Opening Song: "Wait and Bleed" by: Slipknot
The further I travel west, the heavier the snowfall gets. A solid layer of frost fuses my Kopis to the inside of its sheathe for how cold it is getting. I can't feel my fingertips, and my face is intentionally irritating itself to try and keep warm. Oktitohbi's horseshoes rap against a tired wooden bridge as we cross over the frozen river below.
I grip the black reins tight as Oktitohbi charges through a field of pure white. The place where Imu and Miyabi would chase me and Murasaki around during winter. In the spring, we would play hide and seek because the spider lilies would grow so tall we could crawl through them and never be exposed.
Off in the distance, I can see the ruin that was once Murasaki's house. Behind that is a charred structure. The place I used to call home. About two years after Asuka's grandmother saved me from becoming a yoma, a group of hunters attacked the village.
I was too young to understand at the time, but they killed people who would potentially become shinobi one day and burned everything to the ground. Miyabi, and the others made it out alive. Everyone else wasn't as lucky.
I pull back on the reins, and Oktitohbi comes to a stop in front of my house. I throw my leg around and drop down. The snow swallows my boots, and I sink up to my shins. Cold dust instantly chills through my leather armor and bites the skin on my legs.
M slides down into my arms, and I lower her down onto the wooden steps of my house. Oktitohbi seals himself into his stone, and I put him in my pocket.
"So, this was your home at one time?" M asks as she follows me through the broken threshold.
"Spent ten years in this house before I became a hunter."
M picks up a broken and faded family portrait as I head to my old room. The top mattress of the bunk beds Miyabi and I used to sleep on has burst through from the weight of snow and debris. Nothing has been tampered with and everything is just the way I left it the last time I was here.
The rusty metal legs on the bunk bed scrape against the worn snow-covered floor. I push it out of the way and kneel down where the hidden seal within the floor is. Just the thought of picking this stuff back up sends chills down my spine as I reach down and grab a stained box.
Corruption bleeds out of the lock as I press my Kopis into it and turn. The tumblers click, and the lid throws itself open. A thick, black smoke emerges from within. Inside lies my old chest piece, duster, leggings and gauntlets.
I put the old armor on over my black leather set. Everything, including the duster immediately clamps down on my leather armor and mends with it.
At the very bottom of the box is a black blanket weaved out of braided yoma leather. Red beams of Horseman Plague's occultic power shine through its dark exterior. I reach in and grab the blanket. The moment it touches my gauntlets, a huge wave of power channels throughout my entire body.
I set the blanket down and uncover it. Inside lays the revolver, chain sickle and assault rifle. I press my index finger into the side of the chain sickle and run it down the blade. The steel rings out and hisses as I pick it up and look it over. Over the course of time it has been away from me, a serration has formed at the razor's edge. Red veins snake all through the side of the blade as well as the handle.
The eyes of the skull on my revolver glow a faint yellow color. The normal teeth within the jaws of the decoration have now turned into jagged looking canines and fangs. Nothing has really changed on the rifle since it requires the chain sickle in order to fully transform, but I'm not dismissing that it has probably changed in some sort of bizarre way. I holster the revolver, attach my rifle to the back of my belt and pick up the chain sickle.
"So what you told me is true. You carry the mark of Horseman Morabis." M states as she examines the red marking on the kusarigama.
"That's correct. Although he never told me his name was Morabis."
"That's why Kagura…" M pauses mid-sentence.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's nothing." M says as places her hand on the side of the blade and runs her fingers down, "You have not awakened the power which Morabis bestowed upon you. Why?"
"Because I don't know how. All he said was when the time came, I would know what to do. Then he sealed his power within my chain sickle and left, but that's beside the point. What exactly am I looking for?"
"There is an old chalice dungeon back in Yharnam that supposedly had the cure to beasthood. Unfortunately, there never was a cure, but instead, ways to completely stop the scourge from spreading within those infected. What you need is the blood from queen Yharnam herself. When we mix my blood with hers, Yharnam's will dilute mine into a solution your friend's body can withstand."
"So, you are telling me there is no way to ever become fully human again?"
"In all the time I was in Yharnam, I heard time and time again of a cure, but never came across one. In all honesty, I believe it was nothing more than a lie told by the healing church to keep from spreading panic, but I'm not going to dismiss there actually being one."
"Damnit…"
I was really hoping there was a cure of some kind. A way to fully restore someone's humanity. Even if it was just enough for one dose, that would be fine. Sure, Ikaruga would be a lot stronger and grow in her skill greatly. She would also gain the ability to ascend, but that power doesn't come free of charge.
She will be reviled by the world. A demon with no reason or purpose, other than to feed on the flesh of humans and yoma in order to sustain that power. A curse that shall weigh heavy on her shoulders with unrelenting force until the day she dies.
