The two walked into the entrance of the single storied hospital building. It wasn't anything special, mostly a beige box with windows, a door, and an aged neon sign poorly illuminating the words 'hospital'. It was the city's level 1 trauma hospital, the place they sent poor saps with no insurance or noble status. Most of the victims from that wretched mansion weren't Palahaem citizens and were therefore transferred here.
They walked into the sparse lobby. There weren't many waiting patients present today.
"You know where he is?" Illya questioned, eyes forward.
"Of course; he's on level B-7 in a private unit. Jared helped secure the kid a space in a private room. That way we can talk to him in peace." Michael explained, looking around at the empty lobby questioningly.
His thoughts ran wild as the two approached the elevator. 'It's a little odd how few people are here…, especially when there's a Grand Hunt planned. There should be quite a few people here from just the training those mercenaries like to do ahead of time. Then again, it's probably not well advertised. We didn't hear of it.
'Even if it wasn't told to us directly, we would've known much earlier if it was a public announcement. Combined with the lack of uptick of patients here, yeah… while not a secret per say, this hunt probably isn't a public event. I'll have to send someone to check the hospitals in the other districts. If they are experiencing one, then that'll lend credence to this theory.'
When they got inside, Illya stood to the side, letting Michael lead.
He looked down at the available floors, seeing the usual L at the top, leading down forty floors underground.
Despite most buildings being much smaller than those on Earth, hospitals couldn't be. By nature, they needed to be larger to withstand the load of patients that came their way. It wasn't just the short-term patients either, but the long-term ones too. Even if magic made treating many injuries and illnesses easier, it didn't work for everything. As a compromise, instead of building up, where it was more susceptible to damage, it was built into the ground with strong enchantments to stabilize it against earthquakes.
They continued their journey through narrow hallways, avoiding the occasional nurse in the process. Finally, they reached their destination, a solitary room at the other end of the building.
--- With Leon---
It's funny how strange life can be.
Just yesterday, he was chained to a wall, struggling to keep his sanity. Sure, it was nice to have people to interact with, albeit non-verbally, but by the looks in their eyes, they'd long given up the fight. Their eyes pleaded for death, and sought, no pleaded with him to do the same; it was for his own good of course. They had good intentions, but it wasn't easy to get through the agonizing days of Russian roulette when the everyone around you is against you.
That's not even mentioning the memories he'd buried. He doubted she cared, but most of what she'd dredged from his mind weren't things he recalled, just vague clouds at the furthest recesses of his mind. He'd forgotten a lot of it. Whatever she'd done to him when she'd forced herself into his fractured mind had brought a lot of other memories flooding to the surface.
He hadn't had time to ponder them in the moment, but here? He had all the time in the world. He had nothing to do, and nowhere to go. It all boiled down to his current state of being.
"Ack!" He groaned in pain at the sharp jolts of pain assaulting him as he simply tilted his head downward. Every movement felt like he was bathing in molten slag. Starting was stiff and when he actually moved… it was awful.
He could only lament at his current state. His body was fully wrapped in bandages that'd apparently been changed multiple times if the nurse that'd gently woken him up half an hour ago was honest. It was well done, an act speaking to the dedication of the hospital staff. That didn't mean it wasn't painful to look at.
"G-glad I have my v-voice back." He struggled to grunt out.
It was something to find out that the first thing they focused on after confirming he was stable was making him able to speak. He could hardly believe it. They save a bunch of people from a den of vicious abominations, and the first thing they think of is interrogating them!? If he weren't so terrified of being thrown out in his injured state, he'd almost be tempted to say nothing.
A familiar face flashed through his mind, the one that'd punched a hole through a wall as if it were paper.
"Yeah… no, not pissing her off."
*Knock* *Knock* "We're coming in. Are you decent?" An ominously familiar male voice asked through the door.
"Who cares? Just go in." An annoyed, even more familiar, and far more terrifying female voice asked, annoyed.
There was a brief pause. "Do you really want to see this dude with no clothes on if you don't have to?" The guy asked with disturbed confusion.
"… fine. Just go in there and check, because the VERY awake pervert still hasn't responded." And instantly that furious glare she'd given him yesterday came to mind.
'IT'S HER!!!' Sirens blared in his mind at the devil he feared being trapped in the same room with.
'How the hell did she arrive right when I was thinking about her!? Speak of the devil and they shall appear… I remember the saying, but it was always a joke!! It was supposed to be a JOKE!!!'
Then, as he saw the doorknob turning, he remembered the nurse's reasons for waking him up in the first place, from ripping away the mercy of his artificially induced coma.
