AN: Here we are again, another long awaited update.
Thank you all for those who took the time to review on this fic, I really do appreciate it (:

Without further ado, Please Enjoy.

Chapter 4: The Witch's Portrait(2/2)

Shall we begin?

{The First day: October 4, 1986}

It was a bit shameful for him to admit, but truth to be told…there weren't many things that Battler could remember from his previous visits to the island of Rokkenjima.

Sure, given enough time, his brain could start digging out those fuzzy memories of the fun reckless activities that he and his cousin Jessica had gotten themselves into whenever they had that chance to escape from their parents'(and to a lesser extent, George) ever watchful glance during those dreadful and boorish conferences.

If he was even luckier, his mind could probably start recognizing some of the physical layout of both the mansion and nearby woods that he used explore aimless whenever his boundless curiosity got the best of him, much to his poor late mother's unending grief.

"I really was a spoiled kid back then."

But…perhaps it was due to long passage of time had passed since his absence from the family conferences, (or maybe it was the stress of having to deal with my old man's shitty life choices?) but for Batter, what he could actually remember from those distant days always felt like that a pleasant dream that came to him once in a blue moon.

Yet, as he walked though the grand spectacle that was the head family's prized rose garden, an almost otherworldly place that should have been bringing back all those lost memories as his eyes absorb all of its'' lush and grander that once been a regular sight for him to behold every time he had visited, a place where it should have made him pause and marvel at its' raw beauty…

Batter couldn't even muster up a smile to pretend that he was even enjoying himself… A fact that did not go unnoticed.

"Oh, dear me, it seems that our little Batter has grown quite bored already! Hoh-hoh-ho~"

"Eh?" Startled by the unexpected laughter, he snapped out of his musings, pausing mid-way in his tracks before turning around to face Kumasawa, who look back at him with a wide (if somewhat devious) smile that stretched to the edges of her wrinkled face,

"It seems that you still haven't grown up much, have you, Master Batter?"

"Mas-Oh jeez granny, don't call me that!" The young man said, a sharpish grin quickly appeared upon his face, as if to hide the bright blush clearly evident on his checks, "I know it has been a couple of years but, come on! None of this "master" business, you're just going make me feel like one of those creepy old geezers!"

"Ho-hoh~ oh dear me, I hope that I haven't embarrassed you now, have I? Here I thought that you were the sort of men that wouldn't pass up the chance to have a beautiful woman such as myself swooning at your feet."

"Beautiful?" Batter couldn't help but snort loudly at that far-fetch self-description. As long what he could remember, Kumasawa always seemed to be the type that enjoyed teasing into others with her endless barter and gossip, always eager to get people talking no matter how outrageous the topics may seem at times.

Still, it would be a lie if he said that he wasn't amused by the mere thought that this fragile looking old lady, who nearly rivaled his own grandfather in age, could still somehow capture the fleeting hearts of young men looking for love…

"Ihihihi… I think we can safety agree, granny, that you and I have two very different standards of beauty."

"Ho-hoh-ho~"

On-the off corner of his eyes, Batter could already see that they were falling behind, Gohda was already leading the rest of the group further ahead out of the rose garden that surround them and moving them closer towards the grand mansion that stood at the end of the trail.

"Damn, aren't they fast? Almost feel like as if we were a tourist group or something…"

Neither his father nor his sister seemed to notice his absence. The old man was still preoccupied with Kyrie (not surprising), while Ange was standing close to Aunt Eva, laughing at a joke that the older women was making, her chubby little face brimmed with absolute joy.

Aren't that an amusing sight.

Batter blinked. His head twisted sideway as if expecting to face someone that stood next him. Yet… it was only just him and the old maid.

He frowned. For a moment, he could have sworn that-

"Oh dear." Kumasawa exclaimed, finally taking notice that they had fallen quite behind from the rest of the group as a result of their silly barter,

"It seems that everyone has completely forgotten about us!" We might as well get move on. Otherwise-" She offered him a playful wink, "The witch will gob us all up before supper!"

