Chapter 5: Lazarus of Verdif (S/tart)

She hasn't came back since then.

About three days have passed after she suddenly ran out, and all three of those days have been uneventful to say the least. I haven't left the house since she left, holding down the fort the entire time essentially. Making do with bowls of cereal as my breakfast and whatever microwavables I had left for lunch, I haven't been starving after the sole provider of my meals disappeared, but I can't say that her presence isn't missed. One of her coworkers called on the second day asking if she was okay, and of course I lied to them and said she was still bedridden. I don't think Sayuri told anybody from her work that she lived with somebody because the lady on the phone sounded surprised when I picked up. I'm not sure how many sick days Sayuri has, so I can only hope that she comes back soon or that her workplace is more lenient about those things.

To say that I'm not concerned would be a lie, but it isn't Sayuri that I'm concerned about right now. If anything, I'd be more concerned for anybody that tries to do something to her. What worries me the most right now is the 'why.' For her to run out like that the day after my sudden encounter with 'Diatra' or whatever her name is, there's obviously some correlation between the two situations, not to mention the fact that there was already a connection between them to begin with. Something must have happened for both to occur so abruptly, but I'd rather not involve myself with this shit if I don't have to, so for now, I'll leave it at pondering and just that.

Sitting on the couch crosslegged with a bowl of cereal in my hands, I stare at the TV as the news anchor talks about a story of some random helping the youth of Cielos by helping fund boys and girls clubs. It's so boring of a story it almost makes me turn off the TV, but with nothing better to do, I continue to mindlessly watch her ramble on, sighing as today seems to be heading towards another uneventful day. At least, that was until...

"Ah! I finally got the connection to go through!"

"The fuck!?" Dropping my cereal on the floor, I frantically jump to my feet, looking around for her while squinting my eyes.

"How come you're giving me more of a reaction now than when I summoned you?" asks a very familiar voice, and it's this time when she speaks that I realize her words are coming from inside my head, almost like they're my own thoughts. Did it take me only a few days in solitude to finally go crazy and one odd encounter to finally make me go crazy, cause if so, I'm truly disappointed in how little mental strength I have. Maybe that encounter with her was also a delusion...

"You know I can still here your thoughts, right?" she remarks, ending my train of thought.

"Arghhh, just shut up! Hearing you inside of my head feels so fucking weird!" I yell while clutching my head. My head pounds, making me sit back down and close my eyes. The spilled milk on the floor hits my feet, wetting my socks.

"No need to be so rude about it. I hear voices every minute of my existence and you don't see me complaining."

I rub my temples in an attempt to soothe the migraine-like ache in the center of my head, but it's of no use and actually makes it worse. "If you were capable of telepathy, why didn't you just fucking do that instead of that weird dream shit?"

"I couldn't risk it. If I were to have done so without confirming that you were my Servant, there was a chance that your brain would melt from me forcing my connection upon you, and besides, would you have really been so quick to believe unknown voices in your head?"

"I wouldn't, but that's not the point! And what do you mean by me being your Servant? I don't remember agreeing to shit," I say while looking at the ground, substituting the mess on the floor for her face.

"Ah, but you actually have. You see, the only way to take in one of my golden hearts is to willingly offer your body and mind to me, whether it be knowingly or subconsciously. If you weren't willing to offer your everything to me, well, you'd be dead right now and that heart in your chest wouldn't be beating."

"And I know you're telling the truth how?"

"I could just tell you that you'll have to take my word for it and leave it at that, but I doubt that that'll rid you of your skepticism. If you're really so reluctant to believe me, I suppose I'll have to do something."

As soon as she says that, something inside my heart begins to burn, almost as if a lit cigarette were being pressed upon. It's start off as a mild burn, noticeable but also possible to ignore if enough time passes by. In the next instant however, it drastically increases in pain, making it hard for me to breathe. I'm somehow still standing, but when I try to move my legs, they don't respond when I want them to. In fact, none of my limbs want to move now that I'm trying to use them.

"W-what are you doing...?" I faintly let out, using what little control I have left over my body to speak.

"Showing you that I have full control over your body. Also, can you start speaking through your thoughts please? Having to listen to you by using your ears is a bit tiring for me."