The memory played in his mind. 'I'm so sorry, but there are some really important people that need to speak with you. This isn't normal by any means, but there's nothing we could do… You must've been involved in something really dangerous.'
And just as he understood the circumstances, a molten golden eye looked through a crack in the door, saw him as being awake and fully covered in a cast, and fully opened it.
"Good to go Illya."
"Good." She replied succinctly. "Let's get this over with then."
The guy came up and stayed standing, while the woman walked up to the chair and sat down with arms folded and one leg crossed over the other.
'She's the boss.' He immediately thought.
While her companion wasn't overtly servile like the servants he'd seen during his time, the lack of politeness in the girl's attitude and the way she sat told him all he needed to know. Even if she wasn't officially in charge, this guy was clearly deferring to her.
"So boy, why don't you bring us up to speed on your situation, so my friend and I can get out of here." she asked with dull words, making it plainly obvious just how much she didn't want to be here.
"C-can't *cough* y-you just r-read-" Leon tried asking through his still sore throat.
"…your thoughts?" She interrupted, prompting him to nod. "Not quite. I'm not an expert in mind magic. What I did to you was the equivalent of a battering ram to the mind. It was only because you're so insignificant that it worked."
'Insignificant?' The word hit him like a ton of bricks. Memories of the horrors of his recent experiences and his inability to fight back at any step flooded his mind like a tsunami.
Unaware of his inner turmoil, Illya continued. "Doing that isn't something a mind can withstand more than once. You can't feel it, because of your lack of aethereal awareness. If you could feel your vessel, you most certainly wouldn't be asking me such a stupid question."
"… a-aether?" He tried asking, but a hand from Illya was all he got.
"I'm not here to tutor you. I'm sure there're plenty that have time to waste doing so. Unfortunately for the both of us, I don't. I need to track down the piece of shit that masterminded your kidnapping."
The boy could only look on in shock as the girl cut him down with every word she spoke. She didn't have the same condescending look the scientists have when they looked at him. No; this was normal for her. She was speaking things most would have the decency to keep to themselves, to euphemize.
Not her though, this… he didn't even want to think the word… she must've thought lying as beneath her.
While he was processing her alien manner of communication, her companion, who'd been looking at him curiously, finally spoke. "Actually… it may be a good idea to take him with us."
The woman's head snapped to her companion. "Excuse me? You want to bring him into our home?" She asked tersely, clearly doing her best to keep her composure.
Unphased, the man made his case, "This kid's an experiment, right? Even if he didn't turn out to plan, he's still a living article of evidence against the guy. Right now, you're rushing to get these answers, but now that I'm looking at him, maybe we could accomplish multiple things at once."
Illya sank into contemplation.
"T-that's it?" Leon disbelievingly asked, almost outraged that his value in her eyes could change so quickly.
The man just looked at him with amusement. "Kind of. You grew up on Earth, right?"
The boy shakily nodded, his eyes still confused on how that was relevant.
Sigh~ He shook his head. "Do you really not know? Haven't you figured it out by now?"
'Where is he going with this? Just say it!' Leon angrily thought, irritated that he wouldn't just speak plainly. What was even more annoying than him not just getting to the point was the way he asked it, like it was obvious.
"My man, you're in another world. Yes, it's a parallel of Earth, but it holds different values. Earth has one race, humans, and magic of any kind is heavily weakened there. So much so, in fact, that said magic has become little more than superstition. Therefore, over time, its culture has developed to favor existential equality. It's the most logical answer after all since people have similar enough qualities at birth for an effective 'human value' hierarchy based on blood circumstances to be untenable in the long term."
'OK…?' Leon thought, still not getting the problem.
And it must've been written on his face because the older man used his fingers to massage his temple. "Again, you're in another world. It's called Umbra. It's one of three with its opposite counterpart being Astra. In Umbra, there is no such thing as existential equality. By default, the social standing goes to whichever race owns the territory you happen to be in."
He exaggeratedly pointed at his female companion who helpfully floated a few droplets of blood in an orbit above her palm.
'Where did those come from?' Leon mused.
"If it wasn't obvious, you're in Palahaem, the kingdom of the vampires, an absolute monarchy with all its bells and whistles. The main caveat relevant to this situation is their extreme focus on merit, especially for those without powerful bloodlines. Unfortunately for you, this means that by default, and I speak with as much empathy as I can from one human to another, the inherent value of your existence is nothing."
The man knelt to eye level. Well, technically he was looking a little up since the bed elevated the boy, but that was neither here nor there.
The boy's eyes caught something from the girl sitting behind her kneeling companion. He flinched at the glare she was giving the kneeling man. Part of him was glad that it wasn't directed at him. The other part…
'Is she mad that he's lowering himself? Is it really that big a deal?' He thought.
