Chapter III
Author's Note: well, well…its here! Gangster Chapter Three, as always, please R&R…Thanx!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ragnarok: Into the Abyss,
"I hate hospitals…" Chaos muttered as he stood at the hallway outside Iris's room.
"That goes ditto for me…" Loki answered, taking a cigarette from his leather jacket and handing it to Chaos, "Here, you look like you need it…"
"How 'bout you?" Chaos asked, noticing his friend lighting the cigarette without getting one for himself.
"I quit," Loki said.
"Just when did you quit? You were smoking just a few hours ago…"
"That was my last, I quit just now…" Loki said. "I took up smoking out of boredom, but it seems we'll be having our hands full from now on…"
Lydia sat on one of the hospital chairs, she was staring blankly at a wall…engrossed in her own thoughts. Seeing Fenris again wasn't something she expected, she knew one day they'd see each other again, but not in the way they had, just a few hours ago.
"She was so cold…" she thought to herself, remembering the dark cloaked lady who shot bullets at them. "She's nothing like the Fenris I knew six years ago,"
A memory of her best friend lifted from the depths of her mind…"Maybe it started there…she changed on the last night of the Fenrir Clan"
Flashback
Lydia drove in the direction of Fenrir Castle…her heart beating fast in fear for her friend, the news she had heard on her car radio had pushed her to drive to the castle in panic.
"Fenrir Castle is burning…" She repeated the news to herself.
Finally she arrived at the castle…the place was aflame. The members who boarded the place were outside, watching in shock as the Fenris Clan's base of Power slowly razed in the heat of flames.
"Fenris! Fenris! Where are you?!" she shouted, panic constricting her breathing.
"Lady Fenris!" A man shouted, Lydia followed his gaze and saw her.
"Fenris!" she cried, Balder carried her in his arms, her dark black hair loosened and flowing in the bright fire-blazoned night, she was limp, pale as ivory, while her white dress dripped with blood that flowed from the wound that punctured her chest
"Balder! What happened?!" she demanded, but his face was stiff…emotionless. His eyes were bright as flame…his hair the color of the blood that stained Fenris's dress,
"It's Chaos! Chaos I tell you!" a crazed man shouted at seeing Balder, "Chaos! Chaos!"
End of Flashback
"That was how he got his name," Lydia thought to herself, "Chaos, a name borne by the end of the Fenrir Clan"
A doctor exited Iris's room, "How is she?" Chaos inquired,
"She had a slight heart attack…a little constriction, but nothing that would have killed her" the Doctor informed, "She'll be released any time around tomorrow…all she needs is rest"
Chaos stood transfixed at Iris as she lay in the hospital bed, but his thoughts were clouded by the ghost he had seen in the afternoon…"I didn't expect to see her again…not in this way"
"She hasn't forgiven me yet…" he pondered, slowly a recollection of the past drifted back to the present.
Flashback
"Balder, we're still unsure of the truth…she risked her life to save you, how sure are you that she was with her father in a plot to kill us?" Odin admonished his son, seeing the fiery anger that burned within.
"She risked her life by taking the bullet her father intended for me," Balder answered, "But I couldn't trust her again, I'm breaking the engagement"
"Don't be hasty, Balder…" Odin told him, "Fenris is a good girl, I don't think she's capable of ever planning something like an assassination,"
"Skurai discovered them…didn't you?" Balder said, turning in the direction of Skurai,
"Yes, Lord Balder…they had been attempting an attack even before you were engaged to the Lady Fenris" Skurai answered.
"Tell her to disappear; she will not be killed for her betrayal as a reward for saving my life…" Balder ordered, his face stiff.
Skurai shuffled away, being the one to deliver news of the broken engagement to Balder's now former fiancé.
"Balder, this is too much!" Odin roared.
"I'm not Balder any longer" he answered, "From now on…my name is Chaos"
End of Flashback
Six years ago, Chaos knew his decision had been hasty, but he prioritized his reputation within the triad organization. If he had continued his engagement with a betrayer, he would be scoffed at by the higher bosses of the triad. "I was too ambitious," he reasoned to himself, "I thirsted for power, had the bosses been against me, I would not have proven myself worthy to inherit the rule of the Dragon Knights"
Fenris had disappeared after the broken engagement. She was never found no matter how much he tried to look for her, for it had only been a few months after the incident when he learned the truth.
Skurai had been the original traitor…he attacked Lord Fenrir and attempted to murder Fenris, But Chaos had arrived to stop him before Skurai could turn his sword on her.
The psychologist found that Skurai had been having delusions of having a talking sword that urged him to seek blood and kill without reason, he was sent to a mental institution and there he is until today. Skurai was high on drugs, but it didn't come from the Dragon Knights.
The Dragon Knights sold arms on the black Market, robbed banks for funding to expand the organization, but it didn't delve into selling drugs. It started in the early 1800's, the monarchy of Rune Midgard had been abusive, a secret society of unsatisfied young Knights of the realm plotted to overthrow the decadent King and his court…they were called the Dragon Knights. Members of the Royal Court, the Irine Family and the Fenrir Clan funded the Dragon Knights, giving them as much gold as they needed for the rebellion. They provided arms and weapons to the people, and with their help, reinstated a new King. As years passed, the Dragon Knights were misconceived as a weapons manufacturer, they had lost their knighthood, while the Irine Family and the Fenrir Clan lost their position in the royal court, to support the deterioration of their riches and to take richly deserved respect for their efforts, they later become what they are today…a triad society.
There was no monarchy today…and now the Fenrir Family's Clan of Wolves was no more, ending in flames. Another powerful triad arose…one that sought to rise as the greatest organized crime society by ending the rule of the Dragon Knights, It was Freya's Council of Valkryries.
Chaos relieved himself of the memory of the afternoon's battle, had to make himself appear calm and composed before meeting his parents at Asgard.
He walked out of Iris's room, leaving his new young fiancé sleeping peacefully on the immaculate white sheets of the hospital bed. Loki greeted him as he got out. "How's Iris?" Loki asked, his face was touched not with concern, but more of curiosity.
"She's fine…" Chaos informed, "She's a little weak, but she'll be fine…she hasn't come around yet, but are you still up to tomorrow night?"
"You mean the attempt at Prontera?" Loki said, "I am, but are you?"
"There's no need to ask that, Loki, I'll be there,"
"We need our arms…I prefer using my own weapons"
Chaos revealed the sheathed sword hanging by his hip, "All I need is this" he answered,
"You guys planning to have all the fun for yourselves?" Lydia said, coming up beside them her face relieved of its thoughtful expression and replaced by her originally beaming smile and light mischief, "I've only been home for a few hours, and already you're planning on leaving me out of this…we're partners, I get to have a share of the fun you guys are having"
Chaos grinned, "You up to it, Lydia? No jet lag or any of the sort?"
"None, and I'm up to it, all I need are a couple of good rifles…there are a bunch of them at my apartment, souvenirs from my trip to Vegas"
"Alright, it's settled, Lydia can load her weapons, while Loki and I get home to Asgard for a meeting tonight," Chaos decided, "We meet outside the Dragon Knight base at 6:30 tomorrow before heading to Prontera"