Here is chapter 2, this is where things start to pick up. I hope there aren't too many pacing issues or other errors. If you stumble upon something that doesn't sound or flow right, or there are Type-Os, or simply wanna give feedback, it's very welcomed. I'd like to hear people's thoughts and suggestions so I might be able to improve in later chapters. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
CHAPTER 2 - CURSED TIES
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Akemi awakens with a massive hangover and a splitting headache, and if that wasn’t enough, her arm was screaming at her as well due to how she slept the night prior. Akemi lays on the couch, waiting for the pain to subside, staring up at the ceiling just wanting to curl up and die. Eventually, she manages to get up and go about her morning routine, taking her morning medication before having a brisk shower and then applying the suave to her burn once she was dried and dressed. She was thankful that Taige chose yesterday to go drinking since today she had the day off and could use it to recover. Akemi got chewed out many times by the manager after coming into work with a hangover after a night of drinking with Taiga, she honestly wonders how the woman could get so drunk but be perfectly fine the next day.
After a light breakfast, Akemi decides to stroll around town, hoping the fresh air would help with this hangover of hers. She wanders through her local neighborhood to the market district, mostly window shopping, and people-watching as she meanders, having no real destination in mind. She looks at the various goods on display, many being above her pay grade. Moving on, she heads towards the seaside, where she watches people fish and couples both young and old hold hands as they look out at the crystal blue water and soaring gulls screeching overhead. She lingers a bit before carrying on, soon finding herself on the way to the hospital to check in on her mother. However, upon checking the time, she realizes that she might have to wait a bit till it was visiting hours but if she’s lucky, the receptionist might vouch for her, that or if the Director was in today.
Entering the hospital, she is warmly greeted by the familiar receptionist who tends to be always working when Akemi comes in.
“Ah, Ms. Nakamura. You’re a bit early today, visiting hours aren’t permitted till another hour.” The receptionist informs her.
“I figured, though I was sorta hoping you could maybe let me just check in on her for a moment?” Akemi asks, staring at the woman with big, puppy-dog, eyes.
“You know I can’t do that,” The receptionist tells her, Akemi's smile faltering a bit as she gives a dejected look that seems to tug at the woman’s heartstrings.
“But… I guess it will be alright… If only for a moment.” The woman begins to cave, Akemi’s face lighting up in response.
“But just for a moment! Then you gotta wait like everyone else.” The receptionist quickly informs her as she lets her pass without having to fill a forum.
Akemi gratefully thanked the woman, giving a small bow before briskly making her way down the hall to the elevator. Arriving on the floor her mother was located, Akemi steps out and starts to make her way there until she spies some attendants exiting the room, she quickly ducks out of sight behind a corner. peeking out, she silently watches as they then wheel her mother’s bed out and down the hall the opposite way. This confuses Akemi, wondering where they were taking her mother, presuming maybe for testing or treatment but if that was the case, why were they heading the opposite way? Curiously, she decides to quietly follow them to see where they were taking her mother.
-
Silently tailing them, she watches as they cart the bed down the hall and through some double doors that were off-limits to visitors or patients. Not wanting to give up now, Akemi hesitantly follows after, slipping through the doors, being sure not to make too much noise as she continues to follow them. The lights in the prohibited room were turned off and it seemed like it was a section of the hospital that wasn’t being used by how little the upkeep was. The place was incredibly eerie, with lots of vacant rooms with outdated hospital equipment and furnishing haphazardly placed. The once pure white walls were stained from age and lack of upkeep, and one could see some of the installation poking out from the exposed panels of the ceiling. It all felt like some sort of scene from a horror movie. It only worried Akemi more, her mind racing as she wonders why they are bringing her mother through here.