Uncaring of his companion's ire, the man spoke, "I'm going to be straight with you, this is going to be a painful process for you. With you being involved in 'that man's' human experiments and being a living product, you cannot go back to your life on Earth; the powers at be won't let you. This is your new reality and unfortunately, regardless of whether you come with us or not, you're starting from the very bottom."
"W-what…?" The boys felt the world freeze around him as a heavy weight fell in his machine-wired gut.
A memory flashes through his mind, one of demented scientists looking at him with manic, sadistic glee as they injected another one of those foul fluids into him.
'That was normal?' He was struck dumb, now questioning assumptions he'd made.
Another memory flashed, showing a young vampire girl he'd met towards the end of his stay with beautiful white hair and ruby colored eyes. He remembered briefly how they'd bonded in his last days at the facility. She'd talk about how beautiful the outside world of Umbra was. She'd describe the beautiful towns and the fascinating architecture that'd been crafted over time. She talked about her family and how nice they were… how, once they were free, that it would all be better.
'… the value of your existence is nothing.' The kneeling man's voice boomed through his reeling mind.
The memory flashed to later that same day, when the voice he'd always associated with the most beautiful of hymns screamed out in agony in a nearby chamber. He remembered the tears he'd wept as her cries rose in pitch before quickly falling silent, though not without inflicting him with the horror of listening to her throat practically disintegrate through her eventually, distorted screech. He'd never imagined hearing something scream themselves hoarse could be so terrifying.
He was so deep in this PTSD-induced flashback that he hadn't even realized the man kneeling in front of him having paused his speech.
'How could she be so wrong!? First the scientists, and now these two. Where is the promised land? Where is this freedom she'd promised!?'
Silent tears trickled from his eyes as the weight of the man's words hit him like a freight train. He was lucky he was restrained by these wrappings, else he'd likely be physically acting in a way that'd get him in trouble. Plus, with his throat still too sore to properly work, the only place he could scream was in the safety of his own mind.
Unfortunately for him, his face was more than expressive enough to convey his anguish.
"You're not alone." The guy firmly replied, snapping him out of his turmoil.
"What?" He asked, not even noticing his own lack of pain-induced stuttering.
"My name is Michael Walker, and the beautiful girl next to me is Illya Dracul. We understand your pain better than you'll ever know. After all, we too suffered under similar experiments."
He didn't voice his next question, but he clearly didn't need to; Michael clearly knew what he was going to ask.
"You may not have noticed, but most glaring result of their actions is Illya's eyes." He once again pointed at his companion. "All vampires naturally have red eyes. The shade varies from person to person, but the color is always consistent. The pristine purple she has now is actually the product of her experiment's success, which crossed her powers with mine. I won't go into the details, but needless to say, we understand what you're going through."
Michael paused, letting his words sink in. Once Leon had had time to process his words, he continued, "I should also clarify what I mean by inherent value. It doesn't mean you're without options or hope. Far from it. In fact, with the experiments, even if they didn't pan out as intended, the likelihood is, your potential is far greater than most humans could ever dream of.
"All what I'd previously explained means is that in Umbra, you don't have any inborn rights, only privileges earned through the power, whether physical, political, or otherwise, that you've accumulated. As you've probably already noticed, I'm human too and I'm certainly not nothing."
The room fell into silence as Michael had seemingly said everything he needed to say.
Finally, Illya had decided. "He'll be under Shula's care. You'll have the pleasure of informing her."
Michael looked back, concerned. "Are you sure? Wouldn't I be best since I'm human?"
Illya shook her head without hesitation. "No. You have a job that needs to be done well. If you spend your time helping him, it won't. I don't mind you helping every now and then, but it's Shula who'll be his guide into Umbral life. She's needed something to do anyways."
Michael wanted to argue, but Illya's unyielding look cowed his tongue. "Sigh~ that's fine."
He turned back to Leon. "Since that's the case, you'll be getting out of here a lot quicker than you would've otherwise."
"I'll be h-healed?" His voice lifted an octave. For the first time since the two had walked in, things seemed to be looking up for him.
"Emm…. Yes, but it'll still take time. You'll be transferred to a much better facility and have access to much better care. As crazy as it must sound from your perspective, you'll probably be out and about in a few weeks."
Leon's eyes widened at the absurdity of the statement.
Michael continued without pause, "It's not cheap, of course, meaning we'll be putting you on a payment plan." Behind him, Illya gave a curt nod in agreement. "While your body is being repaired though, you won't need to be idle. We'll be commissioning a… rental for you."
"…excuse me?"
Michael looked back at Illya, and the two turned to regard him with ominous smiles.
'I have a bad feeling about this…'