AN: Little late, but only because I felt a little tired.
This is the last backlogged Teal Chapter I got, so I need to get typing
RISES IN THE EAST
"The absolute nerve of that guy..." Teal fumed to herself while at the gym, punching and kicking the slime block punching bag. She was taking her anger out on it. It was the following day after she had encountered the one-eyed cultist, Abyssmal. "Acting like he knows me..."
She was more upset about getting beaten so soundly by him. The whole fight, if felt like he was toying with her. Like she was a kid he was playing around with until she was tuckered out
Even worse, she hadn't been able to satisfy her itch after last night's debacle. She needed to kill something pronto.
Her plans to kill the next person she saw backfired when she was greeted by none other than her friend, Tomas, also visiting the gym.
"Teal! How's it been?" He greeted as he set down at the pull-up station beside her.
"Not so good." Teal answered honestly. "I had a bad night last night. Don't ask."
"I could tell. Saw you wailing on that slime block like you were trying to pulverize stone into gravel." He replied as he started doing pull-ups. "Haaa... we should... haaa... do something... haaa... after this..." He strained to speak and work out at the same time. "Just us two... haaa... and just... haaa... to overwrite... haaa... that bad night... haaa... of yours..."
"No thanks. I have plans." Teal said too quickly, wanting to go satisfy her itch as soon as possible and wanting Tomas to be as far away as possible.
Although...
She always wondered if her friends might also be up for it. Maybe they were secretly into it, or would secretly be for it, if Teal opened their eyes and if they knew they could get away with it.
Then again, how do you broach such a topic? 'Hey guys. Haven't you ever wondered what beating people to death with your bare knuckles feels like?' Yeah, no. That wouldn't work. It was a shame, since she felt she could have more fun if they hunted as a group. Corralling Crafters into ambush spots, competing for the most kills. There was plenty of potential. She just wished there were more people out there who shared her interests.
Not the Endward Cult. No. She didn't mean them. They were just plain crazy. She meant thrill-seekers like herself.
She also wished there were more criminals to hunt down without punishment. Why was it that hunting criminals made you a hero, but hunting civilians made everyone label you a murderer? You killed either way. It just wasn't serving the public.
Teal put the thought out of her mind, and her idea to broach hunting to her friends on the backburner. They were her friends, but she felt Keara and Tomas just wouldn't understand. Not unless they got into it of their own accord.
Teal said her goodbye to Tomas and left the gym. She really needed to find someone to kill.
The weeks rolled by, and the Werewolf killings kept garnering attention in the Daymonte newsbooks. Teal mixed up her tactics to remain unpredictable, targeting bars and nightclubs, breaking into homes of loners, or else picking out targets on the streets. Sometimes she even left the capital and hunted in villages. It was able to satisfy her cravings.
But, the longer things went on, the less enjoyment Teal seemed to derive from it. It was still exciting, granted, but she found it paled in comparison to the time she fought Captain Vincent. She took to giving her prey a more sporting chance, taunting them with an eerie voice as she stalked them, delighting in their panic and running away. Sometimes she would even make them think they got away, lowering their guard moments before she jumped them and scared them half to death before pummeling them the rest of the way. She'd time herself or make personal challenges, handicapping herself to do the deed with just her fists, or her legs, or one of the many hand-to-hand fighting styles in her growing arsenal.
And yet, things started to grow stale. She almost wanted the guards to catch her, just to have more people to fight back against.
She took to wearing the Crafter Head of one of her victims to mask her appearance. When a Crafter died, they dropped a Head. Wearing a Mob Head or a Crafter Head could obscure your face and the name hanging perpetually over your head. Whenever she was the Werewolf, she wore the Head to hunt without fear of being seen. It also left her comfortable enough to hunt larger groups of people, and even guard patrols. She didn't even think about how morbid she was wearing the decapitated head of one of her victims.
On one such excursion, however, Teal slipped up.
It was another night under the moon, like any other. Teal had her mask on and spotted a group of Crafters traveling in a pack of ten for safety.
I can handle ten. She reasoned to herself before pouncing down, sticking to the shadows. She stalked them like a tigress, her bright blue eyes watching those at the back of the pack.
She stifled a giggle before letting out a low, throaty growl from the shadows, just to play with them. Her prey flinched and jerked their heads in her direction before bunching together fearfully.
"Did you guys hear that?"
"Th-That was just your stomach, r-right?"
"I swear, if you guys are joking back there, I will leave you!"
Teal let the terror build for a few moments before she shot forward, grinning under her mask. Her leg lashed out before they even knew what hit them, and a Crafter fell to the street unconscious. Then, pandemonium struck.
"AHHHHHH! The Werewolf! Ruuuun!"
