Chapter Text
A boy holding out a flower, smiling as he did.
Throughout her cursed existence, the woman had witnessed a plethora of ungodly sights, a mere fraction of which would be enough to scar most people for life. Most sane people, that was. Though she remained rational, she was conscious enough to acknowledge that she had departed with what little remained of her sanity long ago. After all, one couldn't hope to survive in her world without a few screws loose.
So, why?
Why, of all the horrors she had witnessed, the image that bewildered her the most was as mundane as a boy holding a flower?
The young woman shook her head, trying her very best to erase such dangerous images from her memory. Her mission had been a partial success. While her target was still breathing, word of the Chainsaw Devil living in Japan, and by extension operating under Control's leash, would soon spread far and wide. Like a wildfire, or a virus. There was nothing left for her in Tokyo but death.
Approaching the station, an old lady offered her a pretty pink flower, as if fate itself was dancing to the beat of temptation.
By all means, she should have just walked away. But how could she possibly refuse? After all, it was the same pink flower he had gifted her.
His very essence was in that flower. Dragging her away from her horrible mission and inside the most beautiful coffin for two.
The train would arrive at any minute. She would travel to Yamagata as instructed. She would report to her superiors. And afterward, she would be sent on a new mission, destined to repeat a never-ending cycle of death and destruction.
Her feet were anchored to the ground, unable to move. Her grip on the flower tightened, and her breathing became unusually erratic.
She was painfully aware of her one true option. To get on that train, to run as far away as possible from Japan, never to return for the remainder of her years. Yet that persistent little voice kept torturing her.
'Run away with him.'
Was it the flower speaking? Or was her mind playing some sort of sick prank on her? In her short life she had never had a more ridiculous idea, one doomed to fail from the very start. Granted, the odds of her survival would increase with him by her side. But even so, he was inexperienced, brash, sloppy... Pure.
They could run away from the Soviets, and Public Safety, and maybe even all the assassins that would soon inevitably swarm them for his heart, much like herself. But running away from her?
That was impossible. The moment her claws landed on him, their fates had been sealed. If they were to run away, they would be dead within days.
Days they would spend together.
'The 11:08 Tsubasa Shinkansen bound for Yamagata will depart momentarily.'
The train had arrived. It was time for that hopeless little daydream of hers to come to a bitter end.
"Days..." She muttered to herself, her legs refusing to move still. "We'd have days..."
The train appeared more and more distant by the second. He was waiting for her. He was brave, willing to sacrifice a lifetime of pain for a few days of bliss.
Was she?
The doors were closing, and her life was fading away. She should have boarded that train when she had the chance. She shouldn't have turned around and headed for that cursed coffee shop. She shouldn't have run back to him, only to drag him to the grave with her.
But she did.
Placing the flower carefully in her pocket, she took her hat off and threw it in the air, letting her dark purple hair bathe in the morning sunlight, and set course for the coffee shop. She was done lying to herself, done pretending she owed anything to those who molded her into a weapon of death and destruction.
Her days were numbered, that much was certain. But she would spend them with him. Another weapon, like her. The only one who could ever understand her. The only one who was willing to pretend she was only human, and treat her as such.
He would not die on the leash of some witch. She would teach him everything she knew in the few days they had left, just like she promised she would.
They had lived as dogs their whole lives. At least they would die as humans.
She ran across town, her legs seemingly moving on their own accord. Each step she took brought her closer to him until her emerald green eyes finally spotted that distinct blonde mob of hair, sitting by the window of the shop, waiting for her. Just like he had promised.
She smiled, touched that he was willing to risk everything for her, even after all the pain she had put him through. Nothing was separating the two from their escape.
Except for rats.
The girl froze just as she was about to cross the street and enter the shop, appalled by the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of sewer rats appearing in front of her in the form of one abominable mass, blocking her route and sending cold chills down her spine.
Petrified, the woman instinctively reached for her pin in self-defense. Her initial assumption was that she must have been spotted by a devil hunter, possibly someone who had a contract with the Rat Devil, or something similar. Or perhaps she had been unlucky enough to stumble upon the Rat Devil itself.
