WARNING!
This chapter includes: heavily implied human experimentation, depictions of blood and gore, implied major character death, minor character death, depictions of accidental self-harm, depictions of body horror, and vomiting.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
"–elieve it! No ma–"
Something slices down the middle of Asta's chest. It tears through with a searing agony and Asta can't scream. It continues to cut into her chest; into her stomach; into her lungs.
Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup
She's breathing in her blood, but she can't choke. She can't gasp for breath or drown in her own blood.
"‒specimen‒Clover doing? How does‒"
There's something etched into her skin. It burns; it hurts; it makes her want to scream. She still. Can't. Scream.
"‒died. Killed by our‒healer revived her‒"
It feels like her intestines are exposed to fire. She can feel the skin forcefully pulled back. The nerves and muscles in her arms are exposed. Something cold and agonizing and wrong is pushed against her wrist-bone.
"‒and a five-leaf! I wonder‒won't let us‒devil must be‒"
Her head bounds it hurts. It screams. Something is wrong. Something wrong happened. Something happened to her. She shouldn't be alive.
Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup
Something screams. Something screeches. She's alive, not dead. She has to be dead. She isn't supposed to be alive.
Alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, alive.
ASTA! WAKE UP!
Asta slams her head back and screams. Or at least, she tries to. No sound comes out of her mouth. Her lungs spasm as she tries to take in any air.
Her eyes are blinded by something white and something is choking her. Asta can't move her wrists and no air is going into her lungs.
Asta wrenches her arm and feels something snap before she accidentally slaps her own face. Her nails catch onto her skin and rip it into shreds as she claws at whatever is around her throat. She feels her own fingernails give way and rip off of her fingertips as she tries to find any kind of purchase against the thing choking her.
Off, off, off, off, off, off, off! Get off! Get off! GET OFF!
Asta's fingers clench around the thing choking her and she pulls. Metal shrieks in her ears before she throws whatever had been around her throat somewhere far, far away from her. She gasps for air and finally tilts her head back to just breathe.
Her head buzzed and screamed; everything was too bright and she couldn't see; her her mouth tasted metallic and her arms‒lungs‒stomach‒everything was in agony. Asta opens her mouth and releases a loud and heaving sob.
She turns her body towards her wrist still not being able to move and suddenly falls. A cry of pure agony is ripped from her throat as her arm twists into an awkward angle and something stabs millions upon millions of needles into her feet.
Asta tries to wrench her other arm out of whatever had it trapped, but her body writhes in agony when she simply slides her feet to gain some leverage. Asta heaves and gags; she leans her head over her raised arm and heaves up bile. She sobs in pain, coughing up the bile stuck in her throat. She gags before heaving up more puke, splattering it all across the floor.
She clenches her eyes closed and heaves. Her body won't stop shaking and sobs are ripped from her burning throat with just a simple breeze brushing against the bottoms of her feet. Asta breathes in, completely blocking out the rancid stench of her puke, and slowly opens her eyes.
Bright white pierces into them. Asta winces before rapidly blinking her eyes, the lighting slowly easing its stabbing.
White walls; concrete floors; a metal table and a metal door. This wasn't anywhere she is familiar with. Asta looks around for anything familiar as she reaches her ki out for anything else.
She was on a mission‒with Noelle, Mimosa, Klaus, and Yuno. They explored the dungeon and even got a good haul. So, where... what‒what happened?
Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain‒
Asta groans loudly and presses her eyes into the crook of her twisted arm. A dry sob leaves her mouth as her head screams at her.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
Asta slams her head against the metal table before she lifts it up to glare at the metal cuff still restraining her wrist. She takes a deep breath and moves her feet, gritting her teeth with a sob when they alight with searing pain. Her eyes momentarily roll into the back of her head as she presses her feet against the metal table's legs for leverage.
She gags, but stubbornly keeps her mouth closed. Asta swallows and forces her crying eyes open, blinking away the white stars blinding her.
