A/N: The last chapter was pretty intense, isn't it? I hope Akira's got some fans, as well as I hope they aren't upset at what has happened. Patrick has shown a side of him that is pretty frightening to everyone. And it comes with a heavy cost.
Now let us see what has become of Team PASM.
Chapter 46: Scars
The crowd cheers with excitement. It's the final round of the Vytal Festival Amity Tournament. All of the finalists are standing center stage in the arena. Professor Oobleck makes the announcement.
"Greetings citizens and welcome to the finals of the Amity Tournament. Here, the chosen student of the winning teams will compete against one another, until the last round with the two finalists will compete for victory." The finalists ready themselves for battle. "It appears that we are going to be one fighter short for this event. Team PASM's very own Akira Rhysenshi has failed to show."
The contestants leave the arena, leaving two students to face each other.
The sounds of the crowd cheering escape loudly from the public screen. Selena stands watching it. Not with excitement, but in sorrow.
"Let the first round begin!" Oobleck announces and everyone cheers.
Selena doesn't bother to watch. She instead returns to Marlene, who is sitting on a bench with her face in her hands. Selena looks up to the glowing sign on the doors, that says 'Operation in Progress'.
The two of them are now in an Atlas Hospital, with Rayla accompanying them.
Time passes.
One moment, Marlene is pacing with Selena sitting.
Selena and Marlene are sitting and Rayla delivers them some coffee.
Selena and Marlene leaning against each other sleeping and Rayla covering them up with a blanket.
Marlene and Selena watch the arena on the screen, which shows that Peter has lost in the fourth round and the winner is a female faunus from Mistral.
Five days have passed since the incident happened. Selena and Marlene can barely sleep, in fact, the first day or two they didn't get any sleep. They couldn't turn their minds off after witnessing the horrific events of what Patrick has become, and the sight of what they fear could have been Akira's death.
They were lucky authorities had taken notice of unusual activities at an abandoned city in the desert. They were able to deliver Akira to a hospital and used whatever medical resources they have to keep her alive.
Finally, a soft bing chimes. Selena, Marlene, and Rayla look to see the 'Operation in Progress' sign dimmed.
After a moment, a doctor steps out, and the girls are eagerly waiting for the news.
The doctor takes them inside, and they are speechless to see Akira. She's unconscious in bed, body covered in bandages from breast to waist, with massive bloodstains from the cuts. Her face was covered with an oxygen mask, wires attached to her torso and arms, as well injected with two IV Tubes.
"How is she, Doctor?" Marlene asks.
"Words can't even describe the miracle your friend is blessed with." The doctor says. "Your friend's wounds are pretty deep and severe. She should have bled to death but she's still hanging on." Selena and Marlene are speechless. They know Akira is tough but this is beyond her limit of strength.
"Do you...think she'll make it?" Selena nervously asks.
"It's hard to say. We've done everything we can, we're not even sure how long she'll be in a coma or if she'll ever wake up. The rest is up to her now." Selena helplessly stares at Akira. Her breath became shaky. Rayla takes notice of her anxiety and attempts to comfort her. "If it's not too much trouble, would you mind telling me once again how this happened?" The doctor looks at his clipboard. "You said it was training outside of the city and some Grimm Invasion occurred?"
"Uh...Yes. That's right." Marlene says. "She was doing some personal training and the next thing that happened the Grimm came."
"I see...Pardon me for being skeptical but that seems a bit farfetched. None of us has ever heard of a Grimm that would inflict this kind of wound. Even her Aura is remaining dormant from it." The Doctor says. Selena and Marlene said nothing. They have no idea what to do about telling what happened. "I'll give you young ladies some time alone."
The doctor leaves the room.
Selena and Marlene move beside Akira. The air is silent other than the sound of the monitor slowly beeping. Selena just watches her friend lying there, between the edge of life and death. She can't help but reply to that event in her head. Patrick was about to strike but Akira jumped in at the last minute and took the blow instead.