The more I think about it, the more I'm obligated to let M grant Ikaruga release. Despite everything we've been through. I know Ikaruga is my friend, but what is more important at this point, quality or quantity? But…this is Murasame's family. He's in the position of power to make the call, and he says that he wants her alive, so I will do everything I can to see it through.
M makes a motion with her hands. The gold color of her irises disappear, and a layer of azure color completely cover both of her lens. Black and blue fluid from her finger tips leak out and drip to the floor. Several of the ugly creatures from when I first met M immerge from the black hole with a strange looking street lantern that burns the same color as M's eyes.
"Time in this chalice dungeon passes slower than it does here. So you should have plenty of time to get what the girl needs and get back."
"I'll send Gehrman back with the blood and anything else I find."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me. If Gehrman makes it back, I won't be far behind." I state.
"Very well. When you return, remain here. I'll come for you. When you are ready, touch the lantern and you will be taken outside the queen's chamber. When the job is done, touch the lantern again, and you will be transported back here."
I waste no time and reach out, but M grabs hold of my wrist and prevents me from touching it at the last second. A face of confused happiness comes over her as she tries to hide the emotion she is feeling.
"Please be careful."
M lets my wrist go, and I place my palm on the lantern. My mind flashes for a second, and I go completely blank. A bizarre ringing vibrates deep within my ears and shakes the inside of my skull. Ribbons of black rob me of any kind of visibility. The sounds of a faint and sinister chorus vocalizing is briefly followed by a small piano playing the same jingle over and over, do-dah-dee, do-dah-dee, do-dah-dee.
The smell of mildew, stagnant water and rotting flesh is the first thing that stimulates my senses. The blind is uncovered from my eyes, and a distorted blur fills my pupils. The outline of the lantern M had me touch earlier starts to resume its shape as my focus realigns.
Cold air flows through the narrow hallway I am standing in. Chills quickly scale up my spine and completely freeze my entire back over. The warm air leaving my breath mixes with the air outside and forms a white vapor that quickly dissipates the moment I breathe back in.
Roots from what I assume are trees have grown through the walls of wherever I am. A faint shadow overcasts every wall and small candles barely light the dim hallway. It's so cold that the flames atop the candle's wick struggle to melt the wax holding it.
The next room over appears to have some kind of huge well. Rusty cages stained with dried blood dangle in the middle of the hole. Orange mixed with water drip down the semi-frozen icicles that hang from the bottom of the cages as well as the chains holding them in place.
Behind me leads to a rickety old ladder that feeds into a bottomless pit. It's unnerving to look down, because there is nothing to hold your attention long enough to hide the fact that if you fall, you'll never know if you ever hit bottom, or if you're falling eternally.
"Gehrman?"
"Yes Alan?"
"Where are we?"
"None other than the hunter's most hated dungeon, Pthumeru Ihyll."
"Where is that?"
"About four-hundred and fifteen miles below the ground."
"A place below Hell itself."
"That's exactly what M said after she returned from this place."
Noise from the heels of my boots tap against the grey slabs of stone as I ease into the chamber with the cages. My steps echo all around the room and flow down the hole in the middle of the room.
"Gehrman."
"Yes?"
"What's your thoughts on a cure?"
"M is probably right."
"That a cure was a lie?" I state.
"Yes boy. Back before she defeated me and destroyed the moon presence, M was determined on finding a cure because she had watched too many people succumb to beast hood. M turned every stone, searched every dungeon, she even went to Annalise, the queen of vilebloods, but to no avail."
"I think I remember Hibari reading something about her in a book. Annalise was the one that was supposedly immortal."
"Ah yes. It was believed her blood was the cure to the scourge, but Annalise told M that it only granted a temporary solution to a permanent problem."
"Sad to think a someone called 'The Queen of Vilebloods' was more honest than the Healing Chruch."
In between two marble statues that are holding some kind of blue light is a bronze gate with a handle. The thing is eaten up with so much rust that the tin is trying to defuse from the copper. Before I proceed, I look through the lats of the gate to try and see what's ahead. Nothing but another hallway that comes to an end and leads right.
I bend down, grab the handle and lift. As heavy as bronze usually is, it picks up pretty easy. The draws on the side click as I get it up to my chest and throw it up. The gate slams into the roof and locks in place. A shower of water droplets rain down from above and hit the top of my head.
Chills travel all across the sutures of my skull and deliver a power breath of cold that causes my spine to temporarily freeze up. Even the cold water on the duster is enough to sink through and cause a constant feeling of annoyance. I wipe the water from my shoulders and press onward.
"Do you know anything about this queen I'm supposed to kill?" I ask.
"I do not. Other than M needing the blood to save your friend, but she did mention something about this queen of Pthumeru needing release a long time ago."
