Chereads / Angeli Caeci / “Slaughterhouse”

“Slaughterhouse”

After the earlier events, Morrell, Reece, and Aku all sat in a run down garage. Morell sat down within a chair, as Aku was attempting to carefully glue the broken pieces of her hands together. Reece, on the other hand, paced back and forth, before facing Morell, her hands placed on the chair's armrests as she leaned forwards.

"So.. Morell. I'm not too sure on how you did all that, but I guess it does prove that you're not a fake.."

She groaned, knowing that she had been proven wrong, as she stood back up straight, crossing her arms. Morell looked up at her, still surprised of her newfound ability.

"What do you mean..? You've both mentioned some royalty I'm apart of, but you never explained past that.."

Morell attempted to stand up, only to get pulled back down by Aku, who went right back to focusing on her hands, as Reece dragged over another chair, sitting across from Morell.

"We've talked about the bum of a ruler we had, but before that we had a very cruel king, but at least he actually did anything, instead of that stupid Uvie just sitting in her castle. Nobody even knows who the new ruler looks like, but you should be related to the monarchy."

Reece shooed Aku away, swayting at him, as she then grasped Morell's wrist, standing her up and looking her dead in the eye.

"Morell, I'm a revolutionist, if you hadn't realized. I want to take down the new ruler, to replace them with a proper one. I need YOU to be that replacement!"

Morell, took a few steps back, her eyes slightly widening as she attempted to point herself, though she obviously couldn't with her lack of hands.

"Me, a ruler..? Do you really believe I'm up for such a position? I'm not strong-willed like you, or a leader like Aku, either of you would be better choices."

Aku sighed, standing up to continue fixing her hands, turning Morell to face him as he looked her in the eye.

"That doesn't matter, what matters is that you're royalty. Me and Reece are just some random homeless people, you're the only one who's supposed to rule this city. You may not be ready yet, but you'll get there, we'll help you harness your abilities and you will get stronger."

He placed his hand on Morell's shoulder, Reece placing hers on the other, as they both looked at her with a serious tone on their faces, the two nodding in approval, knowing Morell was their only hope.

Morell thought about this all thoroughly, looking down to her feet, all this pressure being so sudden, knowing she now had a role she had to play.

"I.. I'll do it, I'll become ruler, but.. I'm not ready yet. I have no memory of who I am, regaining my memories is my first goal right now, is that fine with you two..?"

Reece groaned, but nodded, her hand lowering as she returned to pacing back and forth in front of Morell, her arms crossing over one another.

"Fine.. but you're still gonna have to learn to use your abilities either way! Now Aku, hurry your ass up!"

She lashed out at Aku, as he looked back with a blank expression, holding all the parts of Morell's hand, as he glued the fingers back to it, then gluing her hands back onto her wrists.

"Quit yelling, I'm done. Hopefully this works.."

Morell looked down at her hands, raising them slowly as she moved her fingers around, her hands now has cracks in them, but they at least worked.

"Thank yo-"

Morell couldnmt even finish her sentence, as Reece had grabbed both her and Aku by their wrists, running off as she dragged them with her.

"C'mon! Let's get this over with already!"

Reece ran theough the city, Morell and Aku yelling for her to stop as she merely ignored them, though she eventually stopped, Morell and Aku falling to the ground, as they both got up.

"What the hell's wrong with you!?"

Aku lashed out, dusting himself off as Reece pointed forth, the two others looking facing where she pointed, as many faceless civilians were laying in piles, drained of life.

"Huh, that's weird, they aren't supposed to be able to die!"

Reece walked over to the corpses, casually poking at them, as Aku and Morell followed behind, though Morell was more cautious.

"Are you sure you should be doing that..?"

Morell spoke, as Reece faced her, yanking her closer by her top

"Geez, quit being a scaredy-cat, they're not even alive!"

Aku sighed at Reece's agressiveness, as he walked over the piles of bodies that filled the street, looking for the cause of the genocide.

"What do you guys think could've caused this? I've never seen this happen before.."

Aku placed his hand over his ear, forming it into a circle, as he listened carefully, a feint sound in the distance, as he signals the others to follow him, slowly approaching where they noise came from.

