It was a sunny spring afternoon on Morris Island. The colorful birds were perched on their branches, happily chirping as the islands' residents were bursting with energy. Children running around throughout the streets as the adults enjoyed the ocean breeze and the fishermen appreciated the wonderful amount of fish they caught that afternoon.
That same afternoon, in a small cottage located in the island's woods, a young seven year-old excitedly ran around her blue worn out kitchen, wood already chipping off the kitchen walls, peeling old blue wallpaper off.
Her blue-checkered dress flopping up and down, following her actions. The silver necklace that was around her neck made miniature metallic sounds as it bounced against her chest.
She couldn't wait for her mother to come back downstairs from tailoring clothes. She promised she'll make banana pudding with her! She flopped onto a wooden stool that sat next to the kitchen sink, her individual blue and gold eyes staring at the bundle of bananas that were on the wood dinner table, joined by other different kinds of fruits.
1...
2...
3...
She began to count mentally.
10...
11...
12...
'I can't wait!' She suddenly thought, growing immensely impatient with her mother, which was a bit surprising at her age.
"Mama!" She yelled out.
Silence insued as there was no response. She called out again and was yet again, met with the same results. She couldn't take it anymore! It's been far too long since they haven't done this, and she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity! Especially if they were tight on money! Sorry about that mom. She got off the stool with a jump and began to wander around the kitchen, grabbing things that she thought she would need to make the pudding, consisting of bowls and spoons. She also began to raid the fridge for ingredients that she remembered they used.
Six minutes in, as she was trying to figure out how to measure how much milk she needed, she froze, a cup of milk in hand as she heard the soft yet authoritative voice of her mother, Naida.
"Akira."
Akira slowly turned from her mini mess to her mother, who was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, sternly looking at her, wearing her usual light beige sweater and jeans. Akira gave her mom an innocent smile.
"Mama!"
"What did I say?.."
"What do you mean 'What you said?'"
"Akira.." Her mother's pure golden eyes burned a hole through her.
Akira stayed quiet for a moment "...To wait for you to come back.."
"And what did you do?"
Akira began to twirl her brown hair with her fingers in nervousness "...Started to make a mess."
Her mother calmly walked into the kitchen and grabbed ingredients that Akira forgot about.
"What else?" She continued, beginning to peel the bundle of bananas.
"...Didn't wait for you to come back downstairs."
Her mother shook her head in mild disappointment, her short black hair waving around the sharp features of her face "Exactly. So, no pudding." At that, Akira's face instantly dropped. Tears threatened to fall from her dual-colored eyes "B-but mama!" Naida didn't say anything, as she began to mush the bananas up, eating some pieces at some points.
"Okay..." Akira said, her shoulders hunched down now as she was feeling more tears wanting to come out. Akira was a bit of a sensitive child.
Suddenly, her mother let out a small laugh as she turned and gave the sad child a smile "Gotcha silly!"
Akira perked up, wiping her tears away with her hands. "You have to listen to the rules Akira. They're very important when you grow up. But, if they're logically or judicially incorrect, or if they hurt other people, you don't have to." Naida said, giving Akira a small childish smile.
"Now come over here and help your old mother." Akira quickly nodded and giggled before joining her mother in mixing ingredients.
"You're not old Mama! Hmm..I'd say, just rusty!"
Naida almost choked on the piece of banana she was eating as she heard the sentence. "O-oh, thanks sweetie." She said, regaining her composure.
The pair began to work on making the banana pudding that Akira has been waiting for, for so long that same afternoon.
Why? They were very tight on money, as Naida's job as a tailor was put on a pause. As the shop she worked in was closed for repairs, leaving her jobless at the time. At least the amount they made would take them a while to consume.
It was night as the rain poured down from the sky and onto the cottage roof, strikes of thunder occurred, emitted blue cracks of light and large booms across the island.
Akira sat on the wooden kitchen floor, accompanying her mother, who was washing dishes, eating the soft light yellow pudding and coloring at the same time, the lights in the kitchen being the only light that was shining on them. Akira's eyes scanned the piece of artwork on the piece of paper.
Her hands reached out across from her to get a green crayon out of the different crayons scattered around the floor, as she was midway into finishing her drawing of a large red flower. The thumps of hard rain against the windows filled the silence that Akira found comforting.
That silence didn't last long. Suddenly, her mother dropped the ceramic plate she was drying onto the floor next to Akira, the plate shattering into pieces. Akira quickly looked up from her drawing in surprise "Mama are you okay?" She asked, getting off the ground, still clutching the green crayon she was using. "W-what...I can sense them..." Her mother gasped out, eyes wide staring into space, frozen in place.
Akira pulled the side of her mother's sweater "Mama, what's-"
As if Naida was thrown back into reality, she turned and in a panic, pulled Akira behind her, and quickly walked backwards towards the kitchen corner, shielding her. Akira, having been pushed and entirely smushed into the corner, whined and pushed against her mother's back "Mama! Get Off!"
From a small gap from under her mother's arm, Akira saw a sight she's never seen before. Swirls of pitch black began to form around the kitchen. The floor, the roof, the walls, what was happening?
