The Red Hand

Recollection 2 – Foreshadowing.

*DING* *DING* *DING* *DING* *DING*

"Why... Why must everything be chaos with her..." Hishya sighed as she walked down the main road in the Imperial Capital. She'd come here after a cheeky message had flashed into her inbox from Akagi which stated 'Bout to pull a pro gamer move in the Capital, you should come and watch! XP'. Naturally, this made Hishya get worried, and with the recent clashes that the Assassin had had with some Imperial forces, she knew exactly what this was about.

{Seriously, they touch one stupid NPC, and you go off and do all this? Is that catgirl REALLY worth all this destruction?!?} (Hishya)

As Hishya continued toward the Imperial Capital she watched as soldiers and civilians ran around in panic. Akagi had unleashed a major assault on the Imperial Capital, and Hishya figured that it wasn't going to stop until the Empire was brought to its knees. "And of course, Serimonica and her two stooges decided to play Hero and charge ahead ready to fight the fucking Shadow monster head-on... Despite being told we were just here to talk..." She sighed as she figured the three tagalongs had already engaged the Assassin. Hishya didn't want to bring along anyone else for this exact reason, but the Assault Team had insisted that she bring backup in case things escalated.

{I told them that fighting Akagi was a fucking stupid idea, but NOOOOOO. Don't listen to me! I only got my ass kicked last time! Fuck, the only reason I'm alive right now is so she can hold that embarrassing picture of me over my head! Damn you, you fucking idiot! I swear I'll get revenge on you one day!} (Hishya)

"I just hope she doesn't kill them... We really don't need a smaller Team if we're going to take down Dorthy..." Hishya grumbled as explosions went off around the city, causing fires to rage in the background as more soldiers were wiped out. The Imperial Capital was one of, if not the most fortified location in FWO, and yet Akagi and her forces had attacked with impunity, plunging the city into chaos and slaughtering many in a reprisal raid that seemed more like an event than a player driven action.

Continuing to the palace's main entrance, Hishya was greeted with broken down doors, dead guards, and general destruction, seemingly from Akagi's frontal, and obviously personal, assault.

{Aren't you supposed to be an assassin?!? What kind of assassin charges in head first like this?!? You're completely wasting your class abilities!} (Hishya)

"No mercy, huh? Yeah... That's expected I suppose..." Hishya said as she walked around the dead guards, entering the palace. The inside was awash with blood and traces of battle filled the hallways. Portraits of the Imperial family were torn to shreds and it was quickly apparent to Hishya that Akagi was pissed, taking this whole ordeal personally as she carved her way inside. "Now that I think about it, I really hope she doesn't go all fucking quiet like she did that time the cat in question got catnapped. I can't handle that shit again."

{Somehow her not saying a word is MORE horrifying than when she uses that creepy voice!} (Hishya)

Continuing onward, Hishya followed the sounds of blades clashing and blood-curdling screams that echoed from deeper within the palace until Hishya eventually found herself in the throne room just in time to witness Akagi positioned to drive her blade through a blonde-haired Elven woman's chest. Serimonica was a relatively new addition to the Assault Team, but she and her two friends were quite skilled and high-level and were expected to help lead the Assault Team's charge through the next World Boss. Though based on her kneeling and bloody position before the Assassin, it would seem that it all amounted to nothing in the face of true skill.

"Akagi, stop!" Hishya called out to her one-time friend, pleading with her to spare Serimonica's life, but it was all for not as the Assassin swiftly slid her blade straight into the Elf's sternum, dropping her HP to zero and causing her to die, her body slumping to the floor as Akagi pulled her blade out.

{Well fuck... Probably should've moved a bit faster...} (Hishya)

"You're a little late to save them, Hero." Akagi said as she flicked her blade while mocking Hishya's title. "You should've been here just a few minutes sooner if you wanted to prevent the inevitable." She smirked. “Or were you just too scared to face me?”

"Akagi!" Hishya growled at her, though despite her tone her entire body was trembling as she stood before the Assassin. She hadn't seen her in person since her defeat at Hassan six months prior, and frankly she didn't want to. "Why did you kill them?!? There was no reason for that!"

"I'd say trying to kill me is plenty of reason." Akagi scoffed as she sheathed her blade and turned, taking a seat on the Imperial throne. "They started spouting all sorts of heroic nonsense about how I needed to pay for my crimes, and blah blah blah. I got tired of listening to them, so I chose to respond to their ramblings by ending them." She laughed.

"You..." Hishya locked eyes with the Assassin. She wanted to draw her blade and avenge the three player's deaths, but her entire body was frozen in terror. Their last engagement had left a deep scar in the Hero's mind, and she was well aware that something wasn't right with the woman in front of her. "You can't just keep getting away with all this. Its... You just can't keep doing as you please!"

"And who pray tell is going to stop me?" Akagi asked as she reached into her inventory and pulled out the severed head of a red-haired man. "Certainly not the Imperial Knights." She tossed the head toward Hishya where it rolled in front of her, its dead eyes meeting her own. “They couldn't even protect their liege-lord. How pitiful. I'd say the should kill themselves to atone for their shame, but I've already seen to that.” She cackled.

