Song from Previous Chapter:
"Mad World"
Artist - Gary Jules
It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
David kicked open the door, an infected already reaching for him. He grabbed it by the neck and stabbed it through it's eye with his dagger, throwing the body onto the floor. He ran upstairs, backing against the wall when he reached the top, banging on the wall and listening for any infected people. A pair of infected came out of one of the bedrooms, weakly looking for the source of the noise. David pushed off the wall and stabbed one infected through the back of the head while it's back was turned. The second infected growled and lunged at David, who summoned a dust pistol, shooting it through the eye. He dissipated the gun and dropped the first infected.
David slowly opened one of the closed bedrooms door, holding his dagger at the ready, and entered, backing away slightly at the sight of a heavily bitten and devoured child girl on a blood soaked bed. He sighed sadly and walked over to the infected girl, holding her head still and stabbed her in the head, preventing reanimation. He left the room, breaking the door handle from the outside.
"She won't want to see that." David muttered, sheathing his dagger and exiting the house, kneeling down and helping Anna to her feet, putting her arm over his neck. They slowly walked up the stairs and entered the cleared bedroom, David walking over to the bed with Anna, but she collapsed, succumbing to the infection in her arm. "Anna!"
"Uhh...it hurts so much..." Anna whispered sadly, ears welling in her eyes.
"Anna, you're going to get through this. I-I'll find something here to help, there has to be something!" David yelled desperately, holding onto Anna tightly.
"David...If it happens to me...don't let me come back..." Anna begged weakly.
"I-I...that's not going to happen to you, you're gonna make it." David told her, lacking in confidence. "I-I can't lose you..."
"David..." Anna looked at him. "I-I-"
"Don't. You're going to make it. You still haven't answered all your questions, everything you want to know. You don't even know who killed your parents." David reminded her, and she looked away, a tear dropping from her left eye.
"I-I lied." Anna said to him. He sighed.
"I've know, ever since you told me." He informed her.
"How?" Anna asked him.
"Everybody Lies." David repeated his credo. Anna sniffled away her tears.
"I...want to tell you what really happened to them..."
THE XIAO LONG CHRONICLES
VOLUME 3 - EVERYBODY LIES
CHAPTER FOUR
DAY 7
"-One by one, the sisters left. Before they did, they made one final promise: They promised to return each and every year, to visit their dear friend. The End." Amelia finished "The Story of the Seasons" to her daughter.
"Yay!" Anna cheered, clapping. She calmed down and lay down in her bed. "Mom, are the maidens actually real?"
"Well, we don't have proof of their existence yet..." Amelia told Anna, tucking her into bed. "...but, these stories have to come from somewhere, right?"
"Right!" Anna agreed, yawning loudly.
"You must be tired, sweetie." Amelia chuckled a little.
"I'm not sleepy! I'm just...resting my eyes..." Anna tried to deny it. Amelia smiled at her and kissed Anna on the forehead.
"Sleep well, Anna." She said to Anna.
"I will, mom. Night..." Anna said, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.
Anna's eyes shot open at the sound of gunfire outside, groaning as she got up from the floor, rubbing her eyes, thinking to herself why she dreamt about that memory. She looked around the forest, that was much less denser than when they first crashed in the forest. She turned to more gunfire, slowly getting up, holding onto her left arm painfully. She looked as the black substance in her veins spread from the tip of her left hand up to her left shoulder. Anna turned to rustling around the corner, David coming out.
"Got some good news, and some bad news." David told her, sheathing his dagger.
"Uh, I guess good news first." Anna told him.
"Well, good news is that while I was scouting this morning, I found a village in a clearing, it should have supplies and medical equipment to last us a while." David informed her.
"Well, that's great! Wait, what's the bad news?" Anna asked cautiously.
"It's abandoned. I didn't see a single person in that village, unless you count a few groups of infected humans scattered throughout the village. Shouldn't be too much of a problem." David added.
"Right, how far is it?" Anna asked.
"At walking speed, a bit less than a hour." David told her.
"Okay, let's...get going..." Anna winced in pain, David moving towards her.
"Hey, you good?" David asked her.
"What do you think?" She asked, with a sense of hostility. She immediately sighed. "Sorry."
"It's fine. I shouldn't have asked." He told her, looking at her infected arm. "Do you need help?"
"Please." Anna requested, he carefully lifted her left arm and put it around the back of his neck, he wrapped his arm around her waist to support her and they both started walking towards the village.
Anna whistled as she jogged home, hands on the straps of her school bag, soon reaching the front door. She reached for the handle, but stopped when she heard yelling inside. Anna pressed her ear against the door.
