Crimson Ties - 3
You didn't really think I would be so predictable, did you? (get out of my head Ophelia)
Oh, and a 'surprise gift' I suppose. Over on my DA is a sketch of the Awakened Being from the last chapter.
Warning: for really disturbing shit. Eating while reading this chapter is ill-advised.
The man finally lowered the stack of papers from in front of him, staring at her with cold calculating eyes. "You succeeded in killing the Awakened Being, did you not? The one the Organization assigned to you."
"Yes," she said quickly, still feeling tremors running through her body as she stood there in the center of the room. Zelda couldn't get the images of the others falling so quickly at the appearance of a second one out of her head.
Everything had been going relatively well up until that point. Even with the injuries that more than half the group had suffered that Awakened Being had been brought down and they had all lived. For a short time anyway. Then Eryn - who had managed not to sustain any injury in the battle - was killed instantly by the second one that had just emerged from the mountain path. She hadn't even sensed him up until she saw him. The other Awakened Being must have masked that one's own yoki somehow or... or it had suppressed it's own yoki.
It was possible, she supposed. Awakened Beings use to be Claymores and they could suppress their yoki at will so it made sense. That had to be how that creature eluded her and the rest of them from the start. That's why...
Why the rest of them would be dead by now. They had to be. She had seen Kaveri hastening to attach her arm just after Eryn was cut down; she had also seen the holes in her arm. There was no way Kaveri could have used her full strength against that Awakened Being, if she had even managed to get close to it. It had just been so fast, it was a wonder it hadn't caught up with her when she was running down the hill. Kaveri must have kept it's attention long enough for her to get a safe distance away. Of course at the time she had just kept running; right up until she was through the doors of the Organization. Until she was safe from that terror.
As for Miria... she wasn't sure if she would have even been able to fight with the injuries she had sustained. Miria was an offensive warrior, not defensive like her. Though she hadn't lost any limbs in the attack so she didn't have to worry about her lack of skill in regeneration, it didn't help with healing those injuries either. Her stomach had been torn through by those tentacles, ripping out at least half the stitches that had kept her scar closed in the process. Not to mention the blow she had taken to her head when she hit that icy rock wall. There had been blood dribbling down from the back side of her head over the stone.
For the life of her Zelda couldn't even imagine that Miria had seen what had happened to Kaveri. When she was leaving, glancing over her shoulder she had seen the warrior's eyes close, slipping into unconsciousness. The Awakened Being could have easily killed her then.
Zelda could only hope that Kaveri had somehow managed to strike a killing blow against that beast so Miria wasn't killed in her sleep.
"So, according to your report and the absence of the others the rest of the squad was killed by the second Awakened Being?"
"Yes," Zelda repeated for what must have been the tenth time.
"Then return to your duties."
Her eyes widened and she took a step forward when she spoke, "But-"
"If the Organization gets a request to kill this specific Awakened Being it will be dealt with. For now though you are to return to the territory assigned to you and continue hunting down yoma. Is that understood?"
Zelda felt her fingers clench into a fist. "Yes, sir."
/ / /
Her lips parted from a prompting of clay on her bottom lip, cool water running down her throat an instant later as the cup was tilted up until the flow of liquid stopped. "There you go," a soft, calming voice filled her ears.
Miria swallowed hard before opening her eyes to see a man crouching down in front of her. Black hair fell over his brow, a few strands hanging in the way of hazy light blue eyes.
The man smiled the moment her eyes were fully open. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it. Even if you are a Claymore you suffered from some heavy wounds. You've been out of it for two days, until now."
"Two days?" she echoed. If that was true she must have been banged up pretty bad. But why was this man helping one of her kind?
"The only real concern I had was closing up your scar," Miria looked down at the man's words. Her uniform was still torn up from where the tentacles had struck her, allowing her to see the scar, her insides barely concealed by the stitches the man must have used to close it back up. So that her insides didn't spill out from her body along with the yoma flesh that lay dormant inside her. "It's crude," he muttered, pressing a finger to one of the stitches, the rest of his hand flat against her stomach. "But this is the only way it stays closed, isn't it?"
For a moment Miria couldn't answer him. This man... why wasn't he repulsed by the sight in front of him? Like any normal person would surely be. He had to have seen worse carnage in his life to be able to keep a steady gaze on her. A sympathetic one at that.
His gaze raised to her own eyes, a low, "Hmm," escaping him before he stood up and Miria could see beyond him.
Kaveri was sitting against cold stone opposite of her, hands raised above her head and clasped in high quality metal attached to the stone wall. But that wasn't the most surprising thing she saw; it was Kaveri's eyes. The usual silver was gone, a dark blue in it's place.
