A Fairy Out of Her Tale - Dear Diary - 23. Scene 23

11th January 1995

Dear Battle-wary Diary,

Mamoru is dead. We were ambushed on our way out of the caffé, like Branjka feared.

The first demon materialised behind us. Grabbed her by the throat. Mamoru whispered a “sorry” and threw my body against the nearest wall, using his own body to shield me from the scene. He turned around and I couldn’t see much beyond his back. The black fake-leather jacket that brushed against my skin smelled of apples, oranges, and pineapples. This shouldn’t have been a scent I associated with battles and violence, but the sounds around me didn’t leave much room for imagination.

Mamoru shouted shape-shifter gibberish into his wrist-communicator. He pulled a strange gun with a long barrel from his belt (I hadn’t seen it before - where was he hiding it?), and three demons backed away (where did they come from? Do people and things just appear out of the blue in shape-shifter land?). A forth tried to hold on to Branjka, but her body emitted a dark aura that sent her captor high in the air (I never heard or saw where they fell). She joined Mamoru as a body shield in front of me.

‘I’ve called for reinforcements. We’ll stall them for time,’ Mamoru told me, aiming the gun at the first demon who moved.

The street around us was completely empty. As if the locals were so used to random battles breaking around them that they instinctively disappered at the first sight of trouble.

The demon said somethig to Mamoru and he cursed (or at least looked like he did. I couldn’t understand anything as per usual. At least the demons didn’t approach us).

‘Change of plans. The demons created a barrier around us and our reinforcements won’t be able to break through until Branjka gets rid of it. I’ll keep them busy meanwhile.’

Was it the barrier that was keeping people away, then?

Mamoru shot at one of the demons. Instead of a bullet, though, his gun threw a golden net at its target. The force of the impact sent the demon crashing into a building on the other side of the street. The net glued them to the wall from then on.

The three other demons tried to help their friend escape, but Mamoru shot them too. The four demons ended up like glowing golden cacoons on the wall. Mamoru laughed. It was over already. Quick and easy. He turned to me with a smile and I wanted to laugh too.

But then Branjka shouted something, and Mamoru couldn’t react on time.

His body, still smiling, feel on top of me. Blood dripped out of his mouth. A metal pole as thick as my thigh poked out of his torso. He was no longer alive when I managed to get him off of me.

My own body errupted in pain then. The tip of that metal pole got to me too, slightly above the belly button, but I didn’t notice until I moved Mamoru’s body and the pointy tip slid down my own body too. It wasn’t the deepest gash (my insides weren’t about to come out), but my blood quickly soaked through the new shirt Mamoru had bought be earlier that day.

I slid down the wall until I was lying next to Mamoru. I couldn’t look beyond his lifeless body. He was laughing just seconds ago. He didn’t deserve this.

Branjka was fighting a new demon somewhere. This was far from over.