Chapter 36
"The Abyssal Tea Party, part 4"
Outside another door with a big cross painted over it, to the left side of it hang a sign with the word, "Infirmary", attached to it, slowly creaked open from the wind in the tunnels.
Inside, 28 slowly woke up and looked around without moving her head. She could only see the ceiling of bare rock at first, while her thoughts ran around inside her head like scared beetles.
Where am I?
She looked around as she sat up.
A large room with multiple beds and medical equipment, boxed with bandages stood piled up against the wall, met her drowsy gaze. Row after row of clay pots with strange herbs teased her nose, green ones, yellow ones, something that looked like seaweed growing in a container, all unfamiliar to her. Tools on a table that seemed to belong in a doctor or an alchemist´s quarters laid scattered over the tables. Remains of a pulverized herb could be seen in a bowel. A white tea-pot on the table and hanged over a small controlled fire. There were no other people in the room with the exception of number 28.
She looked down on herself, her entire upper body wrapped in bandages, all the way down to the waistline. She could feel how her back ached from the damages there and whimpered a little bit.
Out…I have to get out… run…run now!
She looked around and noticed three doors, two with signs. "Toy Room" and "Tea Garden" both with sloppy cut letters carved into the wood. 28 rose up and took some careful steps with her arms wrapped around her body. She approached the "Toy Room" door, wondering what was behind it. She could hear someone mumble from the other side.
"Not good… not good at all…"
She opened the door and stared with her eyes wide open.
Bodies in this one, several yoma and humans, hanged upside down in the ceiling like butchered animals stuffed with straw. The solid rock floor had a thick dried surface of dark blood over it. She noticed a large table in the middle of this room but couldn´t see the contents off it. She couldn´t see because of a group of people encircling it, dressed in blood drenched clothes with their hoods around their shoulders. Some of them held in candlesticks to provide light over the table. Others drank cups of tea from a large red tea pot. They shook their head in a rush and returned to the table.
Scavengers, "Doll-makers", in the service of the Empress, rewarded in tea and teeth for their offerings as they tried to survive.
"This won´t do… a little more light to the left…" One of them mumbled.
One of the people raised the candlestick in his hand and revealed what hung above the sides of the table.
Human dolls, stitched and sewn with the stickiness of the blood gluing the pieces together with the threads and their eyes shut.
28, without uttering a single sound, gazed on them with eyes wide opened. She gulped and trembled at the sight of it.
One of the men waved his hand and shook his head.
"It´s useless, the Empress would never accept this one…"
"What if we replaced the wounded arm with a new one?"
"Making a ragdoll again? No, we need to be creative here! I mean look at them!"
He pointed at the dolls over their heads and the flawed stitches.
"We need to make a new doll! A living doll perhaps? Like one of "Stitchwork´s" creations. Perhaps the Empress will reward us if we do so…"
"But this one wouldn´t do…"
"Why did you have to harm the head… it will never work with an axe in it."
"But the body refused to stop squirming…"
"No good, bring me the saw, this thing is too damaged. And get a replacement appendage… We need to fix this…"
"But we have been working on it for a day straight…"
"So? The record is three days… and if you get tired then have some tea from our benefactor…"
"Sure… good idea…"
Tables with rusty tolls and dried blood into the cracks stood by their sides. One of the men turned away to get a bone saw.
He was dressed in a monk robe with an inhuman face, like someone flayed it off a yoma and tied it up with strings. 28 stared as the man looked up and noticed her. He alerted the others after finishing a cup of tea.
"Doctor… Take a look over there!"
The others looked up and turned around to see. 28 began to panic while she searched around for a way out. One of the men spoke with the leader of them.
"Would that do?"
"I don´t know… but those silver eyes sure would be a nice touch…"
"Has anyone ever tried to make a claymore doll before?"
"Well, one time has to be the first right? GRAB HER!"
Four of the other men moved away from the table and she could see a bleeding body of a woman laying over it, stitched together with hay coming out from its mouth. 28 held her hand up over her face from horror as the men approached her. The leader of them shoved the body off the table in a ruthless manner while the others grabbed her arms and legs.
"Just put her down on the table, and cover her mouth. I don´t want to hear any screaming from this one…"
She struggled while stared in fear at their inhuman faces.
"Let me go! Leave me alone!"
They refused to listen, lifted her up and down on the table and held her arms raised above her head. They had an iron grip around her wrists and ankles, hindering any if not all movements. She managed to kick one of them in a surprise attack and the inhuman face flew off. Only a dirty and frightened face met her gaze as it fought back.
It´s a human…
The others looked at the leader of them, a human with an inhuman face like the others, with the exception of a red line going over it.
"Now… can you please lie still while we proceed? Get those clothes off so we won´t have an incident like before."
"Yes doctor…"
Hands began to move over her body while she entered a state of shock. Her mind trembled in pieces, near the brink of collapse from all the pain and horror she witnessed. The cardinal rule of the Organization echoed in her mind.
You shall never kill a human. Her own voice moved through her thoughts. Human…human…human… why are they humans?... can´t be humans…
She turned to her left and saw one of the bone saws in the belts on one of the men within her reach. The only thing that stopped her was the cardinal rule that echoed in the back of her mind. She looked straight up for a recently made female doll with stitch-marks in the flesh along with sewn shut mouth and eyes.
Am I going to end up like that?
She went teary-eyed in denial. She didn´t want to be here, she didn´t want to be a warrior and her didn´t want to suffer. She screamed inside her head.
Help me… anybody… please help me!
"Help you?" She looked up at this new voice that announced itself. She looked around and saw that time itself nearly came to a standstill. Dark butterflies of light fluttered ominously in the room with her. "Up here…"
She turned her head up at the female doll and noticed that its hair color changed to a pale blonde tone as one of the butterflies landed on its forehead. With a swift move, it stabbed its proboscis into the doll´s skull. Its head turned down at her with its sewn shut eyes focused on her.
Who are you? She asked it.
Why do you need help? The doll asked with a non concerned voice. Its distorted voice echoed through its closed mouth as a couple of the dark insects crawled inside it. 28 didn´t find it anything but unsettling. You can do it yourself.
But I can´t kill humans! It´s not allowed!
