Honkai Impact 3rd: Don't Die For Me Book 2 Purgatory

Chapter 4 Bait

Vera didn't show herself in front of Otto for the past few days. Otto noticed her absence after the first day and prepared some treats to comfort her. If he even could. He spoke to her from outside her door every day, sometimes for hours. A mountain of bagged sweets soon occupied the hallway outside her door. The ax she worked so hard to win back was untouched as well. His efforts bore no fruit. Everything she worked for in the past few months, all she had suffered in the past few months had become flawed and meaningless.

"Vera, I know what you're going through. I put Kallen through much the same. I'm not the brother you knew but I'm still your elder brother. Please reach out for help. If it's not me that's ok. Maybe one of your friends. Richards or Shakespeare. You deserve to live a happy life. A life I-"

Otto didn't finish his sentence as flooding depression flushed his mind to his heart. He wiped a tear from his eyes and got up from his sitting position, back against the door. The rich azure green carpet outside the embroidered white oak doors shifted under his weight.

"I want you to live happily."

Otto walked away to get back to his lab. He still had a promise to keep to Glory Schariac. His progress was slow but he was restoring Eleanor to her human state. The horns she had grown remained but with a combination of her human blood and a particularly potent form of the plague serum, Otto could restore her peachy skin color. The neon vein network on the surface of her skin was no more. The only issue besides the horn was the pitched black core above her heart. If he didn't remove it, he feared it could become a source of endless trouble for those who lived near her grave.

'The skin around the area is permanently tensed. No normal surgical tools can penetrate it. I don't want to carve Eleanor up.'

Drooping shoulders and shuffling feet were how new habits. His joints were like old creaky gears. His legs were as brittle and balanced as strands of hay. The taint of crimson of loss had corrupted every happy memory he archived. He could see it even through his gloves. Hands soiled deep in Moab's Dead Sea. The angels that descended to strike him down were chained by his guile. Not even the one above all, if he existed, could cast a world-ending disaster to end his life. No matter how much Otto desired it to.

Vera heard it all from under her covers. Fear prevented her from responding to Otto's words. The being outside had her brother's voice and she wanted to believe still it was her brother. But her brother wasn't a murderer, there was no way he would murder her sister. Her world had collapsed once more and she didn't know how to fix it.

'Reach out? To who?'

Vera thought for a moment and a certain red-haired petite woman appeared in her mind's eye. She was the only friend Vera truly had. Maybe she should visit her.

Bits of will lifted Vera out of her slunk. She released herself from under her velvet soft cotton sheets and rolled off her exquisite canopy bed. Its silky curtains parted as her feet touched the soft bear pelt carpet just beside her bed.

Otto did care for her. From the moment she came to Koleston he made sure she lived better than royalty. He gave her an education fit for a queen and pampered her with brotherly love. She couldn't ignore what he's done for her, she wasn't like Kallen.

After peaking her head out of her door she quickly sorted all the sweets Otto had baked for her. Macaroons, chocolates, rock candy, and all her favorites were safely stored within her snack pantry. After some hesitation, Vera also rested her ax against the weapon rack within her room. Simple clothes were fitted just before Vera took off to find guidance. She walked past the safety of the Apocalypse gates prepared to understand a new world. Hope-filled, violet hues glowed softly in her heart like Hackmanite stone, completely oblivious to the drifting red feathers that flocked above.