Once Upon A Family, In An Empty House [Down in Flames]

Not all stories start at the beginning. Some start in the middle, and few start at the end. This is not a story about a girl who wanted to be a hero. This is not a story about how a man adopted a lonely girl and gave her a home. This is not a tale of how someone who had so much evil done to her, had become good. No, this is a story of how one woman, ruined the lives of many. This is not a tale of redemption. This story does not have an end, and if it did, it would not be a happy one. After all, not everyone lives a happy life. . .

. . . She walked from the flames, her face was wet with tears. It was perhaps the only life she took, that she regretted. But even that was wrong. It was not a single life, it was the lives of many. All of them spilled their blood. All of them died at her hands. And her hands were covered in all of their blood. Her sleeves were soaked with the fluid, as the girl cried at what she had done. But it was not her wish. It was theirs. They asked for it. They asked for death. They all begged for it, and so they were ail murdered and slain at her hands. They were all she had left. She had no family. She no longer had a father. She was an orphan to the world once more. The loneliness that haunted her, would always be her demon. While to her spirit, she was the demon.



It was like any other day. The clouds hung high and the sun was shining. She dawned the same white dress shirt and black slacks she commonly wore for work. She was going to head back to Ketsujo Corp, to meet with Sato to find answers to what happened to her. She needed to know what the real reason was. But before she did, she wanted to meet with Grandmaster Seki, for his opinion on the matter. She smiled, opening the doors to the brothel. It was late in the morning, and Kasey had finished up her work a bit early. She would open the door to find the man sitting in his favorite chair, a book in his lap, and his face rested upon his fist as he stared at the pages. He may have been an old man, but he was more active than any other elderly person she knew of, granted she knew few.

"Master Seki!" she would call out to him, waving excitedly towards him. "You won't believe what happened to me last week."



The sounds of the building burning down, the crackling and the popping of the wood. She could hear the screams, if only all of the bodies weren't already dead. In the distance, she could hear nothing but silence. The smoke was white, for now at least. She looked back one final time before walking around the corner to get into her black car. It was parked closeby, but she never planned to actually have to use the getaway car to well, get away. She started the engine, the blood covering the wheel, the day replying over and over in her mind. She could see the bus returning, and she immediately spun the car around to head in the opposite direction. There was no going back, not anymore. There was nothing to go back to. She didn't just lose everything she had, she took it away from someone else too. But could she ever understand? . . . would she remember too?



"My child, Kasey." the old man man smiled from underneath all of the obsidian colored cloth. He was wrapped head to toe, much like a modern mummy. Kasey had seen and spoke with him enough, that even without seeing his expressions, she would see and understand exactly how he felt. The old man, knew her, however, more than she would ever learn about himself, or herself. He was a man shrouded in more mysteries than perhaps even that man who controlled Lighting at his fingertips. He was a pawn compared to the king that hide himself behind a brothel. His own quirk, was hidden, forgotten...

"Masta Seki, I'm sorry I didn't come by for a while. I was kidna-"

"I know, Kasey." the old man would answer, "Seki sees everything, eventually." he would tell her. "Did you forget that I am watching over you?" The man asked, his aged voice lingering, but unbroken. It was like an old weathered string that had refused to snap or break.

"But then, why did no one come to save me?" Kasey asked, her plans had turned completely around. Had had known all along? Why did no one come to save her? Why was no one around to-

"Because, you did not need saving. If anyone needed someone to rescue them, it was your captors, from you." he would give off a laugh. "I have seen your horrors, not from just your eyes." He would tell her. "But you can remember what I do, right?" He would tell her, unsure of what his quirk had really done to her and the others. His time was long passed. The building was silent, quiet almost. Seki reached out to her, trying to bring her closer to him. Kasey would shyly sit beside him onto the floor, listening.

"I have the powers to take your memories, if you allow me to. But it does not mean I cannot see what else goes on." he would tell her, "What you forget, I will always remember. Your memories are my dreams, Kasey. I have made a pretty penny with my powers, but it's coming to a time where I can no longer bear this pain." he would look to her, taking the back of his fingers to lightly touch the girl's face. She was the closest thing he had to a daughter, besides the little girl he had adopted long ago. But still, with her own dreams, she was willing to hear the tales. She was able to clean the mess he had made.

"I've seen the reason you were taken, and I've seen what they've done to you." he would tell her, "I've been hiding this from you." The man would grow weaker with each word, his own kindness was biting his rear. But the girl did not yell. She did not shout. She sat, waiting, confused. She loved him as her own father.

"Leviathan, Marona, Yukiro, Chisuhuashi, Xiaowei. All of them can no longer remember their painful pasts, but you have never asked me to remove your pains." he went on, "You overcame them. I thought I was doing everyone a favor, but I only clean the consciousness of the tainted. So Kasey, please, kill me. reclaim what was lost. Don't allow me to live this life anymore. I don-"

"Seki, I can't." She would tell the old man. "You've seen what I am. I cannot kill those who are good. I can only consume those who are evi-"

he lifted his hand to place his fingers over her lips, silencing her. "Then do not consume me. I am not asking you to remove me. But end my life, so no one may use me again for evil."

. . .

The bones had pierced her skin, nothing more than claws that had grown too long. She had slit his throat as a smile was on his face. Each and every girl in that building did not scream in terror, but in glee. They wanted their death. Without Seki, they were nothing. They were broken girls without a place to go. Kasey had carried out his wishes, only to find a new consequence.

Memories. Everything she had offered to Seki long ago, she was beginning to remember. Cherry, her home. Her parents. Her life. The torture, the faces. She was told the truth by a man who held everyone's dark secrets. From her mind, she saw what it had become.

"Ketsujo Corp was behind this from the beginning." she said, her hands covered in blood. She walked down the halls of the building, punching holes in the wall to pull the piping to try and bend it, exposing the gasses. "Sato was the reason we all suffered." she began. She would walk down each room, each of the bloodied bodies reminding her of what she had done with her life. She begun to weep as she tried to wake from her nightmare, but it was reality. "I have to destroy everything." she said to herself.

"No, we only have to destroy the Corporation. Now we know who, but now we must find out why/" The voice pleaded with reason as the girl reached for the matches. She was going to burn everything down.

She no longer had anything else to lose.