"Pathetic excuses, why do you strive to protect people that treat you like a toy? What have they ever done for you? Except violating and taking advantage of your body because you couldn´t defend yourself? Or aren´t you tired of being this weak for all your life?"
28 open her eyes wide in shock. The insects of darkness danced around her as petals in the wind, connected with strings.
How do you know that…?
A grin on the doll´s face as a couple of the strings pulled its cheeks.
"You and I aren´t that different after all… we both are bound by the strings of others… the only difference is that you can cut yours…"
I am not allowed to kill humans…
The doll grinned even wider and one of the butterflies of dark light landed on 28´s forehead before it flew off.
"Then take a second look at them…"
28 did as the doll says and gasped a little from the sight, all while the doll keep talking away. "You shall not kill humans…"
28´s voice raised over this one like in great insight. The time seemed to be going back to normal pace once more as the butterflies turned to threads and went inside the doll´s mouth.
They are not humans…
The scared look got replaced with the golden irises from charged up yoki, ten percent.
…They are dolls.
28 grinned a little deviously while she got one arm free. She immediately grabbed the handle to the bone-saw and grabbed the closest scavenger by his throat.
Hailey gazed down at Grace in patient silence. Grace inhaled deeply and forced her scowl into submission as she tried to remain calm against the emotional storm within her.
"If you want to talk… then return what you stole!" Grace shouted.
"What do you mean?" Hailey asked.
"YOU KNOW! RETURN IT!"
Hailey raised an eyebrow and picked something up from her pocket.
"You mean this thing?"
She held the chain of the silver medallion between her fingers. Grace´s gaze widened and she tried to snatch it out from Hailey´s hand with her teeth. Hailey kicked her in the chest and back at the wall with a hard thud.
"RETURN IT!" Grace roared toxically as she fought against the pressure over her chest.
"And if I refuse?" Hailey stated.
Grace glowered up at her with tranquil fury from her unblinking eyes.
"Then I will take it from your cold stiff fingers…"
A minute of complete silence as they glared each other and the tension narrowed down like a bowstring. Hailey shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and threw the medallion in Grace´s lap.
"You can have it back, it´s just trash here after all…"
Grace glared at her in anger while she re-attached the medallion where it belonged, around her neck. Hailey observed with a calm, stoic, face with her arms crossed. The anger within Grace slowly dropped as the medallion´s lock clicked together and she looked down at it with a smile. She turned back to the woman and slowly let her rage drop beneath a calm surface.
"Sorry for the outburst… I hope I didn´t offend you or anything." Grace apologized.
"I don´t care about what abominations like yourself do." Hailey responded.
Grace´s eyebrows twitched from the insult but she didn´t let it trigger her mood like before.
"Can you please stop calling me that? I am a warrior, just like you are…"
"Wrong… you are not one of us…"
"What do you mean by that?" Grace scowled. "Who are you?"
Hailey didn´t answer at first and kept staring down at her with intense gaze. A lack of hesitation in her silver eyes that tried to pierce through Grace´s forced the latter to shudder as she tried to scatter the sensation away.
"I have already told you who I am…" Hailey declared.
"And it didn´t make sense… What is the Black Card Brigade? I have never heard of it…"
"I am not going to answer on any question until you can prove one thing to me…"
"What is it?"
Hailey bent down until her face hovered ten centimeters from Grace´s own while she removed her foot from Grace´s chest. Grace found it unsettling while Hailey stared with dead serious eyes at her.
"You have silver eyes… yet I can´t sense or see it… It doesn´t make sense…"
"What? Just tell me already and keep the distance!"
Grace quickly pushed her away with both hands and the other woman backed away with a shrug. She brushed her uniform clean and reached for her sword.
"You are not an awakened are you?"
Grace didn´t believe her ears and tilted her head to the side with a dumbfounded stare at her.
"No! How on earth can you think something like that?"
"Are you specialized in yoki suppression?"
"Yoki-what?"
Hailey cupped a hand over her cheek as she frowned and averted her eyes from Grace for a moment.
"So you don´t know what that is?" She asked.
"No, I do know that it´s a side effect from yoki suppressant pills. But not much else I´m afraid…"
"Impossible… you wouldn´t be able to have such a skill without training…"
"What is it you are talking about… and why did you call me an abomination?"
Someone else appeared in the door opening and Hailey walked over to the other woman, another warrior in the standard pale attire with dark leather armor over it. They nodded and Hailey returned to Grace.
"Get up, we are going…"
"Please just answer my question…" Grace asked.
"Will you come without causing any trouble?"
Grace sighed and nodded with determination.
"Yes, I will stand in line and not cause trouble…"
Hailey looked down on her with a minor interest and answered with iron clad voice.
"You are an abomination… because you have the traits of a warrior yet you don´t even have a yoki aura. Simple as that."
Grace remained speechless as they left the cell but her mind focused elsewhere.
What?
They moved through hallways reminiscent to the headquarters of Staff.
Hailey walked with Grace between her and the other warrior and Grace looked at this one. She had slightly different attire than Hailey, no sleeves and with a simple white shirt beneath the dark leather cuirass. She wore a pair of tight, pale, pants and several pieces of leather armor covering her thighs, knees and forelegs, along with a small pair of boots. Her pale hair split in three braids, folded together with clamps in a wreath. Her eyes currently filled with suspicion at Grace, and watched her every move.
Grace didn´t pay her any notice as she tried to find evidence against Hailey´s claim through the voices of the past.
"A human…?"
"What the… are you on the medicine?"
"A Claymore? But I didn´t sense it…"
"It´s nothing…nothing really…"
"Do you know how hard it is to find you?"
Grace shook her head and scattered the evidence against her like a pile of leafs over the grass.
What did they say? It´s ridiculous… everything that uses yoki has an aura… it´s one of the most basic things all warriors learn during training. I wanted to become a warrior… are they telling me that I am not a…
She stared down at her hands while she tried to use yoki perception on them. All she saw was the red mist blocking her field of view. Grace stopped and let the world go back to normal again from the veil of darkness.
No… It´s a lie, I´m using yoki after all! I wouldn´t have survived the yoma without it… what do they know… I have an aura I must have… I am still a warrior!
She passed several doors and they entered a larger room, a huge cathedral with several benches lined up against the wall. More warriors in different pale attires trained with weapons Grace had never seen before and also did smaller choirs to pass time. Some played around with a card game while two others practiced archery with those strange crossbows.
