Work Text:
Reze didn’t know why she did it. It went against every bit of her training, her conditioning, everything she ever knew. This was her one chance to get away, and lingering in the city was nothing but the most heinous of risks. But it was like her feet moved on their own, they refused to walk her onto the train, instead turning and going in the opposite direction, taking her to the familiar route to Crossroads.
Surely Denji wouldn’t be there. She couldn’t actually be that stupid.
(Except she could. Denji had proven time and time again that she was exactly that stupid. If it was for love, or infatuation, or a crush, or whatever the hell it was Denji thought she felt, she would be that stupid. She’d come crawling back—fighting back. She’d proven it during their argument standing on the roofs of moving cars, she’d proven it by sinking to the bottom of the ocean with her, she’d proven it by reviving her on that beach and promising to meet her at the cafe in the first place).
Reze wanted to understand it. Perhaps that desire was what drove her more than anything. She couldn’t say for sure whether she loved Denji. Honestly, Reze wasn’t sure she could identify love at all. But she felt… She felt something for the other girl, something she had never felt before, and she wanted to know what those feelings were. She had to know what those feelings were, and the only way she would ever find out would be to spend more time with Denji. She had to get back to Denji.
So she went, her steps speeding up until she was running—sprinting! She could just barely catch a glimpse of Denji’s messy blond hair through the window—
A mouse ran up alongside her foot. Another one joined it. And another and another and another. A whole hoard of mice filled up the ground of the alleyway, congregating in front of her and cutting her off from the entrance.
No…
No, not when she was so close!
He hand shot to her pin, ready to pull it at a second’s notice.
“Me too,” an eerie voice said as the mice piled onto each other grotesquely, contorting their bodies into a humanoid shape. They then began to fall away, revealing a perfectly poised young woman. She held her hand out, letting one of the mice run up along her arm and perch on her hand as she brought it closer to her face to inspect. “I like the country mouse, too.”
Reze took a careful step backwards, her fingers tightening on her pin.
“My friend has this farm out in the country,” Makima continued. “Every fall, I go visit and give them a little help with their work. Rats hide in the soil in the fields. They’ll damage the crops, so before the ground is covered in snow, you have to exterminate them. You do it by digging into the soil and having dogs catch and kill them.” She lowered her arm, bending ever so slightly to allow the mouse to hop to the ground. “But I find watching that to be very calming, and I couldn’t tell you why.”
Getting the sickening sense she knew where this was going, Reze moved to pull her pin, when a blinding, searing pain shot through her arm as the limb was severed faster than she could realize what was going on.
Shit, there was another person here. Above! How did she not sense them? Not notice them?
She yanked a knife from her wrist band with her remaining hand, prepared to lunge for Makima.
“That’s why I like the country mouse.”
Sickening woman. How and why Denji was convinced she was in love with her, Reze would never understand. As if Makima would ever give a girl like her the time of day. Clearly there was something else going on.
She could protect her. Reze could save Denji from Makima. They just had to run together. They could do it; she knew they could. All Reze had to do was survive this encounter and get to Denji and they would be okay!
She lunged towards Makima, moving as quickly as she possibly could with her injury, when another spear shot down from the heavens, shoving its way clean through her chest. She gasped in pain, falling to her knees.
No, no…! She couldn’t give up! She couldn’t! Not when Denji was right there!
With shaking fingers, she reached for her pin. If she could just pull it. If she could just—
A gentle hand caught hers, and Reze couldn’t stop herself from slumping against Makima. The other woman softly guided Reze’s hand away from her neck and pin.
No… Denji… Should she call out? Would Denji hear her? Except, no, she couldn’t do that to Denji, couldn’t risk her like that. If Denji tried to interfere, what would Makima do to her?
There was the other harrowing thought of Denji not helping her at all. Even if she’d offered to run away with her, to help her escape, and come to the cafe fully intending to meet with her, it might be another thing entirely for her to be face to face with Makima while she had to make those decisions. Denji could be such a simple-minded girl… Reze couldn’t put her in that position, couldn’t risk either one of them like that. Couldn’t risk Denji’s safety, and couldn’t risk her own hope.
She didn’t stop Makima from pulling her hand away from her pin.
Really… why didn’t I kill you the first time we met? Reze found herself wondering. Even now, even after risking everything to come back for her, she didn’t think she could answer that question. Denji. Truth is… I’ve never gone to school either.
Perhaps she had enjoyed playing the part of a regular schoolgirl with a crush just as much as Denji had enjoyed falling for the act.
Or maybe that wasn’t fair to either one of them.
Maybe… they’d just wanted and needed someone.
Makima let Reze fall to the ground. Lying on her back, she could feel her own hot blood pooling around her. More and more and more of it flooding out of her as the spear was pulled from her chest.
Denji…
Even if it was just for a few moments, having another girl to smile and laugh and have fun with, pretend to be normal with…
Her vision went blurry at the edges, and she found herself desperately looking around Makima’s legs to catch one last glimpse of Denji, of that messy blond hair, and maybe… maybe she would turn around. Maybe.
The world darkened, and one last breath shuddered out of Reze.
Denji… I’m sorry…