"Well I've released a lot of people in the short time I've been a hunter. At one time, I even thought I was going to have to put Yagyu down, but Jonathan was able to stomp out the snake in her body."
"Snake?"
"Yeah. It was this bulb headed snake swimming around in her body. She got attacked by this hunter, or shinobi that had a head shaped like cauliflower. Anyway, Roger and I were hunting this thing, and I think Yagyu was just taking a regular shinobi test, and this fucking thing chased her down. She fought bravely, but I think she wasn't experienced enough to deal with a threat like that."
The gruesome memory of what happened that night comes back. What happened to Yagyu was indescribable, and it was one of the first step I took to trying to become a good hunter.
"It was one of the worst cases I'd ever seen. By the time Roger and I got there, the thing had managed to pull Yagyu's eye out of the socket, and it was just dangling there off to the side, and I'll never forget the sound the thing was making. It was like someone sucking on a straw, but there wasn't anything in the cup."
Both Roger and I shot it several times, but it managed to get away. As bad as I wanted to kill it, Yagyu was more important. Roger was trying to help me, but I told him to get away because whatever it was would easily transmit to him since thirds didn't have immunity to blood contaminated with parasitic cells. Despite my protests, Roger still tried to help when he wasn't telling me what to do.
"What really stuck with me was the girl's agony. She was violently flailing around and trying to get away. All she saw was two distorted hunters trying to overpower her. The little white-haired hoe even managed to dig her claws into my face." I sheepishly laugh as I show Gehrman where she got me.
"After I got her restrained and patched up, Roger gave her an ampoule of morphine mixed with some instant regeneration elixir while I carried her to the hospital."
As much as I hated the good shinobi at the time, nothing made me feel better than sitting on the building across the street and watching Yagyu interact with her joyous parents and sister during her recovery, and it was at that moment I started to realize that maybe, just maybe the shinobi weren't the animals us hunters made them out to be.
"Well the young lass is certainly lucky to be alive. Not very many people encounter beasts like that and live to tell about it." Gehrman states.
"Never in my life did I actually feel sorry for a shinobi, but that was the first time I'd seen one suffer as bad as Yagyu did, and it made me think that something like this could happen to my sister Minori, and my outlook on life started to slowly change."
"What was the determining factor?" Gehrman asks.
"Before Jonathan and Roger captured me and Lawrence, we ran with a gang of hunters from the wasteland. We were only with them for a couple months, but we felt at home because despite the ruthlessness that existed within the group, we had a code similar to what I was raised with. Shoot those dumb enough to fight, and help those that can't."
"Sounds reasonable."
"It was a pretty good code too. Kept us all together for a while, but as the money came in, so did those bold enough to challenge our morals, and once Lawrence and I were punished for upholding it, all truth came to light."
"I'm guessing none of your old gang is around anymore."
"You're not wrong about that observation." I reply.
Mist pours from beneath the doors and floats up into the atmosphere. The closer I get to the door, the colder and thicker the fog gets. I place my hands on the doors and push. There is a fair bit of resistance on this one, so I press harder. Metal scrapes against the slabs of stone underneath and unleashes a god-awful sound of rock being forcefully cut into by the old door.
I flex my arms and throw open both doors. The room is massive and an altar holding many candles rests in the middle of the room. A dull gold chandelier slowly swings back and forth as melted wax drips down onto the ground.
Sitting on the stone alter sits this ghastly looking woman. She is wearing a white dress a bride would wear on her wedding day. Fresh blood stains her torso area and has completely soaked all the way through to the stomach. The veil completely shrouds her face as she sits there staring at the ground in some kind of wooden handcuffs.
As I walk forward, the woman sitting on the alter looks up at me. The white fabric still covers her face so I can't see her clearly yet, but I can tell her face is completely pale. Unlike a lot of things I've fought before, this woman's eyes are glowing a bright hazel color and faded brown hair droops to the sides of her face. That's all I can see.
There's no need for an introduction. She probably knows why I'm here, and I know she's not going to just hand her blood over. She stands up as I firmly grab my chain sickle and wrap my right forearm with the weighted side.
"Alright Alan. Let's see what you can do." Gehrman says.
The woman grabs some blood on her stomach and forms some kind of round ball resembling a grenade. She arcs her cuffed arms and throws it at me. The ball explodes mid air and several spears of red break off like shrapnel. One launches directly at me. I sidestep and roll forward as another flies directly over me and pins itself to the ground behind me.
"Watch out for that Alan! That stuff is toxic!" Gehrman yells.
The shiny spear of solid crimson explodes and throws even more chunks of crystalized blood at me. Small holes form throughout the duster, but it quickly re-patches itself before more of the acidic fluid can leak through.