Grace looked around, wide-eyed in awe over the cathedral and the jolly mood.
How big is this place?
"This is the yard area…"
Hailey´s voice got her attention and she looked directly at Hailey who glanced around with firm warmth in her averted gaze.
"As you can see, we have occupied and made this place the Black Card Brigade´s headquarters…"
"Can you tell me about it? The Black Cards I mean…"
"I am not going to say anything until we can determine what you are, or more precisely, if you are one of the awakened or not…"
"I have told you, I am not one of them…"
Most of the pale dressed warriors stopped what they did as Grace passed them. Some give her curious glances before they returned to their activities. Some of them followed her with their eyes until she moved out of sight and others rubbed theirs in disbelief.
"What are they staring at?" Grace asked Hailey.
"They have never seen an abomination before…"
Grace glared back in response and raised her hand to put it on Hailey´s shoulder…
"For the last time I am not a…!"
Her hand got stopped in midair as the warrior to the opposite side of her grabbed it with force. She turned her head around and looked into the warrior´s angry eyes.
"If you so much as touch the Colonel… then I will make sure you won´t use that hand ever again…"
There was such intense aggression in those eyes, Grace believed she had looked the same when Hailey stole her medallion. Neither said anything in the tense atmosphere before Hailey calmly interrupted it with non concerned voice.
"Sláine, let go of her hand, and you don´t try anything…"
Grace lowered her hand as Sláine let go of it. The sharp stare in Sláine´s eyes thrust through Grace´s mind and softened up when it turned to Hailey.
"So when are you going to stop call me an abomination? Hailey…" Grace asked.
"Don´t try to address the colonel like that! How dare you go so personal! Call her colonel!" Sláine harshly chimed with a glare at her.
"Calm down a little bit… I don´t know how the chain of command works here…"
"Just wait a second… Colonel!"
Sláine addressed Hailey with a strict and pleading voice like a soldier to a high command.
"What is it?"
"Asking for permission to inform the abomination about the Black Card Brigade! Colonel!"
"Granted, you can tell her until we reach Sharon…"
"Thank you colonel!"
Sláine turned back to Grace again with the voice of a strict school teacher.
"Listen up abomination! This is not the Organization where the single digit number has command over the lower. This is the Black Card Brigade! Established fifty years ago by Colonel Hailey alongside with Major Hazel, Major Danielle and executive colonel Ceres. Our purpose is to battle and hunt all awakened beings that pose a threat! All warriors that cross the line will be executed on transformation. We are the ones that will do what other warriors can´t do; we are trained to battle the seasoned Awakened. We are the outcasts forgotten by the Organization; we are the unit that will prevent complete anarchy of the Awakened. We will never give up, we will never quit until the job is done…"
"Yeah…yeah…move on." Grace rolled with her eyes and sighed.
Sláine gripped around Grace´s shoulder and squeezed hard. Grace winced.
"The leading role is the one with the rank of Colonel, the next in rank is the lieutenant colonel chosen by the Colonel. Then come to ones with the rank of major, and the soldiers. Only address by title unless you´ve asked permission to say otherwise."
"I see… it´s even stricter then the Organization…"
"It´s not! You have nothing to say until you can be cleared from suspicions by the Colonel…"
"So who is this Sharon…?"
"It´s Major Sharon!"
"How many majors do you have?"
"Five…"
"So let me see here… a Colonel…an executive colonel…five majors… and the rest are soldiers?"
"There are several specialists as well... and why do you want to know this so badly… unless…YOU ARE A SPY!"
Grace rolled with her eyes while exhaling a long breath and tried to gather her patience with her.
"It was you who requested to tell me about it, remember? I just ask simple questions…"
"A spy as well… Colonel! Asking permission to execute this spy abomination!"
Hailey replied with an emotionless and causal voice and averted firm gaze.
"Denied… we won´t make any prejudiced judgments until Sharon can confirm. Keep your voice down Sláine…"
"Yes Colonel…"
"Is she always like this?" Grace asked while the turned to Hailey.
"Don´t speak to the Colonel without permission! Prisoners shall only answer to questions from the Colonel!" Sláine interrupted.
Grace threw a glance at her before she turned to Hailey again.
"Asking for permission to shut her up." Grace asked.
"Denied… and you forgot to address me…"
"I am not a part of this Brigade so I don´t see the need to… wait a minute…" Grace looked at Sláine with a little devious sly smile while she cracked with one of her knuckles. "…I am not a part of it. So why should I ask permission?"
She raised her hand in a clenched fist to punch Sláine once. Hailey grabbed the handle of her broadsword and tilted it to the left. Its sharp edge raised in height of Grace´s neck.
"I warn you here and only once… lay one finger on any of my comrades and I will execute you here and now." Hailey declared coldly.
Grace gave up her thought of extracting some anger relief at the moment and obediently lowered her fist. Hailey let her sword return to its original position while they finally reached their destination.
An iron door blocked their path and Hailey spoke calmly towards Grace.
"Here… this is an interrogation room and we finally might be able to determine what you are…"
"I have already told you… I am a warrior just like you."
"I will only listen to Sharon´s judgment in this…"
"Who is…?"
"She is major for the scout units, one of the best yoki perception users in my entire Brigade. She will answer on any of your questions before the interrogation and be in charge of it. Remember, any disobedience will be punished by decapitation if your nature isn´t revealed."
Grace had more questions but got shoved into the room by Sláine as the door opened up. It closed behind her with a heavy cling just as fast as it opened and Sláine locked it from the outside.
Hilary looked at the closed door.
The moment of truth then… and if you don´t get cleared from your charges, we will execute you with a fast death…
Grace could see that the door had been enforced to withstand an awakened attack with several iron bars as seals. Several slash marks after awakened claws scarred the walls and the roof mixed with acid burns and stab marks.
A mature and pure voice called for her attention.
"I am over here."
She turned around and saw two chairs underneath an iron chandelier, turned towards each other in the otherwise empty room. Another warrior waited on one of them with legs crossed and hands over her knees.
Grace could barely take her eyes off this one. A tall and slender woman that seemed sculpted from the fairest of marble by the hands of a master craftsman. Her flawless features and long, straight hair shimmered in the weak light from above and on the black and white uniform. Her supernatural presence and appearance sent a shiver down Grace´s spine as she averted her eyes from her.
