A/N: WARNING: There's a bit of a flashback scene in this one, and it gets kind of rough. I dunno, maybe it's just because I'm imagining it, and what usually what gets written down is far less vivid than my mind, but this one made me a little sick. It's short, and horrible. Also, gore.
You have been warned.
Alex was sick again.
Yuri wasn't sure what she expected, honestly. When she'd found him, he'd been completely unconscious in the freezing rain. She would've been surprised if he hadn't caught a fever.
Once they got to the village, they'd immediately made a bee-line for Micaela's house. After a quick healing spell, Alex was fine. Still, it was disturbing to think about how much pain he'd been in. He was letting out a near-constant stream of swears up until he'd been healed, and if she wasn't mistaken, there was quite a bit of wetness around his eyes.
Yuri had come to learn that Alex was a tough kid. If something was making him react this badly, then it must've been excruciating.
Of course, after healing him, Micaela wanted to know just what in the fuck happened to him.
Well, maybe she didn't quite say that, but she was concerned. Yuri could understand that, even if she didn't want to talk about the situation whatsoever. Micaela was Yuri's friend, but that didn't mean she trusted her with literally everything.
She would have to talk to Alex about his actions later. He had killed four people today, for fuck's sake.
She wasn't upset with him. From his story, it sounded like he really didn't have much of a choice. Besides, if she judged him, she'd be a filthy hypocrite. All he did was get rid of some heroes (and an attempted rapist), so honestly, she didn't have an issue with it.
What she did have an issue with was how proud he looked when her told her. It made her sick, mostly because it reminded her of her younger self. Yuri didn't want Alex to end up like her, a fugitive that couldn't even visit her homeland. This was something that needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. She understood that he might've felt pride in his "Work", but it just wasn't okay to outwardly show his excitement.
She needed to make sure he was still stable after this event. It had only taken one kill for Yuri to fall into that madness, but her circumstances were... unique.
She shook her head, banishing the memories from her head. She didn't want to think about back then. They would just reawaken the old itch. She was a different person now, but that didn't really matter. The consequences would always haunt her at least somewhat. She could still remember the time when...
NO! She needed to stop thinking about that. That was so long ago, and it was better for her to leave the past alone. The memories would do nothing but hurt her.
So, after depositing Alex back into his room, she quickly booked it for hers, not even bothering to undress as she flopped into her bed. She needed to sleep. Those thoughts wouldn't really go away if she stayed up. Besides, it was nearly midnight...
She decided to talk to him in the morning. That would give both of them enough time to relax. Lord knows she needed a break.
So, with that thought in mind, she haphazardly draped the covers over her body, and closed her eyes.
*LINEBREAK*
The screams echoed throughout the forest. Screams of her mother and father. Hurriedly, she sprinted through the woods, her little sister right beside her. Every screech of pain brought a new wave of devastation to her heart, and she couldn't imagine her sister was doing much better.
She could hear the heavy footfalls of the men behind her. With dawning horror, she realized they were getting closer. They needed to get away, but every step they took was only delaying the inevitable.
She felt hopeless. Why did this have to happen to them? What had they done to deserve this?
Bandits had attacked them on the road. There were at least ten of them, though half of them stayed behind, deciding to inflict all kinds of horrors on their parents. Their mother held them off for as long as she could, screaming for them to run. Yuri had practically dragged her sister away, running faster than she ever had before.
Suddenly, her sister tripped, her foot catching on a tree root.
Yuri's heart turned to ice. Quickly, she turned to grab at her sister's shoulder, but the men were already upon them.
Suddenly, they were surrounded. Her heart sank as she realized that there was no escape. She just hoped her death would be a swift one. Though, judging by the screams that still echoed throughout the forest, she'd be denied even that small mercy.
Two of them grabbed at her sister. Yuri cried out, shaking her head wildly. She pleaded for them to just let her sister go. They laughed.
The other three grabbed her, continuing to chuckle amongst themselves. One of them, a large, bald man with ruined teeth, pointed at her for a moment.
"Aww, how touching." He ground out. "The little whore loves her sister."
His exclamation caused the men to throw all kinds of insults and jeers at her. Worriedly, her eyes flickered back to her sister. This was it for both of them.
"Please, just let her go." Yuri sniffled, feeling hot tears begin to stream down her face. "Torture me all you like, but just leave her out of this."
