The Red Hand

"S-Shiroe..." Feline turned pale as a ghost as she looked upon the horrifying sight of her friend standing over the dead bodies of her Father and older brother. Both of them had been slashed open by the Samurai Hero's blade, and their blonde hair was almost entirely red with blood. "W-Why?"

{T-This can't be real... Shiroe... She'd never...} (Feline)

"I..." Amakusa's eyes reverted to normal as she regained control over herself. "Fuck! FUCK YOU AKAGI!" She exclaimed. "Fuck you for making me do that! And fuck you for making Feline see it!"

{Those assholes deserved to fucking die, but why did you need to set up the scenario where Feline sees me standing over the bodies?!? You truly are a sadistic fuck!} (Amakusa)

"Lady Amakusa... You..." Albert was similarly shocked. “How could you... Even if you...”

"Ok, it's not what it looks like!" Amakusa frantically waved her arms. "Well, it is, but it's not!" She had no idea where to even begin.

"You killed them!" Feline said with tears in her eyes as she ran to her Father and brother, falling to her knees next to their bodies. “You... You...”

{Father... Brother...} (Feline)

"I... Feline..." Amakusa wanted to reach out to her, but a sudden wave of killing intent from Albert caused her to snap attention to him.

"Lady Amakusa, I know that you've had your disagreements with His Majesty and the Prince over the years, but to side with the enemy and attack our Kingdom." Albert growled as he drew his blade. "I cannot forgive such a betrayal."

"It's not like I had a choice in all this!" Amakusa yelled, pleading her 'innocence.'

"One always has a choice!" Albert screamed back. "Lady Feline told me that you were taken captive by Demon Lord Akagi, and I see that you've chosen to betray us. Did she offer to spare you in exchange for your cooperation? Did she offer you lenience if you betrayed us?" Something like that was, to him, the greatest act of cowardice.

"Hah!" Amakusa's deep laugh caught both Feline and Albert off guard. "Spared? You think that evil bitch offered to spare me?!? No, Akagi didn't spare me, nor did she make me an offer." She said as she pointed to her eyes. "Did you not notice that my eyes were orange until a bit ago? As far I as recall, that's not normal for me, right? I don't think I wear color changing contacts!"

"And what of it?" Albert scoffed, not wanting to entertain her comments. “Black or Orange, how can the color of your eyes excuse what you've done?!? It means nothing!”

"Well, when my eyes turn orange, I am no longer in control of my body." Amakusa explained what had been done to her. "Contrary to what you might think Akagi did not spare me, Albert. In fact, not only didn't she spare me that crazy monster turned me into her plaything, which I would like to add is a fate worse than death." She said as before turning back to Feline. "I know this will be no solace after what you've seen, but I was not in control when I killed them. Akagi did something to my soul, and now I have no choice but to obey her orders without question, and this time she told me to kill those two at a precise moment. I didn't understand why she was giving me an exact time down the to the millisecond, but now I understand that her orders were intended to have you see this mess..." She shook her head.

{That disgusting fuck... And just when I was thinking that MAYBE she wasn't completely fucked in the head.} (Amakusa)

"That... But Heroes are immune to mental control!" Feline yelled, tears still in her eyes. "The Gods protected you to prevent exactly what you are describing from happening!" She was having a hard time believing Amakusa's story, since it sounded far to convenient of an out for her.

"Yeah, but Akagi is quite a bit higher on the food chain than those Gods." Amakusa begrudgingly understood her reluctance, understanding that it did sound too convenient for her. "But take it from me, she can and does do things far beyond that which even the Gods are capable. Heck, she already killed Tahena and plans on wiping out the rest of the pantheon in retaliation."

"Lady Tahena... I heard the rumors..." Albert shook his head. "No, how can I trust anything that you are saying? He raised his blade to Amakusa. “You claim mental manipulation by the Demon Lord, but if that's true then you're a threat to this world, Shiroe. That you haven't taken your own life to prevent your use in such heinous acts tells me all I need to know."

{Not really... Besides I'm 99% sure Akagi put a no suicide rule on me, not like I'd be ending my life anyway but...} (Amakusa)

"Albert..." Amakusa locked eyes with the old man. "Listen, I don't really want to fight you. The only reason I'm here in the first place is because Akagi wanted to get her sick kicks..."

"So what, I should just let you walk away?" Albert asked. “You've killed the man I swore fealty to and are aiding an enemy of the Kingdom! I am not such a disgraceful man that I'd just stand aside while everything I've worked for falls apart!”

