Young Writers Society

Reida shook her head to clear her thoughts, and scooped herself up from the ground. She squinted in suspicion at the man who resembled an unfortunate acquaintance perfectly.

"Okay, I'll play along." She said, completely deadpan. "If you aren't Crawford, who are you?"

Vesper let out an exasperated breath at this, and scrubbed his hands over his face. His immense relief at finding his missing queen safe and in the flesh was quickly overshadowed by exasperation. He had nearly forgotten about her memory loss.

"Captain Vesper." He said tersely. "I believe we've spoken before, though I'm not sure-"

"Oh, really?" Reida's face darkened as she heard the name, and she stepped forward aggressively. "And here I thought Landon was Vesper. Are you claiming that this sick joke is a group-"

She didn't finish her sentence. The moment Kratzer had opened the door, the room around them faded and twisted into a completely different place entirely.

Vesper looked around in concealed shock- they seemed to be in a village of some sort- and nor the cleanest. He took a measured step away from the animal stables, his lip curling in disgust.

Reida made a soft choking sound as her eyes grew wide, and she stumbled back.

"Wh- what... how is- I don't.." panicking, her head whipped around to each of the others, completely at a loss as to why they were taking this so well.

"Verr-ficking-dammt!" he growled, glaring at the chicken in his hands. "This is scheisse. Fick. Fick. Fick!" The long string of German cusses continued the moment he was out of his initial shock enough to register what was going on.

He knew this place. Worse yet, he knew this day, and he knew exactly what was coming. And if his memory served...

"ENGEL!" a deep voice boomed from the house and he winced. Yep. There it was. He could've at least defended himself had he had a different body, but now...

He involuntarily backed up towards Bo again, since he was the only individual that he knew and trusted. He didn't appear to be conscious of the fact that he did it, either; it was more of a reflexive motion than anything else.

At the sound of the man's voice, Nendros froze. His suspicions had come to fruition. There were people around, and, from the sound of the voice and the way that Kratzer had just backed into Bo, he knew they wouldn't take kindly to someone like him. But the more he thought about the voice that had done the shouting, the more he was reminded of a man he thought he had left behind.

"You need to be punished," he said in the loud, booming voice he always spoke with. The snow was red, red, red, blood dripping down from the detached heads of Az's parents. All he could do was stare in horror as the blood continued to touch every inch of the ground, coming closer and closer to his feet as he was helpless to stop the massacre-

Bile rose up from his stomach as the memory stubbornly continued to replay itself. He tried to hold it in - there were far more important things to be focusing on - but it refused to stay down.

Nendros promptly retched into the snow.

Bo put his hand on Kratzer's shoulders, defensively looking towards the source of the voice. That was, until he heard the sound of Nen throwing up. He looked over to Nen with worry.

"Oh shoot, man, you okay?" he asked quietly, though he was still protectively hovering and holding onto Kratzer.

Nendros straightened, trying to hold back the remaining bits of his breakfast as they threatened to join the vomit that was splayed across the snow at his feet. He still felt incredibly queasy, but he had a role he needed to maintain. He gave Bo a smile - though it was definitely on the unsteady side.

"I'm fine," he said, making sure to deepen his voice. He was King Nex right now, not Nendros. King Nex ruled over the Castle of Blood; he wouldn't have been fazed by the sight of blood, especially if it was in the form of a memory. He thought for a moment, then added, "I've just been getting over a sickness."

Kratzer quickly got to work on the chicken. He shoved his fingers under the keel and ripped up the breast, grabbing the guts and pulling them all out in a single, smooth movement. The other chickens came over and he tossed it to them before taking off the head and adding it to their pile. The beasts surrounded it in a frenzy and took to fighting over the entrails of their former companion. A few crows landed on the nearby roof and eyeballed the food. Kratzer took a rock and chucked it at them, nailing one in the chest and scaring off the rest of them.

"ENGEL!" the voice roared again. Kratzer visibly winced, even next to Bo.

Nendros took one look at Kratzer gutting the chicken and immediately relieved himself of what was left of his breakfast. As he was trying not to throw up - again - the same voice from before rang out. Any nausea was quickly forgotten as he turned his attention to the source of the yelling.

He stared at the house. His tail became as still as the rest of his body, then nervously began to wrap itself around his legs as he warily watched it. Whoever earned that voice couldn’t be a good person. His instincts were telling him that much.

He reached his hand into his pocket and started to fiddle with the necklace within it. It was only when doing so that he realized Kratzer hadn't been the only one to undergo a change - he was wearing multiple layers now, ones that miraculously gave him room for his wings and tail.