She felt a sudden sense of horror when they started to laugh again. One of the bandits that held her sister grabbed a knife from his belt. Yuri screamed as she realized what was about to happen, begging as he put the knife up to her sister's throat.
With a quick slash, her throat was torn open, spraying blood all across Yuri's face. She stared at the corpse, feeling a crushing sensation of pure despair. Her own sister, a sweet, kind little girl, was just murdered. They dropped the body like a sack of garbage, and returned their focus to Yuri.
"Now this one." Said the bald man, gesturing to her once again. "She's much more 'developed', if you know what I mean."
They laughed cruelly. One of them unsheathed his sword, leering at her with an overwhelming amount of sadistic intent.
"She's probably taken her fair share of cock already." He proclaimed. "So why don't we give her somethin' a little bit bigger?"
The other men cheered as he raised his sword, and with a muted sense of terror, she realized what they were about to do.
The men lowered her to the ground, tightening their grip as she did so. She kicked and screamed, which seemed to do nothing but encourage them. They had grips of iron, so no matter how hard she squirmed, she couldn't break free of their grasp.
The man with the sword kneeled down, pointing the tip of the sword in between her legs, aiming it directly at her most private place. He grinned savagely, laughing with malicious glee as he took in the pure fear in her expression.
"No! NO!" Yuri screeched, struggling even harder than before. "NO STOP!"
Ever so slowly, he reared the sword back, savoring the moment. Then, with a violent thrust, he-
*LINEBREAK*
Yuri bolted upright, hyperventilating as she felt a surge of rage overtake her. After taking in her surroundings, she sighed, deflating back into the bed.
She sighed, banishing the overwhelming bloodlust that she felt pounding underneath her skin. It wouldn't do to lose it right now. Alex was in the other room, and she didn't want him to see her like that. She'd just go hunting for heroes later. She'd planned to do that anyways. Her goals hadn't changed, she'd just be... bloodier with it.
How long had it been since she last dreamed about that day? It had to have been at least eight or nine years, but it may very well have been longer. She'd put so much effort into burying those memories deep inside her, so why were they suddenly appearing again?
Sluggishly, she slipped out of bed, cursing as she realized that the sun wasn't even up yet. She couldn't go back to sleep, not without letting off some steam first. Still, she'd have to wait until the sun was up. She didn't want to wake Alex this early, as they'd only arrived back home at around midnight.
When she did wake up, she'd ask Micaela to look after him for a while. She didn't feel right leaving him alone, not after what happened. Plus, he was sick, too, so he might need to be watched.
...Well, while she was up, she might as well make breakfast. That would get her out the door faster.
So, she prepared some food. It wasn't anything special. Just some seasoned meat and eggs. Though, that simplicity made it good. It was harder to mess up on a four-step process than a forty-step one.
She killed time by reading one of the few books in the house. It wasn't anything remotely interesting, but it kept her mind off of the memories, so she continued to read. The book was just an old adventure story that originated in the Sabasa region. She'd probably read through it more than twenty times, but there just weren't a lot of opportunities to buy new books. At least, none that interested her.
She shuddered, quietly thinking of one of the dark elves that lived in town. She was a novelist, and wrote some very... explicit material. If Yuri ever saw her even come near Alex, she'd kill her. Some of those fetishes were just downright strange.
Then again, she'd never really understood sexual... anything, really. Elves didn't begin puberty until around fourteen or fifteen, and most of... those kinds of hormones required having a working womb, which, she didn't.
Somehow, this didn't really affect her physical growth. She still shot up to around 6 feet 5 inches before turning eighteen, and her muscles hadn't really been affected, from what she could tell.
Though, from a mental standpoint (From the average monster's perspective.), she wasn't fully developed in the mental sense. She was probably the most un-sexual monster currently alive. That thought brought a smile to her lips, for some odd reason.
It was just a shame that she latched so hard onto murder. Honestly, to this day, Yuri didn't even truly understand why she enjoyed killing so much. One day, it just kind of... clicked. Maybe it was some ancient, primal urge that normally gets drowned out by a desire for... lewd things. She'd probably never know, but that was okay. She'd long since accepted that she definitely wasn't normal.
She just sometimes wished she could've gotten that urge under control before she went on her little spree. She was probably still one of the most wanted monsters alive, just because of her brutality. Sure, monsters killed people all the time, but they didn't usually leave them torn to shreds.
