14 Sayo's awakening

"Where… am I?" Sayo muttered not minutes after that strange, Lubbock boy had left the room. Her eyes wandering upon every facet of the stone room. Wooden panelling on the floor, the single, window against the wall, overlooking what looked to be a big forest. Even a table and bookshelf against the wall.

"How did I get here?" she questioned again, rubbing her head as a surge of pain filled it. Horrible images forcing their way to the forefront of her mind. A girl, her cruel smile as she looked down at Sayo with ruthless eyes and the cackle of a demon.

In her hands a bone saw. Then she remembered the pain, the agony that coursed through her as she felt the blunt edges digging though her leg. Tearing her apart until it reached bone, slowly sawing through it, striking every sensitive nerve within.

Sayo hands shot to her mouth, curling in over her self while buckling to the side. Throwing whatever food in her stomach up onto the flooring. Beginning to gag as the residual taste of acid and bile lingered between her lips.

Her chest heaving as she returned to a seated position. Her hands fearfully gripping the blanket laid over her legs. Jaw chattering at the noticeable indent on only the one side of the bed. "Please be a dream. Please be a dream." She pleaded, slowly tearing the blanket away as if it were a band aid over a fresh cut.

"NO…nononononononono!" she screamed, gripping at her thigh, just above the stump of her missing right leg. Tears uncontrollably falling from her eyes. As she screamed to the unfair heavens above.

Slowly, her screams turned to whimpers, falling to weeps, sniffling all the way. Her mind barely able to process the very fact of her now crippled nature. Let alone her surroundings.

"Hey, hey-hey-hey, it's okay. Deep breaths Sayo, just take deep breathes."

Sayo jolted away when she felt a hand pressed onto her back. "Whoah! Careful," the man quickly wrapped an arm around her, preventing her from falling off the single bed.

"NO DON'T TOUCH ME, NO!" Sayo screamed, kicking with only a single leg, attempting to struggle out of the mans persistent grip. Uncaring for who it may be.

"Oh come one. SAYO!" She froze as the man grabbed her face and forced her to look at him.

"P-P…arc?" her lips trembled seeing him. She had only met him once, days earlier by her last memories that weren't of pure pain. Yet here he was, sitting with her with a concerned expression.

Sayo's tears fell fast as she threw herself onto him, pushing her face into his chest and she weapt. His hand gently stroking her back in a downwards motion as he comforted her, "there you go. You're safe now. Nothing's going to hurt you anymore." He gently whispered to her with a strained smile. Continuing to do so for the many, many minutes of straight up weeping she went through.

"I'm… I'm scared…" she trembled out, gripping a fistful of Parc's shirt.

"I know, I know," he continued gently stroking her back. His finger lightly making their way through her obsidian locks.

Slowly, but surely, Sayo was finding her mind growing weary. Even though she had just woken up, half and hour of pure weeping and mental strain was draining to her mental fortitude. And soon, she found herself laid with her head against the cushioning of a pillow. Her mind shutting down as she fell into sleep.

Parc sighed as he laid her down. 'Should have expected a panic attack after all that.' His nose picked up on the rank odour of bile. Drawing his gaze to where she had just thrown up, 'I'll get the mop,' he thought. Making quick strides before returning with a mop and bucket. Swiftly cleaning up the mess.

"So, how was she?" He tilted his gaze to the doorway where the Silver haired Najenda had just walked in. Out of all the people he expected here, she wasn't the one.

"About what you can imagine. Everything's coming at her at once. I only fear what will happen when she learns of Ieyasu," he replied. Lifting the bucket with mop inside from the floor and walking to the door where Najenda had stepped out of the way to let him pass.

"Did you want to talk to her?" he asked. Knowing that she was still figuring out what to do with Sayo.

"No, actually I wanted to speak with you. We'll talk in the meeting room," she walked passed him, a step ahead of him seeming to guide him through the hallways till they arrived at the training ground where Bulat was doing his spear work drills. Sending specks of sweat flying around him as Parc threw the contents of the bucket into the grass a good distance away from where anyone would reasonably walk.

***

"So, what did you want to talk about," Parc looked around the meeting room, finding it empty except for the two of them.

Najenda was sat in her usual seat at the back of the room, overlooking where the rest of them would be standing when she gave out her briefings.

