An Illusion of Blood.

[Shinku Kamogaya]

Warm. The substance was warm. His ears rang and felt a taste in his mouth. His right arm was on fire, and he could't breath. His lung felt, empty. Realizing what had happened, Shinku gritted his teeth and stumbled against the wall behind him, as the snow below him was painted with the crimson elixir that flowed through his veins. Sliding down the wall, he could here sirens in the distance, and the figure that shot him disappearing. How... did this happen? Was he a failure after all? Were Ayden's words True? His eyes... they felt heavy and his body felt cold. His mind was starting to fail him, as blackness sunk in..


hours later

The voices. He.. heard voices. They mentioned him. He felt weak and paralyzed. His eyes barely managed to open to see his surroundings. It.. It was a room. Plain white, with the distant beep of... was that a heart monitor? He looked to see the blurred zig zag lines move in unison with the distorted beeps. His heart felt like it was speeding up, and he didn't know how he got here. But as soon as he surveyed his foggy surroundings, he noticed an emptiness beside him. He tried to curl his right hand's fingers into a fist.

nothing..

His mind was racing at this point, as he wheezed a bit, trying the same, yet useless attempt once more.

NOTHING

Turning his head to the side, he saw what made him sick to his stomach. A bruised, cauterized stump. His eyes widened as adrenaline started to make his vision clearer. There were two security guards by his door, and a nurse reading his vitals. HE only felt a fearful anger as he extended his arm out. She turned to him in surprise, as she began to speak in an accented amestrian. She could tell he wasn't from here."Y-You're Awake! Please just try to stay calm for me. If you're in pain, I can give you a seda-"Shinku lurched towards her quickly, speaking with a quiet rage."Where is my arm?!" She took a few step back, as he could see the pity in her eyes, as she looked solemn." You were found in an alley way shot to death. T-The cold slowed the rate of infection, but by the time you were found and received attention, gangrene set in.. You were shot 8 times, three in the arm and 5 in the torso.." Shinku's mind at this point was blank. Pieces of the puzzle were falling in place now. He.. was almost killed by that man.. Ayden."We did what we could. I'm sorry.." Shinku smiled as he sprung into swift action,ignoring the searing pain that took place in his chest. He had grabbed a hold of the woman, taking the nearby syringe that laid on the table and holding it to her jugular.

The two guards raised their pistols, shouting drachman in a hurried manner as he held the woman close to him with his injured arm, holding the needle in the other. Slowly he smirked some as he shouted." Give me my gear and drop your guns or the woman dies! DO IT YOU FUCKS!" The man obviously understood what seemed to be a pretty universal language as they dropped their weapons and proceed to the cabinet. They slid his coat, pants and two pistols to him as nodded in approval."NOW GET OUT!" The men acknowledge his demands as they left. Shinku tossed the nurse away as he rushed over, locking and barring the door with a chair. The nurse sat against the wall, watching him as he put on his cargo pants, boots, then the back holster for his two pistols before completing the set with his black and red overcoat. The nurse was tearing up, as Shinku holstered one pistol, while chambering the other as he looked out the third story window."If you keep this up, you're gonna die. Please stop!" Shinku turned back as he as looked at her. She was innocent in all of this, one of those people who wanted to help. She helped save him, so he was a little grateful."I've got things to do, dear." Shinku fired a round into the tempered glass as it shattered into a million shards. He reached over the end table to retrieve his fingerless leather gloves, slipping them on as he perched on the window sill.

It was a bit down. There were a few bushes that could help cushion him, but he knew it would hurt. As he counted down in his head, he exhaled slowly as he slipped off, falling down below.

The fall seemed to happen forever, despite the three story drop. Landing on the bush, he bounced off and landed on his back, his eyes widening in pain as his chest wound opened up from the stress, hacking up blood from his mouth as he cursed. He had to get up. He had to get out of here. He wasn't gonna die a failure. Not like this. He pressed himself up with his one hand as he stumbled forward, as he made a hurried limp towards the woods that surrounded the hospice.

