Thick dark rain clouds covered the sky in the city of Tokyo. It was ten o’clock at night. Rain poured down, drenching anyone who was foolish enough to be out at the time. Puddles of blood mixed with the rain. The night time air was filled with screams of terror.

Hundreds of people roamed the city, running across the busy roads, narrowly avoiding the cars and pulling out their drivers before slaughtering them. Bodies littered the pavements. The two who were responsible for the madness of the Emerald Guard were staying in small apartments either side of the city.

One was a woman called Midian. She sat in her bedroom, and was staring blankly at a piece of paper resting on her dressing table, a lit candle nearby. She shifted her weight on her chair and glanced up. She caught sight of her reflection in her dressing table mirror, the light coming from the candle casting eerie shadows across her face. Since the Emerald Guards had snapped, the city had been without electricity, as it was the first thing that they destroyed. Four years of being tortured and terrified the by Emerald Guards was starting to take its toll on most of the people living there, but not Midian.

She looked at the paper again and read through all she had written so far. She was amazed that she could not remember much more. Surely, conquering Takeshi’s castle with ninety nine other scared volunteers would have left more of an imprint in her memory. Most of her memories of that consisted of the handsome and charming General Tani. But she had not seen him since they left the castle grounds. She wondered if he was living in it, and that was why the Emerald Guard were going so crazy.

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Tani Hayato paced around, listening to the sounds of the screaming outside. He thought that he ought to go and assist the police force, who were always on duty now, because the activities of the Emerald Guard. But he was defenceless. Anyone else who tried to take the law into their own hands and go after the Guards ended up dead. Tani enjoyed his life so much. But he had to admit, that ever since he had defeated Takeshi, it had not been as enjoyable. He also knew that the Guards were looking for him and Midian.

My God, thought Tani. I have not thought about Midian for years...

Tani sat down in a dimly light room, the source of light also coming from a candle and he thought about the mysterious, and also anti social woman he very nearly became friends with.

Fresh screams sounded from just outside his apartment door. He opened it cautiously and saw Guards breaking down the door of the woman living next to him and running inside. Panicked, he grabbed a jacket, placed it on, pulled the collar up in an attempt to keep himself unrecognised and dashed down to the ground level.

He opened up the front door of the building and ran out. He slammed it shut behind him and began to run. As he came down the pavement, jumping over dead bodies, the building he left behind exploded. He skidded to a halt and stared in amazement as the place he used to live in burst into flames.

He heard a shout behind him and turned to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. He raised his arms and the policeman hurried past him. Tani stared at all the destruction around him. His city was being destroyed, he was now homeless. Someone had to do something.

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Midian engrossed herself in her writing, listening to a battery run radio, keeping her tuned in with what was going on in other parts in Tokyo. So far, it seemed that only southwest part of Tokyo was not being ravished by the Emerald Guards. The police force from that area were travelling to the other parts, taking out as many of the Guards as possible, but nothing seemed to be effective.

Midian suddenly thought about her mother, who was luckily living in the only safe part of Tokyo. She thought that maybe it would be a good idea to stay with her family for a while, so she could recuperate properly, as she was still suffering from running into several Guards, who unfortunately recognised her. She assumed that they could not have killed all of the Guards four years ago, when she saw the small amount who had come to face her, Tani and the other seven people.

A bright light shone in through her window. She turned away from her paper and looked outside. Two shops on the other side of the road had caught fire. She could see people running from inside it, Emerald Guards and unlucky citizens alike. She could hear heavy footsteps outside her door, and suddenly wished she was not on her own, she wished that she could be with someone to help her escape. She had not thought anything like that for four whole years, but now, she wished to be with Tani more than anything else.

She grabbed her black leather trench coat and slipped it on over her black long sleeved top and trousers and headed out of the door, climbing into a nearby taxi and told the driver to go.

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Tani’s mind raced. Where would he go now? What was he going to do? A screaming woman ran past him, stumbling over a body and almost slipping in a puddle of mixed blood and rain. Despite the heavy downpour, the flames that had now engulfed his old home were not dying out.

He was seriously contemplating making his way to southwest Tokyo, where it was safe, but he did not want that tiny area to fall prey to the Emerald Guard just because he was there. He could not help but wonder if it already was under the siege of the Guards because of Midian fleeing there. He was certain that a woman like her would be trying anything she could to be safe. If he went there as well, he might run into her, then they could perhaps try and fight back.

Tani laughed mirthlessly. Fight back? There was no way that the two of them could make a dent in the amount of Emerald Guards when the police forces from all of Japan are outnumbered by thousands, at the very least.

In the moments when he was alone with his thoughts, Tani felt very guilty about the actions of the Emerald Guards. He was fully aware that it was the murder of Takeshi which drove them insane, the murder which he committed. He gave another mirthless laugh at the sound of his old speech. Saying about how Takeshi and his Guards were a disease, and saying that he was the cure. Oh, what foolish words! He wondered what his reaction would have been if he knew how the city would end up by ‘curing’ this ‘illness‘.

It seemed as though Takeshi was harmless, compared to the disaster roaming the streets now. Every day, more Emerald Guards seemed to be showing up. Every day, they seemed to be getting stronger. Not to mention angrier. And more determined. He did not stand a hope in hell of survival.

He desperately flagged down a passing taxi, who stopped nearby. An Emerald Guard pulled the driver out and sliced his head off with a katana. The body and the head fell to the ground, the bloody open neck steaming slightly. Tani hastily turned his face away and self consciously pulled his collar up further. He ran into the empty taxi, shut and attempted to lock the door, before driving off.

Another Guard forced a female driver out of her car. She was killed, and the Guard clambered into her vehicle and raced up and down the pavements, scattering some pedestrians, splattering others. He thought it would be a laugh to chase after the man who just climbed into the taxi, and fill his heart with fear. He speeded after the taxi and rammed into the back of it.

Tani cursed loudly, which was something of a rarity for him and looked in the rear view mirror, spotting the Emerald Guard. Another carjacking was going on in a car in front of him. Tani swerved into the lane with opposite traffic and managed to get back into the correct lane without crashing. Unfortunately, the Emerald Guard also did, and was speeding up. The hunter and the hunted were side by side now in the two lanes. Tani braced himself as the bonnet of the chasing car smashed into his door.

Another car came in the opposite direction, and smacked into the Guard’s car, full on. Tani thought - and hoped - that the Guard’s car would have stopped in the road, at least for a minute, but it ploughed on, as the other driver was pushed backwards, getting faster still, before turning off sideways and becoming stationary in front of Tani. He cursed again, louder and more obscenely, and rammed into the Guard’s car, praying that he would soon loose this maniac.

Tani would have been standing on the acceleration peddle, if he was in a convertible; he almost was now, as he was placing so much pressure onto the peddle. The bumper of his car fell off and the Guard rammed into the back of his car again. He wound down the window as though preparing to make a daring exit. In his distraction, he failed to spot the shop looming up ahead. He looked ahead, screamed and attempted to throw himself out of the window. What he actually did was break the door down. He got to his feet just in time as the engine of the taxi exploded on impact with the wall of the shop, and jumped out of the way of the Emerald Guard.

A woman was backing away from something in front of her, and was not watching what was behind her. She bumped into Tani, but before she could apologise, she grew a blood covered sword blade from out of the back of her head. The metallic growth shrank back as the Emerald Guard pulled his sword free. Tani avoided the blade and sprinted down the pavement.

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Midian was watching the scene unfold all around her. She was safe inside the taxi. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to her or the driver. But, even if they were, they would not be able to get anywhere near them, since the driver was travelling at such a speed, the car would be past anyone in the blink of an eye. Despite her ‘safety’ she still felt threatened. Her longing to be near Tani had not faded, and she desperately wished she could go back in time and tell the General what would happen if they killed the Count. But, there was no use moping around, wanting to change the past. The Count was dead. The Emerald Guard were crazed. It had happened.

A large lorry swerved around a car which was jacked by an Emerald Guard and had to change lanes to avoid it. The taxi driver tried to get out of its path, but was not fast enough. The taxi ploughed into the front of the lorry, and Midian, who had forgotten to place her seat belt on lurched forwards from the momentum of the crash, and crushed the driver. She swore, which was not very rare, compared to Tani and hurried out of the taxi.

She turned back and saw the driver’s head against the window, blood dripping down it. Feeling anxious, she looked around for another car and headed off. She came across yet another taxi which had been rammed into the wall of a shop. A woman lay dead on the ground with a puncture wound through her head, and she saw a man in a coat with the collar pulled up running away from the body.

Without any warning, a Guard had crept up behind her and plunged the blade of his katana deep into her stomach. The point shot out of the front of her torso, and she screamed in her agony.

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Tani froze. He knew it was not a clever idea, but he could not help it. The most ugly, terrifying scream sounded, ringing through his ears. It was the scream which made your brain feel like a rake was being pulled across the raw surface, or a serrated kunai was being plunged deep inside. It was the scream which made your blood coagulate in your veins. Without knowing what he was doing he turned around and saw an oddly familiar woman in black screaming. At her stomach was a shining piece of metal.

He recognised the woman. It was Midian! He ran even harder back, dodging people and cars, hopping over the bodies which littered the wet and bloody ground. He punched the Emerald Guard directly in the face, causing him to stagger backwards, and he pulled the sword out of Midian’s stomach. He embedded the blade in the Guard’s skull and dragged the woman into a small alley, which was moderately safe from attack.

Midian and Tani merely gaped at one another for a few seconds, before she threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. Tani had never been so shocked before in his life, even the action of the Emerald Guards was not as surprising at Midian hugging him, as he always thought that the Guards like Animal would most likely become this insane.

When she let go of him and took a step backwards, Tani saw just how much she had changed, not just in personality. He remembered when he saw her the first, when he was about to brief his army on their mission. She stood slightly apart from the other volunteers, glaring at nothing. She was always very pale, but had slightly more colour in her face than she did now, but Tani noticed that she no longer had the tired shadows under her eyes, and it looked as though she learned how to sleep.

But what he saw now was a scared young woman, who actually looked quite attractive. She stared up at him with her wide brown eyes, trembling slightly. Tears started to brim her eyes, and it occurred to Tani that she was much deeper than he had ever thought.

A roar shot through the air, sounding so menacing that it was almost inhuman. A man stood in the alley, blocking it, so that Tani and Midian could not get past. Midian recognised him. She had fought him. The man had curly black hair which was just above his shoulders and wore a black robe with a large grey silk belt around his waist. He had his katana in his hand and was pointing it at her. It was Animal.

Animal grabbed General Tani and forced him against the wall, their faces so close Tani could feel Animal’s putrid breath on his face.

‘You’ve made a mistake, staying here. When the rest of the Emerald Guard find you, we will rip you apart. Limb from limb. We will do to you what you did to Count Takeshi.’

General Tani managed to stay calm in the face of Animal, something which Midian could not do.

‘You don’t understand, do you? I did what I did because I had to. Takeshi and his Emerald Guard were poisoning this country, and I was not prepared to let it stand.’

Animal struck Tani around the face with his fist, made even more furious by his words than he was by just his appearance. A roll of thunder kicked up, and lightning cracked across the sky. Midian could not remember being out in such conditions before. She never would have though that she would end up out in a thunder storm late at night with the Emerald Guard racing around on foot and in vehicles, murdering anyone they could grab. Animal spat in Tani’s face and threw him bodily into Midian.

She was crying in her fear. In the long four years the Emerald Guard have been insane, she felt more in touch with her feelings. Before, nothing could shock or upset her, but nothing could make her happy, either. No feelings could penetrate the stony outside and get to the human exterior. But her walls of arrogance crumbled, and new experiences sank in. The only thing remotely positive that she felt in the long and horrific four years was relief. Relief for seeing Tani after such a long time.

Fear had her caught in its iron vice, holding onto her, its many tentacles wrapped around her limbs, strangling her. She watched Tani from Fear’s grasp as he wiped away the slime from Animal and attempted to right himself. Animal and the General were so close to one another, it looked as though they were about to kiss.

General Tani gave Animal a hard push and allowed him to fall backwards, cracking his head against the wall behind him. He took Midian’s hand in a way that was very reminiscent of when the Emerald Guards scattered his army and the two of them journeyed to the castle on their own. He pulled Midian out of the reach of Fear, but could not prevent her from being stalked by Anxiety.

She could not stop herself from crying, as they ran, tears splashed down her front. She had never been in such a bad way in her life. On the run from a large group of murderers in a stormy night. Not even the relief that had temporarily sank in from finding someone who was also in her position could keep her in a positive frame of mind. Tani reached into a nearby car and opened it via the smashed window and clambered inside. Midian got in the other side, sniffling. Tani put his foot down on the acceleration peddle and drove off, scattering a group of Emerald Guards who had just run into Animal and recognised who they were.

Tani looked at Midian as she continued to sob. She had black streams running down her face from her eyeliner. She sat forwards in the seat and placed her head in her hands, sobbing loudly and uncontrollably. After a few minutes of letting out her emotional agony, she sat back and stared at Tani.

‘Do you have any idea what we’re going to do?’ she asked through her tears. The General sighed.

‘No, not really. Obviously we need to stop the Emerald Guards, but it will be very difficult when they are in this frame of mind, and not even most of the policemen in Japan can control them.’

Of course. That was the thing about Tani. He was always so practical. Do the most urgent task first. Unfortunately, he did not stop and think about the consequences. It was because of that flaw in him that Tokyo was falling.

An Emerald Guard leapt from the pavement and onto the bonnet of their car. Tani called out in his surprise and started to swerve on the road, because he could not see, but also to try and shake the Guard off. He moved awkwardly onto the side closest to Midian and attempted to put his fist through her window.

Midian turned her face away as glass showered her. She felt the Guard’s hand on her shoulder, and he pulled her out. They fell onto the ground, rolling over and over. Tani braked hard, causing the car to turn as though turning around a narrow corner. He flung himself out of his seat and pulled the Guard away from Midian. She kicked at the Guard in an attempt to kick his katana out of his hands. Tani pushed her backwards, out of the way and punched the man in the face. The Guard spat out blood and charged.

He thrust at the General with his sword, but when the point of it should have penetrated Tani’s torso, he turned, and moved around the back of the Guard. He snatched the sword and sliced through the hard tendons in his neck. The Emerald Guard slumped to the ground, dead.

He found Midian pinned against a wall with two more Guards standing in front of her. She wailed and shrieked in agony, and when they moved away, Tani could see that they had pinned her against the walls by stabbing her in her shoulders with their swords, so the blade stuck into the bricks behind. She moved her arms limply, trying to raise them to the hilts of the katanas. General Tani ran over to her and pulled them out, causing Midian to scream again.

Once freed, she rubbed some life back into her sore shoulders. As they stood, watching the scene, more buildings were suddenly cast alight. The rain continued to pour down, still unable to extinguish the many fires. Midian gave Tani a rough shove, to try and get him to move. They ran, side by side down the streets, still looking around at the destruction in awe. Two cars raced down one side of a road and crashed, filling the screaming air with the grating sound of metal on metal. The driver of one car fumbled with the door, trying to open it as the Emerald Guard in the other came toward him, kunai out.

There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. They had stumbled straight into a trap. Emerald Guards came out in front of them. Tani turned back and saw more behind him. Midian looked left and right to see that they were surrounded. Each Guard came towards them, their weapons out, all looking at their victims with an expression of grim satisfaction.