"Come on... come on, I can do this. I can do this," Asta murmurs quietly. She takes a deep breath and steadies her feet before she pulls. She winces at the familiar shriek of metal before she flies back with a loud yelp.
Asta blinks up at the blaring lights above her before she shakily lifts her hands up into her sight. Bruises wrapping around her wrists were already starting to show; her fingernails on her right hand were cracked and some were even ripped away; there were stitches, fresh and stark against her sickly looking skin, on both of her arms.
Asta blinks again when she finally notices the weird feeling inside of her left wrist. She turns her arm and immediately balks at the sight.
Five large gemstones were embedded into her wrist. She slowly rolls her wrist, only to wince with a whine at the white-hot pain that zaps up her arm and across her spine. Something cold and agonizing and wrong. These gemstones are wrong.
This is wrong. This isn't meant to be in humans. Asta grabs one of the gemstones and pulls. She bites through her lip as the gemstone reacts violently to being slowly ripped away from its host. Asta ignores the blood pouring out of her hand and wrist and the burns starting to form as she continues to pull.
This is wrong. This is really, really wrong. She has to get them out. She has to get them out. Now.
Calm down. Asta, calm down! The others‒escape! ESCAPE!
Asta freezes and stares at the gemstones with wide eyes. She swallows before slowly releasing the gemstone. That's right. The others‒her friends. They have to be here too... she has to find them. They have to escape!
Asta reaches up and uses the metal table to help her stand. She swallows down a loud cry as her feet scream in agony. She pants for breath before looking over at the metal door.
It didn't have a lock or anything looking like a lock, and it looked old. Asta looks down at her feet and takes a deep breath to steady herself before she stumbles forward.
She doesn't bother to stop herself as she rams into the door, too focused on not screaming from the agony her feet were causing her. She takes a deep breath and blindly searches for some kind of doorknob while she turns her attention to her ki.
Unknown. Nothing familiar. Noelle. Mimosa. Klaus. Yuno. Unknown. Joy. Curiosity. Wretched greed. Greed. Greed. Greed!
Asta presses her forehead against the door as she finds the doorknob. She barely catches herself from falling to the ground when she opens the door. Asta opens her eyes and looks around the hallway, closing the door behind her.
White walls; concrete floors; metal doors. Nothing familiar.
Asta uses the wall as a crutch, following where she senses Yuno's ki. It feels like she's walking on shards of glass, heated to brand into her skin, but she forces herself forward.
She doesn't know who did all this. It must have been an ambush. How did she not sense their ki? Whatever they did to get past her guard... it must have been fast and immediate. Especially for it to kill‒
Asta slams the side of her head against the wall. She breathes heavily and ignores the throbbing pain in her head before she continues to walk.
Footsteps echo down the hallway, followed by faint talking. Asta snaps her eyes open and stares down with wide eyes.
A few hallways connect to this one. A shadow was slowly growing longer from the closest connecting hallway. Someone was coming.
Asta bites her tongue to keep any noise inside her chest as she stumbles towards the closest door. She jumps towards the doorknob and twists it open, falling into the room as a foot steps into the main hallway. Asta quickly swings the door to appear closed, careful not to make any noise.
"‒with Moris. I've heard Mars is making progress in forcing him out. After we're finished with the Clover Knights, we can give him our findings! It may even be enough to keep him in‒"
Asta narrows her eyes as the talking and the footsteps become faint once more. "Mars‒he's from Diamond! He talked... he spoke that same name... Moris... It must have been Diamond behind the ambush..."
Asta tilts her head back and inspects the room she stumbled in. She blinks when she sees her grimoire piled on top of four others‒Yuno's necklace sat on top‒and the three bags she filled with relics sitting next to them. They clearly looked damaged, like someone had tried to get inside the bags, but the magic enchantment held true.
Asta blinks again before a smile grows on her face, a ghost compared to her usual sunny smile.