Sneaking along and peaking behind a corner, she sees the attendants enter a service elevator that requires a keycode of some sort. When the doors close, Akemi makes her way over and watches to see what floor they get off at. Her heart sinks when she sees the arrow pointing to the basement level, where the morgue would be. No, that can’t be right, if something happened to her mother the hospital would inform her immediately, right? The Director said her mother was doing fine, so that couldn’t be right. Akemi decided to see what was going on, finding the steps and making her way down to the lower levels.
As she descends lower and lower, her anxiety grew as she tries to rationalize what all was going on, her mind playing all the worse case scenarios as her panic builds. Finally, she reaches the basement level. She was winded from climbing down all those stairs, taking a moment to catch her breath before approaching the door to the basement, and carefully testing the handle. Much to her surprise, it was unlocked. Stealthy, she opens the door, unaware of the red energy that emits from it when she opens it before it fades into dust-like particles. Hunching over, she quietly makes her way into the basement level. So far it is what one would expect a hospital basement to be, dark and dank, filled with things from storage and more outdated machinery and equipment. Though as she moved deeper in, she is surprised when she enters something that almost looked like a workshop or maybe even a laboratory.
There were tables cluttered with various books and strange objects that didn’t look like they belonged in a hospital but rather some occultic enthusiast’s collection. Akemi is very much perplexed by this, growing more concerned for her mother as she then presses on, finding more and more odd things that didn’t belong in any sort of medical center, as she explores, she then notices something deeply troubling. Painted on the concrete floor of the hospital basement was some strange pentagram, it was painted with great accuracy in some sort of brownish-red pigment.
Suddenly, Akemi hears someone coming and quickly hides under one of the various cluttered tables, peeking out to see the two attendants as they wheel her mother into the strange room. She waits till the two of them leave before coming out of her hiding spot and over to her mother. She looks over the bandaged woman, ensuring she was alright.
“Why did they bring her down here?” She asks herself, her mind spinning with questions.
Akemi then hears someone approaching once more, hastily, she hides under the table once more. Listening intently to the footsteps as they enter the room, she quietly scoots away from the table’s edge to avoid detection. She focuses on the footfalls that go around the room, by the sound of how they walked, the person appeared to be examining the room rather than having a clear destination in mind.
“I know you're here.” A familiar voice then speaks.
It was a voice Akemi knew all too well. It was the voice of the Director, but something was wrong, it wasn’t the sweet voice she was used to hearing from him. This voice was menacing and cold, it caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on its ends.
“Come out. Now.” The director orders but Akemi stays put, the drastic change in his demeanor unnerving her greatly.
Akemi remains hidden, listening as she hears him continue his search, her heartbeat quickens when his footsteps grow closer to her table. Her fear mounted with each enclosing step as she desperately covers her mouth and nose to muffle her labored breathing. This fear nears a breaking point as she sees the Director's legs walk in front of the table. Though much to her relief, he passes her. However, that relief is short-lived when she feels a firm grip suddenly snatching her arm and then painfully dragging her out. Akemi lets out a yelp before struggling as she is forced out of her hiding place. Trying to jerk her arm free, she peers up at a surprised Director who stares down at her.
“Akemi?” The director says in surprise upon seeing it was her.
“How did you get down here?” He questions, his firm grip loosening slightly, but he still holds onto her arm nevertheless.
“I saw those two men take mother here,” Akemi then explains.
“What’s going on? What’s all this stuff and why did they bring her here?” Akemi asks, hoping the director could clear this all up, to give her a logical answer that could explain all of this.
With that that the Director slowly releases her arm, letting out a sigh.
“You shouldn’t be down here, you need to leave and forget ever having seen this place.” He stresses with grave sternness, though his tone sounded vaguely threatening.
“What do you mean? What’s going on!” Akemi raises her voice, much to the annoyance of the Director who lowers his head and shuts his eyes with a grimace of irritation.
“How troublesome,” The director then speaks, his tone matching the cold and unnerving one she had heard prior.
“I never expected you to actually find this place,” He then admits, “This complicates manners, I knew I should’ve put a stronger Bounded Field on that door. Looks like I am paying for my incompetence.”