I let go of the sickle, twirl it around and throw it at her. The tainted demon steel slices the woman's side. She groans as I yank it back, spin it around and slash horizontally. The weapon slices her across her bloodied stomach as I spin it around and fling it back.
She holds up her arms. The blade stabs all the way through one of her pale hands, but the woman is completely unmoved She jerks on the chain and yanks me towards her. The woman rears back, but I deflect the incoming attack with the weight.
The force of the blow is great enough that the wood explodes on contact. Something from below grabs my duster and holds me in place. Out of reflex, I grab my revolver from my hip and fire. The bullet strikes the woman in the face, and she flies back as whatever is holding me from below slams me into the alter before letting go.
A cloud of metallic dust and melted wax splash all over me, and flash of orange and a barrage of oddly shaped dots rush to my eyes. Out of instinct, I grab hold of the altar and climb up. The sound of something hitting the altar echoes throughout the room. Down below, the woman has freed herself from her bondage and is now wielding some kind of Kris like knife.
She stabs herself in the gut and rips the blade out. A mass of red swirls around the blade as she slams it into the ground. The knife stabs all the way through the stone slab and red travels towards me.
I jump from the alter and grab hold of the chandelier as the place I was just standing explodes. A massive wave of blood and smoke jets up like a geyser from the ground. Suddenly, the chandelier starts to smoke like it's about to explode. I let go slam my chain sickle into my rifle and build my scythe as I fall through the air.
The woman realizes what's going on and steps back as the blade of the scythe causes the ground below to tremble. Huge pieces of stone fly up from the ground. I dive forward as the chandelier from above collapses and lands where I was standing. Red mist from above rains down and stains both me and the woman.
The front of her veil sops up the blood and speckles the rest of her dirty white dress. My entire duster as well as parts of my armor begin to smoke from the acidic blood. What smells like pure bromic acid stabs at my nose and burns its way up to my skull before the vapor dissipates. My armor completely restores itself, and the pigment in my yoma blood rushes to my sinuses to quickly rebuild the damaged cavity.
I charge at the woman and swing my scythe at her. She raises her red Kris and blocks the attack, but it gets caught between the neck of my weapon. I shove my scythe forward and push her away, spin my scythe around and slice vertically. She blocks the attack and swings back at me. My scythe comes back around and throws her attack off course.
Out of curiosity, I kick the base of my scythe and slash upward. The blade catches something within the air. Blood mists up out of nowhere as my scythe punctures through what feels like a small arm.
This shrill sound like a helpless baby cries out as if it were intentionally being hurt by something. My mind locks up and a sense of terror and remorse comes over me as I try to make sense of what is truly going on. I pull the scythe back, and the cry only gets louder. The sound of a limb plopping across the ground echoes through my mind as black fluid jets out in front of the woman and drips in-between the stones below us.
The woman starts to weep as she collapses to the ground. It looks like she is trying to find the arm. Her attempts of helping only amply the invisible baby's agony. The woman finally gives up and angerly growls as she stands back up.
The both of us charge and ram our weapons together. Blood and sparks bounce off my scythe as we exchange attacks. I'll block a couple and force her on the defensive. She backs out of range, stabs herself in the gut and holds up her sword.
I ram the tip of my scythe down into the ground and pull back. At the peak, I release and flip forward. Her sword explodes within her hand, blowing her arm off and a huge wave of red metal flies at me. Shards of silver chew all the way through my armor. Followed by blood.
Yoma adrenaline floods my body and helps me ignore the pain and as I slash downward at an angle. The scythe hooks into the woman's right shoulder and exits out around her pelvis. The top part of the woman falls back while the bottom half falls forward. Her white veil flies off her head and rolls across the ground.
I dig my boots into the ground and come to a grinding stop. The armor I am wearing has completely closed back, but my chest and stomach feel like they are swelling up. The sensation is like someone pouring boiling water all over me. I can tell that when that sword exploded, it peppered my chest with that shit she kept pulling from her body.
"Gehrman, what exactly does M need?" I say as I stumble over to the corpse of the queen I just killed.
"Blood from the right ventricle of her heart. It's the only part that isn't poisonous."
Gehrman's koukla falls off my belt and lands on the ground. A flash of light erupts and Gehrman appears. He rolls his wheelchair over to the corpse and pulls out a vial and a syringe with a massive needle.
My chest itches terribly, and the small throbbing gets worse. My left leg feels like it's about to go numb. I look down and see that I have a massive gash on my thigh. Purple fluid leaks from the wound and runs down my leg. Every part the stuff touches causes an intense pulsing that force the veins inside of my leg to spasm.
I sit down on the ground and try to take pressure off as Gehrman cuts the top part of the woman's body open and looks for the right ventricle. Drinking an I.R.E right now probably won't do anything except make it worse, and in all the time I've been a hunter, I've never dealt with something that was poisonous.