Her own eyes widened. Was hers... Had she?
She could remember a weight on her tongue just before swallowing down the water. Smaller than a pebble and practically weightless. The pills she carried with her; she had just swallowed some of them without knowing it at the time. Kaveri must have been made to swallow some of her own pills as well if her eyes had changed back to their natural color. There was no other explanation for it.
Then... Miria glanced up to the man when he re-entered the room, carrying a metal plate with a cloth thrown over it, obscuring whatever he had placed on it. He wasn't human. She had just been unable to sense his yoki; she still couldn't sense it even with his close proximity and her senses dulled from the pills. He had to be suppressing it then. "Who are you?" she snapped.
He gazed blankly at her for a second, the action unnerving her further when she realized just why his own eyes were so cloudy. Just like that of a blind cat, but he could clearly see her. He had to with that intent stare.
His lips quirked up into a smile a moment later. "I wouldn't have thought you were so rude to actually question me after I saved your life. Even if you're mad at me for hiding my own identity you should still be polite enough to state your own name before asking for mine."
With the way he went silent, clearly waiting for her to go first she could feel her teeth clench. But there was no way around it if he was unwilling to answer her question before she gave her own name. "It's Miria."
"Miria," he repeated, rolling the r in her name in such a manner that was practically lewd. "I'm Rigaldo. Just for future reference; what's your rank within the Organization?"
"Seventeen," it was difficult to make her tongue even move after the way he had said her name.
"Is that so?" Rigaldo, who's body had more-or-less been facing Kaveri while his head was directed at her began to turn in her direction as well. "Then since you're ranked higher than your companion here you'll be first."
"First?" Miria questioned.
Before Rigaldo could answer there was a growl from across the room, "Silver-eyed Lion King."
He turned to glance over his shoulder at Kaveri, who had remained silent up until now, just glaring at him from where she was held against the wall. His eyes flashed silver for a split-second, his gaze clear before retaining that lighter hue, eyes clouded over once more. "I apologize for not acknowledging you before, but your companion finally woke up and since she is of higher rank; unlike what you first told me, you'll just have to wait your turn before I deal with you."
His attention turned back to her then, offering Miria a small smile as he walked over, setting the plate down next to her body before crouching down at her side once more, this time though he wasn't blocking her sight of Kaveri. Or the other Claymore's sight of her. She could clearly see Kaveri raise her head up further, lips drawing back to reveal her teeth as her eyes flickered gold. "No. You'll deal with me first, you bastard."
Rigaldo's hand hesitated from pulling the cloth back from the plate. "Don't tell me you're still upset about your friend's death?" He twisted his head back to look at Kaveri. "I would have taken her with me as well, but after she killed one of my soldiers I simply couldn't stop myself from delivering the same fate to her. You should really count yourself lucky that your arm wasn't fully attached or you might have suffered the same fate. Though it's a terrible shame that the last of your squad got away. I suppose I was to concerned about Miria's condition to go after her at the time. Perhaps I'll take her in if I meet her again."
Kaveri simply growled in response to his words, "Where's the real Silver King?"
One second Rigaldo was crouched at Miria's side, the next he was standing across the room, one arm drawn up across his body so she couldn't see it. The only thing she could see well enough beyond him was the spray of blood that soon stained the stone red, individual strands running up the sides of the wall and landing on the floor below. His arm lowered then and she could see the brown fur running down from his elbow all the way to his hand where his fingers had become long black claws. The same claws that she had seen pierce Eryn days ago, that had killed Eryn. He could elongate his fingers, his claws to go further than his arms reach would allow for naturally.
It took another second until his arm took on it's human form once more and he spoke to Kaveri. So she had to be alive still, even with her injuries. "You have until the last drop of blood leaves your body to awaken."
Rigaldo stepped aside then and Miria's eyes widened upon seeing the lacerations along Kaveri's body. Every single major artery had been struck within that previous second, sliced open and now blood was flowing freely down Kaveri's skin, staining her uniform a bright red.
He was fast. Faster than any Claymore she had seen before. An Awakened Being. A former Claymore, likely in the single digits before he had awakened. Back when they used male Claymores that is. His power must have increased even further after all these years.
"I'm sorry for the interruption," Rigaldo said as he turned his attention back to her. "Now, where were we?" He walked back to her as she stared at him, not daring to move an inch even once he was crouched down at her side again. "Oh, right. Your squad leader killed the one Awakened Being and I really do need more soldiers. It was so nice of you to knock yourself unconscious for me. Saved me the trouble of doing it myself, though you did have me worrying about you for those first few days. If I'm not mistaken that was your first hunt for an Awakened Being, wasn't it?"