Marlene looks at Selena. "Hey, you okay?"
Selena doesn't answer. Instead, she looks down, her body shaking slightly. "She didn't have to do that...Why would she..." Tears build up in Selena's eyes, desperately escaping as they drip out of them and onto the sheets. "It should have been me."
"Selena...It's not your fault." Marlene softly says.
"Mistress Akira only did what she believed was right. Don't be so hard on yourself." Rayla says.
That doesn't stop Selena from crying. Rayla gives Selena a comforting hug. As she does, Selena grabs hold of Akira's hand, softly speaking a prayer, and Marlene joins in on her.
After a while, the door opens and Winter walks in. She approaches Selena and Marlene and clears her throat. Selena and Marlene break their moment and turn to the Schnee Warrior. "I know the timing is bad, but the General has requested your audience."
"The general?" Selena looks back at Akira, then back at Winter. "But...Our friend. We can't just leave her."
"I understand that, I tried to convince the General otherwise but he still demands for you two." Winter says.
Selena doesn't say anything, neither does Marlene. "It's alright. You two go, I'll stay here and watch over Mistress Akira." Rayla says.
After a long moment of hesitation, Selena agrees. She and Marlene follow Winter through the building, to the elevator which Winter commends to take them to the lower levels, into the prison floors. The doors slide open. Winter escorts the two of them through the hall, passing by several prison cells. They reach a long hallway where they arrive at the maximum security level.
Winter opens the door. As she, Selena, and Marlene walk in, they find Ironwood having an argument with Mashika.
"What you are suggesting is madness!" Ironwood says.
"You are the one who's mad, James!" Mashika says.
"I'm doing what must be done to protect Atlas, to protect all of Remnant." Ironwood says.
"I get what you are saying, but you don't know him as I do. You're treating him like a prisoner, and that's-"
Winter clears her throat loudly, interrupting Mashika and Ironwood. "General Ironwood, I have brought Marlene Watts and Sherry Farron as requested."
"Thank you, Winter." Ironwood approaches Selena and Marlene. "I apologize for summoning you two here, given the circumstances of your situation. But our interrogation isn't going as well as we hoped. I was thinking maybe you might be able to talk some sense into him."
"If you really want him to explain his actions, then you should agree with my conditions and unchain him." Mashika says.
Ironwood doesn't say anything, just stares at Mashika, and then he turns to the prison cell. "This way." Ironwood deactivates the security system. The door slides open. Inside is a small room, with 5 barriers of Hard-Light Walls containing Patrick, who is shackled in cuffs and chains in every part of his body, and wearing a muzzle mask. The only thing that's exposed is his eyes, and they are showing despair.
Ironwood deactivates the Hard-Light walls. He walks in, but Mashika stops him. "If we are doing this, you are going to unbind him, entirely."
Ironwood still doesn't say anything. Marlene and Selena exchange looks. Both of them are hesitant, but even under that, there is still a glimmer of faith. Then Marlene speaks for them both. "General Ironwood. Sherry and I...Well, we too are pretty horrified by what may happen but he is still our friend and leader. I think we should go with Instructor Kirei's suggestion."
After a moment of silence, Ironwood lets out a sigh, then turns to his officers. "Do it." The officers go in and undo all the chains that are binding Patrick, as well as remove the muzzle mask. The officers leave, and then Ironwood makes his exit. "I'll give you five minutes."
The door seals shut behind Ironwood. The girls are now alone with Patrick in the prison cell. Selena and Marlene are worried out of their wits, afraid he'll go berserk once more. Mashika can see their worries. She decides to start the conversation. "So, how are you doing, Love?"
Patrick doesn't say anything. He doesn't even move a muscle. Just keeps looking down with that mostly blank but depressing look. Selena and Marlene try to help break the ice between them. "Well..." Marlene clears her throat before speaking further. "We are...doing okay...Akira especially. She's doing very well despite...what has happened."
