~ • ~

The days I lived were always cold.

Memories of my past are scarce, to none.

My father. My mother. My family.

I don't know them.

I don't think I ever will.

My earliest memories were begging.

Begging for any food. Water. Shelter.

I was met with the same gaze every time.

Disgust. Hatred. Malice.

Some took advantage of this weakness of mine. A little girl, with no way to defend herself.

Wrath. Lust. Sins I've grown to memorize.

Scars upon my entire body paint that story.

The etching of a chisel against my arms.

The brand of hot metal against my back.

I grew to accept that this was my role in life.

To be the therapeutic martyr for sinners.

The disposable.

The horrid.

I was numb. So numb.

So cold. So very cold.

That bag. The one with the red skull.

The one with the crystals in it.

I didn't want my death to be lonely.

I swallowed every crystal, and laid alone in the alley where I had been defiled once more.

...I didn't know pain like I thought I did.

Every inch— every centimeter of my body, felt like it was being ripped apart.

My veins, like barbed wire in my skin.

My eyes, overflowing with a fountain of red.

I wasn't cold anymore. I was on fire.

Burning in true hell. My every being, ripped away.

...Everything went black.

All I heard, was a man's voice.

"What has this world come to, where even a little girl can't go on without taking this horrible Plague?"

"She's experiencing hell itself."

He picked me up, holding me tight.

...His hands were soft. Caring.

"Can you do me one last favor, Charles?"

His voice was breaking, running off with me in his arms.

"Please. Please, save her too..."

~ • ~

Celeste awoke in her hospital bed, looking around her room. Balloons, flowers, cards. She's used to it, at this point.

"Mm."

She hummed to herself, immediately getting out of her bed despite her injuries. Noticing the IV stand connected to her, she held on to the thin metal rod on wheels, walking it alongside her as she gently stepped foot outside of the room into the hall.

It seemed quiet. Usually, doctors at the very least have hours at this time, to watch over patients. With as many times as she's been in this hospital, she knew that very well.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Something wasn't right.

With each step, the halls grew colder. The room temperature warmth slowly shifted into what felt like inside a freezer box. Every breath she took escaped her mouth, making a small crystalline fog.

It was too much, making Celeste begin to grow nervous. Her eyes trailed around, looking for an exit desperately. Anything to escape this frigid hell. The injuries in her leg caused her to stumble, catching herself just barely on the wall.

Her breathing grew faster.

Voices began to cloud her mind. Voices of men, laughing from all directions. Voices of those who used her. Tears began to trail down her cheeks, as she started to run faster down the hall, using the wall as a guiding trail.

Follow the wall. Follow the wall. Follow the wall.

Betwixt the laughter of man, a howl entered her mind. No... It came from behind her. As she turned to face it, she was met with a dire wolf, clad in ice. An endless blizzard seemingly engulfed it's presence, freezing the area around it solid.

Celeste stared at it with... fear. True fear.

Stumbling forward once more, she suddenly began to run down the hall, hyperventilating as she turned the corner. Behind her, she could hear the quick clicks of the wolf's nails scratch along the tiled floor. The chase was on.

As she ran, the stretchers that lined along the right side wall were perfect. Grabbing ahold of one at a time, she pushed them behind her as she passed by, making an obstacle for the creature to maneuver. As promising as it looked, it didn't last long. As it ran forward, the stretchers turned into solid ice, breaking apart as it ran into them. Freezing them even internally in such an instant... Celeste let out a desperate cry.

Tears streamed down her face as she turned the corner, seeing double doors in the middle of the hall. Her instincts led her to see a button on the side, used for opening the thick doors. Wasting no time, she slammed her fist against it, making it through the checkpoint and pressing the button on the other side quickly, watching it close. Just as it did, the visage of the frozen wolf turned the corner, staring at Celeste with a deathly gaze.

She gasped, stepping back slowly, before running off desperately and looking around in the patient's quarter she made it to. Rooms surrounded the area, but no way out. The wolf was approaching. With no other options, she ran into one of the rooms, hiding behind the bed while trying to hide her breath.

It made it through the door, needless to say. It's presence alone was enough to break it apart into nothing but frozen dust. The rhythmic steps of it's pads seemed almost as though it was meant to be calming... However, every step made Celeste shake more and more. All she felt was primal fear. Desperation. Anything.