Better yet, he was wearing shoes!

They were absolutely enomorous, but a smile began to sneak across his face as he wiggled his toes in them. His last pair had been long since discarded. "Aska's going to get a kick out of this-" he started to say, only to realize that he had no idea how he was even going to return to his best friend, or how far away he was with him.

Suddenly, his new outfit didn't excite him as much.

A man came stalking out of the house and started approaching them. He was a little under six feet in height and had greasy brown hair and blue eyes. A deep scowl formed his countenance and he didn't appear to notice Bo, Nen, or anyone else in the group aside from his son, as though they were invisible. Thus, he was stalking right towards Engel, who took another step back but wound up just bumping into Bo.

For whatever reason, seeing the face of the man triggered something that hearing his voice didn't, and for the first time in a long time Kratzer felt his heart clench and his stomach drop with the same hopeless feeling that Boomslang had worked so hard to break him with.

His mind flashed through every punch and smack and thrown bottle. Through the broken ribs or fractured collarbone to the gash across his face that had left him the most important scar of his life. All the way back to when he finally slit the throat of the man who stood in front of him. The first man he'd killed in cold blood - but not the last. Oh, Lord knew, not the last...

"What the Hölle is taking you so long, boy?" he barked, and Engel found himself frozen, unable to find the words to answer as the multitude of lies and the truth came to his mind and desperately tried to form a sentence.

With one glance between the appearing man and Kratzer, he quickly did the math.

The man was Kratzer's father - and if Kratzer had been transformed into a child, even if temporarily - then were they somehow reliving Kratzer's memories? It seemed like more than just being transported in to the past, because not only did Kratzer's appearance change so he actually fit his past role, Bo and Nex also got costume changes.

This was... a much different kind of very unsettling magic that he didn't like. That, and Kratzer's dad didn't seem to be paying attention to either him or Nex. Did that mean he wouldn't be able to hear them? Only way to find out was to try.

He waved a hand out a little to see if it would catch the father's attention.

"It was my fault," he said, playing into the scene. "I was distracting him."

"And who are you?" he demanded before snapping at his son. "Come here, boy."

Engel didn't move a muscle, frozen to the spot.

"The name's Andrei Petrov," he said, holding out a hand to shake. Though he wasn't sure how inclined to politeness the man would be, he figured it would be best to try. "I'm just passing through," he lied. He kept a hand on Engel's shoulder, hoping it was a firm reminder of his support.

"Engel was just being kind and giving me directions since I seem to have gotten lost. I'm traveling with three friends of mine," he said, gesturing back outside at the three others.

"What an a**hole." Vesper murmured quietly, his lip curling in disgust- whether it was from the vomit that had splattered on his boots or in reaction to Kratzer's father was hard to tell.

"C- can he hear us?" Reida whispered to Vesper, a hint of warning in her tone. She was starting to recover a bit from her shock, though her face was still faintly pale and she trembled.

"No idea. I'd take my chances if he can." Vesper raised a brow, casually setting a hand on the sword hilt. With a twinge of annoyance, Reida noted that he seemed to be in his element.

"Three? There's more of you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They're back towards the church," Kratzer hastily supplied. "Waiting for Herr B-Petrov to go back with directions. Sir."

"Get that inside," he told Kratzer and gestured to the chicken. "That's dinner for the week. Don't want the foxes to get it." He turned back to Bo, looking him up and down. "Where are you trying to go?" His voice was curt but his words gave some impression of an attempt at politeness, if one that was somewhat worn thin.

Bo found himself coming dangerously to the end of his bluff, but he managed a small smile. But he was starting to feel his heart race as the lies piled up. He wasn't sure what the rules of this magic simulation were, but he had a gut feeling that the moment he was honest, he would just make anyone who wasn't part of their group of five think he was insane.

"We're just heading south. Going to go visit some family."

"Well, you wound up in the wrong place, that much is certain. If you go uptown or to the church you might find someone with a map. Wish we could be of more help," he said, plainly ending the conversation. "Engel, get inside!" he snapped, and Kratzer jumped, glancing between his father and Bo before deciding he'd better just obey and hope he didn't get separated from the group. He went up to the front door and stepped inside...

A moment later, everyone else was there, too. It was a ramshackle little building with rats in the walls and half-rotten floorboards. A scrawny dog laid in the corner with a young girl that couldn't have been older than six or seven sitting next to it. A single closed door was off to their right and the hearth had a small fire burning.