Midian and Tani stood back to back in the centre of the circle, consumed by fear. Tani felt cold despite the heat of the flames and his heat of his body from running. He felt as though his insides had been dropped carelessly into a bucket of ice. He shivered.

As the circle of Guards shrank, closing in, Tani felt more determined. He knew what he had to do. Pulling it off would be a completely different matter. There was an abandoned car nearby. It was slightly battered, but still functional. Unfortunately, there was also a car with four Emerald Guards in. Three of them carried guns, which was unusual. They normally were armed with katanas, kunais, or both.

The Guards stopped. They stopped closing in and one of the circle moved briskly over to Midian. The Guards closed any gap in the circle between them that could be used for escape by holding onto the point of the katana of the Guard to the left of them. As the Guard took a swipe at Midian, Tani stuck out his hand, deflecting the blade away from her. He then grasped her wrist and charged, tearing past the blade of the katanas. The metal whipped across the surface of his arm, cutting in. He dragged her to the abandoned car and forced her in. He then piled into the driver’s seat. Midian yelled at him to get a move on, and he jolted the car to life. They sped off, leaving the scattered Guards behind.

Tani lurched forwards ominously and craned to see in the rear view mirror. The back window of the car shattered, covering the back seats in glass. Another shot broke a wing mirror. There was another bump into the back of the car. Midian twisted around and saw the four Guards shooting at them and trying to force them off the road. The third shot smashed the windscreen. Tani suddenly turned the car sharply, so Midian’s head met with her window. She glared at him, rubbing the back of her head. He drove them down a very narrow alley, similar to the one Animal found them in.

The car grated against the bricks, causing sparks. Midian had covered her ears from the sound, but Tani just gritted his teeth and drove on. The Emerald Guards continued to give chase. Tani and Midian heard a popping sound, and felt the back left hand side of the car sink slightly. He braked just before the car crashed into a dead end and jumped up on the seat, climbing through the shot windscreen. He assisted Midian onto the bonnet and pulled her down as a bullet skimmed over their heads and buried itself into the wall.

‘Just like the great wall. Can you still climb up like you did all those years ago?’ asked Tani.

Midian gave him a look, but nodded. She straightened up and leapt into the air. Her fingernails grazed the top of the wall, and she fell back down.

‘It’s just out of reach, it’s about a centimetre too high!’

She prepared to jump again as another bullet tore through the car. Tani grasped her by her legs and lifted her up as she jumped. She kicked her legs over and clung on to the other side. Tani jumped up and managed to grip the wall. He pulled himself over and they both cascaded down the other side.

The scene was the same the other side of the wall. Emerald Guards running amok in the streets, bodies lining the ground. Puddles of blood diluted by the rain. But there were no fires. Yet.

Midian took a few tentative steps forwards, looking at the demolition. Someone grabbed her from behind and pinned her arms to her sides with one hand, and kept the other clamped over her mouth. She was guided into a nearby building and saw that Tani had been struck across the back of the head and was knocked out cold. A Guard had picked him up and slumped the General over his shoulder. Midian was forced to follow, but she was not going to. Not if she could help it.

She bit the hand over her mouth, kicked and elbowed the Guard behind her, but all her struggling resulted in was she almost had her neck broken as the Guard continued to clamp her mouth shut, and when he let go, he placed both hands tightly over her stomach, arms by her sides and picked her up. She violently shook her head, shrieking and bellowing, kicking her legs, catching the Guard holding her and the one holding Tani.

They were carried up several flights of stairs to the top floor, the fourth floor. The Guard holding General Tani dropped him deliberately in front of a wooden door. His head made a sickening crack against the cold tiled floor. Midian stopped struggling and winced at the sound of his head and the tiles meeting. The Guard unlocked and opened the door, sucked in a deep breath and disappeared from view into the room for about a minute. When he came back out, he had three figures attached to him. A man hung from each shoulder, and he was dragging the figure of a woman along with him by her hand. The expression on each face was exactly the same. Each face had the same terrified look as Midian knew she must have worn over the years.

The bodies were thrown down next to Tani. He was pulled along the ground by a foot, into the chamber the Guard just unlocked. Midian started to struggle again, her own captor keeping a firm grip on her. She was pushed in after the General. There was a chair which was secured to wall. Two large blue canisters were fixed just above it, so they pointed down to the chair. Before she could read the writing on them, she was forced into the seat and her wrists were secured. The Guard slapped her and did something to the canisters, laughed loudly and started to walk out of the door. Midian saw that at his hip, hanging loosely was a key on a piece of string. She kicked him hard, knocking the key loose. She stamped on it, hiding it from the Emerald Guard’s view. He snarled at her and slammed the door shut in her face. She could hear a click as the other Guard locked her in.

As she struggled to break free from the grip the chains had on her, there was another sound, almost beyond the range of hearing which Midian could barely make out. She stopped and stayed perfectly still, listening hard. Sure enough, she just picked out the sound of hissing gas. She pulled in a deep breath and brought the key closer to her. She managed to get it gripped between her feet and raised her legs. It slipped through the feet and back to the floor. Resisting the urge to curse loudly, she tried again.

She lowered her head and took the key from her feet and into her mouth. With great difficulty, she placed the key in the lock holding down her right wrist. She unlocked it and freed her arm. Taking the key from her mouth, she unlocked her left arm. Tani caught her attention. He was not doing much, just lying on the ground, as still as a statue, breathing in the poisonous gas. She moved over to him, shook him, slapped him around the face, but he did not come round. He looked as though he was hovering outside Death’s door.

She felt as though her chest was about to explode with the pressure of not breathing. She kicked the wooden door, rammed into it with her shoulder and just tried beating the hell out of it, but she could not knock it down. Her breath burst out of her. She did not dare draw in more; it was bad enough that it seemed Tani would end up dead from inhaling the gas. She banged her fists against the door repeatedly, shoving her knees into it as well.

At last it seemed to give. She jumped into the door, her side crashing straight into it, forcing the door off its hinges. It crashed to the ground, Midian on top of it. She ran back inside and grabbed Tani. She tugged the General out of the gas chamber, feeling sweet relief rush through her body. She heard a groan and saw that Tani was starting to wake up. She moved him away from the gas chamber and held his head in her arms. He had saved her life several times when he did not have to. It was now time for her to save his.

She thought desperately, trying to think. Her mind seemed filled with a heavy fog. She gently tapped General Tani’s face and placed her hand on his forehead. It was quite warm, warmer than her own. She moved her face close to his, trying to hear his breathing. She sat up, thinking about what she could do. Tani opened his eyes and looked at Midian. His expression became shocked and he moved Midian away from him. He meant to gently push her away, but what he actually did was press one hand against her face, accidentally slapping her. He sat up and vomited. His head was pounding, and also felt weak. His eyes were irritated.

Tani wiped with mouth on his sleeve and stood up shakily. He lowered one trembling hand to Midian and helped her up.

‘Where are we? What had happened?’

‘We’re in a building that the Emerald Guard hasn’t exploded yet. We’ve just been locked up in a gas chamber, but I managed to get us out.’ replied Midian.

‘A gas chamber...Well, that would explain it then.’

‘Explain what?’

‘Being hit around the head and knocked unconscious does not normally make me feel nauseous.’ said Tani. He looked seriously at the woman next to him. ‘What gas was it?’

‘I dunno. I didn’t get to see what it said on the gas canisters.’

Tani shrugged and started to walk down the stairs they were carried up. Midian felt watched. She felt like someone had witnessed her kick the key from the Emerald Guard and watched her escape, and was still watching her now. She felt raw rage boil up inside her, anger at the Guards, anger at herself and even at General Tani. It was him - with her helping - who killed the Count Takeshi, which gave the Emerald Guard cause to go deranged. Tani stopped on the forth step down, turned back and saw that Midian was not following him. She was staring blankly at something ahead. Her fists were balled up and she looked vexed. He walked back up one step and she let out an angry gasp. He walked back up and stood next to her, where something inside her exploded.

Midian yelled. It was not the shout of agony, or of fear, but the call of anger. She held her scream on one ear splitting note, holding her head in her hands, standing hunched over and knock-kneed. As she started to run out of breath, her legs gave way. She slumped to the ground, her face buried in her hands. The General could hear her heavy anguished breathing. He rested a gentle hand on her shoulder and crouched down next to her, watching her concentrate on releasing all of her white hot rage.

She pushed herself up from the ground and walked down the stairs as though nothing unusual had happened. Tani followed, watching her cautiously as though she might repeat what she had just done. He did not know exactly what was going on inside her head although he was certain he could hazard a guess.

As they came to the front door of the building, Midian stopped with her hand on the handle. She waited until she knew Tani was right behind her and took a deep breath.

‘I can’t take much more of this.’

She did not turn to face Tani when she spoke to him, but kept her gaze fixed on the handle. She started to feel more and more miserable. She prided herself on not being able to feel things like anger and fear as much as other people could, which was why she had stayed in the dangerous area of Tokyo for so long. But now, the full weight of everything seemed to fall on her now she had met Tani again. The full realisation of what was happening to Japan’s capital was sinking in.

She turned the handle and started to open the door when she heard Tani calling out in pain. She shot around and saw an Emerald Guard standing behind him. Tani was almost bent double, blood pouring down his back. The Guard grinning evilly at Midian and raised a blood soaked kunai. Another Guard appeared out of the shadows at Midian’s side, but before she could do anything, he had grabbed her, and was pulling her away from the General who was crumpling to the ground as more puncture wounds covered his body.

The other Guard lifted General Tani up by his collar and pinned him against the wall. Tani had his face screwed up in pain, trying his hardest not to call out again. The kunai was raised to his chest where the point dug in. The Guard prepared to stab him, but an unforeseen complication started to rise. This was the fact that Midian was only being held down by one Guard. It took a number of at least five Emerald Guards to weigh her down completely, but even then, she still put up a struggle.

As the Guard held the small knife in the air, keeping Tani frozen against the door in suspense, Midian kicked at the shins of her captor. He released her involuntarily, instantly pounded by the full force of Midian’s explosive wrath. As the Guard tried to defend himself, the one holding Tani watched her with a half interested gaze.

Midian snapped the neck of her foe before shoving him into the other Guard. Tani instantaneously slipped down the door, leaving a trail of blood. He looked very weak. Midian picked him up and he placed one arm around her neck. She aided him outside and saw a sight similar to the one she experienced when conquering the castle. Several Guards were trying to subdue someone in the middle of the coloured mass, but the woman was resisting. She was waving a katana around with force as well as kicking and punching anything that her limbs could find. She slashed one Guard, turned through one hundred and eighty degrees and allowed her fist to collide against the chin of another, and lashed out to one side with her foot, catching a third.

Midian looked at the woman and saw that she looked like someone who was wanted dead as much as her or Tani. She wore the same uniform that Tani did all those years ago, except that hers was white. She had long blonde hair tied behind her head in a pony tail. This woman’s whole body was consumed in a powerful energy which she was carefully releasing onto the Guards. Midian heard Tani groan.

‘I know her. She was my second in command. An English woman, Corporal Kirsty,’ he moaned.

As Midian continued to watch, she saw that this woman, Corporal Kirsty was slowly becoming surrounded by more and more Guards, all who were filled with malice. A hatred so powerful that no known man could bear it, not without being destroyed by it.

Soon, the woman could not move from all the bodies pressing into her. Several Guards held her arms, a minimum of four on one arm and a few were crouched down, holding her legs, so she could not kick out. Another Guard was holding Kirsty’s own weapon and lunged. She did not call out. She had more self control than Midian or Tani, and only uttered a near silent gasp as the point pierced her skin and protruded from out of her back.

Midian unhooked herself from Tani, where he slouched onto the ground. She took his katana and started to run towards the mass of Guards. She stopped and turned back.

‘If any Guards come for you, shout.’

Without another word, she tore down the road to the large group. She sliced off the head of the nearest Guard. The body dropped to the ground. She forced the point of her sword through the skull of another and pulled sharply on the hair of a third. She was rewarded with a heart stopping crack. The Guards who were teasing Kirsty noticed Midian tearing through the other Guards and watched her make her way through, amused. Kirsty fell down to her knees. The Guards ignored her.

General Tani watched Midian’s progress through the Guards, their shed blood staining the already impure ground. The pain from all his inflicted wounds mounted dramatically, which almost blinded him with the pain. No, he had to stay awake, but an irresistible tiredness was sweeping over him. His energy had been sucked out from the kunai of the Guards and the effort of forcing his injured body to move, when it clearly did not want to. He held his head in his hands and continued to watch Midian attempting to rescue Kirsty.

Midian flailed wildly at another Guard and completely by chance caught his hand. The Guard’s pained screams filled the night time air, which was already taken up by the cracks of thunder, the pounding of the rain, and the shrieks of innocent Japanese people trying to save themselves from the grim spectre of death.

The injured Guard - the last one holding Kirsty - held his severed wrist and staggered forwards cannoning into Midian. She grabbed his hurt arm and twisted it behind his back. The Guard’s blood dribbled from his wrist and onto Midian’s hands. Without letting the Guard feel he could escape, she cautiously let go of his arm with one hand and placed it on his chin. She pulled back, forcing the Guard to look up at the sky. Midian then renewed her grip on her katana as she let go of his arm with her other hand and raised it to his throat. She could see his Adam’s apple moving while he swallowed.

Kirsty sat on her knees, staring at the ground, one hand clasped to her wound. She could see in the corner of her eyes, the Guard’s legs shaking from the nervous twitches that Midian was giving him. They stopped suddenly, and the Guard collapsed to the ground, his eyes blank and lifeless, the katana thrust through his throat. The blood poured from his injury from his open wrist and sliced throat and covered the ground rapidly, the water from the puddles diluting the crimson liquid.

A bloody hand reached down and stopped in front of Kirsty’s face. She looked up and saw Midian staring down at her. Kirsty grasped her hand and allowed her to be pulled to her feet. She watched as Midian bent over and roughly snatched the katana from out of the Guard’s neck. She leaded Kirsty back to Tani.

The people who were running around in the streets slowed to a stop as they saw the depleted number of Emerald Guards. They stopped and huddled together, whispering to one another. Were they all dead? Was Tokyo and the rest of Japan saved? It seemed too good to be true. It could not be possible. It was not possible.

Kirsty’s gaze fell onto Tani, who was being helped up, wincing, by Midian. She opened her mouth to comment, but before the words were even formed in her mind, something caught her attention. The temporarily silent air was suddenly ripped to shreds with fresh yells of terror. More Emerald Guards were appearing over the same wall that Midian and Tani had clambered open. Another large group were stampeding down the road, heading towards where Kirsty, Midian and Tani were. There was at least double the number of Guards coming down the road, slaughtering anyone they could than there were before. How many more Guards were there? How many more lives would be taken before they were all wiped out? Would the whole of Japan end up under the relentless attack of the Emerald Guards? Questions rang inside Midian’s head as the soulless beings came ever closer.

She pulled one of the General’s arms around her neck again, grabbed Kirsty’s wrist and ran. They were slightly hindered because every movement caused Tani much pain.

‘Come on, run!’ she screamed, as she turned back at the Guards.

