Chapter 16: The Unsavoryiest of Reunions
Darkness surrounded Elric, Nothing but blackness as he stirred in agitation as memories of the past. Hearing various sounds. Recalling nothing before this moment.
Opening his eyes he suddenly found himself resting on a bed and heard a yawn before a voice from behind him said with a playful tone "Morning."
Motioning himself to his side, he found Trish resting on her side—with only the sheets of the bed's covers concealing her modesty—looking at him with a pleased smile. "Morning." Feeling the cold kiss of the ring on one of her fingers as she caressed his cheek.
Gazing at her beautiful smile, Elric asked in confusion "Trish?" admiring the view from his side of the bed.
"That was some party last night, huh?"
Before Elric knew it he was pulling himself close to Trish to steal a kiss as some of the environment began to look more familiar. He should recognize it all too well as it was his safe-hous in Phoenix.
This was a memory he could recal with great detail. It was the morning after a party one of their friends was having, a week before his partner would tell him that she was preagnant with his child.
As they embraced the world went dark and he was ripped away from Trish.
April 8
Yggdmillennia Castle
He awoke to find himself in a darkened room. His wrists locked in shackles that were connected to the ceiling by chains.
His mind raced like a dog at the racetracks, struggling to make sense of the situation, then he recalled what happened more clear as day: he had been forced into a car by Bragg's goons then a syringe was jammed into his neck and the world began to spin before he passed out.
The situation should have demanded a bragnogian size of his attention, but all he could think of was the dream. The happiness he felt—the look on Trish's face still fresh in his mind.
A dream…it was just a dream. A cruel dream, at that.
Elric imagined he should have felt guilty about dreaming of Trish. But he struggled to sense such resemblance of guilt. Only confusion.
Luvia felt as if she was living through hell.
They were being interrogated by one of the Wolf Pack members, Beltway, with the questions all focused on or related in some way to Elric and the nature of their relationship with him. There were some questions on what was discussed but mercenaries seemed to already had a satisfactory grasp of what was discussed by the time this interrogation,
And then their focus and questions came to Elric's ex partner in crime.
Trish would not relent in her recounts, reliving more than a few personal details of her past with Elric. All to Luvia and Richter's annoyance. As she was very detailed and vague at the same time.
"Oh, then there was this one week we spent in Malta. I believe that was the time Elric asked-"
"For the love of God, I beg of you, please cease." Luvia finally pleaded.
She was hoping to learn some useful information on Elric by allowing her to prattle on to please their captors but all it accomplished was infuriating her as Coen listed off a number of events some involving intimacy and others involving missions she accompanied Elric on, but both providing some general idea of the nature of their relationship.
It felt as if she was using this to practically gloat 'see how wide the gap is between us' without being too direct.
Luvia would just look at her with a look of 'I really hate you right now' as they exchanged looks; Richter was pinching the bridge of his nose; and the interrogator Beltway just seemed to be finding amusement in this whole endeavor.
Luvia wanted to suplex the lot of them.
Bragg remained unamused by Trish's games, finding the whole situation an arduous test of his patience, and ended up leaving, with Richter in tow, the two women in the room.
Once they were alone, Trish looked to Luvia and said sarcastically "I don't think they enjoyed my story."
Edelfelt pinched the bridge of her nose, frustatrted with how every sentence she undered was apropos to nothing and gained them nothing, as she asked "Do you enjoy annoying people, by chance?"
"It had some appeal." Trish smirked wryly.
"What does Elric see in you? You lack of professionalism, and concern for a serious situation, should be more than a tad offputting."
"Well if you really want to know…let's see: I know him better than most people, I make him feel as if he had value, a competent person when the bullets start flying, great in bed…" Trish then proceeded to list some other things, but Luvia began blocking out some of it.
"Please stop. I beg of you."
"You asked."
As was sometimes the case, there was a moment of silence between Luvia and the person she was conversing with.
There was a question which she was eager to ask. One which inspired frustration within her, one which made her fluster just thinking about asking. But she ultimately was able to let the question escape her lips.
"How do you…what did you do to make him love you?"
"As I said, I made him feel valued. I accepted every aspect of him—even some of the qualities you perhaps would not."
