"Yes… In a few hours, there is nothing more for us to get here, moreover, I have a hunch…" Valentine answered still holding Fayette in his arms.
"What?" His Lady immediately got attracted the moment he realised a discovery.
"I had my doubts before, but I think, the 'Dark Clouds' are attracted towards big groups of people, or maybe even just groups of living beings... Every time we have seen one, they're following or intending to float above."
!!!
"You're saying... Their purpose is to exterminate?" Vera's eyes paled, after all, she had been here for a long time, and the black clouds so many times a week had become a casual occurrence.
"That makes sense, but there's still the thing with the flames..." Fayette tried to reason why everything occurred, but it was impossible to come out with a 'reasonable' cause within this 'fantasy' world they were currently living in.
"Flames?" Elke tilted her head in confusion but the next second her eyes opened widely.
"We have found something about the flames before!" Vera yelled, attracting their attention.
"What did you find?" Fayette stared at the woman with a sharp glare, full of uncertainty, 'Is she going to spout nonsense?'
"Deeper inside the cave... Before we had a flaming log to see in the dark, back when we first arrived here... Right now you won't be able to see it without light but... Someone left a message there, and there's also... A weird skull."
!!!
"What did the message say?" He asked with interest, could it be that someone resolved the way to get out of here!?
"It said, 'Follow the Flame'... We don't know what flame is it referring to, as I said, there is a skull next to it." Vera finalised her summary.
'Follow the flame...'
"What other flame could it possibly be?" Fayette rolled her eyes and stood up from Valentine's lap.
"Where are you going?" He inquired with worry as she was still stumbling a little.
"I'm going to get a wisp of fire..."
"Wait until the floor cools a little, then we can try..."
"Uhm, excuse me... If you're going to leave, could you do me a favour before you do it?"
The three of them stopped and focused on Elke, who had been staring at Valentine with a complicated gaze and fidgeting hands.
"What is it? If it's reasonable, I will help you." She didn't seem like a bad female, truthfully, if this is truly hell, then the 'system' to determine someone's sin is truly complex.
He for one didn't consider he had directly killed anyone that didn't deserve it, but he had indirectly killed lots of innocents, let alone he had 'killed', the act in itself should be a sin according to the bible.
The same should count for Fayette and probably this Elke too.
"Could you kill me?" She answered with a 'smile' that wasn't very joyful.
...
"Why?" He only wanted to know, if that's her desire, he wouldn't stop her... Living in this accursed place... It's not easy.
He and Fayette were lucky to be skilled in the arts of surviving and scheming, but for those that weren't... Their fate was to be someone else' plaything, he didn't know what would happen after 'dying' in hell, but surely, it can't be any worse than this.
...
"I... Have been sullied in the worst ways possible... This place is hot and horrible, I'm dirty beyond measure, to the point I feel disgusted by my own body... I'm sure, the two of you won't carry my weight on your shoulders nor would I want to weigh on you, so... That's the only option I have, that or wait here until someone else comes and makes me their plaything... I don't know how to defend myself. Before they wouldn't kill me, I thought that maybe everything would finish when they 'ate' me, but it never came to it."
"..."
"I only wish that you will give me a clean and worthy death, please... I'm very glad to have met you, were I a little younger and cleaner, were you a single man, perhaps, there could have been something... But, right now, I don't see it happening." She smiled self deprecatingly, but her eyes stared at him with immense gratitude.
Knowing that those that sullied her died a painful death, she couldn't feel any more vindicated.
His eyes that had been staring her with a certain degree of contempt had thoroughly changed now.
Vera gave her 'acquainted' a complicated glance, should she follow the same steps?
Did she really want to live in this place?
But if this is hell, what's beyond this? Will it be worse than this if I die?
"You're an amazing woman, Elke, you have gained my respects..." Fayette sat down beside Elke and grasped the woman's dirty hands.
"Thank you, but I think you're overestimating me... I'm... just a coward." The ottoman female continued to deprecate herself.
