Hiro saw a vision, a dream, as the pain faded. It was... War. Vanquished soldiers were killing eachother, their weapons sharpened and their skin bloodied. Within' the horde, he saw it.
A small child, holding nothing but a dagger, waving it at raiders. There was nothing but corpses around her, yet she fought. No matter how little damage she did to leather armor, she continued to struggle, to fight. She yelled out into the crowd as people rallied behind her, their own weapons used to shed blood. Women, children, men, elderly they all fought to defend their tribe.
"Fight-- Fight til the last man falls and the final breath is taken--!"
-
Hiro screamed. His pain was replaced with inspiration while his arm was nearly torn off. A swift punch to Zero Two caused her to stumble and fall over, Hiro falling onto the wooden floor, his bicep spewing a crimson liquid. Zero Two lifted herself and stared at Hiro, her once emerald eyes following a white schlera were now red and jet black. He raised both his arms, the pressure from his wound was now grotesquely expending blood.
Zero Two said nothing, rushing forward like an animal, causing Hiro to sidestep to the right and wrap his arm around her neck and put her in a headlock. An underestimation of her strength was an order as she used her hands to pull his forearm away from her neck, catching Hiro by complete surprise.
At the moment, he could hear nothing. He could only swiftly react to his surroundings. At that moment, when time slowed, and his eyes lost focus from blood loss, Lord Hachi ran in with three other soldiers, subduing Zero Two.
-
"Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if war didn't exist?" A female child spoke out.
"I wonder..." Hiro replied, looking down at the ground, just realizing that it was an infinite whiteness around him.
"Maybe... Maybe many people would be alive right now, don't you think?" The small girl asked.
Hiro looked at her, squinting a bit because he swore that he knew her. In some small way, the black haired male believed he has meet her, maybe in a different life or something. The tranquil... It was beautiful, it was so... light.
"Yeah. Definitely. There are many..." Hiro stopped, his mind trained on what hes done to others, nameless soldiers who could've had families. Even people he called family- those he murdered.
"What? What happened?" The girl asked, wondering about his sudden stop.
"Nothin." Hiro looked around. "Sooo... Where am I?"
The small girl looked at Hiro, her emerald eyes contrasting with the white landscape.
"I like to call this place... The lost."
"What's this place about..?" The black haired male trained his eyes onto the girl.
"Well, It's supposed to be about lost memories, it's a... Vanquished thing." The female replied.
Hiro stared blankly at her, the small girl waving her hand to snap him out of his trance.
"Oh." Hiro shook his head. "Right."
"Somethin'... Bothering you?" The child asked.
"N-" Hiro stopped, his eyes widened.
"Something you regret--?" The infinite white morphed into a fortress.
It was a familiar fortress, infact, he's seen it everytime he's closed his eyes. Veldt's Fortress. Hiro instinctively reached for his weapons, polearm- sword- anything. Of course, he found nothing.
"What are you doing--!?" Hiro yelled, his eyes skipping to key locations that hes already been to, namely: Naomi's execution.
The small girl didn't reply, she just turned and walked into the palace. Hiro rushed to follow her but the moment she was out of sight, she dissapeared. The black haired male looked around, yet... there was nothing. The wooden floor creaked as he treaded the darkness.
"Don't you wish you could change the past?"
Hiro didn't say anything, he only found himself in the eating hall where his partner was killed. The male didn't need to hallucinate the event, for he was already remembering.
"You ask yourself- over and over- why it ended like that."
The sadness stricken man fell to his knees and clenched his fist, looking at the wooden floor, although there was no Naomi, there was no body, he saw it all.
"You covered yourself up, and you pushed everyone away- now you have no one!"
Hiro lifted his fist and slammed it into the ground- repeating the motion over and over, the power and speed- the acceleration it all became faster and faster until he drew he own blood.
"You-- You did this to yourself! You are alone! You rallied for no cause, you fought with no reason- you held your feelings above your honor, and your fear ended them!"
