Abandoned Broadcasting Station

With seemingly increased pace and stamina, Izanami blew past the lines of the Dalets' defense that protected the small, and only, town in the Wastes and went straight for the building that Regenard had described. She could hear that small talks of the Dalets, and she knew that he was waiting on her to insert the disk in the "Main Broadcast" drive. She had remembered his words exactly.

"There's a building outside the city. A worn down building. It used to be the Dalet's broadcasting station, before they took its electricity to power their base. That building will be active again in about two days. I need you to go there and put this disk in the 'Mass Broadcast' drive. Trust me, alright? I'll meet you there in two days. Then we can talk."

Then he had kissed her cheek and left... the fond memory made Izanami push harder. She found a slanted door that had one broken hinge, yet wouldn't budge. One shoulder into it made it move, and she looked around frantically. She knew the Dalets were suspicious of her. A map on the far wall caught her attention, and the top floor was labeled "Main Broadcasting Room".

Izanami charged up the stairs, first going one by one, then two, then three. Soon, she only had to take two steps to clear a staircase. On the last flight, the tired venture took over her body, and she collapsed, crushing her nose against the stair. Clasping her hand on it, she moved on to finish the flight. "Must.. go on..." she rasped, and on the top and through the door on the right, she reached the Main Broadcasting room.

Izanami burst in and quickly moved a shelf in front of it, in case the Dalets decided to apprehend her before she could repay Regenard. She saw the lights flicker, and she was amazing. It was the first time she had seen electricity in a long time. Izanami soon located the Main Broadcast drive, and she pushed in the disc with all urgency. Once it accepted it, she collapsed back into an office chair, the rigor of her travel finally taking over as her blood stained her shirt and skin.

She had done it.

ENTER ABANDONED BROADCASTING STATION.

Regenard emerged from the sewers and dashed for the building. The Dalets spotted him at the last minute before he shut the large door and barricaded it. He ran up the stairs, all the way to the top, where he knocked on the door.
"Izanami, it's me," he said.
As he spoke, a face came onto the semi broken screens. The same message was displayed on every screen in the city, most long forgotten or ignored. But the city would not ignore them now.
The face was covered in a dark gas mask with red lenses.
"Hello, people of the Wasteland. The Prodigal Son has returned," said Regenard Grey's voice.

They had done it.

Izanami stood up, her knees trembling and the blood leaking through her fingers, She pushed the bookcase away from the door with her shoulder, grunting and feeling like collapsing with every grunt. She finally got the door free, and she opened it. She was relieved to see Regenard.

"Regenard..." Izanami panted. "Excuse my state. I fell on the way up the stairs. I was in such a hurry to complete the task that you had given me. Now, I am out of breath and my nose is broken." She returned to the office chair, plopping in it and sighing.

Regenard smiled and put the bookcase back. He walked up and gave her a cloth.
"Apply pressure," he said, and stared at the screen.
The broadcast continued.
"Dear people of D'loul: Oppression comes in many faces. Some faces call themselves Dalets, some call themselves Cadets, some call themselves Agents. All kill and slaughter in the name of their own fabricated cause. All are against you, and want to keep you down. You are the only people who can stand up for yourselves, and I urge you to, my friends, my brothers, my sisters, my mothers and fathers and daughters and sons, all of you, crowd the streets! Arm your guns! Fly, my friends, fly! Overthrow the faces of oppression! Break the chains! For freedom!" The Regenard on the screen held up a flag with a black "G" painted on it.
"We are the Ghosts no one cares for! We are the echoes in the minds of the murderers! Their next targets! We are the Phantom Army!" he yelled.
Regenard could hear the cheers of the citizens.

His war had begun.

Izanami pressed the cloth against her nose, even though it pained her to do so. She trusted his words, and she couldn't turn back now. She then looked at the screen as the speech tumbled from his mouth.

At the end of the speech, she could hear the cheer of the citizens, but she also heard the Dalets beginning to march to the building and trying their best to get through the barricaded front door. Izanami felt a chill sprint down her spine, and goosebumps cropped up on her arms. "Regenard..." she whispered into the cloth.

