2025-07-17: Trouble Ahead
- Cutscene: Trouble Ahead
- Cast:Umie Akabane
- Where: Umie's Apartment
- OOC Date: July 17th, 2025
- IC Date: June 11th, 2012
- Summary: It's not easy having visions, especially when all they reveal is your own doubt and fear.
"Over there! I can sense her!"
Umie scaled the pyramid of debris in Tartarus, her persona's powers giving her the speed needed to get to where her senses told her the missing girl lay.
"She's under here!"
Giddiness crept into Umie's voice, riding on pride and drive as she pulled rock and rebar alike away. She could hear the clatter as they rolled away from her, tossing down the pile to dully clack and break against the tiled floor below (like bones?).
Light streaming from above outlined her movements and highlighted the fine clouds of dislodged dust as Umie worked, using two hands to lift out a sizable boulder just enough to let gravity take over. She was only about one fourths of the way up, in her estimation, meaning that for every bit of rubble she took out, other pieces rolled into the depression made to take their place.
If they don't get the girl out, she'll suffocate.
Umie's frustration emboldened and angered her. "What's taking you guys so long?! She's right here!!" She turned back towards the crowd of familiar face below who were still searching, unable or, more likely, unwilling to step in and help her.
"_Fine_," she hisses back at them, before turning back to her work. "I'll do it myself."
Concrete, metal, glass, and wood are picked away; Umie worked diligently, struggling to keep ahead of the pile and from sinking down herself.
Her fingers touch something smooth and matte, and without thinking, she leans to the side and flings the last amount away, revealing the face of the missing high school girl underneath, sleeping peacefully in the silk(was it silk?) cushioning of her coffin.
If the high school girl had a face, by the time the moonlight touched it, it had become overrun in rivers of black that wept from every orifice. The last remnants of the girl's humanity reached out to clutch at Umie's right arm and face, making the bruised black skin of the brand on Umie's right hand feel like it just ignited in fire.
Another death. It didn't matter what her intentions were; the girl's fate was sealed because of Umie's persistence to uncover her.
Below, fellow acquaintances cried out or shrieked like the flock of birds, eager to watch the results of a execution.
"(Lady) Umie Akabane, the (cowardly) sinner of (wrath)." A nameless, genderless figure in black carefully steps down the pyramid of skulls (what?), unworried that its quarry will flee, pinned as she is by the shadow entangling her. "Poisoned by your false words, the moment you step onto any field, you leave behind distortion and woe. Even your visions of fortune end with ruin."
"We have decided (your punishment)." The red glove sat poised above her back, sharply pinning where it knew her heart beat lay. "We will take your distorted (heart) without fail."
In her mind's eye, Umie could see the sickle-shaped smile underneath the executioner's black hood as that bright red hand plunged inside to take its treasure.
-----!!
"..." Umie's eyes startle wide. Bathwater splashes up to the rim of the bathtub with the sudden movement, threatening to spill over. She shivered as her body met with the chill of water that had slowly adjusted to room temperature.
How long did that vision last?
Could it even be called a vision, anymore? Umie knew she shouldn't have been browsing the Phan-site until the Dark Hour shut down her access last night.
Turning off the plug with her toes, Umie shifted around, draping her arms over the bathtub's edge. The brand on her right wrist still felt like it burned, but a quick touch with her left fingers revealed it to be simply in her mind; it was as cool as the rest of her. It was simply there, curled around her wrist like the memory of a last embrace.
'You know...' Mai-chan's child-like voice whispered softly next to Umie's ear. 'Until you know their methods, you'll never know if you'll be their next victim.'
"... Mind telling me exactly how I'm going to do that, again?" Umie grumbles, to empty air.
Like usual, Mai-chan's voice was gone.
Umie sighed, and stood up.
She still has some time left before the Dark Hour comes around again, at least. The mystery of the Phantom Thieves can wait; there's a girl that needs to be saved.
Her heart is her own, still.