"‒been a recored four-leaf in‒"
Yuno... Yuno... wake up... please... can you hear me...? Wake up...
Something pierced through the corner of his eye. It made him want to scream. It hurts.
"‒icient! Do you think‒"
He can't feel anything except pain; he can't hear anything, not even Bell. It hurts. It hurts!
"‒magic stone! Clover really‒"
His ribs are ripped open. He can feel something‒wrong, wretched, bad, bad, bad, bad‒being pressed against his sternum. It makes him want to scream. Why can't he scream?
Yuno... Yuno... Asta's here. Asta's alive. Wake up... wake up... wake up...! Please... for me... please...!
"Asta! Asta wake up! Sissy, wake up! Please, please, please, please, please! Sissy! You can't die! Asta‒"
Yuno gasps and wrenches to the side, only for his wrists and neck to burn. He chokes on spit as he tries to move, as he tries to do anything.
His sister‒Asta. He has to find Asta. He needs to find Sissy. Mimosa‒she healed her. She didn't die! He has to find Sissy! The ambush‒the ambush, Sissy doesn't know about the ambush! He‒he needs to‒
"‒here! I'm here! Yuno‒little brother, stay still. I-I'm trying to get you free. Calm down, calm down for me. O-okay?" Asta's voice pierces through Yuno's migraine. He opens his eyes and looks around wildly, only to see blurs and blaring white lights.
A dark blur enters his vision and something brushes against his cheek before he flinches back, slamming the back of his head against whatever he was laying on. The blur gently shushes him, reaching closer with their hand.
"Yuno. Yuno, it's Sissy. Sissy needs you to calm down. Can you calm down?" Asta's voice speaks softly and hurriedly, like she was in a rush. Yuno rapidly blinks his eyes, trying to get rid of the stars and the blurriness.
"'sta..." Yuno chokes out as his vision clears enough for him to see Asta. Asta tries to smile for him, but flinches heavily when she moves. Yuno narrows his eyes and tries to sit up, only to wretch when he chokes himself.
"Shh, shh. I'm going to rip it off, 'kay?" Asta speaks quickly, glancing over her shoulder. She glances back down at Yuno and grabs whatever was around his neck with both hands.
"Wh' 'ppened?" Yuno asks, momentarily frowning at his slurred speech. He blinks and stares up into the blaring lights when he senses Bell's playful aura subdued and terrified and relieved.
"Yuno!" Bell sobs loudly, dropping to sit on Yuno's chest. "Yuno, I-I thought you‒those monsters did all sorts of awful things to you and I‒you weren't waking up!"
Metal shrieks and makes Yuno wince heavily before he instinctively takes a deep breath. The thing around his throat was gone. He tries to sit up, but something was keeping his arms attached to whatever he was laying on.
A loud huff escapes his mouth when he couldn't fully sit up before he glances down at his wrists. They were restrained to a metal table. Ah. That makes sense.
"I'll‒I'll get those off next. Bell, will you be able to wake Yuno up some more?" Asta asks while gripping the table to keep herself upright.
Yuno snaps his eyes towards her shaking arms, and feels his stomach drop at what he sees. Stitches upon stitches, making Asta's skin look like some kind of fucking patchwork quilt. Her fingernails were cracked, and a few were even missing with blood profusely dripping from the wounds, and dark bruises surrounded her wrists.
Asta rips off one of his wrist restraints just in time for him to turn on his side and puke. Yuno wretches loudly before bile forces itself up his throat. He heaves and pukes over the side of the metal table.
A hand gently rubs his back as he heaves again. He hears Asta's soft shushing and the quiet fluttering of Bell's wings.
"I don't know where we are... but I think it's one of Diamond's laboratories. I overheard a name‒and a friend from Diamond said the same name and I guess he hasn't forced the scientist out yet‒but we need to leave. I already found our stuff, and I know Noelle and Mimosa are on the floor above us. Klaus is across from this room," Asta rambles quietly, still rubbing Yuno's back. "If you can carry Noelle and our stuff, I can carry both Klaus and Mimosa‒then we can get the hell out of here."
