After Harley Nation's attack, Sunyula refused to head back to her mansion in Trainmor. To her, it would be like admitting defeat. With only two members left alive as bodyguards, she sent Richard, who was wounded, along with one of them back to Trainmor with the escort car, in order to make sure Richard would get proper treatment in time. Meanwhile, Sunyula, Samuel, Lunarey and the remaining bodyguard drove on to the Framstead outpost. Samuel took over the driver's wheel with joy. Deep down, Lunarey figured that he must have done that to avoid sitting next to her in the back seat, which only angered her further. The black bag remained at her feet in the car. The weapons that fired only minutes ago were stashed in it, still loaded. At that moment, when I had to hold that gun and shoot… it felt as if I was truly a part of Lady Dread. It made me feel secure. It made me feel fearless, if only for a second… but it also made me sick.
"Fane grew some balls," Sunyula muttered in spite. "Big balls." She bit her lips. "How dare he try to take me out? He needs to be put down. His whole outpost needs to be put down."
"Sunyula, we can't just rush an attack on them. Harley Nation may have grown few in numbers, but they've been compensating it by hiring professional killers."
"Then figure out a way to hit them hard." Sunyula knows only violence and bloodshed. Triggen said that Fane vigorously tried reasoning with her, but he never got anywhere with it. Was Henrick as ruthless and relentless as she was, or was he more reasonable on such occasions? I wonder…
"I suggest we don't ready our men at Framstead for an attack just yet. Let's think about a more effective way to hurt them."
"Fine," she grunted, unpleased.
"Perhaps we can recruit some allies to help us. Do you think Reus would help?" Samuel asked.
"Reus has his own issues to deal with. He's been suffering heavy losses recently. Apparently those fucking Justicars have been a pain in his ass lately."
"Well, what about Blackburn?"
"Blackburn merely sells us weapons. He's not going to involve himself in a war he has nothing to do with."
"What if we pay him for assistance? His soldiers could inflict substantial damage on those bikers."
"Code Sanguinary are no mercenaries for hire. Suggesting such a thing to him would not only insult him, but also infuriate him greatly. Trust me, Blackburn is a man of honor and principle, among other things." She sighed. "Besides, I'm not inclined to own anyone any favors. I like to deal with my problems myself, head on. We'll deal with Harley Nation ourselves."
"Very well." His hands tightened on the wheel.
Lunarey looked outside her window in despair. She found it hard to understand the world that the people of Lady Dread were living in. Its rules were vicious and harsh, making her feel almost as if she didn’t belong in it. Did Vaikillia fit in it better than me? Did she understand all this need for killing? She looked down at her hands. They were bloody and hurting, a result of the glass that shattered from her window.
"Vaikillia," Sunyula turned her head to her. "Are you alright? You seem quiet."
"I'm… I'm all right," Lunarey said, weakly.
"I'm sorry you had to go through this. I promise you, I will make them pay… for everything they made you go through."
She didn’t want them to pay. She didn’t want more people to die. In her mind, only one person deserved such a fate, and that was Sunyula. "Why didn’t you hear Fane out when he tried to end this war by talking?" Lunarey said, bringing a deadly silence on the car.
"What?" Sunyula looked taken aback.
"Why do you relentlessly keep on going with this war, refusing any offer of peace?"
"Enough talk about peace!" Sunyula snapped. "Sooner or later you're going to have to realize that peace isn’t always an answer."
"Harley Nation has outposts abroad as well. It's only a matter of time before one of them or more would reach out and help them, and if that happens—"
"Fane had been reaching out to them for quite a while now, and I haven’t seen any waves of sleeveless bikers docking at Herkin Port."
"But—"
"I don’t want to hear any more of this nonsense. We'll speak later once we're in Framstead."
The rest of the drive was quiet. Too quiet for Lunarey's taste. Soon the views around her changed to much greener ones, as vast fields of grass carried on the horizon, stretching longer than the eye could see. The city of Framstead was blessed with such views surrounding her, so much so that Lunarey felt sorry for the city itself, for it had to be stained with the presence of Lady Dread. The outpost was located in the middle of the city, in a private facility owned by Sunyula herself. Inside, men of purple were abounding, standing on every corner of the place. Lunarey was admired that so many people were willing to serve her mother, especially knowing that each of them was willing to exert extreme acts of violence in her name. It made her slightly sick as well.