Sure, some of the shinobi had weapons coated in arsenic and other toxic chemicals, but that doesn't work on anything other than other shinobi. Holy elements are the only thing that can hurt me, and I know for a fact that thing was far from holy.
The sound of a thick needle jabbing though flesh catches my attention. Gehrman pulls the plunger up and draws a stream of clear looking plasma up into the syringe. On the top of the woman's hazel hair are leather laces that dangle down as Gehrman fills another vial of the colorless liquid.
This bizarre feeling comes over me, and my curiosity spikes. I work myself up to my legs and stand. The entire left side of my body feels numb. From my toes to my shoulder, I can't feel anything but I can still move so I'm not paralyzed.
"Gehrman?"
"Yes Alan?"
"Who did I just kill?"
"The Pthumerian Queen. It's nothing to dwell on."
As I get closer to the body, the more tension and fear I feel. It's like I've just done something terrible, but I don't know what yet. The face of the woman is more pale than most of the yoma generals I've killed in the past. Her eyes are still wide open and a distinct color of shiny brown.
My heart starts to beat harder and harder, and the pain starts to circulate within me faster than it was before. Her mouth is agape and blood drains down the side of her cheeks and chin. The woman has a striking resemblance to…
Sorrow grabs hold of my heart and I collapse at the top half of her body. The amount of sadness I am experiencing is overwhelming but the tears don't fall. My mind is spending more time on how to comprehend this rather than focusing on mourning. A raging headache rips my skull in half and my brain feels like it's being clogged up to the point no thoughts can even pass through.
I reach down and touch her lips and trace my way to where I made the cut. Suddenly, a flashback of before Daigon and I went to war comes to my head.
It was a week before deployment and the both of us were talking about my decision. Asuka was laying there beside me, angry and upset that I was about to leave. The only thing that seemed to keep her talking to me with a level head was me running my fingers from her neck down, between her chest and down to her stomach. Almost where my scythe tore this woman in half.
"Okay Alan, I got what we needed."
Gehrman's voice travels through one ear and out the other without me truly acknowledging what he just said. The only thing I can think about is Asuka and if she is okay right now. Or if this is going to happen when I get back to Hanzo Academy.
"Alan?"
Countless horrific thoughts come to my mind as I question my sanity. Sure, Asuka made me mad, but I'd never resort to doing something like this to her. Would I? The scene plays over and over again in my head and no matter what I do, it won't leave.
"Alan, we got what we need. Let's go." Gehrman states as he pats my shoulder.
"Alright."
I work myself up to my feet and follow after Gehrman. As he gets to the stairs, Gehrman stands up and drags his wheelchair up the stairs. For a man with a peg leg, he can walk surprisingly well. I get to the stairs and try to lift my left leg above the first stair. It feels like lead lines the entire left side of my body and I stagger backwards. The only thing that prevents me from falling is the wall behind me.
Gehrman is already at the top. I attempt to get my breathing under control and come up with another strategy. I brace my left shoulder up against the wall and start limping up the stairs. Every step doesn't feel like getting closer to the end, but further away.
Halfway up, all the energy exits my body and my vision flashes. I immediately stop and lean up against the wall to avoid tripping over myself and falling all the way back down. Gehrman wobbles back and looks down at me.
"Come on Alan! You don't have far!"
"Give me a minute!" I say as place my foot on the next step. The numbness that consumes my left side feels like it's slowly bleeding over to my right side. My finger tips and toes start to feel the icy bite of paralysis as every step I take sends me closer and closer to unconsciousness.
Gehrman grabs hold of my arm and helps me up the final step. I can feel myself fixing to fall so I throw all my weight forward to avoid falling back down the stairs. Like hell I'm going to walk up that again. Gehrman catches me and stands me back up.
"Can you walk?"
"Just about." I reply.
"Then come on. We don't have much further." Gehrman says.
I stumble after him and we enter the room with the huge well in the middle. Gehrman grabs hold of me and guides me away from the huge hole. The vibrate colors of the glowing lantern that's going to take us back is losing color within my vision.
Gehrman touches the lantern. The same piano tune I heard earlier comes back to my mind. The moment I blink my eyes, the both of us are back at my old house. The night has completely taken over, and the only visible light I can see is that the lantern is throwing off.
Wind gusts throw waves upon waves of snow and ice into my face. There's a faint smell of blood coming from the house, and it's not mine. In fact, it smells like a female shinobi. Not only that, my yoma senses feel that there are even more somewhere out, hidden behind the barrier of falling snow.
"Gehrman, we aren't alone." I state as I reach down and grab my revolver and lever action pistol.
