"Yurika... you came." the man voice sounded strange. It was Taft, he sounded like Taft, but it wasn't quite the same. His tone wasn't how it usually was, and if she listened closely, she could hear another voice, layered beneath his own. An unfamiliar smile crawled onto his face, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Where are you going, Yurika?"

When he said that, she realized that she had unconsciously stepped backwards. Her senses were screaming at her. Alarm bells were going off in her head, telling her that it's not safe, this isn't right, she should run-

"Don't go, Yurika. Come closer." The man's dark ebony eyes gleamed under the moon - and now she was sure, this wasn't Taft, this wasn't the man who had saved her before. As he stepped closer, her hand flew to the weapons strapped on her hip, and she finally found her voice.

"N-no, you're n-not Taft," she shook her head as she drew her katars from their sheath. "W-who are you- no, what are you?!"

"Oh, come now, don't you recognize your savior?" Despite her drawing her weapon, 'Taft' didn't stop moving towards her. He let out a deep, throaty chuckle, and once again, Yurika could hear that other voice mingling with his own.

'Run...'

A voice sounded within her mind. She recognized it immediately. It was Taft - the real Taft, not this... imitation before her.

She grasped onto the stream of thought, and called back out to him. 'Taft, is that you? What's going on?!'

The movements of the man approaching her suddenly became jerky. He stopped in his tracks and held his head. "Tch... what a persistent man. Stop resisting and let me do my job!" He growled, seemingly towards himself.

'Y-Yurika... run, now...'

Taft's voice came again, stronger and clearer than before. She could hear the strain in his voice, as if he were pushing hard against something.

'B-but Taft, I can't just l-leave you here!'

Fear for herself and worry for her friend warred within her mind, as she tried to assess the situation she was in. Her instincts told her that her opponent was way above her skill level, but he had obviously gotten a hold of Taft somehow. She should flee, but—

"Why do you look so afraid, Yurika? It's me, Taft..." The sound of this thing claiming to be Taft when the truth was already obvious to her made her blood boil.

"No, you're not Taft!" She yelled out. "You have his face and his body, but you... you are not him! What did you do to him?! How did you manage to-" she cut herself off as the answer came to her.

Someone had taken control of Taft's body. That meant that whoever this person was, they'd somehow known Taft's True Name. Not even Moira had known. Who was this person? There was more to this than met the eye, she was sure, but now wasn't the time to think about it, for the man had seemed to have regained full control, and was now moving at a steady pace towards her.

She backed away, unsure of what to do. She couldn't attack him, she didn't want to hurt Taft. It was still his body, even if he wasn't in control of it.

"S-stop! Don't you dare come any closer, or I'll attack!" It was an empty threat, but she was hoping the other person wouldn't realize that.

The man stopped walking, and for a moment she thought she'd succeeded, but then he laughed out loud. "What are you waiting for, then? Attack me. Come on, I'm not even trying to defend myself here."

When she didn't make any movement to do so, he continued walking towards her. Before she realized it, he had her backed into a tree.

He chuckled lowly at the fright on her face. "Now, now... don't look so scared." The man was extremely close now, barely an arm's reach away. She tried to slash at him with her katars, but he knocked her weapons out of her hands with barely a glance in their direction. He pinned her into place with his hands on her shoulders, and she started struggling in her panic.

The wind was knocked out of her when he landed a punch in her gut, stunning her. "Don't struggle, hm? Be a good girl for now. I just need to check... something..." he whispered lowly, tracing a finger along her jawline. "It's not like I'm going to kill you... Well, not yet, at least." His finger trailed downwards, past her neck and towards the center of her chest.

Her struggles restarted in fervor as fear gripped at her heart. She tried to kick him, but he easily avoided her frantic movements. A hand closed around her neck, threatening to cut off her flow of air. "Stop, struggling!" he growled, a promise of hurt in his tone. He smiled in satisfaction when she slumped down. His other hand went back down to her chest. With a swift tug, he ripped her armor away from her, leaving her top covered with nothing but her brassiere. Yurika let out a whimper, not even daring to let out a scream past the hand on her throat.

"Well, let's see what happens shall we?" As he spoke, he drew something out from the bag on his side. It was a crimson gem, as red as blood, glowing ominously in contrast to the blueish tint of everything else around them. Yurika found her eyes drawn to the gem. There was something about it, something that felt so...

The man hummed in satisfaction, a pleased look crossing his face when he spotted a sigil etching itself onto her chest softly beaming. "My, my... it seems that my hunch was right, after all. I was right to follow this man when I'd spotted him holding onto this..." The man brought red gem up close to her face. "You should recognize this. This is Fetu La Rossa, better known as the Crimson Star. You do remember all this, don't you, my... queen?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

He was speaking, but she could barely hear him. Everything else seemed to melt away as she was drawn into the glowing gem. All the sounds around her fell into a dull buzz. She could hear her blood pounding within her ears, her heart hammering in her chest. The constant thumping seemed to increase in crescendo, til it reached an almost-deafening level. She felt a burning heat growing on her chest - as if someone were pressing a red-hot iron onto her skin. She couldn't help but let out a scream at the sheer pain of it all.

"What the- NO! No, stop!" She could hear the man shout, before the whole area dissolved into bright light followed by a loud explosive sound.

---***---

"...ka. Heeey, Yurika. Wake up, sleepy head." She heard a familiar, gentle voice beside her, prodding her out of her sleepy haze. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and glared at the owner of the voice.

