CHAPTER II - PROLOGUE - A New Life

"...Where…?"

Fie woke up to the stench of muddy water and dusty air. A cursory glance around informed her that she was in a small cabin. Decorating the place were dirty piles of rags, an ash-burned fireplace, shattered candle places, and three kneeling persons with sacks over their heads.

Quaint.

"Awake, are we?" a deep, feminine voice said from behind her.

Slouched atop a bookcase was a middle-aged woman. She had ages on her, but her black form-fitting armor clung to her lithe frame. Belted on her waist was a cold, curved dagger. The violet blade gleamed in the dark room.

"Ahh, those eyes. Killer indeed…" the woman said. "It really does suit the infamous 'Butcher Girl.'"

"..."

"And the silence… exquisite. I daresay I'm a fan."

"Where am I?"

"Does it matter? You're very much warm, dry… and still very much alive."

...Why can't be she dead instead?

The woman continued. "That's more than can be said for old Grelod. Hmm?"

Grelod…?

"Butchered in her own orphanage? Spectacular. It was, sincerely, a good kill, I'll give you that. Old crone had it coming. And you saved a group of urchins, to boot."

Oh.

"Ah, but there is a slight… problem." The woman's leg dangled on the edge of the shelf. She sat up straighter, but her voice stayed nonchalant.

"Problem?" Fie asked.

"You see, a little boy was looking for the Dark Brotherhood. For me, and my associates."

A band of master assassins, as she's heard rumors of.

"You're gonna kill me then?" She didn't even glare.

"Ah, no no. He wanted poor old Grelod dead. It was an official contract and she was, by all rights, OUR kill. A kill… that you stole."

The woman's hands joined together on her knee as she rested her chin on top of it. "A kill you must repay."

...Easy enough.

"I'm sure you've noticed our guests. I've "collected" them from… well, that's not really important, hmm? I wouldn't want to waste your time."

She turned around. The kidnapper hadn't confiscated her gunswords, but she drew them anyway.

"Go on then. I'll just observe… and admire."

The woman's voice echoed in her head. She walked to the captives with firm steps, but her hands never stopped shaking.

Something… inside her told her to stop. Insisted that she turn back and shoot the assassin. Urged her to break away from this cycle of killing she's made for herself. To do the right thing.

...As if she's innocent enough to do that. Not after what she's done. Not after what she failed to do. She observed the victims.

The first was a slender woman with fuschia hair. She was annoying, boisterous, and loved to drink. An instructor that loved teaching in unorthodox methods. Most of which involved punching and kicking them while they were down. An adviser that tricks her students into buying her alcohol in exchange for grades. A cheeky woman that would blame her class whenever her fellow teachers found out and lambasted her for it.

Her sneer was obnoxious, but Fie loved her like a sister. Class VII loved her like their surrogate mother.

And they cried her name when she stayed behind to buy them time to escape. She fell off a ledge of that infernal castle and burst her head on the hard ground. Then, she was dead.

The second was another woman, blue hair this time. She was a noble knight who wielded broadswords as tall as her. Pure-hearted and awkward, she loved to swim and fight. Those two activities were probably the only things that went through her thick skull. She was friendly and ever-so-polite to her and the rest of Class VII. She would support them with all her might but would scold them whenever they did something unjust.

Fie disliked her at first— believed that they could never get along. But that all changed quickly enough. She became her best friend.

But being her best friend didn't stop her from running a gunsword through her body. She had to. The curse of Erebonia had seeped into the woman. It corrupted her. Destroyed her. It was Fie's mercy that saved her.

And now, she was dead.

The third… was a crying little girl. She had silver hair and lime-green eyes that flared red from her constant sobbing. She was noisy. So noisy. And all she would do was call out the names of her friends. Her family.

She could only yell and weep, while her family died one after the other.

She was disgusting. Pathetic and weak. She couldn't even stand and fight to protect those she cared about. Even if they were dead, she just begged them to come back. Begged them to save her. Begged them to take her away from this alien land that she found herself in.

Begged for them to bring her home.

The girl shouted, at the top of her lungs, to the entire world, how much she hated being here. How much she missed her homeland. How much she wanted to see her friends again. How much she wanted to sleep beside their graves again. How much she craved for that bitter loneliness again.

She cried and bawled and wept and wailed and sniveled and whined. It wouldn't stop.

She wanted it to stop. She aimed the muzzle of her gun at the girl's head and fired. But the thundering crack of her bullets did nothing to stop the sounds of sobbing. It burned into her mind. It wouldn't leave but kept getting louder and louder. Her ears ached from the endless crying, and her throat inflamed from all the screaming.

The desperation clogged her thoughts. The anxiety scorned her being. The girl still stood there, clawing at her eyes. It. Just. Won't. Stop.

Fie pulled the trigger again, but nothing fired. The mind-numbing blaring had finally stopped. She dropped to her knees, listless. Her face felt damp, and she was bleeding tears.

The entire shack reeked of death. Of blood, and of human waste. Yet there she was, breathing it all in, without a care in the world.

Because this wasn't her world.

"So that's what it does. Interesting," the assassin behind her remarked. "Three victims… one contract. Quite the overachiever."

Muffled footsteps approached her. She expected a knife to her back… but it never came.

"While some kill to please, others kill to take. Most of them would say that after the first, it would become easier. But you, my dear girl, are what some would call… a prodigy.

"You kill... to live. It doesn't matter if it's a child nor an elderly woman. You kill to fill that little void that's left in your heart. Because if you didn't, you are afraid that that void would kill you."

The woman extended a gloved hand towards her. Her eyes hinted that of a smile. "But my order— my family — kindly welcome those like you. Those that feel lost. Those that live without a purpose other than to kill those which haunt their very beings. And believe me… we kill a lot.

"Allow me to officially extend to you an invitation to join the Dark Brotherhood. Although I suppose we can already agree on your answer."

Fie could only nod her head weakly.

"Then… sleep. My dear sister."

A flash of purple light. A crash of mystical energy. In front of her, a figure shrouded in black robes appeared out of nowhere. A hand covered her face, and the red tainted darkness was all she could remember before overwhelming drowsiness knocked her unconscious.

"Sleep… for your new life awaits us all."