It was outside the room. It stared within, looking around every corner, before stepping inside.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

Then... silence.

The silence was deafening, making a painful ringing echo within Celeste's mind. It was as if a bullet was shot within a metal box. Her mouth was covered. Her eyes were slowly, shakily, looking up towards where it stood.

She had fire. She has the means. However... all she could feel was powerless in it's presence.

Squinting her eyes shut. Covering her ears. She curled up, hiding from it as much as she could.

Despite everything... a voice sounded within her mind. A voice she knew all too well.

"Treachery. A betrayal of trust. Deception."

Her eyes shot open, frozen in shock.

"Why, my sister... Why does it call your name? What have you done to call the name of the ninth circle?"

Anything she could have said would be incomprehensible.

"Your time will come. Until then..."

A hand held on to her shoulder, squeezing ever so slightly.

"Remember what you've done."

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and soon enough... she was unconscious once more.

. . .

She awoke once more within the arms of a doctor, trying to keep her vitals stable. A respirator was connected to her nose and mouth, keeping her breath leveled.

"She was experiencing a panic attack..." the doctor said looking into Celeste's eyes, which were swirling with Arcane energy. "She was stable moments ago... Strange. What could've triggered—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Celeste pulled away from his grasp, flailing around in fear. Her strength was too much for the doctor, who immediately tumbled back across the ground with a gasp of pain. She looked around, seeing all the men staring down at her. Instead of laughter however, all that could be seen was worry.

Her breathing was quick. Raspy. However, she quickly pulled the respirator off of her face, letting out a long exhale, making a tiny puff of fire escape her.

"I'm... I'm alright. I'm sorry..." is all she could say, sitting there on the ground, surrounded.

The primary doctor shakily sat back up, cracking his neck with a smile. His short hair was neat and gray, with beautiful green eyes. He was middle aged, but he seemed young by how he carried his appearance and personality. Wise, but careless.

"Hey, no worries." he said with a grin, "It's not the first time I've been hit at the workplace. Ha!"

Celeste let out a sigh, hugging herself with a meek grimace. She of course, didn't want to let anyone outside of her hospital room see her "tattoos" on her arms.

"...May I please head back to my room?"

"Only if you promise you're alright."

Her eyes trailed off, before mumbling out to the doctor once more.

"Promise."

. . .

Later that afternoon, she sat up on her hospital bed, bandaging up her arms before any visitors had arrived. With a snug feel on them, she bit down on it, ripping it off so it's tightly placed. Just in time.

A knock on the door broke the silence.

"Who's there...?" she simply called out.

"Awh c'mon Snow White. It's just y'average neighborhood skeleton homie." Joker's voice answered from behind the door. "Mind if I stumble my way in?"

"Come."

With that single word, Joker used his Arcane to portal into the room, holding a gift basket fool of snacks and flowers. She didn't seem impressed.

"What? Too good for commodity?"

"Not good enough."

He clicked his non-existent tongue, placing it right on her lap, and crossed his arms while leaning down.

"Now, that's no way for our leader to be talkin bout themselves. If the time comes where our flamin' leader doesn't get something as simple as a gift basket in the hospital— man, I'd rather I would've stayed a corpse, y'feel me?"

Her eyes lidded slightly, staring at the basket. Joker was quick to notice, sitting down on the side of the bed with a softer tone.

"What's on y'mind, huh? Heard you had a panic attack earlier this morning. What's up?" he asked, crossing his boney arms.

The blurred images of what she saw in that hallucination— that wolf made of ice itself— it gave her smooth skin goosebumps.

"Nothing." she simply replied.

Joker let out a suspicious, but shrugged.

"If you say so, Snow. Just know you can talk with me whenever you need, ight?"

"Thanks."

Another knock was heard from the door. A familiar tune, similar to an old barber song.

"Who is it?" Celeste asked, opening the gift basket carefully.

"Ya-hoooooo!~* Kinae said with a chipper smile, practically kicking open the door. Behind her, the rest of Asclepius Squadron— besides Terra— had made their way to visit. "How's it goin'? Healin' up well, boss?~"

Surprised to see so many people appear, all holding gift baskets, Celeste let out a long exhale.