The cold was.. it was unbearable. He could feel blood running down his chest, as his digits started to curl up in the cold. He was numb. He was numb mentally and physically. He had hit the wall of his sanity. He had been running in an awkward sprint now as he breathed heavily, feeling the blood run down his chin. His strength was fading in this icebox. As he came across a road at the edge of the forest, he tumbled down the hill some as he laid at the edge of the road.

Was... this it? Would he die like an animal? He wondered if this is what his victims felt like at the brink of life and death. The gray clouds gently rained their frozen tears on him, feeling the snow blanket him ever so gently. It was comforting to say the least. He.. he felt scared, yet he felt glad and safe. Closing his eyes slowly, all he could hear now, was his fading heartbeat and the wind howling around his frigid body.


Was this the end?

[Guest]

Drachma was home and yet at the same time, it wasn't. This Drachma was years before Tatyana had even been born and the buildings about were all bits and pieces of a whole that she didn't know or remember. This was her father's world, one that he was controlling at the time with the help of some woman if Tatyana could recall? Bah, it didn't matter. This version of the man she knew was not the man she knew. This man wasn't her father. He was the same DA, same design and looks, similar personality, but the age was all off and his mind was a mess. At least, that was what she perceived. God knew where her mother was in the cold lands of Drachma. One day they would understand and her own sequence would be spurred into the world and one day lead to where she was then. It was a loop, but a chunk of it she couldn't yet remember. As if someone had locked away a part of her own mind to keep a balance safe. How ironic it was to her that to save herself she had to kill herself and then lose herself. This was all the past now and yet, it was also her future in an odd twisted way. How amusing would it be to see someone else in her place and still remotely sane.

Speaking of sanity, she could have sworn she was losing it. Before she could take as much as another step forward, a body rolled down and landed near her, trailing blood in its wake. Well that was certainly a sight she rarely saw. How often was she given the gift of a dying man to find interest in? Then again, how did she even know if he was really still alive? For all she knew, he could have simply be dead already and that body that she leaned in towards was just a corpse? Well, the blood was still flowing, so that was a good though also bad sign.

"Oh dear." She murmured in response, pushing her body down to its haunches as she peered delicately at the body before her. It was a young man, not too much older than herself, caked with blood and bound by bandages. It seemed he had been fleeing the hospital. The one she had been born in, possibly was the one that he would die outside of. That was such an odd situation. It seemed almost TOO coincidental that he came rolling to her feet in all terms of speaking.

Leaning in, she pressed some of his hairs aside and heaved a heavy sigh. This would be fun, she'd have to call some sort of ride. Or- Oh yes, she could just hijack a car. It was so inconvenient living in a time before her own. Where she WAS from, she had her own car, but the parts that made her car hadn't even been made yet. Another odd thought to her. That old car that she loved hadn't even been designed yet. Somewhere in the world, people were thinking up the legacies before it. The trail was still being built, houses that had been around for a generation were still being blue-printed. Nearby, she could see a lonely looking black car. Time to play Grand-Theft-Auto.

With a heavy grunt, Tatyana looped the man's arm around her shoulders and started hauling him slowly up the hill.. in heels. Naturally her back was hurting and her heels ached by the time she reached the top. His body was left as a slump on the ground for a moment, while she plucked a bobby pin from her hair and (With some trouble) managed to open the door, then start the car. Afraid to turn it off, she unlocked the door and placed the dying man on the back seat, somehow maneuvering to click his seat belt into place, before climbing into the driver's seat, because that was normal. Naturally, it was also normal for a woman who couldn't remember LEARNING how to drive, to drive a car. She had a license, of course, but she doubted that someone was going to believe her birth-date was some time in 2000's.

NEVERTHELESS, driving was somehow a dream with the maneuvers of any typical person with road rage. It wasn't TOO much longer, before they reached the place through major speeding and irrational turning that she had reached a spot where doctors didn't question why the woman hadn't called an ambulance. "Fix him up so he doesn't bleed to death." She stammered out quickly, before turning her head to the man. "Let me know when he's awake." Not long after, she disappeared into another section of the building, looking through files, focused and in thought. This man.. was important somehow, she could feel it, but how, she could not tell.