Selena is surprised to hear that. "What are you doing?"
Marlene turns to Selena. "I'm just trying to break the ice?"
"By lying? Even he realizes Akira wouldn't have survived that attack." Selena says.
"And telling him the truth is gonna make him feel better? If he knows what happened, don't you think he'll just go crazy angry and attack again?"
Mashika takes notice of something and starts calling the girls. "I'm just as scared as you are, but what if lying to him is just gonna make it even worse?" Selena says.
Marlene and Selena both argue non-stop about lying or telling the truth. But they aren't getting anywhere to end it, and Mashika is trying to get their attention. Until she calls them loudly. "Girls!" They shout out 'What?' "Look." Selena and Marlene turn towards Patrick, and their expressions soften at the sight. Patrick is digging his nails into the flesh on his arms, hard enough for blood to start dripping out, and his eyes start to water, a tear sliding down his face, regardless of his expression the same as always.
Selena and Marlene realize what they are doing, and regret their decision. "Hey. We're sorry. We don't mean to upset you, it's just..." Marlene doesn't know what else to say, then Selena tells him the truth.
"Look, Akira she's...Well, the doctors have done everything they can, and, well, the rest is up to her. They're not even sure if she'll make it." Patrick doesn't say anything, but his fingers relax a bit and lower his head. "But, hey. It's not as bad as you think. At least she's still alive...We just need to have faith."
Mashika walks towards Patrick, kneeling in front of him. "Listen, I know things seem bad right now, and I know Ironwood has already asked you this, but we were hoping that you could be able to explain it to us...About what happened back there."
Patrick does not say anything. There's nothing but pure silence. Mashika lets out a sigh in defeat. She then stands and makes her leave, the same for Marlene and Selena. But all of them come to a stop when Patrick finally speaks. "Even if I want to talk about it, I'm just as in the dark as the rest of you." They all turn back to Patrick. "I have no idea where that kind of power came from...But, honestly...I think it was always there."
"What do you mean, Love?" Mashika asks.
"I...can't quite explain it very well, but, before everything went dark, I remember a rage building." Patrick thinks back to when Cinder tells him that she is gonna finish killing Amber. "There are times when I got really angry, but the feeling was different. It was like my blood was boiling. Fire burning in my veins. And it wasn't the first time that feeling came."
"When was the first?" Selena asks.
"Back when we encountered that friend of yours Gaia..." Patrick thinks back to when Gaia was babbling about Selena being his prized possession of pleasure. "I was feeling a rage building. One that was encouraging my murdering instinct, then it all just faded when you shouted at him to stop." Selena looks down in depression. Even though she was standing up for herself and her mother, it was not a happy moment for her. "The second time was when I was in that sauna." Patrick thinks back to when he was trapped under the bench with the girls sitting on top of him. "After hearing Rayla explaining Peter's past, I was at that level of mad, and during that time I was clawing the ground."
"I can vouch for that." Marlene says.
"Aside from all that, I have no idea where it came from..." The room is silent.
Just then, Ironwood opens the cell door. "You're time is up."
Mashika turns to Ironwood. "Hold on, there's one thing I wanna ask him." Mashika turns to Selena and Marlene. "Can we get a minute alone?"
Selena and Marlene nod, they leave the room, and Ironwood gives Mashika extra time. Once alone, Mashika kneels in front of Patrick. "Listen, I know full and well that we shouldn't be talking about them, and believe me, I know this is the worst possible time to bring it up."
Patrick gives Mashika a minor glare. "Get it over with."
"Just calm down, Love." Mashika says. "The Agency, they did unspeakable experiments with us. Is it possible, even the slightest, that this power of yours came from one of them?"
Patrick does not say anything. He's definitely not in the mood to talk about it, but he knows silence is not gonna give her the answer she seeks. "The Agency never did their experiments on me. Even if they did, their experiments are just working on torment devices or drug serums, kind of like that Lover's Poison you and Marina were injected with. There's no way this was their doing."
