The Loser | by Isaac7525

Hearing Shinso's words, Ayumi was stunned. "What?!"

The boy nodded his head. "Sometime today the Pollinators will head over to the apartment to ask him about his decision." 

"What could have possibly happened to him?" 

The boy suddenly fell silent, finding lots of trouble recalling all the details. "From what I heard he went over to some manor to babysit a kid, but he was captured and stuffed into a cocoon by some demon. Now, they have to remove the disease."

"Oh my," Ayumi fell silent, her hands resting in her hair as she ran them though the messy locks. "Is he alright overall?"

Shinso stuffed his hands in his pockets, sighing softly. "I believe he'll be alright on the most part; the only thing that troubles me is if he picks the surgery." 

Upon hearing his words, the black-haired girl walked in the direction of the apartment. "I'm gonna visit him."

She turned back to Shino. "Maybe we can convince him that surgery isn't the best option," A small smile crept up the ends of her lips. 

Shinso rubbed the back of his neck and nodded his head, drawing a shaky breath. "From what I've seen, Isaac can't tolerate the sight of blood." 

Stepping into the Parterre de Fleurs, the duo immediately scanned the surroundings of the lobby. The morning sun cast a warm glow upon the wooden furniture and soft cushions of the lobby. Though, some of the flowers lining the walls and decked in pots have begun to lose their vibrancy, submitting to their lack of maintenance.

At that moment, the kitchen door opened, and a rather short figure walked out, their face obscured by a large stack of dishes. They stumbled over to a table, their movements lethargic as they scrambled the empty plates across the table in a neat order. After that was done, and the rest of the culinary accommodations had been properly distributed, Shinso and Ayumi could now see the figure. 

It was Wilfred!

The moment the brown-haired boy caught sight of the duo, his dreary eyes seemed to light up. He was clad in his usual kitchen attire, a messy, stain-ridden apron accompanied by a loose shirt and pants. Under his eyes were noticeable bags, ones that riveled Shinso's.

"Go talk to Isaac, ok?" Ayumi looked back at Shinso, offering him to depart from the lobby. Shinso silently followed suit, leaving without saying a word. 

"You look horrible,"Ayumi's voice lowered in an almost motherly fashion as she walked over to Wilfred, kneeling down. 

"W-where have you been?" The shorter boy asked, his voice containing a small tremble to it. 

"I just fell ill for a few days," she wrapped a hand around his shoulder, her brows furrowing. 

"Are you ok? You look tired."

Ayumi suddenly caught sight of moisture accumulating in the corner of Wilfred's eyes. Shortly after, a small cluster of wet, sloppy tears poured down his cheek. His bottom lip quivered noticeably as he spurted out jumbled words. 

"M-my brother got hurt…he's in the hospital." 

Ayumi's eyes widened as her grip on his shoulder tightened, almost to the extent of leaving red marks. She didn't want to embrace Wilfred, as doing so would most likely result in him lashing out. Additionally, she didn't know him all that well. 

"Have you visited him?" Ayumi looked into his deep brown eyes, her lips parting. 

"N-no…I have work to do," Wilfred shakily grabbed a broom from the corner and began to sweep the floor. Before he could get much work done, Ayumi quickly snatched the object from his hands and tossed it aside. 

"The other servants can handle that—let's visit him."

…

They had reached the bottom of the ladder a little while ago, but the lack of illumination was the only major issue preventing any movement in this foreign location. Beside him, Aizawa would feel Leo noticeably trembling. The air around them felt dark and damp, and they heard the sound of water dripping to the cold, stone floor below their feet. 

Around them, the sound of groaning and creaking pipes was the only thing conflicting with their breathing. Aizawa's was light and collected, while Leo's was akin to an injured dog. At that moment, Aizawa finally stepped forward, departing from Leo's iron grip on his sleeve. 

"Where are you going?" Leo blurted out, waving his arms in the darkness. His icy-blue eyes frantically darted around the room, scanning for unseen dangers. His grip immediately darted to his tie, fumbling with the fabric with shaky, trembling fingers. 

"I don't see the point in constructing something down here that won't be put to good use," Aizawa said as he extended his hand whilst walking deeper into the darkness. The wet air around him clung to his body, causing a sheet of unwanted goosebumps to rise on his skin. This was similar to walking under the manor, except, there was possibly danger he didn't see. 

After a short while, his hands suddenly made contact with a surface. It was hard and rough, almost like stone. As he ran his hands along the surface in the dark, the texture of the surface remained the same throughout the entire room. 

"What is it?" Leo asked.

Aizawa remained silent, gritting his teeth with suppressed annoyance as he continued walking along the edges of the wall. Suddenly he felt something cold touch his skin, it was hard just like the wall. His hands immediately wrapped around it. For the most part, Aizawa felt the overall shape of the object. It seemed bolted into the wall, possessing a sharp curve that extruded in a loop back into the wall. 

