Limbo

Limbo

A land where filled endlessly with nothing.

No plants.

No animals.

No hopes.

No dreams.

A place where people starved for a chance of meaning leave all behind to find new meaning within the crisped wilderness. Its surface burns a deep crimson under the cloudless sky to showcase the blood of those who failed to find that meaning through Trials.

Trials that meant nothing in the eyes of Guisei.

His eyes watched what little he could see from the glass windows obscured by the moist air hot steam that shot into the sky like an uncaring blade to mutilate the flesh of anyone that came in contact with it.

This was the entrance to Hell that so many told him about.

An unimpressive purgatory.

A place that exists at the world's end.

The place students go to die.

But a place where he would all but thrive.

The howl of steam within the airship brought Guisei from his trance-like state of observation. Guisei looked to the other students in the aircraft as they prepared themselves for the unknown that raced towards them faster and faster as time passed. From the clatter of armor to the chime of Reiju, everyone seemed on edge.

A student's eyes shot around the aircraft like razors, marking out targets for the slaughter, unsuspecting the young woman next to him did the same with him as a first choice to die.

"Apparently, they just drop us out of here, no warnings or anything."

"No way do you see that steam? There is no way they expect us to land from this high up with those going off every second."

"I don't know what's worse, the heat or the thought Shi could trick us to spend the day here over a petty feud with the sins."

Rumors flooded the craft like the chatter of mice within an empty home, yet when the aircraft shuddered while some held fear others chuckled after at the momentary peace brought by it.

Guisei cracked a smile at the thought when he saw the faces of those who chuckled lack the arrogance of the nobility or the fear that he noticed on the face of the rebels he slaughtered that night before all of this.

That night.

A slithering pain burned through Guisei's left arm. The consequence of thinking back to that day.

A bad habit.

Vice.

Like Greed.

The snake's grasp had a hold like no other.

Guisei grit his teeth as he bore the pain of an arm leaving its socket despite his hand reminding him that it was still there. Fireflies swirled around his arm as he let Reiju materialize bandages around his arm as he thought back to a time before.

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Geez, would it really pain you to not dislocate my arm every time we spar, Wrath?"

Guisei remembered the feeling of the scarlet couch that he sat upon so many times as Nabi meticulously healed wounds he recklessly got, whether during missions or training. He looked past the crimson lily marking of her Reiju, locking eyes with Nabi who neglected the time to give a response.

"You approach too indirectly. It makes it easy to exploit. Almost as easy as it is to say my name, Greed."

"Do others as they do to you as Mammon says," Guisei says with a chuckle.

Like the crack of a rifle, a loud pop filled the room as Guisei's pain heightened and ended all at once. Guisei resisted the urge to yell from the pain that shivered through his body as Nabi tilted her head at the boy her cold gaze shifting to confusion at Guisei's reaction to something so simple.

"There isn't any shame in screaming if it hurt, you know."

"That means that I lost the bet if that's the case."

Nabi shook her head before conceding.

"Also…. It's Nabi."

______________________________________________________________________________________

A fleeting wave of peace rushed over Guisei as his eyes opened to the hot reality he found himself living in as his eyes were taken by an odd sight.

A mask.

One that actually was there.

A flash of aquamarine caught his gaze as Guisei looked towards a tall girl with bright blond hair and a mask to hide her face from all standing next to a young man with bright violet eyes and skin reminiscent of cream. Unlike the students that wore uniforms or armor, the two were clad in simple combat uniforms and armor. The boy with a cloak of amethyst and the girl with one of bright emerald.

The voices Guisei had heard began to fade into the background as he focused on their presence. A presence similar to his and Nabi's that he couldn't fully piece together, but also a sensation similar to that of Zephyr and the boy that kept the crowd from moving.

"Strange.."

Realization.

The craft shook as a voice erupted over the intercom; robotic in its delivery that echoed through the aircraft.

"The craft has arrived in Limbo. Prepare to be released for your trial, be sure that you—"

"So...how exactly will we be getting down there exactly; there shouldn't be any kind of way for the craft to land exactly so…"

A student spoke out from the crowd with a voice that vibrated through the craft, but the intercom was unresponsive; the voice disappeared. Once the threat of another interruption passed, the voice arose again.

"Your task is to survive this pit. We are only authorized to bring you to your location, nothing more, nothing less," says the voice over the intercom.

"Does that mean that we'll be dropped," another student asks.

The aircraft shuddered, causing the student who made an outburst and the rest of his peers to fall off into the deep gray void of the pit. The student screams as he falls and then begins to speak, his voice sounding angry and distressed only to be interrupted by his body plummeting to the scorched earth below.

"Shows them, interrupting my announcement."