Gehrman pulls out a custom-made blunderbuss and pulls the dog head hammer back. On his back sits some kind of trapezium shaped object made of wood. Gehrman reaches down and pulls a vicious looking sickle like blade from a hidden sheathe that's on his hip.
The one closet to us smells like it's coming from my old room. My yoma senses detect a glowing trail of fresh blood that's just been spattered on the snow. There's also some drops rolling down the burned walls. It appears that whoever was trying to get to my room was using the walls as leverage.
Gehrman limps on his peg leg and leads the way as I keep my revolver raised, and the pistol held up for a quick follow up shot. The smell gets stronger and stronger as we get closer to the room. Gehrman raises his blunderbuss and barges into my room while I turn around and use both weapons to cover the room Gehrman can't take aim.
In the corner of the room sits a woman dressed in a blue jacket that's lined with some kind of fur. Thick dark leather chaps cover the bottom of her legs. A bandolier of hellshot shells cross over her chest and hooks into her utility belt. Around both of her shoulders rest a double barrel shotgun that have had the barrels sawn off.
"Don't shoot! Et ego non sum minas (I'm not the threat!)" The girl says.
She's wearing a pair of black lens goggles and her face is covered with a checkered bandana. It looks like she's been out here for awhile because her jacket is leaking melted snow. The girl tries to hold up both hands to show she's not a threat, but she bends over and clenches her stomach. I take aim at her with the pistol and keep the revolver on the doorway.
She lets out a stifled moan. Red leaks through the gaps of her fingers and stains the frozen wood below. Judging by the smell, the acid in her stomach is mixing with the blood the flows out. This woman is hurt bad and isn't much a threat right now.
"Why are you here?" Gehrman asks.
"I was…trying to get away…hunters…shinobi… we're in danger."
Gehrman turns his attention to the front of the house and puts his blunderbuss away, "You tend to the girl Alan. I'll handle this." Gehrman states as he reaches into his pocket and hands me an I.R.E and a bottle of pills. "Take two. It'll purge the poison."
"But…"
"Just do it." He replies as he sits down in his wheelchair and rolls himself out onto the front porch.
I take the lid off the bottle and pop two pills into my mouth. Immediately, I can feel the tablet dissolving the moment it lands in my stomach. The taste is similar to that of the cough syrup momma used to make me take when I was sick.
"Here. This will stop the bleeding."
She pulls her bandana down and wastes no time in snatching it out of my hand. Fluid and saliva drip out the corner of her mouth. From what I can see, she's kind of a darker complected person. Similar to Homura. The girl starts to gag and cough as she struggles to draw breath after she finishes the vial. For some reason, it feels like I've seen this girl before.
"Thank you… hunter…" She says as she fumbles around and weakly stands up.
"Don't thank me. Thank the old man."
The gash in her stomach starts to close, and the bleeding stops. The frost bite that circles around the exposed part of her stomach disappears, but it won't last long unless she gets out of the wasteland and somewhere warm.
The both of us ease up to a section of the wall where the knots have been burned out and look through. Gehrman is casually sitting in his wheelchair while a couple people approach him.
"Hey old man. Do you live here?" One of the men in the group yells.
"I do not. This is merely a place of sanctuary for weary travelers seeking refuge."
"We're here for the girl. Hand her over."
"What exactly did the lass do?"
"That's none of your concern."
"Then it's none of your concern if she's here? Is it?"
As Gehrman and group argue, I can faintly see one of the men in the back motion to go around back.
"I suggest you watch your mouth old man." Another man states as he points his sword at Gehrman. All of the other members of the group grab their weapons. However, Gehrman lets out a sinister chuckle and unfolds his hands.
"Dear oh dear. What is wrong with this generation? Such disrespect towards the elderly." Gehrman states as he places his hands on the arms of the wheelchair and stands up. "It doesn't matter. It always come down to the elderly to teach the young ones their place in society."
"Have it your way then!" One of the hunters in the back yells as he charges Gehrman. A silver line glimmers in the air for a faint second. The hunter drops his axe and takes a couple steps before falling to his knees and planting his face into the porch.
Gehrman's arm is fully extended, and blood drips from the vicious looking sickle that rests in his right hand. He brings it around his back and some kind of wooden handle flies out from under his overcoat as he catches it and swings it around. A red mist exits other man's chest that's standing in front.
Those still alive finally realize what's truly going on and scramble to prepare. One of the hunters fire at him, but he quickly disappears and reappears in a different position. Another hunter falls over dead as he breaks his weapon apart and grabs ahold of his blunderbuss. A bright flash of black powder mixed with yoma bone propels Gehrman's shrapnel forward.
The sound of a ribcage being blown apart barrels through the hallway and someone else falls. I turn and pull the trigger. A bullet scrapes through the gap between the sheet rock and house frame. The bullet hits someone on the other side and sends them through what's left of momma's room.