Tani forced himself to move as the Guards came nearer and nearer. It seemed impossible to lose them. Someone behind them shouted out, yelling out a war cry. Another glance backwards told Midian that it was Animal. A few of the Guards in the centre of the group held Animal on up on their shoulders, like the remainders of an army would carry a brave war hero. He yelled again, fiercer and pointed his katana at the backs of the three retreating figures. The way the Emerald Guards seemed to listen to him was as though he was somebody they respected, like a leader.

Midian faced forwards and stopped so suddenly, she almost fell over. Five more Guards stood in front of them. Midian recognised them to be the Guards at the Sumo Rings. She saw a very large man, his shadow streaming over the other figures. Despite they were not wearing their sumo thongs, they still wore their colour, as though it was a great pride to be known as a Sumo wrestler for the Emerald Guards. The large man was in a dark purple and saw Tani, hanging limply from Midian’s shoulder. He laughed and turned to the man next to him, who was wearing all yellow, and was of a medium build.

The memory of going through the tasks with Tani raised itself to the front of her brain. She saw a scrawny man all in red, who was well known for being a push over. A tiny little man with fairly long hair and glasses, he looked like the kind of person who was always ridiculed. A blonde man in lime green next to him placed one arm on the scrawny man’s shoulder. He sagged very slightly from the weight of the muscular Guard next to him.

The last person was in light blue. Midian studied him, trying to work out who he was, but she could not remember his face. The only thing she could imagine was that this was the man in the Emerald Guard who had a sense of humour and used to show up at the Sumo Rings in a large potato suit. But the face that stared at her looked menacing. It was hard to believe that it was the same person. This menacing figure looked as though he would not realise what a joke was if someone stayed up with him into the early hours of the morning giving examples and drawing diagrams of someone laughing.

Midian felt a pull on her hand and remembered that she was still holding Kirsty’s wrist. Kirsty was tugging her off to one side, through one of the small alleys that littered the pavements in Tokyo. The five wrestlers chased after them while the other Emerald Guards careered down the road.

Tani, Kirsty and Midian heard the sound of footsteps behind them and put on a burst of speed. Kirsty guided them left, then right, straight on, left again. Midian tried to remember which way they were going, but was concentrating more on losing the Guards.

It seemed like they were lab rats running through a maze. That was certainly how they felt. They continued to turn through the many sub alleys which broke off, but still could not lose the chasers. As they turned into another right, Kirsty sharply turned right again, into a small dead end just before the Emerald Guards turned the corner. They could hear the surprised voices of the Guards as they turned the corner only to find that their quarry had gone missing.

After a few heart stopping minutes, Kirsty precariously peeked out and saw that they were alone. The Guards had given up trying to find them, but were probably still nearby. They stayed silent for a few more minutes and then headed out of the cramped dead end. Tani and Midian followed Kirsty who was trying to find their way out as well as speak to the General.

‘General Tani, what on Earth happened to you?’ she asked. She had a soft voice which was paved with sympathy for her General.

‘The Emerald Guards caught Midian and myself when we were not expecting it,’ he replied.

The Corporal let the General sit on the ground, slightly easing the pain which was shooting across his whole back. She opened her white jacket and took out a roll of bandages from an inside pocket. She assisted Tani in taking off his coat and shirt and started to mop up the blood which was still rolling down his back. Once she cleaned the wounds she started to bandage them up, the almost silent air was punctuated with the occasional gasp from Tani and wince.

When she had finished, Tani stood up. Kirsty straightened up as well and turned to Midian.

‘So I assume that you are Midian?’ she asked. Midian nodded. Kirsty suddenly looked bashful. ‘I’d like to thank you for saving my life back there. Thank you.’

Kirsty looked into Midian’s eyes, making her feel uncomfortable. She shrugged and started to walk off. Kirsty gave General Tani an enquiring glance, but he was too busy rolling his eyes to notice. As Midian walked on, several more questions surfaced to the front of her mind. She stopped and turned around to face Tani and Corporal Kirsty.

They were chatting animatedly to one another, cracking the odd joke and generally looked happy, as though there was nothing to be worried about. Kirsty’s eyes barely left the General’s face as he laughed at something she said. It seemed to Midian that they were walking a little bit too close to one another than was strictly necessary, as though they were worrying that she was about to attack one of them.

Midian glared at the two as they walked towards her. She impatiently tapped her foot on the ground and stood, looking very stern with her arms folded. Eventually, they noticed her and stopped talking.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Tani.

Midian ignored him and turned to Kirsty.

‘You’re Tani’s second in command, right? That’s what you said, wasn’t it?’ she added, looked at the General. He nodded.

‘So, why were you not helping your General take down Takeshi when he raided the castle?’ Midian demanded. The Corporal was uncomfortably aware that Tani was now giving her the same look that Midian was. He suddenly seemed to be...not exactly angry with her, but now that Midian had sounded her question, he looked displeased.

‘I was already in the castle grounds when the General was briefing his army. I met some of them along the way to the castle, and they told me that the Emerald Guard had caused them to scatter. I was not present at the showdown between Count Takeshi and General Tani because I was aiding the few volunteers through the tasks -’

‘You say that, but you weren’t there! You were not there when Takeshi was killed!’ exclaimed Midian.

‘- like I was about to say, I helped them through the tasks, but we were taken by a surprise ambush by a group of Emerald Guards and I was knocked unconscious. I did not come around until several hours later when they were scouting the castle grounds, trying to find any survivors of General Tani’s army.’ finished Kirsty.

Midian tutted and roll her eyes. She walked on ahead, muttering ‘surprise “ambush”? You mean there’s another kind?’ clearly not believing a word the Corporal had said.

Tani and Kirsty slowly walked after Midian who was speeding off ahead. Kirsty stared at the ground, feeling red in the face. She looked at the General and tried to read his expression, but it was passive. He felt her gaze on him and turned to her.

‘You believe what I said, don’t you?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Well then, why doesn’t Midian?’ asked Kirsty.

‘I really would not worry about it too much. She was just as cold to me when we were trying to over throw Takeshi.’

‘You mean she was there?’

‘Yes, out of one hundred people, she was the only one who survived, and she took care of the Count’s personal body guards while I killed Takeshi.’

Once I had come round, added Tani to himself.

‘The only one who survived…’ repeated Corporal Kirsty in an awed voice. ‘So, how come she became more friendly to you?’

‘I noticed that she became warmer after I stopped her from falling into a bed of spikes,’ replied Tani.

The Corporal did not say anything. As she walked on, she stared at the back of the stern silent figure in black ahead. She wished that she had not gone on ahead all those years, and she wished that she could have helped Tani from the beginning, and be present at the final battle between him and Takeshi. Maybe if she was there, she could have prevented the death of the final few.

She glanced at her watch and saw that it was coming up to midnight. She heard Tani yawn. As they followed Midian and came carefully out onto the road again, they saw Midian sway slightly in her drowsiness. The General placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her from swaying again and guided the two women into a nearby hotel.

The entrance hall was almost deserted. The only other person around was the man behind the desk where all the room keys were. Tani and Kirsty walked straight over to them, Midian following reluctantly. The man looked up and saw Tani making his way over and his face split into a large grin.

‘General Tani! Corporal Kirsty! How good it is to see you both! I’m afraid that we only have one room left intact. The Emerald Guards came in and trashed my hotel a few weeks back and only left one room,’ said the man behind the desk.

Tani smiled reassuringly at the man and took the key from his hands. He then walked off, without letting Midian or Kirsty know.

After he had left, Midian realised that he had left and asked Kirsty if she saw where he went. She shook her head. She followed Midian to a small sofa which was not damaged, staring around at the destruction to the furniture of the hotel. Midian was staring at the floor, restlessly moving her feet around. The Corporal tried to engage her in conversation.

‘So, erm, have you been with the General every since this whole mess with the Emerald Guards started?’ she asked, hoping that Midian would be social and answer in a civilised manner. She did not hold her breath though, as so far, Midian had not been too enthusiastic about her presence.

‘No. I was meant to be in his army of forced volunteers, and we were the only two who took the route that he had prepared for us all, because after we were split up, it was only Tani and me. But after Takeshi was killed, we went our own ways, but met up again.’

Kirsty seemed to sag with relief as though she would want anything less than to know that Tani had been with another woman for four years. As this thought crept into Midian’s mind she restrained herself from tutting sarcastically. It was so sad. As though anyone could suggest that Midian, of all people would have an interest in someone, thinking of someone closer than a friend, if that. The idea of her falling in love was out of the question.

‘So, you don’t really have any kind of relationship - er - friendship, I mean, with him?’

Oh my God, she really does think like that...thought Midian. I wouldn’t think like that about any person, even if my life depended on it.

Midian suddenly thought about the burning desire she had to be with Tani though, when she was in the taxi. When she had found him, the first thing she had done was throw herself at him, taking him as much by surprise as she took herself. She realised that she had not answered the Corporal’s question.

‘No. No relationship. I guess I could call him a friend though,’ replied Midian. She hoped that Kirsty would cease with her questions, but she did not.

‘You only guess?’

‘I’m not normally very social. I keep myself to myself. I don’t usually allow people to get close enough to me to become a friend, and I certainly don’t have relationships,’ said Midian. Kirsty flushed red.

‘Well...relationship was a mistake. I didn’t mean to say it,’ she lied.

‘Slip of the tongue?’ Midian asked, in a fake understanding tone of voice.

Kirsty nodded gratefully, and Midian laughed. But her own words were starting to trouble her. What she had just said was initially true; it was definitely true to how she had felt in the past. But now, however, seemed different. Tani seemed different. He was quite like the Corporal really. They were both difficult to dislike, even for somebody as cold hearted as Midian. But when it came to the General...was there something else there? Something stronger than ‘like‘? It was preposterous. Midian was well known for being cold and shutting herself off from the world. She knew that, in spite of never talking to any of the other people around her.

Kirsty was watching her, still pink in the face. Maybe she was not that bad. Maybe it was Midian’s natural dislike for anyone she just met getting in the way of making a friend. She felt she ought to give this Corporal a try; she was making an effort to talk to her, at least. Midian had gone through life with people never speaking to her unless they really, really had to, even if they so desperately wanted to know something from her.

‘Why so interested?’ she asked. Corporal Kirsty shrugged.

‘No reason. I just wondered,’ she replied, her tone of voice unconvincing. Midian also noted that she was not meeting her eyes. Kirsty involuntarily looked at her, but was relieved to find that she was smiling.

‘Yeah, I’m sure,’ she joked. ‘You want to be in a relationship with Tani, don’t you?’

Kirsty was shocked at how forward Midian was. She chose not to reply for a while, giving her some extra time to work out her answer.

‘Erm...well, I don’t know. I have not really thought about it.’

Once again, she put on an innocent voice which was not altogether convincing, but this time she met Midian’s stare head on.

‘Do you?’ Kirsty suddenly demanded. ‘Surely you must have felt something for people in your past?’

Midian was tempted to copy Kirsty and be silent for a moment, but decided against it. Instead she would pretend to be as cold as she always was, as, at the minute, she was not sure if she still was.

‘No. I have never liked anyone, and no one had ever liked me. I was never too close to anyone, even my parents.’

Kirsty raised her eyebrows.

‘Well, I like you. I don’t think you’re that bad.’

Midian averted her gaze from the Corporal and stared at her feet. She could hear Tani returning.

‘Well,’ she started as she stood up, ‘there’s a first for everything,’

Kirsty laughed and also climbed to her feet. She looked at Tani.

‘And where have you been?’

‘I just went for find our room, thinking that you two were following me. Are you going to come now?’

‘If you’re lucky!’ replied Midian, laughing. Tani grinned and shook his head.

‘Hurry it up, I’m tired!’

Midian saluted his back and walked after him next to Kirsty who was giggling. Tani led them into a small room with three beds and a few other sticks of furniture. Midian hurriedly moved to the foot of the nearest bed and allowed herself to fall forwards. Her face hit the pillow at the exact same moment she fell asleep.

Kirsty walked to the middle one and removed her boots and jacket. Tani was watching her with suspicion.

‘Yellow boots?’

‘Well done.’

‘Did you take mine? I lost mine and had to wear red ones instead. I haven’t seem them for four years.’

Kirsty laughed.

‘No, I didn’t take your yellow boots.’

Tani snorted in false disbelief and removed his own boots and coat. He clambered under the bed covers and shut his eyes. He heard Kirsty tossing and turning restlessly.

‘Give it a rest will you?’ he snapped. He vaguely heard the Corporal mutter an apology just before his tiredness over took him completely and he fell asleep.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Sunlight shone through the open curtains and also through the General’s eyes. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Kirsty was lying on her stomach, her arm dangling down the side of her bed. Tani squinted at her watch and saw that it was eleven in the morning. He yawned hugely and stretched.

Corporal Kirsty turned over to her side and rolled back onto her stomach. She was visible for a second before she fell out of the other side of the bed. She thudded noisily on the floor and woke instantly. She reappeared into view rubbing her head and shooting evil looks at Tani who laughed. They both turned to Midian who was still fast asleep on her back breathing deeply. General Tani and Corporal Kirsty stared at her, wondering how someone could have slept through the noise Kirsty made in making contact with the ground.

‘She’s certainly a different kind of person, Midian is. I think she might becoming less anti social. Well, at least, she seems to be to me.’ Muttered Kirsty.

‘What did you do to make her like you?’

‘Well, I think I’m making a connection with her, I’m not sure. All I did was just talk to her.’

The General tutted.

‘You speak to her, but I have to save her life!’ he joked.

Kirsty laughed and picked up her jacket from the floor. She slipped it on and did it up, shivering.

‘Are you cold?’ asked Tani. He watched as Kirsty nodded. Tani sat down on her bed next to her and placed one arm around her shoulders. She fought not to turn red as the General held her to him. Half of her never wanted this moment of closeness to end, but the other half of her wanted Midian to wake up and disturb them, just so that she could stay at a safe distance.

Tani’s hand rested peacefully on her shoulder. He could feel that she was trembling very slightly. He looked down at her, but she was staring blankly at the door of their room. Kirsty could feel Tani’s stare on her, but for reasons she could not explain at the moment, she did not look up at him. She heard him quietly clear his throat and shift his weight beside her. As the Corporal continued to stare anywhere she could apart from at the General, she felt his other hand on her chin. He tilted her face up so that she was looking at him. Tani dipped his head and shut his eyes. Their lips met in a dream like and passionate embrace.

Kirsty offered the General no resistance as they continued to kiss. She felt that even if she had objected, she would not have been able to do anything about it; it was a such a shock to her.

In the next bed, Midian groaned unhappily in her sleep. The sounds of her thrashing around under the covers was oblivious to General Tani and Kirsty. Midian loudly called out, breaking the spell between Tani and the Corporal. They broke apart and saw Midian flailing around. She was panting in fear and was covered in a chilly sweat. Tani and Kirsty exchanged confused glances and moved nearer to her bed. Kirsty placed a hand on Midian’s shoulder, but quickly withdrew it and stepped back as Midian’s hand met with the side of the Corporal’s face.

Tani started to place his hands on both her shoulders to try and gently wake her up, when she sat up as though had just been electrocuted. She had bolt upright, gasping for breath, staring at the foot of her bed, paying no heed to the stunned figures next to her. She mopped her brow, trying to regulate her speeding pulse. It was only then when she noticed the worried couple staring down at her with the same expression of anxiety.