"She's a failure! You both are! You should be just as ashamed as I am that she is our daughter!" Anna heard her father shouting.
"Abaddon, she's just a child, she's the best in her class." Amelia told him.
"Then she's in a class of idiots! I told you she should have went to private school, where she might learn something useful!" He yelled at Amelia.
"If you're so disappointed, why don't you just leave!? We'd all be better off without yo-"
SLAP
Anna opened the door, running through the corridor and into the back room, finding her mother on the floor, tears in her eyes, her cheek red and bleeding a little. Abaddon stood over her, breathing heavily with a clenched fist. As he lunged to hit again, Anna ran between them, his fist hitting her.
"Anna!" Amelia yelled, quickly getting up and, moving between Anna and Abaddon, standing in front of her daughter defensively as Anna cried, holding onto her bleeding cheek. "How dare you hit my daughter, you monster!"
"I don't have time for this, I'm out of here." Abaddon walked past them, grabbing his coat. "You'd better behave yourself when I get back." He left, slamming the door behind him.
"Mommy!" Anna hugged her mom tightly, Amelia embracing her daughter just as tightly. She released the hug and looked at Anna's cheek.
"Come on, sweetie, let's get that cheek fixed up." Amelia told her, rustling her hair as Anna giggled a little.
David and Anna reached the borders of the village, entering and looking around at the buildings. Many of the buildings were single-storied houses, the larger, two storied houses at the centre of the village.
"The houses at the centre of the village are bigger than the one's here. Chances are, they have more medicine and medical equipment than the houses here. We just need to get through them." David gestured to the dozen or so infected people scattered throughout the road.
"It's too much for you to handle along, I can help." Anna told him, reaching back and unsheathing her remaining katana. "I'll watch your back while you take them on." David thought about it for a second.
"Okay, but don't strain yourself. Can you walk?" David asked, and she nodded. He carefully lifted her left arm off him and took out his dagger, sneaking up to the nearest infected human. He reached around and covered it's mouth, and stabbed it through the back of it's skull, throwing it behind him as it fell to the ground. The sound of the body falling to the ground caught the other infected's attention, they stumbled towards him, reaching out to him.
Anna sneaked up behind the furthest infected, they didn't notice her due to her invisibility semblance, and stabbed one through the back of it's neck, the katana sticking out of it's mouth. She pulled out the katana, and lunged forward, sticking the katana through another infected human's right eye, pulled out the katana and spun around, slicing off another infected's head.
David stabbed his dagger up through an infected human's jaw, pulled it our and sliced his dagger downwards on another infected human, slicing half of it's face off. He flipped the dagger in his hand and threw it at the last infected, hitting it in the forehead. David turned around smirked a little, caressing Anna's face a little. He would see her blushing if she wasn't currently invisible. She reappeared.
"How'd you see me?" Anna asked.
"I've got good eye sight." David joked, yanking his dagger out of the infected human's skull and sheathing his dagger as she laughed a little. "Come on, let's go get some medicine." Anna sheathed her katana, David helping her lift her left arm around his neck and wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked towards the larger houses. They reached the largest house, David and Anna stopping in front of it.
"What is it?" Anna asked him.
"This place could have infected people in it, best if you wait out while I take them out. A katana won't be great in a tight area." David advised her.
"Okay." Anna said, letting go of David and leaning down on the floor, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
Anna winced a little as Amelia carefully stitched the cut on her cheek, tightening the surgical suture and putting it back back into the cut again. Amelia tightened it and cut the string. "All done." Amelia told her, frowning a little when Anna continued frowning. "What's the matter, dear?"
"Why does daddy hit you?" Anna asked.
"Daddy...he's a changed man. When I met him, we was a true gentleman, would never lay a hand on me, I loved him. But, being a hunter can put a toll on your mentality, being around the creatures of Grimm for decades can change anyone. It made your daddy a bad man. He's got a good reputation as a hunter, so most people wouldn't suspect him as what he really is, something I made a mistake of." Amelia told her. "Anna, I want you to make me a promise."
"Okay?" Anna asked.
"I want you to promise me, that if you ever meet a man, or woman, you will be absolutely sure that they are a good person. Someone who will protect you and those around you, someone honourable, someone good. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did." Amelia told Anna, who pulled her mother into a hug.
"I promise, mommy."