Morell and Reece, hearing nothing, were a bit confused from Aku, but followed him regardless, though not as stealthy as he was.

"What're you sneaking around for..?"

Reece said, only to be quickly shushed by Aku, which slightly upset her, as she yelled out.

"Don't you shush me, dumbass!!!"

Aku quickly tackled Reece down, covering her louth as he faced her over to an empty space in the center of the pile. Morell walked over beside them, crouching down as they all peaked over the bodies, a maid in the center, seemingly draining a red elixir out of the bodies into capsules, which she them carefully placed into a big metal box.

The maid hummed a calm, but oddly eerie tune, though she stopped when Reece had yelled out, directly facing them with a wide smile, as she walked towards them.

"Oh..? Is someone there..?"

The maid spoke, waving a syringe around, as Aku slowly took Morell's knife, making sure to not make a sound before throwing it towards the maid, knocking the syringe out of her hand.

"Go!"

Aku shouted, as Reece quickly charged force, tackling the makd to the ground, and keeping her arms restrained.

"Who are you..!? Did you cause all this!?"

Aku quickly pulled Reece off of the maid, as he helped her back up, though still kept her arms restrained, Morell following from behind as she picked up her knife.

"Oh my..! I mean no harm, no need for the hostility!"

The maid kept her wide smile, speaking in a joyful tone as she shoved Aku back, her arms released. She dusted her dress off, politely bowing as she spoke.

"My name is Kafka, a maid, as you can see!"

Morell walked up to Kafka, looking at her intently as she began poking at her face, Aku and Reece caught by shock, as Reece stopped her from doing so.

"You're a doll as well.. What might you be doing here..?"

Kafka giggled to Morell's actions, gently grasping her hand as she shook it carefully.

"My dear master is in a very weak condition.. wrapped in bandages and stuck sitting in a wheelchair.. He tells me that comsuming the energy of others heals him bit by bit, and I want the best for him, so I get this energy for him."

She looked around at the piles of dead bodies, realizing how wrong it looked as she reassured the trio

"Do not worry, though! These faceless beings, they're all like empty shells, soulless. No life was lost, really..!"

The trio still looked at her, skeptical of her methods, as Kafka became rather nervous, a drop of aweat running down her face as she attempted to change the subject.

"Ah.. You all seem rather beaten up, allow me to offer hospitality to you three."

She placed her hand on Morell's shoulder, leading her, well grabbing the metal box on the way. Both Kafka and Morell began having a friendly conversation, as Aku and Reece followed a bit behind, looking at eachother.

"There's just something so off about all of this..

Reece whispered, Aku nodding his head in agreement as they walked alpng in caution.

"We have arrived, Dear new friends. Feel free to make yourself comfortable."

They've arrived at a large old mansion, Kafka opening the two front doors to a clean, yet gloomy mainroom. She walked in, the trio following as she hummed a tune once more, leading them up a staircase into a big bedroom.

"This is the guestroom, you may stay here as long as you'd like, I'll be downstairs cooking you all a supper..!"

Kafka walked back out, as Reece plopped right onto the bed, wrapping herself up in the blankets, though Morell and Aku instead decided to explore the room, as it was filled with fancy furniture, clearly expensive to anyone.

"This mansion is huge, but there's nobody else here.. It's so empty, kinda creepy.."

Aku brushed his finger over a dresser, rubbing his finger and thumb together afterwards.

"And even then, there isnmt a single spexk of dust. Surely that maid doesn't clean all of this by herself, right..?"

Reece sat up, rolled up in the blanket like a burrito, as she wiggled her arm out, grabbing a pillow to throw towards him.

"Quit finding reasons to complain! You gotta be grateful sometimes, y'know!?"

Morell looked over to the two.

"She's right, Kafka is a very nice person.. You don't need to be skeptical of everyone, just relax."

Aku sighed, nodding to the two of them, as they all laid down in their seperate beds, Reece and Morell taking short naps, though Aku stayed awake, staring to the ceiling.

"There's something wrong.. I know this feeling."