‘Are - are you alright?’ quavered Kirsty. She knew, as soon as she asked the question that it was a silly thing to say. It was obvious that she was not alright. But to her surprise, Midian nodded.

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ she gasped. ‘Just...just had a bad dream.’

Tani was frowning at her, not in a way that suggested that he was angry or displeased with her, but he was frowning in a way as though he was trying to work out something which was virtually impossible, like how Midian’s mind worked, for instance. She shrugged, as though to say that what went on in her mind was not anything worth worrying about. She sat up and stretched and realised that she had gone to sleep still in her leather trench coat.

The familiar sounds of screams rent the air; the Emerald Guards must still be on duty, terrorising the innocent citizens of Japan. She felt guilty, because thousands of people were dying, thousands people who had not done anything, and they were suffering because the Emerald Guard wanted her and Tani dead. But why should anyone else put up the terrible thought that they may not make it through the night? That burden was to be placed on her and Tani’s shoulders, no one else. Not even Kirsty’s. Midian thought hard, wondering what the best way to try and get rid of the huge numbers of madmen. Maybe if she was to give herself up? She always thought that there was not much purpose in her life, but had never actually got around to doing anything about it. But then she remembered, trying to get across the Dragon Lake. Seeing all the spikes and the large falls that often littered Takeshi’s challenges made her realise that she did not actually want to die.

Midian stood up, gave Tani and Kirsty one last brief glance before walking out of the door. The two exchanged another glance before heading after her.

Midian ran out of the hotel, into the middle of the road, where a large group of Emerald Guards were roaming and hit one around the back of the head. He turned to face her, growling horribly under his breath, but then his ugly grimace turned into a satisfied smile. He laughed triumphantly at her and turned away, shouting something at the rest of the Guards. They all instantly stopped murdering their victims and also turned to Midian. The crowd parted to reveal the figure of Animal. He stopped in front of her, katana in hand, sneering. Midian laughed at him.

‘You’re making a mistake.’

‘No, I’m not. I know you all want me dead. I don’t care if I make it through to the next day or not. So I’m going to give myself up to you all, because I believe that when you have finished hunting Tani and myself you are going to return a former state of sanity and stop trying to kill every man woman and child living in Tokyo.’

She paused, looking at Animal, wondering what effect her words had on Animal and his fellow Emerald Guards. She was half expecting a lunge at the throat with a sharp and narrow piece of metal. However, this was not what she received.

‘I told you, you’re making a mistake.’

‘And I said that I’m not. I am entering into your submission.’

‘Be that as it may, we will not return to…‘a former state of sanity’ once both of you are dead.’ Animal’s voice was cold and hard. His eyes bored into Midian’s own. He raised one hand and snapped his fingers. Two Guards stepped forwards, clasping one of Midian’s arms in their hands. They shoved her roughly down to the ground.

The doors of the hotel burst open and General Tani and Corporal Kirsty both came running out at speed. They skidded to a stop when they saw Animal advancing on Midian, who was on the ground with two Guards preventing her from escaping. They both took out their katanas and ran at the group. Tani grabbed Midian’s upper arm and forced her upright.

‘Get up!’ he hissed.

Midian shook herself free from the General’s gasp and moved around him to Animal. Animal instantly seized her and placed the blade of his weapon at her throat.

‘Midian, what are you doing?’ yelled Kirsty.

‘Repaying my debt to this country…’ muttered Midian. Tani yelled angrily and quickly beheaded the Guard he was fighting.

‘Don’t be a fool! Don’t you understand? Just because you are dead does not mean that they will become sane! Even when we are both in the cold, cold ground, the Emerald Guard will still run riot in the streets! Our deaths will not make a difference to their actions on the rest of Tokyo!’

Midian allowed his words to sink in. She could feel the blade of the katana started to slit her throat, and she threw back her elbow, catching Animal hard in the stomach. A slight twinge of pain ran across the surface of her neck. She ignored it and continued her assault on Animal. He took a step back, renewing his grasp on the handle of his katana.

The Emerald Guards busied themselves with any passers by, making quick work of them while Animal and Midian stared threateningly at one another. She could heard grunts of efforts as Kirsty and Tani struck their opponents with brute force. Her distraction cost her. Animal shoved her hard and she cascaded to the ground. As she landed, she saw that Animal was well into his next attack. She tried to move her ankle, but before she could get it out of the way, the blade in Animal’s hands pierced her. The point tore through her skin and flesh and cracked through her ankle bone. The force of the blow was so much that Animal ended up stabbing his katana into the ground, as well as through Midian.

Tani saw Midian wincing on the ground and tried to get over and help her. He pushed his sword through the skull of the Guard and made his way to her. Tani glanced up and saw another Guard on the roof of a building, staring down at him. As the General turned his attention back to Midian, a woman ran screaming. She stumbled and fell down to her knees, next to Tani. As her knees made contact with the wet ground, she slumped to one side, dead. Tani saw that she had half an arrow sticking out of her eye.

He only just spotted the metal whipping through the air in his direction, and blocked Animal’s deadly shot with his hand. He pulled Animal’s sword from his grasp and struck the man around the head. He fell to the ground.

The number of Emerald Guards was starting to thin. Tani seized his opportunity and pulled the katana out of Midian’s ankle. She gasped audibly and cursed. They heard a grunt coming from Kirsty. Midian saw the Guard she was fighting punch her around the face. Her head snapped to one side, but did not let it deter her. She raised her own katana and prepared to bring it down. She gave a hard swing, but instead of catching the Guard in the centre of his head, cracking his skull in two, he moved to the right and Kirsty only managed to slice off his ear. He called out, holding one hand to the side of his face in horror. Kirsty finished the move by kicking him in the mid section. He fell to the ground, wincing and clutching at his wounds, bleeding to death.

As Kirsty turned away from the fallen figure to face Tani and Midian, they thought they could see a narrow strip of wood falling, streaking towards the ground, as though just been fired. Kirsty’s smile flickered and faded away as she stared at Midian and General Tani. She raised her hand and placed it on her left shoulder, feeling the blade at the back. Her fingers found something sticking out of her shoulder. Before she could pull it out to see what it was, something else struck her other shoulder. Her arm fell limply to her side. She could feel herself becoming weaker; her knees were dying to give in. They were finding it difficult to keep her dead weight up any more. Something which was aimed at the small of her back was fired from a rooftop as Kirsty collapsed and caught her between her shoulders, just under her neck.

Tani caught her just before she smacked her face on the ground. Her blood was spreading across her back and dripping onto the ground. It ran over Tani’s hands. It was still warm. He saw the arrows in her shoulders and just under her neck and looked up. The Guard standing on the rooftop waved a bow and arrow at him and fired once again. The General foolishly tried to either deflect the arrow or catch it, and it forced its way through the palm of his hand.

Midian crawled across the ground, making her way to the General and the Corporal. She saw the arrow sticking out of Tani’s hand and pulled it out for him. He hissed as the arrowhead ripped through his flesh once again. He tried to gently pull out the arrows in Kirsty, but his hand threatened to seize up every time he attempted to grasp the arrow. He slung one arm around his neck and stood up. He lowered his injured hand to Midian, who staggered upright, trying in vain to grip his hand so that it did not hurt him. Her hurt ankle would not support her weight and her leg quivered dangerously every time she applied the smallest amount of pressure onto it. Tani placed his spare hand around her waist and on her hip and she got a better grasp on him by placing her other hand around his neck. She could feel Kirsty slipping on Tani’s other side and she took hold of her arm.

Tani staggered forwards, Midian limping alongside him. Midian felt something warm on her waist and saw that Tani’s blood was seeping through her clothes from his wounded hand. The Emerald Guards failed to notice the three hobble along the road, as they were gathered around Animal and was trying to return him to consciousness.

Hour after hour passed as Tani guided the two women around Tokyo, searching for somewhere safe to lie down and recuperate. Midian was feeling more and more helpless with each passing minute, stuck travelling around in a city where there seemed to be no hope for anyone. A woman was moving weakly across the road in front of them, staggering more theatrically then even Tani was, supporting two women in such a way he might as well have been carrying them. She turned, facing the slaughter and destruction going on behind them.

She had a stump protruding from her right shoulder and was holding it in her left hand; someone had cut off her lower arm. Her other arm looked just as bad, the only difference being was that it was whole. All the woman’s skin had been wrenched off on her left arm, and Midian was sure that she could see something white in among the shiny red raw flesh. She felt her stomach churn and retched. A puddle of blood was building up at the woman’s feet. She turned her tear streaked face to the ground and stared at her feet, as though embarrassed about looking as she did. Midian, with the only visible wound being her stabbed ankle felt both sympathy for the woman, and also that she was over reacting about her own wounds. This woman had suffered a lot more than she had, but she did not have anyone to drape herself over, so she made do with being on her own. Midian, on the other hand received an injured ankle, and the first thing she did was fling herself at Tani.

The building that the woman was standing outside of emitted an exploding noise. The windows shattered, sprinkling glass all over the unfortunate woman. She started sobbing loudly as a shard of jagged glass embedded itself in her wounded arm. Midian felt another pang of sympathy and wondered what it must feel like to have a piece of glass jammed inside a limb which had no skin to stop the wound from hurting as much.

As they drew level with the woman, Midian unhooked herself from General Tani and hobbled along to her. Tani stopped and watched as Midian gave the woman a warm, encouraging smile and rested one hand on her shoulder, clearly not wanting to touch her skinless arm, in case it stung her. Midian peered closely, holding her breath. The stench of blood was strong. She found the piece of glass, wedged deep inside the limb. She took a deep breath via her mouth, got the best grip on it she could and pulled. The woman whimpered in pain as the glass was being slowly forced out of her arm. Once it was out, the woman moved as though about to hug Midian, but stopped, and remembered the state she was in. She muttered a raspy ‘thank you’ instead.

‘Does anyone know how many more Emerald Guards are left?’ she asked. Midian shook her head.

‘I don’t think that there is a single person here who is willing to try and find out. The police are doing their best to keep a tally of how many Guards they are getting rid of and adding them up at the end of their shift, but more and more seemed to be showing up every day,’ replied Midian.

The woman stifled another sob, and toppled over sideways. Her head cracked against the corner of the building on her way down. Tani watched the woman fall down before urging Midian on still. She hobbled along, limping in front of the General.

A large group of women ran past Midian and Tani, covering their heads and screaming. The air was thick with flying arrows. The youngest of the gaggle of fleeing woman tripped as an arrowhead dug itself into the back of her leg. She stopped, examining the wound, not realising that her friends had run on ahead, not looking back. She lowered her hands from her head and grasped the arrow. She pulled, wincing horribly. Midian saw that she did not look much older than fifteen or sixteen. Raising her view once again to the roofs, she saw five more Emerald Guards. Four of them had their bows out, preparing to fire. Each of them were pointing three arrows in their bows at the teenage girl who was still attempting to coax the arrow out of her calf.

The Guard without a bow signalled for his companions to fire. The girl was engulfed in projectile weapons and dead in mere seconds. Tani looked into her eyes and saw that the last expression she worn was one of agitation and slight irritation. He noticed that his own hand was becoming slightly irritated and red since he had been hit. He looked at Kirsty who still was not moving with three arrows stuck in her back. He watched as Midian ran one finger over the surface of her throat. When she removed her hand, she saw that her fingers were tainted with blood. She shrugged to herself.

Gunshots tore through the air. Tani saw several uniformed men shooting at the Emerald Guards, but they might as well have been shooting at something small and insignificant, as every bullet was dodged or repelled. A gang of policemen were huddled together outside a building Tani and Midian had just limped past. Their guns were pointed upwards and they were trying - and failing - to shoot their targets. A stolen car sped down the road and crashed into the policemen. One man was able to run out of the way in time, but his colleagues were not so lucky. Midian saw underneath the front left wheel a pistol being held loosely in a cold dead hand. She rushed forwards and snatched it, then ran back to the corner of the building, examining the side wall. Tani watched her, wondering what on earth she was about to do now.

Heading up the wall was a drainpipe. Midian grabbed it and forced her bruised and beaten body to clamber up it. Her feet slipped halfway up the pipe. She glanced down and regained her footing. She held the gun in one hand and used her other to move herself upwards further. She pulled up body up onto the roof silently, not uttering a single thing.

Three out of the four Guards that were on the roof had been shot down, but one still remained, and was swerving and dodging every single bullet that headed his way. He laughed at the officer, taunting him and making hand gestures. He had not seen Midian skulking over to him. He did not notice her at all until he felt the bullet chamber of her gun press against his temple. He turned to her.

‘Dodge this.’

She pulled the trigger. The shot echoed through the air and the Guard fell down. He crumpled up on the roof instantly. Midian gazed at the body with a feeling of grim satisfaction. She moved to the edge of the roof and glanced down at Tani who was laying the unconscious Corporal on the ground. Her ankle gave a particularly painful twinge and she gasped, holding her leg. She toppled forwards and off the roof. Tani saw her falling figure and ran. It seemed hopeless. He was not close enough and she was going to fall to her death.

As Midian tumbled down she saw the General running over to her. Just before her head hit the ground, he had leapt and crashed into her, breaking her fall. Midian lay on the ground still, but on her back as opposed to on her head. General Tani had fallen down on top of her and was watching her nervously. She rubbed her head but thanked him for saving her life. He laughed and moved off her. She gripped his hand and allowed to be tugged to her feet. She followed Tani back to the still figure of Kirsty, never once taking her eyes off him. She felt embarrassed about her fall, but even more embarrassed to find herself underneath the General in such a fashion. She felt her face flush and cursed quietly.

Kirsty stirred slightly but did not wake up. Midian and Tani looked down at her, watching, praying that she could come around. Neither of them knew how long she would be unconscious for and they both hoped - General Tani more so - that she would wake up, preferably soon. The General crouched down and pulled Kirsty to him as though hugging her, holding her head with his injured hand. His other hand was trying to pull out the arrows. They gave way eventually, leaving painful and ugly puncture marks in her back. He sat the Corporal back and took hold of one of her hands, staring into her shut eyes. Midian noticed their hands together and very quickly occupied herself with looking at something else.

‘You really like her, don’t you?’ asked Midian. She spoke in a hesitant and tentative voice, unsure of whether she wanted to hear the answer.

Tani nodded.

‘I have always liked her. There is something about her that I like very much. She,...she was always the favourite of my friends. From the moment I met her, I liked her. And I feel very strongly for her.’

‘Less than lovers but more than friends?’

Midian did not know why she was asking these questions. She was not sure if she was trying to find out what his marital relation was with her, or whether it was just something to talk about in this difficult moment in time. To her great horror, he laughed mirthlessly and shook his head. He was not looking at her, but all the time staring at the Corporal.

‘No. At least, I don’t think so anyway. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the years about her. Wondering where she is, wishing she was with me, and I’ve been trying to deny my feelings, but no matter what I say I cannot lie to myself. I love her.’