[Shinku Kamogaya]

It was all like a dream. It was strange when his mind was on the brink of not existing anymore. He could have sworn a woman had picked him up and put him in the back of a car. The sound of a car's alternator turning over tried to reel his mind out of his lucid state, but all he felt was numbness and cold. He could feel the car come to a stop, hearing a distinctive female voice and others speaking in a language he couldn't make out, either because he was out of it, or he really just didn't understand. The chattering voices seemed to drag him away as he felt the embrace of... a bed it seemed? He had been stripped of his coat, weapons, and shirt, leaving the pants behind. The voices.. they were soothing to him. A language so foreign, it was like he felt their messages with his soul, not his ears.

He heard the echoes of heels stamping out of the room they were in as he was pushed gently back, as he was flat on the bed. Multiple blurry faces seemed to hover over him, still speaking gibberish as his left arm felt a prick, making him wince. Looking over to his arm was a tube held down with gauze and tape. An IV? He felt a cool sensation followed by a clumsy numbness. Looking at the IV bag, he squinted to read it's contents.

Morphine

Shinku let his head flop back on the pillow. With the immense pain fading, he could feel himself breathe normally again. Wide awake, one of the men went out of the room to notify the one who brought him here. Where was he, and why did this woman save him? He couldn't leave even if he wanted to. The morphine made his limbs heavy and limp. Trying to speak, he sputtered a bit, a little confuse of the events that transpired. "Where.. W-Where am I?" Shinku couldn't remember how he got here. How long has it been since... Well, he remembered a hospital, and... what color was the room? He.. he couldn't name the color of the room. The image was there yet he couldn't name it. How could he forget the name of a simple color as white? His head was full of a static like confusion, and he was for the first time... afraid.

The room he was in was average, with nothing exciting besides one thing on the dresser beside him. He could barely make out the object, as it appeared to be a booklet of sorts. On the cover was a word that started with an R. "R..Riote?" His instinct started to kick in. RIOTE, the criminal organization that toppled the notorious Fort Briggs, not to mention they have a knack for being able to hold the world in a cage of fear easily. There was.... he knew there was a man who ran RIOTE. He clearly remembered that a lot of people wanted him dead, and that his head was worth billions of dollars. The man however, was dangerous, and Shinku knew when to decline a contract. If he was truly caught by RIOTE, then why were they saving his life? He knew that if they took prisoners, the imprisonment was short lived, because they drained you of info, then murdered your sorry ass, or they just skipped to the latter. Either way, Shinku was in no position to defend himself. He had to see what this was about..

It gnawed on his mind..

[Guest]

"Miss Firov, the suspect is awake." A voice greeted her in heated rasps. The man obviously had run to grab her. His face flushed with whites and reds, beautifully painted upon his face. How interesting, clearly he feared her. She wasn't sure why, she hadn't done anything to him.. not yet, anyways.

"Excellent, does he remember anything?" Tatyana had asked. Her eyes scanning absent-mindedly over a file. The pictures didn't match, but something in her very soul tugged silently at her sleeve. She had somewhere she needed to be. After all, her being there required a time and place. Hands were dealt and often she had little to no choice in what she had to do. Just another card in the deck, destined to fall into a hole, no matter when or where. Her lips pressed together a moment, slipping the papers back into the desk of which they came.

Her immediate question threw the man off of his guard. He looked around, conflicted and in thought. "Excuse me?"

"I'm asking how is his head? Does he know who he is?" The second time, she was more curt, less patient. Had he really not heard her? Or was he just confused by a simple question? It mattered not, she had to wait, yet again, for a response.

"I-I don't know ma'am.." He stammered out nervously. He looked like she would eat him, not that she would. No, Tatyana did not find a thrill in eating flesh and blood, in fact at some point in her life, she had taken up being a vegan, but that time passed. All things died at some point, whether they were killed or not.

