Fate (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 31

JOSEPH
"I remember everything now."

I feel shivers going down my spine the moment Naib came to me, the words remember everything being mouthed out of him.

Michiko had told me that Naib had once been in a deep love with Jack the Ripper before something that made them this way happened, and that the Mercenary has never been able to remember anything about that moment ever since.

But everything Naib said....
Could it be..... that?

I bit my inner lip and let my fingers fidget randomly, which is something I would do everytime I feel uneasy.

My head feels like splitting inside my skull. I still have so much going on inside my head that I can barely come into my own awareness, yet here more things are crashing down into me.

"You might not know this, Joseph..." The Mercenary continued.
"But Aesop knew about this all along."

I feel like being kicked in the gut at the mention of Aesop's name.

He's been through a lot, yet he still makes time for Naib.

I stared at Aesop. It has been one full week since the incident and the Embalmer is still showing no signs of waking up.
Instead, it was the other way around.

Emily had told me that he is now in the state where breathing on his own is a strain for him now that she had given him an oxygen mask to breathe.

That is just unbelievable!

I still have it playing in my head, the moment when Aesop managed to open his eyes -even for a split second- before slipping back to unconsciousness. He even tried his best to move his hands!

Everything Emily had said about his results on her daily checkup today, that all should be a lie!

I even gave myself a hard slap in the face. I really am hoping that everything that is going on at the moment is nothing but a bad dream that will all be over once I managed to slap myself awake.

The harsh fact is that, it's not.

I had my eyes on the gifts all the other survivors had gotten for Aesop. All untouched. I can even notice the bits of dusts crusting every single thing.

Please, Aesop. We need you.
I need you.

More tears started forming in my eyes when the ER door opened, revealing Xie Bi An, his hands holding a piece of paper.

"We gave a verdict on Jack the Ripper."

Hunters' Side
Two hours before Jack was given the atonement he deserves.

Flabbergasted. Silence. For none of the hunters could process what is there happening before their eyes.

Naib was there, both fists on the table.
Sweat coated his whole body, no words coming out of his lips as everyone's attention gazed at him, still cannot process what the Mercenary had just said.

"Naib, are you sure about this?" Bi An's gentle voice chimed in, which eventually snapped everyone's focus to that of Naib and his rage.

"Do I look like I'm lying?! Huh?!" The Mercenary deliberately yelled.
"I have always thought the White Guard is good, his intelligence is way ahead compared to the Officials of this goddamn manor. Tch. Guess all the sayings are nothing but a bunch of baloney!"

Xie Bi An cannot help but feel like being  rammed over by the Mercenary. He had known Naib for years during in and out of matches. Naib Subedar had always been the clumsy guy and that who likes to make jokes.

Never would he expect that behind all that lies the personality of someone different.... someone with an unbreakable toughness.

The Mercenary had his legs kicking the table, the whole tableware shaking as impact, knowing the fact that none of the hunters said anything.

"Proof?! Do you need proof?! After an incident like that happened?! Fine, if you need proof, this is proof. All you fucking need to know that I really am aware of what I am doing and that I am telling the truth!"

Naib then pulled his hoodie off his head, revealing a stitch mark that had made all its way from the top of his head to his eyebrows. Not to mention he also took his coat off, exposing his scarred hands to the hunters before him.
"Isn't all this enough for all you doofheads to understand?!"

"You little- watch your manners!" Joker said, only to have Michiko squeezing his palms.
"Joker, please. Not now..." The Geisha said.

The Smiley Face was about to yank the firm grip off him when Michiko spoke again, this time to Xie Bi An.

"Everything Naib said is true. He and Jack had known each other in the past....."

                             ***
Jack sat on his bed, himself being locked away from his surroundings.

Usually he would be going in and out of his side of the manor, his discreet eyes looking through the same match details over and over no matter how much everyone wants him to stop. He would also be having talks with Hastur, telling each other how they have been doing, and the fact that the Feaster makes a good listener to him.

But as for now, everything is just not the same.

None of his hunter mates, even Hastur himself, bothered to give his room door a knock.

Hastur would still talk to him, but the tone in the Feaster's voice is far away from having the feels they had once shared.

The Ripper stood up and reached for the mirror. Ever since what he did to Aesop, not only that the Embalmer is being strained, he is too.

He took his skull mask, the one that he had made exclusively for BlackJack. The one he had bragged to Joseph as he also revealed his human face to that of the Photographer.

It did not took any single hesitation; the Ripper threw his mask on the ground, before stomping on it, his lips muttering words.

"What on earth have I done?! What have I fucking become?!"

The scene replayed in his head in a train of thoughts. The look on Aesop's face. The amount of blood coming out. The way his claws had pierced the Embalmer's chest, nearly having Death greet the latter.

He closed his eyes as he sobbed, for Hastur, despite not talking to him as much, still somehow managed to let him know about Aesop.

This is not what I wanted.... The Ripper muttered again. He had lost his will to talk.

It was not long before a harsh knock was heard on his door, the Ripper being startled in the process.

The Ripper looked up through the peephole, only to have his heartbeat rocketing even more as he noticed the one standing before his door with a stern look on the face.

It was Naib.