It first struck Alexis, slamming her into the walls of the hotel corridor. Her piercing scream shattered the air as the paintings fell around her, the outer frames breaking at the seams. Jaden could barely turn back, when he instantly shoved forward. He gasped in pain, as his cheek hit the hard ground. He could hear Alexis struggling, trying to break free from the monster's grip, all the while slashing its limbs with all the strength she could muster. He clenched his fists, and staggered upwards, her name at the very tip of his lips.
But all he saw were fangs, at that moment.
Still, he forced himself to move. He dragged his nails across its face, the tiny droplets of blood carelessly falling to the side. In the same instant, he grabbed its collar and threw it away from him, his familiar mental prowess calling forth the delicate seams of the nightmares to him. Thick, black tendrils stabbed the creature's abdomen, recklessly flinging it away from side to side, the violent presence gleefully listening to every twisted crack in its body. Jaden stood shakily, as he stared down at the struggling creature, before turning back and racing towards Alexis.
A burning sensation choked his spine. He could feel his body screeching at the seams, desperately endeavoring to come away from the chaotic paralysis. He couldn't move, couldn't do anything; instead, his own, mentality kept thrashing around, doing whatever it could to break free from its prison. He hissed when the sensations increased, the pressure of it now distorting his entire frame. He fell to the ground then, his knees slamming against the rugs, as he dug his nails into the wooden floorboards. Little droplets of blood came down the side of his forehead.
At that same instant, he felt his power drawing back to him. He could feel the ice beneath his skin, his temperature dropping bit by bit, the bare footsteps callously draping the atmosphere around him. He could feel his own shadows coil around him, suffocating him, crushing nearly every bone in his body without mercy, or regret. He choked as the blood came spilling from his mouth. He felt two nails carefully wrapping themselves around his throat, piercing through the thin layers of his neck. Though he tried resisting, his panicked instincts only served to cloud his mind. The hard wall greeted Jaden's back then, pushing all the breath from his body. He gasped desperately, his vision blurring with dark, crimson spots all over.
And then he saw Alexis in front of him, with bloody rivers down her arm.
She narrowly dodged the creature's gleaming claws, deftly dancing between their two silhouettes as she tried getting closer, only to flee from its attacks once more. Jaden flinched at the pain, his eyes endeavoring to focus themselves. Before long, he heard a crash; he looked up, and saw Alexis standing over the figure, her back turned to his.
He clenched his fists, as he stood. He could feel each limb snap back into place, the connective tissues beginning now only beginning to reform. He cracked his neck, and paused for a brief second, as Alexis examined the creature before them. He narrowed his eyes. He bit the inside of his cheek, before walking over to Alexis.
Dark, raven hair was splayed all over that creature's face. Even from here, he could make out the grotesque wounds plastered on its face, the bluish whites of its corneas showing off its equally pale skin. A tiny stream of scarlet trickled down its chin, toward the stitches that seemed to spread out to the rest of its body, like a spider web. It was dressed in rags, of course, the same rags the other failures had to don. Jaden stayed where he was, the adrenaline gradually receding from him. "What're you waiting for?" he asked. "Yusei's waiting for us."
She didn't answer.
"Alexis."
"She looks familiar."
Jaden blinked. Nervously, he shifted toward the creature, his eyes never once leaving its disfigured limbs. He scrutinized the scene for a while, then stole a glance at Alexis, who was simply standing there. There was a vacant look on her face. Her eyes were clouded, and a slight frown tugged at her lips.
Strands of hair fell to her steel eyes, as she looked on at the monster before her. He'd seen that look before; it was the very same look she had, when she was staring at Drevis, and all the other aristocrats in the game, the same look when she hugged that dollhouse, only to play with the figurines afterwards, simply because she got bored of feeling sad all the time, the same look when she saw Aki and Yusei together, by their lonesome, the same look when she remembered something important, though she couldn't bring herself to say what.
A memory.
She remembered something.