"Of course not." Tatyana sighed, gently pinching the bridge of her nose. How could these people not know to check the man for head trauma? It seemed like the first thing SHE would do, but then again, what did she know? Shaking off her annoyance, she walked her way back to where the drugged man was lying. He seemed distant and incoherent. Morphine had that kind of an effect. Or at least in some cases it did. Gently, she slid herself onto his bed, near him. A flashlight in hand, she made sure to check his eyes, not bothering to warn him. The pupils shifted, which was a good sign. She didn't scribble anything, she simply needed to see how alive the man was.

Her frown vanished and warmly a smile pressed to her lips. "Hello sir." She said, calm and pointedly. "I just have a few questions for you, if you don't mind answering~?" It wasn't as if he had a choice. He was going to answer the questions whether he wanted to or not. Point blank. She simply gave a kind aura of herself, which genuinely she didn't WANT to harm the man, so that was a plus.

After shoving her hand through her long locks she took a heavy breath and started to hum and calm herself. Where to start. "So, do you know who you are?" Her green emeralds found his face, calmly. This man.. if she were right, she vaguely recalled him of being of some significance. Or was it not he. "If so, who ARE you?" Her head cocked to the side, analyzing him, questioning him. Her eyes peered into his soul, source of looking for recognition. There were always people that she knew, yet had no idea who they were. This man looked different than she recalled.. maybe something that needed changes hadn't happened yet? Her nose scrunched up and she thought of the possibilities. Too many were possible and still more were impossible, or rather unfathomable. Soon, she came back to earth and she was grinning at the man.

[Shinku Kamogaya]

He felt a calming presence next to him. She was a little hazy in his eyes, but he could still make her out. She was quite attractive. Her voice cooed at him and tugged at his mind, cradling him as if everything would be alright.

Hello sir." She said, calm and pointedly. "I just have a few questions for you, if you don't mind answering~?"So, do you know who you are?"

Shinku blinked. He may be dying, but he wasn't stupid. He knew where he was. He assumed that after this session of twenty questions, they'll kill him and ditch his corpse in the river. But of course, they did save him." My... name is Shinku. Shinku Kamogaya.." Shinku's eyes began to radiate a deathly seriousness. Now wasn't the time for fun and games. This woman had his life in her delicate little web. If he caused too much vibrations, she'll drain him of his existence. "If.. you guys really are RIOTE, then why did you save me? You guys obviously took no prisoners at Fort Briggs.."

Was he important some how? a missing puzzle piece to a large picture? or was this a run of the mill thing for this group. However, the beauty of this woman made him feel out of harm's way. Maybe this was a false sense of security, or maybe she was genuinely nice. Shinku could feel his limbs start to lose their numbness. The morphine bag was pretty much empty. The pain he felt was still there, but more dull and rounded out than before. He wanted to know why he was here. Shinku then suddenly winced as he felt a sharp pain in his chest, his hand accidently clasping the woman's hand. Retracting his hand, he stammered his words a bit, his breath a little hurried.

"S-Sorry.. I'm just in pain.." It sure was a miracle that these people managed to save him. It was like at the hospital, but the comfy bed and soft pillow made his mind almost forget that he was technically a prisoner.

[Guest]

Shinku Kamogaya. He had stammered his name out weakly. A dying man with words filling her mind as he seemed just lost as she. His eyes longed for something, but what she wondered. This man wanted something, but it was out of reach and with that she was left breathless a second. The name wasn't familiar, but all felt right she should be right there, beside him.

"If.. you guys really are RIOTE, then why did you save me? You guys obviously took no prisoners at Fort Briggs.." Misconceptions were so heartless. He believed they were all people barging in and mindlessly slaughtering people for the good of RIOTE.

