December 12th, 2012.

A younger Nora with shorter black hair and zero scars had gotten a call in relation to him becoming an advisor and was requested to go and check up on the Witch Hunter that he was assigned to. After scrambling for an hour, looking for the apartment the Witch Hunter was living in at the time, he had finally happened upon it, a number "105" plastered onto the door with metal.

The call had said that they hadn't been in contact with this Witch Hunter for a couple of weeks and seeing on how she had an advisor now, they thought it to be the best time to get in contact with her again, by force or otherwise.

Nora opened the door, noticing that it was already open and hadn't been closed properly, and as he entered, he saw the unconscious body of a woman laying on the floor, her body riddled with scars as her dirty blonde hair spread across the ground like tendrils. She was lying in the fetal position, her body cringing as the light from outside shone upon her unconscious body, her nails digging into her shoulder, blood rimming the ends.

"Hey!" Nora yelled, running over to the unconscious woman as she flipped herself around, showing her naked splendor without any sort of tact or care, her face showing a lack of empathy as her right eye remained closed. "Are you okay?"

"Am I, 'Okay?" She sighed, "I'm feeling peachy..." She groaned as she sat herself up, rubbing the back of her head, "Hey... could you get me a drink?"

"I'm not looking to be in a relationship at the moment ma'am."

She chuckled a bit, "Quite the comedian..." She sighed, "I need it to help with my headache."

"You just sound like an alcoholic to me."

"Just give me the drink!" She yelled, pinching both of Nora's cheeks.

Nora stood up, walking over to a small fridge at the corner of the room, "Is this it?" He asked, pointing at it.

"Yep."

Nora nodded, lowering himself to the level of the fridge and grabbing anything that looked like it had any semblance of alcohol within it. "Right..." Nora mumbled to himself, standing up once again and handing it to the woman, pinching the top of the bottle. The woman grabbed the bottle, uncapping it before taking a massive swig of it.

"Thanks!" She yelled, letting out a refreshed gasp as the bottle popped away from her lips. "Alright..." She sighed, placing the bottle down onto a kitchen counter that sat across the way from a bed that was all too clean compared to the rest of the room, "I'll go get changed, you wait outside."

***

"Why are we here?" Nora asked, picking at his food like a child.

"You should order something too, you'll need it," She paused to think for a moment, "On second thought, never mind."

"No, I'll order something." Nora waved down a waiter, asking for some food before sending them off. "What's your name?"

"You first."

"Just call me Nora."

"Sounds like a woman's name." She commented, taking another bite from her food as she adjusted a black cloth that sat over her right eye like an eyepatch. "My name is Jan, instead there is a J in my name it's pronounced like 'Yan."

"Nice to meet you, I'm your advisor." Nora bowed a bit.

"I figured," Jan took a bite of her food before continuing, "Did you choose to be an advisor, or did they make you do it?"

"I chose to."

"Why? It's hard out there y'know? Extremely dangerous."

"That's fine."

"I can't tell what you're thinking right now."

"Hm?" Nora raised an eyebrow.

"I can barely read you, and normally I'm good at that."

"I don't want you to read me."

"Hm..." Jan smiled, "You're interesting though, you have experience and it makes me curious as to how you have experience, can you tell me?"

"I'd rather not."

"Alright," There was a few moments of silence before... "I'll tell you something about myself if you spill the beans."

"I'm fine."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Jan pressed her lips together, puffing up her cheeks like a spoiled child. "Come on! Don't be such a stick in the mud!"

Nora sighed, "Alright, I want you to go first though."

Jan smiled, "Alright!" She took a deep breath before continuing, "Alright, so, you know what artifacts are, right?"

"Cursed items."

"Yes, so, I have one of those embedded into my body and got it from sacrificing something." Jan raised her eyepatch, "I sacrificed my eye, but, due to how strong the actual artifact is, there is more than one negative."

"Question."

"Yes?"

"If an artifact is embedded into your body, wouldn't that make you the equivalent to a Witch?"

"No! The difference between those who are embedded and those who are naturally Witches are two simple things," She put two of her fingers up, "A Witch's curse typically affects those that are around the Witch, sometimes affecting the Witch directly, but, when it does, it is way more severe than making a contract with an artifact."

"I see..."

"A Witch's curse that affects them the most compared to affecting other people can also affect others as well but on a lesser scale, something like, if the Witch touches them they turn into a frog type of deal."

"Alright..."

"Back on topic, on top of sacrificing my eye, the power that I have essentially gives me sensory overload, and alcohol is the only temporary cure!" Jan points to the restaurant's ceiling giving off a proud smile in the process that was all too clearly a front. "This power is confusing and wouldn't make sense to anyone but me, but it allows me to see the past, present, and future simultaneously."

"Wait..."

