Welcome To The OSST Chapter 13

“Welcome home, Kiku Honda.”  Alastair unfolded his arms and let them fall to bend at his hips.  “Well I s’pose this aint your true home, not really.  Yeh spent most of yeer life in the OSST, didn’t ya?  This house was merely yeer birthplace is all.”

Kiku was completely confused.  “How…?”  He asked in a whispering voice, failing to reply to Alastair’s question and instead asking one of his own.  “How did you….how are we outside?  How do you even know where I live??”  Kiku was growing angry now.  Nothing was making sense to him and above it all Alastair had brought him to the place of his worst memories.  Well, second to worse…

Alastair opened his mouth and let out a loud, obnoxious yawn.  He blinked the lazy sleep from his eyes and gave Kiku an expression of boredom with only a hint of vicious pleasure.  “I can teleport, didn’t I tell yeh that?  I could throw you to the moon at will an’ you won’ have a minute to protest ‘bout it.”

“You’re lying.”  Kiku stated bluntly.  “If you could really teleport people, Alastair-san, you would have seen a mistake in the security and transported yourself out of this facility immediately.  If you did, for whatever reason, choose to stay here out of free will you could have sent me to the moon as you so carelessly brag that you can.  When in reality, you cannot.  But then again this world that you have created around us is not completely real, is it?”

Alastair frowned.  “Yeh caught me.  Maybe this really aint yeer house we’re standin’ by.  Maybe it is and I’m jus’ foolin’ around with yeer head some more.  This place is what yeh make it to be, I s’pose.”  In only seconds the scene around them changed.  Colors merged together and blurred before straightening out to create a new image.  A new location; to Kiku’s horrified surprise, as he came to the realization of just exactly where they were now.  “Well, whatever yeh choose to make it as,” Alastair chimed in, “Yeh will be on yeer own.  I got yeer friends to take care of.”  And with that the image of Alastair warped and dissolved before Kiku.  This left him completely alone to revisit the worst of his memories, in the place that broke him.


“KIKU!!”  Arthur shook the boy’s shoulders feverishly and yelled into his face.  Kiku’s eyes were hazy, as if his mind was somewhere else.  “Where did that bloody scot run away to?!”
Alfred put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder to calm him, “I don’t think he can hear you, Artie.  It’s something Alastair did, before he vanished, I guess.”  Alfred glanced behind him into the worried Canadian’s eyes, who were busy looking back and forth between a distant Kiku and their defeated opponents.

“Yeer buddy’s correct.”  All three STIs spun around to see Alastair leaning against the nearest wall with his arms over his chest.  “Th’ little guy can’t hear yeh.  He can’t even see yeh.  ‘fact, he thinks I’ve just teleported him outta this facility.  Yeh won’t be able to reach ‘em like this.”

“Is that your power?  Mind control?!”  Arthur’s hands balled into fists.  His eyes clouded with fury.  They were so close to winning this battle, if only they had not let Kiku go into the fight alone.  I’m such an idiot!  I should have stopped him.

“I dunno, Arthur.  Is that my power?  Don’t yeh think if I had mind control I’d use it fer better purposes?”  When Arthur didn’t respond Alastair shook his head and bent his eyebrows, as if he was frustrated with the Brit’s ignorance.  “Fer the record, yeh aint an idiot, yeer just dense.  Really dense.”  

“What gives you the right to—”  Arthur’s words jammed in his throat.  His look of hatred turned to one of confusion and worry.  “—the right to…I…h-how did you know that?”

Alfred and Matthew traded expressions, they were both clearly out of the loop and had no idea what was going on.  “Uh…Artie?  What’s wrong?”  Alfred tried.

“How’d I know what?  That yeh were denser than the boulders of mt. Rushmore?”  Alastair chuckled, “I’m sure the whole institution has figured that out by now.  Unless yeer talkin’ about how  I knew what yeh were thinkin, then that’s a completely different topic an’ a secret that yeh aint learnin’ anytime soon.”

Arthur ignored Alfred’s help and continued to pester.  “You know what, I don’t give a bloody devil’s hind what your power is or how you were able to get inside my head.  Just stay out of there and release Kiku from whatever trance you have him lost in or I swear I will—”

“Will what?”  Alastair challenged with a snarl,  “Yeh will run back to that cruddy run-down circus?  Go ahead, it’d be a pleasure to see yeh go.”

Arthur’s eyes grew wide.  He turned to Alfred, the only soul he had mention his life at the circus to since they were brought to the OSST.  But Alfred only frowned and shook his head.  If Alfred didn’t tell anyone, then how…?

Arthur could not contemplate any realistic reasons as to how Alastair attained this information, other than that he was told.  Just as he was going to demand answers, however, Arthur heard a sharp thunk and his vision spiraled out of control before going black completely.  He fell unconscious to the floor soon after.