When the gears started turning, however, a third possibility sprang to mind, one that struck fear deep within her inhuman heart
Before she had time to consider her next move, the mass of rodents formed what resembled a human mouth. The third possibility had been confirmed, much to her disbelief.
"Me too."
The voice undoubtedly belonged to a woman, or perhaps a being masquerading as a woman. It was a feminine yet commanding voice, one that the petrified girl feared could only belong to a certain someone she had hoped she would never meet face to face.
The disgusting pile of rodents collapsed on itself, revealing a red haired woman behind it. She stood slightly taller than her, wearing a standard devil hunter uniform, her mesmerizing yellow eyes with blood red rings inside them glowing in the shadows of the filthy alleyway.
It was no woman at all.
"I like the country mouse too."
The Control Devil had arrived in the flesh, paralyzing the young woman with fear the likes of which she had never thought possible. Save for some miracle, she was staring at her death. Her permanent death. The few days she had dreamt of spending with the boy she loved would remain but an elusive dream, gone before they ever had the chance to exist in the first place.
The malevolent entity held one of the rats disturbingly close to her deceivingly angelic face, her eyes following the girl's every move.
"My friend has this farm in the country," she explained, careful not to give away even the slightest hint of concern in her voice. "Every fall, I visit and give them a little help with their work."
Her fingers were trembling, glued to her trusty pin at all times. She was going to let Control finish whatever bullshit speech she wanted to get off her chest, swiftly transform into her Bomb Devil form and fight her with all her might. A doomed plan, but a plan nonetheless.
"Rats hide in the soil in the fields. They'll damage the crops…"
She wept silently, not for her own life but for the life of the one waiting for her in the distance. What vile plans could that wicked bitch have in store for his poor soul?
"So before the ground is covered in snow, you have to exterminate them."
The word 'exterminate' was a clear indication of what was to come. She tried to look at his hair, just one last time, but there was no avoiding the devil's piercing gaze.
"You do it by digging into the soil and having dogs catch and kill them."
The dog metaphor did not elude the girl, but there was no time to dwell on Control's words, no time for regrets. Her survival was at stake. She would only get one shot to make it out of that alley alive, and she had to time it perfectly.
"And I couldn't tell you why…"
Control's sinister smile broadened. The Bomb Hybrid narrowed her eyes, ready to pull the pin.
"But I find watching that to be very calming."
Before she even knew it, Bomb's right arm was blown into pieces, causing excruciating pain, but nothing the woman hadn't endured before. There was no choice but to ignore the agonizing sensation, as well as the pool of blood that had formed beneath where her arm once was. In a desperate attempt to cling to life, she pulled out her knife with her remaining hand and charged forward.
With incredible speed the Bomb was able to slice her opponent just below the chest, landing behind her. The wound was far from enough to make Control flinch, however, and before the hybrid had time to launch her next attack, the devil shaped her fingers into a gun and pointed them toward her.
*bang*
In an instant, the purple haired woman was lying on the ground, a massive hole occupying the space where her abdomen once was, her guts spilling out on her shoes as she unceremoniously collapsed face-first on the concrete.
In a last-ditch effort to survive, she tried to pull her pin with her remaining hand, only for it to be quickly reduced to pieces with a loud bang. With both upper limbs and her entire abdominal cavity destroyed, the woman finally accepted the inevitable conclusion of their duel.
As her senses were fading away, Reze felt her corpse being taken into the arms of her murderer.
It was stupid. This whole thing was stupid. She should have known it could have only ever ended that way.
'Really… why didn't I kill you the first time we met?'
Makima held on to what remained of Reze, staring into her soul.
"I was planning on using you a long time from now. But seeing how… Attached my puppy has become to you, you might just prove more useful than I thought."
Blood was dripping out of Reze's nose and mouth as she struggled to decipher Makima's cryptic words. She didn't know what that bitch had in store for her, or him, and quite frankly she hoped she would succumb to her injuries before she could find out.
"But, I am going to need you to forget everything you know about me."
She only wished she could be with Denji again. Even for one day.
One day that got away.
"That is an order."