The black haired teenager dry heaves once before spitting out the rancid vomit still left in his mouth. He rests his head against the cool metal table and evens out his breathing.
"You... have a friend from Diamond?" Yuno asks after a few moments of silence. Asta laughs wetly and tilts her head down to run her right hand through her hair. A large scar, running from her hairline and down across to the inner corner of her left eyebrow, stood out against her ashen tan skin, raised and pale.
Yuno bites his cheek and forces his eyes away. Asta's alive. Asta's alive. Asta's alive. That's all he has to think of.
"Remember that Diamond Warrior we fought? In our first dungeon mission together? Well, I met him again. He's nice now, and he's rebuilding Diamond to be a better kingdom," Asta says with a small smile. She whips around when she hears a door open. Yuno sits up as best he can with his other wrist still restrained.
The door closes. It wasn't the door to the room they were all in, but it was close.
Asta rushes over to Yuno's other side and pulls off the metal restraint. "We'll talk later when we're safe. We need to get everyone and get the hell out of this fucking place."
"I'll help blast anyone away! These people won't get away with hurting my Yuno!" Bell exclaims angrily, floating around Yuno's head as he slides off the metal table.
Yuno almost collapses onto the floor, but quickly grabs the metal table to keep himself balanced. He stretches out his legs with a wince before glancing at Asta hovering over him.
"I'm fine. Let's go."
Asta nods before she bends down and grabs the three bags she had filled with relics before she was‒and the pile of grimoires. She hands Yuno his before stuffing the rest of them, except for hers, inside one of the bags with a whisper.
They stay quiet as they walk over to the metal door. Asta carefully opens the door and peeks her head out, glancing both ways. She waves her hand behind her before silently sliding through the small space she made. She stumbles and almost falls to the ground, but Yuno uses his wind to keep her upright.
"'m okay... my feet hurt, is all," Asta answers Yuno's question before he even asks. She glances back at him before quietly pointing at the door across from the one they came out of.
They hear someone faintly moving around inside. This must be the door that was opened and closed. Asta and Yuno glance at each other before they both nod.
Yuno holds up his hand as his grimoire opens. "Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk!"
A large hawk made of whirlwinds forms in front of him before it charges at the door.
SHRIIIEEK!
The metal shrieks as it is torn apart by the wind hawk. The person inside the room barely has time to turn around when the hawk slices through them. The hawk slams the person into the wall, creating a large dent. Asta races in, stumbling and falling into the metal table Klaus laid across.
Yuno steps in, keeping his guard up as he faintly hears shouts and running footsteps from farther down the hallway. He stumbles and blindly reaches for the doorway when pain pierces through his chest. The wind hawk spasms and fades into nothing as Yuno grabs the fabric of his shirt, over his sternum.
He blinks when he feels something round-shaped sticking out of his chest. He's about to pull back his shirt, and glimpses something white and shining, when Bell suddenly appears in front of his eyes.
Her eyes were wide with terror and concern. She glances behind him and narrows her eyes into a glare before she flutters around Yuno's.
"We've got bad guys to hurt, Yuno! Let's go!" Bell calls out, successfully distracting the teenager from inspecting the thing attached to his chest.
Magic spells were being shot everywhere. The air was cold and made the screaming agony in Asta's feet worse. Her back and arms screamed for relief as she carried Klaus and Mimosa, sprinting through the snowy forest without a glance behind her. The bags full of relics banged against the back of her legs, bruising them further than they were already.
Yuno was barely a step behind her, heaving and wheezing in a way that made Asta extremely worried. He looks back and shoots out a large and volatile whirlwind, nothing like his usual graceful precision; Asta hears the sounds of limbs being ripped off before the pained screams. She ignores it to pull Yuno before he trips into the snow. He had Noelle over his shoulder and he kept stumbling every few steps.
