Alois' body was almost numb to what he was feeling. It was cold and for the first few hours of being locked in place, the wind felt as though it was cutting into his skin. Now there was nothing. The cold became his new normal. Thank goodness that the pavillion over him was shielding him from the sun, lest he be burned as well. The man was pale from the blood he lost and his lips were chapped. The demon's regenerative abilities kept him alive, but he didn't feel like doing much. In fact, there wasn't a lot he could do. He couldn't move.
After the first day, the werewolf gaurds were swapped out for a most peculiar one. Even they thought the situation was odd and argued against it, but the girl sent to replace all fifteen of them insisted. Eventually, she left and came back with an official notice and forced them to leave.
At first, Alois thought she was human. His senses were a tad dull, and she had no defining supernatural features, so he hadn't noticed that she was a witch right away. In fact, she was ordinary all around, looking like one of the girls Alois might've met in secondary school, but a little more dowdy. With shoulder-length, brown hair and a long coat covering her dress, the girl introduced herself as "Bonnibel Schwan", but insisted on being called "Bonnie".
"I'm not allowed to move your restraints." she said. "They'll, notice, but I can offer you a blanket."
She was met with no response, however. Alois only stared. He was too tired. Thus, the teen took the blanket that was tucked under her arm, and very gently put it around the blonde's shoulders and down his back, just missing the spears protruding from it. She was very careful not to cause the wire to dig into his skin further. There was a moment where the blonde finally closed his eyes to enjoy the slight warmth that radiated off of it as the girl sat down next to him.
"Should you really be this close to me?" he asked. His voice was hoarse and dry as he spoke, causing the girl to look his way. "I'm a dangerous demon, you know, and your enemy."
"Well, you're right about one of those things." Bonnie stated. "I've never met a demon before, so that's new. As for the other..."
The girl trailed off and showed the man the palm of her hand. At the gesture, the menace opened his eyes and raised his brows at the sight of the design drawn there in permenant marker. It was the silhouette of a heart with a dagger run through it. It was the design drawn on the letters sent to H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G.
"I see..." Alois said and nothing more. While he didn't express it, he was hopeful. Whoever the leader of the turncoats was, knew that they were all at risk now that Alois was here. They also knew that if he was treated badly, it didn't matter who was in the line of fire as long as the Watchdog was enraged.
The turncoat didn't seem to be expecting much from him in terms of a response. Instead, she reached into her bag. "Is there anything you need?" she asked. "Water? Anything?"
"Water would be nice..." the man replied. "Preferably not with salt."
"I've got you covered." the girl said while digging out a bottle of water. It was the kind that had a straw built in and it was greatly appreciated.
Bonnie was one of several guards who switched off every few hours. Each one flashed their captive their symbol before conversing with him. They all came equipped to keep the menace as comfortable as they could, but had to remove things like blankets and the like when non-turncoat guards clocked in. They always came in packs, unlike the others, and never gave their names.
For the time being, this was just playing the waiting game. Even if Alois was uncomfortable, he had no options. He had to wait for help to arrive, as there was no other way off of this structure out in the middle of the ocean. Unless he could hijack a boat and somehow manage to sail it, he simply didn't have any options, and that was assuming that he could even break out of his restraints. Part of him wondered if he could. These weren't like an anti-demon barrier. It was just metal that had been drawn on. Then again, that's what anti-freak bullets and blades were made of and those could kill him.
"So, how does a member of the order turn against the order?" asked the menace, finally. The question seemed to catch Bonnie off guard, as she hadn't even expected the menace to speak to her, given the silence he normally had. Pausing, the girl tried to come up with a decent answer.
"Everybody has their reasons." she said. "Most are just tired of fighting for no reason. People are getting hurt and dying. A lot of us are afraid that wherever we are, a plane is gonna come out of nowhere and bomb us..."
"Seems reasonable." replied Alois. "Preston doesn't have any vision. Maybe at one point, he really believed in this war, but now… It's obvious that it's about power. I'm pretty sure black annis has warped his brain. But… What's scarier is… I don't know if it has… Maybe he always had this in him, and we just never knew..."
There was a long silence after that. All that could be heard was the sound of wind and the crashing of waves. Bonnie pulled the collar of her coat up around her ears to block the cold. Taking in a deep breath, she finally spoke again.