"Witch? she said witch, right? Battler thought, puzzled by the older women's strange remark. Slowly a faded memory began popping in his head, the distract voice of his mother calling out to him,

["Batter, please come back! I don't want you to get eaten by that nasty witch!]"

"Ah, I remember now. That's the old fairy tale that the old man and mom always told me at night to keep me out of the woods whenever we visited."

"The witch of Rokkenjima."

"A witch, eh? Ihihihi… Come on granny." Batter smirked, gesturing his hands in dismissal manner, "Don't you think I'm a little too old for that kind of nonsense?"

"Oh?"

"Honestly, it's one thing to try frightening Ange with that type of crap, but don't expect me to fall over and start foaming at the mouth over some silly occult thing that grandfather made up in his spare time, Ihihihi…."

"…Oh, dear me, don't tell me you have forget? The old women said, her face suddenly becoming deprived of emotions, "What a great shame that would be that…'

"W-what?"

"I suppose I have no choice then."

Unconsciously, he took a step back way from her, already feeling creepy out by the women's sudden shift in demeanour. "What are you talking about? (What with the sudden creepy atmosphere? It almost feels like the opening of one of those cheesy American slasher films.)"

"I was hoping to wait a bit longer to do this but…" She sighed as she began walking forward, bypassing a very confused Batter,

"I suppose I'll have to take you to see her then."

"Eh? I'm sorry but, w-who are we're talking about again?"

"Why, Beatrice of course."

Are you finally going to make things enjoyable now ?

After passing through the entrance hall of the mansion, Battler (almost blindly) followed Kumasawa deeper into the mansion, unsure of what exactly she was so eager to show him.

"Easy now, old friend. No need to be nervous, it's not like she is dragging me to some sinister hidden room to kill me off-scene, ihihihi…"

As they walked towards their destination, Batter took the time to quietly absorbed every little detail that he could gathered from their little side trip. From the various pieces of foreign art and furniture that hung closely to the beautifully decorated walls to the erratic design of the enormous hallways that surrounded them as they made their way through to… well wherever their destination laid.

It was almost as if every piece of the mansion that Battler saw only served to reinforce his old childhood memories of a gloomy (if not frightening) elderly man desperate to recreate his own little corner of the world in the image of the West…

"Heh, just like what my old man always says, Grandfather never really a taste for the old classics, huh?"

"Ah, here we are."

Eventually, after several minutes of walking, the old women abruptly stopped. The room that they were in was rather large, something that felt completely unnecessarily given its' close proximity to the stairway that led to the upper floors of the mansion. From what he could see, it was nearly devoid of any notable furniture that he had seen earlier, only just some wide windows that allowed onlookers to peek on whatever was the other side of the mansion.

It almost felt like he had stepped into place that merely existed for the sake of just being clean by the family's servants. No real purpose, just an empty hollow room.

That was of course until he finally noticed the painting.

…Again? You're showing me this again?

"…"

It was a large portrait of a young beautiful women, gracefully posing for whomever was painting her. She wore a striking black ballgown-like dress that fitted her perfectly, almost reminiscent of those old European style clothing that the he often seen in Western history books.

Her startling bright blue eyes and elegant smile gave the image of someone oozing with self-confidence, daring anyone to come and challenge her. This was a woman who knew, with absolute certainty, that she stood high above the rest of the world.

"So, this is the witch." He noted silently, unconsciously taking a step forward, both his mind and body was being drawn by the very essence of the women's portrait, "Beatrice, huh?

He supposed it was a natural reaction, this was something that he had never seen before, something by whom its very presence set itself apart from everything that existed on this lonesome island…

"She is quite beautiful, aren't she?"

"Beautiful?" Batter didn't say anything to Kumasawa who stood behind him. He simply remained silent and continued staring at it, his eyes unable pry themselves off the surreal image that stood front of him.