"Hurry, hurry! This way!" Bell flutters in front of them, zipping through the air as she leads them away from the small laboratory they escaped from with Diamond Mage Warriors chasing them.
Asta chances a glance behind her and quickly ducks her head when a large bolt of lightning shoots past her. She sucks in a deep breath and forces herself to run faster.
Run, they have to run. They need to get somewhere safe. Just until the others wake up.
"Shit! They're heading towards‒"
"Kill them or catch them before they make it there!" One of the Mage Warriors barks out loudly and angrily. Yuno snaps his head up with wide eyes, tripping over his feet. Asta grabs his elbow and starts to drag him behind her before he could even fall to the ground.
"Wait‒wait! That's‒we're heading towards a Grand Magic Zone!" Yuno shouts loudly in his panicked state. Asta shakes her head, wheezing for breath while Bell heads straight for the supposed Grand Magic Zone.
Well, it wasn't exactly supposed. Asta can see the harsh winds and the volatile lightning snowstorm from here. It was just over a steep hill.
"There's no other choice! It's safe! They won't come near since it isn't a full moon! Yuno, trust me!" Bell shouts loudly over the increasingly harsher winds.
Asta cries out loudly and falls to the ground when something impales one of her legs. Yuno curses loudly and raises both of his hands.
"Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blades Shower!" Asta snaps her head back and watches as hundreds of wind blades form in front of Yuno. Some didn't even look like blades.
Yuno roars loudly and shoots them towards the group of Mage Warriors chasing after them. Asta doesn't watch as the wind blades slice through and impale the Mage Warriors; she simply grabs Yuno by the arm and scrambles to stand up.
They start running again, making big steps to try and climb up the steep hill. Asta adjusts her Klaus and Mimosa laying limp over her back and shoulders like rag-dolls, wincing every time she puts pressure on her leg that just got impaled.
Asta screams when lightning strikes the area to the left of her. She winces as thunder cracks loudly above her and forces herself to forge forward.
As she reaches the top of the hill first, she almost vaults right over the steep pitfall straight down into darkness. Yuno stumbles to a stop next to her and almost slides into the pitfall before Asta reaches out and grabs his arm.
"Fuck!" Asta shouts in pain as she braces against the heavy snow. Yuno grabs her wrist, tugging at two of the gemstones embedded in her arm.
"Hold on! I can take us across the pitfall!" Bell shouts over the howling winds before lightning strikes right behind them. Asta turns her head, fear making her heartbeat stutter. Snow kicks up and blinds her vision from the howling winds, but she faintly sees the glow of magic and the furious ki of the Mage Warriors quickly getting closer.
Asta looks back down at the pitfall and then at Yuno's wide eyes. She bites her lip and is about to pull Yuno back onto the hill when something pierces through her shoulder. Asta chokes on a scream and loses her balance.
"Asta!" Yuno screams, reaching up to grab Asta. Asta grabs his hand and pulls him closer, clenching her eyes shut.
"Wind Spirit Magic: Sylph's Breath!" Wind howls and screeches in Asta's ears before she feels like something punches the air out of her lungs from the sudden wind pressure.
Everything goes dark as the Bell uses her magic to soften the fall.
Hey! Hope you all like the new chapter! I guess I'm doing shorter chapters for this story compared to my other stories... oh well. They're average length, so I hope you all aren't too upset.
The next chapter should be a bit less... chaotic? Like, it'll have a better cohesive flow. I purposely made this chapter somewhat chaotic and all over the place because, well, if you had died died then somehow woke up somewhere completely different with new additions to your body and faint flashes of someone cutting you up... well, I'd wager it would be incredibly hard to make sense of anything.
And man, I am not pulling any punches with both physical and mental trauma. Man, these babies will be suffering~! :3
Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Bye.
WhovianWhoudini