Akemi furrows her brows in confusion, not understanding a word of what the Director is talking about but also unsettling her more.
“Field?” Akemi questions before the Director waves her question off dismissively.
“It’s nothing,” He tells her, “This can easily be corrected, though having a more willing subject would’ve been preferable.”
Upon hearing this, a feeling of dread settles in the pit of Akemi’s stomach. What was that supposed to mean, a “Willing Subject”?
“Willing subject?” Akemi queries, not understanding what he implies with that as she grows ever anxious and confused.
“I mean, that now that you have found this place, I can’t allow you to leave.” He tells her, fixing her with a steely and apathetic gaze that is deeply, a far cry from the warm, gentle, expression she was so used to receiving from him.
“W-What? What do you mean, I can’t leave?” Akemi asks him as she slowly retreats away from him, backing up against the table behind her. She peers back at the table, seeing how it was blocking her from gaining any more distance from the Director than she already has.
“You have seen too much, I can’t in good faith let you walk out of this place,” He informs her.
“Do not fret, I do not intend to bring any harm to you, so long as you remain cooperative.” He reassures her as he starts to approach the backtracking Akemi.
The director then reaches out his hand, about to grab Akemi by her arm once more. Akemi’s heart pounds as the Director’s hand draws ever closer. This fear then comes to a breaking point as she then lashes out at him in a desperate attempt to get him away from her. The director recoils, startled by this violent response as Akemi hastily searches for something to defend herself, snatching up some strange blade he had sitting on the table behind her. She banishes it, holding it out at him in a threatening manner.
“Tell me what the fuck is going on! Now!” Akemi demands, The Director hesitantly raising his hands in defense.
“Don’t be stupid, Akemi, put that down-” The director tries to reason with a wavering smile but is cut off by Akemi.
“Now!” She yells, clutching the blade with no sign of dropping it.
“Who are you really, what are your true intentions for me and my mother!?” She orders, her knuckles turning white due to how tightly she held onto the blade.
The Director’s smile falls as he fixes Akemi with a dark glare, rather annoyed by how difficult Akemi was being, though he reasoned that she did deserve some answers.
“I am a magus, not that you would even know what that means,” He condescends, holding his hands behind his back neatly.
“I have been researching you and your mother’s condition, not to cure you, but to study how the properties and spread of curse you have been afflicted with.” He informs her in a matter-of-fact manner.
“Curse?” Akemi asks, glancing toward the purplish black burns that winded up the length of her arm.
“Yes, what you believe to be burns are in fact curse markings.” He tells her, “While the curse has all but consumed your mother, you were only affected on your left arm.”
Akemi stares intently at her arm as he explains this, processing it all.
“You provide an in-depth look at how the curse spreads and affects a conscious host.” The director says, slowly inching closer to her as she’s distracted by trying to process all of this.
The weight of this knowledge rests heavily on Akemi, knowing that the man she loved and looked up to as a father only saw her and her mother as test subjects to be studied. He never cared about them, he only cared about his research.
Suddenly, the Director grabs Akemi’s wrist and tries to pry the knife from her. This results in a struggle between the two, tears burning in Akemi’s eyes as she is filled with grief and hatred for his betrayal. They both grapple with the knife until Akemi rams her body against the Director, effectively tackling him onto the ground. The Director is growing more panicked now as he desperately tries to fend Akemi off, who, fueled by immense rage and hate, attempts to use the blade on him.
The Director fights back, holding her arm at bay as she resists, trying to plunge the blade into him. The Director proved the stronger combatant as he manages to throw Akemi off him, the force of it sending her hurling toward the table. Akemi’s head collided against its edge with a painful crack, leaving her dazed as she slumps onto the ground against the table’s side. Taking advantage of this, the Director hastily gets up and takes the blade out of her reach. The fact some sickly woman nearly overpowered him wounded his pride and provoked his wrath.