"Quite a few things actually. For now, let's start with you. Tell me about yourself, 'Parc'. See, I've scoured through each and every document the R.A has access to. Migration logs, shipping logs, border crosses. And not even a single one include the mention of a 'Parc Evans' any where within them. So I guess the more apt question would be, who are you, Parc Evans?"

'Oh, right. I did sort of just appear out of nowhere didn't I…'

"Right uh, well. That's a difficult and long story to explain that I really don't want to go into right now. But you can consider me someone from the far flungs of the world where very, very few people go."

'Well, none at all, considering it doesn't exist in this world.'

Najenda frowned, flicking the ash of her cigarette onto the floor, "then that just brings up another question. Why did you leave? And where exactly is this 'far flung land' you hail from? From what I can tell, you're not from Wakoku, so even further?"

"You could say that," he forced a smile to his lips, "I… really can't tell you. It's personal, so I ask politely of you to stop asking about it."

"Fine." She said the moment he finished speaking.

Parc double took, 'that was easy.'

"But I still want to know. Your name is indeed, 'Parc Evans'?"

"Yes ma'am. Been like that since I was born nineteen years ago." He sighed a response, "Najenda, just get to what you really want to ask. No need to probe me for info."

Najenda smirked, "I wasn't probing you, Parc. I was actually curious. But yeah, I'll get onto what I really want to ask." She leaned forward, her cloak draping over her arm while giving him a good look down the neck of her suit jacket.

"Esdeath, why did she take such interest in you? The scouts up north noted months ago that she had sent out her own scouts to search for an escapee. Now, normally, that wouldn't be so surprising. Were this not Esdeath we were talking about. Sending, one or two of her best after an escapee would be overkill. But she sent out dozens to find you. Why?"

'Oh, this is not where I was expecting this to go,' Parc scratched his cheek awkwardly, unable to look Najenda in her single, purple eye. "That is… a hard thing to admit to. I won't lie. And honestly, I was hoping it wouldn't come up." He felt a weight on his shoulders.

"It's going to take a little to really explain it and honestly, I don't think you're going to like it."

Najenda snorted, "I don't like many things, Esdeath being on top. So try me,"

'Just don't kill me, please,' he groaned, "Well, it started…"

***

"And stay down…" Parc grunted, wiping blood off his face from his cracked lip after drilling some guys head into the ground after he tried to jump him. "Bloody hell can't even cook in peace," he groaned stepping over the unconscious body to his fire.

Sighing when he saw the remnants of what had been a rabbit he had caught earlier that day, now covered in a fine layer of charcoal and char in general. "Great, well, there goes dinner," he plopped down onto the ground. Casting a small glance to the satchel against the wood log besides him.

Behind him, he heard a crunch of snow. It was soft, barely noticeable. But after getting jumped, he was on high alert. Reaching over to the satchel with slowly movement, Parc lifted it from the ground. Pulling open the leather strappings while digging his hand into it.

His fingers coming into contact with the cold leather wrapping of one of his daggers handles. And when he heard the crunch get closer he tore his hand from within, bursting into a cloud of feathers as he moved to the side, skirting around his new guest while his dagger poised itself for a downwards diagonal strike.

Yet, his blade didn't cut into a person, infact, it didn't cut into anything. It shattered.

Parc's eyes widened, feeling an unnatural chill around his hand, cold enough that he felt the sweat on his palm freeze, locking the now bladeless handle onto his hand. Threatening to tear his skin if he tried to force his hand open.

He threw himself back as a glint of steel passed by his head, narrowly avoiding his neck as he rushed back to his satchel. Only for a wall of ice to burst from the ground and block him, 'shit, cryomancer.' He scowled, wanting to escape into the forest, but once again was blocked as two more walls surrounded him and a final, third one, trapping Parc in a literal box of ice.

The only escape being around the figure standing in the only opening. Straight ahead.

"Interesting, interesting. Maybe you will be able to satisfy me?" he heard the figure laughing as they stepped further into the box of their own make. Revealing their form to him, a woman.

She was tall, at least, from what he had seen of this worlds standards, with long, straight light blue hair. Something he was not used to considering such things were only done with dyes where he was from.

She had a thin, curvaceous form, large D cup breast practically bursting against her shirt buttons. Her hips wide giving her a very definite hourglass form. Dressed up in a short skirted military uniform. A captains hat on her head with full arm length black sleeves and thigh high stiletto boots.