The last three words bounced around inside Midian’s head, ringing in her ears. She felt as though she had just been punched in the stomach. She would have preferred being put through years of grievous torture rather than hear General Tani say those last words. He loves her. He loves her! Midian felt like someone was trying to shake her by the throat. She swallowed and stared at the demolition that was once a street in Japan. Her eyes watered and she raised her gaze to the sky, staring hard at the sun. She blinked and looked away, bright spots now impairing her vision. She sniffed and glared at her feet. Tani turned away from Kirsty to look at her. He saw her expression, hatred and depression covering every inch of her face, reflecting her black personality.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

The woman looked up at him and nodded.

‘I’m fine. I’m just thinking about - about all this,’ she lied. In spite in trying to keep her voice steady and minutely cheerful, it quavered, shaking, revealing her hidden sadness.

‘You don’t sound alright. Or look it.’

Anger boiled up in Midian’s chest.

‘Yeah? Well I am, okay? If I always felt how I looked then I would have killed myself by now!’ she shouted.

For a second, Tani looked as though he was about to make another comment, but wisely thought that it was not a clever thing to do. He felt movement and turned away. Kirsty was starting to wake up. She opened her eyes and saw Tani crouched down in front of her, stroking her hand. Relief swept over his face and he smiled. She started to smile in return, but it turned into a grimace as the pain from the puncture holes in her back ran across her. She stood up and saw Midian watching her. She grinned, and despite the anger that was locked up inside her mind, Midian could not help but return it.

The couple continued down the road side by side as though they had not a worry or a care in the world. Midian grudgingly followed, trying hard not to watch them but failing miserably. Hot angry tears spilled out of her eyes as they drew together and Tani placed his hand in Corporal Kirsty’s back pocket. She wiped her eyes in a self conscious manner, hoping that her unhappiness would not be too obvious and noticeable. She saw the holes in Kirsty’s jacket and momentarily felt pleased about her wounds. The next moment, she felt disgusted with herself. She forced herself to speed up so she would not have to see the General and the Corporal walking as though they had been super-glued to one another.

Midian though she saw in the corner of her eye Tani glance at her. She looked up and he said:

‘Feeling in a better mood now, are we?’

She did not answer, fully aware that both Tani and Kirsty had their eyes fixed on her. She knew that if she hated Kirsty with her full anger, she would have slapped the Corporal by now. She knew that Kirsty had not actually done anything deliberately to hurt her, but Midian could not deny the fact that she would be feeling much too resentful to care.

She did not know what they were doing to do now. There seemed to be nothing that they could do except for continuing to run away from the Emerald Guards, which was not a tactful option. Japan had never seen such turmoil before the reign of terror of the Guards. It was obviously the worst thing that the country had ever faced. An icy chill wrapped itself around Midian, Kirsty and Tani, forcing them to shiver.

Tani pulled Kirsty even closer still to him and held her tight, trying to share their body heat. Midian gritted her teeth and hugged herself, even though the effects were not very noticeable.

Midian felt a warm and uncomfortably rush of emotion towards Kirsty, which she could only just identify, as it was not one she often felt. Jealousy. She felt as though her mind was falling prey to negative feelings in a similar, but mental way as Tokyo was falling to the Guards of the late Count Takeshi. Midian rolled her eyes at herself. She was being melodramatic. This was no time or place to feel envious that General Tani had chosen Kirsty instead of her. If the Guards were defeated, then she could, but not before. Her thoughts rattled around in her mind, disabling her hearing for things which were going on in the real world, so Tani and Kirsty’s conversation went unnoticed.

Midian’s mind drifted back to when she was conquering the castle. She remembered crossing Dragon Lake and as Tani was about to cross the gorge, he had placed one hand on her chin, which brought her out of her thoughts and back to what was going on. She felt embarrassed at how she reacted, moodily jerking her face away. Why did he do that? Why did he touch my face like a lover would, instead of shouting something at me or impatiently tapping me own the shoulder?

‘Midian?’

Midian shook herself out of her puzzling thoughts at the sound of her name.

‘What?’ she said, but a bit more aggressively than she had meant to. Tani frowned at her.

‘We’re going to head to southwest Tokyo and plan an attack on the Emerald Guards. One that will actually work, not just running around, looking for safety and occasionally taking out the odd Guard that was so stupid as to allow himself to be killed.’

‘Wonderful.’

‘Well, we need to do something that will be effective, don’t we? I mean the Guards are after us-’

‘Don’t remind me,’ interrupted Midian.

‘- and so we ought to fight back,’ finished Tani.

‘Why are all the Emerald Guards a bunch of thick blokes, anyway?’ she suddenly asked.

‘The Count was sexist and thought that women were a lesser sex. So, therefore, he only wanted men in his army of Guards, so that there was nothing...weak about it,’ chimed in Kirsty.

They continued at a slow pace, listening to Midian muttering angrily under her breath about women being weaker and how she thought that she could have changed his mind.

A shout sounded behind them. Three Emerald Guards were sprinting over to them, each one looking livid. Kirsty gasped and clung onto Tani, who was trying to persuade both her and Midian to run. Midian broke free of the General’s grip and stepped forwards and faced the Guards head on. One held a katana in his hand. Another was armed with a gun. The third was grasping a bow with one arrow left. The Guard holding the gun suddenly pointed it at Midian who laughed.

‘Don’t mess me around, girl. I will shoot if I have to.’

He proved his point by lowering his weapon to Midian’s knee and pulled the trigger. She winced as the bullet tore through her kneecap. But apart from that she barely reacted. Her hand shot out as the Guard with the bow prepared to fire. She snapped the arrowhead off and allowed it to fall to the ground. Behind her, Tani and Kirsty exchanged nervous glances.

Midian kicked up, catching the first Guard around the face. He stepped backwards holding his chin and cursing loudly. She snatched the katana and grabbed the Guard’s head again. She brought it down while raising her knee, then thrust with the blade. The Guard holding the gun shot wildly at her, but she tugged the other surviving Guard in front of her and used him as a shield. His body jerked violently from the force of the bullets ripping through his flesh. Midian tossed him to the ground and kicked out. Her leg spun through the air as she twisted around, her foot catching her victim directly in the throat. The Guard shoved her backwards, almost pushing her over. Midian rushed him, ending the fight in a matter of seconds. As she rushed forwards. she threw out of her hands, one landing on the Guard’s chin, the other around the back of his head. One sharp tug and a crack later, the Guard was on the ground. Midian turned back to the General and the Corporal, who both looked as though they could not believe their eyes. She shrugged at them and walked past.

Tani ran into the road and jumped up just before an oncoming car hit him. Both Midian and Kirsty called out in panic and watched him land on the bonnet. He ran to the driver and pulled him out before climbing in himself. He motioned for Midian and Kirsty to hurry up and join him.

Kirsty accidentally pushed past Midian on her way to the car and she cursed under her breath. She watched the Corporal get in next to Tani before remembering what she was meant to be doing. Tani pressed down hard on the accelerator peddle and started speeding down the road.

‘Where about in southwest Tokyo are we going?’ asked Midian.

‘Just to the army training place. Not everyone in the army has joined forces with the police, but some have. It’s just unfortunate that they don’t seem to be having much luck either. If no one can come up with a decent plan then we can all kiss this world goodbye!’ replied Tani.

Sure enough, on the road in front of them coming their way was a huge army tank, looking like a giant in amongst all the cars. It was going quite fast considering its size and the massive rocket launcher on the tower was pointing right at them.

Tani, who was busy trying to stay on the road and not crash into any buildings had not noticed the tank aiming at them. Kirsty screamed something at him along the lines of ‘Move this goddamn thing out of the way!’ at him, but her voice was so panicked, he could not make out the words. Midian lunged forwards and knocked Tani’s hands off the wheel. She turned the car sharply as the tank fired. A rocket zoomed straight past them and destroyed the car behind them. They heard the explosion and looked back at what should have been them. The car was hardly anything more than a crushed heap of twisted metal with a few spots of blood on the road. The fire kicked up from the mangled engine, covering their backs with more light.

Midian sat back feeling a temporary feeling of relief at the fact that they were still alive. Tani shot them past the tank undetected and continued onwards. She rested her head on the back of her seat and yawned. She suddenly realised how tired she was. Kirsty turned back in her seat to look at her.

‘Tired?’

‘Yeah, but then again I always am.’

‘How come?’

‘I have trouble sleeping. Don’t ask why. I would try and sleep now, but I doubt that it’s a clever idea with all these Guards around,’ said Midian. She smiled. ‘But then again, I’ve never been deterred by danger.’

Kirsty laughed and faced the front again. She glanced at Tani who was staring out the wind screen, hardly blinking. If he had not needed to move in order to drive, Kirsty suspected that he would have frozen on the spot. She gave Midian one last look and saw she was lounging in her seat fast asleep.

The sky was lit up a deep dark red colour as the sun started to set. The sheer brightness and shade of the colour made it look as though the sky was on fire.

The tension in the air was lifting slowly. Almost too slowly to be noticeable, but as they journeyed further and further away from the dangerous area of Tokyo, the scenes unfolding before them were starting to become less dark, less saturated by evil.

By the time the sun was fully down and darkness had fallen, they were free of Emerald Guards, destroyed buildings, fire and death.

Tani stopped the car and shifted around in his seat to try and wake up Midian. He shook one of her shoulders gently until she stirred and opened her eyes. She groaned slightly and looked at him and one of the first things she noticed was Tani’s hand on her shoulder. She smiled at him before realising what was so different than before.

‘Where - where are we?’

‘Southwest Tokyo. Luckily for us we were quite near there as it was so our journey was not as long as it could be. I feel so sorry for those stuck right in the centre,’ said Tani.

Midian stepped out of the car, thinking about the unlucky people who were suffering the worst of the Emerald Guard’s attacks. She thought that they had it bad, but compared to the centre of Tokyo...She had it easy.

Kirsty grinned at her and then walked around the car to join Tani. Midian ambled over as well, deep in thought.

‘What is it like in the middle of Tokyo then? It can’t be much worse than we’ve just ran away from, can it?’ she asked tentatively.

General Tani sighed and shook his head.

‘It really is. All the buildings are nothing more than rubble coating the pavements and the roads. The Emerald Guards will just run into a building, round up every child they can find and take them out, separating them from their parents. The adults are left in the building and it is destroyed. They are killed in the wreckage of a collapsing building. The children are then slaughtered mercilessly.’

‘Please...don’t say any more,’ begged the Corporal, looking as though she might cry.

Midian shuddered at the thought and urged the General onwards. He took Kirsty’s hand and placed his other hand on Midian’s shoulder. He smiled at her and looked around, examining the peaceful environment. It was much, much different to the one they were used to. Even though this tiny area was far from being free of the taint of death at the hands of the Emerald Guards, it was certainly much more peaceful and a more desirable place to live than anywhere else. Tani had longed for Tokyo to fight off and defeat the Guards so things could return to normal, but he had long ago forgotten what it was like to walk along the roads, not caring about anything in the world. He could no longer remember what it was like to sleep soundly at night, without the terrifying thought that he was going to be murdered in his bed.

Tani guided the two women into a nearby hotel and had a long winded conversation with the woman behind the desk instead of getting a room to stay. She seemed to be very interested to hear about what it was like being on the run all the time from the Emerald Guards, and was thoroughly put off leaving the safe part of Japan’s capital.

Midian and Kirsty retreated to a radiator fixed on a wall and savoured the feeling of warmth. The place was lit up with a modern glow of light bulbs, which was much preferable to candlelight. After ten minutes of getting accustomed to electricity again, the two women started to get impatient, as the General was still engaging the woman behind the desk in conversation. Kirsty looked at her watch and started tapping it theatrically, hoping that Tani would get the hint.

‘Hey, Tani! While we’re young!’ called Midian.

He turned and pulled a face at the two women and then asked for a room. The woman handed the General a key and he took them to their room.

‘Am I in the same one as you?’ piped up Midian, looking at Tani. He nodded.

‘Won’t I disturb you both?’

Kirsty laughed and shook her head and gave Tani a sly grin. She followed the General into a medium sized room. There was not much in the way of furniture in their room. A double and single bed and a desk with one chair. Midian kicked off her boots and chucked her trench coat to the ground and laid down on her bed. She stared blankly at the ceiling, relishing the feeling of security that had washed over her. She heard a giggle. Turning to the other two she saw that Kirsty had removed her jacket and was standing with the General behind her. He massaged her shoulders and she turned to face him and kissed him. Midian deliberately turned away, feeling anger and red hot burning envy boiling up inside the core of her heart. She lay on her other side, blocking out the sounds of the Corporal laughing, feeling herself getting redder and redder in the face.

Midian glared at the wall for several hours on end while Tani and Kirsty slept. She felt so angry. She felt anger at herself for being the way she was and anger at Kirsty, for being the woman who,...who had won the heart of the only man she had ever loved. Her eyes widened in shock at what she just thought. She had admitted it to herself. She just admitted to herself that she was in love with the captivating General Tani.

She sat up suddenly. The figures in the bed next to her were still fast asleep, snoring quietly. She got up and walked out of the room. She closed the door and crept down the corridors. After a few minutes of wandering, she came to a dead end, doors leading off into other rooms. She moved to the end of the corridor and leant against the window sill, staring outside, feeling miserable. The moonlight washed over her face as she sighed. A tiny tear fell down her face and into her folded arms as she stared out. She wondered if it was her own fault, the way things had turned out between her and the General. She wondered that if maybe she had not been so cold towards him when they were invading Takeshi’s castle things might have turned out differently. This thought did not do anything to improve Midian’s mood and she slumped against the window sill, her head on her arms crying loudly.

_____________________________________________________________________________

General Tani was woken up by Kirsty roughly shaking him. He sat up and stretched, asking her what the matter was. She then told him that Midian had gone. He got up and moved around the room, as though she was hiding.

‘I told you, she’s not here.’

Tani followed Kirsty out of their room and they split up, trying to find her. She searched outside, near where Tani parked their car, and he looked for their missing companion inside still. It did not take him long to find her. She was slumped, leaning against a wall in a corner almost underneath a window. She had her head resting against the wall and was hugging her legs. She was asleep. Her face was slightly damp and shining in the light; she looked as though she had only just stopped crying. Tani sat down on his knees and attempted to wake her. She stirred and waved one hand limply in a random direction. She opened her eyes reluctantly when Tani continued to try and rouse her. He saw that her eyes were puffy and slightly bloodshot, as though from a mixture of crying and not sleeping. She wiped away the trail of one tear and saw that her fingers were coated with black, She concluded that she continued crying in her sleep and her make up had run. She felt awful still.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked the General.

Midian noticed that he was staring at her with pure concern in his eyes, telling her that he really wanted to know, not because he thought that he ought to ask, despite not actually caring. Being concerned about was foreign to Midian, as anybody she knew did not give a damn about her, and if she was unhappy or angry when she was at school, even her teachers were distant with her, and only spoke to her because they knew that had to, not because they were actually worried. She could not bring herself to tell Tani the real reason for her unhappiness, but could not think of an excuse for her sadness, and gave a half hearted shrug.

Tani seized her hand and pulled her to her feet. She reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and led outside where Kirsty was still searching.

As they moved to the front door of the hotel, the Corporal came through it and accidentally bumped into the General. She apologised and saw Midian next to him and gave her a warm smile which was just about returned. The three of them walked to a one storey building nearby. Midian made sure that she was watching Kirsty and Tani’s feet, as she could tell that they were walking hand in hand and her nerves could not stand much more emotional pain. General Tani knocked on the door of the building and a large, well built man answered it, ushering them inside, but not before giving their clasped hands a dirty look. Kirsty and Tani drew apart, embarrassed. They walked inside, but just as Midian was about to go through the door after them, the man slammed it in her face.