He stiffened. "You knew it?"
She shook her head. "I've seen pictures…but I think you do, though." Carefully, she turned back, and gestured him forward.
Jaden bit the inside of his cheek. Cautiously, he walked toward Alexis. He regarded the blonde evenly; she nodded, and it was then he looked down.
His eyes widened.
"Mree?"
"CUT THE CRAP!"
Yusei was shocked awake, his wide, blue orbs taking in the darkness around it. The low lights cast their ominous shadows, as their overbearing darkness swirling around the feast. He couldn't help but turn to Jack then, who had just slammed his fist down onto the table. His amethyst eyes reflected only Belletrix's smug face, which was brimming with confidence. Yusei could see the anger boiling inside his friend, with his equally frustrated snarl trying to tear her apart.
"Human?" he mocked. "Are you fucking kidding me?! You're a loon! After everything that's happened, you think you can pull something like that on us?!"
Belletrix flickered her feral eyes toward him.
Jack visibly flinched, but took a deep breath, and continued on, ignoring Crow's warning hiss, or Yusei's stoic frown; just like that, getting just as defensive as he always had, without taking anyone else into consideration. He slammed his hand against his chest, and puffed it out. "I've known Yusei for forever, and so has Crow! We've been to hell and back, and we aren't going to let some reporter tear us apart like that!" He straightened. "He's my best friend, and I won't let you just sit there spouting lies about him like that. So whatever you're thinking, Yusei's got nothing to do with it. I should know; I've known him for forever."
Belletrix raised a cocky eyebrow. She snickered silently, her hand barely covering her subtle taunting. "It's your call Nikolai. Are you really just going to let them fight for you? They've got nothing to do with this."
"We're friends," Jack stated stubbornly. "We stick by each other, no matter what."
"Nikolai-"
"His name is Yusei."
"What wonderful friends you have!"
Jack clenched his fists. "Shut up."
"Well? What's it gonna be?"
"You crazy-!"
"Jack," Yusei stated in a hard voice. "Sit. Down."
"But-!"
"Belletrix," Yusei continued, causing Jack to fall silent. He regarded her evenly, as he slowly sank back into his seat, her own, elegant shadows dancing to the tunes of some, corrupt lullaby, only one that she could hear. "When Jaden checked the records, it turns out Akiza was a new member."
"That's right. She came to me, or rather, to Amrbosine, willingly."
He narrowed his eyes. "But she doesn't have her memories."
Belletrix smirked. "Blind faith can only get you so far, especially when you're in love with someone."
"Being in love and being faithful are two different things," he scowled.
Yusei stopped himself then, stealing a quick glance at both Crow and Jack, before continuing on. He tightened his fists. "Not only is Akiza here, but we are too. We're friends with people we've never met, fought battles that we normally wouldn't have fought. And all the while, my game was still going on, though a majority of my territories; it seems the other covens depend on me now more than ever.
"What of it?"
"You could've just wiped us out, but you didn't. Why?"
"I told you, remember?" she said softly. He couldn't help but catch the tiniest hint of frustrated nostalgia embedded in her voice. "You're my baby brother; I couldn't leave you behind, in a world like that."
"B-B-BROTHER?!" Crow screeched. His eyes widened at the seams, the surprise dragging him under. Yusei flinched at his high-pitched voice, but nonetheless, he ignored him. "What about Jaden?"
Her left eye twitched. "We've been through this. He's dead, Nikolai."
"But that's not it, is it? You're not just using your own, sorry feelings to get you out of facing the truth. You're using Akiza too, aren't you?"
"I told you before, I'm not using her," she snapped, her piercing green eyes reflecting back his own. She smiled callously then, the crude cruelty shinning against the surface of her teeth. "You haven't touched the food yet."
"Enough games Belletrix; I'm not as patient as I used to be."
She paused for a single moment, before laughing. "If you're that curious, then fine. I'd prefer it this way anyways.