As they entered, Sunyula's face turned from a frown to having a big, teeth-showing smile on it. Her anger was gone within a second. I guess she can't afford to look upset right now.
"Samuel," she heard Sunyula whisper to him. "I'm going to see if something was taken care of. I'll be back shortly."
"Alright," he said.
While Sunyula disappeared into another room, Lunarey drew closer to Samuel. Approaching him from behind, he didn’t see her coming, and once their eyes met, she could sense the anxiety in him.
"Before you say anything," he was the first to speak. "I need you to understand something. This is how it works. This is how it always worked. You… I mean, Vaikillia knew that. She understood it. So don’t look at me like you're disappointed in me or something."
She didn’t know what to say. On one hand, Samuel was the closest thing Lunarey had to a friend and a protector, but on the other, his brutality made him indistinguishable from the other scums she considered Sunyula and her men to be.
"Look," he went on. "At some point, you're going to have to decide. Are you Lunarey or are you Vaikillia Trife?" her initial instinct told her to answer that she was Lunarey, but after giving it a thought for a moment, she realized that it wasn’t such an easy question. Vaikillia accepted the violent world she was living in. The more Lunarey witnessed the events that occurred around her, the more she came to think that perhaps it wasn’t even a matter of choice. Perhaps she had to accept it either way and the longer she refused to do that, the longer she would remain confused, distraught and miserable.
"Lunarey," he stared into her eyes, mesmerizingly. "What do you want, more than anything?"
The answer spewed out of her mouth out of instinct, as if she had prepared for that question ahead. "To be rid of all fears."
"Then embrace this life," he kneeled on one knee before her. "Stop cowering and shying away from the things you see around you. Stop seeing us as the ones out of place and realize… that it's everyone else that's out of place. The world we live in… however bloody and horrid it may be… that is the only true world." He put his hands on her shoulders. Their touch felt comforting, yet also familiar. It wasn’t the first time she felt as if her subconscious was trying to tell her something.
"Vaikillia," she suddenly heard Sunyula behind her. "Come here, please. I want to show you something."
Samuel rose back to his feet and backed away, his eyes still glaring at her. Turning to Sunyula, she noticed a crooked smile on her face, one which she didn’t like the sight of. Sunyula escorted her to the same room into which she disappeared moments ago. "I've been preparing something special for you. Something I thought you might like," Sunyula said.
The room they entered was dimly lit and had an overpowering foul stench that made Lunarey instantly cover her mouth and nose. The room was completely empty, with only doors on its walls. Most of the ceiling lights weren't working. Only one was lit continuously, and another one was flickering. It was as if no one cared to bother taking care of that room, or rather preferred it stayed that way. Sunyula walked through the room seemingly carefree. The stench didn’t seem to bother her. She almost appeared as if she was in her natural place. Several sounds of moaning came from a few of the doors around her. Though she couldn’t make out any words of those moans, she quickly realized that they were cries of pain and despair. Looking around, she noticed blood trails leading into some of the doors. It didn’t take her long to figure out where she was. Torture cells. This is where Lady Dread keeps their victims and torture them however they see fit. Most of the times, the people who end up here are the ones who loaned money from Lady Dread and failed to pay it back. In her heart, she knew that whatever violence and bloodshed she witnessed so far couldn't possibly match the ones that took place here. This is where blood is spilled ten times more. This is the embodiment of Lady Dread.
"Mother," she said. "W-What are we doing here?"
"Well, I've noticed how distraught you've been ever since we reunited. And I know a lot of it has to do with your memory loss and the fact you need to reacquaint yourself with everyone and everything around you, but… I also know it has something to do with the fact that you had a good friend who backstabbed you."
"Wait… are you talking about—?"
"I believe her name was Kelia Hopewell." A dark, sinister halo suddenly surrounded Sunyula in Lunarey's eyes. All of a sudden, her mothr appeared before her like a dark harbinger. "I know what it's like to feel betrayed. I know what it's like to have someone you love and care about hurt you in a way you never imagined he would." The two reached a certain door. There were no moaning coming from inside, but Lunarey could hear someone's deep breaths inside. "Now, I also know how good it felt when I had my revenge on the person that hurt me like that, so I figured I would let you have it too." Sunyula opened the door. It creaked with each inch it opened. Lunarey's eyes opened wide with shock when she saw the girl who was once her friend sitting in the room.