‘Er, Sir, she is with us,’ said Tani.

‘Is she a Corporal like Kirsty?’ asked the man.

‘No Sergeant, she is not, but she has -’ started Kirsty.

‘She helped me bring down Takeshi!’ exclaimed Tani.

The Sergeant sighed and opened the door, allowing Midian to step inside. It was very dark inside. The building was windowless and the only source of light was coming from a loosely hanging light bulb which was moving gently. The effect felt like they were hiding out inside a bomb shelter. There was a large table with a map of Tokyo on it. The Sergeant sat down at the head of the table, and watched Tani and Kirsty take the remaining two seats. He gave Midian a suspicious glance, but she was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, glaring at the other people.

The eleven who surrounded the table fell into a deep discussion, trying to form a plan in which would result in the end of the Emerald Guard. Midian watched them, as the Sergeant stood up and pointed to various places on the map, marking the areas which had collapsed completely at the hand of the deceased Takeshi’s warriors. It was like being in a war film, watching one side plotting attack, but they were in a very similar position. Japan was not fighting in a long winded battle with another country, but instead, Japan was fighting against Japan.

‘Do you have any ideas for what we can do? I trust that, even though you have been running away from the Emerald Guard, you know that the whole of the country’s police force are attempting to control them?’ spat the Sergeant. Midian saw Tani’s face contort into a frown.

‘Yes, I do, but the only idea that I could come up with would be to send the rest of Japan’s army out as well,’ replied Tani.

The Sergeant laughed and shook his head as though he could not believe what he was hearing. The General’s fists tightened as his temper flared up.

‘That’s your great plan? Kill off the rest of our army?’ retorted the Sergeant. ‘I don’t know why, but I had been hoping that you would have been thinking of ways to destabilise the Emerald Guards during these last few years, but judging by what I have just heard, you haven’t.’

Tani stood leaning against the table, staring angrily at the Sergeant.

‘Forgive me for explaining, but it is slightly difficult to think of a good plan when the Emerald Guards are hell bent in trying to slice your head off!’ he shouted.

‘If you think that you are the only one who has had to try and avoid the Guards in order to stay alive, then you are sadly mistaken! Everyone who is in the police force, or in the army is currently being hunted down to try and stop us from wiping them out!’ roared the Sergeant. Tani started to yell a reply, but Kirsty tentatively stood up and spoke instead.

‘Please, Sir, General Tani and Midian -’ Kirsty gestured to the silent figure lurking in the shadows ‘- are wanted dead more than anyone else as they were the only surviving ones that faced Takeshi at his time of death.’

The Sergeant struck Kirsty on the side of her face with the back of his hand as she started to sit back down. Tani bellowed in his raw fury and snatched the katana from the sheath of the man who was sitting on his other side, pressing the tip of the blade against his Sergeant’s throat.

‘For God’s sake!’ yelled Midian suddenly. She swept out of her dark corner and around to where Tani and the Sergeant were still looking daggers at one another and ripped the katana from Tani’s grasp. ‘Are you lot a bunch of squabbling five year olds? Because it damn well looks like it!’

Every eye was on Midian as she allowed her anger to stop a fight breaking out. She gave the man next to Tani his katana back and tapped her feet on the ground, waiting for the General to sit back down and for them to continue to discuss things in a rational way. Midian could hardly be described as a peacemaker, but the effect of her words made the company speak to one another, not as friends, but in the oddly formal tone of those who were being forced to get along with someone they could not stand.

Midian hovered behind both the General and the Sergeant, something which she knew full well was starting to annoy them. Nobody could come up with any ideas to resist the attacks of the Emerald Guards, but Midian was thinking about what Tani had said. ‘But the only idea that I could come up with would be to send the rest of Japan’s army out as well.’ Why would that result in the rest of the army being killed? Surely, if every person who was in the police and the army from the whole of Japan came to Tokyo and raged war on the Guards, then they had to be wiped out. There could not possibly be a large enough number of Guards to defeat them still! It was without a doubt the best plan that had been suggested so far during this meeting, since not another person has made a better suggestion.

‘Why can’t we go with Tani’s idea? How many people are in the Emerald Guard?’ asked Midian.

‘Well, there may be more now, as the last time they were counted was when Takeshi was still alive, but the last noted number was ten thousand, but more people have been starting to think that Takeshi was a great ruler and the number may have doubled, if not tripled,’ replied the man who was sitting opposite Kirsty.

‘Thirty thousand Emerald Guards. We could be fighting up to thirty thousand Emerald Guards?’ repeated Midian in a hollow, dead voice. She cleared her throat, very much stunned at the number that they could be facing.

‘Well, that’s not too bad. We can match that up nicely, can’t we? There’s millions of people living in Tokyo alone, so surely if we let rip with full force we can take them out easily.’

‘No, that is not the case. We have not had any more recruits for four years. People are scared of the thought of fighting the Guards. Being chased by them without a proper reason is bad enough, but to have them come after you because you are trying to stop them is another, and most cannot comprehend the thought. The only number we have, with the police and the army joined is some minuscule number like six thousand.’

‘You’re joking, you have to be. Thirty thousand against six thousand? No, no, I won’t believe it!’ cried out Midian.

‘Unfortunately, we have no choice but to believe it -’ began Tani.

‘How can people think that Takeshi was a great ruler? He kidnapped innocent people, people who he suspected of so much as making a snide comment about him and killed them!’ shrieked Midian.

Kirsty turned to face her, a look of sadness on her face.

‘He said that they were all convicted criminals. He made up some very convincing lies about them and most people took it as red that what he said was the holy truth. So, because they believed that he executed dangerous criminals, they are outraged at his death.’

‘He was corrupting every Japanese person’s mind!’ exclaimed Tani viciously.

Midian paced around the room, weighing up the facts in her mind. Takeshi killed where it was unnecessary, making up lies, saying that they had committed horrible crimes themselves like mass murder. The people in Tokyo who read or listened to his lies thought that he was telling the truth, unable to realise that all he wanted was to stay in power. After General Tani killed him, thousands more joined the Emerald Guard out of anger at the death of their so called great ruler, and more still are, making the total number of Guards something like thirty thousand. People who do not think of him as such a great ruler are scared, terrified of the Emerald Guards, and cannot face the idea of joining the police of the army to help bring them down, and so up against the Guards is a measly six thousand.

‘It’s hopeless. There doesn’t seem to be anything that we can do. If we go into battle, we will be slaughtered without any thought in the world,’ said the Sergeant.

‘So you’re just going to let the Emerald Guard achieve their goal of murdering everybody in Tokyo?’ snapped Midian, her anger kicking up again.

‘Do you see a better way around things?’ retorted the Sergeant.

‘Yes, I do! I say that we fight back, because we’re all going to die at their hands anyway, so why can’t we fight back? Why can’t we try and defend our country?’ asked Midian, her voice rising.

‘Because our fight will be in vain, you stupid girl!’

Midian froze. She stood, facing the direction of the Sergeant still, but kept her eyes shut and was breathing deeply, as though trying to calm herself down and find inner peace. She opened her eyes to see the Sergeant walking out of the building and slamming the door shut behind him. The others were starting to leave as well, except for Kirsty who was absent mindedly biting the nails on her right hand and for Tani who was holding his head in his hands in despair.

‘So...what now?’ she asked.

‘There’s nothing else we can do,’ replied Tani, his voice coming out slightly muffled.

Midian sat down in the chair on Tani’s other side and stared at the map, still with several small counters on, marking certain areas. She knew full well what was going to happen. If they fought, they would be killed in battle, and remembered as those who died trying to defend their country, but instead, the Sergeant was not going to allow them to fight, because he knew how it would end, and so he was going to let them die, leaving Tokyo defenceless.

‘We’re just going to have to go behind his back, Tani. We’ve got to fight back. He’s going to leave us out to die! Look at what we have to lose! And by that, I mean more than a country.’

‘What do you mean then?’ queried Kirsty.

‘Well, look at you two for one.’ General Tani the and Corporal exchanged glances, wondering what she meant. ‘No doubt you will want to get married some day and have children, but that ain’t gonna happen if the Emerald Guards kill everyone, is it?’

She stopped talking and swallowed. She looked as though every word she spoke was costing her every bit of determination she possessed, but she continued:

‘So, well, we ought to gather up everyone we can, without letting the Sergeant know and wage war on them. At least then we will be in with some slight chance of survival.’

Tani flashed a bit smile at Midian and stood up, making his way to the door, Kirsty trailing behind him. She held the door open for Midian and jogged to catch up with Tani, who was heading towards the training centre. He had a brief discussion with one person there, who had claimed that he had not been spoken to by the Sergeant and therefore none of them had been told about not fighting back. Kirsty chimed in by saying about how they ought to go behind his back, using the similar sort of persuasive wording that Midian had.

The man saluted General Tani and went back to deliver the news about going to war against the Emerald Guards. The General dragged Midian and Kirsty to the armoury. He told Kirsty and Midian to take whatever weapons they could for themselves and before they could reply, he grabbed a white bundle which was laying on the ground and a pair of yellow boots and walked into another room.

Midian fished through all the discarded weapons to see that some of them had started to rust. The Corporal unearthed an old katana and saw that the blade had been entirely coated in brown rust. She found a sword which was still very new and tested the blade. She winced and a drop of blood swelled and dripped onto the stone ground. Midian watched her and continued to paw through the metal and fished out a kunai. She slipped it into her boot in the style of an old fashioned assassin. Her hands rested on something large and cold which was buried deep underneath a pile of katanas and kunais. When she pulled it out, she saw that it was a heavy shotgun. Kirsty watched her feel the weight with some slight interest.

‘The occasional police weapon turns up in the army’s armoury.’

Midian cautiously checked the bullet chamber and saw that it was still fully loaded. She placed it down next to her and rummaged further.

The door to the other room swung open and General Tani came out. He was wearing all white. He had a white t-shirt underneath a closed white jacket. On the front were two frolicking dragons and on the back was a huge snarling tiger’s head. He wore white trousers and the yellow boots he picked up earlier. As Midian looked at him, she realised that it was the same uniform that Corporal Kirsty was wearing.

He asked them if they had found anything and Kirsty showed him the katana she pulled out while Midian enthusiastically held up her shotgun and kunai. He smiled at the two women and walked past the pile of rusted katanas that Midian was standing by and stopped in front of something that looked like where hammers were stored in a workshop. He selected one of the hilts that stuck out and drew out a long bladed weapon. He motioned for Midian and Kirsty to follow him and walked out. A sudden thought occurred to Midian and she hurried after the General.

‘W - wait a minute! We’re not going to go after the Emerald Guards now are we? We only got here yesterday!’

‘No time like the present.’

Midian noticed the spark in Tani’s voice, some flare of excitement that was not normally there, the sudden appearance of reckless energy.

The two women were led out of the armoury and they saw what looked like approximately three thousand men lined up outside.

‘Half of the army have already gone to the centre of Tokyo, and these are the men who were under orders by the Sergeant to stay behind. Well, we’re all going to attack now!’ cried Tani.

It was quite unusual to see him so eager to fight, as was not normally very violent, and as the result of that, Midian saw him sustain many injuries that probably could have been avoided had he been a bit more comfortable to attack. But, though Midian. He still makes one hell of a General...

Midian stood by Kirsty, who were both watching General Tani psyching up his new army. Neither of them would have admitted it, but they were both thinking about how nice he looked in his new uniform.

The three thousand men marched around the armoury to where hundreds upon hundreds of tanks stood, waiting. Kirsty looked at them all, gasped and whispered to Midian ‘There’s about three hundred tanks out there!’

The army moved to each tank in groups of ten and filed inside. General Tani almost had to pull Midian and Kirsty into the slightly larger tank at the very front. They stood around inside, rather cramped from the other ten people already crammed inside. Tani sat down in the seat and moved the tank forwards. Kirsty peered out of a slit at the back and saw the other two hundred and ninety nine tanks proceed behind.

They were not moving at great speed, and by the time that they had reached the outskirts of the dangerous area of Tokyo, twilight had already fallen. Looking back, Midian could see the other tanks turning off and heading in other directions.

‘Where are the other tanks going?’ she asked.

‘You can’t seriously think that three hundred tanks are all going to be needed right in the centre, do you? They’re heading to the less Emerald Guard infested areas; as for us, we’re entering the seventh layer of Hell, also known as the centre,’ replied Tani.

It was pitch black by the time General Tani had guided them to their destination. As he had already told them, every building had collapsed. The Emerald Guards were running riot, heading towards the large tank. The Guard in the lead somehow managed to force the door of the tank open, but as soon as he placed so much as one foot inside, there was a loud shot and the Guard fell back with a hold in between his eyes. Kirsty looked around and saw Midian triumphantly lower her weapon.

Tani, Kirsty and Midian filed out of the tank, holding their katanas high, ahead of the rest of the company. Two men stayed behind and continued to drive the tank through the centre. The sound of clashing blades sounded right behind Midian; she turned and found Corporal Kirsty crossing blades with an Emerald Guard who had evidently tried to attack her from behind. Looking round, she could see that things really were as bad as Tani had said. Not one single building stood up. Large groups of children and adults were being rounded up and circled.

The three heard a loud explosion. They heard sounds of a struggle coming from inside the tank and Tani dashed back inside, Midian hot on his heels. Two Guards had ambushed the men inside and were trying to take over the tank. One Guard was angrily shoved into the front of the tank and set off another rocket. Tani embedded the blade of his sword in the Guard’s head and saw Midian re-sheathing her kunai. He noticed that it had blood on the blade.

A fresh scream of mingled horror and pain rang through the air. Tani swore in surprise and peered out of the tank. He saw one of his men running towards a hunched figure on the ground shielded from view by two Emerald Guards.

‘Corporal!’ he shouted.

Something clicked inside Tani’s mind. He threw himself out of the tank and let out a wail of pure misery as the Guards stepped to one side.

‘Kirsty!’ screamed Tani. The pitch in his voice was so high it almost felt as though he had burst his lungs. He saw the slumped figure on the ground slowly rise but was kicked down again. Both the Guards taunting Kirsty found themselves dead at exactly the same moment. The bodies fell to the ground, blood leaking over the injured figure of Kirsty. Tani pulled her to her feet and examined her, trying to see where she had been struck.

A Guard had crept up behind her and taken a near accurate thrust at her heart. He felt the Corporal’s hand tighten on his and he could hear her anguished breathing in his ears. Footsteps sounded behind him and he saw Midian running over to them. She gaped at Kirsty, not knowing what to do. Another Guard caught her from behind and dragged her backwards, away from the General. He had his hand over her mouth and was holding a blade to her temple, taking her hostage. He shouted at her to drop her weapon but she clubbed him around the head with her gun instead. She then raised it again in the general direction of Kirsty and Tani. She could see his expression, filled with sudden horror.

Tani could only bring himself to stare at Midian. She was pointing her gun straight at Kirsty. She was about to kill the Corporal. He attempted to rearrange their positions so he would take the shot when she fired but something was wrong. Kirsty was still holding onto life and he was not injured. Midian lowered her weapon once more and pointed behind. He saw another uniformed man laying on the sodden ground, his clothes tainted red.