Just, when she was causing such carnage, she'd felt so happy. The world wasn't right unless she had her hands on somebody's entrails. Nowadays, she didn't feel nearly as good when committing such acts, though there was still some small hint of satisfaction. Try as she might, it seemed that she'd never be able to completely resist the feelings.
Alex's fixation was a little different, she had to admit. His was specifically on blood. Of course, considering that blood only really inhabits living creatures, she imagined the result would still be similar to her earlier life. Yuri didn't want his life to just be a repeat of hers, so that's why she needed to knock some sense into him.
Okay, maybe not literally. Lord knows she did enough of that in her spars. No, she had to impress upon him the importance of self-control. She'd already spoken to him about this, but it didn't seem like he took it to heart.
...Maybe she'd teach him how to sneak around, too. She had a feeling that yesterday's situation could've been entirely avoided if he'd just slunk off into the forest. Instead, he'd had to fight, killing three of those barbaric shitheads. Their deaths would only draw more heroes to the region, which was... Troublesome.
Oh well, that just meant more for her. She'd often let them live whenever she encountered them, but that was no longer acceptable. After yesterday's incident, it was clear that they needed to be culled.
She sighed as the sun started to filter through the window, signaling that it was time to wake Alex up. Quietly, she closed the book, and stood up from the table.
She had a lot to do today.
*LINEBREAK*
I awoke to Yuri lightly tapping my arm. Her expression was completely stoic, which was normal, at this point. Still, was it just me, or was she shaking very slightly?
I blinked for a moment, rubbing at my eyes in an attempt to banish the exhaustion from my body. I was unsuccessful. Also, Yuri was still twitching slightly, so that wasn't just my eyes playing tricks on me.
"...Is there something wrong?" I asked, causing her to flinch. "You seem kind of stressed."
She waved her hand idly, dismissing my words.
"That's nothing to concern yourself with. Anyways, get up. I have business to attend to, so I've decided to leave you with Micaela." She said quickly. "I should be back before sundown."
I sighed, and rolled out of bed, faceplanting on the floor. After that, I slowly got up, coughing slightly as I did so. I was a little hot, which was... annoying. I disliked heat. I was very much a cold person, so fevers were unpleasant. Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as last time, so I was thankful for that.
I hated warm temperatures. In my old life, I'd lived in a more southern region, which was blisteringly hot at all times, no natter the season. I'd never even seen snow until I turned sixteen, when I drove up to see family in Vermont. That was a bizarre experience, let me tell you.
I shuffled over to the dresser in the corner of my room, changing into my only other pair of clothes. It only took around thirty seconds, but it was a little uncomfortable because Yuri didn't leave the room.
After I was done with that, Yuri quickly made me some breakfast, which consisted of salted meat, and an egg. It was delicious, as per usual. Yuri really was a wizard when it came to food prepping.
"...Hey, Alex?" Yuri said suddenly. I looked up at her, a piece of jerky sticking out from my mouth.
I tilted my head, as if to ask "What?" I didn't actually say anything, because it was a choking hazard to talk while you were eating.
"...I love you." She said suddenly, her words making me nearly choke on my jerky. That wasn't something I expected to hear at all.
With a gulp, I swallowed the last bit of my breakfast, and began to ponder how the hell I was supposed to respond to that.
I mean, we had grown quite close over the past year or so. She did feed, clothe, and protect me. Hell, she'd even called me her son. I'd never see her as a mother figure, but she was still family, regardless of the fact that we weren't even remotely related. She was more like an older sister.
"Well, I love you too." I responded, feeling my face heat up somewhat. I'd never been a lovey-dovey kind of person, so affectionate things like that, even if they were purely familial, would get me just a tad bit flustered.
Yuri smiled, and seemed to relax somewhat. Honestly, it was kind of adorable. Still, I wondered why she'd suddenly said that. Yuri had never been super affectionate, so this was really out of the ordinary.
"...I'm gonna ask again." I said slowly, my voice cautious. "Is something wrong?"
Yuri sighed, and shook her head. The smile dropped from her face, being replaced with her ever-present expression of neutrality.
"...No." She eventually said. "At least, not anymore."
I raised an eyebrow, but didn't question further. Yuri was incredibly stubborn. If she didn't want to talk about it, then she wouldn't.