"Come now, Mr. Kamogaya, we aren't some religious cult." She laughed softly and used a hand to run through his hair with a gentle affection. "Indeed, Fort Briggs was a victory for RIOTE, but I had no hand in it." Her eyelashes bat once and she grinned at him. This was all just amusing. The fact he believed that every person in a place was the same. "You're very odd. Did you think we were all a bunch of crazy sociopaths? Granted the majority of us are, but that doesn't mean all of us. I'm hurt you'd think I'm some sort of monster." A lie at its best. She couldn't care less what he thought of her, but she got her point across.

"S-Sorry.. I'm just in pain.." His fingers pressed around hers. How odd, he had managed to wrap his hand about her own, squeezing them as he clutched from the pain. PAIN. He felt pain. Was he the kind of man who wished to die, rather than feel the pain? Was this a man with a backbone? Or was he a coward? Tatyana couldn't remember the last time she'd held hands with someone- had she ever? The only one whom she had was her father as far as she could remember through the veil of the foggy five years she couldn't recall. So much about herself she couldn't remember and it seemed her subconscious kept it locked away. Pain. "We all feel pain. In some way." She spoke in a chilling voice. Eyes showed a kindness, but there was always a darkness about Tayana.

Shadows hid in the dark, assassins hid in the arms of criminals and she stood among them for a crime no one knew she committed. Well not even SHE knew what her price was, but it seemed to co-inspire with being born, with playing with toys she shouldn't like way back when. She was always too nosy, too intrigued with mechanics that it drove most people and teachers into walls. This man was her new test subject.

" You know what makes pain feel better? More morphine." She stated as if it were some kind of joke. To her, it was. Her hand removed a needle from within the table nearby him. "Or Adrenaline.. or alcohol. Pick your poison, anyone will kill your liver just as equally." The point slid easily, almost oiled into the container. Her hand slid from his to steady her movements. She was no surgeon, there was a possibility in her overdosing the man, but how would he feel to that? What objectives did he have? Did he even FEAR death? So many questions buzzed about her mind while she took the bits and pieces of what she could see from him into the mold of what her father wanted. Should he fit properly, he could indulge, but at a price. Nothing was free. There was absolutely no hand-outs in life and that came with RIOTE as well. Liberation with sacrifice. People perceived it as an evil, but what made RIOTE bad?

Was it the thought of criminals in the ranks or the thought of Aurelius as the leader? It couldn't be that they killed, because didn't each country have their own military meant to kill? Fort Briggs certainly didn't have any qualms in slaying RIOTE members just as the innocent Drachmans had been led to fight against the Amestrians. Perception was ll there was to life. Nothing was truly evil or good. Everything was neutral. Circumstances, double standards.. everything was folded like paper to the desires of people higher up in the ranks. The only reason killing was bad was if it was for no reason, yet what reason was there to fighting RIOTE? Sometimes people didn't make sense to her. In fact the whole world was a large book she had yet to get through. It irked her to know, some things were unobtainable.

She turned towards him and smiled gently. The shining point held in her fingers pointed away from either. "Oh. Wait a minute, would you even trust me? How do you know if this is something that will tear apart your insides or not?" Her lips were pulled into a smirk. "Venom could kill you in a matter of seconds." Sh hesitated, taking in his face and expressions.

"Then again.."

Suddenly she was leaning forward, the syringe pressing to his neck. Her mouth was pressed to his ear, soft wisps of air passing as she spoke unto him. Rotten words masked with a sweet voice. "What's to stop me from actually killing you?" A laugh came from her lips, her finger tracing up to his neck. A heartbeat reached her fingers. "Are you afraid of death?"

[Shinku Kamogaya]

The soft voice spoke menacingly in his ear

"What's to stop me from actually killing you? Are you afraid of death?"

Shinku could feel a small prick of a needle at his neck, followed by another digit up to his jugular. He could feel his pulse reverberate off her finger. It was a sort of erotic gesture, even though she held his life in her grasp. Shinku moved his eyes down to verify the needle's position, as he looked back up with a cold stare, whispering back."I've NEVER... begged for my life, sweetheart. I'm not gonna start now. Besides, if your sweet ass wanted me dead, you'd be ditching my corpse into the Drachman wasteland by now." Shinku smiled as he winked at his captor, before leaning his head back.