"Meaning?"
"Our relationship requires a little more open mindedness that I think you would like."
"I am fairly open minded."
Luvia could see that she was holding back in what she wanted to say entirely. The things she had done with Elric in the past. What she would do with Elric if she had the chance alone with him.
The idea of her arranged fiance fornicating with the redhead was not exactly a pleasant thought. But there was a part of her that was intrigued by the idea. She wondered what Lord Rheon would do, what her father would do if something happened between Elric and Trish.
The thought also annoyed her even more.
"So you're saying if I decided to test the waters, at any moment of my choosing, you would still find yourself drawn to Elric? And you would still want to be by his side."
"Perhaps I am."
Luvie would regret that, and even in that moment she recognized it but refused to back down—regardless of the number of tumerous times thr smart part of her saying 'take it back!'
Elric tried to be relaxed in the dark.
Lyrics of a Sabaton song were reverberating throughout the cell from the muttering from his lips. "Black knights of Saroun…Shadow King, find the Ring," as he waited in the darkened room.
Waiting for (what he presumed) his interrogation to begin.
In the midst of him reliving the lyrics of one of his favorite songs by his favorite band, a whisper soon caught his attention.
"Child…of Alagadda…Blood of the God-Slayer…"
It was distant, but at the same time near. Neither human nor demonic. Cold and filled to the brim with a tone which filled his spine with chills.
"Your homecoming shall be grand."
Elric looked around, nervously. Expecting to see something, someone in the room, which was messing with him. But he found that he was alone with just a table across from him for comany.
The fuck was that?
It sounded familiar yet foreign. Like a relative from a country he had never met.
Suddenly the door to the darkened room was kicked open and Bragg entered—looking a mite irritated, more so than he imagined was typical.
Somehow he imagined Trish had a hand in that.
"Elric Belmont." he hissed. "Been a while. I missed you in Mexico."
"Really? 'Cause I have a bullet scar that begs to differ."
"...would you believe me if I said I was having a bad day?"
"Probably not."
"Well, we'll not linger on that. We have an interrogation to get on with."
"What? No foreplay? No pretending that I have the chance to save myself?"
"No. You'll answer some questions. But first you're going to tell me something my employer wants to know."
"Which is?"
"We are aware that you have three Heroic Spirits, they and the Necromancer weren't accounted for. All my men found after they sweeped the wreckage were some of their dead friends."
Elric laughed. This earged him a swift punch to the gut.
"Regardless of your cooperation we will find your Servants and associates. I'm offering you a chance to make it easier for them. Tell us where they are hiding and maybe I'll make it quick for them and your fiance."
Elric chuckled, "You actually think I'd buy that?" with a spiteful tone. "I know how you guys play. Even if I did tell you what I know—which I won't—you'd still need to keep my associates alive for a while longer. Maybe even try to ransom some of 'em off."
Bragg sighed in disappointment.
"Very well. Have it your way. Regardless you will be answering some question—regardless of how much you resist."
Bragg then held up Elric's favored pistol, Knall, and asked plainly "What is the significance of this to you?"
"None of your damn business."
"I saw one similar to this some years ago." Placing the pistol on the nearby table. "Zed was constantly tinkering with it between missions."
Stepping closer to the hanging freelancer. "Of course, that was before she decided she was too good for us."
Elric smirked at the implication. Knowing his mentor, it would not surprise him—Zed Walker made many statements of contempt for people such as Wolf Pack during his time with the Diolands, and he always imagined it was her time among such groups that her contempt was born.
"There a reason you're bringing this up? Or do you just want to bore me to death?"
"I'm just curious why you carry around my former comrade's personal sidearm. She never parted with this. If she even caught someone toying with this and she was clock 'em real good in the nose or they'd take a knee to the balls."
"Don't know what to tell you. It was just given to me after they started teaching me to use firearms and she told me to keep it."
"Bull shit. Zed treated this thing as if it was her baby."
"Every parent has to let the kid go at some point."
"Is that what you were to Zed? Her surrogate kid? Because you seem like you would be more fitting for an insufferable annoying sibling."
"Oh, is that what you think I was to Zed? That is adorable." Elric laughed.