"You wanna know why I'm not into it anymore?" the girl asked. She seemed hesitant in her manner of speaking, as if it were something that frightened her. Even from where Alois was lying, he could tell that this was personal.
"Shoot." he answered.
"My sister and I… We used to work on the Brahmastra with Preston." she said. "We were some of the original few from Gehenna to come here. Both of us… We both got swept up in his charm." The girl uttered a small laugh, but it seemed sad, somehow.
"It was back when H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. was doing the reformation. It was just so scary for us. Everything was changing and it was all because of the organization that had hurt us for so long." she contineud, gripping her arm tighter. "Then this guy comes along who promises us our own place, free of H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G; and that they would be done for good and not hurt anyone else. Noble cause, right?"
"That's kind of how it goes." Alois mused. "In the end, I don't think anybody's noble. I think there's just 'which side sucks less'. H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. has changed a lot. People are a lot happier back home."
"I hope so. I hope I can still go back and see it..."
To this, Alois didn't have a definite answer. He didn't know if they would grant the turncoats amnesty. He didn't know if they would be spared. What he did know is that when he gets back, he's going to vouch for them. If it wasn't for them, they would never have gotten this close, nor would he as comfortable as the situation would allow.
"What happened?" he finally questioned, lifting his head somewhat so that he was no longer resting on his cheek. The girl hesitated to answer right away.
"Well..." she began. "Both of us, my sister and me… We both developed kind of a crush on him. A lot of girls did, and some boys, too. The only difference was; she was more fanatical about the whole thing than I was. She did everything she could to win his favour. It worked, for a while. As soon as he addressed me, though, no matter what it was for… Usually, it was an order for some minor task..."
Her face seemed strained somewhat. She smiled, but it was not one of joy. It was a smile to conceal pain and it was doing a shoddy job of it. Even the laugh the girl emitted lacked any sincerity as she held herself together.
"She pushed me..." the girl said with a sniffle. "She pushed me off of the boat. I broke a few bones when I hit the water, it was so high up… If my captain… My captain hadn't been there… I would have drowned. That's when I joined this crew, but… It was what happened afterward that my heart was set. Preston killed her. He killed my sister for what she did. Even though he had praised her. Even though they seemed close. I don't know what either of us were thinking. I know what she did was wrong, but… She was still my sister… She didn't have to..."
"You saw her die, didn't you?" Alois inquired although he already knew the answer. Her nod was all that he needed as a response. With a sigh, the man added: "It's going to be okay..." he said. "I'll vouch for you. It might not be pretty for you when you get back home, but you'll live, at the very least." By now, he was certain that the teen was crying. His soft spot for youngsters came to him at the oddest of times, but now was one of them.
"I'd put my hand on your shoulder, but I can't move." he offered, trying to joke with the girl to cheer her up.
"It's okay." she said. "We should be getting out of here soon..."
"Yeah… I sure hope so..."
A/N: Whelp...
Not a very eventful chapter or a very useful one, but it's probably got something to offer.
Onto the next stage of the plan...
This ain't gonna be pretty, but it's gonna be somethin'.
Somethin' awful.
Seriously, good things are not coming.
All for the good of an interesting story, though, and isn't that what REALLY matters?
I need to write an essay for art history that's due wednesday that I haven't started on tho...
whoops...
Might need to skip a daily update or two...
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
CHARACTER SHET
Question: "How goes things in Kris's corner?" by Guest
Kristopherson: "Just trying to get by... Everybody's worried sick about Alois... I haven't even heard from Ciel since I heard, but I can only imagine how he's doing. I hope Alois is okay... Right now, I'm trying to do everything I can to distract myself from it until it's all over. That's kind of all we can do. Right now I'm still working on my clothing patterns for supernaturals, but my heart just isn't in it right now..."
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Question: "How's it going, Luka?" by marleyrockstar
Luka: "Bad."
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Question: "How are you doing Dan, is all well in Gehenna? How do you feel about Alois' disappearance, if you know about it?" by Hannahfanbear
Daniel: "I'm not doing too good. I'm doing everything I can to keep my mouth shut about Alois because nobody in town knows about it yet. H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. doesn't want anybody to panic, and Ciel doesn't need anybody sending him their best wishes. First I had to keep secrets out in London, and now here? Do the government conspiracies ever end?!"