"No... You're a woman willing to perish with whatever honour is left for you, unwilling to be a weight for those you feel gratitude with, if you don't mind me asking, could you tell me, what is your sin? Why are you here?"
"Do you truly believe this place to be hell?"
"If this is not hell, what else can it be?" Fayette smirked, not truly frightened by the prospect of being in hell, if anything she has felt better in this past month than several of her last years on Earth.
"... I... If I had to say what my sin is... I killed my husband and daughter..."
!!!
'What the hell!?' The three of them couldn't help but exclaim in their minds!
She doesn't look like someone that would do such a thing at all!!
"Could... Could you tell us why?" Vera's lips quivered, gone was the image of the humble and victim fifty years old lady!
Now she could only see a psychopath!
"They were having an affair! I returned to our hut once after taking care of our farm, that day I finished earlier than usual and found them... Fucking! I couldn't take it... I took a knife and massacred the two of them!" Upon recalling those memories, it was as if her whole persona changed!
Her foot itched and she felt like exploding!
"My God..."
"When I killed him, my daughter started to scream, saying that he had abused her first, that I should forgive her... She was fifteen years old... She said he started when she was twelve... And told her if she told me anything... The two of us would get murdered!"
"..." None of them could really utter a word.
"I didn't believe it, I was too angry to even pity her. So I killed her as well. Now I think... She wasn't lying, I was always so focused on our farm that I didn't pay enough attention to her... That's my sin... I got executed when my crime got discovered, that's how I got here."
...
Is she a sinner? She killed her husband and daughter... Did they deserve it? Surely the bastard did but, what about her daughter?
There is no way to judge who's right or who's wrong but... 'God' deemed her as a sinner, and that's why she's here.
Is that true justice?
They didn't know.
"Show me your crystal." He said and she knew it was time.
"Are you sure you don't want... Revenge or something? That bastard might be roaming this land you know!?" Fayette tried to convince her, thinking that maybe this woman deserved to live.
"I'm not truly interested in revenge I just... Want to forget." She presented her leg awkwardly and the itch... Stopped.
She was careful to not show him her inappropriate place, wanting to act like a proper lady until the very end.
When he saw her leg, however, they were surprised to see there was no tattoo in there...
"The other leg...?" Valentine moved to take the other, but she shook her head with wide eyes.
"N-No... It should have been that leg, where is it?"
...
Valentine was now truly bewildered... They reached all over her body, not even bothering to see her breasts and vagina anymore, but she... Didn't have a tattoo!!
'What's going on?'
"I swear... I had it a few days ago." That's the last time she saw it with her eyes.
He decided to leave the matter to rest, as the path to leave this place should be cooler now.
"If I do it now, you will only suffer so... I can do it later. You can travel with us in the meantime." He concluded, if she doesn't have a tattoo then...
"Are we leaving now?" His lady inquired as they all stood up, Elke was happy enough with that arrangement, she somehow knew what he intended to do.
"Yes..." He walked up to the entrance and noticed the soil was very hot but... Passable, they needed to move, he now fully intended to follow the trees.
"I… can I go with you?" Vera finally asked after some consideration, was she going to stay here by herself?!
"No, you can't." Fayette's answer came as fast as lightning, there was no consideration, no nothing!
Valentine only lifted his eyebrows a little, if Fayette doesn't want... Then they're not taking her, in fact, even if she came, she'd probably not be able to keep up with them.
"Why can you take her and not me!? I have been nothing but friendly to you ever since we met, but you keep constantly attacking me!" She yelled in outrage with crossed arms and even gave Valentine a pitiful glance as if asking for support.
'You're a man after all, surely having another one-!'
All she received was indifference as he turned around to leave with Elke in tow!
The two left and only Fayette and Vera remained.