Gehrman twirls his blunderbuss around and blocks an incoming shot headed straight for him. He spins around, grabs his wheelchair and throws it in the direction of the house. The tread slams into the head of a hunter that's trying to get in through the front door.
I crank the lever on my pistol and shoot someone trying to climb through the window where the me and the girl are. The girl dives into the hallway, grabs both of her sawn-off shotguns and blows both a hunter and shinobi through the living room window.
A stray bullet hits me in the back of my chest plate. The force is enough to push me forward, but it fails to completely penetrate all the way. I turn around and pull both triggers at once. Both bullets hit a hunter trying to enter through the roof. One round strikes him in the chest while the other hits his throat.
Gehrman cuts a bullet out of midair with his sickle. The momentum sends his arm back. He twirls it around and flicks his wrist. The sickle spins through the air and drives itself directly into the forehead of the hunter that shot at him.
Gehrman pulls his sickle out of the skull of the hunter he killed and engages with a shinobi. Both his sickle and her katana slam into one another. Sparks likely emit enough light to see what's going on in the hallway. The woman quickly backsteps and tries to hit Gehrman below the knee. Her katana bites into Gehrman's peg leg.
A shocked look grows underneath her cloth bandana as Gehrman chuckles. He flips the sickle over and slaps her across the face with the flat end of the blade. She falls on her back and tries to crawl away. "You obviously didn't spend much time examining the situation before charging in." Gehrman states as he flips his weapon around in his hand before deflecting a shuriken she throws at him.
The woman helps a hunter Gehrman injured stand to his feet, and the both of them take off running. Gehrman pulls out a flintlock pistol and aims at the couple. He then aims down and fires. The ground behind their heels explodes and sends both of them rolling through a patch of undisturbed snow.
"We got to get moving. It won't be long until they are after us again." The girl states as she helps me return to my feet.
"Right… Gehrman, I want you to head back and drop the stuff off for our friend."
"And leave you here in this state? Not to mention with this stranger?"
"I am not the priority here Gehrman."
The girl casually stays out of our conversation as Gehrman and I argue back and forth over what to do. There's no way I can travel back via mirror, and there's no way that lantern is going to take us back now. Nor can I stay here like M wanted because reinforcements will have shown up way before she can get here.
If I am to deliver the blood myself, Ikaruga will have probably turned by the time I got back. Not to mention that if we run into something like that again, it will only put us further behind schedule. Gehrman can instantly go back because he is directly connected through M. That means Ikaruga can receive her treatment now.
"It's an eleven-hour trip back by the horse Gehrman, and that's if the weather doesn't get worse than it already is! We are not going to make it back in time if you don't go directly to her!"
"And what do we do if something happens to you?"
"If I'm allowed to make a proposition, I'll keep an eye on your student while you deliver the stuff. You two saved my life so it's the least I could do."
"Not a chance!"
"Gehrman, please. It would mean a lot to me."
I have no idea who this person is, but I'd rather take my chances with her. If it means Ikaruga can get what she needs now compared to waiting, then that's the way things should be. Gehrman takes a deep breath and sighs, "Where do we find you when we come back?"
"There's a village about twenty miles southeast of here. It's by a city called Colacus."
"I know this place he speaks of." The woman says.
"He better be there when I get back." Gehrman states as he tears down the post the lantern was on and destroys it so no one can use it to go back to Yharnam without M's authorization. I reach into my pocket and throw Oktitohbi's stone down.
"You okay Alan?" Oktitohbi asks as I attempt to climb up.
"I'll live."
Earlier when I was killing all those hunters and shinobi, the sudden rush of relief combined with my adrenaline kept me wide and awake. Now it feels like exhaustion is setting in. The feeling in my body is slowly returning after I took those pills, and the paralysis doesn't feel like it's going to overtake me, but all the strength is leaving my body. With all I have, I force myself up and sit down in the saddle.
The girl climbs up and sits behind me as Gehrman walks out onto the porch, "I'm heading back. The queen and I will be back for you."
"Thanks Gehrman." I say.
Gehrman presses his koukla into his forehead, and he slowly fades away. Knowing that Ikaruga is getting what she needs right now makes me feel better. I spur Oktitohbi and direct the reins in the direction of Colacus. Oktitohbi slowly builds up speed. The girl behind me holds onto the saddle handles as Oktitohbi breaks into a full gallop.
"So your name is Alan? As in, Alan Hellwalker perhaps?"
"Depends on who's asking."
"Hikage and Lawrence told me about you. If that is you."
"How do you know them?"
"I was looking for some assistance on a job that required protecting a family in a village from the northern shinobi. Some of the good shinobi up there were caring for some hunters and the council found out."