"Akiza came to Amrbosine, some fifty years ago. You should've seen her, nothing at all like the witch that'd swiped you and Mree from me. She was absolutely pathetic; every five seconds, she kept crying out gibberish spells she read from fairytales and legends, kept saying sorry over and over again, kept hiding from some imaginary boogeyman hiding in the shadows. She was like a tiny infant, wouldn't stop crying even if we wanted her to, and even when she did, she'd merely sit there, staring at nothing in particular. The normals would come up to Amrbosine all the time, and ask her where she was made, like a smooth, porcelain doll." Belletrix chuckled at the memory. "She was pitiful. She didn't have an ounce of self-worth left."
"And where were you?" Yusei hissed, the stinging insult cutting him in half.
"Nearby."
Suffocating silence slammed itself between the two, the tension, once again, wrapping itself around his throat. After a few seconds, she straightened. "Whenever Amrbosine asked her what she was talking about, the poor thing simply refused to answer. It seems that, by then, her memories were shrouded."
"Shrouded?"
She nodded. "Shrouded by bittersweet longing; it seems she missed the innocence she never even had. She couldn't do anything about it, of course. No matter how many times she gouged out her heart, or how many times she ripped out her eyes, or sowed her lips shut, or ripped out every part of her stomach, inch by pitiful inch, she never could seem to forget the nostalgia she had, for a past she couldn't even remember. To Amrbosine, this strange woman looked like she was making a fuss over nothing, and even if there was something, that incompetent creature could never have figured it out."
Yusei narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you kill Akiza then?"
"She was interesting." She leaned her elbow against the armrest, and set her cheek on the back of her hand. Her eyes became cloudy, though the corrupt excitement still lingered. "You see, she couldn't bear to say any of her coven members' names. And whenever that title, the Black Rose Witch, was mentioned, she started screaming. As you could imagine, Amrbosine felt sorry for the poor girl. She wanted to everything she could to help her; in her mind, that's what leaders were supposed to do.
"And help her she did. Examinations, biopsies, scans, practically everything that was available to her, Amrbosine followed through with. It wasn't long before she found out that Akiza used to be one of Fallen's experiments, a piece of artwork that a majority of our scientists kept trying to recreate, Christoph included."
"H-hold up…" Crow stammered uncertainly. "So…so Akiza's…?"
"She didn't lie to anyone." Yusei rectified hastily, silencing Crow easily, though he never took his gaze off Belletrix. "And as for you-"
"Yes well," she continued stiffly, "of course, Amrbosine was shocked. Still, she hadn't the slightest idea of who Akiza actually was; all this time, she was after you. While she did feel sorry for the girl, she couldn't really allow one of our own to keep roaming around. And Akiza certainly was too unstable to be left alone.
"So like the good little girl she was, Amrbosine decided to try and devise a series of treatments, treatments that, of course, would've tried to return some of Akiza's sanity. Of course, that didn't work, and she became the monster you know now."
"She isn't some monster," he spat. "She's a lot more humane than you ever were."
"It wasn't that hard, to take advantage of her," she continued, brushing aside Yusei's statement. Belletrix closed her eyes, a soft smile decorating her face. "I'm sure you already know this, but even we have limits Nikolai. Every demon created by Fallen has a strict amount of years we can last; some, only a few, others for centuries. But we all have a breaking point; you, me, and Akiza have just lasted a bit longer, that's all."
"What're you saying then? I-"
"I know what you did, what she ordered you to do."
He fought the urge to flinch, though Belletrix grinned smugly. "Even after all this time, your special bullets were still there, lodged inside her brain. However, seems that wasn't enough, to spare her the pain; when Amrbosine found her, she had already deteriorated so much, and she was transforming at such a rapid pace, to the point where she could barely control herself anymore. If you saw her before…you wouldn't have been able to recognize her."
