I never once questioned where I came from, nor did I ever envision it a different way.
Because I thought reality was the same for everyone.
A blood-curdling scream of a hooded man with tattered and torn clothing rang through the air, followed by a whimper of sorrow and agony. A dark-skinned long-haired little girl who appeared no older than five hid behind two ripped mattresses piled on top like a fortress. A violet spew of blood burst through the air, followed by the rolling head of a woman whose eyes rolled up in terror. The little girl whimpered in hiding, watching the body of the woman collapse to the ground as a pool of scarlet blood surged through the torn-up floors.
Aggressive Farsi words scorching like a fire made the little girl cover her mouth as if the hooded man and his allies sensed every little sound in the room. Two other associates of the hooded man dragged in two other little children and executed them with fiber wire. The little girl peered through the opening again, watching the hue of their faces turn violet and eventually, veiny red until death.
"Sir, there should be another one," One of the hooded man's allies mentioned in Farsi. "Or maybe two. The master said-"
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" A loud bombastic voice surprised the three from behind. A tall buff man with tattered mustard clothing barged inside the room, watching his deceased wife's head roll over in horror. "What did you... what did you do to my wife and kids?!"
"Glad you could show your face at last," The hooded man muttered, brandishing his long sword. The little girl's heart was garbled after paying too much attention to the woman's decapitated head and the strangled children's corpses. He wiped it with a piece of cloth and swiped it aside, washing the blood away by splattering it against the wooden walls. "You've got a price on your head. You should have seen this coming!"
The little girl nudged her shoulder against the mattress, causing a wooden plank that she did not know about to collapse on her head. She shouted in pain, which turned the hooded intruders around to her position.
"She's there!" One of the intruders yelled. "Kill her!"
"Natia, get out of here!" The buff man roared, charging at the intruders as they were distracted by her presence. "Run!"
But it was no use.
Even if I ran, someone would always catch up to me.
But I tried anyway.
To no avail.
A sudden jolt of bodily electricity ruptured inside Natia's brain, shocking her awake in a sea of sweat. Her widened blacked-out eyes dilated in and out as she lost her breath. She placed her right hand on her chest and puffed out inconsiderably large amounts of air while clutching her hotel bed covers with her left. Her back was coated in a landslide full of sweat, and her vision was rapidly declining with each waking second. She summoned the last of her strength to creak her neck to the left to view her nightstand; it was only ten at night.
Natia exhausted the last of her breath and slipped out of the covers. She swiftly rushed into the bathroom in her private room and swiped a dry towel from the hangars. After wiping her face and back from her sweat, washed her face in the sink and eyed herself in the mirror. Her dilated eyesight and constricted face were hideous to her sight, and she backed away immediately back to her bed.
She sat on the edge of her bed and covered her eyes with her palms. Natia broke down with an outburst of unbearable tears after ruminating on the details of her escape from Iran. Two minutes of silent sobbing made her pruned hands and fingers wrinkly from rubbing and wiping. Heat began building up in her head with the illusions of her past. She took several minutes to calm herself down before eyeing the open door. She hoped that no one heard her crying.
Natia snatched her hoodie from the nearest table and moved into the hotel's living room sneakily. But just before she placed her sweaty palm on the door handle, a gritty voice stopped her.
"Bad dream?" Jinrai's voice called to Natia. He laid back on the couch shirtless, exposing his muscles and abs with his hands behind his head. "Where are you headed?"
"Taking a walk," She tiresomely voiced out. "I'll be back soon."
"Now hold on a minute," Jinrai's extreme speed created a gust of wind in the living room. The curtains and hotel shrubs inside the establishment swayed back and forth. Jinrai placed his hand on the door and gently closed it. He looked into Natia's dried-up bloodshot eyes, realizing something was wrong. "I think we got off on the wrong foot from the start. Now I can't leave a woman crying like that, no matter how ugly she is on the inside. What's going on?"
"Just forget it," Natia said. "It's complicated."
"You know what else is complicated? Finding the Jester, and yet we're doing it at the crack of dawn, and I know it's possible. So either speak up now or fall behind." Jinrai said.
"Do you ever take no for an answer?" Natia turned away. "All I want is to be alone. Why can't you understand that?"
"Because I just said... that I can't leave a woman crying alone," Jinrai's voice deepened signaling a seriousness within the tone of his voice. "You'll find the way that I persuade to be much more than what you bargained for."
"I don't need this right now," Natia said. "I'm just here to kill the Jester. That's all I want."
"Funny you should ask that," Jinrai continued. "I'm curious as to why a young woman like you would want the Jester dead. Is that what cops like you should be saying?"
"It's none of your business-"
"Hey," Ryo's voice chimed in, appearing near the entrance of a separate hotel room. He was shirtless wearing black and white striped pajama pants. He placed his palm against the door and leaned back, dazed as if he had awoken. "It's late. What are you doing out here by yourself?"
"By myself? What are you talking-" Natia voiced out. A cold gust of wind flipped through the hotel's curtains, potted plant leaves, and Natia's hair. She sighed and realized Jinrai's intense speed was what baited her into speaking to someone who could understand her situation better. "Of course, he's gone." She said.
"Was he here?" Ryo asked.
"Yes," Natia replied, sitting on the hotel couch and avoiding placing her sweaty back on the leathery upholstery. "I don't like him."
"That was pretty obvious from the start," Ryo said, sitting beside Natia. At first glance, Ryo announced that something was immediately off based on his perspective of her. He leaned forward and raised his right palm. "Hey, you're-"
"What are you doing?" Natia leaned back as she remained cautious.