Tani tried to find somewhere that he could put Kirsty, to place her out of the way now she no long longer able to fight. He could hear her whispered protests as she tried to persuade him to let her carry on, that she was fine and did not need any medical attention.

He sensed movement behind him and unhooked himself from the Corporal to fight the Guard who attempted to take him by surprise. Kirsty sank to her knees in a way reminiscent of when she was in danger of being killed when Midian had saved her. Tani was too bust fighting the Emerald Guard who had just came out of nowhere to notice that Kirsty was in danger of death.

Midian sliced the head off another Guard and ran to where Kirsty was, seeing yet another Guard racing over and she made to block the attack against the Corporal. She did not freeze, but her movements were slowed down by the blade which was now sticking through her abdomen and out of the small of her back. She twisted her head around the best she could without moving her torso too much and saw that the small of her back was level with Kirsty’s head. The Guard raised his view and grinned evilly at Midian and pulled his sword out of her. She felt something collide with her and realised that the blade which protruded out of her had also sank through the pierced skull of the very person she was attempting to save.

Corporal Kirsty fell back onto the pavement and into an irreversible sleep. Warm blood gushed down Midian’s body as she gazed at the destruction all around her. All this had been caused just by the death of one mere person. There was no point to it. No point at all. But that did not stop it from happening.

Pain grasped her tightly, consuming her entire body as the feel of the blade spread from the point she was struck and outwards to her limbs, stretching to her head and the the tips of her fingers and toes.

A young girl was running in the direction of Midian. She looked about four years old. Her long black hair fanned out behind her as she ran away from the destruction. The small girl was glancing around her with wide, fearful blue eyes. A Guard stepped in front of her and lowered the point of his katana until it was the same height as the girl’s throat. She could not withdraw her gaze from it and watched its progress nearer and nearer to her jugular vein. Just before the Guard could kill the girl in cold blood, the Guard found himself being struck around the back of the neck. He spun around, but there was nobody there. In a flash he turned forwards again and saw Midian sweep up the girl in her arms. As a last attempt to cause either Midian or the girl pain, he flailed his weapon aimlessly at the duo as Midian started to carry the girl away. The tip of the katana scored a line on the back of Midian’s neck, causing the flesh it met with to sting.

She realised that she was running in the direction opposite to where Tani was fighting and glanced backwards. The girl was clinging to her arms tightly, hiding her tiny face. Midian could feel the child’s tears trickle as she cried. Midian continued to look around, trying to see any adult figure who was not a Guard fighting their way over to her to take their shaken child back.

‘Where are your parents?’ she asked. The girl looked up at her, blinking her tears out of her eyes.

‘They’re dead. Both Mummy and Daddy died because of those nasty men in uniform,’ replied the girl.

Midian’s heart sank. She had to help fight against the Guards and was going to be hindered if she had to keep an eye on this small girl.

‘Is there nobody you can stay with?’

She shook her head. Midian renewed her grasp on the girl and headed back to Tani. He was still by the tank, which had not moved. She could see the only movement was of the tower as it was aiming at large groups of Emerald Guards that were sprinting to and fro across the roads. She kicked open the door and froze solid when she found herself staring down the barrels of at least five guns. They relaxed when they saw it was Midian and she strode in and placed the girl at the back of the tank.

‘Guard her with your lives. If you fail you will have me to answer to, and I’m worse than the Emerald Guards.’

Without another word, she swept out of the tank and slammed the door behind her.

Midian picked a katana up off the ground and swung it wildly around at the many Guards. She found it was easy to injure and maim them as there were so many around all she had to do was simply spin around in a circle with her right arm outstretched. Occasionally, one Guard would try and force entry to the tank, but both Midian and the group inside the tank were more than ready for this eventuality, mainly because Midian wanted the small girl to live, and also she had managed to fright the men inside the tank as they heard she was able to keep the Sergeant under control when he was in one of his moods.

It seemed as though the number of Guards was not thinning, but on the brighter side, no more seemed to be arriving. It was as though they were permanently fighting the same number of Guards. Quite a few of the guards were busying themselves with terrorising the innocent civilians, but many were attacking the small army facing them. One man was bravely facing third Guards at once, somehow succeeding in keeping them at bay by going completely unnecessary with an assault rifle and emptying many clips on the crowd of approaching enemies.

Midian checked her shotgun and headed towards the large group, ducking every now and then when she thought that she was about to be shot. The sound of her gunshot reverberated through the air. Body after body fell to the ground and Midian was just about to shoot the last one, but when her finger squeezed the trigger, nothing happened except that the gun emitted a clicking sound. She cursed and threw her gun instead, hitting the Guard between his shoulders. She kicked up and caught him on his chin and as her foot cascaded to the ground, and swiftly took up her kunai and thrust forwards. The last body crumpled to the ground at her feet.

The man gave her a nervous smile and thanked her. He pressed his assault rifle into her hands along with the last two clips.

‘You seem to have much better control over yourself when armed with a gun than I do.’

He ran off, and Midian doubled back on herself again. She could see General Tani fighting his way through the coloured mass, his look of sheer determination noticeable even from a distance. Midian scanned his expression for any sign of sadness or anger which could be related to the death of his Corporal, but apart from his determination to fight his best, his face was impassive. She made her way next to him and when their eyes met for a split second, she gave him a brief smile. She moved sideways out of the General’s way as he made an attack on a Guard. One came charging straight at her. He swung his sword at her head and she ducked. The blade hummed as it zipped over her head. She raised one leg sharply and caught the Guard in the stomach in such a way that he fell forwards, landing on the ground on his stomach. Seizing her opportunity, she turned her down and pulled hard on the trigger, unleashing wave after wave of metallic punishment. She could see the body moving fast and also jerkily from the force of the gun’s ammunition running through skin and velvet flesh. Tani turned back to face her at the sound of the shooting and as he did, Midian shot in his direction. He called out in surprise and heard a thud behind him.

‘That’s the second time you’ve made me think you were going to shoot one of your allies. First I thought you were going to kill Kirsty, and now me!’ joked Tani.

He spoke Kirsty’s name in an almost cheerful tone of voice, and Midian wondered if he knew about her death.

‘Have you seen Kirsty around? She’s run off somewhere and I can’t find her. I hope nothing has happened to her,’ said Tani.

‘You....don’t know?’ stuttered Midian. The General gave her an odd look. ‘You haven’t looked at the ground at all?’

He shook his head, clearly unsure of what Midian was talking about. He said to her that there was no point in keeping his eyes on the ground because there were only dead bodies. As the words ran past his lips he stopped in mid sentence, watching Midian’s unhappy and slightly exasperated expression. He lowered his gaze and found, not too far away, the body of the late Corporal Kirsty. He let out a small gasp and started towards her, but he found his arm in the grasp of the black clad woman as he passed. He stopped, one arm pulled behind him slightly and twisted his head round to look at Midian again.

‘How?’ he choked.

‘After you set her down to fight a Guard I saw another one come after her and I tried to take the blow for her and did...but not in the way I had hoped. She was kneeling down and her head was level with the small of my back and so I was stabbed directly through the abdomen. The blade...went through me, then into the Corporal’s head…’

Tani listened to what she was saying, turning to look at both Midian and the dead body in the form of his Corporal. He drew in a deep breath and held it, his eyes shut. He looked as though he was about to sob out loud. Midian could not blame him if he did. She would have done if she was him.

A roaring noise started up overhead. Midian and General Tani both scanned the dark skies to see several helicopters flying over the city. They landed on a load of rubble which was once a building. Several men exited from the red helicopters; Midian thought she recognised the first man who climbed out of the helicopter in the lead. It was the Sergeant.

He made his way over to Tani, a disgruntled look spread over his features. As he came closer, Midian spotted her mistake. Now that he was nearer, she could see that ‘disgruntled’ was a huge understatement. ‘Vexed’ would have been much more accurate. He stopped right in front of Tani’s feet, almost reading on his shoes, and shoved his face so close to the General’s he leaned back.

‘So, you think it is clever to go behind my back and fight the Guards anyway, do you?’ he yelled. He was yelling out of both anger, but also it was fairly difficult to hear anything that was going on because of the newly started sounds of thunder, the clanging of crossed blades, screaming, and something which sounded curiously like approaching tanks.

‘It was my idea!’ said Midian.

The Sergeant’s face occupied the blank look of someone who feels ready to hit another man. He glared at Midian.

‘It was -’

‘My idea, yes. You were going to leave us all out to die! Anyway, there’s no use moping about it now, because in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re at war. It’s too late. You can’t change the past.’

As she said this she gave Tani a quick look and saw that he was biting down hard on his bottom lip to keep himself from throwing his arms around the Sergeant’s neck and breaking down. She could see Kirsty’s still body out of the corner of her eye. She knew that the feeling of realisation that stole over her when she was stabbed was going to be with her for a long time. It was the kind of thing that would keep a person awake in the early hours of morning, unable to think about anything except what was bothering them the most, and in Midian’s case, that would be allowing the Corporal to die, despite she tried to save her.

Several cars that were being joy ridden by Emerald Guards were charging over the destruction of buildings. Midian saw the rocket on the tank tower move, targeting them, and she knew that this was without any interference from Takeshi’s henchmen. She could guarantee this because she had faith in the fact that her threat to the men operating it would still be bouncing around inside their heads. She could make the bravest of men feel uncomfortable and become considerably less brave when she was in her full state of anger.

Four tanks came thundering down the road, in the opposite direction of the Guard inhabited cars and fired. The rockets flew through the air and landed right on target, sending parts of the cars high into the air. The city was lit up from the light of the fire, casting eerie shadows on the road from the Guards holding various weapons, filled with anger and malice.

Midian suddenly realised that the war was coming near the end. They were winning! Sending out the rest of the army was worth it, and it was winning them the war! The four tanks that had just arrived were presumably the ones that had been fighting off Guards from other areas in Japan and wiped them out, so they came to the centre, where it is most inhabited.

Yet more people were arriving, but these new figures were not as welcome as more allies. They were clearly Emerald Guards. One was Animal, and the other was someone she had come into close contact with shortly after they found Kirsty. The Sumo wrestler in yellow had changed his clothes for robes that were similar to the ones that Takeshi wore. She gave Tani a puzzled look.

‘He is Takeshi’s nephew.’

‘You mean the guy next to Animal?’ asked Midian.

Tani nodded.

‘But he works in the Emerald Guard!’

‘I know. He is Takeshi’s heir and also fights for his dead uncle in the Emerald Guard.’

The two figures walked over to Midian and Tani and met their stares head on. The Sergeant drew his katana and held it at the throat of Takeshi’s nephew, as Tani once did to him. The man merely looked at the Sergeant before grasping the blade lightly and moving it away. He stared at Midian for a second and narrowed his eyes as though trying to remember some distant memory.

‘I recognise you. I saw you at the Sumo Rings. You fought against Animal,’ he said, gesturing to the hulking figure next to him.

‘That’s right. And I won.’

The man smiled. He whipped out a sword and held it to Midian.

‘You won’t win this time!’

Midian only had a few seconds of react, but it was enough. As the katana blade came rushing down she threw herself to one side, rolling head over heels. She straightened up and faced her opponent, ignoring the weapon the Sergeant held out and started to try and shoot. An Emerald Guard who was fighting nearby lunged in front of the man and took the bullets for him. Midian snarled as she tried to shoot her target.

She gave up on shooting and threw the gun to the ground, snatching the Sergeant’s sword and hacking the head off the body as the last glimmer of life winked out. She stabbed the air in front of her, filled with the determination of someone who knows that they have nothing to lose. Nothing worth talking about, anyway. She was slowly but surely becoming infuriated. No matter what she did, she could not hit the last descendant of Takeshi. The Sergeant was fighting off Emerald Guards, and Tani had his hands full with the great lump that was Animal, so she could not ask for help.

Midian cursed obscenely every time he moved his head inches away from where it was earlier. Her growing temper was far from improved by the fact that her enemy was laughing. She gave an angry jab which seemed to her to be horribly inaccurate, but the man had to lift up the blade of his own katana in order to stay alive. The point quivered in front of his face, merely centimetres away. His eyes widened in shock and his breath caught in his throat. Midian had both her hands on the hilt of her katana and was putting extreme force behind it, trying to break through the defences and win Tokyo back from the clutches of the Emerald Guard.

She moved her hands to the side as though she had just swung hard at the Guard’s face in an attempt to disarm him. He staggered sideways and almost lost his grip on his weapon. Midian saw her chance and knew that she might not get another one. The katana tore through his robes, deep into his flesh and worked its way through the bone. He screamed, attracting the unwanted attention of his fellow Guards. She gave a hard tug and pulled her sword out of the Guard’s spine and out of the side of his torso. He brought the blade of his own sword crashing down on top of Midian’s head; she only avoided it by locking swords.

They were facing one another, a look of stress etched deep into both faces. Their blades were crossed, and also seemingly to be stuck. They were evenly matched and neither one had the advantage over to other. Midian staggered backwards unsteadily and regained her balance just in time. The kick to her wound took her by surprise, but she recovered as her enemy pulled back his fist. When it should have knocked against her chin, she threw up a random hand and caught his hand in her own. She kicked up and caught him under the arm before turning her back - still with a hold on his wrist - and pulled him over her shoulder. His head struck the ground with a satisfying crack, but he did not appear to be unconscious. Midian bent down and suddenly found herself in the clasp of the Emerald guard again, but he had placed a blade at her throat and was starting to slit it.

She kicked back and hit her enemy’s shin hard before he got the chance to slaughter her. She threw her head back and caught him squarely on the nose. She turned on her heel and saw him holding his nose, blood pouring down his face. He glared at her and swore at her. Midian snorted.

‘You seriously think that I’m going to be offended by that? I’ve had a lifetime of listening to snide remarks a thousand times worse than that. You are just pathetic.’

Thunder rolled and lightning cracked. The flames of destroyed vehicles and the light of the jagged forks flickering over the sky illuminated the scene. Predictably, rain started to pour down, just as it seemed to have every night for the last four years. Was it possible that the age of darkness may be coming to an end? Could it be that after Animal and Takeshi’s nephew were taken care of, the war against the Emerald Guards could be won? It just seemed too good to be true. Four years of being scared witless had left certain thoughts lingering in the minds of the Japanese. Thoughts like ‘What was it like before he Emerald Guard became crazed?’ The reign of terror left people in a state of desperation, hoping against hope that something good would happen, that some miracle would wipe out the Guards, but so far nothing had. They were a force that was simply too powerful to be defeated. Even if the Guards were defeated, it would be ages before the realisation of it sank down into the minds of the people.

Midian was caught unaware by the Yellow Peril’s backhand slap. She backed off, slightly stunned as he ran towards her again. He grabbed her right wrist in his left hand and swung her round so they were back to back, arms outstretched to the sides, Midian struggling to free her wrists. He bent forwards sharply, letting Midian go at the same time so she fell into a heap in front of her opponent. He straightened up, looking at the floored woman and smirking to himself, dusting off his hands in a confident way, as though he had already won the battle.