That nightmarish evening bombarded Yusei. He could still see Akiza lying on the cold ground, reaching out to him desperately, if only for a bit of relief. He remembered the order, that slipped out from her lips, as well as the bullet, that resounded against his ear.
He clutched the armrest tightly, his eyes falling to the plate. His own, hardened reflection stared back up at him, while Belletrix chuckled in the background. "It was the only order you ever disobeyed. If only you'd been able to kill her, you might've spared yourself from this fate."
"How'd you know about that promise she made? To me? To herself?" He flickered his eyes toward her. "And that night? Were you there too?"
Belletrix shook her head. "All Amrbosine had to do was ask." She stood then, that woman. A trace of meat was still plastered on her lips, though she rubbed it away with her sleeve. Slowly, she went around the table, her blond strands falling to her face. Her footsteps resonated throughout the ballroom, stopping midway towards Jack. Her hand rested on the table, her fingertips lightly brushing past the empty chairs nearby.
"What'd you expect from her Nikolai? She was half-dead, by the time Amrbosine found her. She was transforming into a beast no one could begin to understand, all the while forgetting a part of herself every single day. She was turning into a monster, and a pathetic one at that. So, in hindsight you're right; under normal circumstances, I would've killed her."
"Then why-?!"
"But when I heard it, when I heard your name, I couldn't help myself. I was already tired of living through Amrbosine. In fact, I was just about to finish her off, but that was before Akiza had finally said your name. That you were alive somewhere. That you'd been ordered to kill her, and now, you were trapped in the same nightmare that I didn't want you to see. There was absolutely no way I could just let you waste away there, in that world of yours."
It dawned on Yusei.
"…You led us here."
"I did."
"But…but how-?!"
"As I've said before, Nikolai. You were always loyal; you would've done anything you could, just to follow an order from someone you truly respected. Coupled with the fact you fell in love with her, I had no doubt that you would try seeking her out, when you realized she was still alive.
"She was more powerful than you were, than any of us were. She alone had the ability to control anyone, anything, as long as her insanity hadn't destroyed her. She was could decimate the strongest of wills, submit the mightiest of rulers; if she wanted to, she could even conquer this entire world.
"But she was weak. In the end, that same power destroyed her, despite everything she's done. She couldn't handle it, and as a result, she turned into that…creature you saw that night."
He was shaking. "Stop it."
"I'm sure you've gotten some of your memories back by now."
"Shut up."
"Makes you wonder how she could think of herself as human."
The air around him instantly froze, sending burning chills toward Belletrix. Without thinking, he wrapped that power around her neck, imagining tiny bits of throat slipping from her lips. He could see her falling to the ground, gasping desperately for breath, the unsightly, miserable sight of her enough to make him almost crush her, her skull beneath his feet.
"I told you once, didn't I?"
Blood suddenly came out from his mouth. He held one hand against his lips, his eyes widening in shock.
All the while, Belletrix stood there, smirking. "You weren't one to go against someone you loved."
He coughed the blood into his hand, leaving bright, crimson stains on his glove. "W-what the hell are you-?!"
"And as you've already guessed, Akiza isn't exactly stable right now. She'd do anything, just to keep this peace from falling apart."
He froze.
She started walking toward him again. "Even if it is all just a lie."
Crow stood up protectively, as did Jack. They were saying something, but Yusei didn't know what. Instead, he could only sit there, unable to move, Belletrix's mental prowess keeping him down. His power was forced back towards him, slamming back into his body. He hissed in pain, taking his eyes off Belletrix for a brief moment. When he looked up, he saw her standing there, just a few feet away from him. She leaned over, and forcefully cupped his cheek. "Surely you must've already realized who trapped you here."
He couldn't move.
"Someone powerful enough to mess with your memories, as well as the memories of everyone else around you, including me."
He couldn't talk.
"A witch who can neither live, nor die, suffering an eternal hell living on this lonely, sinful world."
He couldn't breathe.
"A king who fell in love with good and evil, right and wrong."
Akiza.
He remembered everything then.