"Yes," she said the moment his finger prodded her arm.
Rigaldo paused, eyeing her before speaking again, "I apologize if I happened to frighten you earlier. It wasn't intended. Just do as I say and I won't have to give you the same ultimatum that I gave your companion." His hand finally lowered to the plate, removing the cloth and she felt a wave of confusion overwhelm her.
Sitting on the glass was two pieces of cooked meat, one obviously intended for her and the other for Kaveri, or it had been. Why had Kaveri drawn attention to herself like that if he was just giving them food? It didn't make any sense.
He picked up one of the pieces, gaze on her. "All I need you to do right now is open your mouth and eat this. Simple enough, don't you think?"
With one glance to the meat and then back at him she clenched her jaw. Something about it had to be wrong for Kaveri to have acted out the way she had.
"What? You think I poisoned it?" He raised the piece to his mouth, sliding his teeth over the meat to bite off a thin slice before swallowing. "See? There's no reason to be distrustful. I'm just going to feed your yoma side so you'll awaken."
Her lips slipped open for a moment, a gasp escaping her as the revelation struck her. It was human meat. She snapped her jaw shut quickly, remembering just how fast he was.
Rigaldo simply seemed to regard her though, watching as she tightened her jaw at his words and then he was smiling. Seeing such an expression only made her heart pound faster in her chest. "I realize you don't have much of an appetite, but once you Awaken I promise that will change." He leaned forward, bringing the meat up to her lips, pressing it lightly against her mouth.
Miria's first instinct was to move her hands, to push him and the piece of meat away, but she only felt the metal wrapped around her wrists dig in deeper when she tried to move them. On top of that her arms felt heavy since they were suspended in the air above her head; they must have been like that since she first arrived here two days ago. If it weren't for those pills suppressing her yoki ability she could actually move her hands to stop him, actually break through the metal that was dug so deep into the wall. She could have broken it from the wall if it was only in by an inch or two even in her current state; and he knew it.
He was grinning at her as he ran the meat along her lips, giving a small nudge here and there and each time she would flinch. Each time his grin would grow, eyes lighting up with pure delight. This was just a game to him.
The pressure increased just as the thought crossed her mind and she nearly froze when the meat passed her lips to connect with her teeth. Rigaldo didn't move the meat away though this time and she had to remind herself just what his goal was.
"How about we make a deal? You eat this one and I won't make you eat the extra one. How does that sound?"
Her gaze shifted, jaw loosening for just a second and she felt him grab at her jaw and practically wrench her mouth open, pushing the piece in with the tips of his fingers and then slamming her jaw shut once again. He was holding it closed now, pushing her head back until her skull hit the stone behind her; until her neck was bared.
She tried to keep the piece of cooked flesh from falling to the back of her throat, but after just brushing the burnt skin with her tongue the muscle froze and gravity directed the piece to the back of her mouth. Miria concentrated on clenching the muscles in her throat to keep the flesh from sliding down further. She would not eat a piece of a human, cooked or otherwise. He couldn't force her.
The thoughts kept repeating in her head as he kept her mouth shut, keeping her from spitting the piece out like she wanted to. He wouldn't let go until she swallowed it though. She already knew that; he had gotten the piece into her mouth and if she didn't do something he would force it down her throat.
Her eyes narrowed as she tugged at her wrists to no avail, feeling them burn seconds later. No. Her gaze shifted to find Rigaldo once more.
He was watching her silently, looking to be completely enraptured in even the tiniest movement of her body. His gaze raised from her throat to meet her own eyes seconds later; he must have seen the movement from the corner of his eyes. If she could open her jaw to speak she would. Even if he didn't listen to a word she said.
Not a single one. His own head tilted to the side, as if he knew what she was thinking. It wouldn't take much to guess she supposed. Stop. Just stop.
I don't want this. I don't want to awaken. I don't want to taste human flesh; to devour it. Stop. You can't. I refuse to awaken.
The moment his lip curled up she wanted to scream. Instead she didn't even see him move: just felt his teeth on her throat, hot breath on her jugular, the tips of his fangs sinking into the top layer of skin. Her throat contracted and the flesh slid down her esophagus. She could have sworn she heard it plop into the acid of her stomach.
Her cheeks burned as the tears collecting in her eyes finally slid down her skin. When his hand moved from her jaw moments later a strangled cry fell from her lips.