David kicked open the door, an infected already reaching for him. He grabbed it by the neck and stabbed it through it's eye with his dagger, throwing the body onto the floor. He ran upstairs, backing against the wall when he reached the top, banging on the wall and listening for any infected people. A pair of infected came out of one of the bedrooms, weakly looking for the source of the noise. David pushed off the wall and stabbed one infected through the back of the head while it's back was turned. The second infected growled and lunged at David, who summoned a dust pistol, shooting it through the eye. He dissipated the gun and dropped the first infected.
David slowly opened one of the closed bedrooms door, holding his dagger at the ready, and entered, backing away slightly at the sight of a heavily bitten and devoured child girl on a blood soaked bed. He sighed sadly and walked over to the infected girl, holding her head still and stabbed her in the head, preventing reanimation. He left the room, breaking the door handle from the outside.
"She won't want to see that." David muttered, sheathing his dagger and exiting the house, kneeling down and helping Anna to her feet, putting her arm over his neck. They slowly walked up the stairs and entered the cleared bedroom, David walking over to the bed with Anna, but she collapsed, succumbing to the infection in her arm. "Anna!"
"Uhh...it hurts so much..." Anna whispered sadly, tears welling in her eyes.
"Anna, you're going to get through this. I-I'll find something here to help, there has to be something!" David yelled desperately, holding onto Anna tightly.
"David...If it happens to me...don't let me come back..." Anna begged weakly.
"I-I...that's not going to happen to you, you're gonna make it." David told her, lacking in confidence. "I-I can't lose you..."
"David..." Anna looked at him. "I-I-"
"Don't. You're going to make it. You still haven't answered all your questions, everything you want to know. You don't even know who killed your parents." David reminded her, and she looked away, a tear dropping from her left eye.
"I-I lied." Anna said to him. He sighed.
"I've know, ever since you told me." He informed her.
"How?" Anna asked him.
"Everybody Lies." David repeated his credo. Anna sniffled away her tears.
"I...want to tell you what really happened to them..."
Anna woke up from her sleep, the sound of yelling downstairs too much for her. She got out of bed, unlocked the lock on her door and crept to the staircase, slowly walking down and stopping, looking down at her parents fighting again.
"You stitched up her face? She needs to heal on her own if she wants to be stronger!" Abaddon yelled at Amelia.
"She's just a child, not a huntress!" Amelia yelled back at him.
"It's no wonder she's so weak, she's just like you!" He yelled, and she slapped him in the face.
"Don't speak of us like that agai-" She was cut off when he punched her in the face, she fell to the ground, clutching her bloody nose. "Abaddon?"
"Don't talk back at me again!" He hit her again, and again, and again. Anna gritted her teeth angrily and ran down the stairs and around her parents into the kitchen. She opened the draw and grabbed a knife, entering the room with her parents, Abaddon on to of Amelia, choking her. Anna yelled and stabbed him in the leg, he yelled in pain. "Anna-" She stabbed the knife into his neck, letting go and backing away, covered in his blood, as he began choking on his own blood, falling to the floor gasping for air, and eventually collapsed, dead. Anna took the knife out of his neck and stabbed him in the eye, making sure he was dead. She walked over to her mother.
"Mommy?" Anna asked her mother, who was painfully gasping for air, her neck purple from bruising. Amelia turned towards Anna painfully, tears in her eyes.
"Anna...please..." Amelia begged, and Anna nodded, knowing what to do. Anna grabbed the knife and walked over to her mother, holding the knife over her head.
"I love you, mom." Anna told her, and brought the knife down, killing her peacefully. Anna removed the knife and dropped it, shaking as she backed into the corner of the room, collapsing to the floor and hugged her knees, tears openly flowing from her eyes.
"...she wanted me to kill her, she was going to die slowly and painfully. I did what she asked, putting her at peace." Anna finished, a few tears dropping from her eyes. David was speechless.
"...wow. So, what happened afterwards, with Ozpin and-" David stopped, Anna had passed out in his arms. "No, no, no, no, no." He shook her, but she didn't respond. "Anna, please." He hugged her, knowing there was nothing he could do.
"Man, that was a rough story."
David quickly dropped Anna, turning and summoning a dust pistol, aiming it at a man who had entered the room. He looked about David and Anna's age, with black hair, brown eyes and near pale skin, bar the scar on his right cheek. He was wearing a long grey leather trench coat, a black thermal shirt with multiple stitches and patches, dark blue jeans and black boots. He had a pair of knifes attached to his belt, which he quickly grabbed and threw them onto the ground, holding his hands up.
"Back up, now!" David yelled at him.
"Okay, okay, just don't shoot." He requested, taking a couple of steps back.
"Who are you?" David demanded.
"I'm a friend." He answered with a small smile.
"Your name." David elaborated.
