There was a general acceptance by the Doctors who had looked over him before throwing him to the street. It was that he had forgotten something that held him back, that held him from being himself.
It was something in Mercury that he had accidentally left behind, the chains that kept a despicable personality from emerging.
As soon as he awoke, he knew he didn't have to pretend anymore. In that silly, strange world, Mercury had to wear a mask of irony. Now that he had awoken from that strange dream of a world, he could be what gnawed at him, a monster.
'That's right… how I was acting was a means of survival. But if this is Hell, I don't have to act ironically. Still… I can't remember where I came from, or what happened to me…'
He had appeared in a grassy hillscape blanketed by a canopy of bright-green leaves, which allowed beams of sunlight to pierce through, enveloping the area in a mystical golden glow. Flowers of various colours stretched far through the hills, like rainbows that had descended from above, and the trunks of trees towered high above like wooden monoliths.
He could hear the trickling sound of water in the distance, indicative of a flowing stream.
'Is Hell supposed to be this pretty? The way that Captain spoke, I thought it would be different…'
As he lost himself in his thoughts, a sheet of paper began to fall down from the heavens, swinging back and forth through the air as if it were dancing. Mercury reached out a hand, plucking it from the sky and unfolding it.
'Finally… fortune.'
An aqueous light enveloped the second slip of paper, and although he had expected poetry like before, there was only a single line on the first sheet of paper.
[Welcome, Songstress.]
This made Mercury chuckle.
"What the f-ck? A Songstress? But I'm not a woman…"
His eyes widened. He glanced down towards the collar of his shirt, slowly lifting it forward as he peered at his chest. Nothing. He let out a sigh, looking back at the slip of paper. 'We're safe…'
As he glanced back at the sheet of paper, he saw it gradually dissipate in his hands into thousands of crystalline fragments that blew away in the gentle wind. There was no time to ruminate it, however. Immediately after, a new sheet of paper was whisked between his fingertips, as if the first sheet had never disappeared at all.
The sentiment that Captain Lunete had voiced echoed in his mind. Whatever method of deliverance your soul has picked- that will be what allows you to find out.
'How interesting. Does this imply that the way I unconsciously picked for information to be delivered to me takes form as sheets of paper? I wonder if I liked reading before I lost my memories?'
He glanced down at the second sheet.
[Echo: {Saint's Sonnet: Fate's Soulbound Songstress}: The souls of the anguished, left by death for a Reaper to capture. Songs written in stone, as is the inevitability of your fate. Bequeath your words to others, their beings be enraptured.]
'This 'Beast' is a horrible poet. It's like reading the words of a soul-searching twenty-year-old shut-in… what does any of this mean? Is confusion my reward for gambling with my life at stake? How cruel.'
As the paper began to fragment and disappear, Mercury spotted a single writhing line at the bottom.
[You have been left an inheritance.]
'An inheritance? From who?' Mercury was confused, but there was no time to dwell on it, as a new sheet of paper quickly replaced the last. It was smaller than the others, and that was because it only had three words.
[Key Paradigm: Adaptability.]
'What does this mean? Why didn't that captain explain any of this? All she told me was to…'
As that paper disappeared, and a new one replaced it, one of Captain Lunete's warnings echoed through his mind. …you must never tell others what you learn, apart from whatever Distortion you experience.
[Distortion Law: Must be perceived as a woman by others in order for {Saint's Sonnet: Fate's Soulbound Songstress} to function. A failure in perception will cause the ability to stop working. This may cause severe bodily pain.]
Mercury's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but laugh. 'Ah, and here I thought I was safe… this Beast, is he a sick individual? I can use my abilities, whatever they mean, but I must act as a woman in front of others? How cruel.'
He tried to recall the first slip of paper, but none of the words in the stanza came to mind. However, as soon as he thought about it, the paper in his hands wisped away, and the original poem was placed back between his fingertips.
'Ah, how convenient. Like flipping through a book. A very, very disconnected book.'
'So, my words have power. Is that the case, as a songstress? Is it possible that I could enhance myself?'
Mercury reached out his hand, and instinctively spoke. "Enhance."
However, nothing happened. 'Did I do something wrong?'
He felt that he had done it correctly, like there was a base instinct born inside of him the moment he had appeared in Hell. He was sure that he couldn't be wrong.
Then, he heard the snap of a twig behind him.
Mercury's maddened gaze shifted to the corner of his eye, where a shadowy figure stood, enveloped by the shade. He wore a cowl and hood, which was promptly removed as he began to approach.
'Ah. I see. There's a reason why nothing happened, assuming my interpretation of the poem wasn't wrong. I'm currently being perceived. Likely as a man, which would cancel out my abilities. How inconvenient. There's an easy way to fix that.'
"You're thinking of killing me right now, aren't you?" The man in the darkness gradually stepped under a beam of light, revealing his visage.
"How can you know that?" Mercury was taken aback, still wary. He reached behind him slowly, picking up a twig that had fallen from the canopy above.
"It's simple. Didn't you receive a revelation from this place, too? That window that appears in front of your vision. It should have told you of your power, right?"
'Wait… didn't Captain Lunete say that the form revelation takes is based on one's soul? Does he not know that? He assumed we would be the same, but I learned from those sheets of paper, not a window… how much does he assume to know?'
Mercury immediately rid himself of all killing intent, aware now that the man could somehow detect it. 'Is that the ability he gained? Perhaps there's a way I can trick that information out of him…'
"You're right. I received the power to weave water. I wonder, does your power let you know certain things? You might want to limit test it. It seems you've gotten it wrong just now." Mercury's tone took on a pleasant waver, as if he were both teasing and discussing trivial things with the man.
"No. It couldn't possibly be wrong." The man began to boast. "I've gained the ability to detect danger-"
Suddenly, the man stopped speaking. His gaze, which once stared at Mercury with confidence, began to rapidly bulge, spilling clear fluid and streams of blood from his eyelids. At the same time, at various parts of his head, his skull began to crack and swell outwards, his entire face becoming enveloped by writhing protrusions.
Then, as the man's face filled with fear, his head burst open, spilling mixtures of blood, skull fragments, and greyish brain matter onto the ground below. Mercury's eyes widened, becoming covered by the remnants of the man, his crimson-covered lips curling up into a grin.
He reached up a hand to wipe the excess blood from his face, his mind racing as he came to a conclusion.
'You fool. It was just an assumption of mine, but if you didn't know about the various forms the deliverance of information would take based on one's soul, it might have been the case that you didn't know that you can't share information either. It was the only specific thing that Captain Lunete bothered to warn me about, so it was a matter of testing it on someone unsuspecting. Thank you for your sacrifice. You've confirmed a crucial detail for me. Revealing your information to others, apart from your 'Distortion' is something that will ultimately lead to death.'
'But if he has the ability to detect danger, why didn't he detect his imminent death when speaking? Was it that it only applied to people? Well, it doesn't exactly matter now. He didn't put it to good use, obviously. What a waste. Whoever sent him to Hell should have warned him.'
He looked over towards the man's corpse, thinking to retrieve his cowl and hood.
'Now, it's just a matter of learning what my ability does by dissecting this terrible poem, and then figuring out a way to deal with my Distortion… f-ck, do I really have to pretend to be a woman?'