Chapter 6—No Choice
Akira
Finally back on the train, I leaned on the window and stared out glumly thinking about nothing and everything. Pickaxe was asleep on the seat across from me and Brand watched me creepily. I was used to the way he observed my face like a piece of art or poetry. It was like he was observing a lovely and misunderstood work. It made me want to puke. We had been on the train for about an hour now and I was getting impatient.
"I'm hungry. Could you get me something from the food cart?" I asked suddenly, turning to Brand. He jerked back, surprised at how abrupt my question was. I was only partially asking to get him to leave me alone and stop staring at me and I think he knew that.
"You have legs, do it yourself." He snapped coldly. I scowled at him and pursed my lips.
"It wasn't a suggestion. It was a demand. I'm hungry." I said slowly and menacingly. Brand sighed and stood up, giving me a glare before walking off to the food cart. I rolled my eyes and leaned against the window again. A few minutes later, Brand returned with a sandwich of some kind. Ignoring the pang of hunger in my stomach, I took the sandwich gratefully and bit into it. Brand sat back down and continued to study me.
"Where did you go?" He asked finally. "We kept hearing screeching and explosions from the town. There must have been a celebration or something. You know, Caldera was actually a really dull town. Nothing happened there." I smirked at his response to the 'dullness' of the town.
"I was in the bathroom." I said simply. Brand raised one eyebrow.
"For half an hour?" he asked disbelievingly. I shrugged tersely, taking another bite out of the sandwich.
"I had to take a big dump." Brand chuckled and shook his head before leaning his head back and closing his eyes, trying to sleep. I couldn't sleep. My eyes just wouldn't close. So instead, I munched on my sandwich and looked outside at the lights passing us from various little villages and settlements.
Finally, another hour later, we reached the city of Eeldor. This city was a big industrial city on the outskirts of Fiore. It was home to the worst sort of people. Many dark guild members had their headquarters here. Albian figured that hiding here was the best place because it was the last place anyone would look for the most notorious assassin guild. They would be too busy with all the other minor dark guilds in this town.
I took no time in getting off the train, not really caring if Brand and Pickaxe followed me or not. I walked down the dirty streets and ignored the people jeering at cat-calling towards me every few minutes. Most girls would be terrified walking down the streets like this. But I knew that most of these men were completely harmless. They wouldn't dare go after a girl because they were too chicken to follow through.
I winded through the streets like I had done so many times before. I didn't even need to think about where I was going. It was like my body was programmed to know exactly where I was headed. I heard footsteps behind me and could only assume Pickaxe and Brand were following me.
Finally, I reached the inn. This was the inn where most of Albian's guild members came and we sort of used it as a guild hall. Twenty floors underground was where Albian stayed and used for his own personal headquarters. This inn was a disgusting place on the outside, seeming like just a rundown old building with stoners and alcoholics as its residents. Of course, that's what made it such a great headquarters.
I pushed the door open and was greeted by the smell of alcohol and sewage. Like a regular bar, there were people sitting at tables and drinking. Some were smoking and others were just passed out. I knew most of these people as members of the assassin's guild. All of them seemed to stop what they were doing to look at who had just come in. I was greeted with snide looks and amused glances from all around the inn. Brand and Pickaxe pushed by me to join the rest of their team in a corner.
Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I walked over to the open bar. I sat on a stool and started to draw circles on the wood. Three other men were sitting on the stools furthest from me and they kept staring at me, probably wondering why virtuous Akira was back. She left after she finished her training claiming that she would never kill again. Why is she back here? To pick up the pieces?
I turned and gave them a glare as they started whispering to themselves. The one in the middle, Mycroft, smirked at me and beckoned for the others to leave. They did, giving me a taunting glare before leaving the inn completely. I sighed and turned back to face front. Suddenly, Archie the bartender appeared right in front of me.
"Akira Bellfront, is that you?" He asked, a grin spreading across his dimpled face. Archie was a young bartender, maybe a couple of years older than me, whose dad was a member of the guild. He, himself, was not a member but he was paid nicely to work as the bartender. He and I became close friends as I was training here. I grinned back at him and took the arm he held out to me.
"It's been too long, Archie." I said fondly. Archie released my arm and began to prepare a drink.
"Three months. I thought I'd never see you again after you stormed out of here." He said meaningfully, taking out a bottle of tequila.
"And leave you alone with these people? Never, I'd miss you too much." Archie grinned and poured the tequila in a glass before reaching down to grab another beverage.