“You ungrateful cur!” He yells, sending a violent kick to Akemi’s side.
Akemi lets out a pained whine as the kick knocks her from her slumped position against the table onto her side, laying on the hard, concrete, floor below. The Director continues his assault, stomping and kicking at her limp form as she desperately tries to crawl away, all the while he curses and belittles her. Akemi was certain she was going to die, certain the Director was going to kill her and then resume his sick experiments on her poor mother. Akemi refused to accept this fate, desperately trying to push on but her body was so weak and every kick send sharp waves of agony through her battered body.
-
Akemi could feel her strength waning as she dragged her nails across the pavement, still trying to claw her way to escape. It is then she feels a distant warmth. Trying to keep her heavy eyelids open, she looks ahead of her at a bright red light on the ground that gradually grows stronger, it is then the Director takes notice.
“What? How - It’s not time yet!” The director exclaims as he turns his attention away from Akemi and to the glowing circle.
As Akemi takes in its vivid red aura, her mind takes her back to when she was younger, laying amongst the rubble with her mother’s heavy body on top of her. She remembers staring at the sky and its brilliant scarlet red hue, not unlike the light she sees now. It strangely brought her a small comfort as she basks in its light and warmth, closing her eyes when the light becomes too much. Though as soon as the light came, it was gone, along with its warmth, much to Akemi’s dismay. Slowly, she reopens her eyes and weakly lifts her head. It is then she sees an inky black, ambiguous, silhouette looming over her. It stands there motionless for a moment before slowly craning its shapeless body to look down at Akemi who stares up in astonishment.
The amorphous figure then kneels down in front of Akemi, what appeared to be its head lazily tilting to one side to almost look at her with childlike curiosity. As she stares at it, she begins to notice its body start to change and morph into a more identifiable one. The silhouette then takes on the form of a young man, his body covered in strange sprawling tattoos, making his skin look like a living Zentangle. His garments were sparse, only consisting of a tattered red fabric he wore like a kilt loosely upon his hips, a strip of cloth fashioned into a headband was tied around his forehead, which was in a similar state to his lower garment. Lastly, his hands and feet were wrapped up in the same ratty fabric.
The strange man peers down at her with piercing golden eyes, before cracking a large, shit-eating, grin. The disturbing look shook Akemi to her very core as she could feel the unnatural and ominous energy the man gave off in waves.
“Man, you look like shit.” He suddenly informs Akemi who blankly stares up at him, not knowing how to respond to that unexpected insult.
“A servant...? How?” The Director made his presence known, “I have yet to summon you, this shouldn’t be possible!”
The strange marked man turns his attention to the Director, standing up as he then stretches out his arms and rests them behind his head with a yawn.
“Cuz ya didn’t, she did.” The man informs the director, making a small nonchalant gesture towards Akemi.
“That can’t be right! She is no mage!” The Director exclaims, “Unless…” He trails off, coming to a realization before turning his attention back to the strange man.
“Heroric Spirit, I beseech you. Abandon your contract with this woman and become my servant!” The Director proposes earnestly.
Meanwhile, Akemi manages to sit up as she watches this strange scene unfold.
She watches as the servant casually approaches the Director, studying him intently with a scrutinizing gaze. The Director watches uneasily as the tattooed man begins to circle around him, looking at him from various angles, and letting out thoughtful hums before finally stopping in front of him. He rubs his chin in deep contemplation before coming to a conclusion.
“Hmm…” He muses as he taps his chin.
“No.” He then says with a smile as he abruptly buries some form of jagged weaponry or tool into the Director’s stomach. This catches both him and Akemi off guard as blood spews from out of the Director’s mouth, his hands shakily grabbing at the strange weapon the man had gored him with.
“W-Why?” The Director asks in a raspy gurgle.