"Yeah." she said lowly, getting a flustered blush on her cheeks as Joker raised his non-existent eyebrows at her, as if to say "I told ya so". "Looks like you all are feeling better."

Fren snuck through everyone else, revealing he had a sling cast on each arm, nervously laughing.

"Aye, better than before." he said, "Turns out, using arms that were recently broken and forcefully realigned makes you a cabrón. Who would've thought, eh?"

"You did your duty, and that's all that needs to be said." Netz interjected, his left arm in a cast as well from blocking Atlas' attack. "In the end, it looks like everyone's free to be released today. Everyone but Celeste and uhh... whoever that other guy was."

"Terra."

Everyone turned to look at Celeste once again, who had said that name under her voice.

"I need to have some words with him. What kind of idiot tags along us Plague Doctors when—"

"Didn't he help?"

Everyone stepped back to reveal Pierce, standing at the doorway with a gentle grin. Celeste bit her tongue, trying to keep back from yelling at him... however, her brashness caused her to jump out from her bed, poking Pierce in the chest repeatedly.

"You knew... You knew he didn't have an Arcane, and you let him tag along anyway?! Why?!" she yelled out, making Kinae awkwardly slide through the doorway. Everyone was quick to follow, closing it behind them.

Pierce scoffed, shaking his head.

"Have I ever been one to let something so wreckless happen, if it wasn't for your own protection?" he asked.

Celeste's eyes narrowed.

"You keep telling me to not be wreckless, but instead, you sent me out with someone I didn't even know! How long did you know him, before you made him some tag-along?!"

"Just that afternoon."

"And you think that was smart?! He could have died! We could've died, protecting what was just some... civilian!!"

"Celeste..."

She didn't stop, poking his chest more and more, until his back was against the wall.

"How much of a hypocrite can you be?! If you were so confident, does that mean you knew what Basilis could do?! Removing Arcanes?! Why didn't you tell us?!"

"Celeste—"

"You say I remind you of your daughter?! Would you have let her blindly walk into—?!"

"Celeste!!"

Pierce's voice echoed in the room, making her step back slightly, silent. A single hair fell down from his gelled and neat presentation, before he cleared his throat.

"It was for your own good you did not know that information. Not even Terra. I believe him to be a valuable asset to us, but I wished to put that to the test. Sometimes, even the overseer above the leader must be brash..."

His right eye seemingly shimmered in the dark.

"Have I ever done something for you, if it wasn't in your benefit...?"

Celeste grit her teeth, a single tear escaping her eye. She shakily exhaled, crossing her arms. Noticing the bandages, Pierce's expression softened, reaching out to hold her arm.

Just as he touched it however, she pulled away.

"Did you...?—"

"No. I just... I don't want them to see it."

They stood there in silence for a moment, before Pierce stepped forward, gently hugging Celeste.

"Okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the Rat. I promise, I would never do something to harm you..."

Celeste's mind raced, imagining the sinister hand that crept on her shoulder before. "Treachery." That word danced in her mind, but nonetheless, she hugged him back, pushing through such intrusive thoughts.

"I know."

"And remember... Your team... It's alright to open up to them. They treat you like family. They won't hurt you like...

you-know-who. Okay?"

"I know..."

After a moment, a knock was heard from behind the door.

"Can we come back in now?" Netz asked, resting his fist he knocked with on the wooden door. "We wanted to ask you something, Cat."

Pierce parted from the hug, smiling caringly.

"Go on. See what they want." he said reassuringly, nodding.

With an expressionless nod back, she walked towards the door, opening it while trying to hide her emotions once more.

"What was it?" she simply asked.

"How about we all go out for a drink?" Fren asked, smiling meekly.

"Yeah! Sounds like that Terra kid has the hots for ya, so why not fuck with him a little bit, eh?" Joker added on, before Kinae punched his shoulder. "Ow, c'mon!"

Kinae crossed her arms, looking away from her brother. "We thought it would help ya ease up, Captain! We all need a drink after that fight!"

Netz simply shrugged with his good arm, grinning.

"What can I say? They took the words straight from my mouth."

Celeste stared at them for a moment, before letting out a flustered sigh, closing her eyes.

"Fine."

. . .