Kelia's mouth was gagged shut with a piece of tape. Her arms and legs were bound with cable ties. Blood spatters covered her body and face. She had already taken a couple of beatings by now.
Kelia raised her head, slowly, fatigued. When her eyes met Lunarey's, she looked happy for a moment, only to look horrified once she spotted Sunyula beside her.
"Kelia…" Lunarey whispered under her breath. Within a moment, emotions of both rage and sympathy flushed her body.
"She betrayed you, Vaikillia," Sunyula said into her ear, like a serpent, her words ever so venomous. "She sold you away, pretending to be your friend, only to make a profit." Lunarey ground her teeth. "Now is your chance," the serpent went on, hissing in her ear. "You know what to do. The feel burns in your bones." For once, Sunyula spoke words that rang truth to Lunarey.
Taking a few steps towards Kelia, Lunarey clenched her hands into fists, her eyes burning red with fury. Kelia started screaming through the gagging tape, unable to make any words audible. Her spree of screaming was cut abrupt by a heavy punch that landed on her face, gratitude of Lunarey. Lunarey's hand hurt from the punch, yet the feeling of satisfaction quickly made it subside. She went on to give Kelia another slap with the back of her hand. A bruise quickly appeared on Kelia's face, swollen and purple. "I thought you were my friend!" Lunarey screamed, tears running down her face. She landed another slap with the back of her hand. The bruise became more swollen and purple, taking on the shade of the same organization Lunarey loathed. "You were the only person I ever trusted! How could you do it to me?! How could you pretend the way you did, only to sell me off like that?!" she launched another punch at her. Kelia whimpered, her head stooped down.
"I trusted you!" she screamed, slapping Kelia again. "I loved you!" she slapped her once more. "But you lied to me!" at first it felt good, yet slowly it started to feel less and less so. "You didn’t see me as a friend!" suddenly Samuel's words rang in her ear. "You only saw me as quick cash!" The world we live in, however bloody and horrid it may be, that is the only true world. Those were his words.
Lunarey looked down at her hands. She could no longer tell her own blood from Kelia's. She looked back at Sunyula and saw a large smile of pleasure smeared on her face. No doubt she looked like a proud mother, more than anything else. Lunarey stepped back, looking horrified. Her flames of rage had been extinguished, and only the ashes of regret remained.
Oh, god, what am I doing? She panicked. This isn’t me. This isn’t the kind of person I am. At that moment, she heard the ringing of metal in her ear. Looking beside her, she saw the two blades of Scarlet Thorn, finally out of its sheath, held in Sunyula's hand. The blades were bright and sharp, perfect in their form, with no dents or scratches. One could barely notice they were ever used. Sunyula rarely uses her sword, she reminded herself. "Do it," the serpent hissed once more. "Finish it."
Lunarey started to shiver as Sunyula placed the handle of the sword in Lunarey's hand. The leather straps that wrapped around the handle felt soft and comfortable, yet the weight of two blades felt like a burden to Lunarey. She had to struggle to keep the sword raised.
Lunarey looked at Kelia. The girl who was once her friend was now covered in blood, beaten and tortured. She was barely conscious. Her eyes kept on flickering on and off. Her mouth was open, yet not even moans of pain were coming out of it now.
She knew that what she did was a step into the same world she had a hard time accepting, and the sword in her hand was another step, a bigger one. "No…" she said, weakly. "I can't…" tears gathered in her eyes. "I can't do it. I can't."
Sunyula grunted and then sighed. She took the sword away from Lunarey. "It's alright," Sunyula said, looking at ease. "You'll get there. After all, you're the daughter of the infamous Lady Dread and the granddaughter of Henrick Trife. Killing is in your nature. It's in your blood." Sunyula stepped towards Kelia. She didn’t seem to have any trouble holding the heavy sword.
"W-What are you doing?" Lunarey asked, fearfully, through her tears.
"Let me show you how it's done," Sunyula said. She placed the blades near Kelia's throat.
"No—!" the blades slid through, tearing gashes at Kelia's throat. Blood instantly poured out of them like waterfalls. Kelia's eyes rolled back, as well as her head. Lunarey looked away, not able to see the gruesome image, yet the sounds of Kelia choking haunted her ears nonetheless.
During Kelia's final moments, Samuel's words echoed once more in Lunarey's head. The world we live in, however bloody and horrid it may be, that is the only true world.