Tani and Animal were circling one another, fighting over locked swords. He took a great sweep to the side, knocking Animal’s katana out of his hands. While the man sank to the ground, trying to catch his weapon before it hit the ground, Tani struck. Animal felt the point of Tani’s sword pierce his skin as his knees hit the ground. He gave his left arm a sharp jerk forwards, pulling the General’s weapon away. He stood up, towering over General Tani. Animal held his own katana in one hand and pulled Tani’s out of his arm with a disgusting wet sound. As both the blades came rushing through the air at the defenceless man in front of him, a body blocked their paths.

The nephew of Count Takeshi cascaded into their battle just in time to feel the cold bloody steel through his ribcage, somehow, miraculously missing any vital organs. The three figures stood, not believing what they had all just seen. Before they could recover they heard a determined scream and the sound of heavy thudding footsteps. Midian flipped forwards through the air and her ankles landed heavily on the Yellow Peril’s shoulders. She brought her torso up and beat her shattered enemy around the head. Just before he started to sway and fall unconscious, Midian threw her body back until her hands touched the ground and moved her legs back as though she had just finished performing a back flip.

Once again, a loud crack rent the air, but this time it was joined with the sound of tearing flesh. Animal had still been grasping the blades as the body of his leader was thrown around. He looked at the beaten man and saw two deep trenches in his side from where the swords forced their way through his skin.

A boot swung from out of nowhere and struck him on the nose. He was relieved of both katanas and engaged in battle again with General Tani.

The clashing of swords rang shrilly as the surviving few Emerald Guards attempted in vain to defend themselves. Midian looked down at the knocked out figure and she had an idea. If maybe she could distract Animal somehow, then Tani would be able to slip under his guard and take him out. And she knew just how to do it...

Animal’s knuckles crashed painfully into the side of Tani’s face. As his head snapped sideways, he saw Midian was smiling at him, holding her weapon over the head of her battered and bruised opponent. Tani body swerved around the Guard so that he was facing Midian. She called out to him and he froze, beadily watching the tip of the pointed blade hovering inches over the figure on the ground. He took one step forwards before collapsing to the ground with an excruciating pain in his neck. Tani reclaimed his sword, tugging it out of the hard tendons in Animal’s neck. Midian impaled her katana in the heart of Takeshi’s last descendant.

She allowed her weapon to fall down to the ground and made her way to the tank where the small girl was hiding, hopefully well protected by several able bodied soldiers. She threw open the entrance to the tank and found herself staring down the bullet chamber of a gun. She irritably moved it out of her face with the same air of someone swatting an annoying fly. She saw the shoulders of the soldiers sag with relief when they saw her.

‘I don’t know why you’re acting so relieved. Have you forgotten what I said?’

She watched impatiently as they hurriedly shook their heads. The small girl was sitting on the floor of the tank staring into outer space. She was wearing a black top and a knee length deep plum skirt and black sandals with white socks. When she saw Midian, she smiled and held out her hands. As she bent over to pick up the small girl, Tani traipsed in, angrily throwing his katana down, then buried his face in his hands. Midian watched him. She could not see his face, but judging by the way his shoulders were trembling, it looked as though he was crying.

‘What’s your name?’ asked Midian, looking at the small child in her arms.

‘Menai,’ she replied.

Menai followed Midian’s gaze over to Tani and wriggled out of her arms. She stopped in front of the General and peered up at him. Midian moved after her to get her out of General Tani’s way. Menai took no heed and pulled on the leg of Tani’s trousers. He raised his head and glanced around before noticing the little girl pulling nervously on his clothes. Midian saw that his eyes were red and watery as though he was about to start sobbing.

Menai smiled at Tani and he sniffed, wiping his eyes while giving a shaky laugh. He picked Menai up and she wrapped her arms around him.

‘Do you know her?’ asked Midian.

The General shook his head.

‘You must be really good with kids then,’ she joked, speaking in a gentle voice.

‘I guess I must be. I only picked her up to ask where her parents were.’

‘They’re dead. It looks like I’ll have to take care of her. I may be an antisocial nutter at times, but I’m not as bad as to let something as precious as her go.’

Tani laughed again as he felt Menai stir.

‘Being nice to people suits you much more than acting coldly towards others all the time,’ he said.

Midian shook her head.

‘I’ve been antisocial for too long to get completely out of the habit now.’

The remaining police officers and soldiers were running through the streets shouting gleefully at one another, making the words ‘we’ve won!’ reverberate through the air. Tani placed Menai on the ground and sat himself in the seat of the tank and started to drive away.

Men and women in white uniforms were running to an fro across the streets, carrying the bodies of Emerald Guards and their victims alike on stretchers. Tani slowed down almost to a stop when he saw two women grasp Kirsty and place her on a stretcher. As she was carried away, Midian heard a large intake of breath, and saw that Tani was holding it, as though trying to calm himself down. If he sat not been sat at the driving seat of the tank he would have shut his eyes as well.

As they made their slow procession through the streets, it occurred to Midian that she did not know where they were going. When she asked him, he replied by saying he did not know. Midian suggested going back home and letting the soldiers take the tank back to southwest Tokyo.

‘I’m not leaving here, don’t worry about that. I’m not going to miss Kirsty’s funeral next week. But as for going home, well, I have nowhere to go. The apartment I was staying in got blown up,’ said Tani. Midian had never heard him sound to miserable before.

‘Well, why don’t you come back with me, and stay at my house? I’ve got plenty of room, plus it does get lonely for me when I’m not feeling so resentful towards the human race,’ she replied.

General Tani shrugged.

_____________________________________________________________________________

One week later, Tani, Midian and Menai were preparing themselves for Corporal Kirsty’s funeral. Since her death, Tani had not once smiled, and the last time he laughed was when Menai had made her way over to him in the tank. Midian had tried to make the last few days a bit more enjoyable, but nothing seemed to have much effect.

She was now adjusting the dress she was wearing, a long black gothic gown. She slipped on her high heeled boots when she heard a knock on the door. Tani entered, still looking unhappy. He had managed to get a hold of a black suit and was herding Menai in, also wearing black as a mark of respect. Her stomach clenched when she looked at him. She was forcefully reminded of how he looked when rounding up volunteers to defeat Takeshi. If only they knew what would have been unleashed at his death.

She quickly tucked her hair behind her ears and gave herself one last critical look in her mirror and headed out of the door, Tani and Menai following suit. They walked to the church, which had somehow managed to stay intact during the gruelling past four years. As they headed around the back, where the funeral was taking place, Midian could see Tani fighting back his terrible urge to cry. A ghastly wind bit at their exposed hands and faces. Midian looked up at the sky and saw that the light blue colour was not visible because clouds blocked it from view.

A large group of mourners were already waiting for the funeral to start. They glanced up as the three headed in, looking equally as pained. A priest appeared out of the church and made his slow procession over towards Kirsty’s grave.

During the ceremony, several people who Kirsty knew, like friends and family, gave speeches about her life, highlighting what a wonderful personality she had and what a brilliant friend she was. Midian felt slightly out of place in amongst those who had known Kirsty for years and had probably developed a deep bond with her from the first moment they laid eyes on each other, as she knew she was not the same. She was uncomfortably aware of doubting that Kirsty was a nice person, as her automatic dislike always kicked in before she could get to know someone.

After an hour, Tani stepped forwards to say his piece. He spoke about how he met the Corporal, and how much enjoyment and happiness she had brought into his life. He spoke about how brave she was, never daunted by staring danger directly in the face, never losing her cool in situations like the one they had just gone through. He tried to make it sound as though she had died in a heroic way, but he knew that the truth was she was injured and Midian tried to save her, but failed. As he neared the end of his speech, his voice cracked and he fell into a fit of tears. The priest guided him back to Midian and Menai, where she made an attempt to cheer him up.

After the ceremony, Midian helped Tani to walk away. He was still sobbing uncontrollably and Midian found it very difficult to get him to move. He felt his knees give way and he sat on the ground, letting out all his unhappiness in one go. Realising that there was not much else she could do, Midian sat down on the grass next to the General, watching him closely. Menai flopped down in her lap, occasionally reaching out to General Tani, but being pulled away by Midian and getting a sharp look.

They waited another hour for Tani to calm down and by the time they headed back to Midian’s house, he seemed the most cheery he had in a while, now that he had gotten a lot off his chest. They walked back, Midian giving Tani a quick glance every now and then before turning away and pretending she had not. She saw that his face was still shiny from tears and his eyes were red. He sniffed quite a bit and his voice was still croaky, but he seemed happy. Tani looked at Midian, who was carrying Menai on one hip. She was staring into outer space, apparently miles away.

‘What are you thinking about?’ he asked.

She shook her head and looked at him.

‘Hmm? Oh...nothing. Um…’

‘What?’

‘Nothing. Now is neither the time nor the place,’ said Midian, without looking at him.

The General gave her a puzzled look, but she was gazing fixedly in another direction. Menai was watching him with great interest, never taking her eyes off him, barely even blinking. He saw her and smiled. She gave him a huge grin and held out her hands. He took them, still smiling.

‘Will you be my new daddy?’ she asked, sounding hopeful.

He shot another sneaky glance at Midian and said:

‘How about a family friend instead?’

Midian could feel something rising up inside her stomach, some fresh determination which was giving her the strength to sound the words that she could barely say inside her mind. She made up her mind and placed the child down on the ground with a slight sigh and took the General’s hands in her own. She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes.

‘Tani I...I love you.’

She uncertainly opened one eye and saw that Tani was looking at her knees, frowning to himself in a way which said that maybe he did not understand what she had said. She opened her other eye.

‘Oh, Midian.…’ he said in a rather exasperated voice. ‘For how long have you thought that?’

‘I - I dunno, I’ve been trying to deny it, trying to say to myself that it couldn’t happen, not to me, but when you told me that...that you loved Kirsty, I really felt alone. I’m used to jealousy, so I can recognise it easily, but the feeling I felt towards you was a different one, one that I had never ever experienced before. Until I met you. I remember, after the Emerald Guards went nuts and we went our own separate ways, I used to have this pressing desire to be with you, but I didn’t know why, I only knew that if I was with you....everything would be better....I’m sorry if you didn’t want to hear it, but I love you, and I can’t help that. I’m sorry…’

Tani listened to what she was saying, unable to believe that it was true and coming out of her mouth at the same time. She pulled her hands free and picked Menai up again and continued to walk. The General followed, but in a daze.

As they walked side by side, Tani noticed that she was keeping her face turned away from him. He did not know if it was deliberate or not, but he suspected that it was.

‘So you don’t feel the same way about me then, I take it?’ she asked, not bringing herself to look at him.

‘I do like you, I really do, but I don’t love you in that way.’

‘Can’t blame you really,’ replied Midian with sudden bitterness.

They walked back, their heads filled with their own private thoughts. Midian regretted telling Tani how she felt about him as she was sure it would stain their friendship. She could not no longer feel up to living with him, despite they were only friends. It seemed impossible to face him day in and day out now that he knew the truth and the feeling was not mutual. But...in his company was where she was the happiest. If she left with Menai just because of words that should not have been said, she would regret it until the end of her days.

‘Do you hate me for what I said?’ Midian asked, preparing herself for the worst.

Tani laughed.

‘Of course I don’t! You were voicing your feelings, and I respect that -’

‘Even if they aren’t mutual,’ interrupted Midian with a sudden down look.

‘- I can’t help the way I feel either.’

‘You know, you really are different to anyone else that I know. You like me for a start. But you said that you respect my feelings. You’re the only one who does, not even my parents did. Something is missing inside of me that nothing could fill. I don’t know whether its friends, love from my parents, or just love in general. I feel at times that I need someone solid who I can rely on, like a partner, but no one would have me. I thought it might be at least slightly different with you, but it’s clear to me that you won’t either. Well, I’ll stop boring you with my feelings…’

Midian maintained a stony silence all the way back to her house and when they arrived there, she barely said a word. Menai occupied herself in her search for toys to play with. Tani made to talk to Midian several times, but she seemed to make up some excuse to get away.

The General found Midian in her room crouching over a suitcase when he tried to speak to her again in the evening.

‘What are you doing?’

‘I can’t stay here.’

‘What about Menai?’

‘Unless you’re volunteering to look after her and raise her as your own, she’s coming with me.’

‘Wait...wait a minute, is this because of our conversation this afternoon?’ asked Tani.

Midian straightened up and shut her suitcase, staring at him, tears in her eyes. She made her way over to him, droplets trickling down her face. She stopped right in front of him and looked straight into his eyes. Tani wiped her face dry, looking at her in a way a father might when his son or daughter came home from school crying. She flung herself onto his neck and the tears poured from her eyes in full flow. Tani placed one hand on the small of her back, over the puncture wound she received when Corporal Kirsty died, and the other on her neck. He held her close to him, while she sobbed.

‘All I want is for someone to be with, is that too much to ask? Just for someone like you to see me in the same light as you do. I will admit that I haven’t done much to find this person, but I can’t cope with being lonely anymore.’

A strange expression flickered over Tani’s features as though he was fighting with some inner feeling he had not anticipated.

‘You don’t have to be lonely. Not anymore.’

Midian pushed herself away from the General to gape at him.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that you don’t have to be alone.’

They merely looked at one another. Midian pulled a face as she tried to figure out what he meant. Tani could see that his words were not understood and decided to explain it in a way that even Midian could understand. His fingers wrapped around her wrist and he pulled her to him once more, bending her back slightly. He dipped down to meet her and their lips came into contact. His hands took their places again on her back and neck and Midian allowed her arms to fall around General Tani’s neck.

Midian’s mind was peacefully blank while they kissed, which was lucky otherwise she would have been wondering that caused Tani’s sudden change in heart towards her and also worrying that Menai might stumble into the room.

They broke apart, leaving Midian frozen in her surprise.

‘I thought you didn’t love me...?’ she managed.

‘There’s only so much that two people can go through together without developing feelings of some sort for one another. When I said that I didn’t love you, I didn’t then, but...I don’t know, you’ve grown on me, and I’ve only just realised how much I do really like you,’ replied Tani.

‘This love thing is complicated, isn’t it?’ joked Midian.

‘You said it!’ said Tani.

He smiled at Midian and took her hand.

‘So what about your feelings for Kirsty then?’

‘I can’t cling onto the past. It may sound cold hearted but I’ve got to accept that she is dead and get over it. I have to move on. Unfortunately for me, I’m in a line of work where you need to keep your mind focused on the present,’ he explained.

Midian did not say anything; she could not think of anything that she could say. She glanced at her suitcase and felt stupid. She unpacked it and placed all her clothes back in her wardrobe where they belonged. She could feel the General’s eyes on her back as she walked around the room. She heard his footsteps as he walked to the window next to her dressing table. He stared out at the calm atmosphere outside with a smile playing around his mouth.

The sound of a pen scratching on paper distracted him. He turned and saw Midian sitting at her dresser, bending over a piece of paper. He peered over her shoulder at what she was writing, and the held it up for him to see.

‘This is when we conquered Takeshi’s castle,’ he said, gazing at the loopy writing.

‘I know.’

‘Why have you been writing it down?’

‘Because I like to keep my most favoured memories on paper, not just in my mind,’ replied Midian.

Tani continued to stare outside the window, taking in the scene of calmness, relishing the fact that there was neither Takeshi nor the Emerald Guards disrupting life in Japan anymore.

THE END