Regenard smiled and threw the Dalet's coat off, and put his own over his shoulders.
"Izanami, stay behind me," he said. A harsh wind blew one of the windows open, and Regenard tore his mask from his face. His hair and coat moved in the wind, and he aimed his gun at the door.
"And this is why I'm a Ghost," he said, smiling.

Izanami stood slowly, her legs still shaking, and she stood behind him. She tightly gripped his coat on his back, and she felt somewhat safe behind him. Whatever he was planning from now, she fully entrusted him with her life. He had gotten this far, hadn't he?

"I trust you, Regenard, whatever you're planning..." Izanami's voice quavered as she spoke.

Regenard smiled.
The door burst open, and five Dalets stood outside. Regenard reached into his pocket and threw his knife at the one in the middle.
He shot a bullet and jumped forward, snapping one's neck by catching his head with Regenard's mask. He grabbed his knife and killed another, and stood up, his rifle pointed at the neck of another. He fired.

"I can't die," he said.

Izanami closed her eyes and covered them as he killed the Dalets. She couldn't stand to watch him just take away so many lives in a blink of an eye. Three of the five Dalets had actually helped her when she had lived in the shelter with Jurou.

But both of those memories were now dead.

Regenard looked back at her.
"Izanami, are you alright?" he asked her.
"After you're better, you should take me back to your house. Something's going to happen in two days, it'll be dangerous for us to be out."

Izanami opened her eyes and looked at the bodies, then bit her finger to keep herself from breaking into tears on the spot. She looked away and back to the screens, which were now all covered in unoccupied static. She nodded slowly and sat back in the chair, turning away from Regenard.

"I'm fine..." she murmured, the world she had loved and knew for so long suddenly crumbling around her.

Regenard put his hand firmly on her shoulder and knelt by her side.
"Izanami. You'll be fine. Everything would be fine," he said softly.
He knew it would.

Izanami let the tears break from her cheeks, and she shook her head.
"I don't know anything anymore." She sobbed. "My family is dead, Jurou's dead, those Dalets that saved my life are dead; I don't even know who I am anymore!"
She turned away from Regenard. He couldn't see her like this.

Regenard put his hand on her face.
"Hey. I promise, everything will be fine. You'll always have me. I don't need to be a Ghost with you. And you're you, one of the most beautiful lovely people I'll ever meet," he said, smiling, "I can be your family now."

Izanami looked back to him, and she got the feelings that Ceadda had given her, yet twenty times stronger that made her even dizzier and sicker. She looked into his eyes, and she felt frozen.

"Family..." she whispered, and the word was strange to her. It was bittersweet on her lips.

Regenard smiled softly and pulled out the red bow.
"My family are gone too," he said, "Killed by Dalets and Cadets. That's why I hate them. They're all evil in one way or another. We should get somewhere away from here now, Izanami. It'll be safer."
He didn't want her to be around when the missile was launched at the Dead Lands.

Izanami slowly pulled the blood soaked cloth away from her nose, as it was clotted now. She balled up the cloth in her hand, and she nodded. "I can bring you into my house, Regenard." She promised him. "It's not much, but it gets me by. It's underground in the Buffer Fields."

Regenard smiled.
"I can only stay for a day. That's when the angel will fall. Then I need to meet some friends," he said, standing up and holding out his hand to Izanami.
"Show me the way?"

Izanami smiled and took his hand before standing up slowly, so as to not collapse on the spot. She looked to his eyes, as if she were searching for an answer.
"I would prefer if you would stay longer, but I know that when duty calls, a man cannot deny it..." she shrugged before laughing softly.

Regenard looked back at her.
"You can come with me then, if you want. I'll need a good solid group to lead my army," he said.
He walked out of the room, motioning for her to follow.
"Let's go," he shouted.
The sun was setting. The cries of thousands of citizens with a new cause echoed in the skies. It was a new dusk, an era of Phantoms, and there would be justice.

EXIT ABANDONED BROADCASTING STATION.

Izanami stumbled after him, the natural morphine making her dizzy.
"I'd be more than happy to help you wih your army," she told him as she followed him.
The fact that Regenard saw so much strength in Izanami made he confused her. He had given her a second chance at life, had trusted her with the disc that had set off the new movement, and now wanted her in the group to lead his army. Was it that he trusted her, or was she now a servant to him?

EXIT ABANDONED BROADCASTING STATION.