Continuing with her uncalled for demonstration, my body suddenly jumps up from the couch, both of my feet landing on some of the previously spilled milk. Taking a single step, my entire body becomes stiff and every muscle in my leg cramps up. I want to scream, but even the control I had over my vocal chords was taken over by her.

"This is a lot harder than I had expected it to be. I haven't to do this in just about ever!" She almost sounds excited when she speaks. My body takes another step, my right leg cramping up this time, and another until she begins to make me walk around the couch. My movements are robotic and tense, the current leg being used to walk forward quaking when it's lifted.

'Stop! I believe you now, so PLEASE just stop!'

She strikes an alluring pose with my body, leaning my chest forward with my hands behind my back. "Are you suuuuure~?"

'YES! JUST STOP IT ALREADY! IT FUCKING HURTS!'

"O-kay~!" she cheerfully responds, my body dropping limp on the floor as she hands back over the control to my body. The burning in my chest is slowly fading away as well, but I can feel the lingering ache that it left behind. "Your body is depressingly weak, but you really are the Black Blood. I always wondered what happened to him, but to think he ended up like... this."

My face pressed sideways against the floor, I can't manage to pick myself up, my entire body numb essentially, and give up after one final attempt, the only thing coming out of that being a pitiful grunt. "It's kind of hard to build up strength when your childhood was spent throwing up most of what you ate." My words come out a bit muffled, but I'm able to at least speak.

"Really? I know the anatomies of the two aren't entirely the same, but a Doremic's digestive system isn't that different from a human's. You should've had no problems eating human food."

"I could eat food. It was the smell of the air that made me throw it all up. Speaking of which, do you know anything about that too? Figure I'll ask you now since you'll hear me wondering about it in my head anyways."

"You're the Black Blood. It's as simple as that."

"You make it seem like I know what a 'Black Blood' is to begin with."

Feeling slowly returning to my upper body, I use my forearms and elbows to drag myself to the couch, struggling to lift myself onto it with only my arms. I can't begin to fathom the amount of force she had to use to render my entire body immobile, but if her simply walking caused me to end up like this, I'm scared to find out how much strain on my muscles she'll cause doing something more vigorous.

"I can't tell you much at the moment until I confirm some things, but all you need to know about being a Black Blood is that there's a role you'll have to fulfill one day. Whether it be the next day or in the centuries to come, fate will find its way to guide you back on course. Because of the color of your blood, you are capable of things that nobody else can possibly ever do while you're alive, and your sense of smell happens to be one of those things."

Finally getting my body onto the couch, I let out both an exhausted breath and a sigh of disappointment as I'm laying on my belly. "So more shit that I didn't want to sign up for is what you're saying?"

"If that's how you want to take it, then yes, but I think of it as more of a blessing."

"Blessing? In what world is having everything smell like shit and wanting to kill people from time to time considered a blessing? Seems more like a pain in the ass if anything."

"In what world you say? I suppose on Earth, being the Black Blood would be inconvenient now that I think about it. Even more so with the current predicament you're in and everything..."

"Predicament?" Having taken everything she's been saying with a grain of salt, hearing her mention me being in a problem I wasn't aware of snaps me out of the aloof daze I've been in while speaking with her. If I could sit up right now, I would.

"Yes, that is the sole reason why I am even speaking to you like this in the first place. I did tell you that fate would find a way to guide you back on course, and it seems like it is trying to do that now. I couldn't explain it fully to Sayuri, but she has a vague understanding of what she needs to do. I can only hope that she'll be able to deal with them."

"Who's 'them?'"

"Technically, they'd be another's Servant, though to provide you with a more apt description, they'd be more like a parasite. Receiving their Servanthood from one other than myself, they aren't given the luxury of having their bounded body transport along with their spirit, and thus must use the body of a human as a temporary replacement."

"Yes, yes, that's important and all, but how does that have anything to do with me exactly?"

"Must I baby-feed you everything in order for you to understand!?" she snaps suddenly, her voice painfully reverberating inside my head. "For somebody who acts like they don't care, you sure do have a lot of questions to ask. Still, I suppose that's better than you not caring at all."