No, to say that she was beautiful was the same as one saying that sky was blue. It wasn't enough. That simple plain (even dirty) word wasn't enough to describe the divine face that stare down at him.

"Oh my…are you going to read the epithet?"

"…eh?"

Battler blinked. It took him a second to realise that he missed something while he had been-AHEM- gawking at the women's portrait. Standing right in front of him was a plate made from marble.

"What's this?" He took a step towards it, his eyes began scanning through the long pieces text written upon its' smooth surface, "Is this some sort of poem?"

[The river of the sweat-fishes run through my dear hometown.]

It began innocently enough, giving of the impression a love-struck man writing earnestly of his long aching travels to seek to whom Battler could only assume to be Beatrice, his one true love.

Then he read the twelve verse.

[At the first night, offer six people of the key's choice as sacrifices.]

"Hey, hey, hey." A drip of sweat begin dripping down his forehead as he continued reading, the epithets' text become more and more bizarre and twisted with each passing word,

[At the fourth night, gouge the head and kill]

[At the firth night, gouge the chest and kill]

[At the sixth night, gouge the belly and kill]

"Seriously, what the hell am I reading here?"

[At the ninth night, the witch shall be revived, and none shall survive.]

He felt a shiver ran down his spine as he continued reading. By the time he reached the end, the epitaph had ended the same way that it started, with text reaffirming whom this poem was dedicated towards,

[Sleep in peace, my most beloved witch Beatrice.]

Shaken, Battler took a step away from the plate, in fact it felt like as if his legs were almost eager take him from that dreadful spot. He paused for a moment however, his eyes hesitantly looked up once more and met the witch's stare.

"Ihhihih… so this is the witch of Rokkenjima." He repeated to himself, an uneasy feeling began knotting itself tighten within his stomach.

It was almost felt like a one big sick joke, really. Only mere seconds ago he had been utterly captative by this women's unworldly charm. But now…he didn't even know what he felt.

Was this the painting of the same cruel witch that parents always warned him about when he had been a small child? The one lurked deep with the woods, eagerly waiting for night to fell upon the island and freely roam to devour whomever disrespect her glorious name?

Almost immediately, Battler shook his head in dismay, a sense of shame washed over him for even daring to think such idiotic thoughts,

"Of course, it isn't it, dumbass. It's just some god-damn painting with some creepy text, that's it. So, what on earth am I getting work up for? There's nothing to be scared here."

"After all, witches don't exist."

"Ho-hoh-ho~ oh my, you look quite frighten my child!"

Upon hearing the older women's concerned voice, Batter's mind jarred back to reality. Slowly he turned to face the only other living person within the room.

"It seems to me that you have seen a ghost Ho-hoh-ho~!"

"…yeah, you could say that."

"Hmmm~." Compared to what Batter must have looked with his unnerved expression, Kumasawa was awfully relaxed. Nothing about her body language give any indication of her being frighten by the witch's over looming presence within the room (A fact that only brought even further sense of embarrassment upon the young men's shoulders…).

"Jeez, if mye old men were to see me now, he'll probably be laughing his ass off for how stupid I'm acting." Eager to brush off his prior childish reaction, Battler quickly steer the conversation away from him, "No seriously, this painting is…quite impressive." He paused, his mind struggling to find the right words to say without making him seem like a bigger idiot who clearly had no idea of what he was saying, "It's really quiet something, isn't it? Grandfather must have payed a small fortune to whomever drew her to sure that they wouldn't overlook the smallest of details…"

"Oh yes." The old women remarked, a small smile gracing her face, "Nearly give poor master Krauss a heart attack when he finally realized how much it would end up costing the family's fortune. Ho-hoh-ho~"

Laugher bubbled inside Battler as a cartoonish image of his hot-blooded uncle popped up into his head, "Iheihihi, yeah, I suppose you're right about that. Still, I never thought grandfather would be interested in this type of stuff… but than again, the things you do for love, right?"