“Cuz you seem to be a helluva lot more boring than her.” The strange man answers with a cheery smile before ripping the weapon out from the Director’s stomach, allowing him to crumple to the ground, a pool of blood forming under him as the deep gash steadily bleeds out. The tattooed man then lets out an exaggerated sigh of exhaustion, as if he had just moved a heavy box rather than stabbed a man, he rolls his shoulders as he does a few stretches before turning towards Akemi with a bright smile.
“Sorry about that, Master! Hope he wasn’t someone important to ya!” He chirps as he starts to approach her, allowing his weapon to dematerialize into black, ash-like, particles that soon vanish into nothing.
Akemi stares mortified at the Director’s twitching body, before slowly turning her gaze at the murderer who had just effortlessly killed him with no regard whatsoever.
“S-Stay away!” Akemi then exclaims when the man then outstretches a hand towards her, causing her to cower and frantically huddle away from him.
He retracts his hand, eyeing her with confusion as he quirks a brow at her reaction as if it was unwarranted.
“Eh? You’re the one who summoned me, now you're telling me to get lost?” He questions her, “I’m getting some serious mix signals here.”
He then crouches down in front of the cowering Akemi as she sheepishly lifts her head, slowly uncovering it with her hands.
“Summoned?” She hesitantly asks him.
“Yeah, to be your servant in this Holy Grail war.” He informs her, which only proved to confuse her more.
“Holy Grail War?” She asks, which causes the man to let out a long, slow, whistle.
“Wow, you have no idea what’s going on do you?” He asks her as she shakes her head, confirming this.
“Pshh- Ha!” The man lets out a laugh, “Wow, what a team we are! A clueless master and her dog shit servant! A match made in hell!” He snorts.
Akemi watches as he heartily chortles about this, rather disturbed by his laughter and only more confused.
“Alright, Alright…” The man starts after calming down from his fit of laughter, “Look’s like I gotta clue you in on all of this.”
“First off are the Magi,” He begins, raising a finger as he then takes a seat in front of Akemi, sitting crisscross as he prepares to give Akemi a much-needed exposition dump.
“Magi, as the name implies, are humans who can use magecraft.” He informs her, “That man I just killed was one of them,” He says gesturing back at The Director’s corpse.
“And so are you.” He tells her, “Or at least, you have enough magi blood to summon a servant.”
Akemi is bewildered by this, not quite sure how to take this. It didn’t sound real though logic seemed to have thrown itself out the window a while ago.
“So… I’m like a witch or something?” Akemi asks skeptically.
“Nah, witches are something different.” He tells her.
“Alright… So what are you? Some sort of demon?” Akemi questions him, earning a chuckle from him.
“Depends on your definition but I guess the correct term would be servant,” He explains, “I am a Heroic Spirit summoned by the Grail to do your killing for you during the war.”
“War? What war and how does that pertain to the Holy Grail?” She asks him.
“The Holy Grail War, it’s a battle amongst mages. Each becoming summoning and becoming the master of a servant who fights in their stead.” He explains.
“The sole winner of this war gets the Grail and it grants whatever wish they desire.” He tells her, doing a grand display with his hands.
“Bullshit,” Akemi exclaims, much to the amusement of the man, “There’s gotta be a catch, ain’t no way there’s some magical wish-granting cup.”
“It's true! The catch being the fact you’re in a war - so you gotta do some killing but also survive long enough to obtain the grail.” He giggles as she looks at him with skepticism.
“And by summoning you, that means I’m now a part of this war?” She asks him.
“Yep!” He exclaims while eagerly nodding.
“And if I decide I don’t want to?” Akemi inquires.
“You can forfeit your Command Seals but as a potential master you’ll still be at risk, you would have to find refuge till the war is over.” He explains and advises her.
“Command Seals?” Akemi asks.
“Oh right! Nearly forgot, all Masters are given a set of Command Seals.” He explains, “You can use them to give me a direct order that I can’t disobey.”
“However, you only get three,” He then elaborates, “If you use up all of them, I am no longer under your control.”