"Well you know things haven't really changed since you left. Just rumors and whatnot about his great plan for the future." We all knew who Archie was talking about. There was really no need to say his name. Archie poured a couple different beverages into the drink and stirred it up before handing it to me.
"You remember my usual?" I asked, eyeing the drink. There was only one drink that allowed me to get slightly tipsy and it was the drink Archie made. I never knew what he put in it but I knew it was strong and it tasted so sweet. I used to always drink four or five glasses of this after training every day.
"How could I forget? No, wait," he said as I was reaching in my pocket for some money. "Don't worry about paying me for it. This one's on the house." I pulled my hand out of my pocket and smiled at him. I took a drink of the concoction and sighed as it hit the spot perfectly. Archie glanced over my shoulder and frowned, now beginning to sidle away from me. I frowned, watching him but soon understood his motives as someone plopped down next to me.
"Akira Bellfront. Never thought I'd see you drinking here again. So the rumors are true then, huh? You're back for good?" I turned to meet the piercing green eyes of Raymond Scott.
Ray was a burly young man, only a year older than me, with jet black hair always gelled back and a strong, lean body. He and I both trained together, me under Albian, and him under his father. We were always thrown together on jobs and most people would argue that there was something romantic going on between us. At the time, there was but now it was gone and probably would not return.
It was true, Ray was quite handsome and classy, but he was bloodthirsty and loved to kill. Like much of the members here, he already had enough money to last him a long time but he kept going out on jobs because he liked it. To him, it was good sport. To me, it was always just a stepping stone to a larger goal: to kill Deliora. Only after Albian told me that he was charging me for his training did I have to admit to myself that I hated killing people.
"Not for good, just until my debt's paid off." I said, my voice an octave lower than usual. He smirked and me and shifted closer so his shoulder was now touching mine. I narrowed my eyes, watching the close proximity and not liking it at all.
"Well, you've been gone three months. How long does it take to complete a few jobs?" He jeered, reaching his hand out to touch the glass I was gripping so hard. I gritted my teeth as he leaned in closer and whispered in my ear. "Unless that's not the only reason you came back. Maybe you came back to see someone. Maybe you'll rekindle an old fire." I felt his lips brush my earlobe and I jerked off the stool, unable to take his vicinity any longer.
"Over my dead body, Ray. You disgust me, so how about you shut your face and leave me the hell alone." I hissed before turning around and stalking to the back door of the inn. I banged on the door three times and it opened, letting me escape from Ray's hungry glower.
The door led to a hallway. I preceded to the last door on the hall and opened it, revealing an elevator. I pressed the down switch on the elevator and it opened for me. Stepping inside, I pressed the bottom floor. It shut behind me and began to take me down. I felt like I was on the descent into hell itself as the air became thinner and thinner. Finally, I reached the bottom floor and stepped outside of the elevator.
I stepped into a pitch black room aside from a single candle lit in the middle. There was a figure standing behind it, with its arms crossed. I stepped towards it, trying to avoid eye contact with it. I knew who it was. But I didn't want to look into his eyes.
"Hello Akira." He said deeply, his voice bouncing off the walls of the room and echoing around in my head. I took a breath before stepping closer so he could now see my face through the light.
"Hello sir." I said calmly. My legs were shivering and I could feel my heart bouncing around uncontrollably in my chest. I was anywhere but comfortable in Albian's presence.
"It's been quite a long time, hasn't it?" He asked coolly. "There's a lot of things you could have done in the three months you left but you really haven't, have you?"
"I don't want to kill anymore." I said, taking another sharp breath. Out of nowhere, his hand came down upon my face and struck me right on my jaw. I yelped and fell over from the impact, feeling tears well up in my eyes from the pain.
"That's not an excuse!" he bellowed, his voice seeming ten times louder than it was from the echoes around the room. "You owe me five hundred thousand jewels and have not earned a cent to pay me back!" I pushed myself onto my knees and lifted my tear-stricken face to look him in the eye.
"I never asked for your training! You gave me no choice!" My defiance in this case was probably a horrible asset to have as he stuck me again, this time with such force that I was pinned on the ground and I couldn't lift my head back up. White hot pain shot up my face to my head where a throbbing began to build on both sides of my face.
"You agreed willingly! I taught you to take a life without the feeling of consciousness preventing you. You have my magic because I chose you to be my next second in command. You know this, and yet you still walked out on me and my guild, knowing the consequences. Now, you not only owe me for your training, but also for my time." In a fit of rage, he grabbed my throat with one hand and lifted me off the ground. My air flow was cut off and I tried to pretend this wasn't a big deal.