"Friendly when you're not showing your dirty cunt to my man... I'm warning you, if we go together I will end up killing you, so it's better for you if you stay here or go look for your black mandingo out there. Perhaps he will be alive out there, we cut his head off and left him for the rain to take care so I don't know... In any case, I don't want you near him... Did you get it? I haven't killed you because you haven't given me a big enough reason, stop working hard on creating one!" By the time Fayette's cold rant finished, she had already left the cave and the scared Vera got left there to sort out her life.
She grit her teeth and tears rolled down her eyes, 'W-What am I going to do now?'
***
***
"I think that's a little cold but... I can't really judge you, we're dead weight... None of us has ever gone hunting, we just stayed there all the time like prisoners, raped and abused..." After wearing one of the deceased men's rags, Elke managed to cover herself to some extent and walked beside Valentine.
Valentine could only sigh, indeed, that's the fate of the weak, his plan was simple... Take her around with them for some days as they continued their journey and when she's unaware or distracted, strike down.
She deserved at least that much.
The fact that she didn't have a tattoo still marred his mind.
It didn't take long for Fayette to catch up, and the three promptly walked following the flame's trail until no more burned trees showed up and they kept on going on a straight line.
***
Days went by swiftly as they kept their path, as expected, not a single living being.
The more they walked, the forest became progressively more lifely, and there were more green leaves than before, however, there were also blood-red trees with several red leaves that none of them had ever seen.
For them, this change of scenery must mean something... They had gone through weeks and weeks of walking without a change, but now that they were following the flame's trails, they were seeing a different forest, one that seemed not to be raided by black clouds.
In this particular section, they found a beautiful clearing, there was no lake or water pool, but the floor had a certain degree of humidity.
'Could it be that there are no black clouds, because almost no one reaches this stage?' He thought deeply, and this idea was within Fayette's mind as well.
Elke saw this landscape and marvelled, ever since she came into this world… this was the most beautiful thing she had seen.
"Valentine..." she called with a relaxed melody.
"Yes?"
"You can do it now... I know you have waited to give me the best final possible, I want to perish here, please..." She requested with a smile, this being the best scenery through this whole accursed netherworld.
...
Fayette and Valentine stared at one another, the former seemed reluctant, having spent a few days with the woman, they became rather good friends, but her priorities hadn't changed, neither had theirs.
They used all the food amongst them, as expected an additional mouth to feed had been too much, but they didn't mind.
She would not stay with them forever, and life here wasn't simple.
"Very well, how about we stay one day here so that you can enjoy the scenery?" Valentine showed her a kind smile and accepted with the most authentic smile possible, unbeknownst to her, he moved his hand inside his fur rag and grabbed a clean knife...
"That would be too much to ask, but thank you, I appreciate it~" With a joyful expression she turned around to look at the pretty landscape, naive and innocent like a beautiful withering butterfly at the end of its days, unaware that this would be the last thing she saw.
...
*FIIUSH*
*THUD!*
Her delicate head, still smiling, fell on Fayette's arms.
Valentine grasped her body before it fell and placed her on the ground.
No words were said, Elke, the Ottoman would remain in their hearts.
As a proof that not all that come to hell are necessarily evil, her authenticity had laid her heart bare to them.
The duo placed her body on the ground and waited for several minutes.
"There is no movement... She truly didn't have a crystal." Fayette said, containing a single tear... Life had been simply too cruel with this woman, thankfully, she met them.
Valentine only nodded his head in approval, closing Elke's beautiful but slightly dirty eyelids.
They buried her at that place.
"Is this why you were called the 'Bringer of Euthanasia'?" Fayette inquired as they prepared to leave, slightly annoyed at... Something.
Euthanasia, the act of delivering a person's death with the most painless method, to relieve suffering...
"No... It's not because of that."
Through his short career he had been called that not because he intended to end suffering, but because of his silent and swift assassination. Most of the time, shots to the head and clean beheading.
Regardless of the enemy's background, whether they were the evilest of individuals, or simply a house burglar... He'd deliver them to hell in the cleanest way possible.
This is the first time in his life he has killed someone… to relieve suffering.