Using only my arms to sit myself up, I begin to wriggle my toes, attempting to return some feeling back to my legs. "Well, who else am I supposed to ask?"

"I thought I instructed Sayuri to answer all your questions," she says quizzically, "She was free to tell you everything I've just told you and more, actually."

I let out a slight snort. "Yeah, let me just ask the person who's been missing for three days now. They should be able to answer everything for me."

"Wait, she's not with you? Where is she?"

"How should I know? Last time I saw her was the day after you talked to me. She ran off while we were talking and hasn't came back since."

"She must have picked up his scent. This is somewhat troubling, but it is probably best for her to have found them this early. For her to not have come back in three Earth days since however, now that strikes me as a bit odd. I can't see her having trouble with another's Servant to the point where she can't return to you unless their Whisperer is one of us, or if they've had their body transferred along with them."

"Whisperer? Great, another term that I don't know. Might as well give me a fucking index at this point."

"All I can say is that in due time, what's unknown shall reveal itself to you, or if you're fortunate enough to avoid the fate that is set for you, then you'll never have to know what those terms mean. But more importantly right now, you must remain vigilant. You're very life is at risk. You're being sought after by beings with power you couldn't possibly fathom, all in hopes of bringing you back to where you 'belong,' so to speak."

"You know, it's crazy how much you supposedly know about me when you don't even know my name yet," I say as I stand up with wobbly legs, waddling towards the kitchen.

"I beg to differ, Mr. 'Cain St. God.' Quite an unusual surname, if I may add, almost a mockery of some sort. I'd take personal offense if I genuinely cared, but lucky for you, I was never fond of being falsely labeled a god, much less the 'God' that all Earthlings seem to refer to me as. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not as omniscient and omnipotent as I am made out to be."

I grab a cup, filling it with water from the tap. "So you're God? Like holy Trinity, creator of all life, Jesus's father type God?"

"I can only say yes to aspect of me being the creator of all life. As for all the stories associated with God, well, only a select few are actually true. I can confirm that Jesus did in fact exist, though the belief that his mother was a virgin may or may not be false."

"So does that mean heaven exists as well?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I can't tell you that, now can I? You'll just have to find out the same way everybody else has."

I suck my teeth, taking a sip of water. Overall, this conversation has been more than weird. I mean, technically speaking, I've been talking to myself the entire time. I might be repeating myself when I say this, but having her confirm to me the situation I'm in, or rather, her speaking to me in general, I'm forced to accept that I'm truly in some deep shit.

"Say, if people are out to get me and Sayuri is out there dealing with them, what happens if she somehow doesn't make it?"

"Oh, then you'll have to be the one to dispose of them. Either way, they will be dealt with, but I'd prefer it if she were the one to do it. If it comes to it, I suppose I'll have to forcefully make you undergo the burdens. I don't want to awaken you here of all places, but what needs to be done must be done."

"I guess I'll be cheering Sayuri on then. If you're done telling me everything you wanted to tell me, can you leave my thoughts now? I don't like the idea of me getting used to hearing voices in my head."

"Ummm, you see, that's kind of tricky at the moment," she explains, nervously chuckling. "I sort of can't... haha...."

"Fucking hell..." This is about to be the biggest pain in my ass so far. "Why am I not surprised? Oh well, just don't talk to me when I'm talking to other people. I might fuck around and have people thinking I'm a schizo."

"I'll be sure not to. In fact, pretend that I'm not even there!"

"Oh, trust me, I will."

Limping back to the couch, I sit back down like normal when unexpectedly, I hear the familiar noise of keys outside the door. They struggle to unlock it, but after a few more attempts of putting the key in the hole, they get to it eventually. Opening the door is Sayuri, only, in a state that I've never seen nor expected her to be in. She's wearing the same clothes that she wore on the day she left, her shirt covered in dirt all over and tattered all throughout. Splattered on her face and upper body is blood, having dried up already and staining both cloth and skin. She's hunched over, using the edge of the door as a support to hold her up.

Walking in, she closes the door behind her and only manages to take a few steps forward before collapsing on the ground, laying motionless on the floor.