I know that I can do something about what's going on. I know that I'm not alone. So now I'll say it again. I'm ready." I proclaimed with confidence.
Fumio gave me his trademark smile and took his hand off my shoulder.
"Then it's settled! Hehe. Sadly, we can't take action just yet. You have the motivation, strength, and confidence to fight. However, you don't have true control over the spirit inside you yet. Don't worry about it though. You'll gain control through experience. I'm going to give you just that." He said, reassuring me.
"Thank you. I appreciate this." I responded.
Fumio turned away from me and tilted his head back at me. "You're welcome. Just don't think  much of this. It's not that I don't normally do things like this. It's that in times where death is extremely frequent, you shouldn't get too attached to people and the things they've done for you. This isn't to say that you shouldn't care, but you shouldn't treat them as if you could never live without them. Just giving you a fair warning."
"I understand." I avowed.
In truth, I was somewhat afraid of his words. Knowing that the people around you could die at any moment. It gave me a chill, but I knew what I was getting into. Otherwise, I wouldn't have replied to his earlier question with such power in my voice. I looked back at the breaks in the dais.
"......"
Only the sound of flowing water echoed throughout the room.
Meanwhile, flames were spreading across the city. Shards of glass from buildings were scattered about the streets and hundreds of blood stained bodies were tossed around like trash. A group of soldiers in black, bloodied armor holding spears, blades, and guns stood stoically in the flames. The pungent smell of smoke filled the air. From out of the wildfire, a straight haired, brunet man appeared near the soldiers. As he left the fire, a thin field of energy could be seen around him. It faded away only a few seconds later. He looked as if he was in his early twenties. He had green eyes and a light skin tone. He wore a pair of black, fingerless gloves and his clothing was rather casual. He wore a red shirt and white pants with a gun holster. The holster contained two black and red guns. He appeared as stoic as the soldiers were. He spoke with a calm tone of voice.
"A simple mission. It's kind of disappointing really. Oh well, not like they'll miss living anyway. If they truly wanted to live, then they should have at least tried to fight back. It's either kill or be killed. However, there's something that I can't shake. The feeling that there are still survivors, targets I've missed." He said, cracking a sinister smile. "I guess there's only one way to find out. Right Vulcan?..."
The crackling of the surrounding fire grew louder and in an instant, the man could no longer be seen. All that remained was a burning city, teeming with the deceased.