"What is it? Why do you turn away your eyes from me?"
The warrior´s voice sounded like an angel´s. Grace just found it even more unsettling as she held up a hand in front of her eyes and blocked her view.
"I don´t want to be rude… but I can´t be staring at you for long…"
"Oh? How come?"
"Because… because you are just too creepy. That´s all."
The warrior raised an eyebrow in surprise while she leant back in her chair.
"Well, I hope you will change your mind. Please sit down…"
Grace didn´t have much choice and just did what she said, sitting on the opposite side of her. The warrior introduced herself.
"My name is Sharon, Major for the scout patrols, but you can call me Sharon. So what´s your name?"
Compared to the other two, this one didn´t act cold or soulless towards her. Grace looked at her and eased up while she slowly adapted to Sharon´s perfected appearance.
"It´s Grace…"
"Well then Grace, it´s nice to meet you. I hope the others didn´t give you too much trouble on the way here…" Sharon said as she offered a warm smile and closed her eyes.
"If you are talking about that major Sláine then…" Grace scowled and averted her eyes towards the door.
"Oh don´t mind her, she´s just a little overprotective after all…"
"A little"? I would rather say completely insane."
Sharon waved with her hand in a nonchalant manner while giggling.
"Insane? Don´t overreact here… this is the Empress´s domain after all. Sanity left the moment she moved in…"
"Really?"
"Indeed, and to be honest here. The Organization´s handlers would call this place a madhouse if they ever found out…"
"But they never do…"
"Right on the spot there."
A silent minute between them and Grace was left with time to think things through since she woke up. Her opinion of this Black Card due to her nice and friendly tone, not like that hostile Hailey or Sláine, lowered her guard towards Sharon. Sharon changed topic and rubbed her cheek lightly.
"So you are that "special" prisoner the others were talking about. Got to say this though… I thought I had seen everything in this place, but you are something special after all."
"I don´t understand, I am a warrior just like everybody else here. Why do they treat me differently?"
"Oh don´t be so hard on you, Hailey treats every new warrior like this. Just as a safety measure of course. Sometimes warriors get sent here after some time in captivity with the Awakened to wreck havoc. But calling you a foul thing like abomination was to exaggerate…"
"I thought so too! And then they speak some nonsense about me not having a yoki aura…" Sharon hadn´t moved her eyes from Grace during the entire conversation. They searched after something while Grace looked up at her. "…They called you the best user of yoki perception. Is that true?"
"Indeed… I used to be an "Eye" for the Organization before I got captured and my handler killed by the Empress."
"What was your nickname?"
"Well, I take great pride in it… I´m called "Angel-Eye"."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I can tell yoki auras from long distances. I can detect different levels of yoki. I can even feel the emotions of others´ yoki and manipulate it to a small degree. I can end fights between others before they begin. I can provide comfort for those in need of it. I can tell what you want without you having to say a single word. My paragon nature earned me the name of "Angel Eye"…"
"Wow… it sounds impressive, almost like Psyche…"
"Who?"
"The current number 2… she´s called "Hell-Eye"…"
Sharon gave a small face in contempt when she heard the nickname.
"Hell-Eye"… what kind of ability is that?"
"I don´t know… only that she isn´t the most talkative woman to be around with…"
"Which generation are you from Grace?"
"Me? The latest…"
Sharon held one hand at her chin while thinking and then hummed in slight surprise.
"You really are good, I give you that much…"
"Excuse me?"
Sharon moved closer with her chair and only one meter remained between them. Grace looked at her while she continued.
"The latest generation you said? Which number are you?"
Grace growled and lowered her head in response. Her strained breath slowly inhaled as she regained her calm.
"It´s not important…"
"Oh? Too embarrassing? Or is it just you being humble?"
"I just don´t care about numbers…"
"That´s the excuse of the forty numbers… but who am I to judge?"
Her smile washed off all the sprouting anger in Grace´s mind when the numbers where mentioned. Sharon talked away as her eyes continuously searched up and down over Grace´s. "So… tell me about your missions?"
"Well, I am usually sent on yoma extermination hunts… everything between 3 and 8 yoma at the time…"
A second look of surprise from Sharon, She resumed the search over Grace while she calmly continued.
"That many? How often?"
"Well, let me count them… I once counted how many I did during a month…"
"And?"
Grace counted on her hand as she went through the months and number of missions that she been put through. The number of heads that rolled from her blade after each mission piled up for her inner self with a growing smirk.
"…Fifteen yoma hunts during one month. All multiple ones."
Sharon stopped for a moment and tilted her head in confusion.
"Seriously? Did you even sleep during that time?"
"Well, that´s what I did the other half of the month…"
She seemed to be troubled by something as she moved so close that she only had inches left from Grace´s face.
"Okay... now you are to close…" Grace frowned and pointed out.
"Well, can you wait here for a moment?"
Sharon moved up from her chair as she headed towards the door. Grace turned her head around to face her.
"Do I have a choice?"
"No."
She opened and locked the door after she left. Grace still remained in her spot while sulking a little.
"I should have known…"
Hailey waited outside the room with her back leaned up against the wall and her arms crossed. Sharon locked the door behind her and turned to Hailey.
"Well? What have you found out?" Hailey asked with stern gaze.
Sharon´s face turned emotionless as she looked directly at her.
"I was wondering why you would summon me for a simple interrogation. I guess all those rumors of the abomination weren´t exaggerated…" Sharon stated.
"What´s the situation with her yoki aura?"
"Can´t tell, I haven´t found it yet…"
"Are you joking?"
Sharon looked down for a couple of seconds in shame before she re-established her eye contact.
"No… She´s either one of the best yoki suppressors I have ever seen… Her heart could be beating incredibly slow to not emit an aura like this or she might not even be considered to be alive to begin with… or…" She paused with a careful glance towards the iron doors.
"I´m listening."
Sharon didn´t answer as her yoki dropped to near undetectable levels and could only be noticed by Hailey in her immediate presence.
"…or… I´m too afraid to think about it… She might be an Eternal one."
Hailey pulled back a breath while her body stiffened for just one moment in fright.