"Wha... Oh come on, Taft, just five more minutes..." she grumbled, closing her eyes again. "We already trained so much yesterday. Can't I just take one small, measly break?"

Taft poked her forehead, not paying attention to her complaints. "Yurika, please, wake up. There's something important that I have to talk to you about."

She groaned, moving into a sitting position. "Fine, I'm up, I'm up! What is it?" She looked at Taft, anticipation and slight annoyance in her fuchsia gaze.

The man looked uneasy about something, before he finally spoke. "I... I'm sorry, Yurika."

Yurika tilted her head in confusion. "For what?"

"For not being completely honest with you," he replied, his tone soft.

"Wait, what do you mean by th-"

He gently hushed her. "Shh, let me finish. I told you before, that when I found you in that alleyway, you had nothing on you but your dress, yes?" When Yurika nodded, he continued. "I lied," he confessed, guilt in his tone.

Her eyes widened in shock. "Wait, so I had something else with me...?"

Taft nodded. "Yes. There's something I haven't been telling you... Or, to be more exact, something that I've been keeping from you." He took something from his bag and placed it in her hand, closing her fingers around it. She looked down at it - it was a crimson gem, glowing softly, cold and smooth on her palm. She looked up to him again, her eyes swirling with uncertainty. "You were holding onto this when I found you. Even while you were unconscious, you held onto it so tightly, I had a hard time trying to pry it from your grasp. But I managed eventually."

She looked down at the gem again. It seemed almost alive, energy pulsating and swirling within its depths as she stared down at it.

"I... I was being greedy. I'd meant to sell it off to help contribute to our finances, but, in the end..." he trailed off. "In the end... I couldn't do it. So I've been waiting for the right time to tell you, and to return this back to you."

Yurika wanted to listen to what he was saying, she truly did, but her attention kept going back to the stone within her hand. Something about it seemed to capture her thoughts, blocking out the rest of the world...

"Yurika!" Taft raised his voice, snapping her attention back to him. He gazed softly at her. "Yurika... Don't forget who you are, no matter what."

"Who... I am?" She repeated back, confused. "But I don't know who I am... I don't remember anything. I have amnesia, so how could I..."

Taft shook his head, and pointed towards her chest. "Perhaps your mind has already forgotten that, but your heart will still remember it. Just... don't forget that. Your heart."

He stood up, and there seemed to be something final in his gaze, as he looked away from her to something in the distance that she couldn't quite see. "I guess... it's time. Please, tell Moira for me, that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't keep my promise to be with her forever. Tell her that I'm sorry, for everything."

"W-wait- no, Taft, where are you going?"

"It's time, Yurika." He turned towards her, and the knowing smile on his face made her heart ache for some reason.

"Time? Time for what?" she echoed, feeling dread pool in her stomach. She wasn't entirely sure of what was going on, but she had a feeling that she shouldn't let him go, else she'd never see him again.

"Don't forget who you are, Yurika," he repeated again, "And be strong, when the time comes. I'll entrust the world, to you..." He patted her head once more, before stepping away from her. Before she could reach out to him, everything went dark.

---***---

"NO, TAFT!" She jolted awake, screaming his name, her arm outstretched towards nothing above her. She blinked, feeling confused and disoriented, but eventually, the events of the past hours came back to her.

She propped herself up, gasping, and looked around the clearing. She spotted his body slumped on the ground, not too far away from her. She scrambled towards him, ignoring the pain that still pulsated within her chest, and the cold air stinging her body.

"No, no, no..." she whispered as she neared him. "Please, please..." Her empty prayer echoed throughout the clearing as she dragged herself up to him. But she knew, long even before she reached his body, that it was too late. Even so, she pushed herself til she managed to stand over his still form.

"Taft..." her lips trembled as she muttered his name, over and over, like a broken record as she stared down at his body. Slowly, she knelt down and gathered him into her arms, sobbing. He felt cold and limp in her arms, and she wept even harder. He was dead. And she was the one who had most likely killed him.

"He's dead. And there's nothing you can do about it." A tall man materialized from the bushes behind the trees.

Yurika's eyes widened when she saw who it was. "Zeke..."

He threw his cloak over her. "Cover yourself up."

Only then did she realize she'd been shivering. Gently, she placed Taft's body back on the ground. Then she drew the cloak around her shoulders. She looked down at her chest, at the softly glowing tattoo that lay at the very center of it. Her mind went back to the conversation she'd had with Wenona that very afternoon.

An invisible tattoo that glows. A Fetuuina Fanaurra, a cursed reborn. So she was...?

"Yes," Zeke spoke, seemingly answering her unasked question. He moved towards his previous spot, picking up something from the ground.

"You... knew?" The words left her mouth, before she could stop herself. Meanwhile, she fastened the cloak tighter around her so that it hid the tattoo from view.

"Yes," the man nodded, "That's why I've been keeping track of you. I'll explain everything later. Now's not the right time," his eyes flashed to the side. "Just stay quiet. Let me handle this."

She wondered what he meant, but soon, the sounds reached her. People were moving towards them. She looked up towards the direction of the noises, and saw Zig and Wenona running towards them, Moira and the others not far behind.

'Hey, Zeke...' she whispered into his mind, 'I... I killed him, didn't I? I killed Taft...'

He looked at her with a sad smile.'It's not your fault, Yurika. Trust me on this,' he replied gently. He came up to her and further closed her fingers around the gem in her hands. He met her eyes, stern determination burning within. 'Hold onto this with your life. And tell no one about what happened.'

She could only nod mutely, as the approaching group converged onto them.