"Hmmm~"

"He really must miss grandmother that much, huh?"

"…."

Almost instantly, Battler knew he must have said something wrong. For a brief moment-in fact he almost missed it entirely, - Kumasawa's face darken before quickly returning to her normal cheerful expression.

"What the hell was that about?" The young men wondered. Before he could say anything else to address it, a soft voice spoke up from behind them,

"Ah, so this is where you were."

Surprised, Battler swiftly turned around and find himself staring at an unfamiliar young lady. Judging from the way she was dressed; it was obvious that she was one of the many servants that served within his family household. She was much younger compared to Kumasawa or even Gouda, but it was hard for Battler to determine her actual age due to her youthful (and pretty) face. For all he knew she either could be either be a teenager approaching adulthood or a woman seeking to build up her career through the fame Ushimoyria family connections,

"A maid, huh… No, I don't think we've meet, this is someone new. I don't recognize their face. Beside her hair's black unlike-"

"Forgive me for the interpretation-" She offer them a short bow, "But, the Madame and Master is asking for you, Kumasawa."

"Oh dear, oh dear." Kumasawa said, her hands flew to her mouth, "Don't tell me that they are planning to start this early? I thought that Master Krassus was going to wait until noon to start the meeting!"

"That was the plan… but Lady Eva insisted that the meeting should begin immediately as soon as everyone had the chance to settle in their rooms."

"Ah, is that so?" The old lady hummed quietly to herself before turning to face Battler with an apologetic expression, "Well then, I afraid to say Battler, but I must cut our little trip short for now. There're so much things that must be prepare if I wish to keep your aunt happy for the rest of afternoon."

He nodded, "Of course, I understand. You're the boss after all, if you weren't around, I doubt that anyone here would get any work done around without your 'rigorous' overwatch to keep everyone in line, ihhihi…" He showed off a small smile, which Kumasawa was quickly to share 'But seriously, thank you granny for showing me around. This, this was really interesting to see after all."

"Ho~hoh, it was my pleasure." The old lady turned to leave, however just as she was about to leave the room, she paused.

"Battler."

"Yeah?"

"Please don't forget, that our fair lady does exist, you know? She would hate it if you were to keep doubting that within her presence."

Battler could only stare at her, his mouth twitched, "Hey that-" However, she already had left before he could even finish his sentence.

"…God damn it, granny, you really aren't going to let this go, huh?" He grimaced. He could feel his fingers scratching nervously against the skin of his neck, "Witches, of course it had to be witches… First it was mother using them as a spooky monster to keep me out of the woods and now you're trying to make me relive that fear to make me think this old mansion is cursed or something for your own shit and giggles …Jeez why does everyone still think that I'm so gullible to believe in this type of stuff?"

"Master Battler?"

Startled, it took Battler a second to realize that the maid was still there, standing a merely a few feet away from him,

"Oh. Oh hello. (…that was a pretty shitty response.)"

"Hello…Forgive me for asking, but is there something that you need?

"Eh?"

"Lady Ange told me that you were feeling quite unwell on the voyage here, so I can't help but wonder if you required some medicine to help with the illness." The black-haired maid said. She spoke with a level of elegance that one would expect of a refine servant dutifully fulfilling their duty, a true proper lady, "It wouldn't really be much trouble if I were to hurry to the kitchen and-"

"N-no, no. I'm fine. I'm feeling much better now, thank you" Battler shook his head, he could already feel the heat rushing toward his cheeks at the thought of his little sister fussing over him in front of their aunts and uncles, "Ange Ange, What would I do without you?"

"Oh." She bit her lips softly before she went on speaking, "Then shall I lead you back to the guest house, Master Battler? Lady Jessica told me that it has been quite long time since you last attend a family meeting."

"Nah, that's quite alright. I want to stick around for a little bit and spend some more time exploring this old place on my own. It should help refresh my memoires and see what else has change since I last visited."

"…I see. Well, then I'll take my leave."