"I mean, you can't beat me anyway." Amakusa's smart comment irritated Albert.

{Oops...} (Amakusa)

"If I need to put my life on the line to defend Amdamell and its people, no matter if you are a Hero I will defeat you!" Albert zipped forward, his blade being blocked by Amakusa's. “This shall be your end!”

"Albert!" Feline panicked as the two clashed. "Stop, please!"

"Lady Feline, stay back!" Albert growled as Amakusa held him off with ease. "Lady Amakusa has been compromised. We can't trust her, and you need to escape! The fate of our entire Kingdom rests on your shoulders!" He figured that if he could get Feline out of the Kingdom and to another nation they could one day return and rebuild.

"You know, for all that wisdom in your head, you're an absolute moron, Albert!" Amakusa threw Albert back a bit, allowing him to reposition. "Think about it, if I'm here then obviously Akagi and her minions know about these tunnels! Do you seriously think that Feline can escape?!? Even if I sit on my hands and do nothing Merkyul or one of the others will grab her, and trust me you don't want one of those morons to be the one to nab her!"

{Hell, that idiot is probably sitting in the shadows acting as my minder! He won't let Feline get away, not with his Master keeping a close eye on this whole operation!} (Amakusa)

"If there are those who seek to harm Lady Feline in my way, then I'll just have to cut them down as well!" Albert rocketed forward again, clashing with Amakusa. She didn't need to exert much effort to defeat him, though she was intentionally holding back so as to not hurt him. Albert was a seasoned warrior and his quick and decisive movement showed that he'd been on the battlefield many times, but all the experience in the world wasn't going to make up for the chasm between them.

"Listen to me! Just stop fighting for two seconds!" Amakusa exclaimed as they exchanged blows. "You can't win against me, and you certainly cannot win against a Demon Lord that can casually slay Gods! What you're doing now is pointless, not to mention that you're risking getting more people killed!" She figured that open resistance against Akagi wouldn't be tolerated and there was a good chance that the Demon would use it as an excuse to inflict more horrors on this world.

{She's a hypocritical bitch! I have no doubt that she wants the people of this world to fight back so that she can unleash hell upon it!} (Amakusa)

"Are you threatening our people?!?" Albert screamed. "Are you saying that if we resist that more will die? That the Demon Lord will continue to kill until we submit?!?”

"YES!" Amakua yelled back. "Akagi gave you a demand and you ignored it, so now she's punishing you! Feline, if you want to protect Amdamell and keep its people safe, then you need to give her what she wants!" She wasn't the kind of person to advocating appeasement or giving in to bullies, but the Hero knew all too well that further resistance would only encourage the Demon to let out her darker side.

"Why are you siding with her?!?" Feline screamed at the top of her lungs, causing both warriors to pause. "Are you not a Hero?!? Did you not vow to protect the people of this world?!?" Tears ran down her face. “Did you not promise to protect... me?”

"I was never a Hero!" Amakusa took the chance to kick Albert in the stomach and punt him away. "None of us were, Feline!" She started to cry as emotions that she'd long suppressed welled up inside of her. "We were just dumb kids that were taken in by the Gods' lies..."

"What?" Feline was taken aback by Shiroe's words. “What are you talking about? Lies?”

"Yes, lies... They deceived us, Feline..." Amakusa wiped away her tears as Albert stood back up,, ready for the next round. "Not just the Heroes, but the people of this world...We were all lied to by those bastards."

"The Gods would never lie to us!" Albert winced as he took a stance. Amakusa's kick had broken a few of his ribs, despite her holding back

{Sorry for that... I've never been good at holding back...} (Amakusa)

"I once thought the same way... But they did... And they've been." Amakusa lowered her blade. "They lied, and so many... So many innocent people died... They wound us up like dolls... and... And they unleashed us on a people that had done nothing wrong..." She continued to cry, something that Feline had never really seen from the, usually stoic, Samurai Hero before.

"Shiroe..." Feline slowly stood up from the cold ground. "Then, tell me. What happened? What happened in that other world? Tell me what you've learned to make you say such things?!?" Something inside her heart told her that she needed to hear Amakusa out.

"Lady Feline!" Albert called out to her despite his pain. "Don't listen to her! She's been corrupted by that Demon Lord! You can't trust her or anything she says! You need to run away!"

{Dammit!} (Albert)

"I... I will hear her out. I at least owe her that much after everything that's happened!" Feline gulped as she walked in front of the tearful Shiroe. “We've caused her so much pain, and despite everything that's just happened... I know Shiroe is a good person... She wouldn't lie to me... I know it... So please... Please tell me what you've learned.”