"Enlighten me."
"Sorry. A real man doesn't kiss and tell."
"So what? You're just a good kisser? Is that why she gave you this?"
Elric considered giving him the full picture, confessing the nature of his relationship with his former mentor. That they were lovers. Elric would not mind them being so again, assuming, of course, Trish hadn't changed her mind about what went on between the three of them. She took the only real purity he had left and shared a bed with him at every opportunity.
They left each other smiling so many times that Elric lost count.
He imagined that would have pissed off Bragg more, and loved the idea, but found the prospect of messing with him just as entertaining.
"Sorry, wrong answer. Try again!"
Frustrated, Bragg put Knall down and proceeded to punch Elric again. Aiming for his ribs. Before pulling out a pair of pictures from his pocket.
"Let's change the subject."
Holding up one to his face. Showing a picture of the parchment Richter showed at the congregation.
"You will tell me everything I want to know about this."
"Try asking again more nicely."
Once again, Elric suffers a punch to the ribs.
"Tell me what you know!"
He could beat him all he wanted but Bragg could see his tactics were having little effect on the magician. Despite being a glorified thug, even he could see when his tactics were not effective and gaining the desired result.
Bragg cools down. Leaning back ever slightly, "Very well." pulling up the second picture which caused Elric's eyes to widen in horror. The picture was of Allen. The one Trish had given him a few days ago. "Maybe I'll pay him a visit, after I've had a little fun with your current and ex fiance."
That caused Elric to lose his composure.
"You even think of touching them and I will make you curse the day you were born."
"Will you? Oh, I'm so scared."
"Bragg, I will personally take my time torturing you. I will cut off every piece of you there is to cut. I will take away your favorite toy and force you to swallow it whole. Then when I run out of things to cut, I'll gut you like a trout."
"And here I thought Zed only trained bleeding hearts."
"No. She trained me to be an effective warrior. The kind of man who hunts men like you and puts them down like the dogs that they are."
"She made you like me. Like my friends."
That angered Elric, causing his eyes to glow crimson. "No. You're a thug who beats and kills for whoever pays enough. I have limits—there are things even I find repugnant; and I have massacred things that called themselves men for worse than what you just threatened to do, so believe when I say when you lay a hand on someone I love it will be the worst mistake that you will regret for the rest of the seconds you have left on this putrid earth."
Bragg would have laughed this off, but the look in Elric's eyes detired him from doing so.
The hatred and killing intent within him was palpable. It was something akin to looking in the eyes of a hardened killer.
Seeing this was failing, Bragg walked toward the door "Well if you won't talk, I think I'll try another tactic."
He returned with Luvia bearing shackles on her wrists. Throwing her to the floor and grabbing Knall.
"I can't hurt you physically. Emotionally, that's another story." pressing Knall's barrel against Luvia's nape. "Last chance, tell me what do you know about the parchment in the photo or you can watch your girlfriend bleed to death."
Initially Elric believed he was bluffing. Then Bragg said "And if your thinking we need her—we don't. She's expendable. We can always tell th Edelfelts it was a honest mistake."
Luvia told him to tell them nothing, to let Bragg kill her. Elric looked at her—seeing memories of her flash in his mind. Seeing their first meeting in Finnland and recalling the last time they saw each other before Emil's experiment chief among the memories.
The thought of her dying was agonizing. It was cruel. It was torturous.
Ultimately he relent then was knocked unconscious.
Elric awoke later to find himself confined to a chair with his hands cuffed behind him. His ribs still aching from the beating he took.
Looking around he found Luvia chained to the floor. Saying with a restrained angry tone "Oh, good, you are awake at last. Hope you were experiencing a pleasant dream."
"You're mad."
"Yes, a little."
"Luvia, I-"
"What, for Heaven's sake, were you thinking?"
"I was thinking "I should probably make sure Luvia doesn't need a voice box." Does that upset you?"
"Greatly." Luvia sighed. "Will they not kill us, now?"
"Doubtful." Elric told her. "If they wanted to do that we'd both be dead already." Trying to break free from his restraints with little success. "Their boss'll likely want something else with us."