Two lingered.

Wind burst through the open floor as the young man with dark violet eyes speaks, his voice sounding warm and inviting like a light breeze on a summer morning.

"Tara, I guess it's time to make an appearance, it'll be fun to spread my teachings," The young man said with his eyes firmly locked on the sight of someone burning through the air, propelling themselves from an airship other than theirs.

An interesting sight indeed.

The girl smirks behind her mask, watching as more and more students fail to land meeting their immediate death, letting a boyish voice came forth.

"You won't have people to teach if we keep wasting time, Akihiko."

______________________________________________________________________________________

Limbo.

A place where some say they find a new reason to live but are never the same.

Those who have desires that are powerful enough won't be changed by the rough lands and will survive.

Erena Xestis' desires will survive.

Erena looked out the window of a separate airship watching as students fell from within like black rain to coat the crimson earth below. The time had come as her vibrant purple eyes grew dull at the sight of students falling to their deaths without her having the chance to see them, to know if they would have been different.

She closed her eyes, shaking her head as her brown locks obscured her eyes from that reality as she let the feeling sink in: the time had come and she'd have to survive again. The meticulous clicks of the gears comforted her ears. Each tick reminding her of a grand clock, but what did it count down towards?

Her demise?

Her rise?

What?

Her mind grew rampant with such thoughts before resetting at the sight of another group falling from another aircraft. Her ears twitched at the final click, the steel floors of safety blew out plunging her body into the clutches of the air.

Hot air surrounded her body as she descended into the hot fires of the hellscape. Her eyes burned from the wind that assaulted her body that flowed through the air like a leaf carried by the wind. No matter how much she reached out for something nothing came for her. The flames of Reiju flickered across her fingertips before dissipating.

It was useless to even try.

Her gaze dulled as she remembered what world she lived in only for an image to flicker through her mind of that same boy. The same boy who she foolishly believed would fulfill their deal.

The name left her lips like an idle prayer to a God that would never come.

"Guisei….Ketsubo."

Yet, on such a day.

"I know you said the protection was mutual but I at least thought you'd be able to get to the ground, dammit!"

His words vibrated through her mind as a force broke through the wind's grasp around her as if enveloped by a chain tethering to the world that she hated. The last thing Erena felt was the wind rushing past her face as she shot towards the earth carefully held within the chain's warmth.

Then everything went dark.

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Mutual protection my ass, I'm surprised she can sleep for this long…"

A voice echoed outside of Erena's mind, bringing her eyes opened to the crimson wasteland she rested upon. Her eyes watched the scarlet skies devoid of clouds and airships, in her eyes, it appeared beautiful…

"Finally done with your leisurely nap?"

Erena's eyes opened fully to the sight of Guisei resting across from her with his eyes trained directly on her with a devilish golden glow despite his eyelids flickering as sleep seemed to call him.

Dramaturgy.

"Wait...I'm alive?"

"What kind of question is that, I'd be worried that someone you just met was in your thoughts when you died."

Erena's face grew red at the idea.

"No...no of course not!" Her vibrant brown hair seemed to rise and subside with her mood, flowing down as the color in her face returned to normal. "Sorry, I probably wasn't much help protecting you if I was unconscious, huh."

"That would be an understatement, Arena."

"Erena."

"My tongue slipped."

Erena shook her head as she leaned back on the earth beneath her….the surprisingly soft earth that rested under her fingertips like grains of sand.

Sand?

She sat up, letting her nails dig into the earth below, keeping her eyes on Guisei as he readjusted the black bandages around his arm, discarded from the moist heat all around.

"Where….are we anyway?"

Guisei's carefree gaze shot towards Erena as fireflies swirled around the two blades he carried, slowly filling out their jagged edges to form a full blade as if his tone wasn't sharp enough.

"What kind of question is that, we're still in Limbo."

"But the surface of Limbo is completely rock, I even got a sample from a friend once-"

"Look up."

Erena's gaze slithered up the walls of wherever she and Guisei landed past a disturbing amount of bodies that rested around them to the edge of the wall holding back the sunlight. While the idea of someone altering the ground said to be painted by the blood of those who fell to its surface was--unsettling.

Ground said to be like hot steel was rendered into cool grains. While the abilities of the Greed Curse Series was imprinted into her mind, the thought that something could do the same to this place seemed impossible. The thought of asking how he could have done such a feat crossed her mind, but she kept her mouth shut, following him out of the crater into the moist heat of the wasteland.

Despite the number of students she saw enter the airships on the cliffside, there was nothing to see for miles. Erena followed behind Guisei as the sound of their footsteps trailed together before blending in with the distant explosions in the background.

"Guisei, I know we agreed on mutual protection, but... why do you kill?"