Creatures of terrifying sorts began to crawl out, making Akira rethink her decision to get her mother off. Terrified, she put her face into her mother's back to prevent herself from seeing the terrifying creatures that seemed like they came out of a scary child's tale. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice of a man rang out in the room. Akira felt her mother's back tense up.
"Ahhh~ After all these years. We've finally found you, Naida Modeus." The man laughed out in his heavy accented voice.
"Get out. Now." Akira's mother deadpanned, voice as sharp as knives.
"Hohoho, is that how you treat your visitors? I just wonder how he managed to deal with you."
"Who are you?"
"We are followers of your father, our god, Modeus! After his death, many of us, his followers were devastated after that imbecile murder him in cold blood. We've tried many ways to revive our savior back and luckily, he blessed us with a way to bring him back into our presence!"
Akira heard heavy footsteps walk towards the right, giving Akira,who was still behind her mother's back, a clear line of sight of who it was. It was a tall tan man with brown long hair in braid, who was wearing a long type of black robe with gold designs enriched into the fabric and more jewelry. It was odd with his outfit, but it was oddly enough that she saw some weird spheres surrounding the man, looking like a it contained a combination of red and black liquid. That fact, scared Akira.
"We were told, we needed to sacrifice one that carried his untainted blood." The man said, taking a framed photo of Naida and Akira off the wall and analyzed it "Ah, such beautiful souls." A shutter ran up Akira's back as she clutched her mother's sweater tighter, dropping the green crayon she use to hold. The man turned and met Akira's eyes. "There she is. She would have been great if she hadn't been tainted with that scums' blood." The man looked back at Naida."We're here for you, my dear. Now, come on."
'THERE'S MORE PEOPLE!?' Akira thought.
"Who the hell said I was going with any of you?"
"Oh dear, who said you had a choice?"
Akira's body was suddenly thrown to the side.
Akira squeaked as she fell back. Landing onto the floor, she was able to see the full scene she was hidden from.
People in black cloaks covered every available space against the kitchen walls as the hideous monsters Akira imagined, were floating in the air and others that were perched against the roof.
Akira's heads then quickly turned towards her mother, who she noticed, had a weird blue necklace pointed at her by the evil man. And as soon Naida's eyes met Akira's, her body began to slowly disintegrate into blue sparks, causing her to fall to her knees.
"MAMA!" Akira screamed, getting back to her feet and running to her mother's side. "Akira..." Naida slowly tried to say as she became paler. She felt the air in her lungs leave, causing her to slowly choke.
"Akira..I can't...Stay long...Here." She tried saying, shakily taking off a silver ring that was on her ring finger. "I..Love you..And always will..." Her body, not being able to sustain her body anymore, slumped against the ground as Akira tried to help, but ended up having her mother's head on her knees "Mama!? Don't go! Please!" She cried, terrified at the sight of her mother's bottom half dissipate.
"Oh hun...Don't cry...Just take care okay?...Follow.." She began to gasp for air as the blue sparks reached her chest "Your heart...Live on..Goodbye, my love..." And with that, her body disappeared. And what was left, was a pile of blue dust that began to float in the air.
Akira felt a wave of mixed emotions in her chest. Anger, fear, confusion. "M-Mama?.." She quivered, her face in disbelief as tears quietly ran down her cheeks. The dust that was her mother formed into a spiral before quickly spinning. The spinning slowly stopped after a moment and what resulted was a deep red liquid, in which began to float over to the man in mid-air.
"Ah, perfect! Our lord will be very proud...Now," The man turned towards Akira, giving her the opportunity to fully analyze his features. The man had a very sinister smile, his grey eyes staring at Akira with eyes of prey, his soft jawline clenching together.
"What shall we do hm? Spare the offspring? Naida's gone now and we got what we needed..." He stared at Akira, who now stood alone in the middle of the kitchen, alone and vulnerable.
"You know what? I will want to see how stronger you get, so I'll spare you Akira. Then maybe, when you're older, you can see the true reason of our existence."
"W-wait.." Akira said, holding her hand out to the man, who turned and began to walk back into the black swirl "WAIT!"Akira screamed out, "STOP! PLEASE BRING MY MAMA BACK! PLEASE!" She tried to run forward but was stopped when two monsters covered in black rags blocked her path.
"BRING HER BACK! NOW!" She screeched, making the tan man freeze in his place and wince. Her heart begin to race as her chest grow heavy, preventing her from catching her breath.
"M-MOVE!" She fearfully screamed out to the monsters who blocked her path, but they growled back in response. Akira looked back up at the other side and realized, everyone left. The man with the braided hair, and the cloaked people that were against the walls and the demons that were practically their pets, were just, gone. "No.." Akira said wide eyed. She turned her head back to the monsters. Suddenly, the two monsters who prevented her from moving forward, began to spaz out. After letting out load roars, they threw themselves strangely out the window, in attempts to escape something, and into the night.
Akira was lastly left alone in her usual kitchen, in silence besides the pounding of rain. "Mama..." She said, staring at the wall the braided man had left through, her small pale hands trembling as she tried to take in everything that happened. A sharp stinging pain suddenly occured in her gold eye, causing her to squinch and cover it with her trembling hand.