As he rested upon the pillow, he looked out the window to his right to see the frozen tundra that graced his presence. The land was like him. Stripped bare by the world around it, down to the frigid, evil core, the pelting snow tearing at the layers endlessly. A cold outside, sheltering the dilapidated inside. Shinku slowly reached up to his neck, as he tugged at his dog tags. He had never taken them off. Back a few weeks ago, if asked if he would die for his country, and protect his land, he would have done it. He would have done it for that graceful bastard of a shogun. That man who thought of him as 'lower class'. He never said it personally, but he could see it. With a small, jerk of his arm, careful not to stab himself on the needle, he heard the chain around his neck snap. With his thumb, he scrapped some of the grime off.

SHINKU KAMOGAYA
ENLISTED: APRIL 2009
DEP:CLASSIFIED

This tag. This necklace showed his worth to his country. It had been a miracle he wasn't in jail still. But Shinku knew the Oniwanbanshu's protocols. Shinku was probably MIA, or even KIA back home. They probably didn't even throw a reception for him either. Not to mention his condition barred him from even being a Kage in the group now. Looking at his stump and back to his dog tags, His lips curled up some in anger

"However... At this point, I have nothing to live for. I am useless now. If you killed me now, I wouldn't object. This world.. I renounce it. I hope you burn in hell Yoshida... Spade.. Ayden.. ALL OF YOU!"Shinku tossed his dog tags aside angrily as they clattered on the floor, exhaling a deep breath to look up to his captor once more, the anger flushing from his face to be replaced by calmness. It was up to her whether or not to kill him now. This world wasn't worth living for..

[Guest]

"I've NEVER... begged for my life, sweetheart. I'm not gonna start now. Besides, if your sweet ass wanted me dead, you'd be ditching my corpse into the Drachman wasteland by now."

Tatyana smirked at him, darkly. Oh he was smarter than he looked. He caught on quicker than most subjects and in turn, Tatyana gave him mental kudos. However, this was the time of observation; the testing ground. Would he break so easily? His wink went unnoticed, she was busy studying his condition. He had high survival chances, but likely he was hurt by the thought of losing more than anything. That broke some of the strongest people.

"However... At this point, I have nothing to live for. I am useless now. If you killed me now, I wouldn't object. This world.. I renounce it. I hope you burn in hell Yoshida... Spade.. Ayden.. ALL OF YOU!"

Tatyana grinned, her voice flickering in a laugh. A soft laugh for a few seconds. This man was dead inside? Or at least so he thought What had been was burned down to the bitter coal in her very hands. However embers burned the hottest and made way for something even stronger in the place. These embers just needed a little prodding to grow more again. Passion would be in this man soon enough and Tatyana would make sure of this. Her tongue ran across her lips and her soft curves pressed to his body. She could almost taste his ear as pressed her smile to it. "So ready to burn in Hell without a fire?" With a click of her tongue, the needle pressed more to his throat, bending the skin at her desire, until she could just see the small bit of blood pool. A gorgeous red pearl in her eyes. Slowly it fell, rolling down his body like a singular tear.

"You said before if I wanted you dead I would have left you somewhere, no? Maybe you should think twice or three times, hmm?" With a smirk, she shifted and slid her leg on his lap. The needle was left frozen in her hand, just barely on his neck. Once she was straddling him, she began again. "The true question though, is do you WANT to die? Do you want your inferno again or would you rather just be snuffed out?"

Again, she moved. This time, she leaned in and nibbled at his jawline. Her free hand pressed on his shoulder, before her offer came to play. "I can show you true passion, I can give you real power." After one fond nip at his chin, she was sitting up again. Her emeralds stared at him with questionable intent. "All you have to do is show me you want it." Her finger pressed coyly to her lips, before she looked towards the door. "Otherwise, I suppose your body would be nothing better than scraps for the coyotes, right?" The gleam in her eyes showed she was enjoying this probably far more than she should.

[Csilla Angelis]

{BUMP}

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