"The Eternal Ones…"
Hilary thought back to the records mentioning these horrifying creatures, the title used on those that surpassed the Abyssal ones and entered the realm of Gods in terms of power. Hailey recalled the rare few ones that had appeared during the time the Organization existed. There had only been three of them and only heard of in legends. "The Shadow", "The One-horned" and…
She didn´t want to think about the last one… A creature with a presence so horrifying that she rather would forget about it ever existing.
She stared directly at Sharon while keeping her voice strict.
"Is that why you altered your yoki to a private wavelength?"
"Indeed… the others would panic if the word came out about these suspicions…"
Hailey kept her calm mood up while the conversation went on a minefield of tension and suspicious ideas.
"Good decision…"
"But I´m not certain she is one… I just can´t think about anybody else that can hide their own yoki like that. That´s a feature only reported in the Eternal ones…"
"You´re still not certain?"
"I need to dig deeper, but I suspect that she keeps hiding it…"
"So she lied to us… about not knowing yoki suppression?"
"Could be the case as well. But then all we have to do is to force her to use yoki…"
"Would you be certain then?"
Sharon nodded while she crossed her arms again.
"Guarantee, but I want to try reaching it without any interruption from the others."
"Permitted. Do what you can to determine the nature of her yoki…"
"Will do, I have already earned her trust. She´s surprisingly fast to trust you if you treat her right. She will not cause me any problems..."
Sharon frowned for a little bit and Hailey responded with a curious tilt with her head.
"It´s something bothering you?"
"I have to go deeper than I ever have done before. I won´t be able to pick up any messages from the others while I´m doing this… our defense perimeters will be unguarded…"
Sharon stopped when Hailey put a hand on her shoulder and she noticed the trust in the scarred woman´s face transmit to her.
"Don´t worry about it. You might want to protect this place all by yourself but we are a team Sharon. Remember…"
Sharon smiled back with her concerns subdued.
"You´re right… I will keep trying, but don´t hesitate to call me if things go bad…"
"I will be right outside. And if it turns out that this abomination really is an Eternal One…"
"Do we even have a strategy to put up with that kind of threat?" Hailey remained silent as Sharon waited for an answer that would never come. She sighed while smiling. "Well, we can always hope it isn´t the case then…"
She opened the door and went back in. Hailey only mumbled one thing in a dead serious voice, a mere whisper that didn´t reach Sharon´s ears.
"Don´t dig too deep… we don´t want to lose you, Sharon…" Hailey warned before the other warrior left.
Sharon entered the room and smiled a carefree smile when she turned towards Grace again.
"Now… where were we?"
Grace looked back at her while answering.
"Where you left off… obviously, might I ask a question now?"
"Go ahead…"
Sharon sat down on the chair in front of Grace again, just a little closer this time and with full attention on the unknown warrior in front of her. Her eyes kept searching with yoki perception without Grace noticing it.
"What happened to the other warrior with me?"
"Hm? Oh you mean her… she got cleared of charges and currently rests for a little while…"
"She rests?"
"Well…"
Sharon stopped as to think her answer through. She was thrown into a holding cell after an attempt to steal a claymore from us… but there´s no reason to tell her that…
"…Yes." Sharon answered with a smile.
Grace changed subject as the conversation went on.
"Can you tell me what the Black Card Brigade is?"
"Well, I assume you heard the made up explanation by Sláine…"
"Made up?"
"She has a tendency to exaggerate when it comes to our goals and purpose, but it´s just an act for all potential spies…"
"An act? I thought it was pretty annoying."
"As said, she has her own reasons for being that way. But to answer your question, the Black Card Brigade´s purpose is to counter attack all Awakened and protect mankind from the threat they pose… we can´t kill all awakened beings, we can´t kill the Empress for example… her yoki levels are far too high even if the entire Black Card Brigade were to try to fight her at once…"
"What´s stopping you?"
"The lack of Claymores…"
Grace raised an eyebrow in confusion at her and asked again.
"What do you mean?"
"We simply lack our original weapons Grace. We only have five of our swords and we´re somewhere around forty members in the Brigade."
"Are you saying that…?"
"Yes, our main mission right now is to find our swords before going anywhere else."
"How big is this place? I thought the Empress had a mansion…"
An entertained facial expression from Sharon followed by a tricky smile in her face.
"I nearly forgot that you´re new here… The Empress has a very loose definition on the word "mansion". It´s more like an insane version of the word in fact…"
"Let hear it…"
"This place is large enough to hold a cathedral twice the size of the one in Rabona. It has a tea garden in the same size as Pieta, all with a lake and a small forest. This place has facilities for everything and with mile after mile of seemingly endless hallways. The kitchen is as large as the Organization´s Board room. There´s a room for everything and there´s enough space to host twice the number of awakened beings as there is now. You could fit in the entire population of Rabona in here and that´s what… Two million humans?"
"Four million, somewhere around those numbers…" Grace stared incredulously at Sharon.
"It would still fit in here… now do you understand how hard it is to find one claymore in this place? Then add the numerous awakened beings that are, and I am pretty sure about this, all "seasoned" and incredibly hard to kill without our swords. You have seen one type of our booby traps right?"
"There´s no way a place like that can avoid to be detected…"
"It´s entirely submerged below the ground; the oldest parts used to be a goldmine before The Empress moved in and began to reconstruct it. I got to say that she´s admirable in her determination. It´s like an anthill and you must have met her I suppose so you should know how she is…"
Grace nodded as she recalled it.
"How do you survive here?"
"We take what we can find and convert our sword techniques and abilities into new fitting weapons. We also train like crazy to get stronger, every single day for years, to become more adaptable to this situation. We also have to defend our territory and keep watch posts during every hour of the day and night to not be ambushed in our sleep."
"By the Awakened?"
"Yes. They don´t like the presence of warriors at all, and these things have become our enemies over the decades, just as it always has been…"
Grace thought about the contradiction in that statement. She thought about Faith and Victoria, just wanting to tell Sharon that her view of the world was narrow-minded.
"You know, some of the awakened aren´t bad people…"
Sharon interrupted her perception scan as she didn´t believe what she just heard once more.
"I must have heard it the wrong way… did you say "people"?"
Grace mustered her voice further and stared at her with narrowed determination.
"Yes, I did say that and I can repeat it again if you want."