"You're burning up, and your face is all red," Ryo noted. "And you're drenched in sweat. What happened to you?"
"It's none of..." Natia paused and sighed, wiping the sweat off of her forehead with her wrist. Her eyes trailed toward Ryo, reluctant to reveal anything. "I had a nightmare about my family." She regretfully insisted. "I couldn't help it. It had been too long since I thought about them."
"What did you see?" Ryo asked.
"I can't say... it's too damning," Natia brushed away in embarrassment. "Such things should be forgotten, anyway. None of it matters anymore."
"None of it matters? Natia, they're your-"
"Parents, I know," Natia finished his sentence. "I just can't. Besides, I don't think you'd want to know."
"Try me," Ryo insisted. "I've been through things too. You know that."
Natia slanted her mouth in hesitation as she clasped her palms together. She crossed her legs on the couch and gazed up at Ryo with gleaming puppy eyes. The expression rattled Ryo's veins, freezing them in an unexpected pleasurable feeling that he could not comprehend. Ryo lightly gasped. The gasp was audibly undetectable, even by Natia who was sitting next to him.
"You were Yakuza once, right?" Natia mentioned. "Have you ever had to execute any insubordinates?"
Ryo had a blank stare, digging deep into his past. After searching for several seconds, he could not find the experience of it, nor could he imagine it. "No." He blatantly said.
"I've seen it happen many times," Natia explained, glancing down at her sweaty palms. "But the one I could never forget is the one that happened to my mother and my sisters. I can still see their veins bulging out their brains... and my mother's head rolling on the ground with that ghastly face like someone sucked out her soul."
"You..." Ryo was utterly speechless. He could not imagine seeing his own family executed. "You saw them die?"
"Yes..." Natia admitted. "I was young, about seven. There was a conflict happening between our village and one of the opposing factions in Iran. They were responsible for hunting down refugees and killing those who owed money. And my father and I were both people who fell in that category."
"Why did you owe money to them?" Ryo asked.
"My mother was having another baby," Natia's voice lowered. "We took too many loans from the factions and never paid them back. We couldn't. It just wasn't enough. When my mother was executed, she..." Natia's voice faltered as she placed her palm on her stomach. Her imagination was vividly terrifying at the thought of everything that happened when she was seven.
"Stop," Ryo interrupted after seeing Natia's loss of control. He had never seen her like this before. "It's best not to think about it. I want to know the good in your mother and father. What were they like?"
Natia's eyes gleamed in slight tears as she realized Ryo wanted to change the subject for her good. "My mother was a damn good nurse," Natia explained with a slight smile on her face. "Whenever you were ill or hurt, she'd know what to do without much thought. Every time I would accidentally hurt myself while playing with the other children, she'd fix me up so quickly that I wouldn't even remember myself getting hurt in the first place."
"Wow," Ryo chuckled. "That's pretty impressive."
"My best memory of her was when she modeled in this beautiful white wedding dress. She gave it to my cousin after she saw how breathtaking she looked in it. And she did," Natia laughed, gazing out the window. "My mother was so beautiful. She didn't deserve anything that happened that day."
"Natia..." Ryo voiced out.
"My father was kind too. He would always pick me up from school with a giant strawberry lollipop ready every time. He was a skilled fighter who studied law for many years. But times were tough, and making money was such a difficult thing. The need for his kind was limited."
"He sounds like such a nice person," Ryo said. "Your family would have been proud to see where you are right now."
"No," Natia disagreed. "I'm pathetic. I'm fighting over trivial things, like blaming others for what happened to my family. Blaming you, blaming Sumire, blaming those who weren't even responsible. If they were to see me now... they'd be disappointed. They'd wonder why I'm wasting time in this stupid job."
"Don't say that," Ryo said. "Your time isn't a waste."
"Hmph. Thanks." Natia said, crossing her arms.
"No, I'm serious," Ryo continued. "How can you consider stopping Genesis a waste of time? We fought together and we succeeded in stopping Rion. We've already fought the worst of it all-"
"And we're not as close to getting behind the truth of it all," Natia said. "This was only the beginning. And I can't forgive myself for letting that man escape when Rose Accel saved me from him. You know I hate it when people save me."
"We're not invincible, Natia," Ryo said. "We all need to be saved once in a while."
"Says you," Natia said. "You're the one that needs saving. You still can't escape what happened. Even though you made up with Sophie, the past is still catching up to you and you can't control it. And you're still obsessed with that girl even though she forgot all about you."
"Don't say that," Ryo said, realizing she was talking about April and her unknown condition. "She didn't forget about me. Even if she did, I... I refuse to believe it."
"And what if she did?" Natia asked.
"I don't want to think about it," Ryo said.
"She's just a hindrance in your life making you weaker every time you think of her-"
"This conversation was about you!" Ryo raised his voice. "The point is, I don't think what you're doing is a waste of time. You're not a waste of time. Not to me, at least."
Natia kicked herself up and wiped her forehead once again from the sweat that came from her dream. She moved toward her hotel room and stopped one last time with a low tone underneath her mouth. "Whatever." She said before shutting the door to her hotel room.
Silence filled the air as Natia rested on the edge of her bed. She placed her palms on her temples and sunk her chin down to her chest by leaning forward. Her hazed vision created blackouts in her eyes, and tears formed around her eye ducts. Her hands slid toward her cheeks as she murmured to herself.
"What am I doing...?" Natia whispered, thinking of Ryo's response to her statement.