It was a handle. 

Aizawa's grip around the object tightened as he habitually pulled backwards, unleashing a herculean effort. Leo's breath hitched the moment he heard sounds overhead. The duo both caught an ear of the grinding and groaning of mechanical processes and clockwork embedded within the walls and ceiling. A sliver of light protruded through the wall, allowing the duo a small semblance of eye sight. 

This string of light gradually widened, giving way to a new environment as the walls slowly parted with a mechanical bellow.

They both heard the sounds of talking, shouting, and strange, animalistic noises. The area seemed to be some sort of underground market. 

A horde of people walked in the other direction, parting the way to allow the duo entry into this foreign expanse. The ceiling above them stretched for what seemed like miles, the only thing indicating it ended was the rocky, naturalistic surface of rock and granite. An uncountable number of cages and chains remained suspended from the ceiling, each one containing some sort of exotic, foreign animal. 

One of them looked like a large arthropodic organism with mixed traits of a spider and a scorpion. It crawled around the cage, letting out low squeaks and clicks as he gazed down upon the marker-goers. Aizawa noticed a thin, transparent liquid dripping in between its two large fangs. When it hit the metal floor of the cage, it sizzled and burnt as if composed of an acidic substance. 

Aizawa dove into his pocket and took out the small vial of liquid, holding it to show Leo. "We'll have to find the person who made this."

Leo's gaze swept across the people in the market. Some of them were draped in robes, while others had their entire body exposed. Some of them didn't even look human, one of them possessing the lower half of a scorpion and the upper half of a human. He watched as this anomaly crawled out of a booth draped in dark-colored fabrics. 

A metal plate was suspended above the booth, with the words: "Conjoined Circus," inscribed in metal lettering. Leo took note of the trail of blood that leaked in the path of the scorpion-like man, and he couldn't help but shiver. 

"Stay focused," Aizawa pulled the man forward with a sharp yank to his collar. 

Aizawa and Leo continued forward, silently observing the various sections of this underground market. Numerous pungent and foreign odors violated their noses from a myriad of sources. One of the booths lining the path was composed of a wooden table, a butcher knife, and a large mass of jars containing the limbs of various animals. 

Aizawa flinched as an ear-wrecking scream permeated from another booth just across from him. The booth was a tent of dark colored fabric, its entrance sealed shut. The man glared at the growing pool of crimson blood leaking from under the tent, crawling onto the trail. He stepped back, immediately looking at the sign suspended above the booth.

"Castration Booth"

The man shivered, pulling his coat closer to his body as he continued walking forward. Leo remained close by his side, his trembling form looking over the horrors of this underground market. 

"How do you think we'll find the person who made this vial?" Leo asked with a trembling voice. 

At that moment, Aizawa slowly unscrewed the lid of the vial and inhaled sharply. The moment the odor of the liquid filled his nose, his vision exploded with blinding colors and shapes. Aizawa let out a sharp gasp as he stumbled back, falling to the ground as he grasped his head. 

"Aizawa!" The man hurried over to his side, almost slipping on the pool of blood under his boots. The man clenched his jaw as the back of his head slammed into the wooden surface of a booth, sending rivulets of pain directly through his system. 

"Hey, hey!" The owner of the booth, a young man with black curly hair and a structured jawline, shot up from his chair and approached Aizawa with a stern expression. His hand shot out and snatched the bottle from his grip, slamming it onto the table. 

"Before you try the drug, you have to buy it first!" 

"...drug?..." Leo looked up at the owner of the stand. 

"Yeah, I don't know why your friend over here decided to sniff Luney without giving me some stuff first!"

Aizawa's vision gradually began to shift back down, the vibrant colors and shapes around him gradually dissipating and disintegrating into the corners of his consciousness. After he felt his equilibrium surge back through his body, he slowly stood back up and faced the owner of the booth.

"What happened?" Aizawa asked groggily. 

Before he could register his surroundings, he was greeted by a sharp slap to his cheek. "You sniffed my Luney and didn't gimmie anything!" 

"H-huh?" The man's crimson eyes narrowed as he rubbed them. The scleras of his eyes had turned a light red, laden with cracks that resembled veins. His entire body seemed to be lit on fire, except no pain was present. 

"Damn it!" The curly-haired man groaned as he stuffed the vial under his desk. "It's not mature!"

"Wait…did you make that stuff?" Leo pointed under the counter. 

The man nodded his head, his gaze never leaving Aizawa. "Yeah, I don't know why he decided to sniff that stuff, but he'll be addicted in no time." 

"We found it in my restaurant," Leo stated, placing an elbow on the wooden table.