With a polite bow, she was about to turn and make her exist, before Battler suddenly spoke up once more, an old sweet memory came rushing towards him,

["Yeah I promise. I'll come riding for you on a white horse!"]

'Hey, wait a minute!

"...?"

"You don't happen to know if any of the other cute young maids working here that are close to my age, do you?"

"…"

The maid blinked upon hearing at his question, soon she began shifting uncomfortably as a awkward silence fell between them. It took Battler a moment to grasp what exactly he has just blunted out.

"Shit, I did not word that out carefully"

"Umm, listen I didn't mean to-" He paused, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves., "I apologize for that. That was a pretty shitty thing for me to say right off the bat. I didn't mean to offend."

"…"

"I just… sorry, I know this is going to sound stupid, but can we start over again? He suggested, offering a warm smile in attempt to convey his pure intentions, "My name is Battler Ushimoryia, it's nice to meet you."

She stared at him for a little while before a faint smile brushed upon her lips, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, my name is-"

No, we're not doing that.

At once, a grand empty silence fell upon the room.

Both Battler and the young maid stood still- no, frozen where they stood, not moving a single muscle within their bodies. To a passing onlooker, it would almost appear as if they were stone statues then living beings made out of flesh and blood.

There was no trace of any vibrant color that could be seen upon their faces, clothing or even the portrait itself. Instead, everything had taken on a dull dead grey color that had crawl upon of every little corner, as if signaling to the entire world that this space no longer belonged to the realm of the living. Now it was part of the vast strange unknown, the witch's world.

Yes, this unremarkable room was now indeed a place that existed outside the boundaries of time and logic. An empty space that was now utterly dead…with the expectation of a very, very bored blue haired witch impatiently waiting for something of interest to happen.

"Dull…"

"…"

"How utterly dull." Bernsrkel repeated. She stood in front of the two now lifeless figures, paying little attention to what she considered to be little more then useless furniture that couldn't even satisfy her expectations. She wasn't even looking at the now lifeless portrait of the fame Golden Witch, a portrait that which she swore to herself that if she had to look again at such dreadful imaginary that she would… well some things are best left unspoken.

Instead the witch's cold stare was center towards the small cup of tea that she firmly within her grasp. Half-heartily, she lifted it towards her lips, a look of displeasure washed over her pale face as the unpleasant lukewarm sensation become apparent within her mouth.

"How disgusting." She muttered as her fingers gently tip the cup slightly over, spoiling the reminder of its' content upon the wooden floor, "No matter how many times I contrived up a drink for myself to enjoy, it always ends up like this. I never can grasp how those damn demons make such wonderful tea and treats…oh well."

"So." She twisted her head upwards, her cold glance shifting once more towards the ceiling, "If you're done screwing around, why you don't come out already?"

…

"…Come now." She was speaking in a much friendly tone, although the expression that was evident on her face told quite a different story, ""It's one thing to give off a shitty reception, but it's another to be a shitty host, don't you think? There's no point keeping up in this little charade of yours, I'm sure you already had enough fun making me watch such dreadful scenes for nothing. So why don't you come out and let us discuss this like two civil adults, hmmm?"

…

…

…

"Oh, I see, so that's how you're going to response, huh…?"

Bernsrkel turned to face the two frozen figures, her empty glance settled upon a familiar sight,

"You know, I had to deal with a lot of idiots in my lifetime as a witch. I've seen idiots who thought that they could conquer the world by doing absolutely nothing in their short miserable lives. There were others who set themselves on fire in thinking that their stupidity would grant them some type of useless enlightenment that would solve all their silly problems. Yes, I've dealt all sorts of idiots, but this one-" She lifted her arm up, her finger pointing towards the suppose 'hero' of this tale,

"This was the biggest idiot of them all." Bernsrkel remarked harshly. A part of her took a bit of pleasure in using the old game rules in humiliating this useless piece once more, "He couldn't even figure out if he wanted to murder the one who took away his family, get on his kneels and beg her like a whimpering dog to save his sister's future happiness or make love to her for all eternity as her pathetic slave."