They waited for some time in the darkened room before the door finally opened and "Well, well, WELL." a woman's voice echoed throughout the room to Elric's ear.
The gunslinger cringed the second he heard it.
Looking up from the chair to see a familiar and frightening but clever-looking beautiful face.
"Celenike Icecolle." Elric greeted her with some degree of bravado. Still a little uneasy about being anywhere around her. The stench of death itself was on that woman. All the perfume in the world could not wash that from her.
"Elric Belmont." She greeted him in kind, with more enthusiasm. "Though I suppose I should call you James Rheon."
Resting his head down, Elric corrected her "It's just Elric." with a less than friendly tone.
"Yes, yes; of course." Celenike said, amused by his submissive but resentful mannerism. "It is a pleasure to see you are as compliant as ever. But you could share a more pleasant tone—after all, we have not seen each other for almost a year."
"You know this woman, Elric?" Luvia asked.
Celenike looked over to Luvia as she walked in. "And this must be Luviagelita Edelfelt." Then back to Elric "You always did attract the pretty girls."
"It's not like that." Elric sighed.
Celenike swaggered across the room, her hips swaying from side to side, to loom over Elric. Looking at him with a seductive smile as she loomed over him. Seating herself on a sensitive part of the magician's body, with her legs open, she leaned closer.
"It's almost enough to make a woman jealous."
Before he knew what was going to happen, the female magus invaded his mouth with her tongue. Kissing him fervently. Then just as abruptly she pulled out of his mouth with a gasp.
Telling him with a euphoric expression "Oh, how I have missed you."
Luvia went from confused to disgusted and back to confused.
"I see you're as much of a freak as ever, ms. Icecolle." Elric responded, looking away from her. Not making eye contact with her or Luvia. Only for her hand to grab him by the chin.
"Please, no need to be so formal. It is Celenike."
She kept her face close.
"We used to be so close, I long for those days." Celenike continued.
Luvia's eyes widened with a "What?" as a general idea from what the freak was intimating.
"I remember it so fondly."
"Sure you do." Elric scoffed.
"Leading you to my bed; ravaging you and you ravaging me; the intensity of your embrace; how you suckled my breast..." Celenike reminsed, caressing her own body. Disgusting Elric (almost as much as Luvia) with the memory of what they did together—how he once was attracted to this perverted woman.
The memory of that moment with her was one he often preferred to forget. The taste of her lips, the bounce of her breast against his chest as he held her close, and the moans of pleasure he caused her to make before silencing her with a kiss. If Elric could, he'd prefer to erase that from ever having happened.
Then suddenly, the vindictive sadist grabbed him by the collar, "Imagine my disgust to discover that I had shared a bed with a filthy homunculus!"
Luvia's eyes widened more from shock as she repeated in a mutter "Homunculus."
"What do you want?"
"I had plans on procuring information, but then I learned my prisoner was you." Celenike told him, caressing her other hand down his chest. "So, now, I may just toy with you until I feel satisfied." Savoring the look of uncertainty on Elric's face. "Then talk business."
She licked his cheek.
Whispering to him "And judging by your growth, I can assume your body will be more than willing to cooperate with it, even if your mind does not." with a wider grin.
Shit.
He was hoping that part wouldn't be noticed.
"Do not dare!" Luvia yelled but her protest was ignored.
Once again Elric felt himself forced into an embrace while his pelvic area was being grinded against. Hearing Luvia protest, her disgust with Celenike's actions, all ignored. Parting their lips, the vindictive magus grabbed the zipper, whispering to him "Hopefully there will not be more surprises after I finish, such as last time." before locking with his lips once more.
Before Celenike could proceed, however, there was a knock at the cell's door.
"Lady Icecolle. We have the other prisoners as you requested."
Her seductive smile became wicked, with her eyes on Elric she responded "Excellent. Bring them in."
When the door opened, there was Bragg, but he had Clarent's edge against his throat. And beside him was Kairi holding his sawed-off shotgun at Celenike's general direction.
"Let 'em go."
Elric and Luvia were both relieved.
"How unpleasant." Celenike groaned facetiously. "Guess the fun will have to wait for later." Getting up off of Elric to back away slowly with both hands raised.