"Are you insane? How many awakened hunts have you been on? If you have been on them so to speak…"
"Two, three…maybe four if the latest one counts…"
"You must know then that the awakened are mere monsters that just need to be killed for the sake common sense right? They can´t do anything but kill and destroy, murdering humans as they please and only get more dangerous if they get time to be "Seasoned" ones. They don´t have any other purpose than to be killed by us warriors because the humans are too weak to fight them…"
Grace´s anger began to surface in small fragments again. She scowled at Sharon´s tone in the subject. She also felt to point out the flaws in logic that she spotted.
"You do realize that the awakened exist because humans made us into hybrid warriors? In the seemingly never ending struggle against the yoma?"
"I know, but hear me out, it´s really a circle of creation in process here. The Yoma create a need for a solution; humans create hybrid warriors such as us to fight them. Warriors become awakened after losing to their humanity to the yoki in a never ending struggle for control. Awakened beings are believed to be like dead ends until it was discovered that they become "Seasoned" beings after living long enough… I think… From there, I don´t know since the power level of the Awakened being depends on the strength of the warrior and it´s latent abilities…I think… number ones become "Abyssal ones" and sometimes on really rare occasions warriors might become a…"
Sharon interrupted herself her as if she nearly let her tongue slip. A glimpse of dead seriousness in her eyes as the word stayed in her mind. Grace looked at her with a wondering look as her anger dropped with her guard.
"A what? They might become a…? Please keep going I want to hear this…"
"It´s not important… I´m just saying that the Awakened are too dangerous to live and should all be killed…"
Grace´s anger resurfaced in a small fragment as she defended her opinions.
"What do you know about it! They aren´t the beasts you portray them to be… well not all of them… but you can´t say that without knowing the whole picture…"
"Don´t try to talk me down, I have been here for forty-five years now and only seen the awakened trying to kill us. It´s no different from the outside."
"They at least deserve a chance!"
"A chance for what? All they ever do is to kill humans on impulses; they are disgusting and lack all sense of humanity left. There´s a reason to why warriors near their limits send their black cards you know. The mere thought of becoming a mindless monster without any purpose and feasting on human innards is worse than death. …"
Grace felt a steadily increasing aggression over Sharon´s choice of words. She pictured Faith and Victoria with those words from Sharon´s mouth and imagined them as animals on a market. It set her off as she clenched her fists in beginning fury.
"How about you then? Or anyone else in this Brigade? We are told that awakening is inevitable and will happen sooner or later. If what you say is true then doesn´t it applies on yourself as well? Are your comrades ready to cut your head off when the time comes?"
Sharon gazed at her with a dead serious and stoic face expression when she answered without a moment of hesitation.
"Of course."
Grace stared stunned over how straightforward the answer had been. Sharon waited in silence.
"But that´s only if Ceres isn´t around to pull us back of course…"
"What? Who is that?"
"Well I see no harm in telling you…Ceres is our Executive colonel and holds more power than her rank can tell. She had quite an inaccurate number while she still was with the Organization… speaking of which… what´s your number?"
Another topic that Grace rather avoided entirely. She turned her head away from her.
"None of your business…"
Sharon raised an intrigued eyebrow as her only response. She used this opportunity to get a little closer to her. She kept scanning her with yoki perception in search for an answer while distracting Grace with the conversation.
"Oh? All warriors I have talked with before coming here always introduced themselves with name and number in the same sentence. A way to determine the peck order I guess. The only warriors who don´t use their numbers in an introduction are the lowest ranking ones, mainly because of the shame that follows it. My guess is that you are a really low number…"
Grace turned her head around and glared at Sharon with a tranquil fury, audible in her voice as a distorted hiss. The numerous attacks and subtle insults took its toll on her patience as Grace tried to restrain her inner hatred towards Sharon´s opinions.
"Don't…even…dare…continue that topic."
Sharon pretended to be intimidated with a playful manner.
"Very well then, I don´t think you´re dead last in the numbers. Not like Ceres was…"
"She´s a…?"
"Yes, she´s a 47… yet the one unmatched by everyone but the commander…" Sharon chimed abruptly.
"Sounds like she took the training seriously…"
"No… She´s different than the rest of us…"
Her statement got a silent minute after it. Grace frowned her eyebrows a little as her rage dropped again.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like… she isn´t like the rest of the other members."
"Can you explain that one?"
"I can try… but the only one that can provide an accurate answer would be Ceres herself. She´s very secretive when it comes to her past…"
"I can understand her…" Grace´s honesty shone through and the downhearted gaze she showed as she lowered her head held no mockery. She looked at Sharon while asking… "How long am I supposed to be here? I am in a hurry…"
"You will be here until you can be cleared…" Sharon corrected.
"How long will that take?"
"Why rushing?"
Grace sighed while stroking the medallion just a little bit. Her face told of a down-hearted mind as she replied to the question.
"There are people waiting for me out there…"
Sharon frowned a little bit and stopped her perception for a single moment. She moved her chair closer while Grace explained without noticing her approach.
Nothing yet…I need to get closer… much closer.
"Others? What others? Claymo…no… warriors doesn´t have anyone out there." Sharon added as she let her yoki intensify in her veins.
Grace averted her eyes and tried to find the right words as she let her eyes search in vain for them.
"It´s…huh…complicated." Grace concluded.
"Complicated? How? I mean the only person that would be close to a claymore would be a…" Sharon silenced and a sly smile built up in her face… "I get it now… and just relax, it´s nothing to be ashamed of…"
Sharon spoke with a teasing voice. It took a minute for Grace to notice it and she immediately corrected her with flustered cheeks.
"It´s nothing like that! I have friends waiting for me!"
"Oh? There´s more than one? My aren´t you popular…"
"I´m telling you right now, it´s not what you think..."
"Of course it isn´t… whatever you say."
Sharon´s tricky and assuring voice jarred with that sly smile and only made it even more uncomfortable for Grace. She turned her head down to look into the floor. Sharon seemed amused by this and moved even closer while Grace looked away.
"Why do I even try to explain myself here… I just leave myself open for more misunderstandings…" Grace mumbled with a hand over her face.
Grace looked up and discovered how intrusive Sharon really had gotten, just inches away from her left side. She panicked a little while pushing Sharon´s face away with her left hand over Sharon´s right eye.
"Don´t you have a sense of decency here!"
