The Jigsaw, Reborn
(A/N: Hopefully you guys liked the previous chapter. I wanted it to set the general tone for this fanfic, though it obviously won't be that gruesome all the time. Yet again, this is SAW we're talking about, so no promises.)
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[Narrator's POV]
"Live or die, Jeff. Make our choice." A voice called out wearily to the man standing in front of him. Knocking on death's door, the man who spoke was none other than John Kramer, an old man who was confined to a hospital bed.
The atmosphere of the room was tense, with the silence broken only by the beeping of the heart rate monitor in the background. Jeff, bloodied and bruised, stood looming over Kramer. Gently resting his hand on Jigsaw's chest, he spoke, "I forgive you."
Turning around, Jeff grabbed a powered circular saw to the dismay of the tired and bloodied woman sitting on the floor. "Jeff…" she muttered softly at first before raising her tone. "JEFF!" Her words to get his attention were drowned by the rotating blades as Kramer could only smile at what was about to happen.
Walking closer, Jeff brought the blade closer before ultimately swinging it toward Kramer's neck. With one simple act, blood soaked John Kramer's shirt as a continuous stream of it spilled out of his neck.
Kramer's vision quickly grew dark and heavy as the sound of the heart rate monitor slowly faded from his hearing. Yet with one final act, the Jigsaw raised his hand to press a recording device that started speaking.
"Hello Jeff, I made this tape as an insurance policy, if you will, and if you're listening to it then it's time to collect. I was your final test, Jeff, your final test of forgiveness, and if you are listening to this, then you failed. Now you must pay the price. The price for living for nothing but vengeance. Now I will give you something to live for. I told you that you couldn't kill me, Jeff, but I didn't tell you why. And the answer is simple: I am the person responsible for the loss of your child. I am the only person who knows where your daughter is. She only has a limited supply of air, Jeff, and if you want her back, you'll have to play a game."
Kramer's heart flatlined as he lost all the energy in his hand, dropping the device containing the recorded message. For a short while, there was nothing but darkness for John Kramer. That was until the man was able to open his eyes once more.
Blinking only a couple of times, Kramer was abruptly met with a view of the sun and blue skies, as opposed to the room he was in only moments prior.
"What?" Kramer muttered to himself in shock, noticing that his voice sounded different. It sounded much younger and healthier. The same could be said for his hands that he raised to see. Instead of seeing wrinkles, let alone an IV for his weakening condition, there were none.
"This has to be a dream," he murmured to himself again, taking notice that this body he inhabited was sitting down on a bench. Kramer tried standing up, and to his shock, he could with ease.
It was as if he had been transported back in time to his twenties. "Hallucination of a dead man? No… this is too real…" Kramer easily dismissed the thought. He could feel the tips of his fingers touch the palms of his hands as he clenched them. He could feel the collar of his shirt touch his neck. He could feel the wind as it moved his hair.
Surveying the new location he was in, Kramer quickly identified that he was in a park of sorts, albeit an empty one, in the middle of an unknown city block. However, what stood out to the Jigsaw were the displays and billboards on many of the buildings in the background.
Firstly, was that all the words were in Japanese. Not a single bit of English was in sight. Yet almost paradoxically, Kramer knew what all those words meant, as if he knew how to read Japanese all of a sudden. Secondly, on some of the billboards, people were posing in what could only be described as hero suits.
John Kramer could only come up with one reasonable explanation for this whole ordeal: reincarnation. "To Japan no less…" he said with a peculiar sense of fascination. Dropping his hands to his lap, Kramer noticed something in his right pocket.
Reaching for the object and pulling it to view, Kramer found a black wallet of average size. Flipping it open, Kramer noticed a couple of things. One of them being the name of his body, courtesy of his driver's licence.
"Okazaki Yuudai," he said to himself, taking notice of the other information on the ID card, most notably the part that said "quirkless," which Kramer didn't understand the meaning of before his eyes moved onto the face of the man in the ID card.
"This must be me…" John Kramer's new body, which he now knew was called Yuudai could only be described as slightly above average for a Japanese man in his early twenties. He had typical brown eyes to match his messy black hair that was roughly eyebrow length.
John Kramer hummed as he stopped reading the ID card and took notice of the second thing in the wallet of his new body, a small piece of paper that was neatly folded, yet jutted out of a small pocket within the wallet.
"A note probably?" Kramer mused as he took out the piece of paper and unfolded it. He was correct in his assumption, it was a note. However, mysteriously addressed to John Kramer.
It read as follows:
"Your address is at the back of this note with directions on how to get there from the park you're currently in. Your key to the flat resides under the welcome mat. The rest of your important information like banking or your phone is inside. Burn this note later and enjoy a second chance at life. Let's see what chaos the Jigsaw will bring to this world. Or not, the choice is yours…"
"So it seems I have been reborn, as this Okazaki Yuudai individual," Kramer mused once more, eyeing the note, address, and directions with interest before slipping it back into his pocket. "Moreover, this… being sent me here on purpose. How peculiar…"
Kramer folded the note back into the wallet before slipping it back into his pocket, taking a quick mental note of the address to his flat that he'd have to find out the location of. But the Jigsaw couldn't help but take another glance at the billboards hung on the buildings in the distance that displayed a hero posing.
It certainly wasn't a hero John Kramer was familiar with, like the ones he read about as a child in comics, such as Batman or Captain America. Perhaps it was a character from a Japanese show or movie that he wasn't familiar with. But if so, it wouldn't explain the odd caption underneath the muscular blonde hero.
"Number 1 Hero: All Might… plus ultra…" Kramer read perfectly. Along with the odd addition of the word "quirkless" on his ID, it was evident that Kramer was missing some key information about this new world he had been reborn in.
Whatever it was, John Kramer's only answers to the many unanswered questions he currently had were at his new house written in that note, where he was sure he could access the internet and catch up on some history lessons.
Kramer muttered to himself before he started walking away from the bench and towards his home, remembering the directions given to him on the back of the note.
"What an intriguing set of events…"