All and all, she was a very beautiful woman, albeit very dubious with her motives considering she just boxed up someone who she had snuck up on.

"But… you need training before you will get there. Hmm, what shall I do with you," Parc felt a chill rising around his feet, drawing his eyes down to see them completely incased in ice.

"Look, lady, sorry for trying to stab you. I was on edge after some idiot tried to mug me."

"I saw." She simply stated, "you used that strange ability of yours that let you move fast to do so. Is that your teigu?" she looked over his body, his old thick shirt and his brown denim pants to see if she could see anything that may be a teigu.

"A what? The hells a teigu?"

"Hmm, then a shingu? But they were all lost after those children got killed," she spoke to herself. Now standing before Parc who was struggling to break the ice around his feet. With grunted effort. Now seeing on her chest a circular tattoo made with black inc.

"Why are you all alone out here?" She grabbed his cheeks in one hand, forcing him to look into her cold, sapphires.

Parc snorted, "I could ask that of you as well, lady."

The woman smirked, "Oh trust me boy…" the ice around Parc began to recede, dissipating into the air. Until it was completely gone, revealing around him, hundred of men dressed in white military uniforms in a similar fashion to the woman before him.

"I never leave my men behind."

***

"You should stop these feeble escape attempts and I shall make you into the strongest soldier around." Esdeath said, the sound of leather creaking under her her hands as she snapped the whip between her hands. Walking around the bare chested Parc, his body laced with numerous dark red and blue markings of where Esdeath had punished him before.

"I'd happily do that… if you were in the least bit sane," he gritted his teeth, groaning as she sent the whip down with a cracking noise against his back.

"That is incredibly rude," her heels clacked against the ground as she came to stand before him. Gripping the bottom of his chin to force him to look up. "I have taken much of my time leading my troops against these northern brigands away to be with you. To prepare you. The least you could be is grateful." She pulled her hand from his chin, forming a small icicle in her hand with a sharpened tip which she slowly drove into Parc's shoulder.

"Grrrr…" he growled, biting his tongue to stop himself screaming out from the freezing pain. Little blood trickling from the knew hole as Esdeath just froze the blood circulating around that part.

"I don't wish to keep this going, Parc. I truly don't but you are leaving me with little choice." She sighed, cupping both his cheeks in her hands. Giving him the strangest feeling of anger and contemplation as her eyes seemed to glisten a loving light.

"Just accept us, and I shall take this land for our own." She forced her lips to his in pure passion, while he forced himself to not react. No matter how soft, and alluring her cold lips were to him.

Her passion growing more heated, attempting to pry his lips open, coming into contact with his teeth that he was gritting so hard it was beginning to hurt.

Esdeath frowned, pulling her head back. The love in her eyes dissipating into a much softer, more ruthless version. "I see…" she sighed, releasing his face and once again walking behind him, a long, needle thin icicle forming in her hand, "then so it will be. I will make you love me Parc. Whether willingly, or through pain."

She pushed the tip of the needle into his back, soon scratching against his spine. Even just that being too much for him as he screamed out in shock. "YOU FUCKING CRAZY BITCH!" he roared.

"I am sorry, my love. I truly am, but if this is how it is meant to be. Then so shall it be," she twisted her hand in a circular motion, separating the gap between two of his vertebra, plunging the needle deeper into the crevice.

"GRAHHH!" Parc struggle against his icey restraint, only bringing him more pain.

Just as she was about to push more, the ground around them rumbled and the sky lit with the noise of rumbling thunder. The flaps of her tent flowing as a burst of hot air shot into the wide confines of her abode.

Esdeath pulled the needle free, rage evident in her expression as she left Parc panting in agony. Walking passed him to go deal with whatever dared interrupt her re-education session with Parc.

***

"After that, I was able to break the ice around my hands and feet and got out of dodge. Luckily, I was able to get my bag on my way out. Last time I looked back to see the encampment. There was a new glacier on the horizon." Parc rubbed his back, still feeling incredibly lucky Esdeath didn't nik anything vital.

Najenda groaned, rubbing her face with both her flesh hand and her metal one. "Perhaps… informing us that Esdeath is your crazy ex… might have been a good idea."

"Remove the 'ex' she's just down right crazy."

'And I have to sleep with her…'

Najenda looked up at him with a new pair of bags under her eyes, "This complicates things…"