Anyways, after... that conversation, we left for Micaela's house. At first, I wondered if she was even awake, but after a few seconds of knocking at the door, she appeared, with a steaming mug of coffee in hand. She didn't even look remotely tired. She must've been an early riser.
"Good morning Yuri." Micaela greeted, nodding respectfully. "Is there something you need?"
Yuri sighed, and scratched the back of her head. She seemed... a tad bit embarrassed. That was odd, but I supposed I could understand. It didn't really reflect well on a parent when they just dumped their kid off on someone else.
"I... need you to watch Alex for a while." She grunted. "I've got... important business to attend to, but I can't just leave him alone. Not after last time."
Micaela shrugged.
"I was just doing some paperwork." She said. "Sure, I could look after him, but I'm a little curious as to what you're doing."
Yuri sighed again, looking at me for a moment, before shaking her head.
"Well, let's just say I've got some trash to dispose of." She said eventually, acting as if I didn't understand the obvious double-meaning. "I should be back before nightfall."
Micaela grimaced at Yuri's words. She was obviously uncomfortable with the conversation, yet she didn't say anything.
I looked over at Yuri, frowning as I did so. I assumed that she was going out to kill some heroes, which pissed me off. I wanted to get some more red. I wanted to plunge my hands into their throats, and-
Yuri smacked my arm, jolting me out of my violent thoughts. She then gestured to the vial of blood that hung from the string around my neck.
"You have that for a reason." She said quietly, though I was sure Micaela heard it nonetheless. "Don't let yourself slip into a frenzy."
I nodded, gazing at the red. It was very old by now, but that didn't stop it from being beautiful. It couldn't compare to the fresh stuff, but it was still pretty damn good when you didn't have anything else.
Anyways, Yuri left, so I quietly followed Micaela back inside, staring at the floor as I did so. Micaela and I didn't get along very well. She still gave me that pitying look every now and then, and every time she did it, I was filled with rage. If she did it one more time, I would explode.
"So, now that Yuri's gone," Micaela said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Why don't you tell me just what happened Yesterday?"
I winced. Yuri hadn't said anything to Micaela about the incident, and I had a feeling that she wouldn't want me to, either.
Still, it would only look even worse if I didn't answer. She'd think I was hiding something. I mean, I was, but that was beside the point. I didn't want to talk to her, and I was tempted to make that known.
"I was attacked." I shrugged, deciding to go with a vague answer.
Micaela crossed her arms, frowning as she did so.
"I figured that when Yuri brought you in here with shattered ribs." She deadpanned. "Who attacked you? Why were you even out there?"
She kept digging, which was annoying. I didn't want to talk about this with her. I feel like she'll give me that stupid look if I tell her that I'd killed four people. You know, I would've thought that she'd understand at least to a degree, considering her past. But no, she was kind of bitchy about the idea of killing, and she did not like my fixation. Some people just couldn't appreciate art, I supposed. It was a shame, but I just had to accept that.
"...I don't really want to talk about that." I muttered, feeling a familiar heat rise in my chest. "Quit pushing."
Micaela facepalmed. She mumbled something under her breath, before clapping her hands together.
"Okay, we're doing this apparently." She growled. "Alex, as the chief of the village, I need to know what's lurking out there."
I gave her the kind of look that you'd use when you saw the special kid start to eat glue. For fuck's sake, she knew what was lurking out here! Heroes had been stalking these woods for months! No, this was a blatant attempt to fish for information, and it made me mad. I wasn't in the mood to play her games today. I was tired, sick, and all out of fucks to give. I was about to give her an earful, and damn the consequences!
"What else could it fucking be?" I spat, feeling the familiar sense of rage slowly begin to overtake me. "Heroes, you damned fool! You know that! Everyone knows about them! You're just trying to get more info out of me, when I made it clear that I didn't want to talk about it!"
I stalked over to her, her unimpressed gaze doing nothing to help the ever-growing fire of sheer saltiness that was currently burning its way through my soul. Angrily, I thrusted my pointer finger into her chest (Pointedly ignoring the fact that it slipped right in between her boobs.), as if to say "YOU! YOU'RE AT FAULT HERE!"
"Well, I've had enough of you!" I growled at her, glaring all the while. "And I've had enough of that stupid fucking look you give me, which makes you look like you're pitying a rabid animal! Stop using it, you fuckin bitch!"
I felt a sudden, stinging blow on my cheek, one with enough force to knock my face to the side. It took me a moment to realize that Micaela just slapped me.