"I'm Alexander MacFarlane, my friends call me Alex-"
"I don't care what your friends call you, what do you want?" David asked.
"I'm a scout of my home, I search for people who I think should come back, and I believe you two would be great additions." Alex explained. David lowered his gun slightly, looking at Alex, and swung his fist, knocking him out. David dissipated his dust pistol and tied him to the bed frame.
Anna walked through the streets of Vale, searching for anyone who looked rich. She stopped and backed against the wall, looking around the corner at an elderly man in a green suit with a cane. Anna casually walked past him, reaching into his pocket and grabbing his lien cards. As she walked away, she was tripped over by the man's cane. She panicked, quickly getting up to run away, but the man knelt in front of her before she got to her feet. He briefly examined her.
"Interesting. You pick-pocketed me." He said to Anna.
"P-please don't report me. Here, you can have it back!" Anna begged, holding out the lien cards to the man. He looked at them and pushed them back towards Anna.
"Why are you stealing lien from strangers?" He asked her.
"I need it, I have none." Anna told him. He looked at her again, noticing how she looked scruffy, weak and exhausted.
"You look bad." He noted.
"I've been on the streets for three years. I've looked worse." Anna told him, looking down at herself.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Anna Kyle." She answered him.
"My name is Ozpin, I'm the headmaster of Beacon Academy. Now, I'd like to say I'm a pretty skilled huntsman, but you still managed to sneak past me without me immediately noticing." Ozpin explained to her. "Are you hungry?"
"Starving." Anna answered, holding her stomach.
"You can come back with me, I can't leave someone as skilled as you out on the streets." Ozpin offered her a hand. "You could be a huntress one day."
Anna's eyes widened in surprise, and joy. She could finally go somewhere safe, have a life. She took his hand.
Alex groaned in discomfort as he woke up from being knocked out, shaking his head to remove the disorientation. He looked up at David, who had both dust pistols aimed down at him. Alex chuckled a little. "You've got a mean swing."
"What the hell do you want with us?" David demanded.
"You're a smart man, David. I can tell-" Alex complimented.
"How do you know my name?" David asked, aiming his pistols at Alex's head.
"I've been following both of you for a little under a week. I was sent to the crash site and found both of you scavenging for supplies. I'm the one who left the box of supplies for you." Alex told him. "You were smart enough to leave it behind instead of taking it. Can't really trust anyone, right?" David lowered his pistols.
"I'm going to ask again, what the hell do you want with us?" David asked again. Alex nodded his head to the side, gesturing to the direction.
"I'm from a community a few miles away from here, I want to bring you both back because you're both capable of fighting the Grymm, it's clear you're both hunters, at least in training." He explained
"Grymm?" He asked Alex.
"It's what we called the infected people, Grimm Hybrids: Grymm. It doesn't matter, what matters is that she's infected, and it looks bad." Alex noticed, looking at her arm. "I've never seen anything like that before, it usually takes a day or two for someone to succumb to to the infection, but she's survived a week."
"You can cure this?" David asked hopefully.
"Normally, I'd have to convince you both to come back with me, prove I'm not lying, but we don't have much time if she's to survive. There's a doctor back at my community who can try and fix that infection, save her life. Will you come back with me?" Alex asked David. Without hesitation, David dissipated his dust pistols, untied Alex and picked up Anna bridal style.
"How far?" David asked.
"Oh-if we run, we'll be there within the hour. You trust me that easily?" Alex asked, surprised.
"I have a great bullshit detector. You're telling the truth." David told him, and Alex 'hmm'd.
"Fair enough." Alex picked up his knifes, attaching them back to his belt. "Let's go." Alex ran down the stairs and out the house, David running just behind the stranger with Anna in his arms.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on...
So, that's the end of what I call "Arc 1" of the story. Again, I apologise for the shortness of the chapter, but this is the best cut-off point for this chapter to lead into chapter five, which will definitely have a different feeling than being lost in a forest. And we met a new character, Alexander MacFarlane, who has apparently been following both David and Anna without them knowing. He must be good. Can they trust him, though?
In the flashbacks, Anna is 7 years in old in all but the last one, where she is 10 years old when she meets Ozpin. In "A Special Semblance", it's revealed that when she was 13, she was captured by the white fang and rescued by David.
She's had a complicated life.
Also, if you're curious about the cover image, it was created on a website called "rinmarugames" and by selecting the "mega anime avatar creator". It's really cool, and has really helped to visualise Team DARK and other characters you'll see later in the story.
As always, remember to follow, favourite and leave a review, and I'll see you all in chapter five!