“Arthur!”  Alfred heatedly rushed towards the fallen Brit and his attacker.  He threw an uneasy punch towards the Russian’s chest, and even though his aim seemed to be completely unbalanced, it hit right on the mark.  A large dent appeared in Ivan’s chest where Alfred’s fist had made contact and the man grinned, steady in his footing and seemingly uninjured.  Alfred yelled in frustration and sent his fist flying a second time.  This time when the flesh of his knuckles met Ivan’s nose the Russian’s body twisted and contorted as if he were made of jello, before the man vanished all together.  

Matthew gasped as Ivan appeared directly before him.  He dodged the first attack to come but was thrown to the floor by the second and third.  “I thought w-we already defeated them?!”  Matthew yelped as he began to cough up whatever air that hadn’t left his lungs from the most recent hit.

“We did!”  Alfred was now fighting off Yao and was too busy to help his friend.  “I don’t understand what’s going on!”  Alfred tried his best to figure it out.  He inspected their surroundings whenever he could as he dodged and hit back.  Finally, something popped out at him.  “The scarf!”  He shouted across the room.

Matthew looked closely to his opponent now.  The brute had somehow received his scarf back, and Yao, who was frozen to the bone just a moment before, was not chilled nor even damp from the ice that had possibly melted.  Then Alfred spotted it.

“Matthew, look!”  Alfred said as he ducked under Yao’s leg that swung rapidly through the air.  “Look at Arthur!  He’s unconscious but he’s still holding onto the scarf!  The scarf that’s also on the Ivan you’re fighting!”

Matthew was so confused by Alfred’s realization that he did not see the Russian’s fist going straight for his stomach.  Matthew doubled over and began hacking out air and, even just a small amount, a few drops of blood.  “W-What…what does that…mean th-though?”

Alfred discovered that neither of the two they were facing had said a word, or even made a noise.  And to top that, neither of them had even used their powers.  They were fighting each other with only their hands and feet.  This was suspicious to say the least.  “I don’t understand!  Is this some part of that redhead’s power?!”

“Tangible Hallucinations.”  A small yelp was heard from behind them as Alfred and Matthew turned to find Kiku, now completely conscious and connective with reality again.  At his feet lie Alastair with a bloody head.  The scot moaned in pain and began to force himself to his feet again when Kiku’s foot came down on his head and forced him back to the ground with a literal skull crushing snap.
The moment Alastair’s head crushed into the cafeteria floor, Russia and Yao vanished, revealing the real opponents to still be frozen in place and furious as ever.  Arthur was sitting with his head in his hands next to Kiku and was apparently bleeding from a rather large cut to his cheek.
“Everything you just witnessed was not real.  Your attackers never left their positions, but you were lost in a trance, or physical hallucination and only began to fight the air.  Arthur was knocked unconscious indeed but by Alastair, not Ivan.  This was also a hallucination to grab your attention.”

Kiku stepped over Alastair’s body and stood before Alfred and Matthew with such a dark expression Alfred did not know if Kiku would reach out and attack his own team mates next.  Matthew gasped and put his hand over his mouth, his other hand pointing towards Kiku’s face, his eyes hidden behind a scattered layer of bangs.  Kiku looked terrible.  His hair was tugged in all directions as if he had been pulling it out.  His skin was bruised along both arms and his lip had a small cut that was leaking a trickle of blood down his chin.  Though, what was seen by the two first was not one of these attributes, but it was the chilling blood-red shade of Kiku’s eyes that drew in their attention.
“This battle is finished.”  Kiku breathed, took a long glare to a guard in the corner and began to walk towards the cafeteria exit.  The guard raised the white flag and forced it down to cut through the air.  He shouted ”Team B takes the win!” and all at once the nurses of their small hospital came through the entrance to scoop up and evaluate the two teams.  Matthew and Arthur willingly went with them for they were in the most need of first-aid, but Alfred refused help and instead ran to catch up with Kiku through the crowd of released STIs.  

“Hey, Keeks, wait up!”  Alfred found a grip on Kiku’s shoulder as he continued to walk away from him.  He spun the boy around quickly and looked deep into his eyes.  “What happened back there?  Exactly what did you see…?”

Kiku slapped Alfred’s hand from his shoulder and snarled.  “Don’t touch me.  Don’t even look at me, you filth.  You have no good reason to know what I just endured, what I had to do to break the trance so I could save your worthless lives.  Touch me again and I will kill you myself.”

Alfred stood in shock as Kiku turned on his heels and began to walk through the hallways once more.  He pondered saying something, anything, to make the Kiku he knew come back, but his mind was too scattered from the previous fight that had just taken place.  Maybe I can snap him out of it if I…

Alfred ran up to Kiku again and reached his hand out.  Kiku turned around the very second that a single fingerprint touched the fabric of his shirt.  Alfred didn’t have enough time to react when Kiku’s eyes flashed bloodthirsty and he pulled a knife from inside the bottom of his pant’s leg.

Kiku did not hesitate long enough to blink before he lunged forward and lodged the knife into Alfred’s chest and

through his heart.