The Crafters split up in different directions, but not before Teal knocked out two more with some well-placed kicks to the head. When it came to larger groups, she preferred knocking them our first, then going back to finish the job later, once all her prey were downed.
She went after one pair of Crafters that ran off together and caught up quickly. She grabbed their heads and knocked them together to knock them out before going back to the other runners.
The next pair she targeted, she caught the slower one with ease and put him in a chokehold before snapping his neck with a sharp jerk and paralyzing him. She smiled as she moved on to the next cowering Crafter... only to have the smile wiped from her face.
It was Keara.
Keara fearfully averted her eyes from Teal's outstretched hand, but when no punishment came, she opened them again and saw that Teal had gone still. Keara got to her feet and pressed her body against a wall, trapped. All she could do was stare at the Werewolf killer before her...
And take notice of the Werewolf's attire. Most noticeably, the Werewolf's fishnet sleeves and stockings.
"...Teal?" Keara asked breathlessly.
Teal flinched under her mask before turning tail and running away, jumping off the suspended street into the chasm below, and0 landing on a slime block landing pad. Then she ran and ran and ran, all the way home.
Her heart beat erratically and she felt dread pool into her stomach as she tore off her mask and paced the floor of her home. Her face was twisted with worry. Keara had guessed it was her. Teal should have been more careful! How long before Keara reported it to the guards? She couldn't kill her own friend. The guards could be on her any second. Why did that both terrify and excite her?
Teal had to leave Daymonte.
She was halfway done with packing when a tentative knock sounded on her door. Teal kicked the Crafter Head she had been wearing under the bed, even as she whirled on the door with muscles as tense as springs.
"Teal...?" Keara's quivering voice came from the door. "It's Keara. Are... are you in? H-Hello?"
Teal didn't know what she was doing here. She covertly crept to the window and peeked outside. It was just Keara out there. No guards or Captains. Despite just being attacked by the Werewolf... by Teal... she came straight here.
Teal cracked open the door and looked at Keara. Her friend flinched under her gaze, even while Teal tried to pretend nothing happened. "Hey, Keara. Why the late visit?"
"Before we talk," Keara began in a tremulous voice, "some friends and I just got jumped by the Werewolf. No deaths. But six were subdued." She watched Teal's face carefully. "The guards wanted to escort me home. Instead I told them I'd be staying here. They know I'm here. I gave your name and address. If I go missing... it'll lead them right to this doorstep."
In other words, she already had insurance in case Teal tried anything to silence her. Maybe she didn't know for sure, but she wasn't taking any chances. If Keara disappeared, the guards would go looking for her at the last address she gave. Then Teal would become a suspect.
But it didn't sound like she ratted her out yet. She wasn't completely certain it had been Teal she saw, but Keara's eyes seemed to flit to the fishnet sleeves and stockings more often than not.
Teal stepped aside and opened the door further. "I'm glad you're okay. Would you like to come in?"
"No." Keara blurted out before backtracking at once. "I mean, uh, I... I'm grateful for... uh... How have you been these days...?"
It was the most improper segue into such a question, but then this was an awkward situation. How do you ask someone if they've been moonlighting as a serial killer without offending them or ending up a severed Head?
"I've been fine." Teal shrugged one shoulder, playing dumb. "Can't complain."
"...Really?" Keara pressed. "Nothing you feel like complaining about? Nothing you want to get off your chest?"
"Why would there be?"
"Teal..." Keara was tense. "The Werewolf was masked, but she wore fishnet sleeves and stockings. I'm not gonna rat you out, so just tell me the truth."
"Tell you what truth? A lot of people wear fishnets."
Crafters possessed a set attire, which they could will off in parts or entirely in motes of light. They couldn't put new clothes on, so a Crafter's attire was quite telling. It was practically part of their identity. Teal couldn't fool Keara after what she saw, but she tried all the same.
"I'm not sure I like what you're insinuating." Teal tried.
"Just...!" Keara brought her hands together in a self-calming prayer before continuing. "You're my friend, Teal. I am on your side. Help me understand this. Help me wrap my head around this. You're going around at night-"
"No."
"-killing people-"
"No. No, no!"
"-killing innocent people-!"
"No! No, no, no!"
"You're acting like a petulant child! Don't deny it!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Teal, this isn't healthy!"
"What's not healthy? What are you even talking about?"
"You know."
"I don't know. I don't have a clue."
"You know, Teal!"
"Not unless you come right out and say it. I'm not a mind reader."
"Are you the Werewolf?" Keara demanded outright.
Teal tried to sound offended, with a scoff of derision. "Really? Me? The Werewolf? You think that's me? Right. I'm hurt, Keara. I really am."