"Are... Are you sure that you want to know?" Amakusa looked into Feline's eyes, seeing passion as well as a twinge of fear. "Because once you know the truth... There's no going back..."

After taking a deep breath, Feline answered resolutely, befitting her status as the now Queen of Amdamell. "Yes, I do. As the only member of the Amdamell Royal family, I need to know the truth. I need to know what's been really going on, so that I may guide my people down the right path."

"Then..." Amakusa proceeded to give a rundown of events, explaining the Gods' plans to abandon the world and how the massacre of the Spirits had been done for no other reason than to acquire their power. It was a long and painful story, and verbally admitting to one of her best friends that she'd been part of something so heinous was clearly not easy for the Hero.

"N-No..." Feline's entire body went numb, and Albert was left speechless. He wasn't inclined to believe Amakusa's words, but her story caused him to rethink some of the prior events during the war, and how he may have overlooked discrepancies.

"I told you that you didn't want to know." Amakusa gave a dry laugh. "Now, try being me. Come to find out that my righteous crusade against evil was actually me committing mass murder of innocent people..."

{I truly did fail my father and I became everything that others feared I already was.} (Amakusa)

"S-Shiroe." Feline hugged her. “I'm so sorry.”

"Eh?" Amakusa squeaked, not expecting to be hugged out of the blue. "Why?"

"Because I could see that you were in pain..." Feline squeezed her even tighter. “And its all my fault... Please forgive me...”

"I killed your Father and Brother!" Amakusa said as she tried to wiggle free. "I don't care how kind you are, how can you just..."

{How can you apologize to me?!?} (Amakusa)

"This is all my fault, Shiroe!" Feline started to cry as she continued to hug her. "I'm the one that summoned you to this world. I'm the one who asked you to save us, and I'm the one who asked you to go with the other Heroes to finish off the Spirits. Everything that you've done... Is my fault..." She'd been with Amakusa since her arrival on Enoris and it had been at her prodding that she'd taken up their cause, and now she was regretting everything.

"No... I..." Amakusa struggled to respond.

"BOOOOOOOORING!" Akagi's voice echoed throughout the underground shelter, interrupting the touching moment between friends. “What kind of sappy Saturday morning crap is this?!? I want blood!”

{THIS IS BULLSHIT! I WANT A REFUND!} (Akagi)

"Who's there?!?" Albert scanned the area before eventually finding the Demon who'd appeared just behind Amakusa.

{I didn't even sense her!} (Albert)

"Come on! Like seriously, where's the drama?!? I set this whole thing up, and you go blowing it with fucking blubbering and forgiveness?!?" Akagi grumbled and complained about how she was robbed of her fun. "I was hoping that we'd get some good quality entertainment, but I get this bullshit?!? I want a refund! BOO!"

{Where was the anger from Feline?!? And why didn't you get forced into killing Albert?!? This path was the most boring one and you fucking got it!} (Akagi)

"Oh, great, you're here..." Amakusa pushed Feline away as she turned around. "Not content enough to watch from the sidelines, were we? Ya just had to show yourself, didn't ya?"

{Sudden accent is random, but ok...} (Akagi)

"I was planning on having a dramatic appearance where I was sitting on the throne when you brought Feline back to the Palace, but this sorry display completely killed the mood!" Akagi pouted. "Bad pet! You were supposed to make this fun! I set this whole thing up explicitly so that there would be a misunderstanding that would lead to juicy drama, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO, you just had to talk it out like reasonable people! GRRRRRR" The Demon complained that life wasn't fair and that discussing things like mature adults was cheating.

"I... Feline, please meet the pain in the ass that is Akagi..." Amakusa sighed. “She is everything wrong with the world and should be smited.”

"Ummmmm..." Feline was confused about what was going on, but figured that Akagi's appearance wasn't a good sign.

"Now, now, now." Akagi bopped Amakusa on the head. "That introduction just won't do! Please introduce me properly, pet."

"My apologies, Master! Feline, please welcome our new Lord and Savior, Lady Akagi!" Amakusa's eyes turned orange as she was compelled to give a prescripted schpiel that Akagi had taught her. "She's my owner, and I am her loyal happy pet! I could never ask for a better Master, and I hope that you'll join me in welcoming our new kitty overlord!" Her eyes reverted to normal as her cheeks went bright red.

{THAT WAS SO FUCKING CRINGE!} (Amakusa)

{WHAT?!?) (Feline x Albert)