Sharon received her palm right in her face and got pushed back while using yoki perception. She used this opportunity while scanning Grace through skin contact. Her eyes flickered for a moment in confusion, the moment before she snapped with her voice.
What the… how?
She grabbed the wrist and keeps Grace´s hand on her face. Grace tried to get away from it but it was close to impossible. Sharon closed her visible eye while searching with the other into the warm darkness of her palm, increasing and concentrating her yoki perception even further.
This… this is impossible! I´m touching her skin, I´m using twenty percent of my power here… and I still can´t see it? Well, that eliminates one option… but she must have a source of yoki within her somewhere… I guess I have to dig deeper.
Grace asked with confused frown as Sharon closed her eyes and grabbed her hand.
"What are you…?"
Sharon grabbed her face with her other hand and silenced her. Grace grabbed her free hand and they struggled as reflections against each other with varying success. "Let…go…!"
Come on… Your skill in yoki suppression surpasses anything I have ever seen… Where are you hiding your yoki? If I can´t find it, then I have no choice but to force it out of hiding. If you refuse to show it to me then I will dig deeper and deeper until I reach the core…
Sharon only saw darkness as she dug deeper into Grace´s mind. The mental image of Sharon searched around in the complete darkness with an increasing interest like a lost firefly over the dark ocean.
"Where is it? Normal warriors can be seen without going this deep. She´s at least not an awakened. I wouldn´t even call her a warrior for that matter. But she has silver eyes and according to the yoki reading of that sealed being she managed to chase away would confirm her allegiance. It would have been better if I could see her using yoki, but I guess I got a little too eager when she touched me. My reading only says that she´s using zero percent of yoki, all the time as far I have seen…"
She turned her head to her left while diving deeper into it.
"What is this? It feels like there´s a force pulling me in a certain direction. What is it?"
Sharon stopped and simply floated in the empty darkness. Her long hair fluttered weightlessly around her for a moment before it turned to her right like in a current of water. She turned her head in that direction with her mental image, illuminated by her yoki.
"Worthy of my attention…"
She followed the currents as she dived even deeper into the consciousness, spending more yoki to pierce through the dark. The current increased in strength and numbers as she moved along them.
"What the…?"
She just stared in disappointed disbelief as she reached the source of the currents. She had no idea how deep her mind had reached into the subconscious as she hitch-hiked to its core. Floating in the void as she gazed upon at the first sign of light in the hollow emptiness around her after what seemed as an eternity.
"This is it?"
She moved even closer and bent forward to see the source clearly.
It was a tiny, almost frail light, a little smaller than an eyeball and spherical in shape. The color of the light surprised her, with its crimson red color and with a small white light from its center. It was small enough to fit between two of her fingers.
Sharon sighed in exasperation as her hopeful expectations sunk to the ground.
"I was expecting something much grander then this… well, I guess that she could hide it so well because there´s barely anything to hide from the start. Well I guess I have to report this to Hailey, it was all fuzz over nothing…"
She turned around to leave but stopped. She turned her head for a glance over her shoulder and leered at the small orb. A small curiosity in her voice as she swayed around to face it again.
"I wonder how much force there actually is in this little thing. I doubt that she would be able to even handle one yoma with just this small amount of yoki."
She crouched down until it hovered in front of her face, ten-twenty centimeters from it. She pretended to sit down on an invisible chair as she smiled at it in a superior manner.
"I can´t believe that I referred to this one as an Abomination, I mean… this amount of yoki wouldn´t even classify her as a failed warrior…"
She moved up with one of her hands with the index finger pointing straight out. A small change in the red light from this small yoki source got her attention.
It trembled as water and assumed a darker tone of red.
Sharon didn´t know what it meant and kept her entertained smile up as she decided to touch it with her finger.
"I mean how much power could it…"
Her finger made contact with the now blood-red light. A massive disruptive shock ruptured through her entire body within a tenth of a second before her mental shape shattered into millions of pieces. The mere shock from the sheer magnitude of yoki forced Sharon to stop her perception in lightning speeds.
All within one second.
Sharon opened her eyes widely in immense shock over the experience. She did it once again and noticed several things that had been going on while she used her "Angel Eye".
Grace had stopped pulling her hand away from Sharon´s face. Instead she had increased the grip around it. She also had removed her right hand from Sharon´s wrist, not trying to pull her left hand away anymore. She had instead clenched her right hand and raised it to deliver a hard punch. She threw a haymaker into the left side of Sharon´s face and was moments from connecting with it.
Sharon had opened her eyes just in time to see this clenched fist with merely a second or two from impact.
"What do you…?" Grace started. She landed her punch as she finished the sentence with a shout. "…THINK YOU`RE DOING!?"
The punch threw Sharon backwards off the chair and down in the ground. Grace exhaled in frustration while she glared down at Sharon.
The warrior covered her bruised face with one hand and glanced down at the ground with jagged breath and drops of sweat over her forehead.
"Sorry, I got a little too enthusiastic…" Sharon apologized.
"…"A little"? What was that for by the way…?" Grace calmed down a little bit as Sharon pulled away her hand and asked.
"I´m sorry… How bad is it?"
A large bruise built up around her eye with increased dark tones. It jarred in comparison with her otherwise perfect appearance. Grace didn´t mind it since it made Sharon actually look normal for a change. She had held back a lot with that punch and it had been nowhere near the one she struck Apsley with a couple of years ago.
Grace just nodded and rubbed the back of her head.
"It´s nothing serious, might leave a bruise though…"
Sharon looked at her while she frowned and veins bulged up in her face from the yoki. The broken blood vessels repaired themselves as the dark areas slowly went back to her perfect complexion once more.
"No, it won´t." Sharon assured.
The thick iron door unlocked and swung open. Hailey charged through it with a narrowed gaze at Sharon and Grace.
"What´s going on? Why did you get hurt?"
Sharon waved the still visible black eye with a minor easy move.
"It´s nothing… my own fault, I got too eager again…"
Hailey turned her attention towards Grace who had stood up in surprise over the sudden entrance. Hailey asked Sharon while looking away from her.
"Is she cleared?"
"Yes, she isn´t a…" She turned to Grace and her eyes flickered a little bit in search for better words before she turned back to Hailey. "You know what. She´s not an awakened either so she´s just as clear as she can get."