“Oh that’s comforting,” Akemi states sarcastically, somewhat unsettled by that and his large grin wasn’t helping.
“So, Servants, are they all like you?” She questions.
“All like me? Nah, each servant is unique to their class.” He tells her.
“Class, so like, an MMORPG? With knights, mages, and stuff?” Akemi asks, imagining the various classes.
“I dunno what that is.” He admits with a blank smile.
“There are seven standard classes; Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Caster, Rider, and Berserker.” He tells her, holding up a finger with each named class.
“What class are you?” Akemi then questions him, causing him to give a smug little grin.
“I’m the weakest of them all, so much so, I don’t even qualify for any of the standard classes!” He declares in some strange self-deprecating elation, raising his arms up in the air.
“I am Avenger.” He declares, his smirk widening as he watches her reaction.
“You sound like an edgy middle schooler…” Akemi tells him honestly, Avenger letting out a hearty cackle at that comparison.
“Alright, but that’s just your class, what is your true name?” She asks after he manages to calm down.
Akemi watches Avenger, awaiting his answer as he stares for a long moment, apparently thinking.
“Dunno.” He tells her flatly.
“What do you mean, “Dunno”?” Akemi asks as Avenger lets out a heavy sigh, folding his arms behind his head as he leans back.
“I mean, I dunno.” He says once more, “I think your improper summoning of me scrambled my memories.”
“It’s not like it was my intention to summon you!” Akemi hastily defends.
“But in a twisted way,” She starts to say, bowing her head, perking Avenger's attention as he leans in a bit to hear what she had to say.
“I’m glad I did,” She admits, “If you didn’t stop him, I…I.”
Akemi was feeling a confusing mess of emotions. While she had only contempt for the Director, now knowing the truth, it didn’t change the fact she once cared for him. And now he was dead.
“This is so fucked,” Akemi’s voice cracks as she holds her face in her hands, fighting back the tears.
“Why is life so keen on screwing me over? When I thought things might be getting better, things all just got to hell.” Akemi begins to rant.
“I did everything I was supposed to!” She states, “Stayed on my medication, I stopped drinking as much, and I have yet to get fired from my latest job!”
Avenger watches as Akemi continues her outburst, soon rising to her feet and wobbling a bit as she staggers toward the body of the Director.
“But no! You had to be some fucked up, mad doctor, shithead!” She yells at his corpse, pointing an accusatory finger. Akemi then clutches her marked arm, tears beginning to run down her cheeks as she clenches her jaw.
“I-I thought you cared about me…” He utters in a broken whisper, “I thought you were helping us… But you weren’t, me and mother were just some experiment to you!”
Akemi suddenly starts kicking the Director’s lifeless head, “Just a fucking hobby! A little pastime activity to get your sick kicks from!”
Akemi repeatedly kicks his corpse before covering her head as she lets out an anguished wail.
Akemi goes to her mother’s bedside, where she had been laying the entire time. The woman’s chest slowly rises and falls in shallow breaths as Akemi kneels down and takes her bandaged hand, placing it on her cheek as she sobs. Akemi thinks about how her mother might be awake now if only she found out sooner.
Avenger watches impassively at the woman’s broken form as she clings to the limp hand of her mother, her tears staining the gauze that covered it. After a moment of sobbing and seeking empty comfort from her mother, Akemi manages to pull herself together. Drying her eyes as she slowly rises to her feet, she stares down at her mother’s body.
“Avenger,” She then speaks up in a trembling voice, “We need to leave before someone notices the Director isn’t coming back.”
As Akemi starts to push the bed out of the workshop, Avenger lingers for a moment before peering down at the Director’s body while Akemi goes on ahead. Bending down, he then plunges his hand into the man’s chest cavity and rips out his heart.
“Waste not, want not.” Avenger grins to himself as he then holds the heart up. He tilts his head back as he opens his mouth wide and crushes the heart, letting the blood flow into his awaiting mouth.