"I have never met anyone like you."
"You matter. You're the world to me."
Naib jolted out of his bed, sweat pooling his body. These few days have never been good on him. The bad headaches that would get to him once in a few hours and his intense body cramps had made him have no choice but to have himself being taken to the manor's ER.
He moved his both legs, in which is still a big strain for him. Little did he know that he would wake up to something that is beyond fathomable.
"William! Put more pressure in the bleeding spot!"
"I'm trying! It won't stop!"
Naib forced his eyes to open wider, resulting in a surge of pain to rush through his head the second time. Despite the amount of pain his head had put him in, the little voice in his heart keeps on telling him that he should take a look at the scene happening right next to his bed.
Emily? William? Why are they in a rush?
William's athletic being was moving frantically here and there, with his both hands holding into bloody rags. The panicked Forward would also yell out random curses as Emily kept on flooding him with commands.
It was when the Mercenary's eyesight started clearing up as he noticed the man lying unconscious on the bed next to his.
Aesop. The embalmer that happened to be his best friend.
Naib froze as his mind processes what is there before his eyes. His best friend is there, with three angry scratch wounds on his now undressed chest. Not to mention the amount of rags that had been bloodstained.
The moment Naib managed to take notice of Aesop's wounds, his headache worsened.
"William, I'll take care of the rest! You go alert everyone about this, and please alert the hunters that Aesop should not be put in any matches for the time being!"
Those scratches. Those.... scratches.....
I don't know what..... but why is it.... familiar?
Hunters' Side
"Jack the Ripper. What on Earth made you think you are even allowed to carry out something like that?! What did you fucking do?!"
The Hunters' Side of Oletus is just as chaotic with that of the Survivors'. No one, even Hastur himself, would expect something like this would happen, and what makes it even more of a problem is the look on Jack's face the moment he made his way back to the manor.
Instead of remorse and guilt, the feeling of satisfaction was drawn in the Ripper's eyes as he took his mask off and wiped the bloodstain off his claws.
"Jack. Answer me!" Hastur said as he shoved the tall hunter into a sitting position.
"Tch." The Ripper said, deliberately taking his green overcoat off.
"I ain't talking to you nor everyone here anymore. Look at you all, rooting for survivors and even forgetting your main roles as hunters. You are all rulebreakers. Wonder why I even made you all hunters. Tch."
Jack then spat towards the floor, his attention on his bloodied shirt that he always wore under his coat.
"Ew. His blood had gotten all over me. What a letdown."
That was when he felt a hard force ramming his body towards the wall.
"Jack. The. Ripper." Hastur said, his orange eyes started glowing red as his hands squeezing the Ripper's collar.
"You fucker! How could you break your own rules! Just because you're an official doesn't make you any different from the others!"
"Me? Breaking my own rule? Tch. Hastur, you need to have your tentacles forming a new brain for your dumbass head. That Photoboy was the one breaking the rules. In fact, he came here without any approvals. He also did the action of prohibited relationship. I'm just doing what's right and you won't stop me!"
Hastur deliberately had his hand slapping the Ripper as the latter finishes his words.
"That's it, Hastur. Stop!" Said a deep voice from behind the two.
The Feaster looked backwards to see that the WuChangs, this time having Xie Bi An taking over the talking role.
"There's no need to cause more chaos. Don't add fire to another fire. Let your hands go of that guy."
"Bi An! No! He... he wounded a survivor to death! Not to mention he also played in a very unfair way! Why would you still defend him-"
"Hastur." Bi An said, a stern tone he talks in.
"Come with me. Just listen to whatever I have to say."
The Feaster sighed as he nodded his okay, then walked behind Bi An towards the lounge, letting the White Guard lead the way.
JOSEPH
"I... love.... you.... Joseph....
Those words. The words that happen to be the biggest source of pain and loss that I have ever experienced in my life.
They say love is the greatest source of happiness to people's lives the moment they say it out loud to those they treasure and all, but none of it has actually happened to me.
In fact, those words happen to be said just moments before bad losses.
"Fuck it!!!!"
I slammed my fist on the table as tears streamed down my face. The scene that happened before me in the Red Church was still clear inside my head.
Aesop. How Jack had violently placed his claws right towards his chest. How he, despite the pain that I cannot even imagine how bad he is in, still somehow managed to pull his smile towards me.
Yet I did not even bother to do anything that could have saved him.
***
"Claude!"
"Joseph...." His twin brother said, tears streaming down his blue eyes as more coughs escaped his chest.
Claude's sickness had worsened after a few years and despite the number of treatments given, it still tolls him the way rust goes through iron.
"Are you okay? Did you get enough sleep? Do you need more blankets to keep you warm?"
Claude tried answering him, but another coughing fit escaped his lips.
To Joseph's surprise, blood started pouring out of his twin's nose and mouth.
He did not need anyone telling him what to do. He had to help. He has to.
As if young Joseph's day couldn't getcany worse, their dad came in. Right when Joseph's hands were holding on his twin.
"What are you doing, trash?!" The dad yelled out as he ripped their grips apart.
"Don't you dare have your filthy hands on my son!"
Joseph froze, anger building in him. Over him and Claude's childhood, he had always been the one to take all the pain. He was never loved. He was abused.
But now that he is a teenager, he is beyond aware of his dad's actions and something in him had triggered.
He was about to lash it out when his twin lost consciousness, his face being pale than ever, with blood still running down his nose.
***
"He fucking got him! And I did nothing! I should have at least teleported myself to the Red Church yet I was staring at that monitor like an idiot!"
Michiko had made all her way to my room the moment she saw me coming back here. A few things she wants to say, she said, but I am beyond aware of what it will be.
"Joseph. No. It wasn't your fault. At all. Jack is the one who should be blamed. And we will have him get what he deserves. We definitely will."
"That doesn't change the fact that he had done something horrible! Even with Jack being punished and all, but if Aesop has no rate of surviving..."
".....that still won't change a thing..."
I broke into more tears. Claude's passing happening before my eyes years back was still clear inside my head and there is no way I'm letting someone close to me slip away the second time.
Michiko was still trying to console me when I noticed Bi An making his way to where me and Michiko are.
"Two things. First of all, Emily just sent us an alert. No matches will be held as we still need to talk about Jack's punishment, and for the second... I guess Imma just say it, because I don't want any more tears to flow down...."
My heart felt like leaping its way out of my chest. Could it be.....
"You, Joseph. Emily is looking for you and only you. Just to point it out...
Aesop survived."