Flight Through Fire
The flames still burned where Akio had unleashed his final vial. Black smoke swallowed the street, smothering the moonlight. The fire hissed against the falling snow, turning white flakes to steam.
Akio stumbled, every breath like a knife through his ribs. His legs buckled beneath him. He was only dimly aware of hands grabbing him — strong, calloused hands.
"Stay with us!" Bradzi's voice cracked as he slung Akio's arm around his shoulders.
"Don't you dare pass out," Yatsumiya growled, hoisting his machine-gun rifle across his back as he covered their flank.
And then Raka arrived, her wrinkled muscles bulging, her weathered arms wrapping under Akio's frame. She lifted him as though he were a broken child, her teeth gritted in both fury and determination.
"You've carried enough, fella," she rasped. "Let me carry you now."
Together, the four of them broke into the alleyways.
The Hunt Begins
Behind them, through smoke and flame, the shadows of the Fox and Oni emerged.
The Oni moved like a beast unleashed, smashing through debris, his heavy footfalls echoing across stone and snow.
The Fox moved in silence, gliding through the wreckage like a phantom, his mask glinting in the firelight.
"Don't let him escape," Oni snarled. "Not again."
Fox didn't answer. His silence was heavier than rage.
Their chase began.
Akio's Fog
In Raka's arms, Akio drifted in and out of consciousness. The sound of boots crunching through snow and rifle fire behind him blurred with the pounding in his skull.
He tried to form words. His lips barely moved.
"...Marina..."
The name escaped him like a ghost. He saw her face again — fragments of memory, incomplete, broken. A laugh on the hospital steps. A tear at the doorway. A promise he made but could hardly remember the shape of.
And another face — one younger than his, grinning in childhood. The kids name eluded him, but the warmth was undeniable. His brother.
His mind screamed guilt. Why did I forget? Why am I the one alive when my memory is just fragments?
The Brothers' Firepower
The alley exploded with gunfire.
Yatsumiya's machine-gun rifle spat glowing vial-bullets that erupted into sparks and chemical bursts on impact. Glass shells shattered against walls, leaving streaks of acid that hissed through snow.
"Keep running! I'll cover!" he roared, bracing himself, unleashing a suppressive hail that forced the Fox and Oni into cover.
Bradzi crouched low beside him, his sniper rifle gleaming in the pale light. His hands shook, but his eye was steady through the scope. He squeezed the trigger — one, two, three shots. Each vial-bullet cracked into the snow, bursting into icy blasts that froze stone and steel.
Fox slipped past them with unnatural speed, vaulting up a wall, moving like shadow incarnate. Oni charged straight through the fire, ignoring the acid burning at his side.
"Fall back!" Yatsumiya barked, slamming another vial into the chamber. "We can't stop them, only slow them!"
The Fox's Thoughts
High above, as he vaulted from rooftop to rooftop, the Fox's mind betrayed him.
Every time he glimpsed Akio's slumped figure in Raka's arms, his heart wavered. Memories pressed into him like old scars:
A young Akio laughing with their grandfather, mortar in hand. The smell of dried herbs in summer air. The promise of legacy, of healing.
And then — the hospital burning. The Lab's hand crushing everything on accident. Grandfather's last breath.
Fox clenched his fists as he ran. His heart felt tight beneath the mask.
Am I honoring him? Or am I desecrating him by turning his name into blood?
The thought hurt more than any wound. And yet, still, he chased.
Oni's Rage
The Oni had no such doubts. His blood pumped like fire, his muscles thrummed with rage.
"He had every chance," Oni muttered to himself as he crashed through the streets. "He chose weakness. He chose to forget. He chose to abandon."
Every strike of his fists against walls, every roar that echoed through alleys, was aimed not just at Akio — but at the part of himself that still hurt.
Because even Oni had looked up to their grandfather. Even Oni had once believed in the gentle hands of healing. But when that light was taken, all that remained was fury.
And now, that fury had a target right now for the lab.
The Narrow Escape
The Uki brothers fired volley after volley. Glass shattered, smoke and fire filled the night. Raka's heavy steps pounded the snow, her breath ragged, Akio clutched close to her.
"Not much farther!" Bradzi gasped. "The river's ahead!"
The Fox closed in. His blade gleamed as he descended from a rooftop. Yatsumiya roared and opened fire, bullets sparking off steel, driving Fox back a split second.
Oni barreled from the left, nearly cutting them off. Bradzi aimed, fired — a perfect shot. The vial burst at Oni's feet, freezing the ground solid. Oni slipped, crashing to his knees with a roar of frustration.
"Move!" Yatsumiya shouted.
They reached the river's edge. Black water churned beneath the ice.
"Go!" Yatsumiya barked, turning to face their pursuers. "I'll hold them off!"
"No!" Bradzi cried.
But Raka, panting, clutching Akio tight, didn't hesitate. She leapt across the cracked ice, the Uki brothers forced to follow.
Behind them, the Fox and Oni emerged again from smoke and flame.
The chase was far from over.
Akio's Whisper
As Raka stumbled across the ice, Akio stirred, his eyes fluttering open. His lips barely formed the words, but Raka heard them.
"I... I remember..."
She looked down. His gaze was far away, half in pain, half in memory. As he had remembered everything now, thanks to all the truama and noise recently of true despair between. Brothers...
"I remember... him. My brother. His smile. Our grandfather's hands. And Marina... I promised... I promised not to let the past bury me anymore..."
Tears streaked down his bloodied face.
"Then don't," Raka whispered fiercely. "Live, Akio. Live, and fight again. That's the only promise that matters now. Because you made your choice and it looks like It's to late to change it now, so don't otherwise were doomed."
Fox's Heartbreak
From the riverbank, the Fox stopped for a moment. His blade trembled in his hand.
He had heard Akio's words. Even through the chaos, he had heard them.
So you remember me... after all this time...
For a heartbeat, he faltered. His heart tightened with a grief so heavy he almost removed his mask.
But Oni roared beside him, dragging him forward.
"Don't stop now! This ends tonight!"
The Fox clenched his jaw and leapt.
Into the Night
The frozen river from the snowy weather cracked beneath them as the chase surged onward. Gunfire lit the darkness. Masks gleamed in moonlight. Blood stained the snow.
And in the middle of it all, Akio clung to consciousness — caught between memory, guilt, and determination.
The night stretched endless, the hunt relentless. And both sides knew: this was no longer just a battle of survival.
It was family tearing itself apart.
To Be Continued...