It finally hits me. That day at the park. The wanted poster. That's where I've seen her before. Her, Lawrence and Hikage were all wanted for the same reason.
"Let me guess, you got the family out, but you, Lawrence and Hikage had to kill a lot of shinobi in the process."
"Sounds like you're speaking from experience."
"I'm just a smart little boy."
"I'm sure. Anyway, those bastards back there at the house have been after me since the day it happened."
"The North never forgets."
"So, I've noticed. Robbing illicit businesses ran by corrupt council members and hitting their gold convoys since the age of fifteen. Does that description sound familiar?"
"It isn't stealing if the council made that money illegally." I proudly proclaim.
"Finally! A philosophy I can agree with! No wonder you, Lawrence and Hikage got along so well!"
"What's your name?" I ask.
"Yuyaki!" She replies.
The temperature is starting to drop as the snowfall gets heavier and heavier. A massive cloud of swirling white mass forms a solid wall about fifteen yards (approximately fourteen meters) in front of us. Fucking hell… It's a white out, but it's the only way to our destination. Plus, the shinobi and hunters aren't going to follow us in this thing.
"How you holding up Yuyaki!?" I try to yell over the howling wind.
"I've been better!"
"Do you think you can make it through this whiteout!?"
"Worst that can happen is we die, and that beats being captured!"
"I suppose! Although freezing my ass off isn't the way I certainly wanted to go!"
I reach down and pat the side of Oktitohbi's neck and coax him forward. He's a spirit so he isn't going to feel any of this, but I doubt he's ever been in a whiteout before, and that can be terrifying for the first time. Not to mention we can get lost since out tracks are going to quickly cover themselves up from the falling snow.
The temperature drops instantly. I can already feel cold dust sticking to my eyebrows. Because we were out in the wasteland, it's already fifteen degrees colder compared to the city. This whiteout is only going to cause it to drop another thirty because the weather is concentrated in one area.
Cold air enters through my lungs and attempts to freeze all the organs inside me. Yuyaki is swaying back and forth like she's halfway conscious. Despite all the heavy clothing Yuyaki is wearing, it feels like she has no insulation as she occasionally brushes up against me. Even my duster is doing nothing in terms of preserving body heat.
The snow is nearly up to Oktitohbi's knees, and he struggles to press onward. Yuyaki loses her grip and falls off into the white ocean below. She completely disappears and all that's left is an imprint of where her body landed.
I slide off Oktitohbi and everything below my thighs disappears underneath the blanket. All the nerves go numb, and it feels like the veins and arteries in my body are constricting. My heart begins to beat harder as I wade over to where Yuyaki is.
"Yuyaki!" I say in-between shivers and chattering teeth.
She's laying motionless as I break the white capsule around her body away so I can get over to her. The exposed part of her stomach is trying to turn blue from frostbite. I place my hands together and try to emit fire from my palms, but the environment and wind keeps snuffing the flame out before it can get started.
There's no point in trying to get fire started. I bend over and try to pick Yuyaki up. The area where my wings were broken grips me and intense pain travels my back. I let off and try to get myself together before trying again.
"Come on Alan, it doesn't matter how much it hurts, you got to carry on." I scold myself as I bend down.
The disks between my spine feel like they are about to collapse under the weight, but I force myself to pick her up. Each step I take sends agony though every bone and muscle in my back as I carry her over to Oktitohbi. My heart skips a beat, and my vision flashes a second.
"Alan!" Oktitohbi yells.
The only color I can see is the tan on Yuyaki's face as well the fur collar of her blue parka. Oktitohbi is constantly pounding at the snow with both hooves and trying to get to us, but the snowfall is covering me and Yuyaki up faster than he can dig.
Oktitohbi neighs and pounds at the snow. Every second that passes only puts me that much closer to blacking out. Oktithobi's hoof scrapes the top part of Yuyaki's parka, but more snow rolls in, completely covering us both as the bowl collapses in. I cup one of my hands around Yuyaki's mouth while covering mine as well.
The snow completely fills the hole we are in up. The white blanket tries to force its way between my gauntlets, but I hold strong. This air pocket around our faces is our last shot at trying to survive this. Even though I doubt Oktitohbi can get us out of this one. Despite his best efforts.
Oktitohbi continues to pound his hooves against the snow, but it's no use. He can't dig either of us out now because we are buried. I try to move, but nothing is responding other than the freezing finger tips that are covering my mouth and Yuyaki's. Fatigue starts to set in, and I grow weaker and weaker.
Up above, I can hear something that sounds like snow actually being tossed off rather than pounded. However, I don't have enough strength to even look up to see what's going on. A gust of wind blows through my saturated hair and everything goes black…
Ending song: "Heaven and Hell" by: Dio