Her mother was gone. The men who took her just left with no trace. The floor beneath Akira began to sway as she tried to normalize her rapid breathing and stop her trembling.
She couldn't help her mother, she couldn't do anything, why did Akira cry about useless things in the past when her mother was just taken. Oh god, was she dead?
Akira stood still, clenching the silver ring her mother had given her tighter in her hand.
And with her final breath, her vision went black as her body hit the wooden floor, and there she laid.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: You'll set the mood for this section if you play the song Silent Hill:Promise)
On the stone trail that led to the Modeus's in the woods, a small, old lady walked in the rain. The blue umbrella she held protecting her from the rain that had been going on for some time.
She sneered "I don't know why Naida decided to move into the woods. It's not good for the child to be cut off from society. But no, nobody listens to dear old Cleo."
Cleo was an old friend of Naida from when she use to work in demon hunting. The fortune teller had met the young lady on one of her missions, and after becoming close, she was somewhat like a mother to Naida, taking care of her when she was sick and such. Even after Akira was born, she treated her as if she was her grandchild.
Her light blue wool cardigan flew behind her a bit from the wind and her black long skirt and her grey button up getting small droplets of rain on them. Jeez, she was too old for this. Having been holding a lit lamp to guide herself through the darkness, she brought her arm up. Her wrinkled face squinted at the cottage house infront of her with her vibrant green eyes. She took a few steps forward but, something was off. There was a overwhelming feeling of dread in the air, making Cleo's chest tighten a bit. A strong gust of air suddenly hit her from the north, making her hunch over.
"What the hell?" She frowned as she straightened herself back up. She walked towards the entrance and took out the set of keys Naida had given her a while back. Unlocking the door, she walked in and shut it. Putting the umbrella down and taking her shoes off, she called out.
"Naida! I came back to drop off some rosemary you asked for from the garden!"
She was met with no reply, which got her a bit annoyed "Akira!" She called out, hoping for the young girl or anyone to answer, but no response.
Looking around, Cleo was confused. It was as if no one was here. But that was impossible, both Akira's red sneakers and Naida's black flats were by the entrance, and even if they left with different pairs of shoes, the lights wouldn't have been left on. The old lady made her way through the halls of the cottage, passing by the kitchen when suddenly, she stopped, having seen a small dark figure in the corner of her eyes. She took a few steps back. She was met with the sight of poor small Akira, still clad in the blue checkered dress she had on from the morning, the last time Cleo had seen the girl. And the windows of the kitchen broken.
"Akira!" She screamed out, rushing over to the girl as quick as her old legs could move. Kneeling and picking the girl's upper body up, Cleo shook the girl "Akira! Akira! Wake up!" Slowly, the girl's blue and gold eyes opened a bit. Cleo let out a small breath of relief, but the situation wasn't over yet.
"Akira! What happened!? Where's your mother!?"
Akira's eyes suddenly shot open and she sat up in a panic. "Akira!" Cleo yelled, holding the girl's hands that were ready to hit her "It's me! Cleo!" At that, Akira calmed down a bit. But quickly, Akira's face scrunched up, trying to prevent herself from crying. And oh god, why did she even try.
"C-cleo.." She hiccuped out as she began to break down "Mama's gone. S-she got turned into blue dust, and, and, and, and,"
Cleo's eyes widened.
'Don't tell me..They got to her.'
Cleo remembered a small memory she had in the back of her head. It was the day Naida had announced her pregnancy to Cleo but Cleo remembers her mentioning a small event that happened that same day. Naida was confronted by a miniature cult that praised her father, wanting her to be the sacrifice, and to prevent any bad things from occurring, she fought them all and they disappeared for the next few years. And Cleo concluded, until now.
'But how did they find a way to kill her?'
Since Modeus, Naida's father had an immortal factor in his blood, Naida had inherited a bit of it from her devil's side, so it would have taken alot to cause her pain.
Akira latched onto Cleo, crying into her shirt as Cleo tried to not to tear up. Oh her poor dear friend. Her smiling face. Cleo would miss that alot. But Cleo looked down at Akira. She couldn't falter now. She had to help her friend's child in some way. Cleo can't be next to Akira her whole life, the cancer Cleo had in her chest was slowly killing her, so she wouldn't last long at her old age.
Both Cleo and Akira spent that night on the wooden floor of the old kitchen, mourning as breeze running through the broken glass windows and silence ran through the cottage.
The cottage no longer had the usual warmth it had before during the beautiful spring day, as it was now as cold as a dark winter's night.
A/N: Welcome to the first chapter of my first DMC story! I hope you enjoyed since I've been experimenting a bit and trying to increase my skill in descriptive writing (which I think I'm failing humongously) I honestly have mixed feelings about this chapter and how I'm going to write the plot. But! We'll see how the story turns out in the end, I tried / But I enjoyed writing the chapter so I'm happy about that!
Hope you tune in next time for the next chapter of Legacy!
Next Chapter: Phone Call