Jan puts one finger out, pressing it against Nora's lips with an "SHHH" before sitting back down in her seat. "I know what you're thinking. 'Jan, can't you already see the present, and haven't you already experienced the past?', well, yes, but..." Jan gave a somber expression, "I really can't describe to you what it feels like or even how useful it really is... it's really complicated and, like I said, 'it'll only make sense to anyone but me'."

The waiter from before came back around, placing Nora's food in front of him showing off an amazingly large platter consisting of four plates of full-on meals. "Thank you." Nora nodded to the waiter as they walked away.

"You eat a lot, huh?"

Nora looked over to his food, pausing before taking a bite.

"Well! Why don't you tell me about yourself now!"

Nora continued to eat his food in silence until he finished one of his plates, "My father, a Russian man, sold me off."

"That's heavy."

"And that's all I'll tell you."

Jan chuckled to herself, "Alright, alright."

After finishing off a few more plates, a phone call rang through, Jan answering the call.

"Yeah, what's up?" A faint mumbling could be heard through the phone, "We got a job?" The mumbling continued, "Alright." Jan hung up the phone, putting it back into her pocket, "Let's go."

***

"This'll be your first job so you'll be observing today," Jan said, Nora nodded.

They stood in front of a house surrounded by police, two older people standing in front of the house, expressions filled with worry. Jan and Nora approach, Nora scanning his environment, seeing a few more members of Grief scattered around the perimeter.

Jan waved the two older people down, "Nice to meet you two, could I have a minute of your time."

"Of course." An older woman affirmed, leaning against a brick wall that surrounded a collection of plants.

"Are you the Mother of the afflicted Witch?"

"Yes, and this is her Father," The older woman pointed to the older man that stood beside her, an expression of dread coming across his face.

The older man kissed his teeth, "When are you getting that fuckin thing out of my house!" The older man yelled, the older woman putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, they'll handle it," the older woman sighed, "Please, just remove that... thing from our house."

Jan made an annoyed expression, "Yes, ma'am, first, could you tell me anything about your child that could help us in any way?"

The mother furrowed her brow, "She is not my child, not anymore."

Jan scratched at her head in irritation before stomping towards the front door of the house, Nora still following behind. Jan blew air out her nose before spinning back around on the balls of her feet, going back over to the parents, "Sorry, I forgot, could you tell me where your child is?"

The mother squinted, "Upstairs, three rooms down."

"Thank you." Jan spun back around, opening the door to the house, both Nora and Jan entering together. "Hey, Nora."

"Hm?"

"Wait downstairs for me."

Nora nodded before Jan took a sip from a flask she had taken out from her shirt pocket, shaking her head quickly after, making a face as if drinking something sour.

"Alright," Jan sighed, making her way up the stairs until arriving at the end of a hallway, knocking on the door.

A muffled voice came from behind the door, the voice of a young girl, probably in her teens, "Who is it...?"

Jan took a deep breath, "My name is Jan Nowak, I'm a Witch Hunter from Grief, please come out without struggling."

"No! All you'll do is kill me like all the other Witches!" The girl paused, "I don't want to die..." Her voice almost came out like a whimper.

"Hey! Grief isn't like that, only Grimm kills Witches, okay!? We don't do things like that, so please come out and we'll bring you to somewhere safer than here, okay."

Silence filled the room the girl was in for a few moments before she finally answered, "Don't lie to me..."

"I'm not lying, I swear. I know that this is hard for you, but please, this'll be the best for you and everyone you love."

"Will it... really?"

"I can assure you."

The door opened a bit, showing a short brown-haired girl with bright blue eyes. "Why... did it have to be me... I don't want to hurt anyone, I-"

Jan lowered herself a bit, "Calm down, everything will be okay, alright?" Jan opened her arms, "Come on, we'll bring you out of here."

The young girl ran into her arms, grabbing onto Jan as tightly as she could, Jan also embraced her, rubbing the top of the young girl's head as tears had begun running down her cheeks. "I... I!"

"It's okay... it'll be over soon."

From down the staircase, all Nora could hear was a gunshot ringing out through the house before hearing Jan walk slowly down the steps nearest to him, turning to her as she reached the final step.

"We'll get you your stuff tomorrow, artifacts and such." Jan turned to speak, a few specks of blood coming across her face. "Let's go."

As Nora and Jan exited the home, a young man had entered the scene. "Hey!" He yelled, running over to Jan, "What's going on?"

The Mother from before walked up to the young man, "You wouldn't believe it, son, your sister turned out to be a Witch!"

"What!?" The young man's eyes darted between his Mother's gaze and Jan, "Don't..." The young man swallowed through a dry throat, running into the house with a dire expression on his face. After waiting for a few minutes, the young man came walking out of the house, his face ran pale. "This is fucked."

Pain came across Jan's face as the young man exited the house.