…

"…Then again, who am I to judge?" The witch mummer softly to herself, "In end, we don't choose whom we end loving, it just… happens doesn't it?"

…

"Oh well." She shrugged, "It doesn't change the fact that the boy was such an incompetent fool. He was quite a pain in the ass to work with, mind you, always insisting on doing things his way throughout the brief time I spent as that fool's sponsor. Even if it all ended up doing was wasting everyone precious time and delaying the natural outcome of that kid's tragedy."

…

"Still he did end up teaching me of all people some very important life lessons that I think that would be very beneficial for our future relationship if this is the type of game that you're going to play with me."

Snap

With a quick snap of her fingers, a cluster of stakes appear out of thin air, standing mere inches from piercing the fragile body of the unnamed maid. All of them dripping in the bright color of red.

"The truth is such a wonderful thing to behold." Bernsrkel said as she calmly refilled her cup of tea with a little whisk of magic, "It can help us uncover the hidden secrets and gems that humans hide deep within their hearts to avoid having their precious fantasies from being expose and ruin in the eyes from the world." She paused before taking a small sip of her warm tea to quench her thirst,

"Personally, I see it more as an effective tool to get people to shut up for once and listen to me."

….

"So, if you aren't going to offer me a decent response." Bernsrkel tossed her head to one side, a thin smile was pasted on her lips, "Then shall we resolve this like children?"

"OH. ARE YOU BORED THEN, M'LADY?"

"Should I rip this little girl's heart out before- yes, of course I'm bored. Can't you take a hint already? AHEM- before we even get to learn-"

She paused abruptly. Slowly, her eyes shifted to the person who had finally spoken.

"…"

"ARE YOU BORED, M'LADY?"

Battler stood there, maintaining a calm relaxed posture, completely unbothered by the hundred of red stakes that threaten him and his companion, wearing only a simple friendly smile,

Yet as she continued to stare at him, it was plainly obvious that something wasn't right.

The longer she looked at him, his body become more and more distorted to look upon, as if it was trying to hide itself from her piercing glare. His face no longer resembled that of an average person, everything about it felt wrong. It was as if an unearthly creature had taken the poor boy's face and replace it with something that it had poorly stitched together in a vain hope of replicating what was lost. His smile… of course he had to continue smiling for his mouth was permanently fixed in an unending repulsion grin.

He was irritating, frightening and ghastly among many other things.

"…My God." Bernsrkel blinked before giving off a small sigh. She slowly took another sip of her cold tea, "They, they really don't know even know what they're doing at this point, do they?"

"ARE YOU BORED, M'LADY?" His lips did not move, yet the witch hear his irritating voice all the same, "ARE YOU BORED, M'LADY?"

"Still, at least I'm no longer dealing with a wall of silence. I can work with this."

"IF YOU'RE FEELING BORED M'LADY, THEN DO NOT FEAR, ALL YOU MUST DO IS JUST BE PATIENT AND-"

"No, no, no. We're not playing that game anyone." She gave the figure a chilly look, one that left no room for any further discussion, "I already gave you my answer before, didn't I? Yes, I'm indeed feeling quite bored by these unamusing antics of yours. So you don't want me to leave and turn this world into a pile of dust, I suggest it time that we've a proper conversation."

"…VERY WELL." The creature that was once Battler gave an apologetic bow, offering its' twitching hand to the disrupted witch,

"LET US GO AND MEET OUR FAIR MISTRESS."

AN: Well, that's where we must end things for now.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you liked or didn't like.
I'm always up to hear your constructive criticism.
Until next time, have a pleasant day.

PS: Just a head up, I'm currently holding a poll to determine if I should change the current title for something else entirely. You can head to my profile page to find it and cast your vote! I will make my final decision next week depending on how many people choose to vote by then.