"I see. It was worth checking." Mashika gives Patrick a gentle pat on the head. "I'm sorry for asking, and I'm sorry this happened, Love."
Mashika makes her leave. Patrick is once again alone trapped in his prison cell.
With Mashika joining the group, she, Marlene, and Selena explained what he said. Mashika does her best to keep her part of the story censored of the Agency.
"So he doesn't know either...Are you sure he wasn't lying?" Ironwood asks.
"He's a secretive guy, but I don't think he would be dishonest about something this serious." Mashika says.
"I see. Well, thanks for trying." Ironwood says.
After that meeting, Selena and Marlene return to Akira's room, and they bring Mashika with them. Mashika is surprised to see the condition Akira is in. Just seeing the bloodstains on her bandages was enough to imagine what it was like seeing her being struck down before her very eyes. She gives Marlene and Selena her sympathy.
"It's hard to believe that Patrick is actually capable of such a thing." Mashika says.
Selena doesn't say anything. Being here just overwhelms her with guilt. "From the way he was behaving, it seemed like he wasn't himself. It was like his own anger was controlling him. But what's more surprising is the power he unleashed."
"You mean...the magic?" Mashika asks. "Like the old hermit and the maidens from the Story of the Seasons?"
"I know it sounds hard to believe. We saw it with our own eyes and don't believe it." Marlene says. "It wasn't like anything we've ever seen."
The room is silent once more, even after Rayla comes in to deliver coffee to everyone. While everyone settles in, a female scientist comes in, and everyone's confused to find her here. "Hello. Are you acquaintances of Patrick Aki?" They all nod in response. "I'm Doctor Phyllis. General Ironwood has assigned me to analyze Mr. Aki's DNA and, well, I have discovered something." Doctor Phyllis opens the files and shows them on a visual screen of her Scroll. "See, I've analyzed his blood sample. As you can see, it's completely normal human blood. But look." Doctor Phyllis zooms in closer. "If you look deeply, you can see that this isn't entirely human. Once we scan the sample, this is what came out."
Phyllis pushes a button and it reveals the analysis. It reads "50% Human. 50% Grimm." None of them can believe what they are seeing.
"Patrick...is part Grimm?" Mashika asks.
"Human and Grimm...Like a Faunus?" Rayla asks.
"No...more like a hybrid." Marlene says.
"That's about the same conclusion we came across." Doctor Phyllis says. "It's hard to believe that this is the result, but it certainly explains the...horrific event that you two mentioned."
"Wait a minute!" Selena's outburst startles everyone. "My Semblance! That's why it didn't work on him. It must have been his human side that made him immune to my song."
Mashika thinks for a moment. "That makes sense. Now that you mention him, he's always been unaffected by my Charm Semblance. It didn't make any sense to me cause it doesn't work on men driven by hatred. While he was often mad and aggressive, it wasn't the same."
"And the Apathy, from that mission we did with Professor Marina. That must have been why he was unaffected by them, or that Willless One. It was his Grimm side that made him immune to their effects." Marlene says.
"So even though he never unleashed it, the power was still within him. But then something happened that triggered it...When he was fighting that girl and her team." Selena says.
Doctor Phyllis closes her scroll, then starts writing. "Thank you for the additional information." Doctor Phyllis looks past them towards Akira. "I hope your friend will recover soon." Doctor Phyllis makes her leave.
The room is silent. Selena, Marlene, and Mashika are having a hard time taking it in. Even though it explains the power, it's hard to take in that Patrick is actually half Grimm. Grimm, the very creatures that they are trained to kill to protect humanity. It's harder for Mashika. She remembers Patrick as a child, hard to imagine he was Grimm back then.
They don't know what to do at this point. Akira is comatose. Patrick is imprisoned. Selena and Marlene begin to question everything about Patrick. But the one question that weighs them the heaviest is: Can they rely on him as a leader anymore?