Keara knew her friend enough to tell she was lying. She just glared at her accusingly.
Teal scoffed again, grasping at straws to defend herself. "Come on! You know me. Do I really seem the cold-blooded murdering type?"
"I don't know what the hell type you are now." Keara answered roughly, her words taking Teal's breath away. "Certainly not the type to confide in her friends."
Teal was momentarily stunned until Keara made to turn away and leave. Teal wrenched open the door and lunged, grabbing Keara by the arm. Keara flinched, her face etched with terror.
"...Let go of me, Teal."
"Okay, wait, look." Teal let her go immediately, but stepped past the threshold of her home to join Keara outside. She kept her voice low. "Let's pretend... just hypothetically-"
"Oh, Jeb almighty..."
"-that I was the... Werewolf." Teal got the words out with great reluctance. "You wouldn't turn me in, right?"
"Why, Teal?" Keara asked seriously. "Just... why?"
"...I'm sorry, okay. Ever since the Nitebane cliff thing," she revealed, "I feel more alive when I'm in life-or-death fights. I didn't think there was anything wrong when I was just hunting criminals, and it didn't seem a problem... until..."
"Until you moved on to innocents?" Keara asked, not quite believing it. All her boldness from earlier was gone, replaced with cautious fear. "Did you really kill Captain Vincent?"
"That was an accident." Teal murmured quickly. "Look, you remember how you got me into stunts? That adrenaline high? I feel more exhilarated hunting Crafters than I ever did jumping off cliffs or boating down rapids-"
"So you become a serial killer!? That's the logical progression!? What's wrong with you!?"
"See, I knew you'd react this way." Teal shook her head. "That's why I wanted to keep it to myself. I knew you wouldn't understand."
"How am I supposed to react!?" Keara hissed. "How am I supposed to understand!? Our stunts never killed anybody! These are human lives you're ending and... and you don't seem bothered by it in the slightest!" Keara took a step back, as if she was seeing Teal in a whole new life. "This is - you need help! More help than I can give."
"What, like a shrink? I'm not crazy!" Teal protested.
"This isn't exactly normal, Teal. The Kingdom wouldn't be on high alert if this was a harmless hobby."
"Why is it that everyone else is reacting this way? The-The perceptions are just..." Teal shook her head as she tried to find words for it. "If there were more criminals for me to kill, everything would be normal. But there aren't! Everyone's a-a-a civvy. There are more innocent people than villains. Why can't the world just be full of jerks for me to take out? That would solve everything! Nobody would call me a serial killer then!"
"That's not the same, Teal." Keara countered. "Criminals break the law and hurt people. Their punishment fits the crime. Not all of them deserve to be executed by a vigilante."
"Well no one seemed to mind too much when I was handing in Heads." Teal snapped. "They let me kill them just fine. Now it's the other way around-"
"These people you're killing didn't commit any crimes! You're just doing this to feel good!"
"And what if I am!?" Teal asked rhetorically. "So what? Keara, you don't understand. I can't go back. I tried." Teal grabbed Keara's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "I tried to fight it. The urge. The itch. I couldn't do it. I can't stop. It feels too enjoyable."
"Then you need an intervention." Keara spoke firmly, breaking out of Teal's grip. "You need help - professional help - if we're going to curb this thing. I don't want my best friend getting carted off to jail or worse."
"...So you're not gonna rat me out?" Teal asked hopefully.
Keara looked uncomfortable, but she couldn't abandon her friend when she needed her. "...I'll keep quiet. I'll be abetting a criminal by keeping your secret, but I'll keep it. BUT ONLY," she emphasized, "as long as you get help for... this." She gestured to Teal in her entirety.
"...Fine. I'll see someone." Teal accepted grudgingly. She wasn't looked forward to being looked at by a therapist. "Are you going to tell Tomas?"
"Oh, shoot, Tomas." Keara realized, a hand slapping her face. "That's a conversation I don't even know where to begin with. He might just go to the authorities with this." She hesitated. "Maybe we should keep it to ourselves until we think of a better way to break it to him."
"...Alright." Teal sighed.
"Teal." Keara placed a hand on the blue-nette's shoulder. "Admitting there's a problem is the first step to overcoming it."
But Teal didn't think there was a problem. If she did, then the only problem was that Keara found out and would rat her out if she didn't get 'help'. Teal wished she wasn't constrained by a public that abhorred her pernicious habit. If she could just do her thing without worrying about what others thought, she would.
Instead, she just nodded to her friend with a resigned kind of acceptance. The kind you feel when you're forced to go to the doctor's office.
AN: Better start cranking out more Teal chapters. Otherwise this won't be weekly no more.