She glared down at me, and I suddenly felt miniscule. The anger in my body was replaced with fear, and I suddenly got the feeling that I was in danger.
"Young man, that is no way to talk to me." She ground out. "Now, you're going to tell me exactly what you did yesterday, and if I even sense a lie... I will be very upset."
...Oh, FUCK!
*LINEBREAK*
Yuri lazily dodged to the left, deflecting a blade with her bare hand. The man tried for another swing, only for her to knock the blade completely out of his hands. It spun in the air, before landing in one of his former comrades with a loud, meaty squelch.
Yuri had found another contingent of heroes. Normally, she'd blaze through them, simply turning them to mincemeat as fast as possible. However, this group had especially pissed her off. She'd happened upon them right as they were nailing a dead monster to a cross. From the state of her body, it seemed that she'd died slowly.
The victim's mouth was cut into a forced smile. Her eyeballs were gone, likely cut out, and she'd been scalped. After taking a closer look, she'd noticed that their fingernails had been taken as well. Finally, their stomach was split open, her organs wrapped around her throat, to choke her.
Yuri hadn't felt so mad in a long time. When she'd first seen that poor monster (She couldn't even tell what the woman had been originally, her body having been so badly mutilated.), she'd been oh-so-tempted to run in there, screaming like a banshee as she tore them to shreds. However, that would've been too quick, so she remained hidden for the moment. They'd be paying with interest.
Of course, she couldn't torture all of them. That would be impractical. She needed to find out whoever the leader was. Whoever had instructed the men to do this, he'd suffer unimaginable pain. She'd just have to dispose of the riff-raff.
As she stalked through the trees, she'd listened to their conversation very carefully. She only had one chance to pick, so she couldn't afford to be wrong.
"Man." Said one of the heroes, admiring their handiwork. "That was a great idea you had, Boris. Now those filthy monsters will know we mean business."
The man, apparently known as Boris, nodded. He was a tall man, with short, scruffy black hair. He did look a little stronger than the others. Not enough to matter, but it was clear that he was the most experienced one.
Having learned who the culprit was, she decided to forgo stealth entirely, leaping into the fray with her short-sword at the ready. The men were fodder, swiftly cut down with nothing more than a few flicks of her wrists. However, she left Boris alive. She wanted to savor this one.
Part of her railed against what she was doing. It had taken her years to quit enjoying her kills, but this bastard definitely deserved it. She felt justified, so she decided to make an exception, just this once.
He frantically backed away from her, before yelping as he tripped over a tree root, landing flat on his ass.
"Get away from me!" He cried out, tears streaming freely down his dirt-stricken face. "Stay back, you... You evil monster!"
Yuri blinked, taking a moment to realize the extent of his hypocrisy. Angrily, she pointed back at the desecrated, crucified corpse.
"If I'm evil, then what does that make you?" She spat at him, her eyes glowing with rage. "I'm not the one murdering people just because of their race."
He tried to get back up, but she quickly pressed her foot down on his stomach. She didn't crush him yet. She wanted to take her time with this one. Just thinking about what she was going to do to him brought a sadistic, feral grin to her face.
The man's eyes suddenly widened in horrified recognition. He was looking at her like he'd just seen a ghost, which made her blood sing.
"Y-Y-You're Yuri!" He suddenly exclaimed. "Yuri Aera! From the wanted posters!"
Yuri's smile grew even wider. She felt a laugh bubble up from her throat.
"Oh? You know me?" She asked, looking down at him like the insect that he was. "Then you know what's about to happen, don't you?"
Yuri laughed as the man screamed in horror. Suddenly, she placed a hand over his mouth, silencing his cries for help.
Then, she got to work.
A/N: Yuri doesn't like when people torture innocents. Also, she's apparently not nearly as stable as we all thought.
Alex seems to have gotten himself in quite a pickle. Micaela is done with his shit, and that's not great for him. Let's see if he can talk his way out of this one. I mean, she definitely won't kill him, because that would be the end of the story, but it'll still be a bit of an issue.
Yuri doesn't have a problem with Alex killing evil people. She has a problem with the potential consequences of his actions (and the fact that she thinks he's like, eleven or twelve.).
Once again, if I make any glaring mistakes or plotholes, let me know and I'll fix them. I want to get this out before I start back on important work, so I can't check this one as thoroughly as I'd like.