"Good, you got me worried there for a moment… and you." She pointed at Grace. "You will be assigned with a watcher to monitor you. I don´t want strangers disturbing the order in this Brigade…"
Hailey was interrupted as a Black Card, a warrior in pale attire, ran up to her from the hallway.
"Colonel! Enemy approaches the northern perimeter!"
"How many?" Hailey firmly asked.
"Multiple hostiles, seven yoma and one Awakened…"
"Seasoned?"
"Yes Colonel."
"Who is positioned there?"
"Four Black Cards Colonel… and Major Hazel…"
"It´s not a problem then, they can handle that situation."
They all stopped up for a moment as they felt something with their perception.
"The second scout team has been ambushed, It needs support immediately…"
Sharon interrupted with an order.
"I´m going, you get there as well…"
Sharon stood up as the bruise healed completely, restoring the creepy perfection in her face once more. The warrior nodded one time as she moved away. Sharon walked right up next to Hailey´s side and stopped for a second when Hailey put a hand on her shoulder and whispered.
"What is it you aren´t telling me Sharon…?"
"Later, Hailey… one of my teams need me. We can discuss these details at a better opportunity, don´t you agree?"
She hurried and disappeared out of sight while she left Hailey with Grace.
Hailey turned around and seemed to have eased up a little bit towards Grace with her presence cleared.
"Come with me. If Sharon says you´re cleared then I have no reason to doubt her…"
"I won´t get in trouble for punching her?"
"You only get off the hook because she assures me that she had it coming… it´s still a non violence policy for you unless you´re challenged by one of us. You´re free to use self defense but that´s it. You will also be assigned to one of our majors that will monitor and guard you. Just a mere safety precaution of course…"
"That´s quite a change…"
"You´re apparently a warrior and we warriors need to stick together in this place. You should understand that…"
Grace relaxed a little bit and found the change of tone surprising. It was much brighter than the dead serious one before from their first meeting.
"If you don´t mind…"
Hailey held up a hand as to strictly silence Grace from afar, all while keeping a stoic and serious face.
"First of all, you will address me as Colonel. You will address the others by rank unless they allow you to use their names. Second of all, don´t even try to steal our few broadswords or you will spend time in a dark cell. Third of all, you will stay within the perimeters of the Black Card Brigade´s headquarters. It´s for your own safety. And then there´s the last and most important rule of them all that you make sure to remember." "That is?"
"…Never ever betray our trust. Do you understand the conditions for being here?"
She stared straight at Grace with the voice of an executioner again. Grace inhaled a deep breath as she answered.
"Yes…" Hailey seemed to wait for something and Grace rolled her eyes as she realized it. "…Yes Colonel."
Hailey seemed pleased by this and waved with her hand at Grace to follow. They walked in the hallway as Grace made her request.
"Colonel, if you don´t mind, I would like to have my armor back now…"
"Permission granted. But first you will report to major Zella. She will give you the basic information and provide answers for any question you might have."
"Okay… where is Major Zella?"
"She will be here shortly… I have already sent the call…"
"The what?"
A minute later someone approached them in the hallway and Grace raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise.
The archer from before, just as surprised over to see her in return. She quickly turned to Hailey with a military salute and a smile.
"Major Zella reporting in… Colonel Hailey."
"Good. This visitor will be assigned to you and be under your responsibility."
"Understood."
"Good, bring her to the armory first, she has made a request there and I have permitted it."
"Got that, Hailey…"
"Please get along now and don´t cause too much trouble. Give her the tour of this place."
"Yes, understood."
Hailey gave her a nod and moved away for other, more urgent matters. Zella turned to Grace with a hand behind her back combed hair.
"Well, no reason to drag our feet then. I didn´t get a chance to ask for your name earlier…"
"It´s Grace, Nice to meet you Zella."
"You should call me mayor… but let´s skip the formalities and use our names instead." Zella smiled.
They shook their hands in a friendly handshake and Zella lead the way in silence and a warm assuring smile at Grace.
The "Toy room"
28 panted heavily with wide opened eyes as she stared out into the empty room. The bone-saw in her right hand dripped of blood and a large dark stain had been smudged across her bandages. She had come back to her senses after a mental black out as she breathed with jagged breath and panicked eyes.
The doll in the ceiling looked down at the mayhem with an eerie smile, a dark grin with the sewn thread like teeth crept up.
"Good, it´s nothing wrong with this… do what you want to do!"
28 looked up at the doll with fright in her eyes.
"The Organization will kill me for this!"
"Why? You just broke a couple of dolls… that´s all…look."
28 saw only broken doll parts and straw spread across the floor. The faces of the man sized dolls shimmered dim and fake with visible lines carved in the wood. 28 calmed down for a second and glanced up at the female doll in her strings and the butterflies of light that gathered around it.
"What should I do?"
Clicking noises came from the doll as it moved a finger in a cutting motion. 28 nodded and stood up on the table and tore the strings connected to the doll. It fell down in a pile over the table and 28 aligned her bone-saw with its neck. The butterflies swarmed around them. She began to saw the dry flesh open with wide stare devoid of sanity. The doll cheered her on as she cuts through its neck and a voice from fluttering butterfly wings urged 28 on.
"Keep going…keep going… keep going…almost there…and…"
She stopped as the saw carved into the surface of the table. A dark liquid mixed with straw sluggishly poured out from the cut and the head rolled to the side. The butterflies swarmed inside its cavities and vanished from the room. She grabbed the doll´s head in one hand and turned it around.
"Good… now you better move on. We don´t want to get caught in our strings again shall we?"
The echoing distorted voice vibrated through 28´s mind as she replied to it in monotone.
"Yes… I know…"
She walked in the blood puddles of the men as she ignored them. Her voice turned distant and her eyes carried an absent look over them as she replied with unfocused gaze.
"…Yes…yes…not so loud please…yes I know…"
Blood dropped from her saw´s fangs as she smiled and stalked the foggy hallways with her personal guide at hand.
"…Yes… I´ll obey…"
Authors note: well, the reason that took so long was to emphasize how hard it really is to get an accurate yoki scanning of Grace.
And beside... if anyone finds the "Infirmary" disturbing, then remember this. I don´t have to give a detailed expression of everything, 28 was the focus point, not the Scavengers...
Please review you full opinions.
Next chapter coming up soon...