The boy stayed ahead of her, keeping his hands in his pockets as his bloody footprints trailed in front of Erena's. He chuckled slightly at the question, shaking his head before giving an honest answer.

"I can't tell if that question is weird or stupid. That's the world we live in, isn't it?"

A memory flickered through her mind.

Vibrant flames with colors like a rainbow in a sky devoid of rain light up the night over a village. She clutched the edge of her dress just like she did as a child when hearing those same words.

That's the world we live in.

…

Then why can't I change it?

A misplaced thought left Erena's lips as she was brought back to reality, the same that had the same reaction. Guisei's idle chuckle broke into a laugh at her words. Changing things, what comedy. Change the world of killers, of liars, of thieves into what exactly?

"...so you are just like the rest Guisei Ketsubo."

"I prefer a realist. Usually, people with dreams like that die here from what I heard--"

His eyes widened.

"Is that why you wanted me to protect you, geez, this is hilarious all things considered."

Erena stayed quiet as Guisei mocked her desire, her will, the only thing that seemed to keep her going through the icy cold that surrounded her life. A cold sigh left her lips contrasting against the moist heat that surrounded them.

"Do you have a dream Guisei?"

....

"Obviously, just like how obvious it was when you lied on that mountain."

....

"What would you do to pursue it?"

Guisei stopped short as the air around him began to grow cold. His arm burned as he spoke as idle thoughts that belonged to him entered his mind, yet he spoke regardless of that fact.

"I did everything I could to reach it."

"Did?"

"That's because I have what I want now."

"What's that?"

"Nothing dreamers like you could believe in."

Like the airships that had long left the wasteland, the gears in Erena's mind continued the meticulous tick of the clock understanding that something was coming, continuing to count down as her emotions grew.

"What makes you think that you're beyond that?"

Whether by his own will or not the words left Guisei.

"Because I'm beyond people who think changing the world will hide the pain that it already caused, like you."

Erena rushed to tackle Guisei, his mind buzzed with the same psychedelic sensation he felt when he first received Mammon's power. His blurry gaze looked up at Erena sitting atop him with a blade in hand.

"WHY? WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE THEN?!"

His face stung with the pain of a burning blade slicing across his face, yet he seemed to not even react.

"You're no different from the nobles that treat the lives of those beneath you like cattle to trade away at convenience like emotionless gods who trick people into thinking they're any different than us!"

Erena looked down at Guisei. A gaze filled with the arrogance and pride of a noble suddenly looked different. Not dead, but instead tired of something beyond her, yet emotions clouded her mind more and more. Her hands shook with the blade in hand wanting more to stab deep into him…..yet.

"Are you done, Black Sheep?"

An unearthly blend of Guisei's voice and another came from within him. The whites of his eyes were slowly corrupted with dark ink as his golden eyes burned brighter than before. The cold that surrounded him earlier grew like an all-encompassing aura around the two.

The pressure.

The fear.

Erena's blood ran cold as if surrounded by the snow of the mountainside as she looked upon Guisei to see his eye, a tattoo slithered up to envelop his left eye. Erena backed away from the unearthly force without it even saying a word to her. The being looked at the body it inhabited as if analyzing himself like a weapon to be used.

"Look at this, he got soft and let his face get cut in such a way…"

The blood on Guisei's face began to evaporate, leaving behind a scar for him to memorize like the rest his body bore. Whatever Erena had awoken, in no way in this world where people could say they were like gods…

There was no way this thing was Human.

The being looked towards Erena, his golden eyes piercing through her as he asked with a dead and carefree tone.

"We never tried to present ourselves as different, otherwise this wouldn't be happening to you now, but tell me…"

The being looked at the Reiju surrounding the girl. Fire. Cursed Pressure in the form of white flames.

"Xestis. Tell me, were you ever taught the principles of MY Alchemy."

Erena slowly nodded her head.

"When something occurs, it requires a price to be paid, 'Willpower' as some of you call it. You harmed my body, so I wonder what will be equivalent for you?"

As if a vortex began to form in the earth below, the ground at the being's feet spun into sand. The sand formed into his hand, its eyes carefully watched Erena stay frozen in place. It let out a chuckle at the sight. The sand crystalized into glass before shifting its form entirely to form steel.

"Before you atone for your sin, I'll leave you with a bit of advice."

Erena looked in the distance, the ticking stopped as she saw what shouldn't be possible, what's unnatural.

Nothing is natural.

Nothing in this world.

A fact that Erena acknowledged as she stared at the gun pointed directly at her.

"Give up on your childish dreams and die."

The body of Erena Xestis hit the ground with a thud, giving the crimson earth below her a new scarlet coat of pain.