Hiro lifted his head and stared at the ceiling, yelling as loud as he could, all the while being tormented by a child who only told him the truth.
"They fought with you, they protected you! They did it in complete understanding that you would do the same-- yet you drew their blood and halted their last breath!"
"S-" Hiro spoke only to be cut off.
"Look at yourself! You've become scared of the truth- you run from it!"
"N-No!" He felt a heavy burden start to unveil itself. One cultured and manifestated into a massive shadow slouching over him.
"Listen to yourself! You've become tame to the words of others and your pride has become silence!"
"It hasn't..." Hiro felt weak, for he was no longer able to raise his voice. He looked up at the shadowy figure, it's skeletal head and gutteral whispers allured him.
"Feel yourself! You know there is no more humanity in you! You've cast it away when you slew another man- it was buried when you claimed your comrade!"
Hiro went quiet, tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared at the creature, slowly it let it's boney hands grasp his face without any resistance.
"Free yourself."
The male hung his head low and the creature started to clasp him, giving him a cold hug.
"Free yourself."
Hiro kept crying, and he creature held tighter. It's jaws pulling open with the tearing of muscles filling the room.
"See the red dream."
Hiro sat in the fortress, the darkness and his new amalgamated friend accompanied him. There was peace, but such a peace was built on the idea that a wolf can play with his food. However- the pup always finds a way to strike back.
"Enough of this."
The amalgam's empty sockets beamed a red once more.
"Red dream... Freedom... Bullshit. There's none of that, theres nothing." Hiro pushed away the creature, his eyes still producing tears.
"It is no dream- it never was a dream. It is a curse." The black haired male found that his surroundings were beginning to crumble.
His heart was in shambles, his eyes were red from his tears. The soldier couldn't even look straight, as his eyes were barely peered open. He felt so broken, so weak, so useless- he just wanted to give in. However... He didn't. There was just something that he knew, that resounded within' him- something that he couldn't shake off him.
"It's a facade, isn't it Zero Two."
-
The room was empty, a hospital bed and multiple guards stood around an naked incapacitated man. His right arm was a bright blue, very inhuman. He lifted himself up in the bed and stared at the ceiling, the soldiers around him swiftly reacting a pointing their lances at him.
"Don't move!" An older soldier yelled, his face stricken with fear.
Hiro lifted his hands in surrender, scanning the six soldiers around him. Two of the six split, allowing Lord Hachi to walk through.
"Pikeman 016. Hiro Shipman." Hachi spoke, his right hand on the pommel of his longsword, the blade wrapped in a leather scabbard.
"My lord." Hiro replied, staring into the eyes of the much older man.
Hachi stared at Hiro, taking a step forward towards the base of the bed.
"Do you know why you are here?"
Hiro glanced around, the soldiers were still on edge, the tips of their lances were covered in a slimey black liquid, presumably poison.
"I was being chewed on by a mercenary?" The male replied.
"Precisely. Now, listen." Hachi grasped his blade. "We can't have you enlisted in our ranks anymore. You have become a bearer of a curse far greater than our people as a whole."
"What does that mean...?" Hiro squinted, questioning the lord, his hands still raised.
"It means either you will be executed to prevent your succumbing of the curse-" The lord flicked the clasp off of his scabbard. "Or you will be sent to fight the gladiator pits until you become a mindless creature."
Hiro sat in the bed, lowering his arms and staring down at the bedsheets.
"I think you know my answer, Master." He swiftly looked up at Hachi, his emerald eyes beamed like spikes.
"Then we shall see you in the pit."
Lord Hachi turned to exit the rooms, the soldiers still on guard, until Hiro called out to the now master.
"Where..." The black haired male held his hand out, "Where's Zero Two."
Hachi turned to Hiro, his sharp eyes simply scanned the once soldier.
"She was already sent to the gladiator pits."