He was holding me at least two feet off the ground and I could feel my face turning purple. My stoic expression faded fast as he made no move to let me go anytime soon. I started to claw against his wrist, still unable to see his face through the hood over his eyes. I gritted my teeth as my lungs craved air.
I opened my mouth, ready to beg for him to release me. Before I could try and get a word out, he dropped me back down in a heap on the ground. I coughed and spluttered and gasped for air. Now, not only was my face throbbing, but my head and my neck were as well. This pain was almost unbearable because Albian didn't know when he was using too much strength in his punishing arm.
"Normally, I would just kill you for being a thorn in my side for too long." He said, turning around and walking away from me slowly. "But I noticed something that could be of use to me. Even with your useless attitude and your annoying conscience, you are a good killer. You're quick, painless and efficient. And you also have a particular friend who is of some interest to me." He turned back to me as I pushed myself up to a seated position.
"I don't have friends." I croaked, wincing at the pain in my throat from speaking. Albian took two steps towards me again and I flinched, thinking he was going to hit me again. He didn't. Instead, he crouched down to a kneeling position and stretched out his hand to reach my chin. With his fingertips, he lifted my chin up to where I was looking him directly in the eyes. From the proximity of our bodies, I could now see his face. And his eyes.
So dark, they almost weren't there; he narrowed his eyes and smiled directly into my soul. His face was twisted into a cruel smirk. With fair skin and dark hair, he could be considered handsome. But his aura and demeanor took away that feature. Two scars ran down vertically down his face ruining his handsome look. My breath hitched in my throat as every bone in my body was screaming at me to run as fast as my legs could possibly take me.
"Aw, don't be so down on yourself. I happen to know you have quite a good friend. A good enough friend that you would risk your own life to save him. Does the name Gray Fullbuster ring a bell?" He sneered, leaning closer so he was now whispering in my ear. My breath hitched in my throat and my pupils dilated in terror. How did he know about Gray? He couldn't know about him. If he knew what happened in Caldera then he knew… he could hold something over me.
"Yes, I assume it does. I know all about your dear friend. He's an ice-maker mage who is a member of the guild Fairy Tail." He began, standing back up and turning his back on me as I became even more panicked. "He has an unruly habit of taking off his clothes, driven into him by his old master Ur. He is a part of a team containing a fire dragon slayer, a celestial wizard and the one Titania Erza. Need I go on?" I clutched my chest as my breathing became shorter and faster. How did know this much about Gray?
"No…" I whispered frantically. I couldn't believe what was happening. He knew about Gray and probably everyone else in that guild. This means, he could… he could kill them if he wanted to. And he would if it came down to it.
"Here is how this is going to go. You're going to complete a job for me regardless of morality or anything like this. If you don't, I will kill everyone in the guild, starting with Titania and moving through the entire guild until I reach your dear friend Gray so he gets to suffer through the pain of losing every one of his friends because of you."
He turned to face me, evil glinting off his cold black eyes. "I will make sure he knows whose fault it is so he will hate you in his last moments. On his death particularly, I will take my time, maybe make him break down on the inside first." I cringed and shook my head, trying to brush the image he was putting in my mind away.
"I'll do whatever you want…" he croaked, squeezing my eyes shut in defeat. I could almost see Albian smiling in triumph.
"Good. Now there is a particular person I want you to kill for me. He, like you, has been a thorn in my side for years. I think it's about time I got rid of him for good. You may or may not already know who he is. His name is Makarov. Sound familiar?" I gasped slightly at the master of Fairy Tail's name.
"You want me to kill Fairy Tail's master?" I asked slowly. I pushed myself back on my feet and tried to ignore the dizzy feeling I was getting in my head.
"It's either him, or your precious friend. Your choice." He said coldly. I looked down in defeat and weighed my options. Who was I kidding? I had no options.
"I'll do it." I said softly. Albian turned around and walked away, leaving me standing in the middle of the dark room, feeling lost and trapped all at the same time. I felt so weak and vulnerable that I had let my feeling for Gray cloud my judgment. If I had said no, not only would he have killed Gray, but he would have tortured me as well. Probably in some sick, sadistic way too. I had no choice.
I turned around and slowly walked towards the elevator, already hating myself for forming a plan I knew would work. How could I form a plan like this so easily and still feel horrible about it? I was a horrible person and I deserved every bit of torture that would come after killing the master. My only consolation would be that Gray will be alive and Albian will leave him alone. I hope…