{Is... Is that the fucking Imperial Crown Prince?!?} (Hishya)

"And as we both already know, certainly you're capable of stopping me either." Akagi's distorted voice caused Hishya to freak out internally, and she momentarily had a panic attack. "Though I'm always willing to prove that as many times as you wish." She smirked as she leaned on the throne's arm. “I've still got enough energy to go for round two if you want.”

Hishya's entire body screamed at her to run, but she couldn't. Terrified of death and standing before a triumphant Akagi who was undoubtedly flanked from the shadows by her minions, Hishya knew that she could be killed in an instant if she made the wrong move, and her thoughts became consumed by the fear of death..

{I... I don't want to die... I don't want to die...} (Hishya)

"Is something wrong?" Akagi asked the visibly shaking Hishya. "You're acting as if I'm some kind of monster." She laughed as her voice distorted again. “You wound me, Hishya. How could you think such things about me? I thought we were best friends?”

"You... You are one..." Hishya barely managed to speak. "There's no other explanation for what you've done here today, and what you've been doing these last three years."

{What the hell happened to Akagi?!? Did I do this?!? Is it my fault?!? Or was she always just this fucked up?!?} (Hishya

"I'm hurt!" Akagi feigned being shocked and upset by Hishya's words. "How could my true bestest buddy in the whole wide world say such horrible things to me?!? I think I'm going to cry!" She said as she pretended to cry into her sleeve.

"Why? Why?!?" Hishya yelled, finally mustering up a bit of courage. "Why are you doing all this?!? Why are you killing, destroying, and making people miserable?!? I've known you for years, and I while knew that you were a bit off, why the moment we got into FWO did you go off the deep end?!? Why would you become someone who destroys a city and kills her fellow human beings?!?" She'd asked things like this in the past, but never got a clear answer and with her frustration at a boil she decided to ask again, this time with a bit more force. "What happened to the Akagi I knew for all those years? The Akagi that bullshitted with me until the wee hours of the morning about how much she hated her family? About how much she loved gaming?!? Where did she go?!?"

"She never went anywhere." Akagi replied, lazily. "She's still here, just changed."

"People don't just change from a fucking Otaku loner into a psychopathic murderer!" Hishya hissed, though was still unable to reach for her weapon due to fear for her life. “That's not how people work! So tell me where my friend went!”

"In this place..." Akagi said as she slowly sat upright. "In this place, I'm free, Hishya. Free to do as I wish, unlike that hell they call reality." She continued. "In the real world, I'm nothing but a weak, helpless, fool who can do nothing but bend to the whims of those with power... But in here? In here... The only thing that matters is power. Power to enforce your will on others, and as long as you have power, then you can do whatever you want." She said. “And I have that power... The power to do whatever I want.”

"So, what? This is just you wanting to flip the script? To go from being the bullied to the bully?!?" Hishya let out an exasperated laugh. "How immature."

"Says the kid who got people killed because they were a threat to your position in the spotlight." Akagi went for the kill shot, and hit Hishya where it hurt the most. "I'd advise not throwing stones from that glass house of yours, Hishya. Because I can bring it down Whenever. I. Want." She laughed.

"I... I don't give a damn about that anymore." Hishya replied with a head shake. "It's not worth it... What I did..."

{What I've done...} (Hishya)

"Oh? What's this?" Akagi's eyes briefly widened in surprise at Hishya's words. "Hishya the Hero is feeling remorse for her past actions? Well, I'll be dammed! I guess I need to look out for flying Razor Boars!"

"Make fun of me all you want, but at least I've come to understand just how horrible of a person I was." Hishya retorted with a derisive laugh. "But you... I get the feeling that you'll never repent, even after we get out of here, and you'll probably continue being like this..."

"I will not apologize for doing what makes me happy." Akagi stood up from the throne and approached Hishya, slowly. "If the world wishes to judge me for what I did...." She stopped just in front of her. "Then perhaps I'll just have to destroy them too." She smiled in her face.

"We both know that no matter how strong you are in-game, we'll just go back to how we were the moment this is all over." Hishya noted that at the end of the day this was all just a game and none of it carried over into real life. "So how are you going to destroy the world as a single girl? You won't have your powers or your followers. Even if you aren't punished for your actions in here you still won't be able to do anything back on Earth." She found Akagi's comment ridiculous.

{Even you with all you bullshit are just a normal human being. In game, you're terrifying, but in the real world... You're just a weak human like the rest of us... Yeah...} (Hishya)

"I don't know how it will all come together, but something in the back of my mind is telling me that everything will work out in the end." Akagi smiled as she pat Hishya on the head. "But let's leave that for later. Right now I've got other things to attend to so I'll leave cleaning up this mess in your capable hands." She laughed as she morphed into a shadow and vanished before Hishya's eyes. "See ya later, kid." Her voice echoed for a moment before all went quiet in the Imperial throne room. Akagi had departed along with her followers, and moment after she'd vanished Hishya fell to her knees as the tension left her body.

"What... What the hell happened to my friend?" Hishya asked herself as she sat on the floor, unable to move due to body tremors. "Was she always like this or..."

{Did I really cause this too? Was this... Was this my fault? Did she only become like this because I turned my back on her? Did I... Did I make Akagi this way?} (Hishya)